MESSING AROUND IN MEXICO 



from the shade of his cabin. It was still too 

 hot to travel, he assured us, but, once the cool 

 of evening had fully settled, then indeed we 

 would be astounded at his pep. The miles 

 were as inches to him; perspiration streamed 

 from his pores in torrents. Quick action, 

 promptitude, reliability those were his mid- 

 dle names. Prepare to* receive him at 

 dawn. 



Elmer had gone out in the skiff with Eddie, 

 but when darkness fell and there was no sign 

 of them, we hung out the lights and blew the 

 fog horn. It had turned dead calm; the bay 

 was like a sheet of metal, and the towering 

 mountains that ringed it about dwarfed it to 

 the size of a pond. Now, my brother takes 

 his fishing seriously ; he has played tarpon on 

 light tackle until they fainted from lack of 

 sleep, or until acute and malignant anaemia 

 rendered them nerveless. Nevertheless, I 

 knew Eddie to be a grossly material young 

 colored boy addicted to growing pains and 

 recurrent pangs of hunger, so, as the evening 

 wore on and our signals brought no answer, we 

 became concerned. This calm could not last 

 long; there are heavy tide-rips and hidden 

 rocks along this coast, and even a moderate 



245 



