Ralph Stock

“ Kefford gave an hysterical cackle of exuberation. "It is unknown, Mr. Charteris, unknown! Do you realise what that means? It is the Corona—you notice the crown formation—the Corona Keffordi! Ah, you cannot understand," he went on, taking down the bundle from the tent pole and placing his rarest treasure in a compartment of leaf and moss to itself with trembling hands. "When a man has orchids, he has no need of children. They are his children; he can tend them, breed them, perhaps give his name to them, though it is given to few to do this. ”

“ Charteris got to his feet, walked to the tent door and back again.
"Look here, Mr. Kefford," he said, "I won't apologise for meddling in an affair that doesn't concern me, because it's a habit of mine, and, what's more, I do it out of vulgar curiosity; but, if you have no objection, I should like to camp here and watch the fun."
Kefford's pale blue eyes grew round behind their glasses.
"If you think you will extract any entertainment——" he began.
"I'm easily amused," said Charteris, "and I may be of use. Where are your boys?" ”

“ The next day Charteris was kept busy, but on the second he went far enough afield to assure himself that Burns and his retinue had vanished.
On his way back to camp, he unhitched a banana leaf bundle from the lower branch of a dabi tree close to the edge of the glade, and rehung it near the sick man's bed.
Kefford was lying very still, staring stonily at the mosquito net. Charteris lifted it and knelt at his side.
"Do you think you're strong enough to stand a bit of good news?" he asked. ”

“ I tried the swamp to-day, Mr. Charteris. It stretches for miles and miles to the westward. It quakes as you pick your way from tussock to tussock, and it is impossible to stand in one spot for more than a few seconds. ”

“ Kefford smiled his wan smile.
"Really," he said, "I hardly noticed——"
"Well," said Charteris, "perhaps you'll notice a brace of pigeon and a slice of bush pig, or, if you don't, it won't be Johnnie's fault."
Half an hour later Charteris's camp was made. He never carried a tent, for the reason that Johnnie's improvised shelters of branches and green banana leaf were equally watertight and a great deal cooler.
When Kefford's boys returned—two sleek youths in "store" shirts and spotless sulus, gingerly carrying an armful of brushwood apiece—they received the shock of their lives. ”

“ Again and again he gripped some part of the fugitive's wriggling, dodging anatomy, and again and again it melted through his fingers until, in sheer exasperation, he leapt blindly with outstretched arms and bore him, still writhing, to the ground. ”

“ Get to work on the fire, you. And you, clean up. Look at those plates! And sling those bullamacow tins half a mile out of here before all the ants on Vanua Levu get at us! Lift your feet!"
For a moment they stood regarding this apparition of authority in stolid amazement, then obeyed. Thereafter, Johnnie's dignified delight at having someone to order about was almost pathetic.
That evening, after a meal that had the extraordinary effect of causing Kefford to leave the topic of orchids for over half an hour, Mr. Burns strolled into camp. ”

“ He is a wealthy man, Mr. Charteris—a very wealthy man—and he has the finest collection in the United Kingdom, which means the world. It is a curious thing, but the same idea must have struck Raymond and myself at much the same time, though we were then seventeen thousand miles apart, for when I landed at Levuka, the first thing I read in the local paper was the announcement of the arrival of his agent, a man Burns by name. ”