Report books

Her dimensions surprised me. She was
painted dead white, with shining brass everywhere. At the stern hung
limply the British flag, while at the masthead the ensign of the Royal
Yacht Squadron. The yellow funnel emitted no smoke, and as she lay
calmly in the sunset a crowd of dock-loungers and crimps leaned upon the
parapet discussing her merits and wondering who could be the rich
Englishman who could afford to travel in a small liner of his own--for
her size surprised even those Italian dock-hands, used as they were to
seeing every kind of craft enter the busy port.
On stepping on deck Hornby, who like myself wore a clean suit of white
linen as the most sensible dinner-garb in a hot climate, came forward to
greet me, and took me along to the stern where, lying in a long wicker
deck-chair beneath the awning, was a tall, dark-eyed, clean-shaven man
of about forty, also dressed in cool white linen. His keen face gave one
the impression that he was a barrister.
"My friend, Hylton Chater--Mr.


Pages:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25