Show black 0 in e 6 awo b VS T F AT 10 N S by IRWIN myrrus ae ceely qi ill A ait oit caa THE STORY on a pleasure trip in eastern waters philip amory world war veteran now a trader on the island of papua now new ancelot quinva P overboard to save th the life e of a musical comedy actress known an oln gin sling amory becomes interested in pla laurier Ln member of a wealthy new south wales family lie he tells her of hip hl knowledge of it a wonderful gold held field on the island though he does not disclose t the he name of the place gin sling tells him pla Is in engaged to sir richard fanshaw Fana Fang haw CHAPTER 11 II continued three times dines then by my poverty by her position and by the significance 0 of that ring pla was not for me I 1 believed what jinny had said I 1 was very sure she was waa no liar it was werely merely a determination to leave no stone tor e unturned that made me decide I 1 would see ace phi III once more only ri lyonce once before beffi e I 1 left the ship and ask her to her face if what I 1 heard was true once across the saloon that night I 1 saw the clear profile the beautifully shaped black head once on deck the rose perfume that pla laurier used came floating across a little space of dark and I 1 saw a pale dress pass hesitate go on again I 1 did nut not move I 1 said no word if I 1 am awry angry I 1 I 1 am angry that night I 1 had liefer taken the velvet neck of pla in my hands and twisted it back till it gave way cracking in my hands builds as aa I 1 have twisted the neck 0 of f a german rolling together in trench mud than held her and kissed her as I 1 find not yet done as I 1 know knew now I 1 never should shoud it was very early when the engines came to rest next morning and the ship her way stopped lay still upon the celadon blue waters that surround goode island here the tender from thursday was to n meet 1 beet us and here my false also dors were to end phil amory bit ot of war wastage trader from the back end of nowhere was to be taken to the place from whence he came and it once arrived there he chose to hang himself by the neck till he was dead it would be nob odys business but hla his own my aly suitcases were wera on deck my steward tipped the tender rising and falling below the ladder on which I 1 was just about to set foot when the sound of my name clearly and almost preM precisely sely spoken made me look round pla was there at the head of the accommodation ladder holding out tier her land hand the hand that did not bear the emerald ring I 1 c tydd id not refuse to take it I 1 felt her cool fingers in mine for one everlasting moment and it was as if they came in that moment home where th they y had always belonged I 1 dont know which of us first let go I 1 know that in one moment with the tender dancing below and the luggage gone and the passengers who were to join coming up the ladder I 1 realized that I 1 had been an incredible fool and i that it was too late to do anything at a t all about it IL if she was engaged it if she she liked me lie ile she had no not t been flirting tier eyes were dark with sleeplessness and the tha shadow that comes of love denied she looked at me and made the little movement with her lips that means you know and I 1 would have given the five years of my lifo for the hance cliance impossible now of taking her in my arms and kissing her very breath away all round us there were deckhands deck hands scrubbing stewards carrying things the fourth officer was posted at the head of the ladder a stewardess armored in white starch god knows what she wanted there wits was gaping in the nearest doorway passengers new arrivals began begalli to shove past pla and myself coming between us sir said some cursed person if you want to go ashore better not keep the tender captains anxious to get away I 1 dont know what id have done missed my passage maybe and trusted to luck to see me back from the last east when I 1 had spent every colu coln I 1 owned getting there if at that minute a very tall thin man had not noi come up the ladder pushed determinedly between pla pin and myself anti and taken her by both hands ile he kept pumping her wrists up and down and staring nt at her as it if he could never have enough of it it ue was extremely handsome sharp regular features somewhat marred by bv a brief georgo george V beard chestnut hair clipped close to keep it from waving large brown hard eyes figure of an atti athlete lete I 1 could have cheerfully split his skull an ax I 1 ic knew new who he 10 was without ft asking 14 king I 1 tut it confirmation was rie needed edEd I 1 wa tu it aion an obsequious steward rushed forward trending on my toes as lie went and bleated bleared what cabin sir richard shall it il take your luggage lus gaKe sir Ric richard hardIll instantly the whole weight of th tny 3 koutal system by and in which the clan of Laur lers lived seemed to press down upon me like a giant hand pushing relentlessly pla aud and myself apart I 1 saw in one thousand facetted vision the world my people had owne owned d and lost its myriad reserves de fences shibboleths its ita nerce fierce prides pride il 1 1 01 I 1 Z my store I 1 think I 1 have not told you was almost on the beach and pitiless scorns its solid pedestal ot of property lifting all who be belonged tongel to it far very tar far above the mud and dust in which we others must go the tense moment passed sir richard bad let go plas hand was busying himself with the travelers eternal preoccupation of baggage I 1 1 had seen what I 1 had seen and I 1 knewl knew I 1 as w well ell as if I 1 had had an hour to think it all out instead of a couple of seconds that what was for pla was waa best I 1 could wreck her benj en gage ment if I 1 chose of this I 1 was ava sure but I 1 was equally sure that it if I 1 I 1 could I 1 would not I 1 would drop out of her world