“She shall be fed in a few minutes,” said Greaves.
The girl seated herself on the skylight and watched the motion of Greaves’ lips, listening, at the same time, with a little frown of attention to the pronunciation of the words he coolly delivered:
“I was observing,” said he, with an askant glance at her, “that the dark and lonely party is mighty full of curiosity. She tried to pump me about the dollars below; wanted to know what you were doing in the hold; asked the value of the treasure.”
“How did you understand her?”
“She beckoned to Antonio; but when I found she had no more to say than that, I sent him forward again with a sea blessing on his head. And when I was taking sights she put out her hand for my quadrant. I let her hold it. She clapped it to her eye—shutting the eye to which she put it, of course—fell to fingering the thing, and I took it from her. I wish she wasn’t so handsome. A little mustache, a pretty shadowing of beard, the Valladolid complexion, and a few chocolate teeth would make the difference I want, to enable me to look my meaning when she teases me with questions. But who could be angry with the owner of those eyes?”
He gazed at her fully. She averted her face suddenly. I fancied I caught a fleeting expression of aversion, or, at all events, of distrust. She flashed her eyes upon me with a gaze as significant as though she understood what Greaves had been talking about, rose from the skylight, and motioned me to walk with her. Greaves left his chair and stepped slowly to the companion way. At this moment Jimmy came along with the cabin dinner. The lady, inclining her face to my ear, spoke low in Spanish, pointed to the cabin skylight, shook her head, then pressed her forefinger to her lip, all which, in plain English, meant: “I don’t like him.” I could have answered that she owed her life to him as master of the ship, and that his offhand manners were British, and meant nothing.
“Dinner,” said I.
“Dinner,” she repeated, smiling.
She repeated the word several times.
“Will you come?” said I.