University of South Carolina Libraries
[ 4 * r I J Parrot I ^ I & Co. j I By s I Harold MacGratli I I ?l?WI?IW II JWIBHI 11 I 1 H | I Author of I *'ThoCarpct From Bagdad,'* I *'The Place of Honeymoons," I Etc. C?i?ta urn ii mi miii m?' aw n m??a (Copyright by Bobbs*Mofrl|l Company.' | RVMADQI Q ^ i nvr MI I CHAPTER i?Warrington. an American * adventurer, and James, his servant, with a caged parrot, the trio known up and down the Irruwaddy us Parrot & Co.. travel along the road to the landing. A E?unrt *or Rangoon to cash a draft for A 800.000 rupees. l CHAPTER II?Elsa Chetwood.^ rich American girl tourist, sees Warrington f come aboard the boat at the landing and, Amazed at his likeness to her flnnce, Arthur Ellison, asks the purser to Introduce her. Conservative English passengers are shocked at her breach of the conY|nSnulltl^ f, CHAPTER III ? The purser tells Elsa i l**a* Warrington, the outcast adventurer, "AS beaten a syndicate and sold Ids oil claims for ?20.000. Warrington puts 7 5Na**' Parrot, through his tricks for w aru* warns* her against acquaintance with unknown adventurers?himself, In fACt. } CHAPTER IV-Warrington and Elsa (} pass two golden days together on the L river. Martha, Elsa's companion, warns i her that there Is gossip. 1 CHAPTER V?In Rangoon Warrington banks his draft, pays old debts, and while settling with James In his old lodgings overhears und Interferes In a row over cards in the next room. | ' CHAPTER VI?Warrington finds that the row In the next room is caused by an , enemy, Newell Craig, and threatens to I fihoot him UrilC'SM ho 1 pnvoti tnwn T<M?ni 'f KoeH for a walk with Martha, is annoyed riL by Craig an<l stabs him with a hatpin, r Warrington bids Elsa goo<l-by. Sin* does p not tell hltn that she is to sail on the same ship for Singapore. Il CliAPTER VII?Martha writes to Ar- I thur Ellison of the rapidly growlr.g ; friendship between Elsa and the onieast : American adventurer. "Warrington discovers Elsa on the Singapore steamer and realizes his hopeless love and ids duty to protect her against himself. Elsa tells i him of Iter engagement. i _vm' < , A Woman's Reason. Elsa stared at the vacant doorway. , She recognized only a sense of bewilderment. This was not one of those 1 ii, childish flashes of rudeness that had i ( amused, annoyed and mystified her. She had hurt him. And how? They I had been together three days on the 1 boat, and once he had taken tea with f; * ** * in Rangoon. Site could find noth e that she had been kind to him j i most needed kindness, and | *^ad not been stupidly curious, radically so. He interested Hhat. interest berause ho /unlike anything she had / the covers of a book. He - ? anu strong, and yet so ooy i nad given her visions of the P ( .r which had carried his mant'l 1 -hrough all these years of strife L I bitterness and temptation. And 1 K 1 ecause of this she had shown him ft that she had taken it for granted that whatover he had done in the past had ' not put' him beyond the pale of her friendship. There had been no deij grading e itangleraents, and women forgive o condone all other transiH gressions i And w'lat had1 she just said or done *1 to put that look of dumb agony in his 1 face? She swung impatiently from f the rail and began to promenade the i deck, still cluttered with luggage over which the I^ascar stewards were moillng. Many a glance followed the supple pleasing figure of the girl as she passed round and round the deck. f Other promenaders stepped aside or i permitted her to pass between. The j resolute uplift of the chin, and the ; staring dark eyes which saw but inner visions, impressed them with the fact J* ...