Zone Policeman 88; a close range study of the Panama canal and its workers — John Shaqi
Zone Policeman 88; a close range study of the Panama canal and its workersFranck, Harry Alverson
History
Zone Policeman 88; a close range study of the Panama canal and its workers
Franck, Harry Alverson
Panama Canal (Panama); Police -- Panama -- Canal Zone
I even sailed for San Francisco in the quest. For of course each
outgoing ship must be searched. One day I had word that a "windjammer"
was about to sail; and racing out to Balboa I was soon set aboard the
fore and aft schooner Meteor far out in the bay. When I plunged down
into the cabin the peeled-headed German captain was seated at a table
before a heap of "Spig" dollars, paying off his black shore hands. He
solemnly asserted he had no Greek aboard, and still more solemnly swore
that if he found one stowed away he would turn him over to the police
in San Francisco--which was kind of him but would not have helped
matters. There are several men running gaily about San Francisco
streets who would be very welcome in certain quarters on the Zone and
sure of lodging and food for a long time to come.
By this time the tug Bolivar had us in tow, the captain went racing
over his ship like any of his crew, tugging at the ropes, and we were
gliding out across Panama bay, past the little greening islands, the
curving panorama of the city and Ancon hill growing smaller and smaller
behind--bound for 'Frisco. What ho! the merry "windjammer" with her
stowed sails and smell of tar awakened within me old memories, hungry
and grimy for the most part. But this was no independent,
self-respecting member of the Wind-wafted sisterhood. Far out in the
offing lay a steamer of the same line that was to TOW the Meteor to the
Golden Gate! How is the breed of sailors fallen! The few laborers
aboard would take an occasional wheel, pick oakum, and yarn their
unadventurous yarns. As we drew near, a boat was lowered to set me
aboard the steamer, to the rail-crowding surprise of her passengers,
who fancied they had hours since seen the last of Zone and "Zoners."
The captain asserted he had nothing aboard grown nearer Greece than
three Irishmen, any one of whom--facetiousness seemed to be one of the
captain's characteristics--I might have and welcome. A few moments
later I was back aboard the tug waving farewell to steamer and
"windjammer" as they pushed away into the twilight sea, and the Bolivar
turned shoreward.
I received a "straight tip" one evening that the fugitive Greek was
hiding in a hovel on the Cruces trail. What part of the Cruces trail,
the informant did not hint; but he described the hut in some detail. So
next morning as the thick gray dawn of this tropical land was melting
into day, I descended at Bas Obispo, through the canal to Gamboa and
struck off into the dense dripping jungle. The rainy season had greened
things up and gone--temporarily, of course, for in a day or two it
would be on us again in all tropical fury. In the few days since the
first rain the landscape had changed like a theater decoration, a green
not even to be imagined in the temperate zone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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