THE Novelist

Otago Witness, Issue 3898, 27 November 1928, Page 74

THE Novelist

BREAKERS AHEAD.

A VENTURE IN THE PACIFIC.

By

FRANK H. BODLE.

(Copyright.—For the Otago Witness.)

SYNOPSIS. CHAPTER I. —Dr West, deciding to buy the medical practice at Tainui, a fictitious Island north of New Zealand, brings his wife and family (the' eldest of whom is Molly, aged 19) to the place. They are driven to their destination by a Jovial soul called Stenson; CHAPTER ll.—Curly Searle, aged 21, is reprimanded by his father, chairman of the town board, for neglecting his work in order to play golf and tennis, and Is told that unless he mends his way he will be cast out of the office. At the same time the town clerk, Mr Chillsey, is complaining to Jack Milligan, aged 19, about the same offence, and makes a similar sort of threat. Curly and Jack meet on the bank of the river, and decide to have a race across. CHAPTER lll.—During the unpacking Molly hurts her foot and goes to the river io bathe it. She sits on a log which drifts Sownstream, and is being rescued by Curly imd Jack, when a shark appears. The three sit on the log, which drifts out to Bea towards Motuwera Island, the shark being in close attendance. CHAPTER IV.-—The township soon discovers the loss of the trio, and Mrs West is taken to an old Maori who is a seer. For the reward of a bottle of scent she says that she sees Molly and the two boys on a log surrounded by sharks near an island. Her listeners decide to take a launch and search. CHAPTER V.—Molly and the two boys land on Motuwera Island, where they find i newspaper left by some picnic party. Curly reads an article about a factory in Australia which wishes to buy sharks. The three decide to form a company and sell sharks CHAPTER Vl.—Stenson, who is searching tor the missing trio borrows the launch of Mr Richard Thomas Denny, a wealthy Armenian, who tells Molly (when they are rescued) that he wishes to start a shark factory at Tainui, and hopes she will help him to catch the fish. Mclly makes an appointment with him for 4 o'clock on the morrow, but secretly asks Curly and Jack to meet her at 6 o’clock in the morning. CHAPTER Vll.—Curly decides to write to Parliament to ask that there shall be no commercial shark-fishing in the big game season and so prevent Mr Lenny from double-crossing them ; Jack decides to keep Mr Lenny’s attention engaged, and Molly, after writing a letter to her father stating that she is all right, buys the launch used by Mr Lenny, and, with a crew named Harry, sets off for the three big fishing camps up the coast to get an option over all their dead fish. CHAPTER Vlll.—Curly and Jack by a series of ingenious “bluffs "keep Mr Lenny’s suspicions allayed. He thinks that Harry’s uncle has died, and that the launch has been taken to the funeral. He also thinks there are many shark-fishing companies in the town. CHAPTER IX.—EDUCATION OF MOLLY. Sea voyaging by launch was, Molly soon discovered, much more enjoyable than the same journey ifndertaken by log. The Mako had a fair turn of speed, and the new owner decided that she was not going to be a mere passenger: she would take her share in the running of the craft. “ You show me, Harry,” she requested, taking post at the steering wheel. “ I want to learn how to do things.” She laughed ruefully as her first attempt produced a wake resembling endless repetitions of the letter “ S.” “ I’m not trying to turn you out of your job. Of course, we’ll need you when we get started with our works, but I should like to know how to do things.” Harry was patient, and the pupil willing and apt to learn. She got the “ feel of the boat ” very soon, and the steady course to which she held her charge won Harry’s approval. “ Too good! ” he exclaimed heartily. “My word, you can steer through the needle’s eye.”

“ Hardly.” Molly was flushed and thoroughly happy. Then her face grew thoughtful, as she looked ahead into the not distant future. “ I’ve got to learn another thing, Harry, before we go making a public appearance. Have you got all the sword-fishing gear aboard? ” “ Aie. Rod an’ harpoon an’ seat—all the stuff. This proper, shark launch. Last season some big ferrows caught from it. Too earry yet for much. Most, they bring their own stuff, but I got rod—the best about. My uncle make him.”

