WOLF'S OFFER
Jefferson sat in the shade of the bougainvillea and pondered some
letters. Austin lounged in a basket-chair opposite and read the
_Diario_. They had combined their business as far as possible, but
Pancho Brown would not agree to a formal amalgamation. All was quiet.
One heard the fountain splash and Betty's typewriter rattle. Sometimes a
voice came from the room where Jefferson's Spanish clerks were occupied,
but this was all.
Presently Austin put down the newspaper.
"The tomato crop was light and the vines are doing badly. It's ominous
that the Palma import houses are cutting down their orders."
"Martinez allowed he wanted to get out of the deal in chemical
fertilisers. Trade is looking sick," Jefferson agreed.
"When I joined Pancho Brown I used to study the accounts and
congratulate myself when I saw our credits going up," Austin remarked
with a smile. "To feel I could write a cheque for a good sum was
something very new. Now I'm bothered because we have money at the bank.
I don't see how it's going to be usefully employed."
"You want to keep money moving. Well, I met Wolf a day or two since, and
he hinted he knew about a deal. I wasn't keen, but he said he might come
around and see us. I rather expect him."
"You don't trust the fellow?"
"Sure thing! Reckon it's instinctive. I like straightforward folks.
Wolf's a mystery man."
Austin looked up and laughed. "He's coming."
Wolf crossed the flags, and when he stopped by the bougainvillea his
face was red. He was fat and his thin, black alpaca jacket looked very
tight.
"Sun's fierce. Will you take a drink?" said Jefferson, and clapping his
hands for a servant, ordered _Cerveza_.
As a rule, in hot countries, cautious white men do not drink much beer,
but Wolf drained his glass of pale yellow liquor with obvious
satisfaction.
"The Glasgow stuff is good," he said. "In fact, for British lager, it's
very nearly right."
"Where d'you reckon to get it exactly right? Chicago or Munich?"
Jefferson inquired.
Wolf laughed. "It's good at both cities. At Munich there's a _garten_.
But I'm not going to bore you by talking about lager."
Betty's typewriter stopped. The light in the _patio_ was strong and to
sit in her dark office and study the group outside was like watching a
play on an illuminated stage. The curtains at the arch narrowed her
view, and the figures of the actors, sharply distinct, occupied the
opening. Betty's sense of the dramatic was keen, and she had remarked
that Wolf sat down where a beam shone over his shoulder. Then when
Jefferson talked about Chicago and Munich she thought he tried to study
Wolf's face, but could not. Wolf had hesitated for a moment before he
admitted that he knew the cities. Betty rested her face in her hand and
resolved to watch. For one thing, Wolf was Kit's employer.
"Trade is slack," Wolf resumed. "The Spanish merchants see they can't
ship much produce and are cutting their orders. I don't know if you feel
the slump, but my African speculation promises well. The trouble is, I
can't finance it properly, and if you would like to come in----"
"Pancho Brown is old-fashioned and not keen about new undertakings,"
Austin replied cautiously. "Do you expect to get larger lots of sheep?"
"It's possible, but I thought about buying camels. I reckon I can get
them for a low price, paid in trade goods, and I expect you know what
they are worth just now."
Austin pondered. The single-humped camel is used in the Canaries,
particularly in the dry Eastern islands, and the animals cost much. All
the same, Austin knew his partner doubted.
"Where do your customers get the camels?" Jefferson asked.
"I frankly don't know. The Berbers are not the people to give you their
confidence. It's possible they steal the camels. Anyhow, they state they
can get them."
"Well, if you are short of money, we might perhaps supply the goods you
want and take the camels at a price agreed."
"I can get credit for the trade-goods and sell the camels to Spanish
buyers as soon as they arrive. In fact, I see no particular advantage in
your plan."
"Then, what is your proposition?"
"Something like this: I want you to join me in the speculation and take
your share of the profit and the risk. There is some risk. The business
is going to be bigger than I thought, and my capital is not large. I
want partners who will help me seize all the chances that come along and
will back me if I get up against an obstacle."
Austin lighted a cigarette and Betty imagined he weighed the plan, but
Jefferson did not. Wolf drank some beer and when he put down his glass
Betty thought the glance he gave the others was keen. He looked cunning,
and she thought if she were Austin she would let his offer go. After a
few moments Jefferson looked up.
"Harry and I will talk about it and send you a note. Will you take
another drink?"
Wolf drained his glass and went off. When he had gone Jefferson turned
to Austin and smiled.
"I reckon nothing's doing!"
"Then why did you promise to talk about it?"
"I am talking about it," Jefferson rejoined. "I didn't want Wolf to
imagine I'd resolved to turn down his proposition."
"After all, I don't think he meant to cheat us."
"Not in a sense. He knows you're not a fool and Don Pancho's very keen."
"Then what does he want?" Austin asked.
