Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1925-05-29
ROCKVILLE. MARYLAND. FRIDAY MORNING, MAY 80 1895

way II liullt AJtiClOlAs III liC ulBllt
I'd spring up thinking he was in the
room, and then would go blind like
| did on the day he sailed away AMI
left me at the Horse Shoe Shoal.
Something seemed to have pulled
me TO Bluemud Bay. II was the last spot
| expected to find him, and when the
old lugger caught my eye l couldn't
believe that he was still on her. When
Mckay Of the coal hulk told me that
he still ran her, nearly went crazy,
and the hours between then and sunset
We're years of misery.
81 pulled over after shutdown, and
1t was dark when I came under the
bows Things seemed to be coming
my way at last. When l started to
climb the chains every smell that
drifted over Horse Shoe Shoal came
to me again, and my brain started to
dig out all the pretty little pictures
that he used to paint about the times
we would have In Lonsdale street. l
felt good, Delcroix.
81 got shock when touched the
deck. A woman rose out Of the shadow
and caught me by the arm. 'Doctorr
she asked, and before could answer
she was leading me down the stairs
to the cabin, the stairs that l had
been up and down ten thousand times
before. I knew then that It was he.
She took me up to the bunk, and there
he was tossing in fever and cursing
In all the dialects of Polynesia.
"The doctor stunt suited me when
l saw the condition he was in. The
woman hadn't slept for three nights,
so l sent her away, and sat down to
watch him. Somebody has said that
the world Is only a kraal, and 1t
seemed like 1t to me just then. Some
times as 1 watched him forgot all
about the hunt of the previous ten
months and thought we were back
plling that black-lip shell into the
lugger at the reef.
about midnight he became con-
scious, and then he made a motion for
water It was In bottle on the table,
and 1t was as warm as Torres Straits
on a midsummer day. Would you have
SlNVh INN nutCii OCASAOiAl AOu
wouldn't Well, didn't like to give
1t to him, so | offered to sell 1t to him.
He didn't recognize me till l told him
the price. Ten drops of water In ex-
change for pearl said, and then
he began to understand that Fate had
run him up against something"
Dslcrolx laughed grimly. "A stiff
price," he murmured.
"StifrW shrieked Chalmers "Was 1t
stiff? You have no Imagination. Why
It was bargain sale price after what
| had suffered
HE refused to buy for two hours,
and then his thirst got the better of
him. ! didn't think he had the grit
that he showed then. His lips were
black, and his curses just ran into a
long gurgle because his tongue couldn't
hack them into word lengths. Then !
put up the price. Five drops for a
pearl said, and he nodded his head
toward black box in the corner Of the
cabin, and let me see that the key was
under his pillow
"There were 81 beauties In the little
bag, and | laid them out near the
water bottle so that he could see that
was acting honest. measured out
five drops of the warm liquid and gave
1t to him, then l put one of the pearls
back into the bag and put the bag into
my pocket He bought again In five
minutes. then he bought ten drops In
one lot, and then fifteen, and then
twenty. Ever hear of water going at
that price2 But I was honest | only
took the price had fixed, and
when there was an extra large pearl
| gave him good measure to make up
for 1t.
~ cautioned him against extrava-
gance when he bought a spoonful of
the stuff in one lot, and thought he
would expire in an apoplectlc fit. He
spluttered that much that he lost half
Of his purchase, and he had to repeat
the order. No goldheld shanty ever
did trade like mine that night in
Bluemud bay. Dye think l was get
ting good return for that pull after
the lugger2
"He swilled the lot away inside
three hours, and when he saw the last
pearl go he lost consciousness again
and started to babble about the profits
that he made on the trip when / had
the half share. l left him then.
tip-toed quietly up the stairs and
slipped down the chains into the boat.
Halfway across the bay I ran Into a
dlngy carrying the doctor from the
mission schooner, and was so darned
pleased over the nights business that
| directed him to the lugger which his
two Kanaka boys had been trying to
find for the previous three hours.
Then people tell you there is no such
thing as luck"
Delcrolx buried bis legs in the warm
sand and sat looking out to sea.
what did you do with the loOt?" he
asked, after long pause.
"The lootT cried Chalmers. g"
went down to Peterson's what's
the use of telling now. The lootP
On 1t, II was mine couldn't hold
1t, though What did do with III
You're an idiot, Delcroix. You're an
Internal IDIOT" He stood up and
brushed the sand from his tattered
trousers, then turned and swung down
the trail towards the cluster Of huts
near which the bechede-mer fleet lay
at anchor.