Show mgt 20 can havo have ron gone down to the south I 1 un stayed a few months month or a year two arid and have hav cow come back bach and writ i novel of varying degrees of 0 acey acy mostly romantic glamorous ou 1 colorful tales tale which have captured fa kil lie ilo interest not one on of them hat ban authenticity of th the novels novel e ot of beat 10 grimshaw all 0 of the ot other er south an 1 writers combined have not equaled output of stories neither have they tried lined to anything s ilk like her huge bur diaries in europe america and oth parts part of tile the world during nearly a quarter of a cen nr she h has ha lived in that romantic a stirl tract et and has ha written its novela for or iut out the same bame length of time she K sailed ailed the sapphire and turquoise apted t ed we water tern and visited the spice T ob tropic laden coral built atolls a d leland islands from papua to tile ui limits mind 11 groups farirer eat east ea t 11 rd she knows know not only the v riou mai ipe of natives but also alio the polyglot I 1 eldh of humanity that have been cip y from other kanii ot of ahe is orld and she h has ha first parts hand band knowl know haq 50 I 1 90 ot of the physical attributes and b aff flora and fauna of that fascinato S section of the globe beatrice grimshaw Is if an authority aa the south seas she draws with a lur hand band whether the she be depicting old horld world vagabonds vaga bonde and beach combers if fait lve traders trader Bai lors gold hunters hun lera ZIT 1 government officials or ad d An of type above all she jr rw III the country with its water batera its mountains its if verdure and its if de chad mystical characteristics and 4 ith it all she bhe has ha the gift of roman 31 t falt toi ft lt clam the ability to construct plots plot J 11 weave the fascinating elements element of W ako ur a region into novels one has haa never leorr ad n real south seas story until he willtz MM khas b read the fiction action of beatrice grim free za sta pits tat i w CHAPTER I 1 ima A the cf cigar ar was unwontedly rood good it mad had made me peaceful and dreamy lahat that or the reaction after the fit fuss s of getting aboard and auay abay al AI all events I 1 leaned back in the cushioned smoke moke room chair and gave myself up 01 to enjoyment let lei the sound and eights and the smells ot of tile great uner flow pleasantly oer me they viere were all there the things that I 1 had known and forgotten and the brut beat beat of the great steamer heart that ila I 1 I 1 was wag to carry on day and night until 1 kt hongtong Hong kong and the barely heard wash of the coral sea se as a we ran north from cairns in queensland up jk ta iff towards torres straits through gi all tile lie sapphire and topaz glory of a tropic PARO JC winter day AIRN B y I 1 had the sum of one hundred and atha seventy two solid pounds mine since gl 3 yesterday in tile the care of tile the ships sift majestic purser theres nothing W makes a man feel so sc innocently drunk as an a hatful of cash when he lias has been at a long time short this cash of mine was the result of a lucky win in a ial sweep on the english del dei by nothing towi 1 more respectable than that hut but the tir strictest purist could hardly have 3 r found fault with my way of spending it I 1 was down in cairns upon bustness very small business and cheap J when the windfall came and wisely t I 1 decided to go home at once instead of waiting tor for the monthly B 11 boat Z osone treat I 1 must have I 1 decided and t the call of the caracara Cata Cat cira acara suggested its rai ta kind I 1 would spend eight of my pre tr fr clous pounds on a two day run to atz K thursday island and get back thence i to new guinea by cutter leor two wa days I 1 would dream that I 1 was hack back IJ tin in the spacious days of home and riches the years when my father owned a one country house and a smallish mallash town house hous and I 1 had been going to be an english squire some t time or other and life and society f and the right people and what one p was going to do with oneself after harrow and the varsity hild had fill all been changeless solid as fixed slurs ailt nothing solider golider than tint that h house ouse tile the dit k long avenue with the tirs firs and the crackling gravel the cottages aud and farms that were ours the garden and its strange old fashioned roses rice roses scotch yellow moss roses cub bage nothing more sure than the passing for ever and ever the same of those slow summers and winters in id the north of england climate pale suns buns and pretty passionless lowers flowers ft rain andi andibert and hort bort days and snow everything set unalterable in one half hour it was swe swept nt away my father fell dead of wi unsuspected suspected heart trouble the solid house tile jirs and the avenue the C cottages and farms lI harrow arrow cambridge the alie right people the set unalterable way of living llvine all went down the winds of tile world together swept by the same great hurricane lie ile had bad anyone can fill in the rest f that was in 14 you fou k know now what followed I 1 was eighteen years of age hearty and husky of build there was only one thing to do