 Log entry the catch scarlet queen position 132 degrees six minutes west 25 degrees 15 minutes north gyro compass course 275 wind fresh sky fair Remarks departed island of mooning jima 415 p.m. After unlogged movement of vessel reason for move the Spaniard in the last car pirates It was mid-afternoon 15 days after we dropped the Hawaiian chain behind us that we raised on the horizon the mountain peaks of mooning jima And our appetite for cool sweet water and fresh fruit The island lies some 500 miles east northeast in the boning group and it served as a Japanese base during the war My pre-war charts due to Jap secrecy were incomplete and inaccurate But just before sunset when we stood around the southern tip we did find the anchor had shown on them Was a small half moon bay protected by a line of breakers forming in over a barrier reef a Little north of the center of the reef was our pass Wide enough for the queen to slip through with good steerage way friendly currents and the light hand at the wheel The water over the side took on a shallow look as we approached under power and Gallagher went to the bow with a hand led to measure the depth He heaved the lead in line forward and his readings came rolling back Five fathoms leaving a few to spare between keel and bottom But shallowing to less than five as we closed on the pass Four and a half fathoms and the teeth of the corals started to show through the white troth of surf And the currents washing back from it took the bow of the queen from port and pushed I've fought the wheel and for a moment the scarlet figure had seemed to rest on the reef and Then her head swung into the narrow channel the shoulders of the reef swirl by us on each side We were in the deep quiet water After our anchors were secured at the sandy bottom Gallagher and I dropped into our dingy and road toward a small pier that jutted out from the beach At water level we were able to see a cluster of half a dozen tin roofed frame buildings set back from the shore and shaded by a Grove of banyan's and cocoa palms We shipped our oars started to make fast when we heard footsteps on the pier above us. I looked up Straight into the muzzle of a 30 caliber rifle a single watery China blue I looked at me from behind the sights go back to your step. Wait a minute My ears stuffed up or did you say go back to our ship get your ship by the bay? You are welcome here. We need stores. This is no social call We need water and fresh fruit or we wouldn't have stopped these drunk skipper here Let me take that pop gun away from him. Wait a minute red. I think he means it. I think he's Red red are you hit? No But you're right skipper. He does mean it the guy's stuck Raven nuts And so mutual continues the voyage of the scarlet queen written by gilded out and Bob Tollman and starring Elliot Lewis The scarlet queen Proudest ship to sail the seas bound for uncharted adventure every week a complete entry in the log and Every week a league further in the strange voyage of the scarlet queen I stood there in the Dory looking up at the rifle and the man behind it He was a dissipated 35 dressed and rumpled white duck trousers No shirt and a linen jacket streaked down the front with liquor and food stains I was trying to figure how drunk he was and whether to make a try for the rifle myself when a movement shore side caught my eye And what a movement She walked across that strip of beaches if she owned it Emma's Emma's what are you doing out here? I don't want to be a mature give me that right here To me and I'm here already. Give me that gun. I'll shoot them and then the other broken fool Go on go on or I'll use it on you. All right. We haven't got trouble enough. We'll have it now I'm sorry gentlemen. My husband has been ill Please come ashore. You're more than welcome Well skipper, what are we waiting for? That's a foolish question Fred I'm Nora Fairfield Welcome to moon in jima. I'm sorry your first greeting was so unpleasant. Yeah What is your husband hunt with that cannon man? He hates them, but you don't hmm Certainly not. That's why he does. You said he was sick. What's wrong with him and nothing you have to worry about But I think I should warn you you aren't the only visitors on moon in jima For an island that gets a steamer twice a year. We're doing well I didn't see any boat in the bay. He wasn't as good a sailor as you are He lost his ship on the reef a month ago. He should have stayed home beginning to think so myself I Let red fight his own way out of that one Something up ahead of us interested me more at the moment She'd taken us into the compound and we were maybe 50 yards from the residence house It was a typical island bungalow built up on stilts with a deep veranda across the front of it But it wasn't the house that interested me Was the group of bare-chested brown skinned East Indians squatting on their heels at the foot of the stairs They looked as though they're short-leaved but lasted too long And the curved knives they wore looked even meaner than their faces Their eyes followed us as we went past them and into the house Two men were sprawled in wicker chairs and neither of them was her husband The dark one built along the lines of Rocky Graziano grinned up at it The girls