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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lady and the Pirate, by Emerson Hough
+
+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: The Lady and the Pirate
+       Being the Plain Tale of a Diligent Pirate and a Fair Captive
+
+Author: Emerson Hough
+
+Illustrator: Harry A. Mathes
+
+Release Date: March 24, 2008 [EBook #24907]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LADY AND THE PIRATE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Sam W. and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+              THE LADY AND THE
+                   PIRATE
+
+  _Being the Plain Tale of a Diligent Pirate
+             and a Fair Captive_
+
+
+                    _By_
+
+               EMERSON HOUGH
+
+                _Author of_
+   THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE, 54-40 OR FIGHT
+     THE PURCHASE PRICE, JOHN RAWN, ETC.
+
+
+               ILLUSTRATED BY
+               HARRY A. MATHES
+
+
+                INDIANAPOLIS
+         THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
+                 PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+    [Illustration: Thus the heartless jade stood, unable to
+    meet my eagle eye]
+
+
+
+
+COPYRIGHT 1913
+EMERSON HOUGH
+
+
+PRESS OF
+BRAUNWORTH & CO.
+BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS
+BROOKLYN, N. Y.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
+
+        I IN WHICH I AM A CAITIFF                                    1
+
+       II IN WHICH I HOLD A PARLEY                                   6
+
+      III IN WHICH I AM A CAPTIVE                                   14
+
+       IV IN WHICH I AM A PIRATE                                    23
+
+        V IN WHICH WE SAIL FOR THE SPANISH MAIN                     34
+
+       VI IN WHICH I ACQUIRE A FRIEND                               44
+
+      VII IN WHICH I ACHIEVE A NAME                                 52
+
+     VIII IN WHICH WE HAVE AN ADVENTURE                             60
+
+       IX IN WHICH WE TAKE MUCH TREASURE                            75
+
+        X IN WHICH I SHOW MY TRUE COLORS                            90
+
+       XI IN WHICH MY PLOT THICKENS                                 97
+
+      XII IN WHICH WE CLOSE WITH THE ENEMY                         102
+
+     XIII IN WHICH WE BOARD THE ENEMY                              110
+
+      XIV IN WHICH IS ABOUNDING TROUBLE                            122
+
+       XV IN WHICH IS CONVERSATION WITH THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN         131
+
+      XVI IN WHICH IS FURTHER PARLEY WITH THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN       143
+
+     XVII IN WHICH IS HUE AND CRY                                  154
+
+    XVIII IN WHICH IS DISCUSSION OF TWO AUNTIES                    158
+
+      XIX IN WHICH I ESTABLISH A MODUS VIVENDI                     166
+
+       XX IN WHICH I HAVE POLITE CONVERSATION, BUT LITTLE
+              ELSE                                                 175
+
+      XXI IN WHICH WE MAKE A RUN FOR IT                            184
+
+     XXII IN WHICH I WALK AND TALK WITH HELENA                     192
+
+    XXIII IN WHICH IS A PRETTY KETTLE OF FISH                      205
+
+     XXIV IN WHICH WE HAVE A SENSATION                             213
+
+      XXV IN WHICH WE MEET THE OTHER MAN, ALSO ANOTHER WOMAN       224
+
+     XXVI IN WHICH WE BURN ALL BRIDGES                             244
+
+    XXVII IN WHICH WE REACH THE SPANISH MAIN                       258
+
+   XXVIII IN WHICH IS CERTAIN POLITE CONVERSATION                  267
+
+     XXIX IN WHICH IS SHIPWRECK                                    285
+
+      XXX IN WHICH IS SHIPWRECK OF OTHER SORT                      299
+
+     XXXI IN WHICH WE TAKE TO THE BOATS                            312
+
+    XXXII IN WHICH I RESCUE THE COOK                               324
+
+   XXXIII IN WHICH WE ARE CASTAWAYS                                333
+
+    XXXIV IN WHICH IS NO RAPPROCHEMENT WITH THE FAIR CAPTIVE       349
+
+     XXXV IN WHICH I FIND TWO ESTIMABLE FRIENDS, BUT LOSE
+              ONE BELOVED                                          357
+
+    XXXVI IN WHICH WE FOLD OUR TENTS                               375
+
+   XXXVII IN WHICH IS PHILOSOPHY; WHICH, HOWEVER, SHOULD NOT
+              BE SKIPPED                                           384
+
+  XXXVIII IN WHICH IS AN ARMISTICE WITH FATE                       395
+
+    XXXIX IN WHICH ARE SEALED ORDERS                               400
+
+       XL IN WHICH LAND SHOWS IN THE OFFING                        414
+
+      XLI IN WHICH IS MUCH ROMANCE, AND SOME TREASURE, ALSO
+              VERY MUCH HAPPINESS                                  426
+
+
+
+
+THE LADY AND THE PIRATE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+IN WHICH I AM A CAITIFF
+
+
+I was sitting at one of my favorite spots engaged in looking through
+my fly-book for some lure that might, perhaps, mend my luck in the
+afternoon's fishing. At least, I had within the moment been so
+engaged; although the truth is that the evening was so exceptionally
+fine, and the spot always so extraordinarily attractive to me--this
+particular angle of the stream, where the tall birches stand, being to
+my mind the most beautiful bit on my whole estate--that I had
+forgotten all about angling and was sitting with rod laid by upon the
+bank, the fly-book scarce noted in my hand. Moreover, a peculiarly
+fine specimen of Anopheles, (as I took it to be) was at that very
+moment hovering over my hand, and I was anxious to confirm my judgment
+as well as to enlarge my collection of mosquitoes. I had my other hand
+in a pocket feeling for the little phial in which I purposed to
+enclose Anopheles, if I could coax him to alight. Indeed, I say, I
+was at that very moment as happy as a man need be; or, at least, as
+happy as I ever expected to be. Imagine my surprise, therefore, at
+that moment to hear a voice, apparently intended for me, exclaim,
+"Halt! Caitiff!"
+
+I looked up, more annoyed than displeased or startled. It is not often
+one sees so fine a specimen of Anopheles; and one could have sworn
+that, but for my slight involuntary movement of the hand, he must have
+settled; after which--_crede experto!_--he would have been the same as
+in my phial, and doomed to the chloroform within the next hour.
+Besides, no matter who one may be or how engaged, it is not wholly
+seemly to be accosted as a caitiff, when one is on one's own land,
+offending no man on earth, owing no debt and paying no tribute,
+feudal, commercial, military or personal, to any man on earth.
+
+The situation seemed to me singular. Had the time been some centuries
+earlier, the place somewhere in the old world, such speech might have
+had better fitting. But the time was less than a year ago, the place
+was in America. I was on my own lands, in this one of our middle
+states. This was my own river; or at least, I owned the broad acres on
+both sides of it for some miles. And I was a man of no slinking habit,
+no repulsive mien, of that I was assured, but a successful American
+of means; lately a professional man and now a man of leisure, and not
+so far past thirty years of age. My fly-rod was the best that money
+can buy, and the pages of the adjacent book were handsomely stocked by
+the best makers of this country and each of the three divisions of
+Great Britain; in each of which--as well as in Norway, Germany, or for
+the matter of that, India, New Zealand, Alaska, Japan or other
+lands--I had more than once wet a line. My garb was not of leather
+jerkin, my buskins not of thonged straw, but on the contrary I was
+turned out in good tweeds, well cut by my London tailor. To be called
+offhand, and with no more reason than there was provocation, a
+"caitiff," even by a voice somewhat treble and a trifle trembling,
+left me every reason in the world to be surprised, annoyed and
+grieved. For now Anopheles had flown away; and had I not been thus
+startled, I should certainly have had him. Yet more, no fish would
+rise in that pool the rest of that evening, for no trout in my little
+stream thereabout ever had seen a boat or been frightened by the plash
+of an oar since the time, three years back, when I had bought the
+place.
+
+I looked up. Just at the bend, arrested now by hand anchorage to the
+overhanging alders, lay a small boat, occupied by two boys, neither
+of more than fourteen years, the younger seemingly not more than
+twelve. It was the latter who was clinging with one hand to the
+drooping bushes. His companion, apparently the leader in their present
+enterprise, was half crouching in the bow of the boat and he,
+evidently, was the one who had accosted me.
+
+A second glance gave me even more surprise, for it showed that the
+boat, though not precisely long, low and rakish of build, evidently
+was of piratical intent. At least she was piratical in decoration. On
+each side of her bow there was painted--and the evening sun, shining
+through my larches, showed the paint still fresh--in more or less
+accurate design in black, the emblem of a skull and cross-bones. Above
+her, supported by a short staff, perhaps cut from my own willows, flew
+a black flag, and whatever may have been her stern-chaser equipment,
+her broadside batteries, or her deck carronades--none of which I could
+well make out, as her hull lay half concealed among the alders--her
+bow-chaser was certainly in commission and manned for action. The
+pirate captain, himself, was at the lanyard; and I perceived that he
+now rested an extraordinarily large six-shooter in the fork of a short
+staff, which was fixed in the bow. Along this, with a three-cornered
+gray eye, he now sighted at the lower button of my waistcoat, and in a
+fashion that gave me goose-flesh underneath the button, in spite of
+all my mingled emotions. Had I not "halted," as ordered, to the extent
+of sitting on quietly as I was, he no doubt would have pulled the
+lanyard, with consequences such as I do not care to contemplate, and
+mayhap to the effect that this somewhat singular story would never
+have been written.
+
+"Halt, Sirrah!" began the pirate leader again, "or I will blow you out
+of the water!"
+
+I sat for a moment regarding him, my chin in my hand.
+
+"No," said I at last; "I already am out of the water, my friend. But,
+prithee, have a care of yonder lanyard, else, gadzooks! you may belike
+blow me off the bank and into the water."
+
+This speech of mine seemed as much to disconcert the pirate chieftain
+as had his me. He stood erect, shifting his Long Tom, to the great
+ease of my waistcoat button.
+
+"Won't you heave to, and put off a small boat for a parley?" I
+inquired.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+IN WHICH I HOLD A PARLEY
+
+
+The two pirates turned to each other for consultation, irresolute, but
+evidently impressed by the fact that their prize did not purpose to
+hoist sail and make a run for it.
+
+"What ho! mates?" demanded the captain, in as gruff a voice as he
+could compass: "Ye've heard his speech, and he has struck his flag."
+
+"Suppose the villain plays us false," rejoined the "mates" or rather,
+the mate, in a voice so high or quavering that for a moment it was
+difficult for me to repress a smile; although these three years past I
+rarely had smiled at all.
+
+The captain turned to one side, so that now I could see both him and
+his crew. The leader was as fine a specimen of boy as you could have
+asked, sturdy of bare legs, brown of face, red of hair, ragged and
+tumbled of garb. His crew was active though slightly less robust, a
+fair-haired, light-skinned chap, blue-eyed, and somewhat better clad
+than his companion. There was something winning about his face. At a
+glance I knew his soul. He was a dreamer, an idealist, an artist, in
+the bud. My heart leaped out to him instinctively in a great impulse
+of sympathy and understanding. Indeed, suddenly, I felt the blood
+tingle through my hair. I looked upon life as I had not these three
+years. The imagination of Youth, the glamour of Adventure, lay here
+before me; things I cruelly had missed these last few years, it seemed
+to me.
+
+"How, now, shipmates?" I remarked mildly. "Wouldst doubt the faith of
+one who himself hath flown the Jolly Rover? Cease your fears and come
+aboard--that is to say, come ashore."
+
+"Git out, Jimmy," I heard the captain say in a low voice, after a
+moment of indecision. "Keep him covered till I tie her up."
+
+Jimmy, the fair-haired pirate, hauled in on the alders and flung a
+grappling iron aboard my bank, which presently he ascended. As he
+stood free from the screening fringe of bushes, I saw that he was
+slender, and not very tall, one not wholly suited by nature to his
+stern calling. His once white jacket now was soiled, and one leg of
+his knickers was loose, from his scramble up the bank. He was belted
+beyond all earl-like need; wore indeed two belts, which supported two
+long hunting knives and a Malay kris, such as we now get from the
+Philippines; as well as a revolver large beyond all proportion to his
+own size. A second revolver of like dimensions now trembled in his
+hand, and even though its direction toward me was no more than
+general, I resumed the goose-flesh underneath my waistcoat, for no man
+could tell what might happen. In none of my works with dangerous big
+game have I felt a similar uneasiness; no, nor even in the little
+affair in China where the Boxers held us up, did I ever really
+consider the issue more in doubt. It pleased me, however, to make no
+movement of offense or defense; and luckily the revolver was not
+discharged.
+
+When the two had topped the bank, and had approached me--taking cover
+behind trees in a way which made me suspect Boy Scout training,
+mingled with bandit literature--to a point where we could see each
+other's features plainly, I moved over to one side of my bank, and
+motioned them to approach.
+
+"Come alongside, brothers," said I, pushing my fly-rod to one side;
+"make fast and come aboard. And tell me, what cheer?"
+
+They drew up to me, stern of mien, bold of bearing, dauntless of
+purpose. At least, so I was convinced, each wished and imagined
+himself to seem; and since they wished so to be seen thus, seized by
+some sudden whim, I resolved to see them. How I envied them! Theirs
+all the splendor of youth, of daring, of adventure, of romance;
+things gone by from me, or for the most part, never known.
+
+Frowning sternly, they seated themselves reluctantly on the grassy
+bank beside me, and gazed out in the dignity of an imagined manhood
+across my river, which now was lighted bravely by the retiring sun.
+Had I not felt with them, longed with them, they could never so
+splendidly have maintained their pretense. But between us, there in
+the evening on my stream with only the birds and the sun to see, it
+was not pretense. Upon the contrary, all cloaks were off, all masks
+removed, and we were face to face in the strong light of reality. As
+clearly as though I always had known them, I saw into the hearts of
+these; and what I saw made my own heart ache and yearn for something
+it had ever missed.
+
+"What cheer, comrades?" I repeated at length. "Whither away, and upon
+what errand?"
+
+Now a strange thing happened, which I do not explain, for that I can
+not. In plain fact, these two were obviously runaway boys, not the
+first, nor perhaps the last of runaway boys; and I was a man of means,
+a retired man, supposedly somewhat of a hermit, although really
+nothing of the sort; lately a lawyer, hard-headed and disillusioned,
+always a man of calm reason, as I prided myself; subject to no
+fancies, a student and a lover of science, a mocker at all
+superstition and all weak-mindedness. (Pardon me, that I must say all
+these things of myself.) Yet, let me be believed who say it, some
+spell, whether of this presence of Youth, whether of the evening and
+the sun, or whether of the inner and struggling soul of Man, so fell
+upon us all then and there, that we were not man and boys, but bold
+adventurers, all three of like kidney! This was not a modern land that
+lay about us. Yonder was not the copse beyond the birches, where my
+woodcock sometimes found cover. This was not my trout-stream. Those
+yonder were not my elms and larches moving in the evening air. No,
+before us lay the picture of the rolling deep, its long green swells
+breaking high in white spindrift. The keen wind of other days sounded
+in our ears, and yonder pressed the galleons of Spain! Youth, Youth
+and Adventure, were ours.
+
+We smiled not at all, therefore, as, with some thoughtful effort, it
+is true, we held to fitting manner of speech. "We seek for treasure,"
+piped the thin voice of him I had heard called Jimmy. "Let none dare
+lift hand against us!"
+
+"And whither away, my hearties?"
+
+"Spang! to the Spanish Main." This also from the blue-eyed boy; who,
+now, with some difficulty, managed to let down the hammer of his
+six-shooter without damage to himself or others.
+
+"We didn't know but youse would try to stop us," exclaimed the
+red-haired leader. "We come around the bend and seen you settin'
+there; an' we was resolved--to--to----"
+
+"To sell our lives dearly!" supplemented Jimmy. "He who would seek to
+stop us does so at his peril." And Jimmy made so fell a movement
+toward his side-arms that I hastened to restrain him.
+
+"Yes," said I; "you are quite right, my hearties."
+
+"But, gee!" ventured the red-haired pirate, "what was you thinkin'
+about?"
+
+"You ask me to tell truth, good Sire," I made reply, "and I shall do
+no less. At the very moment you trained your bow-chaser on me, I was
+thinking of two things."
+
+"Speak on, caitiff!" demanded Jimmy fiercely.
+
+"Nay, call me not so, good Sir," I rejoined, "for such, in good-sooth,
+I am not, but honest faithful man. Ye have but now asked what I
+pondered, and I fain would speak truth, an' it please ye, my
+hearties."
+
+"What's he givin' us, Jimmy?" whispered the pirate captain dubiously,
+aside.
+
+"Speak on!" again commanded he of the blue eyes. "But your life blood
+dyes the deck if you seek to deceive Jean Lafitte, or Henry
+L'Olonnois!"
+
+(So then, thought I, at last I knew their names.)
+
+In reply I reached to my belt and drew out quickly--so quickly that
+they both flinched away--the long handled knife which, usually, I
+carried with me for cutting down alders or other growth which
+sometimes entangled my flies as I fished along the stream. "Listen,"
+said I, "I swear the pirates' oath. On the point of my blade," and I
+touched it with my right forefinger, "I swear that I pondered on two
+things when you surprised me."
+
+"Name them!" demanded Jimmy L'Olonnois fiercely.
+
+"First, then," I answered, "I was wondering what I could use as a cork
+to my phial, when once I had yonder Anopheles in it----"
+
+"Who's he?" demanded Jean Lafitte.
+
+"Anopheles? A friend of mine," I replied; "a mosquito, in short."
+
+"Jimmy, he's crazy!" ejaculated Jean Lafitte uneasily.
+
+"Say on, caitiff!" commanded L'Olonnois, ignoring him; "what else?"
+
+"In the second place," said I--and again I placed my right forefinger
+on the point of my blade, "I was thinking of Helena."
+
+"Is she your little girl," hesitatingly inquired Jimmy L'Olonnois, for
+the instant forgetting his part.
+
+"No," said I sadly, "she is not my little girl."
+
+"Where is she?" vaguely.
+
+"Regarding the whereabouts of either Anopheles or Helena, at this
+moment," said I still sadly, "I am indeed all at sea, as any good
+pirate should be."
+
+I tried to jest, but fared ill at it. I felt my face flush at hearing
+her name spoken aloud. And sadly true was it that, on that afternoon
+and many another, I had found myself, time and again, adream with
+Helena's face before me. I saw it now--a face I had not seen these
+three years, since the time when first I had come hither with the
+purpose of forgetting.
+
+Jimmy was back in his part again, and doing nobly. "Ha!" said he. "So,
+fellow, pondering on a fair one, didst not hear the approach of our
+good ship, the _Sea Rover_?"
+
+"In good sooth, I did not," I answered; "and as for these other
+matters, I swear on my blade's point I have spoken the truth."
+
+Our conversation languished for the moment. Illusion lay in the
+balance. The old melancholy impended above me ominously.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+IN WHICH I AM A CAPTIVE
+
+
+"What ho! Jean Lafitte," said I at length, rousing myself from the old
+habit of reverie, of which I had chiefest dread; "and you, Henri
+L'Olonnois, scourges of the main, both of you, listen! I have a plan
+to put before you, my hearties."
+
+"Say on, Sirrah!" rejoined the younger pirate, so promptly and so
+gravely that again I had much to do to refrain from sudden mirth.
+
+"Why then, look ye," I continued. "The sun is sinking beneath the
+wave, and the good ship rides steady at her anchor. Meantime men must
+eat! and yonder castle amid the forest offers booty. What say ye if we
+pass within the wood, and see what we may find of worth to souls bold
+as ours?"
+
+"'Tis well!" answered L'Olonnois; and I could see assent in Lafitte's
+eyes. In truth I could discover no great preparations for a long
+voyage in the open hold of the _Sea Rover_, and doubted not that both
+captain and crew by this time were hungry. Odd crumbs of crackers and
+an empty sardine can might be all very well at the edge of the
+village of Pausaukee (I judged they could have come no greater
+distance, some twelve or fifteen miles); but they do not serve for so
+long a journey as lies between Pausaukee and the Spanish Main.
+
+They rose as I did, and we passed beyond the clump of tall birches,
+along the edge of my mowing meadow, and through the gate which closes
+my woodland path--to me the loveliest of all wood-trails, so gentle
+and so silent is it always, and so fringed, seasonably, with ferns and
+flowers. Thus, presently, we saw the blue smoke rising above my lodge,
+betokening to me that my Japanese factotum, Hiroshimi, now had my
+dinner under way.
+
+To me, it was my customary abode, my home these three years; but they
+beside me saw not the rambling expanse of my leisurely log mansion.
+They noted not the overhanging gables, the lattices of native wood. To
+them, yonder lay a castle in a foreign land. Here was moat and wall,
+then a portcullis, and gratings warded these narrow portals against
+fire of musketoon. My pet swallows' nest, demure above my door, to
+them offered the aspect of a culverin's mouth; and, as now, I made my
+customary approach-call, by which I heralded my return from any
+excursion on the stream of an evening, I could swear these invaders
+looked for naught less than a swarm of archers springing to the
+walls, and the hoarse answer of my men-at-arms back of each guarded
+portal. Such is the power of youthful dreaming, such the residuary
+heritage of days of high emprise, when life was full of blood and wine
+and love, and savored not so wholly of dull commonplace!
+
+But indeed, (or so I presume; for at the moment my own imagination
+swept on with theirs) none manned the walls or rattled the chains of
+gate and bridge. The saffron Hiroshimi opened the screen door before
+us, showing no surprise or interest in my strange companions. Thus we
+made easy conquest of our castle. As we entered, there lay before us,
+lighted softly by the subdued twilight which filtered through the
+surrounding grove, the interior of that home which in three years I
+had learned much to love, lonely as it was. Here I now dwelt most of
+the time, leaving behind me, as though shut off by a closed door, the
+busy scenes of an active and successful life. (I presume I may fairly
+speak thus of myself, since there is no one else to speak.)
+
+My pirate companions, suddenly grown shy, stood silent for a moment,
+for the time rather at a loss to carry on the play which had been
+easier in the open. I heard Jimmy draw a long breath. He was first to
+remove his hat. But his companion was quicker to regain his poise,
+although for a moment he forgot his pirate speech. "Gee!" said he.
+"Ain't this great!"
+
+I doubt if any praise I ever heard in my life pleased me more than
+this frank comment; no, not even the kind word and hand-clasp of old
+Judge Henderson, what time I won my first cause at law. For this that
+lay about me was what I had chosen for my life to-day. I had preferred
+this to the career into which my father's restless ambition had
+plunged me almost as soon as I had emerged from my college and my
+law-school--a career which my own restless ambition had found
+sufficient until that final break with Helena Emory, which occurred
+soon after the time when my father died; when the news went out that
+I, his heir, was left with but a shrunken fortune, and with many debts
+to pay; news which I, myself, had promulgated for reasons of my own.
+After that, called foolish by all my friends, lamented by members of
+my family, forgotten, as I fancy, by most who knew me, I had retired
+to this lodge in the wilderness. Here, grown suddenly resentful of a
+life hitherto wasted in money-getting alone, I had resolved to spend
+the remainder of my days, as beseemed a student and a philosopher.
+Having read Weininger and other philosophers, I was convinced that
+woman was the lowest and most unworthy thing in the scale of created
+things, a thing quite beneath the attention of a thinking man.
+
+I have said that I was scarce beyond thirty years of age. Even so, I
+found myself already old; and like any true philosopher, I resolved to
+make myself young. As hitherto I had had no boyhood, I determined to
+achieve a boyhood for myself. Studying myself, I discovered that I had
+rarely smiled; so I resolved to find somewhat to make me smile. The
+great realm of knowledge, widest and sweetest of all empires for a
+man, lay before me alluringly when I entered upon my business career;
+and so interested was I in my business and my books that only by
+chance had I met the woman who drove me out of both. A boy I had never
+been; nay, nor even a youth. I had always been old. True, like others
+of my station, I had owned my auto cars, my matched teams--owned them
+now, indeed--but I had never owned a dog. So, when I came hither with
+ample leisure, perhaps my chief ambition was a deliberate purpose to
+encompass my deferred boyhood. Thus I had built this house of logs
+which now--with a surprised and gratifying throb of my heart I learned
+it--appealed to the souls of real boys. It was the castle where I
+dreamed; and now it was the palace of their dreams also. I felt, at
+least, that I had succeeded. My heart throbbed in a new way, very
+foolish, yet for some reason suddenly enjoyable.
+
+My house was all of logs and had no decorations of paint or tapestry
+within. Its only arras was of the skins of wild beasts--of the African
+lion and leopard, the zebra, many antelopes. The walls were hung with
+mounted heads--those of the moose, the elk, the bighorn, most of the
+main trophies of my own land and to these, through my foreign hunting,
+I had added heads of all the great trophies of Africa and Asia as
+well. A splendid pair of elephant tusks stood in a corner. A fine head
+of the sheep of Tibet, _ovus poli_--and I prize none of my trophies
+more, unless it be the fine robe of the Chinese mountain tiger--looked
+full front at us from above the fireplace. My rod racks, and those
+which supported my guns and rifles, were here and there about the
+room. The whole gave a jaunty atmosphere to my home. I had gone
+soberly about the business of sport; and in these days, that can be
+practised most successfully by a man with much leisure and unstinted
+means.
+
+My books lay about everywhere, also, books which perhaps would not
+have appealed to all. My copies of the Vedas, many works on the
+Buddhist faith, and translations from Confucius, lay side by side
+with that Bible which we Christians have almost forgot. Here, too,
+stood my desk with its cases of preserved mosquitoes--for this year I
+was studying mosquitoes as an amusement. I had collected all the
+mosquito literature of the world, and my books, in French, German and
+English, lay near my great microscope. I had passed many happy hours
+here in the oblivion of mental concentration, always a delight with
+me, now grown almost a necessity if I were to escape the worst of all
+habits, that of introspection and self-pity.
+
+My piano and my violins also were in full sight; for the world of
+music, as well as the world of sport and youth, I was deliberately
+opening for myself, also in exchange for that closed world of affairs
+which I had abandoned. Indeed, all manners of the impedimenta of a
+well-to-do Japanese-cared-for bachelor were in evidence. To me, each
+object was familiar and was cherished. I had never felt need to
+apologize to any gentleman for my quarters or their contents--or to
+any woman, for no woman had ever seen my home. I may admit that,
+contrary to the belief of some, I was a rich man, far richer that I
+had need or care to be; and since it was not due to my own ability
+altogether nor in response to any real ambition of my own, I know I
+will be pardoned for simply stating the truth. My one great ambition
+in life was to forget; but if that might be best obtained in sport, in
+study, or amid the gentle evidences of good living, so much the
+better. Many men had called my father, stern and masterful man that he
+was, a robber, a thief, a pirate--in great part, I suspect, in envy
+that they themselves had not attained a like stature in similar
+achievement. But no one had ever called his son a pirate--until now!
+It made me oddly happy.
+
+I ought to have been happy here all these years, able to do precisely
+what I liked; but sometimes I felt myself strangely alone in the
+world. I was always silent and apparently cold--though really, let me
+whisper--only shy. Sometimes, even here, I found myself a trifle sad.
+It is difficult to be a boy when one starts at thirty; especially
+difficult if one has always been rather old and staid.
+
+I tell all these things to explain that keen pleasure, that swift
+exultation, that rush of the blood to my cheeks, which I felt when I
+saw that my house and my way of life met the approval of real boys.
+Pirates, too!
+
+Swift, therefore, fell once more the magic curtain of romance. I heard
+a strange voice, my own voice, saying: "Enter then, my bold mates, and
+let us explore this castle which we have conquered." Yes, illusion
+floated in through the windows on the pale light of the evening. This
+was a castle we had taken; and the detail that I chanced to own it was
+neither here nor there.
+
+"Prisoner," began L'Olonnois sternly--he was usually spokesman, if not
+always leader--"Prisoner, your life is spared for the time. Lead on!
+Attempt to play us false, and your blood shall be spilled upon the
+deck!"
+
+"It shall be so," I answered. "And if I do not give you the best meal
+you have had to-day, then indeed let my life's blood stain the deck."
+
+So saying, I nodded to Hiroshimi to serve the dinner.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+IN WHICH I AM A PIRATE
+
+
+With my own hands I have trained that prize, Hiroshimi, to cook and to
+serve; but only Providence could give Hiroshimi his super-humanly
+disinterested calm. He fitted perfectly into the picture of our dream.
+'Twas no ordinary log house in which we sat, indeed no house at all.
+Beneath us rose and fell a stanch vessel, responsive to the long lift
+of the southern seas. It was not a rustle of the leaves we heard
+through the open windows, but the low ripple of waves along our
+strakes came to our ears through the open ports. Hiroshimi did not
+depart to the kitchen; but high aloft our lookout swept the sea for
+sail that might offer us a prize.
+
+If any say that this manner of illusion may not exist between two boys
+and a man, I answer that we did not thus classify it. By the new
+pleasure in my soul, by the new blood in my cheek, I swear we were
+three boys together, and all in quest of adventure.
+
+True, at times our speech smacked less of nautical and piratical
+phrase, at times, indeed, halted. It is difficult for a
+twelve-year-old pirate, exceeding hungry, to ask for a third helping
+of grilled chicken in a voice at once stern and ingratiating.
+Moreover, it is difficult for a discreet and law-abiding citizen, with
+a full sense of duty, deliberately to aid and abet two youthful
+runaways. But whenever illusion wavered, L'Olonnois saved the day by
+resuming his stern scowl, even above a chicken-bone. His facility in
+rolling speech I discovered to be, in part, attributable to a volume
+which I saw protruding from his pocket. At my request he passed it to
+me, and I saw its title; _The Pirate's Own Book_. I knew it well.
+Indeed, I now arose, and passing to my bookshelves, drew down a
+duplicate copy of that rare volume, recounting the deeds of the old
+buccaneers. The eyes of L'Olonnois widened as I laid the two side by
+side.
+
+"You've got it, too!" he exclaimed.
+
+I nodded.
+
+"That explains it," said Jean Lafitte.
+
+"Explains what?"
+
+"Why, how you--why now--how you could be a pirate, too, just as
+natural as us."
+
+"I have read it many a time," said I.
+
+"Wasn't you never a pirate?" asked Jean Lafitte.
+
+"No," said I, smiling, "although many have said my father was. He was
+very rich."
+
+"Well, you can talk just like us," said Jean Lafitte admiringly, "even
+if you have lost all."
+
+"Of course," said I exultingly. "Why not? I think as you do. As much
+as you I am disgusted with the dulness of life. I, too, wish to seek
+my fortune. Well then, why not, John Saunders? Why not, James
+Henderson?"
+
+Ah, now indeed illusion halted! Both boys, abashed, fell back in their
+chairs. "How did you know our names?" asked the older of the two at
+length.
+
+"Nay, fear not," said I. "I do but seek to prove my fitness to join
+the jolly brotherhood, good mates."
+
+"Aw, honest!" rejoined Jimmy; "you got to tell us how you knew."
+
+"Well, then, let me go on. In your book, here, I saw your father's
+name, Jimmy. I know your father. He is Judge Willard Henderson of the
+Appellate Court in the city. I was admitted to the bar under him. He
+has a summer place at the lake above here, as I know, although I have
+never visited him there. I know your mother, too, Jimmy,--so well I
+should not like to cause her even a moment's uneasiness about you."
+
+"Do you know my auntie, Helena Emory?" demanded Jimmy suddenly. I felt
+the blood surge into my face.
+
+"Don't misunderstand me," I rejoined, "I only have some gift of the
+second sight, as I shall now prove to you. For instance, Jean Lafitte,
+I know your earlier name was John Saunders, although I never saw or
+heard of you before."
+
+"Well, now, how'd you know that?" demanded the elder boy.
+
+"I did not promise to tell the secrets of my art," I smiled. I did not
+tell him that I had seen the name of Saunders on the tag of a shirt
+somewhat soiled.
+
+"Your father's name was John before you," I added at a venture. He
+assented, half-frightened, although I had only guessed at this,
+supposing John Saunders to be a somewhat continuous family name in a
+family of auburn Highlanders.
+
+"He sells farm stuff at the hotel above," I ventured. And again my
+guess was truth.
+
+"You take the wagon there, sometimes, with vegetables and milk and
+eggs; and so you met Jimmy, here, and you went fishing together; and
+he told you stories out of his book. I fear, John, that your father
+licks you because you go fishing on Sunday. That was why you resolved
+to run away. You led Jimmy into that with you. Yesterday you took a
+boat from the lake near the hotel, and you painted her up and rigged
+her for a pirate ship. You rowed across the lake to the marsh where
+the little stream makes out--my trout-stream here. You followed that
+stream down, with no more trouble than ducking under a wire fence
+once in a while, until you came to my land, and until you saw me. You
+were afraid I might tell on you; and besides, you were pirates now;
+and so you took me prisoner. Marry, good Sirs, 'tis not the first time
+a prisoner has joined a pirate band!"
+
+"That's wonderful!" gasped Jean T. Lafitte Saunders. "And you say you
+have never been up to our lake!"
+
+"No," said I, "but I have a map, and I know my river heads in your
+lake, and that very probably it runs out of the low marshy side.
+Besides, being a boy myself, I know precisely what boys would do. Tell
+me, do you think I would betray two of the brotherhood?"
+
+"You won't give us away?" The elder pirate's face was eager.
+
+"On the contrary, I'll see that you don't get into any trouble."
+
+"That's a good scout!" ejaculated he fervently, his freckled face
+flushing.
+
+"We wasn't--that is, we hadn't--well, you see?" began Jimmy. "Maybe
+we'd just have camped down here and gone back to-morrow. I was afraid
+about taking the boat. Besides, I've only got about six dollars,
+anyhow." He spread his wealth out upon the table before me frankly.
+
+"Have no fear," said I. "To-night I shall write a few letters that
+will clear up every trouble back home, and allow us to continue our
+journey to the Spanish Main."
+
+"Oh, will you?" cried Jimmy, much relieved. "That'll be a good scout,"
+he added.
+
+Suddenly I found myself smiling at him, I who had smiled so rarely
+these years, whether in the Selkirks or the Himalayas, in Uganda or
+here in my own little wilderness--because Helena had left me so sad.
+
+"But if I promise, you, also, must promise in turn."
+
+Used as I was, already, to the astounding changes in Jimmy from boy to
+buccaneer and back again, I was now interested at the fell scowl which
+he summoned to his features, as soon as he felt relieved as to the
+domestic situation. "Speak, fellow!" he demanded; and folding his
+arms, presented so threatening a front that I saw my man Hiroshimi
+covertly lay hold upon a carving knife.
+
+"Why, then, my hearties," said I, "'tis thus. I'll sign on as
+sea-lawyer and scrivener, as well as purser for the ship. Yes, I'll
+sign articles and voyage with you for a week or a month, or two
+months, or three. I'll provender the ship and pay all bills of libel
+or demurrage in any port of call; and by my fateful gift of second
+sight, which ye have seen well proven here to-night, not only will I
+see ye safe for what ye already have done, but will keep ye safe
+against any enemy we may meet, be he whom he may!"
+
+"'Tis well," said L'Olonnois. "Say on!"
+
+"And in return I ask a boon."
+
+"Name it, fellow!"
+
+"Already I have named it--that I, too, shall be accepted as one of the
+brotherhood. Oh, listen"--I broke out impulsively--"I have never been
+a pirate, and I have never been a boy. I have had everything in the
+world I wanted and it made me awfully lonesome, because when you have
+everything you have nothing. I have nothing to do but eat and sleep,
+and hunt and fish, and read and write, and study and think, and play
+my music, here. I do not want to do these things any more. Especially
+I do not want to think. Boys do not think, and I want to be a boy. I
+want to be a pirate with you. I want to seek my fortune with you."
+
+We sat silent, almost solemn for a moment, so sincere was my speech
+and so startling to them. But thanks to L'Olonnois and his saving
+book, illusion came to us once more in time.
+
+"Will ye be good brother and true pirate?" demanded L'Olonnois. "And
+will ye take the oath of blood?"
+
+"That I will!" said I.
+
+"Brothers and good shipmates all"--broke in Jean Lafitte in a deep
+voice--"what say ye? Shall we put him to the oath?"
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir!" responded the deep chorus of scores of full-chested
+voices. Or, at least, so it seemed to us, though, mayhap, 'twas no
+more than Jimmy who spoke.
+
+"Swear him, then!" commanded Jean Lafitte. "Swear him by the oath of
+blood."
+
+"We--we haven't any blood!" whispered L'Olonnois, aside, somewhat
+troubled.
+
+"That have we, mates," said I, "and the ceremony shall have full
+solemnity."
+
+I took up my keen hunting knife and deliberately and slowly opened the
+side of my thumb, more to the pain of Jimmy, I fancy, than to myself,
+as I could see by the twitch of his features.
+
+"By this blood I swear!" said I: "and on the point of my blade I swear
+to be a true pirate; to fight the fight of all; to divulge no plans of
+the company; and to share with my brothers share and share alike of
+all booty we may take."
+
+"'Tis well!" said L'Olonnois, much impressed and delighted, as also
+was his mate, very evidently.
+
+"And now, my brothers," said I, "you, also, must swear to divulge no
+secret of mine that you may learn, to tell nothing of my plans, or my
+name, or the name of the port where I signed on the rolls."
+
+"We don't know your name," said Jimmy, "but neither of us will give
+you away."
+
+Jean Lafitte was all for opening up his own thumb for blood, but I
+stopped him. "This will do," said I, and stained his fingers and those
+of L'Olonnois--who grew pale at sight of it to his evident disgust.
+
+So, thus, I became a pirate, and we three were brother rovers of the
+deep. I fancied my associates would be loyal. I was thinking of a
+certain cousin of the younger pirate. Not for worlds would I seek to
+pursue her now; but there had arisen in my soul, already, a sort of
+strange wonder whether some intent of fate had sent this youngster
+here to remind me once more of her, whom I would forget.
+
+"Now," said I at last, "let us seek what fare the castle offers for
+the night." I could see they were tired and sleepy, and so found for
+them bath and clean pajamas--somewhat too large to be sure--and good
+beds in the wing of my log house. And never, as I be a true pirate,
+never have I seen so many and so various single-fire and revolving
+short arms, in my life, as these two buccaneers disclosed when they
+unbelted and laid aside their jackets! Even thus equipped, I found
+them looking enviously at my walls, where hung weapons of many lands.
+I sent them to bed happier by telling them that, in the morning, they
+should select such as they chose for the equipment of our vessel.
+"Gee!" said Jean Lafitte again. "Gee! _Gee!_" He was so happy that I,
+too, was happy. It was L'Olonnois who changed that.
+
+"Methinks," said he, regarding me sternly, "that in yonder ivy-clad
+halls might dwell some lady fair! Tell me, is it not so?"
+
+He stretched a thin arm out, in the sleeve of my smallest pajamas, and
+pointed a slender finger at the interior of my castle of dreams. Alas,
+after all it was empty! My old melancholy came back to me.
+
+"No, my brothers," said I, "no maid has ever passed yon door. No, nor
+ever will."
+
+L'Olonnois bent his flaxen head in dignified and manly sympathy. "I
+see," said he, "our brother in his youth has, perhaps, been deceived
+by some fair one!"
+
+Upon which I left them for my own room.
+
+If two buccaneers in my castle slept well that night, a third did not.
+Anopheles might go hang. I did not fancy my new microscope. I doubted
+if my last violin were a real Strad. I did not like the last music my
+dealers had sent out to me. My studies of Confucius and Buddha might
+go hang, and my new book as well. For now, before me, came the face of
+a certain pirate's aunt, and she was indeed a lady fair. And I knew
+full well--as I had known all these years, although I had tried to
+deceive myself into believing otherwise--that gladly as I had
+exchanged the city for the wilderness, with equal gladness would I
+exchange my leisure, all my wealth, all my belongings, for a moment's
+touch of her hand, a half-hour of talk heart-to-heart with her, so
+that, indeed, I might know the truth; so that, at least, I might have
+it direct from her, bitter though the truth might be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+IN WHICH WE SAIL FOR THE SPANISH MAIN
+
+
+When, in the morning, I passed from my quarters toward the main room
+which served me both as living-room and dining hall, I found that my
+pirate guests were also early risers. I could hear them arguing over
+some matter, which proved to be no more serious than the question of a
+cold bath of mornings, Jimmy maintaining that everybody had a cold
+bath every morning, whereas John insisted with equal heat that nobody
+ever bathed ("washed," I think he called it), oftener than once a
+week, to wit, on Saturdays only. They engaged in a pillow fight to
+settle it, and as Jimmy had John fairly well smothered by his rapid
+fire, I voted that the ayes appeared to have it when they referred the
+point to me.
+
+As we are very remote and never visited in my wilderness home, it is
+not infrequent that I take my morning meal very much indeed in mufti,
+although Hiroshimi is always most exact himself. On this morning it
+occurred to us all that pajamas made a garb more piratical and more
+nautical than anything else obtainable, so we took breakfast--and I
+think Hiroshimi never served me a breakfast more delicate and
+tempting--clad as perhaps the Romans were, if they had pajamas in
+those times. All went well until the keen eyes of Jimmy, wandering
+about my place, noted a certain photograph which rested on the top of
+my piano--where I was much comforted always to have it, especially of
+an evening, when sometimes I played Mendelssohn's _Spring Song_, or
+other music of the like. It was the picture of the woman who did not
+know and very likely did not care where, or how, I lived--Helena
+Emory, to my mind one of the most beautiful women of her day; and I
+have seen the world's portraits of the world's beauties of all
+recorded days in beauty. Toward this Jimmy ran excitedly--I, with
+equal speed, endeavoring to divert him from his purpose.
+
+"But it's my Auntie Helen!" he protested, when I recovered it and
+placed it in my pocket.
+
+"It is your Auntie fiddlesticks, Jimmy," said I hastily, hoping my
+color was not heightened. "It is your grandmother! Finish your
+breakfast."
+
+"I guess I ought to know--" he began.
+
+"What!" I rejoined. "Wouldst pit your wisdom against one who has the
+second sight; have a care, shipmate."
+
+"It was!" he reiterated. "I know ain't anybody pretty as she is, so it
+was."
+
+"Jimmy L'Olonnois," said I, "let us reason about this. I----"
+
+"Lemme see it, then. I can tell in a minute. Why don't you lemme see
+it, then?" He was eager.
+
+"Shipmate," I replied to him, "the hand is sometimes quicker than the
+eye, and the mind slower than the heart. For that reason I can not
+agree to your request."
+
+"But what'd _he_ be doing with Miss Emory's picture, Jimmy?" argued
+Lafitte.
+
+"That's what I'd like to know," I added. "It may be that, in your
+haste, you have confused in your mind, Jimmy, some portrait with that
+of the Princess Amèlie Louise, of Furstenburg." (I had indeed
+sometimes commented on the likeness of Helena Emory to that
+light-hearted old-world beauty.) Jimmy did not know that a photograph
+of the princess herself, also, stood upon the piano top, nor did he
+fully grasp the truth of that old saying that the hand is quicker than
+the eye. At least, he gazed somewhat confused at the portrait which I
+now produced before his eyes.
+
+"Who was she?" he inquired.
+
+"A very charming young lady of rank, who eloped with a young man not
+of rank. In short, although she did not marry a chauffeur, she did
+marry an automobile agent. And surely, Jimmy, your Auntie
+Helen--whoever she may be--would do no such thing as that and still
+claim to be a cousin of a L'Olonnois?"
+
+"I don't know. You can't always tell what a girl's going to do," said
+Jimmy sagely. "But I don't think Auntie Helen's going to marry a auto
+man."
+
+"Why, Jimmy?" (I found pleasure and dread alike in this conversation.)
+
+"Because everybody says she's going to get married to Mr. Davidson,
+and he's a commission man."
+
+Now, I am sure, my face did not flush. It may have paled. I tried to
+be composed. I reached for the melon dish and remarked, "Yes? And who
+is he? And really, who is your Auntie Helena, Jimmy, and what does she
+look like?" I spoke with a fine air of carelessness.
+
+"She looks like the princess, you said," replied Jimmy. "And Mr.
+Davidson's rich. He's got a house on our lake, this summer, and he
+lives in New York and has offices in Chicago, and travels a good deal.
+He has some sort of factory, too, and he's awful rich. I like him
+pretty well. He knows how all the ball clubs stand, both leagues,
+every day in the year. You ought to know him, because then you might
+get to know my Auntie Helena. If they got married, like as not, I
+could take you up to their house. I thought everybody knew Mr.
+Davidson, and my Auntie Helena, too."
+
+Everybody did. Why should I not know Cal Davidson, one of the
+decentest chaps in the world? Why not, since we belonged to half a
+dozen of the same clubs in New York and other cities? Why not, since
+this very summer I had put my private yacht (named oddly enough, the
+_Belle Helène_) in commission for the first season in three years, and
+chartered her for the summer around Mackinaw, and a cruise down the
+Mississippi to the Gulf that fall? Why not, since I had still unbanked
+the handsome check Davidson had insisted on my taking as charter money
+for the last quarter?
+
+Davidson! Of all men I had counted him my friend. And now here was he,
+reputed to be about to marry the girl who, as he knew, must have
+known, ought to have known, was all the world to me! Even if she would
+have none of me, and even though I had no shadow of claim on her--even
+though we had parted not once but a dozen times, and at last in a
+final parting--Davidson ought to have known, must have known! And my
+own yacht! Why, no man may know what may go forward in a yachting
+party. And, if perchance that fall he could persuade to accompany him
+Helena and her chaperon (I made no doubt that would be her Aunt
+Lucinda; for Helena's mother died when she was a child, and she was
+somewhat alone, although in rather comfortable circumstances) what
+could not so clever a man as Davidson, I repeat, one with so much of a
+way with women, accomplish in a journey so long as that, with no other
+man as his rival? It would be just like Cal Davidson to go ashore at
+St. Louis long enough to find a chaplain, and then go on ahead for a
+honeymoon around the world--on my boat, with my.... No, she was not
+mine ... but then....
+
+All my life I have tried to be fair, even with my own interests at
+stake. I tried now to be fair; and I failed! I could see but one side
+to this case. Davidson must be found at once, must be halted in
+mid-career.
+
+It was about this time that Hiroshimi came in with the morning's mail
+and telegrams, all of which at my place come in from the railway, ten
+miles or so, by rural free delivery. I paid small attention to him,
+most of my mail, these days, having to do with gasoline pumps or
+patent hay rakes and lists from my gun and tackle dealers and such
+like.
+
+Hiroshimi coughed. "Supposing Honorable like to see these yellow wire
+envelopings."
+
+I glanced down and idly opened the telegram. It was from Cal Davidson
+himself, and read:
+
+    "Name best price outright sale bill Helen to me answer
+    Chicago."
+
+So then, the scoundrel actually was on his way down the lakes, headed
+for the South, even thus early in the season! I knew, of course, that
+Bill Helen meant _Belle Helène_. As though I would sell my boat to
+him, of all men! It might almost as well have been a sale of Helena
+herself outright, as this cursed telegram stated. I crumpled the sheet
+in my hand.
+
+"If Honorable contemplates some answering of mail this morning, it
+will be one ow-wore till the miserable pony mail carry all man comes,"
+ventured Hiroshimi.
+
+"Nothing this morning, Hiro," I managed to choke out, "and, Hiro, make
+ready my bag, the small one, for a journey."
+
+"S-s-s-s!" hissed Hiroshimi, which was his way of saying, "Yes, sir,
+very well, sir." Surprise he neither showed now nor at any time; and
+since he never could tell at what hour I might conclude to start for
+his country or Europe or Africa or some other land for a stay of weeks
+or months, there was perhaps some warrant for his calm. He had less to
+do when I was away; although I always suspected him of poaching my
+trout with his infernal Japanese methods of angling.
+
+At this moment L'Olonnois saw, through the open door, a red squirrel
+which scampered up a tree. At once he forgot all about his Auntie
+Helen and scampered off in pursuit, followed presently by Lafitte.
+This gave me time to decide upon a plan.... At last, I lifted my head
+again.... Why not, then?
+
+When L'Olonnois returned from the chase of the squirrel, he was all
+L'Olonnois and none Jimmy Henderson. The spell of his drama was upon
+him once more.
+
+"What ho, mate," he began, scowling most vilely at me, "the sun is
+high in the heavens, yet we linger here. Let us up anchor, hoist the
+top-gallant mast and set sail for the enemy."
+
+Jimmy's nautical terms might have been open to criticism, but there
+was no denying the bold and manly import of his speech. My own heart
+jumped well enough with it now.
+
+"'Tis well, shipmate," said I. "Come, get ready your togs and your
+weapons, and let us away. As you say, the good ship tugs at her anchor
+chains this morning."
+
+I managed to better the wardrobe of both boys by certain ducks and
+linens from my own store, albeit a world too large. Lafitte, none too
+happy at being thus uncongenially clean, was delight itself when set
+to selecting an armament from my collection. He chose three bright
+and clean Japanese swords, special blades of the Samurai armorers,
+forged long before Mutsuhito's grandfather was a boy--I had paid a
+rare price for them in Japan. To these he added three basket-handled
+cutlasses, which I had obtained in London, each almost old enough to
+have belonged to the crew of Drake himself. A short-barreled magazine
+pistol for each of us was his concession to the present unromantic
+age. As for Jimmy, he insisted on a small bore rifle as well as a
+shotgun. "We might see something," he remarked laconically.
+
+Thus equipped, I persuaded my associates to lay aside most of their
+somewhat archaic artillery. Neither had taken any thought of other
+supplies. Hiroshimi, however, now appeared, bearing, in addition to my
+hand luggage, two hampers, a roll of blankets and a silk tent in its
+canvas wrapper.
+
+"Honorable is embarked in those small-going boat that is made tied to
+the bank?" inquired Hiroshimi. He had said nothing to me about my
+guests, or asked how they came; but as I knew he would find out all
+about it, anyhow, after his own fashion, I had not mentioned anything
+to him, or told him what to do. I only nodded now, relying on his
+efficiency. He now approached my young pirates, and rather against
+their will, removed from them some of their burden of weapons,
+slinging about himself bundles, baskets, bags and cutlery, until he
+almost disappeared from view. He cast on me a reproachful gaze,
+however, as he took from Lafitte's hand the bared blade of the old
+Samurai sword, and noted the ancient inscription on blade and scabbard
+as he sheathed it reverently.
+
+"What does it say, Hiro?" I asked of him.
+
+"Very old talk, Honorable," answered Hiroshimi. "It say, 'Oh,
+Honorable Gentleman who carry me, I invite you to make high and noble
+adventurings.'"
+
+"Let me carry it, Hiro," said I; and I tucked it under my own arm.
+
+"Good!" exclaimed L'Olonnois. "Then you are going with us? And did you
+write the letters that you promised us?"
+
+"I always keep my word."
+
+"And it'll be all right back home about mother and the boat? I'll give
+you my six dollars!"
+
+"There is no need. I told you, if you would make me one of the crew of
+the _Sea Rover_ and let me seek my fortune with you, I would gladly
+pay all the reckoning of our journey."
+
+"And how long will we be gone?"
+
+"Till after your school begins, I fear."
+
+"And how far are you going with us?"
+
+"Spang! to the Spanish Main!" I answered.
+
+So then we set forth down my woodland path.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+IN WHICH I ACQUIRE A FRIEND
+
+
+We proceeded, therefore, through the wood, sweet in the dew of
+morning, among many twittering birds, and so came, presently, to the
+end of my path, where the little gate shuts it off from my mowing
+meadow; at the upper end of which, it may be remembered, the good ship
+_Sea Rover_ lay anchored. The grass stood waist-high and wet in the
+dew as we turned along the meadow side, and L'Olonnois flinched a bit,
+although Lafitte waded along carelessly.
+
+I observed that each boy had now thrust into his hat band a turkey
+feather, picked up, en route, along my field's edge. Jimmy was not
+sure of the correctness of this; and admitted that, sometimes, he had
+read literature having to do with Indian fighting, as well as
+piratical enterprises. I suggested that, to my mind, nothing quite
+took the place of the regulation red kerchief bound about the head;
+whereat, gravely, both L'Olonnois and Lafitte discarded their hats and
+feathers, for the bandannas which I proffered them. Having bound these
+about their foreheads, a great courage and confidence came to them.
+
+L'Olonnois drew his sword, and with some care placed the blade
+between his teeth. "Hist!" exclaimed Lafitte, himself swept by his
+friend's imagination, and preparing to place his cutlass in his mouth
+also. "Let us approach the vessel with care, lest the enemy be about."
+So saying, each pirate with a mouthful of cold steel, and a hand
+shading his red-kerchiefed brow, stole through my clump of birches
+toward the bend, where the boat had first surprised me; myself
+following, somewhat put to it to refrain from laughter, although one
+rarely laughs in the young hours of the day, and myself rarely, at
+all.
+
+We were greeted by no hostile shot, and found our vessel quite as we
+had left her, as I could see at a glance when we neared the bank; but,
+none the less, something stirred in the bushes. A growl and a sudden
+barking, greeted Hiroshimi as he approached the boat in advance.
+
+"You, Tige!" called out Lafitte. The dog--a dog none too beautiful,
+and now just a bit forlorn--approached us, alternately wagging in
+friendship and retreating in alarm.
+
+"Well, what do you think of that!" said Jimmy. "We left him back at
+the lake--sent him home half a dozen times. How'd he get here, and
+how'd he know where we was?"
+
+"He couldn't a-swum the lake," assented John. "And it was more'n ten
+miles around; and how could he smell where we went, on the water? Come
+here, Tige, you blame fool!"
+
+"Nay," said I, "he is no fool, this dog, but a creature of great
+reason, else he never could have found you. And I'll be bound he is as
+keen for adventure as any of us."
+
+"He is coming here last night two ow-wore after dinner," said the
+omniscient Hiroshimi. "Also he bite me on leg. He, also, is
+malefactor."
+
+"He has allotted to himself the duty of caring for the property of his
+masters, Hiro," I said, "and hence is not really a malefactor.
+Besides, since he would not leave the boat and follow our trail, he is
+by this time hungry. Feed him, Hiro."
+
+But Hiroshimi was not eager to approach the piratical canine again; so
+I, myself, fished something from a hamper and called the dog to me. He
+ate gladly and most gratefully.
+
+Now, it is a strange thing to say, but it is the truth, I had never
+before in my life fed a dog! I had won many knotty suits at law, had
+solved many hard problems dealing with human nature--and had found
+human nature for the most part rarely glad or grateful--but I have
+never owned or even fed a dog. A strange new feeling came in my throat
+now. Suddenly I swallowed some invisible intangible thing.
+
+"John," said I, "what breed of dog is this?" Indeed, it was hard to
+tell offhand, although he had the keen head of a collie.
+
+"I guess he's just one o' them partial dogs," answered John, "mostly
+shepherd, maybe; I dunno."
+
+"Very well, Partial shall be his name. And is he yours?"
+
+"He runs round on the farm. He goes with Jimmy an' me."
+
+"John, will you sell me Partial?" I asked this suddenly, realizing
+that my voice might sound odd.
+
+"What'd ye want him fer?" he replied. "He'd be a nuisance."
+
+"I think not. See how faithful he has been, see how grateful he is;
+and how wise. He reasoned where you were as well as I reasoned who you
+were. He knows now that we are talking about him, and knows that I am
+his friend--see him look at me; see him come over and stand by me.
+John, do you think--do you believe a dog, this dog, would learn to
+like me, ever? Would he understand me?"
+
+"Well," said John judicially, standing sword in hand, "I dunno.
+Someways, maybe dogs and boys understands quicker. But you understand
+us. Maybe he'd understand you."
+
+"Well reasoned, Jean Lafitte," said I, "perhaps your logic is better
+than you know, at least, I hope so. And now I offer you yonder
+magazine pistol as your own in fee, if you will sign over to me all
+your right, title and interest, in Partial, here. Evidently he belongs
+with us. He seems to care for us. And I experience some odd sort of
+feeling, which I can not quite describe. Perhaps it is only that I
+feel like a boy, and one that is going to own a dog. Is it a bargain?"
+
+"Sure! You c'n have him for nuthin'," said Lafitte. "He ain't worth
+nothin'. Besides, I can't charge a brother of the flag anything;
+anyhow, not you." I inferred that Jean Lafitte, also, was going to
+grow up into one of those men like myself, cursed with a reticence and
+shyness in some matters, and so winning a reputation of oddness or
+coldness, against all the real and passionate protest of his own soul.
+
+"No, brother," I said to him: "I'll not offer you trade, but gift. Let
+it be that if I can win the dog, and if he will take me as his master
+and friend, he shall be mine. And you take the pistol, and have a care
+of it."
+
+"That's all right!" said Lafitte shyly, yet delightedly, as I could
+see.
+
+"Here, Partial!" I called to the dog; and being young and friendly,
+and attached to neither in particular, and only in general worshiping
+the creature Boy, he came to me! I fed him, stroked him, looked into
+his eyes. And in a few moments he put his feet on my shoulders, and
+licked at my ear, and began to talk to me in low eager whines, and
+rubbed his muzzle against my cheek, and said all that a dog could say
+in oath of feudal service, pledging loyalty of life and limb. At which
+I felt very odd indeed; and began to see the world had many things in
+it of which I had never known; but which, now, I was resolved to know.
+
+"Honorable is embarking those malefactor canine thing with so much
+impediments in this small-going boat?" inquired Hiroshimi.
+
+"Yes," I answered. "At once. All four of us. Put the stuff aboard,
+Hiro."
+
+So, somewhat crowded as the _Sea Rover_ was, with three boys and a
+dog, not to mention our supplies and our armament, at last we were
+afloat with crew and cargo aboard. Hiro was not surprised, and asked
+no questions. With the salaam with which he announced dinner, he now
+announced his own departure for his duties at my deserted house; and
+as he walked he never turned around for curious gaze. Often, often
+have I, in my readings in the Eastern philosophy, endeavored to
+analyze and to emulate this Oriental calm, this dismissal from the
+soul of things small, things unessential and things unavoidable. An
+enviable character, my boy Hiroshimi.
+
+Now all was bustle and confusion aboard the good ship _Sea Rover_.
+"Stand by the main braces!" roared Lafitte.
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir!" replied the crew, that is to say, Jimmy L'Olonnois.
+
+"Hard a lee!"
+
+"Hard a lee it is, Sir!"
+
+"Hoist the top-gallant mainsail an' clew all alow an' aloft!"
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir!"
+
+"Man the capstan! All hands to the starboard mizzen chains! Heave
+away!"
+
+"Heave away!" rejoined our gallant crew, never for a moment in doubt
+as to the captain's meaning. And, indeed, he gave a push with an oar
+at the bank, which thrust us into the smart current of my little
+river.
+
+We were afloat! We were off to seek our fortune!
+
+    [Illustration: I, too, stood, shading my eyes with my hand]
+
+Ah, what a fine new world was this which lay before us! But for one
+thing, this had no doubt been the happiest moment in my life. For,
+always, the attaining of knowledge, the growth of a man's mind and
+soul, had to me seemed the one ambition worth a man's while; and now,
+as I might well be assured, I had learned more and grown more,
+these last twelve hours or so, than I had in any twelve years of my
+life before. Before me, indeed, had opened a vast and wonderful world.
+That morning, as we swept around curve after curve of the swift
+trout-stream that I loved so well, among my alders, through my bits of
+wood, along my hills--with Lafitte and L'Olonnois standing, each
+alert, silent, peering ahead under his flat hand to see what might lie
+ahead (I astern with Partial's head on my knee), I felt rise in my
+soul the same sweet grateful feeling that I had when the new world of
+music opened to me, what time I first caught the real meaning of the
+_Frühlingslied_. My heart leaped anew in my bosom, for the time
+forgetting its sadness. I saw that the world after all does hold faith
+and loyalty and friendship and perpetual, self-renewing Youth.... I
+also rose, cast my hat aside, and with one hand reaching down to touch
+my friend's head, I, too, stood, shading my eyes with my edged hand,
+peering ahead into this strange new world that lay ahead of me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+IN WHICH I ACHIEVE A NAME
+
+
+So winding is my trout river, and so extensive are my lands along it,
+that it was not until nearly noon that our progress, sometimes halted
+by shallows, again swift in the deeper reaches, brought the _Sea
+Rover_ to the lower edge of my estate. Here, the river was deeper and
+more silent, the waters were not quite so cold, but as we passed a
+high hardwood bridge from which issued a cool spring of water, I
+suggested a halt in our voyage, to which my companions, readily
+enough, agreed. We, therefore, disembarked and prepared to have our
+luncheon.
+
+It was obvious to me that Jean Lafitte and Henri L'Olonnois were not
+on their first expedition out-of-doors, for they set about gathering
+wood and water in workmanlike fashion. They did not yet fully classify
+me, so, in boyish shyness, left me largely ignored, or waited till I
+should demonstrate myself to them. It was, therefore, with delicacy
+that I ventured any suggestions from the place where Partial and I sat
+in the shade watching them.
+
+I have mentioned the fact that I had been a hunter and traveler, and
+had met success in the field; yet the truth is, I began all that late
+in life, and deliberately. To me, used to exact habit of thought in
+all things, and accustomed to be governed by trained reason alone, it
+was never enough to say that a thing was partly done, or well enough
+done to pass: only the best possible way had any appeal to me. I
+brought my reason to bear on every situation in life. Thus, I studied
+an investment carefully, and before going into it, I knew what the
+result would be. My investments, therefore, always have prospered,
+because they were not based on guess or chance, as nine-tenths of all
+the public's business ventures are. In the same way, I had gone
+deliberately about the matter of winning the regard of the only woman
+I ever saw who seemed to me much worth while. I argued and reasoned
+with Helena Emory that she should marry me, proving to her by every
+rule of logic that, not only was she the most lovable woman in all the
+records of the world, but, also, that love such as mine never had
+before been known in the world. Sometimes, as I logically proved the
+fitness of our union, and grew warm at my own accuracy, she wavered,
+relented, warmed: and then again, forgetting my argument, she would
+relapse into womanlike frivolity once more.... I did not like to think
+of this, as I sat in the shade with Partial. It cost me much in
+self-respect, irritated me.
+
+But, having studied sport and outdoor living deliberately as I had
+studied the law and business and Helena, I had rather a thorough
+grounding, on life in the open, for I had read every authority
+obtainable; whereas my young associates had read none. So cautiously,
+now and then, I suggested little things to them, as that the fire need
+not be so large, and would do better if confined between two green
+side logs. I taught them how to boil the kettle quickly, how to make
+tea, and also, more difficult, how to make coffee; how to cook bacon
+just enough, and how to cook fish--for I had taken a few trout earlier
+in the day--and how to make toast without charring it to cinders.
+Again, I delighted them by telling them of little camping devices, and
+quite won their hearts when I found among Hiroshimi's packages, a
+small camp griddle with folding legs, of my own devising. It was quite
+clean and new, but it performed as I felt quite sure it would. In
+fact, reason will govern all things--except a woman.
+
+We ate _al fresco_, as true buccaneers of the main, and grew better
+and better acquainted. It occurred to me that mayhap the nautical
+education of my associates was, after all, somewhat superficial, so I
+set about mending it by explaining something of the rigging of the
+ship; and I gave them, by means of the _Sea Rover's_ bowline, some
+lessons in sailorman splices and knots. The bow-line-in-a-bight, the
+sheet-bend, the clinch-knot, the jam-knot, the fisherman's water-knot,
+the stevedore's slip-knot, the dock-hand's round-turns and
+half-hitches for cable makefast, the magnus-hitch, the fool's-knot,
+the cat's-cradle, the sheep-shank, the dog-shank, and many others--all
+of which I had learned in books and in practise--I did for them over
+and over again; just as I could have done for them a half-dozen
+different ways of throwing the diamond-hitch in a pack-train, or the
+stirrup-hitch in a cow camp, or many other of the devices of men who
+live in the open; for beginning late in life in these things, I had
+studied them hard and faithfully.
+
+I could see--and I noted it with much gratification--that I was rising
+in the estimation of my pirates. It pleased me not at all to show that
+I knew more than they of these things, for I was older and my mind was
+long my trained servant; but I had monstrous delight in seeing myself
+accepted as one fit to associate with them. Once or twice, I saw the
+two draw apart in some debate which I knew had to do with me. "Well,
+now," Lafitte would begin; and L'Olonnois would demur. "No, I don't
+just like that one," he would say. By nightfall--and I presume I do
+not need to recall all the incidents of our afternoon, or of our
+pitching camp by the riverside an hour before sundown--I learned what
+was the subject of their argument. I had been admitted to the pirates'
+band, but the question was over my name.
+
+We sat by our fireside, before our little tent, after a pleasant meal
+which I know was well cooked because I cooked it myself--trout, a
+young squirrel, and toast, and real coffee--and Partial was close at
+my knee, having obviously adopted me. We were fifteen or twenty miles
+from my house, nearly twice that from their homes, but the world,
+itself, seemed very remote from us. We reveled in a new luxurious
+world of rare deeds, rare dreams all our own. I was conjuring up some
+new argument to put before Helena should I ever see her again--as of
+course I never should--when Lafitte rolled over on the grass and
+looked up at us.
+
+"We was just saying," he remarked, "that you didn't have no name."
+
+"That is true. I have not told you my name, nor have you asked it. Had
+you been impolite, you might have learned it by prying about my
+place." I spoke gravely and with approval.
+
+"No, we didn't know who you was."
+
+"Let it be so. Let me be a man of no name. A name is of no
+consequence, and neither am I."
+
+"Sho, now, that ain't so. I never seen a better--now, I never seen--"
+Jean Lafitte's reticence in friendship, again, was getting the better
+of him.
+
+"So we said we'd call you Black Bart," added L'Olonnois.
+
+"That is a most excellent name," said I after some thought. "At
+present, I can find no objection to it, except that I wear no beard at
+all and would have a red or brown one if I did; and that Black Bart
+was rather a pirate of the land than of the sea."
+
+"Was he?" queried L'Olonnois. "Wasn't he a pirate, too, never?"
+
+"There was a famous pirate chief known as Bluebeard or Blackbeard, and
+it may be, sometimes, they called him Black Bart."
+
+"Wasn't he a awful desper't sort of pirate?"
+
+"He is said to have been."
+
+"It sounds like a awful desper't name," said Jimmy: "like as though
+he'd fill up his ship with captured maidens, an' put all rivals to the
+sword."
+
+"Such, indeed, shipmate," said I, "was his reputation."
+
+"Well," concluded L'Olonnois, "we couldn't think o' any better name'n
+that, because we know that is just what you would do."
+
+(So, then, my reputation was advancing!)
+
+"Wasn't you never a pirate before, honest?" queried Lafitte at this
+juncture. "Because, you seem like a real pirate to us. We been, lots
+of times, over on the lake."
+
+"It may be because my father was always called a pirate," I replied.
+"You see, in these days, there are not so many pirates who really
+scuttle ships and cut throats."
+
+"But you would?"
+
+"Certainly. 'Tis in my blood, my bold shipmate."
+
+"We knew it," concluded L'Olonnois calmly. "So, after now, we'll call
+you Black Bart. You can let your whiskers grow, you know."
+
+"True," said I. "Well, we will at least take the whiskers under
+advisement, as the court would say."
+
+"We must be an awful long ways from home," ventured L'Olonnois, after
+a time.
+
+"Hundreds of miles our good ship has ploughed the deep, and as yet has
+raised no sail above the horizon," I admitted.
+
+"Do you--now--do you--well, anyhow, do you have any idea of where we
+are going?" demanded Lafitte, shamefacedly.
+
+"Not in the slightest."
+
+"But now--well--now then----"
+
+In answer I drew from my pocket a map and a compass; the latter mostly
+for effect, since I knew very well the bed of our river must shape
+our course for many a mile. On the map I pointed out how, presently,
+our river would run into a lake, into which, also, ran another river;
+and would emerge on the other side much larger. I showed them that
+down that other river, as, indeed, down mine, logs used to float from
+the pine forests--many of my father's logs, of ownership said to have
+been piratical--and I showed how, presently, this stream would carry
+us into one of the ancient waterways down which millions of wealth in
+timber have come; and explained about the wild crews of river runners
+who once ran the rafts down that great highway, and into the greater
+highway of the Mississippi; whence men might in due time arrive upon
+the Spanish Main.
+
+"Is there any way a fellow can get across from Lake Michigan into the
+Mississippi River?" demanded Lafitte, who was of a practical turn of
+mind: and on the map I showed him all the old trails of the fur
+traders, explorers and adventurers, French and English, who had
+discovered our America long ago; whereat their eyes kindled and their
+tongues went dumb.
+
+At last, I told them we must to our hammocks; and soon our bloody band
+was deep in sleep. At least, so much might have been said for Lafitte
+and L'Olonnois. Alone of the band of sea rovers myself, Black Bart,
+sat musing by the fire, the head of my friend, Partial, in my lap.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+IN WHICH WE HAVE AN ADVENTURE
+
+
+Our band of hardy adventurers arose with the sun on the morning
+following our first night in bivouac, and by noon of that day, thanks,
+perhaps, in some measure to my own work at the oars, and a sail which
+we rigged from a corner of the tent, we had passed into and through
+the lake which our map had showed us. Now we were below the edge of
+the pine woods, and our stream ran more sluggishly, between banks of
+cattails or of waving marsh grasses. We put out a trolling line, and
+took a bass or so; and once Lafitte, firing chance-medley into a
+passing flock of plover, knocked down a half-dozen, so that we bade
+fair to have enough for dinner that night. It was all a new world for
+us. No one might tell what lay around the next bend of our widening
+waterway. We were explorers. A virgin world lay before us. The nature
+of the country along the stream kept the settlements back a distance;
+so that to us, now, in reality, retracing one of the ancient
+fur-trading routes, we might almost have been the first to break these
+silences.
+
+Toward nightfall we came into a more rolling and more park-like
+region; our prow was now heading to the westward, for the general
+course of the great river beyond. I had no notion to visit the city of
+Chicago, and our route lay far above that which must be taken by any
+large craft bound for the Mississippi route to the Gulf.
+
+Farms now came down to the water's edge in places, villages offered
+mill-pond dams--around which, in scowling reticence, we portaged the
+_Sea Rover_, unmindful alike of queries and of jeers. I found time to
+post additional letters now. Indeed, I was preparing for a long and
+determined enterprise. It was the _Sea Rover_ against the _Belle
+Helène_; and, did the skipper of the latter loll along in flanneled
+ease and luxury, not so with the hardy band of cutthroats who manned
+our smaller and more mobile craft, men used to hardships, content to
+drink spring water instead of sparkling wines, and to eat the product
+of their own weapons.
+
+We were I do not know how far from our first encampment, perhaps
+thirty miles or more, when toward five o'clock of the evening we
+concluded to land at a wooded grassy bank which offered a good camping
+place. We made all fast, and in a few moments had our tent up and a
+little fire going, Lafitte and L'Olonnois, at this, happy as any two
+pirates I ever have seen; and were on the point of spreading our
+canvas table cover upon the grass, when we heard a gruff voice hail
+us.
+
+"Heh! What're you doin' there?"
+
+We turned, expecting to meet some irate farmer on whose land perhaps
+we innocently were trespassing; but the figure which now emerged from
+the screening bushes was rougher, bolder, and in some indescribable
+way wilder, than that of a farmer. I could not, at first, assign the
+fellow a place, for I knew this was an old and well settled country,
+and not supposed to be overrun with tramps or campers. He was a stout
+man nearly of middle age, dirty and ill clad, his coarse shirt open at
+the neck, his legs clad in old overalls, his hat and shoes very much
+the worse for wear. His face was covered with a rough beard, and so
+brown and so begrimed that, at once, I guessed this must be some
+dweller in the open. Yet he seemed no tramp; and even if he were, he
+had no right to hail us in this fashion.
+
+I only looked at him, and made no answer, feeling none due. He came
+out into the open, followed by a nondescript dog, which had the lack
+of decency--and also of discretion--to attack my dog Partial with no
+parley or preliminary. I wot not of what stock Partial came, but
+somewhere in his ancestry must have been stark fighting strain. Mutely
+and sternly, as became a gentleman, he joined issue; and so well had
+he learned the art of war that in the space of a few moments, in spite
+of the loud outcry of the owner of the invading cur, he had him on his
+back in a throat grip which was the end of the battle and bade fair
+soon to be the end of the enemy.
+
+The man who had accosted us caught up a club and made toward Partial
+with intent to kill him. Then, indeed, we all sprang into action. In
+two strides I was before him.
+
+"Drop that!" I said to him quickly, but I hope not angrily. "Call him
+off, Jack!" I cried to Lafitte at the same time.
+
+The sound of conflict ceased as Partial was persuaded to release his
+fallen foe, and the latter disappeared, with more wisdom as to
+attacking a band of pirates. His owner, however, was not so easily
+daunted. He still advanced toward Partial, and as I still intervened,
+he made a vicious side blow at me with his club.
+
+It all happened, almost, in the twinkling of an eye. Here, then, was
+an adventure, and before the end of our second day!
+
+There was not time to learn or to ask the reason for this man's
+animosity toward us, and, indeed, no thought of that came to my mind.
+A man may lay tongue to one--within certain bounds--and one will only
+walk away from him; but the touch of another man's hand or weapon is
+quite another matter. That arouses the unthinking blood, and follows
+then, no matter the issue, the _gaudium certaminis_, with no care as
+to odds or evens. Wherefore, even as the club whizzed by to my side
+step, I came back from the other foot and smote the hostile stranger
+on the side of the neck so stiffly that he faltered and almost
+dropped. Then seeing that I was so much lighter than himself and
+perhaps valuing himself against me purely on a basis of avoirdupois,
+pound for pound, he gathered and came at me, roaring out blasphemy and
+obscenity which I had rather Lafitte and L'Olonnois had not heard.
+
+I had not often fought in fact, but knew that, sometimes, a gentleman
+must fight. What astonished me now was the fact that fighting
+contained no manner of repugnance to me. With a certain joy I met my
+foe, circled with him, exchanged blows with him--unequally it is true,
+for I was cool as though trying a cause at law, and he was very angry:
+so that he got most of my leads, and I but few of his, albeit jarring
+me enough to make my ears sing and my eyes blur somewhat, although of
+pain I was no more conscious than a fighting dog. The turf was soft
+underfoot, and the space wide, so that we fought very happily and
+comfortably over perhaps a hundred feet of country, first one and then
+the other coming in; until at last I had him so well blown that he
+stood, and I knew we must now end it toe to toe. I bethought me of a
+trick of my old boxing teacher, and stood before him with arms curved
+wide apart, inviting him to come into what seemed an opening. He
+rushed, and my left fist caught him on the neck. He straightened to
+finish me, but I stooped and brought my right in a round-arm blow,
+full and hard into the small of his back and at one side. It sickened
+him, and before he could rally, I stepped behind him, and having no
+ethics save the necessity of subduing him, I caught up his arm by the
+wrist, and slipping under it with my shoulder, pulled it down till he
+howled: a trick, only one of very many, which Hiroshimi patiently had
+taught me.
+
+That very naturally ended our contest, and it was near to ending our
+war-like neighbor as well. During this warfare, which was short or
+long, I knew not, my associates, stunned and perhaps fearful, had sat
+silent; at least, I neither heard nor saw them. But now, all at once,
+over my shoulder I saw both Lafitte and L'Olonnois running in to my
+assistance. Each held in hand a bared blade of the samurai, and had I
+not shouted out to them to refrain, I have small doubt that in the
+most piratical and unsamuraic fashion they mayhap would have
+disemboweled my captive; for the old swords were keen as razors, and
+my friends were as red of eyesight as myself.
+
+"No! No!" I called to them, even as our victim writhed and roared in
+terror. "Drop your weapons--that isn't fair." They obeyed,
+shamefacedly and with regret, as I am convinced: for illusion with
+them, at times, indeed overleaped the centuries, and they were back in
+a time of blood: even as I was in a stone-age wrath for my own part.
+
+"Come here, Jack," I ordered, "and you, too, Jimmy. Do you see how I
+have him?"
+
+They agreed. "It's a peach," said Lafitte. "Make him holler!"
+
+"No," I replied, easing off the strain on the wrenched arm, "he has
+already 'hollered.'"
+
+"Yes, sure, 'nuff, 'nuff!----ye!" cried our captive, who, now, was in
+mortal terror and much contrition, seeing both flesh and blood and
+cold steel had all the best of him. "Lemme go!"
+
+"Certainly," I assented; "we did not ask you to come, and do not want
+you to stay. But, first, I must use you in a few demonstrations to my
+young friends. Jack,"--and I motioned to him with my head--"get behind
+him."
+
+Eagerly, his three-cornered gray eyes narrowed, Lafitte skipped back
+of my man, and with no word from me he fastened on the other wrist so
+suddenly the man had no warning, and with a strong heave of all his
+body he doubled that arm up also. Much roaring now, and many
+protestations, for when our prisoner began with abuse, we could change
+it into supplication by raising his bent arms no more than one inch or
+two.
+
+"Now, Jimmy," said I, "go in front of him, and put a thumb in the
+corner of his jaw, on each side. Press up until he begs our pardon."
+And, faith, my blue-eyed pirate, so far from shuddering at the task,
+at last managed to find those certain nerve centers known to all
+efficient policemen; and very promptly, the man made signs he would
+like to beg the boy's pardon and did so.
+
+"Now, give me that arm, Jack," I resumed calmly, since our subject had
+no more fight left in him than a sack of meal. "So. Now go around and
+put your thumbs in his eyes--no, not really in his eyes, but in the
+middle of the bone above his eyes. So. Now, ask this boy's pardon, or
+I'll twist your arms off." And he asked it.
+
+"You couldn't do it if you'd fight fair!" he bellowed.
+
+"Could I not?" I asked. And cast him free. "Come on again, then."
+
+"I'm afraid of them kids," said he. "They'd stick me."
+
+"No, they would not," said I; but still he would not come on. Then I
+made a quick catch at his wrist, edgewise, and rolled my thumb along
+it at a certain place where the nerves lie close to the edge of the
+bone, as any policeman knows; and he would follow me, then. So I led
+him to our little camp-fire.
+
+"Now," said I to him, "be seated," and he sat. I asked him if he would
+shake hands with me and my boys and make up. He was very sullen, but,
+at last, did so, not cheerfully, I fear, for he was not of good blood.
+
+"Tell me," I demanded then, seeing that the triumph of calm reason had
+been sufficient in his case, "why did you come here, and why do you
+try to drive us off, who are only on a peaceful journey as pirates,
+seeking our fortune?"
+
+"Pirates!" he exclaimed. "Just what I thought. What's the use my
+leasin' the pearl fer a mile along here if anybody can come and camp,
+and go to work, right alongside o' me? If old farmer Snider, that owns
+this land, hadn't gone to town I'd have the law on ye. Me payin' my
+money in and gettin' no protection. Fishin's rotten, too!"
+
+I now perceived that we had encountered one of those half-nomad
+characters, a fresh-water pearl fisherman, such as those who, for some
+years, with varying fortune, have combed the sand-bars of our inland
+river for the fresh-water mussels which sometimes, like oysters,
+secrete valuable pearls or nacreous bits known as slugs. This
+explained much to me.
+
+"I know the law," said I. "Farmer Snider can not lease the highway of
+yonder river where the _Sea Rover_ passes. But I know also the law of
+the wilderness. One trapper does not intrude on another who has first
+located his country. We will pass on to-morrow. Meantime, if you don't
+mind, we will go with you to your camp and see how you do your work.
+Please forget that we have had any trouble. Had you but spoken thus at
+first, and not borne war against these bold pirates, all would have
+been well."
+
+He looked at me oddly, evidently thinking my mind touched.
+
+"Come!" I said, wiping the blood from my face, and passing him also a
+basin of water, "you fought well and the wonder is you did not kill me
+with one of those swings or swipes of yours. They were crooked and
+awkward, but they came hard."
+
+He grinned and saved his face further by saying: "Well, you was three
+to one ag'in me." I smiled and let it stand so: and after a while, he
+arose stiffly and we all passed back into the wood.
+
+We found that we were upon a little island, between two shallow arms
+of the stream. The camp of the pearl fisher lay at the lower end; and
+never have I seen or smelled so foul a place for human habitation. The
+one large tent served as shelter, and a rude awning sheltered the
+ruder table in the open air. But directly about the tent, and all
+around it in every direction, lay heaps of clam shells, most of them
+opened, some not yet ready for opening. I had smelled the same
+odor--and had not learned to like it--in far-off Ceylon, at the great
+pearl fisheries of the Orient. The "clammer" seemed immune.
+
+Presently, he introduced to us a woman, very old, extraordinarily
+forbidding of visage, and unspeakably profane of speech, who emerged
+from the tent; his mother, he said. It seemed that they made their
+living in this way, clamming, as they called it, all the way from
+Arkansas to the upper waters of the Mississippi. They had made this
+side expedition up a tributary, in search of country not so thoroughly
+exploited; without much success in their venture, it seemed. The old
+lady, her head wrapped in a dirty shawl, sat down on an empty box, and
+stroked a large and dirty Angora cat, another member of the family,
+the while she bitterly and profanely complained. It was now dusk, and
+she did not notice anything out of the way in her son's rather swollen
+nose and lips.
+
+I explained to Lafitte and L'Olonnois that we were now come into the
+neighborhood of possible treasure, and the sight of a few pearls, none
+of very great worth, which the old crone produced from a cracker box,
+was enough to set off Jimmy L'Olonnois, who was all for raiding the
+place.
+
+"What!" he hissed to me in an aside. "Did we not spare his life? Then
+the treasure should be ours!"
+
+"Wait, brother," said I. "We shall see what we shall see." And I
+quieted Lafitte also, who was war-like at the very sound of the word
+pearl. "Them's what they take from the Spanish ships," said he.
+"Pearls is fitten for ladies fair. An' here is pearls."
+
+"Wait, brother," I demanded of him. For I was revolving something in
+my mind. I presently accosted the clammers.
+
+"Listen," said I, "you say business is bad."
+
+"It certainly and shorely is," assented the old dame, fishing a black
+pipe out of her pocket, and proceeding to feed it from another pocket,
+to the discomfort of the soiled Angora cat.
+
+"Well, now, let me make you a proposition," said I, taking a glance at
+the heap of fresh shell which lay beyond the racks of trolling lines
+and their twisted wire hooks, by means of which dragging apparatus the
+mussels are taken--shutting hard on the wire when it touches them as
+they lie feeding with open mouths--"you've quite a lot of shell
+there, now."
+
+"Yes, but what's in it? Button factories all shut down with a strike,
+and no market: and as for pearls, they ain't none. Blame me for
+carryin' a grouch?"
+
+"Not in the least. But what will you take for your shells, and agree
+to open them for us, at wages of five dollars a day?"
+
+"Both of us?" he demanded shrewdly. I smiled and nodded. "It's more
+than you average, twice over," said I, "and you say the stream is no
+good. Now I, too, am a student of the great law of averages, because I
+am or was a director in a great life insurance company. You say the
+luck is bad. Like other adventurers, I say that under the law of
+averages, it is time for the luck to change."
+
+"The luck's with you," growled the clammer, "it's ag'in me."
+Unconsciously, he put a finger to his swollen nose. "What'll you
+gimme?" he demanded.
+
+"One hundred dollars bonus and ten dollars a day," said I promptly;
+and he seemed to know I would not better that.
+
+"Who are ye?" he queried: "a buyer?"
+
+"No, a pirate."
+
+"I believe ye. I never saw such a outfit."
+
+"Will you trade?" I asked; "and how long will it take to open the
+lot?"
+
+"Nigh all day, even if we set up all night and roasted." He nodded to
+a wide grating; and the ashes underneath showed that in this way the
+poor clams, like the Incas of old, were sometimes forced to give up
+their treasures by the persuasion of a fire under them.
+
+"Very well," I said. "We'll call it a day. That's a hundred and ten
+dollars for you by this time to-morrow. I invoke the aid of capital
+and of chance, both, against you. You will very likely lose: but if
+so, it would not be the first time the producer of wealth has lost it.
+But I make the wager fair, as my reason tells me I should."
+
+"Ye're a crazy bunch, and I think ye're out of the state asylum over
+yonder," broke in the old woman, "but what the hell do we care whether
+ye're crazy or not? Ye look like ye had the money. Jake, we'll take
+him up."
+
+"All right," said Jake. "We'll go ye."
+
+"To-morrow morning, then," said I; and our party rose to return to our
+camp, where Partial greeted us with warmth; he having assigned to
+himself the duty of guard. And so, as Pepys would say, to bed;
+although Lafitte and L'Olonnois scarce could sleep.
+
+"Let him attempt to make a run for it, after we have hove him to, and
+we will board him and give no quarter!" This was almost the last of
+the direful speech I heard from L'Olonnois, as at last I turned myself
+to a night of deep and peaceful slumber.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+IN WHICH WE TAKE MUCH TREASURE
+
+
+"You must be awful rich, Black Bart," said L'Olonnois to me as we sat
+on the grass, at breakfast, the following morning.
+
+"No, Jimmy," I replied, putting down my coffee cup, "on the contrary,
+I am very poor."
+
+"But you have all sorts of things, back there where you live; and last
+night you said you would pay that man a hundred dollars, just to open
+a lot of clam shells. Now, a hundred dollars is a awful sight of
+money."
+
+"That depends, Jimmy," I said.
+
+"'N' we'd ought to _take_ them pearls," broke in Lafitte. "Didn't we
+lick him?"
+
+"We did, yes; twice." And in my assent I felt, again, a fierce
+satisfaction in the first conquest of our invader, that of body to
+body, eye to eye; rather than in the one where I brought intellect to
+aid in war. "But there are two ways of being a pirate. Let us see if
+we can not win treasure by taking a chance in logic, and so be modern
+pirates."
+
+They did not understand me, and went mute, but at last Jimmy resumed
+his catechism. "Who owns the place where you live, Black Bart?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"But how much?"
+
+"Some five or six miles."
+
+"Gee! That must be over a hundred acres. I didn't know anybody owned
+that much land. Where'd you get it?"
+
+"In part from my father."
+
+"What business was he in?"
+
+"He was a pirate, Jimmy, or at least, they said he was. But my mother
+was not.--I will tell you," I added suddenly: "my father owned a great
+deal of timber land long ago, and iron, and oil, and copper, when
+nobody cared much for them. They say, now, he stole some of them, I
+don't know. In those days people weren't so particular. The more he
+got, the more he wanted. He never was a boy like you and me. He
+educated me as a lawyer, so that I could take care of his business and
+his property, and he trained me in the pirate business the best he
+could, and I made money too, all I wanted. You see, my father could
+never get enough, but I did; perhaps, because my mother wasn't a
+pirate, you see. So, when I got enough, my father and mother both died,
+and when I began to see that, maybe, my father had taken a little more
+than our share, I began trying to do something for people ... but I
+can't talk about that, of course."
+
+"Well, why not?" demanded Lafitte. "Go on."
+
+"A fellow doesn't like to."
+
+"But what did you do?"
+
+"Very little. I found I could not do very much. I gave some buildings
+to schools, that sort of thing. No one thanked me much. A good many
+called me a Socialist."
+
+"What's that--a Socialist?"
+
+"I can't tell you. Nobody knows. But really, I suppose, a Socialist is
+a man born before the world got used to steam and electricity. Those
+things made a lot of changes, you see, and in the confusion some
+people didn't get quite as square a deal as they deserved; or at
+least, they didn't think they had. It takes time, really, as I
+suppose, to settle down after any great change. It's like moving a
+house."
+
+"I see," said Jimmy sagely. "But, Black Bart, you always seemed to me
+like as if, now, well, like you was studyin' or something, somehow.
+Ain't you never had no good times before?"
+
+"No. This is about the first really good time I ever had in all my
+life. You see, you can't really understand things that you look at
+from a long way off--you've got to get right in with folks to know
+what folks are. Don't you think so?"
+
+"I know it!" answered Jimmy, with conviction. And I recalled, though
+he did not, the fact that he bathed daily, Lafitte weekly, yet no
+gulf was fixed between their portions of the general humanity.
+
+"It must be nice to be rich," ventured Lafitte presently. "I'm going
+to be, some day."
+
+"Is that why you go a-pirating?" I smiled.
+
+"Maybe. But mostly, because I like it."
+
+"It's a sort of game," said L'Olonnois.
+
+"All life is a sort of game, my hearties," said I. "What you two just
+have said covers most of the noble trade of piracy and nearly all of
+the pretty game of life. You are wise as I am, wise as any man,
+indeed."
+
+"What I like about you, Black Bart," resumed L'Olonnois, naively, "is,
+you seem always fair."
+
+I flushed at this, suddenly, and pushed back my plate. "Jimmy," said I
+at last, "I would rather have heard that, from you, than to hear I had
+made a million dollars from pearls or anything else. For that has
+always been my great hope and wish--that some day I could teach myself
+always to be fair--not to deceive anybody, most of all not myself; in
+short, to be fair. Brother, I thank you, if you really believe I have
+succeeded to some extent."
+
+"Why ain't you always jolly, like you was havin' a good time, then?"
+demanded my blue-eyed inquisitor. "Honor bright!"
+
+"Must it be honor bright?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then I will tell you. It is because of the first chapter of Genesis,
+Jimmy."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Fie! Fie! Jimmy, haven't you read that?" He shook his head.
+
+"I've read a little about the fights," he said, "when Saul 'n' David
+'n' a lot of 'em slew them tens of thousands. But Genesis was dry."
+
+"Do you remember any place where it says 'Male and female created He
+them'?"
+
+"Oh, yes; but what of it? That's dry."
+
+"Is it, though?" I exclaimed. "And you with an Auntie Helena, and a
+brother Black Bart. Jimmy L'Olonnois, little do you know what you
+say!"
+
+"Well, now," interrupted the ruthless soul of Jean Lafitte, "how about
+them pearls?"
+
+"That's so," assented Jimmy. "Pearls is booty."
+
+"Very well, then, shipmates," I assented, "as soon as we have washed
+the dishes, we will see what can be done with the enemy yonder."
+
+We found our two clammers, the young man and his crone of a mother, up
+betimes and hard at work, as evil-looking a pair as ever I saw. The
+man's face was still puffed and discolored, where my fists had
+punished him, and his disposition had not improved overnight. His
+hag-like dam also regarded us with suspicion and disfavor, I could
+note, and I saw her glance from me to her son, making mental
+comparisons; and guessed she had heard explanations regarding black
+eyes which did not wholly satisfy her.
+
+They had already roasted open and examined quite a heap of shells by
+the time we arrived, and I inquired, pleasantly, if they had found
+anything. The man answered surlily that they had not; but something
+made me feel suspicious, since they had made so early a start. I saw
+him now and then wipe his hands on his overalls, and several times
+noted that as he did so, his middle finger projected down below the
+others, as though he were touching for something inside his pocket,
+which lay in front, the overalls being made for a carpenter, with a
+narrow pocket devised for carrying a folded foot-rule. But I could see
+nothing suggested in the pocket.
+
+"That's too bad," I said pleasantly. "It looks as though I were going
+to lose my hundred, doesn't it? Still, the day is long."
+
+I busied myself in watching the deft work of the two as they opened
+the shells started by the heat, sweeping out the fetid contents, and
+feeling in one swift motion of a thumb for any hidden secretion of the
+nacre. Nothing was found while I was watching, and as I did not much
+like the odor, I drew to one side. I found L'Olonnois and Lafitte
+standing apart, in full character, arms folded and scowling heavily.
+
+"If yonder villain plays us false," said Lafitte between his clenched
+teeth, "he shall feel the vengeance of Jean Lafitte! And I wouldn't
+put it a blame bit a-past him, neither," he added, slightly out of
+drawing for the time.
+
+"You are well named, Lafitte," I smiled. "You are a good business man.
+But the day is long."
+
+It was, indeed, long, and I put in part of it wandering about with
+Partial, hunting for squirrels, which he took much delight in chasing
+up trees. Again, I lay for a time reading one of my favorite authors,
+the wise stoic, Epictetus, tarrying over one of my favorite passages:
+
+"Remember that you are an actor of just such a part as is assigned you
+by the Poet of the play; of a short part, if the part be short, of a
+long part if the part be long. Should He wish you to act the part of a
+beggar, ('or of a pirate,' I interpolated, aloud to myself, and
+smiling) take care to act it naturally and nobly; and the same if it
+be the part of a lame man, or a ruler, or a private man. For this is
+in your power--to act well the part assigned to you; but to choose
+that part is the function of another."
+
+I lay thoughtful, querying. Was I a rich man, or a poor man? Was I a
+ruler, or a private man, or a lame man?... I asked myself many
+questions, concluding that all my life I had, like most of us all,
+been more or less a lame man and a private man after all, and much
+like my fellow.... It was a great day for me; since each day I seek to
+learn something. And here now was I, blessed by the printed wisdom of
+age and philosophy, and yet more blessed by the spoken philosophy of
+unthinking Youth.... I lay flat, my arms out on the grass, and looked
+up at the leaves. I felt myself a part of the eternal changeless
+scheme, and was well content. It has always been impossible for me to
+care for the little things of life--such as the amassing of
+money--when I am alone in the woods. I pondered now on the wisdom of
+my teachers, Epictetus, Jimmy, John and the author of the Book of
+Genesis.
+
+I arose at last with less of melancholy and more of resolve than I had
+known for years. The world swam true on its axis all around me; and I,
+who all my life had been in some way out of balance in the world, now
+walked with a strange feeling of poise and certainty.... No, I said to
+myself, I would argue no more with Helena. And meantime since the Poet
+of the play had assigned me the double rôle of pirate and boy, I was
+resolved to act both "naturally and nobly."
+
+I could not have called either of my associates less than natural and
+noble in his part, viewed as I found them when at length I sought them
+to partake of a cold luncheon. They stood apart, gloom and stern
+dignity themselves, offering no speech to the laboring clammers, who,
+by this time, were but masses of evil odors and ill-temper in equal
+parts.
+
+"I think he's holdin' out on us!" hissed Jean Lafitte, as I
+approached. "Time and again I seen the varlet make false moves. Let
+him have a care! The eye of Jean Lafitte is upon him!"
+
+For my own part, I cared little for anything beyond the sport in my
+pearl venture, but no man likes to be "done," so I joined the guard
+over the pearl fishing. I could see little indication of success on
+the part of the two clammers, who went on in their work steadily,
+exchanging no more than a monosyllable now and then, but who were
+animated, it seemed to us, by the same excitement which governs the
+miner washing gravel in his pan. They scarce could rest, but went on
+from shell to shell, opening each as eagerly as though it meant a
+fortune. This of itself seemed to me both natural and yet not wholly
+natural; for it was now late in the day's work. Why should they go on
+quite so eagerly in what six hours of stooping in the sun should have
+made monotonous routine?
+
+They showed me a few pieces they had saved, splinters and slugs of
+nacre, misshapen and of no luster, and sneered at the net results,
+worth, at most, not so much as the day's wages I was paying either. I
+cared nothing for the results, and smiled and nodded as I took them.
+
+Thus the day wore on till mid-afternoon, when, such had been the zeal
+of the clammers, the heap of bivalves was exhausted. They stood erect,
+straightening their stiffened backs, and grinned as they looked at me.
+
+"Well," said the old hag, "I reckon ye're satisfied now that we know
+this business better'n you do. He told ye there wasn't no pearl in
+this river."
+
+"No;" added her hopeful son, "an' come to think of it, how'd I ever
+know you had a hundred dollars? I ain't seen it yet. But we've done,
+so let's see it now."
+
+I quietly opened my pocketbook and took several bills of that
+yellow-backed denomination, and selected one for him. He took it at
+first suspiciously, then greedily, and I saw his eyes go to my wallet.
+"I forgot," said I, and took out two bills of five dollars each, which
+I handed to him.
+
+"By golly!" said he, "so'd I forgot!"
+
+"Why did you forget about your wages?" I asked, and looked at him
+keenly. He turned his eyes aside.
+
+"This fresh-water pearl fishing," said I, "has many points of
+likeness to the ocean pearl fishing in Ceylon."
+
+"You been there?" he queried. "And why is it like them?"
+
+"In several ways. It is, in the first place, all a gamble. The pearl
+merchants buy the oysters as I bought my mussels, by the lump and as a
+chance, based on the law of average product. They rot the oysters as
+you do the mussels. The smell is the same: and many other things are
+the same. For instance, it is almost impossible to keep the diver from
+stealing pearls, just as it is hard to keep the Kafirs from stealing
+the diamonds they find in the mines."
+
+I still was looking at him closely, and now I said to him mildly, and
+in a low tone of voice, "It would be of no use--I should only beat you
+again; and I would rather spare your mother. You see," I added in a
+louder tone of voice, "the natives put pearls in their hair, between
+their toes, in their mouths--although they do not chew tobacco as you
+do. One who merely put one in the pocket of his overalls--if he wore
+overalls--would be called very clumsy, indeed, especially if he had
+been seen to do it."
+
+Involuntarily, he clapped a hand on his pocket. What would have been
+his next act I do not know, for at that moment I heard a voice call
+out sharply, "Halt! villain. Throw up your hands, or by heavens you
+die!" Turning swiftly, I saw Lafitte, his pistol barrel rested in very
+serviceable fashion in the crotch of a staff, the same as when he
+first accosted me on my stream, glancing along the barrel with an
+ominous gray eye again gone three-cornered.
+
+Before I could even cry out to him his warning was effective. I saw my
+clam fisher go white and put his hands over his head, the while his
+dam ran screaming toward the tent--Jimmy L'Olonnois at her heels,
+sword in hand, and warning her not to get a gun, else her life's blood
+would dye the strand.
+
+Here, now, was a pretty pickle for a sworn servant of the law to aid
+in making! A wrong move might mean murder done by these imaginative
+youths, and I no less than accessory, to boot; for, surely, I had
+given them aid and violent counsel in this drama which we all were
+playing so naturally, if not so nobly. I hastened over to Lafitte and
+called loudly to L'Olonnois, and commanded Partial to drop the renewed
+encounter with the clammers' dog, which now, also, swiftly threatened
+us. So, in a moment or two, I restored peace.
+
+I held out my hand to the clammer. "I didn't know you seen me," said
+he simply; and placed in my hand three pearls, either of them worth
+more than all I had paid him, and one of them the largest and best I
+had ever seen--it is the pearl famous as the "_Belle Helène_," the
+finest ever taken in fresh waters in America, so it is said by
+Tiffany's.
+
+I looked at him quietly, and handed him back all but the one pearl. "I
+am sorry you were not a better sport," said I, "very sorry. Didn't I
+play fair with you?"
+
+"No," said he. "Some folks have all the luck. You come along here,
+rich, with all sorts of things, you and them d----d kids, and you'd
+rob a man like me out of what little he can make."
+
+I was opening my wallet again. "I am sorry to hear you say that," said
+I, handing him two bills of a hundred dollars each. "Sorry, because it
+has cost you twenty-eight hundred dollars."
+
+"My God, man, what do you mean?" he gasped, even his fingers slow to
+take both money and contempt.
+
+"That the pearl is worth to me that much, since I have purpose for it.
+I have more money than I want, and fewer pearls like this than I want.
+It would have given me the keenest sort of pleasure to give you and
+your mother a few thousand dollars, two or three, to set you up with a
+little launch and an outfit enough to give you a good start--and,
+perhaps, a good partner. As it is, you are lucky my pirate brother has
+not blown a hole through you, and that my other brother has not shed
+the blood of your parent, if she have any. You had a good chance, and
+like many another man who isn't good enough to deserve success, you
+lost it. Do you know why you failed?"
+
+"It's the luck," said he. "I never had none."
+
+"No," said I, "it is not that. So far as luck goes, you are lucky you
+are alive. Little do you know our desperate band. Little do you know
+you have escaped the wrath of Lafitte, of L'Olonnois, of Black Bart.
+Luck! No, that is not why you failed."
+
+"What then?" he demanded, still covetous, albeit rueful, too, at what
+he vaguely knew was lost opportunity.
+
+"It was because you did not play the part of a clammer naturally and
+nobly," I replied. "My friend, I counsel you to read Epictetus--and
+while you are at that," I added, "I suggest you read also that other
+classic, the one known as _The Pirate's Own Book_."
+
+So saying, since he stood stupefied, and really not seeing my hand,
+which I reached out to him in farewell, I called to Partial, and
+followed by the two stern and relentless figures, made our way back to
+the spot where the good ship _Sea Rover_ lay straining at her hawser.
+
+"What ho! messmates!" I cried. "Fortune has been kind to our bold
+band this day. We have taken large booty. Let us up anchor and set
+sail. Before yon sun has sunk into the deep we shall be far away, and
+our swift craft is able to shake off all pursuit."
+
+"Whither away, Black Bart,--Captain, I mean!" said Jean Lafitte (and I
+blushed at this title and this hard-won rank, as one of the proudest
+of my swiftly-following accomplishments in happiness).
+
+"Spang! to the Spanish Main," was my reply.
+
+A moment later, the waves were rippling merrily along the sides of the
+_Sea Rover_ as she headed out boldly into the high seas.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+IN WHICH I SHOW MY TRUE COLORS
+
+
+There were many lesser adventures in which Lafitte, L'Olonnois and I
+shared on our voyage through the long waterways leading down to the
+great river, but of these I make small mention, for, in truth, one
+boasts little of one's deeds in piracy after the fact, or of inciting
+piracy and making accessories before the fact, the more especially if
+such accessories be small but bloodthirsty boys. These latter, let me
+plead in extenuation of my own sins, already were pirates, and set
+upon rapine. For my own part, seeing their resolution to take green
+corn and other vegetables, aye, even fowls, as part of the natural
+returns of their stern calling, I made no remonstrances, not the first
+leader unable to restrain his ruthless band, but I eased my own
+conscience by leaving--quite unknown to them,--sundry silver coins in
+cleft sticks, prominently displayed, in the hope that irate farmers
+might find them when, after our departure, they visited the scenes of
+our marauding. And to such an extent did this marauding obtain that,
+by the time we had reached the Mississippi River, I was almost wholly
+barren of further silver coins.
+
+Many things I learned as we voyaged; as that my dog Partial would,
+when asked, roll over and over upon the ground, or sit up and
+bark--things taught him by no man known in his history, so far as
+Lafitte could recall it. And things I learned regarding birds and
+small animals of which my law books had told me nothing. As to
+mosquitoes, I learned that, whereas they do not hurt a young pirate,
+they do an old one; and I half resolved to discontinue my book
+regarding them. Perhaps it was not of first importance.
+
+But two things grew on me in conviction. First, I loved Helena Emory
+more and more each day of my life; and second, that I must see her at
+the first moment possible--in spite of all my resolutions to put her
+out of my life forever! And, these two things being assured, when we
+saw the rolling yellowish flood of the Father of the Waters at last
+sweeping before us, I realized that, bound as I was in honor to hold
+on with my faithful band, our craft, the _Sea Rover_--sixteen feet
+long she was, and well equipped with Long Toms and deck
+cannonades--would have no chance to overtake the _Belle Helène_,
+fastest yacht on the Great Lakes, who might, so far as I could tell,
+at that very moment be cleaving through the Chicago canal, to enter
+the great river hundreds of miles ahead of us.
+
+Wherefore, leaving my bold mates in bivouac one day, I made journey
+to the nearest town. There, I sent certain messages to anxious
+parents, and left for them our probable itinerary as tourists
+traveling by private conveyance. I could not set our future dates and
+ports more closely together; for, before I left town, I had purchased
+a sturdy power boat of our own, capable of doing her ten or twelve
+miles under her own petrol. I was in no mind to fall farther and
+farther back of the _Belle Helène_ each day; and I counted upon our
+piratical energy to keep us going more hours a day than Cal
+Davidson--curses on him!--would be apt to travel.
+
+I gave orders for immediate fitting of my new craft, and delivery on
+the spot; and within the hour, although regarded with much suspicion
+by the town marshal and many leading citizens, I set out for our
+bivouac, with the aid of the late owner of the boat, to whom I gave
+assurance that no evil should befall him. When we chugged along the
+shore, and slackened opposite our camp, I heard the stern voice of
+Lafitte hail us: "Ship ahoy!" (Perhaps he saw me at the stern sheets.)
+
+"Aye! Aye! mate!" I answered, through my cupped hands. "Bear a hand
+with our landing line." Whereat my hardy band came running and made us
+fast.
+
+"What has gone wrong, Black Bart?" demanded L'Olonnois, uncertain of
+my status. "Hast met mishap and struck colors?"
+
+"By no means!" I rejoined. "This is a prize, our first capture. And
+since she has struck her colors, let us mount our own at her foremast
+and ship our band to a bigger and faster craft."
+
+The late owner, who bore the name of Robinson, looked on much
+perplexed, and, I think, in some apprehension, for he must have
+thought us dangerous, whether sane or mad.
+
+"Who'll run her?" he at length demanded of me, looking from me to my
+two associates. Then forth and stood Jean Lafitte; and answered a
+question I confess I had not yet myself asked: "Ho! I guess a fellow
+who can run a gasoline pump in a creamery can handle one of them
+things. So think not, fellow, to escape us!"
+
+I reassured Robinson, who was apparently ready to make a run for it;
+and I explained to Lafitte and L'Olonnois my plan.
+
+"We'll by no means discard our brig, the original _Sea Rover_," said
+I, "and we'll tow her along as our tender. But we'll christen the
+prize the _Sea Rover_ instead, and hoist our flag over her--and paint
+on her name at the first point of call we make. Now, let us hasten,
+for two thousand miles of sea lie before us, and Robinson is also five
+miles from home."
+
+But Robinson became more and more alarmed each moment. He had my
+money, I his bill of sale, but ride back to town with us he would not.
+Instead, he washed his hands of us and started back afoot--to get the
+town marshal, I was well convinced. It mattered little to us; for once
+more did sturdy Jean Lafitte more than make good his boast. With one
+look at the gasoline tank to assure himself that all was well, he made
+fast the painter of the old _Sea Rover_, and even as L'Olonnois with
+grim determination planted the Jolly Rover above our bows, and as I
+tossed aboard the cargo of our former craft, Lafitte cranked her up
+with master hand, threw in the gear, and with a steady eye headed her
+for midstream, where town marshals may not come.
+
+I looked at my mates in admiration. They could do things I could not
+do, and they faced the future with no trace of hesitation. I caught
+from them a part of this resolution I so long had lacked. I added this
+to my determination to see Helena Emory once more and soon as wind and
+wave would allow. So that, believe me, the blood rose quickly in my
+veins as I saw now we had faster travel ahead of us.
+
+"Square away the main braces, my hearties!" I called. "Break out the
+spinnaker and set the jibs. It's a wet sheet and a flowing sea, and
+let any stop us at their peril!"
+
+"Aye! Aye! Sir," came the response of Jean Lafitte in a voice almost
+bass, and "Aye! Aye! Sir," piped the blue-eyed Lieutenant L'Olonnois.
+The stanch craft leaped ahead, wallowing in cross seas till we reached
+the mid-current of the Mississippi's heavy flood, then riding and
+rising gamely as she met wave after wave that came up-stream with the
+head wind. The eyes of Lafitte gleamed. L'Olonnois, hand over eyes,
+stood in our bows. "Four bells, and all's well!" he intoned in a
+vigorous voice.
+
+It was my own heart made answer, in the sweetest challenge it ever had
+given to the world: "All's well!" And far ahead I, too, peered across
+the wave, seeking to make out the hull of fleeing craft that bore
+treasure I was resolved should yet be mine.
+
+"More sail, Officer!" I called to Jean Lafitte. He grinned in answer.
+
+"You're in a hurry, Black Bart. What makes you?" And even L'Olonnois
+turned a searching gaze upon me.
+
+"Then I'll show you my true colors," said I. "I am more careless of
+taking treasure than of capturing a certain maiden who flees before us
+yonder on a swift craft, speedier than our own. Lay me alongside of
+her, this week, next month, this winter, and my share of the other
+booty shall be yours!"
+
+"Black Bart," said Lafitte, "I knew something was sort of botherin'
+you. So, it's you for the fair captive, huh?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+IN WHICH MY PLOT THICKENS
+
+
+We sped on now steadily, day by delightful day, and ever arose in my
+soul new wonders at the joy of life itself, things that had escaped me
+in my plodding business life. Now and again, I took from my pocket the
+little volume which always went with me on the stream when I angled,
+and which I confess sometimes charmed me away from the stream to some
+shaded nook where I might read old Omar undisturbed--as now I might,
+with L'Olonnois at the masthead and Lafitte at the wheel. And always
+these wise, reckless, joyous pages of the old philosopher spelled to
+me "Haste! Haste!"
+
+    "Whether at Naishápúr or Babylon,
+    Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run,
+    The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop.
+    The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one."
+
+    "Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring
+    Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling:
+    The Bird of Time has but a little way
+    To flutter--and the Bird is on the Wing!"
+
+What truth, what absolute truth of the red-hot spur lay in those
+words, lesson direst to me! What had my life been, plodding in books
+to learn to keep by forms of law the booty my father had stolen? Away
+with it, then, for now the Bird of Time was on the wing! Let me forget
+the wasted years, spent in adding dollar to dollar; for what could the
+highest pile of dollars mean to a man who had missed what Lafitte and
+L'Olonnois and Omar had in their teaching? The booty of the world, the
+pearls of price, the casks of the Wine of Life, are his only who takes
+them. They can not be bought, can not be given. "Oh, haste! Jean
+Lafitte, for my new knowledge indeed eats at my soul. Hasten, for the
+Bird of Life is on the wing, L'Olonnois." So I spoke to them; and
+they, feeling it all a part of the play, gravely answered in kind, to
+what end that any who sought to stay Black Bart and his crew did so at
+peril of their blood.
+
+We came, I knew not after how many days forgotten in detail--after
+passing, each avoided as a pestilence, many cities prosperous in
+commerce--alongside the river port of the city of St. Louis, crowded
+with motley and misfit shipping of one sort or other, where our craft
+might moor without fear of exciting any suspicion, in spite of our
+ominous name; for I had the precaution to lower our flag of the skull
+and cross-bones.
+
+I sought out the man most apt to know of any considerable vessels
+docking there, and made inquiry for any power yacht one hundred and
+twenty-five feet long, white and black ventilators, white hull with
+blue line, flying the burgee _Belle Helène_, or some such name. None
+could advise me for a time, and I looked in vain, as I had in every
+dock in six hundred miles, for the trim hull of my yacht. At last one
+old mariner, in rubber boots, himself skipper of a house-boat
+south-bound for a winter's trapping, admitted that he had seen such a
+craft three days before!
+
+"Did she dock?" I demanded.
+
+"Sure she did, and lay over night. I remember it well enough, for I
+saw her tie up; and that evening her owner went ashore and up-town,
+and with him his bride, I reckon--handsomest girl in all the town.
+They must have been married, for he was lookin' like he owned her.
+That was lemme see, two days ago or maybe four. They came aboard her
+next morning, all three--there was a old party along, girl's mother
+likely--around eleven o'clock, and in a little while cast off and went
+on down-river. As fine a boat as ever made the river run--still as a
+mouse she was, but quick as a cat, and around Ste. Genevieve, I
+reckon, before I got back to my own scow after helping them off here.
+No wonder her owner was proud. He stood on the quarter-deck like a
+lord. Why shouldn't he, ownin' a boat an' a girl like that?"
+
+"He doesn't own either!" I retorted hotly.
+
+"Why, how do you know he don't?" demanded my sea-going man.
+
+"Who should know, if not myself?"
+
+"Sho! You talk like you owned her!"
+
+"I do own her!"
+
+"It looks like it. Which do you mean--her the yacht, or her the girl?"
+
+"Both--no! That is, well at least I own the boat."
+
+"That may all be, or it all mayn't," he replied, openly scoffing; "at
+least so far's the boat goes. Anybody kin buy anything that has the
+price. But as to the girl, you'd have to prove it, if I was him. And
+if he didn't look like he owned her, or was goin' to, I'll eat your
+own gas tank there, an' them two kids in it fer good measure."
+
+Of course I could not argue or explain, and therefore turned away. But
+all the answer of my soul came from the lips of L'Olonnois, who,
+propped up against the cockpit combing, was reading aloud to Lafitte
+from _The Pirate's Own Book_ as I approached. "Hah! my good man!"
+exclaimed the pirate chieftain as he looked at his blade, "unhand the
+maid, or by Heaven! your life's blood shall dye the deck where you
+stand!"
+
+"Ah, ha! Cal Davidson," said I to myself through my set teeth; "little
+do you think that you are discovered in your sins, and little do you
+know that the avenger is on your track. But have a care, for Black
+Bart and his band pursues you!"
+
+And, seeing that we had now laid in abundance of ship's stores,
+including four drums of gasoline; and since the trail of Cal Davidson
+was, at least, no wider than the banks of the river down which he had
+fled, it looked ill enough for the chances of that robber when the
+stanch _Sea Rover_, her flag again aloft and promising no quarter,
+chugged out into midstream and took up a pursuit which was to know no
+faltering until at last I had learned the truth about the fair captive
+of the _Belle Helène_. For indeed, indeed, Omar, and you, too, stout
+Lafitte and hardy L'Olonnois, the Bird of Life was on the wing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+IN WHICH WE CLOSE WITH THE ENEMY
+
+
+Cal Davidson took on five drums of petrol at Cairo, and a like amount
+of champagne at Memphis, and no man may tell what other supplies at
+this or that other point along the river. He evidently suspected no
+pursuit, or, if he did, was a swaggering varlet enough, for, according
+to all accounts which we could get, he loitered and lingered along,
+altogether at his leisure, with due attention to social matters at
+every port; for if he had not a wife at every port, at least, he had
+an acquaintance of business or social sort, so that, one might be
+sure, there were few dull moments for him and his party, whether
+afloat or ashore. He must have attended a dinner-party and two
+theaters at Memphis, and have sailed only after making three thousand
+dollars out of a combination in champagne present and cotton future,
+whose disgusting details I did not seek to learn. Trust Davidson to
+make money, and to make the most of life also as he went along. He
+always had the best of everything; and surely now he had, for the
+leisurely, ease-seeking _Belle Helène_, not actuated by any vast
+motive beyond that of the bee and the honey flower, slipped on down
+and ahead with perfect ease, while we, grimy, slow, determined, plowed
+on in her wake losing miles each hour the graceful _Belle Helène_
+chose to show us her light disdainful heels, serenely indifferent
+because wholly ignorant of our existence.
+
+But we held to the chase as true pirates, not loitering at any port,
+and--since now I, also, had learned something of the intricacies of
+our engine, and could take a trick while the others slept--running
+twice the hours daily the haughty yacht would deign to log. I knew
+that Cal Davidson would stop to shoot and to visit, and knew that he
+could, by no human means, be induced to pass any telegraph point where
+the daily standing of the baseball clubs could be learned--he counted
+that day lost in which he did not learn the scores. As for myself, I
+have never been able to understand how any grown man or any one
+ungrown can take any interest whatever in the deeds of hired
+ball-playing Hessians, who have back of them neither patriotism nor
+even a municipal pride. But, for once, I was joyed that the organized
+business sense of a few men had put an otherwise able citizen under
+tribute, because now, though the _Belle Helène_ must pause at least
+daily, the _Sea Rover_ need do no such thing.
+
+Nor did we. We were hot on the trail of the enemy as he flew south
+along the Chickasha Bluffs, hot as he left Memphis behind, and taking
+the widening waters which now wandered through low forest lands,
+reached out for the next city of size, historic Vicksburg on her
+seventy hills. And hot and eager, more than ever, were we when,
+chugging around the head of that vast arm of the river, where it
+curves like a boy of some southern sea, with its heights rising beyond
+and afar, we saw what caused me to exclaim aloud, "At last! There she
+lies, my hearties!"
+
+I pointed on ahead. To my eyes, who had designed her, every line of
+that long, graceful, white hull was familiar. The jaunty rake of her
+air-shafts, like stacks of a liner, the sweep of her clean freeboard
+up to her shining rail, the ease of her bows, the graceful boldness of
+her overhang--all were familiar enough to me. She was my boat, and
+once I was wont to enjoy her. And on board her now was the woman who
+had taken away from me all desire to keep a yacht in commission, to
+keep open a house in town, or an office, or to frequent my clubs, or
+to meet my friends. Was she there, this woman; and was she still?--but
+I dared not ask that question.
+
+"Full speed ahead, Jean!" I called. "That's the _Belle Helène_! Yonder
+lies the enemy!"
+
+And then the inevitable happened. Perhaps it was too much gas,
+perhaps too much lubricant, perhaps a spark plug was carrying too much
+carbon. At any rate, the engine of the _Sea Rover_ chose that time to
+chug and cease to revolve!
+
+It was more than a mile to the foot of that vast curve; and even as I
+leaped at the grimy oily motor, I saw a white dingey with blue trim
+make out from the wharf and leisurely pull alongside the landing stair
+of the yacht. It held two figures only, that of the deck-hand who
+rowed, and that of the large white-flanneled man who now disembarked
+from the dingey and went aboard the yacht. He was waving a paper over
+his head, so that I inferred the Giants must have won that day. And
+then, as we tugged and hurried with our arbitrary motor, I saw the
+_Belle Helène_, with a slight smiling salute to friends ashore, swing
+daintily about and head out and down the river! The faint and
+infallible rhythm of her perfect enginery came throbbing to us across
+the water ... I stood up. I hailed, I waved, I shouted, and I fear
+even cursed. Perhaps they thought some drunken fisherman was
+disporting himself; but certainly, a few moments later, we were
+rocking on the roll of the river, and the yacht was out of sight and
+sound around the next great bend.
+
+"It shall go hard but we overhaul yon varlet yet," said L'Olonnois
+grimly.
+
+"Aye," assented Lafitte; "we've busted a plug, an' he has showed us a
+clean pair of heels, but it's a long chase if the _Sea Rover_ does not
+overhaul him. We'll have to overhaul our engine first, though," he
+added thoughtfully.
+
+But the overhauling of our engine meant a voyage under sweeps to a
+precarious landing among divers packets, house-boats and launches, on
+Vicksburg waterside, and a later visit to a specialist in diseases of
+the carburetor; so that, when at last the _Sea Rover_ was ready for
+the sea again, her chase might have been a hundred miles ahead an she
+liked.
+
+"Gee!" exclaimed Jean Lafitte, as we were about to cast off. "Looky
+here, de Cubs licked de G'ints five to one to-day." He pointed to
+figures in a newspaper which he had obtained. So then it might have
+been excitement of rage, and not of joy, which had animated Cal
+Davidson when he went aboard.
+
+"Never mind then," said I, "for that gives us a day's start."
+
+"How do you mean?" demanded Jean.
+
+"It means that yonder varlet will not leave Natchez to-morrow until
+late evening, after the wires are in from the northern ball games," I
+replied. "Of course he'll stop there next." I felt now that the Lord
+had, by implanting this insane lust of petty baseball news in his
+soul, delivered my enemy into my hand.
+
+Now I wist not how or at what dignified speed the _Belle Helène_ swept
+on down that mighty river through the rich southern lands; nor do I
+scarce half remember the painstaking persistent run we made with the
+grimy _Sea Rover_ in pursuit, hour after hour, night or day. We had no
+licensed pilot or licensed engineer, we bore no lights as prescribed
+by law, and heeded no channels as prescribed by government engineers.
+Pirates, indeed, we might have been as we plowed on down in the wake
+of our quarry, along the ancient highway famous in fast packet days.
+We cared nothing for law, order, custom, conventions, precedents--the
+very things which had enslaved me all my life I now cast aside.
+Through bend after bend, along willow-lined flats and bluffs crowned
+with stately, moss-draped live-oaks, we swept on and on; and always I
+strained my eyes to see, my ears to hear, on ahead some sign of the
+_Belle Helène_; always strained my heart for some sign from her. Why,
+even I looked in the water for some bottle bearing a memory from yon
+captive maid to me. Captive? Why, certainly she must be captive; and
+certainly she must know that I, Black Bart the Avenger, was upon the
+trail.
+
+We made the pleasant city of Natchez in the evening of the sweetest
+day on which, as I thought, the sun had ever set. Her lofty hills--for
+here the great eastern fence of hills which bound the Vermont Delta on
+the eastward sweep in to close the foot of the Delta's V, and run
+sheer to the river's brink--rose upon our left. The low tree-covered
+lands on the Louisiana side lay at our right, and over them hung,
+center of a most radiant evening curtain, painted in a thousand colors
+by the mighty brush of nature, the round red orb of day, now sinking
+to his rest.
+
+I did not begrudge the sun his rest that day. For now, just at the
+edge of this beautiful picture there hung, at the dry point where the
+old keel boats used to land at old Natchez, under the hill where the
+pirates of those days sought relaxation from labors in the joys of
+combat or of wine, I caught sight of the long, low, graceful hull of
+the _Belle Helène_!
+
+"Avast! Jean Lafitte," I cried. "Shorten all sail, and bear across,
+west-by-west."
+
+"Aye! Aye! Sir," came the response from my bold crew.
+
+"Why don't we run in and board her?" demanded L'Olonnois. However,
+seeing that I had laid hold of the steering line where I sat, and was
+heading the _Sea Rover_ across the Louisiana side, away from the
+city's water-front, he subsided.
+
+"We'll cast anchor yonder where the holding ground is good," I
+explained. "To-night we'll send off the long boat with a boarding
+party. And marry!" I added, "it shall go hard, but we'll hold yon
+varlet to his accounting!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+IN WHICH WE BOARD THE ENEMY
+
+
+Slowly the vast painting of the sky softened and faded until, at
+length, its edges blended with the shadows of the forest. There came
+into relief against the sky-line the etched outlines of the trees
+crowning the bluff on the eastern side of the great river. The
+oncoming darkness promised safety for a craft unimportant as ours as
+we now lay in the shadows of the western shore. Meantime, as well as
+the failing light allowed, we let nothing on board the _Belle Helène_
+go unobserved.
+
+The yacht lay--with an audacity of carelessness which I did not like
+to note--hardly inside the edge of the regular shipping channel, but
+swung securely and gracefully at her cable, held by an anchor which I
+had devised myself, heavy enough for twice her tonnage. On the deck I
+could see an occasional figure, but though I plied my binoculars
+carefully, not the figure which I sought. A man leaned against the
+rail, idly, smoking, but this I made out to be the engineer, Williams,
+come up to get the evening air. Billy, the deck-hand, John, my Chinese
+cook, and Peterson, the boat-master, were at the time out of sight,
+as well as Cal Davidson, who had her under charter.
+
+We lay thus, separated by some distance of the river's flood, each
+craft at anchor, only one observed by the other. But to my impatient
+gaze matters seemed strangely slow on board the _Belle Helène_. I was
+relieved when at last the rather portly but well groomed figure of my
+friend Davidson appeared on deck. He made his way aft along the rail,
+and I could see him bend over and call down the companionway of the
+after staterooms. Then, an instant later, he was joined on the after
+deck by two ladies. The sight of one of these caused my heart to
+bound.
+
+They stood for a moment, no more than dimly outlined, but I could see
+them well enough. The older lady, with the scarf about her head, was
+Aunt Lucinda. The slighter figure in white and wearing no head
+covering, was she, Helena Emory! It was Helena! It was Helena!
+
+She turned toward Davidson. I could hear across the water the sound of
+laughter. A sudden feeling of anger came into my soul. I shifted my
+position in the _Sea Rover_, and stepped on Partial's tail, causing
+him to give a sharp bark and to come and lick my hand in swift
+repentance. I feared for the time that his sound might attract
+attention to our boat, which, if examined closely, might seem a
+trifle suspicious. True pirates, and oblivious of all law, we had not
+yet hoisted our riding lights, though for all I know our black flag
+still was flying.
+
+The three figures passed forward along the deck slowly and disappeared
+down the front companion-stair which led to the cozy dining-room. I
+could see them all sitting there, about my own table, using the very
+silver and linen which I had had made for the _Belle Helène_, attended
+by John, my Chinese cook and factotum, whom I had especially imported,
+selected from among a thousand other Chinese by myself at Hankow. I
+knew that Davidson would have champagne and a dozen other wines in
+abundance, everything the market offered. A pleasant party, this of
+three, which was seating itself at my table over yonder, while I, in a
+grimy, dingy, little tub lay looking at them, helpless in the gloom!
+Ah, villain, shrewd enough you were when you planned this trip for
+Aunt Lucinda's health! Well enough you knew that of all places in the
+world none equals a well equipped private yacht for the courting of a
+maid. Why, if it be propinquity that does it, what chance had any man
+on earth against this man, enjoying the privilege of propinquity of
+propinquities, and adding thereto the weapons of every courtesy, every
+little pleasure a man may show a maid? Trust Cal Davidson for all
+that! I well-nigh gnashed my teeth in anger.
+
+I scarce know how the time passed, until at last I saw them, in the
+illumination of the deck lights, at length come on deck again. They
+stood looking out over the river, or toward the lights of
+Natchez-under-the-Hill, and at length idly walked aft once more. The
+two ladies seated themselves on deck chairs under the awning of the
+rear deck. I could not see them now, but heard the tinkle and throb of
+a guitar come across the water, touched lightly with long pauses, as
+under some suspended melody not yet offered in fulness. Now and again
+I could hear a word or so, the rather deep voice of Aunt Lucinda, the
+bass tones of Davidson, but strain my ears as I might, I could not
+hear the sound of that other voice, low and sweet, an excellent thing
+in woman.
+
+At length the little party seemed to be breaking up. I saw Davidson,
+half in shadow, outlined by the deck lights as he rose, and passed
+forward. Then I heard the falls run, and a soft splash as the dingey
+was launched overside. Cal Davidson was going ashore. He could no
+longer resist his anxiety over the baseball score! A moment later I
+heard the dip of the oars. Some one turned on the search-light, so
+that a wide shaft of light swung along the foot of Natchez Hill,
+toward which the dingey was headed. The shadows on the deck of the
+_Belle Helène_ seemed darker now, by contrast, but I believed that
+Williams, the engineer, now had left the rail on which he was leaning
+over his folded arms.
+
+I turned now to my wondering companions, who, seeing me so much
+interested, had remained for a long time practically silent. Fall now,
+curtain of romance, for we be but three pirates here! Up anchor, then,
+and back across the stream toward our quarry quickly, my bold mates,
+for now there lies at hand a dangerous work of the boarding party!
+
+Thus I might have spoken aloud; for, at least, I hardly needed to do
+more than motion to Jean Lafitte, and as we resumed our softly
+chugging progress, having broken out our shallow anchorage, he steered
+the boat to the motion of my hand. We passed close alongside the
+_Belle Helène_ and I examined her keenly as we did so. Then,
+apparently unnoticed, we dropped down-stream a bit, and found another
+anchorage.
+
+"Clear away the long boat for the boarding party," I now whispered
+hoarsely. I spoke to companions now in full character. Belted and
+armed, Lafitte and L'Olonnois rose ready for any bold emprise, each
+with red kerchief pulled about his brow. And now, to my interest, I
+observed that each had resumed the black mask which they had worn
+earlier in our long voyage, sign of the desperate character of each
+wearer.
+
+"Whither away, Black Bart?" demanded L'Olonnois fiercely. "Lead, and
+we follow."
+
+"You had better put on a mask, Black Bart," added Jean Lafitte, and
+handed me a spare one of his own manufacture. I hesitated, but then,
+seeing that part of my success lay in our all remaining somewhat
+piratical of character, I hastily slipped it above my eyes, and pulled
+down my hat brim. "She will not know me now," said I to myself. And
+truly enough we seemed desperate folk, fierce as any who ever lay in
+keel boat off the foot of Natchez bluff, even in the bloodiest times
+of Mike Fink the Keel-boatman or of Murrell the southern bandit king.
+
+Partial, without invitation, climbed into the skiff with us. "Cast
+off," I ordered. "Oars!" And my young men--whom by this time I had
+trained in many ways nautical--obeyed in good seaman fashion. A moment
+later we lay almost under the rail of the _Belle Helène_. No one
+hailed us. We seemed taken only for some passing skiff.
+
+"Listen!" I whispered, "there is risk in what we are going to do."
+
+I looked at my blue-eyed pirate, L'Olonnois, who sat closer to me. On
+his face was simple and complete happiness. At last, his adventure
+had come to him and he was meeting it like a man.
+
+"What is it, Black Bart?" I heard Jean Lafitte whisper hoarsely.
+
+"We are to board and take yonder ship," I replied softly. "If we are
+to succeed, you must do precisely as I tell you. Leave the main risk
+to me, that of the law. I'll take possession on the ground that she is
+my boat, that her charter money is not paid, and that yonder varlet is
+making away with her out of the country. She holds much treasure, let
+me assure you of that, my men--the greatest treasure that ever came
+down this river.
+
+"Now, listen. You, Lafitte, as soon as we get aboard, are to run and
+close the hatch of the engine-room. That will pen Williams, the
+engineer, below, where he can make no resistance. As soon as that is
+done, run to those doors forward which lead down to the dining-room
+companionway and shut those doors and latch them. That will take care
+of John, the cook. The deck-hand is away with the varlet. That leaves
+only the shipmaster and the women captives.
+
+"While you are busy in this way, Lafitte, I will hunt for Peterson,
+the master, who very likely is sitting quiet on the forward deck
+somewhere. The main danger lies with him. While I attend to him, you,
+L'Olonnois, run aft. You will find there two ladies, one very old and
+ugly, the other very young and very beautiful. See that they do not
+escape, and hold them there until I come aft to meet you.
+
+"All this must go through as we have planned. Once the maiden is in
+our power, and the ship our own, we will head down-stream for the open
+sea. Are you with me, my bold mates?"
+
+"Lead on, Black Bart!" I heard L'Olonnois hiss; and I saw Jean Lafitte
+tighten his belt.
+
+"All ready, then," said I. "I'll go forward and make fast the painter
+when we reach the landing stair. Follow me quickly. Leave Partial in
+the boat. Gently now."
+
+Swiftly but silently, we swept in under the lee of the _Belle Helène_.
+The landing ladder had not been drawn up after Davidson's departure,
+so that the boarding party had easy work ahead.
+
+I sprang upon the deck, my footfalls deadened by the rubber matting
+which lay along all the decks. I turned. Above the rail behind me rose
+the face of Lafitte, masked. The long blade of a Malay kris was in his
+teeth. In one hand he held a pistol, using the other as he climbed. He
+scraped out of his belt as he came aboard I know not how many pistols
+which fell into the water, but still, God wot! had abundant remaining.
+Nor did L'Olonnois, close behind him, his Samurai sword between his
+teeth, present a spectacle less awesome. I breathed a sudden prayer
+that these might meet with no resistance, else I could only fear the
+direst consequences!
+
+I made a quick motion with my hand, even as I sprang forward in search
+of Peterson. The dull thud of the engine-room hatch, an instant later,
+assured me that Lafitte had performed the most important part of the
+work assigned to him. Forsooth, ere long, he had done all his work as
+laid out for him. It chanced that, as he sprang to the doors of the
+forward saloon, he met John, the Chinaman. Reaching for him with one
+hand, he closed the doors with the other, with such promptness and
+precision that the cue of John was caught in the door and he was
+imprisoned below, where he howled in much grief and perturbation,
+unable to escape without the sacrifice of his cue.
+
+Meantime, I found Peterson, my old skipper, much as I had expected. He
+was a middle-aged, placid, well-poised man, a pessimist in speech, but
+a bold man in soul. He was fond of an evening pipe, and he sat now
+smoking and looking down the illuminated lane made by our
+search-light. He turned toward me, a sudden curiosity upon his face as
+he saw that I was a stranger on the boat, though not a stranger to
+himself.
+
+"Sir--Mr. Harry--" he began, half rising.
+
+I reached out my left hand and caught him by the shoulder. In my
+right hand I held a pistol, and this, somewhat gaily, I waved before
+Peterson's face. "Halt," said I, "or I will blow you out of the
+water"--a phrase which I had found sufficient in earlier
+circumstances.
+
+The old man smiled pleasantly and in mock fashion put up both his
+hands. Had it been anyone else, he probably would have knocked me
+down. "All right, Mr. Harry," said he, "you will have your joke. But
+tell me, what's up? We weren't expecting you here. Mr. Davidson's gone
+ashore."
+
+"Just a lark, Peterson," said I. I had slipped down the mask so that
+he could see me plainly. "By George, sir!" said he, "I am glad to see
+you, back on the old boat again. Where have you been?"
+
+"Just come on board, Peterson," said I. "I am going to run her now
+myself.
+
+"Money not paid over, Peterson," said I. It stretched my conscience a
+bit, although the truth was I had Davidson's uncashed check in my
+pocket at the time.
+
+"We've all had our pay regular," he rejoined. "Why, what's wrong?"
+
+"But I haven't had mine, Peterson," said I. "When the charter money
+isn't paid and an owner has reason to suppose that his boat is going
+to be run out of the country, he has to act promptly, you understand.
+So I have taken my own way. The _Belle Helène_ is in my charge now,
+and you will report to me for orders."
+
+"What's that squalling?" demanded Peterson, who was a trifle hard of
+hearing.
+
+"Something seems wrong with John, the cook," I answered. "I only hope
+he has not made any resistance to my men, who, I promise you, are the
+most desperate lot that ever cut a throat. For instance, they have
+locked Williams down in the engine-room. Go over there, Peterson, and
+quiet him. But tell him that, if he shows a head above the hatch, he
+is apt to have his brains blown out. Keep quiet now, all of you, until
+I get this thing in hand."
+
+"But the boat's under charter to Mr. Davidson," demurred Peterson.
+
+"Charter or no charter, Peterson," said I, "I'm in command here, and
+it's no time to argue."
+
+At this time we heard cries of a feminine sort from the after deck, so
+I knew that L'Olonnois, as well, had performed the duty assigned to
+him.
+
+"Stay here, Peterson," said I. "It's all right, and I'll take care of
+you in every regard. Wait a moment."
+
+    [Illustration: "Who are you?" she demanded]
+
+I hurried aft. L'Olonnois stood in the shadow, his back against the
+saloon door, facing his two prisoners. I also faced them now. The deck
+lights gave ample illumination, so that I could see her--Helena--face
+to face and fairly. She turned to me; but now I had pulled up my mask
+again, and she could have no more than a suspicion as to my identity.
+
+"Who are you?" she demanded. "What right have you here?"
+
+For half a moment I paused. Then I felt a sense of relief as I heard
+at my elbow the piping voice of L'Olonnois in reply.
+
+"Lady," said he, standing with folded arms, his bared blade gripped in
+his good right hand and showing at a short up-cast angle, "it ill
+beseems a gentleman to give pain to one so fair, but prithee have a
+care, for, by heavens! resistance is useless here."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+IN WHICH IS ABOUNDING TROUBLE
+
+
+I looked at Helena Emory, glad that she did not at first sight
+recognize the intruder who had elicited her wrath,--for she seemed
+almost more angry than perturbed, such being her nature. I thought she
+had never been half so beautiful as now, never more alive, more
+vibrantly and dynamically feminine than now. She had not even a scarf
+about her head, so that all its Greek clarity of line, all its
+tight-curling dark hair--almost breaking into four ringlets, two at
+each white temple--were distinct to me as I looked at her, even in the
+half light. Her face, with its wondrous dark eyes, was full toward me,
+meeting this danger for such as it might be; so that, again, I saw the
+sweet full oval of her brow and cheek and chin, with just these two
+dark incipient curls above. I could not see the twin dark tendrils at
+the white nape of her neck, but I knew they were there, as beautiful
+as ever. Her mouth was always the sweetest God ever gave any
+woman--and I repeat, I have seen and studied all the great portraits,
+and found none so wholly good as that of Helena, done by Sargent in
+his happiest vein. Now the red bow of her lips parted, as she stood,
+one slender hand across her bosom, panting, but not in the least
+afraid, or, at least, meeting her fear boldly, as one high-born
+should.
+
+She was all in white, with not the slightest jewel or ornament of any
+kind. I saw that even the buckle at her waist was covered in white.
+Her boots and her hair were dark; for Helena knew the real art of
+dressing. She stood fairly between me and the deck light, so that all
+her white figure was frank in its gentle curves; erect now, and
+bravely drawn to all her five feet five, so that she might meet my
+gaze--albeit through a mask--as fully as a lady should when she has
+met affront.
+
+I always loved Helena, always, from the first time I met her. I had
+bidden adieu to life when, after many efforts to have her see me as I
+saw her, I turned away to the long hard endeavor to forget her. But
+now I saw my attempts had all been in vain. If absence had made my
+heart more fond, the presence of her made it more poignantly, more
+imperiously, fonder than before. My whole body, my whole soul,
+unified, arose. I stretched out my arms, craving, demanding. "Helena!"
+I cried.
+
+My voice was hoarse. Perhaps she did not know me, even yet. Her answer
+was a long clear call for help.
+
+"Ahoy!" she sang. "On shore, there--Help!"
+
+Her call was a signal for present trouble. Partial, my dog, abandoned
+in the long boat, began barking furiously. There came an answering
+hail which assured me that yon varlet, Davidson, had heard. I was
+conscious of the sound of a scuffle somewhere forward. Below, at my
+side, Aunt Lucinda gave voice to a long shrill wail of terror. John,
+my Chinaman, his cue still held fast in the jammed edges of the door,
+chimed in dismally. Midships I heard a muffled knocking at Williams',
+the engineer's, hatch.
+
+I forgot I was standing masked, with a naked weapon in my hand. I
+dropped my mask, dropped my weapon, and turned quickly toward Helena.
+
+"Be silent!" I commanded her.
+
+She stood for one instant, her hands at her cheeks. Then, "Ahoy!" rang
+out her voice once more in sheer disobedience, and "You!" she said to
+me, furious.
+
+"Yes, I," was my answer, and my own fury was now as cold as hers. "Go
+below," I ordered her. "I am in command of this boat. Quick!"
+
+I had never spoken thus to her in all my life, but almost to my
+surprise she changed now. As though half in doubt, she turned toward
+the stair leading down to the ladies' cabin where Aunt Lucinda was
+shrieking in terror.
+
+"Guard the door," I called to L'Olonnois as I turned away. I heard it
+slam shut and the click of the lock told me my prisoners were safe, so
+I hastened forward.
+
+"Good Lord, Mr. Harry!" cried my skipper, Peterson, when he saw me.
+"Come here, take this little devil--away--I'm afraid he'll knife me."
+
+I hurried to him for he struggled in the dark with Jean Lafitte.
+
+"To the rescue, Black Bart!" called Jean Lafitte. "Catch his other
+arm. I've got this one, and if he moves, by Heaven I'll run him
+through."
+
+"Run me through, you varmint--what do you mean?" roared Peterson.
+"Ain't it enough you pull a gun on me and try to poke out my eye, and
+twist off my arm, without sticking me with that bread-slicer you got?
+Mr. Harry--for Heaven's sake----"
+
+"There now, Jean Lafitte," I said, "enough. He has begged for
+quarter."
+
+"No, I ha'int," asserted Peterson venomously. "I'll spank the life
+outen him if I ever get the chance--" I raised a hand.
+
+"Enough of all this noise," I said. "I am in charge now, Peterson. Go
+to the wheel. Break out the anchor and get under way. At once, man! I
+have no time to argue."
+
+Peterson had never in his life heard me speak in this way before, but
+now, for what reason I do not know--perhaps from force of habit,
+perhaps because he knew I was owner of the boat, perhaps in awe of the
+naked kris of Jean Lafitte, still presented menacingly at his
+abdomen--the old skipper obeyed.
+
+I heard the faint jangle of bells in the engine-room below. Obviously,
+Williams, the engineer, was responsive to his sense of duty and
+routine. The power came pulsing through the veins of the _Belle
+Helène_ and I heard her screws revolve. I, myself, threw in the donkey
+winch as she forged ahead, and so broke out the anchor. It still
+swung, clogging her bows as she turned in the current. The bells again
+jangled as she got more speed and as the anchor came home. Our
+search-light swept a wide arc along the foot of Natchez Hill, as our
+bows circled about and headed down the great river. And now we picked
+in full view, hardly sixty fathoms distant, the dingey, pulled
+furiously toward us. My friend, the varlet Cal Davidson, half stood in
+the stern of the stubby craft and waved at us an excited hand.
+
+"Ahoy there, Peterson!" he cried. "Stop! Hold on there! Wait! Where
+are you going there!"
+
+Peterson turned toward me an inquiring gaze, but I only pointed a hand
+down-stream, and he obeyed me! I reached my hand to the cord and gave
+Peterson, Davidson, Natchez and all the world, the salute of a long
+and vibrant whistle of defiance. It came back to us in echoes from the
+giant bluffs, swept across the lowlands on the opposite side.
+
+"Full speed ahead, Peterson," said I quietly.
+
+"Where are we going, Mr. Harry?" he demanded anxiously.
+
+"I don't know," said I. "It all depends--maybe around the world. I
+don't know and I don't care."
+
+"I'm scared about this--it don't look right. What's come into you, Mr.
+Harry?" asked the old man solicitously.
+
+"Nothing, Peterson," said I, "except that the bird of time is on the
+wing. I am a pirate, Peterson----"
+
+"I never knew you so far gone in drink before, Mr. Harry," said he, as
+he threw over the wheel to pick up the first starboard channel light.
+
+"Yes, I have been drinking, Peterson," said I. "I have been drinking
+the wine of life. It oozes drop by drop, and is all, too soon, gone if
+we delay. Full speed ahead, Peterson. I am in command."
+
+"Jean!" I called to my able lieutenant. "Reach over into the long boat
+and bring Partial on board. He is my friend. And bring also our flag.
+Run it aloft above our prize."
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir," came the reply of Jean Lafitte. And a few moments
+later our long boat was riding astern more easily. Jean Lafitte on his
+return busied himself with our burgee. And at that moment, Partial,
+overjoyed at also having a hand in these affairs, barked joyously at
+his discovery of the neglected end of the cook's cue projecting
+through the hinges of the door. On this he laid hold cheerfully,
+worrying it until poor John shrieked anew in terror; and until I freed
+him; and ordered tea.
+
+I next went over to the hatches of the engine-room, and having opened
+them, bent over to speak to Williams, the engineer.
+
+"It's all right, Williams," said I. "I am going to take her over now
+and run her perhaps to the Gulf. We hadn't time to tell you at first.
+There has been a legal difficulty. Peterson is on deck, of course."
+
+"All right, Mr. Harry," said Williams, who recognized me as he leaned
+out from his levers to look up through the open hatch. "At first I
+didn't know what in hell was up. It sounded like a mutiny----"
+
+"It was a mutiny, Williams," said I, "and I am the head mutineer. But
+you're sure of your pay, so let her go."
+
+He did let her go, smoothly and brilliantly, so that before long she
+was at her top speed, around fifteen knots an hour. I was familiar
+with every detail of the _Belle Helène_, and now I looked in both the
+generating plant and the storage batteries, so that four thousand
+candle-power of electric light blazed over her from bow to fantail.
+The steady purr of the _Belle Helène's_ double sixties--engines I had
+had made under my own care--came to me with a soothing rhythm where I
+stood near by the wheel. Her search-light made a vast illumination far
+ahead. Brilliant enough must have seemed the passing spectacle of our
+stanch little ship to any observer, as we now swept on down the tawny
+flood of the great river. Who would deny me the feeling of exultation
+which came to me? Was I not captor and captain of my own ship?
+
+I turned to meet L'Olonnois, my blue-eyed pirate. He stood at my side
+as one glorified. The full swing of romance had him, the full illusion
+of this,--imagination's most ardent desire--now gripped him fully. He
+was no boy, but a human being possessed of all his dreams. His second
+self, once oppressed, now free, stood before me wholly satisfied. I
+needed not to ask whether he had been faithful to his trust.
+
+"I locked the door on 'em, Black Bart," said he, "and bade them cease
+a idle remonstrancing. 'Little do you know,' say I to them, 'that
+Black Bart the Avenger is now on the trail. Let any oppose him at
+their peril,' says I to them. She give me candy, the fair captive did,
+but I spurned her bribe. 'Beware,' says I to her. 'Little do you know
+what lies before you.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+IN WHICH IS CONVERSATION WITH THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN
+
+
+Jean Lafitte, who had so well executed the work assigned him in the
+boarding party's plans, proved himself neither inefficient nor
+unobservant. He approached me now, with a salute, which probably he
+copied from Peterson.
+
+"How now, good leftenant?" said I.
+
+"If you please, Black Bart," he began, "how are we headed, and what
+are our plans?"
+
+"Our course on this river, Jean Lafitte, will box the compass, indeed
+box an entire box of compasses, for no river is more winding. Yet in
+time we shall reach its end, no doubt, since others have."
+
+"And what about our good ship, the _Sea Rover_, that we have left
+behind?"
+
+"By Jove! Jean Lafitte," I exclaimed, "that is, indeed, a true word.
+What, indeed? We left her riding at anchor just off the channel edge,
+and so far as I recall, she had not her lights up, in accordance with
+the law."
+
+"Shall we put about and take her in tow, Black Bart?"
+
+"By no means. That is the very last of my intentions."
+
+"What'll become of her, then?"
+
+"That is no concern of mine."
+
+"But nobody'll know whose she is, and nobody can tell what may happen
+to her----"
+
+"Quite true. She may be stolen, or sunk. Why not?"
+
+"But she cost a lot of money."
+
+"On the contrary, she cost only twelve hundred dollars."
+
+"Twelve hundred dollars!" Jean drew a long deep breath. "I didn't know
+anybody had that much money in the world. Besides, look what you spent
+for them pearls. Ain't you poor, then, Black Bart?"
+
+"On the contrary, I have that much more money left, very likely. And I
+do not, to say truth, care a jot, a rap or a stiver, what becomes of
+the derelict _Sea Rover_ now. Have we not taken a better ship for our
+own?"
+
+"Yes, but suppose yon varlet boards the _Sea Rover_, an' chases us the
+way we done him?"
+
+"Again, by Jove! Jean Lafitte; an idea. But suppose he does? Much good
+it will do him. For, look you, good leftenant, the _Belle Helène_ will
+not stop to send any man ashore for baseball scores. Such was not the
+practise of the old buccaneers, nor shall it be ours; whereas, no
+matter what the haste, yon varlet could in nowise refrain from that
+same folly which hath lost him his ship to us. Each hour will only
+widen the gap between us. Let him take our tub if he likes, and do as
+he likes, for 'twill be a long day before he picks up our masts over
+his horizon, Jean Lafitte."
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir!" rejoined my lieutenant, and withdrew. I could see he
+was not overjoyed at the abandonment of our earlier ship that had
+brought us so far in safety. All this luxury of the _Belle Helène_ had
+the effect of oppressing a pirate who so short a time ago had started
+out on the high seas in a sixteen foot yawl, and who had seen that
+yawl, in a manner of speaking, grown into a schooner, the schooner
+comparatively grown into a full-fledged four-decker, richly fitted as
+any ship of the royal navy.
+
+But these, all, were lesser things to me, for on my soul was a more
+insistent concern. I turned now, seeing that Peterson, wholly
+reconciled to the new order of affairs, was speeding the boat onward
+as though I never had left her; so that I knew she was safe in his
+hands, although I set Lafitte to watch him. Followed by my faithful
+friend Partial, who expressed every evidence of having enjoyed a most
+interesting evening, I presently made my way aft.
+
+As I approached the door of the after-cabin suite, occupied by the
+ladies, I made my presence known at first discreetly, then more
+pointedly, and, at length, by a knocking on the door.
+
+"Below, there!" I called, boldly as I could; for eager as I was to
+see Helena Emory, there were certain things about the interview which
+might be difficult. Lovers who have parted, finally, approach each
+other, even by accident, thereafter, with a certain reluctance.
+(Lovers, did I say? Nay, never had she said she loved me. She had only
+said she wished she did, wished she could.)
+
+No answer came at first. Then, "Who is it?" in the voice of Aunt
+Lucinda.
+
+"It is I, Mr. Henry--" but I paused: "--It is I, Black Bart the
+Avenger," I concluded. "May I come in?"
+
+Silently the door opened, and I entered the little reception-room
+which lay between the two staterooms of this cabin. Before me stood
+Helena! And now I was close to her, I could see the little curls at
+her temples, could see the double curves of her lips, the color in her
+cheek. Ah! she was the same, the same! I loved her--I loved her not
+the same, but more and more, more!
+
+She held her peace; and all I could do was to stand and stare and then
+hold out my hand. She took it formally, though her color heightened. I
+saluted Aunt Lucinda also, who glared at me. "How do you do?" I said
+to them both, with much originality and daring.
+
+"Black Bart!" snorted Aunt Lucinda. "Black Bart! It might be, from
+these goings on. What does it all mean?"
+
+"It means, my dear Mrs. Daniver," said I, "that I have taken charge of
+the boat myself."
+
+"But how?" demanded Helena. "We did not hear you were coming. And I
+don't understand. Why, that rascally little nephew of mine, in the
+mask, frightened auntie nearly to death. And he said the most
+extraordinary _things_!
+
+"Where is Mr. Davidson?" she added. "He didn't tell us a word of
+this."
+
+"He didn't know a word of it himself," I answered. "Let me tell you,
+no self-respecting pirate--and as you see, I am a pirate--is in the
+habit of telling his plans in advance."
+
+"A pirate!"
+
+I bowed politely. "At your service. Black Bart--my visiting cards are
+mislaid, but I intend ordering some new ones. The ship's cook, John,
+will soon be here with tea. These events may have been wearying.
+Meantime, allow me to present my friend Partial."
+
+Partial certainly understood human speech. He now approached Helena
+slowly and stood looking up into her face in adoration. Then, without
+any command, he lay down deliberately and rolled over; sat up, barked;
+and so, having done all his repertory for her whom he now--as had his
+master before him--loved at first sight, he stood again and
+worshiped.
+
+"Nice doggie!" said Helena courteously.
+
+"Have a care, Helena!" said I. "Love my dog, love me! And all the
+world loves Partial."
+
+The color heightened in her cheeks. I had never spoken so boldly to
+her before, but had rather dealt in argument than in assertion; which
+I, later, was to learn is no way to make love to any woman.
+
+"When do we get back to Natchez?" she demanded.
+
+"We do not get back to Natchez."
+
+"Oh? Then I suppose Mr. Davidson picks us up at Baton Rouge?"
+
+"Yon varlet," said I, "does not pick us up at Baton Rouge."
+
+"New Orleans?"
+
+"Or at New Orleans--unless he is luckier than I ever knew even Cal to
+be."
+
+"Whatever do you mean?" inquired Aunt Lucinda in tones ominously deep.
+
+"That the _Belle Helène_ is much faster than the tug we left behind at
+Natchez, even did he find it. He will have hard work to catch us."
+
+"To _catch us_?"
+
+"Yes, Helena, to catch us. Of course he'll follow in some way. I have,
+all the way from above Dubuque. Why should not he?"
+
+The ladies looked from me to each other, doubting my sanity, perhaps.
+
+"I don't just understand all this," began Helena. "But since we travel
+only as we like, and only with guests whom we invite or who are
+invited by the boat's owner, I shall ask you to put us ashore."
+
+"On a sand-bar, Helena? Among the alligators?"
+
+"Of course I mean at the nearest town."
+
+"There is none where we are going, my dear Miss Emory. Little do you
+know what lies before you! Black Bart heads for the open sea. Let yon
+varlet follow at his peril. Believe me, 'twill cost him a very
+considerable amount of gasoline."
+
+"What right have you on this boat?" she demanded fiercely.
+
+"The right of any pirate."
+
+"Why do you intrude--how dare you--at least, I don't understand----"
+
+"I have taken this ship, Helena," said I, "because it carries
+treasure--more than you know of, more than I dreamed. My father was a
+pirate, I am well assured by the public prints. So am I. 'Tis in the
+blood. But do not anger me. Rather, have a cup of tea." John, my cook,
+was now at the door with the tray.
+
+"Thank you," rejoined Helena icily. "It would hardly be courteous to
+Mr. Davidson--to use his servants and his table in this way in his
+absence. Besides----"
+
+"Besides, I recalled that your Aunt Lucinda's neuralgia is always
+benefited by a glass or so of ninety-three at about ten thirty of the
+evening. John!"
+
+"Lessah!"
+
+"Go to the left-hand locker in B; and bring me a bottle of the
+ninety-three. I think you will find that better than this absurd
+German champagne which I see yon varlet has been offering you, my dear
+Mrs. Daniver. But--excuse me----"
+
+Helena looked up, innocently.
+
+"--A moment before there were six empty bottles on the table there.
+And I saw you writing. How many have you thrown overboard through the
+port-hole?"
+
+"I didn't know you were so observant," replied Helena demurely. "But
+only three."
+
+"It is not enough," said I. "Go on, and write your other messages for
+succor. Use each bottle, and we shall have more emptied for you, if
+you like. You shall have oil bottles, vinegar bottles, water bottles,
+wine bottles, all you like. Yon varlet might run across one, floating,
+it is true. I hope he will. Methinks 'twould bid him speed. But all in
+vain would be your appeal, for swift must be the craft that can come
+up with Black Bart now. And desperate, indeed, must be the man would
+dispute his right to tread these decks."
+
+"I hope you are enjoying yourself," said Helena scornfully. "Don't be
+silly."
+
+"Will you have tea, Helena?" I asked.
+
+"Poor, dear Mr. Davidson!" sniffed Aunt Lucinda, taking a glance out
+the port into the black night. "I wonder where he is, and what he will
+say."
+
+"I can tell you what he will say, my dear Mrs. Daniver," said I; "but
+I would rather not."
+
+"Well, I'll tell you what _I_ say," snorted Aunt Lucinda. "I think
+this joke has gone far enough."
+
+"It is no joke, madam. I was never so desperately in earnest in all my
+life."
+
+"Then put us ashore at Baton Rouge."
+
+"I can not. I shall not."
+
+"What do you mean? Do you know what this looks like, the way you are
+acting, running off with Mr. Davidson's yacht, and this----"
+
+"Yes, madam?"
+
+"Why, it's robbery, and it's, it's, why it's abduction, too. You ought
+to know the law."
+
+"I do know the law. It is piracy. Have we not told you that resistance
+would be worse than useless? Haven't I told you I've captured this
+ship? Little do you know the fate that lies before you, madam, at the
+hands of my ruthless men if I should prove unable to restrain them!
+And have a care not to offend Black Bart the Avenger, himself! If you
+do, Aunt Lucinda, he may cut off your evening champagne."
+
+I heard a sudden suppressed sound, wondrous like a giggle; but when I
+turned, Helena was sitting there as sober as Portia, albeit I thought
+her eyes suspiciously bright.
+
+"Well," said she, at length, "we can't sit here all night and talk
+about it, and I've used up all my note-paper and bottles. I'll tell
+you what I suggest, since you have seen fit to intrude on two women in
+this way. We will hold a parley."
+
+"When?"
+
+"To-morrow."
+
+"At what hour?"
+
+"After breakfast."
+
+"Why not at breakfast?"
+
+"Because we shall eat alone, here,--auntie and I--in our cabin."
+
+"Very well then, if it seems you are so bitter against the new
+commander of the ship that you will not sit at the captain's table--as
+we did the second time we went to Europe together, we three--don't you
+remember, Helena?"
+
+"Never--at your table, sir!" said Helena Emory, her voice like a stab.
+And when I bethought me what that had meant before now, what it would
+mean all my life, if this woman might never sit at board of mine,
+never eat the fruit of my bow and spear, never share with me the bread
+of life, for one instant I felt the cold thrust of fate's steel once
+more in my bowels. But the next instant a new manner of feeling took
+its place, an emotion I never had felt toward her before--anger, rage!
+
+"It is well," said I, pulling together the best I could. "And now, by
+my halidom! or by George! or by anything! you shall be taken at your
+word. You breakfast here. Be glad if it is more than bread and
+water--until you learn a better way of speech with me."
+
+Again I saw that same sudden change on her face, surprise, almost
+fright; and I swear she shrank from me as though in terror, her hand
+plucking at Aunt Lucinda's sleeve; whereas, all Aunt Lucinda could do
+was to pluck at her niece's sleeve in turn.
+
+"As to the parley, then," said I, pulling, by mistake, my mask from my
+pocket instead of my kerchief, "we shall hold it, to-morrow, at what
+time and in what place I please. It ill beseems a gentleman to pain
+one so fair, as we may again remark; but by heaven! Helena, no
+resistance!"
+
+"Wait! What do you really mean?" She raised a hand. "I've told you I
+just can't understand all this. I always thought you were
+a--a--gentleman."
+
+"A much misused word," was my answer. "You never understood me at
+all. I am not a gentleman. I'm a poor, miserable, unhappy, drifting,
+aimless and useless failure--at least, I was, until I resolved upon
+this way to recoup my fortunes, and went in for pirating. What chance
+has a man who has lost his fortune in the game to-day--what chance
+with a woman? You ask me, who am I? I am a pirate. You ask what I
+intend to do? What pirate can answer that? It all depends."
+
+"On what?"
+
+"On you!" I answered furiously. "What right had you to ruin me, to
+throw me over----"
+
+She turned a frightened glance to Aunt Lucinda, whom I had entirely
+forgotten. It was my turn to blush. To hide my confusion I drew on my
+mask as I bowed.
+
+I met John coming down with the ninety-three. As he returned on deck a
+moment later, I pushed shut the doors and sprung the outside latches;
+so that those within now were prisoners, indeed. And then I stood
+looking up at the stars, slowly beginning to see why God made the
+world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+IN WHICH IS FURTHER PARLEY WITH THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN
+
+
+Cal Davidson's taste in neckwear was a trifle vivid as compared with
+my own, yet I rather liked his shirts, and I found a morning waistcoat
+of his which I could classify as possible; beside which I obtained
+from John the cook a suit of flannels I had given him four years ago,
+and which he was saving against the day of his funeral and shipment
+back to China. So that, on the whole, I did rather well, and I was not
+ill content with life as I sat, with the _Pirate's Own Book_ in my
+lap, and Partial's head on my knee, looking out over the passing
+panorama of the river. The banks now were low, the swamps, at times,
+showing their fan-topped cypresses close to where we passed; and all
+the live oaks carried their funereal Spanish moss, gray and ghostlike.
+
+We sometimes passed river craft, going up or down, nondescript, dingy
+and slow, for the most part. Sometimes we were hailed gaily by
+monkey-like deck-hands, sometimes saluted by the pilot of a larger
+boat. At times we swept by busy plantation landings where the levees
+screened the white-pillared mansion houses so that we could only see
+the upper galleries. And now at these landings, we began to see the
+freight, made up as much of barrels as of bales. We were passing from
+cotton to cane. But though it still was early in the fall, the weather
+was not oppressive, and the breeze on the deck was cool. I had very
+much enjoyed my breakfast, and so had my shipmates L'Olonnois and
+Lafitte, to whom each moment now was a taste of paradise revealed. I
+envied them, for theirs, now, was that rare, fleeting and most
+delectable of all human states, the full realization of every
+cherished earthly dream. It made me quite happy that they were thus
+happy; and as to the right or wrong of it, I put that all aside for
+later explanation to them.
+
+I looked up to see Peterson, who touched his cap.
+
+"Yes, Peterson?"
+
+"We're on our last drum of gasoline, Mr. Harry," said he. "Where'll we
+put in--Baton Rouge?"
+
+"No, we can't do that, Peterson," I answered. "Can't we make it to New
+Orleans?"
+
+"Hardly. But they carry gas at most of these landings now--so many
+power boats and autos nowadays, you see."
+
+"Very well. We'll pass Bayou Sara and Baton Rouge, and then you can
+run in at any landing you like, say twenty miles or so below. Can you
+make it that far?"
+
+"Oh, yes, but you see, at Baton Rouge----"
+
+"You may lay to long enough to mail these letters," said I, frowning;
+"but the custom of getting the baseball scores is now suspended. And
+send John here."
+
+The old man touched his cap again, a trifle puzzled. I wondered if he
+recognized Davidson's waistcoat--he asked no more questions.
+
+"John," said I to my Chinaman, "carry this to the ladies;" and handed
+him a card on which I had inscribed: "Black Bart's compliments; and he
+desires the attendance of the ladies on deck for a parley. At once."
+
+John came back in a few moments and stood on one foot. "She say, she
+say, Misal Hally, she say no come."
+
+"Letter have got, John?"
+
+"Lessah have got."
+
+"Take it back. Say, at once."
+
+"Lessah. At wullunce."
+
+"Lessah," he added two moments later. "Catchee lettah, them lady, and
+she say, she say, go to hellee!"
+
+"What! What's that, John? She said nothing of the sort!"
+
+"Lessah, said them. No catchee word, that what she mean. Lady, one
+time she say, she say, go topside when have got plenty leady for
+come."
+
+"Go back to your work, John," said I. And I waited with much dignity,
+for perhaps ten minutes or so, before I heard any signs of life from
+the after suite. Then I heard the door pushed back, and saw a head
+come out, a head with dark tendrils of hair at the white neck's nape,
+and two curls at the temple, and as clean and thoroughbred a sweep of
+jaw and chin as the bows of the _Belle Helène_ herself. She did not
+look at me, but studiously gazed across the river, pretended to yawn,
+idly looked back to see if she were followed; as she knew she was not
+to be.
+
+At length, she turned as she stepped out on the deck. She was fresh as
+the dew itself, and like a rose. All color of rose was the soft skirt
+she wore, and the little bolero above, blue, with gold buttons,
+covered a soft rose-colored waist, light and subtle as a spider's web,
+stretched from one grass stalk to another of a dewy morning. She was
+round and slender, and her neck was tall and round, and in the close
+fashion of dress which women of late have devised, to remind man once
+more of the ancient Garden, she seemed to me Eve herself, sweet,
+virginal, as yet in a garden dew-sweet in the morning of the world.
+
+She turned, I say, and by mere chance and in great surprise,
+discovered me, now cap in hand, and bowing.
+
+"Oh," she remarked; very much surprised.
+
+"Good morning, Eve," said I. "Have you used Somebody's Soap; or what
+is it that you have used? It is excellent."
+
+A faint color came to her cheek, the corners of her bowed lips
+twitched. "For a pirate, or a person of no culture, you do pretty
+well. As though a girl could sleep after all this hullabaloo."
+
+"You have slept very well," said I. "You never looked better in all
+your life, Helena. And that is saying the whole litany."
+
+"You are absurd," said she. "You must not begin it all again. We
+settled it once."
+
+"We settled it twenty times, or to be exact, thirteen times, Helena.
+The only trouble is, it would not stay settled. Tell me, is there any
+one else yet, Helena?"
+
+"It is not any question for you to ask, or for me to answer." She was
+cold at once. "I've not tried to hear of you or your plans, and I
+suppose the same is true of you. It is long since I have had a
+heartache over you--a headache is all you can give me now, or ever
+could. That is why I can not in the least understand why you are here
+now. Auntie is almost crazy, she is so frightened. She thinks you are
+entirely crazy, and believes you have murdered Mr. Davidson."
+
+"I have not yet done so, although it is true I am wearing his shoes;
+or at least his waistcoat. How do you like it?"
+
+"I like the one with pink stripes better," she replied demurely.
+
+"So then--so then!" I began; but choked in anger at her familiarity
+with Cal Davidson's waistcoats. And my anger grew when I saw her
+smile.
+
+"Tell me, are you engaged to him, Helena?" I demanded. "But I can see;
+you are." She drew herself up as she stood, her hands behind her back.
+
+"A fine question to ask, isn't it? Especially in view of what we both
+know."
+
+"But you haven't told me."
+
+"And am not going to."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because it is the right of a middle-aged woman like myself----"
+
+"--Twenty-four," said I.
+
+"--To do as she likes in such matters. And she doesn't need make any
+confidences with a man she hasn't seen for years. And for whom she
+never--she _never_----"
+
+"Helena," said I, and I felt pale, whether or not I looked it, "be
+careful. That hurts."
+
+"Oh, is it so?" she blazed. "I am glad if it does hurt."
+
+I bowed to her. "I am glad if it gives you pleasure to see me hurt. I
+am. _Habeo!_"
+
+"But it was not so as to me," I added presently. "Yes, I said good-by
+to you, that last time, and I meant it. I had tried for years, I
+believe, with every argument in my power, to explain to you that I
+loved you, to explain that in every human likelihood we would make a
+good match of it, that we--we--well, that we'd hit it off fine
+together, very likely. And then, I was well enough off--at first, at
+least----"
+
+"Oh, don't!" she protested. "It is like opening a grave. We buried it
+all, Harry. It's over. Can't you spare a girl, a middle-aged girl of
+twenty-four, this resurrection? We ended it. Why, Harry, we have to
+make out some sort of life for ourselves, don't we? We can't just sit
+down and--and----"
+
+"No," said I. "I tried it. I got me a little place, far up in the
+wilderness with what remained of my shattered fortunes--a few acres.
+And I sat down there and tried that 'and--and' business. It didn't
+seem to work. But we don't get on much in our parley, do we?"
+
+"No. The most charitable thing I can think of is that you are crazy.
+Aunt Lucinda must be right. But what do you intend to do with us? We
+can't get off the boat, and we can't get any answer to our signals for
+help."
+
+"So you have signaled?"
+
+"Of course. Waved things, you know."
+
+"Delightful! The passing steamers no doubt thought you a dissipated
+lot of northern joy-riders, bound south on some rich man's yacht."
+
+"Instead of two troubled women on a stolen boat."
+
+"Are you engaged to Cal Davidson, Helena?"
+
+"What earthly difference?"
+
+"True, none at all. As you say, I have stolen his boat, stolen his
+wine, stolen his fried potatoes, stolen his waistcoats. But, bear
+witness, I drew the line at his neckties. Nowhere else, however!" And
+as I added this I looked at her narrowly.
+
+"Will you put us ashore?" she asked, her color rising.
+
+"No."
+
+"We're coming to a town."
+
+"Baton Rouge. The capital of Louisiana. A quaint and delightful city
+of some sixty thousand inhabitants. The surrounding country is largely
+devoted to the sugar industry. But we do not stop. Tell me, are you
+engaged?"
+
+But, suddenly, I saw her face, and on it was something of outraged
+dignity. I bent toward her eagerly. "Forgive me! I never wanted to
+give you pain, Helena. Forget my improper question."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"I've been fair with you. And that's hard for a man. Always,
+always,--let me tell you something women don't understand--there's the
+fight in a man's soul to be both a gentleman and a brute, because a
+woman won't love him till he's a brute, and he hates himself when he
+isn't a gentleman. It's hard, sometimes, to be both. But I tried. I've
+been a gentleman--was once, at least. I told you the truth. When they
+investigated my father, and found that, acting under the standard of
+his day, he hadn't run plumb with the standards of to-day, I came and
+told you of it. I released you then, although you never had promised
+me, because I knew you mightn't want an alliance with--well, with a
+front page family, you know. It blew over, yes; but I was fair with
+you. You knew I had lost my money, and then you----"
+
+"I remained 'released'."
+
+"Yes, it is true."
+
+"And am free, have been, to do as I liked."
+
+"Yes, true."
+
+"And what earthly right has a man to try both rôles with a woman--that
+of discarded and accepted? You chose the first; and I never gave you
+the last. It is horrible, this sort of talk. It is abominable. For
+three years we have not met or spoken. I've not had a heartache since
+I told you. Don't give me a headache now. And it would make my head
+ache, to follow these crazy notions. Put us ashore!"
+
+"Not till I know the truth," said I.
+
+"About what?"
+
+"Well, for instance, about the waistcoat with pink stripes."
+
+"You are silly."
+
+"Yes. How do you like my suit?"
+
+"I never saw Mr. Davidson wear that one," said she.
+
+"For good reasons. It is my own, and four years old. You see, a poor
+man has to economize. And you know, since I lost my fortune, I've been
+living almost from hand to mouth. Honestly, Helena, many is the time
+when I've gone out fishing, trying to catch me a fish for my supper!"
+
+"So does a poor girl have to economize," said she.
+
+"You are most sparing of the truth this morning, Helena, my dear," I
+said.
+
+"How dare you!" she blazed now at the tender phrase. "Fine, isn't it,
+when I can't get away? If I could, I'd go where I'd never see or hear
+of you again. I thought I had."
+
+"But you have not. You shall hear and see me daily till I know from
+your own lips the truth about you and--and every and any other man on
+earth who--well, who wears waistcoats with pink stripes."
+
+"We'll have a long ride then," said she calmly, and rose.
+
+I rose also and bowed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+IN WHICH IS HUE AND CRY
+
+
+We ran by the river-front of Baton Rouge, and lay to on the opposite
+side while our dingey ran in with mail. I sent Peterson and Lafitte
+ashore for the purpose, and meantime paced the deck in several frames
+of mind. I was arrested in this at length by L'Olonnois, who was
+standing forward, glasses in hand.
+
+"Here they come," said he, "and a humpin' it up, too. Look, Jean
+Lafitte is standin' up, wavin' at us. Something's up, sure. Mayhap, we
+are pursued by the enemy. Methinks 'tis hue and cry, good Sir."
+
+"It jolly well does look like it, mate," said I, taking his glasses.
+"Something's up."
+
+I could see the stubby dingey forced half out the water by Peterson's
+oars, though she made little speed enough. And I saw men hurrying on
+the wharf, as though about to put out a boat.
+
+"What's wrong, Peterson?" I shouted as he came in range at last.
+
+"Hurry up!" It was Lafitte who answered. "Clear the decks for action.
+Yon varlet has wired on ahead to have us stopped! They're after us!"
+So came his call through cupped hands.
+
+I ran to the falls and lowered away the blocks to hoist them aboard,
+even as I ordered speed and began to break out the anchor. We hardly
+were under way before a small power boat, bearing a bluecoated man,
+puffed alongside.
+
+"What boat is this?" he called. "_Belle Helène_, of Mackinaw?"
+
+In answer--without order from me,--my bloodthirsty mate, L'Olonnois,
+brought out the black burgee of the Jolly Rover, bearing a skull and
+cross-bones. "Have a look at that!" he piped. "Shall we clear the
+stern-chaser, Black Bart?"
+
+"Hold on there, wait! I've got papers for you," called the officer,
+still hanging at our rail, for I had not yet ordered full speed.
+
+"He hollered to me he was going to arrest us, Mr. Harry," explained
+Peterson, much out of breath. "What's it all about? What papers does
+he mean?"
+
+"The morning papers, very likely, Peterson," said I. "The baseball
+scores."
+
+"Will you halt, now?" called the officer.
+
+"No," I answered, through the megaphone. "You have no authority to
+halt us. What's your paper, and who is it for?"
+
+"Wire from Calvin Davidson, Natchez, charging John Doe with running
+off with his boat."
+
+"This is not his boat," I answered, "but my own, and I am not John
+Doe. We are on our way to the coast, and not under any jurisdiction
+of yours."
+
+He stood up and drew a paper from his pocket, and began to read. In
+reply I pulled the whistle cord and drowned his voice; while at the
+same time I gave the engineer orders for full speed. Shaking his fist,
+he fell astern.
+
+None the less, I was a bit thoughtful. After all, the Mississippi
+River, wide as it was, ran within certain well defined banks from
+which was no escaping. We were three hundred miles or more from the
+high seas, and passing between points of continuous telegraphic
+communication; so that a hue and cry down the river might indeed mean
+trouble for us. Moreover, even as I turned to pick up the course--for
+I had myself taken the wheel--I saw the figure of Aunt Lucinda on the
+after deck. She was on the point of heaving overboard a bottle--I
+heard it splash, saw it bob astern. "Now, the devil will be to pay,"
+thought I. But, on second thought, I slowed down, so that distinctly I
+saw the officer, also slowing down, stoop over and take the bottle
+aboard his launch.
+
+"Ahoy, the launch!" I hailed. He put a hand at his ear as I megaphoned
+him. "Take this message for Mr. Calvin Davidson," I hailed. He nodded
+that he heard. "--That to-night John Doe will wear his waistcoat, the
+one with the pink stripes. Do you get me?"
+
+Apparently he did not get me, for he sat down suddenly and mopped his
+face. We left him so. And for aught I could know, he took back ashore
+material for a newspaper story, which bade fair to be better for the
+newspapers than for us on board the _Belle Helène_; for, up and down
+the river, the wires might carry the news that a crazy man had been
+guilty of piracy, highway robbery, abduction, I know not how many
+other crimes; and to arrest him on his mad career they might enlist
+all the authorities, municipal, county, state and even national. "John
+Doe," said I to myself, "if I really were you, methinks I should make
+haste." None the less I smiled; for, if I were John Doe only, then
+Calvin Davidson had no idea who had stolen his chartered yacht, and
+who was about to disport in his most cherished waistcoat! The
+situation pleased me very much. "L'Olonnois," said I, "come hither, my
+hearty."
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir," replied that worthy. "What is it, Black Bart?"
+
+"Nothing, except I was just going to say that I enjoy it very much,
+this being a pirate."
+
+"So do I," said he. "An' let any pursue us at their peril!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+IN WHICH IS DISCUSSION OF TWO AUNTIES
+
+
+L'Olonnois was still all for training the stern-chaser Long Tom (the
+_Belle Helène's_ brass yacht cannon) on the enemy, and came to me
+presently breathing defiance. "'F I only had any chain shot in the
+locker," said he, "beshrew me, but I would pay him well for this! He's
+got my Auntie Helen's auntie scared silly."
+
+"And how about your Auntie Helena herself?" I asked of him. Thus far,
+he had been guilty of no nepotism whatever, and had treated his auntie
+as any other captive maiden, perchance fallen into his ruthless hands.
+
+"Well, she ain't so scared as she is mad, near's I can see," was his
+reply. "She sat there when I first drove 'em down-stairs, lookin' at
+me, an' she says, 'Jimmy,' says she, 'what's all this foolishness?'
+An' she reaches out her hand, an' she offers me candy--she makes awful
+nice fudges, too. She knew that wasn't fair! But I says to her.
+'Woman, cease all blandishments, for now you are in our power!' An' I
+liked that, fer I been in her power long enough. Then she set down,
+an' near's I can tell, she got to thinking things over. I know
+her--she'll try to get away."
+
+"She has tried to do so, my good leftenant, is trying now. She and
+her Auntie Lucinda have thrown over I know not how many bottles
+carrying messages. It were only by mere chance yon varlet could escape
+coming over some of them. Add this to the fact that yon varlet has got
+the king's navy after us, and marry! methinks we have full work cut
+out for us. Not that stout heart should falter, good leftenant, eh?"
