Lightbody."
He paused a moment for the usual casual interruption, but even the
active Legrande was silent.
Alas! from the other end of the table came the voice of the Bonanza
man:--
"The rope was around her neck. Well, gentlemen, that Mexican woman
standing there, with that crowd around her, eager for her blood,
dern my skin! if she didn't call out to the sheriff to hold on a
minit. And what fer? Ye can't guess! Why, one of them long
braids she wore was under the noose, and kinder in the way. I
remember her raising her hand to her neck and givin' a spiteful
sort of jerk to the braid that fetched it outside the slip-knot,
and then saying to the sheriff: 'There, d--n ye, go on.' There was
a sort o' thoughtfulness in the act, a kind o' keerless, easy way,
that jist fetched the boys--even them thet hed the rope in their
hands, and they--" (suddenly recognizing the silence): "Oh, beg
pardon, old man; didn't know I'd chipped into your yarn--heave
ahead; don't mind me."
"What I am trying to tell you is this: One night, in the Caribbean
Sea, we ran into one of the Leeward Islands, that had been in olden
time a rendezvous for our ship.
Pages:
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292