save you from the husband too. No captain Ramirez captain Carney Phil Carney and mr. Gallagher my first officer that that's good enough. I'm Dr. Mitchell Thomas Mitchell and you needn't tell me I looked the path. I've been told before Captain Ramirez is the man. I told you about captain Carney you men talk I'll go see if my husband has enough bottle to keep him comfortable That was tough losing your ship Ramirez a mouth sweater days sometimes bad sometimes good this time bad But who knows maybe things get better today Battery says for that he didn't prove your squatting on the heels outside Ready to sink those murders nice and drop backs if we so much as look cross-eyed at them don't talk so much All right, let you die on this island. Oh, that's your plan You think you're by your way out of here on the Scarlet Queen and leave me hit a rot as one Irishman to another mr. Carney this pirate has not got the price of a passage he will have to excuse this doctor Too much, son. What if you take me Connie? I have money in the state stay like the money you start in Manacuari He will be in jail before he pay Listen to the man that boat onto the reef. Where do you think chopped and Ramirez came by such a vessel? He stole it and if you don't rule sharp, that is enough Now I help you out doctor you're a little rough on your passengers aren't you remiss Yeah him He lived too long in the tropics his brain is fried Maybe I should have butted in and saved him a sword jaw The Scarlet Queen isn't taking on any passengers here. No room Hey Hey How big is your crew Connie eight semen? Yeah That's funny That's my crew eight men, but our crews carrying guns Ramirez in case you got any idea I didn't see anything but knives on those laskers of yours. I don't worry. I've got gun down in my bungalow But to see here. I prefer the knife myself An eight-inch knife blade vibrated in the table in front of us. He was so fast I didn't even see where it came from but there was The flash that's a smile full of oversized overpolished teeth Then tugged the knife out of the wooden left There's a great island skipper. I'm glad you brought me here I just wish there was enough daylight and tide left to get us through that reef and out of here You think he's crazy enough to try and take the Queen. I Don't know red, but I'm not sleeping tonight neither you We'll keep our eye on him from two places. I'll row you back to the ship and I'm staying assured wait a minute skipper You're pulling your rank on me. I met her too forget it red There's a husband and Ramirez in the picture, too By the time I'd taken Gallagher to the Queen broken out enough rifles to arm the crew and rode back to the island Night had fallen and the first quarter moon was rising above the tops of the ponds. I Stopped when I hit the beach to get my bearings decide which way to go The threat was real enough. I assure that Island shipwreck has turned sweeter characters than Ramirez to piracy and the only way here any of us could get out of there Was on the decks of the scarlet Queen? He was facing a crew of natives filled with frenzy for a home thousands of miles away I Was two legs out on a voyage with a ten million dollar prize at its destination somewhere in the South Pacific I'd fought before and I was ready to fight again to keep the scarlet Queen underway I found a shadow black in the faint moonlight Made my automatic handy at my waist and started counting the minutes of the rise of Sun and tide and the chance to get away from this place The first 20 you went by slowly and quietly Then I heard a rustle in the brush behind me. I took a quick step sideways Snap my automatic from my belt and world to face the sound. Oh Captain Connie you know why waste time on an act. He didn't surprise me came looking for you He just startled me a little that puts us on common ground except for the surprise Why were you looking for me because I've got to get away from Emmett. I want to go with you talk sense I can't take you with me. You could Phil I Don't know what's gonna happen if I stay here with that decaying pig I'm afraid I'll kill him and I'm afraid he'll kill me. I've got to get away from here So look at me Please Phil take me away from here. You don't touch me gorgeous I can hear you saying the same thing the same way to Emmett about getting away from some other sucker Only way you're gonna get away from this islands on a tramp steam Oh Phil I didn't mean that really I didn't I'm just going crazy. That's all Phil if you know what kind of a woman I am can't we let it go at that? Then I couldn't hurt you Phil Phil just for a minute Don't be afraid of me. I hit you didn't I? Because you knew me For a second I hated you But now I don't That's too bad. I Feel more comfortable when you do Anybody on any island would have given her a for effort in the same for her injured pride exodus She left my little plot of beach I Had half a hunch and maybe half a hope that she wasn't through pleading her case and she'd be back I sat there through the next hour trying to keep my mind on the Queen's cabin lights bobbing slightly out in the bay And to be ready for any movement towards her There's only a split second awareness of someone behind me than a brown forearm was across my throat I