Evening star., 1925-02-08
by Sea

last we saw of the bIood-curdIing
carabineros.
The manager of the Port Har-
ris establishment. Senior Marcou,
called upon US He was a retund.
red checked, bright eyed, jovial
Frenchman. demonstrative. kind.
irascible, and-as he proved to us
What can we do about your boat?"
he asked at once.
We asked for very little-and he
gave US everything.
Well, he said finally, well give
your boat thorough overhauling and
make 1t fit to go to the Horn In"
But l can't pay for IT." ex-
claimed. ,s-.H
mo natter he replied laughingiy.
"and now come home to dinner"
Three weeks passed like one: and
although the hospitality Of Dawson
showed no signs Of waning. and It's
simple ways and wonders. rather than
wearying us. might have become our
habit for as many months, our boat
was finished. She was. as 1t was said,
At for the Horn; and, as IL the Horn
were that consum nation to which
our lives were purposed, 1t held US
by a law stronger than the allure
ments of pleasant ease.
were real. toasted and blessed and
laden with gifts, we sailed away. The
schooners in the harbor dipped their
flags and the sawmill whistle
shrieked. Port Harris was a bank of
waving hands-then a memory.
There was a strong east wind
abeam and a choppy sea. and the sky
was heavy and threatening. After five
hours of tumultuous sailing we en-
tered the sheltered waters of Mes
kim Channel, the mountain shores
drew close and lowered over us, and
suddenly it was vastly quiet as IL all
sound and movement In the world had
stopped. We heard only the silver rip
pling of the wavelets on our sides
as the soft wind bore US on. Then
living creatures came to welcome us.
There was quick. soft, momentary
tearing Of the water. and another and
again; porpoises were all about US,
playing like young dogs. They leaped
and darted back and forth across our
bows. or followed at our side, or
dived beneath the keel.
Thus gloriously escorted, we found
a most peaceful little crescent cove.
On the winds last breath we entered
there and anchored
For days we loitered at that anchor
age. unwilling to forsake a spot that
one might choose to spend a lifetime
in. Then, too, it was dead calm.
The faintest breeze bore US up the
channel the morning that we sailed.
We reached the western point of
Wickham Island. But the wind failed
us and we yielded to the current of a
strong ebb tide and let our boat be
borne through the archipelago of lit
tie islands that cluster around the ex-
tremity of Wiskham. Southwark we
proceeded through a maze of these,
without a wind, seemingly so mo-
tionless on the calm breast Of the tide
that 1t appeared as IL the land
streamed past US to display itself.
X
CUDDENLY, from the far-off forest
~ of the dark mountain side across
the water, family through the falling
shro,.d of rain, alone and clear above
the Sience, came the barking of a
dog Staring through the glasses, We
discovered two overturned boats on
th. beach. and above them in the
shadows of the trees two huts. Pres
ently. as We drew nearer, there ap-
peared against the darkness of the
doorways Two faces peering out, each
luminous and round and motionless as
a moon. A man came out and strolled
81
made no reply.
While we were tremendously ex-
cited at thus encountering cannibaIs,
there was nothing in the appearance
of things to warrant any course but
that which instructive courtesy pre-
scribed for a chance meeting between
human beings in the wilderness. So.
putting into my pocket a few cakes
of the greatest delicacy that our
stores contained, a chocolate emer-
gency ration, I embarked with the
mate for the shore.
The silent being there awaited us.
and, as we landed, gave us a helping
hand to draw the skiff above the
waters reach.
He was a man of about so. of med
ium height and powerful build. and
was clad in filthy. tattered and
patched remnants Of a miscellaneous
assortment of white mems garments.
We shook his hard skinned. pudgy hand
and greeted him.
Very bad weather" he remarked
in a horrible dialect which he later
referred to as Castilian.
And from this strikingly familiar
opening of conversation he proceeded,
as we sauntered down the beach, to
ask for gifts-tobacco, -four, sugar.
As we approached the dwellings
another man, younger one, came out
and leaned against the boats. He
nodded to us. He was lame, and his
right arm was crippled. He showed it
to me. 1t was so terribly inflamed
and swollen from the fingers to the
elbow that I could make nothing of
the cause.
ci inc