it looked as if he struck his head and drowned. Her last letter, along with a packet, arrived only two days ago. You’ll find it in the center drawer of my desk. She wrote that she was dying from some sort of disease of the stomach.”
Carlisle rose and crossed the bedroom to a worn captain’s desk that Scaggs had used on all his voyages after the Gladiator went down. He pulled a small packet wrapped in oilskin from the drawer and opened it. Inside he found a leather pouch and a folded letter. He returned to his chair, slipped on his reading glasses and glanced at the words.
“For a girl convicted of theft, she writes very well.”
“Her earlier letters were full of misspellings, but Jess was an educated man, and under his tutelage, Betsy’s grammar showed great improvement.”
Carlisle began reading aloud.
My Dear Captain Scaggs,
I pray you are in good health. This will be my last letter to you as I have a malady of the stomach, or so the doctor aboard the whaling ship Amie & Jason tells me. So I will soon be joining my Jess.
I have a last request that I pray you will honor. In the first week of April of this year, my two sons and Marion’s daughter, Mary, departed the island on board a whaler whose captain was sailing from here to Auckland for badly needed repairs to his hull after a brush with a coral reef. There, the children were to book passage on a ship bound for England and then eventually make their way to you in Aberdeen.
I have written to ask you, dearest friend, to take them under your roof upon their arrival and arrange or their education at the finest schools England has to offer. I would be eternally grateful, and I know Jess would share the same sentiments, rest his dear departed soul, if you will honor my request.
I have included my legacy for your services and whatever cost it takes to see them through school. They are very bright children and will be diligent in their studies.
With deepest respect I wish you a loving farewell.
Betsy Dorsett
One final thought. The serpent sends his regards.
Carlisle peered over his glasses. “‘The serpent sends his regards.’ What nonsense is that?”
“The sea serpent who saved us from the great white shark,” answered Scaggs. “Turned out he lived in the lagoon. I saw him with my own eyes on at least four other occasions during my time on the island.”
Carlisle looked at his old friend as if he were drunk, then thought better of pursuing the matter. “She sent young children alone on a long voyage from New Zealand to England?”
“Not so young,” said Scaggs. “The oldest must be going on nineteen.”
“If they left the island the early part of April, they may come knocking on your door at any time.”
“Providing they did not have to wait long in Auckland to find a stout ship that made a fast passage.”
“My God, man, you’re in an impossible situation.”
“What you really mean is, how can a dying man carry out an old friend’s dying wish?”
“You’re not going to die,” said Carlisle, looking Scaggs in the eye.
“Oh yes I am,” Scaggs said firmly. “You’re a practical businessman, Abner. Nobody knows that better than me. That’s why I asked to see you before I take my final voyage.”
“You want me to wet-nurse Betsy’s children.”
“They can live in my house until you drop their anchor in the best educational institutions money can buy.”
“The pitiful amount that Betsy made selling hats and food supplies to visiting whaling ships won’t come close to covering the cost of several years of boarding at expensive schools. They’ll need the proper clothes and private tutors to bring them up to proper learning levels. I hope you’re not asking me to provide for total strangers.”
Scaggs pointed to the leather pouch.
Carlisle held it up. “Is this what Betsy sent you to educate her children?”
Scaggs nodded slightly. “Open it.”
Carlisle loosened the strings and poured the contents into his hand. He looked up at Scaggs incredulously. “Is this some sort of joke? These are nothing but ordinary stones.”
“Trust me, Abner. They are not ordinary.”
Carlisle held up one about the size of a prune in front of his spectacles and peered at it. The surface of the stone was smooth and its shape was octahedral, having eight sides. “This is nothing but some sort of crystal. It’s absolutely worthless.”
“Take the stones to Levi Strouser.”
“The Jewish gem merchant?”
“Show the stones to him.”
“Precious gems, they’re not,” said Carlisle firmly.
“Please ...” Scaggs barely got the word out. The long conversation had tired him.
“As you wish, old friend.” He pulled out his pocket watch and looked at the time. “I’ll call on Strouser first thing in the morning and return to you with his appraisal.”
“Thank you,” Scaggs murmured. “The rest will take care of itself.”
Carlisle walked under an early morning drizzle to the old business district near Castlegate. He checked the address and turned up the steps to one of the many inconspicuous gray houses built of local granite that gave the city of Aberdeen a solid if drab appearance. Small brass letters mounted beside the door read, simply, Strouser & Sons. He pulled the bell knob and was shown into a Spartan furnished office by a clerk, offered a chair and a cup of tea.
A slow minute passed before a short man in a long frock coat, a salt-and-pepper beard down to his chest, entered through a side door. He smiled politely and extended his hand.
“I am Levi Strouser. What service can I perform for you?”
“My name is Abner Carlisle. I was sent by my friend Captain Charles Scaggs.”
“Captain Scaggs sent a messenger who announced your coming. I am honored to have Aberdeen’s most renowned merchant in my humble office.”
“Have we ever met?”
“We don’t exactly travel in the same social circles, and you are not the kind of man who buys jewelry.”
“My wife died young and I never remarried. So there was no reason to purchase expensive baubles.”
“I too lost a wife at an early age, but I was fortunate enough to find a lovely woman who bore me four sons and two daughters.”
Carlisle had often done business with Jewish merchants over the years, but he had never had dealings in gemstones. He was on unfamiliar ground and felt uncomfortable with Strouser. He took out the leather pouch and laid it on the desk.
“Captain Scaggs requested your appraisal of the stones inside.”
Strouser laid a sheet of white paper on the desktop and poured the contents of the pouch in a pile in the center. He counted the stones. There were eighteen. He took his time and carefully scrutinized each one through his loupe, a small magnifier used by jewelers. Finally, he held up the largest and the smallest stones, one in each hand.
“If you will kindly be patient, Mr. Carlisle, I would like to conduct some tests on these two stones. I’ll have one of my sons serve you another cup of tea.”
“Yes, thank you. I don’t mind waiting.”
Nearly an hour passed before Strouser returned to the room with the two stones. Carlisle was a shrewd observer of men. He had to be to have successfully negotiated over a thousand business ventures since he purchased his first ship at the tender age of twenty-two. He saw that Levi Strouser was nervous. There were no
