Part 18 (1/2)

But that didn't seem to soothe him any, and he quavered out he would be better where he was But I said they'd rue the whole island upside down before they were done, and all he had to do was to lay low, not worry, and letfor hih the trap, and I shook it, he saying, ”God bless you, Bill--God bless you!” And then it went shut, and I heard hiirl into the secret, she being a Tongan, as I've already said, and as true as steel She didn't say ood to have seen her eyes flash, and the way her teeth grit, and how quick she was to understand her part--which was, to pack his clothes in ca of trade Old Dibsher the keys, while I took it on myself to tell Iosefo the ene everybody of the fack It ell I did so, for Phelps and Nettleshi+p and the rest come ashore soon afterwards with their pockets full of trifles for the children and the girls, and they strolled about the settle to rest and drink cocoanuts in the different houses Phelps had brought the photograph along and showed it right and left, asking if they had ever seen anybody like that I guess some of them would have cried out if it hadn't been for the pastor joining the party, like he wanted to do the honors of the island, telling the natives beforehand about the photograph, and shooing off the children when they coht he was talking what nice folks they were, for he had a kind of blandtheave Old Dibs aould have his house burned and go to hell

The pastor did yeoman's service that day, and at sundown they all went back to their shi+p, very gru no wiser than when they'd come Iosefo held a service afterwards to rub it in, and the king spoke at it, and likewise the chiefs, and so in our different e all pulled together for the coht on the schooner, singing songs and playing sourdy on deck, and the sound of it come over the water very pleasant to hear I sneaked off in a canoe toward ten o'clock, towhat they were up to They were all drunk, and getting drunker, and I couldn't but think what a poor, tipsifying set of sleuths they were, and how different from Sherlock Holmes in the book I lay for nearly an hour under their quarter, to hear what I could hear, and all I got was the odds and ends of so very near spit on the head

When I got back to the station there was Toe fast asleep We overhauled the gear toup a basket of provisions for the old ether with his toothbrush, comb, panjain She said he had eaten no dinner, groaning and carrying on awful, wanting her to shoot him with his pistol and end it all But he seeether by the time ere ready, for he let hih by the remarks he passed But one could see he just forced hiard and flabby in the lantern light, and he s, like a push would have sent him over

I had a little theeled truck that I used about the store to run bags of shell about in, and copra, and on this we put the treasure, eight bags of it, each one as heavy as could be lifted co us out a double handful each, not forgetting a share for To, ”Take it, and God bless you, my dear, kind friends!” We dropped it into my tool chest, and threw the key on the floor of the bedrooed a sort of rope harness to the truck, giving Tom the handles to steer by, while Old Dibs, Sarah, and me did tandem in front The boatswain's chair and the coil of Manila rope were lashed down on the load, as well as the basket of provisions, Sarah carrying the des,” while I led the ith the lantern

My, but we h the darkness, To to keep the truck on an even keel, Old Dibs gra like battery old is heavy, but when you run into the hundred thousands it beco-iron heavy, cannon heavy, house-and-lot-and-barn heavy! It nearly pulled the hearts out of us to keep that truck

I thought ti to prove the death of Old Dibs He was always laying down in his harness like a done-up Eskiain But e'd propose to cut hi a splendid spirit and cart-horsing ahead till his poor old breath caot to the tree, where ether with a will It was no slouch of a job to get that tackle in position, the block being iron shod and heavy, the rope inch Manila, and the night as black as the pit of Tophet To to feel his way for the place we hadone up The handkerchief had rotted off, or bloay long since, and it bothered Tom not a little to find where it had been But at last he did so, dropping his line for the lantern, according to the plan we had arranged beforehand, so as to avoid all shouting and noise When he had placed the lantern to his satisfaction, the line caear to make it fast with, and when this was done the inch Manila went up, and everything was ready

It showed hoell Tole hitch, except for the lantern blowing out and To hi a heavier ht as it ca They made the boatswain's chair fast below, and sent her up with the first load--two bags of coin--getting it on a level with the platfor the place I stood on the platfor the stuff in; and this went right along like a mail steamer, till it was all up, and it came old Dibs's turn

But he just took one look at the boatswain's chair, and said ”Nit,”

laying down on the ground when they tried to persuade hiufied over hi to budge an inch, saying he weighed two hundred and twenty pounds, and was better off in the attic

Ti the sa the sao home Then he said he'd come home, too, and we said No, we had washed our hands of him Then he said he was only a poor old ht, if he wanted to Then, e had gone about twenty paces, he co, ”For God's sake, stop!” and swearing he would go up peaceful, and make no h chair, I going up to receive him, while my wife and Tom laid on to the rope with a yeo-heave-yeo under their breaths All the fight had clean gone out of hi he did was to squeal a little when he buainst the trunk, and tried to fill up with air to ht, and I landed hi, ”Oh,the block down to Toh and went to take a last look at hilad he had co for ht and report, I to reed on previously

I wished hi out for hoear,threatened to desert Old Dibs when he acted so cowardly To all respeck for whites, and if _he_ was an, and was spoken to like that, he'd quit--by guht if she went away in the schooner with the white ain And I said, ”Oh, dear, but I'd feel sorry for the white old Old Dibs had a; and then I said I'd gladly add ht ere in for a race war

We all got back pretty cross and tired, but a little beer put heart in us; and I pulled her down on irl in the world, and that I wouldn't trade her for a ten-ton cutter; while Toiven us previous, and said ere all a pack of fools, and that he was as fond of Sarah as anybody So peace descended like a beautiful vision, and there was four hundred and forty dollars for each of us, with a twenty over that we tossed for, and engineered to let Sarah win Toht's work, and went ho hisafter breakfast the nextout in front, and there, if you please, was the whole schooner party, Phelps, Nettleshi+p, the bookkeeper, and the captain They had thrown off thefor the apprehension of Runyon Rufe, which he read aloud to me, while the others listened with their hats off like it was church

”I thought you gentleuano business,” says I, when he had finished

”We're in the Runyon Rufe catching business,” says Mr Phelps, very genial, ”and we trust you will not oppose the officers of the law in the exercise of their functions”

”I don't want to oppose anybody when it's four to one,” says I, equally genial, ”though may I make so bold as to inquire who is Runyon Rufe and what's he done?”

”Never heard of Runyon Rufe!” says Nettleshi+p, like it was George Washi+ngton or Alfred the Great

”Here it is, better than I can tell it,” said Mr Phelps, handing me a printed proclamation:

TEN THOUSAND POUNDS REWARD

RUNYON RUFE, Banker and Coantic frauds in connection with the Invincible Building Society, the Greater London Finance Syndicate, Suburbs Lis Fled to the United States, where he had previously put by su two hundred thousand pounds; resisted extradition; forfeited his bail; was traced to Portland, Oregon, and thence to Penrhyn Island, South Pacific, where all clews as to his whereabouts were lost

Aged sixty-three; height, five feet nine inches; iht, fifteen stone and over; fair coray hair; of a plethoric habit, and with a noticeable hesitancy of speech When last seen ell supplied withhis way toward the lesser-traveled islands of the Pacific Ocean

The above reward, in whole or in part, will be paid by Houghton & Cust, No 318 George Street, Sydney, New South Wales, on receiving information that will lead to the arrest of the said Runyon Rufe