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diff --git a/24793.txt b/24793.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..04462b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/24793.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18098 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blow The Man Down, by Holman Day + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Blow The Man Down + A Romance Of The Coast - 1916 + +Author: Holman Day + +Release Date: March 9, 2008 [EBook #24793] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLOW THE MAN DOWN *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +BLOW THE MAN DOWN + +A ROMANCE OF THE COAST + +By Holman Day + +Copyright, 1916, by Harper & Brothers + + +TO MY GOOD FRIEND + +Captain John W. Christie + + BRITISH MASTER MARINER + WHO HAS SUNG ALL THE SHANTIES + AND HAS SAILED ALL THE SEAS + + + "_O, blow the man down, bullies, blow the man down! + Way-ay, blow the man down. + O, blow the man down in Liverpool town! + Give me some time to blow the man down." + --Old Shanty of the Atlantic Packet Ships._ + + +CONTENTS: + +I ~ CAPTAIN BOYD MAYO GETS OUT OF SOUNDINGS + +II ~ THEN CAPTAIN MAYO SEES SHOALS + +III ~ THE TAVERN OF THE SEAS + +IV ~ OVER THE "POLLY'S" RAIL + +V ~ ON THE BRIDGE OF YACHT "OLENIA" + +VI ~ AND WE SAILED + +VII ~ INTO THE MESS FROM EASTWARD + +VIII ~ LIKE BUGS UNDER A THIMBLE + +IX ~ A MAN'S JOB + +X ~ HOSPITALITY, PER JULIUS MARSTON + +XI ~ A VOICE FROM HUE AND CRY + +XII ~ NO PLACE POR THE SOLES OP THEIR FEET + +XIII ~ A CAPTAIN OP HUMAN FLOTSAM + +XIV ~ BEARINGS FOR A NEW COURSE + +XV ~ THE RULES OF THE ROAD + +XVI ~ MILLIONS AND A MITE + +XVII ~ "EXACTLY!" SAID MR. FOGG + +XVIII ~ HOW AN ANNUAL MEETING WAS HELD--ONCE! + +XIX ~ THE PRIZE PACKAGE FROM MR. FOGG + +XX ~ TESTING OUT A MAN + +XXI ~ BITTER PROOF BY MORNING LIGHT + +XXII ~ SPECIAL BUSINESS OF A PASSENGER + +XXIII ~ THE MONSTER THAT SLIPPED ITS LEASH + +XXIV ~ DOWN A GALLOPING SEA + +XXV ~ A GIRL AND HER DEBT OF HONOR + +XXVI ~ THE FANGS OF OLD RAZEE + +XXVII ~ THE TEMPEST TURNS ITS CARD + +XXVIII ~ GIRL'S HELP AND MAN'S WORK + +XXIX ~ THE TOILERS OF OLD RAZEE + +XXX ~ THE MATTER OP A MONOGRAM IN WAX + +XXXI ~ THE BIG FELLOW HIMSELF + +XXXII ~ A GIRL'S DEAR "BECAUSE!" + + + + +BLOW THE MAN DOWN + + + + +I ~ CAPTAIN BOYD MAYO GETS OUT OF SOUNDINGS + + When in safety or in doubt, + Always keep a safe lookout; + Strive to keep a level head, + Mind your lights and mind your lead. + --Pilot-house Ditty. + +For days he had been afraid of that incredible madness of his as a man +fears a nameless monster. But he was sure of his strength even while +admitting his weakness. He was confident that he had the thing securely +in leash. + +Then all at once it happened! + +Without preface of word or look he whirled and faced her, swept her +into his arms and kissed her. He did not attempt to absolve himself +or mitigate his offense by telling her that he loved her. He was +voiceless--he could not control his speech. He did not dare to show such +presumption as talk of love must seem to be to her. He knew he must not +speak of love; such proffer to her would be lunacy. But this greater +presumption, this blind capture of her in his arms--this was something +which he had not intended any more than a sane man considers flight to +the moon. + +He did not understand; he had been himself--then, instantly, in time +measured by a finger-snap, he had become this wretch who seemed to be +somebody else. + +He had ceased, for an insane moment, to be master of all his senses. But +he released her as suddenly as he had seized her, and staggered to the +door of the chart-room, turning his back on her and groaning in supreme +misery. + +In that moment of delirium he had insulted his own New England sense of +decency and honor. + +He was afraid to look back at her. With an agony of apprehension +he dreaded the sound of her voice. He knew well enough that she was +striving to get command of herself, to recover from her utter amazement. +He waited. The outrage must have incensed her beyond measure; the +silence was prolonged. + +In the yacht's saloon below a violin sang its very soul out upon the +summer night, weaving its plaint into the soft, adagio rippling of a +piano's chords. + +He searched his soul. The music, that distant, mellow phrasing of the +call of love, the music had unstrung him. While he paced the bridge +before her coming that music had been melting the ice of his natural +reserve. But he did not pardon himself because he had acted the fool. + +He stared at the night framed in the door of the chart-house. Little +waves were racing toward him, straight from the moon, on the sea-line, +like a flood of new silver pouring from the open door of plenty! + +But the appealing beauty of that night could not excuse the +unconscionable insult he had just offered her. He knew it, and shivered. + +She had come and leaned close to him over the outspread chart, her +breath on his cheek--so close to him that a roving tress of her hair +flicked him. But because a sudden fire had leaped from the touch to his +brain was no reason for the act by which he had just damned himself as a +presumptuous brute. + +For he, Boyd Mayo, captain of her father's yacht, a hireling, had just +paid the same insulting courtship to Alma Marston that a sailor would +proffer to an ogling girl on the street. + +"I'll jump overboard," he stammered at last. "I'll take myself out of +your sight forever." + +The ominous silence persisted. + +"I don't ask you to forgive me. It is not a thing which can be forgiven. +Tell them I was insane--and jumped overboard. That will be the truth. I +am a lunatic." + +He lurched through the door. In that desperate moment, in the whirl +of his emotions, there seemed to be no other way out of his horrible +predicament. He had grown to love the girl with all the consuming +passion of his soul, realizing fully his blind folly at the same time. +He had built no false hopes. As to speaking of that love--even betraying +it by a glance--he had sheathed himself in the armor of reserved +constraint; he had been sure that he sooner would have gone down on his +hands and knees and bayed that silver moon from the deck of the yacht +_Olenia_ than do what he had just done. + +"Captain Mayo! Wait!" + +He waited without turning to look at her. Her voice was not steady, but +he could not determine from the tone what her emotions were. + +"Come back here!" + +She was obliged to repeat the command with sharper authority before he +obeyed. He lowered his eyes and stood before her, a voiceless suppliant. + +"Why did you do that?" she asked. It was not the contemptuous demand +which he had been fearing. Her voice was so low that it was almost a +whisper. + +"I don't know," he confessed. + +The violin sang on; the moon shone in at the door; two strokes, like +golden globules of sound, from the ship's bell signaled nine o'clock. +Only the rhythm of the engines, as soothing as a cat's purring, and the +slow roll of the yacht and the murmuring of the parted waves revealed +that the _Olenia_ was on her way through the night. + +"I don't know," he repeated. "It doesn't excuse me to say that I could +not help it." + +And he understood women so little that he did not realize that he was +making the ages-old plea which has softened feminine rancor ever since +the Sabine women were borne away in their captors' arms and forgave +their captors. + +She stared at him, making once more a maiden's swift appraisal of this +young man who had offered himself so humbly as a sacrifice. His brown +hands were crossed in front of him and clutched convulsively his white +cap. The cap and the linen above the collar of his uniform coat brought +out to the full the hue of his manly tan. The red flush of his shocked +contrition touched his cheeks, and, all in all, whatever the daughter of +Julius Marston, Wall Street priest of high finance, may have thought of +his effrontery, the melting look she gave him from under lowered eyelids +indicated her appreciation of his outward excellencies. + +"I suppose you are thoroughly and properly ashamed of what you have +done!" + +"I am ashamed--so ashamed that I shall never dare to raise my eyes to +you again. I will do what I promised. I will jump overboard." + +"Captain Mayo, look at me!" + +When he obeyed, with the demeanor of a whipped hound, his perturbation +would not allow him to show as much appreciation of her as she had +displayed in the secret study of him, which she now promptly concealed. +He surveyed her wistfully, with fear. And a maiden, after she has +understood that she has obtained mastery over brawn and soul, does not +care to be looked at as if she were Medusa. + +She stole a side-glance at her face in one of the mirrors, and then +tucked into place a vagrant lock of hair with a shapely finger, thereby +suggesting, had there been a cynical observer present, that Miss Alma +Marston never allowed any situation, no matter how crucial, to take her +attention wholly from herself. + +There was no mistaking it--had that cynical observer been there, +he would have noted that she pouted slightly when Mayo declared his +unutterable shame. + +"You will never get over that shame, will you?" + +And Captain Mayo, feverishly anxious to show that he understood the +enormity of his offense, and desiring to offer pledge for the future, +declared that his shame would never lessen. + +Her dark eyes sparkled; whether there was mischief mingled with +resentment, or whether the resentment quite supplanted all other +emotions, might have been a difficult problem for the cynic. But when +she tilted her chin and stared the offender full in the eyes, propping +her plump little hands in the side-pockets of her white reefer, +Captain Mayo, like a man hit by a cudgel, was struck with the sudden +and bewildering knowledge that he did not know much about women, for +she asked, with a quizzical drawl, "Just what is there about me, dear +captain, to inspire that everlasting regret which seems to be troubling +you so much?" + +Even then he did not grasp the full import of her provocative question. +"It isn't you. I'm the one who is wholly to blame," he stammered. "I +have dared to--But no matter. I know my place. I'll show you I know it." + +"You _dared_ to--What have you dared to do--besides what you just did?" + +"I cannot tell you, Miss Marston. I don't propose to insult you again." + +"I command you to tell me, Captain Mayo." + +He could not comprehend her mood in the least and his demeanor showed +it. Her command had a funny little ripple in it--as of laughter +suppressed. There were queer quirks at the corners of her full, red +lips. + +"Now straighten up like your real self! I don't like to see you standing +that way. You know I like to have all the folks on the yachts look at +our captain when we go into a harbor! You didn't know it? Well, I do. +Now what have you dared to do?" + +He did straighten then. "I have dared to fall in love with you, Miss +Marston. So have a lot of other fools, I suppose. But I am the worst of +all. I am only a sailor. How I lost control of myself I don't know!" + +"Not even now?" Still that unexplainable softness in her voice, that +strange expression on her face. Being a sailor, he looked on this calm +as being ominous presage of a storm. + +"I am willing to have you report me to your father, Miss Marston. I will +take my punishment. I will never offend you again." + +"You can control yourself after this, can you?" + +"Yes, Miss Marston, absolutely." + +She hesitated; she smiled. She lowered her eyelids again and surveyed +him with the satisfied tolerance a pretty woman can so easily extend +when unconquerable ardor has prompted to rashness. + +"Oh, you funny, prim Yankee!" she murmured. "You don't understand even +now just why you did it!" + +His face revealed that he did not in the least understand. + +"Come here," she invited. + +He went three steps across the narrow cabin and stood in an attitude of +respectful obedience before her. + +"What now, sir?" It was query even more provocative--a smile went with +it. + +"I apologize. I have learned my lesson." + +"You need to learn a lot--you are very ignorant," she replied, with +considerable tartness. + +"Yes," he agreed, humbly. + +What happened then was so wholly outside his reckoning that the +preceding events of the evening retired tamely into the background. It +had been conceivable that rush of passion might drive him to break all +the rules of conduct his New England conscience had set over him; but +what Alma Marston did overwhelmed him with such stupefaction that he +stood there as rigid and motionless as a belaying-pin in a rack. She put +up her arms, pressed her two hands on his shoulders, stood on tiptoe, +and kissed him on his lips. + +"There, foolish old Yankee," she said, softly, her mouth close to his; +"since you are so ashamed I give you back your kiss--and all is made +right between us, because we are just where we started a little while +ago." + +His amazement had so benumbed him that even after that surrender he +stood there, close to her, his countenance blank, his arms dangling at +his side. + +"What on earth is the matter with you?" she asked, petulantly. + +"I don't know! I--I--I don't seem to understand." + +"I'm going to be honest with you. You are so honest you will understand +me, then," she told him. It seemed to him that he must be mistaken, but +he certainly felt her arms were slipping up his shoulders and had met +behind his neck. "I saw it in your eyes long ago. A woman always knows. +I wanted you to do what you did to-night. I knew I would be obliged to +tempt you. I came up here while the moon and the music would help me. I +did it all on purpose--I stood close to you--for I knew you were just +my slow old Yankee who would never come out of his shell till I poked. +There! I have confessed!" + +His mad joy did not allow him to see anything of the coquette in that +confession. It all seemed to be consecrated by the love he felt for +her--a love which was so honest that he perceived no boldness in the +attitude of this girl who had come so far to meet him. He took her into +his arms again, and she returned his kisses. + +"Tell me again, Boyd, that you love me," she coaxed. + +"And yet I have no right to love you. You are--" + +"Hush! Hush! There goes your Yankee caution talking! I want love, for +I am a girl. Love hasn't anything to do with what you are or what I am. +Not now! We will love each other--and wait! You are my big boy! Aren't +you?" + +He was glad to comply with her plea to put sensible talk from them just +then. There was nothing sensible he could say. He was holding Julius +Marston's daughter in his arms, and she was telling him that she loved +him. The world was suddenly upside down and he was surrendering himself +to the mad present. + +In the yacht's saloon below a woman began to sing: + + "Love comes like a summer sigh, + Softly o'er us stealing. + Love comes and we wonder why + To its shrine we're kneeling. + Love comes as the days go by--" + +"That's it," the girl murmured, eagerly. "We don't know anything at all +about why we love. Folks who marry for money make believe love--I have +watched them--I know. I love you. You're my big boy. That's all. That's +enough." + +He accepted this comforting doctrine unquestioningly. Her serene +acceptance of the situation, without one wrinkle in her placid brow +to indicate that any future problems annoyed her, did not arouse his +wonderment or cause him to question the depths of her emotions; it only +added one more element to the unreality of the entire affair. + +Moon and music, silver sea and glorious night, and a maid who had been, +in his secret thoughts, his dream of the unattainable! + +"Will you wait for me--wait till I can make something of myself?" he +demanded. + +"You are yourself--right now--that's enough!" + +"But the future. I must--" + +"Love me--love me now--that's all we need to ask. The future will take +care of itself when the time comes! Haven't you read about the great +loves? How they just forgot the whole petty world? What has love to do +with business and money and bargains? Love in its place--business in its +place! And our love will be our secret until--" + +He pardoned her indefiniteness, for when she paused and hesitated she +pressed her lips to his, and that assurance was enough for him. + +"Yes--oh yes--Miss Alma!" called a man's voice in the singsong of eager +summons. + +"It's Arthur," she said, with snap of impatience in her voice. "Why +won't people let me alone?" + +He released her, and she stood at arm's-length, her hands against +his breast. "I have thought--It seemed to me," he stammered, "that +he--Forgive me, but I have loved you so! I couldn't bear to think--think +that he--" + +"You thought I cared for him!" she chided. "That's only the man my +father has picked out for me! Why, I wouldn't even allow my father to +select a yachting-cap for me, much less a husband. I'll tell him so when +the time comes!" + +Mayo's brows wrinkled in spite of himself. The morrow seemed to play +small part in the calculations of this maid. + +"Money--that's all there is to Arthur Beveridge. My father has enough +money for all of us. And if he is stingy with us--oh, it's easy enough +to earn money, isn't it? All men can earn money." + +Captain Mayo, sailor, was not sure of his course in financial waters and +did not reply. + +"Miss Alma! I say! Oh, where are you?" + +"Even that silly, little, dried-up man," she jeered, with a duck of her +head in the direction of the drawling voice, "goes down to Wall Street +and makes thousands and thousands of dollars whenever he feels like it. +And you could put him in your reefer pocket. They will all be afraid of +you when you go down to Wall Street to make lots of money for us two. +You shall see! Kiss me! Kiss me once! Kiss me quick! Here he comes!" + +He obeyed, released her, and when Beveridge shoved his wizened face in +at the door they were bending over the chart. + +"Oh, I say, we have missed you. They are asking for you." + +She did not turn to look at him. "I have something else on my mind, +Arthur, besides lolling below listening to Wally Dalton fiddle +love-tunes. And this passage, here, Captain Mayo! What is it?" Her +finger strayed idly across a few hundred miles of mapped Atlantic Ocean. + +"It's Honeymoon Channel," replied the navigator, demurely. His new +ecstasy made him bold enough to jest. + +"Oh, so we are learning to be a captain, Miss Alma?" inquired Beveridge +with a wry smile. + +"It would be better if more yacht-owners knew how to manage their own +craft," she informed him, with spirit. + +"Yes, it might keep the understrappers in line," agreed the man at +the door.. "I apply for the position of first mate after you qualify, +Captain Alma." + +"And this, you say, is, Captain Mayo?" she queried, without troubling +herself to reply. Her tone was crisply matter of fact. + +Beveridge blinked at her and showed the disconcerted uneasiness of a man +who has intruded in business hours. + +Captain Mayo, watching the white finger rapturously, noted that it was +sweeping from the Arctic Circle to the Tropic Zone. "That's Love Harbor, +reached through the thoroughfare of Hope," he answered, respectfully. + +"Oh, I say!" exclaimed Beveridge; "the sailors who laid out that course +must have been romantic." + +"Sailors have souls to correspond with their horizon, Arthur. Would you +prefer such names as Cash Cove and Money-grub Channel?" + +Mr. Beveridge cocked an eyebrow and stared at her eloquent back; also, +he cast a glance of no great favor on the stalwart young captain of the +_Olenia_. It certainly did not occur to Mr. Beveridge that two young +folks in love were making sport of him. That Julius Marston's daughter +would descend to a yacht captain would have appeared as incredible an +enormity as an affair with the butler. But there was something about +this intimate companionship of the chart-room which Mr. Beveridge did +not relish. Instinct rather than any sane reason told him that he was +not wanted. + +"I'm sorry to break in on your studies, Miss Marston," he said, a bit +stiffly. "But I have been sent by your father to call you to the cabin." +Mr. Beveridge's air, his tone of protest, conveyed rather pointed hint +that her responsibilities as a hostess were fully as important as her +studies as a navigator. + +"I must go," she whispered. + +Relief was mingled with Captain Mayo's regret. He had feared that this +impetuous young woman might rebel against the summons, even though the +word came from her father. And her persistent stay in his chart-room, +even on the pretext of a fervid interest in the mysteries of navigation, +might produce complications. This wonderful new joy in his life was too +precious to be marred by complications. + +She trailed her fingers along his hand when she turned from the +chart-table, and then pinched him in farewell salute. + +"Good night, Captain Mayo. I'll take another lesson to-morrow." + +"I am at your service," he told her. + +Their voices betrayed nothing, but Beveridge's keen eyes--the eyes which +had studied faces in the greatest game of all when fortunes were at +stake--noted the look they exchanged. It was long-drawn, as expressive +as a lingering kiss. + +Mr. Beveridge, sanctioned in his courtship by Julius Marston, was not +especially worried by any inferences from that soft glance. He could not +blame even a coal-heaver who might stare tenderly at Miss Alma Marston, +for she was especially pleasing to the eye, and he enjoyed looking at +her himself. He was enough of a philosopher to be willing to have other +folks enjoy themselves and thereby give their approbation to his choice. +He excused Captain Mayo. As to Miss Marston, he viewed her frivolity as +he did that of the other girls whom he knew; they all had too much time +on their hands. + +"Give the poor devils a chance, Alma. Don't tip 'em upside down," he +advised, testily, when she followed him down the ladder. He stood at the +foot and offered his hand, but she leaped down the last two steps and +did not accept his assistance. "Now, you have twisted that skipper of +ours until he doesn't know north from south." + +"I do not care much for your emphasis on the 'now,'" she declared, +indignantly. "You seem to intimate that I am going about the world +trying to beguile every man I see." + +"That seems to be the popular indoor and outdoor sport for girls in +these days," he returned with good humor. "Just a moment ago you were +raising the very devil with that fellow up there with your eyes. Of +course, practice makes perfect. But you're a good, kind girl in your +heart. Don't make 'em miserable." + +Mr. Beveridge's commiseration would have been wasted on Captain Boyd +Mayo that evening. The captain snapped off the light in the chart-room +as soon as they had departed, and there in the gloom he took his +happiness to his heart, even as he had taken her delicious self to his +breast. He put up his hands and pressed his face into the palms. +He inhaled the delicate, subtle fragrance--a mere suggestion of +perfume--the sweet ghost of her personality, which she had left behind. +Her touch still thrilled him, and the warmth of her last kiss was on his +lips. + +Then he went out and climbed the ladder to the bridge. A peep over the +shoulder of the man at the wheel into the mellow glow under the hood of +the binnacle, showed him that the _Olenia_ was on her course. + +"It's a beautiful night, Mr. McGaw," he said to the mate, a stumpy +little man with bowed legs, who was pacing to and fro, measuring strides +with the regularity of a pendulum. + +"It is that, sir!" + +Mr. McGaw, before he answered, plainly had difficulty with something +which bulged in his cheek. He appeared, also, to be considerably +surprised by the captain's air of vivacious gaiety. His superior had +been moping around the ship for many days with melancholy spelled in +every line of his face. + +"Yes, it's the most beautiful and perfect night I ever saw, Mr. McGaw." +There was triumph in the captain's buoyant tones. + +"Must be allowed to be what they call a starry night for a ramble," +admitted the mate, trying to find speech to fit the occasion. + +"I will take the rest of this watch and the middle watch, Mr. McGaw," +offered the captain. "I want to stay up to-night. I can't go to sleep." + +The offer meant that Captain Mayo proposed to stay on duty until four +o'clock in the morning. + +Mate McGaw fiddled a gnarled finger under his nose and tried to find +some words of protest. But Captain Mayo added a crisp command. + +"Go below, Mr. McGaw, and take it easy. You can make it up to me some +time when there is no moon!" He laughed. + +When all the cabin lights were out and he realized that she must be +asleep, he walked the bridge, exulting because her safety was in his +hands, but supremely exultant because she loved him and had told him so. + +Obedience had been in the line of his training. + +She had commanded him to live and love in the present, allowing the +future to take care of itself, and it afforded him a sense of sweet +companionship to obey her slightest wish when he was apart from +her. Therefore, he put aside all thoughts of Julius Marston and his +millions--Julius Marston, his master, owner of the yacht which swept on +under the moon--that frigid, silent man with the narrow strip of frosty +beard pointing his chin. + +Mayo walked the bridge and lived and loved. + + + + +II ~ THEN CAPTAIN MAYO SEES SHOALS + + There's naught upon the stern, there's naught upon the lee, + Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we. + But there's a lofty ship to windward, + And she's sailing fast and free, + Sailing down along the coast of the high Barbaree. + --Ancient Shanty. + +The skipper of the _Olenia_ found himself dabbling in guesses and +wonderment more than is good for a man who is expected to obey without +asking the reason why. + +That cruise seemed to be a series of spasmodic alternations between +leisurely loafing and hustling haste. + +There were days when he was ordered to amble along at half speed +offshore. Then for hours together Julius Marston and his two especial +and close companions, men of affairs, plainly, men of his kind, bunched +themselves close together in their hammock chairs under the poop awning +and talked interminably. Alma Marston and her young friends, chaperoned +by an amiable aunt--so Captain Mayo understood her status in the +party--remained considerately away from the earnest group of three. +Arthur Beveridge attached himself to the young folks. + +From the bridge the captain caught glimpses of all this shipboard +routine. The yacht's saunterings offshore seemed a part of the summer +vacation. + +But the occasional hurryings into harbors, the conferences below with +men who came and went with more or less attempt at secrecy, did not fit +with the vacation side of the cruise. + +These conferences were often followed by orders to the captain to thread +inner reaches of the coast and to visit unfrequented harbors. + +Captain Mayo had been prepared for these trips, although he had not been +informed of the reason. It was his first season on the yacht _Olenia_. +The shipping broker who had hired him had been searching in his +inquiries as to Mayo's knowledge of the byways of the coast. The young +man who had captained fishermen and coasters ever since he was seventeen +years old had found it easy to convince the shipping broker, and the +shipping broker had sent him on board the yacht without the formality of +an interview with the owner. + +Mayo was informed curtly that there was no need of an interview. He was +told that Julius Marston never bothered with details. + +When Julius Marston had come on board with his party he merely nodded +grim acknowledgment of the salute of his yacht's master, who stood at +the gangway, cap in hand. + +The owner had never shown any interest in the management of the yacht; +he had remained abaft the main gangway; he had never called the captain +into conference regarding any movements of the _Olenia_. + +Captain Mayo, pacing the bridge in the forenoon watch, trying to grasp +the full measure of his fortune after troubled dreams of his master's +daughter, recollected that he had never heard the sound of Julius +Marston's voice. So far as personal contact was concerned, the yacht's +skipper was evidently as much a matter of indifference to the owner as +the yacht's funnel. + +Orders were always brought forward by a pale young man who was taciturn +even to rudeness, and by that trait seemed to commend himself to Marston +as a safe secretary. + +At first, Alma Marston had brought her friends to the bridge. But after +the novelty was gone they seemed to prefer the comfort of chairs astern +or the saloon couches. + +For a time the attentive Beveridge had followed her when she came +forward; and then Beveridge discovered that she quite disregarded him in +her quest for information from the tall young man in uniform. She came +alone. + +And after that what had happened happened. + +She came alone that forenoon. He saw her coming. He had stolen a glance +aft every time he turned in his walk at the end of the bridge. He leaned +low and reached down his hand to assist her up the ladder. + +"I have been nigh crazy all morning. But I had to wait a decent time and +listen to their gossip after breakfast," she told him, her face close +to his as she came up the ladder. "And, besides, my father is snappy +to-day. He scolded me last night for neglecting my guests. Just as if +I were called on to sit all day and listen to Nan Burgess appraise her +lovers or to sing a song every time Wally Dalton has his relapse of +lovesickness. He has come away to forget her, you know." She chuckled, +uttering her funny little gurgle of a laugh which stirred in him, +always, a desire to smother it with kisses. + +They went to the end of the bridge, apart from the man at the wheel. + +"I hurried to go to sleep last night so that I could dream of you, my +own big boy." + +"I walked the bridge until after daylight. I wanted to stay awake. I +could not bear to let sleep take away my thoughts." + +"What is there like love to make this world full of happiness? How +bright the sun is! How the waves sparkle! Those folks sitting back there +are looking at the same things we are--or they can look, though they +don't seem to have sense enough. And about all they notice is that it's +daylight instead of night. My father and those men are talking about +money--just money--that's all. And Wally has a headache from drinking +too much Scotch. And Nan Burgess doesn't love anybody who loves her, But +for us--oh, this glorious world!" + +She put out her arms toward the sun and stared boldly at that blazing +orb, as though she were not satisfied with what her eyes could behold, +but desired to grasp and feel some of the glory of outdoors. If Captain +Mayo had been as well versed in psychology as he was in navigation +he might have drawn a few disquieting deductions from this frank and +unconscious expression of the mood of the materialist. She emphasized +that mood by word. + +"I'll show you my little clasp-book some day, big boy. It's where I +write my verses. I don't show them to anybody. You see, I'm telling you +my secrets! We must tell each other our secrets, you and I! I have put +my philosophy of living into four lines. Listen! + +"The future? Why perplex the soul? The past? Forget its woe and strife! +Let's thread each day, a perfect whole, Upon our rosary of Life." + +"It's beautiful," he told her. + +"Isn't it good philosophy?" + +"Yes," he admitted, not daring to doubt the high priestess of the new +cult to which he had been commandeered. + +"It saves all this foolish worry. Most of the folks I know are always +talking about the bad things which have happened to them or are peering +forward and hoping that good things will happen, and they never once +look down and admire a golden moment which Fate has dropped into their +hands. You see, I'm poetical this morning. Why shouldn't I be? We love +each other." + +"I don't know how to talk," he stammered. "I'm only a sailor. I never +said a word about love to any girl in my life." + +"Are you sure you have never loved anybody? Remember, we must tell each +other our secrets." + +"Never," he declared with convincing firmness. + +She surveyed him, showing the satisfaction a gold-seeker would exhibit +in appraising a nugget of virgin ore. "But you are so big and fine! And +you must have met so many pretty girls!" + +He was not restive under this quizzing. "I have told you the truth, Miss +Marston." + +"For shame, big boy! 'Miss Marston,' indeed! I am Alma--Alma to you. Say +it! Say it nicely!" + +He flushed. He stole a shamefaced glance at the-wheelsman and made a +quick and apprehensive survey of the sacred regions aft. + +"Are you afraid, after all I have said to you?" + +"No, but it seems--I can hardly believe--" + +"Say it." + +"Alma," he gulped. "Alma, I love you." + +"You need some lessons, big boy. You are so awkward I think you are +telling me the truth about the other girls." + +He did not dare to ask her whether she had loved any one else. With all +the passionate jealousy of his soul he wanted to ask her. She, who was +so sure that she could instruct him, must have loved somebody. He tried +to comfort himself by the thought that her knowledge arose from the +efforts either men had made to win her. + +"We have our To-day," she murmured. "Golden hours till the moon comes +up--and then perhaps a few silver ones! I don't care what Arthur +guesses. My father is too busy talking money with those men to guess. +I'm going to be with you all I can. I can arrange it. I'm studying +navigation." + +She snuggled against the rail, luxuriating in the sunshine. + +"Who are you?" she asked, bluntly. + +That question, coming after the pledging of their affection, astonished +him like the loom of a ledge in mid-channel. + +"It's enough for me that you are just as you are, boy! But you're not a +prince in disguise, are you?" + +"I'm only a Yankee sailor," he told her. "But if you won't think that +I'm trying to trade on what my folks have been before me, I'll say that +my grandfather was Gamaliel Mayo of Mayoport." + +"That sounds good, but I never heard of him. With all my philosophy, I'm +a poor student of history, sweetheart." Her tone and the name she gave +him took the sting out of her confession. + +"I don't believe he played a great part in history. But he built sixteen +ships in his day, and our house flag circled the world many times. +Sixteen big ships, and the last one was the _Harvest Home_, the China +clipper that paid for herself three times before an Indian Ocean monsoon +swallowed her." + +"Well, if he made all that money, are you going to sea for the fun of +it?" + +"There are no more Yankee wooden ships on the sea. My poor father +thought he was wise when the wooden ships were crowded off. He put his +money into railroads--and you know what has happened to most of the +folks who have put their money into new railroads." + +"I'm afraid I don't know much about business." + +"The hawks caught the doves. It was a game that was played all over New +England. The folks whose money built the roads were squeezed out. Long +before my mother died our money was gone, but my father and I did not +allow her to know it. We mortgaged and gave her what she had always been +used to. And when my father died there was nothing!" + +Her eyes glistened. "That's chivalry," she cried. "That's the spirit of +the knights of old when women were concerned. I adore you for what you +did!" + +"It was the way my father and I looked at it," he said, mildly. "My +father was not a very practical man, but I always agreed with him. And +I am happy now, earning my own living. Why should I think my grandfather +ought to have worked all his life so that I would not need to work?" + +"I suppose it's different with a big, strong man and a woman. She needs +so much that a man must give her." + +Captain Mayo became promptly silent, crestfallen, and embarrassed. He +stared aft, he looked at the splendid yacht whose finances he managed +and whose extravagance he knew. He saw the girl at his side, and blinked +at the gems which flashed in the sunlight as her fingers tucked up the +locks of hair where the breeze had wantoned. + +"I think my father works because he loves it," she said. "I wish he +would rest and enjoy other things more. If mother had lived to influence +him perhaps he would see something else in life instead of merely piling +up money. But he doesn't listen to me. He gives me money and tells me to +go and play. I miss my mother, boy! I haven't anybody to talk with--who +understands!" + +There were tears in her eyes, and he was grateful for them. He felt +that she had depths in her nature. But keen realization of his position, +compared with hers, distressed him. She stood there, luxury incarnate, +mistress of all that money could give her. + +"Anybody can make money," she declared. "My father and those men are +sitting there and building plans to bring them thousands and thousands +of dollars. All they need to do is put their heads together and plan. +Every now and then I hear a few words. They're going to own all the +steamboats--or something of that kind. Anybody can make money, I say, +but there are so few who know how to enjoy it." + +"I have been doing a lot of thinking since last night--Alma." He +hesitated when he came to her name, and then blurted it out. + +"Do you think it is real lover-like to treat my name as if it were a +hurdle that you must leap over?" she asked, with her aggravating little +chuckle. "Oh, you have so much to learn!" + +"I'm afraid so. I have a great many things ahead of me to learn and do. +I have been thinking. I have been afraid of the men who sit and scheme +and put all their minds on making money. They did bitter things to us, +and we didn't understand until it was all over. But I must go among them +and watch them and learn how to make money." + +"Don't be like the others, now, and talk money--money," she said, +pettishly. "Money and their love-affairs--that's the talk I have heard +from men ever since I was allowed to come into the drawing-room out of +the nursery!" + +"But I must talk money a little, dear. I have my way to make in the +world." + +"Thrifty, practical, and Yankee!" she jested. "I suppose you can't help +it!" + +"It isn't for myself--it's for you!" he returned, wistfully, and with +a voice and demeanor he offered himself as Love's sacrifice before +her--the old story of utter devotion--the ancient sacrifice. + +"I have all I want," she insisted. + +"But _I_ must be able to give you what you want!" + +"I warn you that I hate money-grubbers! They haven't a spark of romance +in them. Boyd, you'd be like all the rest in a little while. You mustn't +do it." + +"But I must have position--means before I dare to go to your father--if +I ever shall be able to go to him!" + +"Go to him for what?" + +"To ask him--to say--to--well, when we feel that I'm in a position where +we can be married--" + +"Of course we shall be married some day, boy, but all that will take +care of itself when the time comes. But now you are-- How old are you, +Boyd?" + +"Twenty-six." + +"And I am nineteen. And what has marriage to do with the love we are +enjoying right now?" + +"When folks are in love they want to get married." + +"Granted! But when lovers are wise they will treat romance at first as +the epicure treats his glass of good wine. They will pour it slowly and +hold the glass up against the light and admire its color!" In her gay +mood she pinched together thumb and forefinger and lifted an imaginary +glass to the sun. "Then they will sniff the bouquet. Ah-h-h, how +fragrant! And after a time they will take a little sip--just a weeny +little sip and hold it on the tongue for ever so long. For, when it is +swallowed, what good? Oh, boy, here are you--talking first of all about +marriage! Talking of the good wine of life and love as if it were a +fluid simply to satisfy thirst. We are going to love, first of all! +Come, I will teach you." + +He did not know what to say to her. There was a species of abandon in +her gaiety. Her exotic language embarrassed one who had been used to +mariners' laconic directness of speech. She looked at him, teasing him +with her eyes. He was a bit relieved when the pale-faced secretary came +dragging himself up the ladder and broke in on the tete-a-tete. + +"Mr. Marston's orders are, Captain Mayo, that you turn here and go west. +Do you know the usual course of the Bee line steamers?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"He requests you to turn in toward shore and follow that course." + +"Very well, sir." Captain Mayo walked to the wheel. "Nor' nor'west, +Billy, until I can give you the exact course." + +"Nor' nor'west!" repeated the wheelsman, throwing her hard over, and +the _Olenia_ came about with a rail-dipping swerve and retraced her way +along her own wake of white suds. + +Miss Marston preceded the captain down the ladder and went into the +chart-room. "A kiss--quick!" she whispered. + +He held her close to him for a long moment. + +"You are a most obedient captain," she said. + +When he released her and went at his task, she leaned upon his shoulder +and watched him as he straddled his parallels across the chart. + +"We'll run to Razee Reef," he told her, eager to make her a partner in +all his little concerns. "The Bee boats fetch the whistler there so as +to lay off their next leg. I didn't know that Mr. Marston was interested +in the Bee line." + +"I heard him talking about that line," she said, indifferently. +"Sometimes I listen when I have nothing else to do. He used a naughty +word about somebody connected with that company--and it's so seldom that +he allows himself to swear I listened to see what it was all about. I +don't know even now. I don't understand such things. But he said if he +couldn't buy 'em he'd bu'st 'em. Those were his words. Not very elegant +language. But it's all I remember." + +Before he left the chart-room Mayo took a squint at the barometer. "I'm +sorry he has ordered me in toward the coast," he said. "The glass is too +far below thirty to suit me. I think it means fog." + +"But it's so clear and beautiful," she protested. + +"It's always especially beautiful at sea before something bad happens," +he explained, smiling. "And there has been a big fog-bank off to +s'uth'ard for two days. It's a good deal like life, dear. All lovely, +and then the fog shuts in!" + +"But I would be happy with you in the fog," she assured him. + +He glowed at her words and answered with his eyes. + +She would have followed him back upon the bridge, but the steward +intercepted her. He had waited outside the chart-room. + +"Mr. Marston's compliments, Miss Marston! He requests you to join him at +cards." + +She pouted as she gave back Mayo's look of annoyance, and then obeyed +the mandate. + +Mr. Marston was stroking his narrow strip of chin beard with thumb and +forefinger when she arrived on the quarter-deck. The men of business +were below, and he motioned to a hammock chair beside him. + +"Alma, for the rest of this cruise I want you to stay back here with +our guests where you belong," he commanded with the directness of attack +employed by Julius Marston in his dealings with those of his menage. + +"What do you mean, father?" + +"That--exactly. I was explicit, was I not?" + +"But you do not intimate that--that I have--" + +"Well?" Mr. Marston believed in allowing others to expose their +sentiments before he uncovered his own. + +"You don't suggest that there is anything wrong in my being on the +bridge where I enjoy myself so much. I am trying to learn something +about navigation." + +"I am paying that fellow up there to attend to all that." + +"And it gets tiresome back here." + +"You selected your own company for the cruise--and there is Mr. +Beveridge ready to amuse you at any time." + +"Mr. Beveridge amuses me--distinctly amuses me," she retorted. "But +there is such a thing as becoming wearied even of such a joke as Mr. +Beveridge." + +"You will please employ a more respectful tone when you refer to that +gentleman," said her father, with severity. But he promptly fell back +into his usual mood when she came into his affairs. He was patronizingly +tolerant. "Your friend, Miss Burgess, has been joking about your sudden +devotion to navigation, Alma." + +"Nan Burgess cannot keep her tongue still, even about herself." + +"I know, but I do not intend to have you give occasion even for +jokes. Of course, I understand. I know your whims. You are interested, +personally, in that gold-braided chap about as much as you would be +interested in that brass thing where the compass is--whatever they call +it." + +"But he's a gentleman!" she cried, her interest making her unwary. "His +grandfather was--" + +"Alma!" snapped Julius Marston. His eyes opened wide. He looked her up +and down. "I have heard before that an ocean trip makes women silly, +I am inclined to believe it. I don't care a curse who that fellow's +grandfather was. _You_ are my daughter--and you keep off that bridge!" + +The men of business were coming up the companion-way, and she rose and +hurried to her stateroom. + +"I don't dare to meet Nan Burgess just now," she told herself. +"Friendships can be broken by saying certain things--and I feel +perfectly capable of saying just those things to her at this moment." + +In the late afternoon the _Olenia_, the shore-line looming to starboard, +shaped her course to meet and pass a big steamer which came rolling down +the sea with a banner of black smoke flaunting behind her. + +The fog which Captain Mayo had predicted was coming. Wisps of it trailed +over the waves--skirmishers sent ahead of the main body which marched in +mass more slowly behind. + +A whistling buoy, with its grim grunt, told all mariners to 'ware Razee +Reef, which was lifting its jagged, black bulk against the sky-line. +With that fog coming, Captain Mayo needed to take exact bearings from +Razee, for he had decided to run for harbor that night. That coastline, +to whose inside course Marston's orders had sent the yacht, was too +dangerous to be negotiated in a night which was fog-wrapped. Therefore, +the captain took the whistler nearly dead on, leaving to the larger +steamer plenty of room in the open sea. + +With considerable amazement Mayo noticed that the other fellow was +edging toward the whistler at a sharper angle than any one needed. That +course, if persisted in, would pinch the yacht in dangerous waters. Mayo +gave the on-coming steamer one whistle, indicating his intention to pass +to starboard. After a delay he was answered by two hoarse hoots--a most +flagrant breach of the rules of the road. + +"That must be a mistake," Captain Mayo informed Mate McGaw. + +"That's a polite name for it, sir," averred Mr. McGaw, after he had +shifted the lump in his cheek. + +"Of course he doesn't mean it, Mr. McGaw." + +"Then why isn't he giving us elbow-room on the outside of that buoy, +sir?" + +"I can't swing and cross his bows now. If he should hit us we'd be the +ones held for the accident." + +Again Mayo gave the obstinate steamer a single whistle-blast. + +"If he cross-signals me again I'll report him," he informed the mate. +"Pay close attention, Mr. McGaw, and you, too, Billy. We may have to go +before the inspectors." + +But the big chap ahead of them did not deign to reply. He kept on +straight at the whistler. + +"Compliments of Mr. Marston!" called the secretary from the bridge +ladder. "What steamer is that?" + +"_Conorno_ of the Bee line, sir," stated Captain Mayo over his shoulder. +Then he ripped out a good, hearty, deep-water oath. According to +appearances, incredible as the situation seemed, the _Conorno_ proposed +to drive the yacht inside the whistler. + +Mayo ran to the wheel and yanked the bell-pull furiously. There were +four quick clangs in the engine-room, and in a moment the _Olenia_ began +to quiver in all her fabric. Going full speed ahead, Mayo had called +for full speed astern. Then he sounded three whistles, signaling as the +rules of the road provide. The yacht's twin screws churned a yeasty riot +under her counter, and while she was laboring thus in her own wallow, +trembling like some living thing in the extremity of terror, the big +steamer swept past. Froth from the creamy surges at her bows flicked +spray contemptuously upon Julius Marston and his guests on the +_Olenia_'s quarter-deck. Men grinned down upon them from the high +windows of the steamer's pilot-house. + +A jeering voice boomed through a megaphone: "Keep out of the way of the +Bee line! Take the hint!" + +An officer pointed his finger at Marston's house flag, snapping from +the yacht's main truck. The blue fish-tail with its letter "M" had +revealed the yacht's identity to searching glasses. + +"Better make it black! Skull and cross-bones!" volunteered the megaphone +operator. + +On she went down the sea and the _Olenia_ tossed in the turbulent wake +of the kicking screws. + +Then, for the first time, Captain Mayo heard the sound of Julius +Marston's voice. The magnate stood up, shook his fist at his staring +captain, and yelled, "What in damnation do you think you are doing?" + +It was amazing, insulting, and, under the circumstances as Mayo knew +them, an unjust query. The master of the _Olenia_ did not reply. He was +not prepared to deliver any long-distance explanation. Furthermore, the +yacht demanded all his attention just then. He gave his orders and she +forged ahead to round the whistler. + +"Nor'west by west, half west, Billy. And cut it fine!" + +The fog had fairly leaped upon them from the sea. The land-breeze +had been holding back the wall of vapor, damming it in a dun bank to +southward. The breeze had let go. The fog had seized its opportunity. + +"Saturday Cove for us to-night, Mr. McGaw," said the master. "Keep your +eye over Billy's shoulder." + +Then the secretary appeared again on the ladder. This time he did not +bring any "compliments." + +"Mr. Marston wants you to report aft at once," he announced, brusquely. + +Mayo hesitated a moment. They were driving into blankness which had shut +down with that smothering density which mariners call "a dungeon fog." +Saturday Cove's entrance was a distant and a small target. In spite of +steersman and mate, his was the sole responsibility. + +"Will you please explain to Mr. Marston that I cannot leave the bridge?" + +"You have straight orders from him, captain! You'd better stop the boat +and report." + +The skipper of the _Olenia_ was having his first taste of the +unreasoning whim of the autocrat who was entitled to break into +shipboard discipline, even in a critical moment. Mayo felt exasperation +surging in him, but he was willing to explain. + +The whistler and Razee Reef had been blotted out by the fog. + +"If this vessel is stopped five minutes in this tide-drift we shall lose +our bearings, sir. I cannot leave this bridge for the present." + +"I'm thinking you'll leave it for good!" blurted the secretary. "You're +the first hired man who ever told Julius Marston to go bite his own +thumb." + +"I may be a hired man," retorted Mayo. "But I am also a licensed +shipmaster. I must ask you to step down off the bridge." + +"Does that go for all the rest of the--passengers?" asked the secretary, +angry in his turn. He dwelt on his last word. "It does--in a time like +this!" + +"Very well, I'll give them that word aft." + +Captain Mayo caught a side glance from Mate McGaw after a time. + +"I have often wondered," remarked the mate to nobody in particular, "how +it is that so many damn fools get rich on shore." + +Captain Mayo did not express any opinion on the subject. He clutched the +bridge rail and stared into the fog, and seemed to be having a lot of +trouble in choking back some kind of emotion. + + + + +III ~ THE TAVERN OF THE SEAS + + Now, Mister Macliver, you knows him quite well, + He comes upon deck and he cuts a great swell; + It's damn your eyes there and it's damn your eyes here, + And straight to the gangway he takes a broad sheer. + --La Pique "Come-all-ye." + +Into Saturday Cove, all during that late afternoon, they came +surging--spars and tackle limned against the on-sweeping pall of the +gray fog--those wayfarers of the open main. + +First to roll in past the ledgy portals of the haven were the venerable +sea-wagons--the coasters known as the "Apple-treers." Their weatherwise +skippers, old sea-dogs who could smell weather as bloodhounds sniff +trails, had their noses in the air in good season that day, and knew +that they must depend on a thinning wind to cuff them into port. One +after the other, barnacled anchors splashed from catheads, dragging +rusty chains from hawse-holes, and old, patched sails came sprawling +down with chuckle of sheaves and lisp of running rigging. + +A 'long-coast shanty explains the nickname, "Apple-treers": + + O, what's the use of compass or a quadrant or a log? + Keep her loafin' on her mudhook in a norther or a fog. + But as soon's the chance is better, then well ratch her off once more, + Keepin' clost enough for bearings from the apple-trees ashore. + +Therefore, the topsail schooners, the fore-and-afters, the Bluenose +blunt-prows, came in early before the fog smooched out the loom of +the trees and before it became necessary to guess at what the old card +compasses had to reveal on the subject of courses. + +And so, along with the rest of the coastwise ragtag, which was seeking +harbor and holding-ground, came the ancient schooner _Polly_. Fog-masked +by those illusory mists, she was a shadow ship like the others; but, +more than the others, she seemed to be a ghost ship, for her lines and +her rig informed any well-posted mariner that she must be a centenarian; +with her grotesqueness accentuated by the fog pall, she seemed unreal--a +picture from the past. + +She had an out-thrust of snub bow and an upcock of square stern, and +sag of waist--all of which accurately revealed ripe antiquity, just as +a bell-crowned beaver and a swallow-tail coat with brass buttons would +identify an old man in the ruck of newer fashions. She had seams like +the wrinkles in the parchment skin of extreme old age. She carried a +wooden figurehead under her bowsprit, the face and bust of a woman on +whom an ancient woodcarver had bestowed his notion of a beatific smile; +the result was an idiotic simper. The glorious gilding had been worn +off, the wood was gray and cracked. The _Polly's_ galley was entirely +hidden under a deckload of shingles and laths in bunches; the +after-house was broad and loomed high above the rail in contrast to the +mere cubbies which were provided for the other fore-and-afters in the +flotilla which came ratching in toward Saturday Cove. + +The _Polly_, being old enough to be celebrated, had been the subject of +a long-coast lyric of seventeen verses, any one of which was capable of +producing most horrible profanity from Captain Epps Candage, her master, +whenever he heard the ditty echoing over the waves, sung by a satirist +aboard another craft. + +In that drifting wind there was leisure; a man on board a lime-schooner +at a fairly safe distance from the _Polly_ found inclination and lifted +his voice: + + "Ow-w-w, here comes the _Polly_ with a lopped-down sail, + And Rubber-boot Epps, is a-settin' on her rail. + How-w-w long will she take to get to Boston town? + Can't just tell 'cause she's headin' up and down." + +"You think that kind o' ky-yi is funny, do you, you walnut-nosed, +blue-gilled, goggle-eyed son of a dough-faced americaneezus?" bellowed +Captain Candage, from his post at the _Polly's_ wheel. + +"Father!" remonstrated a girl who stood in the companionway, her elbows +propped on the hatch combings. "Such language! You stop it!" + +"It ain't half what I can do when I'm fair started," returned the +captain. + +"You never say such things on shore." + +"Well, I ain't on shore now, be I? I'm on the high seas, and I'm talking +to fit the occasion. Who's running this schooner, you or me?" + +She met his testiness with a spirit of her own, "I'm on board here, +where I don't want to be, because of your silly notions, father. I have +the right to ask you to use decent language, and not shame us both." + +Against the archaically homely background the beauty of the young girl +appeared in most striking contrast. Her curls peeped out from under the +white Dutch cap she wore. Her eyes sparkled with indignant protest, her +face was piquant and was just then flushed, and her nose had the least +bit of a natural uptilt, giving her the air of a young woman who had a +will of her own to spice her amiability. + +Captain Candage blinked at her over the spokes of the wheel, and in his +father's heart acknowledged her charm, realizing more acutely that +his motherless girl had become too much of a problem for his limited +knowledge in the management of women. + +He had not seen her grow up gradually, as other fathers had viewed their +daughters, being able to meet daily problems in molding and mastery. + +She seemed to reach development, mental and physical, in disconcerting +phases while he was away on his voyages. Each time he met her he was +obliged to get acquainted all over again, it appeared to him. + +Captain Candage had owned up frankly to himself that he was not able to +exercise any authority over his daughter when she was ashore. + +She was not wilful; she was not obstinate; she gave him affection. But +she had become a young woman while his slow thoughts were classing her +still as a child. She was always ahead of all his calculations. In +his absences she jumped from stage to stage of character--almost of +identity! He had never forgotten how he had brought back to her from New +York, after one voyage, half a gunny sackful of tin toys, and discovered +that in his absence, by advice and sanction of her aunt, who had become +her foster-mother, she had let her dresses down to ankle-length and had +become a young lady whom he called "Miss Candage" twice before he had +managed to get his emotions straightened out. While he was wondering +about the enormity of tin toys in the gunny sack at his feet, as he sat +in the aunt's parlor; his daughter asked him to come as guest of +honor with the Sunday-school class's picnic which she was arranging as +teacher. That gave him his opportunity to lie about the toys and allege +that he had brought them for her scholars. + +Captain Candage, on the deck of his ship, found that he was able to +muster a little courage and bluster for a few minutes, but he did not +dare to look at her for long while he was asserting himself. + +He looked at her then as she stood in the gloomy companionway, a +radiant and rosy picture of healthy maidenhood. But the expression on +her face was not comfortingly filial. + +"Father, I must say it again. I can't help saying it. I am so unhappy. +You are misjudging me so cruelly." + +"I done it because I thought it was right to do it. I haven't been +tending and watching the way a father ought to tend and watch. I never +seemed to be able to ketch up with you. Maybe I ain't right. Maybe I be! +At any rate, I'm going to stand on this tack, in your case, for a while +longer." + +"You have taken me away from my real home for this? This is no place for +a girl! You are not the same as you are when you are on shore. I didn't +know you could be so rough--and--wicked!" + +"Hold on there, daughter! Snub cable right there! I'm an honest, +God-fearing, hard-working man--paying a hundred cents on the dollar, and +you know it." + +"But what did you just shout--right out where everybody could hear you?" + +"That--that was only passing the compliments of the day as compared with +what I can do when I get started proper. Do you think I'm going to let +any snub-snooted wart-hog of a lime-duster sing--" + +"Father!" + +"What's a girl know about the things a father has to put up with when he +goes to sea and earns money for her?" + +"I am willing to work for myself. You took me right out of my good +position in the millinery-store. You have made me leave all my young +friends. Oh, I am so homesick!" Her self-reliance departed suddenly. She +choked. She tucked her head into the hook of her arm and sobbed. + +"Don't do that!" he pleaded, softening suddenly. "Please don't, Polly!" + +She looked up and smiled--a pleading, wan little smile. "I didn't mean +to give way to it, popsy dear. I don't intend to do anything to make you +angry or sorry. I have tried to be a good girl. I am a good girl. But it +breaks my heart when you don't trust me." + +"They were courting you," he stammered. "Them shore dudes was hanging +around you. I ain't doubting you, Polly. But you 'ain't got no mother. +I was afraid. I know I've been a fool about it. But I was afraid!" Tears +sprinkled his bronzed cheeks. "I haven't been much of a father because +I've had to go sailing and earn money. But I thought I'd take you away +till-till I could sort of plan on something." + +She gazed at him, softening visibly. + +"Oh, Polly," he said, his voice breaking, "you don't know how pretty you +are-you don't know how afraid I am!" + +"But you can trust me, father," she promised, after a pause, with simple +dignity. "I know I am only a country girl, not wise, perhaps, but I know +what is right and what is wrong. Can't you understand how terribly you +have hurt my pride and my self-respect by forcing me to come and be +penned up here as if I were a shameless girl who could not take care of +herself?" + +"I reckon I have done wrong, Polly. But I don't know much-not about +women folk. I was trying to do right-because you're all I have in this +world." + +"I hope you will think it all over," she advised, earnestly. "You will +understand after a time, father, I'm sure. Then you will let me go back +and you will trust me-as your own daughter should be trusted. That's the +right way to make girls good-let them know that they can be trusted." + +"You are probably right," he admitted. "I will think it all over. +As soon as we get in and anchored I'll sit down and give it a good +overhauling in my mind. Maybe-" + +She took advantage of his pause. "We are going into a harbor, are we, +father?" + +"Yes. Right ahead of us." + +"I wish you would put me ashore and send me back. I shall lose my +position in the store if I stay away too long." + +His obstinacy showed again, promptly. "I don't want you in that +millinery-shop. I'm told that dude drummers pester girls in stores." + +"They do not trouble me, father. Haven't you any confidence in your own +daughter?" + +"Yes, I have," he said, firmly, and then added, "but I keep thinking of +the dudes and then I get afraid." + +She gave him quick a glance, plainly tempted to make an impatient +retort, and then turned and went down into the cabin. + +"Don't be mad with me, Polly," he called after her. "I guess, maybe, I'm +all wrong. I'm going to think it over; I ain't promising nothing sure, +but it won't be none surprising if I set you ashore here and send you +back home. Don't cry, little girl." There were tears in his voice as +well as in his eyes. + +The lime-schooner vocalist felt an impulse to voice another verse: + + "Ow-w-w, here comes the _Polly_ in the middle of the road, + Towed by a mule and paving-blocks her load. + Devil is a-waiting and the devil may as well, + 'Cause he'll never get them paving-blocks to finish paving hell." + +Captain Candage left his wheel and strode to the rail. All the softness +was gone from his face and his voice. + +"You horn-jawed, muck-faced jezebo of a sea-sculpin, you dare to yap +out any more of that sculch and I'll come aboard you after we anchor and +jump down your gullet and gallop the etarnal innards out of ye! Don't +you know that I've got ladies aboard here?" + +"It don't sound like it," returned the songster. + +"Well, you hear what _I_ sound like! Half-hitch them jaw taakuls of +yours!" + +Captain Candage's meditations were not disturbed after that. + +With the assistance of his one helper aboard ship, "Oakum Otie," a gray +and whiskered individual who combined in one person the various offices +of first mate, second mate, A-1 seaman, and hand before the mast-as +well as the skipper's boon companion-the _Polly_ was manoeuvered to her +anchorage in Saturday Cove and was snugged for the night. Smoke began to +curl in blue wreaths from her galley funnel, and there were occasional +glimpses of the cook, a sallow-complexioned, one-eyed youth whose chief +and everlasting decoration provided him with the nickname of "Smut-nosed +Dolph." + +Then came some of the ocean aristocrats to join the humbler guests in +that tavern of the seas. + +Avant couriers of a metropolitan yacht club, on its annual cruise, +arrived, jockeying in with billowing mountains of snowy canvas spread to +catch the last whispers of the breeze. Later arrivals, after the breeze +failed, were towed in by the smart motor craft of the fleet. One by one, +as the anchors splashed, brass cannons barked salute and were answered +by the commodore's gun. + +Captain Candage sat on the edge of the _Polly's_ house and snapped +an involuntary and wrathful wink every time a cannon banged. In that +hill-bound harbor, where the fog had massed, every noise was magnified +as by a sounding-board. There were cheery hails, yachtsmen bawled over +the mist-gemmed brass rails interchange of the day's experiences, and +frisking yacht tenders, barking staccato exhausts, began to carry men to +and fro on errands of sociability. In the silences Captain Candage could +hear the popping of champagne corks. + +"Them fellers certainly live high and sleep in the garret," observed +Oakum Otie. He was seated cross-legged on the top of the house and was +hammering down the lumps in a freshly twisted eye-splice with the end of +a marlinespike. + +"It has always been a wonder to me," growled Captain Candage, "how dudes +who don't seem to have no more wit than them fellows haw-hawing over +there, and swigging liquor by the cart-load, ever make money the way +they do so as to afford all this." + +On that point Captain Candage might have found Mate McGaw of the +_Olenia_ willing to engage in profitable discussion and amicable +understanding! + +"They don't make it-they don't know enough to make it," stated Otie, +with the conviction of a man who knew exactly what he was talking about. +"It has all been left to 'em by their fathers." + +The bearded and brown men of the apple-tree crews leaned the patched +elbows of their old coats on the rails and gloomily surveyed the +conviviality on board the plaything crafts. Remarks which they exchanged +with one another were framed to indicate a sort of lofty scorn for these +frolickers of the sea. The coasting skippers, most of whom wore hard +hats, as if they did not want to be confounded with those foppish yacht +captains, patrolled their quarter-decks and spat disdainfully over their +rails. + +Everlastingly there was the clank of pumps on board the Apple-treers, +and the pumps were tackling the everlasting leaks. Water reddened +by contact with bricks, water made turbid by percolation through +paving-blocks, splashed continuously from hiccuping scuppers. + +Captain Ranse Lougee of the topsail schooner _Belvedere_, laden with +fish scraps for a Boston glue-factory, dropped over the counter into his +dory and came rowing to the _Polly_, standing up and facing forward and +swaying with the fisherman's stroke. + +He straddled easily over the schooner's scant freeboard and came aft, +and was greeted cordially by Captain Candage. + +"Thought I'd show them frosted-cakers that there's a little sociability +amongst the gents in the coasting trade, too," he informed his +host. "Furthermore, I want to borry the ex-act time o' day. _And_, +furthermore, I'm glad to get away from that cussed aromy on board the +_Belvedere_ and sort of air out my nose once in a while. What's the good +word, Cap?" + +Captain Candage replied to the commonplaces of the other skipper in +abstracted fashion. He had viewed Lougee's approach with interest, and +now he was plainly pondering in regard to something wholly outside this +chatter. + +"Captain Lougee," he broke in, suddenly, in low tones, "I want you +should come forward with me out of hearing of anybody below. I've got a +little taakul I want you to help me overhaul." + +The two walked forward over the deckload and sat on the fore-gaff, which +sprawled carelessly where it had fallen when the halyards were let run. + +"My daughter is below, there," explained Captain Candage. + +"Vacation trip, eh?" + +"I don't think it can be called that, Captain Lougee," stated the host, +dryly. "She is having about as good a time as a canary-bird would have +in a corn-popper over a hot fire." + +"What did she come for, then?" + +"I made her come. I shanghaied her." + +"That's no way to treat wimmen folks," declared Captain Lougee. "I've +raised five daughters and I know what I'm talking about." + +"I know you have raised five girls, and they're smart as tophet and +right as a trivet--and that's why I have grabbed right in on the subject +as I have. I was glad to see you coming aboard, Captain Lougee. I want +some advice from a man who knows." + +"Then I'm the man to ask, Captain Candage." + +"Last time I was home--where she has been living with her Aunt Zilpah--I +ketched her!" confessed Candage. His voice was hoarse. His fingers, bent +and calloused with rope-pulling, trembled as he fingered the seam of his +trousers. + +"You don't tell!" Lougee clucked, solicitously. + +"Yes, I ketched her buggy-riding!" + +"Alone?" + +"No, there was a gang of 'em in a beach-wagon. They was going to a +party. And I ketched her dancing with a fellow at that party." + +"Well, go ahead now that you've got started! Shake out the mainsail!" + +"That's about all there is to it--except that a fellow has been beauing +her home from Sunday-school concerts with a lantern. Yes, I reckon that +is about all to date and present writing," confessed Candage. + +"What else do you suspect?" + +"Nothing. Of course, there's no telling what it will grow to be--with +dudes a-pestering her the way they do." + +"There ain't any telling about anything in this world, is there?" +demanded Captain Lougee, very sharply. + +"I reckon not--not for sure!" + +"Do you mean to say that because your girl--like any girl should--has +been having a little innocent fun with young folks, you have dragged her +on board this old hooker, shaming her and making her ridiculous?" + +"I have been trying to do my duty as a father," stated Captain Candage, +stoutly, and avoiding the flaming gaze of his guest. + +Captain Lougee straightened his leg so as to come at his trousers +pocket, produced a plug of tobacco, and gnawed a chew off a corner, +after careful inspection to find a likely spot for a bite. + +"I need to have something in my mouth about this time--something +soothing to the tongue and, as you might say, sort of confining, so that +too much language won't bu'st out all at once," he averred, speaking +with effort as he tried to lodge the huge hunk of tobacco into a +comfortable position. "I have raised five nice girls, and I have always +treated 'em as if they had common sense along with woman's nat'ral +goodness and consid'able more self-reliance than a Leghorn pullet. And +I used 'em like they had the ordinary rights and privileges of human +beings. And they are growed up and a credit to the family. And I haven't +got to look back over my record and reflect that I was either a Chinyman +or a Turkeyman. No, sir! I have been a father--and my girls can come +and sit on my knee to-day and get my advice, and think it's worth +something." + +He rose and walked toward his dory. + +"But hold on," called Captain Candage. "You haven't told me what you +think." + +"Haven't I? I thought I had, making it mild and pleasant. But if you +need a little something more plain and direct, I'll remark--still making +it mild and pleasant--that you're a damned old fool! And now I'll go +back and be sociable with them fish scraps. I believe they will smell +better after this!" He leaped into his dory and rowed away. + +Captain Candage offered no rejoinder to that terse and meaty summing up. +Naturally, he was as ready with his tongue as Captain Ranse Lougee or +any other man alongshore. But in this case the master of the _Polly_ +was not sure of his ground. He knew that Captain Lougee had qualified as +father of five. In the judgment of a mariner experience counts. And +he did not resent the manner of Captain Lougee because that skipper's +brutal bluntness was well known by his friends. Captain Candage had +asked and he had received. He rested his elbows on his knees and stared +after the departing caller and pondered. + +"Maybe he is right. He probably _is_ right. But it wouldn't be shipboard +discipline if I told her that I have been wrong. I reckon I'll go aft +and be pleasant and genteel, hoping that nothing will happen to rile my +feelings. Now that my feelings are calm and peaceful, and having taken +course and bearings from a father of five, I'll probably say to her, +'You'd better trot along home, sissy, seeing that I have told you how to +mind your eye after this.'" + + + + +IV ~ OVER THE "POLLY'S" RAIL + + O Stormy was a good old man! + To my way you storm along! + Physog tough as an old tin pan, + Ay, ay, ay, Mister Storm-along! + --Storm-along Shanty. + +Without paying much attention to the disturber, Captain Candage had been +a bit nettled during his meditation. A speed boat from one of the yachts +kept circling the _Polly_, carrying a creaming smother of water +under its upcocked bow. It was a noisy gnat of a boat and it kicked a +contemptuous wake against the rust-streaked old wagon. + +When it swept under the counter, after Captain Candage was back on his +quarter-deck, he gave it a stare over the rail, and his expression was +distinctly unamiable. + +"They probably wasted more money on that doostra-bulus than this +schooner would sell for in the market today," he informed Otie. + +"They don't care how money goes so long as they didn't have to sweat +earning it. Slinging it like they'd sling beans!" + +Back on its circling course swished the darting tender. This time the +purring motor whined into silence and the boat came drifting alongside. + +"On board _Polly!_" hailed one of the yachtsmen, a man with owner's +insignia on his cap. + +The master of the old schooner stuck his lowering visage farther over +the rail, but he did not reply. + +"Isn't this _Polly_ the real one?" + +"No, it's only a chromo painting of it." + +"Thank you! You're a gentleman!" snapped the yachtsman. + +"Oh, hold on, Paul," urged one of the men in the tender. "There's a +right way to handle these old boys." He stood up. "We're much interested +in this packet, captain." + +"That's why you have been making a holy show of her, playing ring around +a rosy, hey?" + +"But tell me, isn't this the old shallop that was a privateer in the war +of eighteen twelve?" + +"Nobody aboard here has ever said she wasn't." + +"Well, sir, may we not come on board and look her over?" + +"No sir, you can't." + +"Now, look here, captain--" + +"I'm looking!" declared the master of the _Polly_ in ominous tones. + +"We don't mean to annoy you, captain." + +"Folks who don't know any better do a lot of things without meaning to." + +Captain Candage regularly entertained a sea-toiler's resentment for men +who used the ocean as a mere playground. But more especially, during +those later days, his general temper was touchy in regard to dapper +young men, for he had faced a problem of the home which had tried his +soul. He felt an unreasoning choler rising in him in respect to these +chaps, who seemed to have no troubles of their own. + +"I am a writer," explained the other. "If I may be allowed on board I'll +take a few pictures and--" + +"And make fun of me and my bo't by putting a piece in the paper to +tickle city dudes. Fend off!" he commanded, noticing that the tender was +drifting toward the schooner's side and that one of the crew had set a +boat-hook against the main chain-plate. + +"Don't bother with the old crab," advised the owner, sourly. + +But the other persisted, courteously, even humbly. "I am afraid you do +not understand me, captain. I would as soon make jest of my mother as of +this noble old relic." + +"Go ahead! Call it names!" + +"I am taking off my hat to it," he declared, whipping his cap from his +head. "My father's grandfather was in the war of eighteen twelve. I want +to honor this old patriot here with the best tribute my pen can pay. +If you will allow me to come on board I shall feel as though I were +stepping upon a sacred spot, and I can assure you that my friends, here, +have just as much respect for this craft as I have." + +But this honest appeal did not soften Captain Candage. He did not +understand exactly from what source this general rancor of his flowed. +At the same time he was conscious of the chief reason why he did not +want to allow these visitors to rummage aboard the schooner. They would +meet his daughter, and he was afraid, and he was bitterly ashamed of +himself because he was afraid. Dimly he was aware that this everlasting +fear on her account constituted an insult to her. The finer impulse to +protect her privacy was not actuating him; he knew that, too. He was +merely foolishly afraid to trust her in the company of young men, and +the combination of his emotions produced the simplest product of mental +upheaval--unreasonable wrath. + +"Fend off, I say," he commanded. + +"Again I beg you, captain, with all respect, please may we come on +board?" + +"You get away from here and tend to your own business, if you've got +any, or I'll heave a bunch of shingles at you!" roared the skipper. + +"Father!" The voice expressed indignant reproof. "Father, I am ashamed +of you!" + +The girl came to the rail, and the yachtsmen stared at her as if she +were Aphrodite risen from the sea instead of a mighty pretty girl +emerging from a dark companion-way. She had appeared so suddenly! She +was so manifestly incongruous in her surroundings. + +"Mother o' mermaids!" muttered the yacht-owner in the ear of the man +nearest. "Is the old rat still privateering?" + +The men in the tender stood up and removed their caps. + +"You have insulted these gentlemen, father!" + +Captain Candage knew it, and that fact did not soften his anger in the +least. At the same time this appearance of his own daughter to read him +a lesson in manners in public was presumption too preposterous to be +endured; her daring gave him something tangible for his resentment to +attack. + +He turned on her. "You go below where you belong." + +"I belong up here just now." + +"Down below with you!" + +"I'll not go until you apologize to these gentlemen, father!" + +"You ain't ashore now, miss, to tell me when to wipe my feet and not +muss the tidies! You're on the high seas, and I'm cap'n of this vessel. +Below, I say!" + +"These gentlemen know the _Polly_, and they will find out the name of +the man who commands her, and I don't propose to have it said that the +Candages are heathens," she declared, firmly. "If you do not apologize, +father, I shall apologize for you." She tried to crowd past him to the +rail, but he clapped his brown hand over her mouth and pushed her back. +His natural impulse as commander of his craft dominated his feelings as +a father. + +"I'll teach ye shipboard discipline, Polly Candage," he growled, "even +if I have to take ye acrost my knee." + +"Hold on there, if you please, captain," called the spokesman of the +yachtsmen. + +Captain Candage was hustling his daughter toward the companionway. But +there was authority in the tone, and he paused and jutted a challenging +chin over his shoulder. + +"What have any of you critters got to say about my private business?" + +The formality of the man in the tender was a bit exaggerated in his +reply. "Only this, sir. We are going away at once before we bring any +more trouble upon this young lady, to whom we tender our most respectful +compliments. We do not know any other way of helping her. Our protests, +being the protests of gentlemen, might not be able to penetrate; it +takes a drill to get through the hide of a rhinoceros!" + +The skipper of the _Polly_ did not trouble himself about the finer +shadings in that little speech, but of one fact he felt sure: he +had been called a rhinoceros. He released his daughter, yanked the +marlinespike away from Otie, who had been holding himself in the +background as a reserve force, and stamped to the rail. He poised his +weapon, fanning it to and fro to take sure aim. But the engineer had +thrown in his clutch and the speed boat foamed off before the captain +got the range, and he was too thrifty to heave a perfectly good +marlinespike after a target he could not hit, angry as he was. + +The girl faced her father. There was no doubting her mood. She was a +rebel. Indignation set up its flaming standards on her cheeks, and the +signal-flames of combat sparkled in her eyes. + +"How did you dare to do such a thing to me--those gentlemen looking on? +Father, have you lost your mind?" + +Otie expressed the opinion tinder his breath that the captain, on the +contrary, had "lost his number." + +Otie's superior officer was stamping around the quarterdeck, kicking at +loose objects, and avoiding his daughter's resentful gaze. There was +a note of insincerity in his bluster, as if he wanted to hide +embarrassment in a cloud of his own vaporings, as a squid colors water +when it fears capture. + +"After this you call me Cap'n Candage," he commanded. "After this +I'm Cap'n Candage on the high seas, and I propose to run my own +quarter-deck. And when I let a crowd of dudes traipse on board here to +peek and spy and grin and flirt with you, you'll have clamshells for +finger-nails. Now, my lady, I don't want any back talk!" + +"But I am going to talk to you, father!" + +"Remember that I'm a Candage, and back talk--" + +"So am I a Candage--and I have just been ashamed of it!" + +"I'm going to have discipline on my own quarterdeck." + +"Back talk, quarter-deck discipline, calling you captain! Fol-de-rol and +fiddlesticks! I'm your own daughter and you're my father. And you have +brought us both to shame! There! I don't want to stay on this old hulk, +and I'm not going to stay. I am going home to Aunt Zilpah." + +"I had made up my mind to let you go. My temper was mild and sweet till +those jeehoofered, gold-trimmed sons of a striped--" + +"Father!" + +"I had made up my mind to let you go. But I ain't going to give in to a +mutiny right before the face and eyes of my own crew." + +Smut-nosed Dolph had arrived with the supper-dishes balanced in his arms +while he crawled over the deckload. He was listening with the utmost +interest. + +"Your Aunt Zilpah has aided and abetted you in your flirting," raged the +captain. "My own sister, taking advantage of my being off to sea trying +to earn money--" + +"Do you mean to insult everybody in this world, father? I shall go home, +I say. I'm miserable here." + +"I'll see to it that you ain't off gamboling and galley-westing with +dudes!" + +In spite of her spirit the girl was not able to bandy retort longer with +this hard-shelled mariner, whose weapon among his kind for years +had been a rude tongue. Shocked grief put an end to her poor little +rebellion. Tears came. + +"You are giving these two men a budget to carry home and spread about +the village! Oh, father, you are wicked--wicked!" She put her hands to +her face, sobbed, and then ran away down into the gloomy cabin. + +There was a long silence on the quarter-deck. Otie recovered his +marlinespike and began to pound the eye-bolt. + +"Without presuming, preaching, or poking into things that ain't none of +my business, I want to say that I don't blame you one mite, cap'n," he +volunteered. "No matter what she says, she wasn't to be trusted among +them dudes on shore, and I speak from observation and, being an old +bach, I can speak impartial. The dudes on the water is just as bad. Them +fellows were flirting with her all the time they was 'longside. Real men +that means decent ain't called on to keep whisking their caps off and on +all the time a woman is in sight--and I see one of 'em wink at her." + +Captain Candage was in a mood to accept this comfort from Oakum Otie, +and to put out of his contrite conscience the memory of what Captain +Ranse Lougee had said. + +"Don't you worry! I've got her now where I can keep my eye on her, and +I'm cap'n of my own vessel--don't nobody ever forget that!" He shook his +fist at the gaping cook. "What ye standing there for, like a hen-coop +with the door open and letting my vittels cool off? Hiper your boots! +Down below with you and dish that supper onto the table!" + +The skipper lingered on deck, his hand at his ear. + +The fog was settling over the inner harbor. In the dim vastness seaward +a steamer was hooting. Each prolonged blast, at half-minute intervals, +sounded nearer. The sound was deep, full-toned, a mighty diapason. + +"What big fellow can it be that's coming in here?" the captain grunted. + +"Most likely only another tin skimmer of a yacht," suggested the mate, +tossing the eye-splice and the marline-spike into the open hatch of the +lazaret. "You know what they like to do, them play-critters! They stick +on a whistle that's big enough for Seguin fog-horn." He squinted under +the edge of his palm and waited. "There she looms. What did I tell ye? +Nothing but a yacht." + +"But she's a bouncer," remarked the skipper. "What do you make her?" + +"O--L," spelled Otie--"O--L--_Olenia_. Must be a local pilot aboard. +None of them New York spiffer captains could find Saturday Cove through +the feather-tide that's outside just now." + +"Well, whether they can or whether they can't isn't of any interest to +me," stated the skipper, with fine indifference. "I'd hate to be in +a tight place and have to depend on one of them gilded dudes! I smell +supper. Come on!" + +He was a little uncertain as to what demeanor he ought to assume +below, but he clumped down the companion-way with considerable show of +confidence, and Otie followed. + +The captain cast a sharp glance at his daughter. He had been afraid that +he would find her crying, and he did not know how to handle such cases +with any certainty. + +But she had dried her eyes and she gave him no very amiable +look--rather, she hinted defiance. He felt more at ease. In his opinion, +any person who had spirit enough left for fight was in a mood to keep on +enjoying life. + +"Perhaps I went a mite too far, Polly," he admitted. He was mild, but +he preserved a little touch of surliness in order that she might not +conclude that her victory was won. "But seeing that I brought you off to +sea to get you away from flirting--" + +"Don't you dare to say that about me!" She beat her round little fist on +the table. "Don't you dare!" + +"I don't mean that you ever done it! The dudes done it! I want to do +right by you, Polly. I've been to sea so long that I don't know much +about ways and manners, I reckon. I can't get a good line on things as +I ought to. I'm an old fool, I reckon." His voice trembled. "But it made +me mad to have you stram up there on deck and call me names before 'em." + +She did not reply. + +"I have always worked hard for you--sailing the seas and going without +things myself, so that you could have 'em--doing the best I could ever +after your poor mother passed on." + +"I am grateful to you, father. But you don't understand a girl--oh, you +don't understand! But let's not talk about it any more--not now." + +"I ain't saying to-night--I ain't making promises! But maybe--we'll +see how things shape up--maybe I'll send you back home. Maybe it 'll be +to-morrow. We'll see how the stage runs to the train, and so forth!" + +"I am going to leave it all to you, father. I'm sure you mean to do +right." She served the food as mistress at the board. + +"It seems homelike with you here," said Captain Can-dage, meekly and +wistfully. + +"I will stay with you, father, if it will make you happier." + +"I sha'n't listen to anything of the sort. It ain't no place aboard here +for a girl." + +Through the open port they heard the frequent clanging of the +steam-yacht's engine-room bell and the riot of her swishing screws as +she eased herself into an anchorage. She was very near them--so near +that they could hear the chatter of the voices of gay folk. + +"What boat is that, father?" + +"Another frosted-caker! I can't remember the name." + +"It's the _Oilyena_ or something like that. I forget fancy names pretty +quick," Otie informed her. + +"Well, it ain't much use to load your mind down with that kind of +sculch," stated Captain Candage, poising a potato on his fork-tines and +peeling it, his elbows on the table. "That yacht and the kind of folks +that's aboard that yacht ain't of any account to folks like us." + +The memory of some remarks which are uttered with peculiar fervor +remains with the utterer. Some time later--long after--Captain Candage +remembered that remark and informed himself that, outside of weather +predictions, he was a mighty poor prophet. + + + + +V ~ ON THE BRIDGE OF YACHT "_OLENIA_" + + O the times are hard and the wages low, + Leave her, bullies, leave her! + I guess it's time for us to go, + It's time for us to leave her. + --Across the Western Ocean. + +Captain Mayo was not finding responsibility his chief worry while the +_Olenia_ was making port. + +It was a real mariner's job to drive her through the fog, stab the +harbor entrance, and hunt out elbow-room for her in a crowded anchorage. +But all that was in the line of the day's work. While he watched the +compass, estimated tide drift, allowed for reduced speed, and listened +for the echoes which would tell him his distance from the rocky shore, +he was engaged in the more absorbing occupation of canvassing his +personal affairs. + +As the hired master of a private yacht he might have overlooked that +affront from the owner, even though it was delivered to a captain on the +bridge. + +But love has a pride of its own. He had been abused like a lackey in the +hearing of Alma Marston. It was evident that the owner had not finished +the job. Mayo knew that he had merely postponed his evil moment by +sending back a reply which would undoubtedly seem like insubordination +in the judgment of a man who did not understand ship discipline and +etiquette of the sea. + +It was evident that Marston intended to call him "upon the carpet" on +the quarter-deck as soon as the yacht was anchored, and proposed to +continue that insulting arraignment. + +In his new pride, in the love which now made all other matters of life +so insignificant, Mayo was afraid of himself; he knew his limitations in +the matter of submission; even then he felt a hankering to walk aft +and jounce Julius Marston up and down in his hammock chair. He did not +believe he could stand calmly in the presence of Alma Marston and listen +to any unjust berating, even from her father. + +He tried to put his flaming resentment out of his thoughts, but he could +not. In the end, he told himself that perhaps it was just as well! Alma +Marston must have pride of her own. She could not continue to love a man +who remained in the position of her father's hireling; she would surely +be ashamed of a lover who was willing to hump his back and take a +lashing in public. His desire to be with her, even at the cost of his +pride, was making him less a man and he knew it. He decided to +face Marston, man fashion, and then go away. He felt that she would +understand in spite of her grief. + +Then, turning from a look at the compass, he saw that the yacht's owner +was on the bridge. Half of an un-lighted cigar, which was soggy with the +dampness of the fog, plugged Marston's-mouth. + +He scowled when the captain saluted. + +"You needn't bother to talk now," the millionaire broke in when +Mayo began an explanation of his delay in obeying the call to the +quarter-deck. "When I have anything to say to a man I want his undivided +attention. Is this fog going to hold on?" + +"Yes, sir, until the wind hauls more to the norrard." + +"Then anchor." + +"I am heading into Saturday Cove now, sir." + +"Anchor here." + +"I'm looking for considerably more than a capful of wind when it comes, +sir. It isn't prudent to anchor offshore." + +Marston grunted and turned away. He stood at the end of the bridge, +chewing on the cigar, until the _Olenia_ was in the harbor with mudhook +set. Mayo twitched the jingle bell, signaling release to the engineer. + +"I am at your service, sir," he reported, walking to the owner. + +Marston rolled the plugging cigar to a corner of his mouth and inquired, +"Now, young man, tell me what you mean by saluting a Bee line steamer +with my whistle?" + +"I did not salute the _Conomo_, sir." + +"You gave her three whistles." + +"Yes, but--" + +"You're on a gentleman's yacht now, young man, and not on a +fishing-steamer. Yachting etiquette doesn't allow a steam-whistle to +be sounded in salute. Mr. Beveridge has just looked it up for me, and I +know, and you need not assume any of your important knowledge." Marston +seemed to be displaying much more irritation than a small matter +warranted. But what he added afforded more light on the subject. "The +manager of the Bee line was on board that steamer. You heard him hoot +that siren at me!" + +"I heard him give me cross-signals in defiance of the rules of the road, +sir." + +"Didn't you know that he whistled at me as an insult--as a sneer?" + +"I heard only ordinary signals, sir." + +"Everything is ordinary to a sailor's observation! You allowed him to +crowd you off your course. You made a spectacle of my yacht, splashing +it around like a frightened duck." + +"I was avoiding collision, sir." + +"You should have made your bigness with my yacht! You sneaked and dodged +like a fishing-boat skipper. Was it on a fishing-boat you were trained +to those tricks?" + +"I have commanded a fishing-steamer, sir." + +"On top of it all you gave him three whistles--regular fishing-boat +manners, eh?" + +Captain Mayo straightened and his face and eyes expressed the spirit of +a Yankee skipper who knew that he was right. + +"I say," insisted Marston, "that you saluted him." + +"And I say, sir, that he cross-signaled, an offense that has lost +masters their licenses. When I was pinched I gave him three whistles to +say that my engines were going full speed astern. If Mr. Beveridge had +looked farther in that book he might have found that rule, too!" + +"When I looked up at the bridge, here, you were waving your hand to +him--three whistles and a hand-wave! You can't deny that you were +saluting!" + +"I was shaking my fist at him, sir." + +Within himself Captain Mayo was frankly wondering because the owner of +the _Olenia_ was displaying all this heat. He remembered the taunt from +the pilot-house of the _Conomo_ and understood vaguely that there were +depths in the affair which he had not fathomed. But he was in no mood to +atone vicariously for the offenders aboard the _Conomo_. + +"If I could have found a New York captain who knew the short cuts along +this coast I could have had some decency and dignity on board my yacht. +I'm even forgetting my own sense of what is proper--out here wasting +words and time in this fashion. You're all of the same breed, you +down-easters!" + +"I am quite sure you can find a New York captain--" began Mayo. + +"I don't want your opinion in regard to my business, young man. When I +need suggestions from you I'll ask for them." He flung his soggy cigar +over the rail and went down the ladder, and the fog closed immediately +behind him. + +Captain Mayo paced the bridge. He was alone there. A deck-hand had +hooded the brass of the binnacle and search-light, listening while the +owner had called the master to account. Mayo knew that the full report +of that affair would be carried to the forecastle. His position aboard +the yacht had become intolerable. He wondered how much Marston would +say aft. His cheeks were hot and rancor rasped in his thoughts. In the +hearing of the girl he adored his shortcomings would be the subject for +a few moments of contemptuous discourse, even as the failings of cooks +form a topic for idle chatter at the dinner-table. + +Out of the blank silence of the wrapping fog came many sounds. Noises +carried far and the voice of an unseen singer, who timed himself to +the clank of an Apple-treer pump, brought to Mayo the words of an old +shanty: + + "Come all you young fellows that follow the sea, + Now pray pay attention and lis-ten to me. + O blow the man down, bullies, blow the man down! + Way-ay, blow the man down. + O blow the man down in Liverpool town! + Give me some time to blow the man down. + 'Twas aboard a Black-Bailer I first served my time, + And in that Black-Bailer I wasted my prime. + 'Tis larboard and starboard on deck you will sprawl, + For blowers and strikers command the Black Ball. + So, it's blow the man down, bullies--" + +Alma Marston's voice interrupted his somber appreciation of the +significance of that ditty. "Are you up there, Boyd?" she asked, in +cautious tones. + +He hurried to the head of the ladder and saw her at its foot, half +hidden in the mists even at that short distance. He reached down his +hand and she came up, grasping it. + +She was studying his expression with both eagerness and apprehension. "I +couldn't stay away from you any longer," she declared. "The fog is good +to us! Father could not see me as I came forward. I must tell you, Boyd. +He has ordered me to stay aft." + +He did not speak. + +"Has he dared to say to you what he has been saying below about you?" + +"I don't think it needed any especial daring on your father's part; I am +only his servant," he said, with bitterness. + +"And he--he insulted you like that?" + +"I suppose your father did not look on what he said as insult. I repeat, +I am a paid servant." + +"But what you did was right! I know it must have been right, for you +know everything about what is right to do on the sea." + +"I understand my duties." + +"And he blamed you for something?" + +"It was a bit worse than that from my viewpoint." He smiled down at +her, for her eyes were searching his face as if appealing for a bit of +consolation. + +"Boyd, don't mind him," she entreated. "Somebody who has been fighting +him in business has been very naughty. I don't know just what it's all +about. But he has so many matters to worry him. And he snaps at me just +the same, every now and then." + +"Yes, some men are cowards enough to abuse those who must look to them +for the comforts of this world," he declared. + +"We must make allowances." + +"I'll not stay in a position where a man who hires me thinks he can +talk to me as if I were a foremast hand. Alma, you would despise me if I +allowed myself to be kicked around like a dog." + +"I would love you all the more for being willing to sacrifice something +for my sake. I want you here--here with all your love--here with me as +long as these summer days last." She patted his cheek. "Why don't you +tell me that you want to stay with me, Boyd? That you will die if we +cannot be together? We can see each other here. I can bring Nan Burgess +on the bridge with me. Father will not mind then. Let each day take care +of itself!" + +"I want to be what you want me to be--to do what you want me to do. But +I wish you would tell me to go out into the world and make something of +myself. Alma, tell me to go! And wait for me!" + +She laid her face against his shoulder and reached for his fingers, +endeavoring to pull one of his arms about her. But both of his hands +were clutching the rail of the bridge. He resisted. + +"Are you going to be like all the rest? Just money and trouble and +worry?" She stretched up on tiptoe and brushed a kiss across his fog-wet +cheek. "Are you asleep, my big boy? Yesterday you were awake." + +"I think I am really awake to-day, and that I was dreaming yesterday. +Alma, I cannot sneak behind your father's back to make love to you. I +can't do it. I'm going to give up this position. I can't endure it." + +"I say 'No!' I need you." + +"But--" + +"I'll not give you up." + +There was something dramatic in her declaration; her demeanor expressed +the placid calm of absolute proprietorship. She worked his unwilling +fingers free from the rail. + +"I love you because you can forget yourself. Now don't be like all the +others." + +He realized that a queer little sting of impatience was pricking him. +The girl did not seem to understand what his manhood was prompting. + +"You mustn't be selfish, Boyd!" + +She put into words the vague thought which had been troubling him in +regard to her attitude; and now that he understood what his thought had +been he was incensed by what seemed his own disloyalty. And yet, the +girl was asking him to make over his nature! + +"I'm afraid it's all wrong. These things never seem to come out right," +he mourned. + +"You are trying to turn the world upside down all at once--and all +alone. Don't think so much, you solemn Yankee. Just love!" + +He put his aims about her. "I'm sailing in new waters. I don't seem to +know the true course or the right bearings!" + +"Let's stay anchored until the fog lifts! Isn't that what sailors +usually do?" + +He confessed it, kissing her when she lifted her tantalizing face from +his shoulder. + +"Now you'll let the future alone, won't you?" she asked. + +"Yes." But even while he promised he was obliged to face that future. + +Julius Marston, at the foot of the ladder, called to his daughter. "Are +you up there?" he demanded, sharply. + +"Yes, father." + +"Come down here." + +She gave her lover a hasty caress and obeyed. + +Captain Mayo was obliged to listen. Marston, in his anger, showed no +consideration for possible eavesdroppers. + +"I have told you to stay aft where you belong." + +"Really, father, I don't understand why--" + +"Those are my orders! I understand. _You_ don't need to understand. This +world is full of cheap fellows who misinterpret actions." + +Captain Mayo grasped the rails of the bridge ladder and did down to the +deck without touching his feet to the treads. He appeared before the +father and daughter with startling suddenness. + +"Mr. Marston, I am leaving my position on board here as soon as you can +get another man to take my place." + +"You are, eh?