KATE MEREDITH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13485, 11 May 1907, Page 3 (Supplement)

KATE MEREDITH.

[PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.] \

. by c. J. CtI'iCLIFFE HTNE, v . Author of "Adventures of Captain Kettle," ( " Through Arctic Lapland," " Mr. Horrocks, Purser," " The Lost Continent," etc.

[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.] CHAPTER XVIII. . It was Captain Image returning red and wrathful from an unsuccessful cargo foray amongst the southern and eastern factories that Carter met the day after his arrival at the coast. The mariner had heard of the [deal at Mokki, and felt personally affronted that a nest of cargo which he had already looked upon as his own should have been handed over once more to the' Germans. "So you're on the beach, are you?" said he, looking Carter up and down with vast disapproval. " I must say you look it. I've seen old Swizzle-Stick Smith come down after a jaunt in the bush, and thought he couldn't be beat for general shagginess and rags. But you give him points. What did Miss Kate bounce you for?" "I believe I resigned." "Same thing. And now you've come to ask me to take you home as a distressed British subject, I suppose. Well, Carter, me lad, a deck passage is your whack according to Consular understanding, but you've sat in my chart house, and youve sent me cargo, and so I'm going to put my hand in my own breeches pocket, and take you home in the second-class. And I tell you what: Chips' and the bo's'n have got a shop in the fo'c's'le that I'm not supposed to know about, and if you care to go in there and get enough rig out to see you home, I'll foot the bill." • " You're very good • "I know I am. It puts me about five weeks further off that* hen farm outside Cardiff that I want to retire on to, being gocd like this. There, , run away out of this charthouse, mo lad, and tell the chief steward to give you a square blow-out of white man's chop one-time. I'm sure you need it. I never saw a man with so much of the lard stewed off, i him." , . : ; -Carter laughed. ,/AW-ill you let me- slip a word in? I've a cargo for you." ; ' "What I - .You!" '/• • . . . "I'm afraid you won't make much commission out of it, cappie, as you'll have to take it at ballast rates." "Catch me." "But there'll be about seventy, tons of it as far as I can reckon." " My Christian aunt! do you tell me, Carter, me lad, that you've scratched up seventy tons of cargo? Here, sit down. No, sit down. Don't talk! I'm not going to have you going away and calling the M'poso a dry ship." Captain Image had no tariff rate for tin ore, but he invented one with great readiness, and then knocked off ten per cent, by way of encouraging a new industry. "Now, where is this mine of yours?" lie asked, genially. "Tell me and I warrant I'll find you an easier way to bring your produce than paddling it in dug-outs." "Up the river." "Well, let's look at your charts, melad." Carter shook his head. "Why, .how's that? Haven't you made one?" '• "Oh, I've made one right . enough, but it's inside my skull, and out of public view." "H'm," said Image. "Don't want any competitors, eh, Carter, me lad?" "Why should I?" "Well, drink up, and let ni6 fill your glass. Here, have another squirt of bitters." " No, thanks, cappie, no more. I drank enough champagne with the King of Okkj to last me months. I've got a lot of big business ahead of me, and I want a clear head. Now, if you take this consignment of tin ore home for me, and rob me as little as you can help over freight, what's next? Swansea and a' smelter, I suppose?" ■ " They're a bit Welsh down in Swansea," said Captain Image, who came from' Cardif - himself. "They'll do with a trifle of looking after. What you want's a smart agent."' ■ • "■ " The thing I want first and soonest is cash. Now, look here, cappie, you know Swansea, and you're fond, by the Coast account, of a bit of commission. Well, here's a nice lump of it on offer. If you'll get some smelter firm to buy this parcel _ of ore on assay and pay casn for it, I'll give you five per cent, on what you raise." "It's a deal. You couldn't have come to a beter man, Carter, me lad. I'll open you an account at. the Bank of West Africa" "And get the whole balance cabled out hero-'.' "I was going to suggest that," said Captain Image, doubtfully, "if you hadn't rushed me so. But you won't want the lot. • Now, with fifty pounds