"I don't know; I'm curious. Anyhow, he doesn't want me, although if you
and Don Pancho joined, he reckoned I'd come in. I'm not a British
merchant; I'm an American."
"But what has this to do with it?"
"I allow I don't altogether see. Anyhow, Wolf's a German." Austin looked
puzzled and Jefferson smiled. "You don't get me yet? The fellow has
cultivated out his accent and claims he's English. That's important,
because he got his English in the United States and doesn't claim he's
American. When I talked about Chicago and Munich I made an experiment."
"He admitted he knew the cities."
"That is so. He saw I was on his track and he mustn't bluff. If I'd met
Wolf in the United States, I mightn't have been prejudiced, but I met
him at Grand Canary, starting a trade with Spanish Africa. I reckon the
Spaniards are sore about Morocco. At the grab-game, France and Britain
scooped the pool; Germany and Spain got stung. Anyhow, I've no use for
taking a part in world politics, and when Musgrave has gone a voyage or
two in _Mossamedes_ I'll try to get him off the ship."
"I wonder whether you know Jacinta sent him on board?"
Jefferson smiled. "Does Jacinta trust Wolf? Talk to her about the deal,
and if she approves I'll come in."
"Very well," said Austin, and they started for the town.
When Jefferson returned to his office a clerk brought in a note. "From
Don Enrique, sir."
Jefferson opened the envelope and laughed, for the note ran: "Nothing
doing in camels. Jacinta does not approve."
"Sometimes a woman's judgment is sound, Miss Jordan," he remarked. "Mrs.
Austin doesn't know all I know, but she gets where I get, and I think
she got there first."
"It is strange," Betty said quietly.
"One doesn't know when you're amused and when you're not," Jefferson
rejoined. "However, I want you to send Wolf a note."
"_Dear Mr. Wolf?_" Betty suggested.
"I reckon _dear sir_ will meet the bill," said Jefferson dryly. "Then
let's see, 'In reference to our conversation this morning, after careful
consideration, we regret we cannot see our way to entertain your
proposition.' Pretty good office English?"
"There are three _'tions_," Betty observed.
"Proposition's all right," said Jefferson thoughtfully. "Fix the others
as you like. You know the sort of thing."
He went up the outside stair and found Mrs. Jefferson on the balcony.
"If Musgrave's not a philanderer, he's mighty dull," he said. "I'd like
you to have seen Miss Jordan just now. A model clerk, very cool and
business-like, manner exactly right. All the same, before I got started
she saw where I was going and I guess she smiled."
"It's very possible," Mrs. Jefferson agreed. "Well, perhaps it's lucky
I'm not jealous!"
"You're not jealous, but if I've got an eye for fine and pretty things,
you're accountable. Once on a time I reckoned a big sailing ship,
close-hauled on the wind with all she'd carry set, was beautiful; I
hadn't seen you talking to our guests across the fruit and flowers. Now
I'm thankful for all beauty; things men made like sailing ships, and
pretty girls. Betty in white by the bougainvillea, Olivia on the veranda
in her black and gold. This old world is charming since you opened my
eyes."
"For a business man, you're sometimes extravagant," Mrs. Jefferson
replied. "All the same, you are a dear."
Jefferson turned and looked over the balcony. A young man who wore
spotless white flannel and a red silk belt crossed the flags. He stopped
abruptly when Jefferson shouted: "Hello!"
"We thought if you were going to haul up _Cayman_ for scraping, you'd
like to know our tug is off the slip," the other remarked.
"Thanks!" said Jefferson dryly. "You needn't bother Miss Jordan about
it. _Cayman_'s gone to Palma."
The young man recrossed the flags and Jefferson laughed. "His last brain
wave was to see if _Cayman_ would take coal across for ballast and he
could keep us some hefty lumps. Yesterday two banana men blew in with a
fool proposition about my sending fruit to Africa, and before they were
through, Walters from the cold store arrived. Looks as if I'd got to put
up barbed wire."
"Oh, well," said Mrs. Jefferson, "I don't suppose a sailing ship is
their standard of beauty. Besides, the big sailing ships are gone."
Betty, studying some figures in the office, heard Jefferson stop the
coaling clerk and smiled. Young men from the coal wharfs and fruit
stores arrived rather often when they thought her employer was not
about, and if she was not occupied she sometimes let them talk. For the
most part they were a careless, good-humoured lot and she liked their
cheerfulness, but this was all. When she refused Kit at Liverpool she
was resolved he must get his chance; now it looked as if she had got
hers she was not moved.
She contrasted him with the others. They frankly amused her, and
sometimes Kit was dull. Yet she sensed in his soberness something fine
that did not mark the rest. They joked and did not bother; Kit bothered
much. Betty liked his tight-mouthed, thoughtful look. His habit was to
weigh things, but when he was satisfied he went stubbornly ahead. Betty
wondered whether he was satisfied about Olivia. Then, with something of
an effort, she resumed her calculations.