Evening star., 1925-02-01

| up in preparation for the holiday,
| when his native cook boy padded
| into the store.
"One reva-reva Qetter) I gettum,"
he remarked.
Hand 1t here" said Jones. taking
the envelope without looking at it.
| ANY answer"
mo savvy." Then, as an after
thought: "Te wahine papa Cthe
| white woman) stop long kitsen."
THE what?" Jones snatched at the
| letter. 1t was directed to him in a
mans hand, clear though shaky.
What can the doctor be writing
about?" he mused aloud.
/ "Dockita." remarked the cooky,
| ing gossip to relate. 'dockita, he
pinish" (finish).
My soul! is the doctor dead"
"E. He go pinish. Altog gether."
Lockhardt's trader pulled himself
| together and unfoldede the letter.
Dear Jones'" 1t bgean.
II have no time for preliminaries.
I have been bitten by sea-snake in
| the neck while investigating lagoon
| fish in their natural habitat. The
snake is Pelamis Bicolor, excessively
| poisonous. l am alone in my house.
I sacrificed the bite after reaching
| home, and applied permanganate of
potash. l have also taken strychnine
! hypodermic. which will give me time
to write. AS it is impossible to apply
a ligature, and as some time was con-
sumed in reaching the house, l have
no possible chance of recovery. j
shall no doubt be dead before my
daughter returns.
NO use commenting on things, no
time. You are a gentleman, the only
one here, and l believe you to be a de-
cent man. OF course you have done
something. ! hope it's not very bad.
You will have to see her safe to
Sydney as soon as a schooner calls.
Get respectable native woman to
stop with her, If there is one. Tell
her to sleep with my Colt automatic
under her pillow. She understands
It, Keep the other men away as
much as you can. I suppose you'll
fall in love with her. For the sake
of your own mother treat her right.
She will have money Get her away;
the islands must not have her. May
heaven deal with you. Pulse slowing
very much, coma supervening."
Then, clear. determined, dropping
across the page:
JAMES GLASCoTT."
Then. faint, trailing off into
smear:
Get her away"
= =
IT was only a few yards TO the
kitchen, but thought is quick.
and the man called Jones had time,
before he reached the separate small
hut behind the house, to realize that
his romance of a lazy dream had
suddenly and embarrassIngly leaped
to complete life. More, he tad-it
seemed-come to the end before fairly
reaching the beginning. 1t was stag
gering. And he hadn't even seen the
girl.
The girl was sitting on a kitchen
chair, her head on one hand. She was
not crying. She was deathly white,
and had blue marks under her eyes;
and about her nostrils there was a
look as il someone had placed two
cruel fingers on each side of the lit
tie nose, and pinched sharply down.
In the half-light Jones could not see
fine details, but the largeness of her
dimly y-dark eyes, the masses of pale
hair, the clean egs-shape of the face,
We're visible at a glance; and all
spelled the one word, Beauty"
Miss GIascott-how can I say"
he began. The girl scarcely looking
at him, drew another letter from her
pocket.
Il think you'd better see it," she
said; and Jones knew, by the hoarse,
catarrhal sound OF her voice, that she
had been crying herself half sick
before he came.
You want this: take it," he said
setting beside her a tumbler half
filled with fiery port.
She took it eagerly. Jones judged
that she was on the verge of a COL
lapse. and glad to snatch at any kind
of help. He ran an eye rapidly over
the second letter 1t was in the same
close script as the first, but the lines
were more irregular.
Nadine, my daughter" il began.
You Will suffer terribly when you
come home and find me here, and
can't soften the blow to you. You
were always brave, my girl; you will
have to be braver still today. Think
that dad is with you, though silent
telling you what to do, and be sure
and do it.
Il have been bitten by a snake In
the neck, and can do nothing more
I feel coma not far off. You will
find a letter addressed to Lockhart's
trader. He is gentleman, though
some sort of wrong 'un; 1 believe you
can trust him, and you must, as the
mission people are all away. I have
asked him to find native woman to
stay with you and to take you, If he
can manage it, down to Sydney by the
first schooner. Tell Lockhart Broth
ers when you arrive, and they will see
he does not lose.
There is a paper of the utmost i'm
portance in the little safe in the sitting
room. The key is round my neck. Leave
the paper there until you go South, and
then take 1t with you, and give it to
my old friend, Professor Kaye of Sgd
ney University. Your whole future-I
have no time. Hayes wife will take
care-good-bye, my darling. No burial.
The boys to take me beyond the reef.
Goodbye"
THE man named Jones read the let
ter. The reference to himself, which
she had clearly overlooked, did not seem
to hurt him. He scanned the girl with
his handsome goid-gray eyes. Nadine,
brought back to life and ordinary con-
sciousness by the wine, gave back his
look with a searching, pitiful glance of
her own. "Can / trust you? Can /
trust you?" she semeed to be saying.
And the kindly, handsome eyes, and the
firm, reliable hand that took hold of
hers. gave answer even before the man
named Jones had spoken.
IT know the woman for you" he told
the girl. ''We1l go and find her now.
The boys-did the boys-?'
"Yes," said Nadine hoarsely. IT told
them to- He always hated-graves.
And he loved the sea, and everything In
it. And 1t has"
She meant to say, 'Tt has killed him."
but her voice gave way. Nevertheless
she followed the man called Jones
out into the f1ari1g sunlight, her head
held UP, and her delicately shaped
face unstained by tears.
"She is game" thought the man to
himself thrill of admiration ran