Читать книгу The Ark of 1803. A Story of Louisiana Purchase Times онлайн

21 страница из 46

To set out on such a voyage with a single man or boy who could not be trusted, might mean the loss of the boat or even of every life on board of her. Marion Royce looked ahead of him, suddenly throwing back his shoulders and breathing deeply.

“It’s got to come, and it had better be over with at once,” he said aloud. “Oh, Uncle Amasa! Ho, Uncle Amasa! Hold on and let me catch up with you!”

The old man could be seen through the thinning trees that covered the slope leading down to the creek’s mouth. He stopped and waited for the captain to come up to him.

“We’ll get them twenty barrels down from the still this afternoon, son,” he began, as Marion joined him. “It’s time to get your cargo collected, and them casks will do just as well down here at the shed where there’s room for ’em. We’re pretty crowded with them up to the still.”

“It isn’t the cargo I’m worrying so much about,” said the captain slowly. “It’s the supercargo.”

The old man looked at him shrewdly. He understood as well as if Marion had told him in so many words that he did not want to take Jimmy.