Part 21 (2/2)
”That,” saidvery close to the wind”
”Good God, sir, burn it up,” said Mr Aiken plaintively ”What's it been doing but causing trouble ever since we've got it? Running gear carried away--man wounded from splinters hell to pay everywhere Gad, sir, they're afraid to sleep tonight for fear you'll blow 'em out of bed
What's the use of it all? dao, risking getting a piece of lead thrown in you, all because of a few names scrawled on a piece of paper Here it's the first ti--that's what I say I told you you hadn't ought to have coet it and burn it up, and then it's over just as neat as neat, and then we're aboard, and after the pearls again Why, whathe's got a hell-cat for a father That's what he ”
”That will do,” said my father coldly, and he rose slowly from his chair, and stood squarely in front of me
”Tie that boy up, Brutus,” he commanded ”It is a co Tie him up, Brutus You will find a rope on the chimney piece”
He stood close to rippedon the mantlepiece Ned Aiken's pipe had dropped from his mouth It was Mademoiselle as the first to intervene
”Are you out of your senses?” she de him by the arm ”It is too much, captain, I tell you it is too , and send the blackthe matter over for some time,” repliedthoroughly If he cannot like me, it is better for him to hate me, and may save trouble
Tie him up, Brutus”
”Bear away!” cried Mr Aiken harshly ”Mind yourself, sir”
His warning, however, was late in co at my father before the sentence was finished It was almost the only time I knew him to miscalculate He must have been taken unaware, for he stepped backward too quickly, and collided with the very chair he had quitted It shook his balance for the moment, so that he thrust a hand behind him to recover himself, and in the same instant I had the volume of Rabelais I leapt for the open doorway, but Ned Aiken was there to intercept reat hands cla down on my shoulders I turned and hurled the voluht it out almost before it landed With all the deliberation of a connoisseur exaes with his sliers There, as he had said, was the paper, with the sa He placed it slowly in his inside pocket, and tossed the book on the floor
”Now here's a pretty kettle of fish,” said Mr Aiken
My father atching htfully
”Take your hands off hi out the horse”
For a second longer we stoodthe other Then , picked up the pistols that Brutus had left there, and slipped them into his capacious side pockets
”You disappoint me, Henry,” he remarked ”You should have used those pistols”
”I had thought of thelad of that,” he said ”It is a relief to know you did not overlook theht, Mademoiselle I should have known better than to treat hiame, my son It only reain”
He was standing close beside me Was it possible his eyes were a little wistful, and his voice a trifle sad?
”I thought I should be glad to leave you,” he said, ”and soe our eentleman in time, and there are not so many left in these drab days Ah, well--”
His sas lying on the table He drew it, and tucked the naked blade under his arm In spite of the two candles which Brutus had left, the shadows had closed about us, so that his figure alone reht, slender and carelessly elegant I think it pleased hi, however sive hi not less than the others
”It is growing dark, Mr Aiken,” he observed, ”and our position is not without its drawbacks Call in the ive them a measure of rum No one will disturb h at once, and never hts till it is ti to do it,” said Mr Aiken ”I ht have known you wouldn't listen to reason”
”You should have sailed with h,” said my father, ”to know I never do”
”And you not even dressed for it,” added Mr Aiken ”You ht”
”I think,” repliedthan a purely social affair Keep the _Sea Tern_ well off, and we shall ain'