FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155  
156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   >>  
ad been looking at it. Neither of them spoke, but she knew what he suspected. She was making her preparations to leave the ship. He looked at her mockingly. Gradually, as though to prevent the captain from knowing what she was about, she brought everything she owned into the cabin, and some of the captain's clothes, and made them all into bundles. At last Bananas could keep silence no longer. He pointed to a suit of ducks. "What are you going to do with that?" he asked. She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm going back to my island." He gave a laugh that distorted his grim face. The captain was dying and she meant to get away with all she could lay hands on. "What'll you do if I say you can't take those things? They're the captain's." "They're no use to you," she said. There was a calabash hanging on the wall. It was the very calabash I had seen when I came into the cabin and which we had talked about. She took it down. It was all dusty, so she poured water into it from the water-bottle, and rinsed it with her fingers. "What are you doing with that?" "I can sell it for fifty dollars," she said. "If you want to take it you'll have to pay me." "What d'you want?" "You know what I want." She allowed a fleeting smile to play on her lips. She flashed a quick look at him and quickly turned away. He gave a gasp of desire. She raised her shoulders in a little shrug. With a savage bound he sprang upon her and seized her in his arms. Then she laughed. She put her arms, her soft, round arms, about his neck, and surrendered herself to him voluptuously. When the morning came she roused him out of a deep sleep. The early rays of the sun slanted into the cabin. He pressed her to his heart. Then he told her that the captain could not last more than a day or two, and the owner wouldn't so easily find another white man to command the ship. If Bananas offered to take less money he would get the job and the girl could stay with him. He looked at her with love-sick eyes. She nestled up against him. She kissed his lips, in the foreign way, in the way the captain had taught her to kiss. And she promised to stay. Bananas was drunk with happiness. It was now or never. She got up and went to the table to arrange her hair. There was no mirror and she looked into the calabash, seeking for her reflection. She tidied her beautiful hair. Then she beckoned to Bananas to come to her. She pointed to the calabash. "There
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155  
156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   >>  



Top keywords:
captain
 

calabash

 

Bananas

 
looked
 

shoulders

 

pointed

 

savage

 

sprang

 

pressed

 

laughed


seized

 
morning
 

surrendered

 
voluptuously
 
roused
 

raised

 

slanted

 

happiness

 

promised

 

kissed


foreign

 

taught

 

tidied

 

beautiful

 

beckoned

 
reflection
 

seeking

 

arrange

 

mirror

 

nestled


easily

 

wouldn

 
command
 

offered

 

desire

 

silence

 

longer

 

clothes

 

bundles

 

shrugged


distorted
 
island
 

suspected

 

making

 

Neither

 
preparations
 

knowing

 
brought
 
prevent
 

mockingly