^..1^1 ~ * 11 liiul iv nuuiu uu Wiaor IU SIH|) tlKIUli f voluntarily. There were some, how-, i ever, who considered that they had as i much right to the deck as she. Before ' them she would stop shortly, and as a il current breaks and passes each side of . an immovable object, they, too, gave t, A way. The colonel fussed and fumed, and j his three spinster charges drew their jjale lips into thinner paler lips. "These Americans are impossible!" | "And it is scandalous the way the i young women travel alone. One can never tell what they are." "HUmph! Drag and assorlivcness. j And there's that ruffian who camo 1 down the river. What's ho doing on j the sumo boat? What?" 4 Elsa became aware of their presence at the fifth turn. She nodded absently. \ Being immersed in the sen of turo regarding Warrington's behavior, aft, the colonel's glare did not. rouse in her H the sense of impending disaster. B The first gong for dinner boomed, j m The echoing wail spoko in the voice | B of the East, of its dalliance, its con-1 V tent to drift in a sargasso sea of cn-1 B tangling habits and desires, of its fa-j K talism and inertia. It did not hearten one or excite hunger. lOlsa would j rather have lain down in her Canton H. lounging-chair. The dining-saloon lield two long tables, only one of which was in commission, the starboard. The H saloon was unattractive. A punka | Hi stretched from one end of the table to H the other, and swung indolently to and ; H fro, whining mysteriously, sometimes H subsiding altogether and then flapping H hysterically and setting the women's H hair awry. Elsa and Martha were seated some win re between the head and tho foot of the table. The personally-conducted surrounded them, and subbed in- ! cessantly during the meal of what they had seen, of what they were going to see, and of what they had missed by not going with the other agency's party. Elsa's sympathy went out to : the tired and fdded conductor. There was but one vacant chair; nnd as she saw Warrington nowhere, Hloa assumed that this must be his I reservation. She was rather glad that j he would he beyond conversational j radius. She liked to talk to the ; strange and lonely man, but she preferred to be alono with him when she did so. She began as of old to study carelessly the faces of the diners and to speculate as to their characters and occupations. Her negligent observation roved from the pompous captain down to the dark picturesque face of the man Craig. Upon him her glance, a mixture of contempt and curiosity, rested. If ho behaved himself and Iliude no at tomtit to Bnnalf to hot- liho was willing to declare a truce. In Rangoon the man had been drunk, but on the Irrawaddy boat he had been sober enough. Craig kept his eyes directed upon his food and did not offer her even a furtive glance. He was not in a happy state of mind. He had taken passage the last moment to avoid meeting again the ojie man he^ feared. For ten years IM* man had been recKoned among tne lost. Many believed him dead, and Craig had wished it rather than beKnvnH k 1-\ ri Vi V, 1for,,. * ~ i&vj v kjvi x\uvi vncii| tvi meet 11 int toeu tv face in that sordid boarding house had shaken the cool nerve of the gambler. He was worried und bewildered. He had practically sent this man to ruin. What would be the reprisal? lie reached for a mangosteen and ate the I white pulpy contents, but without the customary relish. The phrase kept running through his head; What would be the reprisal? For men of his ilk never struck without expecting to be struck back. Something must be done. Should he seek him and boldly ask what he Intended to do? Certainly he could not do much on board here, except to denounce him to the oflicers as a professional gambler. And Paul would scarcely do that since he, Craig, had a better shot in bis gun. He could tell Who Paul was und what he had done. Bod'ly harm was what is really feared. He had seen Elsa, but lie. had worked out that problem easily. She was sure to say nothing so long as he let her be; and with the episode of the hatpin still fresh in his memory, he assuredly would keep his distance. He had made a mistake, and was not likely to repeat it. U,,4 I >?? ? 