The San Francisco call., 1905-02-26
Copyright by Mcclure. Phillips & Co.

~ OLES end Brown probably swear
7 to this day that it was all my
* fault that our little schooner got
(I hung up to dry on the reef off
~ Monglr Island l noticed that
they were ready enough to heave up
when ] pointed out the difference in
the profits of a few bales of hemp from
Mindanao and the little schooners belly
full Of copra-
AS luck would have il, we no sooner
got well of the east coast OF Luzon
than we caught one Of those whirling
Dervish cyclones that spin around on
pivot and go ahead like blazes at the
same time.
We ran at first, as it semed to be
going our way, but by and by it got so
duEty that Boles decided to heave her
TO. We would have made il all right,
but just as we put our helm down to
round UP our Jib down-haul jammed in
the block, and before we could get her
OF again u big brute of a comber
whipped the rudder out of her like a
coon cat might snatch the tail out Of
a hen, and after that it was all up.
Fourteen hours later the poor little
packet was lying with a broken back
across the reef off Mongir Island, and
we were sitting on the hot sand above
high-water mark, breathing in the
stink Of the seaweed, and cursing at
our luck until the kick of our curses
knocked US fat on our backs. and we
went 10 sleep. We needed sleep, too, I
tell you, because for twenty-four hours
We had been working the pump handle
like the President at White House re-
ception.
The island turned out to be a regu-
lar stamping ground for castaways. In
the early part of the same gale that
drove US there q little bark had
bounced up on the reef, and there had
crawled out of her the scurviest outfit
OF sea scamps l ever clapped eyes on.
We fell foul Of each other and I
undertook TO straighten out the mess.
Ny plan was really simple enough and
would have worked out all right if I'd
only used a little common sense. OF
course. it was plain when they came
down the beach that night that they
were looking for trouble, and after 1
had fired them out of our camp I was
nightly unsatisfied with the layout:
lot only because it was plain that they
wanted to get square with us for hay-
ing put two of their shipmates out of
commission, but also because 1 saw
the Portugee's snaky eyes coil around
the corners Of our money box 1
wouldn't have cared even then If il
hadn't been for the girl, but 1 hated
TO think Of what might happen to her
If that bunch of sea scavengers ever
got the under hold Of US.
Boles and had quite an argument
about it. and I must say that 1 was
real put out at his Digheadedness; but
j suppose that that was where his
british blood stuck out. When 1 found
tnat nothing short OF a Morton pur-
chase would ever start him, did what
seemed TO me to be the only thing. I
just took my gun and went down the
beach and held up those seagoing
hoboes and made them mend their
beat ] got the drop on four of them,
but the worst Of the lot, the Portugee.
managed TO slip away. I'm not sure
whether ] hit him or not
That night Brown stood guard over
my shanghaied crew of criminals.
wreckers, blackbirders, or whatever
else they were, while I got in a good
eeH Houfs sleep. The next day / piled
them into the boat, jumped aboard
myself and we hit the brine, laying
q course for the next inhabited island,
which was only about hundred miles
away. 1t was my idea to get hold of
some sort Of packet when we got
there and go back after the others,
and L took money enough with me to
DO il.
Now then, said 1. when we had got
clear OF the outer line Of surf and they
had stepped the masts and shaken the
sails out Of the clew-lines, this old
box is bound for the next island, about
cne hundred miles away, and if we
don't sight il by daylight there1l be
three or four funerals in this one coffin
-savvy? ] know damn well ye'd like