A SAILOR ASHORE
The water casks were hoisted up from the hold, lowered overboard and
towed ashore, to be filled with fresh water. In about a week's time we
finished that job, then all hands were to have twenty-four hours'
liberty on shore--eight men at a time. My name was one of the first to
be called. We received two dollars cash for spending money. Taking my
chum aside, I quietly bid him good-bye, and then got into the boat.
Everything was strange to me on shore--the customs, language, and
sights. I got acquainted with a young American from another ship, by the
name of Amos, and learned that he also was desirous to quit the oil
business. During the day we kept with the other sailors, visiting the
dance-houses. When evening came we both struck out for the woods.
The natives were very kind to us, knowing that we were runaway sailors.
They would invite us to sleep in their houses during the nights, when
they would teach us to talk Spanish. It must have been very amusing to
them, as they were continually laughing and saying "Bueno" (good). In
the daytime we would go down to the beach to see whether our ships had
left harbour yet. In about three weeks' time we had the pleasure of
seeing both vessels standing out to sea. It was the last time that I saw
the Courier on that coast. Her old ribs now lie in the sands at the
mouth of Charleston Harbour, South Carolina. During the war the
Government purchased a number of condemned whalers and fitted them up
for sea, when they were loaded with stone and taken to Charleston
Harbour, dismantled, and sunk in the channels, in order to blockade the
harbour more effectually. The whole world made a fuss about it. That
blockading experiment was a dismal failure, as it was only a short time
until the waters of the Ashley and Cooper rivers, combined with the
ocean currents, washed out much deeper and better channels. I saw the
ship just before she was sunk and bade the old Courier a last farewell.
A few days after our ships had left San Carlos we walked into town,
interviewed the captain of the port, and asked for our discharge, saying
that our ships had gone to sea and abandoned us in a foreign port. Well,
we got our papers all right. We needed them at that time, as nobody
could go from one town to another without having documents to show who
they were--not even the natives. The country is under strict military
government, the army having control of everything. My friend and I
finally came to the conclusion that we were in a bad fix, being in a
foreign country, not able to speak the language, and having no money.
There was no work to be obtained. After a while we made up our minds to
work our passage to Valparaiso on some merchant vessel. We remained
around the landing-dock for several days. Every captain we spoke to
replied to us kindly, but they had no places for us. In the meantime we
had taken trips to the beach, digging clams to eat. The people in the
town were not so liberal to us as were the natives who lived at a
distance.
While loafing around the dock one day we got into conversation with an
American, a runaway whaler. He told us that he was a carpenter, had been
living several years in the country, and was married to a young Chilean
woman. He wanted Amos to go to another of the islands and work with him.
My friend would not go without me, so Tom, the carpenter, proposed that
I should also go, as there was a blacksmith by the name of Bill who
would be glad to have me as a helper. Now was the formation of a fine
quartette of Yankees begun! Amos was a graduate of a Down East reform
school, very handy with tools, a fine-looking young fellow, but he could
not read nor write, and he never could learn the Spanish language;
reference to a terribly ugly temper and vicious disposition completes
his description. Our new friend took us to his house, gave us an
introduction to his wife, a very pretty young woman about sixteen years
old. (They marry as young as eleven and twelve years of age.)
Manuela was not educated and was exceedingly lazy, with lax ideas as to
morality and virtue. Tom informed us that the next morning we would
start for the Island of Calabucco, as he had house rent free there and a
contract to lengthen a boat for a priest. During the night Amos got out
of bed, went to another house, and stole the only double-barrelled
shotgun in that town. Tom hid it in a mattress. After breakfast, we
carried what household goods there were down to the dock. A tool-chest,
a couple of pots, some dishes, a few clothes, and the bedding completed
the outfit.
Everything was put on board a sloop, and then we started for our new
home. During the trip Senora Manuela was watching my friend Amos; the
result was that Tom told me that I should live with him, and Amos would
have to go to Bill's house. On our arrival we soon had our house in
order. Opposite to our place was the residence of the priest. I saw a
number of dirty children--about eight--running about the place, also a
woman. As I got better acquainted I had every reason to believe that
poverty, piety, and celibacy were omitted from the Father's creed.
After a rest of several days, we went to his reverence's yard and had a
look at the boat. It was an old yawl from some ship, very short and
broad. We were to make it three feet longer by piecing it in the centre.
The boss asked me for my advice. I knew a lot about boats then. Oh, yes;
a very easy job--if we only knew how! We waited a few days longer before
going to work. Money was very scarce in that town, so they used a small
cedar-board for currency. The size was about six feet long, six inches
wide, and half an inch thick. The value of each was about six cents. The
stores were small, and, for that reason, the cedar-boards were piled up
in the back yards until some merchant would buy them at the market
price--seven dollars a hundred--and ship them to Valparaiso. There were
no lights in the streets at night-time, and the night watchman would
call out the hours and half-hours and the state of the weather during
the whole night, so that one could always know exactly his whereabouts.
My friend Amos, with his past experience, took advantage of that fact,
and induced me to go into the lumber business with him. Night after
night we were busy climbing over fences and carrying off cedar-boards.
About thirty-five each was considered a fair load for a trip. In the
daytime we took them to different places and made our purchases.