1 f lt~ 1 t_l_ J A i?ul iaui: ii? iiuiKued ma uesseri and went off to the stuffy Utile smokeroom, and struggled with a Burma cheroot. Paul was a smoker, and sooner or later he would drop in. He waited in vain for his man that night. And so did Elsa. She felt indignant at one moment and hurt at another. The man's attitude was inexplicable; there was neither rhyme nor reason in it. The very fact that she could not understand made her wonder march beside her even in her dreams that night. She began to feel genuinely sorry that he had appeared above her horizon. Just before she retired she leaned over the rail, watching the reflection of the stars twist and shiver on the smooth water. Suddenly she listened. She might have imagined it, for at night the ears deceive. "Jah, jah!" Somewhere from below came the mil Hied plaint of Rajah. Next day, at luncheon, the chair was still vacant. Elsa became alarmed. Perhaps he was 111. She made in quirics, regardless of the possible misinterpretation her concern might be given by others. Mr. Warrington had had his meals served in his cabin, but the steward declared that the gentleman was not ill, only tired and irritable, and that he amused himself with a trained parrakeet. All day long the sea lay waveless and unrippled, a sea of brass and lapislazuli; brass where the sun struck and lapis-lazuli in the shadow of the lazy swells. Schools of flying-fish broke fan-wise in flashes of silver, and porpoise sported alongside And warmer and warmer grew the air. Starboard was rigged up for cricket, and the ship's officers and some of the passengers played the game until the first gong. IClsa grumbled to Martha. There was little enough space to walk in as it was without the men taking over the whole side of the ship and cheating her out of a glorious sunset. Martha grew troubled and j>eri>lexcd. If there was one phase of character i. ....... 1.^... t.. fpl C! ....... {....t4.il.il I it ii li ikij w Ii i i; liA. i 111 t^ihei it nan ity; and here she was, finding fault I like any ordinary tourist. "Where is Mr. Warrington?" "I don't know. I haven't seen him siiKO yesterday." Elsa drooped her book petulantly. "I am weary of these " liainby-pamby stories." Martha's o,y. a had a hopeless look in thorn as she asked: ' Elsa, what is the matter?" "I don't know, Martha. I believe 1 should like to lose my temper utterly. I'lffcrritablo because I do not know my own in'nd. 1 hate the stuffy stateroom, the food, the captain. Nothing seems to disturb his conceit. Tonight we sleep on deck, the starboard side. At j ilvo o'clock we have to get up and go ; inside again so they can holy-stone the deck. And I am always soundest asleep at that time. Doubtless, I shall bo irritable all day tomorrow." "Sleep up hero on deck? But the j men?" horrified. "They sleep on the port side." Elsa laughed maliciously. "Don't worry. Nobody minds." "I hate the East," declared Martha vindictively. "Everything is so slack. It just brings out the shiftlessness in everybody." "Perhaps that Is what ails me; I am growing shiftless. When 1 came on board 1 dec idled to murry Arthur, and have done with the pother. Now I am at the same place as when I left home. I don't want to marry anybody. Have you noticed that fellow Craig?" "What will you do if he speaks?" "1 have half a dozen good hatpins left," dryly. "1 hate to hear you talk like that." "It's the East. . . . There goes that hateful gong again. Soup, chicken, curry, rice and piccalilli. 1 am go ing to live on plantains and mangesteens. I'm glad we had sense enough to order that distilled water. Come; we'll go down as we are to dinner, and watch the ridiculous captain and his fau-beuror. The punka will at least give us a breath of fresh air. There doesn't seem to be any 011 deck. Oue regrets Darjeeling." Martha followed her young mistress into the dining-saloon; she was anxious and upset. Where would this mood end? With u glance of relief she found Warrington's chair still vacant. The saloon had an air of freshness tonight. All the men were in drill or pongee, and so receptive is the imagination that the picture robbed the room of half its beat. To and fro the punka flapped; the pulleys creaked and the ropes scraped above the sound of knives and forks and spoons. Elsa a.te little besides fruit, ^brunnlr* uAn <> u ? ~t.v/..v uvuiutij U nuiv IU manud arid none to those around her. Thus, she missed the frown of the colonel and the lifted brows of the spinsters, and the curious glances of the tourists. The passenger list had not yet come from the ship's press, so Elsa's name was practically unknown. But in some