PTER IV

MONTGOMERY'S OFFER

High-water was near and a trail of smoke, creeping up along the coast,
streaked the shining sea. Brown watched the smoke until two masts and a
funnel rose out of the vapor and began to get distinct. Then he put down
his glasses and lighted his pipe. The steamer was making for the lagoon.

He had not long since gone to the native town up the creek and returned
with a gang of laborers. So far, the negroes had worked well, but just
now he did not need them and they lay about in the shade, some wearing a
short waist-cloth and some a sheet of cotton that hung from their
shoulders. The tide had covered the wreck, but the big rotary pump was
running and, since the men had loosened the top of the cargo, it lifted
the slimy stuff.

A plume of steam that looked faint and diaphanous in the strong light
blew away from the noisy machine. A large flexible pipe rose from the
submerged hold and another ran from the pump across the hulk's deck.
From the end of the pipe a thick, brown flood poured into the water and
stained the green lagoon as the flood tide carried it along. The clash
and rattle of the engine carried far, for the load was heavy and Lister
was using full steam. The boiler was large and the furnace burned more
coal than he had thought. Sometimes palm kernels that had not altogether
rotted jambed the fans, and he held the valve-wheel, trying to ease the
shocks, while the perspiration dripped from his blistered skin. When
Brown indicated the steamer he looked up.

"She's coming in; I think I know the hooker," the captain remarked.
"Shallow-draught, coasting tank; goes anywhere she'll float for twenty
tons of freight. The skipper, no doubt, expects Montgomery's got a few
hogsheads of oil, and it's possible he'll sell us some coal. The
parcels-vanners are pretty keen to trade."

"We want coal," said Lister and turned abruptly.

The pump jarred and stopped, the swollen suction pipe shrank, and the
splash of the discharge died away. For some time Lister was occupied and
when he restarted the engine and looked about again the steamer was
steering for the hulk. She was a small vessel, going light, with much of
her rusty side above water. A big surf-boat hung, ready for lowering, at
her rail and a wooden awning covered her bridge-deck. When the throb of
her engines slackened two or three white men leaned over her bulwarks
and looked down at the hulk with languid curiosity. Their faces were
hagg