"Si!"
"She has no evil eye," declared the cook stoutly.
"It is told me that she has," said the smiling girl. "And she has put what you call the 'hoodoo' on that schooner. She come down in her from Boston."
"What of it?" retorted the cook. "She is a fine lady—and a pretty lady."
"So Tunis Latham think—heh?" demanded Eunez fiercely.
"And why not?" grinned Johnny.
"Bah! Has not all gone wrong with that Seamew ever since she sail in the schooner?" demanded the girl. "An anchor chain breaks; a rope parts; you lost a topmast—yes? How about Tony? Has he not left and will not return aboard the schooner for a price? Do you not find calm where other schooners find fair winds? Ah!"
"Pooh!" ejaculated Johnny Lark. "Old woman's talk!"
"Not!" cried the girl hotly. "It is a truth. The saints defend us from the evil eye! And Tunis Latham is under that girl's spell."
Johnny Lark tried to laugh again, but with less success. Many little things had marred the fair course of the Seamew and her captain's business. He, however, shook his head.