THE NOVELIST. [Purlished by Special Arrangement.]

Otago Witness, Issue 2857, 16 December 1908, Page 71

THE NOVELIST. [Purlished by Special Arrangement.]

THE ADVENTURES OF LARRY BLAKE.

By Loins Becku, Author of "Notes From My South Sea Log,"' "Sketches in Normanbv," "By Reef and Palm." rLjr CHAPTER XI. t/MBgßPrn^ l' Vl?< * quickly in those EmßSmjflKW money-making City of the nEfttayßfe- <^°^ en Gate. and the MSEMSB3I of *■'** previous *W£om^& .night. * might never have 4*g[iMaffljp^ occurred, so quickly was JMmSMfy it forgotten ; a-nd when at 10 o'clock in the morning I made my way down Montgomery street to the offices of the Magdalena lsay Concessions Company there was nothing "unusual to be noted. People were hurrying about to and fro in the usual restless manner so indicative of American commercial life ; the horse cars were running as usual, and although the fire had destroyed a million dollars' worth of '.

property ar.d half a score of dead men were lying in the city police hospital, business was goin-g on as usual. Outside the morning newspaper offices," however, there were groups of men scanning the bulletin boards to learn ii any fresh news of the struggle between Francs and Germany had comer

I had written my Tesponse to the advertisement early in" the niornii2r? with the intention of posting it, but Mrs Lynch — we always tcld Mrs Lynch everything — gave me**a bit of advice.

"Tako the letther yersilf, an' take wid ye a five-dollar gold piece ; and walk intel th' office as if ye was as rich as Jay Gould or Jim Fisk, an' gave it t' wan ay the quill drivers, or army wan ay th' understhrappers, an' say that it's an important communicashun Fr th' gineral manager, an' musht be prisinted to him at wanst. An' thin ye come away — after ye give the understhrapper the five-dollar piece.''

I found the offices of the Magdalena Bay. Concessions, at the -end of Montgomery street, and already the staff of clerks seemed, te* be very busy, -attending, to quite a wurober' of people and answering, in- j quirje3 made in, many languages. The inquirers appeared- to be mostly Russians \ alad, -Polish Jews, Hungarians, and people , from the Daiiubian principalities. They ! were a dirty, filthy lot, but seemed to j hare money ; for as they made out certain. ( applications they paid deposits — sometimes j as much' as 50 to 100 dollars. The place smelt like a ba<lly-tended dog kennel.

Casting my eye around the front office. I saw that the walls were covered by most beautifully-coloured maps and plans and drawings, representing a new city that was to be — In fact, "had already begun its existence" — founded on the particularly rich and fertile lands of Magdalena Bay. The counter was also, piled up with illustrated literature — books and pamphlets — in many languages, detailing the extraordinary benefits that trotikl accrue to any family that was prepared, by paying a preliminary fee of 500 dollars to the Concessions Company, to avail themselves of a free passage to M?|<;dalena Bay by the company's "fleet," and settle down in that lovely country to cultivate the orange and the vine, exploit its rich, mineral treasures, and become wealthy in a few years. As a proof of th>2 integrity of the Concessions Company, and their disinterest-dneso generally to "aid the benevolent President of the Republic of Mexico to develop the resources of tliat most beautiful part of God's carth — the peninsula of Lower California, — cne of the hi^Jilr-coloured illustrated pamphlets contained a copy of an .(alleged) autograph letter Jto the company, saying that should any one family of emigrants be dissatisfied with their new surroundings, the Government of the Republic would give such a misguided family a free passage back to any port in th« tTnit&d States on-^he Pacific slope.

I also gathered fwjm one of the pajnphlets that the Concessions Company had agreed wiNi the Mexican Government 'to have no less than 1000 families of respectable Europeans settled \n the Magdalena Bay Concessions within 10 years. (This was about tlie only true statement made.) To attend to ire and my letter I- called to a young man who looked liks a Macedonian bandit. His hair was execrably greased, curled, and parted in the middle. He spoke English — and, indeed, most European languages, — took my letter and the five-dollar gold piece in the mest gentlemanly manner, and asked me to come inside to the secretary's office., where "Colonel Mahony, the general manager, would sse me." I went in. The colonel was a bfyi. well-dressed man, and wps smoking a large cigar. Seated near him was a hawk-nosed, keen-ey-ed man engaged upon a pie of documents — this was Mr Eckstein, the colonel's secretary.

The colonel received me affably, asked me some questions about my previous experience, and seemed satisfied with my answers. He did not trouble to ask me if I had any references, co I did not allude to the subject. Then he asked me when I could start work.

"To-day, if you wish it." "Well, now, that's right. I like to see a young fellow with push and grit. Now, your duties will be to assist Captain Conklin, who is the chief purse* and providore. The fl-eet is lying alongside the wharf near Fourth street bridge. I'll rtart you with 60 dollars a month, beginning from to-day. Mr Eckstein, enter this young man's name in the- employees' book, maritime section, and give him a few lines to Cantain Conklin."

This ended the interview, but as I was about to leave the office the colonel gave me a small assortment of the company's pamphlets, prospectuses, etc.. and ask-ed me to distiibute them amongst hit friends.

"Jest you tell them that if they want to realise 100 per cent, on any loose capital they may have, now is the time to do it — guess there won't be any shares to behad in two weeks from now."

