Show I S i rfHE DEAR INSURED I S BY CUTCLIFFE HYNE S 55 S Author of the II Adventures of Captain Kettle The Stronger Hand Etc Copyright lS19 by cutllffe llne lIe isnt the dear deceased yet by a very long chalk said Captain Kettle S Ket-tle U ho was retorted Lupton with a dry smile my Immediate Interest in him would cease and the company would shrug its shoulders and pay and look pleasant In thc meanwhile bes shall we saythe dear insured and a premIumpaying asset that the com panys told me off to keep an ec on S Do much business in your particular particu-lar line hr yes recently a good deal Its I got to be quite a fashIonable industry of late to pick uI some fOlUsh young gentleman with expectations insure his life for a big pile knock him quietly on thE head and tncn come back home in I a neat black suit to pocltet the proceeds pro-ceeds S Does this Mr Kettle referred to the passenger listHamiltous the rogues name isnt Ito It-o 1s the hat Crmze is thecr hll friend who stands to draw the I stamps S Does Mr Hamilton know you Never seen me In his life Does Cranze iianie Then sir Ill tell you whats your I ticket said Kettle who had got an I eye to business Take a passage with me and leeep an eye on the young gentleman gen-tleman ourself Ill do my best to I make things comfortable for you lm Sure YOU would captain but It cant be done at the prIce Kettle looked thoughtfully at the passenger pas-senger list q could promise you a room to yourself Were not very full up this run In fact Mr Hamilton mId Mr Cranze are the only twonames S le got down so far You see birds lay themselves out inure for cargo than passengers Sn our local agent In Liverpool found out for us already and thats mostJy why Im here Dont you see captain if the pall of them had started In one of the regular passenger boats there would have been nothing suspi clous But when they book berths by you whY then it begins to look fishy at once Kettle turned fin his companion with I S a sudden viciousness By James he snaplldd you better take care of your wors or therell he a man in this smrI room with a broken jaw 1 allow al-low imo one to sling slights at either me ur my ship nor at the firm that owns both of us B Jamt dll you think yoli can siieak to me as If 1 waS a COllmon railway directory director-y dear sir said Lupton soothingly soothing-ly I to Insult you was the last thing in my mind 1 quite know youve got a til new ship What 1 meant to 11011t out was that Messrs Bird have chosen to schedule you for the less ere qucnt gulf ports 1indlng as you hint that cargo pays them better than pas seretfi Well JlId naturally therefore anything that was done on tile Flamingo would l1ut have the same publicity that It wouid get onsaYQnc of the royal I mal boats rhell passengers arc just at t1h wits end for something to do 5ivt them a topic like this3oung man wiLl expectations suddenly knocked vel board nobody knows by who ntlwr young man on board drawing a haY insurance from himand they uCa t long In putting two and two to getnll You seem to think it requires a ptcty poor brain to run a steam pack It sait Kettle contemptuously How 1q would Ibe before I had that joker in ivns If he did it openly not long TIut you must remel1lbel Cranze will have been thi1iug out his game for perhaps a ear beforehand till he thinks that ll1lrcs not tile vaguest chance of being npped on If anything happens to hamilton his dear friend Cranze willS will-S he the last man to be suspected of it And marl you lIes a clever chap till I dont see how hed be better ofi f n my shir than hc would be on one of I bigger passenger packets S JUt because you wont have a crowd of passengers Captain a ships 1ik a 1omal1 any breath of scandal damages item reputation whether its deserved or not Andn ship clptains like n oll1an husband hell put up with a lot to keep any trace of scandal ay front her Thats 11 hob truth But l > nsscn ers are an impious lot mHllt they eanspot abit ot foul play Wily timere thY are with line good solid ntvprstale arll for all the rest tit their natural lives SO you see tlleyve every Inducement to do a lot of ferreting that a ships busy officers would not dream about Captain Kettle pulled thoughtfully at 11i neat redpointed bear Youre putting the tiling in a new light sir and 1 thank you for what youve said I see IflY course plain before