Vane of the Timberlands | Page 9

clung to the coaming, but he fancied that her misgivings were

vanishing, and he spoke again.
"How are Mrs. Marvin and the little girl? I see you have lighted the
stove."
The girl sat down, shivering, in the partial shelter of the coaming, and
at last a gleam of amusement, which he felt was partly compassionate,
shone in her eyes.
"I'm afraid they're--not well. That was why I kept the stove burning; I
wanted to make them some tea. There is some in the locker--I thought
you wouldn't mind."
"Everything's at your service, as I told you. You must make the best
breakfast you can. The nicest things are at the back of the locker."
She stood up, looking around again. The light was growing, and the
crests of the combers gleamed a livid white. Their steep breasts were
losing their grayness and changing to dusky blue and slatey green, but
their blurred coloring was atoned for by their grandeur of form. They
came on, ridge on ridge, in regularly ordered, tumbling phalanxes.
"It's glorious!" she exclaimed, to his astonishment. "Aren't you carrying
a good deal of sail?"
"We'll ease the peak down when we bring the wind farther aft. In the
meanwhile, you'd better get your breakfast, and if you come out again,
put on one of the coats you'll find below."
She disappeared, and Vane felt relieved. Though the explanation had
proved less difficult than he had anticipated, he was glad that it was
over, and the way in which she had changed the subject implied that
she was satisfied with it. Half an hour later, she appeared again,
carrying a loaded tray, and he wondered at the ease of her movements,
for the sloop was plunging viciously.
"I've brought you some breakfast. You have been up all night."

Vane laughed.
"As I can take only one hand from the helm, you will have to cut up the
bread and canned stuff for me. Draw out that box and sit down beneath
the coaming, if you mean to stay."
She did as he told her. The well was about four feet long, and the
bottom of it about half that distance below the level of the deck. As a
result of this, she sat close at his feet, while he balanced himself on the
coaming, gripping the tiller. He noticed that she had brought out an
oilskin jacket with her.
"Hadn't you better put this on first? There's a good deal of spray," she
said.
Vane struggled into the jacket with some difficulty, and she smiled as
she handed him up a slice of bread and canned meat.
"I suppose you can manage only one piece at a time," she laughed.
"Thank you. That's about as much as you could expect one to be
capable of, even allowing for the bushman's appetite. I'm a little
surprised to see you looking so fresh."
"Oh, I used to go out with the mackerel boats at home--we lived at the
ferry. It was a mile across the lough, and with the wind westerly the sea
worked in."
"The lough? I told Carroll that you were from the Green Isle."
It struck him that this was, perhaps, imprudent, as it implied that they
had been discussing her; but, on the other hand, he fancied that the
candor of the statement was in his favor.
"Have you been long out here?" he added.
The girl's face grew wistful.
"Four years. I came out with Larry--he's my brother. He was a forester

at home, and he took small contracts for clearing land. Then he
married--and I left him."
Vane made a sign of comprehension.
"I see. Where's Larry now?"
"He went to Oregon. There was no answer to my last letter; I've lost
sight of him."
"And you go about with Mrs. Marvin? Is her husband living?"
Sudden anger flared up in the girl's blue eyes, though he knew that it
was not directed against him.
"Yes! It's a pity he is! Men of his kind always seem to live!"
It occurred to Vane that Miss Blake, who evidently had a spice of
temper, could be a staunch partizan, and he also noticed that now that
he had inspired her with some degree of trust in himself her
conversation was marked by an ingenuous candor.
"Another piece, or some tea?" she asked.
"Tea first, please."
They both laughed when she handed him a second slice of bread.
"These sandwiches strike me as unusually nice," he informed her. "It's
exceptionally good tea, too. I don't remember ever getting anything to
equal them at a hotel."
The blue eyes gleamed with amusement.
"You have been in the cold all night--but I was once in a restaurant."
She watched the effect of this statement on him. "You know I really