| Show black in gold 1 A z U veatrice bea ance grimshaw MF M F ajr J dy ag P t K i WN U N U cordya CorT ya cwi iwi i ri Jui e alv I 1 r e CHAPTER 11 II continued three times then aben by my poverty by her position and by the significance of that ring pla ila was not dot for me I 1 believed what jinny had said 1 I was waa very sure she was no liar it was merely a determination to leave no stone 1111 unturned turned that made me decide I 1 would see pla once more meire only once before I 1 left the ship and ask her to her face if ahat hat I 1 heard was true once across the saloon that night I 1 saw the clear profile the beautifully shaped black head bend once on deck the rose geranium perfume that pla pia laurier used came floating across a little space of dark and I 1 saw a pale dress pass hesitate go on agals agal I 1 did not move I 1 said no word it if I 1 alm ilm am angry I 1 aro 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 mv bands as I 1 have twisted the neck of a german roll trig together in trench mud dad than held her and kt eted ed her as t I 1 had not yet done as I 1 knew now I 1 I 1 i never should it was very early when the engines caroe came to rest next nest morning and the ship her way stopped lay still upon I 1 the celadon blue waters that surround goode island here the tender from thursday was to meet us and here my false splendors were to end phil amory bit of war wastage trader from the back end of nowhere was to be taken to the place from whence he came and if once arrived there he chose to ban hang himself by the neck till he was waa dead it would be nob odys business but his own my suitcases were on deck my steward tipped the tender rising and falling below the ladder on which I 1 was just about to set toot foot when the sound bound of my name clearly and almost precisely spoken made we me took look round pla was there at the head of the accommodation ladder holding out her hand the hand that did not bear the emerald ring I 1 vad 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 they 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 foot fool and that it was too late to do anything at all about it if she was engaged it the she she liked me me she had not been flirting her eyes were dark sleeplessness and the shadow that comes of love denied she looked at me and made the little movement with her lips that means 1 i you know and I 1 would have given five years of my life for the chance impossible now of taking her la in my arms and kissing her very reath breath away all round as 0 there were deckhands deck hands scrubbing stewards carrying things he fourth officer was posted at the K ead d of the ladder a stewardess rumored in white starch god knows hat she ehe wanted there was in he nearest doorway passengers new rivals began to shove past pla ila and coming between us sir id some ome cursed person if you want 0 to SO ashore better not keep be ie tenders caPt captains aills anxious to get 1 iway ye JI 1 dont know what id have done va based my passage mabbe mat be and rusted sted to luck to see me back from c e east when I 1 had spent every coln cola gowned owned getting there if at that inure a very tall thin roan nan had not V ome me up the ladder pushed deter i inelly between pla ila and myself and ja ken her by both hands kept sniping griping her wrists up find and down and ring at her as if lie he could never ve ive enough of it IL lie he was extremely csome sharp regular features medhat marred by a brief george georga beard chestnut half clipped close to ep it from waving large brown ird eyes laaure figure of an athlete I 1 cheerfully split hla his skull auld d have D an ax I 1 knew who he be w was as with askarl asking 9 but it if confirma confirmation tion wag nas ltd ad I 1 baij bij h it narn tr an obsequious steward rushed forward treading on my toes ns as lie fie went and bleated bleared what cabin sir 11 dehard shall I 1 take your luggage lus sage sir instantly the bhole weight of 0 tha social system by and in which the clan of landers llred lived seemed to press down upon me like a giant hand pushing relentlessly via ila and myself apart I 1 saw in one thousand facetted vision the horld ray my people had owned and lost its myriad reserves de fences shibboleths its fierce prides I 1 t WWI k Z my store I 1 think I 1 have not told you was wag almost on the beach and pitiless scorns its solid pedestal of property lifting all who belonged to it far very far above the mud and dust in which we others must go the tense moment passed sir richard had let go eo plas hand was busying himself with the travelers preoccupation of baggage 1 I bad seen what I 1 had seen and I 1 knew as well as it if I 1 had bad an hour to think it all out instead of a couple of seconds that what was for pla was best I 1 could wreck her engagement ga it if I 1 chose of this I 1 was sure but I 1 was equally sure that if I 1 could I 1 would not I 1 would drop out of her world as I 1 had dropped in the male Cinde rellas pumpkin coach was ready his bis hour had struck back to the ashes I 1 and let the fairy princess stay in her palace undisturbed it if I 1 was sick at heart