Isle o' Dreams Part 5

"Git out!" snapped Jarrow, and clumping out into the room, lifted a hairy fist at the old man. But Dinshaw held his ground, and as Vanderzee cried out to take care, the captain merely pushed the old man back with a snort of rage.

"But it's all settled, I tell ye!" insisted Dinshaw. "Hard and fast. We're to go----"

"Then go!" snarled Jarrow. "Go jump off the Mole, and give me some rest and quiet. I got other things to 'tend to. How'm I to git a charter for the _Nuestra_, with you and yer slack jaw runnin' wild up and down the waterfront tellin' all hands and the s.h.i.+p's cook I'm goin' to yer blasted island in my schooner? Hop in the river, but keep clear o' me and mine! Won't have it from ye!"

"Der sun his het in," said Vanderzee, with a significant nod toward Dinshaw. He wanted to avoid trouble. "He iss cra.s.sy."

The tall, thin man now parted the curtains and came out, his long legs moving stiffly across the floor. He glanced at Dinshaw with a sneering, wicked eye and sniffed contemptuously. He gave the twisted straw hat to Jarrow, who pulled it open and clamped it over his clipped skull. They both turned to the bar.

"Ye said ye'd go," piped Dinshaw. "Ye allus said ye'd take me, an'

now's the chance. I ain't goin' to stay with Prayerful Jones no more. I'm goin to pack my dunnage an' take it aboard the _Nuestra_."

"There ye go!" cried Jarrow, swinging toward him, and extending a brawny arm wrathfully. "Ye make fast to me like a devilfis.h.!.+ That's the tune ye've been singin' for years! '_Said ye'd go!_' Same old story! Why, I----"

He paused, as if at a loss for words to express his disgust, and pulled a cigar from his pocket. He bit the end from it with a twisting motion of his head. The tall man sighed wearily.

"Ach!" said Vanderzee. "No harm. Who iss to giff mind to vat he say? He iss cra.s.sy."

"There's a-plenty to give mind to it," snarled Jarrow. "Didn't I lose a charter last dry season to bring wood from Mindoro? What with this b.o.o.by-bird goin' round Manila with word I'm to take the _Nuestra_ to his fool island, who's to want my boat? Here I am now, lookin' to sign up a gover'ment hay charter, and he'll put me high and dry if this word is pa.s.sed along again. I won't have it. I'll see the police."

"Can't ye let me tell----?" began Dinshaw.

"Come along of me, Peth," said Jarrow. The angular man, who had arranged the upper part of his body in such manner that the bar afforded possibilities for rest, unfolded himself and moved toward his companion.

"I'll make ye all rich," wailed Dinshaw.

"You'll cost me a pretty penny, that's what!" exploded Jarrow, turning back from the door. "I never said I'd take ye, and ye can git that out of yer fool head! Here I am, kickin' my heels around port and my schooner feedin' barnacles off the breakwater, all 'cause ye've got somethin' chafin' yer top-hamper. I won't stand for it no more."

"But I got a man to take us," pleaded Dinshaw, going after him. "A man said he'd charter the _Nuestra_ and we'd all go. Two men and a lady it was, up at the----"

"Oh, I've heard enough of yer c.o.c.k-and-bull yarns," retorted Jarrow, who was not averse to freeing his mind on Dinshaw. "What the devil do ye want to make fast to me fer! I don't want ye traversin' round charterin' my schooner and me. Makin' jokes for the loafers up on the ca.n.a.l. Ye done that once before, and ye'll do it again. I'll have the police on ye! It's about time Prayerful Jones was shut of lettin' loose his b.u.ms and lunatics on us folks with property."

"No harm," said Vanderzee, soothingly.

"I say it is harm! I'm hailed whurever I go about this business of the old un's island, Van! Just 'cause I've got a schooner, it's Jarrow, Jarrow, Jarrow! I'd look fine and smart cruisin' round for a P. D. island, wouldn't I? Now tell me that?"

"It's a lie!" cried Dinshaw. "Them geodetic youngsters didn't look for my island, an' what's more, they wouldn't know it if they found it. That's why they come back with a 'Position Doubtful' report.

