AN IDLE AFTERNOON
The veranda was shady, and Kit sat on the top step in the cool breeze
that blew between the posts. Olivia occupied a basket-chair farther
back; her pose was languidly graceful and sometimes she smiled. It was
not for nothing she had put on clothes she liked the best of all she
had, but she thought she knew why Kit for the most part looked at the
town and not at her. Sometimes his puritanical conscience bothered him.
Mrs. Austin's rule was to receive all her friends who liked to come
after six o'clock, but Kit had arrived two hours sooner, because Olivia
had hinted that he might. She knew Jacinta would not be about, and now
thought Kit imagined he ought to go.
The landscape he contemplated had some charm. The sun was behind the
mountains, and the dark rocks were a good background for the white town
and the cathedral towers. The white was not dead; the shadow had touched
it with elusive grey and blue, and the rows of houses glimmered, somehow
like pearls. In front the sea was a wonderful ultramarine.
In the meantime, Olivia studied Kit's figure and his face in profile.
She thought his profile good, there was something ascetic about its
cleanness of line. He was thin, but his white clothes rather emphasised
the firm modelling of his neck and shoulders and the curve to his waist.
All the same, Olivia thought his quietness tiresome.
"The view from the veranda _is_ rather fine," she said.
Kit looked up with an apologetic smile. "You imply I'm dull? Perhaps I
am dull. You see, I was pretty strenuously occupied not long since."
"Catching fish for the captain's senora?"
"We did catch some fish, but we shipped some camels through the surf,
and ran into bad weather coming home. To keep the animals alive was an
awkward job. The sea came on board, the fodder washed about, and the
scuppers were choked. The ship got a list, and two or three feet of
water splashed in the angle between her deck and side. Camels can't
stand getting wet, you know."
"I don't know," Olivia rejoined. "Besides, I don't see how the bad
weather accounts for your absorption in the view."
"Oh, well! After a job like ours you want a rest, and there's something
about Grand Canary that makes you satisfied to loaf. The Island of the
Golden Apples, the old explorers talked about! Then I think the nicest
spot in Grand Canary is Mrs. Austin's veranda. Anyhow, if I had talked,
you might have got bored. You are bored sometimes."
Olivia laughed. "You are modest, but if you know when I am bored you are
cleverer than I thought. However, when you first arrived you would have
been hurt."
"One gets philosophical and no doubt I was very raw. I hadn't known you
and Mrs. Austin."
"To know Jacinta is something of an education," Olivia agreed. "But you
talked about the old explorers. Have you ever seen the island of San
Borondon?"
"I have not," said Kit. "I'm a practical fellow and don't see things
like that. All the same, our quartermaster declares he has seen San
Borondon, and it's possible. Old Miguel's a mystic and the finest sailor
we have on board. The sort of fellow they'd have made a saint in
Columbus's days----"
He mused for a few moments and resumed: "Well, the story's curious. If
you leave out a few desert rocks, there are six Canary Islands; the
first explorers saw seven. The seventh was San Borondon, where it is
always calm. When the galleons came back to conquer it, the island was
gone, but now and then somebody sees the mountains against the sunset,
in the same spot as you steam West to Hierro. A mirage, no doubt, but
one can understand the sailors' weaving legends about San Borondon."
"I expect the monks wove the legends," Olivia remarked. "Their business
was to point a moral, and the Grail story's old. It looks as if they
could not find a knight-adventurer like Galahad. Yet you imagine your
quartermaster----"
"Old Miguel is something like Galahad," Kit said quietly, although a
touch of colour came to his skin. "Believes in his saints and keeps his
rules. As trustful as a child, polite as a Spanish hidalgo, and brave as
a lion! One does meet some fine gentlemen. Jefferson's another."
Olivia said nothing, but on the whole she agreed. Although Jefferson had
some drawbacks and Kit's were numerous, their puritanical sincerity had
charm. As a rule she had not found the type polite, but Kit was getting
sophisticated. His touch of colour indicated this.
"I expect you are going back on board _Mossamedes_?" she said by and by.
"For another run. After that I don't know," Kit replied.
He did not know and was rather disturbed. When he was going to Mrs.
Austin's he met Don Ramon, who stopped him.
"Has Wolf talked about his future plans?" the manager asked.
