Part 14 (1/2)
”Again it's just a matter of temperament. I'm not trying to change you, and you couldn't change me.”
Came another calm, longer than the first. They hung about for days and nights on a hot sea, and captain and crew alike showed anxiety and impatience. The captain was continually watching the horizon with his gla.s.ses, and he talked to Robert less than usual. It was obvious that he felt anxiety.
The calm was broken just before nightfall. Dark had come with the suddenness of the tropic seas. There was a puff of wind, followed by a steady breeze, and the schooner once more sped southward. Robert, anxious to breathe the invigorating air, came upon deck, and standing near the mainmast watched the sea rus.h.i.+ng by. The captain paused near him and said to Robert in a satisfied tone:
”It won't be long now, Peter, until we're among the islands, and it may be, too, that we'll see another s.h.i.+p before long. We've been on a lone sea all the way down, but you'll find craft among the islands.”
”It might be a hostile vessel, a privateer,” said Robert.
”It's not privateers of which I'm thinking.”
The light was dim, but Robert plainly saw the questing look in his eyes, the look of a hunter, and he drew back a pace. This man was no mere smuggler. He would not content himself with such a trade. But he said in his best manner:
”I should think, captain, it was a time to avoid company, and that you would be better pleased with a lone sea.”
”One never knows what is coming in these waters,” said the slaver. ”It may be that we shall have to run away, and I must not be caught off my guard.”
But the look in the man's eyes did not seem to Robert to be that of one who wished to run away. It was far more the look of the hunter, and when the hulking mate, Carlos, pa.s.sed near him his face bore a kindred expression. The sailors, too, were eager, attentive, watching the horizon, as if they expected something to appear there.
No attention was paid to Robert, and he remained on the deck, feeling a strong premonition that they were at the edge of a striking event, one that had a great bearing upon his own fate, no matter what its character might be.
The wind rose again, but it did not become a gale. It was merely what a swift vessel would wish, to show her utmost grace and best speed. The moon came out and made a silver sea. The long white wake showed clearly across the waters. The captain never left the deck, but continued to examine the horizon with his powerful gla.s.ses.
Robert, quick to deduce, believed that they were in some part of the sea frequented by s.h.i.+ps in ordinary times and that the captain must be reckoning on the probability of seeing a vessel in the course of the night. His whole manner showed it, and the lad's own interest became so great that he lost all thought of going down to his cabin. Unless force intervened he would stay there and see what was going to happen, because he felt in every fiber that something would surely occur.
An hour, two hours pa.s.sed. The schooner went swiftly on toward the south, the wind singing merrily through the ropes and among the sails.
The captain walked back and forth in a narrow s.p.a.ce, circling the entire horizon with his gla.s.ses at intervals seldom more than five minutes apart. It was about ten o'clock at night when he made a sharp, decisive movement, and a look of satisfaction came over his face. He had been gazing into the west and the lad felt sure that he had seen there that for which he was seeking, but his own eyes, without artificial help, were not yet able to tell him what it was.
The captain called the mate, speaking to him briefly and rapidly, and the sullen face of the Spaniard became alive. An order to the steersman and the course of the schooner was s.h.i.+fted more toward the west. It was evident to Robert that they were not running away from whatever it was out there. The slaver for the first time in a long while took notice of Robert.
”There's another craft in the west, Peter,” he said, ”and we must have a look at her. Curiosity is a good thing at sea, whatever it may be on sh.o.r.e. When you know what is near you you may be able to protect yourself from danger.”
His cynical, indifferent air had disappeared. He was gay, antic.i.p.atory, as if he were going to something that he liked very much. The close-set eyes were full of light, and the thin lips curved into a smile.
”You don't seem to expect danger,” said Robert. ”It appears to me that you're thinking of just the opposite.”
”It's because I've so much confidence in the schooner. If it's a wicked s.h.i.+p over there we'll just show her the fastest pair of heels in the West Indies.”
He did not speak again for a full quarter of an hour, but he used the gla.s.ses often, always looking at the same spot on the western horizon.
Robert was at last able to see a black dot there with his una.s.sisted eyes, and he knew that it must be a s.h.i.+p.
”She's going almost due south,” said the captain, ”and in two hours we should overhaul her.”
”Why do you wish to overhaul her?” asked Robert.
”She may be a privateer, a Frenchman, or even a pirate, and if so we must give the alarm to other peaceful craft like ourselves in these waters.”
He raised the gla.s.ses again and did not take them down for a full five minutes. Meantime the strange s.h.i.+p came nearer. It was evident to Robert that the two vessels were going down the sides of a triangle, and if each continued on its course they would meet at the point.
The night was steadily growing brighter. The moon was at its fullest, and troops of new stars were coming out. Robert saw almost as well as by day. He was soon able to distinguish the masts and sails of the stranger, and to turn what had been a black blur into the shape and parts of a s.h.i.+p. He was able, too, to tell that the stranger was keeping steadily on her course, but the schooner, obeying her tiller, was drawing toward her more and more.