Dick stopped and watched them, for the glow of color held his eye. Jake’s white duck caught the strong sunlight, while the girl’s dark hair and eyes were relieved by the brilliant lemon-tinted wall and the mass of crimson bloom. Her attitude was coquettish, and Jake regarded her with an ingratiating smile. After a few moments, however, Dick went down the street and presently heard his comrade following him. When the lad came up, he saw that he had a basket of dark green fruit and a bunch of the red flowers.
“I thought you were asleep. Early rising is not a weakness of yours,” he said.
“As it happens, I didn’t sleep at all,” Jake replied. “Steering that unhandy coal-scow rather got upon my nerves and when she took the awkward sheer as we came through the reef the tiller knocked Maccario down and nearly broke my ribs. I had to stop the helm going the wrong way somehow.”
Dick nodded. It was obvious that the lad had been quick and cool at a critical time, but his twinkling smile showed that he was now in a different mood.
“You seem to have recovered. But why couldn’t you leave the girl alone?”
“I’m not sure she’d have liked that,” Jake replied. “It’s a pity you have no artistic taste, or you might have seen what a picture she made.”
“As a matter of fact, I did see it, but she has, no doubt, a half-breed lover who’d seriously misunderstand your admiration, which might lead to your getting stabbed some night. Anyhow, why did you buy the flowers?”
“For one thing, she was taking them to the Magellan, and I couldn’t stand for seeing that blaze of color wasted on the guzzling crowd you generally find in a hotel dining-room.”
“That doesn’t apply to the fruit. You can’t eat those things. They preserve them.”
“Eat them!” Jake exclaimed with a pitying look. “Well, I suppose it’s the only use you have for fruit.” He took a stalk fringed with rich red bloom and laid it across the dark green fruit, which was packed among glossy leaves. “Now, perhaps, you’ll see why I bought it. I rather think it makes a dainty offering.”