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"You signed papers for the season. It is not convenient for me to make +a change." Marston spoke with the crispness of a man who had settled the +matter. + +Captain Mayo was conscious that the girl was trying to attract his gaze, +but he kept his eyes resolutely from her face. + +"I insist on being relieved." + +"I have no patience with childishness in a man! I found it necessary to +reprimand you. You'll probably know your place after this." He turned +away. + +"I have decided that I do not belong on this yacht," stated Mayo, with +an emphasis he knew the girl would understand. "You must get another +master!" + +"I cannot pick captains out of this fog, and I allow no man to tell +me my own business. I shall keep you to your written agreement. Hold +yourself in readiness to carry telegrams ashore for me. I take it there +is an office here?" + +"There is, sir," returned Mayo, stiffly. + +The girl, departing, bestowed on him a pretty grimace of triumph, +plainly rejoicing because his impetuous resignation had been overruled +so autocratically. But Mayo gave a somber return to the raillery of her +eyes. He had spoken out to Marston as a man, and had been treated with +the contemptuous indifference which would be accorded to a bond-servant. +He was wounded by the light manner in which she viewed that affront, +even though her own father offered it. + +He stood there alone for a time, meditating various rash acts. But +under all the tumult of his feelings was the realization that the +responsibility for that yacht's discipline and safety rested on his +shoulders and he went about his duties. He called two of the crew and +ordered the gangway steps down and the port dinghy cleared and lowered. +Then he went to the chart-room and sat on a locker and tried to figure +out whether he was wonderfully happy or supremely miserable. + +Marston promptly closeted himself with his three wise men of business +after he went aft. "We'll frame up those telegrams now and get them +off," he told them. "I thought I'd better wait until I had worked the +bile out of my system. Never try to do sane and safe business when +you're angry, gentlemen! I'm afraid those telegrams would not have +been exactly coherent if I had written them right after that Bee liner +smashed past us." + +"I have been ready to believe that Tucker would come in with us on the +right lay," said one of the associates. + +"So did I," agreed Marston. "I have thought all his loud talk has been +bluff to beat up a bigger price. But, after what he did to-day! Oh +no! He is out to fight and he grabbed his chance to show us! I do not +believe a lot of this regular fight talk. But when a man comes up and +smashes me between the eyes I begin to suspect his intentions." + +"There's no need of dickering with him any longer, Mr. Marston. He +made his work as dirty as he could to-day--he has left nothing open to +doubt." + +"I'm sorry," said another of the group. "Tucker has let himself get +ugly." + +"So have I," replied Marston, dryly. "And I'm growing senile, too, I'm +afraid. I went forward and wasted as much anathema on that skipper of +mine as I would use up in putting through a half-million deal with an +opposition traffic line. Next thing I know I'll be arguing with, the +smoke-stack. But I must confess, gentlemen, that Tucker rather took my +breath away to-day. Either he has become absolutely crazy or else he +doesn't understand the strength of the combination." + +"He hasn't waked up yet. He doesn't know what's against him." + +"That may be our fault, in a measure," stated one of the men. "We +haven't been able to let men like Tucker in on the full details." + +"In business it's the good guesser who wins," declared Marston. "Our +merger isn't a thing to be advertised. And if we do any more explaining +to Tucker the whole plan _will_ be advertised, you can depend on it. +The infernal fool has been holding us up three months, demanding more +knowledge--and he can't be trusted. There's only one thing to do, +gentlemen! That!" He drove his fist into his palm with significant thud. + +"Is the Bee line absolutely essential in our plans?" + +"Every line along this coast is essential in making that merger stock an +air-tight proposition." + +"It's a new line and is not paying dividends." + +"Well, for that matter, it's got nothing in that respect on some of the +other lines we're salting down in the merger," suggested a member of the +party, speaking for the first time. + +"I'm afraid you said it then, Thompson! American bottoms seem to be +turned into barnacle-gardens," declared the man who had questioned the +matter of Tucker's value. + +"Gentlemen, just a moment!" Julius Marston leaned forward in his +chair. His voice was low. His eyes narrowed. He dominated them by his +earnestness. "You have followed me in a number of enterprises, and we +have had good luck. But let me tell you that we have ahead of us the +biggest thing yet, and we cannot afford to leave one loose end! Not +one, gentlemen! That's why a fool like Tucker doesn't deserve any +consideration when he gets in our way. Listen to me! The biggest thing +that has ever happened in this world is going to happen. How do I know? +I am not sure that I do know. But as I have just told you, the man who +guesses right is the winner." His thin nose was wrinkled, and the strip +of beard on his chin bristled. Sometimes men called Marston "the fox of +Wall Street." He suggested the reason for his nickname as he sat there +and squinted at his associates. "And there's an instinct that helps some +men to guess right. Something is going to happen in this world before +long that will make millionaires over and over out of men who have +invested a few thousands in American bottoms." + +"What will happen?" bluntly inquired one of the men, after a silence. + +"I am neither clairvoyant nor crystal-gazer," said Marston, grimly. "But +I have led you into some good things when my instinct has whispered. I +say it's going to happen--and I say no more." + +"To make American bottoms worth while the whole of Europe will have to +be busy doing something else with their ships." + +"All right! Then they'll be doing it," returned Marston. + +"It would have to be a war--a big war." + +"Very well! Maybe that's the answer." + +"But there never can be another big war. As a financier you know it." + +"I have made some money by adhering to the hard and fast rules of +finance. But I have made the most of my money by turning my back on +those rules and listening to my instinct," was Marston's rejoinder. "I +don't want to over-influence you, gentlemen. I don't care to discuss any +further what you may consider to be dreams. I am not predicting a great +war in Europe. Common sense argues the other way. But I am going into +this ship-merger proposition with every ounce of brains and energy and +capital I possess. The man who gets in my way is trying to keep these +two hands of mine off millions!" He shook his clutched fists above +his head. "And I'll walk over him, by the gods! whether it's Tucker +or anybody else. We have had some good talks on the subject, first +and last. I'm starting now to fight and smash opposition. What do you +propose to do in the matter, gentlemen?" + +They were silent for a time, looking at one another, querying without +words. Then out of their knowledge of Julius Marston's uncanny +abilities, remembering their past successes, came resolve. + +"We're in with you to the last dollar," they assured him, one after the +other. + +"Very well! You're wise!" + +He unlocked a drawer of his desk and secured a code-book. He pressed a +buzzer and the secretary came hurrying from his stateroom. + +"We'll open action, gentlemen, with a little long-distance skirmish over +the wire." + +He began to dictate his telegrams. + + + + +VI ~ AND WE SAILED + + O Johnny's gone to Baltimore + To dance upon that sanded floor. + O Johnny's gone for evermore; + I'll never see my John no more! + O Johnny's gone! + What shall I do? + A-way you. H-e-e l-o-o-o! + O Johnny's gone! + What shall I do? + Johnny's gone to Hilo. + --Old Hauling Song. + +The taciturn secretary fumbled his way forward and delivered to Captain +Mayo a little packet securely bound with tape. + +"Orders from Mr. Marston that you take these ashore, yourself. They are +important telegrams and he wants them hurried." + +The master called his men to the dinghy, and they rowed him away through +the fog. It was a touchy job, picking his way through that murk. He +stood up, leaning forward holding to his taut tiller-ropes, and more +by ears than his eyes directed his course. A few of the anchored craft, +knowing that they were in the harbor roadway, clanged their bells +lazily once in a while. Yacht tenders were making their rounds, carrying +parties who were paying and returning calls, and these boats were +avoiding each other by loud hails. Small objects loomed largely and +little sounds were accentuated. + +The far voice of an unseen joker announced that he could find his way +through the fog all right, but was afraid he had not strength enough to +push his boat through it. + +But Mayo knew his waters in that harbor, and found his way to the wharf. +His real difficulties confronted him at the village telegraph office. +The visiting yachtsmen had flooded the place with messages, and the +flustered young woman was in a condition nearly resembling hysteria. She +was defiantly declaring that she would not accept any more telegrams. +Instead of setting at work upon those already filed she was spending her +time explaining her limitations to later arrivals. + +Captain Mayo stood at one side and looked on for a few moments. A gentle +nudge on his elbow called his attention to an elderly man with stringy +whiskers, who thus solicited his notice. The man held a folded paper +gingerly by one corner, exhibiting profound respect for his minute +burden. + +"You ain't one of these yachting dudes--you're a skipper, ain't you?" +asked the man. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Well, then, I can talk to you, as one officer to another--and glad to +meet one of my own breed. I'm first mate of the schooner _Polly_. Mr. +Speed is my name." + +Captain Mayo nodded. + +"And I need help and advice. This is the first tele-graft I ever had in +my hands. I'd rather be aholt of an iced halyard in a no'easter! I've +been sent ashore to telegraft it, and now she says she won't stick it +onto the wire, however it is they do the blasted trick." + +Captain Mayo had already noticed that the messengers from the yachts +were killing time by teasing the flustered young woman; it was +good-humored badinage, but it was effectively blocking progress at that +end of the line. + +He felt a "native's" instinctive impulse to go to the relief of the +young woman who was being baited by the merrymakers; the responsibility +of his own errand prompted him to help her clear decks. But he waited, +hoping that the yachtsmen would go about their business. + +"From the _Polly_, Mr. Speed?" he inquired, amiably. "Is the Polly in +the harbor? I didn't notice her in the fog." + +"Reckon you know her, by the way you speak of her," replied the +gratified Mr. Speed. + +"I ought to, sir. She was built at Mayoport by my great-grandfather +before the Mayo yards began to turn out ships." + +"Well, I swanny! Be you a Mayo?" + +The captain bowed and smiled at the enthusiasm displayed by Mr. Speed. + +"By ginger! that sort of puts you right into _our_ fambly, so to speak!" +The mate surveyed him with interest and with increasing confidence. "I'm +in a mess, Cap'n Mayo, and I need advice and comfort, I reckon. I was +headed on a straight tack toward my regular duty, and all of a sudden I +found myself jibed and in stays, and I'm there now and drifting. Seeing +that your folks built the _Polly_, I consider that you're in the fambly, +and that Proverdunce put you right here to-night in this telegraft +office. Do you know Cap'n Epps Candage?" + +Mayo shook his head. + +"Or his girl, Polly, named for the _Polly?_" + +"No, I must confess." + +"Well, it may be just as well for ye that ye don't," said Oakum Otie, +twisting his straggly beard into a spill and blinking nervously. "There +I was, headed straight and keeping true course, and then she looked at +me and there was a tremble in her voice and tears in her eyes--and the +next thing I knowed I was here in this telegraft place with this!" He +held up the folded paper and his hand shook. + +Captain Mayo did not understand, and therefore he made no remarks. + +"There was a song old Ephrum Wack used to sing," went on Mr. Speed, +getting more confidential and making sure that the other men in the room +were too much occupied to listen. "Chorus went: + + "I ain't afeard of the raging sea, + Nor critters that's in it, whatever they be. + But a witch of a woman is what skeers me! + +"There I've been, standing by Cap'n Epps in the whole dingdo, and she +got me one side and looked at me and says a few things with a quiver in +her voice and her eyes all wet and shiny and"--he paused and looked down +at the paper with bewilderment that was rather pitiful--"and I walked +right over all common sense and shipboard rules and discipline and +everything and came here, fetching this to be stuck on to the wire, or +whatever they do with telegrafts. But," he added, a waver in his tones, +"she is so lord-awful pretty, I couldn't help it!" + +Still did Captain Mayo refrain from comment or question. + +"The question now is, had I ought to," demanded Mr. Speed. "I'm taking +you into the fambly on my own responsibility. You're a captain, you're a +native, and I need good advice. Had I ought to?" + +"I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me, sir. The matter seems to be +private, and, furthermore, I don't know what you're talking about." + +"She says it's to the milliner so that the milliner will hold the job +open. But I'm suspicioning that it's roundabout to the beau that's in +love with her. That's the style of women. Cap'n Epps shanghaied her to +get her away from that fellow. Now she has got it worked around so that +she is going back. But there's a beau in it instead of a milliner. She +wouldn't be so anxious to get word to a milliner. That's my idee, and I +reckon it's yours, too." + +"I really have no ideas on the subject," returned Captain Mayo. "But +if you have promised a young lady to send a telegram for her I would +certainly keep that promise if I were in your place." + +The next moment he regretted his rather impetuous advice, for Mr. Speed +slapped the paper against a hard palm and blurted out: "That's all I +wanted! Course and bearings from an a-number-one adviser. New, how'll I +go to work to send this thing?" + +"I have been figuring on that matter for the last few minutes, myself," +acknowledged the captain. "It's about time to have a little action in +this place." + +He was obliged to elbow his way through the group of men who surrounded +the telegraph operator. Oakum Otie followed on his heels, resolved to +study at close range the mystery of telegraphing, realizing what he +needed for his own instruction. + +"These telegrams are important and they must go at ore, madam," Mayo +informed the flustered young woman. + +"I can't send them. I am bothered so much I can't do anything," she +stammered. + +"Oh, forget your business, skipper," advised one of the party. + +"It is not my business, sir." He laid the packet of messages before the +operator on her little counter and tapped his finger on them. "They must +go," he repeated. + +"In their turn," warned the yachtsman, showing that he resented this +intrusion. "And after the party is over!" + +"I intended to confine my conversation to this young lady," said Mayo. +He turned and faced them. "But I have been here long enough to see that +you gentlemen are interfering with the business of this office. Perhaps +your messages are not important. Mine are." + +The yachtsman was not sober nor was he judicious. "Go back to your job, +young fellow," he advised. "You are horning in among gentlemen." + +"So am I," squawked Mr. Speed, with weather eye out for clouds of any +sort. + +Captain Mayo gave his supporter a glance of mingled astonishment and +relish. "We'd better not have any words about the matter, gentlemen,'' +he suggested, mildly. + +"Certainly not," stated the spokesman. "If you'll pass on there'll be no +words--or anything else." + +"Then we'll dispense with words!" The quick anger of youth flared in +Mayo. The air of the man rather than his words had offended deeply. +"You'd like to have this room to yourself so that you can attend to your +business, I presume?" he asked the operator. + +"Yes, I would." + +Oakum Otie laid his folded paper upon the packet of Captain Mayo. + +"You will leave the room gentlemen," advised the captain. + +Mr. Speed thrust out his bony elbows and cracked his hard fists +together. "I have never liked dudes," he stated. "I have been brought up +that way. All my training with Cap'n Epps has been that way." + +"How do you fit into this thing?" demanded one of the yachtsmen. + +"About like this," averred Mr. Speed. He grabbed the young man by both +shoulders and ran him out into the night before anybody could interfere. +Then Mr. Speed reappeared promptly and inquired, "Which one goes next?" + +"I think they will all go," said the captain. + +"Come on," urged one of the party. "We can't afford to get into a brawl +with natives." + +"You bet you can't," retorted Oakum Otie. "I hain't hove bunches of +shingles all my life for nothing!" + +Mayo said nothing more. But after the yachtsmen had looked him over they +went out, making the affair a subject for ridicule. + +"Hope I done right and showed to you that I was thankful for good +advice," suggested Mr. Speed, seeking commendation. + +"Just a bit hasty, sir." + +"Maybe, but there's nothing like handing folks a sample just to show up +the quality of the whole piece." + +"I thank you--both of you," said the grateful operator. + +"You'd better lock your door," advised Mayo. "Men are thoughtless when +they have nothing to do except play." + +"I am so grateful! And I'm going to break an office rule," volunteered +the girl. "I shall send off your telegrams first." + +"And I hope you can tuck that little one in second--it won't take +up much room!" pleaded Oakum Otie. "It's to help an awful pretty +girl--looks are a good deal like yours!" + +"I'll attend to it," promised the young woman, blushing. + +Outside in the village street Mr. Speed wiped his rough palm against the +leg of his trousers and offered his hand to the captain. "I'll have to +say good-by to you here, sir. I've got a little errunting to do--fig o' +terbacker and a box of stror'b'ries. I confess to a terrible tooth for +stror'b'ries. When the hanker ketches me and I can't get to stror'b'ries +my stror'b'ry mark shows up behind my ear. I hope I have done right in +sending off that tele-graft for her--but it's too bad that a landlubber +beau is going to get such a pretty girl." Then Oakum Otie sighed and +melted away into the foggy gloom. + +When Captain Mayo was half-way down the harbor, on his way back to the +yacht, he was confronted by a spectacle which startled him. The fog +was suddenly painted with a ruddy flare which spread high and flamed +steadily. His first fears suggested that a vessel was on fire. The +_Olenia_ lay in that direction. He commanded his men to pull hard. + +When he burst out of the mists into the zone of the illumination his +misgivings were allayed, but his curiosity was roused. + +A dozen yacht tenders flocked in a flotilla near the stern of a rusty +old schooner. All the tenders were burning Coston lights, and from +several boats yachtsmen were sending off rockets which striped the pall +of fog with bizarre colorings. + +The stern of the schooner was well lighted up by the torches, and Mayo +saw her name, though he did not need that name to assure him of her +identity; she was the venerable _Polly_. + +The light which flamed about her, showing up her rig and lines, was +weirdly unreal and more than ever did she seem like a ghost ship. +The thick curtain of the mist caught up the flare of the torches and +reflected it upon her from the skies, and she was limned in fantastic +fashion from truck to water-line. Shadows of men in the tenders were +thrown against the fog-screen in grotesque outline, and a spirit crew +appeared to be toiling in the top-hamper of the old schooner. + +Captain Mayo ordered his men to hold water and the tender drifted close +to the flotilla. He spied a yacht skipper whom he had known when both +were in the coasting trade. + +"What's the idea, Duncan?" + +His acquaintance grinned. "Serenade for old Epps Candage's girl--handed +to her over his head." He pointed upward. + +Projecting over the schooner's rail was the convulsed countenance of +Captain Candage. Choler seemed to be consuming him. The freakish light +painted everything with patterns in arabesque; the captain's face looked +like the countenance of a gargoyle. + +Mayo, observing with the natural prejudice of a "native," detected +mockery in the affair. He had just been present at one exhibition of the +convivial humor of larking yachtsmen. + +"What's the special excuse for it?" he asked, sourly. + +"According to the story, Epps has brought her with him on this trip to +break up a courting match." + +"Well, does that have anything to do with this performance?" + +"Oh, it's only a little spree," confessed the other. "It was planned out +on our yacht. Old Epps made himself a mucker to-day by sassing some of +the gents of the fleet, and the boys are handing him a little something. +That's all! It's only fun!" + +"According to my notion it's the kind of fun that hurts when a girl is +concerned, Duncan." + +"Just as serious as ever, eh? Well, my notion is that a little +good-natured fun never hurts a pretty girl--and they say this one is +some looker! Oh, hold on a minute, Boyd!" The master of the _Olenia_ had +turned away and was about to give an order to his oarsmen. "You ought to +stop long enough to hear that new song one of the gents on the _Sunbeam_ +has composed for the occasion. It's a corker. I heard 'em rehearsing it +on our yacht." + +In spite of his impatient resentment on behalf of the daughter of Epps +Candage, Captain Mayo remained. Just then the accredited minstrel of +the yachtsmen stood up, balancing himself in a tender. He was clearly +revealed by the lights, and was magnified by the aureole of tinted fog +which surrounded him. He sang, in waltz time, in a fine tenor: + + "Our Polly O, + O'er the sea you go; + Fairer than sunbeam, lovely as moon-gleam, + All of us love thee so! + While the breezes blow + To waft thee, Polly O, + We will be true to thee, + Crossing the blue to thee, + Polly--Polly! + Dear little Polly, + Polly--O-O-O!" + +He finished the verse and then raised both arms with the gesture of a +choral conductor. + +"All together, now, boys!" + +They sang with soul and vigor and excellent effect. + +Ferocity nearly inarticulate, fury almost apoplectic, were expressed by +the face above the weather-worn rail. + +"They say that music soothes the savage breast, but it don't look like +it in this case," observed Captain Duncan with a chuckle. + +"Clear off away from here, you drunken dudes! I'll have the law on ye! +I'll have ye arrested for--for breaking the peace." + +That threat, considering the surroundings, provoked great hilarity. + +"Give way all! Here comes a cop!" warned a jeering voice. + +"He's walking on the water," explained another. + +"The man must be a fool," declared Captain Mayo. "If he'd go below and +shut up, they'd get tired and leave in a few minutes." + +However, Captain Candage seemed to believe that retreat would be greatly +to his discredit. He continued to hang over the rail, discharging as +complete a line of deep-water oaths as ever passed the quivering lips of +a mariner. Therefore the playful yachtsmen were highly entertained and +stayed to bait him still further. Every little while they sang the Polly +song with fresh gusto, while the enraged skipper fairly danced to it in +his mad rage and flung his arms about like a crazy orchestra leader. + +Mr. Speed came rowing in his dory, putting out all his strength, +splashing his oars. "My Gawd! Cap'n Mayo," he gasped, "I heard 'em +hollering 'Oh, Polly!' and I was 'feard she was afire. What's the +trouble?" + +"You'd better get on board, sir, and induce Captain Candage to go below +and keep still. He is fast making a complete idiot of himself." + +"I hain't got no influence over him. I ask and implore you to step on +board and soothe him down, sir. You can do it. He'll listen to a Mayo." + +"I'd better not try. It's no job for a stranger, Mr. Speed." + +"He'll be heaving that whole deckload of shingles at 'em next!" + +"Get his daughter to coax him." + +"He won't listen to her when he's that fussed up!" + +"I'm sorry! Give way men!" + +His rowers dropped their oars into the water and pulled away with +evident reluctance. + +"Better stay and see it out," advised Captain Duncan. + +"I don't care much for your show," stated Mayo, curtly. + +The cabin curtains were drawn on the _Olenia_, and he felt especially +shut away from human companionship. He went forward and paced up and +down the deck, turning over his troubled affairs in his mind, but making +poor shift in his efforts to set anything in its right place. + +There were no indications that the serenading yachtsmen were becoming +tired of their method of killing time during a fog-bound evening. They +had secured banjos and mandolins, and were singing the Polly song with +better effect and greater relish. And continually the hoarse voice of +the _Polly's_ master roared forth malediction, twisted into new forms of +profanity. + +But Captain Mayo, pacing under the damp gleam of the riding-light, paid +but little heed to the hullabaloo. He was too thoroughly absorbed in +his own troubles to feel special interest in what his neighbors were +doing. He did not even note that a fog-sodden breeze had begun to puff +spasmodically from the east and that the mists were shredding overhead. + +However, all of a sudden, a sound forced itself on his attention; he +heard the chuckling of sheaves and knew that a sail was being hoisted. +The low-lying stratum of fog was still thick, and he could not perceive +the identity of the craft which proposed to take advantage of the +sluggish breeze. The "ruckle-ruckle" of the blocks sounded at quick +intervals and indicated haste; there was a suggestion of vicious +determination on the part of the men who were tugging at the halyards. +Then Captain Mayo heard the steady clanking of capstan pawls. He knew +the methods of the Apple-treers, their cautiousness, and their leisurely +habits, and he could scarcely believe that a coasting skipper was +intending to leave the harbor that night. But the capstan pawls began to +click in staccato, showing that the anchor had been broken out. + +Protesting shouts from all about in the gloom greeted that signal. + +There was no mistaking the hoarse voice of Captain Candage when it was +raised in reply; his tones had become familiar after that evening of +malediction. + +"Dingdam ye, I know of a way of getting shet of the bunch of ye!" + +"Don't try to shift your anchorage!" + +"Anchorage be hossified! I'm going to sea!" bellowed the master of the +_Polly_. + +"Down with that hook of yours! You'll rake this whole yacht fleet with +your old dumpcart!" + +"You have driv' me to it! Now you can take your chances!" + +The next moment Mayo heard the ripping of tackle and a crash. + +"There go two tenders and our boat-boom! Confound it, man, drop your +hook!" + +But from that moment Captain Candage, as far as his mouth was concerned, +preserved ominous silence. The splintery speech of havoc was more +eloquent. + +Mayo could not see, but he understood in detail what damage was wrought +upon the delicate fabric of yachts by that unwieldy old tub of a +schooner. Here, another boat-boom carried away, as she sluggishly thrust +her bulk out through the fleet; there an enameled hull raked by her +rusty chain-plate bolts. Now a tender smashed on the outjutting davits, +next a wreck of spidery head-rigging, a jib-boom splintered and a +foretopmast dragged down. If Captain Mayo had been in any doubt as to +the details of the disasters he would have received full information +from the illuminating profanity of the victims. + +He knew well enough that Captain Candage was not performing with wilful +intent to do all that damage. In what little wind there was the schooner +was not under control. She was drifting until she got enough headway to +be steered. In the mean time she was doing what came in her way to do. +The _Polly_ had been anchored near the _Olenia_. As soon as her anchor +left bottom the schooner drifted up the harbor. Mayo knew, in a few +minutes, that Candage was bringing her about. An especial outbreak of +smashing signaled that manouver. + +Mayo sniffed at the breeze, judged distance and direction, and then he +rushed forward and pounded his fist on the forecastle hatch. + +"Rout out all hands!" he shouted. "Rouse up bumpers and tarpaulin!" + +With the wind as it was, he realized that the schooner would point up in +the _Olenia_'s direction when Candage headed out to sea. + +At last Mayo caught a glimpse of her through the fog. His calculation +had been correct. Headed his way she was. She was moving so slowly +that she was practically unmanageable; her apple-bows hardly stirred +a ripple, but with breeze helping the tide-set she was coming +irresistibly, paying off gradually and promising to sideswipe the big +yacht. + +Mayo had a mariner's pride in his craft, and a master's devotion to +duty. He did not content himself with merely ordering about the men who +came tumbling on deck. + +He grabbed a huge bumper away from one of the sailors who seemed +uncertain just what to do; he ran forward and thrust it over the rail, +leaning far out to see that it was placed properly to take the impact. +He was giving more attention to the safety of the _Olenia_ than he was +to what the on-coming _Polly_ might do to him. + +Under all bowsprits on schooners, to guy the headstays, thrusts +downward a short spar, at right angles to the bowsprit; it is called the +martingale or dolphin-striker. The amateur riggers who had tinkered with +the Polly's gear in makeshift fashion had not troubled to smooth off +spikes with which they had repaired the martingale's lower end. Captain +Mayo ducked low to dodge a guy, and the spikes hooked themselves neatly +into the back of his reefer coat. Mr. Marston had bought excellent and +strong cloth for his captain's uniform. The fabric held, the spikes were +well set, the _Polly_ did not pause, and, therefore, the master of the +_Olenia_ was yanked off his own deck and went along. + +All the evening Mayo's collar had been buttoned closely about his neck +to keep out the fog-damp, and when he was picked up by the spikes the +collar gripped tightly about his throat and against his larynx. His cry +for help was only a strangled squawk. His men were scattered along the +side of the yacht, trying to protect her, the night was over all, and no +one noted the mode of the skipper's departure. + +The old schooner scrunched her way past the _Olenia_, roweling the +yacht's glossy paint and smearing her with tar and slime. It was as +if the rancorous spirit of the unclean had found sudden opportunity to +defile the clean. + +Then the _Polly_ passed on into the night with clear pathway to the open +sea. + + + + +VII ~ INTO THE MESS FROM EASTWARD + + Farewell to friends, farewell to foes, + Farewell to dear relations. + We're bound across the ocean blue-- + Bound for the foreign nations. + Then obey your bo's'n's call, + Walk away with that cat-fall! + And we'll think on those girls when we can no longer stay. + And we'll think on those girls when we're far, far away. + --Unmooring. + +For the first few moments, after being snatched up in that fashion, Mayo +hung from the dolphin-striker without motion, like a man paralyzed. +He was astounded by the suddenness of this abduction. He was afraid to +struggle. Momentarily he expected that the fabric would let go and that +he would be rolled under the forefoot of the schooner. Then he began to +grow faint from lack of breath; he was nearly garroted by his collar. +Carefully he raised his hands and set them about a stay above his head +and lifted himself so that he might ease his throat from the throttling +grip of the collar. He dangled there over the water for some time, +feeling that he had not strength enough, after his choking, to lift +himself into the chains or to swing to the foot-rope. + +He glanced up and saw the figurehead; it seemed to be simpering at him +with an irritating smile. There was something of bland triumph in that +grin. In the upset of his feelings there was personal and provoking +aggravation in the expression of the figurehead. He swore at it as if it +were something human. His anger helped him, gave him strength. He began +to swing himself, and at last was able to throw a foot over a stay. + +He rested for a time and then gave himself another hoist and was able +to get astride the bowsprit. He judged that they must be outside the +headland of Saturday Cove, because the breeze was stronger and the sea +gurgled and showed white threads of foam against the blunt bows. His +struggles had consumed more time than he had realized in the dazed +condition produced by his choking collar. + +He heard the popping of a motor-boat's engine far astern, and was +cheered by the prompt conviction that pursuit was on. Therefore, he made +haste to get in touch with the _Polly's_ master. He scrambled inboard +along the bowsprit and fumbled his way aft over the piles of lumber, +obliged to move slowly for fear of pitfalls, Once or twice he shouted, +but he received no answer, He perceived three dim figures on the +quarter-deck when he arrived there--three men. Captain Candage was +stamping to and fro. + +"Who in the devil's name are _you?_" bawled the old skipper. "Get off'm +here! This ain't a passenger-bo't." + +"I'll get off mighty sudden and be glad to," retorted Mayo. + +"Well, I'll be hackmetacked!" exploded Mr. Speed shoving his face over +the wheel. "It's--" + +"Shut up!" roared the master. "How comes it you're aboard here as a +stowaway?" + +"Don't talk foolishness," snapped Captain Mayo "Your old martingale +spikes hooked me up. Heave to and let me off!" + +"Heave to it is!" echoed Oakum Otie, beginning to whirl the tiller. + +Captain Candage turned on his mate with the violence of a thunderclap. +"Gad swigger your pelt, who's giving off orders aboard here? Hold on +your course!" + +"But this is--" + +"Shut up!" It was a blast of vocal effort. "Hold your course!" + +"And _I_ say, heave to and let that motor-boat take me off," insisted +Mayo. + +Captain Candage leaned close enough to note the yacht skipper's uniform +coat. "Who do you think you're ordering around, you gilt-striped, +monkey-doodle dandy?" + +"That motor-boat is coming after me." + +"Think you're of all that importance, hey? No, sir! It's a pack of 'em +chasing me to make me go back into port and be sued and libeled and +attached by cheap lawyers." + +"You ought to be seized and libeled! You had no business ratching out of +that harbor in the dark." + +"Ought to have taken a rising vote of dudes, hey, to find out whether I +had the right to h'ist my mudhook or not?" + +"I'm not here to argue. You can do that in court. I tell you to come +into the wind and wait for that boat." + +"You'd better, Cap Candage," bleated Oakum Otie. "This is--" + +"Shut up! I'm running my own schooner, Mr. Speed." + +"But he is one of the--" + +"I don't care if he is one of the Apostles. I know my own business. Shut +up! Hold her on her course!" + +He took two turns along the quarter-deck, squinting up into the night. + +"Look here, Candage, you and I are going to have a lot of trouble with +each other if you don't show some common sense. I must get back to my +yacht." + +"Jump overboard and swim back. I ain't preventing. I didn't ask you on +board. You can leave when you get ready. But this schooner is bound for +New York, they're in a hurry for this lumber, and I ain't stopping at +way stations!" He took another look at the weather, licked his thumb, +and held it against the breeze. "Sou'west by sou', and let her run! And +shut up!" he commanded his mate. + +Mayo grabbed one of the yawl davits and sprang to the rail. + +"We're some bigger than a needle, but so long as the haystack stays +thick enough I guess we needn't worry!" remarked Captain Candage, +cocking his ear to listen to the motor-boat's exhaust. + +"Hoi-oi!" shouted Mayo into the night astern. He knew that men hear +indistinctly over the noise of a gasoline-engine, but he had resolved to +keep shouting. + +"This way, men! This way with that boat!" + +"'Vast heaving on that howl!" commanded Candage. + +But Mayo persisted with all his might. His attention was confined wholly +to his efforts, and he was not prepared for the sudden attack from +behind. The master of the _Polly_ seized Mayo's legs and yanked him +backward to the deck. The young man fell heavily, and his head thumped +the planks with violence which flung him into insensibility. + +When he opened his eyes he looked up and saw a hanging-lamp that creaked +on its gimbals as it swayed to the roll of the schooner. He was in the +_Polly's_ cabin. Next he was conscious that he was unable to move. He +was seated on the floor, his back against a stanchion, his hands lashed +behind him by bonds which confined him to the upright support. But the +most uncomfortable feature of his predicament was a marlinespike which +was stuck into his mouth like a bit provided for a fractious horse, +and was secured by lashings behind his head. He was effectually gagged. +Furthermore, the back of his head ached in most acute fashion. He rolled +his eyes about and discovered that he had a companion in misery. A very +pretty young woman was seated on a camp-chair across the cabin. Her face +expressed much sympathy. + +He gurgled a wordless appeal for help, and then perceived that she was +lashed into her chair. + +"I wish I could take that awful thing out of your mouth, sir." + +He gave her a look which assured her that he shared in her desire. + +"My father has tied me into this chair. I tried to make him stop his +dreadful talk when the boats came and burned the lights. He put me +down here and made a prisoner of me. It is terrible, all that has been +happening. I can't understand! I hope you will not think too hard of my +father, sir. Honestly, he seems to be out of his right mind." + +He wanted to return some comforting reply to this wistful appeal, but +he could only roll his head against the stanchion and make inarticulate +sounds. + +"He seemed to be very bitter when he brought you below. I could not +make him listen to reason. I have been thinking--and perhaps you're the +gentleman who led the singing which made him so angry?" + +Mayo shook his head violently in protest at this suspicion. + +"I didn't mind," she assured him. "I knew it was only in fun." She +pondered for a few minutes. "Perhaps they wouldn't have teased one of +their city girl friends in that way--but I suppose men must have a good +time when they are away from home. Only--it has made it hard for me!" +There were tears in her eyes. + +Mayo's face grew purple as he tried to speak past the restraining spike +and make her understand his sentiments on the subject of that serenade. + +"Don't try to talk, sir. I'm so sorry. It is shameful!" + +There was silence in the cabin after that for a long time. He looked up +at the swinging lamp, his gaze wandered about the homely cabin. But his +eyes kept returning to her face. He could not use his tongue, and he +tried to tell her by his glances, apologetic little starings, that he +was sorry for her in her grief. She met those glances with manifest +embarrassment. + +After an absence which was prolonged to suit his own sour will in the +matter, Captain Candage came stamping stormily down the companionway. +He stood between his captives and glowered, first at one and then at the +other. + +"Both of ye blaming me, I reckon, for what couldn't be helped." + +"Father, listen to me now, if you have any sense left in you," cried the +girl, with passion. "Take that horrible thing out of that gentleman's +mouth." + +"It has come to a pretty pass in this world when an honest man can't +carry on his own private business without having to tie up meddlers so +as to have a little peace." He walked close to Mayo and shook a monitory +finger under the young man's nose. "Now, what did ye come on board here +for, messing into my affairs?" + +The indignant captain put forth his best efforts to make suitable +retort, but could only emit a series of "guggles." + +"And now on top of it all I am told by my mate, who never gets around to +do anything that ought to be done till it's two days too late, that +you are one of the Mayos! Why wasn't I informed? I might have made +arrangements to show you some favors. I might have hove to and taken a +chance, considering who you was. And now it's too late. Everybody seems +to be ready to impose on me!" + +Again Mayo tried to speak. + +"Why don't you shut up that gobbling and talk sense?" shouted the irate +skipper, with maddening disregard of the captive's predicament. + +"Father, are you completely crazy? You haven't taken that spike out of +his mouth." + +"Expect a man to remember everything when he is all wrapped in his own +business and everybody trying to meddle with it?" grumbled Candage. He +fumbled in his pocket and produced a knife. He slashed away the rope +yarn which lashed the marlinespike. "If you can talk sense I'll help +you do it! I reckon you can holler all you want to now. Them dudes can't +find their own mouths in a fog, much less this schooner. Now talk up!" + +Mayo worked his aching jaws and found his voice. "You know how I +happened to get aboard, Captain Candage. I am skipper of the _Olenia_. +Put back with me if you want to save trouble." + +"Not by a tin hoopus, sir! I ain't going about and tackle them reefs in +this fog. I've got open sea ahead, and I shall keep going!" + +Mayo was a sailor who knew that coast, and he admitted to himself that +Candage's stubbornness was justified. + +"I ain't responsible for your getting aboard here. I'll land you as soon +as I can--and that covers the law, sir." + +During a prolonged silence the two men stared at each other. + +"At any rate, Captain Candage, I trust you will not consider that you +have a right to keep me tied up here any longer." + +"Now that there's a better understanding about who is boss aboard here, +I don't know as I'm afraid to have you at large," admitted the skipper. +"I only warn you to remember your manners and don't forget that I'm +captain." + +He flourished his clasp-knife and bent and cut the lashings. Then he +strode across the cabin and performed like service for his daughter. + +"I reckon I can afford to have _you_ loose, too, now that you can't tell +me my business in front of a lot of skylarkers throwing kisses right and +left!" + +"Father! Oh, oh!" She put her hands to her face. + +Captain Candage seemed to be having some trouble in keeping up his +role of a bucko shipmaster; he shifted his eyes from Mayo's scowl and +surveyed his daughter with uncertainty while he scratched his ear. + +"When a man ain't boss on his own schooner he might as well stop going +to sea," he muttered. "Some folks knows it's the truth, being in a +position to know, and others has to be showed!" He went stamping up the +companionway into the night. + +Captain Mayo waited, for some minutes. The girl did not lift her head. + +"About that--What he said about--You understand! I know better!" he +faltered. + +"Thank you, sir," she said, gratefully, still hiding her face from him. + +"Men sometimes do very foolish things." + +"I didn't know my father could be like this." + +"I was thinking about the men who came and annoyed him. I can understand +how he felt, because I am 'a 'native' myself." + +"I thought you were from outside." + +"My name is Boyd Mayo. I'm from Mayoport." + +She looked up at him with frank interest. + +"My folks built this schooner," he stated, with modest pride. + +"I'm Polly Candage--I'm named for it." + +"It's too bad!" he blurted. "I don't mean to say but what the name is +all right," he explained, awkwardly, "but I don't think that either +of us is particularly proud of this old hooker right at the present +moment." He went across the cabin and sat down on a transom and, tested +the bump on the back of his head with cautious palm. + +She did not reply, and he set his elbows on his knees and proceeded to +nurse his private grouch in silence, quite excluding his companion +from his thoughts. Now that he had been snatched so summarily from his +hateful position on board the _Olenia_, his desire to leave her was not +so keen. After Mayo's declaration to the owner, Marston might readily +conclude that his skipper had deserted. His reputation and his license +as a shipmaster were in jeopardy, and he had already had a bitter taste +of Marston's intolerance of shortcomings. If Marston cared to bother +about breaking such a humble citizen, malice had a handy weapon. But +most of all was Mayo concerned with the view Alma Marston would take of +the situation. She would either believe that he had fallen overboard +in the skirmish with the attacking Polly or had deserted without +warning--and in the case of a lover both suppositions were agonizing. +His distress was so apparent that the girl, from her seat on the +opposite transom, extended sympathy in the glances she dared to give +him. + +"How did you tear your coat so badly in the back?" she ventured at last. + +"Spikes your excellent father left sticking out of his martingale," he +said, a sort of boyish resentment in his tones. + +"Then it is only right that I should offer to mend it for you." + +She hurried to a locker, as if glad of an excuse to occupy herself. She +produced her little sewing-basket and then came to him and held out her +hand. + +"Take it off, please." + +"You needn't trouble," he expostulated, still gruff. + +"I insist. Please let me do a little something to make up for the +_Polly's_ naughtiness." + +"It will be all right until I can get ashore--and perhaps I'll never +have need to wear the coat again, anyway." + +"Won't you allow me to be doing something that will take my mind off my +troubles, sir?" Then she snapped her finger into her palm and there was +a spirit of matronly command in her voice, in spite of her youth. "I +insist, I say! Take off your coat." + +He obeyed, a little grin crinkling at the corners of his mouth--a +flicker of light in his general gloom. After he had placed the coat in +her hands he sat down on the transom and watched her busy fingers. +She worked deftly. She closed in the rents and then darned the raveled +places with bits of the thread pulled from the coat itself. + +"You are making it look almost as good as new." + +"A country girl must know how to patch and darn. The folks in the +country haven't as many things to throw away as the city folks have." + +"But that--what you are doing--that's real art." + +"My aunt does dressmaking and I have helped her. And lately I have +been working in a millinery-shop. Any girl ought to know how to use her +needle." + +He remembered what Mr. Speed had said about the reason for her presence +on the _Polly_. He cast a disparaging glance around the bare cabin and +decided in his mind that Mr. Speed had reported truthfully and with full +knowledge of the facts. Surely no girl would choose that sort of thing +for a summer vacation. + +She bent her head lower over her work and he was conscious of warmer +sympathy for her; their troubled affairs of the heart were in similar +plight. He felt an impulse to say something to console her and knew that +he would welcome understanding and consolation from her; promptly he was +afraid of his own tongue, and set curb upon all speech. + +"A man never knows how far he may go in making fool talk when he gets +started," he reflected. "Feeling the way I do to-night, I'd better keep +the conversation kedge well hooked." + +Now that her hands were busy, she did not find the silence embarrassing. +Mayo returned to his ugly meditations. + +After a time he was obliged to shift himself on the transom. The +schooner was heeling in a manner which showed the thrust of wind. He +glanced up and saw that the rain was smearing broad splashes on the +dingy glass of the windows. The companion hatch was open, and when he +cocked his ear, with mariner's interest in weather, he heard the wind +gasping in the open space with a queer "guffle" in its tone. + +Instinctively he began to look about the cabin for a barometer. + +Already that day the _Olenia's_ glass had warned him by its downward +tendency. He wondered whether further reading would indicate something +more ominous than fog. + +Across the cabin he noted some sort of an instrument swinging from a +hook on a carline. He investigated. It was a makeshift barometer, the +advertising gift of a yeast company. The contents of its tube were +roiled to the height of the mark which was lettered "Tornado." + +"You can't tell nothing from that!" Captain Candage had come down into +the cabin and stood behind his involuntary guest. "It has registered +'Tornado' ever since the glass got cracked. And even at that, it's about +as reliable as any of the rest of them tinkerdiddle things." + +"Haven't you a regular barometer--an aneroid?" inquired Captain Mayo. + +"I can smell all the weather I need to without bothering with one of +them contrivances," declared the master of the schooner, in lordly +manner. He began to pull dirty oilskins out of a locker. + +Mayo hurried up the companionway and put out his head. There were both +weight and menace in the wind which hooted past his ears. The fog was +gone, but the night was black, without glimmer of stars. The white +crests of the waves which galloped alongside flaked the darkness with +ominous signalings. + +"If you can smell weather, Captain Candage, your nose ought to tell you +that this promises to be something pretty nasty." + +"Oh, it might be called nasty by lubbers on a gingerbread yacht, but +I have sailed the seas in my day and season, and I don't run for an +inshore puddle every time the wind whickers a little." He was fumbling +with a button under his crisp roll of chin beard and gave the other man +a stare of superiority. + +"You don't class me with yacht-lubbers, do you?" + +"Well, you was just on a yacht, wasn't you?" + +"Look here, Captain Candage, you may just as well understand, now and +here, that I'm one of your kind of sailors. Excuse me for personal +talk, but I want to inform you that from fifteen to twenty I was a +Grand-Banksman. Last season I was captain of the beam trawler _Laura and +Marion_. And I have steamboated in the Sound and have been a first mate +in the hard-pine trade in Southern waters. I have had a chance to find +out more or less about weather." + +"Un-huh!" remarked the skipper, feigning indifference. "What about it?" + +"I tell you that you have no business running out into this mess that is +making from east'ard." + +"If you have been so much and so mighty in your time, then you +understand that a captain takes orders from nobody when he's on board +his own vessel." + +"I understand perfectly well, sir. I'm not giving orders. But my own +life is worth something to me and I have a right to tell you that you +are taking foolhardy chances. And you know it, too!" + +Captain Candage's gaze shifted. He was a coaster and he was naturally +cautious, as Apple-treers are obliged to be. He knew perfectly well that +he was in the presence of a man who knew! He had not the assurance to +dispute that man, though his general grudge against all the world at +that moment prompted him. + +"I got out because they drove me out," he growled. + +"A man can't afford to be childish when he is in command of a vessel, +sir. You are too old a skipper to deny that." + +"I was so mad I didn't stop to smell weather," admitted the master, +bracing himself to meet a fresh list of the heeling _Polly_. He +evidently felt that he ought to defend his own sagacity and absolve +himself from mariner's culpability. + +"Very well! Let it go at that! But what are you going to do?" + +"I can't beat back to Saturday Cove against this wind--not now! She +would rack her blamed old butts out." + +"Then run her for Lumbo Reach. You can quarter a following sea. She +ought to ride fairly easy." + +"That's a narrow stab in a night as black as this one is." + +"I'll make a cross-bearing for you. Where's your chart?" Mayo exhibited +a sailor's alert anxiety to be helpful. + +"I 'ain't ever needed a chart--not for this coast." + +"Then I'll have to guess at it, sir." He closed his eyes in order to +concentrate. "You gave a course of sou'west by sou'. Let's see--it was +nine-fifteen when I just looked and we must have logged--" + +"It ain't no use to stab for such a hole in the wall as Lumbo Reach," +declared Candage in discouraged tones. + +"But you've got your compass and I can--" + +"There ain't no depending on my compass within two points and a half." + +"Confound it, I can make allowance, sir, if you'll tell me your +deviation!" + +"But it's a card compass and spins so bad in a seaway there ain't no +telling, anyway. In my coasting I haven't had to be particular." + +"Not as long as you had an apple-tree in sight," jeered Mayo, beginning +to lose his temper. + +"I don't dare to run in the direction of anything that is solid--we'll +hit it sure, 'n' hell-fire will toast corn bread. We've got to stay to +sea!" + +Captain Mayo set his teeth and clenched his fists and took a few turns +up and down the cabin. He looked up into the night through the open +hatch of the companion-way. The pale glimmer of the swinging lamp tossed +a mild flare against the blackness and lighted two faces which were +limned against that pall. Both Oakum Otie and Smut-nosed Dolph were at +the wheel. Their united strength was needed because the schooner was +yawing madly every now and then when the mightier surges of the frothing +sea hoisted her counter, chasing behind her like wild horses. Those +faces, when Mayo looked on them, were very solemn. The two were +crouching like men who were anxious to hide from a savage beast. They +grunted as they struggled with the wheel, trying to hold her up when the +_Polly_ tobogganed with rushes that were almost breath-checking. + +Mayo hastened to the girl. "I must have my coat, Miss Candage. I thank +you. It will do now." + +She held it open for his arms, as a maid might aid her knight with his +armor. "Are we in danger?" she asked, tremulously. + +"I hope not--only it is uncomfortable--and needless," he said, with some +irritation. + +"Must I stay down here--alone?" + +"I would! It's only a summer blow, Miss Candage. I'm sure we'll be all +right." + +Captain Candage had gone on deck, rattling away in his stiff oilskins. + +Mayo followed, but the master came down a few steps into the +companionway and intercepted the volunteer, showing a final smolder of +his surliness. + +"I want to notify you that I can run my own bo't, sir!" + +"Yes, run it with a yeast barometer, a straw bottom, a pinwheel compass, +and your general cussedness of disposition," shouted Mayo into the whirl +of the wind, his anxiety whetting his much-tried temper. + +"If you're feeling that way, I don't want you up here." + +"I'm feeling worse than you'll ever understand, you stubborn old fool!" + +"I let one man call me a fool to-day and I didn't make back talk--but I +know where to draw the line," warned Candage. + +"Look here, I propose to start in with you right now, sir, on a basis +you'll understand! I say you're a fool and need a guardian--and from now +on I'm going to make my bigness aboard here! Get out of my way!" + +Captain Mayo then emphasized his opinion of Captain Candage by elbowing +the master to one side and leaping out on deck. + +"That may be mutiny," stated Mr. Speed through set teeth, checking the +startled exclamation from his helper at the wheel. "But, by the Judas +I-scarrot, it's a Mayo that's doing it! Remember that, Dolph!" + + + + +VIII ~ LIKE BUGS UNDER A THIMBLE + + Up comes the skipper from down below, + And he looks aloft and he looks alow. + And he looks alow and he looks aloft, + And it's, "Coil up your ropes, there, fore and aft." + With a big Bow-wow! + Tow-row-row! + Fal de rai de, ri do day! + --Boston Shanty. + +Captain Mayo strode straight to the men at the wheel. "Give me those +spokes!" he commanded. "I'll take her! Get in your washing, boys!" + +"Ay, ay, sir!" assented Mr. Speed, giving the resisting Dolph a violent +shove. + +When Captain Candage began to curse, Captain Mayo showed that he had a +voice and vocabulary of his own. He fairly roared down the master of the +_Polly_. + +"Now shut up!" he ordered the dumfounded skipper, who faced him, mouth +agape. "This is no time for any more foolishness. It's a case of work +together to save our lives. Down with 'em, boys!" + +"That's right," declared the mate. "She don't need much of anything on +her except a double-reefed mitten with the thumb brailed up." + +The wind had not attained the velocity of a gale, but it did have an +ugly growl which suggested further violence. Mayo braced himself, ready +to bring the schooner about in order to give the crew an opportunity to +shorten sail. + +Captain Candage, deposed as autocrat for the moment, seemed to be +uncertain as to his duties. + +Mayo, understanding mariner nature, felt some contrition and was +prompted by saner second thought. + +"You'd better take the wheel, Captain Candage. You know her tricks +better than I do in a seaway. I'll help the boys take in sail." + +The master obeyed with alacrity. He seemed to be cowed. Anger no longer +blinded him to their predicament. + +"Just say what you want done, and I'll try to do it," he told Mayo, in +a voice which had become suddenly mild and rather beseeching. Then he +called to his daughter, who had come to the foot of the companion steps, +"Better blow out that cabin light, Polly girl! She's li'ble to dance +bad, and we don't want to run the chance of fire." + +Mayo got a glimpse at her face as he hurried upon the house on his way +to the main halyards. Her face was pale, but there was the firm spirit +of her Yankee ancestry of the sea in her poise and in her very silence +in that crisis. She obeyed without complaint or question and the cabin +was dark; even the glimmer of the light had held something of cheer. Now +the gloom was somber and depressing. + +The schooner came round with a sort of scared hurry when the master +threw the wheel hard over and trod on the spokes with all his weight. As +soon as the bellying mainsail began to flap, the three men let it go on +the run. They kept up the jumbo sail, as the main jib is called; they +reefed the foresail down to its smallest compass. + +Mayo, young, nimble, and eager, singly knotted more reef points +than both his helpers together, and his crisp commands were obeyed +unquestioningly. + +"He sartinly is chain lightning in pants," confided Dolph to Otie. + +"He knows his card," said Otie to Dolph. + +Captain Mayo led the way aft, crawling over the shingles and laths. + +"I hope it's your judgment, sir, that we'd better keep her into the wind +as she is and try to ride this thing out," he suggested to the master. + +"It is my judgment, sir," returned Captain Candage, with official +gravity. + +Hove to, the old _Polly_ rode in fairly comfortable style. She was deep +with her load of lumber, but the lumber made her buoyant and she +lifted easily. Her breadth of beam helped to steady her in the sweeping +seas--but Captain Mayo clung to a mainstay and faced the wind and +the driving rain and knew that the open Atlantic was no place for the +_Polly_ on a night like that. + +Spume from the crested breakers at her wallowing bow salted the rain on +his dripping face. It was an unseasonable tempest, scarcely to be looked +for at that time of year. But he had had frequent experience with the +vagaries of easterlies, and he knew that a summer easterly, when it +comes, holds menacing possibilities. + +"They knowed how to build schooners when your old sirs built this one at +Mayoport," declared Captain Candage, trying to put a conciliatory tone +into his voice when he bellowed against the blast. "She'll live where +one of these fancy yachts of twice her size would be smothered." + +Mayo did not answer. He leaped upon the house and helped Dolph and Otie +furl the mainsail that lay sprawled in the lazy-jaeks. They took their +time; the more imminent danger seemed to be over. + +"I never knowed a summer blow to amount to much," observed Mr. Speed, +trying to perk up, though he was hanging on by both hands to avoid bring +blown off the slippery house. + +"It depends on whether there's an extra special squall knotted into it +somewhere to windward," said Mayo, in a lull of the wind. "Then it can +amount to a devil of a lot, Mr. Speed!" + +The schooner washed her nose in a curving billow that came inboard +and swept aft. With her small area of exposed sail and with the wind +buffeting her, she had halted and paid off, lacking steerageway. She got +several wallops of the same sort before she had gathered herself enough +to head into the wind. + +Again she paid off, as if trying to avoid a volleying gust, and another +wave crested itself ahead of the blunt bows and then seemed to explode, +dropping tons of water on deck. Laths, lumber, and bunches of shingles +were ripped loose and went into the sea. The _Polly_ appeared to be +showing sagacity of her own in that crisis; she was jettisoning cargo +for her own salvation. + +"Good Cephas! this is going to lose us our decklo'd," wailed the master. +"We'd better let her run!" "Don't you do it, sir! You'll never get her +about!" Mayo had given over his work on the sail and was listening. +Above the scream of the passing gusts which assailed him he was hearing +a dull and solemn roar to windward. He suspected what that sound +indicated. He had heard it before in his experience. He tried to +peer into the driving storm, dragging the rain from his eyes with his +fingers. Then nature held a torch for him. A vivid shaft of lightning +crinkled overhead and spread a broad flare of illumination across the +sea. His suspicions, which had been stirred by that sullen roar, were +now verified. He saw a low wall of white water, rolling and frothing. It +was a summer "spitter" trampling the waves. + +A spitter is a freak in a regular tempest--a midsummer madness of +weather upheaval. It is a thunderbolt of wind, a concentration of gale, +a whirling dervish of disaster--wind compactly bunched into one almighty +blast--wind enough to last a regular gale for a whole day if the stock +were spent thriftily. + +"Don't ease her an inch!" screamed Mayo. + +But just then another surging sea climbed aboard and picked up more of +the laths and more of the shingles, and frolicked away into the night +with the plunder. Captain Candage's sense of thrift got a more vital jab +than did his sense of fear. His eyes were on his wheel, and he had not +seen the wall of white spume. + +"That decklo'd has got to be lashed," he muttered. He decided to run +with the wind till that work could be performed. He threw his helm hard +over. Mayo had been riding the main boom astraddle, hitching himself +toward the captain, to make him hear. When the volunteer saw the master +of the _Polly_ trying to turn tail to the foe in that fashion, he leaped +to the wheel, but he was too late. The schooner had paid off too much. +The yelling spitter caught them as they were poised broadside on the top +of a wave, before the sluggish craft had made her full turn. + +What happened then might have served as confirmation of mariners' +superstition that a veritable demon reigns in the heart of the tempest. +The attack on the old _Polly_ showed devilish intelligence in team-work. +A crashing curler took advantage of the loosened deckload and smashed +the schooner a longside buffet which sent all the lumber in a sliding +drive against the lee rail and rigging. The mainsail had been only +partly secured; the spitter blew into the flapping canvas with all its +force and the sail snapped free and bellied out. + +The next instant the _Polly_ was tripped! + +She went over with all the helpless, dead-weight violence of a man who +has caught his toe on a drooping clothes line in the dark. + +The four men who were on deck were sailors and they did not need +orders when they felt that soul-sickening swing of her as she toppled. +Instinctively, with one accord, they dived for the cabin companionway. + +Undoubtedly, as a sailor, the first thought of each was that the +schooner was going on to her beam-ends. Therefore, to remain on deck +meant that they would either slide into the water or that a smashing +wave would carry them off. + +They went tumbling down together in the darkness, and all four of +them, with impulse of preservation as instant and true as that of the +trap-door spider, set their hands to the closing of the hatch and the +folding leaves of the door. + +Captain Mayo, his clutch still on a knob, found himself pulled under +water without understanding at first just what had happened. He let go +his grip and came up to the surface, spouting. He heard the girl shriek +in extremity of terror, so near him that her breath swept his face. He +put out his arm and caught her while he was floundering for a footing. +When he found something on which to stand and had steadied himself, he +could not comprehend just what had happened; the floor he was standing +on had queer irregularities. + +"We've gone over!" squalled Mr. Speed in the black darkness. "We've gone +clear over. We're upside down. We're standing on the ceiling!" + +Then Mayo trod about a bit and convinced himself that the irregularities +under his feet were the beams and carlines. + +The _Polly_ had been tripped in good earnest! Mr. Speed was right--she +was squarely upside down! + +Even in that moment of stress Mayo could figure out how it had happened. +The spitter must have ripped all her rotten canvas off her spars as she +rolled and there had been no brace to hold her on her beam-ends when she +went over. + +Captain Candage was spouting, splashing near at hand, and was bellowing +his fears. Then he began to call for his daughter in piteous fashion. + +"Are you drownded, Polly darling?" he shouted. + +"I have her safe, sir," Mayo assured him in husky tones, trying to clear +the water from his throat. "Stand on a beam. You can get half of your +body above water." + +"It's all off with us," gasped the master. "We're spoke for." + +Such utter and impenetrable blackness Mayo had never experienced before. +Their voices boomed dully, as if they were in a huge hogshead which had +been headed over. + +'"Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep,'" +quavered the cook. "If anybody knows a better prayer I wish he'd say +it." + +"Plumb over--upside down! Worse off than flies in a puddle of Porty Reek +molasses," mourned Mr. Speed. + +The master joined the mate in lamentation. "I have brought my baby to +this! I have brought my Polly here! God forgive me. Can't you speak to +me, Polly?" + +Mayo found the girl very quiet in the hook of his arm, and he put his +free hand against her cheek. She did not move under his touch. + +"She has fainted, sir." + +"No, she's dead! She's dead!" Candage began to weep and started to +splash his way across the cabin, directed by Mayo's voice. + +"She is all right--she is breathing," the young man assured the father. +"Here! This way, captain! Take her. Hold her up. I want to see whether +anything can be done for us." + +"Nothing can be done!" whimpered Candage. "We're goners." + +"We're goners," averred Oakum Otie. + +"We're goners," echoed Dolph. + +Mayo gave the girl into the groping arms of her father and stood for a +few moments reflecting on their desperate plight. He was not hopeful. In +his heart he agreed with the convictions which his mates were expressing +in childish falsetto. But being a young sailor who found his head above +water, he resolved to keep on battling in that emergency; the adage +of the coastwise mariner is: "Don't die till Davy Jones sets his final +pinch on your weasen!" + +First of all, he gave full consideration to what had happened. The +_Polly_ had been whipped over so quickly that she had been transformed +into a sort of diving-bell.{*} That is to say, a considerable amount of +air had been captured and was now retained in her. It was compressed +by the water which was forced up from below through the windows and +the shattered skylight. The pressure on Mayo's temples afforded him +information on this point. The _Polly_ was floating, and he felt +comforting confidence that she would continue to float for some +time. But this prospect did not insure safety or promise life to the +unfortunates who had been trapped in her bowels. The air must either +escape gradually or become vitiated as they breathed it. + + * The strange adventure of the _Polly_ is not an + improbability of fiction. A Bath, Maine, schooner, lumber- + laden, was tripped in exactly this fashion off Hatteras. + Captain Boyd Mayo's exploit has been paralleled in real life + in all details. My good friend Captain Elliott C. Gardner, + former skipper of the world's only seven-master, the _Thomas + W. Lawson_, furnished those details to me, and after writing + this part of the tale I submitted the narrative to him for + confirmation. It has received his indorsement.--H. D. + +There was only one thing to do, he decided: take advantage of any +period of truce which their ancient enemy, the sea, had allowed in that +desperate battle. + +A sailor is prey to hazards and victim of the unexpected in the +ever-changing moods of the ocean; he must needs be master of expedients +and ready grappler of emergencies. + +"Where are your tools--a saw--a chisel?" demanded Mayo. He was obliged +to repeat that query several times. His companions appeared to be wholly +absorbed in their personal woes. + +At last Mr. Speed checked his groans long enough to state that the tools +were in "the lazareet." + +The lazaret of a coaster is a storeroom under the +quarter-deck--repository of general odds and ends and spare equipment. + +"Any way to get at it except through the deck-hatch?" + +"There's a door through, back of the companion ladder," said Mr. Speed, +with listless indifference. + +Mayo crowded his way past the ladder after he had waded and stumbled +here and there and had located it. He set his shoulders against the +slope of the steps and pushed at the door with his feet. After he had +forced it open he waded into the storeroom. It was blind business, +hunting for anything in that place. He knew the general habits of the +hit-or-miss coasting crews, and was sure that the tools had been thrown +in among the rest of the clutter by the person who used them last. If +they had been loose on the floor they would now be loose on the ceiling. +He pushed his feet about, hoping to tread on something that felt like a +saw or chisel. + +"Ahoy, you men out there!" he called. "Don't you have any idea in what +part of this lazaret the tools were?" + +"Oh, they was probably just throwed in," said Mr. Speed. "I wish you +wouldn't bother me so much! I'm trying to compose my mind to pray." + +There were so much ruck and stuff under his feet that Mayo gave up +searching after a time. He had held his breath and ducked his head under +water so that he might investigate with his bare hands, but he found +nothing which would help him, and his brain was dizzy after his efforts +and his mouth was choked by the dirty water. + +But when he groped his way back into the main cabin his hands came in +contact with the inside of the lazaret door. In leather loops on the +door he found saw, ax, chisel, and hammer. He was unable to keep back a +few hearty and soul-satisfying oaths. + +"Why didn't you tell me where the tools were? They're here on the door." + +"I had forgot about picking 'em tip. And my mind ain't on tools, +anyway." + +"Your mind will be on 'em as soon as I can get forward there," growled +the incensed captain. + +Mayo was not sure of what he needed or what he would be obliged to do, +therefore he took all the tools, holding them above water. When he waded +past Captain Can-dage he heard the old skipper trying to comfort the +girl, his voice low and broken by sobs. She had recovered consciousness +and Mayo was a bit sorry; in her swoon she had not realized their +plight; he feared hysterics and other feminine demonstrations, and he +knew that he needed all his nerve. + +"We're going to die--we're going to die!" the girl kept moaning. + +"Yes, my poor baby, and I have brought you to it," blubbered her father. + +"Please keep up your courage for a little while, Miss Candage," Mayo +pleaded, wistfully. + +"But there's no hope!" + +"There's hope just as long as we have a little air and a little grit," +he insisted. "Now, please!" + +"I am afraid!" she whispered. + +"So am I," he confessed. "But we're all going to work the best we know +how. Can't you encourage us like a brave, good girl?" He went stumbling +on. "Now tell me, mate," he commanded, briskly, "how thick is the +bulkhead between the cabin, here, and the hold?" + +"I can't bother to think," returned Mr. Speed. + +"It's only sheathing between the beams, sir," stated Captain Candage. + +"Mate, you and the cook lend a hand to help me." + +Oakum Otie broke off the prayer to which he had returned promptly. +"What's the use?" he demanded, with anger which his fright made +juvenile. "I tell you I'm trying to compose my soul, and I want this +rampage-round stopped." + +"I say what's the use, too!" whined Dolph. "You can't row a biskit +across a puddle of molasses with a couple of toothpicks," he added, with +cook's metaphor for the absolutely hopeless. + +Mayo shouted at them with a violence that made hideous din in that +narrow space. "You two men wade across here to me or I'll come after +you with an ax in one hand and a hammer in the other! Damn you, I mean +business!" + +They were silent, then there sounded the splash of water and they came, +muttering. They had recognized the ring of desperate resolve in his +command. + +Mayo, when he heard their stertorous breathing close at hand, groped +for them and shoved tools into their clutch. He retained the hammer and +chisel for himself. + +"That's about all I need you for just now--for tool-racks," he growled. +"Make sure you don't drop those." + +The upturned schooner rolled sluggishly, and every now and then the +water swashed across her cabin with extra impetus, making footing +insecure. + +"If I tumble down I'll have to drop 'em," whimpered Oolph. + +"Then don't come up. Drowning will be an easier death for you," declared +the captain, menacingly. He was sounding the bulkhead with his hammer. + +The tapping quickly showed him where the upright beams were located on +the other side of the sheathing. In his own mind he was not as sanguine +as his activity might have indicated. It was blind experiment--he +could not estimate the obstacles which were ahead of him. But he did +understand, well enough, that if they were to escape they must do so +through the bottom of the vessel amidship; there, wallowing though she +was, there might be some freeboard. He had seen vessels floating bottom +up. Usually a section of the keel and a portion of the garboard streaks +were in sight above the sea. But there could be no escape through the +bottom of the craft above them where they stood in the cabin. He knew +that the counter and buttock must be well under water. + +"Have you a full cargo belowdecks?" he asked. + +"No," stated Captain Candage, hinting by his tone that he wondered what +difference that would make to them in the straits in which they were +placed. + +Mayo felt a bit of fresh courage. He had been afraid that the _Polly's_ +hold would be found to be stuffed full of lumber. His rising spirits +prompted a little sarcasm. + +"How did it ever happen that you didn't plug the trap you set for us?" + +"Couldn't get but two-thirds cargo below because the lumber was sawed so +long. Made it up by extra deck-lo'd." + +"Yes, piled it all on deck so as to make her top-heavy--so as to be sure +of catching us," suggested Mayo, beginning to work his hammer and chisel +on the sheathing. + +"'Tain't no such thing!" expostulated Captain Candage, missing the +irony. "Them shingles and laths is packet freight, and I couldn't put +'em below because I've got to deliver 'em this side of New York. And you +don't expect me to overhaul a whole decklo'd so as to--" + +"Not now," broke in Mayo. "The Atlantic Ocean has attended to the case +of that deckload." + +"My Gawd, yes!" mourned the master. "I was forgetting that we are upside +down--and that shows what a state of mind I'm in!" + +Mayo had picked his spot for operations. He drove his chisel through the +sheathing as close to the cabin floor as he could. Remembering that +the schooner was upside down and that the floor was over his head, the +aperture he was starting work on would bring him nearest the bilge. When +he had chiseled a hole big enough for a start, he secured the saw from +the mate and sawed a square opening. He lifted himself up and worked his +way through the hole and found himself on lumber and out of water. +It was what he had been hoping to find, after the assurance from the +master: the partial cargo of lumber in the hold had settled to the deck +when the schooner tipped over. Investigating with groping hands, he +assured himself that there were fully three feet of space between the +cargo and the bottom of the vessel. + +"Come here with your daughter, Captain Candage!" he called, cheerily. +"It's dry in here." + +He kneeled and held his hands out through the opening, directing them +with his voice, reaching into the pitchy darkness until her hands found +his, and then he brought her up to him and in upon the lumber. + +"It's a little better, even if it's nothing to brag about," he told her. +"Sit over there at one side so that the men can crawl in past you. I'll +need them to help me." + +"And what do you think now--shall we die?" she asked, in tremulous +whisper. + +"No, I don't think so," he told her, stoutly. + +They were alone in the hold for a few moments while the others were +helping one another through the opening. + +"But in this trap--in the dark--crowded in here!" Her tone did not +express doubt; it was pathetic endeavor to understand their plight. "My +father and his men are frightened--they have given up. And you told me +that you are frightened!" + +"Yes, I am!" + +"But they are not doing anything to help you." + +"Perhaps that is because they are not scared as much as I am. It often +happens that the more frightened a man is in a tight place the more he +jumps around and the harder he tries to get out." + +"I don't care what you say--I know what you are!" she rejoined. "You are +a brave man, Captain Mayo. I thank you!" + +"Not yet! Not until--" + +"Yes, now! You have set me a good example. When folks are scared they +should not sit down and whimper!" + +He reached and found a plump little fist which she had doubled into a +real knob of decision. + +"Good work, little girl! Your kind of grit is helping me." He released +her hand and crawled forward. + +"This ain't helping us any," complained Captain Candage. "I know what's +going to happen to us. As soon as it gets daylight a cussed coast-guard +cutter will come snorting along and blow us up without bothering to find +out what is under this turkle-shell." + +"Say, look here, Candage," called Captain Mayo, angrily, "that's enough +of that talk! There's a-plenty happening to us as it is, without your +infernal driveling about what _may_ happen." + +"Isn't it about time for a real man to help Captain Mayo instead of +hindering him?" asked the girl. Evidently her new composure startled her +father. + +"Ain't you scared any more, Polly? You ain't losing your mind, are you?" + +"No, I have it back again, I hope." + +"Your daughter is setting you a good example, Captain Candage. Now let's +get down to business, sir! What's your sheathing on the ribs?" + +"Inch and a half spruce, if I remember right." + +"I take it she is ribbed about every twelve inches." + +"Near's I remember." + +"All right! Swarm forward here, the three of you, and have those tools +handy as I need 'em." + +He had brought the hammer and chisel in his reefer pockets, and set at +work on the sheathing over his head, having picked by touch and sense +of locality a section which he considered to be nearly amidship. It +was blind effort, but he managed to knock away a few square feet of the +spruce boarding after a time. + +"Hand me that saw, whoever has it." + +A hand came fumbling to his in the dark and gave him the tool. He began +on one of the oak ribs, uncovered when the boarding had been removed. +It was difficult and tedious work, for he could use only the tip of the +saw, because the ribs were so close together. But he toiled on steadily, +and at last the sound of his diligence appeared to animate the others. +When he rested for a moment Captain Candage offered to help with the +sawing. + +"I think I'll be obliged to do it alone, sir. You can't tell in the dark +where I have left off. However, I'm glad to see that you're coming back +to your senses," he added, a bit caustically. + +The master of the _Polly_ received that rebuke with a meekness that +indicated a decided change of heart. "I reckon me and Otie and Dolph +have been acting out what you might call pretty pussylaminous, as I +heard a schoolmarm say once," confessed the skipper, struggling with the +big word. "But we three ain't as young as we was once, and I'll leave it +to you, sir, if this wasn't something that nobody had ever reckoned on." + +"There's considerable novelty in it," said Mayo, in dry tones, running +his fingers over the rib to find the saw-scarf. The ache had gone out of +his arms, and he was ready to begin again. + +"I'm sorry we yanked you into all this trouble," Can-dage went on. "And +on the other hand, I ain't so sorry! Because if you hadn't been along +with us we'd never have got out of this scrape." + +"We haven't got out of it yet, Captain Candage." + +"Well, we are making an almighty good start, and I want to say here in +the hearing of all interested friends that you're the smartest cuss I +ever saw afloat." + +"I hope you will forgive father," pleaded Polly of the _Polly_. He felt +her breath on his cheek. She was so near that her voice nearly jumped +him. "I don't mean to get in your way, Captain Mayo, but somehow I feel +safer if I'm close to you." + +"And I guess all of us do," admitted Captain Candage. + +Mayo stopped sawing for a moment. "What say, men? Let's be Yankee +sailors from this time on! We'll be the right sort, eh? We'll put this +brave little girl where she belongs--on God's solid ground!" + +"Amen!" boomed Mr. Speed. "I have woke up. I must have been out of my +mind. I showed you my nature when I first met you, Captain Mayo, and I +reckon you found it was helpful and enterprising. I'll be the same from +now on, even if you order me to play goat and try to butt the bottom out +of her with my head." "Me, too!" said Smut-nosed Dolph. + + + + +IX ~ A MAN'S JOB + + O Nancy Dawson, hi--o! + Cheer'ly man! She's got a notion, hi--o! + Cheer'ly manl For our old bo'sun, hi--o! + Cheer'ly man! O hauley hi--o! + Cheer'ly man! + --Hauling Song. + +Boyd Mayo soon found that his ancestors had put no scrub timber into the +_Polly_. The old oak rib was tough as well as bulky. The task of sawing +with merely the tip of the blade in play required both muscle and +patience, and the position he was obliged to assume added to his +difficulties. He rested after he had sawed the rib in four places, and +decided to give Oakum Otie something to do; the mate had been begging +for an opportunity to grab in. He was ordered to knock away as much as +he could of the sawed section with hammer and chisel. Mayo figured that +when this section of rib had been removed it would leave room for a hole +through the bottom planks at least two feet square--and there were no +swelling girths in their party. + +The mate had strength, and he was eager to display that helpful spirit +of which he had boasted. He went at the beam with all his might. + +Mayo's attention had been centered on his task; now, with a moment's +leisure in which to note other matters, he was conscious of something +which provoked his apprehension; the air under the hull of the schooner +was becoming vitiated. His temples throbbed and his ears rang. + +"Ain't it getting pretty stuffy in here?" asked the master, putting +words to Mayo's thoughts. + +"I have been feeling like a bug under a thimble for some little time," +stated Otie, whacking his chisel sturdily. + +"Her bottom can't be awash with all this lumber in her. If we can only +get a little speck of a hole through the outside planking right now, +we'd better do it," suggested Candage. + +"That's just what I have been doing," declared Mr. Speed. "I'm right +after the job, gents, when I get started on a thing. Helpful and +enterprising, that's my motto!" + +The next moment, before Mayo, his thoughts busy with his new danger of +suffocation, could voice warning or had grasped the full import of the +dialogue, the chisel's edge plugged through the planking. Instantly +there was a hiss like escaping steam. Mayo yelled an oath and set his +hands against the mate, pushing him violently away. The industrious Mr. +Speed had been devoting his attention to the planking instead of to the +sawed beam. + +Wan light filtered through the crevice made by the chisel and Mayo +planted his palm against the crack. The pressure held his hand as if it +were clamped against the planks, and the hissing ceased. + +The schooner, as she lay, upside down in the sea, was practically a +diving-bell; with that hole in her shell their safety was in jeopardy. +The girl seemed to understand the situation before the duller minds of +her father and his mates had begun to work. She frenziedly sought for +Mayo's disengaged hand and thrust some kind of fabric into it. + +"It's from my petticoat," she gasped. "Can you calk with it?" + +"Hand me the chisel," he entreated. + +As soon as she had given the tool to him he worked his hand free from +the crack and instantly drove the fabric into the crevice, crowding it +fold by fold with the edge of the chisel. + +"Hope I didn't do anything wrong, trying to be helpful," apologized Mr. +Speed. + +"I'll do the rest of this job without any such help," growled the +captain. + +"But what are you stopping the air for when it's rushing in to liven us +up?" asked Dolph, plaintively. + +"It was rushing out, fool! Rushing out so fast that this lumber would +have flattened us against the bottom of this hull in a little while." + +"I would have figgered it just t'other way," stated Mr. Speed, humbly. +"Outside air, being fresh, ought nat'rally to rush in to fill the holes +we have breathed out of this air." + +Mayo was in no mood to lecture on natural phenomena. He investigated the +cut which had been made by the incautious mate and estimated, by what +his fingers told him, that the schooner's bottom planks were three +inches thick. He settled back on his haunches and gave a little thought +to the matter, and understood that he had a ticklish job ahead of him. +Those planks must be gouged around the complete square of the proposed +opening, so that the section might be driven out in one piece by a blow +from beneath. That section must give way wholly and instantly. They were +doomed if they made a half-job of it. In that pitchy blackness he had +only his fingers to guide him. That one little streak of light from the +open world without was tantalizing promise. On the other side of those +planks was God's limitless air. The poor creatures penned under that +hull were gasping and choking for want of that air. Mayo set bravely to +work, hammering at the chisel-head above him. + +All were silent. They felt the initial languor of suffocation and knew +the peril which was threatening them. + +"If there is anything I can do--" ventured Otie. + +"There isn't!" + +Captain Mayo felt the lack of oxygen most cruelly, because he was +working with all his might. Perspiration was streaming into his eyes, he +was panting like a running dog, his blows were losing force. + +He found that Otie had partly cleared out the rib before that +too-willing helper had taken it into his head to knock a hole through +the planking. The rib must come away entirely! The tough oak resisted; +the chisel slipped; it was maddeningly slow work. But he finished the +task at last and began to gouge a channel in the planking close to the +other ribs. Torpor was wrapping its tentacles about him. He heard his +companions gasping for breath. Then, all at once, he felt a little pat +on his shoulder. He knew that tap for what it was, though she did not +speak to him; it was the girl's reassuring touch. It comforted him to be +told in that manner that she was keeping up her courage in the horrible +situation. He beveled the planks as deeply as he dared, and made his cut +around three sides of his square. He was forced to stop for a moment and +lay prostrate, his face on the lumber. + +"Take that saw, one of you, and chunk off a few short lengths of plank," +he whispered, hoarsely. The rasp of the hand-saw informed him that he +had been obeyed. + +He held his eyes wide open with effort as he lay there in the darkness. +Then he struggled up and went at his task once more. Queerly colored +flames were shooting before his straining eyes. He toiled in partial +delirium, and it seemed to him that he was looking again at the +phantasmagoria of the Coston lights on the fog when the yachtsmen were +serenading the girl of the Polly. He found himself muttering, keeping +time to his chisel-blows: + + "Our Polly O, + O'er the sea you go--" + +In all the human emotions there is no more maddening and soul-flaying +terror than the fear of being shut in, which wise men call +claustrophobia. Mayo had been a man of the open--of wide horizons, +drinking from the fount of all the air under the heavens. This hideous +confinement was demoralizing his reason. He wanted to throw down his +hammer and chisel and scream and kick and throw himself up against the +penning planks. On the other side was air--the open! There was still one +side of the square to do. + +Again that comforting little hand touched his shoulder and he was +spurred by the thought that the girl was still courageous and had faith +in him. He groaned and kept on. + +Lapse of time ceased to have significance. Every now and then the hammer +slipped and bruised his hand cruelly. But he did not feel the hurt. Both +tools wavered in his grasp. He struck a desperate--a despairing blow and +the hammer and chisel dropped. He knew that he had finished the fourth +side. He fell across Polly Candage's lap and she helped him to his +knees. + +"I'm done, men," he gasped. "All together with those joists! Strike +together! Right above my head." + +He heard the skipper count one--two--three. He heard the concerted blow. +The planks did not give way. + +"We don't seem to have no strength left," explained the mate, in hoarse +tones. + +They struck again, but irregularly. + +"It's our lives--our lives, men!" cried Mayo. "Ram it to her!" + +"Here's one for you, Captain Mayo," said Candage, and he thrust a length +of plank into the groping hands. + +"Make it together, this time--together!" commanded Mayo. "Hard--one, +two, three!" + +They drove their battering-rams up against the prisoning roof. Fury and +despair were behind their blow. + +The glory of light flooded into their blinking eyes. + +The section had given way! + +Mayo went first and he snapped out with almost the violence of a cork +popping from a bottle. He felt the rush of the imprisoned air past him +as he emerged. Instantly he turned and thrust down his hands and pulled +the girl up into the open and the others followed, the lumber pushing +under their feet. + +It seemed to Captain Mayo, after those few frenzied moments of escape, +that he had awakened from a nightmare; he found himself clinging to the +schooner's barnacled keel, his arm holding Polly Candage from sliding +down over the slimy bottom into the sea. + +"Good jeero! We've been in there all night," bawled Captain Candage. He +lay sprawled on the bottom of the Polly, his hornbeam hands clutching +the keel, his face upraised wonderingly to the skies that were flooded +with the glory of the morning. Otie and Dolph were beside him, mouths +open, gulping in draughts of the air as if they were fish freshly drawn +from the ocean depths. + +There was a long silence after the skipper's ejaculation. + +Thoughts, rather than words, fitted that sacred moment of their +salvation. + +The five persons who lay there on the bottom of the schooner stared at +the sun in its cloudless sky and gazed off across the sea whose blue was +shrouded by the golden haze of a perfect summer's day. Only a lazy roll +was left of the sudden turbulence of the night before. A listless breeze +with a fresh tang of salt in it lapped the surface of the long, +slow surges, and the facets of the ripples flashed back the sunlight +cheerily. + +Captain Candage pulled himself to the keel, sat upon it, and found +speech in faltering manner. + +"I ain't a member of no church, never having felt the need of j'ining, +and not being handy where I could tend out. But I ain't ashamed to say +here, before witnesses, that I have just been telling God, as best I +know how, hoping He'll excuse me if I 'ain't used the sanctimonious way, +that I'm going to be a different man after this--different and better, +according to my best lights." + +"I believe you have spoken for all of us, Captain Can-dage," said Mayo, +earnestly. "I thank you!" + +They all perceived that the _Polly_ had made offing at a lively pace +during her wild gallop under the impetus of the easterly. + +Mayo balanced himself on the keel and took a long survey of the horizon. +In one place a thread of blue, almost as delicate as the tracery of a +vein on a girl's arm, suggested shore line. But without a glass he was +not sure. He saw no sign of any other craft; the storm had driven all +coasters to harbor--and there was not wind enough as yet to help them +out to sea again. But he did not worry; he was sure that something, +some yacht or sea-wagon, would come rolling up over the rim of the ocean +before long. The faint breeze which fanned their faces was from the +southwest, and that fact promised wind enough to invite shipping to +spread canvas. + +Only the oval of the schooner's broad bilge showed above water, and the +old Polly was so flat and tubby that their floating islet afforded only +scant freeboard. + +Mayo shoved his arm down into the hole through which they had escaped. +After the air had been forced out the lumber was within reach from the +schooner's bottom. He fumbled about and found the ax. Some of the short +bits of lumber which they had used as battering-rams were in the jaws +of the hole. He busied himself with hewing these ends of planks into big +wedges and he drove them into cracks between the planks near the keel. + +"It may come to be a bit sloppy when this sou'wester gets its gait on," +he suggested to the skipper. "We'll have something to hang on to." + +Captain Candage's first thankfulness had shown a radiant gloss. But +he was a sailorman, he was cautious, he was naturally apprehensive +regarding all matters of the sea, and that gloss was now dulled a bit by +his second thought. + +"We may have to hang on to something longer 'n we reckon on. We're too +far off for the coasters and too far in for the big fellers. And unless +something comes pretty clost to us we can't be seen no more 'n as if we +was mussels on a tide reef. We'd ought to have something to stick up." + +"If we could only work out one of those long joists it would make a +little show." Captain Mayo shoved his arm down the hole again. "But they +are wedged across too solidly." + +"I think there's a piece of lumber floating over there," cried the girl. +She was clinging to one of the wedges, and the composure which she felt, +or had assumed, stirred Mayo's admiration. The plump hand which she held +against her forehead to shield her eyes did not tremble. From the little +Dutch cap, under the edge of which stray locks peeped, down over her +attire to her toes, she seemed to be still trim and trig, in spite of +her experiences below in the darkness and the wet. With a sort of mild +interest in her, he reflected that her up-country beau would be very +properly proud of her if he could see her there on that schooner's keel. + +"What a picture you would make, Miss Candage, just as you are!" he +blurted. She took down her hand, and the look she gave him did not +encourage compliments. "Just as you are, and call it 'The Wreck,'" +he added. + +"Do I look as badly as all that, Captain Mayo?" + +"You look--" he expostulated, and hesitated, for her gaze was distinctly +not reassuring. + +"Don't tell me, please, how I look. I'm thankful that I have no mirror. +Isn't that a piece of lumber?" she inquired, crisply, putting a stop on +further personalities. "Wait! It's down in a hollow just now." + +The sea lifted it again immediately. Mayo saw that it was a long +strip of scantling, undoubtedly from the deckload that the _Polly_ +had jettisoned when she was tripped. It lay to windward, and that fact +promised its recovery; but how was the tide? Mayo squinted at the sun, +did a moment's quick reckoning from the tide time of the day before, and +smiled. + +"We'll get that, Miss Candage. She's coming this way." + +Watching it, seeing it lift and sink, waiting for it, helped to pass the +time. Then at last it came alongside, and he crawled cautiously down the +curve of the bilge and secured it. After he had braced it in the hole +in the schooner's bottom with the help of Mr. Speed, the girl gave him a +crumpled wad of cloth when he turned from his task. + +"It's the rest of my petticoat. You may as well have it," she explained, +a pretty touch of pink confusion in her cheeks. + +Mr. Speed boosted Mayo and the young man attached the cloth to the +scantling and flung their banner to the breeze. Then there was not much +to do except to wait, everlastingly squinting across the bright sea to +the horizon's edge. + + + + +X ~ HOSPITALITY, PER JULIUS MARSTON + + Hoo--oo--rah; and up she rises! + Hoo--oo--rah! and up she rises! + Early in the morning. + What shall we do with a saucy sailor? + Put him in the long boat and make him bail 'erv + Early in the morn--ing! + --Old "Stamp-and-go." + +Mayo saw the sail first. It was coming in from the sea, and was very far +and minute. He pointed it out with an exclamation. + +"What do you make it, sir?" asked Captain Candage. "Your eyes are +younger 'n mine are." + +"I reckon it's a fisherman bound in from Cashes Banks. He seems to be +lying well over, and that shows there's a good breeze outside. He ought +to reach near enough to see us, judging from the way he's heading." + +That little sail, nicked against the sky, was something else to watch +and speculate on and wait for, and they forgot, almost, that they were +hungry and thirsty and sun-parched. + +However, Captain Mayo kept his own gaze most steadfastly on the landward +horizon. He did not reveal any of his thoughts, for he did not want +to raise false hopes. Nevertheless, it was firmly in his mind that no +matter what might be the sentiments of Julius Marston in regard to his +recent skipper, the mate and engineer on board the _Olenia_ were loyal +friends who would use all their influence with the owner to urge him to +come seeking the man who had been lost. + +The fact that a motor-boat had come popping out of Saturday Cove in +pursuit of the schooner suggested that Mate McGaw had suspected what had +happened, and was not dragging the cove-bottom for a drowned man. + +Mayo had plenty of time for pondering on the matter, and he allowed hope +to spice his guesses. He knew Mate McGaw's characteristics and decided +that the yacht would get under way early, would nose into a few near-by +harbors where a gale-ridden schooner might have dodged for safety, and +then would chase down the sea, following the probable course of a craft +which had been caught in that nor'easter. Mate McGaw was a sailorly man +and understood how to fit one fact with another. He had a due portion of +mariner's imagination, and was not the sort to desert a chum, even if +he were obliged to use stiff speech to convert an owner. Therefore, Mayo +peered toward the blue shore-line, coddling hope. He wondered whether +Mate McGaw would have courage to slip a word of encouragement to Alma +Marston if she asked questions. + +Mayo was elated rather than astonished when he spied a smear of drab +smoke and was able to determine that the craft which was puffing that +smoke was heading out to sea, not crawling alongshore. + +"That's a fisherman all right, and he's bound to come clost enough to +make us out," stated Captain Candage, his steady gaze to southward. + +"But here comes another fellow who is going to beat him to us," +announced Captain Mayo, gaily. + +"And what do you make it?" asked the skipper, blinking at the distant +smoke. + +"A yacht, probably." + +"Huh? A yacht! If that's what it is they'll most likely smash right +past. They'll think we're out here on a fishing picnic, most like. +That's about all these yacht fellers know." + +The girl gave her father a frown of protest, but Mayo smiled at her. + +"I think this one is different, sir. If I am not very much mistaken, +that is the yacht _Olenia_ and she is hunting me up. Mate McGaw is one +of our best little guessers." + +A quarter of an hour later he was able to assure them that the on-coming +craft was the _Olenia_. + +"Good old Mate McGaw!" he cried, rapturously. In his joy he wished he +could make them his confidants, tell them who was waiting for him on +board that yacht, make them understand what wonderful good fortune was +his. + +After a time--the long time that even a fast yacht seems to consume in +covering distance to effect the rescue of those who are anxious--the +Olenita's whistle hooted hoarsely to assure them that they had been +seen. + +"The same to you, Mate McGaw!" choked Captain Mayo, swinging his cap in +wide circles. + +"Seeing that things have come round as they have, I'm mighty glad for +you, Captain Mayo," declared Candage. "I ain't no kind of a hand to +plaster a man all over with thanks--" + +"I don't want thanks, sir. We worked together to save our lives." + +"Then I'm hoping that there won't be any hard feelings one way or the +other. I have lost my schooner by my blasted foolishness. So I'll say +good-by and--" + +"Good-by?" demanded Mayo, showing his astonishment. "Why are you saying +good-by to me now?" + +"Because you are going aboard your yacht." + +"The rest of you are going there, too." + +"It ain't for poor critters like us to go mussing--" + +"Look here, Captain Candage, I am the captain of that yacht, and I say +that you are coming on board and stay until I can set you ashore at the +handiest port." + +"I'd just as lieve wait for that fisherman, sir. I'll feel more at home +aboard him." + +"You ought to think of your daughter's condition first, Captain Candage. +She needs a few comforts right away, and you won't find them on board a +fisherman." + +He turned to the girt who sat on the keel, silent, looking away to sea. +She seemed to show a strange lack of interest in the yacht. Her pretty +face exhibited no emotion, but somehow she was a wistfully pathetic +figure as she sat there. Mayo's countenance showed much more concern +than she expressed when she faced about at the sound of his voice and +looked at him. Color came into his cheeks; there was embarrassment in +his eyes, a queer hesitancy in his tones. + +"There is a young lady--there are several young ladies--but there is Mr. +Marston's daughter!" he faltered. "She is on the yacht. I--I know she +will do all she can for you. She will be good to you!" His eyes fell +under her frank and rather quizzical gaze. + +"She might not care to be bothered with such a ragamuffin." + +"I can speak for her!" he cried, eagerly. He was now even more disturbed +by the glance she gave him. He had read that women have intuition in +affairs of the heart. + +"I am quite certain you can, Captain Mayo," she assured him, demurely. +"And I am grateful. But perhaps we'd be better off on board that other +vessel--father and the rest of us." + +"I insist," he said, but he did not dare to meet her searching eyes. "I +insist!" he repeated, resuming the decisive manner which he had shown +before on board the _Polly_. + +The _Olenia_, slowing down, had come close aboard, and her churning +screws pulled her to a standstill. Her crew sent a tender rattling down +from her port davits. As she rolled on the surge her brass rails caught +the sunlight in long flashes which fairly blinded the hollow eyes of +the castaways. The white canvas of bridge and awnings gleamed in snowy +purity. She was so near that Dolph smelled the savory scents from her +galley and began to "suffle" moisture in the corners of his mouth. + +They who waited on the barnacled hulk of the Polly, faint with hunger, +bedraggled with brine, unkempt and wholly miserable after a night of +toils and vigil, felt like beggars at a palace gate as they surveyed her +immaculateness. + +A sort of insolent opulence seemed to exude from her. Mayo, her captain +though he was, felt that suggestion of insolence more keenly than his +companions, for he had had bitter and recent experience with the moods +of Julius Marston. + +He did not find Marston a comforting object for his gaze; the +transportation magnate was pacing the port alley with a stride that was +plainly impatient. Close beside the gangway stood Alma Marston, spotless +in white duck. Each time her father turned his back on her she put out +her clasped hands toward her lover with a furtive gesture. + +Polly Candage watched this demonstration with frank interest, and +occasionally stole side-glances at the face of the man who stood beside +her on the schooner's bottom; he was wholly absorbed in his scrutiny of +the other girl. + +Mate McGaw himself was at the tiller of the tender. His honest face was +working with emotion, and he began to talk before the oarsmen had eased +the boat against the overturned hulk. + +"I haven't closed my eyes, Captain Mayo. Stayed up all night, trying +to figure it out. Almost gave up all notion that you were aboard the +schooner. You didn't hail the boat we sent out." + +"I tried to do it; perhaps you couldn't hear me." + +Captain Candage's countenance showed gratitude and relief. + +"This morning I tried Lumbo and two other shelters, and then chased +along the trail of the blow." + +Mayo trod carefully down the bilge and clasped the mate's hand. "I was +looking for you, Mr. McGaw. I know what kind of a chap you are." + +McGaw, still holding to the captain's hand, spoke in lower tones. "Had +a devil of a time with the owner, sir. He was bound to have it that you +had deserted." + +"I was afraid he would think something of the sort." + +The mate showed frank astonishment. "You was afraid of _what?