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- margin-bottom: .1em; - visibility: hidden; - color: white; - width: .01em; - display: none; - } - -.x-ebookmaker .transnote { - page-break-inside: avoid; - margin-left: 2%; - margin-right: 2%; - margin-top: 1em; - margin-bottom: 1em; - padding: .5em; - } - - -.ph2 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; } -.ph2 { font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; } - </style> - </head> - <body> -<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold;'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Title, by Author</div> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Satan<br> - A Romance of the Bahamas</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Henry De Vere Stacpoole</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Release Date: July 23, 2017 [eBook #55183]<br> -[Most recently updated: March 6, 2023]</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Roger Frank, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) -<br>Revised by Richard Tonsing.</div> -<div style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SATAN ***</div> - - -<h1>SATAN<br> - -<span class="ph2">A Romance of the Bahamas</span></h1> - -<p class="p2 center smaller"><i>By</i><br> -<span class="smcap large">H: De Vere Stacpoole</span><br> -<span class="smcap">Author of “The Blue Lagoon,” “The Beach<br> -of Dreams,” Etc.</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 5.5em;"> -<img src="images/logo.png" width="85" height="124" alt="Publisher's logo"> -</div> - -<p class="p2 center">NEW YORK<br> -<span class="larger">ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY</span><br> -1921 -</p> - -<hr> - -<p class="newpage p4 center wspace"> -Copyright, 1920, by<br> -<span class="gesperrt"><span class="smcap">Robert M. McBride & Co.</span></span></p> - -<p class="p2 center gesperrt"><i>Printed in the<br> -United States of America</i></p> - -<p class="p2 center gesperrt">Published, · 1921</p> - -<hr> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2><a id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table class="nobreak"> - <tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="3">PART I</td></tr> - <tr class="xsmall"> - <td class="tdr">CHAPTER</td> - <td> </td> - <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">I</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Palm Island</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">II</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Floating Caravan</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">6</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">III</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Breakfast</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">16</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">IV</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Pap’s Suit</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">23</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">V</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Portmanteau</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">34</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">VI</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Skelton Sails</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">58</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">VII</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Carquinez</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">68</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">VIII</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Jude Overdoes It</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">79</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">IX</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The “Juan” Sails</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">96</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">X</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Cuss Words</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">107</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XI</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Coming of Cleary</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">116</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XII</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">An Honest Man</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">123</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XIII</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Problems</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">130</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XIV</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Hants and Other Things</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">136</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XV</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Under Way</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">144</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XVI</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Steersman</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">150</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="3">PART II</td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XVII</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Lone Reef</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">157</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XVIII</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Wreck</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">169</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XIX</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Mutiny</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">174</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XX</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Sandspit</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">183</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XXI</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dished</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">193</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XXII</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Crabs</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">199</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XXIII</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Return</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">206</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XXIV</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Bottle of Rum</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">215</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XXV</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">They Fire the Fuse</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">220</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XXVI</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Cargo</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">226</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XXVII</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Crockery Ware</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">232</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XXVIII</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Tide and Current</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">238</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XXIX</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Satan in Paradise</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">243</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XXX</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Secret of the Sand</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">253</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XXXI</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Go-ashore Hat</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">259</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XXXII</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Cleary!</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">267</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XXXIII</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Fight</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">272</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XXXIV</td> - <td class="tdl">“<span class="smcap">I’ll Tak!</span>”</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">280</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="3">PART III</td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XXXV</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Vanished Light</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">285</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XXXVI</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Wedding Present</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">295</a></td></tr> -</table> -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1">1</a></span></p> -<div class="chapter"> -<h2><a id="PART_I"></a>PART I</h2> -</div> - -<hr> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2><span class="larger gesperrt">SATAN</span></h2> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br> - -<span class="subhead">PALM ISLAND</span></h2> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> sky from sea-line to sea-line was crusted with -stars, a triumphant, cloudless, tropic night-sky beneath -which the <i>Dryad</i> rode at her anchor, lifting lazily -to the swell flowing up from beyond the great Bahama -bank.</p> - -<p>She was Skelton’s boat, a six-hundred-tonner, turbine -engined, rigged with everything new in the way of sea -valves and patent gadgets, and she had anchored at sundown -off Palm Island, a tiny spot, gull haunted, and -due west of Andros.</p> - -<p>Skelton was a Christchurch man, Bobby Ratcliffe a -Brazenose, and Bobby, tonight, as he leaned on the starboard -rail smoking and listening to the wash of the -waves on the island beach, was thinking of Skelton, who -was down below writing up his diary. Before coming -on this “winter cruise to the West Indies in my yacht” -Bobby did not know that Skelton kept a diary, that Skelton -was so awfully Anglican, so precise, so stuffed with -the convenances, that he dined in dress clothes even in -a hurricane, that he had a very nasty, naggling temper, -that he had prayers every Sunday morning in the cabin<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2">2</a></span> -which the chief steward, the under stewards, and the -officers off watch were expected to attend—also Bobby. -Two other men were booked for the cruise, but they -cried off at the last moment. If they had come, things -might have been different. As it was, Bobby, to use his -own language, was pretty much fed up.</p> - -<p>Skelton was a right good sort, but he was not the man -with whom to share loneliness, and Bobby, who had -plenty of money of his own, was thinking how jolly this -winter cruise would have been if he had only taken it on -board a passenger liner, with girls and deck quoits and -cards in the evening, instead of Skelton.</p> - -<p>Bobby was only twenty-two, a good-looking clean -youth, well-balanced enough, but desirous of fun. Oxford -had not spoiled him a bit. He had no “manner,”—just -his own naturalness,—and he had shocked Skelton -at Barbados by getting a great negro washing woman -on board (she had come alongside in a blue boat) and -giving her rum, for the fun of the thing. “Debauching a -native woman with alcohol!” Skelton had called it.</p> - -<p>Skelton vetoed shark fishing. It messed his decks. -He was like an old woman about his decks. “I tell you -what you ought to do, Skelly,” Bobby had said. “You -ought to start a blessed laundry!” They had nearly -quarreled at Guadeloupe over sharks.</p> - -<p>And again at St. Pierre, where, lying off the ruins of -the town, Skelton had likened it to Gomorrah, declaring -it had been destroyed because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.</p> - -<p>“And how about the ships in the bay?” had asked<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3">3</a></span> -Bobby. “What had they to do with the business? Why -weren’t they given notice to quit?”</p> - -<p>“We won’t argue on the matter,” replied Skelton.</p> - -<p>And there was still two months of this blessed cruise -to be worked out!</p> - -<p>He was thinking of this when Skelton came on deck, -his white shirt-front shining in the starlight. He was in -an amiable mood tonight and, ranging up beside Bobby, -he spoke about the beauty of the stars.</p> - -<p>It was chiefly on Bobby’s initiative that they had -dropped the anchor so that they might prospect the island -on the morrow, and as they smoked and talked the -conversation passed from stars to desert islands, and -from desert islands to the old Spaniards of the West -Indies, bucaneers, filibusters, pirates, and Brethren of -the Coast.</p> - -<p>Perhaps it was the starlight, or the tepid wind blowing -up from the straits of Florida, or the distant starlit -palms of Palm Island that set Skelton off and touched -a vein in his nature hitherto unsuspected: whatever it -was, he warmed to his subject and for the first time on -the voyage became interesting. He could talk! Nombre -de Dios, Carthagena, and Porto Bello,—he touched them -alive again, set the old plate-ships sailing and the pirates -overhauling them, sacked cathedrals of gold and jewels, -showed Bobby Tortuga, the great rendezvous of the -bucaneers and the Spaniards attacking it, men marooned -on desolate places like Palm Island, treasure buried—and -then all of a sudden closed up and became uninteresting -again. The remnants of the boy in him had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4">4</a></span> -spoken, the old pirate that lives in most men’s hearts -had shown his head. Perhaps he was ashamed of his -warmth and enthusiasm over these old romantic things—who -knows? At all events, he retired into himself and -then went below to find a book he was reading, leaving -the deck to Bobby and the anchor watch.</p> - -<p>Then the moon began to rise from beyond the Bahamas, -a vast, full moon, with the sea seeming to cling to her -lower limb as she freed herself. Dusky, at first, she -paled as she rose, and now, in her light, the palms of -the island and the coral beach showed clear.</p> - -<p>Palm Island is a scrub of cactus and bay cedar bushes, -half a mile long and quarter of a mile broad, with not -more than forty trees. Crabs and turtles and gulls are -its only visitors, and desolation sits there visible and -naked. But in the moonlight, on a night like this and -seen from the sea, it is fairyland—storyland.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe, his mind full of pirates and bucaneers, -Spaniards and plate-ships, found himself wondering if -men had ever been marooned here, if Morgan and Van -Horn and all that crowd had ever had dealings on that -beach, and what the moon could tell about it all if she -could remember and speak. He was thinking this when -the creak of block and cordage struck his ear, and past -the stern of the <i>Dryad</i> came gliding the fore canvas of -a small vessel, a thing that seemed no larger than a -fishing boat.</p> - -<p>She had been creeping in from the sea unnoticed by -them as they talked. Skelton had gone below without<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5">5</a></span> -sighting her, and she was so close that the slap of her -bow-wash came clearly as she passed.</p> - -<p>He watched her gliding shoreward like a phantom, and -then across the water came a voice, shrill as the voice of -a bird:</p> - -<p>“Seven fathom!”</p> - -<p>And on top of that another voice:</p> - -<p>“Let go!”</p> - -<p>The rumble—tumble—tumble—of an anchor chain followed, -and then the silence of the night closed in, broken -only by the far-off wash of the waves on the beach.</p> - -<p>This ghost of the sea fascinated Ratcliffe. He could -see her now riding at anchor against the palms and bay -cedars of the island.</p> - -<p>She was shedding her canvas; and now a glow-worm -spark, golden in the silver of the moonlight, climbed up -and became stationary but for the lift and fall of the -swell as she rode at her moorings. It was her anchor -light.</p> - -<p>He listened for voices. None came. Then he saw a -lantern being carried along her deck. It vanished, probably -through a hatch.</p> - -<p>Then he went below, and, dropping asleep the instant -he turned in, dreamt that he was marooned on Palm Island -with Skelton, and Skelton was trying to hang him -on a palm tree for a pirate, and the gulls were shouting -“Seven fathom!—seven fathom—seven fathom!” Then -came oblivion and the sleep of youth that defies dreams.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6">6</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br> - -<span class="subhead">A FLOATING CARAVAN</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">Next</span> morning, an hour after sunrise, Ratcliffe came -on deck in his pajamas,—gorgeous blue and crimson -striped pajamas,—a sight for the gods.</p> - -<p>The sky was cloudless. The wind of the night before -had fallen to a tepid breathing scarcely sufficient to stir -the flag at the jackstaff, and from all that world of new-born -blue and mirror-calm sea there came not a sound -but the sound of the gulls crying and quarreling about -the reef spurs of the island.</p> - -<p>Amid the glory of light and color and against the -palms and white beach lay the ghost of the night before, -a frowzy-looking yawl-rigged boat of fifty feet or so, a -true hobo of the sea, with wear and weather written -all over her and an indescribable something that marked -her down even to Ratcliffe as disreputable.</p> - -<p>Simmons, the second officer, was on deck.</p> - -<p>“She must have come in last night,” said Simmons. -“Some sea scraper or another working between the islands—Spanish -most likely.”</p> - -<p>“No, she’s not Spanish,” said Ratcliffe. “I saw her -come in and I heard them shouting the soundings in English—look! -there’s a chap fishing from her.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7">7</a></span> -The flash of a fish being hauled on board had caught -his eye and fired his passion for sport. They had done -no fishing from the <i>Dryad</i>.</p> - -<p>He borrowed the dinghy from Simmons and, just as -he was, put off.</p> - -<p>“Ask them to sell some of their fish, if they’ve any to -spare,” cried Simmons as the dinghy got away.</p> - -<p>“Ay, ay!” replied Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>The sea blaze almost blinded him as he rowed with -the gulls flying round and shouting at him. As he drew -up to the yawl the fisherman lugged another fish on -board. The fisherman was a boy, a dirty-faced boy, in -a guernsey, and as the dinghy came alongside he stared -at the pajama-clad one as at an apparition.</p> - -<p>“Hullo, there!” cried Ratcliffe, clawing on with the -boathook.</p> - -<p>“Hullo, yourself!” replied the other.</p> - -<p>“Any fish for sale?”</p> - -<p>“Any what?”</p> - -<p>“Fish.”</p> - -<p>The boy disappeared. Then came his voice, evidently -shouting down a hatch.</p> - -<p>“Satan, below there!”</p> - -<p>“Hullo!”</p> - -<p>“Here’s the funniest guy come alongside wants to know -if we’ve got fish to sell him. Show a leg!”</p> - -<p>“One minute,” replied the second voice.</p> - -<p>The boy reappeared at the rail in the burning sunlight. -“The cap will be up in a minute,” said he. “What in the -nation are you got up like that for?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8">8</a></span> -“What?”</p> - -<p>“Them things.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe laughed.</p> - -<p>“I forgot I was in my pajamas. I must apologize.”</p> - -<p>“What’s pajamas?”</p> - -<p>“My sleeping suit.”</p> - -<p>“You sleep in them things?”</p> - -<p>“Of course.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m damned!” said the boy. Then he gave a -sudden yell of laughter and vanished, sitting down on the -deck evidently, while another form appeared at the rail, -a lantern-jawed, long-haired, youthful figure, rubbing -the sleep out of its eyes. It stared at the occupant of the -dinghy, then it opened its mouth and uttered one word:</p> - -<p>“Moses!”</p> - -<p>“He sleeps in them things!” came a half-strangled voice -from the deck. “Satan, hold me up, I’m dyin’!”</p> - -<p>“Shut your beastly head!” said Satan. Then to Ratcliffe, -“Don’t be minding Jude,—Jude’s cracked,—but -you sure are gotten up—Say, you from that hooker -over there?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“What are you?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing.”</p> - -<p>Another explosion from the deck, stifled by a kick from -Satan.</p> - -<p>“But what are you doing here, anyway?”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe explained, Satan leaning comfortably on the -rail and listening.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9">9</a></span> -“A yacht—well, we’re the <i>Sarah Tyler</i>. Pap and me -and Jude used to run the boat. He died last fall. Tyler -was his name, and Satan Tyler’s mine. He said I -yelled like Satan when a pup and he put the name on -me—Say, that’s a dandy boat. I’m wanting a boat like -that. Will you trade?”</p> - -<p>“She’s not mine.”</p> - -<p>“That don’t matter,” said Tyler with a laugh. “But -I forgot: you aren’t in our way of business.”</p> - -<p>“What’s your way of business?”</p> - -<p>“Lord! Shut up, Satan!” came the voice from the -deck.</p> - -<p>“Well, Pap was one thing or another; but we’re respectable, -ain’t we, Jude?”</p> - -<p>“Passons to what Pap was,” agreed the voice in a -quieter tone, and it came to Ratcliffe that the figure of -Jude remained invisible, being ashamed to show itself -after having guyed him.</p> - -<p>“We’re out of Havana, and we scratch round and -make a living,” went on Tyler, “and the boat being ours -we make out. There’s lots to be had on these seas for -the looking.”</p> - -<p>“Do you work the boat alone?”</p> - -<p>“Well, we had a nigger to help since Pap died. He -skipped at Pine Island a fortnight ago. Since then we’ve -made out. Jude’s worth a man and don’t drink—”</p> - -<p>“Who says I don’t drink?” Two grimy hands seized -the rail and the body and face of Jude raised themselves. -Then the whole apparition hung, resting midriff high<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10">10</a></span> -across the rail, just balanced, so that a tip from behind -would have sent it over.</p> - -<p>“Who says I don’t drink? How about Havana Harbor -last trip?”</p> - -<p>“They gave her rum,” said Satan gloomily, “gave her -rum in a doggery down by the waterside—curse the -swabs! I laid two of them flat and then got her -aboard.”</p> - -<p>“Her!” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Blind, wasn’t I?” cut in Jude hurriedly.</p> - -<p>“Blind you were,” said Tyler.</p> - -<p>Jude grinned. Ratcliffe thought he had never met with -a stranger couple than these two, especially Jude. Hanging -on with the boathook, he contemplated the dirty, daring -face whose fine, gray, long-lashed eyes were the best -features.</p> - -<p>“How old are you?” asked he, addressing it.</p> - -<p>“Hundred an’ one,” said Jude. “Ask me another.”</p> - -<p>“She’s fifteen and a bit,” said Tyler, “and as strong -as a grown man.”</p> - -<p>“I thought she was a boy,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“So I am,” said Jude. “Girls is trash. I’m not never -goin’ to be a girl. Girls is snots!”</p> - -<p>As if to prove her boyhood, she hung over the rail -so that he feared any moment she might tumble.</p> - -<p>“She’s a girl, right enough,” said Tyler as if they were -discussing an animal, “but God help the skirts she ever -gets into!”</p> - -<p>“I’d pull them over me head and run down the -street if anyone ever stuck skirts on me,” said Jude.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11">11</a></span> -“I’d as soon go about in them pajamas of yours.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe was silent for a moment. It amazed him the -familiarity that had suddenly sprung up between himself -and these two.</p> - -<p>“Won’t you come aboard and have a look around?” -asked Tyler, as though suddenly stricken with the sense -of his own inhospitality.</p> - -<p>“But the boat?”</p> - -<p>“Stream her on a line—over with a line, Jude!”</p> - -<p>A line came smack into the dinghy, and Ratcliffe tied -it to the painter ring. Next moment he was on board, -and the dinghy, taking the current, drifted astern.</p> - -<p>No sooner had his feet touched the deck of the <i>Sarah -Tyler</i> than he felt himself encircled by a charm. It -seemed to him that he had never been on board a real -ship before this. The <i>Dryad</i> was a structure of steel -and iron, safe and sure as a railway train, a conveyance, -a mechanism made to pound along against wind -and sea; as different from this as an aëroplane from a -bird.</p> - -<p>This little deck, these high bulwarks, spars, and -weather-worn canvas,—all them collectively were the real -thing. Daring and distance and freedom and the power -to wander at will, the inconsequence of the gulls,—all -these were hinted at here. Old man Tyler had built the -boat, but the sea had worked on her and made her what -she was, a thing part of the sea as a puffin.</p> - -<p>Frowzy looking at a distance, on deck the <i>Sarah Tyler</i> -showed no sign of disorder. The old planking was -scrubbed clean and the brass of the little wheel shone.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12">12</a></span> -There was no raffle about, nothing to cumber the deck -but a boat,—the funniest-looking boat in the world.</p> - -<p>“Canvas built,” said Tyler, laying his hand on her; -“Pap’s invention; no more weight than an umbrella. -No, she ain’t a collapsible: just canvas and hickory and -cane. That’s another of Pap’s dodges over there, that -sea anchor, and there’s ’nother, that jigger for raising the -mudhook. Takes a bit of time, but half a man could -work it, and I reckon it would raise a battleship. There’s -the spare, same as the one that’s in the mud—ever see -an anchor like that before? Pap’s. It’s a patent, but -he was done over the patentin’ of it by a shark in -Boston.”</p> - -<p>“He must have been a clever man,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“He was,” said Tyler. “Come below.”</p> - -<p>The cabin of the <i>Sarah Tyler</i> showed a table in the -middle, a hanging bunch of bananas, seats upholstered in -some sort of leather, a telltale compass fixed in the ceiling, -racks for guns and nautical instruments, and a bookcase -holding a couple of dozen books. A sleeping cabin -guarded by a curtain opened aft. Nailed to the bulkhead -by the bookcase was an old photograph in a frame, -the photograph of a man with a goatee beard, shaggy -eyebrows, and a face that seemed stamped out of determination—or -obstinacy.</p> - -<p>“That’s him,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“Your father?”</p> - -<p>“Yep.”</p> - -<p>“It was took after Mother bolted,” said Tyler.</p> - -<p>“She took off with a long-shore Baptis’ minister,” said<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13">13</a></span> -Jude. “Said she couldn’t stand Pap’s unbelievin’ ways.”</p> - -<p>“He made her work for him in a laundry,” said Tyler.</p> - -<p>“It was at Pensacola, up the gulf, and a year after, -when we fetched up there again, she came aboard and -died. Pap went for the Baptis’ man.”</p> - -<p>“He wasn’t any more use for a Baptis’ minister when -Pap had done with him,” said Jude. “That’s his books—Pap’s. -There’s dead loads more in the spare bunk in -there.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe looked at the books. Old man Tyler’s mentality -interested him almost as much as the history of the -Tyler family,—“Ben Hur,” Paine’s “Age of Reason” and -“Rights of Man,” Browne’s “Popular Mechanics,” “The -Mechanism of the Watch,” “Martin Chuzzlewit,” and -some moderns, including an American edition of “Jude -the Obscure.”</p> - -<p>“Some of those came off a wreck he had the pickin’s -of,” said Tyler, “a thousand-tonner that went ashore off -Cat Island.”</p> - -<p>“That was before Jude was born,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Lord! how do you know that?” said Jude.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe laughed and pointed to the book. “It’s the -name on that book,” said he. “I didn’t know: I just -guessed.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon you’re right,” said Tyler, opening a locker -and fetching out cups and saucers and plates and dumping -them on the table. “Not that it matters much where -it come from, but you’ve got eyes in your head, that’s -sure. Say, you’ll stay to breakfast, now you’re -aboard?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14">14</a></span> -“I’d like to,” said Ratcliffe, “but I ought to be getting -back: they won’t know what’s become of me. And besides -I’m in these.”</p> - -<p>“That’s easy fixed,” said Tyler. “Jude, tumble up -and take the boat over to the hooker and say the gentleman -is stayin’ to breakfast an’ll be back directly after. -I’ll fix him for clothes.”</p> - -<p>Jude vanished, and Tyler, going into the after-cabin, -rousted out an old white drill suit of “Pap’s” and a pair -of No. 9 canvas shoes.</p> - -<p>“They’re new washed since he wore them,” said Tyler. -“Slip ’em on over your what’s his names and come along -and lend me a hand in the galley—can you cook?”</p> - -<p>“You bet!” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>Eased in his mind as to the <i>Dryad</i>, the boy in him rose -to this little adventure, delightful after weeks of routine -and twenty years of ordered life and high respectability. -He had caravaned, yachted in a small way, fancied that -he had at all events touched the fringe of the Free Life—he -had never been near it. These sea gipsies in their -grubby old boat were It! A grim suspicion that these -remains of the Tyler family sailed sometimes pretty close -to the law and that their sea pickings were, to put it -mildly, various did not detract in the least from their -charm. He guessed instinctively they were not rogues -of a bad sort. The lantern-jawed Satan had not the face -of a saint. There were indications in it indeed of the -possibility of a devilish temper no less than a desperate -daring, but not a trace of meanness. Jude was astonishingly -and patently honest, while old man Tyler, whose<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15">15</a></span> -presence seemed still to linger on in this floating caravan, -had evident titles, of a sort, to respect.</p> - -<p>He was helping to fry fish over the oil-stove in the -little galley when Jude returned with the information, delivered -through the shouting of the frying pan, that everything -was all right, and the message had been delivered -to a “guy” in a white coat who was hanging his fat head -over the starboard rail of the <i>Dryad</i>; that he had told her -to mind his paint; that she had told him not to drop his -teeth overboard, and he had “sassed” her back; that the -<i>Dryad</i> was a dandy ship, but would be a lot dandier if -she were hove up on some beach convenient for pickin’ -her.</p> - -<p>Then she started to make the coffee over an auxiliary -stove, mixing her industry with criticisms of the cookery -and instructions as to how fish should be fried.</p> - -<p>“Jude does the cookin’ mostly,” said Tyler, “and we’d -have hot rolls only we were under sail last night and -she hadn’t time to set the dough. We’ll have to make -out with ship’s bread.”</p> - -<p>Considering the condition of Jude’s grubby hands, Ratcliffe -wasn’t sorry.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16">16</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br> - -<span class="subhead">BREAKFAST</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> amount of food those two put away was a revelation -to Ratcliffe, and from start to finish of the -meal they never stopped talking. One being silent, the -other took up the ball. They had cottoned to Ratcliffe, -evidently from the very first moment, for, at the very -first moment, Tyler had been communicative about himself -and his ship and his way of life. An ordinary ship’s -officer coming alongside would have got fish at a price -if he had been civil or a fish flung at his head if he had -given “sass”: Ratcliffe got friendship.</p> - -<p>It was maybe his youth and the fact that all young -people are Freemasons that did the business; the humor -of the gorgeous pajamas may have helped. Anyhow, the -fact remained. He had secured something that knowledge -or position or fortune could not have bought,—the -good will and conversation of this pair, the history of -the Tylers, and more than a hint of their life on these -seas. They had four thousand dollars in the bank at -Havana left by Pap, not to be touched unless the <i>Sarah -Tyler</i> came to smash. They had no house rent or rates; -no expenses but harbor dues, food, oil, and tobacco, and -not much expense for food—at least just at present.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17">17</a></span> -Tyler winked across the table at Jude and Jude grinned.</p> - -<p>“Shut your head,” said Jude, “and don’t be givin’ -shows away!” then suddenly to Ratcliffe, “We’ve got -a cache.”</p> - -<p>“Who’s giving shows away now?” asked Tyler.</p> - -<p>“Oh, he won’t split,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“It’s on the island here,” said Tyler, “near a ton of -stuff, canned. A brig went ashore south of Mariguana. -We picked up the crew and heard their yarn and got the -location. Then a big freighter came along and took the -men off us. The wreck was only a hundred and fifty -miles from our position, and we reckoned the salvage -men wouldn’t be on the spot for a fortnight or more -and something was due to us for savin’ that crew; so -we lit out for the wreck. We had four days’ work on -her. She was straddled on a reef with twenty fathoms -under her counter and a flat calm, all but a breathin’ of -wind. We made fast to her, same as if she’d been a -wharf. We had the nigger then to help, and we took -enough grub to last us two years an’ fourteen boxes -of Havana cigars and a live cat that was most a -skeleton.”</p> - -<p>“She croaked,” put in Jude. “Satan fed her half a -can of beef cut small, and then she scoffed half a -bucket of water—that bust her.”</p> - -<p>“We wouldn’t have been so free in taking the things -but for the lie of the hooker on the reef and the weather -that was sure coming,” said Tyler. “We knew all about -the weather and the chances. And we didn’t cast off -from that hooker an hour too soon! We were ridin’ out<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18">18</a></span> -that gale three days, and when we passed the reef again -making west the brig was gone.”</p> - -<p>“And you cached the stuff here?”</p> - -<p>“Yep.”</p> - -<p>“But we hadn’t to make no cache hole,” put in Jude. -“Pap had one here. It’s among the bushes—and he didn’t -make it, neither.”</p> - -<p>“It’s all coral rock a foot under the bushes,” said -Tyler, “and there’s a hole you drop down six foot, that -leads to a cave as cool as a refrigerator; so the goods -would keep to the last trumpet. The old Spaniards must -have cut it to hide their stuff in. Pap dropped on it by -chance. Said they’d used it for hidin’ gold and such. -Not that he believed in the buried treasure business—sunk -ships is different.”</p> - -<p>Jude, who was hacking open a can of peaches, suddenly -made an awful face at Satan. It had the effect of -cutting him short. Ratcliffe refused the peaches. He -sat watching this pair of cormorants and thinking that -the cache must be pretty big if it held two years’ provisions -for them.</p> - -<p>Then suddenly he said so, laughing and without giving -the least offense. Tyler explained that the cache was not -their only larder: there were fish and turtle and turtle -eggs, birds sometimes, fruit to be had for next to nothing, -often for nothing. The only expense was for tobacco, -and he had not paid ten cents for tobacco since last fall -and wouldn’t want to for a year to come; clothes, and -they didn’t want much clothes, Jude did the mending and -patching; paint, and the <i>Sarah Tyler</i> had ways and means<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19">19</a></span> -of getting paint and all such, spars and so on. He gave -a wonderful instance:</p> - -<p>Before Christmas last they had chummed up with a -big yacht on the Florida coast near Cedar Cays. Thelusson -was the owner, a man from New York. He took a -fancy to the <i>Sarah</i> and her way of life, and he and his -crew helped to careen her in a lagoon back of the reefs, -cleaned her copper (she was dead foul with barnacles -and weeds), gave her a new main boom and foresail and -some spare canvas, and all for nix. He had no paint, or -he would have painted her. He drank champagne by the -bucket, and he wanted to quit the yacht and go for a -cruise with them, only his missus who was on board -wouldn’t let him.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe thought he could visualize Thelusson.</p> - -<p>“She was a mutt,” put in Jude, “with a voice like a -muskeeter.”</p> - -<p>“She wanted to ’dopt Jude and stick a skirt on her,” -said Tyler.</p> - -<p>“Handed me out a lot of sick stuff about sayin’ prayers -and such,” hurriedly cut in Jude.</p> - -<p>“And put the nightcap on it by kissin’ her,” finished -Tyler.</p> - -<p>Jude’s face blazed red like a peony.</p> - -<p>“If you chaps have had enough, I’m goin’ to clear,” -said Jude.</p> - -<p>“Right!” said Satan, rising, and she cleared, vanishing -with the swiftness of a rabbit up the companionway.</p> - -<p>Tyler fetched out a box of cigars. They were Ramon -Alones.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20">20</a></span> -“She won’t speak to me now for half a day,” said -Tyler. “If you want to guy Jude, tell her she’s a girl. -I wouldn’t a told you, only you’re not in our way of life -and so can’t make trouble. No one knows. There’s not -a man in any of the ports knows: she goes as me brother. -But the Thelusson woman spotted her on sight—Come -on deck.”</p> - -<p>Jude was emptying a bucket of refuse overboard, then -she vanished into the galley, and Ratcliffe, well fed, lazy, -and smoking his cigar, leaned for a moment over the -rail before taking his departure, talking to Tyler.</p> - -<p>To starboard lay Palm Island, with the sea quietly -creaming on the coral beach and the palms stirring to the -morning wind, to port the white <i>Dryad</i> riding to her -anchor on the near-shore blue, and beyond the <i>Dryad</i> the -violet of the great depths spreading to the far horizon, -beyond which lay Andros, and the islands, reefs, and -banks from Great Abeco to Rum Cay. Not a sail on -all that sea, nor a stain on all that splendor: nothing but -the gulls wheeling and crying over the reefs to southward.</p> - -<p>But Satan’s mind as he leaned beside Ratcliffe was -not engaged by the beauty of the morning or the charm -of the view. Satan was a dealer with the sea and the -things that came out of the sea or were even to be met -with floating on the waves. Ratcliffe was one of these -things.</p> - -<p>“You’ve never had no call to work?” said Satan tentatively. -“You’ve lots of money, I s’pect, and can take -things easy.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I suppose so.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21">21</a></span> -“Like fishin’?”</p> - -<p>“You bet!”</p> - -<p>“Well, if you ever wants to see good fishin’ and more -than ordinary folk see of the islands here, drop me a -word to Havana. Kellerman, marine store dealer, -Havana, will get me. He’s a pal of mine. I fetch up -in Havana every six months or so—and there’s more -than fishin’—”</p> - -<p>Tyler stopped short, then he spat overboard and began -to fill his pipe. He had no use for cigars—much.</p> - -<p>“How do you mean more than fishing?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t know. We’re underhanded a bit for -any big job and I wouldn’t trust most men. They don’t -grow trustable parties in Havana, nor the coast towns—not -much. I’ve taken a likin’ to you somehow or ’nother, -and if ever we come together again I’ll tell you maybe -somethin’ that’s in my mind. You see, between Pap and -me and the old <i>Sarah</i>, we’ve seen close on thirty years of -these waters right from Caicos to N’y’Orleans and down -to Trinidad. Turtle egg huntin’ and fishin’ and tradin’, -there’s not a reef or cay we don’t know. The old <i>Sarah</i> -could find her way round blind. Put her before the wind -with the wheel half a spoke weather helm and leave her, -and she’d sniff the reefs on her own.”</p> - -<p>“You were saying about something more than fishing,” -persisted Ratcliffe, whose curiosity had been, somehow, -aroused.</p> - -<p>“I was,” said Tyler; “but I’m not free to speak about -private affairs without Jude, and there’s no use in -tacklin’ her when she’s snorty. Listen to that!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22">22</a></span> -Sounds were coming from the galley as of a person -banging pots and pans about.</p> - -<p>Tyler chuckled.</p> - -<p>“It’s always the same when her dander is up,—she -starts cleanin’ and dustin’ and makin’ hell of the place. -Mother was the same. I reckon a woman can’t help -bein’ a woman, not if she had a hundred pair of breeches -on.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Ratcliffe, “I’d like to come for a cruise, -and I will some day, I hope. Maybe I’ll see you on the -island later. I was intending going ashore today to have -a look round: that’s why we anchored here.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe I’ll see you ashore then,” said Tyler, “but if -I’m not there, mind and say nothin’ of the cache.”</p> - -<p>“Right!”</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23">23</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br> - -<span class="subhead">PAP’S SUIT</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">Jude, having</span> been fetched out of the galley, the canvas -boat was got overboard.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe had offered to shed Pap’s suit and return in -his pajamas as he had come, but Tyler vetoed the idea. -The far-seeing Satan, who had snaffled a careen and clean -up, not to speak of a main boom and spare canvas, out -of Thelusson, had an object in view.</p> - -<p>“It’s no trouble,” said he. “You take the dinghy, and -we’ll take the boat and fetch the duds back. It’s late in -the mornin’ for you to be boarding your ship in them -colored things.”</p> - -<p>One of the big fish caught that morning was dropped -into the boat as a “present for the yacht,” and they -started.</p> - -<p>The accommodation ladder was down and Simmons and -a quartermaster received Ratcliffe. As he went up the -side he heard Tyler shouting to Simmons something about -the fish. There was no sign of Skelton on deck, for -which he was thankful, then he dived below to change.</p> - -<p>Now “Pap’s” suit had been constructed for a man of -over six feet and broad in proportion and a man, moreover,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24">24</a></span> -who liked his clothes loose and easy. On Ratcliffe -they recalled the vesture of Dr. Jekyll on Mr. Hyde. -The saloon door was closed. He opened it, and found -himself face to face with Skelton, who was sitting at -one end of the saloon table reading from a book, while -Strangways the captain, Norton the first officer, Prosser -the steward, and sundry others ranged according to their -degree sat at attention.</p> - -<p>It was Sunday morning. He had forgotten that fact, -and there was no drawing back. He reached his cabin, -mumbling apologies to the dead silence which seemed -crystallized round Skelton, closed the door, and stuffed -his head among the pillows of his bunk to stifle his -laughter, then he undressed and dressed.</p> - -<p>As he dressed he could hear through the open port the -voice of Tyler from alongside. The voice was pitched in -a conversational key; it was saying something about a -lick of white paint. He was talking evidently to Simmons.</p> - -<p>Then, fully dressed, with the bundle of clothes and the -canvas shoes under his arm, Ratcliffe peeped into the -saloon. The service was over and the saloon was empty. -He reached the deck. It was deserted save for a few -hands forward and Simmons.</p> - -<p>Then he came down the accommodation ladder to the -stage, and handed the clothes over to Satan.</p> - -<p>A drum of white paint and a coil of spare rope were -in the boat close to Jude, and Satan was saying to Simmons -something about a spare ax.</p> - -<p>“Well, if you haven’t got one, there’s no more to be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25">25</a></span> -said,” finished Satan; then to Ratcliffe, “See you ashore, -maybe.”</p> - -<p>Jude grinned kindly, and they pushed off, the boat a -strake lower in the water with their loot.</p> - -<p>The fat-faced Simmons watched them with the appearance -of a man just released from mesmerism.</p> - -<p>“That chap would talk the hat off one’s head,” said -he. “I’ll have h—l to pay with Norton over that paint; -most likely I’ll have to put my hand in my own pocket -for it. But he’s a decent chap, that fellow, but sharp—the -way he landed me with that fish for a bait!”</p> - -<p>“He’s all there,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“So’s the boy,” said Simmons. “Come alongside after -you’d gone, to say you were staying to breakfast with -them. Told him to mind and not damage the paint. -Let out like a bargee at me—and Sir William Skelton -listening!”</p> - -<p>“Where’s Sir William now, Simmons? He wasn’t in -the saloon when I’d finished dressing.”</p> - -<p>“I expect he’s in his cabin,” said Simmons.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe got a book and, taking his seat under the -double awning sheltering the quarterdeck, tried to read. -He had chosen a History of the West Indies, the same -book most likely from which Skelton had “cadged” his -information of the night before. The printed page was -dull, however, compared to the spoken word, and he -found himself wondering how it was that Skelly could -have warmed him up so to all this stuff and yet be such -an angular stick-in-the-mud in ordinary life. What made -him such a superior person? What made him at thirty<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26">26</a></span> -look forty, sometimes fifty, and what made him, Ratcliffe, -fear Skelly sometimes, just as a schoolboy fears -a master?</p> - -<p>He guessed he was in for a wigging now for cutting -breakfast and appearing like a guy before the officers, -and he knew instinctively the form the wigging would -take,—a chilly manner and studious avoidance of the -subject, that would be all,—Christchurch on a wet Sunday -for forty-eight hours, with the Oxford voice and -the Oxford manner accentuated and thrown in.</p> - -<p>At this moment Sir William Skelton, Bart., came on -deck,—a tall, thin man, clean shaved, like a serious-minded -butler in a yachting suit of immaculate white -drill. His breeding lay chiefly in his eyes: they were -half-veiled by heavy lids. He had an open mother-of-pearl-handled -penknife in his hand.</p> - -<p>Free of the saloon hatch and not seeing Ratcliffe, he -stopped dead like a pointer before game and called out -“Quartermaster!”</p> - -<p>A quartermaster came running aft.</p> - -<p>Some raffle had been left on the scupper by the companionway, -a fathom or so of old rope rejected by Tyler -as not being the quality he was “wantin’.”</p> - -<p>He ordered it to be taken forward, then he saw Ratcliffe -and nodded.</p> - -<p>“’Morning,” said Skelton.</p> - -<p>He walked to the rail and stood with his hand on it -for a moment, looking at the island and the <i>Sarah -Tyler</i>.</p> - -<p>Jude and Satan were at work on something aft. In<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27">27</a></span> -a minute it became apparent what they were doing. They -were rigging an awning in imitation of the <i>Dryad’s</i>, an -impudent affair made out of old canvas brown with -weather and patched from wear.</p> - -<p>It was like seeing a beggar woman raising a parasol.</p> - -<p>Skelton sniffed; then he turned and, leaning with his -back against the bulwarks, began attending to his left -little fingernail with the penknife.</p> - -<p>“Ratcliffe,” said Skelton suddenly and apparently addressing -his little finger, “I <em>wish</em> you wouldn’t!” He -spoke mildly, in a vaguely pained voice. It was as -though Ratcliffe had acted in some way like a bounder; -more, and, wonderfully, he actually made Ratcliffe feel -as though he had acted in some way like a bounder. He -was Ratcliffe’s host; that gave an extra weight to the -words. The whole thing was horrible.</p> - -<p>“Wouldn’t what?” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>Skelton had been rather hit in his proprieties by a man -going off his boat in pajamas and remaining away to -breakfast on board a thing like the <i>Sarah Tyler</i> in his -pajamas; but the real cause of offense was “Pap’s” suit -suddenly appearing at Sunday morning prayers. The -chief steward had grinned.</p> - -<p>Skelton, though a good sailor, an excellent shipmaster, -and as brave as a man need be, was a highly nervous -individual. A general service on deck for the whole crew -was beyond him: he compromised by conducting a short -service in the saloon. Even that was a tax on him. The -entrance of Ratcliffe in that extraordinary get-up had -joggled his nervous system.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28">28</a></span> -“If you can’t understand, I can’t explain,” said Skelton. -“If our cases had been reversed, I should have -apologized. However, it doesn’t matter.”</p> - -<p>“Look here, Skelly!” said Ratcliffe. “I’m most awfully -sorry if I have jumped on your corns, and I’ll -apologize as much as you want, but the fact of the matter -is we don’t seem to hit it off exactly, do we? You are -the best of good people, but we have different temperaments. -If those other fellows had come along on the -cruise, it would have mixed matters more. We want to -be mixed up in a big party more, you and I, if we want -to get on together.”</p> - -<p>“I told you before we started I disliked crowds,” said -Skelton, “and that only Satherthwaite and Magnus were -coming. Then, when they failed, you said it didn’t -matter, that we should be freer and more comfortable -alone.”</p> - -<p>“I know,” said Ratcliffe. “It was my mistake, and -besides I didn’t want to put you off the cruise.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you would not have put me off. I should have -started alone. I am dependent on no one for society.”</p> - -<p>“I believe you would have been happier alone.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps,” said Skelton with tight lips.</p> - -<p>“Well then, shove me ashore, somewhere.”</p> - -<p>“That is talking nonsense!” said Skelton.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe had risen and was leaning over the rail beside -the other. His eyes were fixed on the <i>Sarah Tyler</i>, the -disreputable <i>Sarah</i>, and as he looked at her Jude and -Satan suddenly seemed to him real live free human beings<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29">29</a></span> -and Skelton as being not entirely alive nor, for all -his wealth, free.</p> - -<p>It was Skelton who gave the Tylers a nimbus, extra -color, fascination, especially Jude. There was a lot of -fascination about Jude, even without the background of -Skelton.</p> - -<p>“It’s not talking nonsense a bit,” said he, “and, if you -can trundle along the rest of the cruise alone, I’ll drop -you here.”</p> - -<p>“Drop you on this island?”</p> - -<p>“No—I’d like to go for a cruise with those chaps—I -mean that chap in the mud barge over there. He asked -me, any time I wanted to.”</p> - -<p>“Are you in earnest?”</p> - -<p>“Of course I am. It would be no end of a picnic, -and I want to shove round these seas. I can get a boat -back from Havana.”</p> - -<p>Skelton felt that this was the washerwoman of Barbados -over again,—irresponsibility—bad form. He was, -under his courteousness as a host, heartily sick of Ratcliffe -and his ways and outlook. A solitary by inclination, -he would not at all have objected to finishing this -cruise by himself. All the same, he strongly objected -to the idea just put before him.</p> - -<p>What made him object? Was he insulted that the -<i>Dryad</i> should be turned down in favor of the frowzy, disreputable-looking -<i>Sarah Tyler</i>, that the companionship -of the Tylerites should be preferred to his? Did some -vague instinct tell him they were the better people to be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30">30</a></span> -with if one wanted to have a good time? Was high -conventionality outraged as though, walking down Piccadilly -with Ratcliffe, the latter were to seize the arm -of a dustman?</p> - -<p>Who knows? But he bitterly and strongly objected. -And how and in what words did he show his objection -and anger?</p> - -<p>“Then go, my dear fellow, go!” said he as though with -all the good will in the world.</p> - -<p>“Right!” said Ratcliffe. “But are you sure you don’t -mind?”</p> - -<p>“Mind! Why should I mind?”</p> - -<p>“One portmanteau full of stuff will do me,” said Ratcliffe, -“and I have nearly a hundred and fifty in ready -money and a letter of credit on the Lyonnaise at Havana -for five hundred. I’ll trundle my stuff over if you’ll -lend me a boat, and be back for luncheon. You’ll be -off this evening, I suppose, and I can stay aboard here -till you get the anchor up. It’s possible I might pick you -up at Havana on the way back; but don’t worry about -that. Of course all this depends on whether that fellow -will take me. I’ll take the portmanteau with me and -ask.”</p> - -<p>He did not in the least see what was going on in Skelton’s -mind.</p> - -<p>“You will take your things with you in a boat, and -if this—gentleman refuses to take you, what then?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll come back.”</p> - -<p>“Now I want to be quite clear with you, Ratcliffe,” -said Skelton. “If you leave my ship like that—for nothing—at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31">31</a></span> -a whim and for disreputable chance acquaintances—absolute -scowbankers—the worst sort—I want to be -clear with you—quite, absolutely definite—I must ask you -not to come back!”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m hanged!” said Ratcliffe, suddenly blazing -out. “First you say go and then you say don’t! Of -course that’s enough: you’ve practically fired me off your -boat.”</p> - -<p>“Do not twist my words,” said the other. “That is -a subtle form of prevarication I can’t stand.”</p> - -<p>“I think we had better stop this,” said Ratcliffe. “I’m -going! If I don’t see you again. I’ll say goodby.”</p> - -<p>“And please understand,” said the other, who was -rather white about the mouth, “please understand—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I know,” said Ratcliffe. “Goodby!”</p> - -<p>He dived below to the saloon and rang for his bedroom -steward.</p> - -<p>Burning with anger and irritation and a feeling that -he had been sat upon by Skelton, snubbed, sneered at, -and altogether outrageously used, he could not trust -himself to do his own packing. He sat on his bunkside -while the steward stuffed a portmanteau with necessaries, -and as he sat the thought came to him of what would -happen were Tyler to refuse to take him. He would -have to take refuge on Palm Island. It was a comic -opera sort of idea; yet, such was the state of his mind, -he actually entertained it.</p> - -<p>Skelton was no longer “Skelly,” but “that beast Skelton.” -Then he tipped the steward and the chief steward, -telling them that he was going for a cruise in that “yawl<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32">32</a></span> -over there.” On deck he met Norton and Simmons -and told them the same tale. Skelton had vanished to -his cabin. He told the first and second officers that he -had said goodby to his host and asked for a boat to be -lowered.