+
+"We follow Black Bart the Avenger," said L'Olonnois, folding his arms
+and frowning heavily. "But say," he added, "what seems funny to me is,
+you and my Auntie Helen must of known each other before now."
+
+"Not at all, not at all--that is, but casually, and long years since.
+It had long since escaped my mind." I felt myself flushing sadly.
+
+"I'll tell her that--I knew she was mistaken. I was sure she was."
+
+"No! No! Jimmy, you'll tell her nothing of the kind. I only meant----"
+
+"Well, she remembers you, I'm almost sure, an' so does Aunt Lucinda.
+Aunt Lucinda, why I've heard her back home tell Auntie Helena about as
+good fish in the sea, an' she mustn't bother over a man that's poor.
+Was it you, Black Bart? And are you poor?"
+
+"As I stand before you now, Jimmy L'Olonnois, I'm the poorest beggar
+in the world," said I. "I have risked my all on one hazard. If I win,
+I shall be rich beyond compare. If I fail, I shall be poor indeed."
+
+"She knows that. She knows you're poor, all right. I heard Aunt
+Lucinda tell her often. She said you was rich once, an' lost it all,
+speculatin' in a mine or something; an' what was the use marryin' a
+man who hadn't anything? I don't know, but I think that was why Aunt
+Lucinda worked up this trip with Mr. Davidson. He's got money to
+burn--look at this yacht, an' everything--an' I know him and Auntie
+Lucinda, anyhow, have got it doped out that him an' Auntie Helen's
+goin' to get married--even if they ain't now, so far's I know. Anyhow,
+our takin' the ship has broke up something. But say, now, Black
+Bart----"
+
+"Well, my good leftenant----"
+
+"_I_ got a idea!"
+
+"Indeed?"
+
+"Yep. Looka here, now--why don't _you_ just do like the pirate book
+says?"
+
+"How is that?"
+
+"Marry the captive maid your own self?"
+
+I felt my color rise yet more.
+
+"Why, now, that happened right along in them days--pirate chief, he
+takes a beautiful maiden captive, an' after makin' all his prisoners
+walk the plank but just her, he offers his hand an' fortune. An' lots
+of times, somehow, the beautiful maiden she married the ruthless
+pirate chief, an' they lived happy ever after. Why don't you?"
+
+"I hadn't thought of that, Jimmy," I said, most mendaciously; "but the
+idea has some merit. In fact, we've already started in by taking the
+beautiful maiden captive, and, mayhap, yon varlet yet shall walk the
+plank, or swear a solemn oath never to wear such waistcoats as these
+again. But one thing lacks."
+
+"What?"
+
+"The maiden's consent!"
+
+"No, it don't! They never ast 'em--they just married 'em, that was
+all. An' every time, they lived happy ever after. An' they founded
+families that----"
+
+"Jimmy!" I raised a hand. "That will do."
+
+"Well, anyhow, I wouldn't pay any attention to Aunt Lucinda about it.
+She's strong for yon varlet, for he's got the dough."
+
+"And isn't your Auntie Helena also--but no, on second thought, I will
+not ask you that----"
+
+"Why no, sure not--it's better to demand it of her own fair lips, an'
+not take no for a answer. They always live happy ever after."
+
+--"Of course, Jimmy."
+
+--"And so would you."
+
+"I know it! I know it!"
+
+"Well, then, why just don't you?"
+
+"Good leftenant, Black Bart will take your counsel into full
+advisement. Later, we shall see. Meantime, we must have a care for our
+good ship's safety, for none may tell what plans yon varlet may be
+laying to circumvent us."
+
+So saying, I sought out Peterson and asked him for his maps and
+charts.
+
+There was, as I found by consulting these, a deep bayou, an old river
+bed, that ran inland some thirty miles, apparently tapping a rich
+plantation country which was not served by the regular river boats.
+
+"Do you know anything about this old channel, Peterson?" I inquired.
+
+"Nothing at all except from hearsay and what you see here," he
+replied. "I don't know whether or not it has a bar at either end, but
+likely enough it has at both, though we might crowd through."
+
+"And how about the gasoline supply?"
+
+"Enough to get us in, at least. And, I say, here's a sort of
+plantation post-office marked. There's just a bare chance we could get
+a drum or so in there. I don't think we can, though."
+
+"What's she drawing now as she runs, Peterson?"
+
+"Four feet two inches. She's a shade low by the stern. We've quite a
+lot of supplies aboard, this early in the cruise. But I don't suppose
+we've got enough."
+
+"Well, Peterson," said I, "water leaves no trail. If there's no one
+watching when we open up this next bend, run for the bayou, and we'll
+see if we can get under cover. Of course, it's all a mistake about Mr.
+Davidson's wiring on to have us stopped--though we can't blame him,
+since he hasn't any idea who it is that has run away with the boat.
+But now, it suits me better to double in here, and let the chase try
+to find us on the main river; if there is any chase. You see, I don't
+want to disturb the ladies unduly, and they might not understand it
+all if we were overhauled and asked to explain our change in the
+ownership."
+
+"Quite right, sir, and very good. I catch the idea. But, sir----"
+
+He hesitated.
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Well, sir, if I might be so bold, what are your plans about the two
+ladies?"
+
+"I have none which will effect your navigation of the boat, Peterson."
+
+The old man flushed a shade. "Excuse me, Mr. Harry. I know you'll do
+nothing out of the way. But the old hen--I beg pardon----"
+
+"You mean the revered aunt, Peterson."
+
+"Yes, sir, the revered aunt. Well, sir, the revered aunt, dash
+her!----"
+
+"Yes, dash her starry toplights, Peterson; and even if need be, shiver
+her timbers! Go on----"
+
+"Why, she's been tryin' to pull off a weddin' on this boat ever since
+we left Mackinaw."
+
+"Why not? You mean that Mr. Davidson and the revered aunt were getting
+on well?"
+
+"Oh, no, bless your heart, no! It was the young lady, Miss Emory. And
+she----"
+
+I raised my hand. "Never mind, Peterson. We can't discuss that at all.
+But now, I'm minded to give my friend Mr. Davidson a little game of
+follow-my-leader. And just to show how we'll do that, we'll begin with
+a preliminary go at hide-and-seek. Take the chance, Peterson, and run
+into the bayou. I'll put off the small boat for soundings. If we can
+get gas, and can get in, and can get out unnoticed, maybe we can run
+by New Orleans in the night, and none the wiser."
+
+"And where then, Mr. Harry?"
+
+"Peterson, the high seas have no bridges, and if they had, I should
+not cross them yet. Perhaps if I did, I then should burn them behind
+me."
+
+"She's a mortal fine young woman, Mr. Harry, a mortal fine one. I'll
+be sworn he makes a hard run for her. But so can we--eh, Mr. Harry?
+He'll like enough pocket us in here, though."
+
+I made no answer to this. The old man left me to take the wheel, and
+I noted his head wag from side to side.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+IN WHICH I ESTABLISH A MODUS VIVENDI
+
+
+As good fortune would have it, we swung in, opposite the screened
+mouth of Henry's Bayou, at a time when the stream was free of all
+craft that might have observed us, although far across the forest we
+could see a black column of smoke, marking a river steamer coming up.
+
+"Quick with that long boat, Lafitte," I ordered; and he drew our old
+craft alongside as we slowed down. "Get over yonder and sound for a
+bar. Take the boat hook. If you get four feet, we'll try it."
+
+My hardy young ruffian was nothing if not prompt, nor was he less
+efficient than the average deck-hand. It was he who did the sounding
+while Willie, our factotum, pulled slowly in toward the mouth of the
+old river bed. I watched them through the glasses, noting that rarely
+could Lafitte find any bottom at all with the long shaft of the boat
+hook. "She's all right, Peterson," said I. "Follow on in, slowly--I
+don't want that steamer yonder to catch us."
+
+"_Why_ don't you?" A voice I should know, to which all my body would
+thrill, did I hear it in any corner of the world, spoke at my elbow.
+I started for a half instant before I made reply, looking into her
+dark eyes, sensible again of the perfume most delirium-producing for a
+man: the scent of a woman's hair.
+
+"Because, Helena," said I, "I wish our boat to lie unnoticed for a
+time, till the hue and cry has lulled a bit."
+
+"And then?" She bent on me her gaze, so difficult to resist, and
+smiled at me with the corners of her lips, so subtly irresistible. I
+felt a rush of fire sweep through all my being, and something she must
+have noted, for she gave back a bit and stood more aloof along the
+rail.
+
+"And then," said I savagely, "this boat runs by all the towns, till we
+reach the Gulf, and the open sea."
+
+"And then?"
+
+"And then, Helena, we sail the ocean blue, you and I."
+
+"For how long?"
+
+"Forever, Helena. Or, at least, until----"
+
+"Until when?"
+
+"Until you say you will marry me, Helena."
+
+She made no answer now at all beyond a scornful shrug of her
+shoulders. "Suppose I can not?" she said at last.
+
+"If you can not, all the same you must and shall!" said I. "You shall
+be prisoner until you do."
+
+"Is there no law for such as you?"
+
+"No. None on the high sea. None in my heart. Only one law I know any
+more, Helena--I who have upheld the law, obeyed it, reverenced it."
+
+"And that?"
+
+"The law of the centuries, of the forest, of the sea. The law of love,
+Helena."
+
+"Ah, you go about it handsomely! If you wished me to despise you, to
+hate you, this would be very fit, what you say."
+
+"You may hate me, despise me, Helena. Let it be so. But you shall not
+ignore me, as you have these three years."
+
+"It was your fault; your wish--as well as my wish. We agreed to that.
+Why bring it up again? When the news came that you had quit your
+profession, and just at the time you had lost all your father's
+fortune and your own, had turned your back and run away, when you
+should have stayed and fought--well, do you think a girl cares for
+that sort of man? No. A man must do something in this world. He
+mustn't quit. He's got to _fight_."
+
+"Not even if he has nothing to work for?"
+
+"No, not even then. There are plenty of girls in the world----"
+
+"One."
+
+--"And a man mustn't throw away his life for any one woman. That isn't
+right. He has his work to do, his place to make and hold. That's what
+a woman wants in a man. But you didn't. Now, you come and say we must
+forget all the years of off-and-on, all the time we--we--wasted, don't
+you know? And because I am, for a little while, in your hands, you
+talk to me in a way of which you ought to be ashamed. You threaten me,
+a woman. You even almost compromise me. This will make talk. You speak
+to me as though, indeed, you were a buccaneer, and I, indeed, in your
+power absolutely. If I did not know you----"
+
+"You do not. Forget the man you knew. I am not he."
+
+She spread out her hands mockingly, and yet more I felt my anger rise.
+
+"I am another man. I am my father, and his great grandfather, and all
+his ancestors, pirates all. I know what I covet, and by the Lord!
+nothing shall stop me, least of all the law. I shall take my own where
+I find it."
+
+"And now listen!" I concluded. "I am master on this ship, no matter
+how I got it. Late poor, as you say, I shall be richer soon, for I
+shall take, law or no law, consent or no consent, what I want, what I
+will have. And that is you!
+
+"Each day, at eleven, Helena," I concluded, "I shall meet you on the
+after deck, and shall try to be kind, try to be courteous----"
+
+"Why, Harry----"
+
+"Try to be calm, too. I want to give you time to think. And I, too,
+must think. For a time, I wondered what was right, in case you had
+really pledged yourself to another man."
+
+"Suppose I had?" she asked, sphinx-like.
+
+"I will try to discover that. Not that it would make any difference in
+my plans."
+
+"You would take what was another's?" She still gazed at me,
+sphinx-like.
+
+"Yes! By the Lord, Helena, my father did, and his, and so would I! So
+would I, if that were you! Let him fend for himself."
+
+She turned from the rail, her color a little heightened, affected to
+yawn, stretched her arms.
+
+We were now passing over the bar, slowly, feeling our way, our skiff
+alongside, and the shelter of the curving, tree-covered bayou banks
+now beginning to hide us from view, though the bellowing steamer below
+had not yet entered our bend.
+
+"Who is that boy?" she inquired lazily.
+
+"That, madam, is no less than the celebrated freebooter, Jean Lafitte,
+who so long made this lower coast his rendezvous."
+
+"Nonsense! And you're filling his head with wild ideas."
+
+"Say not so; 'twas he and your blessed blue-eyed pirate nephew, the
+cutthroat L'Olonnois, who filled my head with wild ideas."
+
+"How, then?"
+
+"They took me prisoner, on my own--I mean, at the little place where I
+stop, up in the country. And not till by stern deeds I had won their
+confidence, did they accept me as comrade, and, at last, as leader--as
+I may modestly claim to be. And do not think that you can wheedle
+either of them away from Black Bart. L'Olonnois remembers you spanked
+him once, and has sworn a bitter vengeance."
+
+"Why did you happen to start sailing down this way?"
+
+"Because I learned Cal Davidson had started--with you."
+
+"And all that way you had it in mind to overtake us?"
+
+"Yes; and have done so; and have taken his ship away from him, and for
+all I know his bride."
+
+"He was your friend."
+
+"I thought so. I suppose he never knew that you and I used to--well,
+to know each other, before I lost my money."
+
+"He never spoke of that."
+
+"No difference, unless all for the better, for I shall, now, never
+give you up to any man on earth."
+
+"And I thought you the best product of our civilization, a man of
+education, of breeding."
+
+"No, not breeding, unless savagery gives it. I'm civilized no longer.
+When you stand near me, and your hair--go below, Helena! Go at once!"
+
+She turned, moved slowly toward her door.
+
+I finished calmly as I could. "To-morrow, at eleven, I shall give you
+an audience here on the deck. We shall have time. This is a
+wilderness. You can not get away, and I hope no one will find you.
+That is my risk. And oh! Helena," I added, suddenly, feeling my heart
+soften at the pallor of her face--"Oh, Helena, Helena, try to think
+gently of me as you can, for all these miles I have followed after
+you; and all these years I have thought of you. You do not know--you
+do not know! It has been one long agony. Now go, please. I promise to
+keep myself as courteous as I can. You and I and Aunt Lucinda will
+just have a pleasant voyage together until--until that time. Try to be
+kind to me, Helena, as I shall try to be with you."
+
+Silent, unsmiling, she disappeared beyond her cabin door, nor would
+she eat dinner even in her cabin, although Aunt Lucinda did; and found
+the ninety-three was helping her neuralgia.
+
+I know not if they slept, but I slept not at all. The shadows hung
+black about us as we lay at anchor four miles inland, silent, and with
+no lights burning to betray us. Now and again, I could hear faint
+voices of the night, betimes croakings, splashings in the black water
+about us. It was as though the jungle had enclosed us, deep and
+secret-keeping. And in my heart the fierce fever of the jungle's
+teachings burned, so that I might not sleep.
+
+But in the morning Helena was fresh, all in white, and with no more
+than a faint blue of shadow beneath her eyes. She honored us at
+breakfast, and made no manner of reference to what had gone on the
+evening before. This, then, I saw, was to be our _modus vivendi_;
+convention, the social customs we all had known, the art, the gloss,
+the veneer of life, as life runs on in society as we have organized
+it! Ah, she fought cunningly!
+
+"Black Bart," said L'Olonnois, after breakfast as we all stood on
+deck--Helena, Auntie Lucinda and all--"what's all them things floatin'
+around in the water?"
+
+"They look like bottles, leftenant," said I; "perhaps they may have
+floated in here. How do you suppose they came here, Mrs. Daniver?" I
+asked.
+
+"How should I know?" sniffed that lady.
+
+"Well, good leftenant, go overside, you and Jean, and gather up all
+those bottles, and carry them with my compliments to the ladies at
+their cabin. You can have the satisfaction of throwing them all
+overboard later on, Mrs. Daniver. Only, remember, that there is no
+current in the bayou, and they will stay where they fall for weeks,
+unless for the wind."
+
+"And where shall we be, then?" demanded Auntie Lucinda, who had eaten
+a hearty breakfast, and I must say was looking uncommon fit for one so
+afflicted with neuralgia.
+
+"Oh, very likely here, in the same place, my dear Mrs. Daniver," said
+I, "unless war should break out meantime. At present we all seem to
+have a very good _modus vivendi_, and as I have no pressing
+engagements, I can conceive of nothing more charming than passing the
+winter here in your society." Saying which I bowed, and turning to
+Helena, "At eleven, then, if you please?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+IN WHICH I HAVE POLITE CONVERSATION, BUT LITTLE ELSE
+
+
+I had myself quite forgotten my appointed hour of eleven, feeling so
+sure that it would not be remembered, as of covenant, by the party of
+the second part, so to speak, and was sitting on the forward deck
+looking out over the interesting pictures of the landscape that lay
+about us. It was the morning of a Sabbath, and a Sabbath calm lay all
+about us--silence, and hush, and arrested action. The sun itself, warm
+at a time when soon the breezes must have been chill at my northern
+home, was veiled in a soft and tender mist, which brought into yet
+lower tones the pale greens and grays of the southern forest which
+came close to the bayou's edge. The forest about us not yet fallen
+before the devastating northern lumbermen--men such as my father had
+been, who cared nothing for a tree or a country save as it might come
+to cash--was in part cypress, in part cottonwood, but on the ridge
+were many oaks, and over all hung the soft gray Spanish moss. The
+bayou itself, once the river, but now released from all the river's
+troubling duties, held its unceasing calm, fitted the complete
+retirement of the spot, and scarce a ripple broke it anywhere. Over
+it, on ahead, now and then passed a long-legged white crane, bound for
+some distant and inaccessible swamp; all things fitting perfectly into
+this quiet Sabbath picture.
+
+My cigar was excellent, I had my copy of Epictetus at hand, and all
+seemed well with the world save one thing. Here, at hand, was
+everything man could ask, all comforts, many luxuries; and I knew,
+though Helena did not, that the safe increase of my fortune--that
+fortune which some had called tainted, and which I myself valued
+little, soon as I had helped increase it by the exercise of my
+profession--was quite enough to maintain equal comfort or luxury for
+us all our lives. But she was obstinate, and so was I. She would not
+say whether she loved Cal Davidson, and I would never undeceive her as
+to my supposed poverty. Why, the very fact that she had dismissed me
+when she thought my fortune gone--that, alone, should have proved her
+unworthy of a man's second thought. Therefore, ergo, hence, and
+consequently, I could not have been a man; for I swear I was giving
+her a second thought, and a thousandth; until I rebelled at a weakness
+that could not put a mere woman out of mind.
+
+And then, I slowly turned my head, and saw her standing on the after
+deck. Her footfall was not audible on the rubber deck-mats, and she
+had not spoken. I resolved, as soon as I had leisure, to ask some
+scientific friends to explain how it was possible that with no sound
+or other appeal to any of the sensorial nerves, I could, at a distance
+of seventy-five feet, become conscious of the presence of a person no
+more than five feet five, who had not spoken a word, and was standing
+idly looking out over the ship's rail, in quite the opposite direction
+from that in which I sat. And then the ship's clock struck six bells,
+and recalled the appointment at eleven. Hastily I dropped Epictetus
+and my cigar, and hurried aft.
+
+"Good morning again, Helena," said I.
+
+She stood looking on out over the water for a time, but, at length,
+turned toward me, just a finger up as to stifle a yawn. "Really," said
+she, "while I am hardly so situated that I can well escape it or
+resent it, it does seem to me that you might well be just a trifle
+less familiar. Why not 'Miss Emory'?"
+
+"Because, Helena, I like 'Helena' better."
+
+A slow anger came into her eyes. She beat a swift foot on the deck.
+
+"Don't," I said. "Don't stamp with your feet. It reminds me of a
+Belgian hare, and I do not like them, potted or caged."
+
+"I might as well be one," she broke out, "as well be one, caged here
+as we are, and insulted by a--a----"
+
+"A ruthless buccaneer----"
+
+"Yes, a ruthless buccaneer, who has remembered only brutalities."
+
+"And forgotten all amenities? Why, Helena, how could you! And after
+all the cork-tipped cigarettes I have given you, and all the
+ninety-three I have given your Auntie Lucinda--why look at the empty
+message bottles she and you have thrown out into the helpless and
+unhelping bayou--a perfect fleet of them, bobbing around. Shan't I
+send the boys overboard to gather them in for you again?"
+
+"A fine education you are giving those boys, aren't you, filling their
+heads with lawless ideas! A fine debt we'll all owe you for ruining
+the character of my nephew Jimmy. He was such a nice nephew, too."
+
+"Your admiration is mutual, Miss Emory--I mean, Helena. He says you
+are a very nice auntie, and your divinity fudges are not surpassed and
+seldom equaled. It is an accomplishment, however, of no special use to
+a poor pirate's bride; as I intend you shall be."
+
+She had turned her back on me now.
+
+"Besides, as to that," I went on, "I am only affording these young
+gentlemen the same advantages offered by the advertisements of the
+United States navy recruiting service--good wages, good fare, and an
+opportunity to see the world. Come now, we'll all see the world
+together. Shall we not, Miss Emory--I mean, Helena?"
+
+"We can't live here forever, anyhow," said she.
+
+"I could," was my swift answer. "Forever, in just this quiet scene.
+Forever, with all the world forgot, and just you standing there as you
+are, the most beautiful girl I ever saw; and once, I thought, the
+kindest."
+
+"That I am not."
+
+"No. I was much mistaken in you, much disappointed. It grieved me to
+see you fall below the standard I had set for you. I thought your
+ideals high and fine. They were not, as I learned to my sorrow. You
+were just like all the rest. You cared only for my money, because it
+could give you ease, luxury, station. When that was gone, you cared
+nothing for me."
+
+I stood looking at her lovely shoulders for some time, but she made no
+sign.
+
+"And therefore, finding you so fallen," I resumed, "finding you only,
+after all, like the other worthless, parasitic women of the day, Miss
+Emory--Helena, I mean--I resolved to do what I could to educate you.
+And so I offer you the same footing that I do your nephew--good
+wages, good fare, and an opportunity to see the world."
+
+No answer whatever.
+
+"Do you remember the Bay of Naples, at sunset, as we saw it when we
+first steamed in on the old _City of Berlin_, Helena?"
+
+No answer.
+
+"And do you recall Fuji-yama, with the white top--remember the
+rickshaw rides together, Helena?"
+
+No answer.
+
+"And then, the fiords of Norway, and the mountains? Or the chalk
+cliffs off Dover? And those sweet green fields of England--as we rode
+up to London town? And the taxis there, just you and I, Helena, with
+Aunt Lucinda happily evaded--just you and I? Yes, I am thinking of
+forcing Aunt Lucinda to walk the plank ere long, Helena. I want a
+world all my own, Helena, the world that was meant for us, Helena,
+made for us--a world with no living thing in it but yonder
+mocking-bird that's singing; and you, and me."
+
+"Could you not dispense with the mocking-bird--and me?" she asked.
+
+"No," (I winced at her thrust, however). "No, not with you. And you
+know in your heart, in the bottom of your trifling and fickle and
+worthless heart, Helena Emory, that if it came to the test, and if
+life and all the world and all happiness were to be either all yours
+or all mine, I'd go anywhere, do anything, and leave it all to you
+rather than keep any for myself."
+
+"Go, then!"
+
+"If I might, I should. But male and female made He them. I spoke of us
+as units human, but not as the unit _homo_. Much as I despise you,
+Helena, I can not separate you from myself in my own thought. We seem
+to me to be like old Webster's idea of the Union--'one and
+indivisible.' And since I can not divide us in any thought, I, John
+Doe, alias Black Bart, alias the man you once called Harry, have
+resolved that we shall go undivided, sink or swim, survive or perish.
+If the world were indeed my oyster, I should open it for us both; but
+saying both, I should see only you. Isn't it odd, Helena?"
+
+"It is eleven-thirty," said she.
+
+"Almost time for luncheon. Do you think me a 'good provider,' Helena?"
+
+"Humph! Mr. Davidson was. While your stolen stores last in your stolen
+boat, I suppose we shall not be hungry."
+
+"Or thirsty?" She shrugged.
+
+"Or barren of cork-tips of the evening? Or devoid of guitar strings?"
+
+"I shall need none."
+
+"Ah, but you will! It belikes me much, fair maid, to disport me at
+ease this very eve, here on the deck, under the moon, and to hear you
+yourself and none other, fairest of all my captives, touch the lute,
+or whatever you may call it, to that same air you and I, fair maid,
+heard long ago together at a lattice under the Spanish moon. A swain
+touched then his lute, or whatever you may call it, to his Dulcinea.
+Here 'tis in the reverse. The fair maid, having no option, shall touch
+the lute, or whatever you call it, to John Doe, Black Bart, or
+whatever you may call him; who is her captor, who feels himself about
+to love her beyond all reason; and who, if he find no relief,
+presently, in music--which is better than drink--will go mad, go mad,
+and be what he should not be, a cruel master; whereas all he asks of
+fate is that he shall be only a kind captor and a gentle friend."
+
+Her head held very high, she passed me without a word and threw open
+the door of her suite.
+
+    [Illustration: It was a love song of old Spain]
+
+... And that night, that very night, that very wondrous, silent,
+throbbing night of the Sabbath and the South, when all the air was as
+it seemed to me in saturation, in a suspense of ecstasy, to be broken,
+to be precipitated by a word, a motion, a caress, a note ... that
+night, I say, as I sat on the forward deck alone, I heard, far off and
+faint as though indeed it were the lute of Andalusia, the low, slow,
+deep throb of a guitar!... My whole heart stopped. I was no more
+than a focused demand of life. Reason was gone from me, not intellect
+but emotion--that is its basic thing after all, emotion born on earth
+but reaching to the stars.... I listened, not hearing.... It was the
+air we had heard long ago, a love song of old Spain, written, perhaps,
+before DeSoto and his men perished in these very bayous and forests
+that now shielded us against all tumult, all turmoil, all things
+unhappy or unpleasant. The full tide of life and love swept through my
+veins as I listened.
+
+I rose, I hastened. At her door I paused. "Helena!" I called
+raucously. "Helena." And she made no reply. "Helena," I called again.
+"It was the same old air. This is Spain again! Ah, I thank you for
+that same old air. Helena, forgive me. May I come in--will you come
+out?"
+
+I halted. A cold voice came from the companionway door. "You have a
+poor ear for music, John Doe. It is not the same. Do you think I would
+take orders from you, or any other man?"
+
+I stood irresolute a moment, and then did what I should not have done.
+I pulled open her door. "Come out," I demanded. But then I closed the
+door and went away. She was sitting, her head bowed on the instrument
+she had played. And when she looked up, startled at my rudeness, I saw
+her eyes wet with tears.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+IN WHICH WE MAKE A RUN FOR IT
+
+
+"Gadzooks! Black Bart," remarked L'Olonnois at the breakfast table the
+next morning, "and where is the captive maiden?"
+
+"I do not know," was my answer. "Better go find out, Jimmy."
+
+He departed, but presently, returned somewhat troubled.
+
+"My Auntie Helen," said he, "I mean the captive maid, why, she says
+she's got a headache and don't want no breakfast."
+
+"Not even a grapefruit and a cup of coffee?" I demanded, anxiously
+and, it must be admitted, somewhat guiltily; for I knew that the soul
+of Helena was grieved and whatever the trouble, the fault was my own.
+Surely I had placed the poor captive in a most difficult position, and
+loving her as I did, how could I continue to give her discomfort? My
+resolution almost weakened. I was considerably disturbed.
+
+And yet as I faced the alternative of setting her free, and once more
+taking up the aimless and unhappy life I had led these last three
+years without sight of her, something--I suppose the great selfishness
+which lies under love--rose up and said me nay; and I began to make
+excuses in favor of my desire, as that, surely, soon she would come to
+a more reasonable way of thought. And in one thing, at least, I was
+honest with myself, deceitful as are lovers with themselves, and
+arguing ever in their own favor--I did not know why Helena had wept,
+and it was perhaps my right to know.
+
+One selfishness with another, I resolved to go on with this matter,
+though knowing full well how difficult would be my battle with her,
+how unequal; for I was armed only with a great love, backed by no art
+at all, whereas, she merely would continue to unmask against me new
+batteries of defense--severe politeness, formality with me; laughter
+and scornfulness of me; anger, pitifulness, at last even tears; and
+always the dread assault of her eyes, and the scent of her hair and
+the sweet wistfulness of her mouth,--all, all the charms of all women
+united in her one self, to attack, to assail, to harass, and to make
+wholly wretched the man who loved her more than anything in life, and
+who was driven almost to using any means, so only that she might not
+be away, not be out of sense and sight; as out of mind and out of
+heart she never more might be. So that, all in all, it were, indeed,
+hard question whether she or I were the more wretched. Surely
+grapefruit and toast and coffee seemed to me but inventions of the
+powers of darkness at that breakfast.
+
+Not so my hardy mates, however, who ate with the keen appetite of
+youth, from fruit through bacon and toast and back again, both talking
+all the while. Nor, as the event proved, altogether unwisely. Indeed,
+it was stout Jean Lafitte who resolved my doubts, and by suggesting
+the simple medicine of action rather than meditation, sufficed for the
+removal of one of my two minds.
+
+"What ho! Black Bart," said he, after his third helping of bacon, "why
+does our good ship lie here idle at her anchor?" Question direct, like
+Jean himself, and demanding direct answer.
+
+"Ask Captain Peterson," said I. "He perhaps can tell where we can get
+more gasoline."
+
+"No, he can't. I asked him this morning."
+
+"Then 'twould seem we must lie here all winter, unless discovered by
+some relief expedition."
+
+"Why don't we start a relief expedition of our own?" demanded he.
+
+"And how?"
+
+"Why, me and Willy, the deck-hand, we'll take the long boat an' go out
+an' explore this region roundabout. Somebody may have gasoline
+somewhere, and if so, we can git it, can't we?"
+
+"Your idea is excellent, Jean Lafitte," said I. "Within the hour you
+shall set forth to see whether or not there is any settlement on this
+bayou. And that you may not need use violence when secrecy is our
+wish, here is a fat purse for our stores. And hasten, for of a truth,
+Jean Lafitte, I am most aweary of this very morning, and I long to see
+the white seas roll once more."
+
+It was determined, therefore, that we should fare onward--in case we
+could fare at all--with our ship's company as it now was; for, of
+course, none but myself knew what was afoot between Black Bart and his
+captive. And well enough I knew that in keeping Helena Emory thus
+close to me, I was breeding sleepless nights and anxious days.
+
+This day itself was anxious enough, nor could all of Epictetus teach
+me calm philosophy, distracted as I was over this situation, complex
+as it was. As to the fortune of the long boat, we knew nothing until,
+at three of the afternoon, I saw a white speck of a sail round the
+bend of our bayou, and saw that was hoisted, spirit fashion, over our
+boat, which now, with following wind, rapidly drew in toward us.
+
+"It's all right," called out Jean Lafitte, when he came within hail;
+and I saw now that he, indeed, had a boat's load of gasoline in tanks,
+cans and all manner of receptacles.
+
+"Town and a store, down there five miles," he explained as I caught
+his gunwale with boat hook. "You can git anything there. Now, the
+Giants an' the Cubs, why, they tied in the 'leventh inning yesterday.
+An' say----"
+
+"Enough," said I, "let me hear nothing of the cursed Giants or the yet
+more accursed Cubs, for I have more serious work afoot! Tell me, is
+there a bar cutting off the other end of the bayou; and how long is
+the bayou?"
+
+"Sixteen miles," answered the useful Lafitte, "an' she seems like good
+water all the way. They say there's seven foot on the bar, and the
+wood boats run in and out."
+
+"Good! And did you tell them who you were, and why you wanted
+gasoline?"
+
+"No. I only said our automobeel was broke down, an' we wanted the
+baseball scores. That was all. They ast who was we. I said you was
+John Doe--you see, I didn't want to tell your real name, so I didn't
+say Black Bart."
+
+"And you didn't mention our boat?"
+
+"Of course not! Whose business is it what pirates does? They strike
+hardest when least expected. To-night we can run in an' rob the store,
+easy."
+
+"Jean!" I cried, horrified, "what do you mean? Let me hear no more
+such talk, or by my halidom! back you go to your home by first train.
+I'll not be responsible for the ruin of any boy's morals in this way."
+
+"Well what do you think about that, Jimmy!" said Jean, somewhat cast
+down and much mystified. "Ain't we pirates, an' don't pirates live on
+booty?"
+
+"Booty enough you have in your boat, Jean," said I, "and let us get it
+aboard and in our tanks, for to-night we sail."
+
+"For to rob the store?" anxiously.
+
+"No, once more for the Spanish Main, my hearties! I seek a greater
+treasure; and plenty of danger, believe me, lies between here and
+there."
+
+"When'll we start?" queried L'Olonnois eagerly.
+
+"To-night, at six bells. Make all ready," was my reply.
+
+And that very night, with our search-light half covered, and at slow
+speed and with the sounding lead going, Peterson felt his way out from
+our moorings and along the full length of Henry's Bayou, silently as
+he might. We saw few signs of life beyond now and then a distant light
+in some negro cabin, and with all the lights doused we swept by like a
+ghost in the night, along the front of the plantation at whose store
+my men had got their gasoline. At last we broke open the lower end of
+the bayou, which, coming in from the main stream in a long open reach,
+showed like a lane of faint light in the forest; and to my great
+relief presently, felt the current of the great stream pick us up,
+and saw the channel lights ahead, so that we knew we might for a time,
+at least, advance in safety.
+
+In all this work, my two faithful lieutenants were awake and alert;
+but I saw nothing of Helena that day, nor had message either from her
+or her aunt in the full round of twenty-four hours since last we met.
+Had she sought deliberately to repay me for the grief I caused her,
+Helena could have devised no better plan than her silence and her
+absence from my sight, after what time I had seen her weep.
+
+Suddenly a thought of more practical sort came to my mind. "Jimmy," I
+called.
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir;" and L'Olonnois saluted.
+
+"You remember all those bottles floating around in the bayou--did you
+take them all up?"
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir, an' she throwed a lot more in, out o' the cabin
+window. I was shootin' at 'em with the twenty-two, an' busted some."
+
+"But not all?"
+
+"Oh, no, some was left."
+
+"And we sailed away, leaving there, no doubt, the full story of our
+voyage."
+
+"Like enough," said L'Olonnois. "I didn't think of that."
+
+"Nor I. For once, the vigilance of Black Bart faltered, L'Olonnois,
+and he must yet, mayhap, make better amends for his fault. Full speed
+ahead, now, Peterson," I added later as I went forward. "Run for New
+Orleans and with all you can get out of her."
+
+"Very good, Mr. Harry," said the old man; and I could feel the throb
+of her whole superstructure, from stack to keelson, when he called on
+the double-sixties of the _Belle Helène_ for all their power. Nor did
+any seek to stay us in our swift rush down the river.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+IN WHICH I WALK AND TALK WITH HELENA
+
+
+It was nine of as fine a winter morning as the South ever saw when at
+last, having passed without pause all intervening ports, we found
+ourselves at the city of New Orleans. Rather, in the vicinity of that
+city; for when we reached the railway ferry above the town, I ran
+alongshore and we made fast the _Belle Helène_ at a somewhat
+precarious landing place. I now called Peterson to me.
+
+"It's a fine morning, Peterson," said I.
+
+"Yes, sir, but I think 'tis going to rain." (Peterson was always
+gloomy.)
+
+"You must go down-town, Peterson," said I. "The through train from the
+West is late and just now is coming into the ferry. You can take it
+easily. We have got to have still more gasoline, for there is a long
+trip ahead of us, and I am not sure what may be the chance for
+supplies below the city."
+
+"Are you going into the Gulf, Mr. Harry?"
+
+"Yes, Peterson. You will continue to navigate the boat; and, meantime,
+you may be quartermaster also. I shall be obliged to remain here until
+you return."
+
+The old man touched his cap. "Very good, sir, but I'm almost sure not
+to return."
+
+"Listen, Peterson," I went on, well used to his customary depression
+of soul, "go to the ship's furnisher, Lavallier and Thibodeau, toward
+the Old Market. Tell them to have all our supplies at slip K, below
+the railway warehouses, not later than nine this evening. We want four
+drums of gasoline. Also, get two thousand rounds of ammunition for the
+twelve gages, ducking loads, for we may want to do some shooting. We
+also want two or three cases of grapefruit and oranges, and any good
+fresh vegetables in market. All these things must be ready on the
+levee at nine, without fail. Here is my letter of credit, and a bank
+draft, signed against it--I think you will find they know me still."
+
+The old man touched his cap again but hesitated. "I'm sure to be asked
+something," he said somewhat nervously.
+
+"Say nothing about any change of ownership of this boat, Peterson, and
+don't even give the boat's name, unless you must. Just say we will
+meet their shipping clerk at slip K, this evening, at nine. Hurry
+back, Peterson. And bring a newspaper, please."
+
+"Is any one else going down-town?" asked Peterson. "I may run into
+trouble."
+
+"No, we shall all remain aboard."
+
+He departed mournfully enough, seeing that the ferry boat now was
+coming across with the railway train. I continued my own moody pacing
+up and down the deck. Truth was, I had not seen Helena for more than
+twenty-four hours, nor had any word come from the ladies' cabin to
+give me hope I ever would see her again of her own will. My surprise,
+therefore, was great enough when I heard the after cabin door close
+gently as she came out upon the deck.
+
+When last I saw her she had been in tears. Now she was all smiles and
+radiant as the dawn! Her gown, moreover, was one I had never seen
+before, and she, herself, seemed monstrous pleased with it, for, by
+some miracle, fresh as though from the hands of her maid at home, she
+knew herself fair and fit enough to make more trouble for mankind.
+
+"Good morning," said she, casually, as though we had parted but lately
+and that conventionally. "Isn't it fine?"
+
+"It is a beautiful picture," said I, "and you fit into it. I am glad
+to see you looking so well."
+
+"I wish I could say as much for you," said she. "You look like a
+forlorn hope."
+
+"I am nothing better."
+
+"And as though you had not slept."
+
+"I have not, Helena."
+
+"Why not?" her eyes wide open in surprise.
+
+"Because I knew I had either hurt or offended you; and I would do
+neither."
+
+"You have done both so often that it should not cost you your sleep,"
+said she slowly. "But if you really want to be kind, why can you not
+have mercy on a girl who has been packed in a hat box for a month? Let
+me go ashore."
+
+"Can you not breathe quite as well where you are, Helena?"
+
+"But I can't walk."
+
+"Oh, yes, you can; and I will walk beside you here on deck."
+
+"But I would like to pick flowers, over there by the embankment."
+
+"The train is too close," said I, smiling grimly.
+
+Her color heightened just a little, but she did not answer my
+suspicions. "Please let me walk with you over there," she said. "I
+used not to need ask twice."
+
+"Our situation is now reversed, Helena."
+
+"Please, let me walk with you, Sir!"
+
+"I dare not. We might both forget ourselves and go off to New Orleans
+for a lark without Aunt Lucinda."
+
+"Oh, I am going to call Aunt Lucinda, too."
+
+"Pardon, but you are going to do nothing of the kind. Even with her as
+chaperon, did we get down there in the old city once more, like the
+children we once were, Helena, we would forget our duty, would,
+perhaps, forget our purpose here. Mademoiselle, I dare not take that
+risk."
+
+"Please, Sir, may I walk with you over yonder for just a little time?"
+she said, as though it were her first request. She was tying her
+quaint little white bonnet strings under her chin now. I raised a
+hand.
+
+"You ask a man to put himself into the power of the woman he loves
+most in all the world. When a man needs resolution, dare he look into
+the eyes of that woman, feel her hand on his arm, have her walk close
+to him as they promenade?"
+
+"Dear me! Is it so bad as that?"
+
+"Worse, Helena."
+
+"Then I am to continue a prisoner in that hat box?"
+
+"Until you love me, Helena, as I do you."
+
+"As I told you, that would be a long time."
+
+"Yes! For never in the world can you love me as I do you. I had
+forgotten that."
+
+"If only you could forget everything and just be a nice young man,"
+said she. "It is such fun. This dear old town, don't you know? Now,
+with a nice young man to go about with Aunt Lucinda and me----"
+
+"How would a man like Calvin Davidson do?" I demanded bitterly.
+
+"Very well. He is nice enough."
+
+"I suppose so. He is rich, able to have his horses and cars--even his
+private yacht. He can order a dinner in any country in the world, or
+tell you the standing of any club, in either league, at any minute of
+the day or night. Could I say more for his education? He has two
+country places and a city house and a business which nets him a
+hundred thousand a year. How can he help being nice? I do not resemble
+Mr. Davidson in any particular, except that I am wearing one of his
+waistcoats. Also, Helena, I am wearing a suit of flannels which I have
+borrowed from John, his Chinese cook. You can readily see I am a poor
+man. How, then, can I be nice?"
+
+"No one would see us here," said she, sublimely irrelevant, as usual.
+"There are some little yellow flowers over there on the bank. Maybe I
+could find some violets."
+
+There was a wistfulness in her gaze which made appeal. I could not
+resist. "Helena," said I suddenly, "give me your parole that you will
+not try to escape, and I will walk with you among yonder flowers. You
+look as though just from a Watteau fan, my dear. It is fall, but seems
+spring, and the world seems made for flowers and shepherds and love,
+my dear. Do you give me your word?"
+
+"If I do, may I walk alone?"
+
+"No, with me."
+
+"I'll not try to take the train. On my honor, I will not."
+
+I looked deep into her eyes and saw, as always, only truth there--her
+deep brown eyes, filled with some deep liquid light whose color I
+never could say--looked till my own senses swam. I could scarcely
+speak.
+
+"I take your parole, Helena," I said. "You never lied to me or any
+other human being in the world."
+
+"You don't know me," said she. "I used often to lie to mama, and
+frequently do yet to Aunt Lucinda. But not if I say I give my word--my
+real word."
+
+"When will you give me your real word, Helena? You know what I
+mean--when will you say that you love me and no one else?"
+
+"Never!" said she promptly. "I hate you very much. You have been
+presumptuous and overbearing."
+
+"Why then should you promenade with me?"
+
+"Fault of anything better, Sir!" But she took my hand lightly, smiling
+as I assisted her down the landing way.
+
+"But tell me," she added as we made our way slowly up the muddy slope,
+"really, Harry, how long is this thing to last? When are we going back
+home?"
+
+"How can you ask? And how can I reply, save in one way, after taking
+the advice of yonder pirate captain, your blue-eyed nephew? He says
+they always live happy ever after. Listen, Helena. Gaze upon this
+waistcoat! Forget its stripes, and imagine it to be sprigged silk of a
+day long gone by. Let us play that romance is not yet dead. These are
+not cuffs, but ruffles at my wrists--for all Cal Davidson's
+extraordinary taste in shirts. All the world lies before us, and it is
+yesterday once more. The Mediterranean, Helena, how blue it is--the
+Bermudas, how fine they are of a winter day! And yonder lies motley
+Egypt and her sands. Or Paris, Helena; or Vienna, the voluptuous, with
+her gay ways of life. Or Nagasaki, Helena--little brown folks running
+about, and all the world white in blossoms. All the world, Helena,
+with only you and I in it, and with not a care until, at least, we
+have eaten the last of our tinned goods of the ship's supplies; since
+I am poor. But if I could give you all that, would I be nice?"
+
+"Would that suit you, Harry?" she asked soberly; "just gallivanting?"
+
+"You know it would not. You know I want no vacation lasting all my
+life, nor does any real man. You know it was yourself that forced me
+out of my man's place and robbed me of my greatest right."
+
+"Yes," said she, "a man's place is to fight and to work. It's the
+same to-day. But," she added, "you ran away; and you lost."
+
+"But am I not trying to recoup my fortune, Helena? You see, I have
+already acquired a yacht, although but a few weeks ago I started in
+the world with scarcely more than my bare hands. Could Monte Cristo
+have done more?"
+
+"It isn't money a woman wants in a man."
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+"I don't know," said she. "Oh, come, we mustn't go to arguing these
+things all over again! I'm weary of it. And certainly Aunt Lucinda and
+I both are weary of our hat box yonder. That's what I asked you, how
+long?"
+
+"As long as I like, Helena, you and your Aunt Lucinda shall dwell
+there. What would you say to three years or so?"
+
+She seemed not to hear. "I believe I've found a four leaf clover,"
+said she.
+
+"Much good fortune may it bring you."
+
+"Let me try my fortune," said she, and began plucking off the leaves.
+"He loves me, he loves me not; he loves me, he loves me not."
+
+"There!" she said, holding up the naked stem triumphantly; "I knew
+it."
+
+"It would be a fairer test, had you a daisy, Helena," said I, "or
+something with more leaves; not that I know whose has been this
+ordeal. Suppose it were myself, and that you tried this one." I handed
+her a trefoil, but she waved it aside.
+
+"I will try to find you a four leaf clover for your own, after a
+while," said she, and bobbed me a very pretty courtesy. Angered, I
+caught at the stick I was carrying with so sudden a grip that I broke
+it in two.
+
+"I did not know your hands were so strong, Harry," said she.
+
+"Would they were stronger!" was my retort. "And were I in charge of
+the affairs of Providence, the first thing I would do would be to
+wring the neck of every woman in the world."
+
+"And then set out to put them together again, Harry? Don't be silly."
+
+"Oh, yes, naturally. But you must admit, Helena, that women have no
+sense of reason whatever. For instance, if you really were trying out
+the fortune of some man on a daisy's head, you would not accept the
+decree of fate, any more than you could tell why you loved him or
+loved him not. Why does a woman love a man, Helena? You say I must not
+be silly--should I then be wise?"
+
+"No, you are much too wise, so that you often bore me."
+
+"Nor should he be poor?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor rich?"
+
+"Certainly not. Rich men also usually are bores--they talk about
+themselves too much."
+
+"Should he be a tall man?"
+
+"Not too tall, for they're lanky, nor short, because they get fat. You
+see, each girl has her own ideal about such matters. Then, she always
+marries a man as different as possible from her ideal."
+
+"Why does she marry a man at all, Helena?"
+
+"She never knows. Why should she? But look--" she pointed out across
+the water--"the train is leaving the ferry boat. Isn't that Captain
+Peterson going aboard the train?"
+
+"Yes, Helena, I've sent him down-town to get some light reading for
+you and your Aunt Lucinda--_Fox's Book of Martyrs_, and the _Critique
+of Pure Reason_--the latter especially recommended to yourself. I
+would I had in print a copy of my _magnum opus_, my treatment on
+native American _culicidæ_. My book on the mosquito is going to be
+handsomely illustrated, Helena, believe me."
+
+She turned upon me with a curious look. "Harry," said she, "you've
+changed in some ways. If I were not so bored by life in yonder hat
+box, I might even be interested in you for a few minutes. You used
+always to be so sober, but now, sometimes, I wonder if I understand
+you. Honestly, you were an awful stick, and no girl likes a stick
+about her. What do girls care which dynasty it was that built the
+pyramids?--it's Biskra they want to see. And we don't care when or why
+Baron Haussmann built the Boulevard Haussmann in Paris--it's the
+boulevard itself interests us."
+
+"It is the fate of genius to be cast aside," said I. "No doubt even I
+shall be forgotten--even after my book on the _culicidæ_ shall have
+been completed."
+
+"--So that," she went on, not noticing me, "there is that one point in
+your favor."
+
+"Then there is a chance?"
+
+"Oh, yes, for me to study you as you once did me--as one of the
+_culicidæ_, I presume. But if you would listen to reason, and end this
+foolishness, and set us all ashore, why, I would be almost willing to
+forgive you, and we might be friends again,--only friends, Harry, as
+we once were. Why not, Harry?"
+
+"You wheedle well," said I, "but you forget that what you ask is
+impossible. I am Black Bart the Avenger, and the hand of every man is
+against me. I am too deep in this adventure to end it here. Why? I did
+not even dare go down-town for fear I might be arrested. Nothing
+remains but further flight, and when you ask me to fly and leave you
+here, you ask what is impossible."
+
+She stood for a time silent, a trifle paler, her flowers fallen from
+her hand, clearly unhappy, but clearly not yet beaten. "Come," said
+she coldly, "we must not be brutal to Aunt Lucinda also. Let us go
+back."
+
+"Yes," said I, "now you have back your parole."
+
+"I think I should like an artichoke for luncheon," said she.
+"Vinaigrette, you know." And she passed aft, her head hidden by her
+white parasol, but I knew with chin as high as though she were Marie
+Antoinette herself. Nor did I feel much happier than had I been her
+executioner.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+IN WHICH IS A PRETTY KETTLE OF FISH
+
+
+Miss Helena Emory had her artichoke for luncheon, and judging from my
+own, my boy John never had prepared a better, good as he was with
+artichokes; but we ate apart, the ladies not coming to our table. It
+was late afternoon before I saw Helena again, once more come on deck.
+She was sitting in a steamer chair with her face leaning against her
+hand, and looking out across the water at the passing shipping. She
+sat motionless a long time, the whole droop of her figure, the poise
+of her tender curved chin, wistful and unhappy, although she said no
+word. For myself, I did not accost her. I, too, looked up and down the
+great river, not knowing at what moment some discerning eye might spy
+us out, and I longed for nothing so much as that night or Peterson
+would come.
+
+He did come at last, late in the afternoon, on an outbound train, and
+he hurried aboard as rapidly as he might. The first thing he did was
+to hand me a copy of an afternoon paper. I opened it eagerly enough,
+already well assured of what news it might carry.
+
+On the front page, under a large, black head, was a despatch from
+Baton Rouge relaying other despatches received at that point, from
+many points between Plaquimine and Bayou Sara. These, in short, told
+the story of the most high-handed attempt at river piracy known in
+recent years. The private yacht of Calvin Davidson, a wealthy northern
+business man, on his way South for the winter, had been seized by a
+band of masked ruffians, who boarded her while the yacht's owner was
+temporarily absent on important business in the city of Natchez. These
+ruffians, abandoning their own boat, had at once gone on down-stream.
+They had been hailed by officers of Baton Rouge, acting under advice
+by wire from Mr. Davidson, on his way down from Natchez. The robber
+band had paid no attention to the officers of the law, but had
+continued their course. In some way the stolen craft had mysteriously
+disappeared that afternoon and night, nor had any word of her yet been
+received from points as far south as Plaquimine. A bottle thrown
+overboard by one of the prisoners taken on the yacht contained a
+message to Mr. Davidson, with the request that he should meet the
+sender at New Orleans; but there was no signature to the note.
+
+Many mysterious circumstances surrounded this sensational piece of
+piracy, according to the journalistic view-point. On board the _Belle
+Helène_ were two ladies, the beautiful young heiress, Miss Helena
+Emory, well known in northern social circles, and her aunt, Mrs.
+Lucinda Daniver, widow of the late Commodore Daniver, United States
+Navy. Mr. Davidson himself was unable to assign any reason for this
+bold act of this abduction, although he feared the worst for the
+comfort or even the safety of the two ladies, whose fate at this
+writing remained unknown. The greatest mystery surrounded the identity
+of the leader of this bold deed, whose name Mr. Davidson could not
+imagine. He was reported to suspect that these same river pirates,
+earlier in the day, attacked and perhaps made away with a friend of
+his whose name is not yet given. A cigarette case was found in the
+abandoned boat, which Mr. Davidson thought looked somewhat familiar to
+him, although he could not say as to its ownership. He could and did
+aver positively, however, that a photograph in a leather case on the
+abandoned boat was a portrait of none other than Miss Helena Emory,
+one of the captives made away with by the river ruffians. Mr. Davidson
+could assign no explanation of these circumstances.
+
+Later despatches received at Baton Rouge, so the New Orleans journal
+said, might or might not clear up the mystery of the stolen yacht's
+disappearance, although the senders seemed much excited. One story
+from a down-river point, brought in by an excited negro, told of a
+dozen bottles found floating in the bayou. The negro, however, had
+broken them all open, and declared they had contained nothing but bits
+of paper, which he had thrown away. He also told a wild story that the
+plantation store at Hamlin's Landing, on Bayou Henry, had been looted
+in broad daylight, by a young man and a boy, apparently members of the
+pirate crew. The younger of the two ruffians was masked, and on being
+asked for pay for gasoline, refused it at the point of his weapons,
+declaring that pirates never paid.
+
+While no attention should be paid to rumors such as the latter, the
+despatches went on to say, it was obvious that a most high-handed
+outrage had been perpetrated. It was supposed that the swift yacht had
+been hurried forward, and had passed New Orleans in the night. Once
+out of the river, and among the shallow bays of the Gulf Coast, the
+ruffians might, perhaps, for some time evade pursuit, just as did the
+craft of Jean Lafitte, himself, a century ago. Meantime, only the
+greatest anxiety could pervade the hearts of the friends of these
+ladies thus placed in the power of ruthless bandits. Such an outrage
+upon civilization could, of course, occur only under the
+administration of the Republican party. The journal therefore
+hoped:--and so forth, and so forth.
+
+"Peterson," said I, after digesting this interesting information,
+"you've read this. What have you to say?"
+
+Peterson was more despondent even than was his wont. "It looks mighty
+bad, Mr. Harry," said he, "and I don't profess to understand it."
+
+"Did you order the supplies?"
+
+"Oh, yes, but they may forget to send them after all."
+
+"It is your intention to stick by me, Peterson?"
+
+"Well, there must be some mistake," he said, "but I don't see what
+else I can do."
+
+"There is a mistake, Peterson," said I. "This is more newspaper
+sensation. Mr. Davidson is excited over something he doesn't
+understand. If I had him here now I could explain it all easily. But,
+before the matter can be explained in this way, we must wait until
+this excitement dies down. Why, at this gait, it would hardly be safe
+for either of us to be recognized here in town. We might be arrested
+and put to a lot of trouble. The best thing we can do is to run on
+down the river and wait until Davidson gets down and until we get this
+thing adjusted. That is why I wanted the supplies to-night."
+
+"But suppose we are discovered to-night?"
+
+"We take that chance, but I fancy that I have certain legal rights,
+after all, and I own this boat. Fortune favors the bold. I shall make
+no attempt to hide, either now or then, Peterson. At the same time,
+while we will not run away from plain sight, there is no need to take
+unnecessary chances. Drop some white sail-cloth over the yacht's name
+on her bows, and on the fantail. Have one or two of the boys go
+overboard in slings and seem to be painting her sides. That will give
+the look that we are safe to lie here some time--which is the last
+thing the _Belle Helène_ really would do, or will do. They think we've
+run past the city already, and they'll be watching at Quarantine, and
+along the Lake Borgne Canal. Most of the yachts go out that way,
+headed for Florida. We'll go the other way. It's an adventure,
+Peterson, and one which any viking, like yourself, ought to relish."
+
+"So I do, Mr. Harry," said he, "but I hardly knew which course to
+lay."
+
+"Blood will tell, Peterson," said I. "Your ancestors were Danish
+pirates; mine were English pirates."
+
+"For God's sake, Mr. Harry, don't talk that way. We mustn't go against
+the law."
+
+"I'm not sure that we have as yet, Peterson, for the law says nothing
+about abduction of ladies in pairs, or for purposes truly honorable.
+Frankly, Peterson--and because you've been long in my employ--I'll
+tell you something. I intend to marry that young lady if she's not
+already married to Mr. Davidson."
+
+"Lord, Mr. Harry, she ain't--at least not since she come aboard the
+boat."
+
+"In that case," said I, drawing a long breath, "this is not such a bad
+world after all."
+
+"Not at all, Mr. Harry. I was going to say, as well be hung for a
+sheep as a lamb, but of course I don't know about what she'll say. She
+looks to me like one of these girls that's been petted a good deal,
+and Mr. Harry, believe me, I always fight shy of a pet horse, or a pet
+boat, or a pet woman--they're always hard to handle, and they raise
+the devil when they get a chance. I hope you'll pardon me, sir."
+
+"On the contrary, Peterson, I am grateful to you. You are on double
+pay from the time I took command. Moreover, I promise you the best
+cruise we ever had together. Once among the shallow bays on the coast
+down there, we can take care of ourselves while this chase cools down.
+We're faster than anything on the Gulf, and draw less water than most
+of them of anything like our speed. You take care of the boat and I'll
+take care of the girl--or try to. I have attachment papers all made
+out, to file on the boat if need be--and I also have an attachment
+for the girl, when it comes to that."
+
+The old man shook his head. "I've got the easiest job," said he.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+IN WHICH WE HAVE A SENSATION
+
+
+With no more than these slight precautions which I have indicated, we
+lay all that afternoon in plain view of the world; and because all the
+world could not suspect us of such hardihood, all the world went by
+without suspecting that the stolen _Belle Helène_ and her ruthless
+pirate crew were there in full sight and apparently inviting or
+defying apprehension. Sometimes a passing craft would salute us as we
+lay, and we returned the courtesy without fail. I know not whether
+more bottles were cast overboard by Aunt Lucinda, but if so, we heard
+of none. At last, after what seemed days to me, though no more than
+hours, the shade of twilight fell across the river, the outlines of
+the passing boats grew less distinct. Now and again we could hear the
+wail of railway whistle, or see the curved snake of the lighted train
+dashing across the alluvial lands toward the ferry. Here and there,
+beyond, pin points of red lights shone. At last the night fell full,
+and, gladly enough, I gave the order for the continuance of our
+journey.
+
+We slipped down-stream gently and silently, yet speedily withal,
+seeking to time our arrival, as nearly as we might, to the hour
+assigned for the delivery of our supplies at the dock.
+
+"I'm none too easy in my mind," said my old skipper to me, as we stood
+together forward.
+
+"Why not, Peterson?"
+
+"It's them two boys," said he. "You talk of pirates--there's the
+bloodiest pair of pirates as ever was. I hardly know whether my own
+life's safe or not, to hear them talk."
+
+"Never do you mind, Peterson," said I. "Those boys may be useful to us
+yet. The one with blue eyes has proved himself able to keep the ladies
+in their cabin, and as for the one who was going to run you through
+when we took the boat, he still may have to work to keep Williams down
+in the engine-room when we make our landing."
+
+"It may come out all right," said the old man gloomily, "but sometimes
+I fear for the worst."
+
+"You always do, Peterson, and that is no frame of mind for a healthy
+pirate. But here we are below the railway warehouse district, and I
+think nearly opposite slip K, where we land. Port your helm, and run
+in slow. We've got to have gasoline, although I must say my two
+bullies took aboard quite a store up there at the Bayou."
+
+"Port it is, sir," said Peterson gloomily, still smoking. And he made
+as neat a landing as ever in his life.
+
+A shadowy form arose amidst the blackness of the dock and came
+directly forward to take our line.
+
+"Who's that?" I demanded. "Are you from Lavallier and Thibodeau?"
+
+"Yes, M'sieu," came the answer. "Those supply is here."
+
+"All right. Help him get the stuff aboard, Peterson."
+
+They went about their work. Just as turning I saw standing at my
+elbow, the slight form of L'Olonnois, his arms folded and hat drawn
+upon his brow.
+
+"Bid the varlets hasten," he hissed to me. "Time passes."
+
+"Back to your post, L'Olonnois," I rejoined. "See that the captives
+remain in their room."
+
+Jean Lafitte, too, proved unable to restrain his curiosity, and this
+time his habit of close observation was of benefit in an unexpected
+way.
+
+"Hist, Black Bart!" he whispered distinctly, clutching my arm. "What
+boat is that?"
+
+He pointed in the dim light to a low lying, battered power boat moored
+in the same slip with us. Something in her look seemed familiar.
+
+"I can't see her name," said Jean Lafitte, "but she looks a lot like
+our own old boat."
+
+I hastily stepped on the wharf and got a closer look in the wavering
+beams of an arc light at the name on the boat's bows. There, in
+indistinct and shaky, but unmistakable characters, was the title
+painted by my young ruffians, weeks earlier--_Sea Rover!_
+
+"Jean Lafitte," I whispered, "you are right, and now indeed we must
+have a care. Yon varlet has beaten us into New Orleans."
+
+"Let's board her and take her," hissed Jean Lafitte. "We can do it
+easy."
+
+"No, wait," said I. "Perhaps we can think of a better plan. Wait till
+we get two drums of gasoline aboard. Then we'll make a run for it, if
+yon varlet is here on the _Sea Rover_. Probably not, for every one
+seems gone to bed."
+
+"I'll find out," said Jean Lafitte boldly, and before I could stop him
+was gone, springing lightly on the deck of the _Sea Rover_.
+
+"Hello in there," he hailed. "Are you all asleep?"
+
+A voice muttered something from the shallow cabin, I could not tell
+what. "We got a barrel of rum for you from Thibodeau's," said Jean
+Lafitte.
+
+"No, you ain't. Must be some mistake," said a sleepy voice; and now a
+tousled head appeared, indistinct in the gloom. "Anyhow, I don't know
+anything about it, and it'll have to stay on the dock until morning.
+I'm only the engineer, I come from Natchez. Mr. Davidson, he's
+up-town."
+
+"Oh, all right," said Jean Lafitte, apparently mollified, and soon was
+at my side again. So then, we had the information we sought. I was
+sure my own engineer, Williams, was busy as usual below, oiling and
+polishing his double sixties.
+
+"Hurry now," I whispered to Peterson. "Get that stuff aboard quick.
+Don't forget the crates of fruit and vegetables."
+
+We were nearly done with this work, when for a moment all seemed on
+the point of going wrong with us. I heard shufflings and door
+slammings from the after cabin. "Help! Help!" sounded the voice of
+Aunt Lucinda, somewhat muffled. It chanced that my engineer, Williams,
+at that moment poked his head up his ladder to get a breath of fresh
+air.
+
+"What's that?" he demanded of me as I passed. "I thought I heard some
+one calling."
+
+"Oh, you did, Williams," said I. "It was Mrs. Daniver. She suffers
+much with neuralgia and is in great pain. I shouldn't wonder if I
+should have to go up-town and get a physician for her even yet. But,
+Williams, in any case we'll be sailing soon, and I want you to
+overhaul the screen of the intake pipe for that port boiler. We're
+getting into very sandy waters, and of course you don't want anything
+to happen to your engines. Can you attend to that at once?"
+
+"Surely, sir," said he, and went below again. I closed the hatch on
+him. Meantime I hurried aft, to see what could be done toward quelling
+any possible uproar. My blue-eyed lieutenant, L'Olonnois, had been as
+efficient in his way as Jean Lafitte. Now, in full character, he was
+enjoying himself immensely. When I saw him, he was standing with his
+feet spread wide apart in the center of the cabin floor, with drawn
+sword in his hand.
+
+"Lady," said he, addressing himself to Aunt Lucinda, "it irks me as a
+gentleman to be rude with one so fair, but let me hear one more word
+from you, and your life's blood shall dye the deck, and you shall walk
+the plank at the morning sun. You deal with L'Olonnois, who knows no
+fear!"
+
+Deep silence, broken presently by a little laugh; and I heard Helena's
+voice in remonstrance. "Don't be so silly, Jimmie!"
+
+"Silly, indeed," boomed the deep voice of Aunt Lucinda, catching sight
+of me at the door. "Yonder is the villain who put him up to this."
+
+"Oh, is that you?" said Helena, coming toward me. "Where are we,
+Harry?"
+
+"In the port of New Orleans, Miss Helena," was my answer, "a city of
+some three hundred thousand souls, noted for its manufacture of sugar,
+and its large shipments abroad of the staple cotton."
+
+"May I come on deck?" she queried after a while.
+
+"We are alongside the levee, and there is little to see. We shall be
+sailing now in a few moments."
+
+"But mayn't I come up and see New Orleans, even for a minute as we
+pass by? I'll be good."
+
+"You may come up under parole," said I, throwing open the door. "But
+you must bring your aunt's parole also. You must give no alarm, for we
+have every reason here for silence."
+
+She turned back and held some converse with Auntie Lucinda, and by
+what spell I know not, won the promise of the latter to remain silent
+and make no attempt at escape. A little later she was at my side in
+the dim light cast by a flickering and distant arc light at the
+street.
+
+"I have your word, then?" I demanded of her.
+
+"Yes. You can't blame me for wanting to get out, to see what is going
+on."
+
+"A great deal may be going on here any moment," said I. "In fact, if I
+could show you the evening newspapers--which I purpose doing to-morrow
+morning--it might seem to you that a great deal already has gone on.
+For one thing, Cal Davidson is in town ahead of us. That's his boat
+yonder, rubbing sides with us. He doesn't know we're here. He himself
+is off up-town, at the Boston Club, probably, or perhaps some of the
+cafés--he knows a thousand people here."
+
+"So do I, Harry," said she. "To think of going by in this plight! And
+to think of leaving New Orleans without even one little supper at
+Luigi's, Harry--it breaks my heart."
+
+"We are almost ready to sail, Helena. Suppose we see Luigi's some
+other time. Things are getting pretty close about us here."
+
+"Any pirate should be a man of courage," said she; "he should be ever
+willing to take a chance."
+
+"Very well; have I not taken several chances already?"
+
+"And again, a pirate ought to be kind toward all women, oughtn't he,
+Harry? I asked you this afternoon, why couldn't we be friends again
+and stop all this foolishness. Let's forget everything and just be
+friends."
+
+"What! Again, Helena? Have I not tried that and found it a failure?"
+
+"You have no courage. You are no pirate. I challenge you to a test."
+
+"What is it, Helena?"
+
+"Let us go up-town and have a little supper at Luigi's, the way we
+used to, Harry, when we really were friends."
+
+"What, with Cal Davidson loose in the town and his boat lying here?"
+
+"That is the adventure!"
+
+"You would turn me over to the authorities?"
+
+"No, but I would sell my parole for a mess of woodcock, Harry." She
+laid a hand upon my arm. "I can't tell you how much I want a little
+supper at Luigi's, Harry. I like the Chianti there. Between us we
+could afford thirty cents a bottle, could we not? Now, if I gave my
+parole--and of course, every one would be here at the boat just the
+same--But of course, I did not expect you would."
+
+"Why did you not?"
+
+"Because it is an adventure, because it will take something of real
+courage, I fancy, to meet a risk like that!"
+
+"There would be some risk for us all," said I truly.
+
+"There you go, balancing and not deciding. You are no pirate."
+
+"What will you give me if I go, Helena?" said I.
+
+"Nothing beyond thanking you. One thing, you must not think that I
+would trick or trap you."
+
+"Many a criminal has been trapped by a woman whom he loves," said I
+slowly. "But you would not do that if I had your word, even though you
+hated me. And you do hate me very much, do you not?"
+
+"Yes, very much. But if you took me by New Orleans without a supper at
+Luigi's, I should hate you even more."
+
+"Jean--Jean Lafitte," I called out in a low tone of voice.
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir!" he saluted, as he came to the place where we stood,
+like some seasoned sailorman, regardless of youthful hours of sleep.
+
+"I am going up-town with the captive maiden. Do you stand here on
+watch. We shall be gone about three hours."
+
+"Hully gee!" ejaculated Jean Lafitte, but at once he saluted again.
+"'Tis well, Black Bart," said he.
+
+"Tell Captain Peterson to let no one come on board this boat under any
+pretense; nor must any one leave it until I get back. If any one asks
+for me, say I'm up-town."
+
+"Isn't Aunt Lucinda going, too?" demanded Helena.
+
+"She certainly is not!"
+
+"Is it--is it quite correct for me to go alone with you?"
+
+"That is your part of the adventure, Helena," said I calmly. An
+instant later I had led her across the dingy warehouse dock, over
+dusty streets, to a crooked street-car line over which I could hear
+approaching one of the infrequent cars.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+IN WHICH WE MEET THE OTHER MAN, ALSO ANOTHER WOMAN
+
+
+Luigi's place, as all men know, is situated upon a small, crooked and
+very dirty street, yet none the less, it is an abode of contentment
+for those who know good living. When Helena and I entered the door I
+felt as one again at home. Here were the sanded floors, the old
+water-bottles, the large chandelier with its cut glasses in the middle
+of the room, the small tables with their coarse clean linen. The same
+old French waiters stood here and there about, each with impeccable
+apron and very peccable shoes, as is the wont of all waiters. But the
+waiters at Luigi's are more than waiters; they are friends, and they
+never forget a face. Therefore, as always, I had no occasion for
+surprise when Jean, my waiter these many years at Luigi's, stepped
+forward as though it had been but last week and not three years ago
+when he had seen me. He called me by name, greeted me again to his
+city, and gently aided Helena with her wraps and gloves.
+
+"And M'sieu can not long remain away from us, forever?" said he.
+
+"It has been three years, Jean," said I, "more is the pity. But now,
+I can remain three hours--will that serve? At the end of that time we
+must away."
+
+Jean was human, yet discreet. He knew that when last he saw me I was a
+single man. Now he had doubts. He stood hovering about, a question on
+his tongue, smitten of admiration much as had been my dog, Partial, at
+his first sight of Helena. At last he made excuse to step close behind
+my chair under pretense of finding my napkin.
+
+"_Enfin, M'sieu?_" said he, smiling.
+
+"_Pas encore_, Jean!" I replied.
+
+I saw a slow flush on Helena's cheek, but she gave no other sign that
+she had overheard. So I began forthwith making much ado about ordering
+our supper, which as usual really was much a matter of Jean's taste.
+
+"We have to-night in the ice-boxes, M'sieu," said that artist, "some
+cock oysters which are dreams. Moreover, I have laid aside two
+canvasbacks, the best I ever saw--it was in the hope that some really
+good friend of mine would come in. Behold, I am happy--I must have
+been expecting you. Believe me, we have never had better birds than
+these. They are excellent."
+
+"Perhaps the oysters, Jean," said I, "very small and dark. I presume
+possibly a very small _fillet_ of trout this evening, and the
+sauce--you still can make it, Jean? Such _entrées_ as you like, of
+course. But, since Mademoiselle--" and here I smiled--"and I, also,
+are very hungry this evening, we wish a woodcock after the canvasback,
+if you do not mind. Perhaps it is not too much?"
+
+"_Mais non!_" replied Jean. "You are of those who know well that to
+eat too much is not to dine well. But I shall bring you two oysters,
+_marinière_--a sauce my own wife invented. And yes, some small bird,
+_beccasine_, broiled lightly--perhaps you will enjoy it after the
+canvasback, although I assure you those are excellent indeed. We have
+few sweets here, as M'sieu knows, but cheese, if you like, and of
+course coffee; and always we have the red wine which I remember M'sieu
+liked so much."
+
+"It is with you, Jean," said I. And Helena, turning, smiled upon him
+swiftly, in such fashion that he scarce touched the floor at all as he
+walked out for his radishes and olives.
+
+"Isn't it nice?" said Helena. "Isn't it like the old times? I always
+loved this old town. It seems so homelike."
+
+"Please do not use that word, Helena," said I. "I wish to be entirely
+happy to-night, in the belief that some time I shall know what home
+is."
+
+"Do you think Jean knew me also?" she demanded. "Certainly, I have
+been here also before."
+
+"No one who has ever seen you, Helena, ever forgets you. But Jean is,
+of course, discreet."
+
+"Suppose he knew that I was here to-night against my free will, and
+only under parole?"
+
+"Jean is wise; he knows such things ought not to be, even if they are.
+And he understood me when I said, 'not yet.'"
+
+"Yes," said she; "quite right. _Pas encore!_"
+
+Jean returned, and as a special favor to an old patron asked us
+politely if we would enjoy a look through the kitchen and the
+ice-boxes. As usual, we accepted this invitation, and passed back
+through the green swing doors, following our guide along the row of
+charcoal fires, through a dingy room decorated with shining coppers
+and bits of glass and silver. These ice-boxes were such as to offer
+continual delight to any epicure, what with their rows of fat clean
+fishes and crabs and oysters, the birds nicely plucked, all the
+dainties which this rich market of the South could afford, from
+papabotte to terrapin. Helena herself selected two woodcock and
+approved the judgment of Jean in canvasback. Presently she turned to
+me, a flush of embarrassment upon her face.
+
+"Harry," she said, "I don't like to say anything, but you know--you've
+been telling me you were so poor. Now, a girl doesn't want to make it
+difficult----"
+
+"Mademoiselle," said I, bowing, "I am quite able to foot the bill
+to-night. I had just sold some hay before I started from home."
+
+"Well, I'm awfully hungry," she admitted; "besides, it's such a lark."
+
+"Yes," said I; and presently, as we reached our table again, I showed
+her the afternoon papers, which as yet she had not seen. She read
+through the account of our escapade, her lips compressed; but
+presently she folded the paper and laid it down without comment.
+
+"At any minute, you see," said I, "I may be apprehended and our little
+supper brought to an end. That is why I hastened with the order. I do
+not wish to hurry you in any way, however, and we shall use the full
+three hours. Although, of course, you see that the bird of time indeed
+is on the wing to-night, as well as those other birds on the
+broilers."
+
+She only looked at me steadily and made no comment. "Once suspected
+here," said I, "all is over for me, and you are free again. It would
+be entirely easy for you to make some sign or movement which I,
+perhaps, could not detect. Perhaps, at any moment, some one may enter
+who knows you--as I've said, no one can look at you and forget you,
+Helena. But please let none of this affect your appetite. Our little
+supper is our little adventure. I hope you will enjoy both, my dear."
+
+"You did take some chance, did you not?" she said slowly.
+
+"It might be a chance."
+
+"But you will be so nervous you can't enjoy your spread."
+
+"Not in the least, Helena. A nervous man has no business in the trade
+of piracy;--but, ah! the _fillet_ of trout, Helena."
+
+Jean was proud of his art, the chef proud also, and the chef knew we
+were here. A general air of comfort seemed to settle down upon our
+little corner of the restaurant, a quiet contentment. For the most
+part, folk came here who had no hurry and no anxiety, and it was a
+sort of club for many persons who knew how to eat and to live and to
+enjoy life quietly, as life should be enjoyed. None dreamed, of
+course, that aught but equal leisure existed for our little table,
+where sat a rather lank and shabby man in flannels, and a very
+especially beautiful young woman in half evening dress. At Luigi's,
+every one is polite to every one else, and the curiosity is but that
+of fraternity. Perhaps, some eyes were cast our way, I could not tell.
+
+Jean, in slow solemnity and pleasant ease, brought on many things not
+nominated in the bond. At length he arranged his duck-press on his
+little table near us, and having squeezed the elixir from the two
+dissected fowls, began to stir the juices into a sauce of his own,
+made with sherry wine and a touch of _filé_, many things which Jean
+knows best. He was just in the act of pouring this most delectable
+sauce over the two bits of tender fowl upon our hot plates, when,
+happening to look up, I saw some one entering the door.
+
+"Jean, if you please," said I, deliberately pulling the coat-rack in
+front of our table, "Mademoiselle perhaps feels a slight draft. Would
+you fetch a screen?"
+
+He turned. "Helena," said I, after a moment, "now our adventure has
+come."
+
+"What do you mean?" said she. "Why do you do that?"--she nodded at the
+screen. "Why, I say?"
+
+"I have your parole?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I am glad it is yes!" said I. "You could break it now and escape so
+easily. One little move on your part and my punishment is at hand."
+
+"Who was it?" she asked, suspecting.
+
+"No one much," said I, "only our esteemed friend, Mr. Calvin Davidson,
+whose waistcoat I am now wearing. Some one is with him, I don't know
+who it is. A very nice-looking lady, next to the most beautiful woman
+in this room, I must say."
+
+"Let me see," said she; and I allowed her to look through the crack in
+the screen.
+
+"She certainly is very stunning," said I, "is she not? Tall, dark, a
+trifle superb--I wonder--I wonder sometimes, Helena, if Cal Davidson
+is true to Poll?"
+
+"Nonsense!" was her retort. "But as you say, here is our adventure, or
+at least yours. How do you propose to get out of it?"
+
+"I don't know yet," said I. "Just at present I do not wish this
+canvasback to get cold. We have remaining before us two hours or more,
+ample time to make any plan which may be needed. Coffee, I have found,
+is excellent for plans. Let us make no plans until we have had our
+coffee, after our little dinner. That will be an hour or so yet.
+Plenty of time to plan, Helena," said I. "And please do not slight
+this bird--it is delicious."
+
+Her eyes still were sparkling. "I'm rather glad I came," said she.
+
+"So am I, and I shall be glad when we are back. But meantime I trust
+you, Helena, absolutely. I will even tell you more. Davidson's boat,
+the one which we left him instead of the _Belle Helène_, is lying in
+the same slip with ours, rubbing noses with our yacht yonder, as I
+showed you. Our men have talked with his. They do not yet suspect that
+we are the vessel which everybody wants to find. I am very thankful
+their engineer was so sleepy. I learned there at the wharf that Cal
+Davidson was down-town at his club. He seems to have departed long
+enough to find excellent company, as usual. I am glad that he has done
+so, for in all likelihood he will not return to his own boat before
+to-morrow morning. He will prefer his room at the club to his bunk on
+the _Sea Rover_, if I know Cal Davidson. And by that time I hope to be
+far away."
+
+"Does he know who you are--does he know who it was that took the
+_Belle Helène_?"
+
+"I think not. But, very stupidly--being so anxious to see the
+original--I left a photograph of yourself on our old boat, the _Sea
+Rover_. Item, one cigarette case with my initials. Of course, Cal
+Davidson may guess the simple truth, or he may make a mystery of
+these things. It seems he prefers to make a mystery; and I am sure
+that suits me much better."
+
+"But knowing these things--knowing that his boat was lying right at
+the dock alongside of us--why did you stop?"
+
+"I thought it was you, Helena, who suggested this little adventure at
+Luigi's! And I promise you I am enjoying it very much. It seems so
+much like old times."
+
+"But that can't ever be over again, Harry."
+
+"Naturally not. But often new times are quite as good as old ones. I
+can conceive of such a thing in our case. No, I shall use this
+privilege of your society to the limit, Helena, fearing I may not see
+you soon again, after once I have put you back in your hat box. You
+coaxed me to leave the boat, and I shall tell you when to return."
+
+"Why not now?"
+
+"No, at twelve o'clock. Not earlier."
+
+"And you propose sitting here with me till then?"
+
+"I could imagine no better pastime, were I condemned to die at
+sunrise. Tell me, do you wish me to call Mr. Davidson?"
+
+"Of course I do not, since I gave you my word. Besides, I know that
+girl with him. It's Sally Byington. Some call her good-looking, but I
+am sure I don't know why."
+
+"Fie upon you! She is superb. In short, Helena, I am not sure but she
+is finer-looking than yourself!"
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Yes. Cal Davidson, whatever may be his taste in neckties or
+waistcoats, seems to me excellent in this other regard. Perhaps just a
+trifle flamboyant for Luigi's, but certainly stunning."
+
+"Our relations are not such as to lead me to discuss our friends," she
+rejoined haughtily. "And, as you say, our duck is getting cold. I
+adore these canvasbacks. I would like to come back to-morrow and have
+another." She cut savagely into her fowl.
+
+"Alas, Helena, to-morrow you will be far away. In time I hope to
+reconcile you to the simple life of piracy. Indeed, unless all plans
+go wrong, we may very likely have canvasbacks on the boat; although I
+can not promise you that John will be as good a chef as our friend
+here at Luigi's. All good buccaneers use their fair captives well."
+
+"Indeed! And why do you not ask Sally Byington into your list of
+prisoners, since you fancy her so much."
+
+"Nay, say not so, Helena. I trust I am somewhat catholic in taste
+regarding ladies, as any gentleman should be, yet after all, I am
+gentler in my preferences. Quite aside from that, I find one fair
+captive quite enough to make me abundant trouble."
+
+At about this time Jean approached behind the screen, bearing a copy
+of a late edition of an evening paper, which fortunately he seemed not
+closely to have scanned. I took it quickly and placed it with the
+front page down.
+
+"Monsieur no doubt has heard of the great sensation?" commented Jean.
+
+"No, what is that, Jean?"
+
+"The papers have been full of nothing else. It seems a band of
+cutthroat river pirates have stolen a gentleman's yacht, and so far as
+can be told, have escaped with it down the river, perhaps entirely to
+the Gulf."
+
+"That, Jean," said I, "is a most extraordinary thing. Are you sure of
+the facts?"
+
+"Naturally--is it not all in the paper? This gentleman then has his
+yacht anchored at Natchez, and he goes ashore on important business.
+Comes then this band of river ruffians in the dark, and as though
+pirates of a hundred years ago, and led by Jean Lafitte himself, they
+capture the vessel!"
+
+"_Mon Dieu!_ Jean you do not say so?"
+
+"But assuredly I say so; nor is that all, Monsieur. On board this
+yacht was a young and beautiful lady of great wealth and beauty, as
+well--the fiancée, so it is said, of this gentleman who owns the
+yacht. What is the action of these pirates in regard to this beautiful
+young lady and her aunt, who also is upon the yacht for the cruise? Do
+they place these ladies ashore? No, they imprison them upon the boat,
+and so, _pouf!_ off for the gulf. Nor has any trace of them been found
+from that time till now. A rumor goes that the gentleman who owns the
+yacht is at this time in New Orleans, but as for that unfortunate
+young lady, where is she to-night? I demand that, Monsieur. Ah! And
+she is beautiful."
+
+"Now, is not this a most extraordinary tale you bring, Jean? Let us
+hope it is not true. Why, if it were true, that ruffian might escape
+and hide for days or weeks in the bayous around Barataria, even as
+Jean Lafitte did a hundred years ago."
+
+"Assuredly he might. Ah, I know it well, that country. But Jean
+Lafitte was no pirate, simply a merchant who did not pay duties. And
+he sold silks and laces cheap to the people hereabout--I could show
+you the very causeway they built across the marsh, to reach the place
+where he landed his boats at the heads of one of the great bays--it is
+not far from the plantation of Monsieur Edouard Manning, below New
+Iberia. Believe me, Monsieur, the country folk hunt yet for the buried
+treasure of Jean Lafitte; and sometimes they find it."
+
+"You please me, Jean. Tell me more of that extraordinary person."
+
+"Extraordinary, you may call him, Monsieur. And he had a way with
+women, so it is said--even his captives came to admire him in time, so
+generous and bold was he."
+
+"A daredevil fellow I doubt not, Jean?"
+
+"You may say that. But of great good and many kindnesses to all the
+folk in the lower parts of this state in times gone by. Now--say it
+not aloud, Monsieur--scarce a family in all Acadia but has map and key
+to some buried treasure of Jean Lafitte. Why, Monsieur, here in this
+very café, once worked a negro boy. He, being sick, I help him as a
+gentleman does those negro, to be sure, and he was of heart enough to
+thank me for that. So one day he came to me and told me a story of a
+treasure of a descendant of Lafitte. He himself, this negro, had
+helped his master to bury that same treasure."
+
+"And does he know the place now? Could he point it out?"
+
+"Assuredly, and the master who buried it now is dead."
+
+"Then why does not the negro boy go and dig it up again, very
+naturally?"
+
+"Ah, for the best reasons. That old Frenchman, descendant of Jean
+Lafitte, was no fool. What does he in this burial of treasure? Ah! He
+takes him a white parrot, a black cat and a live monkey, and these
+three, all of them, he buries on top of the treasure-box and covers
+all with earth and grass above the earth. And then above the grave he
+says such a malediction upon any who may disturb it as would alone
+frighten to the death any person coming there and braving such a
+curse. I suggested to the negro boy that he should show me the spot.
+Monsieur, he grew pale in terror. Not for a million pounds of solid
+gold would he go near that place, him."
+
+"That also is a most extraordinary story, Jean. Taken with this other
+fairy tale which you have told me to-night, you almost make me feel
+that we are back in the great old days which this country once saw.
+But alas!"
+
+"As you say, Monsieur, alas!"
+
+"Now as to that ruffian who stole the gentleman's yacht," I resumed.
+"Has he reflected? Has he indeed made his way to the Gulf? Why, he
+might even be hiding here in the city somewhere."
+
+"Ah, hardly that, and if so, he well may look out for the law."
+
+"I think a sherbet would be excellent for the lady now, Jean," I
+ventured, whereat he departed. I turned over the paper and showed
+Helena her own portrait on the front page, four columns deep and set
+in such framing of blackfaced scare type as made me blush for my own
+sins.
+
+"It is an adventure, Helena!" said I. "Had you not been far the most
+beautiful woman in this restaurant to-night, and had not Jean been all
+eyes for you, he otherwise would have looked at this paper rather than
+at you. Then he would have looked at us both and must have seen the
+truth."
+
+"It is an adventure," said she slowly, her color heightening; and
+later, "You carried it off well, Harry."
+
+I bowed to her across the table. "Need was to act quickly, for even
+this vile newspaper cut is a likeness of you. One glance from Jean,
+which may come at any moment later, Helena, and your parole will be
+needless further."
+
+"I confess I wished to test you. It was wrong, foolish of me, Harry."
+
+"You have been tested no less, Helena, to-night. And I have found you
+a gentle high-born lady, as I had always known you to be. _Noblesse
+oblige_, my dear, and you have proved it so to-night. Any time from
+now until twelve you need no more than raise a finger--I might not
+even see you do so--and you might go free. Why do you not?"
+
+"If the woodcock is as good as the canvasback," was her somewhat
+irrelevant reply, "I shall call the evening a success, after all."
+
+But Helena scarcely more than tasted her bird, and pushed back after a
+time the broiled mushroom which Jean offered her gently.
+
+"Does not your appetite remain?" I inquired. "Come, you must not break
+Jean's heart doubly."
+
+She only pushed back her chair. "I am sorry," said she, "but I want to
+go back to the boat."
+
+"Back to the boat! You astonish me. I thought escape from the _Belle
+Helène_ was the one wish of your heart these days."
+
+"And so it is."
+
+"Then, Helena, why not escape here and now?"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I do not mean for you to break your parole--I know you too well for
+that. But give me additional parole, my dear girl. Give me your word.
+Say that one word. Then we can rise here and announce to Mr. Davidson
+and all the world and its newspapers that no crime has been done and
+only a honeymoon has been begun. Come, Helena, all the world loves a
+lover. All New Orleans will love us if you will raise your finger and
+say the word."
+
+I looked toward her. Her head was bent and tears were dropping from
+her eyes, tears faithfully concealed by her kerchief. But she said no
+word to me, and at her silence my own heart sank--sank until my
+courage was quite gone, until I felt the return of a cold brutality.
+Still I endeavored to be gentle with one who deserved naught of
+gentleness.
+
+"Do not hurry, Helena," I said. "We can return when you like. But the
+salad--and the coffee! And see, you have not touched your wine."
+
+"Take me back," she said, her voice low. "I hate you. Till the end of
+the world I'll hate you."
+
+"If I could believe that, Helena, it would matter nothing to me to go
+a mile farther on any voyage, a foot farther to shield myself or you."
+
+"Take me back," she said to me again. "I want to go to Aunt Lucinda."
+
+"Jean," said I, a moment later when he reappeared. "Mademoiselle
+wishes to see one more ice-box in the kitchen. We are in search of
+something. May we go again?"
+
+Jean spread out his arms in surprise, but pushed open the green door.
+We thus passed, shielded by our screen and unobserved. Once within, I
+grasped Jean firmly by the shoulder and pressed a ten dollar bill into
+his hand, with other money for the reckoning.
+
+"Take this, Jean, for yourself. We do not care to pass out at the
+front, for certain reasons--do you comprehend? It is of Mademoiselle."
+
+"It is of Mademoiselle? Ah, depend upon me. What can I do?"
+
+"This. Leave us here, and we will walk about. Meantime go out the back
+way to the alley, Jean, and have a taxicab ready at the mouth of the
+alley. Come quick when it is arranged and let us go, because we must
+go at once. At another time, Jean, we will return, I trust more
+happily. Then we shall order such a dinner as will take Luigi himself
+a day to prepare, my friend!"
+
+"For Mademoiselle?"
+
+"For Madame, Jean, as I hope." And now I showed him the portrait on
+the front page of the newspaper he had brought me. "Quick," I said,
+"and since you have been faithful, some day I will explain all this to
+you--with Madame, as I hope."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+IN WHICH WE BURN ALL BRIDGES
+
+
+"But, Monsieur," began Jean, a few moments later, as he entered from
+the alley door.
+
+"_Eh bien?_ What then, Jean?" I demanded hastily, already leading
+Helena toward the door.
+
+"This! This!" And he waved in my face a copy of the same paper which
+had lain on our table. "The streets are full of it. And I see, I
+behold--I recognize! It is Mademoiselle--that is to be Madame!"
+
+My face flushed hotly. "As I hope, Jean." That was all I said. "Now,
+please, out of our way. Is the taxi there?"
+
+He stepped aside. I heard his voice, eager, apologetic, but knew that
+now no time must be lost. Vague sounds of voices came to us from the
+main room of the café, ordinarily so quiet. I felt, rather than knew,
+that soon the news would be about town. The throb of the taxi was
+music to my ears when I found it in the dark.
+
+"Stop for nothing," said I to the driver, as I closed the door. "Slip
+K, on the river-front, below the warehouses. Stop at the car tracks
+where they turn. And go fast--I must catch a boat that is just
+leaving."
+
+"What boat--from there--are you sure, sir?" asked he, touching his
+cap.
+
+"Of course I'm sure. Go on! Don't stop to talk, man!"
+
+He made no answer to this, but turned to his wheel. We shot out into
+Royal Street, turned down it, spun into a narrow way past the old
+Cathedral, crossed Jackson Square in the full moonlight, passed the
+Old Market, and threaded dark and dirty thoroughfares parallel to the
+river. None sought to stay us, though many paused in the gently
+squalid life of that section, to look after our churning car, a thing
+not usual there so far from depot or usual landing place.
+
+Helena sat silent, looking fixedly ahead through the glass at the
+driver's back; nor did I find words myself. In truth, I was as one now
+carried forward on the wings of adventure itself, with small plans,
+and no duty beyond taking each situation as it might later come. A
+dull feeling that I had sinned beyond forgiveness came upon me, a
+conviction that my brutality to one thus innocent and tender had
+passed all limits of atonement. She could never forgive me now, I
+felt; and what was almost as intolerable in the reflection, I could
+not forgive myself, could not find any specious argument longer to
+justify myself in thus harrying the sensibilities of a woman such as
+this one who now sat beside me in this mad midnight errand, proud,
+pale and silent. Slowly I sought to adjust myself to the thought of
+defeat, to the feeling that my presumption now had o'er-leaped itself.
+Yes, I must say good-by to her, must release her; and this time, as I
+well knew, forever.
+
+But, though I turned toward her half a dozen times in these few
+minutes, she made no response to what she must have known was my
+demand upon her attention. I gathered her gloves for her, and her
+flowers, but she only took them, her lips parting in courtesy, not in
+warmth, and no sound came to my ears, straining always to hear her
+voice, a pleasant sound in a world of discords ever. I even touched
+her arm, suddenly, impulsively. "Helena!" But she, not knowing that I
+meant to give her liberty, though over a dead heart, shrank as though
+I had added physical insult to my verbal taunts. Anyway I turned, I
+was fast in the net of circumstance, fanged by the springs of
+misapprehension.... Well, then, but one thing remained. She had said
+it was a man's place to fight, and so now it would be! I must go on,
+and take my punishment until justice had been done. Justice and my own
+success I no longer confused in my own mind; but in my soul was the
+grim resolution that justice should first be done to one human soul,
+even though that chanced to be my own. After that, I should get her
+again in the hands of her friends and myself; indeed, disappear beyond
+all seeking, in parts of the world best known to myself. If I myself
+were fair, why should not fairness as well be given to me?
+
+And with no more than this established, and nothing definite in plan,
+either, for the present, I mechanically opened the door of the taxi
+for her when the driver pulled up and bent a querying face about to
+ask whether or not we now were opposite Slip K. I noted that he did
+not at once drive away. Evidently he sat for some moments gazing after
+us as we disappeared in the gloom of the river-front. His tale, as I
+afterward learned, enabled the morning papers to print a conclusive
+story describing the abduction of Miss Emory and her undoubted
+retention on the stolen yacht, which, after lying at or near New
+Orleans, some time that night, once more mysteriously had
+disappeared.
+
+No doubt remained, according to this new story, that the supplies put
+aboard at Slip K by Lavallier and Thibodeau had gone to this very
+craft, the stolen yacht! With this came many wild and confusing
+accounts and descriptions, including a passionate interview with Mr.
+Calvin Davidson, of New York, who had announced his intention of
+overhauling these ruffians, at any cost whatsoever; and much counsel
+to the city officials, mingled with the bosom-beating of one
+enterprising journal which declared it had put in commission a yacht
+of its own, under charge of two of its ablest reporters, who had
+instructions to take up the chase and to remain out until the mystery
+had been solved and this beautiful young woman had been rescued from
+her horrible situation and restored again to her home. There were more
+portraits of Helena--furnished, most like, from Cal Davidson's
+collection; one also of Aunt Lucinda (from a photograph of far earlier
+days); and lastly, a half-page portrait of myself, the unnamed ruffian
+who was the undoubted leader in this abduction--the portrait being
+drawn by a staff artist "from description of eye-witnesses." As I
+later saw this portrait I rejoiced that I was long ignorant of its
+existence: and had I known that night that yonder chauffeur to whom I
+had given undue largess had such treason as that portrait in his soul,
+I know not what I might have done with him.
+
+But of this misinformation, of course, I was at the time ignorant, as
+was all the city ignorant of the truth. What happened was otherwise,
+nor was the truth learned even by the great metropolitan journals of
+the North, which now recognized the existence of a "big story", and
+added their keener noses to the trail. The great fact overlooked by
+them all was that they pursued no criminal, but a man of education, I
+may fairly say of brains.
+
+In my law practise many baffling cases came to me, because I most
+liked, precisely, that sort of case. Once, for instance, a family of
+my town well-nigh was disrupted by a series of anonymous letters, done
+in typewriting, accusing an honorable man of dishonorable conduct. The
+letters left the man's wife in an agony of loyalty and suspicion
+alike. He brought me the letters, and to me the case was simple from
+the start. I got the repair slips of a certain typewriter house, and
+compared them until I found a machine with a bent letter M--knowing
+as I did that each machine has its own individuality as ineradicable
+and as inescapable as any personal handwriting. So at last I went to a
+small outlying city, and going into a business house there asked to
+see the stenographer in private. "My dear Miss ----," I said to her,
+"why do you persist in sending these letters to Mr. ----?" I laid them
+before her, and she wept and confessed, very naturally.
+
+That was merely jealousy of a discharged employee; and it was easy as
+a case--easier I always thought, than the probate case I won over a
+contested signature charge filed by certain heirs under a will. In
+this case I merely went to the dead man's earlier home and learned his
+history. Time out of mind he, a thrifty and respected German, had held
+some petty county office or other; and by going over old county
+warrants and receipts signed in forty years by my man, I discovered
+what I already knew--that a man's signature changes many times during
+his life, especially if he begins life as an uncultured immigrant and
+advances to a fair business success later in his life: so that his
+later signatures on records proved his signature in his will.
+
+Again, liking these simple mysteries, I had long ago learned to laugh
+at the old and foolish assertion that murder will out, that not the
+most skilful criminal can long conceal a capital crime. It is not
+true. No one knows how many murders and other crimes go unsolved or
+even unknown. The trouble with murderers, as I knew well enough, was
+that they lacked mentality. And often I said to myself that were it in
+my heart to kill a man, I assuredly could do so, and all my life
+escape unsuspected of the crime.
+
+It may be that my fondness for these less obvious things in the law
+had rendered me a trifle different from my fellow men. I could never
+approach any question in life without wanting to go all about it and
+to the bottom and top, like a cooper with his barrel. I was thus
+actuated, without doubt, in my relations years since with Helena
+Emory--I knew the shrewdness and accuracy of my own trained mind. I
+confess I exulted in the infallible, relentless logic of my mind, a
+mind able and well trained, especially well trained in reason and
+argument. So, when I put the one great brief of all my life before
+Helena, my splendid argument why should she love me, I did so, at
+first, in the conviction that it must be convincing. Had I not myself
+worked it out in each detail, had not my calm, cool, accurate reason
+guarded each portal? Was it, indeed, not a perfect brief--that one I
+held in my first lost case--the lost case which sent me out of my
+profession, left me a stranded hulk of a man?
+
+But then, when these two pirate youngsters had found me and touched me
+with the living point of some new flame of life, so that I knew a vast
+world existed beyond the nature of the intellect, the old ways clung
+to me, after all. Even as I swore to lay hold on youth and on
+adventure (and on love, if, in sooth, that might be for me now), I
+could not fight as yet wholly bare of the old weapons that had so long
+fitted my hand. So, even on that very morning when we set forth from
+my farm to be pirates, my mind ran back to its old cunning, and I
+recalled my earlier boast to myself that if I ever cared to be a
+criminal I knew I could be able to cover my tracks.
+
+Those writing-folk, therefore, who now wasted thousands of dollars in
+pursuit of trace and trail of Black Bart, wealthy ex-lawyer, knew
+nothing of their man, and guessed nothing of his caliber or of his
+methods. They even failed to look in plain sight for their trail
+maker. And having done so, they forgot that water leaves no trail. Yet
+that simple thought had come to my mind as I had sat at breakfast in
+my own house, some weeks before this time! Even then I had planned all
+this.
+
+Absorbed as I had been in this pursuit of Helena, baffled as I had
+been by her, unhappy as I now was over her own unhappiness, fierce as
+was my love for her, still and notwithstanding, some trace of my old
+self clung to me even now when, her hand on my arm, I guided Helena in
+silence over the creaking planks of the dock, and saw, at last, dim
+beyond the edge, the boom of the Mississippi's tawny flood, rolling on
+and onward to the sea. Here was a task, a problem, a chase, an
+endeavor, an adventure! To it, I was impelled by my old training; into
+it I was thrust by all these fevers of the blood. Even though she did
+not love me, she was woman ... in the dark air of night, it seemed to
+me, I could smell the faint maddening fragrance of her hair.... No. It
+was too late! I would not release her. I would go on, now!
+
+And with this resolution, formed when I caught sight of the passing
+flood, I found a sudden peace and calm, and so knew that I was fit for
+my adventure as yon other boy, L'Olonnois, was for his.
+
+I paused at the edge of the wharf, at the side of our boat. We still
+were arm in arm, still silent, though she must have felt the beating
+of my heart.
+
+"Helena," I whispered, "yonder, one step, and your parole is over.
+Here it is not. That boat, just astern, is the one in which Cal
+Davidson chased us all the way from Natchez, in which I chased him all
+the way from Dubuque. His men do not know we are here, nor does he as
+yet. Now, what is it that you wish to do?"
+
+She stood silent for some time, tightening her wrap at the throat
+against the river damp, and made no answer, though her gaze took in
+the dark hull of the low-lying craft made fast below us. When at last:
+
+"One thing," she began, "I will not do."
+
+"What is it?" I asked. We spoke low, but I well knew my men were aware
+of our coming.
+
+"I shall ask no favor of you." And as she spoke, she stepped lightly
+on the rubbered deck of the _Belle Helène_.
+
+"Halt! Who goes there?" called the hoarse voice of Jean Lafitte, the
+faithful: and I knew the joy of the commander feeling that loyalty is
+his.
+
+"'Tis I, Black Bart," I answered, full and clear. "Cast off, my
+friends!"
+
+At once the _Belle Helène_ was full of activity. Peterson I met at
+the wheel. I heard the bells jangle below. I saw Jean, active as a
+cat, ready at the mooring-stub, waiting for the line to ease. Then
+with my own hand I threw on every light of the _Belle Helène_, so that
+she blazed, in the power of six thousand candles, search-light and
+all: so that what had been a passing web of gloom now became a
+rippling river. The warehouses started into light and shade, the
+shadows of the wharf fled, the decks of the grimy craft alongside
+became open of all their secrets.
+
+And now, revealed full in the flood of light as she stood at the side
+portal, Helena did what I had not planned. Freed of her parole she
+was--and she had asked no favor of me--so she had right to make
+attempt to escape; and I gently stepped before her even as Jean cast
+off and sprang aboard: and as I heard L'Olonnois' voice imperatively
+demanding silence of the pounding at the after cabin door. All at
+once, I heard what Helena heard--the rattle of wheels on the stone
+flagging of the street beyond. And then I saw her fling back her cloak
+and stand with cupped hands. Her voice was high, clear and unwavering,
+such voice as a pirate's bride should have, fearless and bold.
+
+"Ahoy, there! Help! Help!" she cried.
+
+Some sort of shout came from the street, we knew not from whom. A
+noise of an opening hatch came from the _Sea Rover_ at our stern, and
+a man's tousled head came into view.
+
+"What's goin' on here," he demanded, as quaveringly as querulously.
+
+I made no answer, but saw our bows crawl out and away, felt the sob of
+the screws, the arm of the river also, and knew a vast and pleasing
+content with life.
+
+"L'Olonnois!" I called through the megaphone.
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir!" I heard his piping rejoinder.
+
+"Cast loose the stern-chaser and fire her at yon varlet if he makes a
+move." I knew our deck cannon was loaded with nothing more deadly than
+newspapers, but I also knew that valor feeds on action. Not that I had
+given orders to fire on the world in general. So, I confess, I was
+somewhat surprised, soon after the shout of approval which greeted my
+command, to hear the air rent by the astonishing reverberation of our
+Long Tom, which rolled like thunder all along the river-front,
+breaking into a thousand echoes in the night.
+
+I heard the patter of feet along the deck, and had sight of Jean
+Lafitte tugging at a halyard. Not content with our defiance of law and
+order, he must needs break out the Jolly Rover with its skull and
+cross-bones. And as we swung swiftly out into midstream, ablaze in
+light from bow to stern, ghostlike in our swiftness and the silence of
+our splendid engines, I had reason to understand all the descriptive
+writing which, as I later learned, greeted the defiant departure of
+this pirate craft and its ruffian crew. Thus I bade all the world come
+and take from me what I had taken for my own.
+
+I stepped to the wheel with Peterson, expecting to find him pale in
+consternation. To my surprise he was calm, save for a new glitter in
+his eye.
+
+"There's nothing on the river can touch her," said he, as he picked up
+his first channel light and called for more speed. "Let 'em come!"
+
+A sudden recklessness had caught us all, it seemed, the old spirit of
+lawless man breaking the leash of custom. I shared it--with exultation
+I knew I shared it with these others. The lust of youth for adventure
+held us all, and the years were as naught.
+
+I turned now to find Helena, and met L'Olonnois, his face beaming.
+
+"Wasn't that a peach of a shot?" said he. "It would of blew yon varlet
+out of the water, if I'd had anything to load with except just them
+marbles. Are you looking for Auntie Helen? She has just went below."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+IN WHICH WE REACH THE SPANISH MAIN
+
+
+It was as Peterson had said--nothing on the river could touch the
+_Belle Helène_. And it also was as I had not said but had thought--the
+water left no trail. By daylight we were far below the old
+battle-field, far below the old forts, far below La Hache, and among
+the channels of the great estuary whose marshes spread for scores of
+miles on either hand impenetrably. Quarantine lay yonder, the
+Southwest Passage opened here; and on beyond, a stone's throw now for
+a vessel logging our smooth speed, rolled the open sea. And still
+there rose behind us the smoke of no pursuing craft, nor did any seek
+to bar our way. So far as I knew, the country had not been warned by
+any wire down-stream from the city. We saw to it that no calling
+points were passed in daylight. As for the chance market shooter
+paddling his log pirogue to his shooting ground in the dawn, or the
+occasional sportsman of some ducking club likewise engaged, they
+saluted us gaily enough, but without suspicion. Even had they known, I
+doubt whether they would have informed on us, for all the world loves
+a lover, and these Southerners themselves now traveled waters long
+known to adventure and romance.
+
+So at last, as the sun rose, we saw the last low marshy points widen,
+flatten and recede, and beyond the outlying towers of the lights
+caught sight of lazy liners crawling in, and felt the long throb of
+the great Gulf's pulse, and sniffed the salt of the open sea.
+
+I had not slept, nor had Peterson, nor had Williams, my engineer. My
+men never demurred when hard duty was asked of them, but put manly
+pride above union hours, I fancy, resolved to show me they could
+endure as long as I. And I asked none to endure more. Moreover, even
+my pirate crew was seized of some new zest. I question whether either
+Jean Lafitte or Henri L'Olonnois slept, save in his day clothing, that
+night of our run from New Orleans; for now, just as we swept free of
+the last point, so that we might call that gulf which but now had been
+river, I heard a sound at my elbow as I bent over a chart, and turned
+to see both my associates, the collars of their sweaters turned up
+against the damp chill of the morning.
+
+"Where are we now, Black Bart?" asked Jean Lafitte. I could see on
+his face the mystic emotion of youth, could see his face glorified in
+the uplifting thrill of this mystery of the sea and the dawn and the
+unknown which now enveloped us. "Where are we now?" he asked; but it
+was as though he feared he slept and dreamed, and that this wondrous
+dream of the dawn might rudely be broken by some command summoning him
+back to life's routine.
+
+"Surely your soul should tell you, Jean Lafitte," said I, "for yonder,
+as I may say, now rolls the Spanish Main. Its lift is now beneath our
+feel. You are home again, Jean Lafitte. Yonder are the bays and bayous
+and channels in the marshes, where your boats used to hide. And there,
+L'Olonnois, my hearty, with you, I was used to ride the open sea,
+toward the Isles of Spain, waiting for the galleons to come."
+
+"I know, I know!" said my blue-eyed pirate softly and reverently; and
+so true was all his note to that inner struggling soul that lay both
+in his bosom and my own, that I ceased to lament for my sin in so
+allowing modern youth to be misled, and turned to him with open hand,
+myself also young with the undying youth of the world.
+
+"Many a time, Black Bart," said L'Olonnois solemnly, "have we crowded
+on full sail when the lookout gave the word of a prize a-comin', while
+we laid to in some hidden channel over yonder."
+
+"Aye, aye, many a time, many a time, my hearty."
+
+"--An' loosed the bow-chaser an' shot away her foremast."
+
+"--At almost the first shot, L'Olonnois."
+
+"--So that her top hamper came down in a run an' swung her broadside
+to our batteries."
+
+"--And we poured in a hail of chain-shot and set her hull afire."
+
+"--And then launched the boats for the boardin' parties," broke in
+Jean Lafitte, standing on one leg in his excitement; "--an' so made
+her a prize. An' then we made 'em walk the plank amid scenes of
+wassail--all but the fair captives."
+
+I fell silent. But L'Olonnois' blue eyes were glowing. "An' them we
+surrounded with every rude luxury," said he, "finally retiring to the
+fortresses of the hidden channels of the coast, where we defied all
+pursuit. This looks like one of them places, though I may be mistook,"
+he added judiciously. I shuddered to see how Jimmy's grammar had
+deteriorated under my care.
+
+"Yes," said I, "we are now near to several of those places, scenes of
+our bold deeds. The south coast of Louisiana lies on our right, cut by
+a thousand bays and channels deep enough for hiding a pinnace or even
+a stout schooner. Yonder, Jean, is Barataria Bay, your old home. Here,
+under my finger, is Côte Blanche. Here comes the Chafalay, through its
+new channel--all this floating hyacinth, all this red water, comes
+from Texas soil, from the Red River, now discharging in new mouths.
+Yonder, west of the main boat channels that make toward the railways
+far inland, lie the salt reefs and the live-oak islands. Here is the
+long key they now call Marsh Island. It was not an island until you,
+stout Jean Lafitte, ordered the Yankee Morrison to take a hundred
+black slaves with spades and cut a channel across the neck, so that
+you could get through more quickly from the Spanish Main to the hidden
+bayous where your boats lay concealed--until the wagons from Iberia
+could come and traffic at the causeway for your wares. Do you not
+remember it well?"
+
+"Aye, that I do, Black Bart!" said he; and I was sure he did.
+
+"And yonder channel, once just wide enough for a yawl, is to-day
+washed out wide enough for a fleet to pass through--though not deep
+enough. In that fact now lies our safety."
+
+"How do you mean, Black Bart?" demanded he.
+
+"Why, that all this water over yonder west of us is so shallow that it
+takes a wise oyster boat to get through to Morgan City. The shrimpers
+who reap these waters, even the market shooting schooners who carry
+canvasbacks out of these feeding beds in the marshes, have to know the
+tides and the winds as well, and if one be wrong the boat goes aground
+on these wide shoals. Less than a fathom here and here and here on the
+chart soundings--less than that if an offshore wind blows."
+
+"You mean we'll go aground?"
+
+"No, I mean that any pursuer very likely would. The glass is falling
+now. Soon the wind will rise. If it comes offshore for five hours--and
+it will wait for five hours before it does come offshore--we shall be
+safe, inside, at one of your old haunts, Jean Lafitte; and back of us
+will lie fifty miles of barrier--yon varlet may well have a care."
+
+"Yon varlet don't know where we have went," commented L'Olonnois in
+his alarming grammar.
+
+"No, that is true. The water leaves no trail. Most Northerners go to
+Florida for the winter, and not to these marshes. Methinks they will
+have a long chase."
+
+"An' here," said Jean Lafitte, with much enthusiasm, "we kin lie
+concealed an' dart out on passin' craft that strike our fancy as
+prizes."
+
+"We could," said I, "but we will not."
+
+"Why not?" He seemed chilled by my reply.
+
+"Oh, we shall not need to," I hastened to explain. "We have everything
+we need for a long stay here. We can live chiefly by hunting and
+fishing for a month or so, until----"
+
+"Until the fair captive has gave her consent," broke in L'Olonnois,
+also with enthusiasm.
+
+"Yes," said I, endeavoring a like enthusiasm. "Or, at least, until we
+find it needful to go inland to one of the live-oak islands. There are
+houses there. I know some of the planters over yonder."
+
+"Let's make them places scenes of rapeen!" suggested Jean Lafitte
+anxiously. "They must have gold and jewels. Besides, I bear it well in
+mind, many a time have I and my stout crew buried chests of treasure
+on them islands. We c'd dig 'em up. Maybe them folks has a'ready dug
+'em up. Then why not search their strongholds with a stout party of
+our own hardy bullies, Black Bart?"
+
+"No," said I mildly; "for several reasons I think it best for my
+hardy bullies to go and eat some breakfast and then go to sleep. If we
+go into the live-oak heights above Côte Blanche, I think we'll only
+ask for salt. I am almost sure, for instance, that my friend Edouard
+Manning, of Bon Secours plantation, would give me salt if I asked it.
+He has done so before. Beshrew me, it should go hard with him if he
+refused."
+
+"There's a barrel an' eight boxes o' sacks o' salt aboard," said the
+practical Jean Lafitte. "What'd you want so much salt for?"
+
+"'Twas yon varlet's idea," said I, "when he laid in the ship's stores.
+But I had a mind that, to my taste, no salt is better than that made
+by the Manning plantation mines. But now," I added, "to your
+breakfast, after you have bathed."
+
+"Peterson," said I, after they had left me, and pointing to the chart,
+"lay her west by south. I want to run inside the Timbalier Shoals."
+
+"Very shallow there, Mr. Harry--just look at the soundings, sir."
+
+"That's why I want to go. Hold on till you get the light at this
+channel here, southeast of the Côte Blanche. You'll get a lot of
+floating hyacinth, but do what you can. I'll take my trick, as soon as
+I get a bite to eat. By night we'll be over our hurry and we can all
+arrange for better sleep."
+
+"And then--I--ahem! Mr. Harry, what are your plans?" He was just a
+trifle troubled over all this.
+
+"My plans, Peterson," said I, "are to anchor off Timbalier to-night,
+to anchor in this channel of Côte Blanche to-morrow--and to eat
+breakfast now." Saying which I left him gloomily shaking his head, but
+laying her now west by south as I had made the course.
+
+"The glass is falling mighty fast, Mr. Harry," he called over his
+shoulder to me by way of encouragement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+IN WHICH IS CERTAIN POLITE CONVERSATION
+
+
+My boy had ironed my trousers, that is to say, the trousers I had
+given him the year previous, and which he now had loaned to me, my
+extremity being greater than his own. He had laundered my collars--a
+most useful boy, my China boy. I had, moreover, delving in Cal
+Davidson's wardrobe, discovered yet another waistcoat, if possible
+more radiant even than the one with pink stripes, for that it was
+cross hatched with bars of pale pea green and mauve--I know not from
+what looms he obtained these wondrous fabrics. Thus bravely attired
+after breakfast, just before luncheon, indeed, it was, I felt
+emboldened to call upon the captive ladies once more. With much shame
+I owned that I had not seen Auntie Lucinda for nearly two days--and
+with much trepidation, also, for I knew not what new bitterness her
+soul, meantime, might have distilled into venom against my coming.
+
+I knocked at the door of the ladies' cabin, the aftermost suite on the
+boat, and, at first, had no answer. The door, naturally, on a boat of
+this size, would be low, the roof rising above decks no higher than
+one's waist; and as I bent to knock again, the door of the companion
+stairs was suddenly thrust open against my face, and framed in the
+opening thus made, there appeared the august visage of Auntie Lucinda
+herself.
+
+"Well, sir-r-r-r!" said she, after a time, regarding me sternly. I can
+by no means reproduce the awfulness of her "r's."
+
+"Yes, madam?" I replied mildly, holding my nose, which had been
+smitten by the door.
+
+She made no answer, but stood, a basilisk in mien.
+
+"I just came, my dear Mrs. Daniver," I began, "to ask you----"
+
+"And time you did, sir-r-r-r! I was just coming to ask _you_----"
+
+"And time you did, my dear Mrs. Daniver--I have missed you so much,
+these several days. So I just called to ask for your health."
+
+"You need not trouble about my health!"
+
+"But I do, I do, madam! I give you my word, I was awake all night,
+thinking of--of your neuralgia. Neuralgia is something--something
+fierce, in a manner of speech--if one has it in the morning, my dear
+Mrs. Daniver."
+
+"Don't 'dear Mrs. Daniver' me! I'm not your dear Mrs. Daniver at all."
+
+"Then whose dear Mrs. Daniver are you, my dear Mrs. Daniver?" I
+rejoined most impudently.
+
+"If the poor dear Admiral were alive," said she, sniffing, "you should
+repent those words!"
+
+"I wish the poor dear Admiral were here," said I. "I should like to
+ask an abler sailorman than Peterson what to do, with the glass
+falling as it is, and the holding ground none too good for an anchor.
+I thought it just as well to come and tell you to prepare for the
+worst."
+
+"The worst--what do you mean?" She now advanced three steps upward, so
+that her shoulders were above the cabin door. Almost mechanically she
+took my hand.
+
+"The worst just now is nothing worse than an orange with ice, my dear
+Mrs. Daniver. And I only wanted you to come out on deck with--Miss
+Emory--and see how blue the sea is."
+
+She advanced another step, being fond of an iced orange at
+eleven-thirty. But now she paused. "My niece is resting," said she,
+feeling her way.
+
+"No, I am not," I heard a voice say. Inadvertently I turned and almost
+perforce glanced down the cabin stair. Helena, in a loose morning wrap
+of pink, was lying on the couch. She now cast aside the covering of
+eider-down, and shaking herself once, sprang up the stairs, so that
+her dark hair appeared under Auntie Lucinda's own. Slowly that
+obstacle yielded, and both finally stood on the after deck. The soft
+wind caught the dark tendrils of Helena's hair. With one hand she
+pushed at them. The other caught her loose robe about her softly
+outlined figure.
+
+"Helena!" remarked her aunt, frowning.
+
+"I want an orange," remarked Miss Emory, addressing the impartial
+universe, and looking about for John.
+
+"And shall have it. But," said I, finding a soft rug at the cabin-top,
+"I think perhaps you may find the air cool. Allow me." I handed them
+chairs, and with a hand that trembled a bit put the soft covering over
+Helena's shoulders. She drew it close about her with one hand, and her
+dark hair flowing about her cheeks, found her orange with the other
+when John came with his tray.
+
+It was a wondrous morning in early fall. Never had a southern sky been
+more blue, never the little curling waves saucier on the Gulf. The air
+was mild, just fresh enough for zest. Around us circled many great
+white gulls. Across the flats sailed a long slow line of pelicans;
+and out yonder, tossing up now and then like a black floating blanket,
+I could see a great raft of wild duck, taking their midday rest in
+safety. All the world seemed a million miles away. Care did not exist.
+And--so intimate and swiftly comprehensive is the human soul,
+especially the more primal soul of woman--already and without words,
+this young woman seemed to feel the less need of conversation, to
+recognize the slackening rein of custom. So that a rug and a
+wrapper--granted always also an aunt--seemed to her not amiss as full
+equipment for reception of a morning caller.
+
+"A very good orange," said she at last.
+
+"Yes," said her aunt promptly; "I'm sure we ought to thank Mr.
+Davidson for them. He was _such_ a good provider."
+
+"Except in waistcoats," I protested, casually indicating his latest
+contribution to my wardrobe. "Quantity, yes, I grant that, but as to
+quality, never! But why speak ill of the absent, especially regarding
+matters of an earlier and bygone day? Yon varlet no longer exists for
+us--we no longer exist for him. We have passed, as two ships pass
+yonder in the channel. I know not what he may be doing now, unless
+carrying roses to Miss Sally Byington. Certainly he can not know that
+I, his hated rival, am safe from all pursuit behind the Timbalier
+Shoals, and carrying oranges to a young lady in my belief almost as
+beautiful as the beautiful Sally."
+
+Aunt Lucinda turned upon me a baleful eye. "You grow flippant as well
+as rude, sir! As though you knew anything of that Byington girl. I
+doubt if you ever saw her."
+
+"Oh, yes--last night. Miss Emory and I both saw her, last night, at
+Luigi's. As for yon varlet's providing, while I would not too much
+criticize a man whose waistcoats I wear even under protest, it is but
+fair to say that these oranges and all the fresh things taken on at
+New Orleans, are of my providing, and not his. He was so busy
+providing other things for Miss Sally Byington."
+
+"I don't think she is so beautiful," said Helena, ceasing with her
+orange. "Her color is so full. Very likely she'll be blowsy in a few
+years."
+
+"How can you say so!" I rebuked, with much virtuous indignation. But
+at the time I felt my heart leap at sight of Helena herself, the lines
+of her slim graceful figure defined even under the rug she had drawn
+about her neck, the wind-blown little neck curls and the long fuller
+lock now plain against her fresh face, blown pale by the cool salt air
+that sang above us gently. I could no longer even feign an interest in
+any other woman in the world. So very unconsciously I chuckled to
+myself, and Helena heard me.
+
+"You don't think so yourself!" she remarked.
+
+"Think what?"
+
+"That she is so beautiful."
+
+"No, I do not. Not as beautiful as----"
+
+"Look at the funny bird!" said Helena suddenly. Yet I could see
+nothing out of the ordinary in the sea-bird she pointed out, skimming
+and skipping close by.
+
+"Sir," demanded Aunt Lucinda, also suddenly, "how long is this to
+last?"
+
+"You mean the orange-dish, Mrs. Daniver?" I queried politely. "As long
+as you like. I also am a good provider, although to no credit, as it
+seems."
+
+"You know I do not mean the oranges, sir. I mean this whole foolish
+business. You are putting yourself liable to the law."
+
+"So did Jean Lafitte, over yonder in Barataria," said I, "but he lived
+to a ripe old age and became famous. Why not I as well?"
+
+"--You are ruining those two boys. I weep to think of our poor
+Jimmy--why, he lords it about as though he owned the boat. And such
+language!"
+
+"He shall own a part of her if he likes, if all comes out well," said
+I. "And as for Jean Lafitte, Junior, rarely have I seen a boy of
+better judgment, cooler mind, or more talent in machinery. He shall
+have an education, if he likes; and I know he will like."
+
+"It is wonderful what a waistcoat will do for the imagination,"
+remarked Helena, wholly casually. I turned to her.
+
+"I presume it is Mr. Davidson who is to be the fairy prince," added
+Aunt Lucinda.
+
+"No, myself," I spoke quietly. Aunt Lucinda for once was almost too
+unmistakable in her sniff of scorn.
+
+"I admit it seems unlikely," said I. "Still, this is a wonderful age.
+Who can say what may be gained by the successful pirate!"
+
+"You act one!" commented Aunt Lucinda. "It is brutal. It is
+outrageous. It is abominable. No gentleman would be guilty of such
+conduct."
+
+"I grant you," said I, but flushed under the thrust. "But I am no
+longer a gentleman where that conflicts with the purpose of my piracy.
+I come of a family, after all, madam, who often have had their way in
+piracy."
+
+"And left a good useful business to go away to idleness! And now
+speak of doing large things! With whose money, pray?"
+
+"You are very direct, my dear Mrs. Daniver," said I mildly, "but the
+catechism is not yet so far along as that."
+
+"But why did you do this crazy thing?"
+
+"To marry Helena, and with your free consent as her next friend," said
+I, swiftly turning to her. "Since I must be equally frank. Please
+don't go!" I said to Helena, for now, very pale, she was starting
+toward the cabin door. But she paid no heed to me, and passed.
+
+"So now you have it, plainly," said I to Mrs. Daniver.
+
+She turned on me a face full of surprise and anger mingled. "How dare
+you, after all that has passed? You left the girl years ago. You have
+no business, no fortune, not even the girl's consent. I'll not have
+it! I love her." The good woman's lips trembled.
+
+"So do I," said I gently. "That is why we all are here. It is because
+of this madness called love. Ah, Mrs. Daniver, if you only knew! If I
+could make you know! But surely you do know, you, too, have loved.
+Come, may you not love a lover, even one like myself? I'll be good to
+Helena. Believe me, she is my one sacred charge in life. I love her.
+Not worthy of her, no--but I love her."
+
+"That's too late." But I saw her face relent at what she heard. "I
+have other plans. And you should have told her what you have told me."
+
+"Ah, have I not?" But then I suddenly remembered that, by some
+reversal of my logical mind, here I was, making love to Auntie
+Lucinda, whom I did not love, whereas in the past I had spent much
+time in mere arguing with Helena, whom I did love.
+
+"I'm not sure that I've ever made it plain enough to her, that's
+true," said I slowly. "But if she gives me the chance, I'll spend all
+my life telling her that very thing. That, since you ask me, is why we
+all are here--so that I may tell Helena, and you, and all the world,
+that very thing. I love her, very much."
+
+"But suppose she does not love you?" demanded Mrs. Daniver. "I'll say
+frankly, I've advised her against you all along. She ought to marry a
+man of some station in the world."
+
+"With money?"
+
+"You put it baldly, but--yes."
+
+"Would that be enough--money?" I asked.
+
+"No. That is not fair----"
+
+"--Only honor between us now."
+
+"It would go for to-day. Because, after all, money means power, and
+all of us worship power, you know--success."
+
+"And is that success--to have money, and then more money--and to go
+on, piling up more money--to have more summer places, and more yachts
+like this, and more city houses, and more money, money, money--yes,
+yes, that's American, but is it all, is it right, is it the real
+ambition for a man! And does that bring a woman happiness?"
+
+"What would you do if you had your money back?" asked Mrs. Daniver.
+"You had a fortune from your father."
+
+"What would I do?" I rejoined hotly. "What I did do--settle every
+claim against his honor as much as against his estate--judge his honor
+by my own standards, and not his. Pay my debts--pay all my debts. It's
+independence, madam, and not money that I want. It's freedom, Mrs.
+Daniver, that I want, and not money. So far as it would be the usual
+money, buying almost nothing that is worth owning, I give you my
+solemn oath I don't care enough for it to work for it! So far as it
+would help me be a man, help me to build my own character, help me
+build manhood and character in my country--yes, I'd like it for that.
+But if money were the price of Helena herself, I'd not ask for it.
+The man who would court a girl with his money and not his manhood--the
+woman who marries for money, or the man who does--what use has God
+Almighty got for either of them? It's men and women and things worth
+doing who make this world, Mrs. Daniver. I love her, so much, so
+clearly, so wholly, that I think it must be right. And since you've
+asked me, I've taken my man's chance, just to get you two alone, where
+I could talk it over with you both."
+
+"It's been talked over, Harry," said she, rather uncomfortably. "Why
+not let the poor child alone? Has it occurred to you how terribly hard
+this is for her?"
+
+"Yes. But she can end it easily. Tell me, is she engaged to Davidson?"
+
+"What difference?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Why ask, then?"
+
+"Tell me!"
+
+"Well then, no, not so far as I know."
+
+"You are sorry?"
+
+"I had hope for it. It was all coming on so handsomely. At Natchez he
+was--he was, well, you know----"
+
+"Almost upon the point?"
+
+"Quite so. I thought, I believed that between there and----"
+
+"Say between there and Baton Rouge----"
+
+"Well, yes----"
+
+"He would come to the main point?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And he did not?"
+
+"You can best answer. It was at Natchez that you and those ruffianly
+boys ran off with Mr. Davidson's boat!"
+
+"That's all, your Honor," I remarked. "Take the witness, Mr.
+Davidson!"
+
+"But what right you have to cross-question me, I don't know!"
+commented Mrs. Daniver, addressing a passing sea-gull, and pulling
+down the corners of her mouth most forbiddingly.
+
+"My disused and forgotten art comes back to me once in a while, my
+dear Mrs. Daniver," I answered exultantly. "Pray, do you notice how
+beautiful all the world is this morning? The sky is so wonderful, the
+sea so adorable, don't you see?"
+
+"I see that we are a long way from home. Tell me, are these sharks
+here?"
+
+"Oodles," said I, "and very large. No use trying to swim away. And
+yonder coast is inhabited only by hostile cannibals. Barataria itself,
+over yonder, is to-day no more than a shrimp-fishing village, part
+Chinese, part Greek and part Sicilian. The railway runs far to the
+north, and the ship channel is far to the east. No one comes here. It
+is days to Galveston, westward, and between lies a maze of
+interlocking channels, lakes and bayous, where boats once hid and may
+hide again. Once we unship our flag mast, and we shall lie so saucy
+and close that behind a bank of rushes we never would be seen. And we
+do not burn coal, and so make no smoke. Here is my chosen hiding
+ground. In short, madam, you are in my power!"
+
+"But really, how far----"
+
+"Since you ask, I will answer. Yonder, to the westward, a bayou comes
+into Côte Blanche. Follow that bayou, eighty miles from here, and you
+come to the house of my friend, Edouard Manning, the kindest man in
+Louisiana, which is to say much. I had planned to have the wedding
+there."
+
+"Your effrontery amazes me--I doubt your sanity!" said Aunt Lucinda,
+horrified. "But what good will all this do you?"
+
+She had a certain bravery all her own, after all. Almost, I was on the
+point of telling her the truth; which was that I had during the long
+night resolved once more to offer my hand to Helena, and if she now
+refused me, to accept my fate. I would torture her no more. No, if now
+she were still resolute, it was my purpose to sail up yonder bayou, to
+land at the Manning plantation, and there to part forever from Helena
+and all my friends. I knew corners of the world far enough that none
+might find me.
+
+But I did not tell Aunt Lucinda this. Instead, I made no answer; and
+we both sat looking out over the rippling gulf, silent for some time.
+I noted now a faint haze on the horizon inshore, like distant
+cloud-banks, not yet distinct but advancing. Aunt Lucinda, it seemed,
+was watching something else through the ship's glasses which she had
+picked up near by.
+
+"What is that, over yonder?" asked she--"it looks like a wreck of some
+kind."
+
+"It is a wreck--that of a lighthouse," I told her. "It is lying flat
+on its side, a poor attitude for a lighthouse. The great tidal wave of
+the gulf storm, four years ago, destroyed it. We are now, to tell the
+truth, at the edge of that district which causes the Weather Bureau
+much uncertainty--a breeding ground of the tropical cyclones that
+break between the Indies and this coast."
+
+"And you bring us here?"
+
+"Only to pass to the inner channels, madam, where we should be safer
+in case of storm. To-night, we shall anchor in the lee of a long
+island, where the lighthouse is still standing, in its proper
+position, and where we shall be safe as a church."
+
+"Sharks! Storms! Shipwrecks!" moaned she.
+
+--"And pirates," added I gently, "and cannibals. Yes, madam, your
+plight is serious, and I know not what may come of it all--I wish I
+did."
+
+"Well, no good will come of it, one thing sure," said Aunt Lucinda,
+preparing to weep.
+
+And indeed, an instant later, my mournful skipper seemed to bear her
+out. I saw Peterson standing expectant, a little forward, now.
+
+"Well, Peterson?" I rose and went to him.
+
+"I beg pardon, sir, Mr. Harry," said he somewhat anxiously, "but we've
+bent her port shaft on a cursed oyster reef."
+
+"Very well, Peterson. Suppose we run with the starboard screw."
+
+"And the intake's clogged again with this cursed fine sand we've
+picked up."
+
+"After I warned Williams?"
+
+"Yes, sir. And that's not the worst, sir."
+
+"Indeed? You must be happy, Peterson!"
+
+"We can't log over eight knots now, and it's sixty miles to our light
+back of the big key."
+
+"Excellent, Peterson!"
+
+"And the glass is falling mighty fast."
+
+"In that case, Peterson," said I, "the best thing you can do is to
+hold your course, and the best thing I can do is to get ready for
+lunch."
+
+"The best thing either of us can do is to get some sleep," said he,
+"for we may not get much to-night. She'll break somewhere after sunset
+to-night, very likely."
+
+"Peterson," said I, "let us hope for the worst."
+
+All the same, I did not wholly like the look of things, for I had seen
+these swift gulf storms before. A sudden sinking of the heart came
+over me. What if my madness, indeed, should come to mean peril to her?
+Swiftly I stepped back to the door of the ladies' cabin, where Mrs.
+Daniver now disappeared. "Helena!" I cried.
+
+"Yes?" I heard her answer as she stepped toward the little stair.
+
+"Did you say 'Yes'?" I rejoined suddenly.
+
+"No, I did not! I only meant to ask what you wanted."
+
+"As though you did not know! I wanted only to call you to get ready
+for luncheon. One of the owners of this waistcoat has provided a
+pompano, not to mention some excellent endive. And the weather is
+fine, isn't it?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+IN WHICH IS SHIPWRECK
+
+
+It must be understood that our party on the _Belle Helène_ was divided
+into two, or rather, indeed, three camps, each somewhat sharply
+defined and each somewhat ignorant of the other's doings in detail.
+The combination of either two against the other, in organized mutiny,
+might very well prove successful, wherefore it was my task to keep all
+apart by virtue of the authority which I had myself usurped. The
+midship's cabin suite, of three rooms, was occupied by myself and my
+two bold young mates--when the latter were not elsewhere engaged. We
+made what might be called the ruling classes. Forward of our cabin,
+and accessible only from the deck, was the engine-room where Williams
+worked, and off this were two bunks, well ventilated and very
+comfortable, occupied by Williams and Peterson. Forward of this, and
+also accessible only from the deck, lay the dining saloon, with its
+fixed table, its cupboards, dish racks and wine-room. In her bows and
+below the saloon was the cook's gallery, a dumb-waiter running
+between; and the sleeping quarters of John, the cook, and Willy, the
+deck-hand, were in the forecastle below. This left the two captives
+all the after part of the ship pretty much to themselves, and as the
+after-suite of cabins was roomy and fitted with every modern nautical
+luxury, they lacked neither freedom nor comfort, so far as these may
+obtain on shipboard. Obviously, I said little to the ship's crew,
+except to Peterson, and my two mates had orders to keep to their own
+part of the ship, under my eye.
+
+Thus, like ancient Gaul, divided into three parts, we sailed on our
+wholly indefinite voyage; and all I could do was to live from day to
+day, or hour to hour. I was content, for Helena was there. Indeed, I
+question if, these last three years, her image had not been always
+present in my consciousness; such are the fevers of our unreasoning
+blood, such the power of that madness known as love.
+
+But, thus divided as was our company, I had none such excellent
+opportunity for often seeing Helena, as might at first be supposed.
+She and her aunt refused to join us at any meal in the dining saloon;
+although, now and then, they came for breakfast to what Auntie Lucinda
+with scorn called the "second table". It was not feasible for me,
+often, to do more than call of a morning to inquire if all was well
+with them; and conversation through a lead-glass transom is not what
+one would call intimate. Helena could bar her door if she liked in
+more ways than one; and against the fences that she raised against me
+one way or another, what with headaches, whims or Aunt Lucinda, I had
+now no chance to meet her alone save as she herself might dictate. So
+that, after all, though now I stood as commander of the _Belle Helène_
+in place of yon varlet, Cal Davidson, although I ate his ship's
+stores, wore, indeed, his waistcoats and his neckties when that was
+humanly possible, I was his successor only and not his equal. He
+could--nay, had done so--meet Helena as he liked, at meals, on deck,
+on a thousand errands, whereas I was helpless to do so. He could talk
+with her all over the ship, take her alone on deck of a moonlit night,
+listen to her sing, gaze--oh, curse him!--on the little curls on
+Helena's neck--but no! I could not endure that thought. The round
+white neck, the white shoulders, the soft curves beneath the
+peignoir's careless irreverences--why, it was an intolerable thought
+that any man should raise eye or heart or thought to Helena, save
+myself. So, this morning, after that rare and unconventional meeting
+on the after deck, one easily may see how much I wished all Gaul were
+divided into but two parts, and that the occupants of the reserved
+after cabin would come to lunch in the saloon with their captors,
+Black Bart, Jean Lafitte and Henri L'Olonnois.
+
+Now, 'tis an odd thing, but one of my superstitions, that when we wish
+much and fervently and cleanly for any certain thing, one day that
+thing is ours. Some day, some time, some hour or instant, our dear
+desire, our coveted thing, our wish, comes and flutters and alights at
+our side; if really we have deserved it and have wished long and
+deeply and honestly and purposefully. You ask proof? Well, then,
+hardly had we three, Black Bart, Jean Lafitte and Henri L'Olonnois,
+seated ourselves at table for luncheon that day before I became
+sensible of a faint shadow at the saloon stair. I saw a trim boot and
+a substantial ankle which I knew belonged to Aunt Lucinda; and then I
+looked up and saw on the deck Helena also, stooped, her clean-cut
+head, with its blown dark hair, visible against the blue sky.
+
+"May I come in?" she asked gaily enough. And I reached up next to her
+to hand her down, and smooth down her skirt for her at the rather
+awkward narrow stair.
+
+"You are always invited," said I, and perhaps I flushed in my
+pleasure. "John," I called down the tube, "two more--the ladies." And
+I heard his calm "All lite."
+
+My young gentlemen had risen, politely, but Helena gently pushed them
+down into their places. "Be seated here, ladies," said I. "These
+places are, as you see, always spread for you. Your covers wait. And
+all the ship's silver shall see duty now. L'Olonnois, my hearty, you
+and I shall serve, eh? I am, indeed, delighted--greatly delighted--I
+shall not inquire, I shall only hope."
+
+"Well," boomed the deep voice of Auntie Lucinda, "we came because we
+did not like the look of things."
+
+"To be sure, things are not looking bully," I assented vaguely.
+
+"I mean the weather. It's getting black, and it's colder. And after
+what you told me about the storms, and that lighthouse being blown
+down----"
+
+"My dear Mrs. Daniver," said I, helping her to her chair while
+L'Olonnois served his Auntie Helena in like fashion, "you really must
+not take one too seriously. That lighthouse fell over of its own
+weight--the contractor's work was done shamefully."
+
+"But you said it blew," ventured Helena.
+
+"It blows, a little, now and then, to be sure, but never very much,
+only enough to enable the oyster boats and shrimpers to get in. How
+could we have oysters without a sailing breeze?"
+
+"It's more than a breeze," said Aunt Lucinda. "My neuralgia tells
+me----"
+
+"It is fortunate that you honored us, my dear Mrs. Daniver," said I,
+"for I have here in the cooler a bottle of ninety-three. I had an
+inspiration. I knew you would come, for nothing in the world could
+have pleased me so much."
+
+I was looking at Helena, whose eyes were cast down. I observed now
+that she was in somewhat elegant morning costume, her bridge coat of
+Vienna lace, caught with a wide bar of plain gold, covering some soft
+and shimmering under-bodice which fitted closely enough to be formal.
+And I saw she had on many rings, and that her throat sparkled under a
+circlet of gems.
+
+She must have caught my glance of surprise, for she said nervously,
+"You think we are overplaying our return call? Well, the truth is,
+we're afraid."
+
+"So then?"--and I bowed.
+
+"So then I fished out all my jewelry."
+
+"We are honored."
+
+"Well, I didn't know what might happen. If one should be
+shipwrecked----" I caught her frightened gaze out an open port,
+perfectly aware myself of the swift weather change.
+
+"There is nothing like dressing the part of the shipwrecked," said I.
+"For myself, these same flannels will do."
+
+"Pshaw!" said young L'Olonnois, "suppose she does pitch a little--it
+ain't any worse'n on the _Mauretania_ when we went across. I ain't
+scared, are you, John?"
+
+"No," replied Jean Lafitte shyly. He was almost overawed with the
+ladies. But I liked the look of his eye now.
+
+"She's not as big as the _Mauretania_," said Helena, fixing
+L'Olonnois' collar for him.
+
+"I'm sure she's going to roll horribly," added Aunt Lucinda. "And if I
+should be seasick, with my neuralgia, I'm sure I don't know what I
+should do."
+
+"_I_ know!" remarked L'Olonnois; and Helena promptly dropped her hand
+over his mouth.
+
+"Let us not think of storm and shipwreck," said I, "at least until
+they come. I want to ask your attention to John's imitation of Luigi's
+oysters _à la marinière_. The oysters are of our own catching this
+morning. For, you must know, the water hereabout is very shallow, and
+is full of oysters."
+
+"You said full of sharks," corrected Aunt Lucinda.
+
+"Did I? I meant oysters." And I helped her to some from the
+dumb-waiter and uncorked the very last bottle of the ninety-three left
+in the case. "And as for this storm of which you speak, ladies," I
+added as I poured, "I would there might come every day as ill a wind
+if it would blow me as great a good as yourselves for luncheon."
+
+"Yes," said L'Olonnois brightly, "you might blow in once in a while
+an' see us fellers. I told Black Bart that captives----" but here I
+kicked Jimmy under the table. Poor chap, what with his Auntie Helena's
+hand at one extremity and my boot at the other, he was strained in his
+conversation, and in disgust, joined Jean Lafitte in complete silence
+and oysters.
+
+"Really," and Helena raised her eyes, "isn't it growing colder?"
+
+"Jean, close the port behind Miss Emory," said I. It was plain enough
+to my mind that a blue norther was breaking, with its swift drop in
+temperature and its possibly high wind.
+
+"The table's actin' funny," commented Jean Lafitte presently. He had
+never been at sea before.
+
+"Yes," said Aunt Lucinda, with very much--too much--dignity. "If you
+all will please excuse me, I think I shall go back to the cabin.
+Helena!"
+
+"Go with Mrs. Daniver at once, Jimmy," said I to L'Olonnois.
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir!" saluted he joyously; and added aside as he passed me,
+"Hope the old girl's going to be good an' sick!"
+
+I could see Peterson standing near the saloon's door, and bethought me
+to send Jean Lafitte up to aid him in making all shipshape. We were
+beginning to roll; and I missed the smooth thrust of both our
+propellors, although now the engines were purring smoothly enough.
+Thus by mere chance, I found myself alone with Helena. I put out a
+hand to steady her as she rose.
+
+"Is it really going to be bad?" she inquired anxiously. "Auntie gets
+_so_ sick."
+
+"It will be rough, for three hours yet," I admitted. "She's not so big
+as the _Mauretania_, but as well built for her tonnage. You couldn't
+pound her apart, no matter what came--she's oak and cedar, through and
+through, and every point----"
+
+"You've studied her well, since you--since you came aboard?"
+
+--"Yes, yes, to be sure I have. And she's worth her name. Don't you
+think it was mighty fine of--of Mr. Davidson to name her after
+you--the _Belle Helène_?"
+
+"He never did. If he had, why?"
+
+"Don't ask such questions, with the glass falling as it is," I said,
+pulling up the racks to restrain the dancing tumblers.
+
+"Oh, don't joke!" she said. "Harry!"
+
+"Yes, Helena," said I.
+
+"I'm afraid!"
+
+"Why?"
+
+"I don't know. But we seem so little and the sea so big. And it's
+getting black, and the fog is coming. Look--you can't see the
+shore-line any more now."
+
+It was as she said. The swift bank of vapor had blotted out the
+low-lying shores entirely. We sailed now in a narrowing circle of
+mist. I saw thin points of moisture on the port lights. And now I
+began to close the ports.
+
+"There _is_ danger!" she reiterated.
+
+"All horses can run away, all auto cars can blow up, all boats can
+sink. But we have as good charts and compasses as the _Mauretania_,
+and in three hours----"
+
+"But much can happen in three hours."
+
+"Much has happened in less time. It did not take me so long as that to
+love you, Helena, and that I have not forgotten in more than five
+years. Five years, Helena. And as to shipwreck, what does one more
+matter? It is you who have made shipwreck of a man's life. Take shame
+for that."
+
+"Take shame yourself, to talk in this way to me, when I am helpless,
+when I can't get away, when I'm troubled and frightened half to death?
+Ah, fine of you to persecute a girl!" She sobbed, choking a little,
+but her head high. "Let me out, I'm going to Auntie Lucinda. I hate
+you more and more. If I were to drown, I'd not take aid from you."
+
+"Do you mean that, Helena?" I asked, more than the chill of the
+norther in my blood.
+
+"Yes, I mean it. You are a _coward_!"
+
+I stood for quite a time between her and the companion stair, my hand
+still offering aid as she swayed in the boat's roll now. I was
+thinking, and I was very sad.
+
+"Helena," said I, "perhaps you have won. That's a hard word to take
+from man or woman. If it is in any way true, you have won and I have
+lost, and deserved to lose. But now, since little else remains, let me
+arrange matters as simply as I can. I'll admit there's an element of
+risk in our situation--one screw is out of commission, and one engine
+might be better. If we missed the channel west of the shoals, we
+might go aground--I hope not. Whether we do or not, I want to tell
+you--over yonder, forty or fifty miles, is the channel running inland,
+which was my objective point all along. I know this coast in the dark,
+like a book. Now, I promise you, I'll take you in there to friends of
+mine, people of your own class, and no one shall suspect one jot of
+all this, other than that we were driven out of our course. And once
+there, you are free. You never will see my face again. I will do this,
+as a ship's man, for you, and if need comes, will give my life to keep
+you safe. It's about all a coward can do for you. Now go, and if any
+time of need comes for me to call you, you will be called. And you
+will be cared for by the ship's men. And because I am head of the
+ship's men, you will do as I say. But I hope no need for this will
+come. Yonder is our course, where she heads now, and soon you will be
+free from me. You have wrecked me. Now I am derelict, from this time
+on. Good-by."
+
+I heard footfalls above. "Mrs. Daniver's compliments to Captain Black
+Bart," saluted L'Olonnois, "an' would he send my Auntie Helena back,
+because she's offle sick."
+
+"Take good care of your Auntie Helena, Jimmy," said I, "and help her
+aft along the rail."
+
+I followed up the companionway, and saw her going slowly, head down,
+her coat of lace blown wide; her hand at her throat, and sobbing in
+what Jimmy and I both knew was fear of the storm.
+
+"Have they got everything they need there, Jimmy?" I asked, as he
+returned.
+
+"Sure. And the old girl's going to have a peach of a one this
+time--she can't hardly rock in a rockin' chair 'thout gettin' seasick.
+I think it's great, don't you? Look at her buck into 'em!"
+
+Jimmy and his friend shared this immunity from _mal de mer_. I could
+see Jean now helping haul down our burgee, and the deck boy, Willy, in
+his hurried work about the boat. Williams, I could not see. But
+Peterson was now calm and much in his element, for a better skipper
+than he never sailed a craft on the Great Lakes.
+
+"I think she's going to blow great guns," said he, "and like enough
+the other engine'll pop any minute."
+
+"Yes?" I answered, stepping to the wheel. "In which case we go to Davy
+Jones about when, Peterson?"
+
+"We don't go!" he rejoined. "She's the grandest little ship afloat,
+and not a thing's the matter with her."
+
+"Can we make the channel and run inside the long key below the Côte
+Blanche Bayou?"
+
+"Sure we can. You'd better get the covers off the boats, and see the
+bottom plugs in and some water and supplies shipped aboard--but
+there's not the slightest danger in the world for _this_ boat, let me
+tell you that, sir. I've seen her perform before now, and there's not
+a storm can blow on this coast she won't ride through."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+IN WHICH IS SHIPWRECK OF OTHER SORT
+
+
+After the fashion of these gulf storms, this one tarried not in its
+coming, nor offered any clemency when it had arrived. Where but a
+half-hour since the heavens had been fair, the sea rippling, suave and
+kind, now the sky was not visible at all and the tumbling waves about
+us rolled savagely as in a nature wholly changed. The wind sang
+ominously overhead, as with lift and plunge we drove on into a bank of
+mist. A chill as of doom swiftly had replaced the balm of the southern
+sky; and forsooth, all the mercy of the world seemed lost and gone.
+
+And as our craft, laboring, thrust forward blindly into this reek,
+with naught of comfort on any hand, nor even the dimmest ray of hope
+visible from any fixed thing on ahead, in like travail of going, in
+like groaning to the very soul, the bark of my life now lay in the
+welter, helpless, reft of storm and strife, blind, counseled by no
+fixed ray ahead. I know not what purpose remained in me, that, like
+the ship which bore us, I still, dumbly and without conscious
+purpose, forged onward to some point fixed by reason or desire before
+reason and desire had been engulfed by this final unkindness of the
+world. For myself, I cared little or none at all. The plunge of the
+boat, the shriek of the wind, the wild magic and mystery of it, would
+have comported not ill with a strong man's tastes even in hours more
+happy, and now, especially, they jumped with the wild protest of a
+soul eager for some outlet of action or excitement. But for these
+others, these women--this woman--these boys, all brought into this
+danger by my own mad folly, ah! when the thought of these arose, a
+swift remorse caught me; and though for myself I feared not at all,
+for these I feared.
+
+Needs must, therefore, use every cool skilled resource that lay at
+hand. No time now for broken hearts to ask attention, the ship must be
+sailed. Crippled or not, what she had of help for us must be got out
+of her, used, fostered, nourished. All the art of the navigator must
+be charged with this duty. We must win through. And, as many a man who
+has seen danger will testify, the great need brought to us all a great
+calm and a steady precision in that which needed doing.
+
+I saw Peterson at the wheel, wet to the skin, as now and again a
+seventh wave, slow, portentous, deadly-deliberate, showed ahead of us,
+advanced, reared and pounded down on us with its tons of might. But he
+only shook the brine from his eyes and held her up, waiting for the
+slow pulse of our crippled engine to come on.
+
+"Can't keep my pipe lit!" he called to me, as I stood beside him; and
+at last, Peterson, in a real time of danger, seemed altogether happy
+and altogether free of apprehension beyond that regarding his pipe.
+
+At the first breaking of the storm I had, of course, ordered all ports
+closed, and had sent both my young companions to the ladies' cabin
+aft, as the driest part of the boat. Even there, the water that
+sometimes fell upon our decks as the great waves broke, poured aft and
+even broke about the cabin, drenching everything above deck. It was
+man's work that was to be done now, yet none could bear a hand in it
+save the engineer and the steersman. I was, therefore, ready sternly
+to reprove Jean Lafitte when, presently, I saw him making the perilous
+passage forward, clinging to the rail and wet to the skin before he
+could reach the forward deck. But he protested so earnestly and seemed
+withal so fit and keen, that I relented and allowed him to take his
+place by us at the wheel, showing him as well as I could, on the
+chart, the course we were trying to hold--the mouth of a long channel,
+six miles or more, dredged by the government across a foot of the bay
+and making through to deeper and more sheltered waters beyond.
+
+"S'posin' we don't hit her, in this fog!" asked Jean Lafitte.
+
+"It is our business to do that," was my reply. "In an hour or so more
+we shall know. How did you leave the ladies, Jean?"
+
+"Jimmy, he's sicker'n anything," was his reply, "except the old lady,
+and she's sicker'n Jimmy! The young lady, Miss Emory, she's all right,
+an' she's holdin' their heads. She says she don't get sick. Neither do
+I--ain't that funny? But gee, this is rougher'n any waves ever was on
+our lake. What're you goin' to do?"
+
+"Hold straight ahead, Jean," I answered. "Now, wouldn't you better go
+back to the others?"
+
+"Naw, I ain't scared--much. I told Jimmy, I did, any pirate ought to
+be ashamed to get sick. But they're all scared. So'm I, some," he
+added frankly.
+
+I might have made some confession of my own, had I liked, for I did
+not, in the least, fancy the look of things; but after a time, I
+compromised with sturdy Jean by sending him below into the dining
+saloon, whence he could look out through the glass front and see the
+tumbling sea ahead. Through the glazed housing I could see him
+standing, hands in pockets, legs wide, gazing out in the simple
+confidence that all was well, and enjoying the tumult and excitement
+of it all in his boyish ignorance.
+
+"He don't know!" grinned Peterson to me, and I only nodded in silence.
+
+"Where are we, Peterson?" I asked, putting a finger on the wet chart
+before us.
+
+"I don't know," replied the old man. "It depends on the drift, which
+we can't calculate. Soundings mean nothing, for she's shallow for
+miles. If the fog would break, so we could see the light--there ain't
+any fog-buoy on that channel mouth, and it's murder that there ain't.
+It's this d----d fog that makes it bad."
+
+I looked at my watch. It was now going on five o'clock, and in this
+light, it soon would be night for us. Peterson caught the time, and
+frowned. "Wish't we was in," said he. "No use trying to anchor unless
+we must, anyhow--she'll ride mighty wet out here. Better buck on into
+it."
+
+So we bucked on in, till five, till five-thirty, till six, and all
+the boat's lights revealed was a yellow circle of fog that traveled
+with us. Wet and chilled, we two stood at the wheel together, in such
+hard conditions that no navigator and no pilot could have done much
+more than grope.
+
+"We must have missed her!" admitted the old skipper at last. "I don't
+fancy the open gulf, and I don't fancy piling her up on some shore in
+here. What do you think we should do, Mr. Harry?"
+
+"Listen!" said I, raising a hand.
+
+"There's no bell-buoy," said he.
+
+"No, but hark. Don't you hear the birds--there's a million geese and
+swans and ducks calling over yonder."
+
+"Right, by George!" said he. "But where?"
+
+"They'd not be at sea, Peterson. They must be in some fresh-water lake
+inside some key or island. On the Long Key there's such an inland
+lake."
+
+"It's beyond the channel, maybe?" said he. But he signaled Williams to
+go slow, and that faithful unseen Cyclops, on whose precious engines
+so much depended, obeyed and presently put out a head at his hatch,
+quickly withdrawing it as a white sea came inboard.
+
+"We'll crawl on in," said Peterson. "The light can't be a thousand
+miles from here. If only there was a nigger man and a dinner bell
+beside the light--that's the trouble. And now--good God! _There she
+goes!_"
+
+With a jar which shook the good boat to the core, we felt the bottom
+come up from the depths and smite us. Our headway ceased, save for a
+sickening crunching crawl. The waves piled clear across our port bow
+as we swung. And so we hung, the gulf piling in on us in our yellow
+rimmed world. And at the lift and hollow of the sea we rose and
+pounded sullenly down, in such fashion as would have broken the back
+of any boat less stanch than ours.
+
+Here, in an eye's flash, was danger tangible and real. I heard a
+shriek from the cabin aft, and called out for them all to keep below
+and keep the ports closed. Peterson had the power off in an instant,
+and swung her head as best he could with the dying headway; but it
+only put her farther on the shoal.
+
+"It's the Timbalier Shoals!" he screamed. "Oh, d---- it all! We'll
+lose her, now." I recalled that his concern seemed rather for his boat
+than the lives she carried.
+
+Jean Lafitte came bounding up the companionway, his face pale, but
+ready for ship's discipline. "Come," said I quickly, "help me with the
+anchor." A moment later, we sprung the capstan clutch, and I heard the
+brief growl of the anchor chain as the big hook ran free. Glad enough
+I was to think of the extra size it had. We eased her down and made
+fast under Peterson's orders now, and so swung into the head of the
+sea, which mercilessly lifted us and flung us down like a monkey
+seeking to crack a cocoanut shell. Williams joined us now, and Willie
+and John, pale as Jean Lafitte, came up from the forecastle, all
+shouting and jabbering. I ran aft as soon as might be, and only pulled
+up at the cabin door to summon such air of calm as I might. I rapped,
+but followed in, not waiting. Helena met me, pale, her eyes wide, her
+hair disheveled, but none the less mistress of herself.
+
+"What is it?" she demanded. "What makes it jolt?"
+
+"We've gone aground," said I. "She does pound a little, doesn't she?"
+
+She looked out into the wild night, across which the voices of the
+confused wild fowl came like souls in torment.
+
+"This is terrible!" said she simply. "Are we lost?"
+
+"No," said I. "Let us hear no such talk. Go below, now, and keep
+quiet. We may pass the night here, or we may conclude after a little
+to go on ahead a little farther. We've just dropped the anchor. The
+island's just over there a way." I did not care to be too specific.
+
+"What is it, oh, what is it?" I heard the faint voice of Mrs. Daniver.
+"Oh, this is awful. I--am--going--to--die, going to _die_!" The agony
+of _mal de mer_ was hers now of full license, for the choppy sea was
+sustained on the bosom of a long ground swell, coming we knew not
+whence.
+
+"Jimmy!" I called down. "Are you there?"
+
+"Yes, Sir," answered L'Olonnois bravely, from his place on the floor.
+"I'm feeling pretty funny, but I'll be all right--maybe."
+
+"Stay right where you are--and you also, Miss Emory. I must go forward
+now, and just came to tell you it's all right. If there should be any
+need, we'll let you know. Now keep down, and keep the door shut."
+
+"I'm--going--to--_die_!" moaned Mrs. Daniver as I left. Helena made no
+outcry, but that horror possessed her I knew very well, for every
+reason told us that our case was desperate. The boat might start her
+seams or break her back, any instant, now.
+
+I found the men trying to make soundings all about us as best they
+could with boat hooks and a spare spar. But it came to little.
+
+"Peterson," said I, "you're ship's master. What are your orders?"
+
+"Unlash the boat covers," said he. "Get even the dingey ready.
+Williams, close your hatch and bear a hand to swing the big boat out
+in her davits. Set the bottom plugs in well. And Mr. Harry, you and
+John, the Chink, had better get some stores and a case or so of
+bottled water aboard the long boat. Have you got the slickers and rugs
+ready, and plenty of clothes? We'll just be ready if it happens. I
+don't know where that damned light or the damned channel is, but the
+damned ducks maybe know where some damned thing is. We'll run for
+them, if we can't ride her out."
+
+We all hurried now, Jean Lafitte at my heels, silent and faithful as a
+dog, aiding me as I piled blankets and coats and rugs from our cabin
+into the ship's boat, which swayed and swung perilously at the davits.
+What with the aid of John, the China boy, and Willy, the deck-hand, we
+also got supplies aboard her, I scarce knew what, except that there
+seemed abundance. And then we stood waiting for what might happen,
+helpless in the hands of the offended elements, and silent all. I
+held Jean's hand in my own. He was loyal to his mate, even now.
+"Jimmy'd be here," he said. "'Course he would, only he's so awful
+sick. I ain't sick--yet, but I feel funny, someway."
+
+Peterson stood looking ahead, but was anxious. "She's coming up
+stronger," said he, "and two points on the port quarter. We're going
+on harder all the time. Anchor's dragging. Afraid we're going to lose
+her, Mr. Harry."
+
+"Hush!" said I, nodding to the boy. "And turn on the search-light. It
+seems to me I hear breakers in there."
+
+"That's so," said the old man. "Hook on the light's battery, Williams,
+and let's see what we can see."
+
+The strong beam, wavering from side to side, plowed a furry path into
+the fog. It disclosed at first only the succession of angry incoming
+waves, each, as it passed, thudding us down on the bar of shell and
+mud and slime. But at last, off to starboard and well astern in our
+new position, riding at anchor, we raised a faint white line of broken
+water which seemed a constant feature; and now and then caught the low
+boom of the surf.
+
+"She ain't a half mile, over yonder," I heard Willy, the deck-hand,
+say. "An' we could almost walk it if it wasn't for the sea."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Williams, "we'd do fine in there now, with them
+boats. When we hit that white water----"
+
+"Shut up!" ordered Peterson. "Safe as a church, here or there, you
+lubbers. Stand by your tackle, and keep your chin. Mr. Harry, tell the
+ladies just to wrap up a bit, because--well, maybe, because----"
+
+"Call me when it is time, Peterson," said I; and moved aft, holding
+Jean Lafitte by the arm.
+
+"Gee!" said he, as he dropped, wet and out of breath, into the cabin;
+and "Gee!" remarked a very pale L'Olonnois in return, gamely as he
+could. And Mrs. Daniver's moans went rhythmic with the pound of the
+keel on the shoal.
+
+"What shall we do?" asked Helena at last calmly. "Auntie is very sick.
+I am beginning to fear for her, it is such a bad attack. This is as
+rough as I ever saw it on the Channel."
+
+"There is no danger," said I, "but Peterson and I just thought that if
+she kept on pounding in this way, it might be better to go ashore."
+
+I spoke lightly, but well enough I knew the risk of trying to launch a
+boat in such a sea; and what the surf might be, none could say. Ah,
+how I wished that my empty assurance might be the truth. For I knew
+that, anyway we looked, only danger stared back at us now, on every
+hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+IN WHICH WE TAKE TO THE BOATS
+
+
+I looked at the woman I loved, and self-reproach was in my soul, as I
+saw a shudder go across her form. She was pale, but beyond a swift
+look at me made no sign connecting me, either with the wreck or the
+rescue. I think she had even then abandoned all hope of safety; and in
+my own heart, such, also, was the rising conviction which I concealed.
+Under the inborn habit of self-preservation, under the cultivated
+habit of the well born, to show no fear and to use the resources of a
+calm mind to the last in time of danger, we stood now, at least, in
+some human equality. And again I lied and said, "There is no danger,"
+though I could see the white rollers and could hear their roar on the
+shore.
+
+The night grew wilder. The great gulf storm had not yet reached its
+climax, and none could tell what pitch of fury that might mean. The
+dull jar of the boat as she time and again was flung down by the
+waves, the shiver and creak and groan of the sturdy craft, told us
+that the end might come at any instant, though now the anchor held
+firm and our crawl on to the shoal had ceased. All around us was water
+only four or five feet deep, but water whose waves were twice as high.
+Once the final crash came, and it would be too late to launch a boat,
+and all of us, overboard in that welter, were gone.
+
+Silently, I stepped on deck once more, and motioned to Willy, the
+deck-hand, to bring me the life preservers. "Put them on," I said to
+Helena.
+
+"Oh, I can't. I can't!" moaned the older woman. "I'm dying--let me
+alone."
+
+"Stop this nonsense, madam," said I sternly--knowing that was the only
+way--"put it on at once. You too, Miss Emory, and you, my boys. Quick.
+Then throw on loose wraps--all you can. It will be cold."
+
+In spite of all my efforts to seem calm, the air of panic ran swiftly.
+Mrs. Daniver awoke to swift action as she tremblingly fastened the
+belt about her. Pushing past me, she reached the deck, and so mad was
+she that in all likelihood she would have sprung overboard. I caught
+at her, and though my clutch brought away little more than a handful
+of false hair, it seemed to restore her reason though it destroyed her
+coiffure. "Enough of this!" I cried to her. "Take your place by the
+boat, and do as you are told." And I saw Helena pass forward, also, as
+we all reached the deck, herself pale as a wraith, but with no outcry
+and no spoken word. So, at last, I ranged them all near the boat that
+swung ready at the davits.
+
+"We can't all get in that," said Jean Lafitte.
+
+"No," said I: and I did not like to look at the tiny dingey which lay
+on the cabin-top, squat and tub-like, or the small ducking skiff that
+here on deck was half full of water from the breaking seas.
+
+"Peterson," said I, "take charge of the big boat here. Take Williams
+to run her motor for you. And the ladies will go with you."
+
+I turned to the two boys, and my heart leaped in pride for them both;
+for when I motioned to Jimmy to make ready for the large boat, with
+the ladies, he stepped back, pale as he was. "Not unless John goes,
+too," said he. And they stood side by side, simply and with no outcry,
+their young faces grave.
+
+"He must go with us--Jimmy," broke out Helena yearningly: "and so must
+you."
+
+"Shut up, Auntie," exclaimed Jimmy most irreverently. "Who's a-runnin'
+this boat, like to know?" Which abashed his auntie very much.
+
+"We'll take this one," said Jean Lafitte, and already was tipping the
+duck boat. "It'll carry us three if it has to." And I allowed him and
+his mate to stand by, not daring to look at its inadequate shell and
+again at the breaking seas.
+
+That left the dingey for Willy and the cook. I glanced at Willy.
+"Which would you rather chance?" I asked him, "the dingey or the duck
+boat?"
+
+"The dingey," said he quickly,--and we both knew the cork-like quality
+of this stubby craft.
+
+"Very well," said I. "Call John, when the word comes to go."
+
+"Aren't you going with us?" asked Helena now, suddenly, approaching
+me. I took one long look into her eyes, then, "Obey orders," was all I
+said, and pointed to the larger boat. I said good-by to her then. And,
+in the swift intuitive justice that comes to us in moments of
+extremity, I passed sentence upon these young boys and myself. Though
+they had sinned in innocence, though I had sinned in love, it had been
+our folly that had brought these others into this peril, and our
+chance must be the least. Peterson and Williams would be a better team
+in the big boat than any other we could afford. I saw Peterson step
+toward us, and divined what was in his mind. "I'm owner of this boat,
+my man," said I. "Go to your duty. You're needed in the big boat."
+
+"I'm last to leave her," whispered the old man. "She's my boat, and
+I've run her."
+
+"Peterson," said I, taking him aside, "I'll buy us another boat. But
+there is no woman on earth, nor ever will be, like that one yonder.
+Save her. It is your first duty. I wanted that for myself, but she
+thinks I'm a coward, and I would be, if I arranged our crews any other
+way than just as we are. Take your boat through. We others will do the
+best we can. And give the word for the boats when you're sure we can't
+ride it out."
+
+Silently, the old man touched his cap, and giving me one look, he went
+to the bows of his boat. The _Belle Helène_, lashed by the storm,
+rolled and pulled at her cable, rose, fell thuddingly. And at last,
+came a giant swell that almost submerged us. I caught Helena to the
+cabin-top to keep her drier from it, and the two boys also sprang to a
+point of safety. Mrs. Daniver, less agile, was caught by Peterson and
+Williams and held to the rail, wetted thoroughly. And by some freak of
+the wind, at that instant came fully the roar of the surf. We of the
+_Belle Helène_ seemed very small.
+
+I looked now at Peterson. He raised his little megaphone, which hung
+at his belt, and shouted loud and clear, as though we could not have
+heard him at this distance of ten feet. "Get ready to lower away!"
+Williams and the deck-hand sprang to the falls. "Get the women in the
+boat, you, Williams," called the skipper, "and go in with them to
+steady her when she floats. Take his place there, Mr. Harry. Lively
+now!" And how we got the two women into the swinging boat I hardly
+knew.
+
+The old skipper cast one eye ahead as a big wave rolled astern. "Now!"
+he shouted. "Lower away, there!"
+
+The boat dropped into the cup of a sea, rose level with the rail the
+next instant, and tossed perilously. I saw the two women huddled in
+the bottom of her, their eyes covered, saw Williams climbing over them
+and easing her at the bowline. Then, as we seized the next instant of
+the rhythm, and hauled her alongside, Peterson made a leap and went
+aboard her, and Williams scrambled back, once more, across the two
+huddled forms. I saw him wrench at the engine crank, and heard the
+spitting chug of the little motor. They fell off in the seaway,
+Peterson holding her with an oar as he could till the screws caught.
+Then I saw her answer the helm and they staggered off, passing out of
+the beam of our search-light, so that it seemed to me I had said
+good-by to Helena forever.
+
+We who remained had no davits to aid us, and must launch by hand. For
+a moment I stood and made my plans. First, I called to Willy, our
+deck-hand, who had the dingey now astern, some fashion. "Are you
+ready?" I demanded: but the next moment I heard his call astern and
+knew that, monkey-like, he had got her over and was aboard her
+somehow.
+
+"Now, boys," said I, "come here and shake hands with Black Bart." They
+came, their serious eyes turned up to me. And never has deeper emotion
+seized me than as I felt their young hands in mine. We said nothing.
+
+"Now, bear a hand there, you, Jean!" I pulled open the gate of the
+rail, and ran out the landing stage, on which the flat-bottomed skiff
+sat. With an oar I pushed it across at right angles as nearly as
+possible when she cleared. "Quick! Get in, both of you," I called. I
+was holding the inboard end of the plank under a wedged oar shaft,
+thrust below the sill of the forward cabin door. They scrambled out
+and in, Jean grasping the bight of the painter that I handed him, and
+passing it over the rail.
+
+"Now, look out," I called, and dropped the landing stage to meet the
+swell of the next wave. They slid, tilted, righted, rose high--and
+held. The next moment I sprang, fell into the sea, was caught by the
+collar as my hand grasped the cockpit coaming, and so I slid in,
+somehow, over the end deck, and caught the end of the painter from
+John's hand and cast her free.
+
+The drift carried us off at once, and the next wave almost hid the
+hull of the _Belle Helène_. I knew at once we were powerless, and that
+our one hope lay in drifting ashore. There is no worse sea boat than a
+low, flat ducking boat, decked though she be, and of good coaming, for
+she butts into and does not rise to a sea. But now, I thanked my star,
+one thing only was in our favor. We rolled like a log, already half
+full of water, but we floated, because in each end of our skiff was a
+big empty tin air tank, put there in spite of the laughing protest of
+the builder, who said no room was left for decoys under the decks.
+Just now, those tin cans were worth more than many duck decoys.
+
+"Keep down!" I ordered. "And hold on!" The boys obeyed me. I could
+see their gaze bent on me, as the source of their hope, their
+reliance. Jimmy was now free from the first violence of the
+seasickness, but I saw Jean's hand on his arm.
+
+"Gee!" I heard the latter mutter as the first sea crossed under us.
+"Dat was a peach." I took heart myself, for we lived that one through.
+"Bail!" I ordered, and they took their cups to it, while I did all I
+could with the long punt paddle to make some sort of course. Now and
+then the blazing trail of the _Belle Helène's_ search-light swung
+across as we rolled, to leave us, the next instant, in blackness. As
+the seas permitted, we could see her, riding and rocking, sometimes,
+alight from stern to stern and making a gallant fight for her life, as
+were we all.
+
+So long as the rollers came in oily and black, we did well, but where
+the top of one broke under us, we sank deep into the white foam that
+had no carrying power, and our cockpit filled so that we all sat in
+water. Only the tanks held us, log-like, and we bailed and paddled:
+and after they saw we did not sink, my hardy bullies, perhaps in the
+ignorance of youth and boy's confidence that a boy and water are
+friends, began to shout aloud. We wallowed on.
+
+No sound came to us from either of the other boats; and now, very
+quickly it seemed, we came at the edge of the surf.
+
+"I'm touching bottom, boys," I called, and cast the long punt pole
+adrift as I took up the short paddle I had held under my leg.
+
+Now we had under us two feet of water or ten, as the waves might say,
+and any moment we might roll over; but we wallowed in, rolling, till I
+knew the supreme moment had come. I waited, holding her head in well
+as I could so unruly a hulk, and as a big roller came after us,
+paddled as hard as I could. The wave chased us, caught us, pushed us,
+carried us in. There was a lift of our loggish bows, a blinding crash
+of white water about us. Our boat was overturned, but in some way,
+since the beach was all sand and very gentle, the wave flattened so
+that the back-tow did not pull us down. In some way, I do not know
+how, I found myself standing, and dragging Jimmy by the hand. Jean
+already was ahead, and I heard his shout and saw his hand as he stood,
+knee-deep but safe. So we all made it ashore, and our boat also, which
+now we hauled out of the spume. And the long white row of breakers,
+less dangerous than I had feared, came in, white maned and bellowing.
+
+I could still see the rocking lights of the yacht, and the shifting
+stroke of the search-light on the sea, but I did not hear and see
+aught else, at the time, and my heart sank.
+
+It was Jimmy whose ear first got the sound which came in--the feverish
+phut-phut of the motor skiff. Then the ray of the great light swung
+and I saw the boat still outside the breakers--nor could I tell then
+why we had beaten her in. It seemed Peterson was hunting for us
+others.
+
+"Stay back, boys!" I called to my companions. "You might get thrown
+down by the waves--keep back." But now I was ready to rush in to meet
+the long boat, whose keel I knew would leave her to overturn if she
+caught bottom.
+
+But Peterson knew about the keel as well as any, and he caught what he
+thought was water enough before he yelled to Williams to drive her in.
+She sped in like an arrow; and again the white wave reared high and
+broke upon its prey. By then, I was in water to my waist. I caught
+Helena out with one reach of my arms, just as I saw Williams and
+Peterson stagger in with Mrs. Daniver between them. In some miraculous
+way we got beyond danger, and met my pirates, dancing and shouting a
+welcome to our desert isle. Their advent, thereon, gave the two
+womenfolk a fervent wish to embrace, sob and weep extraordinarily. I
+had said nothing to Helena and said nothing now.
+
+"Where's the dingey, Peterson?" I called, as he came up, grinning.
+
+"Coming in," said he; and forsooth that water-rat, Willy, made a
+better landing of it than any of us, and calmly helped us now to haul
+the heavy motor skiff up the beach, a few feet at a time as the waves
+thrust it forward.
+
+"Thank God!" I heard Helena exclaim. "Oh, thank God! We're safe, we're
+all safe, after all."
+
+I looked at my little group for a time, all soaked to the skin, all
+huddled now close together. Peterson, Williams, Willy--all the crew,
+yes. Auntie Lucinda and the woman who had called me a coward--the two
+captives, yes, Jean Lafitte and Henri L'Olonnois and myself, Black
+Bart--all the ship's owners. What lacked? For a moment I could not
+tell why I had the vague feeling that something or some one was
+missing.
+
+"Willy," said I at last, "where's John, the cook?"
+
+"Why, I don't know," said Willy. "Didn't he come with you?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+IN WHICH I RESCUE THE COOK
+
+
+"What's that?" said Peterson sharply--"you didn't obey orders?"
+
+"Well, I thought he was in the other boat," explained Willy, hanging
+his head.
+
+"You'll get your time," said the old man quietly, "soon as we get to
+the railroad--and you'll go home by rail."
+
+"What are you trying to do, Mr. Harry?" he demanded of me, a moment
+later. I was looking at the long boat.
+
+"Well, he's part of the boat's company," said I, "and we've got to
+save him, Peterson."
+
+"What's that?" asked Helena now coming up--and then, "Why, John, our
+cook, isn't here, is he?" She, too, looked at the long boat and at the
+sea. "How horrible!" she said. "Horrible!"
+
+"What does he mean to do?" she demanded now of Peterson in turn. The
+old man only looked at her.
+
+"Surely, you don't mean to go out there again," she said.
+
+I turned to them both, half cold with anger. "Do you think I'd leave
+him out there to die, perhaps? It was my own fault, not to see him in
+the boat."
+
+"It wasn't," reiterated Peterson. "It was Willy's fault--or mine."
+
+"In either case it's likely to be equally serious for him. We can't
+leave the poor devil helpless, that way."
+
+"Mr. Harry," began Peterson again, "he's only a Chinaman."
+
+"Take shame to yourself for that, Peterson," said I. "He's a part of
+the boat's company--a good cook--yes, but more than a good cook----"
+
+"Well, why didn't he come up with the rest of us?"
+
+"Because he was at his place of duty, below, until ordered up," said
+I.
+
+Peterson pondered for a moment. "That's right," said he at length;
+"I'll go out with you."
+
+I felt Helena's hand on my arm. "It's awful out there," said she. But
+I only turned to look at her in the half-darkness and shook off her
+hand.
+
+"You can't launch the big boat," said Peterson. "You'd only swamp her,
+if you tried."
+
+"That may be," said I, "but the real thing is to try."
+
+"We might wait till the wind lulls," he argued.
+
+"Yes, and if the wind should change she might drag her anchor and go
+out to sea. Which boat is best to take, Peterson?"
+
+A strange feeling of calm came over me, an odd feeling not easy to
+explain, that I was not a young man of leisure, but some one else, one
+of my ancestors of earlier days, used to encounters with adversity or
+risk. Calmly and much to my own surprise, I stood and estimated the
+chances as though I had been used to such things all my life.
+
+"Which is the best boat, Peterson?" I repeated. "Hardly the duck boat,
+I think--and you say not the big boat."
+
+"The dingey is the safest," replied Peterson. "That little tub would
+ride better; but no man could handle her out there."
+
+"Very well," said I; "she'll get her second wetting, anyhow. Lend a
+hand."
+
+"She'll carry us both," commented the old man, stepping to the side of
+the stubby little craft.
+
+"But she'll be lighter and ride easier with but one," was my reply. "A
+chip is dry on top only as long as it's a chip."
+
+"Let me go along," said Jean Lafitte, stepping up at this time.
+
+"You'll do nothing of the sort, my son," said I. "Go back to the
+ladies and make a fire, and make a shelter," said I. "I'll be here
+again before long."
+
+The news of the new adventure now spread among our little party. Mrs.
+Daniver began sniffling. "Helena," I heard her say, "this is
+terrible." But meantime I was pulling off my sweater and fastening on
+a life belt. Nodding to Peterson, we both picked up the dingey, and
+when the next sea favored, made a swift run in the endeavor to break
+through the surf.
+
+"Let go!" I cried to him, as the water swirled about our waist. "Go
+back!" And so I sprang in alone and left him.
+
+For the time I could make small headway, indeed, had not time to get
+at the oars, but pushing as I might with the first thing that came to
+hand, I felt the bottom under me, felt again the lift of the sea carry
+me out of touch. Then an incoming wave carried me back almost to the
+point whence I had started. In such way as I could not explain, none
+the less at length the little boat won through, no more than half
+filled by the breaking comber. I worked first as best I might,
+paddling, and so keeping her off the best I could. Then when I got the
+oars, the stubby yawing little tub at first seemed scarce more than to
+hold her own. I pulled hard--hard as I could. Slowly, the line of
+white breakers passed astern. After that, saving my strength a trifle,
+I edged out, now angling into the wind, now pulling full into the
+teeth of the gale. Even my purpose was almost forgotten in the
+intensity of the task of merely keeping away from the surf. Dully I
+pulled, reasoning no more than that that was the thing for me to do.
