CHAPTER XXIII
"WE BE TWO POORE MARINERS"
THE wind had dropped suddenly, though the sea continued heavy, and the faint air that stirred was very soft and warm, with now and then a sweet, inland smell. The Ailouros still lay safely at anchor, but Joan pulled the skiff farther up the sand, for the tide was rising. She collected the supper-things and carried them back to the place where the treasure had been discovered. The sun hung low in the haze above the mainland, a great flat disk of copper.
"Like a big doubloon," Garth said, looking up at it from the fire he was laying. He balanced another chip on the crumpled paper, and Joan struck a match. The little flames licked up the paper in one burst, and a thin line of smoke wavered up against the yellow sky.
"It'll go, now," Garth said; "it's started among the wood. Don't put on such a big piece yet."
He built the wind-break higher, and the flames
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