</p> - -<p>“I’ll pick you up most likely at Havana,” said he to -gloze the matter over. “I expect I’ll have a good time, -but rather rough. I want to do some fishing.”</p> - -<p>The whole thing seemed like a dream and not a particularly -pleasant one. Embarked on this business now, -he almost wished himself done with it. The yacht was -comfortable, the cooking splendid; to satisfy any want, -one had only to touch a bell. There were no bells on -board the <i>Sarah Tyler</i>. A lavatory and a sort of bathroom -invented by “Pap” were the only conveniences, and -the bath was impracticable. It was “Pap’s” only failure, -for the sea-cock connecting it with the outer ocean was -so arranged or constituted that as likely as not it would -let in the Caribbean before you could “stop it off.”</p> - -<p>If Skelton now, at the last moment, had asked Ratcliffe -to come down and have an interview, things might -have been smoothed over, but Skelton was not the sort -of man to make advances; neither, in his way, was Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, Simmons was directing the lowering of a -boat. The companionway was still down. The luggage -was put in, and Simmons, seated by Ratcliffe in the stern -seats, took the yoke lines. Not a sign of Skelton, not -even a face at a porthole!</p> - -<p>“Give way!” shouted Simmons.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33">33</a></span> -As they drew up to the <i>Sarah Tyler</i>, Ratcliffe saw -Satan leaning over the rail and watching them. Jude -was nowhere visible.</p> - -<p>“Hullo!” said Ratcliffe as they came alongside. “I’ve -come back.”</p> - -<p>“I was half-expectin’ you,” said Satan with a grin.</p> - -<p>“Will you take me for that cruise right off?”</p> - -<p>“Sure! That your dunnage?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>Satan stepped to the cabin companionway and shouted -down it.</p> - -<p>“Jude!”</p> - -<p>“Hullo!” came Jude’s voice.</p> - -<p>“He’s come back!”</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34">34</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br> - -<span class="subhead">THE PORTMANTEAU</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap al"><span class="smcap1">As</span> Jude came on deck the portmanteau was being -hoisted on board. Ratcliffe passed down a five-pound -note to the boat’s crew, and then stood, waving -to Simmons as the boat put away. Then, turning to -Satan, he tried to discuss terms, but was instantly silenced -by Jude and Satan. They would hear nothing of money. -Used to sea changes and strange happenings, they seemed -to think nothing of the business, and after the first words -fell to talking together.</p> - -<p>The trend of their talk induced in Ratcliffe a vaguely -uncanny feeling. It was as though they had already discussed -his coming on board and the storage of himself -and his baggage, as though they had known by instinct -that he would return. The size of the portmanteau -affected Jude.</p> - -<p>“You can’t keep that,” said Jude, giving the portmanteau -a slight kick. “It’s a long sight too big. Say, what -have you got in it?”</p> - -<p>“Clothes.”</p> - -<p>“Pajamas?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and lots of other things.”</p> - -<p>Jude tilted back the old panama she was wearing and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35">35</a></span> -took her seat on the portmanteau. Her feet were bare, -and she twisted her toes in thought as she sat for a -moment turning matters over in her mind.</p> - -<p>“You can stick the things in the spare locker,” said -she at last. “You gonna have a gay old time if you -keep this in the cabin, tumblin’ over it. Better empty -her here an’ cart the stuff below.”</p> - -<p>“Right!” said Ratcliffe. “But what shall I do with the -portmanteau when it’s empty?”</p> - -<p>“Heave her overboard,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“Shut your head!” said Tyler, suddenly cutting in. -“What you talkin’ about? Heave yourself overboard!” -Then to Ratcliffe, “She’s right, all the same; there’s no -room for luggage. If you’ll help Jude to get the things -below, I’ll look after the trunk. When you’ve done with -the cruise you can get a bag to hold your things.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe opened the portmanteau. The steward of the -<i>Dryad</i> was an expert: in a past existence he had probably -been a pack rat. In any given space he could have -tucked away half as much again as any other ordinary -mortal. But he certainly had no imagination, or perhaps -he had been too busy to cast his eye overboard and -see the manner of craft Ratcliffe was joining, and Ratcliffe -had been far too much exercised in his mind about -Skelton to notice what was being packed.</p> - -<p>Jude on her knees helped.</p> - -<p>“What’s this?” asked Jude, coming on a black satin -lining.</p> - -<p>“Confound the fool!” said Ratcliffe. “He needn’t have -packed that: it’s a dinner jacket.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36">36</a></span> -“Mean to say you sit down to your dinner in a jacket?” -Jade choked and snorted while Ratcliffe hurriedly, on his -knees, hauled out the trousers and waistcoats that went -with the garments.</p> - -<p>“That’s the lining—it’s worn the other way about—I -know it’s tomfoolery. Stick ’em all in one bundle—Lord! -look at the shirts he’s packed!”</p> - -<p>“They’ve got tucks in them,” said Jude, looking at the -pleated fronts.</p> - -<p>“I know. They go with that tomfool dinner suit. -You can’t knock sense into the head of a bedroom -steward. Come along and let’s get them down below.”</p> - -<p>While they were carting the stuff down, Satan on the -hatch cover cut himself a chew of tobacco (he sometimes -chewed) and, with his lantern jaws working regularly -like the jaws of a cow chewing the cud, contemplated -the steadily emptying portmanteau.</p> - -<p>He had a plan about that portmanteau, a plan to turn -it to profit. Satan’s plans generally had profit for their -object. He had taken a genuine liking for Ratcliffe; but -it was a curious thing with Satan that even his likings -generally helped him along toward profit,—perhaps because -they were the outcome of a keen intelligence that -had been sharpened by knocking about among rascals, -beachcombers, wharf rats, as well as honest folk.</p> - -<p>When Ratcliffe had fetched down the last load and -come up again, he found Satan and the portmanteau -gone.</p> - -<p>The canvas boat had not been brought on board, but -streamed astern on a line. He looked over the side.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37">37</a></span> -Satan was in the boat with the portmanteau and in the -act of pushing off.</p> - -<p>“I’m takin’ her back to the yacht,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe nodded.</p> - -<p>At that moment Jude came on deck blinking and hitching -up her trousers. She had washed her face and made -herself a bit more tidy,—perhaps because she had remembered -it was Sunday or perhaps because company -had come on board. She had evidently put her whole -head into the water. It was dripping, and as she stood -with the old panama in her hand and her cropped hair -drying in the sun Ratcliffe observed her anew and -thought that he had never seen a more likable figure. -Jude would never be pretty, but she was better than -pretty,—healthy, honest and capable, trusting and fearless, -easily reflecting laughter, and with a trace of the irresponsibility -of youth. It was a face entirely original -and distinctive. Dirty, it was the face of a larrikin; -washed, a face such as I have attempted to describe; and -the eyes were extraordinary,—liquid-gray, with a look of -distance, when she was serious, a look acquired perhaps -from life among vast sea spaces.</p> - -<p>“Where’s Satan?” asked Jude.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe pointed.</p> - -<p>Jude, shading her eyes, looked. Then she laughed.</p> - -<p>“Thought he was up to somethin’,” said she. “He’s -gone to kid that officer man out of some more truck.”</p> - -<p>In a flash Ratcliffe saw the reason of Satan’s activities, -and in another flash he saw again, or seemed to see, in -Satan and Jude a pair of gipsies of the sea. A gipsies’<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38">38</a></span> -caravan camped close to a neat villa,—that was the relationship -between the <i>Sarah Tyler</i> and the <i>Dryad</i>,—and -Satan was the caravan man gone round to the villa’s -back door to return an empty portmanteau and blarney -the servants out of scraps and old odds and ends not -wanted, maybe to commandeer a chicken or nick a doormat—heaven -only knew! He remembered the fancy -Satan had taken to the dinghy. And he, Ratcliffe, had -thrown in his lot with these people! Fishing cruise! -Rubbish! Gipsy patter, sea thimblerigging, wreck-picking, -and maybe petty larceny from Guadaloupe to dry -Tortugas,—that was what he had signed on for. Why, -the <i>Sarah Tyler</i>, could she have been hauled into any -law court, would have stood convicted on her very appearance! -Jude was honest enough in her way; but her -way was Satan’s way, and she had owned up with steadfast, -honest eyes to the plundering of a brig and the -caching of the plunder. They were “passons to what -Pap had been,” but they were his offspring, and the law -to them was no doubt what it had been to him,—a something -to be avoided or outwitted, like a dangerous animal.</p> - -<p>All these thoughts running through his head did not -disturb him in the least. Far from that! The reckless -in him had expanded since he had cut the cable connecting -him with the <i>Dryad</i>, and not for worlds would he -have changed the <i>Sarah</i> into a vessel of more conventional -form, or altered Satan from whatever he might be -into a figure of definite respectability.</p> - -<p>He reckoned that if Satan broke the law he would be -clever enough to avoid the consequences. His tongue<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39">39</a></span> -alone would get him out of most fixes, and just this touch -of gipsiness in the business gave a new flavor to life,—the -flavor boys seek when they raid orchards and hen-roosts -and go pirating with corked faces and lath swords.</p> - -<p>“He’s goin’ aboard her,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>The portmanteau had been taken up by one of the -crew, and now Satan, evidently at the invitation of one -of the white-clad figures leaning over the rail of the -<i>Dryad</i>, was going up the accommodation ladder, leaving -the boat to wash about in the blue water by the stage.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe guessed that one of the white-clad figures was -Skelton and that it was on Skelton’s invitation he had -gone on board. He felt vaguely uneasy. What did -Skelton mean by that? Was he up to any dodge to -“crab” the cruise?</p> - -<p>However, he had no time to bother over this, for Jude, -who had him now to herself without fear of interruption, -had opened her batteries.</p> - -<p>“Say,” said Jude, hanging over the rail where the -awning cast its shadow, speaking without looking at him -and spitting into the water, “what are you when you’re -ashore, anyway?”</p> - -<p>“I’m one of the idle rich,” said Ratcliffe, lighting his -pipe.</p> - -<p>“Well, you won’t be idle aboard here,” said Jude definitely. -“What was your dad? Was your dad an idle rich?”</p> - -<p>“No, he was a ship owner.”</p> - -<p>“How many ships did he own?”</p> - -<p>“About forty.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40">40</a></span> -“What sort?”</p> - -<p>“Steamers.”</p> - -<p>“What sizes?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, anything from two to five thousand tons.”</p> - -<p>She turned to see if he were guying her.</p> - -<p>“There was another man in the business,” said Ratcliffe, -“a partner; Ratcliffe & Holt was the same of the -firm. The governor died intestate.”</p> - -<p>“Somethin’ wrong with his inside?”</p> - -<p>“No, he died of a stroke; he was found in his office -chair dead; he died at his work.”</p> - -<p>“Did they get the chap that did him in?” asked Jude.</p> - -<p>“No, it wasn’t a man that struck him; it was apoplexy, -a disease, and dying without a will, all his money was -divided up between my two brothers and me.”</p> - -<p>“How much did you get?”</p> - -<p>“Over a hundred thousand.”</p> - -<p>“Dollars?”</p> - -<p>“No, pounds—four hundred thousand dollars.”</p> - -<p>“Got ’em still?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“In the bank?”</p> - -<p>“Some; the rest is invested.”</p> - -<p>She seemed to lose interest in the money business and -hung for a moment over the rail, whistling almost noiselessly -between her teeth and kicking up a bare heel. -Then she said:</p> - -<p>“Who’s the chap you were sailin’ with?”</p> - -<p>“Skelton is his name.”</p> - -<p>“He owns that hooker?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41">41</a></span> -“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Jude suddenly, as if waking from a -reverie, “this won’t boil potatoes—I’ve got to get dinner -ready. Come ’long and help if you’re willin’.”</p> - -<p>There was half a sack of potatoes in the galley. She -set the stove going, and then, on her knees before the -open sack, she sent him to fetch half a bucket of water -from overboard. He found the bucket with a rope attached, -brought the water, and filled the potato kettle, -then he brought more water for the washing of the -potatoes.</p> - -<p>She did the washing squatting on her heels before the -bucket.</p> - -<p>“Where did you get them from?” asked Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Get which?”</p> - -<p>“The potatoes.”</p> - -<p>“Bought them,” said Jude; then, as though suddenly -smitten by rectitude, “No, we didn’t, nuther: we kidooled -them out of a fruiter.”</p> - -<p>“What’s a fruiter?”</p> - -<p>“Fruit steamer. Satan fixed her.”</p> - -<p>“How did he fix her?”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Jude, “it’s no harm to hold up a packet -if you don’t throw her off her course—much. It’s the -owners pays, and they can stand the racket. The crew -likes it, and if there’s passengers aboard they just love -it.”</p> - -<p>“Do you mean to say you hold up steamers?” asked -Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Yep.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42">42</a></span> -“But how do you do it?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s only now and then. What’s easier than to -lay in her course with the flag half-mast? Then she -heaves to.”</p> - -<p>“And you board her and ask for potatoes, or whatever -you want?”</p> - -<p>“Not much!” said Jude. “They’d boot you off the -ship. Water’s what you ask for, pretendin’ you’re dying -of thirst; then you drink till you’re near bustin’ and -fill the breaker you’ve brought with you. It’s all on the -square. Satan would never hold a ship unless he had -some fish to offer them for whatever he wants,—potatoes -or fruit or tobacco. He’s got the fish in the boat and -hands it up. They’re always glad of fresh fish and they -offer to buy it; but he won’t take money, but says, ‘If -you’ve got a few potatoes handy, I don’t mind takin’ them -for the fish.’ Sometimes it’s fruit he wants, or other -things. Then you push off—and if it’s a passenger -packet the passengers, thinkin’ they’ve saved you from -dyin’ of thirst, line up and cheer. It’s no end of fun.”</p> - -<p>“What flag do you sail under?”</p> - -<p>“’Murrican, what else? You see,” went on Jude as -she put the potatoes into the kettle, “fish costs nothing -to us and they’re mighty glad of it, but I reckon they’d -bat our heads off if they knew about the dyin’ of thirst -business.”</p> - -<p>“But suppose you struck the same ship twice?”</p> - -<p>“It’s not a job one does every day,” said Jude, with -a trace of contempt in her tone, “and Satan don’t wear -blinkers, and it’s not a job you could do at all if you<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43">43</a></span> -didn’t know the lie of the fishin’ banks by where the -ship tracks run. I reckon you’ve got to learn something -about things.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon I have,” said Ratcliffe, laughing, “and I -bet you’ll teach me!”</p> - -<p>“Well, shy that over to begin with,” said Jude, giving -him the pail of dirty water.</p> - -<p>He flung the water over the side, and as he did so -he took a glance at the <i>Dryad</i>. Satan was in the boat -just pushing off. When he returned to the galley with -the news, Jude was preparing to fry fish: not the early -morning fish, but some caught just before Ratcliffe had -come on board.</p> - -<p>Then he went to the rail again just as Satan was -coming alongside.</p> - -<p>Satan had a cargo of sorts. His insatiable appetite -for canvas and rope was evidenced by the bundle in the -stern, and there were parcels. The return of the empty -portmanteau had not been waste labor.</p> - -<p>“That’s coffee,” said he to Ratcliffe, handing up the -goods. “We were runnin’ short. And here’s biscuits—catch -a holt—and here’s some fancy muck in cans and -c’ndensed milk—I told the chap our cow died yesterday. -‘Take everything you want,’ says he. ‘Don’t mind me—I’m -only the owner.’ Offered me the mainsail as I -was putting off an’ told me to come back for the dinghy. -I’d told him I was sweet on her—full of fun he was—and -maybe I will. Claw hold of this bundle of matches—they’re -a livin’ Godsend—and here’s a case of canned -t’marters—and that’s all.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44">44</a></span> -Skelton’s irony was evidently quite lost on Satan, or -put down to his “fun,” but Ratcliffe could appreciate -it, and the fact that its real target was himself.</p> - -<p>The canned t’marters appeared with the food at dinner, -and during the meal more of Skelton came out. -He had offered Satan vinous liquors, hoping, so Ratcliffe -dimly suspected, to send him back a trouble to the -<i>Sarah Tyler</i> and an object lesson on the keeping of disreputable -company; but the wily Satan had no use for -liquor. He was on the water wagon.</p> - -<p>“I leave all them sorts of things to Jude,” said he, with -a grin. He was referring to Jude’s boasted drunk at -Havana, and Ratcliffe, who was placed opposite to the -pair of them, across the table, saw Jude’s chin project. -Why she should boast of a thing one moment and fire -up at the mention of it at another was beyond him.</p> - -<p>For a moment it seemed as if she were going to -empty the dish of tomatoes over Satan, but she held -herself in, all but her tongue.</p> - -<p>“You’d have been doin’ better work on board here, -mendin’ the gooseneck of that spare gaff, than wangling -old canvas an’ rope out of that man,” said she. -“We’re full up of old truck that’s no more use to us -than Solomon’s aunt. It’s in the family, I suppose, -seein’ what Granf’er was—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, put a potato in your mouth!” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“He used to peddle truck on the Canada border,” said -she to Ratcliffe,—“hams—”</p> - -<p>“Close up!” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“—made out o’ birchwood, and wooden nutmegs—”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45">45</a></span> -“That was Pap’s joke,” said Satan. “And another -word out of you and I’ll turn you over me knee and -take down your—”</p> - -<p>“Then what do you want flingin’ old things in my -face?” cried Jude, wabbling between anger and tears. -“Some day I’ll take me hook, same as mother did.”</p> - -<p>“There’s not a Baptis’ minister would look at you,” -said Satan, winking at Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Damn Baptis’ ministers! You may work your old -hooker yourself. I’ll skip! Two thousand of them dollars -is mine, and next time we touch Havana I’ll skip!”</p> - -<p>“And where’ll you skip to?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll start a la’ndry.”</p> - -<p>“Then you’ll have to black your face and wear a turban, -same as the others—and marry a nigger. I can -see you comin’ off for the ship’s washin’.”</p> - -<p>Jude began to laugh in a crazy sort of way, then all -at once she sobered down and went on with her dinner. -One could never tell how her anger would end,—in tears, -laughter of a wild sort, or just nothing.</p> - -<p>Not another word was said about the family history -of the Tylers, at least at that meal, and after it was -over Jude made Ratcliffe help to wash up the plates and -things in the galley.</p> - -<p>“Satan’s Cap,” said Jude. “He never helps in the -washin’ or swillin’. Not cold water!—land’s sake! where -did you learn washin’ up?—hot! I’ve left some in that -billy on the stove.”</p> - -<p>She had taken off her old coat and rolled her guernsey -sleeves up to the shoulders nearly, and it came to Ratcliffe<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46">46</a></span> -as he helped that, without a word of remonstrance, -naturally, and as a part adapts itself to the economy of -a whole, he had sunk into the position of kitchen maid -and general help to the Tyler family, taken the place -of the nigger that had skipped; furthermore that Satan -was less a person than a subtle influence. Satan seemed -to obtain his ends more by wishing than by willing. He -wanted an extra hand, and he had somehow put the spell -of his wish on him, Ratcliffe. He had wished a drum -of paint out of Simmons—and look at Skelton, the cynical -and superior Skelton, sending off doles of coffee -and “t’marters” to the dingy and disreputable <i>Sarah -Tyler</i>, offering his mainsail to the rapacious Satan as -a gibe! What had he been but a marionette dancing on -the string of Satan’s wish?</p> - -<p>Only for Jude and the <i>Sarah</i> and the queer new sense -of freedom from all the associations he had ever known, -only for something likable about Satan, the something -that gave him power to wheedle things out of people and -bend them to his wishes, Ratcliffe might have reacted -against the Tyler hypnotism. As it was, the whole business -seemed as jolly as a pantomime, as exciting as a -new form of novel in which the folk were real and himself -a character.</p> - -<p>Leaving Satan and the old <i>Sarah</i> aside, and the extraordinary -fascination of spars, sails, narrow deck, and -close sea, catching one’s own fish, cooking one’s own -food, and dickering with winds, waves, reefs, and lee -shores for a living,—leaving all these aside, Jude alone -would have held him; for Jude gave him what he possessed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47">47</a></span> -when he was nine,—the power of playing again, -of seeing everything new and fresh. Washing up dishes -with Jude was a game. To the whole-souled Jude all this -business was a game,—hauling on the halyards, fishing, -cooking, hanging on to the beard of a storm by the sea -anchor, wreck picking and so on,—and she had infected -him. Already they were good companions and, when -together, of the same age, about nine—though she was -fifteen and he over twenty.</p> - -<p>“Stick them on that shelf,” said Jude. “Oh, Lord!—butter-fingers!—lemme! -That’s the gadget to keep them -from shiftin’ if the ship rolls. Now stick the knives in -that locker. You don’t mind my tellin’ you, do you?”</p> - -<p>“Not a bit.”</p> - -<p>“Well, that’s all.”</p> - -<p>They found Satan under the awning, attending to the -gooseneck of the spare gaff.</p> - -<p>Jude sat down on the deck clasping her knees, criticized -Satan’s handiwork, received instructions to hold -her tongue, and then collapsed, lying on her back with -knees up and the back of her hand across her eyes. -She could sleep at any odd moment.</p> - -<p>The horizon had vanished in haze, the crying of the -gulls had died down, and the washing of the lazy swell -on the island beach sounded like a lullaby.</p> - -<p>A trace of smoke was rising from the yellow funnel -of the <i>Dryad</i> as she lay like a white painted ship on a -blue painted ocean. They were firing up.</p> - -<p>“How about getting ashore?” asked Ratcliffe. “I want -to see that cache of yours. Care to come?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48">48</a></span> -“I’d just as soon leave it till they’re away,” said -Satan, jerking his hand toward the <i>Dryad</i>. “There’s -no tellin’, they might be spottin’ us on the location with -a glass, and they’ll be off tonight—so the chap told me. -You leave it to me and I’ll show you a cache better nor -that in a day or two.”</p> - -<p>“Shut up, Satan!” came a drowsy voice from the -deck.</p> - -<p>“Shut up yourself!” said Satan. “I’m not talkin’ of -what you mean: I’m talkin’ of the abalone reef—lyin’ -there like a lazy dog and lippin’ your betters!”</p> - -<p>“Where’s me betters?” cried Jude, sitting bang-up -suddenly, like the corpse in “Thou art the man.”</p> - -<p>“I’m your betters.”</p> - -<p>“You!”</p> - -<p>“Me!”</p> - -<p>Jude broke into a cracked laugh.</p> - -<p>“Listen to him talkin’!” cried she to the universe in -general. “Ain’t fit to bile potatoes!” She was on her -feet, and he was after her with a rope’s end, dodging -her round the mast. “Touch me and I’ll tell him!” A -flick of the rope’s end caught her, and next moment she -was clinging to Ratcliffe and using him as her shield. -“It’s an old ship sunk south o’ Rum Key!” cried Jude. -“South o’ Rum Key! I told you I’d tell him if you -touched me.”</p> - -<p>Satan dropped the rope and resumed the gooseneck -business.</p> - -<p>“Now you’ve done it!” said he.</p> - -<p>“Told you I would,” said Jude. She sat down on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49">49</a></span> -deck again as though nothing had happened and nursed -her knees.</p> - -<p>“You needn’t mind me,” said Ratcliffe. “I won’t tell.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s not that,” said Satan, “but Pap was mighty -particular about keepin’ close. He located that hooker -only three months before the fever took him—and he -didn’t come on it by chance nuther. And now Jude’s -given the show away!”</p> - -<p>“I told you I’d tell him,” said Jude broodily.</p> - -<p>“Told me you’d tell him! Why, ever since last fall -you’ve been at me to keep my tongue in my head about -it, and then you bring it out bing, first thing, yourself! -That’s a woman all over.”</p> - -<p>“Who are you callin’ a woman?”</p> - -<p>“Me aunt. Shut your head and give over handlin’ -that ball of yarn, clutch hold of the gaff and keep it -steady while I fix this ring on her!”</p> - -<p>He worked away in silence while Ratcliffe sat watching, -vaguely intrigued by what had just passed. It was -less the words than the place and circumstance,—the little -deck of the <i>Sarah Tyler</i>, the blue lazy sea, the voice of -the surf on Palm Island, the figure of Jude and Satan. -He had seen Rum Cay: They had passed it in a pink -and pearly dawn. The steward had called him up to -look at it. South of that lonely and fascinating place -old man Tyler had located a sunk ship. What sort of -ship he knew instinctively and that the Tylers were not -the people to halloo over nothing. The gulls did not -know these seas better than they. He said nothing, however. -It was Satan who spoke next.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50">50</a></span> -“Pap had reckoned to lay for it this spring,” said -Satan, “but the fever took him. Then we were underhanded. -Jude and me can make out to work the boat -and get a livin’, but we’re too underhanded for a big -job. Why, takin’ that truck off the brig I told you about -near laid us out, and we had the nigger to help and she -was hove up so that it was like takin’ cargo off a wharfside.”</p> - -<p>“Look here,” said Ratcliffe, “I’ll help if you care to -go for it. I don’t want any share: just the fun. What’s -in her?”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Satan in a half-hearted way, “maybe we’ll -have a look at her; but it’s a job that wants more than -three by rights. Pap was three men in himself; he’d a -done it. It’s a dynamite job. She’s got to be blasted -open.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve heard stories about buried treasure in these -seas—” began Ratcliffe. Jude turned her head.</p> - -<p>“That’s bilge,” said she.</p> - -<p>“Yarns,” said Satan. “Pap used to turn any man -down that talked of stuff bein’ buried. First he said -that chaps didn’t bury stuff, second if they did you -couldn’t find it, what with earthquakes and sand siftin’ -and such, and third that never an ounce of silver, or -gold for the matter of that, has ever been dug up by the -tomfools huntin’ for it. Havana is full of tall stories of -buried treasure—chaps make a livin’ sellin’ locations and -faked charts and the like of that. It’s a Spanish game, -and it takes good American money every year. You see, -Pap was a book-readin’ man,—taught himself to read,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51">51</a></span> -too, and didn’t start the job till he was near forty,—so -he had a head on him, but somehow or ’nother he never -made the money he ought. If he’d stuck in towns and -places, he’d have been a Rock’feller; but he liked beatin’ -about free, said God’s good air was better than dollars. -But it stuck in him that he hadn’t made out, somehow. -Then he turned into unbelievin’ ways, Said he was a soci—what -was it, Jude?”</p> - -<p>“Somethin’ or ’nother,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“Socialist?” suggested Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“That’s it! Said the time was coming when all the -guys that were down under would be on top of the chaps -that were on top, and that there’d be such a hell of a -rough house money’d be no use anyway; said the time -was comin’ when eggs would be a dollar apiece and no -dollars to buy them with, and me and Jude would be -safest without money gettin’ our livin’ out of the sea. -He was a proper dirge when he got on that tack. But -all the same it stuck in him that he wasn’t on top, and -one night when he was in Diegos’ saloon he heard three -Spanish chaps layin’ their heads together. He knew the -lingo well enough to make out their meanin’. They -were in the bar. Pap wasn’t on the water wagon, but -he was no boozer. He was sittin’ there that night just -dead beat, as any man might be after the day’s work -he’d done, runnin’ the customs—”</p> - -<p>“Luff!” said Jude in a warning voice.</p> - -<p>“Oh, close your head! Think I am talkin’ to a customs -officer? He don’t care.”</p> - -<p>“Not a bit,” said Ratcliffe. “Heave ahead.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52">52</a></span> -“Well, he was sittin’ with his eyes shut, and he heard -these guys colludin’ together. He didn’t get more than -half they said, but he got enough to make him want to -hear more. Then they quit the bar and went into a back -room with their lemon juice and cigarettes. Ten minutes -after hell broke loose in that back room, and when -Pap and the bartender got the door open there was the -chaps, one on the floor shot through the head and the -other two near done in. Two of them had set on the -guy that was dead; but they hadn’t knocked him out -before he began to shoot, and he’d pretty well riddled -them with a Colt automatic pistol—”</p> - -<p>“Them’s the things!” said Jude. “I’m savin’ up to -buy one of them things on my own—twenty-five dollars—”</p> - -<p>“Shut your head! Then they must have knocked it -out of his hand and used the last shot on him.”</p> - -<p>“His brains were all over the floor,” said Jude with -relish. “Pap said they looked like white of egg beat up -and enough to fill a puddin’ basin.”</p> - -<p>“Pap spotted somethin’ else on the floor,” went on -Satan, “a piece of paper folded double. He put it in -his pocket while the fellers were bein’ lifted to the hospital, -where they died that same night. He was on the -square all right, takin’ that paper, and I’ll tell you why. -Six months before that we’d spotted a wreck comin’ up -from Guadaloupe. She’s so placed—as maybe you’ll see -yourself one day—that a hundred ships might have -passed her without spottin’ her, and bein’ out of trade<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53">53</a></span> -tracks made her all the safer. These guys had been -talkin’ about a wreck before they left the bar for the -back room, and he reckoned it was our find they were -onto. The piece of paper made him sure of that, and, -takin’ it with the talk he’d heard, he reckoned he had -got the biggest thing that ever humped itself in these -waters. He said there was a hundred thousand dollars -aboard her.”</p> - -<p>It was a fascinating story, yet it seemed to Ratcliffe -that Satan showed little enthusiasm over the business.</p> - -<p>“You don’t seem very keen about it,” said he.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Satan, “it seems a bit too big, and that’s -the truth. The hooker’s there right enough, but I don’t -seem to see all that stuff aboard of her.”</p> - -<p>“It’s there right enough,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“Then there’s the getting of it,” went on Satan. -“That’s a tough job to tackle. Months of work, no pay, -and the chance of bein’ let down at the end of it.”</p> - -<p>“Satan’d sooner be grubbin’ round after abalones,” said -Jude. “Bone lazy, that’s what he is! I know the stuff’s -there, and I’m goin’ to get it if I have to dig it out -myself.”</p> - -<p>“Well, off with you then,” said the other, “and a good -riddance you’d be!” Then to Ratcliffe, “We’ll run you -down there some day and you can see for yourself. If -you’ve any money to burn, you might like to put it in the -spec’. We’d want extra help. Jude’s talkin’ through -her hat. We can’t tackle that business alone, even Pap -saw that—though he was mighty set on doin’ it single-<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54">54</a></span>handed. -And that’s where the bother comes in, for the -island where she’s lyin’ is Spanish, and the Dagoes would -claim what we got if they knew.”</p> - -<p>“We’d have to get half a dozen men and give them -a share,” said Ratcliffe. “That would make them hold -their tongues; but I see an awful lot of difficulties. Suppose -you got the stuff, how are you to get rid of it?”</p> - -<p>“We’d have to get it down to a Brazil port,” said -Satan, “or run it into Caracas. That’s handier. Them -Venezuelans are the handiest chaps when it comes to -loose dealin’.”</p> - -<p>“For the matter of that,” said Ratcliffe, “one could -run it straight to England. There are lots of places -there where we could get it ashore—but we’ve got to -get it first.”</p> - -<p>“That’s so,” said Satan. “Look! She’s puttin’ a boat -off.” He pointed to the <i>Dryad</i>.</p> - -<p>A quarter-boat had been lowered and was pulling -away from the yacht. As she drew closer Ratcliffe saw -that the man in the sternsheets, steering, was Skelton,—Skelton -coming either to make trouble or to make friends.</p> - -<p>The oars rose up and fell with a crash as the bow oar -hooked on to the dingy old <i>Sarah</i>.</p> - -<p>“Hulloo!” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Hulloo!” said Skelton.</p> - -<p>“Won’t you come on board?”</p> - -<p>“No, thank you.” A sniff from Jude. “I just came -over to say that we are starting.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe saw that he wanted to say a lot, but was -tongue-tied before the boat’s crew and the Tylers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55">55</a></span> -“Better come on board,” said he, “and have a chat in -the cabin before you’re off.”</p> - -<p>Skelton hesitated a moment, then he came. He gave -Satan a nod, utterly ignored Jude, and, followed by Ratcliffe, -passed below. Downstairs his manner changed. -Standing and refusing a seat, as though fearing to contaminate -his lily-white ducks, he began to speak as if -addressing the portrait of old man Tyler.</p> - -<p>“I can’t believe you absolutely mean to do this,” said -he. “I can understand a moment’s temper, but—but—this -is a joke carried too far.”</p> - -<p>“My dear Skelton,” said the other, “what’s the good? -I have the greatest respect for you, but we are dead -opposites in temperament and we make each other -unhappy. What’s the good of carrying it on? It’s -not as if you minded being alone. You like being -alone, and I like this old tub and her crew. Well, let’s -each carry out our likings. I’m as happy as anything -here.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not thinking of your happiness, but of the position. -You were a guest on my yacht, and you leave me -like this—I need not embroider on the bare fact.”</p> - -<p>“Do you want me to go back?”</p> - -<p>“Not in the least,” said Skelton. “You are a free -agent, I hope.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe’s blood was beginning to rise in temperature. -He knew quite well Skelton wanted him to go back, but -was too proud to say so, and he knew quite well that -Skelton wanted him back, not for any love of him, but -simply because the <em>position</em> was irregular and people, if<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56">56</a></span> -they heard of all this, might talk; also it might seem -queer to the yacht’s crew.</p> - -<p>“Well, then, if you don’t specially want me back, I’ll -stay,” said he.</p> - -<p>“Very well,” said Skelton, “as you please. I wash my -hands of the affair, and if you come to grief it is your -own lookout. I will have the remainder of your baggage -forwarded home to you when I reach England.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll maybe see you at Havana when this cruise is -over,” said Ratcliffe vaguely.</p> - -<p>“I doubt it,” said Skelton. “It is quite possible I may -not call there.” He turned and began to climb the companionway. -On deck he nodded frigidly to Satan and got -over the side.</p> - -<p>Satan, leaning across the rail, looked down.</p> - -<p>“How about that mains’l?” asked Satan jocularly.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid I have no more spare canvas available,” -said Skelton, with a veiled dig at the rapacity of the -lantern-jawed one, “or provisions. Anything else I shall -be delighted to let you have.”</p> - -<p>“Well, then,” said Satan, “you might send us a loan of -the dinghy. We’re short of boats.”</p> - -<p>“You shall have her,” said Skelton with a glance at -Ratcliffe, who was also leaning over, as though to say, -“This is the sort of man you have thrown your lot in -with!”</p> - -<p>The boat pushed off.</p> - -<p>“Goodby!” cried Ratcliffe, half laughing, half angry, -with Satan, but quite unable to veto the promised gift.</p> - -<p>“’By,” replied the other, raising a hand.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57">57</a></span> -Jude, who had said not one word, suddenly began to -giggle.</p> - -<p>“What’s wrong with you?” asked Satan.</p> - -<p>“I dunno,” replied Jude, “but there’s somethin’ about -that guy that makes me want to laugh.”</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58">58</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br> - -<span class="subhead">SKELTON SAILS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> breeze had risen with the declining sun and the -water round the <i>Dryad</i> looked like a spread of -smashed sapphires.</p> - -<p>They watched Skelton getting on board, and then they -saw the dinghy lowered and the quarter-boat taking her -in tow. In five minutes, like a white duckling behind -a moor-hen, she was streaming on a line behind the <i>Sarah</i> -and the quarter-boat was pulling back for the yacht.</p> - -<p>Satan had got his wish, and Ratcliffe was feeling just -as Skelton wanted him to feel, under a compliment and -rather a beast. Then they saw the boat taken on board -and the hands laying aloft and the canvas shaking out -to the favoring breeze.</p> - -<p>“He’ll have the wind right aft, and that’ll save his -coal,” said Satan. “I reckon if his engines give out he -wouldn’t bother much, with all that canvas to carry him.”</p> - -<p>“They’re handlin’ it smart,” said Jude. “There’s the -anchor goin’ up.”</p> - -<p>The flurried sound of the steam winch raising the -anchor came across the water, then it ceased, and Jude, -running to the flag locker, fetched out a dingy old American<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59">59</a></span> -flag, bent it on, and ran it up, dipping it as the <i>Dryad</i> -began to move.</p> - -<p>She returned the compliment, gliding away with the -bow-wash beginning to show and the wake creaming behind -her. As she passed the southern reefs and shifted -her helm, squaring her yards to the following wind, a -blast from her siren raised a blanket of shouting gulls. -Then the island cut her off and the sea lay desolate.</p> - -<p>The sense of his loneliness came on Ratcliffe, sudden -as the clap of a door. He had cut the painter with -civilization. The deck of the <i>Sarah Tyler</i> seemed smaller -than ever, Jude and Satan more irresponsible and unaccountable, -and his own daring a new thing, somewhat -dubious. He had renounced services and delicacies and -surety of passage and safety, letters and newspapers, -everything he had known! The shock scarcely lasted a -minute, and then, with the breeze across the pansy-blue -evening sea, came blowing the wind of Adventure and -Freedom.</p> - -<p>Then in a moment some spirit explained to him what -life really meant,—life as the Argonauts knew it, as the -gulls know it, freedom in the intense and living moment, -without a thought of yesterday, with scarcely a care for -the morrow.</p> - -<p>He took his seat in an old chair that Satan had placed -under the rag of awning and lit his pipe. That delightful -smoke seemed the culmination of everything in these -first moments in this new world. As he smoked he -watched the Tylers, who were so busy with their own -affairs that they seemed to have forgotten him. They<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60">60</a></span> -had hauled the dinghy alongside, then they got into her -and were lost to sight; but he could hear their voices, -Jude’s shrill with pleasure and excitement.</p> - -<p>“My! Ain’t she a beauty? Ain’t she a dinky boat? -My! look at the <em>cus</em>hions!” A laugh. “For the love -of Mike look at the cushions—<em>cus</em>hions in a boat! Heave -’em on deck!” The cushions came flying over the rail, -together with the voice of Satan, evidently bending.</p> - -<p>“Leave them alone or I’ll bat y’ with the bailer! Well, -let them lay on deck if they’re there. She’s a duck, -new built too,—teak, copper fastenin’s, all the best that -money could buy. Stop rockin’ her and over you get -after the cushions.”</p> - -<p>Jude came clambering on board, beaming in the sunset, -then she got one of the boat’s cushions and took her -seat on it on the deck beside Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“I reckon old Popplecock’s as soft as his cushions, to -be wangled out of a boat like that,” said Jude, examining -the sole of her bare right foot for a fancied splinter. -“Satan said he was goin’ to try it on him when you were -down below with him. Didn’t believe he’d do it. That -chap looked as stiff as his own mainmast—but there’s no -tellin’—Say, I heard what you said to him when you -were down below.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, did you?”</p> - -<p>“I wasn’t listenin’: I just heard through the skylight. -I heard you sayin’ you liked us and the old <i>Sarah</i> better’n -him and his boat—what makes likin’s?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61">61</a></span> -“Nuther do I; but we took to you right off, same as -you to us. Ever done abalone fishin’?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I reckon you won’t want to do it again, once -you’ve tried. There’ll be a big low tide tomorrow after -sun-up, and you’ll have a chance of seein’ what it is. -Finished your pipe? Well, come along and help us to -get supper.”</p> - -<p>For all the work Ratcliffe did, she might have got the -supper herself. He was mostly in the way; but it was -the companionship that helped. Brothers aren’t much -good as companions. Ratcliffe was a new thing, absolutely -new, from his striped pajamas and dandy clothes to his -condition of mind, just as she was a new thing to Ratcliffe. -Never did two beings come together so well or -create more rapidly a little world of mutual interests out -of the little things of life, or a weaker being dominate -more completely the stronger.</p> - -<p>“Can you make bread?” asked Jude after he had filled -the tin kettle for her. “Well, you’ll have to learn. -That’s the bakin’ powder in that big tin, and the flour’s -in the starboard locker—What’re you doin’ with the -tin? Land’s sake! You don’t think I’m goin’ to make -bread for supper, same as you make tea? Where was -you born?”</p> - -<p>“Hampshire.”</p> - -<p>“I thought it was somewhere like that,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>She instructed him in the primitive method of bread -making as conducted on board the <i>Sarah Tyler</i>, finishing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62">62</a></span> -up with the information that hardtack would be their portion -at supper that night and breakfast next morning, as -she was “up to the gunnel” in other business. Among -the other things was having to put a patch on her -trousers: not the ones she was wearing, which were her -next best, but her worst. The old guernsey she was -wearing was her second best. Coats! Oh, coats were -good enough on Sunday or for going ashore in, but no -use much in a ship, except an oilskin for dirty weather. -Boots the same; stockings the same. You had to wear -boots, of course, over rocks and through stuff like that -over there on the island.</p> - -<p>“Them pajamas” would be bully things to wear by day, -only they’d frighten the fish. As for sleeping in such -things, she’d just as soon seek the arms of Morpheus -in a top hat. Why didn’t he wear a nighty like her and -Satan? Pap’s eyes would have bugged out had he seen -those things. He was “awful old fashioned,”—used to -make her and Satan put cotton between their teeth every -night. They did it still. She exhibited a set of dazzling -white teeth to prove the fact. You just pulled a cotton -thread between them, and then they never went rotten. -Also he made them brush their teeth every morning. -Folks that didn’t do that got toothache.</p> - -<p>“Kettle’s boilin’,” suddenly finished Jude. “Now start -in an’ let’s see you make the tea—said you could do it. -There’s the can. Ain’t you goin’ to heat the pot first? -How’re you to heat it? Let me have a hold. Now fling -the water out. A spoonful a head and one for the pot -and another one for Satan,—he likes it strong,—and if<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63">63</a></span> -you’ll take it along to the cabin without spillin’ it I’ll be -after you in a minute with the plates and things.”</p> - -<p>Satan, who never put his hand to menial work, maintaining, -without the least offense, his position as captain -and owner, came down to supper, flushed with the good -qualities of the dinghy. He had taken her for a row—and -it was like hearing a man talking of a stroll with a -sweetheart—if men ever talk of such things. Before -going on deck to smoke he pointed out Ratcliffe’s quarters -for the night. He was to have Pap’s cabin, the -space divided off with a curtain. Jude and he always -slept in hammocks swung in the “saloon.” Before going -on deck he fetched an old canister out of a locker and, -emptying some dried herbs into a saucer, set fire to them -and left them smoldering on the table. It was to keep -the mosquitoes away. Pap had got the receipt from a -Seminole Indian up near Cedar Cays. It was patent -stuff. Not a mosquito would come when there was a -sniff of it in the air.</p> - -<p>Then, just as the moon was rising, and after the things -were washed up, they sat on deck, smoking, listening to -the waves on the beach, and watching fish jumping in -the track of the moon. They talked of fish, and to Ratcliffe’s -mind two things became apparent,—Satan’s profound, -awful knowledge of the sea and all that lived -therein, and his absolute indifference to sport. Satan -fished for food. Tarpon and tarpon fishermen filled him -with disgust and disdain. You can’t eat tarpon, and the -guys that came from New York and such places and -spent their days fighting tarpon with a ten-ounce rod<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64">64</a></span> -and a twenty-one-thread line seemed to him bereft of -reason.</p> - -<p>Jude, sitting on the deck and mending her pants by -the light of the moon, concurred.</p> - -<p>“But it’s the fun of the thing,” said Ratcliffe; “it’s -the matching of one’s skill and strength against the fish.” -He talked of the joys of salmon fishing.</p> - -<p>“What bait do you use for them?” asked Satan.</p> - -<p>“Flies.”</p> - -<p>Jude shrieked.</p> - -<p>“Not live flies,” he explained: “imitation ones.” He -tried to describe artificial fly-making and finished with a -sense of failure as of one who had entered the lists in -defense of a niggling form of business that had yet a -touch of humor in it.</p> - -<p>Then, as they talked, suddenly through the night came -a sound like the boom of a big gun. Ratcliffe nearly -dropped his pipe.</p> - -<p>“That’s a fish,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“Sea bat,” said Jude indifferently.</p> - -<p>“That noise?”</p> - -<p>“Sea bat jumping. There they go again. Must be a -circus of them playin’ about beyond the reefs,—big flat -fish, weigh all of a ton.”</p> - -<p>“Tails as long as themselves and eyes like dinner -plates,” said Jude, “mushy brutes. Tow a ship after -them if they foul the anchor—won’t they, Satan?”</p> - -<p>“They’re loudenin’,” said Satan. “They’ll be comin’ -this way with the current. Come forward and have a -look.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65">65</a></span> -Leaning over the rail, they watched the moon-shot -water. The sounds had ceased.</p> - -<p>“They’ve stopped playin’,” said Satan, as though he -knew exactly what they were doing.</p> - -<p>“It’s too shallow for them here,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“Shallow! It’s fifty foot of water and a sandy bottom. -What are you talkin’ about? Told you.”</p> - -<p>The depths of the sea suddenly became lit. Down below -vast forms came drifting like the mainsails of ships -ablaze with phosphorescent light, drifting and turning -over as they drifted like gargantuan leaves blown by the -wind. The whiplike tails could be seen as streaks of -flame. Glimpses of devilish faces and lambent eyes -showed as they turned, the fins waving like frills of -fire.</p> - -<p>Then they were gone.</p> - -<p>The Tylers showed little concern over the marvelous -sight; allowing, however, that it was the biggest school -of “bats” they had ever struck; but to Ratcliffe it was -as though the sea had disclosed a peep of its true heart -and real mystery.</p> - -<p>Then they went to rest, and as he lay in Pap’s cabin, -listening to the occasional trickle of the water against the -planking and the groan of the rudder moved by the lilt -of the swell, it seemed to him that daring in its everyday -and cold-blooded form could not have carried a man -much further than it had carried him. The sea bats had -underscored the business as far as the mystery of the -ocean and danger of cruising in such a small boat were -concerned; the hardness of Pap’s bunk bedding told of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66">66</a></span> -comforts renounced; while the morals of the Tylers, -though good enough no doubt, had, as disclosed in their -conversation, a touch of the free lance and a threat of -port authority troubles and differences of opinion with -the customs. Absolute respect for the rights of man, -partial respect for the rights of shipping companies and -steamer lines, no respect at all for governments and customs,—that -was an outline of the Tyler morality. What -had made him renounce the <i>Dryad</i> for the <i>Sarah?</i> -What, lying in his hard bunk, made him contented with -the exchange? The love of adventure and the craving -for something new contributed, no doubt, but the main -reason he felt to be the Tylers,—Satan with his strange -mentality and queer methods; Jude, unlike any other being -he had ever met.</p> - -<p>Then, as he lay considering all this, came muted voices -from the “saloon.” Satan’s voice:</p> - -<p>“Have you put the cotton between your teeth?”</p> - -<p>Then Jude’s, drowsily:</p> - -<p>“Naw—leave a body alone!”</p> - -<p>“Get out o’ your hammock, you lazy dog, an’ fix your -teeth or I’ll let you down by the head!”</p> - -<p>Then Jude’s voice, dolorous and muffled, “Shut up or -you’ll be wakin’ him! Cuss my teeth—cayn’t find the -cotton! Wakin’ a body up like that! Tell you I’m -<em>lookin’</em> for it—got it—”</p> - -<p>A long silence, during which Ratcliffe dropped off, -to be awakened an hour later by the lamentations of Jude -and the sounds of Satan prodding her out of a nightmare,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67">67</a></span>—a -gastric nightmare, in which it appeared to her -troubled soul that she <em>had</em> to fry a sea bat, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">totum terres -atque rotundum</i>, in the small galley frying pan for breakfast.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68">68</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br> - -<span class="subhead">CARQUINEZ</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> tide had begun to draw out with the setting -stars, and the tune of the waters on the beach had -sunk to the merest thread of sound.</p> - -<p>Then, through the silence from the far reefs to southward, -came the single, lamentable cry of a gull; then a -chorus, and away against the vague blue of the east, here -and there, like leaves blown about a dimly lit window -showed the wings of the birds already putting out to sea -for the fishing.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe was awakened by Jude calling on him to -“show a leg.”</p> - -<p>“Satan’s on deck,” said Jude, “and if you believe in -washin’ he’ll give you a swill with a bucket. Hurry up -and come down again, for I want a swill myself. Swim? -Not on your life! Sharks, that’s why.”</p> - -<p>The voice came from a hammock which he had -blundered against in the semidarkness. Then on deck -after his swill, drying himself with an old towel provided -by Satan, he stood for a moment watching the sun break -up through the water and the great sea flashing to life -and the white gulls flying.</p> - -<p>The island was sending a faint breeze to them, a tepid -breeze flavored with earth and cactus and bay cedar<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69">69</a></span> -scents, perfumes that mixed with the tang of the ocean -and the tar-oakum scents of the <i>Sarah Tyler</i>.</p> - -<p>And all these scents and sounds and sights, from the -sun flash on the sea to the trembling palm fronds on -the shore, seemed like a great bouquet presented by -youth and morning.</p> - -<p>Oh, the splendor of being alive, free, happy, without a -single care, and the deck of the wandering <i>Sarah</i> under -foot!</p> - -<p>From below through the skylight came a sleep-heavy -voice.</p> - -<p>“Ain’t you done yet?”</p> - -<p>“Coming,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>He dived into his pajamas and came below.</p> - -<p>“Get into your cabin an’ shut the door,” commanded -the yawning voice from the hammock.</p> - -<p>“There’s no door.”</p> - -<p>“Well, draw the curtain. Oh, Lord! what’s the good -o’ gettin’ up? I’m near dead asleep!”</p> - -<p>Then the voice of Satan descending the companion -ladder.</p> - -<p>“Ain’t you up? Well, you wait one minute!”</p> - -<p>A thump on the floor, a scurry up the companion -ladder, and then shuddery lamentations and the sounds -of swilling from the deck above, mixed with the admonitions -of Satan from below.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my! ain’t it cold? Oh, my! ain’t it frizzin’?”</p> - -<p>“Get on, you mad turkle! You ain’t washin’, you’re -splashing the water on the deck. Slush it over you.”</p> - -<p>“I’m slushing it.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70">70</a></span> -“Think I don’t know? Why, you ain’t gasped yet! -Give a gasp, or I’ll be up to you with a rope-end! That’s -more like it.”</p> - -<p>It was!