 This is the story of a man who never belonged anywhere, whose backyard is the world, whose ways of life are the dreams of escape for those who want action, but never find it. The man, John Steele, adventurer. The dictionary says of the word lose, that it means to part with unintentionally, to mislead, miss, or let slip, to fail to keep control or maintain. Well, that's all right for such things as wallets, gloves, pants. But can you believe that it would be possible to part with a boat unintentionally, to mislead, let slip, or in short to lose a hundred ton schooner? I didn't believe it either, until it happened to me. It was transcribed with John Steele, adventurer, and will be back in a moment to tell you the real story. I have a few reminders. It would be even hard for me to believe the whole thing happened. Well, I won't mind too much if I get a few funny looks to help you. I guess the thing first started when George Benson and I, drunk all our dough in a worm eating schooner, tried to run a trade route in the South Pacific after the war. We were tied up in the Tongers one night with supplies, and I was stretched out on back half asleep when I heard footsteps on the rickety dock. First, I thought I was dreaming, because the Tongers was the last place I expected to hear footsteps like that. When they came up and stopped, I turned to see if my ears had heard right. They had. You're still here. That's good. I'm not too late. American, too. What? I was trying to think of any other shows that might sound like a white woman's high heels. Mr. Benson owns this boat, doesn't he? Half of it. The bow and main must belong to me. The boat is registered in his name. Yeah, that's for insurance. I still own half of it. I know what you're telling me. This is the starboard light, isn't it? Yep. And Mr. Benson is the one that I want. Look, if it's business, I can do just as good as George. It's business. You're sailing north toward the Gilbert Islands. Yeah. You want a passenger? Oh, what? You do make stops at various small islands, don't you? Yeah, sure we do. Can both carry a passenger? Ship, not boat. What's the difference, boat, ship? There's a difference, believe me. Well, do I go along? You don't get it. There's two of us. Me and Big George. We don't have stewards, cooks, waiters, or anything. How long will you be gone? Six weeks, but I'm telling you. I said it was business and I meant it. I want to go along. I have $300, is that enough? Yeah. Yeah, that's enough. Money talks, is that it? Maybe it was the right hair. I said it was business. No, no, no. Don't get me wrong. I mean the way you came right back at me until you got what you wanted. How better when you get mad you can really throw them. Don't try it. I don't think I will. Can I come aboard now? I have my suitcase with me just in case you were going to leave. Come on. I'll help you. Thank you. Hey, what's a girl like you out here writing the trades for anyway? That's if you don't mind my asking. I don't mind, but it's a long story. I have nothing better to do than listen. Is that your friend? Where? The man with the flashlight. Oh, yeah, yeah. That's Big George. Name's Nixon. He's quiet, but he's a good Joe. I hope he's as easy to handle as you. What? Oh. You waste time being nice to him. Some woman put the bite on him a long time ago and he's a little bit sus. We've got a passenger. What? I said we've got a passenger. Since when? She just came aboard. Miss, uh... John, I keep on... Uh, this is... Big George, my partner. Johnny, you're nuts. You think so? Well, we get her off the ship. I told you she's our passenger. Stove this stuff away, will you? Sure. I'll take care of the thing. Look, I made a part. I'll take care of her. I know how to handle women. All right, go ahead. Take care of her. You watch. I'll watch, too. I don't know what the deal is with Johnny here, but it's off. Is it? That's what I'm telling you. What's the matter? Aren't you in business to make money? Sure we are. That's why you aren't going along. I'm paying my way. $300,000. $300,000. Your partner agreed to it. Don't tell me you're afraid of women. I'm not afraid of anything. Oh, yes, you are. You name it. Get her off of here, Johnny. You were going for it. I'm afraid to take a woman on his boat. In just a couple of seconds, I'm going to lose my... Camper, camper. One more word, and I'm... Yes? All right. Get your things in the forward cabin. I told her she could take the main estate film, Big George. Yeah? Got to give