Archiwum
- Index
- Giovanni Guareschi [Don Camillo 01] The Little World of Don Camillo (pdf)
- Christine Young [Highland 01] Highland Honor (pdf)
- Angela Verdenius [Heart & Soul 16] Soul of a Guardian (pdf)
- Chalker Jack L W Świecie Studni 5 Zmierzch przy Studni Dusz (pdf)
- Dahlia Rose, Brenda Steele, Regina Paul, Dorian Wallace Mating Season (anth.) (pdf)
- Cooper McKenzie [Menage Amour 161 Club Esotera 03] Minding Mistress (pdf)
- Dena Garson [Emerald Isle Fantasies 03] Ghostly Persuasion [EC Twilight] (pdf)
- 33 1 3 087 Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire de Melody Nelson Darran Anderson (pdf)
- Alan Burt Akers [Dray Prescot 07] Arena of Antares (pdf)
- Pilch Jerzy Spis CudzośÂ‚ośźnic
- zanotowane.pl
- doc.pisz.pl
- pdf.pisz.pl
- docucrime.xlx.pl
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worthy of mark until about noon a voice in the ship cried out so that Jacob could plainly understand the words, "One should
watch from land. Now a man on the hilltop could serve us well."
To which a second voice replied, "Go thou up, Will, go thou up! We are of no mind to stir."
There came the sound of steps on a plank, then a rattle of pebbles and a rustle of leaves; and Jacob rose quickly and followed
at a safe distance a man who passed his corner on the way up the acclivity.
Reaching the summit of the hill, where he was safely out of sight from the ship, the fellow -- and it was indeed Will Canty-
searched the sea from horizon to horizon; but Jacob, hunting deliberately as was his manner, found a seat a great way off, yet
so situated among the trees that he could watch without being seen. For an hour he sat thus in a niche in the rocks below and
watched Will on the flat ledge above; then he saw him start up of a sudden and look around him very carefully and
cautiously, and whip his shirt off his back and wave it in the air.
For a good half-hour Will waved the shirt, stopping now and then to rest; but it seemed that nothing came of his waving, for
with a sad face he put on his shirt and again sat down and presently he returned to the ship.
Jacob dozed a while longer where he was, having seen all that; for he was a man who could put two and two together as well
as another, and he had learned what he wished to know. Then he got up, and seeking out the place where the Old One and his
men had passed, he followed after them at a serious, steady gait, which seemed nor very fast yet which kept plodding so
surely up hill and down hill and through gullies and over ledges and along beside the sea, that in two hours he had covered
the distance the others, burdened with guns and pikes and swords, had covered in three; and before nightfall, following the
marks they had left for him, he overtook them resting in a ravine.
Night, which comes so suddenly in the tropics, was about to darken the world, when Jacob gave them a great start by walking
silently in upon them as they sat talking in low voices, with their guns lying by their sides and their minds on the work that
was before them. He nodded at the Old One, who knew well enough what his nod meant, and sat quietly down among them.
There was but a small moon, and when at nearly midnight they bestirred themselves and ate the last of the sea bread they had
brought, the light was dim. But their plans were laid and the hour was come and the Old One and Harry Malcolm and Jacob
knew the ways they were to go.
They were more than thirty, and they straggled out in a long line as they climbed the precipitous hill. But those ahead waited
at the top for those behind and together, marching in close array, they crossed a ridge and came into sight of a little town that
lay below them among hills and mountains.
It was a dark and silent town, whose houses had a ghostly pallor in the faint light from the crescent moon, and it lay beside a
harbour which shone like silver. There were no lights in the houses and in all the place nothing stirred; but in the harbour a
ship lay anchored, concerning which they speculated in whispers.
"The road lies yonder under the rock," said Harry Malcolm.
"And one man has strayed,'' Jacob whispered. "I will fetch him."
He stepped back the way they had come, and returned with Paul Craig who dragged his gun by the muzzle.
The fellow's manner betrayed his cowardice and the Old One pushed the point of a knife against his breast. "If again you
stray or loiter," he whispered, "this blade will rip you open like a hog fat for the killing."
Though the words were uttered very softly, others heard them, and Martin Barwick, whose courage was none of the
staunchest, rubbed his throat and swallowed hard.
"Gold without stint is ours for the taking," said the Old One.
"I have a misliking of yondership."
"Nay, she is but one more prize."
They moved down the mountain path toward the town.
"There are twelve houses," said Jacob. "Two men to a house leaves ten for the fort." In the dim light he had missed his count,
for the men as they approached the gate of the village had crowded together.
"No one sleeps in the fort," quoth Harry Malcolm in a low voice. "They go to the fort only when they are attacked by dogs of
English or wicked pirates." Some one laughed softly.
"Two men to a house," the Old One was saying. "Kill, plunder, and burn!" Then as they stood in the very gate a dog barked.
They jumped at the sound, but higher by far did they jump when from the ship 1ying in the harbour there came a loud hail in
Spanish.
"Ha! The dogs are wakeful!" the Old One cried in double meaning, and with that he plunged forward through the shadows.
Though for the most part he showed himself a shrewd, cautious man, he was not one to turn back when his blood was up; and
quicker than thought he had raised his voice to a yell:
"Come, my hearts, and burn them in their beds! "
"Nay, nay!" cried Jacob. "Come back while there is yet time! They cannot yet know who we are or from whence we come.
Another day, another month, will be best!" But they had gone. With a yell the Old One had led the way, and they had
followed at his heels. Jacob was left alone in the dark, and being a rarely prudent man and of no mind to risk his neck lightly,
he stayed where he was.
As the Old One stormed the first house, there came a shot from the darkness and he gave a howl of pain and rage. Turning,
Phil Marsham saw a stranger cross the road behind him, but he had no time to consider the matter, since the first cries had
waked the town. A dozen men were exchanging musket-shots with the fort, wherein they were folly-blind, for their shots
went wild in the dark and their guns took a long time loading; and the Old One, thinking to further the attack and not
considering that the light would reveal their whereabouts and their weakness, struck fire to dry grass, which blazed up and
caught wood, but went out, hissing, under a bucket of water from within a house. Here a Rose of Devon's man took the steel
and died, and there another went down, hit by a musket-ball. In a lull in the firing -- for the charges of their guns were soon
spent --· they heard plainly the sound of oars and saw that two boats were bringing men from the vessel in the harbour, and
from the far side of the place others came charging with pikes and swords. In all truth, the town was aroused and the game
was over, so they took to their heels and ran for their lives, since they were outnumbered and outfought and no other course
was left them.
All who escaped gathered on the hill, for though a man might wish in his heart to leave the Rose of Devon for ever, he could
find no refuge in the nest of hornets they had stirred to fury, since in the eyes of the enemy one must appear as guilty as
another. So, leaving ten of their number behind them, dead or wounded or captured, every man who could walk started back
for the Rose of Devon with the thought to cheer him on, that after day- break in all likelihood the howling pack would be at
his heels.
They bickered and wrangled and cursed, and one whispered to Philip Marsham that if they had an abler captain their luck
would turn, which was a great folly and cost him a broken head.
"That for thy prattle," the Old One cried, for he had been walking just behind. And with a club he struck the fellow a blow
that sent him to the ground. Indeed, the Old One had intended to kill him, and had he nor been so weary, he would doubtless
have stayed to complete his work, for his temper was torn to rags.
Uphill and down they went, through thickets and streams, over ledges and sandy slides, round dank old fallen logs and along
firm beaches, back to their dark frigate, with their labour for their pains. And so, by broad daylight, weary and hungry and too
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