_ Why, +sir, I wanted to tell him that he was a crazy man to have any such ideas +about you! Yes, sir, I came nigh telling him that! I would have done it +if I hadn't wanted to keep mild and meek whilst I was arguing with him +and trying to make him give me leave to search!" + +"We have had a terrible time of it, Mr. McGaw," stated Mayo, avoiding +the mate's inquisitiveness. "I am going to take these folks on board and +set them ashore." + +"Ay, sir, of course." + +The two of them stood with clasped hands and held the tender close to +the wreck until the passengers embarked. When they reached the foot of +the _Olenia_'s steps Captain Mayo sent his guests ahead of him. + +Marston paused in his march and scowled, and the folks on the +quarter-deck crowded to the rail, showing great interest. + +Captain Mayo exchanged a long look with Alma Marston when he came up +the steps. Love, pity, and greeting were in his eyes. Her countenance +revealed her vivid emotions; she was overwrought, unstrung, half-crazed +after a night spent with her fears. When he came within her reach +caution was torn from her as gossamer is flicked away by a gale. Impulse +had always governed her; she gave way to it then. + +"I don't care," she sobbed. "I love you. They may as well know it!" + +Before he understood her intentions or could prevent her rashness she +flung her arms about his neck and kissed him repeatedly. + +Marston stood in his tracks like a man stricken by paralysis; his cigar +dropped from his open mouth. This exhibition under his very nose, with +his guests and the whole crew of his yacht looking on, fairly stunned +him. + +"If you had died I would have died!" she wailed. + +Then her father plunged toward her, elbowing the astonished Beveridge +out of his way. + +Captain Mayo gently unhooked the arms of the frantic girl from about his +neck and stepped forward, putting himself between father and daughter. +He was not taking sensible thought in the matter; he was prompted by an +instinctive impulse to protect her. + +Mayo had no word ready at his tongue's end, and Mar-ston's anathema was +muffled and incoherent. The girl's rash act had tipped over the sane and +manly self-possession of both of them. The captain was too bewildered +to comprehend the full enormity of his action in standing guard over the +daughter of Julius Marston, as if she needed protection on her father's +quarter-deck. He did not move to one side of the alley when Marston +jerked an impatient gesture. + +"I want to say that I am wholly to blame, sir," he faltered. "I hope you +will overlook--" + +"Are you presuming to discuss my daughter's insanity with me?" He +noticed that the sailors were preparing to hoist the tender to the +davits. "Drop that boat back into the water!" he shouted. There was an +ugly rasp in his voice, and for a moment it seemed as if he were about +to lose control of himself. Then he set a check on his temper and +tongue, though his face was deathly white and his eyes were as hard as +marbles. Resolve to end further exhibition in this incredible business +dominated his wrathful shame. + +"If you will set us ashore--" pleaded Mayo. + +"Get back into that boat, you and your gang, whatever it is!" + +"Mr. Marston, this young woman needs--" + +"Get into that boat, or I'll have the bunch of you thrown overboard!" +The owner spoke in low tones, but his furious determination was +apparent. + +"We will go without being thrown, sir. Will you order us set aboard that +fisherman?" He pointed to the little schooner which was almost within +hailing distance. + +"Get off! I don't care where you go!" He crowded past Mayo, seized his +daughter's arm, and led her aft. + +She seemed to have expended all her determination in her sensational +outburst. + +The captain met her pleading gaze as she turned to leave. "It's for the +best," he declared, bravely. "I'll make good!" + +The pathetic castaways from the _Polly_ made a little group at the +gangway, standing close to the rail, as if they feared to step upon the +white deck. Mate McGaw intercepted Mayo as he was about to join them. + +"Hadn't I better stretch Section Two of the collision act a mite and +scare him with the prospect of a thousand-dollar fine?" asked the mate, +eagerly. "My glory, Captain Mayo, I'm so weak I can hardly stand up! +Who'd have thought it?" + +"We'll go aboard the schooner, Mr. McGaw. It's the place for us." + +"Maybe it is, but I'll speak up if you say the word, and make him set +you ashore--even if I leave along with you?" + +"Keep your job, sir. Will you pick up my few little belongings in my +stateroom and bring them to me, Mr. McGaw? I'd better stay here on deck +with my friends." He emphasized the last word, and Captain Candage gave +him a grateful look. "I'm sorry, mates! I can't say any more!" Captain +Mayo did not allow himself to make further comment on the melancholy +situation. The others were silent; the affair was out of their +reckoning; they had no words to fit the case. Polly Candage stood +looking out to sea. He had hoped that she would give him a glance of +understanding sympathy, at least. But she did not, not even when he +helped her down the steps into the tender. + +Mate McGaw came with the captain's bag and belongings, and promptly +received orders from the owner from the quarter-deck. + +"Go on to the bridge and hail that schooner. Tell her we are headed for +New York and can't be bothered by these persons!" + +Mr. McGaw grasped Mayo's hand in farewell, and then he hurried to his +duty. His megaphoned message echoed over their heads while the tender +was on its way. + +"Ay, ay, sir!" returned the fishing-skipper, with hearty bellow. "Glad +to help sailors in trouble." + +"And that shows you--" blurted Captain Candage, and stopped his say in +the middle of his outburst when his daughter shoved a significant fist +against his ribs. + +Captain Mayo turned his head once while the tender was hastening toward +the schooner. But there were no women in sight on the yacht's deck. +There was an instant's flutter of white from a stateroom port, but he +was not sure whether it was a handkerchief or the end of a wind-waved +curtain. He faced about resolutely and did not look behind again. Shame, +misery, hopelessness--he did not know which emotion was stinging him +most poignantly. The oarsmen in the tender were gazing upward innocently +while they rowed, but he perceived that they were hiding grins. His +humiliation in that amazing fashion would be the forecastle jest. +Through him these new friends of his had been subjected to insult. He +felt that he understood what Polly Candage's silence meant. + +The next moment he felt the pat of a little hand on the fist he was +clenching on his knee. + +"Poor boy!" she whispered. "I understand! It will come out right if you +don't lose courage." + +But she was not looking at him when he gave her a quick side-glance. + +The fisherman had come into the wind, rocking on the long swell, dingy +sails flapping, salt-stained sides dipping and flashing wet gleams as +she rolled. Her men were rigging a ladder over the side. + +"I want to say whilst we're here together and there's time to say it," +announced Captain Candage, "that we are one and all mighty much obliged +for that invite you gave us to come aboard the yacht, sir, and we all +know that if--well, if things had been different from what they was you +would have used us all right. And what I might say about yachts and the +kind of critters that own 'em I ain't a-going to say." + +"You are improving right along, father," observed Polly Candage, dryly. + +"Still, I have my own idees on the subject. But that's neither here nor +there. You're a native and I'm a native, and I want ye should just look +at that face leaning over the lee rail, there, and then say that now we +know that we're among real friends." + +It was a rubicund and welcoming countenance under the edge of a rusty +black oilskin sou'wester hat, and the man was manifestly the skipper. +Every once in a while he flourished his arm encouragingly. + +"Hearty welcome aboard the _Reuben and Esther_," he called out when the +tender swung to the foot of the ladder. "What schooner is she, there?" + +"Poor old _Polly_," stated the master, first up the ladder. In his haste +to greet the fishing-skipper he left his daughter to the care of Captain +Mayo. + +"That's too bad--too bad!" clucked the fishing-skipper, full measure of +sympathy in his demeanor. "She was old, but she was able, sir!" + +"And here's another poor Polly," stated Captain Candage. "I was fool +enough to take her out of a good home for a trip to sea." + +The skipper ducked salute. "Make yourself to home, miss. Go below. House +is yours!" + +Then the schooner lurched away on her shoreward tack, and the insolent +yacht marched off down across the shimmering waves. + +Mayo shook hands with the solicitous fisherman in rather dreamy and +indifferent fashion. He realized that he was faint with hunger, but he +refused to eat. Fatigue and grief demanded their toll in more imperious +fashion than hunger. He lay down in the sun in the lee alley, put his +head on his crossed arms, and blessed sleep blotted out his bitter +thoughts. + + + + +XI ~ A VOICE FROM HUE AND CRY + + But when the money's all gone and spent, + And there's none to be borrowed and none to be lent, + In comes old Grouchy with a frown, + Saying, "Get up, Jack, let John sit down." + For it's now we're outward bound, + Hur-rah, we're outward bound! + --Song of the Dog and Bell. + +Captain Mayo, when he woke, had it promptly conveyed to him that +hospitality on board the _Reuben and Esther_ had watchful eyes. While he +was rubbing feeling back into his stiffened limbs, sitting there in the +lee alley, the cook came lugging a pot of hot coffee and a plate heaped +with food. + +"Thought you'd rather have it here than in the cuddy. The miss is asleep +in the house," whispered the cook. + +Captain Candage came to Mayo while the latter was eating and sat down on +the deck. Gloom had settled on the schooner's master. "I don't want to +bother you with my troubles, seeing that you've got aplenty of your own, +sir. But I'm needing a little advice. I have lost a schooner that has +been my home ever since I was big enough to heave a dunnage-bag over +the rail, and not a cent of insurance. Insurance would have et up all my +profits. What do you think of my chances to make a dollar over and above +providing I hire a tugboat and try to salvage?" + +"According to my notion your chances would be poor, sir. Claims in such +cases usually eat up all a craft is worth. Besides, you may find those +yachtsmen on your back for damages, providing you get her in where she +can be libeled." + +"I shouldn't wonder a mite," admitted Captain Can-dage. "The more some +folks have the more they keep trying to git." + +"I was looking her bottom over while we sat there, and it must be owned +up that her years have told on her." + +"I hate to let her go." + +"That's natural, sir. But I have an idea that she will be reported as +a menace to navigation, and that a coastguard cutter will blow her up +before you can get around to make your salvage arrangements." + +"When a man is down they all jump on him." + +"I can agree with you there," affirmed Captain Mayo, mournfully. + +"She showed grit--that girl," ventured Candage, giving the other man +keen survey from under his grizzled brows. + +"I must ask you to furl sail on that subject, sir," snapped Mayo, with +sailor bluntness. + +"I only said it complimentary. Lots of times girls have more grit than +they are given credit for. You think they're just girls, and then you +find out that they are hero-ines! I thought I had some grit, but my own +Polly has shamed me. I was just down watching her--she's asleep in Cap'n +Sinnett's bunk. Made the tears come up into my eyes, sir, to ponder +on what she has been through on account of my cussed foolishness. Of +course, you haven't been told. But confession is good for a man, and I'm +going to own up. I took her with me to get her away from a fellow who is +courting her." + +Mayo did not offer comment. He wanted to advise the skipper to keep +still on that subject, too. + +"I don't say he ain't good enough for her. Maybe he is. But I 'ain't +been realizing that she has growed up. When I found she was being +courted it was like hitting a rock in a fairway. You are young, and you +are around consid'able and know the actions of young folks. What's your +advice?" + +"I don't know anything about the circumstances, sir." + +"But speaking generally," insisted Captain Candage. "I want to do what's +right. There ain't many I can bring myself to ask. I'm a poor old fool, +I'm afraid. Won't you kind of grab in on this, Captain Mayo? I do need a +little advice." His rough hands trembled on his knees. + +"If the young man is worthy--is the right sort," returned Mayo, in +gentler tones, "I think you are making a great mistake by interfering." + +"I'll go look that young fellow over--re-survey him, as ye might say," +stated the skipper, after a moment's meditation. + +"I don't know your daughter very well, sir, but I have much faith in her +judgment. If I were you I'd allow her to pick her own husband." + +"Thanks for that advice. I know it comes from a man who has shown that +he knows exactly what to do in emergencies. I have changed my mind about +her being courted, sir." + +"Honest love isn't a question of money, Captain Candage. Many good girls +are ruined by--" He was speaking bitterly and he checked himself. "Where +is Captain Sinnett going to set us ashore?" + +"Maquoit. He is going to take his fish to the big market. But he said he +would set us ashore anywhere, and so I said Maquoit. I might as well be +there as anywhere till I know what I'm going to do." + +"Same thing holds good for me, I suppose. I don't feel like going to the +city just yet." + +Captain Sinnett came rolling into the alley, and when Mayo started to +thank him for the trouble he was taking he raised in genial protest a +hand which resembled in spread a split codfish. + +"Trouble! It ain't trouble. Was going to call into Maquoit to ice up, +anyway. I know my manners even if them yachting fellows didn't." + +Captain Candage preserved the demeanor of innocence under Mayo's +scrutiny. + +"I've missed you off the fishing-grounds--didn't know you had gone on to +a yacht, sir," pursued Captain Sinnett. "Hope to see you back into the +fishing business again; that is, providing you don't go on one of +them beam trawlers that are hooking up the bottom of the Atlantic and +sp'iling the thing entire for us all." + +"I agree with you about the trawler; that's why I quit. And as to +yachting, I think I'll go after a real man's job, sir!" + +"So do! You'll be contenteder," replied the other, significance in his +tones. + +Mayo knew that his secret had been exposed, but he had no relish for an +argument with Captain Candage on the subject of garrulity. He finished +his coffee and went forward where the fishermen were coiling the +gang-lines into the tubs. + +The fisherman made port at Maquoit late in the afternoon, and was warped +to her berth at the ice-house wharf. + +The castaways went ashore. + +Maquoit was a straggling hamlet at the head of a cove which nicked the +coast-line. + +Captain Candage, an Apple-treer, who knew every hole alongshore where +refuge from stress of weather was afforded, led his party through the +village with confidence. + +"There's a widder here who will put us up for what time we want to +stay--and be glad of the money. I knowed her husband in the coasting +trade. I like to get into a place like this that 'ain't been sp'iled +by them cussed rusticators and the prices they are willing to pay," +he confided to Mayo. He slyly exhibited a wallet that was stuffed with +paper money. "I ain't busted, but there's no sense in paying more 'n +five dollars a week anywhere for vittles and bed. She will make plenty +off'n us at that rate. You just let me do the dickering." + +The widow proved to be a kindly soul who, in the first excitement of +her sympathetic nature, resolutely refused to consider the matter of any +payment whatever. + +"You are shipwrecked, and my poor husband's body wouldn't rest quiet +wherever it is in the Atlantic Ocean if I grabbed money from shipwrecked +folks." + +However, in the end, Captain Candage worked her up from three dollars +to five per week, and she took Polly Candage into her heart and into the +best chamber. + +Captain Mayo came back to supper after a moody stroll about the village. +Skipper Candage was patrolling the widow's front yard and was exhibiting +more cheerfulness. + +"It's God's Proverdunce and your grit that has saved us, sir. I have +come out of my numb condition and sense it all. What's your plans?" + +"I don't seem to be able to make any just yet." + +"I'm going to stay right here for a spell, and shall keep Dolph and Otie +with me. We shall be here on the coast where we can hear of something +to grab in on. As soon as Polly gets straightened around I'll let her go +home to her aunt. But, of course, hanging around here doesn't offer you +any attractions, sir. You're looking for bigger game than we are." + +"I have about made up my mind to leave in the morning on the stage. I'll +go somewhere." + +The widow tapped her knuckles on the glass of a near-by window. +"Supper!" she announced. "Hurry in whilst it's hot!" + +"I always do my best pondering on a full stomach," said Captain Candage. +"And I smell cream-o'-tartar biskits and I saw her hulling field +strorb'ries. Better look on the bright side of things along with me, +Captain Mayo." + +Captain Mayo failed to find any bright side as he turned his affairs +over in his mind. He had only a meager stock of money. He had used his +modest earnings in settling the debts of the family estate. The outlook +for employment was vague--he could not estimate to what extent the +hostility of Julius Marston might block his efforts, provided the +magnate troubled himself to descend to meddle with the affairs of such +an inconspicuous person. His poor little romance with Alma Marston had +been left in a shocking condition. He did not talk at the supper-table, +and the widow's wholesome food was like ashes in his mouth. He went out +and sat on the porch of the widow's cottage and looked into the sunset +and saw nothing in its rosy hues to give him encouragement for his own +future. + +Polly Candage came timidly and sat down beside him. "Father says you +think of leaving in the morning!" + +"There's nothing for me here." + +"Probably not." + +A long silence followed. + +"I suppose you don't care to have me talk to you, Captain Mayo?" + +"I'll listen to you gratefully, any time." + +"I'm only a country girl. I don't know how to say it--how to tell you +I'm so sorry for you!" + +"That one little pat on my hand to-day, it was better than words." + +"It's all I can think about--your unhappiness." + +"That touches me because I know that you have enough sorrow of your +own." + +"Sorrow!" She opened her eyes wide. + +"Perhaps I have no business speaking of it," he returned, with +considerable embarrassment. + +"And yet I have been so bold as to speak to you!" + +There was a touch of reproach in her voice, and therefore he ventured: +"Your father told me--I tried to stop him, but he went on and +said--Well, I understand! But I have some consolation for you and I'm +going to speak out. He says he is going to allow you to marry your young +man." + +"Did he dare to talk such matters over with you?" + +"He insisted on doing it--on asking my advice. So I advised in a way to +help you. I am glad, for your sake, that he is coming to his senses." + +"I thank you for your help," she said, stiffly. + +"Of course it's none of my business. I'm sorry he told me. But I wish +you all happiness." + +She rose as if to go away. Then she stamped her foot and sat down. "My +father ought to be muzzled!" + +She realized that he might misinterpret her indignation, for he said: +"I'm ashamed because I meddled in your affairs. But from what you saw +to-day in my case, I felt that I ought to help others who are in the +same trouble." + +"But my father has mistaken my--" She broke off in much confusion, not +understanding the queer look he gave her. "I--I am glad my father is +coming to his senses and will allow me to--to--marry the young man," she +stammered. "And now I think I may be allowed to say that I hope you may +have the girl you love, some day. Would you like to have me talk to you +about her--how dear and pretty I think she is?" + +"No, it hurts! But I do want you to know, Miss Can-dage, that I'm not +out fortune-hunting. I love her for herself--just herself--nothing +more!" + +"I know it must be so." + +"And I know that a young man you would choose is worthy of you. I told +your father--" + +"No matter. _That_ hurts, too! We both understand. We'll leave it +there!" + +After the declaration of that truce they were frankly at ease and began +to chat with friendly freedom. The dusk came shading into the west, the +evening star dripped silver light. + +"It's a peaceful spot here," she suggested. "Everybody seems to be +contented." + +"Contentment--in a rut--that may be the best way of passing this life, +after all." + +"But if you were in the rut, Captain Mayo, you might find that +contentment would not agree to come and live with you." + +"Probably it wouldn't! I'd have to be born to the life here like this +chap who is coming up the hill. You can see that he isn't worrying about +himself or the world outside." + +The man was clumping slowly along in his rubber boots; an old cap was +slewed awry on his head, its peak drawn down over one ear. He cocked up +the other ear at sound of voices on the porch and loafed up and sat down +on the edge of the boarding. Captain Mayo and the girl, accustomed to +bland indifference to formality in rural neighborhoods, accepted this +interruption without surprise or protest. + +"'Tain't a bad night as nights go," stated the caller. + +"It's a beautiful night," said Polly Candage. + +"I reckon it seems so to you, after what you went through. I've been +harking to your father telling the yarn down to the store." + +They did not reply, having their own ideas as to Captain Candage's +loquacity. + +The caller hauled a plug of tobacco from his pocket, gnawed off a chew, +and began slow wagging of his jaws. "This world is full of trouble," he +observed, + +"It seems to be," agreed Captain Mayo. + +"Them what's down get kicked further down." + +"Also true, in many cases." + +"Take your case! It's bad. But our'n is worse!" The caller pointed to +the dim bulk of a small island which the cove held between the bold jaws +of its headland. "The old sir who named that Hue and Cry Island must +have smelt into the future so as to know what was going to happen there +some day--and this is the day!" He chewed on, and his silence became +irritating. + +"Well, what has happened?" demanded the captain. + +"It hasn't happened just yet--it's going to." + +Further silence. + +"Tell us what's going to happen, can't you?" + +"Of course I can, now that you have asked me. I ain't no hand to butt +in. I ain't no hand to do things unless I'm asked. There's seventeen +fam'lies of us on Hue and Cry and they've told us to get off." + +"Who told you?" + +"The state! Some big bugs come along and said the Governor sent 'em, and +they showed papers and we've got to go." + +"But I know about Hue and Cry!" protested Mayo. "You people have lived +there for years!" + +"Sure have! My grandfather was one of the first settlers. Most all of us +who live there had grandfathers who settled the place. But according to +what is told us, some heirs have found papers what say that they own +the island. The state bought out the heirs. Now the state says get off. +We're only squatters, state says." + +"But, good Caesar, man, you have squatter rights after all these years. +Hire a lawyer. Fight the case!" + +"We ain't fighters. 'Ain't got no money--'ain't got no friends. Might +have fit plain heirs, but you can't fight the state--leastways, poor +cusses like us can't." + +"Where are you going?" + +"Well, there's the problem! That's what made me say that this world is +full of trouble. You see, we have taken town help in years past--had to +do it or starve winters. And we have had state aid, too. They say that +makes paupers of us. Every town round about has served notice that we +can't settle there and gain pauper residence. Hue and Cry 'ain't ever +been admitted to any town. Towns say, seeing that the state has ordered +us off, now let the state take care of us." + +"And men have been here, representing the state?" + +"You bet they have." + +"What do they say?" + +"Say get off! But they won't let us settle on the main. Looks like they +wanted us to go up in balloons. But we hain't got no balloons. Got to +move, though." + +"I never heard of such a thing!" + +"Nor I, neither," admitted this man, with a sort of calm numbness of +discouragement. "But that ain't anyways surprising. We don't hear much +about anything on Hue and Cry till they come and tell us. Speaking for +myself, I ain't so awful much fussed up. I've got a house-bo't to +take my wife and young ones on, and we'll keep on digging clams for +trawlers--sixty cents a bucket, shucked, and we can dig and shuck a +bucket a day, all hands turning to. We won't starve. But I pity the poor +critters that 'ain't got a house-bo't. Looks like they'd need wings. I +ain't worrying a mite, I say. I had the best house on the island, and +the state has allowed a hundred and fifty dollars for it. I consider I'm +well fixed." + +The plutocrat of the unhappy tribe of Hue and Cry rose and stretched +with a comfortable grunt. + +"If it ain't one thing it's another," he said, as he started off. "We've +got to have about so much trouble, anyway, and it might just as well be +this as anything else." % + +"Why, that's an awful thing to happen to those people!" declared the +girl. "I must say, he takes it calmly." + +"He is a fair sample of some of the human jellyfish I have found hidden +away in odd corners on this coast," stated Captain Mayo. "Not enough +mind or spirit left to fight for his own protection. But this thing is +almost unbelievable. It can't be possible that the state is gunning an +affair like this! I'll find somebody who knows more about it than that +clam-digging machine!" + +A little later a man strolled past, hands behind his back. He was +placidly smoking a cigar, and, though the dusk had deepened, Mayo could +perceive that he was attired with some pretensions to city smartness. + +"I beg your pardon, sir," called the young man. "But do you know +anything about the inwardness of this business on Hue and Cry Island?" + +"I can tell you _all_ about it," stated the person who had been hailed. +He sauntered up and sat down on the edge of the porch. He showed the air +of a man who was killing time. "I'm in charge of it." + +"Not of putting those people off the island?" + +"Sure! That's what I'm here for. I'm state agent on pauper affairs, +acting for the Governor and Council." + +"You say the state is back of this?" demanded Mayo, incredulously. + +"Certainly! It's a matter that the state was obliged to take up. State +has bought that island from the real heirs, has ordered off those +squatters, and we shall burn down their shacks and clear the land up. +Of course, we allow heads of families some cash for their houses, if +you can call 'em houses. That's under the law regulating squatter +improvements. But improvements is a polite word for the buildings on +that island. It is going to cost us good money to clear up for that New +York party who has made an offer to the state--he's going to use the +island for a summer estate." + +He flicked the ashes from his cigar and broke in on Mayo's indignant +retort. + +"It had to be done, sir. They have intermarried till a good many of the +children are fools. The men are breaking into summer cottages, after the +owners leave in the fall. They steal everything on the main that isn't +nailed down. They have set false beacons in the winter, and have wrecked +coasters. Every little while some city newspaper has written them up as +wild men, and it has given the state a bad name. We're going to break up +the nest." + +"But where will they go?" + +"Fools to the state school for the feeble-minded, cripples to the +poorhouse. The able-bodied will have to get out and go to work at +something honest." + +"But, look here, my dear sir! Those poor devils are starting out with +too much of a handicap. After three generations on that island they +don't know how to get a living on the main." + +"That's their own lookout, not the state's! State doesn't guarantee to +give shiftless folks a living." + +"How about using a little common sense in the case of such people?" + +"You are not making this affair your business, are you?" asked the +commissioner, with acerbity. + +"No." + +"Better not; and you'd better not say too much to _me!_" He rose and +dusted off his trousers. "I have investigated for the Governor and +Council and they are acting on my recommendations. You might just as +well advise nursing and coddling a nest of brown-tail moths--and we are +spending good money to kill off moths. We don't propose to encourage the +breeding of thieves. We are not keeping show places of this sort along +the coast for city folks to talk about and run down the state after they +go back home. It hurts state business!" He marched away. + +Captain Mayo strode up and down the porch and muttered some emphatic +opinions in regard to the intellects and doings of rulers. + +"You see, I know the sort of people who live on that island, Miss +Candage. I have seen other cases alongshore. They are blamed for what +they don't know--and what they are led into. Amateur missionaries will +load them down in a spasm of summer generosity with a lot of truck +and make them think that the world owes them a living. The poor +devils haven't wit enough to look ahead. When it comes winter they are +starving--and when children are hungry and cold a man will tackle a +proposition that is more dangerous than a summer cottage locked up for +the winter. Next comes along some chap like that state agent, who prides +himself on being straight business and no favors! He puts the screws to +'em! There's nobody to help those folks in the real and the right way. I +pity them!" + +"I live in the country and I know how unfeeling the boards of selectmen +are in many of the pauper cases. When it's a matter of saving money for +the voters and making a good town record, they don't care much how poor +folks get along." + +Mayo continued to patrol the porch. "I'm in a rather rebellious state of +mind just now, I reckon," he admitted. "Seems to me that a lot of +folks, including myself, are getting kicked. I'm smarting! I have +a fellow-feeling for the oppressed." He laughed, but there was no +merriment in his tones. "It's the little children who will suffer most +in this, Miss Candage," he went on. "They are not to blame--they don't +understand." + +"And of course nothing can be done." + +"Nothing sensible, I'm afraid." He walked to and fro for many minutes. +"You see, it's none of my business," he commented, when he came and sat +down beside her. + +"I suppose there's not one man in the world to step forward and say a +good word for them," said the girl, softly, uttering her thoughts. + +"Words wouldn't amount to anything--with the machinery of the state +grinding away so merrily as it is. But this matter is stirring my +curiosity a little, Miss Candage. That's because I am one of the +oppressed myself, I reckon." Again his mirthless chuckle. "I intended to +take the stage out of here in the morning, but I have an idea that I'll +stay over and see what happens when that gentleman who represents our +grand old state proceeds to scatter those folks to the four winds." + +"I was hoping you would stay over, Captain Mayo." She declared that with +frank delight. + +"But you don't expect me to do anything, of course!" + +"It's not that. You see, I'd like to go down to the island and--and +father is so odd he might not be willing to escort me," she explained, +trying to be matter-of-fact, her air showing that she regretted her +outburst. + +"I volunteer, here and now." + +She rose and put out her hand to him. "I have not thanked you for saving +my life--saving us all, Captain Mayo. It is too holy a matter to be +profaned by any words. But here is my hand--like a friend--like a +sister--no"--she held herself straight and looked him full in the face +through the gloom and tightened her hold on his fingers--"like a man!" + +He returned her earnest finger-clasp and released her hand when her +pressure slackened. That sudden spirit, the suggestion that she desired +to assume the attitude of man to man with him, seemed to vanish from her +with the release of her fingers. + +She quavered her "Good night!" There was even a hint of a sob. Then she +ran into the house. + +Mayo stared after her, wrinkling his forehead for a moment, as if he had +discovered some new vagary in femininity to puzzle him. Then he resumed +his patrol with the slow stride of the master mariner. Hue and Cry +raised dim bulk in the harbor jaws, showing no glimmer of light. It was +barren, treeless, a lump of land which towns had thrust from them and +which county boundaries had not taken in. He admitted that the state had +good reasons for desiring to change conditions on Hue and Cry, but this +callous, brutal uprooting of helpless folks who had been attached to +that soil through three generations was so senselessly radical that +his resentment was stirred. It was swinging from the extreme of +ill-considered indulgence to that of utter cruelty, and the poor devils +could not in the least understand! + +"There seem to be other things than a spiked martingale which can pick +a man up and keep him away from his own business," he mused. "What +fool notion possesses me to go out there to-morrow I cannot understand. +However, I can go and look on without butting into stuff that's no +affair of mine." + +Two men were shuffling past in the road. In the utter silence of that +summer night their conversation carried far. + +"Yes, sir, as I was saying, there he lays dead! When I was with him on +the _Luther Briggs_ he fell from the main crosstrees, broke both legs +and one arm, and made a dent in the deck, and he got well. And a week +ago, come to-morrow, he got a sliver under his thumb, and there he lays +dead." + +"It's the way it often is in life. Whilst a man is looking up into the +sky so as to see the big things and dodge 'em, he goes to work and stubs +his toe over a knitting-needle." + +"That's right," Captain Mayo informed himself; "but I can't seem to help +myself, somehow!" + + + + +XII ~ NO PLACE POR THE SOLES OP THEIR FEET + + Don't you hear the old man roaring, Johnny, + One more day? Don't you hear that pilot bawling, + One more day? Only one more day, my Johnny, + One more day! O come rock and roll me over, + One more day. + --Windlass Song. + +When the subject of the proposed expedition to Hue and Cry was broached +at the breakfast-table, Captain Epps Candage displayed prompt interest. + +"It's going to be a good thing for the section round about here--roust +'em off! Heard 'em talking it over down to Rowley's store last evening. +I'll go along with you and see it done." + +Mayo and Polly Candage exchanged looks and refrained from comment. +It was evident that Captain Candage reflected the utilitarian view of +Maquoit. + +Mayo had put off that hateful uniform of Marston's yacht, and the girl +gave him approving survey when he appeared that morning in his shore +suit of quiet gray. With the widow's ready aid Polly Candage had made +her own attire presentable once more. When they walked down to the shore +she smiled archly at Mayo from under the brim of a very fetching straw +poke. + +"I ran down to the general store early and bought a boy's hat," she +explained. "I trimmed it myself. You know, I'm a milliner's apprentice. +Does it do my training credit?" + +He was somewhat warm in his assurances that it did. + +"I ought to be pleased by your praise," she said, demurely, "because +women wear hats for men's approval, and if my customers go home and hear +such nice words from their husbands my business career is sure to be a +success." + +"Your business career?" + +"Certainly, sir!" She bobbed a little courtesy. "I have money, sir! +Money of my own. Five thousand dollars in the bank, if you please! Oh, +you need not stare at me. I did not earn it. My dear mother's sister +left it to me in her will. And some day when you are walking down the +city street you'll see a little brass sign--very bright, very neat--and +there'll be 'Polly' on it. Then you may come up and call on the great +milliner--that will be this person, now so humble." + +"But that young man!" he protested, smiling at her gaiety. + +"Oh, that young man?" She wrinkled her nose. Then she flushed, conscious +that he was a bit surprised at her tone of disdain. "Why, he will wear a +frock-coat and a flower in the buttonhole and will bow in my customers. +You didn't think my young man was a farmer-boy, did you?" + +She hurried ahead of him to the beach, where her father was waiting with +his men. Captain Candage had borrowed a dory for the trip. He installed +himself in the stern with the steer-oar, and the young man and the girl +sat together on the midship seat. The skipper listened to their chat +with bland content. + +"There's a fellow that's one of our kind, and he ain't trying to court +my girl," he had confided to Mr. Speed. "He is spoke for and she knows +it. And under them circumstances I believe in encouraging young folks to +be sociable." + +It was still early morning when they arrived at the island, but the +state agent was there ahead of them. They saw him walking briskly about +among the scattered houses, puffing on his cigar. + +He was making domiciliary visits and was transacting business in a loud +tone of voice. That business was paying over the money which the state +had allowed for "squatter improvements." In the case of the settlers on +Hue and Cry the sums were mere pittances; their improvements consisted +of tottering shacks, erected from salvaged flotsam of the ocean and +patched over and over with tarred paper. + +There was only one building on the island which deserved + +the name of dwelling; from this their communicative caller of the +preceding evening was removing his scant belongings. His wife and +children were helping. He set down a battered table when he met Mayo and +his party. + +"I'm the only citizen who can get away early and--as you might call +it--respectable, gents. I took my hundred and fifty and bought that +house-bo't out there." It was an ancient scow, housed over, and +evidently had grown venerable in service as a floating fish-market. +"They can't drive me off'n the Atlantic Ocean! The others 'ain't woke +up to a reelizing sense that they have got to go and that this all means +business! I'm getting away early or else they'd all be trying to climb +aboard my bo't like the folks wanted to do to Noah's ark when they see +that the flood wasn't just a shower." He lifted his table upon his head +and marched on, leading his flock. + +All the population of the island was out of doors. The women and the +children were idling in groups; the men were listlessly following the +commissioner on his rounds. No spirit of rebelliousness was evident. The +men acted more like inquisitive sheep. They were of that abject variety +of poor whites who accept the rains from heaven and bow to the reign of +authority with the same unquestioning resignation. + +But Mayo discovered promptly an especial reason for the calmness +exhibited by these men. Their slow minds had not wakened to full +comprehension. + +"What do you men propose to do?" demanded Captain Mayo of a group which +had abandoned the commissioner and had strolled over to inspect the +new-comers. + +"There ain't nothing we can do," stated a spokesman. + +"But don't you understand that this man is here with full power from the +state to put you off this island?" + +"Oh, they have threated us before. But something has allus come up. We +haven't been driv' off." + +"But this time it's going to happen! Why don't you wake up? Where are +you going?" + +"That's for somebody else to worry about. This ain't any of our picking +and choosing." + +"What's the use of trying to beat anything sensible through the shells +of them quahaugs?" snarled Captain Candage, with 'longcoast scorn for +the inefficient. + +"Not much use, I'm afraid," acknowledged the young man. "But look at the +children!" + +Those pathetic waifs of Hue and Cry were huddled apart, dumb with terror +which their elders made no attempt to calm. They were ragged, pitiful, +wistful urchins; lads with pinched faces, poor little snippets of girls. +Their childish imaginations made of the affair a tragedy which they +could not understand. Under their arms they held frightened cats, +helpless kittens, or rag dolls. The callous calm of the men mystified +them; the weeping of their mothers made their miserable fear more acute. +They stared from face to face, trying to comprehend. + +"What can I say to them?" asked Polly Candage, in a whisper. "It's +wicked. They are so frightened." + +"Perhaps something can be done with that agent. I'm trying to think up +something to say to him," Mayo told her. + +An old man, a very old man, sat on an upturned clamhod and yawled a +discordant miserere on a fiddle. His eyes were wide open and sightless. +A woman whose tattered skirt only partly concealed the man's trousers +and rubber boots which she wore, occasionally addressed him as "father." +She was piling about him a few articles of furniture which she was +lugging out of their home; that house was the upper part of a schooner's +cabin--something the sea had cast up on Hue and Cry. She was obliged to +bend nearly double in order to walk about in the shelter. Dogs slinked +between the feet of their masters, canine instinct informing them that +something evil was abroad that day. The children staring wide-eyed and +white-faced, the weeping women, the cowed men who shuffled and mumbled! +Among them strode the god of the machine, curt, contemptuous, puffing +his cigar! He came past Captain Mayo and his friends. + +"I beg your pardon, sir," called the captain; "but are you sure that you +are doing this thing just right?" + +"Let's see--if I remember, I had a little talk with you last night!" +suggested the agent, frostily. "Whom do you represent?" "Myself." + +"Just how do you fit into this matter?" "I don't think I do fit--there +seem to be too many sharp corners," stated Mayo, not liking the other's +insolent manner. "Well, I fit! I have state authority." "So you have +told me. May I ask you a question?" "Go ahead, but be lively. This is +my busy day." "These people are being rooted up; they don't seem to know +what's to become of them. What will be done?" + +"I told you last evening! Fools in an institution; able-bodied must go +to work. The state proposes--" "When you say 'state' just what do you +mean, sir?" "I mean that I have investigated this matter and I'm running +it." + +"That's what I thought! The state usually doesn't know much about what +its agents are doing." + +"You are not doubting my authority, are you?" + +"No, but I'm doubting your good judgment." + +"Look here, my man!" + +"We'd better not lose our tempers," advised Mayo, calmly. "You are a +state servant, you say. Then a citizen has a right to talk to you. Let's +leave the state out of this, if you question my right. Man to man, now! +You're wrong." + +The population of the island had drawn close circle about them. + +"That's enough talk from you," declared the agent, wrathfully. + +"You are trying to make over all at once what it has taken three +generations to bring about," insisted Mayo. "You can't do it!" + +"You watch me and see if I can't! When I transact any business I'm paid +to transact it gets transacted. I might have given these people a few +more days if you had not come sticking your oar in here. But now I +propose to show you! I'll have 'em off here by nightfall, and every +shack burned to the ground." + +"Do you mean to say you're going to rub it into these poor folks just +because I have tried to say something to help them?" + +"I'll show you and them that it isn't safe to monkey with the state when +the state gets started." + +"Oh, the state be condemned!" exploded Mayo, feeling his own temper +getting away from him. "This isn't the state--it's a case of a man's +swelled head!" + +"Get off this island, you and your meddlers," commanded the agent. + +"Yes, when we are ready to leave, sir." + +Mayo was wondering at his own obstinacy. He knew that a rather boyish +temper, resentment roused by the other man's arrogance, had considerable +to do with his stand in the matter, but underneath there was protest +at the world's injustice. He felt that he had been having personal +experience with that injustice. He knew that he had not come out to Hue +and Cry to volunteer as the champion of these unfortunates, but now +that he was there and had spoken out it was evident that he must allow +himself to be forced into the matter to some extent; the agent had +declared in the hearing of all that this interference had settled the +doom of the islanders. Polly Candage was standing close to the champion, +and she looked at him with eyes that flashed with pride in him and +spirit of her own. She reached and took one of the frightened children +by the hand. + +"If I have been a little hasty in my remarks I apologize," pleaded the +captain, anxious to repair the fault. "I don't mean to interfere with +your duty. I have no right to do so!" + +"You hear what your friend says, after getting you into the mess," +shouted the agent, so that all might hear. "Now he is getting ready to +trot away and leave you in your trouble." + +"You are wrong there, my friend. If you are angry with me, go ahead and +have your quarrel with me. Don't bang at me over the shoulders of these +poor folks. It isn't a square deal." + +"They go off to-day--and they go because you have butted into the +matter. The whole of you have got to be shown that the state doesn't +stand for meddlers after orders have been given." Then he added, with +malice: "You folks better ride this chap down to the beach on a rail. +Whatever happens to you is his fault!" + +This attempt to shift responsibility as a petty method of retaliation +stirred Mayo's anger in good earnest. + +The agent was dealing with men who were scarcely more than children in +their estimates of affairs; they muttered among themselves and scowled +on this stranger who had brought their troubles to a climax. + +"I'm not going to allow you to get away with that kind of talk, Mr. +Agent. You know perfectly well that people on the main will not hire +these men, even if they _are_ able-bodied. Everybody is down on them. +You said that to me last evening. They will be kicked from pillar to +post--from this town to that! They will be worse than beggars. And they +must drag these women and little children about with them. I will expose +this thing!" + +"That exposure will sound fine!" sneered the commissioner. "Exposing a +state officer for doing what the Governor and Council have ordered!" + +"Yes, ordered on your advice!" + +"Well, it has been ordered! And I'll be backed up! As soon as I can get +to a justice I shall swear out a warrant against you for interfering +with a state officer." He flung down the stub of his cigar. "Listen, you +people! Get off this island. Anybody who is here at sunset--man, woman, +or child--will be arrested and put in jail for trespassing on state +land. Now you'd all better give three cheers for your meddling friend, +here!" + +"They have allus let us stay, even when they have threated us before +now," whimpered a man. "He has poured the fat into the fire for us, +that's what he has done!" He pointed his finger at Mayo. + +"It's wicked!" gasped the girl. "These poor folks don't know any better, +they are not responsible!" + +"Say, look here, you folks!" shouted Mr. Speed, who had been holding +himself in with great difficulty. "It's about time for you to wake up!" + +The plutocrat of the house-boat had come up from the beach and had been +listening. The whimpering man started to speak again, and the magnate of +the island cuffed him soundly; it was plain that this man, who had lived +in the best house, had been a personage of authority in the tribe. + +"I'm ashamed of the whole caboodle of ye," he vociferated. "Here's a +gent that's been standing up for us. He's the only man I ever heard say +a good word for us or try to help us! Nobody else in the world ever done +it! Take off your hats and thank him!" + +"I'm in it!" whispered Mayo to the girl. "For heaven's sake, what am I +going to do?" + +"Do all you can--please, Captain Mayo!" + +He stepped forward. The agent began to shout. + +"Hold on, sir!" broke in the captain with quarter-deck air that made for +obedience and attention. "You have had your say! Now I'm going to +have mine. Listen to me, folks! I'm not the man to get my friends into +trouble and then run off and leave 'em. All of you who are kicked out +by the state--all men, women, and children who are ready to go to +work--come over to me on the main at Maquoit with what stuff you can +bring in your dories. I'll be waiting for you there. My name is Boyd +Mayo." + +"I'll remember that name, myself," declared the angry agent. "You'll be +shown that you can't interfere in a state matter." + +"You have turned these folks loose in the world, and I'm going to give +'em a hand when they come to where I am. If you choose to call that +interference, come on! It will make a fine story in court!" + +He did not stop to shake the grimy hands which were thrust out to him. +He pushed his way out of the crowd, and his party followed. + +"Meet me yonder on the main, boys," he called back with a sailor +heartiness which they understood. "We'll see what can be done!" + +"Well, what in the infernal blazes can be done?" growled Captain +Candage, catching step with the champion. + +"I don't know, sir." + +"You can't do nothing any more sensible with them critters than you +could with combined cases of the smallpox and the seven years' itch." + +"Father!" cried the girl, reproachfully. + +"I know what I'm talking about! This is dum foolishness!" + +"Captain Mayo is a noble man! You ought to be ashamed of hanging back +when your help is needed." + +"I don't blame you for sassing that skewangled old tywhoopus, sir," +admitted the old skipper. "I wanted to do it myself. But--" + +"I'm afraid I don't deserve much praise," said Mayo. "I've been getting +back at that agent. He made me mad. I'm apt to go off half-cocked like +that." + +"So am I, sir--and I'm always sorry for it. We'd better dig out before +that tribe of gazaboos lands on our backs." + +"Oh, not a bit of it! I have given my word, sir. I must see it through." + +"But what are you going to do with 'em?" + +"Blessed if I know right now! When I'm good and mad I don't stop to +think." + +"Suppose I meet 'em for you and tell 'em you have had a sudden death in +your family and have been called away? They won't know the difference," +volunteered Captain Candage. "And a real death would be lucky for you +beside of what's in store if you hang around." + +"I shall hang around, sir. I can't afford to be ashamed of myself." + +"I think you have said quite enough, father," stated Polly Candage, with +vigor. + +'"I have heard of adopting families before," said the irreconcilable +one, "but I never heard of any such wholesale operation as this. I'm +thinking I'll go climb a tree." + +They embarked in the dory. Mr. Speed and Dolph splashed their oars and +rowed, exchanging looks and not venturing to offer any comment. + +"You might auction 'em off to farmers for scarecrows," pursued Captain +Candage, still worrying the topic as a dog mouths a bone. "They ain't +fit for no more active jobs than that." + +"I do hope you'll forgive my father for talking this way," pleaded Polly +Candage. She raised brimming eyes to the sympathetic gaze of the young +man beside her. "He doesn't understand it the way I do." + +"Perhaps I don't exactly understand it myself," he protested. + +"But what you are doing for them?" + +"I haven't done anything as yet except start trouble for them. Now I +must do a little something to square myself." + +"There's a reward for good deeds, Captain Mayo, when you help those +who cannot help themselves. I believe what the Bible says about casting +bread on the waters. It will return to you some day!" + +He smiled down on her enthusiasm tolerantly, but he was far from +realizing then that this pretty girl, whose eyes were so bright +behind her tears, and whose cheeks were flushed with the ardor of her +admiration, was speaking to him with the tongue of a sibyl. + + + + +XIII ~ A CAPTAIN OP HUMAN FLOTSAM + + O what is that which smells so tarry? + I've nothing in the house that's tarry. + It's a tarry sailor, down below, + Kick him out into the snow! + Doo me axna, dinghy a-a-a ma! + Doo me ama-day! + --Doo Me Ama. + +Captain Candage growled and complained so persistently during the trip +to the main that Mayo expected to be deserted by the querulous skipper +the moment the dory's prow touched the beach. But the skipper came +dogging at his heels when Mayo set off up the one street of Maquoit. + +"May I come along with you?" asked the girl at his side. "I can see that +you are thinking up some plan. I do Hope I may come!" He gave her his +aim for answer. + +"I haven't been into this port for some time, Captain Candage, but the +last trip I made here, as I remember, a man named Rowley, who runs the +general store, was first selectman." + +"Is now," grunted the skipper. "They've got into the habit of electing +him and can't seem to break off." + +When they arrived in front of the store Captain Candage took the lead. + +"I may as well go in and introduce you, whatever it is you want of him. +I know Rufe Rowley as well as anybody ever gets to know him." + +Mr. Rowley leaned over his counter and acknowledged the introduction +with a flicker of amiability lighting his reserve. But his wan smile +faded into blankness and he clawed his chin beard nervously when Mayo +informed him that he had invited the evicted folks of Hue and Cry to +land on the mainland that day. + +"As overseer of the poor in this town I can't allow it, Captain Mayo!" + +"Those people must land somewhere." + +"Yes, yes, of course!" admitted Selectman Rowley. "But not here! I'm +beholden to the taxpayers." + +"And I suppose the officers of all the other towns about here will say +the same?" + +"Yes, yes! Of course." + +"Do you still own that old fish-house?" asked the captain, after +hesitating for a few moments; "the sardine-canning plant?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"You're not using it now?" + +"No, sir." + +"It isn't paying you any revenue, eh?" + +"No, sir." + +"Then you ought to be willing to let it pretty cheap--month-to-month +lease!" + +"Depends on what I'm letting it for." + +"I want to stow those poor people in there till I can arrange further +for them, either show the matter up to the state, or get work for them, +or something! Will you let me have it?" + +"No, sir!" declared the selectman, with vigor. + +"It's only monthly lease, I repeat. You can prevent them from getting +pauper residence here, in case none of my plans work." + +"Don't want 'em here--won't have 'em! I consider taxpayers first!" + +"Don't ye ever consider common, ordinary, human decency?" roared Captain +Epps Candage. + +It was astonishing interruption. Its violence made it startling. Mayo +whirled and stared amazedly at this new recruit. + +Captain Candage yanked his fat wallet from his pocket and dammed it down +on the counter with a bang which made the selectman's eyes snap. + +"You know _me_, Rowley! We've got the money to pay for what we order and +contract for. Them folks ain't paupers so long as we stand be-hind 'em. +We are bringing 'em ashore, here, because it's right to help 'em get +onto their feet. Hold on, Captain Mayo; you let me talk to Rowley! Him +and me know how to get sociable in a business talk!" + +However, Captain Candage seemed to be seeking sociability by bellowing +ferociously, thudding his hard fist on the counter. Mayo was not easily +surprised by the temperamental vagaries of queer old 'longcoast crabs +like Captain Candage, but this sudden conversion did take away his +breath. + +"When a close and partickler friend of mine, like this one I've just +introduced, comes to you all polite and asks a favor, I want general +politeness all around or I'll know the reason why," shouted the +intermediary. "Look-a-here, Rowley, you pretend to be a terrible +Christian sort of a man. When I have been fog-bound here I've tended out +on prayer-meetings, and I have heard you holler like a good one about +dying grace and salvation is free. I've never heard you say much about +living charity that costs something!" + +"I claim to be a Christian man," faltered Rowley, backing away from the +banging fist. + +"Then act like one. If you don't do it, blast your pelt, I'll post you +for a heathen from West Quoddy to Kittery!" + +"God bless you, my dad!" whispered the girl, snuggling close to the +skipper's shoulder. + +"Furthermore, Rowley, besides paying you a fair rental for that old +fish-house we'll buy grub for them poor devils out of your store." + +Mr. Rowley caressed his beard and blinked. + +"They're like empty nail-kags, and they'll eat a lot of vittles and +we've got the money to pay!" + +"I have a wallet of my own," stated Captain Mayo. He had not recovered +from his amazement at the sudden shift about of Captain Candage. After +all the sullen growling he had been tempted to ask the old skipper to +stop tagging him about on his errand of mercy. + +"Hear that, Rowley? This is the best friend I've got in the whole +world! Brought him in here! Introduced him to you! Here's my daughter! +Interested, too! Now, whatever you say, you'd better be sure that you +pick the right words." + +"Well, I'm always ready to help friends," stated Mr. Rowley. + +"Yes, and do business in a slack time," added Captain Candage. + +"I'm willing to show Christian charity to them that's poor and +oppressed. But what's the sense in doing it in this case?" + +"A great many folks in this life need a hard jolt before they turn to +and make anything of themselves," said Captain Mayo. "The people on Hue +and Cry have had their jolt. I do believe, with the right advice and +management, they can be made self-supporting. They have been allowed +to run loose until now, sir. I have been pulled into the thing all of +a sudden, and now that I'm in I'm willing to give up a little time and +effort to start 'em off. I haven't much of anything else to do just +now," he added, bitterly. + +"Come into my back office," invited Mr. Rowley. + +"Much obleeged--we'll do so," said Captain Candage. "You're a bright +man, Rowley, and I knowed you'd see the p'int when it was put up to you +right and polite." + +The business in the back office was soon settled satisfactorily, and +a busy day followed on the heels of that momentous morning. When night +fell the men, women, and children whom a benevolent state--through its +"straight-business" agent--had turned loose upon the world to shift for +themselves, were located in a single colony in the spacious fish-house. + +A few second-hand stoves, hired from Rowley, served to cook the food +bought from Rowley, and the families grouped themselves in rooms and +behind partitions and arranged the poor belongings they had salvaged +from their homes. Even the citizen who had at first resolved to go +floating on the bosom of the deep joined the colony. + +"It's more sociable," he explained, "and my wife don't like to give up +her neighbors. Furthermore, I know the whole bunch, root and branch, +whims, notions, and all, and they can't fool me. I'll help boss 'em!" He +became a lieutenant of value. + +This community life under a better roof than had ever sheltered them +before in their lives seemed to delight the refugees. Old and young, +they enjoyed the new surroundings with the zest of children. They had +never taken thought of the morrow in their existence on Hue and Cry. +Given food and shelter in this new abode, they did not worry about +the problems of the future. They roamed about their domain with the +satisfaction of princes in a palace. They did not show any curiosity +regarding what was to be done with them. They did not ask Captain Mayo +and his associates any questions. They surveyed him with a dumb and +sort of canine thankfulness when he moved among them. He himself tried +questions on a few of the more intelligent men, hoping that they would +show some initiative. They told him with bland serenity that they would +leave it all to him. + +"But what are you going to do for yourselves?" + +"Just what you say. You're the boss. Show us the job!" + +It was borne in upon him that he had taken a larger contract than he had +planned on. Rowley and the taxpayers on the main looked to him on one +side, and his dependents on the other. + +"It seems to be up to me--to us, I mean," he told the girl, ruefully, +when they were on their way to the widow's cottage that evening. "It's +up to me most of all, however, for I'm the guilty party--I have pulled +you and your father in. I'm pegged in here till I can think up some sort +of a scheme." + +She had been working all day faithfully by his side, a tactful and +indefatigable helper. He would have been all at sea regarding the women +and children without her aid, and he told her so gratefully. + +"Both my hands and my heart are with you in this thing, Captain Mayo. +And I know you'll think of some way out for them--just as you helped us +out of the schooner after we had given up all hope." + +"Getting out of the schooner was merely a sailor's trick of the hands, +Miss Candage. I don't believe I'll be much of a hand at making over +human nature. I have too much of it myself, and the material down in +that fish-house would puzzle even a doctor of divinity." + +"Oh, you will think of some plan," she assured him-with fine loyalty. +"If you will allow me to help in my poor way I'll be proud." + +"I'll not tell you what I think of your help; it might sound like soft +talk. But let me tell you that you have one grand old dad!" he declared, +earnestly; but although he tried to keep his face straight and his tones +steady he looked down at her and immediately lost control of himself. +Merriment was mingled with tears in her eyes. + +"Isn't he funny?" she gasped, and they halted in their tracks and +laughed in chorus with the whole-hearted fervor of youth; that laughter +relieved the strain of that anxious day. + +"I am not laughing _at_ your father--you understand that!" he assured +her. + +"Of course, you are not! I know. But you are getting to understand him, +just as I understand him. He is only a big child under all his bluster. +But he does make me so angry sometimes!" + +"You can't tell much about a Yankee till he comes out of his shell, and +I agree with you as to the aggravating qualities in Captain Candage. I'm +not very patient myself, when I'm provoked! But after this he and I will +get along all right." + +They walked on to the cottage. + +"Good night," he said at the door. + +"And you have no plan as yet?" + +"Maybe something will come to me in a dream." + +The dream did not come to him, for his sleep was the profound slumber of +exhaustion. He went down in the early dawn and plunged into the sea, and +while he was walking back toward the cottage an idea and a conviction +presented themselves, hand in hand. The conviction had been with him +before--that he could not back out just then and leave those poor people +to shift for themselves, as anxious as he was to be off about his own +affairs; his undertaking was quixotic, but if he abandoned it at that +juncture a queer story would chase him alongcoast, and he knew what sort +of esteem mariners entertained for quitters. + +However, deep in his heart, he confessed that it was not merely sailor +pride that spurred him. The pathetic helplessness of the tribe of Hue +and Cry appealed with an insistence he could not deny. He understood +them as he understood similar colonies along the coast--children whom an +indifferent world classed as man and treated with thoughtless injustice! +Work was prescribed for them, as for others! But, they did not know how +to work or how to make their work pay them. + +The idea which came to him with the conviction that he must help these +folks concerned work for them. + +After breakfast he took Captain Candage into his confidence, much to the +skipper's bland delight at being considered. + +"I hope it's something where we can fetch Rowley in," confessed the +skipper. "I don't care anything for them critters," he added, assuming +brusqueness. "Don't want it hinted around that I'm getting simple in my +old age. But they give me an excuse to bingdoodle Rowley." + +"To carry out that plan I have outlined we need some kind of a packet," +said Mayo. + +"Sure! We'll go right to Rowley. He'll know. If there's anything in +this section that he 'ain't got his finger on some way--bill of sale, +mortgage, debt owed to him or expecting to be owed, then it ain't worth +noticing." + +Mr. Rowley listened in his back office. He stroked his beard contentedly +and beamed his pleasure when he saw the prospect of making another +profitable dicker with men who seemed to be reliable and energetic. + +"I had a mortgage on the _Ethel and May_ when Captain Tebbets passed on +to the higher life," he informed them. "Widder gave up the schooner when +I foreclosed, she not desiring to--er--bother with vessel proputty. So I +have it free and clear without it standing me such a terrible sum! Shall +be pleased to charter to you gents at a reasonable figure. Furthermore, +seeing that industry makes for righteousness, so we are told, your plan +of making those critters go to work may be a good one, providing you'll +use a club on 'em often enough." + +"From what I've heard of your talk in prayer-meeting I should think +you'd advise moral suasion," suggested Captain Candage, plainly +relishing this opportunity to "bingdoodle." + +"I use common sense, whether it's in religion or politics or business," +snapped Rowley, exhibiting a bit of un-Christian heat. + +"It's advisable to ile up common sense with a little charity, and then +the machine won't squeak so bad." + +"I wouldn't undertake to trot a dogfish on my knee or sing him to sleep +with a pennyr'yal hymn, Captain Candage." + +"I think we can show results without the club," interposed Mayo, with +mild intent to smooth the tone of this repartee. + +The clerk called Mr. Rowley out into the store on some matter of special +importance, and the selectman departed, coming down rather hard on his +heels. + +"The old Adam sort of torches up through his shell once in a while," +commented Candage. + +"We'd better settle the charter price, sir, before you lay aboard him +too much," advised the young man. + +"I just natch'ally can't help harpooning him," confessed the skipper. +"He's a darned old hypocrite, cheating widders and orphans by choice +because they 'ain't got the spunk to razoo back, and I've allus enjoyed +fighting such as him. Him and me is due for a row. But I'll hold off the +best I can till we have got him beat down." + +Mayo's plan involved the modest venture of chartering a craft suitable +for fishing. There was no material for real Banksmen in the Hue and Cry +colony, but the run of the men would serve to go trawling for ground and +shack fish a few miles off the coast. It was the only scheme which +would afford employment for the whole body of dependents; older and more +decrepit men and the women and children could dig and shuck clams for +the trawl bait. In order to encourage ambition and independence among +the abler men of the colony, Mayo suggested that the fishermen be taken +on shares, and Captain Candage agreed. + +When Mr. Rowley came back into the office he found his match waiting for +him in the person of Captain Candage, primed and ready to drive a sharp +bargain. At the end of an hour papers representing the charter of the +_Ethel and May_ were turned over. + +"I reckon it's a good job," affirmed the skipper, when he and Mayo +were outside the Rowley store. "I have made up my mind to let poor +old _Polly_ go to Davy Jones's locker. I wrote to the shippers and the +consignees of the lumber last night. If they want it they can go after +it. I may as well fish for the rest of this season!" He regarded Captain +Mayo with eyes in which query was almost wistftul. "Of course, you can +depend on me to see to it that you get your share, sir, just as if you +were aboard." + +"I'm going aboard, Captain Candage." + +The old man stopped stock still and stared. + +"I haven't anything in sight just now. You need help in getting the +thing started right. I'm not going away and leave that gang on your +hands until I can see how the plan works out. I'll go as mate with you." + +"Not by a blame sight you won't go as no mate with me," objected +Candage. "You'll go as skipper and I'll be proud to take orders from +you, sir." + +They were wrangling amiably on that point when they returned to the +widow's cottage. Polly Candage broke the deadlock. + +"Why not have two captains? That will be something brand new along the +coast!" + +"The rest of it is brand new enough without that," blurted her father. +"But considering what kind of a crew we've got I guess two captains +ain't any too much! I'll be captain number two and I know enough to keep +my place." + +"I do not think you and I will ever do much quarreling again!" smiled +Captain Mayo, extending his hand and receiving Candage's mighty grip. +"I am going to start out a few letters, and I'll go now and write them. +Until those letters bring me something in the way of a job I am with +you, sir." + +Captain Candage walked down toward the fish-house with his daughter. +"Polly," he declared, after an embarrassed silence, "I have been all +wrong in your case, girl. Here and now I give you clearance papers. Sail +for home just as soon as you want to. I'm asking no questions! It's none +of my business!" + +"My little affairs must always be business of yours, father," she +returned.. "I love you. I will obey you." + +"But I ain't giving off no more orders. I ain't fit to command in the +waters where you are sailing, Polly dear. So run along home and be my +good girl! I know you will be!" + +"I have changed my mind about going home--just now!" Her eyes met his +frankly. "I have written to Aunt Zilpah to send me some of my clothes. +Father," there was feminine, rather indignant amazement in her tones, +"do you know that there isn't a single woman from Hue and Cry who knows +how to use a needle?" + +"I might have guessed it, judging from the way their young ones and men +folk go looking!" + +"Do you realize that those children don't even know their A-B-C's?" + +"Never heard of any college perfessers being raised on that island." + +"I am going to take a vacation from the millinery-shop, now that I am +down here. I'll show those women how to sew and cook, and I'll teach +those children how to read. It's only right--my duty! I couldn't go home +and be happy without doing it!" + +"Calling that a vacation is putting a polite name to it, Polly." + +"If you could have seen their eyes, father, when I promised to help +them, you wouldn't wonder why I am staying." + +"I don't wonder, Polly, my girl! If you had gone away and--and left +us--Mayo and me--I should have been mighty disappointed in ye! But I +really never thought much about your going--'cause you wouldn't go, I +knew, till you had helped all you could." He put his arm around her. +"I have been worrying about having brought you away. But I guess God had +it all figgered out for us. I didn't know my own girl the way I ought to +have knowed her. I'd been away too much. But now we're sort of growing +up--together--sort of that, ain't we, Polly dear?" + +She put her arms about his neck and answered him with a kiss. + + + + +XIV ~ BEARINGS FOR A NEW COURSE + + And now, my brave boys, comes the best of the fun, + It's hands about ship and reef topsails in one; + So it's lay aloft, topman, as the hellum goes down, + And clew down your topsails as the mainyard goes round. + --La Pique. + +At the end of that week the _Ethel and May_ had delivered at market her +first fare of fish and her captains had divided her first shares. Mayo +decided that the results were but of proportion to the modest returns. +He was viewing the regeneration of the tribe of Hue and Cry. In their +case it had been the right touch at the right time. For years their +hopes had been hungry for a chance to make good. Now gratitude inspired +them and an almost insane desire to show that they were not worthless +drove them to supreme effort. The leaven of the psychology of +independence was getting in its work. + +The people of Hue and Cry for three generations had been made to feel +that they were pariahs. When they had brought their fish or clams to the +mainland the buyers were both unjust and contemptuous, as if they were +dealing with begging children who must expect only a charitable gift +for their product instead of a real man's price. Prices suited the +fish-buyers' moods of the day. The islanders had never been admitted +to the plane of straight business like other fishermen. They had always +taken meekly what had been offered--whether coin or insults. Therefore, +their labor had never returned them full values. + +They who bought made the poor wretches feel that it constituted a +special favor to take their fish at any price. + +They seemed to come into their own that first day at market when the +_Ethel and May_ made her bigness in the dock at the city fish-house. +Masterful men represented them in the dealings with the buyers. The crew +hid their delighted grins behind rough palms when Captain Epps Candage +bawled out bidders who were under market quotations; they gazed with awe +on Captain Mayo when he read from printed sheets--print being a +mystery they had never mastered--and figured with ready pencil and even +corrected the buyer, who acknowledged his error and humbly apologized. +No more subservient paltering at the doors of fish-houses! + +Back home the women and the children and the old folks had a good roof +over their heads; the fishers had the deck of a tidy schooner under +their feet. Shiftlessness departed from them. After years of oppression +they had found their opportunity. More experienced men would have +found this new fortune only modest; these men grasped it with juvenile +enthusiasm. + +They were over the side of the schooner and out in their dories when +more cautious trawlsmen hugged the fo'c'sle. On their third trip, +because of this daring, they caught the city market bare on a Thursday +and made a clean-up. + +"I'm told that Saint Peter started this Friday notion because he was +in the fish business," stated Captain Candage, sorting money for the +shares. "All I've got to say is, he done a good job of it." + +Mr. Speed, sailing as mate, always found ready obedience. + +Smut-nosed Dolph never listened before to such praise as was lavished by +the hungry men over the pannikins which he heaped. + +Captain Mayo, casting up accounts one day, was honestly astonished to +find that almost a month had passed since he had landed at Maquoit. + +"That goes to show how a man will get interested when he is picked up +and tossed into a thing," he said to Polly Candage. + +"You are making real men of them, Captain Mayo!" She added, with a +laugh, "And you told me you were no kind of a hand at making over human +nature!" + +"They are doing it themselves." + +"I will say nothing to wound your modesty, sir." + +"Now I must wake up. I must! There's nothing worth while in the profit +for both your father and myself. I want him to have the proposition +alone. There'll be a fair make for him. I didn't intend to stay here so +long. I guess I sort of forgot myself." He went on with his figures. + +"But I knew you could not forget," she ventured, after a pause. + +He glanced up and found a queer expression on her countenance. There +were frank sympathy and friendliness in her eyes. He had revolved bitter +thoughts alone, struggling with a problem he could not master. In sudden +emotion--in an unpremeditated letting-go of himself--he reached out for +somebody in whom to confide. He needed counsel in a matter where no man +could help him. This girl was the only one who could understand. + +"There may be letters waiting for me in the city--in the big city +where I may be expected," he blurted. "I haven't dared to send any." He +hesitated, and then gave way to his impulse. "Miss Polly, I haven't any +right to trouble you with my affairs. I may seem impertinent. But +you are a girl! Does a girl usually sit down and think over all the +difficulties--when she doesn't get letters--and then make allowances?" + +"I'm sure she does--when she loves anybody." + +"And yet it may seem very strange. I am worried out of my senses. I +don't know what to do." + +She was silent for a long time, looking away from him and twisting +her hands in her lap; she was plainly searching her soul for +inspiration--and courage! + +"You think she will understand the situation?" he insisted. + +"She ought to." + +"But no word from me! Silence for weeks!" + +Her voice was low, but she evidently had found courage. "I have not +heard one word--not a letter has come to me--since I left my aunt's +home." + +"Do you feel sure that he loves you just the same? You don't need +letters?" + +"Oh no! I don't need letters." + +"But in my case?" + +"I could see that she loves you very much. She stood out before them +all, Captain Mayo. That sort of a girl does not need letters." + +"You have put new courage in me. I believe you understand just how a +girl would feel. You know a Yankee! He expects to find a friend just +where he left him, in the matter of affection." + +"A girl does not need to be a Yankee to be that way in her love." + +"I can't sneak around to her by the back way--I can't do that!" he +cried. "I don't want to be ashamed of myself. I don't want to bring +more trouble to her. Don't you think she will wait for me until I can +come--and come right!" + +"She will wait for you, sir. It's the nature of women to wait--when they +love." + +"But I cannot ask her to wait forever. That's why I must go away and +try to make good." He set his teeth, and his jaw muscles were ridged. +"I believe a man can get what he goes after in the right spirit, Miss +Polly." He swing off the porch and left her. + +The fog was heavy on shore and sea that day, holding the _Ethel and May_ +in port. He disappeared into the stifling mist, and the girl sat and +stared into that vacancy for a long time. + +Mayo rowed out to the schooner, which was anchored in the harbor roads. +He was carrying his accounts to Captain Candage. + +Standing and facing forward as he rowed, he came suddenly upon a big +steam-yacht which had stolen into the cove through the fog and was +anchored in his course. She was the _Sprite_, and he had formed a +'longshore acquaintance with her skipper that summer, meeting him +in harbors where the _Sprite_ and _Olenia_ had been neighbors in the +anchorage. He stopped rowing and allowed the dory to drift. He noted +that the blue flag was flying at the main starboard spreader, announcing +the absence of the owner, and he understood that he could call for the +skipper without embarrassing that gentleman. One of the crew was putting +covers on the brasswork forward. + +"Compliments to Captain Trott, and tell him that Captain Mayo is at the +gangway." + +The skipper appeared promptly, replying to the hail before the sailor +had stirred. "Come aboard, sir." + +"I'll not bother you that much, captain. I can ask my question just as +well from here. Do you know of any good opening for a man of my size?" + +The captain of the _Sprite_ came to the rail and did not reply promptly. + +"I have left the _Olenia_ and I'm looking for something." + +Captain Trott started for the gangway. "Oh, you needn't trouble to come +down, sir." + +"I'd rather, Captain Mayo." After he had descended he squatted on the +platform at the foot of the ladder and held the dory close, grasping the +gunwale. "What are you doing for yourself these days?" + +Mayo had no relish for a long story. "I'm waiting to grab in on +something," he replied. + +Captain Trott did not show any alacrity in getting to the subject which +Mayo had broached. "It has set in pretty thick, hasn't it? I have been +ordered in here to wait for my folks; they're visiting at some big +estate up-river." + +"But about the chance for a job, captain!" + +"Look here! What kind of a run-in did you have with the _Olenia_ owner?" + +Mayo opened his mouth and then promptly closed it. He could not reveal +the nature of the trouble between himself and his former employer. + +"We had words," he said, stiffly. + +"Yes, I reckon so! But the rest of it!" + +"That's all." + +"You needn't tell me any more than you feel like doing, of course," said +Captain Trott. "But I have to tell _you_ that Mr. Marston has come out +with some pretty fierce talk for an owner to make. He has made quite a +business of circulating that talk. I didn't realize that you are of so +much importance in the world, Mayo," he added, dryly. + +"I don't know what he is saying." + +"Didn't you leave him in the night--without notice, or something of the +kind?" + +"It was an accident." + +"I hope you have a good story to back you up, Captain Mayo, for I have +liked you mighty well ever since meeting you first. What is behind it?" + +"I can't tell you." + +"But you can tell somebody--somebody who can straighten the thing out +for you, can't you?" + +"No, Captain Trott." + +"Well, you know what has happened in your case, don't you?" The skipper +of the _Sprite_ exhibited a little testiness at being barred out of +Mayo's confidence. + +The young man shook his head. + +"Marston claims that you mutinied and deserted him--slipped away in the +night--threw up your job on the high seas--left him to work to New York +with a short crew--the mate as captain." + +"That's an infernal lie!" + +"Then come forward and show him up." + +"I cannot talk about the case. I have my reasons--good ones!" + +"I'm sorry for you, Mayo. You are done in the yachting game, I'm afraid. +He'll blacklist you in every yacht club from Bar Harbor to Miami. I +have heard my folks talking about it. He seems to have a terrible +grudge--more than a big man usually bothers about in the case of a +skipper." + +Mayo set his oar against the edge of the platform and pushed off. The +skipper called after him, but he was instantly swallowed up by the fog +and did not reply. + +On board the _Ethel and May_ his ragged but cheery crew were baiting up, +hooking clams upon the ganging hooks, and coiling lines into tubs. The +men grinned greeting when he swung over the rail. He scowled at them; he +even turned a glowering look on Captain Candage when he met the latter +on the quarter-deck. + +"Yes, sir! I see how it is! You're getting cussed sick of this two-cent +game here," said Candage, mournfully. "I don't blame ye. We ain't in +your class, here, Captain Mayo." He took the papers which the young man +held out to him. "I suppose this is the last time we'll share, you and +me. I'll miss ye devilish bad. I'd rather go for nothing and let you +have it all than lose ye. But, of course, it ain't no use to argue or +coax." + +Mayo went and sat on the rail, folding his arms, and did not reply. The +old skipper trudged forward, his head bowed, his hands clutched behind +his back. When he returned Mayo stood up and put his hand on the old +man's shoulder. + +"Captain Candage, please don't misunderstand me. Just at present I feel +that the only friends I have in the world are here. Don't mind the way +I acted just now when I came on board. I have had a lot of trouble--I'm +having more of it. I'm not going to leave you just yet. I want to stay +aboard until I can think it all over--can get my grip. That is, if +you're satisfied to have it that way!" + +"Satisfied! Jumping Cicero!" exploded Captain Can-dage. He took the dory +and rowed ashore. He found his daughter gazing into the fog from the +porch of the widow's cottage. "He is going to stay a while longer," he +informed her, rapturously. "Something has happened. Do you suppose that +girl has throwed him over?" + +"Father, do you dare to chuckle because a friend is in trouble?" + +"I'll laugh and slap my leg if he ever gets shet of that hity-tity +girl," he rejoined, stoutly. + +"I am astonished--I am ashamed of you, father!" + +"Polly dear, be honest with your dad!" he pleaded. "Do you want to see +him married off to her?" + +"I certainly do. I only wish I might help him." Her lips were white, her +voice trembled. She got up and hurried into the house. + +"I'll be cussed if I understand wimmen," declared Captain Candage, +fiddling his finger under his nose. "That feller she has picked out for +herself must be the Emp'ror of Peeroo." + +Captain Mayo did not come ashore again before the _Ethel and May_ +sailed. + +The fog cleared that night and they smashed out to the fishing-grounds +ahead of a cracking breeze, and had their trawls down in the early dawn. +At sundown, trailed by a wavering banner of screaming gulls who gobbled +the "orts" tossed over by the busy crew cleaning their catch, they were +docking at the city fish-house. + +"Lucky again," commented Captain Candage, returning from his sharp +dicker with the buyer. "The city critters are all hungry for haddock, +and that's just what we hit to-day." He surveyed his gloomy partner with +sympathetic concern. "Why don't you take a run uptown?" he suggested. +"You're sticking too close to this packet for a young man. Furthermore, +if you see a store open buy me a box of paper collars. Rowley hain't got +my size!" + +Mayo, unreconciled and uneasy, hating that day the sound of the +flapping, sliding fish as they were pitchforked into the tubs for +hoisting, annoyed by the yawling of pulleys and realizing that his +nerves were not right at all, obeyed the suggestion. He had a +secret errand of his own, yielding to a half-hope; he went to the +general-delivery window of the post-office and asked for mail. He knew +that love makes keen guesses. The _Olenia_ had visited that harbor +frequently for mail. But there was nothing for him. He strolled about +the streets, nursing his melancholy, forgetting Captain Candage's +commission, envying the contentment shown by others. + +In that mood he would have avoided Captain Zoradus Wass if he had spied +that boisterously cheerful mariner in season. But the captain had him by +the arm and was dancing him about the sidewalk, showing more affability +than was his wont. + +"Heifers o' Herod! youngster," shouted the grizzled master, "have you +come looking for me?" + +"No," faltered Mayo. "Did you want to see me?" + +"Have worn taps off my boots to-day chasing from shipping commissioner's +office to every hole and corner along the water-front. Heard you had +quit aboard a yacht, and reckoned you had got sensible again and wanted +real work." + +"If you had asked down among the fish-houses you might have got on track +of me, sir." Mayo's tone was somber. + +"Fish! You fishing?" demanded Captain Wass, with incredulity. + +"Yes, and on a chartered smack at that--shack-fishing on shares!" Mayo +was sourly resolved to paint his low estate in black colors. "And I have +concluded it's about all I'm fit for." + +"That's fine, seaman-like talk to come from a young chap I have trained +up to master's papers, giving him two years in my pilot-house. I was +afraid you were going astern, you young cuss, when I heard you'd gone +skipper of a yacht, but I didn't think it was as bad as all this." + +"My yachting business is done, sir." + +"Thank the bald-headed Nicodemus! There's hopes of you. Did anybody tell +you I've been looking for you?" + +"No, sir!" + +"Glad of it. Now I can tell you myself. Do you know where I am now?" + +"I heard you were on a Vose line freighter, sir." + +"Don't know who told you that--but it wasn't Ananias. You're right. +She's the old _Nequasset_, handed back to me again because I'm the +only one who understands her cussed fool notions. First mate got drunk +yesterday and broke second mate's leg in the scuffle--one is in jail and +t'other in the hospital, and never neither of 'em will step aboard any +ship with me again. I sail at daybreak, bade to the Chesapeake for steel +rails. Got your papers?" + +"Yes, sir!" + +"Come along. You're first mate." + +"Do you really want me, sir?" + +"Want you? Confound it all, I've got you! In about half a day I'll have +all the yacht notions shaken out of you and the fish-scales stripped +off, and then you'll be what you was when I let you go--the smartest +youngster I ever trained." + +Mayo obeyed the thrust of the jubilant master's arm and went along. +"I'll go and explain to Captain Can-dage, my partner." + +"All right. I'll go along, too, and help you make it short." + +As they walked along Captain Wass inspected his companion critically. + +"High living aboard Marston's yacht make you dyspeptic, son? You look as +if your vittles hadn't been agreeing with you." + +"My health is all right, sir." + +"Heard you had trouble with Marston," proceeded the old skipper, with +brutal frankness. "Anybody who has trouble with that damnation pirate +comes well recommended to me. He is trying to steal every steamboat line +on this coast. Thank Gawd, he can never get his claws on the old Vose +line. Some great doings in the steamboat business are ahead, Mayo. +Reckon it's a good line to be in if you like fight and want to make your +bigness." + +Mayo walked on in silence. He was troubled by this added information +that news of his affair with Marston had gained such wide currency. +However, he was glad that this new opportunity offered him a chance to +hide himself in the isolation of a freighter's pilot-house. + +Captain Candage received the news with meek resignation. "I knowed it +would have to come," he said. "Couldn't expect much else. Howsomever, it +ain't comforting." + +"Can't keep a good boy like this pawing around in fish gurry," stated +Captain Wass. + +"I know it, and I wish him well and all the best!" + +Their leave-taking, presided over by the peremptory master of the +_Nequasset_, was short. + +"I'll probably have a chance to see you when we come here again," called +Mayo from the wharf, looking down into the mournful countenance of the +skipper. "Perhaps I'll have time to run down to Maquoit while we are +discharging. At any rate, explain it all for me, especially to your +daughter." + +"I'll tell all concerned just what's right," Captain Candage assured +him. "I'll tell her for you." + +She was on the beach when the skipper came rowing in alone from the +_Ethel and May_. + +"He's gone," he called to her. "Of course we couldn't keep him. He's too +smart to stay on a job like this." + +When they were on their way up to the widow's cottage he stole +side-glances at her, and her silence distressed him. + +"Let's see! He says to me--if I can remember it right-he says, says he, +'Take my best respects and '--let's see--yes, 'take my best respects and +love to your Polly--'" + +"Father! Please don't fib." + +"It's just as I remember it, dear. 