Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE SECOND STRING BY NAT GOULD AUTHOR OF "THE DOUBLE EVENT," "A RACECOURSE TRAGEDY," "THE GOLD WHIP," ETC., ETC. LONDON R. A. EVERETT & CO., LTD. 42 ESSEX STREET, STRAND, W.C. [_All Rights Reserved._] CONTENTS I.--THE FAILURE II.--JACK'S RESOLVE III.--A SCHOOL CHUM IV.--AN OLD TIME SKIPPER V.--TOPSY TURVY VI.--TAPPING VII.--WEATHERING THE STORM VIII.--BARRY TUXFORD IX.--IN SHARK'S BAY X.--THE TWO BLACK DIVERS XI.--TURNING TURTLE AND AFTER XII.--JACOB'S YARN XIII.--THE DIVERS AT WORK XIV.--THE BLACK PEARL XV.--A CLEVER THIEF XVI.--JACK DISCOVERS HIS LOSS XVII.--THE PEARL DEALER XVIII.--ON HORSEBACK AGAIN XIX.--A STAB IN THE DARK XX.--THE TRAINER'S SUGGESTION XXI.--BRICKY FINDS A JOB XXII.--BLACK BOY'S OWNER XXIII.--BARRY WAXES ELOQUENT XXIV.--BADLY RIDDEN XXV.--SOMETHING ABOUT WINIFRED XXVI.--A PUZZLE XXVII.--THE SECOND STRING XXVIII.--THE NEW CLAIMS XXIX.--BOUND FOR HOME XXX.--REALISATION THE SECOND STRING CHAPTER FIRST _THE FAILURE_ "There goes the failure of the family, yet I like him, there's real grit in him if it was brought out." The speaker was Sir Lester Dyke, and the remark was made to his daughter, Winifred. "The failure" did not seem unhappy, he walked across the field with a free and easy stride, whistling softly to himself, enjoying the beauties of nature, taking in everything at a glance, drinking deep of the many good things that mother earth provided for the entertainment of mankind. To look at him seemed to give a great denial to Sir Lester's remark. Failure was not written on his face, he was apparently an active, well bred, strong, able bodied young man, and yet Jack Redland was a failure, for he had done nothing to advance himself in life, and had tried his hand at many things without success. His brothers had done well in life, his two sisters had married rich men, and were more or less happy, according to the lot of such people. His father left him exactly two thousand pounds and he spent it in a year. How he had lived since that time no one knew, but he was always well dressed and never seemed in want of money. As all the Redlands had done well in life, "the failure" stood out more conspicuously. Had his many friends been questioned they would have endorsed Sir Lester's remarks concerning him. His family concern this story in no wise, it is with him we have to deal. It suffices to say that his father was an old friend of Sir Lester Dyke's, who had a small estate in Sussex and a house at Brighton.