I 1 did it in 19 de mobilized aged twenty three I 1 faced the world with some scars and medals to my credit also two crosses nothing mah mu ma h more I 1 had bad been in egypt mesopotamia the sun lands had got me I 1 took up land in australia tailed failed went north and north landed at last at papua I 1 had bad a trading store at tile hie wild west end of the country I 1 was some years yeara older a little wiser a little tougher than even the war had left me the wild lands had bad marked me for their ON own IL and on that jeweled day of equatorial winter I 1 was on board the eastern liner caracara Cat acara having hasing my treat with no thought of anything but a couple ot of days enjoyment under circumstances cum stances that had bad been mine and were not no dream of aDY anything fateful fan ihling significant in the brief journey I 1 was as merely going back to daro darn by IT T L I 1 so I 1 thought what I 1 did not dot know lt you kr you did not kno know waa that I 1 by 69 beatrice grimshaw Grims liaw by bu li win styers copyright by hughes haasl co service was vias on that day running right into the double fate that was to change my life it began in the oddest manner con cel cehn vable ble I 1 had finished my clear cigar looked at myself to in the long mirror as I 1 bt strolled rolled out ov on leek deck and decided that I 1 was at least not I 1 was to in a peaceful mood I 1 found a chair and dropped lito lilo it wishing lit g I 1 knew how to purr like a cat tor for I 1 felt that way I 1 was nas simply lifted out of the chair before I 1 find time to settle down by shrieks proceeding from forward where there was a wide ide unoccupied space of deck girls shrieks at I 1 least e ast three were in 11 and they were screaming tit at the tot top of their voices of course I 1 made fur the space of foredeck extremely rendy ready to come to the aid of beauty In distress I 1 dont know what I 1 expected certainly it as not what hat I 1 saw three ships officers attired in all their tropic glory of white drill and gold were cant bantering cantering ering down the deck like horses on the shoulders of each hat ant as tilde an extremely pretty girt girl dressed in a bathing suit of the kind known RS as one piece the girls had jockey caps calls on their heads and they IV 4 t one of them a tall white limbed lass with red bobbed hair was apparently winning were hogging flogging their mounts along with silk handkerchiefs and screaming encouragement coura gement at the top of their rather high voices I 1 saw all this to lo a moment and guessed without much difficulty that the riders were three musical comedy actresses going to join a revue cum pany touring tile the east of whom I 1 had heard beard when taking by passage one of them it a tall white while limbed lass with red bobbed hair was apparently winning her mount the chief officer was yards ahead of the rest I 1 saw that I 1 saw too the face of a girl ou on the appo site side of the deck staring hard at the racers she had a profile like an italian colo coin dark hair close shingled and exceedingly blue eyes that face held me tor for an instant it was as if the owner ovner had suddenly called then I 1 saw what hat made me leap across the deck tear oil off my jacket and fling myself over the lie rail of the caracara Citta Cat cara acara down thirty feet feel into the sea in the excitement of winning the red helred girl had let go tier her hold of the chief officers olli cers forehead waved tier her arms aud and lost balance completely they were near tile lie rill rail slie she began to topple arid and I 1 saw she was bound to go I 1 nit for her to fall I 1 sprang first I 1 think we went through the air almost together she struck the water ater about as soon boon as 1 I and we both went down in a smother of foam and boiling blue we came up well in the rear when I 1 had grabbed the girl and got the water and my own hair out of rny my eyes I 1 could see the bt earners immensely tall stern already hundreds of yards away and leaving us as if no bady had seen us go overboard of course they had they were getting a boat out and taking the way ay off the ship as quickly its as might be but if ever you have bren been left in tile the of the inhospitable ocean by a liner running at full spied spi ed you will realize that I 1 had plenty of time to grasp the he situation plenty of time too to wonder if we both likely to be drowned before help could reach us because the ali red haired girt girl in spite of her stage bathing costume swim at all she was plucky no one could have been pluckier she gasped a good bit but did not cling she did as I 1 told old her put her hands handl on my shoulders and let her legs swing out to support her 1 I I 1 can float a bit she said chokingly 1 I im not a scrap afraid never say die th my motto it if the she was not afraid a raid I 1 was abominably so 60 because I 1 had seen something she he with her face tow toward ard my back had not seen I 1 did not want her to see ee A black sharp finger the finger of death and ugly death that beckoned to lo us ui both I 1 need to look at the caracara Cat acara now motionless a long ions way off to know that the boat she had lowered stood no