The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1912-09-12
CHAPTER XXI.

! lower berth ard lay there. a forearm
flung across his eyes. thinking eX-
citedly, disturbed by formiess fore
/ bodings.
| Beside him Danny was packing H.
! dustriously. with now and agaic Z
pause during which he would stand
reflective. his gaze fixed u?On his en-
ployer's face. little puzzled and per
| picked.
The Poonah was pausing overnight
20 discharge and take aboard cargo;
for this reason O'Rcurke in his haste
to get ashore had not delayed 70 take
his luggage with him. On
deck. fore and aft donkey engines
were putting and chugging and chain
tackles rafting as they lifted freight
to and from the hold and the lighters
alongside.
Abruptly, without moving. O'Rourke
spoke I'll want evening clothes,
Danny" said he "'Tis dining am
tonight with Mr.. Straker and his
niece, Miss Pynsent. who came with US
from Diamond Harbor. Twill save
bit of bother to dress before I go
ashore"
"Aw-w," said Danny, assimilaing.
"And the misSus?" he said
suddenly, some minutes later. Man
in Madam O'Rourke. sor. Did ye get
no word from herr"
For what else would I be driving
| to every hotel in the town after leav-
Ing Mr.. Sypher. Danny, but to inquire
for her. She's not here; but she'll
come, be sure. She's still got several
days-three or fpur-in which to keep
our tryst. 'Tis discontented l am not
to find her waiting for me, but I'm
satisfied entirely she'll keep faith"
And" insisted Danny eagerly
begin yer honor's pa-don-but what
will We have to tell her, sor?"
O'Rourke sat up Have to tell
her? What dye mean?"
81 mean, sor. I'm dyin' wild the wish
to know how uts all turned out.
Phase, yer honor. won't We be tellin'
me9 Is ut-is ut all right?"
BLESS your heart. Danny" laughed
O'Rourke, "'Tis so dazed I've been
that l never thought TO tell ye-think-
ing all the time that We knew. 'Tfs
all right, indeed. ME boy. The Pool OF
Flames In Mr Sypher's keeping and
the moneys in mine-in the bank,
Danny, payable to me order. Think OF
lt-one hundred thousand pounds OF
real money, and all me own. Tls
ridiculous, tbs absurd. 'Tis meself
hardly credits the truth Of it all; yet
I was there-saw the man. gave him
the jewel, went to the bank with him
and for the space OF Ave minutes sat
at table. with all that money before
me. counting it over. bill by bill, a
square hundred of them, each for
thousand pounds. guaranteed by the
| Bank of England! Think OF
that-all that belonging to me-to me,
O'Rourkel
Thank God" breathed Danny de-
votedly. But did ye rarr nothin'
about the stone?"
Little enough. Danny-only part
of the meaning of the whole divilish
business; the rest I'm to know to-
night. Mr.. Sypher II be tellin' me
after we've dined; he wants to hear
me own end of the story. too"
Sypher had very explicitly named
his dinner hour, after the formal Eng
lish fashion, nowhere and by nobody
more rigdly observed than by the
Englishman in the Orient; eight for
eight-thirty," he had said. And as
O'Rourke, a very dignified and impos-
Ing O'Rourke in his evening dress,
waited for a sampan on the lower
grating of the Poonah's passenger
gangplank he had round three-Quar>
ters for an hour for leeway-ample leis-
ure for an interested inspection of
that part of Rangoon lying between
the floating jetty and Sypher's resi-
dence in a suburb near Dalhousie
Park.
Danny remained aboard ship only
temporarily, being instructed to follow
with O'Roarke's belongings to suitable
accommodations already engaged at
hotel on the Strand, overlooking the
roadstead; from whose windows
O'Rourke was promising himself the
pleasure of watching the arrival OF
the steamship bearing his wife TO his
arms.
Bless her dear facet" said he soft
ly. "'Tis meseH will be desolated If
she's not aboard that Messager!es boat
due tomorrow-now that can go
back to her. a man Of property, no
longer a pauper neer-do-welll Think
Of that, ye lucky dog!"
A sampan slid noiselessly in beside
the grating. O'Rourke let himself eau
tiously into 1t and incontinenty col
lapsed upon the rear seat as the boat
slid away toward the shore lights,
yielding to the vigorous sweeps Of the
single long oar welded by the Bur-
In tho hnuc