'Especial,' he says. I remember that! +'Especial,' he says. And he looked mighty sad, dear, mighty sad." He +put his arm about her. "There are a lot of sad things in this world for +everybody, Polly. Sometimes things get so blamed mixed up that I feel +like going off and climbing a tree!" + + + + +XV ~ THE RULES OF THE ROAD + + Now the _Dreadnought's_ a-sailing the Atlantic so wide, + Where the high, roaring seas roll along her black side. + Her sailors like lions walk the deck to and fro, + She's the Liverpool packet--O Lord let her go! + --Song of the Flash Packet. + +On a day in early August the _Nequasset_ came walloping laboriously +up-coast through a dungeon fog, steel rails her dragging burden, caution +her watchword. + +The needle of her indicator marked "Half speed," and it really meant +half speed. Captain Zoradus Wass made scripture of the rules laid +down by the Department of Commerce and Labor. There was no tricky +slipping-over under his sway--no finger-at-nose connivance between the +pilot-house and the chief engineer's grille platform. No, Captain Wass +was not that kind of a man, though the fog had held in front of him two +days, vapor thick as feathers in a tick, and he had averaged not much +over six nautical miles an hour, and was bitterly aware that the rate of +freight on steel rails was sixty-five cents a ton. + +"And as I've been telling you, at sixty-five cents there's about as much +profit as there would be in swapping hard dollars from one hand to the +other and depending on what silver you can rub off," said Captain Wass +to First-mate Mayo. + +The captain was holding the knob of the whistle-pull In constant clutch. +Regularly every minute _Nequasset's_ prolonged blast sounded, strictly +according to the rules of the road. + +Her voice started with a complaining squawk, was full toned for a few +moments, then trailed off into more querulousness; the timbre of that +tone seemed to fit with Captain Wass's mood. + +"It's tough times when a cargo-carrier has to figger so fine that she +can lose profit on account of what the men eat," he went on. "If you're +two days late, minding rules in a fog, owners ask what the tophet's +the matter with you! This kind of business don't need steamboat men any +longer; it calls for boarding-house keepers who can cut sirloin steak +off'n a critter clear to the horn, and who are handy in turning sharp +corners on left-overs. I'll buy a book of cooking receets and try to +turn in dividends." + +The captain was broad-bowed, like the _Nequasset_, he sagged on short +legs as if he carried a cargo fully as heavy as steel rails, his white +whiskers streamed away from his cutwater nose like the froth kicked up +by the old freighter's forefoot. He chewed slowly, conscientiously and +continuously on tobacco which bulged in his cheek; his jaws, moving as +steadily as a pendulum swings, seemed to set the time for the isochronal +whistle-blast. Sixty ruminating jaw-wags, then he spat into the fog, +then the blast--correct to the clock's tide! + +The windows of the pilot-house were dropped into their casings, so +that all sounds might be admitted; the wet breeze beaded the skipper's +whiskers and dampened the mate's crisp hair. While the mate leaned +from a window, ear cocked for signals, the captain gave him more of the +critical inspection in which he had been indulging when occasion served. + +Furthermore, Captain Wass went on pecking around the edges of a topic +which he had been attacking from time to time with clumsy attempt at +artful inquisition. + +"As bad as it is on a freighter, I reckon you ain't sorry you're off +that yacht, son?" + +"I'm not sorry, sir." + +"From what you told me, the owner was around meddling all the time." + +"I don't remember that I ever said so, sir." + +"Oh, I thought you did," grunted Captain Wass, and he covered his +momentary check by sounding the whistle. + +"Now that you are back in the steamboat business, of course you're a +steamboat man. Have the interests of your owners at heart," he resumed. + +"Certainly, sir." + +"It would be a lot of help to the regular steamboat men--the good old +stand-bys--if they could get some kind of a line on what them Wall +Street cusses are gunning through with Marston leading 'em--or, at +leastways, he's supposed to be leading. He hides away in the middle of +the web and lets the other spiders run and fetch. But it's Marston's +scheme, you can bet on that! What do you think?" + +"I haven't thought anything about it, Captain Wass." "But how could +you help thinking, catching a word here and a word there, aboard that +yacht?" + +"I never listened--I never heard anything." + +"But he had them other spiders aboard--seen 'em myself through my +spy-glass when you passed us one day in June." + +"I suppose they talked together aft, but my duty was forward, sir." + +"It's too bad you didn't have a flea put into your ear about getting a +line on Marston's scheme, whatever it is. You could have helped the real +boys in this game!" + +Mayo did not reply. + +Captain Wass showed a resolve to quit pecking at the edges and make a +dab at the center of the subject. He pulled the whistle, released the +knob, and turned back to the window, setting his elbows on the casing. + +"Son, you ain't in love with that pirate Marston, are you?" + +"No, sir!" replied the young man, with bitterness that could not be +doubted. + +"Well, how about your being in love with his daughter?" The caustic +humor in the old skipper's tones robbed the question of some of its +brutal bluntness, and Mayo was accustomed to Captain Wass's brand +of humor. The young man did not turn his head for a few moments; he +continued to look into the fog as if intent on his duty; he was trying +to get command of himself, fully aware that resentment would not work in +the case of Zoradus Wass. When Mayo did face the skipper, the latter +was discomposed in his turn, for Mayo showed his even teeth in a cordial +smile. + +"Do you think I have been trying the chauffeur trick in order to catch +an heiress, sir?" + +"Well, there's quite a gab-wireless operating along-coast and sailors +don't always keep their yawp closed after they have taken a man's money +to keep still," stated Captain Wass, pointedly. "I wouldn't blame you +for grabbing in. You're good-looking enough to do what others have done +in like cases." + +"Thank you, sir. What's the rest of the joke?" + +"I never joke," retorted the skipper, turning and pulling the +whistle-cord. _Nequasset's_ squall rose and died down in her brazen +throat. "Her name is Alma?" he prodded. "Something of a clipper. If +Marston ever makes you general manager, put me into a better job than +this, will you?" + +"I will, sir!" + +The skipper gave his mate a disgusted stare. "You're a devil of a man +to keep up a conversation with!" He spat against the wall of the fog and +again let loose the freighter's hoarse lament. + +From somewhere, ahead, a horn wailed, dividing its call into two blasts. + +"Port tack and headed acrost us," snarled the master, after a sniff at +the air and a squint at the sluggish ripple. + +"Why ain't the infernal fool anchored, instead of drifting around +underfoot? How does he bear, Mr. Mayo?" He was now back to pilot-house +formality with his mate. + +"Two points and a half, starboard bow, sir. And there's another chap +giving one horn in about the same direction." + +"Another drifter--not wind enough for 'em to know what tack they're +really on. Well, there's always Article Twenty-seven to fall back on," +grumbled the skipper. He quoted sarcastically in the tone in which that +rule is mouthed so often in pilot-houses along coast: '"Due regard shall +be had to all dangers of navigation and collision, and to any special +circumstances which may render a departure from the above rules +necessary, and so forth and et cetry. Meaning, thank the Lord, that a +steamer can always run away from a gad-slammed schooner, even at half +speed. Hope if it ever comes to a showdown the secretary of the bureau +of commerce will agree with me. Ease her off to starboard, Mr. Mayo, +till we bring 'em abeam." + +The mate gave a quick glance at the compass. "East by nothe, Jack," he +commanded. + +"East by nothe, sir," repeated the quartermaster in mechanical tones, +spinning the big wheel to the left. + +It was evident that the _Nequasset_ had considerable company on the sea +that day. A little abaft her beam a tugboat was blowing one long and two +short, indicating her tow. She had been their "chum" for some time, and +Mayo had occasionally taken her bearings by sound and compass and knew +that the freighter was slowly forging ahead. He figured, listening again +to the horns, that the Nequasset was headed to clear all. + +"You take a skipper who studies his book and is always ready to look +the department in the eye, without flinching, he has to mind his +own business and mind the other fellow's, too," said Captain Wass, +continuing his monologue of grouch. "Dodging here and there, keeping out +of the way, two days behind schedule, meat three times a day or else +you can't keep a crew, and everybody hearty at meal-time! My owners have +never told me to let the law go to hoot and ram her for all she's worth! +But when I carry in my accounts they seem to be trying to think up +language that tells a man to do a thing, and yet doesn't tell him. +What's that?" He put his head far out of the window. + +Floating out of the fog came a dull, grunting sound, a faint and +far-away diapason, a marine whistle which announced a big chap. + +"I should say it is a Union liner, sir--either the _Triton_ or +_Neptune_." + +They listened. They waited two long minutes for another signal. + +"Seems to be taking up his full, legal time," growled Captain Wass. +"Since Marston has gobbled that line maybe he has put on a special +register to keep tabs on tooting--thinks it's waste of steam and will +reduce dividends. Expects us little fellows to do the squawking!" + +The big whistle boomed again, dead ahead, and so much nearer that it +provoked the skipper to lash out a round oath. + +"He is reeling off eighteen knots for a gait, or you can use my head for +a rivet nut!" He yanked the cord and the freighter howled angrily. The +other replied with bellowing roar--autocratic, domineering. With irony, +with vindictiveness, Captain Wass pitched his voice in sarcastic nasal +tone and recited another rule--thereby trying to express his irate +opinion of the lawlessness of other men. + +"Article Sixteen, Mr. Mayo! He probably carries it in his watch-case +instead of his girl's picture! Nice reading for a rainy day! 'A +steam-vessel hearing apparently forward of her beam the fog signal of a +vessel, the position of which is not ascertained, shall, so far as the +circumstances of the case permit, stop her engines and then navigate +with caution until all danger of collision is over.' Hooray for the +rules!" + +Captain Wass hooked a gnarled finger into the loop of the bell-pull and +yanked upward viciously. A dull clang sounded far below. He pulled again +and the vibration of the engine ceased. + +"Gad rabbit it! I'll go the whole hog as the department orders! If he +bangs into me we'll see who comes off best at the hearing." + +He gave the bell-loop two quick jerks; then he shifted his hand to +another pull and the jingle bell sounded in the engine-room--the +_Nequasset_ was ordered to make full speed astern. + +The freighter shook and shivered when the screw began to reverse, +pulling at the frothing sea, clawing frantically to haul her to a stop. +The skipper then gave three resentful, protesting whistle-blasts. + +But the reply he received from ahead was a hoarse, prolonged howl. In +it there was no hint that the big fellow proposed to heed the protest +of the three blasts. It was insistence on right of way, the insolence of +the swaggering express liner making time in competition with rivals; it +hinted confident opinion that smaller chaps would better get out of the +way. + +The on-comer had received a signal which served to justify that opinion. +Captain Wass had docilely announced that he was going full speed astern, +his whistle-blasts had declared that he had stepped off the sidewalk +of the ocean lane--as usual! The big fellows knew that the little chaps +would do it! + +Mate Mayo leaned from the window, his jaw muscles tense, anxiety in his +eyes. + +The big whistle now was fairly shaking the curtains of the mists and was +not giving him any comforting assurance that the liner was swinging to +avoid them. + +The quartermaster was taking the situation more philosophically than his +superiors. He hummed: + + Sez all the little fishes that swim to and fro, + She's the Liverpool packet--O Lord let her go! + +"Does that gor-righteously fool ahead there think I blowed three +whistles to salute Marston's birthday or their last dividend, Mr. Mayo?" +shouted Captain Wass. + +Fogs are freaky; ocean mists are often eerie in movements. There are +strata, there are eddying air-currents which rend the curtain or shred +the massing vapors. The men in the pilot-house of the _Nequasset_ +suddenly found their range of vision widened. The fog did not clear; it +became more tenuous and showed an area of the sea. It was like a thin +veil which disclosed dimly what it distorted and magnified. + +In a fog, experienced steamboat men always examine with earnest gaze +the line where fog and ocean merge. They do not stare up into the fog, +trying to distinguish the loom of an on-coming craft; they are able +to discern first of all the white line of foam marking the vessel's +cutwater kick-up or her wake. + +"There she comes, sir!" announced the mate. He pointed his finger at a +foaming upthrust of tossing water. + +"Yes, sir! Eighteen knots and both eyes shut!" But there was relief +mingled with the resentment. His quick glance informed him that the +liner would pass the _Nequasset_ well to starboard--her bow showed a +divergence of at least two points from the freighter's course. But the +next instant Captain Wass yelped a shout of angry alarm. "Yes, both eyes +shut!" he repeated. + +Right in line with the liner's threshing bow was a fisherman's Hampton +boat, disclosed as the fog drifted. + +The passenger-steamer gave forth a half-dozen "woofs" from her whistle, +answering the freighter's staccato warning, but gave no signs of +slowing. But that they were making an attempt to dodge the mite in their +path was made known by a shout from their lookout and his shrill call: +"Port! Hard over!" + +The fisherman had all the alertness of his kind, trained by dangers and +ever-present prospect of mischance to grab at desperate measures. +He leaped forward and pulled out his mast and tossed mast and sail +overboard. + +He knew that he must encounter the tremendous wash and wake of the +rushing hull. His shell of a boat, if made topheavy by the sail, would +stand small show. + +"He's a goner!" gasped Captain Wass. "She's a-going to tramp him plumb +underfoot--unless she's going to get up a little more speed and jump +over him!" he added, moved to bitter sarcasm. + +They saw the little boat go into eclipse behind the black prow, the +first lift of the churning waters flipping the cockleshell as a coin +is snapped by the thumb. The fisherman was not in view--he had thrown +himself flat in the bottom of his boat. + +"He's under for keeps," stated the skipper, with conviction. "If her +bilge-keel doesn't cooper him, her port propeller will!" + +So rapidly was the liner moving, so abrupt her swoop to the right, that +she leaned far over and showed them the red of her huge bilge. Her high +speed enabled her to make an especially quick turn. As they gaped, +her two stacks swung almost into line. Her shearing bow menaced the +_Nequasset_. + +"The condemned old hellion is going to nail _us_, now!" bellowed Captain +Wass. In his panic and his fury he leaped up and down, pulling at the +whistle-cord. + +She was almost upon them--only a few hundred yards of gray water +separated the two steamers. + +She was the _Triton!_ + +Her name was disclosed on her bow. Her red hawse-holes showed like +glowering and savage eyes. There was indescribably brutal threat in this +sudden dart in their direction. It was as if a sea monster had swallowed +an insect in the shape of a Hampton boat and now sought a real mouthful. +But her great rudder swung to the quick pull of her steam steering-gear +and again she sheered, cutting a letter s. The movement brought her past +the stern of the _Nequasset_, a biscuit-toss away. The mighty surge of +her roaring passage lifted the freighter's bulk aft, and the huge wave +that was crowded between the two hulls crowned itself with frothing +white and slapped a good, generous ton of green water over the smaller +steamer's superstructure. + +Captain Wass grabbed down his megaphone; he wanted to submit a few +remarks which seemed to fit the incident. + +But the captain of the Triton was beforehand with a celerity which +matched the up-to-date speed of his craft. He was bellowing through the +huge funnel which a quartermaster was holding for him. His language +was terrific. He cursed freighters in most able style. He asked why the +_Nequasset_ was loafing there in the seaway without steering headway on +her! That amazing query took away Captain Wass's breath and all power +to retort. Asking that of a man who had obeyed the law to the letter! A +fellow who was banging through the fog at eighteen knots' speed blaming +a conscientious skipper because the latter had stopped so as to get out +of the way! + +And, above all, going so fast when he asked the question that he was out +of ear-shot before suitable answer could be returned! + +Captain Wass revolved those whirling thoughts in a brain which flamed +and showed its fires through the skipper's wide-propped eyes. + +Then he banged his megaphone across the pilot-house. It rebounded +against him, and he kicked it into a corner. He began to whack his fist +against a broad placard which was tacked up under his license as master. +The cardboard was freshly white, and its tacks were bright, showing that +it had been recently added as a feature of the pilot-house. Big letters +in red ink at the top counseled, "Safety First." Other big letters +at the bottom warned, "Take No Chances." The center lettering advised +shipmasters that in case of accident the guilty parties would feel all +the weight of Uncle Sam's heavy palm; it was the latest output from +the Department of Commerce and Labor, and bore the signature of the +honorable secretary of the bureau. + +Mayo noted that his chief was wholly absorbed in this speechless +activity; therefore he pulled the bells which stopped the backward +churning and sent the freighter on her way. They passed the fisherman in +the Hampton boat; he was bailing his craft. + +"That was a rather close call, sir! I am glad that I have been trained +by you to be a careful man. You took no chances!" + +"And where have I got to by obeying the United States rules and never +taking chances, Mr. Mayo? At sixty-five I'm master of a freight-scow, +sassed by owners ashore and sassed on the high seas by fellows like that +one who just slammed past us! If that passenger-steamer had hit me the +lawyers would have shoved the tar end of the stick into my hands! It's +all for the good of the hellbent fellows the way things are arranged +in this world at the present time. I'll be lucky if he doesn't lodge +complaint against me when he gets to New York, saying that I got in his +way!" He cut off a fresh sliver of black plug and took his position at +the whistle-pull. "You'd better go get an heiress," he advised his mate, +sourly. "Being an old-fashioned skipper in these days of steam-boating +is what I'm too polite to name. And as to being the other kind--well, +you have just seen him whang past!" + +However, as they went wallowing up the coast, their old tub sagging with +the weight of the rails under her hatches, Mate Mayo felt considerable +of a young man's ambitious envy of that spick-and-span swaggerer who +had yelled anathema from the pilot-house of the _Triton_. It was +real steamboating, he reflected, even if the demands of owners and +dividend-seekers did compel a master to take his luck between his teeth +and gallop down the seas. + + + + +XVI ~ MILLIONS AND A MITE + + To Tiffany's I took her, + I did not mind expense; + I bought her two gold ear-rings, + They cost me fifty cents. + And a-a-away, you santee! + My dear Annie! + O you New York girls! + Can't you dance the polka! + --Shanty, "The Lime Juicer." + +Mr. Ralph Bradish, using one of the booth telephones in the Wall Street +offices of Marston & Waller, earnestly asked the cashier of an up-town +restaurant, as a special favor, to hold for twenty-four hours the +personal check, amount twenty-five dollars, given by Mr. Bradish the +evening before. + +Ten minutes later, with the utmost nonchalance and quite certain that +the document was as good as wheat, Mr. Bradish signed a check for one +million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. + +That amount in no measure astonished him. He was quite used to signing +smashing-big checks when he was called into the presence of Julius +Marston. Once, the amount named was two millions. And there had +been numbers and numbers of what Mr. Bradish mentally termed "piker +checks"--a hundred thousand, two and three hundred thousand. And he had +never been obliged to request any hold up on those checks for want of +funds. Because, in each instance, there had been a magic, printed line +along which Mr. Bradish had splashed his signature. + +Before he blotted the ink on this check Bradish glanced, with only +idle curiosity, to note in what capacity he was serving this time. The +printed line announced to him that he was "Treasurer, the Paramount +Coast Transportation Company, Inc." He remembered that in the past +he had signed as treasurer of the "Union Securities Company," the +"Amalgamated Holding Company," and for other corporations sponsoring +railroads and big industries with whose destinies Julius Marston, +financier, appeared to have much to do. It was evident that Financier +Marston preferred to have a forty-dollar-a-week clerk do the menial +work of check-signing, or at least to have that clerk's name in evidence +instead of Marston's own. + +That modesty about having his name appear in public on a check seemed to +attach to the business habits of Mr. Marston. + +Mighty few person were ever admitted to this inner sanctuary where +Bradish sat facing his employer across the flat-topped desk. And men who +saw that employer outside his office did not turn their heads to stare +after him or point respectful finger at him or remark to somebody else, +"There's the big Julius Marston." In the first place, Mr. Marston was +not big in a physical sense, and there was nothing about him which would +attract attention or cause him to be remarked in a crowd. And only a few +persons really knew him, anyway. + +He sat in his massive chair; one hand propped on the arm, his elbow +akimbo, and with the other hand plucked slowly at the narrow strip of +beard which extended from his lower lip to the peaked end of his chin. + +"Very well, Mr. Bradish," he remarked, after the latter had lifted the +blotter from the check. + +Bradish rose and bowed, and started to leave. He was a tall and shapely +young man, with a waist, with a carriage. His garb was up-to-the-minute +fashion--repressed. He was a study in brown, as to fabric of attire and +its accessories. One of those white-faced chaps who always look a bit +bored, with a touch of up-to-date cynicism! One of those fellows who +listen much and who say little! + +"Just a moment, Bradish," invited Marston, and the young man stopped. +"I like your way in these matters. You don't ask questions. You show no +silly interest in any check you sign." + +Bradish reflected an instant on the check in the restaurant cashier's +drawer, and pinched his thin lips a little more tightly. + +"I'm quite sure you don't do any broadcast talking about the nature of +these special duties." The financier pointed to the check. "I'll say +quite frankly that I didn't select you for this service until I had +ascertained that you did no talking about your own affairs in the office +with my other clerks." + +Bradish inclined his head respectfully. + +"In financial matters it is necessary to pick men carefully. I trust +you understand my attitude. These transactions are quite legitimate. +But modern methods of high finance make it necessary to manipulate the +details a little. Your attitude in accepting these duties, as a matter +of course is very gratifying from a business standpoint. As a little +mark of our confidence in you, you will receive seventy-five dollars per +week hereafter." + +"Thank you." + +Mr. Martson allowed himself a quick, dry smile. "This isn't a bribe, +you understand. There is nothing attached to this nominal service which +requires bribing. We merely want to make it worth while for a prudent +and close-mouthed young man to remain with us." + +A buzzer, as unobtrusive as were all the characteristics of Financier +Marston, sounded its meek purr. + +"Yes," he murmured into the receiver of the telephone which communicated +with the watchful picket of the Marston & Waller offices. "Who? Oh, she +may come in at once." + +"Wait here a moment, if you please, Mr. Bradish. It is my daughter who +has dropped in for a moment's word with me. I have something more for +you to attend to." + +Bradish walked to one of the windows. He stared sharply at the girl who +hurried in. Her hat and face were shrouded in an automobile veil, and +the cloistered light of the big room helped to conceal her features. +But Bradish seemed to recognize something about her in spite of the +vagueness of outline. When she spoke to her father the young man's eyes +snapped in true astonishment. + +"I couldn't explain it very well over the telephone, papa, so I came +right down. Do forgive me if I bother you for just a minute." She +glanced quickly at the young man beside the window, but found him merely +an outline against the light. + +"Only one of our clerks," said her father. "What is it, my girl?" + +"It's Nan Burgess's house-party at Kingston! There's to be an automobile +parade--all decorated--at the fete, and I want to go in our big car, +and have it two days. I was afraid you'd say no if I asked you over the +telephone, but now that I'm right here, looking you in the eyes with all +the coaxing power of my soul, you just can't refuse, can you, papa?" + +"I think perhaps I would have consented over the telephone, Alma." + +"Then I may take the car?" Her playful tones rose in ecstatic crescendo. +The impulsiveness of her nature was displayed by her manner in accepting +this favor. She danced to her father and threw her arms about him. +She exhibited as much delight as if he had bestowed upon her a gift of +priceless pearls. The exuberance of her joy appeared to annoy him a bit. + +"Gently, gently, Alma! If you waste your thanks in this manner for a +little favor, what will you do some day for superlatives when you are +really eager to thank some-body for a big gift?" + +"Oh, I'll always have thanks enough to go around--that's my disposition. +The folks who love me, I can love them twice as much. You're a dear old +dad, and I know you want me to run along so that you can go to making a +lot more money. So I'll just take myself out from underfoot." + +When she turned she glanced again at the person near the window, and +this time she got a good look at his face. Even the veil could not +hide from Bradish the color which spread into her cheeks. She was so +conscious of her embarrassment and of her appearance that she did not +turn her face to her father when he spoke to her. + +"One moment, Alma! Seeing that my big car is going to have a two days' +vacation in the country, I may as well make it do one last business +errand for me." + +He called Bradish to the desk by a side jerk of the head. + +"I want that check put into the hands of the brokerage firm of Mower +Brothers as quickly as possible. My car is at the door, and it may as +well take you along. Alma, allow this young man of ours to ride with you +to the place where I'm sending him." + +He did not present Bradish to Miss Marston. Bradish did not expect the +financier to do so. But this dismissal of him as a mere errand-boy--with +the young lady staring him out of countenance in a half-frightened +way--did cut the pride a bit, even in the case of a mere clerk. And +this clerk was pondering on the memory that only the night before he +had clasped this young lady--then a party unknown who was evidently bent +upon an escapade _incog_.--had encircled this selfsame maiden with his +arms during many blissful dances in one of the gorgeous Broadway public +ball-rooms. And he had regaled her and a girl friend on viands for which +his twenty-five-dollar check had scarcely sufficed to pay. + +Bradish was pretty familiar with the phases and the oddities of the +dancing craze, but this _contretemps_ rather staggered him. + +They had asked no questions of each other during those dances. They had +been perfectly satisfied with the joy of the moment. She had looked at +him in a way and with a softness in her eyes which told him that she +found him pleasing in her sight. She had been enthusiastic, with that +same exuberance he had just witnessed, over his grace in the dance. They +had promised to meet again at the ball-room where social conventions did +not prevent healthy young folks from enjoying themselves. + +"Good heavens!" she whispered to him, as she preceded him through the +door. "You work in my father's office?" + +"You are surprised--a little shocked--and I don't blame you," he +returned, humbly. "As for me, I am simply astounded. But I am not a +gossip." + +She stole a look at his pale, impassive face, and some of her father's +instinct in judging men seemed to reassure her. + +"One must play a bit," she sighed. "And it's so stupid most of the time, +among folks whom one knows very well. There are no more surprises." + +As he shut the door softly behind them Bradish heard Marston, once more +immersed in his affairs of business, directing over the telephone that +one Fletcher Fogg be located and sent to him. + +"I apologize," said Bradish, in the corridor. They were waiting for the +elevator. + +"For what?" She lifted her eyebrows, and there was no hint of annoyance +in her dark eyes. + +"For--well--seeing how the matter stands, it almost seems as if I had +presumed--was masquerading. I am only a clerk, and--" + +"But you are a clerk in Julius Marston's offices," she said, with pride, +"and that means that you are to be trusted. I require no apology from +you, Mr.--er--" + +"My name is Ralph Bradish." + +"I dodged away from dullness last evening; I was hoping to have a bit +of a frolic. And I found a young gentleman who asked no impertinent +questions, who was very gracious, and who was a delight in the dance. It +was all very innocent--rather imprudent--but altogether lovely. There!" + +"I thank you." + +"And--well, after Nan Burgess's house-party, I--" + +She glanced up at him, provocation in her eyes. + +"But I don't dare to hope, do I, that you will condescend to come again +and dance with me?" + +"Julius Marston has taught his daughter to keep her promise, sir. If I +remember, I promised." + +He did not reply, for the elevator's grille door clashed open for them +to enter. + +And in the elevator, and later in the car, he was silent, as became the +clerk of Marston's offices in the company of Marston's daughter when +there were listeners near. + +Her eyes gave him distinct approval and her lips gave him a charming +smile when he alighted at his destination. + +Bradish stood for a moment and gazed after the car when it threaded its +way into the Broadway traffic. + +"She's a flighty young dame, with a new notion for every minute," he +told himself. "You can see that plain enough. It's probably all jolly on +her part. However, in these days, if a fellow keeps his head steady and +his feet busy, there's no telling what the tango may lead to. This may +be exactly, what I've been paying tailors' bills for." + +Indicating that in these calculating times the spirit of youth in the +ardor of love at first sight is not as the poet of romance has painted +it. + + + + +XVII ~ "EXACTLY!" SAID MR. FOGG + + "O I am not a man o' war or privateer," said he, + Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we! + "But I'm an honest pirate a-looking for my fee, + Cruising down along the coast of the High Barbaree." + --Shanty of the "Prince Luther." + +Mr. Fletcher Fogg privately and mentally and metaphorically slapped +himself on the back whenever he considered his many activities. + +He was perfectly certain that he was the best little two-handed general +operator of an all-around character that any gentleman could secure +when that gentleman wanted a job done and did not care to give explicit +instructions as to the details of procedure. + +The look of grief and regret that the fat face of Mr. Fogg could assume +when said gentleman--after the job was done--blamed the methods as +unsanctioned, even though the result had been achieved--that expression +was a study in humility--humility with its tongue in its cheek. + +If Mr. Fogg could have advertised his business to suit himself--being +not a whit ashamed of his tactics--he would have issued a card inscribed +about as follows: + + "Mr. FLETCHER FOGG: Promoting and demoting. Building and + busting. The whole inside of any financial or industrial + cheese cleaned out without disturbing the outside rind. All + still work done noiselessly. Plenty of brass bands for loud + work. Broad shoulders supplied to take on all the blame." + +Mr. Fogg, in the presence of Julius Marston, was properly obsequious, +but not a bit fawning. He wiped away the moisture patches beside his +nose with a purple handkerchief, and put it back into his outside breast +pocket with the corners sticking out like attentive ears. He crossed his +legs and set on his knee an ankle clothed in a purple silk stocking. On +account of his rotundity he was compelled to hold the ankle in place in +the firm clutch of his hand. He settled his purple tie with the other +hand. + +"I'm glad I was in reach when you wanted me," he assured Mr. Marston. +"I'm just in on the _Triton_. And I want to tell you that you're running +that steamboat line in the way an American business man wants to have +it run. If I had been on any other line, sir, I wouldn't have been +here to-day when you were looking for me. Everything else on the coast +prowling along half-speed, but down slammed the old _Triton_, scattering +'em out from underfoot like an auto going through a flock of chickens, +but not a jar or a scrape or a jolt, and into her dock, through two days +of thick fog, exactly on the dot. That's the way an American wants to be +carried, sir." + +"I believe so, Mr. Fogg," agreed Julius Marston. "And that's why we feel +it's going to be a good thing for all the coast lines to be under one +management--our management." + +"Exactly!" + +"It's true progress--true benefit to travelers, stockholders, and all +concerned. Consolidation instead of rivalry. I believe in it." + +"Exactly!" + +"As a broad-gauged business man--big enough to grasp big matters--you +have seen how consolidation effects reforms." + +"No two ways about it," affirmed Mr. Fogg. + +"That was very good missionary work you did in the matter of the Sound & +Cape line--very good indeed." + +"It's astonishing what high and lofty ideas some stockholders have +about properties they're interested in. In financial matters the poorest +conclusion a man can draw is that a stock will always continue to pay +dividends simply because it always has done so. I had to set off a +pretty loud firecracker to wake those Sound & Cape fellows up. I had to +show 'em what damage the new deals and competition and our combination +would do to 'em if they kept on sleeping on their stock certificates. +Funny how hard it is to pry some folks loose from their par-value +notions." Mr. Fogg delivered this little disquisition on the +intractability of stockholders with reproachful vigor, staring blandly +into the unwinking gaze of Mr. Marston. "I don't want to praise my own +humble efforts too much," he went on, "but I truly believe that inside +another thirty days the Sound crowd would have been ready to cash in at +fifty, in spite of that minority bunch that was hollering for par. That +was only a big yawp from a few folks." + +"Fifty was a fair price in view of what's ahead in the way of +competition, but we have made it a five-eighths proposition in order to +clinch the deal promptly. I just sent one of our boys around with the +check." + +Mr. Fogg beamed. He used his purple handkerchief on his cheeks once +more. He allowed to himself a few words of praise: "They'll understand +some day that I saved 'em from a bigger bump. But it's hard to show some +people." + +"Now, Mr. Fogg, we come to the matter of the Vose line. What's the +outlook?" + +Mr. Fogg looked sad. "After weeks of chasing 'em, I can only say that +they're ugly and stubborn, simply blind to their best interests." + +"Insist on par, do they?" + +"Worse than that. Old Vose and his sons and those old hornbeam +directors--retired sea-captains, you know, as hard as old turtles--they +have taken a stand against consolidation. They belong in the dark ages +of business. Old Vose had the impudence to tell me that forming this +steamboat combine was a crime, and that he wouldn't be a party to a +betrayal of the public. He won't come in; he won't sell; he's going to +compete." + +Mr. Marston stroked his strip of beard. "In order for our stock to be +what we intend it to be, the Paramount Coast Transportation has got +to operate as a complete monopoly, as you understand, Mr. Fogg. A +beneficent monopoly--consolidation benefiting all--but nevertheless +a monopoly. With one line holding out on us, we've got only a limping +proposition." + +"Exactly!" + +"What are we going to do about the Vose line?" + +"Let it compete, sir. We can kill it in the end." + +"Possibly--probably. But that plan will not serve, Mr. Fogg." + +"It's business." + +"But it is not finance. I'm looking at this proposition solely as a +financier, Mr. Fogg. I hardly know one end of a steamboat from the +other. I'm not interested in rate-cutting problems. I don't know how +long it would take to put the Vose line under. But I do know this, as a +financier, handling a big deal, that the Paramount stock will not appeal +to investors or the bonds to banks unless we can launch our project as +a clean, perfect combination, every transportation charter locked up. +I handle money, and I know all of money's timidity and all of +money's courage. You think the Vose directors are able to hold their +stockholders in line, do you?" + +Mr. Fogg uncrossed his legs, put both feet on the floor, hooked +his hands across his paunch, and gazed up at the ceiling, evidently +pondering profoundly. + +"I repeat, I'm not viewing this thing as a steamboating proposition, +not figuring what kind of tariffs will kill competition," stated Mr. +Marston. "I'm not estimating what kind of tariffs will make a profit for +the Paramount. I'd as soon sell sugar over the counter. My associates +expect me to make money for them in another way--make it in big lumps +and on a quick turn. The Vose line, competing, kills us from the +financial viewpoint." + +"Exactly." + +There was silence in the room for some time. + +"There's never any telling what stockholders will do," remarked Mr. +Fogg, his eyes still studying the panels of the ceiling. + +Mr. Marston did not dispute that dictum. + +His field-marshal slowly tipped down his head and gave his superior +another of those bland stares. + +"So I'll go right ahead and see what they'll do, sir." + +He rose and kicked the legs of his trousers into place. + +"You understand that in this affair, as in all matters where you have +been employed, there must be absolutely clean work. There must be no +come-back. Of course, I have instructed you to this effect regularly, +but I wish to have you remember that I have repeated the instructions, +sir." + +"Exactly!" Mr. Fogg's eyes did not blink. + +"You will be prepared to testify to that effect in case the need ever +arises." + +"Exactly!" + +Mr. Fogg delivered that word like a countersign. Into it, in his +interviews with Julius Marston, he put understanding, humility, promise. + +"May we expect quick action?" asked the financier. "The thing mustn't +hang fire. We have a lot of our nimble money tied up as it is." + +"Exactly!" returned Mr. Fogg, on his way to the door. "Quick action it +is!" + +"This is probably the craziest idea that ever popped into a man's head +when that man was sitting in Julius Marston's office," reflected Mr. +Fogg, marching through the anteroom of this temple of finance. "There's +one thing about it that's comforting--it's so wild-eyed it will never +be blamed on to Julius Marston as any of his getting up. And that's his +principal lookout when a deal is on. It seems to be up to me to deliver +the goods." + +He sat down on a bench in the waiting-room and rubbed his knuckles over +his forehead. + +"Just let me get this thing right end to," he told himself. "How did +the idea happen to hit me, anyway? Oh, yes! Old Vose bragging to me that +every stockholder in the Vose line was behind him, and that the annual +meeting was about to come off, and then I would see what a condemned +poor show I stood to get even the toe of my boot into the crack of the +company door. He's a Maine corporation. I've known of cases where that +fact helped a lot. There are plenty of ifs and buts in this thing, but +here goes!" + +He applied himself to one of the office telephones, asked for several +numbers, one after the other, and put questions with eagerness and +rapidity. + +The information he received seemed to disturb him considerably. He came +out of the booth and scrubbed his cheeks with his purple handkerchief. + +"Their annual meeting at ten o'clock to-morrow morning, four hundred +miles from here! Well, I suppose I ought to be thankful that it's not +being held right now," Mr. Fogg informed himself, determined to fan that +one flicker of hope with both wings of his optimism. "But I've got to +admit that twenty-four hours is almighty scant time for a job of this +sort, even when the operator is the little Fogg boy himself. Damme, I +haven't come to a full, realizing sense yet of all I've got to do and +how I'm going to do it." + +He hurried out, dove into an elevator, and was shot down to the street. + +He was lucky enough to find a taxi at the curb. + +"Grand Central," he told the driver. "I've got five dollars that +says you can beat the Subway express and land me in season for the +ten-o'clock limited for Boston." + +As soon as it became evident to Mr. Fogg that his driver had seen his +duty and was going to do it, traffic squad be blowed, the promoter +settled back, and his thoughts began to revolve faster than the taxi's +wheels. + +"It's going to be like the mining-camp 'lulu hand,'" was his mental +preface to his plans. "It can be played only once in a sitting-in; it +has got to be backed with good bluff, but it's a peach when it works. +And what am I a promoter for? What have I studied foreign corporation +laws for?" + +Mr. Fogg took off his hat and mopped his bald spot, wrinkling his +eyelids in deep reflection. + +"The idea is," he mused, "I'm a candidate for the presidency of the Vose +line at to-morrow's meeting. But I haven't been elected yet!" + +However, Mr. Fogg's preliminary sniffing at the affairs of the Vose line +had informed him where he could pick up at least ten scattered shares of +their stock. He figured that before midnight he would have them in his +possession. As to the next day and the next steps, well, the nerve of a +real American plunger clings to life until the sunset of all hopes, even +as the snake's tail, though the serpent's head be bruised beyond repair, +is supposed to wriggle until sunset. + +He despatched a telegram at New Haven. He received a reply at +Providence, and he read it and felt like a gambler who has drawn a +card to fill his bobtail hand. When a design is brazen and the game is +largely a bluff, plain, lucky chance must be appealed to. + +The telegram had been addressed to Attorney Sawyer Franklin, in a Maine +city. It had requested an appointment with Mr. Franklin on the following +morning. + +The reply had stated that Mr. Franklin was critically ill in a hospital, +but that all matters of business would be attended to by his office +force, as far as was possible. + +Attorney Sawyer Franklin, as Mr. Fogg, of course, was fully aware, was +clerk of the Vose line corporation, organized according to the Maine +law as a "foreign corporation," under the more liberal regulations which +have attracted so many metropolitan promoters into the states of Maine +and New Jersey. + + + + +XVIII ~ HOW AN ANNUAL MEETING WAS HELD--ONCE! + + O, a ship she was rigged and ready for sea, + And all of her sailors were fishes to be! + Windy-y-weather, + Stormy-y-weather! + When the wind blows we're all together! + --The Fishes. + +Fletcher Fogg, suave, dignified, radiating business importance, +freshened by a barber's ministrations, walked into the Franklin +law-offices the next morning at nine-thirty. + +He announced himself to a girl typist, and she referred him to a young +man who came forth from a private room. + +"I have power of attorney from Mr. Franklin to transact his routine +business," explained the young man. "Of course, if it's a new case or a +question of law--" + +"Neither, neither, my dear sir! Simply a matter of routine. But," he +leaned close to the young man's ear, "strictly private." + +Mr. Fogg himself closed the door of the inner office when the two had +retired there. + +"One of your matters to-day, I believe, is the annual meeting of the +Vose line. I am a stockholder." + +Fogg produced a packet of certificates and laid them on the desk. + +"Are there to be any officers or other stockholders present?" he asked, +showing just a bit of solicitude, in spite of himself. + +"I think not," returned the young man. "Nothing has been said about it. +The proxies and instructions have been sent in, as usual, by registered +mail." He indicated documents stacked on the desk. "I was just about to +begin on the matter." + +"I suppose our proxies run to the clerk of the corporation, as usual, +with full power of substitution, clerk to follow instructions," said +Mr. Fogg, a bit pompously, using his complete knowledge of corporation +routine. + +"Yes, sir. We handle most of the corporation meetings that way when it's +all cut and dried. In this case, it's simply a re-election of the old +officers." + +"Exactly!" + +Mr. Fogg pulled his chair closer, dabbed his purple handkerchief on +each side of his nose, and inquired, kindly and confidentially: "My son, +what's your name?" + +"David Boyne." + +"Law student here--secretary, eh?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Exactly--and a long, hard pull ahead of you. It's too bad you're not in +New York, where a young man doesn't have to travel the whole way around, +but can cut a corner or two. I could give you a lot of examples of +bright young chaps who have grabbed in when the grabbing was good. + +"But I haven't the time. You take my word for it. I'm a plain, outspoken +business man, and I'm in with the biggest financial interests in New +York. And I'm going to offer you the grandest opportunity of your life +right now, David." + +He picked up his certificates and arranged them in one hand, as a player +arranges his cards. + +"I have here ten shares, say, and each share is owned by a different +individual--all good men. You don't know them, but I do. They are +connected with our big interests. And I'm right here as a stockholder. +Do you realize, David, that instructing you to hold this meeting without +a single stockholder present is really asking you to do something that's +not strictly legal?" + +"We usually do it this way," faltered Boyne. + +"Exactly! Men like those who are running the Vose line are always asking +an innocent man to do something illegal. I'm going to come right to +the point with you, David. Those old moss-backs who have sent those +instructions are trying to wreck the Vose line. I want you to disregard +those instructions. I am anxious to be president and general manager +of the line. I want you to elect as directors these stockholders." He +tapped his finger on the certificates. + +The young man was both frightened and bewildered. He turned pale. "I +can't do that," he gasped. + +"Yes, you can. There are the proxies. It's up to you to vote 'em as you +want to. They allow full power of substitution, usual fashion!" + +"But I can't disobey my instructions." + +"I say you can, if you've got grit enough to make a good thing for +yourself." + +"Such a thing was never done here." + +"Probably not. It's a new idea. But new things are being done right +along in high finance. You ought to be up where big things are happening +every day. You stand in with me, and I'll put you there. You see, I'm +getting right down to cases on this matter with you, David. Vote those +proxies as I direct and I'll hand you five thousand dollars inside of +two hours, and will plant you in a corking job with my people as soon as +this thing calms down. I could have palavered a long time before coming +to business in this way, but I see you're a bright young fellow and +don't need a lot of hair-oil talk. I don't ask you to hurt anybody in +especial. You can elect the old treasurer--we don't want to handle the +money--this is no cheap brace game. But I want a board of directors +who will put me in as general manager until certain reforms can be +instituted so as to bring the line up to date. Five thousand dollars, +mind you, and then you'll be taken care of." + +"But I'll be put into state prison." + +"Nonsense, my boy! Why would you vote those proxies according to your +instructions? Why, because it would be for your interest to do so if +I hadn't come in here with a better proposition. Now it's for your +interest to vote 'em as I tell you. The most they can make out of it +is a breach of trust, and that amounts to nothing. With five thousand +dollars in your mitt, you wouldn't need to hang around here to take +a lot of slurs. I'll slip you another thousand for your expenses on a +little trip till the air is all clear." + +Boyne stared at this blunt and forceful tempter; his hand which clutched +the chair-arms trembled; "I'm going to be still more frank with you, +my boy. And, by the way, you must know that I'm no mere four-flusher. +You've heard of Fletcher Fogg, eh? You knew who I was when you got that +wire from me yesterday?" + +"Why, yes, I know of you through our corporation work, sir." + +"Exactly!" Mr. Fogg assumed even more unctuously the manner of an old +friend. "Now, as I say, I'm going to be frank--take you in on the ground +floor. Of course, they can have another--a special meeting of the Vose +line after a thirty days' notice to the stockholders. They will probably +call that meeting, and I don't care if they do. But I have an ambition +to be general manager of the line for those thirty days to make--well, I +want to make a little investigation of general conditions," declared Mr. +Fogg, resorting to his purple handkerchief. "That's all I care to say. +At the end of thirty days we may--I'm speaking of the big interests +I represent--we may decide to buy the line and make it really worth +something to the stockholders. You understand, I hope. It's strictly +business--it's all right--it's good financiering. After it's all over +and those old, hardshell directors wake up, I'll venture to say they'll +be pleased all around that this little turn has been made. In the +mean time, having been taken care of, you needn't mind whether they're +pleased or not." + +Boyne looked at the sheaf of certificates in Fogg's hand; he bent +frightened gaze on the documents stacked on the desk. They lay there +representing his responsibility, but they also represented opportunity. +The sight of them was a rebuke to the agitated thoughts of treason +which assailed him. But the mere papers had no voice to make that rebuke +pointed. + +Mr. Fogg did have a voice. "Five thousand dollars in your fist, my boy, +as soon as I can work the wire to New York--and there's no piker about +the man who can have five thousand flashed in here when he asks for it. +You can see what kind of men are behind me. What do you care about old +man Vose and his crowd?" + +"There's Mr. Franklin! I'll be doing a mighty mean trick, Mr. Fogg. No, +I'll not do it." + +Mr. Fogg did not bluster. He was silent for some time. He pursed his +lips and stared at Boyne, and then he shifted his gaze to the ceiling. + +"It's too bad--too bad for a young fellow to turn down such an +opportunity," he sighed. "It can be done without you, Boyne, in another +way. The same result will happen. But you might as well be in on it. +Now let me tell you a few instances of how some of the big men in this +country got their start." + +Mr. Fogg was an excellent raconteur with a vivid imagination, and it did +not trouble his conscience because the narratives he imparted to this +wide-eyed youth were largely apocryphal. + +"You see," he put in at the end of the first tale, "what a flying start +will do for a man. Suppose that chap I've just told you about sat back +and refused to jump when the road was all open to him! You don't hear +anybody knocking that man nowadays, do you? And yet that's the trick he +pulled to get his start." + +With a similar snapper did Mr. Fogg touch up each one of his stories of +success. + +"I--I didn't have any idea--I thought they managed it some other way," +murmured David Boyne. + +"Your horizon has been limited; you haven't been out in the world +enough to know, my son." + +"I have heard of all those men, of course. They're big men to-day." + +"You didn't think they got to be millionaires by saving the money out of +clerks' salaries, did you? Of course, Boyne, I admit that in this +affair you'll be up to a little sharp practice. But you're not stealing +anything. Nobody can lug off steamships in a vest pocket. It's only a +deal--and deals are being made every day." + +Fogg was a keen judge of his fellow-men. He knew weakness when he saw +it. He could determine from a man's lower lip and the set of his nose +whether that person were covetous. And he knew now what signified the +flush on Boyne's cheeks and the light in his eyes. However, there was +something else to reckon with. + +"I will not betray Mr. Franklin's confidence in me. Positively, I will +not," said the young man. "He's sick, and that would make it worse." + +"How sick is he?" + +"He is very, very ill. It was an operation, and he has had a relapse. +But we hope he's coming out all right." + +"What hospital is he in?" + +Boyne gave the name. + +"I think I'll call up and ask when it is expected that he can see +visitors," announced Fogg, with business briskness. "I wish Franklin had +been here on deck--Franklin, himself." + +"I don't believe Mr. Franklin would turn a trick of this sort," asserted +the clerk. "I'd hate to face him, after doing it myself." + +"Franklin would be able to see further into a financial deal than a +young chap," said Mr. Fogg, severely, and then he found his number and +made his call. "Good heavens!" he blurted, after a question. "I am in +his office. Yes, I'll tell Boyne." + +With a fine affectation of grief and surprise, he snapped the +transmitter upon the hook and whirled on Boyne. His back had been toward +the young man--he had spoken with hand across the receiver. + +"He has just died--he's dead! Franklin has passed away." + +"I would have been notified," gasped Boyne. + +"They were just going to call you. You heard me say I'd inform you." + +"But I must call the hospital--offer my services. I must go up there." + +Mr. Fogg put out his hand and pressed the young man back into his chair. +"A lulu must be played quick and the pot raked sudden," he reflected. + +"Just a moment, my son. Now you're standing on your own bottom. You +won't have to explain to Mr. Franklin." + +He pointed to the clock. His stories had consumed time. The hour was +ten-thirty-five. + +"That annual meeting of the Vose line was called for ten of the clock +to-day. Mr. Franklin was alive at that hour. He was the clerk of that +corporation. What happens now will not embarrass you so far as he's +concerned. Be sensible. Make a stroke for yourself. You're out of a job, +anyway. Go to it, now." + +Fogg spoke sharply, imperiously. He exerted over the young man all the +force of his personality. + +"Five thousand dollars--protected by my interests--slipped out of sight +for a few months--it's easy. Sit down there and make up your records; +vote those proxies. Vote 'em, I say. This meeting was held at ten +o'clock. Make up your records." + +He stood over Boyne, arguing, promising, urging, and the young man, +at last, sweating, flushed, trembling, bent over his documents, sorted +them, and made up his records. + +"We'll send on a copy to the office of the Vose line by registered +mail," commanded Fogg. "Attest it as a copy of the true record by +notary. When it drops in on 'em I will be there, with my directors and +my little story--and the face of Uncle Vose will be worth looking at, +though his language may not be elevating. You come out with me, Boyne. +I'm going to the telegraph office." + +"But I must get in touch at once with Mr. Franklin's family--offer my +services," pleaded the clerk. + +"There isn't a thing you can do right now," snapped the masterful +gentleman from New York. "I suggest that you close the office. Send the +girl home. You should do that much out of respect to your employer's +memory." + +Ten minutes later the record had been mailed and the flustered Boyne +was trotting around town with Mr. Fogg. The latter seemed to have a +tremendous amount of business on his hands. He hired a cab and was +hustled yon and thither, leaving the young man in the vehicle, with +instructions to stay there, whenever a stop was made. But at last Mr. +Fogg returned from an errand with some very tangible results. He put a +packet of bank-notes into Boyne's shaking hands. + +"Did you ever see as much real money before, my son?" asked Fogg, +genially. "That's your five thousand. And here's five hundred toward +that expense money we promised. I'm suggesting that you leave town +to-night. Tuck that cash away on yourself and duck out of sight." + +Having secured the money and placed that powerful argument in the young +man's hands, Mr. Fogg's hurry and anxiety seemed to be over. When he had +seen the packet buttoned inside Boyne's coat he smiled. + +"The trade is clinched and the job is done, son, and I feel sure that, +being a healthy young American citizen with plenty of cash to pay your +way, you're not going to let go that cash nor do any foolish squealing." + +"I've gone too far to back out," admitted Boyne, patting the outside of +his coat. "But it seems like a dream." + +"I've heard a little piece of good news while I've been running +around--forgot to tell you," said Fogg, in a matter-of-fact way. +"That fool attendant at the hospital must have misunderstood me, or I +misunderstood him. Franklin isn't dead." + +"He-isn't-dead?" + +"No. Last report is that he's better this forenoon. But that's the way +some of these crazy attendants mix things up when anybody inquires at a +hospital. Now, of course, seeing that the registered copy is on its way +and Franklin is getting better, that's all the more reason why you don't +care to hang around these diggings and be annoyed. I've got a scheme. It +will take you out of town in a very quiet style. I have telephoned down +to the docks, and there's a Vose freighter in here discharging rails. Do +you live at home or at a boarding-place?" + +"I board," said Boyne, still wrestling with the sickening information +that he had betrayed an employer who was alive; somehow the sentiment +that it was equally base to betray a deceased employer had not impressed +itself on his benumbed conscience. He was now keenly aware that he +feared to meet up with a living and indignant Lawyer Franklin. Fogg +questioned, and Boyne gave his boarding-house address. + +"We'll drive there, and I'll wait outside in the cab until you can +scratch together a gripful of your things. Don't load yourself down too +much. Remember, you've got plenty of cash in your pockets." + +A little later Fogg escorted the young man up the gang-plank of the +_Nequasset_, from whose hold the last of her load of clanging rails was +being derricked by panting windlass engines. To Captain Zoradus Wass, +who was lounging against the rail just outside the pilot-house, Mr. Fogg +marched with business promptitude, and spoke with assurance. + +"Captain, my name is Fletcher Fogg. Within forty-eight hours the +directors of the Vose line will elect me president and general manager. +That news may be rather astonishing, but it's true." + +The veteran skipper did not reply. He shifted a certain bulge from one +cheek to the other. + +"Well?" queried Fogg, a bit sharply. + +"I ain't saying anything" + +"You believe what I tell you, don't you?" + +"I don't know you." + +"This young man is David Boyne, acting clerk of the Vose line +corporation. The annual meeting has just been held in this city. He made +the official records. He will tell you that a new board of directors has +been chosen--the old crowd is out." + +"That is so," stated Boyne, obeying the prompting of Fogg's quick +glance. + +"I don't know you, either." + +Mr. Fogg was not abashed. "It isn't especially necessary that you know +us. How soon do you leave?" + +"We're going out light as soon as them rails are on the wharf." + +"I am sending Mr. Boyne with you on a tour of inspection, captain. +Please give him quarters and use him right." + +"Nothing doing till I get orders from the owners," declared Captain +Wass. + +"Haven't I told you that I shall be general manager of this line +to-morrow, or next day, at the latest?" + +"When you're general manager come around and give off your orders, sir." + +"I'll do it. I'll come aboard in New York--" + +"I'm ordered to Philadelphia," prompted Captain Wass. "That's where +you'll find me." + +"Philadelphia, then! I'll come aboard and fire you." + +"Do just as you feel like doing." + +"You refuse to take along this young man?" + +"This ain't a passenger-boat. I don't know you. Show orders from +owners--otherwise nothing doing." + +Mate Mayo had come out of his cabin, near at hand. With a young man's +quicker perception of possibilities and contingencies he realized that +his skipper might be letting an old man's obstinacy block common sense. + +The first mate had an eye for men and their manners. He had been +listening to Mr. Fogg. That gentleman certainly seemed to know what he +was talking about. And young Mate Mayo, having a nose for news as well +as an eye for men, understood that the coast transportation business +was in a touchy state generally. He gave Mr. Fogg further inspection and +decided that a little skilful compromising was advisable. + +"Captain Wass, will you step aside with me a moment?" asked the mate. + +"What for?" + +"I want to have a word with you." + +"Have it right here," said the captain, tartly. "I never have any +business that's got to be whispered behind corners." He scowled when his +mate gave him a wink, both suggestive and imploring. "Spit it out!" + +"The law doesn't allow us to take passengers, as you suggest. And +naturally you don't like to act without orders from owners." He looked +at Mr. Fogg as he spoke, plainly offering apology to that gentleman. +"But we need a second steward and--" + +"We don't!" Captain Wass was blunt and tactless. + +"I beg pardon--we really do. And we can sign this young man in a--a sort +of nominal way, and then when we get to Philadelphia we'll probably find +the matter all straightened out." + +"What's your name?" asked Mr. Fogg. + +"Boyd Mayo, sir. First mate." + +"Mr. Mayo, you're a young man with a lot of common sense," declared +Fogg. + +To himself, staring at the young man, he said: "I'm going to play this +game out with two-spots, and here's one ready for the draw!" + +"I'll see you in Philadelphia, Mr. Mayo," he continued, aloud. "I am +exactly what I say I am. Captain Wass, you've got something coming to +you. Mr. Mayo, you've got something coming to you, also--and it's +good!" His assertiveness was compelling, and even the captain displayed +symptoms of being impressed. "It isn't at all necessary that my agent +make this trip with you, Captain Wass. Perhaps I had no distinct right +to bring him here. But I am a hustling sort of a business man and I want +to get at matters in short order. However, I ask no favors. Come on, +Boyne!" + +"We'll sign him on as steward to cover the law," proffered the captain, +as terse in consent as he was in refusal. + +"Very well," agreed Fogg. "You've got an able first mate, sir." He +flipped his watch out. "I've got a train to make, gentlemen. Good day!" + +He took Boyne by the arm and led him to the ladder from the bridge. +"Son," said he, "you dig into that Mayo chap till you know him up and +down and through and through. I'm going to use him. And you keep your +mouth shut about yourself." He backed down the ladder, feeling his +way cautiously with his fat legs, trotted to the waiting cab, and was +whirled away. + +At high noon the next day Fletcher Fogg marched into the general +offices of the Vose line in company with ten solid-looking citizens. +Imperturbable and smiling, he allowed President Vose to shriek anathema +and to wave the certified copy of the record of the annual meeting under +the snub Fogg nose. + +"What you say doesn't change the situation in the least," affirmed Mr. +Fogg. "You'll find the actual records of the meeting deposited in the +usual place in the state of your incorporation. If you think these +new directors are not lawfully and duly elected, you can apply to the +courts." + +"You confounded thief, it's likely to take a year to get a decision. +This is damnable. It's piracy. You know what courts are!" + +"Poke up your courts, then. It isn't my fault if they're slow." + +The new directors filed into the board-room and with great celerity +proceeded to elect Fletcher Fogg to be president and general manager of +the Vose line. + +"What are you going to do?" pleaded the deposed executive head. "My +money is in here--my whole life is in it--my pride--my intention to see +that the public gets a square deal. You infernal rogue, what are you +going to do with my property?" + +"That's my own business," said Fletcher Fogg. + +"You can't get away with it--you can't do it!" raged Vose. "I'll get +at the inside of how that meeting was conducted. You'd better take +backwater right now, Fogg, and save yourself. I'm not afraid to tell +you what I'm going to do. I'll have a temporary injunction issued. I'll +prove fraud was used at that meeting--bribery, yes, sir!" + +Mr. Fogg smiled and sat down at the president's desk. "First he'll have +to find a young man by the name of David Boyne," he told himself. + +"Vose," said the new president, "all you can show a court is the record +of an annual meeting, duly and legally held. And if the judge wants to +have a look at me he'll find me running this line a blamed sight better +than you have ever run it." + +"It's a cheap, plain trick," bleated the aged steamship manager. "Your +crowd is going to sell out to the Paramount--it's your plot." + +"Oh no! We're not inviting injunctions and law and newspaper talk and +slurs and slander, Mr. Vose. If there's ever any selling out you'll be +the first to suggest it; I never shall. You see, I'm just as frank with +you as you are with me. Selling this line to the Paramount right now, +just because the new board is in, would be ragged work--very coarse +work. Thank Heaven, I have a proper respect for the law--and what it can +do to bother a fool. I am not a fool, Mr. Vose." + + + + +XIX ~ THE PRIZE PACKAGE FROM MR. FOGG + + Our captain stood on his quarter-deck, + And a fine little man was he! + "Overhaul, overhaul, on your davit tackle fall, + And launch your boats to the sea, + Brave boys! And launch your boats to the sea." + --The Whale. + +A slowing, tug, tooting fussy and staccato blasts which Captain Wass +translated into commands to hold up, intercepted the _Nequasset_ in +Hampton Roads. + +Mr. Fletcher Fogg was a passenger on the tug. In a suit of natty gray, +he loomed conspicuously in the alley outside the tug's pilot-house. He +cursed roundly when he toilsomely climbed the ladder to the freighter's +deck, for the rusty sheathing smutched the knees of his trousers. + +"I'm doing a little better than I promised you, captain," he stated when +he arrived finally in the presence of the master. "I said Philadelphia. +But here I am. Do you know me now?" + +"Your name is Fogg," returned Captain Wass, exhibiting no special +delight. + +"And I'm manager of this line. As it seems to be pretty hard for you to +get anything through that thick nut of yours, I'll ask you to glance at +a paper which will save argument." + +The paper was an attested notification, signed by the directors, stating +in laconic legal phrase what Mr. Fogg had just declared. + +"You recognize my authority, do you?" + +"Your bill o' lading reads O. K.," assented the skipper. + +"Very well! Exactly! Then you take your orders. Proceed to an anchorage +off Lambert Point below Norfolk, pick a berth well off the channel, and +put down both hooks. The boat is going out of commission. I find you're +not making any money for the owners." + +"It ain't my fault. With charters at--" began the master, indignantly. + +"I haven't any time for a joint debate. You are laid off. Bring your +accounts to the main office as soon as you have turned the steamer over +to the caretaker--he'll come out from Norfolk." Manager Fogg turned on +his heel to meet Mate Mayo. "You will report at the main offices, too, +Mr. Mayo. Have you master's papers?" + +"I have, sir--Atlantic waters, Jacksonville to East-port." + +"Very good--you're going to be promoted. I shall put you aboard the +passenger-steamer _Montana_ as captain." He looked about sharply. "Where +is my agent?" + +"There, in the quartermaster's cabin. We gave him that," replied Captain +Wass, gruffly. "I'm glad I'm out of steamboating. I've learned how to +run a boarding-house and make money out of it." + +Mr. Fogg did not understand that sneer, and he paid no attention to the +captain's manner. He started for the cabin indicated. + +"Well, you can swell around in gold braid now and catch your heiress," +observed Captain Wass to his mate. + +"I'm sorry, skipper," said the young man, with real feeling. "You are +the man to be promoted, not I. It isn't right--it doesn't seem real." + +"There isn't any real steamboating on this coast any longer. It is--I +don't know what the devil it is," snarled the veteran. "I have been +sniffing and scouting. I'd like to be a mouse in the wall of them New +York offices and hear what it is they're trying to do to us poor cusses. +Ordered one day to keep the law; ordered the next day to break the law; +hounded by owners and threatened by the government! I'm glad I'm out of +it and glad you've got a good job. That last I'm specially glad about. +But keep your eye peeled. There are queer doings round about you!" + +Fogg entered the cabin and shut the door behind him. He found Boyne +sitting on a stool and looking somewhat apprehensive. "Hiding?" inquired +Fogg. + +"I thought I wouldn't show myself till I was sure about who was on that +tug," said the young man. + +"That's the boy, David," complimented Fogg, with real heartiness. +"You're no fool. Nothing like being careful. Pack your bag and go aboard +the tug." He marched out. + +"Philadelphia charter has been canceled, eh?" asked Captain Wass. The +tone of his voice did not invite amity. + +"It has, sir." + +"Seems queer to turn down a cargo that's there waiting--and the old boat +can carry it cheaper than anybody else, the way I've got expenses fined +down." + +"Are you trying to tell me my business?" + +"I have beep steamboating forty years, and I know a little something +about it." + +Mr. Fogg looked at the old mariner, eyes narrowed. He wanted to inform +Captain Wass that the latter knew altogether too much about steamboating +for the kind of work that was planned out along the coast in those +ticklish times. + +"Then I ain't to expect anything special from now on?" asked the +skipper. In spite of his determination to be crusty and keep his upper +lip stiff, he could not repress a little wistfulness, and his eyes roved +over the old freighter with affection. + +"Not a thing, sir!" Mr. Fogg was blunt and cool. He started for the +ladder. He slapped the shoulder of Mayo as he passed the young man. +"Here's the kind of chap we're looking for nowadays. The sooner you +report, my boy, the better for you." + +With Boyne following him, he climbed down the swaying ladder, and was +lifted from the lower rungs over the tug's rail to a secure footing. + +After the lines had been cast off and the tug went floundering away at +a sharp angle, Captain Wass scuffed into his pilot-house and gave the +bells. + +"She seems to feel it--honest she does!" he told Mate Mayo. "She goes +off logy. She doesn't pick up her heels. Nor could I do it when I walked +in here. Going to be scrapped--the two of us! Cuss their picking and +stealing and fighting and financing. They ain't steam-boating any +longer. They're using good boats to play checkers in Wall Street with. +Well, son," he mourned, hanging dispiritedly over the sill of the window +and staring up the wind-swept Chesapeake, "I ain't going to whine--but +I shall miss the old packet and the rumble and racket of the old machine +down there in her belly. I'd even take the job of watchman aboard her if +he would hire me." + +"He seems to fancy me a bit. I'll ask him to hire you," proffered the +mate, eagerly. + +"I reckon you didn't get the look in his eye when he fired me," said +Captain Wass. "I won't allow you to say a word to him about me. You go +ahead, boy, and take the job he has offered. But always remember that +he's a slick operator. See what he has done to Uncle Vose; and we +haven't been able to worm it out of that passenger how it was done, +either. Financing in these days comes pretty nigh to running without +lights and under forced draught. It gets a man to Prosperity Landing in +a hurry, providing he doesn't hit anything bigger than he is. They're +going to haul up this freighter and blame it on to me because I ain't +making money for the owners. They'll have plenty of figgers to show it. +Look out that they don't lay something worse and bigger to you. They're +going to play a game with the Vose line, I tell you! In the game of big +finance, 'tag-gool,' making 'it' out of the little chap who can't run +very fast, seems to be almighty popular." + +He slowed the freighter to a snail's pace when he approached the dredged +channel, and at last the leadsman found suitable bottom. Both anchors +were let go. + +The old skipper sounded the jingle, telling the chief engineer that the +engine-crew was released. In a speaking-tube the captain ordered both +boilers to be blown off. + +"And there's the end of me as master of my ship," he said. + +Mate Mayo's eyes were wet, but words of sympathy to fit the case did not +come to his sailor tongue, and he was silent. + +When the tug was near Newport News, Manager Fogg took David Boyne apart +from all ears which might hear. He gave the young man another packet of +money. + +"The rest of your expenses for a good trip," he said. "You seem to be +a chap who knows how to mind his own business--and able to get at the +other fellow's business in pretty fair shape. You haven't told such an +awful lot about young Mayo, but it's satisfactory to learn that he has +lived such a simple and every-day life that there isn't much to tell." + +"I never saw a man so sort of guileless," affirmed Boyne. "Not that I +have had a lot of experience, but in a lawyer's office you are bound to +see considerable of human nature." + +"He is no doubt a very deserving young man--and I'm glad I can use him," +said Fogg, not able to keep all the grimness out of his tones. "Now, +son," he went on, after a moment of pondering, "you stay on board this +tug till I have been gone five minutes. There are a lot of sharp eyes +around in these times, and some of Vose's friends would be glad to run +to him with a story about me. After five minutes, you take your bag and +walk to Dock Seven and go aboard the freighter _Ariel_--go just as if +you belonged there. Tell the captain that you are Daniel Boyle--get the +name--Daniel Boyle. And never tell anybody until you hear from me that +your name is David Boyne. That freighter leaves to-night for Barbados +with sugar machinery. You'll have a nice trip." + +"I don't care how far away I get," declared Boyne, rather bitterly. "I +have done a tough trick. I'm pretty much of a renegade. No, I don't care +how far I go." + +"Nor I, either," agreed Fogg, but a smile relieved the brutality of the +speech. "You see, son, both of us have special reasons why it's just as +well for you to be away from these diggings for a time. If some folks +get hold of you they'll bother you with a lot of foolish questions. When +you get tired of Barbados go ahead and pick out another nice trip, and +keep going, and later on we'll find a good job for you up this way. Keep +me posted. Good-by." + +The tug had docked and he hurried off and away. + +"It's quite a game," reflected Mr. Fogg. "I've bluffed a pot with one +two-spot. Work was a little coarse because it had to be done on short +notice. The work I do with my second two-spot is going to be smoother, +and there won't be so much beefing after the pot is raked in. Too much +hollering, and your game gets raided! I can see what would happen to +me--Julius Marston doing it--if I give the strong-arm squad an opening. +But if they see the little Fogg boy slip a card in the next deal he's +going to make--well, I'll eat the _Montana_, if that's the only way to +get rid of her." + +Boyd Mayo lost no time in obeying his orders to report in New York. He +gave his name to a clerk at the offices of the Vose line and asked to +see Mr. Fogg. He presented himself a bit timorously. He was not at all +sure of his good fortune. It is rather bewildering for a young man to +have the captaincy of a twin-screw passenger racer popped at one as +carelessly as tossing a peanut to a child. He crushed his cap between +trembling palms when he followed the clerk into the inner office. + +Mr. Fogg rose and greeted Mayo with great cordiality. "Good morning, +captain," said the manager. "Allow me to hope that you're going to be as +lively in keeping to schedule time as you have been in getting here from +Norfolk." + +"I didn't feel like wasting much time, considering what was promised +me," stammered Mayo, not yet sure of himself. + +"Afraid I might change my mind?" + +"It seemed too good to be true. I wanted to get here as soon as I could +and make sure that I had heard right, sir. Here are my papers." + +He laid them in the manager's hand. Fogg did not unfold them. He fanned +them, indicating a chair. + +"Sit down, Captain Mayo. You understand that new management has taken +hold of the Vose line in order to get some life and snap into the +business. We have strong competition. A big syndicate is taking over +the other steamship properties, and we must hustle to keep up with the +procession. I'm laying off freighters that are not showing a proper +profit--I'm weeding out the moss-covered captains who are not up with +the times. That's why I'm putting you on the _Montana_ in place of +Jacobs." + +"He's a good man--one of the best," ventured Mayo, loyalty to his kind +prompting him. "I'll be sorry to see him step aside, as glad as I am to +be promoted--and that's honest." + +"That's the way to talk; but we've got to have hustle and dash, and +young men can give us what we're after. It doesn't mean that you've got +to take reckless chances." + +"I hope not, Mr. Fogg. My training with Captain Wass has been the other +way. And if you could only give him--" + +"Captain, you've got your own row to hoe. Keep your eye on it," advised +the general manager, sharply. "I'm picking captains for the Vose boats, +and I think I understand my business. Now what I want to know is, do you +have confidence in me? Are you going to be loyal to me?" + +"Yes, sir!" affirmed Mayo, impressed by his superior's brisk, brusque +business demeanor. + +"Exactly! And the only talk I want you to turn loose is to the effect +that you believe I'm doing my best to make this line worth something to +the stockholders. Where are you stopping?" + +Mayo named a little hotel around the corner. + +"I'll put you aboard the _Montana_ just as soon as I can arrange the +details of transfer. I may let Jacobs make another trip or so. Report +here each morning at nine. For the rest of the time keep within reach of +the hotel telephone." + +Mayo saluted and went out. + +Fogg called the observer at the weather bureau on the telephone and +asked some questions. He was informed that the wind had swung into the +northwest and that the long-prevailing fog had been blown off the coast. + +Mr. Fogg appeared to feel somewhat peevish over this sudden departure +of the weather phenomenon which bore his family name. He slammed the +receiver on to the hook and said a naughty word. A person overhearing +might have wondered a bit, for here was a steamboat manager cursing the +absence of the fog instead of preserving his profanity to expend on the +presence of the demoralizing mists. But the reign of the north wind in +late summer is never long; three days later the breeze shifted, and the +gray banks of the fog marched in from the open sea. + +Mayo was awakened early by the clamor of the whistles of river craft, +for the little hotel was near the water-front. He saw the fog drifting +in shredded masses against the high buildings, shrouding the towers. +He had been waiting his call to duty with much impatience, finding the +confinement of the hotel irksome in the crisp days of sunlight, eager to +be out and about this splendid new duty which promised so much. + +It was the _Montana's_ sailing-day from the New York end. + +He had gone to sleep thrilling with the earnest hope that he would be +called to take her out. But when he looked out into that morning, saw +the draping curtains of the stalking mists, heard the frantic squallings +of craft in the harbor, frenzied howls of alarm, hoarse hootings of +protests and warnings, he was suddenly and pointedy anxious to have +his elevation to the pilot-house of the _Montana_ deferred. Better the +smoky, cramped office of the little hotel where he had been chafing in +dismal waiting. He was perfectly willing to sit there and study +over again the advertising chromos on the walls and gaze out on the +everlasting procession of rumbling drays. But at eight o'clock the +telephone summoned him. + +"This is General-Manager Fogg," the voice informed him, though he did +not require the information; he knew those crisp tones. "I am speaking +from my apartments. Please proceed at once to the _Montana_. I'll come +aboard within an hour." + +"Do you expect me to take command--to--take her out to-day?" faltered +Mayo. + +"Certainly. Captain Jacobs will transfer command as soon as I get down." + +Mayo had just been rejoicing in his heart because Jacobs would be +obliged to bear the responsibility of that day's sailing; he had been +perfectly sure that a new man would not be summoned under the conditions +which prevailed. He wanted to suggest to Manager Fogg that making +the change just then would be inadvisable. He cleared his throat and +searched his soul for words. But a sharp and decisive click told him +that Mr. Fogg considered the matter settled. He came away from the +telephone, dizzy and troubled, and he was not comforted when he +recollected how Manager Fogg had received meek suggestions in the past. +He paid his modest account, took his traveling-bag, and started for the +Vose line pier. + +When he saw her looming in the fog--his ship at last--he felt like +running away from her incontinently, instead of running toward her. + +Mayo had all of a young man's zeal and ambition and courage--but he had +in full measure a sailor's caution and knowledge of conditions; he had +been trained by that master of caution, Captain Zoradus Wass. He was +really frightened as he stared up at the towering bow, the mighty +flanks, the graceful sweep of superstructure, and realized that he must +guide this giant and her freightage of human beings into the white +void of the fog. In his honesty he acknowledged to himself that he was +frightened. + +The whole great fabric fairly shouted responsibility at him. + +He was confident of his ability. As chief mate he had mastered the +problems of courses and manoeuvers in the fog along that same route +which he must now take. But until then the supreme responsibility had +devolved upon another. + +Men were rushing freight aboard on rattling trucks--parallel lines of +stevedores were working. There were many trunks, avant couriers of the +passengers. + +He went aboard by the freight entrance and found his way to the row of +officers' staterooms. He recognized the gray-bearded veteran who was +pacing the alley outside the pilot-house, though the man was not in +uniform; it was the deposed master. + +"Good morning, Captain Mayo," he said, without any resentment in his +tones. "I congratulate you on your promotion." + +"I hope you understand that I didn't go hunting for this job," blurted +Mayo. + +"I believe it's merely a matter of new policy--so Manager Fogg tells me. +Understand me, too, Captain Mayo! I harbor no resentment, especially not +against you." + +He put out his hand in fine, manly fashion, and was so distinctly +the best type of the dignified, self-possessed sea-captain of the old +school, that Mayo fairly flinched at thought of replacing this man. + +Captain Jacobs opened the door lettered "Captain." "All my truck is out +and over the rail. I'll sit in with you, if you don't mind, until Mr. +Fogg arrives. You're going to have a thick passage, Captain Mayo." + +"It doesn't seem right to me--putting a new man on here in this fog," +protested Mayo, warmly. "I ought to have her in clear weather till I +know her tricks. In a pinch, when you've got to know how a boat behaves, +and know it mighty sudden in order to avoid a smash, one false move puts +you into the hole." + +"They seem to be running steamboat lines from Wall Street nowadays, +instead of from the water-front," said Captain Jacobs, dryly. "It's all +in the game as they're playing it in these times. There's nothing to be +said by the men in the pilot-house." + +"I'm a sailor, and a simple one. I think I know my job, Captain Jacobs, +or else I wouldn't accept this promotion. But I've got no swelled head. +It's the proper and sensible thing for you to take the _Montana_ out +tonight and let me hang around the pilot-house and watch you. If I can +prevail upon Mr. Fogg to allow it, will you make another trip?" + +"I would do it to help you, but I'll be blasted if I'll help Fogg--not +if he would get down now and beg me," declared Captain Jacobs, showing +temper for the first time. "And if you had been pitchforked out as +I've been after all my years of honest service you'd feel just as I do, +Captain Mayo. You don't blame me, do you?" + +"I can't blame you." + +"You know the courses, and you'll have the same staff as I've had. +You'll find every notation in the log accurate to the yard or the +second. She's a steady old girl and, knowing tide set and courses, as +you do, you can depend on her to the turn of a screw. You have my best +wishes--but I'm done." + +He put the fervor of final resolve into the declaration. But, with +sailor's fraternal spirit of helpfulness he sat down and went into +the details of all the Montana's few whims. He called in the mates and +introduced them to the new master. They seemed to be quiet, sturdy men +who bore no malice because a new policy had put a new man over them. + +Then arrived General-Manager Fogg, and in this strictly business +presence Mayo did not presume to voice any of his doubts or his opinion +of his inefficiency. + +The rather stiff and decidedly painful ceremony of speeding the former +commander was soon over, and Captain Jacobs departed. + +"Why haven't you put on your uniform?" asked Fogg. "You have fixed +yourself out with a new one, of course?" + +"Yes, sir." Mayo's cheeks flushed slightly when he recollected how he +had strutted before the mirror in his room at the hotel. But he had been +ashamed to hurry into his gilt-incrusted coat in the presence of Captain +Jacobs. + +"Get it on as soon as you can," ordered the general manager. "I want you +to make a general inspection of the boat with me." + +They made the tour, and in spite of his misgivings, when he saw the +mists sweeping past the end of the pier Captain Mayo, receiving the +salutes of respectful subalterns, felt the proud joy of one who has at +last arrived at the goal of his ambition. + +Master of the crack _Montana_, queen of the Vose fleet, at the age of +twenty-six! + +He glanced into each of the splendid mirrors of the great saloon to make +sure of the gold letters on his cap. + +The thick carpet seemed grateful to his step. The ship's orchestra was +rehearsing in its gallery. + +If only that devilish fog would lift! But still it surged in from the +sea, and the glass, down to 29.40, promised no clearing weather. + +"Safety to the minutest detail--that's my motto," declared Manager Fogg. +"Order a fire drill." + +It was accomplished, and Mr. Fogg criticized the lack of snap. He was +rather severe after the life-boat drill, was over. He ordered a second +rehearsal. He commanded that the crew do it a third time. The warmth +of his insistence on this feature of shipboard discipline was very +noticeable. + +"And when you put those boats back see to it that every line is free and +coiled and every cover loose. It costs a lot of good money if you kill +off passengers in these days." Then he hurried away. "I'll see you +before sailing-time," he informed Captain Mayo. + +The new skipper was glad to be alone and to have leisure for study of +the steamer's log-books. He had been accustomed to a freighter's +slower time on the courses. He did a little figuring. He found that at +seventy-five revolutions per minute the _Montana_ would log off about +the same speed that the freighter made when doing her best. He resolved +to make the fog an excuse and slow down to the _Nequasset's_ familiar +rate of progress. He reflected that he would feel pretty much at home +under those circumstances. He was heartened, and went about the ship +looking less like a malefactor doomed to execution. + +When General-Manager Fogg, bustled on board a few minutes prior to the +advertised sailing-time at five o'clock, he commented on Captain Mayo's +improved demeanor. + +"Getting one of the best jobs