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It 'ud be the end of the pore ole ship; an' oo'd credit it? Not a soul. They'd all say 'Jimmie threw 'er away! Oh, I know 'em, the swine never a good word for a man while 'e keeps straight, but tar an' feathers the minnit 'e 'as a misforchun!" Hozier found a gnawed piece of ham-bone lying in the exact position anticipated by Coke.
A few minutes earlier he had put forth the suave suggestion that Hozier should be given the speediest chance of securing the girl's safety. That was politic; perhaps his stanch nerve was yielding to the strain, now that the two islanders were gone on their doubtful quest. Be that as it may, his attitude did not encourage light conversation.
Hozier would be free for an hour before he turned in, and they might have enjoyed a nice chat while he smoked on the poop. In her heart of hearts, she was beginning to acknowledge that a voyage through summer seas on a cargo vessel, with no other society than that of unimaginative sailormen, savored of tedium, indeed, almost of deadly monotony.
Captain Coke said he would sink her. I told you " "Steady! Keep a little nearer the rocks on your left. The passage is narrow here." Hozier raised his voice somewhat, and purposely hurried her. But she was not to be repressed. "Poor ship! What had she done that she should be battered on the rocks?" she wailed.
"But Captain Coke said he would see you and warn you of my visit." "I can only assure you that he did not. Perhaps he thought it unnecessary meaning to be on deck himself." "Must I wait here a whole hour, then?" Hozier laughed. It was amusing to find how Coke's marked effort to keep the girl and him apart had been defeated by a sailor's blunder. "I hope the waiting will not weary you," he said.
He feared no man born, but it would be folly to attack Hozier then, and he was not a fool. "Let go, you blank ijjit," he growled. "I've no grudge ag'in you. If we pull out of this mess you'll 'ave to square matters wi' David Verity an' that other ole ninny, Dickey Bulmer. She's promised to 'im, you know. Told me so 'erself, so there's no mistake.
At any rate, she was exceedingly anxious to tell Hozier that if mangroves tasted as they smelt she would need to be very hungry before she ate one! Marcel was endowed with quick ears. Though Hozier's whisper could hardly have reached him, he held up a warning hand, even while he brought the catamaran ashore on the shingle, so gently that not a pebble was disturbed.
Hozier had not forgotten the risk of detection from the shore, and the vessel was plentifully decorated with greenery. The long, large-leafed vines and vigorous castor-oil plants were peculiarly useful at this crisis.
"You d d pirates!" he yelled, raising both clenched fists at the hidden battery which had fired a twelve-pound shell into the doomed ship. The Andromeda herself seemed to recognize that she was stricken unto death. She fell away before the current with the aimless drift of a log. "Let go!" bellowed Coke with frenzied pantomime of action to Hozier. It was too late.
"Of course, as you said a little while ago, we owe our lives to Dom Corria De Sylva," she murmured, as if she were reasoning with herself. By chance, probably because Hozier stooped to help her to her feet, his arm rested lightly across her shoulders. "I will not pretend to misunderstand you," he said.
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