



Produced by David Clarke, Mary Meehan and the Online
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                        THE WHITE BLACKBIRD

                         BY HUDSON DOUGLAS

    AUTHOR OF "A MILLION A MINUTE," "THE LANTERN OF LUCK," ETC

                  WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY

                          HERMAN PFEIFER


    BOSTON
    LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
    1912

    _Copyright, 1912_,
    BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.

    _All rights reserved, including those of translation into
    foreign languages, including the Scandinavian_

    Published, September, 1912

    THE COLONIAL PRESS
    C. H. SIMONDS & CO., BOSTON, U. S. A.


           FOR
      ISOBEL MY WIFE
           AND
    OUR DAUGHTER ISOBEL




[Illustration: "Feel my pulse now, before you go," the pseudo-doctor's
patient commanded.]




CONTENTS


    CHAPTER                                 PAGE

    I. A TROPICAL DISCUSSION                  1

    II. "DUTCH COURAGE"                      11

    III. EL FARISH                           18

    IV. THE MASQUE OF DEATH                  28

    V. AFLOAT AND ASHORE                     38

    VI. HOBSON'S CHOICE                      51

    VII. THE WHITE BLACKBIRD                 64

    VIII. UNMASKED                           80

    IX. AN OVERDRAFT ON THE FUTURE           91

    X. THE GODDESS OF CHANCE                107

    XI. A FOOL AND HIS FORTUNE              119

    XII. THE PRICE OF FREEDOM               130

    XIII. A MASTERSTROKE                    143

    XIV. "SALLIE HARRIS"                    156

    XV. THE LAW--AND THE PROFITS            169

    XVI. "PLEASURES AND PALACES"            184

    XVII. THE MAN IN POSSESSION             195

    XVIII. THE LOSER                        205

    XIX. THE WINNER                         217

    XX. BEGGAR-MY-NEIGHBOUR                 232

    XXI. THE JURA SUCCESSION                243

    XXII. THE PARTY OF THE FIRST PART       259

    XXIII. A NEW IDEA                       271

    XXIV. BY RIGHT OF PURCHASE              280

    XXV. THE WHITE LADY                     295

    XXVI. A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH        306

    XXVII. DEBIT AND CREDIT                 320

    XXVIII. ISHMAEL'S HERITAGE              332

    XXIX. PRIDE'S PRICE                     342

    XXX. THE TENTH EARL                     350

    XXXI. "AT THE END OF THE PASSAGE"       358




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                                    PAGE

    "FEEL MY PULSE NOW, BEFORE YOU GO," THE PSEUDO-DOCTOR'S
    PATIENT COMMANDED. (_SEE PAGE 32_)                    _frontispiece_

    "YOU WON'T FORGET," HE URGED, GRAVE AGAIN                         89

    SOMETHING VERY LIKE FEAR LOOKED OUT OF HIS EYES                  258

    SHE TOUCHED WITH HER LIPS THE BACK OF THE TOIL-STAINED
    HAND                                                             322




The White Blackbird




CHAPTER I

A TROPICAL DISCUSSION


"I'd far rather beg in the gutter than marry you, Jasper!" flashed the
girl, at last goaded past all patience. Her clouded, indignant eyes
expressed both contempt and aversion for the young man leaning over the
deck-rail beside her.

He was still a young man as years go and in spite of the grey streaks in
his dark hair, the crow's-feet above his cheek-bones; more than passably
good-looking, too, with his regular profile and straight, spare,
athletic figure, though his sleepy eyes were a trifle close-set and more
than a trifle untrustworthy, though the black moustache he was twirling
with a long, thin, almost womanish hand hid a cruel, selfish mouth.

In his smart white yachting-suit and panama, lounging over the sun-dried
teak taffrail with his knees crossed, he seemed to be neither oppressed
by the tropical heat nor impressed at all by anything that his companion
could say.

"I'd _far_ rather beg in the gutter," she repeated, as if to settle the
matter. And the emphasis with which she spoke showed that she meant what
she said.

"But--that doesn't make any difference, my dear Sallie," he once more
answered, displaying his white, even teeth in a slight, amused smile.
"You're going to marry me just the same. And you may as well make up
your mind right away--that it will pay you best to be pleasant about it.

"Captain Dove has come to the point at last," he went on to explain
condescendingly, in the same cool, careless, conversational tone, a