as before, no sail, no ship on the horizon line, only a little schooner
slowly beating out of the Gate. Ah, well! It no doubt was there,--that
sail,--though she could not see it; how keen and far-seeing his
handsome, honest eyes were! She heaved a little sigh, and, calling Lucy
to her side, began to make her way homeward. But she kept her eyes on
the semaphore; it seemed to her the next thing to seeing him,--this man
she was beginning to love. She waited for the gaunt arms to move with
the signal of the vessel he had seen. But, strange to say, it was
motionless. He must have been mistaken.
All this, however, was driven from her mind in the excitement that she
found on her return thrilling her own family. They had been warned that
a police boat with detectives on board had been dispatched from San
Francisco to the cove. Luckily, they had managed to convey the fugitive
Franti on board a coastwise schooner,--Cara started as she remembered
the one she had seen beating out of the Gate,--and he was now safe from
pursuit. Cara felt relieved; at the same time she felt a strange joy
at her heart, which sent the conscious blood to her cheek. She was not
thinking of the escaped Marco, but of Jarman. Later, when the police
boat arrived,--whether the detectives had been forewarned of Marco's
escape or not,--they contented themselves with a formal search of the
little fishing-hut and departed. But their boat remained lying off the
shore.
That night Cara tossed sleeplessly on her bed; she was sorry she had
ever spoken of Marco to Jarman. It was unnecessary now; perhaps he
disbelieved her and thought she loved Marco; perhaps that was the reason
of his strange and abrupt leave-taking that afternoon. She longed for
the next day, she could tell him everything now.
Towards morning she slept fitfully, but was awakened by the sound of
voices on the sands outside the hut. Its flimsy structure, already
warped by the fierce day-long sun, allowed her through chinks and
crevices not only to recognize the voices of the detectives, but to hear
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