Show aa en sm SLA WN U ya installment SEVENTEEN 1 tv t V THE STORY SO PAR FAR karen water ton son believing herself to be the heir to alagoa the island estate of her grandfather finds herself no heiress ate at all when the old gentleman garrett waterson turns up after a long disappearance meantime she and her lawyer have been engaged in a dispute over the rights to the property with the wayne family who have been in possession since the 0 old id man left many years before richard tonga dick wayne has fallen in love with karen as has also the lawyer john colt after a quarrel with dick karen haren decides to leave alagoa with colt old garrett waterson has arrived at alagoa and is very III with fever but expresses a wish to see karen dick gathers a crew overtakes karen and colt and argues with their ships pilot ramey to turn back ramey refuses sayi saying nghe he can bring piracy charges against dick now continue with the story ta you laughed such as will get you laughed out of the islands its too bad but those will have to wait turn your boat ramey barney hold your course as you go colt ordered are you going to turn or not and what it if I 1 dont ramey jit the holokan has orders to come alongside lash fast and board in just about another two minutes you can turn boat or my crew will turn your boat I 1 dont care a damn which hes bluffing colt said hold your course and I 1 promise no he ramey whimpered the little one eyed skipper looked as it if he were going to break down and cry 1 I put it past him to do it by god and if those crazy headed banakas of his start running wild you wont like that will you well here they come the holokai was swinging nearer now by her deck lights they could see dicks banakas Ka eager at the rall rail oh dear god in heaven ramey blubbered the seal turned back CHAPTER XV whatever else dick wayne accomplished complis hed or failed to accomplish by bringing the unhappy seal back to alagoa that extravagant gesture undoubtedly saved the life of old garrett waterson the seals anchor was no more than down when dick took karen aboard the sarah dick and karen still had nothing to say to each other so that dick had no way of knowing what was going on in her mind it seemed to him that she was timid but also a little eager and in the face of his supposition t she had left alagoa in prefer e to facing her grandfather he found this surprising at first it seemed that they were too late garrett waterson was mumbling weakly from the depths of a fever haze he recognized no one and could not be made to understand der stand that the person dick had brought him was the granddaughter whom he had never seen when men finally he was persuaded to fix his eyes upon her in what appeared a moment of clarity the effect was worse than as if he had not seen her at all 1 I wont talk to you he said his words suddenly strong and distinct im positively not interested in any further marine insurance ive told you before I 1 do not wish to discuss insurance in any way came into karens eyes as V arned to youre the 00 or do you lies hes going to die what I 1 cannot understand said is why he is still alive at all karens eyes darted about the smothering confusion of the little cabin well have to move him out but of here to some place where rehe he can be taken care of this place even clean you cant move him St ahlquist said from the door he would fight it would be dangerous agreed 1 I would be afraid to move him now then well have to do the best we can here karen said she took off her hat and tossed it aside will somebody have my things sent over from the seal what are you going to do im going to find some way to get some air in here and then im going to clear up this litter there arent even any sheets on that bed the doctor will have to tell me what else a nurse is supposed to do you cant change anything in here St Sta ahlquist lilquist said pessimistically hell fight like hell this is a terrible old man pretty near every blodys afraid of him but me im not afraid of him karen said im going to take care of him that was the beginning of a week that seemed a long time for them all in the face of a good deal of discouragement karen persisted in doing just what she had said she would she moved onto the sarah and stayed there and somehow she persuaded garrett waterson to sub mit to the care which no one had ever been able to force on him before colt fumed and paced upon the seal ernest and willard wayne were in honolulu and dick wayne sulked aboard the holokai hardly leaving it at all on the bay of alagoa the three factors of the john colt dick wayne karen waterson triangle each of them established in lonely and foolish grandeur on his own boat were suspended in a deadlock which only could be broken apparently by elther either garrett Water sons recovery or his demise dick saw to it that the sarah was provided with everything that karen or dr wanted van ted but he hardly ever went aboard her himself when he did go aboard karen waterson avoided him ana and when this was not possible she still managed to disregard him so corn com plemely that he was left with a curious feeling of not being in existence any more reports on garrett wa dersons ter sons condition were encouraging but dick found that they did not interest him much dick wayne was rapidly drifting into a state of mind where nothing interested him at all honolulu was pestering him to come there for the reading of james waynes will and there was nothing to prevent his going but he stayed where he was all right all right dick said ill go to anuku nuku hiva 11 have to go myself waterson insisted for no more reason than that it seemed too much trouble to go anywhere else ernest wayne tried to talk to him from honolulu on the wireless phone but dick did not go ashore to take the cau call he let h is days drag out in a morose inac inactivity ti v 1 chiefly filled in with innumerable games of solitaire in the cabin yet