The Port of AdventureWilliamson, C. N. (Charles Norris)
General
The Port of Adventure
Williamson, C. N. (Charles Norris)
Man-woman relationships -- Fiction
"Can't see nothing," said he, increasing in codfishiness. "She'll be all
right in a minute. Give her time to breathe!"
Angela gave her time to breathe, but the minute passed, and other minutes
limped after. Sealman sweated and grunted under the open lid of the bright
bonnet. Angela was sorry for him. But she was more sorry for herself, as
she counted the nearest rows of orange-trees for the twenty-fifth time,
following them with her eyes, as they ran up the ankles and legs of the
little yellow mountains. It was luncheon-time, and she was hungry. She had
been reading about the Mission Inn at Riverside, and picturing herself
there, in a cool, large dining-room.
"How far are we from a railway station?" she asked desperately, when her
watch said that they had sat by the Santa Ana's bedside for thirty-five
minutes.
"Can't tell you that, ma'am," snapped Sealman. "But it's too far to walk,
unless you've got seven-league boots."
"What's the matter? Haven't you found out _yet?_"
"Thought it might be the pump. But it doesn't seem to be. I give it up!"
And he wiped his forehead with a handkerchief that left green streaks of
oil.
"But you mustn't give it up. We can't stop here all day."
Sealman grinned viciously. Perhaps he, too, hungered. Certainly he was
hot, and felt like a Socialist. What was this young woman that she should
sit there comfortably and nag him while he was down in the dust? "I don't
see any reason against our stayin' all day," said he. "And I guess the
machine don't."
"Hateful little beast!" exclaimed Angela.
"Who, me or the Model?" Sealman wanted to know.
"I meant the--_alleged_--Model. She's a fraud--a horror. If only I
get--somewhere--I don't care where--I'll never come out with you again,
never, never!"
"You're engaged to me till the end of the month," said Sealman as firmly
as if he alluded to a promise of marriage. "I've refused two other
gentlemen. If you don't use the machine, you'll pay, anyhow."
Angela would have given much if she had brought Kate. To be alone with
these two monsters in an uninhabited world under a blazing sun,
passionately hungry and futilely angry, was a dull adventure.
"You know perfectly well I engaged you only for three or four days," she
said. "That settles it! You shall not cheat me. And since you don't seem
to know what's to become of you or your car for the rest of the day, I
shall decide on my own movements. I'm going to walk."
She sprang out; and Nick, awaiting developments at a safe distance of a
hundred yards in the background, saw a slim gray figure separate itself
from the motionless Model.
"Now's my time, I reckon," he said to himself, and started the car, which
could be done from the chauffeur's seat. He drove at low speed, as if he
were out to enjoy the scenery, and slowed down gently beside Angela, who
was walking in the direction of Riverside. At that rate she might have
reached the nearest railway station in an hour and a half.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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