or so—" "I want every sixpence. Man, do you think I'm going to nibble at my cake now it's been given me?" Kallee's straight, I firmly believe. But what's his life worth?" : Captain Image shook his head. "Very heavy drinker even for a darkie, and of course he hasn't a. white man's advantages in knowing the use of drugs." "Besides, there are the usual risks of kings and of Africa. He's put down the local anarchist. He cooked the only two who tried to assassinate him, and took a day about it over slow fires, and that discouraged the breed in Okky. But still there are risks. So that altogether he's not a p £Ood life, and if he was to go, out, it's quite on the cards his heirs, successors, and assicns might not recognise my title." "You're right, me lad. What you've got to do is to rip the guts , out of that mine at the biggest pace possible, and I'll bring in the M'poso round here to load every time I come along the coast." Carter ~ nearly laughed. He knew the capacity of his mine—quarry, it was, rather and the hold space of the little M'poso. Tin : was wavering about just , under £176 per ton just then; he had reckoned that he could produce for £10 a ton; and the more profit- he could get, the more pleased he would be. But he was not afraid of bringing down the price; lie had plenty of margin for a cut. His only fear was" that the river road might be stopped before lie made his fortune. And he intended to empty the veins of Tin Hill at the highest speed that all the strained resources of Africa were capable of,, and if necessary to keep three i steamers the size of the little M'poso ferry-

rig'his riches across to the markets. But did .not let out any word of this to Image. If' the locality and the enormous vealth of this, mine were to leak out, nohing could prevent a rush. At the existing noment he was penniless, and in any great nflux of 'capital and men must inevitably )e''swamped. Secrecy was; essentially 'his *ame for the present. : So he ' accepted Captain Image's proposal in"-, the' spirit in which it was made, and ;hen put forward feelers for a steam-launch. Was there such i a thing : already on; the 2oast, that one . could pick up cheap just ihen. ; ; ;i -v".: - '■■■■ .-■:. '•' - r - : ■■': ■•■ ?' Captain Image lit a thoughtful pipe.' " I Jon't know of any little steamboat that you jould buy just now out here, cheap or dear. There are ; one or two in Sarry Leone certainly, but they are all either too big ■ for four job, or too tender to bring round the ;oast.'" /'.:'• .. _ : "I'm a hit of a mechanic, you know. I wouldn't mind nursing engines. Sly boy, WTiite-Man's-Trouble, too, would make, according to his own account, a pretty decent second engineer." > - . "Oh, I know him. Used to be stand-by - at crane boy on the Secondee, and stole everything that wasn't nailed down. : But you'd never get one of those Sarry Leone wrecks round here without being drowned in the process.; I tell you what, though. D'ye know anything about motor-cars, melad?" r • . ' "Why?" asked Carter, who had never bandied one in his life. . i, " Because at Dutton and Madison's factory, at Copper River, they've got an old wreck of an oil-launch, if she hasn't rotted and sunk at moorings, that you could have cheap." ' ' " Everything cheap is dear to me just how. I haven't a penny in my pocket. But what do you mean by cheap?" "Well, she certainly wasn't out ' in the river the last three times I called, but 1 did hear they'd hauled her up a creek. But if she hasn't sunk at moorings, and the ants haven't walked off with her, I, should think you " could get the bits that rust couldn't eat for three ten-pound notes." "Does she burn petrol?" ' ."No, ordinary canned paraffin. I know that was supposed to be the great point about her when she was brought out. Only trouble was she didn't seem to be an amateur's boat at all, and after the first week or so they're wasn't a soul in the factory that could get her to steam at all. So they tied her up to a buoy, and did their business in the old dug-outs and the . surfboats as formerly." . ; "'I wonder if the old chief has got an emery wheel down in your engine-room?" Captain Image started at this change of subject, and ran a finger round inside his collar to shift the perspiration. 