"All I have is yours; Mackellar will prove the will, but you'll see Alvarez out, as I meant to do. Another thing; Mayne will get the old boat off tomorrow, and when he's loaded up I want you to take me out and land me on the creek I marked behind Salinas Point. He can fly the flag half-mast; I'll have started on the lone trail then. You'll hire some half-breed boys at the pueblo in the swamp, and take me to the mission and lay me beside my wife. Hattie was a Catholic and you can tell Father Herman that what she believed was good enough for me. Afterwards, you'll send him now and then the box of candles he will tell you about. They're to burn in the little chapel before Our Lady of Sorrows, where Hattie used to pray I might get well. You'll do this for me?"
"I will," Kit answered with forced quietness. "Then I've finished," said
Adam. "I'm going to sleep now and mayn't talk much again."
He turned his head from the light and presently Kit, hearing him breathe quietly, went out on deck.
At high-water next day, the Rio Negro floated off the mud and when she swung to her anchor Kit went into Adam's room. Adam was very weak, but looked up.
"Get the coffee on board; I'm afraid you won't have time for the next lot and the rubber," he said. "Tell Finlay to bank his fires. You'll want steam to take me out."
Kit understood, and nodded because he could not speak, and Adam, giving him a quiet smile, went to sleep again.
Some hours later, Mayne joined Kit, who had gone on deck for a few minutes.
"That's the last of the hacienda Luisa coffee," he said, indicating a boat alongside. "The peons tell me the next lot's coming down, but if we ship it, we'll miss the tide."
"You can close the hatches. The coffee must wait."
"It's high-grade stuff and brings top price. I sure don't like to leave it to spoil."