Isle o' Dreams Part 6

"Iss!" he exclaimed. "So soon I know, I hang opp."

"Well," said Jarrow, who was still in doubt as to what he should do, "that's somethin' to know. Maybe some rich tourist did fall for Looney's yarn."

Peth went back to the bar and leaned against it as if he had made up his mind not to move until Jarrow reached some decision.

"By the Mighty Nelson, I've got a twist in my chains to take a run over to the hotel!"

"Shoot," said Peth, displaying more interest than he had at any time since Dinshaw had arrived.

"Come along, Peth," said Jarrow. "I'll git into some fresh duds, and you brail yerself up to look smart, and we'll drift over in a _carromata_. Will you wait here, Dinshaw?"

"I'll wait, Jarrow, I'll wait. Tell him I sent ye, and he'll know.

It's all settled right enough if you lay alongside and make fast, and no time lost."

"See that he don't git away," Jarrow whispered to Vanderzee. "I can't take no chances with this--and keep him quiet--in there."

Pointing to the alcove, Jarrow slipped out through the door, followed by Peth, close at heel, like a well-trained dog behind his master.

"It's this way," said Jarrow, as they made their way between the bales and barrels among the workers on the Mole. "Maybe Looney give 'em hot shot about this island and they're keen to go, thinkin'

there's bunches of gold there, which I know ain't so. But it don't matter if we git a charter at fifty a day or so, and drag it out into a couple of weeks."

"We'll want our own crew," suggested Peth.

"Bevins," said Jarrow.

"Shope," said Peth.

"And Doc Bird for steward, and Shanghai Tom ships as cook."

"Right. Ye leave it to me, and if there's anything in it, I'll have all hands come dark."

"I ain't hatchin' no chickens on what Looney said," cautioned Jarrow, "but if there's a man who's lit up on Looney's island-o'-gold yarn, it ain't my way to throw sand in his eyes. And if we do find gold that's two tails to the cat. We'll take things as they lay."

CHAPTER IV

CAPTAIN JARROW GOES CRUISING IN STRANGE WATERS

Captain Jarrow and Mr. Peth were driven across the Bridge of Spain and up Bagumbayan Drive past the Walled City in a _carromata_, and disembarked from the native rig at the edge of the Luneta, whence they proceeded to the Bay View Hotel.

Jarrow wore a new white suit, squeaky French shoes of yellow hue, and an aura of perfumed soap. Mr. Peth felt uncomfortably respectable in blue serge and a shirt with a starched collar.

"I might ha' stayed back," grumbled Peth, as they mounted the stoop of the deserted veranda.

"You lay a course for the bar while I brace the gent at the office," said Jarrow. "Don't have nothin' to say."

Mr. Peth measured the veranda with his long legs and disappeared into the bar, while Jarrow squeaked his way into the palms and velvet grandeur of the _sala_, waving away the boy who came to inquire about his baggage.

"Yes, sir," said Wilkins, rising from behind the railed desk.

"You got a man here named Locke," a.s.serted Jarrow, seizing the railing as if to brace himself against a shock.

"Right-o," said Wilkins. "Name, please?" He reached for the room telephone.

Jarrow was taken aback at the thought of being so abruptly thrust before a stranger he could not see. He had no plan for a telephone conversation as preliminary to a meeting and was averse to having his name bandied about by the clerk.

"You can say," he suggested, "it's a friend of Captain Dinshaw's, who's come to have a word with him--strictly private."

Wilkins pressed a b.u.t.ton, and after a few seconds announced: "Mr.

Locke, there's a gentleman here to see you from Captain Dinshaw. He wants to speak to you privately."

"Put him on the wire," said Locke. "h.e.l.lo! I guess you've got the wrong party."

"No, sir," said Jarrow. "I was sent to see you. I'm from Captain Dinshaw."

"Don't know him," said Locke. "What's it about?"

"The island," said Jarrow, still cautious.

"Island! Oh, yes, the old fellow with the picture. All right, come on up."

Jarrow was soon before the door of the Lockes' suite and was ushered into a room which overlooked the bay, the windows open and the awnings down. He saw a young woman seated before a small table covered with tea things, and a tall young man standing near by. Mr.

Locke stood just inside the door, but what warmed Jarrow's heart and bolstered his courage was a picture of Dinshaw's island which lay on a divan. There was the proof that the old captain had talked with these people.

Locke regarded his visitor with a puzzled air, but concealed his surprise. The stranger seemed to him to be strangely furtive and sinister, standing in the half-light, ears twitching, a clipped skull thrust forward on a short neck like the head of a turtle pushing out from a sh.e.l.l.

"I didn't get your name, sir," said Locke, in a friendly way, to save his guest embarra.s.sment.

"Jarrow's my name. I got a wreckin' business. You ask anybody in Manila about me."

"And you say Dinshaw sent you?"

"Yes, sir. I take it you've had a talk with him."

"So I have."

"Then it's all right. Understand he mentioned me."

"You are Captain Jarrow? And you have a schooner?" asked Trask.

"Jarrow!" exclaimed Marjorie. "Of course! Don't you remember, Dad?

Captain Dinshaw told us about Captain Jarrow."

"Oh, yes, yes," said Locke. "You're the man he said would go to his island. This is my daughter, Miss Marjorie--and Mr. Trask."