TEACH.

Otago Witness, Issue 3442, 2 March 1920, Page 54

TEACH.

THE NOVELIST.

[Published bt Special Abbanseusnt.]

By C. J. CUTCLIFFE HYNE. (Copyright, 1919, in the United States, by C. J. Cutcliffs Hyne.) XI.—THE DOCTOR— (Continued.) Now to make a dramatic ending to this episode of collecting Dr Cray, i should end here. But history is only dramatic by accident, and to make my history complete I must continue further. At the entrance to the creek, Teach gave a word to Llewelyn Jones, rested on hi 6 oar, and screwed his neck round seawards. "Ah," he said. "I was going to tell you," Dr Cray commented. "But how did you find out? As we are going fo work together I may as well know the range of your attainments." "I gave the strictest orders that nobody was to be admitted on board. If anybody came in over Petronella's gangway, he broke a circuit and switched on a small mast-head lamp above her riding light. There it is."

"Jolly 'cute/' said Dr Cray. "I don't mind telling you now that I put the United States on your track. That bullet clipped ear of yours gave you away, you know, as well as your general colouring and contour. Otherwise, Furstenburg was good. I'm sorry I did it now, because a run in your 40-knot Petronella would have amused me. But a dozen hours ago; a dozen, I say"—Dr Cray's sigh had a choking throaty quiver in it "A—humm! I'm afraid I shan't be much use to you on the lugger without the tools and pills of my trade. Of course with the carpenter's saw and the cook's knife, and some hot pitch, one could do a bit of oldtime surgery, but that sort of mediaeval work goes against the Harvard brain." "It goes against the board-school nerves as well. That's why I came for you,' Doctor. As regards tools and physic, well, Mr Furstenburg sent a firm in New York ten 1000-doliar notes for them to- express to Mm a complete outfit of surgical instruments, and the balance in drugs,' for a favourite nephew who had recently set up his shingle ashore, after four years' experience as a war surgeon. This boat's cluttered up with the cases." "Oh, I saw the cases. But I thought you'd been going through the strong boxes of my neighbours in Conistone, and concluded those were the contents.' The Pirate turned round, scowling blackly. "I am not a pilferer, Dr Cray. Further, you are one of my officers now, and though I allow every freedom that holds in an ordinary officers' mess, I draw the line at impertinence." "Oh, sorry," said Peter Cray. "Can you give me a fill of reasonable tobacco for my pipe? I've come away without my pouch. Mind your oar there, bow, or you'll be foul of that oyster sloop." The oyster sloop, however, was part of Teach's latest scheme. He jumped from the boat, painter in hand, and passed the end of it round a shroud. He clapped on the forehatch, and snapped the hasp. Then he ran aft, and dived, very quietly for a heavy man, through the narrow companion. Four men snored in four bunks. Teach seated himself on the table, and awoke them with a cough. Llewelyn Jones, pistol in hand, stood to attention at the foot of the ladder. Four pairs of eyes unglued themselves and stared.

'And who the blazes might you be," drawled one personage at last. j "You the skipper?" "Yep."

sloop for 100 dollars a day for so long as I want her. If you and your crew turnto and obey orders you'll earn another 100 dollars. If not, you'll be shot and thrown overboard, and the 100 dollars charter money will be paid to your executors. Come now. What's your choice?" 'There's a lot in what you say," drawled the oyster sloop's skipper. "But a long trip .you'll find inconvenient. We've no tucker aboard, unless you count in a cargo of oysters, and I wouldn't like to touch an oyster myself. I guess I know too much how they feed to fancy them as food."

j "Oysters -will do. Now turn out, heave up, and get under way. I'm in a hurry." j Three of the four fisherman took little • enough pains with the toilette. A pair of boots and a coat apiece attired them for the day. Number four, a lank-haired youth, was a bit of a dandy. He must needs pour unguents on his head before he considered himself equipped for labour. i The adornment was proceeding when Cray came down into the frowsy little cabin. The birr Doctor had been stolid , enough so far. But the scent of the hair ' grease stirred some internal string that upset him completely. He flopped to the table, and buried his big head in his arms, whimpering hysterically. ' "Hold up, Doctor," said Teach kindly. i "You'll be all right in a minute."