'What do you want an einery wheel for? Sharpen your wits on?' ;" No, my razor. If I go and try and buy a motor-launch with this red wool on my chin, they'll toko me for the wild man down from the back beyond, and stick up the ' price." • ■• _ ' '" Quite right. You've a very sound business mind, Carter me lad. You can, I believe, get a very sound thing in razors for a shilling at that fo'c's'le shop, if Chips is still keeping one, and whilst I was buying I should get a bottle or two of Eno if I were you. Capital thing to keep your liver down to gauge.". ' .' ' "I want to get all .these things." said Carter, emphatically. " I daresay indeed I should like to buy up. practically the whole of Chips' remaining stock, partly for my own use and partly to take up country. But the fact still remains unaltered that until I can get an advance against bills of lading I am without a, copper in my pocket. . I suppose that greedy hound Balgarhie is the man to see about finance, though." .- '• j *"He is a greedy hound, Carter, me lad, between you and me. Let me fill up your glass. ' No, don't put your hand .across it. Well, I'll finish the bottle if you won't. You're open, just as a matter of form, to giving a.lien on that cargo you're shipping? Just; as a matter of form, of course, .in case'... you peg out before things can be j squared up?" ~„•'■..' I Certainly, . and I'm willing to give five per.cent, per month for the accommodation." . , "Oh, come now, mo lad, 10 per cent.'s the usual. But I don't want to be stiff with an old ■, friend like you, so we'll call.it seven : and. a-half." ; Captain linage went to the drawer under' the ..chart-table end J unlocked; it. '" Come now, say what you want. Anywhere up to £50." . . ii";.l Couldn't,possibly -do with less than a hundred*,;' : said Carter definitely, and with that' '■ 'they, began openly to wrangle. But it turned out that Captain Image, even, with "the help of his financial partner, Mr. "Balgarnie, could only raise 74 sovereigns,' and with that the other had to be content. He gave his bond, and < stood at the head" of the M'poso's ladder ready to go back .to his boat. But Captain Image, with genuine hospitality," dragged him back. :""i. ' "I'm not going to let you go like this, me lad. I've one turkey- left in the refrigerator, "and if you peg out afterwards up those beastly rivers, I'd always like to think I'd stood you one good, dinner when the chance came in my way. Come now, Carter, me lad, turkey-chop? There's not another skipper on the . Coast. that would make you an offer like that. - ' . Carter laughed and'gave in, and turned towa'rds the flesh pots. He did not like turkey. Once in Upper Wharfedale his father had come home from Skipton with thirty turkey poults, which the family reared with vast care, and thereafter had to eat. v Turkey once per annum is a luxury, twice cloys, but thirty times, when legs follow breast, and wings are succeeded by side bones, would weary any man living. Bub by custom' in ;. West Africa, . turkey from a steamer's refrigerator is the height of luxury, and Carter recognised the hospitable .motive. .V ■ '■.■■• Captain Image, when mellowed by food and wine that night, talked of Miss Kate O'Neill,' and Carter, behind an elaborate indifference, listened with a hungry interest. She was floating rubber companies, it appeared, with enormous success. She had very nearly been engaged to a law sharp named Austin, but had got out of it in time. She was reported in Liverpool to be struck on some palm oil clerk on the Coast, •but' Captain Image proclaimed that ,to be rot, arid what did Carter, me lad, think?" "Well, of course, there was Cascaes," said , Carter judicially, " but I don't see there was anyone else. , All the rest of the men she met out 'here were either married or engaged." But George Carter whistled cheerfully to the stars as his boat boys paddled him up through the steaming mangroves to ;" his abiding place that night, and Mr. Balgarnie ana' Captain Image nudged one another delightedly as they listened to bis music. Button and Madison's launch, that ought to have served , the factory in Copper River, turned out upon inspection to be even worse than Captain Image had forecasted, and the -.agent .in charge was most enthusiastic in: accepting the two five-pound notes that were offered for her. And thereafter , for , Carter and White-Man's-Trouble began a period of savage toil.' _ The white man was a mechanic born, but he bad never seen an oil engine in his life, knew nothing of clutch, water-jackets or reversing gear, and had to make his first