The Lamar register., 1919-08-27

You Don't Seem Afraid Of Thieves"
hnd me' something even rHrer than
he things he traded In. | had met II
ierchant of dreams. to whom the mere
iandling of his merchandise seemed
unicient profit: 'rhere's going after
he things, you know. Ones got to
cunt that in too"
Naturally we were neck-deep in talk
n II moment. I wanted TO hear all he
,ired To tell me about going after
he thlngs''-such "things and he
vas nothing 10th. as he took up one
rranee or beautiful object nfter an
her. his face aglow. and he quite
Violently without u thought Of doing
business and told me NIL ubOut them
how and where he got them. and so
Forth.
But" he said presently. encouraged
10y my unfeigned Interest Il should
like TO show you II few rarer things |
have in the house, aud which l
wouldn't sell or even show to every
me. If you'd honor me 10y tnking II
CUP of tea We might look them over"
So We left the little store. with Its
door unlocked as ! had found IL, and
few steps brought us to little house
had not before noticed. with "a neat
garden In front OF It. all the garden
beds symmeirlcnlly bordered with
conch shells. shells were evidently
the simpl,-henrted follows mania. his
revelation Of the benuty of the world.
Here In neat pnrlor. also much dec
grated with shells. tea was served to
us by the little girl | had first seen
and an elder sister who. ! gathered.
made all the lonely draamer's family.
Then. shyiy pressing on me clgnr. he
turned to show me the promised treas
ures. He also told me more Of his
munner. Of finding 'hem, md Of the
long trips which he had to take In
seeking them. to out-ofthe-wuy Gays
aud In dangerous waters.
He was showing me the last and
rarest OF his specimens. He had kept.
he said. the best 10 the last. To me.
ns lnymnn. II WIS not nearly 50 at
trnrtIye as other things he had shown
me-little more to my eye than a rath-
er commonplace though pretty shell I:
Iul ut tADiuluth AAihA II NhN
or hud so far been found. only In one
spot In the islands, lovely. seldom
visited cay several miles to the north
east of Andros island.
"Whnt Is II calledT" I asked. for II
was part Of our plan for Charlie to do
little duck shooting on Andres. be-
fore we tackled the business OF Tobias
and the treasure.
"It's called -- Cay nowadays" "
he answered. "bui 1t used to be called
Short Shrift island"
"Short ShrIft island" l cried in
suite OF myself. Immediately annoyed
at my lack Of presence OF mind.
"Certainly." he rejoined. looking ii
little surprised but evidently without
suspicion. He was too simple and too
taken up with his shell.
at is such an odd name." 1 said,
trying to recover myself.
"Yesi those old pirate chaps GER
tainly did think up some Of the rum
miest names"
"One of the pirate haunts. was itf"
| queried with assumed Indifference.
supposed to be. But one hears
that of every other cay In the BAHIA
mas. take no stock in such yarns.
My shells are all the treasure / expect
to find"
what did you call that shell7" l
asked.
He told me the name. but / forgot
1t Immediately. OF course / had asked
It only for the sake OF learning more
precisely about Short Shrlft island. He
told me lnnocently enough just where
IT lay.
"Are you going after itT'' he laughed.
"oh! WELL" | replied. 81 am going
on a duck-shooting trip to Andros be-
fore long. and thought l might drop
around to your cay and pick few of
them up for you"
at would be mighty kind of you. but
they're not easy TO find. I'll tell you
exactly" He went OF. dear fellow.
into the minutest description Of the