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I! Parrot & Co. | Harold MacGrath j Q 'Will I I II lllllllllll"II I I"*J I I ^irTflllMM 1 9 tj Author of P u U "ThcCarpotX'vom nustdad,** Hg K "Th? Place ol' Honeymoono,n s| , ft wwaBBi.-?ia>L,Mj.w t u-JT?:r--rrrrr*r-Trearraufl *3 ^yiwr^;?/AC^^?TW.vri< s awuuira%M4i!MK:. v.1 !vv;o?yrigni oy JJODos-ivicrrui Coir.panv 8YN0PSI3. CHAPTER i?-Warrington, an American : adventurer, arul Junes, Ids servant, with k caged parrot, the trio known up and down the Irrawaddy us Parrot & Co.. travel along the road to the lauding. I bound for Itungoon to cash a draft for jj 1800,000 rupees. 1 CHAPTER II?Elsa Chotwood. rich r\ American girl tourist, sees Warrington | ) come aboard the boat at the lunding and, ]J amazed at his likene ss to her (lance, r Arthur Ellison, asks the purser to lntror -duce her. Conservative English passeng ers arc shocked at her breach of the eonJ yttnHowuUtl.KO r i ? CHAPTER TIT ? The purser tolls Elsa ^ that Warrington, the outcast adventurer, has beaten a syndicate and sold his oil m claims for C20,000, Warrington puts I Rajah, the parrot, through his tricks for I Elsa and warns her against acquaintance I unknown adventurers?himself, In E CHAPTER TV?Warrington and Elsa I pass two golden days together on the 1 river. Martha, Elsu's companion, warns g her tliut there Is gossip. m CHAPTER V?Tn Rangoon Warrington y^banks his draft, pays old debts, and while P settling with James in his old lodgings It, overhears and Interferes In a row over ft, cards In ttie next room. fl! CHAPTER VI?Warrlnsrton finds that iio row In the next room is caused by an nomy, Newell Craig, and threatens to hoot him unless he loaves town. Elsa oes for a walk with Martha. Is annoyed y Craig and stabs him with a hatpin. Harrington bids Elsa good-by. Sin* does ot tell him that she is to snll on tho ame ship for Singapore. CHAPTER VII?Martha writes to Arhur Ellison of the rapidly growing riendship between Elsa and the outcast .tnorlean adventurer. Warrington dlsovors Elsa on the Singapore steamer and pallzes his hopeless love and his duty 'o roteet her against himself. Elsa tells im of her engagement. CHAPTER VTTI ? Warrington avoids dsa. who thinks he may be ill and makes nqulrles. regardless of the mlslntorpretalon of her roneei a. Craig is aboard, is rarned hv Warrington, and calls him hull, so letting him know that his chlvlry and loyalty of ten years before have one for nothing. CHAPTER TX?Warrington ceases to void Elsa. Craig stirs up evil gossip. P lsa tells Warrington of the hatpin incilent and he hunts up Craig, on murder ient, only to tlnd him stretched out drunk CHAPTER X. The Cut Direct. T f xi * o ci n f c. i? II I.. * V. ? - ? ' ? ? IV 11 no (lUVJi li Y U 111 UIK IdOI'IllUg en the deckhands tried to get Craig go down to liia room. With tho ,1 obstinacy of a drunken man, ho used to stir; he was perfectly sated to stay where he was. Tb Miree >\vn men stood irresolutely .id helpsly around the man. Everyone had ic below. The hose was ready to ah the deck. It did not matter; he, lig, would not budge. 'Leave mo alone, you black negro!" 'Hut, sahib," began one of the Las-s, who spoke English. 'Don't talk to me. I tell you, get t!" striking at their feet with his ollen hands. Warrington, who had not lain down all, but who had wandered about 3 free decks like some lost soul from 3 Flying Dutchman, Warrington, arlng voices, came out of the smoke3m. A glance was sufficient A vil's humor took possession of him. > walked over. 'Get up," he said quietly. Craig blinked up at him from out of ffed eyes. "Go to the devil! Fine ecimen to order me about." "Will you get up peacefully? These 3n have work to do." Craig was blind to his danger, /hat's that to me? Go away, all of u, to the devil, for all I care. I'll t up when I get damn good and ndy. Not before." Warrington picked up the hose. "Sahib!" cried the Lascar in proit. "Be still!" ordered Warrington, iraig, for the last time, will you get Warrington turned the key, and a luge of cold water struck Craig II in the chest. He tried to sit up, it was knoeked flat. Then he rolled er on the deck, choking and sputrlng. He crawled on his hands and ises until he reached the chair-rail, btch he clutched desperately, drawg himself up. The pitiless stream iver swerved. It smacked against e list of his hack like the Impact of "For God's sake ston fit* erfad Ilralg, half strangled. "Will you go below T" "Y?8, yes! Tarn tt away!" sober sough by new. |; Warrington switched off the key, Is