</p> - -<p>The sun was high when Ratcliffe got on deck, and a -light, steady breeze was blowing up from the straits of -Florida; the gulls looked like snowflakes blowing round -the far reefs and against the morning blue of the sea.</p> - -<p>Jude had put the kettle on. She had dressed on deck, -having carried her “togs” with her, and she was now preparing -a line for fishing, and, as she bent over it, appeared -Satan,—Satan rising from the cabin hatch with a -toothbrush in his hand.</p> - -<p>“You’ve forgot your teeth,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“No, I haven’t,” said Jude. “I’ve been fillin’ the kettle—I’ll -fix them when I’ve done with the fishin’.”</p> - -<p>“Fishin’ will wait.” He fetched a pannikin of water. -“You’re more trouble than a dozen. What’d Pap say if -he saw you?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll fix them when I’ve done with the fishin’.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll fix them now!”</p> - -<p>“No. I won’t!”</p> - -<p>Satan put down the pannikin and the brush. She -evaded him like a flash and skimmed up the mast to the -crosstrees.</p> - -<p>Scarcely had she got up than she came sliding down, -seized the toothbrush and pannikin, and began to brush -her teeth over the scupper with a fire speed and fury -that seemed born of dementia.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71">71</a></span> -“Sardines comin’,” explained Jude between mouthfuls. -“Look alive and get a bucket!”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe looked over the sea, where her birdlike sight -had spotted the sardine shoal being driven like a gray -cloud under the water by pursuing fish. A fringe of -dancing silver showed the leaping sardines, and the great -fish driving the shoal broke up now and then in sword-flashes.</p> - -<p>They were coming from south to north, and the left -wing of the shoal would pass the island beach by a cable -length.</p> - -<p>While Satan stood by with a bucket at the end of a -rope, Ratcliffe hung over the side watching.</p> - -<p>The driven sardines had no eyes for the <i>Sarah</i>. They -struck her like the blow of a great silvery hand, boiled -around her, and passed. The army of pursuit followed, -passed and vanished, leaving the water clear and Satan -with a dipped up bucket full of quivering silver.</p> - -<p>The Tylers, absolutely blind to the wonder of the business, -fried the sardines just as they were, tossed out of -the blue sea into the frying pan, and, breakfast over, -Satan and Ratcliffe took the dinghy to hunt for abalones -on the uncovered reef.</p> - -<p>The reefs to southward formed two spurs divided by -a creek of blue water, and having got the dinghy into -this creek Ratcliffe tended the boat while Satan hunted -for the abalones.</p> - -<p>Satan in search of pearls was a sight. Heart, soul, -and mind bound up in the business, like a dog hunting<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72">72</a></span> -for truffles, every find was announced by a yell or a -whoop, like the whoop of a Red Indian.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe could see squiggly-wiggly cuttlefish tendrils -running up Satan’s arms as he delved in some of the -rock-clefts, and Satan disengaging them and flinging the -“mushy brutes” away. The big abalones were nearly always -deep down under the rock ledges and had to be -chiseled off, wallowing in the water. At these times Ratcliffe -might have fancied the vanished one lost or -drowned, but for the profane language that rose and -floated away on the breeze.</p> - -<p>All the same, it was dull work for the boat tender. -Having nothing else to think of, he thought of Jude. -Her figure chased away dullness.</p> - -<p>A man in the bright and early morning is quite a different -person from the same man at noon, and coming -across Jude after a long course of Skelton was like stepping -from a gray afternoon to dawn. Was it possible -that Skelton and Jude were vertebrates of the same -species?</p> - -<p>Then there was what women would have called the -pity of it. Ratcliffe did not deal much with the conventions -as a rule; still, he could not but perceive that all -life has an aim and ending, and that the end of an old -sailor was not what life and the fitness of things had -destined for Jude. What would she grow up into? He -thought of all the girls he had ever known. There was -not one so jolly as Jude; still, it was terrible, somehow, -monstrous. He remembered her threat to pull her skirts -over her head and run down the street if skirts were ever<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73">73</a></span> -imposed upon her. Her contempt for the feminine rose -up before him, and against all that her housewifely instincts -and the fact that, despite Satan’s rope-end and -mock bluster, she ruled the <i>Sarah Tyler</i> just as a woman -rules a house.</p> - -<p>Still, it was deplorable. Looking away into distance, -what would become of her?</p> - -<p>Vague and fatherly ideas of getting her away from -this life and having her brought up properly and educated -came to him, only to be dispelled by Jude. Imagine Jude -in a girls’ school, at a tea party!</p> - -<p>He was aroused from these meditations by Satan,—Satan -with an armful of abalones, Satan scratched and -bleeding and soused in sea water, but triumphant.</p> - -<p>He reckoned they were the biggest “fish” ever got on -these reefs. There were a dozen and six all told, and -when they were collected and put on board the dinghy -put back.</p> - -<p>Coming round the western spur of the reef, they found -that Jude had left the <i>Sarah</i>—a high crime—and rowed -herself ashore.</p> - -<p>The canvas boat was on the beach, and away amid the -bay cedars and cactus toward the trees could be seen -the head and shoulders of the deserter moving about. -She seemed in search of something.</p> - -<p>“God love me!” cried Satan.</p> - -<p>He beached the dinghy, helped Ratcliffe to run her up, -and then started, followed by the other, running and -shouting as he ran.</p> - -<p>“Hi! chucklehead! Whatcha leave the ship for?<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74">74</a></span> -Didn’t I tell you to stand by her? Whatcha huntin’ for—turkles’ -eggs?”</p> - -<p>“What you done with your eyes?” retorted the other. -“Cayn’t you see?”</p> - -<p>Instantly, and by her tone and by some sixth sense, -Satan was appeased. He seemed suddenly to scent danger. -He saw the work she had been on, camouflaging -the cache more effectively. He cast his glance over the -island, the western sea, turned, and then stood stock-still, -shading his eyes.</p> - -<p>Away beyond the <i>Sarah Tyler</i> across the purple blue -stood a sail. The land wind had died off, and the -stranger was bringing the sea wind with her. A small -topsail schooner she showed now, with all sail set, making -dead for the island.</p> - -<p>“That’s him,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“Spotted him half an hour ago,” said Jude. “He was -steering nor’-nor’west and shifted his helm when he saw -us.”</p> - -<p>The bay cedar bushes sighed suddenly to the new-risen -wind, and as Ratcliffe glanced about him the feeling of -the desolation of the place where he stood came to him -strong,—strong in the scent of cactus and herbage, the -tune of the water on the beach, and the rustle of the -wind in the bushes.</p> - -<p>“He’s been huntin’ for us,” said Satan, “curse him!”</p> - -<p>“Who is he?” asked Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Friend of Pap’s, he was—”</p> - -<p>“Pretended to be,” put in Jude.</p> - -<p>“Spanish,” continued Satan, “and ever since Pap gave<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75">75</a></span> -out he’s been pretty much on our heels. Jude and me -worked the thing out and we came to conclude he’d -scented, somehow, from Pap, about the hooker I spoke -of.”</p> - -<p>“The wreck?’</p> - -<p>“Yep. Pap was keen on gettin’ extra money into the -business of salvin’ her, and I b’lieve he sounded -Carquinez,—that’s his name,—and how much he let out -takin’ his soundin’s the Lord only knows! Cark’s in the -tobacco line. Does a bit of everythin’,—has a shop in -the Calle Pedro in Havana and a gamblin’ joint on the -front, owns ships. That’s one of them, and Matt Sellers -runs her for him. He don’t trouble handlin’ her: sits -in the cabin all day smokin’ cigarettes.”</p> - -<p>“He’s been after us ever since Pap died,” said Jude, -“on and off.”</p> - -<p>“It was one of his men got Jude in that doggery down -by the wharf and filled her up with rum,” said Satan, -turning the brim of his panama down. “Remember I -told you—and what she let out the Lord only knows!”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t let out nothin’,” said Jude; “only that we were -goin’ east this trip, I owns to that.”</p> - -<p>“Well, there’s the result of your jaw,” said Satan. -“East was good enough for Cark: he’d hunt hell for a -red cent. And don’t you be sayin’ you didn’t let out -nothin’. Why, I heard you jawin’ about all the money -you had when I come in and collared you! Cark believes -Pap found that stuff and cached it—that’s what he believes, -or my name’s not Tyler.”</p> - -<p>“Well, let’s get aboard,” said Jude. “If they see us<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76">76</a></span> -squatting about here, they’ll maybe think the stuff’s hid -here.”</p> - -<p>“They’ve seen us by this, though it’s too far for them -to make out who we are,” said Satan, pushing his panama -farther forward to hide his face. He led the way to -where the boats were on the sand, and they reëmbarked.</p> - -<p>The abalones were got on board, and then they stood -watching the approach of the stranger.</p> - -<p>The white had gone out of her sails. Close in now, -they showed dingy and patched. She had a low freeboard. -Then, as she dropped anchor and swung to her -moorings broadside on to the <i>Sarah</i>, the rake of her masts -became apparent, and her whole disreputableness spoke -aloud.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe felt like a man who, having got into pleasant -low company, suddenly finds himself drawn into unpleasant -low company.</p> - -<p>The <i>Tylers</i> and the old <i>Sarah</i> were all right, but this -new crowd and that ratty old schooner he felt to be all -wrong. And the newcomer somehow did not add honesty -or moral stability to the appearance of the <i>Sarah</i>, nor did -the half-disclosed character and activities of Cark shed -luster on old man Tyler or his present representatives.</p> - -<p>However, he had gone into this business open-eyed, -and it was not for him to grumble at the friends or relationships -of his hosts; besides he had trust in Satan -and the wit of Satan to preserve them from the law.</p> - -<p>Satan had covered the heap of abalones with some sailcloth, -and he was standing now working his lantern jaws -on a bit of chewing gum, his eyes fixed on the stranger<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77">77</a></span> -as though she were made of glass and he could see -Carquinez sitting smoking his cigarettes in the cabin.</p> - -<p>“They haven’t shown a sign,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“They’re bluffin’ us to believe they haven’t spotted who -we are,” said Satan. “Cark doesn’t want us to twig he’s -been lookin’ for us.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Jude, “let’s get the mudhook up and -put out right away. They won’t have the face to chase -us.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Satan, “and leave them to hunt the island -and find the cache! They’d lift the stuff to the last tin -of beef. They’ve seen us ashore among the bushes. -You shouldn’t have gone ashore.”</p> - -<p>“I went to see we hadn’t left no traces.”</p> - -<p>“Traces be damned! Cark wants no traces. Once he -starts to hunt, he’ll turn the durned island upside down -and shake it. He’ll say to himself, ‘What were they doin’ -here, anyway; what were they pokin’ about them bushes -for?’ No, we’ve got to sit here till he goes, and that’ll -be this time next year, maybe.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the name of his schooner?” asked Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“The <i>Juan Bango</i>,” replied Satan, “named after the -tobacco company people. Look, they’re gettin’ a boat off. -That’s Sellers, and he’s comin’ aboard.”</p> - -<p>Then he collapsed, squatting under the bulwarks. -“Guy them,” said he to Jude. “Tell them I’m down with -smallpox: that’ll make them shove.”</p> - -<p>“Leave ’em to me,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>It was Matt Sellers right enough, a big wheezy man -suggestive of Tammany Hall, but a sure-enough sailor in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78">78</a></span> -practice. “The biggest blackguard on the coast” was his -subsidiary title. He was the henchman of Carquinez. -His career was not without interest and romance of a -sort. It was he who had bought, with the money of -Carquinez, the bones of the <i>Isidore</i>, wrecked against the -sheer cliffs by the black strand of Martinique. Ten -thousand dollars in gold coin she had on board her, and -he salved them. That was a straight job, and a wonderful -bit of work, taking it all together. It was a curiosity, -too, because it was straight.</p> - -<p>The crooked jobs of Matt Sellers would have filled a -book.</p> - -<p>Like old man Tyler, Sellers had no use for people who -talked of buried treasure, he knew the Caribbean and the -gulf too well.</p> - -<p>If he was keen on the wreck business, then it was because -he had excellent reasons for his keenness.</p> - -<p>As the boat drew near, Ratcliffe noticed the villainous-looking -crew, Spaniards, some of them with red handkerchiefs -tied round their heads.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79">79</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br> - -<span class="subhead">JUDE OVERDOES IT</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">“Hullo,</span> Kid!” cried Sellers as the boat came -alongside the <i>Sarah</i>.</p> - -<p>“Hullo, yourself,” replied Jude. “Where’ve you blown -in from?”</p> - -<p>“What’s become of Satan? Ain’t he aboard?” asked -Sellers, ignoring the question.</p> - -<p>“Satan’s dead,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“Satan’s which?”</p> - -<p>“Died of the smallpox.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m d—d!” said Sellers, casting his eyes over -the <i>Sarah</i> and then resting them on Ratcliffe. “When -was it?”</p> - -<p>“A week ago.”</p> - -<p>Sellers gave a word to the bow oar and the boat pushed -off a bit, the fellows hanging on their oars.</p> - -<p>“I thought I saw three of you on deck,” he shouted.</p> - -<p>“The other chap’s gone below,” replied Jude.</p> - -<p>The boat of the <i>Juan</i> hung for a moment as if in meditation. -She made a striking picture, the blue water -paling to green under her and the sun-blaze on the red -topknots of the oarsmen.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80">80</a></span> -Then without a word more she turned back to the -<i>Juan</i>.</p> - -<p>Satan in the scupper seemed preparing to have a fit.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter now?” asked Jude.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter? What did you say I was dead -for? Didn’t I tell you to say I was down with smallpox?”</p> - -<p>“Well, what’s the difference?”</p> - -<p>“Why, you mutt, wouldn’t you have been snivelin’ and -cryin’ if I was dead? And you handed that yam out to -him as ca’m as if you were talking of a tomcat! I didn’t -believe you myself.”</p> - -<p>“Why, I told him you was dead a week,” cried Jude. -“D’you think I’d be snivelin’ and cryin’ a week if you -was dead? Lord! what you do think of yourself!”</p> - -<p>Satan did not reply. He was thinking that he had -made a false move and that Jude had put the cap on the -business. Cark would be certain now that there was -something hidden on the island.</p> - -<p>Satan was on the horns of a dilemma. One horn was -the cache of provisions containing a couple of thousand -dollars’ worth of stuff, the other horn was the old wreck -that might contain nothing.</p> - -<p>To hang on here was useless, for Cark would hang on -too. Even if Cark went away, he would be sure to come -back to hunt.</p> - -<p>He sat with his back to the bulwarks, chewing and -thinking. Then, heedless whether he was seen or not -from the <i>Juan Bango</i>, he rose to his feet and leaned with -his back against the rail He had come to a decision.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81">81</a></span> -Jude, watching him, said nothing, and Ratcliffe waited -without a word. This little sea comedy interested him -intensely, and all the more for its setting of loneliness and -its background of blue sea and quarreling gulls.</p> - -<p>It was to Ratcliffe that Satan spoke first -“Look here!” said Satan. “You’re standin’ out of this, -aren’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Which—the wreck business?”</p> - -<p>“Yep. You’re not keen upon puttin’ money into it and -havin’ a share?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no. If you wanted me to, I’d be glad enough; -but if you’d rather I stood out, I’ll do so. I’m not keen -about money, anyway; only I’d like to see the fun.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll see fun enough,” said Satan. “I’m goin’ to -drag Cark in. First of all, if I don’t, he’ll keep hangin’ -round here and sniff the cache; second, he’ll work the -job for us with his crew.”</p> - -<p>“He’ll gobble every cent,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“Which way?” asked Satan. “We’ll give him half -shares, and well split on him if he doesn’t play fair. If -we found stuff there, and once it was known, d’you think -we’d be let keep it? We’ve got to get help, and isn’t he -as good as another? If there’s no stuff there, he’ll have -all his work for nothing.”</p> - -<p>“The thing I can’t make out,” said Ratcliffe, “is the -way he started out from Havana to find you. How did -he ever expect to come across you?”</p> - -<p>“Well, it’s this way,” said Satan. “Bein’ in with Pap, -he knew the lines we worked on; f’rinstance, he knew -we worked this place for abalones. If he hadn’t sighted<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82">82</a></span> -us here; he’d have tried Little Pine Island, which is lonesomer -than this place. You see he’s got it in his noddle, -as far as I can make out, that Pap lifted the stuff and -cached it, and Pine Island or here would have been the -likeliest places. He reckoned when we put out of -Havana this time we were out to lift it for good. Well, -he’ll do the liftin’ if it’s to be done. Come on, I’m going -over to see him right off. Jude, you stick here and clean -up them abalones.”</p> - -<p>He got into the dinghy, followed by Ratcliffe, and they -pushed off.</p> - -<p>As they drew closer the <i>Juan Bango</i> showed up more -distinctly for what she was.</p> - -<p>One of the old schooners that used to run in the carrying -trade between Havana and the Gulf ports, she had -fallen from commercial honesty; anyhow in appearance, -perhaps because Carquinez did not bother about appearance. -You could not have damaged his paint if you -had tried,—it was sun-blistered and gone green,—but his -copper showed sharp and clear through the amazing -brilliance of the water, without trace of weeds or barnacles.</p> - -<p>Sellers was hanging over the rail as they came alongside.</p> - -<p>If he felt surprise at this resurrection, he did not show -it much.</p> - -<p>“Hullo, Satan!” cried Sellers. “Thought you was -dead.”</p> - -<p>“Cark on board?” asked Satan without wasting time -on explanations.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83">83</a></span> -“He’s down below,” said Sellers, accepting the attitude -of the other. “Who’s your friend?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, just a gentleman that’s come along for a cruise,” -said Satan. “So you’ve found me!”</p> - -<p>“Seems so,” said Sellers; “but tie up and come aboard.”</p> - -<p>Satan tied the painter to a channel plate and got over -the side, followed by Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>The deck of the <i>Juan</i> sagged, and plank and dowel were -indistinguishable one from the other by reason of dirt. -Forward some of the crew were scraping a spare boom, -and others collected round the foc’sle head were smoking -cigarettes. The wind had died out into a warm breathing, -setting aft and bringing with it a faint odor like the -smell of acetylene. It was garlic.</p> - -<p>From the foc’sle came the muffled thrumming of a -guitar.</p> - -<p>It was Ratcliffe’s first experience with a Spaniard. -He followed Satan, who followed Sellers down a steep -companionway and then into a cabin where a great shaft -of sunlight from the skylight above struck down through -a haze of cigarette smoke.</p> - -<p>The place was paneled with bird’s-eye maple; the seats -were upholstered in thick ribbed silk, worn and stained; -the carpet was of the best, but threadbare in spots and -burnt with cigar droppings; the metal fittings far too -good for a trading schooner of the <i>Juan</i> type.</p> - -<p>Everywhere lay evidence of splendor that had seen -better days.</p> - -<p>All these fittings had, in fact, been torn out of a yacht -bought by Carquinez for an old song, and at the end of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84">84</a></span> -the saloon table, going over some papers with a cigarette -in his mouth, sat Carquinez himself, a figure to give one -pause.</p> - -<p>The whole of the left side of this gentleman’s face was -covered by a green patch. It was said that he had no -left side to his face, that it had been eaten away by -disease, and that, were he to unveil himself, the sight -would frighten the beholder. However that may have -been, what remained visible was enough to frighten any -honest man with eyes to behold the nose of a vulture -above the peaked chin of a money changer.</p> - -<p>“Hullo, Cark!” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“Come in,” said Cark.</p> - -<p>“Bring yourselves to an anchor,” said Sellers, pointing -out two of the fixed seats on each side of the table and -taking another close to the owner of the <i>Juan</i>. “What’ll -you have?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t know,” said Satan. “Something soft will -suit us, and long.”</p> - -<p>Carquinez raised a bird-shrill voice:</p> - -<p>“Antonio!”</p> - -<p>“Si, Sigñor,” came a response from outside, and on -the voice a dusky form at the cabin door.</p> - -<p>“Bring me two Zin and Zinzibeers for these two -zentlemen, please.”</p> - -<p>“No gin!” cried Satan, Ratcliffe concurring. “Ginger -beer will do.”</p> - -<p>“Zinzibeers,” said Carquinez.</p> - -<p>It was nearly all that he said at this interview, the -trusty Sellers doing the talking.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85">85</a></span> -Said Sellers to Satan, “Well, it’s funny us hittin’ on you -like this, durned funny! We’d been down to Acklin -looking up a location Cark was keen about, and comin’ -back I shifted the helm, seein’ you lying here and not -recognizin’ the old <i>Sarah</i>. I thought it was Gundyman’s -boat.”</p> - -<p>Said Satan, taking up the drink just presented by -Antonio, “Here’s our respects to you both. Thought I -was Gundyman, did you? Well, I spotted you on sight. -Didn’t want to see you neither. This gentleman will tell -you I was squattin’ in the scuppers while Jude was -handing you that lie about the smallpox.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, was you?” said Sellers with an open and hearty -laugh.</p> - -<p>“I was so. Let’s cut pretendin’ and play on the square—are -you willin’?”</p> - -<p>“None better.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ll put my cards out. You and Cark here have -been after me pretty near since last fall; reason why, -that wreck Pap told Cark of.”</p> - -<p>“W’ich was that?”</p> - -<p>“I said let’s cut pretendin’ and play fair,” said Satan -sternly.</p> - -<p>Cark wilted and raised his fingers in deprecation, and -Sellers cut in.</p> - -<p>“Yes, we’ll play fair. There was talk of a wreck between -your dad and us, and I’m not denying we had an -eye after it. You see I’m open and honest with you. -Heave ahead.”</p> - -<p>“I’m comin’ to the point,” said Satan, “and the point<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86">86</a></span> -is you and Cark between you have got it in your heads -that you’ve only to follow me, find out where she’s -located, and claim shares for not tellin’.”</p> - -<p>“Heave ahead,” said Sellers.</p> - -<p>“Well, you’ve got it wrong,” went on Satan. “You -may follow me till the old <i>Juan</i> rots to pieces and you’ll -never know, not if I don’t want you to know—got that -clear?”</p> - -<p>“Clear as day,” said Sellers.</p> - -<p>“Well, then, here’s something else. If that wreck is -what she’s taken to be, it’s more than one man’s job to -shift the boodle and bank it. I’ve got to have help, and -if we can arrange a deal I’d just as soon have you two -in the show as anyone else.”</p> - -<p>“Now you’re talking,” said Sellers.</p> - -<p>Carquinez said nothing, but his hand shook, and Ratcliffe, -watching him, received a shock. A wreath of -cigarette smoke was stealing out from beneath the patch -on his cheek! He wished the conference over and himself -back on board the healthy <i>Sarah</i>. It came to him all -at once that he had been drawn into a web of which -Carquinez was the spider. Satan, too, and Jude had been -drawn in. He could do nothing, however, at least for the -moment, but watch and wait, and Satan’s face was worth -watching as that wily diplomatist sat facing Sellers.</p> - -<p>“Not that I don’t believe you’d kidoodle me over the -business if you had a chance,” continued Satan. “You -would, sure; but you see I’ve got the weather gauge of -you, knowing what I do of you, and that’s more’n I’d -have with strangers.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87">87</a></span> -“Sure,” said Sellers.</p> - -<p>“Well, then,” said Satan, “we’ve got that far, and it -comes to terms. What’s your share to be for helpin’ to -collar the stuff and dispose of it in Havana?”</p> - -<p>“Two dollars out of every three that we make,” said -Sellers promptly. “There’s the salving, you can’t do that -alone, or your dad would have done it prompt; then -there’s the cashing of it, you’re lost men if you try that -job on by yourselves. Why, there’s not another man in -Havana could do it only Cark, and even he couldn’t bring -the stuff into Havana Harbor! It’ll have to be landed -back of the island, north of Santiago. Lord knows what -he’ll have to pay!”</p> - -<p>Satan cogitated for a moment.</p> - -<p>“I’ll meet you,” said he at last. “I’m not set on big -money. Anything more?”</p> - -<p>“No, that’s all,” said Sellers.</p> - -<p>Carquinez nodded approval, and lighting another -cigarette leaned back in his chair.</p> - -<p>“And what’s this gentleman doing in the business?” -asked Sellers, referring to Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Oh, he’s standing out,” said Satan. “He’s just on a -cruise with us.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I’m standing out,” said Ratcliffe. “I’m in it only -for the fun of the thing, though I’m willing to help.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I reckon you’ll have fun enough,” said Sellers, -“if we get foul of the customs, or if some other hooker -comes poking along while we’re salving. You’re British, -aren’t you?”</p> - -<p>“I am.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88">88</a></span> -“I thought so. Come out for a spree?”</p> - -<p>“You may put it like that.”</p> - -<p>“Did you by any chance come off a big white yacht -that went west yesterday?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I did. What made you guess that?”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Sellers, “it’s easy to be seen you aren’t -one of us, and your clothes give you away. It’s easy to -be seen you haven’t been dough-dishing long in the old -<i>Sarah</i>. I didn’t get your name.”</p> - -<p>“Ratcliffe.”</p> - -<p>“No trade or business?”</p> - -<p>“None. My father was Ratcliffe the shipowner, Holt -& Ratcliffe.”</p> - -<p>“Lord—love—a—duck!” said Sellers. “You’re not -wanting for money, I reckon. Well, this gets me, it do -indeed! Holt & Ratcliffe—should think I <em>did</em> know -them!”</p> - -<p>“Antonio!” suddenly piped Carquinez.</p> - -<p>“Si, Señor.” Antonio appeared.</p> - -<p>“Pedro Murias,” said Carquinez.</p> - -<p>Antonio vanished, and reappeared with a box of cigars, -colossal cigars, worth twenty-five guineas a hundred in -the London market. They were placed on the table and -pushed toward Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>Satan grinned.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said he, “we’ve fixed things so far,—two out -of every three dollars to you and no deductions.”</p> - -<p>“That’s it,” said Sellers.</p> - -<p>“And now we’ve fixed terms,” said Satan, “I want to -know all about this hooker.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89">89</a></span> -“Which was you meaning?” asked Sellers.</p> - -<p>“The wreck.”</p> - -<p>“Listen to him!” cried Sellers. “Mean to say you don’t -know all about her?”</p> - -<p>“N’more than Adam. I’ve heard from Pap she was -called the <i>Nombre de Dios</i>, and was full of gold plate -got from churches; but that’s not much more than a name -and a yarn. I’ve never banked much on the yarn. -Seems too much of the New Jerusalem touch about it for -me.”</p> - -<p>“Well, maybe you’re wrong,” said Sellers.</p> - -<p>“Spit it out,” said Satan. “Tell us what you know -about her. You’ve got the contrac’; give us the news.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ll tell you,” said Sellers. “She weren’t no -ship with gold plates,—your dad got that wrong,—she -was a big Spanish ship out of Vera Cruz making for -Spain. She had a cargo of timber, some of them heavy -foreign timbers that don’t float. She’d got aboard her, -besides the timber, more’n a million dollars’ worth of -gold,—Mexican gold most of it, Spanish coin some of it. -Lopez was the name of the skipper, and he laid to bank -that gold for himself. He’d been forty years in these -seas and knew every key and sandbank same as the insides -of his own pockets.</p> - -<p>“Him and the mate were the only men in the know -about that gold beside a supercargo by name of Perez.</p> - -<p>“Well, he colluded together with them two guys to -sink the hooker in six fathom water out of trade tracks, -give out that she’d sunk in a gale, and come back in a -year or two and collar the boodle. They had her bored<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90">90</a></span> -and plugged for the game, and when they got her to the -location they pulled out the plugs, and she went down -without a sneeze, natural as a dyin’ Christian.</p> - -<p>“They got the boats away in order, and the crew was -got off to a man; but that crew never got ashore. Maybe -it was something wrong with the grub or the water, -there’s no saying, but they never got ashore to turn -witness. But the grub and water was all right in the -dinghy. Them three guys had taken the dinghy, and -they were picked up and landed somewhere on the gulf, -fat and well.”</p> - -<p>All through Sellers’ recitation Carquinez had sat nodding -his head. He glanced now at Satan and Ratcliffe as -if measuring its effect upon them, then he half closed -his eyes again and retired into himself like a tortoise.</p> - -<p>“They slung their yarn,” went on Sellers, “and made -all good, and it was only left for them to wait awhile -and hire or steal a likely boat to pick up the stuff, when -the yellow fever took the supercargo and the mate, leaving -Lopez to fish for himself.</p> - -<p>“He got back to Havana, which was his natural home, -and there he put up with his son, who was a trader in -tobacco, got a bit of a factory not bigger than a henh’us, -and turned out a brand of cigars made out of leavin’s -and brown paper mostly.</p> - -<p>“He put the son wise about the wreck; but he -wouldn’t give the location away till it was time to go -and pick up the stuff, which wouldn’t be for a year yet.</p> - -<p>“Then he up and died, and the son started to hunt for -the chart and couldn’t find it. The old guy had given<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91">91</a></span> -him everything but the chart with the location marked on -it. It wasn’t a proper chart, neither: just a piece of -paper with the thing done rough, but giving the bearings. -And it was never found—not by the son. The grandson -found it—and where do you think? Pasted into the lining -of an old hat. That wasn’t so long ago, neither, and -what do you think that fool of a grandson did? Well, -I’ll tell you what he did. First of all he comes to Cark -here, and tries to get him onto the job on a ten per cent -basis, Cark to risk his money and repitation for a lousy -ten per cent on what might be only the bones of an old -ship. He let out her name and history and everything -but the location.</p> - -<p>“Cark wasn’t having any on those terms,—was you, -Cark?—and he told the chap to go to Medicine Hat and -pick bilberries. The chap goes off, and what does he -do but tries to get up a syndicate between himself and -two yeggmen without a keel to their names! Perrira was -the name of one, and da Silva was the name of the other, -and they held a board meeting in Diego’s saloon one night -and shot holes in one another in the back parlor.</p> - -<p>“Silva and Perrira had fixed it to lay the grandson -out and collar the chart for themselves, and they’d have -done it, only he wasn’t backward with the shooting. -Your dad was in the bar that night, and he twigged something -from what they let drop before they went to the -back parlor to hold their meeting. Then when the shooting -began he was first into the room, and collared the -chart, which was lying on the floor. He was always -quick on the uptake, was your dad. Being a knowledgeable<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92">92</a></span> -man, he reckoned Cark was the only chap in -Havana to help him take the stuff and clear it. He -knew the stuff was there by what he’d heard going on in -the bar before the three chaps had left it for the back -room, but before he could conclude business with Cark -he up and died.”</p> - -<p>Cark nodded.</p> - -<p>“That was so,” said he.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Satan, “we’ve got the whole yarn now, -and I’m wishing to be done with the business. I’m pretty -near sick of you two guys trailing after me, and I’ll -hand you out my belief for what it’s worth. It don’t -seem natural to me to find gold in a hooker like that, just -for the picking up, and I’d sell any man my chances for -a thousand dollars. I’ve no knowledge of what’s there. -I’m just talkin’ out of my head. You know what I am, -I make my livin’, and I’m content to run small. It’s -maybe that that puts me against big ventures. Anyhow, -we’ve got to push this thing through, we’ve made the -contrac’. I don’t want it written down and signed, seein’ -that the law couldn’t help me. I’m only sayin’ that if -you play me crooked I’ll split. Got that in your heads?”</p> - -<p>The high contracting parties on the other side nodded -assent.</p> - -<p>“That bein’ settled,” said Satan, “here’s the chart.”</p> - -<p>He produced a metal tobacco box and took from it a -folded piece of paper, which he laid on the table before -Sellers.</p> - -<p>The effect was magical.</p> - -<p>Carquinez sprang from his chair like a young man,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93">93</a></span> -came behind Sellers, and, bending over his shoulder, -looked. Ratcliffe, though out of the business, was as excited -as the others. Satan alone was calm.</p> - -<p>He had been carrying the thing about so long that it -had probably lost its freshness of interest.</p> - -<p>Sellers, without speaking, stared at the chart before -him.</p> - -<p>Rum Cay was shown, and then, southwest of Rum Cay, -a line of reef marked “Lone Reef,” and in red ink, connected -to the reef by a red line, the name “Nombre de -Dios” could be made out, the “Dios” very indistinct at -the frayed edge of the paper. In the top right hand corner -the latitude and longitude were written, but so faintly -that it would have required close study in a strong light -to make the figures out.</p> - -<p>Nobody bothered about them. Lone Reef was on all -the charts, and the name was enough.</p> - -<p>“I’ve been by there,” said Sellers at last, “and I’ve -never seen signs of a wreck.”</p> - -<p>“You wouldn’t,” said Satan. “She lies flush with the -coral in a crik between two arms of reef, not a stump -of a mast on her. The hull of that reef must have raised -itself since she was sunk, for the water in the crik doesn’t -cover her at high tide and low tides it’s pretty near empty. -But she’s been under right enough, years ago, for the -decks are coraled over, hatches and all, and the stuff’s -turned to iron cement with the sun and weather. We’ve -got to dynamite her open.”</p> - -<p>“Sure,” said Sellers; then, after a moment’s pause, -“It’ll be a big job, if it’s what you say. I had it in my<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94">94</a></span> -mind that she was a diving job in shallow water—never -thought of the blasted coral.”</p> - -<p>Carquinez said nothing. He withdrew to his seat at -the end of the table and lit another cigarette. To Ratcliffe -the silence of Carquinez approached the weird. -The way Sellers, without consulting him, did all the talking -seemed uncanny as though the pair were telepathic.</p> - -<p>One thing certain was gradually being borne in upon -him,—they were a most atrocious pair of rogues, and the -marvel to him was the simplicity of Satan in having any -dealings at all with them. They would surely swindle -him, take what precautions he might. They would never -give him a third share of any treasure. They would, -most likely, murder him before he could split on them, if -treasure were found. Of this Ratcliffe felt certain. He -tried to telegraph a warning across the table, but Satan -seemed blind to winks and frowns.</p> - -<p>“Well, it’s there,” said Satan, “near a foot thick. -You’ve got to drill it, and stick dynamite cartridges in the -drill-holes and fire them. Got any dynamite aboard?”</p> - -<p>“Not an ounce.”</p> - -<p>“We might make out with blasting powder.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, if we’d got it,” said Sellers. “There ain’t no use -worrying, we’ve got to shin out of this back to Havana -and get the explosives. Question is who’ll go for them, -us or you?”</p> - -<p>“Not me,” said Satan, “not if she was to lie there till -the last trumpet. We’re underhanded, for one thing, and, -f’r another, I’m gettin’ little enough out of the job as it -stands without fetchin’ and carryin’ for you.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95">95</a></span> -“Then we’ll go,” said Sellers. “’Twon’t take us more -than a week to get there and back. Give us ten days, -counting accidents, and we’ll pick you up here.”</p> - -<p>“Why not at the reef?” asked Satan.</p> - -<p>“Don’t matter,” said Sellers. “Here or there, it’s all -the same to us; ain’t it, Cark?”</p> - -<p>Cark nodded assent, and Satan, recapturing the chart, -folded it up and put it back into the tobacco box.</p> - -<p>“Right!” said he, placing the box into his pocket. -“Here you’ll find us.”</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96">96</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br> - -<span class="subhead">THE “JUAN” SAILS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">They</span> rose from the conference table, and Carquinez -stood holding his coat together with a veined and -knotted hand while the visitors were making their adieux.</p> - -<p>“You haven’t a few feet of galvanized wire aboard?” -asked Satan as he passed out, following Sellers.</p> - -<p>“Come on deck,” said Sellers.</p> - -<p>On deck he stood listening, while the other passed from -galvanized wire to the question of spare ring-bolts and -other trifles he stood desperately in need of. Like a -hypnotized fowl in the hands of Satan, he made scarcely -any resistance.</p> - -<p>He had no ring-bolts, but the galvanized wire was -forthcoming, also a little barrel for use as a buoy, some -Burgundy pitch, an old paintbrush, a small can of turpentine, -and a couple of pounds of twine.</p> - -<p>A small boat-anchor that had raised Satan’s desires -brought the séance to a conclusion and broke the spell -that seemed to lie on Sellers.</p> - -<p>Blessed if Satan wouldn’t be asking for his back teeth -yet! What did he take the <i>Juan</i> for, a marine store? -What would he want next, Carquinez?</p> - -<p>They rowed off with the spoil, Sellers leaning on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97">97</a></span> -rail and lovingly pressing on them the acceptance of other -trifles, including a guitar.</p> - -<p>Alongside the <i>Sarah</i> they found Jude waiting to receive -them. She had been cleaning up the abalones, was -dissatisfied with the result,—quarter of a matchbox full -of seed pearls,—and said so.</p> - -<p>When her eye lighted on the stuff in the boat that -Satan had wangled out of Sellers, she laughed in a dreary -fashion.</p> - -<p>“What you laughin’ at?” demanded Satan.</p> - -<p>“Nothing,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>She sat down on an upturned keg while they brought -the truck on board. Then, nursing her knee and wiggling -her bare toes to the warmth of the sun, she sat without -a word, waiting for explanations.</p> - -<p>It seemed to Ratcliffe all at once that a critic had come -on the scene. He had forgotten Jude in relation to the -deal over the wreck, and he was wondering now how she -would take it. The female does not always see eye to eye -with the male, as many a business man has discovered -on revealing a transaction to the wife of his bosom.</p> - -<p>Leaning against the rail, he filled his pipe and awaited -the revelation with interest; but Satan, the revealer, -seemed in no hurry for the business. He was bustling -about disposing of the new-gotten “stores,”—the turpentine -and pitch forward in the hole where paints were -kept, the galvanized wire in a locker, and the little barrel -behind the canvas boat.</p> - -<p>Then he came aft again and, lighting a pipe, stood beside -Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98">98</a></span> -“Well, what you been doing, anyway?” asked Jude, -suddenly opening her batteries.</p> - -<p>“Doing—which?” asked Satan. “Oh, you mean with -Cark. Well, I’ve settled things with him, fixed it up so’s -he’s goin’ to help.”</p> - -<p>“Which way?” asked Jude.</p> - -<p>“Why, to get the stuff, if it’s there—what else? He’s -our only chance of doing the thing proper.”</p> - -<p>“What’s he askin’?” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“You mean terms?”</p> - -<p>“Yep.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it’s this way: He’ll have to do the wreckin’ -business, and then if the stuff’s got he’ll have to run it -ashore, and after that he’ll have to get rid of it. I’m -givin’ him two dollars out of every three.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Lord!” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter with you?”</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t you give him the lot?”</p> - -<p>“Now look you here!” cried Satan. “I don’t want no -sass! Who’s runnin’ this show, you or me? How do -you know what I’ve got up my sleeve? Have you ever -known me done on a deal yet? Now you take my orders -where Cark’s concerned and take them smart, with no -questions! If you don’t—well, then, trade with him -yourself, take charge of the <i>Sarah</i> and run her yourself! -Lippin’ your betters!”</p> - -<p>Jude took off her old hat and looked into it as if for -inspiration; then she clapped it on her head again, drew -up both feet, clasped her arms round her knees, and sat<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99">99</a></span> -on the keg-top speechless and brooding, her eyes fixed on -the <i>Juan</i>.</p> - -<p>Satan turned and went below.</p> - -<p>“Jude,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“What you want?” said Jude, without shifting her -gaze.</p> - -<p>“Suppose you had all the money off that old wreck, if -the money is there, what would you do with it?”</p> - -<p>“What’s the good of askin’ me things like that?” said -Jude. “I’d precious soon do something with it!”</p> - -<p>“No, you wouldn’t. You’d put it in the bank, and then -your trouble would begin.”</p> - -<p>“Which way?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you’d have it in the bank or invested and it -would bring you in, say, twenty thousand dollars a year; -well, you couldn’t spend that on the dock-side, could you? -You wouldn’t be able to spend it at all unless you gave -up the <i>Sarah</i> and lived ashore in a fine house with a -carriage and horses and servants, and to do that you’d -have to become a lady—or gentleman,” hastily put in -Ratcliffe, the figure on the keg suddenly threatening to -turn on him. “You’d have to do that, and you’d have -to do more than that: you’d have to learn all sorts of -things.”</p> - -<p>“Which sort?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, lots. Can you write, Jude?”</p> - -<p>“You bet!”</p> - -<p>“Told me the other day you couldn’t.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ve most forgot. Pap started to learn me, then<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100">100</a></span> -he said he reckoned I was more cut out for makin’ -puddin’s, but he learned me to write my name.”</p> - -<p>“Well, if you ever grow rich, you’ll have to do a lot -more than write your name.”</p> - -<p>“Which way?”</p> - -<p>“You’ll have to write checks and letters, and, what’s -more, you’ll have to be able to read them.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I reckon,” said the philosophical Jude, “it’ll be -time enough to bother about that when I’m rich—and -seems to me I’ll never be rich with them two diddling -Satan same as they’ve done.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, you will; you are going to be rich some day, -as rich as I am. I’m a fortune teller. Show us your -hand.”</p> - -<p>Jude held out a hand, and Ratcliffe examined the palm -where the lines were few but straight and clear cut. It -was a beautiful little hand, despite the hard work it had -done, full of character and vigor, and expressing kindliness -and honesty and capability.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe had an instinct for hands. A hand could attract -or repulse him just as powerfully as a face; more -so, perhaps, for a hand never lies.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes,” said he, “you are going to be rich, you can’t -escape it, and you are going to learn reading and writing -and arithmetic, and you are going to live to be a hundred.”</p> - -<p>“Cut me throat first!” said Jude. “Heave ahead.”</p> - -<p>“And you are going to England some day, and you’ll -turn into a Britisher.”</p> - -<p>“Damned if I do! Satan!”</p> - -<p>“Hullo!” came a faint voice from below.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101">101</a></span> -“Rat says I’m goin’ to turn into a Britisher.”</p> - -<p>“They wouldn’t own you. Quit foolin’ and get the -dinner ready.”</p> - -<p>Jude uncurled herself, came down from the keg with -a thud, ran to the open skylight, and was about to reply -in kind, when her eye caught sight of something that -brought her to a halt.</p> - -<p>They were handling the canvas on the <i>Juan</i>.</p> - -<p>“Cark’s off!” cried she.</p> - -<p>Satan came on deck. Across the blue blaze of the sea -they could hear now the clank of the windlass pawls,—the -<i>Juan’s</i> anchor was coming up.</p> - -<p>“I thought Sellers would have come on board before -they started,” said Ratcliffe. “They’re in a big hurry, -aren’t they?”</p> - -<p>“You bet,” said Satan with a grin. “He’ll crack on -everything to get to Havana for that dynamite; won’t -stop to eat their dinners till they’re back,—that’s what -they’d have us believe—swabs!”</p> - -<p>“Why, don’t you think they are going to Havana?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, they’re <em>goin’</em> to Havana right enough,” said Satan. -“You watch and you’ll see them headin’ that way. Look! -she’s fillin’ to the wind.”</p> - -<p>The anchor was home now, and they watched the sails -filling as she headed on the same course the <i>Dryad</i> had -taken. She dipped her flag, and they returned the compliment; -then she drew past the southern reefs, the hull -vanished, and nothing remained but the topsails far -against the western blue.</p> - -<p>Ten minutes later, down below at dinner, Jude, who<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102">102</a></span> -had said no word about the departure of the <i>Juan</i>, but -seemed to have been thinking a lot, suddenly spoke.</p> - -<p>“You never told me that chap was going to Havana for -dynamite,” said Jude. “What for—to bust the wreck -open?”</p> - -<p>“That’s it,” replied Satan. “Did you think he wanted -it to eat?”</p> - -<p>“There’s no knowing what a feller may swallow, seeing -you’ve swallowed that yarn,” said Jude. “He’s gone to -Havana to sell us, that’s my ’pinion.”</p> - -<p>“Which way?”</p> - -<p>“Lord! there’s many a way of sellin’ fools.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe felt that the truth was with Jude, he felt an -uneasy conviction that they had been done. The hurried -departure of Carquinez seemed to put a seal on the business. -He looked at Satan expecting an explosion; but -Satan was quite calm and helping himself to canned ox -tongue.</p> - -<p>“Seein’ I have the chart,” said he, “where’s the sellin’ -to come in?”</p> - -<p>“But you’ve give him the location,” said Jude. “You -said yourself that the place was fixed on every chart and -a chap had only to have Lone Reef in his head to put his -claws on the wreck.”</p> - -<p>“That’s so,” said Satan; “but the location is no use -without the chart.”</p> - -<p>“What are you gettin’ at?”</p> - -<p>“I’m tryin’ to get at your intellects. How often have -you seen that chart?”</p> - -<p>“Dozens of times.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103">103</a></span> -“Ever noticed anything queer about it? Not you! -Giving sass to your betters is your lay in life instead -of usin’ your eyes.” He pushed his plate away, produced -the tobacco box, and, taking the chart from it, laid -it on the table.</p> - -<p>Jude got up and came behind him to look, while Ratcliffe -leaned forward.</p> - -<p>“There’s the chart,” said Satan. “There’s the reef, -and there’s the name of the hooker pointin’ at the reef, -and there’s the latitude and longitude wrote up in the -corner. Plain, ain’t it?”</p> - -<p>“That’s plain enough,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>Jude, munching a biscuit, concurred.</p> - -<p>“Plain enough, ain’t it?” went on Satan. “Give a man -the name of Lone Reef, and with any old Admiralty -chart he’ll get there, and he has only to land on the reef -to find the hooker stuck there in that crik between them -two arms. Jude has seen her, and I’ve walked over her -and ’xamined her, and she’d have been broke open maybe -by this, only chaps don’t land on reefs like that, not -unless a storm lands them. We struck it huntin’ for -abalones. Plain enough, ain’t it? Well, I tell you the -whole business is no use to any man who hasn’t that -chart in his hand and who can’t read what’s written on -it secret. Here you are! Take a good long look, and -I’ll give you ten dollars if you spot what I mean. It’s -as clear as simple.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe spread the thing before him on the table.</p> - -<p>“I can’t see anything in it,” said he at last, “except -what’s written plain enough. There’s Rum Cay, there’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104">104</a></span> -the reef, the name of the wreck with a pointer to the -reef, and the latitude and longitude up in the corner. -No, I can’t see anything but that: it all seems plain as -a pikestaff. I take an interest in cryptograms, too.”</p> - -<p>“What’s that?”</p> - -<p>“Cryptograms? Hidden writing.”</p> - -<p>“Well, that’s what’s before you,” said Satan. “Pap -never twigged it, nor any of the crowd that had the -handlin’ of it. It’s only a month ago I spotted it.”</p> - -<p>“You never said a word to me,” cut in Jude.</p> - -<p>“Get back to your place and don’t be chewin’ in my -ear,” said Satan, reaching for the chart and pocketing -it again. “Tell you? Likely! Why, if I had, you’d -have let it out, same as you did the lie of the reef to -Rat here the other day. Get on with your dinner! -Why haven’t we any potatoes?”</p> - -<p>“No time to boil them,” said Jude, “cleanin’ up your -mushy abalones.”</p> - -<p>“No time, and you yarnin’ and havin’ your future -told! I heard you.”</p> - -<p>“My fault,” said Ratcliffe. “I began the business.”</p> - -<p>“Not you,” said Satan. “I heard her start in on it, -sayin’ what she’d do with a fortune if she had it and -finishin’ up by mistrustin’ me.”</p> - -<p>“Lord love you for a liar! I only said them two -guys had done you in over the wreck,” cried Jude. -“Don’t be stickin’ words in my mouth.”</p> - -<p>“How was it you came to spot the cryptogram?” -asked Ratcliffe, eager to cut the dissension short.</p> - -<p>“The which?” asked Satan. “Oh, ay—well, it come<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105">105</a></span> -natural for me to say to myself, ‘Here’s a thing that’s -been hid up and kept secret, yet it’s all wrote out as -plain as my palm.’ I said to myself, ‘It’s too blame -simple! A man who knows where money is hid doesn’t -write the location on a bit of paper, to be lost, maybe, -and picked up by God knows who. Why, drop that chart -in the streets of Havana, and the first chap with any -knowledge in his head that picks it up will turn it into -dollars right off. It’s a sure bait for fools, anyhow, -and a wreckin’ expedition would be out before the end -of the week. They’d only have to look up any chart -that’s been printed the last hundred years to find Lone -Reef as easy as the Swimmer Rocks.’ Then I said to -myself, ‘What in the nation did the guy want makin’ -a chart at all for? Why couldn’t he have written on -a piece of paper, “The Nombre de Dios lies on Lone -Reef, sou’west of Rum Cay”? That’s all the chart says, -and yet he must go and make drawin’s; must have -taken him an hour’s pen scraping to make that chart.’ -Puttin’ the two things together, I says to myself, ‘The -feller concerned must have been a fool in two ways if -this thing’s genuine,—a fool to leave the fac’s as plain -as an ad for liver pills, and a fool to waste his time -drawin’ his advertisement instead of writin’ it,’ but I -reckoned he was no fool. Dad was always quotin’ some -damn ass who said the world was most made up of fools. -Well, in my ’xperience that don’t hold. Maybe in Europe -it does, but not in Havana and the Gulf ports, anyway. -So I says to myself, ‘Let’s try and see what the -guy was drivin’ at.’”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106">106</a></span> -“And you won’t tell us how you did it?”</p> - -<p>“I’d just as soon not.”</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>“Because,” said Satan, “I may be wrong; though I’m -pretty sure I’m right—and I b’lieve in a shut head.”</p> - -<p>“You opened your head to Cark, anyhow,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you once and I won’t tell you twice, if I have -any more chat out of you, I’ll lay into you with a slipper! -O’ course I opened my head to him! Did you want him -hanging round here and sniffin’ out the cache? Haven’t -we got rid of him? I don’t want any more talkin’. I’ve -my plan laid out and you’ve get to take my orders right -from now without questions!” He turned to Ratcliffe. -“You don’t mind helpin’ to work the boat, leavin’ sailing -directions to me?”</p> - -<p>“Not I,” said Ratcliffe. “I’m quite content to help -and look on, leaving things to you. What’s your first -move?”</p> - -<p>“I’m goin’ to clear out of this tomorrow.”