There are very few documents about him. And I didn’t find anything about this short-story. I just found out that it was filmed. I liked Maugham’s style of writing. It is very economic, not boring you with tones of descriptions, rather concentrating on the point. I also liked his sense of humour. My only problem was just to determine account for title of the story. I thought that I would just quickly read it and then work out some text. But finally I liked it quite a lot.
14. Story-line:
The story begins at Mr Gruyter’s home. Reverend Owen Jones comes to talk to him. He knows that he, as Judge, has authority to relegate people who often comit crime. He tries to persuade him to relegate Ginger Ted who had again some trouble with police. Mr Jones considers him to be the greatest evil on the islands. Mr Gruyner likes Ginger Ted and considers him to be one of the few normal people there. He doesn’t see any reason why he should send him away. He would lose man to drink with. But he didn’t discriminate him. He judged him equally as the others. For the trouble he made, he sentenced him to six months of hard work. Ginger Ted told him that he would kill him. A short time after this, Mr Gruyter rather avoided his presence. After month or two, Mr Gruyter had occasion to send prisoners, including Ginger to do some work on one of the outlying islands. Ginger Ted had to stay there until his punishment ends. Mr Gruyter visited Ginger Ted before he left and said that he would keep the letters for him. He invited him for beer after he gets from the island. Few days after this Mr Jones fell ill. He couldn’t go to operate some man on the other island so his sister decided to go. When she successfully ended operation she went to the wharf to wait for the launch. The launch had to arrive in the evening but was expected to reach Baru before midnight. After she boarded she noticed that she would be traveling alone. But suddenly she saw a group of men approaching. It was Ginger Ted with policeman and some natives seeing him off. His punishment was at end and he was to return with her. A while after they left the land, Ginger Ted started to drink and also offered bottle to the mechanics and the helmsman. Miss Jones told them to stop drinking but they didn’t mind her. When they were approaching some little island they had to pass by, the launch suddenly stopped. The mechanics tried to start it again but it was vibrating and too slow. The mechanics decided to land on the little island and stay there trough the night.