mc So soon as we have dropped the pilot 1 sho11 go straight to this Mr CrallZC and tell him that from information re eelved I hear lies going to put Mr Iallilton over the side And then I shall say Into irons you go my man so soon as ever Hamiltons missing Lupton laughed rather angrily And what would be the result at that do yoti thl1I Callzl will get mad Hell probably lath a gocti deal But hell not hit me Im not Ute hind of man that other lleole see fit to raise their hands to But my good sir dont you see that It yon speak out like that youll probably prob-ably scare the beggar off his game al together And why not Do you thlnl my shlps a blessed detective noel thats to be run just for your amusement Lupton tapped the table slowly with his lingers Now look here captain lie said theres a ehmce here oi our putting a stop to a murderous game thats been going In too long by catchIng a rogue redhandC Its to our Interest tu get a conviction and nmle al example Its to your interest inter-est to l pcp yolim ship fret from a fuss Al time way Quit so My companys prepared to buy your intent up I You must hut It plainer than that Ill give you l21 to keep your eye I on these men mId say nothing about what Ive told you but just watch 1 yoU catch Cranze 11 nol gOing to let him murder the other elo before my eyes What do ou take mt for lm not asking you to I say It YOU catiii him so clearly trying it on that Ute courts give a conviction the com Pm will pay you JOO its a lot of money I My C0llmn1 wi find It a lot cheaper than paying out JOOOO and that what Hamions insured for Phew I didnt know We were dealing deal-ing with such bit figures 1 tOld yOU thlt from the first Non caltah ml you going to take my clleque tor that preliminary l0 hand It over said Kettle 1 se no objections And you may as well balance give me a bIt of a letter about the Il lo both aid Lupton Now CAptain OWcn Kettle once he ha taken up this Jicce 0 employment entered Into It wIth a kind of chas teiid jO Tile life Insurance tee lfe com lJn s agent lmr rthel sneered at ship I captains a a class kettle Intended to prove hlmfel the complete detecthe emut of sheer esprit de corps Hamion and Crne remained the Flamingo only two Passengers and so lIe consider he might devote full attention to them without I attntion being rs marlable If he had been a fteward making sure of his tips 11e could not have been more solicitous for their welfare Crane cme 911 board with a i S dozen cases ot champagne and four of 1 liquor brand as part ot his personal I luggage and his first question to ever official he Came across was how much he would have to pay for corkage He seemed to take a delight in adverts I lag his chronic drunkenness and between be-tween whiles he made a silly show of the fact that he carried a loaded 11 vuer In Ills hip pocket Now Captain Kettle in ills Inmost heart considered that the man was nerving himself up with drink to the commIttal of his horrid deed and so he tool a very natural precaution Ik fore they had dropped the Irish cast I hc had managed to borrow the revolver re-volver unbeknown t its owner and carefully extracted the powder from the I cartridges replacing the bullets for the I sake of appearances The revolver became the joke ot the I ship Cranze kept up a steady soak On I S I Ii A < S r t 53 5 1 n So S I a r ti S I i n = = nJt I L I 55 S S ROVETHEBIGHT CLEVERLY INTO HAMILTONS GRASP kings peg and was naturally inclined to be argumentative Any one of the ships company who happened to be near him would get up a discussion on any matter that came to his mind work things gently to a climax and then contradict Crnze flatly Upon which out would come the revolver and down would go the humorist on his knee pitifully begging for pardon and life to the vast amusement of the onlookers on-lookers Frivolity of this sort in no way suited the appetite ot Captain Owen Kettle He talked with Crnz with a certain dry cordiality and at times he contradicted him In fact the little sailor wag a man with shon opinions and he regarded tolerance as mere weakness Moreover Clanzes chronic soaking nauseated him But tough his civility was scant Cranse never lugged out the foolish weapon 1 his presence Tlmere was a something in the shipmasters eye which daunted him In pleasant contrast to this weak contemptible knave was the man