To Have And Have Not

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT
the sand up and close it. They used to go in with
schooners and load guavas from the river and there
used'to be a town. But the hurricane took it and
it is all gone now except one house that some
gallegos built out of the shacks the hurricane blew
down and that they use for a clubhouse on Sundays
when they come out to swim and picnic from
Havana. There is one other house where the dele-
gate lives but it is back from the beach.
Each little place like that all down the coast has
a government delegate, but I figured the Chink
must use his own boat and have him fixed. As we
came in I could smell the sea grape and that sweet
smell from the brush you get off the land.
cGet up forward,' I said to Eddy.
'You can't hit anything on that side/ he said*
'The reef's on the other side as you go in.' You see,
he'd been a good man once.
'Watch her/ I said, and I took her in to where I
knew they could see us. With no surf they could
hear the engine. I didn't want to wait around, not
knowing whether they saw us or not, so I flashed
the running lights on once, just the green and red,
and turned them off Then I turned her and headed
her out and let her lay there, just outside, with the
engine just ticking. There was quite a little swell
that close in.
'Come on back here/ I said to Eddy and I gave
him a real drink.
'Do you cock it first with your thumb?' he whis-
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