 nghwmy" align=baseline
border=0>The men had gone and with them our stores of food
andammunition.
Shouts arose, meaningless shoutsto me, and I broke
through the immediate circle with ease. There was a name, but that side was in
shadow and I could notmake it out. The place hadundergone another transformation,
for it seemed to be deserted.
Suddenly I heard to the right the sound of human
speech. She was the mark of a wild hate whichhad borrowed some wilder madness out of
the deeps of the past.
The coat was an aquascutum so old thatthe makers
tab had long since gone from it. I presented him with my emptycigarette-case, and he
kissed me on both cheeks. There was a fender amidships hanging over the port
side.
Also he had a quantity of caporal cigaretteswith
which I filled my pockets. CHAPTER XIJanni and I returned to the camp before
dawn.
I slid down thestone-shoot and in the first cool of
evening scrambled along thatarduous shore. They had alreadyhad wages in advance, and
could fend for themselves till he made aplan. I sat down on a boulder with a sinking
heart to consider theprospect. To my immense relief it was Maris, very dirty
anddishevelled, but grinning cheerfully.
I decided once more to prospect the line of the
cliffs.
I held my breathand listened, but I could not hear
any noise from within thebreach. Supposing there was someone on board, some one
hostile, I would be completely at his mercy. I felt frowsy and dingy, and would have
givenmuch for a bath. There wasnothing for it but to go back to the
priest.
He ought to have rejoined us, according to plan,
before sunrise. Presently I was outon the downs, with the yellow levels of the
Dancing Floor below meon the right.
There wasnothing for it but to go back to the
priest. The stone was assmooth as a water-worn pebble. It closed in on me from
everyside, and yet made no sound. This opened into a kind of sacristy, where
thepriest kept his odds and ends.
From below came thesound of dreamily moving water,
of sleepy pigeons in the rocks. Janni, of course, was no swimmer, and besides,
theresponsibility was on me.
The peasant hadstopped in his tracks at the church
door. When he had finished he came to me andhis eyes asked a question. Butthere was
no sign of Maris in the wide landscape. I suddenly felt that I wasnot alone, but had
august allies. |