ester knew, or cared to know. With the delay in Venezuela he was
impatient. He wanted to close up that business and move his fleet of
tenders, dredges and rafts to another coast. So, as was the official
routine, he turned over the matter to Sam Caldwell, to settle it in
Sam Caldwell's own way.

Two weeks after his talk with his father, Roddy, ignorant of Mr.
Caldwell's intentions, was in Venezuela, sitting on the edge of a
construction-raft, dangling his rubber boots in the ocean, and
watching a steel skeleton creep up from a coral reef into a blazing,
burning sky. At intervals he would wake to remove his cigarette, and
shout fiercely: "_O-i-i-ga_, you Moso! Get a move on! _Pronto!_ If you
don't I'll do that myself."

Every ten minutes El Senor Roddy had made the same threat, and the
workmen, once hopeful that he would carry it into effect, had grown
despondent.

* * * * *

In the mind of Peter de Peyster there was no doubt that, unless
something was done, and at once, the Order of the White Mice would
cease to exist. The call of Gain, of Duty, of Pleasure had scattered
the charter members to distant corners of the world. Their dues were
unpaid, the pages of the Golden Book of Record were blank. Without the
necessary quorum of two there could be no meetings, without meetings
there could be no dinners, and, incidentally, over all the world
people continued to die, and the White Mice were doing nothing to
prevent it. Peter de Peyster, mindful of his oath, of his duty as the
Most Secret Secretary and High Historian of the Order, shot arrows in
the air in the form of irate postal-cards. He charged all White Mice
to instantly report to the Historian the names of those persons whom,
up to date, they had saved from death.

[Illustration: "_O-i-i-ga_, you Moso! Get a move on! _Pronto!_ If you
don't I'll do that myself."]

From the battle-ship _Louisiana_, Perry wrote briefly:

"Beg to report during gale off Finisterre, went to rescue of
man overboard. Man overboard proved to be Reagan, gunner's
mate, first class, holding long-distance championship for
swimming and two medals for saving life. After I sank the
third time, Reagan got me by the hair and towed me to the
ship. Who gets the assist?"

From Raffles' Hotel, Singapore, the Orchid Hunter cabled:

"Have saved own valuable life by refusing any longer to
drink Father's beer. Give everybody meda