E-text prepared by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
Author of Partners of the Out Trail, The Lure of the North, The Wilderness Mine, etc.
Copyright, 1921, by Frederick A. Stokes Company
Published in England Under the Title "Musgrave's Luck"
CHAPTER PAGE I.--KIT'S PLUNGE 3 II.--OTHER RULES 12 III.--A MOUNTAIN EXCURSION 20 IV.--KIT'S OBSTINACY 28 V.--MRS. AUSTIN'S VERANDA 35 VI.--THE INJURED PASSENGER 44 VII.--THE BULLET 52 VIII.--A SWIMMING MATCH 60 IX.--KIT GIVES HIS CONFIDENCE 69 X.--MRS. AUSTIN MAKES SOME PLANS 79 XI.--THE PLANS WORK 88
I.--OLIVIA'S EXPERIMENT 99 II.--THE FIRST VOYAGE 108 III.--KIT'S SURPRISE 116 IV.--WOLF GIVES A FEAST 124 V.--WOLF'S OFFER 133 VI.--BETTY CARRIES A MESSAGE 140 VII.--SHIPPING CAMELS 148 VIII.--AN IDLE AFTERNOON 156 IX.--THE THIRD VOYAGE 165 X.--SMOKE ON THE HORIZON 173 XI.--MIGUEL TAKES CONTROL 181 XII.--THE RETREAT TO THE BOAT 189
I.--ILLUMINATION 199 II.--"CAYMAN'S" START 208 III.--THE WADY 215 IV.--KIT NEGOTIATES 222 V.--THE RETURN TO THE BEACH 229 VI.--BETTY DEMANDS HELP 236 VII.--THE "LUCIA" ARRIVES 244 VIII.--"CAYMAN'S" RETURN 253 IX.--KIT'S REWARD 261 X.--OLIVIA'S REFUSAL 270 XI.--DAYBREAK 277
The morning was hot, and Kit Musgrave, leaning on the African liner's rail, watched the volcanic rocks of Grand Canary grow out of the silver haze. He was conscious of some disappointment, because on the voyage to Las Palmas he had pictured a romantic white city shining against green palms. Its inhabitants were grave Spaniards, who secluded their wives and daughters in old Moorish houses with shady patios where fountains splashed. Now he saw he had got the picture wrong.
Las Palmas was white, but not at all romantic. A sandy isthmus, swept by rolling clouds of dust, connected the town and the frankly ugly port. The houses round the harbor looked like small brown blocks. Behind them rose the Isleta cinder hill; in front, coal-wharfs and limekilns, hidden now and then by dust, occupied the beach. Moreover, the Spaniards on board the boats about the ship were excited, gesticulating ruffians. Bombay peddlers, short, dark-skinned Portuguese, and Canario dealers in wine, tobacco, and singing birds, pushed up the gangway. All disputed noisily in their eagerness to show their goods to the passengers.