Part 14 (1/2)
After the captain set sail in his little boat, the party which he left behind hiradually, day by day, threw a shadow over the spirits of each one of them
Ralph, who always slept in the outer chauardian of the captain's treasure No one, not even hione near it, and he never went up to the rocky pro that the two negroes were at a distance froht
For a day or two after the captain's departure Edna was very quiet, with a fancy for going off by herself But she soon threw off this dangerous disposition, and took up her old profession of teacher, with Ralph as the scholar, and mathematics as the study They had no books nor even paper, but the rules and principles of her specialty were fresh in her mind, and with a pointed stick on a srams were drawn and problems worked out
This occupation was afor Edna and her brother, but it did not help Mrs Cliff to endure with patience the weary days of waiting She had nothing to read, nothing to do, very often no one to talk to, and she would probably have fallen into a state of nervous melancholy had not Edna persuaded her to devote an hour or two each day to missionary ith Mok and Cheditafa This Mrs Cliff cheerfully undertook She was a conscientious wo were peculiar She had an earnest desire to do the greatest aroes, but, at the same time, she did not wish to do injury to any one else The conviction forced itself upon her that if she absolutely converted Cheditafa froht in soe ceremony which he had performed
”If he should truly coht to o back on the whole business, and everything that we have done would be undone I don't want hier than it can possibly be helped, but I must be careful not to set his priesthood entirely aside until Edna's position is fixed and settled When the captain coularly; but if he never comes back, then I e is just as binding as any other kind, and that any change of religious opinion that he ly, while she confined her religious teachings to very general principles, her s were founded upon the strictest code, and included cleanliness and all the household virtues, not excepting the proper care of such garht happen to possess
In spite, however, of this occupation, Mrs Cliffs spirits were not buoyant ”I believe,” she thought, ”things would have been more cheerful if they had notto sacrifice cheerfulness at present to future prosperity”
It was more than a month after the departure of the captain that Ralph, from his point of observation, perceived a sail upon the horizon He had seen sails there before, but they never grew any larger, and generally soon disappeared, for it would lengthen the course of any coasting-vessel to approach this shore But the sail that Ralph sa larger and larger, and, with the aid of his little spy-glass, it was not long before hetoward hi, and, with a loud hurrah, doent he to shout out the glad news
Twentyeyes of every one of the party that the shi+p was actually approaching the shore, and in the heart of each one of the that, after all these days of weary waiting, the captain was co back
As the shi+p drew nearer and nearer, she showed herself to be a large vessel--a handsome bark About half a mile from the shore, she lay to, and very soon a boat was lowered
Edna's heart beat rapidly and her face flushed as, with Ralph's spy-glass to her eyes, she scanned the people in the boat as it pulled away from the shi+p
”Can you make out the captain?” cried Ralph, at her side
She shook her head, and handed hih it, and then he lowered the glass
”Edna,” said he, ”he isn't in it”
”What!” exclaimed Mrs Cliff, ”do you mean to say that the captain is not in that boat?”
”I am sure of it,” said Ralph ”And if he isn't in the boat, of course he is not on the shi+p Perhaps he did not have anything to do with that vessel's co in this direction, and so conal”
”Don't suppose things,” said Edna, a little sharply ”Wait until the boat comes in, and then ill know all about it--Here, Cheditafa,” said she, ”you and Mok go out into the water and help run that boat ashore as soon as it is near enough”
It was a large boat containing five men, and when it had been run up on the sand, and its occupants had stepped out, the man at the tiller, who proved to be the second mate of the bark, came forward and touched his hat As he did so, no sensible person could have iined that he had accidentally discovered them His manner plainly showed that he had expected to find them there The conviction that this was so made the blood run cold in Edna's veins Why had not the captain come himself?
The man in co fro a letter from the pocket of his jacket, he presented it to Edna
”Mrs Horn, I believe,” he said ”Here is a letter from your husband”
Now, it so happened that to Mrs Cliff, to Edna, and to Ralph this recognition of matrimonial status seee cererew as red as roses as she took the letter
”From my husband,” she said; and then, without further remark, she stepped aside to read it
But Mrs Cliff and Ralph could not wait for the reading of the letter
They closed upon theat the same moment, demanded of him what had happened to Captain Horn, why he had not come himself, where he was noas this shi+p to take theood mariner smiled at their impatience, but could not wonder at it, and proceeded to tell them all he knew about Captain Horn and his plans
The captain, he said, had arrived at Callao soet a vessel in which to go after the party he had left, but was unable to do so There was nothing in port which answered his purpose The captain seemed to be very particular about the craft in which he would be willing to trust his wife and the rest of the party