J "That accursed woman always said that if I left her she'd haunt me to the end , of my days. And she's doing it. She's doincr it. Haven't you got a nose, man? She's doing it here and now. Dyed hair, tawdry jewellery, tawdry dress, fool talk, fool ways—they'll all come jibbering before ■ me every day I live. I know it. Damnation, yes, I know it. But she can't get at Laura again, nor can William. Laura agreed, and we fixed it so. I tell you she agreed. lb was the only possible way." I Teach, flinty-hearted pirate that he I was, was nearly shocked. j "I can understand you're running from that dyed and scented wife of yours, Doctor," but dash it all man, you've never murdered your old- sweetheart, have you?" With a jerk, Doctor Cray pulled himself

together, and stared coldly at his commander. "Captain Teach,," he said, "I am apparently to be one of your officers. You wili find that I do my duty efficiently. You will find, also, that I do not try to pry into your private affairs, and, that I absolutely decline to allow you to. pry into mine. I will trouble you for another fill of tobacco mixture, if you have it. I - believe I told you I had forgotten to bring along my pouch. Thank you. I detest straight-out tobacco as a rule, as it is bad for the throat." XII.—THE RESETTER. The eye of Admiral Teach caught the sea-plane just when distance dwarfed it to the size of a gull. He expected it, and had every reason to believe it friendly, but he was not a man to take unnecessary chances. Pirates who remain for any considerable time in active practice always avoid taking chances whenever tbey can, 'as many successful business men will bear witness. So Admiral Teach banged down his Action Stations gong, and the Littondale broke into quiet, ordered' activity. "Stand by for high-angle fire only, and keep everything masked as usual," was h~is further order. "You're not to shoot unless he steers directly over us. That chap should be .coming with a message that I'm here waiting for. But if he looks like cruising over the top of us, let him have it, and we'll ask his reasons afterwards. I'm not going to risk playing wicket keeper to a bomb. I've you to consider as well as myself, Mary," he added quietly to the lady in the trim blue tweeds and ermine toque, who stood on the Littondale's glass-screened upper bridge beside him. "I know," said Miss Arncliffe thoughtfully, "that I gave you permission—under stress—to use my christian name. But I'd be obliged if you'd not do it so often. Also, don't refrain from ordinary business risks on my behalf. I should hate the crew to think you were becoming soft, merely through old-fashioned sentiment. Victorian days are dead and gone now, Admiral Teach, and whilst I was in the W.A.A.C.'s they trained aa to accept the hazard of shell and bomb equally with men. That seaplane, you'll notice, shows none of the usual marks. But from her lines I fancy she's Hun-built." "You've good eyes. I've only just picked up that fact with the glasses. I don't fancy she is* the craft I was expecting. But you never can tell with thes3 mixed patterns." "What did you expect?" Admiral Teach took his big black pipe out of his mouth, and crinkled his hawk's nose. "Now that's a distinct advance. You're beginning to take interest in the family welfare, Mary. My best thanks, Well, here's the story. Some vague person, out of space, has been "persistently wirelessing to me that he would take all plunder off my hands at 50 per cent, value, and pay in gold. He signed all messages Cryptol. The Western Tele-.' graph codebook gives Cryptol as the cable address of Grunchild's. But I can ? t say I was under the delusion it wa3 that eminent firm of bankers who were ringing me up. So when I did repl«y it was—'Message received. Doubt your stability.' " "You've quite brought piracy up to date." "Praise from St. Mary is praise indeed." "Con on, man. What did they do next"? Teach chuckled. "It's delicious to see ■ you getting curious. "Well they got stung. Of course they had to be mighty cautious, because half the world could hear their wireless. But by messages sent and re-layed from three continents, Cryptol got in an offer which I thought wa* worth considering." The point for meeting was, he explained, a more difficult matter, as a, practising pirate has a certain delicacy about publishing his address through the wireless, which is as publis these days, as a tramcar, or a post card, or the British telephone. But seaplanes, which do their SO « miles per hour, and modern M.L's., which can reel off their thirty-eight, simplify this. Teach gave a rendezvous two hundred miles off the Eastern American seaboard, and a seaplane there met a formidable pirate motor launch, whose officers most thoroughly destroyed her wireless. They then gave the seaplane another rendezvous two hundred and fifty miles away, east and south, and, after seeing her hum up into the air, motored off themselves into other private places in the weed-grown sea. The seaplane, as has been recorded above, drew swiftly up to her rendezvous with the Littondale. The sight setters of two high-angle guns glued their eyes on her through concealed ports as she advanced, but one of them, the stout Mr William Pickles, spat disgustedly as she drew more near. "I've always set my heart on bringing down one of those ducks," he explained, "and never had a cat's chance. Look at that blighter, plcining down to the sea four miles off. You mark me. He'll taxi up alongside and want to know if he can't peddle us some Parsee embroideries, or the last real Indian jrold Mizpah ring he's got left, -price two dollars." Mr Pickles ran a stubby finger round inside his 18-inch collar, and spat disgusted lv. "Pah," hie said, "that's what I think of him. All the same, if there are Mizpah rings going, I could do with half a dozen for some of my little dears." "Giving no chance.of a misunderstanding." was the Pirate Admiral's comment on the hridore above. "And that tickles your vanity," Miss iArncliffe retorted. "All who approach Teach, the terror of the seas, must crawl on hands and knees for the last two miles." "Pooh," said the ffirl, you can't scare me by your black looks. You gave me your word as a gentleman not to hurt me. and I hold you to it. You can't forget

