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Stevenson, Robert Louis

"The Wrecker"

About
four of the afternoon we turned Waimanolo Point, the
westerly headland of the great bight of Honolulu;
showed ourselves for twenty minutes in full view, and
then fell again to leeward, and put in the rest of
daylight, plying under shortened sail under the lee of
Waimanolo.
A little after dark we beat once more about the point,
and crept cautiously toward the mouth of the Pearl
Lochs, where Jim and I had arranged I was to meet the
smugglers. The night was happily obscure, the water
smooth. We showed, according to instructions, no light
on deck; only a red lantern dropped from either cathead
to within a couple of feet of the water. A look-out
was stationed on the bowsprit end, another in the
cross-trees; and the whole ship's company crowded
forward, scouting for enemies or friends. It was now
the crucial moment of our enterprise; we were now
risking liberty and credit, and that for a sum so small
to a man in my bankrupt situation, that I could have
laughed aloud in bitterness. But the piece had been
arranged, and we must play it to the finish.


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