The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1941-12-04
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0iiu AAeu his eyes upon Karen.
l suppose there isn't any really
practical objection" he said; "but
ISM TINS notion just slightly on the
silly side? You can hardly expect"
he started to say something more,
out let 1t pass; then bowed with
exasperating courtesy, and walked
away.
She watched him threading his
way between the little tables under
the dim lights. She knew that she
stu did not understand John Colt,
thls hard-bitten, restless man, with
something of the unhappy single
mndedness of old empire builders
evident IN every aspect of his mind.
When he was gone she sat quietly
little while, trying to relax. Pres
entity she turned her chair little SO
that she could look into the shadows
where Tonga Dick sat, three tables
away, alone in the obscurity of palm
shadows. She still could not clearly
see his face, but she focused upon
the coal of his cigarette, and waited.
She let her eyes rest there almost
to the limit of endurance: then
smiled family, and returned her at
tention to the dance floor.
Tonga Dick stood UP, wound his
way to her table. He laid hand
on the back Of the chair where John
Colt had sat.
MAY T."
Perhaps, if you wish"
Richard Wayne sat down, crossed
his knees comfortably, and took his
time about lighting cigarette. Kar-
en- waited, determined to make him
lead the way; but she watched him
curiously, with sharp interest that
was partly caused by his name
alone. In the world she knew, you
could no more be called Tonga Dick,
in seriousness, than you could be
called Red-Handed Harry, or Terri
bic Pete. Had she had no other
relationship to this man than that of
a casual tourist, she still would have
stared, just because of the name he
was called.
She saw lean, cleanly carved
face, strongly boned, and beaten
very dark by God knew what suns;
an easily smiling face, apparently,
characterized by an effect of i'm
pertinence that made him look
ANONYMOUSLY young. His eyes, in
that light, she could not see; but she
found herself gonized by an i'm
preston that this man was some
how detached from everything IA
miliar to her-totally ignorant of
half the values she knew, yet annoy
ingly secure in another set of values
unknown to her.
Tonga Dick surveyed her slowly,
with grave eyes. "You wanted to
see me?"
Richard Wayne watched with ad-
niration the perfect serenity of Kar-
ems poise as she turned a little, and
coolly met his eye.
She was much more interesting to
look at from across a table, he de-
cided, than from across a number
of them. Yet he had noticed her in
the first moment in which he had
stepped upon the lanai. That, of
course, was the reason he knew who
she was. He had landed but a few
hours before, and had no more than
shaken hands with his brothers;
there were no means by which he
could have identified Karen Water
son, if he had not noticed her and
been interested of his own accord.
From the shadows of his obscure
table at the edge of the lanai he had
watched her for some time for no
other reason than that it gave him
pleasure to look at her.
After little while he had signaled
a table captain and asked who the
girl was-and had obtained a cor
rect answer.
Knowing who she was, it was odd
to be sitting at the same table with
her now. This was the girl who had
come here from the mainland to lay
claim to the island of Alakoa, the
little stronghold in the sea which no
one but Wayne had held for more
than two decades. This was the girl
whose trumped-up claims had
thrown his brothers into a panic, and
deeply alarmed old James Wayne
himself. She was even the reason
that Tonga Dick was here, pulled
northward at an inopportune time
across thousand miles of sea.
1t seemed to him that Ke. en- Wa
terson did not look the part. He
couldn't understand how anyone
with face like that, and eyes like
that, could get herself hooked up
with a shenanigan that differed from
a common swindle only in the bold
ness of its scope. He was moved to
a certain respect as he thought of
what quality of brass nerve must be
built into this girl.
"If hadn't wanted you here" she
said, you'd hardly be here, would
you?"
And so?"
$50 nothing. I wanted you to
come and sit here because I think
you look romantic. And I think you
might introduce yourself, now"
That last suggestion amazed him;
for some reason he had assumed
that she knew who he was. For a
moment he was tempted to conceal
from her the fact that he was one
of the Waynes from whom she was
trying to seize Alakoa. He discarded
this notion, however.
MY name is Richard Wayne" he
said. "I belong here in the Islands.
More specifically, I am connected
with a small privately owned island
called Alakoa.
He watched for her reaction, and
was fooled again; for no reaction
can1o.