Romance: A Chronicle of the Adventures of John
Kemp in England and Jamaica By Joseph Conrad
(Copyright, 1M. by McClure, Phillips dc Co.)
CHAPTjEtt X. (OnrtJnua
i Nn tiw talk -wn at d late Into Di
I W 1 nlfciit. There wma aome suirrtl-M-1
tloua fear attached to the cave
a legfnd of men who had gone
In and had never eorot back. AH
they knew of It was tb region of twlllifht;
formerly, when they used the ahel.er ct tat
osvern. no one. It seems, ever ventured
Out Hide the circle of the fire. Manuel dis
dained tliclr fears. Had fa not been such a
profound politico, a man of stratagems,
there would have been a necessity to go
down and see. ... They all protested.
Wfee waa going down? Not they. ...
Their craven cowardice waa amazing;
He begged them to keep themselves quiet.
They had him for oapatas sow. A man of
tntenigence. Bad he not enticed Castro
toll Ho bad never believed there was any
one els In there. lie sighed. Otherwise
Castro would havo tried to save his life by
confessing. There had beea nothing to
confess. But ha had the means of making
are. A voice suggested that the ingles
might have withdrawn himself Into the
eWpha, Theae Ingles were not afraid of
doraoes, being devils themselves; and this
aoo was fiendishly reckless.
Manuel kept watch. lie fed the fire, and
his Incomplete shadow, projected across the
Chasm, would pass and return, obscuring
the glow that fell on the rock. His foot
steps seemed to measure the interminable
duration of the night. Sometimes he would,
atop short and talk to himself in low,
exalted mutters. A big bright star rested
on the brow of the rock opposite, shining
straight into my-eyes. It sank, a if it had
lunged into the stone. At last Another
earne to look Into, the cavern. I watched
the gradual coming of a gray sheen from
the side of Seraphina's couch. This waa
the day, the last day of pain, or else of
Ufa. I pressed my Upa silently upon her
cheek. Her eyes were open. It seemed to
me ahe had a smile fainter than her sighs.
Bha was very brave, bat her smile did not
go beyond her Upa. Not si feature of bey
face moved. 1 could have opened my veins
for her without hesitation, If It had not
been a forbidden sacrifice.
The morning waa aerenely cool and, la
tU stillness, their talk filled with clear
at words the calm air cf the ravine. A
party I could not tell hew many had
already come up from the schooner In a
great state of excitement. They feared
that their presence had, in some way be
Some known to the peons of the hacienda.
There was much abuse of a man called
Corneiro. who, the day Before, had fired
an Incautious shot at fat cow on one
ef the inland savannas. They cursed him.
Last night, before the moon rose, ' those
ma board the schooner had heard the
whinnying of horse. Somebody had
ridden down to.. the water's edge In the
darkness and, after waiting a while, had
galloped back the way he came. The
prints of hoofs en - the beach showed
that
They feared these horsemen greatly. A
vengeance was owing for the man Msniwd
bad killed; and X could guess they talked
with their faces over their shoulders. "And
What about finding out whether the Ingles
was there, dead or alive T" asked some.
X waa aura, now, that they would not
' eome dowa ta a body. It would expose
them to tho danger of being caught In the
cavern by the peons. There wss no time
for a thorough search, they argued.
For the first time that morning X beard
Manuel's voice, "Stand aside."
Ha came down to the very brink.
"If the Ingles is dowa there, and if be ta
alive, he is listening to us now."
He was as certain as though he bad beea
able to see me. He added: '
"But there's no one.
"Oo and look. Manuel." they cried.
lie said something In a tone ef contempt.
. The voices above toy head sank tat busy
murmurs.
Glva ma the rope here. he said aloud.
X had a feeling . ef some inconeelvabls
: danger aearlng me; and hi my stats ef
' weakness I begaa te tremble, beektnf
away from the orifice. X Toad no strength ta
. taiy limbs. -1 had no weapons. How could X
fight? I would use wiy teeth. With a light
knocking against the reck above the arch,
toy flask, tied by its greea cord to the end
ef a thick rope, descended slowly, and
bo; saetlontess before the entrance.
