The Morning herald., 1876-11-13
~ 3tszs.a YEEf


before-"mlnd, II ever you see John Potts,
give hi one of tho Patent cartridges, and
tell him it is the last gift Of a heart-broken
father"
"Brandon's face turned ghastly, and his
lips seemed to freeze into smile Of deadly
meaning. ~ .sy
"God bless youw cried Mr.. Compton.
Goodbye"
He wrung Brandon's hand hard and left
the ship. .>4 NJ
About six feet away stood Cigole, looking
over the stern and smoking "a cigar. He
was near enough to hear what had been
said, but he did not appear to have heard
it. Throwing his cigar into the water, he
plunged his hands into his pockets, and be-
gan whistling lively air. ID, TIM
"Aha, Capitano," said he, in a foreign
ac"ent, III have brought my wool off at
last"
Brandon paced the deck silently yet
watchfully. YsTj.l
Tue good ship Java went out with a fine
breeze, which continued for some days, un.
til at last nothing could be seen out the
wide ocean. In those few days Brandon
had settled h,mself comfortably on board,
and had learned pretty we'll the kind Of
life that he would have to lead for the nexl
six months or So. Tie captain was quiel,
amia5le sort Of a person, without much
force of character; the mate was more en-
ergetic, and somewhat passionate; the crew
consisted of the average order Of men.
There was no chance, certainly, for one OF
those conspiraors such as Mr.. Compton
had hinted at as having taken place on the
, 4onnu, for in his account Of that affair
he evidently believed that Uracao had
been made scape-goat for the sins of,the
others.
Brandon was soon on the best Of terms
with the officers OF the ship. AS TO Cigole
it was different The fact of their being
the only passengers on board might of itself
have been sufficient cause 10 draw them
together; but Brandon found it difficult to
pass beyond the EXTREMIST limits of formal
intercourse. Brandon himself considered
that his purposes would be best served by
close association with this man; he hoped
that in the course of such association he
might draw something from him, but Cigole
bathed him constantly. He was as polite
and courteous as all Italians are; he had an
abundance Of remarks all ready about the
state Of the weather, the prospects Of the
voyage, or the health Of the seamen, but
beyond these topics it was difficult to induce
him to 20. Brandon stifed the resentment
which he felt towards this man, in his efforts
to break down the barriers of formality
which be kept up, and sought to draw him
out on the subject of the wool trade. Yet
here he was bat1ed Cgole always took
up the air of a man who was speaking to a
rival in business, and pretended to be very
cautious and guarded in his remarks about
wool, and though he feared that Brandon
would interfere with his prospects. This
sort of thing was kept up with great deli
cacy of management on the part Of Cigole
that Brandon himself would have been
completely deceived, as would have come
to consider him as nothing more than a
speculator in wool, had it not been for a
certain deep instinct within him, which
made him regard this man as one who
was actuated by something far deeper
than mere regards for successful specula-
tion.
Cigole managed to battle the most dex-
trous efforts and the most delicate contrl-
vances of Brandon. He would acknow-
ledge that he was an Italian, and had been
in all parts of Italy, but carefully retrained
from telling where he was born. tie as
serted that this was the first time that he
- ho Ha
marked once, casually, that Cigole was a
very common name among Italians. He
said that he had no acquaintance at all Ill
England, and that he was only going there
now because he heard that there was
good market for wool. At another time
he spoke as though much of his life had
been passed in Marseilles, and hinted that
he was a partner of commercial house
there.
Cigole never made any advances, and
never even met halfway those which
Brandon made. He was never off his
guard for one instant. Polite, smiling,
| fi1rtive, never looking Brandon squarely
in the face, he usually spoke with prof1-
sion of bows, gestures and commonplace,
adopting, in fact, that part which is al
WAYS at once both the easiest and the safest
to play--the non-c -committal, pure and per-
feet.
1t was cunning, but low cunning after
all, and Brandan perceived that, for one
who had some purpose to accomplish with
but common soul to sustain him, this
was the most ordinary way to do it. A
william of profounder cunning or OF larger
spirit would have pursued different path.
He would have conversed freely and with
apparent unreserve; he would have yielded
to all friendly advances, and made them
himself; he would have shown the highest
art by cencealing art, in accordance with
the hackneyed proverb, "Ars est celare
artem."