on this coast seemed to make considerable +of a mourner out of you. Perhaps a mirror has shown you how well you +look in that new uniform. At any rate, I'm glad to see you have chirked +up. And now I'll give you a piece of news that ought to make you look +still happier: I'm going along on this trip with you. If you show me +that you can do a good job in this kind of weather you needn't worry +about your position." + +The expression on Captain Mayo's face did not indicate unalloyed delight +when he heard this "good news." Unaccustomed as he was to the ship, he +could not hope to make a smooth showing. + +"And still you refuse to cheer up!" remonstrated the manager. + +"I am glad you are going along, sir. Don't misunderstand me. But a +sailor is a pretty serious chap when he feels responsibility. I'm +undertaking a big stunt." + +"It's the best way to find out whether you're the man for the +job--whether you're the man I think you are. It's a test that beats +sailing ships on a puddle." + +"I'm glad you're aboard," repeated the captain. "It's going to shade +down my responsibility just a little." + +"It is, is it?" cried Manager Fogg, his tones sharp. "Not by a blamed +sight! You're the captain of this craft. I'm a passenger. Don't try to +shirk. You aren't afraid, are you?" + +They were standing beside the dripping rail outside the pilot-house. +Far below them, in the spacious depths of the steamer, a bugle sounded +long-drawn notes and the monotonous calls of stewards warned "All +ashore!" + +The gangways were withdrawn with dull "clackle" of wet chains over +pulleys, and Captain Mayo, after a swift glance at his watch, to make +sure of the time, ordered a quartermaster to sound the signal for "Cast +off!" The whistle yelped a gruff note, and, seeing that all was clear, +the captain yanked the auxiliary bell-pulls at the rail. Two for the +port engine, two for the starboard, and the _Montana_ began to back into +the gray pall which shrouded the river. + +Captain Mayo saw the lines of faces on the pier, husbands and wives, +mothers and sweethearts, bidding good-by to those who waved farewell +from the steamer's decks. He gathered himself with supreme grip of +resolve. It was up to him! He almost spoke it aloud. + +Tremors of doubt did not agitate him any longer. It was unthinking +faith, nevertheless it was implicit confidence, that all those folks +placed in him. They were intrusting themselves to his vessel with the +blind assurance of travelers who pursue a regular route, not caring how +the destination is reached as long as they come to their journey's end. + +The hoarse, long, warning blast which announced to all in the river that +the steamer was leaving her dock drowned out the shouts of farewell and +the strains of the gay air the orchestra was playing. + +"See you later," said General-Manager Fogg. "I think I'll have an early +dinner." + +Captain Mayo climbed the short ladder and entered his pilot-house. + +It was up to him! + + + + +XX ~ TESTING OUT A MAN + + Now the first land we made is call-ed The Deadman, + The Ramhead off Plymouth, Start, Portland and Wight. + We sail-ed by Beachy, + By Fairlee and Dungeness, + Until we came abreast of the South Foreland Light. + --Farewell and Adieu. + +With starboard engine clawing her backward, and the port engine driving +her ahead, the Montana swung her huge bulk when she was free of the +penning piers. The churning propellers, offsetting, turned her in her +tracks. Then she began to feel her way out of the maze of the traffic. + +The grim, silent men of the pilot-houses do not talk much even when they +are at liberty on shore. They are taciturn when on duty. They do not +relate their sensations when they are elbowing their way through the +East River in a fog; they haven't the language to do so. + +A psychologist might make much out of the subject by discussing +concentration sublimated, human senses coordinating sight and sound +on the instant, a sort of sixth sense which must be passed on into the +limbos of guesswork as instinct. + +The man in the pilot-house would not in the least understand a word of +what the psychologist was talking about. + +The steamboat officer merely understands that he must be on his job! + +The _Montana_ added her voice to the bedlam of river yawp. + +The fog was so dense that even the lookout posted at her fore windlasses +was a hazy figure as seen from the pilot-house. A squat ferryboat, which +was headed across the river straight at the slip where her shore gong +'was hailing her, splashed under the steamer's bows, two tugs loafed +nonchalantly across in the other direction--saucy sparrows of the river +traffic, always underfoot and dodging out of danger by a breathless +margin. + +Whistle-blasts piped or roared singly and in pairs, a duet of steam +voices, or blended at times into a puzzling chorus. + +A steamer's whistle in the fog conveys little information except to +announce that a steam-propelled craft is somewhere yonder in the white +blank, unseen, under way. No craft is allowed to sound passing signals +unless the vessel she is signaling is in plain sight. + +Captain Mayo could see nothing--even the surface of the water was almost +indistinguishable. + +Ahead, behind, to right and left, everything that could toot was busy +and vociferous. Here and there a duet of three staccato blasts indicated +that neighbors were threatening to collide and were crawfishing to the +best of their ability. + +Twice the big steamer stopped her engines and drifted until the squabble +ahead of her seemed to have been settled. + +A halt mixes the notations of the log, but the mates of the steamer made +the Battery signals, and after a time the spidery outlines of the first +great bridge gave assurance that their allowances were correct. + +Providentially there was a shredding of the fog at Hell Gate, a +shore-breeze flicking the mists off the surface of the water. + +Then was revealed the situation which lay behind the particularly +emphatic and uproarious "one long and two short" blasts of a violent +whistle. A Lehigh Valley tug was coming down the five-knot current with +three light barges, which the drift had skeowowed until they were taking +up the entire channel. With their cables, the tug and tow stretched for +at least four thousand feet, almost a mile of dangerous drag. + +"Our good luck, sir," vouchsafed the first mate. "She was howling so +loud, blamed if I could tell whether she was coming or going. She's got +no business coming down the Sound." + +Captain Mayo, his teeth set hard, his rigid face dripping with moisture, +as he stood in the open window, stopped the engines of his giant charge +and jingled for full speed astern in order to halt her. He had no desire +to battle for possession of the channel with what he saw ahead. + +At that moment Manager Fogg came into the pilothouse, disregarding the +"No Admittance" sign by authority of his position. He lighted a cigar +and displayed the contented air of a man who has fed fully. + +"You have been making a pretty slow drag of it, haven't you, Captain +Mayo? I've had time to eat dinner--and I'm quite a feeder at that! And +we haven't made the Gate yet!" + +"We couldn't do a stroke better and be safe," said the captain over his +shoulder, his eyes on the tow. + +"What's the matter now?" + +"A tug and three barges in the way." + +"Do you mean to say you're holding up a Vose liner with eight hundred +passengers, waiting for a tugboat? Look here, Mayo, we've got to hustle +folks to where they want to go, and get them there in time." + +"That tow is coming down with the current and has the right of way, sir. +And there's no chance of passing, for she's sweeping the channel." + +"I don't believe there's any law that makes a passenger-boat hold up +for scows," grumbled Fogg. "If there is one, a good man knows how to +get around it and keep up his schedule." He paced the pilot-house at the +extreme rear, puffing his cigar. + +He grunted when Mayo gave the go-ahead bells and the throb of the +engines began. + +"Now ram her along, boy. People in these days don't want to waste time +on the road. They're even speeding up the automobile hearses." + +Captain Mayo did not reply. He was grateful that the dangers of Hell +Gate had been revealed. The mists hung in wisps against North Brother +Island when he swung into the channel of the Gate, and he could see, +far ahead, the shaft of the lighthouse. It was a stretch where close +figuring was needed, and this freak of the mists had given him a fine +chance. He jingled for full speed and took a peep to note the bearing of +Sunken Meadow spindle. + +"Nothe-east, five-eighths east!" he directed the quartermaster at the +wheel. + +The man repeated the command mechanically and brought her to her course +for the Middle Ground passage. + +After they had rounded North Brother, Whitestone Point tower was +revealed. It really seemed as if the fog were clearing, and even in the +channel between Execution Rocks and Sands Point his hopes were rising. +But in the wider waters off Race Rock the _Montana_ drove her black +snout once more into the white pall, and her whistle began to bray +again. + +The young captain sighed. "East, a half nothe!" + +"East, a half nothe, it is, sir!" + +At least, he had conquered East River, the Gate, and the narrows beyond, +and had many miles straight ahead to the whistler off Point Judith. He +was resolved to be thankful for small favors. + +He hoped that with the coming of the night and on account of the +prevalence of the fog he would find that shipping of the ordinary sort +had stopped moving. However, in a few minutes he heard telltale whistles +ahead, and he signaled half speed. A lumbering old lighter with a +yawing derrick passed close aboard. An auxiliary fisherman, his exhaust +snapping like a machine-gun, and seeming to depend on that noise for +warning, was overtaken. + +"Can you leave that window for a minute, Captain Mayo?" asked the +general manager. + +The captain promptly joined Mr. Fogg at the rear of the spacious +pilot-house. + +"See here, Cap," remonstrated his superior, "I came down through these +waters on the _Triton_ of the Union line the other day, and she made her +time. What's the matter with us?" + +"I'm obeying the law, sir. And there are new warnings just issued." He +pointed to the placard headed "Safety First" in big, red letters. "The +word has been passed that the first captain who is caught with the goods +will be made an example of." + +"Is that so?" commented Fogg, studying the end of his cigar. His tone +was a bit peculiar. "But the _Triton_ came along." + +"And she nigh rammed the _Nequasset_ in the fog the last trip I made up +the coast. It was simply touch and go, Mr. Fogg, and all her fault. We +were following the rules to the letter." + +"And that's one way of spoiling the business of a steamboat line," +snapped Fogg. He added, to himself, "But it isn't my way!" + +"I'm sorry, but I have been trained to believe that a record for safety +is better than all records for speed, sir." + +"I let Jacobs go because he was old-fashioned, Mayo. This is the age of +taking chances--taking chances and getting there! Business, politics, +railroading, and steam-boating. The people expect it. The right folks do +it." + +"You are general manager of this line, Mr. Fogg. Do you order me to make +schedule time, no matter what conditions are?" + +"You are the captain of this boat. I simply want you to deliver +up-to-date goods. As to how you do it, that is not my business. I'm not +a sea-captain, and I don't presume to advise as to details." + +Captain Mayo was young, He knew the 'longcoast game. He was ambitious. +Opportunity had presented itself. He understood the unreasoning temper +of those who sought dividends without bothering much about details. He +knew how other passenger captains were making good with the powers who +controlled transportation interests. He confessed to himself that he had +envied the master of the rushing _Triton_ who had swaggered past as if +he owned the sea. + +Till then Mayo had been the meek and apologetic passer-by along the +ocean lane, expecting to be crowded to one side, dodging when the big +fellow bawled for open road. + +He remembered with what haste he always manouvered the old _Nequasset_ +out of the way of harm when he heard the lordly summons of the passenger +liners. Was not that the general method of the freighter skippers? Why +should he not expect them to get out of his way, now that he was one of +the swaggerers of the sea? Let them do the worrying now, as he had done +the worrying and dodging in the past! He stepped back to his window, +those reflections whirling in his brain. + +"This is no freighter," he told himself. "Fogg is right. If I don't +deliver the goods somebody else will be called on to do it, so what's +the use? I'll play the game. Just remember--will you, Mayo--that you've +got your heart's wish, and are captain of the _Montana_. If I lose this +job on account of a placard with red letters, I'll kick myself on board +a towboat, and stay there the rest of my life." + +He yanked a log-book from the rack and noted the steamer's average +speed from the entries. He signaled to the engine-room through the +speaking-tube. + +"Give her two hundred a minute, chief!" he ordered. + +And fifteen seconds later, her engines pulsing rhythmically, the big +craft was splitting fog and water at express speed, howling for little +fellows to get out from underfoot. + +Down in the gleaming depths of her the orchestra was lilting a gay +waltz, silver clattered over the white napery of the dining-room, men +and women laughed and chattered and flirted; men wrote telegrams, making +appointments for the morrow at early hours, and the wireless flashed +them forth. They were sent with the certainty on the part of the senders +that no man in these days waits for tide or fog. The frothing waters +flashed past in the night outside, and they who ventured forth upon the +dripping decks glanced at the fan of white spume spreading into the fog, +and were glad to return to cozy chairs and the radiance of the saloon. + +High up forward, in the pilot-house, were the eyes and the brains of +this rushing monster. It was dark there except for the soft, yellow +gleam of the binnacle lights. It was silent but for the low voice of a +mate who announced his notations. + +Occasionally the mates glanced at each other in the gloom when a +steamer's whistle sounded ahead. This young captain seemed to be a chap +who carried his nerve with him! They were used to the more cautious +system of Captain Jacobs. + +The master did not reduce speed. He leaned far out, his hand at his ear. +The third time an unknown sounded her blast he took a quick glance at +the compass. + +"Two points shift--so she shows," he said aloud. "We'll pass her all +right." + +The change in the direction of the sound had assured him. A few minutes +later the whistle voiced a location safely abeam. But the next whistle +they heard sounded dead ahead, and increased in volume of sound only +gradually. They were overtaking a vessel headed in the same direction. + +Captain Mayo pulled the cord oftener and sounded more prolonged, more +imperious hoots. He ordered no change in his course. He was headed +for the Point Judith whistler, and did not propose to take chances on +fumbling by any detours. The craft ahead at last seemed to recognize the +voice of its master. The sound of the whistle showed that it had swung +off the course. + +The mate mumbled notations. + +"All ears out!" ordered the captain. "We ought to make that whistler!" +And in the next breath he said: "There she is!" He pointed a wet hand +ahead and slightly to port. A queer, booming grunt came to them. "You're +all right, old girl," he declared. "Jacobs wasn't over-praising you." +He reached over the sill and patted the woodwork of his giant pet. +He turned to the quartermaster. "East, five-eighths south," was his +direction. + +"East, five-eighths south, sir!" + +"What's the next we make, captain?" asked the general manager from the +gloom at the rear of the pilot-house. + +"Sow and Pigs Lightship, entrance of Vineyard Sound, sir." + +"Good work! I'm going to take a turn below. See you again! What can +I tell any uneasy gentleman who is afraid he'll miss a business +appointment in the morning?" + +"Tell him we'll be on time to the dot," declared the captain, quietly. + +Mr. Fogg closed the pilot-house door behind himself and chuckled when he +eased his way down the slippery ladder. + +Mr. Fogg sauntered through the brilliantly lighted saloon, hands in his +pockets, giving forth an impression of a man entirely at ease. Nobody +appeared to recognize the new general manager of the Vose line, and he +attracted no special attention. But if any one had been sufficiently +interested in Mr. Fogg to note him closely it would have been observed +that his mouth worked nervously when he stood at the head of the grand +stairway and stared about him. His jowls sagged. When he pulled out his +handkerchief his hand trembled. + +He descended the stairs to the main-deck and peered about in the +smoking-quarters, running his eyes over the faces of the men gathered +there. All at once he lifted his chin with a little jerk and climbed the +stairs again. A big man tossed away a cigar and followed at a respectful +distance. He pursued Mr. Fogg through the saloon and down a corridor and +went into a stateroom on the general manager's heels. + +"By gad, Burkett, I'm getting cold chills!" exploded Mr. Fogg, as soon +as the door was closed. + +"Don't understand just why." + +"Those people out there--I've just been looking 'em over. It's monkeying +with too big a proposition, Burkett. You can't reckon ahead on a thing +like this." + +"Sure you can. I've doped it right." + +"Oh, I know you understand what you're talking about, but--" + +"Well, I ought to know. I've been pilot for the re-survey party on the +shoals for the last two months. I know every inch of the bottom." + +"But the panic. There's bound to be one. The rest of 'em won't +understand, Burkett. It's going to be awful on board here. I'll be here +myself. I can't stand it." + +"Look here, governor; there won't be any panic. She'll slide into the +sand like a baby nestling down into a crib. There isn't a pebble in +that sand for miles. Half of this bunch of passengers will be abed and +asleep. They won't wake up. The rest will never know anything special +except that the engines have stopped. And that ain't anything unusual +in a fog. It's a quiet night--not a ripple. Nothing to hurt us. The +wireless will bring the revenue cutter out from Wood's Hole, and she'll +stand by till morning and take 'em off." + +"The theory is good. It's mostly my own idea, and I'm proud of it, and I +was mighty glad to find a man of your experience to back me up with the +practical details," said Fogg, trying to fortify his faith with words +but failing. "But now that it's coming down to cases I'm afraid of it." + +"Well, it's up to you, of course, governor. I insist it can be done, and +done smooth, and you'll lay off this steamer nice, slick, and easy! +That will put a crimp into the Vose line and make them stockholders take +notice the next time a fair offer is made." + +"It's the thing to do, and I know it. The conditions are just right, +and we've got a green captain to make the goat of. All set! But it's +an awful thing to monkey with--eight hundred people, and no knowing how +they'll take it! It came over me while I stood there and looked at 'em!" + +"Sand is sand, and the whole, round earth is braced up under that sand. +She can't sink. She'll simply gouge her way like a plow into a furrow, +and there she'll stick, sitting straight, solid as an island--and it +will be a devil of a while before they'll be able to dig her out. It's +a crimp for the Vose line, I say, governor!" Malevolence glowed in +Burkett's little eyes. + +"Of course, the money I'm getting for this job looks good to me, +governor, but my chance to put a wallop into anything that old Vose and +his sons are interested in looks just as good. I wouldn't be in this +just for the money end of it. I'm no pirate, but when they kicked me +out of the pilot-house and posted me up and down this coast, they put +themselves in line to get what's coming to 'em from me." + +"But have you considered every side of it?" pleaded Fogg. "You're the +practical man in this proposition. What can happen?" + +"If you do exactly what I tell you to do nothing can happen but what's +on our program. Just let me stiffen you up by running the thing over +once more." + +He pulled a hand-smutched, folded chart from his breast pocket and +spread it over his knees. With blunt forefinger he indicated the points +to which he made reference in his explanation. + +"When he fetches Nobska horn on his port, bearing nor'west by west, +he'll shift his course. After about five miles he's due to shift again, +swinging six points to nor-rard. You'll hear the mate name the bearing +of West Chop steam-whistle. Then you walk right up to the left of the +compass and stand there. You may hear a little tongue-clattering for +a few seconds. There'll be a little cussing, maybe, but you won't be +cussed, of course. You stand right there, calm and cool, never batting +an eyelid. And then it will happen, and when it does happen it will be a +surprise-party all right." + +"It's wrecking a seven-thousand-ton passenger-steamer in the night!" +mourned the general manager. + +"It isn't! It's putting her into a safe cradle." + +"But at this speed!" + +"That chap in the pilot-house is no fool. He'll get his hint in time to +save her from real damage. You needn't worry!" + +Fogg opened his traveling-bag and lifted out a strip of metal. He +handled it as gingerly as if it were a reptile, and he looked at it with +an air as if he feared it would bite him. + +"That's the little joker," said Burkett. "About two points deviation by +local attraction will do the business!" + +"I'm tempted to throw it overboard and call it all off, Burkett. I have +put through a good many deals in my life in the big game, but this looks +almost too raw. I can't help it! I feel a hunch as if something was +going to miscue." + +"I've got no more to say, governor." + +"My crowd doesn't ask questions of me, but they expect results. If I +don't do it, I suppose I'll kick myself in the morning." He cocked up +his ear and listened to the bawling of the liner's great whistle. "But +it seems different in the night." + +"You ain't leaving any tracks," encouraged Burkett. "And this being his +first run makes it more plausible. You're here all naturally, yourself. +It might seem rather queer if you made another trip. It's his first run +on her, I remind you. If he makes a slip-up it won't surprise the wise +guys-a mite." + +"It seems to be all set--I've got to admit it. By gad, Burkett, I have +always put a thing through when I've started on it! That's why they +call in the little Fogg boy. I'd rather apologize to my conscience than +to--Well, never mind who he is." He tucked the strip of metal into his +inside coat pocket and buttoned the coat. "Blast it! nothing that's very +bad can happen in this calm sea--and that last life-boat drill went off +fine. Here goes!" declared Fogg, with desperate emphasis. + +"That's the boy!" declared Burkett, encouraged to familiarity by their +association in mischief. + +The general manager found the night black when he edged his way along +the wet deck to the pilot-house. The steamer's lights made blurred +patches in the fog. Now she seemed to have the sea to herself; there +were no answering whistles. + +"I'm back again, Captain Mayo," he said, as he closed the door against +the night. "I hope I won't bother you folks here. I'll stay out from +underfoot." He sat down on a transom at the extreme rear of the house +and smoked his cigar with nervous vehemence. + +Another quartermaster succeeded the man at the wheel, the mate made his +notations of dead reckoning and pricked the chart, the usual routine was +proceeded with. Mayo continued at the window, head out-thrust, except +when he glanced at chart or compass or noted the dials which marked the +screws' revolutions. + +Every now and then he put his ear to the submarine-signal receiver. +At last he heard the faint, far throb of the Sow and Pigs submarine +bell--seven strokes, with the four seconds' interval, then the seven +strokes repeated. + +A bit later he got, sweet and low as an elfland horn, the lightship's +chime whistle. It was dead ahead, which was not exactly to his +calculation. The tide set had served stronger than he had reckoned. He +ordered the helmsman to ease her off a half-point, in order to make safe +offing for the turn into Vineyard Sound. + +Well up in the sound the bell of Tarpaulin Cove reassured him, and after +a time he heard the unmistakable blast of the great reed horn of Nobska +uttering its triple hoot like a giant owl perched somewhere in the +mists. + +"Nobska," said the mate. "We are certainly coming on, sir." + +"Nobly," agreed Captain Mayo, allowing himself a moment of jubilation, +even though the dreaded shoals were ahead. + +"Are you going to keep this speed across the shoals, Captain Mayo?" +asked the general manager, displaying real deference. + +"No, sir!" stated the captain with decision, bracing himself to give +Mr. Fogg a sharp word or two if that gentleman advanced any more of his +"business man's reasons" for speed. "It would not be showing due care." + +"I'm glad to hear you say that," affirmed Mr. Fogg, heartily. "It may +be a little out of place, right now, but I want you to know that I feel +that I have picked out just the right man to command this ship. I'm glad +of a chance to say this where your mates can hear me." + +"Thank you, Mr. Fogg," returned the young man, gratefully. "This is +a soul-racking job, and I'm glad you are here to see what we are up +against. I don't feel that we'll be wasting much time in crossing the +shoals if we go carefully. We can let her out after we swing east of +Monomoy. She's a grand old packet." + +In the gloom Fogg ran his fingers gingerly over the outside of his coat +to make sure that the strip of metal was in its place. + +There was silence in the pilot-house after that. Ahead there was +ticklish navigation. There were the narrow slues, the crowding shoals, +the blind turns of Nantucket Sound, dreaded in all weathers, but a +mariner's horror in a fog. + +Nobska's clarion call drew slowly abeam to port, and after due lapse +of time West Chop's steam-whistle lifted its guiding voice in the mists +ahead. + +"Better use the pelorus and be careful about West Chop's bearing after +we pass her, Mr. Bangs," Captain Mayo warned his first mate. + +As a sailor well knows, the bearing of West Chop gives the compass +direction for passage between the shoals known as Hedge Fence and Squash +Meadow--a ten-mile run to Cross Rip Lightship. In a fog it is vitally +important to have West Chop exact to the eighth of a point. + +Fogg was glad that he was alone where he sat. He trembled so violently +that he set an unlighted cigar between his teeth to keep them from +rattling together. + +The mate was outlined against the window, his eyes on the instrument, +his ear cocked. Every half-minute West Chop's whistle hooted. + +"Right, sir!" the mate reported at last, speaking briskly. "I make it +west by nothe, five-eighths nothe." + +Fogg rose and half staggered forward, taking a position just to the left +of the wheel and compass. + +"East by south, five-eighths south," the captain directed the helmsman. +"Careful attention, sir. Tide is flood, four knots. Make the course +good!" + +The quartermaster repeated and twirled his wheel for the usual number of +revolutions to allow a three-points change. + +Captain Mayo stepped back and glanced at the compass to make certain +that his helmsman was finding his course properly. "What in tophet's +name is the matter with you, man?" he shouted. "Bring this ship around! +Bring her around!" He grabbed the wheel and spun it. "You're slower than +the devil drawing molasses," raged Mayo, forgetting his dignity. + +"She must have yawed," protested the man. "I had her on her course, sir. +I supposed I had her over." + +"You are not to suppose. You are to keep your eyes on that compass card +and move quicker when I give an order." + +The helmsman's eyes bulged as he stared at the compass. While he +had winked his eyes, so it seemed to him, the true course had fairly +straddled away from the lubber line. + +In his frantic haste Captain Mayo put her over too far. He helped +the man set her on the right course. Then he signaled half speed. The +devious and the narrow paths were ahead of them.. + +"That's an almighty funny jump the old dame made then," pondered the +quartermaster. But he was too well trained to argue with a captain. He +accepted the fault as his own, and now that she was on her course, he +held her there doggedly. + +Even the _Montana's_ half speed was a respectable gait, and the silent +crew in her pilot-house could hear the sea lathering along her sides. + +"What do you make of that, Mr. Bangs?" the captain asked, after a +prolonged period of listening. + +"Bell, sir!" + +"But the only bell in that direction would be on Hedge Fence Lightship +in case her whistle has been disabled." + +"Sounds to me like a vessel at anchor." + +"But it's right in the fairway." Captain Mayo convinced himself by a +glance at the compass. "No craft would drop her hook in the fairway. +That's no bell on the Hedge Fence," reflected the captain. "It's a +schooner's bell. But sound often gets freaky in a fog. We're on our +course to the fraction, and we've got to keep going!" + +And after a moment the bell ceased its clangor. It was a distant sound, +and its location was indefinite even to a sharp ear. + +"It strikes me that sounds in general are a little warded all of a +sudden," said the captain to his mate. "I'll swear that I can hear Hedge +Fence's five-second blasts now. But there she howls off the starboard +bow. The clouds must be giving us an echo. We've got to leave it to the +compass." + +A skilful mariner is careful about forsaking the steady finger of a +proved compass in order to chase sounds around the corner in foggy +weather. He understands that air strata raise the dickens with +whistle-blasts. There are zones of silence--there is divergence of +sound. + +Fogg held his position, his legs braced, and nobody paid any especial +attention to him. They in the pilothouse were too busy with other +affairs. + +There is one sound in thick weather that tells a navigator much. It is +the echo of his own whistle. + +The big steamer was hoarsely hooting her way. + +Suddenly there was a sound which fairly flew up and hit Captain Mayo +in the face. It was an echo. It was the sound of the _Montana's_ +whistle-blast flung back at him from some object so near at hand that +there was barely a clock-tick between whistle and echo. + +The captain yelped a great oath and yanked his bell-pulls furiously. +"That echo came from a schooner's sails," he shouted. + +Then, dead ahead, clanged her bell. The next instant, plunging along +at least eight miles an hour, in spite of engines clawing at full speed +astern, the towering bow smashed into the obstacle in her path. + +It was a mighty shock which sent a tremor from stem to stern of the +great fabric. They saw that they hit her--a three-masted schooner at +anchor, with her sails set, dingy canvas wet and idle in the foggy, +breathless night. But their impact against her was almost as if they had +hit a pier. The collision sent them reeling about the pilot-house. As +they drove past they saw her go down, her stern a splintered mass of +wreckage, in which men were frantically struggling. + +"That's a granite-lugger! See her go down, like a stone!" gasped Mate +Bangs. "My God! What do you suppose she has done to us forward?" + +"Get there. Get there!" roared Captain Mayo. "Get there and report, +sir!" + +But before the chief mate was half-way down the ladder on his way +the wailing voice of the lookout reported disaster. "Hole under the +water-line forward," he cried. + +"There are men in the water back there, sir," said a quartermaster. + +"We're making water fast in the forward compartment," came a voice +through the speaking-tube. + +Already they in the pilot-house could hear the ululation of women in the +depths of the ship, and then the husky clamor of the many voices of men +drowned the shriller cries. + +Captain Mayo had seen the survivors from the schooner struggling in the +water. But he rang for full speed ahead and ordered the quartermaster to +aim her into the north, knowing that land lay in that direction. + +"Eight hundred lives on my shoulders and a hole in her," he told +himself, while all his world of hope and ambition seemed rocking to +ruin. "I can't wait to pick up those poor devils." + +In a few minutes--in so few minutes that all his calculations as to his +location were upset--the _Montana_ plowed herself to a shuddering halt +on a shoal, her bow lifting slightly. And when the engines were stopped +she rested there, sturdily upright, steady as an island. But in her +saloon the men and women who fought and screamed and cursed, beating to +and fro in windrows of humanity like waves in a cavern, were convinced +that the shuddering shock had signaled the doom of the vessel. +Half-dressed men, still dizzy with sleep, confused by dreams which +blended with the terrible reality, trampled the helpless underfoot, +seeking exit from the saloon. + +The hideous uproar which announced panic was a loud call to the master +of the vessel. He understood what havoc might be wrought by the brutal +senselessness of the struggle. He ran from the pilot-house, stepping on +the feet of the general manager, who was stumbling about in bewildered +fashion. + +"Call all the crew to stations and guard the exits," Captain Mayo +commanded the second mate. + +On his precipitate way to the saloon the captain passed the room of the +wireless operator, and the tense crackle of the spark told him that the +SOS signal was winging its beseeching flight through the night. + +Three men, half dressed, with life-preservers buckled on in hit-or-miss +fashion, met him on the deck, dodged his angry clutch, and leaped over +the rail into the sea, yelling with all the power of their lungs. + +A quartermaster was at the captain's heels. + +"Get over a life-boat on each side and attend to those idiots!" roared +Mayo. + +He thrust his way into a crowded corridor, beating frantic men back with +his fists, adjuring, assuring, appealing, threatening. He mounted upon a +chair in the saloon. He fairly outbellowed the rest of them. Men of the +sea are trained to shout against the tempest. + +"You are safe! Keep quiet! Sit down! This steamer is ashore on a +sand-bank. She's as solid as Bunker Hill." He shouted these assurances +over and over. + +They began to look at him, to pay heed to him. His uniform marked his +identity. + +"You lie!" screamed an excited man. "We're out to sea! We're sinking! +Where are your life-boats?" + +Bedlam began again. Like the fool who shouts "Fire!" in a throng, this +brainless individual revived all the fears of the frenzied passengers. + +Mayo realized that heroic action was necessary. He leaped down from the +chair, seized the man who had shouted, and beat the fellow's face with +the flat of his hard hand. + +That scene of conflict was startling enough to serve as a real jolt to +their attention. They hushed their cries; they looked on, impressed, +cowed. + +"If there's any other man in this crowd who wants to tell me I'm a liar, +let him stand out and say so," shouted Captain Mayo. "You're making +fools of yourselves. There's no danger." + +He released the pallid and trembling man of whom he had made an example +and stepped on to a chair. He put up his hand, dominating them until he +had secured absolute silence. + +"You--you--you!" he said, crisply, darting finger here and there, +pointing out individuals. "You seem to have more level heads than the +rest, you men! Go forward where the man is casting the lead. Cast the +lead yourselves. Come back here and report to these passengers, as their +committee. I'm telling you the truth. There's no water under us to speak +of." He remained in the saloon until his committee returned. + +The man who reported looked a bit sheepish. "The captain is right, +ladies and gentlemen. We could even see the sand where she has plowed it +up--they've got lanterns over the rail. There's no danger." + +A steward trotted to Captain Mayo and handed him a slip of paper. The +captain read the message and shook the paper in the faces of the throng. + +"The revenue cutter _Acushnet_ has our wireless call and is starting, +and the _Itasca_ will follow. I advise you to go to bed and go to sleep. +You're perfectly, absolutely safe. You will be transferred when it's +daylight. Now be men and women!" + +He hurried out on deck. His men were hoisting aboard the three dripping, +sputtering passengers who had run amuck. + +"And those same men would look after a runaway horse and sneer that he +didn't have any brains," remarked Captain Mayo, disgustedly. + +For the next half-hour he was a busy man. He investigated the +_Montana's_ wound, first of all. He found her flooded forward--her nose +anchored into the sand with a rock-of-ages solidity. + +His heart sank when he realized what her plight meant from the wrecking +and salvage viewpoint. In those shifting sands, winnowed constantly by +the rushing currents of the sound, digging her out might be a Gargantuan +task, working her free a hopeless undertaking. + +His tour of investigation showed him that except for her smashed bow +the steamer was intact. Her helplessness there in the sand was the more +pitiable on that account. + +He had not begun to take account of stock of his own responsibility for +this disaster. The whirl of events had been too dizzying. As master of +the ship he would be held to account for her mishap. But to what extent +had he been negligent? He could not figure it out. He realized that +excitement plays strange pranks with a man's consciousness of linked +events or of the passage of time. He could not understand why the +steamer piled up so quickly after the collision. According to his ample +knowledge of the shoals, he had been on his true course and well off the +dangerous shallows. + +His first mate met him amidship. "I sent off one of our life-boats, sir. +Told 'em to go back and hunt for the men we saw in the water. They found +two. Others seem to be gone." + +"I'm glad you thought of it, Mr. Bangs. I ought to have attended to it, +myself." + +"You had enough on your hands, sir, as it was. She was the _Lucretia +M. Warren_, with granite from Vinal-haven. That's what gave us such an +awful tunk." + +"Who are the men?" + +"Mate and a sailor. They've had some hot drinks, and are coming along +all right." + +"We'll have a word with them, Mr. Bangs." + +The survivors of the _Warren_ were forward in the crew's quarters, and +they were still dazed. They had not recovered from their fright; they +were sullen. + +"I'm sorry, men! Sailor to sailor, you know what I mean if I don't say +any more. It's bad business on both sides. But what were you doing in +the fairway?" + +"We wa'n't in the fairway," protested a grizzled man, evidently the +mate. He was uneasy in his borrowed clothes--he had surrendered his own +garments to a pantryman who had volunteered to dry them. + +"You must have been," insisted Captain Mayo. + +"I know we was all of two miles north of the regular course. I 'ain't +sailed across these shoals for thirty years not to know soundings when +I make 'em myself. Furthermore, she'll speak for herself, where she's +sunk." + +The captain could not gainsay that dictum. + +The mate scowled at the young man. + +"I've got a question of my own. What ye doing, yourself, all of two +miles out of your course, whanging along, tooting your old whistle as +if you owned the sea and had rollers under you to go across dry ground +with, too?" + +"I was not two miles out of my course," protested the captain, and yet +the sickening feeling came to him that there had been some dreadful +error, somewhere, somehow. + +"When they put these steamers into the hands of real men instead of +having dudes and kids run 'em, then shipping will stand a fair show on +this coast," declared the mate, casting a disparaging glance at Mayo's +new uniform. "It was my watch on deck, and I know what I'm talking +about. You came belting along straight at us, two points out of your +course, and I thought the fog was playing tricks, and I didn't believe +my own ears. You have drowned my captain and four honest men. When I +stand up in court they'll get the straight facts from me, I can tell you +that. And they tell me it's your first trip. I might have knowed it +was some greenhorn, when I heard you coming two points off your course. +You'd better take off them clothes. I reckon you've made your _last_ +trip, too!" + +It was the querulous railing of a man who had been near death; it +was the everlasting grouch of the sailing-man against the lordly +steamboater. Mayo had no heart for rebuke or retort. What had happened +to him, anyway? This old schooner man seemed to know exactly what he was +talking about. + +"If you don't believe what I'm telling you, go out on deck and see if +you can't hear the Hedge Fence whistle," advised the mate, sourly. "If +she don't bear south of east I'll eat that suit they're drying out for +me. And that will show you that you're two miles to the norrard of where +you ought to be." + +On his way to the pilot-house Captain Mayo did hear the hollow voice +of the distant whistle, with its double blast and its long interval +of silence. The sound came from abaft his beam and his disquietude +increased. + +Then the acute realization was forced in upon him that he had the +general manager of the line to face. The captain had not caught sight +of his superior during the excitement; he wondered now why Mr. Fogg had +effaced himself so carefully. + +The red coal of a cigar glowed in a corner of the pilothouse. From that +corner came curt inquiry: "Well, Captain Mayo, what have you got to say +about this?" + +"I think I'll do my talking after I have had daylight on the +proposition, sir." + +"Don't you have any idea how you happened to be off your course so far?" +asked Fogg, his anxiety noticeable in his tones. + +"How do you know I was off my course?" + +"Well--er--why, well, you wouldn't be aground, would you, if you hadn't +lost your way?" + +"I didn't lose my way, Mr. Fogg." + +"What did happen, then?" + +"That's for me to find out." + +"I'm not going to say anything to you yet, Captain Mayo. It's too +sudden--too big a blow. It's going to paralyze the Vose line." Mr. Fogg +said this briskly, as if he were passing small talk on the weather. + +"I'm thankful that you're taking the thing so calmly, sir. I've been +dreading to meet you." + +"Oh--a business man in these days can't allow himself to fly to pieces +over setbacks. Optimism is half the battle." + +But Mayo, sitting there in that dark pilot-house for the rest of the +night, staring out into the blank wall of the fog and surveying the +wreck of his hopes, was decidedly not optimistic. + + + + +XXI ~ BITTER PROOF BY MORNING LIGHT + + Bad news, bad news to our captain came + That grieved him very sore; + But when he knew that all of it was true, + It grieved him ten time more, + Brave boys! + It grieved him ten times more! + --Cold Greenland. + +Morning brought to him neither cheer nor counsel. The winds swept the +fog off the seas, and the brightness of the sunshine only mocked the +gloom of Captain Mayo's thoughts. + +He was most unmistakably far off his course. He took his bearings +carefully, and he groped through his memory and his experience for +reasons which would explain how he came to be away up there on Hedge +Fence. Two of the masts of the sunken stone-schooner showed above the +sea, two depressing monuments of disaster. He took further bearings and +tested his compass with minute care. So far as he could determine it was +correct to the dot. + +It was a busy forenoon for all on board the steamer. The revenue cutters +took off the passengers. Representatives of the underwriters came out +from Wood's Hole on a tug. The huge _Montana_, set solidly into its bed +of sand, loomed against the sky, mute witness of somebody's inefficiency +or mistake. + +Late in the day Captain Mayo and General-Manager Fogg locked themselves +in the captain's cabin to have it out. + +When the master had finished his statement Mr. Fogg flicked the ash from +his cigar, studied the glowing end for a time, and narrowed his eyes. + +"So, summing it all up, it happened, and you don't know just how it +happened. You were off your course and don't know how you happened to be +off your course. You don't expect us to defend you before the steamboat +inspectors, with that for an explanation, Mayo?" + +"All I can do is to tell the truth at the hearing, sir." + +"They'll break you, sure as a mule wags ears. There are five dead +men inside that wreck yonder. Don't you reckon you'll be indicted for +manslaughter?" + +"I shall claim that the collision was unavoidable." + +"But you were off your course--were in a place you had no business to be +in. That knocks your defense all to the devil. You are in almighty bad, +Mayo. You must wake up to it." + +The young man was pale and rigid and silent. + +"The Vose line is in bad enough as it is, without trying to defend you. +I suppose I'll be blamed for putting on a young captain. Mayo, I am +older than you are and wiser about the law and such matters. Why don't +you duck out from under, eh?" + +"You mean run away?" + +"I wouldn't put it quite as bluntly as that. I mean, go away and keep +out of sight till it quiets down. If you stay they'll put you on the +rack and get you all tangled up by firing questions at you. And what +will you gain by going through the muss? You've got to agree with me +that the inspectors will suspend you--revoke your license. Here's this +steamer here, talking for herself. If you stay around underfoot, and all +the evidence is brought out at the hearing, then the Federal grand +jury will take the thing up, probably. They'll have a manslaughter case +against you." + +Still Captain Mayo did not speak. + +"If you simply drop out of sight I don't believe they'll chase you. +Personally, having watched you last night, I don't believe you are +guilty of any very bad break. It simply happened wrong. We don't want +all the notoriety a court trial would bring to the line. And here's what +I'll do, Mayo. I'll slip you a few hundred for expenses so that you can +go away and grab into the shipping game somewhere else. A fellow like +you can land on his feet." + +"Mr. Fogg, a renegade steamboat man stands a mighty poor show. I may be +suspended, and worse may happen to me, but I'm not going to ruin myself +and my good name by running away. That's confession! It's wrecking all +my prospects forever--and I have worked too hard for what I've got. I'm +going to stay here and face the music--tell my story like a man." + +"It will make a fine story--and you have told me yourself that they +are just waiting to make a smashing example of somebody," sneered Fogg. +"You, a cub captain, broke the navigation rules last night by running at +least fifteen knots in the fog. Your log and the testimony of your mates +will show that. I'm not blaming you, son. I'm showing you how it looks! +You got off your course and rammed a schooner at anchor, and you didn't +even stop to pick up her men. I saw that much. Mayo, the only sensible +thing for you to do is to duck out from under. It will save the line +from a lot of scandal and bad advertising. By gad! if you don't do that +much for us, after the offer I've just made you, I'll go onto the stand +and testify against you." + +"You seem to be mighty ready and anxious to make me the goat in this +thing," blazed the young man, his temper getting away from him. He had +been without sleep for many hours, his soul had been crucified by the +bitter experiences he had been through. + +"Are you looking for a fight?" + +"No, Mr. Fogg, I'm looking for a square deal. I haven't done anything +intentionally to make me a fugitive from justice. I won't run away." + +"You won't be the first witness who has helped big interests by keeping +out of sight and out of reach of the lawyers. It's business, Mayo." + +"It may be, Mr. Fogg. I don't know the inside of the big deals. I'm only +a sailor. I associate with sailors. And I've got a little pride in my +good name." + +Mr. Fogg looked at this recalcitrant with scorn. He wanted to tell this +stubborn individual that he was merely a two-spot in the big game which +was being played. But the expression on Mayo's face encouraged neither +levity nor sneers. + +"I'll give you a thousand dollars expense money for your trip and will +talk job with you next year after you get your license back," proffered +the general manager. + +Captain Mayo fixed flaming eyes on the tempter. "What special, private +reason have you got for wanting to bribe me?" demanded the young man, +with such heat that Fogg flinched. "You are making something very +mysterious out of what should be open and aboveboard. That may be Wall +Street tactics, Mr. Fogg, but it doesn't go with a sailor who has earned +a master's papers and is proud of it." + +"Well, pass on then," directed Fogg. "There's a tug alongside to take +the underwriters back to Wood's Hole. Go along--to jail, or wherever it +is you'll fetch up." + +"I shall stay aboard this ship as her captain until I am relieved +according to the formalities of the admiralty law," declared Captain +Mayo, with dignity. "I don't propose to run away from duty or +punishment, Mr. Fogg." + +The general manager pursed a contemptuous mouth and departed from the +cabin. He went away on the tug without further word to Mayo. + +During the next two days small craft buzzed about the stricken giant +like flies around a carcass. There were insurance men, wreckers with +plans and projects, sightseers, stockholders--and one visitor was +Captain Zoradus Wass. + +"Nothing else to do just now, boy, except to come and sympathize with +you." He clucked his tongue against his teeth as he looked the steamer +over. It was condolence without words. "Now tell me the story of +it--with all the fine details," he demanded, after they were closeted +in the captain's cabin. He sat with elbows on his knees and gazed at the +floor during the recital, and he continued to gaze at the floor for some +time after Mayo had ceased speaking. + +"I admit that the quartermaster let her off for just a minute--less than +a minute," repeated the young man. "I had only just looked away for an +instant. I helped him put her over. We couldn't have done more than cut +a letter S for a few lengths. But the more I think of it, the queerer it +seems. Two points off, almost in a finger-snap!" + +"Tell that part of it over and over again, while I shut my eyes and get +it fixed in my mind as if I had seen it," requested Captain Wass. "Who +was there, where did they stand, and so forth and et cetry. When a thing +happens and you can't figger it out, it's usually because you haven't +pawed over the details carefully enough. Go ahead! I'm a good listener." + +But after he had listened he had no comments to make. He went out of the +cabin after a few minutes' wait which was devoted to deep meditation, +and strolled about the ship, hands behind his back, scuffing his feet. +A half-hour later, meeting Captain Mayo on his rounds, the veteran +inquired: + +"How do you happen to have Oliver Burkett aboard here?" "I don't know +him." + +"You ought to know him. He is the captain the Vose line fired off the +_Nirvana_ three years ago. He gave the go-ahead and a jingle when he was +making dock, and chewed up four fishing-boats and part of the pier. He +had to choose between admitting that he was drunk, crazy, or bribed by +the opposition. And I guess they figured that he was all three. Was he +aboard here the night it happened?" + +"I don't know, sir." + +"According to my notion it's worth finding out," growled Captain Wass. +"I'm not seeing very far into this thing as yet, son, and I'll admit +it. But if dirty work was done to you, Burkett would have been a handier +tool for Fogg than a Stillson wrench in a plumbing job. No, don't ask +me questions now. I haven't got any consolation for you or confidence in +myself. I'm only thinking." + +The next day the wounded _Montana_ was formally surrendered to the +underwriters. + +Captain Boyd Mayo was ordered to appear before the United States +inspectors, and he went and told his story as best he could. But his +best was an unconvincing tale, after all. He left the hearing after his +testimony and walked down to the little hotel by the water-front to wait +for news. + +Captain Wass came bustling down to the little hotel, plumping along at +an extra rate of speed, setting his heels down hard, a moving monument +of gloom. + +His protege, removing disconsolate gaze from the dusty chromos on the +office walls, did not require verbal report; Captain Wass's demeanor +told all. + +"And you couldn't expect much of anything else," declared the old +man. "I made the best talk I could for you after you had finished your +testimony and had gone out. But it was no use, son! The department has +been laying for a victim. Both of us have known that right along. They +have soaked it to you good and proper." + +"How long am I suspended for?" faltered Mayo. + +"That's the point! Indefinitely. You were meat. Everybody watching the +case. They trimmed you." + +Mayo set his hands into his thick hair, propped his head, and stared at +the floor. + +"Indefinitely doesn't mean forever, but there ain't much comfort in +that. I'll tell you what it does mean, boy. It means that if there has +been crooked work we've got to show it up in order to reinstate you. +And now get a good brace on yourself. I've taken a peek in at the United +States court." + +The young man, without lifting his head, gave the veteran a piteous +side-glance. + +"Fletcher Fogg is buzzing around the outside of that hive. He has +Burkett along for an understrapper. They are marshaling in witnesses +before the grand jury--those men from the _Warren_, and you know what +they'll say, of course! Your mates and quartermasters, too! Mayo, +they're going to railroad you to Atlanta penitentiary. They have put +something over on you because you are young and they figured that you'd +be a little green. It seemed queer to me when Fogg was so mighty nice to +you all of a sudden. But they don't lay off a man like Jacobs and put in +a new man just to be nice. They either felt they couldn't work Jacobs, +or else they felt a green man would give 'em a good excuse for what +happened." + +"But they couldn't arrange to have a schooner--" + +"That was probably more than they figured on. But as long as it has +happened they're going to use it to best advantage. You're going to have +both tin cans tied to you, son. Every cussed bit of influence is going +to be used against you. Poor devils on the outside, like you and I, +don't understand just how slick the ways can be greased. Mayo, I'm going +to give you good advice. Duck out!" + +"Run away like a confessed criminal? That's the advice Fogg gave me. I +don't think your advice is good, Captain Wass. I won't run away." + +"It may not be good advice. I ain't wise enough to know everything +that's best. But if they put you behind the bars in Atlanta, son, you'll +stay there till your term is up. No matter what is found out in your +case, it will take money and a lot of time to get the truth before the +right people. But if you ain't in prison, and we can get a line on this +case and dig up even a part of the truth, then you've got a fighting +chance in the open. If we can get just enough to make 'em afraid to put +you onto the witness-stand, that much may make 'em quit their barking. +You're a sailor, boy! You know a sailor can't do much when his hands are +tied. Stay outside the penitentiary and help me fight this thing." + +"I don't know what to do," mourned the young man. "I'm all in a whirl. +I'm no coward, Captain Wass. I'm willing to face the music. But I'm so +helpless." + +"Stay outside jail till the fog lifts a bit in this case," adjured his +mentor. "Are you going to lie down and stick up your legs to have 'em +tied, like a calf bound for market? Here are a few things you can do if +you duck out of sight for a little while. I'll go ahead and--" + +Suddenly he checked himself. He was facing the window, which commanded +a considerable section of street. He wasted no further breath on good +advice. + +"I know those men coming down there," he cried. "They're bailiffs. I saw +them around the court-house. They're after you, Mayo! You run! Get +away! There must be a back door here. Scoot!" He pulled the unresisting +scapegoat out of his chair and hustled him to the rear of the office. + +A young man may have the best intentions. He may resolve to be a martyr, +to bow to the law's majesty. But at that moment Mayo was receiving +imperious command from the shipmaster whose orders he had obeyed for so +long that obedience was second nature. And panic seized him! Men were at +hand to arrest him. There was no time to reason the thing out. Flight is +the first impulse of innocence persecuted. Manly resolve melted. He ran. + +"I'll stay behind and bluff 'em off! I'll say you're just out for a +minute, that I'm waiting here for you," cried Captain Wass. "That will +give you a start. Try the docks. You may find one of the boys who will +help." + +Mayo escaped into a yard, dodged down an alley, planning his movements +as he hurried, having a mariner's quickness of thought in an emergency. + +He made directly for the pier where steam-vessels took water. A huge +ocean-going tug was just getting ready to leave her berth under the +water-hose. Her gruff whistle-call had ordered hawsers cast off. Mayo's +'longcoast acquaintance was fairly extensive. This was a coal-barge tug, +and he waved quick greeting to the familiar face in her pilot-house and +leaped aboard. He climbed the forward ladder nimbly. + +"I reckon you'll have to make it hello and good-by in one breath, mate," +advised the skipper. "I'm off to take a light tow down-coast. Norfolk +next stop." + +"Let her go--sooner the better," gasped the fugitive. "I'll explain why +as soon as you are out of the dock." + +"You don't say that you want to take the trip?" + +"I've got to take it." + +The skipper cocked an eyebrow and pulled his bell. "Make yourself to +home, mate," he advised. "I hope you ain't in so much of a hurry to get +there as you seem to be, for I've got three barges to tow." + +Mayo sat down on the rear transom and was hidden from all eyes on the +pier. + +There was no opportunity for an explanation until the barges had been +picked up, for there was much manouver-ing and much tooting. But he +found ready sympathy after he had explained. + +"The law sharps are always hankering to catch a poor cuss who is trying +to navigate these waters and suit the inspectors and the owners at the +same time," admitted the master of the tug. "I have read everything the +papers had to say about your case, and I figured they didn't give you a +fair show. Newspapers and lawyers and owners don't understand what a +fellow is up against. I'm glad you're aboard, mate, because I want to +hear your side, with all the details." + +The threshing over of the matter occupied many hours of the long wallow +down the Jersey coast, and the tug captain weighed all features of the +case with the care of a man who has plenty of time on his hands and with +the zest a mariner displays in considering the affairs of his kind of +folk. + +"If I didn't know you pretty well, Mayo, and know what kind of a man +you got your training with, I might think--just as those law sharps +will probably say--that you were criminally careless or didn't know your +business. But that dodge she made on you! Two points off her course! +You've got to put your finger right on there and hold it! Let me tell +you something. It was a queer thing in my own case. That was a queer +thing in your case. Stand two queer things in our business up beside +each other and squint at 'em and you may learn something." + +"She was on her course--I put her there with my own hands," persisted +Mayo. + +"Sure! You know your business. If this thing was going to be left to +the bunch that know you, you'd go clear. But here's what happened in my +case: I had a new man in the wheel-house, here, and he almost rammed me +into Cuttyhunk, gave me a touch and go with the Pollock Rip Lightship, +and had me headed toward Nauset when the fog lifted. And he was steering +my courses to the thinness of a hair, at that! Say, I took a sudden +tumble and frisked that chap and dragged a toad-stabber knife out of his +pocket--one of those regular foot-long knives. It had been yawing off +that compass all the way from a point to a point and a half. When did +you shift wheel-watch?" + +"Before we made Vineyard Sound." + +"And no trouble coming up the sound?" + +"Made Nobska and West Chop to the dot." + +"Then perhaps your general manager, who was in that pilot-house, had an +iron gizzard inside him. Most of them Wall Street fellows do have!" said +the skipper, with sarcasm. + +"There's something going on in the steamboat business that I can't +understand," declared Mayo. "It's high up; it hasn't to do with us +chaps, who have to take the kicks. Fogg brought a man aboard the old +_Nequasset_, and he didn't bring along a good explanation to go with +that man. I have been wondering ever since how it happened that Fogg got +to be general manager of the Vose line so almighty sudden." + +"Them high financiers play a big game, mate. And if you happened to be +a marked card in it, they'd tear you up and toss you under the table +without thinking twice. If you'll take a tip from me, you lay low and +do a lot of thinking while Uncle Zoradus does his scouting. What are you +going to do when you get to Norfolk?" + +"I haven't thought." + +"Well, the both of us better think, and think hard, mate. If the United +States is really after you there'll be a sharp eye at every knot-hole. I +can't afford to let 'em get in a crack at me for what I've done." + +"I'll jump overboard outside the capes before I'll put you in wrong," +asserted Mayo, with deep feeling. + +That night the captain of the tug took a trick at the wheel in person. + +His guest lay on the transom, smoking the skipper's spare pipe, and +racking his mind for ways and means. After a time he was conscious that +the captain was growling a bit of a song to relieve the tedium of his +task. He sang the same words over and over--a tried and true Chesapeake +shanty: + + "Oh, I sailed aboard a lugger, and I shipped aboard a scow, + And I sailed aboard a peanut-shell that had a razor bow. + Needle in a haystack, brick into a wall! + A nigger man in Norfolk, he ain't no 'count at all!" + +Mayo rolled off the transom and went to the captain's side. "There's +more truth than poetry in that song of yours, sir," he said. "You have +given me an idea. A nigger in Norfolk doesn't attract much attention. +And I haven't got to be one of the black ones, either. Don't you suppose +there's something aboard here I can use to stain my face with?" + +"My cook is a great operator as a tattoo artist." + +"I don't think I want to make the disguise permanent, sir," stated the +young man, with a smile. + +"What I mean is, he may have something in his kit that he can use to +paint you with. What's your idea--stay there? I'm afraid they'll nail +you." > + +"I'll stay there just long enough to ship before the mast on a schooner. +There isn't time to think up any better plan just now. Anything to keep +out of sight until I can make up my mind about what's really best to be +done." + +"We'll have that cook up here," offered the captain. "He's safe." + +The cook took prompt and professional interest in the matter. "Sure!" he +said. "I've got a stain that will sink in and stay put for a long time, +if no grease paint is used. Only you mustn't wash your face." + +"There's no danger of a fellow having any inducement to do that when +he's before the mast on a schooner in these days," declared the tug +captain, dryly. + +An hour later, Captain Boyd Mayo, late of the crack liner _Montana_, +was a very passable mulatto, his crisply curling hair adding to the +disguise. He swapped his neat suit of brown with a deck-hand, and +received some particularly unkempt garments. + +The next night, when the tug was berthed at the water station, he +slipped off into the darkness, as homeless and as disconsolate as an +abandoned dog. + + + + +XXII ~ SPECIAL BUSINESS OF A PASSENGER + + O Ranzo was no sailor, + He shipped on board a whaler. + O pity Reuben Ran-zo, Ran-zo, boys! + O poor old Reuben Ranzo, Ranzo, boys! + --Reuben Ranzo. + +Captain Mayo kept out of the region of the white lights for some time. +He had a pretty wide acquaintance in the Virginia port, and he knew the +beaten paths of the steamboating transients, ashore for a bit of a blow. + +He lurked in alleys, feeling especially disreputable. He was not at +all sure that his make-up was effective. His own self-consciousness +convinced him that he was a glaring fraud, whose identity would be +revealed promptly to any person who knew him. But while he sneaked in +the purlieus of the city several of his 'longshore friends passed him +without a second look. One, a second engineer on a Union line freighter, +whirled after passing, and came back to him. + +"Got a job, boy?" + +"No, sir." + +"We need coal-passers on the _Drummond_. She's in the stream. Come +aboard in the morning." + +But it was not according to Mayo's calculation, messing with steamboat +men. "Ah doan' conclude ah wants no sech job," he drawled. + +"No, of course you don't want to work, you blasted yaller mutt!" snapped +the engineer. He marched on, cursing, and Mayo was encouraged, for the +man had given him a thorough looking-over. + +He went out onto the wider streets. He was looking for a roving schooner +captain, reckoning he would know one of that gentry by the cut of his +jib. + +A ponderous man came stumping down the sidewalk, swinging his shoulders. + +"He's one of 'em," decided Mayo. The round-crowned soft hat, undented, +the flapping trouser legs, the gait recognized readily by one who has +ever seen a master mariner patrol his quarter-deck--all these marked him +as a safe man to tackle. He stopped, dragged a match against the brick +side of a building, and relighted his cigar. But before Mayo could reach +him a colored man hurried up and accosted the big gentleman, whipping +off his hat and bowing with smug humility. Mayo hung up at a little +distance. He recognized the colored man; he was one of the numerous +Norfolk runners who furnish crews for vessels. He wore pearl-gray +trousers, a tailed coat, and had a pink in his buttonhole. + +"Ah done have to say that ah doan' get that number seven man up to now, +Cap'n Downs, though I have squitulate for him all up and down. But ah +done expect--" + +Captain Downs scowled over his scooped hands, puffing hard at his cigar. +He threw away the match. + +"Look-a-here! you've been chasing me two days with new stories about +that seventh man. Haven't you known me long enough to know that you +can't trim me for another fee?" + +"Cap'n Downs, you done know yo'self the present lucidateness of the +sailorman supply." + +"I know that if you don't get that man aboard my schooner to-night or +the first thing to-morrow morning you'll never put another one aboard +for me. You go hustle! And look here! I see you making up your mouth! +Not another cent!" + +The colored man backed off and went away. + +Mayo accosted the captain when that fuming gentleman came lunging along +the sidewalk. "Ah done lak to have that job, cap'n," he pleaded. + +"You a sailor?" + +"Yas, sir." + +"How is it you ain't hiring through the regular runners?" + +"Ah doan' lak to give all my money to a dude nigger to go spotein' on." + +"Well, there's something in that," acknowledged Captain Downs, softening +a bit. "I haven't got much use for that kind myself. You come along. But +if you ain't A-1, shipshape, and seamanlike and come aboard my vessel +to loaf on your job you'll wish you were in tophet with the torches +lighted. Got any dunnage laying around anywhere?" + +"No, sir." + +"Well, then, I guess you're a regular sailor, all right, the way the +breed runs nowadays. That sounds perfectly natural." The captain led the +way down to a public landing, where a power-yawl, with engineer and a +mate, was in waiting. "Will she go into the stream to-night, Mr. Dodge?" +asked Captain Downs, curtly. + +"No, sir! About four hundred tons still to come." + +Schooner captains keep religiously away from their vessels as long as +the crafts lie at the coal-docks. + +"Come up for me in the morning as soon as she is in the stream. Here's +a man to fill the crew. If that coon shows up with another man kick the +two of 'em up the wharf." + +"Will the passenger come aboard with you, sir?" + +"He called me up at the hotel about supper-time and said something about +wanting to come aboard at the dock. I tried to tell him it was foolish, +but it's safe to reckon that a man who wants to sail as passenger from +here to Boston on a coal-schooner is a fool, anyway. If he shows up, +let him come aboard." Captain Downs swung away and the night closed in +behind him. + +Mayo took his place in the yawl and preserved meek and proper silence +during the trip down the harbor. + +When they swung under the counter of the schooner which was their +destination, the young man noted that she was the _Drusilla M. Alden_, +a five-master, of no very enviable record along the coast, so far as the +methods and manners of her master went; Mayo had heard of her master, +whose nickname was "Old Mull." He had not recognized him under the name +of Captain Downs when the runner had addressed him. + +The new member of the crew followed the mate up the ladder--only a few +steps, for the huge schooner, with most of her cargo aboard, showed less +than ten feet of freeboard amidships. + +"Sleepy, George?" asked the mate, when they were on deck. + +"No, sir." + +"Then you may as well go on this watch." + +"Yass'r!" + +"We'll call it now eight bells, midnight. You'll go off watch eight +bells, morning." + +Mayo knew that the hour was not much later than eleven, but he did +not protest; he knew something about the procedure aboard coastwise +coal-schooners. + +Search-lights bent steady glare upon the chutes down which rushed the +streams of coal, black dust swirling in the white radiance. The great +pockets at Lambert Point are never idle. High above, on the railway, +trains of coal-cars racketed. Under his feet the fabric of the vessel +trembled as the chutes fed her through the three hatches. Sweating, +coal-blackened men toiled in the depths of her, revealed below hatches +by the electric lights, pecking at the avalanche with their shovels, +trimming cargo. + +The young man exchanged a few listless words with the two negroes who +were on deck, his mates of the watch. + +They were plainly not interested in him, and he avoided them. + +The hours dragged. He helped to close and batten the fore-hatch, +and later performed similar service on the hatch aft. The main-hatch +continued to gulp the black food which the chute fed to it. + +Suddenly a tall young man appeared to Mayo. The stranger was smartly +dressed, and his spick-and-span garb contrasted strangely with the +general riot of dirt aboard the schooner. He trod gingerly over the +dust-coated planks and carried two suit-cases. + +"Here, George," he commanded. "Take these to my stateroom." + +Mayo hesitated. + +"I'm going as passenger," said the young man, impatiently, and Mayo +remembered what the captain had told the mate. + +Passengers on coal-schooners, sailing as friends of the master, were not +unknown on the coast, but Mayo judged, from what he had heard, that this +person was not a friend, and had wondered a bit. + +"I am not allowed to go aft, sir, without orders from the mate." + +"Where is the mate?" + +"I think he is below, sir." + +"Asleep?" + +"I wouldn't wonder." + +Mayo did not trouble to use his dialect on this stranger, a mere +passenger, who spoke as if he were addressing a car-porter. The tone +produced instant irritation, resentment in the man who had so recently +been master of his ship. + +The passenger set down his baggage and pondered a moment. He looked Mayo +over in calculating fashion; he stared up the wharf. Then he picked +up his bags and hurried along the port alley and disappeared down the +companionway. + +He returned in a few moments, came into the waist of the vessel, +and made careful survey of all about him. There were two sailors far +forward, merely dim shadows. For some reason general conditions on the +schooner seemed to satisfy the stranger. + +"The thing is breaking about right--about as I reckoned it would," he +said aloud. "Look here, George, how much talking do you do about things +you see?" + +"Talking to who, sir?" + +"Why, to your boss--the captain--the mate." + +"A sailor before the mast is pretty careful not to say anything to a +captain or the mates unless they speak to him first, sir." + +"George, I'm not going to do anything but what is perfectly all right, +you understand. You'll not get into any trouble over it. But what you +don't see you can't tell, no matter if questions are asked later on. +Here, take this!" He crowded two silver dollars into Mayo's hands and +gave him a push. "You trot forward and stay there about five minutes, +that's the boy! It's all right. It's a little of my own private +business. Go ahead!" + +Mayo went. He reflected that it was none of his affair what a passenger +did aboard the vessel. It was precious little interest he took in the +craft, anyway, except as a temporary refuge. He turned away and put the +money in his pocket, the darkness hiding his smile. + +He did not look toward the wharf. He strolled on past the forward house, +where the engineer was stoking his boiler, getting up steam for the +schooner's windlass engine. When he patrolled aft again, after +a conscientious wait, he found the passenger leaning against the +coachhouse door, smoking a cigarette. The electric light showed his +face, and it wore a look of peculiar satisfaction. + +Just then some one fumbled inside the coach-house door at the stranger's +back, and when the latter stepped away the first mate appeared, yawning. + +"I'm the passenger--Mr. Bradish," the young man explained, promptly. "I +just made myself at home, put my stuff in a stateroom, and locked the +door and took the key. Is that all right?" + +"May be just as well to lock it while we're at dock and stevedores are +aboard," agreed the mate. + +"How soon do we pull out of here?" + +The mate yawned again and peered up into the sky, where the first gray +of the summer dawn was showing over the cranes of the coal-pockets. +"In about a half-hour, I should say. Just as soon as the tug can use +daylight to put us into the stream." + +The roar of the coal in the main-hatch chute had ceased. The schooner +was loaded. + +"Go strike eight bells, Jeff, and turn in!" ordered the mate, speaking +to Mayo. + +"Well, I'll stay outside, here, and watch the sun rise," said Bradish. +"It will be a new experience." + +"It's an almighty dirty place for loafing till we get into the stream +and clean ship, sir. I should think taking an excursion on a coal-lugger +would be another new experience!" There was just a hint of grim sarcasm +in his tone. + +"The doctor ordered me to get out and away where I wouldn't hear of +business or see business, and a friend of mine told me there were plenty +of room and comfort aboard one of these big schooners. That cabin and +the staterooms, they're fine!" + +"Oh, they have to give a master a good home these days. That's a Winton +carpet in the saloon," declared the mate, with pride. "And we've got a +one-eyed cook who can certainly sling grub together. Yes, for a cheap +vacation I dun'no' but a schooner is all right!" + +The two were getting on most amicably when Mayo went forward. He was +dog-tired and turned in on tie bare boards of his fo'cas'le berth. + +No bedding is furnished men before the mast on the coal-carriers. + +If a man wants anything between himself and the boards he must bring it +with him, and few do so. At the end of each trip a crew is discharged +and new men are hired, in order to save paying wages while a vessel is +in port loading or discharging. Therefore, a coastwise schooner harbors +only transients, for whom the fo'cas'le is merely a shelter between +watches. + +But Mayo was a sailor, and the bare boards served him better than +bedding in which some dusky and dirty son of Ham had nestled. He laid +himself down and slept soundly. + +The second mate turned out the watch below at four bells--six in the +morning. The schooner was in the stream and all hands were needed to +work hose and brooms and clear off the coal-dust. Mayo toiled in the +wallow of black water till his muscles ached. + +There was one happy respite--they knocked off long enough to eat +breakfast. It was sent out to them from the cook-house in one huge, +metal pan without dishes or knives or forks. + +A white cook wash dishes for negroes? + +Mayo knew the custom which prevailed on board the schooners between the +coal ports and the New England cities, and he fished for food with his +fingers and cut meat with his jack-knife with proper meekness. + +When he was back at his scrubbing again the cook passed aft, bearing +the zinc-lined hamper which contained the breakfast for the cabin table. +That this cook had the complete vocabulary of others of his ilk was +revealed when the man with the hose narrowly missed drenching the +hamper. + +"That's right, cook!" roared Captain Downs, climbing ponderously on +board from his yawl. "Talk up to the loafing, cock-eyed, pot-colored +sons of a coal-scuttle when I ain't here to do it. Turn away that hose, +you mule-eared Fiji!" He turned on Mayo, who stood at one side and was +poising his scrubbing-broom to allow the master to pass. "Get to work, +there, yellow pup! Get to work!" + +Ordinarily the skipper addresses one of his sailors only through the +mate. But there was no mate handy just then. + +"One hand for the owners and one hand for yourself when you're aloft, +but on deck it's both hands for the owners," he stated, as he plodded +aft, giving forth the aphorism for the benefit of all within hearing. + +The passenger was still on deck, and Mayo heard Captain Downs greet him +rather brusquely. + +Then the cook's hand-bell announced breakfast, and before the captain +and his guest reappeared on deck a tug had the _Alden's_ hawser and was +towing her down the dredged channel on the way to Hampton Roads and to +sea. + +Mayo went at his new tasks so handily that he passed muster as an +able seaman. If a sailor aboard a big schooner of these days is quick, +willing, and strong he does not need the qualities and the knowledge +which made a man an "A. B." in the old times. + +While the schooner was on her way behind the tug they hoisted her sails, +a long cable called "the messenger" enabling the steam-winch forward to +do all the work. Mayo was assigned to the jigger-mast, and went aloft +to shake out the topsail. It was a dizzy height, and the task tried his +spirit, for the sail was heavy, and he found it difficult to keep his +balance while he was tugging at the folds of the canvas. He was obliged +to work alone--there was only one man to a mast, and very tiny insects +did his mates appear when Mayo glanced forward along the range of the +masts. + +The tug dropped them off the Tail of the Horseshoe; a smashing +sou'wester was serving them. + +With all her washing set, the schooner went plowing out past the capes, +and Mayo was given his welcome watch below; he was so sleepy that his +head swam. + +When he turned out he was ordered to take his trick at the wheel. The +schooner had made her offing and was headed for her northward run along +the coast, which showed as a thin thread of white along the flashing +blue of the sea. + +Mayo took the course from the gaunt, sooty Jamaican who stepped away +from the wheel; he set his gaze on the compass and had plenty to occupy +his hands and his mind, for a big schooner which is logging off six +or eight knots in a following sea is somewhat of a proposition for a +steersman. Occasionally he was obliged to climb bodily upon the wheel in +order to hold the vessel up to her course. + +Captain Downs was pacing steadily from rail to rail between the wheel +and the house. At each turn he glanced up for a squint at the sails. It +was the regular patrol of a schooner captain. + +In spite of his absorption in his task, Mayo could not resist taking +an occasional swift peep at the passenger. The young man's demeanor had +become so peculiar that it attracted attention. He looked worried, ill +at ease, smoked his cigarettes nervously, flung over the rail one which +he had just lighted, and started for the captain, his mouth open. Then +he turned away, shielded a match under the hood of the companionway, and +touched off another cigarette. He was plainly wrestling with a problem +that distressed him very much. + +At last he hurried below. He came up almost immediately. He had the air +of a man who had made up his mind to have a disagreeable matter over +with. + +"Captain Downs," he blurted, stepping in front of Old Mull and halting +that astonished skipper, "will you please step down into the cabin with +me for a few moments? I've something to tell you." + +"Well, tell it--tell it here!" barked the captain. + +"It's very private, sir!" + +"I don't know of any privater place than this quarterdeck, fifteen miles +offshore." + +"But the--the man at the wheel!" + +"Good Josephus! That ain't a man! That's a nigger sailor steering my +schooner. Tell your tale, Mr. Bradish. Tell it right here. That fellow +don't count any more 'n that rudder-head counts." + +"If you could step down into the cabin, I--" + +"My place is on this quarter-deck, sir. If you've got anything to say to +me, say it!" He began to pace again. + +Bradish caught step, after a scuff or two. + +"I hope you're going to take this thing right, Captain Downs. It may +sound queer to you at first," he stammered. + +"Well, well, well, tell it to me--tell it! Then I will let you know +whether it sounds queer or not." + +"I brought another passenger on board with me. She is locked in a +stateroom." + +Old Mull stopped his patrol with a jerk. "She?" he demanded. "You mean +to tell me you've got a woman aboard here?" + +"We're engaged--we want to get married. So she came along--" + +"Then why in tophet didn't ye go get married? You don't think this is a +parsonage, do you?" + +"There were reasons why we couldn't get married ashore. You have to have +licenses, and questions are asked, and we were afraid it would be found +out before we could arrange it." + +"So this is an elopement, hey?" + +"Well, the young lady's father has foolish ideas about a husband for his +daughter, and she doesn't agree with him." + +"Who is her father?" + +"I don't intend to tell you, sir. That hasn't anything to do with the +matter." + +Captain Downs looked his passenger up and down with great disfavor. "And +what's your general idea in loading yourselves onto me in this fashion?" + +"You have the right, as captain of a ship outside the three-mile limit, +to marry folks in an emergency." + +"I ain't sure that I've got any such right, and I ain't at all certain +about the emergency, Mr. Bradish. I ain't going to stick my head into a +scrape." + +"But there can't be any scrape for you. You simply exercise your right +and marry us and enter it in your log and give us a paper. It will be +enough of a marriage so that we can't be separated." + +"Want to hold a hand you can bluff her father with, hey? I don't approve +of any such tactics in matrimony." + +"I wouldn't be doing this if there were any other safe way for us," +protested Bradish, earnestly. "I'm no cheap fellow. I hold down a good +job, sir. But the trouble is I work for her father--and you know how it +always is in a case like that. He can't see me!" + +"Rich, eh?" + +"Yes, sir!" Bradish made the admission rather sullenly. + +"It's usually the case when there's eloping done!" + +"But this will not seem like eloping when it's reported right in the +newspapers. Marriage at sea--it will seem like a romantic way of getting +rid of the fuss of a church wedding. We'll put out a statement of that +sort. It will give her father a chance to stop all the gossip. He'll be +glad if you perform the ceremony." + +"Say, young fellow, you're not rehearsing the stuff on me that you used +on the girl, are you? Well, it doesn't go! + +"Captain Downs, you must understand how bull-headed some rich men are in +matters of this kind. I am active and enterprising. I'll be a handy man +for him. He likes me in a business way--he has said so. He'll be all +right after he gets cooled down." + +"More rehearsal! But I ain't in love with you like that girl is." + +"We're in a terrible position, captain! Perhaps it wasn't a wise thing +to do. But it will come out all right if you marry us." + +"What's her name?" + +"I can't tell you." + +"How in the devil can I marry you and her if I don't know her name?" + +"But you haven't promised that you will do your part! I don't want to +expose this whole thing and then be turned down." + +"I ain't making any rash promises," stated Captain Downs, walking to the +rail and taking a squint at the top-hamper. "Besides," he added, on his +tramp past to the other rail, "he may be an owner into this schooner +property, for all I know. Sixteenths of her are scattered from tophet to +Tar Hollow!" + +"You needn't worry about his owning schooner property! He is doing quite +a little job at putting you fellows out of business!" + +Curiosity and something else gleamed in Captain Downs's eyes. "Chance +for me to rasp him, hey, by wishing you onto the family?" + +This new idea in the situation appealed instantly to Bradish as a +possibility to be worked. "Promise man to man that you'll perform the +marriage, and I'll tell you his name; then you'll be glad that you have +promised," he said, eagerly. + +"I don't reckon I'd try to get even with Judas I-scarrot himself +by stealing his daughter away from him, sir. There's the girl to be +considered in all such cases!" + +"But this isn't stealing! We're in love." + +"Maybe, but you ain't fooling me very much, young fellow. I don't say +but what you like her all right, but you're after something else, too." + +"A man has to make his way in the world as best he can." + +"That plan seems to be pretty fashionable among you financing fellows +nowadays. But I'm a pretty good judge of men and you can't fool me, I +say. Now how did you fool the girl?" + +It was blunt and insulting query, but Bradish did not have the courage +to resent it; he had too much need of placating this despot. The lover +hesitated and glanced apprehensively at the man at the wheel. + +"Don't mind that nigger!" yelped Captain Downs, "How did you ever get +nigh enough to that girl to horn-swoggle her into this foolishness?" + +"We met at dances. We were attracted to each other," explained Bradish, +meekly. + +"Huh! Yes, they tell me that girls are crazy over hoof-shaking these +days, and I suppose it's easy to go on from there into a general state +of plumb lunacy," commented Old Mull, with disgust. "You show you ain't +really in love with her, young man. You'd never allow her to cut up this +caper if you were!" + +He stuck an unlighted cigar in his mouth and continued to patrol his +quarter-deck, muttering. + +Bradish lighted a cigarette, tossed it away after two puffs, and leaned +against the house, studying his fingertips, scowling and sullen. + +Mayo had heard all the conversation, but his interest in the identity of +these persons was limited; New York was full of rich men, and there were +many silly daughters. + +"Look here," suggested the captain, unamiably, "whatever is done later, +there's something to be done now. It's cruelty to animals to keep that +girl shut up in that stateroom any longer." + +"She didn't want to come out and show herself till I had had a talk +with you, sir. I have spoken to her through the door a few times." He +straightened himself and assumed dignity. "Captain Downs, I call it +to your attention--I want you to remember that I have observed all the +proprieties since I have been on board." + +Captain Downs snorted. "Proprieties--poosh! You have got her into a +nice scrape! And she's down there locked in like a cat, and probably +starving!" + +"She doesn't care to eat. I think she isn't feeling very well." + +"I shouldn't think she would! Go bring her up here, where she can get +some fresh air. I'll talk to her." + +After a moment's hesitation Bradish went below. He returned in a little +while. + +In spite of his efforts to pretend obliviousness Mayo stared hard at +the companionway, eager to look on the face of the girl. But she did not +follow her lover. + +"She doesn't feel well enough to come on deck," reported Bradish. "But +she is in the saloon. Captain Downs, won't you go and talk to her and +say something to make her feel easy in her mind? She is very nervous. +She is frightened." + +"I'm not much of a ladies' man," stated Old Mull. But he pulled off his +cap and smoothed his grizzled hair. + +"And if you could only say that you're going to help us!" pleaded the +lover. "We throw ourselves on your mercy, sir." + +"I ain't much good as a life-raft in this love business." He started for +the companionway. + +"But don't tell her that you will not marry us--not just now. Wait till +she is calmer." + +"Oh, I sha'n't tell her! Don't worry!" said Captain Downs, with a grim +set to his mouth. "All she, or you, gets out of me can be put in a +flea's eye." + +He disappeared down the steps, and Bradish followed. A mate had come +aft, obeying the master's hand-flourish, and he took up the watch. In a +little while Mayo was relieved. He went forward, conscious that he was +a bit irritated and disappointed because he had not seen the heroine of +this love adventure, and wondering just a bit at his interest in that +young lady. + +An hour later Mayo, coiling down lines in the alley outside the +engine-room, overheard a bulletin delivered by the one-eyed cook to the +engineer. + +The cook had trotted forward, his sound eye bulging out and thus mutely +expressing much astonishment. "There's a dame aft. I've been making tea +and toast for her." + +"Well, you act as if it was the first woman you'd ever seen. What's the +special excitement about a skirt going along as passenger?" + +"She wa'n't expected to be aboard. I heard the old man talking with her. +The flash gent that's passenger has rung her in somehow. I didn't get +all the drift be-cause the old man only sort of purred while I was in +hearing distance. But I caught enough to know that it ain't according to +schedule." + +"Good looker?" The engineer was showing a bit of interest. + +"She sure is!" declared the cook, demonstrating that one eye is as +handy, sometimes, as two. "Peaches and cream, molasses-candy hair, hands +as white as pastry flour. Looks good enough to eat." + +"Nobody would ever guess you are a cook, hearing you describe a girl," +sneered the engineer. + +"There's a mystery about her. I heard her kind of taking on before the +dude hushed her up. She was saying something about being sorry that she +had come, and that she wished she was back, and that she had always +done things on the impulse, and didn't stop to think, and so forth, and +couldn't the ship be turned around." + +Mayo forgot himself. He stopped coiling ropes and stood there and +listened eagerly until the cook's indignant eye chanced to take a swing +in his direction. + +"Do you see who's standing there butting in on the private talk of two +gents?" he asked the engineer. "Hand me that grate-poker--the hot one. +I'll show that nigger where he belongs." + +But Mayo retreated in a hurry, knowing that he was not permitted to +protest either by word or by look. However, the cook had given him +something else besides an insult--he had retailed gossip which kept the +young man's thoughts busy. + +In spite of his rather contemptuous opinion of the wit of a girl who +would hazard such a silly adventure, he found himself pitying her +plight, guessing that she was really sorry. But as to what was going on +in the master's cabin he had no way of ascertaining. He wondered whether +Captain Downs would marry the couple in such equivocal fashion. + +At any rate, pondered Mayo, how did it happen to be any affair of his? +He had troubles enough of his own to occupy his sole attention. + +Their spanking wind from the sou'west let go just as dusk shut down. A +yellowish scud dimmed the stars. Mayo heard one of the mates say that +the glass had dropped. He smelled nasty weather himself, having the +sailor's keen instinct. The topsails were ordered in, and he climbed +aloft and had a long, lone struggle before he got the heavy canvas +folded and lashed. + +When he reached the deck a mate commanded him to fasten the canvas +covers over the skylights of the house. The work brought him within +range of the conversation which Captain Downs and Bradish were carrying +on, pacing the deck together. + +"Of course I don't want to throw down anybody, captain," Bradish was +saying. There was an obsequious note in his voice; it was the tone of a +man who was affecting confidential cordiality in order to get on--to win +a favor. "But I have a lot of sympathy for you and for the rest of the +schooner people. I have been right there in the office, and have had +a finger in the pie, and I've seen what has been done in a good many +cases. Of course, you understand, this is all between us! I'm not giving +away any of the office secrets to be used against the big fellows. But +I'm willing to show that I'm a friend of yours. And I know you'll be a +friend of mine, and keep mum. All is, you can get wise from what I tell +you and can keep your eyes peeled from now on." + +Mayo heard fragmentary explanation of how the combination of steamboat +and barge interests had operated to leave only pickings to the +schooners. The two men were tramping the deck together, and at the turns +were too far away from him to be heard distinctly. + +"But they're putting over the biggest job of all just now," proceeded +Bradish. "Confound it, Captain Downs, I'm not to be blamed for running +away with a man's daughter after watching him operate as long as I have. +His motto is, 'Go after it when you see a thing you want in this world.' +I've been trained to that system. I've got just as much right to go +after a thing as he. I'm treasurer of the Paramount--that's the trust +with which they intend to smash the opposition. My job is to ask no +questions and to sign checks when they tell me to, and Heaven only knows +what kind of a goat it will make of me if they ever have a show-down in +the courts! They worked some kind of a shenanigan to grab off the Vose +line; I wired a pot of money to Fletcher Fogg, who was doing the dirty +work, and it was paid to a clerk to work proxies at the annual meeting. +And then Fogg put up some kind of a job on a greenhorn captain--worked +a flip trick on the fellow and made him shove the _Montana_ onto the +sands. I suppose they'll have the Vose line at their price before I get +back." + +Mayo sat there in the shadow, squatting on legs which trembled. + +This babbler--tongue loosened by his new liberty and by the antagonism +his small nature was developing, anticipating his employer's enmity--had +dropped a word of what Mayo knew must be the truth. It had been a +trick--and Fletcher Fogg had worked it! Mayo did not know who Fletcher +Fogg's employer might be. From what office this tattler came he did not +know; but it was evident that Bradish was cognizant of the trick. As +a result of that trick, an honest man had been ruined and blacklisted, +deprived of opportunity to work in his profession, was a fugitive, a +despised sailor, kicked to the Very bottom of the ladder he had climbed +so patiently and honorably. + +Furious passion bowled over Mayo's prudence. He leaped down from the top +of the house and presented himself in front of the two men. + +"I heard it--I couldn't help hearing it!" he stuttered. + +"Here's a nigger gone crazy!" yelped Captain Downs. "Ahoy, there, +for'ard! Tumble aft with a rope!" + +"I'm no nigger, and I'm not crazy!" shouted Mayo. + +The swinging lantern in the companionway lighted him dimly. But in the +gloom his dusky hue was only the more accentuated. His excitement seemed +that of a man whose wits had been touched. + +"I knew it was a trick. But what was the trick?" he demanded, starting +toward Bradish, his clutching hands outspread. + +Captain Downs kicked at this obstreperous sailor, and at the same time +fanned a blow at his head with open palm. + +Mayo avoided both the foot and the hand. "What does the law say about +striking a sailor, captain? Hold on, there! I'm just as good a man as +you are. Don't you tell those men to lay hands on me." He backed away +from the sailors who came running aft, with the second mate marshaling +them. He stripped up his sleeve and held his arm across the radiance of +the binnacle light. "That's a white man's skin, isn't it?" he demanded. + +"What kind of play-acting is all this?" asked Old Mull, with astonished +indignation. + +In that crisis Mayo controlled his tongue after a mighty effort to +steady himself. He was prompted to obey his mood and announce his +identity with all the fury that was in him. But here stood the man who +had served as one of the tools of his enemies, whoever they were. For +his weapon against this man Mayo had only a few words of gossip which +had been dropped in an unwary moment; he realized his position; he +regretted his passionate haste. He was not ready to put himself into the +power of his enemies by telling this man who he was; he remembered that +he was running away from the law. + +Bradish gaped at this intruder without seeming to understand what it all +meant. + +"Passengers better get below out of the muss," advised Captain Downs. +"Here's a crazy nigger, mate. Grab him and tie him up." + +Mayo backed to the rack at the rail and pulled out two belaying-pins, +mighty weapons, one for each hand. + +Bradish hurried away into the depths of the house, manifestly glad to +get out from underfoot. + +"Don't you allow those niggers to lay their hands on me," repeated the +man at bay. "Captain Downs, let me have a word to you in private." He +had desperately decided on making a confidant of one of his kind. He +bitterly needed the help a master mariner could give him. + +"Get at him!" roared the skipper. "Go in, you niggers!" + +"By the gods! you'll be short-handed, sir. I'll kill 'em!" + +That threat was more effective than mere bluster. Captain Downs +instinctively squinted aloft at the scud which was dimming the stars; he +sniffed at the volleying wind. + +"One word to you, and you'll understand, sir!" pleaded Mayo. He put the +pins back into the rack and walked straight to the captain. + +There was no menace in his action, and the mate did not interfere. + +"Just a word or two to you, sir, to show you that I have done more than +throw my hat into the door of the Masters and Mates Association." He +leaned close and whispered. "Now let me tell you something else--in +private?" he urged in low tones. + +Captain Downs glanced again at the bared arm and surveyed this sailor +with more careful scrutiny. "You go around and come into the for'ard +cabin through the coach-house door," he commanded, after a little +hesitation. + +Mayo bowed and hurried away down the lee alley. + +That cabin designated as the place of conference was the dining-saloon +of the schooner. He waited there until Captain Downs, moving his bulk +more deliberately, trudged down the main companionway and came into the +apartment through its after-door which no sailor was allowed to profane. + +"Can anybody--in there--hear?" asked Mayo, cautiously. He pointed to the +main saloon. + +"She's in her stateroom and he's talking through the door," grunted the +skipper. "Now what's on your mind?" + +Mayo reached his hand into an inside pocket of his shirt and drew forth +a document. He laid it in Captain Downs's hand. The skipper sat down at +the table, pulled out his spectacles, and adjusted them on his bulging +nose in leisurely fashion, spread the paper on the red damask cloth, and +studied it. He tipped down his head and stared at Mayo over the edge of +his glasses with true astonishment. + +"This your name in these master's papers?" he demanded. + +"Yes, sir." + +"You're--you claim to be the Captain Mayo who smashed the _Montana?