The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-09-15
A JUDGMENT BY THE SEA.

ID
He who has not partaken of a crab
brought to his kitchen alive and COOK
ed on his own stove, knows not the
true joy of an epicure. But that Is
neither here nor there; only talking or
crabs makes me think of my crab-flsh-
er, one Spinello, a handsome, dare-deV-
il American Italian, who lived down on
little, compact fenced-in village, situa-
ted on the western rirp of the Lagune,
looking, from the Heights, like a col
lection of dog-kennels and chicken
coops. 1t is an uninviting place, inhab-
tied excessively by thin, black-eyed
children and bushy-haired, evil-eyed
dogs. Spinello lived in the village in
one-roomed shanty with his friend
Garcia.
These two, Damon and Pythias of
the Italian colony, kept their gasoline
launches at the same wharf in little
inlet from the bay, and stored their
merged after each catch to await
favorable market They shared the
simple pleasures and complicated
brawlS of the neighborhood, and their
comradeship might have continued to
the end of the chapter but for the wo-
man.
Here is the story as 1 had it first
hand:
part of the untamed landscape lying
between the bay and Union street,
have been these many years the pubic
pastures of the neighborhood livestock.
Hither in the green season of wet
year came Babette Larue, the daughter
of Jules Larue, a North Beach restau-
rateur, to pasture her cow, planting
her plump body on the end or the rope
for stakepin, and busying her fingers
with a piece of knitting. Babette was
the owner of a pair of uncommonly Dig
brown eyes and square little nsure,
always clad in a bright red frock ana
a a
of sunbonnet on her head and blue
knitted shawl around her shoulders
made her a cozy picture Tor the Two
friends to gaze on when they came in.
damp and tired, from a day on the
deep sea.
Babette had a way of tying the stake
rope to a lupine bush and going down
to the waters edge to watch the nsher
men unload. She tiptoed and peeped
around the boats and tackle, ana II
was "Oh-oh-ee-isnt he grand,
beautiful onel" when Spinello,. the de-
bonair looking like a knight of the old
prints in his long, Tapping rubber
boots swung out particularly nhe
crab and dropped him, all spraying
and protesting, into his half-submerseo
cage; or it was "Oh, how very brave
Won are! They'll pinch you-sure
they'll pinch you!'' when Garcia, small
and weakened and hot-tempered' pick
ed I'D a crab in either hand ana Threw
them over his shoulder into MS cage.
The unloading done and the boats
hoisted ont of the water to keep them
clean, Babette went back TO the coM,
CARRYING a fine live crab by stout
string: and the sight of her Squeam1Sh
moues and pretty affected airs of fright
amply repaid her two admirers.
IT was not long till the practical Gar
cha drew conclusions from his unWont-
ed generosity that he loved Babette,
the little cowherd. Spinello, more used
TO the admiration of the ladies. had
not so easily succumbed to ma m'selle's
roguish eyes and had given his craps
for the fun of seeing his close-nsleu
friend nut to it to uphold his place IN
the young 1ady's esteem
Garcia in love, must needs beleVe
that his lady loves charms We're IRE
sistible. and he swore to himself that
his long-tried friend, Spinello, was
making overtures to her in secret
Garcia Jealous, was an ugly PROPOSE
ton to deal with. First he doubted ms
friends loyalty; from that II was an
easv step to doubt his honesty And
il Seemed that Garcia had reason to
doubt somebody
He had announced his intention of
taking to himself a wife as soon as he
had accumulated two hundred dollars
in the bank; yet each night for
month his crab cage had been opened
and every crab had disappeared AT
this rate he was steering a long course
from the fair haven of matrimony,
and his temper was ugly. He followed
SpinelIo to the market. and MADE sure
that he sold not more than his eaten
but jealousy drives a man with a
cruel bit, and whittier he would or
no. he must believe that his erstwhile
comrade was guilty. Driven to despe-
ration, and in a binding rage, he &C
cused Spinello of opening the cage for
the purpose of defrauding him of
wife. Spinello. fank-eyed and debonair.
turned his back with a laugh. After
that Babette received all her crabs
from Garcia.
The following Monday was dark,
lowering day, with a wind blowing six
ty miles an hour at Point Reyes The
waves outside the Potato Patch were
rolling mountains high and leaping
about with uncertain direction of bub-
bles in a tea-kettle. Spinello, never
daunted by a gale, put out in the Vice
roy at o'clock in the morning, and
ten minutes later was followed by
Garcia in the Liberty The two boats
Rugged the shore, slipping through
the boiling water of the Golden Gate
like two huge sea-tortoises. At Point
Bonita, Spinello left the protection of
the shore and took a course due west
in the leaping waters Garcia hung
back. Not that he was afraid, but
there was Babette. And yet good crabs