_ They were abreast of Motuwera at the time, and Molly remembered her experiences of the day before—it seemed a mfflenium ago. “ There are sharks here,” she reflected aloud. “I’d like to catch one on that rod just to learn how its done.”

Harry nodded his understanding. Not many big ferrows here, but we try flukes.” He investigated a locker under the seat, and produced a stout line, with Shining spinner attached. He dropped the spinner astern, paid out the line, then looked around. Some distance ahead, beyond the point where yesterday the log had come to anchor—it was gone now—black-capped gulls were very busy, fluttering down, a screaming flock, to water • level, rising noisily and skimming down once more.

“ Kahawai chase sprat to the top an’ the trulls eat ’em. They catch trouble both ways.” Harry was proving unexpectedly loquacious. “We v. . hl k: Jm-

wai. That the best dinner for the shark. When we get near that lot I shut off the engine, an’ we trift through. Might hook a kahawai. Try flukes, anyway.” Nearing the scene of activity, Harry let the engine out to full speed, then shut it off, and ran back to his line. Around them, as they drifted, the sea was literally boiling with harried little silversides. They leapt frantically from the water, swerved to one side in mad panic—and the busy gulls fed well. Now and again the blunt nose and wide jaws of the sea-hunters were visible. Once an exuberant harrier jumped altogether clear and fell back with a splash, while hoides of small fry scuttled convulsively to either side. Harry drew in his line gentlv, then struck. “Haeremai, ehoa!” (Welcome, friend), he chanted and hauled in vigorously No. 1. He lifted the five-pounder in over the side, anti the kahawai, greediest fish of all the seven seas, lay flapping and snapping in the well. “Never want pait for him.” Harry deftly withdrew the hook and flung the line astern. “He bite rag or shell or metal, anything shining an’ moving. No nibble for him. Just one rush. Snap! Goo’-bye. He’s hooked.” He pulled in another before they had drifted through the school, then tied his line to a cleat and showed Molly how to start the engine. “ Like that.” The motor commenced to throb. “ Now forward. Alore. Give her more She’s full lick. Too good! Now bring her head roun* an’ shove her through the middle again. Get few more.” Again, with engines shut off, but undei the impulse these had given, they drifted through the school. Two lines were out this time, and Harry two more fish, and Molly, to her delight, another before they were through” to’ clear water. ' ° “ ’Nother time roun’, kipa (skipper), Harry suggested. “ You start her an’ pring her roun. bull lick, then stop. You know?” les. Molly ran below, restarted the engines, swung the boat’s head round, then when near enough shut off power. This, she thought gaily, was the life. Brighton at its brightest had shown her nothing like this. She was possessed of a sense of power, of mastery, as easily she controlled every pulse, every movement, of her boat. The slavery of plates and dishes, the thraldom of the broom and bedmaking, were left behind. Her small chin was thrust forward in fighting attitude as she guided her slowing boat into the maelstrom of scurrying fish. She must, she simply must, make good in this business to which she had set her hand.

“Come on, kipa, tie the wheel,” Harry cried exultantly. “ Fish on each line.”’ They secured two apiece that venture, and Harry cried enough. “ Shark come,” he stated, and pointed to a cruising fin. “ That preak up te happy home.”

And so it proved. The school scattered in all directions. The hunters slipped off by twos and threes such as were still hungry, to continue after stragglers of the fleeing host, the greater number to slink swiftly aw T ay to dim recesses of security. Bigger, bolder, and more, cunning hunters than they were stirring; it were wise to seek other hunting grounds. Molly, "atching tensely, felt that it was possible to see the quiver that ran, lightning speed, through that acre or two of ocean. The feel of an approaching danger swept across from end to end, and. raider and raided with one last boiling of the surface, flung themselves to desperate flight. The gulls, hundreds of them, circled upward and rove away to the north, observing eyes upon the sea below. The scene of the foray and heavy slaughter lost individuality. It was once more calm blue water, unruffled by ripple, indistinguishable from the sea around.