face humorless, though there was l sparkle of grim humor In his sleepungry eyes. Craig leaned against the eckhouse, shaking and panting. I "I would I could get at your soul as Lstly" Warrington threw aside the lose, and the Lascars sprang upon It, ot knowing what the big blond sahib Light do next Craig turned. Tenon on hts tongue* ' io spoke a phrase. In an Instant, cold j ?vlth fury, Warrington bad him by the throat. "You low base cur!" ho said, shak'ng the tnon until he resembled a manikin on wires. "Karl you been sober last night, I'd have thrown you into tho sea Honor let 8 dog! You wrote to Mirs Chot'vood. You instil? ed her, too. If you wish to d.e, speak to her j again " Craig struggled fiercely to free him- I self. He wasn't sure, by the look ot , the other man's eyes, that o wasn't "olng to bo killed then and tnere. There was something cave-mannish and cruel in tho way Warrington worried the man, shaking him from side to side and forcing him along the deck. Suddenly ho released his hold, adding a buffot on the side of the head that sent Craig reeling and sobbing into tho companlonway. "Hero, 1 say, what's tho row?" Warrington looked over his shoulder. The call had come from the first officer. "A case of drunkenness," coolly. "Hut 1 say, we can't have brawling on deck, sir. You ought to know that. Jlfeil d "You Low, Base Curl" | If tho man's conduct was out of order, | you should have brought your complaint before (he captain or me. We really can't ha-ve any rowing, sir." Warrington replied gravely: "Expediency was quite necessary." "What's this," The otllcer espied tho soaked bedding. "Who turned the hose here?" "I did," answered Warrington. "I shall have to report that to the captain, sir. It's against the rules aboard this steamship for passengers to touch anything of that sort." The officer turned and began violently to abuse the bewildered Lascars. Warrington entered the companionway; and a moment later he heard the water hiss along the deck. He wait not in tho least sorry for what he had done; still, he regretted the act. Craig was a beast, and there was no knowI ing what he might do or say. Still dressed, he flung himself in his bunk, and immediately fell into a heavy dreamless sleep that endured until , luncheon. | Shortly after luncheon he was sum; moned to the captain's cabin. Warrington presented himself, mildly curious. The captain no'dded to a stool. "Sit down, Mr. Warrington. Will you have a cheroot?" "Yes, thanks." A crackle of matches followed. "This fellow Craig has complained about his treatment by you this morning. 1 fancy you were rather rough with him." r> r\n T-T/\ -- * I ?. ci uu)io> nu was vury urunK BHQ 1 abusive, and ho needed cold water more than anything else. I once knew the man." "Ah! But it never pays to manhandle that particular brand of tippler. They always retaliate in some way." "I suppose he has given you an excerpt from my history?" "He says you cannot return to the States." "I am returning on the very first boats I can find." "Then he was lying?"' "Not entirely. I do not know what he has told you, and I really do not care. The fact Is, Craig la a professional gambler, and 1 warned him not to try any of his trickn on board. It soured him." "And knowing mysel/ that he was a professional, I gave no weight to his accusations. Besides, it Is none of my business. The worst scoundrel un nung Mas certain rights on my ship, if he behaves himself, thai in sufficient for me. Now, what Craig told me doesn't matter; but It matters that 1 warned htm. A word to anyone else, and I'll drop htm at Penang tomorrow, to get out the best way he can. Ships passing there this time of year are generally full-up. Will you bare a pegr "N6, thanks. But I wish to say that it Is rery decent of you." Warring* ton rose; "1 hare traveled too long not to recognise a man when I see him. Drop la any night after ten, if you care to." "I shall be glad to accept your hospitality." Outside, Warrington sought Slsa, and as they promenaded, lightly recounted the episode of the morning. Klsa expressed her delight in laugh- | ter that was less hearty than malicious. How dearly she could see the plcturet And then, the ever-recurring comparisons: Arthur would have gone by. Arthur would not have bothered himself, for he detested scenes and fisticuffs. How few r?al men sh? mot. men who walked through Hfs naturally, unfettered by those self-apI?lictl manacles cubed "What will people say?" "Let us go up to the bow," she invited. "1 myself have n little story to toll." A school of porpoise were frolicking under the cutwater. Plop! plop! they went. Finally all save one sank gracefully out of sight. Tho laggard crisscrossed the cutwater a dozen times, just to show the watchers how extremely clever he was; and then, with a plop! that was louder than any previous one, ho vanished into the deeps. "I love these oriental seas," said Eilsa, v:lth he.