The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1941-12-18

Tonga Dick kicked out of bed with
a movement of evaporation, and
hunted around for a bath towel.
ST tell you what you're going to
do" he roared at them. You're
going to go and tell Tsura I want
three eggs for breakfast! 1 have no
doubt it will take both of you to ham
die that problem-you don't seem
to be able to do anything alone.
Get out!'
Ernest and Willard Wayne mo-
rosely watched Tonga Dick as he ate
his breakfast. He was able to enjoy
that, IN way. Uncertain as he
was about what this new turn of the
wheel might mean, the confusion of
his brothers was so much greater
as to provide a form of entertain
ment.
Even when they had abandoned
the presumption that Dick was ly-
ing, they could not get over their
suspicion that the man who had
signed himself Garrett Waterson
was an impostor.
ST ran into Garrett Waterson
while I was knocking around the
South Seas" Dick explained. Lat
er, Uncle Jim found it convenient
to have me carry certain messages
to Garrett Waterson. That's all
there was to that
Messages? What messages?"
There was no reason for holding
back anything now. He had been
employed by old Garrett Waterson
on condition of complete secrecy as
to Waterson's whereabouts, identity
even his very existence. He had
decided to break that pledge, rather
than permit John Colt to seize Ala
koa IN the name of Karen Waterson
or anyone else; but now that Gar
rett Waterson had come into the
open of his own accord, that consid-
Grafton was abolished.
"For a long time I didn't know
what messages" Dick told them. ST
believe I know now"
They failed to catch him up on
that, and the oversight emphasized
their bewilderment.
But why on EARTH" Ernest de-
manded, should he have wished to
hide himself? That's the mystery
here"
There's no mystery about it."
Dick declared. "The only reasons
his actions look mysterious to you is
that they were perfectly simple.
Garrett Waterson was always man
of violent temperament. Everything
he did was in terms of violent ex-
tremes; the projects he attempted,
the fights he got into-even his eat
ing and drinking-everything was
always on spectacular scale with
him. When he was overtaken by
ultimate ruin, his reaction to that
was violent too. He left Alakoa.
and Hawaii, in a tremendously Bit
ter state of mind. He wanted to get
away from the past, and from the
part of the Pacific that he knew,
and never again see anyone who
had known him."
Its fantastic" Ernest declared.
cts completely unreasonable. I
never heard of anything Like it."
Dropping from view is one
thing" Willard said heavily, land
going to extraordinary lengths to
hide yourself, and conceal who you
are, is something else"
''Waterson went to extraordinary
lengths in everything he ever did,"
Dick retorted. The Pacific is a big
place and there are more than twen-
ty-five thousand islands in it; but
only a few of them have any white
inhabitants, and I suppose Garrett
Waterson knew half the people IN
the Pacific. He couldn't imagine
leaving the Pacific any more than
he could imagine living inland, so
of course it was pretty hard for
him to evade the people that he
knew. When a man is trying to drop
out of sight, and fails at it for a
while, it's apt to become an OBJ
session with him. He gets to think
ing that everybody he sees is talk
ing about him, secretly. So he draws
apart more and more, until at
last"
cts completely unreasonable, /"
Ernest Wayne said again.
Human nature always seems un-
reasonable to people who don't know
anything about it. Unreasonable is
what it is; you just have to get used
to it,
ITO BE CONTINUED