Evening star., 1917-11-25

crew up, and the consul. in thick ana
suffering voice, asked the crew X tne
bosn had died from natural causes.
Ninety per cent of the men could NOT
understand what he said, and siience
prevailed. At sea silence means con-
sent. 1 butted in and said NO" ] was
standing next to the mate. / felt thae
gorillalike hand of his pinching the
back of my neck. and nearly tainteo'
Then the consul went over the size
into his boat and was soon pulling ior
the shore. We lifted anchor ana tne
port was left behind.
Half way up the coast we ran OUT
OF fresh water and had to drink con-
densed water from an old squeaky con.
densing engine 1t was brackish ana
sickening. l would have sold my soul
for one drink of clear. cold water.
Monday became tyrannical ana un-
bearable. and it was up to Bill ana me
to devise some scheme to keep nim IN
check.
Through listening to Mondays
stories. / knew that he was very SUI
perstitious and believed in magic, or
"zobi." as he called 1t.
Bill told him that my father in Amer
lea was a great medicine man ana that
1 was gifted with magic
While loading guano at Lopas, tne
fourth engineer had gone on shoot
ing trip and killed several huge peii.
cans. He skinned these and gave me
scheme That morning little black
bird fell on the deck. and i picked tt
up and took it to my glory hole. t
was in dying condition. j told Bill
that that night. about 10 O'CLOCK; 1
would go aft on the poop deck with
the pelican's skin down my back. and.
with my face smeared with black
would do a mystic dance. He was TO
take Monday and hide behind the ven
tiIator. and while was doing my war
dance he would explain to Monday that
/ was in communication with my
father. the great American medicine
man.
He did this. and it make quite a hit.
The next morning Monday came to me.
and. bowling low, requested a token. az
he called II; a message from my father.
I promised to give him one, but we
were sure up against 1t. Then
thought of the little black bird in my
glory hole. and the solution was at
hand. I very solemnly informed Mon
day that at o'clock that night my
father would send message to me in
the form of little land bird. All day
Monday kept away from me, alteration
and awe in his eyes. Bill and ! imme-
diately repaired to the glory hole, ana
certainly took tender care of that bird,
praying that it would live until
o'clock
About ten minutes TO put on
my feathers and sneaked aft with the
little bird. placed 1t on the steering
gear and commenced my mystic dancs.
] chanted a little song: "Oh, Father.
greatest of medicine men, a token 10
desired for the esteemed friend Of your
son. Oh. Fathr, send me this token
Then. with few mystic grunts. I be-
seeched Bill and Monday to come ana
receive the token. Monday came fren-
bling aft and I pointed to the little
black bird which was weakly gasptng
fits last, but it saved the day. for US.
How we honored and respected that
10 hY,n of
to see what Monday would do, We left
him. He sat by the bird for over an
hour, chanting in that weird, sing-song
patois of the British West Indies. From
that time on Monday was our slave.
+
Two days before reaching st. Lucia,
the captain sent for us. and said that
he knew that Bill and I had slowed
fish, fell for this and admitted It,
whereupon the captain coolly informed
Us that we had forfeited all pay allow
ances due us for the entire voyage. The
joke of It was that, under the board OF
trade laws the Cushko had to go two
hundred miles out of her way to get to
st. Lucia and put Monday ashore
We dressed him in long pair OF
white pants; the carpenter gave him
a red vest; Bill placed a derby hat on
his head and he went ashore In a small
boat When the boat returned we ltfteo
anchor. and as st. Lucia again faded
into the distance we could see a soil.
tary little figure on the dock waving
his white pants around his head. he
had removed them upon reaching port.
We felt a pang Of regret as he faded
out of sight.
After an uneventful trip we went
into quarantine in New York harbor.
At the first sight of the Statue OF LIB
erty a rush Of independence and pa
triotism surged through me. and sat
down on the hatchway and absolutely
refused to work. The captain threat
ened to put me in double irons. told
him to go to he'll, and do it; that wan
port. and I claimed the protection OF
the Stars and Stripes, and in accord
ance with my rights as sailor, De.
manded the consul's flag to be hoisted
at the foremast. The captain gave me
q hard look, but wilted.
The next afternoon at bells 4
landed in New York, free again. was
dressed in a pair Of blue overalls. bare
footed. a Panama hat on my head.
black as negro from sunburn. red
handkerchief around my neck. ana
wearing a white neglige shirt. On my
left shoulder I had a small monkey and
in my right hand a wooden cage with
parrot in 1T. In m pocket was $40 in
silver. but 1 did not care. I was again
on terra firma with the Stars and
Stripes floating above me-
I received a wonderful welcome At
home. and was of the opinion that the
hardships of my cruise were well worth
enduring, in view of the reception
was receiving.
But. of course. all wonders die out
in nine days, and mine sizzled out like
a wet frecracker on the Fourth of July.
and it was up to me to get busy and
find something to do.
This ended my first real adventure.
Copyright. 1917, by the Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicate.l