Primal Spillane: Early Stories 1941-1942

The Ship in the Desert

David Cotter loafed about in the little general store of Wheeler, Arizona, feeling very uncomfortable in his newly bought “prospecting” clothes. He had been sent here by a museum society to bring back ancient fish fossils, much against his will, for he felt certain that this part of the country had never been under water.

For the past week he had been inquiring of the “natives” as to this fact, and the only answer he received was loud guffaws. Now he was a great joke in the town. Every time he passed a group of idlers someone was sure to make a remark. “Thinks he’s going fishin’ out here — Haw, haw!”

“The only thing ya can git in the desert air rattlers, an’ even then they’re scarce,” someone would say, and every one would laugh loudly, David was beginning to get discouraged.

He was in the store the morning he was about to make his first field trip when old Pop, the “desert rat,” came in. Pop was always greeted noisily, but with a lot of snickers, for in all his years of desert prospecting he never found anything more than enough to keep him in food. And, this time again, his whiskery old face told everyone he still was out of luck. Even David had to smile at the ragged appearance of the old man, with his baggy pants and faded shirt, topped by a hat that was a relic.

One of the local crowd grinned at Pop. “Well, old timer, whatcha find this time?”

“Cain’t says how ’twer much. Did git this though!” He dug in his bag and came up with a foot-high bell, green with age. Everyone roared at the sight of it.

“Now don’t tell us ya found a bell in the sand! Haw, haw — that’s rich! Go fer gold an’ come back with a bell!”

“Maybe there’s a church t’ go with it!” someone else added.

“Aw, quit yer laughing, fellers, mebbyso I can sell it. That is, if there’s a sucker t’ buy it!”

Just then David came over, picked up the bell, and scraped the corrosion — His heart gave a mighty jump, for it was an old Spanish ship’s bell, here, in the desert! He looked at the old man queerly.

“I’ll buy it!” David said calmly.

The boys, and even the old man, laughed at him, but he settled the deal. When everyone had left, David took Pop to one side.

“Look,” he said, “give it to me straight! Did you really find this thing in the desert?”

“Sure ’nuf! I can even show you the spot! ’Bout ten miles out.”

There was a hot wind blowing across the sand when they reached the spot where Pop found the bell. They dismounted from their horses and David studied the ground carefully. He was beginning to get a wild idea about this whole affair, something that might result in a discovery more important than fish fossils!

His careful scrutiny revealed no rise in the sand that might indicate a buried ship, so he decided to dig. By now, Pop too, was excited, and together they set in with the shovels. It wasn’t until the sun was setting that they found anything. David’s shovel suddenly hit into some wooden planks, and he called wildly for Pop!

Side by side, they dug madly, until they had exposed a section of a rotted deck, and right in the middle of it was the stump of a mast!

From what David could figure out, they had come upon the hulk of an old Spanish galleon, which meant that this desert had at one time been under water. What a discovery! The sun had gone down too far for them to dig any longer, so they made camp on top of their “ship.” At Pop’s suggestion, David decided that blasting the sand away was the only possible way of getting at the ship’s interior. So, in the morning, they figured out the way the ship lay and Pop prepared the charges around it. This was the big moment!

Pop’s hand was on the plunger, and at a signal from Dave, he thrust it down! There was a deafening roar — flying sand and clumps of desert grass rained down everywhere. Slowly, the sandy fog cleared, and there, as though moored in a great pit, was the remains of a once grand Spanish Galleon!

David and Pop shouted with joy, and they slid down the embankment to the ancient deck. They roamed about until they found a hatch cover, pried it off, and gazed into the mystery that the centuries had hidden. Somehow, the sand did not penetrate inside, so Dave and Pop took their lamps and descended. The ribs of the ship were skeleton-like. Corrosion was everywhere, and ropes hung in tatters from the crossbeams.

Being careful to avoid rotted planking, they explored room after room of the ship’s hold, and there, in the stern, came upon a hideous group of bones and skulls, some of which even had the remains of a fine costume around them. David shuddered at this, but Pop took it without even a grimace!

Back on deck, they climbed up the crumbling steps to the high poop deck and forced open the door to what evidently was once the captain’s cabin. Dave’s mouth dropped open. Facing them, from a chair behind a table, one hand resting on a book brown with age, was a skeleton of huge proportions, dressed in the silks of that age with a feathered hat on the bony skull that proclaimed him the captain!

Dave jumped forward with a cry, for here was the object of his search, the log book of the ship. Ah, what stories it would tell! Strange ports, raids on ancient cities, treasure!

But Pop was not concerned with the log book. He went rummaging through the cabin, opening lockers and drawers, finally coming across an iron-bound gold-decorated trunk in a corner of the room. Quickly, he knocked off the rusted lock and threw up the lid. There, gleaming dully, was a huge mound of Spanish doubloons, topped by handfuls of shining jewels! A fortune at last!

Their excitement knew no bounds. They jumped and shouted like kids. All morning, afternoon, and evening they spent searching the ship, and carting the treasure to the horses’ packs.

Dave and Pop were eating a late supper that night when Pop felt the drumming of horse’s hoofs far off. He looked across the fire at Dave. “Ya know, it wouldn’t s’prise me none,” he said, “if the boys fum town came out here ta give us a ribbing. Seems to me we orta fool ’em!”

Dave caught on at once.

In town the men used to joke about the wild Indians in the desert, trying to scare Pop, Dave remembered; now they’d probably come out here, decked up in feathers, to do the job right! Both he and Pop got up and jumped to the deck of the ship. They took the clothes off the captain’s skeleton and Pop got into them. He really was a terrifying sight with the cutlass in his hand and his bushy whiskers hanging over his chest!

Dave hid in the shadows of the cabin, and sure enough, in a few minutes, the blood-curdling yells of the “Indians’ reached him.

The practical jokers didn’t know what to expect, and what they did see put ice in their veins! There, in the light of the moon, on the deck of an ancient ghost ship, half buried in the sand, strode a figure in flowing robes, with a feathered hat rakishly askew its head. Making not a sound, and waving its cutlass in the air, it was a frightening spectacle.

With scared yelps, the “Indians” wheeled their horses about and dashed away in the direction from which they came.

When Dave and Pop finally stopped laughing, and fell asleep, dawn was breaking in the sky.

It was early evening when the two cronies arrived in town, heavily burdened with mysterious bags. They pulled up in front of the general store and dragged their trunk inside.

“How’s the fishin’?” Someone laughed.

“Fine!” Dave smiled. “We almost caught a bunch of Indian sucker fish!”

Those concerned with the Indian episode turned bright red.

Some of the boys were looking at the bundles. “Git any gold, Pop?”

Pop grinned behind his whiskers. He’d shut these ribbers up once and for all this time. “Did I?” he howled, “I sure did! Got it all minted and ready to spend. LOOK!”

He poured out a handful of coins, and just ate up the sight of their eyes popping out!