our passenger the best if she's fancy. You think the both of us can sleep forward? We've done it before. All right, all right. Put her wherever you want. I'll get started right. Uh, just a minute. The main cabin is below the aft companion weight. I'll take the forward cabin. I don't want to bother Mr. Big George. I should have warned you that about what? The red hair. Oh, yeah, you should have. Little flyer cabin. Even so, it's going to be nice having a passenger. Three-chain, yeah. Too bad you've got such a big hat on for women. Now, I'll... You're great. Amazing. Sure. There's some weather coming up. I want to be outside with you. Of course. If you don't want to go for red hairs, then I'll see how I... Shut up. Sure. You don't need to get so hard about it. Sorry, Johnny. You get too much sometimes. Forget it. I'll cast off the stern lines. We'll let the tide carry us out. The storm's coming up fast. Just from the island of Blois in the Tonga, and by late afternoon the next day, I knew that Big George wasn't off the beam about the weather. Whatever was coming up behind us was a big one. It hasn't been a sailor very long, but I knew a storm, and I saw him oncoming, and this one looked like the granddaddy of all of them. We'd already reached Main Street and missed it. The wind was up to 35 or 40 miles an hour. No rain, just dark clouds and wind. The starboard light was creaking, and groaning as the waves piled up behind it. Night came quickly like a curtain being drawn over the sky. I was having a rough time at the wheel, trying to keep her on heading when I felt somebody holding on to the timing. How about the front party? What? Front party. Thanks. Oh, fine for you. Can't take my hands off the wheel. The peace of the unknown. There's much of these when in a moment we hear more in the story of John Steele, adventurer. I must have been exhausted because one moment I was leaning on the wheel with the wind whistling around my ears. And the next, I was awakened by the wheel cutting into my chest and hot sunlight burning against my face. The wind was gone, and I tried to stand up and shield my eyes against the sun so I could see. The deck was still as I felt flat across the rail before I could get my balance. Then my eyes were working. What I saw made me yell for Big George. The starboard light was on her side all right in the middle of a jungle. Draped over the deck were trees, vines, leaves, and driftwood. Nothing but green vegetation, no water, no ocean anywhere in sight. What's up, kid? You should have woke me before. Look. What happened? We tried to sail through a jungle, that's all. Beached, huh? Can't even find the ocean. All right, tide and wind must have blown us right inland. And wind went and tide went out, too. We tried to weren't any waves. Sorry, I... I must have fallen asleep. Oh, nothing you could have done anyway. What is it? Johnny tried to sail through a jungle. Trying to figure out how we'll get her back on the water. Now I know what hit me last night. A leaf. A leaf from one of those trees. Probably. Well, now what? First, I think we ought to follow our tracks back to the water and see just how far we've got to move her. It's a long way, as I know that much. Maybe we could wait for another high tide. That might be a year. Well, let's get started. Sooner we know how bad the job is, the easier it will be. What? Something tearing at the ship. Tearing at the ship. That over the side. I'm swelling from the heat. Rip off the planking in order to pour out. Get under that joint. Come on, give me a hand. Pull the problem on off. That'll be easier. Water for pearls. Pouring out all over the jungle. They can salvage some of it. We get the ship back in the water. Yeah. If. Help me down. Sure. I'll help you. I can do it. I'm down now, thanks. Let me go, John. Sure. Are you two coming? Yeah, yeah, we're coming. Strange Island in the Pacific. It'll be fun exploring it. Yeah, fun. I don't want to live here the rest of my life. Come on. We started down the track of broken trees in the jungle. And it was hard going in spite of the trail the ship had made coming in. Big George was leading the way, looking right from the left. We found the ocean almost a mile from the school and explored the rest of the island and what we could. The shore was swampy and the last third of the place we didn't see because we couldn't find the clips to shut it off. We knew the island was small and probably uninhabited. It was afternoon and we retired when we got back