Isle o' Dreams.

by Frederick F. Moore.

CHAPTER I

ROBERT TRASK ARRIVES IN MANILA FROM AMOY

As the tubby little China Coast steamer marched up Manila Bay, Trask stood under the bridge on the skimpy "promenade deck" and waited impatiently for the doctor's boat to come alongside. He was the only white pa.s.senger among a motley lot of Chinese merchants and half-castes of varied hues, and he was glad the pa.s.sage was at an end.

He had made the trip with a Finnish skipper, disconcertingly cross-eyed, a Lascar mate who looked like a pirate and had a voice like a school-girl, a purser addicted to the piccolo late at night, and fellow-pa.s.sengers who jabbered interminably about nothing at all in half a dozen languages. So Trask regarded the spires and red roofs of Manila with the hungry eyes of a man who has been separated from civilization and his own kind too many days to remember.

Before the steamer anch.o.r.ed, Trask saw the _Taming_ pa.s.sing out for Hong Kong, white moustaches of foam at her forefoot and her decks alive with men and women. She was as smart as a big liner.

But he looked away from her to the Luneta and the villa-like Bay View Hotel, white and stately, at the lip of the bay. That was his goal, for he had promised Marjorie Locke he would be in Manila the day before, and he was now a day late.

The customs boarding officer took him ash.o.r.e with his bags and graciously allowed him to depart in a _quilez_, after holding his baggage for examination. Trask went whirling up Calle San Fernando, through Plaza Oriente, Calle Rosario, Plaza Moraga, over the Bridge of Spain and into shady Bazumbayan Drive, skirting the moat of the Walled City. It was a roundabout way but the quickest, for the _cochero_ made his ponies travel at a good clip for a double fare.

The rig shot across the baking Luneta, and ere it had come to a full stop before the Bay View Trask was out and into the darkened hall of the tourist headquarters of the Philippine capital.

The place appeared deserted except for a sleepy _muchacho_, who staggered out from some palms, looking for the new guest's baggage.

"Have you got an outside room?" demanded Trask of the drowsing English clerk behind the railing, as he pulled the register toward him and scanned the open page.

"I say! Mr. Trask!"

The young man looked up. "Correct," he said. "Where did we----?"

"I'm Wilkins, sir, G. O. H., Colombo. You were there last year, sir, in from Singapore. You had an argument with a 'rickshaw man. I was managing the bar at the time."

"Sure enough, Wilkins! How d'ye do!" and Trask extended a hand which Wilkins shook with fervour, striking a bell with the other for the Chinese bar-boy.

"Two stone gingers with a finger of Scotch," said Wilkins. "Fine room on the bay-side, Mr. Trask. And you'll find it quiet enough."

"It does look quiet for you," said Trask, as he wrote his name in the register and took off his helmet. It was plain that the tropics had put their mark upon him, for in contrast to the deep tan of burnt umber over cheeks and chin, the upper part of his forehead showed a white band of skin, the helmet line of the veteran traveller in low lat.i.tudes. His black eyes were embedded in nests of tiny wrinkles, the "tropical squint," which no mere _griffin_ ever has as a pa.s.sport.

"Yes, sir," said Wilkins. "The China boat cleaned the place up this morning. Not a tripper left."

"No?" cried Trask, with sudden concern. He turned to the register again and flopped back the pages. "You must have a man here named Locke, an American, travelling with his daughter."

"Gone," said Wilkins. "Left on the _Taming_ to catch the Pacific Mail at Hong Kong."

"If that isn't my blooming luck!" moaned Trask, shutting the register with a slam and turning his back to the desk, a picture of limp despair.

"Yes, sir," continued Wilkins, coming out from behind his barrier, "the Lockes left here Friday for Dagupan, to be back in time to sail this noon. They must have caught the _Taming_. I sent their spare trunks down this morning to be held for Mr. Locke. He wasn't to come back here, but go right aboard from the morning train.

Friends of yours?"

"Yes. We were shipmates from Honolulu coming out, three months back."

"Very respectable people," said Wilkins. "I understand Mr. Locke's quite wealthy."

"I imagine so," replied Trask, despondently. It was hard luck, for he had managed to take a month's vacation for no other purpose than to meet Marjorie Locke for a few days in Manila and here he was, like a man marooned, with nothing to do, and the Lockes out in the China Sea, bound for the "States."

"But why shouldn't they go?" thought Trask. The fact that he was secretly in love with Marjorie Locke, and had allowed himself to believe that she rather liked him, was no reason why she should wait in Manila merely because he had told her that he expected to be in that city on a certain date.

"Oh, that reminds me!" said Wilkins suddenly, as he ran in behind the railing again. "Look here! I've a letter for you. Been here a couple of days, never struck me at the time it was you, never dawned on me until I saw you at the desk, then I remembered your name."

"Mail for me?" asked Trask. "Why, n.o.body knows I'm in Manila. I'm supposed to be up in Korea."

"Not mail, precisely, sir. It was left here a few days ago."

"Who left it?" Trask was suddenly hopeful.

"Can't say, sir. I found it on the desk. Rather mysterious, you know. I'd say it was----" He paused, to rifle the letter-rack.

"Was what?"

"If you don't mind, sir, I'd say it was queer, rather extraordinary circ.u.mstance. Now where could I have put it?"

"How was it queer? Don't keep me on the grid. What about it?"

"The fact is," said Wilkins, "I'd consider it a bit irregular. The backing was done with a typewriter, but the paper--I'd say the envelope was business, but not house stationary. It struck me that way, if you don't mind my saying it. Quite involuntary on my part, but natural, sir, considering the name looked familiar. Of course, I never remembered you in connection with Colombo until I'd seen your face----"

"Certainly, certainly," said Trask, impatiently.

"Stupid of me not to think of it before," went on Wilkins, musingly. "We hotel men get to notice things, and I shouldn't like to be so slow as a usual thing with---- Ah, here it is! Got in among the steamer guides."

Trask reached across for the letter. It was a large, square envelope of a bulky woven paper. On it was typed in purple:

_Mr. Robert Trask. Consolidated Mines Syndicate.

To be called for._

The letters of the words were topped by a faint and blurry purple line, showing that the heavy envelope had undergone troubles by being rolled into a typewriter.

"Excuse me," said Trask. He tore it open just as the bar-boy appeared with a tray decorated with stone ginger jars and gla.s.ses.

The letter read:

DEAR MR. TRASK:

Thank you so much for the flowers you sent me at the King Edward in Hong Kong. They were lovely. So sorry we shan't see you again. I remember you said you'd be in Manila the tenth of this month. Dad has changed his plans and wants to get back home, so we leave Manila by the _Taming_ on the eleventh. We are going up to Dagupan by train and will reach Manila to sail by noon. So, if you do get to Manila on the tenth, I think it would be jolly to see you on board. We'll go directly from the station to the tender. I'll address this on the machine, so it'll look most businesslike, for Mr. Wilkins, the clerk, is p.r.o.ne to gossip. Thank you again for your kindness in Hong Kong and your many kindnesses to Dad and me on board the _Manchuria_.

Sincerely,

MARJORIE LOCKE.

Trask, smiling broadly, put the letter into his pocket.

"That must be good news, sir. Hope it is. Shall we go out on the big veranda for our nip? Cooler out there."