Livermore High School - El Vaquero Yearbook (Livermore, CA)

Page 33 text:

LIVERMORE HIGH SCHOOL 29 before we sighted land. Our provisions were almost gone, and we had to ration out the water. Then one morning we sighted a low green coastline in front of us. Owing to the heat we knew it must be a tropical country, but we had no way of telling what one it was. We had lost our compass off the West Indies. We sailed along the coast of this unknown land until we came to the mouth of a large stream. Cutthroat Ike decided to go ashore and scout out the land, choosing me and two others to accompany him. We all got into the small boat and pushed off, keeping a lookout for any signs of life. We had plenty of weapons in case we found hostile savages. We entered the mouth of the river with Cutthroat Ike standing in the prow of the boat to act as look out and pilot. Finding the water to be fresh, clear, and good tasting, we decided to explore the river for a few miles. It was a strange country that slid past us on each side. It was a riot of color with palm trees and bright flowers growing down to the waters edge in a tangled jungle. Monkeys and parrots shrieked and chattered in the trees at us as we rowed upstream. We went about three miles without seeing any signs of human life, so Cutthroat Ike gave the order to go to the bank and try to land. We approached a spot where the 'vegetation was less tangled than elsewhere. There was a convenient log lying half on the beach and half in the water. We decided to tie the boat to that log. Ike was in the bow of the boat poised to jump to the log and make the boat fast. When the boat was about three feet from the log he jumped to the part that was out of the water. Suddenly a strange thing happened. Ike had no sooner touched the log than it doubled up and disappeared into the water. Ike was thrown into the water away from the shore by this sudden movement. Before we could move we heard him yell and saw him pulled under the water. By this time we had grabbed a boat-hook and when he came to the surface again we hooked onto his collar and dragged him into the boat. He was unconscious and his left leg was neatly cut off just above the knee. The innocent looking log was in reality a sleeping crocodile. We did what we could to stop the blood which had covered the bottom of the boat by the time we started back. With the aid of the current we made record time back to the ship. Willing hands helped us aboard, and took Ike to his cabin. He had a hard time getting well owing to the limited knowledge of medicine that our doctor possessedg and the life he had led in the past had weakened him so that he had very little reserve strength with which to fight for his life. We found out that we were off the coast of Africa, and by sailing north we managed to get back to England. It was a long, hard journey, but Ike managed to survive. You may wonder why I started to tell about how Old One Leg lost his leg, and then started to tell about how Cutthroat Ike lost his. The fact is that they are the same person. When Ike got well he retired from pirating and returned to private life in England. He was not able to do much with his wooden leg, but as he had collected quite a fortune at sea he settled down to a life of idleness. His friends bestowed on him the title of Old One Leg and people have come to accept this as his real name, and to forget that he was once the terrible pirate, Cutthroat Ike. Donald Stone, 'Bly

Page 32 text:

ZS GREEN G GOLD All houses are cleaned, so why not our school? Aside from the home, the average student spends most of his time at school. Should he not take some pride in keeping his school clean? Would you throw papers and waste on your lawn at home? No, you would not. Then let us, in the future, help to keep our school looking fairly good. Pick up trash and keep the schoolrooms clean. And, in conclusion, I want to say again, don'r be discouraged, but fight on, Keep our school clean, and if you ever feel like giving up, think of this little limerick: There was a school of my schooldays, That was the seat of my learning, It was always so clean, No dirt could be seen, For it my heart keeps on yearning. Howard Lindbergh, '29, MEMORIES OF YOU When I stand in the doorway at evening, When I sit in a chair by the fire And see the sun setting out there, And watch the flames leaping high, When I'm walking along on the Seashore, When I hear the voice of a robin And feel the wind toy with my hair, Telling that Springtime is nigh, When at morn I look from my window, Whenever I walk among flowers, And behold on the flowers the dew, Those flowers of beautiful hue, Whenever, whatever, happens Whenever, whatever happens Brings back sweet memories of you. Brings back sweet memories of you. When oft' I sit on a long afternoon And summer is in full sway, When I wander up in the mountains blue Where nature has her way, Where're I've come, where're I've gone All these long years through, Wlienevei', whatever happens Brings back sweet memories of you. Betty Wolfe, 31. 1 4 OLD ONE LEG You all wonder perhaps how old One Leg lost his leg. I am now the sole survivor of the original witness. Wfhen old One Leg died recently he asked me, as a last favor, if I could write the true story of how he lost his leg, and so put to rest the conflicting stories now in circulation. Although I am not a very good story teller, I agreed to do this, and that is my object in writing. It happened that I was sailing on the famous pirate ship, the Black Ghost, under that notorious pirate, 'Cutthroat Ike. We had made an unusually successful voyage and were on the point of returning to England when one of the sailors dropped the compass overboard. Of course, it was an accident, but since none of us could navigate without the compass we were in a predicament. We sailed around for about a month

Page 34 text:

50 GREEN 6 GOLD THE PIONEERS 1 1 In a spot out in the Pacific Wliere the wind is bleak and cold And the sunrise in the morning Leaves a fiery orb of goldg There lie the bodies of seven men- Of seven men and more, Wlio started from San Francisco To reach I-Iawaii's shore. They lie beneath the billowy waves In the cold grey depths of yore, Miles from San Francisco, Near I-Iawaii's shore. They died for a glorious heroic cause- To pioneer aviationg God give them rest, God give them peace, God give them aleviation. Bernard Lynn, '3l. A RIVER SCENE 1 1 It is a very rocky little valley in the pit of which runs a small river, winding its tortuous way around the huge stones that block its path. In a small flat boat on the Hoot of the valley the river forms a small pool. The pool is very deep and with hardly any cur- rent at all. Its edges on one side are fringed by huge boulders, one in particular which is in the form of a ball, about thirty feet high and quite moss-grown. From a crack in the top of the rock grows a fair-sized tree, a pine, which has struggled for thousands of years to grow in the scanty soil in the crack in the rock. All of the rocks that are strewn in the valley are of hard graniteg thousands of them are worn smooth and nearly per- fectly spherical. These rocks can be found in all parts of the valley, even near the tops of the highest mountains. Along the rocky edge of the pool and between the sparse growth of trees are wild plants with stalks as large as a cornstalk and with leaves as wide as a table top. Their dark green against the color or the granite stands sharply out to view, On the other side of the pool is a sandy beach on a miniature scale, behind which is a low Hat meadow covered with a growth of short grass that reminds one of a well kept lawn in a city park. The quiet pool, the silence of the valley, the occasional sight of some animal gives the visitor a sense of eternal peace. But it was not always this wayg once the valley was