Ralph Stock

“ Tritton then passed on to the gem of his collection—a few synthetic pearls of the curio-store variety, which he held cupped in his unclean palm and submitted for inspection with an interrogative raising of the eyebrows. Beyond a few nods and duckings of recognition the audience remained unimpressed.
"He's right," Tritton told Bellairs excitedly when the last of the visitors had taken to their canoes and were paddling shoreward. "They just don't know."
It was late that night, and the partners were asleep, when a gentle rasping on the Moana's side brought Bellairs on deck. ”

“ Tritton nodded.
"Lead on, partner," said Bellairs.
A doubtful-looking individual in soiled ducks and a battered pith helmet awaited them on the veranda overlooking the sun-soaked beach. Bellairs bowed gracefully and ordered three glasses of the Polynesian's invariable from a Solomon Island houseboy.
"It's like this," said the individual, in unnecessarily subdued tones, when the three heads were well over the wicker table: "Ono's no good to any man." ”

“ Neither did Tritton.
"You are uncommunicative, my friend," observed Bellairs.
"What's the good of talking?" grumbled Tritton, who carried throughout life the air of one nursing a grievance.
"Talking is a recognized medium of intercourse," explained Bellairs sententiously. "It is one of the few proofs we possess that we are in any way removed above the beasts of the field. You surely wouldn't deprive us of our little conceit?"
"Then talk sense."
Bellairs sighed, and drew his knees closer to his chin.
"I will," he said. "Now that we are on Ono, what do we do?" ”

“ The Buli of Niama tugged a horny foot closer to his groin.
"I do not savvy, Mr. Bellairs," he said in his precise mission English, and with a perplexed wrinkling of the brow. "I send my daughter to sell you pearls because I run a curio store in Levuka for many year, and know how the white man loves them. I learn many things at my curio store in the great city; but what I do not learn is why, when I send you pearls, you will not buy but send me other pearls in exchange. ”

“ Tritton sprang to his feet impatiently.
"You make me tired," he stuttered. "We came out after pearls, didn't we? Well, we've got 'em. If they don't know what a pearl is, why shouldn't they be as satisfied with the curio-store brand as the real thing? Exchange is no robbery. If you want to pay for 'em into the bargain, you can, but leave me out of it."
Bellairs poured the coffee into a tin mug, drank it, and climbed into his bunk.
"There is something in what you say," he admitted, staring up at the Moana's dingy timbers. ”

“ He said a great deal more, and the brief tropical twilight had descended on Ono when the partners emerged from the Polynesian.
"A most informative person," was Bellairs's verdict as he strolled along the beach toward the harbour with Tritton in anxious attendance. ”

“ Fact is, they don't know. The Laus are not like the Paumotus or any recognized pearling-grounds, where every Kanaka is a born judge of stones. Here they find them sometimes, and just don't know what they've got. ”