Romance: A Chronicle of the Adventures of John
Kemp in England and Jamaica By Joseph Conrad
(Copyright, 1904, by McClure, Phillips & Co.)
CHAPTER TWO PART IV. Continued.
VTV.1l tliA mnmen hnA fnrmwl a
I wide ring he looked at me and
"Escaped the Ingles! Then thou
art doomed, Domingo. Domingo,
thou art doomed. Dom Senor!"
The chnnge of tone, his effort to extend
his hands toward me, surprised us all. I
looked away.
"Hold hard! Hold him, mate!"
Ills voice was extremely harsh not his
own. Apparently lie believed that he was
going to be rut to pieces there and then
by the sailors. He seemed to read It In
their fares, shuddering and shrinking when,
ever he raised his eyes. Hut nil these
fares gaped with good-natured wonder, ex
cept the fares of 1 1 1 h two guardians, and
these expressed u state of conscientious
worry. They were ridiculously anxious to
suppress his sudden contortions, as on
would some gross Indecency. In the scuffle
they hissed und swore under their breath.
They were . scandalized und made unhappy
by his behavior.
"Are you ready down there?" roared the
bo'sun In the waist.
"Olla ralght! Olla ralght! Walta a
leetle," I heard Castro's voire coming, as
If from under the ship. I said coldly a few
words about the certain punishment await
ing a plrnto In Havana and got on to my
feot stiffly. Put Manuel was too terrified
to understand what I meant. He at
tempted to snatch at mo with hla Im
prisoned hands, ami got for his pains a
severe Jerking, which made his head roll
about his shoulders weirdly.
"Pity, senor!" he screamed. And then,
with low fervor, "Don'i go away. Listen!
I am profound. Perhaps the senor did not
know that? Merry! I am a man of In
trigue. A politico. You have escaped, and
I rejoice at It." Ho bared his fangs, and
frothed like a mad dog. "Senor, I am
made happy because of the love I bora
you from the first and Domingo, who let
you slip out of the Oasa, is doomed. He Is
doomed. Thou urt doomed, Domingo! Put
tho excessive affection for your noble per
son Inspires my intellect with a salutary
combination. Wait, Honor! A moment! An
Instant! A combination!"
He gasped as though his heart had burst.
The seamen, open-mouthed, were slowly
narrowing their circle.
"Can't ho gabble!" remarked some on
patiently.
Ho hung on my lips breathless, with a
face so distorted that, although it might
have been death alone he hated, ha looked.
Indeed, as If Impatient to set to and tear
mo to plces with his long teeth. Men
clutching at straws must have faces thus
convulsed by an eager and despairing hope.
His silence removed the spell the spell of
Ms incredible loquacity. I heard the bouts
wain's hoarse tones:
"Hold on well, ma'am. Right! Walk
away steady with that whip!"
I ran limping forward.
"High enough," he rumbled; and I re
ceived Seraphina Into my arms.
I
CHAPTER III.
I said: "This is home, at last It Is all
over." And she stood by me on the deck.
She pushed thu heavy black cloak from
over her head und her white face ap
peared above tho dim black shadow of her
mourning. Sho looked silently round her
on tho mist, the groups of rough men, the
patterings of light that were like violence,
too. She suld nothing, but rested her hand
on my arm.
Sho had her Immense griefs, and this wa
the home I offered her. She looked back at
the side. I thought she would have liked
to be in the boat again. I said:
"Tho people In this Bhlp are my old
friends. You can trust them and me."
Thomas Castro, clambering leisurely over
the side, followed. As soon as his feet
touched the deck he threw the corner of
Ills cloak across his left shoulder, bent
down half the rim of his hat, and as
sumed the appearance of a short, dark con
spirator, overtopped by the stalwart sailors
who had abandoned Manuel to crowd, bare
armed, bare-chested, pushing and craning
their necks, round us.
Sho said, "I can trust you; It Is my duty
Co trust you, and this Is now my home."