</p> - -<p>“Why, I thought you was going to wait for Cark to -come back,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“Never you mind what you thought. I’m goin’ to -clear out of this tomorrow. Meantime, I want more -stuff from the cache, and you’d better take the dinghy -and get it right off. I want provisions for a month for -the three of us.”</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107">107</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br> - -<span class="subhead">CUSS WORDS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">When</span> they had washed up and put the plates in -their rack, Jude commandeered Ratcliffe to help -with the dinghy. Satan, having given his orders, had -retired into himself and the business of patching an old -sail. He was seated at the work under the awning, and -he seemed scarcely to notice the others as they got the -boat away.</p> - -<p>“Satan’s got something up his sleeve,” said Jude as -they pulled for the beach. “I reckon he’s laying low to -get the better of Cark.”</p> - -<p>“Well, if you ask me,” said Ratcliffe, “I think he has -got the better of him in some way or another. I don’t -know how, and I don’t want to. I’d sooner wait and -see. It’s as interesting as a game of chess.”</p> - -<p>“What’s that?”</p> - -<p>“Chess—oh, it’s a game. I’ll show you some day. -Don’t you ever play games, Jude?”</p> - -<p>“You bet! Why, I won five dollars day before we put -out buckin’ against the red at Chinese Charlie’s—y’know -Havana? Well, it’s on the Calle sin Pedro. They play -faro, but mostly r’lette.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108">108</a></span> -“Oh, I didn’t mean that sort of games.”</p> - -<p>“Which sort did you mean?” asked Jude, as the nose -of the boat beached on the sand and they scrambled out. -“Did you mean whisky drinkin’ and cuttin’ and carryin’ -on?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Lord, no! I meant games, just ordinary games.”</p> - -<p>Jude, the boat well beached, sat down on the blazing -sands. It was two hours past noon, and the heat of the -day had lifted under the freshening wind from the east, -the tide was on the turn, and the far-off lamentations -of the gulls around the southern reef-spurs came mixed -with the fall of the waves,—waves scarcely a foot high, -crystal clear, less waves than giant ripples.</p> - -<p>Beyond the <i>Sarah Tyler</i> and her reflection on the water -lay the violet-colored sea, infinity, and the blue of sky, -broken only by a gull, spar white in the dazzle.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe sat down beside his companion. Jude, like -any old salt, had her moments of dead laziness. Active -as a kitten as a rule, she would suddenly knock off, -when the fancy took her, “let go all holts,” to use -Satan’s expression, and laze. You couldn’t kick her out -of it, Satan said.</p> - -<p>She had brought an old pair of boots for going through -the bay cedar bushes. It wasn’t good to walk among -the bushes unshod: there were tarantulas there, and scorpions, -to say nothing of stump cacti. The boots were -lying beside her on the sand, to be put on only at the -last moment.</p> - -<p>“What you mean by ordinary games?” asked Jude -suddenly, finishing the inspection of a new variety of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109">109</a></span> -soft-shell crab she had just caught and flinging it into -the sea.</p> - -<p>“Oh, the games people play,” said Ratcliffe, who had -almost forgotten what they had been talking about. He -tried to explain, and found it singularly hard, especially -when cross-examined.</p> - -<p>Jude did not seem able to understand grown men and -women spending half a day “knockin’ a ball about.”</p> - -<p>“I used to play ma’bles with Dutch Mike’s kids when -we were at Pensacola,” said she. “Mike ran a whisky -joint, and the kids were pretty ornery. When we’d -done playin’ marbles they’d have a cussin’ bee.”</p> - -<p>“What on earth’s that?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you’ve heard of a spellin’ bee—you get a prize -for spellin’ the best. Well, a cussin’ bee you start cussin’ -each other, and the one that cusses hardest gets the prize. -Pap never knew till one day he let into me with a strap -for somethin’ or ’nother and I let fly at him. Then he -found it was Mike’s children who’d been learnin’ me, and -he had a dust-up with Mike on the wharf, and left him -limpin’ for the rest of his natural. Did you cuss when -you was young?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Ratcliffe. “I learned that later.”</p> - -<p>“’R you any good at it?”</p> - -<p>“Upon my word, I don’t know.”</p> - -<p>“Have a try,” said Jude, losing her languor. “Clench -your fists to it and have a go at me, and then I’ll have -a go at you—there’s no one listenin’. Pretend you’re -the skipper and I’m a hand that’s been haulin’ on the -wrong rope.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110">110</a></span> -“No,” said Ratcliffe. “I’m no use at it, and it’s not a -nice game, anyway. I’d sooner play at something else.”</p> - -<p>Jude sniffed. She evidently felt snubbed. “I’m not a -baby to be playing games,” said she. “You can go and -play by yourself if you want to.”</p> - -<p>She collapsed on her back with her knees up and her -old hat covering her face; then from under the hat:</p> - -<p>“You’ll hear all the swearin’ you want to in a minute -from the old hooker.”</p> - -<p>“You mean Satan?”</p> - -<p>“Yep, the minute he turns his eye ashore and sees us -lazin’ here instead of workin’.”</p> - -<p>“Then, come on.”</p> - -<p>“Not me,” said Jude, “not till Satan begins. I’m too -comfortable. I been working hard all the morning while -you two was aboard the <i>Juan</i> clackin’ with Sellers and -havin’ drinks, I bet. I’m going to rest myself—what did -you have?”</p> - -<p>“Ginger beer and a cigar.”</p> - -<p>“Did you take notice of Cark’s face?”</p> - -<p>“Rather!”</p> - -<p>“They say he hasn’t any one side to his face where -the patch is. I’d like to see him with the patch off, -wouldn’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Lord, no! I saw quite enough of him with it on. -Come, get up, and let’s get to work.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not goin’ to work no more,” mumbled Jude -drowsily. “I’m dead sick of fetchin’ and carryin’. Let -Satan go and fetch and carry for himself. I’m going -to stick here.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111">111</a></span> -“On the island?”</p> - -<p>“Yep.”</p> - -<p>“And give up Satan and the <i>Sarah</i>?”</p> - -<p>“Yep.”</p> - -<p>“But what will you do for a living?”</p> - -<p>“Start a la’ndry.”</p> - -<p>“But there’s no one here to give you any washing to -do.”</p> - -<p>“Then I’ll have all the easier time.”</p> - -<p>“That’s true. It’s a bright idea, and I’ll stay with you -and carry the laundry basket.”</p> - -<p>“No, you won’t! I’ll stick here alone.”</p> - -<p>Suddenly, across the water from the <i>Sarah</i> and shattering -this fantasy, came a voice. It was Satan’s voice, -distant and borne on the breeze. Ratcliffe thought he -could make out the words “lazy dog.”</p> - -<p>He got up. Jude with the old panama over her face -had stiffened out as if dead. He tried to turn her over -with his foot. Then he felt half frightened. Had the -sun got to her head, and was all that nonsense talk -delirium?</p> - -<p>He knelt down beside her and shook her.</p> - -<p>“Jude, what’s the matter with you?”</p> - -<p>No reply.</p> - -<p>He took the panama from the face. The eyes were -closed and the features were in repose.</p> - -<p>Now, really alarmed, he jumped up, ran down to the -boat, seized the baling tin, and filled it with sea water. -He had never seen a case of sunstroke, but he had heard -cold water on the head was a remedy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112">112</a></span> -As he turned back with the tin the corpse was sitting -up putting on its boots.</p> - -<p>“What’re you doing with that baling tin?” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“I’ll jolly soon show you!” said he, making toward -her. “Shamming dead!”</p> - -<p>But before he could reach her she was gone among -the bushes, one boot on, the other off. Then, flinging -the baling tin away, he joined her, helped her on with -the boot, and they started. Jude, as if to make up, put -her hand into his in a trusting and loving manner. She -swung his hand as they walked. Then, near their destination, -she flung it away and made off, hunting like a -dog among the bushes till she found what she was in -search of,—a long, knotted rope.</p> - -<p>“What’s that for?” asked he.</p> - -<p>“You wait and see,” replied Jude. “Here’s the cache. -Mind where you’re walkin’ or you’ll be into it.”</p> - -<p>The cache was well hidden among the bay cedars. -The opening, eight feet long by six broad, was covered -over with short poles spread with cut branches gone -withered with the sun. When they had got the covering -off, Jude tied one end of the rope to a tree close by -and dropped the other end into the cache. She swung -herself down by it, and Ratcliffe followed.</p> - -<p>From the floor of this place a step, two feet high, gave -entrance to the cave.</p> - -<p>“You see,” said Jude. “It may rain till it’s black, but -it never floods the cave. The water drains off before -it can rise the height of the step.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113">113</a></span> -There were a candle and some matches inside the cave -entrance. She lit the candle and led the way.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe was astounded, less by the size of the place, -than the stacks of goods,—canned peaches, condensed -milk, corned beef, tomatoes, ox tongues, Heinz’s pickles, -Nabisco wafers. The old brig, making for some gulf -port, must have been a floating Italian warehouse as far -as cargo was concerned.</p> - -<p>“I don’t wonder at Satan not wanting Sellers and -Carquinez to spot all this,” said he. “Why, there must -be five hundred pounds’ worth of stuff here. Aren’t -you afraid that nigger who skipped from you at Pine -Island may split?”</p> - -<p>“Sakes, no! He was too much afeared of Satan. -Satan was always threatening to skin him. Besides, he -doesn’t know. We told him this place was Turtle Island, -and that’s a hundred and fifty miles to s’uth’ard. You -trust Satan to keep a thing dark. Here, catch hold of -the candle while I collect.”</p> - -<p>There were two sacks folded up on the floor. She -started collecting things, and when the sacks were half-filled -Jude, clambering out of the pit, hauled them up -by the rope.</p> - -<p>“Anything more?” asked he, from below.</p> - -<p>“I reckon that will be enough,” said Jude, looking down -at him. “It’ll take us all our time to carry them to the -boat, and if Satan ain’t satisfied he can come and fetch -some more himself.”</p> - -<p>“Then drop the rope; I want to get out.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114">114</a></span> -Jude, kneeling at the cache edge, lowered the rope -gingerly. He reached up, and was just about to seize -the loose end when it eluded him.</p> - -<p>“Why don’t you catch hold?” asked Jude.</p> - -<p>“I can’t. How could I when you pulled it up again. -Go on, drop it and don’t play the fool.”</p> - -<p>“Who’s playin’ the fool?”</p> - -<p>“You are.”</p> - -<p>The rope, instead of descending again, was hauled -right out of the cache. Then a face appeared, looking -down and framed against the sky. He had forgotten -the snub he had given her on the beach, but she hadn’t.</p> - -<p>“D’y’r’member what you said down there on the -beach?” asked Jude.</p> - -<p>“No, what about?”</p> - -<p>“Cussin’.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes.”</p> - -<p>“Said I wanted you to play games that wasn’t nice.”</p> - -<p>“I never said any such thing.”</p> - -<p>“Didn’t yer? Well, whether you did or you didn’t, -you’ve got to swear before I let you out.”</p> - -<p>“Well, then I’ll stay in. Go on, Jude, don’t be silly. -It’s cold down here.”</p> - -<p>The rope came down, and he was just seizing the end -when it was whipped out of his hand.</p> - -<p>“Damn!” said Ratcliffe wholeheartedly.</p> - -<p>“Now you’re talkin’,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>Like a boy fishing for polliwogs, she lowered the rope -again and snatched it up suddenly, bringing with it another -oath.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115">115</a></span> -But the third time he was too quick for her. Then -as he came swarming up with skinned knuckles and rage -in his heart, she bolted. He chased her, dodging here -and there among the bushes, then he chased her round -a tree, caught her, and, in his anger and irritation somehow, -kissed her.</p> - -<p>The perfectly amazing smack on the face that followed -was revelation; it also knocked him off his balance -so that he sat down as though cut off at the knees.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116">116</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br> - -<span class="subhead">THE COMING OF CLEARY</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap b"><span class="smcap1">She</span> stood for a moment, frightened at her handiwork.</p> - -<p>Then, as he pulled himself together, she drew away -a step.</p> - -<p>“What ails you?” asked she.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe, sitting up with his hand to the top of his -head, groaned.</p> - -<p>She drew a step closer. Then she saw that he was -laughing, and drew a step back.</p> - -<p>“Get up, and don’t be fooling,” said she.</p> - -<p>“Fooling! And who started it?” asked he.</p> - -<p>Jude made no reply. She turned and went off to the -cache, lugged the sacks a bit more away from the opening, -and started to put the poles across. When he joined -her on the work she wouldn’t speak. She was evidently -mortally offended.</p> - -<p>He knew at once and by some fine instinct what was -the matter with her. He had trod on her dignity, like -the Thelusson woman,—treated her like a child, that is -to say like a girl, for the two things were synonymous -with Jude, who seemed to have no more idea of the -realities of sex than a pumpkin.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117">117</a></span> -When she did speak at last, it was to give jeering -orders.</p> - -<p>“Lord! Did you never have to use your hands? -Which way is that to be sticking the poles? Why, it’d -take twenty dozen to cover it the way you’re doing! -Leave a foot and a half between them.”</p> - -<p>“Right,” said Ratcliffe humbly.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t say two foot.”</p> - -<p>“Sorry.”</p> - -<p>“Now the branches an’ stuff.”</p> - -<p>She had reserved one of the poles, for what reason -soon became apparent.</p> - -<p>Each sack was too heavy to be carried by one person, -so she slung one to the middle of the pole, and they -started for the beach, Caleb and Joshua fashion, Ratcliffe -in front.</p> - -<p>It was horrible work. They had to keep step, which -was difficult; owing to the bushes, the going was bad. -The sack kept slipping toward Jude, owing to the inequality -of their heights, and the pressure of the pole on -his shoulder was galling; also the wind had changed and -was coming from the direction of the gulf, warm and -moist like the breath from a great mouth.</p> - -<p>When they reached the beach he sat down. Unused -to hard work and unused to the climate, he was sweating -and exhausted. Jude looked comparatively cool and -fresh.</p> - -<p>“Now then, Lazybones!” said Jude. Then she collapsed -also, sitting down with her knees up and her arms -round them.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118">118</a></span> -She seemed to have forgotten the sack, Ratcliffe, everything, -as she sat whistling dreamily between her teeth -and staring across the water toward the <i>Sarah</i>.</p> - -<p>She had kicked off her boots, and her toes were playing -with the sand. Uncramped by boots, her feet were -as expressive as her hands.</p> - -<p>“You’ll hear Satan begin to holler in a minute,” said -Jude.</p> - -<p>“Let him,” said the other, “I’m not going to stir another -foot till I’ve rested myself.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, he won’t holler at you. It’s me he’ll go for; -you’re the first-class passenger.”</p> - -<p>“No, I’m not: I’m one of the crew.”</p> - -<p>Jude laughed in a mirthless manner.</p> - -<p>“Well, I reckon myself one, anyhow,” said he. “I -wouldn’t have come on board unless I was to help in -working the boat.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Satan won’t mind you helpin’ to work her,” -replied she; “but he didn’t bring you aboard for that.”</p> - -<p>“I know—and it was awfully decent of him. He just -thought I’d like the cruise.”</p> - -<p>Jude sniffed.</p> - -<p>“I reckon you don’t know Satan,” said she.</p> - -<p>“How?”</p> - -<p>“Satan never does nothing for nothing.”</p> - -<p>“Well, what did he bring me aboard for?”</p> - -<p>“Lord knows,” said Jude; “but he’s got something up -his sleeve, sure. Mind you, Satan’s as straight as they -make them unless he’s dealin’ with law chaps and such, -and you’d be safe with him if you was blind and dumb<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119">119</a></span> -and covered with diamonds only waitin’ to be picked off -you. You see, you’re straight, and anyone that’s straight -with Satan he’s straight with them. It’s different with -lawyers, or guys like Cark and Sellers, who’d beat their -own gran’mothers out of their store teeth. All the same, -you look out with Satan. He’s got some plan about you, -sure.”</p> - -<p>“What sort of plan is it, do you think, Jude?”</p> - -<p>“Lord knows. Nothing to harm you, anyway; maybe -it’s to go shares in some deal—I dunno.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m up for any deal he likes to propose that -would benefit him—as much money as he wants.”</p> - -<p>“Satan’s not set on money,” said Jude, “not in a big -way. I reckon he’s something like Pap. Pap would -take no end of trouble making a few dollars, but he was -never really set on bein’ rich. I reckon he took up that -old wreck business more for the fun of the thing than -the dollars. He used to say great riches was only trouble -to a man, an’ that he only wanted God’s good air and -’nough to live on.”</p> - -<p>“Well, maybe he was right,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“I reckon Satan cottoned to you because he thought -you was honest,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“Well, I hope I am.”</p> - -<p>“He said to me, right off, after you’d gone back to -the yacht, ‘I reckon that feller’s honest,’ he said.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe laughed.</p> - -<p>“You see,” went on Jude, “you don’t pick up honest -parties round these parts, not by the bushel. You might -rake Havana with a fine-tooth comb lookin’ for fellers<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120">120</a></span> -that wouldn’t do you, but you wouldn’t find none. It’s -the same all round the gulf, from N’Orleans to Campêche; -you can’t stick your nose in anywhere without -being stung—if you’re a softy.”</p> - -<p>“So he liked me because he thought I was straight. -What did you like me for, Jude?”</p> - -<p>“Lord! if you don’t fancy yourself! Who told you -I liked you?”</p> - -<p>“You did last night. You said you and Satan took -to me right off.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, did I? Well, maybe it was them pajamas—Hullo!” -The shrill notes of a bo’sn’s whistle came over -the water. She sprang to her feet.</p> - -<p>Satan’s form appeared at the rail of the <i>Sarah</i>. He -was making movements with his arms as though signaling, -and Jude flung up an arm in answer.</p> - -<p>Then, shading her eyes, she looked seaward.</p> - -<p>“What’s up?” asked Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Come on!” said Jude.</p> - -<p>She seized the sack, called on him to help her, and -between them they ran it down to the water’s edge. -Then they got the dinghy afloat, the sack on board, and -started.</p> - -<p>“What’s up?” again asked Ratcliffe, as they rowed.</p> - -<p>“Sail,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>He had seen nothing, perhaps because of the sun-dazzle -on the water or because he had not looked in the -right direction. The sensitiveness of the Tylers to the -approach of strangers and their hawklike vision struck -him as belonging almost to the uncanny.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121">121</a></span> -Satan had rigged a tackle, and without a word uttered -the sack was got aboard and below. Then and not till -then did Satan speak.</p> - -<p>“It’s Cleary,” said he.</p> - -<p>Jude took the old glass he had been using, and examined -the stranger, then she handed it to Ratcliffe. He -turned it on the fleck of sail which sprang gigantic into -the form of a big fore-and-aft-rigged boat, beating up -for the island, the late afternoon sunlight flashing back -from the foam at the forefoot and her foam-wet bows.</p> - -<p>“Who is Cleary?” asked he, handing back the glass.</p> - -<p>“Cark’s partner,” said Satan, “sort of half and half -partner. They’re always bestin’ one another. Cleary is -by way of bein’ a ship breaker and dealer in odds and -ends; owns a couple of ratty old schooners besides that -old ketch. Wonder what he’s doin’ down here? Curse -him!”</p> - -<p>“He’s after Cark, most likely,” said Jude. “Maybe -he’s got a smell of the wreck.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe,” replied Satan. “He’s always spyin’ on Cark. -There’s nothin’ much that Cleary don’t know, and if he -got wind that Cark’s on a likely job he’d put out after -him.”</p> - -<p>It seemed to Ratcliffe all at once that the old wreck -lying on that unseen reef might have been likened to a -carcass in the desert, and that he was watching the -gathering of the vultures to a feast.</p> - -<p>First Carquinez, now Cleary—how many more would -come circling out of the blue?</p> - -<p>He said so, and Satan concurred.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122">122</a></span> -“It’s got out somehow or ’nother,” said Satan, “and -Lord only knows there may be half a dozen others on -the hunt. You see, the very fac’ of Cark’s puttin’ to -sea himself would give suspicions to half Havana; but -Cleary is the only man beside Cark that knows my ports -of call. He knows I come here for abalones, and he -knows I hunt round Pine Island, not to say other places.”</p> - -<p>Satan fell into meditation for a moment. Then he -resumed:</p> - -<p>“That’s what the cuss has been doin’. He’s been on -the hunt for me, same as Cark was, only for different -reasons. Now you wait and see. Jude!”</p> - -<p>“Hullo,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“Did you cover the cache proper?”</p> - -<p>“You bet; but there’s a sack of stuff we didn’t manage -to bring off. It’s among the bushes.”</p> - -<p>“It’ll have to lay there.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the name of Cleary’s boat?” asked Ratcliffe -as he watched the approaching ketch.</p> - -<p>“The <i>Natchez</i>,” said Satan, “an old cod boat, built -at Marthas Vineyard. Lord! ain’t they crackin’ on! -Cleary’s in a hurry. There’s no denyin’ that.”</p> - -<p>He whistled contentedly as he leaned on the rail, and -Ratcliffe, watching his hatchet-sharp profile, wondered -what was coming next. Of one thing he was beginning -to feel certain,—Cleary, Carquinez, Sellers, and anything -else that might come out of Havana on the long trail -for plunder would find a match in Satan.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123">123</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br> - -<span class="subhead">AN HONEST MAN</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> ketch carried on, heading straight for the <i>Sarah</i>; -then, spilling the wind from her sails, she came -round, presenting a full view of her dirty old hull and -dropping her anchor two cable lengths away.</p> - -<p>Almost on the last rasp of the anchor chain she -dropped a boat, which shoved off for the <i>Sarah</i>.</p> - -<p>“That’s Cleary,” said Satan, shading his eyes.</p> - -<p>It was, and as Cleary came on board, leg over rail, -saluting Satan with the affability of old acquaintanceship -and the quarterdeck with a squirt of tobacco juice, Ratcliffe -fell to wondering what sort of place Havana might -be and what else it might give up in the way of detrimentals.</p> - -<p>Carquinez was bad and Sellers was bad, but Cleary -was—Cleary. Against the gold and blue of afternoon, -the sight of this faded man, who looked as though he -had seen better days, who suggested a broken-down -schoolmaster, with a slungshot in his pocket, struck Ratcliffe -with astonishment and depression. It was as -though the dazzling air had suddenly split to disclose -a London slum.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124">124</a></span> -“Hullo! Hullo!” said Cleary. “Thought I recognized -the old hooker. What you doin’ down here away?”</p> - -<p>Jude made a dive for the galley, and Ratcliffe could -hear her choking. The sound banished the feeling of -depression and repulsion created by the newcomer and -brightened him somehow.</p> - -<p>Here was the comic man of the pantomime come -aboard.</p> - -<p>“What am I doin’?” said Satan. “I’m fishin’ for -chair-backs. What are you doin’ yourself?”</p> - -<p>Cleary turned, spat his quid overboard, and then, leaning -on the rail, looking seaward, with his back to the -others, and, just as easy as though he were aboard his -own ship, laughed.</p> - -<p>“Fishin’ for chair-backs!” Then, sluing his head half -round, “How’s the abalone fishin’ gone?”</p> - -<p>“Jude!” cried Satan.</p> - -<p>“Hullo!”</p> - -<p>“Bring up them pearls!”</p> - -<p>Cleary turned, and, leaning with his back against the -rail, began to fill an old pipe in a languid and leisurely -manner. Then, when the pearls were produced, he -turned them from the matchbox into the palm of his -hand.</p> - -<p>“How much?” asked Cleary.</p> - -<p>“Forty dollars,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“Forty which?”</p> - -<p>“Dollars.”</p> - -<p>“Ain’t worth forty cents.”</p> - -<p>“Well, who’s askin’ you to deal?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125">125</a></span> -Cleary carefully poured the pearls into the matchbox, -closed it, and put it in his pocket.</p> - -<p>Satan did not seem to mind.</p> - -<p>“Jude!” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“What?”</p> - -<p>“Bring up them cigars!”</p> - -<p>“Who’s the gentleman?” asked Cleary.</p> - -<p>“Gentleman came aboard for a cruise off a yacht. -You needn’t mind him; he’s only out for pleasure.”</p> - -<p>Cleary nodded to Ratcliffe, who nodded in return. -Then things hung for a moment till Jude appeared with -the cigar-box, and the newcomer, having tapped the tobacco -out of his pipe, chose a cigar, lit it and, leaning -with his back against the rail and his thumbs in the -armholes of his old waistcoat, blew clouds. He seemed -for a moment far away in thought, and Ratcliffe, watching -him and Satan,—Jude having vanished again, attacked -with another fit of choking,—puzzled his head in -vain to find out the inner meaning of what was going -on. The wretched pearls were scarcely worth five dollars, -he had heard Satan say so, and Cleary, evidently -an expert, was not the man to pay eight times their -worth, nor was Satan the man to allow the other to -pocket them.</p> - -<p>Then suddenly Cleary spoke.</p> - -<p>“Cark’s a clever man, don’t you think?”</p> - -<p>“Well, seein’ he’s your partner, you’re a better judge -than me,” replied Satan.</p> - -<p>“Well, maybe that’s so,” said Cleary. “Partners we -were, and partners we are till I ketch him and bust him.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126">126</a></span> -“Why, what’s he been doin’ to you?”</p> - -<p>“Now, I’ll tell you,” said Cleary. “I’m an honest -man. I don’t say in trade I’m not above shavin’ the barber, -but between man an’ man I’m honest, and I’m goin’ -to tell you straight out Cark and me has been layin’ for -you ever since your dad was fool enough to give Cark -the tip about that treasure business. I wasn’t keen on -it, same as he was. I allowed there might be somethin’ -in it—but that don’t matter. What gets my monkey -is Cark he gets fearful thick with Sellers, then he cools -off on the business of the treasure gettin’, and a matter -of two weeks ago he rigs up a job for me to see after -at Pensacola that’d have taken me two months and more. -I says to myself, ‘There’s somethin’ in this.’ Says nothin’ -to Cark. Off I goes, taking the old <i>Natchez</i>. Hadn’t -reached the latitood of Key West when back I puts, -and finds Cark gone with the <i>Juan</i> and Sellers.</p> - -<p>“Then I knew he’s started to hunt for you again, -leavin’ me in the lonely cold. He’s been huntin’ you -ever since last fall, that’s straight; but he’d never let -me down before. He’d always told me the results. I -tell you he’s huntin’ for you now, and the surprisin’ -thing is he hasn’t found you, knowing as he does this -is one of your grounds.”</p> - -<p>“How do you know he hasn’t found me?”</p> - -<p>“What you mean?”</p> - -<p>“Why, he was here this morning and off not four -hours ago.”</p> - -<p>“Christopher!”</p> - -<p>“Him and Sellers.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127">127</a></span> -“Holy Mike!”</p> - -<p>“You was comin’ up from West, you ought to have -sighted him.”</p> - -<p>“Sighted nothin’ but a tank, and her nearly hull -down.”</p> - -<p>“Well, if you’d been here a few hours earlier, you’d -have smelt the old <i>Juan</i> as well as sightin’ her.”</p> - -<p>“Was he here on business?”</p> - -<p>“He was,—he was after that wreck Pap told him of. -You just told me he’s been after me since last fall spyin’ -on me. I know it, and I’m pretty sick of the business. -B’sides, he’s as good to help in it as anyone else; so -I’ve made a contrac’ with him.”</p> - -<p>“<em>Sufferin</em>’ Moses!—a contrac’ with Cark!” Cleary -stood for a moment as though absorbing this news, then -he laughed, the funniest laugh Ratcliffe had ever heard,—it -was like the whinny of a pony. He saw Jude’s head -at the cabin hatch, and the head suddenly duck and vanish, -as though her body had been doubled up.</p> - -<p>“A contrac’ with Cark!”</p> - -<p>“Well, what are you laughin’ at?”</p> - -<p>“Nothin’. May I ask what terms?”</p> - -<p>“We go shares.”</p> - -<p>“In the pickin’s?”</p> - -<p>“What else?”</p> - -<p>“Have you give him the location?”</p> - -<p>“I have.”</p> - -<p>“You’ve give him the location and let him slip his -cable—him and Sellers?”</p> - -<p>“What odds? It’ll take a month to bust her open<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128">128</a></span> -and hunt for the stuff. I’ll be after him tomorrow.”</p> - -<p>Cleary crossed his arms and stood with the half cigar -stuck in the corner of his mouth and pointing skyward, -his eyes fixed on the deck and his left eye half closed.</p> - -<p>Jude’s face had reappeared at the cabin hatch, and the -grin on it spread to Ratcliffe’s.</p> - -<p>Satan alone was unmoved, half-sitting on the keg and -cutting up some tobacco.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Cleary at last, “you’ve made your bargain, -there’s no gettin’ round that. <em>I’m</em> not wishin’ to -poke my nose in your business, nor to ask what your -share is to be, but I’m partners with Cark, and you see -how he’s let me down—cayn’t you give me a lead?”</p> - -<p>“Which way?”</p> - -<p>“Give me a lead to the location. It won’t make a cent -difference to you.”</p> - -<p>“How’s that?”</p> - -<p>“Clear enough, I don’t want none of your share. -Cark’s the man I want to tap, having a right to, being -partners.”</p> - -<p>Satan seemed to turn this matter over in his mind for -a moment. Then he said, “Suppose we come back to -them pearls?”</p> - -<p>“Right,” said Cleary in a lively voice. “What’s this -you was askin’, forty? Well, forty you shall have.”</p> - -<p>He produced an old brown pocketbook, counted out -four ten-dollar notes, and handed them over.</p> - -<p>Satan examined each note, back and front, folded -them, and placed them into his pocket.</p> - -<p>“Now,” said Cleary, “out with the lead!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129">129</a></span> -“You’ll have it tomorrow,” said Satan. “I’m pickin’ -up my anchor tomorrow mornin’. You’ve only to follow -me.”</p> - -<p>“I’d rayther have the indications on paper.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe you would, but you won’t. I’ve made my -bargain with Cark, and there’s nothin’ in the contrac’ -about givin’ the location away to third parties. I can’t -help you followin’ me.”</p> - -<p>“I take you,” said Cleary.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130">130</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br> - -<span class="subhead">PROBLEMS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> sun was nearly touching the horizon when he -dropped into his boat and rowed off.</p> - -<p>“Look here!” said Ratcliffe. “Are you in earnest -with that chap?”</p> - -<p>“I sure am,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“Going to take him down to Lone Reef?”</p> - -<p>“Yep.”</p> - -<p>“But how about Carquinez? We had got to wait for -him here till he gets back from Havana with the dynamite.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Satan, “we’d got to wait here one week, -or maybe ten days allowin’ for weather—where was you -born?”</p> - -<p>“How?”</p> - -<p>“Cark’s tried to sell me a pup, that’s how! He’s gone -to no Havana: he’s crackin’ on for the wreck with every -stitch he can carry. Reckons to bust her open and scoop -the boodle while we’re layin’ here rubbin’ our noses and -waitin’ for him. Mind you,” said Satan, “I may be -wrong, but that’s my ’pinion.”</p> - -<p>“But he sailed off toward Havana.”</p> - -<p>“Lord! Hasn’t he a rudder?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131">131</a></span> -“All the same, would it pay him?”</p> - -<p>“How?”</p> - -<p>“Well, if he played a dirty trick on you like that, -wouldn’t he be afraid you’d split?”</p> - -<p>“Who to?”</p> - -<p>“To the authorities at Cuba.”</p> - -<p>“D’you remember Sellers talkin’ about landin’ the -stuff,” asked Satan, “sayin’ they’d have to take it round -to Santiago way? They thought I was drinkin’ all that -in. If there were any dollars in the business, d’you think -they’d touch Cuba? Not they! They’d either cache the -stuff or run it to some likely port. I was laughin’ in my -hat all the time. Now you may think me a suspicious -cuss. I’m not; but a feller has to run by compass in this -world or go off his course, and my compass in this turnout -is Cark. I say he’s gone down to Lone Reef and -given me the left leg over the business, and my compass -is the fac’ that he can’t run straight. Not if he tried to, -he couldn’t run straight; nor could Sellers nor Cleary. -If them fellers were straight, I’d match them and give -them a fair deal. As it is, they’re like a lot of blind -bally-hoolies playin’ blindman’s buff, runnin’ round and -round, with me in the middle, tryin’ to kidoodle me and -bein’ kidoodled themselves. Forty dollars for them -rotten pearls, and all sorts of fixin’s out of Sellers—<em>and -I haven’t done with them yet</em>!”</p> - -<p>It had seemed to Ratcliffe, on board the <i>Juan</i>, that -Carquinez was the spider of the web of this business. -It seemed to him now that the spider was Satan.</p> - -<p>He began to wonder was there any wreck at all, was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132">132</a></span> -the treasure story a myth. The idea of these rogues being -incited to dreams of fortune so that they might be -plundered of pots of paint and cans of turpentine and -a few dollars appealed to him immensely. He remembered -Thelusson and Skelton, he remembered Jude’s yarn -about fruit steamers being held up, he remembered -Carquinez and Sellers, and he had just seen Cleary; and -of a sudden Satan’s ocean-wide activities appeared before -him in nightmare contrast with their microscopic results. -Great steamers stopped for a bunch of bananas, yachts -lying idle to careen the <i>Sarah</i>, ships sailing from Havana -to hunt for buried treasure—but in reality to supply the -wandering <i>Sarah</i> with cans of turpentine and a few dollars! -Was there any treasure, or was the whole thing -a Tyler fake invented by Pap and handed to his family -as an heirloom? He could not resist the question.</p> - -<p>“That chart you showed us,” said he,—“is there anything -really in it?”</p> - -<p>Satan took him at once.</p> - -<p>“The chart’s all right,” said he, “for them that can -read it. If you mean is it <em>genuine</em>, I reckon it is—for -them that can read it. We’ll see some day if I’m right -or wrong; but, honest truth, I’m not botherin’ much about -it,—the chances are so big, as I told you before, against -treasure huntin’, and even if we strike it what’s the use -of barrels of gold to a feller like me? If you ask me, I’m -botherin’ more about the kid than huntin’ for money.”</p> - -<p>“You mean?”</p> - -<p>“Jude. Suppose I was to get a bash on the head from -one of them cusses, or drop to the smallpox, same<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133">133</a></span> -as I pretended to Sellers, what’d become of the kid?”</p> - -<p>The sound of the “kid” frying fish for supper came -mixed with the question.</p> - -<p>“I know,” said Ratcliffe, “that’s a problem that must -often occur to you, I should think.”</p> - -<p>“You’ve seen the sort of crowd Havana’s made of,” -went on Satan. “It’s hard to tell which is worse, the -Yanks or the Spaniards, and there’s not a seaport that’s -not the same, and when I think of me lyin’ dead and her -driftin’ loose, it gets my goat. It’d be different if she -was a boy.”</p> - -<p>“Besides that,” said the other, “she can’t go on always -as she is now.”</p> - -<p>“How’d you mean?”</p> - -<p>“Well, dressed as she is now. She’ll grow up.”</p> - -<p>“Sure,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“She’ll have to dress differently some day.”</p> - -<p>“Meanin’ skirts?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>Satan laughed a hollow laugh. The idea seemed so -futile that he did not dwell upon it, or seemed not to.</p> - -<p>“Have you any female relations yourself?” asked he.</p> - -<p>“Lots,” replied Ratcliffe, calling up in memory his -cousins and aunts, females of the highest upper-middle-class -respectability, and vaguely wondering what they -would think of Jude could they see her.</p> - -<p>“The bother is,” said Satan, “she don’t take to women -folk; always was against them, and that Thelusson -woman put the cap on the business, kissin’ her and handin’ -out slop talk. Well, I don’t know. I reckon she’ll have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134">134</a></span> -to go on bein’ what she is till somethin’ happens; but it -would have been a lot handier if she’d been born a boy.”</p> - -<p>He turned and went below.</p> - -<p>The sun had sunk beyond Palm Island, and a violet -dusk, forerunner of the dark, was spreading through the -sky. Over beyond the <i>Natchez</i> the sea for a moment became -hard looking as a floor of beryl, then vague.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe, lingering for a moment watching this transformation -scene, found himself thinking of Jude and her -problem. The Tylers had taken an extraordinarily firm -hold upon him. He knew them more intimately than he -knew his own relations, or fancied so. It seemed to him -that he had known them for years.</p> - -<p>When this cruise was over and he packed up his traps -and left them, he would probably never see them again. -Jude and Satan would go their way and he would go his -way—and what would happen to Jude? Suppose Satan -were to die, get knocked on the head or “fall to the -smallpox”? The thought hurt him almost as much as it -hurt Satan; for Jude had, somehow or another, captured -his mind and touched his heart, and her youth and absolute -irresponsibility before the major facts of life had -infected him in the most extraordinary manner.</p> - -<p>Over there on the island, engaged in the serious matter -of provisioning the <i>Sarah</i>, they had been carrying on like -children. He had not thought of it then; now, reflecting -sanely, it rose before him together with the rest of -this strange cruise, and for a moment the whole business -seemed mad, absolutely mad. The supersane figure of -Skelton rose up before him, and beyond Skelton, Oxford,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135">135</a></span> -the calm, sane English country, where the Tylers would -have been impossible, the hard bourgeois conventions of -the upper-upper-middle classes, those uncles, cousins, and -aunts to whom Class was as holy as Sunday and to whom -Jude would be absolutely invisible as she was.</p> - -<p>He was engaged in these reflections when a voice broke -the stillness of the evening, a half-tired, half-cantankerous -voice, the voice of an overworked housekeeper who -had been frying fish while others have been idling.</p> - -<p>“<em>Ain’t</em> you comin’ to help me?” inquired the voice.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136">136</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br> - -<span class="subhead">HANTS AND OTHER THINGS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap b"><span class="smcap1">Down</span> below, at supper, the injured housekeeper was -still in evidence and rose to a charge that the fish -was over-fried. Satan was the accuser.</p> - -<p>The defendant, “het up” and flushed, replied in the -language of the sea:</p> - -<p>“Go’n fry your head! Clackin’ on deck and leavin’ me -to do the work—the pair of you! It’s all men’s good -for.”</p> - -<p>“Why, I thought you was a man!” said Satan. “You -cut and carry on like a man; scratch you and your tongue -goes both ends like a woman. Start you on a job, and -you sit down to it before it’s half done. I saw you -lazin’ on the beach, and now look where we are,—there’s -a sack of stuff not brought off and how are we to bring -it with Cleary messin’ round?”</p> - -<p>“It wasn’t my fault,” said Jude. Then she checked -herself and her eyes met Ratcliffe’s.</p> - -<p>“It was my fault,” said he. “I got tired.”</p> - -<p>Jude looked at him. This defense of her, trifling -though it was, seemed to make a new relationship between -them. It seemed to her that Ratcliffe had suddenly -become different. She could not tell what the difference<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137">137</a></span> -was or how it had come about in the least, or why she -half-resented his shielding her, even in this small matter; -then her eyes fell away and rested on the table before her.</p> - -<p>“It wasn’t,” said she. “It was my fault I was foolin’ -when I ought to have been workin’, and now the stuff -is lyin’ there—” She choked, and then to the horror of -Satan she pushed her plate away and broke into tears, -hiding her face on her folded arms. Then, before the -astonished ones could speak, she rose and dashed out of -the cabin.</p> - -<p>“Land’s sake!” cried Satan. “What ails her? Cryin’! -She’s never done that before—and all over that rotten -sack—why, let it lay there, cuss the thing!”</p> - -<p>He went on with his supper in an irritable manner.</p> - -<p>“She’s overtired, maybe,” said Ratcliffe. “Wait and -I’ll fetch her back.”</p> - -<p>He left the cabin and came on deck.</p> - -<p>The moon had not risen yet, and the riding light, which -had been run up before supper, showed yellow against -the stars.</p> - -<p>Not a sign of Jude.</p> - -<p>He went forward. There she was, huddled up in the -bows.</p> - -<p>“Jude!”</p> - -<p>The bundle sniffed.</p> - -<p>“Come on down to supper. Satan’s not angry.”</p> - -<p>“Who the”—sniff—“cares whether’es angry or not? -You lea’ me alone!”</p> - -<p>“But what are you crying about?”</p> - -<p>“<em>Ain’t</em> cryin’!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138">138</a></span> -“Well, what are you lying on the deck for?”</p> - -<p>“’Cause I choose.”</p> - -<p>“Come on down and help to clear the things away.”</p> - -<p>“Clear them yourself!”</p> - -<p>He bent down and tried to take her arm. She shook -him off, rose suddenly like a released spring, ran to the -side where the dinghy was moored, and got over the rail.</p> - -<p>He looked over. She was in the boat unfastening the -painter.</p> - -<p>“Where on earth are you going?”</p> - -<p>“Ashore.”</p> - -<p>She pushed off.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe came down to the cabin.</p> - -<p>“She’s gone ashore.”</p> - -<p>“She’s gone for that sack,” said Satan unconcernedly. -“Reckons to get it off before moon rise, I expect.”</p> - -<p>“But it’s too heavy for one.”</p> - -<p>“She’ll do it. You’ve put her monkey up makin’ her -confess it was her fault. She’s never done that before -in all her born life. She’s just natural proud and she’d -as soon cut her tongue out as give in she was in the -wrong. You’ve made her do more’n I’ve ever made her -do, and how you’ve done it—well, search me.</p> - -<p>“You aren’t gettin’ on with your supper,” said Satan -after a pause.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’ve had enough. I was wondering if she has her -boots for going through that bush stuff.”</p> - -<p>“She’s got them all right. They were in the dinghy: -she didn’t bring them aboard. You’re worryin’ a lot -about the kid.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139">139</a></span> -“Well, maybe. She’s the jolliest kid I ever struck, and -I don’t want any harm to come to her; the pluckiest, too. -There’s not many people would go off alone in the dark -like that in a place like this.”</p> - -<p>“Lord bless your soul!” said Satan. “That’s nothin’, -no more than walkin’ down the street to Jude. Do you -think sailin’ these seas is all fair-weather work? Why, -we’ve been rubbin’ our noses in <em>des</em>truction since she was -born. She don’t know what fear is.”</p> - -<p>“I could tell that from her face.”</p> - -<p>“It’s her face that’s troublin’ me,” said Satan. “Pass -me the water pitcher, will you? She’s begun to take -after mother. A few months ago she was the homeliest -little pup ever littered; but she’s beginnin’ to pick up in -looks, and if she takes after her mother’s side in looks -and ways—Lord save us!”</p> - -<p>“Was your mother good looking?”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Satan, “I don’t know what you call good -looks. Pap said she was a nacheral calamity; that was -after she’d bolted with the Baptis’ man. It wasn’t the -looks so much as the somethin’ about her that’d make a -blind man rubber after her if she passed him in the -street, that’s what Pap said. He never said no prayers, -but when he was talkin’ of Jude I’ve heard him say time -and again, ‘Thank the Lord she don’t take after her -mother!’ and now it’s comin’ out, same as the ace of -spades a shark has hid up his sleeve—and what’s comin’ -after, Lord only knows.”</p> - -<p>“How do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I scarce know myself, but Pap said those sort<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140">140</a></span> -of women couldn’t help bein’ nacheral calamities, attractin’ -chaps and turnin’ the world upside down. He -said a man, once they’d got the clutch on him, was no -more use than a hypnotized fowl, whatever that is. -You’ve heard what Jude said about skirts—well, I’m -thinkin’ that’s all baby talk, an’ it’s my ’pinion when she -gets her nacheral sailing orders she’ll be into skirts some -day, same as a dude takes to water, and hypnotizing -chaps, same as her mother before her.”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t be surprised,” said Ratcliffe; “but I don’t -think she’ll be a natural calamity. I think, from what -I have seen of her, that she has a fine character, honest -as the day, good as gold.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe,” said Satan; “but you never know what a -woman is, seems to me, till she’s been rubbed against a -man. Those were Pap’s words and he’d got a headpiece -on him. Well, I reckon time will tell.”</p> - -<p>They went on deck.</p> - -<p>The moon had not risen yet, and the island lay like a -humped shadow in the starlight. To seaward the anchor -light of the <i>Natchez</i> showed a yellow point, and from the -beach came the lullaby of little waves falling on the sand.</p> - -<p>“Now if it wasn’t these days,” said Satan, “I’d be in -two minds about putting out straight now, rather than -lyin’ all night by that feller Cleary.”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean by these days?”</p> - -<p>“Well, in the old throat-cuttin’ days I reckon Cleary -would have gone through us, sunk the old <i>Sarah</i>, and -taken me aboard his hooker with a gun at my head to -make me show him the way to the wreck; but things is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141">141</a></span> -different now. Fellers are afraid of the law. Cark’s -mortally afraid of the law, so’s Cleary.”</p> - -<p>“What time do you start tomorrow?”</p> - -<p>“After sun-up, if the wind holds.”</p> - -<p>“It will be a joke if we find Carquinez at the reef. -What will he say, do you think?”</p> - -<p>“Cark? Oh, he’ll not mind. There ain’t no shame in -Cark. He’ll have broke his contrac’ by not goin’ to -Havana, he’ll stand proved to the eyes as a damn cheat. -He won’t mind: the contrac’ not bein’ regular, the law -can’t have him.”</p> - -<p>“I expect Cleary will go for him.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe,” said Satan. “Then we’ll have some fun. -There’s Jude.”</p> - -<p>Something like a swimming water rat was breaking the -star shimmer on the sea. It was the dinghy.</p> - -<p>Jude was sculling it from behind, noiselessly. It came -alongside to starboard like a ghost, and with it came Jude’s -voice calling for the tackle. Then the sack came aboard -and after it Jude.</p> - -<p>“Well, you’ve done it smart,” said Satan, “and no mistake. -Now off down with you and have your supper. -We’ve got to start bright and early in the morning.”</p> - -<p>Jude said nothing. Her anger and irritability seemed -to have departed. She kicked off her boots, hitched up -her trousers, and started down below.</p> - -<p>“She never keeps a grudge up,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>Away in the middle of the night Ratcliffe was -awakened by a stifled scream, the voice of Satan promptly -following.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142">142</a></span> -“Wake up! What ails you?”</p> - -<p>“For the Land’s sake, where am I?”</p> - -<p>“In your hammock. What’re you dreamin’ of?”</p> - -<p>“Gee-owsts.”</p> - -<p>“Hants, you mean.”</p> - -<p>“Black faces they had, and they was chasin’ me round -and round them trees.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what comes of stuffin’ yourself and goin’ to -bed on top of it. Get off your back and onto your side. -Wakin’ a body up like that! What was they like?”</p> - -<p>“The hants?”</p> - -<p>“Yep.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t be talkin’ for fear of wakin’ him up.”</p> - -<p>“He’s asleep. I hear him snorin’. What was they -like?”</p> - -<p>“They’d black faces and tails like cows—an’ I’d rather -not be talkin’ of them.”</p> - -<p>“Wonder what it means dreamin’ of them things?”</p> - -<p>“Nothin’ good—bad weather, most like.”</p> - -<p>“Glass is steady.”</p> - -<p>“Well, maybe we’ll bust on a reef or somethin’.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, shet your head!”</p> - -<p>“Shet yours. I’m wantin’ to get asleep.”</p> - -<p>Silence.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe could hear the water outside tickling the ribs -of the old <i>Sarah</i>. A bigger swell was running, and she -rose to it with balloon-like buoyancy. A score of little -voices from the trickle and slap of the sea against the -timbers to the click of the rudder chain marked her -movements.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143">143</a></span> -The idea of the ghosts chasing Jude round the dream -tree reminded him of how he had chased her round the -real tree and kissed her—kissed her out of irritation.</p> - -<p>Something in his half-asleep state told him he had been -a fool to do that. It was all done in play, just as a little -boy might kiss a little girl; but he was not a little boy. -What had prompted him?</p> - -<p>Then as he lay dissolving into slumber the groaning -timbers of the <i>Sarah</i> said something that sounded like -“nacheral calamity,” and then, the door of sleep flung -wide, he was walking on a blazing beach with Cleary.</p> - -<p>The <i>Natchez</i> and the <i>Juan</i> were at anchor out on the -blue dream sea, a great wreck was heaved up on the sands, -and when they reached it Cleary tapped on the timbers -and said something about a “nacheral calamity,” and at -the words a porthole opened and Jude’s fresh young face -appeared laughing, framed by the timbers of the wreck.</p> - -<p>It seemed to him the most delightful vision—then it -popped in and the porthole closed and Carquinez came -riding up on a horse, saying he was going to “bu’st” the -wreck open with dynamite to get at the treasure.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144">144</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV<br> - -<span class="subhead">UNDER WAY</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">He</span> was routed out before dawn by Satan. The -cabin lamp was lit, the table spread, and Jude was -bringing in coffee. She seemed in a bad temper, and -as he huddled himself into his clothes he could hear her:</p> - -<p>“Knockin’ myself about in the dark! That old slush -lamp in the galley don’t burn worth a cent. What you -want haulin’ out this hour for?”</p> - -<p>And to her Satan:</p> - -<p>“Wind will be up with the sun—where’s them biscuits? -We’ve got to get the dinghy aboard yet, and all that -raffle forward stowed, and it’ll be light enough in another -ten minutes.”</p> - -<p>“Where’s Rat?”</p> - -<p>“He’s comin’.”</p> - -<p>He sat down to table opposite Jude. She scarcely gave -him good morning. The face that had looked so well -framed by the porthole of the dream ship was cross, almost -sullen. He thought for a moment that her ill-temper -was directed toward Satan as well as himself; -then, in some subtle way, he knew it wasn’t. Early rising -may have helped; but he was the cause. What had -he done? He could not think.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145">145</a></span> -He remembered how she had acted when he had stood -up for her the night before. It was just the same this -morning.</p> - -<p>Satan said the coffee was burnt,—tasted like bud -barley, and ought to be slung in the slush tub. Ratcliffe -stood up for the coffee, but was cut short by Jude.</p> - -<p>“I reckon it’s beastly,” said Jude; “but I haven’t -more’n two hands to be gettin’ the things on the table -and the coffee boiled—and some folks snoring in their -bunks!”</p> - -<p>“Shet up!” said Satan, ruffled at this wanton attack on -the guest “And talkin’ of snorin’, I reckon you can give -any man points and beat him, once you lay down to it. -Why, you shake the ship so that I’ve woke often of -nights thinkin’ we’d got adrift and was dudderin’ over -sandbanks.”</p> - -<p>“Lord love you for a liar!” was all Jude said. She -refused help in clearing away the things, joining them on -deck a few minutes later, just as day was coming into -the eastern sky.</p> - -<p>The problem of how to get the dinghy aboard had not -occurred to Ratcliffe till now. The <i>Sarah Tyler</i> possessed -no davits, and though the old canvas boat was easy -to handle as an umbrella, the sturdy little dinghy was a -different matter.</p> - -<p>Standing in the half-dark with a faint wind bringing -the smell of the early morning sea, sharp as the smell -of a new-drawn sword, he questioned Satan on the -subject.</p> - -<p>“Get her aboard?” said Satan. “Oh, I’ll durn soon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146">146</a></span> -get her aboard. Davits! God love you! what do you -want them things for?”</p> - -<p>“Except for hoistin’ fools off the ship?” said the voice -of Jude from the darkness. “<em>Air</em> you goin’ to get a move -on? You’ve got the old awning to take in and stow. -Maybe you’ve forgotten it.”