Page:Frank Stockton--Adventures of Captain Horn.djvu/322

ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HORN very much. They gave up its solution, and went to work to try to make out the name of the vessel upon which the bags had been loaded. But here Inkspot could not help them. They could not make him understand what it was they wanted him to say. At last, the horse-dealer proposed to the others, who, he said, knew more about such things than he did, that they should repeat the name of every sailing-vessel on that coast of which they had ever heard for Inkspot had made them understand that his ship had sails, and no steam. This they did, and presently one of the sailors mentioned the name Miranda, which belonged to a brig he knew of which plied on the coast. At this, Inkspot sprang to his feet and clapped his hands.

"Mirar'a! Miran'a!" he cried. And then followed the words, "Cap' 'Or! Cap' 'Or!" in eagerly excited tones.

Suddenly the thin-nosed man, whom the others called Cardatas, leaned forward.

"Cap'n Horn?" said he.

Inkspot clapped his hands again, and exclaimed:

"Ay, ay! Cap' 'Or! Cap' 'Or!"

He shouted the words so loudly that the barkeeper, at the other end of the room, called out gruffly that they'd better keep quiet, or they would have somebody coming in.

"There you have it!" exclaimed Cardatas, in Spanish. "It's Cap'n Horn that the fool's been trying to say. Cap'n Horn of the brig Miranda. We are getting on finely."

"I have heard of a Cap'n Horn," said one of the sailors. "He's a Yankee skipper from California. He has sailed from this port, I know." 308