Gordon Young

“ You are a bad crook, so I don't suppose one crime more or less means much to you, does it:"
"Naw, I'm bad!" said Billy grinning to himself in the darkness.
"Listen then. You kill Tomlin and I'll see that you get away. Let him live this night out and I'll put you in irons and carry you to Langar myself."
"Ooo-oo," said Billy. "I'm in a pickle."
"You are," said the Captain, speaking firm.
"With Tomlin out of the way, you think this girl can be consoled by being Mrs. Farwell. Am I some guesser?"
"You discuss your own business. Not mine."
"Sure. You've got what they call the upper hand." ”

“ The Captain appeared to be on the verge of blowing up; but she—she did not seem to notice. She smiled as she asked:
"Is Mr.—I mean is the Rev. Mr. Tomlin as—as pugnacious as you?"
"Him?" asked Billy. "Why, he trained me! He eats 'em alive."
"Cannibal, eh?" said the Captain. "I told you how white men degenerated among the natives," he remarked to her. Then of Billy he asked, "Is this Rev. Mr. Tomlin married or—"
He stopped right there. Billy didn't quite know what the Captain was driving at, but sensed enough to make him want to fight.
"Has Mr. Tomlin a wife?" she asked. ”

“ Her hair was red and her eyes were purple with fire in them; her lips were red as a flame-tree's flower, or maybe more red. She was slender without being slim and moved as easily as a pandanus leaf swinging in a little breeze. ”

“ Billy inquired.
"Not properly, of course. But they can smuggle him out. Once they get their hands on him they will not stop to ask questions until they get to New York. This fellow is so resourceful and tricky that they won't give him half a chance to make trouble for them."
Billy did not answer. He was beginning to feel a kind of companionable sympathy for the lizards that he and Tomlin caught and smothered in chloroform before "picklin' 'em." ”

“ The natives made a dash for the beach, tumbled into canoes and went splashing out to give greetings and get presents.
Tomlin was off in the bush chasing bugs and things.
Billy, not being anxious to receive visitors himself, went near the beach and reclined behind a convenient rock.
Presently he saw a boat dropped from the davits. People got into it. One of them was a woman. They landed on the beach and, in about two minutes, Billy sauntered out to make sure that she was as pretty as she looked. ”

“ He was not much of a sailor and besides it had seemed natural for ships to have tall poles and wires and ropes.
"Mr. Rand," said the Captain, when he came, "I'm sending to Langar a description of the man we met on the island this afternoon."
Of course, he said it that way so the sailors wouldn't understand.
"And I believe," he went on, "that I can persuade the owner of the Petrel that it would be wiser to go back by way of Langar." ”

“ When her husband died from overwork of the stomach, she inquired and found that Tomlin had turned missionary to the Caroline Islands. She talked with her mother, and the mother, having known all along how Lorraine felt, said to do it, so Lorraine sent Tomlin a letter (the mail is delivered to stray missionaries once every three or four years) , took the Petrel, engaged Captain Farwell, and set out to locate Tomlin, being aided thereby through the Board by Foreign Missions which had him down on its payroll for $35 every three months. ”

“ And Captain Farwell, being a single man and feeling himself as attractive as any missionary, continually told her of how white men degenerated in the tropics and—well, the inference was that no woman could ask for a better husband than a sailorman of just his height and age. ”

“ It stood this way with Billy: The District Attorney back in New York was after the Chief. Certain contractors lost money on a job and that made them peevish, so they swore that they had handed out a bribe to get the contract awarded to them. The Chief stood pat and said: "Prove it!" Billy had carried the money. If Billy confessed, the District Attorney had the proof. But Billy jumped. If he should be caught and still refuse to come through with a confession, it was highly probable that the District Attorney would pry loose some little episodes in Billy's past and hand him something. ”

“ In normal spirits he would have told the Captain that the description fitted himself—the Captain—pretty closely. But Billy was in no mood for humor.
"I am telling you all this so that in case you ever run across the fellow you can send word to Langar. Quite a reward for him, I understand. The detectives are waiting there. They heard the Petrel was cruising about, and asked the steward to notify everybody on board. They are very impatient. I am sure if they got wind of where the fellow was they would hire a schooner and go for him." ”

“ Her father offered to help Tomlin along in business, but Tomlin insisted that his career was in studying bugs, and that made the father peevish and he said that Tomlin didn't need help. Naturally Tomlin then grew more peevish and said that the father and his money could go to the—well, wherever it is that rich men go on Judgment Day when they fail to get through the eye of the needle. And, of course, that made Lorraine peevish, and she said that Tomlin didn't love her. ”

“ Tomlin. I am a friend—a former friend of his."
So Billy led them up to the house, and the natives came along chattering and grinning and wanting to touch the woman's clothes. Billy warned them off repeatedly with a strange mixture of native words and New York slang. The Captain, speaking like a man does who has something on his mind, asked:
"And how long have you been here, Rev. Mr. Rand?"
"Me? Oh, let's see. Two—no not quite two years. Be two years soon. A feller sort o' loses track of time in a place like this, you know." ”

“ It was a question uppermost in Billy's mind.
"I mean any of these islands—off like this. Just before we left Langar I heard of a couple of detectives from New York. They have tracked their man half way around the world, and discovered that about two months ago—maybe a little less—he left Langar with a German trader. The trader is out now on a trip and they're waiting for him to come back and tell them where he dropped this man. ”