got a glimpse of a second figure slipping around in front of me It was a turbine last guy I kicked out at him the last thing I remembered was the smell of chloroform in the cloth He jammed across my nose and mouth and the deep gasping breath my lungs forced me to take when the forearm relaxed a little That and the sound of oars being put in or locks if somebody jumped into the dingy and headed for the scarlet Queen Then the beach the island The whole world pulled away from me and I was too tired to care The first thing I coasted back on was the light that leaked in through my eyelids Then the nausea the throbbing in my head I Got my eyes open long enough to realize that the brightness was coming through a window. It was daylight broad daylight That's when I tried to get up and fell back on the car Carly your eyes right from the brink of consciousness welcome back to a world of beauty. Yeah But I can remember of it. I'm sure I like it Help me up with your doc. I've already helped you up Haven't been for me. You'd be well on your way to enrich in the soil here on moon and G mark. Hold it back Take me a while to collect these things here The moon yam pole If you must think this will help clear it up my ship doc. It's gone But you're wrong When you came into the bay out there in the situation here, it was no longer your ship It was common property among desperate people You and I Happen to lose my mate Gallagher who knows Even common property himself shared between three or four types of flesh eating fish My headache stuck. I can't get very far beyond that. Yeah, I'll make you something They brought you here last night after they plucked you off the beach with my chloroform by the way I Was supposed to kill you neatly and silently slight swelling in your right arm the point of injection Due to some last-minute loyalty to our common heritage. I like to the door. Thanks. Yeah, I think this yeah You might say that you have been one milligram away from a heathen grave My payment of course was to be passage out of here with Ramirez You see I'm here as a result of my dishonesty to him. No doubt feel sorry for you doc indeed I feel the same thing myself Now if you'll get up on your own two feet instead of lying there like a sick dog I think you'll feel better Get a breath of air if you can find some moving. I was halfway to my feet before his last words got through the dizziness There wasn't any air moving They stumbled at the door and looked out Palms and banyons were motionless That meant one thing to me the Scarlet Queen had to be under power to make any way There wasn't enough breezed even rattler had you My wrist watch read 9 a.m. An hour and 10 minutes after the earliest tide she could have crossed the refund I Knew that if I could get high enough my ship would still be in sight. I Didn't know why I should torture myself. Maybe it was like hiding in a corner to watch your girl marry another guy But I pulled what was left of me together and started up the mountain To see where the Queen was going with somebody else It was a jumble of rock. I scraped my way to the very top and stood there 12 miles of rolling folded hills and valleys stretched to the north Three miles of gentle slope to the south And beyond in a great circle Empty sea horizon not a sail not a mast Not a speck in sight then I went down the mountain and back to the compound Wasn't until then that I felt the new atmosphere of the place yesterday had been filled with chattering birds Now there was nothing but the muttering of the surf against the reef a leaden sky and humid oppressive air. I Went to the residence house to find Nora hoping she'd know where our mirrors would make for Found a room and knocked wasn't the answer I Knocked again, and I went in like I say coming my luck But You look surprised to find me waiting for you after the build-up. What else what is the build-up when it all falls down? Where's my ship? I wish I knew I wish I knew so well. I was on it How did you miss after your boys smothered me on the beach? I make big mistake. I Warn you don't ever trust the one thanks She took the dinghy right after my boys make the big mistake with you. Yeah big mistake They should have smothered her. I think maybe somebody else too Who is gone from the island the girl. Yes, your chief mate. No and your scarlet queen. I saw her go through the reef What do you think from here? That's hard to figure Where's your last-guard crew behind me? Don't worry. My boys crawl away someplace this morning. They say sunrise to red They say when going to blow today should have crawled with them Ramirez. It's gonna be a good one See, I know this wind. I think we got out of this house quick This is no good place for typhoon. You got a better place in mind. Hi, you'll make good question coming I say the wind makes us good friends when we were good enemy before We get out of this house Cattle turned our backs to the blast and huddled together Dependent upon one another dodging flying branches Winsing from the sting of sand and rain that came with the wind Time to think of anything but survival Suddenly we all became allies Dr. Mitchell came out of his collapsing cottage called to us on his hands and knees And then behind us half falling Figuring out