share is eleven thousand cash an' a half interest in th' trade.

"We do a nice business in shell an' copra, an' such, an' in
Papeete we sell our cargo to a Jew trader an' clean up fifteen
hundred each additional on the voyage, after which Bull declares
he's tired of hucksterin' around like any bloomin' peddler, an'
we make up our minds to do a little blackbirdin'.

"Was you ever a blackbirder, McGuffey? No? Well, you didn't miss
nothin'. It's dirty business. You drop in at a island, an' you
invite the native chief aboard an' get him drunk, and make a
contract with him for so many blackbirds to work for three years
on some other island, or on the coffee or henequen plantations
in Central America, and you promise them big money and lots of
tobacco, and a free trip back when their time is up. What labour
you can't get by dealin' with the chief, you shanghai 'em, and
once in a while you can make a bully good deal, particularly in
the New Hebrides and New Guinea, after a fight when they have a
lot of prisoners on hand which they're goin' to eat until you
come along an' buy 'em for a stick o' tobacco.

"It ain't no fun, blackbirdin', McGuffey. After you've got 'em
aboard, they may take a notion to jump overboard and swim back,
so you get 'em down below an' clap the hatches on 'em until
you're out of sight o' land, an' the beggars howl an' there's
hell to pay.

"Me an' Bull McGinty headed for the Gilberts that first trip, an'
managed to pick up a fair consignment of labour. We touched in at
Nonuti the very last place, which, as I says, is on the island o'