Hamilton his prospective victim For him Kettle formed a liking at once though for the frt days of the voyage it was little enough he saw of his actual presence until the Flamingo bean to maIm her somithing and tile willow tangles of weed Hoatng In emerald waves bore evidence that they were steaming against the war current cur-rent of the Gulf stream Then Hamilton ton cae into view He found a spot Ion I-on the top of the fddley where a chair could stand and sat there in thc bioI of sun and holers and basked complacently com-placently lie was a shy nervous lit tie man and though Kettle had usually a fine contempt for all weakness somehow some-how his heart went out to this retiring passenger Myself I am inclined to think It was because he knew him to be hunted lmew him to be the object of a murderous consplrucv But CaD murerous taln Kettle says the mans frailties In fat almost disgusted him before he had made sure of his other qualities But those other qualities were glaringly glaring-ly obvious from the Yen first Kettle was a poet himself and WIUl thc kinship kin-ship of species he felt the poetc fire glowIng out from the person of this 11 Hamilton Kettle was intensely sensitive about his accomplishment and with passengers passen-gers especially he kept it scrupulously In the backgoupd But somehow hand h-and Hamilton after a few days acquaintance ac-quaintance seemed to glide Into the I subject Imperceptibly I seemed that HamIlton too like Kettle was a devotee otee or the stiller forms of verse You see skipper hc said Ive been a pretty bad lot ald Ive made tIngs hum most of my time and so L suppose 1 get my hanlterlngs after restfulness as the natural result of contrast Same here sir Ashore 1 can respect myself and In our chapel circle youll find few more respected men But at sea 1 shouldnt like to tell you what Ie done I a saint Wi to come clown aul skipper the brutes WC have to ship as 1lonnen nowadays hed wear out his halo flinging it at them And when maters have ben worst anti Ive been bashing the hands about or doIng do-Ing things to carr out an owners order that Id blush even to think f ashore why ten sir gentle verve to tune 1 knoll seems to bubble up 1 side me like sprngs In a barren land Well I dont know about that said Hamilton doubtful but when I get i tloroushh sick of mrself and wish I was dead 1 somctmes stave off putting put-ting a shot through my silly head hg getting a pencil and paper and shif lag my thoughts out of the beastly world I know intowel its hard to j explain But I get sort o notions dont you see and they sein to run best inverse I In-verse I write em then the fits on me and I burn em when the fits I I through and youll hardly thinK It but 1 never told a living soul 1 ever did j such a tiling till I told you But you seem to be a fellow thats been In much the same sort of box joursel 1 dont knotv quite that At any myself rte Ive never thought of shootIng Oh I didnt mean to suggest that we were alike at all in detail I was only thinking we had both seen rough times Lord forbid that any man should ever be hal the fool that I have been He sighed heavily However suf cent for the day Look out over yon de theres a bit of color for you A shoal of ying fish got up out of the warm shining water and van away over the ripples like so many silver rats On the western horizon screw pIe lighthouses stood up out of the I water marking the nearness of the lowhlns Floridian beaches I A man they tel me said Hamilton Hamil-ton can go Into that couftr at the I back there and be a hermit rid live honesty on his own fish and fruit I believe I could live I there and be dc cent and perhaps In time 1 should forget for-get things Dont YOU try i The mosquitoes arc shocking There are worse devils than mosquitoes mosqui-toes Now 1 should have thought there was something about those everglades that would have appealed to you skipper skip-per S There isnt and Ivc been there You want a shotgun in FlorIda to shoot callers with not eatables Ive written verse there but It was thc same old tale sir that brought It up to my tin gels ends No 11 hamilton you go home and find a country place and get on a farm and watch the corn growing find hear the birds sing and get hold of the smells of the fields and the odors of the trees and then youl enjoy life and turn out poetry you can be proud