"Oh, yes; but what of it? That's dry."
"Is it, though?" I exclaimed. "And you with an Auntie Helena, and a
brother Black Bart. Jimmy L'Olonnois, little do you know what you
say!"
"Well, now," interrupted the ruthless soul of Jean Lafitte, "how about
them pearls?"
"That's so," assented Jimmy. "Pearls is booty."
"Very well, then, shipmates," I assented, "as soon as we have washed
the dishes, we will see what can be done with the enemy yonder."
We found our two clammers, the young man and his crone of a mother, up
betimes and hard at work, as evil-looking a pair as ever I saw. The
man's face was still puffed and discolored, where my fists had
punished him, and his disposition had not improved overnight. His
hag-like dam also regarded us with suspicion and disfavor, I could
note, and I saw her glance from me to her son, making mental
comparisons; and guessed she had heard explanations regarding black
eyes which did not wholly satisfy her.
They had already roasted open and examined quite a heap of shells by
the time we arrived, and I inquired, pleasantly, if they had found
anything. The man answered surlily that they had not; but something
made me feel suspicious, since they had made so early a start. I saw
him now and then wipe his hands on his overalls, and several times
noted that as he did so, his middle finger projected down below the
others, as though he were touching for something inside his pocket,
which lay in front, the overalls being made for a carpenter, with a
narrow pocket devised for carrying a folded foot-rule. But I could see
nothing suggested in the pocket.
"That's too bad," I said pleasantly. "It looks as though I were going
to lose my hundred, doesn't it? Still, the day is long."
I busied myself in watching the deft work of the two as they opened
the shells started by the heat, sweeping out the fetid contents, and
feeling in one swift motion of a thumb for any hidden secretion of the
nacre. Nothing was found while I was watching, and as I did not much
like the odor, I drew to one side. I found L'Olonnois and Lafitte
standing apart, in full character, arms folded and scowling heavily.
"If yonder villain plays us false," said Lafitte between his clenched
teeth, "he shall feel the vengeance of Jean Lafitte! And I wouldn't
put it a blame bit a-past him, neither," he added, slightly out of
drawing for the time.
"You are well named, Lafitte," I smiled. "You are a good business man.
But the day is long."
It was, indeed, long, and I put in part of it wandering about with
Partial, hunting for squirrels, which he took much delight in chasing
up trees. Again, I lay for a time reading one of my favorite authors,
the wise stoic, Epictetus, tarrying over one of my favorite passages: "Remember that you are an actor of just such a part as is assigned you
by the Poet of the play; of a short part, if the part be short, of a
long part if the part be long. Should He wish you to act the part of a
beggar, ('or of a pirate,' I interpolated, aloud to myself, and
smiling) take care to act it naturally and nobly; and the same if it
be the part of a lame man, or a ruler, or a private man. For this is
in your power--to act well the part assigned to you; but to choose
that part is the function of another."