v.naocountable 1x1 goner it had become, icv.own thut she had been making inquiries in regard to the gentleman !n cabin 78, who had thus far remained away from the table. Ship life is a dull life, and gossip is about the only thing that makes it possible to live through the day. It was quite easy j to couple this unknown aloof young j woman and the invisible man, and j then to wait for results. It would have amused Elsa ^iad she known the interest she had already created if not Inspired. Her beauty and her apparent indifference to her surroundings were ] artieularly adapted to the romantic mood of her fellow-travelers. Her own mind was so broad and generous, so high and detached, that so sordid a thing as "an affair" never entered her thoughts. I As she refused course after course, a single phrase drummed incessantly through her tired brain. She was not going to marry Arthur; never, never in this world. She did not love him. and this was to he final. She would cable him from Singapore. That night Craig found it insupportable in the cabin below; so he ordered his steward to bring up his bedding. Ho had lain down for half an hour, grown restless, and had bogun to walk the deck in his bath slippers. He had noted the still white figure forward, where the cross-rail marks the Turned His Dull Eyes Upon His Ancient Enemy. Wfiist. As ho approached, Craig discovered his man. lie hesitated only a moment; then lie touched Warrington's arm. Warrington turned his dull eyes upon his ancient enemy. "So it's you? I understood you wore en board. Well?" uncompromisingly. "I've been looking for you. Bygones are bygones, and what's done can't ho undone by punching a fellow's head. I'm not looking for trouble,"" went on Crabr. cnintntr nsr.iir:* nr<? "f am practically down and out myself. 'What stand arc you going to lake on board k ? That's all I waul to know." ' ; ' r "it would givo mo great pleasure, Craig, tc ;ako you by the sen;it of > neck an I crop you overboard. Hut you say, what's been done can't be remedied by bashing in a man's head. Weil, hero you are, since you ask. If you speak to me, if i catch >ou playing cards or auctioneering a pool, if you make yourself obnoxious to any of the passengers, I promise to give you the finest thrashing you ever had, the moment we reach Penang. If you don't, go ashore there, I'll do it In Singapore. Have I made myself clear?" "That's square enough, Paul," said the gambler resignedly. There wasn't much money on board these two-byfour boats, anyhow, so he wasn't losing much. Warrington leaned forward. "Paul? You said Paul?" "Why, yes," wonderingly. "Better po" | "AH right." Craig returned to his mattress. "Now, what made him curl up like that because I called him : Haul? Hah!" Ho dug a hole in his I pillow and tried to sh cp. | "Paul!" murmured Warrington. ? Ho stared down o* the dashes of : ! phosphorescence, blinuiy. The man I had called him Paul. Al\cr ten years to leuru the danmablo treachery of it! Suddenly he clenched his hand and struck the tail. Ho weald go back. All his loyalty, all his chivalry, had gone for naught. This low rascal had called him Paul. CHAPTER IX. Two Short WcpUr. When Elsa stepped out of the coinpanionway the next morning she winced and shut her eyes. The whole arc of heaven seemed hung with tireopals; east, west, north and south, whichever way she looked, there was dazzling iridescence. What a wonderful world! What a versatile mistress was nature! Never two days alike, never two human beings; animate and inanimate, all things were singular. She paused at the rail and watched the thread of frothing water that clutched futilely at the red waterline. Never two living things aliko in all the millions and millions swarming !he globe. What a marvel! Even -.hough this man Warrington and Arthur looked alike, they were not so. In heart aijd mind they were as different as two days. She began her usual walk, and in passing the smokerooin door on the port side she met Warrington coiling out. How deep-set his eyes were! He was r-.bout to go on, but she looked ..A I _\. A 1- 1 - ?