Will you look? ... No? ... Then a cup of coffee perhaps?"
O'Reilly peeped through a dirt-stained cabin window and saw that
the volandra was slipping past the stern of the ironclad, so he
withdrew his head quickly.
In spite of his hospitable invitation, Captain Morin made no move
to come about, but instead held his schooner on its course,
meanwhile exchanging shouts with the unseen speaker. It seemed
incredible that Spanish discipline could be so lax, that the
schooner would be allowed to depart, even for a coastwise run,
without some formalities of clearance; but so it seemed. Evidently
the Spaniards had tired of examining these small craft. It was
typical of their carelessness.
Of course this was but one danger past and there were many more
ahead, for Morin's schooner was liable to be stopped by any of the
numerous patrol-boats on duty to the eastward. Nevertheless, when
an anxious hour had gone by and she was well out toward the harbor
mouth, the refugees told one another they were safe.
Morin shoved back the companionway hatch and thrust a grinning
face into view. "Ho, there! my lazy little cousins!" he cried.
"Wake up, for I smell Pancho's coffee boiling."
XXVIII
THREE TRAVELERS COME HOME
Esteban Varona made slow progress toward recovery. In the weeks
following O'Reilly's departure from Cubitas his gain was steady,
but beyond a certain point he seemed unable to go.
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