Arizona republican., 1922-03-17

on the engine house roof. until it ap-
peared that banana loading might
take hours. So we went ashore.
Heat Blisterinq in Village
But we didn't stay. The gemlike
manor house we had seen from the
water proved to be German possess
sion, and the war is not yet over in
that part Of the land. The small In
dian village OF Santa Cruz, a mile or
so inland, held our attention for a
time. But pigs asleep in the sun,
dogs asleep in the sun, Indians
asleep in the sun wattled houses
with high conical roofs thatched
with the long leaves of the banana
palm, dust shoetop deep. a blistering
heat that away from the water was
unrelieved by breath of tree air.
grew monotonous. So we returned
to the Nameless and the banana
loading.
AS the sun rose the small Indian
boy deleted his apparel bit by bit.
First his small trousers went. Then
his small shirt followed. until he
worked mother naked in the water
and sun. His job-he was not more
than twelve years old-was princi-
pally to stand shoulder deep in the
ing out to sea when the dugout was
beached for the loading. Now and
then he varied this by carrying
punches of bananas Always he
pulled sturdy oar in the journeys
to and from the Nameless. Always
alongside he kept two round unwink-
ing black eyes fixed upon us.
Little Indian Boy Is AWed
When the chill OF early evening
came he pulled an old sack over his
shoulders during his moments of in
activity, which were few. At last the
Nameless cast off for the trip to San
Bias, off which port we were to be
transhipped into the dugout for the
ride to shore. During the day the
other Indians had laughed and chat
tered vivaciously and continuously.
When one caught IN Indians eye
that Indian always smiled. But the
small boy had only watched. A small
white boy might have looked in the
same awe stricken fashion at the
first criminal he had ever seen in
Il was a black midnight when the
canoe was pulled alongside the
Nameless. In the stern slept the capo
wrapped in his cape, bandit fashion,
the dark blanket coming up to his
eyes. In the bow sat the second
brother asleep. his wide sombrero
pulled down, his stained blank
ct pulled up to shield him from the
night air. In the waist sat the small
est Indian, his tiny sombero pulled
down, his minute blanket pulled up.
He slept the sleep OF tired twelve
years old.
But he took his oar for all that
when he wakened UP. He put all his
small strength into it, too, thou~h the
bow was being continually pulled
around upon him. The moon was
overcast. We could barely find the
ragged tops OF the Stands as they
slid by against the black sky. Long
before we could see the white foam
OF the breakers we could hear their
roar as they charged the entrance of
the sand -choked little port. And then
the smallest Inditan came into his
own.
He began 60 laugh and chatted.
He must have been tired almost to
exhaustion, and yet his voice rang
clear with an almost birdlike note.
His black eyes danced and shone un-
der his hat brim. He led the chorus
of imerriment which these amazing
toilers were able to discover at mid
night after a day OF heart breaking
toll in the water and back-packng
lead-heavy banana punches, and at
the oar. And when the dugout was
finally beached in the soft sand OF
San Bias. and / climbed abroad the
capo's shoulders to ride pickaback
to dry Iand--and the capo, being a
slender Indian, began to sink IN the
sand like a log under a pile driver
he chirped until the cApo gasped with
laughter and came near spilling US
both into the frotn.
There were millions--billions--
hot footed gnats in that sand and
they stung us almost to madness.
San Bias bears villanous reputa-
tion along the west coast for the
variety and venom of its insect pests.
But we were held, and danced and
slapped and fumed while our dandy
Indians undressed themselves-there
in a darkness that was but made
visible by the hidden glimmer in
the moon-and redress themselves in
their gala clothes of white. The capo
brought out from the bag in which
these garments had been kept un-
spotted his town knife--a wide
bIaded. silver handled creation. So
did the second brother. The little
Indian had but a little knife. So
they led us in to the town.
Leave to See the Town
And when we had finally found a
hotel that would receive us, after
having made a town scandal by our
refusal to sleep in the open with
tarantulas and fleas, the capo and
the second brother smiled so that
their perfect teeth flashed in the
darkness and lifted their hats and