A DINNER ASHORE
With all due respect to Chow, and he moved in the best silk-shirted
circles of oriental society, we could never say that his regular bill
of fare on board the _Fuller_ was exactly epicurean. He was bound to
remember that sailors were the ultimate destination of his efforts and
he guided himself accordingly.
When the ship was at the end of her discharging, and my trials with
the mate had come to a close, so far as the bilge was concerned at
least, Frenchy suggested that we have a dinner ashore. I felt like
celebrating and readily agreed. At first we thought of having this
feast alone, but after due deliberation, and consideration of all of
the questions involved, we decided to invite a third shipmate. Frenchy
figured this out on the basis of the size of the bird that he held to
be the necessary central feature of the proposed banquet. The kind of a
bird Frenchy had in mind was a three-man bird--indeed many a family of
twice that number would have considered it sufficient. Then again, in
his way the Frenchman was quite a philosopher, and realized that in a
three-cornered celebration the whole affair would take on a better air.
Three may be a crowd under certain circumstances, but where shipmates
get together, three of them generally manage to have a better time than
when they travel in pairs.
Now as to the third man. I suspected that Frenchy had already selected
him when we went out on the fo'c'sle head to talk the matter over, a
few nights before the event was to come off. He urged me to suggest
candidates. I did, possibly more on their merits as sailors than
anything else, forgetting that the man who knows best how to stow a
fore t'gan'sl may not be the handiest shipmate with a knife and fork.
Hitchen or Axel were named by me.
"No, Felix, that Hitchen always laughs at me when I tell about the way
we cook things in France. Axel is all right but he eats stock fish. Let
us ask Tommy. Tommy knows a good dinner when he smells it. Let's ask
him."
Thereupon Tommy was asked, and of course accepted. We were to pool our
week's allowance, two dollars apiece, and by the ready way in which
Tommy and Frenchy got together on the proposition I knew that they had
already thrashed out all the details. Frenchy merely started the ball
rolling my way by true fo'c'sle diplomacy, the boys imagining perhaps
that I would want someone besides Tommy as the third man, for somehow
or other Tommy and I had never chummed to any extent since our arrival
in Honolulu.
The matter of Tommy disposed of, Frenchy took the arrangements in
hand, going ashore with Tommy Saturday night to perfect the details,
for these archconspirators had already selected the place at which we
were to dine. It transpired that Nigger, who was a warm friend of mine
host, had highly recommended the place, so I agreed to put myself in
the hands of my friends after the time-honored custom of more exalted
candidates, turning over to them the two silver dollars received from
Captain Nichols, and that night I followed my routine of many other
evenings of enforced economy, and repaired to the reading room of the
Y. M. C. A.
When I came aboard Frenchy and Tommy were there to meet me. They had
seen the proprietor of a little restaurant on Fort Street a few doors
north of Hotel. A table had been reserved for Sunday, at one o'clock,
and the final specifications of that dinner minutely laid down.
Frenchy was enthusiastic. I would now see what a real dinner was like;
I was to tell him frankly if it was not better than the dinners I had
had ashore with my friends. The proprietor, a Portuguese, was a man of
taste ready to welcome us as friends of Nigger; his wife was to cook
the dinner herself. Clean white tablecloth, napkins, and everything
right, had been ordered by Frenchy.
We did not tell the rest of the crowd forward of our plans, for like
enough they would only ridicule the idea. As a matter of fact it did
seem like an extravagance, but we were having so much fun out of it
before we ever came to the actual disposition of the dinner, that it
was well worth the sacrifice entailed. "A man likes to have things good
once in a while," was the justification of Frenchy.
Sunday morning, after the washdown, which was always particularly
thorough on that day, lasting an hour or so longer than usual, we
partook of a very light breakfast. We then shaved carefully, that is,
Tommy and I did, and got out our best clothes, brushing them with great
care.
"Are you going riding today?" asked Martin with a grin.
"No, Mart, I expect to dine at the Palace with President Dole."
"Is Tommy and Frenchy going with you?"
"You guessed it. By special invitation, Mart, Tommy and Frenchy have
been asked up to dine and to advise the President as to the cut of his
whiskers. Some say he should shave like Tommy, on account of the heat,
others contend he should let them grow like Frenchy, on account of the
mosquitoes; so you see he is asking us up to dinner in order to settle
the matter," at which both Tommy and Frenchy expanded perceptibly, and
Mart, muttering "Rats," went out on deck to escape the jibes of the
crowd. It was certain that something unusual was up, but after the
manner of a free fo'c'sle, the men kept their own counsel, only such
goats as the wood-turner Martin having the crust to edge in.
Frenchy broke out his best--a blue suit, very square cut in the
shoulders, double breasted, and of substantial cloth, rather heavy, but
undoubtedly good. He told me proudly that it had been made to order in
Dunkirk two years before when he was home on a visit. He also polished
the leather visor on his blue cloth cap, a petty officer's cap, a relic
of the old days in the navy. Of course Frenchy had on a stiff white
shirt, one with a very small bosom, which made it necessary for him to
keep his coat buttoned, for he decided not to wear a vest. This shirt
was a work of art, hand made by sister Madeleine, and having collar and
cuffs attached. In place of a tie he wore a loosely knotted scarf of
black silk.