+
+It had seemed a mile, that short half-mile between the yacht and the
+beach. It seemed a hundred miles now going back to the boat. I did not
+dare ask myself how I could go aboard if even I won across so far as
+the yacht. It was enough that I did not slip backward to the beach
+once more. Yawing and jibbing in the wind which caught her stubby
+freeboard, the little boat, none the less, held up under me, and once
+she was bailed of the surf, rode fairly dry in spite of all, being far
+more buoyant than either of the other craft. Once in the dark, I saw
+something thrust up beside me and fancied it to be a stake, marking
+the channel which pierced the key hereabout. This was confirmed in my
+mind when, presently, as rain began to fall and the fog lessened for
+the time, I saw the blurred yellow lighthouse eye answering the
+wavering search-light of the _Belle Helène_, which swept from side to
+side across the bay as she rolled heavily at her anchor. In spite of
+the hard fight it had given me, I was glad the wind still held
+inshore. I knew the point of the little island lay not far beyond the
+light. Once adrift beyond that, not the _Belle Helène_ herself would
+be safe, in this offshore wind, but must be carried out into the gulf
+beyond.
+
+Not reasoning much about this, however, and content with mere pulling,
+I kept on until at length I saw the nodding lights of the _Belle
+Helène_ lighting the gloom more definitely about me. Presently, I made
+under her lee, so that the dingey was more manageable, and at last, I
+edged up almost to her rail, planning how, perhaps, I might cast a
+line and so make fast. But, first, I tried calling.
+
+"Ahoy, there below, John!" I called through the dark. At first there
+came no answer, and again I shouted. At this I saw the door of the
+dining saloon pushed open, and John himself thrust out his hand.
+
+"All litee," said he, merely greeting me casually. "You come?"
+
+"Yes," said I, with equal sang-froid. "You makee quick jump now, John,
+s'pose I come in."
+
+"All litee," said he once more. I saw now that he stood there, a book
+and a bundle in his arm. Perhaps he had been reading to pass the time!
+
+Be that as it may, I cautiously pulled the dingey under the lee of the
+_Belle Helène_. Timing his leap with a sagacity and agility combined
+which I had not suspected of him, my China boy made a leap, stumbled,
+righted himself, got his balance and so placed his bundle on the
+bottom of the boat and his book upon the seat, where he covered it
+carefully against the spray.
+
+"All litee," said he once more. "I makee pull now. You come this
+place."
+
+I endeavored to emulate his Oriental calm. "John," said I, "I catchee
+plenty wind this time."
+
+"Yes, plenty wind," said he.
+
+"You suppose we leave China boy?" I demanded.
+
+"Oh, no, no!" he exclaimed with emphasis. "I know you come back allee
+time bimeby, one time."
+
+"What were you doing, John?"
+
+"I leed plenty 'Melican book," said he calmly. "Now I makee pull." To
+oblige him I made way for him, and we crawled past each other on the
+floor of the heaving dingey. He took the oars and began pulling with
+an odd chopping sort of a stroke, perhaps learned in his youth on some
+sampan that rode the waters of his native land; but for my own part,
+since Fate seemed to be kind to me after all, I trusted his skill,
+such as it was, and was willing to rest for a time.
+
+"No velly bad," said John judicially, after a time. "Pretty soon come
+in." No doubt he saw the little fire, now beginning to light the
+beach. At any rate, he headed straight in, the seas following, reeling
+after us. They have their own ways, these people of the East. I fancy
+John had run surf before. At any rate, I knew the water now was
+shallow and that, perhaps, one could swim ashore if we were overset. I
+trusted him to make the landing, however, and he did it like a
+veteran. One plunge through the ultimate white crest, and we were
+carried up high on the beach, to meet the shouts of my men and to feel
+their hands grasp the gunwales of the sturdy little craft.
+
+"All litee," remarked John amiably, and started for the fire, such
+being his instinct, not with the purpose of getting warm, but of
+cooking something. And in half an hour he had a cup of hot bouillon
+all around.
+
+"It's a commendable thing," remarked Mrs. Daniver, "that you, sir,
+should go to the rescue of even a humble Chinaman. I find this
+bouillon delicious."
+
+"Have you quite recovered from your seasickness by this time, Mrs.
+Daniver?" I asked politely.
+
+"Seasickness?" She raised an eyebrow in protest. "I never was seasick
+in my life--not even in the roughest crossings of the Channel, where
+others were quite helpless."
+
+"It is fortunate to be immune," said I. "People tell me it is a
+terrible feeling--they even think they are going to die."
+
+Jean Lafitte, I found, had made quite a serviceable shelter, throwing
+a tarpaulin over one of the long boat's oars. We pushed our fire to
+the front of this, and after a time induced the ladies to make
+themselves more comfortable. Only with some protest did my hearty
+pirates agree to share this shelter which made our sole protection
+against the storm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+IN WHICH WE ARE CASTAWAYS
+
+
+The rain came down dismally, and the chill of the night was very
+considerable, as I learned soon after ceasing my own exertions. The
+men made some sort of shelter for themselves by turning up the long
+boat and the dingey on edge, crawling into the lee, and thus finding a
+little protection. All but John, my cook. That calm personage, every
+time I turned, was at my elbow in the dark, standing silent, waiting
+for I knew not what. For the first time, I realized the virtue of his
+waterproof silk shirt. He seemed not to mind the rain, although he
+asked my consent to put his bundle and his book under the shelter. I
+stooped down at the firelight, curious to see the title of his book.
+It was familiar--_The Pirate's Own Book_!
+
+"Where you catchee book, John?" I asked him.
+
+"Litlee boy he give me; him 'Melican book. I lead him some. Plenty
+good book."
+
+"Yes," said I; "I see. That boy'll make pirates of us all, if we
+aren't careful."
+
+"That book, him tellee what do, sposee bad storm," said John proudly.
+"I know."
+
+I walked over to where Peterson lay, his pipe now lighted by some
+magic all his own. We now could see more plainly the furred and yellow
+gleam of the lighthouse lamp. Peterson's concern, however, was all for
+the _Belle Helène_.
+
+"I hate to think of her out there all by herself," said he.
+
+"So do I, Peterson. I hate also to think of all that ninety-three we
+left out there."
+
+We were standing near the edge of the ladies' shelter, and I heard
+Mrs. Daniver's voice as she put out her head at the edge of the
+tarpaulin.
+
+"I thought you said all the ninety-three was gone," said she with some
+interest, as it appeared to me.
+
+"No, we only had the last bottle of that case at luncheon, Mrs.
+Daniver," said I. "There are yet other cases out yonder."
+
+"It's a bad night for neuralgia," said she complainingly.
+
+"It is, madam. But I don't think I'll pull out again. And I am
+rejoiced that you are not troubled now with seasickness,--that you
+never are." Which last resulted in her dignified silence.
+
+Through the night, there came continually the clamoring of the wild
+fowl in the lagoon back of us, and this seemed to make the boys
+restless. It was Jean Lafitte, next, who poked his head out from under
+the tarpaulin.
+
+"I've got the gun all right," said he, "and a lot of shells. In the
+morning we'll go out and get some of those ducks that are squawking."
+
+"Yes, Jean," said I; "we're in one of the best ducking countries on
+this whole coast."
+
+"That's fine--we can live chiefly by huntin' and fishin', like it says
+in the g'ographies."
+
+"If the wind should shift," said I, "we may have to do that for quite
+a time. I don't know whether the lighthouse keeper has a boat or not,
+and the channel lies between us and the light--it makes out here
+straight to the Gulf. But now, be quiet, my sons, and see if we can't
+all get some sleep. I'll take care of the fire."
+
+I passed a little apart to hunt for some driftwood, my shadow, John,
+following close at hand. When I returned I found a muffled figure
+standing at the feeble blaze. Helena raised her eyes, grave and
+serious.
+
+"It was splendid," said she in a low tone of voice, addressing not so
+much myself as all the world, it seemed to me.
+
+"Get back in there and go to sleep," said I. And, quietly she obeyed,
+so far as I might tell.
+
+For my own part, I did not seek the shelter of the other boat, but,
+wrapped in sweater and slicker, stood in the rain, John at my side.
+Once in a while we set out in the dark to find more wood for the
+little fire. In some way the long night wore on. Toward morning the
+rain ceased. It seemed to me that the rocking search-light of the
+_Belle Helène_ made scarce so wide an arc across the bay. The
+lighthouse ray shone less furry and yellow through the night. The wind
+began to lull, coming in gusts, at times after some moments of calm.
+The roll of the sea still came in, but sometimes I almost fancied that
+the surf was bellowing not so loud. And so at length, the dawn came,
+softening the gloom, and I could hear the roar of the great bodies of
+wild fowl rising as they always do at dawn, the tumult of their wings
+rivaling the heavy rhythm of the surf itself.
+
+The advancing calm of nature seemed to quiet the senses of the
+sleepers, even in their sleep. Gently making up the fire for the last
+time, as the gray light began to come across the beach, I wandered
+inland a little way in search of the fresh water lagoon. Its edge lay
+not more than two or three hundred yards back of our bivouac. So, as
+best I might, I bathed my face and hands, and regretted that such
+things as soap and towels had been forgotten with many other things.
+Not irremediable, our plight; for now I could see the _Belle Helène_
+still rolling at her anchor, uneasy, but still afloat; and in the
+daylight, and with a lessening sea, there would be no great difficulty
+in boarding her as we liked.
+
+Presently the others of the party were all afoot, standing stiffly,
+sluggishly, in the chill of dawn; and such was the breakfast which my
+boy John presently prepared for us, that I confess I began to make
+comparisons not wholly to his discredit. Now, for instance, said I to
+myself, had it been Mrs. Daniver who had been forgotten on board
+ship--but, of course, that line of reasoning might not be followed
+out. And as for Mrs. Daniver herself, it was only just to say that she
+made a fair attempt at comradeship, considering that she had retired
+without any aid whatever for her neuralgia. Helena seemed reticent.
+The men, as usual, ate apart. I did not find myself loquacious. Only
+my two young ruffians seemed full of the enjoyment possible in such a
+situation.
+
+"Gee! ain't this fine?" said L'Olonnois. "I never did think we'd be
+really shipwrecked and cast away on a desert island. This is just
+like it is in the books."
+
+"Can we go huntin' now?" demanded Jean Lafitte, his mouth still full
+of bacon. "And will you come along? There must be millions of them
+ducks and geese. I didn't know there was so many in all the world."
+
+"You may go, both of you, Jean Lafitte," said I, "if you'll be careful
+not to shoot yourselves. As for me, I must go back once more to the
+boat, I fancy."
+
+Peterson and I now held a brief conference, and presently, leaving the
+ladies in charge of Willy and the cook, we two, with Williams to run
+the motor, with some difficulty launched the long boat and made off
+through a sea none too amiable, to go aboard the _Belle Helène_ once
+more--which so short a time before I had thought we never might do
+again.
+
+"This is easier than pulling out in the dingey," grinned Peterson, as
+we approached the _Belle Helène_. "Confound that deck-hand, he might
+have got you drowned! I'll fire him, sure!"
+
+"No," said I; "I've been thinking that over. There was a great deal of
+confusion, and after all, he may have thought that we had John with
+us. Besides, he's only young, and he's human. I'll tell you what
+we'll do, Peterson--I'll dock him a month's wages, and I'll send his
+wages to his mother. Meantime, let him carry the wood and water for a
+week."
+
+We found it not difficult now to go aboard the _Belle Helène_, for, in
+the lessening seaway, she rolled not so evilly. Peterson sprang to the
+deck as the bow of our boat rose alongside on a wave, and made fast
+our line. When Williams and I had followed, we took a general
+inventory of the _Belle Helène_. All the deck gear was gone, spare
+oars and spars, a canvas or so, and some coils of rope. Beyond that,
+there seemed no serious damage, unless the hull had been injured by
+its pounding during the night.
+
+"It's a mud-bank here, I think, Mr. Harry," said Peterson. "She may
+have ripped some of her copper on the oyster reefs, but she seems to
+bed full length and maybe she's not strained, after all."
+
+"There's the line of channel guides," said I, pointing to a row of
+sticks driven into the mud a couple of miles in length.
+
+"Yes," said the old man, "the channel's not more than a biscuit toss
+from here. We came right across it--if it hadn't been in the dark,
+we'd have gone through into the lee of the island and been all right.
+Now as it is, we're all wrong."
+
+"How do you mean?" I asked.
+
+"How'll we get that anchor up?" grumbled he. "If we start the engines
+and try to crawl up by the capstan, we couldn't pull her out of the
+mud. If we put on a donkey engine we'd snatch the bow out of here
+before we could lift the hook. And until we do, how are we going to
+move her? There's the channel, but it's as far as ever. We can't sweep
+her off, of course, and we can't pole her off."
+
+"Well, Peterson," said I, "let us, by all means, hope for the worst."
+I smiled, seeing that he now was possessed of his normal gloom.
+
+"Well," said he, "we went on at full tide, and hard aground at that.
+This wind is blowing all the water out of Côte Blanche. Of course, if
+the wind should turn and drive in again, we might move her, if we
+caught her at high tide once more. Until that happens, I guess we're
+anchored here for sure."
+
+"The glass is rising now, Peterson," said I, pleasantly.
+
+"Oh, yes, it may rise a little," said he, "and of course the storm's
+gone by for the time. But I don't think there's going to be any good
+change of weather that'll hold, very soon. But now, Williams and I'll
+go below and see if we can start a pump. I expect she's sprung a
+leak, all right."
+
+Shaking his head in much apprehension, the old man made his way with
+Williams, first into the engine-room. For my own part, I turned toward
+my cabin door. All at once as I did so it seemed to me I heard a
+sound. It came again, a sort of a meek diffident sound, expectant
+rather than complaining. And then I heard an unmistakable scraping at
+the door. Hastening, I flung it open. I was greeted with a great whine
+of joy and trust, a shaggy form leaped upon me, thrust its cold nose
+into my face, gave me much greetings of whines, and at length of a
+loud howl of joy.
+
+"Partial!" I cried, and caught him by the paws as he put them on my
+shoulders and rubbed his muzzle along my cheek, whimpering; "Partial!
+Oh, my dear chap, I say now, I'm glad to see you!"
+
+As a matter of fact, I had forgotten Partial these three days, other
+things being on my mind. Once more our amateurishness in shipwreck had
+nearly cost us a life. Partial, no doubt, had meekly waited at his
+usual place until ordered to come out with the rest. We had closed the
+doors and port-holes when we left the _Belle Helène_, and thus he had
+been locked in.
+
+I sat down on one of the bench lockers with Partial's head in my
+hand, and almost my eyes became moist. "Partial," said I, "let me
+confess the truth to you. The woman had maddened me. I forgot you--I
+did, and will own it now. It was a grave fault, my friend. I do not
+ask you to forgive me, and all I can do is to promise you such amend
+as lies in my power. From now on, I promise you, you shall go with me
+to all the ends of the earth. My people shall be your people, till
+death do us part. Do you hear me, Partial?"
+
+He answered by springing up again and licking my face and hands,
+whimpering excitedly, glad that I had come at last. "Dear Partial,"
+said I, "you're no gladder than I am. And what's more, you've nothing
+to cost you penitence. Come, we'll go to the dining-room and see
+whether there's anything left to eat."
+
+He followed me now along the rolling deck, and happily I was able to
+get him some scraps for his breakfast. Peterson heard me talking, and
+thrust up a head above the engine-room hatch. He was as crestfallen as
+myself when I showed him that, once more, we had been forgetful and
+had left a friend while busy in saving ourselves.
+
+I went once more to my cabin--Peterson having discovered, apparently
+to his great regret, that so far as could be determined, we had not
+started a seam or smashed a timber anywhere. I found a small tent
+among other of my sporting equipment and tossed this out to go in the
+long boat's cargo. Another fowling piece and ammunition, my canvas
+hunting coat and wading boots, followed. Even, I caught down from a
+nail the only other pair of trousers available in my wardrobe--for
+Davidson's vast midship section comported ill with my own. I found my
+watch in these other trousers, and putting a hand in a pocket, fished
+out also my portemonnaie. It had certain bills in it--I presume two or
+three thousand dollars in all, and I thrust these into my pocket. At
+the bottom of the little purse,--among collar buttons and other hard
+objects,--I found a little round white object, and once more bethought
+me of my pearl which I had won on the far northern river, as it seemed
+to me many years before--the pearl which, as I have said, was to be
+known as the _Belle Helène_. I preserved it now.
+
+Peterson and Williams, meantime, were busy in getting aboard a case or
+so of water--not forgetting the ninety-three of which I reminded the
+old man once more. Some additional stores of bacon and tea, and a
+case of eggs, were also taken aboard. At length, with quite a little
+cargo in the way of comforts, we embarked once more and started for
+our rude encampment.
+
+"We may be here for a month," said Peterson gloomily, looking at the
+_Belle Helène_, now rolling just a little, her keel fast full length
+in the mud-bar. "I don't think there's ever going to be any change of
+wind--it'll blow steadily this way for a week, anyhow."
+
+"I presume, Peterson," said I coolly, "that you don't see the sun
+breaking through the clouds over there, at all. And I fancy that you
+will not believe, either, that the sea is lulling now. Very well, I
+don't want to make you unhappy, my friend."
+
+I heard Williams chuckling as he stooped over his engine. Thus,
+chugging on merrily with the long oily roll of the sea under us, we
+presently once more ran our surf, and this time had small difficulty
+in winning through, for, once we felt the ground under us, we simply
+sprang overboard and waded in, dragging the boat with us, waist-deep
+sometimes in the flood, but on the whole quite safe.
+
+My two pirate mates came down to the beach joyously, and helped us
+unload. It seemed that they had made something of a hunt already, for
+with much pride Jean now displayed to me certain birds, proof of his
+own prowess with his shotgun.
+
+"Some of 'em's good to eat," said he. "Regular greenheads, like we get
+up North." I looked at the string of birds, and saw that they were
+mallards and teals, a couple of dozen at least.
+
+"Fie, fie!" said I. "I fear you've been shooting on the water."
+
+"Sure I did! And here's four things that I don't suppose are good to
+eat--they got kind of snaky heads, and red-colored, too. Ain't no
+ducks good to eat that ain't got green heads."
+
+"Each man to his taste," said I, "but if you like, you may have the
+green heads, and I'll take these with the auburn locks."
+
+"Pshaw! What are they?" answered he.
+
+"Only canvasbacks," said I, "and good fat ones, too. What luck have
+you, Jimmy, my son?"
+
+"Well, I went along and helped carry things," said L'Olonnois.
+
+"What's that you've got on a string?" I asked him.
+
+"Oh, that," said he, flushing. "It ain't nothing but a little turtle.
+It had funny marks on its back. I caught it in the grass over there
+by the lake."
+
+Something about Jimmy's little turtle interested me, and I picked it
+up in my hands.
+
+"For amateur sportsmen, gentlemen," said I, "you're doing pretty well.
+Your funny little turtle, Jimmy, is nothing but a diamond-back
+terrapin. There are perhaps more of them on this coast than anywhere
+else in the world to-day. And Partial, here--that friend of ours now
+leaping excitedly and joyously before them, barking at this little
+turtle of Jimmy's--will perhaps be able to help you find some more of
+them in the grass--the market hunters here hunt them with dogs, as
+perhaps you did not know."
+
+"We got some oysters, Sir," said Willy, coming forward shyly and
+shamefacedly; and showed me the cockpit of the duck boat pretty well
+filled. The boy had, it seems, found a reef of these in a brackish arm
+which made inland, and dug them by the simple process of stooping down
+below the surface of the water, since he had no oyster tongs.
+
+"Well," said I, "it looks as if we would fare pretty well for lunch.
+John"--and I called my China boy--"again I find renewed cause for
+felicitations on your rescue."
+
+John stood looking at me blankly.
+
+"You savee, John?" said I, showing him one of the canvasbacks, and he
+remarked mildly, "All litee." If anything, his lunch was better than
+his breakfast, and when I saw him take Jimmy's funny little turtle
+from him and examine it with appraising eye, I felt fairly well
+convinced that we should not suffer at the dinner hour.
+
+But though a certain gaiety now came to others of the party as we sat
+about our midday meal, warm now and well fed, and although the boys
+excitedly made plans about putting up the tent and furnishing it and
+going into camp for the winter, I could not share their eagerness.
+There was one other reticent figure at our fireside. Helena sat
+silent, the head of Partial in her lap. I felt resentment that she
+should steal from me even my dog. At last, having nothing better to
+do, I picked up my gun, and slipping on my coat, started down the
+beach, telling the boys that I was going alone, perhaps too far for
+them to follow, with the purpose of making some sort of an exploration
+of the island.
+
+Moody and depressed, not in the least well satisfied with life, even
+with matters thus so far more fortunate than we had so recently had
+reason to expect, I walked along the hard sand, sometimes looking at
+the long lines of wild fowl streaming in above the fresh-water lagoon,
+but in reality thinking but little of these. I did not at first hear
+the light step which came behind me on the sand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+IN WHICH IS NO RAPPROCHEMENT WITH THE FAIR CAPTIVE
+
+
+"Harry!" I heard her call, and turned quickly. "Harry, wait!"
+
+She came hurrying up toward me. I felt my color rise. Awkwardly, I
+stood waiting, and did not greet her. I cast a quick glance the other
+way down the beach. It would be a hundred yards before the first bend
+of the shore-line would carry us behind the tall rushes. Meantime, we
+were in full sight of all.
+
+Partial, who had followed me when I whistled, now greeted her more
+joyously than did his master.
+
+"Yes?" said I dully; "I suppose you came to take away my dog from me,
+didn't you? It was all that was left."
+
+"Of course," said she coloring. "I didn't know but what Partial might
+be hungry."
+
+"It is I who am hungry, Helena," said I. "I have long been hungry--for
+a look, a word."
+
+She did not smile, showed not any trace of coquetry in her mien, but
+paced on with me now down the beach. I suppose she knew when we had
+turned the point of rushes, for now she laid her hand on my rough
+canvas sleeve. It must have cost her effort to do that.
+
+"Harry, what's wrong with you?" said she after a time, since I still
+remained moodily staring ahead. I did not answer, would not look at
+her for a time, but at length she turned. She stood, I say, with her
+hand on my arm, her chin raised fully, her serious eyes fixed on me.
+The dark hair was blown all about her face. She had on over her long
+white sweater a loose silk waterproof of some sort, which blew every
+way, but did not disturb the lines of her tall figure, nor lessen the
+pale red and white which the sea breeze had stung into her cheeks. She
+did not smile, and her eyes, I say, looked steadily and seriously into
+mine.
+
+"What's wrong with you?" she asked, frowning slightly, as it seemed to
+me.
+
+"Everything in the world is wrong with me, as you know very well,"
+said I. "Am I not a poor man? Am I not an unsuccessful lover? Am I not
+a failure under every test which you can apply? Am I not a coward--did
+you not tell me so yourself?"
+
+Her eyes grew damp slowly. "I didn't mean it," said she.
+
+"Then why did you say it?"
+
+"It was long before--that was before last night, Harry. You forget."
+
+"What if it was?" I demanded. "I was the same man then that I was last
+night."
+
+"I didn't mean it, Harry," said she, her voice low. Her hand was still
+on my arm. Her eye now was cast down, the tip of her toe was tracing a
+circle on the wet sand where we stood.
+
+"I didn't think," said she, after a little while.
+
+"I presume not," said I coldly. "Sometimes women do not stop to think.
+You have not stopped to think that there is a limit even to what my
+love would stand, Helena. Now, much as I love you--and I never loved
+you so much as I do now--I'll never again ask you for what you can not
+give me. I've been rubbed the wrong way all I can stand, and I'll not
+have it any more. I've brought you here, yes, and I'm sorry enough for
+it. But I'm going to fix all that now, soon as I can."
+
+"What do you mean, Harry?" she asked quietly.
+
+"Yonder, across the bay," said I, pointing, "runs a channel. That's
+the Chenière. I presume the lighthouse boats come from in there. Maybe
+there'll be one down after the storm in a day or so. He'll take out a
+message, and get it on some boat bound for Morgan City, perhaps."
+
+"And what then?"
+
+"Why, I shall send out any message you like, beside my own message to
+the parents of these boys of mine. And I'll send a message, too, to my
+friend, Manning."
+
+She turned her eyes where I pointed once more, this time seemingly
+northward across the bay. "Yonder is still another channel," said I,
+"not twenty miles from where we stand. It runs back to the live-oak
+islands where my friend Manning has his plantation. If the tide serves
+and we can get the yacht afloat, it won't take us long to get in
+there. Once there, you are safe; and once there, I say good-by. Judge
+for yourself whether or not this is the last time."
+
+"And when will that be, Harry?" she demanded, still tracing some
+figure on the sand with the toe of her little boot.
+
+"That, I have said, is something I can not tell. But as soon as
+possible, rest assured."
+
+She was silent now, confused, a little abashed, a mood entirely new to
+her in my recollection of her many moods. Her hand still lay upon my
+coarse canvas sleeve as though she had forgotten it. I bent now and
+kissed it. "Harry," said she in a whisper, "don't you care for me any
+more?"
+
+"Go back to the camp, Helena," said I; "you know I do, but I've done
+enough for you, and I'll do no more. All a coward can do to keep you
+safe I have done, but I'm no such coward as to follow you around now
+and dangle at your apron strings. It's good-by once more. What are
+you," I demanded fiercely, once more, "that you should walk over my
+soul again and again? Hasn't there got to be an end to that sort of
+thing some time, and don't you think there is an end for me? Go back
+and tell your aunt that you have won. And much joy may you both have
+in your winning."
+
+I kissed her hand, flung it off, turned and went down the beach. She
+did not look about, but presently as I saw, turned and went back
+toward the camp, her head hanging. And, as I had said to her, I never
+loved her so much in all my life, though never was I so little
+disposed to go one step in her pursuit.
+
+Partial sat, looking after her also, his heart torn in the division
+between us, for he loved us both.
+
+"Partial," I called to him harshly, and he came, his ears down and
+very unhappy. Silently, the dog at my heels, I strode on down the
+beach, and so I saw her no more for some time.
+
+I found for myself a driftwood log at the edge of the sea-marsh, and
+here for a time I sat down, moodily staring out across the bay, as
+unhappy, I fancy, as man gets to be in this world. I scarce know how
+long I sat here, in the wind which blew salt across the bay, and for
+some time, I paid no attention to the clamoring fowl which passed and
+repassed not far from my point.
+
+At length, a long harrow of great Canadian geese passed so close to me
+that without much thought about it, I raised the gun and fired. I
+killed two birds, and as I picked them up I found they were not a
+brace, but a pair. The report of my gun started a clamoring of all
+manner of fowl beyond the edge of reeds which hid the reef. A cloud of
+ducks passed before me, and slipping in the shells once more, I fired
+right and left. Again I killed my brace, and again when I picked them
+up they were a pair. The head of one was green, the other brown. "Male
+and female made He them!" said I. "If I had not killed these birds, in
+the spring they would have gone northward, to the edge of the world in
+their own love-making, thousands of miles from here." I looked at my
+quarry with remorse, and not caring to shoot more, at length picked up
+the birds and slowly started back to camp, not looking forward with
+any too great pleasure, it may be imagined, to further meetings with
+the woman whom, of all the world, I most cared to meet.
+
+I found all the others of the party amiably engaged in camp affairs.
+The tent now was up, the fire was arranged in more practical fashion,
+and John was busy with his pans. Lafitte, ever resourceful and ever
+busy, was out with Willy after more oysters. L'Olonnois, his partner,
+seemed engaged in some sort of argument with his Auntie Helena.
+
+"Jimmy, I can't!" I heard her say. "There isn't any sugar."
+
+"Aw!" said he, "there's plenty of sugar, ain't there, John?" And that
+worthy smiled as he pointed toward an open canister of that dainty.
+
+"But I haven't any pan."
+
+"Yes, you have, too, got a pan. Here's one a-settin' right here in
+front of you. Come on now, Auntie. We're goin' to have duck and
+terrapin and oysters and everything--all a fellow would want, besides
+that, is just fudges."
+
+Helena stood preoccupied and hesitant, hardly hearing what he said, as
+I fancy. At once L'Olonnois' attitude changed. Folding his arms, he
+turned toward her sternly.
+
+"Woman!" said he, "are you not a captive to our band? Then who gives
+orders here? Either you make fudges, or your life's blood stains these
+sands!"
+
+"Oh, all right, Jimmy," she said listlessly. "I'll make them, if you
+like."
+
+"You'd better," remarked that worthy sententiously. "Of course," he
+added, seeking to mollify his victim, over whom he thus domineered,
+"it ain't just like it is back home on the stove, but you'll have to
+get used to that, because we're going to live here forever. And," he
+added, casting a glance of his stern blue eyes upon her, "it is the
+part of the captive maid ever to live happily with the chief of the
+pirate band."
+
+Whereupon Helena and Jimmy both looked up and saw me standing,
+unwilling listener to all that had been said. Helena moved away and
+pretended to be busy with the material for her confections.
+
+"Aw, shucks, Black Bart," said Jimmy, turning to me--"ain't that just
+like a woman?--They won't never play the game."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+IN WHICH I FIND TWO ESTIMABLE FRIENDS, BUT LOSE ONE BELOVED
+
+
+The weather now, moderating, after the fashion of weather on this
+coast, as rapidly as it had become inclement, we passed a more
+comfortable night on our desert island. No doubt the lighthouse tender
+knew of our presence, for he easily could see our tent by day and our
+fire by night, and he surely must have seen our good ship riding at
+anchor under his nose at the edge of the channel; but no visit came
+from that official--for the very good reason, as we later learned,
+that the storm had stove in his boat at her mooring; so that all he
+himself could do was to cross his Cajun bosom and pray that his supply
+skiff might come from across the bay. So, as much alone as the Swiss
+family by name of Robinson--an odd name for a Swiss family, it always
+seemed to me--we remained on our desert island undisturbed, the ladies
+now in the comfortable tent, my hardy pirates under the tarpaulin, and
+the rest of us as we liked or might, all in beds of the sweet scented
+grasses which grew along the lagoon where the great ranks of wild
+fowl kept up their chatter day and night.
+
+It was a land of plenty, and any but a man in my situation might well
+have been content there for many days. Content was not in my own soul.
+I was up by dawn and busy about the boats, before any sign of life was
+visible around the tent or the canvas shelter. But since the sun rose
+warm, it yet was early when we met at John's breakfast fire. I felt
+myself a shabby figure, for in my haste I had forgotten my razors; and
+by now my clothing was sadly soiled and stained, even the most famous
+of the Davidson waistcoats being the worse for the salt-water
+immersions it had known; and my ancient flannels were corkscrewing
+about my limbs. But as for Helena, young and vital, she discarded her
+sweater for breakfast, and appeared as she had before the shipwreck,
+in lace bridge coat and wearing many gems! L'Olonnois, with the
+intimacy of kin and the admiration of youth--and with youth's lack of
+tact--saluted her now gaily. "Gee! Auntie," said he, at table on the
+sand, "togged out that way, all them glitterin' gems, you shore look
+fit for a pirate's bride!"
+
+Poor Helena! She blushed red to the hair; and I fear I did no better
+myself. "Jimmy!" reproved Aunt Lucinda.
+
+"Don't call me 'Jimmy'!" rejoined that hopeful. "My name is
+L'Olonnois, the Scourge of The Sea. Me an' Jean Lafitte, we follow
+Black Bart the Avenger, to the Spanish Main. Auntie, pass me the
+bacon, please. I'm just about starved."
+
+Mrs. Daniver, as was her custom, ate a very substantial breakfast;
+Helena, almost none at all; nor had I much taste for food. In some
+way, our constraint insensibly extended to all the party, much to
+L'Olonnois' disgust. "It's _her_ fault!" I overheard him say to his
+mate. "Women can't play no games. An' we was havin' such a bully
+chance! Now, like's not, we won't stay here longer'n it'll take to get
+things back to the boat again. I don't want to go back home--I'd
+rather be a pirate; an' so'd any fellow."
+
+"Sure he would," assented Jean. They did not see me, behind the tent.
+
+"Somethin's wrong," began L'Olonnois, portentously.
+
+"What'd you guess?" queried Lafitte. "Looks to me like it was
+somethin' between him an' the fair captive."
+
+"That's just it--that's just what I said! Now, if Black Bart lets his
+whiskers grow, an' Auntie Helena wears them rings, ain't it just like
+in the book? Course it is! But here they go, don't eat nothin', don't
+talk none to nobody."
+
+"I'll tell you what!" began Lafitte.
+
+"Uh-huh, what?" demanded L'Olonnois.
+
+"A great wrong has been did our brave leader by yon heartless jade;
+that's what!"
+
+"You betcher life they has. He's on the square, an' look what he done
+for us--look how he managed things all the way down to here. Anybody
+else couldn't have got away with this. Anybody else'd never a' went
+out there last night after John, just a Chink, thataway. An' her!"
+
+Jimmy's disapproval of his auntie, as thus expressed, was extreme. I
+was now about to step away, but feared detection, so unwillingly heard
+on.
+
+"But he can't see no one else but yon fickle jade!" commented Jean
+Lafitte, "unworthy as she is of a bold chief's regard!"
+
+"Nope. That's what's goin' to make all the trouble. I'll tell you
+what!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"We'll have to fix it up, somehow."
+
+"How'd you mean?"
+
+"Why, reason it out with 'em both."
+
+Jean apparently shook his head, or had some look of dubiousness, for
+L'Olonnois went on.
+
+"We _gotta_ do it, somehow. If we don't, we'll about have to go back
+home; an' who wants to go back home from a good old desert island like
+this here. _So_ now----"
+
+"Uh, huh?"
+
+"Why, I'll tell you, now. You see, I got some pull with her--the fair
+captive. She used to lick me, but she don't dast to try it on here on
+a desert island: so I got some pull. An' like enough you c'd talk it
+over with Black Bart."
+
+"Nuh--uh! I don't like to."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Well, I don't. He's all right."
+
+"Yes, but we got to get 'em _together_!"
+
+"Shore. But, my idea, he's hard to _get_ together if he gets a notion
+he ain't had a square deal nohow, someways."
+
+"Well, he ain't. So that makes my part the hardest. But you just go to
+him, and tell him not to hurry, because you are informed the fair
+captive is goin' to relent, pretty soon, if we just don't get in too
+big a hurry and run away from a place like this--where the duck
+shootin' is immense!"
+
+"But kin you work _her_, Jimmy?"
+
+"Well, I dunno. She's pretty set, if she thinks she ain't had a square
+deal, too."
+
+"Well now," argued Lafitte, "if that's the way they both feel, either
+they're both wrong an' ought to shake hands, or else one of 'em's
+wrong, and they either ought to get together an' find out which it
+was, or else they ought to leave it to some one else to say which one
+_was_ wrong. Ain't that so?"
+
+"O' course it's so. So now, thing fer us fellows to do, is just to put
+it before 'em plain, an' get 'em both to leave it to us two fellers
+what's right fer 'em both to do. Now, _I_ think they'd ought to get
+married, both of 'em--I mean to each other, you know. Folks _does_ get
+married."
+
+"Black Bart would," said Jean Lafitte. "I'll bet anything. The fair
+captive, she's a heartless jade, but I seen Black Bart lookin' at her,
+an'----"
+
+"An' I seen her lookin' at him--leastways a picture--an' says she,
+'Jimmy----'"
+
+"Jimmy!" It was I, myself, red and angry, who now broke from my
+unwilling eavesdropping.
+
+The two boys turned to me innocently. I found it difficult to say
+anything at all, and wisest to say nothing. "I was just going to ask
+if you two wouldn't like to take the guns and go out after some more
+ducks--especially the kind with red heads and flat noses, such as we
+had yesterday. And I'll lend you Partial, so you can try for some more
+of those funny little turtles. I'll have to go out to the ship, and
+also over to the lighthouse, before long. The tide will turn, perhaps,
+and at least the wind is offshore from the island now."
+
+"Sure, we'll go." Jean spoke for both at once.
+
+"Very well, then. And be careful. And you'd--you'd better leave your
+auntie and her auntie alone, Jimmy--they'll want to sleep."
+
+"You didn't hear us sayin' nothin', did you, Black Bart?" asked
+L'Olonnois, suspiciously.
+
+"By Jove! I believe that's a boat beating down the bay," said I. "Sail
+ho!" And so eager were they that they forgot my omission of direct
+reply.
+
+"It's very likely only the lighthouse supply boat coming in," said I.
+"I'll find out over there. Better run along, or the morning flight of
+the birds will be over." So they ran along.
+
+As for myself, I called Peterson and Williams for another visit to our
+disabled ship, which now lay on a level keel, white and glistening,
+rocking gently in the bright wind. I left word for the ladies that we
+might not be back for luncheon.
+
+We found that the piling waters of Côte Blanche, erstwhile blown out
+to sea, were now slowly settling back again after the offshore storm.
+The _Belle Helène_ had risen from her bed in the mud now and rode
+free. Our soundings showed us that it would be easy now to break out
+the anchor and reach the channel, just ahead. So, finding no leak of
+consequence, and the beloved engines not the worse for wear, Williams
+went below to get up some power, while Peterson took the wheel and I
+went forward to the capstan.
+
+The donkey winch soon began its work, and I felt the great anchor at
+length break away and come apeak. The current of the air swung us
+before we had all made fast; and as I sounded with a long bow pike, I
+presently called out to Peterson, "No bottom!" He nodded; and now,
+slowly, we took the channel and moved on in opposite the light. We
+could see the white-capped gulf rolling beyond.
+
+"Water there!" said Peterson. "We can go on through, come around in
+the Morrison cut-off, and so make the end of the Manning channel to
+the mainland. But I wish we had a local pilot."
+
+I nodded. "Drop her in alongside this fellow's wharf," I added. "The
+ladies have sent some letters--to go out by the tender's boat,
+yonder--I suppose he'll be going back to-day."
+
+"Like enough," said Peterson; and so gently we moved on up the dredged
+channel, and at last made fast at the tumble-down wharf of the
+lighthouse; courteously waiting for the little craft of the tender to
+make its landing.
+
+We found the mooring none too good, what with the storm's work at the
+wharf, and as we shifted our lines a time or two, the gaping,
+jeans-clad Cajun who had come in with mail and supplies passed in to
+the lighthouse ahead of us; and I wonder his head did not twist quite
+off its neck, for though he walked forward, he ever looked behind him.
+
+When at length we two, Peterson and myself, passed up the rickety walk
+to the equally rickety gallery at the foot of the light, we found two
+very badly frightened men instead of a single curious one. The keeper
+in sooth had in hand a muzzle-loading shotgun of such extreme age,
+connected with such extreme length of barrel, as might have led one to
+suspect it had grown an inch or so annually for all of many decades.
+He was too much frightened to make active resistance, however, and
+only warned us away, himself, now, a pale saffron in color.
+
+"Keep hout!" he commanded. "No, you'll didn't!"
+
+"We'll didn't what, my friend?" began I mildly. "Don't you like my
+looks? Not that I blame you if you do not. But has the boat brought
+down any milk or eggs that you can spare?"
+
+"No milluk--no haig!" muttered the light tender; and they would have
+closed the door.
+
+"Come, come now, my friends!" I rejoined testily. "Suppose you
+haven't, you can at least be civil. I want to talk with you a minute.
+This is the power yacht _Belle Helène_, of Mackinaw, cruising on the
+Gulf. We went aground in the storm; and all we want now is to send out
+a little mail by you to Morgan City, or wherever you go; and to pass
+the time of day with you, as friends should. What's wrong--do you
+think us a government revenue boat, and are you smuggling stuff from
+Cuba through the light here?"
+
+"We no make hany smug'," replied the keeper. "But we know you, who you
+been!"
+
+He smote now upon an open newspaper, whose wrapper still lay on the
+floor. I glanced, and this time I saw a half-page cut of the _Belle
+Helène_ herself, together with portraits of myself, Mrs. Daniver, Miss
+Emory and two wholly imaginary and fearsome boys who very likely were
+made up from newspaper portraits of the James Brothers! Moreover, my
+hasty glance caught sight of a line in large letters, reading:
+
+    TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD!
+
+"Peterson," said I calmly, handing him the paper, "they seem to be
+after us, and to value us rather high."
+
+He glanced, his eyes eager; but Peterson, while a professional
+doubter, was personally a man of whose loyalty and whose courage I,
+myself, had not the slightest doubt.
+
+"Let 'em come!" said he. "We're on our own way and about our own
+business; and outside the three mile zone, let 'em follow us on the
+high seas if they like. She's sound as a bell, Mr. Harry, and once we
+get her docked and her port shaft straight, there's nothing can touch
+her on the Gulf. Let 'em come."
+
+"But we can't dock here, my good Peterson."
+
+"Well, we can beat 'em with one engine and one screw. Besides, what
+have we done?"
+
+"Haint you was 'hrobber, han ron hoff with those sheep?" demanded the
+keeper excitedly.
+
+"No, we are not ship thieves but gentlemen, my friend," I answered,
+suddenly catching at his long gun and setting it behind me. "You
+might let that go off," I explained. At which he went yellower than
+ever, a thing I had thought impossible.
+
+"Now, look here," said I. "Suppose we are robbers, pirates, what you
+like, and suppose a price is put on our heads--a price which means a
+jolly nice libel suit for each paper printing it, by the way, or a
+jolly nice apology--none the less, we are a strong band and without
+fear either of the law or of you. Here you are alone, and not a sail
+is in sight. If any boat did come here, we could--well, we could blow
+her out of the water, couldn't we, Peterson? We could blow you out of
+the water, too, couldn't we, we and these ruffians of our crew?"--and
+I pointed at the two low-browed pictures of Lafitte and L'Olonnois.
+
+A shudder was my only answer. I think the two portraits of my young
+bullies did the business.
+
+"Very well, then," I resumed, "it is plain, Messieurs, that there is
+many a slip between the reward and the pocket, _voyez vous_? _Bien!_
+But here--" and I thrust a hand into my pocket--"is a reward much
+closer home, and far easier to attain."
+
+Their eyes bulged as they saw two or three thousand dollars in big
+bills smoothed out.
+
+"_Ecoutez, Messieurs!_" said I. "Behold here not enemies, but men of
+like mind. I speak of men who live by the sea, men of the old home of
+Jean Lafitte, that great merchant, that bold soldier, who did so much
+to save his country at the Battle. Even now he has thousands of
+friends and hundreds of relatives in this land. You yourself, I doubt
+not, Messieurs, are distant cousins of Jean Lafitte? _N'est-ce pas?_"
+
+They crossed themselves, but murmured "_Ba-oui!_" "Est ees the trut'!
+How did Monsieur know?" asked the tender.
+
+"I know many things. I know that any cousin descended from those brave
+days loves the sea and its ways more than he loves the law. And if
+money has come easy--as this did--what harm if a cousin should take
+the price of a rat-skin or two and carry out a letter or so to the
+railway, and keep a close mouth about it as well? To the good old
+days, and Messieurs, my friends!" I had seen the neck of a flask in
+Peterson's pocket, and now I took it forth, unscrewed the top, and
+passed it, with two bills of one hundred dollars each.
+
+They poured, grinned. I stood, waiting for their slow brains to act,
+but there was only a foregone answer. The keeper drank first, as
+ranking his tender; the other followed; and they handed the
+flask--not the bills--back to Peterson and me.
+
+"_Merci, mes amis!_" said I. "And I drink to Jean Lafitte and the old
+days! Perhaps, you may buy a mass for your cousin's soul?"
+
+"_Ah non!_" answered the keeper. "Hees soul she's hout of _Purgatoire_
+long hago eef she'll goin' get hout. Me, I buy me some net for
+s'rimp."
+
+"An' me, two harpent more lan' for my farm," quoth the tender.
+
+"Alas! poor Jean!" said I. "But he was so virtuous a man that he needs
+no masses after a hundred years, perhaps. As you like. You will take
+the letters; and this for the telegraph?"
+
+"Certain'! I'll took it those," answered the tender. "You'll stayed
+for dish coffee, yass?" inquired the keeper, with Cajun hospitality.
+
+"No, I fear it is not possible, thank you," I replied. "We must be
+going soon."
+
+"An' where you'll goin', Monsieur?"
+
+"Around the island, up the channel, up the old oyster-boat channel of
+Monsieur Edouard. The letters are some of them for Monsieur Edouard
+himself. And you know well, _mes amis_, that once we lie at the wharf
+of Monsieur Edouard, not the government even of the state will touch
+us yonder?"
+
+"My faith, _non!_ I should say it--certain' not! No man he'll mawnkey
+wit' Monsieur Edouard, heem! You'll was know him, Monsieur?"
+
+"We went to school together. We smoked the same pipe."
+
+"My faith! You'll know Monsieur Edouard!" The keeper shook my hand.
+"H'I'll was work for Monsieur Edouard manny tam hon hees boat, hon
+hees plantation, hon hees 'ouse. When I'll want some leetle money,
+s'pose those hrat he'll wasn't been prime yet, hall H'I'll need was to
+go non Monsieur Edouard, hask for those leetle monny. He'll han' it on
+me, yass, heem, ten dollar, jus' like as heasy Monsieur has gave it me
+hondred dollar now, yas, heem!"
+
+"Yes? Well, I know that a cousin of Jean Lafitte--who no doubt has dug
+for treasure all over the dooryard of Monsieur Edouard----"
+
+"But not behin' the smoke-house--nevair on dose place yet, I'll swear
+it!"
+
+"--Very well, suppose you have not yet included the smoke-house of
+Monsieur Edouard, at least you are his friend. And what Acadian lives
+who is not a friend of the ladies?"
+
+"Certain', Monsieur."
+
+"Very well again. What you see in the paper is all false. The two
+ladies whose pictures you see here, and here, are yonder at our camp.
+You shall come and see that they are well and happy, both of them.
+Moreover, if you like another fifty for the mass for Jean Lafitte's
+soul, you, yourself, my friend, shall pilot us into the channel of
+Monsieur Edouard. We'll tow your boat behind us across the bay. Is it
+not?"
+
+"Certain'! _oui!_" answered the tender. "But you'll had leetle dish
+coffee quite plain?" once more demanded the lonesome keeper; and for
+sake of his hospitable soul we now said yes; and very good coffee it
+was, too: and the better since I knew it meant we now were friends.
+Ah! pirate blood is far thicker than any water you may find.
+
+"But if we take you on as pilot, my friend," said I to the pilot as at
+length we arose, "how shall we get out our letters after all?"
+
+"Thass hall right," replied he, "my cousin, Richard Barrière--she's
+cousin of Jean Lafitte too, heem--she'll was my partner on the s'rimp,
+an' she'll was come hon the light, here, heem, to-mor', yas, heem."
+
+"And would you give the letters to Mr. Richard Barrière to-morrow?" I
+inquired of the lighthouse keeper.
+
+"_Oui, oui_, certain', _assurement_, wit' _plaisir, Monsieur_," he
+replied. So I handed him the little packet.
+
+It chanced that my eye caught sight of one of the two letters Mrs.
+Daniver had handed me. The address was not in Mrs. Daniver's
+handwriting, but one that I knew very well. And the letter, in this
+handwriting that I knew very well, was addressed to Calvin Horace
+Davidson, Esquire, The Boston Club, New Orleans, Louisiana: all
+written out in full in Helena's own scrupulous fashion.
+
+I gave the letter over to the messenger, but for a time I stood
+silent, thinking. I knew now very well what that letter contained. But
+yesterday, Helena Emory had finally decided, there on the beach, alone
+with me, the salt air on her cheek, the salt tears in her eyes. She
+had gone far as woman might to tell me that she was grieved over a
+hasty word--she had given me a chance, my first chance, my only
+chance, my last chance. And, I, pig-headed fool, had slighted her at
+the very moment of moments of all my life--I who had prided myself on
+my "psychology"--I who had thought myself wise--I had allowed that
+woman to go away with her head drooping when at last she--oh, I saw it
+all plainly enough now! And now indeed small psychology and small wit
+were requisite to know the whole process of a woman's soul, thus
+chilled. She had been hesitant, had been a little resentful of this
+runaway situation, had not liked my domineering ways; but at last she
+had relented and had asked my pardon. Then I had spurned her. And then
+her mind swung to the other man. She had not yet given that man his
+answer, but when I chilled her, rejected her timid little desire to
+"make up" with me--why, then, her mind was made up for that other man
+at once. She had written his answer. And now--oh! fiendlike cruelty of
+woman's heart--she had chosen me as her messenger to carry out that
+word which would cost me herself forever! She had done that
+exquisitely well, as she did everything, not even advising me that I
+was to be her errand boy on such an errand, trusting me to find out by
+accident, as I had, that I was to be my own executioner, was to spring
+my own guillotine. She knew that, none the less, though I understood
+what the letter meant thus addressed, I sacredly must execute her
+silent trust. Oh! Helena, yours was indeed an exquisite revenge for
+that one hour of a dour man's hurt pride.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+IN WHICH WE FOLD OUR TENTS
+
+
+By consent of the lighthouse keeper, we left the _Belle Helène_ moored
+at the wharf in the channel, with Williams in charge, while Peterson
+and I, towing the tender's sailing skiff, its piratical lateen sail
+lowered, started back for our encampment in our long boat. It was only
+a half mile or so alongshore around the head of the island, although
+we had to keep out a bit to avoid going aground on the flats where the
+_Belle Helène_ had come to grief--and had, moreover, to wade ashore
+some fifty yards or so, now that the sea was calm, since the keel of
+the motor-boat would not admit a closer approach in the shallows.
+
+We found our party all assembled, John having but now issued his
+luncheon call; and, such had proved the swift spell of this care-free
+life, none expressed much delight at the announcement of my decision
+to strike camp and move toward civilization. Helena only looked up
+swiftly, but made no comment; and Mrs. Daniver, to my surprise, openly
+rebelled at leaving these flesh-pots, where canvasback and terrapin
+might be had by shaking the bushes, and where the supply of
+ninety-three seemed, after all, not exhausted. Of course, my men had
+nothing to say about it, but when it came to my partners and
+associates, Lafitte and L'Olonnois, there was open mutiny.
+
+"Why, now," protested L'Olonnois, his lip quivering, "O' _course_ we
+don't want to go home. Ain't our desert island all right? Where you
+goin' to find any better place 'n this, like to know? Besides"--and
+here he drew me to one side--"they's a good reason for not goin' just
+yet, Black Bart!"
+
+"What, Jimmy?" I inquired.
+
+"Well, _I_ know somethin'."
+
+"And what is it?"
+
+"Well, Jean Lafitte knows it, too."
+
+"What is it then?"
+
+"Well, it ain't happened yet, but it's goin' to--or anyhow maybe."
+
+"You interest me! Is it a matter of importance?"
+
+"--Say it was!"
+
+"To whom?"
+
+"Why, to you--an' besides, to my Auntie Helena. 'N' you can't pull off
+things like that just anywheres. Jean Lafitte an' me, we frame up how
+to handle yon heartless jade, the fair captive, 'n' here you butt in
+'n' spoil the whole works. It ain't right."
+
+I bethought me now of the conversation I had unwillingly
+overheard--and my heart was grateful to these my friends--but the next
+instant I remembered the note to Cal Davidson.
+
+"I thank you, Jimmy, my friend," said I, "and I believe I know what
+you mean, but it can't be done."
+
+"What can't, an' why can't it?"
+
+"Why, the--the frame-up that you have just mentioned. In short--but,
+Jimmy, go on and roll up the blankets."
+
+"But why can't it, and what do you know about it? Tell me," he
+demanded with sudden inspiration, "is yon varlet a suitor, too, for
+yon heartless jade?"
+
+"I decline to answer, Jimmy. Don't let's get into too deep water. Go
+on and get your bundles ready."
+
+"You're a fine pirate, ain't you, Black Bart!" he broke out. "Do you
+hold yerself fit to head a band o' bold an' desprit men, when you let
+yerself be bluffed by yon varlet, an' him a thousand miles away? You
+try _me_, just you gimme a desert island, or even a pirut ship, a
+week, like the chance you got, an' beshrew me, but any heartless jade
+would be mine!"
+
+"Oh, maybe not, Jimmy."
+
+"--Or else she'd walk the plank."
+
+"There isn't any plank to walk here, Jimmy," said I, pointing to our
+boat, which lay in the shoals far out. "I rather wish there were."
+
+"You'll have to carry my Auntie Helen out on yore strong right arm,
+Black Bart."
+
+"I'll do nothing of the sort, Jimmy."
+
+"Don't you like her no more? An' if you don't, what're we here for?"
+
+I could foresee embarrassments in further conversation with Jimmy in
+his present truculent mood, so sought out others less mutinous, and
+gave orders for the striking of the camp and the embarkment of all in
+the small boats. I left Peterson and Willy to take the ladies and most
+of the duffel in the large boat, assigned John the dingey for his cook
+boat, and decided to pole the light draft duck boat over the shallows
+direct to the yacht, taking my two associates with me. It was
+necessary, of course, to carry our fair passengers out to the long
+boat, which was some distance out on the flat beach. Peterson and I
+made a cradle for Mrs. Daniver, with our locked hands, and so got her
+substantial weight aboard. Helena mutely waited, but seeing her so,
+and unwilling myself to be so near to her any more, I motioned her to
+step into the flat duck boat, dry shod, and so poled her out to the
+long boat; but I did so in silence, nor did she look up or speak to
+me.
+
+Our new pilot sat in his own boat, and was towed back, after rendering
+some assistance with the cargoes; so now, at last, I was ready to
+leave a spot which, in any other circumstances, would have offered
+much charm for a man fond of the out-of-doors. As for my young
+friends, they were almost in tears as they sat, looking back longingly
+at the great flights of all manner of wild fowl continuously streaming
+in and out of the lagoon. At any other time, I would have been
+unwilling as any to depart, but, now, the whole taste and flavor of
+life had left me, and no interest remained in any of my old
+occupations or enjoyments. All that remained was the action necessary
+to deliver Helena and her aunt back to the usual scenes of their
+lives, to make their losses as light as possible, to take my own
+losses, and so close the books of my life.
+
+"There they come!" said Jean Lafitte, pointing to a vast gaggle of
+clamoring wild geese coming in from the bay. "Right over our point,
+Jimmy! Gee! I wisht I was under them fellers right now. Pow! Pow!"
+
+"Aw, shut up!" was Jimmy's reply. "We won't never get no chance like
+this again. Why, looky here, we was reg'lar castaways on a real desert
+island, an' we had a abandoned ship, an' we c'd 'a' lived chiefly by
+huntin' an' fishin'; and we had evaded all pursuit an' run off with
+the fair captive to a place o' hidin'--why, it's all just like in the
+book. An' what do _we_ do? Why, we go home! Wouldn't it frost you? An'
+what's worse, we let the heartless jade get away with it, too! Ain't
+that so?"
+
+"Yes, that's true, Jimmy," I replied.
+
+"Well, I was talkin' to Jean Lafitte--but it's so. We started out all
+right as pirates, but now we let a girl bluff us."
+
+"What would you do, Jimmy, in a case like that?" I inquired.
+
+"I would wring the wench's slender neck, beshrew me! She couldn't put
+over none o' that coarse work on me. No, curses on her fair face!"
+
+"That will do, Jimmy!" said I, and pushed on in silence, Jean Lafitte
+very grave, and Jimmy snuffling, now, in his grief at leaving the
+enchanted island. So, all much about the same time, we reached the
+_Belle Helène_ and went aboard. The ladies went at once to their
+cabin, and I saw neither again that day, although I sent down duck,
+terrapin and ninety-three for their dinner that night.
+
+In half an hour we were under way; and in an hour and a half, having
+circumvented our long desert island, we were passing through the
+cut-off which led us back into Côte Blanche, some fifty miles, I
+presume, from what was to be our voyage's end. We still were in the
+vast marsh country, an inaccessible region teeming with wild life. The
+sky now was clear, the air once more warm, the breeze gentle, and all
+the country roundabout us had a charm quite its own. A thousand side
+channels led back into the fortresses of the great sea-marsh, to this
+or that of the many lakes, lagoons and pond holes where the wild fowl
+found their feeding beds. Here was this refuge, where they fled to
+escape persecution, the spot most remote, secluded, secret,
+inaccessible. Here nature conspired to balk pursuit. The wide shallows
+made a bar now to the average sailing craft, and as for a motor-yacht
+like ours, the presence of a local pilot, acquainted with all the
+oyster reefs and shallows, all the channels and cut-offs, made us feel
+more easy, for we knew we could no longer sail merely by compass and
+chart. A great sense of remoteness from all the world came over me. I
+scarce could realize that yonder, so lately left behind, roared the
+mad tumult of the northern cities. This wide expanse was broken by no
+structure dedicated to commerce, not even the quiet spire of some
+rural church arose among the lesser edifices of any village--not even
+the blue smoke of some farmhouse marked the dwelling-place of man. It
+was the wilderness, fit only for the nomad, fit only for the man
+resentful of restraint and custom, longing only for the freedom of
+adventure and romance. The cycles of Cathay lay here in these gray
+silences, the leaf of the lotus pulsed on this lazy sea. Ah! here,
+here indeed were surcease and calm.
+
+And all this I was leaving. I was going back now to the vast tumult of
+the roaring towns, to the lip of mockery, the eye of insincerity, the
+hand of hypocrisy, where none may trust a neighbor. And moreover, I
+was going back without one look, face to face, into the eyes and the
+heart of the woman I had loved, and who, by force of these
+extraordinary circumstances had, for a miraculous moment, been thus
+set down with me, her lover, in the very surroundings built of
+Providence for secrecy and love! Yonder, speeding to her summons, no
+doubt hastened, ready to meet her, the man whom she had preferred
+above me. And like a beast of burden, driven in the service of these
+two, I was plodding on, in the work of leaving paradise and
+opportunity, and delivering safe into the hands of another man the
+woman whom I loved far more than all else in all the world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+IN WHICH IS PHILOSOPHY; WHICH, HOWEVER, SHOULD NOT BE SKIPPED
+
+
+We passed on steadily to the northward until mid-afternoon, making no
+great headway with one propellor missing, but leaving the main gulf
+steadily, and at length, raising, a faint blue loom on the sky, the
+long oak-crowned heights of those singular geological formations, the
+heights known as "islands", that bound the head of this great bay.
+Here the land, springing out of the level marshes and alluvial wet
+prairies, thrusts up in long reefs, hundreds of feet above the sea
+level. On the eminences grow ancient and mossy forest trees, as well
+as much half-tropic brake in the lower levels. Here are wide and rich
+acres also, owned as hereditary fees by old proud families, part of
+whose wealth comes from their plantations, part from their bay
+fisheries, and much from the ancient salt mines which lie under these
+singular uplifts above the great alluvial plain. As of right, here
+grow mansion homes, and here is lived life as nearly feudal and as
+wholly dignified and cultured as any in any land. Ignorant of the
+banal word "aristocracy," here, uncounting wealth, unsearching of self
+and uncritical of others, simple and fine, folk live as the best
+ambition of America might make one long to live, so far above the
+vulgar northern scramble for money and display as might make angels
+weep for the latter in the comparison.
+
+Perhaps it was Edouard Manning, planter, miner, sportsman, gentleman,
+traveler, scholar and host, who first taught me what wealth might
+mean, may mean, ought to mean. Always, before now, I had approached
+his home with joy, as that of an old friend. There, I knew, I would
+find horses, guns, dogs, good sport and a simple welcome; and I could
+read or ride as I preferred. A king among all the cousins of Jean
+Lafitte, Monsieur Edouard. Hereabouts ran the old causeway by which
+the wagon reached the "importations" of Jean's barges, brought inland
+from his schooners hid in the marshes far below. Here, too, as is well
+known in all the state, was the burying-ground of Jean Lafitte's
+treasure-chests: for, though the old adventurer sold silks and
+tobaccos and sugars very cheap to the planters and traders, he
+secreted, as is well known, great store of plate, bullion and minted
+coins, at divers points about the several miles of forest covered
+heights; so that the very atmosphere thereabout--till custom stales it
+for the visitor who comes often there--reeks with the flavor of pieces
+of eight, Spanish doubloons, and rare gems of the Orient. Laughingly,
+many a time Monsieur Edouard had agreed to go a-treasure hunting with
+me, even had showed me several of the curious old treasure-keys, maps
+and cabalistic characters which tell the place where Lafitte and his
+men buried their gold--such maps as are kept as secret heirlooms in
+many a Cajun family.
+
+But now, as I saw myself once more approaching this pleasant spot so
+well known to me, I felt little of the old thrill of eagerness come
+over me. True, Edouard would be there, and the dogs, and the birds,
+and the horses, and the quiet welcome. True, also, I could, either in
+truth or by evasion, establish a pleasant and conventional footing for
+all my party--it would be easy to explain so natural and pleasant an
+incident as a visit during a yacht cruise, and to laugh at all that
+silly newspaper sensation which by now must fully have blown over.
+True, Monsieur Edouard would be charmed to meet the woman whose
+influence on my life he knew so well. Yes, I could tell him
+everything easily, nicely, except the truth; which was, that I was
+bringing to another man's arms the woman whom he knew I loved. No, the
+blue loom of Manning's Island gave me no joy now. I wished it three
+thousand miles away instead of thirty. I wished that almost anything
+might prevent my arrival--accident, delay.
+
+And then, in the most natural way in the world, there were both!
+Without much warning, the pulse of our engine slackened, the throb of
+our single screw slowed down and ceased. Williams stuck his head up
+out of his engine-room and shouted something to Peterson, who
+methodically drew out his pipe and made ready for a smoke.
+
+"It's no use going any farther," explained Williams when I came up.
+"That intake's gone wrong again, and she's got sand all through her.
+It's a crime to see her cut herself all to pieces this way. We've just
+got to stop and clean her up, that's all, and fix the job right--ought
+to have done it back there before we started in."
+
+"How long will it take, Williams?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, I don't know, sir. More than this afternoon, sure."
+
+"That's too bad," said I, with a fair imitation of regret. "We had
+expected to make Manning Island by night."
+
+"Yes, it is too bad, but it's better to stop than ruin her, isn't it,
+sir?"
+
+"Certainly it is, and I quite approve your judgment. But I presume we
+can go a little way yet, until we find a good berth somewhere? There's
+a deep channel comes in from the left, just ahead, and I think if we
+move on half a mile or so, we can get water enough to float even at
+low tide, and at the same time be out of sight of any boats passing in
+the lower part of the bay."
+
+"Oh, yes, sir, we can get that far," said the engineer. Peterson was
+full of gloom, and though he thought nothing less than that we were
+going to be kept here a month, as one more event in a trip already
+unlucky enough, he gave the wheel to our Cajun pilot, and we crawled
+on around the head of a long point that came out into the bay. Here we
+could not see Manning Island, and were out of sight from most of the
+bay, so that, once more, the feeling of remoteness, aloofness, came
+upon me.
+
+Not that it did me any present good. I despatched L'Olonnois as
+messenger to the ladies, telling them the cause of our delay, and
+explaining how difficult it was to say just when we would get in to
+the island; and then I betook myself to gloomy pacing up and down what
+restricted part of the deck I felt free for my own use. I wearied of
+it soon, and went to my cabin, trying to read.
+
+At first I undertook one of the modern novels which had been
+recommended by my bookseller, but I found myself unable to get on with
+it, and standing before my shelves took down one volume after another
+of philosophers who once were wont to comfort me--men with brains,
+thinking men who had done something in the world beside buying yachts
+and country houses. My eye caught a page which earlier I had turned
+down, and I read again:
+
+"Trust thyself; every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the
+place the Divine Providence has found for you--the society of friends,
+the connexion of events. Great men have always done so, and confided
+themselves childlike to the genius of their age.... And we now are
+men, and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent
+destiny; and not pinched in a corner nor cowards fleeing before a
+revolution, but redeemers, and benefactors, pious aspirants to be
+noble clay, under the Almighty effort let us advance on Chaos and the
+Dark."
+
+I read the mystic, involved, subjective words again, as most of the
+Concord Sage's words require, and reflected how well they jumped with
+the note of my heathen Epictetus, who had said, "Be natural and
+noble". And, so thinking, I began to wonder whether, after all, my
+father, whose ruthless ways I betimes had explored, whose ruthless
+sins I had betimes atoned, had not been, perhaps, a better man than
+sometimes I had credited him with being. He, in accordance with his
+lights, had accepted the part given him by the Poet of the Play. He
+had confided himself childlike to the genius of his age, roaring,
+fighting, scrambling, getting and sometimes giving. He had trusted
+himself; and in the end, a bold man, he had advanced bravely on Chaos
+and the Dark. After a life of war and sometimes of rapine, done under
+the genius of his day, he had struck boldly the last chord on an iron
+string. Dear old Governor! I did not regret the million of his money I
+had spent to restore his memory clean in my own mind: for after all,
+it had all been in open war--that time when he unloaded a worthless
+mine on his friend, Dan Emory--Helena's father, Daniel Emory, who was,
+at first, said to have left his family penniless; until a shrewd
+lawyer in some miraculous way had managed to sell at a good price a
+box full of worthless mining stock to some innocent victim.
+
+Helena Emory never knew of that sale, nor did her guardian aunt. I did
+know of it, for the very good reason that I was both the shrewd lawyer
+and the innocent purchaser. It was the last act of my professional
+career; and it was this which caused the general report that I had
+made a bad mining venture, had lost my father's fortune, and retired
+from my career a ruined man. A few friends knew otherwise: and I
+blessed the rumor which cost me certain friends who thought me poor
+and so forsook me. Perhaps, my father would have called me quixotic
+had he known. Now, as I read and pondered, I neither blamed him for
+his own course in fair business war with old Dan Emory, nor did I
+censure myself for my own hidden act of restitution. Let the world wag
+its head if it liked, and remain ignorant of other millions given to
+me before my father's death, unprobated, secret, after the fashion of
+my pirate parent who buried his treasures and told none but his kin
+how they might be found.
+
+Of course, in time, it all might come out. In time, Helena would know
+that this yacht which she supposed to be Davidson's was my own, that
+the farm I was supposed to have rented really was a handsome estate
+that I owned, that many covert deeds in finance had been my own--it
+was only my silence and my absence in many parts of the world which
+had prevented her, also much a traveler, from knowing the truth about
+me long ago. And the truth was, I was not a poor man, but a rich one.
+
+Yet he who had stolen my purse would indeed have stolen trash this
+day. Rich in one way, I was poor, indeed, in others. I cared nothing
+for old Dan Emory's money, but very, very much for old Dan Emory's
+daughter; and her I might not have, even after all my efforts.... No,
+the waters would leave no trail; and once more, after I had restored
+old Dan Emory's daughter to her home and friends, I would travel the
+wide world again, and the gossipers might guess what causes had ended
+a professional career, apparently ended a great fortune, and actually
+had ended a life.... For, I thought--using some philosophy of my own
+making--it is not wealth, but usefulness, contentment and independence
+which a man should hold as his most desired success. These achieved,
+little is left to gain. Any one of these last, and nothing remains
+worth gaining.
+
+I took up another book, at another marked page: "Let us learn to be
+content with what we have. Let us get rid of our false estimates, set
+up all the higher ideals--a quiet home, vines of our own planting; a
+few books full of the inspiration of genius; a few friends worthy of
+being loved; a hundred innocent pleasures that bring no pain or
+remorse; a devotion to the right that will never swerve; a simple
+religion empty of all bigotry, full of trust and hope and love--and to
+such a philosophy, this world will give up all the empty joy it has."
+
+I meditated over this also, applying these tests to my own life....
+Ah! now I saw why my foot was ever restless, why I sought always new
+scenes.... Where was my quiet home, the vines of my own planting?
+Would I flee from that to every corner of the world? Not if it held
+the woman of my choice. Would she thus roam restless, if she held the
+heart of her chosen and if they had a home?... I began to see the Plan
+unfold. Yes, and saw myself outside the Plan.... Because of a devotion
+to the right that would not swerve. Because of a fanaticism, an
+"oddness", a nonconformity--ah! so I said bitterly to myself, because,
+after all, I was unattuned to my age, because I was unfit to survive
+before a man's own judge.... It is Portia judges this world. The case
+of every man comes before a woman for decision. I, who rarely had lost
+a case at law where I could use my own trained mind, had lost my first
+and only case at the bar of Love....
+
+So--and I sighed as I shut the books and returned them to their
+shelves--contentment never could be mine, nor that quiet home where
+only life is lived that is worth living; nor usefulness; nor
+independence.
+
+I did not hear Jimmy when he came in, and when he spoke I jumped,
+startled.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+IN WHICH IS AN ARMISTICE WITH FATE
+
+
+"Black Bart!" said Jimmy. "Say, now----"
+
+"Well, good mate," said I, and laid a hand on his curly fair head,
+"what shall I say?"
+
+"Say nothin'," he remarked, dropping his voice. "Listen!"
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"We have held a council."
+
+"Who has?"
+
+"Why, me and Jean Lafitte and the heartless jade. I told her you sent
+us to her to bid her seek your presence."
+
+"Jimmy! What on earth do you mean! That's precisely the last thing I
+would have done--I haven't done it. On the contrary----"
+
+"I told her," he resumed calmly, "that when Black Bart, the pirut,
+spoke, he spoke to be obeyed. She said, 'I can't go,' and I said, 'You
+_gotta_ go.'"
+
+"You, yourself, may now go and tell her that there has been a very bad
+mistake, Jimmy; and that she need not come."
+
+"An' make her cry worse? I ain't goin' to do it!"
+
+"Sir! This is mutiny!--But did she cry, Jimmy?"
+
+"Yes. Awful. She said she was homesick. She ain't. I don't know what
+really is the matter. I ast Jean Lafitte, an' he said maybe you'd
+know. We thought maybe it was something about yon varlet. Do you
+know?"
+
+"No, I do not, Jimmy." I found myself engaged in one of those
+detestable conversations where one knows the talk ought to end, yet
+dislikes to end it.
+
+Jimmy stood for some time, much perturbed, looking every way but at
+me, and at last he blurted out.
+
+"Don't you just jolly well awfully love the fair captive, yon
+heartless jade--my Auntie Helen? Don't you, Black Bart?"
+
+I made no answer, but frowned very much at his presumption.
+
+"--Because, everybody else does. She's nice. I should think you would.
+_I_ do, I know mighty well."
+
+"She is--she is--she's a very estimable young woman, Jimmy," said I,
+coloring. "I think I may say that without compromising myself."
+
+"Then why do you hurt her feelings the way you do--when she's plumb
+gone on you, the way she is?"
+
+I sprang toward him to clap a hand over his garrulous mouth, but he
+evaded me, and spoke from behind the bathroom door. "Well, she is!
+Don't I hear her sticking up for you all the time--didn't I hear her
+an' Auntie Lucinda havin' a reg'lar row over it again, 'I don't care
+if he _hasn't_ got a cent!' says she."
+
+"But yon varlet is rich," said I.
+
+"She didn't mean yon varlet--she meant you, I'm pretty sure, Black
+Bart. An' she's been feedin' Partial all the afternoon--say, he's the
+shape of a sausage."
+
+"She is heartless, Jimmy! Little do you know the ways of a heartless
+jade--she wants to win away from me the last thing on earth I
+have--even my dog. That's all. Now, Jimmy, you must go."
+
+But he emerged only in part from his shelter. "So Jean Lafitte an' me,
+we looked it up in the book; an' it says where the heartless jade is
+brought before the pirut chief, 'How now, fair one!' says he, an' he
+bends on her the piercin' gaze o' his iggle eye: 'how now, wouldst
+spurn me suit?' The fair captive she bends her head an' stands before
+him unable to encounter his piercin' gaze, an' for some moments a deep
+silence prevails----"
+
+"Jimmy!" I heard a clear voice calling along the deck. No answer, and
+Jimmy raised a hand to command silence of me also.
+
+"Jimme-e-e-e!" It was Helena's voice, and nearer along the rail.
+"Here's the fudges--now where can the little nuisance have gone! Jim!"
+
+"Here I am, Auntie," replied the little nuisance, as she now
+approached the door of our cabin; and he brushed past me and started
+not aft but toward the bows. "An' there _you_ are!" he shouted over
+his shoulder in cryptic speech, whether to me or to his Auntie Helen I
+could not say.
+
+She stood now in such position near my door that neither of us could
+avoid the other without open rudeness. I looked at her gravely and she
+at me, her eyes wide, her lips silent for a time. Silently also, I
+swung the cabin door wide and stood back for her to pass.
+
+"You have sent for me?" she said at last, still standing as she was. A
+faint smile--part in humor, part in timidity, part, it seemed suddenly
+to me, wistful; and all just a trifle pathetic--stirred her lips.
+
+"'I sent my soul through the Invisible,'" said I; and stepped within
+and quite aside for her to pass.
+
+"Jimmy told the biggest lie in all his career," said I. She would have
+sprung back.
+
+"--And the greatest truth ever told in all the world. Come in, Helena
+Emory. Come into my quiet home. Already, as you know, you have come
+into my heart."
+
+"I am not used to going into a gentleman's--quarters," said she: but
+her foot was on the shallow stair.
+
+"It is common to three gentlemen of the ship's company, Helena Emory,"
+said I, "and we have no better place to receive our friends."
+
+She now was in the room. I closed the door, and sprung the catch.
+
+"At last," said I, "you are in my power!" And I bent upon her the
+piercing gaze of my eagle eye.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+IN WHICH ARE SEALED ORDERS
+
+
+She stood before me for just a moment undecided. The twilight was
+coming and the room was dim.
+
+"Auntie will miss me," said she, "after a time."
+
+"I have missed you all the time," was my reply.
+
+"But you sent for me?"
+
+"Of course I did. Doesn't this look as though I had?"
+
+"I don't quite understand----"
+
+"Shall I call Jimmy to explain? He called you a heartless jade----"
+
+"The little imp! How dare he!"
+
+"--As in fact all of our brotherhood has come to call you: 'The
+heartless jade.'"
+
+"I made fudges for him! And the little wretch told me I wasn't playing
+the game! What did he mean? Oh, Harry, I wouldn't have come if I
+hadn't wanted to play the game fairly. I'm sorry for what I said." She
+spoke now suddenly, impulsively.
+
+"What was it you said?"
+
+"When I said--when I called you--a coward. I didn't mean it."
+
+"You said it."
+
+"But not the way you thought. I only meant, you took an unfair
+advantage of a girl, running off with her, this way, and giving her no
+chance to--to get away. But now you do give me a chance--you meant to,
+all along--and in every way, as I've just done telling auntie, you've
+been perfectly fine, perfectly splendid, perfectly bully, too! It has
+been a hard place for a man, too, but--Harry, dear boy, I'll have to
+say it, you've been some considerable gentleman through it all! There
+now!" And she stood, aloof, agitated, very likely flushed, though I
+could not tell in the dark.
+
+"Thank you, Helena," I said.
+
+"And as to your being any other sort of a coward--that you had
+physical fear--that you wouldn't do a man's part--why, I never did
+mean that at all. How could I? And if I had--why, even Auntie Lucinda
+said your going out after that Chinaman the other night was
+heroic--even if he couldn't have cooked a bit!--and you know Auntie
+Lucinda has always been against you."
+
+"Yes, and you both called me a coward, because I quit my law office
+and ran away from misfortune."
+
+"Yes, we did. And I meant that, too! I say it now to your face, Harry.
+But maybe I don't know all about that----"
+
+"Maybe not."
+
+"Well, I wouldn't want to be unjust, of course, but I _don't_ think a
+man ought to throw away his life. You're young. You could start over
+again, and you ought to have tried. Your father made his own money,
+and so did my father--why, look at the Sally M. mine, that has given
+me my own fortune. Do you suppose that grew on a bush to be shaken
+off? So why couldn't you go out in the same way and do something in
+the world--I don't mean just make money, you know, but _do_ something?
+That's what a girl likes. And you were able enough. You are young and
+strong, and you have your education; and I've heard my father say,
+before he died--and other men agreed with him--that you were the best
+lawyer at our bar, and that you had an extraordinary mind, and a clear
+sense of justice, and, and----"
+
+"Go on. Did he say that?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But with all my fine qualities of mind and heart," said I, "I lost
+all when I lost my money!"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I'll tell you what I mean--you dropped me because you thought me
+poor. Well, I don't blame you. It takes money to live, and you
+deserved all that the world can give. I don't blame you. There were
+other men in the world for you. The trouble with me was that there was
+no other woman in the world for me. All our trouble--all our many
+meetings and partings--have come out of those two facts."
+
+"Did you think that of me?" she asked at length, slowly. I suppose she
+was pale, but I could not see.
+
+"I certainly did. How could I think anything else?"
+
+"Harry!" she half whispered. "Why, Harry, Harry!"
+
+"Admit that you did!" I exclaimed bitterly, "and let me start from
+that as a premise. Listen! If you were a man, and loved a woman, and
+she chucked you when you lost your money, do you think you'd break
+your neck to make any more success in the world after that? Why should
+you? Why does a man work? It's for a home, for the sake of power, and
+mostly for the sake of the game."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And I could play that game--I can play it now, and win at it, any
+time I like. I quit it not because I was afraid of the game--it's the
+easiest thing in the world to make money, if that's all you really
+want to do. That's all your father wanted, or mine, and it was easy. I
+can play that game. But why? Ah! if it were to win a quiet home, the
+woman I loved, independence, usefulness, contentment,--yes! But when
+all those stakes were out of the game, Helena, I didn't care to play
+it any more. And that was why you thought I ran away. I did run
+away--from myself, and you."
+
+She was silent now, and perhaps paler--I could not see.
+
+"--But wherever I have gone, Helena, all over the world, I've found
+those two people there ahead of me, and I couldn't escape
+them--myself, and you!"
+
+"Did you think that of me, Harry?" She half whispered once more.
+
+"Yes, I did. And did you think that of me?"
+
+"Yes, I did. But I did not understand."
+
+"No. Like many a woman, you got cause and effect mixed up: and you
+never troubled yourself to get it straight. Let me tell you, unless
+two people can come to each other without compromises and without
+explanations and without reservations, they would better never come
+at all. I don't want you cheap, you oughtn't to want me cheap. So how
+can it end any way other than the way it has? If it was my loss of
+fortune that made you chuck me, I oughtn't ever to give you a second
+thought, for you wouldn't be worth it. The fact you did, and that I
+do, hasn't anything to do with it at all."
+
+"No."
+
+"And if you don't think me able and disposed to play a man's part in
+the world, you oughtn't to care a copper for me, that is plain, isn't
+it?"
+
+"Yes, quite plain."
+
+"And the fact that you did, and that you do, has nothing to do with
+it--nothing in the world, has it, Helena?"
+
+"No." She must have been very pale, though I could not tell.
+
+"Therefore, as logic shows us, my dear, and because we never did get
+our premises straight, and so never will get our conclusions straight,
+either--we don't belong together and never can come together, can we?"
+
+"No." I could barely hear her whisper.
+
+"No. And that is why, just before you came, I was trying to pull
+myself together and to advance as best an unhappy devil may, upon
+Chaos and the Dark! And that's all I see ahead, Helena, without
+you--Chaos and the Dark."
+
+"It was all you saw that night, in the little boat," she said after a
+time. "Yet you went?"
+
+"Oh, yes, but that was different."
+
+"Is this all, Harry?" she said, and moved toward the door.
+
+"Yes, my dear; it is all--but all the rest."
+
+Her color must have risen, for I saw dimly that she raised both her
+hands to her bosom, her throat. Thus the heartless jade stood, her
+head drooped, unable to meet the piercing gaze of my eagle eye.
+
+There came a faint scratching at the door, a little whimpering whine.
+
+"It is Partial, my dog, come after you," said I bitterly. "He knows
+you are here. He never has done that way for me. He loves you."
+
+"He knows _you_ are here, and he loves you," said she. "That is why
+things come and scratch at doors where ruffians live."
+
+I flung open the door. "Partial," said I, "come in; and choose between
+us."
+
+As to the first part of my speech, the invitation to enter, Partial
+obeyed with a rush; as to the second, the admonition, he apparently
+could not obey at all. In his poor dumb brute affliction, lack of
+human speech, he stood, after saluting us both, alternately and
+equally, hesitant between us, wagging, whining and gazing, knowing
+full well somewhat was wrong between us, grieving over us, beseeching
+us--but certainly not choosing between us.
+
+"Give him time," said I hoarsely. "He loves you more, and is merely
+polite to me."
+
+"Give him time," said she bitterly. "He loves you more, and you don't
+deserve it."
+
+But Partial would not choose.
+
+"He wants us _both_, Helena!" said I at last. "He has wiped out logic,
+premises, conclusions, cause and effect, horse, cart and all! He wants
+us _both_! He wants a quiet home and independence, Helena, and
+usefulness, and contentment. Ah, my God!"
+
+She reached down and put a hand on his head, but he only looked from
+one to the other of us, unhappy.
+
+"Don't you love me, Helena?" I asked quietly, after a time. "For the
+sake of my dog, can you not love me?"
+
+She continued stroking the head of the agonized Partial.... And until,
+somewhat inarticulately, I had choked or spoken, and had caught her
+dark hair against my cheek and kissed her hair and stammered in her
+ear, and turned her face and kissed her eyes and her cheek and her
+lips many, many times, Partial held his peace and issued no
+decision.... At least, I did not hear him....
+
+She was sobbing now, her head on my shoulder, as we sat on the locker
+seat, and Partial's head was on the cushion beside us, and he was
+silent and overjoyed, and tranquilly happy--seeing perhaps, that a
+quiet home would in the event be his, and that he was going to live
+happy ever after. And after I drew Helena's head closer to my face, I
+kissed her hair.
+
+"Do you love me, Helena?" I asked. "Only the truth now, in God's
+name!"
+
+"You know I do," she said, and I felt her arms about my neck.
+
+"Have you, always?"
+
+"I think so, yes. It seems always."
+
+"We have been cruel to each other."
+
+"Yes, are cruel now."
+
+"How now?"
+
+"You make me say I love you, and yet----"
+
+"You will marry me--right away, soon, Helena--as I am, poor, ragged,
+without a cent, only myself?"
+
+"Not here," she smiled.
+
+"At Edouard Manning's, at once, as soon as we get in?"
+
+"It is duress! I am in the power of a ruffian band! Is it fair? Are
+you sure I know my mind?"
+
+"I am sure only that I know my own! Tell me, what was in that note I
+carried, addressed to yon varlet Davidson?"
+
+"Sealed orders!"
+
+"And how does that affect me, Helena. Tell me--I know you love me, and
+you know that all the rest is small, to that; but as to that wedding
+part of it, Helena--what do you say?"
+
+She hesitated for an instant. "You want me to--come--to come with
+honor, as you do?"
+
+"Yes. I'll take any risk that means with you."
+
+"Will you take sealed orders, too?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Turn on the lights."
+
+I reached the switch, and an instant later a dozen high candle-power
+bulbs flooded the suite with light. With a little cry of dismay Helena
+sprang away, and stood at my shaving-glass, arranging her hair. Now
+and then she turned her face just enough to smile at me a little, her
+eyes dark, languid, heavy lidded, a faint shadow of blue beneath. And
+now and then her breast heaved, as though it were a sea late troubled
+by a storm gone by.
+
+"What will auntie say?" she sighed at last.
+
+"What will you say?" I replied.
+
+"Oh, brute, you shall not know! I must have some manner of revenge
+against a ruffian who has taken advantage of me while I was in his
+power!"
+
+"Ah, heartless jade!"
+
+"--So you shall wait until we are ashore. I will give you sealed
+orders----"
+
+"When?"
+
+"Now. And you shall open them at your friend's house--as soon as we
+are all settled and straightened after leaving the boat--as soon
+as----"
+
+"It looks as though it were as soon as you please, not when I please."
+
+"Harry, it is my revenge for the indignities you have heaped on me. Do
+you think a girl will submit to that meekly--to be browbeaten, abused,
+endangered as I have been! No, sir--sealed orders or none. I have only
+owned I loved you. So many girls have been mistaken about things
+when--when the moon, or a desert island or--or something has bewitched
+them. But I haven't said I would marry you, have I, ever?"
+
+"No. I don't care about that so much as the other; but I care a very,
+very great deal about it, too. You, too, are cruel. You are a
+heartless jade."
+
+"And you have been a cruel and ruthless pirate."
+
+"Tell me now!"
+
+"No." And she evaded me, and gained the door. "I must go. Oh, it's all
+a ruin now--Auntie'll be furious. And what shall I say?"
+
+"Give her sealed orders, and my love! And when do I get mine?"
+
+"In five minutes."
+
+She was gone.... And after some moments, rapt as I was at her late
+presence, which still seemed to fill the room like the fragrance, like
+the fragrance of her hair which still lingered in my senses, I looked
+about, sighing for that she was gone. Then I noted that our friend
+Partial had gone with her. "Fie! Partial, after all, you loved her
+more!" I said to myself.
+
+But in a few moments I heard a faint sound at my door. I opened. There
+stood Partial in the dusk, gravely wagging his tail, looking at me
+without moving his head. And I saw that he held daintily in his mouth
+a dainty note, addressed to me in the same handwriting as that on the
+note I had sent out from the heartless jade to yon varlet. And it was
+sealed, and marked with instructions for its opening.... "When You
+Two Varlets Meet." No more.
+
+"Peterson," said I, advancing to the forward deck, where I found him
+smoking, "I've been getting up some correspondence, since we'll be
+ashore by to-morrow noon----"
+
+"--I don't know as to that, Mr. Harry."
+
+"Well, I know about it. So, tell Williams that, even if he has to work
+all night, we must be moving as soon as it's light enough to see. I've
+got a very important message----"
+
+"By wireless, Mr. Harry?" chuckled the old man.
+
+"Yes, by wireless," (and I looked at Partial, who wagged his tail and
+smiled). "So I must get into Manning Island the first possible moment
+to-morrow. And Peterson, as we've had so good a run this trip, with no
+accident or misfortune of any kind, I don't know but I may make it a
+month or two extra pay--double--for you and Williams, and even John.
+And as to Willy, please don't fire him, Peterson, for his deserting
+the ship's cook the other night. In fact, I'm very glad, on the whole,
+he did. Give him double pay for doing it, Peterson!"
+
+"Ain't this the wonderful age!" remarked Peterson to a star which was
+rising over the misty marsh. "Especial, now, that wireless!"
+
+I only patted Partial on the head, and we smiled pleasantly and
+understandingly at each other. Of course, Peterson could not know what
+we knew.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+IN WHICH LAND SHOWS IN THE OFFING
+
+
+Before the white sea mists had rolled away I was on deck, and had
+summoned a general conference of my crew.
+
+"'Polyte," I demanded of our pilot, "how long before your partner will
+be at the lighthouse, below, there?"
+
+"'Ow long?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Oh, maybe thees day sometam."
+
+"And how long before he'll start back with the mail?"
+
+"'Ow long?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Oh, maybe thees same day sometam."
+
+"And how long will it take him to get back to some post-office with
+those letters?"
+
+"'Ow long?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Oh, maybe those nex' day sometam."
+
+"And then how long to the big railroad to New Orleans?"
+
+"'Ow long?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Oh, maybe those nex' day too h'also sometam, heem."
+
+"Then it will be three days, four days, before a letter could get from
+the lighthouse to New Orleans?"
+
+"'Ow long?"
+
+"Three or four days?"
+
+"_Oui_, maybe so."
+
+"And how long will it take us to get in to the plantation of Monsieur
+Edouard, above, there?"
+
+"'Ow long?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"H'I'll could not said, Monsieur. Maybe three four day--_'sais pas_."
+
+"Holy Mackinaw!" I remarked, _sotto voce_.
+
+"Pardon?" remarked 'Polyte respectfully. "Le
+Machinaw--_que-est-que-ce-que-est, ca_?"
+
+"It is my patron saint, 'Polyte," I explained, and he crossed himself
+for his mistake.
+
+"Suppose those h'engine he'll h'ron, we'll get in four five h'our
+h'all right, on Monsieur Edouard, yass," he added. "H'I'll know those
+channel lak some books."
+
+By now Williams--who, judging by certain rappings, hammerings and
+clankings heard through the cabin walls back and above the
+engine-rooms, had been at work much of the night--had reported, and
+much to my pleasure had said he thought we could make it in at least
+to the Manning dock before further repairs would be needed. To prove
+which, he went down and "turned her over a time or two," as he
+expressed it. Whereupon I gave orders to break out the anchor, and
+knowing that any Cajun market hunter and shrimp fisher like 'Polyte
+can travel in any mist or fog before sunup by some instinct of his
+own, I took a chance and began to feel our way out to the mouth of the
+Manning channel before the morning mists were gone; so that we were at
+breakfast by the time the wide and gently rippling bay broke clear
+below us, and by magic, we saw the oak-crowned heights of the island
+dead ahead.
+
+Thence on, within the walls of the deep dredged channel, all we had to
+do was to go sufficiently slow and follow the curves carefully, so
+that the heavy waves of our boat, larger than any intended for that
+channel, might not too much endanger the mud walls, or threaten
+wreckage to the frail stagings leading to the cabins of the
+half-aquatic trappers and fishers who dwell here in the marshes.
+
+So, at last, after many windings and doublings, we came in at the rear
+of the timbered slopes, and could see the mansion houses and the
+offices of the stately old plantation, where dwelt my friend, Edouard
+Manning, who knew nothing of my coming.
+
+After custom, I signaled loud and often with the boat's whistle, so
+that the men might come to the landing for us; and, in order that
+Edouard himself might be warned, I gave orders to my hardy mates to
+make proper nautical salute of honor.
+
+"Cast loose the stern-chaser, Jean Lafitte," said I: "and do you and
+L'Olonnois load and fire her often as you like until we land; or until
+you burst her."
+
+Gleefully they obeyed, and soon the roar of our deck gun echoed
+formidably along the slopes, as had no gun since the salt-seeking
+Union navy, in the Civil War, had pounded at the gates of Edouard's
+father: and until scores of coots and rail chattered in excited chorus
+for answer, and long clouds of wild ducks arose and circled over the
+marsh. Again and again, my bold mates loaded and fired: and now,
+turning back by chance from my own place at the wheel, I saw that they
+had assumed full character, and each with a red kerchief bound about
+his brow, was armed with, I dare not say how many, pistols, dirks,
+swords and cutlasses thrust through his belt or otherwise suspended
+on his person.
+
+I saw now the two ladies, their fingers in their ears, also on deck,
+protesting at this cannonading at their cabin door; and so I raised my
+hat to a very radiant and radiantly appareled Helena, for the first
+time that day; and heard the answer of L'Olonnois to the dour protest
+of Auntie Lucinda.
+
+"We follow Black Bart the Avenger, an' let any seek to stop us at
+their per-rul! Jean, run up the flag, while I load her up again."
+
+And Jean having once more hoisted the skull and cross-bones at our
+masthead, and assumed a specially savage scowl as he stood with folded
+arms on our bow deck, we made what a mild imagination might have
+called rather an impressive entry as we swept into the Manning
+landing.
+
+I was not surprised to see Edouard himself there, and his wife, and
+some thirty odd dogs and as many blacks, waiting for us at the wharf.
+Nor was I surprised to see that all seemed somewhat to marvel at our
+manner of advent, though I knew that Edouard, through his
+field-glasses, had recognized both my boat and myself long before we
+made the last curve and came gently in to the wharf where the grinning
+darkies could catch our line.
+
+What did surprise me--and perhaps for a time I may have shown
+surprise--was to see, in all this gay throng, two forms not usual on
+the Manning landing. One was the elegantly garbed and rather stunning
+figure of Sally Byington; and the other the robust, full-bodied,
+gorgeously arrayed form of my old friend, Cal Davidson! How or why
+they came there I could not for the moment guess.
+
+"'Tis he--yon varlet!" I heard a stern voice hiss at my ear. "Beshrew
+me, but it shall go hard with him! I'm loading her up with marbles
+now!" But I had no more than time to persuade my two lieutenants to
+modify this purpose, and partially to disarm themselves, before the
+two groups were mingling, with much chattering and laughing and gay
+saluting.
+
+Edouard, hat in hand, was on deck before our fenders touched the
+wharf, laughing and grasping my hands and looking up at my flag.
+
+"I knew you were coming," said he. "Fact is, all the country's been
+looking for you. Davidson just got in a couple of hours ago--and you
+know his lady is an old friend of Mrs. Manning's. And----"
+
+He was shaking the hands of Mrs. Daniver and Helena almost before I
+could present them. Auntie Lucinda bestowed upon him the gaze of a
+solemn and somewhat tear-stained visage (though I saw distinct
+approval on her face as she caught sight of the great mansion house
+among the giant oaks, and witnessed the sophisticatedness of the group
+on the landing, and the easy courtesy of Edouard himself).
+
+"By Jove! old man!" the latter found time to say to me, "I
+congratulate you--she's away beyond her pictures." He did not mean
+Mrs. Daniver; and he never had seen Helena before. I could only press
+his hand and attempt no comment as to the congratulations, for part of
+that was a matter which yet rested in a sealed envelope in my pocket;
+and at best it must be three or four days.... But then, with a great
+flash of arrested intelligence, it was borne in upon me that perhaps,
+after all, it was not so much a question of the tardy United States
+mails! Because yon varlet, fat and saucy, and well content with life,
+already, by some means and for some reason, had outrun the mails. He
+was here, and we had met. It need not be four days before I could
+learn my fate.... I reached into my pocket and looked at my sealed
+orders. No matter what Davidson's letter held, here was Davidson
+himself.
+
+"Oh, I say, there, you Harry, confound you!" roared Davidson to me in
+his great voice above the heads of everybody. "I say, what did I tell
+you?"
+
+Now I had not the slightest idea what Davidson had told me, nor what
+he meant by waving a paper over his head. "They've signed Dingleheimer
+for next year! Now what do you think of that? World's championship,
+and good old Dingleheimer for next year--I guess that's pretty poor
+for them little old Giants, what?" And he smiled like one devoid of
+all care as well as of all reason.
+
+I myself smiled just a moment later--after I had greeted the Manning
+ladies, had seen Helena step up and kiss Sally Byington fervently,
+directly on the cheek, whose too keen coloring I once had heard her
+decry; had slapped Edouard joyously on the shoulders and pointed to my
+pirate flag and gloomy black-visaged crew--I say I also smiled
+suddenly when I felt a hand touch me on the shoulder.
+
+'Polyte, the pilot, stood, cap in hand, and asked me to one side.
+
+"Pardon, Monsieur," said he, "but those _gentilhommes_--those fat
+one--ees eet she'll was Monsieur Davelson who'll H'I'll got letter on
+heem from those lighthouse, heem?"
+
+"Why, yes, 'Polyte--the letter you said would take four days to get to
+New Orleans."
+
+'Polyte smiled sheepishly. "He'll wouldn't took four days now,
+Monsieur! H'I'll got it h'all those letter here. H'I'll change the
+coat on the _lighthouse_, maybe, h'an H'I'll got the coat of Guillaume
+witt' h'all those letter in her, yass?" And he now handed me the
+entire packet of letters, which I had supposed left far behind us on
+the previous day!
+
+I took the letters from him, and handed all of them but one to
+Edouard's old body servant to put in the office mail. The remaining
+one I held in the same hand with its mate: and I motioned Davidson
+aside to a spot under a live oak as the other began now slowly to move
+toward the path from the landing up the hill.
+
+"This is for you," said I, handing him his letter; and told him how it
+came to him thus.
+
+"It's from Helena--dear old girl, isn't she a trump, after all!" he
+said, tearing open the letter and glancing at it.
+
+"She is a dear girl, Mr. Davidson," said I, stiffly, "yes."
+
+"Why, of course--yes, of course I'd have done it, if I'd got this
+before I left the city," said he, "but how can I now?"--holding the
+letter open in his hand.
+
+"Do you mean to tell me," I began, but choked in anger mixed with
+uncertainty. What was it she had asked of him, offered to him? And was
+not Helena's wish a command.
+
+"Yes, I mean to tell you or any one else, I'd do a favor to a lady if
+I could; but----"
+
+"What favor, Mr. Davidson?" I demanded icily.
+
+"Well, why 'Mr. Davidson'? Ain't I your pal, in spite of all the muss
+you made of my plans? Why, I'm damned if I'll pay you the charter
+money at all, after the way you've acted, and all----"
+
+"Mr. Davidson, damn the charter money!"
+
+"That's what I say! What's charter money among friends? All right, if
+you can forgive half the charter fee, I'll forgive the other half,
+and----"
+
+"What was in the letter from her?"
+
+"It's none of your business, Harry--but still, I don't mind saying
+that Miss Emory wrote me and said that if I was still--oh! I say!" he
+roared, turning suddenly and poking a finger into my ribs, "if you
+haven't got on one of my waistcoats!"
+
+"The one with pink stripes," said I still icily, "and deuced bad ones
+they all are. And these clothes I borrowed from my China boy. But
+then----"
+
+"I see, you must have come in a hurry, eh?"
+
+"Yes. But come now, old man, what's in that letter? I've got one of my
+own here, done in the same hand, hers. I am under sealed orders--until
+I shall have met you, which is now. So I suppose some sort of
+explanation is due on both sides. We might as well have it all out
+here, before we join the house party, so as to avoid any awkwardness."
+
+"Oh, nothing in my letter to amount to anything," he replied. "Miss
+Emory only wanted to know if I'd please have her trunks shipped out
+here from New Orleans--only that; and she asked me please to bring her
+a box of marshmallows, as hers were all gone. She's polite, always,
+dear old Helena--she says, here, 'So pleasant is our journey in every
+way, and so kind have you gentlemen been, and so thoughtful in
+providing every luxury, that I can not think of a single thing I could
+ask for except some more marshmallows. Jimmy, the young imp, my
+nephew, you know, has found mine, though I hid them under both
+cushions in the stateroom.'"
+
+I had my hat off, and was wiping my forehead. A sudden burst of glory
+seemed to me to envelope all the world. If there had been duplicity
+anywhere, I did not care.
+
+"I suppose Jimmy is the one with two guns and a Jap sword, eh?" asked
+Davidson.
+
+"No, the other one, God bless him! Is that all there was in the
+letter, Cal?"
+
+"Yes. What's in yours? What's the game--button, button, who's got the
+girl? And can't you _open_ your letter now?"
+
+"Yes," said I, and did so. It contained just two words (Helena
+afterward said she had not time to write more while Auntie Lucinda
+might be in from the other stateroom).[A]
+
+"Well, what's it say, dash you!" demanded Cal Davidson. "Play fair
+now--I told, and so must you!"
+
+"I'm damned if I do, Cal!" said I, and put it in my pocket. But I
+shook hands with him most warmly, none the less....
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[A] (Those interested may find them later in the text.[B])
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+IN WHICH IS MUCH ROMANCE, AND SOME TREASURE, ALSO VERY MUCH HAPPINESS
+
+
+We walked on slowly up the hill together, my friend Calvin Davidson
+and myself, following the parti-colored group now passing out of sight
+behind the shrubbery. At last we paused and sat down on one of the
+many seats that invited us. Around us, on the great lawn, were many
+tropic or half-tropic plants, and the native roses, still abloom.
+Yonder stood the old bronze sun-dial that I knew so well--I could have
+read the inscription, _I Mark Only Pleasant Hours_; and I knew its
+penciled shadow pointed to a high and glorious noon.... It seemed to
+me that Heaven had never made a more perfect place or a more perfect
+day; nor, that I am sure, was ever in the universe a world more
+beautiful than this, more fit to swing in union with all the harmony
+of the spheres.... I had fought so long, I had been so unhappy, had
+doubted so much, had grown so sad, so misanthropic, that I trust I
+shall be forgiven at this sudden joy I felt at hearing burst on my
+ears--albeit a chorus of Edouard's mocking-birds hid in the oaks--all
+the music of the spheres, soul-shaking, a thing of joy and
+reverence.... So I spoke but little.
+
+"But I say, old man," began Davidson presently, "it's all right for a
+joke, but my word! it was an awfully big one, and an awfully risky
+one, too,--your stealing your own yacht from me! I didn't think it of
+you. You not only broke up my boat party--you see, Sally was going on
+down with us from Natchez--Miss Emory said she'd be glad to have her
+come, and of course she and Mrs. Daniver made it proper, all right--I
+say, you not only busted that all up, but by not sending a fellow the
+least word of what you were going to do, you got those silly
+newspapers crazy, from New Orleans to New York--why, you're famous,
+that is, notorious! But so is Miss Emory, that's the worst of it. I
+don't just fancy she'll just fancy some of those pictures, or some of
+those stories. Least you can do now is to marry Helena and the old
+girl, too, right off!"
+
+"In part, that is good advice," said I. "I wish I could wear your
+clothes, Cal--but I remember now that Edouard and I can wear the same
+clothes, and have, many a time."
+
+"But I say, don't be so hoggish. There's other people in the world
+beside you--_you'd_ never have thought of making that river cruise,
+now would you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor you couldn't have got Helena aboard the boat if you had, now
+could you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Let alone the old girl, her revered aunt!" He dug another thumb into
+his own pink striped waistcoat. "She loves you a lot, I am not of the
+impression!"
+
+"No, I think she rather favored you!" I replied gravely.
+
+"No chance! And I say, isn't Sally a humdinger? Just the sort for
+me--something doing every minute. And a fellow can always tell just
+what she's thinkin'----"
+
+"I'm not right sure, Cal, whether that's safe to say of any woman,"
+said I. "A ship on the sea, or a serpent on a rock has--to use your
+own quaint manner of speech, my friend--so to speak, nothing on the
+way of a maid with a man. But go on. I do congratulate you. Do you
+know, old man, I almost thought, once--a good while ago--that you were
+just a little--that is--_épris_ of Helena your own self?"
+
+"Come again? 'Apree'--what's that?"
+
+"--Gone on her."
+
+"Oh, not at all, not at all--not in the least! Why, I can't see what
+in the world--oh, well of course, you know, she's _fine_; but what I
+mean is, why--there was Sally, you know. Say, do you know why I wanted
+to get Sally away on that boat?--I was afraid you'd cut in somewhere,
+run across her down at Mardi Gras, or something. And I just _figured_,
+once you got a girl on a boat that way, away from all the other
+fellows, you know, why even a plain chap like me would have a chance,
+do you see? And I say now, I'll own it up--I was right down _jealous_
+of _you_, too! Wasn't it silly? And I ask your pardon. You're an
+awfully good sort, Harry, though you're so d----d serious--you get too
+much in earnest, take things too hard, you know. Will you shake hands
+with me, knowing what a fool I've been? I say, you're the best chap in
+the world, old man--if only you were a little more _human_ once in a
+while."
+
+He put out his hand and I met it. "Will you shake hands with me, Cal?"
+said I, "on precisely those same terms about having been an awful
+fool? It's you who are the best chap in the world. And I'll admit
+it--I was jealous of you!"
+
+He roared at this. "Well," said he, "as George Cohan says, 'All's well
+that ends well', and I guess we couldn't beat this for a championship
+year, now could we? Now say, about Dingleheimer----"
+
+"Oh, hang Dingleheimer, Cal!" I exclaimed. "What I want to know is,
+did you ever talk any to Miss Emory about--well, about me, you
+know?--say anything about my affairs, or anything, you know? I mean
+while you were there on the boat together."
+
+"No. She wouldn't let me. Besides, the truth is, I was so full of
+Sally all the time, I mostly talked about _her_. By Jove! that was a
+measly trick you played us, running off with the boat from under my
+nose! But I proposed to Sally in Natchez that night, and she came on
+down to the city the next day by rail--while _I_ ran down in that
+dirty little scow you left behind. And I never tumbled for days that
+it was _you_ had run off with the boat--though I found a photo of
+Helena and your cigarette case in the boat you left. Never tumbled
+till that story of the taxi driver came out. Then I said, 'Well, of
+all things! Wonder if that old stick has really come to life after
+all!' And you sure had! What's in _your_ letter? Say, ain't a boat the
+place----"
+
+"But how did you happen to be here?"
+
+"Oh, I've known Ed Manning years, in New York, Paris, all around. He
+asked me to visit him some time. I wired and asked him if I could come
+out for our honeymoon--you know, Harry, I'm such a d----d romantic son
+of a gun, and once before I was out here at Ed's, and those d----d
+nightingales, catbirds, what d'ye call 'ems----"
+
+"--Mockers."
+
+"Yes, mockers, they sung so sweet, especial in the evenings, you
+know--and I'm so d----d romantic--_always_ was thataway--and you know,
+why, a fellow _can_ be romantic on his honeymoon, can't he?--he can
+just cut loose then an' be as big a d--n fool as he likes then--an'
+get away with it, what? Say, can't he?"
+
+--"Yes."
+
+--"So that's why I came."
+
+--"But--honeymoon? Are you going to be married?"
+
+--"Naw! I ain't goin' to be married--I _am_ married! Day before
+yesterday, in New Orleans. And I don't believe in dandlin' an' foolin'
+around about a little thing like that. Ain't you married yet?"
+
+"No. Impossible. No preacher on Côte Blanche Bay or on our boat. I've
+got Aunt Lucinda Daniver along, to take care of the proprieties. If I
+should leave it to her, I never would be married."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"She thinks I'm broke."
+
+"Yes, too bad about that! I wish I could swap bank rolls with you. Why
+didn't you tell her the truth--and Helena, too? Why didn't you tell
+'em it was your own yacht? Why didn't you tell 'em you're worth a few
+millions and don't have to work?"
+
+"I don't know--maybe I'm like you, Cal, foolish about nightingales and
+things. But tell me--you never did tell them anything about that Sally
+M. mine business, did you?"
+
+"No, I should say not! Didn't you tell me you didn't want it to get
+out? It was bad enough, the way old Dan and your--sainted father
+handed it to each other over that mine, wasn't it? I know about it,
+for I promoted that mine myself, and the name'll prove that--Sally M.
+Byington, with the Byington left off! There wasn't a blasted thing in
+it then. But when you--like a blame quixotic fool--after she was good
+for six thousand a month velvet, and ore blocked out to last a
+thousand years--why, then you fool around in Papa's records, and think
+Papa wasn't on the square with old Dan. So on the quiet you get it all
+made over, back to old Dan's daughter; and take a sneak into the
+hazelbrush when she turns you down! Say, you know what _I'd_ a-done?"
+
+"No."
+
+--"I'd a-held on to the mine and told the girl how much it was
+bringin' in--that's _my_ system. Then I'd a-got the mine and the girl
+both, maybe!"
+
+--"Maybe."
+
+"Well, that's the system I'd a-played. I wouldn't a-took to the tall
+grass, me."
+
+"On the other hand, I played a system invented by myself and Henri
+L'Olonnois."
+
+"I never heard of him. Well, anyhow, you were rich enough to afford to
+do what you liked. But as to keeping it secret, you can't do that any
+longer. Those newspaper fellows are the devil to get hold of things.
+Since all this stuff came out about you running away with your own
+boat--I can see now why you did it, and I'm glad you did--why, your
+whole life history has been printed, including all that restitution
+business about the Sally M. Fellows came to me and asked me about you,
+asked if I knew you. Said, yes, I knew you--said you were a romantic
+chap, and a good business man, too--and the best old scout in the
+world--what?"
+
+I had arisen, and stood in some doubt. "What's the matter--let's go
+on up to the house. I want to see Sally," he concluded.
+
+"And I want very much to see Helena," said I. "Only, it's going to be
+rather harder now to meet her--and Mrs. Daniver."
+
+"Well, I don't know," said Cal Davidson; "every fellow plays his own
+system. There's something in what you say about women having a good
+poker face so far as tellin' what they think about a man is
+concerned--yes. Frinstance, how much did Helena know I knew, or know
+you knew or thought you knew--well, you get me? But the trouble with
+you is, you ain't romantic in your temperament like me.... But if I
+was you, I wouldn't be scared to tell Mrs. Daniver I had a dollar and
+a quarter or so left! It'll soften the blow some to her, maybe. And as
+for Helena----"
+
+"And as for Helena, I can look her in the face, and she can me, now.
+And--will you telephone to New Iberia for a minister--at once--for
+this evening train? And will you tell Edouard to have his man lay out
+his best evening clothes for me--tell him I'll trade him these of my
+cook's for them--and a suit of traveling clothes? Because, oh! fellow
+varlet----" (I paused here; we both did; for a mocker just now broke
+into an extraordinary burst of song, so sweet, so throbbingly sweet,
+that we could not help but listen, both of us being lovers)....
+
+"What were you saying, old man?" Cal Davidson asked after a while,
+musingly, as one awakening.... "Some bird, what?"
+
+... "Because, to-night," I answered, "I am going to marry my fair
+captive, yon heartless jade, Helena. I've loved her always, rich or
+poor, and she loves me, rich or poor. And we shall live happy ever
+after. And may God bless us, and all true lovers!"
+
+"Amen!" I heard some one say; and have often wondered whether it was
+yon varlet, the mocking-bird, or Cal Davidson himself, who spoke.... I
+looked around for Partial. He had followed Helena.
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[B] (The words in Helena's note, addressed to Henry Francis Drake,
+Esquire, were, as I have said, but two: "Yes--Now". That was why I was
+married that evening. It was curious about the wedding ring, for that
+I would not borrow; so an old negro blacksmith took a gold ring
+Edouard gave me, one found years ago by a Cajun treasure hunter in
+some one of the few successful hunts for the treasure of Jean Lafitte;
+and into this, in place of the gem long since missing, he clasped my
+pearl, the one we got on the river far in the north; the great pearl
+later known as the largest and most brilliant ever found in fresh
+water. It was I who named it the "_Belle Helène_". So that our ring
+pleased all but L'Olonnois and Jean Lafitte. These two pirates had set
+at work that very afternoon, with 'Polyte (by Edouard's consent) and
+dug behind the smoke-house. Wonderful enough, they did find old
+bricks, enclosing a sort of hollow cavity, bricks of an ancient day;
+and though they got nothing else ('Polyte said he knew who had beaten
+them to this treasure--it was Achilles Dufrayne of Calcasieu, curse
+him!) they both explained how easy it would be to deceive the fair
+captive into thinking we really had found the ring's setting as well
+as the ring itself, in a pirate treasure-box. I would not do that, on
+the ground that already I had deceived the fair captive quite
+enough.... But, though yon varlet, my friend dear old Cal Davidson,
+spoke rather freely about his honeymoon, and all that, I can not do so
+of mine with Helena.... I did not know that I could again be so happy.
+Often I have wished I were a romantic man, like dear old Cal.... I
+fear my book on the mosquitoes of North America never will be written
+now.--H. F. D.)
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+Minor typographic errors in spelling and punctuation have been
+corrected without note.
+
+The Table of Contents has been made consistent with the chapter
+headers, as follows--"In Which I Have a Polite Conversation" amended
+to "In Which I Have Polite Conversation"; "In Which Is Certain
+Conversation" amended to "In Which Is Certain Polite Conversation".
+
+This book contains some archaic spelling, and some dialect; this is
+all reproduced here as in the original.
+
+Illustrations have been moved slightly so that they are not in the
+middle of a paragraph. The frontispiece illustration has been moved to
+follow the title page.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Lady and the Pirate, by Emerson Hough
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+    /* XML end  ]]>*/
+    </style>
+  </head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lady and the Pirate, by Emerson Hough
+
+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: The Lady and the Pirate
+       Being the Plain Tale of a Diligent Pirate and a Fair Captive
+
+Author: Emerson Hough
+
+Illustrator: Harry A. Mathes
+
+Release Date: March 24, 2008 [EBook #24907]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LADY AND THE PIRATE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Sam W. and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 318px;">
+<img src="images/tlatp01.jpg" width="318" height="500" alt="Front cover of the book" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<h1 style="padding-top: 3em;">THE LADY AND THE PIRATE</h1>
+
+
+
+<p class="center"><i>Being the Plain Tale of a Diligent Pirate<br />
+and a Fair Captive</i></p>
+
+
+<p class="center" style="font-weight: bold; padding-top: 3em;"><i>By</i></p>
+
+<h2>EMERSON HOUGH</h2>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Author of</i><br />
+<small>THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE, 54-40 OR FIGHT<br />
+THE PURCHASE PRICE, JOHN RAWN, ETC.</small></p>
+
+
+<p class="center" style="padding-top: 3em;"><small>ILLUSTRATED BY</small></p>
+
+<h3>HARRY A. MATHES</h3>
+
+
+<p class="center" style="padding-top: 3em;">INDIANAPOLIS<br />
+THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY<br />
+PUBLISHERS</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 294px;">
+<img src="images/tlatp02.jpg" width="294" height="500"
+alt="Helena stands, hands clasped in front of her, looking down at the floor" />
+<span class="caption">Thus the heartless jade stood, unable to meet my eagle eye</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright 1913</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">Emerson Hough</span></p>
+
+
+<p class="center" style="padding-top: 5em;"><small>PRESS OF<br />
+BRAUNWORTH &amp; CO.<br />
+BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS<br />
+BROOKLYN, N. Y.</small></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="60%" summary="Table of contents">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt"><small>CHAPTER</small></td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdrt"><small>PAGE</small></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">I</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which I Am a Caitiff</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">II</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which I Hold a Parley</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_6">6</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">III</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which I Am a Captive</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">IV</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which I Am a Pirate</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">V</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which We Sail for the Spanish Main</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">VI</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which I Acquire a Friend</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">VII</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which I Achieve a Name</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">VIII</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which We Have an Adventure</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">IX</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which We Take Much Treasure</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">X</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which I Show My True Colors</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XI</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which My Plot Thickens</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XII</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which We Close with the Enemy</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XIII</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which We Board the Enemy</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XIV</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which Is Abounding Trouble</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XV</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which Is Conversation with the Captive Maiden</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_131">131</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XVI</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which Is Further Parley with the Captive Maiden</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XVII</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which Is Hue and Cry</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XVIII</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which Is Discussion of Two Aunties</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XIX</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which I Establish a Modus Vivendi</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_166">166</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XX</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which I Have Polite Conversation, but Little Else</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_175">175</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXI</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which We Make a Run for It</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXII</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which I Walk and Talk with Helena</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXIII</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which Is a Pretty Kettle of Fish</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXIV</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which We Have a Sensation</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXV</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which We Meet the Other Man, Also Another Woman</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXVI</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which We Burn All Bridges</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXVII</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which We Reach the Spanish Main</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_258">258</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXVIII</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which Is Certain Polite Conversation</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXIX</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which Is Shipwreck</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_285">285</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXX</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which Is Shipwreck of Other Sort</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_299">299</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXXI</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which We Take to the Boats</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_312">312</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXXII</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which I Rescue the Cook</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_324">324</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXXIII</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which We Are Castaways</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_333">333</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXXIV</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which Is No Rapprochement with the Fair Captive</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_349">349</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXXV</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which I Find Two Estimable Friends, but Lose One Beloved</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_357">357</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXXVI</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which We Fold Our Tents</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_375">375</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXXVII</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which Is Philosophy; Which, However, Should Not Be Skipped</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_384">384</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXXVIII</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which Is an Armistice with Fate</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_395">395</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XXXIX</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which Are Sealed Orders</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_400">400</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XL</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which Land Shows in the Offing</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_414">414</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdrt">XLI</td>
+    <td class="tdlsc">In Which Is Much Romance, and Some Treasure, Also Very Much Happiness</td>
+    <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_426">426</a></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg&nbsp;1]</a></span></p>
+
+<h1 style="padding-top: 3em;">THE LADY AND THE PIRATE</h1>
+
+
+
+<h2 style="padding-top: 3em;">CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH I AM A CAITIFF</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">I</span> WAS sitting at one of my favorite spots engaged
+in looking through my fly-book for some
+lure that might, perhaps, mend my luck in the
+afternoon&rsquo;s fishing. At least, I had within the
+moment been so engaged; although the truth is that
+the evening was so exceptionally fine, and the spot
+always so extraordinarily attractive to me&mdash;this
+particular angle of the stream, where the tall
+birches stand, being to my mind the most beautiful
+bit on my whole estate&mdash;that I had forgotten
+all about angling and was sitting with rod laid
+by upon the bank, the fly-book scarce noted in
+my hand. Moreover, a peculiarly fine specimen
+of Anopheles, (as I took it to be) was at that
+very moment hovering over my hand, and I was
+anxious to confirm my judgment as well as to
+enlarge my collection of mosquitoes. I had my
+other hand in a pocket feeling for the little phial
+in which I purposed to enclose Anopheles, if I
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg&nbsp;2]</a></span>
+could coax him to alight. Indeed, I say, I was
+at that very moment as happy as a man need
+be; or, at least, as happy as I ever expected to be.
+Imagine my surprise, therefore, at that moment
+to hear a voice, apparently intended for me, exclaim,
+&ldquo;Halt! Caitiff!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I looked up, more annoyed than displeased or
+startled. It is not often one sees so fine a specimen
+of Anopheles; and one could have sworn
+that, but for my slight involuntary movement
+of the hand, he must have settled; after which&mdash;<i>crede
+experto!</i>&mdash;he would have been the same
+as in my phial, and doomed to the chloroform
+within the next hour. Besides, no matter who
+one may be or how engaged, it is not wholly
+seemly to be accosted as a caitiff, when one is on
+one&rsquo;s own land, offending no man on earth, owing
+no debt and paying no tribute, feudal, commercial,
+military or personal, to any man on earth.</p>
+
+<p>The situation seemed to me singular. Had the
+time been some centuries earlier, the place somewhere
+in the old world, such speech might have
+had better fitting. But the time was less than
+a year ago, the place was in America. I was on
+my own lands, in this one of our middle states.
+This was my own river; or at least, I owned the
+broad acres on both sides of it for some miles.
+And I was a man of no slinking habit, no
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg&nbsp;3]</a></span>
+repulsive mien, of that I was assured, but a successful
+American of means; lately a professional man
+and now a man of leisure, and not so far past
+thirty years of age. My fly-rod was the best
+that money can buy, and the pages of the adjacent
+book were handsomely stocked by the best makers
+of this country and each of the three divisions
+of Great Britain; in each of which&mdash;as well as in
+Norway, Germany, or for the matter of that,
+India, New Zealand, Alaska, Japan or other lands&mdash;I
+had more than once wet a line. My garb
+was not of leather jerkin, my buskins not of
+thonged straw, but on the contrary I was turned
+out in good tweeds, well cut by my London tailor.
+To be called offhand, and with no more reason
+than there was provocation, a &ldquo;caitiff,&rdquo; even by a
+voice somewhat treble and a trifle trembling, left
+me every reason in the world to be surprised, annoyed
+and grieved. For now Anopheles had
+flown away; and had I not been thus startled,
+I should certainly have had him. Yet more, no
+fish would rise in that pool the rest of that evening,
+for no trout in my little stream thereabout
+ever had seen a boat or been frightened by the
+plash of an oar since the time, three years back,
+when I had bought the place.</p>
+
+<p>I looked up. Just at the bend, arrested now by
+hand anchorage to the overhanging alders, lay
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg&nbsp;4]</a></span>
+a small boat, occupied by two boys, neither of
+more than fourteen years, the younger seemingly
+not more than twelve. It was the latter who was
+clinging with one hand to the drooping bushes.
+His companion, apparently the leader in their
+present enterprise, was half crouching in the bow
+of the boat and he, evidently, was the one who
+had accosted me.</p>
+
+<p>A second glance gave me even more surprise,
+for it showed that the boat, though not precisely
+long, low and rakish of build, evidently was of
+piratical intent. At least she was piratical in
+decoration. On each side of her bow there was
+painted&mdash;and the evening sun, shining through
+my larches, showed the paint still fresh&mdash;in more
+or less accurate design in black, the emblem of
+a skull and cross-bones. Above her, supported
+by a short staff, perhaps cut from my own willows,
+flew a black flag, and whatever may have
+been her stern-chaser equipment, her broadside
+batteries, or her deck carronades&mdash;none of which
+I could well make out, as her hull lay half concealed
+among the alders&mdash;her bow-chaser was certainly
+in commission and manned for action. The
+pirate captain, himself, was at the lanyard; and
+I perceived that he now rested an extraordinarily
+large six-shooter in the fork of a short staff, which
+was fixed in the bow. Along this, with a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg&nbsp;5]</a></span>
+three-cornered gray eye, he now sighted at the lower
+button of my waistcoat, and in a fashion
+that gave me goose-flesh underneath the button,
+in spite of all my mingled emotions. Had I not
+&ldquo;halted,&rdquo; as ordered, to the extent of sitting on
+quietly as I was, he no doubt would have pulled
+the lanyard, with consequences such as I do not
+care to contemplate, and mayhap to the effect that
+this somewhat singular story would never have been
+written.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Halt, Sirrah!&rdquo; began the pirate leader again,
+&ldquo;or I will blow you out of the water!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I sat for a moment regarding him, my chin
+in my hand.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I at last; &ldquo;I already am out of the
+water, my friend. But, prithee, have a care of
+yonder lanyard, else, gadzooks! you may belike
+blow me off the bank and into the water.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>This speech of mine seemed as much to disconcert
+the pirate chieftain as had his me. He
+stood erect, shifting his Long Tom, to the great
+ease of my waistcoat button.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you heave to, and put off a small boat
+for a parley?&rdquo; I inquired.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg&nbsp;6]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH I HOLD A PARLEY</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE two pirates turned to each other for consultation,
+irresolute, but evidently impressed
+by the fact that their prize did not purpose to
+hoist sail and make a run for it.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What ho! mates?&rdquo; demanded the captain, in
+as gruff a voice as he could compass: &ldquo;Ye&rsquo;ve
+heard his speech, and he has struck his flag.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Suppose the villain plays us false,&rdquo; rejoined
+the &ldquo;mates&rdquo; or rather, the mate, in a voice so
+high or quavering that for a moment it was difficult
+for me to repress a smile; although these
+three years past I rarely had smiled at all.</p>
+
+<p>The captain turned to one side, so that now I
+could see both him and his crew. The leader was
+as fine a specimen of boy as you could have asked,
+sturdy of bare legs, brown of face, red of hair,
+ragged and tumbled of garb. His crew was active
+though slightly less robust, a fair-haired, light-skinned
+chap, blue-eyed, and somewhat better clad
+than his companion. There was something winning
+about his face. At a glance I knew his soul.
+He was a dreamer, an idealist, an artist, in the
+bud. My heart leaped out to him instinctively
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg&nbsp;7]</a></span>
+in a great impulse of sympathy and understanding.
+Indeed, suddenly, I felt the blood tingle through
+my hair. I looked upon life as I had not these
+three years. The imagination of Youth, the
+glamour of Adventure, lay here before me; things
+I cruelly had missed these last few years, it
+seemed to me.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How, now, shipmates?&rdquo; I remarked mildly.
+&ldquo;Wouldst doubt the faith of one who himself
+hath flown the Jolly Rover? Cease your fears
+and come aboard&mdash;that is to say, come ashore.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Git out, Jimmy,&rdquo; I heard the captain say in
+a low voice, after a moment of indecision. &ldquo;Keep
+him covered till I tie her up.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Jimmy, the fair-haired pirate, hauled in on the
+alders and flung a grappling iron aboard my bank,
+which presently he ascended. As he stood free
+from the screening fringe of bushes, I saw that
+he was slender, and not very tall, one not wholly
+suited by nature to his stern calling. His once
+white jacket now was soiled, and one leg of his
+knickers was loose, from his scramble up the
+bank. He was belted beyond all earl-like need; wore
+indeed two belts, which supported two long hunting
+knives and a Malay kris, such as we now get
+from the Philippines; as well as a revolver large
+beyond all proportion to his own size. A second
+revolver of like dimensions now trembled in his
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg&nbsp;8]</a></span>
+hand, and even though its direction toward me
+was no more than general, I resumed the goose-flesh
+underneath my waistcoat, for no man could
+tell what might happen. In none of my works
+with dangerous big game have I felt a similar
+uneasiness; no, nor even in the little affair in
+China where the Boxers held us up, did I ever
+really consider the issue more in doubt. It pleased
+me, however, to make no movement of offense
+or defense; and luckily the revolver was not discharged.</p>
+
+<p>When the two had topped the bank, and had
+approached me&mdash;taking cover behind trees in a
+way which made me suspect Boy Scout training,
+mingled with bandit literature&mdash;to a point where
+we could see each other&rsquo;s features plainly, I moved
+over to one side of my bank, and motioned them
+to approach.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Come alongside, brothers,&rdquo; said I, pushing my
+fly-rod to one side; &ldquo;make fast and come aboard.
+And tell me, what cheer?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>They drew up to me, stern of mien, bold of
+bearing, dauntless of purpose. At least, so I was
+convinced, each wished and imagined himself to
+seem; and since they wished so to be seen thus,
+seized by some sudden whim, I resolved to see
+them. How I envied them! Theirs all the
+splendor of youth, of daring, of adventure, of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg&nbsp;9]</a></span>
+romance; things gone by from me, or for the
+most part, never known.</p>
+
+<p>Frowning sternly, they seated themselves reluctantly
+on the grassy bank beside me, and gazed
+out in the dignity of an imagined manhood across
+my river, which now was lighted bravely by the
+retiring sun. Had I not felt with them, longed
+with them, they could never so splendidly have
+maintained their pretense. But between us, there
+in the evening on my stream with only the birds
+and the sun to see, it was not pretense. Upon the
+contrary, all cloaks were off, all masks removed,
+and we were face to face in the strong light of
+reality. As clearly as though I always had known
+them, I saw into the hearts of these; and what I
+saw made my own heart ache and yearn for something
+it had ever missed.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What cheer, comrades?&rdquo; I repeated at length.
+&ldquo;Whither away, and upon what errand?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Now a strange thing happened, which I do not
+explain, for that I can not. In plain fact, these
+two were obviously runaway boys, not the first,
+nor perhaps the last of runaway boys; and I was
+a man of means, a retired man, supposedly somewhat
+of a hermit, although really nothing of the
+sort; lately a lawyer, hard-headed and disillusioned,
+always a man of calm reason, as I prided myself;
+subject to no fancies, a student and a lover of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg&nbsp;10]</a></span>
+science, a mocker at all superstition and all weak-mindedness.
+(Pardon me, that I must say all these
+things of myself.) Yet, let me be believed who
+say it, some spell, whether of this presence of
+Youth, whether of the evening and the sun, or
+whether of the inner and struggling soul of Man,
+so fell upon us all then and there, that we were
+not man and boys, but bold adventurers, all three
+of like kidney! This was not a modern land that
+lay about us. Yonder was not the copse beyond
+the birches, where my woodcock sometimes found
+cover. This was not my trout-stream. Those
+yonder were not my elms and larches moving
+in the evening air. No, before us lay the
+picture of the rolling deep, its long green swells
+breaking high in white spindrift. The keen wind
+of other days sounded in our ears, and yonder
+pressed the galleons of Spain! Youth, Youth and
+Adventure, were ours.</p>
+
+<p>We smiled not at all, therefore, as, with some
+thoughtful effort, it is true, we held to fitting
+manner of speech. &ldquo;We seek for treasure,&rdquo; piped
+the thin voice of him I had heard called Jimmy.
+&ldquo;Let none dare lift hand against us!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And whither away, my hearties?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Spang! to the Spanish Main.&rdquo; This also from
+the blue-eyed boy; who, now, with some difficulty,
+managed to let down the hammer of his six-shooter
+without damage to himself or others.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg&nbsp;11]</a></span>
+&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t know but youse would try to stop
+us,&rdquo; exclaimed the red-haired leader. &ldquo;We come
+around the bend and seen you settin&rsquo; there; an&rsquo;
+we was resolved&mdash;to&mdash;to&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;To sell our lives dearly!&rdquo; supplemented Jimmy.
+&ldquo;He who would seek to stop us does so at his
+peril.&rdquo; And Jimmy made so fell a movement toward
+his side-arms that I hastened to restrain him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;you are quite right, my hearties.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But, gee!&rdquo; ventured the red-haired pirate,
+&ldquo;what was you thinkin&rsquo; about?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You ask me to tell truth, good Sire,&rdquo; I made
+reply, &ldquo;and I shall do no less. At the very moment
+you trained your bow-chaser on me, I was thinking
+of two things.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Speak on, caitiff!&rdquo; demanded Jimmy fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nay, call me not so, good Sir,&rdquo; I rejoined, &ldquo;for
+such, in good-sooth, I am not, but honest faithful
+man. Ye have but now asked what I pondered,
+and I fain would speak truth, an&rsquo; it please ye, my
+hearties.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s he givin&rsquo; us, Jimmy?&rdquo; whispered the
+pirate captain dubiously, aside.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Speak on!&rdquo; again commanded he of the blue
+eyes. &ldquo;But your life blood dyes the deck if you
+seek to deceive Jean Lafitte, or Henry L&rsquo;Olonnois!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>(So then, thought I, at last I knew their names.)</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg&nbsp;12]</a></span>
+In reply I reached to my belt and drew out
+quickly&mdash;so quickly that they both flinched away&mdash;the
+long handled knife which, usually, I carried
+with me for cutting down alders or other
+growth which sometimes entangled my flies as I
+fished along the stream. &ldquo;Listen,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I swear
+the pirates&rsquo; oath. On the point of my blade,&rdquo; and
+I touched it with my right forefinger, &ldquo;I swear
+that I pondered on two things when you surprised
+me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Name them!&rdquo; demanded Jimmy L&rsquo;Olonnois
+fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;First, then,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;I was wondering
+what I could use as a cork to my phial, when once
+I had yonder Anopheles in it&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Who&rsquo;s he?&rdquo; demanded Jean Lafitte.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Anopheles? A friend of mine,&rdquo; I replied; &ldquo;a
+mosquito, in short.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jimmy, he&rsquo;s crazy!&rdquo; ejaculated Jean Lafitte
+uneasily.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Say on, caitiff!&rdquo; commanded L&rsquo;Olonnois, ignoring
+him; &ldquo;what else?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In the second place,&rdquo; said I&mdash;and again I placed
+my right forefinger on the point of my blade, &ldquo;I
+was thinking of Helena.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is she your little girl,&rdquo; hesitatingly inquired
+Jimmy L&rsquo;Olonnois, for the instant forgetting his
+part.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg&nbsp;13]</a></span>
+&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I sadly, &ldquo;she is not my little girl.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Where is she?&rdquo; vaguely.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Regarding the whereabouts of either Anopheles
+or Helena, at this moment,&rdquo; said I still sadly, &ldquo;I
+am indeed all at sea, as any good pirate should be.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I tried to jest, but fared ill at it. I felt my face
+flush at hearing her name spoken aloud. And
+sadly true was it that, on that afternoon and many
+another, I had found myself, time and again,
+adream with Helena&rsquo;s face before me. I saw it
+now&mdash;a face I had not seen these three years, since
+the time when first I had come hither with the purpose
+of forgetting.</p>
+
+<p>Jimmy was back in his part again, and doing
+nobly. &ldquo;Ha!&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;So, fellow, pondering on
+a fair one, didst not hear the approach of our good
+ship, the <i>Sea Rover</i>?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In good sooth, I did not,&rdquo; I answered; &ldquo;and as
+for these other matters, I swear on my blade&rsquo;s
+point I have spoken the truth.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Our conversation languished for the moment.
+Illusion lay in the balance. The old melancholy
+impended above me ominously.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg&nbsp;14]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH I AM A CAPTIVE</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">&ldquo;W</span>HAT ho! Jean Lafitte,&rdquo; said I at length,
+rousing myself from the old habit of
+reverie, of which I had chiefest dread; &ldquo;and you,
+Henri L&rsquo;Olonnois, scourges of the main, both of
+you, listen! I have a plan to put before you, my
+hearties.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Say on, Sirrah!&rdquo; rejoined the younger pirate,
+so promptly and so gravely that again I had much
+to do to refrain from sudden mirth.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why then, look ye,&rdquo; I continued. &ldquo;The sun
+is sinking beneath the wave, and the good ship
+rides steady at her anchor. Meantime men must
+eat! and yonder castle amid the forest offers booty.
+What say ye if we pass within the wood, and
+see what we may find of worth to souls bold as
+ours?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis well!&rdquo; answered L&rsquo;Olonnois; and I could
+see assent in Lafitte&rsquo;s eyes. In truth I could discover
+no great preparations for a long voyage in
+the open hold of the <i>Sea Rover</i>, and doubted not
+that both captain and crew by this time were
+hungry. Odd crumbs of crackers and an empty
+sardine can might be all very well at the edge of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg&nbsp;15]</a></span>
+the village of Pausaukee (I judged they could
+have come no greater distance, some twelve or
+fifteen miles); but they do not serve for so long
+a journey as lies between Pausaukee and the
+Spanish Main.</p>
+
+<p>They rose as I did, and we passed beyond the
+clump of tall birches, along the edge of my mowing
+meadow, and through the gate which closes
+my woodland path&mdash;to me the loveliest of all wood-trails,
+so gentle and so silent is it always, and so
+fringed, seasonably, with ferns and flowers. Thus,
+presently, we saw the blue smoke rising above my
+lodge, betokening to me that my Japanese factotum,
+Hiroshimi, now had my dinner under way.</p>
+
+<p>To me, it was my customary abode, my home
+these three years; but they beside me saw not
+the rambling expanse of my leisurely log mansion.
+They noted not the overhanging gables, the
+lattices of native wood. To them, yonder lay a
+castle in a foreign land. Here was moat and wall,
+then a portcullis, and gratings warded these narrow
+portals against fire of musketoon. My pet
+swallows&rsquo; nest, demure above my door, to them
+offered the aspect of a culverin&rsquo;s mouth; and, as
+now, I made my customary approach-call, by
+which I heralded my return from any excursion
+on the stream of an evening, I could swear these
+invaders looked for naught less than a swarm of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg&nbsp;16]</a></span>
+archers springing to the walls, and the hoarse answer
+of my men-at-arms back of each guarded
+portal. Such is the power of youthful dreaming,
+such the residuary heritage of days of high emprise,
+when life was full of blood and wine and
+love, and savored not so wholly of dull commonplace!</p>
+
+<p>But indeed, (or so I presume; for at the moment
+my own imagination swept on with theirs) none
+manned the walls or rattled the chains of gate
+and bridge. The saffron Hiroshimi opened the
+screen door before us, showing no surprise or
+interest in my strange companions. Thus we made
+easy conquest of our castle. As we entered, there
+lay before us, lighted softly by the subdued twilight
+which filtered through the surrounding grove,
+the interior of that home which in three years I
+had learned much to love, lonely as it was. Here
+I now dwelt most of the time, leaving behind me,
+as though shut off by a closed door, the busy
+scenes of an active and successful life. (I presume
+I may fairly speak thus of myself, since there
+is no one else to speak.)</p>
+
+<p>My pirate companions, suddenly grown shy,
+stood silent for a moment, for the time rather
+at a loss to carry on the play which had been
+easier in the open. I heard Jimmy draw a long
+breath. He was first to remove his hat. But his
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg&nbsp;17]</a></span>
+companion was quicker to regain his poise, although
+for a moment he forgot his pirate speech.
+&ldquo;Gee!&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Ain&rsquo;t this great!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I doubt if any praise I ever heard in my life
+pleased me more than this frank comment; no,
+not even the kind word and hand-clasp of old
+Judge Henderson, what time I won my first cause
+at law. For this that lay about me was what I
+had chosen for my life to-day. I had preferred
+this to the career into which my father&rsquo;s restless
+ambition had plunged me almost as soon as I had
+emerged from my college and my law-school&mdash;a
+career which my own restless ambition had found
+sufficient until that final break with Helena Emory,
+which occurred soon after the time when my
+father died; when the news went out that I, his
+heir, was left with but a shrunken fortune, and
+with many debts to pay; news which I, myself,
+had promulgated for reasons of my own. After
+that, called foolish by all my friends, lamented by
+members of my family, forgotten, as I fancy, by
+most who knew me, I had retired to this lodge
+in the wilderness. Here, grown suddenly resentful
+of a life hitherto wasted in money-getting
+alone, I had resolved to spend the remainder of
+my days, as beseemed a student and a philosopher.
+Having read Weininger and other philosophers, I
+was convinced that woman was the lowest and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg&nbsp;18]</a></span>
+most unworthy thing in the scale of created
+things, a thing quite beneath the attention of a
+thinking man.</p>
+
+<p>I have said that I was scarce beyond thirty
+years of age. Even so, I found myself already
+old; and like any true philosopher, I resolved to
+make myself young. As hitherto I had had no
+boyhood, I determined to achieve a boyhood for
+myself. Studying myself, I discovered that I had
+rarely smiled; so I resolved to find somewhat to
+make me smile. The great realm of knowledge,
+widest and sweetest of all empires for a man, lay
+before me alluringly when I entered upon my business
+career; and so interested was I in my business
+and my books that only by chance had I
+met the woman who drove me out of both. A
+boy I had never been; nay, nor even a youth. I
+had always been old. True, like others of my
+station, I had owned my auto cars, my matched
+teams&mdash;owned them now, indeed&mdash;but I had never
+owned a dog. So, when I came hither with ample
+leisure, perhaps my chief ambition was a deliberate
+purpose to encompass my deferred boyhood.
+Thus I had built this house of logs which now&mdash;with
+a surprised and gratifying throb of my heart
+I learned it&mdash;appealed to the souls of real boys.
+It was the castle where I dreamed; and now it
+was the palace of their dreams also. I felt, at
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg&nbsp;19]</a></span>
+least, that I had succeeded. My heart throbbed
+in a new way, very foolish, yet for some reason
+suddenly enjoyable.</p>
+
+<p>My house was all of logs and had no decorations
+of paint or tapestry within. Its only arras
+was of the skins of wild beasts&mdash;of the African
+lion and leopard, the zebra, many antelopes.
+The walls were hung with mounted heads&mdash;those
+of the moose, the elk, the bighorn, most of the
+main trophies of my own land and to these,
+through my foreign hunting, I had added heads
+of all the great trophies of Africa and Asia as
+well. A splendid pair of elephant tusks stood in
+a corner. A fine head of the sheep of Tibet,
+<i>ovus poli</i>&mdash;and I prize none of my trophies more,
+unless it be the fine robe of the Chinese mountain
+tiger&mdash;looked full front at us from above the fireplace.
+My rod racks, and those which supported my
+guns and rifles, were here and there about the room.
+The whole gave a jaunty atmosphere to my home.
+I had gone soberly about the business of sport;
+and in these days, that can be practised most successfully
+by a man with much leisure and unstinted
+means.</p>
+
+<p>My books lay about everywhere, also, books
+which perhaps would not have appealed to all.
+My copies of the Vedas, many works on the
+Buddhist faith, and translations from Confucius,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg&nbsp;20]</a></span>
+lay side by side with that Bible which we Christians
+have almost forgot. Here, too, stood my desk
+with its cases of preserved mosquitoes&mdash;for this
+year I was studying mosquitoes as an amusement.
+I had collected all the mosquito literature of the
+world, and my books, in French, German and
+English, lay near my great microscope. I had
+passed many happy hours here in the oblivion of
+mental concentration, always a delight with me,
+now grown almost a necessity if I were to escape
+the worst of all habits, that of introspection and
+self-pity.</p>
+
+<p>My piano and my violins also were in full sight;
+for the world of music, as well as the world of
+sport and youth, I was deliberately opening for
+myself, also in exchange for that closed world of
+affairs which I had abandoned. Indeed, all manners
+of the impedimenta of a well-to-do Japanese-cared-for
+bachelor were in evidence. To me, each object
+was familiar and was cherished. I had never felt
+need to apologize to any gentleman for my
+quarters or their contents&mdash;or to any woman, for
+no woman had ever seen my home. I may admit
+that, contrary to the belief of some, I was a
+rich man, far richer that I had need or care to
+be; and since it was not due to my own ability
+altogether nor in response to any real ambition of
+my own, I know I will be pardoned for simply
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg&nbsp;21]</a></span>
+stating the truth. My one great ambition in life
+was to forget; but if that might be best obtained
+in sport, in study, or amid the gentle evidences
+of good living, so much the better. Many
+men had called my father, stern and masterful
+man that he was, a robber, a thief, a pirate&mdash;in
+great part, I suspect, in envy that they themselves
+had not attained a like stature in similar achievement.
+But no one had ever called his son a pirate&mdash;until
+now! It made me oddly happy.</p>
+
+<p>I ought to have been happy here all these years,
+able to do precisely what I liked; but sometimes
+I felt myself strangely alone in the world. I was
+always silent and apparently cold&mdash;though really,
+let me whisper&mdash;only shy. Sometimes, even here,
+I found myself a trifle sad. It is difficult to be a
+boy when one starts at thirty; especially difficult if
+one has always been rather old and staid.</p>
+
+<p>I tell all these things to explain that keen pleasure,
+that swift exultation, that rush of the blood
+to my cheeks, which I felt when I saw that my
+house and my way of life met the approval of
+real boys. Pirates, too!</p>
+
+<p>Swift, therefore, fell once more the magic curtain
+of romance. I heard a strange voice, my own
+voice, saying: &ldquo;Enter then, my bold mates, and
+let us explore this castle which we have conquered.&rdquo;
+Yes, illusion floated in through the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg&nbsp;22]</a></span>
+windows on the pale light of the evening. This
+was a castle we had taken; and the detail that I
+chanced to own it was neither here nor there.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Prisoner,&rdquo; began L&rsquo;Olonnois sternly&mdash;he was
+usually spokesman, if not always leader&mdash;&ldquo;Prisoner,
+your life is spared for the time. Lead on!
+Attempt to play us false, and your blood shall be
+spilled upon the deck!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It shall be so,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;And if I do not
+give you the best meal you have had to-day, then
+indeed let my life&rsquo;s blood stain the deck.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, I nodded to Hiroshimi to serve the
+dinner.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg&nbsp;23]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH I AM A PIRATE</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>ITH my own hands I have trained that
+prize, Hiroshimi, to cook and to serve; but
+only Providence could give Hiroshimi his super-humanly
+disinterested calm. He fitted perfectly into
+the picture of our dream. &rsquo;Twas no ordinary
+log house in which we sat, indeed no house at
+all. Beneath us rose and fell a stanch vessel,
+responsive to the long lift of the southern seas.
+It was not a rustle of the leaves we heard through
+the open windows, but the low ripple of waves
+along our strakes came to our ears through the
+open ports. Hiroshimi did not depart to the
+kitchen; but high aloft our lookout swept the
+sea for sail that might offer us a prize.</p>
+
+<p>If any say that this manner of illusion may
+not exist between two boys and a man, I answer
+that we did not thus classify it. By the new
+pleasure in my soul, by the new blood in my
+cheek, I swear we were three boys together,
+and all in quest of adventure.</p>
+
+<p>True, at times our speech smacked less of
+nautical and piratical phrase, at times, indeed,
+halted. It is difficult for a twelve-year-old pirate,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg&nbsp;24]</a></span>
+exceeding hungry, to ask for a third helping of
+grilled chicken in a voice at once stern and ingratiating.
+Moreover, it is difficult for a discreet
+and law-abiding citizen, with a full sense of duty,
+deliberately to aid and abet two youthful runaways.
+But whenever illusion wavered, L&rsquo;Olonnois
+saved the day by resuming his stern scowl, even
+above a chicken-bone. His facility in rolling
+speech I discovered to be, in part, attributable to
+a volume which I saw protruding from his pocket.
+At my request he passed it to me, and I saw its
+title; <i>The Pirate&rsquo;s Own Book</i>. I knew it well.
+Indeed, I now arose, and passing to my bookshelves,
+drew down a duplicate copy of that rare
+volume, recounting the deeds of the old buccaneers.
+The eyes of L&rsquo;Olonnois widened as I laid
+the two side by side.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got it, too!&rdquo; he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>I nodded.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That explains it,&rdquo; said Jean Lafitte.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Explains what?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, how you&mdash;why now&mdash;how you could be
+a pirate, too, just as natural as us.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have read it many a time,&rdquo; said I.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Wasn&rsquo;t you never a pirate?&rdquo; asked Jean Lafitte.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, smiling, &ldquo;although many have
+said my father was. He was very rich.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, you can talk just like us,&rdquo; said Jean
+Lafitte admiringly, &ldquo;even if you have lost all.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg&nbsp;25]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; said I exultingly. &ldquo;Why not? I
+think as you do. As much as you I am disgusted
+with the dulness of life. I, too, wish to seek
+my fortune. Well then, why not, John Saunders?
+Why not, James Henderson?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Ah, now indeed illusion halted! Both boys,
+abashed, fell back in their chairs. &ldquo;How did you
+know our names?&rdquo; asked the older of the two at
+length.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nay, fear not,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I do but seek to
+prove my fitness to join the jolly brotherhood,
+good mates.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aw, honest!&rdquo; rejoined Jimmy; &ldquo;you got to tell
+us how you knew.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, then, let me go on. In your book, here,
+I saw your father&rsquo;s name, Jimmy. I know your
+father. He is Judge Willard Henderson of the
+Appellate Court in the city. I was admitted to
+the bar under him. He has a summer place at
+the lake above here, as I know, although I have
+never visited him there. I know your mother,
+too, Jimmy,&mdash;so well I should not like to cause
+her even a moment&rsquo;s uneasiness about you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do you know my auntie, Helena Emory?&rdquo; demanded
+Jimmy suddenly. I felt the blood surge
+into my face.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t misunderstand me,&rdquo; I rejoined, &ldquo;I only
+have some gift of the second sight, as I shall now
+prove to you. For instance, Jean Lafitte, I know
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg&nbsp;26]</a></span>
+your earlier name was John Saunders, although I
+never saw or heard of you before.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, now, how&rsquo;d you know that?&rdquo; demanded
+the elder boy.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I did not promise to tell the secrets of my
+art,&rdquo; I smiled. I did not tell him that I had seen
+the name of Saunders on the tag of a shirt somewhat
+soiled.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Your father&rsquo;s name was John before you,&rdquo; I
+added at a venture. He assented, half-frightened,
+although I had only guessed at this, supposing
+John Saunders to be a somewhat continuous
+family name in a family of auburn Highlanders.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He sells farm stuff at the hotel above,&rdquo; I ventured.
+And again my guess was truth.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You take the wagon there, sometimes, with
+vegetables and milk and eggs; and so you met
+Jimmy, here, and you went fishing together; and
+he told you stories out of his book. I fear, John,
+that your father licks you because you go fishing
+on Sunday. That was why you resolved to run
+away. You led Jimmy into that with you. Yesterday
+you took a boat from the lake near the
+hotel, and you painted her up and rigged her for
+a pirate ship. You rowed across the lake to the
+marsh where the little stream makes out&mdash;my
+trout-stream here. You followed that stream
+down, with no more trouble than ducking under
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg&nbsp;27]</a></span>
+a wire fence once in a while, until you came to
+my land, and until you saw me. You were afraid
+I might tell on you; and besides, you were pirates
+now; and so you took me prisoner. Marry, good
+Sirs, &rsquo;tis not the first time a prisoner has joined a
+pirate band!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s wonderful!&rdquo; gasped Jean T. Lafitte
+Saunders. &ldquo;And you say you have never been
+up to our lake!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but I have a map, and I know
+my river heads in your lake, and that very probably
+it runs out of the low marshy side. Besides,
+being a boy myself, I know precisely what boys
+would do. Tell me, do you think I would betray
+two of the brotherhood?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t give us away?&rdquo; The elder pirate&rsquo;s
+face was eager.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;On the contrary, I&rsquo;ll see that you don&rsquo;t get
+into any trouble.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a good scout!&rdquo; ejaculated he fervently,
+his freckled face flushing.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We wasn&rsquo;t&mdash;that is, we hadn&rsquo;t&mdash;well, you see?&rdquo;
+began Jimmy. &ldquo;Maybe we&rsquo;d just have camped
+down here and gone back to-morrow. I was afraid
+about taking the boat. Besides, I&rsquo;ve only got
+about six dollars, anyhow.&rdquo; He spread his wealth
+out upon the table before me frankly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Have no fear,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;To-night I shall write
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg&nbsp;28]</a></span>
+a few letters that will clear up every trouble back
+home, and allow us to continue our journey to
+the Spanish Main.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, will you?&rdquo; cried Jimmy, much relieved.
+&ldquo;That&rsquo;ll be a good scout,&rdquo; he added.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly I found myself smiling at him, I who
+had smiled so rarely these years, whether in the
+Selkirks or the Himalayas, in Uganda or here in
+my own little wilderness&mdash;because Helena had
+left me so sad.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But if I promise, you, also, must promise in
+turn.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Used as I was, already, to the astounding
+changes in Jimmy from boy to buccaneer and back
+again, I was now interested at the fell scowl which
+he summoned to his features, as soon as he felt
+relieved as to the domestic situation. &ldquo;Speak, fellow!&rdquo;
+he demanded; and folding his arms, presented
+so threatening a front that I saw my man
+Hiroshimi covertly lay hold upon a carving knife.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, then, my hearties,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;&rsquo;tis thus.
+I&rsquo;ll sign on as sea-lawyer and scrivener, as well
+as purser for the ship. Yes, I&rsquo;ll sign articles and
+voyage with you for a week or a month, or two
+months, or three. I&rsquo;ll provender the ship and pay
+all bills of libel or demurrage in any port of call;
+and by my fateful gift of second sight, which ye
+have seen well proven here to-night, not only will
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg&nbsp;29]</a></span>
+I see ye safe for what ye already have done, but
+will keep ye safe against any enemy we may meet,
+be he whom he may!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis well,&rdquo; said L&rsquo;Olonnois. &ldquo;Say on!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And in return I ask a boon.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Name it, fellow!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Already I have named it&mdash;that I, too, shall
+be accepted as one of the brotherhood. Oh,
+listen&rdquo;&mdash;I broke out impulsively&mdash;&ldquo;I have never
+been a pirate, and I have never been a boy. I
+have had everything in the world I wanted and it
+made me awfully lonesome, because when you have
+everything you have nothing. I have nothing to
+do but eat and sleep, and hunt and fish, and read
+and write, and study and think, and play my
+music, here. I do not want to do these things any
+more. Especially I do not want to think. Boys
+do not think, and I want to be a boy. I want to
+be a pirate with you. I want to seek my fortune
+with you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We sat silent, almost solemn for a moment, so
+sincere was my speech and so startling to them.
+But thanks to L&rsquo;Olonnois and his saving book, illusion
+came to us once more in time.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Will ye be good brother and true pirate?&rdquo;
+demanded L&rsquo;Olonnois. &ldquo;And will ye take the oath
+of blood?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That I will!&rdquo; said I.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg&nbsp;30]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Brothers and good shipmates all&rdquo;&mdash;broke in
+Jean Lafitte in a deep voice&mdash;&ldquo;what say ye? Shall
+we put him to the oath?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, aye, Sir!&rdquo; responded the deep chorus of
+scores of full-chested voices. Or, at least, so it
+seemed to us, though, mayhap, &rsquo;twas no more than
+Jimmy who spoke.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Swear him, then!&rdquo; commanded Jean Lafitte.
+&ldquo;Swear him by the oath of blood.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We&mdash;we haven&rsquo;t any blood!&rdquo; whispered
+L&rsquo;Olonnois, aside, somewhat troubled.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That have we, mates,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and the ceremony
+shall have full solemnity.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I took up my keen hunting knife and deliberately
+and slowly opened the side of my thumb,
+more to the pain of Jimmy, I fancy, than to myself,
+as I could see by the twitch of his features.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;By this blood I swear!&rdquo; said I: &ldquo;and on the
+point of my blade I swear to be a true pirate;
+to fight the fight of all; to divulge no plans of the
+company; and to share with my brothers share
+and share alike of all booty we may take.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis well!&rdquo; said L&rsquo;Olonnois, much impressed
+and delighted, as also was his mate, very evidently.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And now, my brothers,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you, also,
+must swear to divulge no secret of mine that you
+may learn, to tell nothing of my plans, or my
+name, or the name of the port where I signed on
+the rolls.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg&nbsp;31]</a></span>
+&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t know your name,&rdquo; said Jimmy, &ldquo;but
+neither of us will give you away.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Jean Lafitte was all for opening up his own
+thumb for blood, but I stopped him. &ldquo;This will
+do,&rdquo; said I, and stained his fingers and those of
+L&rsquo;Olonnois&mdash;who grew pale at sight of it to his
+evident disgust.</p>
+
+<p>So, thus, I became a pirate, and we three were
+brother rovers of the deep. I fancied my associates
+would be loyal. I was thinking of a certain
+cousin of the younger pirate. Not for worlds
+would I seek to pursue her now; but there had
+arisen in my soul, already, a sort of strange wonder
+whether some intent of fate had sent this
+youngster here to remind me once more of her,
+whom I would forget.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said I at last, &ldquo;let us seek what fare
+the castle offers for the night.&rdquo; I could see they
+were tired and sleepy, and so found for them
+bath and clean pajamas&mdash;somewhat too large to
+be sure&mdash;and good beds in the wing of my log
+house. And never, as I be a true pirate, never
+have I seen so many and so various single-fire
+and revolving short arms, in my life, as these
+two buccaneers disclosed when they unbelted and
+laid aside their jackets! Even thus equipped, I
+found them looking enviously at my walls, where
+hung weapons of many lands. I sent them to
+bed happier by telling them that, in the morning,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg&nbsp;32]</a></span>
+they should select such as they chose for the
+equipment of our vessel. &ldquo;Gee!&rdquo; said Jean Lafitte
+again. &ldquo;Gee! <em>Gee!</em>&rdquo; He was so happy that I,
+too, was happy. It was L&rsquo;Olonnois who changed
+that.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Methinks,&rdquo; said he, regarding me sternly, &ldquo;that
+in yonder ivy-clad halls might dwell some lady
+fair! Tell me, is it not so?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He stretched a thin arm out, in the sleeve of
+my smallest pajamas, and pointed a slender finger
+at the interior of my castle of dreams. Alas,
+after all it was empty! My old melancholy came
+back to me.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, my brothers,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;no maid has ever
+passed yon door. No, nor ever will.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>L&rsquo;Olonnois bent his flaxen head in dignified and
+manly sympathy. &ldquo;I see,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;our brother
+in his youth has, perhaps, been deceived by some
+fair one!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Upon which I left them for my own room.</p>
+
+<p>If two buccaneers in my castle slept well that
+night, a third did not. Anopheles might go hang.
+I did not fancy my new microscope. I doubted
+if my last violin were a real Strad. I did not like
+the last music my dealers had sent out to me. My
+studies of Confucius and Buddha might go hang,
+and my new book as well. For now, before me,
+came the face of a certain pirate&rsquo;s aunt, and she
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg&nbsp;33]</a></span>
+was indeed a lady fair. And I knew full well&mdash;as
+I had known all these years, although I had
+tried to deceive myself into believing otherwise&mdash;that
+gladly as I had exchanged the city for the
+wilderness, with equal gladness would I exchange
+my leisure, all my wealth, all my belongings, for
+a moment&rsquo;s touch of her hand, a half-hour of
+talk heart-to-heart with her, so that, indeed, I
+might know the truth; so that, at least, I might
+have it direct from her, bitter though the truth
+might be.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg&nbsp;34]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH WE SAIL FOR THE SPANISH MAIN</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>HEN, in the morning, I passed from my
+quarters toward the main room which
+served me both as living-room and dining hall, I
+found that my pirate guests were also early
+risers. I could hear them arguing over some
+matter, which proved to be no more serious
+than the question of a cold bath of mornings,
+Jimmy maintaining that everybody had a cold
+bath every morning, whereas John insisted with
+equal heat that nobody ever bathed (&ldquo;washed,&rdquo;
+I think he called it), oftener than once a week,
+to wit, on Saturdays only. They engaged in a
+pillow fight to settle it, and as Jimmy had John
+fairly well smothered by his rapid fire, I voted
+that the ayes appeared to have it when they referred
+the point to me.</p>
+
+<p>As we are very remote and never visited in
+my wilderness home, it is not infrequent that I
+take my morning meal very much indeed in
+mufti, although Hiroshimi is always most exact
+himself. On this morning it occurred to us all
+that pajamas made a garb more piratical and more
+nautical than anything else obtainable, so we took
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg&nbsp;35]</a></span>
+breakfast&mdash;and I think Hiroshimi never served
+me a breakfast more delicate and tempting&mdash;clad
+as perhaps the Romans were, if they had pajamas
+in those times. All went well until the keen eyes
+of Jimmy, wandering about my place, noted a
+certain photograph which rested on the top of my
+piano&mdash;where I was much comforted always to
+have it, especially of an evening, when sometimes
+I played Mendelssohn&rsquo;s <i>Spring Song</i>, or other
+music of the like. It was the picture of the
+woman who did not know and very likely did not
+care where, or how, I lived&mdash;Helena Emory, to
+my mind one of the most beautiful women of her
+day; and I have seen the world&rsquo;s portraits of the
+world&rsquo;s beauties of all recorded days in beauty.
+Toward this Jimmy ran excitedly&mdash;I, with equal
+speed, endeavoring to divert him from his purpose.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s my Auntie Helen!&rdquo; he protested, when
+I recovered it and placed it in my pocket.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is your Auntie fiddlesticks, Jimmy,&rdquo; said I
+hastily, hoping my color was not heightened. &ldquo;It
+is your grandmother! Finish your breakfast.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I guess I ought to know&mdash;&rdquo; he began.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What!&rdquo; I rejoined. &ldquo;Wouldst pit your wisdom
+against one who has the second sight; have
+a care, shipmate.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It was!&rdquo; he reiterated. &ldquo;I know ain&rsquo;t anybody
+pretty as she is, so it was.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg&nbsp;36]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Jimmy L&rsquo;Olonnois,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;let us reason about
+this. I&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Lemme see it, then. I can tell in a minute.
+Why don&rsquo;t you lemme see it, then?&rdquo; He was
+eager.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Shipmate,&rdquo; I replied to him, &ldquo;the hand is sometimes
+quicker than the eye, and the mind slower
+than the heart. For that reason I can not agree
+to your request.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But what&rsquo;d <em>he</em> be doing with Miss Emory&rsquo;s
+picture, Jimmy?&rdquo; argued Lafitte.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;d like to know,&rdquo; I added. &ldquo;It
+may be that, in your haste, you have confused in
+your mind, Jimmy, some portrait with that of the
+Princess Am&egrave;lie Louise, of Furstenburg.&rdquo; (I had
+indeed sometimes commented on the likeness of
+Helena Emory to that light-hearted old-world
+beauty.) Jimmy did not know that a photograph
+of the princess herself, also, stood upon the piano
+top, nor did he fully grasp the truth of that old
+saying that the hand is quicker than the eye. At
+least, he gazed somewhat confused at the portrait
+which I now produced before his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Who was she?&rdquo; he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A very charming young lady of rank, who
+eloped with a young man not of rank. In short,
+although she did not marry a chauffeur, she did
+marry an automobile agent. And surely, Jimmy,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg&nbsp;37]</a></span>
+your Auntie Helen&mdash;whoever she may be&mdash;would
+do no such thing as that and still claim to be a
+cousin of a L&rsquo;Olonnois?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. You can&rsquo;t always tell what a
+girl&rsquo;s going to do,&rdquo; said Jimmy sagely. &ldquo;But I
+don&rsquo;t think Auntie Helen&rsquo;s going to marry a auto
+man.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, Jimmy?&rdquo; (I found pleasure and dread
+alike in this conversation.)</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Because everybody says she&rsquo;s going to get married
+to Mr. Davidson, and he&rsquo;s a commission
+man.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Now, I am sure, my face did not flush. It may
+have paled. I tried to be composed. I reached
+for the melon dish and remarked, &ldquo;Yes? And
+who is he? And really, who is your Auntie
+Helena, Jimmy, and what does she look like?&rdquo; I
+spoke with a fine air of carelessness.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She looks like the princess, you said,&rdquo; replied
+Jimmy. &ldquo;And Mr. Davidson&rsquo;s rich. He&rsquo;s got a
+house on our lake, this summer, and he lives in
+New York and has offices in Chicago, and travels
+a good deal. He has some sort of factory, too,
+and he&rsquo;s awful rich. I like him pretty well. He
+knows how all the ball clubs stand, both leagues,
+every day in the year. You ought to know him,
+because then you might get to know my Auntie
+Helena. If they got married, like as not, I could
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg&nbsp;38]</a></span>
+take you up to their house. I thought everybody
+knew Mr. Davidson, and my Auntie Helena, too.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Everybody did. Why should I not know Cal
+Davidson, one of the decentest chaps in the world?
+Why not, since we belonged to half a dozen of the
+same clubs in New York and other cities? Why
+not, since this very summer I had put my private
+yacht (named oddly enough, the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>)
+in commission for the first season in three years,
+and chartered her for the summer around Mackinaw,
+and a cruise down the Mississippi to the
+Gulf that fall? Why not, since I had still unbanked
+the handsome check Davidson had insisted
+on my taking as charter money for the last quarter?</p>
+
+<p>Davidson! Of all men I had counted him my
+friend. And now here was he, reputed to be about
+to marry the girl who, as he knew, must have
+known, ought to have known, was all the world
+to me! Even if she would have none of me, and
+even though I had no shadow of claim on her&mdash;even
+though we had parted not once but a dozen times,
+and at last in a final parting&mdash;Davidson ought to
+have known, must have known! And my own
+yacht! Why, no man may know what may go
+forward in a yachting party. And, if perchance
+that fall he could persuade to accompany him
+Helena and her chaperon (I made no doubt that
+would be her Aunt Lucinda; for Helena&rsquo;s mother
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg&nbsp;39]</a></span>
+died when she was a child, and she was somewhat
+alone, although in rather comfortable circumstances)
+what could not so clever a man as Davidson,
+I repeat, one with so much of a way with
+women, accomplish in a journey so long as that,
+with no other man as his rival? It would be just
+like Cal Davidson to go ashore at St. Louis long
+enough to find a chaplain, and then go on ahead
+for a honeymoon around the world&mdash;on my boat,
+with my.... No, she was not mine ... but
+then....</p>
+
+<p>All my life I have tried to be fair, even with my
+own interests at stake. I tried now to be fair; and
+I failed! I could see but one side to this case.
+Davidson must be found at once, must be halted
+in mid-career.</p>
+
+<p>It was about this time that Hiroshimi came in
+with the morning&rsquo;s mail and telegrams, all of
+which at my place come in from the railway, ten
+miles or so, by rural free delivery. I paid small
+attention to him, most of my mail, these days,
+having to do with gasoline pumps or patent hay
+rakes and lists from my gun and tackle dealers
+and such like.</p>
+
+<p>Hiroshimi coughed. &ldquo;Supposing Honorable like
+to see these yellow wire envelopings.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I glanced down and idly opened the telegram.
+It was from Cal Davidson himself, and read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg&nbsp;40]</a></span>
+<p>&ldquo;Name best price outright sale bill Helen to me
+answer Chicago.&rdquo;</p></div>
+
+<p>So then, the scoundrel actually was on his way
+down the lakes, headed for the South, even thus
+early in the season! I knew, of course, that Bill
+Helen meant <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>. As though I would
+sell my boat to him, of all men! It might almost
+as well have been a sale of Helena herself outright,
+as this cursed telegram stated. I crumpled
+the sheet in my hand.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If Honorable contemplates some answering of
+mail this morning, it will be one ow-wore till the
+miserable pony mail carry all man comes,&rdquo; ventured
+Hiroshimi.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing this morning, Hiro,&rdquo; I managed to
+choke out, &ldquo;and, Hiro, make ready my bag, the
+small one, for a journey.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;S-s-s-s!&rdquo; hissed Hiroshimi, which was his way
+of saying, &ldquo;Yes, sir, very well, sir.&rdquo; Surprise he
+neither showed now nor at any time; and since
+he never could tell at what hour I might conclude
+to start for his country or Europe or Africa or
+some other land for a stay of weeks or months,
+there was perhaps some warrant for his calm. He
+had less to do when I was away; although I always
+suspected him of poaching my trout with his
+infernal Japanese methods of angling.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg&nbsp;41]</a></span>
+At this moment L&rsquo;Olonnois saw, through the
+open door, a red squirrel which scampered up a
+tree. At once he forgot all about his Auntie Helen
+and scampered off in pursuit, followed presently
+by Lafitte. This gave me time to decide upon a
+plan.... At last, I lifted my head again....
+Why not, then?</p>
+
+<p>When L&rsquo;Olonnois returned from the chase of
+the squirrel, he was all L&rsquo;Olonnois and none Jimmy
+Henderson. The spell of his drama was upon him
+once more.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What ho, mate,&rdquo; he began, scowling most vilely
+at me, &ldquo;the sun is high in the heavens, yet we
+linger here. Let us up anchor, hoist the top-gallant
+mast and set sail for the enemy.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Jimmy&rsquo;s nautical terms might have been open
+to criticism, but there was no denying the bold
+and manly import of his speech. My own heart
+jumped well enough with it now.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis well, shipmate,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Come, get ready
+your togs and your weapons, and let us away. As
+you say, the good ship tugs at her anchor chains
+this morning.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I managed to better the wardrobe of both boys
+by certain ducks and linens from my own store,
+albeit a world too large. Lafitte, none too happy
+at being thus uncongenially clean, was delight itself
+when set to selecting an armament from my
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg&nbsp;42]</a></span>
+collection. He chose three bright and clean Japanese
+swords, special blades of the Samurai armorers,
+forged long before Mutsuhito&rsquo;s grandfather was a
+boy&mdash;I had paid a rare price for them in Japan.
+To these he added three basket-handled cutlasses,
+which I had obtained in London, each almost old
+enough to have belonged to the crew of Drake
+himself. A short-barreled magazine pistol for
+each of us was his concession to the present unromantic
+age. As for Jimmy, he insisted on a
+small bore rifle as well as a shotgun. &ldquo;We might
+see something,&rdquo; he remarked laconically.</p>
+
+<p>Thus equipped, I persuaded my associates to lay
+aside most of their somewhat archaic artillery.
+Neither had taken any thought of other supplies.
+Hiroshimi, however, now appeared, bearing, in
+addition to my hand luggage, two hampers, a roll
+of blankets and a silk tent in its canvas wrapper.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Honorable is embarked in those small-going
+boat that is made tied to the bank?&rdquo; inquired Hiroshimi.
+He had said nothing to me about my guests,
+or asked how they came; but as I knew he would
+find out all about it, anyhow, after his own fashion,
+I had not mentioned anything to him, or told him
+what to do. I only nodded now, relying on his
+efficiency. He now approached my young pirates,
+and rather against their will, removed from them
+some of their burden of weapons, slinging about
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg&nbsp;43]</a></span>
+himself bundles, baskets, bags and cutlery, until
+he almost disappeared from view. He cast on me
+a reproachful gaze, however, as he took from
+Lafitte&rsquo;s hand the bared blade of the old Samurai
+sword, and noted the ancient inscription on blade
+and scabbard as he sheathed it reverently.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What does it say, Hiro?&rdquo; I asked of him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very old talk, Honorable,&rdquo; answered Hiroshimi.
+&ldquo;It say, &lsquo;Oh, Honorable Gentleman who carry me,
+I invite you to make high and noble adventurings.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let me carry it, Hiro,&rdquo; said I; and I tucked
+it under my own arm.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Good!&rdquo; exclaimed L&rsquo;Olonnois. &ldquo;Then you are
+going with us? And did you write the letters that
+you promised us?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I always keep my word.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And it&rsquo;ll be all right back home about mother
+and the boat? I&rsquo;ll give you my six dollars!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There is no need. I told you, if you would
+make me one of the crew of the <i>Sea Rover</i> and
+let me seek my fortune with you, I would gladly
+pay all the reckoning of our journey.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And how long will we be gone?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Till after your school begins, I fear.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And how far are you going with us?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Spang! to the Spanish Main!&rdquo; I answered.</p>
+
+<p>So then we set forth down my woodland path.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg&nbsp;44]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH I ACQUIRE A FRIEND</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>E proceeded, therefore, through the wood,
+sweet in the dew of morning, among many
+twittering birds, and so came, presently, to
+the end of my path, where the little gate shuts
+it off from my mowing meadow; at the upper end
+of which, it may be remembered, the good ship
+<i>Sea Rover</i> lay anchored. The grass stood waist-high
+and wet in the dew as we turned along the
+meadow side, and L&rsquo;Olonnois flinched a bit, although
+Lafitte waded along carelessly.</p>
+
+<p>I observed that each boy had now thrust into
+his hat band a turkey feather, picked up, en route,
+along my field&rsquo;s edge. Jimmy was not sure of the
+correctness of this; and admitted that, sometimes,
+he had read literature having to do with Indian
+fighting, as well as piratical enterprises. I suggested
+that, to my mind, nothing quite took the
+place of the regulation red kerchief bound about
+the head; whereat, gravely, both L&rsquo;Olonnois and
+Lafitte discarded their hats and feathers, for the
+bandannas which I proffered them. Having bound
+these about their foreheads, a great courage and
+confidence came to them.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg&nbsp;45]</a></span>
+L&rsquo;Olonnois drew his sword, and with some care
+placed the blade between his teeth. &ldquo;Hist!&rdquo; exclaimed
+Lafitte, himself swept by his friend&rsquo;s
+imagination, and preparing to place his cutlass in
+his mouth also. &ldquo;Let us approach the vessel with
+care, lest the enemy be about.&rdquo; So saying, each
+pirate with a mouthful of cold steel, and a hand
+shading his red-kerchiefed brow, stole through my
+clump of birches toward the bend, where the boat
+had first surprised me; myself following, somewhat
+put to it to refrain from laughter, although
+one rarely laughs in the young hours of the day,
+and myself rarely, at all.</p>
+
+<p>We were greeted by no hostile shot, and found
+our vessel quite as we had left her, as I could see
+at a glance when we neared the bank; but, none
+the less, something stirred in the bushes. A growl
+and a sudden barking, greeted Hiroshimi as he
+approached the boat in advance.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You, Tige!&rdquo; called out Lafitte. The dog&mdash;a
+dog none too beautiful, and now just a bit forlorn&mdash;approached
+us, alternately wagging in
+friendship and retreating in alarm.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what do you think of that!&rdquo; said Jimmy.
+&ldquo;We left him back at the lake&mdash;sent him home
+half a dozen times. How&rsquo;d he get here, and how&rsquo;d
+he know where we was?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He couldn&rsquo;t a-swum the lake,&rdquo; assented John.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg&nbsp;46]</a></span>
+&ldquo;And it was more&rsquo;n ten miles around; and how
+could he smell where we went, on the water? Come
+here, Tige, you blame fool!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nay,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;he is no fool, this dog, but a
+creature of great reason, else he never could have
+found you. And I&rsquo;ll be bound he is as keen for
+adventure as any of us.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He is coming here last night two ow-wore
+after dinner,&rdquo; said the omniscient Hiroshimi. &ldquo;Also
+he bite me on leg. He, also, is malefactor.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He has allotted to himself the duty of caring
+for the property of his masters, Hiro,&rdquo; I said,
+&ldquo;and hence is not really a malefactor. Besides,
+since he would not leave the boat and follow our
+trail, he is by this time hungry. Feed him, Hiro.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But Hiroshimi was not eager to approach the
+piratical canine again; so I, myself, fished something
+from a hamper and called the dog to me.
+He ate gladly and most gratefully.</p>
+
+<p>Now, it is a strange thing to say, but it is the
+truth, I had never before in my life fed a dog!
+I had won many knotty suits at law, had solved
+many hard problems dealing with human nature&mdash;and
+had found human nature for the most part
+rarely glad or grateful&mdash;but I have never owned
+or even fed a dog. A strange new feeling came
+in my throat now. Suddenly I swallowed some
+invisible intangible thing.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg&nbsp;47]</a></span>
+&ldquo;John,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;what breed of dog is this?&rdquo;
+Indeed, it was hard to tell offhand, although he
+had the keen head of a collie.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I guess he&rsquo;s just one o&rsquo; them partial dogs,&rdquo;
+answered John, &ldquo;mostly shepherd, maybe; I dunno.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, Partial shall be his name. And is
+he yours?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He runs round on the farm. He goes with
+Jimmy an&rsquo; me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;John, will you sell me Partial?&rdquo; I asked this
+suddenly, realizing that my voice might sound
+odd.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;d ye want him fer?&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;He&rsquo;d
+be a nuisance.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I think not. See how faithful he has been, see
+how grateful he is; and how wise. He reasoned
+where you were as well as I reasoned who you
+were. He knows now that we are talking about
+him, and knows that I am his friend&mdash;see him
+look at me; see him come over and stand by me.
+John, do you think&mdash;do you believe a dog, this
+dog, would learn to like me, ever? Would he
+understand me?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said John judicially, standing sword in
+hand, &ldquo;I dunno. Someways, maybe dogs and boys
+understands quicker. But you understand us.
+Maybe he&rsquo;d understand you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg&nbsp;48]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Well reasoned, Jean Lafitte,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;perhaps
+your logic is better than you know, at least, I
+hope so. And now I offer you yonder magazine
+pistol as your own in fee, if you will sign over to
+me all your right, title and interest, in Partial,
+here. Evidently he belongs with us. He seems
+to care for us. And I experience some odd sort
+of feeling, which I can not quite describe. Perhaps
+it is only that I feel like a boy, and one that
+is going to own a dog. Is it a bargain?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sure! You c&rsquo;n have him for nuthin&rsquo;,&rdquo; said
+Lafitte. &ldquo;He ain&rsquo;t worth nothin&rsquo;. Besides, I can&rsquo;t
+charge a brother of the flag anything; anyhow,
+not you.&rdquo; I inferred that Jean Lafitte, also, was
+going to grow up into one of those men like myself,
+cursed with a reticence and shyness in some
+matters, and so winning a reputation of oddness
+or coldness, against all the real and passionate
+protest of his own soul.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, brother,&rdquo; I said to him: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll not offer
+you trade, but gift. Let it be that if I can win
+the dog, and if he will take me as his master and
+friend, he shall be mine. And you take the pistol,
+and have a care of it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s all right!&rdquo; said Lafitte shyly, yet delightedly,
+as I could see.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Here, Partial!&rdquo; I called to the dog; and being
+young and friendly, and attached to neither in
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg&nbsp;49]</a></span>
+particular, and only in general worshiping the
+creature Boy, he came to me! I fed him, stroked
+him, looked into his eyes. And in a few moments
+he put his feet on my shoulders, and licked at
+my ear, and began to talk to me in low eager
+whines, and rubbed his muzzle against my cheek,
+and said all that a dog could say in oath of feudal
+service, pledging loyalty of life and limb. At
+which I felt very odd indeed; and began to see
+the world had many things in it of which I had
+never known; but which, now, I was resolved to
+know.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Honorable is embarking those malefactor canine
+thing with so much impediments in this small-going
+boat?&rdquo; inquired Hiroshimi.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;At once. All four of us.
