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46 | Tales of the Fish Patrol
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48 |
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49 | <para>
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50 | by Jack London
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351 | </para>
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352 |
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353 |
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354 |
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355 | <para>
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356 | Tales of the Fish Patrol by Jack London
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357 | Scanned and proofed by David Price
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358 | [email protected]
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359 | </para>
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360 | </gutblurb>
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361 |
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362 | <markupblurb>
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363 | Original markup by Frank Boumphrey. 2/4/2000
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364 | Validated against gutbook1.dtd using MSXML parser
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365 | </markupblurb>
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366 |
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367 |
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368 | <book>
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369 | <acknowledge>A production of Project Gutenberg and the HTML Writers Guild. E-text by David Price. Markup by Frank Boumphrey</acknowledge>
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370 | <frontmatter>
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371 | <titlepage>
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372 | <title>
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373 | Tales of the Fish Patrol
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374 | </title>
|
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375 | <author>Jack London</author>
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376 | </titlepage>
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377 | </frontmatter>
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378 |
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379 | <bookbody>
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380 | <chapter>
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381 | <title>
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382 | WHITE AND YELLOW</title>
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383 |
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384 |
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385 | <para>
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386 | San Francisco Bay is so large that often its storms are more
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387 | disastrous to ocean-going craft than is the ocean itself in its
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388 | violent moments. The waters of the bay contain all manner of fish,
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389 | wherefore its surface is ploughed by the keels of all manner of
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390 | fishing boats manned by all manner of fishermen. To protect the
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391 | fish from this motley floating population many wise laws have been
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392 | passed, and there is a fish patrol to see that these laws are
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393 | enforced. Exciting times are the lot of the fish patrol: in its
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394 | history more than one dead patrolman has marked defeat, and more
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395 | often dead fishermen across their illegal nets have marked success.
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396 | </para>
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397 |
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398 | <para>
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399 | Wildest among the fisher-folk may be accounted the Chinese shrimp-
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400 | catchers. It is the habit of the shrimp to crawl along the bottom
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401 | in vast armies till it reaches fresh water, when it turns about and
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402 | crawls back again to the salt. And where the tide ebbs and flows,
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403 | the Chinese sink great bag-nets to the bottom, with gaping mouths,
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404 | into which the shrimp crawls and from which it is transferred to
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405 | the boiling-pot. This in itself would not be bad, were it not for
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406 | the small mesh of the nets, so small that the tiniest fishes,
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407 | little new-hatched things not a quarter of an inch long, cannot
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408 | pass through. The beautiful beaches of Points Pedro and Pablo,
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409 | where are the shrimp-catchers' villages, are made fearful by the
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410 | stench from myriads of decaying fish, and against this wasteful
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411 | destruction it has ever been the duty of the fish patrol to act.
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412 | </para>
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413 |
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414 | <para>
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415 | When I was a youngster of sixteen, a good sloop-sailor and all-
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416 | round bay-waterman, my sloop, the Reindeer, was chartered by the
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417 | Fish Commission, and I became for the time being a deputy
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418 | patrolman. After a deal of work among the Greek fishermen of the
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419 | Upper Bay and rivers, where knives flashed at the beginning of
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420 | trouble and men permitted themselves to be made prisoners only
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421 | after a revolver was thrust in their faces, we hailed with delight
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422 | an expedition to the Lower Bay against the Chinese shrimp-catchers.
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423 | </para>
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424 |
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425 | <para>
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426 | There were six of us, in two boats, and to avoid suspicion we ran
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427 | down after dark and dropped anchor under a projecting bluff of land
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428 | known as Point Pinole. As the east paled with the first light of
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429 | dawn we got under way again, and hauled close on the land breeze as
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430 | we slanted across the bay toward Point Pedro. The morning mists
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431 | curled and clung to the water so that we could see nothing, but we
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432 | busied ourselves driving the chill from our bodies with hot coffee.
|
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433 | Also we had to devote ourselves to the miserable task of bailing,
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434 | for in some incomprehensible way the Reindeer had sprung a generous
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435 | leak. Half the night had been spent in overhauling the ballast and
|
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436 | exploring the seams, but the labor had been without avail. The
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437 | water still poured in, and perforce we doubled up in the cockpit
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438 | and tossed it out again.
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439 | </para>
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440 |
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441 | <para>
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442 | After coffee, three of the men withdrew to the other boat, a
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443 | Columbia River salmon boat, leaving three of us in the Reindeer.
|
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444 | Then the two craft proceeded in company till the sun showed over
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445 | the eastern sky-line. Its fiery rays dispelled the clinging
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446 | vapors, and there, before our eyes, like a picture, lay the shrimp
|
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447 | fleet, spread out in a great half-moon, the tips of the crescent
|
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448 | fully three miles apart, and each junk moored fast to the buoy of a
|
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449 | shrimp-net. But there was no stir, no sign of life.
|
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450 | </para>
|
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451 |
|
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452 | <para>
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453 | The situation dawned upon us. While waiting for slack water, in
|
---|
454 | which to lift their heavy nets from the bed of the bay, the Chinese
|
---|
455 | had all gone to sleep below. We were elated, and our plan of
|
---|
456 | battle was swiftly formed.
|
---|
457 | </para>
|
---|
458 |
|
---|
459 | <para>
|
---|
460 | "Throw each of your two men on to a junk," whispered Le Grant to me
|
---|
461 | from the salmon boat. "And you make fast to a third yourself.
|
---|
462 | We'll do the same, and there's no reason in the world why we
|
---|
463 | shouldn't capture six junks at the least."
|
---|
464 | </para>
|
---|
465 |
|
---|
466 | <para>
|
---|
467 | Then we separated. I put the Reindeer about on the other tack, ran
|
---|
468 | up under the lee of a junk, shivered the mainsail into the wind and
|
---|
469 | lost headway, and forged past the stern of the junk so slowly and
|
---|
470 | so near that one of the patrolmen stepped lightly aboard. Then I
|
---|
471 | kept off, filled the mainsail, and bore away for a second junk.
|
---|
472 | </para>
|
---|
473 |
|
---|
474 | <para>
|
---|
475 | Up to this time there had been no noise, but from the first junk
|
---|
476 | captured by the salmon boat an uproar now broke forth. There was
|
---|
477 | shrill Oriental yelling, a pistol shot, and more yelling.
|
---|
478 | </para>
|
---|
479 |
|
---|
480 | <para>
|
---|
481 | "It's all up. They're warning the others," said George, the
|
---|
482 | remaining patrolman, as he stood beside me in the cockpit.
|
---|
483 | </para>
|
---|
484 |
|
---|
485 | <para>
|
---|
486 | By this time we were in the thick of the fleet, and the alarm was
|
---|
487 | spreading with incredible swiftness. The decks were beginning to
|
---|
488 | swarm with half-awakened and half-naked Chinese. Cries and yells
|
---|
489 | of warning and anger were flying over the quiet water, and
|
---|
490 | somewhere a conch shell was being blown with great success. To the
|
---|
491 | right of us I saw the captain of a junk chop away his mooring line
|
---|
492 | with an axe and spring to help his crew at the hoisting of the
|
---|
493 | huge, outlandish lug-sail. But to the left the first heads were
|
---|
494 | popping up from below on another junk, and I rounded up the
|
---|
495 | Reindeer alongside long enough for George to spring aboard.
|
---|
496 | </para>
|
---|
497 |
|
---|
498 | <para>
|
---|
499 | The whole fleet was now under way. In addition to the sails they
|
---|
500 | had gotten out long sweeps, and the bay was being ploughed in every
|
---|
501 | direction by the fleeing junks. I was now alone in the Reindeer,
|
---|
502 | seeking feverishly to capture a third prize. The first junk I took
|
---|
503 | after was a clean miss, for it trimmed its sheets and shot away
|
---|
504 | surprisingly into the wind. By fully half a point it outpointed
|
---|
505 | the Reindeer, and I began to feel respect for the clumsy craft.
|
---|
506 | Realizing the hopelessness of the pursuit, I filled away, threw out
|
---|
507 | the main-sheet, and drove down before the wind upon the junks to
|
---|
508 | leeward, where I had them at a disadvantage.
|
---|
509 | </para>
|
---|
510 |
|
---|
511 | <para>
|
---|
512 | The one I had selected wavered indecisively before me, and, as I
|
---|
513 | swung wide to make the boarding gentle, filled suddenly and darted
|
---|
514 | away, the smart Mongols shouting a wild rhythm as they bent to the
|
---|
515 | sweeps. But I had been ready for this. I luffed suddenly.
|
---|
516 | Putting the tiller hard down, and holding it down with my body, I
|
---|
517 | brought the main-sheet in, hand over hand, on the run, so as to
|
---|
518 | retain all possible striking force. The two starboard sweeps of
|
---|
519 | the junk were crumpled up, and then the two boats came together
|
---|
520 | with a crash. The Reindeer's bowsprit, like a monstrous hand,
|
---|
521 | reached over and ripped out the junk's chunky mast and towering
|
---|
522 | sail.
|
---|
523 | </para>
|
---|
524 |
|
---|
525 | <para>
|
---|
526 | This was met by a curdling yell of rage. A big Chinaman,
|
---|
527 | remarkably evil-looking, with his head swathed in a yellow silk
|
---|
528 | handkerchief and face badly pock-marked, planted a pike-pole on the
|
---|
529 | Reindeer's bow and began to shove the entangled boats apart.
|
---|
530 | Pausing long enough to let go the jib halyards, and just as the
|
---|
531 | Reindeer cleared and began to drift astern, I leaped aboard the
|
---|
532 | junk with a line and made fast. He of the yellow handkerchief and
|
---|
533 | pock-marked face came toward me threateningly, but I put my hand
|
---|
534 | into my hip pocket, and he hesitated. I was unarmed, but the
|
---|
535 | Chinese have learned to be fastidiously careful of American hip
|
---|
536 | pockets, and it was upon this that I depended to keep him and his
|
---|
537 | savage crew at a distance.
|
---|
538 | </para>
|
---|
539 |
|
---|
540 | <para>
|
---|
541 | I ordered him to drop the anchor at the junk's bow, to which he
|
---|
542 | replied, "No sabbe." The crew responded in like fashion, and
|
---|
543 | though I made my meaning plain by signs, they refused to
|
---|
544 | understand. Realizing the inexpediency of discussing the matter, I
|
---|
545 | went forward myself, overran the line, and let the anchor go.
|
---|
546 | </para>
|
---|
547 |
|
---|
548 | <para>
|
---|
549 | "Now get aboard, four of you," I said in a loud voice, indicating
|
---|
550 | with my fingers that four of them were to go with me and the fifth
|
---|
551 | was to remain by the junk. The Yellow Handkerchief hesitated; but
|
---|
552 | I repeated the order fiercely (much more fiercely than I felt), at
|
---|
553 | the same time sending my hand to my hip. Again the Yellow
|
---|
554 | Handkerchief was overawed, and with surly looks he led three of his
|
---|
555 | men aboard the Reindeer. I cast off at once, and, leaving the jib
|
---|
556 | down, steered a course for George's junk. Here it was easier, for
|
---|
557 | there were two of us, and George had a pistol to fall back on if it
|
---|
558 | came to the worst. And here, as with my junk, four Chinese were
|
---|
559 | transferred to the sloop and one left behind to take care of
|
---|
560 | things.
|
---|
561 | </para>
|
---|
562 |
|
---|
563 | <para>
|
---|
564 | Four more were added to our passenger list from the third junk. By
|
---|
565 | this time the salmon boat had collected its twelve prisoners and
|
---|
566 | came alongside, badly overloaded. To make matters worse, as it was
|
---|
567 | a small boat, the patrolmen were so jammed in with their prisoners
|
---|
568 | that they would have little chance in case of trouble.
|
---|
569 | </para>
|
---|
570 |
|
---|
571 | <para>
|
---|
572 | "You'll have to help us out," said Le Grant.
|
---|
573 | </para>
|
---|
574 |
|
---|
575 | <para>
|
---|
576 | I looked over my prisoners, who had crowded into the cabin and on
|
---|
577 | top of it. "I can take three," I answered.
|
---|
578 | </para>
|
---|
579 |
|
---|
580 | <para>
|
---|
581 | "Make it four," he suggested, "and I'll take Bill with me." (Bill
|
---|
582 | was the third patrolman.) "We haven't elbow room here, and in case
|
---|
583 | of a scuffle one white to every two of them will be just about the
|
---|
584 | right proportion."
|
---|
585 | </para>
|
---|
586 |
|
---|
587 | <para>
|
---|
588 | The exchange was made, and the salmon boat got up its spritsail and
|
---|
589 | headed down the bay toward the marshes off San Rafael. I ran up
|
---|
590 | the jib and followed with the Reindeer. San Rafael, where we were
|
---|
591 | to turn our catch over to the authorities, communicated with the
|
---|
592 | bay by way of a long and tortuous slough, or marshland creek, which
|
---|
593 | could be navigated only when the tide was in. Slack water had
|
---|
594 | come, and, as the ebb was commencing, there was need for hurry if
|
---|
595 | we cared to escape waiting half a day for the next tide.
|
---|
596 | </para>
|
---|
597 |
|
---|
598 | <para>
|
---|
599 | But the land breeze had begun to die away with the rising sun, and
|
---|
600 | now came only in failing puffs. The salmon boat got out its oars
|
---|
601 | and soon left us far astern. Some of the Chinese stood in the
|
---|
602 | forward part of the cockpit, near the cabin doors, and once, as I
|
---|
603 | leaned over the cockpit rail to flatten down the jib-sheet a bit, I
|
---|
604 | felt some one brush against my hip pocket. I made no sign, but out
|
---|
605 | of the corner of my eye I saw that the Yellow Handkerchief had
|
---|
606 | discovered the emptiness of the pocket which had hitherto overawed
|
---|
607 | him.
|
---|
608 | </para>
|
---|
609 |
|
---|
610 | <para>
|
---|
611 | To make matters serious, during all the excitement of boarding the
|
---|
612 | junks the Reindeer had not been bailed, and the water was beginning
|
---|
613 | to slush over the cockpit floor. The shrimp-catchers pointed at it
|
---|
614 | and looked to me questioningly.
|
---|
615 | </para>
|
---|
616 |
|
---|
617 | <para>
|
---|
618 | "Yes," I said. "Bime by, allee same dlown, velly quick, you no
|
---|
619 | bail now. Sabbe?"
|
---|
620 | </para>
|
---|
621 |
|
---|
622 | <para>
|
---|
623 | No, they did not "sabbe," or at least they shook their heads to
|
---|
624 | that effect, though they chattered most comprehendingly to one
|
---|
625 | another in their own lingo. I pulled up three or four of the
|
---|
626 | bottom boards, got a couple of buckets from a locker, and by
|
---|
627 | unmistakable sign-language invited them to fall to. But they
|
---|
628 | laughed, and some crowded into the cabin and some climbed up on
|
---|
629 | top.
|
---|
630 | </para>
|
---|
631 |
|
---|
632 | <para>
|
---|
633 | Their laughter was not good laughter. There was a hint of menace
|
---|
634 | in it, a maliciousness which their black looks verified. The
|
---|
635 | Yellow Handkerchief, since his discovery of my empty pocket, had
|
---|
636 | become most insolent in his bearing, and he wormed about among the
|
---|
637 | other prisoners, talking to them with great earnestness.
|
---|
638 | </para>
|
---|
639 |
|
---|
640 | <para>
|
---|
641 | Swallowing my chagrin, I stepped down into the cockpit and began
|
---|
642 | throwing out the water. But hardly had I begun, when the boom
|
---|
643 | swung overhead, the mainsail filled with a jerk, and the Reindeer
|
---|
644 | heeled over. The day wind was springing up. George was the
|
---|
645 | veriest of landlubbers, so I was forced to give over bailing and
|
---|
646 | take the tiller. The wind was blowing directly off Point Pedro and
|
---|
647 | the high mountains behind, and because of this was squally and
|
---|
648 | uncertain, half the time bellying the canvas out and the other half
|
---|
649 | flapping it idly.
|
---|
650 | </para>
|
---|
651 |
|
---|
652 | <para>
|
---|
653 | George was about the most all-round helpless man I had ever met.
|
---|
654 | Among his other disabilities, he was a consumptive, and I knew that
|
---|
655 | if he attempted to bail, it might bring on a hemorrhage. Yet the
|
---|
656 | rising water warned me that something must be done. Again I
|
---|
657 | ordered the shrimp-catchers to lend a hand with the buckets. They
|
---|
658 | laughed defiantly, and those inside the cabin, the water up to
|
---|
659 | their ankles, shouted back and forth with those on top.
|
---|
660 | </para>
|
---|
661 |
|
---|
662 | <para>
|
---|
663 | "You'd better get out your gun and make them bail," I said to
|
---|
664 | George.
|
---|
665 | </para>
|
---|
666 |
|
---|
667 | <para>
|
---|
668 | But he shook his head and showed all too plainly that he was
|
---|
669 | afraid. The Chinese could see the funk he was in as well as I
|
---|
670 | could, and their insolence became insufferable. Those in the cabin
|
---|
671 | broke into the food lockers, and those above scrambled down and
|
---|
672 | joined them in a feast on our crackers and canned goods.
|
---|
673 | </para>
|
---|
674 |
|
---|
675 | <para>
|
---|
676 | "What do we care?" George said weakly.
|
---|
677 | </para>
|
---|
678 |
|
---|
679 | <para>
|
---|
680 | I was fuming with helpless anger. "If they get out of hand, it
|
---|
681 | will be too late to care. The best thing you can do is to get them
|
---|
682 | in check right now."
|
---|
683 | </para>
|
---|
684 |
|
---|
685 | <para>
|
---|
686 | The water was rising higher and higher, and the gusts, forerunners
|
---|
687 | of a steady breeze, were growing stiffer and stiffer. And between
|
---|
688 | the gusts, the prisoners, having gotten away with a week's grub,
|
---|
689 | took to crowding first to one side and then to the other till the
|
---|
690 | Reindeer rocked like a cockle-shell. Yellow Handkerchief
|
---|
691 | approached me, and, pointing out his village on the Point Pedro
|
---|
692 | beach, gave me to understand that if I turned the Reindeer in that
|
---|
693 | direction and put them ashore, they, in turn, would go to bailing.
|
---|
694 | By now the water in the cabin was up to the bunks, and the bed-
|
---|
695 | clothes were sopping. It was a foot deep on the cockpit floor.
|
---|
696 | Nevertheless I refused, and I could see by George's face that he
|
---|
697 | was disappointed.
|
---|
698 | </para>
|
---|
699 |
|
---|
700 | <para>
|
---|
701 | "If you don't show some nerve, they'll rush us and throw us
|
---|
702 | overboard," I said to him. "Better give me your revolver, if you
|
---|
703 | want to be safe."
|
---|
704 | </para>
|
---|
705 |
|
---|
706 | <para>
|
---|
707 | "The safest thing to do," he chattered cravenly, "is to put them
|
---|
708 | ashore. I, for one, don't want to be drowned for the sake of a
|
---|
709 | handful of dirty Chinamen."
|
---|
710 | </para>
|
---|
711 |
|
---|
712 | <para>
|
---|
713 | "And I, for another, don't care to give in to a handful of dirty
|
---|
714 | Chinamen to escape drowning," I answered hotly.
|
---|
715 | </para>
|
---|
716 |
|
---|
717 | <para>
|
---|
718 | "You'll sink the Reindeer under us all at this rate," he whined.
|
---|
719 | "And what good that'll do I can't see."
|
---|
720 | </para>
|
---|
721 |
|
---|
722 | <para>
|
---|
723 | "Every man to his taste," I retorted.
|
---|
724 | </para>
|
---|
725 |
|
---|
726 | <para>
|
---|
727 | He made no reply, but I could see he was trembling pitifully.
|
---|
728 | Between the threatening Chinese and the rising water he was beside
|
---|
729 | himself with fright; and, more than the Chinese and the water, I
|
---|
730 | feared him and what his fright might impel him to do. I could see
|
---|
731 | him casting longing glances at the small skiff towing astern, so in
|
---|
732 | the next calm I hauled the skiff alongside. As I did so his eyes
|
---|
733 | brightened with hope; but before he could guess my intention, I
|
---|
734 | stove the frail bottom through with a hand-axe, and the skiff
|
---|
735 | filled to its gunwales.
|
---|
736 | </para>
|
---|
737 |
|
---|
738 | <para>
|
---|
739 | "It's sink or float together," I said. "And if you'll give me your
|
---|
740 | revolver, I'll have the Reindeer bailed out in a jiffy."
|
---|
741 | </para>
|
---|
742 |
|
---|
743 | <para>
|
---|
744 | "They're too many for us," he whimpered. "We can't fight them
|
---|
745 | all."
|
---|
746 | </para>
|
---|
747 |
|
---|
748 | <para>
|
---|
749 | I turned my back on him in disgust. The salmon boat had long since
|
---|
750 | passed from sight behind a little archipelago known as the Marin
|
---|
751 | Islands, so no help could be looked for from that quarter. Yellow
|
---|
752 | Handkerchief came up to me in a familiar manner, the water in the
|
---|
753 | cockpit slushing against his legs. I did not like his looks. I
|
---|
754 | felt that beneath the pleasant smile he was trying to put on his
|
---|
755 | face there was an ill purpose. I ordered him back, and so sharply
|
---|
756 | that he obeyed.
|
---|
757 | </para>
|
---|
758 |
|
---|
759 | <para>
|
---|
760 | "Now keep your distance," I commanded, "and don't you come closer!"
|
---|
761 | </para>
|
---|
762 |
|
---|
763 | <para>
|
---|
764 | "Wha' fo'?" he demanded indignantly. "I t'ink-um talkee talkee
|
---|
765 | heap good."
|
---|
766 | </para>
|
---|
767 |
|
---|
768 | <para>
|
---|
769 | "Talkee talkee," I answered bitterly, for I knew now that he had
|
---|
770 | understood all that passed between George and me. "What for talkee
|
---|
771 | talkee? You no sabbe talkee talkee."
|
---|
772 | </para>
|
---|
773 |
|
---|
774 | <para>
|
---|
775 | He grinned in a sickly fashion. "Yep, I sabbe velly much. I
|
---|
776 | honest Chinaman."
|
---|
777 | </para>
|
---|
778 |
|
---|
779 | <para>
|
---|
780 | "All right," I answered. "You sabbe talkee talkee, then you bail
|
---|
781 | water plenty plenty. After that we talkee talkee."
|
---|
782 | </para>
|
---|
783 |
|
---|
784 | <para>
|
---|
785 | He shook his head, at the same time pointing over his shoulder to
|
---|
786 | his comrades. "No can do. Velly bad Chinamen, heap velly bad. I
|
---|
787 | t'ink-um - "
|
---|
788 | </para>
|
---|
789 |
|
---|
790 | <para>
|
---|
791 | "Stand back!" I shouted, for I had noticed his hand disappear
|
---|
792 | beneath his blouse and his body prepare for a spring.
|
---|
793 | </para>
|
---|
794 |
|
---|
795 | <para>
|
---|
796 | Disconcerted, he went back into the cabin, to hold a council,
|
---|
797 | apparently, from the way the jabbering broke forth. The Reindeer
|
---|
798 | was very deep in the water, and her movements had grown quite
|
---|
799 | loggy. In a rough sea she would have inevitably swamped; but the
|
---|
800 | wind, when it did blow, was off the land, and scarcely a ripple
|
---|
801 | disturbed the surface of the bay.
|
---|
802 | </para>
|
---|
803 |
|
---|
804 | <para>
|
---|
805 | "I think you'd better head for the beach," George said abruptly, in
|
---|
806 | a manner that told me his fear had forced him to make up his mind
|
---|
807 | to some course of action.
|
---|
808 | </para>
|
---|
809 |
|
---|
810 | <para>
|
---|
811 | "I think not," I answered shortly.
|
---|
812 | </para>
|
---|
813 |
|
---|
814 | <para>
|
---|
815 | "I command you," he said in a bullying tone.
|
---|
816 | </para>
|
---|
817 |
|
---|
818 | <para>
|
---|
819 | "I was commanded to bring these prisoners into San Rafael," was my
|
---|
820 | reply.
|
---|
821 | </para>
|
---|
822 |
|
---|
823 | <para>
|
---|
824 | Our voices were raised, and the sound of the altercation brought
|
---|
825 | the Chinese out of the cabin.
|
---|
826 | </para>
|
---|
827 |
|
---|
828 | <para>
|
---|
829 | "Now will you head for the beach?"
|
---|
830 | </para>
|
---|
831 |
|
---|
832 | <para>
|
---|
833 | This from George, and I found myself looking into the muzzle of his
|
---|
834 | revolver - of the revolver he dared to use on me, but was too
|
---|
835 | cowardly to use on the prisoners.
|
---|
836 | </para>
|
---|
837 |
|
---|
838 | <para>
|
---|
839 | My brain seemed smitten with a dazzling brightness. The whole
|
---|
840 | situation, in all its bearings, was focussed sharply before me -
|
---|
841 | the shame of losing the prisoners, the worthlessness and cowardice
|
---|
842 | of George, the meeting with Le Grant and the other patrol men and
|
---|
843 | the lame explanation; and then there was the fight I had fought so
|
---|
844 | hard, victory wrenched from me just as I thought I had it within my
|
---|
845 | grasp. And out of the tail of my eye I could see the Chinese
|
---|
846 | crowding together by the cabin doors and leering triumphantly. It
|
---|
847 | would never do.
|
---|
848 | </para>
|
---|
849 |
|
---|
850 | <para>
|
---|
851 | I threw my hand up and my head down. The first act elevated the
|
---|
852 | muzzle, and the second removed my head from the path of the bullet
|
---|
853 | which went whistling past. One hand closed on George's wrist, the
|
---|
854 | other on the revolver. Yellow Handkerchief and his gang sprang
|
---|
855 | toward me. It was now or never. Putting all my strength into a
|
---|
856 | sudden effort, I swung George's body forward to meet them. Then I
|
---|
857 | pulled back with equal suddenness, ripping the revolver out of his
|
---|
858 | fingers and jerking him off his feet. He fell against Yellow
|
---|
859 | Handkerchief's knees, who stumbled over him, and the pair wallowed
|
---|
860 | in the bailing hole where the cockpit floor was torn open. The
|
---|
861 | next instant I was covering them with my revolver, and the wild
|
---|
862 | shrimp-catchers were cowering and cringing away.
|
---|
863 | </para>
|
---|
864 |
|
---|
865 | <para>
|
---|
866 | But I swiftly discovered that there was all the difference in the
|
---|
867 | world between shooting men who are attacking and men who are doing
|
---|
868 | nothing more than simply refusing to obey. For obey they would not
|
---|
869 | when I ordered them into the bailing hole. I threatened them with
|
---|
870 | the revolver, but they sat stolidly in the flooded cabin and on the
|
---|
871 | roof and would not move.
|
---|
872 | </para>
|
---|
873 |
|
---|
874 | <para>
|
---|
875 | Fifteen minutes passed, the Reindeer sinking deeper and deeper, her
|
---|
876 | mainsail flapping in the calm. But from off the Point Pedro shore
|
---|
877 | I saw a dark line form on the water and travel toward us. It was
|
---|
878 | the steady breeze I had been expecting so long. I called to the
|
---|
879 | Chinese and pointed it out. They hailed it with exclamations.
|
---|
880 | Then I pointed to the sail and to the water in the Reindeer, and
|
---|
881 | indicated by signs that when the wind reached the sail, what of the
|
---|
882 | water aboard we would capsize. But they jeered defiantly, for they
|
---|
883 | knew it was in my power to luff the helm and let go the main-sheet,
|
---|
884 | so as to spill the wind and escape damage.
|
---|
885 | </para>
|
---|
886 |
|
---|
887 | <para>
|
---|
888 | But my mind was made up. I hauled in the main-sheet a foot or two,
|
---|
889 | took a turn with it, and bracing my feet, put my back against the
|
---|
890 | tiller. This left me one hand for the sheet and one for the
|
---|
891 | revolver. The dark line drew nearer, and I could see them looking
|
---|
892 | from me to it and back again with an apprehension they could not
|
---|
893 | successfully conceal. My brain and will and endurance were pitted
|
---|
894 | against theirs, and the problem was which could stand the strain of
|
---|
895 | imminent death the longer and not give in.
|
---|
896 | </para>
|
---|
897 |
|
---|
898 | <para>
|
---|
899 | Then the wind struck us. The main-sheet tautened with a brisk
|
---|
900 | rattling of the blocks, the boom uplifted, the sail bellied out,
|
---|
901 | and the Reindeer heeled over - over, and over, till the lee-rail
|
---|
902 | went under, the cabin windows went under, and the bay began to pour
|
---|
903 | in over the cockpit rail. So violently had she heeled over, that
|
---|
904 | the men in the cabin had been thrown on top of one another into the
|
---|
905 | lee bunk, where they squirmed and twisted and were washed about,
|
---|
906 | those underneath being perilously near to drowning.
|
---|
907 | </para>
|
---|
908 |
|
---|
909 | <para>
|
---|
910 | The wind freshened a bit, and the Reindeer went over farther than
|
---|
911 | ever. For the moment I thought she was gone, and I knew that
|
---|
912 | another puff like that and she surely would go. While I pressed
|
---|
913 | her under and debated whether I should give up or not, the Chinese
|
---|
914 | cried for mercy. I think it was the sweetest sound I have ever
|
---|
915 | heard. And then, and not until then, did I luff up and ease out
|
---|
916 | the main-sheet. The Reindeer righted very slowly, and when she was
|
---|
917 | on an even keel was so much awash that I doubted if she could be
|
---|
918 | saved.
|
---|
919 | </para>
|
---|
920 |
|
---|
921 | <para>
|
---|
922 | But the Chinese scrambled madly into the cockpit and fell to
|
---|
923 | bailing with buckets, pots, pans, and everything they could lay
|
---|
924 | hands on. It was a beautiful sight to see that water flying over
|
---|
925 | the side! And when the Reindeer was high and proud on the water
|
---|
926 | once more, we dashed away with the breeze on our quarter, and at
|
---|
927 | the last possible moment crossed the mud flats and entered the
|
---|
928 | slough.
|
---|
929 | </para>
|
---|
930 |
|
---|
931 | <para>
|
---|
932 | The spirit of the Chinese was broken, and so docile did they become
|
---|
933 | that ere we made San Rafael they were out with the tow-rope, Yellow
|
---|
934 | Handkerchief at the head of the line. As for George, it was his
|
---|
935 | last trip with the fish patrol. He did not care for that sort of
|
---|
936 | thing, he explained, and he thought a clerkship ashore was good
|
---|
937 | enough for him. And we thought so too.
|
---|
938 | </para>
|
---|
939 |
|
---|
940 |
|
---|
941 | </chapter>
|
---|
942 |
|
---|
943 | <chapter>
|
---|
944 | <title>THE KING OF THE GREEKS</title>
|
---|
945 |
|
---|
946 |
|
---|
947 | <para>
|
---|
948 | Big Alec had never been captured by the fish patrol. It was his
|
---|
949 | boast that no man could take him alive, and it was his history that
|
---|
950 | of the many men who had tried to take him dead none had succeeded.
|
---|
951 | It was also history that at least two patrolmen who had tried to
|
---|
952 | take him dead had died themselves. Further, no man violated the
|
---|
953 | fish laws more systematically and deliberately than Big Alec.
|
---|
954 | </para>
|
---|
955 |
|
---|
956 | <para>
|
---|
957 | He was called "Big Alec" because of his gigantic stature. His
|
---|
958 | height was six feet three inches, and he was correspondingly broad-
|
---|
959 | shouldered and deep-chested. He was splendidly muscled and hard as
|
---|
960 | steel, and there were innumerable stories in circulation among the
|
---|
961 | fisher-folk concerning his prodigious strength. He was as bold and
|
---|
962 | dominant of spirit as he was strong of body, and because of this he
|
---|
963 | was widely known by another name, that of "The King of the Greeks."