She disappeared In the brilliant light of
tho cabin. Tho door closed. I remained
ptandlnf there. Manuel, at htr disappear
ance, raised his voice to a tremendous, in
cessant yell of despair, as if bo expected
to make her hear.
"Senorlta protecrlon del opprl
mldo; oh, hlja de pledad Senorlta,"
His lamentable noise brought half the
ship round us; the sailors fell back before
the mate, Sebright, walking at the elbow
of a stout man In loose trousers and Jacket.
They stopped
"An unexpected meeting. Captain Wil
liams," was all I found to say to him.
"What shall we do with that yelping
Dago? He's a distressful beast to have
about the decks."
"Put him In the coal hole, I suppose, as
j
"AST?JSJIR,,I5, 'fAVANA TH'IS TRIP, EVEN IF YOU. MR. KEMP. WERE TO GIVE A POT OF MONEY TUB
PURTO HESTeXEVySNo'dV" 1N TMKRB AGAIN Ab'TER BREAKING HIS CHARTER
far as ITavana. I won't rest till I see him
on his way to the gallows. The captain
general shall be made sick of this business,
or my name Isn't Williams. I'll make a
breeze over it at home. You shall help In
that, Kemp. You ain't afraid of big-wigs.
Not you. You ain't afraid of anything.
" n
"He's a devil of a fellow, and a dead
Shot," threw In Sebright. "And Jolly lucky
for us, too, sir. It's simply marvelous that
you should turn up like this, Mr. Kemp.
We hadn't a grain of powder that wasn't
caked solid In the canisters. Nothing'!
take It out of my head that somebody had
got at the magazine while wo lay In Kingston,
"And. by the way, Kemp," Williams
said, with sudden annoyance, recollecting
himself, as it were, "you never turned up
for that dinner sent no word, nor any
thing." The young mate of the Lion stood by,
quiet, listening, with a capable smile. Now
he said, In a tone of dry comment:
"Jolly sight more useful turning up
here."
"I was kidnaped away from Ramon's
back shop, if that's a sufficient apology.
It's rather a long story."
"Well, you can't tell it on deck, that's
very clear," Sebright had to shout to me.
"Not while this infernal noise what the
deuce's up? It sounds more like a dog
fight than anything else."
As we ran toward the main hatch I
recognized the aptness of the comparison.
It was that sort of vicious, snarling, yelp
ing clamor which arises all at once and
BuU.lcnly dies.
"Custro! Thou Castro!"
"Malodletlon! My eyelids!"
"Thou I Englishman's dog!"
"Ha! Porco."
CHAPTER IV.
The voices ceased. Castro ran tiptoeing
lightly, mnntled In ample folds. He as
sumed his hat with a brave tap, crouched
swiftly Inside bis cloak. It touched the
deck all round In a black cone surmounted
by a peering, quivering head. Quick as
thought he hopped and sank low again,
Everybody watched with wonder this play,
as of some large and diabolic toy. For my
part, knowing the deadly purpose of the.e
preliminaries, I was struck with horror.
Had he chosen to run on him at once,
nothing could have saved Manuel. The
poor wretch, vigorously held in front of
Castro, was far top terrified to make a
sound. With an immovnble sailor on each
side, he scuffled violently, and cowered by
starts as If tied between two stone posts.
His dumb, rapid panting was In our ara.
I shouted:
"Stop, Castro! Stop! Stop him. Borne of
you! He means to kill the fellow!"
Nobody heeded . my shouting. Castro
flung his cloak on the dejk, Jumped on It,
kicked it aside, all in the same moment
as It seemed, dodged to the right, to tho
left, drew himself up and stepped high,
paunchy in hla tight smalls and short
Jacket, making all the time a low, sibilant
sound which was perfectly blood curdling.
"He has a blade on his forearm!" I
yelled. "He's armed, I tell you!"
No one could comprehend my d Is trees.
A sailor, raising a lamp, had a broa4
smile. Somebody laughed outright. Cas
tro planted himself before Manuel,
nodding menacingly, and stooped ready.
y
V