+Put the stuff aboard, Hiro.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>So, somewhat crowded as the <i>Sea Rover</i> was,
+with three boys and a dog, not to mention our
+supplies and our armament, at last we were afloat
+with crew and cargo aboard. Hiro was not surprised,
+and asked no questions. With the salaam
+with which he announced dinner, he now announced
+his own departure for his duties at my
+deserted house; and as he walked he never
+turned around for curious gaze. Often, often
+have I, in my readings in the Eastern philosophy,
+endeavored to analyze and to emulate this Oriental
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg&nbsp;50]</a></span>
+calm, this dismissal from the soul of things small,
+things unessential and things unavoidable. An
+enviable character, my boy Hiroshimi.</p>
+
+<p>Now all was bustle and confusion aboard the
+good ship <i>Sea Rover</i>. &ldquo;Stand by the main braces!&rdquo;
+roared Lafitte.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, aye, Sir!&rdquo; replied the crew, that is to say,
+Jimmy L&rsquo;Olonnois.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hard a lee!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hard a lee it is, Sir!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hoist the top-gallant mainsail an&rsquo; clew all
+alow an&rsquo; aloft!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, aye, Sir!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Man the capstan! All hands to the starboard
+mizzen chains! Heave away!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Heave away!&rdquo; rejoined our gallant crew, never
+for a moment in doubt as to the captain&rsquo;s meaning.
+And, indeed, he gave a push with an oar at
+the bank, which thrust us into the smart current
+of my little river.</p>
+
+<p>We were afloat! We were off to seek our fortune!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 335px;">
+<img src="images/tlatp03.jpg" width="335" height="500"
+alt="The man and two boys in a boat, one of the boys rowing" />
+<span class="caption">I, too, stood, shading my eyes with my hand</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Ah, what a fine new world was this which lay
+before us! But for one thing, this had no doubt
+been the happiest moment in my life. For, always,
+the attaining of knowledge, the growth of
+a man&rsquo;s mind and soul, had to me seemed the one
+ambition worth a man&rsquo;s while; and now, as I
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg&nbsp;51]</a></span>
+might well be assured, I had learned more and
+grown more, these last twelve hours or so, than I
+had in any twelve years of my life before. Before
+me, indeed, had opened a vast and wonderful
+world. That morning, as we swept around curve
+after curve of the swift trout-stream that I loved
+so well, among my alders, through my bits of
+wood, along my hills&mdash;with Lafitte and L&rsquo;Olonnois
+standing, each alert, silent, peering ahead under his
+flat hand to see what might lie ahead (I astern
+with Partial&rsquo;s head on my knee), I felt rise in my
+soul the same sweet grateful feeling that I had
+when the new world of music opened to me, what
+time I first caught the real meaning of the <i>Fr&uuml;hlingslied</i>.
+My heart leaped anew in my bosom,
+for the time forgetting its sadness. I saw that
+the world after all does hold faith and loyalty
+and friendship and perpetual, self-renewing Youth....
+I also rose, cast my hat aside, and with one
+hand reaching down to touch my friend&rsquo;s head,
+I, too, stood, shading my eyes with my edged
+hand, peering ahead into this strange new world
+that lay ahead of me.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg&nbsp;52]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH I ACHIEVE A NAME</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">S</span>O winding is my trout river, and so extensive
+are my lands along it, that it was not until
+nearly noon that our progress, sometimes halted
+by shallows, again swift in the deeper reaches,
+brought the <i>Sea Rover</i> to the lower edge of my
+estate. Here, the river was deeper and more silent,
+the waters were not quite so cold, but as we passed
+a high hardwood bridge from which issued a cool
+spring of water, I suggested a halt in our voyage,
+to which my companions, readily enough, agreed.
+We, therefore, disembarked and prepared to have
+our luncheon.</p>
+
+<p>It was obvious to me that Jean Lafitte and
+Henri L&rsquo;Olonnois were not on their first expedition
+out-of-doors, for they set about gathering wood
+and water in workmanlike fashion. They did not
+yet fully classify me, so, in boyish shyness, left
+me largely ignored, or waited till I should demonstrate
+myself to them. It was, therefore, with
+delicacy that I ventured any suggestions from the
+place where Partial and I sat in the shade watching
+them.</p>
+
+<p>I have mentioned the fact that I had been a
+hunter and traveler, and had met success in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg&nbsp;53]</a></span>
+field; yet the truth is, I began all that late in life,
+and deliberately. To me, used to exact habit of
+thought in all things, and accustomed to be
+governed by trained reason alone, it was never
+enough to say that a thing was partly done, or
+well enough done to pass: only the best possible
+way had any appeal to me. I brought my reason
+to bear on every situation in life. Thus, I studied
+an investment carefully, and before going into it,
+I knew what the result would be. My investments,
+therefore, always have prospered, because they
+were not based on guess or chance, as nine-tenths
+of all the public&rsquo;s business ventures are. In the
+same way, I had gone deliberately about the matter
+of winning the regard of the only woman I ever
+saw who seemed to me much worth while. I
+argued and reasoned with Helena Emory that she
+should marry me, proving to her by every rule of
+logic that, not only was she the most lovable
+woman in all the records of the world, but, also,
+that love such as mine never had before been
+known in the world. Sometimes, as I logically
+proved the fitness of our union, and grew warm
+at my own accuracy, she wavered, relented,
+warmed: and then again, forgetting my argument,
+she would relapse into womanlike frivolity once
+more.... I did not like to think of this, as I
+sat in the shade with Partial. It cost me much
+in self-respect, irritated me.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg&nbsp;54]</a></span>
+But, having studied sport and outdoor living
+deliberately as I had studied the law and business
+and Helena, I had rather a thorough grounding,
+on life in the open, for I had read every authority
+obtainable; whereas my young associates had read
+none. So cautiously, now and then, I suggested
+little things to them, as that the fire need not be
+so large, and would do better if confined between
+two green side logs. I taught them how to boil
+the kettle quickly, how to make tea, and also, more
+difficult, how to make coffee; how to cook bacon
+just enough, and how to cook fish&mdash;for I had
+taken a few trout earlier in the day&mdash;and how to
+make toast without charring it to cinders. Again,
+I delighted them by telling them of little camping
+devices, and quite won their hearts when I found
+among Hiroshimi&rsquo;s packages, a small camp griddle
+with folding legs, of my own devising. It was
+quite clean and new, but it performed as I felt
+quite sure it would. In fact, reason will govern
+all things&mdash;except a woman.</p>
+
+<p>We ate <i>al fresco</i>, as true buccaneers of the main,
+and grew better and better acquainted. It occurred
+to me that mayhap the nautical education
+of my associates was, after all, somewhat superficial,
+so I set about mending it by explaining
+something of the rigging of the ship; and I gave
+them, by means of the <i>Sea Rover&rsquo;s</i> bowline, some
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg&nbsp;55]</a></span>
+lessons in sailorman splices and knots. The bow-line-in-a-bight,
+the sheet-bend, the clinch-knot, the
+jam-knot, the fisherman&rsquo;s water-knot, the stevedore&rsquo;s
+slip-knot, the dock-hand&rsquo;s round-turns and
+half-hitches for cable makefast, the magnus-hitch,
+the fool&rsquo;s-knot, the cat&rsquo;s-cradle, the sheep-shank,
+the dog-shank, and many others&mdash;all of which I
+had learned in books and in practise&mdash;I did for
+them over and over again; just as I could have
+done for them a half-dozen different ways of
+throwing the diamond-hitch in a pack-train, or
+the stirrup-hitch in a cow camp, or many other
+of the devices of men who live in the open; for
+beginning late in life in these things, I had studied
+them hard and faithfully.</p>
+
+<p>I could see&mdash;and I noted it with much gratification&mdash;that
+I was rising in the estimation of my
+pirates. It pleased me not at all to show that I
+knew more than they of these things, for I was
+older and my mind was long my trained servant;
+but I had monstrous delight in seeing myself accepted
+as one fit to associate with them. Once
+or twice, I saw the two draw apart in some debate
+which I knew had to do with me. &ldquo;Well, now,&rdquo;
+Lafitte would begin; and L&rsquo;Olonnois would demur.
+&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t just like that one,&rdquo; he would say.
+By nightfall&mdash;and I presume I do not need to
+recall all the incidents of our afternoon, or of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg&nbsp;56]</a></span>
+our pitching camp by the riverside an hour before
+sundown&mdash;I learned what was the subject
+of their argument. I had been admitted to the
+pirates&rsquo; band, but the question was over my name.</p>
+
+<p>We sat by our fireside, before our little tent,
+after a pleasant meal which I know was well
+cooked because I cooked it myself&mdash;trout, a young
+squirrel, and toast, and real coffee&mdash;and Partial
+was close at my knee, having obviously adopted
+me. We were fifteen or twenty miles from my
+house, nearly twice that from their homes, but
+the world, itself, seemed very remote from us.
+We reveled in a new luxurious world of rare
+deeds, rare dreams all our own. I was conjuring
+up some new argument to put before Helena
+should I ever see her again&mdash;as of course I never
+should&mdash;when Lafitte rolled over on the grass
+and looked up at us.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We was just saying,&rdquo; he remarked, &ldquo;that you
+didn&rsquo;t have no name.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That is true. I have not told you my name,
+nor have you asked it. Had you been impolite,
+you might have learned it by prying about my
+place.&rdquo; I spoke gravely and with approval.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, we didn&rsquo;t know who you was.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let it be so. Let me be a man of no name.
+A name is of no consequence, and neither am I.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sho, now, that ain&rsquo;t so. I never seen a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg&nbsp;57]</a></span>
+better&mdash;now, I never seen&mdash;&rdquo; Jean Lafitte&rsquo;s reticence
+in friendship, again, was getting the better of
+him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So we said we&rsquo;d call you Black Bart,&rdquo; added
+L&rsquo;Olonnois.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That is a most excellent name,&rdquo; said I after
+some thought. &ldquo;At present, I can find no objection
+to it, except that I wear no beard at all and
+would have a red or brown one if I did; and that
+Black Bart was rather a pirate of the land than
+of the sea.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Was he?&rdquo; queried L&rsquo;Olonnois. &ldquo;Wasn&rsquo;t he a
+pirate, too, never?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There was a famous pirate chief known as
+Bluebeard or Blackbeard, and it may be, sometimes,
+they called him Black Bart.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Wasn&rsquo;t he a awful desper&rsquo;t sort of pirate?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He is said to have been.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It sounds like a awful desper&rsquo;t name,&rdquo; said
+Jimmy: &ldquo;like as though he&rsquo;d fill up his ship with
+captured maidens, an&rsquo; put all rivals to the sword.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Such, indeed, shipmate,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;was his
+reputation.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; concluded L&rsquo;Olonnois, &ldquo;we couldn&rsquo;t
+think o&rsquo; any better name&rsquo;n that, because we know
+that is just what you would do.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>(So, then, my reputation was advancing!)</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Wasn&rsquo;t you never a pirate before, honest?&rdquo;
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg&nbsp;58]</a></span>
+queried Lafitte at this juncture. &ldquo;Because, you
+seem like a real pirate to us. We been, lots of
+times, over on the lake.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It may be because my father was always
+called a pirate,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;You see, in these
+days, there are not so many pirates who really
+scuttle ships and cut throats.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But you would?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Certainly. &rsquo;Tis in my blood, my bold shipmate.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We knew it,&rdquo; concluded L&rsquo;Olonnois calmly.
+&ldquo;So, after now, we&rsquo;ll call you Black Bart. You
+can let your whiskers grow, you know.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;True,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Well, we will at least take
+the whiskers under advisement, as the court would
+say.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We must be an awful long ways from home,&rdquo;
+ventured L&rsquo;Olonnois, after a time.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hundreds of miles our good ship has ploughed
+the deep, and as yet has raised no sail above the
+horizon,&rdquo; I admitted.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do you&mdash;now&mdash;do you&mdash;well, anyhow, do you
+have any idea of where we are going?&rdquo; demanded
+Lafitte, shamefacedly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not in the slightest.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But now&mdash;well&mdash;now then&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>In answer I drew from my pocket a map and
+a compass; the latter mostly for effect, since I
+knew very well the bed of our river must shape
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg&nbsp;59]</a></span>
+our course for many a mile. On the map I pointed
+out how, presently, our river would run into a
+lake, into which, also, ran another river; and would
+emerge on the other side much larger. I showed
+them that down that other river, as, indeed, down
+mine, logs used to float from the pine forests&mdash;many
+of my father&rsquo;s logs, of ownership said to
+have been piratical&mdash;and I showed how, presently,
+this stream would carry us into one of the ancient
+waterways down which millions of wealth in
+timber have come; and explained about the wild
+crews of river runners who once ran the rafts
+down that great highway, and into the greater
+highway of the Mississippi; whence men might in
+due time arrive upon the Spanish Main.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is there any way a fellow can get across from
+Lake Michigan into the Mississippi River?&rdquo; demanded
+Lafitte, who was of a practical turn of
+mind: and on the map I showed him all the old
+trails of the fur traders, explorers and adventurers,
+French and English, who had discovered our
+America long ago; whereat their eyes kindled and
+their tongues went dumb.</p>
+
+<p>At last, I told them we must to our hammocks;
+and soon our bloody band was deep in sleep. At
+least, so much might have been said for Lafitte
+and L&rsquo;Olonnois. Alone of the band of sea rovers
+myself, Black Bart, sat musing by the fire, the
+head of my friend, Partial, in my lap.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg&nbsp;60]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH WE HAVE AN ADVENTURE</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">O</span>UR band of hardy adventurers arose with
+the sun on the morning following our first
+night in bivouac, and by noon of that day, thanks,
+perhaps, in some measure to my own work at the
+oars, and a sail which we rigged from a corner
+of the tent, we had passed into and through the
+lake which our map had showed us. Now we
+were below the edge of the pine woods, and our
+stream ran more sluggishly, between banks of cattails
+or of waving marsh grasses. We put out a
+trolling line, and took a bass or so; and once
+Lafitte, firing chance-medley into a passing flock
+of plover, knocked down a half-dozen, so that we
+bade fair to have enough for dinner that night. It
+was all a new world for us. No one might tell
+what lay around the next bend of our widening
+waterway. We were explorers. A virgin world
+lay before us. The nature of the country along
+the stream kept the settlements back a distance;
+so that to us, now, in reality, retracing one of
+the ancient fur-trading routes, we might almost
+have been the first to break these silences.</p>
+
+<p>Toward nightfall we came into a more rolling
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg&nbsp;61]</a></span>
+and more park-like region; our prow was now
+heading to the westward, for the general course
+of the great river beyond. I had no notion to visit
+the city of Chicago, and our route lay far above
+that which must be taken by any large craft bound
+for the Mississippi route to the Gulf.</p>
+
+<p>Farms now came down to the water&rsquo;s edge in
+places, villages offered mill-pond dams&mdash;around
+which, in scowling reticence, we portaged the <i>Sea
+Rover</i>, unmindful alike of queries and of jeers.
+I found time to post additional letters now. Indeed,
+I was preparing for a long and determined
+enterprise. It was the <i>Sea Rover</i> against the
+<i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>; and, did the skipper of the latter
+loll along in flanneled ease and luxury, not so
+with the hardy band of cutthroats who manned
+our smaller and more mobile craft, men used to
+hardships, content to drink spring water instead
+of sparkling wines, and to eat the product of their
+own weapons.</p>
+
+<p>We were I do not know how far from our first
+encampment, perhaps thirty miles or more, when
+toward five o&rsquo;clock of the evening we concluded
+to land at a wooded grassy bank which offered
+a good camping place. We made all fast, and in
+a few moments had our tent up and a little fire
+going, Lafitte and L&rsquo;Olonnois, at this, happy as
+any two pirates I ever have seen; and were on
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg&nbsp;62]</a></span>
+the point of spreading our canvas table cover upon
+the grass, when we heard a gruff voice hail us.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Heh! What&rsquo;re you doin&rsquo; there?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We turned, expecting to meet some irate farmer
+on whose land perhaps we innocently were trespassing;
+but the figure which now emerged from
+the screening bushes was rougher, bolder, and in
+some indescribable way wilder, than that of a
+farmer. I could not, at first, assign the fellow a
+place, for I knew this was an old and well settled
+country, and not supposed to be overrun with
+tramps or campers. He was a stout man nearly of
+middle age, dirty and ill clad, his coarse shirt open
+at the neck, his legs clad in old overalls, his hat and
+shoes very much the worse for wear. His face
+was covered with a rough beard, and so brown and
+so begrimed that, at once, I guessed this must be
+some dweller in the open. Yet he seemed no
+tramp; and even if he were, he had no right to
+hail us in this fashion.</p>
+
+<p>I only looked at him, and made no answer,
+feeling none due. He came out into the open,
+followed by a nondescript dog, which had the lack
+of decency&mdash;and also of discretion&mdash;to attack my
+dog Partial with no parley or preliminary. I wot
+not of what stock Partial came, but somewhere
+in his ancestry must have been stark fighting
+strain. Mutely and sternly, as became a gentleman,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg&nbsp;63]</a></span>
+he joined issue; and so well had he learned
+the art of war that in the space of a few moments,
+in spite of the loud outcry of the owner of the invading
+cur, he had him on his back in a throat
+grip which was the end of the battle and bade fair
+soon to be the end of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>The man who had accosted us caught up a club
+and made toward Partial with intent to kill him.
+Then, indeed, we all sprang into action. In two
+strides I was before him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Drop that!&rdquo; I said to him quickly, but I hope
+not angrily. &ldquo;Call him off, Jack!&rdquo; I cried to
+Lafitte at the same time.</p>
+
+<p>The sound of conflict ceased as Partial was
+persuaded to release his fallen foe, and the latter
+disappeared, with more wisdom as to attacking
+a band of pirates. His owner, however, was not
+so easily daunted. He still advanced toward Partial,
+and as I still intervened, he made a vicious
+side blow at me with his club.</p>
+
+<p>It all happened, almost, in the twinkling of an
+eye. Here, then, was an adventure, and before
+the end of our second day!</p>
+
+<p>There was not time to learn or to ask the reason
+for this man&rsquo;s animosity toward us, and, indeed,
+no thought of that came to my mind. A man
+may lay tongue to one&mdash;within certain bounds&mdash;and
+one will only walk away from him; but the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg&nbsp;64]</a></span>
+touch of another man&rsquo;s hand or weapon is quite
+another matter. That arouses the unthinking
+blood, and follows then, no matter the issue, the
+<i>gaudium certaminis</i>, with no care as to odds or
+evens. Wherefore, even as the club whizzed by
+to my side step, I came back from the other foot
+and smote the hostile stranger on the side of the
+neck so stiffly that he faltered and almost
+dropped. Then seeing that I was so much lighter
+than himself and perhaps valuing himself against
+me purely on a basis of avoirdupois, pound for
+pound, he gathered and came at me, roaring out
+blasphemy and obscenity which I had rather Lafitte
+and L&rsquo;Olonnois had not heard.</p>
+
+<p>I had not often fought in fact, but knew that,
+sometimes, a gentleman must fight. What astonished
+me now was the fact that fighting contained
+no manner of repugnance to me. With a certain
+joy I met my foe, circled with him, exchanged
+blows with him&mdash;unequally it is true, for I was
+cool as though trying a cause at law, and he was
+very angry: so that he got most of my leads, and
+I but few of his, albeit jarring me enough to make
+my ears sing and my eyes blur somewhat, although
+of pain I was no more conscious than a fighting
+dog. The turf was soft underfoot, and the space
+wide, so that we fought very happily and comfortably
+over perhaps a hundred feet of country,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg&nbsp;65]</a></span>
+first one and then the other coming in; until at
+last I had him so well blown that he stood, and
+I knew we must now end it toe to toe. I bethought
+me of a trick of my old boxing teacher,
+and stood before him with arms curved wide
+apart, inviting him to come into what seemed an
+opening. He rushed, and my left fist caught him
+on the neck. He straightened to finish me, but I
+stooped and brought my right in a round-arm
+blow, full and hard into the small of his back
+and at one side. It sickened him, and before he
+could rally, I stepped behind him, and having
+no ethics save the necessity of subduing him, I
+caught up his arm by the wrist, and slipping
+under it with my shoulder, pulled it down till he
+howled: a trick, only one of very many, which
+Hiroshimi patiently had taught me.</p>
+
+<p>That very naturally ended our contest, and it
+was near to ending our war-like neighbor as well.
+During this warfare, which was short or long, I
+knew not, my associates, stunned and perhaps
+fearful, had sat silent; at least, I neither heard
+nor saw them. But now, all at once, over my
+shoulder I saw both Lafitte and L&rsquo;Olonnois running
+in to my assistance. Each held in hand a
+bared blade of the samurai, and had I not shouted
+out to them to refrain, I have small doubt that in
+the most piratical and unsamuraic fashion they
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg&nbsp;66]</a></span>
+mayhap would have disemboweled my captive; for
+the old swords were keen as razors, and my
+friends were as red of eyesight as myself.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No! No!&rdquo; I called to them, even as our victim
+writhed and roared in terror. &ldquo;Drop your
+weapons&mdash;that isn&rsquo;t fair.&rdquo; They obeyed, shamefacedly
+and with regret, as I am convinced: for
+illusion with them, at times, indeed overleaped
+the centuries, and they were back in a time of
+blood: even as I was in a stone-age wrath for
+my own part.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Come here, Jack,&rdquo; I ordered, &ldquo;and you, too,
+Jimmy. Do you see how I have him?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>They agreed. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a peach,&rdquo; said Lafitte.
+&ldquo;Make him holler!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; I replied, easing off the strain on the
+wrenched arm, &ldquo;he has already &lsquo;hollered.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sure, &rsquo;nuff, &rsquo;nuff!&mdash;&mdash;ye!&rdquo; cried our captive,
+who, now, was in mortal terror and much
+contrition, seeing both flesh and blood and cold
+steel had all the best of him. &ldquo;Lemme go!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Certainly,&rdquo; I assented; &ldquo;we did not ask you
+to come, and do not want you to stay. But, first,
+I must use you in a few demonstrations to my
+young friends. Jack,&rdquo;&mdash;and I motioned to him
+with my head&mdash;&ldquo;get behind him.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Eagerly, his three-cornered gray eyes narrowed,
+Lafitte skipped back of my man, and with no
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg&nbsp;67]</a></span>
+word from me he fastened on the other wrist so
+suddenly the man had no warning, and with a
+strong heave of all his body he doubled that arm
+up also. Much roaring now, and many protestations,
+for when our prisoner began with abuse, we
+could change it into supplication by raising his
+bent arms no more than one inch or two.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now, Jimmy,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;go in front of him,
+and put a thumb in the corner of his jaw, on each
+side. Press up until he begs our pardon.&rdquo; And,
+faith, my blue-eyed pirate, so far from shuddering
+at the task, at last managed to find those certain
+nerve centers known to all efficient policemen; and
+very promptly, the man made signs he would like
+to beg the boy&rsquo;s pardon and did so.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now, give me that arm, Jack,&rdquo; I resumed
+calmly, since our subject had no more fight left
+in him than a sack of meal. &ldquo;So. Now go
+around and put your thumbs in his eyes&mdash;no, not
+really in his eyes, but in the middle of the bone
+above his eyes. So. Now, ask this boy&rsquo;s pardon,
+or I&rsquo;ll twist your arms off.&rdquo; And he asked it.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You couldn&rsquo;t do it if you&rsquo;d fight fair!&rdquo; he
+bellowed.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Could I not?&rdquo; I asked. And cast him free.
+&ldquo;Come on again, then.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid of them kids,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;They&rsquo;d
+stick me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg&nbsp;68]</a></span>
+&ldquo;No, they would not,&rdquo; said I; but still he would
+not come on. Then I made a quick catch at his
+wrist, edgewise, and rolled my thumb along it at
+a certain place where the nerves lie close to the
+edge of the bone, as any policeman knows; and he
+would follow me, then. So I led him to our little
+camp-fire.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said I to him, &ldquo;be seated,&rdquo; and he sat.
+I asked him if he would shake hands with me and
+my boys and make up. He was very sullen, but,
+at last, did so, not cheerfully, I fear, for he was
+not of good blood.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Tell me,&rdquo; I demanded then, seeing that the
+triumph of calm reason had been sufficient in his
+case, &ldquo;why did you come here, and why do you
+try to drive us off, who are only on a peaceful
+journey as pirates, seeking our fortune?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Pirates!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Just what I thought.
+What&rsquo;s the use my leasin&rsquo; the pearl fer a mile
+along here if anybody can come and camp, and
+go to work, right alongside o&rsquo; me? If old farmer
+Snider, that owns this land, hadn&rsquo;t gone to town
+I&rsquo;d have the law on ye. Me payin&rsquo; my money in
+and gettin&rsquo; no protection. Fishin&rsquo;s rotten, too!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I now perceived that we had encountered one
+of those half-nomad characters, a fresh-water
+pearl fisherman, such as those who, for some
+years, with varying fortune, have combed the sand-bars
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg&nbsp;69]</a></span>
+of our inland river for the fresh-water mussels
+which sometimes, like oysters, secrete valuable
+pearls or nacreous bits known as slugs. This explained
+much to me.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I know the law,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Farmer Snider can
+not lease the highway of yonder river where the
+<i>Sea Rover</i> passes. But I know also the law of
+the wilderness. One trapper does not intrude on
+another who has first located his country. We will
+pass on to-morrow. Meantime, if you don&rsquo;t mind,
+we will go with you to your camp and see how you
+do your work. Please forget that we have had
+any trouble. Had you but spoken thus at first,
+and not borne war against these bold pirates, all
+would have been well.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He looked at me oddly, evidently thinking my
+mind touched.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Come!&rdquo; I said, wiping the blood from my face,
+and passing him also a basin of water, &ldquo;you fought
+well and the wonder is you did not kill me with
+one of those swings or swipes of yours. They
+were crooked and awkward, but they came hard.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He grinned and saved his face further by saying:
+&ldquo;Well, you was three to one ag&rsquo;in me.&rdquo; I
+smiled and let it stand so: and after a while, he
+arose stiffly and we all passed back into the wood.</p>
+
+<p>We found that we were upon a little island,
+between two shallow arms of the stream. The
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg&nbsp;70]</a></span>
+camp of the pearl fisher lay at the lower end; and
+never have I seen or smelled so foul a place for
+human habitation. The one large tent served as
+shelter, and a rude awning sheltered the ruder
+table in the open air. But directly about the tent,
+and all around it in every direction, lay heaps of
+clam shells, most of them opened, some not yet
+ready for opening. I had smelled the same odor&mdash;and
+had not learned to like it&mdash;in far-off Ceylon,
+at the great pearl fisheries of the Orient.
+The &ldquo;clammer&rdquo; seemed immune.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, he introduced to us a woman, very
+old, extraordinarily forbidding of visage, and unspeakably
+profane of speech, who emerged from
+the tent; his mother, he said. It seemed that they
+made their living in this way, clamming, as they
+called it, all the way from Arkansas to the upper
+waters of the Mississippi. They had made this
+side expedition up a tributary, in search of country
+not so thoroughly exploited; without much success
+in their venture, it seemed. The old lady, her head
+wrapped in a dirty shawl, sat down on an empty
+box, and stroked a large and dirty Angora cat,
+another member of the family, the while she bitterly
+and profanely complained. It was now dusk,
+and she did not notice anything out of the way
+in her son&rsquo;s rather swollen nose and lips.</p>
+
+<p>I explained to Lafitte and L&rsquo;Olonnois that we
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg&nbsp;71]</a></span>
+were now come into the neighborhood of possible
+treasure, and the sight of a few pearls, none of
+very great worth, which the old crone produced
+from a cracker box, was enough to set off Jimmy
+L&rsquo;Olonnois, who was all for raiding the place.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What!&rdquo; he hissed to me in an aside. &ldquo;Did
+we not spare his life? Then the treasure should
+be ours!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Wait, brother,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;We shall see what
+we shall see.&rdquo; And I quieted Lafitte also, who
+was war-like at the very sound of the word pearl.
+&ldquo;Them&rsquo;s what they take from the Spanish ships,&rdquo;
+said he. &ldquo;Pearls is fitten for ladies fair. An&rsquo; here
+is pearls.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Wait, brother,&rdquo; I demanded of him. For I
+was revolving something in my mind. I presently
+accosted the clammers.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Listen,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you say business is bad.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It certainly and shorely is,&rdquo; assented the old
+dame, fishing a black pipe out of her pocket, and
+proceeding to feed it from another pocket, to the
+discomfort of the soiled Angora cat.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, now, let me make you a proposition,&rdquo;
+said I, taking a glance at the heap of fresh shell
+which lay beyond the racks of trolling lines and
+their twisted wire hooks, by means of which
+dragging apparatus the mussels are taken&mdash;shutting
+hard on the wire when it touches them as they lie
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg&nbsp;72]</a></span>
+feeding with open mouths&mdash;&ldquo;you&rsquo;ve quite a lot of
+shell there, now.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, but what&rsquo;s in it? Button factories all
+shut down with a strike, and no market: and as
+for pearls, they ain&rsquo;t none. Blame me for carryin&rsquo;
+a grouch?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not in the least. But what will you take for
+your shells, and agree to open them for us, at
+wages of five dollars a day?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Both of us?&rdquo; he demanded shrewdly. I smiled
+and nodded. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s more than you average, twice
+over,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and you say the stream is no good.
+Now I, too, am a student of the great law of
+averages, because I am or was a director in a
+great life insurance company. You say the luck
+is bad. Like other adventurers, I say that under
+the law of averages, it is time for the luck to
+change.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The luck&rsquo;s with you,&rdquo; growled the clammer,
+&ldquo;it&rsquo;s ag&rsquo;in me.&rdquo; Unconsciously, he put a finger to
+his swollen nose. &ldquo;What&rsquo;ll you gimme?&rdquo; he demanded.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;One hundred dollars bonus and ten dollars a
+day,&rdquo; said I promptly; and he seemed to know I
+would not better that.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Who are ye?&rdquo; he queried: &ldquo;a buyer?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, a pirate.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I believe ye. I never saw such a outfit.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg&nbsp;73]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Will you trade?&rdquo; I asked; &ldquo;and how long will
+it take to open the lot?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nigh all day, even if we set up all night and
+roasted.&rdquo; He nodded to a wide grating; and the
+ashes underneath showed that in this way the poor
+clams, like the Incas of old, were sometimes forced
+to give up their treasures by the persuasion of a
+fire under them.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll call it a day.
+That&rsquo;s a hundred and ten dollars for you by this
+time to-morrow. I invoke the aid of capital and
+of chance, both, against you. You will very likely
+lose: but if so, it would not be the first time
+the producer of wealth has lost it. But I make
+the wager fair, as my reason tells me I should.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ye&rsquo;re a crazy bunch, and I think ye&rsquo;re out of
+the state asylum over yonder,&rdquo; broke in the old
+woman, &ldquo;but what the hell do we care whether
+ye&rsquo;re crazy or not? Ye look like ye had the money.
+Jake, we&rsquo;ll take him up.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;All right,&rdquo; said Jake. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll go ye.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;To-morrow morning, then,&rdquo; said I; and our
+party rose to return to our camp, where Partial
+greeted us with warmth; he having assigned to
+himself the duty of guard. And so, as Pepys
+would say, to bed; although Lafitte and L&rsquo;Olonnois
+scarce could sleep.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let him attempt to make a run for it, after
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg&nbsp;74]</a></span>
+we have hove him to, and we will board him and
+give no quarter!&rdquo; This was almost the last of
+the direful speech I heard from L&rsquo;Olonnois, as at
+last I turned myself to a night of deep and peaceful
+slumber.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg&nbsp;75]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH WE TAKE MUCH TREASURE</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">&ldquo;Y</span>OU must be awful rich, Black Bart,&rdquo; said
+L&rsquo;Olonnois to me as we sat on the grass,
+at breakfast, the following morning.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, Jimmy,&rdquo; I replied, putting down my coffee
+cup, &ldquo;on the contrary, I am very poor.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But you have all sorts of things, back there
+where you live; and last night you said you would
+pay that man a hundred dollars, just to open a
+lot of clam shells. Now, a hundred dollars is a
+awful sight of money.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That depends, Jimmy,&rdquo; I said.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;N&rsquo; we&rsquo;d ought to <em>take</em> them pearls,&rdquo; broke in
+Lafitte. &ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t we lick him?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We did, yes; twice.&rdquo; And in my assent I felt,
+again, a fierce satisfaction in the first conquest of
+our invader, that of body to body, eye to eye;
+rather than in the one where I brought intellect
+to aid in war. &ldquo;But there are two ways of being
+a pirate. Let us see if we can not win treasure
+by taking a chance in logic, and so be modern
+pirates.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>They did not understand me, and went mute,
+but at last Jimmy resumed his catechism. &ldquo;Who
+owns the place where you live, Black Bart?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg&nbsp;76]</a></span>
+&ldquo;I do.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But how much?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Some five or six miles.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Gee! That must be over a hundred acres. I
+didn&rsquo;t know anybody owned that much land.
+Where&rsquo;d you get it?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In part from my father.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What business was he in?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He was a pirate, Jimmy, or at least, they said
+he was. But my mother was not.&mdash;I will tell
+you,&rdquo; I added suddenly: &ldquo;my father owned a great
+deal of timber land long ago, and iron, and oil,
+and copper, when nobody cared much for them.
+They say, now, he stole some of them, I don&rsquo;t
+know. In those days people weren&rsquo;t so particular.
+The more he got, the more he wanted. He never
+was a boy like you and me. He educated me as
+a lawyer, so that I could take care of his business
+and his property, and he trained me in the pirate
+business the best he could, and I made money too,
+all I wanted. You see, my father could never get
+enough, but I did; perhaps, because my mother
+wasn&rsquo;t a pirate, you see. So, when I got enough,
+my father and mother both died, and when I began
+to see that, maybe, my father had taken a little
+more than our share, I began trying to do something
+for people ... but I can&rsquo;t talk about that,
+of course.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg&nbsp;77]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Well, why not?&rdquo; demanded Lafitte. &ldquo;Go on.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A fellow doesn&rsquo;t like to.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But what did you do?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very little. I found I could not do very much.
+I gave some buildings to schools, that sort of
+thing. No one thanked me much. A good many
+called me a Socialist.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s that&mdash;a Socialist?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t tell you. Nobody knows. But really,
+I suppose, a Socialist is a man born before the
+world got used to steam and electricity. Those
+things made a lot of changes, you see, and in the
+confusion some people didn&rsquo;t get quite as square
+a deal as they deserved; or at least, they didn&rsquo;t
+think they had. It takes time, really, as I suppose,
+to settle down after any great change. It&rsquo;s
+like moving a house.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I see,&rdquo; said Jimmy sagely. &ldquo;But, Black Bart,
+you always seemed to me like as if, now, well,
+like you was studyin&rsquo; or something, somehow.
+Ain&rsquo;t you never had no good times before?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No. This is about the first really good time
+I ever had in all my life. You see, you can&rsquo;t really
+understand things that you look at from a long
+way off&mdash;you&rsquo;ve got to get right in with folks to
+know what folks are. Don&rsquo;t you think so?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I know it!&rdquo; answered Jimmy, with conviction.
+And I recalled, though he did not, the fact that
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg&nbsp;78]</a></span>
+he bathed daily, Lafitte weekly, yet no gulf was
+fixed between their portions of the general humanity.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It must be nice to be rich,&rdquo; ventured Lafitte
+presently. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to be, some day.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is that why you go a-pirating?&rdquo; I smiled.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Maybe. But mostly, because I like it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a sort of game,&rdquo; said L&rsquo;Olonnois.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;All life is a sort of game, my hearties,&rdquo; said
+I. &ldquo;What you two just have said covers most of
+the noble trade of piracy and nearly all of the
+pretty game of life. You are wise as I am, wise
+as any man, indeed.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What I like about you, Black Bart,&rdquo; resumed
+L&rsquo;Olonnois, naively, &ldquo;is, you seem always fair.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I flushed at this, suddenly, and pushed back my
+plate. &ldquo;Jimmy,&rdquo; said I at last, &ldquo;I would rather
+have heard that, from you, than to hear I had
+made a million dollars from pearls or anything
+else. For that has always been my great hope
+and wish&mdash;that some day I could teach myself
+always to be fair&mdash;not to deceive anybody, most
+of all not myself; in short, to be fair. Brother,
+I thank you, if you really believe I have succeeded
+to some extent.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why ain&rsquo;t you always jolly, like you was havin&rsquo;
+a good time, then?&rdquo; demanded my blue-eyed inquisitor.
+&ldquo;Honor bright!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg&nbsp;79]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Must it be honor bright?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Then I will tell you. It is because of the first
+chapter of Genesis, Jimmy.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s that?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Fie! Fie! Jimmy, haven&rsquo;t you read that?&rdquo;
+He shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve read a little about the fights,&rdquo; he said,
+&ldquo;when Saul &rsquo;n&rsquo; David &rsquo;n&rsquo; a lot of &rsquo;em slew them
+tens of thousands. But Genesis was dry.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do you remember any place where it says
+&lsquo;Male and female created He them&rsquo;?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes; but what of it? That&rsquo;s dry.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is it, though?&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;And you with
+an Auntie Helena, and a brother Black Bart. Jimmy
+L&rsquo;Olonnois, little do you know what you say!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, now,&rdquo; interrupted the ruthless soul of
+Jean Lafitte, &ldquo;how about them pearls?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s so,&rdquo; assented Jimmy. &ldquo;Pearls is booty.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, then, shipmates,&rdquo; I assented, &ldquo;as
+soon as we have washed the dishes, we will see
+what can be done with the enemy yonder.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We found our two clammers, the young man
+and his crone of a mother, up betimes and hard
+at work, as evil-looking a pair as ever I saw. The
+man&rsquo;s face was still puffed and discolored, where
+my fists had punished him, and his disposition had
+not improved overnight. His hag-like dam also
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg&nbsp;80]</a></span>
+regarded us with suspicion and disfavor, I could
+note, and I saw her glance from me to her son,
+making mental comparisons; and guessed she had
+heard explanations regarding black eyes which did
+not wholly satisfy her.</p>
+
+<p>They had already roasted open and examined
+quite a heap of shells by the time we arrived, and
+I inquired, pleasantly, if they had found anything.
+The man answered surlily that they had not; but
+something made me feel suspicious, since they
+had made so early a start. I saw him now and
+then wipe his hands on his overalls, and several
+times noted that as he did so, his middle finger
+projected down below the others, as though he
+were touching for something inside his pocket,
+which lay in front, the overalls being made for a
+carpenter, with a narrow pocket devised for carrying
+a folded foot-rule. But I could see nothing
+suggested in the pocket.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s too bad,&rdquo; I said pleasantly. &ldquo;It looks
+as though I were going to lose my hundred, doesn&rsquo;t
+it? Still, the day is long.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I busied myself in watching the deft work of
+the two as they opened the shells started by the
+heat, sweeping out the fetid contents, and feeling
+in one swift motion of a thumb for any hidden
+secretion of the nacre. Nothing was found while
+I was watching, and as I did not much like the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg&nbsp;81]</a></span>
+odor, I drew to one side. I found L&rsquo;Olonnois and
+Lafitte standing apart, in full character, arms
+folded and scowling heavily.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If yonder villain plays us false,&rdquo; said Lafitte
+between his clenched teeth, &ldquo;he shall feel the vengeance
+of Jean Lafitte! And I wouldn&rsquo;t put it a
+blame bit a-past him, neither,&rdquo; he added, slightly
+out of drawing for the time.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are well named, Lafitte,&rdquo; I smiled. &ldquo;You
+are a good business man. But the day is long.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It was, indeed, long, and I put in part of it
+wandering about with Partial, hunting for
+squirrels, which he took much delight in chasing
+up trees. Again, I lay for a time reading one of
+my favorite authors, the wise stoic, Epictetus,
+tarrying over one of my favorite passages:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Remember that you are an actor of just such
+a part as is assigned you by the Poet of the play;
+of a short part, if the part be short, of a long part
+if the part be long. Should He wish you to act
+the part of a beggar, (&lsquo;or of a pirate,&rsquo; I interpolated,
+aloud to myself, and smiling) take care
+to act it naturally and nobly; and the same if it
+be the part of a lame man, or a ruler, or a private
+man. For this is in your power&mdash;to act well the
+part assigned to you; but to choose that part is
+the function of another.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I lay thoughtful, querying. Was I a rich man,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg&nbsp;82]</a></span>
+or a poor man? Was I a ruler, or a private man,
+or a lame man?... I asked myself many questions,
+concluding that all my life I had, like most
+of us all, been more or less a lame man and a
+private man after all, and much like my fellow....
+It was a great day for me; since each day I
+seek to learn something. And here now was I,
+blessed by the printed wisdom of age and philosophy,
+and yet more blessed by the spoken philosophy
+of unthinking Youth.... I lay flat, my arms
+out on the grass, and looked up at the leaves. I
+felt myself a part of the eternal changeless
+scheme, and was well content. It has always been
+impossible for me to care for the little things of
+life&mdash;such as the amassing of money&mdash;when I am
+alone in the woods. I pondered now on the wisdom
+of my teachers, Epictetus, Jimmy, John and
+the author of the Book of Genesis.</p>
+
+<p>I arose at last with less of melancholy and more
+of resolve than I had known for years. The world
+swam true on its axis all around me; and I, who
+all my life had been in some way out of balance
+in the world, now walked with a strange feeling
+of poise and certainty.... No, I said to myself,
+I would argue no more with Helena. And meantime
+since the Poet of the play had assigned me
+the double r&ocirc;le of pirate and boy, I was resolved
+to act both &ldquo;naturally and nobly.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg&nbsp;83]</a></span>
+I could not have called either of my associates
+less than natural and noble in his part, viewed as
+I found them when at length I sought them to
+partake of a cold luncheon. They stood apart,
+gloom and stern dignity themselves, offering no
+speech to the laboring clammers, who, by this time,
+were but masses of evil odors and ill-temper in
+equal parts.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s holdin&rsquo; out on us!&rdquo; hissed Jean
+Lafitte, as I approached. &ldquo;Time and again I seen
+the varlet make false moves. Let him have a
+care! The eye of Jean Lafitte is upon him!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>For my own part, I cared little for anything
+beyond the sport in my pearl venture, but no man
+likes to be &ldquo;done,&rdquo; so I joined the guard over the
+pearl fishing. I could see little indication of success
+on the part of the two clammers, who went
+on in their work steadily, exchanging no more
+than a monosyllable now and then, but who were
+animated, it seemed to us, by the same excitement
+which governs the miner washing gravel in his
+pan. They scarce could rest, but went on from
+shell to shell, opening each as eagerly as though
+it meant a fortune. This of itself seemed to me
+both natural and yet not wholly natural; for it was
+now late in the day&rsquo;s work. Why should they go
+on quite so eagerly in what six hours of stooping
+in the sun should have made monotonous routine?</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg&nbsp;84]</a></span>
+They showed me a few pieces they had saved,
+splinters and slugs of nacre, misshapen and of no
+luster, and sneered at the net results, worth, at
+most, not so much as the day&rsquo;s wages I was paying
+either. I cared nothing for the results, and
+smiled and nodded as I took them.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the day wore on till mid-afternoon, when,
+such had been the zeal of the clammers, the heap
+of bivalves was exhausted. They stood erect,
+straightening their stiffened backs, and grinned as
+they looked at me.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the old hag, &ldquo;I reckon ye&rsquo;re satisfied
+now that we know this business better&rsquo;n you
+do. He told ye there wasn&rsquo;t no pearl in this river.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No;&rdquo; added her hopeful son, &ldquo;an&rsquo; come to
+think of it, how&rsquo;d I ever know you had a hundred
+dollars? I ain&rsquo;t seen it yet. But we&rsquo;ve done, so
+let&rsquo;s see it now.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I quietly opened my pocketbook and took several
+bills of that yellow-backed denomination, and selected
+one for him. He took it at first suspiciously,
+then greedily, and I saw his eyes go to my
+wallet. &ldquo;I forgot,&rdquo; said I, and took out two bills
+of five dollars each, which I handed to him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;By golly!&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;so&rsquo;d I forgot!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why did you forget about your wages?&rdquo; I
+asked, and looked at him keenly. He turned his
+eyes aside.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg&nbsp;85]</a></span>
+&ldquo;This fresh-water pearl fishing,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;has
+many points of likeness to the ocean pearl fishing
+in Ceylon.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You been there?&rdquo; he queried. &ldquo;And why is
+it like them?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In several ways. It is, in the first place, all
+a gamble. The pearl merchants buy the oysters
+as I bought my mussels, by the lump and as a
+chance, based on the law of average product. They
+rot the oysters as you do the mussels. The smell
+is the same: and many other things are the same.
+For instance, it is almost impossible to keep the
+diver from stealing pearls, just as it is hard to
+keep the Kafirs from stealing the diamonds they
+find in the mines.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I still was looking at him closely, and now I
+said to him mildly, and in a low tone of voice,
+&ldquo;It would be of no use&mdash;I should only beat you
+again; and I would rather spare your mother.
+You see,&rdquo; I added in a louder tone of voice, &ldquo;the
+natives put pearls in their hair, between their toes,
+in their mouths&mdash;although they do not chew tobacco
+as you do. One who merely put one in the
+pocket of his overalls&mdash;if he wore overalls&mdash;would
+be called very clumsy, indeed, especially if he had
+been seen to do it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Involuntarily, he clapped a hand on his pocket.
+What would have been his next act I do not know,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg&nbsp;86]</a></span>
+for at that moment I heard a voice call out sharply,
+&ldquo;Halt! villain. Throw up your hands, or by
+heavens you die!&rdquo; Turning swiftly, I saw Lafitte,
+his pistol barrel rested in very serviceable fashion
+in the crotch of a staff, the same as when he first
+accosted me on my stream, glancing along the
+barrel with an ominous gray eye again gone three-cornered.</p>
+
+<p>Before I could even cry out to him his warning
+was effective. I saw my clam fisher go white
+and put his hands over his head, the while his
+dam ran screaming toward the tent&mdash;Jimmy
+L&rsquo;Olonnois at her heels, sword in hand, and warning
+her not to get a gun, else her life&rsquo;s blood would
+dye the strand.</p>
+
+<p>Here, now, was a pretty pickle for a sworn servant
+of the law to aid in making! A wrong move
+might mean murder done by these imaginative
+youths, and I no less than accessory, to boot; for,
+surely, I had given them aid and violent counsel
+in this drama which we all were playing so naturally,
+if not so nobly. I hastened over to Lafitte
+and called loudly to L&rsquo;Olonnois, and commanded
+Partial to drop the renewed encounter with the
+clammers&rsquo; dog, which now, also, swiftly threatened
+us. So, in a moment or two, I restored peace.</p>
+
+<p>I held out my hand to the clammer. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t
+know you seen me,&rdquo; said he simply; and placed
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg&nbsp;87]</a></span>
+in my hand three pearls, either of them worth
+more than all I had paid him, and one of them the
+largest and best I had ever seen&mdash;it is the pearl
+famous as the &ldquo;<i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>,&rdquo; the finest ever taken
+in fresh waters in America, so it is said by
+Tiffany&rsquo;s.</p>
+
+<p>I looked at him quietly, and handed him back
+all but the one pearl. &ldquo;I am sorry you were not
+a better sport,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;very sorry. Didn&rsquo;t I play
+fair with you?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Some folks have all the luck.
+You come along here, rich, with all sorts of things,
+you and them d&mdash;&mdash;d kids, and you&rsquo;d rob a man
+like me out of what little he can make.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I was opening my wallet again. &ldquo;I am sorry
+to hear you say that,&rdquo; said I, handing him two
+bills of a hundred dollars each. &ldquo;Sorry, because
+it has cost you twenty-eight hundred dollars.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My God, man, what do you mean?&rdquo; he gasped,
+even his fingers slow to take both money and contempt.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That the pearl is worth to me that much, since
+I have purpose for it. I have more money than I
+want, and fewer pearls like this than I want. It
+would have given me the keenest sort of pleasure
+to give you and your mother a few thousand dollars,
+two or three, to set you up with a little
+launch and an outfit enough to give you a good
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg&nbsp;88]</a></span>
+start&mdash;and, perhaps, a good partner. As it is, you
+are lucky my pirate brother has not blown a hole
+through you, and that my other brother has not
+shed the blood of your parent, if she have any.
+You had a good chance, and like many another
+man who isn&rsquo;t good enough to deserve success,
+you lost it. Do you know why you failed?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the luck,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I never had none.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;it is not that. So far as luck
+goes, you are lucky you are alive. Little do you
+know our desperate band. Little do you know
+you have escaped the wrath of Lafitte, of L&rsquo;Olonnois,
+of Black Bart. Luck! No, that is not why
+you failed.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What then?&rdquo; he demanded, still covetous, albeit
+rueful, too, at what he vaguely knew was lost
+opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It was because you did not play the part of
+a clammer naturally and nobly,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;My
+friend, I counsel you to read Epictetus&mdash;and while
+you are at that,&rdquo; I added, &ldquo;I suggest you read also
+that other classic, the one known as <i>The Pirate&rsquo;s
+Own Book</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, since he stood stupefied, and really
+not seeing my hand, which I reached out to him
+in farewell, I called to Partial, and followed by
+the two stern and relentless figures, made our way
+back to the spot where the good ship <i>Sea Rover</i>
+lay straining at her hawser.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg&nbsp;89]</a></span>
+&ldquo;What ho! messmates!&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;Fortune has
+been kind to our bold band this day. We have
+taken large booty. Let us up anchor and set sail.
+Before yon sun has sunk into the deep we shall
+be far away, and our swift craft is able to shake
+off all pursuit.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Whither away, Black Bart,&mdash;Captain, I mean!&rdquo;
+said Jean Lafitte (and I blushed at this title and
+this hard-won rank, as one of the proudest of my
+swiftly-following accomplishments in happiness).</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Spang! to the Spanish Main,&rdquo; was my reply.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later, the waves were rippling merrily
+along the sides of the <i>Sea Rover</i> as she headed
+out boldly into the high seas.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg&nbsp;90]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH I SHOW MY TRUE COLORS</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HERE were many lesser adventures in which
+Lafitte, L&rsquo;Olonnois and I shared on our voyage
+through the long waterways leading down to
+the great river, but of these I make small mention,
+for, in truth, one boasts little of one&rsquo;s deeds in
+piracy after the fact, or of inciting piracy and
+making accessories before the fact, the more especially
+if such accessories be small but bloodthirsty
+boys. These latter, let me plead in extenuation
+of my own sins, already were pirates, and
+set upon rapine. For my own part, seeing their
+resolution to take green corn and other vegetables,
+aye, even fowls, as part of the natural returns of
+their stern calling, I made no remonstrances, not
+the first leader unable to restrain his ruthless band,
+but I eased my own conscience by leaving&mdash;quite
+unknown to them,&mdash;sundry silver coins in cleft
+sticks, prominently displayed, in the hope that
+irate farmers might find them when, after our
+departure, they visited the scenes of our marauding.
+And to such an extent did this marauding
+obtain that, by the time we had reached the Mississippi
+River, I was almost wholly barren of further
+silver coins.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg&nbsp;91]</a></span>
+Many things I learned as we voyaged; as that
+my dog Partial would, when asked, roll over and
+over upon the ground, or sit up and bark&mdash;things
+taught him by no man known in his history, so
+far as Lafitte could recall it. And things I learned
+regarding birds and small animals of which my
+law books had told me nothing. As to mosquitoes,
+I learned that, whereas they do not hurt a young
+pirate, they do an old one; and I half resolved to
+discontinue my book regarding them. Perhaps it
+was not of first importance.</p>
+
+<p>But two things grew on me in conviction. First,
+I loved Helena Emory more and more each day of
+my life; and second, that I must see her at the first
+moment possible&mdash;in spite of all my resolutions
+to put her out of my life forever! And, these two
+things being assured, when we saw the rolling
+yellowish flood of the Father of the Waters at
+last sweeping before us, I realized that, bound as
+I was in honor to hold on with my faithful band,
+our craft, the <i>Sea Rover</i>&mdash;sixteen feet long she
+was, and well equipped with Long Toms and deck
+cannonades&mdash;would have no chance to overtake
+the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>, fastest yacht on the Great Lakes,
+who might, so far as I could tell, at that very
+moment be cleaving through the Chicago canal,
+to enter the great river hundreds of miles ahead
+of us.</p>
+
+<p>Wherefore, leaving my bold mates in bivouac
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg&nbsp;92]</a></span>
+one day, I made journey to the nearest town.
+There, I sent certain messages to anxious parents,
+and left for them our probable itinerary as tourists
+traveling by private conveyance. I could not
+set our future dates and ports more closely together;
+for, before I left town, I had purchased
+a sturdy power boat of our own, capable of doing
+her ten or twelve miles under her own petrol. I
+was in no mind to fall farther and farther back
+of the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> each day; and I counted upon
+our piratical energy to keep us going more hours
+a day than Cal Davidson&mdash;curses on him!&mdash;would
+be apt to travel.</p>
+
+<p>I gave orders for immediate fitting of my new
+craft, and delivery on the spot; and within the
+hour, although regarded with much suspicion by
+the town marshal and many leading citizens, I
+set out for our bivouac, with the aid of the late
+owner of the boat, to whom I gave assurance that
+no evil should befall him. When we chugged
+along the shore, and slackened opposite our camp,
+I heard the stern voice of Lafitte hail us: &ldquo;Ship
+ahoy!&rdquo; (Perhaps he saw me at the stern sheets.)</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aye! Aye! mate!&rdquo; I answered, through my
+cupped hands. &ldquo;Bear a hand with our landing
+line.&rdquo; Whereat my hardy band came running
+and made us fast.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What has gone wrong, Black Bart?&rdquo; demanded
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg&nbsp;93]</a></span>
+L&rsquo;Olonnois, uncertain of my status. &ldquo;Hast met
+mishap and struck colors?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;By no means!&rdquo; I rejoined. &ldquo;This is a prize,
+our first capture. And since she has struck her
+colors, let us mount our own at her foremast and
+ship our band to a bigger and faster craft.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The late owner, who bore the name of Robinson,
+looked on much perplexed, and, I think, in
+some apprehension, for he must have thought us
+dangerous, whether sane or mad.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Who&rsquo;ll run her?&rdquo; he at length demanded of
+me, looking from me to my two associates. Then
+forth and stood Jean Lafitte; and answered a question
+I confess I had not yet myself asked: &ldquo;Ho!
+I guess a fellow who can run a gasoline pump in
+a creamery can handle one of them things. So
+think not, fellow, to escape us!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I reassured Robinson, who was apparently ready
+to make a run for it; and I explained to Lafitte
+and L&rsquo;Olonnois my plan.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll by no means discard our brig, the original
+<i>Sea Rover</i>,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;ll tow her along
+as our tender. But we&rsquo;ll christen the prize the
+<i>Sea Rover</i> instead, and hoist our flag over her&mdash;and
+paint on her name at the first point of call we
+make. Now, let us hasten, for two thousand miles
+of sea lie before us, and Robinson is also five
+miles from home.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg&nbsp;94]</a></span>
+But Robinson became more and more alarmed
+each moment. He had my money, I his bill of
+sale, but ride back to town with us he would not.
+Instead, he washed his hands of us and started
+back afoot&mdash;to get the town marshal, I was well
+convinced. It mattered little to us; for once more
+did sturdy Jean Lafitte more than make good his
+boast. With one look at the gasoline tank to assure
+himself that all was well, he made fast the
+painter of the old <i>Sea Rover</i>, and even as L&rsquo;Olonnois
+with grim determination planted the Jolly
+Rover above our bows, and as I tossed aboard the
+cargo of our former craft, Lafitte cranked her up
+with master hand, threw in the gear, and with a
+steady eye headed her for midstream, where town
+marshals may not come.</p>
+
+<p>I looked at my mates in admiration. They
+could do things I could not do, and they faced
+the future with no trace of hesitation. I caught
+from them a part of this resolution I so long had
+lacked. I added this to my determination to see
+Helena Emory once more and soon as wind and
+wave would allow. So that, believe me, the blood
+rose quickly in my veins as I saw now we had
+faster travel ahead of us.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Square away the main braces, my hearties!&rdquo;
+I called. &ldquo;Break out the spinnaker and set the
+jibs. It&rsquo;s a wet sheet and a flowing sea, and let
+any stop us at their peril!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg&nbsp;95]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Aye! Aye! Sir,&rdquo; came the response of Jean Lafitte
+in a voice almost bass, and &ldquo;Aye! Aye! Sir,&rdquo;
+piped the blue-eyed Lieutenant L&rsquo;Olonnois. The
+stanch craft leaped ahead, wallowing in cross
+seas till we reached the mid-current of the Mississippi&rsquo;s
+heavy flood, then riding and rising gamely
+as she met wave after wave that came up-stream
+with the head wind. The eyes of Lafitte gleamed.
+L&rsquo;Olonnois, hand over eyes, stood in our bows.
+&ldquo;Four bells, and all&rsquo;s well!&rdquo; he intoned in a vigorous
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>It was my own heart made answer, in the sweetest
+challenge it ever had given to the world: &ldquo;All&rsquo;s
+well!&rdquo; And far ahead I, too, peered across the
+wave, seeking to make out the hull of fleeing craft
+that bore treasure I was resolved should yet be
+mine.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;More sail, Officer!&rdquo; I called to Jean Lafitte.
+He grinned in answer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re in a hurry, Black Bart. What makes
+you?&rdquo; And even L&rsquo;Olonnois turned a searching
+gaze upon me.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Then I&rsquo;ll show you my true colors,&rdquo; said I.
+&ldquo;I am more careless of taking treasure than of
+capturing a certain maiden who flees before us
+yonder on a swift craft, speedier than our own.
+Lay me alongside of her, this week, next month,
+this winter, and my share of the other booty shall
+be yours!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg&nbsp;96]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Black Bart,&rdquo; said Lafitte, &ldquo;I knew something
+was sort of botherin&rsquo; you. So, it&rsquo;s you for the fair
+captive, huh?&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg&nbsp;97]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH MY PLOT THICKENS</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>E sped on now steadily, day by delightful day,
+and ever arose in my soul new wonders
+at the joy of life itself, things that had escaped
+me in my plodding business life. Now and again,
+I took from my pocket the little volume which
+always went with me on the stream when I angled,
+and which I confess sometimes charmed me away
+from the stream to some shaded nook where I
+might read old Omar undisturbed&mdash;as now I
+might, with L&rsquo;Olonnois at the masthead and Lafitte
+at the wheel. And always these wise, reckless,
+joyous pages of the old philosopher spelled
+to me &ldquo;Haste! Haste!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;Whether at Naish&aacute;p&uacute;r or Babylon,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one.&rdquo;<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The Bird of Time has but a little way<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To flutter&mdash;and the Bird is on the Wing!&rdquo;<br /></span>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>What truth, what absolute truth of the red-hot
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg&nbsp;98]</a></span>
+spur lay in those words, lesson direst to me! What
+had my life been, plodding in books to learn to
+keep by forms of law the booty my father had
+stolen? Away with it, then, for now the Bird
+of Time was on the wing! Let me forget the
+wasted years, spent in adding dollar to dollar;
+for what could the highest pile of dollars mean
+to a man who had missed what Lafitte and L&rsquo;Olonnois
+and Omar had in their teaching? The booty
+of the world, the pearls of price, the casks of the
+Wine of Life, are his only who takes them. They
+can not be bought, can not be given. &ldquo;Oh, haste!
+Jean Lafitte, for my new knowledge indeed eats
+at my soul. Hasten, for the Bird of Life is on
+the wing, L&rsquo;Olonnois.&rdquo; So I spoke to them; and
+they, feeling it all a part of the play, gravely answered
+in kind, to what end that any who sought
+to stay Black Bart and his crew did so at peril
+of their blood.</p>
+
+<p>We came, I knew not after how many days forgotten
+in detail&mdash;after passing, each avoided as a
+pestilence, many cities prosperous in commerce&mdash;alongside
+the river port of the city of St. Louis,
+crowded with motley and misfit shipping of one
+sort or other, where our craft might moor without
+fear of exciting any suspicion, in spite of our
+ominous name; for I had the precaution to lower
+our flag of the skull and cross-bones.</p>
+
+<p>I sought out the man most apt to know of any
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg&nbsp;99]</a></span>
+considerable vessels docking there, and made inquiry
+for any power yacht one hundred and
+twenty-five feet long, white and black ventilators,
+white hull with blue line, flying the burgee <i>Belle
+Hel&egrave;ne</i>, or some such name. None could advise
+me for a time, and I looked in vain, as I had in
+every dock in six hundred miles, for the trim hull
+of my yacht. At last one old mariner, in rubber
+boots, himself skipper of a house-boat south-bound
+for a winter&rsquo;s trapping, admitted that he had seen
+such a craft three days before!</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Did she dock?&rdquo; I demanded.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sure she did, and lay over night. I remember
+it well enough, for I saw her tie up; and that
+evening her owner went ashore and up-town, and
+with him his bride, I reckon&mdash;handsomest girl in
+all the town. They must have been married, for
+he was lookin&rsquo; like he owned her. That was
+lemme see, two days ago or maybe four. They
+came aboard her next morning, all three&mdash;there
+was a old party along, girl&rsquo;s mother likely&mdash;around
+eleven o&rsquo;clock, and in a little while cast off and
+went on down-river. As fine a boat as ever made
+the river run&mdash;still as a mouse she was, but quick
+as a cat, and around Ste. Genevieve, I reckon,
+before I got back to my own scow after helping
+them off here. No wonder her owner was proud.
+He stood on the quarter-deck like a lord. Why
+shouldn&rsquo;t he, ownin&rsquo; a boat an&rsquo; a girl like that?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg&nbsp;100]</a></span>
+&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t own either!&rdquo; I retorted hotly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, how do you know he don&rsquo;t?&rdquo; demanded
+my sea-going man.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Who should know, if not myself?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sho! You talk like you owned her!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I do own her!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It looks like it. Which do you mean&mdash;her the
+yacht, or her the girl?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Both&mdash;no! That is, well at least I own the
+boat.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That may all be, or it all mayn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; he replied,
+openly scoffing; &ldquo;at least so far&rsquo;s the boat goes.
+Anybody kin buy anything that has the price. But
+as to the girl, you&rsquo;d have to prove it, if I was him.
+And if he didn&rsquo;t look like he owned her, or was
+goin&rsquo; to, I&rsquo;ll eat your own gas tank there, an&rsquo; them
+two kids in it fer good measure.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Of course I could not argue or explain, and therefore
+turned away. But all the answer of my soul
+came from the lips of L&rsquo;Olonnois, who, propped
+up against the cockpit combing, was reading aloud
+to Lafitte from <i>The Pirate&rsquo;s Own Book</i> as I approached.
+&ldquo;Hah! my good man!&rdquo; exclaimed the
+pirate chieftain as he looked at his blade, &ldquo;unhand
+the maid, or by Heaven! your life&rsquo;s blood shall
+dye the deck where you stand!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, ha! Cal Davidson,&rdquo; said I to myself
+through my set teeth; &ldquo;little do you think that
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg&nbsp;101]</a></span>
+you are discovered in your sins, and little do you
+know that the avenger is on your track. But have
+a care, for Black Bart and his band pursues you!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>And, seeing that we had now laid in abundance
+of ship&rsquo;s stores, including four drums of gasoline;
+and since the trail of Cal Davidson was, at least,
+no wider than the banks of the river down which
+he had fled, it looked ill enough for the chances
+of that robber when the stanch <i>Sea Rover</i>, her
+flag again aloft and promising no quarter, chugged
+out into midstream and took up a pursuit which
+was to know no faltering until at last I had learned
+the truth about the fair captive of the <i>Belle
+Hel&egrave;ne</i>. For indeed, indeed, Omar, and you, too,
+stout Lafitte and hardy L&rsquo;Olonnois, the Bird of
+Life was on the wing.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg&nbsp;102]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH WE CLOSE WITH THE ENEMY</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">C</span>AL Davidson took on five drums of petrol at
+Cairo, and a like amount of champagne at
+Memphis, and no man may tell what other supplies
+at this or that other point along the river. He evidently
+suspected no pursuit, or, if he did, was a
+swaggering varlet enough, for, according to all
+accounts which we could get, he loitered and
+lingered along, altogether at his leisure, with due
+attention to social matters at every port; for if
+he had not a wife at every port, at least, he had
+an acquaintance of business or social sort, so that,
+one might be sure, there were few dull moments
+for him and his party, whether afloat or ashore.
+He must have attended a dinner-party and two
+theaters at Memphis, and have sailed only after
+making three thousand dollars out of a combination
+in champagne present and cotton future,
+whose disgusting details I did not seek to learn.
+Trust Davidson to make money, and to make the
+most of life also as he went along. He
+always had the best of everything; and surely now
+he had, for the leisurely, ease-seeking <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>,
+not actuated by any vast motive beyond that of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg&nbsp;103]</a></span>
+the bee and the honey flower, slipped on down
+and ahead with perfect ease, while we, grimy,
+slow, determined, plowed on in her wake losing
+miles each hour the graceful <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> chose
+to show us her light disdainful heels, serenely
+indifferent because wholly ignorant of our existence.</p>
+
+<p>But we held to the chase as true pirates, not
+loitering at any port, and&mdash;since now I, also, had
+learned something of the intricacies of our engine,
+and could take a trick while the others slept&mdash;running
+twice the hours daily the haughty yacht
+would deign to log. I knew that Cal Davidson
+would stop to shoot and to visit, and knew that
+he could, by no human means, be induced to pass
+any telegraph point where the daily standing of
+the baseball clubs could be learned&mdash;he counted
+that day lost in which he did not learn the scores.
+As for myself, I have never been able to understand
+how any grown man or any one ungrown
+can take any interest whatever in the deeds of
+hired ball-playing Hessians, who have back of them
+neither patriotism nor even a municipal pride. But,
+for once, I was joyed that the organized business
+sense of a few men had put an otherwise able citizen
+under tribute, because now, though the <i>Belle
+Hel&egrave;ne</i> must pause at least daily, the <i>Sea Rover</i>
+need do no such thing.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg&nbsp;104]</a></span>
+Nor did we. We were hot on the trail of the
+enemy as he flew south along the Chickasha Bluffs,
+hot as he left Memphis behind, and taking the
+widening waters which now wandered through
+low forest lands, reached out for the next city of
+size, historic Vicksburg on her seventy hills. And
+hot and eager, more than ever, were we when,
+chugging around the head of that vast arm of
+the river, where it curves like a boy of some
+southern sea, with its heights rising beyond and
+afar, we saw what caused me to exclaim aloud,
+&ldquo;At last! There she lies, my hearties!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I pointed on ahead. To my eyes, who had designed
+her, every line of that long, graceful, white
+hull was familiar. The jaunty rake of her air-shafts,
+like stacks of a liner, the sweep of her clean
+freeboard up to her shining rail, the ease of her
+bows, the graceful boldness of her overhang&mdash;all
+were familiar enough to me. She was my boat,
+and once I was wont to enjoy her. And on board
+her now was the woman who had taken away from
+me all desire to keep a yacht in commission, to
+keep open a house in town, or an office, or to frequent
+my clubs, or to meet my friends. Was she
+there, this woman; and was she still?&mdash;but I dared
+not ask that question.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Full speed ahead, Jean!&rdquo; I called. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the
+<i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>! Yonder lies the enemy!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg&nbsp;105]</a></span>
+And then the inevitable happened. Perhaps it
+was too much gas, perhaps too much lubricant,
+perhaps a spark plug was carrying too much carbon.
+At any rate, the engine of the <i>Sea Rover</i>
+chose that time to chug and cease to revolve!</p>
+
+<p>It was more than a mile to the foot of that
+vast curve; and even as I leaped at the grimy
+oily motor, I saw a white dingey with blue trim
+make out from the wharf and leisurely pull alongside
+the landing stair of the yacht. It held two
+figures only, that of the deck-hand who rowed,
+and that of the large white-flanneled man who
+now disembarked from the dingey and went
+aboard the yacht. He was waving a paper over
+his head, so that I inferred the Giants must have
+won that day. And then, as we tugged and hurried
+with our arbitrary motor, I saw the <i>Belle
+Hel&egrave;ne</i>, with a slight smiling salute to friends
+ashore, swing daintily about and head out and
+down the river! The faint and infallible rhythm of
+her perfect enginery came throbbing to us across
+the water ... I stood up. I hailed, I waved, I
+shouted, and I fear even cursed. Perhaps they
+thought some drunken fisherman was disporting
+himself; but certainly, a few moments later, we
+were rocking on the roll of the river, and the yacht
+was out of sight and sound around the next great
+bend.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg&nbsp;106]</a></span>
+&ldquo;It shall go hard but we overhaul yon varlet
+yet,&rdquo; said L&rsquo;Olonnois grimly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aye,&rdquo; assented Lafitte; &ldquo;we&rsquo;ve busted a plug,
+an&rsquo; he has showed us a clean pair of heels, but
+it&rsquo;s a long chase if the <i>Sea Rover</i> does not overhaul
+him. We&rsquo;ll have to overhaul our engine
+first, though,&rdquo; he added thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>But the overhauling of our engine meant a
+voyage under sweeps to a precarious landing
+among divers packets, house-boats and launches, on
+Vicksburg waterside, and a later visit to a specialist
+in diseases of the carburetor; so that, when at
+last the <i>Sea Rover</i> was ready for the sea again,
+her chase might have been a hundred miles ahead
+an she liked.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Gee!&rdquo; exclaimed Jean Lafitte, as we were about
+to cast off. &ldquo;Looky here, de Cubs licked de G&rsquo;ints
+five to one to-day.&rdquo; He pointed to figures in a
+newspaper which he had obtained. So then it
+might have been excitement of rage, and not of
+joy, which had animated Cal Davidson when he
+went aboard.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Never mind then,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for that gives us
+a day&rsquo;s start.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How do you mean?&rdquo; demanded Jean.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It means that yonder varlet will not leave Natchez
+to-morrow until late evening, after the wires
+are in from the northern ball games,&rdquo; I replied.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg&nbsp;107]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Of course he&rsquo;ll stop there next.&rdquo; I felt now that
+the Lord had, by implanting this insane lust of
+petty baseball news in his soul, delivered my enemy
+into my hand.</p>
+
+<p>Now I wist not how or at what dignified speed
+the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> swept on down that mighty
+river through the rich southern lands; nor do I
+scarce half remember the painstaking persistent
+run we made with the grimy <i>Sea Rover</i> in pursuit,
+hour after hour, night or day. We had no
+licensed pilot or licensed engineer, we bore no
+lights as prescribed by law, and heeded no channels
+as prescribed by government engineers.
+Pirates, indeed, we might have been as we plowed
+on down in the wake of our quarry, along the
+ancient highway famous in fast packet days. We
+cared nothing for law, order, custom, conventions,
+precedents&mdash;the very things which had enslaved me
+all my life I now cast aside. Through bend
+after bend, along willow-lined flats and bluffs
+crowned with stately, moss-draped live-oaks, we
+swept on and on; and always I strained my eyes
+to see, my ears to hear, on ahead some sign of
+the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>; always strained my heart for
+some sign from her. Why, even I looked in the
+water for some bottle bearing a memory from yon
+captive maid to me. Captive? Why, certainly
+she must be captive; and certainly she must know
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg&nbsp;108]</a></span>
+that I, Black Bart the Avenger, was upon the
+trail.</p>
+
+<p>We made the pleasant city of Natchez in the
+evening of the sweetest day on which, as I thought,
+the sun had ever set. Her lofty hills&mdash;for here
+the great eastern fence of hills which bound the
+Vermont Delta on the eastward sweep in to close
+the foot of the Delta&rsquo;s V, and run sheer to the
+river&rsquo;s brink&mdash;rose upon our left. The low tree-covered
+lands on the Louisiana side lay at our
+right, and over them hung, center of a most radiant
+evening curtain, painted in a thousand colors
+by the mighty brush of nature, the round red orb
+of day, now sinking to his rest.</p>
+
+<p>I did not begrudge the sun his rest that day.
+For now, just at the edge of this beautiful picture
+there hung, at the dry point where the old keel
+boats used to land at old Natchez, under the hill
+where the pirates of those days sought relaxation
+from labors in the joys of combat or of wine, I
+caught sight of the long, low, graceful hull of
+the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>!</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Avast! Jean Lafitte,&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;Shorten all
+sail, and bear across, west-by-west.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aye! Aye! Sir,&rdquo; came the response from my
+bold crew.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t we run in and board her?&rdquo; demanded
+L&rsquo;Olonnois. However, seeing that I had
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg&nbsp;109]</a></span>
+laid hold of the steering line where I sat, and was
+heading the <i>Sea Rover</i> across the Louisiana side,
+away from the city&rsquo;s water-front, he subsided.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll cast anchor yonder where the holding
+ground is good,&rdquo; I explained. &ldquo;To-night we&rsquo;ll send
+off the long boat with a boarding party. And
+marry!&rdquo; I added, &ldquo;it shall go hard, but we&rsquo;ll hold
+yon varlet to his accounting!&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg&nbsp;110]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH WE BOARD THE ENEMY</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">S</span>LOWLY the vast painting of the sky softened
+and faded until, at length, its edges blended
+with the shadows of the forest. There came into
+relief against the sky-line the etched outlines of
+the trees crowning the bluff on the eastern side
+of the great river. The oncoming darkness promised
+safety for a craft unimportant as ours as
+we now lay in the shadows of the western shore.
+Meantime, as well as the failing light allowed, we
+let nothing on board the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> go unobserved.</p>
+
+<p>The yacht lay&mdash;with an audacity of carelessness
+which I did not like to note&mdash;hardly inside the
+edge of the regular shipping channel, but swung
+securely and gracefully at her cable, held by an
+anchor which I had devised myself, heavy enough
+for twice her tonnage. On the deck I could see
+an occasional figure, but though I plied my binoculars
+carefully, not the figure which I sought. A
+man leaned against the rail, idly, smoking, but
+this I made out to be the engineer, Williams, come
+up to get the evening air. Billy, the deck-hand,
+John, my Chinese cook, and Peterson, the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg&nbsp;111]</a></span>
+boat-master, were at the time out of sight, as well as
+Cal Davidson, who had her under charter.</p>
+
+<p>We lay thus, separated by some distance of the
+river&rsquo;s flood, each craft at anchor, only one observed
+by the other. But to my impatient gaze
+matters seemed strangely slow on board the <i>Belle
+Hel&egrave;ne</i>. I was relieved when at last the rather
+portly but well groomed figure of my friend Davidson
+appeared on deck. He made his way aft
+along the rail, and I could see him bend over and
+call down the companionway of the after staterooms.
+Then, an instant later, he was joined on
+the after deck by two ladies. The sight of one
+of these caused my heart to bound.</p>
+
+<p>They stood for a moment, no more than dimly
+outlined, but I could see them well enough. The
+older lady, with the scarf about her head, was
+Aunt Lucinda. The slighter figure in white and
+wearing no head covering, was she, Helena Emory!
+It was Helena! It was Helena!</p>
+
+<p>She turned toward Davidson. I could hear
+across the water the sound of laughter. A sudden
+feeling of anger came into my soul. I shifted
+my position in the <i>Sea Rover</i>, and stepped on Partial&rsquo;s
+tail, causing him to give a sharp bark and to
+come and lick my hand in swift repentance. I
+feared for the time that his sound might attract
+attention to our boat, which, if examined closely,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg&nbsp;112]</a></span>
+might seem a trifle suspicious. True pirates, and
+oblivious of all law, we had not yet hoisted our
+riding lights, though for all I know our black flag
+still was flying.</p>
+
+<p>The three figures passed forward along the
+deck slowly and disappeared down the front companion-stair
+which led to the cozy dining-room. I
+could see them all sitting there, about my own
+table, using the very silver and linen which I had
+had made for the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>, attended by John,
+my Chinese cook and factotum, whom I had especially
+imported, selected from among a thousand
+other Chinese by myself at Hankow. I knew that
+Davidson would have champagne and a dozen
+other wines in abundance, everything the market
+offered. A pleasant party, this of three, which was
+seating itself at my table over yonder, while I, in
+a grimy, dingy, little tub lay looking at them, helpless
+in the gloom! Ah, villain, shrewd enough you
+were when you planned this trip for Aunt
+Lucinda&rsquo;s health! Well enough you knew that
+of all places in the world none equals a well
+equipped private yacht for the courting of a maid.
+Why, if it be propinquity that does it, what chance
+had any man on earth against this man, enjoying
+the privilege of propinquity of propinquities, and
+adding thereto the weapons of every courtesy, every
+little pleasure a man may show a maid? Trust
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg&nbsp;113]</a></span>
+Cal Davidson for all that! I well-nigh gnashed
+my teeth in anger.</p>
+
+<p>I scarce know how the time passed, until at last
+I saw them, in the illumination of the deck lights,
+at length come on deck again. They stood looking
+out over the river, or toward the lights of Natchez-under-the-Hill,
+and at length idly walked aft once
+more. The two ladies seated themselves on deck
+chairs under the awning of the rear deck. I could
+not see them now, but heard the tinkle and throb
+of a guitar come across the water, touched lightly
+with long pauses, as under some suspended melody
+not yet offered in fulness. Now and again I could
+hear a word or so, the rather deep voice of Aunt
+Lucinda, the bass tones of Davidson, but strain
+my ears as I might, I could not hear the sound of
+that other voice, low and sweet, an excellent thing
+in woman.</p>
+
+<p>At length the little party seemed to be breaking
+up. I saw Davidson, half in shadow, outlined
+by the deck lights as he rose, and passed forward.
+Then I heard the falls run, and a soft splash as
+the dingey was launched overside. Cal Davidson
+was going ashore. He could no longer resist his
+anxiety over the baseball score! A moment later
+I heard the dip of the oars. Some one turned
+on the search-light, so that a wide shaft of light
+swung along the foot of Natchez Hill, toward
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg&nbsp;114]</a></span>
+which the dingey was headed. The shadows on
+the deck of the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> seemed darker now,
+by contrast, but I believed that Williams, the engineer,
+now had left the rail on which he was leaning
+over his folded arms.</p>
+
+<p>I turned now to my wondering companions, who,
+seeing me so much interested, had remained for a
+long time practically silent. Fall now, curtain of
+romance, for we be but three pirates here! Up
+anchor, then, and back across the stream toward
+our quarry quickly, my bold mates, for now there
+lies at hand a dangerous work of the boarding
+party!</p>
+
+<p>Thus I might have spoken aloud; for, at least,
+I hardly needed to do more than motion to Jean
+Lafitte, and as we resumed our softly chugging
+progress, having broken out our shallow anchorage,
+he steered the boat to the motion of my hand. We
+passed close alongside the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> and I examined
+her keenly as we did so. Then, apparently
+unnoticed, we dropped down-stream a bit, and
+found another anchorage.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Clear away the long boat for the boarding
+party,&rdquo; I now whispered hoarsely. I spoke to
+companions now in full character. Belted and
+armed, Lafitte and L&rsquo;Olonnois rose ready for any
+bold emprise, each with red kerchief pulled about
+his brow. And now, to my interest, I observed that
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg&nbsp;115]</a></span>
+each had resumed the black mask which they had
+worn earlier in our long voyage, sign of the
+desperate character of each wearer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Whither away, Black Bart?&rdquo; demanded L&rsquo;Olonnois
+fiercely. &ldquo;Lead, and we follow.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You had better put on a mask, Black Bart,&rdquo;
+added Jean Lafitte, and handed me a spare one of
+his own manufacture. I hesitated, but then, seeing
+that part of my success lay in our all remaining
+somewhat piratical of character, I hastily slipped
+it above my eyes, and pulled down my hat brim.
+&ldquo;She will not know me now,&rdquo; said I to myself.
+And truly enough we seemed desperate folk, fierce
+as any who ever lay in keel boat off the foot of
+Natchez bluff, even in the bloodiest times of Mike
+Fink the Keel-boatman or of Murrell the southern
+bandit king.</p>
+
+<p>Partial, without invitation, climbed into the skiff
+with us. &ldquo;Cast off,&rdquo; I ordered. &ldquo;Oars!&rdquo; And
+my young men&mdash;whom by this time I had trained
+in many ways nautical&mdash;obeyed in good seaman
+fashion. A moment later we lay almost under the
+rail of the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>. No one hailed us. We
+seemed taken only for some passing skiff.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Listen!&rdquo; I whispered, &ldquo;there is risk in what
+we are going to do.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I looked at my blue-eyed pirate, L&rsquo;Olonnois, who
+sat closer to me. On his face was simple and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg&nbsp;116]</a></span>
+complete happiness. At last, his adventure had come
+to him and he was meeting it like a man.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What is it, Black Bart?&rdquo; I heard Jean Lafitte
+whisper hoarsely.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We are to board and take yonder ship,&rdquo; I replied
+softly. &ldquo;If we are to succeed, you must do
+precisely as I tell you. Leave the main risk to me,
+that of the law. I&rsquo;ll take possession on the ground
+that she is my boat, that her charter money is not
+paid, and that yonder varlet is making away with
+her out of the country. She holds much treasure,
+let me assure you of that, my men&mdash;the greatest
+treasure that ever came down this river.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now, listen. You, Lafitte, as soon as we get
+aboard, are to run and close the hatch of the engine-room.
+That will pen Williams, the engineer,
+below, where he can make no resistance. As soon
+as that is done, run to those doors forward which
+lead down to the dining-room companionway and
+shut those doors and latch them. That will take
+care of John, the cook. The deck-hand is away
+with the varlet. That leaves only the shipmaster
+and the women captives.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;While you are busy in this way, Lafitte, I will
+hunt for Peterson, the master, who very likely
+is sitting quiet on the forward deck somewhere.
+The main danger lies with him. While I attend to
+him, you, L&rsquo;Olonnois, run aft. You will find there
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg&nbsp;117]</a></span>
+two ladies, one very old and ugly, the other very
+young and very beautiful. See that they do not
+escape, and hold them there until I come aft to
+meet you.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;All this must go through as we have planned.
+Once the maiden is in our power, and the ship our
+own, we will head down-stream for the open sea.
+Are you with me, my bold mates?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Lead on, Black Bart!&rdquo; I heard L&rsquo;Olonnois hiss;
+and I saw Jean Lafitte tighten his belt.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;All ready, then,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll go forward and
+make fast the painter when we reach the landing
+stair. Follow me quickly. Leave Partial in the
+boat. Gently now.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Swiftly but silently, we swept in under the lee
+of the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>. The landing ladder had not
+been drawn up after Davidson&rsquo;s departure, so that
+the boarding party had easy work ahead.</p>
+
+<p>I sprang upon the deck, my footfalls deadened
+by the rubber matting which lay along all the
+decks. I turned. Above the rail behind me rose
+the face of Lafitte, masked. The long blade of a
+Malay kris was in his teeth. In one hand he held a
+pistol, using the other as he climbed. He scraped
+out of his belt as he came aboard I know not how
+many pistols which fell into the water, but still,
+God wot! had abundant remaining. Nor did
+L&rsquo;Olonnois, close behind him, his Samurai sword
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg&nbsp;118]</a></span>
+between his teeth, present a spectacle less awesome.
+I breathed a sudden prayer that these might meet
+with no resistance, else I could only fear the direst
+consequences!</p>
+
+<p>I made a quick motion with my hand, even as
+I sprang forward in search of Peterson. The dull
+thud of the engine-room hatch, an instant later,
+assured me that Lafitte had performed the most
+important part of the work assigned to him. Forsooth,
+ere long, he had done all his work as laid
+out for him. It chanced that, as he sprang to the
+doors of the forward saloon, he met John, the
+Chinaman. Reaching for him with one hand, he
+closed the doors with the other, with such promptness
+and precision that the cue of John was caught
+in the door and he was imprisoned below, where he
+howled in much grief and perturbation, unable to
+escape without the sacrifice of his cue.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, I found Peterson, my old skipper,
+much as I had expected. He was a middle-aged,
+placid, well-poised man, a pessimist in speech, but
+a bold man in soul. He was fond of an evening
+pipe, and he sat now smoking and looking down
+the illuminated lane made by our search-light. He
+turned toward me, a sudden curiosity upon his
+face as he saw that I was a stranger on the boat,
+though not a stranger to himself.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir&mdash;Mr. Harry&mdash;&rdquo; he began, half rising.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg&nbsp;119]</a></span>
+I reached out my left hand and caught him by
+the shoulder. In my right hand I held a pistol,
+and this, somewhat gaily, I waved before Peterson&rsquo;s
+face. &ldquo;Halt,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;or I will blow you
+out of the water&rdquo;&mdash;a phrase which I had found
+sufficient in earlier circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>The old man smiled pleasantly and in mock
+fashion put up both his hands. Had it been anyone
+else, he probably would have knocked me
+down. &ldquo;All right, Mr. Harry,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;you will
+have your joke. But tell me, what&rsquo;s up? We
+weren&rsquo;t expecting you here. Mr. Davidson&rsquo;s gone
+ashore.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Just a lark, Peterson,&rdquo; said I. I had slipped
+down the mask so that he could see me plainly.
+&ldquo;By George, sir!&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I am glad to see you,
+back on the old boat again. Where have you
+been?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Just come on board, Peterson,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I am
+going to run her now myself.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Money not paid over, Peterson,&rdquo; said I. It
+stretched my conscience a bit, although the truth
+was I had Davidson&rsquo;s uncashed check in my
+pocket at the time.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve all had our pay regular,&rdquo; he rejoined.
+&ldquo;Why, what&rsquo;s wrong?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But I haven&rsquo;t had mine, Peterson,&rdquo; said I.
+&ldquo;When the charter money isn&rsquo;t paid and an owner
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg&nbsp;120]</a></span>
+has reason to suppose that his boat is going to
+be run out of the country, he has to act promptly,
+you understand. So I have taken my own way.
+The <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> is in my charge now, and you
+will report to me for orders.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s that squalling?&rdquo; demanded Peterson,
+who was a trifle hard of hearing.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Something seems wrong with John, the cook,&rdquo;
+I answered. &ldquo;I only hope he has not made any
+resistance to my men, who, I promise you, are the
+most desperate lot that ever cut a throat. For
+instance, they have locked Williams down in the
+engine-room. Go over there, Peterson, and quiet
+him. But tell him that, if he shows a head above
+the hatch, he is apt to have his brains blown out.
+Keep quiet now, all of you, until I get this thing
+in hand.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But the boat&rsquo;s under charter to Mr. Davidson,&rdquo;
+demurred Peterson.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Charter or no charter, Peterson,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m
+in command here, and it&rsquo;s no time to argue.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>At this time we heard cries of a feminine sort
+from the after deck, so I knew that L&rsquo;Olonnois, as
+well, had performed the duty assigned to him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Stay here, Peterson,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all right, and
+I&rsquo;ll take care of you in every regard. Wait a
+moment.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 375px;">
+<img src="images/tlatp04.jpg" width="375" height="500"
+alt="Black Bart, disguised with hat and mask, points a gun at Helena" />
+<span class="caption">&ldquo;Who are you?&rdquo; she demanded</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>I hurried aft. L&rsquo;Olonnois stood in the shadow,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg&nbsp;121]</a></span>
+his back against the saloon door, facing his two
+prisoners. I also faced them now. The deck
+lights gave ample illumination, so that I could see
+her&mdash;Helena&mdash;face to face and fairly. She turned
+to me; but now I had pulled up my mask again,
+and she could have no more than a suspicion as
+to my identity.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Who are you?&rdquo; she demanded. &ldquo;What right
+have you here?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>For half a moment I paused. Then I felt a
+sense of relief as I heard at my elbow the piping
+voice of L&rsquo;Olonnois in reply.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; said he, standing with folded arms,
+his bared blade gripped in his good right hand and
+showing at a short up-cast angle, &ldquo;it ill beseems
+a gentleman to give pain to one so fair, but prithee
+have a care, for, by heavens! resistance is useless
+here.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg&nbsp;122]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH IS ABOUNDING TROUBLE</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">I</span> LOOKED at Helena Emory, glad that she did
+not at first sight recognize the intruder who
+had elicited her wrath,&mdash;for she seemed almost
+more angry than perturbed, such being her nature.
+I thought she had never been half so beautiful as
+now, never more alive, more vibrantly and dynamically
+feminine than now. She had not even a
+scarf about her head, so that all its Greek clarity
+of line, all its tight-curling dark hair&mdash;almost
+breaking into four ringlets, two at each white
+temple&mdash;were distinct to me as I looked at her,
+even in the half light. Her face, with its wondrous
+dark eyes, was full toward me, meeting this danger
+for such as it might be; so that, again, I saw the
+sweet full oval of her brow and cheek and chin,
+with just these two dark incipient curls above. I
+could not see the twin dark tendrils at the white
+nape of her neck, but I knew they were there, as
+beautiful as ever. Her mouth was always the
+sweetest God ever gave any woman&mdash;and I repeat,
+I have seen and studied all the great portraits, and
+found none so wholly good as that of Helena, done
+by Sargent in his happiest vein. Now the red
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg&nbsp;123]</a></span>
+bow of her lips parted, as she stood, one slender
+hand across her bosom, panting, but not in the least
+afraid, or, at least, meeting her fear boldly, as
+one high-born should.</p>
+
+<p>She was all in white, with not the slightest jewel
+or ornament of any kind. I saw that even the
+buckle at her waist was covered in white. Her
+boots and her hair were dark; for Helena knew
+the real art of dressing. She stood fairly between
+me and the deck light, so that all her white figure
+was frank in its gentle curves; erect now, and
+bravely drawn to all her five feet five, so that she
+might meet my gaze&mdash;albeit through a mask&mdash;as
+fully as a lady should when she has met affront.</p>
+
+<p>I always loved Helena, always, from the first
+time I met her. I had bidden adieu to life when,
+after many efforts to have her see me as I saw
+her, I turned away to the long hard endeavor to
+forget her. But now I saw my attempts had all
+been in vain. If absence had made my heart more
+fond, the presence of her made it more poignantly,
+more imperiously, fonder than before. My whole
+body, my whole soul, unified, arose. I stretched
+out my arms, craving, demanding. &ldquo;Helena!&rdquo; I
+cried.</p>
+
+<p>My voice was hoarse. Perhaps she did not know
+me, even yet. Her answer was a long clear call
+for help.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg&nbsp;124]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Ahoy!&rdquo; she sang. &ldquo;On shore, there&mdash;Help!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Her call was a signal for present trouble. Partial,
+my dog, abandoned in the long boat, began
+barking furiously. There came an answering hail
+which assured me that yon varlet, Davidson, had
+heard. I was conscious of the sound of a scuffle
+somewhere forward. Below, at my side, Aunt
+Lucinda gave voice to a long shrill wail of terror.
+John, my Chinaman, his cue still held fast in the
+jammed edges of the door, chimed in dismally.
+Midships I heard a muffled knocking at Williams&rsquo;,
+the engineer&rsquo;s, hatch.</p>
+
+<p>I forgot I was standing masked, with a naked
+weapon in my hand. I dropped my mask, dropped
+my weapon, and turned quickly toward Helena.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Be silent!&rdquo; I commanded her.</p>
+
+<p>She stood for one instant, her hands at her
+cheeks. Then, &ldquo;Ahoy!&rdquo; rang out her voice once
+more in sheer disobedience, and &ldquo;You!&rdquo; she said
+to me, furious.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I,&rdquo; was my answer, and my own fury
+was now as cold as hers. &ldquo;Go below,&rdquo; I ordered
+her. &ldquo;I am in command of this boat. Quick!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I had never spoken thus to her in all my life,
+but almost to my surprise she changed now. As
+though half in doubt, she turned toward the stair
+leading down to the ladies&rsquo; cabin where Aunt Lucinda
+was shrieking in terror.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg&nbsp;125]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Guard the door,&rdquo; I called to L&rsquo;Olonnois as I
+turned away. I heard it slam shut and the click
+of the lock told me my prisoners were safe, so I
+hastened forward.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Good Lord, Mr. Harry!&rdquo; cried my skipper,
+Peterson, when he saw me. &ldquo;Come here, take this
+little devil&mdash;away&mdash;I&rsquo;m afraid he&rsquo;ll knife me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I hurried to him for he struggled in the dark
+with Jean Lafitte.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;To the rescue, Black Bart!&rdquo; called Jean Lafitte.
+&ldquo;Catch his other arm. I&rsquo;ve got this one, and if
+he moves, by Heaven I&rsquo;ll run him through.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Run me through, you varmint&mdash;what do you
+mean?&rdquo; roared Peterson. &ldquo;Ain&rsquo;t it enough you
+pull a gun on me and try to poke out my eye, and
+twist off my arm, without sticking me with that
+bread-slicer you got? Mr. Harry&mdash;for Heaven&rsquo;s
+sake&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There now, Jean Lafitte,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;enough. He
+has begged for quarter.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, I ha&rsquo;int,&rdquo; asserted Peterson venomously.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll spank the life outen him if I ever get
+the chance&mdash;&rdquo; I raised a hand.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Enough of all this noise,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;I am in
+charge now, Peterson. Go to the wheel. Break
+out the anchor and get under way. At once, man!
+I have no time to argue.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Peterson had never in his life heard me speak
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg&nbsp;126]</a></span>
+in this way before, but now, for what reason I do
+not know&mdash;perhaps from force of habit, perhaps
+because he knew I was owner of the boat, perhaps
+in awe of the naked kris of Jean Lafitte, still
+presented menacingly at his abdomen&mdash;the old
+skipper obeyed.</p>
+
+<p>I heard the faint jangle of bells in the engine-room
+below. Obviously, Williams, the engineer,
+was responsive to his sense of duty and routine.
+The power came pulsing through the veins of the
+<i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> and I heard her screws revolve. I,
+myself, threw in the donkey winch as she forged
+ahead, and so broke out the anchor. It still swung,
+clogging her bows as she turned in the current.
+The bells again jangled as she got more speed and
+as the anchor came home. Our search-light swept
+a wide arc along the foot of Natchez Hill, as our
+bows circled about and headed down the great
+river. And now we picked in full view, hardly
+sixty fathoms distant, the dingey, pulled furiously
+toward us. My friend, the varlet Cal Davidson,
+half stood in the stern of the stubby craft and
+waved at us an excited hand.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ahoy there, Peterson!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Stop! Hold
+on there! Wait! Where are you going there!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Peterson turned toward me an inquiring gaze,
+but I only pointed a hand down-stream, and he
+obeyed me! I reached my hand to the cord and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg&nbsp;127]</a></span>
+gave Peterson, Davidson, Natchez and all the
+world, the salute of a long and vibrant whistle of
+defiance. It came back to us in echoes from the
+giant bluffs, swept across the lowlands on the
+opposite side.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Full speed ahead, Peterson,&rdquo; said I quietly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Where are we going, Mr. Harry?&rdquo; he demanded
+anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;It all depends&mdash;maybe
+around the world. I don&rsquo;t know and I don&rsquo;t care.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m scared about this&mdash;it don&rsquo;t look right.
+What&rsquo;s come into you, Mr. Harry?&rdquo; asked the
+old man solicitously.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing, Peterson,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;except that the
+bird of time is on the wing. I am a pirate, Peterson&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I never knew you so far gone in drink before,
+Mr. Harry,&rdquo; said he, as he threw over the wheel
+to pick up the first starboard channel light.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I have been drinking, Peterson,&rdquo; said I.
+&ldquo;I have been drinking the wine of life. It oozes
+drop by drop, and is all, too soon, gone if we delay.
+Full speed ahead, Peterson. I am in command.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jean!&rdquo; I called to my able lieutenant. &ldquo;Reach
+over into the long boat and bring Partial on board.
+He is my friend. And bring also our flag. Run
+it aloft above our prize.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg&nbsp;128]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Aye, aye, Sir,&rdquo; came the reply of Jean Lafitte.
+And a few moments later our long boat was riding
+astern more easily. Jean Lafitte on his return
+busied himself with our burgee. And at that
+moment, Partial, overjoyed at also having a hand
+in these affairs, barked joyously at his discovery
+of the neglected end of the cook&rsquo;s cue projecting
+through the hinges of the door. On this he laid
+hold cheerfully, worrying it until poor John
+shrieked anew in terror; and until I freed him;
+and ordered tea.</p>
+
+<p>I next went over to the hatches of the engine-room,
+and having opened them, bent over to speak
+to Williams, the engineer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all right, Williams,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I am going
+to take her over now and run her perhaps to the
+Gulf. We hadn&rsquo;t time to tell you at first. There
+has been a legal difficulty. Peterson is on deck, of
+course.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;All right, Mr. Harry,&rdquo; said Williams, who
+recognized me as he leaned out from his levers to
+look up through the open hatch. &ldquo;At first I didn&rsquo;t
+know what in hell was up. It sounded like a
+mutiny&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It was a mutiny, Williams,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and I am
+the head mutineer. But you&rsquo;re sure of your pay,
+so let her go.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He did let her go, smoothly and brilliantly, so
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg&nbsp;129]</a></span>
+that before long she was at her top speed, around
+fifteen knots an hour. I was familiar with every
+detail of the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>, and now I looked in
+both the generating plant and the storage batteries,
+so that four thousand candle-power of electric
+light blazed over her from bow to fantail. The
+steady purr of the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne&rsquo;s</i> double sixties&mdash;engines
+I had had made under my own care&mdash;came
+to me with a soothing rhythm where I stood near by
+the wheel. Her search-light made a vast illumination
+far ahead. Brilliant enough must have seemed
+the passing spectacle of our stanch little ship to
+any observer, as we now swept on down the tawny
+flood of the great river. Who would deny me
+the feeling of exultation which came to me? Was
+I not captor and captain of my own ship?</p>
+
+<p>I turned to meet L&rsquo;Olonnois, my blue-eyed pirate.
+He stood at my side as one glorified. The full
+swing of romance had him, the full illusion of this,&mdash;imagination&rsquo;s
+most ardent desire&mdash;now gripped
+him fully. He was no boy, but a human being possessed
+of all his dreams. His second self, once
+oppressed, now free, stood before me wholly satisfied.
+I needed not to ask whether he had been
+faithful to his trust.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I locked the door on &rsquo;em, Black Bart,&rdquo; said he,
+&ldquo;and bade them cease a idle remonstrancing. &lsquo;Little
+do you know,&rsquo; say I to them, &lsquo;that Black Bart the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg&nbsp;130]</a></span>
+Avenger is now on the trail. Let any oppose him
+at their peril,&rsquo; says I to them. She give me candy,
+the fair captive did, but I spurned her bribe. &lsquo;Beware,&rsquo;
+says I to her. &lsquo;Little do you know what lies
+before you.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg&nbsp;131]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH IS CONVERSATION WITH THE CAPTIVE
+MAIDEN</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">J</span>EAN LAFITTE, who had so well executed the
+work assigned him in the boarding party&rsquo;s plans,
+proved himself neither inefficient nor unobservant.
+He approached me now, with a salute, which probably
+he copied from Peterson.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How now, good leftenant?&rdquo; said I.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If you please, Black Bart,&rdquo; he began, &ldquo;how are
+we headed, and what are our plans?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Our course on this river, Jean Lafitte, will box
+the compass, indeed box an entire box of compasses,
+for no river is more winding. Yet in time
+we shall reach its end, no doubt, since others have.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And what about our good ship, the <i>Sea Rover</i>,
+that we have left behind?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;By Jove! Jean Lafitte,&rdquo; I exclaimed, &ldquo;that is,
+indeed, a true word. What, indeed? We left her
+riding at anchor just off the channel edge, and so
+far as I recall, she had not her lights up, in accordance
+with the law.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Shall we put about and take her in tow, Black
+Bart?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;By no means. That is the very last of my intentions.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg&nbsp;132]</a></span>
+&ldquo;What&rsquo;ll become of her, then?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That is no concern of mine.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But nobody&rsquo;ll know whose she is, and nobody
+can tell what may happen to her&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Quite true. She may be stolen, or sunk. Why
+not?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But she cost a lot of money.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;On the contrary, she cost only twelve hundred
+dollars.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Twelve hundred dollars!&rdquo; Jean drew a long
+deep breath. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know anybody had that
+much money in the world. Besides, look what you
+spent for them pearls. Ain&rsquo;t you poor, then, Black
+Bart?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;On the contrary, I have that much more money
+left, very likely. And I do not, to say truth,
+care a jot, a rap or a stiver, what becomes of
+the derelict <i>Sea Rover</i> now. Have we not taken
+a better ship for our own?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, but suppose yon varlet boards the <i>Sea
+Rover</i>, an&rsquo; chases us the way we done him?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Again, by Jove! Jean Lafitte; an idea. But
+suppose he does? Much good it will do him. For,
+look you, good leftenant, the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> will not
+stop to send any man ashore for baseball scores.
+Such was not the practise of the old buccaneers,
+nor shall it be ours; whereas, no matter what the
+haste, yon varlet could in nowise refrain from
+that same folly which hath lost him his ship to us.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg&nbsp;133]</a></span>
+Each hour will only widen the gap between us.
+Let him take our tub if he likes, and do as he likes,
+for &rsquo;twill be a long day before he picks up our
+masts over his horizon, Jean Lafitte.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, aye, Sir!&rdquo; rejoined my lieutenant, and
+withdrew. I could see he was not overjoyed at the
+abandonment of our earlier ship that had brought
+us so far in safety. All this luxury of the <i>Belle
+Hel&egrave;ne</i> had the effect of oppressing a pirate who
+so short a time ago had started out on the high
+seas in a sixteen foot yawl, and who had seen that
+yawl, in a manner of speaking, grown into a
+schooner, the schooner comparatively grown into
+a full-fledged four-decker, richly fitted as any ship
+of the royal navy.</p>
+
+<p>But these, all, were lesser things to me, for on
+my soul was a more insistent concern. I turned
+now, seeing that Peterson, wholly reconciled to
+the new order of affairs, was speeding the boat
+onward as though I never had left her; so that I
+knew she was safe in his hands, although I set
+Lafitte to watch him. Followed by my faithful
+friend Partial, who expressed every evidence of
+having enjoyed a most interesting evening, I presently
+made my way aft.</p>
+
+<p>As I approached the door of the after-cabin
+suite, occupied by the ladies, I made my presence
+known at first discreetly, then more pointedly, and,
+at length, by a knocking on the door.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg&nbsp;134]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Below, there!&rdquo; I called, boldly as I could;
+for eager as I was to see Helena Emory, there
+were certain things about the interview which might
+be difficult. Lovers who have parted, finally, approach
+each other, even by accident, thereafter,
+with a certain reluctance. (Lovers, did I say?
+Nay, never had she said she loved me. She had
+only said she wished she did, wished she could.)</p>
+
+<p>No answer came at first. Then, &ldquo;Who is it?&rdquo;
+in the voice of Aunt Lucinda.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is I, Mr. Henry&mdash;&rdquo; but I paused: &ldquo;&mdash;It is
+I, Black Bart the Avenger,&rdquo; I concluded. &ldquo;May
+I come in?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Silently the door opened, and I entered the little
+reception-room which lay between the two staterooms
+of this cabin. Before me stood Helena!
+And now I was close to her, I could see the little
+curls at her temples, could see the double curves
+of her lips, the color in her cheek. Ah! she was
+the same, the same! I loved her&mdash;I loved her not
+the same, but more and more, more!</p>
+
+<p>She held her peace; and all I could do was to
+stand and stare and then hold out my hand. She
+took it formally, though her color heightened. I
+saluted Aunt Lucinda also, who glared at me.
+&ldquo;How do you do?&rdquo; I said to them both, with
+much originality and daring.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Black Bart!&rdquo; snorted Aunt Lucinda. &ldquo;Black
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg&nbsp;135]</a></span>
+Bart! It might be, from these goings on. What
+does it all mean?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It means, my dear Mrs. Daniver,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that
+I have taken charge of the boat myself.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But how?&rdquo; demanded Helena. &ldquo;We did not
+hear you were coming. And I don&rsquo;t understand.
+Why, that rascally little nephew of mine, in the
+mask, frightened auntie nearly to death. And
+he said the most extraordinary <em>things</em>!</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Where is Mr. Davidson?&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;He
+didn&rsquo;t tell us a word of this.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t know a word of it himself,&rdquo; I
+answered. &ldquo;Let me tell you, no self-respecting
+pirate&mdash;and as you see, I am a pirate&mdash;is in the
+habit of telling his plans in advance.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A pirate!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I bowed politely. &ldquo;At your service. Black Bart&mdash;my
+visiting cards are mislaid, but I intend ordering
+some new ones. The ship&rsquo;s cook, John,
+will soon be here with tea. These events may have
+been wearying. Meantime, allow me to present
+my friend Partial.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Partial certainly understood human speech. He
+now approached Helena slowly and stood looking
+up into her face in adoration. Then, without
+any command, he lay down deliberately and rolled
+over; sat up, barked; and so, having done all his
+repertory for her whom he now&mdash;as had his master
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg&nbsp;136]</a></span>
+before him&mdash;loved at first sight, he stood again and
+worshiped.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nice doggie!&rdquo; said Helena courteously.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Have a care, Helena!&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Love my dog,
+love me! And all the world loves Partial.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The color heightened in her cheeks. I had never
+spoken so boldly to her before, but had rather dealt
+in argument than in assertion; which I, later, was
+to learn is no way to make love to any woman.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;When do we get back to Natchez?&rdquo; she demanded.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We do not get back to Natchez.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh? Then I suppose Mr. Davidson picks us
+up at Baton Rouge?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yon varlet,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;does not pick us up at
+Baton Rouge.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;New Orleans?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Or at New Orleans&mdash;unless he is luckier than
+I ever knew even Cal to be.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Whatever do you mean?&rdquo; inquired Aunt Lucinda
+in tones ominously deep.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> is much faster than the
+tug we left behind at Natchez, even did he find it.
+He will have hard work to catch us.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;To <em>catch us</em>?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, Helena, to catch us. Of course he&rsquo;ll follow
+in some way. I have, all the way from above
+Dubuque. Why should not he?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg&nbsp;137]</a></span>
+The ladies looked from me to each other, doubting
+my sanity, perhaps.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t just understand all this,&rdquo; began Helena.
+&ldquo;But since we travel only as we like, and only with
+guests whom we invite or who are invited by the
+boat&rsquo;s owner, I shall ask you to put us ashore.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;On a sand-bar, Helena? Among the alligators?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Of course I mean at the nearest town.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There is none where we are going, my dear
+Miss Emory. Little do you know what lies before
+you! Black Bart heads for the open sea. Let yon
+varlet follow at his peril. Believe me, &rsquo;twill cost
+him a very considerable amount of gasoline.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What right have you on this boat?&rdquo; she demanded
+fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The right of any pirate.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why do you intrude&mdash;how dare you&mdash;at least,
+I don&rsquo;t understand&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have taken this ship, Helena,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;because
+it carries treasure&mdash;more than you know of, more
+than I dreamed. My father was a pirate, I am
+well assured by the public prints. So am I. &rsquo;Tis
+in the blood. But do not anger me. Rather, have
+a cup of tea.&rdquo; John, my cook, was now at the
+door with the tray.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; rejoined Helena icily. &ldquo;It would
+hardly be courteous to Mr. Davidson&mdash;to use his
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg&nbsp;138]</a></span>
+servants and his table in this way in his absence.
+Besides&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Besides, I recalled that your Aunt Lucinda&rsquo;s
+neuralgia is always benefited by a glass or so
+of ninety-three at about ten thirty of the evening.
+John!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Lessah!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Go to the left-hand locker in B; and bring me
+a bottle of the ninety-three. I think you will find
+that better than this absurd German champagne
+which I see yon varlet has been offering you, my
+dear Mrs. Daniver. But&mdash;excuse me&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Helena looked up, innocently.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;A moment before there were six empty
+bottles on the table there. And I saw you writing.
+How many have you thrown overboard through
+the port-hole?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know you were so observant,&rdquo; replied
+Helena demurely. &ldquo;But only three.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is not enough,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Go on, and write
+your other messages for succor. Use each bottle,
+and we shall have more emptied for you, if you
+like. You shall have oil bottles, vinegar bottles,
+water bottles, wine bottles, all you like. Yon
+varlet might run across one, floating, it is true.
+I hope he will. Methinks &rsquo;twould bid him speed.
+But all in vain would be your appeal, for swift
+must be the craft that can come up with Black
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg&nbsp;139]</a></span>
+Bart now. And desperate, indeed, must be the
+man would dispute his right to tread these decks.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I hope you are enjoying yourself,&rdquo; said Helena
+scornfully. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be silly.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Will you have tea, Helena?&rdquo; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Poor, dear Mr. Davidson!&rdquo; sniffed Aunt Lucinda,
+taking a glance out the port into the black
+night. &ldquo;I wonder where he is, and what he will
+say.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I can tell you what he will say, my dear Mrs.
+Daniver,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;but I would rather not.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;ll tell you what <em>I</em> say,&rdquo; snorted Aunt
+Lucinda. &ldquo;I think this joke has gone far enough.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is no joke, madam. I was never so desperately
+in earnest in all my life.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Then put us ashore at Baton Rouge.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I can not. I shall not.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What do you mean? Do you know what this
+looks like, the way you are acting, running off with
+Mr. Davidson&rsquo;s yacht, and this&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, madam?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, it&rsquo;s robbery, and it&rsquo;s, it&rsquo;s, why it&rsquo;s abduction,
+too. You ought to know the law.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I do know the law. It is piracy. Have we
+not told you that resistance would be worse than
+useless? Haven&rsquo;t I told you I&rsquo;ve captured this
+ship? Little do you know the fate that lies before
+you, madam, at the hands of my ruthless
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg&nbsp;140]</a></span>
+men if I should prove unable to restrain them!
+And have a care not to offend Black Bart the
+Avenger, himself! If you do, Aunt Lucinda, he
+may cut off your evening champagne.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I heard a sudden suppressed sound, wondrous
+like a giggle; but when I turned, Helena was sitting
+there as sober as Portia, albeit I thought her
+eyes suspiciously bright.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said she, at length, &ldquo;we can&rsquo;t sit here
+all night and talk about it, and I&rsquo;ve used up all my
+note-paper and bottles. I&rsquo;ll tell you what I suggest,
+since you have seen fit to intrude on two
+women in this way. We will hold a parley.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;When?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;To-morrow.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;At what hour?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;After breakfast.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why not at breakfast?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Because we shall eat alone, here,&mdash;auntie and
+I&mdash;in our cabin.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very well then, if it seems you are so bitter
+against the new commander of the ship that you
+will not sit at the captain&rsquo;s table&mdash;as we did the
+second time we went to Europe together, we three&mdash;don&rsquo;t
+you remember, Helena?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Never&mdash;at your table, sir!&rdquo; said Helena Emory,
+her voice like a stab. And when I bethought me
+what that had meant before now, what it would
+mean all my life, if this woman might never sit
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg&nbsp;141]</a></span>
+at board of mine, never eat the fruit of my bow
+and spear, never share with me the bread of life,
+for one instant I felt the cold thrust of fate&rsquo;s
+steel once more in my bowels. But the next
+instant a new manner of feeling took its place, an
+emotion I never had felt toward her before&mdash;anger,
+rage!</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is well,&rdquo; said I, pulling together the best I
+could. &ldquo;And now, by my halidom! or by George!
+or by anything! you shall be taken at your word.
+You breakfast here. Be glad if it is more than
+bread and water&mdash;until you learn a better way of
+speech with me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Again I saw that same sudden change on her
+face, surprise, almost fright; and I swear she
+shrank from me as though in terror, her hand
+plucking at Aunt Lucinda&rsquo;s sleeve; whereas, all
+Aunt Lucinda could do was to pluck at her
+niece&rsquo;s sleeve in turn.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;As to the parley, then,&rdquo; said I, pulling, by mistake,
+my mask from my pocket instead of my kerchief,
+&ldquo;we shall hold it, to-morrow, at what time
+and in what place I please. It ill beseems a gentleman
+to pain one so fair, as we may again remark;
+but by heaven! Helena, no resistance!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Wait! What do you really mean?&rdquo; She raised
+a hand. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve told you I just can&rsquo;t understand
+all this. I always thought you were a&mdash;a&mdash;gentleman.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg&nbsp;142]</a></span>
+&ldquo;A much misused word,&rdquo; was my answer. &ldquo;You
+never understood me at all. I am not a gentleman.
+I&rsquo;m a poor, miserable, unhappy, drifting, aimless
+and useless failure&mdash;at least, I was, until I resolved
+upon this way to recoup my fortunes, and went in
+for pirating. What chance has a man who has
+lost his fortune in the game to-day&mdash;what chance
+with a woman? You ask me, who am I? I am
+a pirate. You ask what I intend to do? What
+pirate can answer that? It all depends.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;On what?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;On you!&rdquo; I answered furiously. &ldquo;What right
+had you to ruin me, to throw me over&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She turned a frightened glance to Aunt Lucinda,
+whom I had entirely forgotten. It was my turn
+to blush. To hide my confusion I drew on my
+mask as I bowed.</p>
+
+<p>I met John coming down with the ninety-three.
+As he returned on deck a moment later, I pushed
+shut the doors and sprung the outside latches; so
+that those within now were prisoners, indeed.
+And then I stood looking up at the stars, slowly
+beginning to see why God made the world.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg&nbsp;143]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH IS FURTHER PARLEY WITH THE CAPTIVE
+MAIDEN</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">C</span>AL Davidson&rsquo;s taste in neckwear was a trifle
+vivid as compared with my own, yet I rather
+liked his shirts, and I found a morning waistcoat of
+his which I could classify as possible; beside which
+I obtained from John the cook a suit of flannels I
+had given him four years ago, and which he was
+saving against the day of his funeral and shipment
+back to China. So that, on the whole, I did
+rather well, and I was not ill content with life as
+I sat, with the <i>Pirate&rsquo;s Own Book</i> in my lap, and
+Partial&rsquo;s head on my knee, looking out over the
+passing panorama of the river. The banks now
+were low, the swamps, at times, showing their
+fan-topped cypresses close to where we passed;
+and all the live oaks carried their funereal Spanish
+moss, gray and ghostlike.</p>
+
+<p>We sometimes passed river craft, going up or
+down, nondescript, dingy and slow, for the most
+part. Sometimes we were hailed gaily by monkey-like
+deck-hands, sometimes saluted by the pilot of
+a larger boat. At times we swept by busy plantation
+landings where the levees screened the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg&nbsp;144]</a></span>
+white-pillared mansion houses so that we could only see
+the upper galleries. And now at these landings,
+we began to see the freight, made up as much of
+barrels as of bales. We were passing from cotton
+to cane. But though it still was early in the fall,
+the weather was not oppressive, and the breeze
+on the deck was cool. I had very much enjoyed
+my breakfast, and so had my shipmates L&rsquo;Olonnois
+and Lafitte, to whom each moment now was
+a taste of paradise revealed. I envied them, for
+theirs, now, was that rare, fleeting and most delectable
+of all human states, the full realization of
+every cherished earthly dream. It made me quite
+happy that they were thus happy; and as to the
+right or wrong of it, I put that all aside for later
+explanation to them.</p>
+
+<p>I looked up to see Peterson, who touched his
+cap.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, Peterson?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re on our last drum of gasoline, Mr.
+Harry,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Where&rsquo;ll we put in&mdash;Baton
+Rouge?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, we can&rsquo;t do that, Peterson,&rdquo; I answered.
+&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t we make it to New Orleans?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hardly. But they carry gas at most of these
+landings now&mdash;so many power boats and autos
+nowadays, you see.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very well. We&rsquo;ll pass Bayou Sara and Baton
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg&nbsp;145]</a></span>
+Rouge, and then you can run in at any landing
+you like, say twenty miles or so below. Can you
+make it that far?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes, but you see, at Baton Rouge&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You may lay to long enough to mail these letters,&rdquo;
+said I, frowning; &ldquo;but the custom of getting
+the baseball scores is now suspended. And send
+John here.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The old man touched his cap again, a trifle
+puzzled. I wondered if he recognized Davidson&rsquo;s
+waistcoat&mdash;he asked no more questions.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;John,&rdquo; said I to my Chinaman, &ldquo;carry this to
+the ladies;&rdquo; and handed him a card on which I
+had inscribed: &ldquo;Black Bart&rsquo;s compliments; and
+he desires the attendance of the ladies on deck
+for a parley. At once.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>John came back in a few moments and stood
+on one foot. &ldquo;She say, she say, Misal Hally, she
+say no come.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Letter have got, John?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Lessah have got.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Take it back. Say, at once.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Lessah. At wullunce.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Lessah,&rdquo; he added two moments later. &ldquo;Catchee
+lettah, them lady, and she say, she say, go to
+hellee!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What! What&rsquo;s that, John? She said nothing
+of the sort!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg&nbsp;146]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Lessah, said them. No catchee word, that
+what she mean. Lady, one time she say, she say,
+go topside when have got plenty leady for come.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Go back to your work, John,&rdquo; said I. And
+I waited with much dignity, for perhaps ten minutes
+or so, before I heard any signs of life from
+the after suite. Then I heard the door pushed
+back, and saw a head come out, a head with dark
+tendrils of hair at the white neck&rsquo;s nape, and two
+curls at the temple, and as clean and thoroughbred
+a sweep of jaw and chin as the bows of the
+<i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> herself. She did not look at me,
+but studiously gazed across the river, pretended to
+yawn, idly looked back to see if she were followed;
+as she knew she was not to be.</p>
+
+<p>At length, she turned as she stepped out on the
+deck. She was fresh as the dew itself, and like
+a rose. All color of rose was the soft skirt she
+wore, and the little bolero above, blue, with gold
+buttons, covered a soft rose-colored waist, light
+and subtle as a spider&rsquo;s web, stretched from one
+grass stalk to another of a dewy morning. She
+was round and slender, and her neck was tall and
+round, and in the close fashion of dress which
+women of late have devised, to remind man once
+more of the ancient Garden, she seemed to me
+Eve herself, sweet, virginal, as yet in a garden
+dew-sweet in the morning of the world.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg&nbsp;147]</a></span>
+She turned, I say, and by mere chance and in
+great surprise, discovered me, now cap in hand,
+and bowing.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; she remarked; very much surprised.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Good morning, Eve,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Have you used
+Somebody&rsquo;s Soap; or what is it that you have
+used? It is excellent.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A faint color came to her cheek, the corners of
+her bowed lips twitched. &ldquo;For a pirate, or a person
+of no culture, you do pretty well. As though
+a girl could sleep after all this hullabaloo.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You have slept very well,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;You never
+looked better in all your life, Helena. And that
+is saying the whole litany.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are absurd,&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;You must not
+begin it all again. We settled it once.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We settled it twenty times, or to be exact,
+thirteen times, Helena. The only trouble is, it
+would not stay settled. Tell me, is there any one
+else yet, Helena?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is not any question for you to ask, or for
+me to answer.&rdquo; She was cold at once. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve not
+tried to hear of you or your plans, and I suppose
+the same is true of you. It is long since I have had
+a heartache over you&mdash;a headache is all you can
+give me now, or ever could. That is why I can not
+in the least understand why you are here now.
+Auntie is almost crazy, she is so frightened. She
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg&nbsp;148]</a></span>
+thinks you are entirely crazy, and believes you
+have murdered Mr. Davidson.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have not yet done so, although it is true I
+am wearing his shoes; or at least his waistcoat.
+How do you like it?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I like the one with pink stripes better,&rdquo; she
+replied demurely.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So then&mdash;so then!&rdquo; I began; but choked in
+anger at her familiarity with Cal Davidson&rsquo;s waistcoats.
+And my anger grew when I saw her smile.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Tell me, are you engaged to him, Helena?&rdquo;
+I demanded. &ldquo;But I can see; you are.&rdquo; She
+drew herself up as she stood, her hands behind
+her back.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A fine question to ask, isn&rsquo;t it? Especially in
+view of what we both know.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But you haven&rsquo;t told me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And am not going to.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why not?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Because it is the right of a middle-aged woman
+like myself&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;Twenty-four,&rdquo; said I.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;To do as she likes in such matters. And
+she doesn&rsquo;t need make any confidences with a
+man she hasn&rsquo;t seen for years. And for whom
+she never&mdash;she <em>never</em>&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Helena,&rdquo; said I, and I felt pale, whether or
+not I looked it, &ldquo;be careful. That hurts.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg&nbsp;149]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Oh, is it so?&rdquo; she blazed. &ldquo;I am glad if it
+does hurt.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I bowed to her. &ldquo;I am glad if it gives you
+pleasure to see me hurt. I am. <i>Habeo!</i>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But it was not so as to me,&rdquo; I added presently.
+&ldquo;Yes, I said good-by to you, that last time,
+and I meant it. I had tried for years, I believe,
+with every argument in my power, to explain to
+you that I loved you, to explain that in every
+human likelihood we would make a good match
+of it, that we&mdash;we&mdash;well, that we&rsquo;d hit it off fine
+together, very likely. And then, I was well enough
+off&mdash;at first, at least&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, don&rsquo;t!&rdquo; she protested. &ldquo;It is like opening
+a grave. We buried it all, Harry. It&rsquo;s over.
+Can&rsquo;t you spare a girl, a middle-aged girl of
+twenty-four, this resurrection? We ended it. Why,
+Harry, we have to make out some sort of life for
+ourselves, don&rsquo;t we? We can&rsquo;t just sit down and&mdash;and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I tried it. I got me a little
+place, far up in the wilderness with what remained
+of my shattered fortunes&mdash;a few acres. And I
+sat down there and tried that &lsquo;and&mdash;and&rsquo; business.
+It didn&rsquo;t seem to work. But we don&rsquo;t get on much
+in our parley, do we?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No. The most charitable thing I can think
+of is that you are crazy. Aunt Lucinda must be
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg&nbsp;150]</a></span>
+right. But what do you intend to do with us? We
+can&rsquo;t get off the boat, and we can&rsquo;t get any answer
+to our signals for help.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So you have signaled?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Of course. Waved things, you know.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Delightful! The passing steamers no doubt
+thought you a dissipated lot of northern joy-riders,
+bound south on some rich man&rsquo;s yacht.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Instead of two troubled women on a stolen
+boat.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Are you engaged to Cal Davidson, Helena?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What earthly difference?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;True, none at all. As you say, I have stolen
+his boat, stolen his wine, stolen his fried potatoes,
+stolen his waistcoats. But, bear witness, I drew
+the line at his neckties. Nowhere else, however!&rdquo;
+And as I added this I looked at her narrowly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Will you put us ashore?&rdquo; she asked, her color
+rising.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re coming to a town.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Baton Rouge. The capital of Louisiana. A
+quaint and delightful city of some sixty thousand
+inhabitants. The surrounding country is largely
+devoted to the sugar industry. But we do not
+stop. Tell me, are you engaged?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But, suddenly, I saw her face, and on it was
+something of outraged dignity. I bent toward her
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg&nbsp;151]</a></span>
+eagerly. &ldquo;Forgive me! I never wanted to give
+you pain, Helena. Forget my improper question.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Indeed!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been fair with you. And that&rsquo;s hard for
+a man. Always, always,&mdash;let me tell you something
+women don&rsquo;t understand&mdash;there&rsquo;s the fight
+in a man&rsquo;s soul to be both a gentleman and a
+brute, because a woman won&rsquo;t love him till he&rsquo;s
+a brute, and he hates himself when he isn&rsquo;t a
+gentleman. It&rsquo;s hard, sometimes, to be both. But
+I tried. I&rsquo;ve been a gentleman&mdash;was once, at
+least. I told you the truth. When they investigated
+my father, and found that, acting under the
+standard of his day, he hadn&rsquo;t run plumb with the
+standards of to-day, I came and told you of it.
+I released you then, although you never had promised
+me, because I knew you mightn&rsquo;t want an
+alliance with&mdash;well, with a front page family, you
+know. It blew over, yes; but I was fair with you.
+You knew I had lost my money, and then
+you&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I remained &lsquo;released&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, it is true.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And am free, have been, to do as I liked.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, true.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And what earthly right has a man to try both
+r&ocirc;les with a woman&mdash;that of discarded and accepted?
+You chose the first; and I never gave
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg&nbsp;152]</a></span>
+you the last. It is horrible, this sort of talk. It
+is abominable. For three years we have not met
+or spoken. I&rsquo;ve not had a heartache since I told
+you. Don&rsquo;t give me a headache now. And it
+would make my head ache, to follow these crazy
+notions. Put us ashore!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not till I know the truth,&rdquo; said I.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;About what?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, for instance, about the waistcoat with
+pink stripes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are silly.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes. How do you like my suit?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I never saw Mr. Davidson wear that one,&rdquo; said
+she.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;For good reasons. It is my own, and four
+years old. You see, a poor man has to economize.
+And you know, since I lost my fortune, I&rsquo;ve been
+living almost from hand to mouth. Honestly,
+Helena, many is the time when I&rsquo;ve gone out
+fishing, trying to catch me a fish for my supper!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So does a poor girl have to economize,&rdquo; said
+she.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are most sparing of the truth this morning,
+Helena, my dear,&rdquo; I said.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How dare you!&rdquo; she blazed now at the tender
+phrase. &ldquo;Fine, isn&rsquo;t it, when I can&rsquo;t get away?
+If I could, I&rsquo;d go where I&rsquo;d never see or hear of
+you again. I thought I had.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg&nbsp;153]</a></span>
+&ldquo;But you have not. You shall hear and see me
+daily till I know from your own lips the truth
+about you and&mdash;and every and any other man on
+earth who&mdash;well, who wears waistcoats with pink
+stripes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have a long ride then,&rdquo; said she calmly,
+and rose.</p>
+
+<p>I rose also and bowed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg&nbsp;154]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH IS HUE AND CRY</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>E ran by the river-front of Baton Rouge,
+and lay to on the opposite side while our
+dingey ran in with mail. I sent Peterson and Lafitte
+ashore for the purpose, and meantime paced
+the deck in several frames of mind. I was arrested
+in this at length by L&rsquo;Olonnois, who was standing
+forward, glasses in hand.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Here they come,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and a humpin&rsquo; it
+up, too. Look, Jean Lafitte is standin&rsquo; up, wavin&rsquo;
+at us. Something&rsquo;s up, sure. Mayhap, we are
+pursued by the enemy. Methinks &rsquo;tis hue and cry,
+good Sir.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It jolly well does look like it, mate,&rdquo; said I,
+taking his glasses. &ldquo;Something&rsquo;s up.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I could see the stubby dingey forced half out
+the water by Peterson&rsquo;s oars, though she made
+little speed enough. And I saw men hurrying on
+the wharf, as though about to put out a boat.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s wrong, Peterson?&rdquo; I shouted as he
+came in range at last.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hurry up!&rdquo; It was Lafitte who answered.
+&ldquo;Clear the decks for action. Yon varlet has wired
+on ahead to have us stopped! They&rsquo;re after us!&rdquo;
+So came his call through cupped hands.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg&nbsp;155]</a></span>
+I ran to the falls and lowered away the blocks
+to hoist them aboard, even as I ordered speed and
+began to break out the anchor. We hardly were
+under way before a small power boat, bearing a
+bluecoated man, puffed alongside.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What boat is this?&rdquo; he called. &ldquo;<i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>,
+of Mackinaw?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>In answer&mdash;without order from me,&mdash;my bloodthirsty
+mate, L&rsquo;Olonnois, brought out the black
+burgee of the Jolly Rover, bearing a skull and
+cross-bones. &ldquo;Have a look at that!&rdquo; he piped.
+&ldquo;Shall we clear the stern-chaser, Black Bart?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hold on there, wait! I&rsquo;ve got papers for you,&rdquo;
+called the officer, still hanging at our rail, for I
+had not yet ordered full speed.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He hollered to me he was going to arrest us,
+Mr. Harry,&rdquo; explained Peterson, much out of
+breath. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s it all about? What papers does
+he mean?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The morning papers, very likely, Peterson,&rdquo;
+said I. &ldquo;The baseball scores.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Will you halt, now?&rdquo; called the officer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; I answered, through the megaphone.
+&ldquo;You have no authority to halt us. What&rsquo;s your
+paper, and who is it for?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Wire from Calvin Davidson, Natchez, charging
+John Doe with running off with his boat.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is not his boat,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;but my
+own, and I am not John Doe. We are on our
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg&nbsp;156]</a></span>
+way to the coast, and not under any jurisdiction
+of yours.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He stood up and drew a paper from his pocket,
+and began to read. In reply I pulled the whistle
+cord and drowned his voice; while at the same
+time I gave the engineer orders for full speed.
+Shaking his fist, he fell astern.</p>
+
+<p>None the less, I was a bit thoughtful. After
+all, the Mississippi River, wide as it was, ran within
+certain well defined banks from which was no
+escaping. We were three hundred miles or more
+from the high seas, and passing between points
+of continuous telegraphic communication; so that
+a hue and cry down the river might indeed mean
+trouble for us. Moreover, even as I turned to
+pick up the course&mdash;for I had myself taken the
+wheel&mdash;I saw the figure of Aunt Lucinda on the
+after deck. She was on the point of heaving overboard
+a bottle&mdash;I heard it splash, saw it bob astern.
+&ldquo;Now, the devil will be to pay,&rdquo; thought I. But,
+on second thought, I slowed down, so that distinctly
+I saw the officer, also slowing down, stoop
+over and take the bottle aboard his launch.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ahoy, the launch!&rdquo; I hailed. He put a hand
+at his ear as I megaphoned him. &ldquo;Take this message
+for Mr. Calvin Davidson,&rdquo; I hailed. He
+nodded that he heard. &ldquo;&mdash;That to-night John Doe
+will wear his waistcoat, the one with the pink
+stripes. Do you get me?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg&nbsp;157]</a></span>
+Apparently he did not get me, for he sat down
+suddenly and mopped his face. We left him so.
+And for aught I could know, he took back ashore
+material for a newspaper story, which bade fair
+to be better for the newspapers than for us on
+board the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>; for, up and down the
+river, the wires might carry the news that a crazy
+man had been guilty of piracy, highway robbery,
+abduction, I know not how many other crimes;
+and to arrest him on his mad career they might
+enlist all the authorities, municipal, county, state
+and even national. &ldquo;John Doe,&rdquo; said I to myself,
+&ldquo;if I really were you, methinks I should make
+haste.&rdquo; None the less I smiled; for, if I were
+John Doe only, then Calvin Davidson had no idea
+who had stolen his chartered yacht, and who was
+about to disport in his most cherished waistcoat!
+The situation pleased me very much. &ldquo;L&rsquo;Olonnois,&rdquo;
+said I, &ldquo;come hither, my hearty.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, aye, Sir,&rdquo; replied that worthy. &ldquo;What is
+it, Black Bart?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing, except I was just going to say that
+I enjoy it very much, this being a pirate.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So do I,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;An&rsquo; let any pursue us at
+their peril!&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg&nbsp;158]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH IS DISCUSSION OF TWO AUNTIES</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">L</span>&rsquo;OLONNOIS was still all for training the stern-chaser
+Long Tom (the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne&rsquo;s</i> brass
+yacht cannon) on the enemy, and came to me presently
+breathing defiance. &ldquo;&rsquo;F I only had any chain
+shot in the locker,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;beshrew me, but I
+would pay him well for this! He&rsquo;s got my Auntie
+Helen&rsquo;s auntie scared silly.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And how about your Auntie Helena herself?&rdquo;
+I asked of him. Thus far, he had been guilty of
+no nepotism whatever, and had treated his auntie
+as any other captive maiden, perchance fallen into
+his ruthless hands.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, she ain&rsquo;t so scared as she is mad, near&rsquo;s
+I can see,&rdquo; was his reply. &ldquo;She sat there when I
+first drove &rsquo;em down-stairs, lookin&rsquo; at me, an&rsquo; she
+says, &lsquo;Jimmy,&rsquo; says she, &lsquo;what&rsquo;s all this foolishness?&rsquo;
+An&rsquo; she reaches out her hand, an&rsquo; she
+offers me candy&mdash;she makes awful nice fudges,
+too. She knew that wasn&rsquo;t fair! But I says to
+her. &lsquo;Woman, cease all blandishments, for now
+you are in our power!&rsquo; An&rsquo; I liked that, fer I
+been in her power long enough. Then she set
+down, an&rsquo; near&rsquo;s I can tell, she got to thinking
+things over. I know her&mdash;she&rsquo;ll try to get away.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg&nbsp;159]</a></span>
+&ldquo;She has tried to do so, my good leftenant, is
+trying now. She and her Auntie Lucinda have
+thrown over I know not how many bottles carrying
+messages. It were only by mere chance yon varlet
+could escape coming over some of them. Add this
+to the fact that yon varlet has got the king&rsquo;s navy
+after us, and marry! methinks we have full work
+cut out for us. Not that stout heart should falter,
+good leftenant, eh?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We follow Black Bart the Avenger,&rdquo; said
+L&rsquo;Olonnois, folding his arms and frowning heavily.
+&ldquo;But say,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;what seems funny to
+me is, you and my Auntie Helen must of known
+each other before now.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not at all, not at all&mdash;that is, but casually, and
+long years since. It had long since escaped my
+mind.&rdquo; I felt myself flushing sadly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell her that&mdash;I knew she was mistaken. I
+was sure she was.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No! No! Jimmy, you&rsquo;ll tell her nothing of the
+kind. I only meant&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, she remembers you, I&rsquo;m almost sure, an&rsquo;
+so does Aunt Lucinda. Aunt Lucinda, why I&rsquo;ve
+heard her back home tell Auntie Helena about as
+good fish in the sea, an&rsquo; she mustn&rsquo;t bother over
+a man that&rsquo;s poor. Was it you, Black Bart? And
+are you poor?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;As I stand before you now, Jimmy L&rsquo;Olonnois,
+I&rsquo;m the poorest beggar in the world,&rdquo; said I.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg&nbsp;160]</a></span>
+&ldquo;I have risked my all on one hazard. If I win,
+I shall be rich beyond compare. If I fail, I shall
+be poor indeed.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She knows that. She knows you&rsquo;re poor, all
+right. I heard Aunt Lucinda tell her often. She
+said you was rich once, an&rsquo; lost it all, speculatin&rsquo;
+in a mine or something; an&rsquo; what was the use
+marryin&rsquo; a man who hadn&rsquo;t anything? I don&rsquo;t
+know, but I think that was why Aunt Lucinda
+worked up this trip with Mr. Davidson. He&rsquo;s got
+money to burn&mdash;look at this yacht, an&rsquo; everything&mdash;an&rsquo;
+I know him and Auntie Lucinda, anyhow,
+have got it doped out that him an&rsquo; Auntie Helen&rsquo;s
+goin&rsquo; to get married&mdash;even if they ain&rsquo;t now, so
+far&rsquo;s I know. Anyhow, our takin&rsquo; the ship has
+broke up something. But say, now, Black
+Bart&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, my good leftenant&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<em>I</em> got a idea!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Indeed?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yep. Looka here, now&mdash;why don&rsquo;t <em>you</em> just
+do like the pirate book says?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How is that?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Marry the captive maid your own self?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I felt my color rise yet more.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, now, that happened right along in them
+days&mdash;pirate chief, he takes a beautiful maiden
+captive, an&rsquo; after makin&rsquo; all his prisoners walk
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg&nbsp;161]</a></span>
+the plank but just her, he offers his hand an&rsquo; fortune.
+An&rsquo; lots of times, somehow, the beautiful
+maiden she married the ruthless pirate chief, an&rsquo;
+they lived happy ever after. Why don&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I hadn&rsquo;t thought of that, Jimmy,&rdquo; I said, most
+mendaciously; &ldquo;but the idea has some merit. In
+fact, we&rsquo;ve already started in by taking the beautiful
+maiden captive, and, mayhap, yon varlet yet
+shall walk the plank, or swear a solemn oath never
+to wear such waistcoats as these again. But one
+thing lacks.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The maiden&rsquo;s consent!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, it don&rsquo;t! They never ast &rsquo;em&mdash;they just
+married &rsquo;em, that was all. An&rsquo; every time, they
+lived happy ever after. An&rsquo; they founded families
+that&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jimmy!&rdquo; I raised a hand. &ldquo;That will do.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, anyhow, I wouldn&rsquo;t pay any attention
+to Aunt Lucinda about it. She&rsquo;s strong for yon
+varlet, for he&rsquo;s got the dough.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And isn&rsquo;t your Auntie Helena also&mdash;but no,
+on second thought, I will not ask you that&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why no, sure not&mdash;it&rsquo;s better to demand it of
+her own fair lips, an&rsquo; not take no for a answer.
+They always live happy ever after.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;&ldquo;Of course, Jimmy.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;&ldquo;And so would you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg&nbsp;162]</a></span>
+&ldquo;I know it! I know it!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, then, why just don&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Good leftenant, Black Bart will take your counsel
+into full advisement. Later, we shall see.
+Meantime, we must have a care for our good ship&rsquo;s
+safety, for none may tell what plans yon varlet
+may be laying to circumvent us.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, I sought out Peterson and asked him
+for his maps and charts.</p>
+
+<p>There was, as I found by consulting these, a
+deep bayou, an old river bed, that ran inland some
+thirty miles, apparently tapping a rich plantation
+country which was not served by the regular river
+boats.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do you know anything about this old channel,
+Peterson?&rdquo; I inquired.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing at all except from hearsay and what
+you see here,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know whether
+or not it has a bar at either end, but likely enough
+it has at both, though we might crowd through.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And how about the gasoline supply?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Enough to get us in, at least. And, I say,
+here&rsquo;s a sort of plantation post-office marked.
+There&rsquo;s just a bare chance we could get a drum
+or so in there. I don&rsquo;t think we can, though.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s she drawing now as she runs, Peterson?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Four feet two inches. She&rsquo;s a shade low by
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg&nbsp;163]</a></span>
+the stern. We&rsquo;ve quite a lot of supplies aboard,
+this early in the cruise. But I don&rsquo;t suppose we&rsquo;ve
+got enough.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, Peterson,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;water leaves no trail.
+If there&rsquo;s no one watching when we open up this
+next bend, run for the bayou, and we&rsquo;ll see if we
+can get under cover. Of course, it&rsquo;s all a mistake
+about Mr. Davidson&rsquo;s wiring on to have us stopped&mdash;though
+we can&rsquo;t blame him, since he hasn&rsquo;t any
+idea who it is that has run away with the boat.
+But now, it suits me better to double in here, and
+let the chase try to find us on the main river; if
+there is any chase. You see, I don&rsquo;t want to disturb
+the ladies unduly, and they might not understand
+it all if we were overhauled and asked
+to explain our change in the ownership.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Quite right, sir, and very good. I catch the
+idea. But, sir&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, sir, if I might be so bold, what are your
+plans about the two ladies?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have none which will effect your navigation
+of the boat, Peterson.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The old man flushed a shade. &ldquo;Excuse me, Mr.
+Harry. I know you&rsquo;ll do nothing out of the way.
+But the old hen&mdash;I beg pardon&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You mean the revered aunt, Peterson.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg&nbsp;164]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Yes, sir, the revered aunt. Well, sir, the revered
+aunt, dash her!&mdash;--&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, dash her starry toplights, Peterson; and
+even if need be, shiver her timbers! Go on&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, she&rsquo;s been tryin&rsquo; to pull off a weddin&rsquo; on
+this boat ever since we left Mackinaw.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why not? You mean that Mr. Davidson and
+the revered aunt were getting on well?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, no, bless your heart, no! It was the young
+lady, Miss Emory. And she&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I raised my hand. &ldquo;Never mind, Peterson. We
+can&rsquo;t discuss that at all. But now, I&rsquo;m minded
+to give my friend Mr. Davidson a little game of
+follow-my-leader. And just to show how we&rsquo;ll do
+that, we&rsquo;ll begin with a preliminary go at hide-and-seek.
+Take the chance, Peterson, and run
+into the bayou. I&rsquo;ll put off the small boat for
+soundings. If we can get gas, and can get in, and
+can get out unnoticed, maybe we can run by New
+Orleans in the night, and none the wiser.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And where then, Mr. Harry?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Peterson, the high seas have no bridges, and
+if they had, I should not cross them yet. Perhaps
+if I did, I then should burn them behind me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s a mortal fine young woman, Mr. Harry,
+a mortal fine one. I&rsquo;ll be sworn he makes a hard
+run for her. But so can we&mdash;eh, Mr. Harry?
+He&rsquo;ll like enough pocket us in here, though.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg&nbsp;165]</a></span>
+I made no answer to this. The old man left me
+to take the wheel, and I noted his head wag from
+side to side.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg&nbsp;166]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH I ESTABLISH A MODUS VIVENDI</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">A</span>S good fortune would have it, we swung in,
+opposite the screened mouth of Henry&rsquo;s
+Bayou, at a time when the stream was free of
+all craft that might have observed us, although
+far across the forest we could see a black column
+of smoke, marking a river steamer coming up.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Quick with that long boat, Lafitte,&rdquo; I ordered;
+and he drew our old craft alongside as we slowed
+down. &ldquo;Get over yonder and sound for a bar.
+Take the boat hook. If you get four feet, we&rsquo;ll
+try it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>My hardy young ruffian was nothing if not
+prompt, nor was he less efficient than the average
+deck-hand. It was he who did the sounding while
+Willie, our factotum, pulled slowly in toward
+the mouth of the old river bed. I watched them
+through the glasses, noting that rarely could Lafitte
+find any bottom at all with the long shaft of
+the boat hook. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s all right, Peterson,&rdquo; said
+I. &ldquo;Follow on in, slowly&mdash;I don&rsquo;t want that
+steamer yonder to catch us.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<em>Why</em> don&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; A voice I should know, to
+which all my body would thrill, did I hear it in
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg&nbsp;167]</a></span>
+any corner of the world, spoke at my elbow. I
+started for a half instant before I made reply,
+looking into her dark eyes, sensible again of the
+perfume most delirium-producing for a man: the
+scent of a woman&rsquo;s hair.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Because, Helena,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I wish our boat to
+lie unnoticed for a time, till the hue and cry has
+lulled a bit.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And then?&rdquo; She bent on me her gaze, so difficult
+to resist, and smiled at me with the corners
+of her lips, so subtly irresistible. I felt a rush of
+fire sweep through all my being, and something
+she must have noted, for she gave back a bit and
+stood more aloof along the rail.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And then,&rdquo; said I savagely, &ldquo;this boat runs by
+all the towns, till we reach the Gulf, and the
+open sea.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And then?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And then, Helena, we sail the ocean blue, you
+and I.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;For how long?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Forever, Helena. Or, at least, until&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Until when?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Until you say you will marry me, Helena.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She made no answer now at all beyond a scornful
+shrug of her shoulders. &ldquo;Suppose I can not?&rdquo;
+she said at last.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If you can not, all the same you must and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg&nbsp;168]</a></span>
+shall!&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;You shall be prisoner until you
+do.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is there no law for such as you?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No. None on the high sea. None in my heart.
+Only one law I know any more, Helena&mdash;I who
+have upheld the law, obeyed it, reverenced it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And that?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The law of the centuries, of the forest, of the
+sea. The law of love, Helena.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, you go about it handsomely! If you wished
+me to despise you, to hate you, this would be
+very fit, what you say.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You may hate me, despise me, Helena. Let
+it be so. But you shall not ignore me, as you have
+these three years.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It was your fault; your wish&mdash;as well as my
+wish. We agreed to that. Why bring it up again?
+When the news came that you had quit your profession,
+and just at the time you had lost all your
+father&rsquo;s fortune and your own, had turned your
+back and run away, when you should have stayed
+and fought&mdash;well, do you think a girl cares for
+that sort of man? No. A man must do something
+in this world. He mustn&rsquo;t quit. He&rsquo;s got
+to <em>fight</em>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not even if he has nothing to work for?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, not even then. There are plenty of girls
+in the world&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg&nbsp;169]</a></span>
+&ldquo;One.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;&ldquo;And a man mustn&rsquo;t throw away his life
+for any one woman. That isn&rsquo;t right. He has his
+work to do, his place to make and hold. That&rsquo;s
+what a woman wants in a man. But you didn&rsquo;t.
+Now, you come and say we must forget all the
+years of off-and-on, all the time we&mdash;we&mdash;wasted,
+don&rsquo;t you know? And because I am, for a little
+while, in your hands, you talk to me in a way of
+which you ought to be ashamed. You threaten me,
+a woman. You even almost compromise me. This
+will make talk. You speak to me as though, indeed,
+you were a buccaneer, and I, indeed, in your
+power absolutely. If I did not know you&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You do not. Forget the man you knew. I
+am not he.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She spread out her hands mockingly, and yet
+more I felt my anger rise.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am another man. I am my father, and his
+great grandfather, and all his ancestors, pirates all.
+I know what I covet, and by the Lord! nothing
+shall stop me, least of all the law. I shall take
+my own where I find it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And now listen!&rdquo; I concluded. &ldquo;I am master
+on this ship, no matter how I got it. Late poor,
+as you say, I shall be richer soon, for I shall take,
+law or no law, consent or no consent, what I want,
+what I will have. And that is you!</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg&nbsp;170]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Each day, at eleven, Helena,&rdquo; I concluded,
+&ldquo;I shall meet you on the after deck, and shall try
+to be kind, try to be courteous&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, Harry&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Try to be calm, too. I want to give you time
+to think. And I, too, must think. For a time,
+I wondered what was right, in case you had
+really pledged yourself to another man.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Suppose I had?&rdquo; she asked, sphinx-like.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I will try to discover that. Not that it would
+make any difference in my plans.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You would take what was another&rsquo;s?&rdquo; She
+still gazed at me, sphinx-like.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes! By the Lord, Helena, my father did, and
+his, and so would I! So would I, if that were
+you! Let him fend for himself.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She turned from the rail, her color a little
+heightened, affected to yawn, stretched her arms.</p>
+
+<p>We were now passing over the bar, slowly, feeling
+our way, our skiff alongside, and the shelter
+of the curving, tree-covered bayou banks now
+beginning to hide us from view, though the bellowing
+steamer below had not yet entered our bend.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Who is that boy?&rdquo; she inquired lazily.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That, madam, is no less than the celebrated
+freebooter, Jean Lafitte, who so long made this
+lower coast his rendezvous.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nonsense! And you&rsquo;re filling his head with
+wild ideas.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg&nbsp;171]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Say not so; &rsquo;twas he and your blessed blue-eyed
+pirate nephew, the cutthroat L&rsquo;Olonnois, who
+filled my head with wild ideas.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How, then?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;They took me prisoner, on my own&mdash;I mean,
+at the little place where I stop, up in the country.
+And not till by stern deeds I had won their confidence,
+did they accept me as comrade, and, at
+last, as leader&mdash;as I may modestly claim to be.
+And do not think that you can wheedle either of
+them away from Black Bart. L&rsquo;Olonnois remembers
+you spanked him once, and has sworn a bitter
+vengeance.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why did you happen to start sailing down this
+way?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Because I learned Cal Davidson had started&mdash;with
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And all that way you had it in mind to overtake
+us?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes; and have done so; and have taken his
+ship away from him, and for all I know his bride.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He was your friend.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I thought so. I suppose he never knew that
+you and I used to&mdash;well, to know each other, before
+I lost my money.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He never spoke of that.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No difference, unless all for the better, for I
+shall, now, never give you up to any man on
+earth.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg&nbsp;172]</a></span>
+&ldquo;And I thought you the best product of our
+civilization, a man of education, of breeding.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, not breeding, unless savagery gives it.
+I&rsquo;m civilized no longer. When you stand near
+me, and your hair&mdash;go below, Helena! Go at
+once!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She turned, moved slowly toward her door.</p>
+
+<p>I finished calmly as I could. &ldquo;To-morrow, at
+eleven, I shall give you an audience here on the
+deck. We shall have time. This is a wilderness.
+You can not get away, and I hope no one will find
+you. That is my risk. And oh! Helena,&rdquo; I
+added, suddenly, feeling my heart soften at the
+pallor of her face&mdash;&ldquo;Oh, Helena, Helena, try to
+think gently of me as you can, for all these miles
+I have followed after you; and all these years I
+have thought of you. You do not know&mdash;you do
+not know! It has been one long agony. Now go,
+please. I promise to keep myself as courteous as
+I can. You and I and Aunt Lucinda will just
+have a pleasant voyage together until&mdash;until that
+time. Try to be kind to me, Helena, as I shall
+try to be with you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Silent, unsmiling, she disappeared beyond her
+cabin door, nor would she eat dinner even in her
+cabin, although Aunt Lucinda did; and found the
+ninety-three was helping her neuralgia.</p>
+
+<p>I know not if they slept, but I slept not at all.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg&nbsp;173]</a></span>
+The shadows hung black about us as we lay at
+anchor four miles inland, silent, and with no
+lights burning to betray us. Now and again, I
+could hear faint voices of the night, betimes croakings,
+splashings in the black water about us. It
+was as though the jungle had enclosed us, deep and
+secret-keeping. And in my heart the fierce fever
+of the jungle&rsquo;s teachings burned, so that I might
+not sleep.</p>
+
+<p>But in the morning Helena was fresh, all in
+white, and with no more than a faint blue of
+shadow beneath her eyes. She honored us at
+breakfast, and made no manner of reference to
+what had gone on the evening before. This, then,
+I saw, was to be our <i>modus vivendi</i>; convention,
+the social customs we all had known, the art, the
+gloss, the veneer of life, as life runs on in society
+as we have organized it! Ah, she fought cunningly!</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Black Bart,&rdquo; said L&rsquo;Olonnois, after breakfast
+as we all stood on deck&mdash;Helena, Auntie Lucinda
+and all&mdash;&ldquo;what&rsquo;s all them things floatin&rsquo; around in
+the water?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;They look like bottles, leftenant,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;perhaps
+they may have floated in here. How do you
+suppose they came here, Mrs. Daniver?&rdquo; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How should I know?&rdquo; sniffed that lady.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, good leftenant, go overside, you and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg&nbsp;174]</a></span>
+Jean, and gather up all those bottles, and carry
+them with my compliments to the ladies at their
+cabin. You can have the satisfaction of throwing
+them all overboard later on, Mrs. Daniver. Only,
+remember, that there is no current in the bayou,
+and they will stay where they fall for weeks, unless
+for the wind.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And where shall we be, then?&rdquo; demanded
+Auntie Lucinda, who had eaten a hearty breakfast,
+and I must say was looking uncommon fit for one
+so afflicted with neuralgia.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, very likely here, in the same place, my dear
+Mrs. Daniver,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;unless war should break
+out meantime. At present we all seem to have a
+very good <i>modus vivendi</i>, and as I have no pressing
+engagements, I can conceive of nothing more
+charming than passing the winter here in your
+society.&rdquo; Saying which I bowed, and turning to
+Helena, &ldquo;At eleven, then, if you please?&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg&nbsp;175]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH I HAVE POLITE CONVERSATION, BUT
+LITTLE ELSE</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">I</span> HAD myself quite forgotten my appointed hour
+of eleven, feeling so sure that it would not be
+remembered, as of covenant, by the party of the
+second part, so to speak, and was sitting on the
+forward deck looking out over the interesting pictures
+of the landscape that lay about us. It was
+the morning of a Sabbath, and a Sabbath calm
+lay all about us&mdash;silence, and hush, and arrested
+action. The sun itself, warm at a time when soon
+the breezes must have been chill at my northern
+home, was veiled in a soft and tender mist, which
+brought into yet lower tones the pale greens and
+grays of the southern forest which came close
+to the bayou&rsquo;s edge. The forest about us not yet
+fallen before the devastating northern lumbermen&mdash;men
+such as my father had been, who cared
+nothing for a tree or a country save as it might
+come to cash&mdash;was in part cypress, in part cottonwood,
+but on the ridge were many oaks, and over
+all hung the soft gray Spanish moss. The bayou
+itself, once the river, but now released from all
+the river&rsquo;s troubling duties, held its unceasing
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg&nbsp;176]</a></span>
+calm, fitted the complete retirement of the spot, and
+scarce a ripple broke it anywhere. Over it, on
+ahead, now and then passed a long-legged white
+crane, bound for some distant and inaccessible
+swamp; all things fitting perfectly into this quiet
+Sabbath picture.</p>
+
+<p>My cigar was excellent, I had my copy of
+Epictetus at hand, and all seemed well with the
+world save one thing. Here, at hand, was everything
+man could ask, all comforts, many luxuries;
+and I knew, though Helena did not, that the safe
+increase of my fortune&mdash;that fortune which some
+had called tainted, and which I myself valued
+little, soon as I had helped increase it by the exercise
+of my profession&mdash;was quite enough to
+maintain equal comfort or luxury for us all our
+lives. But she was obstinate, and so was I. She
+would not say whether she loved Cal Davidson,
+and I would never undeceive her as to my supposed
+poverty. Why, the very fact that she had
+dismissed me when she thought my fortune gone&mdash;that,
+alone, should have proved her unworthy
+of a man&rsquo;s second thought. Therefore, ergo, hence,
+and consequently, I could not have been a man;
+for I swear I was giving her a second thought,
+and a thousandth; until I rebelled at a weakness
+that could not put a mere woman out of mind.</p>
+
+<p>And then, I slowly turned my head, and saw her
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg&nbsp;177]</a></span>
+standing on the after deck. Her footfall was not
+audible on the rubber deck-mats, and she had not
+spoken. I resolved, as soon as I had leisure, to
+ask some scientific friends to explain how it was
+possible that with no sound or other appeal to
+any of the sensorial nerves, I could, at a distance
+of seventy-five feet, become conscious of the presence
+of a person no more than five feet five, who
+had not spoken a word, and was standing idly
+looking out over the ship&rsquo;s rail, in quite the opposite
+direction from that in which I sat. And
+then the ship&rsquo;s clock struck six bells, and recalled
+the appointment at eleven. Hastily I dropped
+Epictetus and my cigar, and hurried aft.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Good morning again, Helena,&rdquo; said I.</p>
+
+<p>She stood looking on out over the water for
+a time, but, at length, turned toward me, just a
+finger up as to stifle a yawn. &ldquo;Really,&rdquo; said she,
+&ldquo;while I am hardly so situated that I can well
+escape it or resent it, it does seem to me that you
+might well be just a trifle less familiar. Why not
+&lsquo;Miss Emory&rsquo;?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Because, Helena, I like &lsquo;Helena&rsquo; better.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A slow anger came into her eyes. She beat
+a swift foot on the deck.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t stamp with your feet.
+It reminds me of a Belgian hare, and I do not
+like them, potted or caged.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg&nbsp;178]</a></span>
+&ldquo;I might as well be one,&rdquo; she broke out, &ldquo;as
+well be one, caged here as we are, and insulted by
+a&mdash;a&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A ruthless buccaneer&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, a ruthless buccaneer, who has remembered
+only brutalities.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And forgotten all amenities? Why, Helena,
+how could you! And after all the cork-tipped cigarettes
+I have given you, and all the ninety-three I
+have given your Auntie Lucinda&mdash;why look at the
+empty message bottles she and you have thrown
+out into the helpless and unhelping bayou&mdash;a perfect
+fleet of them, bobbing around. Shan&rsquo;t I send
+the boys overboard to gather them in for you
+again?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A fine education you are giving those boys,
+aren&rsquo;t you, filling their heads with lawless ideas!
+A fine debt we&rsquo;ll all owe you for ruining the character
+of my nephew Jimmy. He was such a nice
+nephew, too.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Your admiration is mutual, Miss Emory&mdash;I
+mean, Helena. He says you are a very nice
+auntie, and your divinity fudges are not surpassed
+and seldom equaled. It is an accomplishment,
+however, of no special use to a poor pirate&rsquo;s bride;
+as I intend you shall be.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She had turned her back on me now.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Besides, as to that,&rdquo; I went on, &ldquo;I am only
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg&nbsp;179]</a></span>
+affording these young gentlemen the same advantages
+offered by the advertisements of the United
+States navy recruiting service&mdash;good wages, good
+fare, and an opportunity to see the world. Come
+now, we&rsquo;ll all see the world together. Shall we
+not, Miss Emory&mdash;I mean, Helena?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t live here forever, anyhow,&rdquo; said she.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I could,&rdquo; was my swift answer. &ldquo;Forever,
+in just this quiet scene. Forever, with all the
+world forgot, and just you standing there as you
+are, the most beautiful girl I ever saw; and once,
+I thought, the kindest.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That I am not.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No. I was much mistaken in you, much disappointed.
+It grieved me to see you fall below
+the standard I had set for you. I thought your
+ideals high and fine. They were not, as I learned
+to my sorrow. You were just like all the rest.
+You cared only for my money, because it could
+give you ease, luxury, station. When that was
+gone, you cared nothing for me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I stood looking at her lovely shoulders for some
+time, but she made no sign.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And therefore, finding you so fallen,&rdquo; I resumed,
+&ldquo;finding you only, after all, like the other
+worthless, parasitic women of the day, Miss Emory&mdash;Helena,
+I mean&mdash;I resolved to do what I could
+to educate you. And so I offer you the same footing
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg&nbsp;180]</a></span>
+that I do your nephew&mdash;good wages, good
+fare, and an opportunity to see the world.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>No answer whatever.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do you remember the Bay of Naples, at sunset,
+as we saw it when we first steamed in on
+the old <i>City of Berlin</i>, Helena?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>No answer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And do you recall Fuji-yama, with the white
+top&mdash;remember the rickshaw rides together,
+Helena?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>No answer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And then, the fiords of Norway, and the
+mountains? Or the chalk cliffs off Dover? And
+those sweet green fields of England&mdash;as we rode
+up to London town? And the taxis there, just
+you and I, Helena, with Aunt Lucinda happily
+evaded&mdash;just you and I? Yes, I am thinking of
+forcing Aunt Lucinda to walk the plank ere long,
+Helena. I want a world all my own, Helena, the
+world that was meant for us, Helena, made for
+us&mdash;a world with no living thing in it but yonder
+mocking-bird that&rsquo;s singing; and you, and me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Could you not dispense with the mocking-bird&mdash;and
+me?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; (I winced at her thrust, however). &ldquo;No,
+not with you. And you know in your heart, in
+the bottom of your trifling and fickle and worthless
+heart, Helena Emory, that if it came to the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg&nbsp;181]</a></span>
+test, and if life and all the world and all happiness
+were to be either all yours or all mine, I&rsquo;d
+go anywhere, do anything, and leave it all to you
+rather than keep any for myself.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Go, then!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If I might, I should. But male and female
+made He them. I spoke of us as units human,
+but not as the unit <i>homo</i>. Much as I despise you,
+Helena, I can not separate you from myself in
+my own thought. We seem to me to be like old
+Webster&rsquo;s idea of the Union&mdash;&lsquo;one and indivisible.&rsquo;
+And since I can not divide us in any
+thought, I, John Doe, alias Black Bart, alias the
+man you once called Harry, have resolved that
+we shall go undivided, sink or swim, survive or
+perish. If the world were indeed my oyster, I
+should open it for us both; but saying both, I
+should see only you. Isn&rsquo;t it odd, Helena?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is eleven-thirty,&rdquo; said she.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Almost time for luncheon. Do you think me
+a &lsquo;good provider,&rsquo; Helena?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Humph! Mr. Davidson was. While your
+stolen stores last in your stolen boat, I suppose
+we shall not be hungry.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Or thirsty?&rdquo; She shrugged.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Or barren of cork-tips of the evening? Or
+devoid of guitar strings?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I shall need none.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg&nbsp;182]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Ah, but you will! It belikes me much, fair
+maid, to disport me at ease this very eve, here on
+the deck, under the moon, and to hear you yourself
+and none other, fairest of all my captives, touch the
+lute, or whatever you may call it, to that same
+air you and I, fair maid, heard long ago together
+at a lattice under the Spanish moon. A swain
+touched then his lute, or whatever you may call it,
+to his Dulcinea. Here &rsquo;tis in the reverse. The
+fair maid, having no option, shall touch the lute, or
+whatever you call it, to John Doe, Black Bart, or
+whatever you may call him; who is her captor,
+who feels himself about to love her beyond all
+reason; and who, if he find no relief, presently,
+in music&mdash;which is better than drink&mdash;will go
+mad, go mad, and be what he should not be, a
+cruel master; whereas all he asks of fate is that
+he shall be only a kind captor and a gentle friend.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Her head held very high, she passed me without
+a word and threw open the door of her suite.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 318px;">
+<img src="images/tlatp05.jpg" width="318" height="500"
+alt="Helena sits playing a guitar" />
+<span class="caption">It was a love song of old Spain</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>... And that night, that very night, that very
+wondrous, silent, throbbing night of the Sabbath
+and the South, when all the air was as it seemed
+to me in saturation, in a suspense of ecstasy, to
+be broken, to be precipitated by a word, a motion,
+a caress, a note ... that night, I say, as I sat
+on the forward deck alone, I heard, far off and
+faint as though indeed it were the lute of Andalusia,
+the low, slow, deep throb of a guitar!...
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg&nbsp;183]</a></span>
+My whole heart stopped. I was no more than a
+focused demand of life. Reason was gone from
+me, not intellect but emotion&mdash;that is its basic
+thing after all, emotion born on earth but reaching
+to the stars.... I listened, not hearing....
+It was the air we had heard long ago, a love song
+of old Spain, written, perhaps, before DeSoto and
+his men perished in these very bayous and forests
+that now shielded us against all tumult, all turmoil,
+all things unhappy or unpleasant. The full
+tide of life and love swept through my veins as
+I listened.</p>
+
+<p>I rose, I hastened. At her door I paused.
+&ldquo;Helena!&rdquo; I called raucously. &ldquo;Helena.&rdquo; And
+she made no reply. &ldquo;Helena,&rdquo; I called again. &ldquo;It
+was the same old air. This is Spain again! Ah,
+I thank you for that same old air. Helena, forgive
+me. May I come in&mdash;will you come out?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I halted. A cold voice came from the companionway
+door. &ldquo;You have a poor ear for music,
+John Doe. It is not the same. Do you think I
+would take orders from you, or any other man?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I stood irresolute a moment, and then did
+what I should not have done. I pulled open her
+door. &ldquo;Come out,&rdquo; I demanded. But then I
+closed the door and went away. She was sitting,
+her head bowed on the instrument she had played.
+And when she looked up, startled at my rudeness,
+I saw her eyes wet with tears.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg&nbsp;184]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH WE MAKE A RUN FOR IT</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">&ldquo;G</span>ADZOOKS! Black Bart,&rdquo; remarked L&rsquo;Olonnois
+at the breakfast table the next morning,
+&ldquo;and where is the captive maiden?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; was my answer. &ldquo;Better go
+find out, Jimmy.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He departed, but presently, returned somewhat
+troubled.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My Auntie Helen,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I mean the captive
+maid, why, she says she&rsquo;s got a headache and
+don&rsquo;t want no breakfast.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not even a grapefruit and a cup of coffee?&rdquo;
+I demanded, anxiously and, it must be admitted,
+somewhat guiltily; for I knew that the soul of
+Helena was grieved and whatever the trouble, the
+fault was my own. Surely I had placed the poor
+captive in a most difficult position, and loving her
+as I did, how could I continue to give her discomfort?
+My resolution almost weakened. I was
+considerably disturbed.</p>
+
+<p>And yet as I faced the alternative of setting
+her free, and once more taking up the aimless and
+unhappy life I had led these last three years without
+sight of her, something&mdash;I suppose the great
+selfishness which lies under love&mdash;rose up and said
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg&nbsp;185]</a></span>
+me nay; and I began to make excuses in favor of
+my desire, as that, surely, soon she would come to
+a more reasonable way of thought. And in one
+thing, at least, I was honest with myself, deceitful
+as are lovers with themselves, and arguing ever in
+their own favor&mdash;I did not know why Helena had
+wept, and it was perhaps my right to know.</p>
+
+<p>One selfishness with another, I resolved to go
+on with this matter, though knowing full well how
+difficult would be my battle with her, how unequal;
+for I was armed only with a great love, backed
+by no art at all, whereas, she merely would continue
+to unmask against me new batteries of defense&mdash;severe
+politeness, formality with me; laughter
+and scornfulness of me; anger, pitifulness, at
+last even tears; and always the dread assault of
+her eyes, and the scent of her hair and the sweet
+wistfulness of her mouth,&mdash;all, all the charms of
+all women united in her one self, to attack, to
+assail, to harass, and to make wholly wretched the
+man who loved her more than anything in life,
+and who was driven almost to using any means, so
+only that she might not be away, not be out of
+sense and sight; as out of mind and out of heart
+she never more might be. So that, all in all, it
+were, indeed, hard question whether she or I were
+the more wretched. Surely grapefruit and toast
+and coffee seemed to me but inventions of the
+powers of darkness at that breakfast.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg&nbsp;186]</a></span>
+Not so my hardy mates, however, who ate with
+the keen appetite of youth, from fruit through
+bacon and toast and back again, both talking all
+the while. Nor, as the event proved, altogether
+unwisely. Indeed, it was stout Jean Lafitte who
+resolved my doubts, and by suggesting the simple
+medicine of action rather than meditation, sufficed
+for the removal of one of my two minds.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What ho! Black Bart,&rdquo; said he, after his third
+helping of bacon, &ldquo;why does our good ship lie here
+idle at her anchor?&rdquo; Question direct, like Jean
+himself, and demanding direct answer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ask Captain Peterson,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;He perhaps
+can tell where we can get more gasoline.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, he can&rsquo;t. I asked him this morning.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Then &rsquo;twould seem we must lie here all winter,
+unless discovered by some relief expedition.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t we start a relief expedition of our
+own?&rdquo; demanded he.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And how?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, me and Willy, the deck-hand, we&rsquo;ll take
+the long boat an&rsquo; go out an&rsquo; explore this region
+roundabout. Somebody may have gasoline somewhere,
+and if so, we can git it, can&rsquo;t we?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Your idea is excellent, Jean Lafitte,&rdquo; said I.
+&ldquo;Within the hour you shall set forth to see whether
+or not there is any settlement on this bayou. And
+that you may not need use violence when secrecy
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg&nbsp;187]</a></span>
+is our wish, here is a fat purse for our stores.
+And hasten, for of a truth, Jean Lafitte, I am most
+aweary of this very morning, and I long to see
+the white seas roll once more.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It was determined, therefore, that we should
+fare onward&mdash;in case we could fare at all&mdash;with
+our ship&rsquo;s company as it now was; for, of course,
+none but myself knew what was afoot between
+Black Bart and his captive. And well enough I
+knew that in keeping Helena Emory thus close to
+me, I was breeding sleepless nights and anxious
+days.</p>
+
+<p>This day itself was anxious enough, nor could
+all of Epictetus teach me calm philosophy, distracted
+as I was over this situation, complex as it
+was. As to the fortune of the long boat, we knew
+nothing until, at three of the afternoon, I saw a
+white speck of a sail round the bend of our bayou,
+and saw that was hoisted, spirit fashion, over our
+boat, which now, with following wind, rapidly
+drew in toward us.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all right,&rdquo; called out Jean Lafitte, when he
+came within hail; and I saw now that he, indeed,
+had a boat&rsquo;s load of gasoline in tanks, cans and
+all manner of receptacles.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Town and a store, down there five miles,&rdquo; he
+explained as I caught his gunwale with boat hook.
+&ldquo;You can git anything there. Now, the Giants
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg&nbsp;188]</a></span>
+an&rsquo; the Cubs, why, they tied in the &rsquo;leventh inning
+yesterday. An&rsquo; say&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Enough,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;let me hear nothing of the
+cursed Giants or the yet more accursed Cubs, for
+I have more serious work afoot! Tell me, is there
+a bar cutting off the other end of the bayou; and
+how long is the bayou?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sixteen miles,&rdquo; answered the useful Lafitte,
+&ldquo;an&rsquo; she seems like good water all the way. They
+say there&rsquo;s seven foot on the bar, and the wood
+boats run in and out.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Good! And did you tell them who you were,
+and why you wanted gasoline?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No. I only said our automobeel was broke
+down, an&rsquo; we wanted the baseball scores. That
+was all. They ast who was we. I said you was
+John Doe&mdash;you see, I didn&rsquo;t want to tell your real
+name, so I didn&rsquo;t say Black Bart.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And you didn&rsquo;t mention our boat?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Of course not! Whose business is it what
+pirates does? They strike hardest when least expected.
+To-night we can run in an&rsquo; rob the store,
+easy.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jean!&rdquo; I cried, horrified, &ldquo;what do you mean?
+Let me hear no more such talk, or by my halidom!
+back you go to your home by first train. I&rsquo;ll not
+be responsible for the ruin of any boy&rsquo;s morals in
+this way.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg&nbsp;189]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Well what do you think about that, Jimmy!&rdquo;
+said Jean, somewhat cast down and much mystified.
+&ldquo;Ain&rsquo;t we pirates, an&rsquo; don&rsquo;t pirates live on booty?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Booty enough you have in your boat, Jean,&rdquo;
+said I, &ldquo;and let us get it aboard and in our tanks,
+for to-night we sail.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;For to rob the store?&rdquo; anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, once more for the Spanish Main, my
+hearties! I seek a greater treasure; and plenty of
+danger, believe me, lies between here and there.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;When&rsquo;ll we start?&rdquo; queried L&rsquo;Olonnois eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;To-night, at six bells. Make all ready,&rdquo; was
+my reply.</p>
+
+<p>And that very night, with our search-light half
+covered, and at slow speed and with the sounding
+lead going, Peterson felt his way out from our
+moorings and along the full length of Henry&rsquo;s
+Bayou, silently as he might. We saw few signs
+of life beyond now and then a distant light in some
+negro cabin, and with all the lights doused we
+swept by like a ghost in the night, along the front
+of the plantation at whose store my men had got
+their gasoline. At last we broke open the lower
+end of the bayou, which, coming in from the main
+stream in a long open reach, showed like a lane
+of faint light in the forest; and to my great relief
+presently, felt the current of the great stream
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg&nbsp;190]</a></span>
+pick us up, and saw the channel lights ahead, so
+that we knew we might for a time, at least, advance
+in safety.</p>
+
+<p>In all this work, my two faithful lieutenants
+were awake and alert; but I saw nothing of
+Helena that day, nor had message either from her
+or her aunt in the full round of twenty-four hours
+since last we met. Had she sought deliberately
+to repay me for the grief I caused her, Helena
+could have devised no better plan than her silence
+and her absence from my sight, after what time
+I had seen her weep.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a thought of more practical sort came
+to my mind. &ldquo;Jimmy,&rdquo; I called.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, aye, Sir;&rdquo; and L&rsquo;Olonnois saluted.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You remember all those bottles floating around
+in the bayou&mdash;did you take them all up?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, aye, Sir, an&rsquo; she throwed a lot more in,
+out o&rsquo; the cabin window. I was shootin&rsquo; at &rsquo;em
+with the twenty-two, an&rsquo; busted some.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But not all?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, no, some was left.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And we sailed away, leaving there, no doubt,
+the full story of our voyage.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Like enough,&rdquo; said L&rsquo;Olonnois. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think
+of that.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nor I. For once, the vigilance of Black Bart
+faltered, L&rsquo;Olonnois, and he must yet, mayhap,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg&nbsp;191]</a></span>
+make better amends for his fault. Full speed
+ahead, now, Peterson,&rdquo; I added later as I went
+forward. &ldquo;Run for New Orleans and with all you
+can get out of her.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very good, Mr. Harry,&rdquo; said the old man; and
+I could feel the throb of her whole superstructure,
+from stack to keelson, when he called on the
+double-sixties of the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> for all their
+power. Nor did any seek to stay us in our swift
+rush down the river.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg&nbsp;192]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH I WALK AND TALK WITH HELENA</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>T was nine of as fine a winter morning as the
+South ever saw when at last, having passed
+without pause all intervening ports, we found ourselves
+at the city of New Orleans. Rather, in
+the vicinity of that city; for when we reached the
+railway ferry above the town, I ran alongshore
+and we made fast the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> at a somewhat
+precarious landing place. I now called Peterson
+to me.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a fine morning, Peterson,&rdquo; said I.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, but I think &rsquo;tis going to rain.&rdquo; (Peterson
+was always gloomy.)</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You must go down-town, Peterson,&rdquo; said I.
+&ldquo;The through train from the West is late and just
+now is coming into the ferry. You can take it
+easily. We have got to have still more gasoline,
+for there is a long trip ahead of us, and I am not
+sure what may be the chance for supplies below
+the city.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Are you going into the Gulf, Mr. Harry?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, Peterson. You will continue to navigate
+the boat; and, meantime, you may be quartermaster
+also. I shall be obliged to remain here until you
+return.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg&nbsp;193]</a></span>
+The old man touched his cap. &ldquo;Very good, sir,
+but I&rsquo;m almost sure not to return.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Listen, Peterson,&rdquo; I went on, well used to his
+customary depression of soul, &ldquo;go to the ship&rsquo;s
+furnisher, Lavallier and Thibodeau, toward the
+Old Market. Tell them to have all our supplies
+at slip K, below the railway warehouses, not later
+than nine this evening. We want four drums
+of gasoline. Also, get two thousand rounds of
+ammunition for the twelve gages, ducking loads,
+for we may want to do some shooting. We also
+want two or three cases of grapefruit and oranges,
+and any good fresh vegetables in market. All
+these things must be ready on the levee at nine,
+without fail. Here is my letter of credit, and a
+bank draft, signed against it&mdash;I think you will find
+they know me still.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The old man touched his cap again but hesitated.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure to be asked something,&rdquo; he said somewhat
+nervously.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Say nothing about any change of ownership
+of this boat, Peterson, and don&rsquo;t even give the
+boat&rsquo;s name, unless you must. Just say we will
+meet their shipping clerk at slip K, this evening,
+at nine. Hurry back, Peterson. And bring a
+newspaper, please.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is any one else going down-town?&rdquo; asked Peterson.