To Harry all this was a commonplace of everyday life, and he took small interest in it. The sight of that black fin astern had told him all that would inevitably happen, and he lost no time in producing the rod of which he had boasted, hooking a kahawai securely to its line, and setting the fish to drift. He adjusted the fishing seat and handed the rod to Molly. “You take him.” He settled her in the seat, and instructed her in the use of the rod and reel. In his own words, Harry “ had no truck with wimmin,” but Molly had found favour in his eyes. She was thoroughly alive, alert, and keen to learn. Her business aptitude in the matter of the purchase negotiations had in'-pire-.l his respect. Altogether, he felt

she was a pupil of whom he might be proud. “ Bimeby Mister Shark come nosing round.” He pointed to the approaching fin. “ Smell the fish. Shy at first, maybe. Then too quick bite. You hook him—like this.” Harry struck. “ Then be strong. He gets his angry out an’ rush. You hold him, not too tight, but don’ let him tangle the line. Reel him in quick when he eases. Reel like ”

Molly struck. “ I’ve got something,” she shouted joyfully. The reel screamed, as she applied the brake. “By korri! That no grown’ shark. Swordfish, might. Hol’ him, Kipa. Hcl’ him.”

The stout rod bent over. Molly braced her feet against the wall of the cockpit, and pressed heavily on the screeching brake. The pull on tlie racing line slackened.

“ Coming up. We see him now.” Harry shouted encouragingly. “ Reel in, quick.” There was a white break in the blue abeam, then a creamy flurry. A great fish, savage fury in* its wild plunge, jumped clear of the water, skittered along the surface, and with lash and thrust of tajl swept down out of sight. “ Oh, the beauty,” Molly cried exultantly, and pressed upon the brake. * “By korri! You lucky, Kipa. Swordfish, a’right. You manage him ? ” Harry w 3 not really anxious. The girl appeared to be completely master of herself and the situation.

“ Yes,” Molly panted. That the way. Make him feel te hook. He come up again.” Five separate times the fish flung himself clear of the water, twisting and flashing about in an agony of endeavour to toss out the maddening thing that tore at his mouth, and curbed his cherished freedom.

Feeling tire now,” Harry, the expert, proclaimed. “ More hook, Kipa. Make him pe pusy a’ the time.” He started the engine running slowly. The fish, plainly very tired, was towing them out to sea and northward.

An hour and 40 minutes from the strike, the great fish, played completelv out, weak and beaten, was alongside. Harry drove in the harpoon that put an end to its struggles, noosed it fore and aft, and lashed it to the side of the boat.

Not the piggest ferrow in te sea, but werry nice fish a’ te same,” he said with genuine satisfaction. “ How vou feel, Kipa? ” / “ Why, I’m tired right out, and prouder than Lucifer ever was.” Mollv wiped the perspiration from her face. She was trembling from head to foot, but her face showed how’ tremendously happy she was.

“ Know old Lucy Martin, but. I never me'' that other ferrow,” Harry grinned sympathetically. “ But, mv word, you a’ right.” ’ J

I m frightfully hungry, if you’d like to know,” Molly stared with sinful pride at the monster beside the boat, then reluctantly returned to things less beautiful but more immediately pressing. “Do you realise that we’ve had iio breakfast yet, and it must be nearly 10 o’clock ? ” J

“ I soon get some kai. You take the wheel, Kipa.” Harry went forward The thrill of the battle lasted Molly all through the morning and in less degree for many days. Of course, she felt iegret at the killing of the beautiful savage monster, but—her blood danced at the memory of it—it had been a fair fight, with the odds even. Your first swordfish, honestly caught and mastered is a magic, thrilling thing. It is like one’s first glimpse of a coral island, a line of feather-tufted palms, lifting above the wet rim of the world in the hush and flush of a tropical dawn. Or like the first kiss of love—raptures never to be recaptured. You may fight and couture other fish, but the 'first real swordfish and the fight you fought with him will live a memory apart, set beside one or two more unforgettable things. Molly laughed a little uncertainly and forgot her steering while she inspected and admired the great fish she had captured. “ Oh, you beauty, you perfect beauty!” she breathed happily. Sh e frowned at her departure from duty and returned to the steering. “ I did not know', I was so—primitive,” she thought aloud. “That battle was the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.”

