Boyle was very angry. It was a situation which demanded earnest words,
and they were forthcoming. Elsie understood them to mean that she need
not be in such a purple hurry to disappear into the darkness without
the least explanation; thereupon she bade Suarez back the canoe a
little.
"I am sorry it is necessary to steal away in this fashion," she said,
and the coolness of her tone was highly exasperating to a man who could
no more detain her than he could move the Kansas unaided. "I have a
plan which requires only a bit of good fortune to render it
practicable. I have two assistants--Suarez, whose aid I am compelling,
and Joey, who is quite eager. There is no use in risking any more
lives. If I do not return you may be sure the worst has happened."
"But what is your plan?" roared Boyle. "It may be just sheer nonsense.
Tell me what it is, and I swear by the Nautical Almanac I shall not
prevent you from carrying it out if it has any reason behind it."
"I am going to collect all the Indian canoes," was the amazing answer.
"I know it can be done, from what Suarez has said. Once we have the
canoes in mid channel, we can set most of them adrift, and bring
Captain Courtenay and the others back to the ship in four or five which
we will tow to Guanaco Hill. And now, good-by again!"
"One moment, Miss Maxwell," broke in Gray's quiet voice from the upper
deck. "You can't engineer that scheme with a one-man crew, and he sick
and unwilling. I am going with you. You must take me aboard, wet or
dry."
"I am well armed, and shall admit of no interference," she cried.
"I promise to obey orders."
"If I wanted you, Mr. Gray, I should have sought your help."
"It is one thing or the other--a wriggle down a rope or a high diving
act."
"You have no right to impose such an alternative on me."
"I hate it myself, and I can't dive worth a cent. You will hear a
beastly flop when I strike the damp."
"Mr. Boyle--I call on you to hold him."
Boyle explained luridly that the American was doing a balancing act on
the rail eight feet above his head. Elsie, taking her eyes off Suarez
for an instant, discerned Gray's figure silhouetted against the sky.
She yielded.
"There is a rope ladder fastened to the lowest rail, near where the
canoe was moored," she said.
"Is there to be any catch-as-catch-can business, Boyle?" demanded Gray.
"No. All this is d--d unfair to me."
"You have my sympathy, friend, but you can't leave the ship. Now, Miss
Maxwell, come alongside. Boyle is going to be good. He doesn't mean
half he says, anyhow."