+&ldquo;I may run into trouble.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, we shall all remain aboard.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg&nbsp;194]</a></span>
+He departed mournfully enough, seeing that the
+ferry boat now was coming across with the railway
+train. I continued my own moody pacing
+up and down the deck. Truth was, I had not
+seen Helena for more than twenty-four hours, nor
+had any word come from the ladies&rsquo; cabin to give
+me hope I ever would see her again of her own
+will. My surprise, therefore, was great enough
+when I heard the after cabin door close gently as
+she came out upon the deck.</p>
+
+<p>When last I saw her she had been in tears. Now
+she was all smiles and radiant as the dawn! Her
+gown, moreover, was one I had never seen before,
+and she, herself, seemed monstrous pleased with it,
+for, by some miracle, fresh as though from the
+hands of her maid at home, she knew herself fair
+and fit enough to make more trouble for mankind.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Good morning,&rdquo; said she, casually, as though
+we had parted but lately and that conventionally.
+&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it fine?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is a beautiful picture,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and you fit
+into it. I am glad to see you looking so well.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I wish I could say as much for you,&rdquo; said
+she. &ldquo;You look like a forlorn hope.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am nothing better.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And as though you had not slept.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have not, Helena.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why not?&rdquo; her eyes wide open in surprise.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg&nbsp;195]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Because I knew I had either hurt or offended
+you; and I would do neither.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You have done both so often that it should not
+cost you your sleep,&rdquo; said she slowly. &ldquo;But if
+you really want to be kind, why can you not have
+mercy on a girl who has been packed in a hat box
+for a month? Let me go ashore.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Can you not breathe quite as well where you
+are, Helena?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But I can&rsquo;t walk.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes, you can; and I will walk beside you
+here on deck.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But I would like to pick flowers, over there
+by the embankment.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The train is too close,&rdquo; said I, smiling grimly.</p>
+
+<p>Her color heightened just a little, but she did
+not answer my suspicions. &ldquo;Please let me walk
+with you over there,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I used not to
+need ask twice.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Our situation is now reversed, Helena.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Please, let me walk with you, Sir!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I dare not. We might both forget ourselves
+and go off to New Orleans for a lark without
+Aunt Lucinda.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I am going to call Aunt Lucinda, too.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Pardon, but you are going to do nothing of
+the kind. Even with her as chaperon, did we get
+down there in the old city once more, like the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg&nbsp;196]</a></span>
+children we once were, Helena, we would forget
+our duty, would, perhaps, forget our purpose here.
+Mademoiselle, I dare not take that risk.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Please, Sir, may I walk with you over yonder
+for just a little time?&rdquo; she said, as though it were
+her first request. She was tying her quaint little
+white bonnet strings under her chin now. I raised
+a hand.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You ask a man to put himself into the power
+of the woman he loves most in all the world.
+When a man needs resolution, dare he look into
+the eyes of that woman, feel her hand on his arm,
+have her walk close to him as they promenade?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Dear me! Is it so bad as that?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Worse, Helena.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Then I am to continue a prisoner in that hat
+box?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Until you love me, Helena, as I do you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;As I told you, that would be a long time.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes! For never in the world can you love
+me as I do you. I had forgotten that.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If only you could forget everything and just
+be a nice young man,&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;It is such fun.
+This dear old town, don&rsquo;t you know? Now, with
+a nice young man to go about with Aunt Lucinda
+and me&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How would a man like Calvin Davidson do?&rdquo;
+I demanded bitterly.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg&nbsp;197]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Very well. He is nice enough.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose so. He is rich, able to have his
+horses and cars&mdash;even his private yacht. He can
+order a dinner in any country in the world, or tell
+you the standing of any club, in either league, at
+any minute of the day or night. Could I say more
+for his education? He has two country places
+and a city house and a business which nets him a
+hundred thousand a year. How can he help being
+nice? I do not resemble Mr. Davidson in any
+particular, except that I am wearing one of his
+waistcoats. Also, Helena, I am wearing a suit
+of flannels which I have borrowed from John, his
+Chinese cook. You can readily see I am a poor
+man. How, then, can I be nice?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No one would see us here,&rdquo; said she, sublimely
+irrelevant, as usual. &ldquo;There are some little
+yellow flowers over there on the bank. Maybe I
+could find some violets.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>There was a wistfulness in her gaze which made
+appeal. I could not resist. &ldquo;Helena,&rdquo; said I suddenly,
+&ldquo;give me your parole that you will not try
+to escape, and I will walk with you among yonder
+flowers. You look as though just from a Watteau
+fan, my dear. It is fall, but seems spring, and
+the world seems made for flowers and shepherds
+and love, my dear. Do you give me your word?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If I do, may I walk alone?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg&nbsp;198]</a></span>
+&ldquo;No, with me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll not try to take the train. On my honor,
+I will not.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I looked deep into her eyes and saw, as always,
+only truth there&mdash;her deep brown eyes, filled with
+some deep liquid light whose color I never could
+say&mdash;looked till my own senses swam. I could
+scarcely speak.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I take your parole, Helena,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;You
+never lied to me or any other human being in the
+world.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t know me,&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;I used often
+to lie to mama, and frequently do yet to Aunt
+Lucinda. But not if I say I give my word&mdash;my
+real word.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;When will you give me your real word, Helena?
+You know what I mean&mdash;when will you say that
+you love me and no one else?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Never!&rdquo; said she promptly. &ldquo;I hate you very
+much. You have been presumptuous and overbearing.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why then should you promenade with me?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Fault of anything better, Sir!&rdquo; But she took
+my hand lightly, smiling as I assisted her down
+the landing way.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But tell me,&rdquo; she added as we made our way
+slowly up the muddy slope, &ldquo;really, Harry, how
+long is this thing to last? When are we going
+back home?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg&nbsp;199]</a></span>
+&ldquo;How can you ask? And how can I reply,
+save in one way, after taking the advice of yonder
+pirate captain, your blue-eyed nephew? He
+says they always live happy ever after. Listen,
+Helena. Gaze upon this waistcoat! Forget its
+stripes, and imagine it to be sprigged silk of a
+day long gone by. Let us play that romance is
+not yet dead. These are not cuffs, but ruffles at
+my wrists&mdash;for all Cal Davidson&rsquo;s extraordinary
+taste in shirts. All the world lies before us, and
+it is yesterday once more. The Mediterranean,
+Helena, how blue it is&mdash;the Bermudas, how fine
+they are of a winter day! And yonder lies motley
+Egypt and her sands. Or Paris, Helena; or Vienna,
+the voluptuous, with her gay ways of life.
+Or Nagasaki, Helena&mdash;little brown folks running
+about, and all the world white in blossoms. All the
+world, Helena, with only you and I in it, and
+with not a care until, at least, we have eaten the
+last of our tinned goods of the ship&rsquo;s supplies;
+since I am poor. But if I could give you all that,
+would I be nice?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Would that suit you, Harry?&rdquo; she asked soberly;
+&ldquo;just gallivanting?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You know it would not. You know I want
+no vacation lasting all my life, nor does any real
+man. You know it was yourself that forced me
+out of my man&rsquo;s place and robbed me of my
+greatest right.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg&nbsp;200]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;a man&rsquo;s place is to fight and
+to work. It&rsquo;s the same to-day. But,&rdquo; she added,
+&ldquo;you ran away; and you lost.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But am I not trying to recoup my fortune,
+Helena? You see, I have already acquired a yacht,
+although but a few weeks ago I started in the
+world with scarcely more than my bare hands.
+Could Monte Cristo have done more?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t money a woman wants in a man.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What is it, then?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;Oh, come, we
+mustn&rsquo;t go to arguing these things all over
+again! I&rsquo;m weary of it. And certainly Aunt
+Lucinda and I both are weary of our hat box
+yonder. That&rsquo;s what I asked you, how long?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;As long as I like, Helena, you and your Aunt
+Lucinda shall dwell there. What would you say
+to three years or so?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She seemed not to hear. &ldquo;I believe I&rsquo;ve found
+a four leaf clover,&rdquo; said she.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Much good fortune may it bring you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let me try my fortune,&rdquo; said she, and began
+plucking off the leaves. &ldquo;He loves me, he loves
+me not; he loves me, he loves me not.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There!&rdquo; she said, holding up the naked stem
+triumphantly; &ldquo;I knew it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It would be a fairer test, had you a daisy,
+Helena,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;or something with more leaves;
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg&nbsp;201]</a></span>
+not that I know whose has been this ordeal. Suppose
+it were myself, and that you tried this one.&rdquo;
+I handed her a trefoil, but she waved it aside.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I will try to find you a four leaf clover for
+your own, after a while,&rdquo; said she, and bobbed
+me a very pretty courtesy. Angered, I caught at
+the stick I was carrying with so sudden a grip
+that I broke it in two.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I did not know your hands were so strong,
+Harry,&rdquo; said she.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Would they were stronger!&rdquo; was my retort.
+&ldquo;And were I in charge of the affairs of Providence,
+the first thing I would do would be to wring
+the neck of every woman in the world.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And then set out to put them together again,
+Harry? Don&rsquo;t be silly.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes, naturally. But you must admit,
+Helena, that women have no sense of reason whatever.
+For instance, if you really were trying out
+the fortune of some man on a daisy&rsquo;s head, you
+would not accept the decree of fate, any more
+than you could tell why you loved him or loved
+him not. Why does a woman love a man, Helena?
+You say I must not be silly&mdash;should I then be
+wise?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, you are much too wise, so that you often
+bore me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nor should he be poor?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg&nbsp;202]</a></span>
+&ldquo;No.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nor rich?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Certainly not. Rich men also usually are bores&mdash;they
+talk about themselves too much.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Should he be a tall man?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not too tall, for they&rsquo;re lanky, nor short, because
+they get fat. You see, each girl has her own
+ideal about such matters. Then, she always marries
+a man as different as possible from her ideal.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why does she marry a man at all, Helena?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She never knows. Why should she? But
+look&mdash;&rdquo; she pointed out across the water&mdash;&ldquo;the
+train is leaving the ferry boat. Isn&rsquo;t that Captain
+Peterson going aboard the train?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, Helena, I&rsquo;ve sent him down-town to get
+some light reading for you and your Aunt Lucinda&mdash;<i>Fox&rsquo;s
+Book of Martyrs</i>, and the <i>Critique of
+Pure Reason</i>&mdash;the latter especially recommended
+to yourself. I would I had in print a copy of my
+<i>magnum opus</i>, my treatment on native American
+<i>culicid&aelig;</i>. My book on the mosquito is going to
+be handsomely illustrated, Helena, believe me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She turned upon me with a curious look.
+&ldquo;Harry,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;you&rsquo;ve changed in some ways.
+If I were not so bored by life in yonder hat box,
+I might even be interested in you for a few minutes.
+You used always to be so sober, but now,
+sometimes, I wonder if I understand you. Honestly,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg&nbsp;203]</a></span>
+you were an awful stick, and no girl likes a
+stick about her. What do girls care which dynasty
+it was that built the pyramids?&mdash;it&rsquo;s Biskra they
+want to see. And we don&rsquo;t care when or why
+Baron Haussmann built the Boulevard Haussmann
+in Paris&mdash;it&rsquo;s the boulevard itself interests us.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is the fate of genius to be cast aside,&rdquo; said
+I. &ldquo;No doubt even I shall be forgotten&mdash;even
+after my book on the <i>culicid&aelig;</i> shall have been
+completed.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;So that,&rdquo; she went on, not noticing me,
+&ldquo;there is that one point in your favor.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Then there is a chance?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes, for me to study you as you once did
+me&mdash;as one of the <i>culicid&aelig;</i>, I presume. But if
+you would listen to reason, and end this foolishness,
+and set us all ashore, why, I would be almost
+willing to forgive you, and we might be
+friends again,&mdash;only friends, Harry, as we once
+were. Why not, Harry?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You wheedle well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but you forget
+that what you ask is impossible. I am Black Bart
+the Avenger, and the hand of every man is against
+me. I am too deep in this adventure to end it
+here. Why? I did not even dare go down-town
+for fear I might be arrested. Nothing remains
+but further flight, and when you ask me to fly and
+leave you here, you ask what is impossible.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg&nbsp;204]</a></span>
+She stood for a time silent, a trifle paler, her
+flowers fallen from her hand, clearly unhappy,
+but clearly not yet beaten. &ldquo;Come,&rdquo; said she
+coldly, &ldquo;we must not be brutal to Aunt Lucinda
+also. Let us go back.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;now you have back your parole.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I think I should like an artichoke for luncheon,&rdquo;
+said she. &ldquo;Vinaigrette, you know.&rdquo; And she
+passed aft, her head hidden by her white parasol,
+but I knew with chin as high as though she were
+Marie Antoinette herself. Nor did I feel much
+happier than had I been her executioner.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg&nbsp;205]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH IS A PRETTY KETTLE OF FISH</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">M</span>ISS Helena Emory had her artichoke for luncheon,
+and judging from my own, my boy
+John never had prepared a better, good as he was
+with artichokes; but we ate apart, the ladies not
+coming to our table. It was late afternoon before
+I saw Helena again, once more come on deck. She
+was sitting in a steamer chair with her face leaning
+against her hand, and looking out across the
+water at the passing shipping. She sat motionless
+a long time, the whole droop of her figure, the
+poise of her tender curved chin, wistful and unhappy,
+although she said no word. For myself,
+I did not accost her. I, too, looked up and down
+the great river, not knowing at what moment some
+discerning eye might spy us out, and I longed for
+nothing so much as that night or Peterson would
+come.</p>
+
+<p>He did come at last, late in the afternoon, on
+an outbound train, and he hurried aboard as rapidly
+as he might. The first thing he did was to hand
+me a copy of an afternoon paper. I opened it
+eagerly enough, already well assured of what news
+it might carry.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg&nbsp;206]</a></span>
+On the front page, under a large, black head,
+was a despatch from Baton Rouge relaying other
+despatches received at that point, from many points
+between Plaquimine and Bayou Sara. These, in
+short, told the story of the most high-handed attempt
+at river piracy known in recent years. The
+private yacht of Calvin Davidson, a wealthy
+northern business man, on his way South for the
+winter, had been seized by a band of masked
+ruffians, who boarded her while the yacht&rsquo;s owner
+was temporarily absent on important business in
+the city of Natchez. These ruffians, abandoning
+their own boat, had at once gone on down-stream.
+They had been hailed by officers of Baton Rouge,
+acting under advice by wire from Mr. Davidson,
+on his way down from Natchez. The robber band
+had paid no attention to the officers of the law,
+but had continued their course. In some way
+the stolen craft had mysteriously disappeared that
+afternoon and night, nor had any word of her
+yet been received from points as far south as Plaquimine.
+A bottle thrown overboard by one of
+the prisoners taken on the yacht contained a message
+to Mr. Davidson, with the request that he
+should meet the sender at New Orleans; but there
+was no signature to the note.</p>
+
+<p>Many mysterious circumstances surrounded this
+sensational piece of piracy, according to the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg&nbsp;207]</a></span>
+journalistic view-point. On board the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>
+were two ladies, the beautiful young heiress, Miss
+Helena Emory, well known in northern social
+circles, and her aunt, Mrs. Lucinda Daniver, widow
+of the late Commodore Daniver, United States
+Navy. Mr. Davidson himself was unable to assign
+any reason for this bold act of this abduction, although
+he feared the worst for the comfort or
+even the safety of the two ladies, whose fate at
+this writing remained unknown. The greatest mystery
+surrounded the identity of the leader of this
+bold deed, whose name Mr. Davidson could not imagine.
+He was reported to suspect that these same
+river pirates, earlier in the day, attacked and perhaps
+made away with a friend of his whose name
+is not yet given. A cigarette case was found in the
+abandoned boat, which Mr. Davidson thought
+looked somewhat familiar to him, although he
+could not say as to its ownership. He could and
+did aver positively, however, that a photograph in
+a leather case on the abandoned boat was a portrait
+of none other than Miss Helena Emory, one
+of the captives made away with by the river ruffians.
+Mr. Davidson could assign no explanation
+of these circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>Later despatches received at Baton Rouge, so
+the New Orleans journal said, might or might not
+clear up the mystery of the stolen yacht&rsquo;s
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg&nbsp;208]</a></span>
+disappearance, although the senders seemed much
+excited. One story from a down-river point,
+brought in by an excited negro, told of a dozen
+bottles found floating in the bayou. The negro,
+however, had broken them all open, and declared
+they had contained nothing but bits of paper, which
+he had thrown away. He also told a wild story
+that the plantation store at Hamlin&rsquo;s Landing, on
+Bayou Henry, had been looted in broad daylight,
+by a young man and a boy, apparently members
+of the pirate crew. The younger of the two ruffians
+was masked, and on being asked for pay for
+gasoline, refused it at the point of his weapons,
+declaring that pirates never paid.</p>
+
+<p>While no attention should be paid to rumors
+such as the latter, the despatches went on to say,
+it was obvious that a most high-handed outrage
+had been perpetrated. It was supposed that the
+swift yacht had been hurried forward, and had
+passed New Orleans in the night. Once out of
+the river, and among the shallow bays of the Gulf
+Coast, the ruffians might, perhaps, for some time
+evade pursuit, just as did the craft of Jean Lafitte,
+himself, a century ago. Meantime, only the greatest
+anxiety could pervade the hearts of the friends
+of these ladies thus placed in the power of ruthless
+bandits. Such an outrage upon civilization
+could, of course, occur only under the administration
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg&nbsp;209]</a></span>
+of the Republican party. The journal therefore
+hoped:&mdash;and so forth, and so forth.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Peterson,&rdquo; said I, after digesting this interesting
+information, &ldquo;you&rsquo;ve read this. What have
+you to say?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Peterson was more despondent even than was
+his wont. &ldquo;It looks mighty bad, Mr. Harry,&rdquo; said
+he, &ldquo;and I don&rsquo;t profess to understand it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Did you order the supplies?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes, but they may forget to send them
+after all.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is your intention to stick by me, Peterson?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, there must be some mistake,&rdquo; he said,
+&ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t see what else I can do.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There is a mistake, Peterson,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;This
+is more newspaper sensation. Mr. Davidson is
+excited over something he doesn&rsquo;t understand.
+If I had him here now I could explain it all easily.
+But, before the matter can be explained in this
+way, we must wait until this excitement dies down.
+Why, at this gait, it would hardly be safe for
+either of us to be recognized here in town. We
+might be arrested and put to a lot of trouble. The
+best thing we can do is to run on down the river
+and wait until Davidson gets down and until we
+get this thing adjusted. That is why I wanted
+the supplies to-night.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But suppose we are discovered to-night?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg&nbsp;210]</a></span>
+&ldquo;We take that chance, but I fancy that I have
+certain legal rights, after all, and I own this boat.
+Fortune favors the bold. I shall make no attempt
+to hide, either now or then, Peterson. At the
+same time, while we will not run away from plain
+sight, there is no need to take unnecessary chances.
+Drop some white sail-cloth over the yacht&rsquo;s name
+on her bows, and on the fantail. Have one or two
+of the boys go overboard in slings and seem to be
+painting her sides. That will give the look that
+we are safe to lie here some time&mdash;which is the
+last thing the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> really would do, or
+will do. They think we&rsquo;ve run past the city already,
+and they&rsquo;ll be watching at Quarantine, and
+along the Lake Borgne Canal. Most of the yachts
+go out that way, headed for Florida. We&rsquo;ll go the
+other way. It&rsquo;s an adventure, Peterson, and one
+which any viking, like yourself, ought to relish.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So I do, Mr. Harry,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;but I hardly
+knew which course to lay.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Blood will tell, Peterson,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Your
+ancestors were Danish pirates; mine were English
+pirates.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;For God&rsquo;s sake, Mr. Harry, don&rsquo;t talk that
+way. We mustn&rsquo;t go against the law.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure that we have as yet, Peterson,
+for the law says nothing about abduction of
+ladies in pairs, or for purposes truly honorable.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg&nbsp;211]</a></span>
+Frankly, Peterson&mdash;and because you&rsquo;ve been long
+in my employ&mdash;I&rsquo;ll tell you something. I intend
+to marry that young lady if she&rsquo;s not already married
+to Mr. Davidson.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Lord, Mr. Harry, she ain&rsquo;t&mdash;at least not since
+she come aboard the boat.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In that case,&rdquo; said I, drawing a long breath,
+&ldquo;this is not such a bad world after all.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not at all, Mr. Harry. I was going to say,
+as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, but of
+course I don&rsquo;t know about what she&rsquo;ll say. She
+looks to me like one of these girls that&rsquo;s been petted
+a good deal, and Mr. Harry, believe me, I
+always fight shy of a pet horse, or a pet boat, or
+a pet woman&mdash;they&rsquo;re always hard to handle, and
+they raise the devil when they get a chance. I
+hope you&rsquo;ll pardon me, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;On the contrary, Peterson, I am grateful to
+you. You are on double pay from the time I took
+command. Moreover, I promise you the best
+cruise we ever had together. Once among the
+shallow bays on the coast down there, we can
+take care of ourselves while this chase cools down.
+We&rsquo;re faster than anything on the Gulf, and draw
+less water than most of them of anything like
+our speed. You take care of the boat and I&rsquo;ll
+take care of the girl&mdash;or try to. I have attachment
+papers all made out, to file on the boat if
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg&nbsp;212]</a></span>
+need be&mdash;and I also have an attachment for the
+girl, when it comes to that.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The old man shook his head. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got the
+easiest job,&rdquo; said he.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg&nbsp;213]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIV</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH WE HAVE A SENSATION</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>ITH no more than these slight precautions
+which I have indicated, we lay all that afternoon
+in plain view of the world; and because all the
+world could not suspect us of such hardihood, all
+the world went by without suspecting that the
+stolen <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> and her ruthless pirate crew
+were there in full sight and apparently inviting or
+defying apprehension. Sometimes a passing craft
+would salute us as we lay, and we returned the
+courtesy without fail. I know not whether more
+bottles were cast overboard by Aunt Lucinda, but
+if so, we heard of none. At last, after what
+seemed days to me, though no more than hours,
+the shade of twilight fell across the river, the outlines
+of the passing boats grew less distinct. Now
+and again we could hear the wail of railway
+whistle, or see the curved snake of the lighted
+train dashing across the alluvial lands toward the
+ferry. Here and there, beyond, pin points of red
+lights shone. At last the night fell full, and,
+gladly enough, I gave the order for the continuance
+of our journey.</p>
+
+<p>We slipped down-stream gently and silently, yet
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg&nbsp;214]</a></span>
+speedily withal, seeking to time our arrival, as
+nearly as we might, to the hour assigned for the
+delivery of our supplies at the dock.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m none too easy in my mind,&rdquo; said my old
+skipper to me, as we stood together forward.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why not, Peterson?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s them two boys,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;You talk of
+pirates&mdash;there&rsquo;s the bloodiest pair of pirates as
+ever was. I hardly know whether my own life&rsquo;s
+safe or not, to hear them talk.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Never do you mind, Peterson,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Those
+boys may be useful to us yet. The one with blue
+eyes has proved himself able to keep the ladies
+in their cabin, and as for the one who was going
+to run you through when we took the boat, he still
+may have to work to keep Williams down in the
+engine-room when we make our landing.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It may come out all right,&rdquo; said the old man
+gloomily, &ldquo;but sometimes I fear for the worst.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You always do, Peterson, and that is no frame
+of mind for a healthy pirate. But here we are
+below the railway warehouse district, and I think
+nearly opposite slip K, where we land. Port your
+helm, and run in slow. We&rsquo;ve got to have gasoline,
+although I must say my two bullies took
+aboard quite a store up there at the Bayou.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Port it is, sir,&rdquo; said Peterson gloomily, still
+smoking. And he made as neat a landing as ever
+in his life.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg&nbsp;215]</a></span>
+A shadowy form arose amidst the blackness of
+the dock and came directly forward to take our
+line.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Who&rsquo;s that?&rdquo; I demanded. &ldquo;Are you from
+Lavallier and Thibodeau?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, M&rsquo;sieu,&rdquo; came the answer. &ldquo;Those supply
+is here.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;All right. Help him get the stuff aboard,
+Peterson.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>They went about their work. Just as turning
+I saw standing at my elbow, the slight form of
+L&rsquo;Olonnois, his arms folded and hat drawn upon
+his brow.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Bid the varlets hasten,&rdquo; he hissed to me.
+&ldquo;Time passes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Back to your post, L&rsquo;Olonnois,&rdquo; I rejoined.
+&ldquo;See that the captives remain in their room.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Jean Lafitte, too, proved unable to restrain his
+curiosity, and this time his habit of close observation
+was of benefit in an unexpected way.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hist, Black Bart!&rdquo; he whispered distinctly,
+clutching my arm. &ldquo;What boat is that?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He pointed in the dim light to a low lying, battered
+power boat moored in the same slip with
+us. Something in her look seemed familiar.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see her name,&rdquo; said Jean Lafitte, &ldquo;but
+she looks a lot like our own old boat.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I hastily stepped on the wharf and got a closer
+look in the wavering beams of an arc light at the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg&nbsp;216]</a></span>
+name on the boat&rsquo;s bows. There, in indistinct and
+shaky, but unmistakable characters, was the title
+painted by my young ruffians, weeks earlier&mdash;<i>Sea
+Rover!</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jean Lafitte,&rdquo; I whispered, &ldquo;you are right, and
+now indeed we must have a care. Yon varlet has
+beaten us into New Orleans.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s board her and take her,&rdquo; hissed Jean
+Lafitte. &ldquo;We can do it easy.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, wait,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Perhaps we can think of
+a better plan. Wait till we get two drums of
+gasoline aboard. Then we&rsquo;ll make a run for it,
+if yon varlet is here on the <i>Sea Rover</i>. Probably
+not, for every one seems gone to bed.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll find out,&rdquo; said Jean Lafitte boldly, and
+before I could stop him was gone, springing lightly
+on the deck of the <i>Sea Rover</i>.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hello in there,&rdquo; he hailed. &ldquo;Are you all
+asleep?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A voice muttered something from the shallow
+cabin, I could not tell what. &ldquo;We got a barrel
+of rum for you from Thibodeau&rsquo;s,&rdquo; said Jean Lafitte.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, you ain&rsquo;t. Must be some mistake,&rdquo; said
+a sleepy voice; and now a tousled head appeared,
+indistinct in the gloom. &ldquo;Anyhow, I don&rsquo;t know
+anything about it, and it&rsquo;ll have to stay on the
+dock until morning. I&rsquo;m only the engineer, I
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg&nbsp;217]</a></span>
+come from Natchez. Mr. Davidson, he&rsquo;s up-town.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, all right,&rdquo; said Jean Lafitte, apparently
+mollified, and soon was at my side again. So
+then, we had the information we sought. I was
+sure my own engineer, Williams, was busy as
+usual below, oiling and polishing his double sixties.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hurry now,&rdquo; I whispered to Peterson. &ldquo;Get
+that stuff aboard quick. Don&rsquo;t forget the crates
+of fruit and vegetables.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We were nearly done with this work, when for
+a moment all seemed on the point of going wrong
+with us. I heard shufflings and door slammings
+from the after cabin. &ldquo;Help! Help!&rdquo; sounded
+the voice of Aunt Lucinda, somewhat muffled. It
+chanced that my engineer, Williams, at that
+moment poked his head up his ladder to get a
+breath of fresh air.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s that?&rdquo; he demanded of me as I passed.
+&ldquo;I thought I heard some one calling.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, you did, Williams,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;It was Mrs.
+Daniver. She suffers much with neuralgia and
+is in great pain. I shouldn&rsquo;t wonder if I should
+have to go up-town and get a physician for her
+even yet. But, Williams, in any case we&rsquo;ll be sailing
+soon, and I want you to overhaul the screen
+of the intake pipe for that port boiler. We&rsquo;re
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg&nbsp;218]</a></span>
+getting into very sandy waters, and of course you
+don&rsquo;t want anything to happen to your engines.
+Can you attend to that at once?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Surely, sir,&rdquo; said he, and went below again. I
+closed the hatch on him. Meantime I hurried aft,
+to see what could be done toward quelling any
+possible uproar. My blue-eyed lieutenant, L&rsquo;Olonnois,
+had been as efficient in his way as Jean Lafitte.
+Now, in full character, he was enjoying
+himself immensely. When I saw him, he was
+standing with his feet spread wide apart in the
+center of the cabin floor, with drawn sword in
+his hand.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; said he, addressing himself to Aunt
+Lucinda, &ldquo;it irks me as a gentleman to be rude
+with one so fair, but let me hear one more word
+from you, and your life&rsquo;s blood shall dye the deck,
+and you shall walk the plank at the morning sun.
+You deal with L&rsquo;Olonnois, who knows no fear!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Deep silence, broken presently by a little laugh;
+and I heard Helena&rsquo;s voice in remonstrance.
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be so silly, Jimmie!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Silly, indeed,&rdquo; boomed the deep voice of Aunt
+Lucinda, catching sight of me at the door. &ldquo;Yonder
+is the villain who put him up to this.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, is that you?&rdquo; said Helena, coming toward
+me. &ldquo;Where are we, Harry?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In the port of New Orleans, Miss Helena,&rdquo;
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg&nbsp;219]</a></span>
+was my answer, &ldquo;a city of some three hundred
+thousand souls, noted for its manufacture of
+sugar, and its large shipments abroad of the staple
+cotton.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;May I come on deck?&rdquo; she queried after a
+while.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We are alongside the levee, and there is little
+to see. We shall be sailing now in a few moments.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But mayn&rsquo;t I come up and see New Orleans,
+even for a minute as we pass by? I&rsquo;ll be good.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You may come up under parole,&rdquo; said I, throwing
+open the door. &ldquo;But you must bring your
+aunt&rsquo;s parole also. You must give no alarm, for
+we have every reason here for silence.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She turned back and held some converse with
+Auntie Lucinda, and by what spell I know not,
+won the promise of the latter to remain silent and
+make no attempt at escape. A little later she was
+at my side in the dim light cast by a flickering
+and distant arc light at the street.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have your word, then?&rdquo; I demanded of her.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes. You can&rsquo;t blame me for wanting to get
+out, to see what is going on.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A great deal may be going on here any moment,&rdquo;
+said I. &ldquo;In fact, if I could show you the
+evening newspapers&mdash;which I purpose doing to-morrow
+morning&mdash;it might seem to you that a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg&nbsp;220]</a></span>
+great deal already has gone on. For one thing,
+Cal Davidson is in town ahead of us. That&rsquo;s his
+boat yonder, rubbing sides with us. He doesn&rsquo;t
+know we&rsquo;re here. He himself is off up-town, at
+the Boston Club, probably, or perhaps some of
+the caf&eacute;s&mdash;he knows a thousand people here.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So do I, Harry,&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;To think of going
+by in this plight! And to think of leaving New
+Orleans without even one little supper at Luigi&rsquo;s,
+Harry&mdash;it breaks my heart.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We are almost ready to sail, Helena. Suppose
+we see Luigi&rsquo;s some other time. Things are getting
+pretty close about us here.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Any pirate should be a man of courage,&rdquo; said
+she; &ldquo;he should be ever willing to take a chance.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very well; have I not taken several chances
+already?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And again, a pirate ought to be kind toward
+all women, oughtn&rsquo;t he, Harry? I asked you this
+afternoon, why couldn&rsquo;t we be friends again and
+stop all this foolishness. Let&rsquo;s forget everything
+and just be friends.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What! Again, Helena? Have I not tried that
+and found it a failure?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You have no courage. You are no pirate. I
+challenge you to a test.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What is it, Helena?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let us go up-town and have a little supper
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg&nbsp;221]</a></span>
+at Luigi&rsquo;s, the way we used to, Harry, when we
+really were friends.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What, with Cal Davidson loose in the town
+and his boat lying here?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That is the adventure!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You would turn me over to the authorities?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, but I would sell my parole for a mess of
+woodcock, Harry.&rdquo; She laid a hand upon my
+arm. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t tell you how much I want a little
+supper at Luigi&rsquo;s, Harry. I like the Chianti there.
+Between us we could afford thirty cents a bottle,
+could we not? Now, if I gave my parole&mdash;and
+of course, every one would be here at the boat just
+the same&mdash;But of course, I did not expect you
+would.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why did you not?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Because it is an adventure, because it will take
+something of real courage, I fancy, to meet a
+risk like that!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There would be some risk for us all,&rdquo; said I
+truly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There you go, balancing and not deciding.
+You are no pirate.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What will you give me if I go, Helena?&rdquo;
+said I.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing beyond thanking you. One thing,
+you must not think that I would trick or trap
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg&nbsp;222]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Many a criminal has been trapped by a woman
+whom he loves,&rdquo; said I slowly. &ldquo;But you would
+not do that if I had your word, even though you
+hated me. And you do hate me very much, do
+you not?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, very much. But if you took me by New
+Orleans without a supper at Luigi&rsquo;s, I should hate
+you even more.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jean&mdash;Jean Lafitte,&rdquo; I called out in a low tone
+of voice.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, aye, Sir!&rdquo; he saluted, as he came to the
+place where we stood, like some seasoned sailorman,
+regardless of youthful hours of sleep.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am going up-town with the captive maiden.
+Do you stand here on watch. We shall be gone
+about three hours.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hully gee!&rdquo; ejaculated Jean Lafitte, but at once
+he saluted again. &ldquo;&rsquo;Tis well, Black Bart,&rdquo; said
+he.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Tell Captain Peterson to let no one come on
+board this boat under any pretense; nor must any
+one leave it until I get back. If any one asks for
+me, say I&rsquo;m up-town.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t Aunt Lucinda going, too?&rdquo; demanded
+Helena.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She certainly is not!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is it&mdash;is it quite correct for me to go alone
+with you?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg&nbsp;223]</a></span>
+&ldquo;That is your part of the adventure, Helena,&rdquo;
+said I calmly. An instant later I had led her
+across the dingy warehouse dock, over dusty
+streets, to a crooked street-car line over which I
+could hear approaching one of the infrequent
+cars.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg&nbsp;224]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXV</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH WE MEET THE OTHER MAN, ALSO
+ANOTHER WOMAN</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">L</span>UIGI&rsquo;S place, as all men know, is situated
+upon a small, crooked and very dirty street,
+yet none the less, it is an abode of contentment
+for those who know good living. When
+Helena and I entered the door I felt as one
+again at home. Here were the sanded floors,
+the old water-bottles, the large chandelier with
+its cut glasses in the middle of the room, the
+small tables with their coarse clean linen. The
+same old French waiters stood here and there
+about, each with impeccable apron and very
+peccable shoes, as is the wont of all waiters.
+But the waiters at Luigi&rsquo;s are more than waiters;
+they are friends, and they never forget a
+face. Therefore, as always, I had no occasion
+for surprise when Jean, my waiter these many
+years at Luigi&rsquo;s, stepped forward as though it
+had been but last week and not three years ago
+when he had seen me. He called me by name,
+greeted me again to his city, and gently aided
+Helena with her wraps and gloves.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And M&rsquo;sieu can not long remain away from
+us, forever?&rdquo; said he.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg&nbsp;225]</a></span>
+&ldquo;It has been three years, Jean,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;more
+is the pity. But now, I can remain three hours&mdash;will
+that serve? At the end of that time
+we must away.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Jean was human, yet discreet. He knew that
+when last he saw me I was a single man. Now
+he had doubts. He stood hovering about, a
+question on his tongue, smitten of admiration
+much as had been my dog, Partial, at his first
+sight of Helena. At last he made excuse to
+step close behind my chair under pretense of
+finding my napkin.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Enfin, M&rsquo;sieu?</i>&rdquo; said he, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Pas encore</i>, Jean!&rdquo; I replied.</p>
+
+<p>I saw a slow flush on Helena&rsquo;s cheek, but
+she gave no other sign that she had overheard.
+So I began forthwith making much ado about
+ordering our supper, which as usual really was
+much a matter of Jean&rsquo;s taste.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We have to-night in the ice-boxes, M&rsquo;sieu,&rdquo;
+said that artist, &ldquo;some cock oysters which are
+dreams. Moreover, I have laid aside two canvasbacks,
+the best I ever saw&mdash;it was in the
+hope that some really good friend of mine
+would come in. Behold, I am happy&mdash;I must
+have been expecting you. Believe me, we
+have never had better birds than these. They are
+excellent.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Perhaps the oysters, Jean,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;very
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg&nbsp;226]</a></span>
+small and dark. I presume possibly a very
+small <i>fillet</i> of trout this evening, and the sauce&mdash;you
+still can make it, Jean? Such <i>entr&eacute;es</i>
+as you like, of course. But, since Mademoiselle&mdash;&rdquo;
+and here I smiled&mdash;&ldquo;and I, also, are
+very hungry this evening, we wish a woodcock
+after the canvasback, if you do not mind. Perhaps
+it is not too much?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Mais non!</i>&rdquo; replied Jean. &ldquo;You are of those
+who know well that to eat too much is not to
+dine well. But I shall bring you two oysters,
+<i>marini&egrave;re</i>&mdash;a sauce my own wife invented. And
+yes, some small bird, <i>beccasine</i>, broiled lightly&mdash;perhaps
+you will enjoy it after the canvasback,
+although I assure you those are excellent indeed.
+We have few sweets here, as M&rsquo;sieu
+knows, but cheese, if you like, and of course
+coffee; and always we have the red wine which
+I remember M&rsquo;sieu liked so much.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is with you, Jean,&rdquo; said I. And Helena,
+turning, smiled upon him swiftly, in such fashion
+that he scarce touched the floor at all as he
+walked out for his radishes and olives.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it nice?&rdquo; said Helena. &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it like
+the old times? I always loved this old town.
+It seems so homelike.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Please do not use that word, Helena,&rdquo; said
+I. &ldquo;I wish to be entirely happy to-night, in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg&nbsp;227]</a></span>
+belief that some time I shall know what home
+is.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do you think Jean knew me also?&rdquo; she demanded.
+&ldquo;Certainly, I have been here also
+before.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No one who has ever seen you, Helena, ever
+forgets you. But Jean is, of course, discreet.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Suppose he knew that I was here to-night
+against my free will, and only under parole?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jean is wise; he knows such things ought
+not to be, even if they are. And he understood
+me when I said, &lsquo;not yet.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said she; &ldquo;quite right. <i>Pas encore!</i>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Jean returned, and as a special favor to an
+old patron asked us politely if we would enjoy
+a look through the kitchen and the ice-boxes.
+As usual, we accepted this invitation, and
+passed back through the green swing doors,
+following our guide along the row of charcoal
+fires, through a dingy room decorated with
+shining coppers and bits of glass and silver.
+These ice-boxes were such as to offer continual
+delight to any epicure, what with their rows
+of fat clean fishes and crabs and oysters, the
+birds nicely plucked, all the dainties which this
+rich market of the South could afford, from
+papabotte to terrapin. Helena herself selected
+two woodcock and approved the judgment of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg&nbsp;228]</a></span>
+Jean in canvasback. Presently she turned to
+me, a flush of embarrassment upon her face.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Harry,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like to say anything,
+but you know&mdash;you&rsquo;ve been telling me
+you were so poor. Now, a girl doesn&rsquo;t want
+to make it difficult&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Mademoiselle,&rdquo; said I, bowing, &ldquo;I am quite
+able to foot the bill to-night. I had just sold
+some hay before I started from home.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;m awfully hungry,&rdquo; she admitted;
+&ldquo;besides, it&rsquo;s such a lark.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I; and presently, as we reached
+our table again, I showed her the afternoon
+papers, which as yet she had not seen. She
+read through the account of our escapade, her
+lips compressed; but presently she folded the
+paper and laid it down without comment.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;At any minute, you see,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I may be
+apprehended and our little supper brought to
+an end. That is why I hastened with the order.
+I do not wish to hurry you in any way, however,
+and we shall use the full three hours.
+Although, of course, you see that the bird of
+time indeed is on the wing to-night, as well as
+those other birds on the broilers.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She only looked at me steadily and made no
+comment. &ldquo;Once suspected here,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;all
+is over for me, and you are free again. It
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg&nbsp;229]</a></span>
+would be entirely easy for you to make some
+sign or movement which I, perhaps, could not
+detect. Perhaps, at any moment, some one may
+enter who knows you&mdash;as I&rsquo;ve said, no one can
+look at you and forget you, Helena. But
+please let none of this affect your appetite.
+Our little supper is our little adventure. I
+hope you will enjoy both, my dear.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You did take some chance, did you not?&rdquo;
+she said slowly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It might be a chance.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But you will be so nervous you can&rsquo;t enjoy
+your spread.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not in the least, Helena. A nervous man
+has no business in the trade of piracy;&mdash;but,
+ah! the <i>fillet</i> of trout, Helena.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Jean was proud of his art, the chef proud
+also, and the chef knew we were here. A general
+air of comfort seemed to settle down upon
+our little corner of the restaurant, a quiet contentment.
+For the most part, folk came here
+who had no hurry and no anxiety, and it was
+a sort of club for many persons who knew how
+to eat and to live and to enjoy life quietly, as
+life should be enjoyed. None dreamed, of
+course, that aught but equal leisure existed for
+our little table, where sat a rather lank and
+shabby man in flannels, and a very especially
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg&nbsp;230]</a></span>
+beautiful young woman in half evening dress.
+At Luigi&rsquo;s, every one is polite to every one else,
+and the curiosity is but that of fraternity. Perhaps,
+some eyes were cast our way, I could
+not tell.</p>
+
+<p>Jean, in slow solemnity and pleasant ease,
+brought on many things not nominated in the
+bond. At length he arranged his duck-press
+on his little table near us, and having squeezed
+the elixir from the two dissected fowls, began
+to stir the juices into a sauce of his own, made
+with sherry wine and a touch of <i>fil&eacute;</i>, many
+things which Jean knows best. He was just
+in the act of pouring this most delectable sauce
+over the two bits of tender fowl upon our hot
+plates, when, happening to look up, I saw
+some one entering the door.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jean, if you please,&rdquo; said I, deliberately pulling
+the coat-rack in front of our table, &ldquo;Mademoiselle
+perhaps feels a slight draft. Would
+you fetch a screen?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He turned. &ldquo;Helena,&rdquo; said I, after a moment,
+&ldquo;now our adventure has come.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;Why do
+you do that?&rdquo;&mdash;she nodded at the screen. &ldquo;Why,
+I say?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have your parole?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am glad it is yes!&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;You could
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg&nbsp;231]</a></span>
+break it now and escape so easily. One little
+move on your part and my punishment is at
+hand.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Who was it?&rdquo; she asked, suspecting.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No one much,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;only our esteemed
+friend, Mr. Calvin Davidson, whose waistcoat
+I am now wearing. Some one is with him, I
+don&rsquo;t know who it is. A very nice-looking
+lady, next to the most beautiful woman in this
+room, I must say.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let me see,&rdquo; said she; and I allowed her
+to look through the crack in the screen.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She certainly is very stunning,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;is
+she not? Tall, dark, a trifle superb&mdash;I wonder&mdash;I
+wonder sometimes, Helena, if Cal Davidson
+is true to Poll?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nonsense!&rdquo; was her retort. &ldquo;But as you
+say, here is our adventure, or at least yours.
+How do you propose to get out of it?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know yet,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Just at present
+I do not wish this canvasback to get cold. We
+have remaining before us two hours or more,
+ample time to make any plan which may be
+needed. Coffee, I have found, is excellent for
+plans. Let us make no plans until we have
+had our coffee, after our little dinner. That will
+be an hour or so yet. Plenty of time to plan,
+Helena,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;And please do not slight this
+bird&mdash;it is delicious.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg&nbsp;232]</a></span>
+Her eyes still were sparkling. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m rather
+glad I came,&rdquo; said she.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So am I, and I shall be glad when we are
+back. But meantime I trust you, Helena, absolutely.
+I will even tell you more. Davidson&rsquo;s
+boat, the one which we left him instead
+of the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>, is lying in the same slip
+with ours, rubbing noses with our yacht yonder,
+as I showed you. Our men have talked with
+his. They do not yet suspect that we are the
+vessel which everybody wants to find. I am
+very thankful their engineer was so sleepy. I
+learned there at the wharf that Cal Davidson
+was down-town at his club. He seems to have
+departed long enough to find excellent company,
+as usual. I am glad that he has done so,
+for in all likelihood he will not return to his
+own boat before to-morrow morning. He will
+prefer his room at the club to his bunk on the
+<i>Sea Rover</i>, if I know Cal Davidson. And by
+that time I hope to be far away.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Does he know who you are&mdash;does he know
+who it was that took the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I think not. But, very stupidly&mdash;being so
+anxious to see the original&mdash;I left a photograph
+of yourself on our old boat, the <i>Sea Rover</i>.
+Item, one cigarette case with my initials. Of
+course, Cal Davidson may guess the simple
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg&nbsp;233]</a></span>
+truth, or he may make a mystery of these
+things. It seems he prefers to make a mystery;
+and I am sure that suits me much better.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But knowing these things&mdash;knowing that
+his boat was lying right at the dock alongside
+of us&mdash;why did you stop?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I thought it was you, Helena, who suggested
+this little adventure at Luigi&rsquo;s! And I
+promise you I am enjoying it very much. It
+seems so much like old times.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But that can&rsquo;t ever be over again, Harry.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Naturally not. But often new times are
+quite as good as old ones. I can conceive of
+such a thing in our case. No, I shall use this
+privilege of your society to the limit, Helena,
+fearing I may not see you soon again, after
+once I have put you back in your hat box. You
+coaxed me to leave the boat, and I shall tell
+you when to return.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why not now?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, at twelve o&rsquo;clock. Not earlier.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And you propose sitting here with me till
+then?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I could imagine no better pastime, were I
+condemned to die at sunrise. Tell me, do you
+wish me to call Mr. Davidson?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Of course I do not, since I gave you my
+word. Besides, I know that girl with him. It&rsquo;s
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg&nbsp;234]</a></span>
+Sally Byington. Some call her good-looking,
+but I am sure I don&rsquo;t know why.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Fie upon you! She is superb. In short,
+Helena, I am not sure but she is finer-looking
+than yourself!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Indeed!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes. Cal Davidson, whatever may be his
+taste in neckties or waistcoats, seems to me
+excellent in this other regard. Perhaps just a
+trifle flamboyant for Luigi&rsquo;s, but certainly stunning.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Our relations are not such as to lead me to
+discuss our friends,&rdquo; she rejoined haughtily.
+&ldquo;And, as you say, our duck is getting cold. I
+adore these canvasbacks. I would like to come
+back to-morrow and have another.&rdquo; She cut
+savagely into her fowl.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Alas, Helena, to-morrow you will be far
+away. In time I hope to reconcile you to the
+simple life of piracy. Indeed, unless all plans
+go wrong, we may very likely have canvasbacks
+on the boat; although I can not promise you
+that John will be as good a chef as our friend
+here at Luigi&rsquo;s. All good buccaneers use their
+fair captives well.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Indeed! And why do you not ask Sally
+Byington into your list of prisoners, since you
+fancy her so much.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg&nbsp;235]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Nay, say not so, Helena. I trust I am
+somewhat catholic in taste regarding ladies, as
+any gentleman should be, yet after all, I am
+gentler in my preferences. Quite aside from
+that, I find one fair captive quite enough to
+make me abundant trouble.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>At about this time Jean approached behind
+the screen, bearing a copy of a late edition of
+an evening paper, which fortunately he seemed
+not closely to have scanned. I took it quickly
+and placed it with the front page down.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Monsieur no doubt has heard of the great
+sensation?&rdquo; commented Jean.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, what is that, Jean?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The papers have been full of nothing else.
+It seems a band of cutthroat river pirates have
+stolen a gentleman&rsquo;s yacht, and so far as can
+be told, have escaped with it down the river,
+perhaps entirely to the Gulf.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That, Jean,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;is a most extraordinary
+thing. Are you sure of the facts?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Naturally&mdash;is it not all in the paper? This
+gentleman then has his yacht anchored at
+Natchez, and he goes ashore on important business.
+Comes then this band of river ruffians
+in the dark, and as though pirates of a hundred
+years ago, and led by Jean Lafitte himself, they
+capture the vessel!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg&nbsp;236]</a></span>
+&ldquo;<em>Mon Dieu!</em> Jean you do not say so?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But assuredly I say so; nor is that all, Monsieur.
+On board this yacht was a young and
+beautiful lady of great wealth and beauty, as
+well&mdash;the fianc&eacute;e, so it is said, of this gentleman
+who owns the yacht. What is the action
+of these pirates in regard to this beautiful
+young lady and her aunt, who also is upon the
+yacht for the cruise? Do they place these
+ladies ashore? No, they imprison them upon
+the boat, and so, <em>pouf!</em> off for the gulf. Nor
+has any trace of them been found from that
+time till now. A rumor goes that the gentleman
+who owns the yacht is at this time in New
+Orleans, but as for that unfortunate young
+lady, where is she to-night? I demand that,
+Monsieur. Ah! And she is beautiful.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now, is not this a most extraordinary tale
+you bring, Jean? Let us hope it is not true.
+Why, if it were true, that ruffian might escape
+and hide for days or weeks in the bayous
+around Barataria, even as Jean Lafitte did a
+hundred years ago.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Assuredly he might. Ah, I know it well,
+that country. But Jean Lafitte was no pirate,
+simply a merchant who did not pay duties.
+And he sold silks and laces cheap to the people
+hereabout&mdash;I could show you the very causeway
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg&nbsp;237]</a></span>
+they built across the marsh, to reach the
+place where he landed his boats at the heads of
+one of the great bays&mdash;it is not far from the
+plantation of Monsieur Edouard Manning, below
+New Iberia. Believe me, Monsieur, the country
+folk hunt yet for the buried treasure of Jean Lafitte;
+and sometimes they find it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You please me, Jean. Tell me more of
+that extraordinary person.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Extraordinary, you may call him, Monsieur.
+And he had a way with women, so it is said&mdash;even
+his captives came to admire him in time,
+so generous and bold was he.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A daredevil fellow I doubt not, Jean?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You may say that. But of great good and
+many kindnesses to all the folk in the lower
+parts of this state in times gone by. Now&mdash;say
+it not aloud, Monsieur&mdash;scarce a family in
+all Acadia but has map and key to some buried
+treasure of Jean Lafitte. Why, Monsieur, here
+in this very caf&eacute;, once worked a negro boy.
+He, being sick, I help him as a gentleman does
+those negro, to be sure, and he was of heart
+enough to thank me for that. So one day he
+came to me and told me a story of a treasure
+of a descendant of Lafitte. He himself, this
+negro, had helped his master to bury that same
+treasure.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg&nbsp;238]</a></span>
+&ldquo;And does he know the place now? Could he
+point it out?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Assuredly, and the master who buried it
+now is dead.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Then why does not the negro boy go and
+dig it up again, very naturally?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, for the best reasons. That old Frenchman,
+descendant of Jean Lafitte, was no fool.
+What does he in this burial of treasure? Ah!
+He takes him a white parrot, a black cat and
+a live monkey, and these three, all of them, he
+buries on top of the treasure-box and covers
+all with earth and grass above the earth. And
+then above the grave he says such a malediction
+upon any who may disturb it as would
+alone frighten to the death any person coming
+there and braving such a curse. I suggested
+to the negro boy that he should show me the
+spot. Monsieur, he grew pale in terror. Not
+for a million pounds of solid gold would he go
+near that place, him.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That also is a most extraordinary story,
+Jean. Taken with this other fairy tale which
+you have told me to-night, you almost make me
+feel that we are back in the great old days
+which this country once saw. But alas!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;As you say, Monsieur, alas!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now as to that ruffian who stole the gentleman&rsquo;s
+yacht,&rdquo; I resumed. &ldquo;Has he reflected?
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg&nbsp;239]</a></span>
+Has he indeed made his way to the Gulf? Why,
+he might even be hiding here in the city somewhere.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, hardly that, and if so, he well may look
+out for the law.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I think a sherbet would be excellent for the
+lady now, Jean,&rdquo; I ventured, whereat he departed.
+I turned over the paper and showed
+Helena her own portrait on the front page,
+four columns deep and set in such framing of
+blackfaced scare type as made me blush for
+my own sins.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is an adventure, Helena!&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Had
+you not been far the most beautiful woman in
+this restaurant to-night, and had not Jean been
+all eyes for you, he otherwise would have
+looked at this paper rather than at you. Then
+he would have looked at us both and must
+have seen the truth.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is an adventure,&rdquo; said she slowly, her
+color heightening; and later, &ldquo;You carried it
+off well, Harry.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I bowed to her across the table. &ldquo;Need was
+to act quickly, for even this vile newspaper
+cut is a likeness of you. One glance from Jean,
+which may come at any moment later, Helena,
+and your parole will be needless further.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I confess I wished to test you. It was
+wrong, foolish of me, Harry.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg&nbsp;240]</a></span>
+&ldquo;You have been tested no less, Helena, to-night.
+And I have found you a gentle high-born
+lady, as I had always known you to be.
+<i>Noblesse oblige</i>, my dear, and you have proved
+it so to-night. Any time from now until twelve
+you need no more than raise a finger&mdash;I might
+not even see you do so&mdash;and you might go free.
+Why do you not?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If the woodcock is as good as the canvasback,&rdquo;
+was her somewhat irrelevant reply, &ldquo;I
+shall call the evening a success, after all.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But Helena scarcely more than tasted her
+bird, and pushed back after a time the broiled
+mushroom which Jean offered her gently.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Does not your appetite remain?&rdquo; I inquired.
+&ldquo;Come, you must not break Jean&rsquo;s heart
+doubly.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She only pushed back her chair. &ldquo;I am
+sorry,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;but I want to go back to
+the boat.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Back to the boat! You astonish me. I
+thought escape from the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> was the
+one wish of your heart these days.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And so it is.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Then, Helena, why not escape here and
+now?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I do not mean for you to break your parole&mdash;I
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg&nbsp;241]</a></span>
+know you too well for that. But give me
+additional parole, my dear girl. Give me your
+word. Say that one word. Then we can rise
+here and announce to Mr. Davidson and all the
+world and its newspapers that no crime has
+been done and only a honeymoon has been
+begun. Come, Helena, all the world loves a
+lover. All New Orleans will love us if you
+will raise your finger and say the word.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I looked toward her. Her head was bent
+and tears were dropping from her eyes, tears
+faithfully concealed by her kerchief. But she
+said no word to me, and at her silence my own
+heart sank&mdash;sank until my courage was quite
+gone, until I felt the return of a cold brutality.
+Still I endeavored to be gentle with one who
+deserved naught of gentleness.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do not hurry, Helena,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;We can
+return when you like. But the salad&mdash;and the
+coffee! And see, you have not touched your
+wine.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Take me back,&rdquo; she said, her voice low.
+&ldquo;I hate you. Till the end of the world I&rsquo;ll hate
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If I could believe that, Helena, it would
+matter nothing to me to go a mile farther on
+any voyage, a foot farther to shield myself or
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg&nbsp;242]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Take me back,&rdquo; she said to me again. &ldquo;I
+want to go to Aunt Lucinda.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jean,&rdquo; said I, a moment later when he reappeared.
+&ldquo;Mademoiselle wishes to see one
+more ice-box in the kitchen. We are in search
+of something. May we go again?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Jean spread out his arms in surprise, but
+pushed open the green door. We thus passed,
+shielded by our screen and unobserved. Once
+within, I grasped Jean firmly by the shoulder
+and pressed a ten dollar bill into his hand, with
+other money for the reckoning.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Take this, Jean, for yourself. We do not
+care to pass out at the front, for certain reasons&mdash;do
+you comprehend? It is of Mademoiselle.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is of Mademoiselle? Ah, depend upon
+me. What can I do?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This. Leave us here, and we will walk
+about. Meantime go out the back way to the
+alley, Jean, and have a taxicab ready at the
+mouth of the alley. Come quick when it is
+arranged and let us go, because we must go at
+once. At another time, Jean, we will return, I
+trust more happily. Then we shall order such
+a dinner as will take Luigi himself a day to
+prepare, my friend!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;For Mademoiselle?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;For Madame, Jean, as I hope.&rdquo; And now I
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg&nbsp;243]</a></span>
+showed him the portrait on the front page of
+the newspaper he had brought me. &ldquo;Quick,&rdquo; I
+said, &ldquo;and since you have been faithful, some
+day I will explain all this to you&mdash;with Madame,
+as I hope.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg&nbsp;244]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVI</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH WE BURN ALL BRIDGES</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">&ldquo;B</span>UT, Monsieur,&rdquo; began Jean, a few moments
+later, as he entered from the alley
+door.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Eh bien?</i> What then, Jean?&rdquo; I demanded
+hastily, already leading Helena toward the
+door.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This! This!&rdquo; And he waved in my face a
+copy of the same paper which had lain on our
+table. &ldquo;The streets are full of it. And I see,
+I behold&mdash;I recognize! It is Mademoiselle&mdash;that
+is to be Madame!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>My face flushed hotly. &ldquo;As I hope, Jean.&rdquo;
+That was all I said. &ldquo;Now, please, out of our
+way. Is the taxi there?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He stepped aside. I heard his voice, eager,
+apologetic, but knew that now no time must be
+lost. Vague sounds of voices came to us from
+the main room of the caf&eacute;, ordinarily so quiet.
+I felt, rather than knew, that soon the news
+would be about town. The throb of the taxi
+was music to my ears when I found it in the
+dark.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Stop for nothing,&rdquo; said I to the driver, as I
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg&nbsp;245]</a></span>
+closed the door. &ldquo;Slip K, on the river-front,
+below the warehouses. Stop at the car tracks
+where they turn. And go fast&mdash;I must catch
+a boat that is just leaving.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What boat&mdash;from there&mdash;are you sure, sir?&rdquo;
+asked he, touching his cap.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Of course I&rsquo;m sure. Go on! Don&rsquo;t stop
+to talk, man!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He made no answer to this, but turned to his
+wheel. We shot out into Royal Street, turned
+down it, spun into a narrow way past the old
+Cathedral, crossed Jackson Square in the full
+moonlight, passed the Old Market, and threaded
+dark and dirty thoroughfares parallel to the
+river. None sought to stay us, though many
+paused in the gently squalid life of that section,
+to look after our churning car, a thing not
+usual there so far from depot or usual landing
+place.</p>
+
+<p>Helena sat silent, looking fixedly ahead
+through the glass at the driver&rsquo;s back; nor did
+I find words myself. In truth, I was as one
+now carried forward on the wings of adventure
+itself, with small plans, and no duty beyond
+taking each situation as it might later come.
+A dull feeling that I had sinned beyond forgiveness
+came upon me, a conviction that my
+brutality to one thus innocent and tender had
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg&nbsp;246]</a></span>
+passed all limits of atonement. She could never
+forgive me now, I felt; and what was almost
+as intolerable in the reflection, I could not forgive
+myself, could not find any specious argument
+longer to justify myself in thus harrying
+the sensibilities of a woman such as this one
+who now sat beside me in this mad midnight
+errand, proud, pale and silent. Slowly I sought
+to adjust myself to the thought of defeat, to
+the feeling that my presumption now had o&rsquo;er-leaped
+itself. Yes, I must say good-by to her,
+must release her; and this time, as I well knew,
+forever.</p>
+
+<p>But, though I turned toward her half a dozen
+times in these few minutes, she made no response
+to what she must have known was my
+demand upon her attention. I gathered her
+gloves for her, and her flowers, but she only
+took them, her lips parting in courtesy, not in
+warmth, and no sound came to my ears, straining
+always to hear her voice, a pleasant sound
+in a world of discords ever. I even touched
+her arm, suddenly, impulsively. &ldquo;Helena!&rdquo;
+But she, not knowing that I meant to give her
+liberty, though over a dead heart, shrank as
+though I had added physical insult to my
+verbal taunts. Anyway I turned, I was fast in
+the net of circumstance, fanged by the springs
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg&nbsp;247]</a></span>
+of misapprehension.... Well, then, but one
+thing remained. She had said it was a man&rsquo;s
+place to fight, and so now it would be! I
+must go on, and take my punishment until justice
+had been done. Justice and my own success
+I no longer confused in my own mind;
+but in my soul was the grim resolution that
+justice should first be done to one human soul,
+even though that chanced to be my own. After
+that, I should get her again in the hands of
+her friends and myself; indeed, disappear beyond
+all seeking, in parts of the world best
+known to myself. If I myself were fair, why
+should not fairness as well be given to me?</p>
+
+<p>And with no more than this established, and
+nothing definite in plan, either, for the present,
+I mechanically opened the door of the taxi for
+her when the driver pulled up and bent a
+querying face about to ask whether or not we
+now were opposite Slip K. I noted that he
+did not at once drive away. Evidently he sat
+for some moments gazing after us as we disappeared
+in the gloom of the river-front. His
+tale, as I afterward learned, enabled the morning
+papers to print a conclusive story describing
+the abduction of Miss Emory and her undoubted
+retention on the stolen yacht, which,
+after lying at or near New Orleans, some time
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg&nbsp;248]</a></span>
+that night, once more mysteriously had disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt remained, according to this new
+story, that the supplies put aboard at Slip K
+by Lavallier and Thibodeau had gone to this
+very craft, the stolen yacht! With this came
+many wild and confusing accounts and descriptions,
+including a passionate interview with Mr.
+Calvin Davidson, of New York, who had announced
+his intention of overhauling these ruffians,
+at any cost whatsoever; and much counsel
+to the city officials, mingled with the bosom-beating
+of one enterprising journal which declared
+it had put in commission a yacht of its
+own, under charge of two of its ablest reporters,
+who had instructions to take up the chase
+and to remain out until the mystery had been
+solved and this beautiful young woman had
+been rescued from her horrible situation and
+restored again to her home. There were more
+portraits of Helena&mdash;furnished, most like, from
+Cal Davidson&rsquo;s collection; one also of Aunt
+Lucinda (from a photograph of far earlier
+days); and lastly, a half-page portrait of myself,
+the unnamed ruffian who was the undoubted
+leader in this abduction&mdash;the portrait
+being drawn by a staff artist &ldquo;from description
+of eye-witnesses.&rdquo; As I later saw this portrait
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg&nbsp;249]</a></span>
+I rejoiced that I was long ignorant of its existence:
+and had I known that night that yonder
+chauffeur to whom I had given undue
+largess had such treason as that portrait in his
+soul, I know not what I might have done with
+him.</p>
+
+<p>But of this misinformation, of course, I was
+at the time ignorant, as was all the city ignorant
+of the truth. What happened was otherwise,
+nor was the truth learned even by the
+great metropolitan journals of the North, which
+now recognized the existence of a &ldquo;big story&rdquo;,
+and added their keener noses to the trail. The
+great fact overlooked by them all was that
+they pursued no criminal, but a man of education,
+I may fairly say of brains.</p>
+
+<p>In my law practise many baffling cases came
+to me, because I most liked, precisely, that sort
+of case. Once, for instance, a family of my
+town well-nigh was disrupted by a series of
+anonymous letters, done in typewriting, accusing
+an honorable man of dishonorable conduct.
+The letters left the man&rsquo;s wife in an agony of
+loyalty and suspicion alike. He brought me
+the letters, and to me the case was simple from
+the start. I got the repair slips of a certain
+typewriter house, and compared them until I
+found a machine with a bent letter M&mdash;knowing
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg&nbsp;250]</a></span>
+as I did that each machine has its own individuality
+as ineradicable and as inescapable
+as any personal handwriting. So at last I went
+to a small outlying city, and going into a business
+house there asked to see the stenographer
+in private. &ldquo;My dear Miss&nbsp;&mdash;&mdash;,&rdquo; I said to her,
+&ldquo;why do you persist in sending these letters
+to Mr.&nbsp;&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo; I laid them before her, and
+she wept and confessed, very naturally.</p>
+
+<p>That was merely jealousy of a discharged
+employee; and it was easy as a case&mdash;easier
+I always thought, than the probate case I won
+over a contested signature charge filed by certain
+heirs under a will. In this case I merely
+went to the dead man&rsquo;s earlier home and
+learned his history. Time out of mind he, a
+thrifty and respected German, had held some
+petty county office or other; and by going over
+old county warrants and receipts signed in
+forty years by my man, I discovered what I
+already knew&mdash;that a man&rsquo;s signature changes
+many times during his life, especially if he begins
+life as an uncultured immigrant and advances
+to a fair business success later in his
+life: so that his later signatures on records
+proved his signature in his will.</p>
+
+<p>Again, liking these simple mysteries, I had
+long ago learned to laugh at the old and foolish
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg&nbsp;251]</a></span>
+assertion that murder will out, that not the
+most skilful criminal can long conceal a capital
+crime. It is not true. No one knows how
+many murders and other crimes go unsolved
+or even unknown. The trouble with murderers,
+as I knew well enough, was that they lacked
+mentality. And often I said to myself that
+were it in my heart to kill a man, I assuredly
+could do so, and all my life escape unsuspected
+of the crime.</p>
+
+<p>It may be that my fondness for these less
+obvious things in the law had rendered me a
+trifle different from my fellow men. I could
+never approach any question in life without
+wanting to go all about it and to the bottom
+and top, like a cooper with his barrel. I was
+thus actuated, without doubt, in my relations
+years since with Helena Emory&mdash;I knew the
+shrewdness and accuracy of my own trained
+mind. I confess I exulted in the infallible,
+relentless logic of my mind, a mind able and
+well trained, especially well trained in reason
+and argument. So, when I put the one great
+brief of all my life before Helena, my splendid
+argument why should she love me, I did so,
+at first, in the conviction that it must be convincing.
+Had I not myself worked it out in
+each detail, had not my calm, cool, accurate
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg&nbsp;252]</a></span>
+reason guarded each portal? Was it, indeed,
+not a perfect brief&mdash;that one I held in my first
+lost case&mdash;the lost case which sent me out of
+my profession, left me a stranded hulk of a
+man?</p>
+
+<p>But then, when these two pirate youngsters
+had found me and touched me with the living
+point of some new flame of life, so that I knew
+a vast world existed beyond the nature of the
+intellect, the old ways clung to me, after all.
+Even as I swore to lay hold on youth and on
+adventure (and on love, if, in sooth, that might
+be for me now), I could not fight as yet wholly
+bare of the old weapons that had so long fitted
+my hand. So, even on that very morning when
+we set forth from my farm to be pirates, my
+mind ran back to its old cunning, and I recalled
+my earlier boast to myself that if I ever cared
+to be a criminal I knew I could be able to cover
+my tracks.</p>
+
+<p>Those writing-folk, therefore, who now
+wasted thousands of dollars in pursuit of trace
+and trail of Black Bart, wealthy ex-lawyer,
+knew nothing of their man, and guessed nothing
+of his caliber or of his methods. They
+even failed to look in plain sight for their trail
+maker. And having done so, they forgot that
+water leaves no trail. Yet that simple thought
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg&nbsp;253]</a></span>
+had come to my mind as I had sat at breakfast
+in my own house, some weeks before this
+time! Even then I had planned all this.</p>
+
+<p>Absorbed as I had been in this pursuit of
+Helena, baffled as I had been by her, unhappy
+as I now was over her own unhappiness, fierce
+as was my love for her, still and notwithstanding,
+some trace of my old self clung to me
+even now when, her hand on my arm, I guided
+Helena in silence over the creaking planks of
+the dock, and saw, at last, dim beyond the
+edge, the boom of the Mississippi&rsquo;s tawny flood,
+rolling on and onward to the sea. Here was
+a task, a problem, a chase, an endeavor, an
+adventure! To it, I was impelled by my old
+training; into it I was thrust by all these
+fevers of the blood. Even though she did not
+love me, she was woman ... in the dark air
+of night, it seemed to me, I could smell the
+faint maddening fragrance of her hair....
+No. It was too late! I would not release
+her. I would go on, now!</p>
+
+<p>And with this resolution, formed when I
+caught sight of the passing flood, I found a
+sudden peace and calm, and so knew that I
+was fit for my adventure as yon other boy,
+L&rsquo;Olonnois, was for his.</p>
+
+<p>I paused at the edge of the wharf, at the side
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg&nbsp;254]</a></span>
+of our boat. We still were arm in arm, still
+silent, though she must have felt the beating
+of my heart.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Helena,&rdquo; I whispered, &ldquo;yonder, one step,
+and your parole is over. Here it is not. That
+boat, just astern, is the one in which Cal Davidson
+chased us all the way from Natchez, in
+which I chased him all the way from Dubuque.
+His men do not know we are here, nor does
+he as yet. Now, what is it that you wish to
+do?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She stood silent for some time, tightening
+her wrap at the throat against the river damp,
+and made no answer, though her gaze took in
+the dark hull of the low-lying craft made fast
+below us. When at last:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;One thing,&rdquo; she began, &ldquo;I will not do.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; I asked. We spoke low, but
+I well knew my men were aware of our coming.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I shall ask no favor of you.&rdquo; And as she
+spoke, she stepped lightly on the rubbered deck
+of the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Halt! Who goes there?&rdquo; called the hoarse
+voice of Jean Lafitte, the faithful: and I knew
+the joy of the commander feeling that loyalty
+is his.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis I, Black Bart,&rdquo; I answered, full and
+clear. &ldquo;Cast off, my friends!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>At once the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> was full of activity.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg&nbsp;255]</a></span>
+Peterson I met at the wheel. I heard the bells
+jangle below. I saw Jean, active as a cat,
+ready at the mooring-stub, waiting for the line
+to ease. Then with my own hand I threw on
+every light of the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>, so that she
+blazed, in the power of six thousand candles,
+search-light and all: so that what had been a
+passing web of gloom now became a rippling
+river. The warehouses started into light and
+shade, the shadows of the wharf fled, the decks
+of the grimy craft alongside became open of
+all their secrets.</p>
+
+<p>And now, revealed full in the flood of light
+as she stood at the side portal, Helena did
+what I had not planned. Freed of her parole
+she was&mdash;and she had asked no favor of me&mdash;so
+she had right to make attempt to escape;
+and I gently stepped before her even as Jean
+cast off and sprang aboard: and as I heard
+L&rsquo;Olonnois&rsquo; voice imperatively demanding silence
+of the pounding at the after cabin door.
+All at once, I heard what Helena heard&mdash;the
+rattle of wheels on the stone flagging of the
+street beyond. And then I saw her fling back
+her cloak and stand with cupped hands. Her
+voice was high, clear and unwavering, such
+voice as a pirate&rsquo;s bride should have, fearless
+and bold.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ahoy, there! Help! Help!&rdquo; she cried.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg&nbsp;256]</a></span>
+Some sort of shout came from the street, we
+knew not from whom. A noise of an opening
+hatch came from the <i>Sea Rover</i> at our stern,
+and a man&rsquo;s tousled head came into view.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s goin&rsquo; on here,&rdquo; he demanded, as
+quaveringly as querulously.</p>
+
+<p>I made no answer, but saw our bows crawl
+out and away, felt the sob of the screws, the
+arm of the river also, and knew a vast and
+pleasing content with life.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;L&rsquo;Olonnois!&rdquo; I called through the megaphone.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, aye, Sir!&rdquo; I heard his piping rejoinder.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Cast loose the stern-chaser and fire her at
+yon varlet if he makes a move.&rdquo; I knew our
+deck cannon was loaded with nothing more
+deadly than newspapers, but I also knew that
+valor feeds on action. Not that I had given
+orders to fire on the world in general. So, I
+confess, I was somewhat surprised, soon after
+the shout of approval which greeted my command,
+to hear the air rent by the astonishing
+reverberation of our Long Tom, which rolled
+like thunder all along the river-front, breaking
+into a thousand echoes in the night.</p>
+
+<p>I heard the patter of feet along the deck,
+and had sight of Jean Lafitte tugging at a
+halyard. Not content with our defiance of law
+and order, he must needs break out the Jolly
+Rover with its skull and cross-bones. And as
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg&nbsp;257]</a></span>
+we swung swiftly out into midstream, ablaze
+in light from bow to stern, ghostlike in our
+swiftness and the silence of our splendid engines,
+I had reason to understand all the descriptive
+writing which, as I later learned,
+greeted the defiant departure of this pirate
+craft and its ruffian crew. Thus I bade all the
+world come and take from me what I had
+taken for my own.</p>
+
+<p>I stepped to the wheel with Peterson, expecting
+to find him pale in consternation. To
+my surprise he was calm, save for a new glitter
+in his eye.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing on the river can touch her,&rdquo;
+said he, as he picked up his first channel light
+and called for more speed. &ldquo;Let &rsquo;em come!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A sudden recklessness had caught us all, it
+seemed, the old spirit of lawless man breaking
+the leash of custom. I shared it&mdash;with exultation
+I knew I shared it with these others. The
+lust of youth for adventure held us all, and the
+years were as naught.</p>
+
+<p>I turned now to find Helena, and met L&rsquo;Olonnois,
+his face beaming.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Wasn&rsquo;t that a peach of a shot?&rdquo; said he.
+&ldquo;It would of blew yon varlet out of the water,
+if I&rsquo;d had anything to load with except just
+them marbles. Are you looking for Auntie
+Helen? She has just went below.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg&nbsp;258]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH WE REACH THE SPANISH MAIN</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>T was as Peterson had said&mdash;nothing on
+the river could touch the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>. And
+it also was as I had not said but had thought&mdash;the
+water left no trail. By daylight we were
+far below the old battle-field, far below the old
+forts, far below La Hache, and among the
+channels of the great estuary whose marshes
+spread for scores of miles on either hand impenetrably.
+Quarantine lay yonder, the Southwest
+Passage opened here; and on beyond, a
+stone&rsquo;s throw now for a vessel logging our
+smooth speed, rolled the open sea. And still
+there rose behind us the smoke of no pursuing
+craft, nor did any seek to bar our way. So far
+as I knew, the country had not been warned
+by any wire down-stream from the city. We
+saw to it that no calling points were passed in
+daylight. As for the chance market shooter
+paddling his log pirogue to his shooting
+ground in the dawn, or the occasional sportsman
+of some ducking club likewise engaged,
+they saluted us gaily enough, but without suspicion.
+Even had they known, I doubt
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg&nbsp;259]</a></span>
+whether they would have informed on us, for
+all the world loves a lover, and these Southerners
+themselves now traveled waters long known
+to adventure and romance.</p>
+
+<p>So at last, as the sun rose, we saw the last
+low marshy points widen, flatten and recede,
+and beyond the outlying towers of the lights
+caught sight of lazy liners crawling in, and
+felt the long throb of the great Gulf&rsquo;s pulse,
+and sniffed the salt of the open sea.</p>
+
+<p>I had not slept, nor had Peterson, nor had
+Williams, my engineer. My men never demurred
+when hard duty was asked of them,
+but put manly pride above union hours, I fancy,
+resolved to show me they could endure as long
+as I. And I asked none to endure more.
+Moreover, even my pirate crew was seized of
+some new zest. I question whether either Jean
+Lafitte or Henri L&rsquo;Olonnois slept, save in his
+day clothing, that night of our run from New
+Orleans; for now, just as we swept free of the
+last point, so that we might call that gulf
+which but now had been river, I heard a sound
+at my elbow as I bent over a chart, and turned
+to see both my associates, the collars of their
+sweaters turned up against the damp chill of
+the morning.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Where are we now, Black Bart?&rdquo; asked
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg&nbsp;260]</a></span>
+Jean Lafitte. I could see on his face the mystic
+emotion of youth, could see his face glorified
+in the uplifting thrill of this mystery of
+the sea and the dawn and the unknown which
+now enveloped us. &ldquo;Where are we now?&rdquo; he
+asked; but it was as though he feared he slept
+and dreamed, and that this wondrous dream of
+the dawn might rudely be broken by some
+command summoning him back to life&rsquo;s routine.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Surely your soul should tell you, Jean Lafitte,&rdquo;
+said I, &ldquo;for yonder, as I may say, now
+rolls the Spanish Main. Its lift is now beneath
+our feel. You are home again, Jean Lafitte.
+Yonder are the bays and bayous and channels
+in the marshes, where your boats used to hide.
+And there, L&rsquo;Olonnois, my hearty, with you, I
+was used to ride the open sea, toward the
+Isles of Spain, waiting for the galleons to
+come.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I know, I know!&rdquo; said my blue-eyed pirate
+softly and reverently; and so true was all his
+note to that inner struggling soul that lay both
+in his bosom and my own, that I ceased to
+lament for my sin in so allowing modern youth
+to be misled, and turned to him with open hand,
+myself also young with the undying youth of
+the world.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Many a time, Black Bart,&rdquo; said L&rsquo;Olonnois
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg&nbsp;261]</a></span>
+solemnly, &ldquo;have we crowded on full sail when
+the lookout gave the word of a prize a-comin&rsquo;,
+while we laid to in some hidden channel over
+yonder.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, aye, many a time, many a time, my
+hearty.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;An&rsquo; loosed the bow-chaser an&rsquo; shot away
+her foremast.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;At almost the first shot, L&rsquo;Olonnois.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;So that her top hamper came down in a
+run an&rsquo; swung her broadside to our batteries.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;And we poured in a hail of chain-shot and
+set her hull afire.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;And then launched the boats for the
+boardin&rsquo; parties,&rdquo; broke in Jean Lafitte, standing
+on one leg in his excitement; &ldquo;&mdash;an&rsquo; so
+made her a prize. An&rsquo; then we made &rsquo;em walk
+the plank amid scenes of wassail&mdash;all but the
+fair captives.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I fell silent. But L&rsquo;Olonnois&rsquo; blue eyes were
+glowing. &ldquo;An&rsquo; them we surrounded with every
+rude luxury,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;finally retiring to the
+fortresses of the hidden channels of the coast,
+where we defied all pursuit. This looks like
+one of them places, though I may be mistook,&rdquo;
+he added judiciously. I shuddered to see how
+Jimmy&rsquo;s grammar had deteriorated under my
+care.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg&nbsp;262]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;we are now near to several
+of those places, scenes of our bold deeds. The
+south coast of Louisiana lies on our right, cut
+by a thousand bays and channels deep enough
+for hiding a pinnace or even a stout schooner.
+Yonder, Jean, is Barataria Bay, your old home.
+Here, under my finger, is C&ocirc;te Blanche. Here
+comes the Chafalay, through its new channel&mdash;all
+this floating hyacinth, all this red water,
+comes from Texas soil, from the Red River,
+now discharging in new mouths. Yonder, west
+of the main boat channels that make toward
+the railways far inland, lie the salt reefs and
+the live-oak islands. Here is the long key they
+now call Marsh Island. It was not an island
+until you, stout Jean Lafitte, ordered the
+Yankee Morrison to take a hundred black
+slaves with spades and cut a channel across
+the neck, so that you could get through more
+quickly from the Spanish Main to the hidden
+bayous where your boats lay concealed&mdash;until
+the wagons from Iberia could come and traffic
+at the causeway for your wares. Do you not
+remember it well?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, that I do, Black Bart!&rdquo; said he; and I
+was sure he did.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And yonder channel, once just wide enough
+for a yawl, is to-day washed out wide enough
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg&nbsp;263]</a></span>
+for a fleet to pass through&mdash;though not deep
+enough. In that fact now lies our safety.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How do you mean, Black Bart?&rdquo; demanded
+he.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, that all this water over yonder west
+of us is so shallow that it takes a wise oyster
+boat to get through to Morgan City. The
+shrimpers who reap these waters, even the
+market shooting schooners who carry canvasbacks
+out of these feeding beds in the marshes,
+have to know the tides and the winds as well,
+and if one be wrong the boat goes aground on
+these wide shoals. Less than a fathom here
+and here and here on the chart soundings&mdash;less
+than that if an offshore wind blows.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You mean we&rsquo;ll go aground?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, I mean that any pursuer very likely
+would. The glass is falling now. Soon the
+wind will rise. If it comes offshore for five
+hours&mdash;and it will wait for five hours before
+it does come offshore&mdash;we shall be safe, inside,
+at one of your old haunts, Jean Lafitte; and
+back of us will lie fifty miles of barrier&mdash;yon
+varlet may well have a care.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yon varlet don&rsquo;t know where we have
+went,&rdquo; commented L&rsquo;Olonnois in his alarming
+grammar.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, that is true. The water leaves no trail.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg&nbsp;264]</a></span>
+Most Northerners go to Florida for the winter,
+and not to these marshes. Methinks they will
+have a long chase.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; here,&rdquo; said Jean Lafitte, with much enthusiasm,
+&ldquo;we kin lie concealed an&rsquo; dart out
+on passin&rsquo; craft that strike our fancy as prizes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We could,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but we will not.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why not?&rdquo; He seemed chilled by my reply.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, we shall not need to,&rdquo; I hastened to
+explain. &ldquo;We have everything we need for a
+long stay here. We can live chiefly by hunting
+and fishing for a month or so, until&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Until the fair captive has gave her consent,&rdquo;
+broke in L&rsquo;Olonnois, also with enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I, endeavoring a like enthusiasm.
+&ldquo;Or, at least, until we find it needful to go
+inland to one of the live-oak islands. There
+are houses there. I know some of the planters
+over yonder.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s make them places scenes of rapeen!&rdquo;
+suggested Jean Lafitte anxiously. &ldquo;They must
+have gold and jewels. Besides, I bear it well
+in mind, many a time have I and my stout crew
+buried chests of treasure on them islands. We
+c&rsquo;d dig &rsquo;em up. Maybe them folks has a&rsquo;ready
+dug &rsquo;em up. Then why not search their strongholds
+with a stout party of our own hardy bullies,
+Black Bart?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg&nbsp;265]</a></span>
+&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I mildly; &ldquo;for several reasons I
+think it best for my hardy bullies to go and eat
+some breakfast and then go to sleep. If we
+go into the live-oak heights above C&ocirc;te Blanche,
+I think we&rsquo;ll only ask for salt. I am almost
+sure, for instance, that my friend Edouard
+Manning, of Bon Secours plantation, would give
+me salt if I asked it. He has done so before.
+Beshrew me, it should go hard with him if he
+refused.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a barrel an&rsquo; eight boxes o&rsquo; sacks o&rsquo;
+salt aboard,&rdquo; said the practical Jean Lafitte.
+&ldquo;What&rsquo;d you want so much salt for?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Twas yon varlet&rsquo;s idea,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;when he
+laid in the ship&rsquo;s stores. But I had a mind
+that, to my taste, no salt is better than that
+made by the Manning plantation mines. But
+now,&rdquo; I added, &ldquo;to your breakfast, after you
+have bathed.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Peterson,&rdquo; said I, after they had left me,
+and pointing to the chart, &ldquo;lay her west by
+south. I want to run inside the Timbalier
+Shoals.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very shallow there, Mr. Harry&mdash;just look
+at the soundings, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I want to go. Hold on till
+you get the light at this channel here, southeast
+of the C&ocirc;te Blanche. You&rsquo;ll get a lot of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg&nbsp;266]</a></span>
+floating hyacinth, but do what you can. I&rsquo;ll
+take my trick, as soon as I get a bite to eat.
+By night we&rsquo;ll be over our hurry and we can
+all arrange for better sleep.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And then&mdash;I&mdash;ahem! Mr. Harry, what are
+your plans?&rdquo; He was just a trifle troubled
+over all this.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My plans, Peterson,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;are to anchor
+off Timbalier to-night, to anchor in this channel
+of C&ocirc;te Blanche to-morrow&mdash;and to eat
+breakfast now.&rdquo; Saying which I left him
+gloomily shaking his head, but laying her now
+west by south as I had made the course.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The glass is falling mighty fast, Mr. Harry,&rdquo;
+he called over his shoulder to me by way of
+encouragement.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg&nbsp;267]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH IS CERTAIN POLITE CONVERSATION</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">M</span>Y boy had ironed my trousers, that is to
+say, the trousers I had given him the year
+previous, and which he now had loaned to me,
+my extremity being greater than his own. He
+had laundered my collars&mdash;a most useful boy,
+my China boy. I had, moreover, delving in
+Cal Davidson&rsquo;s wardrobe, discovered yet another
+waistcoat, if possible more radiant even
+than the one with pink stripes, for that it was
+cross hatched with bars of pale pea green and
+mauve&mdash;I know not from what looms he obtained
+these wondrous fabrics. Thus bravely
+attired after breakfast, just before luncheon,
+indeed, it was, I felt emboldened to call upon
+the captive ladies once more. With much
+shame I owned that I had not seen Auntie
+Lucinda for nearly two days&mdash;and with much
+trepidation, also, for I knew not what new bitterness
+her soul, meantime, might have distilled
+into venom against my coming.</p>
+
+<p>I knocked at the door of the ladies&rsquo; cabin,
+the aftermost suite on the boat, and, at first,
+had no answer. The door, naturally, on a boat
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg&nbsp;268]</a></span>
+of this size, would be low, the roof rising above
+decks no higher than one&rsquo;s waist; and as I bent
+to knock again, the door of the companion
+stairs was suddenly thrust open against my
+face, and framed in the opening thus made,
+there appeared the august visage of Auntie
+Lucinda herself.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, sir-r-r-r!&rdquo; said she, after a time, regarding
+me sternly. I can by no means reproduce
+the awfulness of her &ldquo;r&rsquo;s.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, madam?&rdquo; I replied mildly, holding my
+nose, which had been smitten by the door.</p>
+
+<p>She made no answer, but stood, a basilisk
+in mien.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I just came, my dear Mrs. Daniver,&rdquo; I began,
+&ldquo;to ask you&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And time you did, sir-r-r-r! I was just coming
+to ask <em>you</em>&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And time you did, my dear Mrs. Daniver&mdash;I
+have missed you so much, these several days.
+So I just called to ask for your health.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You need not trouble about my health!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But I do, I do, madam! I give you my
+word, I was awake all night, thinking of&mdash;of
+your neuralgia. Neuralgia is something&mdash;something
+fierce, in a manner of speech&mdash;if one
+has it in the morning, my dear Mrs. Daniver.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t &lsquo;dear Mrs. Daniver&rsquo; me! I&rsquo;m not
+your dear Mrs. Daniver at all.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg&nbsp;269]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Then whose dear Mrs. Daniver are you, my
+dear Mrs. Daniver?&rdquo; I rejoined most impudently.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If the poor dear Admiral were alive,&rdquo; said
+she, sniffing, &ldquo;you should repent those words!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I wish the poor dear Admiral were here,&rdquo;
+said I. &ldquo;I should like to ask an abler sailorman
+than Peterson what to do, with the glass
+falling as it is, and the holding ground none
+too good for an anchor. I thought it just as
+well to come and tell you to prepare for the
+worst.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The worst&mdash;what do you mean?&rdquo; She now
+advanced three steps upward, so that her shoulders
+were above the cabin door. Almost mechanically
+she took my hand.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The worst just now is nothing worse than
+an orange with ice, my dear Mrs. Daniver.
+And I only wanted you to come out on deck
+with&mdash;Miss Emory&mdash;and see how blue the sea
+is.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She advanced another step, being fond of an
+iced orange at eleven-thirty. But now she
+paused. &ldquo;My niece is resting,&rdquo; said she, feeling
+her way.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, I am not,&rdquo; I heard a voice say. Inadvertently
+I turned and almost perforce glanced
+down the cabin stair. Helena, in a loose morning
+wrap of pink, was lying on the couch. She
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg&nbsp;270]</a></span>
+now cast aside the covering of eider-down,
+and shaking herself once, sprang up the stairs,
+so that her dark hair appeared under Auntie
+Lucinda&rsquo;s own. Slowly that obstacle yielded,
+and both finally stood on the after deck. The
+soft wind caught the dark tendrils of Helena&rsquo;s
+hair. With one hand she pushed at them. The
+other caught her loose robe about her softly
+outlined figure.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Helena!&rdquo; remarked her aunt, frowning.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I want an orange,&rdquo; remarked Miss Emory,
+addressing the impartial universe, and looking
+about for John.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And shall have it. But,&rdquo; said I, finding a
+soft rug at the cabin-top, &ldquo;I think perhaps you
+may find the air cool. Allow me.&rdquo; I handed
+them chairs, and with a hand that trembled a
+bit put the soft covering over Helena&rsquo;s shoulders.
+She drew it close about her with one
+hand, and her dark hair flowing about her
+cheeks, found her orange with the other when
+John came with his tray.</p>
+
+<p>It was a wondrous morning in early fall.
+Never had a southern sky been more blue,
+never the little curling waves saucier on the
+Gulf. The air was mild, just fresh enough for
+zest. Around us circled many great white
+gulls. Across the flats sailed a long slow line
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg&nbsp;271]</a></span>
+of pelicans; and out yonder, tossing up now
+and then like a black floating blanket, I could
+see a great raft of wild duck, taking their midday
+rest in safety. All the world seemed a
+million miles away. Care did not exist. And&mdash;so
+intimate and swiftly comprehensive is the
+human soul, especially the more primal soul
+of woman&mdash;already and without words, this
+young woman seemed to feel the less need of
+conversation, to recognize the slackening rein
+of custom. So that a rug and a wrapper&mdash;granted
+always also an aunt&mdash;seemed to her
+not amiss as full equipment for reception of a
+morning caller.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A very good orange,&rdquo; said she at last.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said her aunt promptly; &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure we
+ought to thank Mr. Davidson for them. He
+was <em>such</em> a good provider.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Except in waistcoats,&rdquo; I protested, casually
+indicating his latest contribution to my wardrobe.
+&ldquo;Quantity, yes, I grant that, but as to
+quality, never! But why speak ill of the absent,
+especially regarding matters of an earlier and
+bygone day? Yon varlet no longer exists for
+us&mdash;we no longer exist for him. We have
+passed, as two ships pass yonder in the channel.
+I know not what he may be doing now,
+unless carrying roses to Miss Sally Byington.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg&nbsp;272]</a></span>
+Certainly he can not know that I, his hated
+rival, am safe from all pursuit behind the
+Timbalier Shoals, and carrying oranges to a
+young lady in my belief almost as beautiful as
+the beautiful Sally.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Lucinda turned upon me a baleful eye.
+&ldquo;You grow flippant as well as rude, sir! As
+though you knew anything of that Byington
+girl. I doubt if you ever saw her.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes&mdash;last night. Miss Emory and I
+both saw her, last night, at Luigi&rsquo;s. As for
+yon varlet&rsquo;s providing, while I would not too
+much criticize a man whose waistcoats I wear
+even under protest, it is but fair to say that
+these oranges and all the fresh things taken on
+at New Orleans, are of my providing, and not
+his. He was so busy providing other things
+for Miss Sally Byington.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think she is so beautiful,&rdquo; said
+Helena, ceasing with her orange. &ldquo;Her color
+is so full. Very likely she&rsquo;ll be blowsy in a
+few years.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How can you say so!&rdquo; I rebuked, with
+much virtuous indignation. But at the time I
+felt my heart leap at sight of Helena herself,
+the lines of her slim graceful figure defined
+even under the rug she had drawn about her
+neck, the wind-blown little neck curls and the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg&nbsp;273]</a></span>
+long fuller lock now plain against her fresh
+face, blown pale by the cool salt air that sang
+above us gently. I could no longer even feign
+an interest in any other woman in the world.
+So very unconsciously I chuckled to myself,
+and Helena heard me.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t think so yourself!&rdquo; she remarked.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Think what?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That she is so beautiful.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, I do not. Not as beautiful as&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Look at the funny bird!&rdquo; said Helena suddenly.
+Yet I could see nothing out of the ordinary
+in the sea-bird she pointed out, skimming
+and skipping close by.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; demanded Aunt Lucinda, also suddenly,
+&ldquo;how long is this to last?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You mean the orange-dish, Mrs. Daniver?&rdquo;
+I queried politely. &ldquo;As long as you like. I
+also am a good provider, although to no credit,
+as it seems.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You know I do not mean the oranges, sir.
+I mean this whole foolish business. You are
+putting yourself liable to the law.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So did Jean Lafitte, over yonder in Barataria,&rdquo;
+said I, &ldquo;but he lived to a ripe old age
+and became famous. Why not I as well?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;You are ruining those two boys. I weep
+to think of our poor Jimmy&mdash;why, he lords it
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg&nbsp;274]</a></span>
+about as though he owned the boat. And
+such language!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He shall own a part of her if he likes, if
+all comes out well,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;And as for Jean
+Lafitte, Junior, rarely have I seen a boy of
+better judgment, cooler mind, or more talent
+in machinery. He shall have an education, if
+he likes; and I know he will like.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is wonderful what a waistcoat will do
+for the imagination,&rdquo; remarked Helena, wholly
+casually. I turned to her.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I presume it is Mr. Davidson who is to be
+the fairy prince,&rdquo; added Aunt Lucinda.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, myself,&rdquo; I spoke quietly. Aunt Lucinda
+for once was almost too unmistakable in her
+sniff of scorn.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I admit it seems unlikely,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Still,
+this is a wonderful age. Who can say what
+may be gained by the successful pirate!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You act one!&rdquo; commented Aunt Lucinda.
+&ldquo;It is brutal. It is outrageous. It is abominable.
+No gentleman would be guilty of such
+conduct.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I grant you,&rdquo; said I, but flushed under the
+thrust. &ldquo;But I am no longer a gentleman
+where that conflicts with the purpose of my
+piracy. I come of a family, after all, madam,
+who often have had their way in piracy.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg&nbsp;275]</a></span>
+&ldquo;And left a good useful business to go away
+to idleness! And now speak of doing large
+things! With whose money, pray?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are very direct, my dear Mrs. Daniver,&rdquo;
+said I mildly, &ldquo;but the catechism is not
+yet so far along as that.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But why did you do this crazy thing?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;To marry Helena, and with your free consent
+as her next friend,&rdquo; said I, swiftly turning
+to her. &ldquo;Since I must be equally frank. Please
+don&rsquo;t go!&rdquo; I said to Helena, for now, very pale,
+she was starting toward the cabin door. But
+she paid no heed to me, and passed.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So now you have it, plainly,&rdquo; said I to Mrs.
+Daniver.</p>
+
+<p>She turned on me a face full of surprise and
+anger mingled. &ldquo;How dare you, after all that
+has passed? You left the girl years ago. You
+have no business, no fortune, not even the girl&rsquo;s
+consent. I&rsquo;ll not have it! I love her.&rdquo; The
+good woman&rsquo;s lips trembled.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So do I,&rdquo; said I gently. &ldquo;That is why we
+all are here. It is because of this madness
+called love. Ah, Mrs. Daniver, if you only
+knew! If I could make you know! But surely
+you do know, you, too, have loved. Come,
+may you not love a lover, even one like myself?
+I&rsquo;ll be good to Helena. Believe me, she is my
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg&nbsp;276]</a></span>
+one sacred charge in life. I love her. Not
+worthy of her, no&mdash;but I love her.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s too late.&rdquo; But I saw her face relent
+at what she heard. &ldquo;I have other plans.
+And you should have told her what you have
+told me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, have I not?&rdquo; But then I suddenly remembered
+that, by some reversal of my logical
+mind, here I was, making love to Auntie Lucinda,
+whom I did not love, whereas in the
+past I had spent much time in mere arguing
+with Helena, whom I did love.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure that I&rsquo;ve ever made it plain
+enough to her, that&rsquo;s true,&rdquo; said I slowly. &ldquo;But
+if she gives me the chance, I&rsquo;ll spend all my
+life telling her that very thing. That, since
+you ask me, is why we all are here&mdash;so that I
+may tell Helena, and you, and all the world,
+that very thing. I love her, very much.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But suppose she does not love you?&rdquo; demanded
+Mrs. Daniver. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll say frankly, I&rsquo;ve
+advised her against you all along. She ought
+to marry a man of some station in the world.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;With money?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You put it baldly, but&mdash;yes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Would that be enough&mdash;money?&rdquo; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No. That is not fair&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;Only honor between us now.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg&nbsp;277]</a></span>
+&ldquo;It would go for to-day. Because, after all,
+money means power, and all of us worship
+power, you know&mdash;success.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And is that success&mdash;to have money, and
+then more money&mdash;and to go on, piling up
+more money&mdash;to have more summer places,
+and more yachts like this, and more city houses,
+and more money, money, money&mdash;yes, yes,
+that&rsquo;s American, but is it all, is it right, is it
+the real ambition for a man! And does that
+bring a woman happiness?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What would you do if you had your money
+back?&rdquo; asked Mrs. Daniver. &ldquo;You had a fortune
+from your father.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What would I do?&rdquo; I rejoined hotly.
+&ldquo;What I did do&mdash;settle every claim against his
+honor as much as against his estate&mdash;judge his
+honor by my own standards, and not his. Pay
+my debts&mdash;pay all my debts. It&rsquo;s independence,
+madam, and not money that I want. It&rsquo;s freedom,
+Mrs. Daniver, that I want, and not money.
+So far as it would be the usual money, buying
+almost nothing that is worth owning, I give
+you my solemn oath I don&rsquo;t care enough for it
+to work for it! So far as it would help me
+be a man, help me to build my own character,
+help me build manhood and character in my
+country&mdash;yes, I&rsquo;d like it for that. But if money
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg&nbsp;278]</a></span>
+were the price of Helena herself, I&rsquo;d not ask
+for it. The man who would court a girl with
+his money and not his manhood&mdash;the woman
+who marries for money, or the man who does&mdash;what
+use has God Almighty got for either
+of them? It&rsquo;s men and women and things
+worth doing who make this world, Mrs. Daniver.
+I love her, so much, so clearly, so wholly,
+that I think it must be right. And since you&rsquo;ve
+asked me, I&rsquo;ve taken my man&rsquo;s chance, just to
+get you two alone, where I could talk it over
+with you both.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been talked over, Harry,&rdquo; said she,
+rather uncomfortably. &ldquo;Why not let the poor
+child alone? Has it occurred to you how terribly
+hard this is for her?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes. But she can end it easily. Tell me,
+is she engaged to Davidson?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What difference?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;None.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why ask, then?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Tell me!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well then, no, not so far as I know.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are sorry?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I had hope for it. It was all coming on so
+handsomely. At Natchez he was&mdash;he was,
+well, you know&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Almost upon the point?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg&nbsp;279]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Quite so. I thought, I believed that between
+there and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Say between there and Baton Rouge&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, yes&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He would come to the main point?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And he did not?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You can best answer. It was at Natchez
+that you and those ruffianly boys ran off with
+Mr. Davidson&rsquo;s boat!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s all, your Honor,&rdquo; I remarked. &ldquo;Take
+the witness, Mr. Davidson!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But what right you have to cross-question
+me, I don&rsquo;t know!&rdquo; commented Mrs. Daniver,
+addressing a passing sea-gull, and pulling down
+the corners of her mouth most forbiddingly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My disused and forgotten art comes back
+to me once in a while, my dear Mrs. Daniver,&rdquo;
+I answered exultantly. &ldquo;Pray, do you notice
+how beautiful all the world is this morning?
+The sky is so wonderful, the sea so adorable,
+don&rsquo;t you see?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I see that we are a long way from home.
+Tell me, are these sharks here?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oodles,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and very large. No use
+trying to swim away. And yonder coast is
+inhabited only by hostile cannibals. Barataria itself,
+over yonder, is to-day no more than a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg&nbsp;280]</a></span>
+shrimp-fishing village, part Chinese, part Greek
+and part Sicilian. The railway runs far to the
+north, and the ship channel is far to the east.
+No one comes here. It is days to Galveston,
+westward, and between lies a maze of interlocking
+channels, lakes and bayous, where boats
+once hid and may hide again. Once we unship
+our flag mast, and we shall lie so saucy and
+close that behind a bank of rushes we never
+would be seen. And we do not burn coal, and
+so make no smoke. Here is my chosen hiding
+ground. In short, madam, you are in my
+power!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But really, how far&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Since you ask, I will answer. Yonder, to
+the westward, a bayou comes into C&ocirc;te Blanche.
+Follow that bayou, eighty miles from here,
+and you come to the house of my friend,
+Edouard Manning, the kindest man in Louisiana,
+which is to say much. I had planned to
+have the wedding there.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Your effrontery amazes me&mdash;I doubt your
+sanity!&rdquo; said Aunt Lucinda, horrified. &ldquo;But
+what good will all this do you?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She had a certain bravery all her own, after
+all. Almost, I was on the point of telling her
+the truth; which was that I had during the
+long night resolved once more to offer my
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg&nbsp;281]</a></span>
+hand to Helena, and if she now refused me, to
+accept my fate. I would torture her no more.
+No, if now she were still resolute, it was my
+purpose to sail up yonder bayou, to land at
+the Manning plantation, and there to part forever
+from Helena and all my friends. I knew
+corners of the world far enough that none
+might find me.</p>
+
+<p>But I did not tell Aunt Lucinda this. Instead,
+I made no answer; and we both sat looking
+out over the rippling gulf, silent for some
+time. I noted now a faint haze on the horizon
+inshore, like distant cloud-banks, not yet distinct
+but advancing. Aunt Lucinda, it seemed,
+was watching something else through the ship&rsquo;s
+glasses which she had picked up near by.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What is that, over yonder?&rdquo; asked she&mdash;&ldquo;it
+looks like a wreck of some kind.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is a wreck&mdash;that of a lighthouse,&rdquo; I told
+her. &ldquo;It is lying flat on its side, a poor attitude
+for a lighthouse. The great tidal wave
+of the gulf storm, four years ago, destroyed it.
+We are now, to tell the truth, at the edge of
+that district which causes the Weather Bureau
+much uncertainty&mdash;a breeding ground of the
+tropical cyclones that break between the Indies
+and this coast.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And you bring us here?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg&nbsp;282]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Only to pass to the inner channels, madam,
+where we should be safer in case of storm.
+To-night, we shall anchor in the lee of a long
+island, where the lighthouse is still standing, in
+its proper position, and where we shall be safe
+as a church.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sharks! Storms! Shipwrecks!&rdquo; moaned
+she.</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;&ldquo;And pirates,&rdquo; added I gently, &ldquo;and cannibals.
+Yes, madam, your plight is serious, and
+I know not what may come of it all&mdash;I wish
+I did.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, no good will come of it, one thing
+sure,&rdquo; said Aunt Lucinda, preparing to weep.</p>
+
+<p>And indeed, an instant later, my mournful
+skipper seemed to bear her out. I saw Peterson
+standing expectant, a little forward, now.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, Peterson?&rdquo; I rose and went to him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I beg pardon, sir, Mr. Harry,&rdquo; said he
+somewhat anxiously, &ldquo;but we&rsquo;ve bent her port
+shaft on a cursed oyster reef.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, Peterson. Suppose we run with
+the starboard screw.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And the intake&rsquo;s clogged again with this
+cursed fine sand we&rsquo;ve picked up.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;After I warned Williams?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir. And that&rsquo;s not the worst, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Indeed? You must be happy, Peterson!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg&nbsp;283]</a></span>
+&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t log over eight knots now, and it&rsquo;s
+sixty miles to our light back of the big key.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Excellent, Peterson!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And the glass is falling mighty fast.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In that case, Peterson,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;the best
+thing you can do is to hold your course, and
+the best thing I can do is to get ready for
+lunch.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The best thing either of us can do is to get
+some sleep,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;for we may not get
+much to-night. She&rsquo;ll break somewhere after sunset
+to-night, very likely.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Peterson,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;let us hope for the
+worst.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>All the same, I did not wholly like the look
+of things, for I had seen these swift gulf
+storms before. A sudden sinking of the heart
+came over me. What if my madness, indeed,
+should come to mean peril to her? Swiftly I
+stepped back to the door of the ladies&rsquo; cabin,
+where Mrs. Daniver now disappeared. &ldquo;Helena!&rdquo;
+I cried.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; I heard her answer as she stepped
+toward the little stair.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Did you say &lsquo;Yes&rsquo;?&rdquo; I rejoined suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, I did not! I only meant to ask what
+you wanted.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;As though you did not know! I wanted
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg&nbsp;284]</a></span>
+only to call you to get ready for luncheon.
+One of the owners of this waistcoat has provided
+a pompano, not to mention some excellent
+endive. And the weather is fine, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg&nbsp;285]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIX</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH IS SHIPWRECK</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>T must be understood that our party on the
+<i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> was divided into two, or
+rather, indeed, three camps, each somewhat
+sharply defined and each somewhat ignorant
+of the other&rsquo;s doings in detail. The combination
+of either two against the other, in organized
+mutiny, might very well prove successful,
+wherefore it was my task to keep all apart by
+virtue of the authority which I had myself
+usurped. The midship&rsquo;s cabin suite, of three
+rooms, was occupied by myself and my two
+bold young mates&mdash;when the latter were not
+elsewhere engaged. We made what might be
+called the ruling classes. Forward of our cabin,
+and accessible only from the deck, was the
+engine-room where Williams worked, and off
+this were two bunks, well ventilated and very
+comfortable, occupied by Williams and Peterson.
+Forward of this, and also accessible only
+from the deck, lay the dining saloon, with its
+fixed table, its cupboards, dish racks and wine-room.
+In her bows and below the saloon was
+the cook&rsquo;s gallery, a dumb-waiter running
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg&nbsp;286]</a></span>
+between; and the sleeping quarters of John, the
+cook, and Willy, the deck-hand, were in the
+forecastle below. This left the two captives
+all the after part of the ship pretty much to
+themselves, and as the after-suite of cabins was
+roomy and fitted with every modern nautical
+luxury, they lacked neither freedom nor comfort,
+so far as these may obtain on shipboard.
+Obviously, I said little to the ship&rsquo;s crew, except
+to Peterson, and my two mates had orders
+to keep to their own part of the ship, under my
+eye.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, like ancient Gaul, divided into three
+parts, we sailed on our wholly indefinite voyage;
+and all I could do was to live from day
+to day, or hour to hour. I was content, for
+Helena was there. Indeed, I question if, these
+last three years, her image had not been always
+present in my consciousness; such are the
+fevers of our unreasoning blood, such the power
+of that madness known as love.</p>
+
+<p>But, thus divided as was our company, I had
+none such excellent opportunity for often seeing
+Helena, as might at first be supposed. She
+and her aunt refused to join us at any meal in
+the dining saloon; although, now and then,
+they came for breakfast to what Auntie Lucinda
+with scorn called the &ldquo;second table&rdquo;. It
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg&nbsp;287]</a></span>
+was not feasible for me, often, to do more than
+call of a morning to inquire if all was well
+with them; and conversation through a lead-glass
+transom is not what one would call intimate.
+Helena could bar her door if she liked
+in more ways than one; and against the fences
+that she raised against me one way or another,
+what with headaches, whims or Aunt Lucinda,
+I had now no chance to meet her alone save
+as she herself might dictate. So that, after
+all, though now I stood as commander of the
+<i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> in place of yon varlet, Cal Davidson,
+although I ate his ship&rsquo;s stores, wore, indeed,
+his waistcoats and his neckties when that
+was humanly possible, I was his successor only
+and not his equal. He could&mdash;nay, had done
+so&mdash;meet Helena as he liked, at meals, on deck,
+on a thousand errands, whereas I was helpless
+to do so. He could talk with her all over the
+ship, take her alone on deck of a moonlit night,
+listen to her sing, gaze&mdash;oh, curse him!&mdash;on
+the little curls on Helena&rsquo;s neck&mdash;but no! I
+could not endure that thought. The round
+white neck, the white shoulders, the soft curves
+beneath the peignoir&rsquo;s careless irreverences&mdash;why,
+it was an intolerable thought that any
+man should raise eye or heart or thought to
+Helena, save myself. So, this morning, after
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg&nbsp;288]</a></span>
+that rare and unconventional meeting on the
+after deck, one easily may see how much I
+wished all Gaul were divided into but two parts,
+and that the occupants of the reserved after
+cabin would come to lunch in the saloon with
+their captors, Black Bart, Jean Lafitte and Henri
+L&rsquo;Olonnois.</p>
+
+<p>Now, &rsquo;tis an odd thing, but one of my superstitions,
+that when we wish much and fervently
+and cleanly for any certain thing, one day that
+thing is ours. Some day, some time, some
+hour or instant, our dear desire, our coveted
+thing, our wish, comes and flutters and alights
+at our side; if really we have deserved it and
+have wished long and deeply and honestly and
+purposefully. You ask proof? Well, then,
+hardly had we three, Black Bart, Jean Lafitte
+and Henri L&rsquo;Olonnois, seated ourselves at table
+for luncheon that day before I became sensible
+of a faint shadow at the saloon stair. I saw a
+trim boot and a substantial ankle which I knew
+belonged to Aunt Lucinda; and then I looked
+up and saw on the deck Helena also, stooped,
+her clean-cut head, with its blown dark hair,
+visible against the blue sky.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;May I come in?&rdquo; she asked gaily enough.
+And I reached up next to her to hand her
+down, and smooth down her skirt for her at
+the rather awkward narrow stair.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg&nbsp;289]</a></span>
+&ldquo;You are always invited,&rdquo; said I, and perhaps
+I flushed in my pleasure. &ldquo;John,&rdquo; I called
+down the tube, &ldquo;two more&mdash;the ladies.&rdquo; And
+I heard his calm &ldquo;All lite.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>My young gentlemen had risen, politely, but
+Helena gently pushed them down into their
+places. &ldquo;Be seated here, ladies,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;These
+places are, as you see, always spread for you.
+Your covers wait. And all the ship&rsquo;s silver
+shall see duty now. L&rsquo;Olonnois, my hearty,
+you and I shall serve, eh? I am, indeed, delighted&mdash;greatly
+delighted&mdash;I shall not inquire, I
+shall only hope.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; boomed the deep voice of Auntie
+Lucinda, &ldquo;we came because we did not like the
+look of things.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;To be sure, things are not looking bully,&rdquo;
+I assented vaguely.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I mean the weather. It&rsquo;s getting black, and
+it&rsquo;s colder. And after what you told me about
+the storms, and that lighthouse being blown
+down&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My dear Mrs. Daniver,&rdquo; said I, helping her
+to her chair while L&rsquo;Olonnois served his Auntie
+Helena in like fashion, &ldquo;you really must not
+take one too seriously. That lighthouse fell
+over of its own weight&mdash;the contractor&rsquo;s work
+was done shamefully.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But you said it blew,&rdquo; ventured Helena.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg&nbsp;290]</a></span>
+&ldquo;It blows, a little, now and then, to be sure,
+but never very much, only enough to enable
+the oyster boats and shrimpers to get in. How
+could we have oysters without a sailing
+breeze?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s more than a breeze,&rdquo; said Aunt Lucinda.
+&ldquo;My neuralgia tells me&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is fortunate that you honored us, my dear
+Mrs. Daniver,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for I have here in the
+cooler a bottle of ninety-three. I had an inspiration.
+I knew you would come, for nothing in the
+world could have pleased me so much.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I was looking at Helena, whose eyes were
+cast down. I observed now that she was in
+somewhat elegant morning costume, her bridge
+coat of Vienna lace, caught with a wide bar
+of plain gold, covering some soft and shimmering
+under-bodice which fitted closely
+enough to be formal. And I saw she had on
+many rings, and that her throat sparkled under
+a circlet of gems.</p>
+
+<p>She must have caught my glance of surprise,
+for she said nervously, &ldquo;You think we are
+overplaying our return call? Well, the truth
+is, we&rsquo;re afraid.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So then?&rdquo;&mdash;and I bowed.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So then I fished out all my jewelry.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We are honored.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg&nbsp;291]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Well, I didn&rsquo;t know what might happen.
+If one should be shipwrecked&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; I caught
+her frightened gaze out an open port, perfectly
+aware myself of the swift weather change.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There is nothing like dressing the part of
+the shipwrecked,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;For myself, these
+same flannels will do.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Pshaw!&rdquo; said young L&rsquo;Olonnois, &ldquo;suppose
+she does pitch a little&mdash;it ain&rsquo;t any worse&rsquo;n on
+the <i>Mauretania</i> when we went across. I ain&rsquo;t
+scared, are you, John?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied Jean Lafitte shyly. He was
+almost overawed with the ladies. But I liked
+the look of his eye now.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s not as big as the <i>Mauretania</i>,&rdquo; said Helena,
+fixing L&rsquo;Olonnois&rsquo; collar for him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure she&rsquo;s going to roll horribly,&rdquo; added
+Aunt Lucinda. &ldquo;And if I should be seasick,
+with my neuralgia, I&rsquo;m sure I don&rsquo;t know what
+I should do.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<em>I</em> know!&rdquo; remarked L&rsquo;Olonnois; and Helena
+promptly dropped her hand over his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let us not think of storm and shipwreck,&rdquo;
+said I, &ldquo;at least until they come. I want to ask
+your attention to John&rsquo;s imitation of Luigi&rsquo;s
+oysters <i>&agrave; la marini&egrave;re</i>. The oysters are of our
+own catching this morning. For, you must know,
+the water hereabout is very shallow, and is full of
+oysters.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg&nbsp;292]</a></span>
+&ldquo;You said full of sharks,&rdquo; corrected Aunt
+Lucinda.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Did I? I meant oysters.&rdquo; And I helped
+her to some from the dumb-waiter and uncorked
+the very last bottle of the ninety-three left in
+the case. &ldquo;And as for this storm of which you
+speak, ladies,&rdquo; I added as I poured, &ldquo;I would
+there might come every day as ill a wind if
+it would blow me as great a good as yourselves
+for luncheon.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said L&rsquo;Olonnois brightly, &ldquo;you might
+blow in once in a while an&rsquo; see us fellers. I
+told Black Bart that captives&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; but here I
+kicked Jimmy under the table. Poor chap,
+what with his Auntie Helena&rsquo;s hand at one
+extremity and my boot at the other, he was
+strained in his conversation, and in disgust,
+joined Jean Lafitte in complete silence and oysters.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Really,&rdquo; and Helena raised her eyes, &ldquo;isn&rsquo;t
+it growing colder?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jean, close the port behind Miss Emory,&rdquo;
+said I. It was plain enough to my mind that
+a blue norther was breaking, with its swift
+drop in temperature and its possibly high wind.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The table&rsquo;s actin&rsquo; funny,&rdquo; commented Jean
+Lafitte presently. He had never been at sea
+before.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Aunt Lucinda, with very much&mdash;too
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg&nbsp;293]</a></span>
+much&mdash;dignity. &ldquo;If you all will please
+excuse me, I think I shall go back to the cabin.
+Helena!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Go with Mrs. Daniver at once, Jimmy,&rdquo;
+said I to L&rsquo;Olonnois.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, aye, Sir!&rdquo; saluted he joyously; and
+added aside as he passed me, &ldquo;Hope the old
+girl&rsquo;s going to be good an&rsquo; sick!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I could see Peterson standing near the saloon&rsquo;s
+door, and bethought me to send Jean
+Lafitte up to aid him in making all shipshape.
+We were beginning to roll; and I missed the
+smooth thrust of both our propellors, although
+now the engines were purring smoothly
+enough. Thus by mere chance, I found myself
+alone with Helena. I put out a hand to steady
+her as she rose.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is it really going to be bad?&rdquo; she inquired
+anxiously. &ldquo;Auntie gets <em>so</em> sick.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It will be rough, for three hours yet,&rdquo; I
+admitted. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s not so big as the <i>Mauretania</i>,
+but as well built for her tonnage. You couldn&rsquo;t
+pound her apart, no matter what came&mdash;she&rsquo;s
+oak and cedar, through and through, and every
+point&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve studied her well, since you&mdash;since
+you came aboard?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;&ldquo;Yes, yes, to be sure I have. And she&rsquo;s
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg&nbsp;294]</a></span>
+worth her name. Don&rsquo;t you think it was
+mighty fine of&mdash;of Mr. Davidson to name her
+after you&mdash;the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He never did. If he had, why?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t ask such questions, with the glass
+falling as it is,&rdquo; I said, pulling up the racks to
+restrain the dancing tumblers.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, don&rsquo;t joke!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Harry!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, Helena,&rdquo; said I.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. But we seem so little and
+the sea so big. And it&rsquo;s getting black, and the
+fog is coming. Look&mdash;you can&rsquo;t see the shore-line
+any more now.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It was as she said. The swift bank of vapor
+had blotted out the low-lying shores entirely.
+We sailed now in a narrowing circle of mist.
+I saw thin points of moisture on the port
+lights. And now I began to close the ports.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There <em>is</em> danger!&rdquo; she reiterated.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;All horses can run away, all auto cars can
+blow up, all boats can sink. But we have as
+good charts and compasses as the <i>Mauretania</i>, and
+in three hours&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But much can happen in three hours.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Much has happened in less time. It did
+not take me so long as that to love you, Helena,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg&nbsp;295]</a></span>
+and that I have not forgotten in more than
+five years. Five years, Helena. And as to
+shipwreck, what does one more matter? It is
+you who have made shipwreck of a man&rsquo;s life.
+Take shame for that.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Take shame yourself, to talk in this way to
+me, when I am helpless, when I can&rsquo;t get
+away, when I&rsquo;m troubled and frightened half
+to death? Ah, fine of you to persecute a
+girl!&rdquo; She sobbed, choking a little, but her
+head high. &ldquo;Let me out, I&rsquo;m going to Auntie
+Lucinda. I hate you more and more. If I
+were to drown, I&rsquo;d not take aid from you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do you mean that, Helena?&rdquo; I asked, more
+than the chill of the norther in my blood.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I mean it. You are a <em>coward</em>!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I stood for quite a time between her and
+the companion stair, my hand still offering aid
+as she swayed in the boat&rsquo;s roll now. I was
+thinking, and I was very sad.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Helena,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;perhaps you have won.
+That&rsquo;s a hard word to take from man or
+woman. If it is in any way true, you have
+won and I have lost, and deserved to lose. But
+now, since little else remains, let me arrange
+matters as simply as I can. I&rsquo;ll admit there&rsquo;s
+an element of risk in our situation&mdash;one screw
+is out of commission, and one engine might be
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg&nbsp;296]</a></span>
+better. If we missed the channel west of the
+shoals, we might go aground&mdash;I hope not.
+Whether we do or not, I want to tell you&mdash;over
+yonder, forty or fifty miles, is the channel
+running inland, which was my objective
+point all along. I know this coast in the dark,
+like a book. Now, I promise you, I&rsquo;ll take you
+in there to friends of mine, people of your own
+class, and no one shall suspect one jot of all
+this, other than that we were driven out of
+our course. And once there, you are free. You
+never will see my face again. I will do this,
+as a ship&rsquo;s man, for you, and if need comes,
+will give my life to keep you safe. It&rsquo;s about
+all a coward can do for you. Now go, and if
+any time of need comes for me to call you,
+you will be called. And you will be cared for
+by the ship&rsquo;s men. And because I am head of
+the ship&rsquo;s men, you will do as I say. But I
+hope no need for this will come. Yonder is
+our course, where she heads now, and soon
+you will be free from me. You have wrecked
+me. Now I am derelict, from this time on.
+Good-by.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I heard footfalls above. &ldquo;Mrs. Daniver&rsquo;s
+compliments to Captain Black Bart,&rdquo; saluted
+L&rsquo;Olonnois, &ldquo;an&rsquo; would he send my Auntie Helena
+back, because she&rsquo;s offle sick.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg&nbsp;297]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Take good care of your Auntie Helena,
+Jimmy,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and help her aft along the
+rail.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I followed up the companionway, and saw
+her going slowly, head down, her coat of lace
+blown wide; her hand at her throat, and sobbing
+in what Jimmy and I both knew was fear
+of the storm.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Have they got everything they need there,
+Jimmy?&rdquo; I asked, as he returned.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sure. And the old girl&rsquo;s going to have a
+peach of a one this time&mdash;she can&rsquo;t hardly rock
+in a rockin&rsquo; chair &rsquo;thout gettin&rsquo; seasick. I
+think it&rsquo;s great, don&rsquo;t you? Look at her buck
+into &rsquo;em!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Jimmy and his friend shared this immunity
+from <i>mal de mer</i>. I could see Jean now helping
+haul down our burgee, and the deck boy, Willy,
+in his hurried work about the boat. Williams,
+I could not see. But Peterson was now calm
+and much in his element, for a better skipper
+than he never sailed a craft on the Great Lakes.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I think she&rsquo;s going to blow great guns,&rdquo;
+said he, &ldquo;and like enough the other engine&rsquo;ll
+pop any minute.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; I answered, stepping to the wheel.
+&ldquo;In which case we go to Davy Jones about
+when, Peterson?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg&nbsp;298]</a></span>
+&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t go!&rdquo; he rejoined. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s the
+grandest little ship afloat, and not a thing&rsquo;s
+the matter with her.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Can we make the channel and run inside
+the long key below the C&ocirc;te Blanche Bayou?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sure we can. You&rsquo;d better get the covers
+off the boats, and see the bottom plugs in and
+some water and supplies shipped aboard&mdash;but
+there&rsquo;s not the slightest danger in the world
+for <em>this</em> boat, let me tell you that, sir. I&rsquo;ve
+seen her perform before now, and there&rsquo;s not
+a storm can blow on this coast she won&rsquo;t ride
+through.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg&nbsp;299]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXX</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH IS SHIPWRECK OF OTHER SORT</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">A</span>FTER the fashion of these gulf storms,
+this one tarried not in its coming, nor offered
+any clemency when it had arrived. Where
+but a half-hour since the heavens had been
+fair, the sea rippling, suave and kind, now the
+sky was not visible at all and the tumbling
+waves about us rolled savagely as in a nature
+wholly changed. The wind sang ominously
+overhead, as with lift and plunge we drove on
+into a bank of mist. A chill as of doom swiftly
+had replaced the balm of the southern sky;
+and forsooth, all the mercy of the world seemed
+lost and gone.</p>
+
+<p>And as our craft, laboring, thrust forward
+blindly into this reek, with naught of comfort
+on any hand, nor even the dimmest ray of
+hope visible from any fixed thing on ahead, in
+like travail of going, in like groaning to the
+very soul, the bark of my life now lay in the
+welter, helpless, reft of storm and strife, blind,
+counseled by no fixed ray ahead. I know not
+what purpose remained in me, that, like the
+ship which bore us, I still, dumbly and without
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg&nbsp;300]</a></span>
+conscious purpose, forged onward to some
+point fixed by reason or desire before reason
+and desire had been engulfed by this final unkindness
+of the world. For myself, I cared
+little or none at all. The plunge of the boat,
+the shriek of the wind, the wild magic and
+mystery of it, would have comported not ill
+with a strong man&rsquo;s tastes even in hours more
+happy, and now, especially, they jumped with
+the wild protest of a soul eager for some outlet
+of action or excitement. But for these others,
+these women&mdash;this woman&mdash;these boys, all
+brought into this danger by my own mad folly,
+ah! when the thought of these arose, a swift
+remorse caught me; and though for myself I
+feared not at all, for these I feared.</p>
+
+<p>Needs must, therefore, use every cool skilled
+resource that lay at hand. No time now for
+broken hearts to ask attention, the ship must
+be sailed. Crippled or not, what she had of
+help for us must be got out of her, used, fostered,
+nourished. All the art of the navigator
+must be charged with this duty. We must
+win through. And, as many a man who has
+seen danger will testify, the great need brought
+to us all a great calm and a steady precision in
+that which needed doing.</p>
+
+<p>I saw Peterson at the wheel, wet to the skin,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg&nbsp;301]</a></span>
+as now and again a seventh wave, slow, portentous,
+deadly-deliberate, showed ahead of us,
+advanced, reared and pounded down on us
+with its tons of might. But he only shook the
+brine from his eyes and held her up, waiting
+for the slow pulse of our crippled engine to
+come on.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t keep my pipe lit!&rdquo; he called to me,
+as I stood beside him; and at last, Peterson, in
+a real time of danger, seemed altogether happy
+and altogether free of apprehension beyond
+that regarding his pipe.</p>
+
+<p>At the first breaking of the storm I had, of
+course, ordered all ports closed, and had sent
+both my young companions to the ladies&rsquo; cabin
+aft, as the driest part of the boat. Even there,
+the water that sometimes fell upon our decks
+as the great waves broke, poured aft and even
+broke about the cabin, drenching everything
+above deck. It was man&rsquo;s work that was to
+be done now, yet none could bear a hand in it
+save the engineer and the steersman. I was,
+therefore, ready sternly to reprove Jean Lafitte
+when, presently, I saw him making the
+perilous passage forward, clinging to the rail
+and wet to the skin before he could reach the
+forward deck. But he protested so earnestly
+and seemed withal so fit and keen, that I
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg&nbsp;302]</a></span>
+relented and allowed him to take his place by us
+at the wheel, showing him as well as I could,
+on the chart, the course we were trying to hold&mdash;the
+mouth of a long channel, six miles or
+more, dredged by the government across a foot
+of the bay and making through to deeper
+and more sheltered waters beyond.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;S&rsquo;posin&rsquo; we don&rsquo;t hit her, in this fog!&rdquo; asked
+Jean Lafitte.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is our business to do that,&rdquo; was my reply.
+&ldquo;In an hour or so more we shall know. How
+did you leave the ladies, Jean?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jimmy, he&rsquo;s sicker&rsquo;n anything,&rdquo; was his reply,
+&ldquo;except the old lady, and she&rsquo;s sicker&rsquo;n
+Jimmy! The young lady, Miss Emory, she&rsquo;s
+all right, an&rsquo; she&rsquo;s holdin&rsquo; their heads. She
+says she don&rsquo;t get sick. Neither do I&mdash;ain&rsquo;t
+that funny? But gee, this is rougher&rsquo;n any
+waves ever was on our lake. What&rsquo;re you
+goin&rsquo; to do?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hold straight ahead, Jean,&rdquo; I answered.
+&ldquo;Now, wouldn&rsquo;t you better go back to the
+others?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Naw, I ain&rsquo;t scared&mdash;much. I told Jimmy,
+I did, any pirate ought to be ashamed to get
+sick. But they&rsquo;re all scared. So&rsquo;m I, some,&rdquo;
+he added frankly.</p>
+
+<p>I might have made some confession of my
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg&nbsp;303]</a></span>
+own, had I liked, for I did not, in the least,
+fancy the look of things; but after a time, I
+compromised with sturdy Jean by sending him
+below into the dining saloon, whence he could
+look out through the glass front and see the
+tumbling sea ahead. Through the glazed housing
+I could see him standing, hands in pockets,
+legs wide, gazing out in the simple confidence
+that all was well, and enjoying the tumult and
+excitement of it all in his boyish ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He don&rsquo;t know!&rdquo; grinned Peterson to me,
+and I only nodded in silence.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Where are we, Peterson?&rdquo; I asked, putting a
+finger on the wet chart before us.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; replied the old man. &ldquo;It
+depends on the drift, which we can&rsquo;t calculate.
+Soundings mean nothing, for she&rsquo;s shallow for
+miles. If the fog would break, so we could
+see the light&mdash;there ain&rsquo;t any fog-buoy on that
+channel mouth, and it&rsquo;s murder that there ain&rsquo;t.
+It&rsquo;s this d&mdash;&mdash;d fog that makes it bad.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I looked at my watch. It was now going on
+five o&rsquo;clock, and in this light, it soon would be
+night for us. Peterson caught the time, and
+frowned. &ldquo;Wish&rsquo;t we was in,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;No
+use trying to anchor unless we must, anyhow&mdash;she&rsquo;ll
+ride mighty wet out here. Better buck
+on into it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg&nbsp;304]</a></span>
+So we bucked on in, till five, till five-thirty,
+till six, and all the boat&rsquo;s lights revealed was
+a yellow circle of fog that traveled with us.
+Wet and chilled, we two stood at the wheel
+together, in such hard conditions that no navigator
+and no pilot could have done much more
+than grope.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We must have missed her!&rdquo; admitted the
+old skipper at last. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t fancy the open
+gulf, and I don&rsquo;t fancy piling her up on some
+shore in here. What do you think we should
+do, Mr. Harry?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Listen!&rdquo; said I, raising a hand.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no bell-buoy,&rdquo; said he.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, but hark. Don&rsquo;t you hear the birds&mdash;there&rsquo;s
+a million geese and swans and ducks
+calling over yonder.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Right, by George!&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;But where?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;d not be at sea, Peterson. They must
+be in some fresh-water lake inside some key or
+island. On the Long Key there&rsquo;s such an
+inland lake.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s beyond the channel, maybe?&rdquo; said he.
+But he signaled Williams to go slow, and that
+faithful unseen Cyclops, on whose precious engines
+so much depended, obeyed and presently
+put out a head at his hatch, quickly withdrawing
+it as a white sea came inboard.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg&nbsp;305]</a></span>
+&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll crawl on in,&rdquo; said Peterson. &ldquo;The
+light can&rsquo;t be a thousand miles from here. If
+only there was a nigger man and a dinner bell
+beside the light&mdash;that&rsquo;s the trouble. And now&mdash;good
+God! <em>There she goes!</em>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>With a jar which shook the good boat to the
+core, we felt the bottom come up from the
+depths and smite us. Our headway ceased,
+save for a sickening crunching crawl. The
+waves piled clear across our port bow as we
+swung. And so we hung, the gulf piling in
+on us in our yellow rimmed world. And at
+the lift and hollow of the sea we rose and
+pounded sullenly down, in such fashion as
+would have broken the back of any boat less
+stanch than ours.</p>
+
+<p>Here, in an eye&rsquo;s flash, was danger tangible
+and real. I heard a shriek from the cabin aft,
+and called out for them all to keep below and
+keep the ports closed. Peterson had the power
+off in an instant, and swung her head as best
+he could with the dying headway; but it only
+put her farther on the shoal.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the Timbalier Shoals!&rdquo; he screamed.
+&ldquo;Oh, d&mdash;&mdash; it all! We&rsquo;ll lose her, now.&rdquo; I
+recalled that his concern seemed rather for his
+boat than the lives she carried.</p>
+
+<p>Jean Lafitte came bounding up the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg&nbsp;306]</a></span>
+companionway, his face pale, but ready for ship&rsquo;s discipline.
+&ldquo;Come,&rdquo; said I quickly, &ldquo;help me
+with the anchor.&rdquo; A moment later, we sprung
+the capstan clutch, and I heard the brief growl
+of the anchor chain as the big hook ran free.
+Glad enough I was to think of the extra size
+it had. We eased her down and made fast
+under Peterson&rsquo;s orders now, and so swung
+into the head of the sea, which mercilessly
+lifted us and flung us down like a monkey seeking
+to crack a cocoanut shell. Williams joined
+us now, and Willie and John, pale as Jean Lafitte,
+came up from the forecastle, all shouting
+and jabbering. I ran aft as soon as might be,
+and only pulled up at the cabin door to summon
+such air of calm as I might. I rapped,
+but followed in, not waiting. Helena met me,
+pale, her eyes wide, her hair disheveled, but
+none the less mistress of herself.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; she demanded. &ldquo;What makes
+it jolt?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve gone aground,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;She does
+pound a little, doesn&rsquo;t she?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She looked out into the wild night, across
+which the voices of the confused wild fowl came
+like souls in torment.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is terrible!&rdquo; said she simply. &ldquo;Are we
+lost?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg&nbsp;307]</a></span>
+&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Let us hear no such talk. Go
+below, now, and keep quiet. We may pass the
+night here, or we may conclude after a little
+to go on ahead a little farther. We&rsquo;ve just
+dropped the anchor. The island&rsquo;s just over
+there a way.&rdquo; I did not care to be too specific.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What is it, oh, what is it?&rdquo; I heard the
+faint voice of Mrs. Daniver. &ldquo;Oh, this is awful.
+I&mdash;am&mdash;going&mdash;to&mdash;die, going to <em>die</em>!&rdquo; The agony
+of <i>mal de mer</i> was hers now of full license, for
+the choppy sea was sustained on the bosom of
+a long ground swell, coming we knew not
+whence.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jimmy!&rdquo; I called down. &ldquo;Are you there?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, Sir,&rdquo; answered L&rsquo;Olonnois bravely, from
+his place on the floor. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m feeling pretty funny,
+but I&rsquo;ll be all right&mdash;maybe.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Stay right where you are&mdash;and you also,
+Miss Emory. I must go forward now, and just
+came to tell you it&rsquo;s all right. If there should
+be any need, we&rsquo;ll let you know. Now keep
+down, and keep the door shut.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m&mdash;going&mdash;to&mdash;<em>die</em>!&rdquo; moaned Mrs. Daniver
+as I left. Helena made no outcry, but that
+horror possessed her I knew very well, for
+every reason told us that our case was desperate.
+The boat might start her seams or
+break her back, any instant, now.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg&nbsp;308]</a></span>
+I found the men trying to make soundings
+all about us as best they could with boat hooks
+and a spare spar. But it came to little.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Peterson,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re ship&rsquo;s master.
+What are your orders?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Unlash the boat covers,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Get
+even the dingey ready. Williams, close your
+hatch and bear a hand to swing the big boat
+out in her davits. Set the bottom plugs in
+well. And Mr. Harry, you and John, the Chink,
+had better get some stores and a case or so of
+bottled water aboard the long boat. Have you
+got the slickers and rugs ready, and plenty of
+clothes? We&rsquo;ll just be ready if it happens. I
+don&rsquo;t know where that damned light or the
+damned channel is, but the damned ducks maybe
+know where some damned thing is. We&rsquo;ll
+run for them, if we can&rsquo;t ride her out.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We all hurried now, Jean Lafitte at my heels,
+silent and faithful as a dog, aiding me as I
+piled blankets and coats and rugs from our
+cabin into the ship&rsquo;s boat, which swayed and
+swung perilously at the davits. What with the
+aid of John, the China boy, and Willy, the deck-hand,
+we also got supplies aboard her, I scarce
+knew what, except that there seemed abundance.
+And then we stood waiting for what
+might happen, helpless in the hands of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg&nbsp;309]</a></span>
+offended elements, and silent all. I held Jean&rsquo;s
+hand in my own. He was loyal to his mate,
+even now. &ldquo;Jimmy&rsquo;d be here,&rdquo; he said.
+&ldquo;&rsquo;Course he would, only he&rsquo;s so awful sick. I
+ain&rsquo;t sick&mdash;yet, but I feel funny, someway.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Peterson stood looking ahead, but was anxious.
+&ldquo;She&rsquo;s coming up stronger,&rdquo; said he,
+&ldquo;and two points on the port quarter. We&rsquo;re
+going on harder all the time. Anchor&rsquo;s dragging.
+Afraid we&rsquo;re going to lose her, Mr.
+Harry.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hush!&rdquo; said I, nodding to the boy. &ldquo;And
+turn on the search-light. It seems to me I hear
+breakers in there.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s so,&rdquo; said the old man. &ldquo;Hook on
+the light&rsquo;s battery, Williams, and let&rsquo;s see what
+we can see.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The strong beam, wavering from side to side,
+plowed a furry path into the fog. It disclosed
+at first only the succession of angry incoming
+waves, each, as it passed, thudding us down
+on the bar of shell and mud and slime. But
+at last, off to starboard and well astern in our
+new position, riding at anchor, we raised a
+faint white line of broken water which seemed
+a constant feature; and now and then caught
+the low boom of the surf.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She ain&rsquo;t a half mile, over yonder,&rdquo; I heard
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg&nbsp;310]</a></span>
+Willy, the deck-hand, say. &ldquo;An&rsquo; we could almost
+walk it if it wasn&rsquo;t for the sea.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir,&rdquo; said Williams, &ldquo;we&rsquo;d do fine in
+there now, with them boats. When we hit
+that white water&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Shut up!&rdquo; ordered Peterson. &ldquo;Safe as a
+church, here or there, you lubbers. Stand by
+your tackle, and keep your chin. Mr. Harry,
+tell the ladies just to wrap up a bit, because&mdash;well,
+maybe, because&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Call me when it is time, Peterson,&rdquo; said I;
+and moved aft, holding Jean Lafitte by the arm.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Gee!&rdquo; said he, as he dropped, wet and out
+of breath, into the cabin; and &ldquo;Gee!&rdquo; remarked
+a very pale L&rsquo;Olonnois in return, gamely as he
+could. And Mrs. Daniver&rsquo;s moans went rhythmic
+with the pound of the keel on the shoal.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What shall we do?&rdquo; asked Helena at last
+calmly. &ldquo;Auntie is very sick. I am beginning
+to fear for her, it is such a bad attack. This
+is as rough as I ever saw it on the Channel.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There is no danger,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but Peterson
+and I just thought that if she kept on pounding
+in this way, it might be better to go
+ashore.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I spoke lightly, but well enough I knew the
+risk of trying to launch a boat in such a sea;
+and what the surf might be, none could say.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg&nbsp;311]</a></span>
+Ah, how I wished that my empty assurance
+might be the truth. For I knew that, anyway
+we looked, only danger stared back at us now,
+on every hand.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg&nbsp;312]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXI</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH WE TAKE TO THE BOATS</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">I</span> LOOKED at the woman I loved, and self-reproach
+was in my soul, as I saw a shudder
+go across her form. She was pale, but
+beyond a swift look at me made no sign connecting
+me, either with the wreck or the rescue.
+I think she had even then abandoned all
+hope of safety; and in my own heart, such,
+also, was the rising conviction which I concealed.
+Under the inborn habit of self-preservation,
+under the cultivated habit of the well
+born, to show no fear and to use the resources
+of a calm mind to the last in time of danger,
+we stood now, at least, in some human equality.
+And again I lied and said, &ldquo;There is no danger,&rdquo;
+though I could see the white rollers and could
+hear their roar on the shore.</p>
+
+<p>The night grew wilder. The great gulf
+storm had not yet reached its climax, and none
+could tell what pitch of fury that might mean.
+The dull jar of the boat as she time and again
+was flung down by the waves, the shiver and
+creak and groan of the sturdy craft, told us
+that the end might come at any instant, though
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg&nbsp;313]</a></span>
+now the anchor held firm and our crawl on to
+the shoal had ceased. All around us was water
+only four or five feet deep, but water whose
+waves were twice as high. Once the final
+crash came, and it would be too late to launch
+a boat, and all of us, overboard in that welter,
+were gone.</p>
+
+<p>Silently, I stepped on deck once more, and
+motioned to Willy, the deck-hand, to bring me
+the life preservers. &ldquo;Put them on,&rdquo; I said to
+Helena.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I can&rsquo;t. I can&rsquo;t!&rdquo; moaned the older
+woman. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m dying&mdash;let me alone.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Stop this nonsense, madam,&rdquo; said I sternly&mdash;knowing
+that was the only way&mdash;&ldquo;put it on
+at once. You too, Miss Emory, and you, my
+boys. Quick. Then throw on loose wraps&mdash;all
+you can. It will be cold.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>In spite of all my efforts to seem calm, the
+air of panic ran swiftly. Mrs. Daniver awoke
+to swift action as she tremblingly fastened the
+belt about her. Pushing past me, she reached
+the deck, and so mad was she that in all
+likelihood she would have sprung overboard.
+I caught at her, and though my clutch brought
+away little more than a handful of false hair,
+it seemed to restore her reason though it destroyed
+her coiffure. &ldquo;Enough of this!&rdquo; I
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg&nbsp;314]</a></span>
+cried to her. &ldquo;Take your place by the boat,
+and do as you are told.&rdquo; And I saw Helena
+pass forward, also, as we all reached the deck,
+herself pale as a wraith, but with no outcry and
+no spoken word. So, at last, I ranged them all
+near the boat that swung ready at the davits.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t all get in that,&rdquo; said Jean Lafitte.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I: and I did not like to look at
+the tiny dingey which lay on the cabin-top,
+squat and tub-like, or the small ducking skiff
+that here on deck was half full of water from
+the breaking seas.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Peterson,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;take charge of the big
+boat here. Take Williams to run her motor
+for you. And the ladies will go with you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I turned to the two boys, and my heart
+leaped in pride for them both; for when I motioned
+to Jimmy to make ready for the large
+boat, with the ladies, he stepped back, pale as
+he was. &ldquo;Not unless John goes, too,&rdquo; said he.
+And they stood side by side, simply and with
+no outcry, their young faces grave.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He must go with us&mdash;Jimmy,&rdquo; broke out
+Helena yearningly: &ldquo;and so must you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Shut up, Auntie,&rdquo; exclaimed Jimmy most
+irreverently. &ldquo;Who&rsquo;s a-runnin&rsquo; this boat, like
+to know?&rdquo; Which abashed his auntie very
+much.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg&nbsp;315]</a></span>
+&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll take this one,&rdquo; said Jean Lafitte, and
+already was tipping the duck boat. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll carry
+us three if it has to.&rdquo; And I allowed him and
+his mate to stand by, not daring to look at its
+inadequate shell and again at the breaking
+seas.</p>
+
+<p>That left the dingey for Willy and the cook.
+I glanced at Willy. &ldquo;Which would you rather
+chance?&rdquo; I asked him, &ldquo;the dingey or the duck
+boat?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The dingey,&rdquo; said he quickly,&mdash;and we both
+knew the cork-like quality of this stubby craft.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Call John, when the
+word comes to go.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t you going with us?&rdquo; asked Helena
+now, suddenly, approaching me. I took one
+long look into her eyes, then, &ldquo;Obey orders,&rdquo;
+was all I said, and pointed to the larger boat.
+I said good-by to her then. And, in the swift
+intuitive justice that comes to us in moments
+of extremity, I passed sentence upon these
+young boys and myself. Though they had sinned
+in innocence, though I had sinned in love,
+it had been our folly that had brought these
+others into this peril, and our chance must be
+the least. Peterson and Williams would be a
+better team in the big boat than any other we
+could afford. I saw Peterson step toward us,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg&nbsp;316]</a></span>
+and divined what was in his mind. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m owner
+of this boat, my man,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Go to your
+duty. You&rsquo;re needed in the big boat.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m last to leave her,&rdquo; whispered the old
+man. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s my boat, and I&rsquo;ve run her.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Peterson,&rdquo; said I, taking him aside, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll
+buy us another boat. But there is no woman
+on earth, nor ever will be, like that one yonder.
+Save her. It is your first duty. I wanted
+that for myself, but she thinks I&rsquo;m a coward,
+and I would be, if I arranged our crews any
+other way than just as we are. Take your
+boat through. We others will do the best we
+can. And give the word for the boats when
+you&rsquo;re sure we can&rsquo;t ride it out.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Silently, the old man touched his cap, and
+giving me one look, he went to the bows of
+his boat. The <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>, lashed by the
+storm, rolled and pulled at her cable, rose, fell
+thuddingly. And at last, came a giant swell
+that almost submerged us. I caught Helena to
+the cabin-top to keep her drier from it, and the
+two boys also sprang to a point of safety. Mrs.
+Daniver, less agile, was caught by Peterson
+and Williams and held to the rail, wetted thoroughly.
+And by some freak of the wind, at
+that instant came fully the roar of the surf.
+We of the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> seemed very small.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg&nbsp;317]</a></span>
+I looked now at Peterson. He raised his
+little megaphone, which hung at his belt, and
+shouted loud and clear, as though we could
+not have heard him at this distance of ten
+feet. &ldquo;Get ready to lower away!&rdquo; Williams
+and the deck-hand sprang to the falls. &ldquo;Get
+the women in the boat, you, Williams,&rdquo; called
+the skipper, &ldquo;and go in with them to steady
+her when she floats. Take his place there, Mr.
+Harry. Lively now!&rdquo; And how we got the
+two women into the swinging boat I hardly
+knew.</p>
+
+<p>The old skipper cast one eye ahead as a big
+wave rolled astern. &ldquo;Now!&rdquo; he shouted.
+&ldquo;Lower away, there!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The boat dropped into the cup of a sea, rose
+level with the rail the next instant, and tossed
+perilously. I saw the two women huddled in
+the bottom of her, their eyes covered, saw Williams
+climbing over them and easing her at the
+bowline. Then, as we seized the next instant
+of the rhythm, and hauled her alongside, Peterson
+made a leap and went aboard her, and
+Williams scrambled back, once more, across
+the two huddled forms. I saw him wrench at
+the engine crank, and heard the spitting chug
+of the little motor. They fell off in the seaway,
+Peterson holding her with an oar as he
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg&nbsp;318]</a></span>
+could till the screws caught. Then I saw her answer
+the helm and they staggered off, passing
+out of the beam of our search-light, so that it
+seemed to me I had said good-by to Helena
+forever.</p>
+
+<p>We who remained had no davits to aid us,
+and must launch by hand. For a moment I
+stood and made my plans. First, I called to
+Willy, our deck-hand, who had the dingey
+now astern, some fashion. &ldquo;Are you ready?&rdquo;
+I demanded: but the next moment I heard his
+call astern and knew that, monkey-like, he had
+got her over and was aboard her somehow.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now, boys,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;come here and shake
+hands with Black Bart.&rdquo; They came, their
+serious eyes turned up to me. And never has
+deeper emotion seized me than as I felt their
+young hands in mine. We said nothing.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now, bear a hand there, you, Jean!&rdquo; I
+pulled open the gate of the rail, and ran out
+the landing stage, on which the flat-bottomed
+skiff sat. With an oar I pushed it across at
+right angles as nearly as possible when she
+cleared. &ldquo;Quick! Get in, both of you,&rdquo; I
+called. I was holding the inboard end of the
+plank under a wedged oar shaft, thrust below
+the sill of the forward cabin door. They scrambled
+out and in, Jean grasping the bight of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg&nbsp;319]</a></span>
+painter that I handed him, and passing it over
+the rail.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now, look out,&rdquo; I called, and dropped the
+landing stage to meet the swell of the next
+wave. They slid, tilted, righted, rose high&mdash;and
+held. The next moment I sprang, fell into
+the sea, was caught by the collar as my hand
+grasped the cockpit coaming, and so I slid in,
+somehow, over the end deck, and caught the
+end of the painter from John&rsquo;s hand and cast
+her free.</p>
+
+<p>The drift carried us off at once, and the next
+wave almost hid the hull of the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>.
+I knew at once we were powerless, and that
+our one hope lay in drifting ashore. There is
+no worse sea boat than a low, flat ducking
+boat, decked though she be, and of good coaming,
+for she butts into and does not rise to a
+sea. But now, I thanked my star, one thing
+only was in our favor. We rolled like a log,
+already half full of water, but we floated, because
+in each end of our skiff was a big empty
+tin air tank, put there in spite of the laughing
+protest of the builder, who said no room was
+left for decoys under the decks. Just now,
+those tin cans were worth more than many
+duck decoys.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Keep down!&rdquo; I ordered. &ldquo;And hold on!&rdquo;
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg&nbsp;320]</a></span>
+The boys obeyed me. I could see their gaze
+bent on me, as the source of their hope, their
+reliance. Jimmy was now free from the first
+violence of the seasickness, but I saw Jean&rsquo;s hand
+on his arm.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Gee!&rdquo; I heard the latter mutter as the first
+sea crossed under us. &ldquo;Dat was a peach.&rdquo; I
+took heart myself, for we lived that one
+through. &ldquo;Bail!&rdquo; I ordered, and they took
+their cups to it, while I did all I could with
+the long punt paddle to make some sort of
+course. Now and then the blazing trail of the
+<i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne&rsquo;s</i> search-light swung across as we
+rolled, to leave us, the next instant, in blackness.
+As the seas permitted, we could see her,
+riding and rocking, sometimes, alight from
+stern to stern and making a gallant fight for
+her life, as were we all.</p>
+
+<p>So long as the rollers came in oily and black,
+we did well, but where the top of one broke
+under us, we sank deep into the white foam
+that had no carrying power, and our cockpit
+filled so that we all sat in water. Only the
+tanks held us, log-like, and we bailed and paddled:
+and after they saw we did not sink, my
+hardy bullies, perhaps in the ignorance of youth
+and boy&rsquo;s confidence that a boy and water are
+friends, began to shout aloud. We wallowed on.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg&nbsp;321]</a></span>
+No sound came to us from either of the other
+boats; and now, very quickly it seemed, we
+came at the edge of the surf.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m touching bottom, boys,&rdquo; I called, and
+cast the long punt pole adrift as I took up the
+short paddle I had held under my leg.</p>
+
+<p>Now we had under us two feet of water or
+ten, as the waves might say, and any moment
+we might roll over; but we wallowed in, rolling,
+till I knew the supreme moment had come.
+I waited, holding her head in well as I could
+so unruly a hulk, and as a big roller came after
+us, paddled as hard as I could. The wave
+chased us, caught us, pushed us, carried us in.
+There was a lift of our loggish bows, a blinding
+crash of white water about us. Our boat was
+overturned, but in some way, since the beach
+was all sand and very gentle, the wave flattened
+so that the back-tow did not pull us
+down. In some way, I do not know how, I
+found myself standing, and dragging Jimmy by
+the hand. Jean already was ahead, and I
+heard his shout and saw his hand as he stood,
+knee-deep but safe. So we all made it ashore,
+and our boat also, which now we hauled out of
+the spume. And the long white row of breakers,
+less dangerous than I had feared, came in,
+white maned and bellowing.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg&nbsp;322]</a></span>
+I could still see the rocking lights of the
+yacht, and the shifting stroke of the search-light
+on the sea, but I did not hear and see
+aught else, at the time, and my heart sank.</p>
+
+<p>It was Jimmy whose ear first got the sound
+which came in&mdash;the feverish phut-phut of the
+motor skiff. Then the ray of the great light
+swung and I saw the boat still outside the
+breakers&mdash;nor could I tell then why we had
+beaten her in. It seemed Peterson was hunting
+for us others.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Stay back, boys!&rdquo; I called to my companions.
+&ldquo;You might get thrown down by the
+waves&mdash;keep back.&rdquo; But now I was ready to
+rush in to meet the long boat, whose keel I
+knew would leave her to overturn if she caught
+bottom.</p>
+
+<p>But Peterson knew about the keel as well
+as any, and he caught what he thought was
+water enough before he yelled to Williams to
+drive her in. She sped in like an arrow; and
+again the white wave reared high and broke
+upon its prey. By then, I was in water to my
+waist. I caught Helena out with one reach of
+my arms, just as I saw Williams and Peterson
+stagger in with Mrs. Daniver between them.
+In some miraculous way we got beyond danger,
+and met my pirates, dancing and shouting
+a welcome to our desert isle. Their advent,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg&nbsp;323]</a></span>
+thereon, gave the two womenfolk a fervent
+wish to embrace, sob and weep extraordinarily.
+I had said nothing to Helena and said nothing
+now.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Where&rsquo;s the dingey, Peterson?&rdquo; I called,
+as he came up, grinning.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Coming in,&rdquo; said he; and forsooth that
+water-rat, Willy, made a better landing of it
+than any of us, and calmly helped us now to
+haul the heavy motor skiff up the beach, a
+few feet at a time as the waves thrust it forward.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Thank God!&rdquo; I heard Helena exclaim. &ldquo;Oh,
+thank God! We&rsquo;re safe, we&rsquo;re all safe, after
+all.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I looked at my little group for a time, all
+soaked to the skin, all huddled now close together.
+Peterson, Williams, Willy&mdash;all the
+crew, yes. Auntie Lucinda and the woman
+who had called me a coward&mdash;the two captives,
+yes, Jean Lafitte and Henri L&rsquo;Olonnois and myself,
+Black Bart&mdash;all the ship&rsquo;s owners. What
+lacked? For a moment I could not tell why
+I had the vague feeling that something or
+some one was missing.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Willy,&rdquo; said I at last, &ldquo;where&rsquo;s John, the
+cook?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said Willy. &ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t
+he come with you?&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg&nbsp;324]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH I RESCUE THE COOK</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">&ldquo;W</span>HAT&rsquo;S that?&rdquo; said Peterson sharply&mdash;&ldquo;you
+didn&rsquo;t obey orders?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I thought he was in the other boat,&rdquo;
+explained Willy, hanging his head.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll get your time,&rdquo; said the old man
+quietly, &ldquo;soon as we get to the railroad&mdash;and
+you&rsquo;ll go home by rail.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What are you trying to do, Mr. Harry?&rdquo;
+he demanded of me, a moment later. I was
+looking at the long boat.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, he&rsquo;s part of the boat&rsquo;s company,&rdquo; said
+I, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;ve got to save him, Peterson.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s that?&rdquo; asked Helena now coming
+up&mdash;and then, &ldquo;Why, John, our cook, isn&rsquo;t
+here, is he?&rdquo; She, too, looked at the long boat
+and at the sea. &ldquo;How horrible!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Horrible!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What does he mean to do?&rdquo; she demanded
+now of Peterson in turn. The old man only
+looked at her.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Surely, you don&rsquo;t mean to go out there
+again,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+
+<p>I turned to them both, half cold with anger.
+&ldquo;Do you think I&rsquo;d leave him out there to die,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg&nbsp;325]</a></span>
+perhaps? It was my own fault, not to see him
+in the boat.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; reiterated Peterson. &ldquo;It was
+Willy&rsquo;s fault&mdash;or mine.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In either case it&rsquo;s likely to be equally serious
+for him. We can&rsquo;t leave the poor devil
+helpless, that way.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Harry,&rdquo; began Peterson again, &ldquo;he&rsquo;s
+only a Chinaman.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Take shame to yourself for that, Peterson,&rdquo;
+said I. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a part of the boat&rsquo;s company&mdash;a
+good cook&mdash;yes, but more than a good
+cook&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, why didn&rsquo;t he come up with the rest
+of us?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Because he was at his place of duty, below,
+until ordered up,&rdquo; said I.</p>
+
+<p>Peterson pondered for a moment. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s
+right,&rdquo; said he at length; &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll go out with you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I felt Helena&rsquo;s hand on my arm. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s awful
+out there,&rdquo; said she. But I only turned to look
+at her in the half-darkness and shook off her
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t launch the big boat,&rdquo; said Peterson.
+&ldquo;You&rsquo;d only swamp her, if you tried.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That may be,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but the real thing is
+to try.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We might wait till the wind lulls,&rdquo; he argued.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg&nbsp;326]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Yes, and if the wind should change she
+might drag her anchor and go out to sea.
+Which boat is best to take, Peterson?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A strange feeling of calm came over me, an
+odd feeling not easy to explain, that I was not
+a young man of leisure, but some one else, one
+of my ancestors of earlier days, used to encounters
+with adversity or risk. Calmly and
+much to my own surprise, I stood and estimated
+the chances as though I had been used
+to such things all my life.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Which is the best boat, Peterson?&rdquo; I repeated.
+&ldquo;Hardly the duck boat, I think&mdash;and
+you say not the big boat.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The dingey is the safest,&rdquo; replied Peterson.
+&ldquo;That little tub would ride better; but no man
+could handle her out there.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;she&rsquo;ll get her second
+wetting, anyhow. Lend a hand.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll carry us both,&rdquo; commented the old
+man, stepping to the side of the stubby little
+craft.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But she&rsquo;ll be lighter and ride easier with
+but one,&rdquo; was my reply. &ldquo;A chip is dry on top
+only as long as it&rsquo;s a chip.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let me go along,&rdquo; said Jean Lafitte, stepping
+up at this time.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll do nothing of the sort, my son,&rdquo; said
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg&nbsp;327]</a></span>
+I. &ldquo;Go back to the ladies and make a fire, and
+make a shelter,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be here again
+before long.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The news of the new adventure now spread
+among our little party. Mrs. Daniver began
+sniffling. &ldquo;Helena,&rdquo; I heard her say, &ldquo;this is
+terrible.&rdquo; But meantime I was pulling off my
+sweater and fastening on a life belt. Nodding
+to Peterson, we both picked up the dingey, and
+when the next sea favored, made a swift run in
+the endeavor to break through the surf.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let go!&rdquo; I cried to him, as the water
+swirled about our waist. &ldquo;Go back!&rdquo; And so
+I sprang in alone and left him.</p>
+
+<p>For the time I could make small headway,
+indeed, had not time to get at the oars, but
+pushing as I might with the first thing that
+came to hand, I felt the bottom under me, felt
+again the lift of the sea carry me out of touch.
+Then an incoming wave carried me back almost
+to the point whence I had started. In such
+way as I could not explain, none the less at
+length the little boat won through, no more
+than half filled by the breaking comber. I
+worked first as best I might, paddling, and so
+keeping her off the best I could. Then when
+I got the oars, the stubby yawing little tub
+at first seemed scarce more than to hold her
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg&nbsp;328]</a></span>
+own. I pulled hard&mdash;hard as I could. Slowly,
+the line of white breakers passed astern. After
+that, saving my strength a trifle, I edged out,
+now angling into the wind, now pulling full
+into the teeth of the gale. Even my purpose
+was almost forgotten in the intensity of the
+task of merely keeping away from the surf.
+Dully I pulled, reasoning no more than that
+that was the thing for me to do.</p>
+
+<p>It had seemed a mile, that short half-mile
+between the yacht and the beach. It seemed
+a hundred miles now going back to the boat.
+I did not dare ask myself how I could go
+aboard if even I won across so far as the yacht.
+It was enough that I did not slip backward to
+the beach once more. Yawing and jibbing in
+the wind which caught her stubby freeboard,
+the little boat, none the less, held up under me,
+and once she was bailed of the surf, rode fairly
+dry in spite of all, being far more buoyant
+than either of the other craft. Once in the
+dark, I saw something thrust up beside me and
+fancied it to be a stake, marking the channel
+which pierced the key hereabout. This was
+confirmed in my mind when, presently, as rain
+began to fall and the fog lessened for the time,
+I saw the blurred yellow lighthouse eye answering
+the wavering search-light of the <i>Belle
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg&nbsp;329]</a></span>
+Hel&egrave;ne</i>, which swept from side to side across
+the bay as she rolled heavily at her anchor.
+In spite of the hard fight it had given me, I
+was glad the wind still held inshore. I knew
+the point of the little island lay not far beyond
+the light. Once adrift beyond that, not the
+<i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> herself would be safe, in this offshore
+wind, but must be carried out into the
+gulf beyond.</p>
+
+<p>Not reasoning much about this, however,
+and content with mere pulling, I kept on until
+at length I saw the nodding lights of the <i>Belle
+Hel&egrave;ne</i> lighting the gloom more definitely
+about me. Presently, I made under her lee, so
+that the dingey was more manageable, and at
+last, I edged up almost to her rail, planning
+how, perhaps, I might cast a line and so make
+fast. But, first, I tried calling.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ahoy, there below, John!&rdquo; I called through
+the dark. At first there came no answer, and
+again I shouted. At this I saw the door of the
+dining saloon pushed open, and John himself
+thrust out his hand.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;All litee,&rdquo; said he, merely greeting me casually.
+&ldquo;You come?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I, with equal sang-froid. &ldquo;You
+makee quick jump now, John, s&rsquo;pose I come
+in.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg&nbsp;330]</a></span>
+&ldquo;All litee,&rdquo; said he once more. I saw now
+that he stood there, a book and a bundle in his
+arm. Perhaps he had been reading to pass
+the time!</p>
+
+<p>Be that as it may, I cautiously pulled the
+dingey under the lee of the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>.
+Timing his leap with a sagacity and agility
+combined which I had not suspected of him,
+my China boy made a leap, stumbled, righted
+himself, got his balance and so placed his
+bundle on the bottom of the boat and his book
+upon the seat, where he covered it carefully
+against the spray.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;All litee,&rdquo; said he once more. &ldquo;I makee
+pull now. You come this place.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I endeavored to emulate his Oriental calm.
+&ldquo;John,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I catchee plenty wind this
+time.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, plenty wind,&rdquo; said he.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You suppose we leave China boy?&rdquo; I demanded.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, no, no!&rdquo; he exclaimed with emphasis.
+&ldquo;I know you come back allee time bimeby,
+one time.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What were you doing, John?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I leed plenty &rsquo;Melican book,&rdquo; said he calmly.
+&ldquo;Now I makee pull.&rdquo; To oblige him I
+made way for him, and we crawled past each
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg&nbsp;331]</a></span>
+other on the floor of the heaving dingey. He
+took the oars and began pulling with an odd
+chopping sort of a stroke, perhaps learned in
+his youth on some sampan that rode the waters
+of his native land; but for my own part, since
+Fate seemed to be kind to me after all, I
+trusted his skill, such as it was, and was willing
+to rest for a time.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No velly bad,&rdquo; said John judicially, after a
+time. &ldquo;Pretty soon come in.&rdquo; No doubt he
+saw the little fire, now beginning to light the
+beach. At any rate, he headed straight in,
+the seas following, reeling after us. They
+have their own ways, these people of the East.
+I fancy John had run surf before. At any rate,
+I knew the water now was shallow and that,
+perhaps, one could swim ashore if we were
+overset. I trusted him to make the landing,
+however, and he did it like a veteran. One
+plunge through the ultimate white crest, and
+we were carried up high on the beach, to meet
+the shouts of my men and to feel their hands
+grasp the gunwales of the sturdy little craft.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;All litee,&rdquo; remarked John amiably, and
+started for the fire, such being his instinct, not
+with the purpose of getting warm, but of cooking
+something. And in half an hour he had a
+cup of hot bouillon all around.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg&nbsp;332]</a></span>
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a commendable thing,&rdquo; remarked Mrs.
+Daniver, &ldquo;that you, sir, should go to the rescue
+of even a humble Chinaman. I find this bouillon
+delicious.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Have you quite recovered from your seasickness
+by this time, Mrs. Daniver?&rdquo; I asked
+politely.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Seasickness?&rdquo; She raised an eyebrow in
+protest. &ldquo;I never was seasick in my life&mdash;not
+even in the roughest crossings of the Channel,
+where others were quite helpless.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is fortunate to be immune,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;People
+tell me it is a terrible feeling&mdash;they even
+think they are going to die.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Jean Lafitte, I found, had made quite a serviceable
+shelter, throwing a tarpaulin over one
+of the long boat&rsquo;s oars. We pushed our fire
+to the front of this, and after a time induced
+the ladies to make themselves more comfortable.
+Only with some protest did my hearty
+pirates agree to share this shelter which made
+our sole protection against the storm.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg&nbsp;333]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH WE ARE CASTAWAYS</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE rain came down dismally, and the chill
+of the night was very considerable, as I
+learned soon after ceasing my own exertions.
+The men made some sort of shelter for themselves
+by turning up the long boat and the
+dingey on edge, crawling into the lee, and
+thus finding a little protection. All but John,
+my cook. That calm personage, every time I
+turned, was at my elbow in the dark, standing
+silent, waiting for I knew not what. For the
+first time, I realized the virtue of his waterproof
+silk shirt. He seemed not to mind the
+rain, although he asked my consent to put his
+bundle and his book under the shelter. I
+stooped down at the firelight, curious to see
+the title of his book. It was familiar&mdash;<i>The
+Pirate&rsquo;s Own Book</i>!</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Where you catchee book, John?&rdquo; I asked
+him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Litlee boy he give me; him &rsquo;Melican book.
+I lead him some. Plenty good book.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I see. That boy&rsquo;ll make
+pirates of us all, if we aren&rsquo;t careful.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg&nbsp;334]</a></span>
+&ldquo;That book, him tellee what do, sposee bad
+storm,&rdquo; said John proudly. &ldquo;I know.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I walked over to where Peterson lay, his
+pipe now lighted by some magic all his own.
+We now could see more plainly the furred and
+yellow gleam of the lighthouse lamp. Peterson&rsquo;s
+concern, however, was all for the <i>Belle
+Hel&egrave;ne</i>.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I hate to think of her out there all by herself,&rdquo;
+said he.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So do I, Peterson. I hate also to think of all
+that ninety-three we left out there.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We were standing near the edge of the ladies&rsquo;
+shelter, and I heard Mrs. Daniver&rsquo;s voice as she
+put out her head at the edge of the tarpaulin.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I thought you said all the ninety-three was
+gone,&rdquo; said she with some interest, as it appeared
+to me.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, we only had the last bottle of that case
+at luncheon, Mrs. Daniver,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;There
+are yet other cases out yonder.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bad night for neuralgia,&rdquo; said she
+complainingly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is, madam. But I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ll pull
+out again. And I am rejoiced that you are not
+troubled now with seasickness,&mdash;that you never
+are.&rdquo; Which last resulted in her dignified
+silence.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg&nbsp;335]</a></span>
+Through the night, there came continually
+the clamoring of the wild fowl in the lagoon
+back of us, and this seemed to make the boys
+restless. It was Jean Lafitte, next, who poked
+his head out from under the tarpaulin.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got the gun all right,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and a
+lot of shells. In the morning we&rsquo;ll go out and
+get some of those ducks that are squawking.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, Jean,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;we&rsquo;re in one of the best
+ducking countries on this whole coast.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s fine&mdash;we can live chiefly by huntin&rsquo;
+and fishin&rsquo;, like it says in the g&rsquo;ographies.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If the wind should shift,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;we may
+have to do that for quite a time. I don&rsquo;t know
+whether the lighthouse keeper has a boat or
+not, and the channel lies between us and the
+light&mdash;it makes out here straight to the Gulf.
+But now, be quiet, my sons, and see if we
+can&rsquo;t all get some sleep. I&rsquo;ll take care of the
+fire.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I passed a little apart to hunt for some driftwood,
+my shadow, John, following close at
+hand. When I returned I found a muffled
+figure standing at the feeble blaze. Helena
+raised her eyes, grave and serious.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It was splendid,&rdquo; said she in a low tone of
+voice, addressing not so much myself as all the
+world, it seemed to me.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg&nbsp;336]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Get back in there and go to sleep,&rdquo; said I.
+And, quietly she obeyed, so far as I might tell.</p>
+
+<p>For my own part, I did not seek the shelter
+of the other boat, but, wrapped in sweater and
+slicker, stood in the rain, John at my side.
+Once in a while we set out in the dark to find
+more wood for the little fire. In some way
+the long night wore on. Toward morning the
+rain ceased. It seemed to me that the rocking
+search-light of the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> made scarce
+so wide an arc across the bay. The lighthouse
+ray shone less furry and yellow through the
+night. The wind began to lull, coming in gusts,
+at times after some moments of calm. The
+roll of the sea still came in, but sometimes I
+almost fancied that the surf was bellowing not
+so loud. And so at length, the dawn came,
+softening the gloom, and I could hear the roar
+of the great bodies of wild fowl rising as they
+always do at dawn, the tumult of their wings
+rivaling the heavy rhythm of the surf itself.</p>
+
+<p>The advancing calm of nature seemed to
+quiet the senses of the sleepers, even in their
+sleep. Gently making up the fire for the last
+time, as the gray light began to come across
+the beach, I wandered inland a little way in
+search of the fresh water lagoon. Its edge
+lay not more than two or three hundred yards
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg&nbsp;337]</a></span>
+back of our bivouac. So, as best I might, I
+bathed my face and hands, and regretted that
+such things as soap and towels had been forgotten
+with many other things. Not irremediable,
+our plight; for now I could see the <i>Belle
+Hel&egrave;ne</i> still rolling at her anchor, uneasy, but
+still afloat; and in the daylight, and with a lessening
+sea, there would be no great difficulty
+in boarding her as we liked.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the others of the party were all
+afoot, standing stiffly, sluggishly, in the chill of
+dawn; and such was the breakfast which my
+boy John presently prepared for us, that I confess
+I began to make comparisons not wholly
+to his discredit. Now, for instance, said I to
+myself, had it been Mrs. Daniver who had
+been forgotten on board ship&mdash;but, of course,
+that line of reasoning might not be followed
+out. And as for Mrs. Daniver herself, it was
+only just to say that she made a fair attempt
+at comradeship, considering that she had retired
+without any aid whatever for her neuralgia.
+Helena seemed reticent. The men, as
+usual, ate apart. I did not find myself loquacious.
+Only my two young ruffians seemed full
+of the enjoyment possible in such a situation.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Gee! ain&rsquo;t this fine?&rdquo; said L&rsquo;Olonnois. &ldquo;I
+never did think we&rsquo;d be really shipwrecked and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg&nbsp;338]</a></span>
+cast away on a desert island. This is just like
+it is in the books.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Can we go huntin&rsquo; now?&rdquo; demanded Jean
+Lafitte, his mouth still full of bacon. &ldquo;And
+will you come along? There must be millions
+of them ducks and geese. I didn&rsquo;t know there
+was so many in all the world.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You may go, both of you, Jean Lafitte,&rdquo;
+said I, &ldquo;if you&rsquo;ll be careful not to shoot yourselves.
+As for me, I must go back once more
+to the boat, I fancy.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Peterson and I now held a brief conference,
+and presently, leaving the ladies in charge of
+Willy and the cook, we two, with Williams to
+run the motor, with some difficulty launched
+the long boat and made off through a sea none
+too amiable, to go aboard the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>
+once more&mdash;which so short a time before I had
+thought we never might do again.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is easier than pulling out in the dingey,&rdquo;
+grinned Peterson, as we approached the
+<i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>. &ldquo;Confound that deck-hand, he
+might have got you drowned! I&rsquo;ll fire him,
+sure!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been thinking that over.
+There was a great deal of confusion, and after
+all, he may have thought that we had John
+with us. Besides, he&rsquo;s only young, and he&rsquo;s
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg&nbsp;339]</a></span>
+human. I&rsquo;ll tell you what we&rsquo;ll do, Peterson&mdash;I&rsquo;ll
+dock him a month&rsquo;s wages, and I&rsquo;ll send
+his wages to his mother. Meantime, let him
+carry the wood and water for a week.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We found it not difficult now to go aboard
+the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>, for, in the lessening seaway,
+she rolled not so evilly. Peterson sprang to
+the deck as the bow of our boat rose alongside
+on a wave, and made fast our line. When Williams
+and I had followed, we took a general
+inventory of the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>. All the deck
+gear was gone, spare oars and spars, a canvas
+or so, and some coils of rope. Beyond that,
+there seemed no serious damage, unless the
+hull had been injured by its pounding during
+the night.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a mud-bank here, I think, Mr. Harry,&rdquo;
+said Peterson. &ldquo;She may have ripped some of
+her copper on the oyster reefs, but she seems
+to bed full length and maybe she&rsquo;s not strained,
+after all.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s the line of channel guides,&rdquo; said I,
+pointing to a row of sticks driven into the mud
+a couple of miles in length.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said the old man, &ldquo;the channel&rsquo;s not
+more than a biscuit toss from here. We came
+right across it&mdash;if it hadn&rsquo;t been in the dark,
+we&rsquo;d have gone through into the lee of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg&nbsp;340]</a></span>
+island and been all right. Now as it is, we&rsquo;re
+all wrong.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How do you mean?&rdquo; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How&rsquo;ll we get that anchor up?&rdquo; grumbled
+he. &ldquo;If we start the engines and try to crawl
+up by the capstan, we couldn&rsquo;t pull her out of
+the mud. If we put on a donkey engine we&rsquo;d
+snatch the bow out of here before we could
+lift the hook. And until we do, how are we
+going to move her? There&rsquo;s the channel, but
+it&rsquo;s as far as ever. We can&rsquo;t sweep her off, of
+course, and we can&rsquo;t pole her off.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, Peterson,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;let us, by all
+means, hope for the worst.&rdquo; I smiled, seeing
+that he now was possessed of his normal gloom.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;we went on at full tide, and
+hard aground at that. This wind is blowing
+all the water out of C&ocirc;te Blanche. Of course,
+if the wind should turn and drive in again, we
+might move her, if we caught her at high tide
+once more. Until that happens, I guess we&rsquo;re
+anchored here for sure.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The glass is rising now, Peterson,&rdquo; said I,
+pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes, it may rise a little,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and
+of course the storm&rsquo;s gone by for the time.
+But I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s going to be any good
+change of weather that&rsquo;ll hold, very soon. But
+now, Williams and I&rsquo;ll go below and see if we
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg&nbsp;341]</a></span>
+can start a pump. I expect she&rsquo;s sprung a leak,
+all right.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Shaking his head in much apprehension, the
+old man made his way with Williams, first into
+the engine-room. For my own part, I turned
+toward my cabin door. All at once as I did
+so it seemed to me I heard a sound. It came
+again, a sort of a meek diffident sound, expectant
+rather than complaining. And then I
+heard an unmistakable scraping at the door.
+Hastening, I flung it open. I was greeted with
+a great whine of joy and trust, a shaggy form
+leaped upon me, thrust its cold nose into my
+face, gave me much greetings of whines, and
+at length of a loud howl of joy.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Partial!&rdquo; I cried, and caught him by the
+paws as he put them on my shoulders and
+rubbed his muzzle along my cheek, whimpering;
+&ldquo;Partial! Oh, my dear chap, I say now,
+I&rsquo;m glad to see you!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact, I had forgotten Partial
+these three days, other things being on my
+mind. Once more our amateurishness in shipwreck
+had nearly cost us a life. Partial, no
+doubt, had meekly waited at his usual place
+until ordered to come out with the rest. We
+had closed the doors and port-holes when we
+left the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>, and thus he had been
+locked in.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg&nbsp;342]</a></span>
+I sat down on one of the bench lockers with
+Partial&rsquo;s head in my hand, and almost my eyes
+became moist. &ldquo;Partial,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;let me confess
+the truth to you. The woman had maddened
+me. I forgot you&mdash;I did, and will own
+it now. It was a grave fault, my friend. I
+do not ask you to forgive me, and all I can do
+is to promise you such amend as lies in my
+power. From now on, I promise you, you shall
+go with me to all the ends of the earth. My
+people shall be your people, till death do us
+part. Do you hear me, Partial?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He answered by springing up again and licking
+my face and hands, whimpering excitedly,
+glad that I had come at last. &ldquo;Dear Partial,&rdquo;
+said I, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re no gladder than I am. And
+what&rsquo;s more, you&rsquo;ve nothing to cost you penitence.