_" + +"I'm the man, sir. I hung on to my papers, even though they have been +canceled." + +"How do I know about these papers? How do I know your name is Mayo? You +might have stolen 'em--though, for that matter, you might just as well +carry a dynamite bomb around in your pocket, for all the good they'll do +you." + +"That's the point, sir. They merely prove my identity. Nobody else would +want them. Captain Downs, I'm running away from the law. I own up to +you. Let me tell you how it happened." + +"Make it short," snapped the captain, showing no great amiability toward +this plucked and discredited master. "The wind is breezing up." + +He told his story concisely and in manly fashion, standing up while +Captain Downs sat and stared over his spectacles, drumming his stubby +fingers on the red damask. + +"There, sir, that's why I am here and how I happened to get here," Mayo +concluded. + +"I ain't prepared to say it isn't so," admitted Old Mull at last, "no +matter how foolish it sounds. And I'm wondering if next I'll find the +King of Peruvia or the Queen of Sheba aboard this schooner. New folks +are piling in fast! I know Captain Wass pretty well, though I never laid +eye on you to know you. Where's that wart on his face?" + +"Starboard side of his nose, sir." + +"What does he do, whittle off his chaw or bite the plug?" + +"Neither. Chews fine cut." + +"What's his favorite line of talk?" + +"Reciting the pilot rules and jawing because the big fellows slam along +without observing them." + +"Last remark showing that you have been in the pilothouse along with +Captain Wass! Examination is over and you rank one hundred and the board +stands adjourned!" He rose and shook hands with Mayo. "Now what can I do +for you?" + +"I don't suppose you can do much of anything, Captain Downs. But I'm +going to ask you this, master to masted. Don't let a soul aboard this +schooner know who I am--especially those two back there!" He pointed to +the door of the main saloon. + +"Seems to be more or less of a masked-ball party aboard here!" growled +the skipper. + +"That man you call Bradish, whoever he is, knows what kind of a game +they played on me. I want to get it out of him. If he knows who I am he +won't loosen! I was a fool to break in as I did. He was coming across to +you." + +"Seemed to be pretty gossipy," admitted the captain. "Is trying to be my +special chum so as to work me!" + +"Don't you suppose you can get some more out of him?" + +"Might be done." + +"I feel that it's sailors against the shore pirates this time, sir. +Won't you call that man out here and ask him some questions and allow me +to listen?" + +"Under the circumstances I'll do it. Sailors first is my motto. You step +into the mate's stateroom, there, and put ear to the crack o' the door." + +But when Bradish appeared, answering the captain's summons, all his +chattiness had left him. He declared that he knew nothing about the +trouble in the _Montana_ case. + +"But you said something about a scheme to fool a green captain?" + +"It was only gossip--I probably got it wrong. I have thought it over and +really can't remember where I heard it or much about it. Might have been +just newspaper faking." + +He kept peering about the dimly lighted room. + +"You needn't worry, young man. That nigger isn't here." + +"But he said he was a white man. And how does he come to be interested?" + +"It's a nigger gone crazy about that case--he has probably been reading +fake stories in the papers, too," stated Captain Downs, grimly. "I must +remind you again, Bradish, that you were talking to me in pretty lively +style." + +"Oh, a man lets out a lot of guesswork when he is nervous about his own +business." + +"Well, I might fix it so that you'd be a little less nervous, providing +you'll show a more willing disposition when I ask you a few questions," +probed the skipper. But this insistence alarmed Bradish and his blinking +eyes revealed his fears and suspicions. + +"I don't know anything about the _Montana_ case. I don't intend to do +any talking about it." + +Captain Downs tapped harder on the table, scowled, and was silent. + +"Anything else, sir?" inquired Bradish, after a pause. + +"Guess not, if that's the way you feel about it!" snapped Captain Downs. + +Bradish went back into the main saloon, and the eavesdropper ventured +forth. + +"I don't know just what the dickens to do about you, now that I know who +you are," confessed the master, looking Mayo up and down. + +"There isn't anything to do except let me go back to my work, sir." + +"I'm in a devil of a position. You're a captain." + +"I shipped on board here before the mast, Captain Downs, and knew +exactly what I was doing. I'll take my medicine." + +"I don't like to have you go for'ard there among those cattle, Mayo." + +"Captain Downs, it was wrong for me to make the break I did on your +quarter-deck. I ought to have kept still; but the thing came to me so +sudden that I went all to pieces. I'd like to step back into the crew +and have you forget that I'm Boyd Mayo. I'll sneak ashore in Boston and +lose myself." + +The captain tipped up his cap and scratched the side of his head. "Seems +as if I remember you being at the wheel, Mayo, when that fellow was +unloading some pretty important information on to me." + +"I couldn't help hearing, sir." + +"So you know he's eloping with a girl?" The old skipper lowered his +voice. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Did you ever hear of such a cussed, infernal performance? And I have +talked with the girl, and she really doesn't seem to be that sort at +all. She's flighty, you can see that. She has been left to run loose too +much, like a lot of girls in society are running loose nowadays. They +think of a thing that's different, and, biff! they go do it. She is +wishing she hadn't done this. That shows some sense." He studied the +young man. "Do you know anything about this right a captain has to +perform marriage ceremonies?" + +"Nothing special." + +"It will probably be a good thing for that girl to be married and +settled down. She seems to have picked out Bradish. Mayo, you're one +of my kind, and I want to help you. I'll take a chance on my right to +perform the ceremony. What say if we get Bradish back in here and swap a +marriage for what he can tell us about the _Montana_ business?" + +"Captain Downs, a fellow who will put up a job of this kind on a girl, +no matter if she has encouraged him, is a cheap pup," declared Mayo, +promptly and firmly. "I don't want to buy back my papers in any such +fashion." + +"Then you don't approve of my marrying them?" + +"I haven't any right to tell you what you shall do, sir. I'm talking +merely for myself." + +Captain Downs pondered. "If he's her father's right-hand man, he's +probably just as good as most of the land pirates who have been courting +her. If she goes home married, even if it is only marriage on the high +seas, contract between willing persons with witnesses and the master of +the vessel officiating, as I believe it's allowed, she'll have her good +name protected, and that means a lot. I don't know as I have any right +to stand out and block their way, seeing how far it has gone. What do +you think, Mayo?" + +"I don't believe I want to make any suggestions, sir." + +At that moment the door aft opened. Mayo was near the door of the mate's +stateroom in the shadows, and he dodged back into his retreat. He heard +Bradish's voice. + +"Captain Downs, this young lady has something to say to you and I hope +you'll listen!" + +Then the girl's voice! It was impetuous outburst. She hurried her words +as if she feared to wait for second and saner reflection. + +"Captain Downs, I cannot wait any longer. You must act. I beg of you. I +have made up my mind. I am ready!" + +"Ready to get married, you mean?" + +"Yes! Now that my mind is made up, please hurry!" + +Her tone was high-pitched, tears were close behind her desperation, her +words rushed almost incoherently. But Mayo, staring sightlessly in the +black darkness of the little stateroom, his hearing keen, knew that +voice. He could not restrain himself. He pulled the door wide open. + +The girl was Alma Marston. + +Her eyes were bright, her cheeks were flushed, and it was plain that her +impulsive nature was flaming with determination. The shadows were deep +in the corners of the saloon, and the man in the stateroom door was not +noticed by the three who stood there in the patch of light cast by the +swinging lamp. + +"I ask you--I beg you--I have made up my mind! I must have it over +with." + +"Don't have hysterics! This is no thing to be rushed." + +"You must." + +"You're talking to a captain aboard his own vessel, ma'am!" + +From Mayo's choking throat came some sort of sound and the girl glanced +in his direction, but it was a hasty and indifferent gaze. Her own +affairs were engrossing her. He reeled back into the little room, and +the swing of the schooner shut the door. + +"You are captain! You have the power! That's why I am talking to you, +sir!" + +"But when you talked with me a little while ago you were crawfishing!" +was Captain Downs's blunt objection. + +"I am sorry I have been so imprudent. I ought not to be here. I have +said so. I do too many things on impulse. Now I want to be married!" + +"More impulse, eh?" + +"I must be able to face my father." + +There was silence in the saloon. + +Mayo shoved trembling fingers into his mouth and bit upon them to keep +back what his horrified reason warned him would be a scream of protest. +In spite of what his eyes and ears told him, it all seemed to be some +sort of hideous unreality. + +"It's a big responsibility," proceeded Captain Downs, mumbling his words +and talking half to himself in his uncertainty. "I've been trying to get +some light on it from another--from a man who ought to understand more +about it than what I do. It's too much of a problem for a man to wrassle +with all alone." + +He turned his back on them, gazed at the stateroom door, tipped his cap +awry, and scratched his head more vigorously than he had in his past +ponderings. + +"Say, you in there! Mate!" he called, clumsily preserving Mayo's +incognito. "I'm in a pinch. Say what you really think!" + +There was no word from the stateroom. + +"You're an unprejudiced party," insisted the skipper. "You have good +judgment. Now what?" + +"Who is that, in there?" demanded Bradish. + +"Why should this person, whoever he is, have any-thing to say about my +affairs?" asked the girl. + +"Because I'm asking him to say!" yelped the skipper, showing anger. "I'm +running this! Don't try to tell me my own business!" He walked toward +the door. "Speak up, mate!" + +"It's an insult to me--asking strangers about my private affairs!" The +protest of the girl was a furious outburst. + +"I resent it, captain! Most bitterly resent it," stated Bradish. + +The old skipper walked back toward them. "Resent it as much as you +condemned like, sir! You're here asking favors of me. I want to do what +is right for all concerned. You ought to be married--I admit that. But +what sort of a position does it leave me in? Are you going to tell me +this girl's name?" + +"I'm Alma Marston!" She volleyed the name at him with hysterical +violence, but he did not seem to be impressed. "I am Julius Marston's +daughter!" + +The skipper looked her up and down. + +"Now you will be so good as to proceed about your duty!" she commanded, +haughtily. + +"Well, you can't expect me to show any special neighborly kindness to +the Wall Street gouger who kept me tied up without a charter two months +last spring with his steamboat combinations and his dicker deals!" + +"How are we to take that, sir?" asked Bradish. + +The girl was staring with frank wonder at this hard-shelled mariner whom +she had not been able to impress by her name or her manner. + +"Just as you want to." + +"I demand an explanation." + +"Well, I'll give it to you, seeing that I'm perfectly willing to. Take +it one way, and I'm willing to wallop Julius Marston by handing him +the kind of a son-in-law you'd make; take it the other way, and I ain't +particular about doing anything to accommodate anybody in the Marston +family." He eyed them sardonically. + +"So, you see, I'm betwixt and between in the matter! It's like settling +a question by flipping a cent. And I'll tell you what I'm going to do!" +He smacked his palm on the table. He strode back toward the stateroom +door. "Mate, ahoy, there! Sailor to sailor, now, and remember that you +have asked something of _me!_ If you were captain of this schooner would +you marry off these two?" + +They waited in silence, in which they heard the whummle and screech +of the wind outside and the angry squalling of the sheathing of the +plunging schooner's cabin walls. + +The voice which replied to Captain Downs's query did not sound human. It +was a sort of muffled wail, but there was no mistaking its positiveness. + +"No!" said the man behind the door. + +Back to the table lurched Captain Downs. He pounded down his fist. "That +settles it with me!" Then he poised his big hand on the edge of the +table-cover. "I was ready to tip one way or the other and it needed +only a little push. I have tipped." Down came the palm flat on the +table-cloth with final and decisive firmness. "Young man," he informed +Bradish, "there's an extra stateroom, there, off this dining-saloon. You +take it!" + +"What can I tell my father?" wailed the girl, the fire of her +determination suddenly quenched by sobbing helplessness. + +"You can tell him that I temporarily adopted you as my daughter at three +bells on this particular evening, and I'll go to him and back you up if +it becomes necessary." He opened the door leading aft and bowed. "Now, +you trot along to your stateroom, sissy!" + +After hesitating a few moments she hurried away. The skipper locked the +door and slipped the key into his pocket. + +"Do you think I'm going to--" began Bradish, angrily. + +"I ain't wasting any thoughts on you, sir. I'm saving 'em all for the +_Drusilla M. Alden_ just now." + +The craft's plunging roll gave evidence that the sea was making. At +that instant the first mate came down a few steps of the forward +companionway, entering through the coach-house door. + +"She's breezing up fresh from east'ard, sir!" he reported. + +"So I've judged from the way this sheathing is talking up. I'll be on +deck at once, Mr. Dodge." + +That report was a summons to a sailor; Mayo came staggering out of the +stateroom. He looked neither to right nor left nor at either of the men +in the saloon. He stumbled toward the companionway, reaching his hands +in front of him after the fashion in which a man gropes in the dark. + +"Are you letting a nigger--and a crazy one at that--decide the biggest +thing in my life?" raged Bradish. + +"I know what I'm doing," Captain Downs assured him. But the skipper was +manifestly amazed by the expression he saw on Mayo's face. + +"I won't stand for it! Here, you!" Bradish rushed across the room and +intercepted Mayo. + +"Come away from that man!" commanded the skipper. + +But Bradish was not in a mood to obey authority. "There's something +behind this and I propose to be let in on it! Stop, you!" He pushed +Mayo back, but the latter's face did not change its expression of dull, +blank, utter despair which saw not and heard not. Mayo recovered himself +and came on again, looking into vacancy. + +"If you have a grudge against me, by the gods, I'll wake you up and make +you explain it!" shouted Bradish. He drew back his arm and drove a quick +punch squarely against the expressionless face. The blow came with a +lurch of the vessel and Mayo fell flat on his back. He went down as +stiffly as he had walked, with as little effort to save himself as a +store dummy would have made. + +But he was another man when he came upon his feet. + +Bradish had awakened him! + +The master of the _Alden_ hurried around the table, roaring oaths, and +tried to get between them, but he was an unwieldy man on his short legs. +Before he was in arm's-length they were at each other, dodging here and +there. + +Bradish was no shrimp of an adversary; he was taller than his +antagonist, and handled his fists like a man who had been trained as an +amateur boxer. + +They fought up and down the cabin, battering each other's face. + +The indignant master threatened them with an upraised chair, tried to +strike down their hands with it, but they were in no mood to mind a +mediator. They fought like maddened cats, banging against the cabin +walls, whirling in a crazy rigadoon to find an opening for their fists; +Captain Downs was not nimble enough to catch them. Uttering awful +profanity, he threatened to shoot both of them and rushed into the main +saloon, unlocking the door. + +"I'm coming back with a gun!" he promised. But the fight ended suddenly +in a wrestling trick. + +Mayo closed in, got Bradish's right hand in a grip, and doubled the arm +behind his adversary's back. Then he tripped the city man and laid +him backward over the table and against its edge with a violence that +brought a yell of pain and made Bradish limp and passive. Mayo held him +there. + +"My grudge, eh? My grudge!" the victor panted. "Because you wouldn't +tell me how the sneaks ruined me? No! The girl isn't here now. I'll tell +you! It's because you stole her self-respect and her good name, and it +makes you too dirty a dog to be her husband!" + +He picked up Bradish and threw him on the floor. When he turned he saw +the girl's white, agonized, frightened face at the crack of the saloon +door. + +"Captain Downs!" she shrieked, "that negro is killing him. He's killing +Ralph!" + +The victor turned his back on her and lurched around the table on his +way out. He stroked blood from his face with his palm, and was glad that +she had not recognized him; and yet, her failure to do so, even though +he was such a pitiable figure of the man she had known, was one more +slash of the whip of anguish across his raw soul. For a moment they had +stood there, face to face, and only blank unrecognition greeted him; it +made this horrible contretemps seem all the more unreal. + +Mayo did not pause to listen to the ravings of Captain Downs, who +came thrusting past her. Dizzy, bleeding, half blind, he rushed up the +forward companionway and went into the black night on deck. + +The mate was bawling for all hands to shorten sail, and Mayo took his +place with the toilers, who were manning sheets and downhauls. + + + + +XXIII ~ THE MONSTER THAT SLIPPED ITS LEASH + + And there Captain Kirby proved a coward at last, + And he played at bo-peep behind the mainmast, + And there they did stand, boys, and shiver and shake, + For fear that that terror their lives it would take. + --Admiral Benbow. + +Rain came with the wind, and the weather settled into a sullen, driving, +summer easterly. + +Late summer regularly furnishes one of those storms to the Atlantic +coast, a recrudescence of the wintry gales, a trial run of the elements, +a sort of inter-equinoctial testing out so that Eurus may be sure that +his bellows is in working condition. + +Such a storm rarely gives warning ahead that it is to be severe. It +seems to be a meteorological prank in order to catch mariners napping. + +At midnight the _Alden_ was plunging into creaming seas, her five masts +thrummed by the blast. With five thousand tons of coal weighting her, +she wallowed like a water-soaked log. + +Mayo, who was roused from his hideous agony of soul at four bells, +morning, to go on deck for his watch, ventured as near the engine-room +door as he dared, for the rain was soaking his meager garments and +the red glow from within was grateful. The ship's pump was clanking, a +circumstance in no way alarming, because the huge schooners of the coal +trade are racked and wrenched in rough water. + +The second mate came to the engine-room, lugging the sounding-rod to the +light in order to examine the smear on its freshly chalked length. + +He tossed it out on deck with a grunt of satisfaction. "Nothing to +hurt!" he said to the engineer. "However, I'd rather be inside the capes +in this blow. The old skimmer ain't what she used to be. Johnson, do +you know that this schooner is all of two feet longer when she is loaded +than when she is light?" + +"I knew she was hogged, but I didn't know it was as bad as that." + +"I put the lead-line on her before she went into the coal-dock this +trip, and I measured her again in the stream yesterday. With a cargo +she just humps right up like a monkey bound for war. That's the way with +these five-masters! They get such a racking they go wrong before the +owners realize." + +"They'll never build any more, and I don't suppose they want to spend +much money on the old ones," suggested the engineer. + +"Naturally not, when they ain't paying dividends as it is." He stepped +to the weather rail and sniffed. "I reckon the old man will be dropping +the killick before long," he said. + +Mayo knew something of the methods of schooner masters and was not +surprised by the last remark. + +In the gallant old days, when it was the custom to thrash out a blow, +the later plan of anchoring a big craft in the high seas off the +Delaware coast, with Europe for a lee, would have been viewed with a +certain amount of horror by a captain. + +But the modern skipper figures that there's less wear and tear if he +anchors and rides it out. To be sure, it's no sort of a place for a +squeamish person, aboard a loaded schooner whose mudhook clutches +bottom while the sea flings her about, but the masters and crews of +coal-luggers are not squeamish. + +Mayo, glancing aft, saw two men coming forward slowly, stopping at +regular intervals. The light of a lantern played upon their dripping +oilskins. When they arrived at the break of the main-deck, near the +forward house, he recognized Captain Downs and the first mate. The +second mate stepped out and replied to the captain's hail. + +"Bring a maul and some more wedges!" commanded the master. + +"_Drusilla_ is getting her back up some more," commented the second +mate, starting for the storeroom. "I don't blame her much. This is no +place for an old lady, out here to-night." He ordered Mayo to accompany +him. + +In a few moments they reported to the captain, the mate carrying the +two-headed maul and the young man bearing an armful of wedges. + +Captain Downs bestowed on Mayo about the same attention he would have +allowed to a galley cockroach. He pointed to a gap in the rail. + +"There--drive one in there," he told the mate. "Let that nigger hold the +wedge." There was rancor in his voice--baleful hostility shone in his +snapping eyes; no captain tolerates disobedience at sea, and Mayo had +disregarded all discipline in the cabin. + +The young man kneeled and performed the service and followed the party +dutifully when they moved on to the next gap. + +The pitching schooner groaned and grunted and squalled in all her +fabric. + +Every angle joint was working--yawing open and closing with dull +grindings as the vessel rolled and plunged. + +"By goofer, she's gritting her teeth in good shape!" commented the first +mate. + +"She ought to have been stiffened a year ago, when she first began to +loosen and work!" declared Captain Downs. His anxiety stirred both his +temper and his tongue. "I was willing to have my sixteenth into her +assessed for repairs, but a stockholder don't have to go to sea! I wish +I had an excursion party of owners aboard here now." + +"When these old critters once get loose enough to play they rattle to +pieces mighty fast," said the mate. "But this is nothing specially bad." + +"Find out what we've got under us," snapped Captain Downs. The wedges +had been driven. "Let this nigger carry the lead for'ard!" + +It was a difficult task in the night, because the leadline had to be +passed from the quarter-deck to the cathead outside the shrouds; the +rails and deck were slippery. Plainly, Captain Downs was proposing to +show Mayo "a thing or two." + +He let go the lead at command, and heard the man on the quarter-deck, +catching the line when it swung into a perpendicular position, report +twenty-five fathoms. + +Again, answering the mate's bawled orders, Mayo carried the lead forward +and dropped it, after a period of waiting, during which the schooner +had been eased off. He was soaked to the skin, and was miserable in both +body and mind. He had betrayed himself, he had made an enemy of the man +who knew something which could help him; he felt a queer sense of shame +and despair when he remembered the girl and the expression of her face. +He tried to convince himself that he did not care what her opinion +of him was. What happened to that love she had professed on board the +_Olenia?_ What manner of maiden was this? He did not understand! + +Five times he made his precarious trip with the lead, fumbling his way +outside the rigging. + +In twenty fathoms Captain Downs decided to anchor, after the mate, +"arming" the lead by filling its cup with grease, found that they were +over good holding ground. + +When the _Alden_ came into the wind and slowed down, slapping wet +sails, the second mate hammered out the holding-pin of the gigantic port +anchor, and the hawse-hole belched fathom after fathom of chain. + +All hands were on deck letting sails go on the run into the lazy-jacks, +and the big schooner swung broadside to the trough of the sea. She made +a mighty pendulum, rolling rails under, sawing the black skies with her +towering masts. + +There are many things which can happen aboard a schooner in that +position when men are either slow or stupid. A big negro who was paying +out the mizzen-peak halyards allowed his line to foul. Into the triangle +of sail the wind volleyed, and the thirty-foot mizzen-boom, the roll +of the ship helping, swung as far as its loosened sheets allowed. The +"traveler," an iron hoop encircling a long bar of iron fastened at both +ends to the deck, struck sparks as a trolley pulley produces fire from a +sleety wire. + +With splintering of wood and clanging of metal, the iron bar was +wrenched from its deck-fastenings and began to fly to and fro across the +deck at the end of its tether, like a giant's slung-shot. It circled, it +spun, it flung itself afar and returned in unexpected arcs. + +Men fled from the area which this terror dominated. + +The boom swung until it banged the mizzen shrouds to port, and then came +swooping back across the deck, to slam against the starboard shrouds. +The clanging, tethered missile it bore on its end seemed to be searching +for a victim. When the boom met the starboard shrouds in its headlong +rush, the schooner shivered. + +"Free that halyard and douse the peak!" roared the first mate. + +A sailor started, ducking low, but he ran back when the boom came across +the deck with such a vicious swing that the iron bar fairly screamed +through the air. + +"Gawd-a-mighty! She'll bang the mast out of her!" clamored Captain +Downs. "Get some men to those halyards, Mr. Dodge! Catch that boom!" + +The mate ran and kicked at a sailor, shouting profane orders. He seized +the fellow and thrust him toward the pins where the halyards were +belayed. But at that instant the rushing boom came hurtling overhead +with its slung-shot, and the iron banged the rail almost exactly where +the fouled line was secured. The mate and the sailor fell flat on their +faces and crawled back from the zone of danger. + +"Get some rope and noose that boom! Lassoo it!" commanded the master, +touching up his orders with some lurid sea oaths. + +But the men who stepped forward did so timidly and slowly, and dodged +back when the boom threatened. The flying bar was a terrible weapon. Now +it swung in toward the mast--now swept in wider radius. Just where it +would next sweep the deck between the masts depended on the vagary of +wave and wind. It was perfectly apparent that anybody who got in its +path would meet death as instantly as a fly under a housewife's spanker. + +Life is sweet, even if a man is black and is toiling for a dollar-a-day +wage. + +And even if a man is a mate, at a higher wage and with more +responsibility, he is inclined to think of himself before he figures on +saving a mast and gear for a schooner's owners. + +"What kind of a gor-rammed crew have I got aboard here?" shrieked the +master. + +"About the kind that all wind-jammers carry these days," said a voice at +his elbow. + +Captain Downs whirled and found Mayo there. "How do you dare to speak to +me, you tin-kettle sailor?" demanded the master. In his passion he went +on: "You're aboard here under false pretenses. You can't even do your +work. You have made this vessel liable by assaulting a passenger. You're +no good! With you aboard here I'm just the same as one man short." But +he had no time to devote to this person. + +He turned away and began to revile his mates and his sailors, his voice +rising higher each time the rampaging boom crashed from side to side. +One or two of the backstays had parted, and it was plain that before +long the mast would go by the board. + +"If that mast comes out it's apt to smash us clear to the water-line," +lamented the captain. + +"If you can make your herd of sheep give me a hand at the right time, +I'll show you that a tin-kettle sailor is as good as a wind-jammer +swab," said Mayo, retaliating with some of the same sort of rancor that +Captain Downs had been expending. In that crisis he was bold enough to +presume on his identity as a master mariner. "I'd hate to find this kind +of a bunch on any steamboat I've ever had experience with." + +Then he ran away before the captain had time to retort. He made a slide +across the danger zone on his back, like a runner in a ball game. This +move brought him into a safe place between the mainmast and the mizzen. +There was a coil of extra cable here, and he grabbed the loose end and +deftly made a running bowline knot. He set the noose firmly upon his +shoulders, leaped up, and caught at the hoops on the mizzenmast. + +"See to it that the line runs free from that coil, and stand by for +orders!" he shouted, and though his dyed skin was dark and he wore the +garb of the common sailor, he spoke with the unmistakable tone of the +master mariner. The second mate ran to the line and took charge. + +"This is a bucking bronco, all right!" muttered Mayo. "But it's for the +honor of the steamboat men! I'll show this gang!" + +He poised himself for a few moments on the crotch of the boom, clinging +to the cringles of the luff--the short ropes with which the sail is +reefed. + +As he stood there, gathering himself for his desperate undertaking, +waiting for opportunity, taking the measure of the lashing and insensate +monster whom he had resolved to subdue, he heard Captain Downs bawl an +impatient command: + +"Passengers go below!" + +Mayo looked aft and saw Alma Marston clinging to the spike-rack of the +spanker mast. The coach-house lantern shone upon her white face. + +"Go below!" repeated the master. + +She shook her head. + +"This is no place for a woman." + +"The vessel is going to sink!" she quavered. + +"The schooner is all right. You go below!" + +How bitter her fear was Mayo could not determine. But even at his +distance he could see stubborn resolution on her countenance. + +"If I've got to die, I'll not die down there in a box," she cried. "I'm +going to stay right here." + +Captain Downs swore and turned his back on her. Apparently he did not +care to come to a real clinch with this feminine mutineer. + +The great spar crashed out to the extent of its arc, and the sail +volleyed with it, ballooning under the weight of the wind. The +reef-points were no longer within Mayo's reach. He ran along the boom, +arms outspread to steady himself, and was half-way to its end before the +telltale surge under him gave warning. Then he fell upon the huge stick, +rolled under it, and shoved arms and legs under the foot of the sail. +Barely had he clutched the spar in fierce embrace before it began its +return journey. It was a dizzy sweep across the deck, a breath-taking +plunge. + +When the spar collided with the stays he felt as if arms and legs would +be wrenched from his body. He did not venture to move or to relax his +hold. He clung with all his strength, and nerved himself for the return +journey. He had watched carefully, and knew something of the vagaries +of the giant flail. When it was flung to port the wind helped to hold +it there until the resistless surge of the schooner sent it flying wild +once more. He knew that no mere flesh and blood could endure many +of those collisions with the stays. He resolved to act on the next +oscillation to port, in order that his strength might not be gone. + +"See that the cable runs free!" he screamed as he felt the stick lift +for its swoop. + +He swung himself upward over the spar the moment it struck, and the +momentum helped him. He ran again, steadying himself like a tight-wire +acrobat. He snatched the noose from his shoulders, slipped it over +the end of the boom, and yelled an order, with all the strength of his +lungs: + +"Pull her taut!" + +At that instant the boom started to swing again. + +Standing on the end of the spar, he was outboard; the frothing sea was +under him. He could not jump then; to leap when the boom was sweeping +across the deck meant a skinful of broken bones; to wait till the boom +brought up against the stays, so he realized, would invite certain +disaster; he would either be crushed between the boom and shrouds or +snapped far out into the ocean as a bean 'is filliped by a thumb. On the +extreme end of the spar the leverage would be so great that he could not +hope to cling there with arms and legs. + +A queer flick of thought brought to Mayo the phrase, "Between the devil +and the deep sea." That flying boom was certainly the devil, and the +foaming sea looked mighty deep. + +Her weather roll was more sluggish and Mayo had a moment to look about +for some mode of escape. + +He saw the sail of "number four" mast sprawling loose in its lazy-jacks, +unfurled and showing a tumbled expanse of canvas. When he was inside the +rail, and while the boom was gathering momentum, he took his life in his +hands and his grit between his teeth and leaped toward the sail. He made +the jump just at the moment when the boom would give him the most help. + +He heard Captain Downs's astonished oath when he dove over that worthy +mariner's head, a human comet in a twenty-foot parabola. + +He landed in the sail on his hands and knees, yelling, even as he +alighted: "Catch her, boys!" + +They did it when the spar banged against the stays. They surged on the +rope, tightened the noose, and before the vessel rolled again had made +half a dozen turns of the free end of the cable around the nearest +cleats. + +Mayo scrambled down from the sail and helped them complete the work of +securing the spar. He passed near Captain Downs when the job had been +finished. + +"Well," growled the master of the _Alden_, "what do you expect me to say +to that?" + +"I simply ask you to keep from saying something." + +"What?" + +"That a steamboat man can't earn his pay aboard a wind-jammer, sir. I +don't like to feel that I am under obligations in any way." + +The master grunted. + +"And if the little thing I have done helps to square that break I made +by licking your passenger I'll be glad of it," added Mayo. + +"You needn't rub it in," said Captain Downs, carefully noting that there +was nobody within hearing distance. "When a man has been in a nightmare +for twenty-four hours, like I've been, you've got to make some +allowances, Captain Mayo. This is a terrible mixed-upmess." He squinted +at the mizzen rigging where the lanterns revealed the damage. "And by +the way those backstays are ripped out, and seeing how that mast is +wabbling, this schooner is liable to be about as badly mixed up as the +people are on board of her." + +Mayo turned away and went back to his work. They were rigging +extra stays for the mizzenmast. And he noted that the girl near the +coach-house door was staring at him with a great deal of interest. But +in that gloom he was only a moving figure among toiling men. + +An hour later the mate ordered the oil-bags to be tied to the catheads. +The bags were huge gunny sacks stuffed with cotton waste which was +saturated with oil. + +In spite of the fact that her spanker, double-reefed, was set in order +to hold her up to the wind, weather-vane fashion, the schooner seemed +determined to keep her broadside to the tumbling seas. The oil slick +helped only a little; every few moments a wave with spoondrift flying +from it would smash across the deck, volleying tons of water between +rails, with a sound like thunder. At these times the swirling torrent in +the waist would reach to a man's knees. + +Mayo did not take his watch below. The excitement of his recent +experience had driven away all desire for sleep, and the sheathing in +the fo'c'sle was squawking with such infernal din that only a deaf man +could have remained there in comfort. + +However, he was not uneasy in regard to the safety of the schooner. In +a winter gale, with ice caking on her, he would have viewed their +situation in different light. But he had frequently seen the seas +breaking over the wallowing coal-luggers when he had passed them at +anchor on the coast. + +He made a trip of his own along the main-deck, scrambling upon the spars +to avoid the occasional deluge which swept her amidship. The battened +hatches were apparently withstanding the onslaughts of the waves. He +could feel less weight in the wind. It was apparent that the crisis of +the blow had passed. The waves were not so savage; their crests were not +breaking. But just then the second mate rushed past, and Mayo overheard +the report he gave the captain, who was pacing the lee alley: + +"The mizzenmast is getting more play, sir. I'm afraid it's raising the +devil with the step and ke'lson." + +"Rig extra stays and try her again for water," ordered the master. + +Mayo, returning to the mizzen, found the entire crew grouped there. +The mast was writhing and groaning in its deck collar, twisting its +coat--the canvas covering at its foot where it entered the deck. + +The dusky faces were exhibiting much concern. They had flocked where the +ship was dealing herself a wound; the sailor sixth sense of impending +trouble had drawn them there. + +"Four of you hustle aloft and stand ready to make fast those stays!" +commanded the first mate. + +"Rest of you make ready tackle!" shouted the second mate, following +close on Mayo's heels. + +The negroes did not stir. They mumbled among themselves. + +"Step lively!" insisted the mate. + +"'Scuse us, but dat mast done goin' to tumble down," ventured a man. + +"Aloft with you, I say!" + +Just then the schooner slatted herself on a great roller, and +the starboard stays snapped, one after the other, like mammoth +fiddle-strings. The mast reeled and there was an ominous sound below the +deck. + +"She done put a hole into herself!" squealed a sailor. + +In the gloom their eyes were gleaming with the fires one beholds in the +eyes of frightened cats. + +"Dere she comes!" shouted one of them. He pointed trembling finger. + +Over the coamings of the fore-hatch black water was bubbling. + +Yelping like animals, the sailors stampeded aft in a bunch, bowling over +Mayo and the mates in their rush. + +"Stop 'em, captain!" bellowed the first mate, guessing their intent. +He rose and ran after them. But fright gave them wings for their +heels. They scampered over the roof of the after-house, and were on the +quarter-deck before the skipper was out of the alley. They leaped into +the yawl which was swung at the stern davits. + +"You renegades!" roared the master. "Come out of that boat!" + +With the two mates at his heels he rushed at them. They grabbed three +struggling men by the legs and dragged them back. But the negroes +wriggled loose, driven to frantic efforts by their panic. They threw +themselves into the boat again. + +"Be men!" clamored Mayo, joining the forces of discipline. "There's a +woman aboard here!" + +But the plea which might have affected an Anglo-Saxon did not prevail. +Their knives were out--not for attack on their superiors, but to slash +away the davit tackle. + +"Come on, boys! Throw 'em out!" shouted the master, leading the way into +the yawl over the rail. + +His two mates and Mayo followed, and the engineer, freshly arrived from +forward, leaped after them. But as fast as they tossed a man upon the +quarter-deck he was up and in the boat again fighting for a place. + +"Throw 'em overboard!" roared the master, venting a terrible oath. He +knocked one of the maddened wretches into the sea. The next moment the +captain was flat on his back, and the sailors were trampling on him. + +Most of the surges came riding rail-high; sometimes an especially +violent wave washed the deck aft. + +Following it, a chasm regularly opened under the vessel's counter, a +swirling pit in the ocean twenty feet deep. + +There was good fortune as well as misfortune in the affair of the yawl. +When at last it dropped it avoided the period of the chasm. + +In spite of the efforts of the captain and his helpers the sailors +succeeded in slashing away the davit tackle. A swelling roller came +up to meet the boat as the last strand gave way and swept it, with its +freight, out into the night. But as it went Mayo clutched a davit pulley +and swung in midair. + +The dizzy depths of the sea opened under him as he dangled there and +gazed down. + +An instant later all his attention was focused on Alma Marston, who +stood in the companionway clutching its sides and shrieking out her +fears. The lantern showed her to him plainly. Its radiance lighted him +also. He called to her several times, angrily at last. + +"Where is that man, Bradish?" he demanded, fiercely. + +It seemed as if his arms would be pulled out. He could not reach the +davit iron from where he hung; the schooner's rail was too far away, +though he kicked his feet in that direction. + +"Don't be a fool! Stop that screaming," he told her. "Can Bradish!" + +"He is sick--he--he--is frightened," she faltered. + +"Come out here! Pull on that rope! Swing me in, I can't hold on here +much longer. Do you want to see me drown?" + +She came along the rail, clinging to it. + +"No, not that rope! The other one! Pull hard!" + +She obeyed, fighting back her fear. The davit swung inward slowly, and +he managed to slide his legs up over the rail and gain the deck. + +"Thank you!" he gasped. "You're quite a sailor!" + +He had been wondering what his first words to her would be. Even while +he swung over the yawning depths of the sea the problem of his love was +so much more engrossing than his fear of death that his thoughts were +busy with her. He tried to speak to her with careless tone; it had been +in his mind that he would speak and bow and walk away. But he could not +move when she opened her eyes on him. She was as motionless as he--a +silent, staring pallid statue of astounded fright. The rope slipped +slowly from her relaxing fingers. + +"Yes! It's just the man you think it is," he informed her, curtly. "But +there's nothing to be said!" + +"I must say something--" + +But he checked her savagely. "This is no place to talk over folly! It's +no place to talk anything! There's something else to do besides talk!" + +"We are going to die, aren't we?" She leaned close to him, and the +question was hardly more than a whisper framed by her quivering lips. + +"I think so," he answered, brutally. + +"Then let me tell you--" + +"You can tell me nothing! Keep still!" he shouted, and drew away from +her. + +"Why doesn't Captain Downs come back after us?" + +"Don't be a fool! The sea has taken them away." + +They exchanged looks and were silent for a little while, and the +pride in both of them set up mutual barriers. It was an attitude which +conspired for relief on both sides. Because there was so much to say +there was nothing to say in that riot of the sea and of their emotions. + +"I won't be a fool--not any more," she told him. There was so distinctly +a new note in her voice that he stared at her. "I am no coward," she +said. She seemed to have mastered herself suddenly and singularly. + +Mayo's eyes expressed frank astonishment; he was telling himself again +that he did not understand women. + +"I don't blame you for thinking that I am a fool, but I am not a +coward," she repeated. + +"I'm sorry," stammered the young man. "I forgot myself." + +"There is danger, isn't there?" + +"I'm afraid the mast has pounded a bad hole in her. I must run forward. +I must see if something can't be done." + +"I am going with you." She followed him when he started away. + +"You must stay aft. You can't get forward along that deck. Look at the +waves breaking over her!" + +"I am going with you," she insisted. "Perhaps there is something that +can be done. Perhaps I can help." + +The girl was stubborn, and he knew there was no time for argument. + +Three times on their way forward he was obliged to hold her in the hook +of his arm while he fought with the torrent that a wave launched upon +the deck. + +There was no doubt regarding the desperate plight of the schooner. She +was noticeably down by the head, and black water was swashing forward +of the break of the main-deck. The door of the galley was open, and the +one-eyed cook was revealed sitting within beneath a swinging lantern. He +held a cat under his arm. + +"Bear a hand here, cook!" called Mayo. + +But the man did not get off his stool. + +"Bear a hand, I say! We've got to rig tackle and get this long-boat +over." + +The schooner's spare boat was in chocks between the foremast and the +main. Mayo noted that it was heaped full of spare cable and held the +usual odds and ends of a clutter-box. He climbed in hastily and gave a +hand to the girl to assist her over the rail. + +"It will keep you out of the swash," he advised her. "Sit there in the +stern while I toss out this truck." + +But she did not sit down. She began to throw out such articles as her +strength could manage. + +Again Mayo hailed the cook, cursing him heartily. + +"Oh, it ain't any use," declared the man, with resignation. "We're +goners." + +"We aren't gone till we go, you infernal turtle! Come here and pitch +in." + +"I hain't got no heart left for anything. I never would have believed +it. The Old Man going off and saving a lot of nigger sailors instead of +me--after all the vittles I've fixed up for him. If that's the kind of +gratitude there is in the world, I'm glad I'm going out of it. Me and +the cat will go together. The cat's a friend, anyway." + +Mayo lost his temper then in earnest. All his nature was on edge in that +crisis, and this supine surrender of an able-bodied man whose two hands +were needed so desperately was peculiarly exasperating. He leaped out of +the boat, ran into the galley, and gave the cook an invigorating beating +up with the flat of his hands. The cook clutched his cat more firmly, +braced himself on the stool, and took his punishment. + +"Kill me if you want to," he invited. "I've got to die, and it don't +make a mite of difference how. Murder me if you're so inclined." + +"Man--man--man, what's the matter with you?" gasped Mayo. "We've got a +chance! Here's a girl to save!" + +"She hain't got no business being here. Was sneaked aboard. It's no +use to pound me. I won't lift a finger. My mind is made up. I've been +deserted by the Old Man." + +"You old lunatic, Captain Downs got carried away by those cowards. Wake +up! Help me! For the love of the Lord, help me!" + +"Rushing around will only take my mind off'n thoughts of the hereafter, +and I need to do some right thinking before my end. It ain't any use to +threaten and jaw; nothing makes any difference to me now." + +Mayo saw the uselessness of further appeal, and the fellow dangled as +limply as a stuffed dummy when the young man shook him. Therefore Mayo +gave over his efforts and hurried back to the long-boat. The spectacle +of the girl struggling with the stuff she was jettisoning put new +determination into him. Her amazing fortitude at the time when he had +looked for hysterics and collapse gave him new light on the enigma of +femininity. + +"Did you tell me that Bradish is ill?" he asked, hurriedly. + +"He is in the cabin. He would not talk to me. I could not induce him to +come on deck." + +"I must have help with the tackle," he told her, and started aft on the +run. + +He found Bradish sprawled in a morris-chair which was lashed to a +radiator. He expected hot words and more insults, but Bradish turned to +him a face that was gray with evident terror. His jaw sagged; his eyes +appealed. + +"This is awful!" he mourned. "What has happened on deck? I heard the +fighting. Where is Miss Mar-ston?" + +"She is forward. There has been an accident--a bad one. We have lost the +captain and crew. Come on. I need help." + +"I can't help. I'm all in!" groaned Bradish. + +"I say you must. It's the only way to save our lives." + +Bradish rolled his head on the back of the chair, refusing. His manner, +his sudden change from the fighting mood, astonished Mayo. The thought +came to him that this man had been pricked to conflict by bitter grudge +instead of by his courage. + +"Look here, Bradish, aren't you going to help me save that girl?" + +"I'm not a sailor. There's nothing I can do." + +"But you've got two hands, man. I want to get a boat overboard. Hurry!" + +"No, no! I wouldn't get into a small boat with these waves so high. It +wouldn't be safe." + +"This schooner is sinking!" shouted Mayo. He fastened a heavy clutch +upon Bradish's shoulders. "There's no time to argue this thing. You come +along!" + +He hauled Bradish to his feet and propelled him to the companionway, +and the man went without resistance. It was evident that real danger and +fear of death had nearly paralyzed him. + +"There's nothing I can do!" he kept bleating. + +But Mayo hurried him forward. + +"Ralph!" cried the girl, fairly lashing him with the tone in which she +delivered the word. "What is the matter with you?" + +"There's nothing I can do. It isn't safe out here." + +"You must do what this man tells you to do. He knows." + +But Bradish clung to the gunwale of the long-boat and stared out at the +yeasty waves, blinking his eyes. + +"If I only had a couple of men instead of these two infernal tapeworms," +raged Mayo, "I could reeve tackle and get this boat over. Wake up! Wake +up!" he clamored, beating his fist on Bradish's back. + +"Ralph! Be a man!" There were anger, protest, shocked wonder in her +tones. + +Suddenly Mayo saw an ominous sight and heard a boding sound. The +fore-hatch burst open with a mighty report, forced up by the air +compressed by the inflowing water. He wasted no more breath in argument +and appeals. He realized that even an able crew would not have time to +launch the boat. The schooner was near her doom. + +In all haste he pulled his clasp-knife and cut the lashings which held +the boat in its chocks. That the craft would be driven free from the +entangling wreckage and go afloat when the schooner went under he could +hardly hope. But there was only this desperate chance to rely upon in +the emergency. + +In his agony of despair and his fury of resentment he was tempted to +climb into the boat and leave the two cowards to their fate. But he +stooped, caught Bradish by the legs and boosted him over the gunwale +into the yawl. A sailor's impulse is to save life even at the risk of +his own. Mayo ran to the galley and kicked the cook off the stool and +then drove him headlong to the longboat. The man went along, hugging his +cat. + +"What will happen to us?" asked the girl when Mayo climbed in. + +"I don't know," he panted. "I reckon the devil is pitching coppers for +us just now--and the penny is just hopping off his thumb nail!" + +His tone was reckless. The excitement of the past few hours was having +its effect on him at last. He was no longer normal. Something that was +almost delirium affected him. + +"Aren't you frightened?" she asked. + +"Yes," he admitted. "But I'm going to keep hustling just the same." + +Bradish and the cook were squatting amidships in the yawl. + +"You lie down under those thwarts, the two of you, and hang on," cried +Mayo. Then he quickly passed a rope about the girl's waist and made the +ends of the line fast to the cleats. "I don't know what will happen when +the old tub dives," he told her. "Those five thousand tons of coal will +take her with a rush when she starts. All I can say is, hold tight and +pray hard!" + +"Thank you," she said, quietly. + +"By gad, she's got grit!" muttered the young man, scrambling forward +over the prostrate forms of the other passengers. "I wonder if all the +women in the world are this way?" He was remembering the bravery of +Polly Candage. + +There was a huge coil of rope in the bow, spare cable stored there. Mayo +made fast the free end, working as rapidly as he was able, and bundled +about half the coil into a compact mass--a knob at the end of some ten +fathoms of line. And to this knob he lashed oars and the mast he found +stowed in the boat. He knew that if they did get free from the schooner +only an efficient sea-anchor or drag would keep the yawl right side up. +When this task was finished he crouched low in the bow and looked at the +girl. + +"We're about ready to start on our journey," he called to her. "If I +don't see you again, good-by!" + +"I shall not say good-by to you, Captain Mayo--not yet!" + + + + +XXIV ~ DOWN A GALLOPING SEA + + I saddled me an Arab steed and saddled her another, + And off we rode together just like sister and like brother, + Singing, "Blow ye winds in the morning! + Blow ye winds, hi ho! Brush away the morning dew, + Blow ye winds, hi ho!" + --Blew Ye Winds. + +With anxiety that was almost despairing Mayo looked up at the shrouds, +stays, and halyards, which were set like nets to right and left and +overhead. + +A big roller tumbled inboard and filled the space forward of the break +of the main-deck. The swirling water touched the sides of the long-boat +and then receded when the stricken schooner struggled up from the +welter. A scuttle-butt was torn from its lashings and went by the board, +and other flotsam followed it. + +Mayo found that spectacle encouraging. But the longboat sat high in its +chocks; when it did float it might be too late. + +Another wave roared past, and the long-boat quivered. Then Mayo took a +chance without reckoning on consequences. He made a double turn of the +cable around his forearm and leaped out of the boat and stood on deck, +his shoulder against the stem. The next wave washed him to his waist, +tore at him, beat him against the long-boat's shoe, but he clung fast +and lifted and pushed with all his strength. + +That push did it! + +The boat needed just that impetus to free her from the chocks. She +lifted and rushed stern foremost to lee, and the young man dragged after +her. + +When the boat dipped and halted in a hollow of the sea he clutched +the bow and clambered in. Tugging mightily, he managed to dump the +sea-anchor over. + +The next wave caught her on the quarter and slopped a barrel of water +into her. But she kept right side up, and in a few moments the cable +straightened and she rode head into the tumult of the ocean; the +sea-anchor was dragging and performing its service. + +Mayo was obliged to kick the two men with considerable heartiness before +he could stir them to bailing with the buckets. The bedraggled cat fled +to the shelter of the girl's arms. Mayo struggled aft, in order to take +his weight from the bow of the boat, and when he sat down beside the +girl she was "mothering" the animal. + +"It's coming in faster than I can throw it out!" wailed Bradish. + +"Bail faster, then! Bail or drown!" + +"She's leaking," announced the cook. "She has been on deck so long she +has got all dried out." + +"Bail or drown!" repeated Mayo. To the girl he said: "This seems to be +the only way of getting work out of cowards. They'll have to do it. I'm +about done for." + +The waves were lifting and dropping them in dizzying fashion. There was +suddenly a more violent tossing of the water. + +"That's the old packet! She went under then!" Mayo explained. "Thank the +Lord we are out of her clutches! I was afraid we were stuck there." + +"Is there any hope for us now?" she inquired. + +"I don't know. If the boat stays afloat and the wind doesn't haul and +knock this sea crossways, if somebody sees us in the morning, if we +don't get rolled onto the coast in the breakers and--" He did not +finish. + +"It seems that a lot of things can happen at sea," she suggested. + +"That fact has been proved to me in the past few weeks." + +"You mean in the past few hours, don't you?" + +"Miss Marston, what has happened on that schooner is a part of the +business, and a sailor must take it as it comes along. I wish nothing +worse had happened to me than what's happening now." + +She made no reply. + +"But no matter about it," he said, curtly. + +The two men, kneeling amidships, clutching a thwart and bailing with +their free hands, toiled away; even Bradish had wakened to the fact that +he was working for his own salvation. + +In the obscurity the waves which rose ahead seemed like mountains topped +with snow. Hollows and hills of water swept past on their right and +left. But the crests of the waves were not breaking, and this fact meant +respite from immediate danger. + +"I'm sorry it was all left to you to do," ventured the girl, breaking +a long silence. "I thought Ralph had more man in him," she added, +bitterly. "I feel that he ought to apologize to you for--for several +things." + +He, on his part, did not reply to that. He was afraid that she intended +to draw him into argument or explanation. Just what he would be able to +say to her on that topic was not clear to him. + +"It seems as if years had gone by instead of hours. It seems as if I +had lived half a life since I left home. It seems as if I had changed +my nature and had grown up to see things in a different light. It is all +very strange to me." + +He did not know whether she were talking to herself or to him. He did +not offer comment. + +There was a long period of silence. The sound of rushing waters filled, +that silence and made their conversation audible only to themselves when +they talked. + +"I don't understand how you happened to be on that schooner--as--as you +were," she said, hesitating. + +"I didn't rig myself out this way to play any practical jokes, Miss +Marston," he returned, bitterly. + +"I would like to know how it all happened--your side of it." + +"I have talked too much already." + +There was no more conversation for a long time. He wondered how she had +mustered courage to talk at all. They were in a predicament to try the +courage of even a seasoned seaman. In the night, tossed by that wild +sea, drifting they knew not where, she had apparently disregarded +danger. He asked himself if she had not merely exhibited feminine +ignorance of what their situation meant. He had often seen cases where +apparent bravado was based on such ignorance. + +"I must say that you told me at least one truth a while ago--you are not +a coward," he said at last. + +She was comforting the wretched cat. "But I am miserably frightened," +she admitted. "I don't dare to think about the thing. I don't dare +to look at the waves. I talked to you so as to take my mind off my +troubles. I didn't mean to be prying." + +"I'll tell you what has been done to me," he blurted. "Hearing +somebody's troubles may take your mind off your own." + +While the two men amidships bailed doggedly and weariedly, he told his +story as briefly as he could. The gray dawn showed her face to him after +a time, and he was peculiarly comforted by the sympathy he saw there. He +did not communicate to her any suspicions he may have entertained. With +sailor directness he related how he had hoped, and how all had been +snatched away from him. But on one topic the mouths of both seemed to be +sealed! + +After a time Bradish and the cook were enabled to rest from the work of +bailing. The planks of the boat swelled and the leak was stopped. + +"You'd better crawl aft here and sit beside Miss Marston," advised Mayo. +"Be careful how you move." + +He passed Bradish and took the latter's place with the cook, and felt +a sense of relief; he had feared that the one, the dreaded topic would +force itself upon him. + +"I don't see no sense in prolonging all this agony," averred his +despondent companion. "We ain't ever going to get out of this alive. +We're drifting in on the coast, and you know what that means." + +"You may jump overboard any time you see fit," said the skipper of the +craft. "I don't need you any longer for bailing!" + +"If that's the way you feel about it, you won't get rid of me so easy," +declared the cook, malevolence in his single eye. + +Mayo noticed, with some surprise, that after the two had exchanged a few +words there was silence between Bradish and the girl. The New-Yorker was +pale and trembling, and his jaw still sagged, and he threw glances to +right and left as the surges galloped under them. He was plainly and +wholly occupied with his fears. + +When day came at last without rain, but with heavy skies, in which +masses of vapor dragged, Mayo began eager search of the sea. He had +no way of determining their whereabouts; he hoped they were far enough +off-shore to be in the track of traffic. However, he could see no sail, +no encouraging trail of smoke. But after a time he did behold something +which was not encouraging. He stood up and balanced himself and gazed +westward, in the direction in which they were drifting; every now and +then a lifting wave enabled him to command a wide expanse of the sea. + +He saw a white ribbon of foam that stretched its way north and south +into the obscurity of the mists. He did not report this finding at once. +He looked at his companions and pondered. + +"I think you have something to say to me," suggested the girl. + +"I suppose I ought to say it. I've been wondering just how it ought to +be said. It's not pleasant news." + +"I am prepared to hear anything, Captain Mayo. Nothing matters a great +deal just now." + +"We are being driven on to the coast. I don't know whether it's the +Delaware or the New Jersey coast. It doesn't make much difference. The +breakers are just as bad in one place as in the other." + +"Why don't you anchor this boat? Are you going to let it go ashore and +be wrecked?" asked Bradish, with anger that was childish. + +"The anchor seems to have been overlooked when we started on this little +excursion. As I remember it, there was some hurry and bustle," returned +Mayo, dryly. + +"Why didn't you remember it? You got us into this scrape. You slammed +and bossed everybody around. You didn't give anybody else a chance to +think. You call yourself a sailor! You're a devil of a sailor to come +off without an anchor." + +"I suppose so," admitted Mayo. + +"And there wasn't any sense, in coming off in this little boat. We ought +to have stayed on the schooner." + +"Ralph!" protested the girl. "Have you completely lost your mind? Don't +you know that the schooner sank almost the minute we left it?" + +"Mr. Bradish's mind was very much occupied at the time," said Captain +Mayo. + +"I don't believe the schooner sank. What does a girl know about such +things? That fellow got scared, that's the trouble. There isn't any +sense in leaving a big boat in a storm. We would have been taken off +before this. We would have been all right. This is what comes of letting +a fool boss you around when he is scared," he raved. + +"You are the fool!" she cried, with passion. "Captain Mayo saved us." + +"Saved us from what? Here we are going into the breakers--and he says +so--and there's no anchor on here. He took everything out of my hands. +Now why doesn't he do something?" + +"Don't pay any attention to him," she pleaded. + +"We are going to be drowned! You can't deny it, can you? We're going to +die!" He pulled a trembling hand from between his knees, where he had +held both hands pinched in order to steady them. He shook his fist at +Mayo. "Own up, now. We're going to die, aren't we?" + +"I think it's right to tell the truth at this stage," said Mayo, in +steady tones. "We're not children. Yonder is a beach with sand-reefs and +breakers, and when we strike the sand this boat will go over and over +and we shall be tossed out. The waves will throw us up and haul us back +like a cat playing with mice. And we stand about the same chance as +mice." + +"And that's the best you can do for us--and you call yourself a sailor!" +whined Bradish. + +"I'm only a poor chap who has done his best as it came to his hand to +do," said the young man, seeking the girl's eyes with his. + +She gazed at him for a moment and then put both hands to her face and +began to sob. + +"It's a hard thing to face, but we'd better understand the truth and be +as brave as we can," said Mayo, gently. + +"For myself I ain't a mite surprised," averred the cook. "I had my +hunch! I was resigned. But my plans was interfered with. I wanted to go +down in good, deep, green, clean water like a sailor ought to. And now +I'm going to get mauled into the sand and have a painful death." + +"Shut up!" barked Mayo. + +The girl was trembling, and he feared collapse. + +Bradish began to blubber. "I'm not prepared to die," he protested. + +Mayo studied his passenger for some time, wrinkling his brows. "Bradish, +listen to me a moment!" + +The New-Yorker gave him as much attention as terror and grief permitted. + +"There isn't much we can do just now to fix up our general earthly +affairs. But we may as well clean the slate between us two. That will +help our consciences a little. I haven't any quarrel with you any more. +We won't be mushy about it. But let's cross it off." + +"It's all over," mourned Bradish. "So what's the use of bearing +grudges?" + +"I suppose it's true that the court has indicted me for manslaughter. +Bradish, tell me, man to man, whether I've got to go into those breakers +with that on my conscience!" + +"I don't know what you mean." + +"Yes, you do! You know whether those men of the schooner _Warren_ were +drowned by any criminal mistake of mine or not!" + +Bradish did not speak. + +"You wouldn't have said as much to Captain Downs if you hadn't known +something," insisted the victim of the plot. + +"It was only what Burkett let drop when he came after some money. I +suppose he thought it was safe to talk to me. But what's the good of my +giving you guesswork? I don't know anything definite. I don't understand +sailor matters." + +"Bradish, what Burkett said--was it something about the compass--about +putting a job over on me by monkeying with the compass?" + +"It was something like that." His tone exhibited indifference; it +was evident that he was more occupied with his terror than with his +confession. + +"Didn't Burkett say something about a magnet?" + +"He got off some kind of a joke about Fogg in the pilot-house and +fog outside--but that the Fogg inside did the business. And he said +something about Fogg's iron wishbone." + +"So that was the way it was done--and done by the general manager of the +line!" cried Mayo. "The general manager himself! It's no wonder I have +smashed that suspicion between the eyes every time it bobbed up! I +suspected--but I didn't dare to suspect! Is that some of your high +finance, Bradish?" + +"No, it isn't," declared the New-Yorker, with heat. "It's an +understrapper like Fogg going ahead and producing results, so he calls +it. The big men never bother with the details." + +"The details! Taking away from me all I have worked for--my reputation +as a master, my papers, my standing--my liberty. By the gods, I'm going +to live! I'm going through those breakers! I'll face that gang like a +man who has fought his way back from hell," raged the victim. + +"This--this was none of my father's business! It could not have been," +expostulated Miss Marston. + +"Your father never knows anything about the details of Fogg's +operations," declared Bradish. + +"He ought to know," insisted the maddened scapegoat. "He gives off his +orders, doesn't he? He sits in the middle of the web. What if he did +know how Fogg was operating?" + +"Probably wouldn't stand for it! But he doesn't know. And the Angel +Gabriel himself wouldn't get a chance to tell him!" declared the clerk. + +"A put-up job, then, is it--and all called high finance!" jeered Mayo. + +"High finance isn't to blame for tricks the field-workers put out +so that they can earn their money quick and easy. What's the good of +pestering me with questions at this awful time? I'm going to die! I'm +going to die!" he wailed. + +Miss Marston slid from the seat to her knees, in order that she might +be able to reach her hand to Mayo. "Will you let this handclasp tell +you all I feel about it--all your trouble, all your brave work in this +terrible time? I am so frightened, Captain Mayo! But I'm going to keep +my eyes on you--and I'll be ashamed to show you how frightened I am." + +He returned the fervent clasp of her fingers with gentle pressure and +reassuring smile. "Honestly, I feel too ugly to die just now. Let's keep +on hoping." + +But when he stood up and beheld the white mountains of water between +their little boat and the shore, and realized what would happen when +they were in that savage tumult, with the undertow dragging and the +surges lashing, he felt no hope within himself. + +From the appearance of the coast he could not determine their probable +location. The land was barren and sandy. There seemed to be no inlet. +As far as he could see the line of frothing white was unbroken. The +sea foamed across broad shallows, where no boat could possibly remain +upright and no human being could hope to live. + +Nevertheless, he remained standing and peered under his hand, resolved +to be alert till the last, determined to grasp any opportunity. + +All at once he beheld certain black lines in perpendicular silhouette +against the foam. At first he was not certain just what they could be, +and he observed them narrowly as the boat tossed on its way. + +At last their identity was revealed. They were weir-stakes. The weir +itself was evidently dismantled. Such stakes as remained were set some +distance from one another, like fence-posts located irregularly. + +He made hasty observation of bearings as the boat drifted, and was +certain that the sea would carry them down past the stakes. How near +they would pass depended on the vagary of the waves and the tide. He +realized that three men, even if they were able seamen, could do little +in the way of rowing or guiding the longboat in the welter of that sea, +now surging madly over the shoals. He knew that there was not much water +under the keel, for the ocean was turbid with swirling sand, and the +waves were more mountainous, heaped high by the friction of the water on +the bottom. Every now and then the crest of a roller flaunted a banner +of bursting spray, showing breakers near at hand. + +Mayo hurried to the bow of the boat and pulled free a long stretch of +cable. He made a bowline slip-knot, opened a noose as large as he could +handle, coiled the rest of the cable carefully, and poised himself on a +thwart. + +"What now?" asked the cook. + +"No matter," returned Mayo. His project was such a gamble that he did +not care to canvass it in advance. + +The nearer they drove to the stakes the more unattainable those objects +seemed. They projected high above the water. + +The cook perceived them and got up on his knees and squinted. "Huh!" he +sniffed. "You'll never make it. It can't be done!" + +In his fierce anxiety Mayo heaved his noose too soon, and it fell short. +He dragged in the cable with all his quickness and strength and threw +the noose again. The rope hit the stake three-quarters of the way up and +fell into the sea. + +"It needs a cowboy for that work," muttered the cook. + +Mayo recovered his noose and poised himself again. + +In the shallows where they were the boat which bore him became a +veritable bucking bronco. It was flung high, it swooped down into the +hollows. He made a desperate try for the next stake in line. The noose +caught, and he snubbed quickly. The top of the stake came away with a +dull crack of rotten wood when the next wave lifted the boat. + +Mayo pulled in his rope hand over hand with frantic haste. He +was obliged to free the broken stake from the noose and pull his +extemporized lasso into position again. He made a wider noose. His +failure had taught a point or two. He waited till the boat was on the +top of a wave. He curbed his desperate impatience, set his teeth, and +whirled the noose about his head in a widening circle. Then he cast just +as the boat began to drop. The rope encircled the stake, dropped to the +water, and he paid out all his free cable so that a good length of the +heavy rope might lie in the water and form a makeshift bridle. When he +snubbed carefully the noose drew close around the stake, and the latter +held. The waves which rode under them were terrific, and Mayo's heart +came into his mouth every time a tug and shock indicated that the rope +had come taut. + +However, after five minutes of anxious waiting, kneeling in the bow, his +eyes on the cable, he found his courage rising and his hopes glowing. + +"Does it mean--" gasped the girl, when he turned and looked at her. + +"I don't know just what it will mean in the end, Miss Marston," he +said, with emotion. "But it's a reprieve while that rope holds." + +Bradish sat clutching the gunwale with both hands, staring over his +shoulder at the waters frothing and roaring on the shore. The girl +glanced at him occasionally with a certain wonderment in her expression. +It seemed to Mayo that she was trying to assure herself that Bradish was +some person whom she knew. But she did not appear to have much success +in making him seem real. She spoke to him once or twice in an undertone, +but he did not answer. Then she turned her back on him. + +Suddenly Mayo leaped up and shouted. + +A man was running along the sandy crest of a low hill near the beach. He +disappeared in a little structure that was no larger than a sentry-box. + +"There's a coast-guard patrol from the life-saving station. There must +be one somewhere along here!" + +The man rushed out and flourished his arms. + +"He has telephoned," explained Mayo. "Those are the boys! There's hope +for us!" + +There was more than hope--there was rescue after some hours of dreary +and anxious waiting. + +The life-boat came frothing down the sea from the distant inlet, and +they were lifted on board by strong arms. + +And then Alma Marston gave Mayo the strangest look he had ever received +from a woman's eyes. But her lips grew white and her eyes closed, and +she lapsed into unconsciousness while he folded a blanket about her. + +"You must have had quite a job of it, managing a woman through this +scrape," suggested the captain of the crew. + +"It's just the other way," declared Mayo. "I'm giving her credit for +saving the whole of us." + +"How's that?" + +"I might find it a little hard to make you understand, captain. Let it +stand as I have said it." + + + + +XXV ~ A GIRL AND HER DEBT OF HONOR + + Says she, "You lime-juice sailor, + Now see me home you may." + But when we reached her cottage door + She unto me did say-- + And a-way, you santee, + My dear Annie! + O you New York girls, + Can't you dance the polka! + --Walking Down the Broadway. + +Mayo was promptly informed that Captain Downs and the crew of the +_Alden_ were safe. + +"He caught our flare, got his motor to working, and made the inlet by a +lucky stab," explained the coast-station captain. "But he didn't reckon +he'd ever see you folks again. How did it happen he didn't tell me there +was a woman aboard?" + +"You'll have to ask him." + +"Who is she?" + +"You'll have to ask him that, too. I'm only a sailor." + +The captain looked him over with considerable suspicion: His shirt was +torn and his white skin was revealed. The drenching by rain and spray +had played havoc with his disguise; most of the coloring had been washed +away. + +"Have you got anything special to say about yourself?" + +"No, sir." + +The captain turned his back on his men and leaned close to Mayo. "They +have had your picture in the paper this week," he said. "You're the +captain they are wanting in that _Montana_ case. They're after you. I've +got to report on this thing, you understand!" + +"Very well, captain." + +"But I reckon we'll talk it all over after we get to the station," +said the master, kindly. "There may be something in it that I don't +understand." + +"There's considerable in it that I don't understand myself, just now, +but I'm going to find out," declared Captain Mayo. + +They placed Ahpa Marston in the care of the station captain's wife as +soon as they were safely on shore in the inlet. Fortunate chance had +sent the woman to the station that day on a visit to her husband. + +Captain Downs, fed and warmed, watched the new arrivals eat beside the +kitchen stove and listened to the story Mayo had for him. + +The bedraggled cat lapped milk, protected from the resentful jealousy of +the station's regular feline attache by the one-eyed cook. + +And afterward, closeted with Captain Downs and the station captain, Mayo +went over his case. + +"I must say you seem to be pretty hard and fast ashore in mighty +sloppy water," commented the coastguard captain. "It isn't my especial +business--but what do you propose to do?" + +"Go to New York and take what they're going to hand me, I suppose. I +ought to have stayed there and faced the music. I have put myself in bad +by running away. But I was rattled." + +"The best of us get rattled," said the host, consolingly. "I'm not a +policeman, sheriff, or detective, mate. I'll report this case as Captain +Downs and so many souls saved from the schooner _Alden_. You'd better +trot along up to the city and face 'em as a man should. I'll rig you out +in some of my clothes. Your old friend, Wass, meant well by rushing +you away, but I've always found that in a man's fight you can't do much +unless you're close enough to t'other fellow to hit him when he reaches +for you." + +A half-hour later, made presentable in the coast-guard captain's liberty +suit, Mayo walked through the kitchen. Bradish and the cook were still +in front of the stove. + +The captain's wife, standing in a door which admitted to an inner room, +put up a finger to signal the young man and then nodded her head in +invitation. "The young lady wants to see you, sir," she informed him +in a whisper, when he stepped to her side. "Go in!" She closed the door +behind him and remained in the kitchen. + +He stood in the middle of the room and gazed at the girl for some time, +and neither of them spoke. She was swathed in blankets and was huddled +in a big chair; her face was wan and her eyes showed her weariness. But +her voice was firm and earnest when she addressed him. + +"Captain Mayo, what I am going to say to you will sound very strange. +Tell me that you'll listen to me as you would listen to a man." + +"I'm afraid--" he stammered. + +"It's too bad that man and woman can seldom meet on the plane where man +and man meet. But I don't want to be considered a girl just now. I'm one +human being, and you're another, and I owe something to you which must +be paid, or I shall be disgraced by a debt which will worry me all my +life." She put out her hands and knotted the fingers together in appeal. +"Understand me--help me!" + +He was ill at ease. He feared with all his soul to meet the one great +subject. + +"When we thought we were going to die I told you it seemed as if I had +lived a life in a few hours--that I did not seem like the same person +as I looked into my thoughts. Captain Mayo, that is true. It is more +apparent to me now when I have had time to search my soul. Oh, I am not +the Alma Marston who has been spoiled and indulged--a fool leaping here +and there with every impulse--watching a girl in my set do a silly thing +and then doing a sillier thing in order to astonish her. That has been +our life in the city. I never knew what it meant to be a mere human +being, near death. You know you saved me from that death!" + +"I only did what a man ought to do, Miss Marston." + +"Perhaps. But you did it, that's the point. There are other men--" She +hesitated. "I have had a talk with Mr. Bradish," she told him. "It was a +mistake. You saved me from that mistake. You did it in the cabin of the +schooner. He has told me. It was better for me than saving my life." + +"But because a man isn't a sailor--isn't used to danger--" he +expostulated. + +"That is not it. I say I have just had a talk with Mr. Bradish! I have +found out exactly what he is. I did not find it out when I danced with +him. But now that I have come near to dying with him I have found him +out." The red banners in her cheeks signaled both shame and indignation. +"A coward will show all his nature before he gets himself in hand again, +and Mr. Bradish has shown me that he is willing to ruin and disgrace +me in order to make profit for himself. And there is no more to be said +about him!" She paused. + +"Captain Mayo, I know what idea you must have of me--of a girl who would +do what I have done! But you don't have half the scorn for me I have for +myself--for the girl I was. But I have my self-respect now! I respect +the woman that I am at this moment after that experience! Perhaps you +don't understand. I do! I'm glad I have that self-respect. I shall face +what is ahead of me. I shall do right from now on." She spoke quickly +and passionately, and he wanted to say something, but his sailor tongue +halted. "I am not going to bring up a certain matter--not now! It's too +sacred. I am too miserably ashamed! Again, Captain Mayo, I say that I +want to stand with you as man to man! I want to render service for what +you have done for me. You have lost everything out of your life that you +value. I want you to have it back. Will you listen to me now?" + +"Yes, Miss Marston." + +"You go to my father with a letter from me. I do not believe he knows +what kind of methods have been practised by his understrappers, but he +can find out. You tell him that he must find out--that he must make +them confess. You tell him that this is a man's fight, and that you are +fighting back with all the strength that you can command. You tell him +that you have me hidden, and that I cannot get away--as my own letter +will tell him. You tell him that he must make a fair exchange with +you--give you back what is yours before he can have what is his." + +Mayo walked backward limply, feeling for the wall with his hands behind +him, and leaned against it. + +"You are single-handed--it's a big game they play up in the city when +they are after money--and you must take what cards are offered," she +insisted, displaying the shrewdness of the Marston nature. + +"You mean to say that I'm going to your father as if I were holding you +for ransom?" he gasped. + +"Something like that," she returned, eagerly. "The only way you'll get +what you want--and get it quickly--is by a good bluff. I have had some +good samples of your courage, Captain Mayo. You can do it beautifully." + +"But I'm not going to do it!" + +"I say you are!" + +"Not by a--" His feelings were carrying him away. He was forgetting that +these dealings were with an impulsive girl. His anger was mounting. She +was putting him on the plane of a blackleg. + +"Go ahead and talk as strongly as you like, Captain Mayo. It will make +it seem like man's business between us." + +"Those tricks may be all right in Wall Street, but they don't do for me. +And you've got a pretty poor opinion of me if you think I'll do it." + +"Don't be quixotic," she protested, impatiently. "We are living in +up-to-date times, Captain Mayo. Some of those underlings have played a +nasty trick on you. They must be exposed." + +"This is a girl's crazy notion!" + +"Captain Mayo, is this the way you help me pay my debt?" + +"You don't owe me anything." + +"And now you pay me an insult! Are my honor as a girl and my life worth +nothing? You have saved both." + +"I don't know how to talk to you. I haven't had any experience in +talking with women. I simply say that I'm not going to your father in +any such manner. Certainly not!" + +"Don't you realize what I have offered you?" she pleaded. "You are +throwing my sacrifice in my face. As the case stands now, I can hurry +off to the home of some girl friend and make up a little story of a +foolish lark, and my father will never know what has been happening. He +expects me to do a lot of silly things." + +"That's your business--and his," he returned, dryly. + +"Captain Mayo, I have been trying to show you that I am fit to be +considered something besides a silly girl. I wanted you to know that +I have a sense of obligation. The plan may seem like a girl's romantic +notion. But it isn't. It's bold, and your case heeds boldness. I was +trying to show you that I'm not a coward. I was going to confess to my +father what I have done and start on the level with him. You throw it +all in my face--you insult my plan by calling it crazy." + +"It is," he insisted, doggedly. "And I'm in bad enough as it is!" + +"Oh, you're afraid, then?" + +He frowned. Her sneer seemed gratuitous injury. + +He did not understand that variety of feminine guile which seeks to goad +to action one who refuses to be led. + +"I admire boldness in a man when his case is desperate and he is trying +to save himself. I have lived among men who are bold in going after what +they want." + +"I have had a little experience with that kind of land pirates, and I +don't like the system." + +"I shall not make any unnecessary sacrifices," she de-clared, tartly, +but there were tears in her eyes. "I did what I could to help you when +you were trying to save me. Why are you so ungenerous as to refuse to +help me now?" + +"It's taking advantage of you--of your position." + +"But I offer it--I beg of you to do it." + +"I will not do it." + +"You absolutely refuse?" + +"Yes, Miss Marston." + +"Then I shall leave you to your own fate, Captain Mayo. You don't expect +me to go to my father with the story, do you?" + +"Certainly not'." + +"I shall go ahead now and protect myself the best I can. I am sure that +Captain Downs will keep my secret. I shall forget that I ever sailed on +that schooner. I suppose you will black yourself up and run away again!" + +"I am going to New York." + +"To be put in jail?" + +"Probably." + +"You make me very angry. After you have shown that you can fight, just +when you ought to fight the hardest you slink bade to be whipped." + +"Yes, Miss Marston, if you care to put it that way." + +"Then, good-by!" + +"Good-by!" + +Perhaps each expected that the other would break the wall of reserve at +this moment of parting. He hesitated a moment--an awkward instant--then +he bowed and left the room. + +Captain Downs walked with Mayo for a distance across the sand-dunes when +the latter started to make his way to the nearest railroad station. The +captain intended to remain at the inlet tmtil a representative of the +_Alden's_ owners arrived. + +They left Bradish still huddled behind the stove in the kitchen. + +"Unless my eyes have gone back on me, Captain Mayo, my notion is +that the dude is wasting his time hanging around that girl any more," +suggested Captain Downs. "She has had him out on the marine railway of +love, has made proper survey, and has decided that she would hate to +sail the sea of matrimony with him. Don't you think that's so?" + +"I think you're a good judge of what you see, Captain Downs." + +"I reckon that you and I as gents and master mariners are going to keep +mum about her being aboard the _Alden?_" + +"Certainly, sir." + +"The coast-guard crew don't know who she is, and they can't find out. +So she can go home and mind her business from this time out. 