LAND AND WATER 
February 17, 1916. 
" Well, that's what I wanted to be at. I reckon you are 
goin' in with him on some deal, and all I have to say is, where 
he goes, 1 goes." 
" I don't quite understand," said Curlewis. 
" This way. If I don't get half shares with Macquart, 
I'll blow the gaff on him and bust up the business." 
Screed, who was writing, or pretending to write, moved 
uneasily. Curlewis smiled. 
" Well, my dear sir," said he, " go and blow the gaff on 
this person as much as you please, it is no affair of mine. I 
have nothing to do with him. I refused his plan to hunt for 
gold in New Guinea and there's an end of it." 
" New Guinea," said Hull. " So he's on the old lay. 
1 ought to a' guessed it ; swab ! Well, I'm sorry to have 
taken up your time, but might I ask you where he's livin' now 
or where I might find him ? " 
" I should think most probably if you wait long enough, 
you might find him in gaol," said Curlewis. " No, I cannot 
tell you where he hves, the gentleman did not leave his visiting 
card behind him." 
The Captain picked his hat up from the floor, rose from 
his chair and hung in irons for a moment ; Screed, at the same 
time rose in a leisurely fashion, put on his hat, and 
collected some letters as if for the purpose of taking them to 
the post. 
" Well, good-day to you, gentlemen," said Hull at last. 
" I've lost my time and yours, and there's no more to be said ; 
but let me once lay my hands on that gink, and Lord ! won't 
I treat him lovely." 
He went out, and, disregarding the lift, thundered down 
the stairs. 
In the street, he took off his hat and \viped his brow with 
his coat-sleeve. 
It was a comfort to think that Macquart had failed to 
rope in Curlewis, but it was rather a cold comfort, considering 
the fact that the Captain was at his last half-crown. He walked 
away down the street, revolving this latter fact in his mind. 
The fo'c'sle stared him in the face, To the after-guard 
users of the sea, the fo'c'sle is the last resort, the last threat 
of Fate. Hull, a once Master-mariner of decent repute, had 
been driven into the fo'c'sle time and again these latter years, 
and now the prospect was opening before him once more. 
At the corner of the street, he was standing with his hands 
in his pockets cursing his luck and Macquart, alternately, 
when someone spoke to him. 
It was Screed. 
" Captain Hull," said Screed, " a word with you." 
" Good Lord ! " said Hull, recognising the other, " why 
it's Mr.-^" 
" Screed, yes, that's my name. I want to speak to you 
for a minute, walk with me down the street and we can talk 
as we go. I may be of ilse to you. Now, see here, what's 
all this about that man Macquart ? What do you know 
about him ? " 
" What do I know about him," burst out the Captain. 
" I know this, he's the biggest blackguard that ever walked on 
two feet." 
" I know that," said Screed, " or, at least, that he is a 
very considerable scamp; what I'm getting at is this : became 
to a friend of mine with a proposition about buried treasure 
in New Guinea. Now, clear your mind of all prejudice — 
do you know anything against that proposition. I mean, is 
it wild-cat or genuine ? " 
The Captain was silent for a moment. Then he said : 
" It's right enough. I b'lieve the stuff's there and the fellow's 
been tryin' after it for years, but he's such an onnatural bad 
'un, he's never been able to pull the thing off. He had me on 
to it ; we all but got a chap in 'Frisco to put up the coin 
for an expedition, then he ran crooked with a friend of the 
chap's — ran crooked over a ten cent business — and the deal 
was off. He finished up by boning all my coin and leavin' 
me drunk in a pub in San Lorenzo fower years ago. Now, I 
ain't much, but I'm straight over a deal and I've run guns 
and smuggled and done many another job off the O.K., but I 
ain't an out-and-outer. No, I ain't an out-and-outer. Mac is, 
an' that's why I want to g t hold on him. I wants to punch 
that chap's head, I'm sufferin' to punch that chap's head^ 
I'm " 
" Don't talk of punching heads," said Screed. " That's 
not business, and you are wasting time. Macquart has got 
his expedition together through a friend of mine, and he is 
starting with two other men to pull this gold ; the only doubt 
I have is that he seems such an extraordinary villain, he may 
more intimate knowledge of this man. Now, Captain, I have 
here a job for you. Take yourself out of Sydney to-day so 
that there may be no cliance of your meeting Macquart, and 
call upon me to-morrow morning at eight o'clock. Here's my 
card with my address." 
