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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (May 29, 1904)
Kemp in England and Jamaica By Joseph Conrad (Copyright, 1904, by McClure, Fhllllpa A Co.) H hi CHAPTER VI. (Continued.) B HAD learned from Castro that the estate possessed a ailing craft of about twenty tons, which made frequent trips to Havana. These sugar droghers belonging to the plantations (every estate on the coast had one or more) went In and out of the harbor without being taken much notice of. Sometimes the battery at the Water's edge on the north tde or a custom tiouxe guard would hall them, but not often and even then only to ask the name, whore from, and for the number of sugar hogshead on board. "By heavens! That's the very thing!" rejoiced Sebright. And It was agreed that thin would be our best way. We should time our arrival for early morning or elao nt duxk. The craft that brought us in should be made, by a piece of unskillful management, to fall afoul of the Lion, and remain alongside long enough to give us time to sneak In through an open deck port. The whole occurrence must be so con trived as to wear the appearance of a pure accident to the on lookers, should there be any. Shouting and an exchange of abuse on Imth parts should sound very true. Then then drogher, getting Itself clear, would proceed innocently to the custom house teis, where all such coasters had to re port themselves on arrival. "Never fear. We. shall put In some loud and scandalous cursing," Sebright assured me. "The boys will greatly enjoy that part, I dare say." It remained to consider the purpose of the schooner that had come out of Rio Medio to hang on our skirts. It was doubtful whether it wns in our power to shake It off. Sebright was full of ad miration for Its sailing qualities, coupled with Infin'te contempt for the "lubberly Rang on board." "If I had the handling of It, now," he said, "I would take my position as near as I liked, and stick there. It seems almost as if she would do it of itself, if those Imbeciles would only let it have Its own way. I never yet saw a Spaniard, good or bad, that was anything of a sailor. As It In, we may maintain a distance that would make It difficult for them to see whut we ur about. And, if not, then why, you must take your leave of us at flight." 11 didn't know that, but for the dlsmal ticMs of such a departure, It were not Just s well. Who could toll what eyes mUht be watching on shore. "You know 1 never pretended my plun was quite safe. Hut have you got an other?" And now the time was approaching; the time to awake and step forth out of the temple of sunshine ajul love of whinners and silences. It had come. The night be fore both Williams and Sebright had been on dock, working the ship with an anxious care to take the utmost udvantage of every favoring flaw In the contrary breese. In the morning I was told there was a norther brewing. A norther la a tempestuous gale. I saw no signs of It Dassllng white patches, about the slae of a man's hand, came out between sky and Water. They grew In width, and ran to gether with a hummock y outline Into a continuous undulation of sand-dunes. Here and there this rampart had a gap like a breach made by guns. A voice oil deck pronounced: "That's right. Here's his landmark. The fellow know very well what he was talking ahout." It was Sebright' voice, and Castro, stroll ing away triumphantly, affected to turn his back on the land. He had recognised the formation of the coast about the Inlet long before anybody else could distinguish the details. To the Infinite gratification of everyone on hoard It had been discovered at day light that the schooner bad lost touch with us during the hours of darkness cither through unskillful handling or from some accidental disadvantage of the vurlable wind. 1 had been Informed of It, directly I showed myself on deck In the morning, by several men who had radiant grins, as If some great piece of luck hud befallen them, one and all. Some sailors hauled the boat alongside, the rest lined the rail as for a naval specta cle, and Williams stared blankly. My girl's cheeks glowed; her eyes sparkled auda ciously. She had done up her hair in tome .tray that made It fit her head like a cap. It became her exceedingly, and the decision of her movements, the white serenity of her brow, daxzled me as If I had never seen her before. She seemed less childlike, older, rlpo for this adventure In a new de velopment of strength and courage. She Inclined her head slowly at the gaping sailors, who had taken their caps off. As oon as she appeared Castro, who had been leaning against the bulwark, started up, and with a muttered "Adios, senores." went down the overnlde ladder and en sconced himself In the bow of the boat. The leavetaklng was hurried over. Wil liams gave no sign of feeling except, per haps, for the greater Intensity of his stare, boat's head straight for the dwarf head land marking the mouth of the Inlet on the Interminable range of sand dunes. We drove on with a smart ripple, but before we felt sufficiently settled to exchange a few words the animated sound languished suddenly, paused altogether and, with a renewed murmur under our feet, seemed to lose itself below the glassy waters. CHAPTER VII. The calm had returned. The sea, chan ging from the warm glitter of a gem and attuned to the grays and blacks of space, resembled a monstrous cinder under a sky of ashes. Everything was black perfectly black. At Intervals headlong gusts of rain swept over our heads. I suppose I did keep suffi ciently cool, but in every flash of lightning the wind, the sea, the clouds, the rain and the boat appeared to rush together thun dering upon the ccast The line of panda, bordered with a belt of foam, xigzagged dasxllngly upon an earth as black as the clouds; only the headland, Iwth every vision, remained somber and unmoved. At last it roue up right before the boat Blue light ning streamed on a line of tumbling waters at Its foot. Was this the entrance? With the vague notion of shortening sail I let the sheet go from my hand. There was 4.Te.J W"7 .Sl- - w ; .y :XJ,. :CX.T.JP.bti IN THKPRGueT WALlI LIUHT F B FIRE UT BY CAS ILLUMINATED A SMALL PART OK which pureed beyond our shoulders In the very act of handshaking. Sebright helped Seraphlna down into the boat and ran up again nimbly. He gave me a flank as I de scended. "All right there?" he asked from above, as soon as I had taken my seat in the tern sheets by the side of Seraphlna. He was standing on the poop deck ready with a sign for letting go the end of our painter on deck; but before I could answer in the affirmative Cutro, ensconced forward un der his hat, drew his ready blade across the roiH, as it were a throat Our little sail Ailed to a breese which was much too feeble to produce a percep tible effect on the ship, and we left behind ua Its towering form, as one recedes from tall white spire on a plain. I laid the The sun had disappeared, smothered In these clouds that had formed themselves all at once and everywhere, like some swift corruption of the upper air. For the List part of the afternoon the ship and the boat remained lying at right angles, within half a mile of each other. The long stretch of sands and the sails of the motionless vessel stood out llvidly pale in universal gloom. Suddenly, mingled with a loud detonation right over our heads, a burst of light out lined under the bellying strip of our sail the pointed crown of Castro's hat. The darkness swallowed it all. I swung Sera phlna In front of me, and made her sit low on the stern sheets beneath my feet. A lot of foam boiled up around the boat and we had the sensation of having been seat flying from a catapult. Jerk, the crack of snapped wood, and the next Hash showod me Castro emerging from the ruins of mimt and sail. He uprose, hurled the wreck from him overboard, then, flickering out of sight with his arm waving to the left, and I bore accordingly on tbe tiller. In a moment I saw him again, erect forward, with the arm pointing to the right, and I obeyed the signal. The clouds, Btraining with water and nre, were. Indeed, llghtltig us on our way. A wave swelled astern, chasing us In; rocking frightfully, we glanced past a stationary mass of foam a sandbar breakers. It was terri ble. Suddenly the motion of the boat changed and the flickers of lightning fell Into a small, land-locked basin. The wind tore deep furrows In It, howling and cuffing behind the dunes. Spray flew frooi