at night he was unable to sleep for a day or two he drank heavily in the hopes that it would make him sleepy but it did not and when the Holo kais liquor ran out he did not bother to have it replenished he stayed away from karen waterson trying to accustom himself to the idea of a world in which for him she did not exist for he knew what was the matter with him well enough ramey came to see him in the middle of the week driven by a need of supplies now that it was apparent that the return of the seal to alagoa had resulted in a length ening of john colts charter the seals one eyed skipper seemed to hold no grudge ill send you your engine oil dick said if 11 tell me one thing like what ramey asked dubiously biou sly id kind of like to know dick said where colt and miss waterson were going and what for the night I 1 had to come out and fetch you back oh is that all ramey grunted why they was going to honolulu to get married so that was it he managed a faint sardonic grin she certainly had a busy evening huh let it go dick went back to his solitaire when the week had stretched on into ten days it was known that garrett waterson definitely was going to live the tremendous vitality of the old man had asserted itself once more when this was conclusively evident even to the unbelieving dick knew that karen would not be at alagoa much longer he knew that he ought to try to interest himself in something anything to overcome the lethargy upon which he was stranded but it took the departure of john colt to get hi minto halfhearted half hearted action the seal moved out of the bay of alagoa unostentatiously one morning at daybreak she blundered her way through the shoals by means of the curious luck which seemed to follow ramey no matter what folly he committed and eased off around the east point of the island roughly in the direction of honolulu nobody on the holokai knew the meaning of this at first it was hours before they knew definitely that colt had gone back to honolulu on the seal but that karen waterson was still aboard the sarah dicks curiosity was sufficiently aroused by this to cause him to row all the way over to the sarah a distance of some two hundred yards for a visit with the convalescent old man he tried to conceal from himself his reason for wishing to talk to waterson but he could not he was aware of a weak but persistent hope that something had happened to cause john colt and karen waterson to break up and he wanted to find out from garrett waterson it if this might be the case karen waterson was taking an hour ashore so that her grandfather was alone he was propped up on clean pillows smoking a cigar which he had probably taken this opportunity to steal and though he looked feeble and somehow chastened chasteney chast ened he was surprisingly himself where the hell have you been he demanded gustily in what was evidently meant to be a roar youve got to get me out of this that garrett waterson was notably tamed in spirit needed no more proof than his concession that he needed any help from anybody but other evidence was not lacking such a change had taken place in garrett Water sons quarters as dick would not have believed all the great litter of charts and miscellaneous duffle had disappeared even the bulkheads which had been a scaling and ancient green had been scraped and painted white weve got to go to nuku anuku hiva garrett wate waterson announced and weve got to go now this fool jap doctor and this girl of mine dont understand the old man it now appeared had worked himself into a state of mind dick knew enough about garrett Water sons scattered and loose knit affairs to know why he thought he be had to go to nuku anuku hiva once the old man had purchased an option on a site tor for a wharf or something of the sort then he had forgotten about it only to remember it suddenly and inauspiciously just as the option was about to run out dick did not believe that either water son or nuku anuku hiva needed a wharf but it was no use arguing he supposed if we dont take that thing up by the first of the month waterson declared that english outfit will get in there and the opportunity of a lifetime will go up in smoke just like that he blew a blast of smoke at dick to illustrate what was going to happen to the opportunity of a lifetime and it made him cough so that he spilled cigar ashes on the highly scrubbed deck all right all right dick said ill go to nuku anuku hiva have to go myself waterson insisted stay here dick said or ill have nothing to do with the business at all then where will you be the old man finally had to be satisfied with that not until the long digression about lifetime opportunities in nuku anuku hiva was settled was dick able to raise the question which had really brought him here he put out a tentative feeler 1 I see john colt has gone back so I 1 hear its none of my business dick said but id kind of like to know why he be should be rushing back to honolulu while karen is still here 1 I sent him back garrett waterson said complacently you sent him back he was over here with some proposition whereby I 1 was supposed to throw in with him and we were supposed to get the island of alagoa away from the waynes he made me kind of mad seemed that all I 1 had to do was offer proof that im out of my mind that gets us the islands back I 1 told him to get to hell out I 1 told him it if he out of the bay in twelve hours I 1 was going to have my crew grab him and keelhaul keel haul him I 1 guess he must have taken me literal but karen is going to stay with you id like her to but she says not I 1 believe shell be following colt to honolulu directly following colt ashes kind ot of a little poker face garrett waterson complained pla ined its past me to make out what ashes going to do but if you want my private personal opinion I 1 think ashes going to marry the guy of dick managed to say how are you going to like that TO BE CONTINUED N |