COIN MACHINE REVIEW
down in a scene like this, and Bill's rest·
lessness rather disturbed me. You couldn't
quiet him.
"Yep, it's great to be out on the water
for a long stretch. And then to see a string
01 liLLie Islands cOme poppm' out ot the
water at you. ;:'ay, those hall·caste girls
down l'ago J:'ago way can't be beat for
looks or livelmess. Unly trouble is, the
government don 't hesitate to make a sailor
seUle down as head of a native family if
lie llappens to step outa line with one 0'
ttl em neauties."
"Come on, now, Bill," Jeuy cut in. "Keep
the grass skirts out of it, but I 'd sure like
to see lIlose places some Lime."
JViella was visibly concerned with the
tUlll ot the conversaLJon, apparently hop·
,"g lhat the footloose Bill wouldn't want to
I,UIl st>1kes and take me WIth him. Her
lCals uldn't subside any when .l:Sill an·
nounced:
--;:'ay, Bud, 1 got an id ea. There's a few
intercoastal ships on the gulf run. Why
(Jun t we see what we can do for our·
~e tves ?"
" How about our machines, Bill?" 1 r~.
plied. "You're not going to chUCk a good
l.dng now that we 've got It tarted, are
}ou '("
--Well, you know how it is," Bill side·
btepped lIle issue. '-The best place in the
world goes dead on you when you 've been
there too long."
--Go ahead and take a powder, but let
Rollo stay hel'e and run the business,"
Melia adVIsed, gripping my knee with one
of her tiny hands. l'll admit 1 was touched
by Melia's attachment to me, but there's
no denying I was somewhat fascinated by
Jji Il's talk of strange places.
"If you really want to get a boat," vol·
unteered Melia, "I've got an uncle over in
Gulfport who used to be mate on the gulf
run. H e might fix you up."
"Great," said Bill.
There were no two ways about it the
next day. Bill insisted we head for Gulf·
port, and so we headed there, on the
1:1:30 bus. Never took such a long way
around to go such a short distance in all
my life. Took us four hours and it was
more than a hundred miles by that road,
winding around the Pearl River swamp
country and down to the Mississippi coast
at SL Louis Bay. It was past noon when
we g'ot into Gulfport, whose sole claim to
fame in my mind was that it was the town
that gave the world Melia. in a little back·
wash we found the cottage of Francis
Fournabault, Melia's uncle. He was enjoy·
ing his after·dinner pipe and puttering
around with some fish nets that needed reo
pairs.
"Melia sent us over to look you up,"
Bill greeted the small Frenchman . "She's
a special friend of mine and was tellin' us
as how you could fix it (or us to ship out."
Fournabault didn't look up from his nets.
"So you know Melia, eh?" he asked. "Tell
me, is the girl happy these days?"
1 was assuring him that Melia was do·
ing right well in New Orl ea ns, but Bill
broke in again. "How long ha that steam
schooner been in? Look like a right smart
craft for a cookie like me!"
"You a ship's cook, no?" Fournabault
queried. "1 don't know about anything but
sea·goi ng stevedores, but maybe I can help
you. That's the Josiah M., in from
Brownsville last night with a cargo of
steers. Her skipper's a young fellow by
the name of Henry Cleese, one of the finest
sailors I ever broke in. Want to go over
and have a look?"
He led the way along the waterfront
three blocks and halfway out a long piel'
where the Josiah M. was moored in shal·
low water. 'fhe last 01 the steers had been
Inted out ot the hold and into truCKS, but
tnere were unmIstakable sIgns ot theIr pres·
ence on tile deck 01 the nlrty SChooner. 1l
was one of those coastwise boats with a
bridge that folds back so that booms can
be swung over the hatch. Obviously it
hadn' t been kept up; the deck house was
sadly in need of pamt, the rails were bat·
tered, and a soiled American flag tried
to muster pride as it sagged in the breeze
above the large letters, Josiah M., over tne
stern. A heavy·set fellow in grimy whites
and a greasy cap swung out of the galley
house munclling on an apple, and Fourna·
IJaulL sung out:
-'Hello, Captain! Well, well, Henry.
Haven' t seen you 101' tour trips. M.eet a
couple of friends who want to ship WIth
you. Didn't get their names, but this one's
a cook and the other-well, he didn 't say."
