FOREST AND STREAM 
905 
June 6, 190H.I 
Sailors in Port. 
Continued from page 86G. 
I unstrapped my blanket from my back and 
lay down wrapped up in it to rest. The earth 
was like flour for about six inches in depth, and 
was coated with a crust of hard earth formed 
by the heavy dews at night and the hot sun dur¬ 
ing the day time. It was a poor country to run 
away in, being a total desert without tree, shrub 
or a blade of grass for hundreds of miles around; 
not a drop of water or anything to afford one 
shelter from the noon-day sun. Many and many 
a sad story is told by the natives of sailors, 
ignorant of what kind of country it was, that 
had run away and perished in the hot sandhills. 
During our walk that day we came across the 
whitened bones of mules that lay scattered over 
the plains and occasionally a mound of earth 
where some one had perished of thirst. The 
natives traveled on mules and, as we were do¬ 
ing. carried water in bottles to drink. 
When I awoke after a short nap, I found it 
was light enough to see and Joe was off to the 
eastward, walking in a wide circle with his .eyes 
fastened on the ground about him, looking for 
tracks. When he had got around to the north 
of where we were encamped in a slight hollow, 
lie shouted to us and beckoned us to come on. 
So strapping up my blanket, I ran with the rest 
up the hill and saw in the sand all about the 
tracks of a herd of mules that gradually formed 
into one defined trail as we followed it. It led 
up to a low range of hills, and we, anxious to 
know what might be in sight on the other side, 
pushed on and did not stop to eat our scanty 
breakfast until we reached the other side of the 
hill, through a depression in which our path led, 
and saw the land stretching north a sea of sand 
flooded with the glare of the rising sun. 
Crackers, sausages and water constituted our 
meal, topped off with a can of condensed milk, 
and all but myself took a pull at the wine bottle. 
It had been very pleasant walking so far, but 
when we started on again, we found the sun was 
uncomfortably hot. All hands took off their 
coats and vests and strung out in Indian file, 
following the narrow footpath across the sand. 
My shoes were heavy, awkward things, the kind 
that are made by convicts in prisons and sold to 
sailors and laboring men for one dollar a pair; 
these I took off, tied the laces together and 
slung them over my shoulder with my blanket 
rolled up and strapped to ray back and my coat 
hung on in front. Walking was much easier 
barefooted, and with my bottle of water in one 
hand and my trousers rolled up to save them 
from the dust, I followed Joe, who led the 
procession. 
We were happy as school boys, to think we 
were, for the.time at least, our own masters, and 
sang and whistled and cut up capers in our joy, 
sometimes turning back and waving farewell, as 
if the ship was in sight, saying, “Good bye, 
James A. W., you old work-house” (comparing 
her, as sailors do. a hard ship to the peniten¬ 
tiary;., “Ta, ta! Capt. F.; sorry to leave you. 
bu we’re going to ’Frisco, thank you, not to 
Cape Horn.” 
“Bye, bye! Mr. Hill; you can swear all you 
want to and find another crew.” Such like sar¬ 
casms were hurled at the bark all morning and 
served to amuse and cheer us; but along about 
noon time, after we had covered about fifteen 
miles, ’okes were given up and the more serious 
side of the situation contemplated. 
It was no small undertaking without a guide 
to attempt to walk thirty miles over a desert, 
where it was the easiest thing imaginable to lose 
your wav. Empty and broken bottles took the 
place of mile stones—only there were close on to 
a nmidred of them in a mile; and every little 
while we would pass a small mound of earth at 
the side of the path with a collection of stones 
Piled upon it, to mark the resting place of some 
unfortunate that had perished on the plain. Oc¬ 
casionally we came across what at a distance 
looked like a broken barrel with only its hoops 
sticking up, but which, on a closer inspection, 
turned out to be the skeleton of a mule with its 
targe skull and rows of grinning white teeth. 