</p> - -<p>They got the awning down and stowed, and then, -against a train of fire crawling on the eastern sea-line and -in a light that made the world like the vestibule of -Fairyland, Satan set to on the problem of the dinghy. -He had no doubt half a dozen dodges for the purpose. -The one he employed was simply to unshackle the main -halyards and fix them to the ring-bolt on the bow.</p> - -<p>As they hauled on the tackle, and as if in answer to the -creak of block and shrill chantey started by Satan, the -races of the gulls blazed out. The deep-sea fishing gulls -had long since started for sea; but the shore gulls, as -though waiting for a convoy to follow, were round the -stern of the <i>Sarah</i>. Then, the dinghy secured, the throat -and peak halyards were manned, and the mainsail rose -slatting against the splendor of the morning.</p> - -<p>The sun was over the sea-line now, the wind rising -to meet him, and to starboard the fresh blue sea flooding -against the wind showed the <i>Natchez</i>, her canvas -rising and the fellows swarming at the ropes.</p> - -<p>Satan had unlashed the wheel and was standing by it, -now that the mainsail was set, shouting directions to his -crew; and to Ratcliffe, as he labored with Jude getting -the foresail and jib on her, the truth came in a flash -that this was the real thing. The lazy peace of the last<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147">147</a></span> -couple of days had broken all at once. Activity, Adventure, -and Danger seemed suddenly to have boarded the -old <i>Sarah Tyler</i> and delivered her as a prey to enormous -and unknown forces.</p> - -<p>He had never recognized till now the potential energy -of canvas. The mainsail seemed horribly vast, out of -all proportion to the hull; the slatting of the jib as they -raised it spoke of an energy new born, viewless, and -seeming to have little relationship to the warm and benign -breeze.</p> - -<p>But he had no time to think. The anchor was still -to be had in, and as he helped with Jude at the windlass—Pap’s -patent that would have raised a battleship—the -threshing of the canvas with all sheets slack and the -voice of Satan came urging speed.</p> - -<p>Then, when the old killick was aboard and the sails -trimmed, came Peace. With the wind on the starboard -beam and the canvas hard against the blue the <i>Sarah</i> -settled down to her work, Palm Island fading to westward, -and to sou’west the <i>Natchez</i> with all sail set in -pursuit.</p> - -<p>Jude’s bad temper seemed to have blown away on -the wind, the surly look had gone from her face, and as -she stood for a moment by Ratcliffe, looking over the -weather rail, her mind seemed entirely occupied by -Cleary.</p> - -<p>“He’s blowing along,” said Jude; “but he’s feeling our -pace. Not more than holding his own—and he had the -cheek to tell me once his old tub could sail circles round -the <i>Sarah</i>!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148">148</a></span> -Satan at the wheel cocked his eye over his shoulder -at the <i>Natchez</i>, spat, and refixed his gaze on the binnacle.</p> - -<p>“Where’s your eyes?” asked Satan.</p> - -<p>“In my head,” replied Jude. “What you gettin’ at?”</p> - -<p>“He’s overhaulin’ us. Wonder he ain’t aboard! Time -you was gettin’ that anchor up and handlin’ the jib.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe was about to share the blame when, remembering -the incident of the coffee, he checked himself and -held his peace.</p> - -<p>Satan was right. The <i>Natchez</i> had the pace of the -<i>Sarah</i>, at least under present wind conditions and under -plain sail. The two boats had evidently never been -matched before, and the gloom of the Tylers might have -been gaged by their silence. Satan did not want to run -away from Cleary; but he had promised him a “lead,” -and this impudent display of the better sailing qualities -of the <i>Natchez</i> was like a derisive underscore to the -promise.</p> - -<p>Cleary, in this matter at least, was a very unwise man. -He should have checked the speed of his boat by mishandling -her or even trailing a drogher. Instead of that -he held on, determined, evidently, to take the shine out -of the <i>Sarah</i> and pour derision on the head of Satan.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe, little as he knew of boat-craft, felt the situation. -Being wise, he said nothing.</p> - -<p>Suddenly Jude spoke.</p> - -<p>“It’s her beams helping her. Try her on a wind and -we’d knock flinders out of her. Lord! to think of being -beat by that old cod boat! Say, cayn’t we do nothin’, -crack on a balloon jib or somethin’?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149">149</a></span> -Satan laughed a mirthless laugh.</p> - -<p>“S’much as to tell the cuss we’re beat. Don’t you -think Cleary’s got no balloon jibs up his sleeve? Hain’t -you no sense?”</p> - -<p>They held on, the <i>Natchez</i> steadily overhauling them -till she was dead level half a mile away and drawing -ahead.</p> - -<p>Then, having demonstrated her superiority, she began -to reduce sail so as to give the <i>Sarah</i> the lead.</p> - -<p>Jude turned away and leaned with her back against the -rail; then Satan told her to take the wheel and went below -for a “wash.”</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150">150</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br> - -<span class="subhead">THE STEERSMAN</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap b"><span class="smcap1">Ratcliffe,</span> taking his seat on the bottom of the -dinghy, watched her as she steered, the old panama -on the back of her head and her eyes roving from the -binnacle to the luff of the mainsail. The following wind -blew warm, and the gentle creak of a block, the slash of -the bow-wash, and the occasional click of the rudder -chain were the only sounds in all the blue world ringing -them.</p> - -<p>A mile or more behind them the <i>Natchez</i> showed, a -triangle of pearl, Palm Island had vanished, and nothing -remained in all the wheel of sea but a trace of smoke -to the southward,—the smoke of some freighter hull down -on the horizon.</p> - -<p>The sturdy little figure at the wheel seemed to have -forgotten his existence. He was wondering whether the -grudge was still being kept up against him, and what it -was all about, and whether this indifference was real or -assumed, when a voice made him start:</p> - -<p>“Say! Have you swallowed your tongue?”</p> - -<p>“No, but I didn’t like to speak to you.”</p> - -<p>“What for?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151">151</a></span> -“Well, I’ve heard you mustn’t speak to the man at the -wheel.”</p> - -<p>“Who stuffed you with that yarn?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’ve seen it stuck up on steamboats, and besides -I thought you were in a temper with me.”</p> - -<p>“Which way?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you said davits were only good for hoisting -fools off a ship.”</p> - -<p>“So they are.”</p> - -<p>“I thought you meant me.”</p> - -<p>“Thought you was a fool, did you?”</p> - -<p>“Then last night you got in a wax—Jude.”</p> - -<p>“Yep.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing—only—we don’t want to quarrel—and we -haven’t been the same since last night, somehow.”</p> - -<p>“Which way?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t know. You wouldn’t let me help to clear -the things this morning.”</p> - -<p>“Wouldn’t I? Well, you can help to steer the ship -now. Kin you steer?”</p> - -<p>“Only a boat.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it’s easy learnt, and you’re not much use aboard -unless you can take your hand at the wheel.”</p> - -<p>He said nothing for a minute, admiring the way she -had steered clear of the subject he had started on.</p> - -<p>“I don’t mind,” said he at last. “I’ll learn some time—you -can teach me.”</p> - -<p>Jude let her eyes rest on him. Then suddenly, and -with the vehemence and force of a Methodist preacher -driving home a point from the pulpit, she spoke:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152">152</a></span> -“<em>Air</em> you stuck to the bottom of that dinghy with -cobbler’s wax?”</p> - -<p>He laughed and stood up.</p> - -<p>“That’s right,” said Jude. “Now come’n take the -wheel. Some time’s no time! You’ve got to learn to -handle her now if you want to. Go behind me and look -over my shoulder—that’s right.”</p> - -<p>He stood behind her, wondering what the next command -would be. It came almost at once.</p> - -<p>“Stick your eye on the compass card.”</p> - -<p>“Right.”</p> - -<p>“S’long as the pointer’s like that she’s on her course. -Now I’ll let her off a spoke or two—keep your eye on -the card.”</p> - -<p>The pointer altered its indication, and the mainsail -seemed suddenly attacked by the ague.</p> - -<p>“Now she’s on her course again,” said Jude, altering -the wheel. “Take hold of her. I’ll stand by to give you -a hand if you want it.”</p> - -<p>He took the spokes she had been holding as she relinquished -them, and the first sensation that came to him -was the feeling that he had taken hold of something alive, -something alive and sensitive as a hare. The wheel -seemed to have a motive power and will of its own, and -the infernal compass card to take affront at the least -movement of the helm.</p> - -<p>Jude rested her hand on his left hand to show him -how and give him confidence, and at the touch of her -firm little hand the stage-fright that comes to every steersman -when he first takes the wheel left him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153">153</a></span> -In five minutes he had got the hang of the thing, or -thought so.</p> - -<p>“Can you run her alone?” asked Jude.</p> - -<p>“Rather! It’s as simple as simple.”</p> - -<p>“Right,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>She drew off and took her seat on the dinghy.</p> - -<p>“Easy, ain’t it?”</p> - -<p>“Easy as pie.”</p> - -<p>The wind freshened a bit, and the <i>Sarah</i>, heeling -slightly, took matters in her own hand for a moment -and fell off her course. He put the wheel over too -much, and like a frightened horse she went plunging -away in the opposite direction, the wind spilling from -her sails and the main boom threatening to swing to -port.</p> - -<p>In a moment Jude was beside him, her hands on the -spokes, and the <i>Sarah</i> on her course again.</p> - -<p>A voice came from below, where Satan, like a sensitive -plant, had evidently felt the alteration in their course.</p> - -<p>“What the —— are you doin’ up there?”</p> - -<p>“Learning Rat to steer,” cried Jude.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe, himself again, retaking the wheel, turned to -her.</p> - -<p>“For God’s sake,” said he, “don’t call me that!”</p> - -<p>“Which?”</p> - -<p>“Rat.”</p> - -<p>“For the land’s sake what’s the matter with it?”</p> - -<p>“It’s a beastly name. If you want something short, -call me what everyone else calls me.”</p> - -<p>“What’s that?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154">154</a></span> -“Bobby.”</p> - -<p>“You’re lettin’ her off again,” said Jude. “Starboard—that’s -it. Here’s Satan: he’ll go on learnin’ you. I’m -goin’ below for a wash.”</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155">155</a></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157">157</a></span></p> -<div class="chapter"> -<h2><a id="PART_II"></a><span class="larger">PART II</span></h2> -</div> - -<hr> - -<h2 class="nobreak vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br> - -<span class="subhead">LONE REEF</span></h2> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">It</span> was the morning of the third day out, somewhere -about four o’clock. The moon had set, and the -<i>Sarah</i> was lifting against a gentle head sea, boosting the -foam from her bows under the light of a million stars.</p> - -<p>Satan was at the wheel, Jude below in her hammock, -and Ratcliffe at the weather rail, close to Satan. He -was leaning over watching the water,—gouts and lines -of star-shot foam, planes of ebony blackness, and now -and then, deep down, the bloom of phosphorus like the -life in the heart of a black opal.</p> - -<p>“What time do you reckon we’ll strike the reef?” asked -Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“We’re right on to it now,” replied Satan, “and if it -wasn’t more’n a five-knot breeze I’d heave her to.”</p> - -<p>“You aren’t afraid of running on it?”</p> - -<p>“Lord, no! There’s no smell of it yet.”</p> - -<p>“You mean to say you could smell it?”</p> - -<p>“Waal,” said Satan, “I don’t know if it’s rightly smell -or hearin’ or what, but I’d know it, even with the wind -as she is. I reckon it’s maybe the water. Shoal water -smells different from deep, and it’s shoal water right up -from four miles to Lone. Feels different too.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158">158</a></span> -“How do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“More choppy—I dunno—different. Jude would tell -you the same. Pap had the sense of it too. Western -ocean folks can smell ice miles off when the bergs are -cruisin’ about. I reckon it’s the same thing— There’s -the sun.”</p> - -<p>Right ahead, as if touched by a wizard, the stars had -faded above the sea-line, the sky over there looked sick, -a stain on the velvety splendor of the night.</p> - -<p>A great gull passed the <i>Sarah</i>, flying topmast high, and -now far off and as though coming through a pinhole -could be heard a creaky lamentable sound,—the crying -of gulls.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got the smell of her now,” said Satan. “Them -gulls you’re hearin’ aren’t all of them from Lone. -There’s a big spit to east’ard, and they’ll be comin’ up -against the wind. Say, will you take a bet?”</p> - -<p>“What sort?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll bet you even dollars Cleary hasn’t held on same -as we’ve done the last six hours. He was droppin’ astern -a long way last time I sighted him. He’ll have seen the -reef on the chart right ahead of him, and his navigation -is no account: hasn’t no sea sense. He’ll be hove to -singin’ ‘Lead, kindly light’ and listenin’ for the breakers—What -you say?”</p> - -<p>“I’d rather bet on the <i>Sarah</i>.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe you’re right,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>The head sails showed hard now against the east, and -almost before one could turn and look again the blaze -had come above a band of opal-tinted mist which passed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159">159</a></span> -and vanished, leaving on the horizon a train of fire pale -as guinea gold.</p> - -<p>In that moment, far ahead and as if suddenly sketched -by a pencil against the eastern light, they saw the naked -spars of a vessel anchored in the dawn.</p> - -<p>“That’s Cark,” said Satan. “Told you we’d find him -here—damn swab!”</p> - -<p>“Well, I couldn’t have believed it,” said Ratcliffe. He -remembered the sailing of the <i>Juan</i>, presumably for -Havana, and though he had sized up Sellers and -Carquinez for what they were worth, still, the evidence -of their duplicity, here before his eyes, came as a shock.</p> - -<p>In a moment it was blotted out by the sun, washed -away in the blazing, seething ocean of light that sprang -on them as if to the blast of a trumpet.</p> - -<p>Satan swung his head over his shoulders. Ratcliffe -followed his gaze. The sea to westward was empty, not -a sign of a sail.</p> - -<p>“Cleary’s gone,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Oh, he’ll be nosin’ along soon,” said Satan. “He’s -sure to come close enough to see Cark’s topmasts, and -then he’ll pounce.”</p> - -<p>He put the helm over, and the <i>Sarah</i> payed off to the -north so as to round the northern spur of the reef.</p> - -<p>“That’s the wreck,” said Satan, “that line like a lump -of rock.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe, shading his eyes, could now see the reef, long -and foam-flecked, stretching from north to south, the line -of rock absolutely unsuggestive of a wreck, beyond the -reef the <i>Juan’s</i> masts and spars, and about the reef-spurs<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160">160</a></span> -the gulls flitting and wheeling; but, despite the movement -of the gulls and the splendor of the morning, the place -struck him as the most desolate he had ever seen.</p> - -<p>“Nothing stirring,” said Satan, as they rounded the -north spur and the boom came over. “Them lowsy -Spaniards are all in their bunks. Rap on the deck for -Jude. Hi, Jude, y’lazy dog, show a leg! What you -doin’!”</p> - -<p>“Comin’,” cried a voice, followed by the sounds of -thrashing about and inquiries of the Lord to know where -her clothes were.</p> - -<p>Then at the hatch appeared a face blind with sleep. -She ran with Ratcliffe to get the lashings off the anchor, -helped to let go the halyards, and as the anchor fell and -the <i>Sarah</i> swung to her moorings a couple of cable lengths -from and outside the <i>Juan</i>, down she sat on the deck like -a person collapsing under a heavy load.</p> - -<p>The sight of the <i>Juan</i> did not seem to move her at -all. Like a dormouse suddenly electrified into life and -movement, the stimulus withdrawn, the mechanism ceased -to act. She yawned, turned on her side, and hid her face -in the crook of her arm as if to shut out the sun. Satan, -whistling between his teeth, stood with his hands on the -rail looking at the <i>Juan</i>.</p> - -<p>“They’re wakin’ up,” said he.</p> - -<p>A fellow with a red handkerchief round his head had -appeared on deck. He came and looked over the side -at the <i>Sarah</i>, then vanished.</p> - -<p>“Gone to wake Cark out of his beauty sleep,” said -Satan. “Look! There’s two more of them movin’ about<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161">161</a></span> -like sick flies. Will you look at the way they’ve stowed -them sails?—and they’ve got her a sight too close to the -reef. Get a Western Ocean sea suddenly runnin’ and the -anchor to drag, where’d they be?”</p> - -<p>He turned and contemplated the prostrate figure of -Jude.</p> - -<p>“There’s another sleepin’ beauty,” said he. “Ought -a be married to Cark. Well they’d look in the same -hammock with Sellers fannin’ the flies off them!”</p> - -<p>The figure on the deck turned on its back, stretched -out its arms, yawned, and then sat up holding its knees.</p> - -<p>Youth may sneer at Age; but, anyhow, Age knows -nothing of the weariness of Youth, of a morning.</p> - -<p>Satan, satisfied with the semi-resurrection, dropped below, -and promptly the figure fell on its back again with -arms outspread.</p> - -<p>“Get up!” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“I’m getting— Say!”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“I—ow—yow—ain’t it awful bein’ tired?”</p> - -<p>“You’ll be all right when you’re on your feet. Get -up!”</p> - -<p>“I’m getting— Say, d’you know where the fishing -lines are? Starboard locker. Fetch’m up, an’ that -chunk of grouper I kep’ for bait—in the tub.”</p> - -<p>“Right.”</p> - -<p>When he returned on deck she was drying her head -in the sun, having soused it in a bucket of water.</p> - -<p>Then they dropped a line.</p> - -<p>Away through the diamond-clear water, thirty feet<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162">162</a></span> -down, they could see the slack of the anchor chain like -a conger on the coral and sponge.</p> - -<p>A nurse shark passed like a grisly ghost, then a shoal -of sardines, then a young whip ray not bigger than a -soup plate, then a mangrove schnapper that nosed the -bait, swallowed it, and was hauled on board.</p> - -<p>“He’ll be enough,” said Jude. “You clean him while -I get the frying pan ready. Hullo! blest if Cark’s not -putting off a boat!”</p> - -<p>A boat had been dropped on the starboard side of the -<i>Juan</i> and was rounding her stern.</p> - -<p>“That’s Sellers,” said Jude, shading her eyes. “Satan! -Below there!”</p> - -<p>“Hullo!”</p> - -<p>“Sellers is coming off.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll be up in a minute.”</p> - -<p>The boat came alongside, just as it had come at Palm -Island,—same boat, same crew, Sellers just the same.</p> - -<p>“Hullo, Kid!” cried Sellers.</p> - -<p>“Hullo yourself! Thought you was gone to Havana.”</p> - -<p>“Thought you was to wait for us at Pa’m Island,” said -Sellers. “Hullo, Satan, that you? How about your contrac’ -with us?”</p> - -<p>Satan, who had just come on deck, leaned over the rail -and contemplated Sellers. Then he spoke.</p> - -<p>“God A’mighty!” said Satan. He stared at Sellers for -a moment as one might stare at a prodigy. Then he -broke out:</p> - -<p>“Contrac’! Holy George! <em>What</em> you say, contrac’?<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163">163</a></span> -You daar to hook onto my channel plates, and I’ll buzz -this fish at y’r head! Shove off! What are you doin’ -here, anyway? Why aren’t you at Havana gettin’ the -dynamite?”</p> - -<p>“Why ain’t you waitin’ for us at Pa’m Island?” -logically responded Sellers. “If you want to know why -we’re here. I’ll tell you. It was a bet I had with Cark.”</p> - -<p>“Which way?”</p> - -<p>“I bet him you’d never wait for us at Pa’m Island, -but’d light out for here to raise the stuff if we went -foolin’ off to Havana. Seems I was right, don’t it?”</p> - -<p>The impudence of this made Ratcliffe gasp, but left -Satan quite unmoved.</p> - -<p>“S’pose we quit lyin’,” said he.</p> - -<p>“I’m willin’ to follow soot,” replied Sellers.</p> - -<p>“Well, then,” said Satan, “follow soot off to the wreck -an’ get your workin’ party onto the business like hot -nails. I’ll be over to help you soon’s we’ve had breakfast. -You’ve no time to waste.”</p> - -<p>“How’s that?”</p> - -<p>“Cleary’s after you.”</p> - -<p>This news seemed to take the wind out of Sellers. -He sat for a moment without speaking.</p> - -<p>“How do you know that?” asked he at length.</p> - -<p>“He put into Palm Island not more’n four hours after -you’d gone; said you and Cark had tricked him and he -was after your blood. I told him that wasn’t no concern -of mine. He asked me had I seen you.”</p> - -<p>“What did you say?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164">164</a></span> -“The truth. Think I’d perjure me soul lyin’ for the -likes of you and Cark? Told him I was goin’ to join -you.”</p> - -<p>“<em>Sufferin’</em> Moses! You’ve put your hoof in it this -time! Go on and don’t stand waggin’ your tail! What’d -he say?”</p> - -<p>“Nothin’, didn’t say nothin’, but when I put out he -put out after me.”</p> - -<p>“Followed you?”</p> - -<p>“Yep. I only lost him last night; but it’s ten to one -he’ll drop on us. He’ll be bustin’ everywhere round -here.”</p> - -<p>“He will,” said Sellers, “and then it’s half shares he’ll -be wantin’, not to mention Cark’s liver. I’m sweatin’! -Cark’s let that chap down cruel. I owns it. Did it -against my advice. Did he have many with him?”</p> - -<p>“Reckon so. The old <i>Natchez</i> was full as a beehive -with the toughest-lookin’ crowd.”</p> - -<p>The sight of Sellers’ face at this announcement set -Jude off. She seized the fish and started off to the galley -with it, while Sellers, having communed with himself -for a moment, spoke:</p> - -<p>“Crooked’s a bad course to run,” said this moralist. -“I’ve always told Cark so. I told you we’d no dynamite -aboard,—neither we had,—but there’s a keg of powder in -the hold, and Cark reckoned to sample the goods without -your help. There, it’s out! You’d have had your -share as long as I’d a leg to stand on, honest you would, -s’far as I was concerned, and that’s all I have to say -pers’nally on the matter. What I’m gettin’ at is this: If<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165">165</a></span> -Cleary turns up, there’ll be hell of a rough house. Will -you stand for us if there’s fightin’ to be done?”</p> - -<p>“That depends,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“Which way?”</p> - -<p>“I’m not trustin’ you no more, not without the coin in -my hand. Cark’s got to plank down something on account, -if it’s no more’n a thousand dollars. If he don’t, -I’ll put out for Havana and blow the gaff. You’ve overhauled -the wreck?”</p> - -<p>“Yep.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you can judge what the chances are. You hop -back lively as a flea and tell Cark what I’m sayin’. Gold -coin and right into my fist this mornin’, or I’ll give the -show away. It’s his own doin’. If he’d played straight -with me, I’d have trusted him. Seein’ he’s played -crooked, he’ll have to pay. One thousand dollars, or I -go back to Havana and you’ll have a t’pedoboat on top -of you, to say nothin’ of Cleary!”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell him,” said Sellers. “Come over to the reef -soon as you’re ready and I’ll give you word of what he -says. I reckon it’ll be all right. One thousand dollars?”</p> - -<p>“Gold coin, and tell him it’ll be double after eleven -o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, he won’t kick,” said Sellers.</p> - -<p>The boat shoved away.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe remembered what Satan had said about the -chart and the hidden writing in it and the high probability -that the bones of the <i>Nombre de Dios</i> were lying -elsewhere than here. More than ever did it seem to him -that Satan was the spider of this web,—not a malignant<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166">166</a></span> -spider, for the flies he was catching in the form of -Carquinez and Sellers, and possibly Cleary, were the -weavers of the web, in which they seemed tangling themselves. -Satan only fell in with circumstance and took -toll.</p> - -<p>“Look here!” said he. “Suppose Carquinez pays you -a thousand dollars’ advance, and suppose you don’t find -any treasure, will you pay him back?”</p> - -<p>“Why should I pay him back?” asked Satan. “I’ve -given him the location, and that’s worth a thousand anyway.”</p> - -<p>“But you said there was nothing on the chart, that it -was a fake.”</p> - -<p>“Lord! I said no such thing. I said that in my -’pinion the stuff wasn’t here; but I may be wrong. -There’s Jude hollering for us to come to breakfast. -Come along down and I’ll show you my meanin’.”</p> - -<p>He scarcely spoke during the meal, and when it was -over he took the tobacco box from his pocket and opened -the chart on the table.</p> - -<p>“Now,” said Satan, “I’ll show you what I mean by -sayin’ the stuff may be here, but it’s a big sight larger -maybe it isn’t. Don’t crowd me. Stand behind me on -either side and keep your eyes on the chart. Well, now, -there’s Lone Reef with the creek marked and the name -of her, and there’s Rum Cay to the left, and there’s the -latitude and longitude wrote up—all plain, isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Well, seein’ Rum Cay is given, and seein’ Lone Reef -is down on all the charts and as well known as Cuba<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167">167</a></span> -to any sailor man, what did the man want stickin’ the -latitude and longitude down for? The chart’s not a -sailin’ chart. A blind monkey wouldn’t use it nor bother -about examinin’ the latitude and longitude wrote on it. -He’d just say, ‘Lone Reef is the place I want to get to,’ -and he’d get there with the ordinary ship’s chart.”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Satan, “in my opinion the chap that sank -the <i>Nombre de Dios</i> knew of the old wreck lyin’ over -there on Lone Reef and used it as a blind, for the latitude -and longitude wrote there so faint that no man -would bother to try to read it isn’t the latitude and longitude -of Lone Reef; it’s a hundred and ten mile out. It’s -the latitude and longitude of Cormorant Cay, a blasted -sandbank down to s’uthard, all shoals and gulls, and that’s -where the <i>Nombre de Dios</i> lies, in my ’pinion.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe whistled.</p> - -<p>“Of course I may be wrong,” said Satan, “there’s no -knowin’.”</p> - -<p>“I see what you mean,” said Ratcliffe. “This chap -reckoned that anyone finding or stealing the chart would -take the latitude and longitude written there for granted -as the latitude and longitude of Lone Reef, and not bother -to examine the figures and verify them; having no cause, -indeed, to do so, seeing Lone Reef is so well known and -on all the charts.”</p> - -<p>“That’s how it seems to me,” said Satan. “I’m not -sayin’ I’m right, but that’s how it seems to me, and if -he figured that no one would trouble about readin’ and -verifyin’ the latitude and longitude as given there he was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168">168</a></span> -right. Pap didn’t, and it was only by chance I did, a -month ago.”</p> - -<p>“Have you seen Cormorant Cay?”</p> - -<p>“Lord, yes! It’s a lagoon sandspit, and the hooker -may be in the lagoon for all I know, or under the sand -for all I know, or I may be wrong all through and that -may be her on the reef over there. Well, we’ve got to -see; but it seems to me I’m pretty safe anyway, if I can -touch Cark for that thousand.”</p> - -<p>So thought Ratcliffe.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169">169</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII<br> - -<span class="subhead">THE WRECK</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap al"><span class="smcap1">After</span> breakfast, leaving Jude to keep ship, they -got the dinghy overboard and rowed for the reef. -Here to eastward the landing was made easy by a scrap -of beach a hundred yards long, where the boat of the -<i>Natchez</i> was lying, having landed Sellers and his working -party.</p> - -<p>Satan, scrambling, led the way over the rocks to the -central creek between the two reef arms, where, ponded -round with water, lay the wreck.</p> - -<p>The reef, seen from the deck of the <i>Sarah</i>, showed -little sign of a wreck. One had to land on it to discover -that the long hogback of rock rising from the creek had -structure. There was not even the indication of where -a mast had been, bowsprit there was none, stem and stern -were almost indistinguishable; yet, standing there, with -the gulls flying round him and the lonely tune of the sea -in his ears, Ratcliffe knew that the thing he was gazing -upon was a ship. Structure speaks! You can destroy -it, but can scarcely disguise it.</p> - -<p>Between the right arm of the reef and the starboard -bow of the hulk a ridge of rock gave access to the deck,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170">170</a></span> -and as the others crossed over he took his seat to rest -for a moment and contemplate the thing before him.</p> - -<p>To see the Sphinx properly, one should visit it alone, -and so with the great wreck of the <i>Nombre de Dios</i>,—if -that were its name,—crouching here, camouflaged with -rock-growth and weed, swollen, sinister in the blazing -sunlight, and sung to by the chime and gurgle of the sea.</p> - -<p>Sunk in shallow water,—so the tale ran,—raised by -that alteration in level constantly in progress among the -reefs and islands, freighted with treasure, and guilty of -the death of many a man—well, the tale here rang true. -On board the <i>Sarah</i> one might doubt, but here, even in -face of that chart which seemed faked, one believed,—mainly, -perhaps, because one wanted to believe.</p> - -<p>Here, sitting on the reef, one became part of the story, -just as when the lights of the theater are lowered one -becomes part of the play. The flower-blue sky, the -sapphire sea, the tepid wind, the shouting gulls, all became -confederates. One saw, in the far past, the <i>Nombre -de Dios</i> setting sail,—the tragic figure of Lopez on her -quarterdeck; the sinking of her in shallow, reef-strewn -water; the escape in the boats; men dying of starvation; -the lapse of years; Lopez dying with her secret still -hidden; and Lone Reef rising still higher out of the sea -to expose more fully the murdered ship.</p> - -<p>The reef had always been here, for it was down in the -oldest charts. Had it really risen? Was that chart, as -Satan supposed, a lie?</p> - -<p>According to Sellers’ story, the <i>Nombre de Dios</i> had -been sunk in six-fathom water, thirty-six-foot. Well,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171">171</a></span> -if that was so, Satan was right, for the highest point of -the reef was only six feet above water, and when she was -sunk the reef would have been thirty feet under water -and so uncharted.</p> - -<p>There was the chance that Lopez might have sailed her -into the creek, deeper in those days, and that the creek -bottom might have raised itself to its present level, the -reef remaining the same. This seemed unlikely.</p> - -<p>And yet the decks must have been under water once, -to account for the old coral deposits.</p> - -<p>It was low tide in the creek now: high-tide mark was -six feet below the deck level. He tried to calculate how -far she must have been lifted, gave up the attempt, and, -rising, crossed by the rock bridge to her deck.</p> - -<p>This bridge of rock was another factor in the insoluble -problem. It seemed placed there by some marine architect -without reason, built up out of huge fragments as if -from some fallen peak or spire.</p> - -<p>“Step careful!” shouted Satan.</p> - -<p>The warning came just in time, for the deck was -slippery as ice in patches where a thin moss had grown,—a -gray, greasy moss, treacherous as Death, and covering -the droppings of innumerable sea birds.</p> - -<p>He made his way aft, where Sellers was standing with -Satan and the half-dozen Spaniards that formed the -working party. Drills and picks lay about, and marks -showed where work had been started the day before.</p> - -<p>“It’s a foot thick,” said Sellers, “whatever it is, and -harder than cement. Rock!—this ain’t coral rock, not -such as I’ve ever seen. Harveyized steel’s more like it,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172">172</a></span> -and after that there’s the deck planking to be got -through.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Satan, “I told you it was a dynamite job, -and if you’d played fair and got the stuff we’d have been -a long sight nearer the end of the business, even if we -started a week later. But there’s no use in talkin’ now, -and there’s no use in messin’ about pickin’ holes here and -there. Your job is to make a hole big enough to sink -that barrel of powder of yours—take me? Sink it half -deep and then lay a fuse and fire the whole lot at once -and risk chances. It’s ten to one you’ll split the deck -right open at one go. As for sinkin’ little holes and usin’ -small charges, you’ll be ten years on the job.”</p> - -<p>Sellers rose up and wiped his brow and cast his eyes -over the sea to westward, evidently with Cleary in his -mind.</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m not sure you aren’t right,” said he. “I’ll -fix it that way; but it’ll be a long job with the tools we -have.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe,” said Satan. “And now to the question of -them dollars.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, them—I’ve spoke to Cark, and he’s agreeable.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, is he? Well, then. I’ll go right aboard with you -now while he’s warm and get them dollars into my hand. -Set your men at work and you come along with me.”</p> - -<p>Sellers hung fire for a moment, then he agreed, gave -the working party their directions, and led the way off -the deck across the rock bridge.</p> - -<p>He pushed off with Satan in the boat of the <i>Juan</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173">173</a></span> -Satan asked Ratcliffe to take the dinghy back to the -<i>Sarah</i>.</p> - -<p>“You won’t want to be hangin’ about the reef,” said -Satan; “you’ll be more comfortable aboard ship. And tell -Jude to be sure and wash that old jumper I left on the -rail. She’s forgot it, for there it’s hangin’ still.”</p> - -<p>“Right,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174">174</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX<br> - -<span class="subhead">MUTINY</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap al"><span class="smcap1">As</span> he sculled up alongside the <i>Sarah</i> there was no -sign of Jude. He tied up the boat and came over -the rail.</p> - -<p>“Jude, where are you?”</p> - -<p>“What you want?” came a surly voice from below. -She was in the “saloon,” for he could hear her moving -about.</p> - -<p>“You.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you kin go on wantin’. I’m sick!”</p> - -<p>“What on earth’s the matter with you?”</p> - -<p>Pause—then the voice came again mixed with sounds -as of plates being put away.</p> - -<p>“I’m sick of the hull of this crowd—washing up and -cooking and you two playin’ about!”</p> - -<p>“Come up on deck.”</p> - -<p>“Sha’n’t! I’m going to scatter—soon’s I’ve finished -clearing away. Life of a dog!” indistinct grumbles tailing -away into silence.</p> - -<p>He lit a pipe and waited.</p> - -<p>Presently the companionway creaked and a head appeared -at the cabin hatch. He said nothing while the -whole body emerged, stood erect on the deck, and shaded<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175">175</a></span> -its eyes toward the <i>Juan</i>. Then, still speechless, it -leaned on the rail, looking toward the reef and apparently -lost in thought.</p> - -<p>The sleeves of the guernsey were rolled up to mid-arm, -ill temper seemed to have vanished and to have been replaced -by sudden laziness, and as she lolled, kicking up a -bare heel, she whistled.</p> - -<p>She seemed utterly unconscious of his presence—or -pretending to be. Then her eyes fell to the water alongside -and the dinghy. The whistling ceased and her face -turned to him.</p> - -<p>“Say,” said Jude, “where did you learn to tie up -boats?”</p> - -<p>He came beside her.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing at present, but give her half an hour and -she’d work herself free of that tomfool knot.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll go down and retie it.”</p> - -<p>“No use in troubling, I’m going off in her in a minute, -and she’ll hang there till I’m ready.”</p> - -<p>“Where are you going?”</p> - -<p>“Never <em>you</em> mind! You’ve been playing about on the -reef, and you’ve got to stick here now and boil the potatoes! -Me alone here all the morning!”</p> - -<p>“Why, I wasn’t more than an hour on the reef—and -I never knew you wanted to go. If I had, I shouldn’t -have gone, honestly I shouldn’t.”</p> - -<p>Jude contemplated him a moment with a more friendly -face.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said she, “I’m going, anyhow.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176">176</a></span> -“But where to?”</p> - -<p>“Gulls-nesting.”</p> - -<p>“On the reef?”</p> - -<p>“Lord, no! To the spit away there to east’ard. You -can’t see it: it’s near seven mile away.”</p> - -<p>“But you can’t row there alone.”</p> - -<p>“Can’t I? You bet I can, there and back by sundown!”</p> - -<p>“But what will Satan say?”</p> - -<p>Jude laughed. “He’ll be wild—that’s what I want to -make him. I’ll learn him! Him and his jumpers!”</p> - -<p>She took the jumper off the rail, rolled it up and -threw it on the deck, then she dived below and reappeared -with a water jar and some provisions done up in a bundle. -She had evidently been making her preparations.</p> - -<p>“Look here!” said Ratcliffe. “If you’re going, I’ll go -too.”</p> - -<p>“No, you won’t!” said Jude. “You’ve got to stick here -and look after the ship—and see how you like it.”</p> - -<p>“Not I—I couldn’t face Satan; besides, if you want -to make him wild really, hell be twice as wild if we -both go; besides, I’m sick of the ship. Come on: I’ve -never been gulls-nesting.”</p> - -<p>Jude, evidently weakening, put down her bundle.</p> - -<p>“Well, there ain’t enough grub for two,” she complained. -“I reckon there’s enough water, though.”</p> - -<p>“Well, get some more grub.”</p> - -<p>She cast her eyes about in indecision, now at Ratcliffe, -now at the <i>Juan</i>, then, with one of those sudden changes<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177">177</a></span> -so indicative of her, she made up her mind and dived below.</p> - -<p>Five minutes later she reappeared with another small -bundle.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe, during her absence, had torn the back off -an old letter. He had a pencil in his pocket, and, scrawling -“gone gulls-nesting on the sandspit” on the paper, -stuck the missive to the mast with his penknife.</p> - -<p>Then, bundling the food and the water jar into the -dinghy, they started.</p> - -<p>He took the sculls at first, Jude steering, her eyes fixed -ahead under the shade of her old panama. She could -tell exactly the spot where the spit lay. She could not -see it, but she could see in the sky now and then over -there a faint trace like a haze of smoke that formed, -vanished and reformed,—gulls.</p> - -<p>Occasionally she looked back where the deserted <i>Sarah -Tyler</i> lay, with the <i>Juan</i> seeming now close beside her -and the reef behind them. Smaller and smaller they -grew and more vast the ocean, an infinity of blazing -lazulite, without horizon, silent, but sonorous with light.</p> - -<p>The current was with them.</p> - -<p>Satan had made a small mast and lug sail for the -dinghy. That was the job he had been engaged on while -Jude and Ratcliffe had landed on Palm Island to get provisions -from the cache. He had worked with all the -care of a fond mother making a garment for a beloved -child. The little mast, scraped and varnished, the sail -made of an extra special bit of stuff wheedled from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178">178</a></span> -Thelusson, were in the boat, and, a breeze now springing -up from the sou’west, Jude gave orders to step the mast. -Then she took the sheet, he slipped from his seat to the -bottom of the boat, and the dinghy, bending to the three-knot -breeze, lifted to the gentle swell.</p> - -<p>A great herring hog passed them, plunging like a -dolphin, and a flying fish with blind, staring eyes missed -the sail by a hand’s breadth and flickered into the sea -ahead; then a strange-looking gull swooped toward them -from nowhere, hung for a moment with domed wings, -honey-colored against the sun, and passed with a cry into -the great silence, a silence broken only by the slap and -tinkle of the water against the planking.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe lit his pipe. Jude, steering, seemed to have -forgotten her last trace of grudge against him, forgotten -Satan and the jumper and the fact that she had been -left to her lonesome while they had been playing on the -reef and her desire to cut the whole show and start a -“la’ndry.” She seemed just now a different person, companionable -and friendly and sane, as though the cooking -and cleaning and the worries and troubles of the <i>Sarah</i> -had been lifted like a dish-cover from her prisoned soul.</p> - -<p>It was the first time they had been really alone together, -and the companionship that springs from loneliness -helped.</p> - -<p>The gull reminded her of gulls she had seen on the -Louisiana coast where the cypress swamps come down -to meet the sea and you could hear “the bullfrogs shoutin’ -all night, ‘Paddy got drunk, Paddy got drunk, Paddy -got drunk,’ and the other chaps answering up, ‘Bottle of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179">179</a></span> -rum, bottle of rum, bottle of rum,’ and the ’gaters would -come alongside grinding against the planking sniffing for -bits—ever seen a ’gater?”</p> - -<p>“Only stuffed.”</p> - -<p>“Which way?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, in museums and places.”</p> - -<p>“What’s them?” asked Jude.</p> - -<p>“Oh, places where they keep stuffed birds and animals.”</p> - -<p>“Git a bit more to sta’board to trim the boat; <em>sta</em>’board -I said, not port! And what in the nation do they want -keeping them things for?”</p> - -<p>“Jude,” said he lazily.</p> - -<p>“What?”</p> - -<p>“This is the jolliest time I ever spent. I’ve never felt -free before till just now. I’d like to go sailing round and -round the world in this little dinghy and forget civilization. -That’s the place where they keep stuffed birds to -look at, and stuffed animals in museums, and where the -men and women are stuffed idiots. Do you remember the -morning I came on board the <i>Sarah</i> first?”</p> - -<p>“Them pajamas!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, them pajamas. Only for them you wouldn’t -have laughed at me, and if you hadn’t laughed at me I -shouldn’t have come aboard, perhaps.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, you would.”</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>“Satan wanted you.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, did he? Bless Satan!—he made me young -again.”</p> - -<p>“Lord! you ain’t so old as all that.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180">180</a></span> -“I’m over twenty-one—and you’re only—”</p> - -<p>“Raisin’ sixteen,” said Jude, with steady eyes fixed -ahead where the gulls above the spit were now well -visible.</p> - -<p>He refilled and lit his pipe, bending under the gunnel.</p> - -<p>“You’re mighty fond of that old pipe,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“Have a whiff?”</p> - -<p>“Not me! I had half a cigar once; Dirk Peterson -dared me. It was one of them wheelings, black, slick-lookin’ -cigars. He and me an’ anuther boy’d gone to look -at the nigger girls bathin’ and clod them—”</p> - -<p>“Where on earth was that?”</p> - -<p>“Vera Cruz.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, and who was Dirk Peterson?”</p> - -<p>“Son of an old feller that run a dridger in the harbor, -Yankee, half-Dutch, hadn’t only one eye, and wasn’t -more’n eleven, biggest liar from here to C’necticut. His -face was all chawed up, and he said he’d got it like that -and lost his eye fightin’ with a tiger. Confl’ent smallpox -was what had done him, so Pap said; but the boys -believed him till that day I was telling you of, he fetched -out a half cigar he’d stole or picked up somewhere and -a box of waxios and dared me smoke her—and I lit her -up, like a durned fool!”</p> - -<p>“What happened then?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, lots of things,” said Jude. “First of all the harbor -begun spinnin’, and then it went on till two tides -more I’d have been inside out, when Dirk shouts to some -chaps to come an’ look at Jonah tryin’ to bring up the -whale. That got my goat, and I laid for him by the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181">181</a></span> -foot and brought him down and near beat the head off -him. Then I got sick on him again, and he run home -to his mother, with all the fellers after him wantin’ to -know about that tiger.”</p> - -<p>“He couldn’t fight?”</p> - -<p>“N’more than a jewfish.”</p> - -<p>“Have you had many fights with boys?”</p> - -<p>“Not me—not with Satan handy to do the fighting. -I’d only to say to one, ‘You touch me and I’ll put Satan -on you,’ and he’d shrivel.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I shouldn’t care to tackle Satan myself,” admitted -Ratcliffe. “And Sellers seemed to think a lot of -him that way, for I heard him asking if he’d stand by if -Cleary showed fight.”</p> - -<p>“Garn!” said Jude. “Cleary—he’s no good; Sellers is -no good, neither. There’s not a man in these seas nowadays -that’s got the fight of a tomcat in him. That’s -what Pap used to say. He was great on old times, and -used to string off yarns about the pirates and the high -doin’s there used to be, and he said we were nothing but -a lot of scowbankers now—and that’s the truth! If -Cleary comes up with Cark, they’ll be shaking hands and -kissing one another, feeling in each other’s pockets all -the time to see if they can’t steal five cents. In the old -days they’d have been cutting each other’s throats.”</p> - -<p>“Would you like to be a pirate, Jude?”</p> - -<p>“You bet!”</p> - -<p>“Murdering people?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, ask me another.”</p> - -<p>“How’d you like to kiss Cark?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182">182</a></span> -“How’d you? Hear the gulls!”</p> - -<p>The crying of the gulls above the spit was coming up -against the wind, a lamentable sound across the lone blue -sea.</p> - -<p>“We’re not more’n a mile away,” said the steersman. -“You can get a sight of the spit if you raise yourself. -That’s it, the white line runnin’ north and south; but the -gulls don’t seem to be as many as they used to be a year -ago. It’s a bit early for the full laying season, but there’s -sure to be turkles’ eggs. Better get your shoes and -stockin’s off and roll up your pants, for it’s shallow beaching -and we’ll have to run her up.”</p> - -<p>“Won’t you take down the sail and row her in?”</p> - -<p>“Not me. There’s no sea on and I’ll run her up as -she is.”</p> - -<p>They held on, the gulls shouting over them now, and -the sigh of the sandspit, fuming to the lazy sea, in their -ears. It was full tide, and as the keel touched the sand, -letting the sheet go and the sail to flog in the wind, they -tumbled over and dragged the little boat high and dry.</p> - -<p>Then Jude took down the sail.</p> - -<p>“You aren’t hungry yet?” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“No; are you?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I can wait. Well leave the grub and the water -jar in the boat and cover them with the sail,—keep -the sun off. Lend’s a hand.”</p> - -<p>They covered the provisions, hauled the boat up another -foot or two to make sure, and, that done, Ratcliffe -looked around him.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183">183</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX<br> - -<span class="subhead">THE SANDSPIT</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">That</span> was one of the strangest moments in his life. -He had never seen anything comparable to this long -white street of sand curbed with emerald waves, leading -nowhere, lost, useless, desolate, brilliant with a brilliance -that hit the heart as well as the eye, flown over by the -white gulls.</p> - -<p>The sands fizzed to the sea wind, and away to north -and south they trembled and waved in the heat; but the -curious thing was the fact that, despite their loneliness, -one did not feel alone. The place seemed populous, -filled with a crowd that for a moment had made itself -invisible. Perhaps it was the riot of color and the -brilliance of light: the effect remained.</p> - -<p>Jude, looking round, seemed preoccupied about something. -It was the absence of gulls.</p> - -<p>“Last time I was here,” said Jude, “it was all over -gulls’ nests, right here in the middle. Now they seem -to have gone off to the ends. Wonder what’s come to -them?”</p> - -<p>“Maybe it’s too early for them.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a bit early, but not much: there’s always early -breeders. No, they’ve just took their hook—gulls are<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184">184</a></span> -like that. We’ll have to go and hunt at the ends. You -go north and I’ll go south.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said he, “it’s an awfully long way. Suppose -we have something to eat first?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t mind,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>They got the provisions and water jar from the boat -and sat down on the sands. It was past noon and cooler, -for the breeze had livened up, the outgoing tide was -leaving a strip of wet sand glittering like a golden -sword, and the fume of beach filled the air resonant with -the gentle rhythm of the waves.</p> - -<p>They ate, leaning on their sides like old Athenians. -They had no cup; so they took it in turns to drink from -the water jar. Then he lit a pipe.</p> - -<p>“This is jolly,” said he.</p> - -<p>“Ain’t bad,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>She made a pillow of sand for her head, and then, on -her back with her head on the pillow, lay like a starfish, -spread-eagled, her hat over her eyes.</p> - -<p>He followed suit.</p> - -<p>“How about those gulls’ nests?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Which ones?” evaded Jude.</p> - -<p>“The ones you were going to hunt for?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, them? Well, I reckon there’s dead loads of -time.”</p> - -<p>“Lots—listen to the sand!”</p> - -<p>“It’s the wind blowing it.”</p> - -<p>“I know. All the same this is a rum place. Do you -know when we landed here, just now, the first thing -that struck me?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185">185</a></span> -“Naw.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I felt as if the place was full of people.”</p> - -<p>“Which way?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t know; people I couldn’t see, ghosts.”</p> - -<p>“Hants?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“What made y’ think that?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t know. Somehow it reminded me of a -story I’d once read.”</p> - -<p>“What was the story?”</p> - -<p>“About a beach over in the Pacific where wizards used -to go and pick up shells.”</p> - -<p>“What’s them?”</p> - -<p>“Chaps that work magic and sell themselves to the -devil. They can make themselves invisible so’s you can’t -see them, and they used to come to the beach and pick -up shells, and then turn the shells into silver dollars. -You couldn’t see them, but you could hear them rustling -about, like that sand, and talking to one another, -and now and then you’d see a little fire blaze up.”</p> - -<p>Jude, interested, rolled over, rested her chin in her -palms, and kicked a bare heel to the sun.</p> - -<p>“I reckon you’re not far wrong,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“How?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ve felt the same way here myself, as if there -was hants about and if you’d turn your head sharp -you’d see someone behind you. Now you’ve talked of -it. I’ll be always thinking it if I come here again. Wish -you’d kept your head shut.”</p> - -<p>She sat up and looked about her.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186">186</a></span> -“Sorry,” said Ratcliffe, raising himself on his arm; -“but if you come again I’ll come with you, and that’ll -keep the hants off—unless I’m gone.”</p> - -<p>“How d’you mean?”</p> - -<p>“Well, when this cruise is over I’ll have to leave you -both and go home. I don’t want to go.”</p> - -<p>Jude said nothing. Staring over the sea under the -brim of her hat, she did not seem to have heard him.</p> - -<p>“I’d much sooner stick on here with you and Satan. -What’s that thing floating out there?”</p> - -<p>“Turkle,” said Jude. “Look, he’s doing a dive!”</p> - -<p>He sat up beside her.</p> - -<p>“So he has. Well, he’s gone.” He sat with his knees -up, looking over the sea.</p> - -<p>Alone here with Jude she seemed a different person -from what she had been aboard the <i>Sarah</i>. The strange -antagonism she had suddenly exhibited, and a trace of -which had remained up till this morning, seemed to have -utterly vanished. Perhaps it was the “hants,” or the -loneliness, or a combination of both, but she seemed -subdued.</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t see what you want going for if you -don’t want to,” suddenly said Jude, drawing up her -knees and crossing them with her hands.</p> - -<p>“Oh, bother!” said he. “Don’t let’s think of it; besides, -we’ll fix up something. I don’t want to go. I’ve -never had such a jolly time in my life, and I’m not -going to lose sight of you and Satan—unless you want -to.”</p> - -<p>“Lord! I don’t want to.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187">187</a></span> -“Well, that’s all right We’ll stick together, somehow, -and let the old world go hang, and we’ll go hunting -abalones and fishing—let’s make plans.”