* anna on the rail and her chin resting upon them. She wore no hat, and her hair4 shimmered in tho sun and shivered in the wind. "And yet they are the most treacherous of all seas. There's not a cloud in sight; In two hours from now we may bo in the heart of a winter storm." "I am grateful for that Mercy! Think of being shipwrecked on a desert island with the colonel and his threo spinsters! Proprieties, from morning until night. And the chattering tourists! Heaven forbid!" "You had a story to tell ine," he suggested. His heart \va3 hot within him. lie wanted to sweep her up in his arms and hold her there forever. Hut the barrier of wasted opportunities stood between. "Oil, yes; 1 had almost forgotten." She stood up and felt for wandering strands of hair. "I find the world more amusing day by day. I ought to feel hurt, but I am only amused. I spoke to the colonel this morning, merely to say howdy-do. He stared me in the eye and de-lib-erately turned his back to me." "The doddering old?" "There, there! It isn't worth getting ! angry about." "Hut, don't you understand? It's all because of me. Simply because you have been kind to a poor devil, they start in to snub you, you! I'll go back to my old seat at the table. You mustn't walk with me any more." 111-, T C 4.. 1 ^ ijwit t uu iswy. 11 yuu i-eiuni iu your chair, if you no longer walk with me, they'll find a thousand things to tajlc about. Since 1 do not care, why should you?" "Can't I make it clear to you?" desperately. "1 see with reasonable eyes, if that is what you mean. The people I know, mine own people, understand Elsa . Chetwood." So her name was Elsa? He repeated it over and over in his mind. She continued her exposition. "There are but few, gently born. They are generous and broadminded. They could not be mine own people otherwise. They are all I care about. I shun mediocrity as I would the plague. 1 refuse to permit it to touch me, cither with words or with deeds. The good opinion of those I love is dear to me; as for the rest of the ( world!" She snapped her fingers t.o , illustrate how little she cared. "I am a man under a cloud, to be avoided." "Perhaps that cloud has a silver j lining," with a gentle smile. "I do not believe you did anything wrong, pre- j meditatedly. All of us, one time or another, surrender to wild impulse. Perhaps in the future there awaits for me such a moment. I cannot recollect the name of Warrington in a cause ! celebre," thoughtfully. He could only gaze at her dumbly. "My name is not W arrington," finding ( his voice. Cod in heaven, what would ! happen when she found out what his name was? "Put my first name is Paul." "Paul. I have had my suspicions that your name was not Warrington. But tell me nothing more. What good would it do? I did not read that man's letter. I merely noted your name and his. You doubtless knew him somewhere in the past." "Might there not bo danger in your kindness to me?" "In what way?" - a man under a cloud is often reckless and desperate. There is always an invisible demon calling out to him: What's the use of being good? You are the first woman of your station who has treated me as a human being; 1 do not say as an equal. It's a heady wine for an abstemious man. Don't you realize that you are a beautiful woman?" She looked up Into his eyes quickly, but she saw nothing there Indicating flattery, only a somber gravity. "I should be silly to deny It. 1 know that had I been a frump, the colonel would not have snubbed me. I wonder why It is that la life beauty !a a woman is always looked upon with suspicion?*' "Envy provokes that." She resumed her Inclination against the tall again. "After Singapore It ts probable that we shall not meet again, I admit, In my world, I could not walk upon this free and easy ground. 1 should hare to ask about your antecedents, what you hare done,' all about you, in fact Then, we should sit tn judgment** "And condemn me, off-hand. That would be perfectly right** "But I might be one of the dissentleg Judges.