. you are a gentleman, Admiral Edward Teach, whatever your trade may be at the moment. Now, don't go on wrangling. Here's your caller, and if you're not excited about him, I am. I hope that horrid squinting Llewelyn Jones has whipped up a smart afternoon tea." Tlie seaplane taxied clumsily up; and brought to a cable's length from the Littondale, climbing unsafely over the swells. The seaboat was dropped from davits, and brought the plane's passenger to the gangway. A stout spruce man came on board, peeling his air-clothing as he climbed the ladder. "Mr Gregor, M'Gregor," he announced to the sentry ; rt to see Admiral Teach." "And I.expected a citizen of Palestine," the Pirate commented, as he went down from the bridge; and to himself he added, with a sardonic smile on his dark face. "I suppose this is the knight errant who is vowed to, rescue the distressed damosel from horrible Pirate." Mr Gregor M'Gregor was at anyrate the complete Scot, so far as accent was concerned. He talked the purest Coocaddens. He was (acording to his own acount) the string-puller of half the big oil companies of Glasgow City, and he owned a 4000-acre grouse moor in Sutherlandshire. He was the solid man both .in figure and finance, and said, though he came of Highland stock, he was bdrn by mischance in Paisley. He tried to exude peat-smoke, but merely succeeded in creating an atmosphere of whisky. * "This is all mighty interesting," said Teach; after half an hour of glib local colour. "But suppose we switch off now to Umpteenth street, New York City, number forgotten, tenth floor, and turn to the right after you -step out of the express elevator. How's the financial health of Grunchilds at the moment, and why are they wanting me to go in partners with him?" "I'll no' deny that I know Grunchilds," the visitor admitted. "In my poseetion, a man rubs shoulders with all the big finance houses. But I may tell you frankly that Grunchilds, as Grunchilds, do not appear in this business. Nor do any of the other representative finance people. Cryptol is j-ust a syndicate, and the names of the men who compose it are not going 1 to be disclosed, for, shall we say, political reasons. You'll appreciate that, Admiral. The way you dragged Irish politics into what (if you'll excuse my putting it that way) looked like plain old-fashioned piracy a'fc the outset, was just charming. It was that touch of genius which brought me here." The Pirate's heavy shoulders went back, and his grim mouth smiled. He was always a vain man. "Charming. You've set all the politicians of Europe and America by the ears. Ireland was always the sore place, and you've made it a cancer. Charming—from the point of view. of the Cryptol Syndicate. . The world has decided that - you are a menace to civilisation, Admiral. But civilisation is afraid, just now, to tackle you—because of Ireland." "That's what I built on. Everybody, since Cromwell, has been afraid to handle Ireland. And even he stopped the good work when only one-third was done. He left the odd two-thirds of the Irish .alive to be a nuisance since 1650 (wasn't it?) onwards. If there'd been a strong man in sight amongst the politicians, I wouldn't have risked it. But with the present lot of paid footlers on both sides of the Atlantic, the card I played was the safest in the pack." "Precisely. The Cryptol Syndicate recognises that, and backs it." "And proposes to charge 50 per cent, for its trouble"? George M'Gregor did not shrug. His Scottish training remained firm, and his Coocaddens accent untainted. But it was an effort. He had to stuff his hands into his trousers' pockets to keep them from waving automatically.«. "You've got a better offer up your sleeve, Admiral. I'm sure you won't accept ours. You're a business man; pleased to met you. I'm another. If we fix up a deal together, it's got to be on strictly business lines. Ido see you've got ladies on board, but^ —" "One lady," the pirate snapped. "And we'll leave her entirely out of the conversation. Get that"? "Oh certainly, if you make a point of it, though I am sure 'she was a very attractive lady. That short, black, wavy hair makes any woman beautiful. But about these ships and their cargoes. Admiral. ,We know you've got them stowed away somewhere. It's about their crews to a large extent I've come here. If you've made them all—er —walk the plank, in the old Blackbeard fashion, I'm afraid there'll be nothing doing. But if there are a reasonable number of survivor*, I believe the deal can go through, comfortably enough." f "There are quite a few survivors. Over ninety per cent., anyway. Of course we had casualties here and there, amongst the fools who thought they-ought to fight. As a point of fact; if you search the records of the early seventeen hundreds, you will find my much-maligned greatgrandfather didn't invariably murder superfluous prisoners. He sold them as slaves to the plantations, and that thirsty soul, the Governor of North Carolina, was his partner in the matter, They used to divide a matter of £l3O per head for them. Well, I recognise the slave trade's not what it was, Mr M'Gtegor, so you may have the beauties for' a tenner apiece all round. Possibly some of them havg relatives who'd buy them in at that figure. You never can tell, these days, who people value. As you are a cigar-smoker, try one of these. We looted them off a Cuban boat. I believe you'll find them rather decent." "Over ninety per cent, sound in wind and limb, Admiral? That's mighty good hearing. The next question is ; where are they, arrl where are their ships"? "Ah, where!" replied Teach, and relit his big black pipe, and lay back on the chart-house settee. "You don't help nu much," said Mr Gregor M'Gregor, rather plaintively.

