Whereupon the reporter suggest ed that by appealing to the Ame gan Consulate the ex-sailor mi fave himself the trouble of seeking assistance from chance passers-by fen street corners, Such practices not only were distasteful to persons using the thoroughfares, but wer also a reflection on the local consular officials.
Bot the new-found friend was adamant. Consuls) he averred, were cold, hard men, and the reporter was appealed to as a worklwise man to realize that much official ved tape was necessary to be ton, fent before he could receive atten-
However, the reporter had hanced to have met one or two consuls of different nationalities in Gitferent corners of the earth, and hho sensed a story lurking under the chatter that promised to be worth while.
Tt eventuated that ft was so. The hospitality of an adjacent pub was sought, and aided by the cup that cheers, the supposed sailor unburdened himself of as ingenious 'a scheme to see the world for nothing as has been heard in many aday.
An Authoritative Article Writer Walter, for such his name wa: was touring the globe and support ing himself by contributing authoritative articles to leading American magazines and newspapers. Though his knowledge of the contemporary writing world in the States was so meagre as to con-Vince his hearer thut his story wis false on that score, what he had to ay about the various ports he had visited was authorit The method of travel was simply this. In some way he had secured a'minor position on a boat gains feast from New York. Prompted aa} to what course to pursue by others who had gone over the route for themselves, he had before saili ecuted from the United States Chamber of Commerce the usefal "Sailor's identification Paper" which costs a meagre sum and which was used only for the purpose of ime pressing his hearers. In no sense of the word could he have been considered a professional sailor, yat the paper he possessed was very capable of leading an uninformed hearer into the belief that he was.
On arrival at any port that chose hix fancy he would merely walk off the ship and be conspievoas. By hig absence at sailing time.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.