Argosy All-Story Weekly, June 13, 1925 — page 140: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

612 not get a better price from this Mr. Chu Chin Chow or whatever his name is. They’re lovely pearls, dear!” she added, holding them carefully to the light. ‘“ Ask another thousand. He’ll feel just as good about it!” Norry considered her words, but shook his head after a while. He wanted to please the old Chinese pearl buyer. Ty Foo was rich. Every roughneck schooner captain between Darwin and Sud Est was striving to please him. He bought shell at good prices. His godowns at Surabaya were filled with the trade of a thousand islands. With the pearls stowed in the pocket of his twill coat, Norry kissed his wife and dropped lightly into the dinghy under the lugger’s stern. The old Chinaman would be expecting him. The season was nearly over, and his own lugger hands had gone ashore earlier in the morning. Everybody wanted money, and there were Elean’s bills in Sydney still unpaid! Il. A MILE across the glittering straits of Torres lay Nadir Point. The morning was insufferably hot. The sun flared down from a sky of angry yellow. Not a breath moved over the oily, heat-flattened straits. Past the Pandora lightship Norry swung the dinghy round where the tide bore him with- out effort under the lowered gangway of the Plum Moon. A number of lugger captains had called on the Chinese pearl buyer earlier in the day, but it was soon evident to Norry that little or no business had been done. White shellers were notoriously greedy and held off selling in the hope of scaring the pleas- ant voiced Ty Foo. He received Norry with gestures of wel- come in his silk upholstered buying room below. A man of full girth was Ty Foo in his jacket of blue shantung, his shining girdle of tooled leather and jade inlay. A merchant prince, Norry told himelf, with his nails burnished to the color of live opal. ‘““Ah, my dear Norry, you have been working all the tides!”’ he greeted in good English. ‘“‘ Sit down please and tell me about yourself. I like to hear that men ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. are working hard. The sea is always kind to them. She repays in pearls and gold, in good health as she has repaid me!”’ Norry sat in a high-backed chair, fasci- nated to the point of silence by the air of wealth and opulence that seemed to exude from the Chinaman’s perfumed vestments. A Tonquinese boy appeared with two glasses and a gold-topped bottle of cham- pagne. Ty Foo beamed on the young lug- ger captain. ‘* There is much heat in the sky, my dear Norry! Drink, and then talk. You will find me full of good will!” Norry sipped his wine and coughed a trifle nervously. ‘Ive got a handful of pinkies to show you, Mr. Foo. I’m no sales- man,” he stated deprecatingly. ‘“ And there’s no need to call your attention to a single stone. Eighteen in all. Got ’em out of six-inch shells mostly, that drift of of black-lip 1 worked off Monday Reef!” The Chinaman raised the pearls one by one from the table, his big, bland face ex- pressing the keen interest of the expert. “They are very fine,” he said at last. “I am glad some one on the banks is finding his luck! How much, my dear Norry?”’ Denham sat tight in his chair. ‘‘ Six thousand dollars, Mr. Foo! Not a penny less!” In spite of the fact that he was asking considerably less than their market value, his voice trembled slightly. “Six thousand dollars!” The Chinaman rolied the pearls skillfully in the palm of his fat hand, while a silence sharp as the reef points, spaced his next words. “Very well; I will make it six!” Ata glance he knew their value. But it was no part of his creed to force up prices. He was aware that men courted his good will, for when bad seasons came he remembered their unselfish dealings. ‘Six thousand dollars!” “Check to bearer,” Norry prompted, sipping the cool wine. Ty Foo nodded briskly as he reached for his checkbook on the desk beside him. Very slowly and with an obvious effort he drew up the amount. Attaching his sprawl- ing signature, he blotted it carefully and then passed the check to the young pearling master. Oo COMmicloo S CO