Michael Brother of Jerry Author:Jack London Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II DAG DAUGHTRY strolled along the beach, Michael at his heels or running circles of delight around him at every repetition of that strange low lip- n... more »oise, and paused just outside the circle of lantern light where dusky forms laboured with landing cargo from the whaleboats and where the Commissioner's clerk and. the Makambo's supercargo still wrangled over the bill of lading. When Michael would have gone forward, the man withstrained him with the same inarticulate, almost inaudible, kiss. For Daughtry did not care to be seen on such dog- stealing enterprise and was planning how to get oa board the steamer unobserved. He edged around outside the lantern shine and went on along the beach to the native village. As he had foreseen, all the able- bodied men were down at the boat-landing working cargo. The grass houses seemed lifeless, but at last, from one of them, came a challenge in the querulous, high-pitched tones of age: "What name?" " Me walk about plenty too much," he replied in the beche de mer English of the West South Pacific. " Me belong along steamer. Suppose'm you take'm me along canoe, washee-washee, me give'm you fella boy two stick tobacco." " Suppose'm you give'm me ten stick, all right along me," came the reply. " Me give'm five stick." the six-quart steward bar- gained. " Suppose'm you no like'm five stick then you fella boy go to hell close up." There was a silence. " You like'm five stick? " Daughtry insisted of the dark interior. " Me like'm," the darkness answered, and through the darkness the body that owned the voice approached with such strange sounds that the steward lighted a match to see. A blear-eyed ancient stood before him, balancing on a single crutch. His eyes were half-filmed over by a growth of morbid membrane...« less