Page:Guy Boothby - The Beautiful White Devil.djvu/144

 "Look astern," said Alie, who stood by my side upon the bridge, "and tell me if you can discover the entrance to the harbour."

I did so, but though I looked, and looked, and even brought a glass to bear upon the cliffs, I could see no break in the line through which a vessel of any size might pass.

"No!" I said at last, "I must confess I cannot see it."

"Now you will understand," she said, smiling at my bewilderment, "the meaning of those great doors. On the seaward side they are painted to resemble the cliffs. Could anyone wish for a better disguise?"

I agreed that no one could. And, indeed, it was most wonderful. A man-of-war might have patrolled that seemingly barren coast for weeks on end and still have been unaware of the harbour that lay concealed behind.

"Now you will want to rest, I know," she said. "I think you will find your old cabin prepared for you."

"And you?"

"I am going below too. Look, the coast is fast disappearing from our sight. There it goes beneath the horizon. Now will you wish our enterprise good luck?"

"Good luck," I said, with a little squeeze of her hand.

"Thank you, and may God bless you," she answered softly, and immediately vanished down the companion-ladder.