- 1 - _ J? 1 Biruigut imu 11 ib eyes, ana lie slopped 3be laughed ana held out her hand. "I really believe you were going to snub mc." "Then you haven't given me up?" "Never mind what I have or have not done. Walk with me. 1 am going to talk plainly to you. If what I say | is distasteful, don't hesitate to inter' rupt me. You interost inc. purity be| cause you act like a boy, partly bei cause you are a man." | "1 haven't any manners." j "1 hoy need' shaking up and readi Justing. I have just been musing over a remarkable tiling, that no two objects are alike. Even the most ac, curate machinery cannot produce two nails without, variation. So it is with humans. You look so like the man 1 I know back home that it is impossible I not to ponder over you." She smiled into his face. "Why should nature produce two persons who are mistaken for each other, and yet give thorn two souls, two intellects, totally different? Is nature experimenting, I ir ic cllll l! 1 \' I ? nlnifii. r. ? ' ..!?>. 1 >U i>uu D1.1 i J 1**1. J II ig (V II It'tv Ull IIVI ~ ' man it y?" I "Let us call it a Lick; by all means, let us call it that." "Your tone . . ." "Yes, yes,' impatiently; "you are going to say that it sounds bitter, llut why should another man have a face like mine, when wo have nothing In I common? What right has he to look - like me?" "It is a puzzle," Elsa admitted. | "This man who looks like me?T have no doubt it affects you oddly? j probably lives in ease; in fact, a gentleman of your own < lass, whose likes I and dislikes are out from the same pattern as your own. Well, that is as it should bo. A woman such as you j are ought to marry an equal, a man , whose mind and manners are fitted to the high place he holds in your affection and in your world. How many , worlds there are; man-made and lion vrm.mn uml >" -1 ..v... vii muvib, (inn uuca uvauiy hh the other, as cold and implacable! To you, who have been kind to me, 1 have acted like a fool. The truth is, I've been skulking. My vanity was hurt. ] 1 had the idea that it was myself and ; not my resemblance that appealed to ! your interest. What makes you trust me?" bluntly; and he stopped as he asked the question. "Why, I don't know," blankly. Instantly she recovered herself. "IUit I do trust, you." She walked on, and perforce he fell into her stride. "It is because you trust the other man." "Thanks. That is it precisely; and for nearly two weeks I've boon trying to solve that very thing." After a pause he asked; "I lave you ever read Heade'a 'Singleheart and , Doublel'acc?'" t "Yes. IUit what bearing has it. upon our discussion?" "'.'one that you would understand " evasively. Ilia tongue had nearly tripved Mm. 1.re yon Bitve?" "Of this, that I shall never under F.tmd wove.on." I "D? not try to," she advised. i"All i these men who knew most about wornI k:i\ V. To t he mil :,ppiv ;,t." j They i:;o a round in sile nce. Many tin eye I ..v;] at I'm n; and envy ; nd , ration : i:tl cu? :o ity brought Iboir I shafts to bear upon h v. It was eom 'hing to < nrt^ 111 o r? variant oxj. ::ions of into: ,t. t-'ho wai obiivhuis. "We stop rt Parang?" she asko 1. "I ive < ; ' : hour j, . long t nou;,!, \.c seo the I. "We v. nt directly from Singapore to Colombo, wo missrd in > town coming out 1 . houkl li;-: to seo that coconnut plantation of yourj." "It. is too far inland. Pesidos, 1 am persona non grata there." As, in deed, he was. His heart burned with shame and rage at tlie r collection of the last day there. Three or four times, during the decade, the misfortune of being found out had failon to his lot, and always when he was employed at something worth while. Elsa discreetly veered into another channel. "You will go back to Italy, I suppose." "Yc?, I shall go to Ttalv once more. 13ut tirst 1 ain going home." lie was not aware of the Krimnness that entered his voice as he mado this statement. "I am glad." she said. "After all. that is the one place." "If you are happy enough to find a welcome." "And you will see your mother again?" lie winced. "Yes. Do you know, it does not seem possible that I met you but two short weeks ago? 1 have never given much thought to this so n ?i * * ? vuueu reincarnation; uui somewhere) in the past ages I knew you; only you ! weren't going home to marry the other fellow." She stopped at the rail. "Who knows?" she replied ruminatingly. "Perhaps I ;.m not going to marry him." "Don't you love him? ... I beg your pardon. Miss Chetwood!" "You're excused." "I still need some training. 