Adventure Magazine Cover, June 20, 1925 — page 73: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Medicinal Methods 55 with a critical eye for the stowage of the sugar bags, had a few words with the chief tally clerk and the mate and then walked quietly aft to the poop. The éighteen miles separating Cayo Ingles from the mainland make it impossible to bring the*stevedores ashore every night, and they remain on board a steamer the whole time she is loading. They sling their hammocks in the ’tween decks, in the poop, or in the bridge-space; and they bring a cook with them. O’Keefe found the cook of the gang working the Carib Warrior asleep on the poop beside his charcoal stove, and the big wooden box containing the dishes and food supplies. “What desires el jefe?”’ inquired the aged cook, starting to get to his feet. “Do not rise, Don Pedro,” said O’Keefe courteously. “I would talk.” He sat down on the edge of the box. “Have you not told me many times of your old home in the mountains of Catalufa, Don Pedro?” “Si, Seftor. It is my desire to end my days there. There are no mountains like those of Catalufia.” “Have you not saved nearly enough money to enable you to return?” “Indeed, Sefior, I have saved but little. But I have nephews there in Catalufia,. with whom I could live if I brought a little money with me.” O’Keefe thought a moment. “Are you a man of discretion, Don Pedro?” he asked. There then followed some low-voiced conversation the outcome of which appeared to satisfy both men. Shortly afterward O’Keefe boarded the Carib Queen, which was a sister ship of the Carib Warrior. They were the largest of the half a dozen steamers then in the an- chorage, big freighters of about six thousand tons deadweight, and thirty odd stevedores were employed on each. As soon as he reached the deck O’Keefe summoned the president of the union, one Julio Romero. This Romero was large, fat, dirty and more than half negro, but not a man to be un- derestimated. O’Keefe went to the point at once. “Ts it true that you strike tonight?” Romero’s wide mouth hung open with surprize. “Who told you of la huelga?” he de- manded. “That is true?” of no importance. Is it “Alas!” Romero was the ‘picture of sorrow at the need for grieving his friend the American. “La huelga, it is of a necessity. We have debated it much, I myself fought against it with great vigor, but at last my com- rades made me see that it is, indeed of a necessity.” “Where is the necessity?” ‘We are poor, Sefior, we must buy rice for our families; and clothing i “This is foolishness!” broke in O’Keefe. “Your pay is better than that of any men doing work of a similar nature throughout the island.” “El jefe does not understand. Does he know what we must pay for the houses we live in?” “Eight pesos a month.” ‘Does he realize what prices of an exor- bitance we must pay for food and clothing?” Romero continued blandly. ‘Does he realize how much we must give to the priest for the saving of our souls? We grieve, but we strike tonight.” O’Keefe gave up trying to appeal to the other’s sense of fairness and walked away. When Romero had returned to the hold he sought the bridge space. The steve- dores had been sleeping there, and their hammocks hung in rows, but the place was deserted at this time. O’Keefe only re- mained a moment. At about a quarter to eleven O’Keefe turned from the rail where he had been leaning to find the excited chief tally clerk at his elbow. “Orga, jefel The cook can not find his stove, how shall we eat?” “What happened to it?” ‘Who knows, Sefior? It was left in there with our hammocks, and now it is gone. Perhaps el diablo took it, but of a certainty it is gone!” “Then do you go over to the Carib Warrior; there is food enough there for all.” When the launch Caribette returned from taking the stevedores over to the other steamer O’Keefe shouted down to keep the motor idling. He leaned against the rail, gazing fixedly at the Carib Warrior with an air of expectancy. The minutes went by, and he remained motionless. Suddenly he grunted, turned from the rail, hastily climbed down into the launch and headed toward shore. COMIGDIOOKSEEO