of Tortuga again.
The boy went on down the dirty lane. Once away from the row of water-front grog shops and merchants’ warehouses there were divers small white coral block houses, each within a scrap of yard. In one of these Captain Cheap was pleased to establish himself when his Naughty Lass was in port. For Cheap considered himself a man of birth and fashion and protested that the noisome odors of ship and harbor were not to his liking. Not that the perfume of the town was any more fragrant, thought Scarface, as he pushed past a slave woman, a haunch of still dripping meat balanced on the wooden tray on her head.
He had not eaten since midmorning, but he lost all hunger as he watched the cloud of green flies followingthe cook along the narrow alley. Then she turned in through a gate and was gone and Scarface padded on alone.
Scarlet poinsettias were bloody hands spiked in the hedge of gray branches which guarded Captain Cheap's retreat.There were two stunted and crooked orange trees in the front yard, one of which bore green and sourish fruit. The other was dead.
Scarface went on around the house to the gate which opened into the patio. Liza should be there hunched over her sooty pots. And there she was, right enough, her draggled shawl over her head and the fleck of red which betokened ill temper in her eyes.
As to who Liza was or from whence she had come Cheap mayhap had a clue. But to the rest of Tortuga she was but an ill-tempered virago with no pretense to looks and no interest beyond her pans and the rum bottle. Her tangle of unwashed hair still showed yellow in the sun, and when she aroused to answer at all it was with the tongue of a Thames-side fishwife. Whatever Liza might have been in her youth, she had not been born under the Southern Cross.
At the sight of Scarface she glowered sullenly.
“Th’ marster ’as bin a-arskin’ fur ye,” she grunted.
“Well, here I am.”
“’E'll tan yer ‘ide fur ye!”
“Mayhap. Let me carry that.” He took from her the heavy pail she was lifting.
“Purty gen'lem'n, ain't ye?” she jeered as he set down his burden within the kitchen. “Foine manners, jest loike that liddy wot wos yer mither!”
“What?” Scarface demanded. “What did you say?”
“Nobut!” she countered. “Git out o’ my sight, ye long-legged loon!” With a scream of rage she reached for a greasy platter on the table.
With the ease of long practice Scarface dodged and the plate shattered to fragments against the wall. Liza's screams grew wilder as he backed hurriedly out of the door. There was no use in trying to bring her to reasonable speech now. But it was plain that Pym had been right—she did know something of the past.
Treasuring that thought, the boy turned to the front of the house where Cheap awaited him.
Chapter Two
----
âI SAYâBARBADOS!â
----
JONATHAN CHEAP lounged in his great chair, his well-booted feet cocked up on a bench before him. Nature had been kind to Captain Cheap. She had bestowed upon him a strong and goodly body and a pallidly handsome face. Also of wit he had a rich store and possessed a steady deadly courage. But there her benefactions had ended, for he had no heart, and charity he considered a weakness of the basest sort. And yet more than half of Tortuga hailed Jonathan Cheap as a proper sort of gentleman and he never lacked for a crew.
As Scarface came in the worthy Captain was smoothing his new flowered waistcoat and considering critically the polish on his boots. For coolness he had put off his heavy black periwig, displaying in this, the privacy of his home, his closely cropped, graying hair. He was a vain man but not a foolish one. What he had of the world's comforts he had taken at sword point. If his hands were not clean of bloodâwell, they were still shapely and well cared for. And now he was approaching the summit of all his years-old ambitions, so satisfaction was imprinted in his slightly pouting lips, his
The boy went on down the dirty lane. Once away from the row of water-front grog shops and merchants’ warehouses there were divers small white coral block houses, each within a scrap of yard. In one of these Captain Cheap was pleased to establish himself when his Naughty Lass was in port. For Cheap considered himself a man of birth and fashion and protested that the noisome odors of ship and harbor were not to his liking. Not that the perfume of the town was any more fragrant, thought Scarface, as he pushed past a slave woman, a haunch of still dripping meat balanced on the wooden tray on her head.
He had not eaten since midmorning, but he lost all hunger as he watched the cloud of green flies followingthe cook along the narrow alley. Then she turned in through a gate and was gone and Scarface padded on alone.
Scarlet poinsettias were bloody hands spiked in the hedge of gray branches which guarded Captain Cheap's retreat.There were two stunted and crooked orange trees in the front yard, one of which bore green and sourish fruit. The other was dead.
Scarface went on around the house to the gate which opened into the patio. Liza should be there hunched over her sooty pots. And there she was, right enough, her draggled shawl over her head and the fleck of red which betokened ill temper in her eyes.
As to who Liza was or from whence she had come Cheap mayhap had a clue. But to the rest of Tortuga she was but an ill-tempered virago with no pretense to looks and no interest beyond her pans and the rum bottle. Her tangle of unwashed hair still showed yellow in the sun, and when she aroused to answer at all it was with the tongue of a Thames-side fishwife. Whatever Liza might have been in her youth, she had not been born under the Southern Cross.
At the sight of Scarface she glowered sullenly.
“Th’ marster ’as bin a-arskin’ fur ye,” she grunted.
“Well, here I am.”
“’E'll tan yer ‘ide fur ye!”
“Mayhap. Let me carry that.” He took from her the heavy pail she was lifting.
“Purty gen'lem'n, ain't ye?” she jeered as he set down his burden within the kitchen. “Foine manners, jest loike that liddy wot wos yer mither!”
“What?” Scarface demanded. “What did you say?”
“Nobut!” she countered. “Git out o’ my sight, ye long-legged loon!” With a scream of rage she reached for a greasy platter on the table.
With the ease of long practice Scarface dodged and the plate shattered to fragments against the wall. Liza's screams grew wilder as he backed hurriedly out of the door. There was no use in trying to bring her to reasonable speech now. But it was plain that Pym had been right—she did know something of the past.
Treasuring that thought, the boy turned to the front of the house where Cheap awaited him.
Chapter Two
----
âI SAYâBARBADOS!â
----
JONATHAN CHEAP lounged in his great chair, his well-booted feet cocked up on a bench before him. Nature had been kind to Captain Cheap. She had bestowed upon him a strong and goodly body and a pallidly handsome face. Also of wit he had a rich store and possessed a steady deadly courage. But there her benefactions had ended, for he had no heart, and charity he considered a weakness of the basest sort. And yet more than half of Tortuga hailed Jonathan Cheap as a proper sort of gentleman and he never lacked for a crew.
As Scarface came in the worthy Captain was smoothing his new flowered waistcoat and considering critically the polish on his boots. For coolness he had put off his heavy black periwig, displaying in this, the privacy of his home, his closely cropped, graying hair. He was a vain man but not a foolish one. What he had of the world's comforts he had taken at sword point. If his hands were not clean of bloodâwell, they were still shapely and well cared for. And now he was approaching the summit of all his years-old ambitions, so satisfaction was imprinted in his slightly pouting lips, his
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