Isle o' Dreams

nshaw Pull

y, there is an ancient adobe building thatched with nipa. Its narrow door opens on the waterfront. High and narrow windows, devoid of glass o

the native quarter of Tondo, and affords a haven for the mixed population which labours on the Mole-coolies, seamen, Chinese mess "boys," Tagalog cargadores, Lascar serangs, stalwart Sikh watchmen from the hemp and sugar godowns, squat Germans in white suits with pencil

y babble of things which their employers would have kept secret, their tongues limbered by drams

cook of a gunboat, by his own report, and "Jack o' the Dust" in a river monitor up "China way." That's all anybody seems

f rum that his skipper liked smoked eels for breakfast and was taking on a cargo of best steaming coal for Kamrangh Bay. This knowledge enabled Togo to destroy the Baltic fleet in the Tush

man could sit hidden by tawny tapa curtains rove on a bamboo pole, and have privacy while

to stick out amazingly. He had black moustaches which grew down over his mouth, masking it. His face was brown and rough hewn. A straw hat, curled up into a grotesque shape, lay at his feet like some distorted bivalve. Its owner had an air of author

he shuffled the cards or played them, without lifting his elbows from the table, in the fashion of a jealous dog with a bone. He wore a blue cap with a polished black visor, tilted back

l that they gave no view of the Mole and the street outside unless a man were to climb on a chair and get hi

overs, complaining tackle, deep-throated protests of donkey-engines, outlandish comm

Chinese boy polishing the brasswork of the taps. The last of the noon idlers had gone, and the d

fle of feet on the stone steps outside. Captain Dinshaw t

eakly, making for

st Dinshaw at the door as if he expected to see a pursuing party

e?" he growled. "

pping his parcel on the bar, and throwing

ed! I'm a rich

don'd pring him here to me. You vant me droubles to haff der bolice mit, hey? A few tri

oice, and giving no heed to the admonitions of the black man and not in

humped his shoulders up with a convulsive shrug. "Maype

ave good soup for supper. I've got the tide this time, an' no mistake. It's turned for me, as I allus sa

nod see you. C

rget," said Dinshaw, wagging his he

uat man with clipped hair stood between them, glowering, one han

, and his jaw lifted to a pugnacious angle as he threw back his head. He screwed up hi

aback by the picture of this man, who see

ou'd go," s

n about me and my schooner!" raged

We're bound out in the Nuestra

st at the old man. But Dinshaw held his ground, and as Vanderzee cried out t

ll ye!" insisted Dinshaw. "

it a charter for the Nuestra, with you and yer slack jaw runnin' wild up and down the waterfront tellin' all hands and the ship

th a significant nod toward Dinshaw. He

He glanced at Dinshaw with a sneering, wicked eye and sniffed contemptuously. He gave the twisted stra

' now's the chance. I ain't goin' to stay with Prayerful Jones no

y arm wrathfully. "Ye make fast to me like a devilfish! That's the tune

and pulled a cigar from his pocket. He bit the end from it wi

arm. Who iss to giff mind to

is booby-bird goin' round Manila with word I'm to take the Nuestra to his fool island, who's to want my boat? Here I am now, lookin' to

me tell--?"

ged the upper part of his body in such manner that the bar afforded p

all rich," w

ye, and ye can git that out of yer fool head! Here I am, kickin' my heels around port and my schooner feedin' ba

after him. "A man said he'd charter the Nuestra and

fast to me fer! I don't want ye traversin' round charterin' my schooner and me. Makin' jokes for the loafers up on the canal. Ye done that once before, and

aid Vanderze

sland, Van! Just 'cause I've got a schooner, it's Jarrow, Jarrow, Jarrow! I'd loo

now it if they found it. That's why they come back with a 'Position Doubtful' report. Think I'm goin' to let them

lled Jarrow, and

don't want none of it, I'll see Hood about a boat. I thought ye was a friend of mine, Jarrow, so I come to ye. This man I got could buy your old schooner and a hundred like her, an' never miss the money. He asked for a boa

rzee leaned over the bar, and Peth craned his neck forward, maintaining

ed Dinshaw,

oco?" asked Jarrow,

d crassy," said

?" asked Jarrow, r

about the Wetherall and they give me this money to buy clothes, and sent me on the run

arrow, pushing Dinshaw back toward t

ood," persi

e door. "You'll see me! You've been usin' me and my schooner long enough,

and he'll take u

saw pink elephants," said Jarrow. "

s," suggest

e!" decla

inshaw. "Will ye go, Jarro

. "I don't want any ravin's. I want facts, straigh

d. "Stores and crew-right away, and be ready to sail in a day's time. We don't want no soldierin' on the

his brig," said Jarrow,

l have the Nuestra alongside the Mole by dark to take on stores, or he'll have another boa

," sai

"Sure ye didn't lift that ten-peso bill from Praye

haw, crisply, and made a ne

der Pay Few go?" s

he said, "and I ain't for huntin' sharks' eggs on Loone

said Peth. "You go, cap'n, an' I'

into a tiny office behind the bar. They heard him asking the clerk at the Bay View if

med. "So soon I

what he should do, "that's somethin' to know. Ma

nst it as if he had made up his mind not

got a twist in my chains to

more interest than he had at an

h duds, and you brail yerself up to look smart, and we'll

and he'll know. It's all settled right enough if

pered to Vanderzee. "I can't take no chan

rough the door, followed by Peth, close at he

ybe Looney give 'em hot shot about this island and they're keen to go, thinkin' there's bunches of gold there, which

r own crew," s

," said

," sai

teward, and Shangha

d if there's anything in it,

man who's lit up on Looney's island-o'-gold yarn, it ain't my way to throw sand in his e