Kit said Wolf had not, and Don Ramon resumed:
"You see, the charter does not run long, and _Mossamedes_ is an
expensive boat for the Morocco trade."
Kit had thought this and was bothered about something else. He wondered
whether Don Ramon knew about the cartridges. In a way, perhaps, the
thing was not important, since the quantity was small, but Kit thought
Don Ramon ought to know. Yet so long as he took Wolf's pay he was Wolf's
man.
"Before you sailed on your last voyage I sent you a message," Olivia
resumed.
"I got the message. You were very kind."
"But this was all. You thought I exaggerated?"
"No," said Kit. "You stated Wolf meant to use Captain Revillon. Well, I
thought I saw his object."
"You mean, Wolf meant to cheat him?"
"In a way perhaps----" Kit agreed and stopped.
Olivia laughed. "You are very staunch. In fact, you have a number of
qualities one does not at first expect. All the same, I don't think you
ought to go to Africa often."
She was sincere, because she instinctively distrusted Wolf, but she
wanted to keep Kit about Las Palmas; to some extent because Jacinta had
planned to send him away. She did not know if she wanted him to stop for
good. His firmness intrigued her, she liked his honesty and his physical
attraction was strong. Sometimes she hesitated and sometimes resisted.
Olivia was calculating rather than romantic, and frankly did not see
herself marrying a steamship _sobrecargo_.
"I must go for another voyage," Kit replied. "I have engaged to go, and
for another thing, Mrs. Austin got me the post. I want her to think I'm
making good. It's obvious I owe her much."
Olivia knew he owed her sister less than he thought. Sometimes Kit was
very dull, but he had given her an opportunity to experiment.
"Jacinta likes helping people and as a rule it doesn't cost her much.
For example, when you told her about Miss Jordan, Harry and Jefferson
wanted an English clerk. I think Miss Jordan's satisfied, but I doubt if
she's as grateful as you."
"She's altogether satisfied----" Kit declared and stopped. Betty's
gratitude to Mrs. Austin was not very marked.
"Oh, well!" Olivia resumed, "Jefferson's a good sort and I think he's
lucky. Miss Jordan is a good clerk and an attractive girl. People like
her, and Jefferson's _patio_ is getting a fashionable spot in the
afternoon. You can study the latest styles in men's light clothes."
"Do you mean the coaling and banana men pretend they have some business
and hang about?"
"I don't know if they pretend, but they do hang about. Jefferson
declares if he wanted coal he could get an extra bag to the ton, and
Ritchie told him an ingenious plan by which he could cut down _Cayman_'s
fresh water bill."
"Ritchie's the theatrical fellow with the _sombrero_ and brigand's
sash?"
"He is theatrical," Olivia agreed and smiled. "Since he has neglected
me, his theatricalness is plainer. No doubt Miss Jordan finds him
amusing, but when _Cayman_ is in port he goes to the office. Looking for
orders, I believe."
"All the coal _Cayman_ burns goes on the galley fire," Kit remarked with
a frown. "A ton a voyage would see her out."
Olivia noted his frown. She admitted that her methods were crude, but
cleverness, so to speak, would be wasted on Kit. In some respects, he
was like a child.
"After all, I don't see why Miss Jordan should not marry a coaling
clerk," she said. "One or two are rather nice."
Kit set his mouth. He had not thought about Betty's marrying and owned
that it ought not disturb him, but it did so. His look was sternly
thoughtful, and Olivia touched his arm. She had made her experiment and
although she did not know if she wanted Kit for herself or not, she
resolved he was not for Betty.
"You have no grounds for meddling, and Miss Jordan is not a fool; I
think she's fastidious," she said. "When you come back we must try to
get you a post at Las Palmas. If you get a proper start, you might go
far, and perhaps the post can be got."
Kit's heart beat. Olivia wanted him to go far, and this implied much. He
forgot Betty, and then looking up, saw Mrs. Austin and her husband on
the steps.
"Hallo!" said Austin. "I imagined you were occupied on board. As a rule,
you stick to your job tighter than I stuck to mine. Anyhow, since you
have come ashore, you'll dine with us?"
Kit was somewhat embarrassed. He had seen Mrs. Austin give Olivia a keen
glance; moreover she had left her husband to ask him to stop. Signing to
Olivia, she went into the house.
"Why did you put on that dress?" she asked.