She felt somewhat ashamed of herself and the intensity of her delight. She was no philosopher, you see, and did not realise that the ehiefest joys the world can offer are still the utterly simple and primitive. To love, to aid, to fight barehanded, matching strength and wit against might and cunning, these primal things still stir most deeply a humanity set amid a world of wheels and flying mechanisms When stresses test and, struggling to the limit, and beyond, one attains mastery, the joy of complete victory carries one back twenty thousand years to far and dangerous days, when, through endless defeats, man won from fear to mastery of a host of foes. In a measure, it is possible to recapture some part of that thrill that came when first puny man, that hunted furtive thing, slinking through a wilderness of savage monsters, won to freedom.

Tiglath-Pileser, King of Assyria, hunting on foot with bow and spear, slew with his own hands more than 200 lions. He was not only freeing his folk from danger: he was carrying on an age-old vendetta and doubtless he recaptured some of the joys of the first hunters. Molly, hungry, damp, and triumphantly exhausted in her northward-speeding

boat, felt even as Tiglath had done when the king of beasts, vanquished in single combat, lay helpless at the feet of the monarch of his land. Single-handed she had fought and conquered her first swordfish. The world could never be the same for her. “ Only tin mug, kipa.” Harry was apologetic. “ But te tea werry good a' te same. An’ pren.y sausage an’ fried kumara.” He deposited two heaped tin platters and two steaming mugs on a seat and lashed the wheel. “ Eat him while he’s hot.” “ I never was so hungry in all my life,” Molly' declared joyously. “ I b’lieve I could eat that swordfish whole.” “Werry good too.” Harry smiled benignly. “ Make fine steaks bimeby.” He looked overside, appraising the fish. “ Might ’inut four hun’red poun’s, I fink.” “As much as that ? ” Molly's pride returned in treble force. “ Werry near. You make first-rate fisherman, kipa. We show them.” Molly blushed rosy red under this paean of expert approval. “ Beginner’s luck, Harry.” She tasted the kumaras. “ Oh, these are fine. Never tried them before, you know. We’ve only’ been in New Zealand a week. Just come out from England.” Harry nodded, but was not to be distracted from his theme. “Might ’kinner’s luck hooking swordfish first try ” — there was unstinted admiration in his tone—“ but not the way you fight him. No luck there ’t all. I know. You make No. 1 fisherman.” “ I’m. very glad I didn’t let you down, Harry*.” Molly cleaned her plate in a fashion that is not considered strictly good form in the best society, and sighed happily. • When do you think we’ll reach the big camp ? ” “ Mid-day, might. All away fishing You want to see anyone special? ” “ Yes.’’ Molly’ unfoldeu her plans, and Harry listened with gradually’ widening eyes. He pondered her revelation while he cleared away and washed the dishes. When he returned, pipe drawing wel., he stared solemnly at the alert figure at the wheel. By korri! ” he muttered, almost reverently. Molly’ looked round, inquiry in her eyes. . A rigut, kipa,” the brown man smiled reasurringly. “Not’iim- wrono-. My t’inking, that’ all.” “ Penny for your thoughts,” Mollysmiled back. A right. My t’inking this.’’ Harrv slapped his knee. “ You got mighty pig job, put I pet you do it. I pet vou do anyt’ing.” She gave the launch half a spoke and smiled again. “No, you’re wrong,” she said quietly. “There are some chirgs I do stick at you know, Harry.” c I don t ink so.” Harry spoke emphatically. “ You do—whatever you do.” . It was rathe? comprehensive. but since it was clearly meant as a compliment Molly let it go at that. CHAPTER X.—CURLY VERIFIES A QUOTATION. Punctually’ at 4 o’clock Jack Milligan left the town board offices and walked briskly across the deserted square to the wharf. A solitary figure, arms folded in front of him, was walking with measured steps to and. fro across the unlei cl decking of the wooden structure. It was Mr Lenny, and, truth to tell, he was in no pleasant frame of mind. He laboured under a strong sense of frustration, and had even got so far as to cherish the dim suspicion that it might be possible to detect the source of his bafflement. To be quite candid, he had devoted the interval between 2 and 4 p.m. to diligent inquiries in several directions. At the moment when the assistant town clerk was temporarily abandoning his duties, he was musing on one pare ticuiar fact he had unearthed—a matter of which, unfortunately, both Curly and Jack had remained ignorant. Harry’s unelc, that strong-armed Lochinvar of eai Her day’s, had lived down the coast. All this was quite correct, as was the story, magnified somewhat by friends, relatives, and the passing years, of his sanguinary elopement. This was all true, Lenny had discovered, but there was one further fact. Harry’s uncle no longer lived in connubial felicity surrounded by admiring friends and* relatives. He had gone from the bosom of his family, and his address was not at present known. To be explicit, he had, in fact, passed on to a more peaceful world just six months