|
---|
964 | The fishing population was largely composed of Greeks, and they
|
---|
965 | looked up to him and obeyed him as their chief. And as their
|
---|
966 | chief, he fought their fights for them, saw that they were
|
---|
967 | protected, saved them from the law when they fell into its
|
---|
968 | clutches, and made them stand by one another and himself in time of
|
---|
969 | trouble.
|
---|
970 | </para>
|
---|
971 |
|
---|
972 | <para>
|
---|
973 | In the old days, the fish patrol had attempted his capture many
|
---|
974 | disastrous times and had finally given it over, so that when the
|
---|
975 | word was out that he was coming to Benicia, I was most anxious to
|
---|
976 | see him. But I did not have to hunt him up. In his usual bold
|
---|
977 | way, the first thing he did on arriving was to hunt us up. Charley
|
---|
978 | Le Grant and I at the time were under a patrol-man named Carmintel,
|
---|
979 | and the three of us were on the Reindeer, preparing for a trip,
|
---|
980 | when Big Alec stepped aboard. Carmintel evidently knew him, for
|
---|
981 | they shook hands in recognition. Big Alec took no notice of
|
---|
982 | Charley or me.
|
---|
983 | </para>
|
---|
984 |
|
---|
985 | <para>
|
---|
986 | "I've come down to fish sturgeon a couple of months," he said to
|
---|
987 | Carmintel.
|
---|
988 | </para>
|
---|
989 |
|
---|
990 | <para>
|
---|
991 | His eyes flashed with challenge as he spoke, and we noticed the
|
---|
992 | patrolman's eyes drop before him.
|
---|
993 | </para>
|
---|
994 |
|
---|
995 | <para>
|
---|
996 | "That's all right, Alec," Carmintel said in a low voice. "I'll not
|
---|
997 | bother you. Come on into the cabin, and we'll talk things over,"
|
---|
998 | he added.
|
---|
999 | </para>
|
---|
1000 |
|
---|
1001 | <para>
|
---|
1002 | When they had gone inside and shut the doors after them, Charley
|
---|
1003 | winked with slow deliberation at me. But I was only a youngster,
|
---|
1004 | and new to men and the ways of some men, so I did not understand.
|
---|
1005 | Nor did Charley explain, though I felt there was something wrong
|
---|
1006 | about the business.
|
---|
1007 | </para>
|
---|
1008 |
|
---|
1009 | <para>
|
---|
1010 | Leaving them to their conference, at Charley's suggestion we
|
---|
1011 | boarded our skiff and pulled over to the Old Steamboat Wharf, where
|
---|
1012 | Big Alec's ark was lying. An ark is a house-boat of small though
|
---|
1013 | comfortable dimensions, and is as necessary to the Upper Bay
|
---|
1014 | fisherman as are nets and boats. We were both curious to see Big
|
---|
1015 | Alec's ark, for history said that it had been the scene of more
|
---|
1016 | than one pitched battle, and that it was riddled with bullet-holes.
|
---|
1017 | </para>
|
---|
1018 |
|
---|
1019 | <para>
|
---|
1020 | We found the holes (stopped with wooden plugs and painted over),
|
---|
1021 | but there were not so many as I had expected. Charley noted my
|
---|
1022 | look of disappointment, and laughed; and then to comfort me he gave
|
---|
1023 | an authentic account of one expedition which had descended upon Big
|
---|
1024 | Alec's floating home to capture him, alive preferably, dead if
|
---|
1025 | necessary. At the end of half a day's fighting, the patrolmen had
|
---|
1026 | drawn off in wrecked boats, with one of their number killed and
|
---|
1027 | three wounded. And when they returned next morning with
|
---|
1028 | reinforcements they found only the mooring-stakes of Big Alec's
|
---|
1029 | ark; the ark itself remained hidden for months in the fastnesses of
|
---|
1030 | the Suisun tules.
|
---|
1031 | </para>
|
---|
1032 |
|
---|
1033 | <para>
|
---|
1034 | "But why was he not hanged for murder?" I demanded. "Surely the
|
---|
1035 | United States is powerful enough to bring such a man to justice."
|
---|
1036 | </para>
|
---|
1037 |
|
---|
1038 | <para>
|
---|
1039 | "He gave himself up and stood trial," Charley answered. "It cost
|
---|
1040 | him fifty thousand dollars to win the case, which he did on
|
---|
1041 | technicalities and with the aid of the best lawyers in the state.
|
---|
1042 | Every Greek fisherman on the river contributed to the sum. Big
|
---|
1043 | Alec levied and collected the tax, for all the world like a king.
|
---|
1044 | The United States may be all-powerful, my lad, but the fact remains
|
---|
1045 | that Big Alec is a king inside the United States, with a country
|
---|
1046 | and subjects all his own."
|
---|
1047 | </para>
|
---|
1048 |
|
---|
1049 | <para>
|
---|
1050 | "But what are you going to do about his fishing for sturgeon? He's
|
---|
1051 | bound to fish with a 'Chinese line.'"
|
---|
1052 | </para>
|
---|
1053 |
|
---|
1054 | <para>
|
---|
1055 | Charley shrugged his shoulders. "We'll see what we will see," he
|
---|
1056 | said enigmatically.
|
---|
1057 | </para>
|
---|
1058 |
|
---|
1059 | <para>
|
---|
1060 | Now a "Chinese line" is a cunning device invented by the people
|
---|
1061 | whose name it bears. By a simple system of floats, weights, and
|
---|
1062 | anchors, thousands of hooks, each on a separate leader, are
|
---|
1063 | suspended at a distance of from six inches to a foot above the
|
---|
1064 | bottom. The remarkable thing about such a line is the hook. It is
|
---|
1065 | barbless, and in place of the barb, the hook is filed long and
|
---|
1066 | tapering to a point as sharp as that of a needle. These hoods are
|
---|
1067 | only a few inches apart, and when several thousand of them are
|
---|
1068 | suspended just above the bottom, like a fringe, for a couple of
|
---|
1069 | hundred fathoms, they present a formidable obstacle to the fish
|
---|
1070 | that travel along the bottom.
|
---|
1071 | </para>
|
---|
1072 |
|
---|
1073 | <para>
|
---|
1074 | Such a fish is the sturgeon, which goes rooting along like a pig,
|
---|
1075 | and indeed is often called "pig-fish." Pricked by the first hook
|
---|
1076 | it touches, the sturgeon gives a startled leap and comes into
|
---|
1077 | contact with half a dozen more hooks. Then it threshes about
|
---|
1078 | wildly, until it receives hook after hook in its soft flesh; and
|
---|
1079 | the hooks, straining from many different angles, hold the luckless
|
---|
1080 | fish fast until it is drowned. Because no sturgeon can pass
|
---|
1081 | through a Chinese line, the device is called a trap in the fish
|
---|
1082 | laws; and because it bids fair to exterminate the sturgeon, it is
|
---|
1083 | branded by the fish laws as illegal. And such a line, we were
|
---|
1084 | confident, Big Alec intended setting, in open and flagrant
|
---|
1085 | violation of the law.
|
---|
1086 | </para>
|
---|
1087 |
|
---|
1088 | <para>
|
---|
1089 | Several days passed after the visit of Big Alec, during which
|
---|
1090 | Charley and I kept a sharp watch on him. He towed his ark around
|
---|
1091 | the Solano Wharf and into the big bight at Turner's Shipyard. The
|
---|
1092 | bight we knew to be good ground for sturgeon, and there we felt
|
---|
1093 | sure the King of the Greeks intended to begin operations. The tide
|
---|
1094 | circled like a mill-race in and out of this bight, and made it
|
---|
1095 | possible to raise, lower, or set a Chinese line only at slack
|
---|
1096 | water. So between the tides Charley and I made it a point for one
|
---|
1097 | or the other of us to keep a lookout from the Solano Wharf.
|
---|
1098 | </para>
|
---|
1099 |
|
---|
1100 | <para>
|
---|
1101 | On the fourth day I was lying in the sun behind the stringer-piece
|
---|
1102 | of the wharf, when I saw a skiff leave the distant shore and pull
|
---|
1103 | out into the bight. In an instant the glasses were at my eyes and
|
---|
1104 | I was following every movement of the skiff. There were two men in
|
---|
1105 | it, and though it was a good mile away, I made out one of them to
|
---|
1106 | be Big Alec; and ere the skiff returned to shore I made out enough
|
---|
1107 | more to know that the Greek had set his line.
|
---|
1108 | </para>
|
---|
1109 |
|
---|
1110 | <para>
|
---|
1111 | "Big Alec has a Chinese line out in the bight off Turner's
|
---|
1112 | Shipyard," Charley Le Grant said that afternoon to Carmintel.
|
---|
1113 | </para>
|
---|
1114 |
|
---|
1115 | <para>
|
---|
1116 | A fleeting expression of annoyance passed over the patrolman's
|
---|
1117 | face, and then he said, "Yes?" in an absent way, and that was all.
|
---|
1118 | </para>
|
---|
1119 |
|
---|
1120 | <para>
|
---|
1121 | Charley bit his lip with suppressed anger and turned on his heel.
|
---|
1122 | </para>
|
---|
1123 |
|
---|
1124 | <para>
|
---|
1125 | "Are you game, my lad?" he said to me later on in the evening, just
|
---|
1126 | as we finished washing down the Reindeer's decks and were preparing
|
---|
1127 | to turn in.
|
---|
1128 | </para>
|
---|
1129 |
|
---|
1130 | <para>
|
---|
1131 | A lump came up in my throat, and I could only nod my head.
|
---|
1132 | </para>
|
---|
1133 |
|
---|
1134 | <para>
|
---|
1135 | "Well, then," and Charley's eyes glittered in a determined way,
|
---|
1136 | "we've got to capture Big Alec between us, you and I, and we've got
|
---|
1137 | to do it in spite of Carmintel. Will you lend a hand?"
|
---|
1138 | </para>
|
---|
1139 |
|
---|
1140 | <para>
|
---|
1141 | "It's a hard proposition, but we can do it," he added after a
|
---|
1142 | pause.
|
---|
1143 | </para>
|
---|
1144 |
|
---|
1145 | <para>
|
---|
1146 | "Of course we can," I supplemented enthusiastically.
|
---|
1147 | </para>
|
---|
1148 |
|
---|
1149 | <para>
|
---|
1150 | And then he said, "Of course we can," and we shook hands on it and
|
---|
1151 | went to bed.
|
---|
1152 | </para>
|
---|
1153 |
|
---|
1154 | <para>
|
---|
1155 | But it was no easy task we had set ourselves. In order to convict
|
---|
1156 | a man of illegal fishing, it was necessary to catch him in the act
|
---|
1157 | with all the evidence of the crime about him - the hooks, the
|
---|
1158 | lines, the fish, and the man himself. This meant that we must take
|
---|
1159 | Big Alec on the open water, where he could see us coming and
|
---|
1160 | prepare for us one of the warm receptions for which he was noted.
|
---|
1161 | </para>
|
---|
1162 |
|
---|
1163 | <para>
|
---|
1164 | "There's no getting around it," Charley said one morning. "If we
|
---|
1165 | can only get alongside it's an even toss, and there's nothing left
|
---|
1166 | for us but to try and get alongside. Come on, lad."
|
---|
1167 | </para>
|
---|
1168 |
|
---|
1169 | <para>
|
---|
1170 | We were in the Columbia River salmon boat, the one we had used
|
---|
1171 | against the Chinese shrimp-catchers. Slack water had come, and as
|
---|
1172 | we dropped around the end of the Solano Wharf we saw Big Alec at
|
---|
1173 | work, running his line and removing the fish.
|
---|
1174 | </para>
|
---|
1175 |
|
---|
1176 | <para>
|
---|
1177 | "Change places," Charley commanded, "and steer just astern of him
|
---|
1178 | as though you're going into the shipyard."
|
---|
1179 | </para>
|
---|
1180 |
|
---|
1181 | <para>
|
---|
1182 | I took the tiller, and Charley sat down on a thwart amidships,
|
---|
1183 | placing his revolver handily beside him.
|
---|
1184 | </para>
|
---|
1185 |
|
---|
1186 | <para>
|
---|
1187 | "If he begins to shoot," he cautioned, "get down in the bottom and
|
---|
1188 | steer from there, so that nothing more than your hand will be
|
---|
1189 | exposed."
|
---|
1190 | </para>
|
---|
1191 |
|
---|
1192 | <para>
|
---|
1193 | I nodded, and we kept silent after that, the boat slipping gently
|
---|
1194 | through the water and Big Alec growing nearer and nearer. We could
|
---|
1195 | see him quite plainly, gaffing the sturgeon and throwing them into
|
---|
1196 | the boat while his companion ran the line and cleared the hooks as
|
---|
1197 | he dropped them back into the water. Nevertheless, we were five
|
---|
1198 | hundred yards away when the big fisherman hailed us.
|
---|
1199 | </para>
|
---|
1200 |
|
---|
1201 | <para>
|
---|
1202 | "Here! You! What do you want?" he shouted.
|
---|
1203 | </para>
|
---|
1204 |
|
---|
1205 | <para>
|
---|
1206 | "Keep going," Charley whispered, "just as though you didn't hear
|
---|
1207 | him."
|
---|
1208 | </para>
|
---|
1209 |
|
---|
1210 | <para>
|
---|
1211 | The next few moments were very anxious ones. The fisherman was
|
---|
1212 | studying us sharply, while we were gliding up on him every second.
|
---|
1213 | </para>
|
---|
1214 |
|
---|
1215 | <para>
|
---|
1216 | "You keep off if you know what's good for you!" he called out
|
---|
1217 | suddenly, as though he had made up his mind as to who and what we
|
---|
1218 | were. "If you don't, I'll fix you!"
|
---|
1219 | </para>
|
---|
1220 |
|
---|
1221 | <para>
|
---|
1222 | He brought a rifle to his shoulder and trained it on me.
|
---|
1223 | </para>
|
---|
1224 |
|
---|
1225 | <para>
|
---|
1226 | "Now will you keep off?" he demanded.
|
---|
1227 | </para>
|
---|
1228 |
|
---|
1229 | <para>
|
---|
1230 | I could hear Charley groan with disappointment. "Keep off," he
|
---|
1231 | whispered; "it's all up for this time."
|
---|
1232 | </para>
|
---|
1233 |
|
---|
1234 | <para>
|
---|
1235 | I put up the tiller and eased the sheet, and the salmon boat ran
|
---|
1236 | off five or six points. Big Alec watched us till we were out of
|
---|
1237 | range, when he returned to his work.
|
---|
1238 | </para>
|
---|
1239 |
|
---|
1240 | <para>
|
---|
1241 | "You'd better leave Big Alec alone," Carmintel said, rather sourly,
|
---|
1242 | to Charley that night.
|
---|
1243 | </para>
|
---|
1244 |
|
---|
1245 | <para>
|
---|
1246 | "So he's been complaining to you, has he?" Charley said
|
---|
1247 | significantly.
|
---|
1248 | </para>
|
---|
1249 |
|
---|
1250 | <para>
|
---|
1251 | Carmintel flushed painfully. "You'd better leave him alone, I tell
|
---|
1252 | you," he repeated. "He's a dangerous man, and it won't pay to fool
|
---|
1253 | with him."
|
---|
1254 | </para>
|
---|
1255 |
|
---|
1256 | <para>
|
---|
1257 | "Yes," Charley answered softly; "I've heard that it pays better to
|
---|
1258 | leave him alone."
|
---|
1259 | </para>
|
---|
1260 |
|
---|
1261 | <para>
|
---|
1262 | This was a direct thrust at Carmintel, and we could see by the
|
---|
1263 | expression of his face that it sank home. For it was common
|
---|
1264 | knowledge that Big Alec was as willing to bribe as to fight, and
|
---|
1265 | that of late years more than one patrolman had handled the
|
---|
1266 | fisherman's money.
|
---|
1267 | </para>
|
---|
1268 |
|
---|
1269 | <para>
|
---|
1270 | "Do you mean to say - " Carmintel began, in a bullying tone.
|
---|
1271 | </para>
|
---|
1272 |
|
---|
1273 | <para>
|
---|
1274 | But Charley cut him off shortly. "I mean to say nothing," he said.
|
---|
1275 | "You heard what I said, and if the cap fits, why - "
|
---|
1276 | </para>
|
---|
1277 |
|
---|
1278 | <para>
|
---|
1279 | He shrugged his shoulders, and Carmintel glowered at him,
|
---|
1280 | speechless.
|
---|
1281 | </para>
|
---|
1282 |
|
---|
1283 | <para>
|
---|
1284 | "What we want is imagination," Charley said to me one day, when we
|
---|
1285 | had attempted to creep upon Big Alec in the gray of dawn and had
|
---|
1286 | been shot at for our trouble.
|
---|
1287 | </para>
|
---|
1288 |
|
---|
1289 | <para>
|
---|
1290 | And thereafter, and for many days, I cudgelled my brains trying to
|
---|
1291 | imagine some possible way by which two men, on an open stretch of
|
---|
1292 | water, could capture another who knew how to use a rifle and was
|
---|
1293 | never to be found without one. Regularly, every slack water,
|
---|
1294 | without slyness, boldly and openly in the broad day, Big Alec was
|
---|
1295 | to be seen running his line. And what made it particularly
|
---|
1296 | exasperating was the fact that every fisherman, from Benicia to
|
---|
1297 | Vallejo knew that he was successfully defying us. Carmintel also
|
---|
1298 | bothered us, for he kept us busy among the shad-fishers of San
|
---|
1299 | Pablo, so that we had little time to spare on the King of the
|
---|
1300 | Greeks. But Charley's wife and children lived at Benicia, and we
|
---|
1301 | had made the place our headquarters, so that we always returned to
|
---|
1302 | it.
|
---|
1303 | </para>
|
---|
1304 |
|
---|
1305 | <para>
|
---|
1306 | "I'll tell you what we can do," I said, after several fruitless
|
---|
1307 | weeks had passed; "we can wait some slack water till Big Alec has
|
---|
1308 | run his line and gone ashore with the fish, and then we can go out
|
---|
1309 | and capture the line. It will put him to time and expense to make
|
---|
1310 | another, and then we'll figure to capture that too. If we can't
|
---|
1311 | capture him, we can discourage him, you see."
|
---|
1312 | </para>
|
---|
1313 |
|
---|
1314 | <para>
|
---|
1315 | Charley saw, and said it wasn't a bad idea. We watched our chance,
|
---|
1316 | and the next low-water slack, after Big Alec had removed the fish
|
---|
1317 | from the line and returned ashore, we went out in the salmon boat.
|
---|
1318 | We had the bearings of the line from shore marks, and we knew we
|
---|
1319 | would have no difficulty in locating it. The first of the flood
|
---|
1320 | tide was setting in, when we ran below where we thought the line
|
---|
1321 | was stretched and dropped over a fishing-boat anchor. Keeping a
|
---|
1322 | short rope to the anchor, so that it barely touched the bottom, we
|
---|
1323 | dragged it slowly along until it stuck and the boat fetched up hard
|
---|
1324 | and fast.
|
---|
1325 | </para>
|
---|
1326 |
|
---|
1327 | <para>
|
---|
1328 | "We've got it," Charley cried. "Come on and lend a hand to get it
|
---|
1329 | in."
|
---|
1330 | </para>
|
---|
1331 |
|
---|
1332 | <para>
|
---|
1333 | Together we hove up the rope till the anchor I came in sight with
|
---|
1334 | the sturgeon line caught across one of the flukes. Scores of the
|
---|
1335 | murderous-looking hooks flashed into sight as we cleared the
|
---|
1336 | anchor, and we had just started to run along the line to the end
|
---|
1337 | where we could begin to lift it, when a sharp thud in the boat
|
---|
1338 | startled us. We looked about, but saw nothing and returned to our
|
---|
1339 | work. An instant later there was a similar sharp thud and the
|
---|
1340 | gunwale splintered between Charley's body and mine.
|
---|
1341 | </para>
|
---|
1342 |
|
---|
1343 | <para>
|
---|
1344 | "That's remarkably like a bullet, lad," he said reflectively. "And
|
---|
1345 | it's a long shot Big Alec's making."
|
---|
1346 | </para>
|
---|
1347 |
|
---|
1348 | <para>
|
---|
1349 | "And he's using smokeless powder," he concluded, after an
|
---|
1350 | examination of the mile-distant shore. "That's why we can't hear
|
---|
1351 | the report."
|
---|
1352 | </para>
|
---|
1353 |
|
---|
1354 | <para>
|
---|
1355 | I looked at the shore, but could see no sign of Big Alec, who was
|
---|
1356 | undoubtedly hidden in some rocky nook with us at his mercy. A
|
---|
1357 | third bullet struck the water, glanced, passed singing over our
|
---|
1358 | heads, and struck the water again beyond.
|
---|
1359 | </para>
|
---|
1360 |
|
---|
1361 | <para>
|
---|
1362 | "I guess we'd better get out of this," Charley remarked coolly.
|
---|
1363 | "What do you think, lad?"
|
---|
1364 | </para>
|
---|
1365 |
|
---|
1366 | <para>
|
---|
1367 | I thought so, too, and said we didn't want the line anyway.
|
---|
1368 | Whereupon we cast off and hoisted the spritsail. The bullets
|
---|
1369 | ceased at once, and we sailed away, unpleasantly confident that Big
|
---|
1370 | Alec was laughing at our discomfiture.
|
---|
1371 | </para>
|
---|
1372 |
|
---|
1373 | <para>
|
---|
1374 | And more than that, the next day on the fishing wharf, where we
|
---|
1375 | were inspecting nets, he saw fit to laugh and sneer at us, and this
|
---|
1376 | before all the fishermen. Charley's face went black with anger;
|
---|
1377 | but beyond promising Big Alec that in the end he would surely land
|
---|
1378 | him behind the bars, he controlled himself and said nothing. The
|
---|
1379 | King of the Greeks made his boast that no fish patrol had ever
|
---|
1380 | taken him or ever could take him, and the fishermen cheered him and
|
---|
1381 | said it was true. They grew excited, and it looked like trouble
|
---|
1382 | for a while; but Big Alec asserted his kingship and quelled them.
|
---|
1383 | </para>
|
---|
1384 |
|
---|
1385 | <para>
|
---|
1386 | Carmintel also laughed at Charley, and dropped sarcastic remarks,
|
---|
1387 | and made it hard for him. But Charley refused to be angered,
|
---|
1388 | though he told me in confidence that he intended to capture Big
|
---|
1389 | Alec if it took all the rest of his life to accomplish it.
|
---|
1390 | </para>
|
---|
1391 |
|
---|
1392 | <para>
|
---|
1393 | "I don't know how I'll do it," he said, "but do it I will, as sure
|
---|
1394 | as I am Charley Le Grant. The idea will come to me at the right
|
---|
1395 | and proper time, never fear."
|
---|
1396 | </para>
|
---|
1397 |
|
---|
1398 | <para>
|
---|
1399 | And at the right time it came, and most unexpectedly. Fully a
|
---|
1400 | month had passed, and we were constantly up and down the river, and
|
---|
1401 | down and up the bay, with no spare moments to devote to the
|
---|
1402 | particular fisherman who ran a Chinese line in the bight of
|
---|
1403 | Turner's Shipyard. We had called in at Selby's Smelter one
|
---|
1404 | afternoon, while on patrol work, when all unknown to us our
|
---|
1405 | opportunity happened along. It appeared in the guise of a helpless
|
---|
1406 | yacht loaded with seasick people, so we could hardly be expected to
|
---|
1407 | recognize it as the opportunity. It was a large sloop-yacht, and
|
---|
1408 | it was helpless inasmuch as the trade-wind was blowing half a gale
|
---|
1409 | and there were no capable sailors aboard.
|
---|
1410 | </para>
|
---|
1411 |
|
---|
1412 | <para>
|
---|
1413 | From the wharf at Selby's we watched with careless interest the
|
---|
1414 | lubberly manoeuvre performed of bringing the yacht to anchor, and
|
---|
1415 | the equally lubberly manoeuvre of sending the small boat ashore. A
|
---|
1416 | very miserable-looking man in draggled ducks, after nearly swamping
|
---|
1417 | the boat in the heavy seas, passed us the painter and climbed out.
|
---|
1418 | He staggered about as though the wharf were rolling, and told us
|
---|
1419 | his troubles, which were the troubles of the yacht. The only
|
---|
1420 | rough-weather sailor aboard, the man on whom they all depended, had
|
---|
1421 | been called back to San Francisco by a telegram, and they had
|
---|
1422 | attempted to continue the cruise alone. The high wind and big seas
|
---|
1423 | of San Pablo Bay had been too much for them; all hands were sick,
|
---|
1424 | nobody knew anything or could do anything; and so they had run in
|
---|
1425 | to the smelter either to desert the yacht or to get somebody to
|
---|
1426 | bring it to Benicia. In short, did we know of any sailors who
|
---|
1427 | would bring the yacht into Benicia?
|
---|
1428 | </para>
|
---|
1429 |
|
---|
1430 | <para>
|
---|
1431 | Charley looked at me. The Reindeer was lying in a snug place. We
|
---|
1432 | had nothing on hand in the way of patrol work till midnight. With
|
---|
1433 | the wind then blowing, we could sail the yacht into Benicia in a
|
---|
1434 | couple of hours, have several more hours ashore, and come back to
|
---|
1435 | the smelter on the evening train.
|
---|
1436 | </para>
|
---|
1437 |
|
---|
1438 | <para>
|
---|
1439 | "All right, captain," Charley said to the disconsolate yachtsman,
|
---|
1440 | who smiled in sickly fashion at the title.
|
---|
1441 | </para>
|
---|
1442 |
|
---|
1443 | <para>
|
---|
1444 | "I'm only the owner," he explained.
|
---|
1445 | </para>
|
---|
1446 |
|
---|
1447 | <para>
|
---|
1448 | We rowed him aboard in much better style than he had come ashore,
|
---|
1449 | and saw for ourselves the helplessness of the passengers. There
|
---|
1450 | were a dozen men and women, and all of them too sick even to appear
|
---|
1451 | grateful at our coming. The yacht was rolling savagely, broad on,
|
---|
1452 | and no sooner had the owner's feet touched the deck than he
|
---|
1453 | collapsed and joined, the others. Not one was able to bear a hand,
|
---|
1454 | so Charley and I between us cleared the badly tangled running gear,
|
---|
1455 | got up sail, and hoisted anchor.
|
---|
1456 | </para>
|
---|
1457 |
|
---|
1458 | <para>
|
---|
1459 | It was a rough trip, though a swift one. The Carquinez Straits
|
---|
1460 | were a welter of foam and smother, and we came through them wildly
|
---|
1461 | before the wind, the big mainsail alternately dipping and flinging
|
---|
1462 | its boom skyward as we tore along. But the people did not mind.
|
---|
1463 | They did not mind anything. Two or three, including the owner,
|
---|
1464 | sprawled in the cockpit, shuddering when the yacht lifted and raced
|
---|
1465 | and sank dizzily into the trough, and between-whiles regarding the
|
---|
1466 | shore with yearning eyes. The rest were huddled on the cabin floor
|
---|
1467 | among the cushions. Now and again some one groaned, but for the
|
---|
1468 | most part they were as limp as so many dead persons.
|
---|
1469 | </para>
|
---|
1470 |
|
---|
1471 | <para>
|
---|
1472 | As the bight at Turner's Shipyard opened out, Charley edged into it
|
---|
1473 | to get the smoother water. Benicia was in view, and we were
|
---|
1474 | bowling along over comparatively easy water, when a speck of a boat
|
---|
1475 | danced up ahead of us, directly in our course. It was low-water
|
---|
1476 | slack. Charley and I looked at each other. No word was spoken,
|
---|
1477 | but at once the yacht began a most astonishing performance, veering
|
---|
1478 | and yawing as though the greenest of amateurs was at the wheel. It
|
---|
1479 | was a sight for sailormen to see. To all appearances, a runaway
|
---|
1480 | yacht was careering madly over the bight, and now and again
|
---|
1481 | yielding a little bit to control in a desperate effort to make
|
---|
1482 | Benicia.
|
---|
1483 | </para>
|
---|
1484 |
|
---|
1485 | <para>
|
---|
1486 | The owner forgot his seasickness long enough to look anxious. The
|
---|
1487 | speck of a boat grew larger and larger, till we could see Big Alec
|
---|
1488 | and his partner, with a turn of the sturgeon line around a cleat,
|
---|
1489 | resting from their labor to laugh at us. Charley pulled his
|
---|
1490 | sou'wester over his eyes, and I followed his example, though I
|
---|
1491 | could not guess the idea he evidently had in mind and intended to
|
---|
1492 | carry into execution.
|
---|
1493 | </para>
|
---|
1494 |
|
---|
1495 | <para>
|
---|
1496 | We came foaming down abreast of the skiff, so close that we could
|
---|
1497 | hear above the wind the voices of Big Alec and his mate as they
|
---|
1498 | shouted at us with all the scorn that professional watermen feel
|
---|
1499 | for amateurs, especially when amateurs are making fools of
|
---|
1500 | themselves.
|
---|
1501 | </para>
|
---|
1502 |
|
---|
1503 | <para>
|
---|
1504 | We thundered on past the fishermen, and nothing had happened.
|
---|
1505 | Charley grinned at the disappointment he saw in my face, and then
|
---|
1506 | shouted:
|
---|
1507 | </para>
|
---|
1508 |
|
---|
1509 | <para>
|
---|
1510 | "Stand by the main-sheet to jibe!"
|
---|
1511 | </para>
|
---|
1512 |
|
---|
1513 | <para>
|
---|
1514 | He put the wheel hard over, and the yacht whirled around
|
---|
1515 | obediently. The main-sheet slacked and dipped, then shot over our
|
---|
1516 | heads after the boom and tautened with a crash on the traveller.
|
---|
1517 | The yacht heeled over almost on her beam ends, and a great wail
|
---|
1518 | went up from the seasick passengers as they swept across the cabin
|
---|
1519 | floor in a tangled mass and piled into a heap in the starboard
|
---|
1520 | bunks.
|
---|
1521 | </para>
|
---|
1522 |
|
---|
1523 | <para>
|
---|
1524 | But we had no time for them. The yacht, completing the manoeuvre,
|
---|
1525 | headed into the wind with slatting canvas, and righted to an even
|
---|
1526 | keel. We were still plunging ahead, and directly in our path was
|
---|
1527 | the skiff. I saw Big Alec dive overboard and his mate leap for our
|
---|
1528 | bowsprit. Then came the crash as we struck the boat, and a series
|
---|
1529 | of grinding bumps as it passed under our bottom.
|
---|
1530 | </para>
|
---|
1531 |
|
---|
1532 | <para>
|
---|
1533 | "That fixes his rifle," I heard Charley mutter, as he sprang upon
|
---|
1534 | the deck to look for Big Alec somewhere astern.
|
---|
1535 | </para>
|
---|
1536 |
|
---|
1537 | <para>
|
---|
1538 | The wind and sea quickly stopped our forward movement, and we began
|
---|
1539 | to drift backward over the spot where the skiff had been. Big
|
---|
1540 | Alec's black head and swarthy face popped up within arm's reach;
|
---|
1541 | and all unsuspecting and very angry with what he took to be the
|
---|
1542 | clumsiness of amateur sailors, he was hauled aboard. Also he was
|
---|
1543 | out of breath, for he had dived deep and stayed down long to escape
|
---|
1544 | our keel.
|
---|
1545 | </para>
|
---|
1546 |
|
---|
1547 | <para>
|
---|
1548 | The next instant, to the perplexity and consternation of the owner,
|
---|
1549 | Charley was on top of Big Alec in the cockpit, and I was helping
|
---|
1550 | bind him with gaskets. The owner was dancing excitedly about and
|
---|
1551 | demanding an explanation, but by that time Big Alec's partner had
|
---|
1552 | crawled aft from the bowsprit and was peering apprehensively over
|
---|
1553 | the rail into the cockpit. Charley's arm shot around his neck and
|
---|
1554 | the man landed on his back beside Big Alec.
|
---|
1555 | </para>
|
---|
1556 |
|
---|
1557 | <para>
|
---|
1558 | "More gaskets!" Charley shouted, and I made haste to supply them.
