Henshaw silently poured another drink and passed it to the Scotchman.
The latter gripped the glass hard and tossed off the drink with a
single gesture. At once his eyes came back to Henshaw's face with the
fierce question. He was astonished to note kindliness in the answering
gaze.
Old Henshaw said gently: "Tut, tut! You're a proper man, McTee, and a
proper man has always the thought of some woman tucked away in his
heart. Look at me! For almost sixty years I've been the King of the
South Seas!"
At the thought of his glories his face altered, as soldiers change when
they receive the order to charge.
"You're a rare man and a bold man, McTee, but you'll never be what
White Henshaw has been--the Shark of the Sea! Ha! Yet think of it! Ten
years ago, after all my harvesting of the sea, I had not a dollar to
show for it! Why? Because I was working for no woman. But here I am
sailing home from my last voyage--rich! And why? Because for ten years
I've been working for a woman. For ourselves we make and we spend. But
for a woman we make and we save. Aye!"
"For a woman?" repeated McTee, wondering. "Do you mean to say--"
"Tut, man, it's my granddaughter. Look!"
Perhaps the whisky had loosened the old man's tongue; perhaps these
confidences were merely a tribute to the name and fame of McTee; but
whatever was the reason, McTee knew he was hearing things which had
never been spoken before. Now Henshaw produced a leather wallet from
which he selected two pictures, and handed one to the Scotchman. It
showed a little girl of some ten years with her hair braided down her
back. McTee looked his question.
"That picture was sent to me by my son ten years ago."
It showed the effect of time and rough usage. The edges of the cheap
portrait were yellow and cracked.
"He was worthless, that son of mine. So I shut him out of my mind until
I got a letter saying he was about to die and giving his daughter into
my hands. That picture was in the letter. Ah, McTee, how I pored over
it! For, you see, I saw the face of my wife in the face of the little
girl, Beatrice. She had come back to life in the second generation. I
suppose that happens sometimes.
"I made up my mind that night to make a fortune for little Beatrice.
First I sold my name and honor to get a half share and captaincy of a
small tramp freighter. Then I went to the Solomon Islands. You know
what I did there? Yes, the South Seas rang with it. It was brutal, but
it brought me money.
"I sent enough of that money to the States to keep the girl in luxury.
The rest of it I put back into my trading ventures. I got a larger
boat. I did unheard-of things; and everything I touched turned into
gold. All into gold!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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