The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-02-26

Gye mics out-stepped onto the back
CT burly Arab and was carried the
last mile dry shod. Parallel to him
were lines Of men carrying out cargo
10 the lighters which would transship
il to the Parakeet, and Kettle locked
upon these with fine complacency. His
t.amping for cargo had been phenome-
Eally successful. He was filing his
holds at astOnishingly heavy freights.
And not only would this bring him
credit With his owners, which meant
promotion in due course to a larger
ship. but in tn, meantime, as he drew
his 2l2 per cent on the profits, it rep
resented a very comfortable matter of
solid cash for that much-needed per-
son himself. He Rugged himself with
pleasure when he thought of this new
found prosperity. That represented so
many things which he would be able to
do for mis- wife and family, which
through so many years, narrow circum-
stances had made impossible.
The burIy Arab on whom he rode
pick-a-back. stepped out of the water
at last. and Kettle jumped down from
his perch and picked his way daintily
among the litter OF the foreshore to-
ward the white houses of the town,
which lay beyond.
1T was the first time he had set foot
there So great was his luck at the
time that he had not been forced to go
ashore in the usual way, drumming up
cargo The shippers had come off beg
eing him to become their carrier, and
he had mulcted them in heavy freights
accordingly So he stepped into the
town with many of the feelings of a
conuucror and demanded to be let to
the Office of a man with whom he had
done profitable business that very
morning.
OF course office in the western
meaning of the term there was none.
The worthy Rad eli Moussa transacted
affairs on the floor of his general sit
ting room, and stored his merchandise
in the bed chambers or wherever it
would be out Of reach of offering fin
gers. But he received the little sailor
with fine protestationS of regard. and
Cafter some giggles and shuttiing as
the women withdrew induced him into
the dark interior of his house and set
before him delicious coffee and some
doubtful sweetne9ts.
Kettle knew enough about oriental
etiquette net 10 introduce the matter
on which he had come at the outset of
the conversation. He passed ana re
cciVed the necessary compliments first,
endured d discussion of local trade
prospects and then by an easy Srada-
ton led up to the powers of the local
self, and Rad el MOUssa had no Eng
lish But they had both served life's
apprenticeship to sea trading, and the
curse of the tower of Babel had very
little power over them. In the memo
ries of each there. were garnered scraps
from a score Of spoken languages. and
when these failed, they could always
draw on the limited vocabulary of the
gestures and the eyes And for points
that were really aDstruse or which re-
( quired definite understanding, there al
ways remained the charcoal stick and
the explanatory drawing on the face of
a whitewashed wall.
When the conversation had lasted
some half an hour by the clock, and a
slave brought in a second relay of
sweetmeats and thick coffee, the sailor
mentioned. as it were incidentally, that
one OF his officers had got into trouble
[ in the town. It's quite a small thing"
F, he said lightly. but l want him back
as soon as possible, because there's
york for him to do on the steamer See
what 1 mean2"
Rad el NAUSEA nodded gravely.
''Savey plenty" said he.
Now, Kettle knew that the machinery
of the law in these small Arabian
coast towns was concentrated in the