of Doesnt appeal to me You see you look upon the country with a country mans eye Me said Kettle Im seaport and seabred and brought uP and all 1 know of fields ad a farm Is what Ive teen from a railway carriage window No Ie had to work too hard for 1Y living to have any time for that sort of enjoyment en-joyment but thats what Im aiming at and Its for that Im scratching together to-gether every sixpence ot money I can lay hands on You want to be a farmer Thats mc I could be Godfearing ecry da3 of the week then instead of just when Im ashore as it is now Thats hen the dream of my life 111 Hamilton to live a pastoral life like Abrahams and ride about around a I farm and boss the hands But her I sudden outcry below broke in upon their talk Thats 111 Cranze said Kettle Hell be going too far In his tantrums one of these days Im piously hoping the drunken brute will tumble overboard Hamilton muttered Eh well I suppose Id better bet-ter go and look after him And he got up and went below Captain Kettle sat where he was musing He had no fear that CIanze would murder his man in broad starIng star-Ing daylight But he did not see his way to earning that extra 200 whIch he would very much like to have fingered I fin-gered To let tills vulgar drunken f mW ot ruffian comamit some overt act against Hamltons life without doing him actual ac-tual damage seemed an impossibilIty Had Crnzc been amy other passenger passen-ger he would have stopped his drunken rlolngs by taking away the drink But Cranzc sober might be dangerous whilst Cranze tipsy was merely a fig urf of ridicule SAt S-At some twenty ports the Flamingo came to an anchor six miles offshore and tooted with her syren till himthters came off through the surf and the shallows shal-lows with cargo There was a small ferrying business done also between nehhhoring ports In I unclean native passengers who lar bored on the foredeck and complained of want of deference from the crew Cranze passed Insults to casual strangers stran-gers who came oil board and dId not know his little ways and the casual strangers tried to knife hIm but were I always knocked or In A the nick or time l by some membem of the Flamnin sec w Kettle tried hard to Interest I I HamIlton In the mysteries of hold stowage In ordll to keel him uldcl his I Immediate eye But Hamilton bluntly confessed to loathing anythIng that I was at all useful and so he Perforce I had to be lef to pick his own Doslton I i under the awnings I was on one ot the ports of Yuca tau toward the bay of Campeachr i that Cranze chose to fall overboard The name of the place was announced IJY some one when they brought UP and j Cranze asked where it was Kettle J1 1 marked i ofwlth tleg of the dividers 01 the chlr 1catan sam Cranze I tbats the lre d iltes shop Isnt i Gum theres a ruimled city all imot and ring Skipper I I shall go ashore I and enlarge my mindS mind-S Youcan go if you hike said Kot I te but remember I steam away from here as soon as ever 1 get the cargo out I walt for no man And mind not Ito Ito I-to get upset In the surf The water round here swarms with sharks and I shouldnt like any of them to gel IndI gestion I you go ashore said Hamilton oul be marooned as safe as houses The place reeks of fever and as your present state of health Is distinctly rocky youl catch it Look here dont be an ass Hamiton looked l at Captain Kettle Will advise me under his blows WIIyol hc said what I ought to do S I should say It would be healthier for you to let him have his own lVay Thanks said Hamilton and turned away Ill act on that advice I Now the next few movements of Mr j Cranze are wrapped In a certain degree de-gree of mystery He worried a very busy third mate and got tripped on the hard deck for his pains he was ejected fortlbl from the engineers mess room where i was supposed he had deigns Ion I-on the whisky and he was rescued by i the carpenter from an irate halfbreed Mosquito IndIan who seemed to have reasOns for desiring his blood there and hen on the spot But as to how Ic got I oerthcsid Ind Into the water here Is no cIdqnc to sho w Therewere theories that he had been put there as a just act of retribution there was an idea that he was trying to get into a lighter which lay alongside for a cast ashore but Haw two lghters and got Into the one which did not exist But he was there in the water