to the ship. I, for one, am tired. We didn't say anything about a cooking tour of the South Pacific, George. Hungry? Famished. How about showing us that cooking you bragged about? All right. I think we'd better get our stuff in camp outside. Why do that? That's a very thickly populated jungle and I don't mean by people. We could say a word. Suit yourself. But in that slamming cabin you'd get seasick. Take my word for it. Yeah. Yeah, I remember a crazy house that had a tillered room and, uh... What about the crazy house? What's the matter with you, Johnny? Isn't that the hole where the grain poured out? Sure it is. But where's the grain? Huh? It ought to be under the hole, huh? Sure. And that's funny. It didn't all come out. Let's see. The hole's empty. It'll all pour it out. Then where is it? There was 20 tons of grain in there. There ought to be a big pile here on the ground. Maybe the birds. Oh, they're not that many birds. Animals. They're some pretty big animals. Just a few spots on the ground. Just a couple of kernels. You see any tracks? Uh, paw marks or anything? No. This is nuts. I'm still hungry. Yeah, so am I. Well, I'd want to whip up something. Yeah. I need some help. I can make it. I'll make a surfer here. Grab the rail. I... How good a cook you are. Beautiful. Yeah, Big George. I wouldn't do it if I was you. Huh? Do what? Go for her. Dottie? Yeah. Why not? There's plenty of other girls around. But there will be when you get back to the States. Not many like her. Maybe not. But you're just woman hungry because you've been away so long. What's eating you, Big George? You're going for yourself? I just thought I'd warn you, kid. Okay. You did. She's not your kind. Well, I don't know. I'm telling you she's not. You sound serious. I am, Johnny. I thought you were a woman hater. I just don't want to see you get hurt. Fatherly, huh? Maybe? I won't get hurt. Just don't make a pitch for her, kid. Was that red hair? I don't guarantee it. I know you pretty well. I'm just telling you, leave Dottie alone. It's not that easy, George. It better be. She's just another woman to you, and that's what I don't like. Oh, I don't know. I do know, Johnny. I've been around too much. Big George. The woman hater. All right. I warned you. Now, come on. Let's get some stuff out of the ship and make it camp before it gets dark. Tomorrow we'll see if we can start moving it back to the ocean. Thinking of what Big George had said and wondered why he said it. Dottie worked right with us. We moved the starboard light exactly one foot in the entire day's work, and that night we were all tired and went right to sleep under the sailcloth tent. It was the sun again that woke me, and when I looked down the reveal where the ship lay on our side, something made me sit up quickly. The ship looked funny. There was something missing. The mast. Sure. I yelled for Big George and scrambled out of the mosquito netting and ran to the port side. The blue sun has happened now. What's up, Johnny? Come here and look. You're waking me up and yelling about... Hey, where's the man? That's what I'd like to know. But that isn't all. Half the ship is missing. Huh? You see, the keel's gone, all the ribs and planking from the underside. Both of them. Where'd they go? You tell me. It doesn't make sense. Even the rail's gone. Is there anything wrong? Somebody likes our ship. What's the matter? Look. What happened? Somebody just stole half our ship during the night. That's all. You can't sail her like that. This place is nuts. Who'd steal half our ship? Well, it looks like we're gonna stay here for a while. Can't we find out who took them, George? I don't know what the pitch is, but we're gonna get in there. I'll get the rifles. Yeah. They haven't been taken, too. We'll have to stand watch this night and day. And the other two will search the island. I don't get it. Who'd steal half of it? Like you said, we're gonna find out and find out fast. Suspense and action. One leads to the other, and the result we'll hear in a moment with the climax of another adventure with John Steele. We stood guard night and day and we searched the island as best we could. We didn't find any people who cracked the ship apart. The next night, in spite of our standing watch, the rudder and deck house disappeared. One of us was awake all night, but we didn't hear what sounded. Each day, we scoured the island and each night, another piece of the starboard light vanished into thin air. It was almost both flights. And