Our dear friend, Mr. Trenholm isn't alone, I'll bet a hat on that.

"We will wish them luck, my dear Mr. Trenholm; and, as we are in the same boat now, I trust that what little animosity you may have borne against me in the past can now be forgotten.

"It looked bad for me a while back, Mr. Trenholm," said Thirkle, sitting beside me and offering a cigar, which I took.

" "My dear Mr. Trenholm, I'm sorry you didn't go down in the Kut Sang.

" "You flatter me, my dear Mr. Trenholm.

" "I don't believe it, my dear Mr. Trenholm.

I was really afraid of you, Mr. Trenholm.

You have turned murder into a fine artyou should have been a contemporary of the Borgias." "Do you know, Mr. Trenholm, I have thought of something like that myself.

But I want a rest, and there are some things I want to say to Mr. Trenholm here that will be of use to us.

"See that, Mr. Trenholm?

" "We don't intend to let Mr. Trenholm get away," said Thirkle.

"I was just thinking, lads, that there are three of us, but counting Mr. Trenholm we make four, and we can rattle him down so he can lift and carry, but not much else.

"How can you have any doubts about what will happen to Mr. Trenholm?

You and Mr. Trenholm set at it while I put Bucky under ground.

" "So ye want to take a hand in things here, do you, Mr. Trenholm?" said Thirkle as I came out.

"You stick to your pen and typewriter, Mr. Trenholm, and let me run my own crewnice pirate ye'd make, with silk underwear and a typewriter," and he and Petrak laughed loudly at the joke, "I told him you would kill him, and so you will," I said, mustering as much defiance as I could under the circumstances.

"Stick to Thirkle and Thirkle will stick to you like a Dutch uncle, and never mind what Mr. Trenholm has to say.

No more soldiering, Petrak: and see that ye keep yer jaw battened down, Mr. Trenholm, or I'll take a hand in this that ye won't relish and attend to ye in a way ye won't fancy.

Take this knife and cut the lines away from Mr. Trenholm's feet, and we'll fix him so he can navigate back to the boats.

Mr. Trenholm will be right at your back all the way down, and we can't take any chances now, Reddy.

"We'll have to select something special for Mr. Trenholm.

"Glad to see ye alive, Mr. Trenholm.

[Footnote 2 W.L. Trenholm, "The Southern States, their social and industrial history, conditions and needs," in the Journal of Social Science, no.

By Virginia Cole Trenholm.

Virginia Cole Trenholm (A); 5Feb74; R569896. R569897.