|
---|
1559 | </para>
|
---|
1560 |
|
---|
1561 | <para>
|
---|
1562 | The wrecked skiff was rolling sluggishly a short distance to
|
---|
1563 | windward, and I trimmed the sheets while Charley took the wheel and
|
---|
1564 | steered for it.
|
---|
1565 | </para>
|
---|
1566 |
|
---|
1567 | <para>
|
---|
1568 | "These two men are old offenders," he explained to the angry owner;
|
---|
1569 | "and they are most persistent violators of the fish and game laws.
|
---|
1570 | You have seen them caught in the act, and you may expect to be
|
---|
1571 | subpoenaed as witness for the state when the trial comes off."
|
---|
1572 | </para>
|
---|
1573 |
|
---|
1574 | <para>
|
---|
1575 | As he spoke he rounded alongside the skiff. It had been torn from
|
---|
1576 | the line, a section of which was dragging to it. He hauled in
|
---|
1577 | forty or fifty feet with a young sturgeon still fast in a tangle of
|
---|
1578 | barbless hooks, slashed that much of the line free with his knife,
|
---|
1579 | and tossed it into the cockpit beside the prisoners.
|
---|
1580 | </para>
|
---|
1581 |
|
---|
1582 | <para>
|
---|
1583 | "And there's the evidence, Exhibit A, for the people," Charley
|
---|
1584 | continued. "Look it over carefully so that you may identify it in
|
---|
1585 | the court-room with the time and place of capture."
|
---|
1586 | </para>
|
---|
1587 |
|
---|
1588 | <para>
|
---|
1589 | And then, in triumph, with no more veering and yawing, we sailed
|
---|
1590 | into Benicia, the King of the Greeks bound hard and fast in the
|
---|
1591 | cockpit, and for the first time in his life a prisoner of the fish
|
---|
1592 | patrol.
|
---|
1593 | </para>
|
---|
1594 |
|
---|
1595 |
|
---|
1596 | </chapter>
|
---|
1597 |
|
---|
1598 | <chapter>
|
---|
1599 | <title>A RAID ON THE OYSTER PIRATES</title>
|
---|
1600 |
|
---|
1601 |
|
---|
1602 | <para>
|
---|
1603 | Of the fish patrolmen under whom we served at various times,
|
---|
1604 | Charley Le Grant and I were agreed, I think, that Neil Partington
|
---|
1605 | was the best. He was neither dishonest nor cowardly; and while he
|
---|
1606 | demanded strict obedience when we were under his orders, at the
|
---|
1607 | same time our relations were those of easy comradeship, and he
|
---|
1608 | permitted us a freedom to which we were ordinarily unaccustomed, as
|
---|
1609 | the present story will show.
|
---|
1610 | </para>
|
---|
1611 |
|
---|
1612 | <para>
|
---|
1613 | Neil's family lived in Oakland, which is on the Lower Bay, not more
|
---|
1614 | than six miles across the water from San Francisco. One day, while
|
---|
1615 | scouting among the Chinese shrimp-catchers of Point Pedro, he
|
---|
1616 | received word that his wife was very ill; and within the hour the
|
---|
1617 | Reindeer was bowling along for Oakland, with a stiff northwest
|
---|
1618 | breeze astern. We ran up the Oakland Estuary and came to anchor,
|
---|
1619 | and in the days that followed, while Neil was ashore, we tightened
|
---|
1620 | up the Reindeer's rigging, overhauled the ballast, scraped down,
|
---|
1621 | and put the sloop into thorough shape.
|
---|
1622 | </para>
|
---|
1623 |
|
---|
1624 | <para>
|
---|
1625 | This done, time hung heavy on our hands. Neil's wife was
|
---|
1626 | dangerously ill, and the outlook was a week's lie-over, awaiting
|
---|
1627 | the crisis. Charley and I roamed the docks, wondering what we
|
---|
1628 | should do, and so came upon the oyster fleet lying at the Oakland
|
---|
1629 | City Wharf. In the main they were trim, natty boats, made for
|
---|
1630 | speed and bad weather, and we sat down on the stringer-piece of the
|
---|
1631 | dock to study them.
|
---|
1632 | </para>
|
---|
1633 |
|
---|
1634 | <para>
|
---|
1635 | "A good catch, I guess," Charley said, pointing to the heaps of
|
---|
1636 | oysters, assorted in three sizes, which lay upon their decks.
|
---|
1637 | </para>
|
---|
1638 |
|
---|
1639 | <para>
|
---|
1640 | Pedlers were backing their wagons to the edge of the wharf, and
|
---|
1641 | from the bargaining and chaffering that went on, I managed to learn
|
---|
1642 | the selling price of the oysters.
|
---|
1643 | </para>
|
---|
1644 |
|
---|
1645 | <para>
|
---|
1646 | "That boat must have at least two hundred dollars' worth aboard," I
|
---|
1647 | calculated. "I wonder how long it took to get the load?"
|
---|
1648 | </para>
|
---|
1649 |
|
---|
1650 | <para>
|
---|
1651 | "Three or four days," Charley answered. "Not bad wages for two men
|
---|
1652 | - twenty-five dollars a day apiece."
|
---|
1653 | </para>
|
---|
1654 |
|
---|
1655 | <para>
|
---|
1656 | The boat we were discussing, the Ghost, lay directly beneath us.
|
---|
1657 | Two men composed its crew. One was a squat, broad-shouldered
|
---|
1658 | fellow with remarkably long and gorilla-like arms, while the other
|
---|
1659 | was tall and well proportioned, with clear blue eyes and a mat of
|
---|
1660 | straight black hair. So unusual and striking was this combination
|
---|
1661 | of hair and eyes that Charley and I remained somewhat longer than
|
---|
1662 | we intended.
|
---|
1663 | </para>
|
---|
1664 |
|
---|
1665 | <para>
|
---|
1666 | And it was well that we did. A stout, elderly man, with the dress
|
---|
1667 | and carriage of a successful merchant, came up and stood beside us,
|
---|
1668 | looking down upon the deck of the Ghost. He appeared angry, and
|
---|
1669 | the longer he looked the angrier he grew.
|
---|
1670 | </para>
|
---|
1671 |
|
---|
1672 | <para>
|
---|
1673 | "Those are my oysters," he said at last. "I know they are my
|
---|
1674 | oysters. You raided my beds last night and robbed me of them."
|
---|
1675 | </para>
|
---|
1676 |
|
---|
1677 | <para>
|
---|
1678 | The tall man and the short man on the Ghost looked up.
|
---|
1679 | </para>
|
---|
1680 |
|
---|
1681 | <para>
|
---|
1682 | "Hello, Taft," the short man said, with insolent familiarity.
|
---|
1683 | (Among the bayfarers he had gained the nickname of "The Centipede"
|
---|
1684 | on account of his long arms.) "Hello, Taft," he repeated, with the
|
---|
1685 | same touch of insolence. "Wot 'r you growling about now?"
|
---|
1686 | </para>
|
---|
1687 |
|
---|
1688 | <para>
|
---|
1689 | "Those are my oysters - that's what I said. You've stolen them
|
---|
1690 | from my beds."
|
---|
1691 | </para>
|
---|
1692 |
|
---|
1693 | <para>
|
---|
1694 | "Yer mighty wise, ain't ye?" was the Centipede's sneering reply.
|
---|
1695 | "S'pose you can tell your oysters wherever you see 'em?"
|
---|
1696 | </para>
|
---|
1697 |
|
---|
1698 | <para>
|
---|
1699 | "Now, in my experience," broke in the tall man, "oysters is oysters
|
---|
1700 | wherever you find 'em, an' they're pretty much alike all the Bay
|
---|
1701 | over, and the world over, too, for that matter. We're not wantin'
|
---|
1702 | to quarrel with you, Mr. Taft, but we jes' wish you wouldn't
|
---|
1703 | insinuate that them oysters is yours an' that we're thieves an'
|
---|
1704 | robbers till you can prove the goods."
|
---|
1705 | </para>
|
---|
1706 |
|
---|
1707 | <para>
|
---|
1708 | "I know they're mine; I'd stake my life on it!" Mr. Taft snorted.
|
---|
1709 | </para>
|
---|
1710 |
|
---|
1711 | <para>
|
---|
1712 | "Prove it," challenged the tall man, who we afterward learned was
|
---|
1713 | known as "The Porpoise" because of his wonderful swimming
|
---|
1714 | abilities.
|
---|
1715 | </para>
|
---|
1716 |
|
---|
1717 | <para>
|
---|
1718 | Mr. Taft shrugged his shoulders helplessly. Of course he could not
|
---|
1719 | prove the oysters to be his, no matter how certain he might be.
|
---|
1720 | </para>
|
---|
1721 |
|
---|
1722 | <para>
|
---|
1723 | "I'd give a thousand dollars to have you men behind the bars!" he
|
---|
1724 | cried. "I'll give fifty dollars a head for your arrest and
|
---|
1725 | conviction, all of you!"
|
---|
1726 | </para>
|
---|
1727 |
|
---|
1728 | <para>
|
---|
1729 | A roar of laughter went up from the different boats, for the rest
|
---|
1730 | of the pirates had been listening to the discussion.
|
---|
1731 | </para>
|
---|
1732 |
|
---|
1733 | <para>
|
---|
1734 | "There's more money in oysters," the Porpoise remarked dryly.
|
---|
1735 | </para>
|
---|
1736 |
|
---|
1737 | <para>
|
---|
1738 | Mr. Taft turned impatiently on his heel and walked away. From out
|
---|
1739 | of the corner of his eye, Charley noted the way he went. Several
|
---|
1740 | minutes later, when he had disappeared around a corner, Charley
|
---|
1741 | rose lazily to his feet. I followed him, and we sauntered off in
|
---|
1742 | the opposite direction to that taken by Mr. Taft.
|
---|
1743 | </para>
|
---|
1744 |
|
---|
1745 | <para>
|
---|
1746 | "Come on! Lively!" Charley whispered, when we passed from the view
|
---|
1747 | of the oyster fleet.
|
---|
1748 | </para>
|
---|
1749 |
|
---|
1750 | <para>
|
---|
1751 | Our course was changed at once, and we dodged around corners and
|
---|
1752 | raced up and down side-streets till Mr. Taft's generous form loomed
|
---|
1753 | up ahead of us.
|
---|
1754 | </para>
|
---|
1755 |
|
---|
1756 | <para>
|
---|
1757 | "I'm going to interview him about that reward," Charley explained,
|
---|
1758 | as we rapidly over-hauled the oyster-bed owner. "Neil will be
|
---|
1759 | delayed here for a week, and you and I might as well be doing
|
---|
1760 | something in the meantime. What do you say?"
|
---|
1761 | </para>
|
---|
1762 |
|
---|
1763 | <para>
|
---|
1764 | "Of course, of course," Mr. Taft said, when Charley had introduced
|
---|
1765 | himself and explained his errand. "Those thieves are robbing me of
|
---|
1766 | thousands of dollars every year, and I shall be glad to break them
|
---|
1767 | up at any price, - yes, sir, at any price. As I said, I'll give
|
---|
1768 | fifty dollars a head, and call it cheap at that. They've robbed my
|
---|
1769 | beds, torn down my signs, terrorized my watchmen, and last year
|
---|
1770 | killed one of them. Couldn't prove it. All done in the blackness
|
---|
1771 | of night. All I had was a dead watchman and no evidence. The
|
---|
1772 | detectives could do nothing. Nobody has been able to do anything
|
---|
1773 | with those men. We have never succeeded in arresting one of them.
|
---|
1774 | So I say, Mr. - What did you say your name was?"
|
---|
1775 | </para>
|
---|
1776 |
|
---|
1777 | <para>
|
---|
1778 | "Le Grant," Charley answered.
|
---|
1779 | </para>
|
---|
1780 |
|
---|
1781 | <para>
|
---|
1782 | "So I say, Mr. Le Grant, I am deeply obliged to you for the
|
---|
1783 | assistance you offer. And I shall be glad, most glad, sir, to co-
|
---|
1784 | operate with you in every way. My watchmen and boats are at your
|
---|
1785 | disposal. Come and see me at the San Francisco offices any time,
|
---|
1786 | or telephone at my expense. And don't be afraid of spending money.
|
---|
1787 | I'll foot your expenses, whatever they are, so long as they are
|
---|
1788 | within reason. The situation is growing desperate, and something
|
---|
1789 | must be done to determine whether I or that band of ruffians own
|
---|
1790 | those oyster beds."
|
---|
1791 | </para>
|
---|
1792 |
|
---|
1793 | <para>
|
---|
1794 | "Now we'll see Neil," Charley said, when he had seen Mr. Taft upon
|
---|
1795 | his train to San Francisco.
|
---|
1796 | </para>
|
---|
1797 |
|
---|
1798 | <para>
|
---|
1799 | Not only did Neil Partington interpose no obstacle to our
|
---|
1800 | adventure, but he proved to be of the greatest assistance. Charley
|
---|
1801 | and I knew nothing of the oyster industry, while his head was an
|
---|
1802 | encyclopaedia of facts concerning it. Also, within an hour or so,
|
---|
1803 | he was able to bring to us a Greek boy of seventeen or eighteen who
|
---|
1804 | knew thoroughly well the ins and outs of oyster piracy.
|
---|
1805 | </para>
|
---|
1806 |
|
---|
1807 | <para>
|
---|
1808 | At this point I may as well explain that we of the fish patrol were
|
---|
1809 | free lances in a way. While Neil Partington, who was a patrolman
|
---|
1810 | proper, received a regular salary, Charley and I, being merely
|
---|
1811 | deputies, received only what we earned - that is to say, a certain
|
---|
1812 | percentage of the fines imposed on convicted violators of the fish
|
---|
1813 | laws. Also, any rewards that chanced our way were ours. We
|
---|
1814 | offered to share with Partington whatever we should get from Mr.
|
---|
1815 | Taft, but the patrolman would not hear of it. He was only too
|
---|
1816 | happy, he said, to do a good turn for us, who had done so many for
|
---|
1817 | him.
|
---|
1818 | </para>
|
---|
1819 |
|
---|
1820 | <para>
|
---|
1821 | We held a long council of war, and mapped out the following line of
|
---|
1822 | action. Our faces were unfamiliar on the Lower Bay, but as the
|
---|
1823 | Reindeer was well known as a fish-patrol sloop, the Greek boy,
|
---|
1824 | whose name was Nicholas, and I were to sail some innocent-looking
|
---|
1825 | craft down to Asparagus Island and join the oyster pirates' fleet.
|
---|
1826 | Here, according to Nicholas's description of the beds and the
|
---|
1827 | manner of raiding, it was possible for us to catch the pirates in
|
---|
1828 | the act of stealing oysters, and at the same time to get them in
|
---|
1829 | our power. Charley was to be on the shore, with Mr. Taft's
|
---|
1830 | watchmen and a posse of constables, to help us at the right time.
|
---|
1831 | </para>
|
---|
1832 |
|
---|
1833 | <para>
|
---|
1834 | "I know just the boat," Neil said, at the conclusion of the
|
---|
1835 | discussion, "a crazy old sloop that's lying over at Tiburon. You
|
---|
1836 | and Nicholas can go over by the ferry, charter it for a song, and
|
---|
1837 | sail direct for the beds."
|
---|
1838 | </para>
|
---|
1839 |
|
---|
1840 | <para>
|
---|
1841 | "Good luck be with you, boys," he said at parting, two days later.
|
---|
1842 | "Remember, they are dangerous men, so be careful."
|
---|
1843 | </para>
|
---|
1844 |
|
---|
1845 | <para>
|
---|
1846 | Nicholas and I succeeded in chartering the sloop very cheaply; and
|
---|
1847 | between laughs, while getting up sail, we agreed that she was even
|
---|
1848 | crazier and older than she had been described. She was a big,
|
---|
1849 | flat-bottomed, square-sterned craft, sloop-rigged, with a sprung
|
---|
1850 | mast, slack rigging, dilapidated sails, and rotten running-gear,
|
---|
1851 | clumsy to handle and uncertain in bringing about, and she smelled
|
---|
1852 | vilely of coal tar, with which strange stuff she had been smeared
|
---|
1853 | from stem to stern and from cabin-roof to centreboard. And to cap
|
---|
1854 | it all, Coal Tar Maggie was printed in great white letters the
|
---|
1855 | whole length of either side.
|
---|
1856 | </para>
|
---|
1857 |
|
---|
1858 | <para>
|
---|
1859 | It was an uneventful though laughable run from Tiburon to Asparagus
|
---|
1860 | Island, where we arrived in the afternoon of the following day.
|
---|
1861 | The oyster pirates, a fleet of a dozen sloops, were lying at anchor
|
---|
1862 | on what was known as the "Deserted Beds." The Coal Tar Maggie came
|
---|
1863 | sloshing into their midst with a light breeze astern, and they
|
---|
1864 | crowded on deck to see us. Nicholas and I had caught the spirit of
|
---|
1865 | the crazy craft, and we handled her in most lubberly fashion.
|
---|
1866 | </para>
|
---|
1867 |
|
---|
1868 | <para>
|
---|
1869 | "Wot is it?" some one called.
|
---|
1870 | </para>
|
---|
1871 |
|
---|
1872 | <para>
|
---|
1873 | "Name it 'n' ye kin have it!" called another.
|
---|
1874 | </para>
|
---|
1875 |
|
---|
1876 | <para>
|
---|
1877 | "I swan naow, ef it ain't the old Ark itself!" mimicked the
|
---|
1878 | Centipede from the deck of the Ghost.
|
---|
1879 | </para>
|
---|
1880 |
|
---|
1881 | <para>
|
---|
1882 | "Hey! Ahoy there, clipper ship!" another wag shouted. "Wot's yer
|
---|
1883 | port?"
|
---|
1884 | </para>
|
---|
1885 |
|
---|
1886 | <para>
|
---|
1887 | We took no notice of the joking, but acted, after the manner of
|
---|
1888 | greenhorns, as though the Coal Tar Maggie required our undivided
|
---|
1889 | attention. I rounded her well to windward of the Ghost, and
|
---|
1890 | Nicholas ran for'ard to drop the anchor. To all appearances it was
|
---|
1891 | a bungle, the way the chain tangled and kept the anchor from
|
---|
1892 | reaching the bottom. And to all appearances Nicholas and I were
|
---|
1893 | terribly excited as we strove to clear it. At any rate, we quite
|
---|
1894 | deceived the pirates, who took huge delight in our predicament.
|
---|
1895 | </para>
|
---|
1896 |
|
---|
1897 | <para>
|
---|
1898 | But the chain remained tangled, and amid all kinds of mocking
|
---|
1899 | advice we drifted down upon and fouled the Ghost, whose bowsprit
|
---|
1900 | poked square through our mainsail and ripped a hole in it as big as
|
---|
1901 | a barn door. The Centipede and the Porpoise doubled up on the
|
---|
1902 | cabin in paroxysms of laughter, and left us to get clear as best we
|
---|
1903 | could. This, with much unseaman-like performance, we succeeded in
|
---|
1904 | doing, and likewise in clearing the anchor-chain, of which we let
|
---|
1905 | out about three hundred feet. With only ten feet of water under
|
---|
1906 | us, this would permit the Coal Tar Maggie to swing in a circle six
|
---|
1907 | hundred feet in diameter, in which circle she would be able to foul
|
---|
1908 | at least half the fleet.
|
---|
1909 | </para>
|
---|
1910 |
|
---|
1911 | <para>
|
---|
1912 | The oyster pirates lay snugly together at short hawsers, the
|
---|
1913 | weather being fine, and they protested loudly at our ignorance in
|
---|
1914 | putting out such an unwarranted length of anchor-chain. And not
|
---|
1915 | only did they protest, for they made us heave it in again, all but
|
---|
1916 | thirty feet.
|
---|
1917 | </para>
|
---|
1918 |
|
---|
1919 | <para>
|
---|
1920 | Having sufficiently impressed them with our general lubberliness,
|
---|
1921 | Nicholas and I went below to congratulate ourselves and to cook
|
---|
1922 | supper. Hardly had we finished the meal and washed the dishes,
|
---|
1923 | when a skiff ground against the Coal Tar Maggie's side, and heavy
|
---|
1924 | feet trampled on deck. Then the Centipede's brutal face appeared
|
---|
1925 | in the companionway, and he descended into the cabin, followed by
|
---|
1926 | the Porpoise. Before they could seat themselves on a bunk, another
|
---|
1927 | skiff came alongside, and another, and another, till the whole
|
---|
1928 | fleet was represented by the gathering in the cabin.
|
---|
1929 | </para>
|
---|
1930 |
|
---|
1931 | <para>
|
---|
1932 | "Where'd you swipe the old tub?" asked a squat and hairy man, with
|
---|
1933 | cruel eyes and Mexican features.
|
---|
1934 | </para>
|
---|
1935 |
|
---|
1936 | <para>
|
---|
1937 | "Didn't swipe it," Nicholas answered, meeting them on their own
|
---|
1938 | ground and encouraging the idea that we had stolen the Coal Tar
|
---|
1939 | Maggie. "And if we did, what of it?"
|
---|
1940 | </para>
|
---|
1941 |
|
---|
1942 | <para>
|
---|
1943 | "Well, I don't admire your taste, that's all," sneered he of the
|
---|
1944 | Mexican features. "I'd rot on the beach first before I'd take a
|
---|
1945 | tub that couldn't get out of its own way."
|
---|
1946 | </para>
|
---|
1947 |
|
---|
1948 | <para>
|
---|
1949 | "How were we to know till we tried her?" Nicholas asked, so
|
---|
1950 | innocently as to cause a laugh. "And how do you get the oysters?"
|
---|
1951 | he hurried on. "We want a load of them; that's what we came for, a
|
---|
1952 | load of oysters."
|
---|
1953 | </para>
|
---|
1954 |
|
---|
1955 | <para>
|
---|
1956 | "What d'ye want 'em for?" demanded the Porpoise.
|
---|
1957 | </para>
|
---|
1958 |
|
---|
1959 | <para>
|
---|
1960 | "Oh, to give away to our friends, of course," Nicholas retorted.
|
---|
1961 | "That's what you do with yours, I suppose."
|
---|
1962 | </para>
|
---|
1963 |
|
---|
1964 | <para>
|
---|
1965 | This started another laugh, and as our visitors grew more genial we
|
---|
1966 | could see that they had not the slightest suspicion of our identity
|
---|
1967 | or purpose.
|
---|
1968 | </para>
|
---|
1969 |
|
---|
1970 | <para>
|
---|
1971 | "Didn't I see you on the dock in Oakland the other day?" the
|
---|
1972 | Centipede asked suddenly of me.
|
---|
1973 | </para>
|
---|
1974 |
|
---|
1975 | <para>
|
---|
1976 | "Yep," I answered boldly, taking the bull by the horns. "I was
|
---|
1977 | watching you fellows and figuring out whether we'd go oystering or
|
---|
1978 | not. It's a pretty good business, I calculate, and so we're going
|
---|
1979 | in for it. That is," I hastened to add, "if you fellows don't
|
---|
1980 | mind."
|
---|
1981 | </para>
|
---|
1982 |
|
---|
1983 | <para>
|
---|
1984 | "I'll tell you one thing, which ain't two things," he replied, "and
|
---|
1985 | that is you'll have to hump yerself an' get a better boat. We
|
---|
1986 | won't stand to be disgraced by any such box as this. Understand?"
|
---|
1987 | </para>
|
---|
1988 |
|
---|
1989 | <para>
|
---|
1990 | "Sure," I said. "Soon as we sell some oysters we'll outfit in
|
---|
1991 | style."
|
---|
1992 | </para>
|
---|
1993 |
|
---|
1994 | <para>
|
---|
1995 | "And if you show yerself square an' the right sort," he went on,
|
---|
1996 | "why, you kin run with us. But if you don't" (here his voice
|
---|
1997 | became stern and menacing), "why, it'll be the sickest day of yer
|
---|
1998 | life. Understand?"
|
---|
1999 | </para>
|
---|
2000 |
|
---|
2001 | <para>
|
---|
2002 | "Sure," I said.
|
---|
2003 | </para>
|
---|
2004 |
|
---|
2005 | <para>
|
---|
2006 | After that and more warning and advice of similar nature, the
|
---|
2007 | conversation became general, and we learned that the beds were to
|
---|
2008 | be raided that very night. As they got into their boats, after an
|
---|
2009 | hour's stay, we were invited to join them in the raid with the
|
---|
2010 | assurance of "the more the merrier."
|
---|
2011 | </para>
|
---|
2012 |
|
---|
2013 | <para>
|
---|
2014 | "Did you notice that short, Mexican-looking chap?" Nicholas asked,
|
---|
2015 | when they had departed to their various sloops. "He's Barchi, of
|
---|
2016 | the Sporting Life Gang, and the fellow that came with him is
|
---|
2017 | Skilling. They're both out now on five thousand dollars' bail."
|
---|
2018 | </para>
|
---|
2019 |
|
---|
2020 | <para>
|
---|
2021 | I had heard of the Sporting Life Gang before, a crowd of hoodlums
|
---|
2022 | and criminals that terrorized the lower quarters of Oakland, and
|
---|
2023 | two-thirds of which were usually to be found in state's prison for
|
---|
2024 | crimes that ranged from perjury and ballot-box stuffing to murder.
|
---|
2025 | </para>
|
---|
2026 |
|
---|
2027 | <para>
|
---|
2028 | "They are not regular oyster pirates," Nicholas continued.
|
---|
2029 | "They've just come down for the lark and to make a few dollars.
|
---|
2030 | But we'll have to watch out for them."
|
---|
2031 | </para>
|
---|
2032 |
|
---|
2033 | <para>
|
---|
2034 | We sat in the cockpit and discussed the details of our plan till
|
---|
2035 | eleven o'clock had passed, when we heard the rattle of an oar in a
|
---|
2036 | boat from the direction of the Ghost. We hauled up our own skiff,
|
---|
2037 | tossed in a few sacks, and rowed over. There we found all the
|
---|
2038 | skiffs assembling, it being the intention to raid the beds in a
|
---|
2039 | body.
|
---|
2040 | </para>
|
---|
2041 |
|
---|
2042 | <para>
|
---|
2043 | To my surprise, I found barely a foot of water where we had dropped
|
---|
2044 | anchor in ten feet. It was the big June run-out of the full moon,
|
---|
2045 | and as the ebb had yet an hour and a half to run, I knew that our
|
---|
2046 | anchorage would be dry ground before slack water.
|
---|
2047 | </para>
|
---|
2048 |
|
---|
2049 | <para>
|
---|
2050 | Mr. Taft's beds were three miles away, and for a long time we rowed
|
---|
2051 | silently in the wake of the other boats, once in a while grounding
|
---|
2052 | and our oar blades constantly striking bottom. At last we came
|
---|
2053 | upon soft mud covered with not more than two inches of water - not
|
---|
2054 | enough to float the boats. But the pirates at once were over the
|
---|
2055 | side, and by pushing and pulling on the flat-bottomed skiffs, we
|
---|
2056 | moved steadily along.
|
---|
2057 | </para>
|
---|
2058 |
|
---|
2059 | <para>
|
---|
2060 | The full moon was partly obscured by high-flying clouds, but the
|
---|
2061 | pirates went their way with the familiarity born of long practice.
|
---|
2062 | After half a mile of the mud, we came upon a deep channel, up which
|
---|
2063 | we rowed, with dead oyster shoals looming high and dry on either
|
---|
2064 | side. At last we reached the picking grounds. Two men, on one of
|
---|
2065 | the shoals, hailed us and warned us off. But the Centipede, the
|
---|
2066 | Porpoise, Barchi, and Skilling took the lead, and followed by the
|
---|
2067 | rest of us, at least thirty men in half as many boats, rowed right
|
---|
2068 | up to the watchmen.
|
---|
2069 | </para>
|
---|
2070 |
|
---|
2071 | <para>
|
---|
2072 | "You'd better slide outa this here," Barchi said threateningly, "or
|
---|
2073 | we'll fill you so full of holes you wouldn't float in molasses."
|
---|
2074 | </para>
|
---|
2075 |
|
---|
2076 | <para>
|
---|
2077 | The watchmen wisely retreated before so overwhelming a force, and
|
---|
2078 | rowed their boat along the channel toward where the shore should
|
---|
2079 | be. Besides, it was in the plan for them to retreat.
|
---|
2080 | </para>
|
---|
2081 |
|
---|
2082 | <para>
|
---|
2083 | We hauled the noses of the boats up on the shore side of a big
|
---|
2084 | shoal, and all hands, with sacks, spread out and began picking.
|
---|
2085 | Every now and again the clouds thinned before the face of the moon,
|
---|
2086 | and we could see the big oysters quite distinctly. In almost no
|
---|
2087 | time sacks were filled and carried back to the boats, where fresh
|
---|
2088 | ones were obtained. Nicholas and I returned often and anxiously to
|
---|
2089 | the boats with our little loads, but always found some one of the
|
---|
2090 | pirates coming or going.
|
---|
2091 | </para>
|
---|
2092 |
|
---|
2093 | <para>
|
---|
2094 | "Never mind," he said; "no hurry. As they pick farther and farther
|
---|
2095 | away, it will take too long to carry to the boats. Then they'll
|
---|
2096 | stand the full sacks on end and pick them up when the tide comes in
|
---|
2097 | and the skiffs will float to them."
|
---|
2098 | </para>
|
---|
2099 |
|
---|
2100 | <para>
|
---|
2101 | Fully half an hour went by, and the tide had begun to flood, when
|
---|
2102 | this came to pass. Leaving the pirates at their work, we stole
|
---|
2103 | back to the boats. One by one, and noiselessly, we shoved them off
|
---|
2104 | and made them fast in an awkward flotilla. Just as we were shoving
|
---|
2105 | off the last skiff, our own, one of the men came upon us. It was
|
---|
2106 | Barchi. His quick eye took in the situation at a glance, and he
|
---|
2107 | sprang for us; but we went clear with a mighty shove, and he was
|
---|
2108 | left floundering in the water over his head. As soon as he got
|
---|
2109 | back to the shoal he raised his voice and gave the alarm.
|
---|
2110 | </para>
|
---|
2111 |
|
---|
2112 | <para>
|
---|
2113 | We rowed with all our strength, but it was slow going with so many
|
---|
2114 | boats in tow. A pistol cracked from the shoal, a second, and a
|
---|
2115 | third; then a regular fusillade began. The bullets spat and spat
|
---|
2116 | all about us; but thick clouds had covered the moon, and in the dim
|
---|
2117 | darkness it was no more than random firing. It was only by chance
|
---|
2118 | that we could be hit.
|
---|
2119 | </para>
|
---|
2120 |
|
---|
2121 | <para>
|
---|
2122 | "Wish we had a little steam launch," I panted.
|
---|
2123 | </para>
|
---|
2124 |
|
---|
2125 | <para>
|
---|
2126 | "I'd just as soon the moon stayed hidden," Nicholas panted back.
|
---|
2127 | </para>
|
---|
2128 |
|
---|
2129 | <para>
|
---|
2130 | It was slow work, but every stroke carried us farther away from the
|
---|
2131 | shoal and nearer the shore, till at last the shooting died down,
|
---|
2132 | and when the moon did come out we were too far away to be in
|
---|
2133 | danger. Not long afterward we answered a shoreward hail, and two
|
---|
2134 | Whitehall boats, each pulled by three pairs of oars, darted up to
|
---|
2135 | us. Charley's welcome face bent over to us, and he gripped us by
|
---|
2136 | the hands while he cried, "Oh, you joys! You joys! Both of you!"
|
---|
2137 | </para>
|
---|
2138 |
|
---|
2139 | <para>
|
---|
2140 | When the flotilla had been landed, Nicholas and I and a watchman
|
---|
2141 | rowed out in one of the Whitehalls, with Charley in the stern-
|
---|
2142 | sheets. Two other Whitehalls followed us, and as the moon now
|
---|
2143 | shone brightly, we easily made out the oyster pirates on their
|
---|
2144 | lonely shoal. As we drew closer, they fired a rattling volley from
|
---|
2145 | their revolvers, and we promptly retreated beyond range.
