Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1908-02-29
CAPTAIN (lUltY
wins HIS WAGER
Beats Fast Clipper From
Here To Aus.
traIia

hut when three or four old sailors,
old in years though young in feeling
and rich in experiences, get together,
there is usually a wealth of stories
told that never appear in print. Such
was the case recently when old Cap
tain Cluney sat down and recalled
some of his trips in the early days
around and out the port of Honolulu.
They were mostly short scraps,
suggested by word from one of the
kamaainas present, but all realistic
ant told with the true story-teller's
zest. Shipping Commissioner Almy
precipitated one of the narratives by
asking Captain Cluney IL he had ever
been in Australia.
Australia! Well, ! should say
have. Four trips | made to Sydney,
and they were hummers, too, can
tell you. remember one that fetch
ed me the best suit of clothes / ever
owned, a cold bottle of wine, and
gov Dn the Slut' IL WAS thirty -Ouu
years ago. and | was a-runnin' the
old Mary Foster. i got cargo OF SUI
gar. for the Colonies, but didn't
know who owned It or anything
about 1t. There was six other ves-
sells on the same trip, one of them
clipper that could whip along with
the best boat that ever carried all
sail before a hurricane, had week
Start o. me when let go the line and
started out OF the harbor of Homo
lulu. Jest as the boat was shecrin'
around a fellow hollered at me from
the dock:
Bet you fifty dollars the clipper
beats you in to sydney
Now. had $3.50 in my jeans at
that time, and never could back
down. so | up and says, You ought
to give me twenty-to-one odds, but
III take your bet Then l knew
what was before me. I'll tell you
right now that lost seventeen
pounds weighing in the same suit of
clothes by the time I got to Sydney.
We had rotten weather, too. The old
Mary Foster had all she could do
sometimes to hold her own, and the
mate was all the time growlin' at me.
saying we never could catch up with
the clipper. But hate to lose bet
II can help it--not that am stin-
gy, but | jest want to win, to show
them what | can do. So we held her
up to the wind all the way down
and was a-makin good time, when
one day Just at sunset the lookout
sighted a vessel away OF to the hori-
zon. Skinned up the masthead with
. glass, and, sure enough, It was the
clipper. Then slid down again and
walked over to the mate, and ! says,
Mate, will you have a wee nip of
whiskey?' And the mate went down
in the cabin with me and we had a
great big drink. Here we were even
with the clipper, and she had seven
days start from Honolulu of us.
Now says to the mate, that clip
per don't beat us to sydney For
we was about 1900 miles OFF yet.
And say, that storm was growl-
CT.
But when the pilot boarded IFS
at Sydney, the first thing wanted to
know was II the clipper had arrived
yet. The pilot said sure not, and
took him down in the cabin, too.
Then ! made him present OF two
demijohns of good old Bourbon, the
kind they don't see In the Colonies.
Man, says he, that's worth a
pound ($5) a demijohn, and l want
TO pay you for it.
But | said no. | wanted him to
take 1t. but also wanted him to keep
still about my boat arriving with SUI
gar until had 1t sold. He said he'd
keep still for century for one of
those demijohns. So hustled In and
sold my sugar, and 1t was twelve
days before the clipper showed up in
side the harbor. had sold the SUI
gar at higher price, 80 that the
sum realized was several thousand
dollars more than 1t otherwise would
have been,
well, we come back to Honolulu,
and the first man to meet me at the
boat was this fellow | bet with. He
had heard the news some time before
from a schooner that came back from
the Colonies shortly after arrived.
He grabbed me, pump-handled me,
and said that he wanted me to come
and drink bottle OF wine with him.
thought the man had either gone
crazy or fallen heir to a million, and
said, No; won the bet, am go
ing to do the buying He looked at
me for a minute; then he said:
Didn't you know that was my sugar
YOU were carrying? You cleared Gev-