Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1906-07-12
taking Tie pearl out with nim!"

tell you, Bunny. that l went there on
purpose
l burst out laughing.
"You needn't be ashamed. You are
doing the very thing l was rather hop
Ing you were going to propose the
other day on the river"
You We're hoping it?" said Ratlles,
with his eyes wide open. Indeed, it
was his turn to show surprise and
mine to be much more ashamed than
1 felt.
YES" l answered, Il was quite keen
on the idea. but l wasn't going to pro-
pose it."
yet you would have listened to me
the other day."
Certainly l would, and l told him so
without reserve; not b%razenly, you un-
derStand; not eve now with the gusto
OF a man who SavorS such an adven-
ture for its OWL sake, but doggedly, de-
family, through my teeth. us II who
had tried to live honestly and failed.
And while I was about 1t l told him
much more. Eloquently enough, l dare
say, l gave him chapter and verse Of
my hopeless struggle, my inevitable
defeat-for hopeless and inevitable
they We're to a man with my record,
even though that record was written
only in ones own soul 1t was the old
story of the thief trying to turf honest
man. The thing was against nature,
n there was an end Of q
Ratt1es entirely disagreed with me.
BE shook his head over my convention
al view. Human nature was q board
Of checkers. Why not reconcile oneself
to alternate black and white? Why de-
sire to be all one thing or all the other,
like our forefathers on the stage or in
the old fashioned fiction? For his
part he enjoyed himself on all squares
Of the board and liked the light the bet
ter for the shade. My conclusion he
considered absurd.
But you err in good company, Bun
ny, for all the cheap moralists who
preach the same twaddle. Old Virgil
was the first and worst offender of you
all. back myself to climb out of
Avernus any day l like, and sooner or
later I shall climb out for good. l
suppose can't very we'll turn myself
into a limited liability company, but I
could retire and settle down and live
blamelessly ever after. I'm not sure
that it couldn't be done on this pearl
alone"
"Then you don't still think it too re-
markable to sell?'
1--WE might take a fishery and haul
1t up with smaller fry. 1t would come
after months of i'll luck, just as we
were going to sell the schooner. BY
Jove, it would be the talk of the Pa
cifc!"
well, we've got to get it first. Is
this Won What's-his-name a formidable
russT"
"More SO than he looks, and he has
the cheek OF the devil!.'
AS he spoke a white drill skirt 1ut-
tered past the open stateroom door,
and l caught a glimpse of an upturned
mustache beyond.
But is he the chap we have to deal
with? Won't the pearl be in the
puISeI >
Rafles stood at the door, frowning
out upon the Solent, but for an instant
he turned to me with q sniff.
"My good fellow, do you suppose the
whole ships company knows there's a
gem like that aboard? You said that
it was worth 100000; in Berlin they
say it's priceless. doubt if the skipper
himself knows that Won Heumann has
It on him"
"And he has"
"Must have"
"Then we have only him to deal
WITH"
Ee answered me without a word.
Something white was futtering past
once more, and Raftles, stepping forth.
made the promenaders three.
/ do not ask to set foot aboard a finer
steamship than the Uhlan of the Nord-
deutscher Lloyd, to meet a kind.ie"
gentleman than her then commando:
or better fellows than his officers. This
much at least let me have the grace to
admit hated the voyage. 1t was no
fault of anybody connected with the
ship; it var no fault Of the weather.
which was monotonously ideal. Not
even in my w heart did the reason
reside. Conscience and I were d.
vorced at last and the decree made
absolute. With my scruples had fed
all fear, and l was ready to revel be-
tween bright skies and sparkling sea
with the light hearted detachment of
Raff1es himself. 1t was Raf1les himself
who prevented me, but not Rallies
alone. 1t was Raffies and that colo
NAL mink on her way home from
school.
What he could see in her-but that
begs the question. or course he saw
no more than ! did, but to annoy mc,
or perhaps to punish me for my long
detection, he must turn his back on
me and devote himself to this chit from
Southampton to the Mediterranean.
They were always together. 1t was
too absurd. After breakfast they
would begin and go on until II or 10
at night. There was no Intervening
hour at which you might not hear her
nasal laugh or his quiet voice talking