"Of what shall we make it?"
"The studding-sail boom—where is it concealed?"
At the mention of the boom, the revengeful Cubano gnashed his teeth, and replied,—
"I have cast it where man's hand shall never get it, into a chasm on the other side of the mountain; but voto! let us go down and repair the hut those ladrones have left, and you," he added, with a grin, "shall be my camarada de casa."
The sun was now setting beyond the sea, and the shadow of the great mountain was falling eastward over the island as we began to descend from the bluff, where I had lingered so long, by one of the narrow and winding tracks made through the gorse by the wild goats.
Hunger now assailed me, and saying I would hasten forward and procure some bananas, I reached the beach before Antonio was half-way down the rocks, and found Probart's hatchet where—so unfortunately for me—he had left it in the hurry of embarkation.
I snatched it up, and as the handle was short, and the blade, though sharp, was small, I secured it in the waistband of my trousers, and buttoned my now tattered jacket over it, determined to prove therewith the hardness of Antonio's head on the first opportunity.
An emotion of security now filled my heart, as I felt that I had a weapon with which to strike at least one blow in defence of my life, if it was assailed.