10
THE SUNDAY FICTIQ2T MAGAZIXE, APEIH 22. I9R
could sail over a meadow If the dew lay
heavy on it, simply laughed at their pur
suers and vanished up impossible Inlets
as soon as the ' naval men got within
range.
Sometimes the untutored travelers
- showed resistance, and then Flint saw
hi n?B that VArA tftrrifvino crnrl Kaactlv
Meanwhile the white man, safe in the
sanctuary of the Inche's friendship,
fished and smoked and shot snipe, and
.pretended that he felt no cares. Inci
dentally he did his best to
Inche's hoard of tin. He es
r timated it at nearly a thou
sand tons, which, at only
(300 a ton, would approxi
mate half a million dollars.
And, 10 per cent on half a
'million was $50,000.
Then Flint, who had am
ple time for such diversions,
dreamed dreams wherein he
in a side-bar buggy on the
' Alameda, beside the red-
headed girl from San Jose.
Thus matters stood when
vuo uue uay a iugu-iwuyu
'junk floated over the bar and
" dropped her hooks in yie
Kwala. Her Chinese skipper
was skilled in the ways of
pirates and was perfectly
ready to pay the customary
"squeeze." To his amaze
ment, however, nobody came
tq levy it. This omission h
erroneously ascribed to the
presence of the white war
ship that rode so lazily with-
. out in the offing.
That night, however, a
boat drifted down the river
with a European who gave
his name as Tuan Smith.
The tuan chartered the junk
for a voyage to Singapore at
a rate that eclipsed the most
fatuous aspiration of the
Celestial, especially in view
of the fact that the trader
recognized in Tuan Smith's
companions two of the most
notorious pirates in Malaya,
Being a Chinaman, however,
: ho was clever and kept his
eye on the main chance.
"These worthy fools," he
reflected, "desire me to for
get that I have a tongue, or
reven eyeg, for things that do
not concern me. I shall ut
terly forget that I have eyes
or a tongue."
A week later he sailed for
Singapore with Mr. Smith as passenger
and twenty tons of tin as Mr. Smith's
baggage.
At Singapore the metal sold as readily
as minted silver, and Flint found him
, self with the equivalent of about 112,000
in his pocket.
Then was Flint's soul preyed upon by
sor temptations. With $12,000 and his
freedom In hand, there seemed no rea
v sonable impediment to his shaking the
dust of Asia from his feet and leaving
the Inche and his hoard, as well as the
" towkay In Palinggu, and all his other
troubles,' to the inscrutable providence of
Allah,
On the other hand, Flint's soul was'
racked by the memory that the Inche, in
stead of murdering him out of hand, had
treated him with, every kindness, and
had Imposed the most implicit trust in
htm. Moreover, at best he had only some
112,000 in hand. ' Were he to dispose of
all the rest of the treasure his commis
sions would come to over $50,000.
Flint, as has been stated, was a sports-
through.
usually repaired for his noonday sling or
cocktail, Captain Peter Gibney sat all
day and fished for. any small blessing it
might please heaven to send. He was
.ready to accept anything from a gin
while up his sleeve he had fifty recipes
all Infallible for making a kingly for
tune. What his soul sighed for at the
time of Flint's advent, however, was not
a kingly fortune but a plain, ordinary
job. In this .connection there was not a
steamer for sale or charter between Bom
bay and Hakodate which th3 gallant but
unfortunate skipper was not ready to put
into commission; but especially had he
his eye' upon an elderly but eight-draft
coaster that lay rotting in the harbor of
whiskies and sodas. Under ordinary cir
cumstances, the skipper assured his vis
itor, he would not "worry much if it
snowed pirates; but when he was warned
on the point by a naval officer he knew
that it was high time to keep a sharp
lookout.
"We're always knocking about in
some of the shady channels near-by," ex
plained the lieutenant. "There are four
boats on the job, worse luck! We'll have
to be double-extra careful, now we've got
Any food pleases the
fowl that scratches in
the, kampong, but tame
your hawk and he still
seeks the living prey!"
-Ssx if
Singapore itself a burden on the hands
of the Chitties who had foreclosed a
mortgage on her. She was of some 800
tons carrying capacity, and was to be
chartered for a song. Gibney's idea was
to run her between Singapore and the
Natunas, and make a million in the copra
trlde.
Flint had no. soul for copra, but one
day he put a new'heart into the poor out-of-work
skipper by informing him that
he had a job for just such a steamer.
"It's only a one-trip job, captain," said
he, "but it will be well paid, and it will
give you a leg-up in starting out again
in business for yourself."
Thus, it came about that after several
weeks of waiting the faith and patience
of Inche Mahmud were rewarded one
morning by the spectacle -of the steam
ship Lady Raffles picking her course
across the bar of the Palinggu.
