The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1915-07-24
CHAPTER III.
The Weak Link.

The day began white and chm. for
/ February nights and mornings are no'
! particularly comfortable on the ir
| rawaddy The boat sped down the
| river. smoothly and noiseiessly FOi
/ all that the sun shone, the shOre-li lines
were still black There We're a hun
dred or more natives squattine ia
/ groups on the deck They were
! wrapped in ragged shaNis cotton rugs
/ OF many colors, and WOODEN blankets
t and their turbans We're as bright ara
/ colorful as Holland tulip-bed Some
/ of them were smoking long pipes AMI
! using their fists IS m0G;hpieces, oth
| ers were scru0biug their teeth with
! short sticks Of tibrous wood and still
others were eating rice and curry 0u'
Of little brown copper pots There were
very few burmese among them
| They were iiindus from central and
| southern India, with a scattering o.
Cingalese. Whenever a Hindu gets
| together Il few rupees. he travels The
past is the past, tomorrow is tOmor
| row, but today is today: he lives and
works and travels, prisoner to this
| creed
Elsa never strolled among them She
| was dainty She stood framed in the
doorway. picture rare indeed to the
dark eyes that sped their frank glances
in her direction.
Upon a bench, backed against the
1-ti al wifi IN Of 6,
hand, sat the man Warrington and his
servant. arguing over their accounts
The formers battered helmet was
tilted at comfortable angle and an
ancient Guilty hung pendent from his
teeth, an idle wisp of smoke lowering
over the blackened bowl
Elsa quietly returned to her chair in
the bow and tried to be come interested
in a novel. BY and by the book slipped
from her fingers to her lap, and her
eyes closed But not for long She
heard the rasp Of campstool being
drawn toward her.
Shouldn't have disturbed you" said
the purser. apologetically, but your
orders were that whenever | had an
interesting story about the life over
here. ! was to tell it to you instantly
And this one is just rippin'!"
Begin" said Elsa She sat up and
threw back her cloak. for 1t was now
growing warm Its about Parrot 4
Co. I'm sure"
Its better than any story you'll
read in a month of Sundays Our man
has just turned the trick, as you Amer
leans say, for twenty thousand
pounds"
Why, that is a fortune."
For some of US, yes. You see
whatever he was in the past. it was
something worth while. fancy En-
gineering. possibly Knew his geology
and all that Been wondering for
months what kept him hanging around
this bally old river, Seems he found
oil, borrowed the savings Of his serv
ant and bought up some land on the
line of the new discoveries. Then he
waited for the syndicate TO buy They
ignored him. They didn't send any
one even to Investigate his claim
Stupid, rather After while. he went
to them. at Prone, at Rangoon They
thought they knew his kind Ten
thousand rupees was all he asked
They laughed The next time he
wanted a hundred thousand They
laughed again Then he left for the
teak forests. He had to live He
came back in four months. In the
meantime they had secretly inyesti
gated They offered him fifty thou
sand He laughed He wanted two
hundred thousand They advised him
to raise cocoanuts What do you sup
pose he did them?''
Got some other persons interested
"Right-o, Some Americans in
Rangoon said they'd take it over 70.
two hundred thousand Somethin
about the deal got into the newspal,
The American oil men sent ove'
representative That settled the sy
dictate What they could have orisi
nally purchased for ten thousand the,
paid three hundred thousand
Splendid" cried Elsa. clappng her
hands She could see it all. the quiet
determination of the man, the penury
of the lean years. his belief in himself
and in what he had found, and the dis
interested loyalty of the servant.
Sometimes | wish | were man and
could do things like that"
"Recollect that landing last night?'
Elsa's gesture signitied that she was
glad to be miles to the south Of II
tTO BE CONTINUED)