acquaintanceship with a carburetter. The men at. the factory were frankly ignorant of the launch's mechanism; said so, indeed, before they sold her. ' '."But I know we have got a plan thing of the works stowed away somewhere," the agent stated. " Can you understand-a machine from seeing a drawing?" "Rather," said Cartel*. : "Well, we'll find it," said the agent, and they wasted two days .in turning over every scrap of paper the factory contained, but the blue prints refused to discover themselves. : , "Let you off your bargain if you like/' said the agent ruefully, when the place had been searched through without success. . .Not a bit," said Carter. "Lend me a couple of boys; and I'll take those engines down and learn 'em for myself." : Now "to anyone who does not know the hot, steamy, climate of a West African river from personal experience, the manner in which unguarded iron work can decay would sound beyond the borderland of fact. A nut left long enough on a bolt hi that moist stew of heat does not always merely rust fast. As often as not, when one takes hold of it with a spanner the whole thing crumbles away into oxide. The 45-foot launch, * when Carter ; first took her over, lay half water-logged in the middle of ; the slimy creek. : She was an open- boat, with -her engines housed under

a wooden, hutch aft, which had been further reinforced by some, rotten tarpaulins. She 1 had no in-board reversing ; gear, but was .' fitted with a feathering propeller,, which, 1 if all went well, would: drive her astern. ] As she lay there she was a perfect picture of what could: bo done by .neglect and ; ignorant handling, and there was not an- _< other man then resident under that' ener- i vating West- African climate who would i have thought her worthy of salvage. But i Carter had got just that dogged drop in < him that brings men out to the front, and he proceeded to clean, up the launch's meagre tools" and her spares, to borrow what others he could from the factory, and ' then to attack the engines. It was here that the prodigiousness of his job first displayed itself. ; The brass work was sound enough, even West Africa could not eat into that ; but everything iron was spongy with rust, and he had to set up a forge and weld and shape afresh, out of any scrap he could find about the factory, , each part as he destroyed it. .- There was no such thing as a lathe about the place. There were not even taps and ', dies. He had to punch slots through his \ bolts and lighten them up with forge and J wedges. For the out-board work on the [ | feathering propeller, he put the launch on j the bank and worked up to his armpits in . the stinking slime, fitting, drilling, and riveting with imperfect tools. • • The labour and the exposure very naturally brought its reward m a sharp dose of • fever, but White-Man's-Trouble attended i to that after the manner of the heathen, I and he emerged from it litle the worse, i and bore with composure the derision of the other Europeans at the factory when they i saw his whitened eye sockets. The engines were not ornamental when he had finished with them, and they were i cumbered with a hundred makeshifts but I when he gave the whole a final inspection, i he told himself that nO vital part had es--5 caped a satisfactory repair. By a mercii ful chance there was tube ignition, and 5 after a good deal of manipulation he got the burners to.light. Then, when the bunsens roared and the tubes glowed hot in their cage, he and the Krooboys ground at , the starting handle, and turned the engines • till the sweat ran from them in rivulets. In England Carter had heard without under- : standing that internal combustion liked r their right mixture." He was thoroughly i practised in finding the right mixture for • that elderly oil engine before it coughed . itself into any continuous activity. j The heavy oil for. lubricating that had i originally been sent out Messrs. Button and Madison's agent still had in stock, be- [ cause, as he explained, he had found no ; possible means of disposing of it, and the t ordinary commercial square' tins of ' parafin i were part of the wares they always held in quantity. So Carter was able to buy fuel I in all abundance for his voyage. Food also ihe laid in, and a great "roll'of canvas, and ! then turned to his host to say good-bye. ) "Wait a bit, man," said the agent, "and we'll build you a cabin out of that canvas I that will