going up to the Dutchman, he engaged him in
We could hear the Dutchman giving,
conversation.
orders, and presently the schooner was under
He returned in a few minutes saying,
way. Just at dawn we were lowered over the
“That’s funny; he does want to sell. Says the
side and, as a nasty blow was stewing, we
schooner is too small for his trade and he’s
were anything but happy. Red Rooney hadn’t
been negotiating, to-day, for that big packet
been bound any too tight. He managed to
out there. I told him we’d take the schooner if work loose after a while, and soon had the rest everything was satisfactory and my partner
of us free.
agreed.”
Needless to say, Dan had been relieved
“How much does he want?” I inquired.
of the belt containing the balance of his
“Five thousand pounds. Three thousand down
money, so that now he was stripped of his
and the balance in a year from date of sale.”
inheritance as clean as a newly swabbed deck.
“Dirt-cheap
if
everything’s all right,’ I
The Dutchman had considerately given
replied. “Don’t see how he can afford to do it.
us a chance for our lives by putting in the oars, Looks suspicious.”
food, water, our clothes and some blankets, so
“He says he can make a better bargain
we managed pretty well, and it wasn’t many
for the packet with that much more ready
hours until we were picked up and taken back
cash, and he has a big contract pending which, to Hongkong. It didn’t take us long to discover
Adventure
6
that we couldn’t do a thing to the Dutchman,
dollars for him, and I’d got to know him well
either civilly or criminally, even if we caught enough by this time to feel sure that the stern him. Not a paper that had been filed could be
lines that had settled about his mouth would
found. We went up against a blank wall at
never relax and the hard gleam that had come
every turn.
into his blue eyes never soften, until he had
Evidently everybody concerned had them back.
stood in with the Dutchman, and no doubt
they all had a bunch of Dan’s money in their
AT THE end of the third month we put into
pockets. The consul couldn’t account for the
Macao, badly crippled after a rough voyage. It disappearance of the papers. He threw up his
didn’t look as if the old tub would ever go to hands in despair and said he might as well
sea again, and we were paid off for full time
resign after he had made this report to and released.
Washington. His reports every month had
After all we’d been through it seemed
consisted mainly of outrages on American as if we just had to do something to relieve the citizens and, as he was powerless to stop tension or bust. I was never a hard drinker and them, he hoped some one would be sent to
Dan didn’t touch a drop, but the trio started to take his place.
hit the high places. They struck the water-
Dan and I and the trio talked things
front like a blazing meteor. There was no
over and vowed to spend the rest of our lives, holding ’em, and Dan and I let ’em go their
if necessary, in finding the Dutchman and
way.
recovering the schooner and the money. We
Every one has a weakness, and both
promised the trio a third interest in the Dan’s and mine was gambling, so we hunted schooner if we were successful.
up the speculation-parlors (Macao was then,
We discovered that we weren’t the as now, an Oriental Monte Carlo) with the only suckers the Dutchman had sold that idea of increasing the size of our rolls. But it schooner to, though he had probably never
was all the other way, and by Saturday—we
before had one swim unbaited into his net. But had started Friday—we were high and dry
easiest caught is sometimes hardest held, and
without a dollar; stripped to the yards. We
we determined that before he got through with
thought it was high time we looked up the trio.
us he would conclude that he had caught a
They had their wealth in belts around their
school of bull-whales instead of a bunch of
waists, except what it was their intention to
suckers this time.
blow in, and it looked as if we would have to
Our plan was to slip on some vessel
borrow enough from them to last until we
trading between Hongkong and other ports
made another strike.
and to keep a sharp lookout. We figured we
The liquor they handed out in Macao
were bound to come up with the Dutchman
was two-thirds shellac and the rest fight, and sooner or later. We had no trouble in securing when we located the trio, which we very soon
berths, and for the next three months we had
did, it was in the gutter in front of a Japanese pretty hard lines and never a sign of the shack, dead to the world and badly battered Dutchman or the schooner.
up. They were joyful looking propositions and
It was quite discouraging, but not one
not much to choose among them. Eyes
of us ever suggested giving up the chase. I
swollen, lips puffed and split, and noses
reckon Dan’s thoughts were taken up pretty
battered chunks pasted against black and blue
much all the time with how his father and
and red landscapes. Worst of all, their belts
mother had slaved to get that thirty thousand
were gone and pockets absolutely empty. It
Hard Harman: A South Seas Rover of the 40’s 7
took some time and much water to get any
watched the activities aboard.
signs of life from them, but finally all three sat Presently I heard Dan mutter, more as
up and looked at us, stupidly at first, then
though he were thinking aloud than speaking
broke into maudlin ejaculations of joyful to any one: recognition, mixed with demands for a drink.
