The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-08-19

craft. anyway. And while we read
this information a wireless message
was being received by the congress
sional party on the summit of Halea-
kala announcing the safe arrival of the
Shark
1t was the Shark Is first landfall-
and such a landfalll For twenty-seven
days we had been on the deserted deep,
and it was pretty hard to realize that
there was SO much life in the world.
We were made dizzy by it. We could
not take it all in at once. We were
like awakened Rip Van Wrinkles, and
it seemed to us that we were dreaming.
On one side the azure sea Tapped across
the horizon into the azure sky; on the
other side the sea lifted itself into
great breakers of emerald that fell
into snowy smother upon white
coral beach. Beyond the beach green
plantations of sugar cane undnlated
gently upward to sleeper slopes, which,
drenched with tropic showers and
capped by stupendous masses of trade
wind clouds.
At any rate it was most beautiful
dream. The Shark turned and headed
directly in toward the emerald surf, till
it lifted and Numbered on either hand;
and on either hand, scarce biscuit.
toss away, the reef showed its long
teeth, pale green and menacing.
Abruptly the land itself, in riot Of
olive greens of a thousand hues, reach
ed out its arms and folded the. Shark
in. There was no perilous passage
through the reef, no emerald surf and
azure sea-nothing but a warm soft
land, a motionless lagoon, and tiny
beaches on which swan dark skinned
tropic children The sea had disap,
peared The Shark s anchor rumbled
the chain through the hawse-pipe, and
we lay without movement on a cline
less. level fioor.' 1T was all SO beau,
tiful and strange that we could not
accept it as real On the chart this
place was called Pearl Harbor, but we
called it Dream Harbor
A launch came off to us; in it were
members of the Hawaiian Yacht Club,
come to greet us and make us welcome.
with true Hawaiian hospitality, to all
they had. They were ordinary men,
flesh and blood and all the rest; but
they did not tend to break our dream
ing. Our last memories of men were
of United States marshals and Of
panicky little merchants with rusty
dollars for souls, who. in a reeking at
mosphere of scot and lime-dust. laid
grimv hands upon the Shark and held
her back from her world adventure.
But these men who came to meet rs
were clean men. A healthy tan was
on their cheeks, and their eyes were not
dazzled and bespectacled from gazing
overmuch at glittering dollar heaps. No,
they merely verified the dream. They
eiinehed it with their unsmirched souls.
So we went ashore with them across
a level. flashing sea to the wonderful
green land. We landed on a tiny wharf,
and the dream became more insistent;
for know that for twenty-seven days
we had been rocking across the ocean
on the tiny Shark Not once in all
those twentv-seven days had we known
a moment s rest, a moment s cessation
from movement. This ceaseless move
ment had become ingrained. Body and
brain we had rocked and rolled SO long
that when we climbed ont on the tiny
wharf we kept on rocking and rolling.
This, automatically, we attributed to
the wharf. 1t was projected Psy,
chology.
7 spraddled along the wharf and
nearly fell into the water. | glanced
at Chairman. and the way she walked
made me sad. The wharf had all the
seeming of a ship s/deek. 1T lifted
tilted. heaved. and sank; and since
there were no handrails on it, it KEPT
CHAIRMAN and me busy avoiding falling
in. I never saw such preposterou'
little wharf Whenever watched Il
closely. it refused to roll; but as sooT
as [ took my attention off OF 1t, away
it went. lust like the Shark. Once
. caught it in the act just as 1T upended
and I looked down the length OF 1t TO
two hundred feet, and for all the worl'
it was like the deck of ship duckInt
into huge headsea.
At last, however, supported by on
hosts. we negotiated the wharf am
Gained the land. Next we came to
house of GOODNESS, with great sweepln.
veranda. where lotus eaters might dwel
Windows and doors were wide open {
the breeze. and the songs and ira
grances blew lazily in and out. In
walls were hung with tapa-eioth n
Couches with grass woven covers lnyli
ed everywhere. and there was gran
piano that played, l was sure, nothln
more exciting than iullabies. Servant
Japanese maids in native costume
drifted around and about, noIselessi'
like butterflies.
Everything was preternaturaiiy coo
There was no blazing down OF troPl
sun upon an unshrinking sea. lt wa
too good to be true. !" But it was Nc
real. Tt was dream dwelling. l kney
for I turned suddenly and caught th
, grand piano eavorting IN a spacious 60
ner of the room. | did not say an
thing. for just then we were being r
5 ceived by a gracious woman, peaut
/ ful Madonna. clad in flowing white an
!. shod with sandals. who greeted us