One day we at Tom's house got excited. The double-barrelled shotgun was
gone. We watched our chance and stole it back from the house presided
over by Bill and Amos; however, they stole it back again in course of
time, and kept it. Tom's ranch did not suit me, so I went to work for a
native shoemaker. Amos quit Bill and went to Tom. I quit the shoemaker
and went with Bill. About that time Tom concluded it would be easier to
make a new boat out and out. The padre was of the same opinion. He told
Tom he could have the old boat for his own use. So the job began in
earnest, but our friend was not a very good man for that kind of work;
he could not do anything until he took the old yawl apart for patterns
to work by. It was about one year before the new boat was finished. In
the town was a man who owned a launch--a home-made affair, with planks
two and a half inches thick. For oars he had rough, heavy poles with
pieces of boards fastened on the ends for blades. Nothing but a
boat-race would settle the point as to which was the faster. Our padre
was quite a sport. At any cock-fighting, gambling, horse- or boat-racing
he was always the umpire and prime mover. Eight sheep and one barrel of
cider were the stakes to be raced for. One Sunday morning, just after
mass, the race took place. The padre's boat came in about a half mile
ahead--the whole course was not two miles. Tom's reputation as a
boat-builder was away up in consequence, and he got the "big-head"
badly. That night he gave a select party at his house in honour of the
event. Aguardiente was the only refreshment served; and towards
midnight all were drunk, Tom especially so. A thin partition separated
the bedroom from the main apartment. Our host, in staggering around,
fell against the door, and tumbled on to his own bed, only to find it
already occupied. Then there was a row; the guest jumped out of the
window, with the other occupant a close second.
My new employer, the blacksmith, was a fine-looking man of six feet two
inches in height, and built in proportion. He had a fair complexion and
light hair hanging in ringlets down his shoulders. He was from
Baltimore, Md. Swearing, drinking aguardiente, and talk--that was all he
was good for. His wife was a widow seventeen years of age when he
married her. They had three little boys, the most vicious little
wretches that I ever came in contact with. As for their home, it was
squalid and filthy. No floor, and the fire was in the centre of the only
room. On each side was a board resting on stone: that was the only place
we had to sit down. A most cheerful family circle we made. The children
were continually raising Cain, and Bill swearing at them in Spanish. As
yet none of the bosses had ever said anything about wages. However, I
never had any work to do, so that equalized affairs.
One day Bill--or Guillermo, as he was called--was wanted at a saw-mill
on the mainland. A freshet had made a wreck of the mill and dam. None of
the natives was willing to work, so Bill induced Amos and me to go with
him. At last I was working for fifty cents a day. After a while we got
the dam repaired, and then fixed up the mill. It then dawned upon Don
Fernando's mind that he had no one to run the aforesaid mill. So he made
a contract with us to do the sawing at two cents a board, we to "find"
ourselves in food and cooking utensils. Bill sent for his family; Amos
and I occupied a small room in the mill for a living apartment, where we
were to keep bachelors' hall. Our stock of provisions was furnished on
credit from the employer's store. Wheat flour was worth eight cents a
pound, but wheat was worth only fifty cents a bushel. This seeming
profit was used up in sending the wheat to Valparaiso for grinding and
then having it shipped back as flour, as no railroads were there then.
The mill was a most primitive affair; the amount of labour was
astounding, the results of our toil much more so; a hundred boards was
our largest day's work, and I will guarantee that not any two of them
were of equal thickness at the end. Some days we would have no logs to
saw; other days there would be no water in the dam. Bill had one cent as
foreman, Amos and I each half a cent a board. Our average was about
twenty cents a day each.
We found ourselves gradually getting into debt for provisions and
clothing. After talking over our financial affairs one evening, we came
to the conclusion that our prospects looked gloomy. About bedtime Amos
put on his hat and coat and invited me to do the same. He was always
sullen, so I never asked him any questions. When we were outside the
room he informed me that in future he would live a ---- sight cheaper
and better than he had been doing in the past. All I could say was,
"Amen, brother!" My friend proved to be a good forager; before morning
we had a nicely dressed sheep hanging up in our room, also a big supply
of potatoes under the bed. That was the only time in my life that I was
guilty of sheep-stealing. We lived high on roast mutton and potatoes;
but, alas! we were found out. They blamed Amos for the whole business;
but, on attempting to arrest him, they made a mistake, as he pulled out
a big knife, and coolly walked away from that part of the country.
Afterward he stole a horse; that was the last we heard about him in
Chile.
Every one called me "Bueno muchacho" (good boy), while Amos was
designated "Muy picaro" (great rascal). Don Fernando Andrade was over
sixty years of age; he had a fine-looking wife and quite a number of
children--the oldest one twenty-six years, and the youngest six months
old. He took quite an interest in me, as I was always very quiet,
polite, and strictly temperate. Finally, he had me live with his own
family, and treated me as if I were one of his own sons. They used to
laugh and make fun of me because I washed my hands and face twice a day.
In that part of the country they never wash themselves at all: "Se
maltrata el cuero" (it ill-treats the skin) was their reason, I presume;
laziness also. About that time I wrote to my father and mother in New
York. The postage then on a foreign letter was fifty cents, with only
one mail a month on that coast. In about four months I received an
answer from San Francisco, Cal. My father had failed in business in New
York, indorsing notes, and a panic ruined him. He was doing well in
California, and wanted me to come there. Don Fernando had a contract for
a large number of railroad-ties for Peru. The natives would cut and pile
them on the beach ready for loading. A schooner was sent up from Don
Carlos for a cargo of them. The captain was an Englishman, and we became
quite friendly. He offered to take me to San Carlos whenever I wished
to go. By the time the schooner was loaded I got homesick, and, all at
once, I made up my mind to go home, so I bid Don Fernando good-bye. He
was sorry to have me leave, but would not coax me to remain away from my
parents.