'Most every +woman does one infernal fool thing in her life--and then is all right +ever after. But now a word on some subject that's sensible! What are you +going to do?" + +"Stick my head into the noose. It's about the only thing I can do." + +"But you'll talk up to 'em, of course?" + +"I'll play what few cards I hold as best I know, sir. The most I can +hope for is to make 'em drop that manslaughter case. Perhaps I can say +enough so that they'll be afraid to bring me to trial. As to getting my +papers back, I'm afraid that's out of the question. I'll have to start +life over in something else." + +"Mayo, why don't you go to the captain's office?" He promptly answered +the young man's glance of inquiry. "Julius Marston himself is the +supreme boss of that steamship-consolidation business. Bradish gave all +that part away, telling about those checks; though, of course, we all +knew about Marston before. It is probably likely that Marston gives true +courses to his understrappers. If they take fisherman's cuts between +buoys in order to get there quick, I'll bet he doesn't know about it. Go +to him and tell him, man to man, what has happened to you." + +"There are two reasons why I shall probably never see Mr. Marston," +returned Mayo, grimly. "First, I'll be arrested before I can get across +New York to his office; second, I'll never get farther than the outer +office. He's guarded like the Czar of Russia, so they tell me." + +"Does his girl know anything about your case?" + +"I blabbed it to her--like a fool--when we were in the boat. Why is it +that when a man is drunk or excited or in trouble, he'll blow the whole +story of his life to a woman?" growled Mayo. + +"I've thought that over some, myself," admitted Captain Downs. +"Especially on occasions when I've come to and realized what I've let +out. I suppose it's this--more or less: A man don't tell his troubles to +another man, for he knows that the other man is usually in'ardly glad +of it because any friend is in trouble. But a woman's sympathy is like a +flaxseed poultice--it soothes the ache and draws at the same time." + +Mayo trudged on in silence, kicking the sand. + +"Seems to me the smallest thing that girl could have done was to offer +to get you a hearing with her old man. It was some chore you did for +her, mate!" + +"I had to save myself. A few more in the party didn't matter." + +"These society girls think of themselves first, of course! I don't +suppose you give a hoot for my advice, Captain Mayo, but I'm talking to +you in the best spirit in the world." + +"I know you are, Captain Downs," declared the young man, his sullenness +departing. "I didn't mean to show bristles to you! I'll try to see +Marston. It 'll be a hard stunt. But I'm in the mood to try anything. By +gad! if they lug me to jail, I'll go kicking!" + +"That's the spirit, boy. And if you can get in a few kicks where Julius +Marston can see 'em they may count. He's the boss! I don't think I'll go +any farther with you. This is too hard footing for an old waddler like +me. Good luck!" + +They shook hands and turned their backs on each other with sailor +repression in the matter of the emotions. + +The young man went on his way, wondering in numbed despair how he could +have left Alma Marston with merely a curt word of farewell. + +Mayo lurked that evening in the purlieus of Jersey City, and entered the +metropolis after midnight on a ferryboat which had few passengers and +afforded him a dark corner where he was alone. He found lodgings in +humble quarters on the East Side. + +In the morning he nerved himself to the ordeal of appearing in the +streets. His belief in his own innocence made his suffering greater as +he waited for the clap of a heavy hand on his shoulder and the summons +of an officer's voice. He knew that the eyes of Uncle Sam are sharp and +his reach a long one. He had firm belief in the almost uncanny vigilance +of government officers. He was rather surprised to find himself at last +in the outer office of Marston & Waller. + +He sat down on a bench and waited for a time in order to regain +his self-possession. He wanted to control features and voice before +accosting one of the guardians of the magnate. But the espionage of the +attendants did not permit loiterers to remain long in that place without +explanation. A man tiptoed to him and asked his name and his business. + +"My name doesn't matter," said Mayo. "But I have important business +with Mr. Marston. If you will tell him that the business is most +important--that it is something he ought to know, and that--" + +"You haven't any appointment, then?" + +"No." + +"Do you think for one moment that you can get in to see Mr. Marston +without giving your name and explaining beforehand the nature of your +business?" + +"I hoped so, for it is important." + +"What is it?" + +"It's private--it's something for Mr. Marston." + +"Impossible!" was the man's curt rejoinder. He went back to his post. In +a few moments he returned to Mayo. "You mustn't remain here. You cannot +see Mr. Marston." + +"Won't you take in a message from me? I'll explain--" + +"Explain to me. That's what I'm here for." + +Telling that cold-blooded person that this visitor was the broken master +of the _Montana_ was out of the question. To mention the case of the +_Montana_ to this watchdog was dangerous. But Mayo dreaded to go back to +the street again. + +"I'll stay here a little while and perhaps I can--" he began. + +"If you stay here without explaining your business I'll have you +escorted down to the street by an officer, my friend." + +Mayo rose and hurried out. + +"An officer!" Even in his despairing and innocent quest of a hearing +he was threatened with arrest! He sneaked back to his lodgings and hid +himself in the squalid apartment and nursed the misery of his soul. + +That night Mayo sat till late, toiling over a letter addressed to Julius +Marston. + +He despatched it by messenger at an early hour, and mustered his courage +in the middle of the forenoon and followed in person. He assumed a +boldness he did not feel in his quaking heart when he approached the +guardian of the outer office. + +"Will you ask Mr. Marston if he will see the man who sent him a letter +by messenger this morning?" "What letter? Signed by what name?" "He will +understand what letter I refer to." "He will, will he?" The attendant +gave this applicant sharp scrutiny. The coast-guard captain's liberty +garments were not impressive, nor did they fit very well. Mayo displayed +the embarrassment of the man who knew he was hunted. "Do you think Mr. +Marston receives only one letter by messenger in a morning? Look here, +my man, you were in here yesterday, and I look on you as a suspicious +character. You cannot see Mr. Marston on any such excuse. Get out of +that door inside of one minute or I'll send in a police call!" + +And once more Mayo fled from the danger which threatened him. He bought +a stock of newspapers at a sidewalk news-stand; his hours of loneliness +in his little room the day before had tortured him mentally. He sat +himself down and read them. The news that the Vose line had gone into +the steamship combination was interesting and significant. Evidently the +_Montana's_ lay-up had discouraged the mass of stockholders. He had +time to kill and thoughts to stifle; he went on reading scrupulously, +lingering over matters in which he had no interest, striving to occupy +his mind and drive the bitter memories and his fears away from +him. Never in his life before had he read the society tattle in the +newspapers. However, dragging along the columns, he found a paragraph +on which he dwelt for a long time. It stated that Miss Marston of +Fifth Avenue had returned by motor from a house-party in the Catskills, +accompanied by Miss Lana Vanadistine, who would be a house guest of Miss +Marston's for a few days. + +That bit of news was significant. She had established her alibi; she had +reinstated herself and had turned a smooth front to the world. + +Mayo was certain in his soul that he knew her kind. His illusions were +departing. Now that her tragic experience was behind her, now that she +was back among her own, now that the fervor of romance was cool, she was +thanking God, so he told himself, that she had not sacrificed herself +for anybody. He was honestly glad that she was at home, glad of the hint +which the paragraph gave--that her secret was still her own, so far as +family and the social world were concerned. + +That night Mayo took further counsel with himself. In the morning his +final decision was made. He would endeavor once more to see Julius +Maxston. He determined that he would march into the outer office, boldly +announce his name, assert that he was there to expose a crime, and tell +them that if Mr. Marston refused to hear him he should tell what he knew +to the public through the newspapers; then he would ask them to send for +the police, if the door of Marston's office remained closed to him. He +would call attention to himself and to his case by all the uproar +he could make. When he went to jail he would go with plenty of folks +looking on. Let Marston and his fellow-financiers see how they liked +that! + +It was a desperate and a crude plan, but Mayo was not a diplomat--he was +a sailor. + +He marched forth on his errand with his chin up and resolve flaming +within him. + +Other men, prosperous-looking and rotund men, rode up in the elevator +with him and went into Marston & Waller's office ahead of him, for he +had modestly stepped to one side to allow them to pass. + +He heard some talk of a "board meeting." It was plain that Mr. Marston +was to be occupied for a time. This was not a favorable moment in which +to project himself upon the attention of the financier; he needed a +clear field. Therefore he tramped up and down the corridor of the +office building, watching the elevator door, waiting to see the rotund +gentlemen go on their way. And with attention thus focused he saw Miss +Alma Marston arrive. + +She waited until the elevator had passed on, and then she came directly +to him. Her expression did not reveal her mood except to hint that she +was self-possessed. + +"I am not especially surprised to find you here," she told him. "I +believe you said to Captain Downs--so he informed me--that you were +going to try to see my father. And men who try to see my father, without +proper introduction, usually kick their heels outside his office for +some days." + +There was a bit of hauteur in her voice. She preserved much of the +acerbity which had marked her demeanor when they had said good-by to +each other. He would not acknowledge to himself that he hoped she would +meet him on another plane; he meekly accepted her attitude as the proper +one. He was a sailor, and she was the daughter of Julius Marston. + +"Do you blame me for being suspicious in regard to what you intend to +say to my father?" she demanded. "I tell you frankly that I came here +looking for you. We must settle our affair." + +"I am trying to get word with him about my own business--simply my own +business, Miss Marston." + +"But as to me! What are you going to say to him about me? You remember +I told you that I intended to protect myself," she declared, with some +insolence. + +"I thought you had a better opinion of me," he protested. "Miss Marston, +as far as I am concerned, you never were on that schooner. I know +nothing about you. I do not even know you. Do you understand?" + +He started away hastily. "Don't stay here. Don't speak to me. Somebody +may see you." + +"'Come back here!" + +He stopped. + +"I demand an explicit promise from you that if you are able to talk with +my father you will never mention my name to him or try to take advantage +of the dreadful mistake I made." + +"I promise, on my honor," he said, straightening. + +"Thank you, sir." + +"And now that I have promised," he added, red in his tanned cheeks, +"I want to say to you, Miss Marston, that you have insulted me +gratuitously. I suppose I'm not much in the way of a gentleman as you +meet them in society. I'm only a sailor. But I'm neither a tattler nor +a blackmailer. I know the square thing to do where a woman is concerned, +and I would have done it without being put under a pledge." He bowed and +walked away. + +She gazed after him, a queer sparkle in her eyes. "We'll see about you, +you big child!" she murmured. + +She entered the waiting-room of the Marston & Waller suite, and was +informed that her father was busy with a board meeting. + +"But it's merely a bit of routine business. It will soon be over, Miss +Marston--if you will be so good as to wait." + +After a time the gentlemen filed out, but she waited on. + +"Tell my father that I'm here and will be in presently," she commanded +the guardian. + +Before the messenger returned Mayo came in, rather apprehensively. He +tried to avoid her, but she met him face to face and accosted him with +spirit. + +"Now that I have put you on your honor, I'm not afraid to have you talk +your business over with my father. Come with me. I will take you to him. +Then we will call accounts square between us." + +"Very well," he consented. "After what I have been through here, I feel +that one service matches the other." Mayo followed her and came into The +Presence. + +Julius Marston was alone, intrenched behind his desk, on his throne of +business; the dark back of the chair, towering over his head, set off +in contrast his gray garb and his cold face; to Mayo, who halted +respectfully just inside the door, he appeared a sort of bas-relief +against that background--something insensate, without ears to listen or +heart to bestow compassion. + +The girl, hurrying to him, engaged his attention until she had seated +herself on the arm of his chair. Then he saw Mayo, recognized him, and +tried to rise, but she pushed him back, urging him with eager appeal. + +"You must listen to me, father! It is serious! It is important!" + +He groped for the row of desk buttons, but she held his hand from them. + +Captain Mayo strode forward, determined to speak for himself, rendered +bold by the courageous sacrifice the girl was making. + +"Not a word! Not a word! The supreme impudence of it!" Marston repeated +the last phrase several times with increasing violence. He pushed his +daughter off the arm of the chair and struggled up. Only heroic measures +could save that situation--and the girl knew her father! She forced +herself between him and his desk. + +"You'd better listen!" she warned him, hysterically. "A few days ago I +ran away to be married!" + +He stood there, stricken motionless, and she put her hands against his +breast and pressed him back into his chair. + +"But this is not the man, father!" + +Marston had been gathering his voice for wild invective, but that last +statement took away all his power of speech. + +"I warned you that you'd better listen!" + +In that moment she dominated the situation as completely as if she stood +between the two men with a lighted bomb in her hand. + +Mayo was overwhelmed even more completely than the financier. He +realized that her extortion of a pledge from him had been subterfuge; +her triumphant eyes flashed complete information on that point. Both +anger and bewilderment made him incapable of any sane attempt to press +his case with Marston at that time. He turned and started for the door. + +"Stop that man, father. You'll be sorry if you do not! He must stay!" + +"Come back here!" shouted Marston. + +Mayo looked behind. + +The magnate stood with finger on the push-button. "Come back, I say!" + +"I protest. This is none of my business. I am here for something else +than to listen to your daughter's private affairs." + +"You come back!" commanded the father in low tones of menace, "or I'll +have you held for the United States marshals the minute you step foot +outside that door." + +Raging within himself at the tactics of this incomprehensible girl, +Captain Mayo walked slowly to the desk; it occurred to him that it was +as hard to get out of Julius Marston's office as it was to get in. + +"I would never have come in here if I had dreamed that your daughter +would tell you what she has. I am in a false position. I insist that you +allow me to leave." + +"You'll leave when I get to the bottom of this thing! Now, Alma, what +new craziness is all this?" + +"I am not resenting the word you apply to it," she replied, facing him +resolutely. "I did it--and I don't know why I did it!" + +"Did what?" + +"I ran away. I did it because the girls dared me to do it. I promised a +man I would marry him." + +"This man, eh?" + +"No. I have told you this is not the man." + +"Well, who, then?" Incredulity was mingled with her father's wrath. + +"One of your trusted young gentlemen. Mr. Ralph Bradish." + +"Where did you meet him?" + +"At the dances." + +"Not at our house?" + +"I do not know how you are so sure of that, father," she returned, a +touch of rather wistful reproach in her tones. "You have left me +alone in that house ever since mother went away. But it was not at our +house--it was in the public ball-rooms." + +"Hell set to music!" he rasped. "I ought to have realized that you are +still an infant!" + +"No; I am a woman to-day. I lived a whole lifetime in one night on the +ocean. I know you have reason to be ashamed of me. But I'll never give +you cause for shame again. Now what are you going to say to this man who +saved my life--who did more than that? He saved me from myself!" + +Marston narrowed his eyes and scrutinized Mayo. "I don't understand this +thing yet! The story doesn't ring right." He turned on his daughter. +"How did this man save your life? Be quick and be short!" + +He interrupted her in the middle of her eager recital. He had been +scowling while she talked, staring into vacancy in meditation. + +"A story-book tale!" he declared, impatiently, and yet there was a shade +of insincerity in that impatience. "I would be bitterly ashamed of you, +Alma, if you had run away as you are trying to make me believe. But--" + +"Don't you believe me?" + +"Silence! But this trumped-up story is too transparent. You are still +acting the fool in the matter of this person, here. Now see here, my +man, you are here to-day on the _Montana_ affair. Isn't that so?" + +"It is, sir." + +"I was sure of it. How did you dare to sneak into that job after I had +discharged you from the _Olenia_?" + +"There was no sneaking to it! I was hired by Mr. Fogg and I--" + +"You may be sure that I did not know you were on board the _Montana_. +But I cannot attend to all the details of my business. You realize, +don't you, that you are a fugitive from justice?" + +"I am a scapegoat for the dirty dogs who operate for you!" + +"That's enough! I am investigating this matter now? Sit down in that +chair!" + +Mayo obeyed, lulled by the assurance. + +"Alma, you go home!" + +"I am going to stay here, father, until Captain Mayo--" + +"I have listened to all the falsehoods I propose to hear!" This +rejoinder astounded his two listeners. "I see into this matter clear to +the bottom. I am amazed that you should think such a silly yarn would +deceive me for a moment." He had pressed one of the buttons. To the man +who opened the door he said: "Tell Mr. Bradish that I want to see him +here at once. He is in the office, isn't he?" + +"Yes, sir! I will inform him." + +Mayo and the girl exchanged eloquent looks; they had been leaving Mr. +Bradish out of their calculations; they had discarded him from their +thoughts; that he had had the effrontery to reappear in the Marston & +Waller offices was news indeed. + +Marston took the girl by the arm and led her toward a door. "I tell +you to go home!" he cried, angrily, stopping her protests. "No, you are +going by this side door. I do not believe one word you have told me. +It's all a transparent attempt to continue your folly. I'll know how to +look after you from now on!" He closed the door behind her and locked +it. + +"I swear this is all true, sir," pleaded Mayo. "I'm not trying to +deceive you through your daughter. I did not understand what she +intended to say. I want my rights as a man who has been tricked, +abused--" + +Mr. Bradish appeared, bowing respectfully. He was once more part of the +smooth machinery of the Marston & Waller offices. He was pale, calm, +cool, subdued master of his emotions as the employees of Julius Marston +were trained to be. + +"Did you ever see this man before? Of course you never did!" prompted +the financier. + +"I never saw him before, sir." + +"Certainly not! What have you to say to the ridiculous, nonsensical +story that you attempted to elope with my daughter?" + +Not by a flicker of the eyelids did the imperturbable maker of +million-dollar checks show confusion. + +"If such a lie needs denial from me I most firmly do deny it, sir." + +"You cheap renegade!" roared the captain. + +"That will do, Mr. Bradish!" + +The clerk obeyed the wave of his master's hand and retired quickly. + +"Mr. Marston," raved Mayo, "I'm fighting for all that's worth while +to me in life. My reputation as a master mariner, my chance to make a +living in my work. I was a fool on board your yacht! With all my soul I +am penitent. I will-" + +"Enough! Don't you dare to discuss my own daughter with me!" + +"I don't intend to, sir. I'm going to believe that you don't know what +your understrappers have done to me. You only see results. But find out +what is being done in your name, Mr. Marston. Some day it will be bad +for you if you don't stop 'em." + +"Is that a threat?" + +"It's only my appeal for justice. My God, sir--" + +"There's justice waiting for you." + +"Then send out for your marshals. Let them drag me into court! Your man +Bradigh's mouth is closed now, but it has been open. I know what has +been done to me. Let them put me on the stand. You don't dare to have me +stand up in court and tell what I know." + +"Do you suppose I am running the Federal courts?" + +"You'd better find out whether you have power or not. There are men in +this world who will believe an honest man's true story!" + +"Good day!" said Mr. Marston, significantly. + +Mayo hesitated, gazed into the impassive countenance of the magnate, +and then conviction of the uselessness of argument overwhelmed him. He +started for the door. + +"Certain sensible things can be done," Marston called after him. "You'd +better get out of New York. If you know of a place to hide you'd better +get into it." + +Mayo did not reply. He strode out through the offices, descended to the +street, and went on his way. + +He did not notice that an automobile pursued him through the roaring +traffic of the streets, halting ahead of him when, he had turned into +one of the quieter thoroughfares. + +The car was close to the curb, and Alma Marston put out her hand and +signaled to him. "He gave-you no hope-nothing?" + +"Nothing!" + +"I have waited. I thought of asking you to come for a talk with me." + +He shook his head. + +"Perhaps it's better as it is! There isn't very much to be said-not +now!" She leaned over the side of the tonneau and the clatter of traffic +enabled her to talk without taking the eavesdropping chauffeur into +their confidence. "I am not worthy of your thoughts or your confidence +after this, Boyd. What I was yesterday I am not to-day; I have told you +that. No, do not say anything! I know, now, that I was only playing with +love. I cannot name what I feel for you now; I have insulted the word +'love' too much in the past. I'm not going to say anything about it. Was +it any excuse for me that you had sunk a ship, were going to prison for +killing men, so the papers hinted? No, it was not! But I allowed myself +to make it an excuse for folly." + +"You don't know what love is," he declared. In the agony of his +degradation he had no relish for softer sentiments. But he did not dare +to look up at her. + +"I _did_ not know! But perhaps some day I can show you that I do now +know," she replied, humbly. "That will be the day when I can give you +the proofs against the men who have tried to ruin you. I am inside the +camp of your enemies, Boyd, and I'll give you those proofs--even against +my own father, if he is guilty. That's all! Let's wait. But while you +are working I hope it's going to give you a bit of courage to know that +I am working for you!" She patted his cheek. "Go on!" she called to her +driver. The car jerked forward and was hidden among the chariots roaring +down through the modern Babylon. + +Without power for self-analysis, without being able to penetrate the +inner recesses of his own soul in that crisis, he trudged on. + +A little later, almost unconscious of volition in the matter, he found +himself at a steamboat office buying a ticket. He was going back to the +obscurity of Maquoit. But he was fully conscious that he was not obeying +Julius Marston's injunction to go and hide. A deeper sentiment was +drawing him. He knew where there existed simple faith in him and +affection for him, and he craved that solace. There were humble folks in +Maquoit who would welcome him. + +"I'll go back--I'll go home," he said. Once he would have smiled at the +thought that he would ever call the Hue and Cry colony "home." + + + + +XXVI ~ THE FANGS OF OLD RAZEE + + A dollar a day is a Hoosier's pay, + Lowlands, lowlands, a-way, my John! + Yes, a dollar a day is a Hoosier's pay, + My dollar and a half a day. + --Old Pumping Song. + +Before leaving New York Mayo made inquiries at offices of shipping +brokers and trailed Captain Zoradus Wass to his lair in the loafers' +room of a towboat office. Their conference was a gloomy one; neither had +any comfort for the other. Mayo was laconic in his recital of events: he +said that he had run away--and had come back. Of Marston and Marston's +daughter he made no mention. + +"I have been to see that fat whelp of a Fogg," stated the old master +mariner. "I ain't afraid of him. I had a good excuse; I said I wanted a +job. I didn't let on to him that I advised you to slip your cable, but +I might have curried favor with him by saying so. He seemed to be pretty +well satisfied because you had skipped." + +"Captain Wass, that's the main thing I've come to talk over with you. +Here's my ticket back home. But I feel that I ought to walk up to the +United States marshal's office and surrender myself. And I want to ask +you about the prospects of my getting bail. Can you help me?" + +"I reckon if I saw you behind bars I'd do my best to get you out, +son. But you steer away from here on a straight tack and mind your own +business! When the United States wants you they'll come and get you--you +needn't worry!" + +"But I do worry, sir! I am dodging about the streets. I expect to feel +a hand on my shoulder every moment. I can't endure the strain of the +thing! I don't want anybody to think I'm a sneak." + +"As near's I can find out by nosing around a little that indictment is +a secret one--even if it really was returned. And I'm half inclined to +think there wasn't any indictment! Perhaps those officers were only sent +out to get you and hold you as a witness. Fogg has been doing most of +the talking about there being an indictment. However it is, if they +don't want you just yet I wouldn't go up to a cell door, son, and holler +and pound and ask to be let in. Law has quite a way of giving a man what +he hollers for. You go away and let me do the peeking and listening for +you around these parts. I'm collecting a little line of stuff on this +water-front. Haven't much else to do, these days!" + +"I reckon my first hunch was the right one, sir!' I'll go along home. If +you hear anybody with a badge on inquiring for me tell him I'm fishing +on the _Ethel and May_." + +"That's a mean job for you, son. But I guess I'd better not say anything +about it, seeing what I have shanghaied you into." + +"It has not been your fault or mine, what has happened, sir. I am not +whining!" + +"By gad! I know you ain't! But get ready to growl when the right time +comes, and keep your teeth filed! When it's our turn to bite we'll +make a bulldog grip of it!" He emphasized the vigor of that grip in his +farewell handshake. + +But Mayo did not reflect with much enthusiasm on Captain Wass's +metaphorical summons to combat. + +Returning to Maquoit, the young man decided that he was more like a +beaten dog slinking back with canine anxiety to nurse his wounds in +secret. + +His experiences had been too dreadful and too many in the last few days +to be separated and assimilated. He had been like a man stunned by +a fall--paralyzed by a blow. Now the agonizing tingle of memory and +despair made his thoughts an exquisite torture. He tried to put Alma +Marston out of those thoughts. He did not dare to try to find a place +for her in the economy of his affairs. However, she and he had been down +to the gates of death together, and he realized that the experience +had had its effect on her nature; he believed that it had developed her +character as well. Insistently the memory of her parting words was with +him, and he knew, in spite of his brutal and furious efforts to condemn +her, that love was not dead and that hope still lived. + +He swung aboard the _Ethel and May_ one afternoon, after he had waited +patiently for her arrival with her fare. + +"I have come back to fish with you, Captain Candage, until my troubles +are straightened out--if they ever are." + +Captain Candage was silent, controlling some visible emotions. + +"I have come back to be with folks who won't talk too much about those +troubles," he added, gloomily. + +"Exactly," agreed the skipper. "Nothing is ever gained by stirring up +trouble after it has been well cooked. Swing the pot back over the fire, +I say, and let it simmer till it cools off of itself. I thought you +would come back." + +"Why?" + +"Well, I knew they had taken away your papers. Furthermore, Polly has +been saying that you would come back." + +"And why did she think so?" asked Mayo, in milder tones. + +"She didn't say why," admitted Captain Candage. "Maybe women see into +things deeper than men do." + +"It seems like coming home--coming home when a man is sick and tired of +everything in the world, sir." + +"Reckon my Polly had something like that in mind. She dropped a few +hints that she hoped you'd come and get rested up from your troubles." + +"And she has gone back to her work, I suppose?" + +"No, she is still on her job at Maquoit, sir--calls it her real job. She +isn't a quitter, Polly isn't. She says they need her." + +"Like the song says, 'The flowers need the sunshine and the roses need +the dew,' that's how they need her," averred Oakum Otie. "Though them +Hue and Cry women and children can't be said to be much like roses and +geraniums! But they're more like it than they ever was before, since +Miss Polly has taken hold of 'em. It's wonderful what a good girl can do +when she tries, Captain Mayo!" + +Resuming his life on the fishing-schooner was like slipping on a pair of +old shoes, and Mayo was grateful for that New England stoicism which had +greeted him in such matter-of-fact fashion. + +"What you want to tell me is all right and what you don't want to tell +me is still better," stated Captain Candage. "Because when you ain't +talking about it you ain't stirring it!" + +So, in that fashion, he came back into the humble life of Maquoit. There +had been no awkwardness in his meeting with Captain Candage; it had been +man to man, and they understood how to dispense with words. But Mayo +looked forward to his meeting with Polly Candage without feeling that +equanimity which the father had inspired. + +He felt an almost overmastering desire to confide to her his troubles of +the heart. But he knew that he would not be able to do that. His little +temple had been so cruelly profaned. His humiliation was too great. + +He was conscious that some other reason was operating to hold him back +from explaining to her; and because he did not understand just what it +was he was ill at ease when he did come face to face with her. He +was grateful for one circumstance--their first meeting was in the old +fish-house at Maquoit, under the hundred curious eyes of the colony. He +had rowed ashore in his dory and went to seek her in the midst of +her activities. She put out both her hands and greeted him with frank +pleasure and seemed to understand his constraint, to anticipate his own +thoughts, to respect his reticence. + +"I'm glad you have come back to wait till all your troubles are settled. +The most consoling friends are those who know and who sympathize and who +keep still! Now come with me and listen to the children and see what +the women are doing. You will be proud and glad because you spoke up for +them that day when we went over to Hue and Cry." + +After that there was no constraint between them; they kept their own +affairs hidden from each other. The autumn passed and the long, chill +evenings came, and when the fishing-schooner was in port at Maquoit, +between trips, Mayo and the girl spent comfortable hours together, +playing at cards under the widow's red-shaded lamp and under the widow's +approving eyes. + +"No, they ain't courting, either," she informed the pestering neighbors. +"Do you suppose I have been twice married and twice a widder not to know +courting when I see it? It's 'Boyd this' and 'Polly that,' to be sure, +the whole continyal time; but she is engaged to somebody else, because +she has been wearing an engagement ring that has come to her since she +has been here. She showed it to me, and she showed it to him! And as for +him, everybody 'longcoast knows how dead gone on him that millionaire +girl is! Now everybody mind their own business!" + +As the days passed the widow's counsel seemed to apply to all the +affairs of Maquoit; folks went at their business in good earnest. + +The winter wind nipped, the wharf piles were sheathed with ice, and only +hardy men were abroad on the waterfront of the coast city, but the crew +of the _Ethel and May_ were unusually cheerful that day. + +The schooner had stayed on Cashes Banks and had ridden out a gale that +had driven other fishermen to shelter. Then in the first lull she had +sent her dories over the rail and had put down her trawls for a set, +and a rousing set it was! It seemed as if the cod, hake, and haddock had +been waiting for that gale to stop so that they might hunt for baited +hooks and have a feast. Nearly every ganging-line had its prize. The bow +pulley in each dory fairly chuckled with delight as the trawl line was +pulled over it. Every three feet was a ganging-line. Each dory strung +out a mile of trawl. And when the dories returned to the schooner and +dumped the catch into the hold the little craft fairly wallowed under +her load. + +They caught the market bare; the gale had blown for nearly a week. +Fish-houses bid spiritedly against one another, and when at last a trade +was made and the schooner's crew began to pitchfork the fish into the +winch buckets, and the buckets rose creaking out over the rail, the two +captains went into the office of the fish-house to figure some mighty +gratifying profits. + +"Nothing like luck in the fishing game, gents," observed the manager. + +"Well, grit counts for something," stated Captain Candage. "We've got a +crew that ain't afraid of a little weather." + +"If that's the case, there may be something for you off-coast about now +that's better than the fishing game." + +"What's that?" asked the old skipper. + +"Wrecking. Seen the morning papers?" + +"We've had something to do besides fool with papers." + +"That new Bee line steamer, _Conomo_, has been piled up on Razee Reef." + +"One time--this last time--she hugged too close!" snapped the young man. +The others bent an inquiring gaze on him. But he did not explain. His +thoughts were busy with the events of that day when the Bee line steamer +started his troubles with Marston. + +"Paper says she's considered a total loss," went on the manager. "If +that's so, and the underwriters give her up, there ought to be some fine +picking for men with grit. The board of survey went out to her on a +tug this morning." He gave them their check, and they went aboard their +schooner. + +The affair of the _Conomo_ was not mentioned between them until they +were at sea on their way to the eastward again. The piece of news did +not interest Mayo at first, except as a marine disaster that had no +bearing on his own affairs. + +Captain Candage was stumping the quarter-deck, puffing at his short, +black pipe. "I don'no' as you feel anyways as I do about it, Captain +Mayo, but it ain't going to be no great outset to us if we make a leg +out to Razee and see what's going on there," he suggested. + +"I have no objections," returned Mayo. "But the way things are managed +nowadays in case of wrecks, I don't see much prospect of our getting in +on the thing in any way." + +"Mebbe not; but in case they're going to abandon her there'll be some +grabbing, and we might as well grab with the rest of 'em." + +"If they can't get her off some junk concern will gamble on her. But +we'll make an excursion of it to see the sights, sir. We can afford a +little trip after what we pulled down to-day." + +There was no hope of reaching the wreck before nightfall, so they jogged +comfortably in the light westerly that had succeeded the gale. + +Captain Candage took the first watch after the second dog-watch, and +at two bells, or nine o'clock, in the evening, Mayo awoke and heard him +give orders to "pinch her." He heard the sails flap, and knew that the +men were shortening in readiness to lay to. He slipped on his outer +clothing and went on deck. + +"We're here," stated the old skipper, "and it looks like some other +moskeeters had got here ahead of us, ready to stick in their little +bills when they get a chance." + +It was a clear night, brilliant with stars. In contrast with the +twinkling and pure lights of the heavens, there were dim reds and greens +and yellow-white lights on the surface of the ocean. These lights rocked +and oscillated and tossed as the giant surges swept past. + +"I make out half a dozen sail--little fellers--and two tugs," said +Captain Candage. "But get your eye on the main squeeze!" + +Mayo looked in the direction of the extended mittened hand. + +"Some iceberg, hey?" commented the skipper. + +A short half-mile away, a veritable ghost ship, loomed the wrecked +_Conomo_. Spray had beaten over her and had congealed until she seemed +like a mass of ice that had been molded into the shape of a ship. She +gleamed, a spectral figure, under the starry heavens. + +A single red light, a baleful blob of color, showed from her main +rigging. + +They surveyed her for some time. + +"I should say she was spoke for," was Captain Candage's opinion. "It's +high tide now, and a spring tide at that, and them tugs is just loafing +out there--ain't making a move to start her. We can tell more about the +prospect in the morning." + +Then the two captains turned in, for the _Ethel and May_ lay to docilely +with a single helmsman at the wheel. + +The crisp light of morning did not reveal anything especially new or +important. There were half a dozen small schooners, fishermen, loafing +under shortened canvas in the vicinity of the wreck. One of the tugs +departed shoreward after a time. + +Mayo had assured himself, through the schooner's telescope, that the +remaining tug was named _Seba J. Ransom_. + +"The captain of that fellow went mate with me on a fishing-steamer +once," he informed Captain Candage. "Jockey me down in reaching distance +and I'll go aboard him in a dory. He may have some news." + +Captain Dodge was immensely pleased to see his old chum, and called him +up into the pilot-house and gave him a cigar. + +"It's only a loafing job," he said. "I've got to stand by and take off +her captain and crew in case of rough weather or anything breaks loose +more'n what's already busted. They are still hanging by her so as to +deliver her to the buyer." + +"Buyer?" + +"Yep! To whatever junkman is fool enough to bid her in. She's stuck +fast. Underwriters have gone back on that tug, and are going to auction +her. I'm here to help keep off pirates and take her men ashore after she +has been handed over. You a pirate, Mayo?" he asked, with a grin. + +"I'm almost anything nowadays, if there's a dollar to be made," +returned the young man. + +The _Ransom's_ captain gave him a wink. "I'm on to what happened on +board the _Olenia_" he confided. "Feller who was in the crew told me. +You're good enough for old Marston's girl. Why haven't you gone up to +New York and taken--" + +"Cut that conversation, Dodge," barked Mayo, his face hard and his jaw +jutting threateningly. "Good day!" added the young man, slamming the +pilot-house door behind him. + +His schooner, standing off and on, picked him up. + +"There's no use hanging around here," he informed the old skipper. +"They're going to junk her, if they can find anybody fool enough to bid. +She'll be guarded till after the auction." + +Therefore the _Ethel and May_ shook out all her canvas and headed full +and by for Maquoit to secure her fresh supply of bait. + +"It's a shame," mourned Captain Candage, staring over the taffrail at +the ice-sheathed steamer. "'Most new, and cost two hundred and fifty +thousand dollars to build, if I remember right what the paper said when +she was launched." + +"If she was making money they'll have another one in her place," said +Mayo. + +"Don'no' about that, sir. The Bee line wasn't none too strong +financially, I'm told--a lot of little fellers who put in what they +could scrape and borrowed the rest. Depends on insurance and their +courage what they do after this." He offered another observation after +he had tamped down a load in his black pipe. "Men will do 'most anything +for money--enough money." + +"Seems as if I'd heard that statement before," was Mayo's curt +rejoinder. + +"Oh, I know it ain't in any ways new. But the more I think over what has +happened to the _Conomo_, the pickeder seems the point to that remark. +And whilst I was standing off and on, waiting for you, I run close +enough to that steamer to make out a few faces aboard her." + +Mayo glanced at him without comment. + +"F'r instance, I saw Art Simpson. You know him, don't you?" + +"He was captain of Mr. Marston's yacht once." + +"Why did he leave her?" + +"I heard he had been discharged. That was what the broker said when he +hired me." + +"Yes, that's what Simpson said. He made a business of going around and +swearing about it. Seemed to want to have everybody 'longcoast hear him +swear about it. When I see a man make too much of a business of swearing +about another man I get suspicious. After Art Simpson worked his cards +so as to get the job of second officer on board the new _Conomo_ I +got _more_ suspicious. Now that I have seen how that steamer has +been plunked fair and square on Razee, I'm _almighty_ suspicious. +I'm suspicious enough to believe that she banged during Art Simpson's +watch." + +"What are you driving at, Captain Candage? Are you hinting that anybody +would plant a man for a job of that kind?" + +"Exactly what I'm hinting," drawled the skipper. + +"But putting a steamer on the rocks at this time of year!" + +"No passengers--and plenty of life-boats for the crew, sir. I have +been hearing a lot of talk about steamboat conditions since I have been +carrying in fish." + +"I've found out a little something in that line myself," admitted Mayo. + +"There's one thing to be said about Blackbeard and Cap'n Teach and old +Cap Kidd--they went out on the sea and tended to their own pirating; +they didn't stay behind a desk and send out understrappers." + +Mayo, in spite of his bitter memories of Julius Mar-ston's attitude, +felt impelled to palliate in some degree the apparent enormities of the +steamboat magnates. + +"I don't believe the big fellows know all that's done, Captain Candage. +As responsible parties they wouldn't dare to have those things done. The +understrappers, as you say, are anxious to make good and to earn their +money, and when the word is passed on down to 'em they go at the job +recklessly. I think it will be pretty hard to fix anything on the real +principals. That's why I am out in the cold with my hands tied, just +now." + +"I wish we were going to get into the _Conomo_ matter a little, so that +we could do some first-hand scouting. It looks to me like the rankest +job to date, and it may be the opening for a general overhauling. When +deviltry gets to running too hard it generally stubs its toes, sir." +Captain Candage found a responsive gleam in Mayo's eyes and he went on. +"Of course, I didn't hear the talk, nor see the money pass, nor I wa'n't +in the pilot-house when Art Simpson shut his eyes and let her slam. But +having been a sailorman all my life, I smell nasty weather a long ways +off. That steamer was wrecked a-purpose, and she was wrecked at a time +o' year when she can't be salvaged. You don't have to advise the devil +how to build a bonfire." + +Mayo did not offer any comment. He seemed to be much occupied by his +thoughts. + +Two days later a newspaper came into Mayo's hands at Maquoit, and +he read that the wrecked steamer had been put up at auction by the +underwriters. It was plain that the bidders had shared the insurance +folks' general feeling of pessimism--she had been knocked down for two +thousand five hundred dollars. The newspapers explained that only this +ridiculous sum had been realized because experts had decided that in +the first blow the steamer would slip off the ledges on which she was +impaled and would go down like a plummet in the deep water from which +old Razee cropped. Even the most reckless of gambling junkmen could not +be expected to dare much of an investment in such a peek-a-boo game as +that. + +"But I wonder what was the matter with the expert who predicted that," +mused Mayo. "He doesn't know the old jaw teeth of Razee Reef as well as +I do." + +When the _Ethel and May_ set forth from Maquoit on her next trip to +Cashes Banks, Mayo suggested--and he was a bit shamefaced when he did +so--that they might as well go out of their way a little and see what +the junkers were doing at Razee. + +Captain Candage eyed his associate with rather quizzical expression. +"Great minds travel, et cetry!" he chuckled. "I was just going to say +that same thing to you. On your mind a little, is it?" + +"Yes, and only a little. Of course, there can't be anything in it for +us. Those junkers will stick to her till she ducks for deep water. But +I've been wondering why they think she's going to duck. I seined around +Razee for a while, and the old chap has teeth like a hyena--regular +fangs." + +"Maybe they took Art Simpson's say-so," remarked the old man, wrinkling +his nose. "Art would be very encouraging about the prospects of saving +her--that is to say, he would be so in case losing that steamer has +turned his brain." + +"Guess there wasn't very much interest by the underwriters," suggested +Mayo. "They weren't stuck very hard, so I've found out. She was mostly +owned in sixty-fourths, and with marine risks up to where they are, +small owners don't insure. It's a wicked thing all through, Candage! +That great, new steamer piled up there by somebody's devilishness! I +believe as you do about the affair! I've been to sea so long that a boat +means something to me besides iron and wood. There's something about +'em--something--" + +"Almost human," put in the old man. "I sorrowed over the _Polly_, but +I didn't feel as bad as if she'd been new. It was sort of like when old +folks die of natural causes--you know they have lived about as long +as they can. It's sorrowful to have 'em go, but you have to feel +reconciled. But I know just how it is with you in the case of that +steamer, for I'm a sailor like you. It's just like getting a fine boy +through college, seeing him start out full of life, and courage, and +hopes, and prospects, and then seeing him drop dead at your feet." + +There was a quaver in the old man's tones. But Mayo, who knew the souls +of mariners, understood. Under their hard shells there is imagination +that has been nurtured in long, long thoughts. In the calms under +starlit skies, in the black darkness when tossing surges swing beneath +the keel, in the glimmering vistas of sun-lighted seas, sailors ponder +while their more stolid brothers on land allow their souls to doze. + +"You are right, Captain Candage. That's why I almost hate to go out to +the _Conomo_. Those infernal ghouls of junkmen will be tearing her into +bits instead of trying to put the breath of life back into her." + +The helpless steamer seemed more lonely than when they had visited her +before. The mosquito fleet that had surrounded her, hoping for some +stray pickings, had dispersed. A tug and a couple of lighters were stuck +against her icy sides, and, like leeches, were sucking from her what +they could. They were prosecuting their work industriously, for the +sea was calm in one of those lulls between storms, a wintry truce that +Atlantic coastwise toilers understand and depend on. + +Mayo, his curiosity prompting him, determined to go on board one of the +lighters and discover to what extremes the junk jackals were proceeding. + +Two of his dorymen ferried him after the schooner had been hove to near +the wreck. + +"What's your business?" inquired a man who was bundled in a fur coat and +seemed to be bossing operations. + +"Nothing much," confessed the young man from his dory, which was tossing +alongside the lighter. "I'm only a fisherman." + +The swinging cranes of the lighters, winches purring, the little +lifting-engines puffing in breathless staccato, were hoisting and +dropping cargo--potatoes in sacks, and huge rolls of print paper. Mayo +was a bit astonished to note that they were not stripping the steamer; +not even her anchors and chains had been disturbed. + +"Fend off!" commanded the boss. + +Captain Dodge dropped one of the windows of his pilot-house and leaned +on his elbows, thrusting his head out. The tug _Seba J. Ransom_ was +still on the job. She was tied up alongside the wreck, chafing her +fenders against the ice-sheathed hull. + +"Hello, Captain Mayo!" he called, a welcoming grin splitting his +features. "Come aboard and have a cigar, and this time I'll keep the +conversation on fish-scales and gurry-butts." + +The man in the fur coat glanced from one to the other, and was promptly +placated. "Oh, this is a friend of yours, is he, Captain Dodge?" + +"You bet he is. He's been my boss before now." + +"If that's the case make yourself at home anywhere. But you know what +some of these fellows alongcoast who call themselves fishermen will do +around a wreck when your back is turned!" + +Mayo nodded amicably. + +"Step on board," invited the boss. + +"I'm all right here in the dory, and I'm out from underfoot, sir. We're +going along to the fishing-grounds in a jiffy. I'm only satisfying +a sailor's curiosity. Wondered what you intended to do with this +proposition." + +"We're only grabbing what's handy just now. Some of the cargo forward is +above water. I'm in on this thing in a sort of queer way myself." This +keen-eyed young man who had been so heartily indorsed by the tugboat +skipper afforded the man in the fur coat an opportunity for a little +conversation about himself. "I'm the outside man for Todd & Simonton, of +Boston, and bought on the jump after I'd swapped a wire or so with the +house. Happened into that auction, and bought blind. I believe in a +gamble myself. Then somebody wired to the concern that they had been +stuck good and fine, and they gave me a sizzler of a call-down in a +night message. A man can sit at desk in Boston and think up a whole lot +of things that ain't so. Well, I've flown out here with what equipment +I could scrape up in a hurry, and you can see what I'm doing! There's +enough in sight in the way of loose cargo to square me with the concern. +But, blast the luck! If Jake Simonton had a little grit and would back +me I believe we'd make a killing." + +"Of course, it all depends on how she's resting and what will happen +when the next blow comes," said Mayo. "Have you been below?" + +"I'm a hustler on a dicker, and a hellion on junk," snapped the boss. +"I'm no sailor, prophet, or marine architect. I simply know that she's +full of water aft and has got something serious the matter with her +innards. I'm pulling enough out to make Simonton sorry he sassed me in a +night message. Only he will never let on that he's sorry. He never lets +loose any boomerangs that will scale around and come back and hit him. +He wants to be in a position to rasp me the next time I make a mistake +in a gamble." + +"All the crew gone ashore--the Bee line men?" + +"Sure--bag and baggage. We own her as she stands. That second officer +had 'em shivering every time a wave slapped her. I was glad when he got +away. He pretty nigh stampeded _my_ men. Said she was liable to slide +any minute." + +The drawling voice of Captain Dodge broke in above them. "Here comes +the tug _Resolute_" he stated. "Mebbe it's another one of them night +messages from your concern, Titus. May want you to put what you can +carry of her in a paper bag and bring it to Boston." + +"You never can tell what they're going to do in Boston," growled the +outside man. "I get discouraged, sometimes, trying to be enterprising." + +He began to pace, looking worried, and did not reply to several +questions that Mayo put to him. So the young man accepted Captain +Dodge's invitation and climbed to the tugboat's pilot-house. He had a +very human hankering to know what the coming of that tug from the main +signified, and decided to hang around a little while longer, even at the +risk of making Captain Candage impatient. + +The _Resolute_ brought a telegram, and the man in the fur coat slapped +it open, took in its gist at one glance, and began to swear with great +gusto. + +He climbed into the _Ransom's_ pilot-house, with the air of a man +seeking comfort from friends, and fanned the sheet of paper wrathfully. + +"Orders to resell. Get out from under. Take what I can get. Don't want +the gamble. And here I have cleaned a good profit already." + +"Why don't you fire back a message advising 'em to hold on?" asked +Captain Dodge. + +"And have a gale come up in a few hours and knock her off'n this rock? +That's what would happen. It would be just my luck. I'm only a hired +man, gents. If my firm won't gamble, it ain't up to me. If I disobey +orders and hold on, I'll be scared to death the first time the wind +begins to blow. There's no use in ruining a fine set of nerves for a +firm that won't appreciate the sacrifice, and I need nerve to keep on +working for 'em. I say it ain't up to me. Me for shore as soon as I +load those lighters. Every dollar I get by reselling is velvet, so let +'ergo!" + +"What do they tell you to do about price?" ventured Mayo. + +"Take the first offer--and hurry about it. They seem to have an idea +that this steamer is standing on her head on the point of a needle, and +that only a blind man will buy her." + +He went back to his crew, much disgusted, ordered the freshly arrived +tug to wait for a tow, and spurred laggard toilers with sharp profanity. + +"Somebody has been scaring his concern," suggested Mayo, left alone with +Captain Dodge. + +"Perhaps so--but it may be good business to get scared, provided they +can unload this onto somebody else for a little ready cash. This spell +of weather can't last much longer. Look at that bank to s'uthard. I +don't know just what is under her in the way of ledges--never knew much +about old Razee. But my prediction is, she'll break in two as soon as +the waves give her any motion." + +It was on the tip of Mayo's tongue to argue the matter with the tugboat +man, but he took second thought and shut his mouth. + +"You're probably right," he admitted. "I'd better be moving. I don't +see any fish jumping aboard our schooner. We've got to go and catch 'em. +Good-by, Dodge." + +When his associate came in over the rail of the _Ethel and May_ Captain +Candage, from force of habit, having picked up his men, gave orders to +let her off into the wind. + +"Hold her all-aback!" commanded Mayo. "Excuse me, Captain Candage, for +a cross-order, but I've got a bit of news I want you to hear before we +leave. The junk crowd has got cold feet and are going to sell as she +stands, as soon as they get cargoes for those lighters." + +"Well, she does lay in a bad way, and weather is making," said the +skipper, fiddling his forefinger under his nose dubiously. + +"They haven't even skimmed the cream off her--probably will get all her +cargo that's worth saving and some loose stuff in the rigging line. By +gad! what a chance for a gamble!" + +"It might be for a feller who had so much money he could kiss a slice +of it good-by in case the Atlantic Ocean showed aces," said the old man, +revealing a sailor's familiarity with a popular game. + +"There is such a thing as being desperate enough to stake your whole +bundle," declared Mayo. "Captain, I'm young, and I suppose I have got +a young man's folly. I can't expect you to feel the way I feel about a +gamble." + +"I may look old, but I haven't gone to seed yet," grumbled the skipper. +"What are you trying to get through you?" + +"That fat man on that lighter has a telegram in his pocket from his +folks in Boston, ordering him to take the first offer that is made for +the _Conomo_ as she stands. I'm fool enough to be willing to put in +every dollar I've got, and take a chance." + +Captain Candage stared at his associate for a time, and then walked to +the rail and took a long look at the steamer. "I never heard of a feller +ever getting specially rich in the fishing game," he remarked. + +Mayo, wild thoughts urging him to desperate ventures, snapped out +corroboration of that dictum.. + +"And I've known a lot of fellers to go broke in the wrecking game," +pursued Captain Candage. "How much have you got?" That question came +unexpectedly. + +"I've got rising six hundred dollars." He was carrying his little hoard +in his pocket, for a man operating from the hamlet of Maquoit must needs +be his own banker. + +"I've got rising six hundred in my own pocket," said the skipper. "That +fat man may have orders to take the first offer that's made, but we've +got to make him one that's big enough so that he won't kick us overboard +and then go hunt up a buyer on the main." + +The two Hue and Cry fishermen who had ferried the young man were nesting +their dory on top of other dories, and just forward of the house, and +were within hearing. Neither captain noted with what interest these men +were listening, exchanging glances with the man at the wheel. + +"And after we waggle our wad under his nose--and less than a thousand +will be an insult, so I figger--what have we got left to operate with? +It won't do us any good to sail round that steamer for the rest of the +winter and admire her. What was you thinking, Mayo, of trying to work +him for a snap bargain, now that he's here on the spot and anxious to +sell, and then grabbing off a little quick profit by peddling her to +somebody else?" + +"No, sir!" cried the young man, with decision. "I've got my own good +reasons for wanting to make this job the whole hog or not a bristle! I +won't go into it on any other plan." + +"Well, we'll be into something, all right, after we invest our +money--the whole lump. We'll most likely be in a scrape, not a dollar +left to hire men or buy wrecking outfit." + +The two men finished lashing the dories and went forward. + +"It's a wild scheme, and I'm a fool to be thinking about it, Captain +Candage. But wild schemes appeal to me just now. I can make some more +money by working hard and saving it, a few dollars at a time, but I +never expect to see another chance like this. Oh yes, I see that bank in +the south!" His eyes followed the skipper's gloomy stare. "By to-morrow +at this time she may be forty fathoms under. But here's the way I feel." +He pulled out his wallet and slapped it down on the roof of the house. +"All on the turn of one card! And there comes the blow that will turn +it!" He pointed south into the slaty clouds. + +Captain Candage paused in his patrol of the quarterdeck and gazed down +on the wallet. Then he began to tug at his own. "I'm no dead one, even +if my hair is gray," he grumbled. + +The two captains looked at the two wallets, and then at each other. The +next moment their attention was fully taken up by another matter. Their +crew of fifteen men came marching aft and lined up forward of the house. +A spokesman stepped out. + +"Excuse us, captings, for meddling into something that p'raps ain't +none of our business. We ain't meaning to peek nor pry, but some of +us couldn't help overhearing. We've cleaned out our pockets. Here it +is--three hundred and sixty-eight dollars and thirty-seven cents. Will +you let me step onto the quarter-deck and lay it down 'side of them +wallets?" He accepted their amazed silence as consent, and made his +deposit solemnly. + +"But this is all a gamble, and a mighty uncertain one," protested Mayo. + +"We 'ain't never had no chance to be sports before in all our lives," +pleaded the man. "We wouldn't have had that money if you two heroes +hadn't give us the chance you have. We wa'n't more'n half men before. +Now we can hold up our heads. You'll make us feel mighty mean, as if we +wasn't fit to be along with you, if you won't let us in." + +"You bet you can come in, boys!" shouted Captain Candage. "I know how +you feel." + +"And another thing," went on the spokesman. "We 'ain't had much time to +talk this over; we rushed aft here as soon as we heard and had cleaned +out our pockets. But we've said enough to each other so that we can +tell you that all of us will turn to on that wreck with you and work for +nothing till--till--well, whatever happens. Don't want wages! Don't need +promises! And if she sinks, we'll sing a song and go back to fishing +again." + +The man at the wheel let go the spokes and came forward and deposited +a handful of money beside the rest. "There's mine. I wisht it was a +million; it would go just as free." + +"Boys, I'd make a speech to you--but my throat is too full," choked +Mayo. "I know better, now, why something called me over to Hue and +Cry last summer. Hard over with that wheel! Jockey her down toward the +wreck!" + +When they were within hailing distance of the lighter Mayo raised his +megaphone. "Will you take fifteen hundred dollars--cash--now--for that +wreck, as you leave her when you've loaded those lighters?" he shouted. + +There was a long period of silence. Then the man in the fur coat +replied, through his hollowed hands: "Yes--and blast the fools in Boston +who are making me sell!" + + + + +XXVII ~ THE TEMPEST TURNS ITS CARD + + And one thing which we have to crave, + Is that he may have a watery grave. + So well heave him down into some dark hole, + Where the sharks 'll have his body and the devil have his soul. + With a big bow wow! + Tow row row! + Pal de, rai de, ri do day! + --Boston. + +After the man in the fur coat had placed a hastily executed bill of sale +in Mayo's hands, he frankly declared that his interest in the fortune of +the wrecked steamer had ceased. + +"The Resolute reports that storm signals are displayed. I'll simply make +sure of what I've got. I'll play the game as those quitters in Boston +seem to want me to play it." + +The tugs, departing with their tows, squalled salutes to the little +schooner hove to under the counter of the _Conomo_. + +"Sounds like they was making fun of us," growled Candage. He scowled +into the gray skies and across the lonely sea. + +Mayo, too, sensed a derisive note in the whistle-toots. Depression had +promptly followed the excitement that had spurred him into this venture. +The crackle of the legal paper in his reefer pocket only accentuated his +gloom. That paper seemed to represent so little now. It was not merely +his own gamble--he had drawn into a desperate undertaking men who +could not afford to lose. They had put all their little prosperity in +jeopardy. There were women and children ashore to consider. He and +his fellows now owned that great steamer which loomed there under the +brooding heavens. But it was a precarious possession. The loss of her +now would mean not merely the loss of all their little hoards--it would +mean the loss of hope, and the sacrifice of expectations, and the regret +of men who have failed in a big task. He realized how stinging would be +defeat, for he was building the prospects of his future upon winning in +this thing. + +Hope almost failed to reassure him as he gazed first at the departing +lighters and then at the ice-panoplied hulk on Razee. + +Surely no pauper ever had a more unwieldy elephant on his hands, without +a wisp of hay in sight for food.. He had seen wrecking operations: +money, men, and gigantic equipment often failed to win. Technical skill +and expert knowledge were required. He did not know what an examination +of her hull would reveal. He had bought as boys swap jack-knives--sight +denied! He confessed to himself that even the pittance they had +gambled on this hazard had been spent with the recklessness of folly, +considering that they had spent their all. They had nothing left to +operate with. It was like a man tying his hands behind him before he +jumped overboard. + +Oh, that was a lonely sea! It was gray and surly and ominous. + +Black smoke from the distant tugs waved dismal farewell. A chill wind +had begun to harp through the cordage of the little schooner; the +moan--far flung, mystic, a voice from nowhere--that presages the tempest +crooned in his ears. + +"I can smell something in this weather that's worse than scorched-on +hasty pudding," stated Captain Can-dage. "I don't know just how you +feel, sir, but if a feller should ride up here in a hearse about now +and want my option on her for what I paid, I believe I'd dicker with him +before we come to blows." + +"I can't blame you," confessed the young man. "This seems to be another +case of 'Now that we've got it, what the devil shall we do with it?'" + +"Let's pile ashore on the trail of them lighters and dicker it, and be +sensible," advised his associate. "I feel as if I owned a share in old +Poppocatterpettul--or whatever that mountain is--and had been ordered to +move it in a shawl-strap." + +Mayo surveyed their newly acquired property through the advancing dusk. + +"I believe I know a feller we can unload onto," persisted Candage. "He +has done some wrecking, and is a reckless cuss." + +"Look here," snapped his associate, "we'll settle one point right now, +sir. I'm not hurrahing over this prospect--not at all. But I'm in it, +and I'm going to stick on my original plan. I don't want anybody in with +me who is going to keep looking back and whining. If everything goes by +the board, you won't hear a whicker out of me. If you want to quit now, +Captain Candage, go ahead, and I'll mortgage my future to pay back what +you have risked. Now what do you say?" + +"Why, I say you're talking just the way I like to hear a man talk," +declared the skipper, stoutly. "I'll be cursed if I like to go into a +thing with any half-hearted feller. You're _my_ kind, and after this +you'll find me _your_ kind." He turned and shouted commands. "Get in +mains'l, close reef fores'l, and let her ride with that and jumbo." + +"That's the idea!" commended Mayo. "The Atlantic Ocean is getting ready +to deal a hand in this game. We have got to stick close if we're going +to see what cards we draw." + +A fishing-schooner, if well handled, is a veritable stormy petrel in +riding out a blow. Even the ominous signs of tempest did not daunt the +two captains. They were there to guard their property and to have their +hopes or their fears realized. + +"If the _Conomo_ has got her grit with her and lives through it," said +Captain Candage, "we'll be here to give her three cheers when it's over. +And if she goes down we'll be on deck to flap her a fare-ye-well." + +In that spirit they snugged everything on board the schooner and +prepared to defy the storm. It came in the night, with a howl of blast +and a fusillade of sleet like bird-shot. It stamped upon the throbbing +sea and made tumult in water and air. At midnight they were wallowing +with only a forestays'l that was iced to the hardness of boiler plate. +But though the vast surges flung their mighty arms in efforts to grasp +the schooner, she dodged and danced on her nimble way and frustrated +their malignity. Her men did not sleep; they thawed themselves in relays +and swarmed on deck again. Each seemed to be animated by personal and +vital interest. + +"You can't buy crews like this one with wages," observed Captain +Candage, icicled beard close to Mayo's ear. "I reckon it was about as my +Polly said--you cast bread on the waters when you took their part on Hue +and Cry." + +The young man, clinging to a cleat and watching the struggles of their +craft, waved a mittened hand to signify that he agreed. In that riot +of tempest and ruck of sea he was straining his eyes, trying to get a +glimpse of the hulk on Razee. But the schooner had worked her way too +far off to the west, pressed to leeward by the relentless palm of the +storm. + +Then at last came morning, an opaque dawn that was shrouded with +swirling snow, and all was hidden from their eyes except the tumbling +mountains of water which swept to them, threatened to engulf them, +and then melted under their keel. The captains could only guess at the +extent of their drift, but when the wind quieted after midday, and they +were able to get sail on the schooner, they were in no doubt as to the +direction in which the steamer must lie. They began their sloshing ratch +back to east. + +Mayo braved nipping wind and iced rigging and took the glass to the main +crosstrees. He remained there though he was chilled through and through. + +At last, near the horizon's rim, he spied a yeasty tumult of the sea, +marking some obstruction at which the waves were tussling. In the midst +of this white welter there was a shape that was almost spectral under +the gray skies. The little schooner pitched so ferociously that only +occasionally could he bring this object into the range of the glass. But +he made sure at last. He clutched the glass and tobogganed to deck down +the slippery shrouds. + +"She's there, Captain Candage!" he shouted. "The teeth of old Razee are +still biting." + +They were back to her again before the early night descended. She was +iced to the main truck, and the spray had deposited hillocks of ice on +her deck, weighting her down upon the ledges which had pinioned her. But +in spite of the battering she had received her position had not changed. +They circled her--the midget of a schooner seeming pitifully inadequate +to cope with this monster craft. + +"Well," sighed Captain Candage, "thank the Lord she's still here. Our +work is cut out for us now--whatever it is we can do with her. They say +a mouse set a lion loose once by gnawing his ropes. It looks to me as if +we're going to have some blasted slow gnawing here." + +They lay by her that night in a quieting sea, and spent wakeful hours in +the cabin, struggling rather helplessly with schemes. + +"Of course, it's comforting to find her here and to know that the +Atlantic Ocean will have to get more muscle to move her," said Candage. +"And then again, it ain't so darnation comforting. Looks to me as if +she's stuck there so solid that you couldn't joggle her off if you +hove the moon at her. I reckon my hope has been what yours has been, +Mayo--salvage her whole instead of junking her." + +"I'm a sailor, not a junkman. I'd almost rather let my money go, Captain +Candage, than be a party to smashing up that new steamer into old iron. +She has fooled the guessers by sticking where she is. It has been my +hope from the first that she can be floated. She is not a rusted old +iron rattletrap. Of course, she's got a hole in her, and we can see now +that she's planted mighty solid. But she is sound and tight, I'll wager, +in all her parts except where that wound is. I suppose most men who came +along here now would guess that she can't be got off whole. I'm going +into this thing and try to fool _those_ guessers, too." + +"That's the only real gamble," agreed the skipper. "We'd only make days' +wages by carving her into a junk-pile. A scrap-heap ain't worth much +except as old iron at half a cent a pound; but a new steamer like that +is worth two hundred thousand dollars, by gorry! if she's afloat." + +"Well, we've got to do something besides lay to here and look at +her lines. In the first place, I want to know what's the matter with +her--about how much of a hole she has got. Our eyes ought to tell us a +little something." + +And on that errand Mayo departed the next morning after breakfast. + +Only a sailor, young, alert, and bold, could have scaled the side of +the steamer in that weather. Her ladder was in place, but nothing much +except an exaggerated icicle. But it was on the lee side of her, and +his dory was fairly well protected from the rush of the seas. With his +hatchet he hacked foothold on the ladder, left his men in the dory, and +notched his perilous way to the deck. The fore-hatch was open, just as +the hastily departing salvagers had left it. He went below, down the +frosted iron ladder. He was fronted with a cheerless aspect. Cargo and +water hid what damage she had suffered. The fat man had secured most of +the cargo that the water had not ruined. + +He climbed back on deck and explored amidships and aft. Her engine-room +was partially flooded, for her forepeak was propped on the higher part +of the reef, and water had settled aft. Her crew's quarters were above +the main-deck, as is the case with most cargo-carriers of the newer +type. He found plenty of tinned food in the steward's domains, coal in +tie galley bunker, and there was bedding in the officers' staterooms. + +Mayo scrambled back to his dory and went aboard the schooner. He +reported his findings. + +"And here's the only sensible plan for the present, Captain Candage: +I'll take two men and a dory and go aboard and guard our property. +Somebody must stay here--and I don't want you to take the chances +on that wreck. You've got a daughter. You probably know more of the +shipyard crowd in Limeport than I do. That's the nearest city, and I +believe that when you report that the _Conomo_ is holding after this +storm you can hire some equipment on credit and borrow some money." + +"I swear I'll do my best. I know a lot of water-front folks, and I've +always paid my bills." + +"We need stuff for the whole wrecking game--engine, pumps, and all the +rest. You go and scout on shore and capture a few men and bring 'em out +here to look our prospect over." + +"Offer 'em a lay?" + +"No, sir. We'll make this a close corporation. I don't propose to let a +lot of land sharks in here to manipulate us out of what's our own. It's +our gamble, and we want what's coming out of it. Go ashore and see what +you can do on prices and terms. Don't close anything till you and I +have conferred. I'll have a schedule of needs made up by the time you're +back." + +Half an hour later he was located on the wreck with the two men he had +selected as his companions. They carried tackle with them, with +which they hoisted after them their dory--their main bower in case of +emergency. + +And the sea which Mayo surveyed was more lonely than ever, for the +_Ethel and May_ was standing off across the heaving surface toward the +main and the hulk was left alone in the expanse of ocean. He felt very +much of a pygmy and very helpless as he scrambled about over the icy +decks. He remembered that faith can move mountains, but he was as yet +unable to determine just what power would be able to move that steamer, +into whose vitals the reef of Razee had poked its teeth. + +At eight bells, midnight, Mayo turned out of his berth, for he heard +something that interested him. It was a soft pattering, a gentle +swishing. As a mariner, he knew how sudden can be meteorological changes +on the coast in winter. When the north winds have raged and howled and +have blown themselves out, spitting sleet and snow, the gentler south +winds have their innings and bear balmier moisture from the Gulf Stream. +He poked his head out and felt a soft air and warm rain. He had been +hoping and half expecting that a change of weather would bring this +condition--known as a January thaw. He went back to his bunk, much +comforted. + +A bright sun awoke him. Clear skies had succeeded the rain, All was +dripping and melting. Chunks of ice were dropping from the steamer's +stubby masts, and her scuppers were beginning to discharge water from +the softening mass on her deck. + +He and his little crew ate breakfast with great good cheer, then secured +axes from the steamer's tool-house and began to chop watercourses in the +ice. A benignant sun in a cloudless sky had enlisted himself as a member +of the wrecking crew on Razee Reef. That weather would soon clear the +_Conomo_ of her sheathing. + +This was a cheerful prospect, because rigging and deck equipment of +various kinds would be released. The steamer began to look like a less +discouraging proposition. She was no longer the icicle that had put a +chill into underwriters and bidders. Mayo lost the somberness that had +weighed upon him. The sea did not seem so lonely and so threatening. He +felt that he could show something tangible and hopeful to the parties +whom Captain Can-dage might be able to solicit. + +When he saw a tug approaching in the afternoon his optimism suggested +that it brought the skipper and his party; his own hopes were so high +now that he felt that men with equipment and money would be eager +to loan it to parties who possessed such excellent prospects. In this +fashion he translated this apparent haste to get to the reef. + +But it was not Captain Candage who hailed him when the tug eased herself +against the ladder, her screw churning the sea in reverse. A stranger +came out of the pilothouse of the _Resolute_, carrying a big leather +suit-case. He was plainly the passenger who had chartered her. A +deck-hand tossed a cast-line to the steamer's deck, and Mayo promptly +threw it back. + +"You can't come aboard." + +"Who says so?" + +"I say so. I have a bill of sale of her in my pocket." + +"I don't recognize it. The law will have something to say about that +later." + +"I don't care what the law may say later. I'm talking right now. We own +this steamer. What are you here for?" + +"I left quite a lot of little personal belongings on her. I went away in +a hurry. I want to come aboard with this valise and get 'em." + +"They must be pretty valuable belongings, seeing that you've chartered a +tug to come out here." + +"A fellow's own property means more to him than it does to anybody else. +Now that I've gone to all this expense, you ain't mean enough are you, +to keep me off? This is between sailors." + +"Who are you?" + +The man hesitated. "Well, if I've got to be introduced I'll say my name +is Simpson--I have been second officer aboard there." + +"You're not here with any legal papers--you're not trying any trick to +get possession, are you?" + +"Take all in hearing to witness that I ain't! I'll pick up my stuff and +leave in ten minutes." + +"Come aboard, then." + +The man set down his suit-case and hitched a heave-line to the handle. +He coiled the line and handed it to a deck-hand. "Throw that to me when +I'm on deck," he ordered. Then he came up the ladder. + +"Heave, and I'll hoist up the bag," suggested Mayo at the rail. + +"Wait till I get there," barked the visitor, still climbing. He caught +the line after he had reached the rail and pulled up the case with some +effort and great care. + +"Look here, that bag isn't empty," said Mayo. + +"Who said it was? I'm carrying around in it all I own in the world. I'm +starting for New York as soon as this tug sets me ashore." + +He picked up the case and started for the officers' quarters. Mayo went +along, too. + +"You afraid I'm going to steal her engine out of her? The few little +things of mine I'm after were hidden away, and that's how I forgot 'em. +Now don't insult me by following me around as if I was a thief." + +"I don't know just what you are," muttered the young man. "There's +something that looks mighty phony about this, but I haven't got you +sized up just yet." + +"I'll go back--go back right now. I supposed I was asking a favor of +a gentleman and a brother officer." He started on his return to the +ladder. + +"Go get your stuff," commanded Mayo. "If your business here is all your +own, I don't want to spy on you." + +He went back to question the captain of the tug for information in +regard to the _Ethel and May_. + +"She's in Limeport," reported the captain, elbows on his window-sill. +"Came past her in the inner harbor this morning. You've bit off quite a +chunk here, haven't you? We all thought this storm had sluiced her. Made +quite a stir up and down the water-front when old Can-dage blew along +and reported that she had lived it out." + +"Reckon some of the panic boys are talking in another key about the +prospects out here, about now, aren't they?" + +"Ain't so sure about that, sir," stated the towboat man, loafing into an +easier attitude. + +"Isn't there a feeling on shore that we are likely to make good on +this proposition?" There was solicitude in Mayo's voice. He was acutely +anxious. On the sentiment ashore depended Captain Candage's success. + +"Can't say that I hear of any!" + +"But the talk must--" + +"There ain't very much talk--not now. It's generally reckoned that this +packet is a gone goose and folks are talking about something else." + +"But she is here--she is upright and fast! She is--" + +The towboat man was not enough interested to listen to statements +concerning the _Conomo's_ condition. "Look-a-here, son," he broke in, +"do you think for a minute that this thing wouldn't have been grabbed +up by the real people if there had been any show of a make? I know there +isn't a show!" + +"How do you know?" demanded Mayo, with indignation. + +"Haven't I been talking with the representative of one of the biggest +salvaging companies on the Atlantic coast? He's there in Limeport +now--was aboard my tug this morning." + +"How does he know?" + +"Well, he does know. That's his business. And everybody in Limeport +knows what he has said. He hasn't been bashful about expressing his +opinion." + +Mayo leaned over the rail, a baleful light in his eyes indicating what +his own opinions regarding this unknown detractor were, just then. + +"I'd like to know who this Lord Guess-so is--barking behind honest men's +backs!" + +"Mr. Fogg! That's him! Seems to know his business!" + +"Fogg?" + +"'Exactly!' That's his great word," explained the other, grinning. "Some +chap, too, with cigars and language!" + +"By the gods, now I know who chartered this tug!" he shouted. "What kind +of a fool am I getting to be?" + +He turned and ran toward the officers' quarters. He leaped into the main +passageway and explored headlong the staterooms. There was no sign of +his visitor. + +At that moment, in the tumult of his thoughts, he had only a glimmering +of an idea as to what might be the motive of the man's visit. But he +was certain, now, that a wretch who had deliberately wrecked a rival +steamer--if Candage's suspicions were correct--would do almost anything +else for money. + +A narrow companionway with brass rails led below to the crew's quarters. +Mayo, coming to the head of it, saw the man hurrying to its foot. The +captain grasped the rails and slid down with one swoop. + +"What in the devil's name are you doing?" he gasped. + +The intruder grabbed him and threw him to one side, and started up the +companionway. He had dropped the suit-case to seize Mayo, and it bounced +in a way to show that it was empty. + +Mayo leaped and grasped the other's legs as he was mounting. The man +kicked him ferociously in the breast before the attacker managed to +pinion the legs in his arms. They went down together, rolling over and +over. + +The stranger was stocky and strong, his muscles toughened by a sailor's +activities. Moreover, he seemed to be animated by something more than a +mere grudge or desire to defend himself; he fought with frenzy, beating +his fists into Mayo's face and sides as they rolled. Then he began to +shout. He fairly screamed, struggling to release himself. + +But his assailant was just as tough and just as desperate, and he had +a younger man's superior agility. The other had forced the fight. Mayo +proposed to hang to him until he discovered the meaning of this peculiar +ferocity. + +He flipped across his prisoner, clutched him by both ears, and rapped +the man's head so smartly on the deck planks that his victim relaxed, +half unconscious. + +Then he opened staring eyes. "Let me go! Let me go! I quit. Run for it. +Let me run. We're goners!" he squalled. + +"Run? Why?" demanded the victor. + +"Dynamite! I've planted it. The fuse is going." + +"Where is it?" + +"Below--somewhere. I've forgot. I, can't remember. My mind is gone. I'm +too scared to think. Run!" + +Mayo jumped up and yanked the man to his feet. "Take me to it!" he +shouted. + +"There ain't time. I guessed at the fuse--it may burn quicker than I +reckoned." + +The young man drove his fist into the other's face and knocked him down. +Then he jerked him upright again. + +"Take me where you've planted that dynamite or we'll stay here and go up +together. And now you know I mean what I say." + +The last blow had cowed his man; he raised his fist again. + +The visitor leaped away from him and ran along the lower deck, Mayo +at his heels. He led the way aft. In the gloom of betweendecks there +gleamed a red spark. Mayo rushed to it, whipped off his cap, and snuffed +the baleful glow. When he was sure that the fuse was dead he heard his +man scrambling up the companion ladder. He pursued and caught the quarry +as he gained the upper deck, and buffeted the man about the ears and +forced him into a stateroom. + +"This means state prison for you! You were guilty of barratry before, +and you know it! How did you dare to try this last trick?" + +"I had my orders." + +"Orders from what man?" + +"No matter. You needn't ask. I won't tell." The stranger was sullen, and +had recovered some of his assurance, now that his fear of the dynamite +was removed. + +"You're a lunatic. You ought to have known you couldn't pull off a thing +of this kind." + +"I don't know about that! It was working pretty slick. If she had split +and gone off these ledges, you couldn't have proved anything special. +I've got good backing. You better let me go." + +Mayo glared at him, deprived of speech by this effrontrery. + +"You'd better come over with the big fellows," advised the man. "I can +tell you right now that every hole in Limeport has been plugged against +you. You can't hire equipment there, or get a cent's credit. It has all +been nicely attended to. You're here fooling with a dead duck. You'd be +better off if that dynamite had been let alone to split her." + +The entire uselessness of words in a situation like this, the inadequacy +of speech to meet such brazen boldness, checked Mayo's oath-peppered +anathema. He pulled the key from the stateroom door and menaced the +prisoner with his fist when the man started to follow him out. + +"You don't dare to keep me aboard here! Take warning by what they have +already done to you, Mayo! I'm sure of my backing." + +"You'll have a chance to use it!" retorted the young man. He dodged out +and locked the stateroom door. + +"Your passenger is not going back with you, sir," he called down over +the rail to the towboat captain. + +"I take my orders from him." + +"You are taking them from me now. Cast off!". + +"Look here--" + +"I mean what I say, sir. That man you brought out here is going to stay +till I can put him into the hands of the police." + +"What has he done?" + +"The less you know about the matter the better it will be for yourself +and your boat! You tell the man who chartered your tug--" + +"You have him aboard, there!" + +Mayo looked straight into the towboat man's eyes. + +"You tell Mr. Fogg, who chartered your tug, that I have his man under +lock and key and that the more riot he starts over the matter the better +I will be satisfied. And don't bring any more passengers out here unless +they are police officers." Then he roared in his master-mariner tones: +"Cast off your lines, sir. You know what the admiralty law is!" + +The captain nodded, closed his pilot-house window, and clanged his bell. +Mayo knew by his mystified air that he was not wholly in the confidence +of his passenger and his employer. + +This bungling, barefaced attempt to destroy the steamer touched Mayo's +pride as deeply as it stirred his wrath. Fogg evidently viewed the +pretensions of the new ownership with contempt. He must have belief in +his own power to ruin and to escape consequences, pondered the young +man. He had put Mayo and his humble associates on the plane of the +ordinary piratical wreckers of the coast-men who grabbed without law or +right, who must be prepared to fight other pirates of the same ilk, and +whose affairs could have no standing in a court of law. + +Even more disquieting were the statements that the avenues of credit +ashore had been closed. Malicious assertions could ruin the project more +effectually than could dynamite. But now that the _Conomo_ had withstood +the battering of a gale and bulked large on the reef, a visible pledge +of value, it did seem that Captain Candage must be able to find somebody +who would back them. + +For two days Mayo waited with much impatience, he and his men doing such +preliminary work as offered itself. + +He expected that Fogg would send a relief expedition, but his +apprehensions bore no fruit. His prisoner was sourly reticent and by the +few words he did drop seemed to console himself with the certainty that +retribution awaited Mayo. + +On the third day came the schooner. She came listlessly, under a +light wind, and her limp sails seemed to express discouragement and +disappointment. Mayo, gazing across to her as she approached, received +that impression, in spite of his hopes. He got a glimpse of Captain +Candage's face as he came to the steamer's side in his dory, and his +fears were confirmed. + +"'Tain't no use," was the skipper's laconic report as he swung up the +ladder. + +"You mean to say you didn't get a rise out of anybody?" + +"Nothing doing nowhere. There's a fat man named Fogg in Limeport, and he +is spreading talk that we 'ain't got law or prospects. Got a few men to +listen to me, but they shooed me off when they found that we wouldn't +take 'em in and give 'em all the profits. Went to Maquoit and tried to +get Deacon Rowley into the thing--and when I go and beg favors of Deacon +Rowley, you can imagine how desperate I am. He's a cash-down fellow--you +have found that out." + +"But couldn't you show him that this is the best gamble on the coast?" + +"He ain't a gambler; he's a sure-thing operator. And when he knew that +we had put in all our cash, he threatened to take the schooner away from +us unless we go back to fishing and 'be sensible'--that's the way he put +it. So then him and me had that postponed row." + +"But look at her," pleaded Mayo, waving his hand, "Ice off her, sound in +all her rivets after her beating. If we could get the right men out here +now--" + +"I ain't confident, myself, no more," stated Captain Candage, running +an eye of disfavor over their property. "If ye get out here away from +level-headed business men and dream about what might happen, you can +fool yourself. I can see how it is with you. But I've been ashore, and +I've got it put to me good and plenty. I did think of one way of getting +some money, but I come to my senses and give it up." + +"Getting money--how?" + +"No matter. I'd cut off both hands before I'd let them hands take that +money for a desp'rit thing like this. Let's sell her for scrap to +the first man who'll take her--and then mind our own business and go +fishing." + +"Will you take your turn aboard here and let me go ashore?" + +"There ain't no sense in us wasting more time." + +"I've done my trick here, Captain Candage, and it has been a good one. +I only ask you to take your trick, as a shipmate should. Keep a dozen of +the men here with you. There's plenty of grub. Stand off all comers till +I get back." + +"What are you going to do?" + +"Make a man's try, sir, before I let 'em dump us. We can always go +fishing. But there's only one_ Conomo_." + +"I'll stay. It's only fair to you to have your chance ashore. And I've +got an almighty good rifle aboard that schooner," stated the skipper. +"Send it to me by one of the men." + +"You may need it," stated Captain Mayo, with grim set to his jaw. "You +come with me. I want to show you a bird that flew aboard here the other +day." + +Outside the stateroom door he halted Captain Candage, who was following +on his heels, taking Mayo's statement literally, and showing only mild +interest. + +"Captain Candage, your man, Art Simpson, is in this stateroom. He came +out here on a tug with a bag of dynamite, and intended to blow up this +wreck." + +"Gawd-a-mighty, ain't they going to stop at anything?" croaked the old +skipper. + +"It's about time for us to find out how much of this is reckless +devilishness on the part of hired men and how much the big men really +know of what is being done on this coast, sir. And that's why I'm +holding this man Simpson." + +"Let me at him!" pleaded Candage. "I'll crack his shell for him! I'll +get at his meat!" + +Mayo unlocked the door and walked in. + +"Simpson, you--" bawled the old skipper, and then halted in confusion, +his mouth wide open. + +"This ain't Art Simpson!" he declared, after amazed survey of the +glowering stranger. "Who be ye?" + +"None of your infernal business! When you do know who I am you'll +discover that you have a tough proposition on your hands." + +"We realize that already, without knowing your name," retorted Mayo. + +"I'm not worrying; it's for you to do the worrying! I have given you +your warning! Now take what's coming to you from the men who are behind +me." + +"What's your name--that's what I've asked you?" demanded Candage. + +"None of your business--that's what I have told you." + +"We'll get some light on that subject after I have you on shore," said +Mayo. "Come on! You're going!" + +"Sooner the better!" agreed the stranger. "I'll relish seeing you get +yours!" + +Mayo wasted no time. He sent his prisoner down the ladder to the dory +ahead of him, and put out his hand to the old skipper. + +"If I can't do better I'll take that devil, whoever he is, by the heels, +and bat out the brains of the other pirates." + +"I reckon that they'll back down when they, see that you've caught him +foul," stated the skipper, consolingly. "I've got a lot of confidence +in your grit, sir. But I must say it's a terrible tricky gang we're up +against, so it seems to me." + +"This may be just the right string for us to pull," returned Mayo; +"there's no pleading with them, but we may be able to scare 'em." + +"I'm afraid I'm too much inclined to look on the dark side," confessed +Captain Candage. "You're going to find 'em all agin' ye ashore, sir. +But the last words my Polly tells me to say to you was to keep up your +courage and not to mind my growling. She thinks We have got a sure thing +here--and that shows how little a girl knows about men's work!" + +And yet, that one little message of good cheer from the main so +comforted Mayo that he went on his way with the whimsical thought that +girls who knew just the right time to give a pat and bestow a smile did +understand man's work mighty well. + + + + +XXVIII ~ GIRL'S HELP AND MAN'S WORK + + We know the tricks of wind and tide + That make and mean disaster, + And balk 'em, too, the Wren and me, + Off on the Old Man's Pastur'. + Day out and in the blackfish there + Go wabbling out and under, + And nights we watch the coasters creep + From light to light in yonder. + --The Skipper. + +It was the period of January calms--that lull between the tempest +ravings of the equinoxes, and the _Ethel and May_ made slow time of it +on her return to the main. In Mayo's mood of anxious impatience, hope in +his affairs was as baffling as the winds in the little schooner's sails. + +His passenger sat on the rail and gave the pacing captain occasional +glances in which irony and sullenness were mingled. + +"So you're going to put me into court, eh?" he inquired, when at last +they drifted past the end of the breakwater at Limeport. "Well, that +will give you a good excuse for throwing up your work on that wreck." + +Mayo kept on walking and did not reply. He had been pondering on the +question of what to do with this new "elephant" on his hands. In a way, +this stranger was an unwieldy proposition to handle in conjunction with +the problem of the _Conomo_. + +"Just understand that I don't give a hoot in a scuttlebutt if you do +turn me over to the police," pursued the man. "I'm going to be taken +care of. So will you! You'll be tied up! Courts like to have chief +witnesses attend strictly to the job." + +The young man had only a sailor's vague knowledge of the procedure of +courts of law; but that knowledge and considerable hearsay had convinced +him that law was lagging, exacting, and overbearing. + +All his time, his best efforts, his presence were needed in the gigantic +task he had undertaken at Razee. To allow himself to be mired in a law +scrape together with this person, even in criminal prosecution of the +man, surely meant delay, along with repeated interruption of his work, +if not its abandonment for a time. + +"Where's your boss?" he demanded, stopping in front of the prisoner. + +"Name, please?" + +"Don't try to bluff me. Fogg, I mean!" + +"You'll probably find Mr. Fogg at the Nicholas Hotel." + +"I'm going to walk you up there. If you try to run away--" + +"Run your Aunt Huldah! Piff, son! Now you're showing sense. Take me to +Mr. Fogg. You'll be shown a few things." + +They had no difficulty in finding Mr. Fogg. He was in front of the fire +in the office of the Nicholas, toasting his back and warming his slowly +fanning palms, and talking to a group of men. + +He affected non-recognition of Mayo when the young man asked, brusquely, +if he might see him in private. + +"Certainly, sir. And your friend?" + +"Yes." + +The stranger, following up the stairs with Mayo, nudged his companion. + +"He's a wonder! 'And your friend?'" he quoted with a chuckle. "No coarse +work about that!" + +Mayo had firmly decided in his mind that his present business was the +only matter he would discuss with Fletcher Fogg. Even though the just +wrath of an innocent man, ruined and persecuted, prompted him to assail +this smug trickster with tongue, and even with fists, he bound himself +by mental promise to wait until he had proofs other than vague words and +his own convictions. + +"And now--" invited Fogg, when he had closed the door of his room, +waiting tmtil his callers had entered. + +"Yes, _now!