+Come, we&rsquo;ll go to the dining-room and
+see whether there&rsquo;s anything left to eat.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He followed me now along the rolling deck,
+and happily I was able to get him some scraps
+for his breakfast. Peterson heard me talking,
+and thrust up a head above the engine-room
+hatch. He was as crestfallen as myself when
+I showed him that, once more, we had been
+forgetful and had left a friend while busy in
+saving ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>I went once more to my cabin&mdash;Peterson
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg&nbsp;343]</a></span>
+having discovered, apparently to his great regret,
+that so far as could be determined, we
+had not started a seam or smashed a timber
+anywhere. I found a small tent among other
+of my sporting equipment and tossed this out
+to go in the long boat&rsquo;s cargo. Another fowling
+piece and ammunition, my canvas hunting
+coat and wading boots, followed. Even, I
+caught down from a nail the only other pair of
+trousers available in my wardrobe&mdash;for Davidson&rsquo;s
+vast midship section comported ill with
+my own. I found my watch in these other
+trousers, and putting a hand in a pocket, fished
+out also my portemonnaie. It had certain bills
+in it&mdash;I presume two or three thousand dollars
+in all, and I thrust these into my pocket. At
+the bottom of the little purse,&mdash;among collar
+buttons and other hard objects,&mdash;I found a
+little round white object, and once more bethought
+me of my pearl which I had won on
+the far northern river, as it seemed to me many
+years before&mdash;the pearl which, as I have said,
+was to be known as the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>. I preserved
+it now.</p>
+
+<p>Peterson and Williams, meantime, were busy
+in getting aboard a case or so of water&mdash;not
+forgetting the ninety-three of which I reminded the
+old man once more. Some additional stores of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg&nbsp;344]</a></span>
+bacon and tea, and a case of eggs, were also
+taken aboard. At length, with quite a little
+cargo in the way of comforts, we embarked
+once more and started for our rude encampment.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We may be here for a month,&rdquo; said Peterson
+gloomily, looking at the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>, now
+rolling just a little, her keel fast full length in
+the mud-bar. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s ever going
+to be any change of wind&mdash;it&rsquo;ll blow steadily
+this way for a week, anyhow.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I presume, Peterson,&rdquo; said I coolly, &ldquo;that
+you don&rsquo;t see the sun breaking through the
+clouds over there, at all. And I fancy that you
+will not believe, either, that the sea is lulling
+now. Very well, I don&rsquo;t want to make you
+unhappy, my friend.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I heard Williams chuckling as he stooped
+over his engine. Thus, chugging on merrily
+with the long oily roll of the sea under us, we
+presently once more ran our surf, and this time
+had small difficulty in winning through, for,
+once we felt the ground under us, we simply
+sprang overboard and waded in, dragging the
+boat with us, waist-deep sometimes in the flood,
+but on the whole quite safe.</p>
+
+<p>My two pirate mates came down to the
+beach joyously, and helped us unload. It
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg&nbsp;345]</a></span>
+seemed that they had made something of a
+hunt already, for with much pride Jean now
+displayed to me certain birds, proof of his own
+prowess with his shotgun.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Some of &rsquo;em&rsquo;s good to eat,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Regular
+greenheads, like we get up North.&rdquo; I
+looked at the string of birds, and saw that they
+were mallards and teals, a couple of dozen at
+least.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Fie, fie!&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I fear you&rsquo;ve been shooting
+on the water.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sure I did! And here&rsquo;s four things that I
+don&rsquo;t suppose are good to eat&mdash;they got kind
+of snaky heads, and red-colored, too. Ain&rsquo;t no
+ducks good to eat that ain&rsquo;t got green heads.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Each man to his taste,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but if you
+like, you may have the green heads, and I&rsquo;ll
+take these with the auburn locks.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Pshaw! What are they?&rdquo; answered he.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Only canvasbacks,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and good fat
+ones, too. What luck have you, Jimmy, my
+son?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I went along and helped carry things,&rdquo;
+said L&rsquo;Olonnois.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s that you&rsquo;ve got on a string?&rdquo; I
+asked him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, that,&rdquo; said he, flushing. &ldquo;It ain&rsquo;t nothing
+but a little turtle. It had funny marks on
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg&nbsp;346]</a></span>
+its back. I caught it in the grass over there
+by the lake.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Something about Jimmy&rsquo;s little turtle interested
+me, and I picked it up in my hands.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;For amateur sportsmen, gentlemen,&rdquo; said I,
+&ldquo;you&rsquo;re doing pretty well. Your funny little
+turtle, Jimmy, is nothing but a diamond-back
+terrapin. There are perhaps more of them on
+this coast than anywhere else in the world to-day.
+And Partial, here&mdash;that friend of ours
+now leaping excitedly and joyously before
+them, barking at this little turtle of Jimmy&rsquo;s&mdash;will
+perhaps be able to help you find some
+more of them in the grass&mdash;the market hunters
+here hunt them with dogs, as perhaps you did
+not know.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We got some oysters, Sir,&rdquo; said Willy, coming
+forward shyly and shamefacedly; and
+showed me the cockpit of the duck boat pretty
+well filled. The boy had, it seems, found a
+reef of these in a brackish arm which made
+inland, and dug them by the simple process of
+stooping down below the surface of the water,
+since he had no oyster tongs.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;it looks as if we would fare
+pretty well for lunch. John&rdquo;&mdash;and I called
+my China boy&mdash;&ldquo;again I find renewed cause
+for felicitations on your rescue.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg&nbsp;347]</a></span>
+John stood looking at me blankly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You savee, John?&rdquo; said I, showing him one
+of the canvasbacks, and he remarked mildly,
+&ldquo;All litee.&rdquo; If anything, his lunch was better
+than his breakfast, and when I saw him take
+Jimmy&rsquo;s funny little turtle from him and examine
+it with appraising eye, I felt fairly well
+convinced that we should not suffer at the dinner
+hour.</p>
+
+<p>But though a certain gaiety now came to
+others of the party as we sat about our midday
+meal, warm now and well fed, and although
+the boys excitedly made plans about putting
+up the tent and furnishing it and going into
+camp for the winter, I could not share their
+eagerness. There was one other reticent figure
+at our fireside. Helena sat silent, the head of
+Partial in her lap. I felt resentment that she
+should steal from me even my dog. At last,
+having nothing better to do, I picked up my
+gun, and slipping on my coat, started down the
+beach, telling the boys that I was going alone,
+perhaps too far for them to follow, with the
+purpose of making some sort of an exploration
+of the island.</p>
+
+<p>Moody and depressed, not in the least well
+satisfied with life, even with matters thus so
+far more fortunate than we had so recently
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg&nbsp;348]</a></span>
+had reason to expect, I walked along the hard
+sand, sometimes looking at the long lines of
+wild fowl streaming in above the fresh-water
+lagoon, but in reality thinking but little of
+these. I did not at first hear the light step
+which came behind me on the sand.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg&nbsp;349]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH IS NO RAPPROCHEMENT WITH THE
+FAIR CAPTIVE</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">&ldquo;H</span>ARRY!&rdquo; I heard her call, and turned
+quickly. &ldquo;Harry, wait!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She came hurrying up toward me. I felt
+my color rise. Awkwardly, I stood waiting,
+and did not greet her. I cast a quick glance
+the other way down the beach. It would be a
+hundred yards before the first bend of the
+shore-line would carry us behind the tall rushes.
+Meantime, we were in full sight of all.</p>
+
+<p>Partial, who had followed me when I whistled,
+now greeted her more joyously than did
+his master.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; said I dully; &ldquo;I suppose you came
+to take away my dog from me, didn&rsquo;t you?
+It was all that was left.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; said she coloring. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t
+know but what Partial might be hungry.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is I who am hungry, Helena,&rdquo; said I.
+&ldquo;I have long been hungry&mdash;for a look, a word.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She did not smile, showed not any trace of
+coquetry in her mien, but paced on with me
+now down the beach. I suppose she knew
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg&nbsp;350]</a></span>
+when we had turned the point of rushes, for
+now she laid her hand on my rough canvas
+sleeve. It must have cost her effort to do that.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Harry, what&rsquo;s wrong with you?&rdquo; said she
+after a time, since I still remained moodily
+staring ahead. I did not answer, would not
+look at her for a time, but at length she
+turned. She stood, I say, with her hand on
+my arm, her chin raised fully, her serious eyes
+fixed on me. The dark hair was blown all
+about her face. She had on over her long
+white sweater a loose silk waterproof of some
+sort, which blew every way, but did not disturb
+the lines of her tall figure, nor lessen the
+pale red and white which the sea breeze had
+stung into her cheeks. She did not smile, and
+her eyes, I say, looked steadily and seriously
+into mine.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s wrong with you?&rdquo; she asked, frowning
+slightly, as it seemed to me.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Everything in the world is wrong with me,
+as you know very well,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Am I not
+a poor man? Am I not an unsuccessful lover?
+Am I not a failure under every test which you
+can apply? Am I not a coward&mdash;did you not
+tell me so yourself?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Her eyes grew damp slowly. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mean
+it,&rdquo; said she.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg&nbsp;351]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Then why did you say it?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It was long before&mdash;that was before last
+night, Harry. You forget.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What if it was?&rdquo; I demanded. &ldquo;I was the
+same man then that I was last night.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mean it, Harry,&rdquo; said she, her voice
+low. Her hand was still on my arm. Her eye
+now was cast down, the tip of her toe was
+tracing a circle on the wet sand where we
+stood.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think,&rdquo; said she, after a little while.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I presume not,&rdquo; said I coldly. &ldquo;Sometimes
+women do not stop to think. You have not
+stopped to think that there is a limit even to
+what my love would stand, Helena. Now,
+much as I love you&mdash;and I never loved you so
+much as I do now&mdash;I&rsquo;ll never again ask you
+for what you can not give me. I&rsquo;ve been
+rubbed the wrong way all I can stand, and
+I&rsquo;ll not have it any more. I&rsquo;ve brought you
+here, yes, and I&rsquo;m sorry enough for it. But
+I&rsquo;m going to fix all that now, soon as I can.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What do you mean, Harry?&rdquo; she asked
+quietly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yonder, across the bay,&rdquo; said I, pointing,
+&ldquo;runs a channel. That&rsquo;s the Cheni&egrave;re. I presume
+the lighthouse boats come from in there.
+Maybe there&rsquo;ll be one down after the storm
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg&nbsp;352]</a></span>
+in a day or so. He&rsquo;ll take out a message, and
+get it on some boat bound for Morgan City,
+perhaps.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And what then?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, I shall send out any message you
+like, beside my own message to the parents of
+these boys of mine. And I&rsquo;ll send a message,
+too, to my friend, Manning.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She turned her eyes where I pointed once
+more, this time seemingly northward across
+the bay. &ldquo;Yonder is still another channel,&rdquo;
+said I, &ldquo;not twenty miles from where we stand.
+It runs back to the live-oak islands where my
+friend Manning has his plantation. If the
+tide serves and we can get the yacht afloat,
+it won&rsquo;t take us long to get in there. Once
+there, you are safe; and once there, I say good-by.
+Judge for yourself whether or not this is
+the last time.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And when will that be, Harry?&rdquo; she demanded,
+still tracing some figure on the sand
+with the toe of her little boot.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That, I have said, is something I can not
+tell. But as soon as possible, rest assured.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She was silent now, confused, a little abashed,
+a mood entirely new to her in my recollection
+of her many moods. Her hand still lay
+upon my coarse canvas sleeve as though she
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg&nbsp;353]</a></span>
+had forgotten it. I bent now and kissed it.
+&ldquo;Harry,&rdquo; said she in a whisper, &ldquo;don&rsquo;t you
+care for me any more?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Go back to the camp, Helena,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;you
+know I do, but I&rsquo;ve done enough for you, and
+I&rsquo;ll do no more. All a coward can do to keep
+you safe I have done, but I&rsquo;m no such coward
+as to follow you around now and dangle at
+your apron strings. It&rsquo;s good-by once more.
+What are you,&rdquo; I demanded fiercely, once
+more, &ldquo;that you should walk over my soul
+again and again? Hasn&rsquo;t there got to be an
+end to that sort of thing some time, and don&rsquo;t
+you think there is an end for me? Go back
+and tell your aunt that you have won. And
+much joy may you both have in your winning.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I kissed her hand, flung it off, turned and
+went down the beach. She did not look about,
+but presently as I saw, turned and went back
+toward the camp, her head hanging. And, as
+I had said to her, I never loved her so much
+in all my life, though never was I so little disposed
+to go one step in her pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>Partial sat, looking after her also, his heart
+torn in the division between us, for he loved
+us both.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Partial,&rdquo; I called to him harshly, and he
+came, his ears down and very unhappy.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg&nbsp;354]</a></span>
+Silently, the dog at my heels, I strode on down
+the beach, and so I saw her no more for some
+time.</p>
+
+<p>I found for myself a driftwood log at the
+edge of the sea-marsh, and here for a time I sat
+down, moodily staring out across the bay, as
+unhappy, I fancy, as man gets to be in this
+world. I scarce know how long I sat here, in
+the wind which blew salt across the bay, and
+for some time, I paid no attention to the
+clamoring fowl which passed and repassed not
+far from my point.</p>
+
+<p>At length, a long harrow of great Canadian
+geese passed so close to me that without much
+thought about it, I raised the gun and fired.
+I killed two birds, and as I picked them up I
+found they were not a brace, but a pair. The
+report of my gun started a clamoring of all
+manner of fowl beyond the edge of reeds which
+hid the reef. A cloud of ducks passed before
+me, and slipping in the shells once more, I
+fired right and left. Again I killed my brace,
+and again when I picked them up they were
+a pair. The head of one was green, the other
+brown. &ldquo;Male and female made He them!&rdquo;
+said I. &ldquo;If I had not killed these birds, in the
+spring they would have gone northward, to
+the edge of the world in their own love-making,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg&nbsp;355]</a></span>
+thousands of miles from here.&rdquo; I looked at
+my quarry with remorse, and not caring to
+shoot more, at length picked up the birds and
+slowly started back to camp, not looking forward
+with any too great pleasure, it may be
+imagined, to further meetings with the woman
+whom, of all the world, I most cared to meet.</p>
+
+<p>I found all the others of the party amiably
+engaged in camp affairs. The tent now was
+up, the fire was arranged in more practical
+fashion, and John was busy with his pans. Lafitte,
+ever resourceful and ever busy, was out
+with Willy after more oysters. L&rsquo;Olonnois, his
+partner, seemed engaged in some sort of argument
+with his Auntie Helena.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jimmy, I can&rsquo;t!&rdquo; I heard her say. &ldquo;There
+isn&rsquo;t any sugar.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aw!&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;there&rsquo;s plenty of sugar, ain&rsquo;t
+there, John?&rdquo; And that worthy smiled as he
+pointed toward an open canister of that dainty.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But I haven&rsquo;t any pan.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, you have, too, got a pan. Here&rsquo;s one
+a-settin&rsquo; right here in front of you. Come on
+now, Auntie. We&rsquo;re goin&rsquo; to have duck and
+terrapin and oysters and everything&mdash;all a fellow
+would want, besides that, is just fudges.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Helena stood preoccupied and hesitant, hardly
+hearing what he said, as I fancy. At once
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg&nbsp;356]</a></span>
+L&rsquo;Olonnois&rsquo; attitude changed. Folding his arms,
+he turned toward her sternly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Woman!&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;are you not a captive
+to our band? Then who gives orders here?
+Either you make fudges, or your life&rsquo;s blood
+stains these sands!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, all right, Jimmy,&rdquo; she said listlessly.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll make them, if you like.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;d better,&rdquo; remarked that worthy sententiously.
+&ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; he added, seeking to
+mollify his victim, over whom he thus domineered,
+&ldquo;it ain&rsquo;t just like it is back home on
+the stove, but you&rsquo;ll have to get used to that,
+because we&rsquo;re going to live here forever. And,&rdquo;
+he added, casting a glance of his stern blue
+eyes upon her, &ldquo;it is the part of the captive
+maid ever to live happily with the chief of the
+pirate band.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon Helena and Jimmy both looked
+up and saw me standing, unwilling listener to
+all that had been said. Helena moved away
+and pretended to be busy with the material
+for her confections.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Aw, shucks, Black Bart,&rdquo; said Jimmy, turning
+to me&mdash;&ldquo;ain&rsquo;t that just like a woman?&mdash;They
+won&rsquo;t never play the game.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg&nbsp;357]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXV</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH I FIND TWO ESTIMABLE FRIENDS, BUT
+LOSE ONE BELOVED</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE weather now, moderating, after the
+fashion of weather on this coast, as rapidly
+as it had become inclement, we passed a
+more comfortable night on our desert island.
+No doubt the lighthouse tender knew of our
+presence, for he easily could see our tent by
+day and our fire by night, and he surely must
+have seen our good ship riding at anchor under
+his nose at the edge of the channel; but no
+visit came from that official&mdash;for the very good
+reason, as we later learned, that the storm
+had stove in his boat at her mooring; so that
+all he himself could do was to cross his Cajun
+bosom and pray that his supply skiff might
+come from across the bay. So, as much alone
+as the Swiss family by name of Robinson&mdash;an
+odd name for a Swiss family, it always seemed
+to me&mdash;we remained on our desert island undisturbed,
+the ladies now in the comfortable
+tent, my hardy pirates under the tarpaulin, and
+the rest of us as we liked or might, all in beds
+of the sweet scented grasses which grew along
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg&nbsp;358]</a></span>
+the lagoon where the great ranks of wild fowl
+kept up their chatter day and night.</p>
+
+<p>It was a land of plenty, and any but a man
+in my situation might well have been content
+there for many days. Content was not in my
+own soul. I was up by dawn and busy about
+the boats, before any sign of life was visible
+around the tent or the canvas shelter. But
+since the sun rose warm, it yet was early when
+we met at John&rsquo;s breakfast fire. I felt myself
+a shabby figure, for in my haste I had forgotten
+my razors; and by now my clothing was
+sadly soiled and stained, even the most famous
+of the Davidson waistcoats being the worse
+for the salt-water immersions it had known;
+and my ancient flannels were corkscrewing
+about my limbs. But as for Helena, young
+and vital, she discarded her sweater for breakfast,
+and appeared as she had before the shipwreck,
+in lace bridge coat and wearing many
+gems! L&rsquo;Olonnois, with the intimacy of kin
+and the admiration of youth&mdash;and with youth&rsquo;s
+lack of tact&mdash;saluted her now gaily. &ldquo;Gee!
+Auntie,&rdquo; said he, at table on the sand, &ldquo;togged
+out that way, all them glitterin&rsquo; gems, you
+shore look fit for a pirate&rsquo;s bride!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Poor Helena! She blushed red to the hair;
+and I fear I did no better myself. &ldquo;Jimmy!&rdquo;
+reproved Aunt Lucinda.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg&nbsp;359]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t call me &lsquo;Jimmy&rsquo;!&rdquo; rejoined that hopeful.
+&ldquo;My name is L&rsquo;Olonnois, the Scourge of
+The Sea. Me an&rsquo; Jean Lafitte, we follow Black
+Bart the Avenger, to the Spanish Main.
+Auntie, pass me the bacon, please. I&rsquo;m just about
+starved.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Daniver, as was her custom, ate a very
+substantial breakfast; Helena, almost none at
+all; nor had I much taste for food. In some
+way, our constraint insensibly extended to all
+the party, much to L&rsquo;Olonnois&rsquo; disgust. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+<em>her</em> fault!&rdquo; I overheard him say to his mate.
+&ldquo;Women can&rsquo;t play no games. An&rsquo; we was
+havin&rsquo; such a bully chance! Now, like&rsquo;s not,
+we won&rsquo;t stay here longer&rsquo;n it&rsquo;ll take to get
+things back to the boat again. I don&rsquo;t want to
+go back home&mdash;I&rsquo;d rather be a pirate; an&rsquo; so&rsquo;d
+any fellow.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sure he would,&rdquo; assented Jean. They did
+not see me, behind the tent.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Somethin&rsquo;s wrong,&rdquo; began L&rsquo;Olonnois, portentously.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;d you guess?&rdquo; queried Lafitte. &ldquo;Looks
+to me like it was somethin&rsquo; between him an&rsquo;
+the fair captive.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s just it&mdash;that&rsquo;s just what I said!
+Now, if Black Bart lets his whiskers grow, an&rsquo;
+Auntie Helena wears them rings, ain&rsquo;t it just
+like in the book? Course it is! But here they
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg&nbsp;360]</a></span>
+go, don&rsquo;t eat nothin&rsquo;, don&rsquo;t talk none to nobody.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you what!&rdquo; began Lafitte.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Uh-huh, what?&rdquo; demanded L&rsquo;Olonnois.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A great wrong has been did our brave
+leader by yon heartless jade; that&rsquo;s what!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You betcher life they has. He&rsquo;s on the
+square, an&rsquo; look what he done for us&mdash;look
+how he managed things all the way down to
+here. Anybody else couldn&rsquo;t have got away
+with this. Anybody else&rsquo;d never a&rsquo; went out
+there last night after John, just a Chink, thataway.
+An&rsquo; her!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Jimmy&rsquo;s disapproval of his auntie, as thus
+expressed, was extreme. I was now about to
+step away, but feared detection, so unwillingly
+heard on.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But he can&rsquo;t see no one else but yon fickle
+jade!&rdquo; commented Jean Lafitte, &ldquo;unworthy as
+she is of a bold chief&rsquo;s regard!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nope. That&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s goin&rsquo; to make all the
+trouble. I&rsquo;ll tell you what!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have to fix it up, somehow.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How&rsquo;d you mean?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, reason it out with &rsquo;em both.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Jean apparently shook his head, or had some
+look of dubiousness, for L&rsquo;Olonnois went on.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg&nbsp;361]</a></span>
+&ldquo;We <em>gotta</em> do it, somehow. If we don&rsquo;t, we&rsquo;ll
+about have to go back home; an&rsquo; who wants to
+go back home from a good old desert island like
+this here. <em>So</em> now&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Uh, huh?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, I&rsquo;ll tell you, now. You see, I got
+some pull with her&mdash;the fair captive. She
+used to lick me, but she don&rsquo;t dast to try it on
+here on a desert island: so I got some pull.
+An&rsquo; like enough you c&rsquo;d talk it over with Black
+Bart.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nuh&mdash;uh! I don&rsquo;t like to.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I don&rsquo;t. He&rsquo;s all right.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, but we got to get &rsquo;em <em>together</em>!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Shore. But, my idea, he&rsquo;s hard to <em>get</em> together
+if he gets a notion he ain&rsquo;t had a square
+deal nohow, someways.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, he ain&rsquo;t. So that makes my part the
+hardest. But you just go to him, and tell him
+not to hurry, because you are informed the fair
+captive is goin&rsquo; to relent, pretty soon, if we
+just don&rsquo;t get in too big a hurry and run away
+from a place like this&mdash;where the duck shootin&rsquo;
+is immense!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But kin you work <em>her</em>, Jimmy?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I dunno. She&rsquo;s pretty set, if she
+thinks she ain&rsquo;t had a square deal, too.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg&nbsp;362]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Well now,&rdquo; argued Lafitte, &ldquo;if that&rsquo;s the
+way they both feel, either they&rsquo;re both wrong
+an&rsquo; ought to shake hands, or else one of &rsquo;em&rsquo;s
+wrong, and they either ought to get together
+an&rsquo; find out which it was, or else they ought
+to leave it to some one else to say which one
+<em>was</em> wrong. Ain&rsquo;t that so?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;O&rsquo; course it&rsquo;s so. So now, thing fer us
+fellows to do, is just to put it before &rsquo;em
+plain, an&rsquo; get &rsquo;em both to leave it to us two
+fellers what&rsquo;s right fer &rsquo;em both to do. Now,
+<em>I</em> think they&rsquo;d ought to get married, both of
+&rsquo;em&mdash;I mean to each other, you know. Folks
+<em>does</em> get married.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Black Bart would,&rdquo; said Jean Lafitte. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll
+bet anything. The fair captive, she&rsquo;s a heartless
+jade, but I seen Black Bart lookin&rsquo; at her,
+an&rsquo;&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; I seen her lookin&rsquo; at him&mdash;leastways a
+picture&mdash;an&rsquo; says she, &lsquo;Jimmy&mdash;&mdash;&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jimmy!&rdquo; It was I, myself, red and angry,
+who now broke from my unwilling eavesdropping.</p>
+
+<p>The two boys turned to me innocently. I
+found it difficult to say anything at all, and
+wisest to say nothing. &ldquo;I was just going to
+ask if you two wouldn&rsquo;t like to take the guns
+and go out after some more ducks&mdash;especially
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg&nbsp;363]</a></span>
+the kind with red heads and flat noses, such as
+we had yesterday. And I&rsquo;ll lend you Partial,
+so you can try for some more of those funny
+little turtles. I&rsquo;ll have to go out to the ship,
+and also over to the lighthouse, before long.
+The tide will turn, perhaps, and at least the
+wind is offshore from the island now.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sure, we&rsquo;ll go.&rdquo; Jean spoke for both at
+once.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, then. And be careful. And you&rsquo;d&mdash;you&rsquo;d
+better leave your auntie and her
+auntie alone, Jimmy&mdash;they&rsquo;ll want to sleep.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t hear us sayin&rsquo; nothin&rsquo;, did you,
+Black Bart?&rdquo; asked L&rsquo;Olonnois, suspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;By Jove! I believe that&rsquo;s a boat beating
+down the bay,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Sail ho!&rdquo; And so
+eager were they that they forgot my omission
+of direct reply.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very likely only the lighthouse supply
+boat coming in,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll find out over
+there. Better run along, or the morning flight
+of the birds will be over.&rdquo; So they ran along.</p>
+
+<p>As for myself, I called Peterson and Williams
+for another visit to our disabled ship, which
+now lay on a level keel, white and glistening,
+rocking gently in the bright wind. I left word
+for the ladies that we might not be back for
+luncheon.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg&nbsp;364]</a></span>
+We found that the piling waters of C&ocirc;te
+Blanche, erstwhile blown out to sea, were now
+slowly settling back again after the offshore
+storm. The <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> had risen from her
+bed in the mud now and rode free. Our
+soundings showed us that it would be easy
+now to break out the anchor and reach the
+channel, just ahead. So, finding no leak of consequence,
+and the beloved engines not the
+worse for wear, Williams went below to get
+up some power, while Peterson took the wheel
+and I went forward to the capstan.</p>
+
+<p>The donkey winch soon began its work, and
+I felt the great anchor at length break away
+and come apeak. The current of the air swung
+us before we had all made fast; and as I
+sounded with a long bow pike, I presently
+called out to Peterson, &ldquo;No bottom!&rdquo; He nodded;
+and now, slowly, we took the channel and
+moved on in opposite the light. We could see
+the white-capped gulf rolling beyond.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Water there!&rdquo; said Peterson. &ldquo;We can go
+on through, come around in the Morrison cut-off,
+and so make the end of the Manning channel
+to the mainland. But I wish we had a
+local pilot.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I nodded. &ldquo;Drop her in alongside this fellow&rsquo;s
+wharf,&rdquo; I added. &ldquo;The ladies have sent
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg&nbsp;365]</a></span>
+some letters&mdash;to go out by the tender&rsquo;s boat,
+yonder&mdash;I suppose he&rsquo;ll be going back to-day.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Like enough,&rdquo; said Peterson; and so gently
+we moved on up the dredged channel, and at
+last made fast at the tumble-down wharf of
+the lighthouse; courteously waiting for the
+little craft of the tender to make its landing.</p>
+
+<p>We found the mooring none too good, what
+with the storm&rsquo;s work at the wharf, and as we
+shifted our lines a time or two, the gaping,
+jeans-clad Cajun who had come in with mail
+and supplies passed in to the lighthouse ahead
+of us; and I wonder his head did not twist
+quite off its neck, for though he walked forward,
+he ever looked behind him.</p>
+
+<p>When at length we two, Peterson and myself,
+passed up the rickety walk to the equally
+rickety gallery at the foot of the light, we
+found two very badly frightened men instead
+of a single curious one. The keeper in sooth
+had in hand a muzzle-loading shotgun of such
+extreme age, connected with such extreme
+length of barrel, as might have led one to suspect
+it had grown an inch or so annually for
+all of many decades. He was too much frightened
+to make active resistance, however, and
+only warned us away, himself, now, a pale
+saffron in color.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg&nbsp;366]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Keep hout!&rdquo; he commanded. &ldquo;No, you&rsquo;ll
+didn&rsquo;t!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll didn&rsquo;t what, my friend?&rdquo; began I
+mildly. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you like my looks? Not that
+I blame you if you do not. But has the boat
+brought down any milk or eggs that you can
+spare?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No milluk&mdash;no haig!&rdquo; muttered the light
+tender; and they would have closed the door.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Come, come now, my friends!&rdquo; I rejoined
+testily. &ldquo;Suppose you haven&rsquo;t, you can at least
+be civil. I want to talk with you a minute.
+This is the power yacht <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>, of Mackinaw,
+cruising on the Gulf. We went aground
+in the storm; and all we want now is to send
+out a little mail by you to Morgan City, or
+wherever you go; and to pass the time of day
+with you, as friends should. What&rsquo;s wrong&mdash;do
+you think us a government revenue boat,
+and are you smuggling stuff from Cuba through
+the light here?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We no make hany smug&rsquo;,&rdquo; replied the
+keeper. &ldquo;But we know you, who you been!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He smote now upon an open newspaper,
+whose wrapper still lay on the floor. I glanced,
+and this time I saw a half-page cut of the
+<i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> herself, together with portraits of
+myself, Mrs. Daniver, Miss Emory and two
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg&nbsp;367]</a></span>
+wholly imaginary and fearsome boys who very
+likely were made up from newspaper portraits
+of the James Brothers! Moreover, my hasty
+glance caught sight of a line in large letters,
+reading:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p><span class="smcap">Ten Thousand Dollars Reward!</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Peterson,&rdquo; said I calmly, handing him the
+paper, &ldquo;they seem to be after us, and to value
+us rather high.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He glanced, his eyes eager; but Peterson,
+while a professional doubter, was personally a
+man of whose loyalty and whose courage I,
+myself, had not the slightest doubt.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let &rsquo;em come!&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re on our
+own way and about our own business; and outside
+the three mile zone, let &rsquo;em follow us on
+the high seas if they like. She&rsquo;s sound as a
+bell, Mr. Harry, and once we get her docked
+and her port shaft straight, there&rsquo;s nothing can
+touch her on the Gulf. Let &rsquo;em come.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But we can&rsquo;t dock here, my good Peterson.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, we can beat &rsquo;em with one engine and
+one screw. Besides, what have we done?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Haint you was &rsquo;hrobber, han ron hoff with
+those sheep?&rdquo; demanded the keeper excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, we are not ship thieves but gentlemen,
+my friend,&rdquo; I answered, suddenly catching at
+his long gun and setting it behind me. &ldquo;You
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg&nbsp;368]</a></span>
+might let that go off,&rdquo; I explained. At which
+he went yellower than ever, a thing I had
+thought impossible.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now, look here,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Suppose we are
+robbers, pirates, what you like, and suppose a
+price is put on our heads&mdash;a price which means
+a jolly nice libel suit for each paper printing
+it, by the way, or a jolly nice apology&mdash;none
+the less, we are a strong band and without
+fear either of the law or of you. Here you
+are alone, and not a sail is in sight. If any
+boat did come here, we could&mdash;well, we could
+blow her out of the water, couldn&rsquo;t we, Peterson?
+We could blow you out of the water,
+too, couldn&rsquo;t we, we and these ruffians of our
+crew?&rdquo;&mdash;and I pointed at the two low-browed
+pictures of Lafitte and L&rsquo;Olonnois.</p>
+
+<p>A shudder was my only answer. I think the
+two portraits of my young bullies did the business.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, then,&rdquo; I resumed, &ldquo;it is plain,
+Messieurs, that there is many a slip between
+the reward and the pocket, <i>voyez vous</i>? <i>Bien!</i>
+But here&mdash;&rdquo; and I thrust a hand into my pocket&mdash;&ldquo;is
+a reward much closer home, and far easier to
+attain.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Their eyes bulged as they saw two or three
+thousand dollars in big bills smoothed out.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg&nbsp;369]</a></span>
+&ldquo;<i>Ecoutez, Messieurs!</i>&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Behold here
+not enemies, but men of like mind. I speak of
+men who live by the sea, men of the old home
+of Jean Lafitte, that great merchant, that bold
+soldier, who did so much to save his country
+at the Battle. Even now he has thousands of
+friends and hundreds of relatives in this land.
+You yourself, I doubt not, Messieurs, are distant
+cousins of Jean Lafitte? <i>N&rsquo;est-ce pas?</i>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>They crossed themselves, but murmured &ldquo;<i>Ba-oui!</i>&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Est ees the trut&rsquo;! How did Monsieur
+know?&rdquo; asked the tender.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I know many things. I know that any
+cousin descended from those brave days loves
+the sea and its ways more than he loves the
+law. And if money has come easy&mdash;as this
+did&mdash;what harm if a cousin should take the
+price of a rat-skin or two and carry out a letter
+or so to the railway, and keep a close mouth
+about it as well? To the good old days, and
+Messieurs, my friends!&rdquo; I had seen the neck
+of a flask in Peterson&rsquo;s pocket, and now I took
+it forth, unscrewed the top, and passed it, with
+two bills of one hundred dollars each.</p>
+
+<p>They poured, grinned. I stood, waiting for
+their slow brains to act, but there was only a
+foregone answer. The keeper drank first, as
+ranking his tender; the other followed; and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg&nbsp;370]</a></span>
+they handed the flask&mdash;not the bills&mdash;back to
+Peterson and me.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Merci, mes amis!</i>&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;And I drink to
+Jean Lafitte and the old days! Perhaps, you
+may buy a mass for your cousin&rsquo;s soul?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Ah non!</i>&rdquo; answered the keeper. &ldquo;Hees soul
+she&rsquo;s hout of <i>Purgatoire</i> long hago eef she&rsquo;ll goin&rsquo;
+get hout. Me, I buy me some net for s&rsquo;rimp.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; me, two harpent more lan&rsquo; for my
+farm,&rdquo; quoth the tender.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Alas! poor Jean!&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;But he was so
+virtuous a man that he needs no masses after
+a hundred years, perhaps. As you like. You
+will take the letters; and this for the telegraph?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Certain&rsquo;! I&rsquo;ll took it those,&rdquo; answered the
+tender. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll stayed for dish coffee, yass?&rdquo;
+inquired the keeper, with Cajun hospitality.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, I fear it is not possible, thank you,&rdquo; I replied.
+&ldquo;We must be going soon.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; where you&rsquo;ll goin&rsquo;, Monsieur?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Around the island, up the channel, up the
+old oyster-boat channel of Monsieur Edouard.
+The letters are some of them for Monsieur
+Edouard himself. And you know well, <i>mes
+amis</i>, that once we lie at the wharf of Monsieur
+Edouard, not the government even of the state
+will touch us yonder?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg&nbsp;371]</a></span>
+&ldquo;My faith, <em>non!</em> I should say it&mdash;certain&rsquo; not!
+No man he&rsquo;ll mawnkey wit&rsquo; Monsieur Edouard,
+heem! You&rsquo;ll was know him, Monsieur?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We went to school together. We smoked
+the same pipe.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My faith! You&rsquo;ll know Monsieur Edouard!&rdquo;
+The keeper shook my hand. &ldquo;H&rsquo;I&rsquo;ll
+was work for Monsieur Edouard manny tam
+hon hees boat, hon hees plantation, hon hees
+&rsquo;ouse. When I&rsquo;ll want some leetle money,
+s&rsquo;pose those hrat he&rsquo;ll wasn&rsquo;t been prime yet,
+hall H&rsquo;I&rsquo;ll need was to go non Monsieur Edouard,
+hask for those leetle monny. He&rsquo;ll
+han&rsquo; it on me, yass, heem, ten dollar, jus&rsquo; like
+as heasy Monsieur has gave it me hondred dollar
+now, yas, heem!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes? Well, I know that a cousin of Jean
+Lafitte&mdash;who no doubt has dug for treasure all
+over the dooryard of Monsieur Edouard&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But not behin&rsquo; the smoke-house&mdash;nevair on
+dose place yet, I&rsquo;ll swear it!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;Very well, suppose you have not yet included
+the smoke-house of Monsieur Edouard,
+at least you are his friend. And what Acadian
+lives who is not a friend of the ladies?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Certain&rsquo;, Monsieur.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very well again. What you see in the paper
+is all false. The two ladies whose pictures
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg&nbsp;372]</a></span>
+you see here, and here, are yonder at our camp.
+You shall come and see that they are well and
+happy, both of them. Moreover, if you like
+another fifty for the mass for Jean Lafitte&rsquo;s
+soul, you, yourself, my friend, shall pilot us
+into the channel of Monsieur Edouard. We&rsquo;ll
+tow your boat behind us across the bay. Is it
+not?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Certain&rsquo;! <i>oui!</i>&rdquo; answered the tender. &ldquo;But
+you&rsquo;ll had leetle dish coffee quite plain?&rdquo; once
+more demanded the lonesome keeper; and for
+sake of his hospitable soul we now said yes;
+and very good coffee it was, too: and the better
+since I knew it meant we now were friends.
+Ah! pirate blood is far thicker than any water
+you may find.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But if we take you on as pilot, my friend,&rdquo;
+said I to the pilot as at length we arose, &ldquo;how
+shall we get out our letters after all?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Thass hall right,&rdquo; replied he, &ldquo;my cousin,
+Richard Barri&egrave;re&mdash;she&rsquo;s cousin of Jean Lafitte
+too, heem&mdash;she&rsquo;ll was my partner on the s&rsquo;rimp,
+an&rsquo; she&rsquo;ll was come hon the light, here, heem,
+to-mor&rsquo;, yas, heem.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And would you give the letters to Mr. Richard
+Barri&egrave;re to-morrow?&rdquo; I inquired of the
+lighthouse keeper.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Oui, oui</i>, certain&rsquo;, <i>assurement</i>, wit&rsquo; <i>plaisir,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg&nbsp;373]</a></span>
+Monsieur</i>,&rdquo; he replied. So I handed him the little
+packet.</p>
+
+<p>It chanced that my eye caught sight of one
+of the two letters Mrs. Daniver had handed
+me. The address was not in Mrs. Daniver&rsquo;s
+handwriting, but one that I knew very well.
+And the letter, in this handwriting that I knew
+very well, was addressed to Calvin Horace
+Davidson, Esquire, The Boston Club, New Orleans,
+Louisiana: all written out in full in Helena&rsquo;s
+own scrupulous fashion.</p>
+
+<p>I gave the letter over to the messenger, but
+for a time I stood silent, thinking. I knew now
+very well what that letter contained. But yesterday,
+Helena Emory had finally decided, there
+on the beach, alone with me, the salt air on
+her cheek, the salt tears in her eyes. She had
+gone far as woman might to tell me that she
+was grieved over a hasty word&mdash;she had given
+me a chance, my first chance, my only chance,
+my last chance. And, I, pig-headed fool, had
+slighted her at the very moment of moments
+of all my life&mdash;I who had prided myself on
+my &ldquo;psychology&rdquo;&mdash;I who had thought myself
+wise&mdash;I had allowed that woman to go away
+with her head drooping when at last she&mdash;oh,
+I saw it all plainly enough now! And now
+indeed small psychology and small wit were
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg&nbsp;374]</a></span>
+requisite to know the whole process of a
+woman&rsquo;s soul, thus chilled. She had been hesitant,
+had been a little resentful of this runaway
+situation, had not liked my domineering ways;
+but at last she had relented and had asked my
+pardon. Then I had spurned her. And then
+her mind swung to the other man. She had
+not yet given that man his answer, but when
+I chilled her, rejected her timid little desire to
+&ldquo;make up&rdquo; with me&mdash;why, then, her mind was
+made up for that other man at once. She had
+written his answer. And now&mdash;oh! fiendlike
+cruelty of woman&rsquo;s heart&mdash;she had chosen me
+as her messenger to carry out that word which
+would cost me herself forever! She had done
+that exquisitely well, as she did everything, not
+even advising me that I was to be her errand
+boy on such an errand, trusting me to find out
+by accident, as I had, that I was to be my own
+executioner, was to spring my own guillotine.
+She knew that, none the less, though I understood
+what the letter meant thus addressed, I
+sacredly must execute her silent trust. Oh!
+Helena, yours was indeed an exquisite revenge
+for that one hour of a dour man&rsquo;s hurt pride.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg&nbsp;375]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXVI</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH WE FOLD OUR TENTS</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">B</span>Y consent of the lighthouse keeper, we left
+the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> moored at the wharf in
+the channel, with Williams in charge, while
+Peterson and I, towing the tender&rsquo;s sailing
+skiff, its piratical lateen sail lowered, started
+back for our encampment in our long boat.
+It was only a half mile or so alongshore around
+the head of the island, although we had to keep
+out a bit to avoid going aground on the flats
+where the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> had come to grief&mdash;and
+had, moreover, to wade ashore some fifty yards
+or so, now that the sea was calm, since the
+keel of the motor-boat would not admit a
+closer approach in the shallows.</p>
+
+<p>We found our party all assembled, John having
+but now issued his luncheon call; and, such
+had proved the swift spell of this care-free life,
+none expressed much delight at the announcement
+of my decision to strike camp and move
+toward civilization. Helena only looked up
+swiftly, but made no comment; and Mrs. Daniver,
+to my surprise, openly rebelled at leaving
+these flesh-pots, where canvasback and terrapin
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg&nbsp;376]</a></span>
+might be had by shaking the bushes, and where
+the supply of ninety-three seemed, after all, not exhausted.
+Of course, my men had nothing to
+say about it, but when it came to my partners
+and associates, Lafitte and L&rsquo;Olonnois, there was
+open mutiny.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, now,&rdquo; protested L&rsquo;Olonnois, his lip
+quivering, &ldquo;O&rsquo; <em>course</em> we don&rsquo;t want to go home.
+Ain&rsquo;t our desert island all right? Where you
+goin&rsquo; to find any better place &rsquo;n this, like to
+know? Besides&rdquo;&mdash;and here he drew me to one
+side&mdash;&ldquo;they&rsquo;s a good reason for not goin&rsquo; just
+yet, Black Bart!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What, Jimmy?&rdquo; I inquired.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, <em>I</em> know somethin&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And what is it?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, Jean Lafitte knows it, too.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What is it then?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, it ain&rsquo;t happened yet, but it&rsquo;s goin&rsquo;
+to&mdash;or anyhow maybe.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You interest me! Is it a matter of importance?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;Say it was!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;To whom?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, to you&mdash;an&rsquo; besides, to my Auntie
+Helena. &rsquo;N&rsquo; you can&rsquo;t pull off things like that
+just anywheres. Jean Lafitte an&rsquo; me, we frame
+up how to handle yon heartless jade, the fair
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg&nbsp;377]</a></span>
+captive, &rsquo;n&rsquo; here you butt in &rsquo;n&rsquo; spoil the whole
+works. It ain&rsquo;t right.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I bethought me now of the conversation I
+had unwillingly overheard&mdash;and my heart was
+grateful to these my friends&mdash;but the next instant
+I remembered the note to Cal Davidson.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I thank you, Jimmy, my friend,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and
+I believe I know what you mean, but it can&rsquo;t
+be done.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What can&rsquo;t, an&rsquo; why can&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, the&mdash;the frame-up that you have just
+mentioned. In short&mdash;but, Jimmy, go on and
+roll up the blankets.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But why can&rsquo;t it, and what do you know
+about it? Tell me,&rdquo; he demanded with sudden
+inspiration, &ldquo;is yon varlet a suitor, too, for
+yon heartless jade?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I decline to answer, Jimmy. Don&rsquo;t let&rsquo;s get
+into too deep water. Go on and get your bundles
+ready.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re a fine pirate, ain&rsquo;t you, Black Bart!&rdquo;
+he broke out. &ldquo;Do you hold yerself fit to head
+a band o&rsquo; bold an&rsquo; desprit men, when you let
+yerself be bluffed by yon varlet, an&rsquo; him a thousand
+miles away? You try <em>me</em>, just you gimme
+a desert island, or even a pirut ship, a week,
+like the chance you got, an&rsquo; beshrew me, but
+any heartless jade would be mine!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg&nbsp;378]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Oh, maybe not, Jimmy.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;Or else she&rsquo;d walk the plank.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t any plank to walk here, Jimmy,&rdquo;
+said I, pointing to our boat, which lay in the
+shoals far out. &ldquo;I rather wish there were.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to carry my Auntie Helen out
+on yore strong right arm, Black Bart.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll do nothing of the sort, Jimmy.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you like her no more? An&rsquo; if you
+don&rsquo;t, what&rsquo;re we here for?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I could foresee embarrassments in further
+conversation with Jimmy in his present truculent
+mood, so sought out others less mutinous,
+and gave orders for the striking of the camp
+and the embarkment of all in the small boats.
+I left Peterson and Willy to take the ladies
+and most of the duffel in the large boat, assigned
+John the dingey for his cook boat, and
+decided to pole the light draft duck boat over
+the shallows direct to the yacht, taking my two
+associates with me. It was necessary, of
+course, to carry our fair passengers out to the
+long boat, which was some distance out on the
+flat beach. Peterson and I made a cradle for
+Mrs. Daniver, with our locked hands, and so
+got her substantial weight aboard. Helena
+mutely waited, but seeing her so, and unwilling
+myself to be so near to her any more, I
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg&nbsp;379]</a></span>
+motioned her to step into the flat duck boat, dry
+shod, and so poled her out to the long boat;
+but I did so in silence, nor did she look up or
+speak to me.</p>
+
+<p>Our new pilot sat in his own boat, and was
+towed back, after rendering some assistance
+with the cargoes; so now, at last, I was ready
+to leave a spot which, in any other circumstances,
+would have offered much charm for a
+man fond of the out-of-doors. As for my
+young friends, they were almost in tears as
+they sat, looking back longingly at the great
+flights of all manner of wild fowl continuously
+streaming in and out of the lagoon. At any
+other time, I would have been unwilling as
+any to depart, but, now, the whole taste and
+flavor of life had left me, and no interest remained
+in any of my old occupations or enjoyments.
+All that remained was the action necessary
+to deliver Helena and her aunt back to
+the usual scenes of their lives, to make their
+losses as light as possible, to take my own
+losses, and so close the books of my life.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There they come!&rdquo; said Jean Lafitte, pointing
+to a vast gaggle of clamoring wild geese
+coming in from the bay. &ldquo;Right over our point,
+Jimmy! Gee! I wisht I was under them fellers
+right now. Pow! Pow!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg&nbsp;380]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Aw, shut up!&rdquo; was Jimmy&rsquo;s reply. &ldquo;We
+won&rsquo;t never get no chance like this again.
+Why, looky here, we was reg&rsquo;lar castaways on
+a real desert island, an&rsquo; we had a abandoned
+ship, an&rsquo; we c&rsquo;d &rsquo;a&rsquo; lived chiefly by huntin&rsquo; an&rsquo;
+fishin&rsquo;; and we had evaded all pursuit an&rsquo; run
+off with the fair captive to a place o&rsquo; hidin&rsquo;&mdash;why,
+it&rsquo;s all just like in the book. An&rsquo; what
+do <em>we</em> do? Why, we go home! Wouldn&rsquo;t it
+frost you? An&rsquo; what&rsquo;s worse, we let the heartless
+jade get away with it, too! Ain&rsquo;t that so?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, that&rsquo;s true, Jimmy,&rdquo; I replied.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I was talkin&rsquo; to Jean Lafitte&mdash;but it&rsquo;s
+so. We started out all right as pirates, but
+now we let a girl bluff us.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What would you do, Jimmy, in a case like
+that?&rdquo; I inquired.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I would wring the wench&rsquo;s slender neck,
+beshrew me! She couldn&rsquo;t put over none o&rsquo;
+that coarse work on me. No, curses on her
+fair face!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That will do, Jimmy!&rdquo; said I, and pushed
+on in silence, Jean Lafitte very grave, and Jimmy
+snuffling, now, in his grief at leaving the
+enchanted island. So, all much about the same
+time, we reached the <i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i> and went
+aboard. The ladies went at once to their cabin,
+and I saw neither again that day, although I
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg&nbsp;381]</a></span>
+sent down duck, terrapin and ninety-three for their
+dinner that night.</p>
+
+<p>In half an hour we were under way; and in
+an hour and a half, having circumvented our
+long desert island, we were passing through
+the cut-off which led us back into C&ocirc;te Blanche,
+some fifty miles, I presume, from what was to
+be our voyage&rsquo;s end. We still were in the vast
+marsh country, an inaccessible region teeming
+with wild life. The sky now was clear, the
+air once more warm, the breeze gentle, and
+all the country roundabout us had a charm
+quite its own. A thousand side channels led
+back into the fortresses of the great sea-marsh,
+to this or that of the many lakes, lagoons and
+pond holes where the wild fowl found their feeding
+beds. Here was this refuge, where they
+fled to escape persecution, the spot most remote,
+secluded, secret, inaccessible. Here nature
+conspired to balk pursuit. The wide shallows
+made a bar now to the average sailing
+craft, and as for a motor-yacht like ours, the
+presence of a local pilot, acquainted with all
+the oyster reefs and shallows, all the channels
+and cut-offs, made us feel more easy, for we
+knew we could no longer sail merely by compass
+and chart. A great sense of remoteness
+from all the world came over me. I scarce
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg&nbsp;382]</a></span>
+could realize that yonder, so lately left behind,
+roared the mad tumult of the northern cities.
+This wide expanse was broken by no structure
+dedicated to commerce, not even the quiet spire
+of some rural church arose among the lesser
+edifices of any village&mdash;not even the blue smoke
+of some farmhouse marked the dwelling-place
+of man. It was the wilderness, fit only for the
+nomad, fit only for the man resentful of restraint
+and custom, longing only for the freedom
+of adventure and romance. The cycles of
+Cathay lay here in these gray silences, the leaf
+of the lotus pulsed on this lazy sea. Ah! here,
+here indeed were surcease and calm.</p>
+
+<p>And all this I was leaving. I was going
+back now to the vast tumult of the roaring
+towns, to the lip of mockery, the eye of insincerity,
+the hand of hypocrisy, where none may
+trust a neighbor. And moreover, I was going
+back without one look, face to face, into the
+eyes and the heart of the woman I had loved,
+and who, by force of these extraordinary circumstances
+had, for a miraculous moment,
+been thus set down with me, her lover, in the
+very surroundings built of Providence for secrecy
+and love! Yonder, speeding to her summons,
+no doubt hastened, ready to meet her,
+the man whom she had preferred above me.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg&nbsp;383]</a></span>
+And like a beast of burden, driven in the service
+of these two, I was plodding on, in the
+work of leaving paradise and opportunity, and
+delivering safe into the hands of another man
+the woman whom I loved far more than all else
+in all the world.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg&nbsp;384]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXVII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH IS PHILOSOPHY; WHICH, HOWEVER,
+SHOULD NOT BE SKIPPED</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>E passed on steadily to the northward
+until mid-afternoon, making no great
+headway with one propellor missing, but leaving
+the main gulf steadily, and at length, raising,
+a faint blue loom on the sky, the long oak-crowned
+heights of those singular geological
+formations, the heights known as &ldquo;islands&rdquo;,
+that bound the head of this great bay. Here
+the land, springing out of the level marshes
+and alluvial wet prairies, thrusts up in long
+reefs, hundreds of feet above the sea level. On
+the eminences grow ancient and mossy forest
+trees, as well as much half-tropic brake in the
+lower levels. Here are wide and rich acres
+also, owned as hereditary fees by old proud
+families, part of whose wealth comes from their
+plantations, part from their bay fisheries, and
+much from the ancient salt mines which lie
+under these singular uplifts above the great
+alluvial plain. As of right, here grow mansion
+homes, and here is lived life as nearly feudal
+and as wholly dignified and cultured as any in
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg&nbsp;385]</a></span>
+any land. Ignorant of the banal word &ldquo;aristocracy,&rdquo;
+here, uncounting wealth, unsearching
+of self and uncritical of others, simple and fine,
+folk live as the best ambition of America
+might make one long to live, so far above the
+vulgar northern scramble for money and display
+as might make angels weep for the latter
+in the comparison.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it was Edouard Manning, planter,
+miner, sportsman, gentleman, traveler, scholar
+and host, who first taught me what wealth
+might mean, may mean, ought to mean. Always,
+before now, I had approached his home
+with joy, as that of an old friend. There, I
+knew, I would find horses, guns, dogs, good
+sport and a simple welcome; and I could read
+or ride as I preferred. A king among all the
+cousins of Jean Lafitte, Monsieur Edouard.
+Hereabouts ran the old causeway by which the
+wagon reached the &ldquo;importations&rdquo; of Jean&rsquo;s
+barges, brought inland from his schooners hid
+in the marshes far below. Here, too, as is
+well known in all the state, was the burying-ground
+of Jean Lafitte&rsquo;s treasure-chests: for,
+though the old adventurer sold silks and tobaccos
+and sugars very cheap to the planters
+and traders, he secreted, as is well known,
+great store of plate, bullion and minted coins,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg&nbsp;386]</a></span>
+at divers points about the several miles of forest
+covered heights; so that the very atmosphere
+thereabout&mdash;till custom stales it for the
+visitor who comes often there&mdash;reeks with the
+flavor of pieces of eight, Spanish doubloons,
+and rare gems of the Orient. Laughingly,
+many a time Monsieur Edouard had agreed to
+go a-treasure hunting with me, even had showed
+me several of the curious old treasure-keys,
+maps and cabalistic characters which tell the
+place where Lafitte and his men buried their
+gold&mdash;such maps as are kept as secret heirlooms
+in many a Cajun family.</p>
+
+<p>But now, as I saw myself once more approaching
+this pleasant spot so well known to
+me, I felt little of the old thrill of eagerness
+come over me. True, Edouard would be there,
+and the dogs, and the birds, and the horses,
+and the quiet welcome. True, also, I could,
+either in truth or by evasion, establish a pleasant
+and conventional footing for all my party&mdash;it
+would be easy to explain so natural and
+pleasant an incident as a visit during a yacht
+cruise, and to laugh at all that silly newspaper
+sensation which by now must fully have blown
+over. True, Monsieur Edouard would be
+charmed to meet the woman whose influence
+on my life he knew so well. Yes, I could tell
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg&nbsp;387]</a></span>
+him everything easily, nicely, except the truth;
+which was, that I was bringing to another
+man&rsquo;s arms the woman whom he knew I loved.
+No, the blue loom of Manning&rsquo;s Island gave me
+no joy now. I wished it three thousand miles
+away instead of thirty. I wished that almost
+anything might prevent my arrival&mdash;accident,
+delay.</p>
+
+<p>And then, in the most natural way in the
+world, there were both! Without much warning,
+the pulse of our engine slackened, the
+throb of our single screw slowed down and
+ceased. Williams stuck his head up out of his
+engine-room and shouted something to Peterson,
+who methodically drew out his pipe and
+made ready for a smoke.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no use going any farther,&rdquo; explained
+Williams when I came up. &ldquo;That intake&rsquo;s
+gone wrong again, and she&rsquo;s got sand all
+through her. It&rsquo;s a crime to see her cut herself
+all to pieces this way. We&rsquo;ve just got to stop
+and clean her up, that&rsquo;s all, and fix the job
+right&mdash;ought to have done it back there before
+we started in.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How long will it take, Williams?&rdquo; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t know, sir. More than this afternoon,
+sure.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s too bad,&rdquo; said I, with a fair imitation
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg&nbsp;388]</a></span>
+of regret. &ldquo;We had expected to make
+Manning Island by night.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, it is too bad, but it&rsquo;s better to stop
+than ruin her, isn&rsquo;t it, sir?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Certainly it is, and I quite approve your
+judgment. But I presume we can go a little
+way yet, until we find a good berth somewhere?
+There&rsquo;s a deep channel comes in from the left,
+just ahead, and I think if we move on half a
+mile or so, we can get water enough to float
+even at low tide, and at the same time be out
+of sight of any boats passing in the lower part
+of the bay.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes, sir, we can get that far,&rdquo; said the
+engineer. Peterson was full of gloom, and
+though he thought nothing less than that we
+were going to be kept here a month, as one
+more event in a trip already unlucky enough,
+he gave the wheel to our Cajun pilot, and we
+crawled on around the head of a long point
+that came out into the bay. Here we could
+not see Manning Island, and were out of sight
+from most of the bay, so that, once more, the
+feeling of remoteness, aloofness, came upon me.</p>
+
+<p>Not that it did me any present good. I
+despatched L&rsquo;Olonnois as messenger to the
+ladies, telling them the cause of our delay, and
+explaining how difficult it was to say just when
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg&nbsp;389]</a></span>
+we would get in to the island; and then I betook
+myself to gloomy pacing up and down
+what restricted part of the deck I felt free for
+my own use. I wearied of it soon, and went
+to my cabin, trying to read.</p>
+
+<p>At first I undertook one of the modern
+novels which had been recommended by my
+bookseller, but I found myself unable to get
+on with it, and standing before my shelves took
+down one volume after another of philosophers
+who once were wont to comfort me&mdash;men with
+brains, thinking men who had done something
+in the world beside buying yachts and country
+houses. My eye caught a page which earlier
+I had turned down, and I read again:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Trust thyself; every heart vibrates to that
+iron string. Accept the place the Divine Providence
+has found for you&mdash;the society of
+friends, the connexion of events. Great men
+have always done so, and confided themselves
+childlike to the genius of their age.... And
+we now are men, and must accept in the highest
+mind the same transcendent destiny; and
+not pinched in a corner nor cowards fleeing
+before a revolution, but redeemers, and benefactors,
+pious aspirants to be noble clay, under
+the Almighty effort let us advance on Chaos
+and the Dark.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg&nbsp;390]</a></span>
+I read the mystic, involved, subjective words
+again, as most of the Concord Sage&rsquo;s words
+require, and reflected how well they jumped
+with the note of my heathen Epictetus, who had
+said, &ldquo;Be natural and noble&rdquo;. And, so thinking,
+I began to wonder whether, after all, my
+father, whose ruthless ways I betimes had explored,
+whose ruthless sins I had betimes
+atoned, had not been, perhaps, a better man
+than sometimes I had credited him with being.
+He, in accordance with his lights, had accepted
+the part given him by the Poet of the Play.
+He had confided himself childlike to the genius
+of his age, roaring, fighting, scrambling, getting
+and sometimes giving. He had trusted
+himself; and in the end, a bold man, he had
+advanced bravely on Chaos and the Dark.
+After a life of war and sometimes of rapine,
+done under the genius of his day, he had struck
+boldly the last chord on an iron string. Dear
+old Governor! I did not regret the million of
+his money I had spent to restore his memory
+clean in my own mind: for after all, it had all
+been in open war&mdash;that time when he unloaded
+a worthless mine on his friend, Dan Emory&mdash;Helena&rsquo;s
+father, Daniel Emory, who was, at
+first, said to have left his family penniless;
+until a shrewd lawyer in some miraculous way
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg&nbsp;391]</a></span>
+had managed to sell at a good price a box full
+of worthless mining stock to some innocent
+victim.</p>
+
+<p>Helena Emory never knew of that sale, nor
+did her guardian aunt. I did know of it, for
+the very good reason that I was both the
+shrewd lawyer and the innocent purchaser. It
+was the last act of my professional career;
+and it was this which caused the general report
+that I had made a bad mining venture,
+had lost my father&rsquo;s fortune, and retired from
+my career a ruined man. A few friends knew
+otherwise: and I blessed the rumor which cost
+me certain friends who thought me poor and
+so forsook me. Perhaps, my father would have
+called me quixotic had he known. Now, as
+I read and pondered, I neither blamed him for
+his own course in fair business war with old
+Dan Emory, nor did I censure myself for my
+own hidden act of restitution. Let the world
+wag its head if it liked, and remain ignorant
+of other millions given to me before my father&rsquo;s
+death, unprobated, secret, after the fashion of
+my pirate parent who buried his treasures and
+told none but his kin how they might be found.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, in time, it all might come out.
+In time, Helena would know that this yacht
+which she supposed to be Davidson&rsquo;s was my
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg&nbsp;392]</a></span>
+own, that the farm I was supposed to have
+rented really was a handsome estate that I
+owned, that many covert deeds in finance had
+been my own&mdash;it was only my silence and my
+absence in many parts of the world which had
+prevented her, also much a traveler, from knowing
+the truth about me long ago. And the
+truth was, I was not a poor man, but a rich
+one.</p>
+
+<p>Yet he who had stolen my purse would indeed
+have stolen trash this day. Rich in one
+way, I was poor, indeed, in others. I cared
+nothing for old Dan Emory&rsquo;s money, but very,
+very much for old Dan Emory&rsquo;s daughter; and
+her I might not have, even after all my efforts....
+No, the waters would leave no trail; and
+once more, after I had restored old Dan Emory&rsquo;s
+daughter to her home and friends, I would
+travel the wide world again, and the gossipers
+might guess what causes had ended a professional
+career, apparently ended a great fortune,
+and actually had ended a life.... For, I
+thought&mdash;using some philosophy of my own
+making&mdash;it is not wealth, but usefulness, contentment
+and independence which a man should
+hold as his most desired success. These
+achieved, little is left to gain. Any one of
+these last, and nothing remains worth gaining.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg&nbsp;393]</a></span>
+I took up another book, at another marked
+page: &ldquo;Let us learn to be content with what
+we have. Let us get rid of our false estimates,
+set up all the higher ideals&mdash;a quiet home,
+vines of our own planting; a few books full of
+the inspiration of genius; a few friends worthy
+of being loved; a hundred innocent pleasures
+that bring no pain or remorse; a devotion to
+the right that will never swerve; a simple religion
+empty of all bigotry, full of trust and
+hope and love&mdash;and to such a philosophy, this
+world will give up all the empty joy it has.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I meditated over this also, applying these
+tests to my own life.... Ah! now I saw why
+my foot was ever restless, why I sought always
+new scenes.... Where was my quiet home,
+the vines of my own planting? Would I flee
+from that to every corner of the world? Not
+if it held the woman of my choice. Would
+she thus roam restless, if she held the heart of
+her chosen and if they had a home?... I began
+to see the Plan unfold. Yes, and saw myself
+outside the Plan.... Because of a devotion
+to the right that would not swerve. Because
+of a fanaticism, an &ldquo;oddness&rdquo;, a nonconformity&mdash;ah!
+so I said bitterly to myself, because,
+after all, I was unattuned to my age,
+because I was unfit to survive before a man&rsquo;s
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg&nbsp;394]</a></span>
+own judge.... It is Portia judges this world.
+The case of every man comes before a woman
+for decision. I, who rarely had lost a case at
+law where I could use my own trained mind,
+had lost my first and only case at the bar of
+Love....</p>
+
+<p>So&mdash;and I sighed as I shut the books and returned
+them to their shelves&mdash;contentment
+never could be mine, nor that quiet home
+where only life is lived that is worth living;
+nor usefulness; nor independence.</p>
+
+<p>I did not hear Jimmy when he came in, and
+when he spoke I jumped, startled.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg&nbsp;395]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXVIII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH IS AN ARMISTICE WITH FATE</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">&ldquo;B</span>LACK BART!&rdquo; said Jimmy. &ldquo;Say,
+now&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, good mate,&rdquo; said I, and laid a hand
+on his curly fair head, &ldquo;what shall I say?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Say nothin&rsquo;,&rdquo; he remarked, dropping his
+voice. &ldquo;Listen!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We have held a council.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Who has?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, me and Jean Lafitte and the heartless
+jade. I told her you sent us to her to bid
+her seek your presence.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jimmy! What on earth do you mean!
+That&rsquo;s precisely the last thing I would have
+done&mdash;I haven&rsquo;t done it. On the contrary&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I told her,&rdquo; he resumed calmly, &ldquo;that when
+Black Bart, the pirut, spoke, he spoke to be
+obeyed. She said, &lsquo;I can&rsquo;t go,&rsquo; and I said, &lsquo;You
+<em>gotta</em> go.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You, yourself, may now go and tell her
+that there has been a very bad mistake, Jimmy;
+and that she need not come.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; make her cry worse? I ain&rsquo;t goin&rsquo; to
+do it!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg&nbsp;396]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Sir! This is mutiny!&mdash;But did she cry,
+Jimmy?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes. Awful. She said she was homesick.
+She ain&rsquo;t. I don&rsquo;t know what really is the matter.
+I ast Jean Lafitte, an&rsquo; he said maybe
+you&rsquo;d know. We thought maybe it was something
+about yon varlet. Do you know?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, I do not, Jimmy.&rdquo; I found myself engaged
+in one of those detestable conversations
+where one knows the talk ought to end, yet
+dislikes to end it.</p>
+
+<p>Jimmy stood for some time, much perturbed,
+looking every way but at me, and at last he
+blurted out.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you just jolly well awfully love the
+fair captive, yon heartless jade&mdash;my Auntie
+Helen? Don&rsquo;t you, Black Bart?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I made no answer, but frowned very much
+at his presumption.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;Because, everybody else does. She&rsquo;s nice.
+I should think you would. <em>I</em> do, I know mighty
+well.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She is&mdash;she is&mdash;she&rsquo;s a very estimable young
+woman, Jimmy,&rdquo; said I, coloring. &ldquo;I think I
+may say that without compromising myself.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Then why do you hurt her feelings the way
+you do&mdash;when she&rsquo;s plumb gone on you, the
+way she is?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg&nbsp;397]</a></span>
+I sprang toward him to clap a hand over his
+garrulous mouth, but he evaded me, and spoke
+from behind the bathroom door. &ldquo;Well, she
+is! Don&rsquo;t I hear her sticking up for you all
+the time&mdash;didn&rsquo;t I hear her an&rsquo; Auntie Lucinda
+havin&rsquo; a reg&rsquo;lar row over it again, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t care
+if he <em>hasn&rsquo;t</em> got a cent!&rsquo; says she.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But yon varlet is rich,&rdquo; said I.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She didn&rsquo;t mean yon varlet&mdash;she meant you,
+I&rsquo;m pretty sure, Black Bart. An&rsquo; she&rsquo;s been
+feedin&rsquo; Partial all the afternoon&mdash;say, he&rsquo;s the
+shape of a sausage.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She is heartless, Jimmy! Little do you
+know the ways of a heartless jade&mdash;she wants
+to win away from me the last thing on earth
+I have&mdash;even my dog. That&rsquo;s all. Now, Jimmy,
+you must go.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But he emerged only in part from his shelter.
+&ldquo;So Jean Lafitte an&rsquo; me, we looked it up in the
+book; an&rsquo; it says where the heartless jade is
+brought before the pirut chief, &lsquo;How now, fair
+one!&rsquo; says he, an&rsquo; he bends on her the piercin&rsquo;
+gaze o&rsquo; his iggle eye: &lsquo;how now, wouldst spurn
+me suit?&rsquo; The fair captive she bends her head
+an&rsquo; stands before him unable to encounter his
+piercin&rsquo; gaze, an&rsquo; for some moments a deep
+silence prevails&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jimmy!&rdquo; I heard a clear voice calling along
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg&nbsp;398]</a></span>
+the deck. No answer, and Jimmy raised a
+hand to command silence of me also.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jimme-e-e-e!&rdquo; It was Helena&rsquo;s voice, and
+nearer along the rail. &ldquo;Here&rsquo;s the fudges&mdash;now
+where can the little nuisance have gone! Jim!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Here I am, Auntie,&rdquo; replied the little nuisance,
+as she now approached the door of our
+cabin; and he brushed past me and started not
+aft but toward the bows. &ldquo;An&rsquo; there <em>you</em> are!&rdquo;
+he shouted over his shoulder in cryptic speech,
+whether to me or to his Auntie Helen I could
+not say.</p>
+
+<p>She stood now in such position near my door
+that neither of us could avoid the other without
+open rudeness. I looked at her gravely
+and she at me, her eyes wide, her lips silent
+for a time. Silently also, I swung the cabin
+door wide and stood back for her to pass.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You have sent for me?&rdquo; she said at last,
+still standing as she was. A faint smile&mdash;part
+in humor, part in timidity, part, it seemed suddenly
+to me, wistful; and all just a trifle pathetic&mdash;stirred
+her lips.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;I sent my soul through the Invisible,&rsquo;&rdquo; said
+I; and stepped within and quite aside for her
+to pass.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jimmy told the biggest lie in all his career,&rdquo;
+said I. She would have sprung back.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg&nbsp;399]</a></span>
+&ldquo;&mdash;And the greatest truth ever told in all
+the world. Come in, Helena Emory. Come
+into my quiet home. Already, as you know,
+you have come into my heart.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am not used to going into a gentleman&rsquo;s&mdash;quarters,&rdquo;
+said she: but her foot was on the
+shallow stair.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is common to three gentlemen of the
+ship&rsquo;s company, Helena Emory,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and
+we have no better place to receive our friends.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She now was in the room. I closed the door,
+and sprung the catch.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;At last,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you are in my power!&rdquo;
+And I bent upon her the piercing gaze of my
+eagle eye.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg&nbsp;400]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXIX</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH ARE SEALED ORDERS</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">S</span>HE stood before me for just a moment undecided.
+The twilight was coming and the
+room was dim.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Auntie will miss me,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;after a
+time.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have missed you all the time,&rdquo; was my
+reply.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But you sent for me?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Of course I did. Doesn&rsquo;t this look as
+though I had?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t quite understand&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Shall I call Jimmy to explain? He called
+you a heartless jade&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The little imp! How dare he!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;As in fact all of our brotherhood has
+come to call you: &lsquo;The heartless jade.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I made fudges for him! And the little
+wretch told me I wasn&rsquo;t playing the game!
+What did he mean? Oh, Harry, I wouldn&rsquo;t
+have come if I hadn&rsquo;t wanted to play the
+game fairly. I&rsquo;m sorry for what I said.&rdquo; She
+spoke now suddenly, impulsively.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What was it you said?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg&nbsp;401]</a></span>
+&ldquo;When I said&mdash;when I called you&mdash;a coward.
+I didn&rsquo;t mean it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You said it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But not the way you thought. I only
+meant, you took an unfair advantage of a girl,
+running off with her, this way, and giving her
+no chance to&mdash;to get away. But now you do
+give me a chance&mdash;you meant to, all along&mdash;and
+in every way, as I&rsquo;ve just done telling
+auntie, you&rsquo;ve been perfectly fine, perfectly
+splendid, perfectly bully, too! It has been a
+hard place for a man, too, but&mdash;Harry, dear
+boy, I&rsquo;ll have to say it, you&rsquo;ve been some considerable
+gentleman through it all! There
+now!&rdquo; And she stood, aloof, agitated, very
+likely flushed, though I could not tell in the
+dark.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you, Helena,&rdquo; I said.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And as to your being any other sort of a
+coward&mdash;that you had physical fear&mdash;that you
+wouldn&rsquo;t do a man&rsquo;s part&mdash;why, I never did
+mean that at all. How could I? And if I
+had&mdash;why, even Auntie Lucinda said your going
+out after that Chinaman the other night
+was heroic&mdash;even if he couldn&rsquo;t have cooked
+a bit!&mdash;and you know Auntie Lucinda has always
+been against you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, and you both called me a coward,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg&nbsp;402]</a></span>
+because I quit my law office and ran away from
+misfortune.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, we did. And I meant that, too! I
+say it now to your face, Harry. But maybe I
+don&rsquo;t know all about that&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Maybe not.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I wouldn&rsquo;t want to be unjust, of
+course, but I <em>don&rsquo;t</em> think a man ought to throw
+away his life. You&rsquo;re young. You could start
+over again, and you ought to have tried. Your
+father made his own money, and so did my
+father&mdash;why, look at the Sally M. mine, that
+has given me my own fortune. Do you suppose
+that grew on a bush to be shaken off?
+So why couldn&rsquo;t you go out in the same way
+and do something in the world&mdash;I don&rsquo;t mean
+just make money, you know, but <em>do</em> something?
+That&rsquo;s what a girl likes. And you were able
+enough. You are young and strong, and you
+have your education; and I&rsquo;ve heard my father
+say, before he died&mdash;and other men agreed
+with him&mdash;that you were the best lawyer at
+our bar, and that you had an extraordinary
+mind, and a clear sense of justice, and, and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Go on. Did he say that?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But with all my fine qualities of mind and
+heart,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I lost all when I lost my
+money!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg&nbsp;403]</a></span>
+&ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you what I mean&mdash;you dropped
+me because you thought me poor. Well, I
+don&rsquo;t blame you. It takes money to live, and
+you deserved all that the world can give. I
+don&rsquo;t blame you. There were other men in the
+world for you. The trouble with me was that
+there was no other woman in the world for
+me. All our trouble&mdash;all our many meetings
+and partings&mdash;have come out of those two
+facts.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Did you think that of me?&rdquo; she asked at
+length, slowly. I suppose she was pale, but I
+could not see.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I certainly did. How could I think anything
+else?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Harry!&rdquo; she half whispered. &ldquo;Why, Harry,
+Harry!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Admit that you did!&rdquo; I exclaimed bitterly,
+&ldquo;and let me start from that as a premise. Listen!
+If you were a man, and loved a woman,
+and she chucked you when you lost your
+money, do you think you&rsquo;d break your neck
+to make any more success in the world after
+that? Why should you? Why does a man
+work? It&rsquo;s for a home, for the sake of power,
+and mostly for the sake of the game.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And I could play that game&mdash;I can play it
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg&nbsp;404]</a></span>
+now, and win at it, any time I like. I quit it
+not because I was afraid of the game&mdash;it&rsquo;s the
+easiest thing in the world to make money, if
+that&rsquo;s all you really want to do. That&rsquo;s all
+your father wanted, or mine, and it was easy.
+I can play that game. But why? Ah! if it
+were to win a quiet home, the woman I loved,
+independence, usefulness, contentment,&mdash;yes!
+But when all those stakes were out of the
+game, Helena, I didn&rsquo;t care to play it any more.
+And that was why you thought I ran away.
+I did run away&mdash;from myself, and you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She was silent now, and perhaps paler&mdash;I
+could not see.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;But wherever I have gone, Helena, all
+over the world, I&rsquo;ve found those two people
+there ahead of me, and I couldn&rsquo;t escape them&mdash;myself,
+and you!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Did you think that of me, Harry?&rdquo; She
+half whispered once more.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I did. And did you think that of me?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I did. But I did not understand.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No. Like many a woman, you got cause
+and effect mixed up: and you never troubled
+yourself to get it straight. Let me tell you,
+unless two people can come to each other without
+compromises and without explanations and
+without reservations, they would better never
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg&nbsp;405]</a></span>
+come at all. I don&rsquo;t want you cheap, you
+oughtn&rsquo;t to want me cheap. So how can it
+end any way other than the way it has? If
+it was my loss of fortune that made you chuck
+me, I oughtn&rsquo;t ever to give you a second
+thought, for you wouldn&rsquo;t be worth it. The
+fact you did, and that I do, hasn&rsquo;t anything to
+do with it at all.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And if you don&rsquo;t think me able and disposed
+to play a man&rsquo;s part in the world, you
+oughtn&rsquo;t to care a copper for me, that is plain,
+isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, quite plain.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And the fact that you did, and that you do,
+has nothing to do with it&mdash;nothing in the
+world, has it, Helena?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No.&rdquo; She must have been very pale, though
+I could not tell.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Therefore, as logic shows us, my dear, and
+because we never did get our premises straight,
+and so never will get our conclusions straight,
+either&mdash;we don&rsquo;t belong together and never
+can come together, can we?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No.&rdquo; I could barely hear her whisper.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No. And that is why, just before you came,
+I was trying to pull myself together and to
+advance as best an unhappy devil may, upon
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg&nbsp;406]</a></span>
+Chaos and the Dark! And that&rsquo;s all I see
+ahead, Helena, without you&mdash;Chaos and the
+Dark.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It was all you saw that night, in the little
+boat,&rdquo; she said after a time. &ldquo;Yet you went?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes, but that was different.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is this all, Harry?&rdquo; she said, and moved
+toward the door.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, my dear; it is all&mdash;but all the rest.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Her color must have risen, for I saw dimly
+that she raised both her hands to her bosom,
+her throat. Thus the heartless jade stood, her
+head drooped, unable to meet the piercing
+gaze of my eagle eye.</p>
+
+<p>There came a faint scratching at the door, a
+little whimpering whine.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is Partial, my dog, come after you,&rdquo; said
+I bitterly. &ldquo;He knows you are here. He never
+has done that way for me. He loves you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He knows <em>you</em> are here, and he loves you,&rdquo;
+said she. &ldquo;That is why things come and scratch
+at doors where ruffians live.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I flung open the door. &ldquo;Partial,&rdquo; said I,
+&ldquo;come in; and choose between us.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>As to the first part of my speech, the invitation
+to enter, Partial obeyed with a rush;
+as to the second, the admonition, he apparently
+could not obey at all. In his poor dumb brute
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg&nbsp;407]</a></span>
+affliction, lack of human speech, he stood, after
+saluting us both, alternately and equally, hesitant
+between us, wagging, whining and gazing,
+knowing full well somewhat was wrong between
+us, grieving over us, beseeching us&mdash;but
+certainly not choosing between us.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Give him time,&rdquo; said I hoarsely. &ldquo;He
+loves you more, and is merely polite to me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Give him time,&rdquo; said she bitterly. &ldquo;He
+loves you more, and you don&rsquo;t deserve it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But Partial would not choose.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He wants us <em>both</em>, Helena!&rdquo; said I at last.
+&ldquo;He has wiped out logic, premises, conclusions,
+cause and effect, horse, cart and all!
+He wants us <em>both</em>! He wants a quiet home
+and independence, Helena, and usefulness, and
+contentment. Ah, my God!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She reached down and put a hand on his
+head, but he only looked from one to the other of
+us, unhappy.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you love me, Helena?&rdquo; I asked
+quietly, after a time. &ldquo;For the sake of my
+dog, can you not love me?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She continued stroking the head of the
+agonized Partial.... And until, somewhat inarticulately,
+I had choked or spoken, and had
+caught her dark hair against my cheek and
+kissed her hair and stammered in her ear, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg&nbsp;408]</a></span>
+turned her face and kissed her eyes and her
+cheek and her lips many, many times, Partial
+held his peace and issued no decision....
+At least, I did not hear him....</p>
+
+<p>She was sobbing now, her head on my shoulder,
+as we sat on the locker seat, and Partial&rsquo;s
+head was on the cushion beside us, and he was
+silent and overjoyed, and tranquilly happy&mdash;seeing
+perhaps, that a quiet home would in the
+event be his, and that he was going to live
+happy ever after. And after I drew Helena&rsquo;s
+head closer to my face, I kissed her hair.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do you love me, Helena?&rdquo; I asked. &ldquo;Only
+the truth now, in God&rsquo;s name!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You know I do,&rdquo; she said, and I felt her
+arms about my neck.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Have you, always?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I think so, yes. It seems always.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We have been cruel to each other.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, are cruel now.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How now?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You make me say I love you, and yet&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You will marry me&mdash;right away, soon, Helena&mdash;as
+I am, poor, ragged, without a cent,
+only myself?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not here,&rdquo; she smiled.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;At Edouard Manning&rsquo;s, at once, as soon as
+we get in?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg&nbsp;409]</a></span>
+&ldquo;It is duress! I am in the power of a ruffian
+band! Is it fair? Are you sure I know
+my mind?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am sure only that I know my own! Tell
+me, what was in that note I carried, addressed
+to yon varlet Davidson?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sealed orders!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And how does that affect me, Helena. Tell
+me&mdash;I know you love me, and you know that
+all the rest is small, to that; but as to that
+wedding part of it, Helena&mdash;what do you say?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She hesitated for an instant. &ldquo;You want me
+to&mdash;come&mdash;to come with honor, as you do?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes. I&rsquo;ll take any risk that means with
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Will you take sealed orders, too?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Turn on the lights.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I reached the switch, and an instant later a
+dozen high candle-power bulbs flooded the suite
+with light. With a little cry of dismay Helena
+sprang away, and stood at my shaving-glass,
+arranging her hair. Now and then she turned
+her face just enough to smile at me a little, her
+eyes dark, languid, heavy lidded, a faint shadow
+of blue beneath. And now and then her breast
+heaved, as though it were a sea late troubled
+by a storm gone by.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg&nbsp;410]</a></span>
+&ldquo;What will auntie say?&rdquo; she sighed at last.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What will you say?&rdquo; I replied.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, brute, you shall not know! I must
+have some manner of revenge against a ruffian
+who has taken advantage of me while I was in
+his power!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, heartless jade!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;So you shall wait until we are ashore. I
+will give you sealed orders&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;When?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now. And you shall open them at your
+friend&rsquo;s house&mdash;as soon as we are all settled and
+straightened after leaving the boat&mdash;as soon
+as&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It looks as though it were as soon as you
+please, not when I please.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Harry, it is my revenge for the indignities
+you have heaped on me. Do you think a girl
+will submit to that meekly&mdash;to be browbeaten,
+abused, endangered as I have been! No, sir&mdash;sealed
+orders or none. I have only owned I
+loved you. So many girls have been mistaken
+about things when&mdash;when the moon, or a
+desert island or&mdash;or something has bewitched
+them. But I haven&rsquo;t said I would marry you,
+have I, ever?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No. I don&rsquo;t care about that so much as the
+other; but I care a very, very great deal about it,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg&nbsp;411]</a></span>
+too. You, too, are cruel. You are a heartless
+jade.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And you have been a cruel and ruthless
+pirate.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Tell me now!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No.&rdquo; And she evaded me, and gained the
+door. &ldquo;I must go. Oh, it&rsquo;s all a ruin now&mdash;Auntie&rsquo;ll
+be furious. And what shall I say?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Give her sealed orders, and my love! And
+when do I get mine?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In five minutes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She was gone.... And after some moments,
+rapt as I was at her late presence, which
+still seemed to fill the room like the fragrance,
+like the fragrance of her hair which still lingered
+in my senses, I looked about, sighing
+for that she was gone. Then I noted that our
+friend Partial had gone with her. &ldquo;Fie! Partial,
+after all, you loved her more!&rdquo; I said to
+myself.</p>
+
+<p>But in a few moments I heard a faint sound
+at my door. I opened. There stood Partial in
+the dusk, gravely wagging his tail, looking at
+me without moving his head. And I saw that
+he held daintily in his mouth a dainty note,
+addressed to me in the same handwriting as
+that on the note I had sent out from the heartless
+jade to yon varlet. And it was sealed, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg&nbsp;412]</a></span>
+marked with instructions for its opening....
+&ldquo;When You Two Varlets Meet.&rdquo; No more.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Peterson,&rdquo; said I, advancing to the forward
+deck, where I found him smoking, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been
+getting up some correspondence, since we&rsquo;ll
+be ashore by to-morrow noon&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know as to that, Mr. Harry.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I know about it. So, tell Williams
+that, even if he has to work all night, we must
+be moving as soon as it&rsquo;s light enough to see.
+I&rsquo;ve got a very important message&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;By wireless, Mr. Harry?&rdquo; chuckled the old
+man.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, by wireless,&rdquo; (and I looked at Partial,
+who wagged his tail and smiled). &ldquo;So I
+must get into Manning Island the first possible
+moment to-morrow. And Peterson, as we&rsquo;ve
+had so good a run this trip, with no accident
+or misfortune of any kind, I don&rsquo;t know but
+I may make it a month or two extra pay&mdash;double&mdash;for
+you and Williams, and even John.
+And as to Willy, please don&rsquo;t fire him, Peterson,
+for his deserting the ship&rsquo;s cook the other
+night. In fact, I&rsquo;m very glad, on the whole,
+he did. Give him double pay for doing it,
+Peterson!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ain&rsquo;t this the wonderful age!&rdquo; remarked
+Peterson to a star which was rising over the
+misty marsh. &ldquo;Especial, now, that wireless!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg&nbsp;413]</a></span>
+I only patted Partial on the head, and we
+smiled pleasantly and understandingly at each
+other. Of course, Peterson could not know what
+we knew.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg&nbsp;414]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XL</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH LAND SHOWS IN THE OFFING</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">B</span>EFORE the white sea mists had rolled
+away I was on deck, and had summoned
+a general conference of my crew.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Polyte,&rdquo; I demanded of our pilot, &ldquo;how
+long before your partner will be at the lighthouse,
+below, there?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Ow long?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, maybe thees day sometam.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And how long before he&rsquo;ll start back with
+the mail?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Ow long?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, maybe thees same day sometam.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And how long will it take him to get back
+to some post-office with those letters?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Ow long?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, maybe those nex&rsquo; day sometam.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And then how long to the big railroad to
+New Orleans?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Ow long?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg&nbsp;415]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Oh, maybe those nex&rsquo; day too h&rsquo;also sometam,
+heem.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Then it will be three days, four days, before
+a letter could get from the lighthouse to
+New Orleans?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Ow long?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Three or four days?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Oui</i>, maybe so.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And how long will it take us to get in to
+the plantation of Monsieur Edouard, above,
+there?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Ow long?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;H&rsquo;I&rsquo;ll could not said, Monsieur. Maybe
+three four day&mdash;<i>&rsquo;sais pas</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Holy Mackinaw!&rdquo; I remarked, <i>sotto voce</i>.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Pardon?&rdquo; remarked &rsquo;Polyte respectfully.
+&ldquo;Le Machinaw&mdash;<i>que-est-que-ce-que-est, ca</i>?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is my patron saint, &rsquo;Polyte,&rdquo; I explained,
+and he crossed himself for his mistake.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Suppose those h&rsquo;engine he&rsquo;ll h&rsquo;ron, we&rsquo;ll get
+in four five h&rsquo;our h&rsquo;all right, on Monsieur Edouard,
+yass,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;H&rsquo;I&rsquo;ll know those
+channel lak some books.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>By now Williams&mdash;who, judging by certain
+rappings, hammerings and clankings heard
+through the cabin walls back and above the
+engine-rooms, had been at work much of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg&nbsp;416]</a></span>
+night&mdash;had reported, and much to my pleasure
+had said he thought we could make it in at
+least to the Manning dock before further repairs
+would be needed. To prove which, he
+went down and &ldquo;turned her over a time or
+two,&rdquo; as he expressed it. Whereupon I gave
+orders to break out the anchor, and knowing
+that any Cajun market hunter and shrimp
+fisher like &rsquo;Polyte can travel in any mist or fog
+before sunup by some instinct of his own, I
+took a chance and began to feel our way out
+to the mouth of the Manning channel before
+the morning mists were gone; so that we were
+at breakfast by the time the wide and gently
+rippling bay broke clear below us, and by
+magic, we saw the oak-crowned heights of the
+island dead ahead.</p>
+
+<p>Thence on, within the walls of the deep
+dredged channel, all we had to do was to go
+sufficiently slow and follow the curves carefully,
+so that the heavy waves of our boat,
+larger than any intended for that channel,
+might not too much endanger the mud walls,
+or threaten wreckage to the frail stagings leading
+to the cabins of the half-aquatic trappers
+and fishers who dwell here in the marshes.</p>
+
+<p>So, at last, after many windings and doublings,
+we came in at the rear of the timbered
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg&nbsp;417]</a></span>
+slopes, and could see the mansion houses and
+the offices of the stately old plantation, where
+dwelt my friend, Edouard Manning, who knew
+nothing of my coming.</p>
+
+<p>After custom, I signaled loud and often with
+the boat&rsquo;s whistle, so that the men might come
+to the landing for us; and, in order that Edouard
+himself might be warned, I gave orders
+to my hardy mates to make proper nautical
+salute of honor.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Cast loose the stern-chaser, Jean Lafitte,&rdquo;
+said I: &ldquo;and do you and L&rsquo;Olonnois load and
+fire her often as you like until we land; or
+until you burst her.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Gleefully they obeyed, and soon the roar of
+our deck gun echoed formidably along the
+slopes, as had no gun since the salt-seeking
+Union navy, in the Civil War, had pounded at
+the gates of Edouard&rsquo;s father: and until scores
+of coots and rail chattered in excited chorus
+for answer, and long clouds of wild ducks
+arose and circled over the marsh. Again and
+again, my bold mates loaded and fired: and
+now, turning back by chance from my own
+place at the wheel, I saw that they had assumed
+full character, and each with a red kerchief
+bound about his brow, was armed with,
+I dare not say how many, pistols, dirks, swords
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg&nbsp;418]</a></span>
+and cutlasses thrust through his belt or otherwise
+suspended on his person.</p>
+
+<p>I saw now the two ladies, their fingers in
+their ears, also on deck, protesting at this
+cannonading at their cabin door; and so I
+raised my hat to a very radiant and radiantly
+appareled Helena, for the first time that day;
+and heard the answer of L&rsquo;Olonnois to the
+dour protest of Auntie Lucinda.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We follow Black Bart the Avenger, an&rsquo; let
+any seek to stop us at their per-rul! Jean, run
+up the flag, while I load her up again.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>And Jean having once more hoisted the skull
+and cross-bones at our masthead, and assumed
+a specially savage scowl as he stood with folded
+arms on our bow deck, we made what a
+mild imagination might have called rather an
+impressive entry as we swept into the Manning
+landing.</p>
+
+<p>I was not surprised to see Edouard himself
+there, and his wife, and some thirty odd dogs
+and as many blacks, waiting for us at the
+wharf. Nor was I surprised to see that all
+seemed somewhat to marvel at our manner of
+advent, though I knew that Edouard, through
+his field-glasses, had recognized both my boat
+and myself long before we made the last curve
+and came gently in to the wharf where the
+grinning darkies could catch our line.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg&nbsp;419]</a></span>
+What did surprise me&mdash;and perhaps for a
+time I may have shown surprise&mdash;was to see,
+in all this gay throng, two forms not usual on
+the Manning landing. One was the elegantly
+garbed and rather stunning figure of Sally
+Byington; and the other the robust, full-bodied,
+gorgeously arrayed form of my old friend, Cal
+Davidson! How or why they came there I
+could not for the moment guess.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis he&mdash;yon varlet!&rdquo; I heard a stern voice
+hiss at my ear. &ldquo;Beshrew me, but it shall go
+hard with him! I&rsquo;m loading her up with marbles
+now!&rdquo; But I had no more than time to
+persuade my two lieutenants to modify this
+purpose, and partially to disarm themselves,
+before the two groups were mingling, with
+much chattering and laughing and gay saluting.</p>
+
+<p>Edouard, hat in hand, was on deck before
+our fenders touched the wharf, laughing and
+grasping my hands and looking up at my flag.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I knew you were coming,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Fact
+is, all the country&rsquo;s been looking for you.
+Davidson just got in a couple of hours ago&mdash;and
+you know his lady is an old friend of Mrs.
+Manning&rsquo;s. And&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He was shaking the hands of Mrs. Daniver
+and Helena almost before I could present them.
+Auntie Lucinda bestowed upon him the gaze
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg&nbsp;420]</a></span>
+of a solemn and somewhat tear-stained visage
+(though I saw distinct approval on her face as
+she caught sight of the great mansion house
+among the giant oaks, and witnessed the sophisticatedness
+of the group on the landing,
+and the easy courtesy of Edouard himself).</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;By Jove! old man!&rdquo; the latter found time
+to say to me, &ldquo;I congratulate you&mdash;she&rsquo;s away
+beyond her pictures.&rdquo; He did not mean Mrs.
+Daniver; and he never had seen Helena before.
+I could only press his hand and attempt no
+comment as to the congratulations, for part of
+that was a matter which yet rested in a sealed
+envelope in my pocket; and at best it must be
+three or four days.... But then, with a great
+flash of arrested intelligence, it was borne in
+upon me that perhaps, after all, it was not so
+much a question of the tardy United States mails!
+Because yon varlet, fat and saucy, and well content
+with life, already, by some means and for
+some reason, had outrun the mails. He was
+here, and we had met. It need not be four
+days before I could learn my fate.... I
+reached into my pocket and looked at my
+sealed orders. No matter what Davidson&rsquo;s letter
+held, here was Davidson himself.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I say, there, you Harry, confound
+you!&rdquo; roared Davidson to me in his great
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg&nbsp;421]</a></span>
+voice above the heads of everybody. &ldquo;I say,
+what did I tell you?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Now I had not the slightest idea what Davidson
+had told me, nor what he meant by waving
+a paper over his head. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve signed
+Dingleheimer for next year! Now what do
+you think of that? World&rsquo;s championship, and
+good old Dingleheimer for next year&mdash;I guess
+that&rsquo;s pretty poor for them little old Giants,
+what?&rdquo; And he smiled like one devoid of all
+care as well as of all reason.</p>
+
+<p>I myself smiled just a moment later&mdash;after I
+had greeted the Manning ladies, had seen
+Helena step up and kiss Sally Byington fervently,
+directly on the cheek, whose too keen
+coloring I once had heard her decry; had
+slapped Edouard joyously on the shoulders and
+pointed to my pirate flag and gloomy black-visaged
+crew&mdash;I say I also smiled suddenly
+when I felt a hand touch me on the shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>&rsquo;Polyte, the pilot, stood, cap in hand, and
+asked me to one side.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Pardon, Monsieur,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;but those <i>gentilhommes</i>&mdash;those
+fat one&mdash;ees eet she&rsquo;ll was Monsieur
+Davelson who&rsquo;ll H&rsquo;I&rsquo;ll got letter on heem
+from those lighthouse, heem?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, yes, &rsquo;Polyte&mdash;the letter you said would
+take four days to get to New Orleans.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg&nbsp;422]</a></span>
+&rsquo;Polyte smiled sheepishly. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll wouldn&rsquo;t
+took four days now, Monsieur! H&rsquo;I&rsquo;ll got it
+h&rsquo;all those letter here. H&rsquo;I&rsquo;ll change the coat
+on the <em>lighthouse</em>, maybe, h&rsquo;an H&rsquo;I&rsquo;ll got the coat
+of Guillaume witt&rsquo; h&rsquo;all those letter in her,
+yass?&rdquo; And he now handed me the entire
+packet of letters, which I had supposed left far
+behind us on the previous day!</p>
+
+<p>I took the letters from him, and handed all
+of them but one to Edouard&rsquo;s old body servant
+to put in the office mail. The remaining
+one I held in the same hand with its mate:
+and I motioned Davidson aside to a spot under
+a live oak as the other began now slowly to
+move toward the path from the landing up
+the hill.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is for you,&rdquo; said I, handing him his
+letter; and told him how it came to him thus.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s from Helena&mdash;dear old girl, isn&rsquo;t she
+a trump, after all!&rdquo; he said, tearing open the
+letter and glancing at it.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She is a dear girl, Mr. Davidson,&rdquo; said I,
+stiffly, &ldquo;yes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, of course&mdash;yes, of course I&rsquo;d have
+done it, if I&rsquo;d got this before I left the city,&rdquo;
+said he, &ldquo;but how can I now?&rdquo;&mdash;holding the
+letter open in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do you mean to tell me,&rdquo; I began, but
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg&nbsp;423]</a></span>
+choked in anger mixed with uncertainty. What
+was it she had asked of him, offered to him?
+And was not Helena&rsquo;s wish a command.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I mean to tell you or any one else, I&rsquo;d
+do a favor to a lady if I could; but&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What favor, Mr. Davidson?&rdquo; I demanded
+icily.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, why &lsquo;Mr. Davidson&rsquo;? Ain&rsquo;t I your
+pal, in spite of all the muss you made of my
+plans? Why, I&rsquo;m damned if I&rsquo;ll pay you the
+charter money at all, after the way you&rsquo;ve
+acted, and all&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Davidson, damn the charter money!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I say! What&rsquo;s charter money
+among friends? All right, if you can forgive
+half the charter fee, I&rsquo;ll forgive the other half,
+and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What was in the letter from her?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s none of your business, Harry&mdash;but still,
+I don&rsquo;t mind saying that Miss Emory wrote
+me and said that if I was still&mdash;oh! I say!&rdquo; he
+roared, turning suddenly and poking a finger
+into my ribs, &ldquo;if you haven&rsquo;t got on one of my
+waistcoats!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The one with pink stripes,&rdquo; said I still
+icily, &ldquo;and deuced bad ones they all are. And
+these clothes I borrowed from my China boy.
+But then&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg&nbsp;424]</a></span>
+&ldquo;I see, you must have come in a hurry, eh?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes. But come now, old man, what&rsquo;s in
+that letter? I&rsquo;ve got one of my own here, done
+in the same hand, hers. I am under sealed
+orders&mdash;until I shall have met you, which is
+now. So I suppose some sort of explanation
+is due on both sides. We might as well have
+it all out here, before we join the house party,
+so as to avoid any awkwardness.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, nothing in my letter to amount to anything,&rdquo;
+he replied. &ldquo;Miss Emory only wanted
+to know if I&rsquo;d please have her trunks shipped
+out here from New Orleans&mdash;only that; and
+she asked me please to bring her a box of
+marshmallows, as hers were all gone. She&rsquo;s
+polite, always, dear old Helena&mdash;she says,
+here, &lsquo;So pleasant is our journey in every way,
+and so kind have you gentlemen been, and so
+thoughtful in providing every luxury, that I
+can not think of a single thing I could ask for
+except some more marshmallows. Jimmy, the
+young imp, my nephew, you know, has found
+mine, though I hid them under both cushions
+in the stateroom.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I had my hat off, and was wiping my forehead.
+A sudden burst of glory seemed to me
+to envelope all the world. If there had been
+duplicity anywhere, I did not care.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg&nbsp;425]</a></span>
+&ldquo;I suppose Jimmy is the one with two guns
+and a Jap sword, eh?&rdquo; asked Davidson.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, the other one, God bless him! Is that
+all there was in the letter, Cal?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes. What&rsquo;s in yours? What&rsquo;s the game&mdash;button,
+button, who&rsquo;s got the girl? And
+can&rsquo;t you <em>open</em> your letter now?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I, and did so. It contained just
+two words (Helena afterward said she had not
+time to write more while Auntie Lucinda might
+be in from the other stateroom).<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what&rsquo;s it say, dash you!&rdquo; demanded
+Cal Davidson. &ldquo;Play fair now&mdash;I told, and so
+must you!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m damned if I do, Cal!&rdquo; said I, and put
+it in my pocket. But I shook hands with him
+most warmly, none the less....</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> (Those interested may find them later in the text.<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a>)</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg&nbsp;426]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XLI</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH IS MUCH ROMANCE, AND SOME TREASURE,
+ALSO VERY MUCH HAPPINESS</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>E walked on slowly up the hill together,
+my friend Calvin Davidson and myself,
+following the parti-colored group now passing
+out of sight behind the shrubbery. At last we
+paused and sat down on one of the many seats
+that invited us. Around us, on the great lawn,
+were many tropic or half-tropic plants, and the
+native roses, still abloom. Yonder stood the
+old bronze sun-dial that I knew so well&mdash;I
+could have read the inscription, <i>I Mark Only Pleasant
+Hours</i>; and I knew its penciled shadow
+pointed to a high and glorious noon.... It
+seemed to me that Heaven had never made
+a more perfect place or a more perfect day;
+nor, that I am sure, was ever in the universe
+a world more beautiful than this, more fit to
+swing in union with all the harmony of the
+spheres.... I had fought so long, I had been
+so unhappy, had doubted so much, had grown
+so sad, so misanthropic, that I trust I shall be
+forgiven at this sudden joy I felt at hearing
+burst on my ears&mdash;albeit a chorus of Edouard&rsquo;s
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg&nbsp;427]</a></span>
+mocking-birds hid in the oaks&mdash;all the music
+of the spheres, soul-shaking, a thing of joy
+and reverence.... So I spoke but little.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But I say, old man,&rdquo; began Davidson presently,
+&ldquo;it&rsquo;s all right for a joke, but my word!
+it was an awfully big one, and an awfully risky
+one, too,&mdash;your stealing your own yacht from
+me! I didn&rsquo;t think it of you. You not only
+broke up my boat party&mdash;you see, Sally was
+going on down with us from Natchez&mdash;Miss
+Emory said she&rsquo;d be glad to have her come,
+and of course she and Mrs. Daniver made it
+proper, all right&mdash;I say, you not only busted
+that all up, but by not sending a fellow the
+least word of what you were going to do, you
+got those silly newspapers crazy, from New
+Orleans to New York&mdash;why, you&rsquo;re famous,
+that is, notorious! But so is Miss Emory,
+that&rsquo;s the worst of it. I don&rsquo;t just fancy she&rsquo;ll
+just fancy some of those pictures, or some of
+those stories. Least you can do now is to
+marry Helena and the old girl, too, right off!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In part, that is good advice,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I
+wish I could wear your clothes, Cal&mdash;but I
+remember now that Edouard and I can wear
+the same clothes, and have, many a time.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But I say, don&rsquo;t be so hoggish. There&rsquo;s
+other people in the world beside you&mdash;<em>you&rsquo;d</em> never
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg&nbsp;428]</a></span>
+have thought of making that river cruise, now
+would you?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nor you couldn&rsquo;t have got Helena aboard
+the boat if you had, now could you?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let alone the old girl, her revered aunt!&rdquo;
+He dug another thumb into his own pink
+striped waistcoat. &ldquo;She loves you a lot, I am
+not of the impression!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, I think she rather favored you!&rdquo; I replied
+gravely.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No chance! And I say, isn&rsquo;t Sally a humdinger?
+Just the sort for me&mdash;something doing
+every minute. And a fellow can always
+tell just what she&rsquo;s thinkin&rsquo;&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not right sure, Cal, whether that&rsquo;s safe
+to say of any woman,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;A ship on the
+sea, or a serpent on a rock has&mdash;to use your
+own quaint manner of speech, my friend&mdash;so
+to speak, nothing on the way of a maid with
+a man. But go on. I do congratulate you.
+Do you know, old man, I almost thought, once&mdash;a
+good while ago&mdash;that you were just a
+little&mdash;that is&mdash;<i>&eacute;pris</i> of Helena your own self?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Come again? &lsquo;Apree&rsquo;&mdash;what&rsquo;s that?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;Gone on her.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, not at all, not at all&mdash;not in the least!
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg&nbsp;429]</a></span>
+Why, I can&rsquo;t see what in the world&mdash;oh, well
+of course, you know, she&rsquo;s <em>fine</em>; but what I
+mean is, why&mdash;there was Sally, you know.
+Say, do you know why I wanted to get Sally
+away on that boat?&mdash;I was afraid you&rsquo;d cut in
+somewhere, run across her down at Mardi Gras,
+or something. And I just <em>figured</em>, once you
+got a girl on a boat that way, away from all
+the other fellows, you know, why even a plain
+chap like me would have a chance, do you see?
+And I say now, I&rsquo;ll own it up&mdash;I was right
+down <em>jealous</em> of <em>you</em>, too! Wasn&rsquo;t it silly? And
+I ask your pardon. You&rsquo;re an awfully good
+sort, Harry, though you&rsquo;re so d&mdash;&mdash;d serious&mdash;you
+get too much in earnest, take things too
+hard, you know. Will you shake hands with
+me, knowing what a fool I&rsquo;ve been? I say,
+you&rsquo;re the best chap in the world, old man&mdash;if
+only you were a little more <em>human</em> once in a
+while.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He put out his hand and I met it. &ldquo;Will
+you shake hands with me, Cal?&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;on
+precisely those same terms about having been
+an awful fool? It&rsquo;s you who are the best chap
+in the world. And I&rsquo;ll admit it&mdash;I was jealous
+of you!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He roared at this. &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;as
+George Cohan says, &lsquo;All&rsquo;s well that ends well&rsquo;,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg&nbsp;430]</a></span>
+and I guess we couldn&rsquo;t beat this for a championship
+year, now could we? Now say, about
+Dingleheimer&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, hang Dingleheimer, Cal!&rdquo; I exclaimed.
+&ldquo;What I want to know is, did you ever talk
+any to Miss Emory about&mdash;well, about me, you
+know?&mdash;say anything about my affairs, or anything,
+you know? I mean while you were
+there on the boat together.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No. She wouldn&rsquo;t let me. Besides, the
+truth is, I was so full of Sally all the time, I
+mostly talked about <em>her</em>. By Jove! that was a
+measly trick you played us, running off with
+the boat from under my nose! But I proposed
+to Sally in Natchez that night, and she came
+on down to the city the next day by rail&mdash;while
+<em>I</em> ran down in that dirty little scow you left
+behind. And I never tumbled for days that it
+was <em>you</em> had run off with the boat&mdash;though I
+found a photo of Helena and your cigarette
+case in the boat you left. Never tumbled till
+that story of the taxi driver came out. Then
+I said, &lsquo;Well, of all things! Wonder if that
+old stick has really come to life after all!&rsquo;
+And you sure had! What&rsquo;s in <em>your</em> letter?
+Say, ain&rsquo;t a boat the place&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But how did you happen to be here?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;ve known Ed Manning years, in New
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg&nbsp;431]</a></span>
+York, Paris, all around. He asked me to visit
+him some time. I wired and asked him if I
+could come out for our honeymoon&mdash;you know,
+Harry, I&rsquo;m such a d&mdash;&mdash;d romantic son of a
+gun, and once before I was out here at Ed&rsquo;s,
+and those d&mdash;&mdash;d nightingales, catbirds, what
+d&rsquo;ye call &rsquo;ems&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&mdash;Mockers.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, mockers, they sung so sweet, especial
+in the evenings, you know&mdash;and I&rsquo;m so d&mdash;&mdash;d
+romantic&mdash;<em>always</em> was thataway&mdash;and you
+know, why, a fellow <em>can</em> be romantic on his
+honeymoon, can&rsquo;t he?&mdash;he can just cut loose
+then an&rsquo; be as big a d&mdash;n fool as he likes
+then&mdash;an&rsquo; get away with it, what? Say, can&rsquo;t
+he?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;&ldquo;So that&rsquo;s why I came.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;&ldquo;But&mdash;honeymoon? Are you going to be
+married?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;&ldquo;Naw! I ain&rsquo;t goin&rsquo; to be married&mdash;I <em>am</em>
+married! Day before yesterday, in New Orleans.
+And I don&rsquo;t believe in dandlin&rsquo; an&rsquo; foolin&rsquo;
+around about a little thing like that. Ain&rsquo;t
+you married yet?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No. Impossible. No preacher on C&ocirc;te
+Blanche Bay or on our boat. I&rsquo;ve got Aunt
+Lucinda Daniver along, to take care of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg&nbsp;432]</a></span>
+proprieties. If I should leave it to her, I never
+would be married.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She thinks I&rsquo;m broke.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, too bad about that! I wish I could
+swap bank rolls with you. Why didn&rsquo;t you tell
+her the truth&mdash;and Helena, too? Why didn&rsquo;t
+you tell &rsquo;em it was your own yacht? Why
+didn&rsquo;t you tell &rsquo;em you&rsquo;re worth a few millions
+and don&rsquo;t have to work?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know&mdash;maybe I&rsquo;m like you, Cal,
+foolish about nightingales and things. But tell
+me&mdash;you never did tell them anything about
+that Sally M. mine business, did you?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, I should say not! Didn&rsquo;t you tell me
+you didn&rsquo;t want it to get out? It was bad
+enough, the way old Dan and your&mdash;sainted
+father handed it to each other over that mine,
+wasn&rsquo;t it? I know about it, for I promoted
+that mine myself, and the name&rsquo;ll prove that&mdash;Sally
+M. Byington, with the Byington left off!
+There wasn&rsquo;t a blasted thing in it then. But
+when you&mdash;like a blame quixotic fool&mdash;after
+she was good for six thousand a month velvet,
+and ore blocked out to last a thousand years&mdash;why,
+then you fool around in Papa&rsquo;s records,
+and think Papa wasn&rsquo;t on the square with old
+Dan. So on the quiet you get it all made over,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg&nbsp;433]</a></span>
+back to old Dan&rsquo;s daughter; and take a sneak
+into the hazelbrush when she turns you down!
+Say, you know what <em>I&rsquo;d</em> a-done?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;d a-held on to the mine and told the girl
+how much it was bringin&rsquo; in&mdash;that&rsquo;s <em>my</em> system.
+Then I&rsquo;d a-got the mine and the girl
+both, maybe!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;&ldquo;Maybe.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, that&rsquo;s the system I&rsquo;d a-played. I
+wouldn&rsquo;t a-took to the tall grass, me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;On the other hand, I played a system invented
+by myself and Henri L&rsquo;Olonnois.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I never heard of him. Well, anyhow, you
+were rich enough to afford to do what you
+liked. But as to keeping it secret, you can&rsquo;t
+do that any longer. Those newspaper fellows
+are the devil to get hold of things. Since all
+this stuff came out about you running away
+with your own boat&mdash;I can see now why you
+did it, and I&rsquo;m glad you did&mdash;why, your whole
+life history has been printed, including all that
+restitution business about the Sally M. Fellows
+came to me and asked me about you,
+asked if I knew you. Said, yes, I knew you&mdash;said
+you were a romantic chap, and a good
+business man, too&mdash;and the best old scout in
+the world&mdash;what?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg&nbsp;434]</a></span>
+I had arisen, and stood in some doubt.
+&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter&mdash;let&rsquo;s go on up to the
+house. I want to see Sally,&rdquo; he concluded.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And I want very much to see Helena,&rdquo;
+said I. &ldquo;Only, it&rsquo;s going to be rather harder
+now to meet her&mdash;and Mrs. Daniver.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said Cal Davidson;
+&ldquo;every fellow plays his own system. There&rsquo;s
+something in what you say about women having
+a good poker face so far as tellin&rsquo; what they
+think about a man is concerned&mdash;yes. Frinstance,
+how much did Helena know I knew, or
+know you knew or thought you knew&mdash;well,
+you get me? But the trouble with you is,
+you ain&rsquo;t romantic in your temperament like
+me.... But if I was you, I wouldn&rsquo;t be scared
+to tell Mrs. Daniver I had a dollar and a quarter
+or so left! It&rsquo;ll soften the blow some to
+her, maybe. And as for Helena&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And as for Helena, I can look her in the
+face, and she can me, now. And&mdash;will you
+telephone to New Iberia for a minister&mdash;at
+once&mdash;for this evening train? And will you
+tell Edouard to have his man lay out his best
+evening clothes for me&mdash;tell him I&rsquo;ll trade him
+these of my cook&rsquo;s for them&mdash;and a suit of
+traveling clothes? Because, oh! fellow varlet&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+(I paused here; we both did; for a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg&nbsp;435]</a></span>
+mocker just now broke into an extraordinary
+burst of song, so sweet, so throbbingly sweet,
+that we could not help but listen, both of us
+being lovers)....</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What were you saying, old man?&rdquo; Cal Davidson
+asked after a while, musingly, as one
+awakening.... &ldquo;Some bird, what?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>... &ldquo;Because, to-night,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;I am
+going to marry my fair captive, yon heartless
+jade, Helena. I&rsquo;ve loved her always, rich or
+poor, and she loves me, rich or poor. And we
+shall live happy ever after. And may God bless
+us, and all true lovers!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Amen!&rdquo; I heard some one say; and have
+often wondered whether it was yon varlet, the
+mocking-bird, or Cal Davidson himself, who
+spoke.... I looked around for Partial. He
+had followed Helena.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> (The words in Helena&rsquo;s note, addressed to Henry
+Francis Drake, Esquire, were, as I have said, but two:
+&ldquo;Yes&mdash;Now&rdquo;. That was why I was married that evening.
+It was curious about the wedding ring, for that I would
+not borrow; so an old negro blacksmith took a gold ring
+Edouard gave me, one found years ago by a Cajun
+treasure hunter in some one of the few successful hunts
+for the treasure of Jean Lafitte; and into this, in place of
+the gem long since missing, he clasped my pearl, the one
+we got on the river far in the north; the great pearl later
+known as the largest and most brilliant ever found in
+fresh water. It was I who named it the &ldquo;<i>Belle Hel&egrave;ne</i>&rdquo;.
+So that our ring pleased all but L&rsquo;Olonnois and Jean Lafitte.
+These two pirates had set at work that very afternoon,
+with &rsquo;Polyte (by Edouard&rsquo;s consent) and dug behind
+the smoke-house. Wonderful enough, they did find
+old bricks, enclosing a sort of hollow cavity, bricks of an
+ancient day; and though they got nothing else (&rsquo;Polyte
+said he knew who had beaten them to this treasure&mdash;it
+was Achilles Dufrayne of Calcasieu, curse him!) they
+both explained how easy it would be to deceive the fair
+captive into thinking we really had found the ring&rsquo;s setting
+as well as the ring itself, in a pirate treasure-box.
+I would not do that, on the ground that already I had
+deceived the fair captive quite enough.... But, though
+yon varlet, my friend dear old Cal Davidson, spoke rather
+freely about his honeymoon, and all that, I can not do so
+of mine with Helena.... I did not know that I could
+again be so happy. Often I have wished I were a romantic
+man, like dear old Cal.... I fear my book on
+the mosquitoes of North America never will be written
+now.&mdash;H. F. D.)</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="center" style="padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 3em; font-size: 120%;"><b>THE END</b></p>
+
+
+<div class="bbox">
+<p><b>Transcriber's Note</b></p>
+
+<p>Minor typographic errors in spelling and punctuation have been corrected
+without note.</p>
+
+<p>The Table of Contents has been made consistent with the chapter headers,
+as follows--"In Which I Have a Polite Conversation" amended to "In Which I
+Have Polite Conversation"; "In Which Is Certain Conversation" amended to "In
+Which Is Certain Polite Conversation".</p>
+
+<p>This book contains some archaic spelling, and some dialect; this is all
+reproduced here as in the original.</p>
+
+<p>Illustrations have been moved slightly so that they are not in the middle
+of a paragraph. The frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow
+the title page.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Lady and the Pirate, by Emerson Hough
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lady and the Pirate, by Emerson Hough
+
+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: The Lady and the Pirate
+       Being the Plain Tale of a Diligent Pirate and a Fair Captive
+
+Author: Emerson Hough
+
+Illustrator: Harry A. Mathes
+
+Release Date: March 24, 2008 [EBook #24907]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LADY AND THE PIRATE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Sam W. and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+              THE LADY AND THE
+                   PIRATE
+
+  _Being the Plain Tale of a Diligent Pirate
+             and a Fair Captive_
+
+
+                    _By_
+
+               EMERSON HOUGH
+
+                _Author of_
+   THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE, 54-40 OR FIGHT
+     THE PURCHASE PRICE, JOHN RAWN, ETC.
+
+
+               ILLUSTRATED BY
+               HARRY A. MATHES
+
+
+                INDIANAPOLIS
+         THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
+                 PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+    [Illustration: Thus the heartless jade stood, unable to
+    meet my eagle eye]
+
+
+
+
+COPYRIGHT 1913
+EMERSON HOUGH
+
+
+PRESS OF
+BRAUNWORTH & CO.
+BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS
+BROOKLYN, N. Y.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
+
+        I IN WHICH I AM A CAITIFF                                    1
+
+       II IN WHICH I HOLD A PARLEY                                   6
+
+      III IN WHICH I AM A CAPTIVE                                   14
+
+       IV IN WHICH I AM A PIRATE                                    23
+
+        V IN WHICH WE SAIL FOR THE SPANISH MAIN                     34
+
+       VI IN WHICH I ACQUIRE A FRIEND                               44
+
+      VII IN WHICH I ACHIEVE A NAME                                 52
+
+     VIII IN WHICH WE HAVE AN ADVENTURE                             60
+
+       IX IN WHICH WE TAKE MUCH TREASURE                            75
+
+        X IN WHICH I SHOW MY TRUE COLORS                            90
+
+       XI IN WHICH MY PLOT THICKENS                                 97
+
+      XII IN WHICH WE CLOSE WITH THE ENEMY                         102
+
+     XIII IN WHICH WE BOARD THE ENEMY                              110
+
+      XIV IN WHICH IS ABOUNDING TROUBLE                            122
+
+       XV IN WHICH IS CONVERSATION WITH THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN         131
+
+      XVI IN WHICH IS FURTHER PARLEY WITH THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN       143
+
+     XVII IN WHICH IS HUE AND CRY                                  154
+
+    XVIII IN WHICH IS DISCUSSION OF TWO AUNTIES                    158
+
+      XIX IN WHICH I ESTABLISH A MODUS VIVENDI                     166
+
+       XX IN WHICH I HAVE POLITE CONVERSATION, BUT LITTLE
+              ELSE                                                 175
+
+      XXI IN WHICH WE MAKE A RUN FOR IT                            184
+
+     XXII IN WHICH I WALK AND TALK WITH HELENA                     192
+
+    XXIII IN WHICH IS A PRETTY KETTLE OF FISH                      205
+
+     XXIV IN WHICH WE HAVE A SENSATION                             213
+
+      XXV IN WHICH WE MEET THE OTHER MAN, ALSO ANOTHER WOMAN       224
+
+     XXVI IN WHICH WE BURN ALL BRIDGES                             244
+
+    XXVII IN WHICH WE REACH THE SPANISH MAIN                       258
+
+   XXVIII IN WHICH IS CERTAIN POLITE CONVERSATION                  267
+
+     XXIX IN WHICH IS SHIPWRECK                                    285
+
+      XXX IN WHICH IS SHIPWRECK OF OTHER SORT                      299
+
+     XXXI IN WHICH WE TAKE TO THE BOATS                            312
+
+    XXXII IN WHICH I RESCUE THE COOK                               324
+
+   XXXIII IN WHICH WE ARE CASTAWAYS                                333
+
+    XXXIV IN WHICH IS NO RAPPROCHEMENT WITH THE FAIR CAPTIVE       349
+
+     XXXV IN WHICH I FIND TWO ESTIMABLE FRIENDS, BUT LOSE
+              ONE BELOVED                                          357
+
+    XXXVI IN WHICH WE FOLD OUR TENTS                               375
+
+   XXXVII IN WHICH IS PHILOSOPHY; WHICH, HOWEVER, SHOULD NOT
+              BE SKIPPED                                           384
+
+  XXXVIII IN WHICH IS AN ARMISTICE WITH FATE                       395
+
+    XXXIX IN WHICH ARE SEALED ORDERS                               400
+
+       XL IN WHICH LAND SHOWS IN THE OFFING                        414
+
+      XLI IN WHICH IS MUCH ROMANCE, AND SOME TREASURE, ALSO
+              VERY MUCH HAPPINESS                                  426
+
+
+
+
+THE LADY AND THE PIRATE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+IN WHICH I AM A CAITIFF
+
+
+I was sitting at one of my favorite spots engaged in looking through
+my fly-book for some lure that might, perhaps, mend my luck in the
+afternoon's fishing. At least, I had within the moment been so
+engaged; although the truth is that the evening was so exceptionally
+fine, and the spot always so extraordinarily attractive to me--this
+particular angle of the stream, where the tall birches stand, being to
+my mind the most beautiful bit on my whole estate--that I had
+forgotten all about angling and was sitting with rod laid by upon the
+bank, the fly-book scarce noted in my hand. Moreover, a peculiarly
+fine specimen of Anopheles, (as I took it to be) was at that very
+moment hovering over my hand, and I was anxious to confirm my judgment
+as well as to enlarge my collection of mosquitoes. I had my other hand
+in a pocket feeling for the little phial in which I purposed to
+enclose Anopheles, if I could coax him to alight. Indeed, I say, I
+was at that very moment as happy as a man need be; or, at least, as
+happy as I ever expected to be. Imagine my surprise, therefore, at
+that moment to hear a voice, apparently intended for me, exclaim,
+"Halt! Caitiff!"
+
+I looked up, more annoyed than displeased or startled. It is not often
+one sees so fine a specimen of Anopheles; and one could have sworn
+that, but for my slight involuntary movement of the hand, he must have
+settled; after which--_crede experto!_--he would have been the same as
+in my phial, and doomed to the chloroform within the next hour.
+Besides, no matter who one may be or how engaged, it is not wholly
+seemly to be accosted as a caitiff, when one is on one's own land,
+offending no man on earth, owing no debt and paying no tribute,
+feudal, commercial, military or personal, to any man on earth.
+
+The situation seemed to me singular. Had the time been some centuries
+earlier, the place somewhere in the old world, such speech might have
+had better fitting. But the time was less than a year ago, the place
+was in America. I was on my own lands, in this one of our middle
+states. This was my own river; or at least, I owned the broad acres on
+both sides of it for some miles. And I was a man of no slinking habit,
+no repulsive mien, of that I was assured, but a successful American
+of means; lately a professional man and now a man of leisure, and not
+so far past thirty years of age. My fly-rod was the best that money
+can buy, and the pages of the adjacent book were handsomely stocked by
+the best makers of this country and each of the three divisions of
+Great Britain; in each of which--as well as in Norway, Germany, or for
+the matter of that, India, New Zealand, Alaska, Japan or other
+lands--I had more than once wet a line. My garb was not of leather
+jerkin, my buskins not of thonged straw, but on the contrary I was
+turned out in good tweeds, well cut by my London tailor. To be called
+offhand, and with no more reason than there was provocation, a
+"caitiff," even by a voice somewhat treble and a trifle trembling,
+left me every reason in the world to be surprised, annoyed and
+grieved. For now Anopheles had flown away; and had I not been thus
+startled, I should certainly have had him. Yet more, no fish would
+rise in that pool the rest of that evening, for no trout in my little
+stream thereabout ever had seen a boat or been frightened by the plash
+of an oar since the time, three years back, when I had bought the
+place.
+
+I looked up. Just at the bend, arrested now by hand anchorage to the
+overhanging alders, lay a small boat, occupied by two boys, neither
+of more than fourteen years, the younger seemingly not more than
+twelve. It was the latter who was clinging with one hand to the
+drooping bushes. His companion, apparently the leader in their present
+enterprise, was half crouching in the bow of the boat and he,
+evidently, was the one who had accosted me.
+
+A second glance gave me even more surprise, for it showed that the
+boat, though not precisely long, low and rakish of build, evidently
+was of piratical intent. At least she was piratical in decoration. On
+each side of her bow there was painted--and the evening sun, shining
+through my larches, showed the paint still fresh--in more or less
+accurate design in black, the emblem of a skull and cross-bones. Above
+her, supported by a short staff, perhaps cut from my own willows, flew
+a black flag, and whatever may have been her stern-chaser equipment,
+her broadside batteries, or her deck carronades--none of which I could
+well make out, as her hull lay half concealed among the alders--her
+bow-chaser was certainly in commission and manned for action. The
+pirate captain, himself, was at the lanyard; and I perceived that he
+now rested an extraordinarily large six-shooter in the fork of a short
+staff, which was fixed in the bow. Along this, with a three-cornered
+gray eye, he now sighted at the lower button of my waistcoat, and in a
+fashion that gave me goose-flesh underneath the button, in spite of
+all my mingled emotions. Had I not "halted," as ordered, to the extent
+of sitting on quietly as I was, he no doubt would have pulled the
+lanyard, with consequences such as I do not care to contemplate, and
+mayhap to the effect that this somewhat singular story would never
+have been written.
+
+"Halt, Sirrah!" began the pirate leader again, "or I will blow you out
+of the water!"
+
+I sat for a moment regarding him, my chin in my hand.
+
+"No," said I at last; "I already am out of the water, my friend. But,
+prithee, have a care of yonder lanyard, else, gadzooks! you may belike
+blow me off the bank and into the water."
+
+This speech of mine seemed as much to disconcert the pirate chieftain
+as had his me. He stood erect, shifting his Long Tom, to the great
+ease of my waistcoat button.
+
+"Won't you heave to, and put off a small boat for a parley?" I
+inquired.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+IN WHICH I HOLD A PARLEY
+
+
+The two pirates turned to each other for consultation, irresolute, but
+evidently impressed by the fact that their prize did not purpose to
+hoist sail and make a run for it.
+
+"What ho! mates?" demanded the captain, in as gruff a voice as he
+could compass: "Ye've heard his speech, and he has struck his flag."
+
+"Suppose the villain plays us false," rejoined the "mates" or rather,
+the mate, in a voice so high or quavering that for a moment it was
+difficult for me to repress a smile; although these three years past I
+rarely had smiled at all.
+
+The captain turned to one side, so that now I could see both him and
+his crew. The leader was as fine a specimen of boy as you could have
+asked, sturdy of bare legs, brown of face, red of hair, ragged and
+tumbled of garb. His crew was active though slightly less robust, a
+fair-haired, light-skinned chap, blue-eyed, and somewhat better clad
+than his companion. There was something winning about his face. At a
+glance I knew his soul. He was a dreamer, an idealist, an artist, in
+the bud. My heart leaped out to him instinctively in a great impulse
+of sympathy and understanding. Indeed, suddenly, I felt the blood
+tingle through my hair. I looked upon life as I had not these three
+years. The imagination of Youth, the glamour of Adventure, lay here
+before me; things I cruelly had missed these last few years, it seemed
+to me.
+
+"How, now, shipmates?" I remarked mildly. "Wouldst doubt the faith of
+one who himself hath flown the Jolly Rover? Cease your fears and come
+aboard--that is to say, come ashore."
+
+"Git out, Jimmy," I heard the captain say in a low voice, after a
+moment of indecision. "Keep him covered till I tie her up."
+
+Jimmy, the fair-haired pirate, hauled in on the alders and flung a
+grappling iron aboard my bank, which presently he ascended. As he
+stood free from the screening fringe of bushes, I saw that he was
+slender, and not very tall, one not wholly suited by nature to his
+stern calling. His once white jacket now was soiled, and one leg of
+his knickers was loose, from his scramble up the bank. He was belted
+beyond all earl-like need; wore indeed two belts, which supported two
+long hunting knives and a Malay kris, such as we now get from the
+Philippines; as well as a revolver large beyond all proportion to his
+own size. A second revolver of like dimensions now trembled in his
+hand, and even though its direction toward me was no more than
+general, I resumed the goose-flesh underneath my waistcoat, for no man
+could tell what might happen. In none of my works with dangerous big
+game have I felt a similar uneasiness; no, nor even in the little
+affair in China where the Boxers held us up, did I ever really
+consider the issue more in doubt. It pleased me, however, to make no
+movement of offense or defense; and luckily the revolver was not
+discharged.
+
+When the two had topped the bank, and had approached me--taking cover
+behind trees in a way which made me suspect Boy Scout training,
+mingled with bandit literature--to a point where we could see each
+other's features plainly, I moved over to one side of my bank, and
+motioned them to approach.
+
+"Come alongside, brothers," said I, pushing my fly-rod to one side;
+"make fast and come aboard. And tell me, what cheer?"
+
+They drew up to me, stern of mien, bold of bearing, dauntless of
+purpose. At least, so I was convinced, each wished and imagined
+himself to seem; and since they wished so to be seen thus, seized by
+some sudden whim, I resolved to see them. How I envied them! Theirs
+all the splendor of youth, of daring, of adventure, of romance;
+things gone by from me, or for the most part, never known.
+
+Frowning sternly, they seated themselves reluctantly on the grassy
+bank beside me, and gazed out in the dignity of an imagined manhood
+across my river, which now was lighted bravely by the retiring sun.
+Had I not felt with them, longed with them, they could never so
+splendidly have maintained their pretense. But between us, there in
+the evening on my stream with only the birds and the sun to see, it
+was not pretense. Upon the contrary, all cloaks were off, all masks
+removed, and we were face to face in the strong light of reality. As
+clearly as though I always had known them, I saw into the hearts of
+these; and what I saw made my own heart ache and yearn for something
+it had ever missed.
+
+"What cheer, comrades?" I repeated at length. "Whither away, and upon
+what errand?"
+
+Now a strange thing happened, which I do not explain, for that I can
+not. In plain fact, these two were obviously runaway boys, not the
+first, nor perhaps the last of runaway boys; and I was a man of means,
+a retired man, supposedly somewhat of a hermit, although really
+nothing of the sort; lately a lawyer, hard-headed and disillusioned,
+always a man of calm reason, as I prided myself; subject to no
+fancies, a student and a lover of science, a mocker at all
+superstition and all weak-mindedness. (Pardon me, that I must say all
+these things of myself.) Yet, let me be believed who say it, some
+spell, whether of this presence of Youth, whether of the evening and
+the sun, or whether of the inner and struggling soul of Man, so fell
+upon us all then and there, that we were not man and boys, but bold
+adventurers, all three of like kidney! This was not a modern land that
+lay about us. Yonder was not the copse beyond the birches, where my
+woodcock sometimes found cover. This was not my trout-stream. Those
+yonder were not my elms and larches moving in the evening air. No,
+before us lay the picture of the rolling deep, its long green swells
+breaking high in white spindrift. The keen wind of other days sounded
+in our ears, and yonder pressed the galleons of Spain! Youth, Youth
+and Adventure, were ours.
+
+We smiled not at all, therefore, as, with some thoughtful effort, it
+is true, we held to fitting manner of speech. "We seek for treasure,"
+piped the thin voice of him I had heard called Jimmy. "Let none dare
+lift hand against us!"
+
+"And whither away, my hearties?"
+
+"Spang! to the Spanish Main." This also from the blue-eyed boy; who,
+now, with some difficulty, managed to let down the hammer of his
+six-shooter without damage to himself or others.
+
+"We didn't know but youse would try to stop us," exclaimed the
+red-haired leader. "We come around the bend and seen you settin'
+there; an' we was resolved--to--to----"
+
+"To sell our lives dearly!" supplemented Jimmy. "He who would seek to
+stop us does so at his peril." And Jimmy made so fell a movement
+toward his side-arms that I hastened to restrain him.
+
+"Yes," said I; "you are quite right, my hearties."
+
+"But, gee!" ventured the red-haired pirate, "what was you thinkin'
+about?"
+
+"You ask me to tell truth, good Sire," I made reply, "and I shall do
+no less. At the very moment you trained your bow-chaser on me, I was
+thinking of two things."
+
+"Speak on, caitiff!" demanded Jimmy fiercely.
+
+"Nay, call me not so, good Sir," I rejoined, "for such, in good-sooth,
+I am not, but honest faithful man. Ye have but now asked what I
+pondered, and I fain would speak truth, an' it please ye, my
+hearties."
+
+"What's he givin' us, Jimmy?" whispered the pirate captain dubiously,
+aside.
+
+"Speak on!" again commanded he of the blue eyes. "But your life blood
+dyes the deck if you seek to deceive Jean Lafitte, or Henry
+L'Olonnois!"
+
+(So then, thought I, at last I knew their names.)
+
+In reply I reached to my belt and drew out quickly--so quickly that
+they both flinched away--the long handled knife which, usually, I
+carried with me for cutting down alders or other growth which
+sometimes entangled my flies as I fished along the stream. "Listen,"
+said I, "I swear the pirates' oath. On the point of my blade," and I
+touched it with my right forefinger, "I swear that I pondered on two
+things when you surprised me."
+
+"Name them!" demanded Jimmy L'Olonnois fiercely.
+
+"First, then," I answered, "I was wondering what I could use as a cork
+to my phial, when once I had yonder Anopheles in it----"
+
+"Who's he?" demanded Jean Lafitte.
+
+"Anopheles? A friend of mine," I replied; "a mosquito, in short."
+
+"Jimmy, he's crazy!" ejaculated Jean Lafitte uneasily.
+
+"Say on, caitiff!" commanded L'Olonnois, ignoring him; "what else?"
+
+"In the second place," said I--and again I placed my right forefinger
+on the point of my blade, "I was thinking of Helena."
+
+"Is she your little girl," hesitatingly inquired Jimmy L'Olonnois, for
+the instant forgetting his part.
+
+"No," said I sadly, "she is not my little girl."
+
+"Where is she?" vaguely.
+
+"Regarding the whereabouts of either Anopheles or Helena, at this
+moment," said I still sadly, "I am indeed all at sea, as any good
+pirate should be."
+
+I tried to jest, but fared ill at it. I felt my face flush at hearing
+her name spoken aloud. And sadly true was it that, on that afternoon
+and many another, I had found myself, time and again, adream with
+Helena's face before me. I saw it now--a face I had not seen these
+three years, since the time when first I had come hither with the
+purpose of forgetting.
+
+Jimmy was back in his part again, and doing nobly. "Ha!" said he. "So,
+fellow, pondering on a fair one, didst not hear the approach of our
+good ship, the _Sea Rover_?"
+
+"In good sooth, I did not," I answered; "and as for these other
+matters, I swear on my blade's point I have spoken the truth."
+
+Our conversation languished for the moment. Illusion lay in the
+balance. The old melancholy impended above me ominously.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+IN WHICH I AM A CAPTIVE
+
+
+"What ho! Jean Lafitte," said I at length, rousing myself from the old
+habit of reverie, of which I had chiefest dread; "and you, Henri
+L'Olonnois, scourges of the main, both of you, listen! I have a plan
+to put before you, my hearties."
+
+"Say on, Sirrah!" rejoined the younger pirate, so promptly and so
+gravely that again I had much to do to refrain from sudden mirth.
+
+"Why then, look ye," I continued. "The sun is sinking beneath the
+wave, and the good ship rides steady at her anchor. Meantime men must
+eat! and yonder castle amid the forest offers booty. What say ye if we
+pass within the wood, and see what we may find of worth to souls bold
+as ours?"
+
+"'Tis well!" answered L'Olonnois; and I could see assent in Lafitte's
+eyes. In truth I could discover no great preparations for a long
+voyage in the open hold of the _Sea Rover_, and doubted not that both
+captain and crew by this time were hungry. Odd crumbs of crackers and
+an empty sardine can might be all very well at the edge of the
+village of Pausaukee (I judged they could have come no greater
+distance, some twelve or fifteen miles); but they do not serve for so
+long a journey as lies between Pausaukee and the Spanish Main.
+
+They rose as I did, and we passed beyond the clump of tall birches,
+along the edge of my mowing meadow, and through the gate which closes
+my woodland path--to me the loveliest of all wood-trails, so gentle
+and so silent is it always, and so fringed, seasonably, with ferns and
+flowers. Thus, presently, we saw the blue smoke rising above my lodge,
+betokening to me that my Japanese factotum, Hiroshimi, now had my
+dinner under way.
+
+To me, it was my customary abode, my home these three years; but they
+beside me saw not the rambling expanse of my leisurely log mansion.
+They noted not the overhanging gables, the lattices of native wood. To
+them, yonder lay a castle in a foreign land. Here was moat and wall,
+then a portcullis, and gratings warded these narrow portals against
+fire of musketoon. My pet swallows' nest, demure above my door, to
+them offered the aspect of a culverin's mouth; and, as now, I made my
+customary approach-call, by which I heralded my return from any
+excursion on the stream of an evening, I could swear these invaders
+looked for naught less than a swarm of archers springing to the
+walls, and the hoarse answer of my men-at-arms back of each guarded
+portal. Such is the power of youthful dreaming, such the residuary
+heritage of days of high emprise, when life was full of blood and wine
+and love, and savored not so wholly of dull commonplace!
+
+But indeed, (or so I presume; for at the moment my own imagination
+swept on with theirs) none manned the walls or rattled the chains of
+gate and bridge. The saffron Hiroshimi opened the screen door before
+us, showing no surprise or interest in my strange companions. Thus we
+made easy conquest of our castle. As we entered, there lay before us,
+lighted softly by the subdued twilight which filtered through the
+surrounding grove, the interior of that home which in three years I
+had learned much to love, lonely as it was. Here I now dwelt most of
+the time, leaving behind me, as though shut off by a closed door, the
+busy scenes of an active and successful life. (I presume I may fairly
+speak thus of myself, since there is no one else to speak.)
+
+My pirate companions, suddenly grown shy, stood silent for a moment,
+for the time rather at a loss to carry on the play which had been
+easier in the open. I heard Jimmy draw a long breath. He was first to
+remove his hat. But his companion was quicker to regain his poise,
+although for a moment he forgot his pirate speech. "Gee!" said he.
+"Ain't this great!"
+
+I doubt if any praise I ever heard in my life pleased me more than
+this frank comment; no, not even the kind word and hand-clasp of old
+Judge Henderson, what time I won my first cause at law. For this that
+lay about me was what I had chosen for my life to-day. I had preferred
+this to the career into which my father's restless ambition had
+plunged me almost as soon as I had emerged from my college and my
+law-school--a career which my own restless ambition had found
+sufficient until that final break with Helena Emory, which occurred
+soon after the time when my father died; when the news went out that
+I, his heir, was left with but a shrunken fortune, and with many debts
+to pay; news which I, myself, had promulgated for reasons of my own.
+After that, called foolish by all my friends, lamented by members of
+my family, forgotten, as I fancy, by most who knew me, I had retired
+to this lodge in the wilderness. Here, grown suddenly resentful of a
+life hitherto wasted in money-getting alone, I had resolved to spend
+the remainder of my days, as beseemed a student and a philosopher.
+Having read Weininger and other philosophers, I was convinced that
+woman was the lowest and most unworthy thing in the scale of created
+things, a thing quite beneath the attention of a thinking man.
+
+I have said that I was scarce beyond thirty years of age. Even so, I
+found myself already old; and like any true philosopher, I resolved to
+make myself young. As hitherto I had had no boyhood, I determined to
+achieve a boyhood for myself. Studying myself, I discovered that I had
+rarely smiled; so I resolved to find somewhat to make me smile. The
+great realm of knowledge, widest and sweetest of all empires for a
+man, lay before me alluringly when I entered upon my business career;
+and so interested was I in my business and my books that only by
+chance had I met the woman who drove me out of both. A boy I had never
+been; nay, nor even a youth. I had always been old. True, like others
+of my station, I had owned my auto cars, my matched teams--owned them
+now, indeed--but I had never owned a dog. So, when I came hither with
+ample leisure, perhaps my chief ambition was a deliberate purpose to
+encompass my deferred boyhood. Thus I had built this house of logs
+which now--with a surprised and gratifying throb of my heart I learned
+it--appealed to the souls of real boys. It was the castle where I
+dreamed; and now it was the palace of their dreams also. I felt, at
+least, that I had succeeded. My heart throbbed in a new way, very
+foolish, yet for some reason suddenly enjoyable.
+
+My house was all of logs and had no decorations of paint or tapestry
+within. Its only arras was of the skins of wild beasts--of the African
+lion and leopard, the zebra, many antelopes. The walls were hung with
+mounted heads--those of the moose, the elk, the bighorn, most of the
+main trophies of my own land and to these, through my foreign hunting,
+I had added heads of all the great trophies of Africa and Asia as
+well. A splendid pair of elephant tusks stood in a corner. A fine head
+of the sheep of Tibet, _ovus poli_--and I prize none of my trophies
+more, unless it be the fine robe of the Chinese mountain tiger--looked
+full front at us from above the fireplace. My rod racks, and those
+which supported my guns and rifles, were here and there about the
+room. The whole gave a jaunty atmosphere to my home. I had gone
+soberly about the business of sport; and in these days, that can be
+practised most successfully by a man with much leisure and unstinted
+means.
+
+My books lay about everywhere, also, books which perhaps would not
+have appealed to all. My copies of the Vedas, many works on the
+Buddhist faith, and translations from Confucius, lay side by side
+with that Bible which we Christians have almost forgot. Here, too,
+stood my desk with its cases of preserved mosquitoes--for this year I
+was studying mosquitoes as an amusement. I had collected all the
+mosquito literature of the world, and my books, in French, German and
+English, lay near my great microscope. I had passed many happy hours
+here in the oblivion of mental concentration, always a delight with
+me, now grown almost a necessity if I were to escape the worst of all
+habits, that of introspection and self-pity.
+
+My piano and my violins also were in full sight; for the world of
+music, as well as the world of sport and youth, I was deliberately
+opening for myself, also in exchange for that closed world of affairs
+which I had abandoned. Indeed, all manners of the impedimenta of a
+well-to-do Japanese-cared-for bachelor were in evidence. To me, each
+object was familiar and was cherished. I had never felt need to
+apologize to any gentleman for my quarters or their contents--or to
+any woman, for no woman had ever seen my home. I may admit that,
+contrary to the belief of some, I was a rich man, far richer that I
+had need or care to be; and since it was not due to my own ability
+altogether nor in response to any real ambition of my own, I know I
+will be pardoned for simply stating the truth. My one great ambition
+in life was to forget; but if that might be best obtained in sport, in
+study, or amid the gentle evidences of good living, so much the
+better. Many men had called my father, stern and masterful man that he
+was, a robber, a thief, a pirate--in great part, I suspect, in envy
+that they themselves had not attained a like stature in similar
+achievement. But no one had ever called his son a pirate--until now!
+It made me oddly happy.
+
+I ought to have been happy here all these years, able to do precisely
+what I liked; but sometimes I felt myself strangely alone in the
+world. I was always silent and apparently cold--though really, let me
+whisper--only shy. Sometimes, even here, I found myself a trifle sad.
+It is difficult to be a boy when one starts at thirty; especially
+difficult if one has always been rather old and staid.
+
+I tell all these things to explain that keen pleasure, that swift
+exultation, that rush of the blood to my cheeks, which I felt when I
+saw that my house and my way of life met the approval of real boys.
+Pirates, too!
+
+Swift, therefore, fell once more the magic curtain of romance. I heard
+a strange voice, my own voice, saying: "Enter then, my bold mates, and
+let us explore this castle which we have conquered." Yes, illusion
+floated in through the windows on the pale light of the evening. This
+was a castle we had taken; and the detail that I chanced to own it was
+neither here nor there.
+
+"Prisoner," began L'Olonnois sternly--he was usually spokesman, if not
+always leader--"Prisoner, your life is spared for the time. Lead on!
+Attempt to play us false, and your blood shall be spilled upon the
+deck!"
+
+"It shall be so," I answered. "And if I do not give you the best meal
+you have had to-day, then indeed let my life's blood stain the deck."
+
+So saying, I nodded to Hiroshimi to serve the dinner.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+IN WHICH I AM A PIRATE
+
+
+With my own hands I have trained that prize, Hiroshimi, to cook and to
+serve; but only Providence could give Hiroshimi his super-humanly
+disinterested calm. He fitted perfectly into the picture of our dream.
+'Twas no ordinary log house in which we sat, indeed no house at all.
+Beneath us rose and fell a stanch vessel, responsive to the long lift
+of the southern seas. It was not a rustle of the leaves we heard
+through the open windows, but the low ripple of waves along our
+strakes came to our ears through the open ports. Hiroshimi did not
+depart to the kitchen; but high aloft our lookout swept the sea for
+sail that might offer us a prize.
+
+If any say that this manner of illusion may not exist between two boys
+and a man, I answer that we did not thus classify it. By the new
+pleasure in my soul, by the new blood in my cheek, I swear we were
+three boys together, and all in quest of adventure.
+
+True, at times our speech smacked less of nautical and piratical
+phrase, at times, indeed, halted. It is difficult for a
+twelve-year-old pirate, exceeding hungry, to ask for a third helping
+of grilled chicken in a voice at once stern and ingratiating.
+Moreover, it is difficult for a discreet and law-abiding citizen, with
+a full sense of duty, deliberately to aid and abet two youthful
+runaways. But whenever illusion wavered, L'Olonnois saved the day by
+resuming his stern scowl, even above a chicken-bone. His facility in
+rolling speech I discovered to be, in part, attributable to a volume
+which I saw protruding from his pocket. At my request he passed it to
+me, and I saw its title; _The Pirate's Own Book_. I knew it well.
+Indeed, I now arose, and passing to my bookshelves, drew down a
+duplicate copy of that rare volume, recounting the deeds of the old
+buccaneers. The eyes of L'Olonnois widened as I laid the two side by
+side.
+
+"You've got it, too!" he exclaimed.
+
+I nodded.
+
+"That explains it," said Jean Lafitte.
+
+"Explains what?"
+
+"Why, how you--why now--how you could be a pirate, too, just as
+natural as us."
+
+"I have read it many a time," said I.
+
+"Wasn't you never a pirate?" asked Jean Lafitte.
+
+"No," said I, smiling, "although many have said my father was. He was
+very rich."
+
+"Well, you can talk just like us," said Jean Lafitte admiringly, "even
+if you have lost all."
+
+"Of course," said I exultingly. "Why not? I think as you do. As much
+as you I am disgusted with the dulness of life. I, too, wish to seek
+my fortune. Well then, why not, John Saunders? Why not, James
+Henderson?"
+
+Ah, now indeed illusion halted! Both boys, abashed, fell back in their
+chairs. "How did you know our names?" asked the older of the two at
+length.
+
+"Nay, fear not," said I. "I do but seek to prove my fitness to join
+the jolly brotherhood, good mates."
+
+"Aw, honest!" rejoined Jimmy; "you got to tell us how you knew."
+
+"Well, then, let me go on. In your book, here, I saw your father's
+name, Jimmy. I know your father. He is Judge Willard Henderson of the
+Appellate Court in the city. I was admitted to the bar under him. He
+has a summer place at the lake above here, as I know, although I have
+never visited him there. I know your mother, too, Jimmy,--so well I
+should not like to cause her even a moment's uneasiness about you."
+
+"Do you know my auntie, Helena Emory?" demanded Jimmy suddenly. I felt
+the blood surge into my face.
+
+"Don't misunderstand me," I rejoined, "I only have some gift of the
+second sight, as I shall now prove to you. For instance, Jean Lafitte,
+I know your earlier name was John Saunders, although I never saw or
+heard of you before."
+
+"Well, now, how'd you know that?" demanded the elder boy.
+
+"I did not promise to tell the secrets of my art," I smiled. I did not
+tell him that I had seen the name of Saunders on the tag of a shirt
+somewhat soiled.
+
+"Your father's name was John before you," I added at a venture. He
+assented, half-frightened, although I had only guessed at this,
+supposing John Saunders to be a somewhat continuous family name in a
+family of auburn Highlanders.
+
+"He sells farm stuff at the hotel above," I ventured. And again my
+guess was truth.
+
+"You take the wagon there, sometimes, with vegetables and milk and
+eggs; and so you met Jimmy, here, and you went fishing together; and
+he told you stories out of his book. I fear, John, that your father
+licks you because you go fishing on Sunday. That was why you resolved
+to run away. You led Jimmy into that with you. Yesterday you took a
+boat from the lake near the hotel, and you painted her up and rigged
+her for a pirate ship. You rowed across the lake to the marsh where
+the little stream makes out--my trout-stream here. You followed that
+stream down, with no more trouble than ducking under a wire fence
+once in a while, until you came to my land, and until you saw me. You
+were afraid I might tell on you; and besides, you were pirates now;
+and so you took me prisoner. Marry, good Sirs, 'tis not the first time
+a prisoner has joined a pirate band!"
+
+"That's wonderful!" gasped Jean T. Lafitte Saunders. "And you say you
+have never been up to our lake!"
+
+"No," said I, "but I have a map, and I know my river heads in your
+lake, and that very probably it runs out of the low marshy side.
+Besides, being a boy myself, I know precisely what boys would do. Tell
+me, do you think I would betray two of the brotherhood?"
+
+"You won't give us away?" The elder pirate's face was eager.
+
+"On the contrary, I'll see that you don't get into any trouble."
+
+"That's a good scout!" ejaculated he fervently, his freckled face
+flushing.
+
+"We wasn't--that is, we hadn't--well, you see?" began Jimmy. "Maybe
+we'd just have camped down here and gone back to-morrow. I was afraid
+about taking the boat. Besides, I've only got about six dollars,
+anyhow." He spread his wealth out upon the table before me frankly.
+
+"Have no fear," said I. "To-night I shall write a few letters that
+will clear up every trouble back home, and allow us to continue our
+journey to the Spanish Main."
+
+"Oh, will you?" cried Jimmy, much relieved. "That'll be a good scout,"
+he added.
+
+Suddenly I found myself smiling at him, I who had smiled so rarely
+these years, whether in the Selkirks or the Himalayas, in Uganda or
+here in my own little wilderness--because Helena had left me so sad.
+
+"But if I promise, you, also, must promise in turn."
+
+Used as I was, already, to the astounding changes in Jimmy from boy to
+buccaneer and back again, I was now interested at the fell scowl which
+he summoned to his features, as soon as he felt relieved as to the
+domestic situation. "Speak, fellow!" he demanded; and folding his
+arms, presented so threatening a front that I saw my man Hiroshimi
+covertly lay hold upon a carving knife.
+
+"Why, then, my hearties," said I, "'tis thus. I'll sign on as
+sea-lawyer and scrivener, as well as purser for the ship. Yes, I'll
+sign articles and voyage with you for a week or a month, or two
+months, or three. I'll provender the ship and pay all bills of libel
+or demurrage in any port of call; and by my fateful gift of second
+sight, which ye have seen well proven here to-night, not only will I
+see ye safe for what ye already have done, but will keep ye safe
+against any enemy we may meet, be he whom he may!"
+
+"'Tis well," said L'Olonnois. "Say on!"
+
+"And in return I ask a boon."
+
+"Name it, fellow!"
+
+"Already I have named it--that I, too, shall be accepted as one of the
+brotherhood. Oh, listen"--I broke out impulsively--"I have never been
+a pirate, and I have never been a boy. I have had everything in the
+world I wanted and it made me awfully lonesome, because when you have
+everything you have nothing. I have nothing to do but eat and sleep,
+and hunt and fish, and read and write, and study and think, and play
+my music, here. I do not want to do these things any more. Especially
+I do not want to think. Boys do not think, and I want to be a boy. I
+want to be a pirate with you. I want to seek my fortune with you."
+
+We sat silent, almost solemn for a moment, so sincere was my speech
+and so startling to them. But thanks to L'Olonnois and his saving
+book, illusion came to us once more in time.
+
+"Will ye be good brother and true pirate?" demanded L'Olonnois. "And
+will ye take the oath of blood?"
+
+"That I will!" said I.
+
+"Brothers and good shipmates all"--broke in Jean Lafitte in a deep
+voice--"what say ye? Shall we put him to the oath?"
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir!" responded the deep chorus of scores of full-chested
+voices. Or, at least, so it seemed to us, though, mayhap, 'twas no
+more than Jimmy who spoke.
+
+"Swear him, then!" commanded Jean Lafitte. "Swear him by the oath of
+blood."
+
+"We--we haven't any blood!" whispered L'Olonnois, aside, somewhat
+troubled.
+
+"That have we, mates," said I, "and the ceremony shall have full
+solemnity."
+
+I took up my keen hunting knife and deliberately and slowly opened the
+side of my thumb, more to the pain of Jimmy, I fancy, than to myself,
+as I could see by the twitch of his features.
+
+"By this blood I swear!" said I: "and on the point of my blade I swear
+to be a true pirate; to fight the fight of all; to divulge no plans of
+the company; and to share with my brothers share and share alike of
+all booty we may take."
+
+"'Tis well!" said L'Olonnois, much impressed and delighted, as also
+was his mate, very evidently.
+
+"And now, my brothers," said I, "you, also, must swear to divulge no
+secret of mine that you may learn, to tell nothing of my plans, or my
+name, or the name of the port where I signed on the rolls."
+
+"We don't know your name," said Jimmy, "but neither of us will give
+you away."
+
+Jean Lafitte was all for opening up his own thumb for blood, but I
+stopped him. "This will do," said I, and stained his fingers and those
+of L'Olonnois--who grew pale at sight of it to his evident disgust.
+
+So, thus, I became a pirate, and we three were brother rovers of the
+deep. I fancied my associates would be loyal. I was thinking of a
+certain cousin of the younger pirate. Not for worlds would I seek to
+pursue her now; but there had arisen in my soul, already, a sort of
+strange wonder whether some intent of fate had sent this youngster
+here to remind me once more of her, whom I would forget.
+
+"Now," said I at last, "let us seek what fare the castle offers for
+the night." I could see they were tired and sleepy, and so found for
+them bath and clean pajamas--somewhat too large to be sure--and good
+beds in the wing of my log house. And never, as I be a true pirate,
+never have I seen so many and so various single-fire and revolving
+short arms, in my life, as these two buccaneers disclosed when they
+unbelted and laid aside their jackets! Even thus equipped, I found
+them looking enviously at my walls, where hung weapons of many lands.
+I sent them to bed happier by telling them that, in the morning, they
+should select such as they chose for the equipment of our vessel.
+"Gee!" said Jean Lafitte again. "Gee! _Gee!_" He was so happy that I,
+too, was happy. It was L'Olonnois who changed that.
+
+"Methinks," said he, regarding me sternly, "that in yonder ivy-clad
+halls might dwell some lady fair! Tell me, is it not so?"
+
+He stretched a thin arm out, in the sleeve of my smallest pajamas, and
+pointed a slender finger at the interior of my castle of dreams. Alas,
+after all it was empty! My old melancholy came back to me.
+
+"No, my brothers," said I, "no maid has ever passed yon door. No, nor
+ever will."
+
+L'Olonnois bent his flaxen head in dignified and manly sympathy. "I
+see," said he, "our brother in his youth has, perhaps, been deceived
+by some fair one!"
+
+Upon which I left them for my own room.
+
+If two buccaneers in my castle slept well that night, a third did not.
+Anopheles might go hang. I did not fancy my new microscope. I doubted
+if my last violin were a real Strad. I did not like the last music my
+dealers had sent out to me. My studies of Confucius and Buddha might
+go hang, and my new book as well. For now, before me, came the face of
+a certain pirate's aunt, and she was indeed a lady fair. And I knew
+full well--as I had known all these years, although I had tried to
+deceive myself into believing otherwise--that gladly as I had
+exchanged the city for the wilderness, with equal gladness would I
+exchange my leisure, all my wealth, all my belongings, for a moment's
+touch of her hand, a half-hour of talk heart-to-heart with her, so
+that, indeed, I might know the truth; so that, at least, I might have
+it direct from her, bitter though the truth might be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+IN WHICH WE SAIL FOR THE SPANISH MAIN
+
+
+When, in the morning, I passed from my quarters toward the main room
+which served me both as living-room and dining hall, I found that my
+pirate guests were also early risers. I could hear them arguing over
+some matter, which proved to be no more serious than the question of a
+cold bath of mornings, Jimmy maintaining that everybody had a cold
+bath every morning, whereas John insisted with equal heat that nobody
+ever bathed ("washed," I think he called it), oftener than once a
+week, to wit, on Saturdays only. They engaged in a pillow fight to
+settle it, and as Jimmy had John fairly well smothered by his rapid
+fire, I voted that the ayes appeared to have it when they referred the
+point to me.
+
+As we are very remote and never visited in my wilderness home, it is
+not infrequent that I take my morning meal very much indeed in mufti,
+although Hiroshimi is always most exact himself. On this morning it
+occurred to us all that pajamas made a garb more piratical and more
+nautical than anything else obtainable, so we took breakfast--and I
+think Hiroshimi never served me a breakfast more delicate and
+tempting--clad as perhaps the Romans were, if they had pajamas in
+those times. All went well until the keen eyes of Jimmy, wandering
+about my place, noted a certain photograph which rested on the top of
+my piano--where I was much comforted always to have it, especially of
+an evening, when sometimes I played Mendelssohn's _Spring Song_, or
+other music of the like. It was the picture of the woman who did not
+know and very likely did not care where, or how, I lived--Helena
+Emory, to my mind one of the most beautiful women of her day; and I
+have seen the world's portraits of the world's beauties of all
+recorded days in beauty. Toward this Jimmy ran excitedly--I, with
+equal speed, endeavoring to divert him from his purpose.
+
+"But it's my Auntie Helen!" he protested, when I recovered it and
+placed it in my pocket.
+
+"It is your Auntie fiddlesticks, Jimmy," said I hastily, hoping my
+color was not heightened. "It is your grandmother! Finish your
+breakfast."
+
+"I guess I ought to know--" he began.
+
+"What!" I rejoined. "Wouldst pit your wisdom against one who has the
+second sight; have a care, shipmate."
+
+"It was!" he reiterated. "I know ain't anybody pretty as she is, so it
+was."
+
+"Jimmy L'Olonnois," said I, "let us reason about this. I----"
+
+"Lemme see it, then. I can tell in a minute. Why don't you lemme see
+it, then?" He was eager.
+
+"Shipmate," I replied to him, "the hand is sometimes quicker than the
+eye, and the mind slower than the heart. For that reason I can not
+agree to your request."
+
+"But what'd _he_ be doing with Miss Emory's picture, Jimmy?" argued
+Lafitte.
+
+"That's what I'd like to know," I added. "It may be that, in your
+haste, you have confused in your mind, Jimmy, some portrait with that
+of the Princess Amelie Louise, of Furstenburg." (I had indeed
+sometimes commented on the likeness of Helena Emory to that
+light-hearted old-world beauty.) Jimmy did not know that a photograph
+of the princess herself, also, stood upon the piano top, nor did he
+fully grasp the truth of that old saying that the hand is quicker than
+the eye. At least, he gazed somewhat confused at the portrait which I
+now produced before his eyes.
+
+"Who was she?" he inquired.
+
+"A very charming young lady of rank, who eloped with a young man not
+of rank. In short, although she did not marry a chauffeur, she did
+marry an automobile agent. And surely, Jimmy, your Auntie
+Helen--whoever she may be--would do no such thing as that and still
+claim to be a cousin of a L'Olonnois?"
+
+"I don't know. You can't always tell what a girl's going to do," said
+Jimmy sagely. "But I don't think Auntie Helen's going to marry a auto
+man."
+
+"Why, Jimmy?" (I found pleasure and dread alike in this conversation.)
+
+"Because everybody says she's going to get married to Mr. Davidson,
+and he's a commission man."
+
+Now, I am sure, my face did not flush. It may have paled. I tried to
+be composed. I reached for the melon dish and remarked, "Yes? And who
+is he? And really, who is your Auntie Helena, Jimmy, and what does she
+look like?" I spoke with a fine air of carelessness.
+
+"She looks like the princess, you said," replied Jimmy. "And Mr.
+Davidson's rich. He's got a house on our lake, this summer, and he
+lives in New York and has offices in Chicago, and travels a good deal.
+He has some sort of factory, too, and he's awful rich. I like him
+pretty well. He knows how all the ball clubs stand, both leagues,
+every day in the year. You ought to know him, because then you might
+get to know my Auntie Helena. If they got married, like as not, I
+could take you up to their house. I thought everybody knew Mr.
+Davidson, and my Auntie Helena, too."
+
+Everybody did. Why should I not know Cal Davidson, one of the
+decentest chaps in the world? Why not, since we belonged to half a
+dozen of the same clubs in New York and other cities? Why not, since
+this very summer I had put my private yacht (named oddly enough, the
+_Belle Helene_) in commission for the first season in three years, and
+chartered her for the summer around Mackinaw, and a cruise down the
+Mississippi to the Gulf that fall? Why not, since I had still unbanked
+the handsome check Davidson had insisted on my taking as charter money
+for the last quarter?
+
+Davidson! Of all men I had counted him my friend. And now here was he,
+reputed to be about to marry the girl who, as he knew, must have
+known, ought to have known, was all the world to me! Even if she would
+have none of me, and even though I had no shadow of claim on her--even
+though we had parted not once but a dozen times, and at last in a
+final parting--Davidson ought to have known, must have known! And my
+own yacht! Why, no man may know what may go forward in a yachting
+party. And, if perchance that fall he could persuade to accompany him
+Helena and her chaperon (I made no doubt that would be her Aunt
+Lucinda; for Helena's mother died when she was a child, and she was
+somewhat alone, although in rather comfortable circumstances) what
+could not so clever a man as Davidson, I repeat, one with so much of a
+way with women, accomplish in a journey so long as that, with no other
+man as his rival? It would be just like Cal Davidson to go ashore at
+St. Louis long enough to find a chaplain, and then go on ahead for a
+honeymoon around the world--on my boat, with my.... No, she was not
+mine ... but then....
+
+All my life I have tried to be fair, even with my own interests at
+stake. I tried now to be fair; and I failed! I could see but one side
+to this case. Davidson must be found at once, must be halted in
+mid-career.
+
+It was about this time that Hiroshimi came in with the morning's mail
+and telegrams, all of which at my place come in from the railway, ten
+miles or so, by rural free delivery. I paid small attention to him,
+most of my mail, these days, having to do with gasoline pumps or
+patent hay rakes and lists from my gun and tackle dealers and such
+like.
+
+Hiroshimi coughed. "Supposing Honorable like to see these yellow wire
+envelopings."
+
+I glanced down and idly opened the telegram. It was from Cal Davidson
+himself, and read:
+
+    "Name best price outright sale bill Helen to me answer
+    Chicago."
+
+So then, the scoundrel actually was on his way down the lakes, headed
+for the South, even thus early in the season! I knew, of course, that
+Bill Helen meant _Belle Helene_. As though I would sell my boat to
+him, of all men! It might almost as well have been a sale of Helena
+herself outright, as this cursed telegram stated. I crumpled the sheet
+in my hand.
+
+"If Honorable contemplates some answering of mail this morning, it
+will be one ow-wore till the miserable pony mail carry all man comes,"
+ventured Hiroshimi.
+
+"Nothing this morning, Hiro," I managed to choke out, "and, Hiro, make
+ready my bag, the small one, for a journey."
+
+"S-s-s-s!" hissed Hiroshimi, which was his way of saying, "Yes, sir,
+very well, sir." Surprise he neither showed now nor at any time; and
+since he never could tell at what hour I might conclude to start for
+his country or Europe or Africa or some other land for a stay of weeks
+or months, there was perhaps some warrant for his calm. He had less to
+do when I was away; although I always suspected him of poaching my
+trout with his infernal Japanese methods of angling.
+
+At this moment L'Olonnois saw, through the open door, a red squirrel
+which scampered up a tree. At once he forgot all about his Auntie
+Helen and scampered off in pursuit, followed presently by Lafitte.
+This gave me time to decide upon a plan.... At last, I lifted my head
+again.... Why not, then?
+
+When L'Olonnois returned from the chase of the squirrel, he was all
+L'Olonnois and none Jimmy Henderson. The spell of his drama was upon
+him once more.
+
+"What ho, mate," he began, scowling most vilely at me, "the sun is
+high in the heavens, yet we linger here. Let us up anchor, hoist the
+top-gallant mast and set sail for the enemy."
+
+Jimmy's nautical terms might have been open to criticism, but there
+was no denying the bold and manly import of his speech. My own heart
+jumped well enough with it now.
+
+"'Tis well, shipmate," said I. "Come, get ready your togs and your
+weapons, and let us away. As you say, the good ship tugs at her anchor
+chains this morning."
+
+I managed to better the wardrobe of both boys by certain ducks and
+linens from my own store, albeit a world too large. Lafitte, none too
+happy at being thus uncongenially clean, was delight itself when set
+to selecting an armament from my collection. He chose three bright
+and clean Japanese swords, special blades of the Samurai armorers,
+forged long before Mutsuhito's grandfather was a boy--I had paid a
+rare price for them in Japan. To these he added three basket-handled
+cutlasses, which I had obtained in London, each almost old enough to
+have belonged to the crew of Drake himself. A short-barreled magazine
+pistol for each of us was his concession to the present unromantic
+age. As for Jimmy, he insisted on a small bore rifle as well as a
+shotgun. "We might see something," he remarked laconically.
+
+Thus equipped, I persuaded my associates to lay aside most of their
+somewhat archaic artillery. Neither had taken any thought of other
+supplies. Hiroshimi, however, now appeared, bearing, in addition to my
+hand luggage, two hampers, a roll of blankets and a silk tent in its
+canvas wrapper.
+
+"Honorable is embarked in those small-going boat that is made tied to
+the bank?" inquired Hiroshimi. He had said nothing to me about my
+guests, or asked how they came; but as I knew he would find out all
+about it, anyhow, after his own fashion, I had not mentioned anything
+to him, or told him what to do. I only nodded now, relying on his
+efficiency. He now approached my young pirates, and rather against
+their will, removed from them some of their burden of weapons,
+slinging about himself bundles, baskets, bags and cutlery, until he
+almost disappeared from view. He cast on me a reproachful gaze,
+however, as he took from Lafitte's hand the bared blade of the old
+Samurai sword, and noted the ancient inscription on blade and scabbard
+as he sheathed it reverently.
+
+"What does it say, Hiro?" I asked of him.
+
+"Very old talk, Honorable," answered Hiroshimi. "It say, 'Oh,
+Honorable Gentleman who carry me, I invite you to make high and noble
+adventurings.'"
+
+"Let me carry it, Hiro," said I; and I tucked it under my own arm.
+
+"Good!" exclaimed L'Olonnois. "Then you are going with us? And did you
+write the letters that you promised us?"
+
+"I always keep my word."
+
+"And it'll be all right back home about mother and the boat? I'll give
+you my six dollars!"
+
+"There is no need. I told you, if you would make me one of the crew of
+the _Sea Rover_ and let me seek my fortune with you, I would gladly
+pay all the reckoning of our journey."
+
+"And how long will we be gone?"
+
+"Till after your school begins, I fear."
+
+"And how far are you going with us?"
+
+"Spang! to the Spanish Main!" I answered.
+
+So then we set forth down my woodland path.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+IN WHICH I ACQUIRE A FRIEND
+
+
+We proceeded, therefore, through the wood, sweet in the dew of
+morning, among many twittering birds, and so came, presently, to the
+end of my path, where the little gate shuts it off from my mowing
+meadow; at the upper end of which, it may be remembered, the good ship
+_Sea Rover_ lay anchored. The grass stood waist-high and wet in the
+dew as we turned along the meadow side, and L'Olonnois flinched a bit,
+although Lafitte waded along carelessly.
+
+I observed that each boy had now thrust into his hat band a turkey
+feather, picked up, en route, along my field's edge. Jimmy was not
+sure of the correctness of this; and admitted that, sometimes, he had
+read literature having to do with Indian fighting, as well as
+piratical enterprises. I suggested that, to my mind, nothing quite
+took the place of the regulation red kerchief bound about the head;
+whereat, gravely, both L'Olonnois and Lafitte discarded their hats and
+feathers, for the bandannas which I proffered them. Having bound these
+about their foreheads, a great courage and confidence came to them.
+
+L'Olonnois drew his sword, and with some care placed the blade
+between his teeth. "Hist!" exclaimed Lafitte, himself swept by his
+friend's imagination, and preparing to place his cutlass in his mouth
+also. "Let us approach the vessel with care, lest the enemy be about."
+So saying, each pirate with a mouthful of cold steel, and a hand
+shading his red-kerchiefed brow, stole through my clump of birches
+toward the bend, where the boat had first surprised me; myself
+following, somewhat put to it to refrain from laughter, although one
+rarely laughs in the young hours of the day, and myself rarely, at
+all.
+
+We were greeted by no hostile shot, and found our vessel quite as we
+had left her, as I could see at a glance when we neared the bank; but,
+none the less, something stirred in the bushes. A growl and a sudden
+barking, greeted Hiroshimi as he approached the boat in advance.
+
+"You, Tige!" called out Lafitte. The dog--a dog none too beautiful,
+and now just a bit forlorn--approached us, alternately wagging in
+friendship and retreating in alarm.
+
+"Well, what do you think of that!" said Jimmy. "We left him back at
+the lake--sent him home half a dozen times. How'd he get here, and
+how'd he know where we was?"
+
+"He couldn't a-swum the lake," assented John. "And it was more'n ten
+miles around; and how could he smell where we went, on the water? Come
+here, Tige, you blame fool!"
+
+"Nay," said I, "he is no fool, this dog, but a creature of great
+reason, else he never could have found you. And I'll be bound he is as
+keen for adventure as any of us."
+
+"He is coming here last night two ow-wore after dinner," said the
+omniscient Hiroshimi. "Also he bite me on leg. He, also, is
+malefactor."
+
+"He has allotted to himself the duty of caring for the property of his
+masters, Hiro," I said, "and hence is not really a malefactor.
+Besides, since he would not leave the boat and follow our trail, he is
+by this time hungry. Feed him, Hiro."
+
+But Hiroshimi was not eager to approach the piratical canine again; so
+I, myself, fished something from a hamper and called the dog to me. He
+ate gladly and most gratefully.
+
+Now, it is a strange thing to say, but it is the truth, I had never
+before in my life fed a dog! I had won many knotty suits at law, had
+solved many hard problems dealing with human nature--and had found
+human nature for the most part rarely glad or grateful--but I have
+never owned or even fed a dog. A strange new feeling came in my throat
+now. Suddenly I swallowed some invisible intangible thing.
+
+"John," said I, "what breed of dog is this?" Indeed, it was hard to
+tell offhand, although he had the keen head of a collie.
+
+"I guess he's just one o' them partial dogs," answered John, "mostly
+shepherd, maybe; I dunno."
+
+"Very well, Partial shall be his name. And is he yours?"
+
+"He runs round on the farm. He goes with Jimmy an' me."
+
+"John, will you sell me Partial?" I asked this suddenly, realizing
+that my voice might sound odd.
+
+"What'd ye want him fer?" he replied. "He'd be a nuisance."
+
+"I think not. See how faithful he has been, see how grateful he is;
+and how wise. He reasoned where you were as well as I reasoned who you
+were. He knows now that we are talking about him, and knows that I am
+his friend--see him look at me; see him come over and stand by me.
+John, do you think--do you believe a dog, this dog, would learn to
+like me, ever? Would he understand me?"
+
+"Well," said John judicially, standing sword in hand, "I dunno.
+Someways, maybe dogs and boys understands quicker. But you understand
+us. Maybe he'd understand you."
+
+"Well reasoned, Jean Lafitte," said I, "perhaps your logic is better
+than you know, at least, I hope so. And now I offer you yonder
+magazine pistol as your own in fee, if you will sign over to me all
+your right, title and interest, in Partial, here. Evidently he belongs
+with us. He seems to care for us. And I experience some odd sort of
+feeling, which I can not quite describe. Perhaps it is only that I
+feel like a boy, and one that is going to own a dog. Is it a bargain?"
+
+"Sure! You c'n have him for nuthin'," said Lafitte. "He ain't worth
+nothin'. Besides, I can't charge a brother of the flag anything;
+anyhow, not you." I inferred that Jean Lafitte, also, was going to
+grow up into one of those men like myself, cursed with a reticence and
+shyness in some matters, and so winning a reputation of oddness or
+coldness, against all the real and passionate protest of his own soul.
+
+"No, brother," I said to him: "I'll not offer you trade, but gift. Let
+it be that if I can win the dog, and if he will take me as his master
+and friend, he shall be mine. And you take the pistol, and have a care
+of it."
+
+"That's all right!" said Lafitte shyly, yet delightedly, as I could
+see.
+
+"Here, Partial!" I called to the dog; and being young and friendly,
+and attached to neither in particular, and only in general worshiping
+the creature Boy, he came to me! I fed him, stroked him, looked into
+his eyes. And in a few moments he put his feet on my shoulders, and
+licked at my ear, and began to talk to me in low eager whines, and
+rubbed his muzzle against my cheek, and said all that a dog could say
+in oath of feudal service, pledging loyalty of life and limb. At which
+I felt very odd indeed; and began to see the world had many things in
+it of which I had never known; but which, now, I was resolved to know.
+
+"Honorable is embarking those malefactor canine thing with so much
+impediments in this small-going boat?" inquired Hiroshimi.
+
+"Yes," I answered. "At once. All four of us. Put the stuff aboard,
+Hiro."
+
+So, somewhat crowded as the _Sea Rover_ was, with three boys and a
+dog, not to mention our supplies and our armament, at last we were
+afloat with crew and cargo aboard. Hiro was not surprised, and asked
+no questions. With the salaam with which he announced dinner, he now
+announced his own departure for his duties at my deserted house; and
+as he walked he never turned around for curious gaze. Often, often
+have I, in my readings in the Eastern philosophy, endeavored to
+analyze and to emulate this Oriental calm, this dismissal from the
+soul of things small, things unessential and things unavoidable. An
+enviable character, my boy Hiroshimi.
+
+Now all was bustle and confusion aboard the good ship _Sea Rover_.
+"Stand by the main braces!" roared Lafitte.
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir!" replied the crew, that is to say, Jimmy L'Olonnois.
+
+"Hard a lee!"
+
+"Hard a lee it is, Sir!"
+
+"Hoist the top-gallant mainsail an' clew all alow an' aloft!"
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir!"
+
+"Man the capstan! All hands to the starboard mizzen chains! Heave
+away!"
+
+"Heave away!" rejoined our gallant crew, never for a moment in doubt
+as to the captain's meaning. And, indeed, he gave a push with an oar
+at the bank, which thrust us into the smart current of my little
+river.
+
+We were afloat! We were off to seek our fortune!
+
+    [Illustration: I, too, stood, shading my eyes with my hand]
+
+Ah, what a fine new world was this which lay before us! But for one
+thing, this had no doubt been the happiest moment in my life. For,
+always, the attaining of knowledge, the growth of a man's mind and
+soul, had to me seemed the one ambition worth a man's while; and now,
+as I might well be assured, I had learned more and grown more,
+these last twelve hours or so, than I had in any twelve years of my
+life before. Before me, indeed, had opened a vast and wonderful world.
+That morning, as we swept around curve after curve of the swift
+trout-stream that I loved so well, among my alders, through my bits of
+wood, along my hills--with Lafitte and L'Olonnois standing, each
+alert, silent, peering ahead under his flat hand to see what might lie
+ahead (I astern with Partial's head on my knee), I felt rise in my
+soul the same sweet grateful feeling that I had when the new world of
+music opened to me, what time I first caught the real meaning of the
+_Fruehlingslied_. My heart leaped anew in my bosom, for the time
+forgetting its sadness. I saw that the world after all does hold faith
+and loyalty and friendship and perpetual, self-renewing Youth.... I
+also rose, cast my hat aside, and with one hand reaching down to touch
+my friend's head, I, too, stood, shading my eyes with my edged hand,
+peering ahead into this strange new world that lay ahead of me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+IN WHICH I ACHIEVE A NAME
+
+
+So winding is my trout river, and so extensive are my lands along it,
+that it was not until nearly noon that our progress, sometimes halted
+by shallows, again swift in the deeper reaches, brought the _Sea
+Rover_ to the lower edge of my estate. Here, the river was deeper and
+more silent, the waters were not quite so cold, but as we passed a
+high hardwood bridge from which issued a cool spring of water, I
+suggested a halt in our voyage, to which my companions, readily
+enough, agreed. We, therefore, disembarked and prepared to have our
+luncheon.
+
+It was obvious to me that Jean Lafitte and Henri L'Olonnois were not
+on their first expedition out-of-doors, for they set about gathering
+wood and water in workmanlike fashion. They did not yet fully classify
+me, so, in boyish shyness, left me largely ignored, or waited till I
+should demonstrate myself to them. It was, therefore, with delicacy
+that I ventured any suggestions from the place where Partial and I sat
+in the shade watching them.
+
+I have mentioned the fact that I had been a hunter and traveler, and
+had met success in the field; yet the truth is, I began all that late
+in life, and deliberately. To me, used to exact habit of thought in
+all things, and accustomed to be governed by trained reason alone, it
+was never enough to say that a thing was partly done, or well enough
+done to pass: only the best possible way had any appeal to me. I
+brought my reason to bear on every situation in life. Thus, I studied
+an investment carefully, and before going into it, I knew what the
+result would be. My investments, therefore, always have prospered,
+because they were not based on guess or chance, as nine-tenths of all
+the public's business ventures are. In the same way, I had gone
+deliberately about the matter of winning the regard of the only woman
+I ever saw who seemed to me much worth while. I argued and reasoned
+with Helena Emory that she should marry me, proving to her by every
+rule of logic that, not only was she the most lovable woman in all the
+records of the world, but, also, that love such as mine never had
+before been known in the world. Sometimes, as I logically proved the
+fitness of our union, and grew warm at my own accuracy, she wavered,
+relented, warmed: and then again, forgetting my argument, she would
+relapse into womanlike frivolity once more.... I did not like to think
+of this, as I sat in the shade with Partial. It cost me much in
+self-respect, irritated me.