|
---|
2146 | </para>
|
---|
2147 |
|
---|
2148 | <para>
|
---|
2149 | "Lot of time," Charley said. "The flood is setting in fast, and by
|
---|
2150 | the time it's up to their necks there won't be any fight left in
|
---|
2151 | them."
|
---|
2152 | </para>
|
---|
2153 |
|
---|
2154 | <para>
|
---|
2155 | So we lay on our oars and waited for the tide to do its work. This
|
---|
2156 | was the predicament of the pirates: because of the big run-out,
|
---|
2157 | the tide was now rushing back like a mill-race, and it was
|
---|
2158 | impossible for the strongest swimmer in the world to make against
|
---|
2159 | it the three miles to the sloops. Between the pirates and the
|
---|
2160 | shore were we, precluding escape in that direction. On the other
|
---|
2161 | hand, the water was rising rapidly over the shoals, and it was only
|
---|
2162 | a question of a few hours when it would be over their heads.
|
---|
2163 | </para>
|
---|
2164 |
|
---|
2165 | <para>
|
---|
2166 | It was beautifully calm, and in the brilliant white moonlight we
|
---|
2167 | watched them through our night glasses and told Charley of the
|
---|
2168 | voyage of the Coal Tar Maggie. One o'clock came, and two o'clock,
|
---|
2169 | and the pirates were clustering on the highest shoal, waist-deep in
|
---|
2170 | water.
|
---|
2171 | </para>
|
---|
2172 |
|
---|
2173 | <para>
|
---|
2174 | "Now this illustrates the value of imagination," Charley was
|
---|
2175 | saying. "Taft has been trying for years to get them, but he went
|
---|
2176 | at it with bull strength and failed. Now we used our heads . . ."
|
---|
2177 | </para>
|
---|
2178 |
|
---|
2179 | <para>
|
---|
2180 | Just then I heard a scarcely audible gurgle of water, and holding
|
---|
2181 | up my hand for silence, I turned and pointed to a ripple slowly
|
---|
2182 | widening out in a growing circle. It was not more than fifty feet
|
---|
2183 | from us. We kept perfectly quiet and waited. After a minute the
|
---|
2184 | water broke six feet away, and a black head and white shoulder
|
---|
2185 | showed in the moonlight. With a snort of surprise and of suddenly
|
---|
2186 | expelled breath, the head and shoulder went down.
|
---|
2187 | </para>
|
---|
2188 |
|
---|
2189 | <para>
|
---|
2190 | We pulled ahead several strokes and drifted with the current. Four
|
---|
2191 | pairs of eyes searched the surface of the water, but never another
|
---|
2192 | ripple showed, and never another glimpse did we catch of the black
|
---|
2193 | head and white shoulder.
|
---|
2194 | </para>
|
---|
2195 |
|
---|
2196 | <para>
|
---|
2197 | "It's the Porpoise," Nicholas said. "It would take broad daylight
|
---|
2198 | for us to catch him."
|
---|
2199 | </para>
|
---|
2200 |
|
---|
2201 | <para>
|
---|
2202 | At a quarter to three the pirates gave their first sign of
|
---|
2203 | weakening. We heard cries for help, in the unmistakable voice of
|
---|
2204 | the Centipede, and this time, on rowing closer, we were not fired
|
---|
2205 | upon. The Centipede was in a truly perilous plight. Only the
|
---|
2206 | heads and shoulders of his fellow-marauders showed above the water
|
---|
2207 | as they braced themselves against the current, while his feet were
|
---|
2208 | off the bottom and they were supporting him.
|
---|
2209 | </para>
|
---|
2210 |
|
---|
2211 | <para>
|
---|
2212 | "Now, lads," Charley said briskly, "we have got you, and you can't
|
---|
2213 | get away. If you cut up rough, we'll have to leave you alone and
|
---|
2214 | the water will finish you. But if you're good we'll take you
|
---|
2215 | aboard, one man at a time, and you'll all be saved. What do you
|
---|
2216 | say?"
|
---|
2217 | </para>
|
---|
2218 |
|
---|
2219 | <para>
|
---|
2220 | "Ay," they chorused hoarsely between their chattering teeth.
|
---|
2221 | </para>
|
---|
2222 |
|
---|
2223 | <para>
|
---|
2224 | "Then one man at a time, and the short men first."
|
---|
2225 | </para>
|
---|
2226 |
|
---|
2227 | <para>
|
---|
2228 | The Centipede was the first to be pulled aboard, and he came
|
---|
2229 | willingly, though he objected when the constable put the handcuffs
|
---|
2230 | on him. Barchi was next hauled in, quite meek and resigned from
|
---|
2231 | his soaking. When we had ten in, our boat we drew back, and the
|
---|
2232 | second Whitehall was loaded. The third Whitehall received nine
|
---|
2233 | prisoners only - a catch of twenty-nine in all.
|
---|
2234 | </para>
|
---|
2235 |
|
---|
2236 | <para>
|
---|
2237 | "You didn't get the Porpoise," the Centipede said exultantly, as
|
---|
2238 | though his escape materially diminished our success.
|
---|
2239 | </para>
|
---|
2240 |
|
---|
2241 | <para>
|
---|
2242 | Charley laughed. "But we saw him just the same, a-snorting for
|
---|
2243 | shore like a puffing pig."
|
---|
2244 | </para>
|
---|
2245 |
|
---|
2246 | <para>
|
---|
2247 | It was a mild and shivering band of pirates that we marched up the
|
---|
2248 | beach to the oyster house. In answer to Charley's knock, the door
|
---|
2249 | was flung open, and a pleasant wave of warm air rushed out upon us.
|
---|
2250 | </para>
|
---|
2251 |
|
---|
2252 | <para>
|
---|
2253 | "You can dry your clothes here, lads, and get some hot coffee,"
|
---|
2254 | Charley announced, as they filed in.
|
---|
2255 | </para>
|
---|
2256 |
|
---|
2257 | <para>
|
---|
2258 | And there, sitting ruefully by the fire, with a steaming mug in his
|
---|
2259 | hand, was the Porpoise. With one accord Nicholas and I looked at
|
---|
2260 | Charley. He laughed gleefully.
|
---|
2261 | </para>
|
---|
2262 |
|
---|
2263 | <para>
|
---|
2264 | "That comes of imagination," he said. "When you see a thing,
|
---|
2265 | you've got to see it all around, or what's the good of seeing it at
|
---|
2266 | all? I saw the beach, so I left a couple of constables behind to
|
---|
2267 | keep an eye on it. That's all."
|
---|
2268 | </para>
|
---|
2269 |
|
---|
2270 |
|
---|
2271 | </chapter>
|
---|
2272 |
|
---|
2273 | <chapter>
|
---|
2274 | <title>THE SIEGE OF THE "LANCASHIRE QUEEN"</title>
|
---|
2275 |
|
---|
2276 |
|
---|
2277 | <para>
|
---|
2278 | Possibly our most exasperating experience on the fish patrol was
|
---|
2279 | when Charley Le Grant and I laid a two weeks' siege to a big four-
|
---|
2280 | masted English ship. Before we had finished with the affair, it
|
---|
2281 | became a pretty mathematical problem, and it was by the merest
|
---|
2282 | chance that we came into possession of the instrument that brought
|
---|
2283 | it to a successful termination.
|
---|
2284 | </para>
|
---|
2285 |
|
---|
2286 | <para>
|
---|
2287 | After our raid on the oyster pirates we had returned to Oakland,
|
---|
2288 | where two more weeks passed before Neil Partington's wife was out
|
---|
2289 | of danger and on the highroad to recovery. So it was after an
|
---|
2290 | absence of a month, all told, that we turned the Reindeer's nose
|
---|
2291 | toward Benicia. When the cat's away the mice will play, and in
|
---|
2292 | these four weeks the fishermen had become very bold in violating
|
---|
2293 | the law. When we passed Point Pedro we noticed many signs of
|
---|
2294 | activity among the shrimp-catchers, and, well into San Pablo Bay,
|
---|
2295 | we observed a widely scattered fleet of Upper Bay fishing-boats
|
---|
2296 | hastily pulling in their nets and getting up sail.
|
---|
2297 | </para>
|
---|
2298 |
|
---|
2299 | <para>
|
---|
2300 | This was suspicious enough to warrant investigation, and the first
|
---|
2301 | and only boat we succeeded in boarding proved to have an illegal
|
---|
2302 | net. The law permitted no smaller mesh for catching shad than one
|
---|
2303 | that measured seven and one-half inches inside the knots, while the
|
---|
2304 | mesh of this particular net measured only three inches. It was a
|
---|
2305 | flagrant breach of the rules, and the two fishermen were forthwith
|
---|
2306 | put under arrest. Neil Partington took one of them with him to
|
---|
2307 | help manage the Reindeer, while Charley and I went on ahead with
|
---|
2308 | the other in the captured boat.
|
---|
2309 | </para>
|
---|
2310 |
|
---|
2311 | <para>
|
---|
2312 | But the shad fleet had headed over toward the Petaluma shore in
|
---|
2313 | wild flight, and for the rest of the run through San Pablo Bay we
|
---|
2314 | saw no more fishermen at all. Our prisoner, a bronzed and bearded
|
---|
2315 | Greek, sat sullenly on his net while we sailed his craft. It was a
|
---|
2316 | new Columbia River salmon boat, evidently on its first trip, and it
|
---|
2317 | handled splendidly. Even when Charley praised it, our prisoner
|
---|
2318 | refused to speak or to notice us, and we soon gave him up as a most
|
---|
2319 | unsociable fellow.
|
---|
2320 | </para>
|
---|
2321 |
|
---|
2322 | <para>
|
---|
2323 | We ran up the Carquinez Straits and edged into the bight at
|
---|
2324 | Turner's Shipyard for smoother water. Here were lying several
|
---|
2325 | English steel sailing ships, waiting for the wheat harvest; and
|
---|
2326 | here, most unexpectedly, in the precise place where we had captured
|
---|
2327 | Big Alec, we came upon two Italians in a skiff that was loaded with
|
---|
2328 | a complete "Chinese" sturgeon line. The surprise was mutual, and
|
---|
2329 | we were on top of them before either they or we were aware.
|
---|
2330 | Charley had barely time to luff into the wind and run up to them.
|
---|
2331 | I ran forward and tossed them a line with orders to make it fast.
|
---|
2332 | One of the Italians took a turn with it over a cleat, while I
|
---|
2333 | hastened to lower our big spritsail. This accomplished, the salmon
|
---|
2334 | boat dropped astern, dragging heavily on the skiff.
|
---|
2335 | </para>
|
---|
2336 |
|
---|
2337 | <para>
|
---|
2338 | Charley came forward to board the prize, but when I proceeded to
|
---|
2339 | haul alongside by means of the line, the Italians cast it off. We
|
---|
2340 | at once began drifting to leeward, while they got out two pairs of
|
---|
2341 | oars and rowed their light craft directly into the wind. This
|
---|
2342 | manoeuvre for the moment disconcerted us, for in our large and
|
---|
2343 | heavily loaded boat we could not hope to catch them with the oars.
|
---|
2344 | But our prisoner came unexpectedly to our aid. His black eyes were
|
---|
2345 | flashing eagerly, and his face was flushed with suppressed
|
---|
2346 | excitement, as he dropped the centre-board, sprang forward with a
|
---|
2347 | single leap, and put up the sail.
|
---|
2348 | </para>
|
---|
2349 |
|
---|
2350 | <para>
|
---|
2351 | "I've always heard that Greeks don't like Italians," Charley
|
---|
2352 | laughed, as he ran aft to the tiller.
|
---|
2353 | </para>
|
---|
2354 |
|
---|
2355 | <para>
|
---|
2356 | And never in my experience have I seen a man so anxious for the
|
---|
2357 | capture of another as was our prisoner in the chase that followed.
|
---|
2358 | His eyes fairly snapped, and his nostrils quivered and dilated in a
|
---|
2359 | most extraordinary way. Charley steered while he tended the sheet;
|
---|
2360 | and though Charley was as quick and alert as a cat, the Greek could
|
---|
2361 | hardly control his impatience.
|
---|
2362 | </para>
|
---|
2363 |
|
---|
2364 | <para>
|
---|
2365 | The Italians were cut off from the shore, which was fully a mile
|
---|
2366 | away at its nearest point. Did they attempt to make it, we could
|
---|
2367 | haul after them with the wind abeam, and overtake them before they
|
---|
2368 | had covered an eighth of the distance. But they were too wise to
|
---|
2369 | attempt it, contenting themselves with rowing lustily to windward
|
---|
2370 | along the starboard side of a big ship, the Lancashire Queen. But
|
---|
2371 | beyond the ship lay an open stretch of fully two miles to the shore
|
---|
2372 | in that direction. This, also, they dared not attempt, for we were
|
---|
2373 | bound to catch them before they could cover it. So, when they
|
---|
2374 | reached the bow of the Lancashire Queen, nothing remained but to
|
---|
2375 | pass around and row down her port side toward the stern, which
|
---|
2376 | meant rowing to leeward and giving us the advantage.
|
---|
2377 | </para>
|
---|
2378 |
|
---|
2379 | <para>
|
---|
2380 | We in the salmon boat, sailing close on the wind, tacked about and
|
---|
2381 | crossed the ship's bow. Then Charley put up the tiller and headed
|
---|
2382 | down the port side of the ship, the Greek letting out the sheet and
|
---|
2383 | grinning with delight. The Italians were already half-way down the
|
---|
2384 | ship's length; but the stiff breeze at our back drove us after them
|
---|
2385 | far faster than they could row. Closer and closer we came, and I,
|
---|
2386 | lying down forward, was just reaching out to grasp the skiff, when
|
---|
2387 | it ducked under the great stern of the Lancashire Queen.
|
---|
2388 | </para>
|
---|
2389 |
|
---|
2390 | <para>
|
---|
2391 | The chase was virtually where it had begun. The Italians were
|
---|
2392 | rowing up the starboard side of the ship, and we were hauled close
|
---|
2393 | on the wind and slowly edging out from the ship as we worked to
|
---|
2394 | windward. Then they darted around her bow and began the row down
|
---|
2395 | her port side, and we tacked about, crossed her bow, and went
|
---|
2396 | plunging down the wind hot after them. And again, just as I was
|
---|
2397 | reaching for the skiff, it ducked under the ship's stern and out of
|
---|
2398 | danger. And so it went, around and around, the skiff each time
|
---|
2399 | just barely ducking into safety.
|
---|
2400 | </para>
|
---|
2401 |
|
---|
2402 | <para>
|
---|
2403 | By this time the ship's crew had become aware of what was taking
|
---|
2404 | place, and we could see their heads in a long row as they looked at
|
---|
2405 | us over the bulwarks. Each time we missed the skiff at the stern,
|
---|
2406 | they set up a wild cheer and dashed across to the other side of the
|
---|
2407 | Lancashire Queen to see the chase to wind-ward. They showered us
|
---|
2408 | and the Italians with jokes and advice, and made our Greek so angry
|
---|
2409 | that at least once on each circuit he raised his fist and shook it
|
---|
2410 | at them in a rage. They came to look for this, and at each display
|
---|
2411 | greeted it with uproarious mirth.
|
---|
2412 | </para>
|
---|
2413 |
|
---|
2414 | <para>
|
---|
2415 | "Wot a circus!" cried one.
|
---|
2416 | </para>
|
---|
2417 |
|
---|
2418 | <para>
|
---|
2419 | "Tork about yer marine hippodromes, - if this ain't one, I'd like
|
---|
2420 | to know!" affirmed another.
|
---|
2421 | </para>
|
---|
2422 |
|
---|
2423 | <para>
|
---|
2424 | "Six-days-go-as-yer-please," announced a third. "Who says the
|
---|
2425 | dagoes won't win?"
|
---|
2426 | </para>
|
---|
2427 |
|
---|
2428 | <para>
|
---|
2429 | On the next tack to windward the Greek offered to change places
|
---|
2430 | with Charley.
|
---|
2431 | </para>
|
---|
2432 |
|
---|
2433 | <para>
|
---|
2434 | "Let-a me sail-a de boat," he demanded. "I fix-a them, I catch-a
|
---|
2435 | them, sure."
|
---|
2436 | </para>
|
---|
2437 |
|
---|
2438 | <para>
|
---|
2439 | This was a stroke at Charley's professional pride, for pride
|
---|
2440 | himself he did upon his boat-sailing abilities; but he yielded the
|
---|
2441 | tiller to the prisoner and took his place at the sheet. Three
|
---|
2442 | times again we made the circuit, and the Greek found that he could
|
---|
2443 | get no more speed out of the salmon boat than Charley had.
|
---|
2444 | </para>
|
---|
2445 |
|
---|
2446 | <para>
|
---|
2447 | "Better give it up," one of the sailors advised from above.
|
---|
2448 | </para>
|
---|
2449 |
|
---|
2450 | <para>
|
---|
2451 | The Greek scowled ferociously and shook his fist in his customary
|
---|
2452 | fashion. In the meanwhile my mind had not been idle, and I had
|
---|
2453 | finally evolved an idea.
|
---|
2454 | </para>
|
---|
2455 |
|
---|
2456 | <para>
|
---|
2457 | "Keep going, Charley, one time more," I said.
|
---|
2458 | </para>
|
---|
2459 |
|
---|
2460 | <para>
|
---|
2461 | And as we laid out on the next tack to wind-ward, I bent a piece of
|
---|
2462 | line to a small grappling hook I had seen lying in the bail-hole.
|
---|
2463 | The end of the line I made fast to the ring-bolt in the bow, and
|
---|
2464 | with the hook out of sight I waited for the next opportunity to use
|
---|
2465 | it. Once more they made their leeward pull down the port side of
|
---|
2466 | the Lancashire Queen, and once more we churned down after them
|
---|
2467 | before the wind. Nearer and nearer we drew, and I was making
|
---|
2468 | believe to reach for them as before. The stern of the skiff was
|
---|
2469 | not six feet away, and they were laughing at me derisively as they
|
---|
2470 | ducked under the ship's stern. At that instant I suddenly arose
|
---|
2471 | and threw the grappling iron. It caught fairly and squarely on the
|
---|
2472 | rail of the skiff, which was jerked backward out of safety as the
|
---|
2473 | rope tautened and the salmon boat ploughed on.
|
---|
2474 | </para>
|
---|
2475 |
|
---|
2476 | <para>
|
---|
2477 | A groan went up from the row of sailors above, which quickly
|
---|
2478 | changed to a cheer as one of the Italians whipped out a long
|
---|
2479 | sheath-knife and cut the rope. But we had drawn them out of
|
---|
2480 | safety, and Charley, from his place in the stern-sheets, reached
|
---|
2481 | over and clutched the stern of the skiff. The whole thing happened
|
---|
2482 | in a second of time, for the first Italian was cutting the rope and
|
---|
2483 | Charley was clutching the skiff when the second Italian dealt him a
|
---|
2484 | rap over the head with an oar, Charley released his hold and
|
---|
2485 | collapsed, stunned, into the bottom of the salmon boat, and the
|
---|
2486 | Italians bent to their oars and escaped back under the ship's
|
---|
2487 | stern.
|
---|
2488 | </para>
|
---|
2489 |
|
---|
2490 | <para>
|
---|
2491 | The Greek took both tiller and sheet and continued the chase around
|
---|
2492 | the Lancashire Queen, while I attended to Charley, on whose head a
|
---|
2493 | nasty lump was rapidly rising. Our sailor audience was wild with
|
---|
2494 | delight, and to a man encouraged the fleeing Italians. Charley sat
|
---|
2495 | up, with one hand on his head, and gazed about him sheepishly.
|
---|
2496 | </para>
|
---|
2497 |
|
---|
2498 | <para>
|
---|
2499 | "It will never do to let them escape now," he said, at the same
|
---|
2500 | time drawing his revolver.
|
---|
2501 | </para>
|
---|
2502 |
|
---|
2503 | <para>
|
---|
2504 | On our next circuit, he threatened the Italians with the weapon;
|
---|
2505 | but they rowed on stolidly, keeping splendid stroke and utterly
|
---|
2506 | disregarding him.
|
---|
2507 | </para>
|
---|
2508 |
|
---|
2509 | <para>
|
---|
2510 | "If you don't stop, I'll shoot," Charley said menacingly.
|
---|
2511 | </para>
|
---|
2512 |
|
---|
2513 | <para>
|
---|
2514 | But this had no effect, nor were they to be frightened into
|
---|
2515 | surrendering even when he fired several shots dangerously close to
|
---|
2516 | them. It was too much to expect him to shoot unarmed men, and this
|
---|
2517 | they knew as well as we did; so they continued to pull doggedly
|
---|
2518 | round and round the ship.
|
---|
2519 | </para>
|
---|
2520 |
|
---|
2521 | <para>
|
---|
2522 | "We'll run them down, then!" Charley exclaimed. "We'll wear them
|
---|
2523 | out and wind them!"
|
---|
2524 | </para>
|
---|
2525 |
|
---|
2526 | <para>
|
---|
2527 | So the chase continued. Twenty times more we ran them around the
|
---|
2528 | Lancashire Queen, and at last we could see that even their iron
|
---|
2529 | muscles were giving out. They were nearly exhausted, and it was
|
---|
2530 | only a matter of a few more circuits, when the game took on a new
|
---|
2531 | feature. On the row to windward they always gained on us, so that
|
---|
2532 | they were half-way down the ship's side on the row to leeward when
|
---|
2533 | we were passing the bow. But this last time, as we passed the bow,
|
---|
2534 | we saw them escaping up the ship's gangway, which had been suddenly
|
---|
2535 | lowered. It was an organized move on the part of the sailors,
|
---|
2536 | evidently countenanced by the captain; for by the time we arrived
|
---|
2537 | where the gangway had been, it was being hoisted up, and the skiff,
|
---|
2538 | slung in the ship's davits, was likewise flying aloft out of reach.
|
---|
2539 | </para>
|
---|
2540 |
|
---|
2541 | <para>
|
---|
2542 | The parley that followed with the captain was short and snappy. He
|
---|
2543 | absolutely forbade us to board the Lancashire Queen, and as
|
---|
2544 | absolutely refused to give up the two men. By this time Charley
|
---|
2545 | was as enraged as the Greek. Not only had he been foiled in a long
|
---|
2546 | and ridiculous chase, but he had been knocked senseless into the
|
---|
2547 | bottom of his boat by the men who had escaped him.
|
---|
2548 | </para>
|
---|
2549 |
|
---|
2550 | <para>
|
---|
2551 | "Knock off my head with little apples," he declared emphatically,
|
---|
2552 | striking the fist of one hand into the palm of the other, "if those
|
---|
2553 | two men ever escape me! I'll stay here to get them if it takes the
|
---|
2554 | rest of my natural life, and if I don't get them, then I promise
|
---|
2555 | you I'll live unnaturally long or until I do get them, or my name's
|
---|
2556 | not Charley Le Grant!"
|
---|
2557 | </para>
|
---|
2558 |
|
---|
2559 | <para>
|
---|
2560 | And then began the siege of the Lancashire Queen, a siege memorable
|
---|
2561 | in the annals of both fishermen and fish patrol. When the Reindeer
|
---|
2562 | came along, after a fruitless pursuit of the shad fleet, Charley
|
---|
2563 | instructed Neil Partington to send out his own salmon boat, with
|
---|
2564 | blankets, provisions, and a fisherman's charcoal stove. By sunset
|
---|
2565 | this exchange of boats was made, and we said good-by to our Greek,
|
---|
2566 | who perforce had to go into Benicia and be locked up for his own
|
---|
2567 | violation of the law. After supper, Charley and I kept alternate
|
---|
2568 | four-hour watches till day-light. The fishermen made no attempt to
|
---|
2569 | escape that night, though the ship sent out a boat for scouting
|
---|
2570 | purposes to find if the coast were clear.
|
---|
2571 | </para>
|
---|
2572 |
|
---|
2573 | <para>
|
---|
2574 | By the next day we saw that a steady siege was in order, and we
|
---|
2575 | perfected our plans with an eye to our own comfort. A dock, known
|
---|
2576 | as the Solano Wharf, which ran out from the Benicia shore, helped
|
---|
2577 | us in this. It happened that the Lancashire Queen, the shore at
|
---|
2578 | Turner's Shipyard, and the Solano Wharf were the corners of a big
|
---|
2579 | equilateral triangle. From ship to shore, the side of the triangle
|
---|
2580 | along which the Italians had to escape, was a distance equal to
|
---|
2581 | that from the Solano Wharf to the shore, the side of the triangle
|
---|
2582 | along which we had to travel to get to the shore before the
|
---|
2583 | Italians. But as we could sail much faster than they could row, we
|
---|
2584 | could permit them to travel about half their side of the triangle
|
---|
2585 | before we darted out along our side. If we allowed them to get
|
---|
2586 | more than half-way, they were certain to beat us to shore; while if
|
---|
2587 | we started before they were half-way, they were equally certain to
|
---|
2588 | beat us back to the ship.
|
---|
2589 | </para>
|
---|
2590 |
|
---|
2591 | <para>
|
---|
2592 | We found that an imaginary line, drawn from the end of the wharf to
|
---|
2593 | a windmill farther along the shore, cut precisely in half the line
|
---|
2594 | of the triangle along which the Italians must escape to reach the
|
---|
2595 | land. This line made it easy for us to determine how far to let
|
---|
2596 | them run away before we bestirred ourselves in pursuit. Day after
|
---|
2597 | day we would watch them through our glasses as they rowed leisurely
|
---|
2598 | along toward the half-way point; and as they drew close into line
|
---|
2599 | with the windmill, we would leap into the boat and get up sail. At
|
---|
2600 | sight of our preparation, they would turn and row slowly back to
|
---|
2601 | the Lancashire Queen, secure in the knowledge that we could not
|
---|
2602 | overtake them.
|
---|
2603 | </para>
|
---|
2604 |
|
---|
2605 | <para>
|
---|
2606 | To guard against calms - when our salmon boat would be useless - we
|
---|
2607 | also had in readiness a light rowing skiff equipped with spoon-
|
---|
2608 | oars. But at such times, when the wind failed us, we were forced
|
---|
2609 | to row out from the wharf as soon as they rowed from the ship. In
|
---|
2610 | the night-time, on the other hand, we were compelled to patrol the
|
---|
2611 | immediate vicinity of the ship; which we did, Charley and I
|
---|
2612 | standing four-hour watches turn and turn about. The Italians,
|
---|
2613 | however, preferred the daytime in which to escape, and so our long
|
---|
2614 | night vigils were without result.
|
---|
2615 | </para>
|
---|
2616 |
|
---|
2617 | <para>
|
---|
2618 | "What makes me mad," said Charley, "is our being kept from our
|
---|
2619 | honest beds while those rascally lawbreakers are sleeping soundly
|
---|
2620 | every night. But much good may it do them," he threatened. "I'll
|
---|
2621 | keep them on that ship till the captain charges them board, as sure
|
---|
2622 | as a sturgeon's not a catfish!"
|
---|
2623 | </para>
|
---|
2624 |
|
---|
2625 | <para>
|
---|
2626 | It was a tantalizing problem that confronted us. As long as we
|
---|
2627 | were vigilant, they could not escape; and as long as they were
|
---|
2628 | careful, we would be unable to catch them. Charley cudgelled his
|
---|
2629 | brains continually, but for once his imagination failed him. It
|
---|
2630 | was a problem apparently without other solution than that of
|
---|
2631 | patience. It was a waiting game, and whichever waited the longer
|
---|
2632 | was bound to win. To add to our irritation, friends of the
|
---|
2633 | Italians established a code of signals with them from the shore, so
|
---|
2634 | that we never dared relax the siege for a moment. And besides
|
---|
2635 | this, there were always one or two suspicious-looking fishermen
|
---|
2636 | hanging around the Solano Wharf and keeping watch on our actions.
|
---|
2637 | We could do nothing but "grin and bear it," as Charley said, while
|
---|
2638 | it took up all our time and prevented us from doing other work.
|
---|
2639 | </para>
|
---|
2640 |
|
---|
2641 | <para>
|
---|
2642 | The days went by, and there was no change in the situation. Not
|
---|
2643 | that no attempts were made to change it. One night friends from
|
---|
2644 | the shore came out in a skiff and attempted to confuse us while the
|
---|
2645 | two Italians escaped. That they did not succeed was due to the
|
---|
2646 | lack of a little oil on the ship's davits. For we were drawn back
|
---|
2647 | from the pursuit of the strange boat by the creaking of the davits,
|
---|
2648 | and arrived at the Lancashire Queen just as the Italians were
|
---|
2649 | lowering their skiff. Another night, fully half a dozen skiffs
|
---|
2650 | rowed around us in the darkness, but we held on like a leech to the
|
---|
2651 | side of the ship and frustrated their plan till they grew angry and
|
---|
2652 | showered us with abuse. Charley laughed to himself in the bottom
|
---|
2653 | of the boat.
|
---|
2654 | </para>
|
---|
2655 |
|
---|
2656 | <para>
|
---|
2657 | "It's a good sign, lad," he said to me. "When men begin to abuse,
|
---|
2658 | make sure they're losing patience; and shortly after they lose
|
---|
2659 | patience, they lose their heads. Mark my words, if we only hold
|
---|
2660 | out, they'll get careless some fine day, and then we'll get them."
|
---|
2661 | </para>
|
---|
2662 |
|
---|
2663 | <para>
|
---|
2664 | But they did not grow careless, and Charley confessed that this was
|
---|
2665 | one of the times when all signs failed. Their patience seemed
|
---|
2666 | equal to ours, and the second week of the siege dragged
|
---|
2667 | monotonously along. Then Charley's lagging imagination quickened
|
---|
2668 | sufficiently to suggest a ruse. Peter Boyelen, a new patrolman and
|
---|
2669 | one unknown to the fisher-folk, happened to arrive in Benicia and
|
---|
2670 | we took him into our plan. We were as secret as possible about it,
|
---|
2671 | but in some unfathomable way the friends ashore got word to the
|
---|
2672 | beleaguered Italians to keep their eyes open.
|
---|
2673 | </para>
|
---|
2674 |
|
---|
2675 | <para>
|
---|
2676 | On the night we were to put our ruse into effect, Charley and I
|
---|
2677 | took up our usual station in our rowing skiff alongside the
|
---|
2678 | Lancashire Queen. After it was thoroughly dark, Peter Boyelen came
|
---|
2679 | out in a crazy duck boat, the kind you can pick up and carry away
|
---|
2680 | under one arm. When we heard him coming along, paddling noisily,
|
---|
2681 | we slipped away a short distance into the darkness, and rested on
|
---|
2682 | our oars. Opposite the gangway, having jovially hailed the anchor-
|
---|
2683 | watch of the Lancashire Queen and asked the direction of the
|
---|
2684 | Scottish Chiefs, another wheat ship, he awkwardly capsized himself.
|
---|
2685 | The man who was standing the anchor-watch ran down the gangway and
|
---|
2686 | hauled him out of the water. This was what he wanted, to get
|
---|
2687 | aboard the ship; and the next thing he expected was to be taken on
|
---|
2688 | deck and then below to warm up and dry out. But the captain
|
---|
2689 | inhospitably kept him perched on the lowest gang-way step,
|
---|
2690 | shivering miserably and with his feet dangling in the water, till
|
---|
2691 | we, out of very pity, rowed in from the darkness and took him off.
|
---|
2692 | The jokes and gibes of the awakened crew sounded anything but sweet
|
---|
2693 | in our ears, and even the two Italians climbed up on the rail and
|
---|
2694 | laughed down at us long and maliciously.
|
---|
2695 | </para>
|
---|
2696 |
|
---|
2697 | <para>
|
---|
2698 | "That's all right," Charley said in a low voice, which I only could
|
---|
2699 | hear. "I'm mighty glad it's not us that's laughing first. We'll
|
---|
2700 | save our laugh to the end, eh, lad?"
|
---|
2701 | </para>
|
---|
2702 |
|
---|
2703 | <para>
|
---|
2704 | He clapped a hand on my shoulder as he finished, but it seemed to
|
---|
2705 | me that there was more determination than hope in his voice.
