The Monmouth inquirer., 1920-12-30

winter resort, would grat~-
stony" he said, you deserve the
rest Of the day. Why should injustice
always trouble the deserving2"
Tony, standing below, leaned his el-
bows on the break of the upper deck
His eyes behind the bushy brows ex.
pressed no positive emotion-certain-
/ ly not chagrin or revolt.
ave asked some one to meet me
here at one o'clock, Miller went on.
II must offer him luncheon unless ycu
strike, in which case wouldn't be
much annoyed In fact I'd take you
/ lack tonight. Do as you wish. I'm go
ing uptown"
Tony lowered his bearded face and
slid down the companionway. Miller
stepped to the dock.
'Tonyl" he called.
The native thrust his head thru the
hatch and waited impassiyely. Miller
handed him some silver.
'For what we lack In case your
sense of duty throttles common serse9
A brown hand closed over the mon
ey. The emotionless face was With
drawn.
Miller strolled through the city. At
ter his months of exile from so famil-
lar setting he experienced a sense Of
elation at the thud of a hard pave
ment beneath his feet, at the caco-
phany of street noises, at the air OF
badly guarded impatience given out BY
these men and women who crowded
him at the crossings. 1t was good to
he well, to be on the threshold of that
vaster, more selfish hubbub of his
own city. No more days and nights
on the boat in lonely places. he re.
minded himself And he was glad.
This was the frame of mind in
which he returned to the dock to
meet his first dampening and signifi-
cant disappointment. He saw Tony
icaning sphinx-like, against the rail OF
the Dart, but there was no sign of
+ Anderson.
"Any word from the guest?" he ask
1 ed Tony as he came up.
The native drew erumpled, soiled
envelope from his pocket. He handed
il over the rail.
AS he took the envelope Miller rec
ognized his friends writing. While he
read the brief note frown drove the
satisfaction from his face, leaving be
wilderment.
1 Anderson had commenced in his
customary affectionate manner, but
Beyond that everything was unexpect-
ed, puzzling.
1T is far from convenient for me
to leave Molly" the letter ran; and
Miller could frame no satisfactory ex-
PLANTATION foE that except the serious
! illness of Anderson's wife. Yet the
rest Of the letter said nothing of ilt
ness; did not even suggest it.
"For heavens sake" it went on,
cor more strictly for our own, come
down to Captains Island, Jim. Come
this afternoon if it is humanity possi-
BILE. Anchor in the inlet if you can
get anybody to steer you through. Tie
channel is hard to negotiate, but you
won't find that the chief difficulty IN
hiring a pilot I'll watch for you. 4f
you make it III row out Immediately
and tell you the rest. Then you can de-
eide if you want to help us out of this
mess and back to common sense.
Molly sends her anxious best"
Miller read the letter twice before
returning it to the soiled envelope.
The only clear fact was that Ander-
son and Molly were in trouble. Knder-
son had written that he would tell hila
the rest on his arrival. But the rest Of
what? For he had told him nothing.
How did this Gomez" he asked
Tony.
The native pointed to a steamboat,
diIninutiye and unkempt, made fast 10
Il neighbouring dock.
boy brought it over" he mumbled.
Miller glanced at his watch. Curios
ity was useless. His friends needed
him, He would leave at the earliest
possible moment.
"This letter, Tony,s he said, "fs un-
expected and important If you've the
usual plans of seafaring men while in
port Danish them"
He swung on his heel.
''Tll be back in few minutes"
He hurried from the dock to tele-
graph office which he had noticed dur
ing his walk He saw only one oper1.
tor On duty and he found himself the
only patron. He wrote a despatch to
Anderson, saying he was leaving at
rnce, and handed it to the agent,
good-natured young fellow In his shirt
sleeves.
The man glanced at the address,
raised his eyes quickly TO Miller's face,
and let the yellow slip flutter to the
counter.
"Well?" Miller demanded
Cant send that to Captains Is
land"
place censored or quarantined?"
Miller asked impatiently.
might as well be quarantined for
the yellow fever" the agent drawled,
but the main point is there isn't any