“Cannon, cutlasses, guns and grub.”
They were all hatless and bootless, and the
Then, after a pause, turning to me,
ragged remnants of their clothes clung to them
“Looks as if she were being fitted out for a
like fringe-grass to a cow-whale’s back.
cruise among the islands.”
We got them on their feet and made
“Pearls?”
I
suggested, inquiringly.
them wade knee-deep into the sea and bathe
“Pearls,” he acquiesced, softly.
their battered faces. The sting of the salt water
“That’s what,” said Red Rooney and
sobered them somewhat, and we all sat down
the other two sent back the echo.
on the beach and looked each other over in
Then we all regarded each other
silent disgust, after we had broken to the trio intently, as though each were trying to read
that we also lacked the price of the drink for the other’s thoughts, the trio’s eyes making
which they had kept up a constant, clamor.
mute appeal for some one to start something.
After we had taken our fill of silent
“Why not us?” Dan finally broke the
expressions of our opinions of each other, we
silence.
turned and gazed sadly off to sea.
“Just what I was thinking,” chorused
Three hundred feet off shore lay the
the rest of us eagerly.
schooner! Her stacks had been lengthened a
“We’ll need a couple o’ more men to
bit and she’d been rigged with a spinnaker-
sail her,” said Dan.
boom. The nozzle of a six-inch brass swivel-
“We kin stop somewhere and git ’em,”
gun protruded over her bows, and the deck
suggested Red Rooney.
was littered with boxes, casks and barrels
That night, about four bells of the mid-
which were being stowed by four men under
watch, five dripping figures, stripped to the
direction of a fifth. It was a pretty safe bet that waists and gripping clasp-knives in their teeth, the boxes contained guns and cutlasses; the
rose from the waters ’neath the schooner’s
casks, powder and shot and the barrels, grub.
bow and silently followed one another up the
I don’t know which of us noticed her
anchor-chain, a tow-headed fellow in the lead.
first, probably all at the same instant, for Before the last man had reached the deck, the suddenly the five of us turned as one man
night-watch had been gagged and bound, and
looked at each other, grinned—then, without
ten minutes later he, with four other would-be speaking, again turned our eyes in the same
pirates, awakened from pearl-studded dreams,
direction.
were lying helpless and silent in one of the
“Nice schooner,” said Dan finally, not
boats, which we lowered over the side. We
withdrawing his gaze.
treated them better than they had us for,
“Correct,” said I, similarly fascinated.
besides putting in the necessaries, we left
“Looks as though she were going them where they could easily reach the shore.
somewhere,” he offered presently.
They told us that the Dutchman had
“She does that,” I agreed. “What do
gone ashore for the night, so we were
you think about it?” to the trio.
compelled to let him go for the present.
“Right you are,” they responded in Anyhow, it was now up to him to find us.
unison.
The Chinese cook was right glad to see
There was another long silence as we
us and laid out a nice spread from the stores
Adventure
8
which had just come aboard, but, before only signs of life anywhere were aboard the eating, we got the schooner under jib and
frigate and a schooner anchored off to our left.
spanker and headed out to sea, while we
Dan and I rowed over to the frigate to
sheeted home the topsails main and fore.
find out what was the matter. They explained
conditions as I’ve told ’em to you, and we
AFTER clearing the bay we ran sou’east returned to the ship agreeing with the natives through the Ladrones, then headed her due
that night made hideous with mosquitoes and
south through the China Sea. For four days we
sand-fleas, however big and thirsty, was to be held her nose straight into the south and on the preferred to a sun that burned into your very
morning of the fifth, just as the sun was soul, with snakes usurping the right o’ way, breaking the mist, we raised land off the port although we came pretty close to changing our
bow. We figured it to be Sampanmangio Point
minds before we got away.
