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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (April 3, 1904)
Kemp in England and Jamaica By Joseph Conrad m (CupyrlKtit. 13tJt. by McClurc. Phillips & Co.) C1IA1TKII IV. IT WAH. 1 suppose, what I de manded of Kate to be gently wafted Into the posit Ion of u hcrj of romance, without rough hands i-tvwj ut my throit. It in what wo all ask. 1:;.i 4m'; and wo get It sometimes In ten minute snatches. I didn't know where I wan gtilng. It was enough for me to nail In ami out of tlio patches of shadows that fell from tli' moonlight above our heads. Wo embarked, and, bh we drew further out, tlic In lid turned to a nhadow, spotted here iiinl there with lit tlf tights. Ilehlml DH a fork crowed. The shingle crashed at Intervals beneath the feet of u large iMidy of nu n. I remembered tin' smugglers; but it iih a If I li.ul remembered them enly to forget I hem forever. Old Kungslcy, who steered with I ho short In his hand. krt up an unintelligible babble. Carlos nnd Cus tro talked under their breaths. And then old Ha.ngslcy hove lo, to wait for tho ship, ami wit half asleep, lurching over tln tiller. Ilo was a vory unreliable scoundrel. Tin- boat leaked like a Hleve. The wind freshened, and we three begun to ask ourHelveH how It wiih going to end. There were no lights upon the sea. At last, well out, u blue gleam raiiKht our eyeH; but by t li 1m lime old Itannsley Was helpless, and It fell to me to manage the boat. CarloH wan of no iiho he knew It, and. without Haying n word, busied himself In hailing the water out. Itut Cus tro, I wax surprised to not lee, knew more than I dlil about a boat, and, maimed as bo Was. made himself useful. "To mi- il looks as if we should drown," Carlos ttaid at one point, very ipiletly. "I am norry for you, Juan." Castro had hauled the hclplcs form of old Hangs!, y forwurd. I caught him mut tering savagely: "I rout. I kill that i.ld man!" Further out in the bay we wire caught In a heavy Kipia'l. Sitting by the tiller I pot an much out of It ns I knew how. W6 would go us far na we rotild before the run was over. Car Ion lmlli-d unceasingly, and without a word of complaint. Cjislro, standing up unsteadily, growled, "We may do It yet! See. senor!" Tbc Uuo k lea in waa mueh lurger It flared moklly rlK lit up toward the sky. I made out. ghostly para lb Ingram of a ship's nulls high above us, and at last many fares peering unstclngly over the rail In our di rection. We all shouted together. 1 may aay that it waa thank to me th.it we roiu'Led the ship. Our boat went down uiiJit iih whilst I wan tying a roe under Curio's arm, lie wax Mainline up with tho buller mill in Ida hand. On bourd tha women tuwdumi were w rmmlriK, and aa I Hong ditralely to the rope that waa thrown me. It struck me oddly that I had Dover before Iwtird ao many women's voices t the name time. Afterward, when I tiHid on tho deck, they iKgnn laughing at old Itangslcy, who held forth In a thunder ous voire, Hinrtuated by hiccoughs: "Thry carried I aboord -a-rop theer lug ger and sinks 1 in the cold. ro-ild sen.' After I hud matte It rlear that I wanted to go with Carlo, and could ay for my pannage, I waa lutiided down Into the sleer VKi'i where a tallow candle Immed In a thick, blue atmosphere. 1 waa Ml ripped and tilled with aoine fiery lliiuld, and fell asleep. Old Rangslcy waa sent ushore with til" 'llt. It was a new and strange lite to me, opening there suddenly enough. 