Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-12

Inc ola man must nave ieIC ner tHe puSi-
ness. Things that amaze me is the way
she's taken her grip of the concern, and
made it hum
"And kept it dark even in Liverpool that
she was a woman. That old head clerk of
hers, that people thought was the manager,
must be a rare close-lipped one.
He is. blight him. said Capt Image
with emphasis. Il called in there two or
| three times after I'd got some of those
please buck-up letters from O'Neill and
| Craven that 1 didn't care about. and the
caulflower- headed old humbug clean took
me in. He was Mr.. Crewdson to be sure;
no, he was not Mr.. X. O'Neill; no. l couldn't
see Mr.. X. just then; no, he couldn't make
an appointment for me with the gentleman;
anything l wanted he would attend to per-
sonaly. If l reread the letters he was sure
/ should find that they were not unreason-
able, but, on the other hand, would put me
! in the way of earning extra commission on
| cargo for myself. So it ended in my being
| civil to him, and he was really nothing
| more than a clerk. You can just picture
to yourself purser. what l felt when
! found out hat I'd been civil to a clerk by
mistake"
1T was pretty hard lines. sir
''Of course. a West African merchants
business is rum contract for a young girl
| to catch hold Of and don't say Miss Kate
| was wrong in keeping in the background to
start with. In fact. I'll own up straight
| that she was right, and the proofs plain in
! the way that firms come back to life.
| Why, purser, I'll bet you a bottle of Emo
| that O'Neill and Craven are doing just
double the turnover they did twelve
months ago.
You'll know best about that. SIR said
| Mr. Balgarnie with a sigh, as he remem-
| bered that only Capt. Image touched COM
| mission on the cargo which NJ poso collected
| on the coast. But | will own up that she's
got the knack of making all the smarter
men in the firm both on the coast and at
! Liverpool keen on her when they thought
she was man. OF course. 1t was bit un
| likely that the old-timer palm-oil ruftians
| like Swzzle-Stick Smith and Owe-it-Slade
| would take to new ways that meant more
| work all at once, though for that matter I'll
| bet Slade put off making up his mind for
! so long as to whether he'd like hustling or
he didn't. that finally he dropped into the
/ new ways without knowing it"
SHADES gone off up-country to find the
| firm a rubber property. purser. me lad.
! Laura told me about it last night. She hasn't
| heard of him once since he pulled out of
! Smooth river, and she's very anxious about
| him. l hope none of those up-country BUSH
men have chopped Slade. l should be sorry
| to lose that man. He owes me a matter
| of three sovereigns. and that old Holland
| gun of mine that he borrowed for half an
| hour eighteen months ago has gone up
| country with him. l believe he's in the ribs
| of the fo'csle shop, too, for the thick end
| of a fver.'
''Four-seventeen-ninc. I've given both
Chips and the bo's n a rare dressing down
| about it. They've no business to let any
! one with SHADES reputation have much
| tick as that. The bosns new to the coast
our DO MS always do seem to die, sir
| but old Chips ought to know that's no way
to run a fo'csle shop. They can chuck away
| their own money as they choose, but | told
| them both plainly that l can't afford to
| drop my share in a lump like that
Nor can /. said the other sleeping part
ner. You can let both Chips and the
| bosn understand that unless l see a good
| round sum in hard cash as my share OF
| profits when we get back to Liverpool they
10 N ha old t.-;,,
| can put their book debts where the monkey
| put the nuts. They don't pay me out with
| those No. by Crumbs,'
Miss Kate, by the way. was mighty anx-
| louS to know what profits there We're in
| fo'c'sle shops. OF course l said I'd heard
| of them on other boats, but we'd never
allow su's thing on the M'poso"
"th om t,,a:s f ao- Image I'm thonghtfulIy,
but l don't thini, I'd have risked it with
Miss Kate. She strikes me as being young
| woman who likes to hear ones opinion on
things, but generally has her own nforma-
| ton on the matter already cut and pack ed
| beforehand. ] told her last night how sorry
/ l was to see all that cargo waiting at the
| factory, with no Krooboys to work 1t out of
| their creek to the steamboat By Crumbs
| Balgarnie, me lad, she'd nipped off back
to the N poso here, and had hired our own
| blessed deck passenger boys for the lob be-
| fore you could say gin You know what
an independent lot they are, going home
box of oranges you couldn't name me two
white men on the coast who could have per-
suaded them. But she did it. one time and
only paid regular wages. too. Dressed for
dinner III the evening when she'd finished
| just as If she We're merely a trpper going
| home from the islands. and hadn't an object
| in life outside trying to tickle the boys with
| her looks. | tell you, Miss Rates a very
remarkable young woman. Balgarnie me
| lad. and If she doesn't peg out here on the
coast. or go broke over floating a rubber
| swlndle. or get married and chuck 1t.
Snail feather my nest very nicely over the
cargo she gets shipped
Il say, captain, what's between her and
Laura? They seem to know one another
pretty Intimately
Met in Las Palmas when they were
Riddles Pass me the compasses off the
chart table. My pipes damned. Thank
you, me lad. Owe-it-Slade got two years
tick at that convent school out on the
Telde road for Laura. and Miss Kate was
running about the islands a good deal then
| with old Godfrey. Godfrey had a tomato
! farm out past Santa Brigida, and they
| holidays. By Crumbs, Purser, me lad. how
that little girls shot up. It's dashed pity
| she's a Niger.
"Dyou suppose Carter knows it?'
If he doesn't I shan't tell him. and
| don't you; for two reasons. First there's
| Miss Kate to be thought of. l watched
the way that girl eyed him. and by Crumbs,
| | tell you me lad l was glad he was
| the coast for a good spell. and he'll be
| close and handy, and somehow I've got
| the opinion that red-headed chap is Just
| the sort of man she'll marry. He's not a
| beauty. but he's a good, tough wholesome
! face on him; he's lot struck on her; and
he's a gentleman l can do with her boss
| ing; she's nice way of wrapping up her
pill and ramming it home with smile.
But I'd not like to red-haired young
| ster / brought out here a clerk eighteen
| months ago head of the O'Neill & C'aven
concern and expecting me to knuckle under.
I'd do 1t, of course; I'd be civil to old
Harry himself, me lad, If { could bring
| cargo to the Mposo; but I'll not deny to
! you 1t would stick if had to start ladling
| out champagne in this chart mouse to Car
| ter and sit and listen whilst he strutted
| out his views on the decay of Britich in
| fiuence In West Africa.
1T would be pretty tough Mr.. Bal
garnie admitted. But you said there was
another reason you wanted him to marry
Laura"
WELL / do like that girl. knew her
when l first came down the coast as mate.
l remember the first time 1 saw her as If
| it was yesterday l was standing up
| against the tally desk beside number three
| hatch, ticking off the cargo list as they
| hove stuff up and dropped it in the surf
| boats. 1t on the old Fernando Pc,