It not being out of my way, T fir«t went home and told Vern of my good news. He was pleased, and said that 60 dollars a month were good wages, especially as I should have to keep myself in nothing but clothes. Leaving liim a,t home, I made my way down to the water front, and alongside one of the wharves I discovered the company's "fleet," which consisted of a steamer of about 600 or 700 tons, a barque, and a brigantine. AH three presented a scene of activity, for caulkers, riggeos. and painters were hard at work. The- steamer was well-known to me by sight. She was an old, slow, side-wheel craft, named the Montana, foransriv trading on the coast. In appearance slie was not a beauty, being shirt and clumsvlooking. and" she was in an extremely dirty condition. There web a large noticeboard on the gangway as a)so those of the two sailing vessels — setting forth that ''this powerful steamer. the pioneer boat of the Magdalena Concessions Comp.mv," etc.. was to tail in a short time. Passages by her could only be reserved if applied for at once. a.« "nearly all the accommodation had been

T engaged."' But those who were too lats for the steamer had the privilege of choos- | ing either the barque or the bngantine, ! the names of which were the .vionawt and the Dollie Sage. Both ,were played out and disreputable-looking crates, and the Mohawk, I was informed, was ' 'hogged " — broken -backed-. Boarding the steamer, I found Captain Conklin, and gave him my letter. "That is all right I'm glad I have someone to help me. Come along with me to the Sage. She is loadng up with stores, and I am iryinig to get away this week in advance of the steamer. Everything is in a dlirned old mess. I was ■thinking of tgoing in her myeslf, but I can"t do it — there's too much to be done O'i the steamer and* the barque." I at once offered to go alone in the Sage — if he thought me capable of doing the work. He was pleased, and his face lit up. "I'll make everything easy for you, -and give you written instructions what to do when you get to Magdalena. It will be a load off my: mind if I can. geJ> the Dollie Sage off this week. lam "anxious for her cargo of stores to be landed before t reach there in the. steamer . with my crowd of passengers. Come along." We went on board the biigantine, which was being loaded as quickly as possible by 'longshoremen, under thk direction of the mate ; the second mats and crew were busy getting up the rigging, and doin-g other work. The language' being used all round was of the meet lurid character, and Conklin sharply, inquired of the steward if the captain was aboard. "Who is the captain, sir? There were thr«e cs\.t**» aKoarct vets.t-e-r<la.jr r s.ir 7 one after the other, and they began quarrelling. On© of them, a big man with whiskers, ran the other two out of the ship. Then he gave the* mate and me some orders, left this top-coat in the cabin, and went off, saying he would be back some time to-day." Conklin'fi worried face made me feel quite sorry for him. "Oh, it will be all right, steward. The man with the black whiskers is the real captain — Captain Barr. He'll turn up presently. Now, Mr Blake, let us ejet through the bulk of theso invoices. Th*n we'll go and see the mate, and I'll leave you here, and get back to the steamer." I entered into my new work wj|h a zest, and only stopped' for dinner. j?fee mate and second mate were roughs fellows, but very civil, ane> as, of couice, I had not yet taken a cabin, the former told me to go into his and get a wash. During dinner Captain Barr appeared. Ht> was a very tall man, with aa enormous black beard. He nodded to us all, sat down, and began to eat vigorously. After dinner he told us that he meant to get the brigantine to sea within fortyeight hours, if he "busted" over it, informed me that I could take any cabin I liked, and that he believed we were taking six passengers. I took the hint, got the key of a twoberth cabin from the steward, and then went home to pack up my belongings and buy a few necessaries for the long voyage. When I reached our ledgingu Vern himself opened the door. He was just going out to the Telegraph Office. "I'm off to join Alf to-morrow night," ha hurriedly explained ,as we walked down the street. "I got a letter from I him after you had left this mornings tell- ' ing me that he had a good berth for me |if I cared to come up at once. While I was waiting for you to come home before I replied, I received a telegram from him asking_jne to reply by wire. So now I think we can add to it by giving him the news about you. He will be quite satisfied if you write- and give him all the details. Do you know how long you will be away ?' ' "Two months" (this was Captain Conklin's estimate), "and then after that I expect I may be given a berth in the company's offices — eitfier here or at Magdalena — the latter, I hope, as I don't want to be stuck in 'Frisco." Vern nodded. "All right. You must look after yourself, though. I hear that Lower California is not at all*" healthy in most parts." We sent the telegram, and then went to Rolland's and had a supper at 7 o clock, and on reaching hotne found that Mrs Lynch had prepared and laid for us another supper in the big sitting room downstairs. The poor soul hated the idea of our going away, but tried to joke and laugh a.md keep a bright face. On the following day. as I was biajy with the mate in reehecking the hrigantine's manifest, Vern came to bid me

good-bye, as he was taking an afternoon train to Carbon City. "Good-bye, old chap.'" he .=aid in hi-= blunt, straightforward way. "Don't get into any mespe? with the Greasers (Mexicans) down at Magdalena, and learn all the eailorisini; you can. If all goes well, we shall he able to buy a little vessel of our own and start trading in the South Seas. I'm mighty keen on it, I can tell you." With a warm hand-grasp we parted. Long years pas?ed before we met again.