as ahad I 1 had dropped in the male Cinde rellas pumpkin coach was ready his hour had struck back to the ashes I 1 and let the fairy princess stay in her palace undisturbed if I 1 was sick at heart as I 1 went down that endless stair I 1 was doubt less no worse than many millions elsewhere who were sick at heart that day and of the same disease so I 1 tried to tell myself when the tender was reach reached ed and I 1 had found a seat on the ro roof 0 f of the cabin and the en eni i gine was beginning to turn over alth loud joud and drumming noises so I 1 tried to believe when I 1 saw the face of pla looking down at me from the rail a long long way above and felt her eyes fall on me like the light of a star strange sad remo remotely icly fair 1 I who was merry enough by nature had no laughter left in me that day else I 1 think emust I 1 must have been amused at the sudden sight of mrs airs laurier Laur ler arrived too late shooting her celebrated 1 death ray at me with intent a as she stood kimono clad in the alleyway door or at the other fairer vision on the alie ships sacred bridge I 1 knew tit at once than only jinny could thus profane the high altar holding an imaginary glass to its lips waving an arm at me and shouting what I 1 guessed at but could not hear drink hearty well soon be dead I 1 then the tender champed champee and fussed bussed away and the ship receded taster faster and faster and that chapter of my life was vas done CHAPTER III 1 I came back to duru daru off western on A brimming tide that masked the file mud tints with acres of reflected island miles of bright alir bored sky the dream that I 1 find dreamed on the great liner clung about me still but only as the after math of an opium carouse may cling about a man who has left behind him days and miles away the place where he drank and dreamed I 1 reached the daru roadstead anchored slung my dinghy out tor for I 1 had made the hundred and twenty nille run across from australia alone got from the thin young govern men who rowed out to meet me and changed with him the nowa news of the islands by and by I 1 slung my gear together looked to the cable of the cutter rowed myself ashore and pulled the tha dinghy upon the stones I 1 walked up the endless stretch of daru jetty the tide now was running fast away to sea and the coming sunset was ro re fleeten fleeted in sheets of muddy flame upon the flats fiats left bare I 1 had slipped through gho the magic door got myself into the fourth dimensional world that lies beyond the world that most men know if the thought of pla ilia laurier came back to me in my trading store be hand the beach of daru I 1 think it came as a chime of tells bells comes from some distant clock tower sounding often scarcely heard part of ones onea life yet scarcely remembered unless for any reason its music Is withdrawn possibly I 1 would havo have told anyone who asked that I 1 did not think of her she had gone through my I 1 life ifo it seemed as a sudden gust of goes through a house scattering tho com common mon things gs of hourly use breaking the mirrors slamming windows and doors and making the place look as if 1 nothing would ever be the sarno same aga again in but winds pass by and household goods are gathered and set up once more the wind that was vla pla had blown and passed I 1 thought one trace it had left iem I 1 could not keep beep from thinking of sir richard fanshaw ile he troubled roe me not to so much because he was going to marry pla ilia though that was a spot of raw pain never unnecessarily to be touched but because of a certain odd flout float ing resemblance wills face to something some ono one undetermined that had struck me in those few moments upon the ladder of the ship it worried me as a name halt half forgotten worries and that thai Is like ilko a loose tooth in the mouth it troubled me at the oddest moments me ants my bly store I 1 think I 1 have not told you was almost on the beach it stood perched upon high piles with alt a night flight of rough steps leading up and in the interior was one large I 1 dusky cave with light that fell from doors set at each end at first you see much ir in a minute or two the shining clusters of tin bil lycans and pann ikins in the roof and tho the piled strata of cottons red yellow pink and green and the loin cloths claths and the yard long knives and the strings of beads like strange little fruits and the plates and the lanterns and the sacks office of rice and the towers of tinned meats and fish became dimly visible each in its place there was always a wind blowing through from door to door and there was a mossy and fishy smell from the reef not unpleasant and a warm of frangipanni flowers for daru darn la Is full of these daru darn darn by the western boundary of papua where civilization stops ships come seldom and time la Is marked by rise and set of suri sun daru an island filled with the spirit of the islands holds in its iti heart though it Is western Paci pacific the secret of the true south seas all very well and I 1 felt it as I 1 moved about among my cottons and tins bargaining with wild fellows from the fly for a canoe load of coconuts selling tinned moat meat for turtle shell shelf rice for a catch of brocas I 1 felt it and liked it for I 1 had t tasted asted the houey honey of the south sea world anti its flavor was pleasant to recall though in truth the strong liquor of 0 the western islands suited me best but why why was the store and tha blaze of green bush and dazzle of seawater seen through its open doorway and the smells of reef and shell and an frangipanni flowerday flow eray and the very winds that blow blew unendingly from door to door why was all this connected in my mind with richard fanshaw airman company promoter wealthy man and future custodian odian of via pla Laur lers life TO OB CONTINUED |