It was good to see the flashing eyes and impassioned
gestures of the Chilean stewards when they found that she was singing
in their own language. These men, owing to their acquaintance with the
sea and knowledge of the coast, were now in a state of panic; they
would have burst the bonds of discipline on the least pretext. So, as
it chanced, the voice of the English senorita reached them as the
message of an angel, and the spell she cast over them did not lose its
potency during some hours of dangerous toil. Here, again, was found
one of the comparatively trivial incidents which contributed materially
to the working out of a strange drama, because anything in the nature
of a mutinous orgy breaking out in the first part of that
soul-destroying night must have instantly converted the ship into a
blood-bespattered Inferno.
Excited applause rewarded the song. Fired by example, the dapper
French Count approached the piano and asked Elsie if she could play
Beranger's "Roi d'Yvetot." She repressed a smile at his choice, but
the chance that presented itself of initiating a concert on the spur of
the moment was too good to be lost, so M.
Pages:
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60