_" blurted Captain Mayo. "Not _then_, Mr. Fogg! We'll have +that settled later, when I make you pay for what you did to me. This +man here, you know him, of course! He tried to dynamite the _Conomo_. +I caught him in the act. He is your man. He has made his boasts that he +would be protected." + +Mr. Fogg turned a cold stare upon the man's appreciative grin. + +"I never saw this person before, sir." + +"I know better!" Mayo leaped to a conclusion, and bluffed. "I can prove +by men here in this city that you have been talking with him." + +"He may have been one of the persons who came to me asking for work on +the wreck, providing my concern decided to salvage. But we concluded +not to undertake the work, and I paid no attention to him. As far as any +memory of mine is concerned, I never saw him before, I say." + +"You don't represent any salvage company," insisted Mayo. "You have come +here to interfere with anybody who tries to salvage that steamer." + +"What is your business with me, sir? Get somewhere!" + +"I have come to show you this man. If you'll keep your hands off my +affairs, shut your mouth, and stop telling men here that the plan to +salvage is hopeless, I'll turn this man over to you. You know what I +ought to do to you right here and now, Fogg," he cried, savagely. "But +I'm not going to bother--not now. I'm here to trade with you on this one +matter." + +"I'm not interested." + +"Then I shall take this man to the police station and lodge my +complaint. When criminal prosecution starts you'll see what happens to +you." + +"Go as far as you like," consented Mr. Fogg, listlessly. "You can't make +me responsible for the acts of a person I don't know from Adam." + +"Is that your last word?" + +"Of course it is!" snapped the promoter. "You must be a lunatic to think +anything else." + +"Very well. May I use your telephone to call the police?" + +"Certainly." Mr. Fogg lighted a cigar and picked up a newspaper. + +"Just a moment before you use that 'phone," objected the third member +of the party. "I want an understanding. You please step out of the room, +Mayo." + +"Stay where you are," commanded Fogg. "I'll give no chance for any +underhand work." He scowled when the prisoner winked at him. "This looks +to me like a put-up job between you two." + +"There's nothing put up between us," declared the man. "There'd better +be something put up between _you_ two. The thing can go about so far, +where I'm concerned, and no farther. I want an understanding, I say!" + +Fogg slapped open the pages of his newspaper. + +"I have made my talk," said Mayo. + +"By gad, I'm not going to jail--not for anybody!" + +Fogg removed his eye-glasses and gave the man a full, unblinking stare. + +"Did you try to dynamite that wreck?" + +"Is that orders--orders to talk right out?" + +"Orders? I don't know what you mean, sir. I have asked you a plain +question." + +"And you want an answer?" + +"Naturally." + +"What I tried to do didn't work--he was too quick for me. There, now, +get together! He has made you a fair offer, Mr. Fogg. There's no need of +my going to jail. I won't go!" + +"You ought to go, for what you did!" commented Fogg, dryly. + +"No, for what he didn't do--from your standpoint," suggested Captain +Mayo. + +"And you have been boasting, eh?" Fogg kept up his disconcerting stare, +with fishy eyes. + +"I ain't going to let men walk over me and wipe their feet on me when +I'm obeying orders." + +"Orders from whom, sir?" + +"Condemn it all, orders from men who can protect me by saying one word! +I ain't going to stand all this riddle-come-ree business! Flat down, +now, Mr. Fogg, what say?" + +"Not a word! If what this fellow says is true, you ought to be in jail." + +"The advice is good. He'll be there very soon," declared Mayo, starting +for the telephone. Fogg replaced his eye-glasses and began to read. + +"I'm ready to blow up!" warned the man. He hurried across the room and +guarded the telephone with outspread arms. + +"Both of you will be sorry if the police are called," he cried. To Mayo, +who was close to him, he mumbled, "Damn him, if he dumps me like this +you're going to be the winner!" + +There was so much reality in the man's rancor that Mayo was impressed +and seized upon the idea which came to him. + +"We'll test your friend," he whispered, clutching the man, and making +pretense of a struggle. "I'll fake a call. Keep wrestling." + +Fogg gave only indifferent attention to the affair in the corner of the +room. + +With one hand holding down the receiver-arm Mayo called; he was +pushed about violently, but managed to say: "Desk? Call police to +hotel--lobby--at once!" + +"Mr. Fogg," pleaded the man, giving Mayo an understanding nudge with his +elbow, "ain't you going to give me a chance for a private talk?" + +"If you ever speak to me or try to see me again I'll have you arrested." + +"But you're dumping me." + +"Get out of this room, both of you! I don't want the police up here." + +Mayo clapped hand on his prisoner's shoulder and pushed him out. + +"Go down-stairs slow," protested the man. "He is bound to come out and +call me back! He's got to! He doesn't dare to dump me!" + +"He dares to do anything," stated Mayo, bitterly, "including what he +did to me and the _Montana_. I suppose you read about it--everybody else +did." + +They walked leisurely, but Mr. Fogg's door remained closed. They waited +in the office of the hotel. He did not appear. + +"By Judas!" rasped the man, "another two-spot torn up and thrown into +the discard along with you! And I helped 'em do it to you! I'm coming +across, Mayo! That telephone business was a mighty friendly trick to +help me force him. I appreciate it! I was on board the _Montana_ that +night you and she got yours! My name is Burkett--Oliver. I was there, +though you didn't see me." + +"I heard you were there, afterward," stated Captain Mayo, grimly. +"Captain Wass mentioned you!" + +"And probably didn't give me much of a reputation. I can't help that! +You needn't put one bit more trust in me, Captain Mayo, than you want +to. I don't ask you to have any respect for me. But I want to tell you +that when a man promises to back me and then turns round and dumps me +so as to cover his own tracks, he will get his if I'm able to hand it to +him! I'm generally dirty. I'm especially dirty in a case like that!" + +"If you show me any favors, Mr. Burkett, I suppose I'll have to depend +on your spite against Fogg instead of your affection for me. You see, +I'm perfectly frank. But I have been fooled too much to place any trust +in anybody." + +"I don't ask you to trust me. I know how the _Montana_ job was done. I'm +not going to tell you right now. I'm going to make sure that I have been +thrown down by Fogg. And if I have been--if he means it--I'm going to +use you so that I can get back at him, no matter how much it helps you. +I can be pretty frank myself, you understand!" + +They were silent and looked at each other. + +"Well?" inquired Burkett, sourly. + +"Well, what?" asked Mayo, with as little show of liking. + +"What about this police business--about your complaint against me?" + +"I'm not going to say anything about the case! You're free, as far as +I'm concerned. I am ashore here to make a raise of money or credit. I +can't spend any time in court, bothering with you." + +"I reckon you got your satisfaction out of that beating-up you gave me. +I rather began to like you after that," said Burkett, pulling one corner +of his mouth into a grin that was a grimace. "I'm going to stay at this +hotel." + +"Fogg will see that our affair just now was a bluff. He will have you +into camp once more." + +"You've got to take your chances on it, Mayo. What do you say?" + +"I'll take my chances." + +"By gad! sir, you're a square chap, and I'm not meeting many of that +sort in these days! Let this thing hang. Before you leave the city, slip +word to me here. I'll tell you the news!" + +With that understanding they parted. + +Three days later, acknowledging to himself that he was a thoroughly +beaten young man, Mayo walked into the Nicholas Hotel. He had been +unable to secure either encouragement, money, or credit. There were +parties who would back him in any attempt to junk the _Conomo_; but his +proposition to raise her with the aid of the tribe of Hue and Cry made +his project look like a huge joke and stirred hearty amusement all +along the water-front. Everywhere he found proof of Fogg's neat work of +discouragement. If a real salvaging company had turned the scheme down +as impracticable, how could penniless amateurs hope? It was conceded +in business and financial circles that they hoped because they were +amateurs. + +Mayo's outlook on his own strictly personal affairs was as dismal as +his view of the Razee project in which his associates were concerned. He +went to the hotel merely because he had promised Burkett that he would +notify that modern buccaneer regarding any intended departure. He +despondently reflected that if Fogg and Burkett had agreed again, the +combination against him still existed. If they were persistently on the +outs, Burkett was merely a discredited agent whose word, without proofs, +could be as easily brushed away as his connection with Fogg in the' +matter of the _Conomo_. In fact, so Mayo pondered, he might find +association with Burkett dangerous, because demands for consideration +can be twisted into semblance of blackmail by able lawyers. He +entertained so few hopes in regard to any assistance from Burkett that +he was rather relieved to discover that the man was no longer a guest at +the hotel. + +"Has he left town?" + +"I suppose there's no secret about the thing," explained the clerk. "Mr. +Fogg had the man arrested yesterday, for threatening words and actions. +Something of that sort. Anyway, he is in jail and must give bonds to +keep the peace." + +Mayo's flagging interest in the possibilities of Burkett as an aid in +his affairs was a bit quickened by that piece of news, and he hurried +up to the jail. If ever a captured and fractious bird of passage was +beating wings against his cage's bars in fury and despair, Mr. Burkett +was doing it with vigor. Mayo, admitted as a friend who might aid +in quelling the disturbance that was making the deafened jailers and +noise-maddened prisoners regret the presence of Mr. Burkett, found the +man clinging to the iron rods and kicking his foot against them. + +"It's the last thing he did before he left town, this what he has done +to me. I can't give bonds. I don't know anybody in this city," raved the +prisoner. + +"I'm afraid that I don't know the folks here very well, judging from my +experiences trying to raise money," stated Captain Mayo, after he had +quieted Burkett. "But I'll go out and see what I can do." + +After some pleading he induced a fish wholesaler to go to the jail with +him and inspect Burkett as a risk in the matter of bonds. Mr. Burkett, +being a man of guile, controlled his wrath and offered a presentable +guise of mildness. + +"But how am I going to know that he won't be hunting this enemy up as +soon as I give bonds?" asked the fishman. + +"Captain Mayo is tackling a job of wrecking, offcoast," said Burkett, +"and I'm out of work just now and will go with him. I'll be a safe risk, +all right, out there." + +"Does that go with you, Captain Mayo?" + +"Yes, sir." + +After the matter of bonds had been arranged before the commissioner, and +when Burkett walked down the street with Mayo, the latter stopped on a +corner. + +"I'll have to leave you here, Burkett. I'm going aboard the schooner. +We're sailing." + +"But how about your taking me?" + +"I was willing to help you lie that much, Burkett. I knew you did not +intend to go with me." + +"I don't want to put you in bad with anybody after this, Captain Mayo. +I need to keep away for a time where I won't be in danger of seeing +Fletcher Fogg. If I meet him while I'm frothing like this, I'll kill +him, even if it means the chair. Give me a lay aboard that steamer, no +matter how bad your prospects are, and I'll be square with you. +That's my man's word to you. I realize it isn't much of a word in your +estimation--but there are some promises I can keep. I propose to help +you get back at Fogg and his gang. That's reason enough for what I'm +doing," he pleaded, earnestly. "You ought to see that yourself. I'm just +as good a man with machinery as I am in the pilot-house. I won't set you +back any!" + +"All right, Mr. Burkett, come along," agreed Mayo, curtly, without +enthusiasm. + +There was a fair wind for their departure and Mayo headed the schooner +for Maquoit. The few words which Captain Candage had dropped in regard +to Rowley's state of mind worried Mayo. His little edifice of hope was +tottering to a fall, but the loss of the _Ethel and May_ meant the last +push and utter ruin. He decided that he was in honor bound to preserve +the schooner for the uses of the men of Hue and Cry, even if it meant +abandonment of the _Conomo_ and going back to fishing. Without that +craft they would be paupers once more. + +The _Ethel and May_ sneaked her way into Maquoit harbor--if a schooner +can be said to sneak. A breeze at nightfall fanned her along, and when +her killick went down, the rusty chain groaned querulously from her +hawse-hole. + +Mayo rowed ashore and toiled his way up the little street to the widow's +cottage. He was ashamed to meet Polly Candage--ashamed with the feelings +of a strong man who has put out every effort and has failed. But, +somehow, he wanted to feel that sisterly grip of her hand and look down +into those encouraging gray eyes. He remembered that in times past +she had soothed and stimulated him. This time he did not come to her +expecting to get new courage for further effort; he had exhausted all +resources, he told himself. But in his bitter humiliation he needed the +companionship of a true friend--yes, he felt, almost, that she was now +the only friend he had left. His experiences with those whom he had +before looked on as friends had made him feel that he stood alone. + +She came running to him in the little parlor, her hands outstretched and +her face alight. + +He felt at first sight of her, and his face flushed at thought of his +weakness, that he wanted to put his head on her shoulder and weep. + +"You poor boy, things have not been going well!" + +He choked, for the caress in her tones touched his heart. He patted her +hands, and she sat down beside him on the old haircloth sofa. + +"I've had a terrible week of it, Polly." + +Her sweet smile did not waver. The gray eyes stared straight into his. + +"I have talked to 'em till my mouth has been parched and my tongue sore, +and God knows my heart is sore. All they do is look at me and shake +their heads. I thought I had friends alongshore--men who believed in +me--men who would take my word and help me. I'll never be fooled again +by the fellows who pat you on the back in sunny weather, and won't lend +you an umbrella when it rains unless you'll leave your watch with 'em +for security. And speaking of the watch," he went on, smiling wistfully, +for her mere presence and her unspoken sympathy had begun to cheer +him, "reminds me why I'm here in Maquoit. Oh yes," he put in, hastily, +catching a queer look of disappointment on her face, "I did want to +see you. I looked forward to seeing you after all the others had turned +their backs on me. There's something wonderfully comforting in your +face, Polly, when you just look at me. You don't have to say a word." + +"I do thank you, Boyd." + +"I hear that Rowley is getting uneasy about his schooner--wants to +take it away from us. So I have sold my watch and all the other bits +of personal things I could turn into cash, and am here to give him the +money and tell him we're going back to fishing again." + +"You'll give up the steamer?" + +"Yes--and hopes and prospects and all. I've got to." + +"But if you could win!" + +"I'll stay down where I belong. I won't dream any more." + +"Don't give up." + +"There's nothing else to do. We poor devils need something besides our +bare hands." + +The girl struggled mightily with her next question, but he did not note +her emotions, for his elbows were on his knees and he was staring at the +rag carpet. + +"Will it cost a lot of money for what you want to do on the steamer?" + +"We may need a lot before we can do it all. But I have been sitting up +nights planning the thing, Polly. I have gone over and over it. When I +was on board the steamer waiting for your father, I examined her as best +I could.. If I had a little money, I could make a start, and after I +started, and could show the doubters what could be done, I could raise +more money then. I am sure of it. Of course the first investment is the +most dangerous gamble, and that's why everybody is shy. But I believe +my scheme would work, though I can't seem to get anybody else to believe +it." + +"Will I understand if you'll tell me?" + +"I'd get a diver's outfit and material, and build bulk-heads in her, +both sides of the hole in her bottom. Then I'd have an engine and pumps, +and show that I could get the water out of her, or enough of it so that +she'd float." + +"But the big hole, you wouldn't mend that?" + +"I think we could brace the bulkheads so that we could hold the water +out of both ends of her and let the main hole in her alone." + +"And she wouldn't sink?" + +He was patient with the girl's unwisdom in the ways of the sea. + +"Since you've been here at Maquoit, Polly, you have seen the +lobster-smacks with what they call 'wells' in them. All amidships is +full of water, you know--comes in through holes bored in the hull--fresh +sea-water that swashes in and out and keeps the lobsters alive till they +get to market. But the vessel is tight at both ends, and she floats. +Well, that's what I plan to do with the Conomo. With a few thousand +dollars I'm sure I can make enough of a start so I can show 'em the rest +can be done." He promptly lost the bit of enthusiasm he had shown while +he was explaining. He began his gloomy survey of the carpet once more. +"But it's no use. Nobody will listen to a man who wants to borrow money +on a wild hope." + +She was silent a long time, and gazed at him, and he did not realize +that he was the object of such intent regard. Several times she opened +her mouth and seemed about to address him eagerly, for her eyes were +brilliant and her cheeks were flushed. + +"I wish I had the money to lend you," she ventured, at last. + +"Oh, I wouldn't take it--not from a girl, Polly. No, indeed! This is +a gamble for men--not an investment for the widow and orphan," he +declared, smiling at her. "I believe in it; that's because I'm desperate +and need to win. It's for a big reason, Polly!" + +She turned her face away and grew pale. She flushed at his next words: + +"The biggest thing in the world to me is getting that steamer off Razee +and showing that infernal Marston and all his 'longcoast gang that I'm +no four-flusher. I've got it in for 'em!" + +He patted the hands she clasped on her knees, and he did not notice that +she was locking her fingers so tightly that they were almost bloodless. +He rose and started for the door. + +"I'll go and pacify Rowley to-night, and be ready for an early start." + +"Boyd," she pleaded, "will you do me a little favor?" + +"Most certainly, Polly." + +"Wait till to-morrow morning for your business with Mr. Rowley." + +"Why?" He looked at her with considerable surprise. + +"Because--well, because you are a bit unstrung, and are tired, and you +and he might have words, and you might not use your cool judgment if he +should be short with you. You know you are a little at odds with all the +world just now!" She spoke nervously and smiled wistfully. "I would be +sorry to have you quarrel with Mr. Rowley because--well, father is a +partner, and has already had words with him. Please wait till morning. +You must not lose the schooner!" + +"I'm too far down and out to dare to quarrel with Rowley, but I'll do as +you say, Polly. Good night." + +"You're a good boy to obey a girl's whim. Good night." + +The moment his foot was off the last step of the porch she hurried to +her room in the cottage and secured a little packet from her portfolio. + +She heard the thud of his dory oars as she walked down the street. She +was glad to know that he was safely out of the way. + +Rowley's dingy windows shed a dim blur upon the frosty night. It was +near time for him to close his store, and when she entered he was +turning out the loafers who had been cuddling close to his barrel stove. + +After a few moments of waiting the girl was alone with him. + +"No, I don't want to buy anything, Mr. Rowley. I need your help. I ask +you to help me to do a good deed." + +He pulled his spectacles to the end of his nose and stared at her +doubtfully and with curiosity. + +"If it's about the schooner, I'd rather do business with men-folks," he +said. + +"This is business that only you and I can do, and it must be a secret +between us. Will you please glance at this bank-book?" + +He licked a thin finger and turned the leaves. + +"Deposit of five thousand dollars and accrued interest," he observed, +resuming his inquisitive inspection of her animated countenance. + +"My mother's sister left me that legacy. It's all my little fortune, +sir. I want to loan that money to my father and Captain Mayo." + +"Well, go ahead, if you're fool enough to. I ain't your guardeen," +assented Deacon Rowley, holding the book out to her. "But I advise you +to keep your money. I know all about their foolishness." + +"My father wouldn't take it from me--and Captain Mayo wouldn't, either." + +"That shows they ain't rogues on top of being fools." + +"But I have faith that they can succeed and make a lot of money if they +get a start," she insisted. "I see you do not understand, sir, what I +need of you. I want you to lend them that money, just as if it came from +you. I'll give you the book and a writing, and you can draw it." + +"No, ma'am." + +"Won't you help a girl who needs help so much? You're a Christian man, +you say." + +"That's just why I can't lie about this money. I'll have to tell 'em I'm +lending it." + +"You will be lending it." + +"How's that, miss?" + +"For your trouble in the matter I'll let you collect the interest for +yourself at six per cent. Oh, Deacon Rowley, all you need to do is hand +over the money, and say you prefer not to talk about it. You're a smart +business man; you'll know what to say without speaking a falsehood. +You'll break my heart if you refuse. Think! You're only helping me +to help my own father. He has foolish notions about this. You can say +you'll let them have it for a year, and you'll get three hundred dollars +interest for your trouble." + +"I don't believe they'll ever make enough to pay the interest--much less +the principal." + +"Give them five thousand dollars and draw a year's interest for yourself +out of my interest that has accrued." + +"Say, how old be you?" + +"I'll be twenty-two in June." + +Deacon Rowley looked at her calculatingly, fingering his nose. + +"Being of age, you ought to know better, but being of age, you can +do what you want to with your own. Do you promise never to let on to +anybody about this?" + +"I do promise, solemnly." + +"Then you sign some papers when I get 'em drawn up, and I'll hand 'em +the money; but look-a-here, if I go chasing 'em with five thousand +dollars, I'll have 'em suspecting that I'm crazy, or something worse. It +ain't like Rufus Rowley to do a thing of this sort with his money." + +"I know it," she confessed, softening her frank agreement with an +ingenuous smile. "But Captain Mayo is coming to you to-morrow morning on +business about the schooner, and you can put the matter to him in some +way. Oh, I know you're so keen and smart you can do it without his +suspecting a thing." + +"I don't know whether you're complimenting me or sassing me, miss. But +I'll see it through, somehow." + +She signed the papers giving him power of attorney, left her bank-book +with him, and went away into the night, her face radiant. + +She threw a happy kiss at the dim anchor light which marked the location +of the _Ethel and May_ in the harbor. + +"I am helping you get the girl you love," she said, aloud. + +She went on toward the widow's cottage. Her head was erect, but there +were tears on her cheeks. + + + + +XXIX ~ THE TOILERS OF OLD RAZEE + + Hurrah! Hurrah! for Yankee wit. + Hurrah! Hurrah! for Cape Ann grit. + It's pluck and dash that's sure to win--"The _Horton's_ in! + The _Horton's_ in!" + --Old Locality. + +Polly Candage, covering her emotions with that mask of demureness +which nature lends to the weaker sex for their protection, received a +tumultuous Mayo next morning in the parlor of the cottage. + +"I don't know how it has happened. I don't understand it," he exploded. +"I didn't suppose anybody could blast money out of his pocket with +dynamite--your father said it couldn't be done. But Deacon Rowley has +loaned us five thousand dollars. Here's his check on the Limeport First +National. Only charges six per cent. I'm so weak it was all I could do +to walk up here." + +"What did he say to explain it?" inquired Polly, with maiden's curiosity +in learning to what extent of prevarication a deacon would go in order +to make three hundred dollars. + +"Wouldn't say much of anything. Handed out this check, said my +indorsement on it would be enough for a receipt, and said your father +and I could sign a joint note later--sometime--when he got around to +it. Have you heard any rumor that the old fellow is losing his mind? But +this check looks good!" + +"Well, I think he's been pondering on the matter since father was here. +In fact, Deacon Rowley has said a few things to me," said the girl, +meeting Mayo's gaze frankly. "Not much, of course, but something that +hinted he had a lot of confidence in both of you, seeing that you have +used him nicely in the other business he has done with you. Sometimes, +you know, these hard old Yankees take a liking to somebody and do things +all of a sudden." + +"This is sudden, all right enough," stated Mayo, scratching the serrated +edge of the check across his palm as if to make sure it was real and not +a shadow. "Yes, he told me not to mention the note to him till he said +something to us about it himself, and to keep quiet about the loan. +Didn't want others running to him with their schemes." + +"And if I were in your place," advised the girl, "I wouldn't tell father +where you got the money--not for a time. You know, he doesn't get along +so very well with Deacon Rowley--old folks sometimes do quarrel so--and +he might be worried, thinking the deacon had some scheme behind this. +But you don't think that way, do you?" + +"I have the money, and he hasn't asked me to sign any papers. There's no +come-back there, far as I can see," declared the young man. + +"Now what will you do?" + +"Rush for Limeport, hire equipment--for I've cash to pay in advance for +any leases--and get to that wreck and on to my job." + +"Simply tell father you raised the money--from a friend! If he is +worrying about anything, he doesn't work half as well. I'll ask God to +help and bless you every hour in the day." + +"Polly Candage," cried Mayo, taking her warm, plump hands, "there's +something about you that has put courage and grit and determination in +me ever since you patted my shoulder there in the old Polly. I have been +thinking it over a lot--I had time to think when I was out aboard that +steamer, waiting." + +"There's only one girl for you to think about," she chided. + +His face clouded. "And it's the kind of thinking that isn't healthy for +a man with a normal mind. Thank the Lord, I've got some real work to +think about now--and the cash to do that work with." He fondled his +pocket. + +She went with him to the wharf, and when the schooner slid to sea behind +Hue and Cry her white handkerchief gave him final salute and silent +God-speed. + +Captain Boyd Mayo, back in Limeport once more, was not the cowed, +apologetic, pleading suppliant who had solicited the water-front +machinists and ship-yard owners a few days before. He proffered +no checks for them to look askance at. He pulled a wallet that was +plethoric with new yellowbacks. He showed his money often, and with a +purpose. He drove sharp bargains while he held it in view. He received +offers of credit in places where before he had been denied. Such magic +does visible wealth exert in the dealings between men! + +He did not come across Fletcher Fogg in Limeport, and he was glad of +that. Somebody informed him that the magnate had gone back to New York. +It was manifest to Mayo that in his contempt Fogg had decided that the +salvaging of the _Conomo_ intact had been relegated to the storehouse of +dreams. His purpose would be suited if she were junked, so the young +man realized. Only the _Conomo_ afloat, a successful pioneer in new +transportation experiments alongcoast, would threaten his vested +interests. + +There had been wintry winds and intervening calms in the days since +Mayo had been prosecuting his projects ashore. But by word of mouth from +straying fishermen and captains of packets he had been assured that the +steamer still stuck on Razee. + +And when at last he was equipped he went forth from Limeport; he went +blithely, although he knew that a Titan's job faced him. He kept his own +counsel as to what he proposed to do with the steamer. He even allowed +the water-front gossips to guess, unchallenged, that he was going to +junk the wreck. He was not inviting more of that brazen hostility that +characterized the operations of Fogg and his hirelings. + +He was at the wheel of a husky lighter which he had chartered; the rest +of the crew he supplied from his own men. The lighter was driven by its +own power, and carried a good pump and a sturdy crane; its decks were +loaded high with coal. The schooner was now merely convoy. It was an +all-day trip to Razee, for the lighter was a slow and clumsy craft, but +when Mayo at last made fast to the side of the _Conomo_ and squealed a +shrill salute with the whistle, the joy he found in Captain Candage's +rubicund countenance made amends for anxiety and delay. + +"I knew you'd make a go of it, somehow," vouchsafed the old skipper. +"But who did you have to knock down in a dark place so as to steal his +money off'n him?" + +"That's private business till we get ready to pay it back, with six per +cent, interest," stated the young man, bluntly. + +"Oh, very well. So long as we've got it I don't care where you stole +it," returned Candage, with great serenity. "I simply know that you +didn't get it from skinflint Rowley, and that's comfort enough for me. +Let me tell you that we haven't been loafing on board here. We rigged +that taakul you see aloft, and jettisoned all the cargo we could get +at. It was all spoiled by the water. There's pretty free space for +operations 'midships. I've got out all her spare cable, and it's ready." + +"And you've done a good job there, sir. We've got to make this lighter +fast alongside in such a way that a blow won't wreck her against us. +Spring cables--plenty of them--and we are sailors enough to know how to +moor. But when I think of what amateurs we are in the rest of this job, +cold shivers run over me." + +"That Limeport water-front crowd got at you, too, hey?" + +"Captain Candage, I have watched men more or less in this life. It's +sometimes a mighty big handicap for a man to be too wise. While the +awfully wise man sits back and shakes his head and figures prospects and +says it can't be done, the fool rushes in, because he doesn't know any +better, and blunders the job through and wins out. Let's keep on being +fools, good and plenty, but keep busy just the same." + +And on that basis the rank amateurs of Razee proceeded with all the grit +that was in them. + +The men of Hue and Cry had plenty of muscle and little wit. They asked +no questions, they did not look forward gioomily to doubtful prospects. +The same philosophy, or lack of it, that had always made life full of +merry hope when their stomachs were filled, taking no thought of the +morrow, animated them now. Fate had given Mayo and his associate an +ideal crew for that parlous job. It was not a question of union hours +and stated wages; they worked all night just as cheerily as they worked +all day. + +An epic of the sea was lived there on Razee Reef during the weeks that +followed. + +The task which was wrought out would make a story in itself, far beyond +the confines of such a narrative as this must be. + +Bitter toil of many days often proved to be a sad mistake, for the men +who wrought there had more courage in endeavor than good understanding +of methods. + +Then, after disappointment, hope revived, for further effort avoided the +mistakes that had been so costly. + +The brunt of the toil, the duty of being pioneer, fell on Mayo. + +He donned a diving-suit and descended into the riven bowels of the wreck +and cleared the way for the others. + +On deck they built sections of bulkhead, and he went down and groped in +the murky water, and spiked the braces and set those sections and calked +the spaces between bulkhead and hull. + +There were storms that menaced their lighter and drove the little +schooner to sea in a welter of tempest. + +There were calms that cheered them with promise of spring. + +The schooner was the errand-boy that brought supplies and coal from the +main. But the men who went ashore refused to gossip on the water-front, +and the occasional craft that hove to in the vicinity of Razee were not +allowed to land inquisitive persons on the wreck. + +After many weeks the bulkheads were set and the pumps were started. +There were three crews for these pumps, and their clanking never ceased, +day or night. There was less water in the fore part; her bow was propped +high on the ledges. The progress here was encouraging. + +Aft, there were disasters. Three times the bulkhead crumpled under the +tremendous pressure of the sea, as soon as the pumps had relieved the +opposing pressure within the hull. Mayo, haggard, unkempt, unshorn, thin +with his vigils, stayed underwater in his diving-dress until he became +the wreck of a man. But at last they built a transverse section that +promised to hold. The pumps began to make gains on the water. As +the flood within was lowered and they could get at the bulkhead more +effectively from the inside, they kept adding to it and strengthening +it. + +And then came the need of more material and more equipment, for the +gigantic job of floating the steamer was still ahead of them. + +Mayo felt that he had proved his theory and was now in a position to +enlist the capital that would see them through. He could show a hull +that was sound except for the rent amidships--a hull from both ends of +which the trespassing sea was being evicted. With the money that would +furnish buoying lighters and tugs and the massive equipment for floating +her, he felt that he would be able to convert that helpless mass of junk +into a steamer once more--change scrap-iron into an active value of at +least one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. + +And when he and Captain Candage had arrived at that hopeful and earnest +belief, following days of tremulous watching of the work the pumps were +doing, the young man went again to the main on his momentous errand. + +As they sailed into Limeport, Mayo was a bit astonished to see green on +the sloping hills. He had been living in a waking dream of mighty toil +on Razee; he had almost forgotten that so many weeks had gone past. + +When he went ashore in his dory from the schooner, the balmy breath +of spring breathed out to him from budding gardens and the warm breeze +fanned his roughened cheeks. + +As he had forgotten that spring had come, so had he forgotten about his +personal appearance. He had rushed ashore from a man's job that was now +waiting for him to rush back to it. He did not realize that he looked +like a cave-man--resembled some shaggy, prehistoric human; his mind was +too full of his affairs on Razee. + +When Captain Mayo strode down the main street of Limeport, it troubled +him not a whit because folks gaped at him and turned to stare after him. +He had torn himself from his gigantic task for only one purpose, and +that idea filled his mind. + +He was ragged, his hands were swollen, purple, cut, and raw from his +diver's labors, his hair hung upon his collar, and a beard masked his +face. They who thronged the streets were taking advantage of the first +warm days to show their spring finery. The contrast of this rude figure +from the open sea was made all the more striking as he brushed through +the crowds. + +Here and there he bolted into offices where there were men he knew and +whom he hoped to interest. He had no fat wallet to exhibit to them this +time. He had only his empty, swollen hands and a wild, eager, stammering +story of what he expected to do. They stared at him, many of them +stupidly, some of them frankly incredulous, most of them without +particular interest. He looked like a man who had failed miserably; +there was nothing about him to suggest success. + +One man put the matter succinctly: "Look here, Mayo, if you came in +here, looking the way you do, and asked me for a quarter to buy a +meal with, I'd think it was perfectly natural, and would slip you the +quarter. But not ten thousand--you don't look the part." + +"What have my clothes got to do with it? I haven't time to think about +clothes. I can't wear a plug hat in a diving-suit. I've been working. +And I'm still on the job. The way I look ought to show you that I mean +business." + +But they turned him down. In half a dozen offices they listened and +shook their heads or curtly refused to look into the thing. He had not +come ashore to beg for assistance as if it were a favor. He had come +feeling certain that this time he had a valuable thing to offer. His +labors had racked his body, his nerves were on edge, his temper was +short. When they refused to help he cursed them and tore out. That they +allowed his personal appearance to influence their judgment stirred his +fury--it was so unjust to his self-sacrificing devotion to his task. + +He soon exhausted his circle of acquaintances, but the rebuffs made him +angry instead of despondent. Thrusting rudely past pedestrians who were +polite and sleek, he marched along the street, scowling. + +And then his eyes fell on a face that gave a fresh stir to all the +bitterness that was in him. + +He saw Fletcher Fogg standing outside the Nicholas Hotel. The day was +bland, the spring sun was warming, but it was evident that Mr. Fogg was +not basking contentedly; his countenance was fully as gloomy as that of +Captain Mayo, and he chewed on an unlighted cigar and spat snippets of +tobacco over the curb while he pondered. + +Mayo was not in a mood to reason with his passion. He had just been +battering his pride and persistence up against men whose manner +of refusal showed that they remembered what Fletcher Fogg had said +regarding the prospects of successful floating of the _Conomo_. There +stood the ponderous pirate, blocking Mayo's way on the sidewalk, just +as he had blocked the young man's prospects in life in the _Montana_ +affair--just as he had closed avenues of credit. Mayo bumped against him +and crowded him back across the sidewalk to the hotel's granite wall. He +put his two raw, swollen hands on Fogg's immaculate waistcoat and shoved +salt-stained, work-worn, and bearded face close. + +Even then the promoter did not seem to recognize Mayo. He blinked +apprehensively. He looked about as if he intended to summon help. + +"You don't seem to have your iron wishbone in your pocket this time," +growled the assailant. He jabbed his thumbs cruelly into Fogg's ribs. + +"Gad! You're--you're Captain Mayo! I'll be cursed if I knew you till you +spoke!" + +"I managed to hold myself in the last time you saw me, Fogg. I was +waiting. Now, damn you, I've got you!" + +He was making reference merely to the physical grip in which he held the +man. But Fogg seemed to find deeper significance in the words. + +"I know it, Mayo," he whined. "That's why I'm down here. I have been +wondering about the best way to get to you--to meet you right!" + +"You got to me all right, you infernal renegade!" + +"But, see here, Mayo, we can't talk this matter here on the street." + +"There isn't going to be any talking!" The meeting-up had been so +unexpected and Mayo's ire was so hasty that the young man had not taken +thought of what he intended to do. His impulse was to beat that fat face +into pulp. He had long before given up all hope that any appeal to Fogg +as a man would help. He expected no consideration, no restitution. + +"But there must be some talk. I'm here to make it. You have me foul! I +admit it. But listen to reason," he pleaded. "It isn't going to do you +any good to rave." + +"I'm going to mash your face for you! I'll take the consequences." + +"But after you do that, you still have got to talk turkey with me about +those papers." + +In spite of his fury, Mayo realized from Fogg's demeanor and his words +that mere fear of a whipping was not producing this humility; there was +a policeman on the corner. + +"Don't talk so loud," urged Fogg. "Come up to my room where we can be +private." + +Mayo hesitated, puzzled by his enemy's attitude. + +"It's a word from the Old Man himself. He ordered me down here. It's +from Marston!" whispered the promoter. "I'm in a devil of a hole all +around, Mayo." + +"Very well! I'll come. I can beat you up in your room more comfortably!" + +"I'm not afraid of the beating! I wish that was all there was to it," +muttered Fogg. He led the way into the hotel and Mayo followed, getting +a new grip on himself, conscious that there was some new crisis in his +affairs, scenting surrender of some sort in Fogg's astonishing humility. + +"Will you smoke?" asked Fogg, obsequiously, when they were in the hotel +room. + +"No!" He refused with venom. He saw himself in one of the long mirrors +and had not realized until then how unkempt and uncouth he was. He was +ill at ease when he sat down in a cushioned chair. For weeks he had been +accustomed to the rude makeshifts of shipboard. In temper and looks he +felt like a cave-man. + +"I'm in hopes that we can get together on some kind of a friendly +basis," entreated Fogg, humbly. "Simply fighting the thing over again +won't get us anywhere. I had to do certain things and I did them. You +spoke of my iron wishbone! Now about that _Montana_ matter--" + +"I don't want any rehearsal, Mr. Fogg. What's your business with me?" + +"It's hard to start unless I can feel that you'd listen to some +explanations and make some allowances. When a man works for Julius +Marston he has to forget himself and do--" + +"I have worked for Julius Marston!" + +"But not in the finance game, Mayo!" There was a tremble in the +promoter's voice. "Men are only shadows to him when it's a matter of big +finance. He gives his orders to have results produced. He doesn't stop +to think about the men concerned. It's the figures on his books he looks +at! He uses a man like he'd use a napkin at table!" + +"As you used me! You have had good training!" + +"Well, if the trick was passed on down, it's now being passed on up," +stated Fogg, despondently. "I'm the goat, right now. Can't you view me +personally in this matter?" + +"I don't want to. I would get up and use these fists on you, sore as +they are!" + +"I'm afraid it's going to be a tough matter for us to settle," sighed +the promoter. "I thought I had everything tied up in the usual way. Damn +it, if it wasn't for a woman being mixed into it, the thing would have +worked out all right!" He let his temper loose. "You can never reckon on +business when a woman sticks in her fingers! I don't care if you are in +love with Marston's daughter, Mayo! She is like a lot of other cursed +high-flier girls who have always had more time and money than is +good for them. She is Trouble swishing petticoats! And you must have +considerable of a mortgage on her, seeing that she has double-crossed +her own father in order to pull your chestnuts out of the fire!" + +Having not the least idea what Mr. Fogg was talking about, Mayo was +silent. + +"You're a cool one! I must hand it to you!" snapped the promoter. + +"You'd better leave the name of Miss Marston out of this business with +me, sir." + +"How in blazes can I leave it out, seeing what she has done?" + +And Mayo, not knowing what new outbreak had marked the activities of the +incomprehensible young lady, resumed his grim silence, his own interests +suggesting that watchful waiting would be his best policy. + +"Well, what are you going to say about the papers?" demanded Fogg. "We +may as well get down to cases!" + +"I'm not going to say anything." + +"You've got to say something, Mayo. This is too big a matter to fool +with. If you are reasonable, you can help me fix it up--and that will +help the girl. She's Mar-ston's daughter, all right, and her father +understands how erratic she is and makes allowances for her freaks. But +he can't stand for some things." + +At that moment curiosity was more ardent in Mayo than resentment, though +Fogg's tone in regard to Alma Marston did provoke the latter emotion. It +was evident that she had undertaken something in his behalf--had in some +manner sacrificed her father's interests and her own peace of mind in +order to assist the outcast. He wondered why he did not feel more joy +when he heard that news. He remembered her promise to him when they +parted, but he had erected no hopes on that promise. It had not consoled +him while he had been struggling with his problems. He was conscious +that his sentiments in regard to the whole affair were rather complex, +and he did not bother to analyze them; he sat tight and stared at Mr. +Fogg with non-committal blankness of expression. + +"Have you the papers with you?" + +"No!" He added, "Of course not!" + +"That's all right. It may be better, providing they are in a safe place. +Now see here, Mayo! I'm not going to work any bluffs with you. I can't, +under the circumstances. I don't know where Burkett went and--" + +"Burkett is with me on the _Conomo_. I'm not going to work any bluffs +with you, either, Fogg!" + +"I don't care where he is nor what he has told you. Any allegations from +regular liars and men who have been fired can be taken care of in court, +under the blackmail law. But in the case of those papers it's different. +I'm open and frank with you, Mayo. We have been betrayed from inside +the fort. Through some leak in the office that girl got hold of those +papers. I don't know what your sense of honor is in such matters. I'm +not here to appeal to it. Too much dirt has been done you to have that +argument have any special effect. I'm open and frank, I say!" He spread +his hands. "Probably she didn't half realize what she was doing! But now +that you have the papers, you realize!" + +Not by a flicker of an eyelid did Mayo betray his total ignorance of +what Fogg referred to. + +"I want to ask you, man to man," proceeded the emissary, "whether you +propose to use those papers simply for yourself--to get back--well--you +know!" He waved his hand. "Or are you going to slash right and left with +'em, for general revenge?" + +"I haven't decided." + +"It's a fair question I have asked. So far as you are concerned +in anything which may be in those papers--and that's mostly my own +reports--you will be squared and more, captain. You can have the +_Triton_ with a ten-years' contract as master, contract to be protected +by a bond, your pay two hundred and fifty dollars a month. Of course +that trade includes your reinstatement as a licensed master and the +dropping of all charges in the _Montana_ matter. There is no indictment, +and the witnesses will be taken care of, so that the matter will not +come up, providing you have enemies. This is man's talk, Mayo! You'll +have to admit it!" + +"There's another thing which must be admitted, Fogg! I have been +disgraced, hounded, and persecuted. The men along this coast, the most +of them, will always believe I made a mistake. You know what that means +to a shipmaster!" + +Mr. Fogg wiped the moisture off his cheeks with a purple handkerchief. + +"You were put in devilish wrong. I admit it. I went too far. That's +why Marston is making me the goat now. I shall be dumped if this matter +isn't straightened out between us!" + +"I was in this very room one day, Mr. Fogg, and saw how you dumped one +Burkett. You seemed to enjoy doing it. Why shouldn't I have a little +enjoyment of my own?" + +"I had to dump him. He was a fool. He had bragged. I had to protect +interests as well as myself. But you haven't anything to consider, right +now, but your own profit." + +"Is that so?" inquired Mayo, sardonically. "You seem to have me sized up +as one of these mild and forgiving angels." + +"Now, look here, Mayo, don't let any fool notions stand in the way of +your making good. It isn't sense; it isn't business! You have something +we want and we're willing to come across for it." + +"What other strings are hitched on?" asked the young man, feigning +intractability as his best resource in this puzzling affair. + +"Well, of course you give up that fool job you're working on. Quit being +a junkman!" + +"I'm not a junkman. We're going to float the Conomo." + +"Mayo, talk sense! That job can't be done!" + +"So you've been telling every outfitter and banking-man in this city, +Fogg! But now you are talking to a man who knows better. And let me say +something else to you. I'll do no business with the kind of a man you +have shown yourself to be." + +"Don't be a boy, Mayo. I'm here with full powers. We'll take that wreck +off your hands." + +"Want to kill her as she stands, do you?" + +"It's our business what we do with her after we pay our money," declared +Fogg, bridling. + +"There's something more than business--business with you--in this +matter." + +"Yes, I see there is! It's your childish revenge you're looking after. +I'll give you ten thousand dollars to divide among that bunch of +paupers. Send them along about their fishing, and be sensible." + +"It's no use for us to talk, Fogg. I see that you don't understand me at +all. You ought to know better than to ask me to sell out myself and my +partners." He rose and started for the door. + +"Partners--those paupers?" + +"They have frozen and sweat, worked and starved, with me out on Razee +Reef, Fogg. They are partners." + +"What's your lay? What are the writings?" insisted the promoter, +following Mayo. + +"Not the scratch of a pen. Only man's decency and honor. You and your +boss haven't got money enough to buy--There isn't anything to sell!" + +"But there are some things we can buy, if it has come to a matter of +blackmail," raged Fogg. "Are you cheap enough to trade on a foolish +girl's cursed butting into matters she didn't understand? You have been +pawing those papers over. You know what they mean!" + +Mayo turned and looked at the excited man. + +"They have nothing to do with you or your affairs, the most of those +papers," sputtered Fogg. "Mayo, be reasonable. We can't afford to have +our holding companies shown up. The syndicate can get by that infernal +Federal law if we work carefully." + +"Otherwise Marston and you and a few others might go to Atlanta, eh?" + +"It isn't too late to send you there." + +"You are worrying about those papers, are you?" + +"Of course I'm worrying about them! What do you suppose I'm down here +for?" + +"You keep on worrying, Mr. Fogg! Come on into the little corner of hell +where I have been for the last few months; the fire is fine!" + +He yanked open the door and slammed it behind him, shutting off the +promoter's frenzied appeals. + + + + +XXX ~ THE MATTER OP A MONOGRAM IN WAX + + O come list awhile and you soon shall hear. + By the rolling sea lived a maiden fair. + Her father followed the sum-muggling trade + Like a warlike he-ro, + Like a warlike he-ro that never was aff-er-aid! + --The Female Smuggler. + +Captain Mayo carried only doubts and discouragement back to the wreck on +Razee. His doubts were mostly concerned with the matter of the documents +which Mr. Fogg was seeking so insistently. Mayo himself had done a +little seeking. He inquired at the post-office, but there was no mail +for him. If no papers had been abstracted from the Marston archives, +if this affair were some new attempt at guile on the part of Fogg, the +promoter had certainly done a masterly bit of acting, Mayo told himself. +He determined to keep his own counsel and wait for developments. + +Two days later the developments arrived at Razee in the person of +Captain Zoradus Wass, who came a-visiting in a chartered motor-boat. He +climbed the ladder, greeted his _protege_ with sailor heartiness, and +went on a leisurely tour of inspection. + +"Something like a tinker's job on an iron kittle, son," he commented. +"You must have been born with some of the instincts of a plumber. Keep +on the way you're operating and you'll get her off." + +"I'll never get her off by operating as I am just now, Captain Wass. We +are standing still. No money, no credit, no grub. I made a raise of +five thousand and have spent it. I don't dare to go to the old skinflint +again." + +"Well, why not try the heiress?" inquired the old skipper. "You know I +have always advised you strong about the heiress." + +"Look here, Captain Wass, I don't want to hear any more jokes on that +subject," objected the young roan, curtly. + +"No joke to this," stated the captain, with serenity. "Let's step into +this stateroom." He led the way and locked the door. + +"There's no joke, son," he repeated, "and I don't like to have you show +any tartness in the matter. Seeing what friends we have been, I ain't +taking it very kindly because you have been so mighty close-mouthed. +I'm a man to be trusted. You made a mistake in not telling me. The thing +'most fell down between me and her!" + +He frowned reproachfully at the astonished Mayo. + +"She came expecting, of course, that I was about your closest friend, +and when I had to own up that you have never mentioned her to me she +thought she had made a mistake in me, and wasn't going to give me the +thing!" + +"What thing, and what are you talking about?" + +Captain Wass patted his coat pocket. + +"I convinced her, and it was lucky that I was able to, for it's a matter +where only a close and careful friend ought to be let in. But after this +you mustn't keep any secrets away from me if you expect me to help you. +However, you have shown that you can take good advice when I give it to +you. I advised you to grab Julius Marston's daughter and, by thunder! +you went and done it. Now--" + +Mayo impatiently interrupted. Captain Wass was drawling, with manifest +enjoyment of the part he was taking in this romance. + +"You have brought something for me, have you?" + +"She is a keen one, son," proceeded the captain, making no move to show +the object he was patting. "Hunted me up, remembering that I had you +with me on the old _Nequasset_, and put questions to me smart, I can +tell you! You ought to have been more confidential with me." + +"Captain Wass, I can't stand any more of this nonsense. If you have +anything for me, hand it over!" + +"I have taken pains for you, traveled down here, four or five hundred +miles, taking--" + +"Yes, taking your time for the trip and for this conversation," declared +Mayo, with temper. "I have been put in a mighty mean position by not +knowing you had these papers." + +"Safe and sure has always been my motto! And I had a little business of +my own to tend to on the way. I have been finding out how that fat Fogg +snapped himself in as general manager of the Vose line. Of course, it +was known well enough how he did it, but I have located the chap that +done it for him--that critter we took along as steward, you remember." + +In spite of his anxiety to get into his hands the parcel in the old +skipper's pocket, Mayo listened with interest to this information; it +related to his own affairs with Fogg. + +"I'm going to help the honest crowd in the Vose line management to tip +over that sale that was made, and when the right time comes I'll have +that white-livered clerk in the witness-box if I have to lug him there +by the ears. Now, Mayo, that girl didn't say what was in this packet." +He pulled out a small parcel which had been carefully tied with cords. +"She is in love with you, because she must be in love to go to so much +trouble in order to get word to you. If this is a love-letter, it's +a big one. Seems to be all paper! I have hefted it and felt of it +consid'able." + +He held it away from Mayo's eager reach and investigated still more with +prodding fingers. + +"Hope she isn't sending back your love-letters, son. But by the look she +had on her face when she was talking about you to me I didn't reckon she +was doing that. Well, here's comfort for you!" He placed the packet in +Mayo's hands. + +The parcel was sealed with three neat patches of wax, and on each blob +was imprinted the letters "A M" in a monogram. Mayo turned the packet +over and over. + +"If you want me to step out, not feeling as confidential toward me as +you used to, I'll do it," proffered Captain Wass, after a polite wait. + +"I'm not going to open this thing--not yet," declared the young man. +"That's for reasons of my own--quite private ones, sir." + +"But I'd just as soon step out." + +"No, sir. Your being here has nothing whatever to do with the matter." +He buttoned the packet into his coat pocket. He had little respect for +Fletcher Fogg's delicacy in any question of procedure; the promoter's +animus in the matter of those papers was clear. Nevertheless, the agent +had crystallized in bitter words an idea which was deterring Mayo: would +he take advantage of a girl's rash betrayal of her father? Somehow +those seals with her monogram made sacred precincts of the inside of the +packet; he touched them and withdrew his hand as if he were intruding at +the door which was closed upon family privacy. + +"I suppose you'd rather keep your mind wholly on straight business, +seeing what a bad position you're in," suggested Captain Wass. "Very +well, we'll put love-letters away and talk about something that's +sensible. It's too bad there isn't some tool we could have to pry open +that Vose line sell-out. The stockholders got cold feet and slid out +from under Vose after the _Montana_ was laid up." + +"What has been done with her?" + +"Nothing, up to now. Cashed in with the underwriters and are probably +using the money to play checkers with on Wall Street. Maybe they're +using her for a horrible example till they scare the rest of the +independents into the combination." + +"Have the underwriters sold?" + +"Yes. She has been bid in--probably by some tinder-strapper of the big +pirates. It's a wonder they let you get hold of this one." + +"They thought she was spoken for. When they found that she wasn't, they +sent Burkett out here to blow her up." + +Captain Wass was not astonished by that information. + +"Probably! All the talk which has been circulated says that you were +junking her. I didn't have any idea you were trying to save her." + +"We have been blocked by some busy talkers," admitted the young man. + +"It's too bad the other folks can't do some talking and have the facts +to back 'em up, son. Do you know what could be done if that syndicate +could be busted? The old Vose crowd would probably hitch up with the +Bee line folks. The Bee-liners are discouraged, but they haven't let +go their charter. You wouldn't have to worry, then, about getting your +money to finish this job, and you'd have a blamed quick market for this +steamer as soon as she was off this reef." + +The bulging packet seemed to press against Mayo's ribs, insistently +hinting at its power to help. + +"I am going back and have a talk with old man Vose about this steamer," +said Captain Wass. "Now, son, a last word. I don't want to pry into +any delicate matters. But I sort of smell a rat in those papers in your +pocket. When she took 'em out of her muff all I could smell was violet. +Do you think you've got anything about you that would help me--help +us--help yourself?" + +"No, sir; only what you see for yourself in this steamer's +possibilities." + +"Very well; then I'll do the best I can. But confound this girl business +when it's mixed into man's matters!" It was heartfelt echo of Mr. Fogg's +sentiments. + +Captain Wass departed on his chartered motor-boat, after eating some +of the boiled fish and potatoes which made up the humble fare of the +workers on Razee. + +Mayo based no hopes on the promised intervention of the old skipper. He +had been so thoroughly discouraged by all the callous interests on shore +that he felt sure his project was generally considered a failure. When +he was on shore himself the whole thing seemed to be more or less a +dream. {*} + + * When the steamer _Carolyn_ was wrecked on Metinic Rock a + few years ago a venturesome young man, without money or + experience in salvaging, managed to raise a few thousand + dollars, bought the steamer for $1,000 from a frightened + junk concern, and after many months of toil, during which he + was mocked at by experienced men, managed to float her. She + was sold recently for $180,000, and is now carrying cargoes + to Europe. + +They were reduced to extremities on board the _Conomo_. There was no +more coal for the lighter's engine, equipment was disabled, parts were +needed for worn machinery, Smut-nosed Dolph was pounding Hungryman's +tattoo on the bottom of the flour-barrel, trying to knock out enough +dust for another batch of biscuit. + +Mayo had kept his promise and had not confided to Captain Candage the +source of the loan which had enabled them to do what they had done. +After a few days of desperate consideration Mayo sailed on the _Ethel +and May_ for Maquoit. + +He avoided the eyes of the villagers as much as was possible; he landed +far down the beach from the house which was the refuge for the folks +from Hue and Cry. In his own heart he knew the reason for this slinking +approach: he did not want Polly Candage to see him in this plight. Her +trust had been so absolute! Her confidence in him so supreme! In his +mental distress he was not thinking of his rags or his physical +unsightliness. He went straight to the store of Deacon Rowley and his +looks startled that gentleman into some rather unscriptural +ejaculations. + +However, Deacon Rowley promptly recovered his presence of mind when Mayo +solicited an additional loan. The refusal was sharp and conclusive. + +"But you may as well follow your hand in the thing," insisted Mayo. +"That's why I have come to you. I hated to come, sir. I have tried all +other means. You can see how I have worked!" He spread his tortured +hands. "Come out and see for yourself!" + +"I don't like the water." + +"But you can see that we are going to succeed if we get more money. You +have five thousand in the project; you can't afford to drop where you +are." + +"I know what I can afford to do. I have always said, from the first, +that you'd never make a go of it." + +At this statement Mayo displayed true amazement. + +"But, confound it all, you lent us money! What do you mean by +crawfishing in this way?" + +Deacon Rowley was visibly embarrassed; he had dropped to this vitally +interested party a damaging admission of his real sentiments. + +"I mean that I ain't going to dump any more money in, now that you ain't +making good! I might have believed you the first time you came. I reckon +I must have. But you can't fool me again. No use to coax! Not another +cent." + +"Aren't you worried about how you're going to get back what you have +already lent?" demanded Mayo, with exasperation. + +"The Lord will provide," declared Deacon Rowley, devoutly. + +The young man stared at this amazing creditor, worked his jaws a few +moments wordlessly, found no speech adequate, and stamped out of the +store. He no longer dreaded to meet Polly Candage. He felt that he +needed to see her. He was seeking the comfort of sanity in that shore +world of incomprehensible lunacy; he had had experience with Polly +Candage's soothing calmness. + +She came out from her little school and controlled her emotions with +difficulty when she saw his piteous condition. + +"Let's walk where I can feel the comfort of green grass under my feet," +he pleaded; "that may seem real! Nothing else does!" + +By her matter-of-fact acceptance of him and his appearance and his mood +she calmed him as they walked along. + +"And even Rowley," he added, after his blunt confession of failure, "he +has just turned me down. He won't follow his five thousand with another +cent. The old rascal deserves to be cheated if we fail. He is telling +me that he always believed we would never make good in the job. Is he +crazy, or am I?" + +"Make all allowances for Deacon Rowley," she pleaded. "Keep away from +him. He is not a consoling man. But there must be some way for you, +Boyd. Let us think! You have been keeping too close to the thing--to +your work--and there are other places besides Limeport." + +"There's New York--and there's a way," he growled. + +"You must try every chance; it means so much to you!" + +"Is that your advice?" + +"Certainly, Boyd!" + +He stopped and pulled the sealed packet from his coat. In the stress of +his despair and resentment he was brutal rather than considerate. + +"There are papers in there with which I can club Julius Marston until +he squeals. I haven't seen them, but I know well enough what they are. I +can scare him into giving back all he has taken away from me. I can make +him give back a lot to other folks. And from those other folks I can get +money to finish our work on the _Conomo_. Look at the monogram on that +seal, Polly!" He pointed grimy finger and held the packet close. + +"From--Miss Marston?" she asked, tremulously. + +"Yes, Polly." + +"And she is helping you?" + +"I suppose she is trying to." + +"Well, it's what a girl should do when she loves a man," she returned. +But she did not look at him and her lips were white. + +"And you think I ought to use her help?" + +"Yes." She evidently realized that her tone was a mere quaver of assent, +for she repeated the word more firmly. + +"But these papers are not hers, Polly. She stole them--or somebody stole +them for her--from her own father," he went on, relentlessly. + +"She must love you very much, Boyd." + +They turned away from each other and gazed in opposite directions. He +was wondering, as he had through many agonized hours, just what motive +was influencing Alma Marston in those later days. With all his soul +he wanted to question Polly Candage--to get the light of her woman's +instinct on his troubled affairs; but the nature of the secret he was +hiding put effective stopper on his tongue. + +"Under those circumstances, no matter what kind of a sacrifice she has +made for you, you ought to accept it, Boyd." + +"I want to accept it; every impulse in me says to go in and grab. Polly, +hell-fire is blazing inside of me. I want to tear them down--the whole +of them. I do! You needn't jump! But if I use those papers which that +girl has stolen from her father I'll be a dirty whelp. You know it, and +I know it! Suppose you should tell me some secret about your own father +so I could use it to cheat him out of his share of our partnership? You +might mean all right, but after I had used it you would hate me! Now +wouldn't you?" + +"Perhaps--probably I wouldn't hate you," she stammered. "But I'd think +more of you if you--yes, I'm sure I'd think more of you if you didn't +take advantage of my foolishness." + +"That's it, exactly! Any man, if I told him about this situation, would +say that I'm a fool not to use every tool I can get hold of. But +you understand better! I'm glad I came to talk with you. I have been +dreadfully tempted. Your advice is keeping me straight!" + +"I have not advised you, Boyd!" + +"You don't need to use words! It's your instinct telling me what is +right to do. You wouldn't think it was a square deal for me to use these +papers, would you?" + +"If you love her so much that you're willing to sacrifice yourself and +your work and--" + +"Say it, Polly! I'm sacrificing your father, too! It's for a notion--not +much else!" + +"No, it must be because you love her so much. You are afraid she will +think less of you if you take advantage of her. I think your stand is +noble, Boyd!" + +"I don't! I think it's infernal foolishness, and I wish the Mayo breed +didn't have so much of that cursed stiff-necked conscience! Our family +wouldn't be where it is to-day." He spoke with so much heat that she +turned-wondering eyes on him. + +"But it's for her sake, Boyd! It's--" + +"Nothing of the sort! That is, it isn't as you think it is." + +"I only think you love her." + +"I don't want you to say that--or believe it!" he raved. "If you only +knew--if I could tell you--you'd see that it's insulting my common sense +to say that I'm in love with Alma Marston. I don't love her! I--I don't +know just where I stand. I don't know what's the matter with me. I'm in +the most damnable position a man can be in. And I'm talking like a fool. +Isn't that so?" + +"I don't understand you," she faltered. + +"Of course you don't. I reckon I'm a lunatic. I'll be rolling over here +and biting the grass next!" + +His passion puzzled her. His flaming eyes, his rough beard, his rage, +and all the uncouth personality of him shocked her. + +"Boyd, what--whatever is the matter? I'm afraid." + +"I don't blame you. I'm afraid of myself these days!" He shook his +swollen fists over his head. + +"It ought to encourage you because she is trying to help you!" + +"Be still!" he roared. "You don't know what you're talking about. Help +me! There are women who can help a man--do help a man, every turn he +makes. There are other women who keep kicking him down into damnation +even when they think they are helping. I'm not going to stay here any +longer. I mustn't stay, Polly. I'll be saying things worse than what I +have said. What I said about women doesn't refer to you! You are true +and good, and I envy that man, whoever he is." + +He started down the slope toward the beach. + +"Are you going back to the wreck?" she asked, plaintively. + +"To the wreck!" + +"But wait!" She could not control either her feelings or her voice. + +"I can't wait. I don't dare to stay another minute!" + +She called again and he halted at a little distance and faced her. He +was absolutely savage in demeanor and tone. + +"Remember what I said about her! Don't insult my common sense! She +is--Oh, no matter!" He shook his fists again and went on his way. + +She stood on the hillside and watched him row out to the little +schooner. And through her tears she did not know whether he waved salute +to her with those poor, work-worn hands, or again shook his fists. He +made some sort of a flourish over the rail of the quarter-deck. The +grieving and mystified girl was somberly certain that his troubles had +touched Mayo's wits. + + + + +XXXI ~ THE BIG FELLOW HIMSELF + + Will had promised his Sue that this trip, if well ended, + Should coil up his ropes and he'd anchor on shore. + When his pockets were lined, why his life should be mended, + The laws he had broken he'd never break more. + --Will Watch. + +They needed food, lease-money for their hired equipment was due, and the +dependents at Maquoit must be looked after. + +Pride and hope had inspired the crew at Razee to salvage the _Conomo_ +intact. Material removed from her would immediately become junk to be +valued at junk prices, instead of being a valuable and active asset +on board. But there was no other resource in sight. No word came from +Captain Wass; and Mayo had put little confidence in that possibility, +anyway. + +There was nothing else to do--they must sell off something on which they +could realize quickly. + +In the estimation of many practical men this procedure would have been +a warrantable makeshift, its sole drawback being a sacrifice of values. +But to the captains on Razee it seemed like the beginning of complete +surrender; it was the first step toward the dismantling of the +steamship. It was making a junk-pile of her, and they confessed to +themselves that they would probably be obliged to keep on in the work of +destruction. In the past their bitterest toil had been spiced with the +hope of big achievement; the work they now set themselves to do was +melancholy drudgery. + +They brought the _Ethel and May_ alongside and loaded into her the +anchors, chains, spare cables, and several of the life-boats. Mayo took +charge of the expedition to the main. + +The little schooner, sagging low with her burden, wallowed up the harbor +of Limeport just before sunset, one afternoon. Early June was abroad +on the seas and the pioneer yachting cruisers had been coaxed to the +eastward; Mayo saw several fine craft anchored inside the breakwater +and paid little attention to them. He paced the narrow confines of his +quarter-deck and felt the same kind of shame a ruined man feels when he +is on his way to the pawnshop for the first time. He had his head down; +he hated to look forward at the telltale cargo of the schooner. + +"By ginger! here's an old friend of yours, this yacht!" called Mr. +Speed, who was at the wheel. + +They were making a reach across the harbor to an anchorage well up +toward the wharves, and were passing under the stern of a big yacht. +Mayo looked up. It was the _Olenia_. + +"But excuse me for calling it a friend, Captain Mayo," bawled the mate, +with open-water disregard of the possibilities of revelation in his +far-carrying voice. + +A man rose from a chair on the yacht's quarter-deck and came to the +rail. Though the schooner passed hardly a biscuit-toss away, the man +leveled marine glasses, evidently to make sure that what he had guessed, +after Mr. Speed's remark, was true. + +Mayo felt an impulse to turn his back, to dodge below. But he did +not retreat; he walked to his own humble rail and scowled up into the +countenance of Julius Mar-ston. The schooner was sluggish and the breeze +was light, and the two men had time for a prolonged interchange of +visual rancor. + +"I didn't mean to holler so loud, Captain Mayo," barked Oakum Otie, +in still more resonant manner, to offer apology. "But seeing her, and +remembering last time I laid eyes on her--" + +"Shut up!" commanded the master. "I'll take the wheel. Go forward and +clear cable, and stand by for the word!" + +He looked behind, in spite of himself, and saw that a motor-tender +had come away from the _Olenia_. It foamed along in the wake of +the schooner. It circled her after it had passed, and kept up those +manouvers until the schooner's anchor was let go. Then the tender came +to the side and stopped. The mate and engineer in her were new men; Mayo +did not know them. The mate tipped respectful salute and stated that Mr. +Marston had sent them to bring Captain Mayo on board the yacht at once. + +"My compliments to Mr. Marston. But I am not able to come." + +They went away, but returned in a short time, and the mate handed a note +over the rail. It was a curt statement, dictated and typewritten, that +Mr. Marston wished to see Captain Mayo on business connected with +the _Conomo_, and that if Captain Mayo were not able to transact that +business Mr. Marston would be obliged to hunt up some other party who +could do business regarding the _Conomo_. Remembering that he had the +interests of others to consider, Mayo dropped into the tender, sullen, +resentful, wondering what new test of his endurance was to be made, and +feeling peculiarly ill-equipped, in his present condition of courage and +temper, to meet Julius Marston. + +The latter had himself under full restraint when they met on the yacht's +quarter-deck, and Mayo was more fully conscious of his own inadequacy. + +"Below, if you please, captain." He led the way, even while he uttered +the invitation. + +No one was visible in the saloon. In the luxury of that interior the +unkempt visitor seemed especially strange, particularly out of place. + +"You will excuse what has seemed to be my hurry in getting you over +here, sir, but I take it that your sailing into this port just now +coincides with the arrival of the Vose crowd in this city to-day." + +Mr. Fletcher Fogg first, and now Mr. Fogg's employer, had given advance +information which anticipated Mayo's knowledge. The young man had been +having some special training in dissimulation, and he did not betray any +surprise. He bowed. + +"It's better for you to talk with me before you allow them to make a +fool of you. I am prepared to take that steamer off your hands, as +she stands, at a fair appraisal, and I will give bonds to assume all +expenses of the suit brought by the underwriters." + +"There has been no suit brought by the underwriters." + +Mr. Marston raised his eyebrows. "Oh! I must remember that you are +considerably out of the world. The underwriters make claim that the +vessel was not legally surrendered by them. Have you documents showing +release? If so, I'll be willing to pay you about double what otherwise I +shall feel like offering. Take a disputed title in an admiralty case and +it's touchy business." + +Mayo remembered the haphazard manner in which the steamer had been +transferred, and he did not reply. + +Marston's manner was that of calm, collected, cool business; his air +carried weight. More than ever did Mayo feel his own pitiful weakness in +these big affairs where more than honest hard work counted in the final +adjustment. + +"How much did you pay your big lawyers to stir up this suit by the +underwriters?" he blurted, and Marston's eyelids flicked, in spite of +his impassivity. There was instinct of the animal at bay, rather than +any knowledge, behind Mayo's question. + +"Why should you suggest that I have anything to do with such a suit?" + +"You seem almighty ready to assume all liability." + +"I'm not here to have childish disputes with you, sir. This is straight +business." + +"Very well. What do you want?" + +"Have you documents, as I have suggested?" + +"I have my bill of sale. I take it for granted that the folks who sold +to me are backed by papers from the underwriters." + +"That's where you are in error, unfortunately. You are all made party to +a suit. Time clause, actual abandonment, right of redemption--all +those matters are concerned. Of course, it means injunction and long +litigation. I suggested assuming liabilities and stepping in, because I +am backed by the best admiralty lawyers in New York. I repeat the offer +Mr. Fogg made to you." + +"You admit that Mr. Fogg made that offer for you or your interests, do +you?" + +"Well, yes!" admitted Marston. "We allow Mr. Fogg to act for us in a few +matters." + +"I am glad to know it. There has been so much cross-tag going on that I +have been a little doubtful!" + +"Kindly avoid sarcasm and temper, if you please! Do you care to accept +the offer?" + +Mayo glared at the financier, looking him up and down. Furious hatred +took away his power of sane consideration. He was in no mood to weigh +chances, either for himself or for his associates. He doubted +Marston's honesty of purpose. He knew how this man must feel toward +the presumptuous fool who had dared to look up at Alma Marston; he was +conscious that the magnate must be concealing some especial motive under +his cold exterior. + +Whether Marston was anticipating blackmail from Mayo's possession of the +documents or had hatched up ostensible litigation in order to force the +bothersome amateurs out of the _Conomo_ proposition, the young man could +not determine; either view of the situation was equally insulting to +those whom he made his antagonists. + +"Well!" snapped the magnate, plainly finding it difficult to restrain +his own violent hatred much longer in this interview. "Decide whether +you will have a little ready cash and a good position or whether you +will be kicked out entirely!" + +"I don't want your money! You're trying to cheat me with fake law +business even while you are offering me money! I don't want your job! I +have worked for you once. I'll never be your hired man again." + +"If I did not know that you have a better reason for standing out in +this fashion, I'd say that you have allowed, your spite to drive you +crazy, young man." + +"What is that better reason?" + +"Blackmail! You propose to trade on a theft." + +Mayo struggled for a moment with an impulse that was almost frantic; he +wanted to throw the packet in Mar-ston's face and tell him that he lied. +Again the young man felt that queer sense of helplessness; he knew that +he could not make Marston understand. + +"Mayo, I have tried to deal with you as if you were more or less of +a man. I was willing to admit that my agents had injured you by their +mistakes. I have offered a decent compromise. I have done what I hardly +ever do--bother with petty details like this!" + +That impulse to deliver the papers to Marston was then not so insistent; +even Mayo's rising anger did not prompt him to do that. The wreck of a +man's life and hopes dismissed flippantly as petty details! + +"Seeing that I am not able to deal with you on a business man's basis, I +shall handle you as I would handle any other thief." + +Mayo turned to leave, afraid of his own desperate desire to beat that +sneering mouth into shapelessness. + +At the head of the companionway stood half a dozen sailors, armed with +iron grate-bars. + +"If those papers are on you, I'm going to have them," stated the +financier. "If they are not on you, you'll be glad to tell me where they +are before I get done with you." + +The captive halted between the master and the vassals. + +"I'm going to crucify my feelings a little more, Mayo," stated Marston. +"Step forward here where those men can't hear. It's important." + +Marston knocked softly on a stateroom door and his daughter came forth. +She gasped when she saw this ragged visitor, and in her stare there was +real horror. + +"I haven't been able to sift this thing to the bottom. By facing you +two, as I'm doing, I may be able to get the truth of the case," said +Marston, with the air of a magistrate dealing with malefactors. "Now, +Alma, I'll allow you a minute or two to use your tongue on this fine +specimen before my men use their bars." + +"I heard what my father offered you. You must take it." + +"I have other men to consider--honest men, who have worked hard with +me." + +He trembled in their presence. Her appearance put sane thoughts out of +his head and choked the words in his throat. He saw himself in a mirror +and wondered if this were not a dream--if it had not been a dream that +she had ever loved him. + +He wanted to put out to her his mutilated hands which he was hiding +behind him. He yearned to explain to her the man's side of the case. He +wanted her to understand what he owed to the men who had risked their +lives to serve him, to make her realize the bond which exists between +men who have toiled and starved together. + +"You have yourself to consider, first of all. Much depends. In your +silly notions about a lot of paupers you are throwing my father's +kindness in his face!" + +He stammered, unable to frame coherent reply. + +"Be sensible. You have no right to put a heap of scrap-iron and a lot of +low creatures ahead of your personal interests." + +There was malice in Marston's eyes. He saw an opportunity to make Mayo's +position even more false in the opinion of the girl. + +"I'll be entirely frank, Mayo. In spite of our personal differences, I +want your services--I need them. I have found out that you're a young +man of determination and plenty of ability. I'll put you ahead fast if +you'll come over with me. But you must come clean. No strings on you +with that other crowd." + +"I can't sell 'em out. I won't do it," protested Mayo. He did not +exactly understand all the reasons for his obstinacy. But his instinct +told him that Julius Marston was not descending in this manner except +for powerful reasons, and that he was attempting to buy a traitor for +his uses. + +"How do you dare to turn against my father?" + +"I--I don't know! Something seems to be the matter with me." He wrenched +at his throat with his hand. + +"And after what I did--my wicked foolishness--those papers--" + +"Go on! I propose to get to the bottom of this thing," declared Marston. + +The young man drove his hand into his pocket, pulled out the sealed +packet, and forced it into the girl's hands. Marston promptly seized it. + +"You have not opened it?" + +"No, sir." + +"I did not open it, either," cried the girl. "I sealed it, just as it +was tied up." + +Marston ripped off the strings and the wax. + +Outside a loud voice was hailing the yacht. "Compliments of Captain Wass +to Captain Mayo, and will he please say when he is coming back aboard +his schooner?" + +The financier paid no attention; he was busy with the papers. His face +was white with rage. He threw them about him on the floor. + +"Every sheet is blank--it is waste-paper!" he shouted. "What confounded +trick is this?" + +"You'd better ask the man who gave that packet to your daughter," +suggested Mayo. He seemed to be less astonished than Marston and the +girl. "I might have known that your man, Bradish, would be that kind of +a sneak." + +"What do you know about Bradish being concerned in this?" + +"I'm guessing it. Probably your daughter can say." + +"I'll have no more of your evasions, Alma. I'm going to the bottom of +this matter now. Did Bradish give you this packet?" + +"Yes, father." + +"How did it get to this man here?" + +"I gave it to a man named Captain Wass." + +Again they heard the voice outside. "I don't care if he is busy! I tell +you to take word to Captain Mayo that he is wanted right away on his +schooner. Tell him it's Captain Wass." + +"The devil has sent that man along at about the right time," declared +Marston. He strode to the companion-way. "Inform Captain Wass that he is +wanted on board here! Hide those bars till he is below!" + +He came back, raging, and stood between Mayo and the girl, who had +seemed to find words inadequate during the short time they had been left +together. + +"I don't believe anything you tell me! There's an infernal trick, here. +The papers are missing. Somebody has them." + +His fury blinded his prudence. + +He strode toward Captain Wass when the old mariner came stumping down +the companionway. + +"Is your name Wass?" + +"Captain Wass, sir." + +"You took papers from my daughter and brought them to this man!" + +"Correct." + +Marston stepped back and kicked at the blank sheets on the floor. + +"Perhaps you can tell me if these are what you brought.". + +Captain Wass stared long at Mayo, at the girl, and at the incensed +magnate. Then he looked down at the scattered papers and scratched his +head with much deliberation. + +"Why don't you say something?" demanded Marston. + +"I'm naturally slow and cautious," stated Captain Wass. He put on his +spectacles, kneeled on the soft carpet, and examined the blank papers +and the broken seals. He laid them back on the carpet and meditated for +some time, still on his knees. When he looked up, peering over the edge +of his spectacles, he paid no attention to Mar-ston, to the latter's +indignant astonishment. + +"Vose and others are waiting for us at the hotel," he informed Captain +Mayo, "and it's important business, and we'd better be tending to it +instead of fooling around here." + +"No matter about any other business except this, sir," cried Marston. + +"There can't be much business mixed up in a lot of blank sheets of +paper," snapped Captain Wass. "What's the matter?" + +"I have lost valuable papers." + +The old skipper bent shrewd squint at the angry man who was standing +over him. "Steamer combination papers, hey?" + +"You seem to know pretty well." + +"Ought to know." + +"Why?" + +Captain Wass rose slowly, with grunts, and rubbed his stiff knees. +"Because I've got 'em." + +"Stole them from the package, did you?" + +"It wasn't stealing--it was business." + +"Hand them over." + +"I insist on that, too, Captain Wass," said Mayo, with indignation. +"Hand over those papers." + +"Can't be done, for I haven't got 'em with me. And I won't hand 'em over +till I have used them in my business." + +"I shall have you arrested," announced Marston. + +"So do. Sooner the whole thing gets before the court, the better." His +perfect calmness had its effect on the financier. + +"What are you proposing to use those papers for?" + +"To make you pirates turn back the Vose line property and pay damages. +As to the rest of your combination, the critters that's in it can skin +their own skunks. I guess the whole thing will take care of itself after +we get the Vose line back." + +"You are asking for an impossibility. The matter cannot be arranged." + +"Then we'll see how far Uncle Sam can go in unscrambling that particular +nestful of eggs. I'll give the papers to the government." + +"Haven't you any influence with this man?" Marston asked the astounded +Mayo. + +"No, he hasn't--not a mite in this case," returned Captain Wass. "He +needs a guardeen in some things, and I'm serving as one just now." + +"You must get them from him--you must, Captain Mayo," cried the girl. "I +did not understand what I was doing." + +"I will get them." + +"I'd like to see you do it, son!" + +He turned on the Wall Street man. "I'm only asking for what is +rightfully due my own people. I'm a man of few words and just now I'm +sticking close to schedule. Until eleven o'clock to-night you'll find +Vose, myself, and our lawyers at the Nicholas Hotel. After eleven +o'clock we shall be in bed because we've got to get an early start for +the wreck out on Razee. We're going to finance that job. And in case we +don't come to terms with you tonight we shall use our club to keep you +out of our business after this. You know what the club is." + +Marston was too busily engaged with Captain Wass to pay heed to his +daughter. She went close to Mayo and whispered. + +"You must quit them, Boyd. It's for my sake. You must help my father. +They are wretches. Think of what it will mean to you if you can help us! +You will do it. Promise me!" + +He did not reply. + +"Do you dare to hesitate for one moment--when I ask you--for my sake?" + +"That's my last word," bawled Captain Wass. "There's no blackmail about +it--we're only taking back what's our own." + +"Are you one of those--creatures?" she asked, indignantly. + +If she had shown one spark of sympathy or real understanding in that +crisis of their affairs, if she had not been so much, in that moment, +the daughter of Julius Marston, counseling selfishness, he might have +fatuously continued to coddle his romance, in spite of all that had +preceded. But her eyes were hard. Her voice had the money-chink in it. +He started, like a man awakened. His old cap had fallen on the carpet. +He picked it up. + +"Good-by!" he said. "I have found out where I belong in this world." + +And in that unheroic fashion ended something which, so he then realized, +should never have been begun. He followed Captain Wass across the +saloon. + +"Better advise your buckos to be careful how they handle them +grate-bars," shouted Captain Wass. "I'm loaded, and if I'm joggled I'm +liable to explode." + +They were not molested when they left the yacht. The doryman who had +brought Captain Wass rowed them to the wharf. + +"Those papers--" Mayo had ventured, soon after they left the yacht's +side. + +"Not one word about 'em!" yelped the old skipper. "It's my +business--entire! When the time comes right I'll show you that it's my +private business. I never allow anybody to interfere in that." + +That night, after the conference at the hotel, and after Julius Marston, +growling profanity, had put his name to certain papers, drawn by careful +lawyers, Captain Wass explained why the matter of the sealed packet +was his private business. He took Marston apart from the others for the +purpose of explaining. + +"I haven't said one word to Vose or his associates about this business +of the documents. They think you have come because you wanted to +straighten out a low-down trick worked by an understrapper. So this has +put you in mighty well with the Vose crowd, sir." + +Marston grunted. + +"It ought to be kind of pleasing to have a few men think you are on the +square," pursued Captain Wass. + +"That's enough of this pillycock conversation. Hand over those papers!" + +"Just one moment!" He signaled to Captain Mayo, who came to them. "I'm +going to tell Mr. Marston why those documents were my especial business +to-day, and why you couldn't control me in the matter. I may as well +explain to the two of you at once. It was my own business for this +reason: I don't know anything about any papers. I never saw any. I +never opened that package. I handed it along just as it was given to me. +That's true, on my sacred word, Mr. Marston; and I haven't any reason +for lying to you--not after you have signed those agreements." + +"Come outside," urged the financier. "I want to tell you what I think of +you." + +"No," said the old skipper, mildly. "And I'd lower your voice, sir, if I +were you. These men here have a pretty good idea of you just now, and I +don't want you to spoil it." + +"You're a lying renegade!" + +"Oh no! I have only showed you that all the good bluffers are not +confined to Wall Street. There's one still loose there. Your man Bradish +probably had reasons for wanting to bluff your daughter--and save his +own skin. He'll probably hand your papers to you!" + +Marston swore and departed. + +"I laid out that course whilst I was down on my knees in his cabin, +sort of praying for a good lie in a time of desp'rit need," Captain +Wass confided to Mayo. "It wasn't bad, considering the way it has worked +out." + + + + +XXXII ~ A GIRL'S DEAR "BECAUSE!" + + Cheer up, Jack, bright smiles await you + From the fairest of the fair, + And her loving eyes will greet you + With kind welcomes everywhere. + Rolling home, rolling home, + Rolling home across the sea. + Rolling home to dear old England, + Rolling home, dear land, to thee! + --Rolling Home. + +There was no niggardliness in the trade the Vose folks made with Captain +Mayo. They contracted to co-operate with him and his men in floating the +steamship, repairing her in dry dock, and refitting her for her +route. She would be appraised as she stood after refitting, as a +going proposition, and Mayo was to receive stock to the amount of her +value--stock in the newly organized Vose line. + +"Furthermore," stated old man Vose, "we shall need a chap of just about +your gauge as manager. You have shown that you are able to do things." + +He was up on the _Conomo's_ deck after a long inspection of the work +which had been done under difficulties. + +"You would have had this steamer off with your own efforts if your money +had lasted. Your next job is the _Montana_; but you'll simply manage +that, Captain Mayo--use your head and save your muscle." + +"I'll get her off, seeing that I put her on." + +"We all know just how she was put on--and Marston will pay for it in his +hard coin." + +Under these circumstances Razee Reef was no longer a mourners' bench! +The dreary days of makeshift were at an end. + +The lighters of one of the biggest wrecking companies of the coast +hurried to Razee and flocked around the maimed steamer--Samaritans of +the sea. Gigantic equipment embraced her; great pumps gulped the water +from her; bolstered and supported, as a stricken man limps with his arms +across the shoulders of his friends, the steamer came off Razee Reef +with the first spring tide in July, and toiled off across the sea in +the wake of puffing tugs, and was shored up and safe at last in a dry +dock--the hospital of the crippled giants of the ocean. + +No music ever sounded as sweet to Captain Mayo as that clanging chorus +the hammers of the iron-workers played on the flanks of the _Conomo_. +But he tore himself away from that music, and went down to Maquoit along +with a vastly contented Captain Candage, who remembered now that he had +a daughter waiting for him. + +She had been apprised by letter of their success and of their coming. + +Maquoit made a celebration of that arrival of the _Ethel and May_, and +Dolph and Otie, cook and mate of the schooner, led the parade when the +men were on shore. + +They came back to their own with the full purses that the generosity of +their employers had provided, and there was no longer any doubt as to +the future of the men who once starved on Hue and Cry. + +Captain Mayo had declared that he knew where to find faithful workers +when it came time to distribute jobs. + +Polly Candage had come to him when he stepped foot on shore, hands +outstretched to him, and eyes alight. And when she put her hands in his +he knew, in his soul, that this was the greeting he had been waiting +for; her words of congratulation were the dearest of all, her smile was +the best reward, and for her dear self he had been hungry. + +But he would not admit to himself that he had come to woo. + +When the soft dusk had softened the harsh outlines of the little hamlet, +and the others were busy with their own affairs and had left Mayo +and Polly to themselves, he sat with her on the porch of the widow's +cottage, where they spent that first evening after they had been saved +from the sea. + +There had been a long silence between them. "We have had no +opportunity--I have not dared yet to tell you my best hopes for the +dearest thing of all," she ventured. + +"The one up inland. I know. I am glad for you." + +"What one up inland?" + +"That young man--the only young man in all the world." + +"Oh yes! I had forgotten." + +He stared at her. "Forgotten?" + +"Why--why--I don't exactly mean forgotten. But I was not thinking about +him when I spoke. I mean that now--with your new prospects--you can go +to--to--There may come a time when you can speak to Mr. Marston." + +"I have spoken to Mr. Marston, quite lately. He has spoken to me," he +said, his face hard. "We shall never speak to each other again, if I can +have my way." + +He met her astonished gaze. "Polly, I hate to trouble you with my poor +affairs of this kind. I can talk of business to Mr. Vose, and of the +sea to your father. But there's another matter that I can't mention +to anybody--except you will listen. I will tell you where I saw Mr. +Marston--and his daughter." + +She listened, her lips apart. + +"So, you see," he said at the end, "it was worse than a dream; it was +a mistake. It couldn't have been real love, for it was not built on the +right foundation. I have never had much experience with girls. I have +been swashing about at sea 'most all my life. Perhaps I don't know what +real love is. But it seems to me it can't amount to much unless it is +built up on mutual understanding, willingness to sacrifice for each +other." + +"I think so," returned Polly, softly. + +"I want to see that young man of yours, up inland. I want to tell him +that he is mighty lucky because he met you first." + +"Why?" + +"I can't tell you just why. It isn't right for me to do so." + +"But a girl likes to hear such things. Please!" + +"Will you forgive me for saying what I shouldn't say?" + +"I will forgive you." + +"He's lucky, because if I didn't know you were promised and in love, +I'd go down at your feet and beg you to marry me. You're the wife for +a Yankee sailor, Polly Candage. If only there were two of you in this +world, we'd have a double wedding." + +He leaped up and started away. + +"Where are you going?" she asked, and there was almost a wail in her +tones. "No, he does not understand girls well," she told herself, +bitterly. + +"I'm going down to Rowley's store to see if he will take his money back +and let us save interest. He told me I'd have to keep the money for a +year." + +She called to him falteringly, but with such appeal in her tones that he +halted and stared at her. + +"Couldn't you--Isn't it just as well to let the matter rest +until--till--" + +"Oh, there's no time like the present in money matters," he declared, +with a laugh, wholly oblivious, not in the least understanding her +embarrassment, her piteous effort to bar her little temple of love's +sacrifice so that he could not trample in just then. + +His laugh was a forced one. He realized that if he did not hurry away +from this girl he would be reaching out his arms to her, declaring the +love that surged in him, now that he had awakened to full consciousness +of that love; his Yankee reticence, his instinct of honor between men, +were fighting hard against his passion; he told himself that he would +not betray a man he did not know, nor proffer love to a girl who, so he +believed, loved another. + +"May I not go with you?" she pleaded, restraining her wild impulse to +run ahead of him and warn the deacon. + +"Of course!" he consented, and they walked down the street, neither +daring to speak. + +They found Rowley alone in his store. He was puttering around, making +ready to close the place for the night. + +As they entered, the girl stepped behind Mayo and, catching the deacon's +eye, made frantic gestures. In the half gloom those gestures were +decidedly incomprehensible; the deacon lowered his spectacles and stared +at her, trying to understand this wigwagging. + +"I'd like to take up that loan and save the rest of the year's interest, +Deacon Rowley," stated Mayo, with sailorly bluntness. + +The girl was trying to convey to the deacon the fact that he must +not reveal her secret. She was shaking her head. This seemed to the +intermediary like direct and conclusive orders from the principal. + +"No, sir, Captain Mayo! It can't be done." + +"I don't call that a square deal between men, no matter what straight +business may be." + +Polly now signaled eager assent, meaning to make the deacon understand +that he must take the money. But the deacon did not understand; he +thought the girl affirmed her desire for straight business. + +"You took it for a year. No back tracks, captain." + +She shook her head, violently. + +"No, sir! Keep it, as you agreed, and pay your interest." + +"Deacon Rowley, you're an old idiot!" blazed the girl. + +When the deacon yanked off his spectacles, and Captain Mayo turned +amazed eyes to her, she put her hands to her face and ran out of the +store, sobbing. She was only a girl! She had no more resources left with +which to meet that situation in men's affairs. + +Mayo's impulse was to follow, but the deacon checked him. + +"I ain't going to be made a fool of no longer in this, even to make +three hundred dollars," he rasped. + +"A fool! What do you mean?" + +"You go settle it with her." + +"What has Polly Candage got to do with this business?" + +"It's her money." + +"You mean to say--" + +"She drawed her money out of the bank, and horn-swoggled me into lying +for her. What won't a girl do when she's in love with a fellow? If you +'ain't knowed it before, it's high time you did know it!" + +That last remark of the deacon's had disgusted reference only to the +matter of the money. But it conveyed something else to Captain Boyd +Mayo. + +He ran out of the store! + +Far up the road he overtook her. She was hurrying home. When she faced +him he saw tears on her cheeks, though the generous gloom of evening +wrapped them where they stood. He took both her hands. + +"Polly Candage, why did you risk your money on me?" he demanded. + +"I knew you would succeed!" she murmured, turning her face away. "It was +an--a good investment." + +"When you gave it, did you--Were you thinking--Was it only for an +investment, Polly?" + +She did not reply. + +"Look here! This last thing ought to tie my tongue, for I owe everything +to you. But my tongue won't stay tied--not now, Polly. I don't care if +there is somebody else up-country. I ought to care. I ought to respect +your--" + +She pulled a hand free and put plump fingers on his lips. "There is +nobody up-country; there never has been anybody, Boyd," she whispered. + +He took her in his arms, and kissed her, and held her close. + +"Will you tell me one thing, now? I know the answer, sweetheart mine, +but I want to hear you say it. Why did you give me all your money?" + +She put her palms against his cheeks and spoke the words his soul was +hungry for: + +"Because I love you!" + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blow The Man Down, by Holman Day + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLOW THE MAN DOWN *** + +***** This file should be named 24793.txt or 24793.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/7/9/24793/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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