The Storyteller.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 January 1916, Page 9

The Storyteller.

THE KEEPER OF PEARLS.

(By Albert Dorrington).

CHAPTER 1. Wong Foo-s island was three days cast of the Navigators. Sailors who pew black lip from golden-ed»e shell insisted that Foo was a born chemist, who had learned the trick of shaping pearls to his own design. ° Thieves and jewel agents of sorts had visited Foo's island without profit Yet in one year eight freak gems had left his hands for the sum of fifty thousand dollars! And each year his fame as * pearl-designer blew in loud gusts about the financially desperate men who haunt the quays of Sydney and San Francisco.

Captain William H. Haye3 had just emerged from an unprofitable marine inquiry when the news of Won Foo's latest achievement reached him. His schooner Daphne was anchored off Dawes Point at the moment Foo's latest consignment of pearls was being shown in the windows of Meyer, Ganstein and Co., the Australian representatives of the big Hatton Garden and New York firm. The schooner had enough stores to carry her east of the Navigators, and Hayes figured out that by the time he reached Foo's trade house another parcel of gems would be ready for shipment.

"Boys," he said, stepping aboard from the dinghy, "there's a Chinaman with a head as big as a gasworks living east of Manhiki. They call him the Pearl Wizard, but between ourselves lie's just a low-down acid expert who tricks oysters into creating the right shape stones."

"Guess he isn't the first one," the mate growled from the dark of the open hold. "Knew a pearl-hatcher up in Thursday Island who tickled oysters with opium and • strychnine until they delivered the goods properly. Name of Sing Lee. He had a face like a blamed tortoise, but he produced a thing they called the Eye of Cleopatra that was auctioned in Amsterdam for 17,000 dollars! Guess ,1 never heard of your Chinaman, anyhow." Haye9 lit a cigar and peered dows at the mate in ithe greasy hold. "Your chow had a necklace of gunboats to decorate his interests, my son. You forget, too, that ; he was financed and guarded by various syndicates and gun-holders. My particular heathen depends for protection on a little brass joss about the size of your nose. Alt the same, we'll get our anchor when you've sweetened the ship a bit." It was midnight when the Daphne cleared the Heads. Hayes spent the following day and many others over a big Admiralty chart that magnified ordinary island groups to the size of continents. He pin-marked and pencilled atolls and archipelagoes that bore no name until he had a particular pear-shaped speck from a cluster of sister reefs and coral pinnacles. ' "We'll call it Last Chance Island," ne •aid to the mate. "And if Fob happens to beat us at high thinking when we get him—well, there isn't enough money it), the locker to keep U9 out of gaol!" CHAPTER XL J

A mountainous surf was running over the reef ends that gridironed the entrance to the lagoon. The atoll itself was like a huge saucer in the smother of inbreaking seas and dazzling beach sand.

The schooner raced like a frightened bird through the surf-whitened passage, Hayes gripping the wheel with the courage of his despair. The whirlwinds of water caught the schooner's keel, flinging her almost broadside on to a jagged line of submerged coral. ■The next moment she had responded to his swift appeal, and with a leap that was almost human gained the still clear water of the lagoon. The low rumble of the anchor chains brought a cloud of hawks wheeling over the schooner's yards—eager, hungry creatures, ravenously alert to seize the slightest morsel that fell from the pari!trp window. The mate, standing near the rail, indicated a hut of palm logs, scarcely visible through the distant jungle of lianas and ferns. Ten seconds later a fat, sleepy-eyed Chinaman appeared at the door, a pair of old ship's glasses held to his eyes.

"Wong Foo, or his blamed understudy!" Hayes declared. "Looks as if 1 we'd got him unawares!" The Chinaman appeared to be addressing someone inside the hut. His gestures "were rapid fer one so heavy of movement; yet not for an instant "did his face betray more than a suave curiosity at the schooner's unexpected entry into the lagoon.

The dinghy took Hayes ashore, leaving the mite and two of the crew on the beach to await his return. Strolling leisurely over the rough coral-strewn shingle, the buccaneer approached at one caressing each moment of life. What lay beyond the jungle line he could not guess; he was certain, however, that the atoll contained a dozen or more native divers armed with shell-knives, and with maybe a rifle or two inside the dark woods on his left.

