Evening star., 1922-05-21
GETTING FED UP on KEYS
A Sewell. Ford Tale

came on board was one th9f must
have seen foreign serviceyin q "Y''
hut. or else the cook had been using
IT. to whet his knives on. Anyway.
the noises which came from the
box were just as musical as throw
ing q cat through q window. Yet
here were Inex and Uncle Ness and
the boy Flipper. shut up in the cabin,
listening to It,
For the love of orpheus, Ines!'
says I. "Why shatter the peace of q
perfectly good night by grinding out
anything like that? What's the idea r
at gets lonesome" says lnez. "Noth-
in to see, nothin. to hear. Makes me
nervous"
Listen to that from q girl who was
brought up on = farm four miles out
of T-.marack Junction. Minnesota"
says l. Nothing to see. eh? Say. come
up on deck and I'll show you something
worth looking at. Honest. there's full
moon coming up that's as big as . hay
barn"
But even that spectacle didn't salts
fly Inez. She wants to know II there
isn't anything else to see down here
but water and mangrove islands.
why" says Barry. Il believe there
is some sort Of town few miles in.
land from here, but I don't know
whether we can get there by boat or
not. You see, only the channels among
these outer keys have been chartered
by the government. but here seems to
be a place marked on this county map.
It's called-er-C-h-o-k-Wait. I'll ask
the captain to pronounce 1t. Too much
of mouthful for me-"
But Capt Mears seemed to find 1t
easy. 'That?" says he. That's
Chuck-a-lusky. Sure, I can take you
up there in the nornin'. Only little
run. but maybe we better take the mo-
tor boat for it." ,.-
Sounds funny" says Inez, but I'm
sick OF seein' only islands. Besides. 1
wanna get some gum"
| X 4
| co right after breakfast we all piled
into the tender for the excursion.
and Inez was so excited over the pros
pect of visiting a real town once more
that she insisted on wearing her city
clothes and carrying a fancy sunshade.
And when we'd chugged for four or
five miles through winding channels,
and past dozens of mangrove keys all
just alike. buildings clustered in the
background. And over the door Of the
nearest edifice was this sign: Post
Office. Chokoloskee, Fla"
Here you are!" says the captain.
"Chuckalusky."
| Just this?" protests Inez.
| But, dearie!" says I. you weren't
expecting anything like Battery Park,
/ were you?"
We found that the post office was
tn one corner Of the general store. 1t
was some shop. I'll say. You could buy
almost anything there that you could
| md. from safety razor blade to n
hundred-pound anchor. Scattered about
the floor were boxes of canned goods.
| piles OF rubber boots. kegs Of nails,
crates Of onions and heap Of Never
rip overalls. The counters and shelyes
overlooked with various kinds of goods
soap and soup. combs and cucumbers.
| shoes and sugar. And amongst the lot
Inez discovered her favorite gum and
Flipper his favorite soft drink. Also
we all bought picture post cards and
mailed 'em.
They'll go up to Myers on the fish
boat tomorrow, or maybe tn day aft
| err" we were assured
| "Ain't there anything else to see -.
demanded Inez. ...-.-
There's the fish wharf," explained
Capt. Mears. "and up thataway there's
four or five houses. Then there's the
shell mound"
INSIDE Of FIVE minutes we'd made
the grand tour Of Chokoloskee and
by 10 o'clock We had started back.
We made the return by a different
route and as we sailed through q new
channel we were surprised to see
rather a good-sized stern.wheeled
steamer at anchor.
Government boat, explained the
captain. she's been down here for
about year now. Some kind Of \
scientific expedition sent out from
Washington. Two professors aboard.
They go dredgfn' around. and hammer
of pieces of coral. and take pictures
Of the mangrove bushes. Coin to
write a book or something about
these keys, hear"
How interesting?" says Barry.
Lets go closer in. captain"
"Sure" says Capt. Mears. Land
you on her II you like" g
And as we sailed up to the steamer
Barry let's out gasp. Look, Trilby
May" says he. There's the xrouchy
old boob we saw fishing for sheeps-
head" :
"The same" says I. "The one you
wasted all that information on"
| Him. says the captain. He's one
of the professors that's settin' up the
book"
| "Oh. gosh! groaned Barry.
Want to tie up and have q talk
with him?" asks the captain. g..
Absolutely not" says Barry. I've
! told that old boy all I know, and per-
haps a little more. No, thanks Let's
60 along"
..No wonder you couldn't get him
excited over Florida in the making,
Barry" suggested.
what I'm wondering" says he, 'is
how much Of what I fed him was 30.
Say, he must have had q treat eh?"
expect that was one Of the reasons