GOING STRONG
That same evening a burly, middle-aged man came to the house and
requested audience of Mr. Blair.
He bore the unmistakable hall-mark, and Kenneth liked the looks of him
and the ring of his voice.
The two men eyed one another closely as they shook hands.
"Mr. Duncan told me you were wanting a captain for your schooner, Mr.
Blair. I only heard it half an hour ago, and I've come straight."
Blair nodded. "What are your qualifications? It is not everybody's
job, you know."
"I know all about it, sir. And I think I'm the man for it. My name is
Cathie--John Cathie. I sailed my own ship as master for over fifteen
years. Quitted the sea three years ago because I'd made enough to live
on and the wife wanted me to stop ashore. She died six months ago.
I've neither chick nor child, and I want back to the water. When
you've spent thirty-five years with live water under your feet, the
land comes strange to you!"
"Ever been in the South Seas?"
"Spent ten years in the Island trade, sir. Know 'em like a book, from
the Carolines to the Paumotus; and if you can find a brown man in the
whole stretch that has a word against John Cathie I'll--well, you can
name your own forfeit."
"And the white men?"
"Ah--there! Most of 'em all right. Some I'd like to see strung higher
than Haman. But that kind's mostly yellow, though some are dirty
white."
"Know the Dark Islands?"
"At a distance. I never landed there. I was only a trader then."
"And these men you'd like to see strung up like Haman, only more so,
Captain Cathie?"
"You know them as well as I do, sir. Kidnappers, black-birders,
treacherous devils, scum of the earth. They don't have the times they
used to have, but they're not wholly cleared out yet in the outlying
groups. I'll be glad to give what time's left me to helping clear
them."
"You're up to steam?"
"Had five years of it."
"Any hand with a Long Tom?"
"Was gunner's mate for three years on the _Blenheim_ before I got
married, and we always carried guns in the Islands," and the bold blue
eyes snapped with a touch of puzzlement. "But--I thought it was a
missionary cruise you were bound on, Mr. Blair?"
"I'm a new kind of missionary, Captain Cathie. The faithful shepherd
protects his flock. If the wolves try to steal his lambs, the wolves
must take the consequences."
"By God, sir, I'm your man!" and the burly one jumped up with a flame
in his face, because he could not sit still under the hopes that were
in him.
"I'm inclined to think you may be," said Blair. "You will understand,
Captain Cathie, that the master of our ship will be one of the most
important links in the chain. If you will look in about this time
to-morrow, you shall hear what we have decided."
"Right, sir! I'll be here." He turned back when he had reached the
door. "If you should find some better man for captain, put me down for
chief mate, Mr. Blair; and if I'm not good enough for that, I'll go
before the mast sooner than be left out."
Blair had already decided in his own mind, but in a matter of such
immense importance he could take no possible risks. His inquiries,
however, only confirmed the impression he had formed. When Captain
Cathie came hopefully in, the next night, the matter was settled on the
spot, and he went away a new man, gripping with feet and hands the
rungs of a new ladder.
Blair laid his plans fully before him, and, so far as the schooner was
concerned, left him to carry them out.
Then they were back in London, and the busy days sped past, scarce long
enough for all that had to be done in them.
It was the necessary business with the Colonial Office that tried him
most severely. The Secretary accorded him an interview, received him
with gracious warmth, listened with interest to his views, agreed that
it would be a good thing for the Dark Islands to be accorded a
protectorate until the time was ripe for formal annexation, but----
There were many buts, and they would have driven a less patient and
less determined seeker after other men's good to despair. There was
Australia; there was France; there was Germany; there was the
Opposition; there was that loud-voiced party in the land which screamed
at any extension of the Empire's shoes.
But upon all and everything Blair quietly brought to bear his unique
personal knowledge of the conditions out there, a large common sense,
and an inflexible persistence that would admit of no rebuff or turning
aside.
The minister smilingly accused him of being one-eyed as regards the
Dark Islands.
"Absolutely!" said Blair quietly--"one-eyed, one-hearted, and
one-lived! Body, soul, and spirit I am for the Dark Islands, and I
want to do all that man can do. Give me the legal right and a
reasonably free hand, and, with God's help, I can do a great work out
there. I do not think it need cost you a farthing. I have a revenue
to start with of over L10,000 a year, and a considerable capital for
initial development purposes. Within five years, with reasonable
success, the islands will be self-supporting. But--I must have my
foundations sure, or I cannot build as I would."
"The matter has already been debated among us, Mr. Blair," said the
Secretary. "The Earl of Selsea brought it up and has made it his
particular pet project. You seem to have captured his heart, and when
he takes a matter of this kind in hand he sticks to it like a bulldog.
But you can understand that there are many collateral issues, and we
have to consider them all. I understand exactly what you want and why,
and I promise you to do my utmost to bring it about. It may be some
months before it can be arranged. Meanwhile, no doubt, there is much
you can be doing to prepare the ground."
"There is much to be done, sir, and I will set to work on the strength
of what you say. But the sooner it is definitely settled the better
for us all."
"A very fine young fellow," said the Secretary to himself, before he
turned to another quarter of the globe. "The kind of man I could make
splendid use of if I had him to myself."
But Kenneth Blair was another Man's man.