"I'm the head of a geological survey party,' he announced briskly. "My name is Twickenham, and it pains me to record the fact, sir, that the subaqueous superstructure of this island is causing European diplomats much uneasiness and alarm!"

"Twillecum," the Chinaman nodded pleasantly. "Welly glad to see you,

"I was going to mention," Hayes went on genially, 'that some of my assistants are coming ashore with shovels and picks to examine your stratas. We'll dig round your hut and inside it perhaps. One can never tell how these sub-glacial torrentiferous surfaces run," he added impressively. A native boy, wearing a necklace ot sharks' teeth quitted from the rear of the hut into a dense shadow of the puraos beyond. "Nicked!" Haye3 swore softly under his breath, but without a sign of chargin in hia eyes. "You welcome to dig up my house," the Chinaman assured him blandly. "Me welly intlested in jollogy, mistah Twillecum. You come in!"

~~Hayes followed into the hut with a suspicion that the native with the necklace had slipped away with the pearl hoard. The hut contained a single bunk and sleeping mats, together with an empty gin case that stood for a table. The buccaneer sniffed scornfully at the odours of stale fish tmd cooking that exuded;from a little compound at the re*r. fie divined in, a flash the hope■le«»nesitof his quest. To have shot the disappearing native would have been a

deliberate act of murder that made no appeal 'to his rough nature. To acquire the pearl cache by force or cunning was his idea.

into the open, he glanced back at the watchful Chinaman in the doorway. "Im going to examine and report on the nature of your igneous subsoils, sir. Probably you'll tell me who the spring-heeled boy is who quitted by the back door?" The Chinaman's face was a study in suppressed scorn and derision. "That boy named Esanon,' he grinned. "Him welly flikened of jollogists. Me no stop him run away!" "There's one Ming," Hayes declared, as he swung in the direction of the puraos, "he can't run far on this coop of an island, I'll get the beggar befors sunset if he doesn't get me!" CHAPTER 111,

The thin belt of puraos screened the atoll from the south-eastern .trade. The waters of the lagoon gleamed turquoise in the noon sunglare. The tide was racing out through the narrow entrance, revealing the naked sandbars and ridges of coral. Descending a narrow track that led to a basin-like hollow on the right, Hayes came suddenly upon a strongly built, palm-thatched trade house in the centre. At a glance he saw that the doors had been shut to prevent a too sudden entry. He scratched his head doubtfully. "Johnny Shark necklace being in there," he muttered, "he isn't likely to come out unless I perpetrate a sudden conflagration. And a fire risk isn't good business when the pearls ain't insured!"

Strolling round the trade-house, out of gunshot, Hayes became suddenly aware of a shark-tooth necklace moving delicately through ithe scrub on his right. Without sound the buccaneer had crossed the_ -boulder-packed space, and in the turn of the track found himself eye to eye with the boy Esanon. Slowly, deliberately,, the buccaneer covered him with his big navy Revolver. "Esanon," he said sorrowfully, "I want eight or nine little geological specimens you're carrying. I guess you know the meaning of this lump of steel in mv hand?" J

Esanon trembled violently, his brown hands thrust out as though to shield his face from a bullet. Hayes stepped nearer until the barrel of his weapon touched the boy's cheek. "You took some pearls from your master's hut just now. Where are they?" Esanon sank to his knee, his fingers seeking to touch the white captain's feet. "They kill me if I speak of the oonati (pearls)." He indica/ted the trade-house in the hollow. "They are strong men and they have knives and guns too, 0 captain, I cannot speak here."

"Have you got the pearls?" "I will tell where they are, 0 captain, but Esanon must go from the island to your ship. You must wait till the dark comes," he whispered in the vernacular, "or they will kill us both if we stay here?"