1 have I been alone so much that I haven't got i over the trick of speaking my thoughts ' aloud." "No harm has been done. The fault lay with me." "I used to learn whole pages from stories and recite them to the trees or to the parrot. It kept me from going mad, I believe. In camp I handled coolies; none of whom could speak a word of English. I__didn't have Jpjtnes with mo at that time; !So rd declaim, merely to hear the sound of my voice Afterward 1 lonmerl thnf tho looked upon me as a holy man. They believed I was nightly offering pray era to one of my gods. Perhaps I was; the god of reason. All that seems like a bad dream now." "Are you going to take Rajah wttfc you?" "Wherever I go. L?ooks silly, doesn't it, for a man of my size to tote around a parrot cage? Hut 1 don't care what people think. Idfc is too short. It's what you think of yourself that really counts." "That is one of the rules 1 have laid down for myself. If only we all might go through life with that idea! There wouldn't be any gossip or scandal, then." "Some day I am going to tell you why 1 have lived over here all these years." "1 shouldn't, not if it hurts you." "On the contrary, there's a kind of happiness in unburdening one's conscience. I called that day in Rangoon for the express purpose of telling you everything, but 1 couldn't in the pros- ( ence of a third person." "Hut always remember that I j haven't asked you." "Are you afraid to hear it?" "No. What 1 am trying to convince j you with in that 1 trust you, and that I j give you my friendship without reser- I rations." lie laid his hand on hers, strongly. "God bless you for that!" She liked him because there was lacking in his words and tones that element of llattery so distasteful to her. "Would you like to sit next to me at j the table?" "May 1?" eagerly. "I'll have Martha change her chair for yours. Do you speak Italian?" "Enough for ordinary conversation. It is a long time since I have spoken i that tongue." "Then, let us talk it as much as possible at the table, if only to annoy those around us." Craig had been eyeing the two, evilly. Set the wind in that direction? An idea found soil in his mind, and grew. lie would put a kink, as he vulgarly expressed it, into that affair, lie himself wasn't good enough for \ her. The little cat should see. Warrington's ultimatum of the night before burned and rnnklod ?uui n iv?or? Craig's caliber ne\er accepted the in- , evitable without meditating revenge, revenge of a roundabout character, such as would insure bis physical safety. There was nothing loyal or gen- i erous or worthy in the man. There is something admirable in a great ras- | cal; but a sordid one is a pitiful thing. ! Craig entered the smokeroom and ordered a peg. At luncheon he saw them sitting together, and he smothered a grin. Couldn't play cards, or engineer a pool, eh? All right. There were other amusements. That afternoon Martha chanced to sit down in a vacant chair, just out oi the range of the cricketers. She lolled back and icily watched the batsmen. And then she heard voices. "She is Elsa Ohetwood. I remember seeing her pictures. She is a society girl, very wealthy, but something ot a snob." Martha's ears tingled. A snob, in-' deed, because she minded principally | her own affairs! "They think because they belong to tlio exclusive sets they can brci k a: many laws of convention as t!s , please. Well, they can't. There's : i I ways some scandal in the papers a! u , them. There was some rumor of hoboing engaged to the duke ot What a I*;., ......... i... >? <s 1 imci'iuuik;, u i i u ikil l) > she wouldn't settle a fortune on him. I Only sensible thing sho evi r did, pimb- i ably." "And did you notice who sat nt:;l to her at luncheon?" "A gentleman with a past, Mr. Craig tells me." "I daro say Miss Chetwood has a j past, too, if one but knew. To travel alone like this!" Hus.v