Tommy had a gray sack suit, not new, but well brushed and neat. The
edges of the vest, which he insisted on wearing, were lined with black
braid, and he had worked black silk triangles at the corners of the
pocket slits. Tommy wore a very shiny boiled shirt, a low wing collar,
a fancy butterfly tie of the very latest South Street pattern, held in
place by an elastic band, and a gray felt hat.
I donned my visiting clothes, and the three of us turned out in the
height of perfection, scrubbed, polished, and rubbed down to the last
turn; Beau Brummel, had he ever shipped deep water, would have had
nothing on us.
"Well, I hope you has a good time," called out Brenden as we headed aft
for the gangway, just as the smelly kids from the galley were coming
forward, in the hands of Fred and Tony, masses of greasy potroast
unappetizing and uncouth.
The mate sighted us as we went over the gangway. He stood in the
shadow under the after awning giving us a thorough looking over.
"Three gentlemen of Verona!" he cried after us in derision, for let it
be known Mr. Zerk was something of a scholar in his way and not without
a sense of inaccurate but racy humor.
Glad to be clear of the ship, we headed up Nuuanu Street to King, put
our helms hard to port and ran east under the shadow of the substantial
concrete stores and offices, with their heavy iron shutters closed for
the Sabbath day. From King Street we turned northerly into Fort Street
and, with yards squared, and three abreast, we bore up to the haven in
which we were to dine, as well pleased a trio of low degree mariners as
ever sailed.
The proprietor, swarthy, stout, and smiling, and wearing a white apron,
greeted us at the door; while his wife peeked from behind a curtain
in the rear, as he ushered us to a nice round table next to a window
overlooking a cool shady garden. We were the only diners in this cozy
room, the private parlor of mine host. The trades were blowing rather
strong that day and a pleasant breeze came in through the open window.
The lace curtains still linger in my memory, with other details of the
feast, and I had to tuck them back, for they threatened the soup.
When I say that a small vase of flowers decorated the white linen, or
perhaps it was only cotton, but at any rate fresh and clean, the fine
hand of Frenchy will be recognized, for, let us say so again, and if
necessary, again and again, he had planned the dinner from first to
last in every detail.
The soup, for of course we started with soup and not with any of
the exotic indigestible frippery often attempted by ambitious but
ill-informed caterers, was _cold consommé!_ "Hey, wot's this?" demanded
Tommy, "are we late?" "No, Tommy, you eat this cold. Try it." "Say,
that's all to the all right!"
Well, it certainly was "all to the all right," and real cold, in fact
chilly would be the proper word. The host fluttered about; he was
doing things right, and to entertain guests such as we, who knew _and
demanded_ that every detail be carried out; for such appreciative
guests were rare indeed in the vicinity of Fort Street, not far from
Hotel.
The fish course was a dainty morsel of some native species, flaky and
white. It would take a connoisseur, and few of them shipped at sea in
those days, to describe that meal.
The roast was a fat fowl, but not too fat, a plump bird of the genus
chicken.
When this rare bird appeared on the table Frenchy insisted upon
congratulating the cook, the proprietor's wife, who blushed with
pleasure at the gracious compliments showered upon her, and the bird,
with equal facility. Of course Frenchy carved. He carved exactly as
he had often carved before in the long hungry night watches off the
coast of North America when we first chummed together. Only now he was
dismembering a real plump drumstick done to a golden brown, and not
one of the imaginary mouth-watering tantalizers of the cold high seas.
Dressing was there too, and mighty good, and a big dish of mealy mashed
potatoes, white and satisfying.
"Have some gravy," said Tommy, passing around the gravy boat, a vessel
he was well able to command.
We wound up with a salad of lettuce, and Frenchy mixed the dressing at
the table. It will not stretch the imagination of the reader to believe
that by this time our shipmate was in a highly satisfactory mood. Tommy
and I were having the time of our lives, and as far as dinners go I
have never enjoyed a better. Since then it has been my fortune to kick
heels beneath the same table with a prince of the royal blood, to have
broken bread with school-men and with men of the old world who feel
themselves of noble strain; I have speared spuds with the fishermen of
the north and have shared my bacon and corn pone with the niggers in
the swamps of Florida; I have dined in state and have taken my chances
in a college commons, but never can I remember a better or a merrier
meal.
Some guava tart and cream cheese, the latter served on small green
leaves, and large generous plebeian cups of clear Kona coffee,
completed the dinner.
Our host had a surprise for us. He opened, and passed around, a box of
good cigars, urging us to help ourselves to extra ones, which we did.
He then took off his apron and, drawing a chair up to the table, joined
our well satisfied company. We talked of all things under the heavens
and upon the land and waters. More coffee was called for at intervals,
and when our host learned that I had been in Horta, his native town in
the Azores, a new bond of interest was established.
Finally, with regret, the time came to depart. A fine touch worthy of
that finished sailor, Victor Mathes of Dunkirk, God rest his soul and
grant him all prosperity, was the fact that the meal had been paid for
in advance and we left our host without the sordid jingling of change
or offering of a pauperizing tip, this worthy bowing us to the door,
three contented sailors, with extended belts, and empty pockets, and
nothing but a ship to call our home.