That happened when he was a little
boy. Of course, I could go back to Von. There's always a home there
waiting for me. But why should I go? Besides, there were Dad's plans,
and I felt that it devolved upon me to carry them out. It seemed a fine
thing to do. Also, I wanted to carry them out. And . . . here I am.
"Take my advice and never go to Tahiti. It is a lovely place, and so are
the natives. But the white people! Now Barabbas lived in Tahiti.
Thieves, robbers, and lairs--that is what they are. The honest men
wouldn't require the fingers of one hand to count. The fact that I was a
woman only simplified matters with them. They robbed me on every
pretext, and they lied without pretext or need. Poor Mr. Ericson was
corrupted. He joined the robbers, and O.K.'d all their demands even up
to a thousand per cent. If they robbed me of ten francs, his share was
three. One bill of fifteen hundred francs I paid, netted him five
hundred francs. All this, of course, I learned afterward. But the
_Miele_ was old, the repairs had to be made, and I was charged, not three
prices, but seven prices.
"I never shall know how much Ericson got out of it. He lived ashore in a
nicely furnished house. The shipwrights were giving it to him rent-free.
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