“Did you ever meet any fellow who could swear harder than you, Boyle?”
“Yes, once,” was the curt answer.
“He must have been a rotter. What did he say?”
“Huh! just the regulation patter, but he used a megaphone, so I gave him best. . . .”
But, so far as Elsie was concerned, Boyle’s fund of reminiscence had dried up.
After the midday meal on Christmas day—a sumptuous repast, for the due preparation of which Elsie had come to the Chilean cook’s assistance in the matter of the plum-pudding—Suarez suddenly reported that a new column of smoke was rising from Guanaco Hill, a crag dominating the eastern side of the bay. The hill owed its name, he explained, to a large cave, in which a legendary herd of llama was said to have its abode. Probably there had never been any llama on the island, but the Indians were frightened of the cave, with its galloping ghosts, and would not enter it. He was unable to attribute any special significance to the signal on that particular place. During the five years with the Alaculof tribe he had never seen a fire lit there before. That, in itself, was a fact sinister and alarming.
Suarez had sufficient tact not to make this statement publicly. He told Christobal, and the doctor passed on the information to the captain. Both men went to the poop with their glasses, and carefully examined the coast line.
Courtenay was the first to break an oppressive silence, and his low pitched voice announced stirring tidings.
“Do you see those canoes yonder?” he said.
“There were three under the trees before Suarez discovered the smoke on Guanaco. Now I fancy I can make out nearly a dozen. Though they are not launched, they have been put there for some purpose. Would you mind going forrard and asking Mr. Boyle to summon all hands on deck? He knows exactly what to do. Remember that I regard you and Miss Maxwell as non-combatants, and expect you both to remain in the saloon. If these painted devils really mean to attack, some of us will get hurt, and then your services will be of greater value than in the fighting line. And, if I do not see Miss Maxwell before the trouble begins, please tell her she need fear no alarm. We shall be able to beat off our assailants with comparative ease.”