Part 37 (1/2)
”Is there to be any catch-as-catch-can business, Boyle?” demanded Gray
”No All this is d--d unfair to me”
”You have my sympathy, friend, but you can't leave the shi+p Now, Miss Maxwell, coood He doesn't mean half he says, anyhow”
As the canoe slipped out of the dense gloom of the shi+p's shadow, Elsie heard the wrathful chief officer interviewing the Chilean sailors on watch on the main deck fore and aft That is to say, he stirred thee with a ritual laid down for such extre artifice which the girl displayed in throwing hiuard She had maneuvered Suarez into the canoe with the fierce and silent strategy of a Red Indian
The Argentine squatted on his knees in the bows, Gray placed hi the revolver in her right hand and the dog's collar in her left The Aorously
”Guess you'd better discourse,” said he over his shoulder, when the light craft ell clear of the shi+p
”You understand Spanish, I think?”
”Yes”
”Please tell Suarez to cease paddling and listen Don't move I can trust you, but I un, Miss Maxwell The gentleman in front see you say goes, where he is concerned I a your word for it his name is Suarez, but he looks, and smells, more like an Indian”
”I forced him to dress in his discarded clothes He es we coive you s I aihwith you, and even the wisest dogmoment You must have both hands at liberty to choke his enthusiaso on with my scheme?”
”That is what I am here for”
”Take the revolver, then”
”Sure it's loaded?”
”Quite sure I have fifteen extra cartridges, but, as I have practised refilling it in the dark, give it to me if you have occasion to e out pretty fully?”
”I intend to succeed Now, please, Iin Spanish, slow and clear, while the canoe drifted steadily up the bay with the rising tide, Elsie unfolded her project Behind the guardian cliff of Otter Creek a ridge of rocks created a small natural harbor It was the custom of the Alaculofs, when the weather was calm, and they meant to use their craft at daybreak, to anchor most of their vessels in this sheltered break-water At other times the canoes were drawn ashore, but she reasoned that such a precaution would not be taken during the present excitera the life-boat In any event, she intended to go next to the hidden cleft at the foot of Guanaco Hill, trusting to the dog's sagacity to reveal the retreat where she believed that her lover and uard there, the reappearance of Suarez in his war paint, backed by the alarht , while the frequent reports of the revolver would certainly lead to a counter demonstration by Courtenay Suarez was the only uide, and the penalty of his refusal would be instant death She had provided a strong, sharp knife to cut the thongs which fastened the canoes to their anchor-stones For the rest, she trusted to the darkness It was her fixed resolve to succeed or die
Gray listened to the girl's cool statean to look feasible It caainst it, of course, but the law of probability is seldo the best of a situation which gave hiot hold of the canoes Nevertheless, he warned thes of Guanaco Hill He believed there were no reefs on that side of the inlet, but he had never visited it
Their greatest peril lay aren to the water's edge On his advice, Gray unshi+pped the mast and threw it overboard Then silence becaht were said, they must speak in the ain with stealthy haste The night was clear, though dark The stars helped the rapidly nearer As they crept round the southern cheek of Point _Kansas_, the Argentine ceased paddling, and placed a warning hand on Gray's ared into deepest gloom the water at its base
Suarez, however, had i his enforced residence on the island He stretched well forward over the bows, held a paddle as far in front as possible, and thus not only guided the drifting canoe by an occasional dip of the blade, but trusted to it for warning of any unseen rock
There was a cold breeze on the surface of the bay, but the dog was the only one who shi+vered, and his treht bu for; by watching a star it was easy enough to follow the southerly bend taken by the canoe in skirting this barrier, while their ears caught the murmur of the swift current amid the numerous tiny channels of the rocks Suddenly this swirl and hu water ceased Elsie and Gray becaain Then his paddle dipped with a noiseless stroke; the canoe was inside the Alaculof harbor
Thethat had a sense of actual obstruction in it It seemed that a hand put forth would encounter a wall The tide was here, but no perceptible current For all they could tell to the contrary, they ian pool
For a minute or two, Elsie's brave heart failed her Here was a difficulty which desperate courage could not surht be dozens of canoes moored on all sides, but to discover them in this pitch darkness was so obviously impossible that she almost made up her mind to abandon this part of her enterprise Yet the narrow-beaian craft she was in would hold only four more occupants, and that with a certain risk and unwieldiness She was as determined as ever to cross the bay and endeavor to conized the absurdity of the thought that Courtenay and Tollemache would consent to escape in the canoe and leave the others to their fate, even if such a thing were practicable Oddly enough, the one person whose daring s of doubt Suarez pushed forward resolutely He knehat Elsie had forgotten--that in each canoe used by the Indians there was a carefully preserved fire, whose charcoal eht The first intient fu a little gasp of relief There was a slight movement in front Gray leaned back and touched her hand
”Suarez says,” he whispered, ”that you are to be ready with your tow ropes As he secures each canoe he will pass it along to li? He ust, he was forthwith muzzled with a piece of rope, not that this device would stop hiht he would so resent the indignity that he ht pay less heed to outer circu that Indians were near