About noon we saw another ridge of hills 
ahead, and as before, the road led up through 
a shallow valley. There was just one spot 
where the banks were steep enough to throw a 
shadow, and here we sat and enjoyed the cool¬ 
ness the shade afforded, but even that spot was 
soon claimed by the sun, so on we went. 
All that dizzy afternoon we tramped on over 
another sea of sand and about three o’clock lost 
the trail completely. Our water by this time 
was reduced to one swallow, and I refrained 
from drinking wine as long as I could. My 
throat became dry and choked with dust and 
my tongue was parched, yet I would not drink 
my last drop, for it was a source of great 
comfort to think I had at least one swallow left. 
But finally the time came when I could stand it 
no longer and greedily' swallowed in one gulp 
what remained. It seemed but a drop, and be¬ 
fore I could roll my tongue in it, it was gone. 
Joe, who was carrying the wine bottle, finally 
suggested that we drink what wine remained, 
he had been walking in the rear for some time, 
and I did not notice until we gathered in a 
group that his condition was anything but a 
sober one. But now. when he held out the 
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bottle,_ I saw he was drunk, and, sure enough, 
the wine bottle was nearly empty, save for a 
swallow or two. We each moistened our lips 
from it; but it had such a vile taste and burned 
my. mouth so, I quickly spat it out. 
Then we pushed on again, a rather dubious- 
looking lot by this time, covered from head 
to foot with a layer of the fine white dust. Joe, 
to make matters worse, commenced to pick a 
quarrel with Albert, as the liquor mounted tO' 
his head. Poor Albert was nearly fagged out 
as it was, and could hardly swing his long, 
gaunt form along fast enough to keep up to us. 
Joe wanted to go faster and commenced to 
flourish his sheath knife and threaten to fight 
Albert. I was afraid to let Joe rest, but hurried 
him along to try and walk off the effects of the 
liquor, while Albert, to avoid trouble, dropped 
about a half a mile behind, and his red flannel 
undershirt would appear astern as he came to 
the top of a hill, then disappear in the hollows 
as we pushed our way over the rolling hills of 
sand. 
I felt sorry for Albert, poor fellow; it was 
bad enough to be nearly dead with thirst with¬ 
out having to be deprived of the comfort of 
companionship. Still it was better as it was, 
for if he came near Joe there was sure to be a 
fight and one or the other would be done up. 
We had no means then of helping a wounded 
man; in fact, we were sadly in need of help our¬ 
selves, and I dreaded to think of leaving one 
of our number to whiten his bones on the sand. 
Bill was already gone, but that was no fault of 
ours, only his own mulishness. 
On and on we walked with a mechanical 
stride, hoping against hope that we would come 
across some water. As far as we could see in 
all directions it was nothing but burning, hot 
sand, and we could see the heat throbbing in 
the air over the surface of the plain. 
Once Joe thought he saw green trees and a 
lake. “Look! look! Vot is dot?” he exclaimed 
and pointed to the eastward, where not a 
moment before there was nothing but a clear 
horizon of sand, but now, as I looked, I could 
see a large patch of green trees, whose tops 
waved to and fro, as if a strong breeze was 
blowing over them. But what interested me 
more than the trees and the grateful shade they 
seemed to offer us was a sheet of beautiful white 
water that lay between us and the forest, to all 
appearances a large lake. Oh! how tantalizing 
it did look to us, so parched for thirst. How 
I should have liked -to have thrown myself into 
that lake and drink my fill. But I knew there 
was no lake there and tried to keep down my 
disappointment. I could not trust myself to 
look that way until I heard Joe shout, “Look! 
look! Why dom it, de whole bloomin’ trees is 
goin’ hup in de hair!” And, sure enough, I 
just looked in time to see the bottom of the 
trees snap up in the air and disappear, leaving 
a clear horizon again. Every little while after 
that some one of us would cast a longing look 
to the eastward. 
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