|
---|
2706 | </para>
|
---|
2707 |
|
---|
2708 | <para>
|
---|
2709 | It would have been possible for us to secure the aid of United
|
---|
2710 | States marshals and board the English ship, backed by Government
|
---|
2711 | authority. But the instructions of the Fish Commission were to the
|
---|
2712 | effect that the patrolmen should avoid complications, and this one,
|
---|
2713 | did we call on the higher powers, might well end in a pretty
|
---|
2714 | international tangle.
|
---|
2715 | </para>
|
---|
2716 |
|
---|
2717 | <para>
|
---|
2718 | The second week of the siege drew to its close, and there was no
|
---|
2719 | sign of change in the situation. On the morning of the fourteenth
|
---|
2720 | day the change came, and it came in a guise as unexpected and
|
---|
2721 | startling to us as it was to the men we were striving to capture.
|
---|
2722 | </para>
|
---|
2723 |
|
---|
2724 | <para>
|
---|
2725 | Charley and I, after our customary night vigil by the side of the
|
---|
2726 | Lancashire Queen, rowed into the Solana Wharf.
|
---|
2727 | </para>
|
---|
2728 |
|
---|
2729 | <para>
|
---|
2730 | "Hello!" cried Charley, in surprise. "In the name of reason and
|
---|
2731 | common sense, what is that? Of all unmannerly craft did you ever
|
---|
2732 | see the like?"
|
---|
2733 | </para>
|
---|
2734 |
|
---|
2735 | <para>
|
---|
2736 | Well might he exclaim, for there, tied up to the dock, lay the
|
---|
2737 | strangest looking launch I had ever seen. Not that it could be
|
---|
2738 | called a launch, either, but it seemed to resemble a launch more
|
---|
2739 | than any other kind of boat. It was seventy feet long, but so
|
---|
2740 | narrow was it, and so bare of superstructure, that it appeared much
|
---|
2741 | smaller than it really was. It was built wholly of steel, and was
|
---|
2742 | painted black. Three smokestacks, a good distance apart and raking
|
---|
2743 | well aft, arose in single file amidships; while the bow, long and
|
---|
2744 | lean and sharp as a knife, plainly advertised that the boat was
|
---|
2745 | made for speed. Passing under the stern, we read Streak, painted
|
---|
2746 | in small white letters.
|
---|
2747 | </para>
|
---|
2748 |
|
---|
2749 | <para>
|
---|
2750 | Charley and I were consumed with curiosity. In a few minutes we
|
---|
2751 | were on board and talking with an engineer who was watching the
|
---|
2752 | sunrise from the deck. He was quite willing to satisfy our
|
---|
2753 | curiosity, and in a few minutes we learned that the Streak had come
|
---|
2754 | in after dark from San Francisco; that this was what might be
|
---|
2755 | called the trial trip; and that she was the property of Silas Tate,
|
---|
2756 | a young mining millionaire of California, whose fad was high-speed
|
---|
2757 | yachts. There was some talk about turbine engines, direct
|
---|
2758 | application of steam, and the absence of pistons, rods, and cranks,
|
---|
2759 | - all of which was beyond me, for I was familiar only with sailing
|
---|
2760 | craft; but I did understand the last words of the engineer.
|
---|
2761 | </para>
|
---|
2762 |
|
---|
2763 | <para>
|
---|
2764 | "Four thousand horse-power and forty-five miles an hour, though you
|
---|
2765 | wouldn't think it," he concluded proudly.
|
---|
2766 | </para>
|
---|
2767 |
|
---|
2768 | <para>
|
---|
2769 | "Say it again, man! Say it again!" Charley exclaimed in an excited
|
---|
2770 | voice.
|
---|
2771 | </para>
|
---|
2772 |
|
---|
2773 | <para>
|
---|
2774 | "Four thousand horse-power and forty-five miles an hour," the
|
---|
2775 | engineer repeated, grinning good-naturedly.
|
---|
2776 | </para>
|
---|
2777 |
|
---|
2778 | <para>
|
---|
2779 | "Where's the owner?" was Charley's next question. "Is there any
|
---|
2780 | way I can speak to him?"
|
---|
2781 | </para>
|
---|
2782 |
|
---|
2783 | <para>
|
---|
2784 | The engineer shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not. He's asleep,
|
---|
2785 | you see."
|
---|
2786 | </para>
|
---|
2787 |
|
---|
2788 | <para>
|
---|
2789 | At that moment a young man in blue uniform came on deck farther aft
|
---|
2790 | and stood regarding the sunrise.
|
---|
2791 | </para>
|
---|
2792 |
|
---|
2793 | <para>
|
---|
2794 | "There he is, that's him, that's Mr. Tate," said the engineer.
|
---|
2795 | </para>
|
---|
2796 |
|
---|
2797 | <para>
|
---|
2798 | Charley walked aft and spoke to him, and while he talked earnestly
|
---|
2799 | the young man listened with an amused expression on his face. He
|
---|
2800 | must have inquired about the depth of water close in to the shore
|
---|
2801 | at Turner's Shipyard, for I could see Charley making gestures and
|
---|
2802 | explaining. A few minutes later he came back in high glee.
|
---|
2803 | </para>
|
---|
2804 |
|
---|
2805 | <para>
|
---|
2806 | "Come on lad," he said. "On to the dock with you. We've got
|
---|
2807 | them!"
|
---|
2808 | </para>
|
---|
2809 |
|
---|
2810 | <para>
|
---|
2811 | It was our good fortune to leave the Streak when we did, for a
|
---|
2812 | little later one of the spy fishermen appeared. Charley and I took
|
---|
2813 | up our accustomed places, on the stringer-piece, a little ahead of
|
---|
2814 | the Streak and over our own boat, where we could comfortably watch
|
---|
2815 | the Lancashire Queen. Nothing occurred till about nine o'clock,
|
---|
2816 | when we saw the two Italians leave the ship and pull along their
|
---|
2817 | side of the triangle toward the shore. Charley looked as
|
---|
2818 | unconcerned as could be, but before they had covered a quarter of
|
---|
2819 | the distance, he whispered to me:
|
---|
2820 | </para>
|
---|
2821 |
|
---|
2822 | <para>
|
---|
2823 | "Forty-five miles an hour . . . nothing can save them . . . they
|
---|
2824 | are ours!"
|
---|
2825 | </para>
|
---|
2826 |
|
---|
2827 | <para>
|
---|
2828 | Slowly the two men rowed along till they were nearly in line with
|
---|
2829 | the windmill. This was the point where we always jumped into our
|
---|
2830 | salmon boat and got up the sail, and the two men, evidently
|
---|
2831 | expecting it, seemed surprised when we gave no sign.
|
---|
2832 | </para>
|
---|
2833 |
|
---|
2834 | <para>
|
---|
2835 | When they were directly in line with the windmill, as near to the
|
---|
2836 | shore as to the ship, and nearer the shore than we had ever allowed
|
---|
2837 | them before, they grew suspicious. We followed them through the
|
---|
2838 | glasses, and saw them standing up in the skiff and trying to find
|
---|
2839 | out what we were doing. The spy fisherman, sitting beside us on
|
---|
2840 | the stringer-piece was likewise puzzled. He could not understand
|
---|
2841 | our inactivity. The men in the skiff rowed nearer the shore, but
|
---|
2842 | stood up again and scanned it, as if they thought we might be in
|
---|
2843 | hiding there. But a man came out on the beach and waved a
|
---|
2844 | handkerchief to indicate that the coast was clear. That settled
|
---|
2845 | them. They bent to the oars to make a dash for it. Still Charley
|
---|
2846 | waited. Not until they had covered three-quarters of the distance
|
---|
2847 | from the Lancashire Queen, which left them hardly more than a
|
---|
2848 | quarter of a mile to gain the shore, did Charley slap me on the
|
---|
2849 | shoulder and cry:
|
---|
2850 | </para>
|
---|
2851 |
|
---|
2852 | <para>
|
---|
2853 | "They're ours! They're ours!"
|
---|
2854 | </para>
|
---|
2855 |
|
---|
2856 | <para>
|
---|
2857 | We ran the few steps to the side of the Streak and jumped aboard.
|
---|
2858 | Stern and bow lines were cast off in a jiffy. The Streak shot
|
---|
2859 | ahead and away from the wharf. The spy fisherman we had left
|
---|
2860 | behind on the stringer-piece pulled out a revolver and fired five
|
---|
2861 | shots into the air in rapid succession. The men in the skiff gave
|
---|
2862 | instant heed to the warning, for we could see them pulling away
|
---|
2863 | like mad.
|
---|
2864 | </para>
|
---|
2865 |
|
---|
2866 | <para>
|
---|
2867 | But if they pulled like mad, I wonder how our progress can be
|
---|
2868 | described? We fairly flew. So frightful was the speed with which
|
---|
2869 | we displaced the water, that a wave rose up on either side our bow
|
---|
2870 | and foamed aft in a series of three stiff, up-standing waves, while
|
---|
2871 | astern a great crested billow pursued us hungrily, as though at
|
---|
2872 | each moment it would fall aboard and destroy us. The Streak was
|
---|
2873 | pulsing and vibrating and roaring like a thing alive. The wind of
|
---|
2874 | our progress was like a gale - a forty-five-mile gale. We could
|
---|
2875 | not face it and draw breath without choking and strangling. It
|
---|
2876 | blew the smoke straight back from the mouths of the smoke-stacks at
|
---|
2877 | a direct right angle to the perpendicular. In fact, we were
|
---|
2878 | travelling as fast as an express train. "We just streaked it," was
|
---|
2879 | the way Charley told it afterward, and I think his description
|
---|
2880 | comes nearer than any I can give.
|
---|
2881 | </para>
|
---|
2882 |
|
---|
2883 | <para>
|
---|
2884 | As for the Italians in the skiff - hardly had we started, it seemed
|
---|
2885 | to me, when we were on top of them. Naturally, we had to slow down
|
---|
2886 | long before we got to them; but even then we shot past like a
|
---|
2887 | whirlwind and were compelled to circle back between them and the
|
---|
2888 | shore. They had rowed steadily, rising from the thwarts at every
|
---|
2889 | stroke, up to the moment we passed them, when they recognized
|
---|
2890 | Charley and me. That took the last bit of fight out of them. They
|
---|
2891 | hauled in their oars, and sullenly submitted to arrest.
|
---|
2892 | </para>
|
---|
2893 |
|
---|
2894 | <para>
|
---|
2895 | "Well, Charley," Neil Partington said, as we discussed it on the
|
---|
2896 | wharf afterward, "I fail to see where your boasted imagination came
|
---|
2897 | into play this time."
|
---|
2898 | </para>
|
---|
2899 |
|
---|
2900 | <para>
|
---|
2901 | But Charley was true to his hobby. "Imagination?" he demanded,
|
---|
2902 | pointing to the Streak. "Look at that! just look at it! If the
|
---|
2903 | invention of that isn't imagination, I should like to know what
|
---|
2904 | is."
|
---|
2905 | </para>
|
---|
2906 |
|
---|
2907 | <para>
|
---|
2908 | "Of course," he added, "it's the other fellow's imagination, but it
|
---|
2909 | did the work all the same."
|
---|
2910 | </para>
|
---|
2911 |
|
---|
2912 |
|
---|
2913 | </chapter>
|
---|
2914 |
|
---|
2915 | <chapter>
|
---|
2916 | <title>CHARLEY'S COUP</title>
|
---|
2917 |
|
---|
2918 |
|
---|
2919 | <para>
|
---|
2920 | Perhaps our most laughable exploit on the fish patrol, and at the
|
---|
2921 | same time our most dangerous one, was when we rounded in, at a
|
---|
2922 | single haul, an even score of wrathful fishermen. Charley called
|
---|
2923 | it a "coop," having heard Neil Partington use the term; but I think
|
---|
2924 | he misunderstood the word, and thought it meant "coop," to catch,
|
---|
2925 | to trap. The fishermen, however, coup or coop, must have called it
|
---|
2926 | a Waterloo, for it was the severest stroke ever dealt them by the
|
---|
2927 | fish patrol, while they had invited it by open and impudent
|
---|
2928 | defiance of the law.
|
---|
2929 | </para>
|
---|
2930 |
|
---|
2931 | <para>
|
---|
2932 | During what is called the "open season" the fishermen might catch
|
---|
2933 | as many salmon as their luck allowed and their boats could hold.
|
---|
2934 | But there was one important restriction. From sun-down Saturday
|
---|
2935 | night to sun-up Monday morning, they were not permitted to set a
|
---|
2936 | net. This was a wise provision on the part of the Fish Commission,
|
---|
2937 | for it was necessary to give the spawning salmon some opportunity
|
---|
2938 | to ascend the river and lay their eggs. And this law, with only an
|
---|
2939 | occasional violation, had been obediently observed by the Greek
|
---|
2940 | fishermen who caught salmon for the canneries and the market.
|
---|
2941 | </para>
|
---|
2942 |
|
---|
2943 | <para>
|
---|
2944 | One Sunday morning, Charley received a telephone call from a friend
|
---|
2945 | in Collinsville, who told him that the full force of fishermen was
|
---|
2946 | out with its nets. Charley and I jumped into our salmon boat and
|
---|
2947 | started for the scene of the trouble. With a light favoring wind
|
---|
2948 | at our back we went through the Carquinez Straits, crossed Suisun
|
---|
2949 | Bay, passed the Ship Island Light, and came upon the whole fleet at
|
---|
2950 | work.
|
---|
2951 | </para>
|
---|
2952 |
|
---|
2953 | <para>
|
---|
2954 | But first let me describe the method by which they worked. The net
|
---|
2955 | used is what is known as a gill-net. It has a simple diamond-
|
---|
2956 | shaped mesh which measures at least seven and one-half inches
|
---|
2957 | between the knots. From five to seven and even eight hundred feet
|
---|
2958 | in length, these nets are only a few feet wide. They are not
|
---|
2959 | stationary, but float with the current, the upper edge supported on
|
---|
2960 | the surface by floats, the lower edge sunk by means of leaden
|
---|
2961 | weights,
|
---|
2962 | </para>
|
---|
2963 |
|
---|
2964 | <para>
|
---|
2965 | This arrangement keeps the net upright in the current and
|
---|
2966 | effectually prevents all but the smaller fish from ascending the
|
---|
2967 | river. The salmon, swimming near the surface, as is their custom,
|
---|
2968 | run their heads through these meshes, and are prevented from going
|
---|
2969 | on through by their larger girth of body, and from going back
|
---|
2970 | because of their gills, which catch in the mesh. It requires two
|
---|
2971 | fishermen to set such a net, - one to row the boat, while the
|
---|
2972 | other, standing in the stern, carefully pays out the net. When it
|
---|
2973 | is all out, stretching directly across the stream, the men make
|
---|
2974 | their boat fast to one end of the net and drift along with it.
|
---|
2975 | </para>
|
---|
2976 |
|
---|
2977 | <para>
|
---|
2978 | As we came upon the fleet of law-breaking fishermen, each boat two
|
---|
2979 | or three hundred yards from its neighbors, and boats and nets
|
---|
2980 | dotting the river as far as we could see, Charley said:
|
---|
2981 | </para>
|
---|
2982 |
|
---|
2983 | <para>
|
---|
2984 | "I've only one regret, lad, and that is that I have'nt a thousand
|
---|
2985 | arms so as to be able to catch them all. As it is, we'll only be
|
---|
2986 | able to catch one boat, for while we are tackling that one it will
|
---|
2987 | be up nets and away with the rest."
|
---|
2988 | </para>
|
---|
2989 |
|
---|
2990 | <para>
|
---|
2991 | As we drew closer, we observed none of the usual flurry and
|
---|
2992 | excitement which our appearance invariably produced. Instead, each
|
---|
2993 | boat lay quietly by its net, while the fishermen favored us with
|
---|
2994 | not the slightest attention.
|
---|
2995 | </para>
|
---|
2996 |
|
---|
2997 | <para>
|
---|
2998 | "It's curious," Charley muttered. "Can it be they don't recognize
|
---|
2999 | us?"
|
---|
3000 | </para>
|
---|
3001 |
|
---|
3002 | <para>
|
---|
3003 | I said that it was impossible, and Charley agreed; yet there was a
|
---|
3004 | whole fleet, manned by men who knew us only too well, and who took
|
---|
3005 | no more notice of us than if we were a hay scow or a pleasure
|
---|
3006 | yacht.
|
---|
3007 | </para>
|
---|
3008 |
|
---|
3009 | <para>
|
---|
3010 | This did not continue to be the case, however, for as we bore down
|
---|
3011 | upon the nearest net, the men to whom it belonged detached their
|
---|
3012 | boat and rowed slowly toward the shore. The rest of the boats
|
---|
3013 | showed no, sign of uneasiness.
|
---|
3014 | </para>
|
---|
3015 |
|
---|
3016 | <para>
|
---|
3017 | "That's funny," was Charley's remark. "But we can confiscate the
|
---|
3018 | net, at any rate."
|
---|
3019 | </para>
|
---|
3020 |
|
---|
3021 | <para>
|
---|
3022 | We lowered sail, picked up one end of the net, and began to heave
|
---|
3023 | it into the boat. But at the first heave we heard a bullet zip-
|
---|
3024 | zipping past us on the water, followed by the faint report of a
|
---|
3025 | rifle. The men who had rowed ashore were shooting at us. At the
|
---|
3026 | next heave a second bullet went zipping past, perilously near.
|
---|
3027 | Charley took a turn around a pin and sat down. There were no more
|
---|
3028 | shots. But as soon as he began to heave in, the shooting
|
---|
3029 | recommenced.
|
---|
3030 | </para>
|
---|
3031 |
|
---|
3032 | <para>
|
---|
3033 | "That settles it," he said, flinging the end of the net overboard.
|
---|
3034 | "You fellows want it worse than we do, and you can have it."
|
---|
3035 | </para>
|
---|
3036 |
|
---|
3037 | <para>
|
---|
3038 | We rowed over toward the next net, for Charley was intent on
|
---|
3039 | finding out whether or not we were face to face with an organized
|
---|
3040 | defiance. As we approached, the two fishermen proceeded to cast
|
---|
3041 | off from their net and row ashore, while the first two rowed back
|
---|
3042 | and made fast to the net we had abandoned. And at the second net
|
---|
3043 | we were greeted by rifle shots till we desisted and went on to the
|
---|
3044 | third, where the manoeuvre was again repeated.
|
---|
3045 | </para>
|
---|
3046 |
|
---|
3047 | <para>
|
---|
3048 | Then we gave it up, completely routed, and hoisted sail and started
|
---|
3049 | on the long windward beat back to Benicia. A number of Sundays
|
---|
3050 | went by, on each of which the law was persistently violated. Yet,
|
---|
3051 | short of an armed force of soldiers, we could do nothing. The
|
---|
3052 | fishermen had hit upon a new idea and were using it for all it was
|
---|
3053 | worth, while there seemed no way by which we could get the better
|
---|
3054 | of them.
|
---|
3055 | </para>
|
---|
3056 |
|
---|
3057 | <para>
|
---|
3058 | About this time Neil Partington happened along from the Lower Bay,
|
---|
3059 | where he had been for a number of weeks. With him was Nicholas,
|
---|
3060 | the Greek boy who had helped us in our raid on the oyster pirates,
|
---|
3061 | and the pair of them took a hand. We made our arrangements
|
---|
3062 | carefully. It was planned that while Charley and I tackled the
|
---|
3063 | nets, they were to be hidden ashore so as to ambush the fishermen
|
---|
3064 | who landed to shoot at us.
|
---|
3065 | </para>
|
---|
3066 |
|
---|
3067 | <para>
|
---|
3068 | It was a pretty plan. Even Charley said it was. But we reckoned
|
---|
3069 | not half so well as the Greeks. They forestalled us by ambushing
|
---|
3070 | Neil and Nicholas and taking them prisoners, while, as of old,
|
---|
3071 | bullets whistled about our ears when Charley and I attempted to
|
---|
3072 | take possession of the nets. When we were again beaten off, Neil
|
---|
3073 | Partington and Nicholas were released. They were rather shamefaced
|
---|
3074 | when they put in an appearance, and Charley chaffed them
|
---|
3075 | unmercifully. But Neil chaffed back, demanding to know why
|
---|
3076 | Charley's imagination had not long since overcome the difficulty.
|
---|
3077 | </para>
|
---|
3078 |
|
---|
3079 | <para>
|
---|
3080 | "Just you wait; the idea'll come all right," Charley promised.
|
---|
3081 | </para>
|
---|
3082 |
|
---|
3083 | <para>
|
---|
3084 | "Most probably," Neil agreed. "But I'm afraid the salmon will be
|
---|
3085 | exterminated first, and then there will be no need for it when it
|
---|
3086 | does come."
|
---|
3087 | </para>
|
---|
3088 |
|
---|
3089 | <para>
|
---|
3090 | Neil Partington, highly disgusted with his adventure, departed for
|
---|
3091 | the Lower Bay, taking Nicholas with him, and Charley and I were
|
---|
3092 | left to our own resources. This meant that the Sunday fishing
|
---|
3093 | would be left to itself, too, until such time as Charley's idea
|
---|
3094 | happened along. I puzzled my head a good deal to find out some way
|
---|
3095 | of checkmating the Greeks, as also did Charley, and we broached a
|
---|
3096 | thousand expedients which on discussion proved worthless.
|
---|
3097 | </para>
|
---|
3098 |
|
---|
3099 | <para>
|
---|
3100 | The fishermen, on the other hand, were in high feather, and their
|
---|
3101 | boasts went up and down the river to add to our discomfiture.
|
---|
3102 | Among all classes of them we became aware of a growing
|
---|
3103 | insubordination. We were beaten, and they were losing respect for
|
---|
3104 | us. With the loss of respect, contempt began to arise. Charley
|
---|
3105 | began to be spoken of as the "olda woman," and I received my rating
|
---|
3106 | as the "pee-wee kid." The situation was fast becoming unbearable,
|
---|
3107 | and we knew that we should have to deliver a stunning stroke at the
|
---|
3108 | Greeks in order to regain the old-time respect in which we had
|
---|
3109 | stood.
|
---|
3110 | </para>
|
---|
3111 |
|
---|
3112 | <para>
|
---|
3113 | Then one morning the idea came. We were down on Steamboat Wharf,
|
---|
3114 | where the river steamers made their landings, and where we found a
|
---|
3115 | group of amused long-shoremen and loafers listening to the hard-
|
---|
3116 | luck tale of a sleepy-eyed young fellow in long sea-boots. He was
|
---|
3117 | a sort of amateur fisherman, he said, fishing for the local market
|
---|
3118 | of Berkeley. Now Berkeley was on the Lower Bay, thirty miles away.
|
---|
3119 | On the previous night, he said, he had set his net and dozed off to
|
---|
3120 | sleep in the bottom of the boat.
|
---|
3121 | </para>
|
---|
3122 |
|
---|
3123 | <para>
|
---|
3124 | The next he knew it was morning, and he opened his eyes to find his
|
---|
3125 | boat rubbing softly against the piles of Steamboat Wharf at
|
---|
3126 | Benicia. Also he saw the river steamer Apache lying ahead of him,
|
---|
3127 | and a couple of deck-hands disentangling the shreds of his net from
|
---|
3128 | the paddle-wheel. In short, after he had gone to sleep, his
|
---|
3129 | fisherman's riding light had gone out, and the Apache had run over
|
---|
3130 | his net. Though torn pretty well to pieces, the net in some way
|
---|
3131 | still remained foul, and he had had a thirty-mile tow out of his
|
---|
3132 | course.
|
---|
3133 | </para>
|
---|
3134 |
|
---|
3135 | <para>
|
---|
3136 | Charley nudged me with his elbow. I grasped his thought on the
|
---|
3137 | instant, but objected:
|
---|
3138 | </para>
|
---|
3139 |
|
---|
3140 | <para>
|
---|
3141 | "We can't charter a steamboat."
|
---|
3142 | </para>
|
---|
3143 |
|
---|
3144 | <para>
|
---|
3145 | "Don't intend to," he rejoined. "But let's run over to Turner's
|
---|
3146 | Shipyard. I've something in my mind there that may be of use to
|
---|
3147 | us."
|
---|
3148 | </para>
|
---|
3149 |
|
---|
3150 | <para>
|
---|
3151 | And over we went to the shipyard, where Charley led the way to the
|
---|
3152 | Mary Rebecca, lying hauled out on the ways, where she was being
|
---|
3153 | cleaned and overhauled. She was a scow-schooner we both knew well,
|
---|
3154 | carrying a cargo of one hundred and forty tons and a spread of
|
---|
3155 | canvas greater than other schooner on the bay.
|
---|
3156 | </para>
|
---|
3157 |
|
---|
3158 | <para>
|
---|
3159 | "How d'ye do, Ole," Charley greeted a big blue-shirted Swede who
|
---|
3160 | was greasing the jaws of the main gaff with a piece of pork rind.
|
---|
3161 | </para>
|
---|
3162 |
|
---|
3163 | <para>
|
---|
3164 | Ole grunted, puffed away at his pipe, and went on greasing. The
|
---|
3165 | captain of a bay schooner is supposed to work with his hands just
|
---|
3166 | as well as the men.
|
---|
3167 | </para>
|
---|
3168 |
|
---|
3169 | <para>
|
---|
3170 | Ole Ericsen verified Charley's conjecture that the Mary Rebecca, as
|
---|
3171 | soon as launched, would run up the San Joaquin River nearly to
|
---|
3172 | Stockton for a load of wheat. Then Charley made his proposition,
|
---|
3173 | and Ole Ericsen shook his head.
|
---|
3174 | </para>
|
---|
3175 |
|
---|
3176 | <para>
|
---|
3177 | "Just a hook, one good-sized hook," Charley pleaded.
|
---|
3178 | </para>
|
---|
3179 |
|
---|
3180 | <para>
|
---|
3181 | "No, Ay tank not," said Ole Ericsen. "Der Mary Rebecca yust hang
|
---|
3182 | up on efery mud-bank with that hook. Ay don't want to lose der
|
---|
3183 | Mary Rebecca. She's all Ay got."
|
---|
3184 | </para>
|
---|
3185 |
|
---|
3186 | <para>
|
---|
3187 | "No, no," Charley hurried to explain. "We can put the end of the
|
---|
3188 | hook through the bottom from the outside, and fasten it on the
|
---|
3189 | inside with a nut. After it's done its work, why, all we have to
|
---|
3190 | do is to go down into the hold, unscrew the nut, and out drops the
|
---|
3191 | hook. Then drive a wooden peg into the hole, and the Mary Rebecca
|
---|
3192 | will be all right again."
|
---|
3193 | </para>
|
---|
3194 |
|
---|
3195 | <para>
|
---|
3196 | Ole Ericsen was obstinate for a long time; but in the end, after we
|
---|
3197 | had had dinner with him, he was brought round to consent.
|
---|
3198 | </para>
|
---|
3199 |
|
---|
3200 | <para>
|
---|
3201 | "Ay do it, by Yupiter!" he said, striking one huge fist into the
|
---|
3202 | palm of the other hand. "But yust hurry you up wid der hook. Der
|
---|
3203 | Mary Rebecca slides into der water to-night."
|
---|
3204 | </para>
|
---|
3205 |
|
---|
3206 | <para>
|
---|
3207 | It was Saturday, and Charley had need to hurry. We headed for the
|
---|
3208 | shipyard blacksmith shop, where, under Charley's directions, a most
|
---|
3209 | generously curved book of heavy steel was made. Back we hastened
|
---|
3210 | to the Mary Rebecca. Aft of the great centre-board case, through
|
---|
3211 | what was properly her keel, a hole was bored. The end of the hook
|
---|
3212 | was inserted from the outside, and Charley, on the inside, screwed
|
---|
3213 | the nut on tightly. As it stood complete, the hook projected over
|
---|
3214 | a foot beneath the bottom of the schooner. Its curve was something
|
---|
3215 | like the curve of a sickle, but deeper.
|
---|
3216 | </para>
|
---|
3217 |
|
---|
3218 | <para>
|
---|
3219 | In the late afternoon the Mary Rebecca was launched, and
|
---|
3220 | preparations were finished for the start up-river next morning.
|
---|
3221 | Charley and Ole intently studied the evening sky for signs of wind,
|
---|
3222 | for without a good breeze our project was doomed to failure. They
|
---|
3223 | agreed that there were all the signs of a stiff westerly wind - not
|
---|
3224 | the ordinary afternoon sea-breeze, but a half-gale, which even then
|
---|
3225 | was springing up.
|
---|
3226 | </para>
|
---|
3227 |
|
---|
3228 | <para>
|
---|
3229 | Next morning found their predictions verified. The sun was shining
|
---|
3230 | brightly, but something more than a half-gale was shrieking up the
|
---|
3231 | Carquinez Straits, and the Mary Rebecca got under way with two
|
---|
3232 | reefs in her mainsail and one in her foresail. We found it quite
|
---|
3233 | rough in the Straits and in Suisun Bay; but as the water grew more
|
---|
3234 | land-locked it became calm, though without let-up in the wind.
|
---|
3235 | </para>
|
---|
3236 |
|
---|
3237 | <para>
|
---|
3238 | Off Ship Island Light the reefs were shaken out, and at Charley's
|
---|
3239 | suggestion a big fisherman's staysail was made all ready for
|
---|
3240 | hoisting, and the maintopsail, bunched into a cap at the masthead,
|
---|
3241 | was overhauled so that it could be set on an instant's notice.
|
---|
3242 | </para>
|
---|
3243 |
|
---|
3244 | <para>
|
---|
3245 | We were tearing along, wing-and-wing, before the wind, foresail to
|
---|
3246 | starboard and mainsail to port, as we came upon the salmon fleet.
|
---|
3247 | There they were, boats and nets, as on that first Sunday when they
|
---|
3248 | had bested us, strung out evenly over the river as far as we could
|
---|
3249 | see. A narrow space on the right-hand side of the channel was left
|
---|
3250 | clear for steamboats, but the rest of the river was covered with
|
---|
3251 | the wide-stretching nets. The narrow space was our logical course,
|
---|
3252 | but Charley, at the wheel, steered the Mary Rebecca straight for
|
---|
3253 | the nets. This did not cause any alarm among the fishermen,
|
---|
3254 | because up-river sailing craft are always provided with "shoes" on
|
---|
3255 | the ends of their keels, which permit them to slip over the nets
|
---|
3256 | without fouling them.
|
---|
3257 | </para>
|
---|
3258 |
|
---|
3259 | <para>
|
---|
3260 | "Now she takes it!" Charley cried, as we dashed across the middle
|
---|
3261 | of a line of floats which marked a net. At one end of this line
|
---|
3262 | was a small barrel buoy, at the other the two fishermen in their
|
---|
3263 | boat. Buoy and boat at once began to draw together, and the
|
---|
3264 | fishermen to cry out, as they were jerked after us. A couple of
|
---|
3265 | minutes later we hooked a second net, and then a third, and in this
|
---|
3266 | fashion we tore straight up through the centre of the fleet.
|
---|
3267 | </para>
|
---|
3268 |
|
---|
3269 | <para>
|
---|
3270 | The consternation we spread among the fishermen was tremendous. As
|
---|
3271 | fast as we hooked a net the two ends of it, buoy and boat, came
|
---|
3272 | together as they dragged out astern; and so many buoys and boats,
|
---|
3273 | coming together at such breakneck speed, kept the fishermen on the
|
---|
3274 | jump to avoid smashing into one another. Also, they shouted at us
|
---|
3275 | like mad to heave to into the wind, for they took it as some
|
---|
3276 | drunken prank on the part of scow-sailors, little dreaming that we
|
---|
3277 | were the fish patrol.
|
---|
3278 | </para>
|
---|
3279 |
|
---|
3280 | <para>
|
---|
3281 | The drag of a single net is very heavy, and Charley and Ole Ericsen
|
---|
3282 | decided that even in such a wind ten nets were all the Mary Rebecca
|
---|
3283 | could take along with her. So when we had hooked ten nets, with
|
---|
3284 | ten boats containing twenty men streaming along behind us, we
|
---|
3285 | veered to the left out of the fleet and headed toward Collinsville.