** "That Is because you are one woman In. a thousand." "Nd; I simply bare a mind of my own, and often prefer to be guided by i it I am not a sheep." ! Silence. The lap-lap of the watei^ the long slow rise and fall, and the dartllng flylng-llsh apparently claimed their attention. But Warrington saw nothing tare the danger, the danger to himself and to her. At any moment he might ting his arms around her. without his having the power to resist. She vailed to him as nothing ir the world had called be/ore. But she trusted him. and o<>. cause of this he resolutely throttled the recurring desires. She was right. He had scorned what she hud termed as woman's intinct. She had read him with a degree of accuracy, in the eyes of God he was a good man, a dependable man; but he was not impos- ; sibly good. He was human enough to want her, human enough to appreciate ! the danger in which she stood of him. I "Tell me about the man who looks like me." His gaze roved out to sea, to the white islands of vapor low-lying in the east. "In what respect does he resemble me?" "His hair is yellow, his eyes are blue, and he smiles the same way you do." He felt the lump rise and swell In his throat. "If you stood before a mirror you would see him. Hut there the re semblance ends." "Is he a man who does things?" a note of strained curiosity in his tones. Ten years! "hi what way do you mean?" "Does he work in the world, does ho invent, build, finance?" Mayhap her eyes deceived her, but the tan on his face seemed less brown than yellow. "No; Mr. Ellison is a collector of paintings, of rugs, of rare books and china. He's a bit detached, as dreamers usually are. He has written a book of exquisite verses. . . . You are smiling," she broke off suddenly, I her eyes tilling with cold lights. "A thousand pardons! The thought was going through my head how unlike we are indeed. I can hardly tell one master from another, all old books look alike to me, and the same with china. I know something about rugs; but I couldn't write a jingle if it was to save me from hanging." "Do you invent, build, finance?" A bit of a gulf had opened up between them. Elsa might not be prepared to marry Arthur, but she certainly would not tolerate a covert sneer in recard to his accomplishments. Quietly and with dignity he answered: "1 have built bridges in my time over which trains are passing at this moment. I have fought torrents, and floods, and hurricanes, and myself. I have done a man's work. 1 had a future, they said. But here I am, a subject of your pity." She instantly relented. "But you are young. You can begin again." "Not in the sense you mean." "And yet, you tell me you are going back home." "Like a thief in the night," bitterly. CHAPTER XI. The Blue Feather. Elsa toyed with her emeralds, apparently searching for some flaw. Like a thief in the night was a phrase that rang unpleasantly in her ears. Her remarkable interest in the man was neither to be denied nor ignored. To receive the cut direct from a man whose pomposity and mental density had excited her wit and amusement, surprised her even if it did not hurt. It had rudely awakened her to the fact that her independence might be leading her into a laybrintli. Something new had been born in her. All her life she had gone about calmly and aloofly, her head in the clouds, her feet on mountain tops. She had never done anything to arouse discussion in other women. Perhaps such a situation had never confronted her until lately. She had always looked "U Ms a Man Who Doea ThingsT" forth upon Tlfe through the lenses of mild cynicism. So long as she was rich she might, with lippuntty, be as indiscreet aa she pleased. Her money would plead forgiveness and tolera* tlon. . Blsa shrugged. But shrugs do not dismiss problems. She could have laughed. To have come all this way to solve a riddle, only to find a second more confusing than the first! Like a thief In the night. . She did not care to know what he had done, not half so mnch as to learn what he had been. Peculations of some order; of this she was reasonably sure. So why seek for details, when these might be sordid? Singapore would see the end, and she would become her normal self again. She clasped the necklace around her lovely throat She was dressing fov dinner. really dressing. An tmpisi mood tilled her with the irrepressible desire to shine in all her splendor to night. Covertly she would watch tilteyes el' mediocrity widen. Hitherto they had seen her in the simple white of travel Tonight they should behold the woman who had been notable among the beauties in Paris, Vienna, Koine, London; who had not married a duke