+
+But, having studied sport and outdoor living deliberately as I had
+studied the law and business and Helena, I had rather a thorough
+grounding, on life in the open, for I had read every authority
+obtainable; whereas my young associates had read none. So cautiously,
+now and then, I suggested little things to them, as that the fire need
+not be so large, and would do better if confined between two green
+side logs. I taught them how to boil the kettle quickly, how to make
+tea, and also, more difficult, how to make coffee; how to cook bacon
+just enough, and how to cook fish--for I had taken a few trout earlier
+in the day--and how to make toast without charring it to cinders.
+Again, I delighted them by telling them of little camping devices, and
+quite won their hearts when I found among Hiroshimi's packages, a
+small camp griddle with folding legs, of my own devising. It was quite
+clean and new, but it performed as I felt quite sure it would. In
+fact, reason will govern all things--except a woman.
+
+We ate _al fresco_, as true buccaneers of the main, and grew better
+and better acquainted. It occurred to me that mayhap the nautical
+education of my associates was, after all, somewhat superficial, so I
+set about mending it by explaining something of the rigging of the
+ship; and I gave them, by means of the _Sea Rover's_ bowline, some
+lessons in sailorman splices and knots. The bow-line-in-a-bight, the
+sheet-bend, the clinch-knot, the jam-knot, the fisherman's water-knot,
+the stevedore's slip-knot, the dock-hand's round-turns and
+half-hitches for cable makefast, the magnus-hitch, the fool's-knot,
+the cat's-cradle, the sheep-shank, the dog-shank, and many others--all
+of which I had learned in books and in practise--I did for them over
+and over again; just as I could have done for them a half-dozen
+different ways of throwing the diamond-hitch in a pack-train, or the
+stirrup-hitch in a cow camp, or many other of the devices of men who
+live in the open; for beginning late in life in these things, I had
+studied them hard and faithfully.
+
+I could see--and I noted it with much gratification--that I was rising
+in the estimation of my pirates. It pleased me not at all to show that
+I knew more than they of these things, for I was older and my mind was
+long my trained servant; but I had monstrous delight in seeing myself
+accepted as one fit to associate with them. Once or twice, I saw the
+two draw apart in some debate which I knew had to do with me. "Well,
+now," Lafitte would begin; and L'Olonnois would demur. "No, I don't
+just like that one," he would say. By nightfall--and I presume I do
+not need to recall all the incidents of our afternoon, or of our
+pitching camp by the riverside an hour before sundown--I learned what
+was the subject of their argument. I had been admitted to the pirates'
+band, but the question was over my name.
+
+We sat by our fireside, before our little tent, after a pleasant meal
+which I know was well cooked because I cooked it myself--trout, a
+young squirrel, and toast, and real coffee--and Partial was close at
+my knee, having obviously adopted me. We were fifteen or twenty miles
+from my house, nearly twice that from their homes, but the world,
+itself, seemed very remote from us. We reveled in a new luxurious
+world of rare deeds, rare dreams all our own. I was conjuring up some
+new argument to put before Helena should I ever see her again--as of
+course I never should--when Lafitte rolled over on the grass and
+looked up at us.
+
+"We was just saying," he remarked, "that you didn't have no name."
+
+"That is true. I have not told you my name, nor have you asked it. Had
+you been impolite, you might have learned it by prying about my
+place." I spoke gravely and with approval.
+
+"No, we didn't know who you was."
+
+"Let it be so. Let me be a man of no name. A name is of no
+consequence, and neither am I."
+
+"Sho, now, that ain't so. I never seen a better--now, I never seen--"
+Jean Lafitte's reticence in friendship, again, was getting the better
+of him.
+
+"So we said we'd call you Black Bart," added L'Olonnois.
+
+"That is a most excellent name," said I after some thought. "At
+present, I can find no objection to it, except that I wear no beard at
+all and would have a red or brown one if I did; and that Black Bart
+was rather a pirate of the land than of the sea."
+
+"Was he?" queried L'Olonnois. "Wasn't he a pirate, too, never?"
+
+"There was a famous pirate chief known as Bluebeard or Blackbeard, and
+it may be, sometimes, they called him Black Bart."
+
+"Wasn't he a awful desper't sort of pirate?"
+
+"He is said to have been."
+
+"It sounds like a awful desper't name," said Jimmy: "like as though
+he'd fill up his ship with captured maidens, an' put all rivals to the
+sword."
+
+"Such, indeed, shipmate," said I, "was his reputation."
+
+"Well," concluded L'Olonnois, "we couldn't think o' any better name'n
+that, because we know that is just what you would do."
+
+(So, then, my reputation was advancing!)
+
+"Wasn't you never a pirate before, honest?" queried Lafitte at this
+juncture. "Because, you seem like a real pirate to us. We been, lots
+of times, over on the lake."
+
+"It may be because my father was always called a pirate," I replied.
+"You see, in these days, there are not so many pirates who really
+scuttle ships and cut throats."
+
+"But you would?"
+
+"Certainly. 'Tis in my blood, my bold shipmate."
+
+"We knew it," concluded L'Olonnois calmly. "So, after now, we'll call
+you Black Bart. You can let your whiskers grow, you know."
+
+"True," said I. "Well, we will at least take the whiskers under
+advisement, as the court would say."
+
+"We must be an awful long ways from home," ventured L'Olonnois, after
+a time.
+
+"Hundreds of miles our good ship has ploughed the deep, and as yet has
+raised no sail above the horizon," I admitted.
+
+"Do you--now--do you--well, anyhow, do you have any idea of where we
+are going?" demanded Lafitte, shamefacedly.
+
+"Not in the slightest."
+
+"But now--well--now then----"
+
+In answer I drew from my pocket a map and a compass; the latter mostly
+for effect, since I knew very well the bed of our river must shape
+our course for many a mile. On the map I pointed out how, presently,
+our river would run into a lake, into which, also, ran another river;
+and would emerge on the other side much larger. I showed them that
+down that other river, as, indeed, down mine, logs used to float from
+the pine forests--many of my father's logs, of ownership said to have
+been piratical--and I showed how, presently, this stream would carry
+us into one of the ancient waterways down which millions of wealth in
+timber have come; and explained about the wild crews of river runners
+who once ran the rafts down that great highway, and into the greater
+highway of the Mississippi; whence men might in due time arrive upon
+the Spanish Main.
+
+"Is there any way a fellow can get across from Lake Michigan into the
+Mississippi River?" demanded Lafitte, who was of a practical turn of
+mind: and on the map I showed him all the old trails of the fur
+traders, explorers and adventurers, French and English, who had
+discovered our America long ago; whereat their eyes kindled and their
+tongues went dumb.
+
+At last, I told them we must to our hammocks; and soon our bloody band
+was deep in sleep. At least, so much might have been said for Lafitte
+and L'Olonnois. Alone of the band of sea rovers myself, Black Bart,
+sat musing by the fire, the head of my friend, Partial, in my lap.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+IN WHICH WE HAVE AN ADVENTURE
+
+
+Our band of hardy adventurers arose with the sun on the morning
+following our first night in bivouac, and by noon of that day, thanks,
+perhaps, in some measure to my own work at the oars, and a sail which
+we rigged from a corner of the tent, we had passed into and through
+the lake which our map had showed us. Now we were below the edge of
+the pine woods, and our stream ran more sluggishly, between banks of
+cattails or of waving marsh grasses. We put out a trolling line, and
+took a bass or so; and once Lafitte, firing chance-medley into a
+passing flock of plover, knocked down a half-dozen, so that we bade
+fair to have enough for dinner that night. It was all a new world for
+us. No one might tell what lay around the next bend of our widening
+waterway. We were explorers. A virgin world lay before us. The nature
+of the country along the stream kept the settlements back a distance;
+so that to us, now, in reality, retracing one of the ancient
+fur-trading routes, we might almost have been the first to break these
+silences.
+
+Toward nightfall we came into a more rolling and more park-like
+region; our prow was now heading to the westward, for the general
+course of the great river beyond. I had no notion to visit the city of
+Chicago, and our route lay far above that which must be taken by any
+large craft bound for the Mississippi route to the Gulf.
+
+Farms now came down to the water's edge in places, villages offered
+mill-pond dams--around which, in scowling reticence, we portaged the
+_Sea Rover_, unmindful alike of queries and of jeers. I found time to
+post additional letters now. Indeed, I was preparing for a long and
+determined enterprise. It was the _Sea Rover_ against the _Belle
+Helene_; and, did the skipper of the latter loll along in flanneled
+ease and luxury, not so with the hardy band of cutthroats who manned
+our smaller and more mobile craft, men used to hardships, content to
+drink spring water instead of sparkling wines, and to eat the product
+of their own weapons.
+
+We were I do not know how far from our first encampment, perhaps
+thirty miles or more, when toward five o'clock of the evening we
+concluded to land at a wooded grassy bank which offered a good camping
+place. We made all fast, and in a few moments had our tent up and a
+little fire going, Lafitte and L'Olonnois, at this, happy as any two
+pirates I ever have seen; and were on the point of spreading our
+canvas table cover upon the grass, when we heard a gruff voice hail
+us.
+
+"Heh! What're you doin' there?"
+
+We turned, expecting to meet some irate farmer on whose land perhaps
+we innocently were trespassing; but the figure which now emerged from
+the screening bushes was rougher, bolder, and in some indescribable
+way wilder, than that of a farmer. I could not, at first, assign the
+fellow a place, for I knew this was an old and well settled country,
+and not supposed to be overrun with tramps or campers. He was a stout
+man nearly of middle age, dirty and ill clad, his coarse shirt open at
+the neck, his legs clad in old overalls, his hat and shoes very much
+the worse for wear. His face was covered with a rough beard, and so
+brown and so begrimed that, at once, I guessed this must be some
+dweller in the open. Yet he seemed no tramp; and even if he were, he
+had no right to hail us in this fashion.
+
+I only looked at him, and made no answer, feeling none due. He came
+out into the open, followed by a nondescript dog, which had the lack
+of decency--and also of discretion--to attack my dog Partial with no
+parley or preliminary. I wot not of what stock Partial came, but
+somewhere in his ancestry must have been stark fighting strain. Mutely
+and sternly, as became a gentleman, he joined issue; and so well had
+he learned the art of war that in the space of a few moments, in spite
+of the loud outcry of the owner of the invading cur, he had him on his
+back in a throat grip which was the end of the battle and bade fair
+soon to be the end of the enemy.
+
+The man who had accosted us caught up a club and made toward Partial
+with intent to kill him. Then, indeed, we all sprang into action. In
+two strides I was before him.
+
+"Drop that!" I said to him quickly, but I hope not angrily. "Call him
+off, Jack!" I cried to Lafitte at the same time.
+
+The sound of conflict ceased as Partial was persuaded to release his
+fallen foe, and the latter disappeared, with more wisdom as to
+attacking a band of pirates. His owner, however, was not so easily
+daunted. He still advanced toward Partial, and as I still intervened,
+he made a vicious side blow at me with his club.
+
+It all happened, almost, in the twinkling of an eye. Here, then, was
+an adventure, and before the end of our second day!
+
+There was not time to learn or to ask the reason for this man's
+animosity toward us, and, indeed, no thought of that came to my mind.
+A man may lay tongue to one--within certain bounds--and one will only
+walk away from him; but the touch of another man's hand or weapon is
+quite another matter. That arouses the unthinking blood, and follows
+then, no matter the issue, the _gaudium certaminis_, with no care as
+to odds or evens. Wherefore, even as the club whizzed by to my side
+step, I came back from the other foot and smote the hostile stranger
+on the side of the neck so stiffly that he faltered and almost
+dropped. Then seeing that I was so much lighter than himself and
+perhaps valuing himself against me purely on a basis of avoirdupois,
+pound for pound, he gathered and came at me, roaring out blasphemy and
+obscenity which I had rather Lafitte and L'Olonnois had not heard.
+
+I had not often fought in fact, but knew that, sometimes, a gentleman
+must fight. What astonished me now was the fact that fighting
+contained no manner of repugnance to me. With a certain joy I met my
+foe, circled with him, exchanged blows with him--unequally it is true,
+for I was cool as though trying a cause at law, and he was very angry:
+so that he got most of my leads, and I but few of his, albeit jarring
+me enough to make my ears sing and my eyes blur somewhat, although of
+pain I was no more conscious than a fighting dog. The turf was soft
+underfoot, and the space wide, so that we fought very happily and
+comfortably over perhaps a hundred feet of country, first one and then
+the other coming in; until at last I had him so well blown that he
+stood, and I knew we must now end it toe to toe. I bethought me of a
+trick of my old boxing teacher, and stood before him with arms curved
+wide apart, inviting him to come into what seemed an opening. He
+rushed, and my left fist caught him on the neck. He straightened to
+finish me, but I stooped and brought my right in a round-arm blow,
+full and hard into the small of his back and at one side. It sickened
+him, and before he could rally, I stepped behind him, and having no
+ethics save the necessity of subduing him, I caught up his arm by the
+wrist, and slipping under it with my shoulder, pulled it down till he
+howled: a trick, only one of very many, which Hiroshimi patiently had
+taught me.
+
+That very naturally ended our contest, and it was near to ending our
+war-like neighbor as well. During this warfare, which was short or
+long, I knew not, my associates, stunned and perhaps fearful, had sat
+silent; at least, I neither heard nor saw them. But now, all at once,
+over my shoulder I saw both Lafitte and L'Olonnois running in to my
+assistance. Each held in hand a bared blade of the samurai, and had I
+not shouted out to them to refrain, I have small doubt that in the
+most piratical and unsamuraic fashion they mayhap would have
+disemboweled my captive; for the old swords were keen as razors, and
+my friends were as red of eyesight as myself.
+
+"No! No!" I called to them, even as our victim writhed and roared in
+terror. "Drop your weapons--that isn't fair." They obeyed,
+shamefacedly and with regret, as I am convinced: for illusion with
+them, at times, indeed overleaped the centuries, and they were back in
+a time of blood: even as I was in a stone-age wrath for my own part.
+
+"Come here, Jack," I ordered, "and you, too, Jimmy. Do you see how I
+have him?"
+
+They agreed. "It's a peach," said Lafitte. "Make him holler!"
+
+"No," I replied, easing off the strain on the wrenched arm, "he has
+already 'hollered.'"
+
+"Yes, sure, 'nuff, 'nuff!----ye!" cried our captive, who, now, was in
+mortal terror and much contrition, seeing both flesh and blood and
+cold steel had all the best of him. "Lemme go!"
+
+"Certainly," I assented; "we did not ask you to come, and do not want
+you to stay. But, first, I must use you in a few demonstrations to my
+young friends. Jack,"--and I motioned to him with my head--"get behind
+him."
+
+Eagerly, his three-cornered gray eyes narrowed, Lafitte skipped back
+of my man, and with no word from me he fastened on the other wrist so
+suddenly the man had no warning, and with a strong heave of all his
+body he doubled that arm up also. Much roaring now, and many
+protestations, for when our prisoner began with abuse, we could change
+it into supplication by raising his bent arms no more than one inch or
+two.
+
+"Now, Jimmy," said I, "go in front of him, and put a thumb in the
+corner of his jaw, on each side. Press up until he begs our pardon."
+And, faith, my blue-eyed pirate, so far from shuddering at the task,
+at last managed to find those certain nerve centers known to all
+efficient policemen; and very promptly, the man made signs he would
+like to beg the boy's pardon and did so.
+
+"Now, give me that arm, Jack," I resumed calmly, since our subject had
+no more fight left in him than a sack of meal. "So. Now go around and
+put your thumbs in his eyes--no, not really in his eyes, but in the
+middle of the bone above his eyes. So. Now, ask this boy's pardon, or
+I'll twist your arms off." And he asked it.
+
+"You couldn't do it if you'd fight fair!" he bellowed.
+
+"Could I not?" I asked. And cast him free. "Come on again, then."
+
+"I'm afraid of them kids," said he. "They'd stick me."
+
+"No, they would not," said I; but still he would not come on. Then I
+made a quick catch at his wrist, edgewise, and rolled my thumb along
+it at a certain place where the nerves lie close to the edge of the
+bone, as any policeman knows; and he would follow me, then. So I led
+him to our little camp-fire.
+
+"Now," said I to him, "be seated," and he sat. I asked him if he would
+shake hands with me and my boys and make up. He was very sullen, but,
+at last, did so, not cheerfully, I fear, for he was not of good blood.
+
+"Tell me," I demanded then, seeing that the triumph of calm reason had
+been sufficient in his case, "why did you come here, and why do you
+try to drive us off, who are only on a peaceful journey as pirates,
+seeking our fortune?"
+
+"Pirates!" he exclaimed. "Just what I thought. What's the use my
+leasin' the pearl fer a mile along here if anybody can come and camp,
+and go to work, right alongside o' me? If old farmer Snider, that owns
+this land, hadn't gone to town I'd have the law on ye. Me payin' my
+money in and gettin' no protection. Fishin's rotten, too!"
+
+I now perceived that we had encountered one of those half-nomad
+characters, a fresh-water pearl fisherman, such as those who, for some
+years, with varying fortune, have combed the sand-bars of our inland
+river for the fresh-water mussels which sometimes, like oysters,
+secrete valuable pearls or nacreous bits known as slugs. This
+explained much to me.
+
+"I know the law," said I. "Farmer Snider can not lease the highway of
+yonder river where the _Sea Rover_ passes. But I know also the law of
+the wilderness. One trapper does not intrude on another who has first
+located his country. We will pass on to-morrow. Meantime, if you don't
+mind, we will go with you to your camp and see how you do your work.
+Please forget that we have had any trouble. Had you but spoken thus at
+first, and not borne war against these bold pirates, all would have
+been well."
+
+He looked at me oddly, evidently thinking my mind touched.
+
+"Come!" I said, wiping the blood from my face, and passing him also a
+basin of water, "you fought well and the wonder is you did not kill me
+with one of those swings or swipes of yours. They were crooked and
+awkward, but they came hard."
+
+He grinned and saved his face further by saying: "Well, you was three
+to one ag'in me." I smiled and let it stand so: and after a while, he
+arose stiffly and we all passed back into the wood.
+
+We found that we were upon a little island, between two shallow arms
+of the stream. The camp of the pearl fisher lay at the lower end; and
+never have I seen or smelled so foul a place for human habitation. The
+one large tent served as shelter, and a rude awning sheltered the
+ruder table in the open air. But directly about the tent, and all
+around it in every direction, lay heaps of clam shells, most of them
+opened, some not yet ready for opening. I had smelled the same
+odor--and had not learned to like it--in far-off Ceylon, at the great
+pearl fisheries of the Orient. The "clammer" seemed immune.
+
+Presently, he introduced to us a woman, very old, extraordinarily
+forbidding of visage, and unspeakably profane of speech, who emerged
+from the tent; his mother, he said. It seemed that they made their
+living in this way, clamming, as they called it, all the way from
+Arkansas to the upper waters of the Mississippi. They had made this
+side expedition up a tributary, in search of country not so thoroughly
+exploited; without much success in their venture, it seemed. The old
+lady, her head wrapped in a dirty shawl, sat down on an empty box, and
+stroked a large and dirty Angora cat, another member of the family,
+the while she bitterly and profanely complained. It was now dusk, and
+she did not notice anything out of the way in her son's rather swollen
+nose and lips.
+
+I explained to Lafitte and L'Olonnois that we were now come into the
+neighborhood of possible treasure, and the sight of a few pearls, none
+of very great worth, which the old crone produced from a cracker box,
+was enough to set off Jimmy L'Olonnois, who was all for raiding the
+place.
+
+"What!" he hissed to me in an aside. "Did we not spare his life? Then
+the treasure should be ours!"
+
+"Wait, brother," said I. "We shall see what we shall see." And I
+quieted Lafitte also, who was war-like at the very sound of the word
+pearl. "Them's what they take from the Spanish ships," said he.
+"Pearls is fitten for ladies fair. An' here is pearls."
+
+"Wait, brother," I demanded of him. For I was revolving something in
+my mind. I presently accosted the clammers.
+
+"Listen," said I, "you say business is bad."
+
+"It certainly and shorely is," assented the old dame, fishing a black
+pipe out of her pocket, and proceeding to feed it from another pocket,
+to the discomfort of the soiled Angora cat.
+
+"Well, now, let me make you a proposition," said I, taking a glance at
+the heap of fresh shell which lay beyond the racks of trolling lines
+and their twisted wire hooks, by means of which dragging apparatus the
+mussels are taken--shutting hard on the wire when it touches them as
+they lie feeding with open mouths--"you've quite a lot of shell
+there, now."
+
+"Yes, but what's in it? Button factories all shut down with a strike,
+and no market: and as for pearls, they ain't none. Blame me for
+carryin' a grouch?"
+
+"Not in the least. But what will you take for your shells, and agree
+to open them for us, at wages of five dollars a day?"
+
+"Both of us?" he demanded shrewdly. I smiled and nodded. "It's more
+than you average, twice over," said I, "and you say the stream is no
+good. Now I, too, am a student of the great law of averages, because I
+am or was a director in a great life insurance company. You say the
+luck is bad. Like other adventurers, I say that under the law of
+averages, it is time for the luck to change."
+
+"The luck's with you," growled the clammer, "it's ag'in me."
+Unconsciously, he put a finger to his swollen nose. "What'll you
+gimme?" he demanded.
+
+"One hundred dollars bonus and ten dollars a day," said I promptly;
+and he seemed to know I would not better that.
+
+"Who are ye?" he queried: "a buyer?"
+
+"No, a pirate."
+
+"I believe ye. I never saw such a outfit."
+
+"Will you trade?" I asked; "and how long will it take to open the
+lot?"
+
+"Nigh all day, even if we set up all night and roasted." He nodded to
+a wide grating; and the ashes underneath showed that in this way the
+poor clams, like the Incas of old, were sometimes forced to give up
+their treasures by the persuasion of a fire under them.
+
+"Very well," I said. "We'll call it a day. That's a hundred and ten
+dollars for you by this time to-morrow. I invoke the aid of capital
+and of chance, both, against you. You will very likely lose: but if
+so, it would not be the first time the producer of wealth has lost it.
+But I make the wager fair, as my reason tells me I should."
+
+"Ye're a crazy bunch, and I think ye're out of the state asylum over
+yonder," broke in the old woman, "but what the hell do we care whether
+ye're crazy or not? Ye look like ye had the money. Jake, we'll take
+him up."
+
+"All right," said Jake. "We'll go ye."
+
+"To-morrow morning, then," said I; and our party rose to return to our
+camp, where Partial greeted us with warmth; he having assigned to
+himself the duty of guard. And so, as Pepys would say, to bed;
+although Lafitte and L'Olonnois scarce could sleep.
+
+"Let him attempt to make a run for it, after we have hove him to, and
+we will board him and give no quarter!" This was almost the last of
+the direful speech I heard from L'Olonnois, as at last I turned myself
+to a night of deep and peaceful slumber.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+IN WHICH WE TAKE MUCH TREASURE
+
+
+"You must be awful rich, Black Bart," said L'Olonnois to me as we sat
+on the grass, at breakfast, the following morning.
+
+"No, Jimmy," I replied, putting down my coffee cup, "on the contrary,
+I am very poor."
+
+"But you have all sorts of things, back there where you live; and last
+night you said you would pay that man a hundred dollars, just to open
+a lot of clam shells. Now, a hundred dollars is a awful sight of
+money."
+
+"That depends, Jimmy," I said.
+
+"'N' we'd ought to _take_ them pearls," broke in Lafitte. "Didn't we
+lick him?"
+
+"We did, yes; twice." And in my assent I felt, again, a fierce
+satisfaction in the first conquest of our invader, that of body to
+body, eye to eye; rather than in the one where I brought intellect to
+aid in war. "But there are two ways of being a pirate. Let us see if
+we can not win treasure by taking a chance in logic, and so be modern
+pirates."
+
+They did not understand me, and went mute, but at last Jimmy resumed
+his catechism. "Who owns the place where you live, Black Bart?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"But how much?"
+
+"Some five or six miles."
+
+"Gee! That must be over a hundred acres. I didn't know anybody owned
+that much land. Where'd you get it?"
+
+"In part from my father."
+
+"What business was he in?"
+
+"He was a pirate, Jimmy, or at least, they said he was. But my mother
+was not.--I will tell you," I added suddenly: "my father owned a great
+deal of timber land long ago, and iron, and oil, and copper, when
+nobody cared much for them. They say, now, he stole some of them, I
+don't know. In those days people weren't so particular. The more he
+got, the more he wanted. He never was a boy like you and me. He
+educated me as a lawyer, so that I could take care of his business and
+his property, and he trained me in the pirate business the best he
+could, and I made money too, all I wanted. You see, my father could
+never get enough, but I did; perhaps, because my mother wasn't a
+pirate, you see. So, when I got enough, my father and mother both died,
+and when I began to see that, maybe, my father had taken a little more
+than our share, I began trying to do something for people ... but I
+can't talk about that, of course."
+
+"Well, why not?" demanded Lafitte. "Go on."
+
+"A fellow doesn't like to."
+
+"But what did you do?"
+
+"Very little. I found I could not do very much. I gave some buildings
+to schools, that sort of thing. No one thanked me much. A good many
+called me a Socialist."
+
+"What's that--a Socialist?"
+
+"I can't tell you. Nobody knows. But really, I suppose, a Socialist is
+a man born before the world got used to steam and electricity. Those
+things made a lot of changes, you see, and in the confusion some
+people didn't get quite as square a deal as they deserved; or at
+least, they didn't think they had. It takes time, really, as I
+suppose, to settle down after any great change. It's like moving a
+house."
+
+"I see," said Jimmy sagely. "But, Black Bart, you always seemed to me
+like as if, now, well, like you was studyin' or something, somehow.
+Ain't you never had no good times before?"
+
+"No. This is about the first really good time I ever had in all my
+life. You see, you can't really understand things that you look at
+from a long way off--you've got to get right in with folks to know
+what folks are. Don't you think so?"
+
+"I know it!" answered Jimmy, with conviction. And I recalled, though
+he did not, the fact that he bathed daily, Lafitte weekly, yet no
+gulf was fixed between their portions of the general humanity.
+
+"It must be nice to be rich," ventured Lafitte presently. "I'm going
+to be, some day."
+
+"Is that why you go a-pirating?" I smiled.
+
+"Maybe. But mostly, because I like it."
+
+"It's a sort of game," said L'Olonnois.
+
+"All life is a sort of game, my hearties," said I. "What you two just
+have said covers most of the noble trade of piracy and nearly all of
+the pretty game of life. You are wise as I am, wise as any man,
+indeed."
+
+"What I like about you, Black Bart," resumed L'Olonnois, naively, "is,
+you seem always fair."
+
+I flushed at this, suddenly, and pushed back my plate. "Jimmy," said I
+at last, "I would rather have heard that, from you, than to hear I had
+made a million dollars from pearls or anything else. For that has
+always been my great hope and wish--that some day I could teach myself
+always to be fair--not to deceive anybody, most of all not myself; in
+short, to be fair. Brother, I thank you, if you really believe I have
+succeeded to some extent."
+
+"Why ain't you always jolly, like you was havin' a good time, then?"
+demanded my blue-eyed inquisitor. "Honor bright!"
+
+"Must it be honor bright?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then I will tell you. It is because of the first chapter of Genesis,
+Jimmy."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Fie! Fie! Jimmy, haven't you read that?" He shook his head.
+
+"I've read a little about the fights," he said, "when Saul 'n' David
+'n' a lot of 'em slew them tens of thousands. But Genesis was dry."
+
+"Do you remember any place where it says 'Male and female created He
+them'?"
+
+"Oh, yes; but what of it? That's dry."
+
+"Is it, though?" I exclaimed. "And you with an Auntie Helena, and a
+brother Black Bart. Jimmy L'Olonnois, little do you know what you
+say!"
+
+"Well, now," interrupted the ruthless soul of Jean Lafitte, "how about
+them pearls?"
+
+"That's so," assented Jimmy. "Pearls is booty."
+
+"Very well, then, shipmates," I assented, "as soon as we have washed
+the dishes, we will see what can be done with the enemy yonder."
+
+We found our two clammers, the young man and his crone of a mother, up
+betimes and hard at work, as evil-looking a pair as ever I saw. The
+man's face was still puffed and discolored, where my fists had
+punished him, and his disposition had not improved overnight. His
+hag-like dam also regarded us with suspicion and disfavor, I could
+note, and I saw her glance from me to her son, making mental
+comparisons; and guessed she had heard explanations regarding black
+eyes which did not wholly satisfy her.
+
+They had already roasted open and examined quite a heap of shells by
+the time we arrived, and I inquired, pleasantly, if they had found
+anything. The man answered surlily that they had not; but something
+made me feel suspicious, since they had made so early a start. I saw
+him now and then wipe his hands on his overalls, and several times
+noted that as he did so, his middle finger projected down below the
+others, as though he were touching for something inside his pocket,
+which lay in front, the overalls being made for a carpenter, with a
+narrow pocket devised for carrying a folded foot-rule. But I could see
+nothing suggested in the pocket.
+
+"That's too bad," I said pleasantly. "It looks as though I were going
+to lose my hundred, doesn't it? Still, the day is long."
+
+I busied myself in watching the deft work of the two as they opened
+the shells started by the heat, sweeping out the fetid contents, and
+feeling in one swift motion of a thumb for any hidden secretion of the
+nacre. Nothing was found while I was watching, and as I did not much
+like the odor, I drew to one side. I found L'Olonnois and Lafitte
+standing apart, in full character, arms folded and scowling heavily.
+
+"If yonder villain plays us false," said Lafitte between his clenched
+teeth, "he shall feel the vengeance of Jean Lafitte! And I wouldn't
+put it a blame bit a-past him, neither," he added, slightly out of
+drawing for the time.
+
+"You are well named, Lafitte," I smiled. "You are a good business man.
+But the day is long."
+
+It was, indeed, long, and I put in part of it wandering about with
+Partial, hunting for squirrels, which he took much delight in chasing
+up trees. Again, I lay for a time reading one of my favorite authors,
+the wise stoic, Epictetus, tarrying over one of my favorite passages:
+
+"Remember that you are an actor of just such a part as is assigned you
+by the Poet of the play; of a short part, if the part be short, of a
+long part if the part be long. Should He wish you to act the part of a
+beggar, ('or of a pirate,' I interpolated, aloud to myself, and
+smiling) take care to act it naturally and nobly; and the same if it
+be the part of a lame man, or a ruler, or a private man. For this is
+in your power--to act well the part assigned to you; but to choose
+that part is the function of another."
+
+I lay thoughtful, querying. Was I a rich man, or a poor man? Was I a
+ruler, or a private man, or a lame man?... I asked myself many
+questions, concluding that all my life I had, like most of us all,
+been more or less a lame man and a private man after all, and much
+like my fellow.... It was a great day for me; since each day I seek to
+learn something. And here now was I, blessed by the printed wisdom of
+age and philosophy, and yet more blessed by the spoken philosophy of
+unthinking Youth.... I lay flat, my arms out on the grass, and looked
+up at the leaves. I felt myself a part of the eternal changeless
+scheme, and was well content. It has always been impossible for me to
+care for the little things of life--such as the amassing of
+money--when I am alone in the woods. I pondered now on the wisdom of
+my teachers, Epictetus, Jimmy, John and the author of the Book of
+Genesis.
+
+I arose at last with less of melancholy and more of resolve than I had
+known for years. The world swam true on its axis all around me; and I,
+who all my life had been in some way out of balance in the world, now
+walked with a strange feeling of poise and certainty.... No, I said to
+myself, I would argue no more with Helena. And meantime since the Poet
+of the play had assigned me the double role of pirate and boy, I was
+resolved to act both "naturally and nobly."
+
+I could not have called either of my associates less than natural and
+noble in his part, viewed as I found them when at length I sought them
+to partake of a cold luncheon. They stood apart, gloom and stern
+dignity themselves, offering no speech to the laboring clammers, who,
+by this time, were but masses of evil odors and ill-temper in equal
+parts.
+
+"I think he's holdin' out on us!" hissed Jean Lafitte, as I
+approached. "Time and again I seen the varlet make false moves. Let
+him have a care! The eye of Jean Lafitte is upon him!"
+
+For my own part, I cared little for anything beyond the sport in my
+pearl venture, but no man likes to be "done," so I joined the guard
+over the pearl fishing. I could see little indication of success on
+the part of the two clammers, who went on in their work steadily,
+exchanging no more than a monosyllable now and then, but who were
+animated, it seemed to us, by the same excitement which governs the
+miner washing gravel in his pan. They scarce could rest, but went on
+from shell to shell, opening each as eagerly as though it meant a
+fortune. This of itself seemed to me both natural and yet not wholly
+natural; for it was now late in the day's work. Why should they go on
+quite so eagerly in what six hours of stooping in the sun should have
+made monotonous routine?
+
+They showed me a few pieces they had saved, splinters and slugs of
+nacre, misshapen and of no luster, and sneered at the net results,
+worth, at most, not so much as the day's wages I was paying either. I
+cared nothing for the results, and smiled and nodded as I took them.
+
+Thus the day wore on till mid-afternoon, when, such had been the zeal
+of the clammers, the heap of bivalves was exhausted. They stood erect,
+straightening their stiffened backs, and grinned as they looked at me.
+
+"Well," said the old hag, "I reckon ye're satisfied now that we know
+this business better'n you do. He told ye there wasn't no pearl in
+this river."
+
+"No;" added her hopeful son, "an' come to think of it, how'd I ever
+know you had a hundred dollars? I ain't seen it yet. But we've done,
+so let's see it now."
+
+I quietly opened my pocketbook and took several bills of that
+yellow-backed denomination, and selected one for him. He took it at
+first suspiciously, then greedily, and I saw his eyes go to my wallet.
+"I forgot," said I, and took out two bills of five dollars each, which
+I handed to him.
+
+"By golly!" said he, "so'd I forgot!"
+
+"Why did you forget about your wages?" I asked, and looked at him
+keenly. He turned his eyes aside.
+
+"This fresh-water pearl fishing," said I, "has many points of
+likeness to the ocean pearl fishing in Ceylon."
+
+"You been there?" he queried. "And why is it like them?"
+
+"In several ways. It is, in the first place, all a gamble. The pearl
+merchants buy the oysters as I bought my mussels, by the lump and as a
+chance, based on the law of average product. They rot the oysters as
+you do the mussels. The smell is the same: and many other things are
+the same. For instance, it is almost impossible to keep the diver from
+stealing pearls, just as it is hard to keep the Kafirs from stealing
+the diamonds they find in the mines."
+
+I still was looking at him closely, and now I said to him mildly, and
+in a low tone of voice, "It would be of no use--I should only beat you
+again; and I would rather spare your mother. You see," I added in a
+louder tone of voice, "the natives put pearls in their hair, between
+their toes, in their mouths--although they do not chew tobacco as you
+do. One who merely put one in the pocket of his overalls--if he wore
+overalls--would be called very clumsy, indeed, especially if he had
+been seen to do it."
+
+Involuntarily, he clapped a hand on his pocket. What would have been
+his next act I do not know, for at that moment I heard a voice call
+out sharply, "Halt! villain. Throw up your hands, or by heavens you
+die!" Turning swiftly, I saw Lafitte, his pistol barrel rested in very
+serviceable fashion in the crotch of a staff, the same as when he
+first accosted me on my stream, glancing along the barrel with an
+ominous gray eye again gone three-cornered.
+
+Before I could even cry out to him his warning was effective. I saw my
+clam fisher go white and put his hands over his head, the while his
+dam ran screaming toward the tent--Jimmy L'Olonnois at her heels,
+sword in hand, and warning her not to get a gun, else her life's blood
+would dye the strand.
+
+Here, now, was a pretty pickle for a sworn servant of the law to aid
+in making! A wrong move might mean murder done by these imaginative
+youths, and I no less than accessory, to boot; for, surely, I had
+given them aid and violent counsel in this drama which we all were
+playing so naturally, if not so nobly. I hastened over to Lafitte and
+called loudly to L'Olonnois, and commanded Partial to drop the renewed
+encounter with the clammers' dog, which now, also, swiftly threatened
+us. So, in a moment or two, I restored peace.
+
+I held out my hand to the clammer. "I didn't know you seen me," said
+he simply; and placed in my hand three pearls, either of them worth
+more than all I had paid him, and one of them the largest and best I
+had ever seen--it is the pearl famous as the "_Belle Helene_," the
+finest ever taken in fresh waters in America, so it is said by
+Tiffany's.
+
+I looked at him quietly, and handed him back all but the one pearl. "I
+am sorry you were not a better sport," said I, "very sorry. Didn't I
+play fair with you?"
+
+"No," said he. "Some folks have all the luck. You come along here,
+rich, with all sorts of things, you and them d----d kids, and you'd
+rob a man like me out of what little he can make."
+
+I was opening my wallet again. "I am sorry to hear you say that," said
+I, handing him two bills of a hundred dollars each. "Sorry, because it
+has cost you twenty-eight hundred dollars."
+
+"My God, man, what do you mean?" he gasped, even his fingers slow to
+take both money and contempt.
+
+"That the pearl is worth to me that much, since I have purpose for it.
+I have more money than I want, and fewer pearls like this than I want.
+It would have given me the keenest sort of pleasure to give you and
+your mother a few thousand dollars, two or three, to set you up with a
+little launch and an outfit enough to give you a good start--and,
+perhaps, a good partner. As it is, you are lucky my pirate brother has
+not blown a hole through you, and that my other brother has not shed
+the blood of your parent, if she have any. You had a good chance, and
+like many another man who isn't good enough to deserve success, you
+lost it. Do you know why you failed?"
+
+"It's the luck," said he. "I never had none."
+
+"No," said I, "it is not that. So far as luck goes, you are lucky you
+are alive. Little do you know our desperate band. Little do you know
+you have escaped the wrath of Lafitte, of L'Olonnois, of Black Bart.
+Luck! No, that is not why you failed."
+
+"What then?" he demanded, still covetous, albeit rueful, too, at what
+he vaguely knew was lost opportunity.
+
+"It was because you did not play the part of a clammer naturally and
+nobly," I replied. "My friend, I counsel you to read Epictetus--and
+while you are at that," I added, "I suggest you read also that other
+classic, the one known as _The Pirate's Own Book_."
+
+So saying, since he stood stupefied, and really not seeing my hand,
+which I reached out to him in farewell, I called to Partial, and
+followed by the two stern and relentless figures, made our way back to
+the spot where the good ship _Sea Rover_ lay straining at her hawser.
+
+"What ho! messmates!" I cried. "Fortune has been kind to our bold
+band this day. We have taken large booty. Let us up anchor and set
+sail. Before yon sun has sunk into the deep we shall be far away, and
+our swift craft is able to shake off all pursuit."
+
+"Whither away, Black Bart,--Captain, I mean!" said Jean Lafitte (and I
+blushed at this title and this hard-won rank, as one of the proudest
+of my swiftly-following accomplishments in happiness).
+
+"Spang! to the Spanish Main," was my reply.
+
+A moment later, the waves were rippling merrily along the sides of the
+_Sea Rover_ as she headed out boldly into the high seas.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+IN WHICH I SHOW MY TRUE COLORS
+
+
+There were many lesser adventures in which Lafitte, L'Olonnois and I
+shared on our voyage through the long waterways leading down to the
+great river, but of these I make small mention, for, in truth, one
+boasts little of one's deeds in piracy after the fact, or of inciting
+piracy and making accessories before the fact, the more especially if
+such accessories be small but bloodthirsty boys. These latter, let me
+plead in extenuation of my own sins, already were pirates, and set
+upon rapine. For my own part, seeing their resolution to take green
+corn and other vegetables, aye, even fowls, as part of the natural
+returns of their stern calling, I made no remonstrances, not the first
+leader unable to restrain his ruthless band, but I eased my own
+conscience by leaving--quite unknown to them,--sundry silver coins in
+cleft sticks, prominently displayed, in the hope that irate farmers
+might find them when, after our departure, they visited the scenes of
+our marauding. And to such an extent did this marauding obtain that,
+by the time we had reached the Mississippi River, I was almost wholly
+barren of further silver coins.
+
+Many things I learned as we voyaged; as that my dog Partial would,
+when asked, roll over and over upon the ground, or sit up and
+bark--things taught him by no man known in his history, so far as
+Lafitte could recall it. And things I learned regarding birds and
+small animals of which my law books had told me nothing. As to
+mosquitoes, I learned that, whereas they do not hurt a young pirate,
+they do an old one; and I half resolved to discontinue my book
+regarding them. Perhaps it was not of first importance.
+
+But two things grew on me in conviction. First, I loved Helena Emory
+more and more each day of my life; and second, that I must see her at
+the first moment possible--in spite of all my resolutions to put her
+out of my life forever! And, these two things being assured, when we
+saw the rolling yellowish flood of the Father of the Waters at last
+sweeping before us, I realized that, bound as I was in honor to hold
+on with my faithful band, our craft, the _Sea Rover_--sixteen feet
+long she was, and well equipped with Long Toms and deck
+cannonades--would have no chance to overtake the _Belle Helene_,
+fastest yacht on the Great Lakes, who might, so far as I could tell,
+at that very moment be cleaving through the Chicago canal, to enter
+the great river hundreds of miles ahead of us.
+
+Wherefore, leaving my bold mates in bivouac one day, I made journey
+to the nearest town. There, I sent certain messages to anxious
+parents, and left for them our probable itinerary as tourists
+traveling by private conveyance. I could not set our future dates and
+ports more closely together; for, before I left town, I had purchased
+a sturdy power boat of our own, capable of doing her ten or twelve
+miles under her own petrol. I was in no mind to fall farther and
+farther back of the _Belle Helene_ each day; and I counted upon our
+piratical energy to keep us going more hours a day than Cal
+Davidson--curses on him!--would be apt to travel.
+
+I gave orders for immediate fitting of my new craft, and delivery on
+the spot; and within the hour, although regarded with much suspicion
+by the town marshal and many leading citizens, I set out for our
+bivouac, with the aid of the late owner of the boat, to whom I gave
+assurance that no evil should befall him. When we chugged along the
+shore, and slackened opposite our camp, I heard the stern voice of
+Lafitte hail us: "Ship ahoy!" (Perhaps he saw me at the stern sheets.)
+
+"Aye! Aye! mate!" I answered, through my cupped hands. "Bear a hand
+with our landing line." Whereat my hardy band came running and made us
+fast.
+
+"What has gone wrong, Black Bart?" demanded L'Olonnois, uncertain of
+my status. "Hast met mishap and struck colors?"
+
+"By no means!" I rejoined. "This is a prize, our first capture. And
+since she has struck her colors, let us mount our own at her foremast
+and ship our band to a bigger and faster craft."
+
+The late owner, who bore the name of Robinson, looked on much
+perplexed, and, I think, in some apprehension, for he must have
+thought us dangerous, whether sane or mad.
+
+"Who'll run her?" he at length demanded of me, looking from me to my
+two associates. Then forth and stood Jean Lafitte; and answered a
+question I confess I had not yet myself asked: "Ho! I guess a fellow
+who can run a gasoline pump in a creamery can handle one of them
+things. So think not, fellow, to escape us!"
+
+I reassured Robinson, who was apparently ready to make a run for it;
+and I explained to Lafitte and L'Olonnois my plan.
+
+"We'll by no means discard our brig, the original _Sea Rover_," said
+I, "and we'll tow her along as our tender. But we'll christen the
+prize the _Sea Rover_ instead, and hoist our flag over her--and paint
+on her name at the first point of call we make. Now, let us hasten,
+for two thousand miles of sea lie before us, and Robinson is also five
+miles from home."
+
+But Robinson became more and more alarmed each moment. He had my
+money, I his bill of sale, but ride back to town with us he would not.
+Instead, he washed his hands of us and started back afoot--to get the
+town marshal, I was well convinced. It mattered little to us; for once
+more did sturdy Jean Lafitte more than make good his boast. With one
+look at the gasoline tank to assure himself that all was well, he made
+fast the painter of the old _Sea Rover_, and even as L'Olonnois with
+grim determination planted the Jolly Rover above our bows, and as I
+tossed aboard the cargo of our former craft, Lafitte cranked her up
+with master hand, threw in the gear, and with a steady eye headed her
+for midstream, where town marshals may not come.
+
+I looked at my mates in admiration. They could do things I could not
+do, and they faced the future with no trace of hesitation. I caught
+from them a part of this resolution I so long had lacked. I added this
+to my determination to see Helena Emory once more and soon as wind and
+wave would allow. So that, believe me, the blood rose quickly in my
+veins as I saw now we had faster travel ahead of us.
+
+"Square away the main braces, my hearties!" I called. "Break out the
+spinnaker and set the jibs. It's a wet sheet and a flowing sea, and
+let any stop us at their peril!"
+
+"Aye! Aye! Sir," came the response of Jean Lafitte in a voice almost
+bass, and "Aye! Aye! Sir," piped the blue-eyed Lieutenant L'Olonnois.
+The stanch craft leaped ahead, wallowing in cross seas till we reached
+the mid-current of the Mississippi's heavy flood, then riding and
+rising gamely as she met wave after wave that came up-stream with the
+head wind. The eyes of Lafitte gleamed. L'Olonnois, hand over eyes,
+stood in our bows. "Four bells, and all's well!" he intoned in a
+vigorous voice.
+
+It was my own heart made answer, in the sweetest challenge it ever had
+given to the world: "All's well!" And far ahead I, too, peered across
+the wave, seeking to make out the hull of fleeing craft that bore
+treasure I was resolved should yet be mine.
+
+"More sail, Officer!" I called to Jean Lafitte. He grinned in answer.
+
+"You're in a hurry, Black Bart. What makes you?" And even L'Olonnois
+turned a searching gaze upon me.
+
+"Then I'll show you my true colors," said I. "I am more careless of
+taking treasure than of capturing a certain maiden who flees before us
+yonder on a swift craft, speedier than our own. Lay me alongside of
+her, this week, next month, this winter, and my share of the other
+booty shall be yours!"
+
+"Black Bart," said Lafitte, "I knew something was sort of botherin'
+you. So, it's you for the fair captive, huh?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+IN WHICH MY PLOT THICKENS
+
+
+We sped on now steadily, day by delightful day, and ever arose in my
+soul new wonders at the joy of life itself, things that had escaped me
+in my plodding business life. Now and again, I took from my pocket the
+little volume which always went with me on the stream when I angled,
+and which I confess sometimes charmed me away from the stream to some
+shaded nook where I might read old Omar undisturbed--as now I might,
+with L'Olonnois at the masthead and Lafitte at the wheel. And always
+these wise, reckless, joyous pages of the old philosopher spelled to
+me "Haste! Haste!"
+
+    "Whether at Naishapur or Babylon,
+    Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run,
+    The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop.
+    The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one."
+
+    "Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring
+    Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling:
+    The Bird of Time has but a little way
+    To flutter--and the Bird is on the Wing!"
+
+What truth, what absolute truth of the red-hot spur lay in those
+words, lesson direst to me! What had my life been, plodding in books
+to learn to keep by forms of law the booty my father had stolen? Away
+with it, then, for now the Bird of Time was on the wing! Let me forget
+the wasted years, spent in adding dollar to dollar; for what could the
+highest pile of dollars mean to a man who had missed what Lafitte and
+L'Olonnois and Omar had in their teaching? The booty of the world, the
+pearls of price, the casks of the Wine of Life, are his only who takes
+them. They can not be bought, can not be given. "Oh, haste! Jean
+Lafitte, for my new knowledge indeed eats at my soul. Hasten, for the
+Bird of Life is on the wing, L'Olonnois." So I spoke to them; and
+they, feeling it all a part of the play, gravely answered in kind, to
+what end that any who sought to stay Black Bart and his crew did so at
+peril of their blood.
+
+We came, I knew not after how many days forgotten in detail--after
+passing, each avoided as a pestilence, many cities prosperous in
+commerce--alongside the river port of the city of St. Louis, crowded
+with motley and misfit shipping of one sort or other, where our craft
+might moor without fear of exciting any suspicion, in spite of our
+ominous name; for I had the precaution to lower our flag of the skull
+and cross-bones.
+
+I sought out the man most apt to know of any considerable vessels
+docking there, and made inquiry for any power yacht one hundred and
+twenty-five feet long, white and black ventilators, white hull with
+blue line, flying the burgee _Belle Helene_, or some such name. None
+could advise me for a time, and I looked in vain, as I had in every
+dock in six hundred miles, for the trim hull of my yacht. At last one
+old mariner, in rubber boots, himself skipper of a house-boat
+south-bound for a winter's trapping, admitted that he had seen such a
+craft three days before!
+
+"Did she dock?" I demanded.
+
+"Sure she did, and lay over night. I remember it well enough, for I
+saw her tie up; and that evening her owner went ashore and up-town,
+and with him his bride, I reckon--handsomest girl in all the town.
+They must have been married, for he was lookin' like he owned her.
+That was lemme see, two days ago or maybe four. They came aboard her
+next morning, all three--there was a old party along, girl's mother
+likely--around eleven o'clock, and in a little while cast off and went
+on down-river. As fine a boat as ever made the river run--still as a
+mouse she was, but quick as a cat, and around Ste. Genevieve, I
+reckon, before I got back to my own scow after helping them off here.
+No wonder her owner was proud. He stood on the quarter-deck like a
+lord. Why shouldn't he, ownin' a boat an' a girl like that?"
+
+"He doesn't own either!" I retorted hotly.
+
+"Why, how do you know he don't?" demanded my sea-going man.
+
+"Who should know, if not myself?"
+
+"Sho! You talk like you owned her!"
+
+"I do own her!"
+
+"It looks like it. Which do you mean--her the yacht, or her the girl?"
+
+"Both--no! That is, well at least I own the boat."
+
+"That may all be, or it all mayn't," he replied, openly scoffing; "at
+least so far's the boat goes. Anybody kin buy anything that has the
+price. But as to the girl, you'd have to prove it, if I was him. And
+if he didn't look like he owned her, or was goin' to, I'll eat your
+own gas tank there, an' them two kids in it fer good measure."
+
+Of course I could not argue or explain, and therefore turned away. But
+all the answer of my soul came from the lips of L'Olonnois, who,
+propped up against the cockpit combing, was reading aloud to Lafitte
+from _The Pirate's Own Book_ as I approached. "Hah! my good man!"
+exclaimed the pirate chieftain as he looked at his blade, "unhand the
+maid, or by Heaven! your life's blood shall dye the deck where you
+stand!"
+
+"Ah, ha! Cal Davidson," said I to myself through my set teeth; "little
+do you think that you are discovered in your sins, and little do you
+know that the avenger is on your track. But have a care, for Black
+Bart and his band pursues you!"
+
+And, seeing that we had now laid in abundance of ship's stores,
+including four drums of gasoline; and since the trail of Cal Davidson
+was, at least, no wider than the banks of the river down which he had
+fled, it looked ill enough for the chances of that robber when the
+stanch _Sea Rover_, her flag again aloft and promising no quarter,
+chugged out into midstream and took up a pursuit which was to know no
+faltering until at last I had learned the truth about the fair captive
+of the _Belle Helene_. For indeed, indeed, Omar, and you, too, stout
+Lafitte and hardy L'Olonnois, the Bird of Life was on the wing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+IN WHICH WE CLOSE WITH THE ENEMY
+
+
+Cal Davidson took on five drums of petrol at Cairo, and a like amount
+of champagne at Memphis, and no man may tell what other supplies at
+this or that other point along the river. He evidently suspected no
+pursuit, or, if he did, was a swaggering varlet enough, for, according
+to all accounts which we could get, he loitered and lingered along,
+altogether at his leisure, with due attention to social matters at
+every port; for if he had not a wife at every port, at least, he had
+an acquaintance of business or social sort, so that, one might be
+sure, there were few dull moments for him and his party, whether
+afloat or ashore. He must have attended a dinner-party and two
+theaters at Memphis, and have sailed only after making three thousand
+dollars out of a combination in champagne present and cotton future,
+whose disgusting details I did not seek to learn. Trust Davidson to
+make money, and to make the most of life also as he went along. He
+always had the best of everything; and surely now he had, for the
+leisurely, ease-seeking _Belle Helene_, not actuated by any vast
+motive beyond that of the bee and the honey flower, slipped on down
+and ahead with perfect ease, while we, grimy, slow, determined, plowed
+on in her wake losing miles each hour the graceful _Belle Helene_
+chose to show us her light disdainful heels, serenely indifferent
+because wholly ignorant of our existence.
+
+But we held to the chase as true pirates, not loitering at any port,
+and--since now I, also, had learned something of the intricacies of
+our engine, and could take a trick while the others slept--running
+twice the hours daily the haughty yacht would deign to log. I knew
+that Cal Davidson would stop to shoot and to visit, and knew that he
+could, by no human means, be induced to pass any telegraph point where
+the daily standing of the baseball clubs could be learned--he counted
+that day lost in which he did not learn the scores. As for myself, I
+have never been able to understand how any grown man or any one
+ungrown can take any interest whatever in the deeds of hired
+ball-playing Hessians, who have back of them neither patriotism nor
+even a municipal pride. But, for once, I was joyed that the organized
+business sense of a few men had put an otherwise able citizen under
+tribute, because now, though the _Belle Helene_ must pause at least
+daily, the _Sea Rover_ need do no such thing.
+
+Nor did we. We were hot on the trail of the enemy as he flew south
+along the Chickasha Bluffs, hot as he left Memphis behind, and taking
+the widening waters which now wandered through low forest lands,
+reached out for the next city of size, historic Vicksburg on her
+seventy hills. And hot and eager, more than ever, were we when,
+chugging around the head of that vast arm of the river, where it
+curves like a boy of some southern sea, with its heights rising beyond
+and afar, we saw what caused me to exclaim aloud, "At last! There she
+lies, my hearties!"
+
+I pointed on ahead. To my eyes, who had designed her, every line of
+that long, graceful, white hull was familiar. The jaunty rake of her
+air-shafts, like stacks of a liner, the sweep of her clean freeboard
+up to her shining rail, the ease of her bows, the graceful boldness of
+her overhang--all were familiar enough to me. She was my boat, and
+once I was wont to enjoy her. And on board her now was the woman who
+had taken away from me all desire to keep a yacht in commission, to
+keep open a house in town, or an office, or to frequent my clubs, or
+to meet my friends. Was she there, this woman; and was she still?--but
+I dared not ask that question.
+
+"Full speed ahead, Jean!" I called. "That's the _Belle Helene_! Yonder
+lies the enemy!"
+
+And then the inevitable happened. Perhaps it was too much gas,
+perhaps too much lubricant, perhaps a spark plug was carrying too much
+carbon. At any rate, the engine of the _Sea Rover_ chose that time to
+chug and cease to revolve!
+
+It was more than a mile to the foot of that vast curve; and even as I
+leaped at the grimy oily motor, I saw a white dingey with blue trim
+make out from the wharf and leisurely pull alongside the landing stair
+of the yacht. It held two figures only, that of the deck-hand who
+rowed, and that of the large white-flanneled man who now disembarked
+from the dingey and went aboard the yacht. He was waving a paper over
+his head, so that I inferred the Giants must have won that day. And
+then, as we tugged and hurried with our arbitrary motor, I saw the
+_Belle Helene_, with a slight smiling salute to friends ashore, swing
+daintily about and head out and down the river! The faint and
+infallible rhythm of her perfect enginery came throbbing to us across
+the water ... I stood up. I hailed, I waved, I shouted, and I fear
+even cursed. Perhaps they thought some drunken fisherman was
+disporting himself; but certainly, a few moments later, we were
+rocking on the roll of the river, and the yacht was out of sight and
+sound around the next great bend.
+
+"It shall go hard but we overhaul yon varlet yet," said L'Olonnois
+grimly.
+
+"Aye," assented Lafitte; "we've busted a plug, an' he has showed us a
+clean pair of heels, but it's a long chase if the _Sea Rover_ does not
+overhaul him. We'll have to overhaul our engine first, though," he
+added thoughtfully.
+
+But the overhauling of our engine meant a voyage under sweeps to a
+precarious landing among divers packets, house-boats and launches, on
+Vicksburg waterside, and a later visit to a specialist in diseases of
+the carburetor; so that, when at last the _Sea Rover_ was ready for
+the sea again, her chase might have been a hundred miles ahead an she
+liked.
+
+"Gee!" exclaimed Jean Lafitte, as we were about to cast off. "Looky
+here, de Cubs licked de G'ints five to one to-day." He pointed to
+figures in a newspaper which he had obtained. So then it might have
+been excitement of rage, and not of joy, which had animated Cal
+Davidson when he went aboard.
+
+"Never mind then," said I, "for that gives us a day's start."
+
+"How do you mean?" demanded Jean.
+
+"It means that yonder varlet will not leave Natchez to-morrow until
+late evening, after the wires are in from the northern ball games," I
+replied. "Of course he'll stop there next." I felt now that the Lord
+had, by implanting this insane lust of petty baseball news in his
+soul, delivered my enemy into my hand.
+
+Now I wist not how or at what dignified speed the _Belle Helene_ swept
+on down that mighty river through the rich southern lands; nor do I
+scarce half remember the painstaking persistent run we made with the
+grimy _Sea Rover_ in pursuit, hour after hour, night or day. We had no
+licensed pilot or licensed engineer, we bore no lights as prescribed
+by law, and heeded no channels as prescribed by government engineers.
+Pirates, indeed, we might have been as we plowed on down in the wake
+of our quarry, along the ancient highway famous in fast packet days.
+We cared nothing for law, order, custom, conventions, precedents--the
+very things which had enslaved me all my life I now cast aside.
+Through bend after bend, along willow-lined flats and bluffs crowned
+with stately, moss-draped live-oaks, we swept on and on; and always I
+strained my eyes to see, my ears to hear, on ahead some sign of the
+_Belle Helene_; always strained my heart for some sign from her. Why,
+even I looked in the water for some bottle bearing a memory from yon
+captive maid to me. Captive? Why, certainly she must be captive; and
+certainly she must know that I, Black Bart the Avenger, was upon the
+trail.
+
+We made the pleasant city of Natchez in the evening of the sweetest
+day on which, as I thought, the sun had ever set. Her lofty hills--for
+here the great eastern fence of hills which bound the Vermont Delta on
+the eastward sweep in to close the foot of the Delta's V, and run
+sheer to the river's brink--rose upon our left. The low tree-covered
+lands on the Louisiana side lay at our right, and over them hung,
+center of a most radiant evening curtain, painted in a thousand colors
+by the mighty brush of nature, the round red orb of day, now sinking
+to his rest.
+
+I did not begrudge the sun his rest that day. For now, just at the
+edge of this beautiful picture there hung, at the dry point where the
+old keel boats used to land at old Natchez, under the hill where the
+pirates of those days sought relaxation from labors in the joys of
+combat or of wine, I caught sight of the long, low, graceful hull of
+the _Belle Helene_!
+
+"Avast! Jean Lafitte," I cried. "Shorten all sail, and bear across,
+west-by-west."
+
+"Aye! Aye! Sir," came the response from my bold crew.
+
+"Why don't we run in and board her?" demanded L'Olonnois. However,
+seeing that I had laid hold of the steering line where I sat, and was
+heading the _Sea Rover_ across the Louisiana side, away from the
+city's water-front, he subsided.
+
+"We'll cast anchor yonder where the holding ground is good," I
+explained. "To-night we'll send off the long boat with a boarding
+party. And marry!" I added, "it shall go hard, but we'll hold yon
+varlet to his accounting!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+IN WHICH WE BOARD THE ENEMY
+
+
+Slowly the vast painting of the sky softened and faded until, at
+length, its edges blended with the shadows of the forest. There came
+into relief against the sky-line the etched outlines of the trees
+crowning the bluff on the eastern side of the great river. The
+oncoming darkness promised safety for a craft unimportant as ours as
+we now lay in the shadows of the western shore. Meantime, as well as
+the failing light allowed, we let nothing on board the _Belle Helene_
+go unobserved.
+
+The yacht lay--with an audacity of carelessness which I did not like
+to note--hardly inside the edge of the regular shipping channel, but
+swung securely and gracefully at her cable, held by an anchor which I
+had devised myself, heavy enough for twice her tonnage. On the deck I
+could see an occasional figure, but though I plied my binoculars
+carefully, not the figure which I sought. A man leaned against the
+rail, idly, smoking, but this I made out to be the engineer, Williams,
+come up to get the evening air. Billy, the deck-hand, John, my Chinese
+cook, and Peterson, the boat-master, were at the time out of sight,
+as well as Cal Davidson, who had her under charter.
+
+We lay thus, separated by some distance of the river's flood, each
+craft at anchor, only one observed by the other. But to my impatient
+gaze matters seemed strangely slow on board the _Belle Helene_. I was
+relieved when at last the rather portly but well groomed figure of my
+friend Davidson appeared on deck. He made his way aft along the rail,
+and I could see him bend over and call down the companionway of the
+after staterooms. Then, an instant later, he was joined on the after
+deck by two ladies. The sight of one of these caused my heart to
+bound.
+
+They stood for a moment, no more than dimly outlined, but I could see
+them well enough. The older lady, with the scarf about her head, was
+Aunt Lucinda. The slighter figure in white and wearing no head
+covering, was she, Helena Emory! It was Helena! It was Helena!
+
+She turned toward Davidson. I could hear across the water the sound of
+laughter. A sudden feeling of anger came into my soul. I shifted my
+position in the _Sea Rover_, and stepped on Partial's tail, causing
+him to give a sharp bark and to come and lick my hand in swift
+repentance. I feared for the time that his sound might attract
+attention to our boat, which, if examined closely, might seem a
+trifle suspicious. True pirates, and oblivious of all law, we had not
+yet hoisted our riding lights, though for all I know our black flag
+still was flying.
+
+The three figures passed forward along the deck slowly and disappeared
+down the front companion-stair which led to the cozy dining-room. I
+could see them all sitting there, about my own table, using the very
+silver and linen which I had had made for the _Belle Helene_, attended
+by John, my Chinese cook and factotum, whom I had especially imported,
+selected from among a thousand other Chinese by myself at Hankow. I
+knew that Davidson would have champagne and a dozen other wines in
+abundance, everything the market offered. A pleasant party, this of
+three, which was seating itself at my table over yonder, while I, in a
+grimy, dingy, little tub lay looking at them, helpless in the gloom!
+Ah, villain, shrewd enough you were when you planned this trip for
+Aunt Lucinda's health! Well enough you knew that of all places in the
+world none equals a well equipped private yacht for the courting of a
+maid. Why, if it be propinquity that does it, what chance had any man
+on earth against this man, enjoying the privilege of propinquity of
+propinquities, and adding thereto the weapons of every courtesy, every
+little pleasure a man may show a maid? Trust Cal Davidson for all
+that! I well-nigh gnashed my teeth in anger.
+
+I scarce know how the time passed, until at last I saw them, in the
+illumination of the deck lights, at length come on deck again. They
+stood looking out over the river, or toward the lights of
+Natchez-under-the-Hill, and at length idly walked aft once more. The
+two ladies seated themselves on deck chairs under the awning of the
+rear deck. I could not see them now, but heard the tinkle and throb of
+a guitar come across the water, touched lightly with long pauses, as
+under some suspended melody not yet offered in fulness. Now and again
+I could hear a word or so, the rather deep voice of Aunt Lucinda, the
+bass tones of Davidson, but strain my ears as I might, I could not
+hear the sound of that other voice, low and sweet, an excellent thing
+in woman.
+
+At length the little party seemed to be breaking up. I saw Davidson,
+half in shadow, outlined by the deck lights as he rose, and passed
+forward. Then I heard the falls run, and a soft splash as the dingey
+was launched overside. Cal Davidson was going ashore. He could no
+longer resist his anxiety over the baseball score! A moment later I
+heard the dip of the oars. Some one turned on the search-light, so
+that a wide shaft of light swung along the foot of Natchez Hill,
+toward which the dingey was headed. The shadows on the deck of the
+_Belle Helene_ seemed darker now, by contrast, but I believed that
+Williams, the engineer, now had left the rail on which he was leaning
+over his folded arms.
+
+I turned now to my wondering companions, who, seeing me so much
+interested, had remained for a long time practically silent. Fall now,
+curtain of romance, for we be but three pirates here! Up anchor, then,
+and back across the stream toward our quarry quickly, my bold mates,
+for now there lies at hand a dangerous work of the boarding party!
+
+Thus I might have spoken aloud; for, at least, I hardly needed to do
+more than motion to Jean Lafitte, and as we resumed our softly
+chugging progress, having broken out our shallow anchorage, he steered
+the boat to the motion of my hand. We passed close alongside the
+_Belle Helene_ and I examined her keenly as we did so. Then,
+apparently unnoticed, we dropped down-stream a bit, and found another
+anchorage.
+
+"Clear away the long boat for the boarding party," I now whispered
+hoarsely. I spoke to companions now in full character. Belted and
+armed, Lafitte and L'Olonnois rose ready for any bold emprise, each
+with red kerchief pulled about his brow. And now, to my interest, I
+observed that each had resumed the black mask which they had worn
+earlier in our long voyage, sign of the desperate character of each
+wearer.
+
+"Whither away, Black Bart?" demanded L'Olonnois fiercely. "Lead, and
+we follow."
+
+"You had better put on a mask, Black Bart," added Jean Lafitte, and
+handed me a spare one of his own manufacture. I hesitated, but then,
+seeing that part of my success lay in our all remaining somewhat
+piratical of character, I hastily slipped it above my eyes, and pulled
+down my hat brim. "She will not know me now," said I to myself. And
+truly enough we seemed desperate folk, fierce as any who ever lay in
+keel boat off the foot of Natchez bluff, even in the bloodiest times
+of Mike Fink the Keel-boatman or of Murrell the southern bandit king.
+
+Partial, without invitation, climbed into the skiff with us. "Cast
+off," I ordered. "Oars!" And my young men--whom by this time I had
+trained in many ways nautical--obeyed in good seaman fashion. A moment
+later we lay almost under the rail of the _Belle Helene_. No one
+hailed us. We seemed taken only for some passing skiff.
+
+"Listen!" I whispered, "there is risk in what we are going to do."
+
+I looked at my blue-eyed pirate, L'Olonnois, who sat closer to me. On
+his face was simple and complete happiness. At last, his adventure
+had come to him and he was meeting it like a man.
+
+"What is it, Black Bart?" I heard Jean Lafitte whisper hoarsely.
+
+"We are to board and take yonder ship," I replied softly. "If we are
+to succeed, you must do precisely as I tell you. Leave the main risk
+to me, that of the law. I'll take possession on the ground that she is
+my boat, that her charter money is not paid, and that yonder varlet is
+making away with her out of the country. She holds much treasure, let
+me assure you of that, my men--the greatest treasure that ever came
+down this river.
+
+"Now, listen. You, Lafitte, as soon as we get aboard, are to run and
+close the hatch of the engine-room. That will pen Williams, the
+engineer, below, where he can make no resistance. As soon as that is
+done, run to those doors forward which lead down to the dining-room
+companionway and shut those doors and latch them. That will take care
+of John, the cook. The deck-hand is away with the varlet. That leaves
+only the shipmaster and the women captives.
+
+"While you are busy in this way, Lafitte, I will hunt for Peterson,
+the master, who very likely is sitting quiet on the forward deck
+somewhere. The main danger lies with him. While I attend to him, you,
+L'Olonnois, run aft. You will find there two ladies, one very old and
+ugly, the other very young and very beautiful. See that they do not
+escape, and hold them there until I come aft to meet you.
+
+"All this must go through as we have planned. Once the maiden is in
+our power, and the ship our own, we will head down-stream for the open
+sea. Are you with me, my bold mates?"
+
+"Lead on, Black Bart!" I heard L'Olonnois hiss; and I saw Jean Lafitte
+tighten his belt.
+
+"All ready, then," said I. "I'll go forward and make fast the painter
+when we reach the landing stair. Follow me quickly. Leave Partial in
+the boat. Gently now."
+
+Swiftly but silently, we swept in under the lee of the _Belle Helene_.
+The landing ladder had not been drawn up after Davidson's departure,
+so that the boarding party had easy work ahead.
+
+I sprang upon the deck, my footfalls deadened by the rubber matting
+which lay along all the decks. I turned. Above the rail behind me rose
+the face of Lafitte, masked. The long blade of a Malay kris was in his
+teeth. In one hand he held a pistol, using the other as he climbed. He
+scraped out of his belt as he came aboard I know not how many pistols
+which fell into the water, but still, God wot! had abundant remaining.
+Nor did L'Olonnois, close behind him, his Samurai sword between his
+teeth, present a spectacle less awesome. I breathed a sudden prayer
+that these might meet with no resistance, else I could only fear the
+direst consequences!
+
+I made a quick motion with my hand, even as I sprang forward in search
+of Peterson. The dull thud of the engine-room hatch, an instant later,
+assured me that Lafitte had performed the most important part of the
+work assigned to him. Forsooth, ere long, he had done all his work as
+laid out for him. It chanced that, as he sprang to the doors of the
+forward saloon, he met John, the Chinaman. Reaching for him with one
+hand, he closed the doors with the other, with such promptness and
+precision that the cue of John was caught in the door and he was
+imprisoned below, where he howled in much grief and perturbation,
+unable to escape without the sacrifice of his cue.
+
+Meantime, I found Peterson, my old skipper, much as I had expected. He
+was a middle-aged, placid, well-poised man, a pessimist in speech, but
+a bold man in soul. He was fond of an evening pipe, and he sat now
+smoking and looking down the illuminated lane made by our
+search-light. He turned toward me, a sudden curiosity upon his face as
+he saw that I was a stranger on the boat, though not a stranger to
+himself.
+
+"Sir--Mr. Harry--" he began, half rising.
+
+I reached out my left hand and caught him by the shoulder. In my
+right hand I held a pistol, and this, somewhat gaily, I waved before
+Peterson's face. "Halt," said I, "or I will blow you out of the
+water"--a phrase which I had found sufficient in earlier
+circumstances.
+
+The old man smiled pleasantly and in mock fashion put up both his
+hands. Had it been anyone else, he probably would have knocked me
+down. "All right, Mr. Harry," said he, "you will have your joke. But
+tell me, what's up? We weren't expecting you here. Mr. Davidson's gone
+ashore."
+
+"Just a lark, Peterson," said I. I had slipped down the mask so that
+he could see me plainly. "By George, sir!" said he, "I am glad to see
+you, back on the old boat again. Where have you been?"
+
+"Just come on board, Peterson," said I. "I am going to run her now
+myself.
+
+"Money not paid over, Peterson," said I. It stretched my conscience a
+bit, although the truth was I had Davidson's uncashed check in my
+pocket at the time.
+
+"We've all had our pay regular," he rejoined. "Why, what's wrong?"
+
+"But I haven't had mine, Peterson," said I. "When the charter money
+isn't paid and an owner has reason to suppose that his boat is going
+to be run out of the country, he has to act promptly, you understand.
+So I have taken my own way. The _Belle Helene_ is in my charge now,
+and you will report to me for orders."
+
+"What's that squalling?" demanded Peterson, who was a trifle hard of
+hearing.
+
+"Something seems wrong with John, the cook," I answered. "I only hope
+he has not made any resistance to my men, who, I promise you, are the
+most desperate lot that ever cut a throat. For instance, they have
+locked Williams down in the engine-room. Go over there, Peterson, and
+quiet him. But tell him that, if he shows a head above the hatch, he
+is apt to have his brains blown out. Keep quiet now, all of you, until
+I get this thing in hand."
+
+"But the boat's under charter to Mr. Davidson," demurred Peterson.
+
+"Charter or no charter, Peterson," said I, "I'm in command here, and
+it's no time to argue."
+
+At this time we heard cries of a feminine sort from the after deck, so
+I knew that L'Olonnois, as well, had performed the duty assigned to
+him.
+
+"Stay here, Peterson," said I. "It's all right, and I'll take care of
+you in every regard. Wait a moment."
+
+    [Illustration: "Who are you?" she demanded]
+
+I hurried aft. L'Olonnois stood in the shadow, his back against the
+saloon door, facing his two prisoners. I also faced them now. The deck
+lights gave ample illumination, so that I could see her--Helena--face
+to face and fairly. She turned to me; but now I had pulled up my mask
+again, and she could have no more than a suspicion as to my identity.
+
+"Who are you?" she demanded. "What right have you here?"
+
+For half a moment I paused. Then I felt a sense of relief as I heard
+at my elbow the piping voice of L'Olonnois in reply.
+
+"Lady," said he, standing with folded arms, his bared blade gripped in
+his good right hand and showing at a short up-cast angle, "it ill
+beseems a gentleman to give pain to one so fair, but prithee have a
+care, for, by heavens! resistance is useless here."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+IN WHICH IS ABOUNDING TROUBLE
+
+
+I looked at Helena Emory, glad that she did not at first sight
+recognize the intruder who had elicited her wrath,--for she seemed
+almost more angry than perturbed, such being her nature. I thought she
+had never been half so beautiful as now, never more alive, more
+vibrantly and dynamically feminine than now. She had not even a scarf
+about her head, so that all its Greek clarity of line, all its
+tight-curling dark hair--almost breaking into four ringlets, two at
+each white temple--were distinct to me as I looked at her, even in the
+half light. Her face, with its wondrous dark eyes, was full toward me,
+meeting this danger for such as it might be; so that, again, I saw the
+sweet full oval of her brow and cheek and chin, with just these two
+dark incipient curls above. I could not see the twin dark tendrils at
+the white nape of her neck, but I knew they were there, as beautiful
+as ever. Her mouth was always the sweetest God ever gave any
+woman--and I repeat, I have seen and studied all the great portraits,
+and found none so wholly good as that of Helena, done by Sargent in
+his happiest vein. Now the red bow of her lips parted, as she stood,
+one slender hand across her bosom, panting, but not in the least
+afraid, or, at least, meeting her fear boldly, as one high-born
+should.
+
+She was all in white, with not the slightest jewel or ornament of any
+kind. I saw that even the buckle at her waist was covered in white.
+Her boots and her hair were dark; for Helena knew the real art of
+dressing. She stood fairly between me and the deck light, so that all
+her white figure was frank in its gentle curves; erect now, and
+bravely drawn to all her five feet five, so that she might meet my
+gaze--albeit through a mask--as fully as a lady should when she has
+met affront.
+
+I always loved Helena, always, from the first time I met her. I had
+bidden adieu to life when, after many efforts to have her see me as I
+saw her, I turned away to the long hard endeavor to forget her. But
+now I saw my attempts had all been in vain. If absence had made my
+heart more fond, the presence of her made it more poignantly, more
+imperiously, fonder than before. My whole body, my whole soul,
+unified, arose. I stretched out my arms, craving, demanding. "Helena!"
+I cried.
+
+My voice was hoarse. Perhaps she did not know me, even yet. Her answer
+was a long clear call for help.
+
+"Ahoy!" she sang. "On shore, there--Help!"
+
+Her call was a signal for present trouble. Partial, my dog, abandoned
+in the long boat, began barking furiously. There came an answering
+hail which assured me that yon varlet, Davidson, had heard. I was
+conscious of the sound of a scuffle somewhere forward. Below, at my
+side, Aunt Lucinda gave voice to a long shrill wail of terror. John,
+my Chinaman, his cue still held fast in the jammed edges of the door,
+chimed in dismally. Midships I heard a muffled knocking at Williams',
+the engineer's, hatch.
+
+I forgot I was standing masked, with a naked weapon in my hand. I
+dropped my mask, dropped my weapon, and turned quickly toward Helena.
+
+"Be silent!" I commanded her.
+
+She stood for one instant, her hands at her cheeks. Then, "Ahoy!" rang
+out her voice once more in sheer disobedience, and "You!" she said to
+me, furious.
+
+"Yes, I," was my answer, and my own fury was now as cold as hers. "Go
+below," I ordered her. "I am in command of this boat. Quick!"
+
+I had never spoken thus to her in all my life, but almost to my
+surprise she changed now. As though half in doubt, she turned toward
+the stair leading down to the ladies' cabin where Aunt Lucinda was
+shrieking in terror.
+
+"Guard the door," I called to L'Olonnois as I turned away. I heard it
+slam shut and the click of the lock told me my prisoners were safe, so
+I hastened forward.
+
+"Good Lord, Mr. Harry!" cried my skipper, Peterson, when he saw me.
+"Come here, take this little devil--away--I'm afraid he'll knife me."
+
+I hurried to him for he struggled in the dark with Jean Lafitte.
+
+"To the rescue, Black Bart!" called Jean Lafitte. "Catch his other
+arm. I've got this one, and if he moves, by Heaven I'll run him
+through."
+
+"Run me through, you varmint--what do you mean?" roared Peterson.
+"Ain't it enough you pull a gun on me and try to poke out my eye, and
+twist off my arm, without sticking me with that bread-slicer you got?
+Mr. Harry--for Heaven's sake----"
+
+"There now, Jean Lafitte," I said, "enough. He has begged for
+quarter."
+
+"No, I ha'int," asserted Peterson venomously. "I'll spank the life
+outen him if I ever get the chance--" I raised a hand.
+
+"Enough of all this noise," I said. "I am in charge now, Peterson. Go
+to the wheel. Break out the anchor and get under way. At once, man! I
+have no time to argue."
+
+Peterson had never in his life heard me speak in this way before, but
+now, for what reason I do not know--perhaps from force of habit,
+perhaps because he knew I was owner of the boat, perhaps in awe of the
+naked kris of Jean Lafitte, still presented menacingly at his
+abdomen--the old skipper obeyed.
+
+I heard the faint jangle of bells in the engine-room below. Obviously,
+Williams, the engineer, was responsive to his sense of duty and
+routine. The power came pulsing through the veins of the _Belle
+Helene_ and I heard her screws revolve. I, myself, threw in the donkey
+winch as she forged ahead, and so broke out the anchor. It still
+swung, clogging her bows as she turned in the current. The bells again
+jangled as she got more speed and as the anchor came home. Our
+search-light swept a wide arc along the foot of Natchez Hill, as our
+bows circled about and headed down the great river. And now we picked
+in full view, hardly sixty fathoms distant, the dingey, pulled
+furiously toward us. My friend, the varlet Cal Davidson, half stood in
+the stern of the stubby craft and waved at us an excited hand.
+
+"Ahoy there, Peterson!" he cried. "Stop! Hold on there! Wait! Where
+are you going there!"
+
+Peterson turned toward me an inquiring gaze, but I only pointed a hand
+down-stream, and he obeyed me! I reached my hand to the cord and gave
+Peterson, Davidson, Natchez and all the world, the salute of a long
+and vibrant whistle of defiance. It came back to us in echoes from the
+giant bluffs, swept across the lowlands on the opposite side.
+
+"Full speed ahead, Peterson," said I quietly.
+
+"Where are we going, Mr. Harry?" he demanded anxiously.
+
+"I don't know," said I. "It all depends--maybe around the world. I
+don't know and I don't care."
+
+"I'm scared about this--it don't look right. What's come into you, Mr.
+Harry?" asked the old man solicitously.
+
+"Nothing, Peterson," said I, "except that the bird of time is on the
+wing. I am a pirate, Peterson----"
+
+"I never knew you so far gone in drink before, Mr. Harry," said he, as
+he threw over the wheel to pick up the first starboard channel light.
+
+"Yes, I have been drinking, Peterson," said I. "I have been drinking
+the wine of life. It oozes drop by drop, and is all, too soon, gone if
+we delay. Full speed ahead, Peterson. I am in command."
+
+"Jean!" I called to my able lieutenant. "Reach over into the long boat
+and bring Partial on board. He is my friend. And bring also our flag.
+Run it aloft above our prize."
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir," came the reply of Jean Lafitte. And a few moments
+later our long boat was riding astern more easily. Jean Lafitte on his
+return busied himself with our burgee. And at that moment, Partial,
+overjoyed at also having a hand in these affairs, barked joyously at
+his discovery of the neglected end of the cook's cue projecting
+through the hinges of the door. On this he laid hold cheerfully,
+worrying it until poor John shrieked anew in terror; and until I freed
+him; and ordered tea.
+
+I next went over to the hatches of the engine-room, and having opened
+them, bent over to speak to Williams, the engineer.
+
+"It's all right, Williams," said I. "I am going to take her over now
+and run her perhaps to the Gulf. We hadn't time to tell you at first.
+There has been a legal difficulty. Peterson is on deck, of course."
+
+"All right, Mr. Harry," said Williams, who recognized me as he leaned
+out from his levers to look up through the open hatch. "At first I
+didn't know what in hell was up. It sounded like a mutiny----"
+
+"It was a mutiny, Williams," said I, "and I am the head mutineer. But
+you're sure of your pay, so let her go."
+
+He did let her go, smoothly and brilliantly, so that before long she
+was at her top speed, around fifteen knots an hour. I was familiar
+with every detail of the _Belle Helene_, and now I looked in both the
+generating plant and the storage batteries, so that four thousand
+candle-power of electric light blazed over her from bow to fantail.
+The steady purr of the _Belle Helene's_ double sixties--engines I had
+had made under my own care--came to me with a soothing rhythm where I
+stood near by the wheel. Her search-light made a vast illumination far
+ahead. Brilliant enough must have seemed the passing spectacle of our
+stanch little ship to any observer, as we now swept on down the tawny
+flood of the great river. Who would deny me the feeling of exultation
+which came to me? Was I not captor and captain of my own ship?
+
+I turned to meet L'Olonnois, my blue-eyed pirate. He stood at my side
+as one glorified. The full swing of romance had him, the full illusion
+of this,--imagination's most ardent desire--now gripped him fully. He
+was no boy, but a human being possessed of all his dreams. His second
+self, once oppressed, now free, stood before me wholly satisfied. I
+needed not to ask whether he had been faithful to his trust.
+
+"I locked the door on 'em, Black Bart," said he, "and bade them cease
+a idle remonstrancing. 'Little do you know,' say I to them, 'that
+Black Bart the Avenger is now on the trail. Let any oppose him at
+their peril,' says I to them. She give me candy, the fair captive did,
+but I spurned her bribe. 'Beware,' says I to her. 'Little do you know
+what lies before you.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+IN WHICH IS CONVERSATION WITH THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN
+
+
+Jean Lafitte, who had so well executed the work assigned him in the
+boarding party's plans, proved himself neither inefficient nor
+unobservant. He approached me now, with a salute, which probably he
+copied from Peterson.
+
+"How now, good leftenant?" said I.
+
+"If you please, Black Bart," he began, "how are we headed, and what
+are our plans?"
+
+"Our course on this river, Jean Lafitte, will box the compass, indeed
+box an entire box of compasses, for no river is more winding. Yet in
+time we shall reach its end, no doubt, since others have."
+
+"And what about our good ship, the _Sea Rover_, that we have left
+behind?"
+
+"By Jove! Jean Lafitte," I exclaimed, "that is, indeed, a true word.
+What, indeed? We left her riding at anchor just off the channel edge,
+and so far as I recall, she had not her lights up, in accordance with
+the law."
+
+"Shall we put about and take her in tow, Black Bart?"
+
+"By no means. That is the very last of my intentions."
+
+"What'll become of her, then?"
+
+"That is no concern of mine."
+
+"But nobody'll know whose she is, and nobody can tell what may happen
+to her----"
+
+"Quite true. She may be stolen, or sunk. Why not?"
+
+"But she cost a lot of money."
+
+"On the contrary, she cost only twelve hundred dollars."
+
+"Twelve hundred dollars!" Jean drew a long deep breath. "I didn't know
+anybody had that much money in the world. Besides, look what you spent
+for them pearls. Ain't you poor, then, Black Bart?"
+
+"On the contrary, I have that much more money left, very likely. And I
+do not, to say truth, care a jot, a rap or a stiver, what becomes of
+the derelict _Sea Rover_ now. Have we not taken a better ship for our
+own?"
+
+"Yes, but suppose yon varlet boards the _Sea Rover_, an' chases us the
+way we done him?"
+
+"Again, by Jove! Jean Lafitte; an idea. But suppose he does? Much good
+it will do him. For, look you, good leftenant, the _Belle Helene_ will
+not stop to send any man ashore for baseball scores. Such was not the
+practise of the old buccaneers, nor shall it be ours; whereas, no
+matter what the haste, yon varlet could in nowise refrain from that
+same folly which hath lost him his ship to us. Each hour will only
+widen the gap between us. Let him take our tub if he likes, and do as
+he likes, for 'twill be a long day before he picks up our masts over
+his horizon, Jean Lafitte."
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir!" rejoined my lieutenant, and withdrew. I could see he
+was not overjoyed at the abandonment of our earlier ship that had
+brought us so far in safety. All this luxury of the _Belle Helene_ had
+the effect of oppressing a pirate who so short a time ago had started
+out on the high seas in a sixteen foot yawl, and who had seen that
+yawl, in a manner of speaking, grown into a schooner, the schooner
+comparatively grown into a full-fledged four-decker, richly fitted as
+any ship of the royal navy.
+
+But these, all, were lesser things to me, for on my soul was a more
+insistent concern. I turned now, seeing that Peterson, wholly
+reconciled to the new order of affairs, was speeding the boat onward
+as though I never had left her; so that I knew she was safe in his
+hands, although I set Lafitte to watch him. Followed by my faithful
+friend Partial, who expressed every evidence of having enjoyed a most
+interesting evening, I presently made my way aft.
+
+As I approached the door of the after-cabin suite, occupied by the
+ladies, I made my presence known at first discreetly, then more
+pointedly, and, at length, by a knocking on the door.
+
+"Below, there!" I called, boldly as I could; for eager as I was to
+see Helena Emory, there were certain things about the interview which
+might be difficult. Lovers who have parted, finally, approach each
+other, even by accident, thereafter, with a certain reluctance.
+(Lovers, did I say? Nay, never had she said she loved me. She had only
+said she wished she did, wished she could.)
+
+No answer came at first. Then, "Who is it?" in the voice of Aunt
+Lucinda.
+
+"It is I, Mr. Henry--" but I paused: "--It is I, Black Bart the
+Avenger," I concluded. "May I come in?"
+
+Silently the door opened, and I entered the little reception-room
+which lay between the two staterooms of this cabin. Before me stood
+Helena! And now I was close to her, I could see the little curls at
+her temples, could see the double curves of her lips, the color in her
+cheek. Ah! she was the same, the same! I loved her--I loved her not
+the same, but more and more, more!
+
+She held her peace; and all I could do was to stand and stare and then
+hold out my hand. She took it formally, though her color heightened. I
+saluted Aunt Lucinda also, who glared at me. "How do you do?" I said
+to them both, with much originality and daring.
+
+"Black Bart!" snorted Aunt Lucinda. "Black Bart! It might be, from
+these goings on. What does it all mean?"
+
+"It means, my dear Mrs. Daniver," said I, "that I have taken charge of
+the boat myself."
+
+"But how?" demanded Helena. "We did not hear you were coming. And I
+don't understand. Why, that rascally little nephew of mine, in the
+mask, frightened auntie nearly to death. And he said the most
+extraordinary _things_!
+
+"Where is Mr. Davidson?" she added. "He didn't tell us a word of
+this."
+
+"He didn't know a word of it himself," I answered. "Let me tell you,
+no self-respecting pirate--and as you see, I am a pirate--is in the
+habit of telling his plans in advance."
+
+"A pirate!"
+
+I bowed politely. "At your service. Black Bart--my visiting cards are
+mislaid, but I intend ordering some new ones. The ship's cook, John,
+will soon be here with tea. These events may have been wearying.
+Meantime, allow me to present my friend Partial."
+
+Partial certainly understood human speech. He now approached Helena
+slowly and stood looking up into her face in adoration. Then, without
+any command, he lay down deliberately and rolled over; sat up, barked;
+and so, having done all his repertory for her whom he now--as had his
+master before him--loved at first sight, he stood again and
+worshiped.
+
+"Nice doggie!" said Helena courteously.
+
+"Have a care, Helena!" said I. "Love my dog, love me! And all the
+world loves Partial."
+
+The color heightened in her cheeks. I had never spoken so boldly to
+her before, but had rather dealt in argument than in assertion; which
+I, later, was to learn is no way to make love to any woman.
+
+"When do we get back to Natchez?" she demanded.
+
+"We do not get back to Natchez."
+
+"Oh? Then I suppose Mr. Davidson picks us up at Baton Rouge?"
+
+"Yon varlet," said I, "does not pick us up at Baton Rouge."
+
+"New Orleans?"
+
+"Or at New Orleans--unless he is luckier than I ever knew even Cal to
+be."
+
+"Whatever do you mean?" inquired Aunt Lucinda in tones ominously deep.
+
+"That the _Belle Helene_ is much faster than the tug we left behind at
+Natchez, even did he find it. He will have hard work to catch us."
+
+"To _catch us_?"
+
+"Yes, Helena, to catch us. Of course he'll follow in some way. I have,
+all the way from above Dubuque. Why should not he?"
+
+The ladies looked from me to each other, doubting my sanity, perhaps.
+
+"I don't just understand all this," began Helena. "But since we travel
+only as we like, and only with guests whom we invite or who are
+invited by the boat's owner, I shall ask you to put us ashore."
+
+"On a sand-bar, Helena? Among the alligators?"
+
+"Of course I mean at the nearest town."
+
+"There is none where we are going, my dear Miss Emory. Little do you
+know what lies before you! Black Bart heads for the open sea. Let yon
+varlet follow at his peril. Believe me, 'twill cost him a very
+considerable amount of gasoline."
+
+"What right have you on this boat?" she demanded fiercely.
+
+"The right of any pirate."
+
+"Why do you intrude--how dare you--at least, I don't understand----"
+
+"I have taken this ship, Helena," said I, "because it carries
+treasure--more than you know of, more than I dreamed. My father was a
+pirate, I am well assured by the public prints. So am I. 'Tis in the
+blood. But do not anger me. Rather, have a cup of tea." John, my cook,
+was now at the door with the tray.
+
+"Thank you," rejoined Helena icily. "It would hardly be courteous to
+Mr. Davidson--to use his servants and his table in this way in his
+absence. Besides----"
+
+"Besides, I recalled that your Aunt Lucinda's neuralgia is always
+benefited by a glass or so of ninety-three at about ten thirty of the
+evening. John!"
+
+"Lessah!"
+
+"Go to the left-hand locker in B; and bring me a bottle of the
+ninety-three. I think you will find that better than this absurd
+German champagne which I see yon varlet has been offering you, my dear
+Mrs. Daniver. But--excuse me----"
+
+Helena looked up, innocently.
+
+"--A moment before there were six empty bottles on the table there.
+And I saw you writing. How many have you thrown overboard through the
+port-hole?"
+
+"I didn't know you were so observant," replied Helena demurely. "But
+only three."
+
+"It is not enough," said I. "Go on, and write your other messages for
+succor. Use each bottle, and we shall have more emptied for you, if
+you like. You shall have oil bottles, vinegar bottles, water bottles,
+wine bottles, all you like. Yon varlet might run across one, floating,
+it is true. I hope he will. Methinks 'twould bid him speed. But all in
+vain would be your appeal, for swift must be the craft that can come
+up with Black Bart now. And desperate, indeed, must be the man would
+dispute his right to tread these decks."
+
+"I hope you are enjoying yourself," said Helena scornfully. "Don't be
+silly."
+
+"Will you have tea, Helena?" I asked.
+
+"Poor, dear Mr. Davidson!" sniffed Aunt Lucinda, taking a glance out
+the port into the black night. "I wonder where he is, and what he will
+say."
+
+"I can tell you what he will say, my dear Mrs. Daniver," said I; "but
+I would rather not."
+
+"Well, I'll tell you what _I_ say," snorted Aunt Lucinda. "I think
+this joke has gone far enough."
+
+"It is no joke, madam. I was never so desperately in earnest in all my
+life."
+
+"Then put us ashore at Baton Rouge."
+
+"I can not. I shall not."
+
+"What do you mean? Do you know what this looks like, the way you are
+acting, running off with Mr. Davidson's yacht, and this----"
+
+"Yes, madam?"
+
+"Why, it's robbery, and it's, it's, why it's abduction, too. You ought
+to know the law."
+
+"I do know the law. It is piracy. Have we not told you that resistance
+would be worse than useless? Haven't I told you I've captured this
+ship? Little do you know the fate that lies before you, madam, at the
+hands of my ruthless men if I should prove unable to restrain them!
+And have a care not to offend Black Bart the Avenger, himself! If you
+do, Aunt Lucinda, he may cut off your evening champagne."
+
+I heard a sudden suppressed sound, wondrous like a giggle; but when I
+turned, Helena was sitting there as sober as Portia, albeit I thought
+her eyes suspiciously bright.
+
+"Well," said she, at length, "we can't sit here all night and talk
+about it, and I've used up all my note-paper and bottles. I'll tell
+you what I suggest, since you have seen fit to intrude on two women in
+this way. We will hold a parley."
+
+"When?"
+
+"To-morrow."
+
+"At what hour?"
+
+"After breakfast."
+
+"Why not at breakfast?"
+
+"Because we shall eat alone, here,--auntie and I--in our cabin."
+
+"Very well then, if it seems you are so bitter against the new
+commander of the ship that you will not sit at the captain's table--as
+we did the second time we went to Europe together, we three--don't you
+remember, Helena?"
+
+"Never--at your table, sir!" said Helena Emory, her voice like a stab.
+And when I bethought me what that had meant before now, what it would
+mean all my life, if this woman might never sit at board of mine,
+never eat the fruit of my bow and spear, never share with me the bread
+of life, for one instant I felt the cold thrust of fate's steel once
+more in my bowels. But the next instant a new manner of feeling took
+its place, an emotion I never had felt toward her before--anger, rage!
+
+"It is well," said I, pulling together the best I could. "And now, by
+my halidom! or by George! or by anything! you shall be taken at your
+word. You breakfast here. Be glad if it is more than bread and
+water--until you learn a better way of speech with me."
+
+Again I saw that same sudden change on her face, surprise, almost
+fright; and I swear she shrank from me as though in terror, her hand
+plucking at Aunt Lucinda's sleeve; whereas, all Aunt Lucinda could do
+was to pluck at her niece's sleeve in turn.
+
+"As to the parley, then," said I, pulling, by mistake, my mask from my
+pocket instead of my kerchief, "we shall hold it, to-morrow, at what
+time and in what place I please. It ill beseems a gentleman to pain
+one so fair, as we may again remark; but by heaven! Helena, no
+resistance!"
+
+"Wait! What do you really mean?" She raised a hand. "I've told you I
+just can't understand all this. I always thought you were
+a--a--gentleman."
+
+"A much misused word," was my answer. "You never understood me at
+all. I am not a gentleman. I'm a poor, miserable, unhappy, drifting,
+aimless and useless failure--at least, I was, until I resolved upon
+this way to recoup my fortunes, and went in for pirating. What chance
+has a man who has lost his fortune in the game to-day--what chance
+with a woman? You ask me, who am I? I am a pirate. You ask what I
+intend to do? What pirate can answer that? It all depends."
+
+"On what?"
+
+"On you!" I answered furiously. "What right had you to ruin me, to
+throw me over----"
+
+She turned a frightened glance to Aunt Lucinda, whom I had entirely
+forgotten. It was my turn to blush. To hide my confusion I drew on my
+mask as I bowed.
+
+I met John coming down with the ninety-three. As he returned on deck a
+moment later, I pushed shut the doors and sprung the outside latches;
+so that those within now were prisoners, indeed. And then I stood
+looking up at the stars, slowly beginning to see why God made the
+world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+IN WHICH IS FURTHER PARLEY WITH THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN
+
+
+Cal Davidson's taste in neckwear was a trifle vivid as compared with
+my own, yet I rather liked his shirts, and I found a morning waistcoat
+of his which I could classify as possible; beside which I obtained
+from John the cook a suit of flannels I had given him four years ago,
+and which he was saving against the day of his funeral and shipment
+back to China. So that, on the whole, I did rather well, and I was not
+ill content with life as I sat, with the _Pirate's Own Book_ in my
+lap, and Partial's head on my knee, looking out over the passing
+panorama of the river. The banks now were low, the swamps, at times,
+showing their fan-topped cypresses close to where we passed; and all
+the live oaks carried their funereal Spanish moss, gray and ghostlike.
+
+We sometimes passed river craft, going up or down, nondescript, dingy
+and slow, for the most part. Sometimes we were hailed gaily by
+monkey-like deck-hands, sometimes saluted by the pilot of a larger
+boat. At times we swept by busy plantation landings where the levees
+screened the white-pillared mansion houses so that we could only see
+the upper galleries. And now at these landings, we began to see the
+freight, made up as much of barrels as of bales. We were passing from
+cotton to cane. But though it still was early in the fall, the weather
+was not oppressive, and the breeze on the deck was cool. I had very
+much enjoyed my breakfast, and so had my shipmates L'Olonnois and
+Lafitte, to whom each moment now was a taste of paradise revealed. I
+envied them, for theirs, now, was that rare, fleeting and most
+delectable of all human states, the full realization of every
+cherished earthly dream. It made me quite happy that they were thus
+happy; and as to the right or wrong of it, I put that all aside for
+later explanation to them.
+
+I looked up to see Peterson, who touched his cap.
+
+"Yes, Peterson?"
+
+"We're on our last drum of gasoline, Mr. Harry," said he. "Where'll we
+put in--Baton Rouge?"
+
+"No, we can't do that, Peterson," I answered. "Can't we make it to New
+Orleans?"
+
+"Hardly. But they carry gas at most of these landings now--so many
+power boats and autos nowadays, you see."
+
+"Very well. We'll pass Bayou Sara and Baton Rouge, and then you can
+run in at any landing you like, say twenty miles or so below. Can you
+make it that far?"
+
+"Oh, yes, but you see, at Baton Rouge----"
+
+"You may lay to long enough to mail these letters," said I, frowning;
+"but the custom of getting the baseball scores is now suspended. And
+send John here."
+
+The old man touched his cap again, a trifle puzzled. I wondered if he
+recognized Davidson's waistcoat--he asked no more questions.
+
+"John," said I to my Chinaman, "carry this to the ladies;" and handed
+him a card on which I had inscribed: "Black Bart's compliments; and he
+desires the attendance of the ladies on deck for a parley. At once."
+
+John came back in a few moments and stood on one foot. "She say, she
+say, Misal Hally, she say no come."
+
+"Letter have got, John?"
+
+"Lessah have got."
+
+"Take it back. Say, at once."
+
+"Lessah. At wullunce."
+
+"Lessah," he added two moments later. "Catchee lettah, them lady, and
+she say, she say, go to hellee!"
+
+"What! What's that, John? She said nothing of the sort!"
+
+"Lessah, said them. No catchee word, that what she mean. Lady, one
+time she say, she say, go topside when have got plenty leady for
+come."
+
+"Go back to your work, John," said I. And I waited with much dignity,
+for perhaps ten minutes or so, before I heard any signs of life from
+the after suite. Then I heard the door pushed back, and saw a head
+come out, a head with dark tendrils of hair at the white neck's nape,
+and two curls at the temple, and as clean and thoroughbred a sweep of
+jaw and chin as the bows of the _Belle Helene_ herself. She did not
+look at me, but studiously gazed across the river, pretended to yawn,
+idly looked back to see if she were followed; as she knew she was not
+to be.
+
+At length, she turned as she stepped out on the deck. She was fresh as
+the dew itself, and like a rose. All color of rose was the soft skirt
+she wore, and the little bolero above, blue, with gold buttons,
+covered a soft rose-colored waist, light and subtle as a spider's web,
+stretched from one grass stalk to another of a dewy morning. She was
+round and slender, and her neck was tall and round, and in the close
+fashion of dress which women of late have devised, to remind man once
+more of the ancient Garden, she seemed to me Eve herself, sweet,
+virginal, as yet in a garden dew-sweet in the morning of the world.
+
+She turned, I say, and by mere chance and in great surprise,
+discovered me, now cap in hand, and bowing.
+
+"Oh," she remarked; very much surprised.
+
+"Good morning, Eve," said I. "Have you used Somebody's Soap; or what
+is it that you have used? It is excellent."
+
+A faint color came to her cheek, the corners of her bowed lips
+twitched. "For a pirate, or a person of no culture, you do pretty
+well. As though a girl could sleep after all this hullabaloo."
+
+"You have slept very well," said I. "You never looked better in all
+your life, Helena. And that is saying the whole litany."
+
+"You are absurd," said she. "You must not begin it all again. We
+settled it once."
+
+"We settled it twenty times, or to be exact, thirteen times, Helena.
+The only trouble is, it would not stay settled. Tell me, is there any
+one else yet, Helena?"
+
+"It is not any question for you to ask, or for me to answer." She was
+cold at once. "I've not tried to hear of you or your plans, and I
+suppose the same is true of you. It is long since I have had a
+heartache over you--a headache is all you can give me now, or ever
+could. That is why I can not in the least understand why you are here
+now. Auntie is almost crazy, she is so frightened. She thinks you are
+entirely crazy, and believes you have murdered Mr. Davidson."
+
+"I have not yet done so, although it is true I am wearing his shoes;
+or at least his waistcoat. How do you like it?"
+
+"I like the one with pink stripes better," she replied demurely.
+
+"So then--so then!" I began; but choked in anger at her familiarity
+with Cal Davidson's waistcoats. And my anger grew when I saw her
+smile.
+
+"Tell me, are you engaged to him, Helena?" I demanded. "But I can see;
+you are." She drew herself up as she stood, her hands behind her back.
+
+"A fine question to ask, isn't it? Especially in view of what we both
+know."
+
+"But you haven't told me."
+
+"And am not going to."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because it is the right of a middle-aged woman like myself----"
+
+"--Twenty-four," said I.
+
+"--To do as she likes in such matters. And she doesn't need make any
+confidences with a man she hasn't seen for years. And for whom she
+never--she _never_----"
+
+"Helena," said I, and I felt pale, whether or not I looked it, "be
+careful. That hurts."
+
+"Oh, is it so?" she blazed. "I am glad if it does hurt."
+
+I bowed to her. "I am glad if it gives you pleasure to see me hurt. I
+am. _Habeo!_"
+
+"But it was not so as to me," I added presently. "Yes, I said good-by
+to you, that last time, and I meant it. I had tried for years, I
+believe, with every argument in my power, to explain to you that I
+loved you, to explain that in every human likelihood we would make a
+good match of it, that we--we--well, that we'd hit it off fine
+together, very likely. And then, I was well enough off--at first, at
+least----"
+
+"Oh, don't!" she protested. "It is like opening a grave. We buried it
+all, Harry. It's over. Can't you spare a girl, a middle-aged girl of
+twenty-four, this resurrection? We ended it. Why, Harry, we have to
+make out some sort of life for ourselves, don't we? We can't just sit
+down and--and----"
+
+"No," said I. "I tried it. I got me a little place, far up in the
+wilderness with what remained of my shattered fortunes--a few acres.
+And I sat down there and tried that 'and--and' business. It didn't
+seem to work. But we don't get on much in our parley, do we?"
+
+"No. The most charitable thing I can think of is that you are crazy.
+Aunt Lucinda must be right. But what do you intend to do with us? We
+can't get off the boat, and we can't get any answer to our signals for
+help."
+
+"So you have signaled?"
+
+"Of course. Waved things, you know."
+
+"Delightful! The passing steamers no doubt thought you a dissipated
+lot of northern joy-riders, bound south on some rich man's yacht."
+
+"Instead of two troubled women on a stolen boat."
+
+"Are you engaged to Cal Davidson, Helena?"
+
+"What earthly difference?"
+
+"True, none at all. As you say, I have stolen his boat, stolen his
+wine, stolen his fried potatoes, stolen his waistcoats. But, bear
+witness, I drew the line at his neckties. Nowhere else, however!" And
+as I added this I looked at her narrowly.
+
+"Will you put us ashore?" she asked, her color rising.
+
+"No."
+
+"We're coming to a town."
+
+"Baton Rouge. The capital of Louisiana. A quaint and delightful city
+of some sixty thousand inhabitants. The surrounding country is largely
+devoted to the sugar industry. But we do not stop. Tell me, are you
+engaged?"
+
+But, suddenly, I saw her face, and on it was something of outraged
+dignity. I bent toward her eagerly. "Forgive me! I never wanted to
+give you pain, Helena. Forget my improper question."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"I've been fair with you. And that's hard for a man. Always,
+always,--let me tell you something women don't understand--there's the
+fight in a man's soul to be both a gentleman and a brute, because a
+woman won't love him till he's a brute, and he hates himself when he
+isn't a gentleman. It's hard, sometimes, to be both. But I tried. I've
+been a gentleman--was once, at least. I told you the truth. When they
+investigated my father, and found that, acting under the standard of
+his day, he hadn't run plumb with the standards of to-day, I came and
+told you of it. I released you then, although you never had promised
+me, because I knew you mightn't want an alliance with--well, with a
+front page family, you know. It blew over, yes; but I was fair with
+you. You knew I had lost my money, and then you----"
+
+"I remained 'released'."
+
+"Yes, it is true."
+
+"And am free, have been, to do as I liked."
+
+"Yes, true."
+
+"And what earthly right has a man to try both roles with a woman--that
+of discarded and accepted? You chose the first; and I never gave you
+the last. It is horrible, this sort of talk. It is abominable. For
+three years we have not met or spoken. I've not had a heartache since
+I told you. Don't give me a headache now. And it would make my head
+ache, to follow these crazy notions. Put us ashore!"
+
+"Not till I know the truth," said I.
+
+"About what?"
+
+"Well, for instance, about the waistcoat with pink stripes."
+
+"You are silly."
+
+"Yes. How do you like my suit?"
+
+"I never saw Mr. Davidson wear that one," said she.
+
+"For good reasons. It is my own, and four years old. You see, a poor
+man has to economize. And you know, since I lost my fortune, I've been
+living almost from hand to mouth. Honestly, Helena, many is the time
+when I've gone out fishing, trying to catch me a fish for my supper!"
+
+"So does a poor girl have to economize," said she.
+
+"You are most sparing of the truth this morning, Helena, my dear," I
+said.
+
+"How dare you!" she blazed now at the tender phrase. "Fine, isn't it,
+when I can't get away? If I could, I'd go where I'd never see or hear
+of you again. I thought I had."
+
+"But you have not. You shall hear and see me daily till I know from
+your own lips the truth about you and--and every and any other man on
+earth who--well, who wears waistcoats with pink stripes."
+
+"We'll have a long ride then," said she calmly, and rose.
+
+I rose also and bowed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+IN WHICH IS HUE AND CRY
+
+
+We ran by the river-front of Baton Rouge, and lay to on the opposite
+side while our dingey ran in with mail. I sent Peterson and Lafitte
+ashore for the purpose, and meantime paced the deck in several frames
+of mind. I was arrested in this at length by L'Olonnois, who was
+standing forward, glasses in hand.
+
+"Here they come," said he, "and a humpin' it up, too. Look, Jean
+Lafitte is standin' up, wavin' at us. Something's up, sure. Mayhap, we
+are pursued by the enemy. Methinks 'tis hue and cry, good Sir."
+
+"It jolly well does look like it, mate," said I, taking his glasses.
+"Something's up."
+
+I could see the stubby dingey forced half out the water by Peterson's
+oars, though she made little speed enough. And I saw men hurrying on
+the wharf, as though about to put out a boat.
+
+"What's wrong, Peterson?" I shouted as he came in range at last.
+
+"Hurry up!" It was Lafitte who answered. "Clear the decks for action.
+Yon varlet has wired on ahead to have us stopped! They're after us!"
+So came his call through cupped hands.
+
+I ran to the falls and lowered away the blocks to hoist them aboard,
+even as I ordered speed and began to break out the anchor. We hardly
+were under way before a small power boat, bearing a bluecoated man,
+puffed alongside.
+
+"What boat is this?" he called. "_Belle Helene_, of Mackinaw?"
+
+In answer--without order from me,--my bloodthirsty mate, L'Olonnois,
+brought out the black burgee of the Jolly Rover, bearing a skull and
+cross-bones. "Have a look at that!" he piped. "Shall we clear the
+stern-chaser, Black Bart?"
+
+"Hold on there, wait! I've got papers for you," called the officer,
+still hanging at our rail, for I had not yet ordered full speed.
+
+"He hollered to me he was going to arrest us, Mr. Harry," explained
+Peterson, much out of breath. "What's it all about? What papers does
+he mean?"
+
+"The morning papers, very likely, Peterson," said I. "The baseball
+scores."
+
+"Will you halt, now?" called the officer.
+
+"No," I answered, through the megaphone. "You have no authority to
+halt us. What's your paper, and who is it for?"
+
+"Wire from Calvin Davidson, Natchez, charging John Doe with running
+off with his boat."
+
+"This is not his boat," I answered, "but my own, and I am not John
+Doe. We are on our way to the coast, and not under any jurisdiction
+of yours."
+
+He stood up and drew a paper from his pocket, and began to read. In
+reply I pulled the whistle cord and drowned his voice; while at the
+same time I gave the engineer orders for full speed. Shaking his fist,
+he fell astern.
+
+None the less, I was a bit thoughtful. After all, the Mississippi
+River, wide as it was, ran within certain well defined banks from
+which was no escaping. We were three hundred miles or more from the
+high seas, and passing between points of continuous telegraphic
+communication; so that a hue and cry down the river might indeed mean
+trouble for us. Moreover, even as I turned to pick up the course--for
+I had myself taken the wheel--I saw the figure of Aunt Lucinda on the
+after deck. She was on the point of heaving overboard a bottle--I
+heard it splash, saw it bob astern. "Now, the devil will be to pay,"
+thought I. But, on second thought, I slowed down, so that distinctly I
+saw the officer, also slowing down, stoop over and take the bottle
+aboard his launch.
+
+"Ahoy, the launch!" I hailed. He put a hand at his ear as I megaphoned
+him. "Take this message for Mr. Calvin Davidson," I hailed. He nodded
+that he heard. "--That to-night John Doe will wear his waistcoat, the
+one with the pink stripes. Do you get me?"
+
+Apparently he did not get me, for he sat down suddenly and mopped his
+face. We left him so. And for aught I could know, he took back ashore
+material for a newspaper story, which bade fair to be better for the
+newspapers than for us on board the _Belle Helene_; for, up and down
+the river, the wires might carry the news that a crazy man had been
+guilty of piracy, highway robbery, abduction, I know not how many
+other crimes; and to arrest him on his mad career they might enlist
+all the authorities, municipal, county, state and even national. "John
+Doe," said I to myself, "if I really were you, methinks I should make
+haste." None the less I smiled; for, if I were John Doe only, then
+Calvin Davidson had no idea who had stolen his chartered yacht, and
+who was about to disport in his most cherished waistcoat! The
+situation pleased me very much. "L'Olonnois," said I, "come hither, my
+hearty."
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir," replied that worthy. "What is it, Black Bart?"
+
+"Nothing, except I was just going to say that I enjoy it very much,
+this being a pirate."
+
+"So do I," said he. "An' let any pursue us at their peril!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+IN WHICH IS DISCUSSION OF TWO AUNTIES
+
+
+L'Olonnois was still all for training the stern-chaser Long Tom (the
+_Belle Helene's_ brass yacht cannon) on the enemy, and came to me
+presently breathing defiance. "'F I only had any chain shot in the
+locker," said he, "beshrew me, but I would pay him well for this! He's
+got my Auntie Helen's auntie scared silly."
+
+"And how about your Auntie Helena herself?" I asked of him. Thus far,
+he had been guilty of no nepotism whatever, and had treated his auntie
+as any other captive maiden, perchance fallen into his ruthless hands.
+
+"Well, she ain't so scared as she is mad, near's I can see," was his
+reply. "She sat there when I first drove 'em down-stairs, lookin' at
+me, an' she says, 'Jimmy,' says she, 'what's all this foolishness?'
+An' she reaches out her hand, an' she offers me candy--she makes awful
+nice fudges, too. She knew that wasn't fair! But I says to her.
+'Woman, cease all blandishments, for now you are in our power!' An' I
+liked that, fer I been in her power long enough. Then she set down,
+an' near's I can tell, she got to thinking things over. I know
+her--she'll try to get away."
+
+"She has tried to do so, my good leftenant, is trying now. She and
+her Auntie Lucinda have thrown over I know not how many bottles
+carrying messages. It were only by mere chance yon varlet could escape
+coming over some of them. Add this to the fact that yon varlet has got
+the king's navy after us, and marry! methinks we have full work cut
+out for us. Not that stout heart should falter, good leftenant, eh?"
+
+"We follow Black Bart the Avenger," said L'Olonnois, folding his arms
+and frowning heavily. "But say," he added, "what seems funny to me is,
+you and my Auntie Helen must of known each other before now."
+
+"Not at all, not at all--that is, but casually, and long years since.
+It had long since escaped my mind." I felt myself flushing sadly.
+
+"I'll tell her that--I knew she was mistaken. I was sure she was."
+
+"No! No! Jimmy, you'll tell her nothing of the kind. I only meant----"
+
+"Well, she remembers you, I'm almost sure, an' so does Aunt Lucinda.
+Aunt Lucinda, why I've heard her back home tell Auntie Helena about as
+good fish in the sea, an' she mustn't bother over a man that's poor.
+Was it you, Black Bart? And are you poor?"
+
+"As I stand before you now, Jimmy L'Olonnois, I'm the poorest beggar
+in the world," said I. "I have risked my all on one hazard. If I win,
+I shall be rich beyond compare. If I fail, I shall be poor indeed."
+
+"She knows that. She knows you're poor, all right. I heard Aunt
+Lucinda tell her often. She said you was rich once, an' lost it all,
+speculatin' in a mine or something; an' what was the use marryin' a
+man who hadn't anything? I don't know, but I think that was why Aunt
+Lucinda worked up this trip with Mr. Davidson. He's got money to
+burn--look at this yacht, an' everything--an' I know him and Auntie
+Lucinda, anyhow, have got it doped out that him an' Auntie Helen's
+goin' to get married--even if they ain't now, so far's I know. Anyhow,
+our takin' the ship has broke up something. But say, now, Black
+Bart----"
+
+"Well, my good leftenant----"
+
+"_I_ got a idea!"
+
+"Indeed?"
+
+"Yep. Looka here, now--why don't _you_ just do like the pirate book
+says?"
+
+"How is that?"
+
+"Marry the captive maid your own self?"
+
+I felt my color rise yet more.
+
+"Why, now, that happened right along in them days--pirate chief, he
+takes a beautiful maiden captive, an' after makin' all his prisoners
+walk the plank but just her, he offers his hand an' fortune. An' lots
+of times, somehow, the beautiful maiden she married the ruthless
+pirate chief, an' they lived happy ever after. Why don't you?"
+
+"I hadn't thought of that, Jimmy," I said, most mendaciously; "but the
+idea has some merit. In fact, we've already started in by taking the
+beautiful maiden captive, and, mayhap, yon varlet yet shall walk the
+plank, or swear a solemn oath never to wear such waistcoats as these
+again. But one thing lacks."
+
+"What?"
+
+"The maiden's consent!"
+
+"No, it don't! They never ast 'em--they just married 'em, that was
+all. An' every time, they lived happy ever after. An' they founded
+families that----"
+
+"Jimmy!" I raised a hand. "That will do."
+
+"Well, anyhow, I wouldn't pay any attention to Aunt Lucinda about it.
+She's strong for yon varlet, for he's got the dough."
+
+"And isn't your Auntie Helena also--but no, on second thought, I will
+not ask you that----"
+
+"Why no, sure not--it's better to demand it of her own fair lips, an'
+not take no for a answer. They always live happy ever after."
+
+--"Of course, Jimmy."
+
+--"And so would you."
+
+"I know it! I know it!"
+
+"Well, then, why just don't you?"
+
+"Good leftenant, Black Bart will take your counsel into full
+advisement. Later, we shall see. Meantime, we must have a care for our
+good ship's safety, for none may tell what plans yon varlet may be
+laying to circumvent us."
+
+So saying, I sought out Peterson and asked him for his maps and
+charts.
+
+There was, as I found by consulting these, a deep bayou, an old river
+bed, that ran inland some thirty miles, apparently tapping a rich
+plantation country which was not served by the regular river boats.
+
+"Do you know anything about this old channel, Peterson?" I inquired.
+
+"Nothing at all except from hearsay and what you see here," he
+replied. "I don't know whether or not it has a bar at either end, but
+likely enough it has at both, though we might crowd through."
+
+"And how about the gasoline supply?"
+
+"Enough to get us in, at least. And, I say, here's a sort of
+plantation post-office marked. There's just a bare chance we could get
+a drum or so in there. I don't think we can, though."
+
+"What's she drawing now as she runs, Peterson?"
+
+"Four feet two inches. She's a shade low by the stern. We've quite a
+lot of supplies aboard, this early in the cruise. But I don't suppose
+we've got enough."
+
+"Well, Peterson," said I, "water leaves no trail. If there's no one
+watching when we open up this next bend, run for the bayou, and we'll
+see if we can get under cover. Of course, it's all a mistake about Mr.
+Davidson's wiring on to have us stopped--though we can't blame him,
+since he hasn't any idea who it is that has run away with the boat.
+But now, it suits me better to double in here, and let the chase try
+to find us on the main river; if there is any chase. You see, I don't
+want to disturb the ladies unduly, and they might not understand it
+all if we were overhauled and asked to explain our change in the
+ownership."
+
+"Quite right, sir, and very good. I catch the idea. But, sir----"
+
+He hesitated.
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Well, sir, if I might be so bold, what are your plans about the two
+ladies?"
+
+"I have none which will effect your navigation of the boat, Peterson."
+
+The old man flushed a shade. "Excuse me, Mr. Harry. I know you'll do
+nothing out of the way. But the old hen--I beg pardon----"
+
+"You mean the revered aunt, Peterson."
+
+"Yes, sir, the revered aunt. Well, sir, the revered aunt, dash
+her!----"
+
+"Yes, dash her starry toplights, Peterson; and even if need be, shiver
+her timbers! Go on----"
+
+"Why, she's been tryin' to pull off a weddin' on this boat ever since
+we left Mackinaw."
+
+"Why not? You mean that Mr. Davidson and the revered aunt were getting
+on well?"
+
+"Oh, no, bless your heart, no! It was the young lady, Miss Emory. And
+she----"
+
+I raised my hand. "Never mind, Peterson. We can't discuss that at all.
+But now, I'm minded to give my friend Mr. Davidson a little game of
+follow-my-leader. And just to show how we'll do that, we'll begin with
+a preliminary go at hide-and-seek. Take the chance, Peterson, and run
+into the bayou. I'll put off the small boat for soundings. If we can
+get gas, and can get in, and can get out unnoticed, maybe we can run
+by New Orleans in the night, and none the wiser."
+
+"And where then, Mr. Harry?"
+
+"Peterson, the high seas have no bridges, and if they had, I should
+not cross them yet. Perhaps if I did, I then should burn them behind
+me."
+
+"She's a mortal fine young woman, Mr. Harry, a mortal fine one. I'll
+be sworn he makes a hard run for her. But so can we--eh, Mr. Harry?
+He'll like enough pocket us in here, though."
+
+I made no answer to this. The old man left me to take the wheel, and
+I noted his head wag from side to side.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+IN WHICH I ESTABLISH A MODUS VIVENDI
+
+
+As good fortune would have it, we swung in, opposite the screened
+mouth of Henry's Bayou, at a time when the stream was free of all
+craft that might have observed us, although far across the forest we
+could see a black column of smoke, marking a river steamer coming up.
+
+"Quick with that long boat, Lafitte," I ordered; and he drew our old
+craft alongside as we slowed down. "Get over yonder and sound for a
+bar. Take the boat hook. If you get four feet, we'll try it."
+
+My hardy young ruffian was nothing if not prompt, nor was he less
+efficient than the average deck-hand. It was he who did the sounding
+while Willie, our factotum, pulled slowly in toward the mouth of the
+old river bed. I watched them through the glasses, noting that rarely
+could Lafitte find any bottom at all with the long shaft of the boat
+hook. "She's all right, Peterson," said I. "Follow on in, slowly--I
+don't want that steamer yonder to catch us."
+
+"_Why_ don't you?" A voice I should know, to which all my body would
+thrill, did I hear it in any corner of the world, spoke at my elbow.
+I started for a half instant before I made reply, looking into her
+dark eyes, sensible again of the perfume most delirium-producing for a
+man: the scent of a woman's hair.
+
+"Because, Helena," said I, "I wish our boat to lie unnoticed for a
+time, till the hue and cry has lulled a bit."
+
+"And then?" She bent on me her gaze, so difficult to resist, and
+smiled at me with the corners of her lips, so subtly irresistible. I
+felt a rush of fire sweep through all my being, and something she must
+have noted, for she gave back a bit and stood more aloof along the
+rail.
+
+"And then," said I savagely, "this boat runs by all the towns, till we
+reach the Gulf, and the open sea."
+
+"And then?"
+
+"And then, Helena, we sail the ocean blue, you and I."
+
+"For how long?"
+
+"Forever, Helena. Or, at least, until----"
+
+"Until when?"
+
+"Until you say you will marry me, Helena."
+
+She made no answer now at all beyond a scornful shrug of her
+shoulders. "Suppose I can not?" she said at last.
+
+"If you can not, all the same you must and shall!" said I. "You shall
+be prisoner until you do."
+
+"Is there no law for such as you?"
+
+"No. None on the high sea. None in my heart. Only one law I know any
+more, Helena--I who have upheld the law, obeyed it, reverenced it."
+
+"And that?"
+
+"The law of the centuries, of the forest, of the sea. The law of love,
+Helena."
+
+"Ah, you go about it handsomely! If you wished me to despise you, to
+hate you, this would be very fit, what you say."
+
+"You may hate me, despise me, Helena. Let it be so. But you shall not
+ignore me, as you have these three years."
+
+"It was your fault; your wish--as well as my wish. We agreed to that.
+Why bring it up again? When the news came that you had quit your
+profession, and just at the time you had lost all your father's
+fortune and your own, had turned your back and run away, when you
+should have stayed and fought--well, do you think a girl cares for
+that sort of man? No. A man must do something in this world. He
+mustn't quit. He's got to _fight_."
+
+"Not even if he has nothing to work for?"
+
+"No, not even then. There are plenty of girls in the world----"
+
+"One."
+
+--"And a man mustn't throw away his life for any one woman. That isn't
+right. He has his work to do, his place to make and hold. That's what
+a woman wants in a man. But you didn't. Now, you come and say we must
+forget all the years of off-and-on, all the time we--we--wasted, don't
+you know? And because I am, for a little while, in your hands, you
+talk to me in a way of which you ought to be ashamed. You threaten me,
+a woman. You even almost compromise me. This will make talk. You speak
+to me as though, indeed, you were a buccaneer, and I, indeed, in your
+power absolutely. If I did not know you----"
+
+"You do not. Forget the man you knew. I am not he."
+
+She spread out her hands mockingly, and yet more I felt my anger rise.
+
+"I am another man. I am my father, and his great grandfather, and all
+his ancestors, pirates all. I know what I covet, and by the Lord!
+nothing shall stop me, least of all the law. I shall take my own where
+I find it."
+
+"And now listen!" I concluded. "I am master on this ship, no matter
+how I got it. Late poor, as you say, I shall be richer soon, for I
+shall take, law or no law, consent or no consent, what I want, what I
+will have. And that is you!
+
+"Each day, at eleven, Helena," I concluded, "I shall meet you on the
+after deck, and shall try to be kind, try to be courteous----"
+
+"Why, Harry----"
+
+"Try to be calm, too. I want to give you time to think. And I, too,
+must think. For a time, I wondered what was right, in case you had
+really pledged yourself to another man."
+
+"Suppose I had?" she asked, sphinx-like.
+
+"I will try to discover that. Not that it would make any difference in
+my plans."
+
+"You would take what was another's?" She still gazed at me,
+sphinx-like.
+
+"Yes! By the Lord, Helena, my father did, and his, and so would I! So
+would I, if that were you! Let him fend for himself."
+
+She turned from the rail, her color a little heightened, affected to
+yawn, stretched her arms.
+
+We were now passing over the bar, slowly, feeling our way, our skiff
+alongside, and the shelter of the curving, tree-covered bayou banks
+now beginning to hide us from view, though the bellowing steamer below
+had not yet entered our bend.
+
+"Who is that boy?" she inquired lazily.
+
+"That, madam, is no less than the celebrated freebooter, Jean Lafitte,
+who so long made this lower coast his rendezvous."
+
+"Nonsense! And you're filling his head with wild ideas."
+
+"Say not so; 'twas he and your blessed blue-eyed pirate nephew, the
+cutthroat L'Olonnois, who filled my head with wild ideas."
+
+"How, then?"
+
+"They took me prisoner, on my own--I mean, at the little place where I
+stop, up in the country. And not till by stern deeds I had won their
+confidence, did they accept me as comrade, and, at last, as leader--as
+I may modestly claim to be. And do not think that you can wheedle
+either of them away from Black Bart. L'Olonnois remembers you spanked
+him once, and has sworn a bitter vengeance."
+
+"Why did you happen to start sailing down this way?"
+
+"Because I learned Cal Davidson had started--with you."
+
+"And all that way you had it in mind to overtake us?"
+
+"Yes; and have done so; and have taken his ship away from him, and for
+all I know his bride."
+
+"He was your friend."
+
+"I thought so. I suppose he never knew that you and I used to--well,
+to know each other, before I lost my money."
+
+"He never spoke of that."
+
+"No difference, unless all for the better, for I shall, now, never
+give you up to any man on earth."
+
+"And I thought you the best product of our civilization, a man of
+education, of breeding."
+
+"No, not breeding, unless savagery gives it. I'm civilized no longer.
+When you stand near me, and your hair--go below, Helena! Go at once!"
+
+She turned, moved slowly toward her door.
+
+I finished calmly as I could. "To-morrow, at eleven, I shall give you
+an audience here on the deck. We shall have time. This is a
+wilderness. You can not get away, and I hope no one will find you.
+That is my risk. And oh! Helena," I added, suddenly, feeling my heart
+soften at the pallor of her face--"Oh, Helena, Helena, try to think
+gently of me as you can, for all these miles I have followed after
+you; and all these years I have thought of you. You do not know--you
+do not know! It has been one long agony. Now go, please. I promise to
+keep myself as courteous as I can. You and I and Aunt Lucinda will
+just have a pleasant voyage together until--until that time. Try to be
+kind to me, Helena, as I shall try to be with you."
+
+Silent, unsmiling, she disappeared beyond her cabin door, nor would
+she eat dinner even in her cabin, although Aunt Lucinda did; and found
+the ninety-three was helping her neuralgia.
+
+I know not if they slept, but I slept not at all. The shadows hung
+black about us as we lay at anchor four miles inland, silent, and with
+no lights burning to betray us. Now and again, I could hear faint
+voices of the night, betimes croakings, splashings in the black water
+about us. It was as though the jungle had enclosed us, deep and
+secret-keeping. And in my heart the fierce fever of the jungle's
+teachings burned, so that I might not sleep.
+
+But in the morning Helena was fresh, all in white, and with no more
+than a faint blue of shadow beneath her eyes. She honored us at
+breakfast, and made no manner of reference to what had gone on the
+evening before. This, then, I saw, was to be our _modus vivendi_;
+convention, the social customs we all had known, the art, the gloss,
+the veneer of life, as life runs on in society as we have organized
+it! Ah, she fought cunningly!
+
+"Black Bart," said L'Olonnois, after breakfast as we all stood on
+deck--Helena, Auntie Lucinda and all--"what's all them things floatin'
+around in the water?"
+
+"They look like bottles, leftenant," said I; "perhaps they may have
+floated in here. How do you suppose they came here, Mrs. Daniver?" I
+asked.
+
+"How should I know?" sniffed that lady.
+
+"Well, good leftenant, go overside, you and Jean, and gather up all
+those bottles, and carry them with my compliments to the ladies at
+their cabin. You can have the satisfaction of throwing them all
+overboard later on, Mrs. Daniver. Only, remember, that there is no
+current in the bayou, and they will stay where they fall for weeks,
+unless for the wind."
+
+"And where shall we be, then?" demanded Auntie Lucinda, who had eaten
+a hearty breakfast, and I must say was looking uncommon fit for one so
+afflicted with neuralgia.
+
+"Oh, very likely here, in the same place, my dear Mrs. Daniver," said
+I, "unless war should break out meantime. At present we all seem to
+have a very good _modus vivendi_, and as I have no pressing
+engagements, I can conceive of nothing more charming than passing the
+winter here in your society." Saying which I bowed, and turning to
+Helena, "At eleven, then, if you please?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+IN WHICH I HAVE POLITE CONVERSATION, BUT LITTLE ELSE
+
+
+I had myself quite forgotten my appointed hour of eleven, feeling so
+sure that it would not be remembered, as of covenant, by the party of
+the second part, so to speak, and was sitting on the forward deck
+looking out over the interesting pictures of the landscape that lay
+about us. It was the morning of a Sabbath, and a Sabbath calm lay all
+about us--silence, and hush, and arrested action. The sun itself, warm
+at a time when soon the breezes must have been chill at my northern
+home, was veiled in a soft and tender mist, which brought into yet
+lower tones the pale greens and grays of the southern forest which
+came close to the bayou's edge. The forest about us not yet fallen
+before the devastating northern lumbermen--men such as my father had
+been, who cared nothing for a tree or a country save as it might come
+to cash--was in part cypress, in part cottonwood, but on the ridge
+were many oaks, and over all hung the soft gray Spanish moss. The
+bayou itself, once the river, but now released from all the river's
+troubling duties, held its unceasing calm, fitted the complete
+retirement of the spot, and scarce a ripple broke it anywhere. Over
+it, on ahead, now and then passed a long-legged white crane, bound for
+some distant and inaccessible swamp; all things fitting perfectly into
+this quiet Sabbath picture.
+
+My cigar was excellent, I had my copy of Epictetus at hand, and all
+seemed well with the world save one thing. Here, at hand, was
+everything man could ask, all comforts, many luxuries; and I knew,
+though Helena did not, that the safe increase of my fortune--that
+fortune which some had called tainted, and which I myself valued
+little, soon as I had helped increase it by the exercise of my
+profession--was quite enough to maintain equal comfort or luxury for
+us all our lives. But she was obstinate, and so was I. She would not
+say whether she loved Cal Davidson, and I would never undeceive her as
+to my supposed poverty. Why, the very fact that she had dismissed me
+when she thought my fortune gone--that, alone, should have proved her
+unworthy of a man's second thought. Therefore, ergo, hence, and
+consequently, I could not have been a man; for I swear I was giving
+her a second thought, and a thousandth; until I rebelled at a weakness
+that could not put a mere woman out of mind.
+
+And then, I slowly turned my head, and saw her standing on the after
+deck. Her footfall was not audible on the rubber deck-mats, and she
+had not spoken. I resolved, as soon as I had leisure, to ask some
+scientific friends to explain how it was possible that with no sound
+or other appeal to any of the sensorial nerves, I could, at a distance
+of seventy-five feet, become conscious of the presence of a person no
+more than five feet five, who had not spoken a word, and was standing
+idly looking out over the ship's rail, in quite the opposite direction
+from that in which I sat. And then the ship's clock struck six bells,
+and recalled the appointment at eleven. Hastily I dropped Epictetus
+and my cigar, and hurried aft.
+
+"Good morning again, Helena," said I.
+
+She stood looking on out over the water for a time, but, at length,
+turned toward me, just a finger up as to stifle a yawn. "Really," said
+she, "while I am hardly so situated that I can well escape it or
+resent it, it does seem to me that you might well be just a trifle
+less familiar. Why not 'Miss Emory'?"
+
+"Because, Helena, I like 'Helena' better."
+
+A slow anger came into her eyes. She beat a swift foot on the deck.
+
+"Don't," I said. "Don't stamp with your feet. It reminds me of a
+Belgian hare, and I do not like them, potted or caged."
+
+"I might as well be one," she broke out, "as well be one, caged here
+as we are, and insulted by a--a----"
+
+"A ruthless buccaneer----"
+
+"Yes, a ruthless buccaneer, who has remembered only brutalities."
+
+"And forgotten all amenities? Why, Helena, how could you! And after
+all the cork-tipped cigarettes I have given you, and all the
+ninety-three I have given your Auntie Lucinda--why look at the empty
+message bottles she and you have thrown out into the helpless and
+unhelping bayou--a perfect fleet of them, bobbing around. Shan't I
+send the boys overboard to gather them in for you again?"
+
+"A fine education you are giving those boys, aren't you, filling their
+heads with lawless ideas! A fine debt we'll all owe you for ruining
+the character of my nephew Jimmy. He was such a nice nephew, too."
+
+"Your admiration is mutual, Miss Emory--I mean, Helena. He says you
+are a very nice auntie, and your divinity fudges are not surpassed and
+seldom equaled. It is an accomplishment, however, of no special use to
+a poor pirate's bride; as I intend you shall be."
+
+She had turned her back on me now.
+
+"Besides, as to that," I went on, "I am only affording these young
+gentlemen the same advantages offered by the advertisements of the
+United States navy recruiting service--good wages, good fare, and an
+opportunity to see the world. Come now, we'll all see the world
+together. Shall we not, Miss Emory--I mean, Helena?"
+
+"We can't live here forever, anyhow," said she.
+
+"I could," was my swift answer. "Forever, in just this quiet scene.
+Forever, with all the world forgot, and just you standing there as you
+are, the most beautiful girl I ever saw; and once, I thought, the
+kindest."
+
+"That I am not."
+
+"No. I was much mistaken in you, much disappointed. It grieved me to
+see you fall below the standard I had set for you. I thought your
+ideals high and fine. They were not, as I learned to my sorrow. You
+were just like all the rest. You cared only for my money, because it
+could give you ease, luxury, station. When that was gone, you cared
+nothing for me."
+
+I stood looking at her lovely shoulders for some time, but she made no
+sign.
+
+"And therefore, finding you so fallen," I resumed, "finding you only,
+after all, like the other worthless, parasitic women of the day, Miss
+Emory--Helena, I mean--I resolved to do what I could to educate you.
+And so I offer you the same footing that I do your nephew--good
+wages, good fare, and an opportunity to see the world."
+
+No answer whatever.
+
+"Do you remember the Bay of Naples, at sunset, as we saw it when we
+first steamed in on the old _City of Berlin_, Helena?"
+
+No answer.
+
+"And do you recall Fuji-yama, with the white top--remember the
+rickshaw rides together, Helena?"
+
+No answer.
+
+"And then, the fiords of Norway, and the mountains? Or the chalk
+cliffs off Dover? And those sweet green fields of England--as we rode
+up to London town? And the taxis there, just you and I, Helena, with
+Aunt Lucinda happily evaded--just you and I? Yes, I am thinking of
+forcing Aunt Lucinda to walk the plank ere long, Helena. I want a
+world all my own, Helena, the world that was meant for us, Helena,
+made for us--a world with no living thing in it but yonder
+mocking-bird that's singing; and you, and me."
+
+"Could you not dispense with the mocking-bird--and me?" she asked.
+
+"No," (I winced at her thrust, however). "No, not with you. And you
+know in your heart, in the bottom of your trifling and fickle and
+worthless heart, Helena Emory, that if it came to the test, and if
+life and all the world and all happiness were to be either all yours
+or all mine, I'd go anywhere, do anything, and leave it all to you
+rather than keep any for myself."
+
+"Go, then!"
+
+"If I might, I should. But male and female made He them. I spoke of us
+as units human, but not as the unit _homo_. Much as I despise you,
+Helena, I can not separate you from myself in my own thought. We seem
+to me to be like old Webster's idea of the Union--'one and
+indivisible.' And since I can not divide us in any thought, I, John
+Doe, alias Black Bart, alias the man you once called Harry, have
+resolved that we shall go undivided, sink or swim, survive or perish.
+If the world were indeed my oyster, I should open it for us both; but
+saying both, I should see only you. Isn't it odd, Helena?"
+
+"It is eleven-thirty," said she.
+
+"Almost time for luncheon. Do you think me a 'good provider,' Helena?"
+
+"Humph! Mr. Davidson was. While your stolen stores last in your stolen
+boat, I suppose we shall not be hungry."
+
+"Or thirsty?" She shrugged.
+
+"Or barren of cork-tips of the evening? Or devoid of guitar strings?"
+
+"I shall need none."
+
+"Ah, but you will! It belikes me much, fair maid, to disport me at
+ease this very eve, here on the deck, under the moon, and to hear you
+yourself and none other, fairest of all my captives, touch the lute,
+or whatever you may call it, to that same air you and I, fair maid,
+heard long ago together at a lattice under the Spanish moon. A swain
+touched then his lute, or whatever you may call it, to his Dulcinea.
+Here 'tis in the reverse. The fair maid, having no option, shall touch
+the lute, or whatever you call it, to John Doe, Black Bart, or
+whatever you may call him; who is her captor, who feels himself about
+to love her beyond all reason; and who, if he find no relief,
+presently, in music--which is better than drink--will go mad, go mad,
+and be what he should not be, a cruel master; whereas all he asks of
+fate is that he shall be only a kind captor and a gentle friend."
+
+Her head held very high, she passed me without a word and threw open
+the door of her suite.
+
+    [Illustration: It was a love song of old Spain]
+
+... And that night, that very night, that very wondrous, silent,
+throbbing night of the Sabbath and the South, when all the air was as
+it seemed to me in saturation, in a suspense of ecstasy, to be broken,
+to be precipitated by a word, a motion, a caress, a note ... that
+night, I say, as I sat on the forward deck alone, I heard, far off and
+faint as though indeed it were the lute of Andalusia, the low, slow,
+deep throb of a guitar!... My whole heart stopped. I was no more
+than a focused demand of life. Reason was gone from me, not intellect
+but emotion--that is its basic thing after all, emotion born on earth
+but reaching to the stars.... I listened, not hearing.... It was the
+air we had heard long ago, a love song of old Spain, written, perhaps,
+before DeSoto and his men perished in these very bayous and forests
+that now shielded us against all tumult, all turmoil, all things
+unhappy or unpleasant. The full tide of life and love swept through my
+veins as I listened.
+
+I rose, I hastened. At her door I paused. "Helena!" I called
+raucously. "Helena." And she made no reply. "Helena," I called again.
+"It was the same old air. This is Spain again! Ah, I thank you for
+that same old air. Helena, forgive me. May I come in--will you come
+out?"
+
+I halted. A cold voice came from the companionway door. "You have a
+poor ear for music, John Doe. It is not the same. Do you think I would
+take orders from you, or any other man?"
+
+I stood irresolute a moment, and then did what I should not have done.
+I pulled open her door. "Come out," I demanded. But then I closed the
+door and went away. She was sitting, her head bowed on the instrument
+she had played. And when she looked up, startled at my rudeness, I saw
+her eyes wet with tears.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+IN WHICH WE MAKE A RUN FOR IT
+
+
+"Gadzooks! Black Bart," remarked L'Olonnois at the breakfast table the
+next morning, "and where is the captive maiden?"
+
+"I do not know," was my answer. "Better go find out, Jimmy."
+
+He departed, but presently, returned somewhat troubled.
+
+"My Auntie Helen," said he, "I mean the captive maid, why, she says
+she's got a headache and don't want no breakfast."
+
+"Not even a grapefruit and a cup of coffee?" I demanded, anxiously
+and, it must be admitted, somewhat guiltily; for I knew that the soul
+of Helena was grieved and whatever the trouble, the fault was my own.
+Surely I had placed the poor captive in a most difficult position, and
+loving her as I did, how could I continue to give her discomfort? My
+resolution almost weakened. I was considerably disturbed.
+
+And yet as I faced the alternative of setting her free, and once more
+taking up the aimless and unhappy life I had led these last three
+years without sight of her, something--I suppose the great selfishness
+which lies under love--rose up and said me nay; and I began to make
+excuses in favor of my desire, as that, surely, soon she would come to
+a more reasonable way of thought. And in one thing, at least, I was
+honest with myself, deceitful as are lovers with themselves, and
+arguing ever in their own favor--I did not know why Helena had wept,
+and it was perhaps my right to know.
+
+One selfishness with another, I resolved to go on with this matter,
+though knowing full well how difficult would be my battle with her,
+how unequal; for I was armed only with a great love, backed by no art
+at all, whereas, she merely would continue to unmask against me new
+batteries of defense--severe politeness, formality with me; laughter
+and scornfulness of me; anger, pitifulness, at last even tears; and
+always the dread assault of her eyes, and the scent of her hair and
+the sweet wistfulness of her mouth,--all, all the charms of all women
+united in her one self, to attack, to assail, to harass, and to make
+wholly wretched the man who loved her more than anything in life, and
+who was driven almost to using any means, so only that she might not
+be away, not be out of sense and sight; as out of mind and out of
+heart she never more might be. So that, all in all, it were, indeed,
+hard question whether she or I were the more wretched. Surely
+grapefruit and toast and coffee seemed to me but inventions of the
+powers of darkness at that breakfast.
+
+Not so my hardy mates, however, who ate with the keen appetite of
+youth, from fruit through bacon and toast and back again, both talking
+all the while. Nor, as the event proved, altogether unwisely. Indeed,
+it was stout Jean Lafitte who resolved my doubts, and by suggesting
+the simple medicine of action rather than meditation, sufficed for the
+removal of one of my two minds.
+
+"What ho! Black Bart," said he, after his third helping of bacon, "why
+does our good ship lie here idle at her anchor?" Question direct, like
+Jean himself, and demanding direct answer.
+
+"Ask Captain Peterson," said I. "He perhaps can tell where we can get
+more gasoline."
+
+"No, he can't. I asked him this morning."
+
+"Then 'twould seem we must lie here all winter, unless discovered by
+some relief expedition."
+
+"Why don't we start a relief expedition of our own?" demanded he.
+
+"And how?"
+
+"Why, me and Willy, the deck-hand, we'll take the long boat an' go out
+an' explore this region roundabout. Somebody may have gasoline
+somewhere, and if so, we can git it, can't we?"
+
+"Your idea is excellent, Jean Lafitte," said I. "Within the hour you
+shall set forth to see whether or not there is any settlement on this
+bayou. And that you may not need use violence when secrecy is our
+wish, here is a fat purse for our stores. And hasten, for of a truth,
+Jean Lafitte, I am most aweary of this very morning, and I long to see
+the white seas roll once more."
+
+It was determined, therefore, that we should fare onward--in case we
+could fare at all--with our ship's company as it now was; for, of
+course, none but myself knew what was afoot between Black Bart and his
+captive. And well enough I knew that in keeping Helena Emory thus
+close to me, I was breeding sleepless nights and anxious days.
+
+This day itself was anxious enough, nor could all of Epictetus teach
+me calm philosophy, distracted as I was over this situation, complex
+as it was. As to the fortune of the long boat, we knew nothing until,
+at three of the afternoon, I saw a white speck of a sail round the
+bend of our bayou, and saw that was hoisted, spirit fashion, over our
+boat, which now, with following wind, rapidly drew in toward us.
+
+"It's all right," called out Jean Lafitte, when he came within hail;
+and I saw now that he, indeed, had a boat's load of gasoline in tanks,
+cans and all manner of receptacles.
+
+"Town and a store, down there five miles," he explained as I caught
+his gunwale with boat hook. "You can git anything there. Now, the
+Giants an' the Cubs, why, they tied in the 'leventh inning yesterday.
+An' say----"
+
+"Enough," said I, "let me hear nothing of the cursed Giants or the yet
+more accursed Cubs, for I have more serious work afoot! Tell me, is
+there a bar cutting off the other end of the bayou; and how long is
+the bayou?"
+
+"Sixteen miles," answered the useful Lafitte, "an' she seems like good
+water all the way. They say there's seven foot on the bar, and the
+wood boats run in and out."
+
+"Good! And did you tell them who you were, and why you wanted
+gasoline?"
+
+"No. I only said our automobeel was broke down, an' we wanted the
+baseball scores. That was all. They ast who was we. I said you was
+John Doe--you see, I didn't want to tell your real name, so I didn't
+say Black Bart."
+
+"And you didn't mention our boat?"
+
+"Of course not! Whose business is it what pirates does? They strike
+hardest when least expected. To-night we can run in an' rob the store,
+easy."
+
+"Jean!" I cried, horrified, "what do you mean? Let me hear no more
+such talk, or by my halidom! back you go to your home by first train.
+I'll not be responsible for the ruin of any boy's morals in this way."
+
+"Well what do you think about that, Jimmy!" said Jean, somewhat cast
+down and much mystified. "Ain't we pirates, an' don't pirates live on
+booty?"
+
+"Booty enough you have in your boat, Jean," said I, "and let us get it
+aboard and in our tanks, for to-night we sail."
+
+"For to rob the store?" anxiously.
+
+"No, once more for the Spanish Main, my hearties! I seek a greater
+treasure; and plenty of danger, believe me, lies between here and
+there."
+
+"When'll we start?" queried L'Olonnois eagerly.
+
+"To-night, at six bells. Make all ready," was my reply.
+
+And that very night, with our search-light half covered, and at slow
+speed and with the sounding lead going, Peterson felt his way out from
+our moorings and along the full length of Henry's Bayou, silently as
+he might. We saw few signs of life beyond now and then a distant light
+in some negro cabin, and with all the lights doused we swept by like a
+ghost in the night, along the front of the plantation at whose store
+my men had got their gasoline. At last we broke open the lower end of
+the bayou, which, coming in from the main stream in a long open reach,
+showed like a lane of faint light in the forest; and to my great
+relief presently, felt the current of the great stream pick us up,
+and saw the channel lights ahead, so that we knew we might for a time,
+at least, advance in safety.
+
+In all this work, my two faithful lieutenants were awake and alert;
+but I saw nothing of Helena that day, nor had message either from her
+or her aunt in the full round of twenty-four hours since last we met.
+Had she sought deliberately to repay me for the grief I caused her,
+Helena could have devised no better plan than her silence and her
+absence from my sight, after what time I had seen her weep.
+
+Suddenly a thought of more practical sort came to my mind. "Jimmy," I
+called.
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir;" and L'Olonnois saluted.
+
+"You remember all those bottles floating around in the bayou--did you
+take them all up?"
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir, an' she throwed a lot more in, out o' the cabin
+window. I was shootin' at 'em with the twenty-two, an' busted some."
+
+"But not all?"
+
+"Oh, no, some was left."
+
+"And we sailed away, leaving there, no doubt, the full story of our
+voyage."
+
+"Like enough," said L'Olonnois. "I didn't think of that."
+
+"Nor I. For once, the vigilance of Black Bart faltered, L'Olonnois,
+and he must yet, mayhap, make better amends for his fault. Full speed
+ahead, now, Peterson," I added later as I went forward. "Run for New
+Orleans and with all you can get out of her."
+
+"Very good, Mr. Harry," said the old man; and I could feel the throb
+of her whole superstructure, from stack to keelson, when he called on
+the double-sixties of the _Belle Helene_ for all their power. Nor did
+any seek to stay us in our swift rush down the river.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+IN WHICH I WALK AND TALK WITH HELENA
+
+
+It was nine of as fine a winter morning as the South ever saw when at
+last, having passed without pause all intervening ports, we found
+ourselves at the city of New Orleans. Rather, in the vicinity of that
+city; for when we reached the railway ferry above the town, I ran
+alongshore and we made fast the _Belle Helene_ at a somewhat
+precarious landing place. I now called Peterson to me.
+
+"It's a fine morning, Peterson," said I.
+
+"Yes, sir, but I think 'tis going to rain." (Peterson was always
+gloomy.)
+
+"You must go down-town, Peterson," said I. "The through train from the
+West is late and just now is coming into the ferry. You can take it
+easily. We have got to have still more gasoline, for there is a long
+trip ahead of us, and I am not sure what may be the chance for
+supplies below the city."
+
+"Are you going into the Gulf, Mr. Harry?"
+
+"Yes, Peterson. You will continue to navigate the boat; and, meantime,
+you may be quartermaster also. I shall be obliged to remain here until
+you return."
+
+The old man touched his cap. "Very good, sir, but I'm almost sure not
+to return."
+
+"Listen, Peterson," I went on, well used to his customary depression
+of soul, "go to the ship's furnisher, Lavallier and Thibodeau, toward
+the Old Market. Tell them to have all our supplies at slip K, below
+the railway warehouses, not later than nine this evening. We want four
+drums of gasoline. Also, get two thousand rounds of ammunition for the
+twelve gages, ducking loads, for we may want to do some shooting. We
+also want two or three cases of grapefruit and oranges, and any good
+fresh vegetables in market. All these things must be ready on the
+levee at nine, without fail. Here is my letter of credit, and a bank
+draft, signed against it--I think you will find they know me still."
+
+The old man touched his cap again but hesitated. "I'm sure to be asked
+something," he said somewhat nervously.
+
+"Say nothing about any change of ownership of this boat, Peterson, and
+don't even give the boat's name, unless you must. Just say we will
+meet their shipping clerk at slip K, this evening, at nine. Hurry
+back, Peterson. And bring a newspaper, please."
+
+"Is any one else going down-town?" asked Peterson. "I may run into
+trouble."
+
+"No, we shall all remain aboard."
+
+He departed mournfully enough, seeing that the ferry boat now was
+coming across with the railway train. I continued my own moody pacing
+up and down the deck. Truth was, I had not seen Helena for more than
+twenty-four hours, nor had any word come from the ladies' cabin to
+give me hope I ever would see her again of her own will. My surprise,
+therefore, was great enough when I heard the after cabin door close
+gently as she came out upon the deck.
+
+When last I saw her she had been in tears. Now she was all smiles and
+radiant as the dawn! Her gown, moreover, was one I had never seen
+before, and she, herself, seemed monstrous pleased with it, for, by
+some miracle, fresh as though from the hands of her maid at home, she
+knew herself fair and fit enough to make more trouble for mankind.
+
+"Good morning," said she, casually, as though we had parted but lately
+and that conventionally. "Isn't it fine?"
+
+"It is a beautiful picture," said I, "and you fit into it. I am glad
+to see you looking so well."
+
+"I wish I could say as much for you," said she. "You look like a
+forlorn hope."
+
+"I am nothing better."
+
+"And as though you had not slept."
+
+"I have not, Helena."
+
+"Why not?" her eyes wide open in surprise.
+
+"Because I knew I had either hurt or offended you; and I would do
+neither."
+
+"You have done both so often that it should not cost you your sleep,"
+said she slowly. "But if you really want to be kind, why can you not
+have mercy on a girl who has been packed in a hat box for a month? Let
+me go ashore."
+
+"Can you not breathe quite as well where you are, Helena?"
+
+"But I can't walk."
+
+"Oh, yes, you can; and I will walk beside you here on deck."
+
+"But I would like to pick flowers, over there by the embankment."
+
+"The train is too close," said I, smiling grimly.
+
+Her color heightened just a little, but she did not answer my
+suspicions. "Please let me walk with you over there," she said. "I
+used not to need ask twice."
+
+"Our situation is now reversed, Helena."
+
+"Please, let me walk with you, Sir!"
+
+"I dare not. We might both forget ourselves and go off to New Orleans
+for a lark without Aunt Lucinda."
+
+"Oh, I am going to call Aunt Lucinda, too."
+
+"Pardon, but you are going to do nothing of the kind. Even with her as
+chaperon, did we get down there in the old city once more, like the
+children we once were, Helena, we would forget our duty, would,
+perhaps, forget our purpose here. Mademoiselle, I dare not take that
+risk."
+
+"Please, Sir, may I walk with you over yonder for just a little time?"
+she said, as though it were her first request. She was tying her
+quaint little white bonnet strings under her chin now. I raised a
+hand.
+
+"You ask a man to put himself into the power of the woman he loves
+most in all the world. When a man needs resolution, dare he look into
+the eyes of that woman, feel her hand on his arm, have her walk close
+to him as they promenade?"
+
+"Dear me! Is it so bad as that?"
+
+"Worse, Helena."
+
+"Then I am to continue a prisoner in that hat box?"
+
+"Until you love me, Helena, as I do you."
+
+"As I told you, that would be a long time."
+
+"Yes! For never in the world can you love me as I do you. I had
+forgotten that."
+
+"If only you could forget everything and just be a nice young man,"
+said she. "It is such fun. This dear old town, don't you know? Now,
+with a nice young man to go about with Aunt Lucinda and me----"
+
+"How would a man like Calvin Davidson do?" I demanded bitterly.
+
+"Very well. He is nice enough."
+
+"I suppose so. He is rich, able to have his horses and cars--even his
+private yacht. He can order a dinner in any country in the world, or
+tell you the standing of any club, in either league, at any minute of
+the day or night. Could I say more for his education? He has two
+country places and a city house and a business which nets him a
+hundred thousand a year. How can he help being nice? I do not resemble
+Mr. Davidson in any particular, except that I am wearing one of his
+waistcoats. Also, Helena, I am wearing a suit of flannels which I have
+borrowed from John, his Chinese cook. You can readily see I am a poor
+man. How, then, can I be nice?"
+
+"No one would see us here," said she, sublimely irrelevant, as usual.
+"There are some little yellow flowers over there on the bank. Maybe I
+could find some violets."
+
+There was a wistfulness in her gaze which made appeal. I could not
+resist. "Helena," said I suddenly, "give me your parole that you will
+not try to escape, and I will walk with you among yonder flowers. You
+look as though just from a Watteau fan, my dear. It is fall, but seems
+spring, and the world seems made for flowers and shepherds and love,
+my dear. Do you give me your word?"
+
+"If I do, may I walk alone?"
+
+"No, with me."
+
+"I'll not try to take the train. On my honor, I will not."
+
+I looked deep into her eyes and saw, as always, only truth there--her
+deep brown eyes, filled with some deep liquid light whose color I
+never could say--looked till my own senses swam. I could scarcely
+speak.
+
+"I take your parole, Helena," I said. "You never lied to me or any
+other human being in the world."
+
+"You don't know me," said she. "I used often to lie to mama, and
+frequently do yet to Aunt Lucinda. But not if I say I give my word--my
+real word."
+
+"When will you give me your real word, Helena? You know what I
+mean--when will you say that you love me and no one else?"
+
+"Never!" said she promptly. "I hate you very much. You have been
+presumptuous and overbearing."
+
+"Why then should you promenade with me?"
+
+"Fault of anything better, Sir!" But she took my hand lightly, smiling
+as I assisted her down the landing way.
+
+"But tell me," she added as we made our way slowly up the muddy slope,
+"really, Harry, how long is this thing to last? When are we going back
+home?"
+
+"How can you ask? And how can I reply, save in one way, after taking
+the advice of yonder pirate captain, your blue-eyed nephew? He says
+they always live happy ever after. Listen, Helena. Gaze upon this
+waistcoat! Forget its stripes, and imagine it to be sprigged silk of a
+day long gone by. Let us play that romance is not yet dead. These are
+not cuffs, but ruffles at my wrists--for all Cal Davidson's
+extraordinary taste in shirts. All the world lies before us, and it is
+yesterday once more. The Mediterranean, Helena, how blue it is--the
+Bermudas, how fine they are of a winter day! And yonder lies motley
+Egypt and her sands. Or Paris, Helena; or Vienna, the voluptuous, with
+her gay ways of life. Or Nagasaki, Helena--little brown folks running
+about, and all the world white in blossoms. All the world, Helena,
+with only you and I in it, and with not a care until, at least, we
+have eaten the last of our tinned goods of the ship's supplies; since
+I am poor. But if I could give you all that, would I be nice?"
+
+"Would that suit you, Harry?" she asked soberly; "just gallivanting?"
+
+"You know it would not. You know I want no vacation lasting all my
+life, nor does any real man. You know it was yourself that forced me
+out of my man's place and robbed me of my greatest right."
+
+"Yes," said she, "a man's place is to fight and to work. It's the
+same to-day. But," she added, "you ran away; and you lost."
+
+"But am I not trying to recoup my fortune, Helena? You see, I have
+already acquired a yacht, although but a few weeks ago I started in
+the world with scarcely more than my bare hands. Could Monte Cristo
+have done more?"
+
+"It isn't money a woman wants in a man."
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+"I don't know," said she. "Oh, come, we mustn't go to arguing these
+things all over again! I'm weary of it. And certainly Aunt Lucinda and
+I both are weary of our hat box yonder. That's what I asked you, how
+long?"
+
+"As long as I like, Helena, you and your Aunt Lucinda shall dwell
+there. What would you say to three years or so?"
+
+She seemed not to hear. "I believe I've found a four leaf clover,"
+said she.
+
+"Much good fortune may it bring you."
+
+"Let me try my fortune," said she, and began plucking off the leaves.
+"He loves me, he loves me not; he loves me, he loves me not."
+
+"There!" she said, holding up the naked stem triumphantly; "I knew
+it."
+
+"It would be a fairer test, had you a daisy, Helena," said I, "or
+something with more leaves; not that I know whose has been this
+ordeal. Suppose it were myself, and that you tried this one." I handed
+her a trefoil, but she waved it aside.
+
+"I will try to find you a four leaf clover for your own, after a
+while," said she, and bobbed me a very pretty courtesy. Angered, I
+caught at the stick I was carrying with so sudden a grip that I broke
+it in two.
+
+"I did not know your hands were so strong, Harry," said she.
+
+"Would they were stronger!" was my retort. "And were I in charge of
+the affairs of Providence, the first thing I would do would be to
+wring the neck of every woman in the world."
+
+"And then set out to put them together again, Harry? Don't be silly."
+
+"Oh, yes, naturally. But you must admit, Helena, that women have no
+sense of reason whatever. For instance, if you really were trying out
+the fortune of some man on a daisy's head, you would not accept the
+decree of fate, any more than you could tell why you loved him or
+loved him not. Why does a woman love a man, Helena? You say I must not
+be silly--should I then be wise?"
+
+"No, you are much too wise, so that you often bore me."
+
+"Nor should he be poor?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor rich?"
+
+"Certainly not. Rich men also usually are bores--they talk about
+themselves too much."
+
+"Should he be a tall man?"
+
+"Not too tall, for they're lanky, nor short, because they get fat. You
+see, each girl has her own ideal about such matters. Then, she always
+marries a man as different as possible from her ideal."
+
+"Why does she marry a man at all, Helena?"
+
+"She never knows. Why should she? But look--" she pointed out across
+the water--"the train is leaving the ferry boat. Isn't that Captain
+Peterson going aboard the train?"
+
+"Yes, Helena, I've sent him down-town to get some light reading for
+you and your Aunt Lucinda--_Fox's Book of Martyrs_, and the _Critique
+of Pure Reason_--the latter especially recommended to yourself. I
+would I had in print a copy of my _magnum opus_, my treatment on
+native American _culicidae_. My book on the mosquito is going to be
+handsomely illustrated, Helena, believe me."
+
+She turned upon me with a curious look. "Harry," said she, "you've
+changed in some ways. If I were not so bored by life in yonder hat
+box, I might even be interested in you for a few minutes. You used
+always to be so sober, but now, sometimes, I wonder if I understand
+you. Honestly, you were an awful stick, and no girl likes a stick
+about her. What do girls care which dynasty it was that built the
+pyramids?--it's Biskra they want to see. And we don't care when or why
+Baron Haussmann built the Boulevard Haussmann in Paris--it's the
+boulevard itself interests us."
+
+"It is the fate of genius to be cast aside," said I. "No doubt even I
+shall be forgotten--even after my book on the _culicidae_ shall have
+been completed."
+
+"--So that," she went on, not noticing me, "there is that one point in
+your favor."
+
+"Then there is a chance?"
+
+"Oh, yes, for me to study you as you once did me--as one of the
+_culicidae_, I presume. But if you would listen to reason, and end this
+foolishness, and set us all ashore, why, I would be almost willing to
+forgive you, and we might be friends again,--only friends, Harry, as
+we once were. Why not, Harry?"
+
+"You wheedle well," said I, "but you forget that what you ask is
+impossible. I am Black Bart the Avenger, and the hand of every man is
+against me. I am too deep in this adventure to end it here. Why? I did
+not even dare go down-town for fear I might be arrested. Nothing
+remains but further flight, and when you ask me to fly and leave you
+here, you ask what is impossible."
+
+She stood for a time silent, a trifle paler, her flowers fallen from
+her hand, clearly unhappy, but clearly not yet beaten. "Come," said
+she coldly, "we must not be brutal to Aunt Lucinda also. Let us go
+back."
+
+"Yes," said I, "now you have back your parole."
+
+"I think I should like an artichoke for luncheon," said she.
+"Vinaigrette, you know." And she passed aft, her head hidden by her
+white parasol, but I knew with chin as high as though she were Marie
+Antoinette herself. Nor did I feel much happier than had I been her
+executioner.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+IN WHICH IS A PRETTY KETTLE OF FISH
+
+
+Miss Helena Emory had her artichoke for luncheon, and judging from my
+own, my boy John never had prepared a better, good as he was with
+artichokes; but we ate apart, the ladies not coming to our table. It
+was late afternoon before I saw Helena again, once more come on deck.
+She was sitting in a steamer chair with her face leaning against her
+hand, and looking out across the water at the passing shipping. She
+sat motionless a long time, the whole droop of her figure, the poise
+of her tender curved chin, wistful and unhappy, although she said no
+word. For myself, I did not accost her. I, too, looked up and down the
+great river, not knowing at what moment some discerning eye might spy
+us out, and I longed for nothing so much as that night or Peterson
+would come.
+
+He did come at last, late in the afternoon, on an outbound train, and
+he hurried aboard as rapidly as he might. The first thing he did was
+to hand me a copy of an afternoon paper. I opened it eagerly enough,
+already well assured of what news it might carry.
+
+On the front page, under a large, black head, was a despatch from
+Baton Rouge relaying other despatches received at that point, from
+many points between Plaquimine and Bayou Sara. These, in short, told
+the story of the most high-handed attempt at river piracy known in
+recent years. The private yacht of Calvin Davidson, a wealthy northern
+business man, on his way South for the winter, had been seized by a
+band of masked ruffians, who boarded her while the yacht's owner was
+temporarily absent on important business in the city of Natchez. These
+ruffians, abandoning their own boat, had at once gone on down-stream.
+They had been hailed by officers of Baton Rouge, acting under advice
+by wire from Mr. Davidson, on his way down from Natchez. The robber
+band had paid no attention to the officers of the law, but had
+continued their course. In some way the stolen craft had mysteriously
+disappeared that afternoon and night, nor had any word of her yet been
+received from points as far south as Plaquimine. A bottle thrown
+overboard by one of the prisoners taken on the yacht contained a
+message to Mr. Davidson, with the request that he should meet the
+sender at New Orleans; but there was no signature to the note.
+
+Many mysterious circumstances surrounded this sensational piece of
+piracy, according to the journalistic view-point. On board the _Belle
+Helene_ were two ladies, the beautiful young heiress, Miss Helena
+Emory, well known in northern social circles, and her aunt, Mrs.
+Lucinda Daniver, widow of the late Commodore Daniver, United States
+Navy. Mr. Davidson himself was unable to assign any reason for this
+bold act of this abduction, although he feared the worst for the
+comfort or even the safety of the two ladies, whose fate at this
+writing remained unknown. The greatest mystery surrounded the identity
+of the leader of this bold deed, whose name Mr. Davidson could not
+imagine. He was reported to suspect that these same river pirates,
+earlier in the day, attacked and perhaps made away with a friend of
+his whose name is not yet given. A cigarette case was found in the
+abandoned boat, which Mr. Davidson thought looked somewhat familiar to
+him, although he could not say as to its ownership. He could and did
+aver positively, however, that a photograph in a leather case on the
+abandoned boat was a portrait of none other than Miss Helena Emory,
+one of the captives made away with by the river ruffians. Mr. Davidson
+could assign no explanation of these circumstances.
+
+Later despatches received at Baton Rouge, so the New Orleans journal
+said, might or might not clear up the mystery of the stolen yacht's
+disappearance, although the senders seemed much excited. One story
+from a down-river point, brought in by an excited negro, told of a
+dozen bottles found floating in the bayou. The negro, however, had
+broken them all open, and declared they had contained nothing but bits
+of paper, which he had thrown away. He also told a wild story that the
+plantation store at Hamlin's Landing, on Bayou Henry, had been looted
+in broad daylight, by a young man and a boy, apparently members of the
+pirate crew. The younger of the two ruffians was masked, and on being
+asked for pay for gasoline, refused it at the point of his weapons,
+declaring that pirates never paid.
+
+While no attention should be paid to rumors such as the latter, the
+despatches went on to say, it was obvious that a most high-handed
+outrage had been perpetrated. It was supposed that the swift yacht had
+been hurried forward, and had passed New Orleans in the night. Once
+out of the river, and among the shallow bays of the Gulf Coast, the
+ruffians might, perhaps, for some time evade pursuit, just as did the
+craft of Jean Lafitte, himself, a century ago. Meantime, only the
+greatest anxiety could pervade the hearts of the friends of these
+ladies thus placed in the power of ruthless bandits. Such an outrage
+upon civilization could, of course, occur only under the
+administration of the Republican party. The journal therefore
+hoped:--and so forth, and so forth.
+
+"Peterson," said I, after digesting this interesting information,
+"you've read this. What have you to say?"
+
+Peterson was more despondent even than was his wont. "It looks mighty
+bad, Mr. Harry," said he, "and I don't profess to understand it."
+
+"Did you order the supplies?"
+
+"Oh, yes, but they may forget to send them after all."
+
+"It is your intention to stick by me, Peterson?"
+
+"Well, there must be some mistake," he said, "but I don't see what
+else I can do."
+
+"There is a mistake, Peterson," said I. "This is more newspaper
+sensation. Mr. Davidson is excited over something he doesn't
+understand. If I had him here now I could explain it all easily. But,
+before the matter can be explained in this way, we must wait until
+this excitement dies down. Why, at this gait, it would hardly be safe
+for either of us to be recognized here in town. We might be arrested
+and put to a lot of trouble. The best thing we can do is to run on
+down the river and wait until Davidson gets down and until we get this
+thing adjusted. That is why I wanted the supplies to-night."
+
+"But suppose we are discovered to-night?"
+
+"We take that chance, but I fancy that I have certain legal rights,
+after all, and I own this boat. Fortune favors the bold. I shall make
+no attempt to hide, either now or then, Peterson. At the same time,
+while we will not run away from plain sight, there is no need to take
+unnecessary chances. Drop some white sail-cloth over the yacht's name
+on her bows, and on the fantail. Have one or two of the boys go
+overboard in slings and seem to be painting her sides. That will give
+the look that we are safe to lie here some time--which is the last
+thing the _Belle Helene_ really would do, or will do. They think we've
+run past the city already, and they'll be watching at Quarantine, and
+along the Lake Borgne Canal. Most of the yachts go out that way,
+headed for Florida. We'll go the other way. It's an adventure,
+Peterson, and one which any viking, like yourself, ought to relish."
+
+"So I do, Mr. Harry," said he, "but I hardly knew which course to
+lay."
+
+"Blood will tell, Peterson," said I. "Your ancestors were Danish
+pirates; mine were English pirates."
+
+"For God's sake, Mr. Harry, don't talk that way. We mustn't go against
+the law."
+
+"I'm not sure that we have as yet, Peterson, for the law says nothing
+about abduction of ladies in pairs, or for purposes truly honorable.
+Frankly, Peterson--and because you've been long in my employ--I'll
+tell you something. I intend to marry that young lady if she's not
+already married to Mr. Davidson."
+
+"Lord, Mr. Harry, she ain't--at least not since she come aboard the
+boat."
+
+"In that case," said I, drawing a long breath, "this is not such a bad
+world after all."
+
+"Not at all, Mr. Harry. I was going to say, as well be hung for a
+sheep as a lamb, but of course I don't know about what she'll say. She
+looks to me like one of these girls that's been petted a good deal,
+and Mr. Harry, believe me, I always fight shy of a pet horse, or a pet
+boat, or a pet woman--they're always hard to handle, and they raise
+the devil when they get a chance. I hope you'll pardon me, sir."
+
+"On the contrary, Peterson, I am grateful to you. You are on double
+pay from the time I took command. Moreover, I promise you the best
+cruise we ever had together. Once among the shallow bays on the coast
+down there, we can take care of ourselves while this chase cools down.
+We're faster than anything on the Gulf, and draw less water than most
+of them of anything like our speed. You take care of the boat and I'll
+take care of the girl--or try to. I have attachment papers all made
+out, to file on the boat if need be--and I also have an attachment
+for the girl, when it comes to that."
+
+The old man shook his head. "I've got the easiest job," said he.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+IN WHICH WE HAVE A SENSATION
+
+
+With no more than these slight precautions which I have indicated, we
+lay all that afternoon in plain view of the world; and because all the
+world could not suspect us of such hardihood, all the world went by
+without suspecting that the stolen _Belle Helene_ and her ruthless
+pirate crew were there in full sight and apparently inviting or
+defying apprehension. Sometimes a passing craft would salute us as we
+lay, and we returned the courtesy without fail. I know not whether
+more bottles were cast overboard by Aunt Lucinda, but if so, we heard
+of none. At last, after what seemed days to me, though no more than
+hours, the shade of twilight fell across the river, the outlines of
+the passing boats grew less distinct. Now and again we could hear the
+wail of railway whistle, or see the curved snake of the lighted train
+dashing across the alluvial lands toward the ferry. Here and there,
+beyond, pin points of red lights shone. At last the night fell full,
+and, gladly enough, I gave the order for the continuance of our
+journey.
+
+We slipped down-stream gently and silently, yet speedily withal,
+seeking to time our arrival, as nearly as we might, to the hour
+assigned for the delivery of our supplies at the dock.
+
+"I'm none too easy in my mind," said my old skipper to me, as we stood
+together forward.
+
+"Why not, Peterson?"
+
+"It's them two boys," said he. "You talk of pirates--there's the
+bloodiest pair of pirates as ever was. I hardly know whether my own
+life's safe or not, to hear them talk."
+
+"Never do you mind, Peterson," said I. "Those boys may be useful to us
+yet. The one with blue eyes has proved himself able to keep the ladies
+in their cabin, and as for the one who was going to run you through
+when we took the boat, he still may have to work to keep Williams down
+in the engine-room when we make our landing."
+
+"It may come out all right," said the old man gloomily, "but sometimes
+I fear for the worst."
+
+"You always do, Peterson, and that is no frame of mind for a healthy
+pirate. But here we are below the railway warehouse district, and I
+think nearly opposite slip K, where we land. Port your helm, and run
+in slow. We've got to have gasoline, although I must say my two
+bullies took aboard quite a store up there at the Bayou."
+
+"Port it is, sir," said Peterson gloomily, still smoking. And he made
+as neat a landing as ever in his life.
+
+A shadowy form arose amidst the blackness of the dock and came
+directly forward to take our line.
+
+"Who's that?" I demanded. "Are you from Lavallier and Thibodeau?"
+
+"Yes, M'sieu," came the answer. "Those supply is here."
+
+"All right. Help him get the stuff aboard, Peterson."
+
+They went about their work. Just as turning I saw standing at my
+elbow, the slight form of L'Olonnois, his arms folded and hat drawn
+upon his brow.
+
+"Bid the varlets hasten," he hissed to me. "Time passes."
+
+"Back to your post, L'Olonnois," I rejoined. "See that the captives
+remain in their room."
+
+Jean Lafitte, too, proved unable to restrain his curiosity, and this
+time his habit of close observation was of benefit in an unexpected
+way.
+
+"Hist, Black Bart!" he whispered distinctly, clutching my arm. "What
+boat is that?"
+
+He pointed in the dim light to a low lying, battered power boat moored
+in the same slip with us. Something in her look seemed familiar.
+
+"I can't see her name," said Jean Lafitte, "but she looks a lot like
+our own old boat."
+
+I hastily stepped on the wharf and got a closer look in the wavering
+beams of an arc light at the name on the boat's bows. There, in
+indistinct and shaky, but unmistakable characters, was the title
+painted by my young ruffians, weeks earlier--_Sea Rover!_
+
+"Jean Lafitte," I whispered, "you are right, and now indeed we must
+have a care. Yon varlet has beaten us into New Orleans."
+
+"Let's board her and take her," hissed Jean Lafitte. "We can do it
+easy."
+
+"No, wait," said I. "Perhaps we can think of a better plan. Wait till
+we get two drums of gasoline aboard. Then we'll make a run for it, if
+yon varlet is here on the _Sea Rover_. Probably not, for every one
+seems gone to bed."
+
+"I'll find out," said Jean Lafitte boldly, and before I could stop him
+was gone, springing lightly on the deck of the _Sea Rover_.
+
+"Hello in there," he hailed. "Are you all asleep?"
+
+A voice muttered something from the shallow cabin, I could not tell
+what. "We got a barrel of rum for you from Thibodeau's," said Jean
+Lafitte.
+
+"No, you ain't. Must be some mistake," said a sleepy voice; and now a
+tousled head appeared, indistinct in the gloom. "Anyhow, I don't know
+anything about it, and it'll have to stay on the dock until morning.
+I'm only the engineer, I come from Natchez. Mr. Davidson, he's
+up-town."
+
+"Oh, all right," said Jean Lafitte, apparently mollified, and soon was
+at my side again. So then, we had the information we sought. I was
+sure my own engineer, Williams, was busy as usual below, oiling and
+polishing his double sixties.
+
+"Hurry now," I whispered to Peterson. "Get that stuff aboard quick.
+Don't forget the crates of fruit and vegetables."
+
+We were nearly done with this work, when for a moment all seemed on
+the point of going wrong with us. I heard shufflings and door
+slammings from the after cabin. "Help! Help!" sounded the voice of
+Aunt Lucinda, somewhat muffled. It chanced that my engineer, Williams,
+at that moment poked his head up his ladder to get a breath of fresh
+air.
+
+"What's that?" he demanded of me as I passed. "I thought I heard some
+one calling."
+
+"Oh, you did, Williams," said I. "It was Mrs. Daniver. She suffers
+much with neuralgia and is in great pain. I shouldn't wonder if I
+should have to go up-town and get a physician for her even yet. But,
+Williams, in any case we'll be sailing soon, and I want you to
+overhaul the screen of the intake pipe for that port boiler. We're
+getting into very sandy waters, and of course you don't want anything
+to happen to your engines. Can you attend to that at once?"
