The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1919-04-25
Accept a Proposal.

7 went on deck with the watch, and
mingled with them forward. A POrtu-
guese bOatswain set me at polishing
the gun mounted on the f~orecaStle. [
was busily at work on this bit of ord
nance, when Estada came on deck tor
q moment. The fellow CHANGED 10 OBJ
serve me
You must he n pretty tough bird,
Gates he said roughly. cor / would
have killed you last night had the
mind to-
Something about his voice and man.
ner led me TO feel that, in spite OF his
roughneSS, he was in bad hunor.
"'That would have been n mistake,
sir l answered, Strengthening up, rag
in hand. for it would have cost Xou a
good eanan Three years ago ! was
skipper on my own vessel. The BON
bay Castle. London TO Hongkong; 1
wrecked her off Cape Mcndez in ii fog.
/ was drunk below, and it cost me my
ticket"
You know West Indian waters?"
slightly; l made two voyages to
Panama. and one Ia Havana"
"And speak Spanish?"
"A little bit, sir, as you see; / learn
languages easily
He stared straight into my face, but
without uttering another word. turned
on his heel and went below. ] had fin
ished my labor on the carrOnade. and
was fastening down securely the tar
paulin, when a thin, StOOp-ShOuldered
fellow, with q hang-dog face crept up
the ladder to the poop, and shufiled
over to LeVere.
Mister LeVere. sir"
We'll, what is it. Gunsaulesf"
"Senor Estada, sir; he wishes to see
q sailor named Gates in the cabin"
"Who? Gates? Oh. yes. the new
| man. He swept his eyes about, until
| he saw me. Follow the steward be
| low; Senior EstaIa wishes to see you
go just ms you are"
| "Very good, sir"
The fellow led me away. There
was no one in the main cabin. / fol.
lowed the beckOning steward who
rapped with his knuckles on one of
the side doors. Estada's voice an.
swered.
I stepped inside, doubtful enough
Of what all this might mean, yet
quite prepared to accept Of any
chance it might offer. Estada sat up
| right in the chair gazing straight at
| me, his own face clearly revealed in
the light from the open port. His
| face was swarthy, long and thin, with
| hard, set lips under a long, intensely
black mustache, his cheeks strangely
/ crisscrossed by lines. The nose was
large, distinctively Roman, yielding
| him a hawklike appearance. but ii
was his eyes which fascinated me.
| They were dark and deeply set. abso-
Lutte wells Of cruelty. ! had never
| before seen such eyes in the face of a
| human being; they We're beastly, dew
| ilish l could feel my blood chill as
| Looked into their depths, yet l held
| myself erect and waited for the man
| 70 speak. Then his lips curled in
what was meant to be a smile. He
arose, stepped quietly to the door and
glanced out. returning apparently sat
isfed.
81 don't trust that steward" he
said, NOR, as a matter Of fact, anyone
else wholly.".H He paused and stared at
me, then added: tive never had any
faith In your race, Gates, but am In
clined to use you. Every Englishman
/ ever knew was q liar and q sneakins
p~oltroon. l was brought up to hate
the race and always have. I can't say
that I like you any better than the
others. 1 don't, for the matter OF
that. But just o you can be use
full to me if you are Of that mind
This Is a business proposition, q i
makes no odds u We hate each other'