|
---|
3286 | </para>
|
---|
3287 |
|
---|
3288 | <para>
|
---|
3289 | We were all jubilant. Charley was handling the wheel as though he
|
---|
3290 | were steering the winning yacht home in a race. The two sailors
|
---|
3291 | who made up the crew of the Mary Rebecca, were grinning and joking.
|
---|
3292 | Ole Ericsen was rubbing his huge hands in child-like glee.
|
---|
3293 | </para>
|
---|
3294 |
|
---|
3295 | <para>
|
---|
3296 | "Ay tank you fish patrol fallers never ban so lucky as when you
|
---|
3297 | sail with Ole Ericsen," he was saying, when a rifle cracked sharply
|
---|
3298 | astern, and a bullet gouged along the newly painted cabin, glanced
|
---|
3299 | on a nail, and sang shrilly onward into space.
|
---|
3300 | </para>
|
---|
3301 |
|
---|
3302 | <para>
|
---|
3303 | This was too much for Ole Ericsen. At sight of his beloved
|
---|
3304 | paintwork thus defaced, he jumped up and shook his fist at the
|
---|
3305 | fishermen; but a second bullet smashed into the cabin not six
|
---|
3306 | inches from his head, and he dropped down to the deck under cover
|
---|
3307 | of the rail.
|
---|
3308 | </para>
|
---|
3309 |
|
---|
3310 | <para>
|
---|
3311 | All the fishermen had rifles, and they now opened a general
|
---|
3312 | fusillade. We were all driven to cover - even Charley, who was
|
---|
3313 | compelled to desert the wheel. Had it not been for the heavy drag
|
---|
3314 | of the nets, we would inevitably have broached to at the mercy of
|
---|
3315 | the enraged fishermen. But the nets, fastened to the bottom of the
|
---|
3316 | Mary Rebecca well aft, held her stern into the wind, and she
|
---|
3317 | continued to plough on, though somewhat erratically.
|
---|
3318 | </para>
|
---|
3319 |
|
---|
3320 | <para>
|
---|
3321 | Charley, lying on the deck, could just manage to reach the lower
|
---|
3322 | spokes of the wheel; but while he could steer after a fashion, it
|
---|
3323 | was very awkward. Ole Ericsen bethought himself of a large piece
|
---|
3324 | of sheet steel in the empty hold.
|
---|
3325 | </para>
|
---|
3326 |
|
---|
3327 | <para>
|
---|
3328 | It was in fact a plate from the side of the New Jersey, a steamer
|
---|
3329 | which had recently been wrecked outside the Golden Gate, and in the
|
---|
3330 | salving of which the Mary Rebecca had taken part.
|
---|
3331 | </para>
|
---|
3332 |
|
---|
3333 | <para>
|
---|
3334 | Crawling carefully along the deck, the two sailors, Ole, and myself
|
---|
3335 | got the heavy plate on deck and aft, where we reared it as a shield
|
---|
3336 | between the wheel and the fishermen. The bullets whanged and
|
---|
3337 | banged against it till it rang like a bull's-eye, but Charley
|
---|
3338 | grinned in its shelter, and coolly went on steering.
|
---|
3339 | </para>
|
---|
3340 |
|
---|
3341 | <para>
|
---|
3342 | So we raced along, behind us a howling, screaming bedlam of
|
---|
3343 | wrathful Greeks, Collinsville ahead, and bullets spat-spatting all
|
---|
3344 | around us.
|
---|
3345 | </para>
|
---|
3346 |
|
---|
3347 | <para>
|
---|
3348 | "Ole," Charley said in a faint voice, "I don't know what we're
|
---|
3349 | going to do."
|
---|
3350 | </para>
|
---|
3351 |
|
---|
3352 | <para>
|
---|
3353 | Ole Ericsen, lying on his back close to the rail and grinning
|
---|
3354 | upward at the sky, turned over on his side and looked at him. "Ay
|
---|
3355 | tank we go into Collinsville yust der same," he said.
|
---|
3356 | </para>
|
---|
3357 |
|
---|
3358 | <para>
|
---|
3359 | "But we can't stop," Charley groaned. "I never thought of it, but
|
---|
3360 | we can't stop."
|
---|
3361 | </para>
|
---|
3362 |
|
---|
3363 | <para>
|
---|
3364 | A look of consternation slowly overspread Ole Ericsen's broad face.
|
---|
3365 | It was only too true. We had a hornet's nest on our hands, and to
|
---|
3366 | stop at Collinsville would be to have it about our ears.
|
---|
3367 | </para>
|
---|
3368 |
|
---|
3369 | <para>
|
---|
3370 | "Every man Jack of them has a gun," one of the sailors remarked
|
---|
3371 | cheerfully.
|
---|
3372 | </para>
|
---|
3373 |
|
---|
3374 | <para>
|
---|
3375 | "Yes, and a knife, too," the other sailor added.
|
---|
3376 | </para>
|
---|
3377 |
|
---|
3378 | <para>
|
---|
3379 | It was Ole Ericsen's turn to groan. "What for a Svaidish faller
|
---|
3380 | like me monkey with none of my biziness, I don't know," he
|
---|
3381 | soliloquized.
|
---|
3382 | </para>
|
---|
3383 |
|
---|
3384 | <para>
|
---|
3385 | A bullet glanced on the stern and sang off to starboard like a
|
---|
3386 | spiteful bee. "There's nothing to do but plump the Mary Rebecca
|
---|
3387 | ashore and run for it," was the verdict of the first cheerful
|
---|
3388 | sailor.
|
---|
3389 | </para>
|
---|
3390 |
|
---|
3391 | <para>
|
---|
3392 | "And leaf der Mary Rebecca?" Ole demanded, with unspeakable horror
|
---|
3393 | in his voice.
|
---|
3394 | </para>
|
---|
3395 |
|
---|
3396 | <para>
|
---|
3397 | "Not unless you want to," was the response. "But I don't want to
|
---|
3398 | be within a thousand miles of her when those fellers come aboard" -
|
---|
3399 | indicating the bedlam of excited Greeks towing behind.
|
---|
3400 | </para>
|
---|
3401 |
|
---|
3402 | <para>
|
---|
3403 | We were right in at Collinsville then, and went foaming by within
|
---|
3404 | biscuit-toss of the wharf.
|
---|
3405 | </para>
|
---|
3406 |
|
---|
3407 | <para>
|
---|
3408 | "I only hope the wind holds out," Charley said, stealing a glance
|
---|
3409 | at our prisoners.
|
---|
3410 | </para>
|
---|
3411 |
|
---|
3412 | <para>
|
---|
3413 | "What of der wind?" Ole demanded disconsolately. "Der river will
|
---|
3414 | not hold out, and then . . . and then . . ."
|
---|
3415 | </para>
|
---|
3416 |
|
---|
3417 | <para>
|
---|
3418 | "It's head for tall timber, and the Greeks take the hindermost,"
|
---|
3419 | adjudged the cheerful sailor, while Ole was stuttering over what
|
---|
3420 | would happen when we came to the end of the river.
|
---|
3421 | </para>
|
---|
3422 |
|
---|
3423 | <para>
|
---|
3424 | We had now reached a dividing of the ways. To the left was the
|
---|
3425 | mouth of the Sacramento River, to the right the mouth of the San
|
---|
3426 | Joaquin. The cheerful sailor crept forward and jibed over the
|
---|
3427 | foresail as Charley put the helm to starboard and we swerved to the
|
---|
3428 | right into the San Joaquin. The wind, from which we had been
|
---|
3429 | running away on an even keel, now caught us on our beam, and the
|
---|
3430 | Mary Rebecca was pressed down on her port side as if she were about
|
---|
3431 | to capsize.
|
---|
3432 | </para>
|
---|
3433 |
|
---|
3434 | <para>
|
---|
3435 | Still we dashed on, and still the fishermen dashed on behind. The
|
---|
3436 | value of their nets was greater than the fines they would have to
|
---|
3437 | pay for violating the fish laws; so to cast off from their nets and
|
---|
3438 | escape, which they could easily do, would profit them nothing.
|
---|
3439 | Further, they remained by their nets instinctively, as a sailor
|
---|
3440 | remains by his ship. And still further, the desire for vengeance
|
---|
3441 | was roused, and we could depend upon it that they would follow us
|
---|
3442 | to the ends of the earth, if we undertook to tow them that far.
|
---|
3443 | </para>
|
---|
3444 |
|
---|
3445 | <para>
|
---|
3446 | The rifle-firing had ceased, and we looked astern to see what our
|
---|
3447 | prisoners were doing. The boats were strung along at unequal
|
---|
3448 | distances apart, and we saw the four nearest ones bunching
|
---|
3449 | together. This was done by the boat ahead trailing a small rope
|
---|
3450 | astern to the one behind. When this was caught, they would cast
|
---|
3451 | off from their net and heave in on the line till they were brought
|
---|
3452 | up to the boat in front. So great was the speed at which we were
|
---|
3453 | travelling, however, that this was very slow work. Sometimes the
|
---|
3454 | men would strain to their utmost and fail to get in an inch of the
|
---|
3455 | rope; at other times they came ahead more rapidly.
|
---|
3456 | </para>
|
---|
3457 |
|
---|
3458 | <para>
|
---|
3459 | When the four boats were near enough together for a man to pass
|
---|
3460 | from one to another, one Greek from each of three got into the
|
---|
3461 | nearest boat to us, taking his rifle with him. This made five in
|
---|
3462 | the foremost boat, and it was plain that their intention was to
|
---|
3463 | board us. This they undertook to do, by main strength and sweat,
|
---|
3464 | running hand over hand the float-line of a net. And though it was
|
---|
3465 | slow, and they stopped frequently to rest, they gradually drew
|
---|
3466 | nearer.
|
---|
3467 | </para>
|
---|
3468 |
|
---|
3469 | <para>
|
---|
3470 | Charley smiled at their efforts, and said, "Give her the topsail,
|
---|
3471 | Ole."
|
---|
3472 | </para>
|
---|
3473 |
|
---|
3474 | <para>
|
---|
3475 | The cap at the mainmast head was broken out, and sheet and downhaul
|
---|
3476 | pulled flat, amid a scattering rifle fire from the boats; and the
|
---|
3477 | Mary Rebecca lay over and sprang ahead faster than ever.
|
---|
3478 | </para>
|
---|
3479 |
|
---|
3480 | <para>
|
---|
3481 | But the Greeks were undaunted. Unable, at the increased speed, to
|
---|
3482 | draw themselves nearer by means of their hands, they rigged from
|
---|
3483 | the blocks of their boat sail what sailors call a "watch-tackle."
|
---|
3484 | One of them, held by the legs by his mates, would lean far over the
|
---|
3485 | bow and make the tackle fast to the float-line. Then they would
|
---|
3486 | heave in on the tackle till the blocks were together, when the
|
---|
3487 | manoeuvre would be repeated.
|
---|
3488 | </para>
|
---|
3489 |
|
---|
3490 | <para>
|
---|
3491 | "Have to give her the staysail," Charley said.
|
---|
3492 | </para>
|
---|
3493 |
|
---|
3494 | <para>
|
---|
3495 | Ole Ericsen looked at the straining Mary Rebecca and shook his
|
---|
3496 | head. "It will take der masts out of her," he said.
|
---|
3497 | </para>
|
---|
3498 |
|
---|
3499 | <para>
|
---|
3500 | "And we'll be taken out of her if you don't," Charley replied.
|
---|
3501 | </para>
|
---|
3502 |
|
---|
3503 | <para>
|
---|
3504 | Ole shot an anxious glance at his masts, another at the boat load
|
---|
3505 | of armed Greeks, and consented.
|
---|
3506 | </para>
|
---|
3507 |
|
---|
3508 | <para>
|
---|
3509 | The five men were in the bow of the boat - a bad place when a craft
|
---|
3510 | is towing. I was watching the behavior of their boat as the great
|
---|
3511 | fisherman's staysail, far, far larger than the top-sail and used
|
---|
3512 | only in light breezes, was broken out. As the Mary Rebecca lurched
|
---|
3513 | forward with a tremendous jerk, the nose of the boat ducked down
|
---|
3514 | into the water, and the men tumbled over one another in a wild rush
|
---|
3515 | into the stern to save the boat from being dragged sheer under
|
---|
3516 | water.
|
---|
3517 | </para>
|
---|
3518 |
|
---|
3519 | <para>
|
---|
3520 | "That settles them!" Charley remarked, though he was anxiously
|
---|
3521 | studying the behavior of the Mary Rebecca, which was being driven
|
---|
3522 | under far more canvas than she was rightly able to carry.
|
---|
3523 | </para>
|
---|
3524 |
|
---|
3525 | <para>
|
---|
3526 | "Next stop is Antioch!" announced the cheerful sailor, after the
|
---|
3527 | manner of a railway conductor. "And next comes Merryweather!"
|
---|
3528 | </para>
|
---|
3529 |
|
---|
3530 | <para>
|
---|
3531 | "Come here, quick," Charley said to me.
|
---|
3532 | </para>
|
---|
3533 |
|
---|
3534 | <para>
|
---|
3535 | I crawled across the deck and stood upright beside him in the
|
---|
3536 | shelter of the sheet steel.
|
---|
3537 | </para>
|
---|
3538 |
|
---|
3539 | <para>
|
---|
3540 | "Feel in my inside pocket," he commanded, "and get my notebook.
|
---|
3541 | That's right. Tear out a blank page and write what I tell you."
|
---|
3542 | </para>
|
---|
3543 |
|
---|
3544 | <para>
|
---|
3545 | And this is what I wrote:
|
---|
3546 | </para>
|
---|
3547 |
|
---|
3548 | <para>
|
---|
3549 |
|
---|
3550 | Telephone to Merryweather, to the sheriff, the constable, or the
|
---|
3551 | judge. Tell them we are coming and to turn out the town. Arm
|
---|
3552 | everybody. Have them down on the wharf to meet us or we are gone
|
---|
3553 | gooses.
|
---|
3554 | </para>
|
---|
3555 |
|
---|
3556 | <para>
|
---|
3557 |
|
---|
3558 | Now make it good and fast to that marlin-spike, and stand by to
|
---|
3559 | toss it ashore."
|
---|
3560 | </para>
|
---|
3561 |
|
---|
3562 | <para>
|
---|
3563 | I did as he directed. By then we were close to Antioch. The wind
|
---|
3564 | was shouting through our rigging, the Mary Rebecca was half over on
|
---|
3565 | her side and rushing ahead like an ocean greyhound. The seafaring
|
---|
3566 | folk of Antioch had seen us breaking out topsail and staysail, a
|
---|
3567 | most reckless performance in such weather, and had hurried to the
|
---|
3568 | wharf-ends in little groups to find out what was the matter.
|
---|
3569 | </para>
|
---|
3570 |
|
---|
3571 | <para>
|
---|
3572 | Straight down the water front we boomed, Charley edging in till a
|
---|
3573 | man could almost leap ashore. When he gave the signal I tossed the
|
---|
3574 | marlinspike. It struck the planking of the wharf a resounding
|
---|
3575 | smash, bounced along fifteen or twenty feet, and was pounced upon
|
---|
3576 | by the amazed onlookers.
|
---|
3577 | </para>
|
---|
3578 |
|
---|
3579 | <para>
|
---|
3580 | It all happened in a flash, for the next minute Antioch was behind
|
---|
3581 | and we were heeling it up the San Joaquin toward Merryweather, six
|
---|
3582 | miles away. The river straightened out here into its general
|
---|
3583 | easterly course, and we squared away before the wind, wing-and-wing
|
---|
3584 | once more, the foresail bellying out to starboard.
|
---|
3585 | </para>
|
---|
3586 |
|
---|
3587 | <para>
|
---|
3588 | Ole Ericsen seemed sunk into a state of stolid despair. Charley
|
---|
3589 | and the two sailors were looking hopeful, as they had good reason
|
---|
3590 | to be. Merryweather was a coal-mining town, and, it being Sunday,
|
---|
3591 | it was reasonable to expect the men to be in town. Further, the
|
---|
3592 | coal-miners had never lost any love for the Greek fishermen, and
|
---|
3593 | were pretty certain to render us hearty assistance.
|
---|
3594 | </para>
|
---|
3595 |
|
---|
3596 | <para>
|
---|
3597 | We strained our eyes for a glimpse of the town, and the first sight
|
---|
3598 | we caught of it gave us immense relief. The wharves were black
|
---|
3599 | with men. As we came closer, we could see them still arriving,
|
---|
3600 | stringing down the main street, guns in their hands and on the run.
|
---|
3601 | Charley glanced astern at the fishermen with a look of ownership in
|
---|
3602 | his eye which till then had been missing. The Greeks were plainly
|
---|
3603 | overawed by the display of armed strength and were putting their
|
---|
3604 | own rifles away.
|
---|
3605 | </para>
|
---|
3606 |
|
---|
3607 | <para>
|
---|
3608 | We took in topsail and staysail, dropped the main peak, and as we
|
---|
3609 | got abreast of the principal wharf jibed the mainsail. The Mary
|
---|
3610 | Rebecca shot around into the wind, the captive fishermen describing
|
---|
3611 | a great arc behind her, and forged ahead till she lost way, when
|
---|
3612 | lines we're flung ashore and she was made fast. This was
|
---|
3613 | accomplished under a hurricane of cheers from the delighted miners.
|
---|
3614 | </para>
|
---|
3615 |
|
---|
3616 | <para>
|
---|
3617 | Ole Ericsen heaved a great sigh. "Ay never tank Ay see my wife
|
---|
3618 | never again," he confessed.
|
---|
3619 | </para>
|
---|
3620 |
|
---|
3621 | <para>
|
---|
3622 | "Why, we were never in any danger," said Charley.
|
---|
3623 | </para>
|
---|
3624 |
|
---|
3625 | <para>
|
---|
3626 | Ole looked at him incredulously.
|
---|
3627 | </para>
|
---|
3628 |
|
---|
3629 | <para>
|
---|
3630 | "Sure, I mean it," Charley went on. "All we had to do, any time,
|
---|
3631 | was to let go our end - as I am going to do now, so that those
|
---|
3632 | Greeks can untangle their nets."
|
---|
3633 | </para>
|
---|
3634 |
|
---|
3635 | <para>
|
---|
3636 | He went below with a monkey-wrench, unscrewed the nut, and let the
|
---|
3637 | hook drop off. When the Greeks had hauled their nets into their
|
---|
3638 | boats and made everything shipshape, a posse of citizens took them
|
---|
3639 | off our hands and led them away to jail.
|
---|
3640 | </para>
|
---|
3641 |
|
---|
3642 | <para>
|
---|
3643 | "Ay tank Ay ban a great big fool," said Ole Ericsen. But he
|
---|
3644 | changed his mind when the admiring townspeople crowded aboard to
|
---|
3645 | shake hands with him, and a couple of enterprising newspaper men
|
---|
3646 | took photographs of the Mary Rebecca and her captain.
|
---|
3647 | </para>
|
---|
3648 |
|
---|
3649 |
|
---|
3650 | </chapter>
|
---|
3651 |
|
---|
3652 | <chapter>
|
---|
3653 | <title>DEMETRIOS CONTOS</title>
|
---|
3654 |
|
---|
3655 |
|
---|
3656 | <para>
|
---|
3657 | It must not be thought, from what I have told of the Greek
|
---|
3658 | fishermen, that they were altogether bad. Far from it. But they
|
---|
3659 | were rough men, gathered together in isolated communities and
|
---|
3660 | fighting with the elements for a livelihood. They lived far away
|
---|
3661 | from the law and its workings, did not understand it, and thought
|
---|
3662 | it tyranny. Especially did the fish laws seem tyrannical. And
|
---|
3663 | because of this, they looked upon the men of the fish patrol as
|
---|
3664 | their natural enemies.
|
---|
3665 | </para>
|
---|
3666 |
|
---|
3667 | <para>
|
---|
3668 | We menaced their lives, or their living, which is the same thing,
|
---|
3669 | in many ways. We confiscated illegal traps and nets, the materials
|
---|
3670 | of which had cost them considerable sums and the making of which
|
---|
3671 | required weeks of labor. We prevented them from catching fish at
|
---|
3672 | many times and seasons, which was equivalent to preventing them
|
---|
3673 | from making as good a living as they might have made had we not
|
---|
3674 | been in existence. And when we captured them, they were brought
|
---|
3675 | into the courts of law, where heavy cash fines were collected from
|
---|
3676 | them. As a result, they hated us vindictively. As the dog is the
|
---|
3677 | natural enemy of the cat, the snake of man, so were we of the fish
|
---|
3678 | patrol the natural enemies of the fishermen.
|
---|
3679 | </para>
|
---|
3680 |
|
---|
3681 | <para>
|
---|
3682 | But it is to show that they could act generously as well as hate
|
---|
3683 | bitterly that this story of Demetrios Contos is told. Demetrios
|
---|
3684 | Contos lived in Vallejo. Next to Big Alec, he was the largest,
|
---|
3685 | bravest, and most influential man among the Greeks. He had given
|
---|
3686 | us no trouble, and I doubt if he would ever have clashed with us
|
---|
3687 | had he not invested in a new salmon boat. This boat was the cause
|
---|
3688 | of all the trouble. He had had it built upon his own model, in
|
---|
3689 | which the lines of the general salmon boat were somewhat modified.
|
---|
3690 | </para>
|
---|
3691 |
|
---|
3692 | <para>
|
---|
3693 | To his high elation he found his new boat very fast - in fact,
|
---|
3694 | faster than any other boat on the bay or rivers. Forthwith he grew
|
---|
3695 | proud and boastful: and, our raid with the Mary Rebecca on the
|
---|
3696 | Sunday salmon fishers having wrought fear in their hearts, he sent
|
---|
3697 | a challenge up to Benicia. One of the local fishermen conveyed it
|
---|
3698 | to us; it was to the effect that Demetrios Contos would sail up
|
---|
3699 | from Vallejo on the following Sunday, and in the plain sight of
|
---|
3700 | Benicia set his net and catch salmon, and that Charley Le Grant,
|
---|
3701 | patrolman, might come and get him if he could. Of course Charley
|
---|
3702 | and I had heard nothing of the new boat. Our own boat was pretty
|
---|
3703 | fast, and we were not afraid to have a brush with any other that
|
---|
3704 | happened along.
|
---|
3705 | </para>
|
---|
3706 |
|
---|
3707 | <para>
|
---|
3708 | Sunday came. The challenge had been bruited abroad, and the
|
---|
3709 | fishermen and seafaring folk of Benicia turned out to a man,
|
---|
3710 | crowding Steamboat Wharf till it looked like the grand stand at a
|
---|
3711 | football match. Charley and I had been sceptical, but the fact of
|
---|
3712 | the crowd convinced us that there was something in Demetrios
|
---|
3713 | Contos's dare.
|
---|
3714 | </para>
|
---|
3715 |
|
---|
3716 | <para>
|
---|
3717 | In the afternoon, when the sea-breeze had picked up in strength,
|
---|
3718 | his sail hove into view as he bowled along before the wind. He
|
---|
3719 | tacked a score of feet from the wharf, waved his hand theatrically,
|
---|
3720 | like a knight about to enter the lists, received a hearty cheer in
|
---|
3721 | return, and stood away into the Straits for a couple of hundred
|
---|
3722 | yards. Then he lowered sail, and, drifting the boat sidewise by
|
---|
3723 | means of the wind, proceeded to set his net. He did not set much
|
---|
3724 | of it, possibly fifty feet; yet Charley and I were thunderstruck at
|
---|
3725 | the man's effrontery. We did not know at the time, but we learned
|
---|
3726 | afterward, that the net he used was old and worthless. It could
|
---|
3727 | catch fish, true; but a catch of any size would have torn it to
|
---|
3728 | pieces.
|
---|
3729 | </para>
|
---|
3730 |
|
---|
3731 | <para>
|
---|
3732 | Charley shook his head and said:
|
---|
3733 | </para>
|
---|
3734 |
|
---|
3735 | <para>
|
---|
3736 | "I confess, it puzzles me. What if he has out only fifty feet? He
|
---|
3737 | could never get it in if we once started for him. And why does he
|
---|
3738 | come here anyway, flaunting his law-breaking in our faces? Right
|
---|
3739 | in our home town, too."
|
---|
3740 | </para>
|
---|
3741 |
|
---|
3742 | <para>
|
---|
3743 | Charley's voice took on an aggrieved tone, and he continued for
|
---|
3744 | some minutes to inveigh against the brazenness of Demetrios Contos.
|
---|
3745 | </para>
|
---|
3746 |
|
---|
3747 | <para>
|
---|
3748 | In the meantime, the man in question was lolling in the stern of
|
---|
3749 | his boat and watching the net floats. When a large fish is meshed
|
---|
3750 | in a gill-net, the floats by their agitation advertise the fact.
|
---|
3751 | And they evidently advertised it to Demetrios, for he pulled in
|
---|
3752 | about a dozen feet of net, and held aloft for a moment, before he
|
---|
3753 | flung it into the bottom of the boat, a big, glistening salmon. It
|
---|
3754 | was greeted by the audience on the wharf with round after round of
|
---|
3755 | cheers. This was more than Charley could stand.
|
---|
3756 | </para>
|
---|
3757 |
|
---|
3758 | <para>
|
---|
3759 | "Come on, lad," he called to me; and we lost no time jumping into
|
---|
3760 | our salmon boat and getting up sail.
|
---|
3761 | </para>
|
---|
3762 |
|
---|
3763 | <para>
|
---|
3764 | The crowd shouted warning to Demetrios, and as we darted out from
|
---|
3765 | the wharf we saw him slash his worthless net clear with a long
|
---|
3766 | knife. His sail was all ready to go up, and a moment later it
|
---|
3767 | fluttered in the sunshine. He ran aft, drew in the sheet, and
|
---|
3768 | filled on the long tack toward the Contra Costa Hills.
|
---|
3769 | </para>
|
---|
3770 |
|
---|
3771 | <para>
|
---|
3772 | By this time we were not more than thirty feet astern. Charley was
|
---|
3773 | jubilant. He knew our boat was fast, and he knew, further, that in
|
---|
3774 | fine sailing few men were his equals. He was confident that we
|
---|
3775 | should surely catch Demetrios, and I shared his confidence. But
|
---|
3776 | somehow we did not seem to gain.
|
---|
3777 | </para>
|
---|
3778 |
|
---|
3779 | <para>
|
---|
3780 | It was a pretty sailing breeze. We were gliding sleekly through
|
---|
3781 | the water, but Demetrios was slowly sliding away from us. And not
|
---|
3782 | only was he going faster, but he was eating into the wind a
|
---|
3783 | fraction of a point closer than we. This was sharply impressed
|
---|
3784 | upon us when he went about under the Contra Costa Hills and passed
|
---|
3785 | us on the other tack fully one hundred feet dead to windward.
|
---|
3786 | </para>
|
---|
3787 |
|
---|
3788 | <para>
|
---|
3789 | "Whew!" Charley exclaimed. "Either that boat is a daisy, or we've
|
---|
3790 | got a five-gallon coal-oil can fast to our keel!"
|
---|
3791 | </para>
|
---|
3792 |
|
---|
3793 | <para>
|
---|
3794 | It certainly looked it one way or the other. And by the time
|
---|
3795 | Demetrios made the Sonoma Hills, on the other side of the Straits,
|
---|
3796 | we were so hopelessly outdistanced that Charley told me to slack
|
---|
3797 | off the sheet, and we squared away for Benicia. The fishermen on
|
---|
3798 | Steamboat Wharf showered us with ridicule when we returned and tied
|
---|
3799 | up. Charley and I got out and walked away, feeling rather
|
---|
3800 | sheepish, for it is a sore stroke to one's pride when he thinks he
|
---|
3801 | has a good boat and knows how to sail it, and another man comes
|
---|
3802 | along and beats him.
|
---|
3803 | </para>
|
---|
3804 |
|
---|
3805 | <para>
|
---|
3806 | Charley mooned over it for a couple of days; then word was brought
|
---|
3807 | to us, as before, that on the next Sunday Demetrios Contos would
|
---|
3808 | repeat his performance. Charley roused himself. He had our boat
|
---|
3809 | out of the water, cleaned and repainted its bottom, made a trifling
|
---|
3810 | alteration about the centre-board, overhauled the running gear, and
|
---|
3811 | sat up nearly all of Saturday night sewing on a new and much larger
|
---|
3812 | sail. So large did he make it, in fact, that additional ballast
|
---|
3813 | was imperative, and we stowed away nearly five hundred extra pounds
|
---|
3814 | of old railroad iron in the bottom of the boat.
|
---|
3815 | </para>
|
---|
3816 |
|
---|
3817 | <para>
|
---|
3818 | Sunday came, and with it came Demetrios Contos, to break the law
|
---|
3819 | defiantly in open day. Again we had the afternoon sea-breeze, and
|
---|
3820 | again Demetrios cut loose some forty or more feet of his rotten
|
---|
3821 | net, and got up sail and under way under our very noses. But he
|
---|
3822 | had anticipated Charley's move, and his own sail peaked higher than
|
---|
3823 | ever, while a whole extra cloth had been added to the after leech.
|
---|
3824 | </para>
|
---|
3825 |
|
---|
3826 | <para>
|
---|
3827 | It was nip and tuck across to the Contra Costa Hills, neither of us
|
---|
3828 | seeming to gain or to lose. But by the time we had made the return
|
---|
3829 | tack to the Sonoma Hills, we could see that, while we footed it at
|
---|
3830 | about equal speed, Demetrios had eaten into the wind the least bit
|
---|
3831 | more than we. Yet Charley was sailing our boat as finely and
|
---|
3832 | delicately as it was possible to sail it, and getting more out of
|
---|
3833 | it than he ever had before.
|
---|
3834 | </para>
|
---|
3835 |
|
---|
3836 | <para>
|
---|
3837 | Of course, he could have drawn his revolver and fired at Demetrios;
|
---|
3838 | but we had long since found it contrary to our natures to shoot at
|
---|
3839 | a fleeing man guilty of only a petty offence. Also a sort of tacit
|
---|
3840 | agreement seemed to have been reached between the patrolmen and the
|
---|
3841 | fishermen. If we did not shoot while they ran away, they, in turn,
|
---|
3842 | did not fight if we once laid hands on them. Thus Demetrios Contos
|
---|
3843 | ran away from us, and we did no more than try our best to overtake
|
---|
3844 | him; and, in turn, if our boat proved faster than his, or was
|
---|
3845 | sailed better, he would, we knew, make no resistance when we caught
|
---|
3846 | up with him.
|
---|
3847 | </para>
|
---|
3848 |
|
---|
3849 | <para>
|
---|
3850 | With our large sails and the healthy breeze romping up the
|
---|
3851 | Carquinez Straits, we found that our sailing was what is called
|
---|
3852 | "ticklish." We had to be constantly on the alert to avoid a
|
---|
3853 | capsize, and while Charley steered I held the main-sheet in my hand
|
---|
3854 | with but a single turn round a pin, ready to let go at any moment.
|
---|
3855 | Demetrios, we could see, sailing his boat alone, had his hands
|
---|
3856 | full.
|
---|
3857 | </para>
|
---|
3858 |
|
---|
3859 | <para>
|
---|
3860 | But it was a vain undertaking for us to attempt to catch him. Out
|
---|
3861 | of his inner consciousness he had evolved a boat that was better
|
---|
3862 | than ours. And though Charley sailed fully as well, if not the
|
---|
3863 | least bit better, the boat he sailed was not so good as the
|
---|
3864 | Greek's.
|
---|
3865 | </para>
|
---|
3866 |
|
---|
3867 | <para>
|
---|
3868 | "Slack away the sheet," Charley commanded; and as our boat fell off
|
---|
3869 | before the wind, Demetrios's mocking laugh floated down to us.
|
---|
3870 | </para>
|
---|
3871 |
|
---|
3872 | <para>
|
---|
3873 | Charley shook his head, saying, "It's no use. Demetrios has the
|
---|
3874 | better boat. If he tries his performance again, we must meet it
|
---|
3875 | with some new scheme."
|
---|
3876 | </para>
|
---|
3877 |
|
---|
3878 | <para>
|
---|
3879 | This time it was my imagination that came to the rescue.