There was an ugly sea munnlng and he couldnt swIm A couple of lfebuoys one after the other hit him accuratel on the head and the lighter cast off and backed down to try and pick him up Meanwhile Mean-while there was great industry amongst the black triangular dorsal nns that advertised thc movements of the sharks whIch owner them underneath the surface sur-face All hands crowded to the rail and shivered and felt sick at the thought of seeing him gobbled up Then out of the middlc of tilse spectators spec-tators jumped Hamion and lit on a nice sleek wave crest feet first in rn explosion of spray Away scurried the converging shmks fins and don shot Hamilton out of sight What followed came quickly Kettle with a tremendous hying leap landed somehow on thc deck of the lighter with bones unbroken He cast a bowline bow-line on to the end of the main sheet and watching his chance hove the bight cleverly Into Hamions grasp As Hamilton had come up with Cranze frenziedly clutching him round the neck Kettle was able to draw his catch toward to-ward the lighters side without further delay A heavy fusillade of Jumps of coal from the crew kept the sharks at a ls tance at any rte for the moment Kettle heaved in smarty and eager hands gripped the palm as they swirled up alongIdc and there they were on the lighters deck spitting rrlppjn and gasping But here care an unexpected unex-pected development As soon as he had got back his wind Hamilton turned turn-ed on his fellow passenger Ilge a very fur hitting kicking swearing and almost gnashing with his teeth And Cranze strIcken to a sudden soberness by his ducking collected himself after the first surprise and returned the blow with a murderous Interest But one of the mates who had followed fol-lowed his captain down on to the ilght er took a quick method or stopping the scuffle He picked up a cargo sling slipped I round Cranzes waist hooked on the winch chain and passed the word to the deck above Somebody alive to the jest turned on steam and of a sudden Cranze was plucked aloft acid hung there under the derrick sheaVe strugglng Impotent like some Insane jUrnilingjtmck Amid the yell of laughter whiJ fl lowed Hamilton laughed also but rather hysterically Kettle pu a hard kindly on his wet shouder CJie onboard on-board he said I YOU lIe down I your room for an hour 01 so nhl ball b-all right again then Youre a bit over mile I shouldnt lke you to make a fool of yourself Malt a fool of myself was the I biter reply Ive made 1 Iiggcr fool of myself in the last three Ilutr than any other man could lunCgc In a lifetime lfetme Ill get you the Royal Humane so cletys medal for that bit of a job anyway any-way Give me a nice rope to haag mnyseif with said HamIlton ungmaemously that would he marc to the point Here I for the Lords sake let me be or i shall go mad He brushed aside all I help cambered un the steamers high black sides again and went down to his room I Thats the worst of these oetc na tures Kettle mused as lie too got out of the lghter theyre so hlghI I strung S I Crnze finding his tormmtors tos many to be retaliated upon Ivent he I low and changed and then came up again and found solace In mOle kings legs le v as ngt specially thankfU t I r to Hamilton for saving his life said il j fact that it was his plain duty to render ren-der such trifling assistance and further II fur-ther stated that If Hamilton found his way over thc side he Crlze would I not stir a finger to pull him baCk S I agaIn One morning before the Flamingo I had tinlhed with beg calls on the ports I I of the Texas rivers a matter happened on board of her which stirred the pulse of her being to a Very dIferent gait The steward who brought Captain Ket tIes early coffee coughed and evidently evident-ly wanted an invitation to spak Well saId Kette Its about Mr AmbletoD sir I cant find 1m amwherc Have you searched the ship Hunomclaly sIr Well get the other two stewards and do i thoroughb The steward went out and Captain Kettle lifted the coffee CUD and drank a salutation to the dead Heres I luck my lad wherever cou now maybe may-be That brute Cranze has got to windward wind-ward 0 the pair of us and your insurance in-surance moneys due this minute I I 1010w as sure as Ir your ghost stood I here to tell me that youve gone How Ive got to find out Im to blame I Im I know le mused