"It's light and cool," Olivia replied and added with a smile: "Sometimes
you're romantic and let your imagination go."
"I'd like to think I was romantic, but I doubt. Anyhow, Kit is flesh and
blood. Why can't you leave him alone?"
"My dear! You really ought to keep the conventions. The proper line is
to argue I oughtn't to let the young man bother me. However, it's
obvious you don't mean to be nice."
Mrs. Austin frowned and went off. She had controlled her husband and
others, but Olivia baffled her. If the girl resisted from obstinacy,
there was perhaps no need for disturbance; the trouble was, Mrs. Austin
did not know. Besides, Kit was trustful. She had meant to be his friend
and was angry because her plans had not worked.
Kit did not enjoy his dinner. Mrs. Austin was polite, but he felt she
was annoyed, and when he tried to talk to Olivia she firmly started
another subject. Olivia looked amused and her amusement jarred. Kit was
young and if he were being punished, thought Olivia ought to sympathise.
Soon after dinner he declared he must go on board and Olivia got up.
"Where are you going?" Mrs. Austin asked.
"I'm going to the gate with Kit," Olivia replied carelessly, and Mrs.
Austin knew her smile meant she could not meddle when the others were
about.
Olivia went down the path with Kit and stopped at the gate. It was
getting dark and some tamarisk grew between them and the house.
"You don't look very cheerful," she remarked.
"I'm not cheerful," Kit admitted. "I'm afraid I have annoyed Mrs.
Austin."
"Jacinta has her moods," Olivia agreed. "However, if she wasn't very
nice to you, she wasn't nice at all to me. Besides, you really ought not
to have stopped when she was not at home. Jacinta is conventional,
although she pretends she is not. We all are conventional, you know."
Kit looked hard at her and was hurt. Olivia, herself, had fixed the time
for him to come, and had kept him when he would have gone. For all that
he said nothing and she resumed in a gentle voice: "Well, you are going
back with the steamer and I will not see you before you sail. You'll use
caution, Kit?"
He thrilled, but said quietly: "I don't think much caution's indicated.
We have gone twice and nothing has bothered us."
"Oh well," said Olivia: "you are obstinate and I suppose you must go.
Perhaps I'm superstitious, but sometimes the third venture is unlucky."
She touched his arm. "I don't want you to run a risk!"
Kit tried to seize her hand but she was gone. He saw her figure melt
into the gloom among the tamarisk, and then, looking round, noted Wolf
coming up the path.
"Hallo, Musgrave!" said Wolf. "Have you gone to the _Commandancia_ for
your papers?"
"I went in the afternoon and got the documents," Kit replied, and
started for the road.
Wolf went to the veranda and talked to Mrs. Austin until some others
arrived; then he crossed the floor. A chair by Olivia was unoccupied,
and noting Wolf's advance, she gave a young man an inviting smile. The
young man did not remark this and Wolf got the chair.
"Malin deserves to pay for his dullness," he said.
"Then you saw me signal?" Olivia rejoined. "All the same, you came!"
"One sometimes gets a humorous satisfaction from baffling people.
Besides, I wanted to persuade you I'm not revengeful. It's obvious you
don't like me."
"Oh well," said Olivia, "I don't claim my prejudices are always logical.
Sometimes one likes people, and sometimes one does not."
"We'll let it go and I'll try to be resigned. However, I don't think you
ought to prejudice my _sobrecargo_."
Olivia's eyes sparkled. It looked as if Wolf had seen her touch Kit; he
was very keen.
"Do you know I have prejudiced Mr. Musgrave?" she asked.
"He has not hinted this; the young fellow is staunch, for all that, I
don't imagine you approve his sailing on board my ship. Do you approve?"
Olivia said nothing, and Wolf resumed: "If it will give you much
satisfaction, I'll discharge him after the next voyage."
For a few moments Olivia thought hard. She wanted Kit to leave
_Mossamedes_, but she did not know yet if she wanted him to stop about
Las Palmas altogether. Then she felt that Wolf was not the man to whom
she would like to owe a debt. The fellow was cunning.
"Oh no!" she said smiling, "it's really not important, and I wouldn't
like to feel accountable if he didn't get another post."
"Very well. If he wants to go, I'll use no arguments. If he wants to
stop, you won't try to persuade him he ought not?"
"I agree," said Olivia, and getting up, waited until Wolf went off.