Read Books Online, for Free |
Dead Men Tell No Tales | E. W. Hornung | |
Chapter II The Mysterious Cargo |
Page 4 of 7 |
I had rushed down into the waist of the ship - blushing for my delay - and already I was tossing blankets with the rest. Looking up in an enforced pause, I saw Santos whispering in the skipper's ear, with the expression of a sphinx but no lack of foreign gesticulation - behind them a fringe of terror-stricken faces, parted at that instant by two more figures, as wild and strange as any in that wild, strange scene. One was our luckless lucky digger, the other a gigantic Zambesi nigger, who for days had been told off to watch him; this was the servant (or rather the slave) of Senhor Santos. The digger planted himself before the captain. His face was reddened by a fire as consuming as that within the bowels of our gallant ship. He had a huge, unwieldy bundle under either arm. "Plain question - plain answer," we heard him stutter. "Is there any *** chance of saving this *** ship?" His adjectives were too foul for print; they were given with such a special effort at distinctness, however, that I was smiling one instant, and giving thanks the next that Eva Denison had not come forward with her guardian. Meanwhile the skipper had exchanged a glance with Senhor Santos, and I think we all felt that he was going to tell us the truth. He told it in two words - "Very little." |
Who's On Your Reading List? Read Classic Books Online for Free at Page by Page Books.TM |
Dead Men Tell No Tales E. W. Hornung |
Home | More Books | About Us | Copyright 2004