Section 18

He jerked his arm out of my grasp. I watched his back as he went away. It was a long street, and he remained in sight for some time. He walked rather
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slow, and straddling his legs a little, as if he had found it difficult to keep a straight line. Just before I lost him I fancied he staggered a bit.
“‘Man overboard,’ said a deep voice behind me. Turning round, I saw a fellow I knew slightly, a West Australian; Chester was his name. He, too, had been looking after Jim. He was a man with an immense girth of chest, a rugged, clean-shaved face of mahogany colour, and two blunt tufts of iron-grey, thick wiry hairs on his upper lip. He had been pearler, wrecker, trader, whaler, too, I believe; in his own words — any- thing and everything a man ma^ be at sea, but a pirate. The Pacific, north and south, was his proper hunting- ground; but he had wandered so far afield looking for a cheap steamer to buy. Lately he had discovered — so he said — a guano island somewhere, but its approaches were dangerous, and the anchorage, such as it was, could not be considered safe, to say the least of it. ‘As good as a gold-mine,’ he would exclaim. ‘Right bang in the middle of the Walpole Reefs, and if it’s true enough that you can get no holding-ground anywhere in less than forty fathom, then what of that? There are the hurricanes, too. But it’s a first-rate thing. As good as a gold-mine — better! Yet there’s not a fool of them that will see it. I can’t get a skipper or a shipowner to go near the place. So I made up my mind to cart the blessed stuff myself.’ . . . This was
what he required a steamer for, and I knew he was just then negotiating enthusiastically with a Parsee firm for an old, brig-rigged, sea-anachronism of ninety horse-power. We had met and spoken together several times. He looked knowingly after Jim. ‘Takes it to heart?’ he asked scornfully. ‘Very much,’ I said. ‘Then he’s no good,’ he opined. ‘What’s all the to-do about? A bit of ass’s skin. That never yet made a
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man. You must see things exactly as they are — if you don’t, you may just as well give in at once. You will never do anything in this world. Look at me. I made it a practice never to take anything to heart.’ ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘you see things as they are.’ ‘I wish I could see my partner coming along, that’s what I wish to see,’ he said. ‘Know my partner? Old Robinson. Yes; the Robinson. Don’t you know? The notorious Rob- inson. The man who smuggled more opium and bagged more seals in his time than any loose Johnny now alive. They say he used to board the sealing- schooners up Alaska way when the fog was so thick that the Lord God, He alone, could tell one man from another. Holy-Terror Robinson. That’s the man. He is with me in that guano thing. The best chance he ever came across in his life.’ He put his lips to my ear. ‘Cannibal? — well, they used to give him the name years and years ago. You remember the story? A shipwreck on the west side of Stewart Island; that’s right; seven of them got ashore, and it seems they did not get on very well together. Some men are too cantankerous for anything — don’t know how to make the best of a bad job — don’t see things as they are — as they are , my boy! And then what’s the consequence? Obvious! Trouble, trouble; as likely as not a knock on the head; and serve ’em right, too. That sort is the most useful when it’s dead. The story goes that a boat of Her Majesty’s ship Wolverine found him kneeling on the kelp, naked as the day he was born, and chanting some psalm- tune or other; light snow was falling at the time. He waited till the boat was an oar’s length from the shore, and then up and away. They chased him for an hour up and down the boulders, till a marine flung a stone that took him behind the ear providentially
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and knocked him senseless. Alone? Of course. But that’s like that tale of sealing-schooners; the Lord God knows the right and the wrong of that story. The cutter did not investigate much. They wrapped him in a boat-cloak and took him off as quick as they could, with a dark night coming on, the weather threatening, and the ship firing recall guns every five minutes. Three weeks afterwards he was as well as ever. He didn’t allow any fuss that was made on shore to upset him; he just shut his lips tight, and let people screech. It was bad enough to have lost his ship, and all he was worth besides, without paying attention to the hard names they called him. That’s the man for me.’ He lifted his arm for a signal to some one down the street. ‘He’s got a little money, so I had to let him into my thing. Had to! It would have been sinful to throw away such a find, and I was cleaned out myself. It cut me to the quick, but I could see the matter just as it was, and if I must share — thinks I — with any man, then give me Robinson. I left him at breakfast in the hotel to come to court, because I’ve an idea.
Ah! Good morning, Captain Robinson. , . . Friend of mine, Captain Robinson.’
