HURRICANE SAM

Evening Star, Issue 20986, 28 December 1931, Page 10

HURRICANE SAM

Among the notable foreigners -who reJijently arrived in New York to cntibiM the tall buildings, the noises, and the suffering inhabitants was Bimbashi Spoof ah Bey, formerly of El Wakad iWahibbi’s Camel Corps, accompanied by his Sudanese servant, Mazzlim, says a writer in the ‘ New York Times.’ The Bimbashi, a title corresponding to that of major in the American army, said he was on his way to the upper waters of the .River Orinoco to search for the bones of the giant sloth and to seek the blue-faced jaguar, which is almost extinct. • , Like the majority of the men who have lived in the desert and burned their faces and eyes through looking for the next oasis to get a drink, Spoofah Bey, as he is known by the Bedouin tribes from Jeddah to Aden, on. the Red Sea, and Muscat, on the Persian Gulf, is very reserved, and hates to talk about himself. ; He told the reporters that his prmtoipal object in coming to New York was to get away from camels, which he intends to hate till death, and after. He added that he never wished to see another. not even in a menagerie. “ Camels,” continued Spoof ah Bey, are the morons of the animal world. There is nothing in their cosmos to appeal to. For five years I treated Selim, my hig military trotting camel, like a net child, and in return the ungrateful beast would try to bite my foot when J halted to light a cigarette. “ If I was dismounted Selim would »ither kick me with his front legs or ■tamp on my feet with his large, spongy hind hoofs. His best work was going through Bedouin camps at night, when *he half-starved pack of dogs rushed, out and tried to eat us up. then Selim, it seemed to me, would lunge out with all four legs at once, while I lashed at the dogs with my rhinocerous-lnde kurhash. He would swerve out of his way going through a native village to trample upon some, poor,, aged, bund 'Arab woman and knock down her little wooden tray of banana fritters and mingle them with the scorching sand. My eorrant Mazzlim takes after the camels, and does not know enough to shovel sand against a tide. While reticent about his own adventura*, the Bey was willing to talk about hia great uncle, Captain Sam Spoofah, master mariner, known in the China geas as Hurricane Sam because he drove hia clipper ship, the Daring Amy,_down through the Li-y-Moon Pass into Hongkong under a goosewing mam topsail and anchored safely in the midst of a howling typhoon while hundreds of, junki and other craft were dashed to piecaa oh the rocks. w “ I remember, when I was a small hoy. how he visited Spoofah Manor at the old town of Suddlecomb on the Sud, and beard the rector say it was a pity such a fine man was so steeped m sm, the camel hater said. One of his best yarns was an account of his being shanghaied at Cape Town, South Africa, and being put on board a mission ship bound for the. Solomon Islands At that time Hurricane Sam was well over sixty, but was bale and hearty. Like most of the Spoofah family, ho hardly ever had money, but he was democratic and would drink with anyone who had. “On this occasion, when windjammers were in their prime .days, my great-uncle went on a special bende m Cape Town and woke up m the foo’sle of the missionary barque Mary Instead of being roused out of his bunk hy a ixnate who,. threatened to cut his heart out if he did not _ monte arrive’ on deck P.D.Q., a gentle voice said ‘Drink this, brother; it will do you good.’ Sam gazed in amazement at the . tall, fair, bearded man beside, the bunk, who said he was the mate and that his name was Spread the irue .Word 'Sraithers. Sam was further surprised to find that the crew were named after the Apostles and the captain was called Walk m the Right Way Simpkins, The crew addressed each other as Brother Matthew, _ Brother Mark, or Brother Luke, whichever it might he. The cook was called Brother Didymus, and the steward Brother Thaddseua. PRAYERS TWICE DAILY. “Prayers were read morning and evening on the good ship, and there were two services every Sunday.. Four times daily the kind-spoken mate gave Hurricane Sam a refreshing draught of the thin white-looking liquid which had revived him so quickly after his terrible debauch on , Cap© Smoke, the chain lightning sold in the grog shops at Cape Town. “All went well until one Sunday when the Mary and Martha was nearing the Solomon Islands and encountered a cyclone which blew the upper sails out of the bolt ropes and threatened to sink the ship. Tho pious mate lost his head in the shrieking of the wind and the waves rushing on board with a fury that swept everything before them. Suddenly the captain ‘ Walk in the Right Way ’ Simpkins, handed a belaying pin to the converted Sam Spoofah and said ‘ Take charge as mate, and do as you used to do on the Dudley Buck and the .other clippers you were in.’ Sam did. All his old blood and fire training came back to him in a flash as he wielded the belaying pin and sung out ‘ Lay aft tho watch, and God spare the last man.’ When Matthew said ‘Why so rough, brother?’ Sam knocked him endways over the spare spars lashed amidships and threw Luke after him, and kicked Didymus, the cook, with his sea boots on. Myrtle, the ship’s cat, went up on top of the galley and stopped there for two days. ‘Hurricane’ Sam saved the ship and brought her safely into the harbour of Bali. “ After being paid off he went to Sigapore and took a sample of the (none thin colourless elixir the mate ti issued to him daily and which had 1 completely rejuvenated tho veteran manner. He left tho bottle at a chemist’* to hare it analysed, and later

received a paper with some strange code written upon it. “ When Sam finally returned to London he took the paper to a wealthy friend, and suggested that it should be made up and sold to the _ public, as there would bo a fortune in it. His friend unfolded the paper and read; <H2 O.’ Then he said: ‘You blithering old idiot—it’s water.’ And Captain Sam put his grey head out of the window and swore until the passing cabmen said ‘Oh, hush.’ ” Bimbashi Spoofah Bey said he would remain in New York only a few days, as he was afraid of fire engines.