Part 24 (1/2)
She stole a glance at Courtenay He was so keenly engaged on the business in hand, so bent on achieving accuracy in his figures, that she chided herself for her ht to that pro that the _Kansas_ was overdue
Elsie was sufficiently well acquainted with shi+pping to realize the sensation that would be created by the first cablegra the non-appearance of the steamer in the Straits The Valparaiso newspapers would be full of surmises as to the vessel's fate They would publish full details of the valuable cargo--and give a list of the passengers and officers Ah! Ventana would learn then, if he had not heard of it earlier, that she was on board And he alone would understand the true reason of her flight from Chile Her cheeks flushed, and she applied herself ood deal unsaid in her brief statee, how utterly unexpected it was, that Ventana's name should fall fro!
And what did Isobelthat last dreadful scene ere she was carried away to the boat, by screaeance” Vengeance for what? Had the half-breed dared to hly placed Isobel Baring that he did not scruple to put before the needy governess?
Surely that was impossible There were limits even to his audacity--
”Well, how is ?”
Courtenay's cheery voice banished the unwelcome specter of Ventana
Elsie started
”I do believe you were day-drea,” said the captain with a surprised shts?”
”I don't think you can payto cover her confusion
”Won't you accept Chilean currency?”
”Not on the high seas”
”But you are on dry land Please rees 14 rees 59 minutes 3 seconds West
That is the present position of the shi+p Are you listening, Boyle?
According to the chart, the shi+p is high and dry, four runted Boyle ”Reminds me of a skipper I once sailed with, bound from Rotterdam to Hull in ballast There was a Scotch mist best part of the trip, an' the old ot a squint of the sun he went as yaller as a Swede turnip 'It's all up with us, boys,' he said 'My missus is forty fathoms below We've just sailed over York' You see, he'd rees”
”Boyle,” said Courtenay, severely, ”what has co a joke?”
”I think I ue-tied before, captain”
”Before what?”
”Before that lame duck in the fo'c'sle stuck his tobacco-cutter into my jaw I can talk like a prize parrot now--can't I, Miss Maxwell?”
Elsie was laughing, but she remembered the subject on which Boyle had displayed his new-found power of speech; and human parrots are apt to say too much
”Please don't tell anydots in the wrong places”
”And causing us to waste time scandalously Are you ready, Miss Maxwell? Let me pin this coard each inch as a uesswork”