simply because his title could not have added to the security of her ,tl. ... .. ... i position, socially or hnnnciaiiy. Into ilie little mirror above the wash stand she peered, with smiling and approving eyes. Never had she looked better. There was unusual color in her cheeks and the clarity of her eyes spoke illumlnatingly of superb health. The tan on her face was not made noticeable in contrast by her shoulders and arms, old ivory In tint and as smooth and glossy as ancient Carrara. "You lovely creature!" murmured Martha, touching an arm with her lips. "You are foolish to dress like this." She finished the hooking of Elsa's waist. "And why?" "In the first place there's nobody worth the trouble; and nobody but a duchess or a . . Martha paused embarrassedly. "Or a what? An improper person?" Elsa laughed. "My dear Martha, your comparisons are faulty. 1 know but two duchesses in tills wide world who are not dowdies, and one of them is an American. An improper person is generally the most proper, outside her peculiar environments. Can't you suggest something else?" Martha searched but found 110 suitable reply. She believed that she saw more clearly into the future than Elsa. Somonnfi wmilfl tnllr imH 111 flint I strange inscrutable fashion scandal has of reaching tlie ends of the earth, the story would eventually arrive home; and there, for all the professions of friendship, it would tlnd admittance. No door is latched when scandal knocks. Martha readily appreciated that it was all harmless, to be expressed by a single word, whim. But Martha herself never acted upon impulse; she tirst questioned what the world would say. So run the sheep. For years Martha had discharged her duties, if mechanically yet with a sense of pleasure and serenity. At tins moment she was as one pushed unexpectedly to the brink of a precipice, over which the slightest misstep would topple her. The world was out of joint. "I wish we had gone to Italy," she remarked finally. "It would not have served my purpose in the least. I should have been dancing and playing bridge and going to operas. I should have had 110 time for thinking." "Thinking!" Martha elevated her brows with an uir that implied that she greatly doubted this statement. "Yes, thinking. It is not necessary that 1 should mope and shut myself up in a cell, Martha, in order to think. 1 have finally come to the end of my doubts, if that will gratfy you. From now on you may rely upon one thing, to a certainty." Martha hesitated to put the question. "1 am not going to marry Arthur, llo is charming, graceful, accomplished; but 1 want a man. I should not be happy with him. I can twist him too easily around my finger. I admit that he exercises over me a certain indefinable fascination; but when lie is out of sight it amounts to the sum of all this doddering and doubting. It is probable that 1 shall make an admirable old maid. Wisdom has its disadvantages. 1 might be very Itnnnv with Artliur wnm I '"iMV " ?v?? .ivivni**, ?? u l IIUI i)U wise." She smiled again at the reflection in the mirror. "Now, let us go and astonish the natives." There was a mild flutter of eyelids as she sat down beside Warrington and began to chatter to him in Italian. Ho made a brave show of following her, but became hopelessly lost after a few minutes. Elsa spoke fluently; twelve years had elapsed since his last visit to Italy. He admitted his confusion, and thereafter it was only occasionally that she brought the tongue into the conversation. This diversion, which she employed mainly to annoy her neighbors, was, in truth, the very worst thing she could have done. They no longer conjectured; they assumed. Warrington was too strongly dazzled by her beauty tonight to be mentally keen or to be observing as was his habit. He never spoke to his neighbor; he had eyes for none but Elsa, under whose spell he knew that he would remain while he lived. He was nothing to her; he readily understood. She was restless and lonely, and he amused her. So b? It He believed that there could not be an unhappfer, more unfortunate man than himself. To have been betrayed by the one he had loved, second to but one, and to have this knowledge thrust upon him after all these years, was evil enough; but the nadir of his misfortunes had been reached by the appearance of this unreadable young woman. "You are not listening to a word I am say In*!" "1 beg your pardon! But I warned you that my Italian was rusty." He polled himself together. "But I have been rattling away in English!" "And I have been woolgathering.