ness venture.

By and by Adam came slowly along the bridge-deck. The three years had
marked a change in him and Kit thought he did not look well. Adam
suffered now and then from malarial ague, caught in the mangrove swamps.
He was thin, his yellow face was haggard, and his shoulders were bent.
Sitting down close by, he lighted a cigar and turned to Kit.

"We ought to raise the coast before it's dark and I reckon Mayne will
get his bearings," he remarked. "The lagoon's a blamed awkward place to
enter and I'd have waited until to-morrow only that Don Hernando is
expecting us."

"It will save us a day if we can get in, since you want to land the B. F.
cargo in the dark," Kit said thoughtfully. "We pay high wages and the
_Rio Negro_ is an expensive boat to run."

"That's so," Adam agreed with a smile. "You talk like a Cumberland
flock-master. Counting every cent you spend is a safe plan, but I don't
know that this trip will pan out much of a business proposition."

"Do you feel better for your sleep?" Kit asked.

"Some, though I've got a headache and a pain in my back. Guess they'll
shake off when I get to work."

"I was surprised when you said you meant to sail with us."

"So I imagined," Adam rejoined dryly. "You wondered why I didn't, as
usual, trust you to deliver the goods? Well, there's rather more to
this job than that, and I meant to put you wise before we landed. You
have heard me called a pirate, but I don't reckon on taking home much
plunder now."

Kit mused while Adam beckoned a mulatto steward, who brought him a glass
and some ice. His uncle's character was complex. Sometimes he was hard
and exacted all that was his; sometimes he was rashly generous.
Ostensibly, he was a merchant, shipping tools and machines, particularly
supplies for sugar mills, to the countries round the Caribbean, and
taking payment in native produce. Kit, however, knew the cases landed
from the _Rio Negro_ did not always hold the goods the labels stated, and
that Adam's money sometimes helped to float an unpopular government over
a crisis and sometimes to turn another out. It was a risky business,
carried on with people who had a talent for dark revolutionary intrigue.

"Since Don Hernando Alvarez is president of the republic, I don't quite
see why we need smuggle in his machine-guns," Kit remarked.

"On the surface, the reason isn't very obvious. Alvarez is president now,
but mayn't be very long. It depends on whether he or hi