bought two
of your stations from you--Mauri and Kahula. Said he paid you seventeen
hundred gold sovereigns, lock, stock and barrel, good will, trade-goods,
credit, and copra."

Griffiths's eyes narrowed and glinted. The action was involuntary, and
Grief noted it with a lazy sweep of his eyes.

"And Parsons, your trader at Hickimavi, told me that the Fulcrum Company
had bought that station from you. Now what did he want to lie for?"

Griffiths, overwrought by sun and sickness, exploded. All his bitterness
of spirit rose up in his face and twisted his mouth into a snarl.

"Look here, Grief, what's the good of playing with me that way? You
know, and I know you know. Let it go at that. I _have_ sold out, and I
_am_ getting away. And what are you going to do about it?"

Grief shrugged his shoulders, and no hint of resolve shadowed itself in
his own face. His expression was as of one in a quandary.

"There's no law here," Griffiths pressed home his advantage. "Tulagi is
a hundred and fifty miles away. I've got my clearance papers, and I'm
on my own boat. There's nothing to stop me from sailing. You've got no
right to stop me just because I owe you a little money. And by God! you
can't stop me. Put that in your pipe."

The look of pained surprise on Grief's face deepened.

"You mean you're going to cheat me out of that twelve hundred,
Griffiths?"

"That's just about the size of it, old man. And calling hard names won't
help any. There's the wind coming. You'd better get overside before I
pull out, or I'll tow your canoe under."

"Really, Griffiths, you sound almost right. I can't stop you." Grief
fumbled in the pouch that hung on his revolver-belt and pulled out a
crumpled official-looking paper. "But maybe this will stop you. And it's
something for _your_ pipe. Smoke up."

"What is it?"

"An admiralty warrant. Running to the New Hebrides won't save you. It
can be served anywhere."

Griffiths hesitated and swallowed, when he had finished glancing at the
document. With knit brows he pondered this new phase of the situation.
Then, abruptly, as he looked up, his face relaxed into all frankness.

"You were cleverer than I thought, old man," he said. "You've got me
hip and thigh. I ought to have known better than to try and beat you.
Jacobsen told me I couldn't, and I wouldn't listen to him. But he was
right, and so are you. I've got the money below. Come on down and we'll
settle."

He started to go down, then s