The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-01-19
REQ

ence to the world in general. But they
would light UP sometimes with q merry
twinkle, when the old rogue would mar
rate some of his past villainies
He came to Samoa IN the old days
long before treaties and imperial com
missi0ners and other Gflded vanities
were dreamed OF by US poor. hard work
ing traders. He seemed to have dropped
from the sky, when one afternoon, as
Tom Denison and some of his friends
sat on Charley the Russians verauda
drinking lager, he marched up to them,
sat down on the steps and said Good
.'Helio.' said schluter. the skipper Of
the Anna Czoddenr0y. who are your
Where do you come from2"
He waved a short. stumpy and black
clay pipe to and fro, and replied vaguely
oh. from somewhere
Some one laughed, surmising, cor
rectly enough, that he had run away
from a ship Then they remembered
that no vessel had even touched at Apia
for a month. Later on he told Denison
that he had jumped overheard from a
Bakers Island guanoman as she was
running down the coast and swan
ashore. landing at a point twenty miles
distant from Apia- The natives IN the
various villages had given him food, 50
when he reached the town he was not
hungry
what do you want. anyway" asked
Schluter.
ssSome tobacco, please. And a dollar
or two. 7 can pay you back"
''When2" said Hamilton, the pilot IN
credulously-
The pipe described a semi-circle 'Oh.
tomorrow night; before. perhaps.
They gave him some tobacco and
matches and four Bolivian iron dol
lars He got up and went across to
voIkner's combined store and grog
shanty over the way.
Hes gone to buy bottle OF square
face said Hamilton
He deserves It," said Denison. gloom
lily "a man Of his age who could jump
overheard and swim ashore TO TINS
rotten country should be presented with
a case Of gin-and a knife to cut his
throat with after he has finished IT,
In about ten minutes the old fellow
came out Of Volkner's store, carrying
two or three stout fishing lines, several
packets OF hooks and half q dozen
ship biscuits. He grinned as he passed
sauating down on the sward near by,
began to uncoi1 the lines and bend on the
hooks Denison was interested, went
over to him. and watched the swift,
slSillful manner in which the thin brown
Where are you going to hsh?'' he in
The broad. fiat face lit up. "Outside
In the dam deep water-sixty. eighty
fa'am.'
Denison left him, and went aboard the
ancient, cOckrOach infested craft OF
which he was the heartbroken super
past the schooner in a wretched old
canoe. whose outrigger was so insecure
" fastened that it threatened to come
adrift every instant. The old man
grinned as he recognized Denison; then,
pipe in mouth he went boldly out
through the passage between the lines
OF roaring surf into the tumbling blue
beyond.
At 10 o'clock, just as the supercargo
and the skipper were taking their last
nip before turning in. the ancient slipped
quietly alongside in his canoe and clam
bered on deck In his right hand he
about twenty pounds Laying 1t down
on the deck, he pointed to IT,
Plenty more i'll canoe like that You
want some more2
Denison went to the side and looked
over. The canoe was loaded down to
the eyunwa1e with the weight of fish
fish that the lazy, loafng Apian natives
caught but rarely. The old man passed
up two or three more took a glass o.
grog and padded ashore
Next morning he repaid the borrowed
money and showed Denison $15-the re-
suit of his first nights work in Samoa
The saloonkeepers and other white PEG
pie said he was treasure. flsn IN
Apia were dear and hard to get
On the following Sunday a marriage
procession entered the Rarotongan
chapel in AIatafe1e, and Tarreo Other
wise 'Reo) was united to one OF the
prettiest and least disreputable native
girls in the town, whose parents recog-
nized that REQ was likely 70 prove IN
eminently lucrative and squeezable
son-fn-law. DenisOn was best man, ana
gave the bride a five-dollar gold piece
C7aving previously made a private ar
rangement with the bridegroom that he
was to receive value for it in fish,
'Rao's wife's relatives built the newly
married couple a house on Matautu
Point. and REQ spent $35 in giving the
brides local connections a Ieast- Iheh
the news spread, and cousins and sec
ond cousins and various breeds of aunts
and half uncles Travelled up to Aatautu
Point to partake Of his hospitality
He did his best, but, in day or SO,
remarked sadly that he could not catch
fish fast enough in a poor canoe. II he
had boat he could make $50 a week
he said; and with $50 q. week he could
entertain his wife's honored friends col
tinuously and in a BETTING manner The
relatives consulted. and thinking the5,
han a good thing, subscribed, and
bought a boat Con credit) from the Ger
man firm. giving a mortgage on a piece
of land as security. Then they presented
REQ with the boat, with many compil- |
mentary speeches, and sat down to
chuclSle at the way they would make |
the old fool work." and the "old focr' /
went straightWay to the American COR /
sui and declared himself to be q. citizen |
of the United States, and demanded his |
countrys protection, as he feared his |
Wffe's relatives wanted to jew him out |
Of the boat they had given him.
The consul wrote out something terri !
flying on a big sheet of paper and tack
ed it to the boat, and warned the SUI
prised relatives that an American map- /
of-xvsr would protect REQ with her /
guns and then REQ went inside his /
house and beat his wife with a canoe /
paddle, and chased her violently out Of 4
the place, and threatened her male rela- /
tives with a large knife and fearful /
language.
Then he took the boat round the other
side of the island, and sold it for $500 to 4
a trader. and came back to Apia to Den
isons and asked for passage TO Tu- /