Mr Lenny frowned as Jack approached. He surveyed the blithe young man keenly, glaring at? him with disgust from under the breastwork of his shaggy eyebrows. He seemed innocuous enough, Lenny thought. “Just a half-baked hick ” —the Armeno-Australian was a student of the newer American literature —" And yet ” “ Well, what the devil’s the matter now,” he inquired ominously. “ Bearer of ill news, I fear.” Jack composed his irreghlar features into his conception of solemn solicitude. “Just had a telephone ring.” (As a matter of fact he had. It was from an indignant ratepayer who claimed that certain street drainage works had maliciously thrown water into her poultry yard, insomuch that her dudes were being slowly drowned, for which devastation full compensation would be exacted.) “Miss West, Miss Molly West, is feeling the effects of her experiences yesterday. I’m afraid she’ll not he able to meet you as arranged to-day. Would rd-i-fluv tomorrow at the shim-

“It would not! ” The sense of frustration had deepened, and Lenny spoke with quite unnecessary emphasis. “ I’m afraid it won’t be possible before then, from what I gathered.” Jack remained sympathetic. “ Perhaps you are not aware of the actual facts of the case.” “I’m beginning to be.” “You see she ouly arrived here from England yesterday. She was, unfortunately, swept out to sea on a log, and, as I know, being one of the party, was in grave danger from sharks for several hours. She was without proper food till after you rescued us. Naturally—her nerves, y’know. You can’t expect a girl just arrived from England to be accustomed to that sort of thing, can you ? Jo-morrow— perhaps she might feel well enough by 11.” “ She might,” Lenny agreed sourly. “ And if she’s as patient as she's nervy she’ll see me—some time.” “ Eleven o’clock doesn’t suit you then?” Jack fell into step beside the man of the folded arms and glowering • “ It does not.” “ Well, in that case, I hardly know what to say.” Lenny swung round and confronted his companion. “ That’s a unique situation for you, I take it,” he suggested with heavy sarcasm. “ Well, you see, Mr Lenny, the circumstances are unusual.” “ I mean you’re usually pretty ready with your tongue —and your pencil—and your typewriter. Not so?” “ I do my best.” Jack drew himself up and spoke with simple dignity. “If I can be of any further assistance you A know where to find me.” ' “ I’ve made a note of it.” There was an unpleasant acidity in Lenny’s tones. “You can bank on me remembering your address.” Jack’s face was expressionless as he withdrew, but to those who knew him well there was a noticeable diminution of his usual aplomb. He resumed his clerkly duties with an air of exceptional thoughtfulness.