The Captain took the card between an immense finger 
and, thumb. 
" I'll come," said he, " but I'll let you know pretty plainly 
I'm bust, broke to the world ; half-a-crown is all I have, and 
God knows where I'm to get the next happenny." 
" Here's a sovereign," said Screed, " and go slow with 
it. Don't get on the liquor, whatever you do, for that would 
spoil all, and Sydney is full of temptation. Get out some- 
where on the harbour side, have as much food as you want, 
but no drink — and, above all, don't talk. Don't mention this 
affair and don't mention my name. If you do, I'll call off 
and you may whistle for Macquart. See here. Captain, you 
may pull out of this a rich man. Remember that, and don't 
spoil the chance of your life. I'm reckoned a lucky man, 
and any business I take up goes through. Nine hundred 
and ninety-nine men out of a thousand would not go on with 
this affair knowing what I know about Macquart. Well, it 
does not put me off. I don't care a dump for a man's charac- 
ter, so long as his scheme is good and so long as I know his 
character and can take precautions against it." 
" I reckon you'll have to take a pocketful of precautions 
if you're dealing with Macquart," said Hull. 
" I have come to that conclusion," replied Screed. 
T 
by some chance " , 
" I get you," cut in the Captain. " Be some chance, he'll 
do these two guys in. He will so." 
" They are good men," went on Sceed, " and I have 
warned them to be on the look-ou' , an 1 1 will warn them 
again, but one must take all preca tioi, and that's where 
you come in. You are older than tUc^ are, and you have a 
CHAPTER VI. 
The Outfittixg. 
ILLMAI? and Houghton, little knowing of the Hull 
incident, and Macquart Uttle knowing of Screed's 
interview with Hull, the work of storing the 
Barracuda and getting her ready for sea went on 
apace. 
One thing Tillman noticed. Macquart took up his 
residence on the yawl and would not leave her. Once, when 
Tillman wanted a messenger to go up town after some fittings 
that had not arrived, he asked Macquart to go, and Macquart 
refused, alleging a sore foot. 
Macquart slept on board and did his own cooking. Held 
by the deadly fear of Hull, he scarcely shewed himself on 
deck, and when a boat put off from shore he inspected her 
through one of the ports before coming up to receive her. 
" 1 can't make out what's up with Macquart," said 
Tillman to Houghton. " Looks to me as if he was keeping 
hid from something." 
" He's a rum customer," replied Houghton. " I expect, 
maybe, he owes money ashore ; anyhow, it's none of our 
business." 
They had indeed plenty of business to attend to without 
troubhng about Macquart. Though the Barracuda was 
reckoned ready for sea, there were all sorts of matters to be 
put right and adjusted, all sorts of things to be thought of 
considering the fact that the expedition might last six months 
or more. Caulking tools and material, for instance, had 
not been supplied or thought of, and they were faced with 
the difficulty that Screed was no sailor and therefore they had 
to overhaul everything for themselves. Screed, moreover, 
though he had mentioned the fact that he was putting up 
a thousand pounds, had a terrible eye towards expense, and 
they had to submit every item to him and often fight to obtain 
what they wanted. 
" I'm blest if I'd have imdertaken the job if I'd known 
Screed was such a crab over halfpence," said Tillman one 
day in disgust. " I've been fighting him over the provisions. 
I want victuals for nine months, and he has only made out 
for six. I told him plain it wouldn't do ; he seemed to think 
we could victual up there on the Guinea Coast ; he doesn't 
care if we go short — well, I knocked him on that. I told him 
we couldn't get anythirg up there but Beche de mer and 
cocoanuts ; of course, 1 was talking through my hat. I 
don't know but that we mayn't strike a co-operative stores, 
though it's not likely ; anyhow, he gave in. Then there's 
guns. Three Winchesters and three Colts automatics was 
my ultimatum, with two hundred rounds apiece. Lord 1 
how he squealed ; but I got 'em." 
" He talked a lot about that thousand pounds," said 
Houghton. " I don't believe this set out will cost him more 
than three hundred. The Barracuda isn't lost money, he 
can sell her when we come back." 
" You mean, if we come back," said Tillman. " We 
are taking an awful big risk, and don't you make any mistake 
about that." 
(To he continued.) 
[The opening chapters of Chaya have appeared in Land and Waikb of 
February 3 and 10.] 
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