on for not taking better care of you Well whats done done and it cant be helped But my lad 1 want you to look on whist I hand In the bill Il do you good to see Cranze pay up the account Kettle went through his careful toilet and then In his spruce white drill went out and walked briskly UP and down the hurricane deck Hamilton was not on board the certain alternative was that he lay somewhere In the warm gulf water aster as a helpless dead I body hodTell Tell the chief officer lIe said to get a Dalr of iron out of store and bring them down to Mr Cmnzcs room Im goIng there now He found Cranzc doctoring aver painful head with the early application applica-tion of a stimulant and Crnze asked him what the devil he meant by not knocking at the door before opening I it Captain Kettle whipped the tumbler out of his passengers shallng fingers and empted its contents into the washbasin Im going to see you hanged shortly you drunken beat he said but in the meanwhile you may as well get sober for a change and explain things UP a hit and sat up The painfulness of his head did not Improve his temper Look here he said Ive had enough of your airs and graces Ive paid for my passage pas-sage on this rubbishy old waterpusher of yours and Ill Mr Cranzes canectve remarks broke off here for the time being He found himself suddely plucked away from the bunk by a par of Iron hands and hustled out through the stateroom doom He was a tail man and the hands thrust him from below upward I and though he struggled wildly and madly l all his efforts to have his own way were futile So Cranze found himself him-self hustled out on to the lower foredeck fore-deck where somebody 1ndcuffed him neaty to an 11on stanchion and present pres-ent a mariner by CaptaIn Kettles orders rigged a ilose and mounte on I the Iron bulwark above him and let a I threeInch stream of chilly brine slop I steadily on to his head I The situation from an onlookers point of view was probably ludicrous enough but what daunted him was I that nobody seemed to take it as a joke There were a lezen men of the crew who had drawn near to watch and yesterday yes-terday all these would have laughed contemptuously at each of his contor tons But now they were all stricken to a sudden solemnity Spelo ordered Kettle Lets see if hes sober yet The man on the bulwark bul-wark let thc stream from the hose flop overboard S Cranze gasped back his breath and used it In a torrent ot curses Play on him again said Kettle The water splashed down heavily on Cranzcs head and shoulders and the onlookers took stock of him without 1 trace of emotion emoton Rpelo ordered Kettle some five minuter later This time Cranze had the sense to hold his tongue He was quite sober and able to weigh any words that were dealt out to him Now said Kettle judicIally what have Nothing you done wih Mr Hamilton You deny all knoviedge of how he I got overboard Cranze was vlslbl started Of I course I do Ishe overboard le cant ba5foundon this ship J Therefore he stncrthe side Therefore There-fore YOtlput him there i Crlnze was still more started 1ut he kept himself in hand took her he said What rot What shduld 1 I know about Hamilton I havent seen him since last nIght I So you say But I dontse whY I I should believe ou In i I dont Why In the name of mischief should 1 want to meddle with the pear beggar I youre thinking of that bIt of a scr we had yesterday ill own I was full at the time At any rate thats not a thing a man would want to murder him for I forNo No I should Say J20OOO Is more In your line S What arc you driving at You know quite well You got that poor felow insured just before his trip you got him to make a will In your favor and now 3ouve committed a dirty clumsy murder just to finger the dollars Crnze broke into uncanny hysterical laughter That chap insured that I chap make a will in my favor Why he hadnt a penny It was me that paid for his passage Id been OD the tear a bit and the Jew fellow 1 went to about raising the wInd did sy something some-thing about Insuring 1 know and made me sign a lot of law papers They made out I was In sch a chlPDY state or health that theyd not let mc have anymore any-more money unless 1 came on some beastly dull sea voyage to recruit a bit and one of the conditions was that one of the boys was to come along too and lool after me i Youl