Page:Raymond Spears--Diamond Tolls.djvu/227

 of the landing and was bucking the current and the cross swells from the gale. He entered the bayou bend late in the day, and in the dark he hugged the opposite shore till he was well up toward the head of the bend. He crossed over and drifted down, his motor turning slowly and almost noiselessly.

It was pitch dark, cloudy, and the air full of the murk of a dry gale, threatening rain. He passed the government light hardly fifty feet from it, and then ran into a short eddy which he felt close to the bank, not a hundred yards up stream from the entrance to the bayou.

"I lost a little time, 's all," Gost grinned to himself. "We'll see how you'll answer to a hail, eh? And if you got a light Um-m. I don't give a damn, now—I got ye."

He made certain that his motorboat was well fastened, but with knots that would be easy to find and cast off in the dark. He studied the skyline to make certain that he would recognize the mooring place of his boat when he returned.

Rifle in hand, his pistol in his pocket holster, he slipped along the top of the river bank to the bayou and followed that till he could see the dim outline of the boat against the paleness of the bayou waters. No streak or trace of light showed from the boat anywhere.