Petaluma High School - Trojans Yearbook (Petaluma, CA)

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T H E E N T E ' EPEISE ’17 6 Mar—er— Miss Handon,” and lie looked at her steadily, “If I give you my word of honor, as a gentleman, not to try to escape, will you allow me to work over here until I have made a thousand dollars?” “But why,” she asked, “What do you want with a thousand dollars?” “I can’t tell you just now, but if you will trust me, you will be doing me a great favor, and you will be squaring yourself for arresting me.” He smiled, but as she was convinced that he was the embezzler, she saw no reason for squaring things. “Mr. Blake,” she said, after a long pause, “as I have told you before, I like you and you seem honest. I believe you are. My time is limited to about a week here, so if you want to try that long to get it, you have my permission. How much have you?” He counted it. “One hundred and two dollars.” “Is that all?” she asked wonderingly, for she didn’t see where all the embezzled money had gone. “Well, if you look around you might find some way to invest that money. If you can’t do it in a week, we’ll have to go anyway. I’m giving you a week longer than I should.” And he cursed the man in whom nature had created his double. Four days had passed since Marion Handon and her prisoner arrived in Manila. Hen was patiently and unceasingly searching for a get-rich- quick method. On the fifth day he had found nothing new and so to ease his trouble brain, he and his sponsor walked along the beach below the city. It was the close of day and as the fiery sun sank below 4 the western horizon, the first rays of the moon stretched over the eastern waters. Both were watching the beautiful sight and, heedless of their steps, Hen stumbled over an object in the sand, and out of mere curios¬ ity, he stopped and knelt to see what this object was, in the smooth ex¬ panse of the beach. As his face neared it, a peculiar odor was inhaled through his nostrils. It was sweetish and sickening, and, as he dug around his discovery, it became more noticeable. The girl gave a cry of surprise. “Harold—Mr. Blake, you’ve found it! I know what it is, for I have often heard my old sailor uncle speak of it. It’s ambergris! Just as sure as I’m alive! Now don’t look that way, because I’m going to ex¬ plain righ t away. This stuff is called ambergris. It’s a secretion from whales and it’s awful expensive. You see, it’s used for making perfumes. How many pounds do you think there are?” He had stopped digging while she was talking, but now he dug as a terrier for a rat, and soon he had his prize uncovered. It’s surface was hard, but rather flabby. In fact it resembled an immense piece of kelp, such as is found along the ocean beaches of California. He tried to lift it from the hole, but failed in his attempt. And when Marion saw he was not able to raise it, she said, “We will be leaving Manila tomorrow evening, or else the price of ambergris has gone down.” «— 30 —

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THE ENTERPRISE ’ 17 hastily away. A few minutes later Graton’s eye fell upon a pocket book under the bench where his double had been sitting. He picked it up and looked it through. It contained twelve dollars and a first-class passage to the Philippines. As he read that word, the words of his father came to him. Here was an opportunity to see a foreign land! Why not? He had found the ticket, why not use it! And the ambition to win his wager blinded him to his honesty. But such is human nature. So he took the ticket, left the wallet and money and hastened to find when his first boat sailed. He found it left at two o’clock that afternoon and also that from then until the end of his voyage his name was to be Harold Blake, for such was the name on the ticket. The first day out, Hen was a victim of sea-sickness and he laughed as he thought of the time lie wanted to join the navy. Be he was able to enjoy the deck sports next day and that night he ventured into the danc¬ ing parlor. Many couples were on the floor and he noticed that only one girl was left without a partner. “By Jove,” he said to himself, “that’s the girl who looked at me so strangely the first day and who has fol¬ lowed my actions so closely. It can’t be that she is trying to flirt, for she doesn’t act as if she were. Well, she’s not bad looking, and she doesn’t look like a “wall-flower” and this is a fine fox-trot, so I’m going to find who and what she is.” And he did, but it was not until the last night of the voyage. They had spent all their time together since the night he first danced with her. Her name was Marion Handon and she lived in New York. They were leaning over the rail, watching the dark water speed by and neither had spoken for quite a time. At last she broke the silence. “You have been a very pleasant companion,” she said, “and I like you a great deal, Mr. Blake, but I — it — it pains me dreadfully to have to tell you that I have had orders to arrest you for embezzling from the New York National Bank.” She showed a detective badge. “I never thought I would care for a man I was sent to capture. You don’t look like a thief.” she added on a second thought. “And I’m not! Why I can prove that I —.” He caught himself. How could he prove it! He had no way of clearing himself, but if he could, if he only could. Five thousand miles from home and proof and in the hands of a lady detective! She was speaking. “ When we get into Manila tomorrow, I am to turn around, bring you back to New York and”— “Did you say that we are going back to New York!” he broke in with surprise. By the time he arrived and cleared himself he would have about one month left to earn the thousand and find a bride — and he cursed his ill luck. As he thought it over he decided to ask the detective if she would let him earn the money before they went back. It was his only hope. t £ — 29 —

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THE ENTERPRISE ’17 But it had not. When the man to whom they sold it paid Hen for two hundred and seventy-five pounds at three and a half a pound, he paid a little over nine hundred and fifty dollars. Three weeks later found John Graton exonerating his son from all guilt. The girl breathed easier as he talked, for she was pleased to find that “Blake” was Hendrick Graton, but she had tried to think “Blake” was innocent, although she couldn’t. When everything was cleared, Hen asked her to dine with him, and when they were seated at the little French restaurant, she began to apologize for arresting him and for thinking him a thief. “Will you please tell me,” she asked suddenly, “why you wanted that thousand dollars?” So lie told her, briefly, of the wager, and of the requirements—except that which demanded that he come home with a wife. He paused on this one and in that pause, his eye fell on a large day calendar. It was the thirtieth of October, the last day of his year! And so then he told her of the marriage requirement, finishing with the old, old, words that have been used a million times. John Graton received a message that afternoon: “Send the $2,000 by messenger to Campau’s. Ring, minister, and a trip to Florida. A double and a whale did it. HEN.” TIIURLOW HASKELL, ’ll —81—