bodies! Martha rose indignantly and returned to the other side ot the dock. She had lived too long with Elsa not to have learned self-repression, and that the victory is always with those who stoop not to answer. Nevertheless, she was alarmed. Elsa must bo warned. All E'sa said was: "My dear Martha, in a few days they and their^Mttle tat 1 tie will pass out or my existence, admitting that they have ever entered It 1 repeat, my life is all my own, and that 1 am concerned onl/ with those whom 1 wish to retain as my friends. Gossip is the shibboleth of the mediocre and, ihunk heaven, I am not mediocre." While dressing for dinner Klaa discovered a note on the floor of her cabin. The writing was unfamiliar. She opened it ard sought first the signature. Slowly her cheeks reddened. and her lips twisted in disdain. She did not r?ad the note, but the natural keenness of her eye caught the name of Warrington. She tore the letter into scrai>3 which she tossed out of the port-hole What a vile tiling the man was! lie had liad the e?. frontcry to sign Ins name, lie must be punished. It was as late as ten o'clock when aim ofwl \\To ? *{? * ^ ?. ^4 * 1 " a V- ?. duu uiiu ii ai i iiif,iv.>n v. < itl up lU ? IIU bow and gazed down tho cut-water. Never had see scon anything so weirdly beautiful us the ribbons of phosphorescence which fell away on each side, luminously olue and flaked with dancing starlike particles, through which, ever and anon, flyingfish, dripping with tho fire, spun outward like tongues of flame. "Often, when I was stoking, during an hour or so of relief, 1 used to steal rp here and look down at the mystery, for it will ever be a mystery to mo. And I found comfort." "Are you religious, too?" "In one thing, that God demands thut every man shall have faith in himself.' How deep his voice was as compared to Arthur. Arthur. Elsa frowned at the rippling magic. Why was she invariably comparing the two men? What significance did it have upon the future, since, at the present moment, it was not understandable? "There is a man on board by the name of Craig," she said. "I advise you to beware of him." ''Wll A lil?? T?U < -j iui.1 v/vi u? i <i it i in m jr. 1,1 u ; i no anger in his voice was very agreeable to her ears. "Who dared to?" "No one. He introduced himself on the way up to Mandnlay. In Rangoon I closed the Acquaintance, such as it was, with the aid of a hat pin." "A hat pin! What did he say to you?" roughly. "Nothing that 1 care to repeat. . Stop! I a.a perfteily able to tako care of myself. I do not need any valiant champion." "He has spoken to you about me?" "A letter. I saw only his name and yours. 1 tore it up and threw it overboard. Lot us go hack. Somehow, everything seems spoiled. 1 am sorry 1 spoke." "I shall see that ho does not bother you again," ominously. They returned to the promenade dock in silence. When Warrington found Craig the man was helplessly intoxicated. Ho lay sprawled upon his mattress, and the kick administered did not stir him. Warrington looked down at the sodden wretch moodily. Craig's intoxication was fortunate for him, otherwise he would have been roughly handled; for there was black murder in the heart of the broken man standing above him. Warrington relaxed his clenched hands. This evilbreathir.tr thine at his; f?r?t was th?? primal cause of it nil, he and a man's damnable weakness. Of what use his new-found fortune? Better for him had he stayed in the jungle, better have died there, hugging his poor delusion. Oh, abysmal fool that he had been! * She Stopped at the Rail. ^nniintied next v, FATHER GOOSE FOR FARMERS. I\v Dc .1 Allen Ja Sprat v isod liars : > f'at Not one of thrm was lean, He sent them into market an 1 lie make live thousand dear:. * * * Jack and Jill went up the h i, 1 c' i were buddy elate 1. The auto tiioy ran is a costly one And it never hesitated. * * * Little IJo IVcp had so many slvop She didn't know \/;au-o'in Joh! tie ni So one lino day she sent them aw. y And at the yards sold them. * * * Little Po Poejp a fortune did - ad And invoked it all in chickens, livery felldw she knows conies round to propose They b/other her like the dickens.