|
---|
3880 | </para>
|
---|
3881 |
|
---|
3882 | <para>
|
---|
3883 | "What's the matter," I suggested, on the Wednesday following, "with
|
---|
3884 | my chasing Demetrios in the boat next Sunday, while you wait for
|
---|
3885 | him on the wharf at Vallejo when he arrives?"
|
---|
3886 | </para>
|
---|
3887 |
|
---|
3888 | <para>
|
---|
3889 | Charley considered it a moment and slapped his knee.
|
---|
3890 | </para>
|
---|
3891 |
|
---|
3892 | <para>
|
---|
3893 | "A good idea! You're beginning to use that head of yours. A
|
---|
3894 | credit to your teacher, I must say."
|
---|
3895 | </para>
|
---|
3896 |
|
---|
3897 | <para>
|
---|
3898 | "But you mustn't chase him too far," he went on, the next moment,
|
---|
3899 | "or he'll head out into San Pablo Bay instead of running home to
|
---|
3900 | Vallejo, and there I'll be, standing lonely on the wharf and
|
---|
3901 | waiting in vain for him to arrive."
|
---|
3902 | </para>
|
---|
3903 |
|
---|
3904 | <para>
|
---|
3905 | On Thursday Charley registered an objection to my plan.
|
---|
3906 | </para>
|
---|
3907 |
|
---|
3908 | <para>
|
---|
3909 | "Everybody'll know I've gone to Vallejo, and you can depend upon it
|
---|
3910 | that Demetrios will know, too. I'm afraid we'll have to give up
|
---|
3911 | the idea."
|
---|
3912 | </para>
|
---|
3913 |
|
---|
3914 | <para>
|
---|
3915 | This objection was only too valid, and for the rest of the day I
|
---|
3916 | struggled under my disappointment. But that night a new way seemed
|
---|
3917 | to open to me, and in my eagerness I awoke Charley from a sound
|
---|
3918 | sleep.
|
---|
3919 | </para>
|
---|
3920 |
|
---|
3921 | <para>
|
---|
3922 | "Well," he grunted, "what's the matter? House afire?"
|
---|
3923 | </para>
|
---|
3924 |
|
---|
3925 | <para>
|
---|
3926 | "No," I replied, "but my head is. Listen to this. On Sunday you
|
---|
3927 | and I will be around Benicia up to the very moment Demetrios's sail
|
---|
3928 | heaves into sight. This will lull everybody's suspicions. Then,
|
---|
3929 | when Demetrios's sail does heave in sight, do you stroll leisurely
|
---|
3930 | away and up-town. All the fishermen will think you're beaten and
|
---|
3931 | that you know you're beaten."
|
---|
3932 | </para>
|
---|
3933 |
|
---|
3934 | <para>
|
---|
3935 | "So far, so good," Charley commented, while I paused to catch
|
---|
3936 | breath.
|
---|
3937 | </para>
|
---|
3938 |
|
---|
3939 | <para>
|
---|
3940 | "And very good indeed," I continued proudly. "You stroll
|
---|
3941 | carelessly up-town, but when you're once out of sight you leg it
|
---|
3942 | for all you're worth for Dan Maloney's. Take the little mare of
|
---|
3943 | his, and strike out on the country road for Vallejo. The road's in
|
---|
3944 | fine condition, and you can make it in quicker time than Demetrios
|
---|
3945 | can beat all the way down against the wind."
|
---|
3946 | </para>
|
---|
3947 |
|
---|
3948 | <para>
|
---|
3949 | "And I'll arrange right away for the mare, first thing in the
|
---|
3950 | morning," Charley said, accepting the modified plan without
|
---|
3951 | hesitation.
|
---|
3952 | </para>
|
---|
3953 |
|
---|
3954 | <para>
|
---|
3955 | "But, I say," he said, a little later, this time waking me out of a
|
---|
3956 | sound sleep.
|
---|
3957 | </para>
|
---|
3958 |
|
---|
3959 | <para>
|
---|
3960 | I could hear him chuckling in the dark.
|
---|
3961 | </para>
|
---|
3962 |
|
---|
3963 | <para>
|
---|
3964 | "I say, lad, isn't it rather a novelty for the fish patrol to be
|
---|
3965 | taking to horseback?"
|
---|
3966 | </para>
|
---|
3967 |
|
---|
3968 | <para>
|
---|
3969 | "Imagination," I answered. "It's what you're always preaching -
|
---|
3970 | 'keep thinking one thought ahead of the other fellow, and you're
|
---|
3971 | bound to win out.'"
|
---|
3972 | </para>
|
---|
3973 |
|
---|
3974 | <para>
|
---|
3975 | "He! he!" he chuckled. "And if one thought ahead, including a
|
---|
3976 | mare, doesn't take the other fellow's breath away this time, I'm
|
---|
3977 | not your humble servant, Charley Le Grant."
|
---|
3978 | </para>
|
---|
3979 |
|
---|
3980 | <para>
|
---|
3981 | "But can you manage the boat alone?" he asked, on Friday.
|
---|
3982 | "Remember, we've a ripping big sail on her."
|
---|
3983 | </para>
|
---|
3984 |
|
---|
3985 | <para>
|
---|
3986 | I argued my proficiency so well that he did not refer to the matter
|
---|
3987 | again till Saturday, when he suggested removing one whole cloth
|
---|
3988 | from the after leech. I guess it was the disappointment written on
|
---|
3989 | my face that made him desist; for I, also, had a pride in my boat-
|
---|
3990 | sailing abilities, and I was almost wild to get out alone with the
|
---|
3991 | big sail and go tearing down the Carquinez Straits in the wake of
|
---|
3992 | the flying Greek.
|
---|
3993 | </para>
|
---|
3994 |
|
---|
3995 | <para>
|
---|
3996 | As usual, Sunday and Demetrios Contos arrived together. It had
|
---|
3997 | become the regular thing for the fishermen to assemble on Steamboat
|
---|
3998 | Wharf to greet his arrival and to laugh at our discomfiture. He
|
---|
3999 | lowered sail a couple of hundred yards out and set his customary
|
---|
4000 | fifty feet of rotten net.
|
---|
4001 | </para>
|
---|
4002 |
|
---|
4003 | <para>
|
---|
4004 | "I suppose this nonsense will keep up as long as his old net holds
|
---|
4005 | out," Charley grumbled, with intention, in the hearing of several
|
---|
4006 | of the Greeks.
|
---|
4007 | </para>
|
---|
4008 |
|
---|
4009 | <para>
|
---|
4010 | "Den I give-a heem my old-a net-a," one of them spoke up, promptly
|
---|
4011 | and maliciously,
|
---|
4012 | </para>
|
---|
4013 |
|
---|
4014 | <para>
|
---|
4015 | "I don't care," Charley answered. "I've got some old net myself he
|
---|
4016 | can have - if he'll come around and ask for it."
|
---|
4017 | </para>
|
---|
4018 |
|
---|
4019 | <para>
|
---|
4020 | They all laughed at this, for they could afford to be sweet-
|
---|
4021 | tempered with a man so badly outwitted as Charley was.
|
---|
4022 | </para>
|
---|
4023 |
|
---|
4024 | <para>
|
---|
4025 | "Well, so long, lad," Charley called to me a moment later. "I
|
---|
4026 | think I'll go up-town to Maloney's."
|
---|
4027 | </para>
|
---|
4028 |
|
---|
4029 | <para>
|
---|
4030 | "Let me take the boat out?" I asked.
|
---|
4031 | </para>
|
---|
4032 |
|
---|
4033 | <para>
|
---|
4034 | "If you want to," was his answer, as he turned on his heel and
|
---|
4035 | walked slowly away.
|
---|
4036 | </para>
|
---|
4037 |
|
---|
4038 | <para>
|
---|
4039 | Demetrios pulled two large salmon out of his net, and I jumped into
|
---|
4040 | the boat. The fishermen crowded around in a spirit of fun, and
|
---|
4041 | when I started to get up sail overwhelmed me with all sorts of
|
---|
4042 | jocular advice. They even offered extravagant bets to one another
|
---|
4043 | that I would surely catch Demetrios, and two of them, styling
|
---|
4044 | themselves the committee of judges, gravely asked permission to
|
---|
4045 | come along with me to see how I did it.
|
---|
4046 | </para>
|
---|
4047 |
|
---|
4048 | <para>
|
---|
4049 | But I was in no hurry. I waited to give Charley all the time I
|
---|
4050 | could, and I pretended dissatisfaction with the stretch of the sail
|
---|
4051 | and slightly shifted the small tackle by which the huge sprit
|
---|
4052 | forces up the peak. It was not until I was sure that Charley had
|
---|
4053 | reached Dan Maloney's and was on the little mare's back, that I
|
---|
4054 | cast off from the wharf and gave the big sail to the wind. A stout
|
---|
4055 | puff filled it and suddenly pressed the lee gunwale down till a
|
---|
4056 | couple of buckets of water came inboard. A little thing like this
|
---|
4057 | will happen to the best small-boat sailors, and yet, though I
|
---|
4058 | instantly let go the sheet and righted, I was cheered
|
---|
4059 | sarcastically, as though I had been guilty of a very awkward
|
---|
4060 | blunder.
|
---|
4061 | </para>
|
---|
4062 |
|
---|
4063 | <para>
|
---|
4064 | When Demetrios saw only one person in the fish patrol boat, and
|
---|
4065 | that one a boy, he proceeded to play with me. Making a short tack
|
---|
4066 | out, with me not thirty feet behind, he returned, with his sheet a
|
---|
4067 | little free, to Steamboat Wharf. And there he made short tacks,
|
---|
4068 | and turned and twisted and ducked around, to the great delight of
|
---|
4069 | his sympathetic audience. I was right behind him all the time, and
|
---|
4070 | I dared to do whatever he did, even when he squared away before the
|
---|
4071 | wind and jibed his big sail over - a most dangerous trick with such
|
---|
4072 | a sail in such a wind.
|
---|
4073 | </para>
|
---|
4074 |
|
---|
4075 | <para>
|
---|
4076 | He depended upon the brisk sea breeze and the strong ebb-tide,
|
---|
4077 | which together kicked up a nasty sea, to bring me to grief. But I
|
---|
4078 | was on my mettle, and never in all my life did I sail a boat better
|
---|
4079 | than on that day. I was keyed up to concert pitch, my brain was
|
---|
4080 | working smoothly and quickly, my hands never fumbled once, and it
|
---|
4081 | seemed that I almost divined the thousand little things which a
|
---|
4082 | small-boat sailor must be taking into consideration every second.
|
---|
4083 | </para>
|
---|
4084 |
|
---|
4085 | <para>
|
---|
4086 | It was Demetrios who came to grief instead. Something went wrong
|
---|
4087 | with his centre-board, so that it jammed in the case and would not
|
---|
4088 | go all the way down. In a moment's breathing space, which he had
|
---|
4089 | gained from me by a clever trick, I saw him working impatiently
|
---|
4090 | with the centre-board, trying to force it down. I gave him little
|
---|
4091 | time, and he was compelled quickly to return to the tiller and
|
---|
4092 | sheet.
|
---|
4093 | </para>
|
---|
4094 |
|
---|
4095 | <para>
|
---|
4096 | The centre-board made him anxious. He gave over playing with me,
|
---|
4097 | and started on the long beat to Vallejo. To my joy, on the first
|
---|
4098 | long tack across, I found that I could eat into the wind just a
|
---|
4099 | little bit closer than he. Here was where another man in the boat
|
---|
4100 | would have been of value to him; for, with me but a few feet
|
---|
4101 | astern, he did not dare let go the tiller and run amidships to try
|
---|
4102 | to force down the centre-board.
|
---|
4103 | </para>
|
---|
4104 |
|
---|
4105 | <para>
|
---|
4106 | Unable to hang on as close in the eye of the wind as formerly, he
|
---|
4107 | proceeded to slack his sheet a trifle and to ease off a bit, in
|
---|
4108 | order to outfoot me. This I permitted him to do till I had worked
|
---|
4109 | to windward, when I bore down upon him. As I drew close, he
|
---|
4110 | feinted at coming about. This led me to shoot into the wind to
|
---|
4111 | forestall him. But it was only a feint, cleverly executed, and he
|
---|
4112 | held back to his course while I hurried to make up lost ground.
|
---|
4113 | </para>
|
---|
4114 |
|
---|
4115 | <para>
|
---|
4116 | He was undeniably smarter than I when it came to manoeuvring. Time
|
---|
4117 | after time I all but had him, and each time he tricked me and
|
---|
4118 | escaped. Besides, the wind was freshening, constantly, and each of
|
---|
4119 | us had his hands full to avoid capsizing. As for my boat, it could
|
---|
4120 | not have been kept afloat but for the extra ballast. I sat cocked
|
---|
4121 | over the weather gunwale, tiller in one hand and sheet in the
|
---|
4122 | other; and the sheet, with a single turn around a pin, I was very
|
---|
4123 | often forced to let go in the severer puffs. This allowed the sail
|
---|
4124 | to spill the wind, which was equivalent to taking off so much
|
---|
4125 | driving power, and of course I lost ground. My consolation was
|
---|
4126 | that Demetrios was as often compelled to do the same thing.
|
---|
4127 | </para>
|
---|
4128 |
|
---|
4129 | <para>
|
---|
4130 | The strong ebb-tide, racing down the Straits in the teeth of the
|
---|
4131 | wind, caused an unusually heavy and spiteful sea, which dashed
|
---|
4132 | aboard continually. I was dripping wet, and even the sail was wet
|
---|
4133 | half-way up the after leech. Once I did succeed in outmanoeuvring
|
---|
4134 | Demetrios, so that my bow bumped into him amidships. Here was
|
---|
4135 | where I should have had another man. Before I could run forward
|
---|
4136 | and leap aboard, he shoved the boats apart with an oar, laughing
|
---|
4137 | mockingly in my face as he did so.
|
---|
4138 | </para>
|
---|
4139 |
|
---|
4140 | <para>
|
---|
4141 | We were now at the mouth of the Straits, in a bad stretch of water.
|
---|
4142 | Here the Vallejo Straits and the Carquinez Straits rushed directly
|
---|
4143 | at each other. Through the first flowed all the water of Napa
|
---|
4144 | River and the great tide-lands; through the second flowed all the
|
---|
4145 | water of Suisun Bay and the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. And
|
---|
4146 | where such immense bodies of water, flowing swiftly, clashed
|
---|
4147 | together, a terrible tide-rip was produced. To make it worse, the
|
---|
4148 | wind howled up San Pablo Bay for fifteen miles and drove in a
|
---|
4149 | tremendous sea upon the tide-rip.
|
---|
4150 | </para>
|
---|
4151 |
|
---|
4152 | <para>
|
---|
4153 | Conflicting currents tore about in all directions, colliding,
|
---|
4154 | forming whirlpools, sucks, and boils, and shooting up spitefully
|
---|
4155 | into hollow waves which fell aboard as often from leeward as from
|
---|
4156 | windward. And through it all, confused, driven into a madness of
|
---|
4157 | motion, thundered the great smoking seas from San Pablo Bay.
|
---|
4158 | </para>
|
---|
4159 |
|
---|
4160 | <para>
|
---|
4161 | I was as wildly excited as the water. The boat was behaving
|
---|
4162 | splendidly, leaping and lurching through the welter like a race-
|
---|
4163 | horse. I could hardly contain myself with the joy of it. The huge
|
---|
4164 | sail, the howling wind, the driving seas, the plunging boat - I, a
|
---|
4165 | pygmy, a mere speck in the midst of it, was mastering the elemental
|
---|
4166 | strife, flying through it and over it, triumphant and victorious.
|
---|
4167 | </para>
|
---|
4168 |
|
---|
4169 | <para>
|
---|
4170 | And just then, as I roared along like a conquering hero, the boat
|
---|
4171 | received a frightful smash and came instantly to a dead stop. I
|
---|
4172 | was flung forward and into the bottom. As I sprang up I caught a
|
---|
4173 | fleeting glimpse of a greenish, barnacle-covered object, and knew
|
---|
4174 | it at once for what it was, that terror of navigation, a sunken
|
---|
4175 | pile. No man may guard against such a thing. Water-logged and
|
---|
4176 | floating just beneath the surface, it was impossible to sight it in
|
---|
4177 | the troubled water in time to escape.
|
---|
4178 | </para>
|
---|
4179 |
|
---|
4180 | <para>
|
---|
4181 | The whole bow of the boat must have been crushed in, for in a few
|
---|
4182 | seconds the boat was half full. Then a couple of seas filled it,
|
---|
4183 | and it sank straight down, dragged to bottom by the heavy ballast.
|
---|
4184 | So quickly did it all happen that I was entangled in the sail and
|
---|
4185 | drawn under. When I fought my way to the surface, suffocating, my
|
---|
4186 | lungs almost bursting, I could see nothing of the oars. They must
|
---|
4187 | have been swept away by the chaotic currents. I saw Demetrios
|
---|
4188 | Contos looking back from his boat, and heard the vindictive and
|
---|
4189 | mocking tones of his voice as he shouted exultantly. He held
|
---|
4190 | steadily on his course, leaving me to perish.
|
---|
4191 | </para>
|
---|
4192 |
|
---|
4193 | <para>
|
---|
4194 | There was nothing to do but to swim for it, which, in that wild
|
---|
4195 | confusion, was at the best a matter of but a few moments. Holding
|
---|
4196 | my breath and working with my hands, I managed to get off my heavy
|
---|
4197 | sea-boots and my jacket. Yet there was very little breath I could
|
---|
4198 | catch to hold, and I swiftly discovered that it was not so much a
|
---|
4199 | matter of swimming as of breathing.
|
---|
4200 | </para>
|
---|
4201 |
|
---|
4202 | <para>
|
---|
4203 | I was beaten and buffeted, smashed under by the great San Pablo
|
---|
4204 | whitecaps, and strangled by the hollow tide-rip waves which flung
|
---|
4205 | themselves into my eyes, nose, and mouth. Then the strange sucks
|
---|
4206 | would grip my legs and drag me under, to spout me up in some fierce
|
---|
4207 | boiling, where, even as I tried to catch my breath, a great
|
---|
4208 | whitecap would crash down upon my head.
|
---|
4209 | </para>
|
---|
4210 |
|
---|
4211 | <para>
|
---|
4212 | It was impossible to survive any length of time. I was breathing
|
---|
4213 | more water than air, and drowning all the time. My senses began to
|
---|
4214 | leave me, my head to whirl around. I struggled on, spasmodically,
|
---|
4215 | instinctively, and was barely half conscious when I felt myself
|
---|
4216 | caught by the shoulders and hauled over the gunwale of a boat.
|
---|
4217 | </para>
|
---|
4218 |
|
---|
4219 | <para>
|
---|
4220 | For some time I lay across a seat where I had been flung, face
|
---|
4221 | downward, and with the water running out of my mouth. After a
|
---|
4222 | while, still weak and faint, I turned around to see who was my
|
---|
4223 | rescuer. And there, in the stern, sheet in one hand and tiller in
|
---|
4224 | the other, grinning and nodding good-naturedly, sat Demetrios
|
---|
4225 | Contos. He had intended to leave me to drown, - he said so
|
---|
4226 | afterward, - but his better self had fought the battle, conquered,
|
---|
4227 | and sent him back to me.
|
---|
4228 | </para>
|
---|
4229 |
|
---|
4230 | <para>
|
---|
4231 | "You all-a right?" he asked.
|
---|
4232 | </para>
|
---|
4233 |
|
---|
4234 | <para>
|
---|
4235 | I managed to shape a "yes" on my lips, though I could not yet
|
---|
4236 | speak.
|
---|
4237 | </para>
|
---|
4238 |
|
---|
4239 | <para>
|
---|
4240 | "You sail-a de boat verr-a good-a," he said. "So good-a as a man."
|
---|
4241 | </para>
|
---|
4242 |
|
---|
4243 | <para>
|
---|
4244 | A compliment from Demetrios Contos was a compliment indeed, and I
|
---|
4245 | keenly appreciated it, though I could only nod my head in
|
---|
4246 | acknowledgment.
|
---|
4247 | </para>
|
---|
4248 |
|
---|
4249 | <para>
|
---|
4250 | We held no more conversation, for I was busy recovering and he was
|
---|
4251 | busy with the boat. He ran in to the wharf at Vallejo, made the
|
---|
4252 | boat fast, and helped me out. Then it was, as we both stood on the
|
---|
4253 | wharf, that Charley stepped out from behind a net-rack and put his
|
---|
4254 | hand on Demetrios Contos's arm.
|
---|
4255 | </para>
|
---|
4256 |
|
---|
4257 | <para>
|
---|
4258 | "He saved my life, Charley," I protested; "and I don't think he
|
---|
4259 | ought to be arrested."
|
---|
4260 | </para>
|
---|
4261 |
|
---|
4262 | <para>
|
---|
4263 | A puzzled expression came into Charley's face, which cleared
|
---|
4264 | immediately after, in a way it had when he made up his mind.
|
---|
4265 | </para>
|
---|
4266 |
|
---|
4267 | <para>
|
---|
4268 | "I can't help it, lad," he said kindly. "I can't go back on my
|
---|
4269 | duty, and it's plain duty to arrest him. To-day is Sunday; there
|
---|
4270 | are two salmon in his boat which he caught to-day. What else can I
|
---|
4271 | do?"
|
---|
4272 | </para>
|
---|
4273 |
|
---|
4274 | <para>
|
---|
4275 | "But he saved my life," I persisted, unable to make any other
|
---|
4276 | argument.
|
---|
4277 | </para>
|
---|
4278 |
|
---|
4279 | <para>
|
---|
4280 | Demetrios Contos's face went black with rage when he learned
|
---|
4281 | Charley's judgment. He had a sense of being unfairly treated. The
|
---|
4282 | better part of his nature had triumphed, he had performed a
|
---|
4283 | generous act and saved a helpless enemy, and in return the enemy
|
---|
4284 | was taking him to jail.
|
---|
4285 | </para>
|
---|
4286 |
|
---|
4287 | <para>
|
---|
4288 | Charley and I were out of sorts with each other when we went back
|
---|
4289 | to Benicia. I stood for the spirit of the law and not the letter;
|
---|
4290 | but by the letter Charley made his stand. As far as he could see,
|
---|
4291 | there was nothing else for him to do. The law said distinctly that
|
---|
4292 | no salmon should be caught on Sunday. He was a patrolman, and it
|
---|
4293 | was his duty to enforce that law. That was all there was to it.
|
---|
4294 | He had done his duty, and his conscience was clear. Nevertheless,
|
---|
4295 | the whole thing seemed unjust to me, and I felt very sorry for
|
---|
4296 | Demetrios Contos.
|
---|
4297 | </para>
|
---|
4298 |
|
---|
4299 | <para>
|
---|
4300 | Two days later we went down to Vallejo to the trial. I had to go
|
---|
4301 | along as a witness, and it was the most hateful task that I ever
|
---|
4302 | performed in my life when I testified on the witness stand to
|
---|
4303 | seeing Demetrios catch the two salmon Charley had captured him
|
---|
4304 | with.
|
---|
4305 | </para>
|
---|
4306 |
|
---|
4307 | <para>
|
---|
4308 | Demetrios had engaged a lawyer, but his case was hopeless. The
|
---|
4309 | jury was out only fifteen minutes, and returned a verdict of
|
---|
4310 | guilty. The judge sentenced Demetrios to pay a fine of one hundred
|
---|
4311 | dollars or go to jail for fifty days.
|
---|
4312 | </para>
|
---|
4313 |
|
---|
4314 | <para>
|
---|
4315 | Charley stepped up to the clerk of the court. "I want to pay that
|
---|
4316 | fine," he said, at the same time placing five twenty-dollar gold
|
---|
4317 | pieces on the desk. "It - it was the only way out of it, lad," he
|
---|
4318 | stammered, turning to me.
|
---|
4319 | </para>
|
---|
4320 |
|
---|
4321 | <para>
|
---|
4322 | The moisture rushed into my eyes as I seized his hand. "I want to
|
---|
4323 | pay - " I began.
|
---|
4324 | </para>
|
---|
4325 |
|
---|
4326 | <para>
|
---|
4327 | "To pay your half?" he interrupted. "I certainly shall expect you
|
---|
4328 | to pay it."
|
---|
4329 | </para>
|
---|
4330 |
|
---|
4331 | <para>
|
---|
4332 | In the meantime Demetrios had been informed by his lawyer that his
|
---|
4333 | fee likewise had been paid by Charley.
|
---|
4334 | </para>
|
---|
4335 |
|
---|
4336 | <para>
|
---|
4337 | Demetrios came over to shake Charley's hand, and all his warm
|
---|
4338 | Southern blood flamed in his face. Then, not to be outdone in
|
---|
4339 | generosity, he insisted on paying his fine and lawyer's fee
|
---|
4340 | himself, and flew half-way into a passion because Charley refused
|
---|
4341 | to let him.
|
---|
4342 | </para>
|
---|
4343 |
|
---|
4344 | <para>
|
---|
4345 | More than anything else we ever did, I think, this action of
|
---|
4346 | Charley's impressed upon the fishermen the deeper significance of
|
---|
4347 | the law. Also Charley was raised high in their esteem, while I
|
---|
4348 | came in for a little share of praise as a boy who knew how to sail
|
---|
4349 | a boat. Demetrios Contos not only never broke the law again, but
|
---|
4350 | he became a very good friend of ours, and on more than one occasion
|
---|
4351 | he ran up to Benicia to have a gossip with us.
|
---|
4352 | </para>
|
---|
4353 |
|
---|
4354 |
|
---|
4355 | </chapter>
|
---|
4356 |
|
---|
4357 | <chapter>
|
---|
4358 | <title>YELLOW HANDKERCHIEF</title>
|
---|
4359 |
|
---|
4360 |
|
---|
4361 | <para>
|
---|
4362 | "I'm not wanting to dictate to you, lad," Charley said; "but I'm
|
---|
4363 | very much against your making a last raid. You've gone safely
|
---|
4364 | through rough times with rough men, and it would be a shame to have
|
---|
4365 | something happen to you at the very end."
|
---|
4366 | </para>
|
---|
4367 |
|
---|
4368 | <para>
|
---|
4369 | "But how can I get out of making a last raid?" I demanded, with the
|
---|
4370 | cocksureness of youth. "There always has to be a last, you know,
|
---|
4371 | to anything."
|
---|
4372 | </para>
|
---|
4373 |
|
---|
4374 | <para>
|
---|
4375 | Charley crossed his legs, leaned back, and considered the problem.
|
---|
4376 | "Very true. But why not call the capture of Demetrios Contos the
|
---|
4377 | last? You're back from it safe and sound and hearty, for all your
|
---|
4378 | good wetting, and - and - " His voice broke and he could not speak
|
---|
4379 | for a moment. "And I could never forgive myself if anything
|
---|
4380 | happened to you now."
|
---|
4381 | </para>
|
---|
4382 |
|
---|
4383 | <para>
|
---|
4384 | I laughed at Charley's fears while I gave in to the claims of his
|
---|
4385 | affection, and agreed to consider the last raid already performed.
|
---|
4386 | We had been together for two years, and now I was leaving the fish
|
---|
4387 | patrol in order to go back and finish my education. I had earned
|
---|
4388 | and saved money to put me through three years at the high school,
|
---|
4389 | and though the beginning of the term was several months away, I
|
---|
4390 | intended doing a lot of studying for the entrance examinations.
|
---|
4391 | </para>
|
---|
4392 |
|
---|
4393 | <para>
|
---|
4394 | My belongings were packed snugly in a sea-chest, and I was all
|
---|
4395 | ready to buy my ticket and ride down on the train to Oakland, when
|
---|
4396 | Neil Partington arrived in Benicia. The Reindeer was needed
|
---|
4397 | immediately for work far down on the Lower Bay, and Neil said he
|
---|
4398 | intended to run straight for Oakland. As that was his home and as
|
---|
4399 | I was to live with his family while going to school, he saw no
|
---|
4400 | reason, he said, why I should not put my chest aboard and come
|
---|
4401 | along.
|
---|
4402 | </para>
|
---|
4403 |
|
---|
4404 | <para>
|
---|
4405 | So the chest went aboard, and in the middle of the afternoon we
|
---|
4406 | hoisted the Reindeer's big mainsail and cast off. It was
|
---|
4407 | tantalizing fall weather. The sea-breeze, which had blown steadily
|
---|
4408 | all summer, was gone, and in its place were capricious winds and
|
---|
4409 | murky skies which made the time of arriving anywhere extremely
|
---|
4410 | problematical. We started on the first of the ebb, and as we
|
---|
4411 | slipped down the Carquinez Straits, I looked my last for some time
|
---|
4412 | upon Benicia and the bight at Turner's Shipyard, where we had
|
---|
4413 | besieged the Lancashire Queen, and had captured Big Alec, the King
|
---|
4414 | of the Greeks. And at the mouth of the Straits I looked with not a
|
---|
4415 | little interest upon the spot where a few days before I should have
|
---|
4416 | drowned but for the good that was in the nature of Demetrios
|
---|
4417 | Contos.
|
---|
4418 | </para>
|
---|
4419 |
|
---|
4420 | <para>
|
---|
4421 | A great wall of fog advanced across San Pablo Bay to meet us, and
|
---|
4422 | in a few minutes the Reindeer was running blindly through the damp
|
---|
4423 | obscurity. Charley, who was steering, seemed to have an instinct
|
---|
4424 | for that kind of work. How he did it, he himself confessed that he
|
---|
4425 | did not know; but he had a way of calculating winds, currents,
|
---|
4426 | distance, time, drift, and sailing speed that was truly marvellous.
|
---|
4427 | </para>
|
---|
4428 |
|
---|
4429 | <para>
|
---|
4430 | "It looks as though it were lifting," Neil Partington said, a
|
---|
4431 | couple of hours after we had entered the fog. "Where do you say we
|
---|
4432 | are, Charley?"
|
---|
4433 | </para>
|
---|
4434 |
|
---|
4435 | <para>
|
---|
4436 | Charley looked at his watch, "Six o'clock, and three hours more of
|
---|
4437 | ebb," he remarked casually.
|
---|
4438 | </para>
|
---|
4439 |
|
---|
4440 | <para>
|
---|
4441 | "But where do you say we are?" Neil insisted.
|
---|
4442 | </para>
|
---|
4443 |
|
---|
4444 | <para>
|
---|
4445 | Charley pondered a moment, and then answered, "The tide has edged
|
---|
4446 | us over a bit out of our course, but if the fog lifts right now, as
|
---|
4447 | it is going to lift, you'll find we're not more than a thousand
|
---|
4448 | miles off McNear's Landing."
|
---|
4449 | </para>
|
---|
4450 |
|
---|
4451 | <para>
|
---|
4452 | "You might be a little more definite by a few miles, anyway," Neil
|
---|
4453 | grumbled, showing by his tone that he disagreed.
|
---|
4454 | </para>
|
---|
4455 |
|
---|
4456 | <para>
|
---|
4457 | "All right, then," Charley said, conclusively, "not less than a
|
---|
4458 | quarter of a mile, not more than a half."
|
---|
4459 | </para>
|
---|
4460 |
|
---|
4461 | <para>
|
---|
4462 | The wind freshened with a couple of little puffs, and the fog
|
---|
4463 | thinned perceptibly.
|
---|
4464 | </para>
|
---|
4465 |
|
---|
4466 | <para>
|
---|
4467 | "McNear's is right off there," Charley said, pointing directly into
|
---|
4468 | the fog on our weather beam.
|
---|
4469 | </para>
|
---|
4470 |
|
---|
4471 | <para>
|
---|
4472 | The three of us were peering intently in that direction, when the
|
---|
4473 | Reindeer struck with a dull crash and came to a standstill. We ran
|
---|
4474 | forward, and found her bowsprit entangled in the tanned rigging of
|
---|
4475 | a short, chunky mast. She had collided, head on, with a Chinese
|
---|
4476 | junk lying at anchor.
|
---|
4477 | </para>
|
---|
4478 |
|
---|
4479 | <para>
|
---|
4480 | At the moment we arrived forward, five Chinese, like so many bees,
|
---|
4481 | came swarming out of the little 'tween-decks cabin, the sleep still
|
---|
4482 | in their eyes.
