The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-09-05
SteD nearer.

step nearer.
"'He called timidly, and of all night
mares of horrors the most frightful was
to hear timidity in Lyle Gregory S
voice.
g John, John, what does it mean'
he went on, still more timidly. 1t S
joke, ism t it? John, here S my hand.
If L were a leper would l offer you
my hand? Am L leper, John?'
''He held out his hand, and what
in high heaven or hell did 1 care? He
was my friend. / took his hand, though
it cut me to the heart to see the way
his face frightened
I" 1t was only joke, Lyle, [ said.
'We fixed it up on you. But you re
| right. It's too serious. We won t do
it again
''He did not laugh this time He
smiled, as man awakened from a bad
dream and still oppressed by the sub
stance of the dream.
:" All right then, he said. 'Don It
do it again, and III stand for the
drinks. But 1 may as well confess
that you fellows had me going south
for moment. Look at the way l We
been sweating.
"He sighed and wiped the sweat
from his forehead as he started to step
toward the bar.
"'It is no joke, Kaluna said
abruptly.
81 looked murder at him, and I felt
murder, too. But / dared not speak
or strike. That would have precipitat-
ed the catastrophe which | somehow
had mad hope of still averting
" 1t is no joke, Kaluna repeated
You are leper, Lyle Gregory, and
you We no right putting your hands on
honest men S fesh-on the clean flesh
of honest men,
"Then Gregory Jared up.
The joke has gone far enough!
Quit it! Quit it, I say, Kaluna, or I'll
give You beating!'
You undergo a meteorological ex-
animation, Kaluna answered. and then
you can beat me-to death, if you want
to- Why, man, look at yourself there
in the glass. You can see it, Anybody
can see it. You re developing the lion
face. See where the skin is darkened
there over your eyes,
Lyle peered and peered, and I saw
his hands trembling.
can see nothing he said final
", then turned on the hapa- haole. You
have black heart, Kaluna. And L
am not ashamed to say that you have
gwen me scare that no man has a
right to give another / take YOU at
your word. / am going to settle this
thing right now. I am going straight
to Doe Strowbridge. And when / come
back. watch out.
He never looked at US, but started
for the door.
q You wait here, john he said.
waving me back from accompanying
him.
"We stood around like group of
ghosts. Il
. 1t is the truth, Kaluna said.
You could see it for yourselves
'They looked at me, and I nodded.
Harry Burnley lifted his glass to his
lips. but lowered it untasted. He
spilled half of it over the bar. His
lips were trembling like child that is
about to cry. Ned Austin made cIat-
ter IN the ice-chest. He wasn't look
ing for anything. I don t think he
knew what he was doing. Nobody
spoke. Harry Burnley's lips were
trembling harder than ever. Suddenly,
with most horrible. malignant ex-
preston, he drove his fist into Kaluua s
race. He followed it UP. We made
no attempt to separate them. We did
n t care if he killed the half-caste. It
was terrible beating. We weren t in
terested. / don't even remember when
Burnley ceased and let the poor devil
crawl away. We were all too dazed.
Doe Str0wbridge told me about it
afterward. He was working late over
a report when Lyle came into his office |
Lyle had already recovered his opti-
mlsm, and came swinging in. trife
angry with Kaluna to be sure. but very
certain of himself. what could I do2'
Doe asked me- Il knew he had it. II
had seen it coming on for months. Fl
couldn't answer him. I couldn't say
yes. l don t mind telling you I broke |
down and cried He pleaded for the
meteorological test. ''Snip out a piece.
Doc he said, over and over 'sSnip
out a piece of skin and make the
test. -
"The way Doe Strowbridge cried
must have convinced Lvte. The
Claudine was leaving next morning for
Honolulu. We caught him when he was
going aboard. You see. he was headed
for Honolulu to give himself up to the
Board of Health. We could do nothing
with him. He had sent too many to
Molokai to hang back himself. We
argued for Japan. But he wouldn t
Continued on Page Fifteen.)