"Ain't this a piece of luck, though,
Frencny?" said the skipper. "Here 1 am
fixin ' my own mess ann feedin ' tne crew
ashore Sll1ce that no·good nigger cook went
on a teal' and ain't snowed up. 1 c'n sign
you on right quick," he addressed Bill. "AS
101' your partner, what's he do l"
Before 1 could say 1 didn't want a job on
this boat and hadn't shipped out befOl'e
anyhow, .Bill bal'ked:
--Him l He's a first·rate A.B., used to be
shipmates with me out on the Coast."
--Well, turn to tomorrow and we'll see
what we can do. Pay's not much, though.
And how's the fishin' fleet doin' these days,
Frenchy'?" was the skipper's reply.
1 looked at Bill in a stunned manner, and
got a kick in the shins for it.
"Thank, Captain, and we'll be seein'
you, Mr. Archibald or whatever the name
is," Bill shot back as we departed. "Any
message for Melia?"
"Nice trick you pulled," I reproached
BilL "Don't think you can get me aboard
that tub. I'm staying in New Orleans."
All the way back to the city Bill kept
insisting it was a great proposition, He
raved on abo ut foreign ports, and finally
1 asked him where that J osiah M. was
bound for.
"Come to think of it, they didn't say,"
Bill admitted. "But it must be Central
America or someplace. You can't back out
now, Bud. We'll hustle and crate up the
machines tonight, ship 'em to Houston, and
get back to Gulfport in the morning."
I knew Melia would never agree to any·
thing like this. But I decided I wouldn't
be gone very long, and the prospects of
an adventurous trip seemed tempting. By
the time we got a dray truck, picked up
our equipment and crated it, we were two
very tired fellows and in no mood to bid
farewell to Melia. 1 mailed her a note, and
we turned in wondering what the next day
would hold for us.
On the bus by 7 o'clock after a hasty
breakfast, Bill and I wel'e 01I for Gulfport
once more. I looked disgustedly at our one
uitcase on the rack and muttered to Bill:
"Suppose you think this is a good idea?"
"Wait 'n' ee," he answered.
By 11 o'clock we were back on the pier
alongside the Josiah IVI:. The boat looked
dirtier than ever, but I didn't have time to
look around for long.
"Come on, you guys," came C.aptain
Cleese's voice. "I'm signin' you on as
A.B. Dump your gear in the foc's'l and reo
port to the mate down in the hold. Bill,
you find a bunk up there too, and then stir
up something for the boys in half an hour."
The fo'c'sl had six bunks on each side
and was as smelly as the rest of the ship.
By the time I got into some old trousers
June 1935
and a blue shirt, a sailor appeared to get
me. The deck crew was just battening
down the hatch covers when I joined them,
and a tough·looking mate directed me to
clean up the mess left on the deck by the
boatload of steers. Five other deckhands
swung into the job with me and I was
too nauseated by the filth to eat much of
the meal Bill had fixed up by noon. By 4
o'clock we had lashed down a deck load of
lumber and were ready to get under way.
"You and Mex go down in the chain
locker and stowaway the lines," the mate
directed me.
. As the Josiah M. pulled out into the
stream 1 took a final glimpse at the town
behind me, noticed a large passenger ship
heading in from the gulf and followed Mex
down into the forward locker. It was stuf·
fy and dark down there, but we managed
to handle the heavy wet lines in fair fash·
ion, standing on top of the piles of anchor
chains to coil the big ropes.
"End, ho," came a shout from above to
indicate all the line was down,
Suddenly we were thrown off our teet as
the engin e was put into full speed astern,
Somethi ng was wrong! Without warning,
the roaring clank of chains resounded with·
in our small chamber-heavy chains tear·
ing out the very bowels of the ship. They
were dropping anchor to avoid collision
witr the incoming vessel!
I fell Ifgainst a bulkhead as the chain
was yanked out from under my feet. The
next thing I knew, I heard a terrific scream,
It was Mex! His foot was caught in the
chain, and he was being ' pulled forward,
toward the smal~ port outside of which the
two·ton anchor Hung. In a flash it would
be all over. . . .
(Continued next month)
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