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No Traveller Returns (Lost Treasures)

Page 24

by Louis L'Amour


  TIBESTI—an area of northern Chad.

  TINHORN—a braggart, or a person pretending to be important, possibly named after the cup that is used to shake dice.

  TURBINE—Ships like the SS Lichenfield get their power from steam turbines like the ones used in municipal power stations. Steam pressure from boilers turns the turbines, which, after going through a series of gears, turn the propeller.

  UP TRACKS—the Union Pacific Railroad.

  VENT PIPES—pipes that release the vapor from a tanker’s cargo tanks. They end high above the deck to allow the wind to carry away any dangerous fumes.

  VENTILATORS—occasionally known as wind scoops, the large hornlike tubes that are seen on ships’ decks. They allow wind or the forward motion of the ship to funnel air into the cargo holds and engine spaces.

  WAKE—the trail of disturbed water behind a ship.

  WASTE—leftover or otherwise useless cloth used for janitorial duties.

  WATCH STANDING AND BELLS—Seamen’s traditional watches are four hours long. They stand the same watch both A.M. and P.M., so a man on the eight-to-twelve watch will work from eight in the morning until noon and then from eight in the evening until midnight. Watches are divided into eight thirty-minute sections, each of them marked by a bell. Thus, when a sailor hears eight bells, his watch is over.

  WHEELHOUSE—the cabin on the navigating bridge that contains the ship’s wheel.

  WINCH—a motorized or steam-powered mechanism for winding up or letting out cable. Winches are used in conjunction with the ship’s derrick arms to hoist and move cargo.

  WINDJAMMER—a sailing ship.

  WING TANK—Tanker ships carry liquid products in a number of individual tanks to prevent liquid from shifting or sloshing too much in heavy seas. The wing tanks are on the sides, as opposed to the tanks placed along the centerline of the vessel.

  WIRELESS—early radio equipment. Before it was practical to communicate over long distances by voice, shipboard communications were transmitted and received by radio using Morse code. The ship’s radioman, or “Sparks,” would often be an employee of a radio service, which supplied not only the operator but the equipment itself. One of the best known was Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Company.

  For my father…finally.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Obviously, none of this work would exist without my father, but in addition to the original manuscript I was lucky to have access to his thoughts on both going to sea and life in San Pedro. I not only got to record interviews with him, but he also left behind journals, short stories, and notes about those long-ago days. I’d also like to note the work of Howard Pease, a writer of my father’s era whom I read in my early teens. That material taught me things about the life of a merchant seaman my father could not and inspired me to revisit this story time and time again. Additionally, my great friend Michael Pizzuto was good enough to lend me his apartment in San Pedro so that I could more easily visit the archives there and get a feel for the location.

  Over the years Paul O’Dell, Jeanne Brown, and Charles Van Eman have helped me find and organize thousands of pages of material on my dad, and Marleene Boyd from the Bill Laxon Maritime Library at the New Zealand Maritime Museum was a valued resource. Liz Ruth-Abramian from the Los Angeles Maritime Museum and Anne Hansford of the San Pedro Bay Historical Society were very generous with their time, knowledge, and copious archives. Janna Jones was gracious enough to both read this manuscript in its developmental stages and offer many thoughtful comments. I would also be truly remiss if I didn’t thank my lovely mother, who has continually cheered me on in my quest to discover more about my father and her husband. I couldn’t have done it without her—heck, I wouldn’t even be me without her! Thanks, Mom!

  BANTAM BOOKS BY LOUIS L’AMOUR

  NOVELS

  Bendigo Shafter

  Borden Chantry

  Brionne

  The Broken Gun

  The Burning Hills

  The Californios

  Callaghen

  Catlow

  Chancy

  The Cherokee Trail

  Comstock Lode

  Conagher

  Crossfire Trail

  Dark Canyon

  Down the Long Hills

  The Empty Land

  Fair Blows the Wind

  Fallon

  The Ferguson Rifle

  The First Fast Draw

  Flint

  Guns of the Timberlands

  Hanging Woman Creek

  The Haunted Mesa

  Heller with a Gun

  The High Graders

  High Lonesome

  Hondo

  How the West Was Won

  The Iron Marshal

  The Key-Lock Man

  Kid Rodelo

  Kilkenny

  Killoe

  Kilrone

  Kiowa Trail

  Last of the Breed

  Last Stand at Papago Wells

  The Lonesome Gods

  The Man Called Noon

  The Man from Skibbereen

  The Man from the Broken Hills

  Matagorda

  Milo Talon

  The Mountain Valley War

  North to the Rails

  Over on the Dry Side

  Passin’ Through

  The Proving Trail

  The Quick and the Dead

  Radigan

  Reilly’s Luck

  The Rider of Lost Creek

  Rivers West

  The Shadow Riders

  Shalako

  Showdown at Yellow Butte

  Silver Canyon

  Sitka

  Son of a Wanted Man

  Taggart

  The Tall Stranger

  To Tame a Land

  Tucker

  Under the Sweetwater Rim

  Utah Blaine

  The Walking Drum

  Westward the Tide

  Where the Long Grass Blows

  SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS

  Beyond the Great Snow Mountains

  Bowdrie

  Bowdrie’s Law

  Buckskin Run

  The Collected Short Stories of Louis L’Amour (vols. 1–7)

  Dutchman’s Flat

  End of the Drive

  From the Listening Hills

  The Hills of Homicide

  Law of the Desert Born

  Long Ride Home

  Lonigan

  May There Be a Road

  Monument Rock

  Night over the Solomons

  Off the Mangrove Coast

  The Outlaws of Mesquite

  The Rider of the Ruby Hills

  Riding for the Brand

  The Strong Shall Live

  The Trail to Crazy Man

  Valley of the Sun

  War Party

  West from Singapore

  West of Dodge

  With These Hands

  Yondering

  SACKETT TITLES

  Sackett’s Land

  To the Far Blue Mountains

  The Warrior’s Path

  Jubal Sackett

  Ride the River

  The Daybreakers

  Sackett

  Lando

  Mojave Crossing

  Mustang Man

  The Lonely Men

  Galloway

  Treasure Mountain

  Lonely on the Mountain

  Ride the Dark Trail

  The Sackett Brand

  The Sky-Liners

  THE HOPALONG CASSIDY NOVELS

  The Riders of High Rock

  The Rustlers of West Fork

 
; The Trail to Seven Pines

  Trouble Shooter

  NONFICTION

  Education of a Wandering Man

  Frontier

  The Sackett Companion: A Personal Guide to the Sackett Novels

  A Trail of Memories: The Quotations of Louis L’Amour, compiled by Angelique L’Amour

  POETRY

  Smoke from This Altar

  LOST TREASURES

  Louis L’Amour’s Lost Treasures: Volume 1 (with Beau L’Amour)

  No Traveller Returns (with Beau L’Amour)

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  Our foremost storyteller of the American West, LOUIS L’AMOUR has also thrilled readers with his work in the adventure, crime, and science fiction genres. He wrote ninety-one novels, a book of poetry, and over two hundred short stories. There are more than three hundred million copies of his books in print around the world.

  BEAU L’AMOUR is an author, art director, and editor. He has also worked in the film, television, magazine, and recording industries. Since 1988 he has been the manager of the estate of his father, Louis L’Amour.

  louislamour.com

  louislamourslosttreasures.com

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