Part 29 (2/2)

Doctor Kent had said ”I know your kind When I turn you out I want you to be going strong”

In that opinion, Aunt Mary concurred But the ti cottage and return to the cannery Fearing a reversal of the verdict rendered in his favor, he set out at once At some distance from the cannery he stopped and inhaled the fish-laden at heart Once, he remembered, the odor had sickened him Now it came like a breath from Heaven It stirred his soul, quickened his pulse He sucked in the tinctured air greedily

It was life itself A life that was full and free, tee on fish, but short on sales”

Gregory expressed the state of his business with blunt accuracy as he stood with McCoy in the croarehouse

McCoy admitted the truth of the owner's statement

”We didn't want to worry you while you were sick,” he explained, ”but you can see just where we stand Soetting the fish I' them But we can't sell theory asked quickly ”I thought they were strong for us”

McCoy shrugged ”So did I,” he answered ”But a few days after you got hurt they quit us cold with no explanation When we fell down on that first big order of albacore, Winfield & Caet a flutter out of them since The other dealers seem to be afraid of us for some reason They come down and look us over, but that is all”

McCoy scowled at the huge stacks of shi+ning tins and shook his head

”It's gotout a first-class article but we can't unload it I've got a hunch so the worried lines which were finding their way to Gregory's face at his words, he went on hastily:

”I'le as this I did et out and take care of the sales”

”Don't say a word, Jack,” Gregory interrupted ”You've done more than your part Every man of you and every woet it This part of the ga I want to look things over for a few ain and let you knohat I' to do first”

A careful exaory of the seriousness of the situation There was only one thing to be done He must visit the jobbers at once

He paused abruptly in his calculations at the staccato bark of a high-powered ht, as he rose and walked to theWhat he saw through the glass caused hi waters of the sunlit bay ca in the direction of the cannery wharf But it was not the _Fuor d'Italia_ His eyes followed the course of the oncoer and a worried frown leaped to his brow It couldn't be that Joe Barrows had colanced at the calendar and his frown deepened In all probability it was his boat And if so, where was he going to get the money to pay for it?

He walked to the wharf and with narrowing eyes watched the stranger's approach So somewhere, he reasoned He had ordered a speed-boat One that would beat Mascola's A craft with real lines and bird-like grace like the _Fuor d'Italia_ The onco launch, he observed bitterly, was the direct antithesis of his expectations Surely there could be no speed in that squatty packet with her sagging bow and queer looking box-affair for a stern

The strange craft drew abreast of the wharf and whirled about in a ashed circle The motor hummed with contentment and the hull sank sullenly into the water as the uided the boat in the direction of the float Then Gregory caught sight of the letters painted on the side:

RICHARD

”Can you tell ory?”

The ory walked slowly to the float

”I'ory,” he answered lifelessly ”I was al I wasn't if that's the launch I ordered”

The driver of the craft rested his arht