' It had beea freshly JId with water) It
was dripping wet surtde. and the silver
top. track by the STmbetms. dssxled nay
eyes.
A convulsive spasm contracted my throat.
X fled out of the passage.
X Tan to Seraphina. "Put out your band
to me," I panted in the darkness. I need
your help."
I felt It renting lightly on my -bowed
head. She did not even ask me what I
meant; as if the greatness of her soul
was omniscient, There was, la that . ai-
And with all that. In tsy forlorn state, X
remained prudent. X did not rush out
blindly. No. X approached the inner end
of the passage, as though I had been stalk
ing a wild creature, slowly, from the side.
X crept along the wall of the cavern, and
protruded my bead tar enough to look at
the fiendish temptation.
There it was, a small, dark object sus
pended in the' light, with the yellow rock
across the ravine for a--background. The
who would go alone to look upon a dead
body. He bad contrived an Infallible test,
and yet they would not believe him. Well,
bis valiance ahould prove it; hi valiance
afraid neither of light nor of darkness.
"Nobody," ba pronounced slowly, In
dead whisper.
I am not conscious of having stirred a)
limb; neither had Seraphina moved, I ans
ready to swear; but, plainly something
some sort of " sound, startled him. Sg
IXRT CAMK OPEN WITH A JERK AT TUB LAST MOMENT.
CAUGHT HOLD OF UKH.
I LIFTED SERAPHINA UP TWO HANDS
lenee, a supreme unselfishness, the un
questioning devotion of a woman.
"Patience, patience." I kept oa mutter
ing. I was losing confidence In myself.
If only I had beea tree to dash my head
against the rock. I had the courage for
that, yet But thla was a situation from
which there was no Issue In dyata.
We are saved." I murmured distractedly.
"Patience," she breathed out. Her hand
slipped languidly off my bead.
And X begaa to creep away from her
fade. X am here to tell the truth. I began
to creep awey towards the flask, I did
not confess this te myself; but X know
avow. There waa a devilish power in It. X
have learned the nature of feelings In a
maa whom But an beguiles Into selling his
soul the horror of an Irresistible and fatal
longing for .a supreme felicity.
I saw, with tndlgnaUea, my own
wretched aelf being angled far Uka a flab.
silver top shivered the sunbeams bril
liantly. I had half hopes they had taken It
away by this time. When I drew my head
bock I lost sight of It. but all my being
went out to It with an almost pitiful long
ing. I remembered Castro for the first
time In many hours. Was I nothing better
thsn Castro 7 He had been angled for with
salted meat. I shuddered.
A darkness fell into the passage. I put
down my uplifted foot without advancing.
The unexpectedness of that shadow saved
me, I believe. Manuel bad descended the
cornice. -
He waa alone. Standing before the outer
opening, he darken" the passage, through
which his talk to the people above came
loudly Into my ears. They could see. now,
If he were not a worthy Capataa. If the
Ingles was In there be was a corpse. And
yet, of these living hearts above, of these
vallentes of XUo Medio, there wss not cue
bounded out of his Immobility, and In on
leap had his shoulders against the rock
standing at bay before the darkness, with
his knife in his hand. I wonder he did not
surprise me into an exclamation. I was
as startled as himself. All this took place
so quickly that I had no time to make one
movement toward receiving his attack,
when I saw him make a great sign of the
cross in the air with the point of his dag.
,er.
He sheathed It slowly, and sidled along
the few feet to the entrance, his shoulders
rubbing the wall.' He blocked out the
light, and in a moment had backed out of
sight.
Before he got to the further end I was .
already at the inner, creeping after him.
X had started at once, as if his disappear
ance had removed a spell, as though he
had drawn me after him by an invisible
bond. Raising myself on my forearms, I
saw him, from bis knees up, standing V