The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wild Oranges, by Joseph Hergesheimer

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Title: Wild Oranges

Author: Joseph Hergesheimer

Release Date: November 13, 2009 [EBook #30466]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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WILD ORANGES

WILD ORANGES

BY

JOSEPH HERGESHEIMER

ILLUSTRATED WITH SCENES FROM

KING VIDOR'S PHOTOPLAY

A GOLDWYN PICTURE

GROSSET & DUNLAP

PUBLISHERS--NEW YORK

Made in the United States of America

COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, Inc.

Published, April, 1918, in a volume now out of print,
entitled "Gold and Iron," and then reprinted twice.

First published separately, March, 1922

TO GEORGE HORACE LORIMER

WILD ORANGES

I

The ketch drifted into the serene inclosure of the bay as silently as
the reflections moving over the mirrorlike surface of the water.
Beyond a low arm of land that hid the sea the western sky was a
single, clear yellow; farther on the left the pale, incalculably old
limbs of cypress, their roots bare, were hung with gathering shadows
as delicate as their own faint foliage. The stillness was emphasized
by the ceaseless murmur of the waves breaking on the far, seaward
bars.

John Woolfolk brought the ketch up where he intended to anchor and
called to the stooping white-clad figure in the bow: "Let go!" There
was an answering splash, a sudden rasp of hawser, the booms swung
idle, and the yacht imperceptibly settled into her berth. The wheel
turned impotently; and, absent-minded, John Woolfolk locked it. He
dropped his long form on a carpet-covered folding chair near by. He
was tired. His sailor, Poul Halvard, moved about with a noiseless and
swift efficiency; he rolled and cased the jib, and then, with a
handful of canvas stops, secured and covered the mainsail and
proceeded aft to the jigger. Unlike Woolfolk, Halvard was short--a
square figure with a smooth, deep-tanned countenance, colorless and
steady, pale blue eyes. His mouth closed so tightly that it appeared
immovable, as if it had be