Curly, too, had to undergo a bad quarter of an hour. On the stroke of 5 he collected his papers smartly, placed each in its proper wire basket, and, leaving the office boy to restore all to the safe, departed homeward with a conscience clear of all reproach. He had worked zealously and to good purpose from the rising of the sun until two hours and six minutes of its evening retirement. He felt that he had an unquestioned right to be satisfied with himself. He reached home and changed into his tennis flannels, devoting a much longer time than was his wont to the control of his refractory hair. It is as well to look one’s best when calling for the first time on a somewhat delicate mission on the father of a girl like Molly. He seized his tennis racket—there would oe ample time for a couple of sets, he thought—and, walking smartly, arrived at the doctor’s residence. Evidences that the unpacking proceeded but slowly in that distracted household were numerous. Books, pictures, and household linen wme strewn about the veranda. Several large packir g cases had not even been opened. Curly rang the front cioor bell with a sense of guilt. He had been a partner, even an instigator, in the patent unhappiness of this home. Try as he would he could not evade the impression of dejection that hovered everywhere. A stout lady with dull and heavy eyes evened the door violently, and Curly drew back a pace. This, he thought, must be Molly’s mother. “ I wish to see Dr West, please.” “Oh! ” There was very evident disappointment in the tone. Mrs West had hoped, not for a patient, but for news of the missing one. “ The surgery is round the corner, to the left. You’ll find him in there.” She watched the very healthy-seeming patient round the corner, then sank down listlessly on an unopened packing case. “ Come in! ” The doctor’s voice seemed kindly. “ You wish to consult m- ? ” “Well ” Curly-suddenly found it w extraordinarily difficult to begin his> speech of comfort and good cheer; the doctor’s kindly eyes reminded him so very much of Molly’s. “ You see—oh, dash it all, sir, I’m Curlv Searle, you know.” “ Molly’ told us about you.” The doctor’s voice was still kindly, but his eyes sent out a compelling inquiry. “ You tried to help her with the log and got carried out too, I understand.” “ Yes, tTiat’s it, sir.” Curly gulped. He had better get it over quickly. “ An’ then, y’see, something awfully important happened, an’ I couldn’t go, an’ Jack— Jack Milligan, he couldn’t either, so Molly did.” “ I see.” The doctor’s puzzled air, as he stroked his chin perplexedly, was at variance with his spoken words. “H’m! Where did she go? ” “ Well, she had to go by launch.” Curly slapped his knee nervously with his favourite racket. “She’ll be back tomorrow or the next day. It was most frightfully urgent, or ” “So she explained in her note.” The doctor eyed his visitor keenly. “Where is she now ? ” he shot at him.

“ She’s perfectly all riaht. sir,” Curly gulped again. The interview was proving far less simple than he had hoped. ° “H’m! She said that, too.” There was a painful pause. “ You’re not disposed to tell me where she is, and just what that frightfully urgent business

Curly, remembering his positive instructions, strove desperately to avoid disaster. He suffered, as was hinted a little while back, an exceedingly bad quarter of an hour. Meanwhile Mrs West also had a visitor. A bulky dark man with bristling eyebrows and a fleshy, hooked nose, came up the path to the veranda. Mrs West, sunk in an unhappy reverie, shuffled hastily to her feet and inspected the stranger with disfavour. “ Does Dr West live here,” the man inquired, removing his hat with a flourish. “He does. He is engaged for the moment.”

“ Could I speak to Miss Molly West, please ? ” “No! You can not!” The overwrought lady almost snapped. The visitor—you will have recognised our mutual acquaintance, Mr Lenny—looked concerned.

“ I’m sorry that she’s unwell,” he remarked sympathetically. “I had a suspicion ”

“ I don’t know what your suspicions may be.” Mrs West, as has been indicated, was distinctly overwrought. In fact, she showed very plain symptoms of a return of hysteria. “ But you can’t see her. She’s not here.”

“ What! ” Lenny gasped. “You heard what I said!” The highpitched laugh was alarming. “ She left —early this morning.” “And?” Lenny hesitated. “We don’t know where she is. My poor lamb!” She looked at Lenny accusingly. “Where is she? Do you know? What have you done with mv little girl?”

. She took a menacing step in his direction, and Lenny hastily retreated. “ I assure you, madam, I’m as anxious to find her as you are,” he stuttered. “ Since I’ve been here things have happened, strange things.” “ Don't I know it,” Mrs West wailed. “Never in my life—where is she?” “ I assure you, madam, I haven’t the least idea.” Lenny backed still farther. “In fact, I would give a good deal to find her at the present moment.” “What do you want her for?” Mrs West’s shrill demand was almost a shriek.