Something in the boy's horror-stricken eyes warned Hayes of some instant peril. Seizing Esanon's trembling wrist he returned swiftly to where the mate stood waiting by the dinghy. • The tide had run low, leaving scarcely enough, water to float the schooner. Without a word to the wide-eyed, ex pectant crew, Hayes led the quaking Esanon to his cabin and pushed him inside.

"You tell me all about it, my boy." Hayes spoke softly now, for he saw that Esanon could put the game in his hands if he chose. "How* many pearls are there, and who's holding 'em at the present moment?"

Esanon held up his right hand and one finger of his left. "Six little ones, 0 captain, and a seventh that is like jariski (the star of morning). It is the color of milk and blood, and it is shaped like the dove that is painted in the mission house at Ponape." "Another freak gem!" Hayes growled, Then, in a kindlier voice: "Who holds it, Esanon?"

The boy's frightened glance went to the open porthole for a moment before answering. "The blue shark has it now," he said with an effort. "It will not come back to this inside water until your ship lias gone!"

Hayes almost glared at ithe boy. "See here, Esanon," he snapped, "none of your witch doctor talk! Speak plain;;there is a bullet in my gun for every little lie you tell!"

Esanon put out his hands desperately, while a shadow of terror crossed his shifting eye.-. 'lt is Wong Foo's shark, o, captain, the big man-eater with the hammer nose. It comes into this higan (lagoon) for the rich food my master gives it, once, twice, three times a month. Like the hungry pig, it has learned to come and go from its feeding place, 0 captain." Hayes sat on the locker wiping the big drops from his brow. "But the pearls, Esanon," he demanded. "What has this hammer-nosed shark got to do with 'em?"

"The master, Wong Foo, is very wise, 0 captain. Many thieves and bad men come here to steal his pearls. No place is safe to hide" them. One time he kept pigeons, and when the papaiagi came in their ships to steal and rob, the master tied his pearls in silk to the pigeon's feet and let them go!" "Phew!" Hayes muttered. "That's the limit!"

"But the hawks and carrion birds killed the pigeons sometimes," Esanon went on. "And my master lost many pearls that fell into the sea. So he became very wise and made friends with the big man-eater shark," he added quickly.

"How does a man make friends with a man-eating shark, Esanon?" the buccaneer inquired with a touch of sarcasm. 'T guess you can't fool me all the time!"

"The shark is like the pig," the boy insisted stubbornly "It soon learns where it is being fed very iregular. When the master ties a Tanna boy to the post that is driven deep far out in the lu-gan, the shark knows!" Hayes caught .his breath fiercely. "Does the master tie up people to a post in the lagoon, Esanon?" "Only when he wishes the hammerhead to come into the lu-gan," he boy answered innocently. "Then the master keeps the shark in by placing logs across the naru-tai (passage). The hammer-head cannot go out until the logs are taken away, 0 captain."

"But what's the use of the beast when you have him inside the lagoon?" Hayes flung out, his face congested in fury and disappointment, for he suspected that the boy was merely beating time to allow bis master some way of escape

from the atoll, "Tlie tide run, out and leaves your man-eater floundering in the mud. Where's the sense, I ask?" Esanon clasped his hands mid made signs in token of his own honesty and good faith. "The master is not afraid of the hammer-head, 0 captain. After the lide has gone out and it lies in the deep mud he fastens a ning-gar (copper wire) round the body where it grows narrow at the vani (tail). The master has the pearl divers, Amati, Oke and Sunda, to help him." "No lies!" the buccaneer declared hoarsely, his big hand resting almost threateningly on. the boy's shoulder, "or by the gods of your people I'll nail your little brown ears over my cabin door. Now, tell me what it is that's fastened to the copper wire?"

