The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1907-08-07
DRANK SAKE ON
The ROAD TO KILAUtA
Continued from Page Five).


three months were sure going to do al
whole lot of Indian work from the
minute they hoped off the steam
cutter, and l made up my mind that
Id let them off do all of the monkey
stuff, while I'd do the heavy digni-
| fed thing and be on hand to rig
them over their big heads when they
came to.
That's the way l had it all framed
up the night before, and | went to
sleep chuckling over the way | was
going to see Kilauea on the morrow,
while the rest of 'em wouldn't be
able to see anything. When the par
| ty made the beach the next morning
all hands scampered for the rumor-
ium of a Greek named Lycurgus toI
purchase a couple of quarts of
'swipes' each to last them on the
ride up. 'Swipes' is a combination of
wood alcohol, sweet chewing tobacco
and lava juice, and it sure has ac-
ton. But the 'swipes' that those fell
lows seized out to last them on their
ride wasn't in it with the stuff that
I, like rube, went up against.
81 was regarding my shipmates and
| their purchases with the superior grin
of one anchored to the aqua vehicle,
when Lycurgus' barkeep an American,
asked me If l wasn't in on the 'swipes'
buy. / told him that there would be
nothing transpiring in that direction
for me-that it was me for the high.
er and nobler until the wind-up of
my cruise.
Good, grand boy said the bar
keep, without the CULVER of facial
muscle. But you'll need something
sort O. wet to cool yourself off on the
ride up. The first springs twelve
miles up, and the air gets pretty sui
try and sulphury as you trudge along
toward the burning lake. 1 guess
it'll be you for about three quarts of
saki, hey?
'Saki-saki. Id heard a whole lot
about saki the Jap rice wine, as they
call it, and I'd never been up against
it,
Too jolly, isn't it, for man rid
ing the water wagon?' l asked the
barkeep.
why, Nix replied that rufian.
And l didn't know until afterward
that he was winking at the rest of the
bunch while 1 wasn't looking. Why,
saki's dope for children. Jap kids
drink it intsead of milk. Tastes like
the gooseberry wine your aunt used
to make, only it's even more harm
less than that, 1t stills the thirst
and you'll have one of those before
you get anywhere near the crater
and none of that what for did-I to fol
low"
Wrap me up about four quarts of
that Nipponese infant food, then,
said /.
Then We all hiked for the stable
where the five coaches were waiting,
climbed on board, and were off for
the burning lake of Kilauea with a
clatter; The seven other fellows in
the coach was riding in had begun
to nibble On their swipes before the
start, and by the time the stage was
a mile out of Hilo, on the way up
they were so gay with themselves
and with each other that 1 could only
SIT and look 'em over sadly and won
der why they hadn't made up their
minds to flag the hard stuff, like me.
IL was, as the barkeep predicted.
pretty sultIy going up, and when we
got about five miles on the way. what
WIN the dust and the heat and the
cigarettes, l was thirsty and when
reached down beneath the seat and
Drought out one of those bottles nj
Japanese baby food and preached n
couldn't help rejecting upon what
thoughtful cuss that barkeep had
peen TO put me next to the saki.
MY mates in the coach pretended
10 strlng me over indulging in such
silly, non-jolting juice as saki when
TOOK the first long pun at the bottle
D II tasted pretty good. Saki's a Whitley
Drownlsh stun, and goes down with
out Earring you any more than an in
nocuous Rhine wine. It rolled dowT
SO smooth and easy that I gulpef
down about quart of it, right on, tC
allay that thirst.
. For four or five minutes | didn'
feel any different, although l observ
|, ed that the other fellows in the coacI
had Iallen into great state of calm
= and that they were watching me witt
singular intentness and grinning as /
: I'd been making 'em a stump speech
3 Then l became saki-ed all of 8
sudden. 1t came with a rush. could
feel myself going loco all in half {
second. / saw those seven shipmate,
OF mine slapping their thighs ant
. heard EN- howl in their ghoulish glee
and the rest of it's all a Dashed night
mare. only know what happened
by hearsay. They all told me-yol
can stand a tap betting on that They
We're telling me all about it till the
, hour when 1 wound up that cruise
1T seems that when that baby foot
got me instantly jumped to the con
clusion, not only that the man driving
the stage wasn't on to his job, bu
that had all of the famous whipl
r that ever lived, including Ben Hur
Hank Monk and those DeODle hacka,