Part 19 (1/2)

But this was not necessary He had barely finished his work on the lighter, when, one evening, he saw against the sun-lighted sky the top the _Finland_ lay anchored off the cove, and two boats came ashore, out of one of which Maka was the first to juuano had been transferred to the shi+p, and, twenty minutes later, the _Finland_, with Captain Horn on board, had set sail for Acapulco The captain ht have been better pleased if his destination had been San Francisco, but, after all, it is doubtful if there could have been a ood shi+p with a fellow-mariner hom he could talk as s containing the thousands of little bars for which he had worked so hard

CHAPTER XXV

AT THE PALMETTO HOTEL

For about four ht be considered as Captain Horn's adopted family had resided in the Palmetto Hotel, in San Francisco At the time we look upon the left San Francisco so fro woman she had been

Her face was sained a richer brown The dark rown and thickened, but this was due to the loose fashi+on in which it was coiled upon her head, and it would have been impossible for any one who had known her before not to perceive that she was greatly changed

The lines upon her forehead, which had coe, but froether with a certain intensity of expression which would naturally co woman who had to make her way in the world, not only for herself, but for her young brother, and a seriousness born of souous hopes, had all entirely disappeared as if they had beenaway from a sum, indeed, but mildly, she had ripened into a physical beauty which was her own by right of birth, but of which a fewresponsibility would have forever deprived her

After the receipt of her second remittance, Edna and her party had taken the best apartments in the hotel The captain had requested this, for he did not kno long they ht remain there, and he wanted them to have every comfort He had sent them as old he had carried with hi shi+ps and buying guano were heavy

Edna, however, had received frequent reh an agent in San Francisco These, she supposed, caold, but, in fact, they had come from the sale of investments which the captain had made in the course of his fairly successful ed the it as their share of the first division of the treasure in the mound If his intended projects should succeed, the fortunes of all of therand as any of them had ever had reason to hope for But if he should fail, they, the party in San Francisco, would be as well off, or, perhaps, better circumstanced than when they had started for Valparaiso He did not mention the fact that he himself would be poorer, for he had lost the _Castor_, in which he was part-owner, and had invested nearly all his share of the proceeds of the sale of the gold in shi+p hire, guano purchases, and other necessary expenses

Edna aiting in San Francisco to knoould be the next scene in the new drama of her life Captain Horn had written before he sailed frouano islands and the Rackbirds'

cove, and he had, to so away treasure from the mound; but since that she had not heard from him until about ten days before, when he wrote frouano and their auriferous enrichh spirits, and had sent her a draft on San Francisco so large in amount that it had fairly startled her, for he wrote that he had age, and had not yet done anything with that contained in the guano-bags He had hired a storehouse, as if he were going regularly into business, and frouano after he had restored it to its original condition To do all this, and to convert the gold into negotiable bank deposits or money, would require time, prudence, and even diplomacy He had already sold in the City of Mexico as iving rise to too many questions, and if he had not been known as a California trader, he ht have found some difficulties even in that comparatively small transaction

The captain had written that to do all he had to do he would be obliged to re he could not tell, for ht have to be shi+pped to the United States, and his plans for all this business were not yet arranged

Before this letter had been received, Mrs Cliff had believed it to be undesirable to reone to her home in a little town in Maine With Edna and Ralph, she had waited and waited and waited, but at last had decided that Captain Horn was dead In her ht was necessary to go to the caves, get gold, and co elapsed, she had finally given him up as lost She knew the captain was a brave man and an able sailor, but the adventure he had undertaken was strange and full of unknown perils, and if it should so happen that she should hear that he had gone to the bottoold, she would not have been at all surprised

Of course, she said nothing of these suspicions to Edna or Ralph, nor did she intend ever to e a way had been made a wife, should, in some manner perhaps equally extraordinary, be made a , she would co she could to comfort her; but now she did not seeland hoh the many voices of her friends As to the business which had taken Mrs

Cliff to South America, that must now be postponed, but it could not but be a satisfaction to her that she was going back with perhaps as much money as she would have had if her affairs in Valparaiso had been satisfactorily settled

Edna and Ralph had come to be looked upon at the Palmetto Hotel as persons of distinction They lived quietly, but they lived well, and their payments were always prompt They were the wife and brother-in-law of Captain Philip Horn, as known to be a successful ht be a rich one But what seeuish theuests was the fact that they were attended by two personal servants, who, although, of course, they could not be slaves, seemed to be bound to them as if they had been born into their service

Cheditafa, in a highly respectable suit of clothes which ht have been a cross between the habiliments of a Methodistaspect Mrs Cliff had insisted, when his new clothes were ordered, that there should be soyht come when it would be necessary that he should be known in this character; and the butler eleree with his duties as Edna's private attendant The old negro, with his sober face, and woolly hair slightly touched with gray, was fully aware of the importance of his position as body-servant to Mrs Horn, but his sense of the responsibility of that position far exceeded any other sentiments of which his mind was capable Perhaps it was the fact that he hadthat he must never cease to watch over her and to serve her in every possible way Had the hotel taken fire, he would have rushed through the flames to save her Had robbers attacked her, they must have taken his life before they took her purse

When she drove out in the city or suburbs, he always sat by the side of the driver, and when she walked in the streets, he followed her at a respectful distance

Proud as he was of the fact that he had been the officiating clergyrand lady, he had never mentioned the matter to any one, for many times, and particularly just before she left San Francisco, Mrs Cliff had told him, in her most impressive manner, that if he informed any one that he had reat trouble would come of it What sort of trouble, it was not necessary to explain to hie of a Christian by a heathen was soreat disfavor in this country, and unless Cheditafa could prove that he had a perfect right to perforht be bad for him When Captain Horn had settled his business affairs and should coht, and nobody need feel any more fear, but until then he must not speak of what he had done

If Captain Horn should never coht that Edna would then be truly his , and his letters would prove it, but that she was really his wife until the two had ood lady could not entirely adical, but she rested herself firro, Mok, could speak no lish than e first s which were said to hins, motions, and expressions of countenance At first Edna did not knohat to do with this negro, but Ralph solved the question by taking him as a valet, and day by day he became more useful to the youth, who often declared that he did not kno he used to get along without a valet Mok was very fond of fine clothes, and Ralph liked to see him smartly dressed, and he frequently appeared ofto serve hi hi to do

Edna and Ralph had a private table, at which Cheditafa and Mok assisted in waiting, and Mrs Cliff had taught both of them how to dust and keep roo library Having once been shown the place, and made to understand that he must deliver there the piece of paper and the books to be returned, he attended to the business as intelligently as if he had been a trained dog, and brought back the new books with a pride as great as if he had selected the no knowledge whatever of English, and that he was possessed of an extraordinary activity, which enabled hiate of the back yard of the hotel happened to be locked, to go over the eight-foot fence with the agility of ahiro cannot speak English, but can bound like an india-rubber ball, itwith Cheditafa, no one would think of such a thing; his grave and reverend aspect was his most effectual protection

As to Ralph, he had altered in appearance aler indicated the boy, and as he was tall and large for his years, the fashi+onable suit he wore, his gay scarf with its sparkling pin, and his brightly polished boots, did not appear out of place upon hireat deal better-looking in the scanty, orn, but arments in which he had disported himself on the sands of Peru