as I 1 went down that endless stair I 1 was doubtless no worse than many millions elsewhere who were sick at heart bean that day and of the same ds disease ease so I 1 tried to tell myself when the tender was reached and I 1 had found a seat on the roof of the cabin and the engine was ginning beginning be to turn over with loud 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 iong long way above and felt her eyes fall on me like the light of a star strange sad remotely fair I 1 who was merry enough by nature had no laughter left in me that day else I 1 think emust have been amused at the sudden sight of mrs laurier Laur ler arrived too late ate shooting her celebrated death ray at me with intent as she stood kimono clad in the alleyway door or at the other fairer vison vision on the ships sacred bridge I 1 knew at once than only jinny could thus thu 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 boon be dead then the tender champed champee and fussed bussed away and the ship receded faster and faster and that chapter 0 of my ufa was done 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 M m 1 I 1 CHAPTER in III I 1 came back to darn off western papua on a brimming ude tide that masked the mud flats with acres of reflected island miles of bright aier bored sty sky the dream that I 1 had dreamed on the great liner clung about me stul still but only as the aftermath of an opium carouse may cling about a man who has left behind him days ano and miles away the place where be drank and dreamed I 1 reached the darn ro roadstead ostend anchored oni ani slung my dinghy out ont for I 1 had bad made the hundred and twenty mlle mile run across from australia alone got from the thin young govern men official who rowed out t to 0 meet me and changed with him t the be news of the islands ity fly and by I 1 slung my gear together looked to the cable of the cutter arwed myself ashore and pulled the dinghy upon the stones I 1 walked up the endless stretch of daru darn jetty the tide now was running fast away to sea and the coming sunset was reflected in sheets of muddy flame upon the flats left bars bare I 1 had bad slipped through the magic door got myself into the fourth dimensional world that lies beyond the world that most men know it if the thought of pla laurier came back bach to roe in my trading store behind the beach of darn I 1 think it came as a chime of bells comes from some distant clock tower sounding often scarcely heard beard part of ones life yet scarcely remembered unless for any reason its music Is withdrawn possibly I 1 would have told anyone who asked that I 1 did not think of her she had gone through my life lt it seemed as a sudden gust of wind goes through a house scattering the common things of hourly use breaking the mirrors slamming windows and doors and making the place look as if nothing would ever be the same again but winds pass by and ho household goods are gathered and set up once more the wind that was pla had bad blown and passed I 1 thought one trace it had left I 1 could not keep from thinking of sir richard Fans fanshaw baw he troubled me not so sa much because he be was going to to marry pla though that was a spot of raw pain never unnecessarily to be touched but because of a certain odd floating resemblance in his face to some tiling thing some one undetermined mined that had struck me in those few moments upon the ladder of the ship it worried me as a name halt half for forgotten otten worries and that la Is like a loose too tooth i in the mouth it troubled me at the oddest moments my store I 1 think I 1 have not told you was almost on the beach it stood perched upon high piles with a flight of rough steps leading up and in the interior was one largo large dusky cave with light that fell from doors set at each end at first you yon see much la in a minute or two the shining clusters of tin and parri lkins in the roof and 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 of rice and the towers howera of tinned meats end and fish became dimly visible each to in its place there was always a wind blowing through from door to door and there was a mossy and fishy smell from the tha reef not unpleasant and a warm whiff of flowers for daru darn Is full of these daru darn daru darn by the western boundary of papua where civilization stops ships come seldom and time la Is marked by rise and set ot of sun daru an island filled with the spirit of the islands holds in its lt heart though it Is western pacific the tha 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 meat for turtle shell rice for a catch of brocas I 1 felt it and liked it for I 1 had tasted the honey of the south sea world and its flavor was pleasant to recall though in truth the strong liquor of 0 the western islands suited me best besl but why aby 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 frangipanni flower ay and the very winds that blew unendingly from door doof to door why was all this connected in my mind with richard fanshaw airman company promoter wealthy man and future custodian of pla PI Lauri erB I 1 life fe TO BE CONTINUED 11 1 I 1 I 1 1 1 I 1 1 I 1 1 II H H |