keep at least the thick of the dew [ off you at nights. There are c sockets along 5 the gunwales for awning stanchions that s will carry bamboo side poles capitally, and . we can lash duplicate roof poles across, and 3 rig you a double roofed tent in style." { " Very much obliged," said Carter; "but I won't wait. for that now. I intend to do 1 it as we go up river. ; You'll notice I have [ shipped a big bundle of ; bamboos for the e work. Good-bye." ' ■f " You seem in the devil of a, hurry." " I am. Good-bye. Now then, Trouble, t shove over that feathering lever to make f the boat go ahead. Confound ' you, that's Y astern, you bushman. There, that's better, d Good-bye all." > " Good-bye boy, and good luck," said the agent, and he told his. subordinates at. sup- , per that night that another good keen'man r had gone off to disappear in Africa. . .But Carter was 'developing into, one of . those tough, tactful i fellows that people call a lucky because they always seem to succeed ? in whatever they set a hand to.v When the i flood tide was , under her, the launch e coughed her way up the great beer-coloured river at a rate that sometimes touched, ten e knots to the hour. :; She added her own i- scents of 'half-burned paraffin arid scorched , lubricating oil to the crushed marigold odour s of the water, and disgusted all the crocoJ diles who pushed up '. their ugly , snouts to t see what came between : the wind and their t nobility. ;On the ebb she still hauled up I past the.mangroves at a good (Steady-two j miles every hour. '~'■'' < ■-•■ The engine with rational treatment seema ed a.very decent : ,sort.of machine, thougr i tho"'feathering propeller, even : jtill its firiai . days, was always liable to moods of uncer- >,' tainty, and after twenty-four hours of send- •, mg the launch ahead, would without any 5- warning suddenly begin to pull her astern, e Still these erratic moods always yielded tc t treatment, and': considering that she had 0 been bought without a • rag of reputation; i Carter was always full of surprise at proa longed spells of good behaviour.. He did not go up direct "as he had come i, down in the King of Okky's sixty - power war canoe. . He prospected the labys rinth of waterways for other channels, and a charted them out , with infinite care. ■' He a intended to take every possible precaution , for preserving the secrecy of his mine. Even t if he was followed, and he took it for grantd ed that on some future voyage he presently would be followedj he" wanted to be abk 1 to puzzle pursuit. e At a point agreed upon he put into a vils lage which sprawled along the bank, and h presented the King's mandate, and demand--7 ed canoes. The villagers gave them with d out enthusiasm . and ' without ; demur. He :- took these, in tow, great cotton-wood dugn outs that -would hold a hundred men apiece, d and hauled ; them .after; him, ; winding ;'.' through great tree-hedged waterways ; where y twilight reigned -half the \ day, and:. then t coming out between vast parklike siivan- - nahs where the sun scorched them unchecked, and grazing deer tempted the rifle. ;; '-. 1 When' he arrived' at Tin Hill again, the - King's finger had left a visible mark. Great 4' heaps of picked ore lay along the waterside - ready for loading the flotilla. " Good man. t Kallee," saidi the Englishman appreciativei ly. "I'll dash you a new State umbrella > for that." - '' - ;: > ; ; ' a .The water bellows organ that he had set e up at the foot of the waterfall bellowed out )'i its poo-paa-bumm, and against each of the e bamboo pipes . there, fluttered a bunch oj red dyed feathers to show that that other " ju-ju man, His Majesty of Okky, countere signed the warning riot to unduly trespass, e.. . ' Cargo after cargo Carter rushed down tc ■ the coast and dumped on land he had hired 5 behind a factory.' Ever and again he sent ? a tidy parcel of ore to a smelter in England, 3 and in due time had more money put to his " credit at the Bank of West Africa. But he • did not try any extensive tricks with the ■>- home tin market just then. He had got out * a new launch— more solid affair this time » —driven by a 60 h.p. petrol, engine, that 3 had a low tension magneto ignition, and so > many other improvements on its predeces- : sors that Wbite-Man's-Trouble, who had ' it in charge, tied a dry monkey's paw to " the' compression cock on each cylinder head 5 as an extra special protective ju-ju. He carried a cook and an oil-stove galley, and at last even bought two tin plates and ' a knife and fork to assist, his, meals. He r felt it was pandering to luxury, but he did * it all the same. When he made that pur- - chase, he wondered how he would behave ij in a woman's society after so long living as ' a savage. As an afterthought he told himself that Laura was. the woman he had in > his mind, and hoped he would not shock - her with his crudities. By way of carry- ' ing out good intentions to the full, he sat down there and then and wrote to her, and marvelled to find how little he had to 1 say.