New-York tribune., 1908-10-04


into one vast farm.
Gregg had been to all appearances the ideal man
for the post,-of approved ability, and equipped
bv happy chance, for exactly the wor cut out tor
him Here between two and three hundred
square miles of land Gregg was to do what he liked
Win it. and he was to make it pay. After all per
Ears is no wonder that he lost his head that while
he remembered that he was to do what he liked, he
forgot that he was to make 1t pay .-..,,
The directors board room was a long way from
Horse Island and the directors themselves were not
very able lot They read Gregg 5 reports tno man
ever wrote better reports than he), and sent nm
al the money he asked for-money Tor his model
villages for his railroad for his great iron pier.
When it turned out as it did. that the iron pier
was on the wrong side OF the island, that the feVer
stricken villages should have been put somewhere
else that the railroad pretty much where there
was the least carry there appeared curious defect
in Gregg's sense Of fact, which enabled hn TO see
these things without actually facing them or learning
his lesson from them. When he built Fort House.
the big imposing official residence up at the top OF
Fort Hill he did it under sort of deluslon that ne
was actually the King of Horse island
CMITH dated from early times, though not the
~ earliest. He had been a reporter on a New YORK
newspaper and an uncle of his one of the directors
Of the Tropical Products Company. had sent hI1n
down to Gregg one winter, TO be made useful while
his lungs were recovering from an attack OF pneu-
monia Gregg had found him useful and ne mad
When the end Of it all came for Gregg this quiet,
unpretendng, young newspaper man took the relIs
of government in his own hands, by sheer virtue Of
his irresistible fitness for the position
Smiths grave face turned a shade graver as the
memory came to him of that night when they had
summoned him in haste t. Fort House where he had
found, instead of the PomPous consequentlaI IreGS
he had met only that morning white faced shlver-
ing diving man, who knew, or seemed TO know, the
full tale Of the foles he had committed during his
reign.
Smith had never come up to live in Fort House as
his position the island entitled h1m to- tie could
afford to run no risks Of these delusOns of royalty
THE great enterprise, on which Gregg had reared
so towering a fabric of hopes, did not quite
collapse. 1t four years now since that solemn
funeral in the little galvanized IRON church, which
had seemed at the time like the funeral of much
more than lust a man. In that time the enterprise
had come back to life. 1t ready now for the
first time in all these years begin to pay back
part of the stream of gold that had been poured
into It.
The man that had done it all could say now
could almost say,-"I have succeeded" -; and yet
here in his hand arrived this very day, was letter
that brought the whole editiCe tumbling about his
ears 1t offered him an alternative that letter did
He could, if he liked, accept the inevitable and be
rich into the bargain remain here and govern
his little kingdom unmolested,-as a reward for one
simple, easy piece OF knaVery There no danger
in connection with it; there would be public dis
credit. There was only the drawback that for
long as he should live he must always know himself
for a rascal.
On the other hand if he chose to preserve his self
reerect he could keep il indeed. but that was all
he could keep. He could raise his voice for one
moment III utterly futile protest, and then dlsap-
pear from the scene; and the piece of rascalty that
the letter suggested would be carried out just well
without him
He turned sharply away from the scene on which
his eyes had been resting, if he could bear any
longer to look at it.
Turning thus he stood face to face with the only
remaining monument of his predecessor Gregg: the
thick walls, gowerng caves, and heavily shutercd
windows Of Fort House 1t looked its name some
how this afternoon. looked little like medieval
castle, where oldtime baron would shut himself
up in stormy times like these and wait for better
There was dungeon under it, too, for the matter
Of that.