</p> - -<p>His arm somehow slipped round her waist, half automatically, -just as one puts one’s hand on a person’s -shoulder. When he realized what he had done, he realized, -at the same time, that she did not seem to mind; -more than that, she reciprocated in a way by letting her -shoulder rest more comfortably against his. It was -companionship, pure and simple, and her mind seemed -far away, wrapped in the sun-blaze as with a garment, -and wandering—who knows where?</p> - -<p>“Heave ahead,” said Jude drowsily. “What’s your -plans?”</p> - -<p>“Plans—oh, I’ve lots. Let’s go round the world in the -old <i>Sarah</i>—get a couple more hands.”</p> - -<p>“Where’d you stick them?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you’ve got a foc’s’le.”</p> - -<p>“Not big enough for a tomcat. The nigger filled it. -He said he reckoned he’d got to stick his head through -the hatch to breathe.”</p> - -<p>“Well, we’ll get rid of the <i>Sarah</i> and get a bigger -boat.”</p> - -<p>“Lord! Don’t you never let Satan hear you say that: -she’s his skin!”</p> - -<p>“We’ll do without extra hands, then, and work her, -the three of us. I can steer all right now.”</p> - -<p>“Kin you?”</p> - -<p>“You know jolly well I can!”</p> - -<p>“What’s the points of the compass? Run ’em off.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188">188</a></span> -“North—nor’-nor’east, nor’east—um—”</p> - -<p>Jude chuckled subduedly.</p> - -<p>“Heave ahead!”</p> - -<p>“I’ve forgotten.”</p> - -<p>“Never knew.”</p> - -<p>“Well, maybe.”</p> - -<p>The confiding shoulder rested more heavily against -him as against a cushion and she began to hum a tune. -She seemed to have forgotten the points of the compass, -him, everything, just as a child suddenly forgets everything -in day-dream land.</p> - -<p>The absolute contentment of doing nothing, resting, -listening to the waves, had fallen upon him too, with a -something else, a sort of mesmerism born of his companion, -the strangest feeling as though Jude were a part -of himself, as though he had put his arm round his own -waist and a new self,—a much pleasanter self than the -old one, less stiff, more human, and somehow more alive.</p> - -<p>The metronomic rhythm of the little waves falling on -the sand seemed to mix his thoughts together and blur -them; but he saw Skelton, Sir William Skelton, Bart., -he saw a girl he, Ratcliffe, had been engaged to, he saw -all sorts of men and all sorts of women, everyone he -had ever known, it seemed to him, in a nebulous cluster, -and they all seemed, somehow, not quite alive,—not dead, -but sleeping in the trance we call civilization, their days -ordered by the beat of a metronome,—get up—wash—dress—eat—work -or play—eat—work or play—eat—work -or play—bed—sleep—get up—wash—dress etc.,—all -the figures moving like one, their very laughter and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189">189</a></span> -tears ordered except when they got drunk or went mad.</p> - -<p>It seemed to him that vivid life was not so much a -question of vitality as of freedom.</p> - -<p>Was that the secret Satan had discovered,—Satan, -who had no hankering after great riches, but was free -as a gull? Satan and Jude were gulls,—seagulls, untamable -as seagulls and as far from civilization! It was as -though his arm were round a bird,—quiescent by some -miracle and allowing him to handle it, and imparting -to him, somehow, the knowledge of its vitality,—the -vitality of freedom.</p> - -<p>“What I like about the old <i>Sarah</i>,” said he, “is the -way she just pots about—with nothing to do.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing to do!”</p> - -<p>“Well, you and Satan can take things easy.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, can we? That’s news—what d’you call easy?”</p> - -<p>“You have no fixed work, you can knock off when -you like, you haven’t to carry cargo, or be bothered with -owners, or be up to time. You are as free as the gulls.”</p> - -<p>Jude took his hand and removed his arm from around -her waist just as one removes a belt. She wanted to -shift her position. She seemed to have lost interest in -the conversation. Sand had got between her toes, and -she removed it, running her finger between them. She -had no handkerchief,—never used one or needed to use -one: the perfectly healthy animal never does.</p> - -<p>Then, crossing her legs like a tailor and squatting in -front of him, she dived into the right hand pocket of -her trousers and produced a dollar, a slick, evil, suspicious-looking -dollar. She seemed utterly to have forgotten<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190">190</a></span> -the gulls’-nesting business and how the time was -running on, and having little passion for the business -he was content not to remind her.</p> - -<p>“I’ll match you for dollars,” said Jude. She was no -longer the person of a moment ago. She was the harbor -larrikin, the clodder of bathing nigger girls, a person to -be avoided by pious boys with possessions in the form -of money or land.</p> - -<p>The coin spun in the air.</p> - -<p>“Tails is the bird,” cried Jude.</p> - -<p>“Heads, then.”</p> - -<p>“Tails! Y’owe me a dollar.”</p> - -<p>It spun again.</p> - -<p>“Heads! We’re quits. Heads again, heads—oh, hell!—what -you want sticking to heads for? That’s two -dollars I owe you. Tails—scrumps! that’s three! Tails -again, that’s four. What you want sticking to tails -for? Why don’t you wabble about an’ give a body a -chance? Heads—holy Mike! What’s wrong with the -durned thing? Five dollars gone on a bang!”</p> - -<p>“We’re not playing right,” said he. “We should call -alternately.”</p> - -<p>“What’s that?”</p> - -<p>“One after the other.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not going to play any more,” said Jude. “I’m -broke. The bank’s bust and I kin’t pay you, not till I -get to Havana—unless I play you double or quits. You -call; I’ll toss.”</p> - -<p>“Heads.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191">191</a></span> -She sent the coin six feet high and it fell on the sand—heads!</p> - -<p>“That settles it,” said Jude. “Ten dollars I owe you. -You’ll have to wait till we get to Havana, for if Satan -knew I was tossing for coins he’d sculp me. I can get -some money out of the bank at Havana, pretending it’s -for something else. I haven’t a cent, an’ this old dollar’s -no use: it’s a dud.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t owe me anything,” said Ratcliffe. “We -were only tossing for fun.” The words were no sooner -out of his mouth than he regretted them.</p> - -<p>Jude flushed red under her freckles and sunburn.</p> - -<p>“I’m not taking your money, thank you,” said she; -then breaking out, “What the blizzard d’you think we’ve -been playing at, and what you take me for? S’posin’ -I’d won, you’d a paid, wouldn’t you?”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t mean anything,” said he.</p> - -<p>“Y’shouldn’t have said it, then,” said she.</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m sorry—I take it back.”</p> - -<p>She played with the dud dollar for a moment, tossing -it, and catching it; then she put it into her pocket, uncrossed -her legs, and lay flat; her chin resting on the -back of her hands.</p> - -<p>Her hat was off, lying beside her, and the quarrel -with him was evidently over; she seemed plunged in -reverie. Then he noticed that the eyes, upturned under -their lashes, were steadfastly looking at him. Instantly -they fell, and her position altered so that her face was -hidden on her arm.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192">192</a></span> -He lit his pipe and smoked for a moment in silence.</p> - -<p>“Jude!”</p> - -<p>No answer.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter with you?”</p> - -<p>Silence. He remembered how she had shammed dead -on Palm Island, put down his pipe, and crawled toward -the corpse. It was rigid, and to revive it he began to -pour sand on its head.</p> - -<p>“Quit fooling,” grumbled a voice; then, as if the sand -had suddenly revived memory and galvanized her to life, -she scrambled to her feet.</p> - -<p>“Them eggs—and the sun’s getting down and we fooling -about!” She picked up her hat. “I’ll take this end -and you go t’other.”</p> - -<p>“But I haven’t anything to gather them in.”</p> - -<p>“Gather them in your hat, and keep a lookout for -quicksan’s. If you get into one, holler and throw yourself -on your back. But you’ll easy tell them—they look -different from the or’nary sands.”</p> - -<p>“How?”</p> - -<p>“I dunno; just different. If you see the sand in front -of you looking different, keep clear of it.”</p> - -<p>Off she went.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193">193</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI<br> - -<span class="subhead">DISHED</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">He</span> struck to the north. Over there in the north the -sea was of a violet blue accentuated by the white -blaze of the sands.</p> - -<p>The sands, once one got moving on them, were full -of interest, strewn along the sea-edge with all sorts of -prizes,—colored shells, cuttlefish bones, extraordinary -seaweeds, bits of wreckage; a few yards out a nautilus -fleet was steering, with tiny sails set to the wind, the -oldest ships that ever floated on the sea, unspoiled by -storm and time, just as they were launched in the morning -of the world. He watched them for awhile, forgetful -of gulls’ eggs, or quicksands, or the sun, now sensibly -declining.</p> - -<p>If ever things had purpose, these had. They were -going somewhere, bound on some business, keeping formation, -and possessed of charts and compasses and -barometers as surely as of sails. They made him think -of God, and then they made him think of Satan,—Satan, -whose sea sense served him better than all precise knowledge.</p> - -<p>Then he remembered Jude and glanced back. Away, -far away to the south, he saw her. The sands dipped<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194">194</a></span> -and rose there, and sometimes she was invisible and his -heart thumped to the idea that a quicksand had taken -her, then she reappeared and he went on, and, ever as -he went, he seemed walking deeper into loneliness, peopled -with viewless things and half-heard voices.</p> - -<p>Sometimes a chiming sound like the shattered and -mingled voices of distant bells filled the air,—it was the -singing of the sands. He had not noticed it in company -with Jude, but here alone he noticed it. Sometimes -laughter, far away in the distance, came distinct, human, -and startling,—it was the calling of a laughing gull,—and -always, penetrating all other sounds with the subtlety of -osmosis, the silky, sinister whisper of the wind playing -with the sand-grains. He went on. Something nearly -tripped him. It was a great spar, half sanded over, the -relic of some ship that had come to grief, maybe, on -the spit.</p> - -<p>The sight of this spar touched everything with a new -and momentary color. “Gascoign, the Sandal Wood -Trader,” and other old stories he had read in his boyhood -came back to him half-remembered, and with them -came a whiff from a world he had half-forgotten,—a -breath of the air we breathe at fifteen.</p> - -<p>He saw to his satisfaction that the gulls were beyond -his reach, a broad channel of water cutting the spit in -two right ahead. He took his seat on the spar for a -moment to rest and look about, and as he sat the gulls, -wheeling and crying, kept up around him the elusive -atmosphere of storyland.</p> - -<p>All the money in the world could not have brought<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195">195</a></span> -him that! Nor could he have found it had he landed -here from a yacht with grown-up companions.</p> - -<p>He fell to thinking what an extraordinarily lucky person -he was, and to plume himself on his instinctive wisdom -in dropping Skelton and civilization for Jude and -Satan, who had led him into a world of things he had -never seen, things he had never imagined, things he had -half-forgotten.</p> - -<p>Carquinez alone was a revelation, to say nothing of -Sellers and Cleary. There was only one cloud, smaller -than a man’s hand; but there!—where was it to end? -It was all very well talking to Jude about sailing round -the world: you can’t sail out of Time, and the time would -come—the time would <span class="locked">come—</span></p> - -<p>Jude was winding threads round him as a silkworm -winds a cocoon,—tiny threads but deathly strong. It -was almost as though she were becoming part of himself,—part -of himself and part the sun and freedom and -blue sea. She seemed half built up of those things and -to have the power to make him one with them. Well, -there was no use in bothering. So he said to himself, -and as he said it the cloud no larger than a man’s hand -swelled and twisted and rolled across the sandspit before -him, resolving itself into a troupe of female relations, -male relations, friends,—people as remote from Satan -and Jude as parrots from seagulls, caged parrots content -in the great gilded cage of convention.</p> - -<p>What would they say about Jude? He had an instinctive -knowledge of what Jude would say about them, if -they ever met, which seemed impossible.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196">196</a></span> -Then came the weird recollection that they had, in a -way, actually met. She had met Skelton, the high priest -of the whole crowd, Sir William Skelton, Bart. Old -Popplecock was the label she had affixed to him, and it -somehow stuck and fitted. What label would she affix -to his aunts, his two maiden mid-Victorian aunts, should -she ever meet them?</p> - -<p>A faint halloo from the south sent aunts and all other -considerations flying. He turned. Jude, far away on -the sands, was coming toward the dinghy. She was -carrying something and running as if pursued; then he -saw her trip and fall.</p> - -<p>She was on her feet in a second, and the thing pursuing -her had evidently given up the hunt, for she stood -examining something she had picked up from the ground, -and seemed regardless of everything else.</p> - -<p>He waited for her by the boat, and as she came up -he guessed the tragedy. She had been carrying a hatful -of birds’ eggs and had smashed than when she fell. -The hat was eloquent.</p> - -<p>“Smashed them every one,” said Jude, wading out and -beginning to wash the hat. “All your fault!”</p> - -<p>“My fault! For heaven’s sake how?”</p> - -<p>“Stuffing me up with them yarns.”</p> - -<p>“What yarns?”</p> - -<p>“Hants.”</p> - -<p>“Was that what made you run?”</p> - -<p>“Who was running?”</p> - -<p>“You were.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, was I? Reckon you’d have run too.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197">197</a></span> -“Did you see anything?”</p> - -<p>“Yep.”</p> - -<p>“What was it?”</p> - -<p>“You never mind.”</p> - -<p>She was evidently in a vile, bad temper; so he took -his seat on the sand waiting for her to cool. Then, hat -in hand, she came and sat close beside him, more out -of a desire for company than friendship, he imagined; -then, placing the hat to dry, she began examining the -sole of her right foot, spreading the toes apart and -brushing off the sand.</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m awfully sorry,” said he at length. “But -tell us—what was it you saw, really?”</p> - -<p>“A wuzzard.”</p> - -<p>“What was it like?”</p> - -<p>“Nothin’,” then suddenly, and as if unburdening her -soul, “I hadn’t more’n got the last of the eggs when I -turned and saw him walking on the sands,—little old -man with a glass under his arm, dressed queer in a long -coat, an’ a hat on his head like an I dunno what. I -wasn’t afraid, thought he was real, and he stuck the -glass to his eye ’sif he was looking out for a ship.”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Then he went out—puff—like the sniff of a candle—hu—hu—” -She clung to him.</p> - -<p>“It was all my fault,” said he, “talking that nonsense. -Don’t think of it: it was only an optical illusion.”</p> - -<p>“He didn’t cast a shadow—I remember now.”</p> - -<p>“That proves it. I’ve often heard cases like that. -Sir Walter Scott saw a man like that once, and he knew<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198">198</a></span> -it was only an illusion. He had some wine handy and -he drank a glass of it, and the thing disappeared.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon I’d have drunk a barrel of rum if I’d had -one handy,” said Jude, drawing away a bit. “Let’s get -off. Lord! Look at the sun—it’s half down. Come’n -help with the boat.”</p> - -<p>They got up, and taking the dinghy by the gunnels -began to haul her to the water. They had not got her -more than a couple of yards when Jude straightened up -as though remembering something and clapped her hand -to her head.</p> - -<p>“We’re dished!” said Jude.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199">199</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII<br> - -<span class="subhead">THE CRABS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">“How</span> do you mean?” said he.</p> - -<p>She explained. It was like her to forget and -spend the precious time lazing and playing about with -“wuzzards.” The sun was taking his plunge into the -sea, darkness was upon them, and she could not find her -way back in the dark. Moon or starlight would be of -no use. The thriddy spars of the <i>Sarah</i> and <i>Juan</i>, invisible -from the sandspit even in daylight, would be picked -up only several miles out. She could not steer by the -stars, and there was a great sweep of current setting -sou’east which might take them to Timbuktu. Satan -would have done the business right enough blindfolded; -but she was a night-funk, she confessed it. Night put -her all abroad and mixed up everything in her mind so -that front seemed back and west seemed east, besides -filling the world with “hants.” She had “near died” of -fright fetching that sack from the cache the other night.</p> - -<p>All this in a lugubrious voice not far from tears, as -they stood facing each other, and lit by the remorselessly -setting sun.</p> - -<p>“All right,” said Ratcliffe. “Cheer up. We’ll just -have to stick here till daybreak. We have some grub<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200">200</a></span> -left and lots of water. No use pulling the boat farther -down. But I expect Satan will be in a stew.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon he’ll know,” said Jude. “The weather’s all -right. He’d scent if we were in any trouble, and he’d -borrow Cark’s boat to hunt for us.”</p> - -<p>“How do you mean ’scent’?”</p> - -<p>“He’d smell trouble; he’s awful sharp.”</p> - -<p>“Sort of telepathy.”</p> - -<p>“Which?”</p> - -<p>“Mind reading.”</p> - -<p>“I dunno, but I reckon he’s not worrying, and if he -was he’d be alongside here pronto.”</p> - -<p>Her face was like a buttercup in the extraordinary -light of that sunset. The whole sky was buttercup -color; the great sea was seething round the great sun, -now half-gone, churning and washing round him, a blazing -globe sinking in boiling gold.</p> - -<p>Golden gulls, golden sky, golden sea,—all fading at -last, the purple of night breaking through, rushing dark -from the west across the sea.</p> - -<p>The shipwrecked mariners lost their golden faces and -hands, and, as they sat down with their backs to the -dinghy and the remains of the “grub” between them, -laughing gulls, passing like ghosts in the twilight, hailed -them, while the stars broke out to look above the darkness -and the tepid wind.</p> - -<p>There is nothing like eating to keep up the spirits. -Jude got less doleful. In the stir of mind caused by the -new circumstances she had clean forgotten the “hants,” -nor did she remember them for a moment now, as she<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201">201</a></span> -chatted away in an uplift of spirits caused by the food -and the recognition that to be downcast was futile.</p> - -<p>“I sure am a mutt!” said Jude. “Reckon I was born -on a Friday—they say mugs are all born on a Friday. -We should a been off two hours before sundown, and -there I was talking and listening to your yarns, and -here we are on the beach—oh, mommer!” Then after -a long pause:</p> - -<p>“What’s them stars, do you reckon?”</p> - -<p>“Suns.”</p> - -<p>“Gar’n!”</p> - -<p>“It’s so.”</p> - -<p>“Say!”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Did you notice anything looking north before sundown, -or were you asleep sitting on that spar?”</p> - -<p>“I did see something over there; looked like the ghost -of a cloud.”</p> - -<p>“That was Rum Cay, and a sure sign the weather’s -going to hold. It lifts itself into the sky like that, evening -times; you can see it from Lone Reef too.”</p> - -<p>“I wish I had known that and I should have looked -at it more particularly. I was thinking.”</p> - -<p>“What was you thinking about?”</p> - -<p>He laughed. “My people.”</p> - -<p>“Which people?”</p> - -<p>“My relations.”</p> - -<p>“What made you think of them for?”</p> - -<p>“You.”</p> - -<p>“Me?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202">202</a></span> -“Yes, I was wondering what you’d think of them if -you saw them, especially my aunts.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you take the bun,” said Jude, “you sitting there -thinking of your aunts and me running with them eggs!” -She stopped of a sudden; her memory had suddenly conjured -up the “wuzzard.”</p> - -<p>“That cuss!” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“Which?”</p> - -<p>“The one I saw.” She wriggled close to him till their -sides touched. “S’posin’?”</p> - -<p>“Yes?”</p> - -<p>“S’posin’ he was to take it into his head to do a walk -along here?”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you bother about him,” said Ratcliffe. “I’d -kick him into the sea—besides, he was only an optical -illusion. It was my stupid talk did it.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not bothering,” said Jude, “only it’s a durned -long time till morning. N’matter,” she rested her hand -on his shoulder in all the familiarity of companionship; -then she shifted her hand from his left to his right -shoulder so that her arm was across his back, and then -she fell silent and he felt something poking into his left -shoulder—it was her nose! She had evidently under his -protection forgotten “hants” and “wuzzards,” forgotten -him, even, for she was humming a sort of tune under -her breath.</p> - -<p>He knew exactly her mental condition,—mind wandering,—and -it was a strange feeling to be cuddled like -that by a person who had half-forgotten his existence, -except as a protection against fears, especially when he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203">203</a></span> -remembered her recent antagonism that had developed so -mysteriously and as mysteriously vanished. He slipped -his left arm round her to make her more comfortable. -Then her nose gave place to her cheek against his shoulder -and she yawned. He could feel her ribs under her -guernsey and the beat of her heart just beneath the gentle -swell of her breast. He remembered her coat, which -was in the dinghy. She had thrown it in as an after-thought -in case of a change of weather, but had never -worn it.</p> - -<p>“Hadn’t you better put on your coat?” asked he.</p> - -<p>“Lord! I don’t want no coat.”</p> - -<p>“But the night air.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing wrong with it. It’s a Gulf wind an’ as hot -as a blanket—ain’t you warm enough?”</p> - -<p>“Lots.”</p> - -<p>“Ever slept out before?”</p> - -<p>“Only in a tent—have you?”</p> - -<p>“Which?”</p> - -<p>“Slept out before?”</p> - -<p>“Heaps o’ times. But I wouldn’t sleep out in a full -moon.”</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>“’Cause I don’t want to wake up with my face twisted -to one side like a flat fish—mean to say you don’t know?—either -that or a chap goes loony. But there’s no fear -tonight; it’s only a half-moon. The only thing I’m -frightened of is crabs. We’ve gotta keep our eyes -skinned for crabs. This mayn’t be a crab spit; then -again, there’s no knowing but it may.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204">204</a></span> -“What on earth is a crab spit?”</p> - -<p>Jude raised her face from his shoulder and sat up a -bit straighter as though the question had roused her.</p> - -<p>“Place where crabs come, hun’erds of millions of them, -same as Crab Cay. There’s crabs everywhere of course, -but not in shiploads same as Crab Cay. Three men -were drifted ashore there once, and after sundown up -came the crabs and fought them all night, and there was -nothing but their skeletons left in the morning. We’d -better take it turn about to keep watch.”</p> - -<p>She released herself from his arm and scrambling about -in the starlight on her hands and knees began to make -a sand pillow.</p> - -<p>“There you are!” said she. “Stick your head on it; -I’ll take first watch. You be port watch, and I’ll be -sta’board.”</p> - -<p>“No, you won’t! I will. I’m not a bit sleepy.”</p> - -<p>“Neither’m I. Stick your head on it. You’ve gotta -turn in or you’ll be no use tomorrow.”</p> - -<p>He did as he was bid, and Jude took her place sitting -on the sand close to him.</p> - -<p>“Give us a call if anything happens,” said he.</p> - -<p>“You bet!” replied Jude.</p> - -<p>Then he closed his eyes. A moment before and he -had been leagues away from sleep, but with the compulsory -closing of his eyes a drowsiness began to steal on -him. The wind had died to nothing and in the dead -silence of the night the sound of the waves on the mile -and a half of spit came loud and low, rhythmical, mesmeric.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205">205</a></span> -It was as though the tide of sleep were rising -to drift him off.</p> - -<p>Now, suddenly, he was walking in the blazing sunlight -on the spit, and toward him was walking the “wuzzard,”—a -little old man in a cocked hat with a spyglass -under his arm, who vanished, giving place to Jude, -carrying a hatful of gulls’ eggs.</p> - -<p>Then Skelton landed from somewhere, and Jude, -turning, was calling him a “pesky brute.”</p> - -<p>The words broke the dream, and he opened his eyes. -The moon had just risen, touching the spit, and in her -light, seated on the sand propped up on its stilts, a -spirit crab, white as snow with ruby eyes, was staring -at Jude.</p> - -<p>Drugged with weariness and ozone, he closed his eyes -for one moment, determined to rise up and drive the -thing away in one moment. When he opened his eyes -again the sun was rising.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206">206</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII<br> - -<span class="subhead">THE RETURN</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> gulls were mewing and calling and flying above -him in the blue. He was lying on his back, his left -arm out, and Jude’s head on his shoulder.</p> - -<p>She had snuggled up beside him for company, and -then, regardless of spirit crabs, “hants,” and the possibility -of crustaceans landing in shiploads to devour -them, had fallen asleep. Her arm was flung over his -chest. It was the embrace of a tired child, delightful -to wake up to as the freshness of the air and the new -life of the world and the innocence of the flower-blue -sky, delightful as her breath, sweet and warm against -his cheek. As he moved she stirred, grumbled something -under her breath, shifted her head so that his arm -was released, and turned on her other side, with her -right arm flung out on the sand.</p> - -<p>He stood up. The tide was in and the dinghy only -waiting to be launched. Not a sail or speck upon the -sea.</p> - -<p>Rum Cay had prophesied right,—the fine weather -held,—but the water was nearly gone, and the “grub” -was finished. There was no breakfast till they boarded -the <i>Sarah</i> again.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207">207</a></span> -He turned to where the starboard watch was lying, -clinging still to Morpheus, and stirred it gently with his -foot. Jude moved, turned, grumbled to herself, and -then, as if electrified, sat up digging her fists into her -eyes and yawning. Then she sat gazing at the sea as if -stunned.</p> - -<p>“Come on,” said Ratcliffe, “we’ve got to be starting. -All the grub’s gone and nearly all the water. How did -you sleep?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Lord!” said Jude. “I’ve been chasin’ round the -hull night with a hatful of eggs. I’m near dead beat. -Which way’s the wind? Sou’east. Must a changed in -the night. It’ll take us back in two ticks.”</p> - -<p>She collapsed again comfortably.</p> - -<p>“Remember,” said he, “the current is against us.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it ain’t no distance,” said Jude, “and a few minutes -more or less don’t count. Wonder what Satan’s -doing?”</p> - -<p>Knowing that it was hopeless to bother till the spirit -moved her, he sat down on the sand beside her and -began picking up little shells and casting them into the -sea.</p> - -<p>“Goodness knows!” said he. “I’m wondering what -he’ll say when we get back.”</p> - -<p>“He’ll start jawing,” said Jude dreamily and fatefully -and with her eyes closed. “I can hear him as if I was -listening. He’ll say, ‘What you mean leaving the ship, -and where’s your eggs?’ No use telling him they’re -broke. Lord! I’m sick of it all! I’m just going to -lay here and die.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208">208</a></span> -He began to drop shells on her chest.</p> - -<p>“Quit foolin’.”</p> - -<p>“Then get up and come on. Let’s get it over. It’s -like having a tooth pulled,—the sooner over the better.”</p> - -<p>“Did y’ever have a tooth pulled?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“What’s it like?”</p> - -<p>“Beastly for a moment, but it’s soon over.”</p> - -<p>“Did y’spit blood?”</p> - -<p>“Rather! Come on.”</p> - -<p>“I’m coming in a minute.”</p> - -<p>Then suddenly she sat up, put on her hat, scrambled -to her feet, took a glance round the sea, and made for -the dinghy.</p> - -<p>“Shove in the water jar,” said Jude. He put the jar -in, seized the opposite gunnel, and ran her down.</p> - -<p>In a minute they were afloat, the sail spread to the -wind, Jude steering and holding the sheet. Gulls chased -them out, and the beam wind meeting tide and current -sent boosts of spray on board. It was a rougher passage -coming than going, and a more silent one. Ratcliffe, -squatting in the bottom of the boat, had little else -to do than smoke and watch Jude. Jude, engaged with -her own thoughts, and with her eyes keened for the -indications of Lone Reef, seemed absolutely to have forgotten -him.</p> - -<p>There was no indication of the companion who had -slept with her arm round him, who had sat almost -lovingly, half-forgetfully, with her arm across his shoulder -and his arm round her waist.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209">209</a></span> -It came to him suddenly and with a curious pang that -Jude would never be more than that,—a warm companion -if cast alone together, just as she might be with -Satan, or any stranger her fancy approved of.</p> - -<p>Instinctively he felt that there was a barrier,—a curious -barrier, he seemed to have broken through that -night he took her part, and when, for the first time in -her life, she had confessed herself at fault; a barrier, -that had, however, mended itself. It was as though -he had injured her independence. Yet Satan was injuring -her independence all day long with his orders and -what not. Ay, but Satan was her brother, almost part -of herself. She would not have banged Satan on the -head for kissing her.</p> - -<p>He gave up thinking, watching her and how well she -handled the boat. The crying of the gulls round the -spit had died down; nothing remained but the voice of -the sea, silent as dumb death from the blue horizon to -the planking of the dinghy when it spoke.</p> - -<p>“That’s her!” suddenly said Jude.</p> - -<p>“What?”</p> - -<p>“Lone—I kin see the spars of the <i>Juan</i> an’ the <i>Sarah</i>. -Rubber and you’ll see them too.”</p> - -<p>He turned with his elbow resting on the thwart and -picked out the spars on the sea-line.</p> - -<p>“And the <i>Natchez</i>,” said Jude. “Look, close up to -the <i>Juan</i>. Cleary’s put in and we not there! I’d forgot -Cleary; didn’t believe he’d pick up the place so soon. -There he is. Oh, hell!”</p> - -<p>“No matter,” said Ratcliffe; “it can’t be helped.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210">210</a></span> -“Cuss them gulls! If they’d stuck to their laying -places, we’d have got the eggs soon’s we’d landed and -been back last night. Wonder what’s been going on?”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said he, “Satan’s all right. Cleary has no -grudge against him. If there has been any bother, it -has been between Cleary and Sellers.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>An hour later they were so close up that they could -see the reef-line and the line of the wreck with fellows -working on it. Whatever had happened, business was -going on as usual.</p> - -<p>The three vessels, anchored and swinging to the tide, -looked peaceful enough, and as they drew up to the -<i>Sarah</i>, Satan, who had just appeared on deck, came and -stood by the starboard rail watching them.</p> - -<p>They fastened up, preparing for an explosion. None -came.</p> - -<p>“Couldn’t get back last night,” said Jude as they came -on board. “Left it till sundown, and then I was afeard -of the current.”</p> - -<p>“Afeard of the dark,” said Satan. “I reckoned that’d -be so—whar’s your eggs?”</p> - -<p>“Gone phut. Smashed the lot. Wasn’t more than a -hatful. Them rotten gulls had given up nesting, all but -at the ends—and say, Satan, I saw a wuzzard! I was -carrying the eggs when I saw him, and then I ran and -smashed the lot.”</p> - -<p>“A which?”</p> - -<p>“A hant—little old chap walking on the sands. D’you -remember the figurehead on that old bark they broke<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211">211</a></span> -up last year at Havana,—man with a glass under his -arm and the other arm wavin’ his hat? That was him -plain as my eye. He up with his glass and I let one -yelp. Rat’ll tell you: he saw me running.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, git along—git along, you and your hants! I’d -been countin’ on them eggs, and here you come back like -a one-eyed skite with your yarns about hants. Why, -you ought a had a boatful! Didn’t you see no turkles’ -eggs?”</p> - -<p>“Nope.”</p> - -<p>“Well, come along down if you want some grub. I -sighted you more’n an hour ago, and there’s coffee -waitin’. D’ye see that?” He pointed to a new-washed -jumper drying in the blazing sun on the rail.</p> - -<p>“Well, I was het up,” said Jude, “or I’d have la’ndered -it before I started.”</p> - -<p>“Come along down,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>It came to Ratcliffe that the quietude of Satan over -the business came less from natural good temper than -some other reason. The desertion of the <i>Sarah</i> was -mutiny and a rank crime. Satan had been left with his -food to cook and his jumper to wash, his sister had been -off with an almost stranger for a whole night—yet he -was not displeased.</p> - -<p>If Jude had done the business alone, she most surely -would have been carpeted. It was evidently his—Ratcliffe’s—participation -in it that fended off trouble and -turned wrath into complacence. Why?</p> - -<p>Was it because he was a guest? Not a bit! Satan, -had he been angry, would not have bothered about that.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212">212</a></span> -He followed down below, and there, over the breakfast -table, the Cleary business was cleared up.</p> - -<p>“He dropped in last night,” said Satan, “an hour before -sundown, and the anchor hadn’t more than clawed the -mud before he was aboard the <i>Juan</i>. I expected the -shootin’ to begin; but there weren’t no fireworks, and -after dark I lit out for the <i>Juan</i> in the c’lapsible and tied -up and boarded her. All the men were in the foc’sle, -eating onions and playin’ tunes on guitars,—no anchor -watch,—and the Cleary crowd down in the saloon as -friendly as pie, Cark ladling the liquor and Cleary suckin’ -it down, cigars as big as your leg in their faces, and -Cleary with his thumbs in the armhulls of his vest -leanin’ back laughin’. That’s how I found them.”</p> - -<p>“I told you,” said Jude to Ratcliffe, “they’d be kissing -each other and—”</p> - -<p>“Suppose you shet your head!” said Satan. “I’m -tellin’ you—there they were sittin’ all colludin’ together -thick as thick, and I sat for an hour with them and then -lit out. Sweet as sugar they were; but I tell you this, -I’m as frightened as hell.”</p> - -<p>“How’s thet?”</p> - -<p>“Cleary. Y’see Cark and Sellers aren’t much by themselves, -but Cleary is the snake’s tooth an’ poison bug of -that combination, now that he’s joined in with Cark -again. Cleary’s Irish gone bad on the father’s side and -drunk Welsh on the mother’s: I had his pedigree from -Pap. Pap said he was a sure-enough thoroughbred of -a hellhound, and he reckoned the roof of his mouth was -black right down to the heart of him. Well, I’ve had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213">213</a></span> -forty dollars from Cleary for them rotten pearls and one -thousand dollars from Cark on account of takin’s. Now -you see how I am, supposin’ the wreck turns out a dud. -D’you mean to say they won’t go for me to get their -money back? Supposin’ the gold is there. D’you mean -to say they won’t chouse me out of my share?”</p> - -<p>“What are you going to do?”</p> - -<p>“I worked the hull thing out last night before I boarded -them. Seeing there was no fighting, I concluded they’d -joined up an’ become friends; then I made my plans, I -didn’t put out no anchor light.</p> - -<p>“Sellers, when I was leaving the <i>Juan</i>, said, ‘Whar’s -your light?’</p> - -<p>“‘Run short of oil,’ says I. ‘Kin you let me have -some?’ He thought I was tryin’ to wangle oil out of -him, and he closed; said he was run short himself.”</p> - -<p>“What was your meaning in not putting out a light?” -asked Jude.</p> - -<p>“Maybe you’ll find out,” said Satan, “if you keep your -eyes skinned and stop askin’ questions. Well, that’s -where we are. They’ll have the barrel of gunpowder -fixed by tomorrow to blow the deck off her, and as soon -as they put a light to it we’ll know. It’s blastin’ powder -and ought to split the deck to flinders if they fix it -proper. I don’t b’lieve it’s coral coverin’ that deck, I -b’lieve it’s old petrifacted guano, if you ask me; anyhow, -it’s hard enough.”</p> - -<p>“By Jove!” said Ratcliffe. “If that’s so, it bears out -my theory. I came to the conclusion that the old hooker -had never been under water according to that yarn Lopez<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214">214</a></span> -slung; yet I couldn’t account for the coral deposits. I -believe you’re right. I believe the real wreck is lying -at that place you said that’s given in the latitude and -longitude. Well, see here, why not get the anchor up -and light out right now for the other place. They -wouldn’t follow.”</p> - -<p>“Wouldn’t they?” said Satan. “The <i>Natchez</i> would be -after us like a cat pouncin’. No, I’d rather stick, if it’s -all the same to you, and see the fireworks. After that -leave ’em to me. There aren’t many’s got the better of -me when my dander’s up. Now then, Jude, if you’ve -done stuffin’ yourself, maybe you’ll lend a hand on deck. -There’s swabbin’ to be done.”</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215">215</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV<br> - -<span class="subhead">A BOTTLE OF RUM</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap b"><span class="smcap1">Ratcliffe</span> helped in the swabbing and polishing. -No housekeeper ever exercised more meticulous -care in this respect than Satan. He was a fanatic where -cleanliness was concerned, and polish,—witness the -brasswork of the wheel, the binnacle and skylight,—even -paint and varnish were minor gods compared with -Brasso!</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, as the Sarahites worked, the <i>Natchez</i> and -<i>Juan</i>, lying in cynical and sinister neglect and dirt, showed -little signs of life. The working party on the reef -seemed busy enough; but the ships, save for a few hands -lounging at the rails or squatting about the foc’sle head, -might have been deserted.</p> - -<p>About ten o’clock a boat put off from the <i>Natchez</i>. -Cleary was in the sternsheets, and as she came alongside -he hailed the <i>Sarah</i>.</p> - -<p>Satan came to the rail.</p> - -<p>“Sellers’s going to bust her open today,” said Cleary. -“Just had word from him.”</p> - -<p>“I thought he wouldn’t be ready till tomorrow,” said -Satan.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216">216</a></span> -“Just had word the hole’s near deep enough and the -star cuttin’s from it. He’s got the powder off and reckons -to fire it at noon. Wants you to come an’ help.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, does he?”</p> - -<p>“He’s a bit bothered about the fuse, not havin’ done -much of that sort of work, and he reckons you’re an -ingenious cuss an’ll be able to put him wise.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, does he? Well, I’ll be there.”</p> - -<p>Cleary came over the rail.</p> - -<p>“No spittin’!” cried Satan.</p> - -<p>Cleary, averting his head in time to send the squirt -of tobacco juice overside instead of on the deck, looked -around.</p> - -<p>He nodded at Ratcliffe, disregarded Jude, and fixed -his eye on the blazing binnacle and the glittering rods of -the skylight.</p> - -<p>“Dandy ship,” said he. “Whaar you goin’ to take the -prize?”</p> - -<p>“Where your old tub’d be skeered to show her nose. -How’s the potato crop gettin’ along?”</p> - -<p>Cleary turned his quid over and allowed his eyes to -travel about the deck.</p> - -<p>“Waal,” said he, speaking with point and consideration, -“some likes one thing and some likes another, but -I never did see that fandanglin’ with frills an’ brasswork -an’ sich lends anythin’ to the <em>sailin’</em> qualities of a ship.”</p> - -<p>Jude, raising herself up from flemish coiling a rope, -blazed out:</p> - -<p>“Maybe it don’t to an old cod boat blowin’ along with -her own smell,” began Jude.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217">217</a></span> -“Shet up!” said Satan. Then to Cleary, “Have a -drink?”</p> - -<p>“I’m willin’,” said Cleary, “but thought you was a dry -ship.”</p> - -<p>Satan winked, slipped below, and returned with a bottle -of rum, a glass, and a water jar. There were three -or four bottles of rum on board. Satan said he kept -the stuff for “rubbing his corns”; he never drank it. -There were also a revolver and a rifle on board. He -never fired them: lethal weapons have their time and -place.</p> - -<p>Satan, having placed the bottle and jar on the deck, -produced another glass from his pocket, filled out a four-finger -peg for Cleary and another for himself.</p> - -<p>“Here’s luck,” said Cleary.</p> - -<p>“Here’s luck—no <em>spittin’</em>!”</p> - -<p>They drained glasses.</p> - -<p>“Holy Mike!” cried Cleary, his eyes bulging and his -face injected. “What sorter bug-water’s this?”</p> - -<p>“British Navy; thirty over proof.”</p> - -<p>Cleary, with one eye shut, seemed turning over in his -mind the activities going on in his stomach and on the -whole approving.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said he, “I’ve drunk wasp brandy and one or -two nigger dopes—they don’t get near it, not in knots. A -man’d want to be a centipede to carry a bottle of that -stuff, I reckon. N’more, thanky. Well, I’m off, and -I’ll fly a flag when Cark gives the signal he’s got the stuff -ready for the fuse.”</p> - -<p>Off he went.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218">218</a></span> -“For the land’s sake, Satan! what made you swallow -that stuff for?” said Jude.</p> - -<p>Satan took his seat on the skylight edge, then he gulped, -then he hiccupped.</p> - -<p>“Get your hind legs under you and cart the bottle and -the glasses down below,” said Satan. “Strewth!—gimme -the water jar till I flood my hold.”</p> - -<p>He drank till Ratcliffe thought he would never stop, -then he went to the port rail and canceled matters.</p> - -<p>“It’s Demerara Black John,” said he apologetically to -Ratcliffe as he turned, wiping his mouth with the back of -his hand. “Some likes it, but I’ve no holdin’ with drink.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe was about to ask why he had swallowed it, -but he checked himself. Jude, who had just appeared -again, put the question.</p> - -<p>“What in the nation made you drink that snake-juice?” -asked Jude.</p> - -<p>Satan took a glance at the sun, at the reef, and at the -<i>Juan</i>.</p> - -<p>“Now then,” said he, “finish up clarin’ away that raffle -and get the dinner ready; I’ve no time to be talkin’.”</p> - -<p>He set to sand and canvassing the rail he had been -working on when Cleary appeared, Jude and Ratcliffe -took up their jobs, and the ordinary life of the <i>Sarah</i> resumed -as though the rum incident had never been.</p> - -<p>All the same, work could not prevent Ratcliffe from -pondering the dark problem of Satan and his doings.</p> - -<p>Why had he not put out an anchor light last night? -Why had he pretended to Sellers that he was short of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219">219</a></span> -oil? Why had he swallowed a glass of rum only to unswallow -it again?</p> - -<p>Then in the monotony of work his mind passed from -these considerations to a state of pleasant expectancy. -What would they find in the wreck, and the explosion of -the barrel of powder, how would it come off?</p> - -<p>He felt as pleased as a boy about to fire a brass cannon -and not sure whether it will burst or not.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220">220</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV<br> - -<span class="subhead">THEY FIRE THE FUSE</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap b"><span class="smcap1">Satan</span> used a modification of the deck bear for cleaning -his decks; that is to say, a box filled with stones -having a rough mat nailed under it. The deck having -been sprinkled with sand, the bear had to be pulled backward -and forward after the fashion of a carpet sweeper. -This was Ratcliffe’s job, and he was not sorry when it -was over.</p> - -<p>Dinner was served at eight bells, and getting along -toward one o’clock the <i>Natchez</i> and <i>Juan</i> were flying all -sorts of flags on the tepid breeze as a signal, evidently, -that it was time to get to business.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe made out the red and white flag indicating H, -the triangular blue with the white ball, the red cross on -a white ground, and the white with the blue square,—H. D. V. S.</p> - -<p>“What are they trying to say?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Oh, them flags,” replied Satan. “<em>They’re</em> not tryin’ -to say anythin’, only flyin’ to show time’s up. Cark -hasn’t got a full set of the c’mercial code; wouldn’t know -how to use them, neither. Now if you’re ready we’ll put -off. Jude will stick here to keep ship.”</p> - -<p>Jude protested.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221">221</a></span> -“Why, you’ll see the blow-up from here a durned sight -better than from the boat,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“I want to see her innards when the deck’s off,” said -Jude.</p> - -<p>“Why, Lord bless me! you’ll have days to see them -in,” said Satan, “and there’s no knowin’ what may happen -when the blow-up comes, what with flyin’ timbers -and muck. I’ll come back and bring you off when the -powder’s fired. I can’t say fairer than that.”</p> - -<p>They got into the dinghy and shoved off, Jude watching -them.</p> - -<p>Sellers was waiting for them on the reef, and Cleary. -Their boats were on the strip of beach surrounded by the -crews, and a couple of fellows on the wreck were putting -the last touches to the preparation of the charge. Sellers -was holding what seemed a length of thick white cord in -his hand.</p> - -<p>“Here’s the fuse,” said he. “I had it left over with the -barrel from that last wrecking business we did in the fall. -It’s a five-minutes’ fuse.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, is it?” said Satan, handling the thing. “And -where’s your guarantee? S’posin’ it only takes a minute? -And five minutes is none too much for the man that fires -it to get clear of the reef and put out.”</p> - -<p>“That’s true,” said Sellers, “and one of you will have -to do the firin’ business, seein’ I’m lame.”</p> - -<p>“What’s lamed you?”</p> - -<p>“Fell on the deck this mornin’ over a slush tub one of -them damn dagoes left lyin’ in the dark. Near put my -knee out.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_222">222</a></span> -“Then Cleary will do the trick,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>Cleary laughed. “Not me! I’m not lame, but it ain’t -my job. Runnin’ over rocks don’t suit me, and I reckon -the man that lays a light to that thing will want to be -a boundin’ kangaroo.”</p> - -<p>“Instead of a damned ass like y’self,” said Satan. -“Come on. I’ll light it, I’m not afeard.”</p> - -<p>They clambered over the rocks, crossed the rock bridge, -and gained the wreck.</p> - -<p>The little barrel had been well and truly laid, the top -almost flush with the level of the stuff covering the deck.</p> - -<p>“We got right through the deck plankin’,” said Sellers, -“or to a crossbeam. Wood’s most dry-rotted, and it’ll -be a nacheral mercy if the powder don’t blow the whole -coffee shop to blazes right down to the reef. Here’s the -hole for the fuse.”</p> - -<p>While they were examining the fuse-hole, Ratcliffe took -notice of the cuts radiating starlike from the charge-hole -that had been made in the deck-casing. When he turned -again, Satan, with the aid of Sellers, had fixed the fuse. -The Spanish sailors who had been at work had taken their -departure and were already down by the boats, leaving -only four men on the wreck,—Satan, Sellers, Cleary and -himself.</p> - -<p>Satan rose up, clapped the knees of his trousers as if -to knock dust off them, and produced a yellow box of -Swedish matches from his pocket.</p> - -<p>“Look here!” said Ratcliffe. “It’s not fair. Let’s -draw lots who’ll fire the thing.”</p> - -<p>“Not me,” said Satan. “I wouldn’t trust one of them<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223">223</a></span> -two with a box of matches, let alone a dollar. Now then, -scatter for the boats!”</p> - -<p>Then to Ratcliffe, as Sellers and Cleary made off, -“Stand by ready to shove the dinghy off when you see -me coming.”</p> - -<p>“All right,” said the other; “but I’ll stick by you if you -like.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon two don’t run quicker than one,” said Satan. -“Off with you, and, if I’m blown to blazes, look after -the kid.”</p> - -<p>When Ratcliffe reached the strip of beach the boats -of the <i>Juan</i> and <i>Natchez</i> had shoved off. He could see -the figure of Carquinez at the after rail of the <i>Juan</i> and -Jude watching from the <i>Sarah</i>. He pulled the dinghy -down a bit more to the water and then, turning, looked -at the wreck.</p> - -<p>Satan was standing against the skyline, now he was -down on his knees, and now he was up again. The fuse -had evidently been fired, but he did not move; stood evidently -looking to see that it was burning properly, and -then moved off, walking, not running, and not even hurrying -himself.</p> - -<p>Then he came clambering over the rocks, reached the -dinghy, and they pushed off.</p> - -<p>“Well, you are a cool chap,” said Ratcliffe. “I’d have -run.”</p> - -<p>“And broke your leg, maybe. There’s no danger unless -a spark got at the powder. The durned thing was -sparkin’ and spittin’ like all possessed when I left it. -I reckon that’s why Sellers got cold feet. We’re out far<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224">224</a></span> -enough now.” He ceased rowing, and they hung drifting.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe looked round. The other boats were much -farther out. The tepid wind had almost died off, so that -the flags on the <i>Juan</i> and <i>Natchez</i> hung in wisps. They -could hear the wash of the water on the reef and the occasional -lamentation of a gull. No other sound broke -the silence of the blue and gorgeous afternoon.</p> - -<p>“Seems like as if everything was listenin’, don’t it?” -said Satan, wiping his forehead. “The bust ought to -have come by this. Wonder if the durned thing has -fizzled out?”</p> - -<p>A gull made derisive answer and across the satin -smooth swell a hail came from the <i>Juan</i>.</p> - -<p>“That’s Cark,” said Satan, “makin’ kind inquiries, -blister him!”</p> - -<p>“There she goes!” cried Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>A jet of flame and a column of smoke sprang from the -reef, followed by a clap of thunder that could have been -heard at Rum Cay.</p> - -<p>Flying filth and deck planking filled the air, and on top -of all came the yelling of a thousand gulls.</p> - -<p>The dinghy jumped as though from the blow of a -great fist—then silence, and over the reef a filthy dun-colored -cloud of smoke curling upward like a djin.</p> - -<p>Satan seized the sculls and headed for the beach. The -boats of the <i>Juan</i> and <i>Natchez</i>, already under way, were -rowing as if for a wager, but the dinghy had the lead. -They beached her, hauled her up a foot, and started over -the rocks, running this time, heedless of broken limbs,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225">225</a></span> -Satan leading like the bounding kangaroo of Cleary’s and -whooping as he went.</p> - -<p>The rock bridge was still intact, but nearly the whole -of the after part of the deck was gone.</p> - -<p>“Go careful!” cried Satan. He got down on hands and -knees and, crawling, followed by Ratcliffe, leaned over -the break and looked.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe cried out in horror.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_226">226</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI<br> - -<span class="subhead">THE CARGO</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">In</span> that vast and gloomy interior the great beams -showed like the ribs of some eviscerated monster and -the honest light of day fell sick upon the cargo,—a cargo -of skulls, ribs, vertebræ, and entire skeletons, piled high, -as though five hundred men had struggled aft for exit in -one mad rush and died heaped one upon the other like -refuse. A charnel, limy smell rose, poisoning the air.</p> - -<p>“Good God!” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Slaver,” said Satan. “What did I tell you? <i>Nombre -de Dios</i> be sugared! She’s an old slaver, wrecked with -the men under hatches. Here’s Sellers!”</p> - -<p>Sellers, panting, his face all mottled, and followed by -Cleary, had gained the deck.</p> - -<p>“Boys, what is it?” cried Sellers.</p> - -<p>“Gold!” cried Satan. “Go careful, for the hull deck’s -sprung. Get on your hands and knees. Gold bars an’ -di’monds—we’re all rich men!”</p> - -<p>The pair of scoundrels, crawling like crabs, stuck their -heads over the break.</p> - -<p>“Oh, hell!” said Sellers.</p> - -<p>“Slaver,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>Cleary spat. He was the first to laugh.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_227">227</a></span> -“This is putting it over on Cark, ain’t it?” said Cleary. -“How many dollars d’you think it’s cost our firm to blow -the lid off this damned scrofagus, to say nothin’ of the -time? And he packed me off to Pensacola to get me out -of the way! Oh, send for him to have a look!”</p> - -<p>“No use sendin’, he’s comin’,” said Satan, pointing to -where the gig of the <i>Juan</i> was approaching the beach.</p> - -<p>Carquinez crossed the rock bridge and advanced along -the deck, clutching his old coat together and making birdlike -noises. When he reached the break, crouching like -the others, he looked over.</p> - -<p>The sight below did not seem to horrify him.</p> - -<p>“Slaver,” said Satan for the third time, turning his -head for a moment from the objects that seemed to -fascinate him.