Part 2 (1/2)
”This is quite the best place in the shi+p,” she said ”I am very comfortable, thank you Please don't send us away, captain”
Before Courtenay could answer, the officer of the watch looked in
”Cape Carau sou'west of the Buei Rock, sir,” he announced, and vanished again
”Don't hurry,” said Courtenay, taking up his cap ”I one, with Joey at his heels, and there was a brief silence
”Really, Isobel, we should go back on deck,” urged Elsie, uneasily
Already she half regretted the impulse which led her to intervene in her friend's special hobby
”I like that I didn't credit you with such guile, Elsie Maxwell You snap up my nice captain beneath my very nose, and coolly propose that I should vacate the battlefield Oh dear, no! I can't talk literature, but I _can_ flirt, and I have not finished with Arthur yet by a long chalk”
”Isobel, if you kne you hurtcrossed her pretty feet, folded her arlance
”So artful, too 'Love ,' eh? You actually took my breath away”
”It may amaze you to learn that I meant to achieve that much, at any rate,” was Elsie's quiet retort as she turned to select a volume from the queer miscellany in the bookcase
”Oh, don't be cruel Leavethe classics of his native tongue! Poora serpent in uish Isobel leaned back in her chair
She was insolently conscious of her superior attractions Was she not the richest heiress in Valparaiso? Had not her father chartered this shi+p? And was not Elsie even now flying from an unwelcome suitor? She knew full well that her friend would resent the slightest se on the part of any man on board Already her astonish to the huht serve as a foil, but the real quarry noas the captain That very night there would be a moon And the sea was calhted s her to discuss those celebrities whom Elsie had ainst the captain! They ought to be at daggers drawn long before the Straits of Magellan were reached Certainly she never expected such sport on board such a humdrum shi+p as the _Kansas_
Suddenly they both heard an excited bark fro the deck; Courtenay's voice reached the note in it
”Stop that!” he shouted
There was an instant's pause Their alert ears caught the sounds of a distant scuffle Then a pistol shot jarred the peaceful drone of the shi+p
”Sheer off, there!” roared Courtenay again ”Next time I shoot to kill!”--
With terror in their eyes, with blanched cheeks, they rushed to the door and peeped out Courtenay was not to be seen, but the officer of the watch inging hie
He disappeared Joey, barking furiously, trotted into view and ran back again Creeping forward, they saw the stolid sailor within the chart-house squint at the coht turn
That was reassuring Yet another tithey could discern Courtenay, holding a revolver in his right hand, but behind his back
Even in their alar very terrible would happen now But why had the shot been fired, and what had given that tense ring to Courtenay's threat?
Venturing a little further, they gained the bridge On theway beneath, near an open hatch, a half-caste Chilean was lying on his back He had evidently been wounded Blood was flowing fro; it smeared the white deck The officer who had cli two other men how to lift hi a deep cut on his chin with a handkerchief At the same time he curtly ordered off such deck hands and stewards as cairls were gazing wide-eyed at this so scene, when Courtenay approached
”Better go below,” he said quietly ”I a of the voyage, too I hope it will not upset you That rascally Chilean tried to knife Mr Boyle, and those other blackguards were ready to side with hiht to show them I meant what I said”
”Is he dead?” asked Isobel, with a contemptuous coolness as to the fate of the mutineer which Courtenay found ads Only a flesh wound, I fancy”