Page:Barbour--Joan of the ilsand.djvu/57

Rh turned in to bed he fastened the window of his room, and in sailor fashion, slept with a figurative eye open. The least sound except the roaring of the wind would have awakened him. Nothing happened, however, and he remained asleep until the first thin streaks of dawn were creeping over the sky.

Instantly he sat up in bed. The wind had gone down.

"Now, if I were that Portuguese—" he muttered to himself; and then he began to dress in a leisurely way. He had slept enough for the present, anyway, and he had a curious desire to "go on deck" as he would have expressed it. Moving quietly, not to disturb the other occupants of the bungalow, he lifted the bar that fastened the front door, and passed out on to the veranda.

The world seemed to have had a bath. It was still too dark to see anything in the distance, but there was the promise of a wonderful day. The air was cool and fresh. As dawn came up out of the east Keith saw there was a heavy sea running, away beyond the shelter of the island. Daylight was approaching. He could now almost make out the blur of the island in the distance— Suddenly his frame stiffened. Several miles to this side of the island of Tamba a small schooner was running on the starboard tack. Only one schooner of that size was likely to be in those waters,