Evening star., 1914-01-11

NgG&9 of the bridge
"You can bet your last dollar on one
thing, declared the skipper that if had been the
examining board I'd have done more than throw him
the beach! You his tug had tow of scows, and
when the storm up he left those poor devils go
down, and ran for port The fact that the out
lasted the storm and that they picked another
boat proves that Captain Ritter could have stood by
That's the way look at it too, asserted the chief
officer. THAT man was qutter-thats what he was!
And there amt any in the world rotten
gutter! Somehow you can forgive pickpocket, or
murderer, in most cases. but there's has any
for quitter Itsa pity they couldn't have Ritter
to the pen"
Burmah suddenly decided that some other part Of the
deck would be comfortable for him, and moved
away; but the echo of the voices still followed him with
accusation insistently repeating honest mems opinions
OF such as he And then he began to wonder at himself
and to think the situation over, duly holding tribunal
of the soul in which he put himself trial. one-half Of
himself the prosecutor the other half the defendant
His brain felt tired and he not certain that the
game OF life worth playing, after ALL He knew that
he now had sufficient money to retire for the remainder
of his days, retreating to place where he
known and where he hoped to be respected but always
there came again from his ample reservoirs of
sense the certain knowledge that wherever he went there
would be the fear that would come who knew
him. and would expose him for what he was,a gutter,
man who had betrayed his best friend by running away
when everything at stake.
He began closer analysis of his fight, and
prised to find that it not acuated much by the
actual humiliation of meeting his victims, and being
stripped of reputation by their charges, it was
through fear of facing Arabela, the Colonel Hubbard,
and the quartet from Chattanooga AS for what Thorn
ton, Sprague and Carleton might have said he could
have listened to them, grinned, and said, well what
are you goin' to do about it, now that you've told
what easy little marks you were? You've got nothin'
me for the courts, you know"
But those others! He knew now that he was hungry
for the love and esteem of clean people, who fall
tered where honor was involved Moreover, he
that again in the world would he find those
he could love as he had learned to love them All their
fangs now became amusing and all their virtues mag
nied. Even Hubbards genius was recognized as being
something big and worthy. The Colonel financial SIM
pleton that he was, loomed in Burmah's memory as
giant of kindly nobility too fine to be tarnished by
the sorddness of greed too big and sincere be tram
meed by conventions.
But how had these former dupes of his learned that
he there in Port Hatchl 1t could not have been
chance alone that had worked to this end Yet chance
might have set signpost for his undong, despite all his
efforts He had fought throughout, his habit,
keep in the background and to keep his of the
newspapers yet despite his utmost care and self eace
ment the newspapers had to regard him as the
in the limelight of achievement and to refer
to the Colonel only in goodnatured, whimsical way
whenever he had perpetrated some other extrava-
ganza. That must be the manner in which Thornton
and the others had learned of his presence in Port Hatch
Monaires that they were they might have left SO
humble Burmah Jones alone; but that trait of "get
ting even" seemed to be pretty general one from
which his victims not immune. Also, Burmah ad-
mitted they might be acting from of Duty the
duty of preventing other from becoming his dupes
They might have been visiting Seattle picked up
paper, made few inquiries, and then decided it
obligation to visit Port Hatch and notify its residents
the Colonel, everyone to beware. They would find
person. at least, ready to listen them and that
Lester.
At the thought of the keen-eyed young man who had
seemed to read his motives Burmah got up from the