chance in that 11 alfe fe and death race I 1 knew what a shark could do in the way of speed when once it scented food this shark was only cruising so I 1 thought but bul if it maje up its mind to attack us as twenty seconds would see the finish the shirk shark was getting curious zig zagging about coming nearer with every tack look here I 1 said suddenly are you game to do just what I 1 tell you and ask no questions arent I 1 try me then put your mouth down to the water and blow as hard as you can she stared was about ah lit to speak but something in my face 1 I think checked her awkwardly she bent her lips to the swaying green that barely held us os up but determinedly blew I 1 blew also bubbles went streaming from our lips under water a string of silver bells a web of 0 pearls years ago in mid pacific I 1 had heard beard about this way of keeping off sharks had even seen the girls girl who swam in the pools pool of niue blowing bubbles every now and then just as a measure of precaution hut but was there really anything in hid had any hurrian human creature attacked or in danger of attack ever kept away these timers tigers of the deep by merely pulling puffing bubbles at them I 1 dian didn t k know vw I 1 only knew that there wa was nothing else to do it was impossible to go on blowing forever we halted for a rest by tills this time the girl hid certainly guessed nhat was happening but she said never a word tier her laughter laught er tier her silly bravado had vanished she sh held to my shoulder with a clutch 0 9 iron and her breath came short as as sobs but she still k kept pt her head still refrained from graab grabbing ing or hampering me I 1 looked at the fin again G d I 1 said and know I 1 spoke its coming for it had turned end on and I 1 saw it I 1 as a black spike ticking sticking out of the water incredibly huge I 1 put my mouth month down again and blew blew till my lungs were one hot pain all down my back the black fin poised I 1 fell the girls flog finger ger nails like claws in my neck heard her spluttering splutter ing uselessly into the water game to the last swung tier her round I 1 dont know how so as to get my body between her and the sea tiger that eliat was hungering tor for our blood saw it go off ulab a rush like a torpedo and thought the end was come what I 1 had forgotten about was the boat I 1 dont think for a moment that our and bubb lings had any effect upon vie shark other than to excite its curiosity it was tile the near approach of the ships whaleboat whale hoat furiously 0 rowed that rave gave it pause pause I 1 say because when the boat bad dashed between us and the shark and four strong arms busy hauling us as up over the gunwale a thins thing tit that t cant be done in seconds try how you may the shark suddenly sud lenly seemed to re realize ze that its dinner was leaving it and made such a determined charge that the sailors had to fight it off with all the available oars they got us into the boat and the chief had a tot of whisky ready I 1 never saw a man look more as if he wanted one himself but that was small wonder if he had not been playing the giddy goat nothing would have happened I 1 think I 1 told him as much also that I 1 was not in the least cold and would could have a dry shift in ten minutes need a drink the lady I 1 said had better belter have one she and lie he shared it tier her face looked very ery white under tier her wet red hair I 1 and I 1 dare say he may have hava thought thou she would take cold anyhow he put his uniform coat round her und and was making all fast with his ar arm when she wriggled apart from him and flung filing herself down on the seat beside me im going to sit next tile hie bravest mao man I 1 ever mete met site she said tier her breast heaving up and down very fast under the white and gold coat I 1 saw she was almost in hysterics so I 1 simple answered rats hats we fell over together and nobody sold said anything more till the whaleboat u nosed dosed the ships side when they not got us on board it was the very devil fur for five minutes people come came und and shook my batill and told me I 1 was a brave anun on 11 some of I 1 hem d ray my back several wanted me to come and have a I 1 drink we fill all know Gin gindling Sling Is game said somebody but youre gamer we have done without jin ny dy cut lii in some one else no by bj jovel jove 1 jinny for ever I 1 gin slings preserver hooray 1 I they would have it I 1 was fairly mobbed I 1 could hardly get to my cabin tor for a change of clothes without being carried on the shoulders of the crowd but that I 1 was determined against I 1 slipped down a stewards companion and got away I 1 dropped on the lounge it was wa some time before I 1 even thought 0 of dragging off my sudden sodden shoes and shedding edding gh my wot wet clothing I 1 had not touched the chief officers leers ff flask or of accepted the champagne that others othen bad been anxious to uncork for me but I 1 was drunk mind and body ox ot one look that I 1 had caught as I 1 cam slowly drenched with weariness anc ana wet up the ships ladder A look from blue eyes below black hair A look that cost cast A girls fall fal soul at my ay feet TO RIC bit |