* "Not at atl complimentary to me." "It is because 1 am very unhappyi it is because Tantalus and I are broth* era." "I wish I could make you forget* "On the contrary, the sight of you makes memory all the keener." He had never spoken like that be* fore. It rather subdued her, made bar regret that she hail cui render?d to % vanity that was without aim or dlreotlon. Farthest from her thought was conquest of the man. She did not wish to hurt him. She was not a coquette. After dinner he did not suggest the usual promenade. Instead, he excused himself and went bolo v. They arrived at l\a : early -Monday morning. Klsn doc8,1 ! th-vt Warrington v' culd take iter : ::d :li rtha on a personally conde. i d t v: of the pretty town. As they !- for shore he produced a small kenutiblue feather; he gave it to ICIsa \uilv ;ne compliments of Knjah; an 1 she s.i.cU it in the pugree of her holvoM "This is not from the dove of peace." "Its aivhcnemy, rather." ho laughed. "1 wish 1 had the ability to get as furious as that bird. It mir.ht do a world of good." "And how long is it since you wcro here?" "Four years," he answered without enthusiasm. He would not have come ashore at all but for the fact that Elsa had ordered the expedition. There was no inclination to explore the shops; so they hired a landau and mm ' j ; Then His Boring Gaze Travelet^l. Over Her. ; rode about town, climbed up to th3quaint temple in the hills, and made aj i tour of the botanical gardens. g "Isn't it delicious!" murmured Elsa,l taking in deep breaths of the warm] spice-laden air. Since her visit to thej wonderful gardens at Kandy in Cey-7 Ion she had found a new interest in? plants and trees. { She thoroughly enjoyed tho fewi h /M . > .1 1 n ?M! * 1? - ? ? -* iivmi o un inuvi, utt'll UJ Lilt1 pOWWOW Warrington had with the unscrupulous driver, who, at the journey's end, substituted one price for another, despite his original bargain. As they waited for the tender that was to convey them back to the ship, Elsa observed a powerful middle-aged man, gray-haired, hawk-faced, steeleyed, watching her companion intently. Then his boring gaze traveled over her, from her canvas shoes to her helmet. There was something so baldly appraising in the look that a Hush of anger surged into her cheeks. The man turned and said something to his companion, who shrugged and smiled. Impatiently Elsa tugged at Warrington's sleeve. "Who is that man over the by the railing?" she asked in a very h... voice. "He looks as if he knew you." "Knew me?" Warrington echoed. The moment he had been dreading had come. Someone who knew him! He turned his head slowly, and Elsa, who had not dropped her hand, could feel the muscles of his arm stiffen under the sleeve. He held the stranger's eye defiantly for a space. The latter laughed insolently if silently. It was more for Elsa's sake than for his own that Warrington allowed the other to stare him down. The flame passed, leaving him as cold as ashes. "1 sh&U tell you who ho is later; not here." For the second time since that night on the Irrawaddy, Elsa recorded a disagreeable sensation. It proved to b% transitory, but at the time it served to establish a stronger doubt in regard to her independence, so Justifiable In her own eyes. It might be insidiously leading her too far away from the step* ping-off place. The unspoken words ha those hateful eyes! The man knew Warrington, knew him perhaps as *> malefactor, and judged his associates accordingly. She thus readily saw tho place she occupied In the man's estimation. She experienced a shiver of dread as she observed that he steppe# on board the tender. She even hear# him call back to his friend to expect him In from Singapore during the second week In March. Bat the drea# went away, and pride and anger grew instead. All the way back to the ehfe she held her chin In the air, and froKt time to time her nostrils dilated. Thafc look! If she had been nearer she ms certain that she won 14 hare strnefc him across the face. "There will be no one up in tie bow." said Warrington. "Will yon f* np there with me?" After a moment's hesitation, lit nodded. A moment after she felt tit old familiar throb nnder her feet, an* the ship moved slowly on! of the bay, "Do you know that that man cam* aboard ?" "Vtutinned next week) The ralne of all the gold produce* in the United States from 1792 to January 1, 1914, is estimated by the United States Geological Survey at $3,549,799/100; the value of the silver at $1,709,517,600. <