Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1905-07-18

anchorage off the big native village
on the east side of Tarawa Lagoon,
when we saw Big Jim coming off to
us in his whaleboat.
Don't let him get filled up on board
this time" said the skipper to me.
How nicely you talk" | retorted,
angrily; "and one would think you
were speaking of some pulling infant
and that 7 was it's nurse. You might
/ as well offer lamb to a hungry tiger
! and ask the beast not to hurt it as to
ask Jim Garstang to keep sober
! when there's liquor to be had"
Big Jim was one of the three res
ident traders on TaraWa, which is
one of the Gilbert group of islands;
the two other men were Chinese, and
Jim gave them beating regularly
once month-'just to keep the yal-
ler swine in their places" as he said,
jim and were old friends. and when
ever we met he would give me such a
handshake that all the bad words
knew would pour from my lips in an
uninterrupted volley for ten minutes,
and then Jim would lean back, spread
out his mighty chest. and utter bel
low like roar, which he thought was
a laugh. Then he would proceed to
get drunk and keen so for two days.
IL: Il o1, II,
with a bamboo until she was tired.
At the end Of forty-eieht hourse Jim
would drink a small bottle of Wor-
chester sauce shave himself put on
q suit cf spotless white ducks. and
look what he really was at heart
a gentleman.
Jim came from family who had
been smueeers for 200 years And
he WAS proud of it-as proud as he
was of his 6 feet 6 inches of manhood.
his enormous strength. and his long
yellow mustache What had brought
him to the south seas does not mat
ter In his younger days he had been
Cape Cod pilot-that much he told
me- Then in the early 1Os. i met him
for the first time in the Pelew islands,
where he had settled as trader.
Years passed. and again We met,
sometimes at one island. sometimes
at another Then I landed him en-
Tarawa to trade with the firm which
employed me as snpereargo
The boat spun over the lagoon. and
Big Jim ran alongside the schooner
and clambered over the rail. He
crushed the shippers and my hands
in the usual manner. and then told
us that we were keeping too far to
the northward. and would soon be in
shallow water.
"Mind your own business. Jim. We
know this lagoon better than you do.
Been on the spree lately
''No been as sober as Judge for
three months. Wife has a baby boy.
And want you-and me. too-tO drink
the kids health
We could not refuse. Leaving the
mate in charge of the deck we went
below, and in ten minutes Jim had
taken two tumblerfulls of brandy
neat 1t was pitiable. To expos
tulate with the man was useless.
"There you are. Jim. There's the
bottle to yourself. Now, stay here,
and don't come fooling about on deck.
We want to beat up to the village be-
fore dark"
"Well, of all the unsociable hogs of
supercargoes l ever met, you take the
cake clear out on deck and run ashore
and then you'll be cracking for
me to come and help you out of
mess. And I won't bulge"
''Wife quite strong again, JIM"
asked the skipper, as he turned to go
on deck.
"You bet She's as clipper as
sandboy"
"Glad to hear it. Well lend her a
hand to give YOU an extra GOOD whal-
ing tomorrow.
For two hours We continued 70 beat
up the lagoon through a series of
heavy rain squalls. Then Jim burst
up out of the cabin like a tornado
smilingly, joeularly intoxicated,
'Well of all the bloomn' idiots"
He reached out both hands and
dragged the captain and myself to
him. you fellows are so full of
liquor that YOU don't know what YOU
are doing" Then he spun us aside
and yelled ont to the scond mate for
the lead line.
Give il to him. Peters" said the
skipper Let him have his way and
don't take any notice
Peters brought him the deep sea