Evening star., 1921-05-22

it to you how l spend it afterward
| I'm a free agent. l can do as l like.
That" said Bendemeer, with quiet
! emphasis, sis a lie
Holding his Quivering subject i'm
| paled on his glance. as it seemed, he
| reached a black, square bottle. He
showed a glass in front of JuniuS
Peabody and poured generous meas
ure. With one hand he kept the
glass covered. and with the other
pointed out through the doorway
II say you lie. and I'll demonstrate:
You see my schooner out there;
| That's her boat on the beach. She
leaves in half an hour: her captain :
come now for final orders. She goes
first from here to an island of mine
a hundred miles away. | planted 1t
with cocoanuts five years ago and
left population of maybe a dozen
Kanakas TO tend them--it's going to
be worth money some day. NukaNa.
they call it, and it's the edge of the
earth the fartheSt corner. and the
loneIieSt and the dricSt. There's not
a drop of anything on the place eN-
cept wafer scant and brack at that =.
But a white man could live there, if
he were fit to live at all. and wanted
to badly enough.
Now I'll make you an offer. I'll
buy this lump o! stuff from you, and
III buy it either of TWO ways. y
half interest in Nukava and YOU go
or else - here's your brandy.
and I'll keep YOU perpetualiy drunk
as long as you last
Junius swaycd on his feet. "Agent?"
he stammertd. ITO go away?
"Now. And once there you can't
escape You're stuck for year on
ii coral Gridiron. Peabody, to sit and
fry"
what for? YOU, What for?'
Bendemeer shrugged.
please. Because know what you'll
do. I've been watching men of your
sort all my life, and | know what
they're worth-drft on th" beaches,
scraps. trash. jetsam. Regeneration.
nh" Rot and drivcl, You can't save
yourself any more than YOU could
lift yourself by your own boot straps
1t suits me to prove it to you this
way"
He lifted his hand away from the
glass. Peabody's stare dropped from
that cryptic regard to the waiting
brandy before him. the red liquor
odorous and maddening. Pcabody's
lips moved. and he wet them with IN"
tip of his tongue and gripped the bar
with straining white fingers,
lose. Bendemeer. can do i'll We
just learned l can do it. And. by
God" he added. prayerfully. II Will"
Bendemeer took up the netttd lump.
VERY we'll" he said. offhand. lust
a moment, while | chuck TINS STUN IN
the storcroom.'
He turned and tramped out through
the reaf without a glance behind him
and ne left Junius Peabody there
alone before the bar.
He was gone perhaps five minutes,
, quite as much as that. an ample space
of time When he came back there
was no glass in sight. 1t had van
I; ished. and the room reeked with the
| fumes of a very fragrant distillation
of French brandy. He looked his
| customer up and down and his lids
=! lowered n triiie.
! Well how did you like the havor??
! The face of Junius Peabody was
, like a death 's-head, but the eyes in
! his sockets blaZed with a light all
y their own, and. standing there erect
! standing square on his two legs with
! his feet braced apart. he swore-
! somewhat incXpertly, it waS true. but
| still quite heartily: good. crisp pro-
! family. such as one able man may use
! with another-untii Bendemeer's puz-
/ Zled gaze caught the sparkle of brok-
! en- glass lying in a great splash ol
/ liquid in A corner of the floor. TN
! going to Nukava" cried Junius Pea
: body "And you see-you see there
are some scraps thrown up on the
! beach that are worth something. after
! all and be damned to you, Bende'
! HeeT
/ Rendemeers grip shot out as il
t against his voltion. and after an in
| stant's hesitation, Peabody took it
| He did not yet know all the trader
! had done for him, perhaps would
! never know. but on the inscrutable
/ front of that remarkable man was a
! faint glow curiously unlike losers
! chagrin.
, so it seems" ACKNOWLEDGED Ben
| demeer. so it seems"-and smiled
| little. rather oddly.
PENDEMEER was still smiling that
- way. all by himself. an hour or SO
later, when he had. watched the Likely
Jane lay her course for Nukava with
the new agent on board and had gone
down into his storeroom to put the
| place to rights. There was clutter
| of odds and ends of cargo that had
| been spilled from an upset surfboat
| the day before. Most Of it had been
salvaged by his kanaka boys along
/ shore, but a certain broken tub con-
| tanning tallow had lost part of its
| contents. However. he was able now
| to restore a large lump weighing per-
| haps eleven pounds or so, which made
| the tally nearly good.
Copyright, +. L. Collier & Son.