"You strike me," said the Pirate drily, "as coming of a race that .helps itself pretty efficiently. Further, you're mighty slow in coming to the point. In case you're under any illusion about the sacredness of ambassadors, let me assure you that if I don't find you useful, you won't go home. You'll hang here —quietly, of course, and quite decorously, but none the less efficiently." "Civilised people don't hang ambassadors."

Teach rubbed the bowl of his pipe against the side of his predatory nose, and admired its surface. "Quite so. You've been at pains to assure me that I am outside the pale of civilised peoples. Now, t don't want to hurry you, but if you've nothing more useful to say, I will arrange for your stringing up within the next three minutes. My gunner, Mr William Pickles, sees to these little ceremoies for me. He assures me they are quite painless." Mr Gregor M'Gregor's hands ached to expostulate, but he thrust them resolutely down into the depths of his trousers pockets. "If you'll oardon my saying so, Admiral, you're yielding to the oldfashioned sentiment of the profession and neglecting its modern business side. As a guarantee for good faith. I have 150,000 dollars in good United States gold over there on the plane." "Divided up amongst all hands on the shares we've agreed upon, my whack out of that would about buy me a suit of clothes. We've not exactly a Pirates' Union on board here, Mr M'Gregor, but I can tell you the labour conditions take a lot of handling, and the business profir.s for the Capitalist—and that's me—are mighty slim. As a commander, I have nothing like the soft time my great-grand-father had of it."

"And that," said the Scot, with decision, "is entirely hecause so far you have not had the luck to come across me — and, of course, the Cryptol Syndicate. We are business men; we saw your need; and we stepped in to fill it. There you, have the whole argument. Of course there will be difficulties. You have a ship and cargo—many ships and many cargoes I gather—that you want to realise on. Take a typical one, the Edith Rickards say. You value ship and cargo, we'll put it at £200,000. And forty of a surviving crew at £lO apiece, that's £200,400. Well, we won't quibble about the crew. But it's quite on the cards we may dispute your valuation of the Edith. Now the Syndicate are reasonable business people, and we'd concede a lot to avoid friction. Can you suggest'an arbitrator in case of dispute? It's hardly a matter, one could bring before the courts, as things stand at present." Teach's big jaw jutted, out and his black eyes glinted. "Yes," he said, "I'll tell you who will be the arbitrator. A man called Edward Teach. You will discover that nobody within range will persist in any objections to his findings." "But—but, it is conceivable they might object, as a matter of ordinary business." "Quite so; I said-they wouldn't persist." "Still, Admiral, I don't quite see." "The reason being that they would be shot at the first whimper of disagreement." "I must say you are taking a very highhanded view. I don't know how my associates will take it when I meet them to report." Teach polished his pipe. "And, anyway, we shall neither of us be there to see," he commented. The Scot took his point quickly enough—"My dear sir, you can't expect a business deal of this magnitude to be carried through successfully unless I go and do it in person?" If you say so, perhaps not. But the result will be fatal to you, Mr M'Gregor, if this business doesn't go through. And you won't go back to the United States. You've your choice of staying on the Littondale (if you're successful) or going overside (if you botch matters). Half a minute. Don't waggle. You needn't hand me any stuff about being made to walk the plank. I always make my people decently dead one way or another before I heave them overside." Teach pressed a bell, and Llewelyn Jones came in, squinting anxiously. "Steward, take Mr M'Gregor to a state room and lock him in there for an hour to collect his thoughts. The room we call the 'condemned cell' will sut him best. Take him whisky, and a syphon, and a box of cigars, and any of the other last comforts you usually supply on these occasions." "I want you to let me explain." "Remove the prisoner, 'steward. Give my compliments to Mr Pickles and tell him his services will probably be required in an hour's time. When you've done that, tell Miss Arncliffe I'm at her disposal for another try at these flying fish, w'th her butterfly net gadgett." (To"be continued).