-. ■ - ' ■■' r -,;; ■■ s ■ ".' ' Then one day he came across Slade. " A canoe drew in alongside as he was " towing down river with his tenth cargo, , and brought off a note which said that there .was a white man, ashore who had run 1 out of everything, and would be eternally grateful for any European food that could 1 be spared, and would . gladly 'give him 5 IOU for some, as he was out of hard cash at the moment of writing, and had mis--5 laid his cheque book. 1 Carter had his misgivings, but sent off • a goodly parcel of food and tobacco, and ' continued "his way down stream. But the I channel was new to . him— he had a, sus- ' picion of being watched on his . ordinary » router- \he ran on a; sand bar on an 1 ebbing tide, and the heavily laden dugouts '■ were soon perched high and dry. So White-Man's-Trouble switched off his magneto, '* and stopped, the engines, and Carter got } under his mosquito bar and prepared for i work when the flood would make and once * more set his-flotilla afloat.

: To him then dozing with a cold cigar jetween his : teeth "there > entered Owe-it Blade in the limp flesh, and Carter put & land under the gauze net to greet his prosactive father-in-law. Slade looked curiously at both the launch rad her tow. " You've i been getting hold >f a gold mine of sorts, I V.By the way, as you've arranged to start work as my son-in-law, I suppose I ought to get more familiar, and call you Henry, or "whatever it is." "George, as a matter of fact." " I believe you're right. George is what Laura did say. My mistake Where is your gold mine?" " It's tin.- And it's tip the rivers." " Oh, keep it dark, my dear! fellow, if you like. Not that it makes the smallest odds, as far as I am concerned. You'd never catch me sweating after a mine. Besides, as a point oi fact, I'm doing pretty well at my present job. Getting rubber properties, you know, for the mysterious Kate." Miss O'Neill." " Oh, certainly. Miss O'Neill, if yon prefer it, though i" don't see why you need, be a prig with me." "My late employer, yon know." "Ah, of course. And you admired her more than a little, so 1 gathered from Laura's letters, though she carefully refrained from saying so." Carter pulled himself through the mosquito bar, and hit the edge of the bunk. Now, look here, Slade, I've known you ever since I've been on the Coast, but this is the first time we've met on the new footing. I don't want to quarrel with my prospective father-in-law, but by Christopher, if you don't leave Miss O'Neill out oi the tale, as far as I'm concerned,, there's going to be a row. Kindly remember I'm engaged to Laura, and intend to many her whether you like it or whether you don't." \ ■ . ■ Slade laughed. "Nice filial sort of statement, that! but don't mind me. If you suit Laura's taste, * I'll swallow you too. I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear that I'm making a goodish thing of it myself just now. Kate beg your pardon O'Neill pays me my regular screw, and ir addition gives me a nice sum down on every property I've bought for her, and a tidy block of shares when there's a company floated. I shall be able to give you and Laura a decent wedding present— scrip By the way, is she at "Smooth River?" "No, Grand Canary." Slade stiffened. " How's that?" "Africa wasn't safe for her. You oiighl to be—well, ashamed of yourself foi leaving her here. You knew the dange'i from old Kallee a big sight better than sh< did. And you left her without a cent. t< get away with, and not an ounce of ere dit." , "Then," said Slade, stiffly, "do I under stand that, she's gone to the" islands at you: expense?" " You can understand what you please,' said Carter truculently. ; " Are you married to her?" , "I am not at present. I shall be as sooi as it suits Laura's convenience and m; own." . ;.