</p> - -<p>“Pst, pst, pst!” said Carquinez. “Vel, I reckon dat is -so.”</p> - -<p>“No gold ship,” said Sellers.</p> - -<p>“Maybe there was gold in the after-cabin,” suddenly -broke in Cleary, “and the niggers broke through the bulkhead -and are on top of it.”</p> - -<p>“Where’s your bulkheads?” asked Sellers. “There was -no after-cabin to the hooker. It was all one cattle boat -below, with niggers for cattle.”</p> - -<p>“That is so,” said Carquinez.</p> - -<p>The old gentleman seemed taking his setback extraordinarily -well; so, too, seemed Sellers and Cleary. They -were evidently used to reverses in business, and treasure -hunting was wildcat anyway, a thousand to one against -the chance of a colossal fortune.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_228">228</a></span> -“That is so,” said Carquinez. Then he proceeded to -demonstrate what the hold of a slaver was like,—men -lying side by side and sometimes on top of one another. -There was no after-cabin, indeed nothing, no latrines, -no means of washing, nothing: just one vast sty without -straw even for the human beasts to lie on.</p> - -<p>The officers and crew slept in deckhouses; sometimes -the crew had nothing to shelter them, sleeping on the bare -decks.</p> - -<p>Carquinez knew it all. His grandfather had been in -the business, and he mentioned the fact with a sort of -pride.</p> - -<p>Then he drew back from the break like a reptile -balked and retreating; rose to his feet, and stood contemplating -the sea.</p> - -<p>Satan rose also, as did Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“I’m off,” said Satan. “This boneyard don’t please me -any. Say, what you goin’ to do?”</p> - -<p>“Von moment,” said Cark.</p> - -<p>“Which?” asked Satan.</p> - -<p>“Cark means how about the contrac’?” said Sellers.</p> - -<p>“Which way?”</p> - -<p>“Lord! Why, we’re left, left with a cargo of skelentons, -and you—why, you’ve got a thousand dollars in your -pocket.”</p> - -<p>“There was nothin’ in the contrac’ about handin’ them -back,” said Satan; “b’sides the contrac’s bust. That -thousand dollars was on account of findin’s. Is it my -fault the findin’s is skelentons? But, see here, you give’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_229">229</a></span> -a few hours to turn the thing over, and come aboard the -<i>Sarah</i> gettin’ along sundown, and we’ll have a clack. -We’re all in the soup, seems to me, and I’m not wishin’ -to be hard on you.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll drop aboard,” said Sellers.</p> - -<p>Cleary said nothing.</p> - -<p>After his outburst of laughter he had remained dumb.</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m off,” said Satan. “I want a drink and -that’s the truth. The smell of them skelentons’s enough -to start a Baptis’ minister on the booze.” Then he turned -to Carquinez. “What did I tell you, sittin’ in your -cabin? Told you I didn’t bank on this business, maybe -you’ll remember that. Blast treasure liftin’! Leavin’ -salvage aside, have you ever seen an ounce of gold raised -in all these years? There was a hundred million lyin’ -off Dry Tortugas—did they ever get it? How many -ships has been down to Trinidad huntin’ for the pirates’ -gold? Knight was the last man there—a lot he made of -it! It’s only the chaps that sell locations to mugs that -make money over this business, it’s my b’lief. Well, see -you aboard later on.”</p> - -<p>Off he went, Ratcliffe following.</p> - -<p>As they came alongside the <i>Sarah</i>, Jude was hanging -over the rail.</p> - -<p>“What’s the luck?” cried Jude as they came aboard.</p> - -<p>“Skelentons,” said Satan, “shipload of skulls an’ cross-bones. -Slaver, that’s what she was; dead men’s bones, -that’s your treasure.”</p> - -<p>“Lord! And I’ve never seen them!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_230">230</a></span> -“Well, there’s nothin’ much to see,” said Satan, with -the irritating nonchalance of the one who has seen the -show; “ain’t worth the trouble of lookin’.”</p> - -<p>“I want to see them skelentons,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“Tell you they ain’t wuth lookin’ at!”</p> - -<p>“I want to see them—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, well then, tumble into the boat, tumble into the -boat, and I’ll row you over.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe watched while the dinghy passed over to the -reef. He saw Jude on the wreck, kneeling and poring -over the cargo, held, evidently, by the fascination that lies -for youth in the horrible.</p> - -<p>Then they returned, and Satan ordered the dinghy to -be taken on board.</p> - -<p>“Are you going to put out now?” asked Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Put out!” said Satan, with a grin. “Why, I’ve asked -those fellers to come aboard gettin’ on for sundown, and -whether or no if I raised a foot of chain they’d be on me -with the first click of the windlass. I tell you we’re in -a tight place! Cleary said nothin’, you noticed that, but -he’s goin’ to have his forty dollars back if he knows how, -and Sellers is the same,—he wants his thousand. We’re -held for one thousand and forty dollars, and we’re not -strong enough to fight them.”</p> - -<p>“Well, see here,” said the peacemaker. “Pay them. -I’ll stand the racket. It’s only a little over two hundred -pounds, and I’ll give you a check.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t get me,” said Satan. “It’s not the dollars -I’m thinkin’ of so much as the game. Cark played me a -low-down trick lightin’ out for here to scoop the boodle,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_231">231</a></span> -and Cleary laughed at me with his old cod boat outsailin’ -us. They’ve got to pay. B’sides, if I was to hand over -that money, I’d never be able to show my nose again in -Havana.”</p> - -<p>“How so?”</p> - -<p>“Why, them two would put the laugh on me, and it’d -be ‘what price skelentons’ wherever I went, see? I’d be -the mug then. They’re the mugs now, seem’ they’ve paid -a thousand and forty for what they’ve got.”</p> - -<p>“I see. But considering that they’ll be after you if -you move, and that we’re not strong enough to fight them, -what’s to be done?”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Satan, “when they come aboard it’ll be -either to get the dollars back or fight. You’ve noticed I -asked them to come, seein’ they’d have come whether I -asked them or not. Well, if I can foozle them into hanging -on for their answer till tomorrow, I’ll give them the -slip tonight. Moon’s not up till late.”</p> - -<p>“But they’ll hear you getting the anchor up and -handling the sails!”</p> - -<p>“Not with an ear trumpet,” said Satan, “if I can only -foozle them into waitin’ till tomorrow. Now then, Jude, -lend a hand with the dinghy.”</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_232">232</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII<br> - -<span class="subhead">CROCKERY WARE</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap al"><span class="smcap1">An</span> hour before sunset, Jude, on the lookout, gave the -alarm. “Sellers’s getting ready to come off,” she -cried.</p> - -<p>Satan’s head appeared at the cabin hatch.</p> - -<p>“Sure?”</p> - -<p>“The boat’s alongside the <i>Juan</i> full of dagoes, and -Sellers and Cleary’s gettin’ in.”</p> - -<p>“Where did you stick that bottle of nose-paint?”</p> - -<p>“Starboard forward locker.”</p> - -<p>“One minute.”</p> - -<p>In a minute the head reappeared and an arm holding -the rum bottle.</p> - -<p>“Now, mind you, I’m drunk,” said Satan, “fightin’ -drunk, not to be disturbed on no account. They can call -again tomorrow morning.”</p> - -<p>He smashed the rum bottle on the deck.</p> - -<p>“Leave the pieces lyin’.” He vanished.</p> - -<p>Jude looked at Ratcliffe and grinned.</p> - -<p>“Rub your nose and pretend to be cryin’,” came a voice -from below.</p> - -<p>“What for should I be cryin’?” answered Jude.</p> - -<p>“God A’mighty! I’ll show you if I get on deck!<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_233">233</a></span> -Ain’t I drunk and cuttin’ up? What else would you be -doin’? <em>I’ll</em> larn you!”</p> - -<p>A smash of crockery came from below that made the -housekeeper spring to the cabin skylight.</p> - -<p>“Quit foolin’,” cried she. “I’m willin’ to rub the damn -nose off my head, but stop smashin’ the plates—what -have you broke?”</p> - -<p>Another plate went.</p> - -<p>“I’m rubbin’.”</p> - -<p>“Here they are!” cried Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>Jude’s nose did not seem to want any rubbing, nor her -face. Descended from generations of crockery worshipers -and careful housewives, instinctively hating -Cleary, Sellers, Cark, and all their belongings, feeling -with perfect illogic that they had been done out of the -treasure by the “skelentons” somehow through Cark, she -was convincing. Satan with rare art had worked her up -to the part. She was not crying: her mind was raging -above tears.</p> - -<p>“Hullo, Kid!” cried Sellers, as the boat ground alongside -and a filthy ruffian with a handkerchief twisted round -his head clawed on with a boathook. “What’s the matter, -Kid? What’s up with you? Where’s Satan?”</p> - -<p>“Who’re you kiddin’?” cried Jude, as Sellers came -aboard, followed by Cleary. “Where the hull are your -fenders? Comin’ cuttin’ the paint off, you and your -skullintons! Where’s Satan? He’s down below drunk -as Billy be damn and cuttin’ the lights out of the -ship.”</p> - -<p>“He’s been at the eyewash I was tellin’ you of,” said<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_234">234</a></span> -Cleary. “Look, he’s broke a bottle of it. Lord! don’t -the place stink?”</p> - -<p>“Well, drunk or sober, he’s got to bail up,” said Sellers. -“It’s my belief he’s been spoofin’ us all along.”</p> - -<p>“Spoofin’ who?” cried Jude.</p> - -<p>“Cark an’ me.”</p> - -<p>“Cark an’ you—that old leather face an’ <em>you</em>! Satan -been spoofin’ you—pair of yeggmen! Satan’s straight, -the on’y straight man in Havana! Get off this ship! -Come in the mornin’ if you want to try an’ rob him. Off -with you now!”</p> - -<p>“Why,” cried Sellers, half laughing, half angry, -“what’s the matter with the kid? What’s gingerin’ you -up?”</p> - -<p>The answer came from another smashed plate below.</p> - -<p>Jude made one spring for a deck-mop standing handy, -twirled it so that the water sprayed from it in a rainbow, -and brought it to the charge.</p> - -<p>Cleary slipped over the rail.</p> - -<p>“Off with you!” cried Jude.</p> - -<p>“Put down that mop!” cried Sellers, now suddenly -furious. “Put down that mop, you braying little bitch! -Go’n get inter your petticoats! You ain’t a boy! I -never b’lieved it, not for the last six months, an’ now I -know. You’ve give yourself away proper. Why, look -at you, as round as a tub—you’re a wumman!”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe looked on horrified. Jude, flushed and bright-eyed, -had somehow revealed her sex. In her excitement -she looked for a moment almost beautiful. Her tongue -had done the rest. The smashing of the plates had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_235">235</a></span> -brought the woman out of her as a conjurer brings a -rabbit out of a hat.</p> - -<p>“Put down that mop!”</p> - -<p>Jude from rose color had turned awfully white; then -with the élan and dash of a gamecock she charged. The -wet swab hit the ruffian full in his flat face, and he fell -on the deck with a bang.</p> - -<p>In a second he was up and scrambling over the rail. -Again she charged, the swab meeting him this time full -on his stem and sending him over into the boat like a -bag of oats.</p> - -<p>A slush tub, fortunately half-full, and marked by her -prescient mind, was her next weapon. The contents -caught Cleary full in the face, and as the boat made off, -the oars, all at sixes and sevens, wildly rowing, she pursued -it with the battery of her tongue till it was out of -range. Then she broke down and cried, sniffed, with her -arm hiding her face, and then flushed, like a thing of -shame dived below.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe knew.</p> - -<p>Her sex proclaimed aloud by the shameless Sellers was -as a garment stripped off her publicly. On the very first -day Satan had stated her case and she didn’t mind, though -he, Ratcliffe, had been a stranger; but it was different -now, somehow. It was as if the end of her boyhood -had come. Sellers would no doubt proclaim the fact in -Havana.</p> - -<p>He heard voices from below.</p> - -<p>“I don’t care if I’d killed him! Wish’t I had! Lea’ me -alone—for two cents I’d go drown myself! Look at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_236">236</a></span> -them plates! You’ve broke the two blue pattern ones -an’ the chaney one with the bird on it, the best we had, -an’ not a cracked one touched! Hain’t you no sense?”</p> - -<p>“Never you mind; I’ll get you some more.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not wanting more. Them plates were mother’s—much -you care! I’ve gone as careful as walking on eggs -with them, and now they’re broke an’ the old Delf’ ones -left. If you must be breaking and cutting up, couldn’t -you a broke the cracked ones? An’ where’s the sense in -breaking them anyhow?”</p> - -<p>“Waal, I reckoned it’d liven you up hearin’ the -crockery goin’.”</p> - -<p>“Liven me up! Makes me believe you <em>have</em> been -getting at the rum to hear you talk. Where’s the sense -in all your doings,—ship stinking of drink and all the -crockery broke, and what’s the use?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll show you after dark. I tell you I want to get -away from those thugs, and if I hadn’t headed them off -pretendin’ to be drunk they’d have gone through me.”</p> - -<p>“Well, they’ll go through you right enough tomorrow -morning.”</p> - -<p>“No, they won’t.”</p> - -<p>“Which way?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll be gone.”</p> - -<p>“Gone! Why, first click of the windlass and they’ll be -aboard us.”</p> - -<p>“You leave it to me.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I wish we’d have went before you broke them -plates.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, cuss the plates!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_237">237</a></span> -“Easy to say that. It makes me just nacheral wild to -see that old Delf’ plate starin’ me in the face, round and -sound, and the blue pattern ones gone.”</p> - -<p>Silence for a moment, at the end of which Satan’s -head and bust appeared at the cabin hatch.</p> - -<p>He winked at Ratcliffe, and pointed backward with his -thumb and down below, as if indicating the domestic -trouble.</p> - -<p>“There’s no sign of them swabs comin’ off again?” -asked he.</p> - -<p>“No,” said Ratcliffe. “They seem to have had enough -of it.”</p> - -<p>The rum bottle had broken fairly in two without -splinters.</p> - -<p>“You might heave the bottle over, like a good one,” -said Satan. “I can’t show on deck for fear of those -shrimps seein’ me. It’ll be dark in an hour, and then I’ll -be up. You can wait for your supper till we get away?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes,” said Ratcliffe; “I’m in no hurry.”</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_238">238</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII<br> - -<span class="subhead">TIDE AND CURRENT</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">He</span> lit a pipe. Having disposed of the fragments of -the bottle, he got the mop and a bucket of water -and swabbed the rum-stained deck. Then he took his -seat forward and watched the sunset.</p> - -<p>The great sun, half-shorn of his beams and bulging -broad as Jupiter, lolled above the reef in a sky of -laburnum gold fading to aquamarine. Gulls, dark as -withered leaves, blew about him, and shifting here and -there to north and south became gulls of gold, while the -wind blowing up from the gulf and the westward running -current, meeting the last of the flood, broke the sea surface -into a million tiny dancing waves, momentary -mirrors dazzling the eye with shattered light.</p> - -<p>Lone Reef seemed well named. Dawn or sunset or -the blaze of full day could not take from its desolation, -and this evening the sinister line of the wreck dominated -everything, turning the blaze of sunset to the light of a -funeral pyre.</p> - -<p>The <i>Sarah</i>, moving to the swell, creaked and whimpered, -and now and then from below he could hear voices,—Jude’s -voice and the voice of Satan. Beyond that -came the murmur of the reef and the clang of the gulls,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_239">239</a></span> -and now and again a snatch of Spanish song from the -<i>Juan</i>.</p> - -<p>Then the sun passed below the reef, the tide began to -draw out, and the <i>Sarah</i>, swinging to it, brought to his -view the <i>Juan</i> and the <i>Natchez</i>, ships of dusk in a world -of dusk powdered with star dust. Presently a light was -run up on the <i>Natchez</i>, then the <i>Juan</i> put up her riding -light, then Satan appeared, a dusky form, rising from -the cabin hatch and followed by Jude.</p> - -<p>They came forward. Jude squatted on the deck, and -Satan drew close to Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Now, if them skunks had any sense in their skulls, -they’d stick out a guard boat,” said Satan; “but I’ve fair -put the hood on them, I b’lieve, and they’ve never saw -what I was after, pretendin’ I had no oil for an anchor -light. Why, they are only fit to be put out to nuss! -Half an hour more and we’ll be off.”</p> - -<p>“How are you going to do it?”</p> - -<p>“Knock the shackle off the anchor chain an’ let her -drift. Tide an’ current is runnin’ four knots.”</p> - -<p>“But even without the anchor light they’ll be able to -see us by the stars.”</p> - -<p>“Lord bless you! at this distance they won’t be able -to see mor’n a glimpse of us. We’ll go so gradual they -won’t notice. If they keep a lookout at all,—which they -won’t, ten to one,—he’ll see us by believin’ we’re there.”</p> - -<p>“Lord! I’d love to see their faces in the morning!” -murmured Jude.</p> - -<p>“But won’t they go for you when we get back to -Havana?” asked Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_240">240</a></span> -“Not they,” said Satan. “They’ll say nothin’, seein’ as -how they’re done and the laugh’s against them. Why, -Cark will respect me more for this job than if I’d run -straight with him over the biggest deal. If it’d been the -other way about and he’d pulled the dollars off me, I’d -have been nowhere with him. Mind you out here, if I -was to stick here till tomorrow, they’d be aboard and -maybe manhandling us if I didn’t bail up; but back in -Havana the thing will be closed and the accounts wrote -off.”</p> - -<p>The sound of a guitar came through the dusk, crossing -the warm wind, the lazy, languorous wind of a perfect -summer’s night. Seville, which he had never seen, rose -before Ratcliffe, firefly-haunted orange groves, lovely -women all skewered together by the remembered words of -a ribald song.</p> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“When I was a student at Cadiz!”<br></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>“There goes old Catguts,” said Satan. “He’s the band -aboard the <i>Juan</i>,—Antonio, Alonzo, Alphonso—damn his -name!”</p> - -<p>“It ain’t,” said Jude. “It’s that old copper-patch -Cleary’s got with him. I’ve heard him in harbor. I gave -him a plug of tobacco once for getting me some bait, and -he showed me the thing. It’s got a crack in it or suthin’, -and makes a noise like a skeeter in a jug,—kind a fizzin’ -noise between the plonks. He’s got an ulster on his leg -so’s you can see the bone. He took off the rags an’ -showed me—he’s a Portugee.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_241">241</a></span> -“Well, it’s time to get busy,” said Satan. “Here, h’ist -yourself and lend a hand!”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe got more forward while they knocked the -shackle off the chain. There came a splash. Then the -meeting resumed.</p> - -<p>“If they heard that splash,” said Satan, “they’d put -it down to a fish jumpin’. Now you watch them lights.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe watched the amber lights of the <i>Natchez</i> and -<i>Juan</i>. They did not seem to alter position in the least. -In the first of the starlight and the last of the dusk the -spars and hulls of the two vessels could just be made out.</p> - -<p>Then presently he saw that the lights had drawn a -bit more aft and seemed closer together. The feel of the -<i>Sarah</i> was different too, she moved more freely to the -swell.</p> - -<p>The sound of the guitar seemed slightly fainter.</p> - -<p>Now and then the beguiling sea would give the <i>Sarah</i> -a little slap, no louder than the slap of a girl’s hand, -on the low planking as if joking with her over some secret -shared in common.</p> - -<p>Yes, the sound of the guitar was fainter, much fainter, -and the spars and hulls of the vessels now invisible as -though they had been dissolved in the gloom.</p> - -<p>The anchor lights alone marked their places.</p> - -<p>“We’re all right now,” said Satan; “but I’ll give them -another five minutes. Got the matches for the binnacle -light?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>Five minutes passed, then they got the canvas on her,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_242">242</a></span> -and Satan, at the wheel, taking his bearings from the -far-off lights of the betrayed ones, turned the spokes.</p> - -<p>“Where are you going to sail for?” asked Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Cormorant Cay,” said Satan. “I’ve a fancy to look -at that place.”</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_243">243</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX<br> - -<span class="subhead">SATAN IN PARADISE</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">He</span> had divided Ratcliffe and Jude into watches, port -and starboard.</p> - -<p>Jude turned in first, relieving him somewhere about two -in the morning. At six, when Ratcliffe turned out and -came on deck, he found Satan at the wheel, relinquished -by Jude, and day pursuing the Sarah across a wrinkled -sea of tourmaline and hinted blue. Away ahead somewhere -to the south lay Cormorant Cay, the true tomb, if -the chart indications were correct, of the <i>Nombre de Dios</i>.</p> - -<p>A strong sailing wind was blowing, and Satan gave -their speed at seven knots. He refused to hand over the -wheel.</p> - -<p>“I’ve had a snooze on deck,” said he, “while the kid -took charge. We’re nearly sixty miles south of Lone, -and if this wind holds will be on to Cormorant somewhere -about eight bells.”</p> - -<p>“Not a sign of those chaps,” said Ratcliffe, looking -back over the sea, clear of Cleary and Sellers and their -dirty crowd.</p> - -<p>“Naw; they’ll be just about rousin’ up now and rubbin’ -their eyes.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_244">244</a></span> -“You don’t think they’ll try to follow us?”</p> - -<p>“Not likely, I don’t think. They’re wastin’ time and -money if they cruise after us. Cark’s got his business -in Havana to attend to, and Cleary’s the same. What’s -gettin’ me is the fac’ that Sellers has spotted the kid for -what she is. It’ll be all over Havana, and she knows it.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it had to come out some time.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe.”</p> - -<p>“Look here, Satan!” said Ratcliffe. “I’ve been thinking -a lot about the girl and what’s to become of her. She -can’t go on as she is. We must fix up something.”</p> - -<p>“That’s easy said.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ve grown fonder of her than any person I’ve -ever met, that’s the truth. There’s no one like her; she’s -gold right through.”</p> - -<p>“She ain’t bad.”</p> - -<p>“This sort of thing was all right when she was a -child,” went on Ratcliffe; “but she’s growing out of that. -Why, even in the little time since I’ve come aboard, she -seems different, somehow.”</p> - -<p>“Well, if you ask me,” said Satan, “you seem to have -made a change in her. She’s brightened up, somehow, -has more sass in her. Y’see, when we were cruisin’ -round since Pap died, me, she, and the nigger, there -wasn’t much company, and she was gettin’ a bit down-hearted. -Then, when you came aboard, she picked up. -She hadn’t laughed for weeks till she saw you in that -pajama rig; then she chummed onto you.”</p> - -<p>“She did.”</p> - -<p>“Liked you from the first minute she saw you. There’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_245">245</a></span> -no two ways about Jude,—it’s either like or the other -thing, right off.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m pretty much the same—and I don’t want -to lose sight of her—or you.”</p> - -<p>“How’d you mean?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, just that. I’m bothering about when this cruise -is over. That’s bothering me a lot. Well, we’ll leave -it at that for the present.”</p> - -<p>Satan turned his lantern face to starboard for half a -moment to expectorate right over the starboard rail—maybe -also to hide a grin.</p> - -<p>“I reckon it’ll come all right somehow,” said he. “We -ain’t much in the world, but we’re straight. Reckon -you’re straight too. That’s all I want. That feller -Thelusson, y’remember I told you he wanted to come -for a cruise with us. Well, he was straight enough s’far -as dollars went, but I wouldn’t have had him on this -ship, not if he’d paid me a dollar a minute and a bonus -for every knot we made—not with Jude aboard—Here’s -the wheel for a sec’, if you’ll take it whiles I get some -coffee ready.”</p> - -<p>Toward noon a wreath of gulls in the sky showed -Cormorant.</p> - -<p>Jude was at the wheel, Satan forward on the lookout.</p> - -<p>Twenty minutes later Satan came running aft, fetched -the old glass out of its sling, and went forward with -it.</p> - -<p>“There’s a hooker on the sands!” cried he. “Looks -like a small fruiter or suthin’ hove up.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe, standing beside him, could see nothing,—the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_246">246</a></span> -sand, owing to their low level, was invisible from the -deck of the <i>Sarah</i>,—then, straining his eyes, he made -out a speck on the sea-line.</p> - -<p>“Mast’s gone,” said Satan, “white painted, not more’n -fifty ton, and she’s layin’ in the lagoon. She must have -come in over the sand where it narrows to the westward. -There’s a pinch of sand there that’s near under water -at flood, and the seas come right over it in an east’ard -gale.”</p> - -<p>He handed the glass to Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Funny,” said Ratcliffe, “if you were right about the -<i>Nombre de Dios</i> being sunk here and we come to have a -look for her and find another wreck.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t take no shares in the <i>Nombre de Dios</i>,” -said Satan. “I ran here more for somewhere to run to -than with any thought of the <i>Nombre</i>. She’s a hundred -foot under the sand if she’s here at all; but it’s luck all -the same. There’ll be pickin’s. There was a big blow -two weeks ago from the east,—that’s what’s done her,—and -the salvage men won’t be here yet, if they ever come.”</p> - -<p>He stuck the glass to his eye.</p> - -<p>“She’s a yacht, that’s what she is, one of them small -cruisers, not more’n fifty or sixty, and her fittin’s will -just do for us, if she’s not been stripped. There’s all -sorts of folks come from New York and Philadelphia -and N’ y’Orleans, cruisin’ about these seas in tubs like -that,—fishin’ mostly.”</p> - -<p>The <i>Sarah</i> held on, almost due south, with the daring -of a sea-bird, Satan giving directions to the steersman -and seeming absolutely regardless of the death and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_247">247</a></span> -dangers around them,—reefs that they shaved, rocks that -waved fathom-long ribbons of fuci a few feet under -water,—he avoided them all.</p> - -<p>South, east, and west Cormorant Cay is devoid of -danger. Only here to the north do the reefs and rocks -show, and it is just here that the only entrance to the -lagoon lies.</p> - -<p>The place consists really of two sandspits widely -separated to the north so as to form a pondlike harbor -running from five to ten fathoms deep. Farther south -the sandspits join so as to form a wide street, like the -spit to eastward of Lone Reef.</p> - -<p>They held on. The sound of the gentle surf on the -sands came now, and a full view of the lagoon water -reflecting the sun-blaze like a mirror.</p> - -<p>On the still lagoon, with strange stereoscopic effect -seen between the two sand-arms holding off the wrinkled -sea, lay the craft, floating on an even keel, and showing -a stump of mainmast against the skyline. From her -lines she had been a yacht.</p> - -<p>“Why, Go’ bless my soul, she’s anchored!” cried -Satan. “Derelic’ and anchored. The people must have -got away in a boat or suthin’. There’s not a sign of -them. Port—hard—port—as you were—steady—so!”</p> - -<p>He ran to let go the halyards.</p> - -<p>Another anchor had been bent on to some spare -chain. It was heaved over, and the <i>Sarah</i> came up to it, -swinging less than fifty yards from the stranger. She -was a picture, a forty-ton fishing yawl, white painted, -gracile as a fish, dismasted, abandoned, and swinging to a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_248">248</a></span> -taut anchor chain; beyond her and the emerald of the -lagoon lay the great stretch of sands, running due south, -blanketing to the heat and showing ponds of aquamarine -and storms of gulls.</p> - -<p>The anchor down, Satan stood with his eyes fixed on -his prey; Jude too. They seemed considering her as a -butcher might consider a carcass before he cut it up.</p> - -<p>“Aren’t you going to board her?” asked Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Have you ever seen a dead b’ar?” asked Satan. -“Sometimes a b’ar isn’t as dead as he looks, and sometimes -a derelic’ isn’t as empty as it looks. It’s a common thing -for men on the Florida coast to hide in a driftin’ canoe -and rise up and laugh at them that come out to collect it. -I can’t make out that anchor chain bein’ down, and I’ll -just give them one hour whiles we have dinner.”</p> - -<p>When they came on deck again after the meal, they -dropped the dinghy, and the three of them put off for -the derelict.</p> - -<p>She must have been dismasted outside the sands, for -not a spar lay in the water alongside,—dismasted and -driven over by a big wave, her crew clinging to her. -On the bow was her name, <i>Haliotis</i>. They tied up -and scrambled on board. The deck ran flush fore and -aft. The wheel looked all right, but was jammed and -immovable; the binnacle glass was smashed.</p> - -<p>Satan stood, whistling and looking about him. Then -he dived below, followed by the others. The cabin had -been left in good order. It was a bit over-gilded and -decorated for a plain man’s taste, but everything was of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_249">249</a></span> -the best, and a hanging lamp of solid brass still swung -over the center-table. The walls were of bird’s-eye maple, -the cushions of the best blue cloth, and the fittings of -the tiny sleeping cabins to match.</p> - -<p>There was plenty of stuff lying about,—books, clothes, -boots. The people had evidently put off in a hurry, not -caring much what they took as long as they got away. -Perhaps they had taken advantage of a passing steamer.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe picked up a book, a volume of O. Henry. -There was a name in it,—J. Seligmann.</p> - -<p>Jude, delving in the starboard after-cabin, came out -holding up something. It was a pair of boots, women’s, -patent leather with white suede tops and heels three inches -high.</p> - -<p>“Look at them things!” said Jude with a burst of suppressed -laughter.</p> - -<p>“A girl’s boots,” said Ratcliffe. “Try them on, Jude.”</p> - -<p>“If I wore them things,” said Jude, “I’d have to walk -on my hands. There’s dead loads more of stuff, and the -place smells as if a polecat had been living there.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe stuck his head into the little cabin. It -reeked of California poppy as though a bottle of it -had been upset, California poppy and cosmetic scents. -Clothes were lying about in disorder; a woman’s white -yachting cap, deck shoes, lingerie, bursting like froth out -of a cabin trunk, gave added touch to the hysterical distraction -of the scene.</p> - -<p>One could see her, the woman, rushing about saving -or collecting her valuables, leaving everything else, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_250">250</a></span> -calling on the gods to witness that she would never set -foot again on another small yacht for a pleasure cruise -among the islands.</p> - -<p>Jude picked out a frilled garment from the lingerie -box, looked at it, rolled it up, and cast it with a chuckle -into the bunk, then she reached up and opened the little -port.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe left her pursuing her investigations, attracted -by the whoops of Satan, who seemed pursuing things -about the deck.</p> - -<p>Satan, with his hair wild and his eyes ablaze, had -rapidly sampled his treasure. Everything he wanted had -been left. Had he found the <i>Nombre de Dios</i> with gold -to her hatches, it is doubtful if his excitement would have -been so intense.</p> - -<p>“Look at that!” cried he, pointing to the mast winch. -“Wantin’ it—should think I had been! Come along and -see!” He led the way to a heap of raffle and broken -spars forward. “Look at them gaff jaws, galvanized an’ -covered with hide, and me with old wooden ones -creakin’ like an old shoe! There’s a mainsheet buffer too! -Camper Nicholson’s—rubber—cringles—come along to -the sail room!”</p> - -<p>They went to the sail room, then to the galley,—everywhere -finds, glorious finds, with this rough sum total:</p> - -<p>In the sail room, sixty fathoms of new manila rope, -an eighty-foot otter trawl, harpoons and grains and a -seine net, a trysail, square sails, two jibs; in the galley, -cooking gear, an Atkey cooking stove to burn coal or -coke; in addition to all this some splendid blocks with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_251">251</a></span> -patent sheaves with ball bearings which run so much -better than dummies, a lower mainsheet block and two -quarter-blocks, fathoms of galvanized chain, and two -Nicholson’s patent anchors. Other things included -lamps, a pair of binoculars, a sextant and a chronometer, -charts, and lastly, glorious but useless, in a little engine -room the auxiliary, a 13–15 horse-power petrol-paraffin -Kelvin engine, two-cylinder, with the shaft running out -through the quarter, and a spare Bergius propeller, -which shuts up and opens out automatically when in -motion.</p> - -<p>When they came on deck again after a rapid glance -at these things a brain-wave came to Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Look here!” said he. “Why not tow her back to -Havana and claim salvage? She’s worth a lot and she’s -derelict.”</p> - -<p>“Not me,” said Satan. “Have you ever claimed salvage? -First there’s the tow, and we’re underhanded. -Then there’s the lawyers. What’s to stop this Seligmann -whoever he is poppin’ up an’ swearin’ against me. -He’d say he left her with the anchor down in harbor; -it amounts to that, though she’s derelic’ right enough. -Not me! I’ll take what I want without no lawyers to -help me. She’s my meat, by all the laws of the sea, and -that’s the end of it.”</p> - -<p>Appeared Jude from the cabin hatch, carrying as a -trophy a go-ashore hat she had unearthed from somewhere, -a crushed-strawberry-colored straw hat—or was -it a bonnet? It had long strings and a rose stuck on one -side of it.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_252">252</a></span> -“Look what that catawampus has left behind her!” -cried Jude.</p> - -<p>“Quit your foolin’,” cried Satan, “and come along and -lend a hand. Here, h’ist these things into the dinghy!”</p> - -<p>Jude flung the hat down the open skylight, and the -rank burglary of the <i>Haliotis</i> began.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_253">253</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX<br> - -<span class="subhead">A SECRET OF THE SAND</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">It</span> seemed to Ratcliffe in the days that followed that -he had never known what work meant before. That -he, a wealthy and respected member of the British upper, -upper-middle classes, an ex-Christ Churchman, and a -member of Boodles, was assisting Satan Tyler in “tearing -the tripes” out of another man’s yacht, also occurred to -him sometimes as a fact, a distorted sort of fact, blurred -and dimmed by the blazing and brilliant atmosphere in -which they were working, the absolute and shocking -loneliness that hemmed them in, Satan’s personality, and -Jude’s companionship.</p> - -<p>By all the laws of the sea, according to Satan, these -things were the property of the first finder. That was -all very well according to Satan, and indeed according to -what seemed common-sense; still, sea law was for all he -could tell not quite the same thing as the laws of the -sea, according to Satan. Though belonging to a great -ship-owning family, he knew nothing of the rights of the -matter; but the business they were engaged on seemed to -him sometimes, when he cared to think, most tremendously -like larceny,—larceny excused by a lot of considerations -and made picturesque by environment; still, a business<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_254">254</a></span> -that in the unpicturesque surroundings of the London -Sessions would undoubtedly have appealed to a judge -in the voice of Larceny.</p> - -<p>Sometimes he imagined a warship, one of those prying, -officious little cruisers that do police work, closing up -with the cay and sending a boat into the lagoon.</p> - -<p>Sometimes he fell to wondering what Seligmann was -like,—an American surely, one of the Gulf haunters, belonging, -most probably, to one of the numerous clubs on -the Florida coast, and Mrs. Seligmann—or was it Miss—or -not even that?</p> - -<p>One thing was certain, Seligmann was rich. They -were not robbing a poor man.</p> - -<p>At the end of the third day Jude gave out, not from -weariness, but from distaste.</p> - -<p>“Lord! haven’t you had enough of this old truck?” -said Jude. “I don’t feel’s if I ever wanted to see a -len’th of rope nor a cringle again.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe felt pretty much the same.</p> - -<p>“I’ll finish the business myself,” said Satan. “You -can knock off if you like. Go’n hunt for turkles’ eggs.”</p> - -<p>“I’m going,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>“I’ll come along, too,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>Satan ferried them over to the sands. It was about -two hours before sundown, and an easterly breeze was -blowing fresh and cool, shivering up the lagoon water -and whispering among the sand-grains.</p> - -<p>Jude walked despondently as they trudged along close -to the sea edge and discovering nothing.</p> - -<p>“D’you know,” said Ratcliffe, “we’ve never even started<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_255">255</a></span> -to hunt for a sign of the <i>Nombre de Dios</i>? I wonder if -she’s sunk, really, anywhere near here?”</p> - -<p>“I dunno,” said Jude; “don’t care, nuther. Satan’s -so full of his pesky old fittings he’s no time to think of -anything else.”</p> - -<p>“Cheer up, Jude.”</p> - -<p>“I’m all right.”</p> - -<p>“No, you’re not. What’s wrong?”</p> - -<p>“Lots of things.”</p> - -<p>“When we get back to Havana—” began Ratcliffe. -She cut him short.</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to go back to Havana,” said she. “Ain’t -going.”</p> - -<p>She sat down on the sands plump, nursed her knees, -and stared over the sea, casting her hat beside her. He -stood for a moment, then he sat down. He knew at once, -knew what had been working in her mind for days.</p> - -<p>“You’re bothering about what Sellers said, dirty -scoundrel! I’d have punched his head, only the whole -thing happened so quick and you landed him with that -mop—don’t worry.”</p> - -<p>No reply.</p> - -<p>“What’s the good?” went on Ratcliffe; then cautiously -and feeling that he was treading on dangerous ground, -“See here, there’s no harm in being a girl, no more than -there is in being a man.”</p> - -<p>No reply.</p> - -<p>A laughing gull passed and jeered at them. Jude followed -it with her eyes. She seemed almost unconscious -of his presence and not to have heard his words. He<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_256">256</a></span> -watched her profile against the sky, noticed the eyelashes -which seemed longer and more curved up than ever, the -nice shape of the head, free of the old panama.</p> - -<p>Then she turned, leaned on her elbow, and looked up -at him—then she looked down.</p> - -<p>“What made you think I was botherin’ about Sellers?” -asked Jude.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” said Ratcliffe, “I just thought it. I’ve -been thinking a lot about you—I care for you a lot, that’s -about it.”</p> - -<p>She looked up at him again, full in the eyes, and with -a new expression he had never seen before, a puzzled, -half-startled look, like that of a person suddenly -awakened in strange surroundings.</p> - -<p>Then her eyes fell away from him.</p> - -<p>She took a handful of sand and let the grains fall between -her fingers.</p> - -<p>“Just that,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>She was still playing with the sand, letting it fall between -her fingers carefully as though trying to count -the grains. Then she threw the stuff away, brushed the -palm of her hand clean, and sat up. Drawing a little -closer to her, he put his hand round her waist, just as -he had done when they were on the sandspit, and just as -on the sandspit, she let it rest there—for a moment. -Then, with a queer little laugh, she removed the hand and -struggled to her feet.</p> - -<p>He rose up and they went on, without a word. Then -presently they began to talk about indifferent matters almost -as though nothing had occurred.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_257">257</a></span> -They found a nest of turtles’ eggs, and Jude marked -it; farther along they came upon something strange, a -sort of platform half-covered with sand. Jude said it -was the foretop of a ship sunk and sanded over.</p> - -<p>“It’s the <i>Nombre de Dios</i>, maybe,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Maybe,” said Jude. “It’s the foretop of an old ship, -anyhow. See, where the mast’s broke off—she’s thirty -or forty foot under that.”</p> - -<p>“Not much good to us, even if she is the <i>Nombre de -Dios</i>.”</p> - -<p>“Not much.”</p> - -<p>The gulls seemed to agree, and the little waves, falling -crystal clear on the beach.</p> - -<p>It was near the end of the spit just here, and the -sands shelved out, losing themselves in the immeasurable -loneliness of the sea stretching to Mariguana and the -Caicos and the northern shoulder of South America.</p> - -<p>Jude, on her knees with a bit of driftwood, was scraping -away the sand from the edge of the sunk foretop, -when something caught her eye.</p> - -<p>A turtle had landed where they had marked the eggs. -It was so far away that it did not look bigger than a -threepenny bit.</p> - -<p>She flung the bit of driftwood away, rose to her feet, -and started running, taking the extreme sea-edge where -the sand was hard. Ratcliffe followed. They were half -a minute too late, the turtle turning back to the sea and -leaving them spent and laughing. She got down on her -knees and hived the eggs in her hat still laughing. He -helped, filling his hat and his pockets, and then they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_258">258</a></span> -started for the lagoon edge, Jude suddenly in the wildest -spirits. He had never seen her in such high, good -spirits. When they got aboard it was just the same. -Even Satan’s maniacal passion for old junk, expressed at -supper in the determination to spend two more days -picking and scraping at the <i>Haliotis</i>, did not depress her, -it only made her laugh.</p> - -<p>“You’ll be cryin’ before you’ve done if you go on -laughin’ like that,” said Satan. “What’s possessed you -eh?”</p> - -<p>Sure enough she was. The words acted like a pin on -a bubble.</p> - -<p>She flushed, pushed her plate away, half rose, and then -sat down again.</p> - -<p>“You’re always going on at me! Whatch’a want me -to do? If I’m crying, I ought to be laughin’, an’ if I’m -laughin’ I ought to be crying! I’ll laugh as much as I -want—”</p> - -<p>Then, logically, she broke into violent tears, rose, and -ran on deck.</p> - -<p>“What the hell-nation’s the matter with her?” asked -Satan.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” replied Ratcliffe.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_259">259</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI<br> - -<span class="subhead">THE GO-ASHORE HAT</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">He</span> had time to think over the matter as he lay in -his bunk that night.</p> - -<p>He fell to wondering, among other things, what the -spell was that drew him toward Jude and held him.</p> - -<p>Was it the indefinable attractive quality that had made -her mother a “nacheral calamity” where men were concerned, -or just the power of youth? Scarcely the latter. -He had met lots of youth in his time, and it had not -attracted him much; besides, when you have only to look -into the looking-glass to see youth, it is at a discount.</p> - -<p>Puzzling over the matter, he came to the bedrock fact -that Jude, in some extraordinary way, had the power to -make him feel more alive than he had ever felt before.</p> - -<p>Leaving other things aside, there were an honesty, -faithfulness, and simplicity about Jude that removed her -from the category of bifurcated beings and raised her to -the level of a dog.</p> - -<p>Instinct told him that this compound quality was worth -more than all the gold lying under the hatches of the -<i>Nombre de Dios</i>, more than all the diamonds in the -Rand, when combined with that other quality speaking in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_260">260</a></span> -her level gaze,—steadfastness, the something that would -make her keep the wheel in all weathers.</p> - -<p>But these excellencies would have been nothing without -the impossibilities with which they were allied,—social -and conventual impossibilities. The one reacted on -the other, making an irresistible whole combined with -the something else that was Jude.</p> - -<p>He remembered the queer little laugh with which she -had freed herself from his hand round her waist—then -he fell asleep and dreamt that he and Jude and a lot of -larrikins were lying in wait by a harbor blue as the sea -off Jamaica, to clod bathing nigger girls; then he was -chasing Jude round and round a tree, only to catch her -and find that she was Carquinez.</p> - -<p>When he got on deck next morning he found the ship -deserted. The others were away on the sandbank, and -he amused himself by fishing till they returned.</p> - -<p>Jude showed no traces of the tears of the last night, -and Satan was elated. He had been examining the -wreck-wood, and his experienced eye backed the declaration -of Jude. It was the foretop of a ship, right enough, -and, a hundred to one, so he declared, the foretop of the -<i>Nombre</i>.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe, wondering vaguely why he seemed so pleased -over the find, considering the sand conditions, asked him -the chances of raising her. Then said Satan, seeming -to turn his gaze inward upon his awful and profound -knowledge of the sea and its ways:</p> - -<p>“If you was to get all the dridgers from H’vana to -Pensacola and dridged till your eyes bugged out o’ your<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_261">261</a></span> -head an’ your tongue hanged down to your heels, you -wouldn’t clear her—siltin’—but she’s a sure enough mug -trap.”</p> - -<p>“How do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“Why, with that story and that chart an’ that old -foretop, I could set half Havana diggin’ like dogs for a -bone, to say nothin’ of private parties an’ syndikits an’ -such things—maybe I will, too, some day.”</p> - -<p>They put out after breakfast for the <i>Haliotis</i> and another -load of “old junk.” Satan rowed back with it, -leaving Jude and Ratcliffe on board,—Ratcliffe collecting -things forward, and Jude grubbing about in the -saloon.</p> - -<p>Having collected the odds and ends in a heap, he -turned his eyes to the <i>Sarah</i>. Satan, having tied up the -dinghy, was busy transhipping his plunder. Then the -beauty of the morning sea flooding into the lagoon, held -him for a moment. He followed the gulls in their flight, -noted the sudden break from emerald to ultramarine -deepening to purple, and beyond the reefs the sudden -glitter of a leaping fish. Then he remembered Jude down -below.</p> - -<p>He came to the companionway and down the stairs.</p> - -<p>The cabin was brilliant with sunlight, with water reflections -through the open portholes playing on the ceiling -and polished maple and venesta of the walls. Across -a pile of truck and bunk bedding heaped on the table he -caught a glimpse of the upper part of Jude.</p> - -<p>Jude, fancying herself entirely alone, and yielding to -some prompting or other, had picked up the despised<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_262">262</a></span> -go-ashore hat and put it on; she was looking at herself -in the mirror fixed to the after bulkhead. She was looking -at herself with her head now straight and now tilted -slightly to one side; then the head turned, but she did -not see Ratcliffe: her eyes were still fixed on the hat, -she was looking at it sidewise.</p> - -<p>All her unconscious movements might have been those -of a lady in a milliner’s shop trying on a hat in a critical -spirit.</p> - -<p>She had not heard him coming down the companionway, -owing to the fact that he was in his bare feet, and -she did not hear him go up again.</p> - -<p>On deck he took his seat on an old box upended close -to the mainmast stump, and considered the thing he had -just witnessed in a philosophical spirit.</p> - -<p>It was like seeing a chrysalis crack and a butterfly’s -wing protruding.</p> - -<p>If Jude had not been admiring herself in that hat, then -sight was a liar and its evidence worthless. But Jude -was as honest as the day. She had greeted the thing -with derision, brought it on deck to show as an object -of mirth, and flung it down the skylight opening with contempt—yesterday -morning.</p> - -<p>What had happened since then to make her consider -the thing at all, let alone wear it before a looking-glass?</p> - -<p>Had she put it on in derision and to see what a guy -she looked? Not a bit! She had made friends with -that hat! Those few movements of the head spoke of -consideration not derision, in a language old as the earliest -feather headdress and more universal than Esperanto.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_263">263</a></span> -Then he remembered last evening on the sandspit and -her sudden passage from despondency to high spirits; he -remembered her queer little laugh as she removed his -hand from round her waist,—had that been the sound of -the rift coming in the chrysalis casing?</p> - -<p>For a moment he almost yielded to the desire to go -below and see if the butterfly had really arrived. Then -he checked himself. There was time, plenty of time; besides, -Satan was putting off again in the dinghy for another -load.</p> - -<p>Satan, over this business, like a man in drink or a -lunatic, had his hot fits and cold fits. A hot fit had suddenly -come on him.</p> - -<p>The petrol-paraffin engine had begun suddenly to shout -to him that it must be taken. A glorious idea, too, had -evolved itself in his brain,—why not fit it to the <i>Sarah</i>; -not there in the lagoon, of course, but in some port? -All that was required would be some structural alterations -and a shaft-hole in the quarter; he reckoned the -fitting would cost under three hundred dollars.</p> - -<p>He didn’t want the thing, really,—masts and sails were -good enough for his pottering-about work,—it was the -passion of a woman for jewelry. The <i>Sarah</i> would be -a nobbier boat with an auxiliary,—sea swank, purely, exhibiting -the only apparent weak spot in his character.</p> - -<p>That spare Bergius propeller had begun revolving in -his mind days ago,—“thrud—thrud—thrud! See me -drive the <i>Sarah</i>, see me drive the <i>Sarah</i>!” He had examined -the propeller already attached and found the -blades all broken. The shaft was intact, and, beaching<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_264">264</a></span> -the <i>Haliotis</i> stern on in that quiet lagoon, it would have -been possible to fit on the spare one and take her off -unmasted, as she was under her own motive power.</p> - -<p>He had a vague notion of the structure of engines and -Yankee ingenuity enough to have driven her, but the -fact of her anchor being down, as before stated, and the -fact that he had already “torn the tripes” out of her -plundered the sail room and the store room, removed -brasswork that would have taken weeks to replace, and -generally left her like a scooped cheese, prevented an -idea of salvage.</p> - -<p>Taking the <i>Haliotis</i> into port he would have to declare -her like a box of cigars,—a box of cigars belonging to -another man and half the cigars gone.</p> - -<p>Coming over the rail, Ratcliffe saw the new light in -his eye and wondered what it portended.</p> - -<p>“I’ve been thinkin’,” said Satan, taking his stand by the -mast stump and surveying the heap of stuff collected by -the other, “I’ve been thinkin’ it’s tomfoolery to leave that -engine.”</p> - -<p>Jude, brought up by the sound of the dinghy coming -alongside, appeared at the saloon companionway. She -wore no hat.</p> - -<p>“Good Lord!” said Ratcliffe, aghast. “You don’t -mean to say—but it’s impossible. We haven’t the means -to take it.”</p> - -<p>“There’s enough of the mast left to rig a tackle to,” -said Satan, “and that hatch leads right down to the -engine place. The heavy fittin’s are easy raised from the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_265">265</a></span> -bed-plates, and they’re not too heavy to go in the dinghy. -We can tow her with the c’lapsible.”</p> - -<p>“But what can you do with the thing?”</p> - -<p>“Fit her to the <i>Sarah</i>, of course.”</p> - -<p>“Here, in the lagoon?” asked the horrified Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Well, I wouldn’t mind if I had the hands and the -tools for the job,” replied Satan. “Naw, it’s beyont me. -I’ll have to take her to a port to have it done,—not -Havana, neither: there’s too many eyes in Havana and -people that know my business. Vera Cruz is the place. -I know a Spanish yard there’ll do the job.”</p> - -<p>“The year after next,” put in Jude, “supposing you do -manage to get it aboard, you know what the dagoes are, -and you’ll knock the inside of the <i>Sarah</i> to flinders. She -won’t be the same boat with that old traction injin in -her—I wish we’d never struck this cay!”</p> - -<p>She sat down on the combing of the skylight and -folded her hands. Ratcliffe had never seen her do that -before. He stood torn between two things,—the desire -to please Satan and the desire to please Jude. Pulling -on the side of Jude there was also the sure foreknowledge -of the heavy work that would be required. That did not -frighten him; but it did seem to him that they had done -enough and ought to be satisfied. It was like burglars -going for the kitchen boiler after having removed the -plate, furniture, and very bed-linen of a house.