|
---|
4483 | </para>
|
---|
4484 |
|
---|
4485 | <para>
|
---|
4486 | Leading them came a big, muscular man, conspicuous for his pock-
|
---|
4487 | marked face and the yellow silk handkerchief swathed about his
|
---|
4488 | head. It was Yellow Handkerchief, the Chinaman whom we had
|
---|
4489 | arrested for illegal shrimp-fishing the year before, and who, at
|
---|
4490 | that time, had nearly sunk the Reindeer, as he had nearly sunk it
|
---|
4491 | now by violating the rules of navigation.
|
---|
4492 | </para>
|
---|
4493 |
|
---|
4494 | <para>
|
---|
4495 | "What d'ye mean, you yellow-faced heathen, lying here in a fairway
|
---|
4496 | without a horn a-going?" Charley cried hotly.
|
---|
4497 | </para>
|
---|
4498 |
|
---|
4499 | <para>
|
---|
4500 | "Mean?" Neil calmly answered. "Just take a look - that's what he
|
---|
4501 | means."
|
---|
4502 | </para>
|
---|
4503 |
|
---|
4504 | <para>
|
---|
4505 | Our eyes followed the direction indicated by Neil's finger, and we
|
---|
4506 | saw the open amidships of the junk, half filled, as we found on
|
---|
4507 | closer examination, with fresh-caught shrimps. Mingled with the
|
---|
4508 | shrimps were myriads of small fish, from a quarter of an inch
|
---|
4509 | upward in size.
|
---|
4510 | </para>
|
---|
4511 |
|
---|
4512 | <para>
|
---|
4513 | Yellow Handkerchief had lifted the trap-net at high-water slack,
|
---|
4514 | and, taking advantage of the concealment offered by the fog, had
|
---|
4515 | boldly been lying by, waiting to lift the net again at low-water
|
---|
4516 | slack.
|
---|
4517 | </para>
|
---|
4518 |
|
---|
4519 | <para>
|
---|
4520 | "Well," Neil hummed and hawed, "in all my varied and extensive
|
---|
4521 | experience as a fish patrolman, I must say this is the easiest
|
---|
4522 | capture I ever made. What'll we do with them, Charley?"
|
---|
4523 | </para>
|
---|
4524 |
|
---|
4525 | <para>
|
---|
4526 | "Tow the junk into San Rafael, of course," came the answer.
|
---|
4527 | Charley turned to me. "You stand by the junk, lad, and I'll pass
|
---|
4528 | you a towing line. If the wind doesn't fail us, we'll make the
|
---|
4529 | creek before the tide gets too low, sleep at San Rafael, and arrive
|
---|
4530 | in Oakland to-morrow by midday."
|
---|
4531 | </para>
|
---|
4532 |
|
---|
4533 | <para>
|
---|
4534 | So saying, Charley and Neil returned to the Reindeer and got under
|
---|
4535 | way, the junk towing astern. I went aft and took charge of the
|
---|
4536 | prize, steering by means of an antiquated tiller and a rudder with
|
---|
4537 | large, diamond-shaped holes, through which the water rushed back
|
---|
4538 | and forth.
|
---|
4539 | </para>
|
---|
4540 |
|
---|
4541 | <para>
|
---|
4542 | By now the last of the fog had vanished, and Charley's estimate of
|
---|
4543 | our position was confirmed by the sight of McNear's Landing a short
|
---|
4544 | half-mile away. Following along the west shore, we rounded Point
|
---|
4545 | Pedro in plain view of the Chinese shrimp villages, and a great to-
|
---|
4546 | do was raised when they saw one of their junks towing behind the
|
---|
4547 | familiar fish patrol sloop.
|
---|
4548 | </para>
|
---|
4549 |
|
---|
4550 | <para>
|
---|
4551 | The wind, coming off the land, was rather puffy and uncertain, and
|
---|
4552 | it would have been more to our advantage had it been stronger. San
|
---|
4553 | Rafael Creek, up which we had to go to reach the town and turn over
|
---|
4554 | our prisoners to the authorities, ran through wide-stretching
|
---|
4555 | marshes, and was difficult to navigate on a falling tide, while at
|
---|
4556 | low tide it was impossible to navigate at all. So, with the tide
|
---|
4557 | already half-ebbed, it was necessary for us to make time. This the
|
---|
4558 | heavy junk prevented, lumbering along behind and holding the
|
---|
4559 | Reindeer back by just so much dead weight.
|
---|
4560 | </para>
|
---|
4561 |
|
---|
4562 | <para>
|
---|
4563 | "Tell those coolies to get up that sail," Charley finally called to
|
---|
4564 | me. "We don't want to hang up on the mud flats for the rest of the
|
---|
4565 | night."
|
---|
4566 | </para>
|
---|
4567 |
|
---|
4568 | <para>
|
---|
4569 | I repeated the order to Yellow Handkerchief, who mumbled it huskily
|
---|
4570 | to his men. He was suffering from a bad cold, which doubled him up
|
---|
4571 | in convulsive coughing spells and made his eyes heavy and
|
---|
4572 | bloodshot. This made him more evil-looking than ever, and when he
|
---|
4573 | glared viciously at me I remembered with a shiver the close shave I
|
---|
4574 | had had with him at the time of his previous arrest.
|
---|
4575 | </para>
|
---|
4576 |
|
---|
4577 | <para>
|
---|
4578 | His crew sullenly tailed on to the halyards, and the strange,
|
---|
4579 | outlandish sail, lateen in rig and dyed a warm brown, rose in the
|
---|
4580 | air. We were sailing on the wind, and when Yellow Handkerchief
|
---|
4581 | flattened down the sheet the junk forged ahead and the tow-line
|
---|
4582 | went slack. Fast as the Reindeer could sail, the junk outsailed
|
---|
4583 | her; and to avoid running her down I hauled a little closer on the
|
---|
4584 | wind. But the junk likewise outpointed, and in a couple of minutes
|
---|
4585 | I was abreast of the Reindeer and to windward. The tow-line had
|
---|
4586 | now tautened, at right angles to the two boats, and the predicament
|
---|
4587 | was laughable.
|
---|
4588 | </para>
|
---|
4589 |
|
---|
4590 | <para>
|
---|
4591 | "Cast off!" I shouted.
|
---|
4592 | </para>
|
---|
4593 |
|
---|
4594 | <para>
|
---|
4595 | Charley hesitated.
|
---|
4596 | </para>
|
---|
4597 |
|
---|
4598 | <para>
|
---|
4599 | "It's all right," I added. "Nothing can happen. We'll make the
|
---|
4600 | creek on this tack, and you'll be right behind me all the way up to
|
---|
4601 | San Rafael."
|
---|
4602 | </para>
|
---|
4603 |
|
---|
4604 | <para>
|
---|
4605 | At this Charley cast off, and Yellow Handkerchief sent one of his
|
---|
4606 | men forward to haul in the line. In the gathering darkness I could
|
---|
4607 | just make out the mouth of San Rafael Creek, and by the time we
|
---|
4608 | entered it I could barely see its banks. The Reindeer was fully
|
---|
4609 | five minutes astern, and we continued to leave her astern as we
|
---|
4610 | beat up the narrow, winding channel. With Charley behind us, it
|
---|
4611 | seemed I had little to fear from my five prisoners; but the
|
---|
4612 | darkness prevented my keeping a sharp eye on them, so I transferred
|
---|
4613 | my revolver from my trousers pocket to the side pocket of my coat,
|
---|
4614 | where I could more quickly put my hand on it.
|
---|
4615 | </para>
|
---|
4616 |
|
---|
4617 | <para>
|
---|
4618 | Yellow Handkerchief was the one I feared, and that he knew it and
|
---|
4619 | made use of it, subsequent events will show. He was sitting a few
|
---|
4620 | feet away from me, on what then happened to be the weather side of
|
---|
4621 | the junk. I could scarcely see the outlines of his form, but I
|
---|
4622 | soon became convinced that he was slowly, very slowly, edging
|
---|
4623 | closer to me. I watched him carefully. Steering with my left
|
---|
4624 | hand, I slipped my right into my pocket and got hold of the
|
---|
4625 | revolver.
|
---|
4626 | </para>
|
---|
4627 |
|
---|
4628 | <para>
|
---|
4629 | I saw him shift along for a couple of inches, and I was just about
|
---|
4630 | to order him back - the words were trembling on the tip of my
|
---|
4631 | tongue - when I was struck with great force by a heavy figure that
|
---|
4632 | had leaped through the air upon me from the lee side. It was one
|
---|
4633 | of the crew. He pinioned my right arm so that I could not withdraw
|
---|
4634 | my hand from my pocket, and at the same time clapped his other hand
|
---|
4635 | over my mouth. Of course, I could have struggled away from him and
|
---|
4636 | freed my hand or gotten my mouth clear so that I might cry an
|
---|
4637 | alarm, but in a trice Yellow Handkerchief was on top of me.
|
---|
4638 | </para>
|
---|
4639 |
|
---|
4640 | <para>
|
---|
4641 | I struggled around to no purpose in the bottom of the junk, while
|
---|
4642 | my legs and arms were tied and my mouth securely bound in what I
|
---|
4643 | afterward found to be a cotton shirt. Then I was left lying in the
|
---|
4644 | bottom. Yellow Handkerchief took the tiller, issuing his orders in
|
---|
4645 | whispers; and from our position at the time, and from the
|
---|
4646 | alteration of the sail, which I could dimly make out above me as a
|
---|
4647 | blot against the stars, I knew the junk was being headed into the
|
---|
4648 | mouth of a small slough which emptied at that point into San Rafael
|
---|
4649 | Creek.
|
---|
4650 | </para>
|
---|
4651 |
|
---|
4652 | <para>
|
---|
4653 | In a couple of minutes we ran softly alongside the bank, and the
|
---|
4654 | sail was silently lowered. The Chinese kept very quiet. Yellow
|
---|
4655 | Handkerchief sat down in the bottom alongside of me, and I could
|
---|
4656 | feel him straining to repress his raspy, hacking cough. Possibly
|
---|
4657 | seven or eight minutes later I heard Charley's voice as the
|
---|
4658 | Reindeer went past the mouth of the slough.
|
---|
4659 | </para>
|
---|
4660 |
|
---|
4661 | <para>
|
---|
4662 | "I can't tell you how relieved I am," I could plainly hear him
|
---|
4663 | saying to Neil, "that the lad has finished with the fish patrol
|
---|
4664 | without accident."
|
---|
4665 | </para>
|
---|
4666 |
|
---|
4667 | <para>
|
---|
4668 | Here Neil said something which I could not catch, and then
|
---|
4669 | Charley's voice went on:
|
---|
4670 | </para>
|
---|
4671 |
|
---|
4672 | <para>
|
---|
4673 | "The youngster takes naturally to the water, and if, when he
|
---|
4674 | finishes high school, he takes a course in navigation and goes deep
|
---|
4675 | sea, I see no reason why he shouldn't rise to be master of the
|
---|
4676 | finest and biggest ship afloat."
|
---|
4677 | </para>
|
---|
4678 |
|
---|
4679 | <para>
|
---|
4680 | It was all very flattering to me, but lying there, bound and gagged
|
---|
4681 | by my own prisoners, with the voices growing faint and fainter as
|
---|
4682 | the Reindeer slipped on through the darkness toward San Rafael, I
|
---|
4683 | must say I was not in quite the proper situation to enjoy my
|
---|
4684 | smiling future. With the Reindeer went my last hope. What was to
|
---|
4685 | happen next I could not imagine, for the Chinese were a different
|
---|
4686 | race from mine, and from what I knew I was confident that fair play
|
---|
4687 | was no part of their make-up.
|
---|
4688 | </para>
|
---|
4689 |
|
---|
4690 | <para>
|
---|
4691 | After waiting a few minutes longer, the crew hoisted the lateen
|
---|
4692 | sail, and Yellow Handkerchief steered down toward the mouth of San
|
---|
4693 | Rafael Creek. The tide was getting lower, and he had difficulty in
|
---|
4694 | escaping the mud-banks. I was hoping he would run aground, but he
|
---|
4695 | succeeded in making the Bay without accident.
|
---|
4696 | </para>
|
---|
4697 |
|
---|
4698 | <para>
|
---|
4699 | As we passed out of the creek a noisy discussion arose, which I
|
---|
4700 | knew related to me. Yellow Handkerchief was vehement, but the
|
---|
4701 | other four as vehemently opposed him. It was very evident that he
|
---|
4702 | advocated doing away with me and that they were afraid of the
|
---|
4703 | consequences. I was familiar enough with the Chinese character to
|
---|
4704 | know that fear alone restrained them. But what plan they offered
|
---|
4705 | in place of Yellow Handkerchief's murderous one, I could not make
|
---|
4706 | out.
|
---|
4707 | </para>
|
---|
4708 |
|
---|
4709 | <para>
|
---|
4710 | My feelings, as my fate hung in the balance, may be guessed. The
|
---|
4711 | discussion developed into a quarrel, in the midst of which Yellow
|
---|
4712 | Handkerchief unshipped the heavy tiller and sprang toward me. But
|
---|
4713 | his four companions threw themselves between, and a clumsy struggle
|
---|
4714 | took place for possession of the tiller. In the end Yellow
|
---|
4715 | Handkerchief was overcome, and sullenly returned to the steering,
|
---|
4716 | while they soundly berated him for his rashness.
|
---|
4717 | </para>
|
---|
4718 |
|
---|
4719 | <para>
|
---|
4720 | Not long after, the sail was run down and the junk slowly urged
|
---|
4721 | forward by means of the sweeps. I felt it ground gently on the
|
---|
4722 | soft mud. Three of the Chinese - they all wore long sea-boots -
|
---|
4723 | got over the side, and the other two passed me across the rail.
|
---|
4724 | With Yellow Handkerchief at my legs and his two companions at my
|
---|
4725 | shoulders, they began to flounder along through the mud. After
|
---|
4726 | some time their feet struck firmer footing, and I knew they were
|
---|
4727 | carrying me up some beach. The location of this beach was not
|
---|
4728 | doubtful in my mind. It could be none other than one of the Marin
|
---|
4729 | Islands, a group of rocky islets which lay off the Marin County
|
---|
4730 | shore.
|
---|
4731 | </para>
|
---|
4732 |
|
---|
4733 | <para>
|
---|
4734 | When they reached the firm sand that marked high tide, I was
|
---|
4735 | dropped, and none too gently. Yellow Handkerchief kicked me
|
---|
4736 | spitefully in the ribs, and then the trio floundered back through
|
---|
4737 | the mud to the junk. A moment later I heard the sail go up and
|
---|
4738 | slat in the wind as they drew in the sheet. Then silence fell, and
|
---|
4739 | I was left to my own devices for getting free.
|
---|
4740 | </para>
|
---|
4741 |
|
---|
4742 | <para>
|
---|
4743 | I remembered having seen tricksters writhe and squirm out of ropes
|
---|
4744 | with which they were bound, but though I writhed and squirmed like
|
---|
4745 | a good fellow, the knots remained as hard as ever, and there was no
|
---|
4746 | appreciable slack. In the course of my squirming, however, I
|
---|
4747 | rolled over upon a heap of clam-shells - the remains, evidently, of
|
---|
4748 | some yachting party's clam-bake. This gave me an idea. My hands
|
---|
4749 | were tied behind my back; and, clutching a shell in them, I rolled
|
---|
4750 | over and over, up the beach, till I came to the rocks I knew to be
|
---|
4751 | there.
|
---|
4752 | </para>
|
---|
4753 |
|
---|
4754 | <para>
|
---|
4755 | Rolling around and searching, I finally discovered a narrow
|
---|
4756 | crevice, into which I shoved the shell. The edge of it was sharp,
|
---|
4757 | and across the sharp edge I proceeded to saw the rope that bound my
|
---|
4758 | wrists. The edge of the shell was also brittle, and I broke it by
|
---|
4759 | bearing too heavily upon it. Then I rolled back to the heap and
|
---|
4760 | returned with as many shells as I could carry in both hands. I
|
---|
4761 | broke many shells, cut my hands a number of times, and got cramps
|
---|
4762 | in my legs from my strained position and my exertions.
|
---|
4763 | </para>
|
---|
4764 |
|
---|
4765 | <para>
|
---|
4766 | While I was suffering from the cramps, and resting, I heard a
|
---|
4767 | familiar halloo drift across the water. It was Charley, searching
|
---|
4768 | for me. The gag in my mouth prevented me from replying, and I
|
---|
4769 | could only lie there, helplessly fuming, while he rowed past the
|
---|
4770 | island and his voice slowly lost itself in the distance.
|
---|
4771 | </para>
|
---|
4772 |
|
---|
4773 | <para>
|
---|
4774 | I returned to the sawing process, and at the end of half an hour
|
---|
4775 | succeeded in severing the rope. The rest was easy. My hands once
|
---|
4776 | free, it was a matter of minutes to loosen my legs and to take the
|
---|
4777 | gag out of my mouth. I ran around the island to make sure it was
|
---|
4778 | an island and not by any chance a portion of the mainland. An
|
---|
4779 | island it certainly was, one of the Marin group, fringed with a
|
---|
4780 | sandy beach and surrounded by a sea of mud. Nothing remained but
|
---|
4781 | to wait till daylight and to keep warm; for it was a cold, raw
|
---|
4782 | night for California, with just enough wind to pierce the skin and
|
---|
4783 | cause one to shiver.
|
---|
4784 | </para>
|
---|
4785 |
|
---|
4786 | <para>
|
---|
4787 | To keep up the circulation, I ran around the island a dozen times
|
---|
4788 | or so, and clambered across its rocky backbone as many times more -
|
---|
4789 | all of which was of greater service to me, as I afterward
|
---|
4790 | discovered, than merely to warm me up. In the midst of this
|
---|
4791 | exercise I wondered if I had lost anything out of my pockets while
|
---|
4792 | rolling over and over in the sand. A search showed the absence of
|
---|
4793 | my revolver and pocket-knife. The first Yellow Handkerchief had
|
---|
4794 | taken; but the knife had been lost in the sand.
|
---|
4795 | </para>
|
---|
4796 |
|
---|
4797 | <para>
|
---|
4798 | I was hunting for it when the sound of rowlocks came to my ears.
|
---|
4799 | At first, of course, I thought of Charley; but on second thought I
|
---|
4800 | knew Charley would be calling out as he rowed along. A sudden
|
---|
4801 | premonition of danger seized me. The Marin Islands are lonely
|
---|
4802 | places; chance visitors in the dead of night are hardly to be
|
---|
4803 | expected. What if it were Yellow Handkerchief? The sound made by
|
---|
4804 | the rowlocks grew more distinct. I crouched in the sand and
|
---|
4805 | listened intently. The boat, which I judged a small skiff from the
|
---|
4806 | quick stroke of the oars, was landing in the mud about fifty yards
|
---|
4807 | up the beach. I heard a raspy, hacking cough, and my heart stood
|
---|
4808 | still. It was Yellow Handkerchief. Not to be robbed of his
|
---|
4809 | revenge by his more cautious companions, he had stolen away from
|
---|
4810 | the village and come back alone.
|
---|
4811 | </para>
|
---|
4812 |
|
---|
4813 | <para>
|
---|
4814 | I did some swift thinking. I was unarmed and helpless on a tiny
|
---|
4815 | islet, and a yellow barbarian, whom I had reason to fear, was
|
---|
4816 | coming after me. Any place was safer than the island, and I turned
|
---|
4817 | instinctively to the water, or rather to the mud. As he began to
|
---|
4818 | flounder ashore through the mud, I started to flounder out into it,
|
---|
4819 | going over the same course which the Chinese had taken in landing
|
---|
4820 | me and in returning to the junk.
|
---|
4821 | </para>
|
---|
4822 |
|
---|
4823 | <para>
|
---|
4824 | Yellow Handkerchief, believing me to be lying tightly bound,
|
---|
4825 | exercised no care, but came ashore noisily. This helped me, for,
|
---|
4826 | under the shield of his noise and making no more myself than
|
---|
4827 | necessary, I managed to cover fifty feet by the time he had made
|
---|
4828 | the beach. Here I lay down in the mud. It was cold and clammy,
|
---|
4829 | and made me shiver, but I did not care to stand up and run the risk
|
---|
4830 | of being discovered by his sharp eyes.
|
---|
4831 | </para>
|
---|
4832 |
|
---|
4833 | <para>
|
---|
4834 | He walked down the beach straight to where he had left me lying,
|
---|
4835 | and I had a fleeting feeling of regret at not being able to see his
|
---|
4836 | surprise when he did not find me. But it was a very fleeting
|
---|
4837 | regret, for my teeth were chattering with the cold.
|
---|
4838 | </para>
|
---|
4839 |
|
---|
4840 | <para>
|
---|
4841 | What his movements were after that I had largely to deduce from the
|
---|
4842 | facts of the situation, for I could scarcely see him in the dim
|
---|
4843 | starlight. But I was sure that the first thing he did was to make
|
---|
4844 | the circuit of the beach to learn if landings had been made by
|
---|
4845 | other boats. This he would have known at once by the tracks
|
---|
4846 | through the mud.
|
---|
4847 | </para>
|
---|
4848 |
|
---|
4849 | <para>
|
---|
4850 | Convinced that no boat had removed me from the island, he next
|
---|
4851 | started to find out what had become of me. Beginning at the pile
|
---|
4852 | of clamshells, he lighted matches to trace my tracks in the sand.
|
---|
4853 | At such times I could see his villanous face plainly, and, when the
|
---|
4854 | sulphur from the matches irritated his lungs, between the raspy
|
---|
4855 | cough that followed and the clammy mud in which I was lying, I
|
---|
4856 | confess I shivered harder than ever.
|
---|
4857 | </para>
|
---|
4858 |
|
---|
4859 | <para>
|
---|
4860 | The multiplicity of my footprints puzzled him. Then the idea that
|
---|
4861 | I might be out in the mud must have struck him, for he waded out a
|
---|
4862 | few yards in my direction, and, stooping, with his eyes searched
|
---|
4863 | the dim surface long and carefully. He could not have been more
|
---|
4864 | than fifteen feet from me, and had he lighted a match he would
|
---|
4865 | surely have discovered me.
|
---|
4866 | </para>
|
---|
4867 |
|
---|
4868 | <para>
|
---|
4869 | He returned to the beach and clambered about, over the rocky
|
---|
4870 | backbone, again hunting for me with lighted matches, The closeness
|
---|
4871 | of the shave impelled me to further flight. Not daring to wade
|
---|
4872 | upright, on account of the noise made by floundering and by the
|
---|
4873 | suck of the mud, I remained lying down in the mud and propelled
|
---|
4874 | myself over its surface by means of my hands. Still keeping the
|
---|
4875 | trail made by the Chinese in going from and to the junk, I held on
|
---|
4876 | until I reached the water. Into this I waded to a depth of three
|
---|
4877 | feet, and then I turned off to the side on a line parallel with the
|
---|
4878 | beach.
|
---|
4879 | </para>
|
---|
4880 |
|
---|
4881 | <para>
|
---|
4882 | The thought came to me of going toward Yellow Handkerchief's skiff
|
---|
4883 | and escaping in it, but at that very moment he returned to the
|
---|
4884 | beach, and, as though fearing the very thing I had in mind, he
|
---|
4885 | slushed out through the mud to assure himself that the skiff was
|
---|
4886 | safe. This turned me in the opposite direction. Half swimming,
|
---|
4887 | half wading, with my head just out of water and avoiding splashing,
|
---|
4888 | I succeeded in putting about a hundred feet between myself and the
|
---|
4889 | spot where the Chinese had begun to wade ashore from the junk. I
|
---|
4890 | drew myself out on the mud and remained lying flat.
|
---|
4891 | </para>
|
---|
4892 |
|
---|
4893 | <para>
|
---|
4894 | Again Yellow Handkerchief returned to the beach and made a search
|
---|
4895 | of the island, and again he returned to the heap of clam-shells. I
|
---|
4896 | knew what was running in his mind as well as he did himself. No
|
---|
4897 | one could leave or land without making tracks in the mud. The only
|
---|
4898 | tracks to be seen were those leading from his skiff and from where
|
---|
4899 | the junk had been. I was not on the island. I must have left it
|
---|
4900 | by one or the other of those two tracks. He had just been over the
|
---|
4901 | one to his skiff, and was certain I had not left that way.
|
---|
4902 | Therefore I could have left the island only by going over the
|
---|
4903 | tracks of the junk landing. This he proceeded to verify by wading
|
---|
4904 | out over them himself, lighting matches as he came along.
|
---|
4905 | </para>
|
---|
4906 |
|
---|
4907 | <para>
|
---|
4908 | When he arrived at the point where I had first lain, I knew, by the
|
---|
4909 | matches he burned and the time he took, that he had discovered the
|
---|
4910 | marks left by my body. These he followed straight to the water and
|
---|
4911 | into it, but in three feet of water he could no longer see them.
|
---|
4912 | On the other hand, as the tide was still falling, he could easily
|
---|
4913 | make out the impression made by the junk's bow, and could have
|
---|
4914 | likewise made out the impression of any other boat if it had landed
|
---|
4915 | at that particular spot. But there was no such mark; and I knew
|
---|
4916 | that he was absolutely convinced that I was hiding somewhere in the
|
---|
4917 | mud.
|
---|
4918 | </para>
|
---|
4919 |
|
---|
4920 | <para>
|
---|
4921 | But to hunt on a dark night for a boy in a sea of mud would be like
|
---|
4922 | hunting for a needle in a haystack, and he did not attempt it.
|
---|
4923 | Instead he went back to the beach and prowled around for some time.
|
---|
4924 | I was hoping he would give me up and go, for by this time I was
|
---|
4925 | suffering severely from the cold. At last he waded out to his
|
---|
4926 | skiff and rowed away. What if this departure of Yellow
|
---|
4927 | Handkerchief's were a sham? What if he had done it merely to
|
---|
4928 | entice me ashore?
|
---|
4929 | </para>
|
---|
4930 |
|
---|
4931 | <para>
|
---|
4932 | The more I thought of it the more certain I became that he had made
|
---|
4933 | a little too much noise with his oars as he rowed away. So I
|
---|
4934 | remained, lying in the mud and shivering. I shivered till the
|
---|
4935 | muscles of the small of my back ached and pained me as badly as the
|
---|
4936 | cold, and I had need of all my self-control to force myself to
|
---|
4937 | remain in my miserable situation.
|
---|
4938 | </para>
|
---|
4939 |
|
---|
4940 | <para>
|
---|
4941 | It was well that I did, however, for, possibly an hour later, I
|
---|
4942 | thought I could make out something moving on the beach. I watched
|
---|
4943 | intently, but my ears were rewarded first, by a raspy cough I knew
|
---|
4944 | only too well. Yellow Handkerchief had sneaked back, landed on the
|
---|
4945 | other side of the island, and crept around to surprise me if I had
|
---|
4946 | returned.
|
---|
4947 | </para>
|
---|
4948 |
|
---|
4949 | <para>
|
---|
4950 | After that, though hours passed without sign of him, I was afraid
|
---|
4951 | to return to the island at all. On the other hand, I was almost
|
---|
4952 | equally afraid that I should die of the exposure I was undergoing.
|
---|
4953 | I had never dreamed one could suffer so. I grew so cold and numb,
|
---|
4954 | finally, that I ceased to shiver. But my muscles and bones began
|
---|
4955 | to ache in a way that was agony. The tide had long since begun to
|
---|
4956 | rise, and, foot by foot, it drove me in toward the beach. High
|
---|
4957 | water came at three o'clock, and at three o'clock I drew myself up
|
---|
4958 | on the beach, more dead than alive, and too helpless to have
|
---|
4959 | offered any resistance had Yellow Handkerchief swooped down upon
|
---|
4960 | me.
|
---|
4961 | </para>
|
---|
4962 |
|
---|
4963 | <para>
|
---|
4964 | But no Yellow Handkerchief appeared. He had given me up and gone
|
---|
4965 | back to Point Pedro. Nevertheless, I was in a deplorable, not to
|
---|
4966 | say dangerous, condition. I could not stand upon my feet, much
|
---|
4967 | less walk. My clammy, muddy garments clung to me like sheets of
|
---|
4968 | ice. I thought I should never get them off. So numb and lifeless
|
---|
4969 | were my fingers, and so weak was I, that it seemed to take an hour
|
---|
4970 | to get off my shoes. I had not the strength to break the porpoise-
|
---|
4971 | hide laces, and the knots defied me. I repeatedly beat my hands
|
---|
4972 | upon the rocks to get some sort of life into them. Sometimes I
|
---|
4973 | felt sure I was going to die.
|
---|
4974 | </para>
|
---|
4975 |
|
---|
4976 | <para>
|
---|
4977 | But in the end, - after several centuries, it seemed to me, - I got
|
---|
4978 | off the last of my clothes. The water was now close at hand, and I
|
---|
4979 | crawled painfully into it and washed the mud from my naked body.
|
---|
4980 | Still, I could not get on my feet and walk and I was afraid to lie
|
---|
4981 | still. Nothing remained but to crawl weakly, like a snail, and at
|
---|
4982 | the cost of constant pain, up and down the sand. I kept this up as
|
---|
4983 | long as possible, but as the east paled with the coming of dawn I
|
---|
4984 | began to succumb. The sky grew rosy-red, and the golden rim of the
|
---|
4985 | sun, showing above the horizon, found me lying helpless and
|
---|
4986 | motionless among the clam-shells.
|
---|
4987 | </para>
|
---|
4988 |
|
---|
4989 | <para>
|
---|
4990 | As in a dream, I saw the familiar mainsail of the Reindeer as she
|
---|
4991 | slipped out of San Rafael Creek on a light puff of morning air.
|
---|
4992 | This dream was very much broken. There are intervals I can never
|
---|
4993 | recollect on looking back over it. Three things, however, I
|
---|
4994 | distinctly remember: the first sight of the Reindeer's mainsail;
|
---|
4995 | her lying at anchor a few hundred feet away and a small boat
|
---|
4996 | leaving her side; and the cabin stove roaring red-hot, myself
|
---|
4997 | swathed all over with blankets, except on the chest and shoulders,
|
---|
4998 | which Charley was pounding and mauling unmercifully, and my mouth
|
---|
4999 | and throat burning with the coffee which Neil Partington was
|
---|
5000 | pouring down a trifle too hot.
|
---|
5001 | </para>
|
---|
5002 |
|
---|
5003 | <para>
|
---|
5004 | But burn or no burn, I tell you it felt good. By the time we
|
---|
5005 | arrived in Oakland I was as limber and strong as ever, - though
|
---|
5006 | Charlie and Neil Partington were afraid I was going to have
|
---|
5007 | pneumonia, and Mrs. Partington, for my first six months of school,
|
---|
5008 | kept an anxious eye upon me to discover the first symptoms of
|
---|
5009 | consumption.
|
---|
5010 | </para>
|
---|
5011 |
|
---|
5012 | <para>
|
---|
5013 | Time flies. It seems but yesterday that I was a lad of sixteen on
|
---|
5014 | the fish patrol. Yet I know that I arrived this very morning from
|
---|
5015 | China, with a quick passage to my credit, and master of the
|
---|
5016 | barkentine Harvester. And I know that to-morrow morning I shall
|
---|
5017 | run over to Oakland to see Neil Partington and his wife and family,
|
---|
5018 | and later on up to Benicia to see Charley Le Grant and talk over
|
---|
5019 | old times. No; I shall not go to Benicia, now that I think about
|
---|
5020 | it. I expect to be a highly interested party to a wedding, shortly
|
---|
5021 | to take place. Her name is Alice Partington, and, since Charley
|
---|
5022 | has promised to be best man, he will have to come down to Oakland
|
---|
5023 | instead.
|
---|
5024 | </para>
|
---|
5025 | </chapter>
|
---|
5026 |
|
---|
5027 | </bookbody>
|
---|
5028 | </book>
|
---|
5029 | <endgutblurb>
|
---|
5030 | End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of Tales of the Fish Patrol, by London
|
---|
5031 | </endgutblurb>
|
---|
5032 |
|
---|
5033 | </gutbook>
|
---|