Part 2 (2/2)
”Poor wretch!” murmured Elsie ”Was there no other way?”
”There is only one way of dealing with that sort of skunk,” was the gruff answer The pity in her voice implied a condemnation of his act
He resented it He knew he had done rightly, and she knew that she had given offence by her involuntary sy of the paralyzing shock of the bullet, was howling dolefully now as the sailors carried hiroans tortured her Her eyes filled with tears Joey, yelping with frenzy, leaped up to invite her to lift hi on But Elsie could only reach blindly for the rail of the co word of farewell to Courtenay, followed her
So it came to pass that neither Stevenson nor the moon had power to draw the captain of the _Kansas_ to the proht
CHAPTER II
WHEREIN THE CAPTAIN KEEPS TO HIS OWN QUARTERS
Doctor Christobal brought some additional details to the dinner-table
He was not the shi+p's doctor The _Kansas_, built for freight rather than passengers, did not carry a surgeon on her roll; Dr Christobal's presence was due to Mr Baring's solicitude in his daughter's behalf
It chanced that the courtly and gray-haired Spanish physician had relinquished his practise in Chile, and was about to pay a long-prohter in Barcelona Friendshi+p, not unaided by a good fee, induced him to travel by the _Kansas_
He had been called on to attend Mr Boyle and the wounded Chilean, and he reported now that the chief officer's injury was trifling, but the Chilean's wound e
”So far as I can gather,” he said, ”Mr Boyle had a narrow escape
These half-breeds have a nice anato; they also know the easiest way to reach it with a sharp instrument Captain Courtenay fired as the knife fell, otherwise our first ”
”What was the cause of the affair?” Isobel asked
”The man is not one of the shi+p's crew, I understand His naed to place so He says that he was drugged, and his clothes stolen; that he ca hi into a hold which, luckily for him, was nearly full of cotton bales He was stunned by the fall, and were it not for Captain Courtenay's custoh exao e, Frascuelo ht place in more than one sense”
Dr Christobal was proud of his idioe with the careless freedom of a Londoner
”Frascuelo seems to have passed an eventful day,” said the little French Co anxiously for a chance to join in the conversation
”But why should he want to kill poor Mr Boyle?” inquired Isobel, after giving the Frenchlance Incidentally, she sues when all the world speaks English?” she telegraphed
”Mr Boyle is a peculiar person,” said the doctor dryly ”I happen to have known hiard him as a man of feords, but he has acquired a wonderful vocabulary for the benefit of sailor-o
His accomplishment in that direction no doubt annoyed Frascuelo, who became frantic when he heard that the shi+p would not call at any South Aine, too, that the unfortunate fellow is still suffering fro which, he says, was administered to him
Anyhow, you kno the affair terht have been shown hiument when a Chilean draws a knife, Miss Maxwell”
”But, if his story is true--”
”There never yet was a stoho did not invent a plausible yarn
Nevertheless, I believe, and Mr Boyle agrees with ”