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introduced him to Marjorie, Locke, and Trask, who had been
summoned below for the assignment of their rooms.
Peth stood in the doorway and bowed, looking quite smart and
respectable in clean dungarees, and though he said nothing but
How de do, he gave the impression of affability mixed with
shyness. He missed no detail of Trask s clothing, and seemed to
measure the young man s strength as he looked him up and down.
Now, Miss Locke, you ll have this room aft, to port, next is Mr.
Locke, and then Mr. Trask. Then comes the cabin stores. I ll be aft to
starboard, Mr. Peth and Captain Dinshaw next, the cook and the
steward, and the galley
49
Isle O Dreams
If ye don t mind, cap n, interrupted Peth, I d not want to bunk
with the old man. I got to be up and around nights.
All right, said Jarrow. There are two bunks in Mr. Trask s room
here. Maybe you wouldn t find it out of the way if Mr. Peth took the
lower?
Not at all, said Trask. I ll sleep soundly enough.
My gear s in there now, said Peth, and he went out on deck.
I d git my stuff all opened up and stowed while we re in the bay,
suggested Jarrow. There may be a swell on outside, and then it s
goin to be hot below as the sun climbs. Tom! How s that coffee
comin on?
The fat Chinese cook looked out from the galley, a white cap on his
head and an apron tied about him. He grinned pleasantly, and
replied that the coffee was on the fire.
We had breakfast, said Locke.
I d take a nip of coffee, said Jarrow. Now then, here s Doc Bird
to help open your gear. Anything you want, ask for it, and you, Doc,
keep an eye out to make all hands comfortable. I got to go up now.
Trask followed the captain up the companion and left Marjorie and
her father below, until he was called to have his coffee. When they
went on deck again Corregidor Island was astern, rising out of the
channel like a derelict battleship.
To starboard, close aboard beyond the stretch of sun-dazzled sea,
was the coast of Bataan, with the brown fuzzy mountains behind
Mariveles shouldering into the sky. Point Luzon marked the limit of
the land over the starboard bow, and on the port side the shining
China Sea reached away to the horizon.
The jib and foresail were already set although the tug had not cast
off. Soon they began to fill, and as Peth bawled to the tug, the hawser
was dropped, and tooting a farewell, the little boat swung in a wide
arc and headed back for Manila.
50
Isle O Dreams
Peth came aft and routed Doc Bird from under the mainsail boom
where the steward sat peeling potatoes. Dinshaw kept moving
about, repeating the orders of the mate, or talking to himself.
The crew were all white, in accordance with the orders of Locke,
who had declared that he did not want to undertake the voyage with
natives forward.
The breeze from landward died as the main was being set, and the
Nuestra began to roll gently as she fell off. For a few minutes she
threatened to follow the tug back to Manila, with many lurches and
angry snappings of blocks.
We ll git a clinkin good breeze from the south ard when we re
off the land, said Jarrow, glancing aloft to the windvane on the
mizzen truck. It was flopping about like a dead fish on a gaff.
Before long the foresail began to fret its sheets, and Bevins got her
head to seaward. Then there came from astern a hot, puffy breeze,
and the schooner stood out on a port tack, curvetting prettily as her
sails were trimmed and filled.
One of the crew, hailed as Pennock, now came aft and took the
wheel, and Bevins went forward. Captain Dinshaw went into the
cabin, and looking down, Trask could see him bent over the table,
sucking a stub of a pencil and studying a sheet of paper.
What s the bearin and distance of Point Luzon? he called up the
companion.
Jarrow looked at Locke and smiled.
Northwest, five miles, called Jarrow, after a look at the compass
and the land.
What course ye steerin ?
Nor wes bywes .
Variation, one degree east, remarked Dinshaw, and went back to
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