The Trey o' Hearts/Chapter 11
CHAPTER XI
Blue Water
ANXIETY ate like an acid at Alan's heart. He could only hope against hope and count on haste to make his getaway. But when he reëntered the hotel, one surprising thing happened that gave him new heart: it seemed almost as if his luck had turned. For as he paused at the desk of the cashier to demand his bill, the elevator gate opened and Rose came out to meet him, with an eager air of hope masking her fatigue.
"I worried so I couldn't rest," she told him; "so I watched from the window till I saw you drive up. Then something told me you had been successful"
He acquainted her briefly with his fortune. "It may be a little hard on you," he concluded, "but she's a comfortable boat enough, and with luck and decent weather"
"I shall be all right," she protested. "I'm a good sailor, and I am so glad we're to get away. I have been oppressed all evening by a dreadful premonition."
"Nonsense!" he cheered her insincerely. "What could happen in a staid old town like this? We're out of the woods at last!"
But she seemed unable to overcome the heaviness of her spirits even when their cab set them down at the wharf.
Here, Alan had feared, was the crucial point of danger. But his straining senses detected no sign of menace among those black, crowding shadows—and nothing happened. Mr. Barcus was found in cheerful waiting—the Seaventure ready to cast off, her motor already grumbling with impatience.
"All right?" he chirruped to his passenger and crew. "Jump aboard! We'll be off in a jiffy."
And he was as good as his word. Alan had barely set foot on deck, following the girl, when a smother of foam boiled up under the stern, the propeller blades gripped water, and the Seaventure swung away from the wharf.
After a careful search of the little craft, Alan, satisfied that all was well, nodded cheerfully.
"All right," he said to the girl. "We're clear of that lot, nobody but the three of us aboard. Now you'd best turn in. This is to be your stateroom, this one to port, and you'll have a long night's sleep to make up for what you've gone through, dearest."
He drew nearer, dropping his voice tenderly. And of a sudden, with a little low cry, the girl came into his arms and clung passionately to him.
"But you?" she murmured. "You need rest as much as I!"
"Oh, no, I don't," he continued. "Barcus and I stand watch and watch, of course. There's nothing for you to do but be completely at your ease. Good- night."
Eyes half-closed, she seemed to suffer his kiss rather than to respond, then turned hastily to her stateroom, leaving him staring in wonder at her strangeness. But he had no time for speculation. A surge of triumph in his heart, he ran up the companion-way and rejoined Barcus.
"Well?" Barcus asked amiably. "Find everything to your satisfaction?"
"I think so—quite. What can I do?"
"Stand by until we round the breakwater. Then take the wheel while I make sail. We'll catch a capful of wind as soon as we get out, and then this old hooker is due to set a pace you'll find surprising."
It was well on toward midnight before he finally relieved Alan and told him to turn in. By that time the Seaventure was spinning south-southeast, close reefed to a sou'west wind, the fixed white eye of Portland Headlight fast falling astern to starboard.