of his coma and his quivering house in Fairfield Maybe both of us are lucky to be here instead of drowning on your musseless health, honey I don't think much of the choice myself. I like to right now. I'm glad I trusted that woman shut up What for for fairfield? You think he doesn't know what kind of shot up All right, honey. I know what it means But I'd like to find her The trail leads down to the beach at the bottom of the crater It was a steep trail and now and then when we'd go through a clearing in the dense growth I began to get a picture of the place It was a volcanic crater and the sheer sides made a complete circle with the circumference of about a mile and a half We were about three quarters of the way down when I caught the glimmer of water Another hundred yards and we broke out of the brush and hit the beach That's when we all stopped That's when the whole thing took on the feel of a dream But I was awake and there with just her bow in sight in the tiny inlet with the scarlet queen I didn't have time to reach for any answers because suddenly with the ship back on the scene. We were no longer allies Our common enemy was forgotten and Ramirez and I were face-to-face But he had a knife and I had an empty holster. I think this is far enough curry Yeah, for one of us it is Ramirez Why don't you think this way you take the island and the woman and I don't hurt you The beautiful traffic night carny. You'll be happy. I tell you You've been in the tropics too long yourself Ramirez That's fever talk. Oh, I tried to make it easy for you. I go on your ship I tell you made you die like Mitchell in the storm What you think Well, you make it sound good Ramirez. You make it sound The only thing I knew about it after all was that he used his right hand, and that's what I made for This head over with my foot and he didn't move I Didn't know how long it had taken but it was long enough to make some changes in the scenery Our dinghy was pulled up on the beach Nora was standing there next to her was Gallagher I thought maybe you'd need some help skipper, but you did all right didn't I got a few things out of my system But I got a few more. I'll take it easy skipper. You're tired, so calm down. How'd you get here? Wait a minute skipper? I'm here you He told me you sent her to the Queen last night that you were selling her passage to Kobe I believed her because she put me wise to Ramirez He and his laskers tried to board the Queen at dawn, but we were ready for him She said you knew it too and we're hiding out till it was over You're in our right. She was and then this morning when I got a load of that typhoon sunrise She told me about this place and we came around and a good thing too. Yeah That's what puts the whole thing off balance The Queen would never have lived in that bay on the wind would say what's the rest of it skipper. I Was supposed to be dead She was sick of Ramirez Bill red. Please let me say that you Gallagher You're supposed to sail off into the sunset with her listen to me I mean I can go into the sunset wait a minute You'll have to choose between her and me skipper Well when the chips are down, you're really more attractive red Glad to hear that skipper. I'm blushing with pride and now shall we leave the fair fields to their island? What's left of it? Yeah, and to their Ramirez What's left of him? Yeah skipper, I think we've wasted enough time on Moon Injima a Few hours before sunset the outside circle of the typhoon had passed and we headed out of the crater base I didn't bother to take soundings, but I did sketch in addition to the baldy charts the island Under power we threaded through a narrow channel that the Japanese Navy had dredged from the almost landlocked basin to the open sea We rounded a rocky point and swung the scarlet figurehead on our bow until she looked out on the course She'd been born to follow neither of us knew where that course would lead When we were free of the rocks, and I felt the breeze on my right cheek. I cut the motor Held us in their lead, but the edges of the northeast trade sweeping around them were enough We're swept away and replaced by fresh sea air The gypsies ran up and the mizzen and the queen settled into a familiar position with her port rail and climbing toward the green water Is she see kindly skipper don't find mate. We'll take her a little closer on we make the north end of the island That's an island. I want to see sink behind this day. Why you you didn't have a tough time You don't know skipper that woman She thinks all men are the same kind of man as her kind of woman if you know what I mean I think I do and it reminds me of her friend of mine on Motomachi Street in Kobe We'll have to look her up. I know not me a glass of rice beer is as far as I go into coping Drink skipper. Yeah. Hey What's there's this lipstick on this bottle? Sure. What do you think she was a savage? Lipstick never hurt you did it. I go on have a drink skipper after you mate after you log entry catch scarlet Queen 530 p.m. Miles traveled 6215 Mainzolin mizzen reefed ship secure for night signed Philip Carney master The voyage of the scarlet Queen has come to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States armed forces radio and television service