</p> - -<p>All the same he could not but admire Satan. Time -was pressing, it was quite possible that a salvage boat -might poke her nose into the lagoon at any moment.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_266">266</a></span> -Satan knew this as well as he, yet it did not move him.</p> - -<p>“It’s not a dago yard,” said Satan, evading the traction -engine dig, “it’s French, and I’ve been wanting an -auxiliary for years. Pap was with me, only he was -awful slow over business, and here’s one for nix. I’m -goin’ down to have a look at her.”</p> - -<p>He dived below.</p> - -<p>Jude sat brooding.</p> - -<p>“Never mind,” said Ratcliffe. “It’s not a big engine, -and he and I will be able to do it with a tackle. I’m not -going to let him put you to work on it.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not bothering about that,” said Jude fatefully. -“It’s when it’s fixed up I’m thinking of.”</p> - -<p>“How?”</p> - -<p>“He’ll make me drive the durned thing.”</p> - -<p>“No, he won’t.”</p> - -<p>“What’s to stop him?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, lots of things—leave it to me.”</p> - -<p>He was cut short by Satan’s voice calling him to come -below. Down below he had to follow all sorts of details -pointed out, details proving the desirability of the prize -and the miraculous ease of its removal.</p> - -<p>Then they came on deck and put off for dinner. But -Satan was never destined to lift that engine. Fate had -fixed it to its bed-plates more securely than screws and -nuts could hold it.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_267">267</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII<br> - -<span class="subhead">CLEARY!</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">Dinner</span> was over and Jude had run up on deck. -Suddenly her voice came down through the open -skylight.</p> - -<p>“Below there! Cleary’s coming!”</p> - -<p>Satan jumped from his place like a man shot. Next -moment he was on deck. Jude pointed and handed him -the binoculars she had been using.</p> - -<p>“That’s them!” said Satan, after a long look. “Cuss -the swabs!”</p> - -<p>He handed the glasses to Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>Away to the north two sails cut the sea-line. With -the aid of the glasses two vessels leaped into view,—a -topsail schooner and a smaller vessel of fore-and-aft -rig. Even with the glasses he could not have been sure -that these were the <i>Natchez</i> and the <i>Juan</i> like a pair -of evil dogs hunting in company; but Satan was sure, -so was Jude.</p> - -<p>“They’re coming dead for the cay,” said Jude. Satan -said nothing.</p> - -<p>He had been filling his pipe when the hail came, he -lit it now, walked to the starboard rail to be alone, and -stood with his eyes fixed on the <i>Haliotis</i>.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_268">268</a></span> -The position was as bad as could be. First of all, -these ruffians would be sure to make him bail up even -more than he had had out of them; secondly, they would -have the laugh at him and post him as a mug all over -Havana; thirdly, they would give him away about the -<i>Haliotis</i>, if they discovered how he had plundered her.</p> - -<p>Having smoked for a moment in silence, he turned -to his companions.</p> - -<p>It was a boast of Satan’s that he had never lost a -spar, a fact partly due to luck, partly to his foreseeing -eye; like a good general, he had plans for all eventualities.</p> - -<p>“They won’t be in the lagoon for a couple of hours,” -said he, “with this wind and all. Come on aboard the -old tub.”</p> - -<p>“What are you going to do?” asked Jude. “Sink her -at her moorings?”</p> - -<p>“No time; besides, they’d see her on the lagoon floor. -It’s up anchor and let her drift on the sands.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the good of that?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Lord! Don’t stand jibberin’! I’ve got my plan. -Into the dinghy with you!”</p> - -<p>They rowed over to the <i>Haliotis</i>.</p> - -<p>The one thing that Satan had not coveted was, mercifully, -the winch; it was of the type of the West Country -winch, and not a spot on Pap’s patent, at least in -Satan’s eyes.</p> - -<p>They set to, got the anchor in, secured it, and rowed -back to the <i>Sarah</i>. Then they watched the <i>Haliotis</i> drift. -The tide was going out. She was close to the eastern<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_269">269</a></span> -arm of the spit, and that arm had a bead in it toward -the narrowing entry.</p> - -<p>Satan reckoned she would take the sand a hundred -yards or so from the entry, and he reckoned right.</p> - -<p>But they had no time to watch her. The deck of the -<i>Sarah</i> was lumbered with stuff that had to be stowed out -of sight. It took an hour before everything was shipshape -and snug, and by that time the oncomers were -close in, their sails big bellied with the wind, beating -up for the entrance.</p> - -<p>They came through, the <i>Juan</i> leading, the <i>Natchez</i> -some two cable lengths behind; then, with canvas threshing -and the gulls yelling round them, they dropped their -anchors, the <i>Juan</i> to starboard of the <i>Sarah</i> and the -<i>Natchez</i> farther up the lagoon. Ratcliffe had expected -demonstrations of hostility: there were none.</p> - -<p>They could see Sellers directing the fellows forward, -and they could make out Cleary on the deck of the -<i>Natchez</i>. Then they saw Sellers drop below, and -through the binoculars they could see Cleary as though -he were only a few yards off,—he was smoking and -giving orders to the hands. Then he came and spat over -the rail and stood looking toward the <i>Sarah</i> with his eyes -shaded; having finished this inspection, he too dropped -below.</p> - -<p>“I’d a sight sooner they’d shook their fists at us,” said -Satan. “They know they’ve got us, sure.”</p> - -<p>Then Sellers reappeared on the deck, and the <i>Juan</i> -dropped a boat.</p> - -<p>“Here he is,” said Jude, “and whether he’s got us or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_270">270</a></span> -whether he hasn’t, he ain’t coming aboard this ship!”</p> - -<p>She ran forward and fetched the mop from the hole -where it was stowed.</p> - -<p>“Let up!” said Satan. “I don’t want no fightin’: I -tell you, I’ve got a plan; I don’t want no mops in it.”</p> - -<p>“He ain’t coming aboard,” said Jude.</p> - -<p>As the boat of the <i>Juan</i> came alongside, Sellers, in -the sternsheets, raised his hand in a lordly fashion and -slightly, as befitted a superior taking notice of an inferior.</p> - -<p>“Hullo, Satan!” cried Sellers as the bow oar hooked -on.</p> - -<p>“Hullo, yourself!” replied Satan. “What you doin’ -down here away?”</p> - -<p>“Tell you when I get aboard,” said Sellers. “Why, -there’s the kid! Hullo, Kid!”</p> - -<p>“Claws off!” cried Jude. “You try to come aboard -and I’ll land you with this mop! You can talk from -the boat.”</p> - -<p>Sellers sat down again in the sternsheets.</p> - -<p>“She won’t let you aboard,” said Satan, speaking as -though Jude were not present. “You shouldn’t have -sassed her the way you did over there at Lone.”</p> - -<p>“I’m sure I beg your pardon,” said Sellers. “I’m -trooly sorry to have trod on a female’s sussuptibilities; -but what I’m wishin’ to say is this, and it’s as easy said -from here as on deck: You’ve got to come aboard the -<i>Juan</i>, you and that thousand dollars you’ve had from -Cark, to say nothin’ of the coin you’ve had from Cleary, -an’ be tried by C’t Martial, an’ take your sentence. If<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_271">271</a></span> -you don’t, I’ll board you, me and Cleary, an’ go through -your ship, an’ fling the lot of you in the lagoon—d’you -take me? I’m not funnin’.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll come,” said Satan. “I want to have a talk with -Cark anyhow.”</p> - -<p>“And he wants to have a talk with you.”</p> - -<p>“Right. Off you go, and I’ll follow.”</p> - -<p>“Swab!” said Jude, “are you going to pay them that -thousand dollars back? I’d sooner chuck it in the lagoon!”</p> - -<p>“I’d pay a thousand dollars to see Cark done in the -eye,” replied Satan. “Where’s the damage? I’ve hived -more than two thousand dollars’ worth of stuff off that -blistered derelic’. You leave them cusses to me.”</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_272">272</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII<br> - -<span class="subhead">THE FIGHT</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap al"><span class="smcap1">As</span> they watched Sellers pulling back they saw the -<i>Juan</i> drop a boat.</p> - -<p>“Hullo!” said Satan.</p> - -<p>He put the glass to his eye.</p> - -<p>“Cark’s coming off. He’s in the sternsheets, him and -his patch—what’s up now?”</p> - -<p>The two boats approached one another, and then hung -together, evidently in consultation. Then the oars took -the water and they approached the <i>Sarah</i>, Sellers leading. -Satan, who had found a piece of chewing gum in -his pocket, put it into his mouth and began to chew, -leisurely, like a cow on her cud, while he watched the -approaching boats.</p> - -<p>“What you want?” shouted Satan when they were in -speaking distance.</p> - -<p>“Cark says you’re to come aboard right now,” replied -Sellers. “You’ve played him one trick, and he don’t -want you to play him another.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, don’t he?”</p> - -<p>“No, he don’t.”</p> - -<p>Satan spat into the water alongside and leaned comfortably -on the rail. Carquinez was as close to the <i>Sarah</i><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_273">273</a></span> -as Sellers, yet he spoke no word, leaving his deputy to -do the talking, and contenting himself with making occasional -birdlike noises.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Satan, ruffled, for all his appearances of -calm, “you can tell him I’ll come when I want to, and -that won’t be before tomorrow morning, for his damn -cheek! Ahoy there, Cark! Ain’t you got a tongue in -your head?”</p> - -<p>“He’s like a blessed canary bird,” cut in Jude. “Hi, -there, Sellers! what you done with the cage?”</p> - -<p>“Is that your ultermatum?” demanded Sellers, ignoring -Jude and addressing Satan.</p> - -<p>“My which matum?”</p> - -<p>“Is that all you gotta say?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Lord, no!” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“Well, then, out with it!”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe had never seen Satan “het up” till now, as, -straightening himself and gripping the rail, he let out:</p> - -<p>“Gotta say? Why, if I’m sayin’ from now to the -end o’ next week, I couldn’t say the beginnin’ of my -opinion of you, right from the truck of Cleary’s old cod -boat to the keel o’ that old disgrace you ripped of her -guts when she was a yacht—you an’ your crew of cockroaches -an’ dagoes—right from the soles of Cleary’s flat -feet to the end of your bottle nose—you and your ultermatum!</p> - -<p>“That’s all. I haven’t time to be wastin’ on you. -I’ll come if I have a mind to and when I want, without -waitin’ for your orders—now scatter yourselves!”</p> - -<p>“Right,” said Sellers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_274">274</a></span> -He gave an order to the boat’s crew, and the boat -turned, and, followed by Carquinez, made back to the -<i>Juan</i>.</p> - -<p>Satan, his hand on the rail, watched them, still -chewing.</p> - -<p>Not a word spoke he, the bulge in his cheek steadfast -against the skyline and his eyes fixed on the boats.</p> - -<p>Then he suddenly turned.</p> - -<p>“Them thugs will try to board us now,” said Satan. -“We’ve gotta fight. There’s Cleary puttin’ off, and we’ll -have the whole Noah’s ark on us in two ticks. We’ve -gotta get the ammunition ready.”</p> - -<p>“There are guns down below,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Guns!” said Satan. “God bless you, we don’t want -no guns! Cark’s too frightened of the law to let any -of his men use knives or pistols. Jude, where’s that -tub of stinkin’ bait—you haven’t hove it over, have you?”</p> - -<p>“Nope.”</p> - -<p>“Cart it along. Rat; fetch up them five bottles of -whisky,—they’re better’n bumshells,—and there’s an old -fryin’ pan in the galley with a hole in it. Fetch it with -the rest. There’s nothin’ like a fryin’ pan for beltin’ -people—you can’t miss. What you gettin’ at Jude?”</p> - -<p>“The mop,” said Jude. “I don’t want nothing better -for sweepin’ up rubbish!”</p> - -<p>“Well, maybe; but they’ll fight better’n you think. -Lord! if I only had a roll of barb wire! Here they -come! Hurry up, Rat!”</p> - -<p>The three boats, Sellers and Cleary leading, were in -motion and making for the <i>Juan</i>.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_275">275</a></span> -“We’ve only two to reckon with,” said Satan, as Ratcliffe -arrived, Jude helping him up with the ammunition. -“Cark won’t join in: he’s too frightened of his -skin. Now then, ready with your weapons!”</p> - -<p>He was right. Cark’s boat, half a cable length away, -backed water while the redoubtable Cleary and Sellers -rushed like hawks on the prey, aiming to board the -<i>Sarah</i> to starboard, Cleary forward, Sellers aft.</p> - -<p>But the men at the oars were not used to this sort -of work. In their enthusiasm and despite the curses of -their captains, they held on too long, nearly smashed -the boat’s bows against the side of the <i>Sarah</i>, and fell -into wild confusion trying to get their oars in under -the bombardment from the deck. Over the clamor of -the gulls rose the shrill curses and shouts of the dagoes, -the whooping of Satan, the smashing of bottles, while -over all the perfume of bad fish and poisonous whisky -rose like the fume of the fight; but the attackers held, -held by teeth and claws and boathooks, while the wily -Carquinez, on the fringe of the fight, voiceful for once, -standing up and clutching his coat together, shouted directions—unheeded -as unheard.</p> - -<p>Twice Sellers was almost on board, and twice Jude’s -mop sent him head over heels back; but now Cleary had -made good forward, backed by two of his crew, and -while Jude, rushing to Ratcliffe’s aid, drove him back -with the mop in the pit of his stomach, Sellers, eyes -shut, head down, and fighting Satan like a mad bull, -gained the deck, gripped Satan, slipped, fell, and rolled -with him in the scuppers. Three dagoes had followed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_276">276</a></span> -Sellers and flung themselves like dogs on the stragglers; -but now Jude and Ratcliffe, free for a moment, flung -themselves on the dagoes, broke the fight, freed Satan, -and sent the whole lot bundling over, Sellers and all—only -to find that Cleary had made good again, and after -Cleary half his boat’s crew.</p> - -<p>Led by Satan, who had seized the frying pan, the defenders -hurled themselves on Cleary.</p> - -<p>Satan was right, you can’t miss with a frying pan. -Cleary went down before it. Ratcliffe, using only his -fists, had floored the biggest of the dagoes, and the rest -were crowding back helter skelter, when a shout from -Sellers, who had regained the deck, brought the battle -to a pause.</p> - -<p>“Stop fightin’, you damn fools!” cried Sellers.</p> - -<p>“Lord! Look!” cried Jude.</p> - -<p>The port side of the <i>Sarah</i> was turned to the entrance -of the lagoon, and into the lagoon was gliding a long, -lean destroyer, shearing the blue-green water from her -fore foot.</p> - -<p>Being to starboard, the attackers had not seen her, -and the men on deck had been too busy.</p> - -<p>Carquinez alone had sighted her. The effect was -magical. Peace fell like a suddenly dropped dish-cover, -and over the rail came Carquinez and half a dozen more -Spaniards from the boats.</p> - -<p>“Now we’re done!” said Sellers. “She’s a Britisher, -and this damn sandbank’s British and we’ll be had to -the Bahamas Courts o’ Inquiry and Lord knows what -all. Referred to Havana for inquiries. They’ve seen<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_277">277</a></span> -us at it, no use in denyin’ it. Look at them cusses’ bloody -noses and Cleary flattened out. Kick him alive, some -of you fools! Here they come!”</p> - -<p>The destroyer had cast anchor and dropped a boat. -With the terrible precision of a hawk or a warship -closing on its prey, she was on to the <i>Sarah</i>. A blue -and gold man held the yoke lines, and the oars of the -rowers rowed like one.</p> - -<p>“Look at that image on the sternsheets,” said Sellers.</p> - -<p>“Leave him to me,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“What’s your game?”</p> - -<p>“Shut your head! Here he is!”</p> - -<p>The boat came alongside. The oars rising like one, -fell with a crash, the bow oar hooked on, and over the -rail came a sublieutenant of the British Navy, smooth -of face and neat as though just taken from a bandbox.</p> - -<p>“What the devil are you fellows up to, fighting here?” -asked the sublieutenant.</p> - -<p>Satan broke into a laugh.</p> - -<p>“We’re movie men,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“You’re what?”</p> - -<p>“Movin’ pictures.”</p> - -<p>“Oh—cinematograph?”</p> - -<p>“That’s it.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe, fired with admiration for this Satanic move, -joined in laughing.</p> - -<p>“Did you think we were fighting, really? Well, that’s -funny. What’s the name of your ship?”</p> - -<p>“The <i>Albatross</i>,” replied the sublieutenant, completely -and roundly taken in. “You’re English, aren’t you?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_278">278</a></span> -“Yes, I’m English. Joined the show some time ago.”</p> - -<p>“What’s that hooker on the sand over there?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that’s part of our show. Boat supposed to have -been wrecked—these chaps are pirates.”</p> - -<p>“Jolly good make-up!” said the other, surveying the -pirates and taking in Cark, also Cleary, who, resuscitated -in time, was leaning over the rail chewing and -spitting into the water.</p> - -<p>The awful question, “Where’s your camera?” never -came. If it had, Satan would no doubt have met it; -but the sublieutenant was new to this sort of business -and not on the hunt for evidence. The thing was palpable -and plain. No complaint came from the attacked, -and attacked and attackers were all seemingly friends. -The words “cinematograph company” covered the situation -completely.</p> - -<p>He gave a few words of information about the -<i>Albatross</i>. She had put in for a small repair and would -be off again tomorrow morning. Then he dropped into -his boat and the incident was closed.</p> - -<p>“Now, you cusses,” said Satan, “see where you have -landed yourselves! Where’d you have been only for -me?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t deny you slipped the hood over that -Britisher pretty smart,” said Sellers.</p> - -<p>Cleary turned his head and looked at Sellers. “<em>You</em> -don’t deny! Why, you bloody barnacle scraper, I told -you to hold off from the business! Satan, I forgive -you that clap on the head. Lord love me! I’ll never -carry a derringer again. Give me a fryin’ pan, that’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_279">279</a></span> -the weppin; you can’t dodge it no more than you can -dodge a thunderstorm.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Satan, “fryin’ pan back the lot of you, -and I’ll be on board the <i>Juan</i> inside half an hour and -settle my business with you. If Cark had kept his mouth -shut instead of givin’ me orders, we’d have finished it -by now and no heads broke.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll be waiting for you,” said Sellers.</p> - -<p>They tumbled into the boats and rowed off.</p> - -<p>“They never drew a knife,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Cark took their knives from them,” said Satan. -“He didn’t want no blood spillin’ and trouble,—too much -afraid of the law.”</p> - -<p>Jude, who had collapsed sitting-wise on the deck, began -to laugh hysterically.</p> - -<p>“What are you laughin’ at?” demanded Satan.</p> - -<p>“I dunno,” said Jude.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_280">280</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV<br> - -<span class="subhead">“I’LL TAK!”</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">Ten</span> minutes later Satan and Ratcliffe boarded the -<i>Juan</i>. Cleary was already on board, down in the -cabin with the others; Cark and a bottle of gin were -presiding at one end of the table. Satan, with a nod -to the company, came to the table and took his seat; -motioning Ratcliffe to take the seat opposite to him.</p> - -<p>It was like a meeting of a board of directors, and -the table just held the six comfortably.</p> - -<p>What followed struck the unaccustomed Ratcliffe with -astonishment,—the amiability of it,—it might have been -a card party, with Satan the loser—momentarily.</p> - -<p>“Well, gentlemen,” said Satan, “what’s to pay?”</p> - -<p>There were extra glasses on the table and a box of -cigars. The cigars were pushed along by Sellers as he -spoke.</p> - -<p>“There’s Cark’s loss of time,” said Sellers, “not to -say mine and Cleary’s. We tried for you round Rum -Cay when you gave us the slip, and then there was the -run down here. A thousand dollars to us that means, -and five hundred to Cleary.”</p> - -<p>“Makin’ it two thousand five hundred and forty,” said -Satan. “I’m agreeable—and the derelic’ is mine.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_281">281</a></span> -“Which derelic’?” asked Sellers innocently.</p> - -<p>Satan, absolutely disdaining to reply, lit a cigar.</p> - -<p>“She’s worth all ten thousand dollars,” said he, “and -what’s the salvage on that?”</p> - -<p>“Y’mean that old dismasted catboat stuck on the sand -there?” said Cleary. “Not worth five—b’sides she’s our -meat.”</p> - -<p>Satan dropped Sellers and turned to Carquinez. -“You’ll maybe explain,” said he. “You know the rights -of the law. If you try to collar that hooker, I’ll come -in with first claim, and here’s a gentleman will back me -in law expenses. You know him,—Mr. Ratcliffe, Holt -& Ratcliffe.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll back you,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“And it seems to me law is not your lay, Cark,” went -on Satan. “We came in here yesterday and boarded -and claimed that hooker, and I was fixing the tackle -for towing when you blew along. The thing’s as -clear as paint. She’s ours for salvage, and you’re not -in it.”</p> - -<p>“Look here!” began Sellers violently—then he closed -up: Cark had given him a kick under the table. Then -there was silence for a moment, during which these two -scoundrels seemed to brood together telepathically.</p> - -<p>Then Cark spoke, addressing Satan.</p> - -<p>“Will you take the air on deck for wan moment with -your friend?” said Cark.</p> - -<p>“Sure,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>A few minutes later they were called down again.</p> - -<p>“See here,” said Sellers, acting as spokesman for the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_282">282</a></span> -others, “we don’t want to bear hard on you, but we’ve -been at a big loss over this business.”</p> - -<p>“And who let you in for it?” asked Satan. “Haven’t -you been chasin’ me since last fall over the <i>Nombre</i>? -Was it my fault she weren’t there?”</p> - -<p>“Well, anyhow we’re losers. But I’m coming to the -derelic’. You’ll never be able to do the tow with the -<i>Sarah</i>—why, the <i>Sarah</i> ain’t bigger than her, and you’re -underhanded anyhow.”</p> - -<p>“That’s so,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“Well, what I propose is this,” said Sellers. “We’ll -drop claims for the run down here and only ask a thousand -and forty of you, and you drop claims on the -derelic’.”</p> - -<p>Satan laughed.</p> - -<p>“Maybe you don’t know she’s got an auxiliary in her -worth four thousand dollars if it’s worth a cent. She’s -broke her propeller, but she’s got a spare one on board, -and if I knew anythin’ of injins I’d drive her back on -her own power. No, I sticks to the derelic’ if that’s -the best you can offer and here’s your dollars—though -I’ll have to give you my check for the extra money.”</p> - -<p>He produced a bundle; then, with his hand on it:</p> - -<p>“If you choose to take the derelic’ for what she’s worth -and call it quits. I’ll trade, one or the other. I’m not -set on that tow. But there you are; you know the -chances.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tak!” suddenly broke in Carquinez, and the business -was ended.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_283">283</a></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_285">285</a></span></p> -<div class="chapter"> -<h2><a id="PART_III"></a><span class="larger">PART III</span></h2> -</div> - -<hr> - -<h2 class="nobreak vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV<br> - -<span class="subhead">THE VANISHED LIGHT</span></h2> - -<p class="drop-cap a"><span class="smcap1">A week</span> later, toward sundown, the <i>Sarah</i> came up -the half-mile channel and dropped her hook in -Havana Harbor close to the old anchorage of the <i>Maine</i>. -A Royal Mail boat passing out gave her the kick of its -wash as she settled down to her moorings, a customs -boat dropped alongside, and the customs men, hailing -Satan as a friend and brother, came aboard and transacted -business with him in the cabin. The wind blew -warm, bringing scents and sounds across the vast harbor, -fluttering the flags of the shipping, and Ratcliffe, -standing at the rail, dazzled by the brilliance of the -scene before him, knew that his cruise was over.</p> - -<p>It was like coming to the end of a book,—a volume -suddenly handed to him by Fate to read, and of which -he was condemned to write the sequel.</p> - -<p>He remembered the morning at Palm Island when -he boarded the <i>Sarah</i> first, and the picture was still fresh -in his mind of the <i>Haliotis</i> as they had left her in the -lagoon at Cormorant, Sellers and Cleary and their men -swarming about her and tinkering her up. They intended -to ship the spare propeller and bring her along<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_286">286</a></span> -under her own motive power to the nearest port, Nassau -in the Bahamas.</p> - -<p>They had been so busy with the engines and the hull -that they had never noticed how completely she had -been stripped. They were unconscious of the fact that -she had been left with her anchor down—unfortunates! -He could still see them like ants laboring in the sun, at -the task set to them by the grimly humorous Satan.</p> - -<p>Satan had won the game they had forced on him, -holding, as he did, a thousand and forty dollars, the -“tripes” of the <i>Haliotis</i>, and the secret of the mug trap, -to be disposed of, perhaps, later on for a consideration. -Satan would, no doubt, set other unfortunates digging -for the <i>Nombre</i> just as he had set Cleary and Sellers -tinkering and towing at the <i>Haliotis</i>, just as he had held -up freighters for a bunch of bananas, just as he had -made Thelusson and his crew careen and scrape the -<i>Sarah</i>, just as he had made Ratcliffe an accomplice in -his plans and a handy man to help him in his works; -yet the funny thing about the scamp was the fact that -he was absolutely dependable, when not dealing with -companies or governments or derelicts. Ratcliffe would -have trusted him with his last penny.</p> - -<p>Dependable if you took hold of him by his handle and -not by his cutting edge! Trustable if you trusted him!</p> - -<p>Then Jude came up in her harbor rig; that is to say, -boots and a coat.</p> - -<p>“Satan’s clacking away with the customs an’ the port -doctor man,” said Jude. “You can’t see across the cabin<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_287">287</a></span> -with the smoke, and I had to change my rig in the -galley.”</p> - -<p>“You going ashore?” asked Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“No,” said Jude, “Satan’s going. I’ve got to keep -ship. You going with him?”</p> - -<p>“I suppose so.”</p> - -<p>Appeared Satan, followed by the port men, who tumbled -into the boat and rowed off.</p> - -<p>“Goin’ ashore?” asked Satan. “Well, I’ll row you to -the wharf after I’ve had a bite of supper. Jude’ll bring -the boat back, and we can get a shore boat off for half -a dollar.”</p> - -<p>Half an hour later, just as the electrics were springing -alive and the anchor lights of the shipping marking the -dusk blue sky, they started. They stood on the wharf -steps for a moment watching Jude row off, then they -turned to the town.</p> - -<p>Havana smells different from any other seaport. She -smells of rum and garlic and dirt and cigars and the -earth of Cuba, which is different from the earth anywhere -else. The harbor and the town exchange bouquets; -the negroes help; Spanish cigarettes, Florida water -and decaying vegetables lend a hand. Satan led the -way. He knew the place as well as the inside of his -pocket, and as he trudged along beside Ratcliffe under -the electrics across plazas, or through short-cut cut-throat-looking -byways, he pointed out the notable features -of the place,—Dutch Pete’s, the Alvarez factory, -the great opera house, the Calle Commacio, the cathedral.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_288">288</a></span> -They passed Florion’s with its marble tables, drinkers, -and domino players, and Satan suddenly hove to.</p> - -<p>“Where d’you want to go now?” said Satan. “D’you -want drinks?”</p> - -<p>“No, I don’t want drinks,” said Ratcliffe. “Come over -here.”</p> - -<p>A blazing cinema palace shone across the way, and -they entered, Ratcliffe paying.</p> - -<p>The place was in black darkness. A cowboy shooting -up a bar was on the screen, and a man with an electric -torch led them to their seats.</p> - -<p>Then they sat watching the pictures, Satan criticizing -the actors sometimes, and in a loud voice and not always -favorably. The cowboy shot himself off the screen, the -lights flared up for half a minute, went out, and the -pictures resumed.</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe felt a nudge, and in the darkness Satan’s -voice, muted now, came in his ear.</p> - -<p>“Say,” whispered Satan, “did you see him?”</p> - -<p>“Who?”</p> - -<p>“The man that dropped you at Pa’m Island.”</p> - -<p>“Skelton!”</p> - -<p>“That’s him. He’s sittin’ right a front of you.”</p> - -<p>“Are you sure?”</p> - -<p>“Sure as sure.”</p> - -<p>Skelton here! But where, then, was the <i>Dryad</i>? Had -he wrecked her, or what?</p> - -<p>The words of Satan seemed to alter everything, from -the music to the picture of John Bunny on the screen.</p> - -<p>The darkness, filled with native Havana scents, became<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_289">289</a></span> -tinged with the atmosphere of British Respectability. -Skelton at the pictures! Why, he ought to have been -at the opera or one of the theaters or walking on the -<i>alameda</i> digesting his dinner and thinking of Tariff -Reform or Anglicanism. It seemed impossible; yet -when the light flared up again there was Skelton, sure -enough, sitting with another man, and now he was rising, -evidently tired of the show, and passing out, followed -by his friend, grave as though he had been attending -his mother’s funeral instead of the marriage of John -Bunny to Flora Finch in a Pullman car with negro accompaniments.</p> - -<p>He wore evening clothes, covered by a light overcoat. -Ratcliffe rose and, followed by Satan, pursued him, -touching him on the shoulder outside and in the full -blaze of the lamps.</p> - -<p>“Good God!” said Skelton. “Ratcliffe!”</p> - -<p>“Just got in,” said Ratcliffe. “Had a ripping time. -Where’s the <i>Dryad</i>?”</p> - -<p>“Up at the wharf, coaling,” replied Skelton, absorbing -Ratcliffe’s rough and ready garb, the cloth cap he was -wearing, and Satan. “I’m staying at the Matanzas; but -I go aboard tomorrow morning, and we’re off in the -evening. What have you been doing with yourself?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, having no end of fun. We found an old treasure -ship and blew her up and found she was full of -skulls and bones. You know Satan?”</p> - -<p>Skelton, who had ignored Satan, acknowledged his existence -by a little nod.</p> - -<p>“Who’s your friend?” asked Ratcliffe, glancing at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_290">290</a></span> -Skelton’s companion, who had removed himself a few -paces.</p> - -<p>“Ponsonby—diplomatic service. See here, come on -board to lunch tomorrow—one-fifteen.”</p> - -<p>“Right.”</p> - -<p>“I have some gear of yours.”</p> - -<p>“Right. I’ll see about it.”</p> - -<p>“’Night.”</p> - -<p>“’Night.”</p> - -<p>Off he went.</p> - -<p>They had seen enough of the pictures, and having no -inclination for cafés or taverns or gambling shops they -made back toward the wharves, Satan walking in profound -silence, Ratcliffe thinking.</p> - -<p>The whole evening he had been followed by a miserable -sort of half-depression. It had attached itself -to him first on the deck of the <i>Sarah</i>, born of his return -to civilization; it had managed to decolorize the past -few weeks and demagnetize Jude.</p> - -<p>His conscious mind had never quite gauged the hold -that Jude had managed to get upon him, and this subconscious -devil, rising at the touch of civilization, like -a gas bubble from his conventional past, had burst, with -spoiling effect, robbing the <i>Sarah</i> of her romance and -sea-charm and the past few weeks of their brightness. -Jude had dimmed with everything else, become part and -parcel of what seemed an illusion.</p> - -<p>It was while sitting at the pictures, in black darkness, -with knowledge of Skelton’s presence, that the atmosphere -began to clear, the waves to beat again on Cormorant<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_291">291</a></span> -Cay, the gulls to fly and call—and Jude come -back to life.</p> - -<p>He heard again that queer little laugh of hers as she -removed his hand. He felt again the warm body that -had rested confidingly against him away there on the -sandspit.</p> - -<p>And then she was out on the black harbor alone in -the <i>Sarah</i>, while he and Satan were watching the pictures! -Suppose some lumbering sailing craft being -towed to her moorings or some incoming mailboat were -to smash into the <i>Sarah</i>—and they were to row off and -find nothing—no Jude?</p> - -<p>The thought almost made him rise from his seat to -leave the place. But he could not explain to Satan; -so he sat on till the lights flared out. And all the time, -mocking the pictures on the screen, came pictures of -Jude, all sunlit, real, fresh as herself!</p> - -<p>Then, as they pursued their way to the wharf after -leaving Skelton, the impatience increased; the darkness -of the night, the blaze of the town, the gay life of the -streets, and the revelry of the cafés seemed sinister and -banded in a conspiracy against him and the lonely little -figure of Jude. The indifference of Skelton, the way -he had gone hurriedly off, the way he had ignored -Satan, were part of the business, blended with the blazing -cafés, the moving crowd of Chinks, colored men, Spaniards, -and Americans, the brilliance and gaiety without -heart, that seemed like a barrier between him and the -humble little <i>Sarah</i> and Jude away out there in the darkness -alone—waiting for him! It came to him that Jude<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_292">292</a></span> -was the one sole thing he wanted in the cruel, odd, -electric-lit world—and he had left her!</p> - -<p>They passed through narrow streets like the streets in -an evil dream and blazing streets hideous with noise. -Then at last they reached the wharf with its amber -lights spilling on the black waving water. Satan hired -a boat, and they put off, two dagoes rowing and Satan -at the yoke lines.</p> - -<p>The <i>Sarah</i> was anchored a mile out, and the vast -three-mile harbor, vague in the starlight and circled by -the hills, seemed to Ratcliffe more immense than when -seen by daylight.</p> - -<p>Lights, lights everywhere,—scattered lights of shipping, -some near, some far away, gem-crusted bulks that -were great liners at anchor, songs and voices, and the -creak of the oars in the rowlocks! Then a sudden green, -red, and white light ahead and a fussy and furious little -tug that nearly ran them down and left them rocking -in her wash.</p> - -<p>“Scowbankers!” said Satan. Then: “I can’t make -out the light of the <i>Sarah</i>, nohow.”</p> - -<p>A clutch came to Ratcliffe’s heart, the clutch of something -cold and malign which had seemed following him -ever since Skelton’s presence had made itself felt like -an evil omen.</p> - -<p>They were so far out now that the sounds of the -town and wharves had died to nothing; but still the -creak of the oars in the rowlocks kept on. Then came -Satan’s voice:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_293">293</a></span> -“That’s her, over beyond them three lights on the -starboard bow.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe breathed again, and his heart leaped in him -as he picked out the light.</p> - -<p>Satan altered their course.</p> - -<p>“Are you sure?” asked Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Sure.”</p> - -<p>“You gave me the devil of a fright.”</p> - -<p>“Which way?”</p> - -<p>“I thought she might have been run down by some -ship coming in—or something.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, she’s well out of the track,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>“All the same, I didn’t feel easy.”</p> - -<p>Then they hung silent, Ratcliffe’s eyes on the light and -his hand in his pocket feeling for dollars to pay the -boatmen.</p> - -<p>“What’s there to pay?” asked he.</p> - -<p>“A dollar, seeing there’s two of them,” replied Satan. -“<i>Sarah</i> ahoy!”</p> - -<p>“Ahoy!” came Jude’s voice, and a lantern swung over -the side.</p> - -<p>Satan bundled on board, and Ratcliffe crammed five -dollars into the hand of the stern oar; then he followed, -and the fellows pushed off.</p> - -<p>“Took it without fightin’!” said Satan. “Lord’s sake, -what’s come to them?” Then he bundled below to make -some coffee.</p> - -<p>Jude snuffed the lantern out.</p> - -<p>She was moving away from the side and away from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_294">294</a></span> -Ratcliffe, when he caught hold of her round the body. -She did not resist him. He held her close to his heart.</p> - -<p>“Jude!”</p> - -<p>“What is it?” asked Jude, with a sudden catch in her -breath and speaking in a whisper. “Whacha want?”</p> - -<p>Then his lips met hers, full.</p> - -<p>Five minutes later Satan, making his coffee over the -Primus stove of the <i>Haliotis</i>, heard a struggling sound, -mixed with stifled laughter, and Ratcliffe appeared at -the cabin door. He was dragging Jude in; she was half-resisting, -and her face was hid in the crook of her arm.</p> - -<p>“Satan,” said Ratcliffe, “I’m going to marry Jude.”</p> - -<p>“God help you!” said Satan.</p> - -<hr> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_295">295</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI<br> - -<span class="subhead">THE WEDDING PRESENT</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">“I’m</span> going to marry Jude!”</p> - -<p>The fantastic fact embodied in those words appeared -to him folly only next day at one o’clock, with -the sky to northward breathing hot on Havana Harbor -like the mouth of a blue oven, flags fluttering to the -wind, the drum and fife band of an American training -ship coming over the water, and the <i>Dryad</i> being towed -to her moorings half a mile shoreward.</p> - -<p>The blushing bride-to-be of last night, hiding her nose -on Ratcliffe’s shoulder, as they sat together on the couch -before Satan, while he taunted her with the fact that -now she’d have to get into skirts, had turned back into -Jude.</p> - -<p>She was busy getting the dinghy ready to row her -fiancé off to the <i>Dryad</i>.</p> - -<p>She was over the side in her, busy and humming a -tune as she worked, baling out water, fixing the cushions, -and so on, while Satan watched her in a brooding manner -over the rail.</p> - -<p>A ghastly fear was working in the heart of Satan, -the fear that Skelton might want the dinghy returned.</p> - -<p>“Now, mind you,” said Satan, “and bring the boat<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_296">296</a></span> -back. I’d sooner lose me head than that boat. If you -come back without her, I’ll chuck you in the harbor! -I’m talking straight.”</p> - -<p>Ratcliffe, who had just come on deck dressed for the -occasion, came to the rail. Jude looked up at him and -laughed.</p> - -<p>He had seen her laughing before, he had seen her -surly, meditative, brooding, weeping, flushed with anger, -grumbling; but he had never seen her with a look like -this,—happy.</p> - -<p>Since last night something had come into her eyes that -made her, when her eyes met his, beautiful. It was as -though a lamp had been suddenly lit inside her, and -the magical thing was the knowledge that he himself was -the lamplighter.</p> - -<p>He had created this new something that spoke to him -right out, right to his heart, right to his soul!</p> - -<p>He got into the dinghy, nodded to Satan, and they -started, Jude at the sculls, her trousers rolled half-way -up to the knees and her old panama on the back of her -head.</p> - -<p>“Go slow,” said he, “there’s lots of time.” Then, -when they were out of hearing and he was alone with -her at last:</p> - -<p>“Jude!”</p> - -<p>“What?”</p> - -<p>“D’you remember yesterday you asked me if I was -going away, now the anchor was down?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“What would you have done if I had?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_297">297</a></span> -“I’d a drowned myself in the harbor,” said Jude without -a moment’s hesitation. “What’s the good of asking?”</p> - -<p>“When did you begin to care for me a bit?”</p> - -<p>“D’you remember the sandspit?” asked Jude. “I dunno—maybe -it was beyond then—remember the cache?”</p> - -<p>“When I chased you round the tree and—”</p> - -<p>Jude screwed up her lips.</p> - -<p>“You gave me an awful bang on the head.”</p> - -<p>“You frightened the gizzard out of me,” said Jude, -“and I wasn’t the same after—that night.”</p> - -<p>“I remember, I heard you telling Satan that hants -were chasing you.”</p> - -<p>“You were the hants.”</p> - -<p>“But you didn’t care for me then. Remember you -said derricks were only good for hoisting fools off ships -with.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon it was a sort of caring turned inside out,” -said Jude. She turned her head to see if they were making -for the <i>Dryad</i>.</p> - -<p>“You’re letting her off her course,” said she, “unless -you’re making for that brig.”</p> - -<p>“I’d just as soon make for her as anywhere else,” -said he, altering the course, “unless it was the sandspit—Jude!”</p> - -<p>“Yep.”</p> - -<p>“Imagine if we were alone on the sandspit, you and I, -just as we were that day, instead of in this rotten old -harbor—let’s go there!”</p> - -<p>“I’m willing.”</p> - -<p>“When?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_298">298</a></span> -“Soon’s you like.”</p> - -<p>“We can get a tent and grub, and Satan can take us -there and come back for us. Damn! here’s the <i>Dryad</i>!”</p> - -<p>The first officer of the <i>Dryad</i> was leaning over the rail -watching them. The stage was down, and Jude brought -the dinghy alongside.</p> - -<p>Then on the stage he watched her rowing off. He -waved his hand to her, and she replied.</p> - -<p>Then, when he reached the deck, he found Skelton -also at the rail.</p> - -<p>“’Morning,” said Ratcliffe. “That’s Satan’s sister.”</p> - -<p>“Which?” asked Skelton. “That—er—person in the -boat?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. But you saw her on deck down at Palm Island, -didn’t you?”</p> - -<p>“I had forgotten,” said Skelton, dismissing the subject.</p> - -<p>There were no guests. Ponsonby was to have come, -but he was indisposed; yet the luncheon was just as -formal an affair as though a dozen had been present -instead of two.</p> - -<p>Half-way through the meal, however, Ratcliffe’s spirits -began to brighten under the influence of Perrier Jouet -and the harlequin thought that began to dance in his -head, “I am going for a honeymoon to the sandspit -with Jude!”</p> - -<p>He laughed occasionally at nothing in particular, and -Skelton thought his manner strange, heady, queer, and -began to thank his stars that Ponsonby was indisposed. -He noticed also that Ratcliffe’s hands, despite scrubbing,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_299">299</a></span> -bore the evidence of hard work not dissociated with tar. -There was also something queer about his hair.</p> - -<p>There was! Satan had barbarized it down at Cormorant -with the pair of scissors he used on Jude.</p> - -<p>Skelton, in asking Ratcliffe on board to luncheon, had -considered himself a most forgiving individual. Leaving -aside their little quarrel at Palm Island, remained -the fact that Ratcliffe had left his ship, deserted him for -the company of those Yankee “scowbankers,” and, to -make matters worse, Ratcliffe seemed to have enjoyed -the exchange.</p> - -<p>Now, in closer company with the delinquent, he was -beginning to regret his forgiveness. “The man had deteriorated!”</p> - -<p>As a result of this impression his manner had stiffened; -he felt irritated and bored.</p> - -<p>The steward had withdrawn, having placed the dessert -on the table, and Skelton was in the act of carving a -pineapple in the only way a pineapple ought to be carved,—that -is to say by tearing it into pieces with two forks,—when -Ratcliffe, who had been staring at the fruit as -though hypnotized, suddenly broke into a chuckle of -laughter.</p> - -<p>The pineapple, connecting itself, maybe, with canned -pineapples robbed from the store room of the <i>Haliotis</i>, -had suddenly brought up the vision of Satan.</p> - -<p>Satan in a new guise—Satan as a matchmaker!</p> - -<p>All sorts of things, some almost half-forgotten, rushed -together to clothe Satan in this new garment. He remembered<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_300">300</a></span> -Satan’s solicitude for Jude’s future, Satan’s -complacency when he and Jude had gone off to the sandspit -together, his conversations about Jude, the complete -absence of surprise with which he had taken the business -of last night,—a hundred things, and all pointing -in the same direction and to the fact that Satan had -wished the business, just as he had wished the dinghy -away from Skelton, just as he had wished Ratcliffe on -board of the <i>Sarah Tyler</i>.</p> - -<p>He, Ratcliffe, was part of the sea-pickings of this -gipsy, part and parcel with bunches of bananas, pots -of paint, sailcloth, mainsheet buffers, cringles, and so -on! He was annexed to fit Jude just as the mast winch -of the <i>Haliotis</i> was annexed to fit the <i>Sarah</i>!</p> - -<p>Jude herself had declared that Satan had brought him -on board because he “wanted him.”</p> - -<p>Skelton paused in his operation on the pineapple and -stared at the other.</p> - -<p>“I beg your pardon,” said Ratcliffe, “but something -has just struck me so horribly funny I couldn’t help -laughing—anyhow, the joke is against myself. Look -here, Skelton, I want to tell you something—I’m—m—going -to marry a girl.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed—but what is there horribly funny about that?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing—it’s not that, it’s something else; but let’s -start with that. I’m going to marry that girl who rowed -me over here today, Satan’s sister.”</p> - -<p>Skelton laid down his fork. All his starch had vanished. -Surprised out of his life, he seemed suddenly to -grow younger and more natural looking.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_301">301</a></span> -“Good God!” said Skelton, staring at the other. “You -don’t mean—”</p> - -<p>“I do. I don’t know why I am telling you, but there -it is. You can’t understand in the least—couldn’t hope -to make you.”</p> - -<p>Now Skelton with his starch off and in an emergency -was a sound man, with a heart as good as any ordinary -mortal’s.</p> - -<p>He had an eye that no little detail ever escaped. He -had seen Jude at Palm Island, he had heard her speak, -he had seen her half an hour ago, and Ratcliffe’s manner -left him in no doubt as to his absolute earnestness.</p> - -<p>The man was about to commit suicide, social suicide. -He had seen men do the same thing often in different -ways.</p> - -<p>He pushed the pineapple away and rose from the -table.</p> - -<p>“Come into the smoke room,” said he.</p> - -<p>In the smoke room he rang for coffee. Not a word -about Jude. Dead silence.</p> - -<p>Then, when the coffee was brought and the door closed, -he turned to the other.</p> - -<p>“Ratcliffe, you can’t do this thing. I know. Let me -speak for a moment. You are your own master, free -to do as you choose; but I must speak. I like you. -Our temperaments are dead different, and we don’t make -good companions; but you have many sterling qualities, -and I don’t want to see you come a mucker. You can -do a thing like this in two minutes; but two hundred -years won’t get you out of it, once it’s done. (Take<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_302">302</a></span> -sugar in your coffee? Yes, I remember.) See here! -I had a young brother once who was going to do just -the same,—absolutely ruin himself. I managed to stop -it, saved his future and his name.”</p> - -<p>He picked a cigar out of a box and, coming to a dead -stop in his remarks, cut the end off.</p> - -<p>“My dear fellow,” said Ratcliffe, before he could continue, -“I know absolutely and exactly how you feel on -the subject and what you would say. I’ve felt it myself -and said it to myself.</p> - -<p>“I began to get fond of her almost from the first. -If you’d been in my shoes, you would have been just -the same. No one could help getting fond of her. Then -after awhile I found how I was drifting, and I said to -myself, ‘It’s absurd!’ I pictured all my female relations -and so forth and my position in the wonderful thing -you call Society.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t sneer at Society,” said Skelton gravely. “That’s -the easiest sort of cant that ever folly put into a man’s -mouth. Go on.”</p> - -<p>“You’re right,” said Ratcliffe. “All the same Society -galls one at times when the thought of it comes up -against something alive and fresh and free from snobbery -like Jude. Well, things went on and on. I hadn’t -much time for thinking, underhanded as we were; and -that was the fatal thing, for I absorbed her without -thinking,—not her face or body, but her character. You -know that, underhanded and close together on a tub like -the <i>Sarah</i>, character is the thing that shows and counts, -and at every hand’s turn hers showed up and got a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_303">303</a></span> -tighter grip on me. It wasn’t a character all jam, either, -but it was a thing to count on and real as the sea—you -can’t understand.”</p> - -<p>“I can,” said Skelton, humoring the other, “a fine -character.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Lord, no!” said Ratcliffe. “Don’t get away with -things. <em>Real</em>, that’s the word!”</p> - -<p>“But, my dear man—”</p> - -<p>“I know what you are going to say. She can’t speak -King’s English—well, I’m going to teach her. She’s -dressed like that—well, I’m going to dress her properly -after awhile.”</p> - -<p>Skelton suddenly showed a flash of irritation.</p> - -<p>“Come up to the point,” said he. “Are you, after -what I’ve said, still fixed in your purpose? Are you -going to marry her?”</p> - -<p>“As soon as ever I can get a priest off to the old -<i>Sarah</i>,” replied Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“That is your last word?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Very well,” said Skelton. His manner changed. He -had done what he could: it was useless. Ratcliffe was -no relation of his, and now, contemplating the thing -with as much detachment as though it were a losing -horse race or boxing encounter on which he had no bet, -he lit the cigar, which he had been holding unlighted -in his fingers, and became almost amiable.</p> - -<p>“Very well,” said he, “go ahead. After all, it’s not -my affair; but I’ll be interested to know how you get -on. By the way, I have some gear of yours on board.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_304">304</a></span> -“Take it back, will you, like a good chap,” said the -other, “and leave it with the yacht people at Southampton? -I’ll pick it up there when I return.”</p> - -<p>“You are coming back?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, rather; but not for a year or so, maybe. I’ve -a lot to do, and when you see us next maybe you’ll -agree—” He stopped short and relit his cigar, and they -hung silent, each engaged in his own thoughts.</p> - -<p>Now; on the warm sea-scented air entering through -the open ports, came a voice.</p> - -<p>It was the voice of the second officer, addressing someone -overside.</p> - -<p>“Hi, there! Bring her round to the quarter-boat -davits; she’s to come aboard.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the dinghy,” said Skelton. “I told them to -bring her aboard. I’ll send you back in the pinnace.”</p> - -<p>Again came the voice.</p> - -<p>“Hi, there! Are you deaf? Bring her round to the -quarter-boat davits; she’s to come aboard.”</p> - -<p>Then Jude’s fresh young voice:</p> - -<p>“Gar’n! She’s ours; old Popplecock gave her to -Satan. Whacha talking about?”</p> - -<p>“Very well,” came the other’s. “You wait till Sir -William comes on deck.”</p> - -<p>Skelton with a grim smile turned to the door. He -pointed to the clock on the bulkhead.</p> - -<p>“I’m going on deck,” said he. “See that clock—promise -me to stick here for two minutes by it and -think right over the matter for the last time. Don’t let -anything I have said weigh with you.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_305">305</a></span> -He went on deck and, keeping clear of the rail, entered -into conversation with the first officer.</p> - -<p>Three minutes passed, and Ratcliffe’s head appeared at -the saloon hatch.</p> - -<p>“Going?” said Skelton.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>“Right! You can keep the dinghy—it’s a wedding -present. Luck!”</p> - -<p>“Same to you!” said Ratcliffe.</p> - -<p>He gripped the other’s hand, and the grip was returned. -The two men had never been so close to each -other before, never would be again.</p> - -<div class="tb">* <span class="in2">* </span><span class="in2">* </span><span class="in2">* </span><span class="in2">*</span></div> - -<p>Two hours later the <i>Dryad</i>, queening it over the satin smooth -harbor, dipped her flag to the humble little -<i>Sarah</i>, and the <i>Sarah</i> dipped her flag to the <i>Dryad</i>, and -someone in the Wedding Present lying alongside the -<i>Sarah</i> waved a hat.</p> - -<p>Skelton, at the after rail, fixed his binoculars on the -hat-waver. It was Satan.</p> - -<p class="p2 center smaller">THE END</p> - -<div class="chapter"><div class="transnote"> -<h2><a id="Transcribers_Notes"></a>Transcriber’s Notes</h2> - -<p>Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant -preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.</p> - -<p>Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced -quotation marks retained.</p> - -<p>Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained; occurrences -of inconsistent hyphenation have not been changed.</p> -</div></div> - - - - -<div style='display:block;margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SATAN ***</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This file should be named 55183-h.htm or 55183-h.zip</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in https://www.gutenberg.org/5/5/1/8/55183/</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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