plea of his new-found woman,
could have held them back.

Once the schooner was under way, the Haytian led the girl to the
deck-house and thrust her roughly inside, closing the hatch. Then with
his own hands he took his craft through the reef and out into the
leaping Caribbean. Not until the San Blas coast was a mere charcoal line
upon the port quarter and the salt spray was driving high did he deliver
over the helm. At last, however, he gave his crew instructions for the
night and went below, closing and bolting the hatch behind him. When the
smoky lamp that swung between the bunks was lit and its yellow gleam had
illumined the interior he saw the girl's eyes fast upon him. He went
toward her across the tilting floor and she arose to meet him, smiling.

II

Senor Bill Williams was in a fine rage. "Didn't you like your job?" he
questioned.

Inocencio shrugged languidly. "Oh yes! The job was good."

"You knew I'd fire you!"

"_Si!_"

The American tempered his indignant glare with a hint of curiosity. "You
must love that San Blas girl."

"What do you say?"

"You must love her--better than your job at least?"

"_Si_, senor. I suppose so."

"What is she like, Inocencio?"

"Well, she is just like other women. All women are alike--only some are
fat. One time I had a female from Martinique, and she acted just the
same as this one."

"Humph! If she is like all the others, what the devil made you--do it?"

"Senor, you have plenty of money, and yet one night I saw you bet two
thousand pesos on the _rouge_. Why did you do that, eh?"

"That is altogether different."

The Haytian smiled. "I am tired of these females at Colon. They are
common people--very common. Then, too, those San Blas people, they are
so scared that somebody is going to steal a woman! Maybe if they had
left me asleep on shore I would never have noticed no woman at all. But
they don't trust me, so, sure enough--I steal one."

"And you say she came willingly?" queried Williams, incredulously.

"Oh yes! When her people commanded her to jump from my schooner she
refused them. I did not understand at the time, but by an' by she told
me." He swelled his chest with pride. "I guess she never seen so brave a
man as me before. Eh, senor?"

"Humph! I guess I never will _sabe_ you niggers," acknowledged the
American.

Inocencio corrected his recent employer, but without show of the
slightest heat:

"I am no nigger, senor; I am Haytian. She