Page:Anderson--Isle of seven moons.djvu/287

275 "Well this island hasn't floated away yet, Dick," was the bait Sally offered him, adding a little slowly, "though I must confess it is a strange place."

"Wait and see, Señorita. Some day it go, if we stay here long."

He shook his curly head and great earrings uncertainly.

"Your uncle is a good man but very foolish. Tell heem haul up that anchor, dam queeck—your pardon, Señorita. The cards say trouble and they do not lie like men."

"But we're going to hunt for the gold."

"Gold is not good when the yellow is stain with red," he returned. "There is blood on that gold, and much bad will come to him who finds it."

"Why, Dick, whatever can happen?"

"I don' know," he shrugged his shoulders, "mebbe the island float away an' drop over the edge of the world."

"But the earth is round like a ball."

"No, Señorita, it is like a plate. See for yourself."

He pointed to the curve of the horizon.

"As I tell you many times, I have seen this islan' all blue an' green an beautiful in—what you say?—mist like gold with stars in eet—an' way up high, the beeg moon an the six leetle ones swim roun' and roun'. An the islan'—she drift away like a boat when the oar gone. An' if she doan do that, she"

He paused significantly, then gazed at her cunningly to see if her curiosity were sufficiently piqued. He had genuine histrionic talent, had Spanish Dick, and he knew well how to play on an audience.