Part 27 (1/2)

The officers held a consultation as to as to be done, and they very quickly arrived at a decision To remain at anchor, to send a boat on shore to look for the erous and useless

Inquiries about the deserter would provoke inquiries about the brig, and if Inkspot really wished to run away fro hi finished the business which brought them there, they must up anchor and sail away as soon as possible As for the loss of the man, they must bear that as well as they could Whether he had been drowned, eaten by a shark, or had safely reached the shore, he was certainly lost to theh, but six ain

So the anchor eighed, the sails were set, and before a northeast wind the _Miranda_ went out to sea as gayly as the nature of her build perood wind, however, and when the log had been thrown, the captain re better time than she had made since they left Acapulco

CHAPTER xxxVI

A HORSE-DEALER APPEARS ON THE SCENE

When the brig _Miranda_ was lying at anchor in the Rackbirds' cove, and Mr George Burke had silently left her in order to go on shore and pursue soations in which he was interested, his departure froood-natured African, known as Inkspot, had been on watch, and, being hienerally noticeable in the dark, was standing on a part of the deck froet over the taffrail and slip into the water He knew this person to be the second h respect and some fear of his superiors, he did not consider it his business to interfere with hi toward the shore, but it soon disappeared in the darkness Toward the end of his watch, he had seen Mr

Burke clione down it, and disappear below

When Inkspot went to his hammock, which he did very shortly afterwards, he reflected to the best of his ability upon what he had seen Why did Mr Burke slip away from the shi+p so silently, and coone ashore, and why did he want no one to know that he had gone? He ht not to do, and Inkspot could think of nothing wrong that Mr Burke would like to do, except to drink whiskey Captain Horn was very particular about using spirits on board, and perhaps Mr Burke liked whiskey, and could not get it Inkspot knew about the storehouse of the Rackbirds, but he did not knohat it had contained, or what had been left there Maka had said so been poured out on the sand, but that ht have been said just to keep people away from the place If there were no whiskey there, why did Mr Burke go on shore?

Now, it so happened that Inkspot knew a good deal about whiskey Before he had gone into the service of the Rackbirds, he had, at different times, been drunk, and he had the liveliest and most pleasant recollections of these experiences It had been a long tih whiskey to make him feel happy This had probably been the case with Mr Burke, and he had gone on shore, and most likely had had so where he had gone The consequence of this train of thought was that Inkspot deterht, and hunt for whiskey He could do it quite as well as Mr Burke had done it, perhaps even better But the _Miranda_ did not reht, and poor Inkspot looked with longing eyes upon the slowly departing spot on the sands where he knew the Rackbirds' storehouse was located

The days and nights went on, and in the course of time the _Miranda_ anchored in the harbor of Valparaiso; and, when this happened, Inkspot deteret a good drink of whiskey--he had hts of El Puerto, or the Old Town, glittering and beckoning, and they did not appear to be very far off It would be nothing for him to swiht, and he went into the water at fifty ray shi+rt and a pair of thin trousers, and if any one had seen his head and shoulders, it is not likely, unless a good light had been turned on them, that they would have been supposed to be portions of a human form

Inkspot was veryor a deer But it was a long, long swihts At last, however, he reached a pier, and having rested himself on the timbers under it, he cautiously climbed to the top The pier was deserted, and he walked to the end of it, and entered the town

He knew nothing of Valparaiso, except that it was a large city where sailors went, and he was quite sure he could find a shop where they sold whiskey Then he would have a glass--perhaps two--perhaps three--after which he would return to the brig, as Mr Burke had done Of course, he would have to dothan had been necessary for the second mate, but then, he believed hientlereat deal easier than he ca and happy, and he could play with the waves

Inkspot did find a shop, and a dirty one it was--but they sold whiskey inside, and that was enough for hiro a the captain's crew, and he had picked up solish and some of Spanish But it was difficult for hi these words, however, was one which he pronounced better than any of the others, and which had always been understood whenever he used it,--whether in English or Spanish, no ht be of the person addressed,--and that hiskey”

Inkspot had one glass, and then another, a third, and a fourth, and then his ave out--at least, the man who kept the shop insisted, in words that any one could understand, that the silver the big negro had fished out of his dripping pockets would pay for no h to etting drier He went out into the glorious night It was dark and windy, and the sky was cloudy, but to hilorious He sat down on the pavement in the cosey corner of talls, and there he slept luxuriously until a police drunk in the street

It o days before Inkspot got out of the hands of the police Then he was discharged because the authorities did not desire to further trouble theive no account of himself, and had probably wandered froo out to the water's edge and look out over the harbor, but although he saw many shi+ps, his sharp eyes told hi he had left

After an hour or two of wandering up and down the waterside, he beca for him to swiry It was not long, however, before a good, strong negro like Inkspot found employment

It was not necessary for hiet a job at carrying things up a gang-plank, and, in pay for this labor, he willingly took whatever was given hiht, with very little money in his pocket, Inkspot entered a tavern, a low place, but not so low as the one he had patronized on his arrival in Valparaiso He had had a h to pay for one glass of whiskey, and having procured this, he seated himself on a stool in a corner, deter as possible Where he would sleep that night he knew not, but it was not yet bedtime, and he did not concern himself with the question

Near by, at a table, were seated fourTwo of these were sailors Another, a tall, dark e and somewhat crooked beloas dressed in very decent shore clothes, but had aThe fourth man, as would have been evident to any one who understood Spanish, was a horse-dealer, and the conversation, when Inkspot entered the place, was entirely about horses But Inkspot did not know this, as he understood so few of the words that he heard, and he would not have been interested if he had understood them The horse-dealer was the principal spokesman, but he would have been a poor representative of the shrewdness of his class, had he been trying to sell horses to sailors He was endeavoring to do nothing of the kind Theseto theood qualities of his animals, but of the credulous natures of his customers

To illustrate this, he drew from his pocket a small object which he had received a few days before for soh he would not be willing to guarantee this to any one at the table The little object which he placed on the table was a piece of gold about two inches long, and shaped like an irregular prism

This, he said, he had received in trade froo, who had recently coht it from a jeweller, who had others, and who said he understood they had come from California The jeweller had owed the man money, and the latter had taken this, not as a curiosity, for it was not much of a curiosity, as they could all see, but because the jeweller told him exactly how much it orth, and because it was safer than ed into current coin in any part of the world The point of the horse-dealer's remarks was, however, the fact that not only had he sold his horses to the man from Lima for very much more than they orth, but he had old was not worth as much as he had been led to suppose, that the jeweller bad cheated hiold was not easily disposed of in Chili or Peru, for it was of a very inferior quality to the gold of South America So he had made his trade, and also a profit, not only on the animals he delivered, but on the pay he received He had had the little luhed and tested, and knew exactly how much it orth

When the horse-dealer had finished this pleasant tale, he laughed loudly, and the three other hed also because they had keen wits and appreciated a good story of real life But their laughter was changed to astonishro bounded out of a dark corner and stood by the table, one outstretched ebony finger pointing to the piece of gold Instantly the horse dealer snatched his treasure and thrust it into his pocket, and al to his feet and put his hand on his favorite weapon But the negro old, nor did there seem to be any reason to apprehend an attack frohs with his hands, his ht

”What is the matter with you?” shouted the horse-dealer ”What do you want?”