Part 15 (1/2)
Her voice seeh her dark face with the deep luminous eyes were so near, and, as she spoke, the boat, with Tepi and Teently on the strand
”Yes, yes, we shall sail to-night,” I cried exultantly, as I again pressed Lucia to my heart, and showered passionate kisses upon her lips, ”we shall sail, Lucia my dearest; on, and on, and on, to the north-west, my beloved, till we coain, no never, never, ain,” cried Niabon, casting down her torch; ” hand, and woman with the fond and tender heart Thy lives are forever linked together Quick, givetowards us, and took Lucia's hand in hers, and al it far out into the lagoon
”Sink, sink, thou ring of olden circle which should have ht but hate and treachery and poison to her ore it Sink, accursed thing”
”Oh, Ji eyes to ave it to me, I think he loved me, wicked and cruel as he was afterwards Oh, Niabon, Niabon!” In a moment Niabon's arms were around her ”My sweet, my sweet! thou art to me more than life,” she whispered, ”I love thee so, Lucia I love thee so that I would die for thee! Heed not the ring, for now thou hast beside thee a good --one whose love will forever shi+eld thee Come, my dearest, coether, with aruided by the still-burning torch lying on the sand
I followed, and in another minute I had the tiller in my hand, and told Tepi to push off, as Tee?” I cried, as I slipped my arm around Lucia's waist, and her lips e, Tepi? Canst see?
Canst see, Tematau?”
Niabon placed her hand on mine
”Have no fear, Sih the reef is wide, and the shi+p on the right hand is a good guide See, her ive me the tiller, for thou and Lucia are tired So sleep--sleep till the dawn, and Teht How shall I steer?”
”North-west, north-west,” I muttered, as Lucia laid her cheek to mine, ”north-west, but call me if the wind hauls to the northward”
She bent oyer Lucia and touched her face softly
”Sleep, dear one, sleep till dawn,” she said in a whisper, and then with a smile she turned to me
”Simi, thou too art tired, and must sleep even as Lucia sleepeth now
See, her eyes are closed Hoeet and fair she is as she sleepeth! Ah, hoeet! So, let me touch thy face” She pressed her soft hand on my brow, and then, with Lucia's head pillowed on my breast, I slept
CHAPTER XVI
For seventeen days we h we met with such very heavy weather when between Minto Breakers Beef, and the island of Oraluk, that I had to run back to the latter place for shelter, and all but h so small, it is very fertile, and the natives were very hospitable, Niabon and Lucia being given a rooiven a house to ourselves, where ere very coet about on account of the pouring rain, which hardly ceased for an hour The chief's house was quite near to that in which ere quartered, so I spent a good deal of h I cannot say that I was really in love with entle endearments, and the happiness that shone in her dark eyes when I ith her gave me a certain restfulness, and I ell content
We had long since decided as to our future After our e she was to stay with her sister, or with my friends, the Otano's, on Guaot hioods that when I returned to Gua operations either in the Marianas, with Guam for my headquarters, or else choose soo The boat, I had no doubt, I could sell at San Luis d'Apra, or San Ignacio, and this I intended to do if a fair price was offeredschooners to Manila, and fro well, it was more than likely that my friend would lend or sellvessels, for he had half a dozen or hout the Moluccas, and on the coast of the Phillipine Islands
On the second day after our arrival on Oraluk, the rain cleared off for an hour, and I went over to the chief's house, and found Lucia conversing in Spanish with some native women who could speak it brokenly, for years before there had been a Jesuit mission on the island, but it had been abandoned, and the two priests, after a stay of five years, had gone back to Manila Niabon was not in the house--she had gone into the forest with soirls, Lucia said, as she bade irl, Lucia She see on the cliffs or mountain tops I wish I knew the true story of her life”
Lucia shook her head ”She will not tell it, Jim, and I am sure she does not like to be questioned even by me But yet she _has_ toldyou--I am sure she would not mind”
”No, why should she mind?”
”She told o back to when she was a child of six at Manhiki She lived alone with her mother in a little hut quite apart from the other people Even then she says she knew that her reatly feared by the natives, who yet came to her for charms and medicines Who her mother was she does not know--but she is quite certain that she was a full-blooded Polynesian, though not a native of Manhiki Her father she had never seen, nor had her mother ever made even the faintest allusion to him, and Niabon herself had never dared question her on the subject