, 1923-07-11
CHAPTER xlI-contInued.

wen, i WISH we nave went De-
fore you broke them plates"
"Oh, cuss the platesl"
Easy to say that. 1t makes me
just nacheral wild to see that old
Deli plate starin' me in the face,
round and sound, and the blue pattern
ones gone"
Silence for a moment, at the end Of
at the cabin hatch.
"There's no sign Of them swabs
comm off again?" asked he.
mo-" said Radcliffe. "They seem
to have had enough OF it."
The rum bottle had broken fairly
in two without splinters.
"You might heave the bottle over.
like a good one" said Satan. II can't
show on deck for fear Of those
shrimps seem me. It'll be dark in
an hour, and then I'll be up. You can
wait for FOUR supper till we get
aw8yT'
"Oh, yes" said Radcliffe; I'm in
NO hurry"
He Lit a pipe. Having disposed Of
the fragments of the bottle, he got the
mop and a bucket of water and
swabbed the rum-stained deck. Then
he took his seat forward and watched
the sunset.
The great sun half-shorn Of his
beams and bullying broad as Jupiter,
lolled above the reef in a sky of la
burnum gold fading to aQuamarine.
Gulls, dark as withered leaves, blew
about him, and shifting here and
there to north and south became gulls
of gold, while the wind blowing up
from the gulf and the wes~tward-run-
ming current, meeting the last of the
flood, broke the sea surface into a
million tiny dancing waves,
tary mirrors dazzling the eye with
shattered light.
Lone reef seemed well named.
Dawn or sunset or the blaze Of full
day could not take from Its desola-
ton, and this evening the sinister line
of the wreck dominated everything.
turning the blaze of sunset to the light
of n funeral pyre.
The Sarah, moving to the swell.
creaked and whimpered. and nov and
lutn lToIu ptluN liz Coulu ntu WINS
-Jude's voice and the voice of Satan.
Beyond that came the murmur of the
reef aud the clang Of the gulls, and
now aud then a snatch of Spanish
song from the Juan.
The sun passed below the reef. the
tide began to draw out, and the Sarah,
swinging to II, brought to his view the
Juan and hatcher, ships Of dusk In a
world Of dusk powdered with star
dust. Presently a light was run up on
the Natchez, then the Juan put up
her riding light, then Satan appeared.
a dusky form, rising from the cabin
hatch and followed by Jude.
They came forward. Jude squatted
on the deck, and Satan drew close to
Radcliffe.
Now, II them skunks had any
sense in their skulls. they'd stick out
a guard bont," said Satan but I've
fair put the hood on them. I b'lieve.
and they've never saw what / was
after. pretendin' l had no oil for an
anchor light. Why. they are only At
to be put out to nussl HalS an hour
more and wen be of"
"How are you going to do itT
KNOCK the shackle off the anchor
chain an let her drift. Tide n cur
rent is runnin' -four knots"
.But even without the anchor light
they'll be able TO see us by the stars"
lord bless you! at this distance
the won't be able to see morn a
glimpse of us. Wen 20 so gradual
they won't notice. II they keep a look
out at all-which they won't. ten to
one-he'll see us by believin' we're
there"
Lord I'd love to see their faces
in the morning !" murmured Jude.
But won't they go for you when
we get back to Havana7' asked Rat
cliffe.
mot they" snid Satan. They'll
soy nothin', seem as how they're done
and the laughs against them. Why,
Cark will respect me more for this Job
than II I'd run straight with him over
the biggest deal. II it'd been the
other way nbout and he'd pulled the
dollars of me. I'd nave been nowhere
with him. Mind you. out here, If i
was to stick here till tomorrow.
they'd be aboard and maybe man.
handling us II l didn't bail up; but
back In Havana the thing VIII be
closed and the accounts wrote on"
The sound Of n guitar came through
the dusk, crossing the warm wind. the
lazy. %languorous wind Of a perfect
summers night. Seville, which he
had never seen. rose before Radcliffe,