The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-07-29

" 40 oAlOi ScbldDit, Ike SuOuel
perfume of spices borne on an offshor
breeze. I shall remember it always
not Slowly and continuously, but b,
gusts. by sudden moments. AS the very
last, even if it be in the very hotties
toll to save my ship, L know that il
will come back before me, just as il
was 1 shall be on the old Algaroba
once more. 1 shall hear the creak NJ
her rudder head, the wildgoose of the
gaffs swinging overhead against the
dry masts, the clink-clank of the trav-
eier blocks. / shall see her huge bow
spirit holding out like a hand the
slender jibboom; the clumsy anchors on
the fo'c'sle head; the cook shifting his
galley pipe while we tackled ship; the
carpenter smoking in the door of his
room; the man at the wheel cooking a
iusteriess eye up at the topsails. Yes,
1t will all come back. even to the hud-
died form of the captain, seen through
the skylight-the captain. eternally
pouring over the grimy chart pinned
down on the cabin table
AT the last, the very last, in the flash
OF shutter, l shall see the Twin Pc
ters, squatted on the soaring jibboom
amid the tatters of the headsails,
dumb, deaf, sightless, clinging to that
perilous perch over the seas that split
against the derelict Algaroba's stem
and threw her staggering s1yward
[ came aboard the Algaroba in the
afternoon. She lay at the wharf at the
foot of Powell street, and as I trod the
crazy p1anks I saw, when 1 dared look
1c9 Tel nd
ferryboats crossing the bay from San
Francisco to Sausalito. I looked down
on the Uttered deck of schooner. A
heavy-faced man stared up at my hail
and another climbed slowly up the
companionway from the cabin. This
last man nodded at me. Here's the
second mate, mister" he explained to
the heavy-faced man, the mate. Then
he nodded to me again. II was eX-
pecting YOU he remarked hesitating-
ly, as if that We're mot what he really
meant to say. I dropped down on the
deck and my bag followed me. My
porter knelt on the stringer and passed
down with great care my sextant case
and a roll of charts.
HUH calculated the captain from
the companionway. 1T will be some
thing new to have second mate who's
a navigator. HUH
I blushed. l had never been an Of
ficer before. 1t suddenly struck me
that I had been presumptuous, that
after all I had set too high an esti-
mate on my new dignity What was an
officer of an old schooner, any way?
What was a second mate? I blushed
again. 1 paid the porter double what
i owed him. stood on that dirty deck
like a dumb fellow, my sextant under
my arm.
The captain beloved for the boy. He
came hastily and picked up my stuff.
He'll show you your cabin said the
captain. I'm glad you know naviga-
ton. Huhi =.
Ae he made way for me to pass down
into the cabin he exploded again in a
husky and interrogative, HUH" as if
he We're undecided and amazed.
It was all so commonplace. I was
sick to think of the drearfness of the
voyage ahead of me. The cabin smell
ed of musty days, of damp and miser-
able calms as if no fair and impetuous
wind ever blew rousingly through it.
I stumbled on down and turned into
the little room assigned to me on the
starboard side. 1 changed my hat for
a cap. my coat for a jacket. Then l
went on deck, ready for work.
The captain was loungIng on the
poop, one arm thrown across the spank
er BOOM still in the crutch. Il think
we shall get away today he said
orfskly. Re, started up. rs the cargo
all in mister?' he beloved to the
nate. The mate threw up his hands in
assent. please see that the matches
are put on and battened," the skipper
continued. 7 think the wind will hold
air. We will use this tide"
AS | left the poop L heard him shift
els position. l heard. too, grunt--
HUH" It struck me as queer II
.enoted bewildermenI and uncertainty
L started to work and suddenly Tell 10
20 myself The men answered
nv orders nimbly. l swelied. was
an officer, For the first time 1 was
,ut of the fo'c'sle and I waited for the
inaI degree. 1t came. The skipper
- 49,, IF the noon. He called to
ne mister, get the covers off the
ai1sr, Yes. | was Mister now. With
lie,,ity I pulled on lacing. 1t gave
nd l stepped back. Let the hands 90
he work I was Mister.
we got Tie Old Algaroba ready TOT
ca tug came putting alongside,
,,ok line from our bow and we swung
tom IN the channel. The tide caught
Ter and saw the skipper throw of the
ow,ina, himself. We were OF we
oiste ed the sails to my call. They rose
the gaffs complaining as we
ueped The wind from the north MI
d them. 1 went to the poop with
nv men and we fiattened the spanker
beet The captain stared up I thlnh
-ou'd better set your topsaHS'
~ HOOK the sheets on the port
ide HUH -,
7 set the topsails. hoisted them high
heeted them down till they sprang II
he Ireeze. The mate came by, putting
n his jacket after wash in the main man.
arch. I'm hungry he said. III
DING to eat
I went to the poop. The captain was
tarilig into the compass \ It'ai,i.
uoy lifted alongside ana ooO' ~
full - he SAID. L