on the north of Borneo and accordingly we
After listening to our description, the
threw her head into the sou’east and ran for
trio readily agreed to forego their anticipated Sambas, where we calculated we could pick
shore-leave and remain in charge of the
up a man or two.
schooner, keeping things in readiness for a
Ever been in Sambas? No? Well, it’s
quick getaway. As soon as the lights began to
no place for a white man: a jumble of straw-
show and we could see figures dribbling here
thatched mud huts huddled around the Dutch
and there from the doorways, we went ashore
Government-House, in the midst of a malaria
in the dingy and picked our way gingerly
jungle between the sea and the great swamp
through the muddy streets, fearful that some
that covers the sou’east of Borneo. Great gray adventuresome reptile had decided to stay in
skinks wallow in the stagnant pools or drag
town and see the sights.
their slimy lengths through the ankle-deep
We had found a bag of milreis on
mud of the streets, and repulsive tiger-snakes board, and our pockets were weighted down
and black teguses bask in the scorching sun in with the big silver disks, which we hoped
armed truce harmony with gray death-adders.
would aid us to find our men quickly, so that
From break of day till sundown, when
we could get away before the authorities got
they seek their holes, the town is given over to suspicious and asked questions. But it took us these reptiles of the near-by swamp. But when
several hours to make the rounds, and we
the sun sinks over far-off Sumatra, bathing the hadn’t found a single sailor nor any promising islands in one last burst of softened sunlight, material for the making of one. There wasn’t
the town turned into a bedlam of half-naked,
anything there to tempt a man to miss ship. No jabbering natives, drunken beach-combers, one who wasn’t compelled to would stay there parboiled Dutch traders and millions of huge
a minute after he could get away.
sand-fleas and mosquitoes which I’ll bet take
We were standing outside a rum-shack
away a barrel or two of mixed blood every
talking it over, and had about decided to return night.
to the schooner and move on to some other
As I said, we headed in for this place, when we heard a commotion down the Godforsaken hole, and at noon next day made
street. The moon was up and in her third
anchorage off the native village. We were
quarter, and we could see a crowd coming
flying the British ensign and as we swung to
toward us, headed by four men in the uniforms
our moorings dipped to the Dutch frigate lying of the island-constabulary and a great burly
off the Government House. A deathlike tub of a Dutchman. As they got up to us we silence hung forbiddingly over the town. The
could see in their midst three figures, bound
Hard Harman: A South Seas Rover of the 40’s 9
and hobbled, doing their best to keep up with
They were crouched in the doorway of
the pace in response to proddings with their
the rum-shack, watching the battle with
clubs from the constables and curses from the
agonized faces, and struggling frantically to
Dutchman. “The trio!” we exclaimed together.
loose their bonds.
I sprang toward them, opening my
DAN didn’t hesitate a minute.
clasp-knife as I ran, and as quick as you could
/> “Sail in,” he gritted, “and as soon as
let fly a halyard, I had them loose, at the same they’re down help loose the trio and run for
time telling them to run for the dingy and have the dingy. I’ll be right after you.”
it ready for Dan and me to jump in.
As the last word left his lips he swung
But it was too late. For at that moment
his right with a terrific crash on the jaw of the the balance of the constabulary-force, ten or
nearest constable, and almost at the same fifteen strong, came rushing up and we were instant I performed a similar operation on the quickly overpowered, securely bound and
one nearest me. They both dropped like logs
thrown in the mud in the middle of the street.
and we had only two more and the Dutchman
They carried away the wounded and left us
to negotiate, for the crowd stood back and
lying there in charge of one of the constables, watched the battle, the same as citizens of any to whom the chief gave some instructions
place look on at a clash with the authorities.
which I could not hear. Two more constables
The Dutchman was no coward and,
were set to patrol in a circle around us, going before I could recover my equilibrium after
in opposite directions, to see that no one came giving the blow to the constable, he was on
near us.
me and bore me to the ground by the mere
Now that the wounded were gone, I
force of his great weight.
saw that there were only four of us, and I
“You murdering pirates!” he howled,
looked to see which one was missing. It was
and called for some one to get a rope. In
Dan! I could only conjecture what had become
desperation, I gathered all my muscles for a
Hard Harman: A South Seas Rover of the 40’s by Dan L Page 2