look pretty foolish when you I tell that thin tale to a jury Then let me put something else on to the buck of i Pin not Cranze at all Im Hamilton Ie been In the papers a good deal just recent and I ddnt want to get stared at on board here So we swapped names just to confuse people It seems to have worked very wellYes Yes said Kettle its worked so wel that I dont believe youl get a JUT to believe that either As you dont seem Inclined to make a clean cean breast ot i you can now retire to your room and be restored to your personal comforts 1 cant hard you over to the pOlice without inconvenience to myself till we get to New Orleans so I shall keep you in irons till we get there Stewardwheres the steward Ah here you are See this man Is kept In I I his room and see he has no more 1 quor 1 make you responsible for him Yes sir said the steward The Flamingo swung round the gulf till she came to where logs borne by the Mississippi stick out from the white sand and Steamed past the nearest outlet I out-let of the delta because Captain Kettle did not personally know its piotage Her one remaining passenger had passed from an active nuisance to a close and unheard prisoner and his presence was almost forgotten by everyone on board except Kettle and the steward who looked after him The Flamingo got a clean bill from the doctor at the quarantine station and emerged triumphantly from th cluster of craft doing penance aI steamed on up the yellow river pat I the white sugar mills and the heavy cypresses behind the banks up to New Orleans and with his glasses on the I bridge Kettle saw his acquaintance 111 Lupton waiting for him on the levee He got his steamer berthed in the I crowded tier and Mr Lupton pushed on board over the first gangplank Hut I Kettle waved the man aside till he I saw his vessel finally moored And then he took him Into the charthouse and shut the door You seem to have got my cable he said I was a very expensive one but I thought the occasion needed it His visItor tapped Kettle confidently on the knee Youl find my ofce will deal most lbeal with you captain I But I can tel you Im pretty excltp to hear our full yotmr ful yarnS S Im afraid yon wont like i said Kettle The mans obviously dead and fancy it 41 not I dont see how i your otce can avoid paying the full amount However heres the way Ive logged It down and he went off into detailed narration I Its easy to tel Lupton said if they did swap names Vhat was the man that went overboard like II Little dark fellow shortsighted Thats not Hamion anyway but It mlgoht be Cranze Is your prisoner i tail S Tail and puffy Red hall and a spot I S t face Thats Hamilton all the way By jon skippef wC saved onr bacon But tel me what did the little chap go overboard forGot for-Got there himself Uneasy conscience con-science I suppose He seems to have beel a poor sort of assassin anyway Why when that drunken tool tumbled overboard amongst the sharks ht dldnt leave him to be eaten or drOned drOn-ed Is more than I can understand Hed have got his money as easy a picking i up oil the floor IC hed only had the sense to keep quiet Ulu ask me said Kettle It wag sheer nobility of chkraeter r had a good deal of talk with that young genA tieman sir lId was a splendid let lowMr Mr LUton winked sReptcal He managed to play the part of a thoroughpaced thor-oughpaced young blackguard at home He was warned oft the turf Hl wag oc tur kicked out of his cub for card sharp Ing He wawel hes dead now anyway any-way and we wont say any more about him He was only a tool annnn There Is a bigger and more capable scoundrel at the back of it all and thanks to the scare YOU seem to have rubbed Into that spottyfaced young mug youve not locked up down below I think we can get him by tIe heels very nicely this jonrey I you dont mind Ill go and see him now before I lIes had time to get rid oC his fright Captain Kettle showed his visItor I courteously down tn the temporary jai and then returned to the chart house and sipped his tea He was a poet poor lad he mused thInking of the dead Thats why he culdnt do the dirty work But I shant tel Lupton that reason Hed only laughandthat poetry was a bit of a secret between the lad and me Poor noor fellow I think Ill be able to write a few lines about him myself after Ive ben ashore to see the agent A just as a bit of anepitaph |