"A metal tube!" Esanon chattered his eyes bulging at the threat. "The j pearls are kept inside^, "And you tell .me," Hayes almost snarled, "that your master lets that hammerhead go out to sea with a blamed metal box fastened to it?" "I have seen it with my eyes!" Esanon quavered. "And the master gets it into the lagoon again by offering it a live boy or man! Is that the yarn?" Again Esanon assured him that it was so. "This morning at sky-break, he added in a whisper, "my master's canoe, with Amati steering, saw your ship very far away, three, four, five hours before you entered the naru-tai (passage). It was low tide, and the hammerhead was in the mud and sand at the far end of the lu-gan. It was then the master became afraid that you were the wicked 'papalagi' come to steal the six pearls and the Star of Morning he had prepared for the German buyers. The divers held fast to the hammerhead with sinnet ropes while the master fastened the wire and tude very tight." Hayes decided in a flash that the boy was lying. Controlling his anger, he shook him by the shoulder roughly. "And the hammerhead went out to sea with the pearls this morning, an hour or so before I came into the lagoon! Do you swear by that?"

Esanon crossed his breast, while his eyes showed signs of tear and reproach. "The captain can bring in the hammerhead to-night at full tide. He has only to do what the master does. I have spoken the truth!"

CHAPTER IV. ■ ' It was quite dark when Hayes locked the cabin door, leaving Esanon inside. Gaining the schooner's deck, lie called softly to the mate to lower the whaleboat. "Bring some rifles and a rope!" he added hoarsely. '• We're going to interview Wong Foo." ' A few minutes later the whaleboat with six white 1 men at the oars, hit the shingles a few cables' length from the tradehouse in the hollow. A heavy surf was running on the outer reefs, yet scarcely a breath of air moved the, line of stiff-crested palms in the south.

A single lamp burned in the tradehouse. Followed by the mate and four of the boa;t hands, Hayes approached and rapped softly at the heavy teak door.

A slight stir inside followed, and then the voice of Wong Foo. "What you want, Twillecum ?" he demanded, sleepily. "Me got nothin' for you heah!" "I've got a .barrel of tar and a fire'stick if you don't open the door, Foo. Quick and lively now!" There, was a pattering of sandalled feet on the floor inside. The Chinaman's shadow slanted across the blinds for a moment before the door bolts were drawn. Hayes waited until the big yellow face appeared in the dimlyjjt entrance before speaking. "You are coming in our boat, Foo," he announced, gently. "Make a fuss and you'll get a bullet for every boy you fed old hammerhead with!"

The Chinaman's slant eyes glinted, while his huge frame seemed to palpitate with fury. "My boy Esanon tel. you one lie!" he rasped. "You come here an' say you one jolligist. Now you wantee my pearl. You no bluff me, Twillecum!" lie added, defiantly. "I'm going 'to see if there's truth in Esanon's shark story, Foo! And those black divers of yours cat: show up now if they feel entitled to a scrap, savvy!" A sudden scurrying of feet within the tradehouse followed the buccaneer's 'statement. A moment later the door was slammed violently and bolted. . "Sounds as if fighting wasn't in their line!" Hayes commented; jeeringly as he thrust the struggling Chinaman forward in the direction of the boat.

Rowing steadily across the lagoon the boat collided suddenly with a high post that stood gibbet-like in :the swirlin" .water. Hayes gripped it with the boat" hook, while the mate made fast with the painter. Wong Foo squirmed in his seat, the sweat of tetror illuminating his heavy features. The buccaneer observed him narrowly, a cigar flattened between his teeth. "How many boys did you tie up to this post. Foo?" he inquired suavely. "The truth is going to help you sonic; a lie will only hurry the funeral. Speakup!"

The Chinaman humped his shoulders sullenly, then looked into the face 3 oi :the men beside him and shook his head. "Esanon make a fool of you!" he rasped. "I no tie lillee boy up to post. No fear!"

Hayes considered a moment, then whispered to the mate. Without haste or violence the Chinaman was stretched in the thwarts, his arms and logs securely roped. With some difficulty ho was heaved into the warm waters of the lagoon while deft hands gripped and lashed him to the upright stake.

The water rose slowly about the Chinaman's waist as the whalebaat drew oft'. It came with a crisp bubbling flow full of it sown voice and the batter taste of the everlasting outer seas. Foo's Mongolian eyes became rooted in their stare. Not once in the slow passing minutes did his glance lift from the water that rushed life a millrace through the lagoon passage. Once or twice in the long night his head fell forward as though listening to the thunderbolts of surf on the faroff atolls. Then his glance went out to a white wedge of phosphorescnee that appeared like a lantern flash at the mouth of the channel.