There were hasty footsteps along the veranda, and Dr West and a limp and dejected Curly appeared upon the scene. “ Calm yourself, my dear,” the doctor urged. “It is all right.” “ You say that all the time, Freddy,” the distracted mother said angrily. “ Isn’t there anything else you can say? ” “As it happens there is, my dear.” The doctor indicated the shrinking figure of Curly. “ This young man has just informed me that Molly went off in a launch soon after 6 this morning.” “What!” It was Mr Lenny's turn to approach hysteria now. The doctor eyed the stranger with professional solicitude. He was well versed in the symptoms of apoplexy—you have opportunities in this direction if you reside in the tropics. Lenny’s mouth worked convulsively, the veins in his forehead swelled to a dangerous state. “ That wits my launch. She took it,” he spluttered venomously. “it was not! ” Curly’ felt that he was on firm legal ground at long last. “It was her own launch. It wasn’t yours at all.” “ But—but! ” The doctor, in spite of much experience and his previous cautions, was himself on the verge of a seizure. “It was her own launch,” Curly repeated firmly. “ The papers in my office will prove it.” He stared defiantly at Lenny. Mrs West collapsed. The scene was proving too much for her; she could not understand a word of what was being said. There seemed only one solid fact. Molly was gone. “ Oh! My poor little girl,” she moaned feebly. Doctor West was the first to recover. “ Molly has taken someone else’s launch that belongs to her,” he endeavoured to elucidate. “ And she’s ” “ She’s gone off in my launch, I tell you,” Lenny shouted, words coming to him at last. His expensive education and the carefully-acquired polish sloughed off in "the stress of his emotions. “ She’s taken my launch, can’t you see it, you old fool? Stolen it an’ skipped, the little baggage.” - “ You’ll be sorry for this, Lenny.” Curly was whitehot with indignation. “ You’ll find it doesn’t pay to take away a person’s character like this.” “Sorry —nothing!” He disregarded the ominous tattoo of Mrs West’s feet on the veranda floor. “ Sorry—the devil! You an’ that bald-headed old bandicoot’ll rue this day long’s you live. I can see it. You can’t fool me. You’re all in the swindle together.” The doctor cleared his throat. In on-i'or dnvs. as a ship's surgeon, he had assisted, with some violence, to quell a. niiiLiny amongst Chinese stokers. “ That will do from you, my man,” he said crisply. “ Say no more and get out that gate, just as quickly as you can. Not a whisper more or you’ll need medical attention, and I’m the only doctor within 30 miles.” Lenny, scowling and muttering, shuffled to the gate. “ You got something coming to you for this,” he snarled, ■when he was safely outside. “ You can’t high-hat me. this way, you chunk o’ yeller parchment. As for you, you pup,” he shook a perspiring fist at Curly, “ you’ll know a heap more about the law when I’ve finished attending to your complaint.” “ Don’t go just yet.” The doctor laid a detaining hand on Curly’s shoulder. “ One or two little left unsaid, I imagine.” He cSlled Molly’s

two younger sisters and gave rapid instructions as to methods of treatment appropriate to their mother’s condition. “ Come round to the surgery again, young man.” Curly looked despairingly at his watch. “ I have a particular appointment in three minutes, sir. Could I see you to-morrow?” he suggested miserably. “ There are a few things I must say before I forget them. The kindliness had vanished from Doctor West’s tones. He was still the ship’s officer dealing with obstreperous firemen. “ Come along.” He marched with heavy steps towards the surgery. “ You’d better go,” a youthful replica of Molly whispered hurriedly. “ Don’t be frightened. He can’t keep angry very long; his sense of humour’s too strong.” With this crumb of comfort Curly staggered toward the surgery as a criminal might toward the dock that spells the end of his liberty. Contrary to the comforting prediction he found that the doctor's sense of humour was completely dormant that afternoon. Things went badly. Curly had imagined that his earlier interview had been a trying ordeal. In the minutes that followed he thought of it with wistfulness as one of the most blissfully happy periods of his life. Before he was through that second consultation Curly had realised to the full how an unfortunate witness feels under a long and ruthless cross-examination. When at length he emerged hastily, breathing very hard, he felt that the doctor knew his whole life-story, the inner workings of his meanest thoughts and most unworthy impulses. He was perspiring freely as he trudged homeward, all thought of tennis abandoned for the dav.

“Jerusalem! ” he muttered, unbuttoning his tennis shirt to let in the breeze of evening. “I thought the guv’nor could say a thing or two, but— And she thought he would be reasonable.” Some lines that he had learned at school slipped into his mind: “’They also serve who only stand an’ wait,’” he quoted, and added with fervour: “I believe ’em. Molly may be doing the active campaigning, but she’s got nothing on us. That ‘ stand an’ wait ’ thing is dead right.” (To be continued.)