ther up, and headed for the
Marquesas. Still you offered no objection. So he landed you--on
Nukuheva, if I remember. And from Nukuheva, somehow, I guess, you
got a slant out of your missionary labours to Sydney or else 'twas
back to Valparaiso--I haven't tracked it: but from one or other you
picked up some sort of a passage home. Anyway, lost men as the
_I'll Away's_ crew might be, they were glad enough, having traded you
for nothing, to up-sail and lose you out of their sight. . . . And
this man I find you two gentlemen treating as your friend, whom the
scum of the earth (as you would call them) abhorred! And you _know_,
whilst those poor men only guessed!"

"Stay a moment, Farrell," interposed Jimmy. "Sorry to interrupt
. . . but will you kindly take a look around this room.
Not entirely a neat apartment, eh? A few odd cases and cabin trunks
lying around? . . . You and Sir Roderick were almost at blows just
now. But if you're curious to know the reason of all this mess, it
is that, when you paid us this timely call, he was packing to search
for you."

"So?" Farrell drew back, regarding me, and the upper lids of his
eyes went up till they were almost hidden by his brows. "So?" he
said slowly. "But why?"

"Put it at a whim," I said sharply, "and get on with your tale.
. . . If you interrupt again, Jimmy, I'll strangle you, or attempt
to. You may have observed that I'm ready to fight anybody, this
afternoon."

Farrell looked at me earnestly. "I see what you would be driving at,
sir," said he, becoming the humble tradesman again. "And I admire.
But, by God, sir!" he broke out, "it won't do! It shan't do! No man
is going to shoulder that man's sin, to rob me of him!"

"Get down from that horse," said I. "You can mount him again, if you
choose, later on; but, first, finish the story."

"All very well," said Farrell, "to put it in that dictatorial way,
when you've taken the heart out of a man. . . . Well, Hales headed
back for Valparaiso, scarce believing his luck. There he interviewed
the ministry, got a provisional concession, and started out for the
island again, to make good--and found another inhabitant alive and
kicking.

"--He behaved just as well as before, and better--for I was frank
with him and knowledgeable. He couldn't understand missionaries,
real or sham: but he understood a square deal, and didn't charge
interest on bowels of mercy. His only grumble was, 'I'll put you on
your