A soft, indistinct word escaped him. For an instant he fought with maniac strength to free his wrists and ankles from the post, only to drive the lashings deeper into the soft flesh. Then from the darkness of the distant reefs a voice boomed across the water. , ''Look out, Foo! Keep your chin

The Chinaman's glance went out again to the white wedge of light trailing indolently in the blue underflow. It Int hf.re and there with the precision of a torpedo scout, its huge length remaining inert as it gained the lagoon centre, as though the Chinaman's shadow had disconcerted it. Swerving it flashed nearer, and again stopped a fathom length from the pig-tailed head with the bulging eyes.

The whaleboat shot suddenly across the trail of phospborufe; Hayes grUnted softly as the barrel of his Winchester slanted into view. The wedge of mios-

phorus receded, and then, witli incredible swiftness, turned and shot with open jaws at the wide-eyed Celestial. Hayes fired twice in quick succession as the grey-bellied monster flashed by. A sudden silence followed, and then a terrific ithreshing of water where the hammerhead shark gyrated to the surface. Ten seconds later it was floating idly within a few feet of the post. . Driving the boat-hook into its still throbbing flesh, they towed and beached the huge carcase with the craft of fishermen. In the half light Hayes discern, cd a band of copper wire attached to its tapering length. His knife slashed it loose, and, with a grunt of satisfaction, broke away a small metal cylinder fastened to a finger ring at the end. "Leave Foo where he is!" Hayes commanded, the cylinder held tight in his palm. "The kanaka divers will fetch him at daybreak. I want to get aboard my schooner and apologise for callinn little Esanon a liar!" ° Esanon was brought on deck and stood before Hayes, a look of expectation sharpening his clear-cut features. His lips twitched strangely at sight of the metal tube.

"See here, sonny!" the buccaneer began, with a hearty laugh. "Everything's turned out as you said. The only thin" that puzzles me is how to open the box"! It's sealed up both ends, and I don't want it roughly handled for many reasons. Can you open it?" Esanon took the cylinder, examined it by the binnacle light, and then with a sudden twist in the centre opened it. Six grains of Indian corn trickled into the buccaneer's waiting pain! A snarl of rage and disgust filled the schooner. The mate caught the boy in a savage grip and bore him to the 'rail. "You're part of the whole blamed fraud!" he thundered. "You lying little beast!"

Raising him in a baresark grip the mate flung him over the rail. Esanon struck the water with his feet, rose swift!}-, and looked back at the angry faces peering at him from the schooner's side. A moment later he ducked to avoid impact with the metal cylinder (lung at his head by the mortified Hayes. "I'd give the little beggar a biillet only I'm not sure whether he's a fraud or not!" The buccaneer walked aft wiping his perspiring brow. Esanon rose to the surface, drew breath warily, and dived. Thirty seconds later he re-appeared a few yards from the beach, the metal cylinder clutched in his fingers. Crawling to the shelter of the puraos he sat down and drew a verdigris-covered pin from the false bottom of the evlinder.

A single pearl of matchless orient and shape fell into his palm. There were no others. At dawn the schooner made For the reef entrance, Hayes at the wheel. His scowling eye turned for a moment from his survey of the whitening breakers outside to a plug-shaped object squatting on a reef end a cable's length ahead.

"It's Easnon!" he called out to .the mate. "What's he after';"

Esanon stood up suddenly, his arms dung out in a last appeal. "Von no leave me here, 0 captain! My master who deceived mo will kill me when you are gone!"

Hayes swore under his breath. "What do you want?" he bellowed. "I can't waste my life in this blighted hole!" Esanon spread out his hands in frantic haste as the schooner moved to Uie passage. "My mother lives at Honolulu, 0 captain. If you take me to Latanga, in the Navigators, I may get there by another ship. I am a sailor and a very good cook. And—there is my mother!" Hayes turned a scowling face to the mate standing near the cuddy door. "Get the dinghy. We can do with a blamed cook. And I guess his old haybag of a mother will be glad to sec him!" She was.