t what white men think of him, and where he belongs. He's a pest
and a danger.... I'd like to see him and every other like him wiped out
of the islands. It's a common duty to suppress the whole filthy crew of
'em!"

* * * * *

They caught some of his energy--some of his superior biting viciousness
as well. Especially the loafers were roused by a call to higher things.
The benzoin merchant, betraying a habit acquired in a ruder society,
groped vaguely at his hip. The engineer sought a billiard cue that
balanced better to his fancy. Only the little clerk retained official
scruples and timidly doubted if there was any order against juggling, as
such.

"There's an order against vagrants," countered Silva.

"But, after all, if he has a trade of his own--"

"Trade be damned. He comes begging--doesn't he? And if you want
to bet he's not a fraud besides--."

"We might give him a chance."

"It's what I mean!" cried Silva. "We'll give him a chance, for
true.... Look here--"

He turned on the bewildered Merry.

"Look here--you! You say you've had no luck? Well: pray for it now. You
say sleight o' hand is your line? Well: turn out a sample--if you can:
something to prove you're not just a thieving beggar.... Observe! Here
is a dollar. I lay it down to your silver bit, and I lay you the odds
you've no trick worth a rotten straw--not one but I'll catch you out and
show you up. If you win, you get your drinks. If you lose--!... I'm
telling you! Be careful!"

* * * * *

Mr. Merry's first care, however, was to be seated. That is to say, he
put himself into a chair at an iron-topped table because it happened to
be nearer than the floor.

He understood. With some reserve of tortured clear vision he did
understand--the subtle finish to Silva's jape: playing his poor claims
against his frantic need--the last refinement of humiliation; to make
him exhibit his pitiful arts as a faker and a trickster of brown natives
before men of his own kind. They hitched closer about him. They were
highly entertained, languid, avid, and vindictive; and they watched him
with fish eyes from faces like wet leather bags, flabby and pithless.
He saw them through the blue smoke and the heat and the lamplight, and
he saw that in fact they were his own kind. He had fallen rather lower,
that was all and they had dallied with the local devil rather more
cautiously--they could still pay for