It was always after dark
when he boarded the _Bess_ in home ports. His words were colder than his
expression when he addressed me. "And where are you bound?"
"I don't know yet, sir."
"And why not?"
"You have not yet told me, sir, where you are going."
"Suppose it should be the West Coast and the old trade?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but even so I go."
"And leave all that good life you love so at the Manor?"
On his face was still the stern look. I could not stand it longer and I
stepped closer to him. "You have not turned against me, sir?"
He softened at once. "Guy, Guy, don't mind me. I meant well. I thought
you might prefer the shore to living on the sea."
"I do, sir, but when you are at sea it's at sea I'd rather be too, sir."
"Ah-h--" and when he looked at me like that it mattered not about his
law-breaking--he was the bravest, finest man that ever sailed the
trades. "Guy, my boy, if you'll have it so, why come along. And once
more we'll cruise together; but you won't judge your commander too
harshly, will you, Guy?"
We took the ebb down the river. Our papers read for a West India trading
voyage, but we lingered not among the West Indies. Four weeks later we
raised the Cape Verdes, and an islet rose like a castle from out of the
mists. Abreast of a pebbled beach we came to anchor and waited.
II
A boat scraped alongside, and the agent Rimmle came aboard.
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