EVEN as the pirates watched her from
their lair among the mangroves a
white man-of-war boat pulled smartly
alongside, and Lieutenant Hesketh of
H. M. S. Reptile ascended the gangway.
The occasion of his visit, as he jovially
explained, was to warn the master of the
trader against the dangers that menaced
from the Inche Mahmud and his follow
ers. Captain Gibney heartily thanked the
officer and ordered up the stengah the
you to look after; but if ever you smell
a rat, fire a shot or make a row of any
sort, and some of us will be alongside in
a brace of shakes. I don't want to teach
my grandmother to suck eggs," he con
cluded, "but these Johnnies would steal
your back teeth while you were looking
at them."
Flint, in his capacity of Mr. Smith, the
charterer, who was interested to the ex
tent of several hundred tons of tin from
his mines, heartily indorsed the officer's
advice and added his thanks to those of
Captain Gibney.
Scarcely had the lieutenant taken his
departure when a ramshackle old fishing
koleh came drifting out. from somechan
nel in the mangroves and swung lazily
down on the steamer. Her crew of three
had some fish to sell, while the eldest of
the trio desired to be engaged as port pilot.
"We've as much use for a port pilot
as a hog has for a holiday!" laughed the
skipper.
, "Engage the blighter. Just the same,
and charge it up to me," said Flint. "It's
a blackmail, but we must do it! I know
what I'm at!"
Gibney did a lot of thinking; but he
saw there was no doubt whatever about
Flint's -knowing what he was at. No
white man could have accumulated 600
or 700 tons of tin up the Palinggu with
out knowing how to mind his own business.
Then his eyes bulged far from their
sockets a little later in the day when tea
stout canvas bags, each holding 1,000
Mexican dollars, were passed over the
rail to the fishermen.
The pilot was Inche Mahmud.
BUT Captain Gibney soon admitted in
his own mind that his charterer's
money was well a pent. He understood
river work, its ineffable slackness and
tiresome uncertainties, owing to the tolls
and exactions of chiefs and pirates along
every mile of navigable waten But her
was a sportsman who flung $10,000 at the
head of the pirates' ambassador, and lo!
they treated him as a sportsman should'
be treated.
Day after day, and day after day, a
ceaseless procession of boats sailed quiet-'
ly down to the Lady Raffles, and day!
after day. uninterruptedly, she settled
lower in the water with her ever increas
ing cargo of tin.
Day after day, also, Flint held palaver
with Salleh, the pilot, otherwise Inche
Mahmud, and lengthily he explained to'
that leader of murderous'
men that once a man hadi
successfully amassed a for-
tune honesty was really thaj
best policy.
The Inche laughed. "
- "Has not the Inche been
honest with the tuan?"
said he.
"Yes."
"Has not the Inche learned '
that the tuans are honest,
and therefore It profits a
man to deal with them hon
estly?" "I suppose so, Inche," ad
mitted Flint.
"But all men are not tuans
not even all white men
and, tuan, this is Asia. Any
food pleases the fowl that
scratches In the kampong,
but tame your hawk and he
still seeks the living prey!"
"I suppose we are all as
Allah made us, Inche."
"The tuan will find that
that is so."
An inscrutable smile of
superior wisdom for an in
stant illumined the weather
beaten face of the pirate.
"We are all as Allah made
us, tuan the hawk and the
hawk's prey!"
A fortnight went by. and
there were over 600 tons of
tin on the steamer. In the
mellow evenings of those
long hot days Flint used to
lie back on a long deck chafr and weave
dream fancies of iridescent splendor. At
the market rate of tin "the cargo already
on board was worth all of a clear $350,000.
Ten per cent on that was $35,000. And
they would take on board at least fifty
tons more.
That extra $3,000 alone would more
than square his towkay up in Palinggu,
as well as all his other possible responsi
bilities, and pay all his expenses back to
Santa Clara. Yes, he would write to the
dear old mother, and to the girl with the
red hair, and tell them all about his ad
ventures with the pirates; excepting in
somuch as the same touched upon his in
tent to commit suicide, or the matter of
the towkay'a $2,000, or. most especially,
the!, item of the grass widow with the
purple eyes.
At this point In Flint's meditations
one evening Captain Gibney came up the
deck, leading Mr. McGlew, the chief, en
gineer. "Tell him, Mac!" said the skipper, as
Flint inquired what was the matter. And
Mr. McGlew panted out his story:
"These Malays who are loading your
tin, Mr. Smith, are all pirates, pure and
simple; and that d d fisherman who has
blackmailed you out of your 10,000 ring
gits Is old Inche Mahmud himself!"
"What!" ejaculated Flint, In admir
ably simulated astonishment.
"A fact, sir!" said the Scot, "and I