occasionally, we shot it open. Two weeks, three of us were about ready for the nut house. There was no reason to try and move the ship now. There wasn't enough left of it to move. Only parts of the deck. At night, we'd sit and talk and try to figure it out just as you'd sit down and try to analyze how a magician pulls a trick to your eyes don't believe. By the sixth week, we knew we'd have to do something, build a raft or build a house for the rainy season. And our food was running low. It was late afternoon in Big George without looking again when I got a chance to talk to Dottie alone. There's a few other things and I wouldn't mind staying here for a while, I don't want to ask about who you are while you came out here. I never told you, did I? No, but you don't have... I came looking for somebody, John. A guy? No, a guy. You expected to find him here in these islands? Yes. Fellow in the war? Yes, he was in the war. I see. A lot of good Joes were lost in this area. He wasn't lost. I know, you don't need to tell me the rest. You know? Sure. And I give you a lot of credit for it. When I report a guy missing in action out here, he didn't turn up again nine times out of ten. If the Japs didn't get him, the jungle or the ocean did. Johnny, I think you're... That's all past, Dolly. You see, I... You can talk to me. I warned you, Johnny. Huh? You wouldn't listen to me. Big George, I told you... Take your arm away from her. Now, wait a minute. Get up. You're not going to tell me what to do. No, George! Stop! He'll be all right. I'll worry about him. I was trying to tell him and you hit him. Tell him what? Look behind you. Huh? Look! What? Good fight! I want to follow. Who are... Who are you? I know you're strong. Shoot small black water. Take me. George, are you coming along with a fight? See me walk. Where'd you come from? Be long, many, small black water. Come get along you. What? I think she... I think he wants us to follow him. Don't talk. You all right? Yeah, I guess so. Who's he? Of course my story belongs to you. What is it? I don't know. Might be a gag of some kind to get all three of us at once. But anything's better than staying here, isn't it? Maybe there's a way off this swamp. Yeah. Come on. We followed the little half-megat black man through the jungle and both Big George and I had our rifles ready. He led us through a swamp by a path we could never retreat and up through a hidden crevasse from the side of the cliffs on the far end of the island and then down to the sea on the other side. At no time did we see any other human beings but the feeling was strong that other little black men were staring at us through thick undergrowth. But what stopped us cold was what we saw when we reached the sea. There in a tiny inlet not more than 30 feet wide riding easily at anchor was a starboard light not in pieces but complete ready to sail. Even the stuff we'd left when we followed the little lady was neatly laid out on the bank in front of us waiting. We could only stare as a little man went into his speech. So you can hurry quick or fast. So you go before what to go. Me loa hoo phalas take what belong you want to phalas loa hoo phalas need grain for seabird for grains belong you what not to get shipped below water but no much hands to move. So loa hoo phalas take ship down to sticks and move fast and put sticks in one here. Why to follow have bad trouble no more. Loa hoo take grain pay for it and it's hot. He's gone. They floated the boat and returned for stealing the grain. There must be a thousand of them to do a trick like that. Come on the tide's going out let's get aboard while there's still water to flow. When you go with me George where Danny home for good. Yeah. Yeah I'll go. Hey you see Johnny I tried to warn you go on George I want to tell him something sure don't make it too long but you didn't have to give me that gag about looking for a guy. I didn't I was looking for big George. He was lost when he came home from the war he had a restlessness that he never had before. That's why he came back out here with you. I didn't understand when I did I came looking for him. You love him. He'll always be my husband. Yeah. I wasn't going to tell you about it until he didn't he was too angry at me to talk. Yeah. You see John he knew you and I knew you from his letters. I'd have been just another of your passing fancies wouldn't I. Yeah. Okay. Let's get under sail. That's it friends. The story of a schooner that was lost in the far off islands.