Harold Bindloss
The Secret of the Reef
Published by Good Press, 2021
EAN 4064066101015
Table of Contents
CHAPTER III—THE FURY OF THE SEA
CHAPTER VIII—PUZZLING QUESTIONS
CHAPTER IX—THE MINE AT SNOWY CREEK
CHAPTER X—THE WRECK OF THE KANAWHA
CHAPTER XII—READY FOR THE FRAY
CHAPTER XIV—FIGHTING FOR A LIFE
CHAPTER XVI—A GHOST OF THE PAST
CHAPTER XIX—A DANGEROUS SECRET
CHAPTER XXI—JIMMY’S EMBARRASSMENT
CHAPTER XXIII—THE FIRST ATTACK
CHAPTER XXIV—THE GIRL IN THE BOAT
CHAPTER XXVI—AN UNEXPECTED DELAY
CHAPTER XXX—THE LAST OF THE WRECK
CHAPTER XXXI—A GIFT FROM THE DEAD
CHAPTER XXXII—THE BARRIERS GO DOWN
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CHAPTER I—DISMISSED
The big liner’s smoke streamed straight astern, staining the soft blue of the sky, as, throbbing gently to her engines’ stroke, she clove her way through the smooth heave of the North Pacific. Foam blazed with phosphorescent flame beneath her lofty bows and, streaking with green and gold scintillations the long line of hull that gleamed ivory-white in the light of a half moon, boiled up again in fiery splendor in the wake of the twin screws. Mastheads and tall yellow funnels raked across the sky with a measured swing, the long deck slanted gently, its spotless whiteness darkened by the dew, and the draught the boat made struck faint harmonies like the tinkle of elfin harps from wire shroud and guy. Now they rose clearly; now they were lost in the roar of the parted swell.
A glow of electric light streamed out from the saloon-companion and the smoking-room; the skylights of the saloon were open, and when the notes of a piano drifted aft with a girl’s voice, Jimmy Farquhar, second mate, standing dressed in trim white uniform beneath a swung-up boat, smiled at the refrain of the old love song. He was in an unusually impressionable mood; and he felt that there was some danger of his losing his head as his eyes rested admiringly on his companion, for there was a seductive glamour in the blue and silver splendor of the night.
Ruth Osborne leaned on the steamer’s rail, looking forward, with the moonlight on her face. She was young and delicately pretty, with a slender figure, and the warm coloring that often indicates an enthusiastic temperament. In the daylight her hair had ruddy gleams in its warm brown, and her eyes a curious golden scintillation; but now it arched in a dusky mass above the pallid oval of her face, and her look was thoughtful.
She had fallen into the habit of meeting Jimmy when he was not on watch; and the mate felt flattered by her frank preference for his society, for he suspected that several of the passengers envied him, and that Miss Osborne was a lady of importance at home. It was understood that she was the only daughter of the American merchant who had taken the two best deck rooms, which perhaps accounted for the somewhat imperious way she had. Miss Osborne did what she liked, and made it seem right; and it was obvious that she liked to talk to Jimmy.
“It has been a delightful trip,” she said.
“Yes,” agreed Jimmy; “the finest I recollect. I wanted you to have a smooth-water voyage, and I am glad you enjoyed it.”
“That was nice of you,” she smiled. “I could hardly help enjoying it. She’s a comfortable boat, and everybody has been pleasant. I suppose we’ll see Vancouver Island late to-morrow?”
“It