“An emaciated patriarch in a suit of white drill, a solah topi with a green-lined rim on a head trembling with age, joined us after crossing the street in a trotting shuffle, and stood propped with both hands on the handle of an umbrella. A white beard with amber streaks hung lumpily down to his waist. . He blinked his creased eyelids at me in a bewildered way. ‘How do you do? how do you do?’ he piped, amiably, and tottered. ‘A little deaf,’ said Chester aside. ‘Did you drag him over six thousand miles to get a cheap steamer?’ I asked. ‘I would have taken him twice round the world as soon as look at him,’ said Chester
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with immense energy. ‘ The steamer will be the making of us, my lad. Is it my fault that every skipper and shipowner in the whole of blessed Australasia turns out a blamed fool? Once I talked for three hours to a man in Auckland. “Send a ship, 55 I said, “send a ship. I’ll give you half of the first cargo for yourself, free gratis for nothing — just to make a good start.” Says he, “I wouldn’t do it if there was no other place on earth to sent a ship to.” Perfect ass, of course. Rocks, currents, no anchorage, sheer cliff to lay to, no insurance company would take the risk, didn’t see how he could get loaded under three years. Ass! I nearly went on my knees to him. “But look at the thing as it is,” says I. “Damn rocks and hurricanes. Look at it as it is. There’s guano there, Queensland sugar-planters would fight for — fight for on the quay, I tell you.” . . . What can you do with a fool?
. . . “That’s one of your little jokes, Chester,” he
says. . . . Joke! I could have wept. Ask Cap- tain Robinson here. . . . And there was another
shipowning fellow — a fat chap in a white waistcoat in Wellington, who seemed to think I was up to some swindle or other. “I don’t know what sort of fool you’re looking for,” he says, “but I am busy just now. Good morning.” I longed to take him in my two hands and smash him through the window of his own office. But I didn’t. I was as mild as a curate. “Think of it,” says I. “Do think it over. I’ll call to-morrow.” He grunted something about being “out all day.” On the stairs I felt ready to beat my head against the wall from vexation. Captain Robinson here can tell you. It was awful to think of all that lovely stuff lying waste under the sun — stuff that would send the sugar-cane shooting sky-high. The making of Queens- land! The making of Queensland! And in Brisbane,
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where I went to have a last try, they gave me the name of a lunatic. Idiots! The only sensible man I came across was the cabman wdio drove me about. A broken-down swell he was, I fancy. Hey! Captain Robinson? You remember I told you about my cabby in Brisbane — don’t you? The chap had a wonderful eye for things. He saw it all in a jiffy. It was a real pleasure to talk with him. One evening after a devil of a day amongst shipowners I felt so bad that, says I, “I must get drunk. Come along; I must get drunk, or I’ll go mad.” “I am your man,” he says; “go ahead.” I don’t know what I would ' have done without him. Hey! Captain Robinson.’
“He poked the ribs of his partner. 'He! he! he!’ laughed the Ancient, looked aimlessly down the street, then peered at me doubtfully with sad, dim pupils. . . . 'He! he! he!’ . . . He leaned
heavier on the umbrella, and dropped his gaze on the ground. I needn’t tell you I had tried to get away several times, but Chester had foiled every attempt by simply catching hold of my coat. ‘ One minute. I’ve a notion.’ 'What’s your infernal notion?’ I exploded at last. ' If you think I am going in with you . . S
'No, no, my boy. Too late, if you wanted ever so much. We’ve got a steamer.’ ‘You’ve got the ghost of a steamer,’ I said. 'Good enough for a start — there’s no superior nonsense about us. Is there, Captain Robinson?’ 'No! no! no!’ croaked the old man without lifting his eyes, and the senile tremble of his head became almost fierce with determination. ‘I understand you know that young chap,’ said Chester, with a nod at the street from which Jim had disappeared long ago. 'He’s been having grub with you in the Malabar last night — so I was told.’
“I said that was true, and after remarking that
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he, too, liked to live well and in style, only that, for the present, he had to be saving of every penny — ‘none too many for the business! Isn’t that so, Captain Robinson?’ — he squared his shoulders and stroked his dumpy moustache, while the notorious Robinson, coughing at his side, clung more than ever to the handle of the umbrella, and seemed ready to subside passively into a heap of old bones. ‘You see, the old chap has all the money,’ whispered Chester, confidentially. ‘I’ve been cleaned out trying to engineer the dratted thing. But wait a bit, wait a bit. The good time is coming.’ . . . He seemed
suddenly astonished at the signs of impatience I gave. ‘Oh, crakee!’ he cried; ‘I am telling you of the big- gest thing that ever was, and you . . ‘I have
an appointment,’ I pleaded mildly. ‘What of that?’ he asked with genuine surprise; ‘let it wait.’ ‘That’s exactly what I am doing now,’ I remarked; ‘hadn’t you better tell me what it is you want?’ . ‘Buy twenty hotels like that,’ he growled to himself; ‘and every joker boarding in them, too — twenty times over.’ He lifted his head smartly. ‘I want that young chap.’ ‘I don’t understand,’ I said. ‘He’s no good, is he?’ said Chester, crisply. ‘I know nothing about it,’ I protested. ‘Why, you told me yourself he was taking it to heart,’ argued Chester. ‘Well, in my opinion a chap who . . . Anyhow, he can’t be much good;
but then you see I am on the look-out for somebody, and I’ve just got a thing that will suit him. I’ll give him a job on my island.’ He nodded signifi- cantly. ‘I’m going to dump forty coolies there — if I’ve got to steal ’em. Somebody must work the stuff. Oh! I mean to act square: wooden shed, corrugated- iron roof — I know a man in Hobart who will take mv bill at six months for the materials. I do. Honour
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bright. Then there’s the water-supply. I’ll have to fly round and get somebody to trust me for half-a-dozen second-hand iron tanks. Catch rain-water, hey? Let him take charge. Make him supreme boss over the coolies. Good idea, isn’t it? What do you sav?’ ‘There are whole years when not a drop of rain falls on Walpole,’ I said, too amazed to laugh. He bit his lip and seemed bothered. ‘Oh, well, I will fix up something for them — or land a supply. Hang it all l That’s not the question.’
