hed.

Waiting a while to make sure there would be no investigation as to
why the light went out, he crawled out over the coaming of the door
of his room. It was necessary that he keep low, for he was not sure
whether there was one of the crew on watch aft. To any one looking
through the cabin from the companionway Trask would be visible
against the lantern hanging from a forestay if he walked erect in
crossing the cabin.

Gaining the outer deck, he stood clear of the doorway and hugged
the forward bulkhead of the cabin trunk, taking care not to mask
the forward port-hole of the galley with his back. If Doc Bird had
heard him crawling out, he might be of an inquiring turn of mind,
in his present panicky condition, and explore with a knife through
the open port.

Trask had in the jacket pocket of his pajamas matches and
cigarettes, so that in case he were challenged he could assume a
careless manner by preparing to have a smoke, and at the same time
illuminate the face of any one he encountered.

He moved forward along the starboard bulwark, feeling his way with
his bare feet, taking great pains not to stumble over any obstacle.
He could make out the loom of the island over the starboard
quarter, a black spot focussed in the all-pervading blackness of
the night. Everything seemed to give promise of secrecy for him.
The rasp of the boom-jaws, the swishing of coiled ropes on the
pin-rails, and the chirping creak of the shrouds as the schooner
bobbed and rolled on the lulling swells, concealed the slight
sounds of his advance.

He stopped and looked aft every few steps, listening for noises in
the cabin. He could see the faint outline of the mizzen boom and
the upper edge of the cabin. His eyes, better adjusted now to the
gloom, saw a black shape over the cabin roof. It startled him for
a second, for he thought it might be Jarrow peering toward him,
until he knew it for a roll of canvas which had been left there to
spread as awning.

He went on, stopping when he felt the well of the deck rise as he
approached the forecastle. Presently he saw a tiny point of light
flare up and die away. Then he caught the spicy aroma of a native
cigarette in the soft air charged with the acrid smell of new hemp,
the resinous odour of the deck seams, the sweet reek of opium
smoked by forgotten crews and the earthy flavour of the jungles
close at hand.

The thought came to him that perhaps it was he who was exotic in
the schooner. I