Think I'm goin' to let them young whippersnappers know about my island so they can find it? Find it! I can find it with a bone quadrant and----"

"Find Tophet!" yelled Jarrow, and turned to the door.

"Look here!" shouted Dinshaw, reaching into his pocket and fis.h.i.+ng out the bill he got from Locke for his picture. "I can prove it!

Here's money, planked down, and more where it comes from. I'm to go, I tell ye, an' if ye don't want none of it, I'll see Hood about a boat. I thought ye was a friend of mine, Jarrow, so I come to ye.

This man I got could buy your old schooner and a hundred like her, an' never miss the money. He asked for a boat and I said Jarrow, an' when the young lady asked who's to skipper it, I said Jarrow's the man, an' Peth for mate, an' he sung out for me to bring ye up to the tavern an' sign the charter. I'll say no more--I'll see Hood."

"What's this?" demanded Jarrow, turning back to stare at the bill.

Vanderzee leaned over the bar, and Peth craned his neck forward, maintaining his eternal grin. They had never seen Dinshaw with so much wealth before.

"Money!" piped Dinshaw, triumphantly.

"Has he gone plumb _loco_?" asked Jarrow, looking at Vanderzee.

"Dot money ain'd cra.s.sy," said the black man.

"Where'd ye git it?" asked Jarrow, reluctantly gentle.

"A rich man at the Bay View--with a young lady and a young man in a helmet. I told 'em about the _Wetherall_ and they give me this money to buy clothes, and sent me on the run for you. They want to go to the Golden Isle. I better see what Hood's got for charter."

"You better stay right here," said Jarrow, pus.h.i.+ng Dinshaw back toward the bar. "I'm goin' to look into this."

"I'll see Hood," persisted Dinshaw.

"Luff!" commanded Jarrow, holding out his arms to head Dinshaw off from the door. "You'll see me! You've been usin' me and my schooner long enough, and if there's anything in this yarn of yours, it's mine. Who's this man?"

"He's a rich man, and he'll take us," said Dinshaw.

"I'd believe ye sooner if ye said ye saw pink elephants," said Jarrow. "Git down to cases. What's his name?"

"Money talks," suggested Vanderzee.

"Moons.h.i.+ne!" declared Peth.

"His name's Locke," said Dinshaw. "Will ye go, Jarrow? I'll make ye all rich."

"Now what did this Locke man say?" demanded Jarrow. "I don't want any ravin's. I want facts, straight out, so you come up into the wind. What'd he say?"

"He said to look sharp about it," said Dinshaw, blinking at Jarrow, a trifle confused at being questioned. "Stores and crew--right away, and be ready to sail in a day's time. We don't want no soldierin' on the job. It's to be up hook and away and look lively.

You'll have to move navy style, Jarrow. You know me."

"Thinks I'm foremast in his brig," said Jarrow, with a leer at Vanderzee.

"You better cut over across the river," said Dinshaw, "and tell him you're ready and you'll have the _Nuestra_ alongside the Mole by dark to take on stores, or he'll have another boat. He said somethin' about knowin' a man out here who had a yacht, comin'

down from j.a.pan."

"Smoke," said Peth.

"I wonder," remarked Jarrow, scratching his head. "Sure ye didn't lift that ten-_peso_ bill from Prayerful Jones? I'll be bugs myself if I listen to you."

"Hood'll listen," said Dinshaw, crisply, and made a new effort to reach the door.

"Vhy don'd you to der Pay Few go?" suggested Vanderzee.

Jarrow looked at himself. "I'd have to s.h.i.+ft my duds," he said, "and I ain't for huntin' sharks' eggs on Looney's say. What ye think, Peth? Shall we fill up that way?"

"I ain't no hand for them swells," said Peth. "You go, cap'n, an'

I'll stand by down here with Dinshaw."

"Vait!" said Vanderzee, holding up a black hand. "Vot's der name?

Locke!" He stepped into a tiny office behind the bar. They heard him asking the clerk at the Bay View if there was a man named Locke staying there. In an instant he was back again, grinning.