-,;;'■,' ~ " You will kindly understand that I re sent your interference with my finances, an< my daughter's." , ' ' L ' : You may resent," said the prospectiv son-in-law, "till you're black in the face and I shan't lose sleep over it." Bang went something outside, and Slad started. " Good Lord, Vhe said, "there' somebody firing at us. : ; Sit down, mar on the floor." ; . "Nothing of the kind," said Carter, test ily. "My boy Trouble has got the engine going to try to work us off this bank, an with his usual cleverness he has contrive a' back fire, that's all. There—you ca' smell it. Now I don't think you are quarrelsome man as a ■ general thing." - ; "Not I. ' Too much trouble to quarre with people." ' ■ " Well,' I'll just ask ' you to , give Laur and myself your benediction, and leave tb rest-"to us."■.■'"■ ', ■'■ ', Slade let off his limp laugh. ' " If a wee ding present of such dubious value Iwi please you, I'm most pleased to give il Especially :as I see you're inclined' to stic to my little girl. To tell the truth, ■: I'< heard you were after ' somebody * else, jan it made mc rather mad. You know' hoi rumours float about in the bush." ." ';'-."' Carter's lips tightened. ':';'" Who's th other person, please?' .' "Oh, just *my present employer— your late one. But I've no doubt it's all mistake." ; ;•;' "' '',"',''" "If you'll apply to her, I've no doul she'll endorse that sentiment most tho: oughly. .1 don't think Miss O'Neill's person' to .throw herself away.; on one < her own ex-servants." " '' Slade chuckled, "If you put it that waj I'm sure she , isn't. ' By the way, do yo know 1 who she f is?" '■ '■■'■:■"■' . " What do you mean?" " . ;* "Well, I suppose you've discovered b this time that the late Godfrey O'Neill we a bachelor,/ and Kate's no relation to 'hit at all. He and his sister Jane, who mai ried a hopeless f. blackguard called Cravei adopted her between them and brought he up.; I' I've never fagged ■ myself 'to: find lox how, she was. bred, < but . you're one of tho? energetic fellows that like to dig into pod grees, and I thought probably you'd know. . ' I don't know, and I sha'n't inquire." " All right, don't get excited about it neither ' shall I. D'ye know I think if yo could soften that genial manner withoi straining yourself, it would be an improv) ment. I'm 'led to believe that fathers-ii law expect civility, and even at times certain mild amount of deference." "Did you defer to your father-in-law? asked Carter brutally. The tone was insulting and the meanin plain, and 99 men out of 100 in a simila place would have resented .it fiercely. Bt Slade ! merely yawned. His; sallow fac neither twitched nor changed its tin! He got up and stretched ' himself lazily i" So, that's the trouble, is it? Well, yo didn't ask me to consult you when I chos a wife, and I didn't ask you to fall in lov with my daughter." ; He turned his hea and eyed Carter thoughtfully. : "You at in love with her, I suppose?" , "Can you suggest any other possible ret son why I .should ask her to marry me? "Well, I can hardly i imagine you did i for the honour of an alliance with me. V suppose if I were an energetic man I shoul try and worry out what it is you're so soi about. ' It must be something beyond th detail that Laura's got a touch of : colon in her, because of course, you knew tha from the first moment you met her. Bu I guess the something else will show: itse' in its own good time. In the meanwhil if you'll give me an account of what yo advanced to Laura for this Grand Canar trip, I'll give you ah lOU for it. don't care to be indebted to anyone fc things like that." - "Til perhaps send in the bill when I hea there's a possibility of getting cash pay ment," said Carter drily. And then for the first ; time Slade los his temper, and he cursed his future .son in-law with all an old coaster's point an fluency. Every man has his tender point and here was 'Owe-itSlade's. _ Through out all his life he had never paid a bill i he could help it, and he had accepted th consequent remarks of injured parties wit an easy philosophy. But it seemed ; h owned a nice discrimination; some item were "debts of honour," and these he ha always sooner or later contrived to settk And the account which he decided he owe Carter .for Laura's maintenance in Gran Canary he set down as one which no gen tleman could leave unpaid without smirch ing his gentility. ■ - : ' ; ! (To bo continued on Safcnrdav next.}