Nogales international., 1936-05-02
First InstalIment

hooves and to the skirling invisible
flight of gulls around a phantom
ship
The spectre alongside was the
ghost of a ship once dead. On the
hood of one of her wheels, as it
Wavered above the stringpiece, the
faded letters "George f. Starr, Sc
attic" trickled through an ancient
glaze of rust and SCOT They iden-
tilted all that was mortal of con-
demned side wheel ferry-boat,
which had been dragged from the
boneyard to make a first, and in
way a posthumous, voyage beyond
the Sound.
But to the men on the wharf, this
derelict was an argosy. Her n1usty
reek of cresote. bilge and old ropes
was the aroma of romance. The
brawl of the trucks that loaded her
was song of gold.
And there was, i'll fact, a weaving
lit of music in the roar. 1t came
from a quieter eddy in the fog
where a man was playing an accor-
dion, as he leaned against an up
turned bale of hay near the ships
side. Ignored by the crowd and
ignoring them, he poured into the
din a lazing medley that dissolved
there as vaguely as the mist-so
skillfully pitched that its source was
hardly noticeable. His frayed cor
duroy clothes. the barked leather
of his riding boots, his lean, rangy
figure and sun-browned skin, did
not distinguish him in that wealth
cred company. Clearer light might
have defined a certain wary chal-
ienge in his good -humored gray
eyes, or have drawn attention to an
odd scar that cut the corner of his
mouth, accenting his look of high
temper and daring.
Gun scars were not special mat
ter for comment in this crowd. I'm
like the varied mob that followed
them later, the men who blazed the
Yukon trails in the early fall of
~, were almost all hard-living men
of the open; miners, cattlemen, rail-
readers and lumberjacks from the
Northwest and Southwest; men who
knew little of the sea, but every
hazard of mountain and desert.
Not far from him, however, stood
q younger man, solitary like himself
whose serious eyes traced the fog
maze curiously, and seemed to find
less novelty in the ship than in his
teilow-voyagers. Some dunnaGe
bags, tied in sailor fashion, lay or
the wharf at the feet of the young
observer. A faded reefer jacket fit
ted his broad shoulders with th'
snug effect that sailors call "sea
going" and the same stamp of tht
sea showed in his salt-stiffenet
boots, his firm poise, and that un
conscious gallantry of bearing which
lends grace to old clothes.
AS the fog did not hide the two
men from each others view it hac
the effect of bringing them nearer
while sharpening the contrast be
tween them. They were strongly
built in different ways; as oak ane
steel are different. The younger mar
looked sturdier; the man with thu
accordion concealed under his idl'
posture the quick residence of tenn
pered metal. Both were sun-tanneC
if the ruddy brown of sea-sun car
be compared to the dry bronze o
the desert and the range Th,
boys hair was dark and curly; tn,
others of a sun-rusted color, anC
cut close, like troopers. Boil
had steady eyes, but where th
boys blue eyes reflected a sobe
discipline and the positive clarit,
of youth, the others held shad
of half-mocking tolerance, as if h
took the world as he found it, an,
had found it mixed.
Some sense of this, perhaps, drey
the musicians eyes for curiou
instant on his listener Lookin
away again into the veiled shimme
beyond the wharf, he began playin
the tune of an old sea ballad
I'm eighteen hundred and seventy
six
I found myself in a hell of
At the quick light of recognitio
in the boys face, he masked CLEAR
of amused interest
rs that a Boston song?" h
asked
The boy smiled. "My peopl
uScu 10 Sail Sn1pS out Oh DOSlOl
I've heard the song since | wa
nipper."
Figured it was a line shot yo
come from that coast" said the ac
cordian player.
I'D take you to be from tn
Northwest" he ventured. uncer
tainiy.
Your eyes good, Bud" replic
the musician with a twinkle, as h
inprovised series of chords "Bu
been up and down a few. Eve
hear this :" and he began, afte
deep intake of the accordion, tn
chesty balled OF Jack DOnahue tn
Highwaynlan. Then it drifted int
music unfamiliar to him: hall
barbaric and half-devotional melC
dies OF the Western ranges. sue
as Bill Roy" and Montana Kid.
III the midst of this rcpetory tn
piping cry of a newsboy who cam
down the wharf shouting:
"Extry!! Buck Solo Makes Fl
Last Stand!! Posse Surround
Bandit in Mountain Pass! Extra
The accordion player lifted hi