The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-02-15
Continued from Page Ten. !

'heantlihe your status remains I'M
changed It's got to be given to the
Honolulans; they don t jump on folks
that are down. even if they have got
debtor NARROWING law.
50 And so, following my no-go confab
with the people I owed the two thou
sand TO, ] used to stroll out Diamond
Head way of days and nights, trying
to think out ways of tagging those
lynx-eyed judgment holders long enough
TO permit of my putting the Islands of
Hawaii hull down. I was all right for
shelter and food, for from the first
| d been living with a San Franciscan
and his family who were old friends.
He was only in a small way of bust
ness in Honolulu, and, at that. he of
fered to sort of pass the hat around
in Honolulu among his business friends
to get me shed of my creditors. But
you can see me doing anything like
that.
The first stab I made for a sail
cut was when one night, in a bum
makeup that I'd picked up, | went
aboard lime .iuicer bark, loading sug-
ar for the States, and asked the buckle
British skipper to ship me as an extra
hand for the run up to San Francisco.
He blimed and bloodied his bIeedy
eyes all over, of course, when I maced
him for the job on the up-ernise, and
then blared out with the demand to
know if 7 thought he was running a
blooming yacht. He needed hand or
two, he howled at me; but he WASH t
shipping hands for little top cruises of
two or three weeks like the run from
Honolulu to San Francisco. He was
geing to load again at Seattle with
lumber for New York, and if / wanted
to ship A. B. for that space of time
always perwidin' I was an A. B..
Itch he bleeding doubted-why, that
might be thought over.
ssI WASH t keen for that beat around
the Horn, having done that same more
times than enough when a lubber of a
wrongheaded boy; but I sure did re-
quire to detach myself from Hawaii
just as soon as it could be done, and
So | told him d sign for the run from
Seattle to New York too. He clapped
the papers on me in hornpipe time,
me figuring on them with the surname
of an old spinster aunt that used to
make remarkable cookies, and front
name to suit for concealment purposes.
| turned below with the TO c sic hands
right away, learned that was shipped
on board devil s hooker; and didn It
care, so long as l was tagging Hawaii
and had chance to jump an English
ship at San Francisco. And the next
morning | turned to with the hands at
sugar loading.
"There on deck, operating winch,
7 was promptly discovered by one of
the debt marooners of Honolulu who
happened to be passing by,-they'v We
got way of looking over ships COM
panies to nail the debtor clippers, and
by eleven clock in the morning my
papers were cancelled and | was once
again, as | trudged to my living place
for decent clothes and decent break
fast, left to reflect upon how much
easier it nearly always is to get there
than it is to get away from there.
''Then / framed up real cut-uppish,
Dick Turpinish kind of getaway. The
steamer Mariposa, just in from Austria
liza and on her way up to San Fran
cisco, was to sail that same afternoon,
and among her passengers for the
States were a lot of pleasant Homo
lulans of my acquaintance. Ny visit
ful little wheeze of an idea was to go
down and see these acquaintance off.
Seeing the steamers off is as big a
social function in Honolulu as mon
key dinner is in Newport, and [ fgur-
ed. if that maybe-oh, maybe maybe
I'd be able to sort of lose myself in
the merry and fearful throng of ship
speeders and keep under cover until
the Mariposa was well past Diamond
Head. There was no cable to the isl
ands in those days, and the Honolulu
debt-getawayist who eontrived to hatch
or house himself over, in bilge or ca
bin or anywhere, until the harbor-
MASTER patrol boats had no chance
of catching up, was sure of making
his landing when his getaway ship
reached its port.
"Me, then, for the white duck suit
and the pith helmet and the lei of flow
ers around my neck, as they re worn
down on tie islands on outing occa-
sions, and the brisk walk down to
where the ehattering crowd of all be
diked Honolulans were assembling to
see the voyagers to the States.
81 stood behind some bales on the
pier and peered down the aisle of
merchandise toward the gangway to
see if l could recognize any of the
debt grabbers in the throng. None
seemed to be there, or at any rate
within my focus. and so down the pieI
[ strolled, swinging the jaunty stick
humming the Aloha refrain with
which everybody in Hawaii is greeted
and Godsped, and striving to toss out
the impression that | had no more
thought of attempting to desert Homo
| lulu to its fate than l had of trying to
play the French horn in the Royal
Hawaiian band that was poompahing
its goodby melodies at the end of the
pier.
"With a nod here and a lift of the
lid there, and other like little ameni
ties, I passed right up the gangplank
so / did; and when I walked right
into a young couple of my acquaint
| ance who were sailing on the steamer
I took the wreath of flowers from my
| neck and gave it to the lady accord
| ing to custom. and then I started tC
make bee line for steward s stort
| room that I saw standing open. 4