“I said nothing. I had a rapid vision of Jim perched on a shadowless rock, up to his knees in guano, with the screams of sea-birds in his ears, the incandescent ball of the sun above his head ; the empty sky and the empty ocean all a-quiver, simmering together in the heat as fai as the eye could reach. ‘I wouldn’t advise my worst enemy . . .’ I began. ‘What’s the matter with
you?’ cried Chester; ‘I mean to give him a good screw — that is, as soon as the thing is set going, of course. It’s as easy as falling off a log. Simply nothing to do; two six-shooters in his belt. . . . Surely he wouldn’t
be afraid of anything forty coolies could do — with two six-shooters and he the only armed man, too! It’s much better than it looks. I want you to help me to talk him over.’ ‘No!’ I shouted. Old Robinson lifted his bleared eyes dismally for a moment, Chester looked at me with infinite contempt. ‘So you wouldn’t advise him?’ he uttered, slowly. ‘Certainly not,’ I answered, as indignant as though he had requested me to help murder somebody; ‘moreover, I am sure he wouldn’t. He is badly cut up, but he isn’t mad as far as I know.’ ‘He is no earthly good for anything,’ Chester mused aloud. ‘He would just have done for me. If you only could see a thing as it is, you would see it’v the very thing for him. And besides . . .
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Why! it’s the most splendid, sure chance . . .*
He got angry suddenly. ‘I must have a man. There! . . .’ He stamped his foot and smiled unpleasantly
‘Anyhow, I could guarantee the island wouldn’t sink under him — and I believe he is a bit particular on that point.’ ‘Good morning,’ I said, curtly. He looked at me as though I had been an incomprehensible fooL . . . ‘Must be moving. Captain Robinson,’ he
yelled suddenly into the old man’s ear. ‘These Parsee Johnnies are waiting for us to clinch the bargain.’ He took his partner under the arm with a firm grip, swung him round, and, unexpectedly, leered at me over his shoulder. ‘I was trying to do him a kindness,’ he asserted, with an air and tone that made my blood boil. ‘Thank you for nothing — in his name,’ I rejoined. ‘Oh! you are devilish smart,’ he sneered; ‘but you are like the rest of them. Too much in the clouds. See what you will do with him.’ ‘I don’t know that I want to do anything with him.’ ‘Don’t you?’ he spluttered; his grey moustache bristled with anger, and by his side the notorious Robinson, propped on the umbrella, stood with his back to me, as patient and still as a worn-out cab-horse. ‘I haven’t found a guano island,’ I said. ‘It’s my belief you wouldn’t know one if you were led right up to it by the hand,’ he riposted quickly; ‘and in this world you’ve got to see a thing first, before you can make use of it. Got to see it through and through at that, neither more nor less.’ ‘And get others to see it, too,’ I in- sinuated, with a glance at the bowed back by his side. Chester snorted at me. ‘His eyes are right enough — don’t you worry. He ain’t a puppy.’ ‘Oh, dear, no!’ I said. ‘Come along, Captain Robinson,’ he shouted, with a sort of bullying deference under the rim of the old man’s hat; the Holy Terror gave
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a submissive little jump. The ghost of a steamer was waiting for them, Fortune on that fair isle! They made a curious pair of Argonauts. Chester strode on leisurely, well set up, portly, and of conquering mien; the other, long, wasted, drooping, and hooked to his arm, shuffled his withered shanks with desperate haste/*
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“I did not start in search of Jim at once, only because I had really an appointment which I could not neglect. Then, as ill-luck would have it, in my agent’s office I was fastened upon by a fellow fresh from Madagascar with a little scheme for a wonderful piece of business. It had something to do with cattle and cartridges and a Prince Ravonalo something; but the pivot of the whole affair was the stupidity of some admiral — Admiral Pierre, I think. Everything turned on that, and the chap couldn’t find words strong enough to express his confidence. He had globular eyes starting out of his head with a fishy glitter, bumps on his fore- head, and wore his long hair brushed back without a parting. He had a favourite phrase which he kept on repeating triumphantly, ‘The minimum of risk with the maximum of profit is my motto. What?’ He made my head ache, spoiled my tiffin, but got his own out of me all right; and as soon as I had shaken him off, I made straight for the water-side. I caught sight of Jim leaning over the parapet of the quay. Three native boatmen quarrelling over five annas were making an awful row at his elbow. He didn’t hear me come up, but spun round as if the slight contact of my finger had released a catch. ‘I was looking,’ he stammered. I don’t remember what I said, not much anyhow, but he made no difficulty in following me to the hotel.