1. toklng nt my companlonM ut limes, I bad vague misgivings. It waa aa If these two had fuxiiinn ted me to the verge of mime danger. Mometlniea Castro, looking up, ut tered vague cJaculatloiiM. CarbtN pushed his bat back and sighed. They had preoccu pations, carta. Interests in which they let me have no part. Castro struck nie aa absolutely ruffianly. Ilia head waa knotted In a red, wlitie potted handkerchief; his grizzled licard waa tangled; be wore a black and rusty clotk, rugged at the edges, mid bla feet wero often bare; at his side would lie Ida wooden right hand. Aa a rule, the place of bis forearm waa taken by a long, thin. Steel blade, that he waa forever sharpening. Carlos had made Spain ten hot to hold lilm In th.uie trtuou. Intrigues of the Army of the Kalth and I'.ourhon troops and Italian legions. From what I could under stand ba must have played fast and loose In an Insolent manner. And there was Soma woman offended. There was a gay- neuM and gallantry In that part of it. lie had known the very apirit of romance, nnd now ho was nailing gallantly out to take up his Inheritance from an uncle who was a great noble owning the greater part of one of tho intendenciaa of Cuba. "He' a very old man, I hear," Carlos paid "a llttlo doting, and having need of me." It had come as a Oodsend to him when his uncle hud aent Tonus Castro to bring him to Cuba, to the town of Rio Medio. "The town belongs to my uncle. He ts very rich; a grand d'espngne-everything; lie laughed a little proudly. Tn a wraps?" He paid. "I I am In none. It is Tomas Castro there." He laughoi affectionately. "He Is as faithful an he is ugly." he snld; "but I fear he has been a villain, too What do 1 know? Over there in my uncle's town, there are norr.o vil lains you know what I mean, one must not speak too loudly on this whip. There is a man called O'Hrien who misman ages my uncle's affairs. What do I know? The gd Tomas has been in some vil lainy that Is no affair of mine. He is a good friend and faithful dependent of my family's. He certainly had that man's I Imagined him fin aristocratic pcaregrace, a corsair It was the Dyronie period then palling out to marry a sort of shimmering princess, with hair like Veronica's, bright golden. Carlos, however, knew nothing about his cousin; he cared little more, as far as I could tell. "What can phe be to rue since I have seen your ?" ho said once, and then stopped, looking ut mo with a certain tender Irony. He Insisted, though, that his aged uncle was In need of hi m. There was certainly some mystery about that town of his uncle's. One night I over heard him pay to Castro: Wit! AIM-: A Kikii,. in: Wll-l. not makk is to i;k MOI.ISTKO. iik iaiy KINSMAN. lie bus an phina, and hl.i eyes 1 my uncles but be it; tow very old, and h.n left Ha vana to die lu his palace In his own toun. oidy daughter, u lona Sera- suppose If I tmd fvor la shall marry TU-r and Inherit i:rcut riches; 1 am Ihe only ono that Is left of the family to lal.erit." Ibwwavod tils hand and xnrle I a little. "Vaya; a little of that great nei'.lh would be welcome. If I bad had a few vence more there would have teen none of this worry, nnd 1 slioald not hnve been on ih's dirty ship In these rags." Ho bilked down good buinor lly ut ids clothes." "Hut," I said, "how do you cumo to bo In a sera; e ut all?" watch-the man we met by v il ihar.ee at Iavcrj-ool, a man ho came from Jamaica. He had bought it of a bud man, perhaps. 1 do not nsk. It was t'istro your police Wished to take, liut I, ben ldeu, do o.l think I would take watches?" I certainly did not think he ha 1 t iken a watch; but I iMl not rrlluqulsh the hiei that he. In a gl.tmorouH, romantic Way, ha 1 bieii a pirate. Rookiby had certainly hinted as much in his irritation. He li.-t li n e of his ro r.ant.c charm In ray eyes, "l i e fjet that he waa a tiling In un comfortable clri-urv.stancca detracted little; nor did his clothes, which, at the worst, were better Uian any I had evsr had. And be wore them with an air nnd a (race. "Tell mc, oh, my Toinns. would it bs safe to Like this caLul!.io, my cousin, to Rio Medio?" Custro paused, and then murmured grulHy : "Seiior, unless that Irishman la consulted beforehand, or the Kngl'sh lord would un dertake to join with the picaroons, it Is Very assuredly not safe." Carlos made a bttle exclamation of mild astonishment. "Peru? Ia It so bad as that in my uncle's own town?" Toimut muttered something that ! did not catch, and then: "If the Knghsh caballero committed India-