+
+"Surely, sir," said he, and went below again. I closed the hatch on
+him. Meantime I hurried aft, to see what could be done toward quelling
+any possible uproar. My blue-eyed lieutenant, L'Olonnois, had been as
+efficient in his way as Jean Lafitte. Now, in full character, he was
+enjoying himself immensely. When I saw him, he was standing with his
+feet spread wide apart in the center of the cabin floor, with drawn
+sword in his hand.
+
+"Lady," said he, addressing himself to Aunt Lucinda, "it irks me as a
+gentleman to be rude with one so fair, but let me hear one more word
+from you, and your life's blood shall dye the deck, and you shall walk
+the plank at the morning sun. You deal with L'Olonnois, who knows no
+fear!"
+
+Deep silence, broken presently by a little laugh; and I heard Helena's
+voice in remonstrance. "Don't be so silly, Jimmie!"
+
+"Silly, indeed," boomed the deep voice of Aunt Lucinda, catching sight
+of me at the door. "Yonder is the villain who put him up to this."
+
+"Oh, is that you?" said Helena, coming toward me. "Where are we,
+Harry?"
+
+"In the port of New Orleans, Miss Helena," was my answer, "a city of
+some three hundred thousand souls, noted for its manufacture of sugar,
+and its large shipments abroad of the staple cotton."
+
+"May I come on deck?" she queried after a while.
+
+"We are alongside the levee, and there is little to see. We shall be
+sailing now in a few moments."
+
+"But mayn't I come up and see New Orleans, even for a minute as we
+pass by? I'll be good."
+
+"You may come up under parole," said I, throwing open the door. "But
+you must bring your aunt's parole also. You must give no alarm, for we
+have every reason here for silence."
+
+She turned back and held some converse with Auntie Lucinda, and by
+what spell I know not, won the promise of the latter to remain silent
+and make no attempt at escape. A little later she was at my side in
+the dim light cast by a flickering and distant arc light at the
+street.
+
+"I have your word, then?" I demanded of her.
+
+"Yes. You can't blame me for wanting to get out, to see what is going
+on."
+
+"A great deal may be going on here any moment," said I. "In fact, if I
+could show you the evening newspapers--which I purpose doing to-morrow
+morning--it might seem to you that a great deal already has gone on.
+For one thing, Cal Davidson is in town ahead of us. That's his boat
+yonder, rubbing sides with us. He doesn't know we're here. He himself
+is off up-town, at the Boston Club, probably, or perhaps some of the
+cafes--he knows a thousand people here."
+
+"So do I, Harry," said she. "To think of going by in this plight! And
+to think of leaving New Orleans without even one little supper at
+Luigi's, Harry--it breaks my heart."
+
+"We are almost ready to sail, Helena. Suppose we see Luigi's some
+other time. Things are getting pretty close about us here."
+
+"Any pirate should be a man of courage," said she; "he should be ever
+willing to take a chance."
+
+"Very well; have I not taken several chances already?"
+
+"And again, a pirate ought to be kind toward all women, oughtn't he,
+Harry? I asked you this afternoon, why couldn't we be friends again
+and stop all this foolishness. Let's forget everything and just be
+friends."
+
+"What! Again, Helena? Have I not tried that and found it a failure?"
+
+"You have no courage. You are no pirate. I challenge you to a test."
+
+"What is it, Helena?"
+
+"Let us go up-town and have a little supper at Luigi's, the way we
+used to, Harry, when we really were friends."
+
+"What, with Cal Davidson loose in the town and his boat lying here?"
+
+"That is the adventure!"
+
+"You would turn me over to the authorities?"
+
+"No, but I would sell my parole for a mess of woodcock, Harry." She
+laid a hand upon my arm. "I can't tell you how much I want a little
+supper at Luigi's, Harry. I like the Chianti there. Between us we
+could afford thirty cents a bottle, could we not? Now, if I gave my
+parole--and of course, every one would be here at the boat just the
+same--But of course, I did not expect you would."
+
+"Why did you not?"
+
+"Because it is an adventure, because it will take something of real
+courage, I fancy, to meet a risk like that!"
+
+"There would be some risk for us all," said I truly.
+
+"There you go, balancing and not deciding. You are no pirate."
+
+"What will you give me if I go, Helena?" said I.
+
+"Nothing beyond thanking you. One thing, you must not think that I
+would trick or trap you."
+
+"Many a criminal has been trapped by a woman whom he loves," said I
+slowly. "But you would not do that if I had your word, even though you
+hated me. And you do hate me very much, do you not?"
+
+"Yes, very much. But if you took me by New Orleans without a supper at
+Luigi's, I should hate you even more."
+
+"Jean--Jean Lafitte," I called out in a low tone of voice.
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir!" he saluted, as he came to the place where we stood,
+like some seasoned sailorman, regardless of youthful hours of sleep.
+
+"I am going up-town with the captive maiden. Do you stand here on
+watch. We shall be gone about three hours."
+
+"Hully gee!" ejaculated Jean Lafitte, but at once he saluted again.
+"'Tis well, Black Bart," said he.
+
+"Tell Captain Peterson to let no one come on board this boat under any
+pretense; nor must any one leave it until I get back. If any one asks
+for me, say I'm up-town."
+
+"Isn't Aunt Lucinda going, too?" demanded Helena.
+
+"She certainly is not!"
+
+"Is it--is it quite correct for me to go alone with you?"
+
+"That is your part of the adventure, Helena," said I calmly. An
+instant later I had led her across the dingy warehouse dock, over
+dusty streets, to a crooked street-car line over which I could hear
+approaching one of the infrequent cars.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+IN WHICH WE MEET THE OTHER MAN, ALSO ANOTHER WOMAN
+
+
+Luigi's place, as all men know, is situated upon a small, crooked and
+very dirty street, yet none the less, it is an abode of contentment
+for those who know good living. When Helena and I entered the door I
+felt as one again at home. Here were the sanded floors, the old
+water-bottles, the large chandelier with its cut glasses in the middle
+of the room, the small tables with their coarse clean linen. The same
+old French waiters stood here and there about, each with impeccable
+apron and very peccable shoes, as is the wont of all waiters. But the
+waiters at Luigi's are more than waiters; they are friends, and they
+never forget a face. Therefore, as always, I had no occasion for
+surprise when Jean, my waiter these many years at Luigi's, stepped
+forward as though it had been but last week and not three years ago
+when he had seen me. He called me by name, greeted me again to his
+city, and gently aided Helena with her wraps and gloves.
+
+"And M'sieu can not long remain away from us, forever?" said he.
+
+"It has been three years, Jean," said I, "more is the pity. But now,
+I can remain three hours--will that serve? At the end of that time we
+must away."
+
+Jean was human, yet discreet. He knew that when last he saw me I was a
+single man. Now he had doubts. He stood hovering about, a question on
+his tongue, smitten of admiration much as had been my dog, Partial, at
+his first sight of Helena. At last he made excuse to step close behind
+my chair under pretense of finding my napkin.
+
+"_Enfin, M'sieu?_" said he, smiling.
+
+"_Pas encore_, Jean!" I replied.
+
+I saw a slow flush on Helena's cheek, but she gave no other sign that
+she had overheard. So I began forthwith making much ado about ordering
+our supper, which as usual really was much a matter of Jean's taste.
+
+"We have to-night in the ice-boxes, M'sieu," said that artist, "some
+cock oysters which are dreams. Moreover, I have laid aside two
+canvasbacks, the best I ever saw--it was in the hope that some really
+good friend of mine would come in. Behold, I am happy--I must have
+been expecting you. Believe me, we have never had better birds than
+these. They are excellent."
+
+"Perhaps the oysters, Jean," said I, "very small and dark. I presume
+possibly a very small _fillet_ of trout this evening, and the
+sauce--you still can make it, Jean? Such _entrees_ as you like, of
+course. But, since Mademoiselle--" and here I smiled--"and I, also,
+are very hungry this evening, we wish a woodcock after the canvasback,
+if you do not mind. Perhaps it is not too much?"
+
+"_Mais non!_" replied Jean. "You are of those who know well that to
+eat too much is not to dine well. But I shall bring you two oysters,
+_mariniere_--a sauce my own wife invented. And yes, some small bird,
+_beccasine_, broiled lightly--perhaps you will enjoy it after the
+canvasback, although I assure you those are excellent indeed. We have
+few sweets here, as M'sieu knows, but cheese, if you like, and of
+course coffee; and always we have the red wine which I remember M'sieu
+liked so much."
+
+"It is with you, Jean," said I. And Helena, turning, smiled upon him
+swiftly, in such fashion that he scarce touched the floor at all as he
+walked out for his radishes and olives.
+
+"Isn't it nice?" said Helena. "Isn't it like the old times? I always
+loved this old town. It seems so homelike."
+
+"Please do not use that word, Helena," said I. "I wish to be entirely
+happy to-night, in the belief that some time I shall know what home
+is."
+
+"Do you think Jean knew me also?" she demanded. "Certainly, I have
+been here also before."
+
+"No one who has ever seen you, Helena, ever forgets you. But Jean is,
+of course, discreet."
+
+"Suppose he knew that I was here to-night against my free will, and
+only under parole?"
+
+"Jean is wise; he knows such things ought not to be, even if they are.
+And he understood me when I said, 'not yet.'"
+
+"Yes," said she; "quite right. _Pas encore!_"
+
+Jean returned, and as a special favor to an old patron asked us
+politely if we would enjoy a look through the kitchen and the
+ice-boxes. As usual, we accepted this invitation, and passed back
+through the green swing doors, following our guide along the row of
+charcoal fires, through a dingy room decorated with shining coppers
+and bits of glass and silver. These ice-boxes were such as to offer
+continual delight to any epicure, what with their rows of fat clean
+fishes and crabs and oysters, the birds nicely plucked, all the
+dainties which this rich market of the South could afford, from
+papabotte to terrapin. Helena herself selected two woodcock and
+approved the judgment of Jean in canvasback. Presently she turned to
+me, a flush of embarrassment upon her face.
+
+"Harry," she said, "I don't like to say anything, but you know--you've
+been telling me you were so poor. Now, a girl doesn't want to make it
+difficult----"
+
+"Mademoiselle," said I, bowing, "I am quite able to foot the bill
+to-night. I had just sold some hay before I started from home."
+
+"Well, I'm awfully hungry," she admitted; "besides, it's such a lark."
+
+"Yes," said I; and presently, as we reached our table again, I showed
+her the afternoon papers, which as yet she had not seen. She read
+through the account of our escapade, her lips compressed; but
+presently she folded the paper and laid it down without comment.
+
+"At any minute, you see," said I, "I may be apprehended and our little
+supper brought to an end. That is why I hastened with the order. I do
+not wish to hurry you in any way, however, and we shall use the full
+three hours. Although, of course, you see that the bird of time indeed
+is on the wing to-night, as well as those other birds on the
+broilers."
+
+She only looked at me steadily and made no comment. "Once suspected
+here," said I, "all is over for me, and you are free again. It would
+be entirely easy for you to make some sign or movement which I,
+perhaps, could not detect. Perhaps, at any moment, some one may enter
+who knows you--as I've said, no one can look at you and forget you,
+Helena. But please let none of this affect your appetite. Our little
+supper is our little adventure. I hope you will enjoy both, my dear."
+
+"You did take some chance, did you not?" she said slowly.
+
+"It might be a chance."
+
+"But you will be so nervous you can't enjoy your spread."
+
+"Not in the least, Helena. A nervous man has no business in the trade
+of piracy;--but, ah! the _fillet_ of trout, Helena."
+
+Jean was proud of his art, the chef proud also, and the chef knew we
+were here. A general air of comfort seemed to settle down upon our
+little corner of the restaurant, a quiet contentment. For the most
+part, folk came here who had no hurry and no anxiety, and it was a
+sort of club for many persons who knew how to eat and to live and to
+enjoy life quietly, as life should be enjoyed. None dreamed, of
+course, that aught but equal leisure existed for our little table,
+where sat a rather lank and shabby man in flannels, and a very
+especially beautiful young woman in half evening dress. At Luigi's,
+every one is polite to every one else, and the curiosity is but that
+of fraternity. Perhaps, some eyes were cast our way, I could not tell.
+
+Jean, in slow solemnity and pleasant ease, brought on many things not
+nominated in the bond. At length he arranged his duck-press on his
+little table near us, and having squeezed the elixir from the two
+dissected fowls, began to stir the juices into a sauce of his own,
+made with sherry wine and a touch of _file_, many things which Jean
+knows best. He was just in the act of pouring this most delectable
+sauce over the two bits of tender fowl upon our hot plates, when,
+happening to look up, I saw some one entering the door.
+
+"Jean, if you please," said I, deliberately pulling the coat-rack in
+front of our table, "Mademoiselle perhaps feels a slight draft. Would
+you fetch a screen?"
+
+He turned. "Helena," said I, after a moment, "now our adventure has
+come."
+
+"What do you mean?" said she. "Why do you do that?"--she nodded at the
+screen. "Why, I say?"
+
+"I have your parole?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I am glad it is yes!" said I. "You could break it now and escape so
+easily. One little move on your part and my punishment is at hand."
+
+"Who was it?" she asked, suspecting.
+
+"No one much," said I, "only our esteemed friend, Mr. Calvin Davidson,
+whose waistcoat I am now wearing. Some one is with him, I don't know
+who it is. A very nice-looking lady, next to the most beautiful woman
+in this room, I must say."
+
+"Let me see," said she; and I allowed her to look through the crack in
+the screen.
+
+"She certainly is very stunning," said I, "is she not? Tall, dark, a
+trifle superb--I wonder--I wonder sometimes, Helena, if Cal Davidson
+is true to Poll?"
+
+"Nonsense!" was her retort. "But as you say, here is our adventure, or
+at least yours. How do you propose to get out of it?"
+
+"I don't know yet," said I. "Just at present I do not wish this
+canvasback to get cold. We have remaining before us two hours or more,
+ample time to make any plan which may be needed. Coffee, I have found,
+is excellent for plans. Let us make no plans until we have had our
+coffee, after our little dinner. That will be an hour or so yet.
+Plenty of time to plan, Helena," said I. "And please do not slight
+this bird--it is delicious."
+
+Her eyes still were sparkling. "I'm rather glad I came," said she.
+
+"So am I, and I shall be glad when we are back. But meantime I trust
+you, Helena, absolutely. I will even tell you more. Davidson's boat,
+the one which we left him instead of the _Belle Helene_, is lying in
+the same slip with ours, rubbing noses with our yacht yonder, as I
+showed you. Our men have talked with his. They do not yet suspect that
+we are the vessel which everybody wants to find. I am very thankful
+their engineer was so sleepy. I learned there at the wharf that Cal
+Davidson was down-town at his club. He seems to have departed long
+enough to find excellent company, as usual. I am glad that he has done
+so, for in all likelihood he will not return to his own boat before
+to-morrow morning. He will prefer his room at the club to his bunk on
+the _Sea Rover_, if I know Cal Davidson. And by that time I hope to be
+far away."
+
+"Does he know who you are--does he know who it was that took the
+_Belle Helene_?"
+
+"I think not. But, very stupidly--being so anxious to see the
+original--I left a photograph of yourself on our old boat, the _Sea
+Rover_. Item, one cigarette case with my initials. Of course, Cal
+Davidson may guess the simple truth, or he may make a mystery of
+these things. It seems he prefers to make a mystery; and I am sure
+that suits me much better."
+
+"But knowing these things--knowing that his boat was lying right at
+the dock alongside of us--why did you stop?"
+
+"I thought it was you, Helena, who suggested this little adventure at
+Luigi's! And I promise you I am enjoying it very much. It seems so
+much like old times."
+
+"But that can't ever be over again, Harry."
+
+"Naturally not. But often new times are quite as good as old ones. I
+can conceive of such a thing in our case. No, I shall use this
+privilege of your society to the limit, Helena, fearing I may not see
+you soon again, after once I have put you back in your hat box. You
+coaxed me to leave the boat, and I shall tell you when to return."
+
+"Why not now?"
+
+"No, at twelve o'clock. Not earlier."
+
+"And you propose sitting here with me till then?"
+
+"I could imagine no better pastime, were I condemned to die at
+sunrise. Tell me, do you wish me to call Mr. Davidson?"
+
+"Of course I do not, since I gave you my word. Besides, I know that
+girl with him. It's Sally Byington. Some call her good-looking, but I
+am sure I don't know why."
+
+"Fie upon you! She is superb. In short, Helena, I am not sure but she
+is finer-looking than yourself!"
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Yes. Cal Davidson, whatever may be his taste in neckties or
+waistcoats, seems to me excellent in this other regard. Perhaps just a
+trifle flamboyant for Luigi's, but certainly stunning."
+
+"Our relations are not such as to lead me to discuss our friends," she
+rejoined haughtily. "And, as you say, our duck is getting cold. I
+adore these canvasbacks. I would like to come back to-morrow and have
+another." She cut savagely into her fowl.
+
+"Alas, Helena, to-morrow you will be far away. In time I hope to
+reconcile you to the simple life of piracy. Indeed, unless all plans
+go wrong, we may very likely have canvasbacks on the boat; although I
+can not promise you that John will be as good a chef as our friend
+here at Luigi's. All good buccaneers use their fair captives well."
+
+"Indeed! And why do you not ask Sally Byington into your list of
+prisoners, since you fancy her so much."
+
+"Nay, say not so, Helena. I trust I am somewhat catholic in taste
+regarding ladies, as any gentleman should be, yet after all, I am
+gentler in my preferences. Quite aside from that, I find one fair
+captive quite enough to make me abundant trouble."
+
+At about this time Jean approached behind the screen, bearing a copy
+of a late edition of an evening paper, which fortunately he seemed not
+closely to have scanned. I took it quickly and placed it with the
+front page down.
+
+"Monsieur no doubt has heard of the great sensation?" commented Jean.
+
+"No, what is that, Jean?"
+
+"The papers have been full of nothing else. It seems a band of
+cutthroat river pirates have stolen a gentleman's yacht, and so far as
+can be told, have escaped with it down the river, perhaps entirely to
+the Gulf."
+
+"That, Jean," said I, "is a most extraordinary thing. Are you sure of
+the facts?"
+
+"Naturally--is it not all in the paper? This gentleman then has his
+yacht anchored at Natchez, and he goes ashore on important business.
+Comes then this band of river ruffians in the dark, and as though
+pirates of a hundred years ago, and led by Jean Lafitte himself, they
+capture the vessel!"
+
+"_Mon Dieu!_ Jean you do not say so?"
+
+"But assuredly I say so; nor is that all, Monsieur. On board this
+yacht was a young and beautiful lady of great wealth and beauty, as
+well--the fiancee, so it is said, of this gentleman who owns the
+yacht. What is the action of these pirates in regard to this beautiful
+young lady and her aunt, who also is upon the yacht for the cruise? Do
+they place these ladies ashore? No, they imprison them upon the boat,
+and so, _pouf!_ off for the gulf. Nor has any trace of them been found
+from that time till now. A rumor goes that the gentleman who owns the
+yacht is at this time in New Orleans, but as for that unfortunate
+young lady, where is she to-night? I demand that, Monsieur. Ah! And
+she is beautiful."
+
+"Now, is not this a most extraordinary tale you bring, Jean? Let us
+hope it is not true. Why, if it were true, that ruffian might escape
+and hide for days or weeks in the bayous around Barataria, even as
+Jean Lafitte did a hundred years ago."
+
+"Assuredly he might. Ah, I know it well, that country. But Jean
+Lafitte was no pirate, simply a merchant who did not pay duties. And
+he sold silks and laces cheap to the people hereabout--I could show
+you the very causeway they built across the marsh, to reach the place
+where he landed his boats at the heads of one of the great bays--it is
+not far from the plantation of Monsieur Edouard Manning, below New
+Iberia. Believe me, Monsieur, the country folk hunt yet for the buried
+treasure of Jean Lafitte; and sometimes they find it."
+
+"You please me, Jean. Tell me more of that extraordinary person."
+
+"Extraordinary, you may call him, Monsieur. And he had a way with
+women, so it is said--even his captives came to admire him in time, so
+generous and bold was he."
+
+"A daredevil fellow I doubt not, Jean?"
+
+"You may say that. But of great good and many kindnesses to all the
+folk in the lower parts of this state in times gone by. Now--say it
+not aloud, Monsieur--scarce a family in all Acadia but has map and key
+to some buried treasure of Jean Lafitte. Why, Monsieur, here in this
+very cafe, once worked a negro boy. He, being sick, I help him as a
+gentleman does those negro, to be sure, and he was of heart enough to
+thank me for that. So one day he came to me and told me a story of a
+treasure of a descendant of Lafitte. He himself, this negro, had
+helped his master to bury that same treasure."
+
+"And does he know the place now? Could he point it out?"
+
+"Assuredly, and the master who buried it now is dead."
+
+"Then why does not the negro boy go and dig it up again, very
+naturally?"
+
+"Ah, for the best reasons. That old Frenchman, descendant of Jean
+Lafitte, was no fool. What does he in this burial of treasure? Ah! He
+takes him a white parrot, a black cat and a live monkey, and these
+three, all of them, he buries on top of the treasure-box and covers
+all with earth and grass above the earth. And then above the grave he
+says such a malediction upon any who may disturb it as would alone
+frighten to the death any person coming there and braving such a
+curse. I suggested to the negro boy that he should show me the spot.
+Monsieur, he grew pale in terror. Not for a million pounds of solid
+gold would he go near that place, him."
+
+"That also is a most extraordinary story, Jean. Taken with this other
+fairy tale which you have told me to-night, you almost make me feel
+that we are back in the great old days which this country once saw.
+But alas!"
+
+"As you say, Monsieur, alas!"
+
+"Now as to that ruffian who stole the gentleman's yacht," I resumed.
+"Has he reflected? Has he indeed made his way to the Gulf? Why, he
+might even be hiding here in the city somewhere."
+
+"Ah, hardly that, and if so, he well may look out for the law."
+
+"I think a sherbet would be excellent for the lady now, Jean," I
+ventured, whereat he departed. I turned over the paper and showed
+Helena her own portrait on the front page, four columns deep and set
+in such framing of blackfaced scare type as made me blush for my own
+sins.
+
+"It is an adventure, Helena!" said I. "Had you not been far the most
+beautiful woman in this restaurant to-night, and had not Jean been all
+eyes for you, he otherwise would have looked at this paper rather than
+at you. Then he would have looked at us both and must have seen the
+truth."
+
+"It is an adventure," said she slowly, her color heightening; and
+later, "You carried it off well, Harry."
+
+I bowed to her across the table. "Need was to act quickly, for even
+this vile newspaper cut is a likeness of you. One glance from Jean,
+which may come at any moment later, Helena, and your parole will be
+needless further."
+
+"I confess I wished to test you. It was wrong, foolish of me, Harry."
+
+"You have been tested no less, Helena, to-night. And I have found you
+a gentle high-born lady, as I had always known you to be. _Noblesse
+oblige_, my dear, and you have proved it so to-night. Any time from
+now until twelve you need no more than raise a finger--I might not
+even see you do so--and you might go free. Why do you not?"
+
+"If the woodcock is as good as the canvasback," was her somewhat
+irrelevant reply, "I shall call the evening a success, after all."
+
+But Helena scarcely more than tasted her bird, and pushed back after a
+time the broiled mushroom which Jean offered her gently.
+
+"Does not your appetite remain?" I inquired. "Come, you must not break
+Jean's heart doubly."
+
+She only pushed back her chair. "I am sorry," said she, "but I want to
+go back to the boat."
+
+"Back to the boat! You astonish me. I thought escape from the _Belle
+Helene_ was the one wish of your heart these days."
+
+"And so it is."
+
+"Then, Helena, why not escape here and now?"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I do not mean for you to break your parole--I know you too well for
+that. But give me additional parole, my dear girl. Give me your word.
+Say that one word. Then we can rise here and announce to Mr. Davidson
+and all the world and its newspapers that no crime has been done and
+only a honeymoon has been begun. Come, Helena, all the world loves a
+lover. All New Orleans will love us if you will raise your finger and
+say the word."
+
+I looked toward her. Her head was bent and tears were dropping from
+her eyes, tears faithfully concealed by her kerchief. But she said no
+word to me, and at her silence my own heart sank--sank until my
+courage was quite gone, until I felt the return of a cold brutality.
+Still I endeavored to be gentle with one who deserved naught of
+gentleness.
+
+"Do not hurry, Helena," I said. "We can return when you like. But the
+salad--and the coffee! And see, you have not touched your wine."
+
+"Take me back," she said, her voice low. "I hate you. Till the end of
+the world I'll hate you."
+
+"If I could believe that, Helena, it would matter nothing to me to go
+a mile farther on any voyage, a foot farther to shield myself or you."
+
+"Take me back," she said to me again. "I want to go to Aunt Lucinda."
+
+"Jean," said I, a moment later when he reappeared. "Mademoiselle
+wishes to see one more ice-box in the kitchen. We are in search of
+something. May we go again?"
+
+Jean spread out his arms in surprise, but pushed open the green door.
+We thus passed, shielded by our screen and unobserved. Once within, I
+grasped Jean firmly by the shoulder and pressed a ten dollar bill into
+his hand, with other money for the reckoning.
+
+"Take this, Jean, for yourself. We do not care to pass out at the
+front, for certain reasons--do you comprehend? It is of Mademoiselle."
+
+"It is of Mademoiselle? Ah, depend upon me. What can I do?"
+
+"This. Leave us here, and we will walk about. Meantime go out the back
+way to the alley, Jean, and have a taxicab ready at the mouth of the
+alley. Come quick when it is arranged and let us go, because we must
+go at once. At another time, Jean, we will return, I trust more
+happily. Then we shall order such a dinner as will take Luigi himself
+a day to prepare, my friend!"
+
+"For Mademoiselle?"
+
+"For Madame, Jean, as I hope." And now I showed him the portrait on
+the front page of the newspaper he had brought me. "Quick," I said,
+"and since you have been faithful, some day I will explain all this to
+you--with Madame, as I hope."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+IN WHICH WE BURN ALL BRIDGES
+
+
+"But, Monsieur," began Jean, a few moments later, as he entered from
+the alley door.
+
+"_Eh bien?_ What then, Jean?" I demanded hastily, already leading
+Helena toward the door.
+
+"This! This!" And he waved in my face a copy of the same paper which
+had lain on our table. "The streets are full of it. And I see, I
+behold--I recognize! It is Mademoiselle--that is to be Madame!"
+
+My face flushed hotly. "As I hope, Jean." That was all I said. "Now,
+please, out of our way. Is the taxi there?"
+
+He stepped aside. I heard his voice, eager, apologetic, but knew that
+now no time must be lost. Vague sounds of voices came to us from the
+main room of the cafe, ordinarily so quiet. I felt, rather than knew,
+that soon the news would be about town. The throb of the taxi was
+music to my ears when I found it in the dark.
+
+"Stop for nothing," said I to the driver, as I closed the door. "Slip
+K, on the river-front, below the warehouses. Stop at the car tracks
+where they turn. And go fast--I must catch a boat that is just
+leaving."
+
+"What boat--from there--are you sure, sir?" asked he, touching his
+cap.
+
+"Of course I'm sure. Go on! Don't stop to talk, man!"
+
+He made no answer to this, but turned to his wheel. We shot out into
+Royal Street, turned down it, spun into a narrow way past the old
+Cathedral, crossed Jackson Square in the full moonlight, passed the
+Old Market, and threaded dark and dirty thoroughfares parallel to the
+river. None sought to stay us, though many paused in the gently
+squalid life of that section, to look after our churning car, a thing
+not usual there so far from depot or usual landing place.
+
+Helena sat silent, looking fixedly ahead through the glass at the
+driver's back; nor did I find words myself. In truth, I was as one now
+carried forward on the wings of adventure itself, with small plans,
+and no duty beyond taking each situation as it might later come. A
+dull feeling that I had sinned beyond forgiveness came upon me, a
+conviction that my brutality to one thus innocent and tender had
+passed all limits of atonement. She could never forgive me now, I
+felt; and what was almost as intolerable in the reflection, I could
+not forgive myself, could not find any specious argument longer to
+justify myself in thus harrying the sensibilities of a woman such as
+this one who now sat beside me in this mad midnight errand, proud,
+pale and silent. Slowly I sought to adjust myself to the thought of
+defeat, to the feeling that my presumption now had o'er-leaped itself.
+Yes, I must say good-by to her, must release her; and this time, as I
+well knew, forever.
+
+But, though I turned toward her half a dozen times in these few
+minutes, she made no response to what she must have known was my
+demand upon her attention. I gathered her gloves for her, and her
+flowers, but she only took them, her lips parting in courtesy, not in
+warmth, and no sound came to my ears, straining always to hear her
+voice, a pleasant sound in a world of discords ever. I even touched
+her arm, suddenly, impulsively. "Helena!" But she, not knowing that I
+meant to give her liberty, though over a dead heart, shrank as though
+I had added physical insult to my verbal taunts. Anyway I turned, I
+was fast in the net of circumstance, fanged by the springs of
+misapprehension.... Well, then, but one thing remained. She had said
+it was a man's place to fight, and so now it would be! I must go on,
+and take my punishment until justice had been done. Justice and my own
+success I no longer confused in my own mind; but in my soul was the
+grim resolution that justice should first be done to one human soul,
+even though that chanced to be my own. After that, I should get her
+again in the hands of her friends and myself; indeed, disappear beyond
+all seeking, in parts of the world best known to myself. If I myself
+were fair, why should not fairness as well be given to me?
+
+And with no more than this established, and nothing definite in plan,
+either, for the present, I mechanically opened the door of the taxi
+for her when the driver pulled up and bent a querying face about to
+ask whether or not we now were opposite Slip K. I noted that he did
+not at once drive away. Evidently he sat for some moments gazing after
+us as we disappeared in the gloom of the river-front. His tale, as I
+afterward learned, enabled the morning papers to print a conclusive
+story describing the abduction of Miss Emory and her undoubted
+retention on the stolen yacht, which, after lying at or near New
+Orleans, some time that night, once more mysteriously had
+disappeared.
+
+No doubt remained, according to this new story, that the supplies put
+aboard at Slip K by Lavallier and Thibodeau had gone to this very
+craft, the stolen yacht! With this came many wild and confusing
+accounts and descriptions, including a passionate interview with Mr.
+Calvin Davidson, of New York, who had announced his intention of
+overhauling these ruffians, at any cost whatsoever; and much counsel
+to the city officials, mingled with the bosom-beating of one
+enterprising journal which declared it had put in commission a yacht
+of its own, under charge of two of its ablest reporters, who had
+instructions to take up the chase and to remain out until the mystery
+had been solved and this beautiful young woman had been rescued from
+her horrible situation and restored again to her home. There were more
+portraits of Helena--furnished, most like, from Cal Davidson's
+collection; one also of Aunt Lucinda (from a photograph of far earlier
+days); and lastly, a half-page portrait of myself, the unnamed ruffian
+who was the undoubted leader in this abduction--the portrait being
+drawn by a staff artist "from description of eye-witnesses." As I
+later saw this portrait I rejoiced that I was long ignorant of its
+existence: and had I known that night that yonder chauffeur to whom I
+had given undue largess had such treason as that portrait in his soul,
+I know not what I might have done with him.
+
+But of this misinformation, of course, I was at the time ignorant, as
+was all the city ignorant of the truth. What happened was otherwise,
+nor was the truth learned even by the great metropolitan journals of
+the North, which now recognized the existence of a "big story", and
+added their keener noses to the trail. The great fact overlooked by
+them all was that they pursued no criminal, but a man of education, I
+may fairly say of brains.
+
+In my law practise many baffling cases came to me, because I most
+liked, precisely, that sort of case. Once, for instance, a family of
+my town well-nigh was disrupted by a series of anonymous letters, done
+in typewriting, accusing an honorable man of dishonorable conduct. The
+letters left the man's wife in an agony of loyalty and suspicion
+alike. He brought me the letters, and to me the case was simple from
+the start. I got the repair slips of a certain typewriter house, and
+compared them until I found a machine with a bent letter M--knowing
+as I did that each machine has its own individuality as ineradicable
+and as inescapable as any personal handwriting. So at last I went to a
+small outlying city, and going into a business house there asked to
+see the stenographer in private. "My dear Miss ----," I said to her,
+"why do you persist in sending these letters to Mr. ----?" I laid them
+before her, and she wept and confessed, very naturally.
+
+That was merely jealousy of a discharged employee; and it was easy as
+a case--easier I always thought, than the probate case I won over a
+contested signature charge filed by certain heirs under a will. In
+this case I merely went to the dead man's earlier home and learned his
+history. Time out of mind he, a thrifty and respected German, had held
+some petty county office or other; and by going over old county
+warrants and receipts signed in forty years by my man, I discovered
+what I already knew--that a man's signature changes many times during
+his life, especially if he begins life as an uncultured immigrant and
+advances to a fair business success later in his life: so that his
+later signatures on records proved his signature in his will.
+
+Again, liking these simple mysteries, I had long ago learned to laugh
+at the old and foolish assertion that murder will out, that not the
+most skilful criminal can long conceal a capital crime. It is not
+true. No one knows how many murders and other crimes go unsolved or
+even unknown. The trouble with murderers, as I knew well enough, was
+that they lacked mentality. And often I said to myself that were it in
+my heart to kill a man, I assuredly could do so, and all my life
+escape unsuspected of the crime.
+
+It may be that my fondness for these less obvious things in the law
+had rendered me a trifle different from my fellow men. I could never
+approach any question in life without wanting to go all about it and
+to the bottom and top, like a cooper with his barrel. I was thus
+actuated, without doubt, in my relations years since with Helena
+Emory--I knew the shrewdness and accuracy of my own trained mind. I
+confess I exulted in the infallible, relentless logic of my mind, a
+mind able and well trained, especially well trained in reason and
+argument. So, when I put the one great brief of all my life before
+Helena, my splendid argument why should she love me, I did so, at
+first, in the conviction that it must be convincing. Had I not myself
+worked it out in each detail, had not my calm, cool, accurate reason
+guarded each portal? Was it, indeed, not a perfect brief--that one I
+held in my first lost case--the lost case which sent me out of my
+profession, left me a stranded hulk of a man?
+
+But then, when these two pirate youngsters had found me and touched me
+with the living point of some new flame of life, so that I knew a vast
+world existed beyond the nature of the intellect, the old ways clung
+to me, after all. Even as I swore to lay hold on youth and on
+adventure (and on love, if, in sooth, that might be for me now), I
+could not fight as yet wholly bare of the old weapons that had so long
+fitted my hand. So, even on that very morning when we set forth from
+my farm to be pirates, my mind ran back to its old cunning, and I
+recalled my earlier boast to myself that if I ever cared to be a
+criminal I knew I could be able to cover my tracks.
+
+Those writing-folk, therefore, who now wasted thousands of dollars in
+pursuit of trace and trail of Black Bart, wealthy ex-lawyer, knew
+nothing of their man, and guessed nothing of his caliber or of his
+methods. They even failed to look in plain sight for their trail
+maker. And having done so, they forgot that water leaves no trail. Yet
+that simple thought had come to my mind as I had sat at breakfast in
+my own house, some weeks before this time! Even then I had planned all
+this.
+
+Absorbed as I had been in this pursuit of Helena, baffled as I had
+been by her, unhappy as I now was over her own unhappiness, fierce as
+was my love for her, still and notwithstanding, some trace of my old
+self clung to me even now when, her hand on my arm, I guided Helena in
+silence over the creaking planks of the dock, and saw, at last, dim
+beyond the edge, the boom of the Mississippi's tawny flood, rolling on
+and onward to the sea. Here was a task, a problem, a chase, an
+endeavor, an adventure! To it, I was impelled by my old training; into
+it I was thrust by all these fevers of the blood. Even though she did
+not love me, she was woman ... in the dark air of night, it seemed to
+me, I could smell the faint maddening fragrance of her hair.... No. It
+was too late! I would not release her. I would go on, now!
+
+And with this resolution, formed when I caught sight of the passing
+flood, I found a sudden peace and calm, and so knew that I was fit for
+my adventure as yon other boy, L'Olonnois, was for his.
+
+I paused at the edge of the wharf, at the side of our boat. We still
+were arm in arm, still silent, though she must have felt the beating
+of my heart.
+
+"Helena," I whispered, "yonder, one step, and your parole is over.
+Here it is not. That boat, just astern, is the one in which Cal
+Davidson chased us all the way from Natchez, in which I chased him all
+the way from Dubuque. His men do not know we are here, nor does he as
+yet. Now, what is it that you wish to do?"
+
+She stood silent for some time, tightening her wrap at the throat
+against the river damp, and made no answer, though her gaze took in
+the dark hull of the low-lying craft made fast below us. When at last:
+
+"One thing," she began, "I will not do."
+
+"What is it?" I asked. We spoke low, but I well knew my men were aware
+of our coming.
+
+"I shall ask no favor of you." And as she spoke, she stepped lightly
+on the rubbered deck of the _Belle Helene_.
+
+"Halt! Who goes there?" called the hoarse voice of Jean Lafitte, the
+faithful: and I knew the joy of the commander feeling that loyalty is
+his.
+
+"'Tis I, Black Bart," I answered, full and clear. "Cast off, my
+friends!"
+
+At once the _Belle Helene_ was full of activity. Peterson I met at
+the wheel. I heard the bells jangle below. I saw Jean, active as a
+cat, ready at the mooring-stub, waiting for the line to ease. Then
+with my own hand I threw on every light of the _Belle Helene_, so that
+she blazed, in the power of six thousand candles, search-light and
+all: so that what had been a passing web of gloom now became a
+rippling river. The warehouses started into light and shade, the
+shadows of the wharf fled, the decks of the grimy craft alongside
+became open of all their secrets.
+
+And now, revealed full in the flood of light as she stood at the side
+portal, Helena did what I had not planned. Freed of her parole she
+was--and she had asked no favor of me--so she had right to make
+attempt to escape; and I gently stepped before her even as Jean cast
+off and sprang aboard: and as I heard L'Olonnois' voice imperatively
+demanding silence of the pounding at the after cabin door. All at
+once, I heard what Helena heard--the rattle of wheels on the stone
+flagging of the street beyond. And then I saw her fling back her cloak
+and stand with cupped hands. Her voice was high, clear and unwavering,
+such voice as a pirate's bride should have, fearless and bold.
+
+"Ahoy, there! Help! Help!" she cried.
+
+Some sort of shout came from the street, we knew not from whom. A
+noise of an opening hatch came from the _Sea Rover_ at our stern, and
+a man's tousled head came into view.
+
+"What's goin' on here," he demanded, as quaveringly as querulously.
+
+I made no answer, but saw our bows crawl out and away, felt the sob of
+the screws, the arm of the river also, and knew a vast and pleasing
+content with life.
+
+"L'Olonnois!" I called through the megaphone.
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir!" I heard his piping rejoinder.
+
+"Cast loose the stern-chaser and fire her at yon varlet if he makes a
+move." I knew our deck cannon was loaded with nothing more deadly than
+newspapers, but I also knew that valor feeds on action. Not that I had
+given orders to fire on the world in general. So, I confess, I was
+somewhat surprised, soon after the shout of approval which greeted my
+command, to hear the air rent by the astonishing reverberation of our
+Long Tom, which rolled like thunder all along the river-front,
+breaking into a thousand echoes in the night.
+
+I heard the patter of feet along the deck, and had sight of Jean
+Lafitte tugging at a halyard. Not content with our defiance of law and
+order, he must needs break out the Jolly Rover with its skull and
+cross-bones. And as we swung swiftly out into midstream, ablaze in
+light from bow to stern, ghostlike in our swiftness and the silence of
+our splendid engines, I had reason to understand all the descriptive
+writing which, as I later learned, greeted the defiant departure of
+this pirate craft and its ruffian crew. Thus I bade all the world come
+and take from me what I had taken for my own.
+
+I stepped to the wheel with Peterson, expecting to find him pale in
+consternation. To my surprise he was calm, save for a new glitter in
+his eye.
+
+"There's nothing on the river can touch her," said he, as he picked up
+his first channel light and called for more speed. "Let 'em come!"
+
+A sudden recklessness had caught us all, it seemed, the old spirit of
+lawless man breaking the leash of custom. I shared it--with exultation
+I knew I shared it with these others. The lust of youth for adventure
+held us all, and the years were as naught.
+
+I turned now to find Helena, and met L'Olonnois, his face beaming.
+
+"Wasn't that a peach of a shot?" said he. "It would of blew yon varlet
+out of the water, if I'd had anything to load with except just them
+marbles. Are you looking for Auntie Helen? She has just went below."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+IN WHICH WE REACH THE SPANISH MAIN
+
+
+It was as Peterson had said--nothing on the river could touch the
+_Belle Helene_. And it also was as I had not said but had thought--the
+water left no trail. By daylight we were far below the old
+battle-field, far below the old forts, far below La Hache, and among
+the channels of the great estuary whose marshes spread for scores of
+miles on either hand impenetrably. Quarantine lay yonder, the
+Southwest Passage opened here; and on beyond, a stone's throw now for
+a vessel logging our smooth speed, rolled the open sea. And still
+there rose behind us the smoke of no pursuing craft, nor did any seek
+to bar our way. So far as I knew, the country had not been warned by
+any wire down-stream from the city. We saw to it that no calling
+points were passed in daylight. As for the chance market shooter
+paddling his log pirogue to his shooting ground in the dawn, or the
+occasional sportsman of some ducking club likewise engaged, they
+saluted us gaily enough, but without suspicion. Even had they known, I
+doubt whether they would have informed on us, for all the world loves
+a lover, and these Southerners themselves now traveled waters long
+known to adventure and romance.
+
+So at last, as the sun rose, we saw the last low marshy points widen,
+flatten and recede, and beyond the outlying towers of the lights
+caught sight of lazy liners crawling in, and felt the long throb of
+the great Gulf's pulse, and sniffed the salt of the open sea.
+
+I had not slept, nor had Peterson, nor had Williams, my engineer. My
+men never demurred when hard duty was asked of them, but put manly
+pride above union hours, I fancy, resolved to show me they could
+endure as long as I. And I asked none to endure more. Moreover, even
+my pirate crew was seized of some new zest. I question whether either
+Jean Lafitte or Henri L'Olonnois slept, save in his day clothing, that
+night of our run from New Orleans; for now, just as we swept free of
+the last point, so that we might call that gulf which but now had been
+river, I heard a sound at my elbow as I bent over a chart, and turned
+to see both my associates, the collars of their sweaters turned up
+against the damp chill of the morning.
+
+"Where are we now, Black Bart?" asked Jean Lafitte. I could see on
+his face the mystic emotion of youth, could see his face glorified in
+the uplifting thrill of this mystery of the sea and the dawn and the
+unknown which now enveloped us. "Where are we now?" he asked; but it
+was as though he feared he slept and dreamed, and that this wondrous
+dream of the dawn might rudely be broken by some command summoning him
+back to life's routine.
+
+"Surely your soul should tell you, Jean Lafitte," said I, "for yonder,
+as I may say, now rolls the Spanish Main. Its lift is now beneath our
+feel. You are home again, Jean Lafitte. Yonder are the bays and bayous
+and channels in the marshes, where your boats used to hide. And there,
+L'Olonnois, my hearty, with you, I was used to ride the open sea,
+toward the Isles of Spain, waiting for the galleons to come."
+
+"I know, I know!" said my blue-eyed pirate softly and reverently; and
+so true was all his note to that inner struggling soul that lay both
+in his bosom and my own, that I ceased to lament for my sin in so
+allowing modern youth to be misled, and turned to him with open hand,
+myself also young with the undying youth of the world.
+
+"Many a time, Black Bart," said L'Olonnois solemnly, "have we crowded
+on full sail when the lookout gave the word of a prize a-comin', while
+we laid to in some hidden channel over yonder."
+
+"Aye, aye, many a time, many a time, my hearty."
+
+"--An' loosed the bow-chaser an' shot away her foremast."
+
+"--At almost the first shot, L'Olonnois."
+
+"--So that her top hamper came down in a run an' swung her broadside
+to our batteries."
+
+"--And we poured in a hail of chain-shot and set her hull afire."
+
+"--And then launched the boats for the boardin' parties," broke in
+Jean Lafitte, standing on one leg in his excitement; "--an' so made
+her a prize. An' then we made 'em walk the plank amid scenes of
+wassail--all but the fair captives."
+
+I fell silent. But L'Olonnois' blue eyes were glowing. "An' them we
+surrounded with every rude luxury," said he, "finally retiring to the
+fortresses of the hidden channels of the coast, where we defied all
+pursuit. This looks like one of them places, though I may be mistook,"
+he added judiciously. I shuddered to see how Jimmy's grammar had
+deteriorated under my care.
+
+"Yes," said I, "we are now near to several of those places, scenes of
+our bold deeds. The south coast of Louisiana lies on our right, cut by
+a thousand bays and channels deep enough for hiding a pinnace or even
+a stout schooner. Yonder, Jean, is Barataria Bay, your old home. Here,
+under my finger, is Cote Blanche. Here comes the Chafalay, through its
+new channel--all this floating hyacinth, all this red water, comes
+from Texas soil, from the Red River, now discharging in new mouths.
+Yonder, west of the main boat channels that make toward the railways
+far inland, lie the salt reefs and the live-oak islands. Here is the
+long key they now call Marsh Island. It was not an island until you,
+stout Jean Lafitte, ordered the Yankee Morrison to take a hundred
+black slaves with spades and cut a channel across the neck, so that
+you could get through more quickly from the Spanish Main to the hidden
+bayous where your boats lay concealed--until the wagons from Iberia
+could come and traffic at the causeway for your wares. Do you not
+remember it well?"
+
+"Aye, that I do, Black Bart!" said he; and I was sure he did.
+
+"And yonder channel, once just wide enough for a yawl, is to-day
+washed out wide enough for a fleet to pass through--though not deep
+enough. In that fact now lies our safety."
+
+"How do you mean, Black Bart?" demanded he.
+
+"Why, that all this water over yonder west of us is so shallow that it
+takes a wise oyster boat to get through to Morgan City. The shrimpers
+who reap these waters, even the market shooting schooners who carry
+canvasbacks out of these feeding beds in the marshes, have to know the
+tides and the winds as well, and if one be wrong the boat goes aground
+on these wide shoals. Less than a fathom here and here and here on the
+chart soundings--less than that if an offshore wind blows."
+
+"You mean we'll go aground?"
+
+"No, I mean that any pursuer very likely would. The glass is falling
+now. Soon the wind will rise. If it comes offshore for five hours--and
+it will wait for five hours before it does come offshore--we shall be
+safe, inside, at one of your old haunts, Jean Lafitte; and back of us
+will lie fifty miles of barrier--yon varlet may well have a care."
+
+"Yon varlet don't know where we have went," commented L'Olonnois in
+his alarming grammar.
+
+"No, that is true. The water leaves no trail. Most Northerners go to
+Florida for the winter, and not to these marshes. Methinks they will
+have a long chase."
+
+"An' here," said Jean Lafitte, with much enthusiasm, "we kin lie
+concealed an' dart out on passin' craft that strike our fancy as
+prizes."
+
+"We could," said I, "but we will not."
+
+"Why not?" He seemed chilled by my reply.
+
+"Oh, we shall not need to," I hastened to explain. "We have everything
+we need for a long stay here. We can live chiefly by hunting and
+fishing for a month or so, until----"
+
+"Until the fair captive has gave her consent," broke in L'Olonnois,
+also with enthusiasm.
+
+"Yes," said I, endeavoring a like enthusiasm. "Or, at least, until we
+find it needful to go inland to one of the live-oak islands. There are
+houses there. I know some of the planters over yonder."
+
+"Let's make them places scenes of rapeen!" suggested Jean Lafitte
+anxiously. "They must have gold and jewels. Besides, I bear it well in
+mind, many a time have I and my stout crew buried chests of treasure
+on them islands. We c'd dig 'em up. Maybe them folks has a'ready dug
+'em up. Then why not search their strongholds with a stout party of
+our own hardy bullies, Black Bart?"
+
+"No," said I mildly; "for several reasons I think it best for my
+hardy bullies to go and eat some breakfast and then go to sleep. If we
+go into the live-oak heights above Cote Blanche, I think we'll only
+ask for salt. I am almost sure, for instance, that my friend Edouard
+Manning, of Bon Secours plantation, would give me salt if I asked it.
+He has done so before. Beshrew me, it should go hard with him if he
+refused."
+
+"There's a barrel an' eight boxes o' sacks o' salt aboard," said the
+practical Jean Lafitte. "What'd you want so much salt for?"
+
+"'Twas yon varlet's idea," said I, "when he laid in the ship's stores.
+But I had a mind that, to my taste, no salt is better than that made
+by the Manning plantation mines. But now," I added, "to your
+breakfast, after you have bathed."
+
+"Peterson," said I, after they had left me, and pointing to the chart,
+"lay her west by south. I want to run inside the Timbalier Shoals."
+
+"Very shallow there, Mr. Harry--just look at the soundings, sir."
+
+"That's why I want to go. Hold on till you get the light at this
+channel here, southeast of the Cote Blanche. You'll get a lot of
+floating hyacinth, but do what you can. I'll take my trick, as soon as
+I get a bite to eat. By night we'll be over our hurry and we can all
+arrange for better sleep."
+
+"And then--I--ahem! Mr. Harry, what are your plans?" He was just a
+trifle troubled over all this.
+
+"My plans, Peterson," said I, "are to anchor off Timbalier to-night,
+to anchor in this channel of Cote Blanche to-morrow--and to eat
+breakfast now." Saying which I left him gloomily shaking his head, but
+laying her now west by south as I had made the course.
+
+"The glass is falling mighty fast, Mr. Harry," he called over his
+shoulder to me by way of encouragement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+IN WHICH IS CERTAIN POLITE CONVERSATION
+
+
+My boy had ironed my trousers, that is to say, the trousers I had
+given him the year previous, and which he now had loaned to me, my
+extremity being greater than his own. He had laundered my collars--a
+most useful boy, my China boy. I had, moreover, delving in Cal
+Davidson's wardrobe, discovered yet another waistcoat, if possible
+more radiant even than the one with pink stripes, for that it was
+cross hatched with bars of pale pea green and mauve--I know not from
+what looms he obtained these wondrous fabrics. Thus bravely attired
+after breakfast, just before luncheon, indeed, it was, I felt
+emboldened to call upon the captive ladies once more. With much shame
+I owned that I had not seen Auntie Lucinda for nearly two days--and
+with much trepidation, also, for I knew not what new bitterness her
+soul, meantime, might have distilled into venom against my coming.
+
+I knocked at the door of the ladies' cabin, the aftermost suite on the
+boat, and, at first, had no answer. The door, naturally, on a boat of
+this size, would be low, the roof rising above decks no higher than
+one's waist; and as I bent to knock again, the door of the companion
+stairs was suddenly thrust open against my face, and framed in the
+opening thus made, there appeared the august visage of Auntie Lucinda
+herself.
+
+"Well, sir-r-r-r!" said she, after a time, regarding me sternly. I can
+by no means reproduce the awfulness of her "r's."
+
+"Yes, madam?" I replied mildly, holding my nose, which had been
+smitten by the door.
+
+She made no answer, but stood, a basilisk in mien.
+
+"I just came, my dear Mrs. Daniver," I began, "to ask you----"
+
+"And time you did, sir-r-r-r! I was just coming to ask _you_----"
+
+"And time you did, my dear Mrs. Daniver--I have missed you so much,
+these several days. So I just called to ask for your health."
+
+"You need not trouble about my health!"
+
+"But I do, I do, madam! I give you my word, I was awake all night,
+thinking of--of your neuralgia. Neuralgia is something--something
+fierce, in a manner of speech--if one has it in the morning, my dear
+Mrs. Daniver."
+
+"Don't 'dear Mrs. Daniver' me! I'm not your dear Mrs. Daniver at all."
+
+"Then whose dear Mrs. Daniver are you, my dear Mrs. Daniver?" I
+rejoined most impudently.
+
+"If the poor dear Admiral were alive," said she, sniffing, "you should
+repent those words!"
+
+"I wish the poor dear Admiral were here," said I. "I should like to
+ask an abler sailorman than Peterson what to do, with the glass
+falling as it is, and the holding ground none too good for an anchor.
+I thought it just as well to come and tell you to prepare for the
+worst."
+
+"The worst--what do you mean?" She now advanced three steps upward, so
+that her shoulders were above the cabin door. Almost mechanically she
+took my hand.
+
+"The worst just now is nothing worse than an orange with ice, my dear
+Mrs. Daniver. And I only wanted you to come out on deck with--Miss
+Emory--and see how blue the sea is."
+
+She advanced another step, being fond of an iced orange at
+eleven-thirty. But now she paused. "My niece is resting," said she,
+feeling her way.
+
+"No, I am not," I heard a voice say. Inadvertently I turned and almost
+perforce glanced down the cabin stair. Helena, in a loose morning wrap
+of pink, was lying on the couch. She now cast aside the covering of
+eider-down, and shaking herself once, sprang up the stairs, so that
+her dark hair appeared under Auntie Lucinda's own. Slowly that
+obstacle yielded, and both finally stood on the after deck. The soft
+wind caught the dark tendrils of Helena's hair. With one hand she
+pushed at them. The other caught her loose robe about her softly
+outlined figure.
+
+"Helena!" remarked her aunt, frowning.
+
+"I want an orange," remarked Miss Emory, addressing the impartial
+universe, and looking about for John.
+
+"And shall have it. But," said I, finding a soft rug at the cabin-top,
+"I think perhaps you may find the air cool. Allow me." I handed them
+chairs, and with a hand that trembled a bit put the soft covering over
+Helena's shoulders. She drew it close about her with one hand, and her
+dark hair flowing about her cheeks, found her orange with the other
+when John came with his tray.
+
+It was a wondrous morning in early fall. Never had a southern sky been
+more blue, never the little curling waves saucier on the Gulf. The air
+was mild, just fresh enough for zest. Around us circled many great
+white gulls. Across the flats sailed a long slow line of pelicans;
+and out yonder, tossing up now and then like a black floating blanket,
+I could see a great raft of wild duck, taking their midday rest in
+safety. All the world seemed a million miles away. Care did not exist.
+And--so intimate and swiftly comprehensive is the human soul,
+especially the more primal soul of woman--already and without words,
+this young woman seemed to feel the less need of conversation, to
+recognize the slackening rein of custom. So that a rug and a
+wrapper--granted always also an aunt--seemed to her not amiss as full
+equipment for reception of a morning caller.
+
+"A very good orange," said she at last.
+
+"Yes," said her aunt promptly; "I'm sure we ought to thank Mr.
+Davidson for them. He was _such_ a good provider."
+
+"Except in waistcoats," I protested, casually indicating his latest
+contribution to my wardrobe. "Quantity, yes, I grant that, but as to
+quality, never! But why speak ill of the absent, especially regarding
+matters of an earlier and bygone day? Yon varlet no longer exists for
+us--we no longer exist for him. We have passed, as two ships pass
+yonder in the channel. I know not what he may be doing now, unless
+carrying roses to Miss Sally Byington. Certainly he can not know that
+I, his hated rival, am safe from all pursuit behind the Timbalier
+Shoals, and carrying oranges to a young lady in my belief almost as
+beautiful as the beautiful Sally."
+
+Aunt Lucinda turned upon me a baleful eye. "You grow flippant as well
+as rude, sir! As though you knew anything of that Byington girl. I
+doubt if you ever saw her."
+
+"Oh, yes--last night. Miss Emory and I both saw her, last night, at
+Luigi's. As for yon varlet's providing, while I would not too much
+criticize a man whose waistcoats I wear even under protest, it is but
+fair to say that these oranges and all the fresh things taken on at
+New Orleans, are of my providing, and not his. He was so busy
+providing other things for Miss Sally Byington."
+
+"I don't think she is so beautiful," said Helena, ceasing with her
+orange. "Her color is so full. Very likely she'll be blowsy in a few
+years."
+
+"How can you say so!" I rebuked, with much virtuous indignation. But
+at the time I felt my heart leap at sight of Helena herself, the lines
+of her slim graceful figure defined even under the rug she had drawn
+about her neck, the wind-blown little neck curls and the long fuller
+lock now plain against her fresh face, blown pale by the cool salt air
+that sang above us gently. I could no longer even feign an interest in
+any other woman in the world. So very unconsciously I chuckled to
+myself, and Helena heard me.
+
+"You don't think so yourself!" she remarked.
+
+"Think what?"
+
+"That she is so beautiful."
+
+"No, I do not. Not as beautiful as----"
+
+"Look at the funny bird!" said Helena suddenly. Yet I could see
+nothing out of the ordinary in the sea-bird she pointed out, skimming
+and skipping close by.
+
+"Sir," demanded Aunt Lucinda, also suddenly, "how long is this to
+last?"
+
+"You mean the orange-dish, Mrs. Daniver?" I queried politely. "As long
+as you like. I also am a good provider, although to no credit, as it
+seems."
+
+"You know I do not mean the oranges, sir. I mean this whole foolish
+business. You are putting yourself liable to the law."
+
+"So did Jean Lafitte, over yonder in Barataria," said I, "but he lived
+to a ripe old age and became famous. Why not I as well?"
+
+"--You are ruining those two boys. I weep to think of our poor
+Jimmy--why, he lords it about as though he owned the boat. And such
+language!"
+
+"He shall own a part of her if he likes, if all comes out well," said
+I. "And as for Jean Lafitte, Junior, rarely have I seen a boy of
+better judgment, cooler mind, or more talent in machinery. He shall
+have an education, if he likes; and I know he will like."
+
+"It is wonderful what a waistcoat will do for the imagination,"
+remarked Helena, wholly casually. I turned to her.
+
+"I presume it is Mr. Davidson who is to be the fairy prince," added
+Aunt Lucinda.
+
+"No, myself," I spoke quietly. Aunt Lucinda for once was almost too
+unmistakable in her sniff of scorn.
+
+"I admit it seems unlikely," said I. "Still, this is a wonderful age.
+Who can say what may be gained by the successful pirate!"
+
+"You act one!" commented Aunt Lucinda. "It is brutal. It is
+outrageous. It is abominable. No gentleman would be guilty of such
+conduct."
+
+"I grant you," said I, but flushed under the thrust. "But I am no
+longer a gentleman where that conflicts with the purpose of my piracy.
+I come of a family, after all, madam, who often have had their way in
+piracy."
+
+"And left a good useful business to go away to idleness! And now
+speak of doing large things! With whose money, pray?"
+
+"You are very direct, my dear Mrs. Daniver," said I mildly, "but the
+catechism is not yet so far along as that."
+
+"But why did you do this crazy thing?"
+
+"To marry Helena, and with your free consent as her next friend," said
+I, swiftly turning to her. "Since I must be equally frank. Please
+don't go!" I said to Helena, for now, very pale, she was starting
+toward the cabin door. But she paid no heed to me, and passed.
+
+"So now you have it, plainly," said I to Mrs. Daniver.
+
+She turned on me a face full of surprise and anger mingled. "How dare
+you, after all that has passed? You left the girl years ago. You have
+no business, no fortune, not even the girl's consent. I'll not have
+it! I love her." The good woman's lips trembled.
+
+"So do I," said I gently. "That is why we all are here. It is because
+of this madness called love. Ah, Mrs. Daniver, if you only knew! If I
+could make you know! But surely you do know, you, too, have loved.
+Come, may you not love a lover, even one like myself? I'll be good to
+Helena. Believe me, she is my one sacred charge in life. I love her.
+Not worthy of her, no--but I love her."
+
+"That's too late." But I saw her face relent at what she heard. "I
+have other plans. And you should have told her what you have told me."
+
+"Ah, have I not?" But then I suddenly remembered that, by some
+reversal of my logical mind, here I was, making love to Auntie
+Lucinda, whom I did not love, whereas in the past I had spent much
+time in mere arguing with Helena, whom I did love.
+
+"I'm not sure that I've ever made it plain enough to her, that's
+true," said I slowly. "But if she gives me the chance, I'll spend all
+my life telling her that very thing. That, since you ask me, is why we
+all are here--so that I may tell Helena, and you, and all the world,
+that very thing. I love her, very much."
+
+"But suppose she does not love you?" demanded Mrs. Daniver. "I'll say
+frankly, I've advised her against you all along. She ought to marry a
+man of some station in the world."
+
+"With money?"
+
+"You put it baldly, but--yes."
+
+"Would that be enough--money?" I asked.
+
+"No. That is not fair----"
+
+"--Only honor between us now."
+
+"It would go for to-day. Because, after all, money means power, and
+all of us worship power, you know--success."
+
+"And is that success--to have money, and then more money--and to go
+on, piling up more money--to have more summer places, and more yachts
+like this, and more city houses, and more money, money, money--yes,
+yes, that's American, but is it all, is it right, is it the real
+ambition for a man! And does that bring a woman happiness?"
+
+"What would you do if you had your money back?" asked Mrs. Daniver.
+"You had a fortune from your father."
+
+"What would I do?" I rejoined hotly. "What I did do--settle every
+claim against his honor as much as against his estate--judge his honor
+by my own standards, and not his. Pay my debts--pay all my debts. It's
+independence, madam, and not money that I want. It's freedom, Mrs.
+Daniver, that I want, and not money. So far as it would be the usual
+money, buying almost nothing that is worth owning, I give you my
+solemn oath I don't care enough for it to work for it! So far as it
+would help me be a man, help me to build my own character, help me
+build manhood and character in my country--yes, I'd like it for that.
+But if money were the price of Helena herself, I'd not ask for it.
+The man who would court a girl with his money and not his manhood--the
+woman who marries for money, or the man who does--what use has God
+Almighty got for either of them? It's men and women and things worth
+doing who make this world, Mrs. Daniver. I love her, so much, so
+clearly, so wholly, that I think it must be right. And since you've
+asked me, I've taken my man's chance, just to get you two alone, where
+I could talk it over with you both."
+
+"It's been talked over, Harry," said she, rather uncomfortably. "Why
+not let the poor child alone? Has it occurred to you how terribly hard
+this is for her?"
+
+"Yes. But she can end it easily. Tell me, is she engaged to Davidson?"
+
+"What difference?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Why ask, then?"
+
+"Tell me!"
+
+"Well then, no, not so far as I know."
+
+"You are sorry?"
+
+"I had hope for it. It was all coming on so handsomely. At Natchez he
+was--he was, well, you know----"
+
+"Almost upon the point?"
+
+"Quite so. I thought, I believed that between there and----"
+
+"Say between there and Baton Rouge----"
+
+"Well, yes----"
+
+"He would come to the main point?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And he did not?"
+
+"You can best answer. It was at Natchez that you and those ruffianly
+boys ran off with Mr. Davidson's boat!"
+
+"That's all, your Honor," I remarked. "Take the witness, Mr.
+Davidson!"
+
+"But what right you have to cross-question me, I don't know!"
+commented Mrs. Daniver, addressing a passing sea-gull, and pulling
+down the corners of her mouth most forbiddingly.
+
+"My disused and forgotten art comes back to me once in a while, my
+dear Mrs. Daniver," I answered exultantly. "Pray, do you notice how
+beautiful all the world is this morning? The sky is so wonderful, the
+sea so adorable, don't you see?"
+
+"I see that we are a long way from home. Tell me, are these sharks
+here?"
+
+"Oodles," said I, "and very large. No use trying to swim away. And
+yonder coast is inhabited only by hostile cannibals. Barataria itself,
+over yonder, is to-day no more than a shrimp-fishing village, part
+Chinese, part Greek and part Sicilian. The railway runs far to the
+north, and the ship channel is far to the east. No one comes here. It
+is days to Galveston, westward, and between lies a maze of
+interlocking channels, lakes and bayous, where boats once hid and may
+hide again. Once we unship our flag mast, and we shall lie so saucy
+and close that behind a bank of rushes we never would be seen. And we
+do not burn coal, and so make no smoke. Here is my chosen hiding
+ground. In short, madam, you are in my power!"
+
+"But really, how far----"
+
+"Since you ask, I will answer. Yonder, to the westward, a bayou comes
+into Cote Blanche. Follow that bayou, eighty miles from here, and you
+come to the house of my friend, Edouard Manning, the kindest man in
+Louisiana, which is to say much. I had planned to have the wedding
+there."
+
+"Your effrontery amazes me--I doubt your sanity!" said Aunt Lucinda,
+horrified. "But what good will all this do you?"
+
+She had a certain bravery all her own, after all. Almost, I was on the
+point of telling her the truth; which was that I had during the long
+night resolved once more to offer my hand to Helena, and if she now
+refused me, to accept my fate. I would torture her no more. No, if now
+she were still resolute, it was my purpose to sail up yonder bayou, to
+land at the Manning plantation, and there to part forever from Helena
+and all my friends. I knew corners of the world far enough that none
+might find me.
+
+But I did not tell Aunt Lucinda this. Instead, I made no answer; and
+we both sat looking out over the rippling gulf, silent for some time.
+I noted now a faint haze on the horizon inshore, like distant
+cloud-banks, not yet distinct but advancing. Aunt Lucinda, it seemed,
+was watching something else through the ship's glasses which she had
+picked up near by.
+
+"What is that, over yonder?" asked she--"it looks like a wreck of some
+kind."
+
+"It is a wreck--that of a lighthouse," I told her. "It is lying flat
+on its side, a poor attitude for a lighthouse. The great tidal wave of
+the gulf storm, four years ago, destroyed it. We are now, to tell the
+truth, at the edge of that district which causes the Weather Bureau
+much uncertainty--a breeding ground of the tropical cyclones that
+break between the Indies and this coast."
+
+"And you bring us here?"
+
+"Only to pass to the inner channels, madam, where we should be safer
+in case of storm. To-night, we shall anchor in the lee of a long
+island, where the lighthouse is still standing, in its proper
+position, and where we shall be safe as a church."
+
+"Sharks! Storms! Shipwrecks!" moaned she.
+
+--"And pirates," added I gently, "and cannibals. Yes, madam, your
+plight is serious, and I know not what may come of it all--I wish I
+did."
+
+"Well, no good will come of it, one thing sure," said Aunt Lucinda,
+preparing to weep.
+
+And indeed, an instant later, my mournful skipper seemed to bear her
+out. I saw Peterson standing expectant, a little forward, now.
+
+"Well, Peterson?" I rose and went to him.
+
+"I beg pardon, sir, Mr. Harry," said he somewhat anxiously, "but we've
+bent her port shaft on a cursed oyster reef."
+
+"Very well, Peterson. Suppose we run with the starboard screw."
+
+"And the intake's clogged again with this cursed fine sand we've
+picked up."
+
+"After I warned Williams?"
+
+"Yes, sir. And that's not the worst, sir."
+
+"Indeed? You must be happy, Peterson!"
+
+"We can't log over eight knots now, and it's sixty miles to our light
+back of the big key."
+
+"Excellent, Peterson!"
+
+"And the glass is falling mighty fast."
+
+"In that case, Peterson," said I, "the best thing you can do is to
+hold your course, and the best thing I can do is to get ready for
+lunch."
+
+"The best thing either of us can do is to get some sleep," said he,
+"for we may not get much to-night. She'll break somewhere after sunset
+to-night, very likely."
+
+"Peterson," said I, "let us hope for the worst."
+
+All the same, I did not wholly like the look of things, for I had seen
+these swift gulf storms before. A sudden sinking of the heart came
+over me. What if my madness, indeed, should come to mean peril to her?
+Swiftly I stepped back to the door of the ladies' cabin, where Mrs.
+Daniver now disappeared. "Helena!" I cried.
+
+"Yes?" I heard her answer as she stepped toward the little stair.
+
+"Did you say 'Yes'?" I rejoined suddenly.
+
+"No, I did not! I only meant to ask what you wanted."
+
+"As though you did not know! I wanted only to call you to get ready
+for luncheon. One of the owners of this waistcoat has provided a
+pompano, not to mention some excellent endive. And the weather is
+fine, isn't it?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+IN WHICH IS SHIPWRECK
+
+
+It must be understood that our party on the _Belle Helene_ was divided
+into two, or rather, indeed, three camps, each somewhat sharply
+defined and each somewhat ignorant of the other's doings in detail.
+The combination of either two against the other, in organized mutiny,
+might very well prove successful, wherefore it was my task to keep all
+apart by virtue of the authority which I had myself usurped. The
+midship's cabin suite, of three rooms, was occupied by myself and my
+two bold young mates--when the latter were not elsewhere engaged. We
+made what might be called the ruling classes. Forward of our cabin,
+and accessible only from the deck, was the engine-room where Williams
+worked, and off this were two bunks, well ventilated and very
+comfortable, occupied by Williams and Peterson. Forward of this, and
+also accessible only from the deck, lay the dining saloon, with its
+fixed table, its cupboards, dish racks and wine-room. In her bows and
+below the saloon was the cook's gallery, a dumb-waiter running
+between; and the sleeping quarters of John, the cook, and Willy, the
+deck-hand, were in the forecastle below. This left the two captives
+all the after part of the ship pretty much to themselves, and as the
+after-suite of cabins was roomy and fitted with every modern nautical
+luxury, they lacked neither freedom nor comfort, so far as these may
+obtain on shipboard. Obviously, I said little to the ship's crew,
+except to Peterson, and my two mates had orders to keep to their own
+part of the ship, under my eye.
+
+Thus, like ancient Gaul, divided into three parts, we sailed on our
+wholly indefinite voyage; and all I could do was to live from day to
+day, or hour to hour. I was content, for Helena was there. Indeed, I
+question if, these last three years, her image had not been always
+present in my consciousness; such are the fevers of our unreasoning
+blood, such the power of that madness known as love.
+
+But, thus divided as was our company, I had none such excellent
+opportunity for often seeing Helena, as might at first be supposed.
+She and her aunt refused to join us at any meal in the dining saloon;
+although, now and then, they came for breakfast to what Auntie Lucinda
+with scorn called the "second table". It was not feasible for me,
+often, to do more than call of a morning to inquire if all was well
+with them; and conversation through a lead-glass transom is not what
+one would call intimate. Helena could bar her door if she liked in
+more ways than one; and against the fences that she raised against me
+one way or another, what with headaches, whims or Aunt Lucinda, I had
+now no chance to meet her alone save as she herself might dictate. So
+that, after all, though now I stood as commander of the _Belle Helene_
+in place of yon varlet, Cal Davidson, although I ate his ship's
+stores, wore, indeed, his waistcoats and his neckties when that was
+humanly possible, I was his successor only and not his equal. He
+could--nay, had done so--meet Helena as he liked, at meals, on deck,
+on a thousand errands, whereas I was helpless to do so. He could talk
+with her all over the ship, take her alone on deck of a moonlit night,
+listen to her sing, gaze--oh, curse him!--on the little curls on
+Helena's neck--but no! I could not endure that thought. The round
+white neck, the white shoulders, the soft curves beneath the
+peignoir's careless irreverences--why, it was an intolerable thought
+that any man should raise eye or heart or thought to Helena, save
+myself. So, this morning, after that rare and unconventional meeting
+on the after deck, one easily may see how much I wished all Gaul were
+divided into but two parts, and that the occupants of the reserved
+after cabin would come to lunch in the saloon with their captors,
+Black Bart, Jean Lafitte and Henri L'Olonnois.
+
+Now, 'tis an odd thing, but one of my superstitions, that when we wish
+much and fervently and cleanly for any certain thing, one day that
+thing is ours. Some day, some time, some hour or instant, our dear
+desire, our coveted thing, our wish, comes and flutters and alights at
+our side; if really we have deserved it and have wished long and
+deeply and honestly and purposefully. You ask proof? Well, then,
+hardly had we three, Black Bart, Jean Lafitte and Henri L'Olonnois,
+seated ourselves at table for luncheon that day before I became
+sensible of a faint shadow at the saloon stair. I saw a trim boot and
+a substantial ankle which I knew belonged to Aunt Lucinda; and then I
+looked up and saw on the deck Helena also, stooped, her clean-cut
+head, with its blown dark hair, visible against the blue sky.
+
+"May I come in?" she asked gaily enough. And I reached up next to her
+to hand her down, and smooth down her skirt for her at the rather
+awkward narrow stair.
+
+"You are always invited," said I, and perhaps I flushed in my
+pleasure. "John," I called down the tube, "two more--the ladies." And
+I heard his calm "All lite."
+
+My young gentlemen had risen, politely, but Helena gently pushed them
+down into their places. "Be seated here, ladies," said I. "These
+places are, as you see, always spread for you. Your covers wait. And
+all the ship's silver shall see duty now. L'Olonnois, my hearty, you
+and I shall serve, eh? I am, indeed, delighted--greatly delighted--I
+shall not inquire, I shall only hope."
+
+"Well," boomed the deep voice of Auntie Lucinda, "we came because we
+did not like the look of things."
+
+"To be sure, things are not looking bully," I assented vaguely.
+
+"I mean the weather. It's getting black, and it's colder. And after
+what you told me about the storms, and that lighthouse being blown
+down----"
+
+"My dear Mrs. Daniver," said I, helping her to her chair while
+L'Olonnois served his Auntie Helena in like fashion, "you really must
+not take one too seriously. That lighthouse fell over of its own
+weight--the contractor's work was done shamefully."
+
+"But you said it blew," ventured Helena.
+
+"It blows, a little, now and then, to be sure, but never very much,
+only enough to enable the oyster boats and shrimpers to get in. How
+could we have oysters without a sailing breeze?"
+
+"It's more than a breeze," said Aunt Lucinda. "My neuralgia tells
+me----"
+
+"It is fortunate that you honored us, my dear Mrs. Daniver," said I,
+"for I have here in the cooler a bottle of ninety-three. I had an
+inspiration. I knew you would come, for nothing in the world could
+have pleased me so much."
+
+I was looking at Helena, whose eyes were cast down. I observed now
+that she was in somewhat elegant morning costume, her bridge coat of
+Vienna lace, caught with a wide bar of plain gold, covering some soft
+and shimmering under-bodice which fitted closely enough to be formal.
+And I saw she had on many rings, and that her throat sparkled under a
+circlet of gems.
+
+She must have caught my glance of surprise, for she said nervously,
+"You think we are overplaying our return call? Well, the truth is,
+we're afraid."
+
+"So then?"--and I bowed.
+
+"So then I fished out all my jewelry."
+
+"We are honored."
+
+"Well, I didn't know what might happen. If one should be
+shipwrecked----" I caught her frightened gaze out an open port,
+perfectly aware myself of the swift weather change.
+
+"There is nothing like dressing the part of the shipwrecked," said I.
+"For myself, these same flannels will do."
+
+"Pshaw!" said young L'Olonnois, "suppose she does pitch a little--it
+ain't any worse'n on the _Mauretania_ when we went across. I ain't
+scared, are you, John?"
+
+"No," replied Jean Lafitte shyly. He was almost overawed with the
+ladies. But I liked the look of his eye now.
+
+"She's not as big as the _Mauretania_," said Helena, fixing
+L'Olonnois' collar for him.
+
+"I'm sure she's going to roll horribly," added Aunt Lucinda. "And if I
+should be seasick, with my neuralgia, I'm sure I don't know what I
+should do."
+
+"_I_ know!" remarked L'Olonnois; and Helena promptly dropped her hand
+over his mouth.
+
+"Let us not think of storm and shipwreck," said I, "at least until
+they come. I want to ask your attention to John's imitation of Luigi's
+oysters _a la mariniere_. The oysters are of our own catching this
+morning. For, you must know, the water hereabout is very shallow, and
+is full of oysters."
+
+"You said full of sharks," corrected Aunt Lucinda.
+
+"Did I? I meant oysters." And I helped her to some from the
+dumb-waiter and uncorked the very last bottle of the ninety-three left
+in the case. "And as for this storm of which you speak, ladies," I
+added as I poured, "I would there might come every day as ill a wind
+if it would blow me as great a good as yourselves for luncheon."
+
+"Yes," said L'Olonnois brightly, "you might blow in once in a while
+an' see us fellers. I told Black Bart that captives----" but here I
+kicked Jimmy under the table. Poor chap, what with his Auntie Helena's
+hand at one extremity and my boot at the other, he was strained in his
+conversation, and in disgust, joined Jean Lafitte in complete silence
+and oysters.
+
+"Really," and Helena raised her eyes, "isn't it growing colder?"
+
+"Jean, close the port behind Miss Emory," said I. It was plain enough
+to my mind that a blue norther was breaking, with its swift drop in
+temperature and its possibly high wind.
+
+"The table's actin' funny," commented Jean Lafitte presently. He had
+never been at sea before.
+
+"Yes," said Aunt Lucinda, with very much--too much--dignity. "If you
+all will please excuse me, I think I shall go back to the cabin.
+Helena!"
+
+"Go with Mrs. Daniver at once, Jimmy," said I to L'Olonnois.
+
+"Aye, aye, Sir!" saluted he joyously; and added aside as he passed me,
+"Hope the old girl's going to be good an' sick!"
+
+I could see Peterson standing near the saloon's door, and bethought me
+to send Jean Lafitte up to aid him in making all shipshape. We were
+beginning to roll; and I missed the smooth thrust of both our
+propellors, although now the engines were purring smoothly enough.
+Thus by mere chance, I found myself alone with Helena. I put out a
+hand to steady her as she rose.
+
+"Is it really going to be bad?" she inquired anxiously. "Auntie gets
+_so_ sick."
+
+"It will be rough, for three hours yet," I admitted. "She's not so big
+as the _Mauretania_, but as well built for her tonnage. You couldn't
+pound her apart, no matter what came--she's oak and cedar, through and
+through, and every point----"
+
+"You've studied her well, since you--since you came aboard?"
+
+--"Yes, yes, to be sure I have. And she's worth her name. Don't you
+think it was mighty fine of--of Mr. Davidson to name her after
+you--the _Belle Helene_?"
+
+"He never did. If he had, why?"
+
+"Don't ask such questions, with the glass falling as it is," I said,
+pulling up the racks to restrain the dancing tumblers.
+
+"Oh, don't joke!" she said. "Harry!"
+
+"Yes, Helena," said I.
+
+"I'm afraid!"
+
+"Why?"
+
+"I don't know. But we seem so little and the sea so big. And it's
+getting black, and the fog is coming. Look--you can't see the
+shore-line any more now."
+
+It was as she said. The swift bank of vapor had blotted out the
+low-lying shores entirely. We sailed now in a narrowing circle of
+mist. I saw thin points of moisture on the port lights. And now I
+began to close the ports.
+
+"There _is_ danger!" she reiterated.
+
+"All horses can run away, all auto cars can blow up, all boats can
+sink. But we have as good charts and compasses as the _Mauretania_,
+and in three hours----"
+
+"But much can happen in three hours."
+
+"Much has happened in less time. It did not take me so long as that to
+love you, Helena, and that I have not forgotten in more than five
+years. Five years, Helena. And as to shipwreck, what does one more
+matter? It is you who have made shipwreck of a man's life. Take shame
+for that."
+
+"Take shame yourself, to talk in this way to me, when I am helpless,
+when I can't get away, when I'm troubled and frightened half to death?
+Ah, fine of you to persecute a girl!" She sobbed, choking a little,
+but her head high. "Let me out, I'm going to Auntie Lucinda. I hate
+you more and more. If I were to drown, I'd not take aid from you."
+
+"Do you mean that, Helena?" I asked, more than the chill of the
+norther in my blood.
+
+"Yes, I mean it. You are a _coward_!"
+
+I stood for quite a time between her and the companion stair, my hand
+still offering aid as she swayed in the boat's roll now. I was
+thinking, and I was very sad.
+
+"Helena," said I, "perhaps you have won. That's a hard word to take
+from man or woman. If it is in any way true, you have won and I have
+lost, and deserved to lose. But now, since little else remains, let me
+arrange matters as simply as I can. I'll admit there's an element of
+risk in our situation--one screw is out of commission, and one engine
+might be better. If we missed the channel west of the shoals, we
+might go aground--I hope not. Whether we do or not, I want to tell
+you--over yonder, forty or fifty miles, is the channel running inland,
+which was my objective point all along. I know this coast in the dark,
+like a book. Now, I promise you, I'll take you in there to friends of
+mine, people of your own class, and no one shall suspect one jot of
+all this, other than that we were driven out of our course. And once
+there, you are free. You never will see my face again. I will do this,
+as a ship's man, for you, and if need comes, will give my life to keep
+you safe. It's about all a coward can do for you. Now go, and if any
+time of need comes for me to call you, you will be called. And you
+will be cared for by the ship's men. And because I am head of the
+ship's men, you will do as I say. But I hope no need for this will
+come. Yonder is our course, where she heads now, and soon you will be
+free from me. You have wrecked me. Now I am derelict, from this time
+on. Good-by."
+
+I heard footfalls above. "Mrs. Daniver's compliments to Captain Black
+Bart," saluted L'Olonnois, "an' would he send my Auntie Helena back,
+because she's offle sick."
+
+"Take good care of your Auntie Helena, Jimmy," said I, "and help her
+aft along the rail."
+
+I followed up the companionway, and saw her going slowly, head down,
+her coat of lace blown wide; her hand at her throat, and sobbing in
+what Jimmy and I both knew was fear of the storm.
+
+"Have they got everything they need there, Jimmy?" I asked, as he
+returned.
+
+"Sure. And the old girl's going to have a peach of a one this
+time--she can't hardly rock in a rockin' chair 'thout gettin' seasick.
+I think it's great, don't you? Look at her buck into 'em!"
+
+Jimmy and his friend shared this immunity from _mal de mer_. I could
+see Jean now helping haul down our burgee, and the deck boy, Willy, in
+his hurried work about the boat. Williams, I could not see. But
+Peterson was now calm and much in his element, for a better skipper
+than he never sailed a craft on the Great Lakes.
+
+"I think she's going to blow great guns," said he, "and like enough
+the other engine'll pop any minute."
+
+"Yes?" I answered, stepping to the wheel. "In which case we go to Davy
+Jones about when, Peterson?"
+
+"We don't go!" he rejoined. "She's the grandest little ship afloat,
+and not a thing's the matter with her."
+
+"Can we make the channel and run inside the long key below the Cote
+Blanche Bayou?"
+
+"Sure we can. You'd better get the covers off the boats, and see the
+bottom plugs in and some water and supplies shipped aboard--but
+there's not the slightest danger in the world for _this_ boat, let me
+tell you that, sir. I've seen her perform before now, and there's not
+a storm can blow on this coast she won't ride through."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+IN WHICH IS SHIPWRECK OF OTHER SORT
+
+
+After the fashion of these gulf storms, this one tarried not in its
+coming, nor offered any clemency when it had arrived. Where but a
+half-hour since the heavens had been fair, the sea rippling, suave and
+kind, now the sky was not visible at all and the tumbling waves about
+us rolled savagely as in a nature wholly changed. The wind sang
+ominously overhead, as with lift and plunge we drove on into a bank of
+mist. A chill as of doom swiftly had replaced the balm of the southern
+sky; and forsooth, all the mercy of the world seemed lost and gone.
+
+And as our craft, laboring, thrust forward blindly into this reek,
+with naught of comfort on any hand, nor even the dimmest ray of hope
+visible from any fixed thing on ahead, in like travail of going, in
+like groaning to the very soul, the bark of my life now lay in the
+welter, helpless, reft of storm and strife, blind, counseled by no
+fixed ray ahead. I know not what purpose remained in me, that, like
+the ship which bore us, I still, dumbly and without conscious
+purpose, forged onward to some point fixed by reason or desire before
+reason and desire had been engulfed by this final unkindness of the
+world. For myself, I cared little or none at all. The plunge of the
+boat, the shriek of the wind, the wild magic and mystery of it, would
+have comported not ill with a strong man's tastes even in hours more
+happy, and now, especially, they jumped with the wild protest of a
+soul eager for some outlet of action or excitement. But for these
+others, these women--this woman--these boys, all brought into this
+danger by my own mad folly, ah! when the thought of these arose, a
+swift remorse caught me; and though for myself I feared not at all,
+for these I feared.
+
+Needs must, therefore, use every cool skilled resource that lay at
+hand. No time now for broken hearts to ask attention, the ship must be
+sailed. Crippled or not, what she had of help for us must be got out
+of her, used, fostered, nourished. All the art of the navigator must
+be charged with this duty. We must win through. And, as many a man who
+has seen danger will testify, the great need brought to us all a great
+calm and a steady precision in that which needed doing.
+
+I saw Peterson at the wheel, wet to the skin, as now and again a
+seventh wave, slow, portentous, deadly-deliberate, showed ahead of us,
+advanced, reared and pounded down on us with its tons of might. But he
+only shook the brine from his eyes and held her up, waiting for the
+slow pulse of our crippled engine to come on.
+
+"Can't keep my pipe lit!" he called to me, as I stood beside him; and
+at last, Peterson, in a real time of danger, seemed altogether happy
+and altogether free of apprehension beyond that regarding his pipe.
+
+At the first breaking of the storm I had, of course, ordered all ports
+closed, and had sent both my young companions to the ladies' cabin
+aft, as the driest part of the boat. Even there, the water that
+sometimes fell upon our decks as the great waves broke, poured aft and
+even broke about the cabin, drenching everything above deck. It was
+man's work that was to be done now, yet none could bear a hand in it
+save the engineer and the steersman. I was, therefore, ready sternly
+to reprove Jean Lafitte when, presently, I saw him making the perilous
+passage forward, clinging to the rail and wet to the skin before he
+could reach the forward deck. But he protested so earnestly and seemed
+withal so fit and keen, that I relented and allowed him to take his
+place by us at the wheel, showing him as well as I could, on the
+chart, the course we were trying to hold--the mouth of a long channel,
+six miles or more, dredged by the government across a foot of the bay
+and making through to deeper and more sheltered waters beyond.
+
+"S'posin' we don't hit her, in this fog!" asked Jean Lafitte.
+
+"It is our business to do that," was my reply. "In an hour or so more
+we shall know. How did you leave the ladies, Jean?"
+
+"Jimmy, he's sicker'n anything," was his reply, "except the old lady,
+and she's sicker'n Jimmy! The young lady, Miss Emory, she's all right,
+an' she's holdin' their heads. She says she don't get sick. Neither do
+I--ain't that funny? But gee, this is rougher'n any waves ever was on
+our lake. What're you goin' to do?"
+
+"Hold straight ahead, Jean," I answered. "Now, wouldn't you better go
+back to the others?"
+
+"Naw, I ain't scared--much. I told Jimmy, I did, any pirate ought to
+be ashamed to get sick. But they're all scared. So'm I, some," he
+added frankly.
+
+I might have made some confession of my own, had I liked, for I did
+not, in the least, fancy the look of things; but after a time, I
+compromised with sturdy Jean by sending him below into the dining
+saloon, whence he could look out through the glass front and see the
+tumbling sea ahead. Through the glazed housing I could see him
+standing, hands in pockets, legs wide, gazing out in the simple
+confidence that all was well, and enjoying the tumult and excitement
+of it all in his boyish ignorance.
+
+"He don't know!" grinned Peterson to me, and I only nodded in silence.
+
+"Where are we, Peterson?" I asked, putting a finger on the wet chart
+before us.
+
+"I don't know," replied the old man. "It depends on the drift, which
+we can't calculate. Soundings mean nothing, for she's shallow for
+miles. If the fog would break, so we could see the light--there ain't
+any fog-buoy on that channel mouth, and it's murder that there ain't.
+It's this d----d fog that makes it bad."
+
+I looked at my watch. It was now going on five o'clock, and in this
+light, it soon would be night for us. Peterson caught the time, and
+frowned. "Wish't we was in," said he. "No use trying to anchor unless
+we must, anyhow--she'll ride mighty wet out here. Better buck on into
+it."
+
+So we bucked on in, till five, till five-thirty, till six, and all
+the boat's lights revealed was a yellow circle of fog that traveled
+with us. Wet and chilled, we two stood at the wheel together, in such
+hard conditions that no navigator and no pilot could have done much
+more than grope.
+
+"We must have missed her!" admitted the old skipper at last. "I don't
+fancy the open gulf, and I don't fancy piling her up on some shore in
+here. What do you think we should do, Mr. Harry?"
+
+"Listen!" said I, raising a hand.
+
+"There's no bell-buoy," said he.
+
+"No, but hark. Don't you hear the birds--there's a million geese and
+swans and ducks calling over yonder."
+
+"Right, by George!" said he. "But where?"
+
+"They'd not be at sea, Peterson. They must be in some fresh-water lake
+inside some key or island. On the Long Key there's such an inland
+lake."
+
+"It's beyond the channel, maybe?" said he. But he signaled Williams to
+go slow, and that faithful unseen Cyclops, on whose precious engines
+so much depended, obeyed and presently put out a head at his hatch,
+quickly withdrawing it as a white sea came inboard.
+
+"We'll crawl on in," said Peterson. "The light can't be a thousand
+miles from here. If only there was a nigger man and a dinner bell
+beside the light--that's the trouble. And now--good God! _There she
+goes!_"
+
+With a jar which shook the good boat to the core, we felt the bottom
+come up from the depths and smite us. Our headway ceased, save for a
+sickening crunching crawl. The waves piled clear across our port bow
+as we swung. And so we hung, the gulf piling in on us in our yellow
+rimmed world. And at the lift and hollow of the sea we rose and
+pounded sullenly down, in such fashion as would have broken the back
+of any boat less stanch than ours.
+
+Here, in an eye's flash, was danger tangible and real. I heard a
+shriek from the cabin aft, and called out for them all to keep below
+and keep the ports closed. Peterson had the power off in an instant,
+and swung her head as best he could with the dying headway; but it
+only put her farther on the shoal.
+
+"It's the Timbalier Shoals!" he screamed. "Oh, d---- it all! We'll
+lose her, now." I recalled that his concern seemed rather for his boat
+than the lives she carried.
+
+Jean Lafitte came bounding up the companionway, his face pale, but
+ready for ship's discipline. "Come," said I quickly, "help me with the
+anchor." A moment later, we sprung the capstan clutch, and I heard the
+brief growl of the anchor chain as the big hook ran free. Glad enough
+I was to think of the extra size it had. We eased her down and made
+fast under Peterson's orders now, and so swung into the head of the
+sea, which mercilessly lifted us and flung us down like a monkey
+seeking to crack a cocoanut shell. Williams joined us now, and Willie
+and John, pale as Jean Lafitte, came up from the forecastle, all
+shouting and jabbering. I ran aft as soon as might be, and only pulled
+up at the cabin door to summon such air of calm as I might. I rapped,
+but followed in, not waiting. Helena met me, pale, her eyes wide, her
+hair disheveled, but none the less mistress of herself.
+
+"What is it?" she demanded. "What makes it jolt?"
+
+"We've gone aground," said I. "She does pound a little, doesn't she?"
+
+She looked out into the wild night, across which the voices of the
+confused wild fowl came like souls in torment.
+
+"This is terrible!" said she simply. "Are we lost?"
+
+"No," said I. "Let us hear no such talk. Go below, now, and keep
+quiet. We may pass the night here, or we may conclude after a little
+to go on ahead a little farther. We've just dropped the anchor. The
+island's just over there a way." I did not care to be too specific.
+
+"What is it, oh, what is it?" I heard the faint voice of Mrs. Daniver.
+"Oh, this is awful. I--am--going--to--die, going to _die_!" The agony
+of _mal de mer_ was hers now of full license, for the choppy sea was
+sustained on the bosom of a long ground swell, coming we knew not
+whence.
+
+"Jimmy!" I called down. "Are you there?"
+
+"Yes, Sir," answered L'Olonnois bravely, from his place on the floor.
+"I'm feeling pretty funny, but I'll be all right--maybe."
+
+"Stay right where you are--and you also, Miss Emory. I must go forward
+now, and just came to tell you it's all right. If there should be any
+need, we'll let you know. Now keep down, and keep the door shut."
+
+"I'm--going--to--_die_!" moaned Mrs. Daniver as I left. Helena made no
+outcry, but that horror possessed her I knew very well, for every
+reason told us that our case was desperate. The boat might start her
+seams or break her back, any instant, now.
+
+I found the men trying to make soundings all about us as best they
+could with boat hooks and a spare spar. But it came to little.
+
+"Peterson," said I, "you're ship's master. What are your orders?"
+
+"Unlash the boat covers," said he. "Get even the dingey ready.
+Williams, close your hatch and bear a hand to swing the big boat out
+in her davits. Set the bottom plugs in well. And Mr. Harry, you and
+John, the Chink, had better get some stores and a case or so of
+bottled water aboard the long boat. Have you got the slickers and rugs
+ready, and plenty of clothes? We'll just be ready if it happens. I
+don't know where that damned light or the damned channel is, but the
+damned ducks maybe know where some damned thing is. We'll run for
+them, if we can't ride her out."
+
+We all hurried now, Jean Lafitte at my heels, silent and faithful as a
+dog, aiding me as I piled blankets and coats and rugs from our cabin
+into the ship's boat, which swayed and swung perilously at the davits.
+What with the aid of John, the China boy, and Willy, the deck-hand, we
+also got supplies aboard her, I scarce knew what, except that there
+seemed abundance. And then we stood waiting for what might happen,
+helpless in the hands of the offended elements, and silent all. I
+held Jean's hand in my own. He was loyal to his mate, even now.
+"Jimmy'd be here," he said. "'Course he would, only he's so awful
+sick. I ain't sick--yet, but I feel funny, someway."
+
+Peterson stood looking ahead, but was anxious. "She's coming up
+stronger," said he, "and two points on the port quarter. We're going
+on harder all the time. Anchor's dragging. Afraid we're going to lose
+her, Mr. Harry."
+
+"Hush!" said I, nodding to the boy. "And turn on the search-light. It
+seems to me I hear breakers in there."
+
+"That's so," said the old man. "Hook on the light's battery, Williams,
+and let's see what we can see."
+
+The strong beam, wavering from side to side, plowed a furry path into
+the fog. It disclosed at first only the succession of angry incoming
+waves, each, as it passed, thudding us down on the bar of shell and
+mud and slime. But at last, off to starboard and well astern in our
+new position, riding at anchor, we raised a faint white line of broken
+water which seemed a constant feature; and now and then caught the low
+boom of the surf.
+
+"She ain't a half mile, over yonder," I heard Willy, the deck-hand,
+say. "An' we could almost walk it if it wasn't for the sea."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Williams, "we'd do fine in there now, with them
+boats. When we hit that white water----"
+
+"Shut up!" ordered Peterson. "Safe as a church, here or there, you
+lubbers. Stand by your tackle, and keep your chin. Mr. Harry, tell the
+ladies just to wrap up a bit, because--well, maybe, because----"
+
+"Call me when it is time, Peterson," said I; and moved aft, holding
+Jean Lafitte by the arm.
+
+"Gee!" said he, as he dropped, wet and out of breath, into the cabin;
+and "Gee!" remarked a very pale L'Olonnois in return, gamely as he
+could. And Mrs. Daniver's moans went rhythmic with the pound of the
+keel on the shoal.
+
+"What shall we do?" asked Helena at last calmly. "Auntie is very sick.
+I am beginning to fear for her, it is such a bad attack. This is as
+rough as I ever saw it on the Channel."
+
+"There is no danger," said I, "but Peterson and I just thought that if
+she kept on pounding in this way, it might be better to go ashore."
+
+I spoke lightly, but well enough I knew the risk of trying to launch a
+boat in such a sea; and what the surf might be, none could say. Ah,
+how I wished that my empty assurance might be the truth. For I knew
+that, anyway we looked, only danger stared back at us now, on every
+hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+IN WHICH WE TAKE TO THE BOATS
+
+
+I looked at the woman I loved, and self-reproach was in my soul, as I
+saw a shudder go across her form. She was pale, but beyond a swift
+look at me made no sign connecting me, either with the wreck or the
+rescue. I think she had even then abandoned all hope of safety; and in
+my own heart, such, also, was the rising conviction which I concealed.
+Under the inborn habit of self-preservation, under the cultivated
+habit of the well born, to show no fear and to use the resources of a
+calm mind to the last in time of danger, we stood now, at least, in
+some human equality. And again I lied and said, "There is no danger,"
+though I could see the white rollers and could hear their roar on the
+shore.
+
+The night grew wilder. The great gulf storm had not yet reached its
+climax, and none could tell what pitch of fury that might mean. The
+dull jar of the boat as she time and again was flung down by the
+waves, the shiver and creak and groan of the sturdy craft, told us
+that the end might come at any instant, though now the anchor held
+firm and our crawl on to the shoal had ceased. All around us was water
+only four or five feet deep, but water whose waves were twice as high.
+Once the final crash came, and it would be too late to launch a boat,
+and all of us, overboard in that welter, were gone.
+
+Silently, I stepped on deck once more, and motioned to Willy, the
+deck-hand, to bring me the life preservers. "Put them on," I said to
+Helena.
+
+"Oh, I can't. I can't!" moaned the older woman. "I'm dying--let me
+alone."
+
+"Stop this nonsense, madam," said I sternly--knowing that was the only
+way--"put it on at once. You too, Miss Emory, and you, my boys. Quick.
+Then throw on loose wraps--all you can. It will be cold."
+
+In spite of all my efforts to seem calm, the air of panic ran swiftly.
+Mrs. Daniver awoke to swift action as she tremblingly fastened the
+belt about her. Pushing past me, she reached the deck, and so mad was
+she that in all likelihood she would have sprung overboard. I caught
+at her, and though my clutch brought away little more than a handful
+of false hair, it seemed to restore her reason though it destroyed her
+coiffure. "Enough of this!" I cried to her. "Take your place by the
+boat, and do as you are told." And I saw Helena pass forward, also, as
+we all reached the deck, herself pale as a wraith, but with no outcry
+and no spoken word. So, at last, I ranged them all near the boat that
+swung ready at the davits.
+
+"We can't all get in that," said Jean Lafitte.
+
+"No," said I: and I did not like to look at the tiny dingey which lay
+on the cabin-top, squat and tub-like, or the small ducking skiff that
+here on deck was half full of water from the breaking seas.
+
+"Peterson," said I, "take charge of the big boat here. Take Williams
+to run her motor for you. And the ladies will go with you."
+
+I turned to the two boys, and my heart leaped in pride for them both;
+for when I motioned to Jimmy to make ready for the large boat, with
+the ladies, he stepped back, pale as he was. "Not unless John goes,
+too," said he. And they stood side by side, simply and with no outcry,
+their young faces grave.
+
+"He must go with us--Jimmy," broke out Helena yearningly: "and so must
+you."
+
+"Shut up, Auntie," exclaimed Jimmy most irreverently. "Who's a-runnin'
+this boat, like to know?" Which abashed his auntie very much.
+
+"We'll take this one," said Jean Lafitte, and already was tipping the
+duck boat. "It'll carry us three if it has to." And I allowed him and
+his mate to stand by, not daring to look at its inadequate shell and
+again at the breaking seas.
+
+That left the dingey for Willy and the cook. I glanced at Willy.
+"Which would you rather chance?" I asked him, "the dingey or the duck
+boat?"
+
+"The dingey," said he quickly,--and we both knew the cork-like quality
+of this stubby craft.
+
+"Very well," said I. "Call John, when the word comes to go."
+
+"Aren't you going with us?" asked Helena now, suddenly, approaching
+me. I took one long look into her eyes, then, "Obey orders," was all I
+said, and pointed to the larger boat. I said good-by to her then. And,
+in the swift intuitive justice that comes to us in moments of
+extremity, I passed sentence upon these young boys and myself. Though
+they had sinned in innocence, though I had sinned in love, it had been
+our folly that had brought these others into this peril, and our
+chance must be the least. Peterson and Williams would be a better team
+in the big boat than any other we could afford. I saw Peterson step
+toward us, and divined what was in his mind. "I'm owner of this boat,
+my man," said I. "Go to your duty. You're needed in the big boat."
+
+"I'm last to leave her," whispered the old man. "She's my boat, and
+I've run her."
+
+"Peterson," said I, taking him aside, "I'll buy us another boat. But
+there is no woman on earth, nor ever will be, like that one yonder.
+Save her. It is your first duty. I wanted that for myself, but she
+thinks I'm a coward, and I would be, if I arranged our crews any other
+way than just as we are. Take your boat through. We others will do the
+best we can. And give the word for the boats when you're sure we can't
+ride it out."
+
+Silently, the old man touched his cap, and giving me one look, he went
+to the bows of his boat. The _Belle Helene_, lashed by the storm,
+rolled and pulled at her cable, rose, fell thuddingly. And at last,
+came a giant swell that almost submerged us. I caught Helena to the
+cabin-top to keep her drier from it, and the two boys also sprang to a
+point of safety. Mrs. Daniver, less agile, was caught by Peterson and
+Williams and held to the rail, wetted thoroughly. And by some freak of
+the wind, at that instant came fully the roar of the surf. We of the
+_Belle Helene_ seemed very small.
+
+I looked now at Peterson. He raised his little megaphone, which hung
+at his belt, and shouted loud and clear, as though we could not have
+heard him at this distance of ten feet. "Get ready to lower away!"
+Williams and the deck-hand sprang to the falls. "Get the women in the
+boat, you, Williams," called the skipper, "and go in with them to
+steady her when she floats. Take his place there, Mr. Harry. Lively
+now!" And how we got the two women into the swinging boat I hardly
+knew.
+
+The old skipper cast one eye ahead as a big wave rolled astern. "Now!"
+he shouted. "Lower away, there!"
+
+The boat dropped into the cup of a sea, rose level with the rail the
+next instant, and tossed perilously. I saw the two women huddled in
+the bottom of her, their eyes covered, saw Williams climbing over them
+and easing her at the bowline. Then, as we seized the next instant of
+the rhythm, and hauled her alongside, Peterson made a leap and went
+aboard her, and Williams scrambled back, once more, across the two
+huddled forms. I saw him wrench at the engine crank, and heard the
+spitting chug of the little motor. They fell off in the seaway,
+Peterson holding her with an oar as he could till the screws caught.
+Then I saw her answer the helm and they staggered off, passing out of
+the beam of our search-light, so that it seemed to me I had said
+good-by to Helena forever.
+
+We who remained had no davits to aid us, and must launch by hand. For
+a moment I stood and made my plans. First, I called to Willy, our
+deck-hand, who had the dingey now astern, some fashion. "Are you
+ready?" I demanded: but the next moment I heard his call astern and
+knew that, monkey-like, he had got her over and was aboard her
+somehow.
+
+"Now, boys," said I, "come here and shake hands with Black Bart." They
+came, their serious eyes turned up to me. And never has deeper emotion
+seized me than as I felt their young hands in mine. We said nothing.
+
+"Now, bear a hand there, you, Jean!" I pulled open the gate of the
+rail, and ran out the landing stage, on which the flat-bottomed skiff
+sat. With an oar I pushed it across at right angles as nearly as
+possible when she cleared. "Quick! Get in, both of you," I called. I
+was holding the inboard end of the plank under a wedged oar shaft,
+thrust below the sill of the forward cabin door. They scrambled out
+and in, Jean grasping the bight of the painter that I handed him, and
+passing it over the rail.
+
+"Now, look out," I called, and dropped the landing stage to meet the
+swell of the next wave. They slid, tilted, righted, rose high--and
+held. The next moment I sprang, fell into the sea, was caught by the
+collar as my hand grasped the cockpit coaming, and so I slid in,
+somehow, over the end deck, and caught the end of the painter from
+John's hand and cast her free.
+
+The drift carried us off at once, and the next wave almost hid the
+hull of the _Belle Helene_. I knew at once we were powerless, and that
+our one hope lay in drifting ashore. There is no worse sea boat than a
+low, flat ducking boat, decked though she be, and of good coaming, for
+she butts into and does not rise to a sea. But now, I thanked my star,
+one thing only was in our favor. We rolled like a log, already half
+full of water, but we floated, because in each end of our skiff was a
+big empty tin air tank, put there in spite of the laughing protest of
+the builder, who said no room was left for decoys under the decks.
+Just now, those tin cans were worth more than many duck decoys.
+
+"Keep down!" I ordered. "And hold on!" The boys obeyed me. I could
+see their gaze bent on me, as the source of their hope, their
+reliance. Jimmy was now free from the first violence of the
+seasickness, but I saw Jean's hand on his arm.
+
+"Gee!" I heard the latter mutter as the first sea crossed under us.
+"Dat was a peach." I took heart myself, for we lived that one through.
+"Bail!" I ordered, and they took their cups to it, while I did all I
+could with the long punt paddle to make some sort of course. Now and
+then the blazing trail of the _Belle Helene's_ search-light swung
+across as we rolled, to leave us, the next instant, in blackness. As
+the seas permitted, we could see her, riding and rocking, sometimes,
+alight from stern to stern and making a gallant fight for her life, as
+were we all.
+
+So long as the rollers came in oily and black, we did well, but where
+the top of one broke under us, we sank deep into the white foam that
+had no carrying power, and our cockpit filled so that we all sat in
+water. Only the tanks held us, log-like, and we bailed and paddled:
+and after they saw we did not sink, my hardy bullies, perhaps in the
+ignorance of youth and boy's confidence that a boy and water are
+friends, began to shout aloud. We wallowed on.
+
+No sound came to us from either of the other boats; and now, very
+quickly it seemed, we came at the edge of the surf.
+
+"I'm touching bottom, boys," I called, and cast the long punt pole
+adrift as I took up the short paddle I had held under my leg.
+
+Now we had under us two feet of water or ten, as the waves might say,
+and any moment we might roll over; but we wallowed in, rolling, till I
+knew the supreme moment had come. I waited, holding her head in well
+as I could so unruly a hulk, and as a big roller came after us,
+paddled as hard as I could. The wave chased us, caught us, pushed us,
+carried us in. There was a lift of our loggish bows, a blinding crash
+of white water about us. Our boat was overturned, but in some way,
+since the beach was all sand and very gentle, the wave flattened so
+that the back-tow did not pull us down. In some way, I do not know
+how, I found myself standing, and dragging Jimmy by the hand. Jean
+already was ahead, and I heard his shout and saw his hand as he stood,
+knee-deep but safe. So we all made it ashore, and our boat also, which
+now we hauled out of the spume. And the long white row of breakers,
+less dangerous than I had feared, came in, white maned and bellowing.
+
+I could still see the rocking lights of the yacht, and the shifting
+stroke of the search-light on the sea, but I did not hear and see
+aught else, at the time, and my heart sank.
+
+It was Jimmy whose ear first got the sound which came in--the feverish
+phut-phut of the motor skiff. Then the ray of the great light swung
+and I saw the boat still outside the breakers--nor could I tell then
+why we had beaten her in. It seemed Peterson was hunting for us
+others.
+
+"Stay back, boys!" I called to my companions. "You might get thrown
+down by the waves--keep back." But now I was ready to rush in to meet
+the long boat, whose keel I knew would leave her to overturn if she
+caught bottom.
+
+But Peterson knew about the keel as well as any, and he caught what he
+thought was water enough before he yelled to Williams to drive her in.
+She sped in like an arrow; and again the white wave reared high and
+broke upon its prey. By then, I was in water to my waist. I caught
+Helena out with one reach of my arms, just as I saw Williams and
+Peterson stagger in with Mrs. Daniver between them. In some miraculous
+way we got beyond danger, and met my pirates, dancing and shouting a
+welcome to our desert isle. Their advent, thereon, gave the two
+womenfolk a fervent wish to embrace, sob and weep extraordinarily. I
+had said nothing to Helena and said nothing now.
+
+"Where's the dingey, Peterson?" I called, as he came up, grinning.
+
+"Coming in," said he; and forsooth that water-rat, Willy, made a
+better landing of it than any of us, and calmly helped us now to haul
+the heavy motor skiff up the beach, a few feet at a time as the waves
+thrust it forward.
+
+"Thank God!" I heard Helena exclaim. "Oh, thank God! We're safe, we're
+all safe, after all."
+
+I looked at my little group for a time, all soaked to the skin, all
+huddled now close together. Peterson, Williams, Willy--all the crew,
+yes. Auntie Lucinda and the woman who had called me a coward--the two
+captives, yes, Jean Lafitte and Henri L'Olonnois and myself, Black
+Bart--all the ship's owners. What lacked? For a moment I could not
+tell why I had the vague feeling that something or some one was
+missing.
+
+"Willy," said I at last, "where's John, the cook?"
+
+"Why, I don't know," said Willy. "Didn't he come with you?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+IN WHICH I RESCUE THE COOK
+
+
+"What's that?" said Peterson sharply--"you didn't obey orders?"
+
+"Well, I thought he was in the other boat," explained Willy, hanging
+his head.
+
+"You'll get your time," said the old man quietly, "soon as we get to
+the railroad--and you'll go home by rail."
+
+"What are you trying to do, Mr. Harry?" he demanded of me, a moment
+later. I was looking at the long boat.
+
+"Well, he's part of the boat's company," said I, "and we've got to
+save him, Peterson."
+
+"What's that?" asked Helena now coming up--and then, "Why, John, our
+cook, isn't here, is he?" She, too, looked at the long boat and at the
+sea. "How horrible!" she said. "Horrible!"
+
+"What does he mean to do?" she demanded now of Peterson in turn. The
+old man only looked at her.
+
+"Surely, you don't mean to go out there again," she said.
+
+I turned to them both, half cold with anger. "Do you think I'd leave
+him out there to die, perhaps? It was my own fault, not to see him in
+the boat."
+
+"It wasn't," reiterated Peterson. "It was Willy's fault--or mine."
+
+"In either case it's likely to be equally serious for him. We can't
+leave the poor devil helpless, that way."
+
+"Mr. Harry," began Peterson again, "he's only a Chinaman."
+
+"Take shame to yourself for that, Peterson," said I. "He's a part of
+the boat's company--a good cook--yes, but more than a good cook----"
+
+"Well, why didn't he come up with the rest of us?"
+
+"Because he was at his place of duty, below, until ordered up," said
+I.
+
+Peterson pondered for a moment. "That's right," said he at length;
+"I'll go out with you."
+
+I felt Helena's hand on my arm. "It's awful out there," said she. But
+I only turned to look at her in the half-darkness and shook off her
+hand.
+
+"You can't launch the big boat," said Peterson. "You'd only swamp her,
+if you tried."
+
+"That may be," said I, "but the real thing is to try."
+
+"We might wait till the wind lulls," he argued.
+
+"Yes, and if the wind should change she might drag her anchor and go
+out to sea. Which boat is best to take, Peterson?"
+
+A strange feeling of calm came over me, an odd feeling not easy to
+explain, that I was not a young man of leisure, but some one else, one
+of my ancestors of earlier days, used to encounters with adversity or
+risk. Calmly and much to my own surprise, I stood and estimated the
+chances as though I had been used to such things all my life.
+
+"Which is the best boat, Peterson?" I repeated. "Hardly the duck boat,
+I think--and you say not the big boat."
+
+"The dingey is the safest," replied Peterson. "That little tub would
+ride better; but no man could handle her out there."
+
+"Very well," said I; "she'll get her second wetting, anyhow. Lend a
+hand."
+
+"She'll carry us both," commented the old man, stepping to the side of
+the stubby little craft.
+
+"But she'll be lighter and ride easier with but one," was my reply. "A
+chip is dry on top only as long as it's a chip."
+
+"Let me go along," said Jean Lafitte, stepping up at this time.
+
+"You'll do nothing of the sort, my son," said I. "Go back to the
+ladies and make a fire, and make a shelter," said I. "I'll be here
+again before long."
+
+The news of the new adventure now spread among our little party. Mrs.
+Daniver began sniffling. "Helena," I heard her say, "this is
+terrible." But meantime I was pulling off my sweater and fastening on
+a life belt. Nodding to Peterson, we both picked up the dingey, and
+when the next sea favored, made a swift run in the endeavor to break
+through the surf.
+
+"Let go!" I cried to him, as the water swirled about our waist. "Go
+back!" And so I sprang in alone and left him.
+
+For the time I could make small headway, indeed, had not time to get
+at the oars, but pushing as I might with the first thing that came to
+hand, I felt the bottom under me, felt again the lift of the sea carry
+me out of touch. Then an incoming wave carried me back almost to the
+point whence I had started. In such way as I could not explain, none
+the less at length the little boat won through, no more than half
+filled by the breaking comber. I worked first as best I might,
+paddling, and so keeping her off the best I could. Then when I got the
+oars, the stubby yawing little tub at first seemed scarce more than to
+hold her own. I pulled hard--hard as I could. Slowly, the line of
+white breakers passed astern. After that, saving my strength a trifle,
+I edged out, now angling into the wind, now pulling full into the
+teeth of the gale. Even my purpose was almost forgotten in the
+intensity of the task of merely keeping away from the surf. Dully I
+pulled, reasoning no more than that that was the thing for me to do.
+
+It had seemed a mile, that short half-mile between the yacht and the
+beach. It seemed a hundred miles now going back to the boat. I did not
+dare ask myself how I could go aboard if even I won across so far as
+the yacht. It was enough that I did not slip backward to the beach
+once more. Yawing and jibbing in the wind which caught her stubby
+freeboard, the little boat, none the less, held up under me, and once
+she was bailed of the surf, rode fairly dry in spite of all, being far
+more buoyant than either of the other craft. Once in the dark, I saw
+something thrust up beside me and fancied it to be a stake, marking
+the channel which pierced the key hereabout. This was confirmed in my
+mind when, presently, as rain began to fall and the fog lessened for
+the time, I saw the blurred yellow lighthouse eye answering the
+wavering search-light of the _Belle Helene_, which swept from side to
+side across the bay as she rolled heavily at her anchor. In spite of
+the hard fight it had given me, I was glad the wind still held
+inshore. I knew the point of the little island lay not far beyond the
+light. Once adrift beyond that, not the _Belle Helene_ herself would
+be safe, in this offshore wind, but must be carried out into the gulf
+beyond.
+
+Not reasoning much about this, however, and content with mere pulling,
+I kept on until at length I saw the nodding lights of the _Belle
+Helene_ lighting the gloom more definitely about me. Presently, I made
+under her lee, so that the dingey was more manageable, and at last, I
+edged up almost to her rail, planning how, perhaps, I might cast a
+line and so make fast. But, first, I tried calling.
+
+"Ahoy, there below, John!" I called through the dark. At first there
+came no answer, and again I shouted. At this I saw the door of the
+dining saloon pushed open, and John himself thrust out his hand.
+
+"All litee," said he, merely greeting me casually. "You come?"
+
+"Yes," said I, with equal sang-froid. "You makee quick jump now, John,
+s'pose I come in."
+
+"All litee," said he once more. I saw now that he stood there, a book
+and a bundle in his arm. Perhaps he had been reading to pass the time!
+
+Be that as it may, I cautiously pulled the dingey under the lee of the
+_Belle Helene_. Timing his leap with a sagacity and agility combined
+which I had not suspected of him, my China boy made a leap, stumbled,
+righted himself, got his balance and so placed his bundle on the
+bottom of the boat and his book upon the seat, where he covered it
+carefully against the spray.
+
+"All litee," said he once more. "I makee pull now. You come this
+place."
+
+I endeavored to emulate his Oriental calm. "John," said I, "I catchee
+plenty wind this time."
+
+"Yes, plenty wind," said he.
+
+"You suppose we leave China boy?" I demanded.
+
+"Oh, no, no!" he exclaimed with emphasis. "I know you come back allee
+time bimeby, one time."
+
+"What were you doing, John?"
+
+"I leed plenty 'Melican book," said he calmly. "Now I makee pull." To
+oblige him I made way for him, and we crawled past each other on the
+floor of the heaving dingey. He took the oars and began pulling with
+an odd chopping sort of a stroke, perhaps learned in his youth on some
+sampan that rode the waters of his native land; but for my own part,
+since Fate seemed to be kind to me after all, I trusted his skill,
+such as it was, and was willing to rest for a time.
+
+"No velly bad," said John judicially, after a time. "Pretty soon come
+in." No doubt he saw the little fire, now beginning to light the
+beach. At any rate, he headed straight in, the seas following, reeling
+after us. They have their own ways, these people of the East. I fancy
+John had run surf before. At any rate, I knew the water now was
+shallow and that, perhaps, one could swim ashore if we were overset. I
+trusted him to make the landing, however, and he did it like a
+veteran. One plunge through the ultimate white crest, and we were
+carried up high on the beach, to meet the shouts of my men and to feel
+their hands grasp the gunwales of the sturdy little craft.
+
+"All litee," remarked John amiably, and started for the fire, such
+being his instinct, not with the purpose of getting warm, but of
+cooking something. And in half an hour he had a cup of hot bouillon
+all around.
+
+"It's a commendable thing," remarked Mrs. Daniver, "that you, sir,
+should go to the rescue of even a humble Chinaman. I find this
+bouillon delicious."
+
+"Have you quite recovered from your seasickness by this time, Mrs.
+Daniver?" I asked politely.
+
+"Seasickness?" She raised an eyebrow in protest. "I never was seasick
+in my life--not even in the roughest crossings of the Channel, where
+others were quite helpless."
+
+"It is fortunate to be immune," said I. "People tell me it is a
+terrible feeling--they even think they are going to die."
+
+Jean Lafitte, I found, had made quite a serviceable shelter, throwing
+a tarpaulin over one of the long boat's oars. We pushed our fire to
+the front of this, and after a time induced the ladies to make
+themselves more comfortable. Only with some protest did my hearty
+pirates agree to share this shelter which made our sole protection
+against the storm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+IN WHICH WE ARE CASTAWAYS
+
+
+The rain came down dismally, and the chill of the night was very
+considerable, as I learned soon after ceasing my own exertions. The
+men made some sort of shelter for themselves by turning up the long
+boat and the dingey on edge, crawling into the lee, and thus finding a
+little protection. All but John, my cook. That calm personage, every
+time I turned, was at my elbow in the dark, standing silent, waiting
+for I knew not what. For the first time, I realized the virtue of his
+waterproof silk shirt. He seemed not to mind the rain, although he
+asked my consent to put his bundle and his book under the shelter. I
+stooped down at the firelight, curious to see the title of his book.
+It was familiar--_The Pirate's Own Book_!
+
+"Where you catchee book, John?" I asked him.
+
+"Litlee boy he give me; him 'Melican book. I lead him some. Plenty
+good book."
+
+"Yes," said I; "I see. That boy'll make pirates of us all, if we
+aren't careful."
+
+"That book, him tellee what do, sposee bad storm," said John proudly.
+"I know."
+
+I walked over to where Peterson lay, his pipe now lighted by some
+magic all his own. We now could see more plainly the furred and yellow
+gleam of the lighthouse lamp. Peterson's concern, however, was all for
+the _Belle Helene_.
+
+"I hate to think of her out there all by herself," said he.
+
+"So do I, Peterson. I hate also to think of all that ninety-three we
+left out there."
+
+We were standing near the edge of the ladies' shelter, and I heard
+Mrs. Daniver's voice as she put out her head at the edge of the
+tarpaulin.
+
+"I thought you said all the ninety-three was gone," said she with some
+interest, as it appeared to me.
+
+"No, we only had the last bottle of that case at luncheon, Mrs.
+Daniver," said I. "There are yet other cases out yonder."
+
+"It's a bad night for neuralgia," said she complainingly.
+
+"It is, madam. But I don't think I'll pull out again. And I am
+rejoiced that you are not troubled now with seasickness,--that you
+never are." Which last resulted in her dignified silence.
+
+Through the night, there came continually the clamoring of the wild
+fowl in the lagoon back of us, and this seemed to make the boys
+restless. It was Jean Lafitte, next, who poked his head out from under
+the tarpaulin.
+
+"I've got the gun all right," said he, "and a lot of shells. In the
+morning we'll go out and get some of those ducks that are squawking."
+
+"Yes, Jean," said I; "we're in one of the best ducking countries on
+this whole coast."
+
+"That's fine--we can live chiefly by huntin' and fishin', like it says
+in the g'ographies."
+
+"If the wind should shift," said I, "we may have to do that for quite
+a time. I don't know whether the lighthouse keeper has a boat or not,
+and the channel lies between us and the light--it makes out here
+straight to the Gulf. But now, be quiet, my sons, and see if we can't
+all get some sleep. I'll take care of the fire."
+
+I passed a little apart to hunt for some driftwood, my shadow, John,
+following close at hand. When I returned I found a muffled figure
+standing at the feeble blaze. Helena raised her eyes, grave and
+serious.
+
+"It was splendid," said she in a low tone of voice, addressing not so
+much myself as all the world, it seemed to me.
+
+"Get back in there and go to sleep," said I. And, quietly she obeyed,
+so far as I might tell.
+
+For my own part, I did not seek the shelter of the other boat, but,
+wrapped in sweater and slicker, stood in the rain, John at my side.
+Once in a while we set out in the dark to find more wood for the
+little fire. In some way the long night wore on. Toward morning the
+rain ceased. It seemed to me that the rocking search-light of the
+_Belle Helene_ made scarce so wide an arc across the bay. The
+lighthouse ray shone less furry and yellow through the night. The wind
+began to lull, coming in gusts, at times after some moments of calm.
+The roll of the sea still came in, but sometimes I almost fancied that
+the surf was bellowing not so loud. And so at length, the dawn came,
+softening the gloom, and I could hear the roar of the great bodies of
+wild fowl rising as they always do at dawn, the tumult of their wings
+rivaling the heavy rhythm of the surf itself.
+
+The advancing calm of nature seemed to quiet the senses of the
+sleepers, even in their sleep. Gently making up the fire for the last
+time, as the gray light began to come across the beach, I wandered
+inland a little way in search of the fresh water lagoon. Its edge lay
+not more than two or three hundred yards back of our bivouac. So, as
+best I might, I bathed my face and hands, and regretted that such
+things as soap and towels had been forgotten with many other things.
+Not irremediable, our plight; for now I could see the _Belle Helene_
+still rolling at her anchor, uneasy, but still afloat; and in the
+daylight, and with a lessening sea, there would be no great difficulty
+in boarding her as we liked.
+
+Presently the others of the party were all afoot, standing stiffly,
+sluggishly, in the chill of dawn; and such was the breakfast which my
+boy John presently prepared for us, that I confess I began to make
+comparisons not wholly to his discredit. Now, for instance, said I to
+myself, had it been Mrs. Daniver who had been forgotten on board
+ship--but, of course, that line of reasoning might not be followed
+out. And as for Mrs. Daniver herself, it was only just to say that she
+made a fair attempt at comradeship, considering that she had retired
+without any aid whatever for her neuralgia. Helena seemed reticent.
+The men, as usual, ate apart. I did not find myself loquacious. Only
+my two young ruffians seemed full of the enjoyment possible in such a
+situation.
+
+"Gee! ain't this fine?" said L'Olonnois. "I never did think we'd be
+really shipwrecked and cast away on a desert island. This is just
+like it is in the books."
+
+"Can we go huntin' now?" demanded Jean Lafitte, his mouth still full
+of bacon. "And will you come along? There must be millions of them
+ducks and geese. I didn't know there was so many in all the world."
+
+"You may go, both of you, Jean Lafitte," said I, "if you'll be careful
+not to shoot yourselves. As for me, I must go back once more to the
+boat, I fancy."
+
+Peterson and I now held a brief conference, and presently, leaving the
+ladies in charge of Willy and the cook, we two, with Williams to run
+the motor, with some difficulty launched the long boat and made off
+through a sea none too amiable, to go aboard the _Belle Helene_ once
+more--which so short a time before I had thought we never might do
+again.
+
+"This is easier than pulling out in the dingey," grinned Peterson, as
+we approached the _Belle Helene_. "Confound that deck-hand, he might
+have got you drowned! I'll fire him, sure!"
+
+"No," said I; "I've been thinking that over. There was a great deal of
+confusion, and after all, he may have thought that we had John with
+us. Besides, he's only young, and he's human. I'll tell you what
+we'll do, Peterson--I'll dock him a month's wages, and I'll send his
+wages to his mother. Meantime, let him carry the wood and water for a
+week."
+
+We found it not difficult now to go aboard the _Belle Helene_, for, in
+the lessening seaway, she rolled not so evilly. Peterson sprang to the
+deck as the bow of our boat rose alongside on a wave, and made fast
+our line. When Williams and I had followed, we took a general
+inventory of the _Belle Helene_. All the deck gear was gone, spare
+oars and spars, a canvas or so, and some coils of rope. Beyond that,
+there seemed no serious damage, unless the hull had been injured by
+its pounding during the night.
+
+"It's a mud-bank here, I think, Mr. Harry," said Peterson. "She may
+have ripped some of her copper on the oyster reefs, but she seems to
+bed full length and maybe she's not strained, after all."
+
+"There's the line of channel guides," said I, pointing to a row of
+sticks driven into the mud a couple of miles in length.
+
+"Yes," said the old man, "the channel's not more than a biscuit toss
+from here. We came right across it--if it hadn't been in the dark,
+we'd have gone through into the lee of the island and been all right.
+Now as it is, we're all wrong."
+
+"How do you mean?" I asked.
+
+"How'll we get that anchor up?" grumbled he. "If we start the engines
+and try to crawl up by the capstan, we couldn't pull her out of the
+mud. If we put on a donkey engine we'd snatch the bow out of here
+before we could lift the hook. And until we do, how are we going to
+move her? There's the channel, but it's as far as ever. We can't sweep
+her off, of course, and we can't pole her off."
+
+"Well, Peterson," said I, "let us, by all means, hope for the worst."
+I smiled, seeing that he now was possessed of his normal gloom.
+
+"Well," said he, "we went on at full tide, and hard aground at that.
+This wind is blowing all the water out of Cote Blanche. Of course, if
+the wind should turn and drive in again, we might move her, if we
+caught her at high tide once more. Until that happens, I guess we're
+anchored here for sure."
+
+"The glass is rising now, Peterson," said I, pleasantly.
+
+"Oh, yes, it may rise a little," said he, "and of course the storm's
+gone by for the time. But I don't think there's going to be any good
+change of weather that'll hold, very soon. But now, Williams and I'll
+go below and see if we can start a pump. I expect she's sprung a
+leak, all right."
+
+Shaking his head in much apprehension, the old man made his way with
+Williams, first into the engine-room. For my own part, I turned toward
+my cabin door. All at once as I did so it seemed to me I heard a
+sound. It came again, a sort of a meek diffident sound, expectant
+rather than complaining. And then I heard an unmistakable scraping at
+the door. Hastening, I flung it open. I was greeted with a great whine
+of joy and trust, a shaggy form leaped upon me, thrust its cold nose
+into my face, gave me much greetings of whines, and at length of a
+loud howl of joy.
+
+"Partial!" I cried, and caught him by the paws as he put them on my
+shoulders and rubbed his muzzle along my cheek, whimpering; "Partial!
+Oh, my dear chap, I say now, I'm glad to see you!"
+
+As a matter of fact, I had forgotten Partial these three days, other
+things being on my mind. Once more our amateurishness in shipwreck had
+nearly cost us a life. Partial, no doubt, had meekly waited at his
+usual place until ordered to come out with the rest. We had closed the
+doors and port-holes when we left the _Belle Helene_, and thus he had
+been locked in.
+
+I sat down on one of the bench lockers with Partial's head in my
+hand, and almost my eyes became moist. "Partial," said I, "let me
+confess the truth to you. The woman had maddened me. I forgot you--I
+did, and will own it now. It was a grave fault, my friend. I do not
+ask you to forgive me, and all I can do is to promise you such amend
+as lies in my power. From now on, I promise you, you shall go with me
+to all the ends of the earth. My people shall be your people, till
+death do us part. Do you hear me, Partial?"
+
+He answered by springing up again and licking my face and hands,
+whimpering excitedly, glad that I had come at last. "Dear Partial,"
+said I, "you're no gladder than I am. And what's more, you've nothing
+to cost you penitence. Come, we'll go to the dining-room and see
+whether there's anything left to eat."
+
+He followed me now along the rolling deck, and happily I was able to
+get him some scraps for his breakfast. Peterson heard me talking, and
+thrust up a head above the engine-room hatch. He was as crestfallen as
+myself when I showed him that, once more, we had been forgetful and
+had left a friend while busy in saving ourselves.
+
+I went once more to my cabin--Peterson having discovered, apparently
+to his great regret, that so far as could be determined, we had not
+started a seam or smashed a timber anywhere. I found a small tent
+among other of my sporting equipment and tossed this out to go in the
+long boat's cargo. Another fowling piece and ammunition, my canvas
+hunting coat and wading boots, followed. Even, I caught down from a
+nail the only other pair of trousers available in my wardrobe--for
+Davidson's vast midship section comported ill with my own. I found my
+watch in these other trousers, and putting a hand in a pocket, fished
+out also my portemonnaie. It had certain bills in it--I presume two or
+three thousand dollars in all, and I thrust these into my pocket. At
+the bottom of the little purse,--among collar buttons and other hard
+objects,--I found a little round white object, and once more bethought
+me of my pearl which I had won on the far northern river, as it seemed
+to me many years before--the pearl which, as I have said, was to be
+known as the _Belle Helene_. I preserved it now.
+
+Peterson and Williams, meantime, were busy in getting aboard a case or
+so of water--not forgetting the ninety-three of which I reminded the
+old man once more. Some additional stores of bacon and tea, and a
+case of eggs, were also taken aboard. At length, with quite a little
+cargo in the way of comforts, we embarked once more and started for
+our rude encampment.
+
+"We may be here for a month," said Peterson gloomily, looking at the
+_Belle Helene_, now rolling just a little, her keel fast full length
+in the mud-bar. "I don't think there's ever going to be any change of
+wind--it'll blow steadily this way for a week, anyhow."
+
+"I presume, Peterson," said I coolly, "that you don't see the sun
+breaking through the clouds over there, at all. And I fancy that you
+will not believe, either, that the sea is lulling now. Very well, I
+don't want to make you unhappy, my friend."
+
+I heard Williams chuckling as he stooped over his engine. Thus,
+chugging on merrily with the long oily roll of the sea under us, we
+presently once more ran our surf, and this time had small difficulty
+in winning through, for, once we felt the ground under us, we simply
+sprang overboard and waded in, dragging the boat with us, waist-deep
+sometimes in the flood, but on the whole quite safe.
+
+My two pirate mates came down to the beach joyously, and helped us
+unload. It seemed that they had made something of a hunt already, for
+with much pride Jean now displayed to me certain birds, proof of his
+own prowess with his shotgun.
+
+"Some of 'em's good to eat," said he. "Regular greenheads, like we get
+up North." I looked at the string of birds, and saw that they were
+mallards and teals, a couple of dozen at least.
+
+"Fie, fie!" said I. "I fear you've been shooting on the water."
+
+"Sure I did! And here's four things that I don't suppose are good to
+eat--they got kind of snaky heads, and red-colored, too. Ain't no
+ducks good to eat that ain't got green heads."
+
+"Each man to his taste," said I, "but if you like, you may have the
+green heads, and I'll take these with the auburn locks."
+
+"Pshaw! What are they?" answered he.
+
+"Only canvasbacks," said I, "and good fat ones, too. What luck have
+you, Jimmy, my son?"
+
+"Well, I went along and helped carry things," said L'Olonnois.
+
+"What's that you've got on a string?" I asked him.
+
+"Oh, that," said he, flushing. "It ain't nothing but a little turtle.
+It had funny marks on its back. I caught it in the grass over there
+by the lake."
+
+Something about Jimmy's little turtle interested me, and I picked it
+up in my hands.
+
+"For amateur sportsmen, gentlemen," said I, "you're doing pretty well.
+Your funny little turtle, Jimmy, is nothing but a diamond-back
+terrapin. There are perhaps more of them on this coast than anywhere
+else in the world to-day. And Partial, here--that friend of ours now
+leaping excitedly and joyously before them, barking at this little
+turtle of Jimmy's--will perhaps be able to help you find some more of
+them in the grass--the market hunters here hunt them with dogs, as
+perhaps you did not know."
+
+"We got some oysters, Sir," said Willy, coming forward shyly and
+shamefacedly; and showed me the cockpit of the duck boat pretty well
+filled. The boy had, it seems, found a reef of these in a brackish arm
+which made inland, and dug them by the simple process of stooping down
+below the surface of the water, since he had no oyster tongs.
+
+"Well," said I, "it looks as if we would fare pretty well for lunch.
+John"--and I called my China boy--"again I find renewed cause for
+felicitations on your rescue."
+
+John stood looking at me blankly.
+
+"You savee, John?" said I, showing him one of the canvasbacks, and he
+remarked mildly, "All litee." If anything, his lunch was better than
+his breakfast, and when I saw him take Jimmy's funny little turtle
+from him and examine it with appraising eye, I felt fairly well
+convinced that we should not suffer at the dinner hour.
+
+But though a certain gaiety now came to others of the party as we sat
+about our midday meal, warm now and well fed, and although the boys
+excitedly made plans about putting up the tent and furnishing it and
+going into camp for the winter, I could not share their eagerness.
+There was one other reticent figure at our fireside. Helena sat
+silent, the head of Partial in her lap. I felt resentment that she
+should steal from me even my dog. At last, having nothing better to
+do, I picked up my gun, and slipping on my coat, started down the
+beach, telling the boys that I was going alone, perhaps too far for
+them to follow, with the purpose of making some sort of an exploration
+of the island.
+
+Moody and depressed, not in the least well satisfied with life, even
+with matters thus so far more fortunate than we had so recently had
+reason to expect, I walked along the hard sand, sometimes looking at
+the long lines of wild fowl streaming in above the fresh-water lagoon,
+but in reality thinking but little of these. I did not at first hear
+the light step which came behind me on the sand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+IN WHICH IS NO RAPPROCHEMENT WITH THE FAIR CAPTIVE
+
+
+"Harry!" I heard her call, and turned quickly. "Harry, wait!"
+
+She came hurrying up toward me. I felt my color rise. Awkwardly, I
+stood waiting, and did not greet her. I cast a quick glance the other
+way down the beach. It would be a hundred yards before the first bend
+of the shore-line would carry us behind the tall rushes. Meantime, we
+were in full sight of all.
+
+Partial, who had followed me when I whistled, now greeted her more
+joyously than did his master.
+
+"Yes?" said I dully; "I suppose you came to take away my dog from me,
+didn't you? It was all that was left."
+
+"Of course," said she coloring. "I didn't know but what Partial might
+be hungry."
+
+"It is I who am hungry, Helena," said I. "I have long been hungry--for
+a look, a word."
+
+She did not smile, showed not any trace of coquetry in her mien, but
+paced on with me now down the beach. I suppose she knew when we had
+turned the point of rushes, for now she laid her hand on my rough
+canvas sleeve. It must have cost her effort to do that.
+
+"Harry, what's wrong with you?" said she after a time, since I still
+remained moodily staring ahead. I did not answer, would not look at
+her for a time, but at length she turned. She stood, I say, with her
+hand on my arm, her chin raised fully, her serious eyes fixed on me.
+The dark hair was blown all about her face. She had on over her long
+white sweater a loose silk waterproof of some sort, which blew every
+way, but did not disturb the lines of her tall figure, nor lessen the
+pale red and white which the sea breeze had stung into her cheeks. She
+did not smile, and her eyes, I say, looked steadily and seriously into
+mine.
+
+"What's wrong with you?" she asked, frowning slightly, as it seemed to
+me.
+
+"Everything in the world is wrong with me, as you know very well,"
+said I. "Am I not a poor man? Am I not an unsuccessful lover? Am I not
+a failure under every test which you can apply? Am I not a coward--did
+you not tell me so yourself?"
+
+Her eyes grew damp slowly. "I didn't mean it," said she.
+
+"Then why did you say it?"
+
+"It was long before--that was before last night, Harry. You forget."
+
+"What if it was?" I demanded. "I was the same man then that I was last
+night."
+
+"I didn't mean it, Harry," said she, her voice low. Her hand was still
+on my arm. Her eye now was cast down, the tip of her toe was tracing a
+circle on the wet sand where we stood.
+
+"I didn't think," said she, after a little while.
+
+"I presume not," said I coldly. "Sometimes women do not stop to think.
+You have not stopped to think that there is a limit even to what my
+love would stand, Helena. Now, much as I love you--and I never loved
+you so much as I do now--I'll never again ask you for what you can not
+give me. I've been rubbed the wrong way all I can stand, and I'll not
+have it any more. I've brought you here, yes, and I'm sorry enough for
+it. But I'm going to fix all that now, soon as I can."
+
+"What do you mean, Harry?" she asked quietly.
+
+"Yonder, across the bay," said I, pointing, "runs a channel. That's
+the Cheniere. I presume the lighthouse boats come from in there. Maybe
+there'll be one down after the storm in a day or so. He'll take out a
+message, and get it on some boat bound for Morgan City, perhaps."
+
+"And what then?"
+
+"Why, I shall send out any message you like, beside my own message to
+the parents of these boys of mine. And I'll send a message, too, to my
+friend, Manning."
+
+She turned her eyes where I pointed once more, this time seemingly
+northward across the bay. "Yonder is still another channel," said I,
+"not twenty miles from where we stand. It runs back to the live-oak
+islands where my friend Manning has his plantation. If the tide serves
+and we can get the yacht afloat, it won't take us long to get in
+there. Once there, you are safe; and once there, I say good-by. Judge
+for yourself whether or not this is the last time."
+
+"And when will that be, Harry?" she demanded, still tracing some
+figure on the sand with the toe of her little boot.
+
+"That, I have said, is something I can not tell. But as soon as
+possible, rest assured."
+
+She was silent now, confused, a little abashed, a mood entirely new to
+her in my recollection of her many moods. Her hand still lay upon my
+coarse canvas sleeve as though she had forgotten it. I bent now and
+kissed it. "Harry," said she in a whisper, "don't you care for me any
+more?"
+
+"Go back to the camp, Helena," said I; "you know I do, but I've done
+enough for you, and I'll do no more. All a coward can do to keep you
+safe I have done, but I'm no such coward as to follow you around now
+and dangle at your apron strings. It's good-by once more. What are
+you," I demanded fiercely, once more, "that you should walk over my
+soul again and again? Hasn't there got to be an end to that sort of
+thing some time, and don't you think there is an end for me? Go back
+and tell your aunt that you have won. And much joy may you both have
+in your winning."
+
+I kissed her hand, flung it off, turned and went down the beach. She
+did not look about, but presently as I saw, turned and went back
+toward the camp, her head hanging. And, as I had said to her, I never
+loved her so much in all my life, though never was I so little
+disposed to go one step in her pursuit.
+
+Partial sat, looking after her also, his heart torn in the division
+between us, for he loved us both.
+
+"Partial," I called to him harshly, and he came, his ears down and
+very unhappy. Silently, the dog at my heels, I strode on down the
+beach, and so I saw her no more for some time.
+
+I found for myself a driftwood log at the edge of the sea-marsh, and
+here for a time I sat down, moodily staring out across the bay, as
+unhappy, I fancy, as man gets to be in this world. I scarce know how
+long I sat here, in the wind which blew salt across the bay, and for
+some time, I paid no attention to the clamoring fowl which passed and
+repassed not far from my point.
+
+At length, a long harrow of great Canadian geese passed so close to me
+that without much thought about it, I raised the gun and fired. I
+killed two birds, and as I picked them up I found they were not a
+brace, but a pair. The report of my gun started a clamoring of all
+manner of fowl beyond the edge of reeds which hid the reef. A cloud of
+ducks passed before me, and slipping in the shells once more, I fired
+right and left. Again I killed my brace, and again when I picked them
+up they were a pair. The head of one was green, the other brown. "Male
+and female made He them!" said I. "If I had not killed these birds, in
+the spring they would have gone northward, to the edge of the world in
+their own love-making, thousands of miles from here." I looked at my
+quarry with remorse, and not caring to shoot more, at length picked up
+the birds and slowly started back to camp, not looking forward with
+any too great pleasure, it may be imagined, to further meetings with
+the woman whom, of all the world, I most cared to meet.
+
+I found all the others of the party amiably engaged in camp affairs.
+The tent now was up, the fire was arranged in more practical fashion,
+and John was busy with his pans. Lafitte, ever resourceful and ever
+busy, was out with Willy after more oysters. L'Olonnois, his partner,
+seemed engaged in some sort of argument with his Auntie Helena.
+
+"Jimmy, I can't!" I heard her say. "There isn't any sugar."
+
+"Aw!" said he, "there's plenty of sugar, ain't there, John?" And that
+worthy smiled as he pointed toward an open canister of that dainty.
+
+"But I haven't any pan."
+
+"Yes, you have, too, got a pan. Here's one a-settin' right here in
+front of you. Come on now, Auntie. We're goin' to have duck and
+terrapin and oysters and everything--all a fellow would want, besides
+that, is just fudges."
+
+Helena stood preoccupied and hesitant, hardly hearing what he said, as
+I fancy. At once L'Olonnois' attitude changed. Folding his arms, he
+turned toward her sternly.
+
+"Woman!" said he, "are you not a captive to our band? Then who gives
+orders here? Either you make fudges, or your life's blood stains these
+sands!"
+
+"Oh, all right, Jimmy," she said listlessly. "I'll make them, if you
+like."
+
+"You'd better," remarked that worthy sententiously. "Of course," he
+added, seeking to mollify his victim, over whom he thus domineered,
+"it ain't just like it is back home on the stove, but you'll have to
+get used to that, because we're going to live here forever. And," he
+added, casting a glance of his stern blue eyes upon her, "it is the
+part of the captive maid ever to live happily with the chief of the
+pirate band."
+
+Whereupon Helena and Jimmy both looked up and saw me standing,
+unwilling listener to all that had been said. Helena moved away and
+pretended to be busy with the material for her confections.
+
+"Aw, shucks, Black Bart," said Jimmy, turning to me--"ain't that just
+like a woman?--They won't never play the game."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+IN WHICH I FIND TWO ESTIMABLE FRIENDS, BUT LOSE ONE BELOVED
+
+
+The weather now, moderating, after the fashion of weather on this
+coast, as rapidly as it had become inclement, we passed a more
+comfortable night on our desert island. No doubt the lighthouse tender
+knew of our presence, for he easily could see our tent by day and our
+fire by night, and he surely must have seen our good ship riding at
+anchor under his nose at the edge of the channel; but no visit came
+from that official--for the very good reason, as we later learned,
+that the storm had stove in his boat at her mooring; so that all he
+himself could do was to cross his Cajun bosom and pray that his supply
+skiff might come from across the bay. So, as much alone as the Swiss
+family by name of Robinson--an odd name for a Swiss family, it always
+seemed to me--we remained on our desert island undisturbed, the ladies
+now in the comfortable tent, my hardy pirates under the tarpaulin, and
+the rest of us as we liked or might, all in beds of the sweet scented
+grasses which grew along the lagoon where the great ranks of wild
+fowl kept up their chatter day and night.
+
+It was a land of plenty, and any but a man in my situation might well
+have been content there for many days. Content was not in my own soul.
+I was up by dawn and busy about the boats, before any sign of life was
+visible around the tent or the canvas shelter. But since the sun rose
+warm, it yet was early when we met at John's breakfast fire. I felt
+myself a shabby figure, for in my haste I had forgotten my razors; and
+by now my clothing was sadly soiled and stained, even the most famous
+of the Davidson waistcoats being the worse for the salt-water
+immersions it had known; and my ancient flannels were corkscrewing
+about my limbs. But as for Helena, young and vital, she discarded her
+sweater for breakfast, and appeared as she had before the shipwreck,
+in lace bridge coat and wearing many gems! L'Olonnois, with the
+intimacy of kin and the admiration of youth--and with youth's lack of
+tact--saluted her now gaily. "Gee! Auntie," said he, at table on the
+sand, "togged out that way, all them glitterin' gems, you shore look
+fit for a pirate's bride!"
+
+Poor Helena! She blushed red to the hair; and I fear I did no better
+myself. "Jimmy!" reproved Aunt Lucinda.
+
+"Don't call me 'Jimmy'!" rejoined that hopeful. "My name is
+L'Olonnois, the Scourge of The Sea. Me an' Jean Lafitte, we follow
+Black Bart the Avenger, to the Spanish Main. Auntie, pass me the
+bacon, please. I'm just about starved."
+
+Mrs. Daniver, as was her custom, ate a very substantial breakfast;
+Helena, almost none at all; nor had I much taste for food. In some
+way, our constraint insensibly extended to all the party, much to
+L'Olonnois' disgust. "It's _her_ fault!" I overheard him say to his
+mate. "Women can't play no games. An' we was havin' such a bully
+chance! Now, like's not, we won't stay here longer'n it'll take to get
+things back to the boat again. I don't want to go back home--I'd
+rather be a pirate; an' so'd any fellow."
+
+"Sure he would," assented Jean. They did not see me, behind the tent.
+
+"Somethin's wrong," began L'Olonnois, portentously.
+
+"What'd you guess?" queried Lafitte. "Looks to me like it was
+somethin' between him an' the fair captive."
+
+"That's just it--that's just what I said! Now, if Black Bart lets his
+whiskers grow, an' Auntie Helena wears them rings, ain't it just like
+in the book? Course it is! But here they go, don't eat nothin', don't
+talk none to nobody."
+
+"I'll tell you what!" began Lafitte.
+
+"Uh-huh, what?" demanded L'Olonnois.
+
+"A great wrong has been did our brave leader by yon heartless jade;
+that's what!"
+
+"You betcher life they has. He's on the square, an' look what he done
+for us--look how he managed things all the way down to here. Anybody
+else couldn't have got away with this. Anybody else'd never a' went
+out there last night after John, just a Chink, thataway. An' her!"
+
+Jimmy's disapproval of his auntie, as thus expressed, was extreme. I
+was now about to step away, but feared detection, so unwillingly heard
+on.
+
+"But he can't see no one else but yon fickle jade!" commented Jean
+Lafitte, "unworthy as she is of a bold chief's regard!"
+
+"Nope. That's what's goin' to make all the trouble. I'll tell you
+what!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"We'll have to fix it up, somehow."
+
+"How'd you mean?"
+
+"Why, reason it out with 'em both."
+
+Jean apparently shook his head, or had some look of dubiousness, for
+L'Olonnois went on.
+
+"We _gotta_ do it, somehow. If we don't, we'll about have to go back
+home; an' who wants to go back home from a good old desert island like
+this here. _So_ now----"
+
+"Uh, huh?"
+
+"Why, I'll tell you, now. You see, I got some pull with her--the fair
+captive. She used to lick me, but she don't dast to try it on here on
+a desert island: so I got some pull. An' like enough you c'd talk it
+over with Black Bart."
+
+"Nuh--uh! I don't like to."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Well, I don't. He's all right."
+
+"Yes, but we got to get 'em _together_!"
+
+"Shore. But, my idea, he's hard to _get_ together if he gets a notion
+he ain't had a square deal nohow, someways."
+
+"Well, he ain't. So that makes my part the hardest. But you just go to
+him, and tell him not to hurry, because you are informed the fair
+captive is goin' to relent, pretty soon, if we just don't get in too
+big a hurry and run away from a place like this--where the duck
+shootin' is immense!"
+
+"But kin you work _her_, Jimmy?"
+
+"Well, I dunno. She's pretty set, if she thinks she ain't had a square
+deal, too."
+
+"Well now," argued Lafitte, "if that's the way they both feel, either
+they're both wrong an' ought to shake hands, or else one of 'em's
+wrong, and they either ought to get together an' find out which it
+was, or else they ought to leave it to some one else to say which one
+_was_ wrong. Ain't that so?"
+
+"O' course it's so. So now, thing fer us fellows to do, is just to put
+it before 'em plain, an' get 'em both to leave it to us two fellers
+what's right fer 'em both to do. Now, _I_ think they'd ought to get
+married, both of 'em--I mean to each other, you know. Folks _does_ get
+married."
+
+"Black Bart would," said Jean Lafitte. "I'll bet anything. The fair
+captive, she's a heartless jade, but I seen Black Bart lookin' at her,
+an'----"
+
+"An' I seen her lookin' at him--leastways a picture--an' says she,
+'Jimmy----'"
+
+"Jimmy!" It was I, myself, red and angry, who now broke from my
+unwilling eavesdropping.
+
+The two boys turned to me innocently. I found it difficult to say
+anything at all, and wisest to say nothing. "I was just going to ask
+if you two wouldn't like to take the guns and go out after some more
+ducks--especially the kind with red heads and flat noses, such as we
+had yesterday. And I'll lend you Partial, so you can try for some more
+of those funny little turtles. I'll have to go out to the ship, and
+also over to the lighthouse, before long. The tide will turn, perhaps,
+and at least the wind is offshore from the island now."
+
+"Sure, we'll go." Jean spoke for both at once.
+
+"Very well, then. And be careful. And you'd--you'd better leave your
+auntie and her auntie alone, Jimmy--they'll want to sleep."
+
+"You didn't hear us sayin' nothin', did you, Black Bart?" asked
+L'Olonnois, suspiciously.
+
+"By Jove! I believe that's a boat beating down the bay," said I. "Sail
+ho!" And so eager were they that they forgot my omission of direct
+reply.
+
+"It's very likely only the lighthouse supply boat coming in," said I.
+"I'll find out over there. Better run along, or the morning flight of
+the birds will be over." So they ran along.
+
+As for myself, I called Peterson and Williams for another visit to our
+disabled ship, which now lay on a level keel, white and glistening,
+rocking gently in the bright wind. I left word for the ladies that we
+might not be back for luncheon.
+
+We found that the piling waters of Cote Blanche, erstwhile blown out
+to sea, were now slowly settling back again after the offshore storm.
+The _Belle Helene_ had risen from her bed in the mud now and rode
+free. Our soundings showed us that it would be easy now to break out
+the anchor and reach the channel, just ahead. So, finding no leak of
+consequence, and the beloved engines not the worse for wear, Williams
+went below to get up some power, while Peterson took the wheel and I
+went forward to the capstan.
+
+The donkey winch soon began its work, and I felt the great anchor at
+length break away and come apeak. The current of the air swung us
+before we had all made fast; and as I sounded with a long bow pike, I
+presently called out to Peterson, "No bottom!" He nodded; and now,
+slowly, we took the channel and moved on in opposite the light. We
+could see the white-capped gulf rolling beyond.
+
+"Water there!" said Peterson. "We can go on through, come around in
+the Morrison cut-off, and so make the end of the Manning channel to
+the mainland. But I wish we had a local pilot."
+
+I nodded. "Drop her in alongside this fellow's wharf," I added. "The
+ladies have sent some letters--to go out by the tender's boat,
+yonder--I suppose he'll be going back to-day."
+
+"Like enough," said Peterson; and so gently we moved on up the dredged
+channel, and at last made fast at the tumble-down wharf of the
+lighthouse; courteously waiting for the little craft of the tender to
+make its landing.
+
+We found the mooring none too good, what with the storm's work at the
+wharf, and as we shifted our lines a time or two, the gaping,
+jeans-clad Cajun who had come in with mail and supplies passed in to
+the lighthouse ahead of us; and I wonder his head did not twist quite
+off its neck, for though he walked forward, he ever looked behind him.
+
+When at length we two, Peterson and myself, passed up the rickety walk
+to the equally rickety gallery at the foot of the light, we found two
+very badly frightened men instead of a single curious one. The keeper
+in sooth had in hand a muzzle-loading shotgun of such extreme age,
+connected with such extreme length of barrel, as might have led one to
+suspect it had grown an inch or so annually for all of many decades.
+He was too much frightened to make active resistance, however, and
+only warned us away, himself, now, a pale saffron in color.
+
+"Keep hout!" he commanded. "No, you'll didn't!"
+
+"We'll didn't what, my friend?" began I mildly. "Don't you like my
+looks? Not that I blame you if you do not. But has the boat brought
+down any milk or eggs that you can spare?"
+
+"No milluk--no haig!" muttered the light tender; and they would have
+closed the door.
+
+"Come, come now, my friends!" I rejoined testily. "Suppose you
+haven't, you can at least be civil. I want to talk with you a minute.
+This is the power yacht _Belle Helene_, of Mackinaw, cruising on the
+Gulf. We went aground in the storm; and all we want now is to send out
+a little mail by you to Morgan City, or wherever you go; and to pass
+the time of day with you, as friends should. What's wrong--do you
+think us a government revenue boat, and are you smuggling stuff from
+Cuba through the light here?"
+
+"We no make hany smug'," replied the keeper. "But we know you, who you
+been!"
+
+He smote now upon an open newspaper, whose wrapper still lay on the
+floor. I glanced, and this time I saw a half-page cut of the _Belle
+Helene_ herself, together with portraits of myself, Mrs. Daniver, Miss
+Emory and two wholly imaginary and fearsome boys who very likely were
+made up from newspaper portraits of the James Brothers! Moreover, my
+hasty glance caught sight of a line in large letters, reading:
+
+    TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD!
+
+"Peterson," said I calmly, handing him the paper, "they seem to be
+after us, and to value us rather high."
+
+He glanced, his eyes eager; but Peterson, while a professional
+doubter, was personally a man of whose loyalty and whose courage I,
+myself, had not the slightest doubt.
+
+"Let 'em come!" said he. "We're on our own way and about our own
+business; and outside the three mile zone, let 'em follow us on the
+high seas if they like. She's sound as a bell, Mr. Harry, and once we
+get her docked and her port shaft straight, there's nothing can touch
+her on the Gulf. Let 'em come."
+
+"But we can't dock here, my good Peterson."
+
+"Well, we can beat 'em with one engine and one screw. Besides, what
+have we done?"
+
+"Haint you was 'hrobber, han ron hoff with those sheep?" demanded the
+keeper excitedly.
+
+"No, we are not ship thieves but gentlemen, my friend," I answered,
+suddenly catching at his long gun and setting it behind me. "You
+might let that go off," I explained. At which he went yellower than
+ever, a thing I had thought impossible.
+
+"Now, look here," said I. "Suppose we are robbers, pirates, what you
+like, and suppose a price is put on our heads--a price which means a
+jolly nice libel suit for each paper printing it, by the way, or a
+jolly nice apology--none the less, we are a strong band and without
+fear either of the law or of you. Here you are alone, and not a sail
+is in sight. If any boat did come here, we could--well, we could blow
+her out of the water, couldn't we, Peterson? We could blow you out of
+the water, too, couldn't we, we and these ruffians of our crew?"--and
+I pointed at the two low-browed pictures of Lafitte and L'Olonnois.
+
+A shudder was my only answer. I think the two portraits of my young
+bullies did the business.
+
+"Very well, then," I resumed, "it is plain, Messieurs, that there is
+many a slip between the reward and the pocket, _voyez vous_? _Bien!_
+But here--" and I thrust a hand into my pocket--"is a reward much
+closer home, and far easier to attain."
+
+Their eyes bulged as they saw two or three thousand dollars in big
+bills smoothed out.
+
+"_Ecoutez, Messieurs!_" said I. "Behold here not enemies, but men of
+like mind. I speak of men who live by the sea, men of the old home of
+Jean Lafitte, that great merchant, that bold soldier, who did so much
+to save his country at the Battle. Even now he has thousands of
+friends and hundreds of relatives in this land. You yourself, I doubt
+not, Messieurs, are distant cousins of Jean Lafitte? _N'est-ce pas?_"
+
+They crossed themselves, but murmured "_Ba-oui!_" "Est ees the trut'!
+How did Monsieur know?" asked the tender.
+
+"I know many things. I know that any cousin descended from those brave
+days loves the sea and its ways more than he loves the law. And if
+money has come easy--as this did--what harm if a cousin should take
+the price of a rat-skin or two and carry out a letter or so to the
+railway, and keep a close mouth about it as well? To the good old
+days, and Messieurs, my friends!" I had seen the neck of a flask in
+Peterson's pocket, and now I took it forth, unscrewed the top, and
+passed it, with two bills of one hundred dollars each.
+
+They poured, grinned. I stood, waiting for their slow brains to act,
+but there was only a foregone answer. The keeper drank first, as
+ranking his tender; the other followed; and they handed the
+flask--not the bills--back to Peterson and me.
+
+"_Merci, mes amis!_" said I. "And I drink to Jean Lafitte and the old
+days! Perhaps, you may buy a mass for your cousin's soul?"
+
+"_Ah non!_" answered the keeper. "Hees soul she's hout of _Purgatoire_
+long hago eef she'll goin' get hout. Me, I buy me some net for
+s'rimp."
+
+"An' me, two harpent more lan' for my farm," quoth the tender.
+
+"Alas! poor Jean!" said I. "But he was so virtuous a man that he needs
+no masses after a hundred years, perhaps. As you like. You will take
+the letters; and this for the telegraph?"
+
+"Certain'! I'll took it those," answered the tender. "You'll stayed
+for dish coffee, yass?" inquired the keeper, with Cajun hospitality.
+
+"No, I fear it is not possible, thank you," I replied. "We must be
+going soon."
+
+"An' where you'll goin', Monsieur?"
+
+"Around the island, up the channel, up the old oyster-boat channel of
+Monsieur Edouard. The letters are some of them for Monsieur Edouard
+himself. And you know well, _mes amis_, that once we lie at the wharf
+of Monsieur Edouard, not the government even of the state will touch
+us yonder?"
+
+"My faith, _non!_ I should say it--certain' not! No man he'll mawnkey
+wit' Monsieur Edouard, heem! You'll was know him, Monsieur?"
+
+"We went to school together. We smoked the same pipe."
+
+"My faith! You'll know Monsieur Edouard!" The keeper shook my hand.
+"H'I'll was work for Monsieur Edouard manny tam hon hees boat, hon
+hees plantation, hon hees 'ouse. When I'll want some leetle money,
+s'pose those hrat he'll wasn't been prime yet, hall H'I'll need was to
+go non Monsieur Edouard, hask for those leetle monny. He'll han' it on
+me, yass, heem, ten dollar, jus' like as heasy Monsieur has gave it me
+hondred dollar now, yas, heem!"
+
+"Yes? Well, I know that a cousin of Jean Lafitte--who no doubt has dug
+for treasure all over the dooryard of Monsieur Edouard----"
+
+"But not behin' the smoke-house--nevair on dose place yet, I'll swear
+it!"
+
+"--Very well, suppose you have not yet included the smoke-house of
+Monsieur Edouard, at least you are his friend. And what Acadian lives
+who is not a friend of the ladies?"
+
+"Certain', Monsieur."
+
+"Very well again. What you see in the paper is all false. The two
+ladies whose pictures you see here, and here, are yonder at our camp.
+You shall come and see that they are well and happy, both of them.
+Moreover, if you like another fifty for the mass for Jean Lafitte's
+soul, you, yourself, my friend, shall pilot us into the channel of
+Monsieur Edouard. We'll tow your boat behind us across the bay. Is it
+not?"
+
+"Certain'! _oui!_" answered the tender. "But you'll had leetle dish
+coffee quite plain?" once more demanded the lonesome keeper; and for
+sake of his hospitable soul we now said yes; and very good coffee it
+was, too: and the better since I knew it meant we now were friends.
+Ah! pirate blood is far thicker than any water you may find.
+
+"But if we take you on as pilot, my friend," said I to the pilot as at
+length we arose, "how shall we get out our letters after all?"
+
+"Thass hall right," replied he, "my cousin, Richard Barriere--she's
+cousin of Jean Lafitte too, heem--she'll was my partner on the s'rimp,
+an' she'll was come hon the light, here, heem, to-mor', yas, heem."
+
+"And would you give the letters to Mr. Richard Barriere to-morrow?" I
+inquired of the lighthouse keeper.
+
+"_Oui, oui_, certain', _assurement_, wit' _plaisir, Monsieur_," he
+replied. So I handed him the little packet.
+
+It chanced that my eye caught sight of one of the two letters Mrs.
+Daniver had handed me. The address was not in Mrs. Daniver's
+handwriting, but one that I knew very well. And the letter, in this
+handwriting that I knew very well, was addressed to Calvin Horace
+Davidson, Esquire, The Boston Club, New Orleans, Louisiana: all
+written out in full in Helena's own scrupulous fashion.
+
+I gave the letter over to the messenger, but for a time I stood
+silent, thinking. I knew now very well what that letter contained. But
+yesterday, Helena Emory had finally decided, there on the beach, alone
+with me, the salt air on her cheek, the salt tears in her eyes. She
+had gone far as woman might to tell me that she was grieved over a
+hasty word--she had given me a chance, my first chance, my only
+chance, my last chance. And, I, pig-headed fool, had slighted her at
+the very moment of moments of all my life--I who had prided myself on
+my "psychology"--I who had thought myself wise--I had allowed that
+woman to go away with her head drooping when at last she--oh, I saw it
+all plainly enough now! And now indeed small psychology and small wit
+were requisite to know the whole process of a woman's soul, thus
+chilled. She had been hesitant, had been a little resentful of this
+runaway situation, had not liked my domineering ways; but at last she
+had relented and had asked my pardon. Then I had spurned her. And then
+her mind swung to the other man. She had not yet given that man his
+answer, but when I chilled her, rejected her timid little desire to
+"make up" with me--why, then, her mind was made up for that other man
+at once. She had written his answer. And now--oh! fiendlike cruelty of
+woman's heart--she had chosen me as her messenger to carry out that
+word which would cost me herself forever! She had done that
+exquisitely well, as she did everything, not even advising me that I
+was to be her errand boy on such an errand, trusting me to find out by
+accident, as I had, that I was to be my own executioner, was to spring
+my own guillotine. She knew that, none the less, though I understood
+what the letter meant thus addressed, I sacredly must execute her
+silent trust. Oh! Helena, yours was indeed an exquisite revenge for
+that one hour of a dour man's hurt pride.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+IN WHICH WE FOLD OUR TENTS
+
+
+By consent of the lighthouse keeper, we left the _Belle Helene_ moored
+at the wharf in the channel, with Williams in charge, while Peterson
+and I, towing the tender's sailing skiff, its piratical lateen sail
+lowered, started back for our encampment in our long boat. It was only
+a half mile or so alongshore around the head of the island, although
+we had to keep out a bit to avoid going aground on the flats where the
+_Belle Helene_ had come to grief--and had, moreover, to wade ashore
+some fifty yards or so, now that the sea was calm, since the keel of
+the motor-boat would not admit a closer approach in the shallows.
+
+We found our party all assembled, John having but now issued his
+luncheon call; and, such had proved the swift spell of this care-free
+life, none expressed much delight at the announcement of my decision
+to strike camp and move toward civilization. Helena only looked up
+swiftly, but made no comment; and Mrs. Daniver, to my surprise, openly
+rebelled at leaving these flesh-pots, where canvasback and terrapin
+might be had by shaking the bushes, and where the supply of
+ninety-three seemed, after all, not exhausted. Of course, my men had
+nothing to say about it, but when it came to my partners and
+associates, Lafitte and L'Olonnois, there was open mutiny.
+
+"Why, now," protested L'Olonnois, his lip quivering, "O' _course_ we
+don't want to go home. Ain't our desert island all right? Where you
+goin' to find any better place 'n this, like to know? Besides"--and
+here he drew me to one side--"they's a good reason for not goin' just
+yet, Black Bart!"
+
+"What, Jimmy?" I inquired.
+
+"Well, _I_ know somethin'."
+
+"And what is it?"
+
+"Well, Jean Lafitte knows it, too."
+
+"What is it then?"
+
+"Well, it ain't happened yet, but it's goin' to--or anyhow maybe."
+
+"You interest me! Is it a matter of importance?"
+
+"--Say it was!"
+
+"To whom?"
+
+"Why, to you--an' besides, to my Auntie Helena. 'N' you can't pull off
+things like that just anywheres. Jean Lafitte an' me, we frame up how
+to handle yon heartless jade, the fair captive, 'n' here you butt in
+'n' spoil the whole works. It ain't right."
+
+I bethought me now of the conversation I had unwillingly
+overheard--and my heart was grateful to these my friends--but the next
+instant I remembered the note to Cal Davidson.
+
+"I thank you, Jimmy, my friend," said I, "and I believe I know what
+you mean, but it can't be done."
+
+"What can't, an' why can't it?"
+
+"Why, the--the frame-up that you have just mentioned. In short--but,
+Jimmy, go on and roll up the blankets."
+
+"But why can't it, and what do you know about it? Tell me," he
+demanded with sudden inspiration, "is yon varlet a suitor, too, for
+yon heartless jade?"
+
+"I decline to answer, Jimmy. Don't let's get into too deep water. Go
+on and get your bundles ready."
+
+"You're a fine pirate, ain't you, Black Bart!" he broke out. "Do you
+hold yerself fit to head a band o' bold an' desprit men, when you let
+yerself be bluffed by yon varlet, an' him a thousand miles away? You
+try _me_, just you gimme a desert island, or even a pirut ship, a
+week, like the chance you got, an' beshrew me, but any heartless jade
+would be mine!"
+
+"Oh, maybe not, Jimmy."
+
+"--Or else she'd walk the plank."
+
+"There isn't any plank to walk here, Jimmy," said I, pointing to our
+boat, which lay in the shoals far out. "I rather wish there were."
+
+"You'll have to carry my Auntie Helen out on yore strong right arm,
+Black Bart."
+
+"I'll do nothing of the sort, Jimmy."
+
+"Don't you like her no more? An' if you don't, what're we here for?"
+
+I could foresee embarrassments in further conversation with Jimmy in
+his present truculent mood, so sought out others less mutinous, and
+gave orders for the striking of the camp and the embarkment of all in
+the small boats. I left Peterson and Willy to take the ladies and most
+of the duffel in the large boat, assigned John the dingey for his cook
+boat, and decided to pole the light draft duck boat over the shallows
+direct to the yacht, taking my two associates with me. It was
+necessary, of course, to carry our fair passengers out to the long
+boat, which was some distance out on the flat beach. Peterson and I
+made a cradle for Mrs. Daniver, with our locked hands, and so got her
+substantial weight aboard. Helena mutely waited, but seeing her so,
+and unwilling myself to be so near to her any more, I motioned her to
+step into the flat duck boat, dry shod, and so poled her out to the
+long boat; but I did so in silence, nor did she look up or speak to
+me.
+
+Our new pilot sat in his own boat, and was towed back, after rendering
+some assistance with the cargoes; so now, at last, I was ready to
+leave a spot which, in any other circumstances, would have offered
+much charm for a man fond of the out-of-doors. As for my young
+friends, they were almost in tears as they sat, looking back longingly
+at the great flights of all manner of wild fowl continuously streaming
+in and out of the lagoon. At any other time, I would have been
+unwilling as any to depart, but, now, the whole taste and flavor of
+life had left me, and no interest remained in any of my old
+occupations or enjoyments. All that remained was the action necessary
+to deliver Helena and her aunt back to the usual scenes of their
+lives, to make their losses as light as possible, to take my own
+losses, and so close the books of my life.
+
+"There they come!" said Jean Lafitte, pointing to a vast gaggle of
+clamoring wild geese coming in from the bay. "Right over our point,
+Jimmy! Gee! I wisht I was under them fellers right now. Pow! Pow!"
+
+"Aw, shut up!" was Jimmy's reply. "We won't never get no chance like
+this again. Why, looky here, we was reg'lar castaways on a real desert
+island, an' we had a abandoned ship, an' we c'd 'a' lived chiefly by
+huntin' an' fishin'; and we had evaded all pursuit an' run off with
+the fair captive to a place o' hidin'--why, it's all just like in the
+book. An' what do _we_ do? Why, we go home! Wouldn't it frost you? An'
+what's worse, we let the heartless jade get away with it, too! Ain't
+that so?"
+
+"Yes, that's true, Jimmy," I replied.
+
+"Well, I was talkin' to Jean Lafitte--but it's so. We started out all
+right as pirates, but now we let a girl bluff us."
+
+"What would you do, Jimmy, in a case like that?" I inquired.
+
+"I would wring the wench's slender neck, beshrew me! She couldn't put
+over none o' that coarse work on me. No, curses on her fair face!"
+
+"That will do, Jimmy!" said I, and pushed on in silence, Jean Lafitte
+very grave, and Jimmy snuffling, now, in his grief at leaving the
+enchanted island. So, all much about the same time, we reached the
+_Belle Helene_ and went aboard. The ladies went at once to their
+cabin, and I saw neither again that day, although I sent down duck,
+terrapin and ninety-three for their dinner that night.
+
+In half an hour we were under way; and in an hour and a half, having
+circumvented our long desert island, we were passing through the
+cut-off which led us back into Cote Blanche, some fifty miles, I
+presume, from what was to be our voyage's end. We still were in the
+vast marsh country, an inaccessible region teeming with wild life. The
+sky now was clear, the air once more warm, the breeze gentle, and all
+the country roundabout us had a charm quite its own. A thousand side
+channels led back into the fortresses of the great sea-marsh, to this
+or that of the many lakes, lagoons and pond holes where the wild fowl
+found their feeding beds. Here was this refuge, where they fled to
+escape persecution, the spot most remote, secluded, secret,
+inaccessible. Here nature conspired to balk pursuit. The wide shallows
+made a bar now to the average sailing craft, and as for a motor-yacht
+like ours, the presence of a local pilot, acquainted with all the
+oyster reefs and shallows, all the channels and cut-offs, made us feel
+more easy, for we knew we could no longer sail merely by compass and
+chart. A great sense of remoteness from all the world came over me. I
+scarce could realize that yonder, so lately left behind, roared the
+mad tumult of the northern cities. This wide expanse was broken by no
+structure dedicated to commerce, not even the quiet spire of some
+rural church arose among the lesser edifices of any village--not even
+the blue smoke of some farmhouse marked the dwelling-place of man. It
+was the wilderness, fit only for the nomad, fit only for the man
+resentful of restraint and custom, longing only for the freedom of
+adventure and romance. The cycles of Cathay lay here in these gray
+silences, the leaf of the lotus pulsed on this lazy sea. Ah! here,
+here indeed were surcease and calm.
+
+And all this I was leaving. I was going back now to the vast tumult of
+the roaring towns, to the lip of mockery, the eye of insincerity, the
+hand of hypocrisy, where none may trust a neighbor. And moreover, I
+was going back without one look, face to face, into the eyes and the
+heart of the woman I had loved, and who, by force of these
+extraordinary circumstances had, for a miraculous moment, been thus
+set down with me, her lover, in the very surroundings built of
+Providence for secrecy and love! Yonder, speeding to her summons, no
+doubt hastened, ready to meet her, the man whom she had preferred
+above me. And like a beast of burden, driven in the service of these
+two, I was plodding on, in the work of leaving paradise and
+opportunity, and delivering safe into the hands of another man the
+woman whom I loved far more than all else in all the world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+IN WHICH IS PHILOSOPHY; WHICH, HOWEVER, SHOULD NOT BE SKIPPED
+
+
+We passed on steadily to the northward until mid-afternoon, making no
+great headway with one propellor missing, but leaving the main gulf
+steadily, and at length, raising, a faint blue loom on the sky, the
+long oak-crowned heights of those singular geological formations, the
+heights known as "islands", that bound the head of this great bay.
+Here the land, springing out of the level marshes and alluvial wet
+prairies, thrusts up in long reefs, hundreds of feet above the sea
+level. On the eminences grow ancient and mossy forest trees, as well
+as much half-tropic brake in the lower levels. Here are wide and rich
+acres also, owned as hereditary fees by old proud families, part of
+whose wealth comes from their plantations, part from their bay
+fisheries, and much from the ancient salt mines which lie under these
+singular uplifts above the great alluvial plain. As of right, here
+grow mansion homes, and here is lived life as nearly feudal and as
+wholly dignified and cultured as any in any land. Ignorant of the
+banal word "aristocracy," here, uncounting wealth, unsearching of self
+and uncritical of others, simple and fine, folk live as the best
+ambition of America might make one long to live, so far above the
+vulgar northern scramble for money and display as might make angels
+weep for the latter in the comparison.
+
+Perhaps it was Edouard Manning, planter, miner, sportsman, gentleman,
+traveler, scholar and host, who first taught me what wealth might
+mean, may mean, ought to mean. Always, before now, I had approached
+his home with joy, as that of an old friend. There, I knew, I would
+find horses, guns, dogs, good sport and a simple welcome; and I could
+read or ride as I preferred. A king among all the cousins of Jean
+Lafitte, Monsieur Edouard. Hereabouts ran the old causeway by which
+the wagon reached the "importations" of Jean's barges, brought inland
+from his schooners hid in the marshes far below. Here, too, as is well
+known in all the state, was the burying-ground of Jean Lafitte's
+treasure-chests: for, though the old adventurer sold silks and
+tobaccos and sugars very cheap to the planters and traders, he
+secreted, as is well known, great store of plate, bullion and minted
+coins, at divers points about the several miles of forest covered
+heights; so that the very atmosphere thereabout--till custom stales it
+for the visitor who comes often there--reeks with the flavor of pieces
+of eight, Spanish doubloons, and rare gems of the Orient. Laughingly,
+many a time Monsieur Edouard had agreed to go a-treasure hunting with
+me, even had showed me several of the curious old treasure-keys, maps
+and cabalistic characters which tell the place where Lafitte and his
+men buried their gold--such maps as are kept as secret heirlooms in
+many a Cajun family.
+
+But now, as I saw myself once more approaching this pleasant spot so
+well known to me, I felt little of the old thrill of eagerness come
+over me. True, Edouard would be there, and the dogs, and the birds,
+and the horses, and the quiet welcome. True, also, I could, either in
+truth or by evasion, establish a pleasant and conventional footing for
+all my party--it would be easy to explain so natural and pleasant an
+incident as a visit during a yacht cruise, and to laugh at all that
+silly newspaper sensation which by now must fully have blown over.
+True, Monsieur Edouard would be charmed to meet the woman whose
+influence on my life he knew so well. Yes, I could tell him
+everything easily, nicely, except the truth; which was, that I was
+bringing to another man's arms the woman whom he knew I loved. No, the
+blue loom of Manning's Island gave me no joy now. I wished it three
+thousand miles away instead of thirty. I wished that almost anything
+might prevent my arrival--accident, delay.
+
+And then, in the most natural way in the world, there were both!
+Without much warning, the pulse of our engine slackened, the throb of
+our single screw slowed down and ceased. Williams stuck his head up
+out of his engine-room and shouted something to Peterson, who
+methodically drew out his pipe and made ready for a smoke.
+
+"It's no use going any farther," explained Williams when I came up.
+"That intake's gone wrong again, and she's got sand all through her.
+It's a crime to see her cut herself all to pieces this way. We've just
+got to stop and clean her up, that's all, and fix the job right--ought
+to have done it back there before we started in."
+
+"How long will it take, Williams?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, I don't know, sir. More than this afternoon, sure."
+
+"That's too bad," said I, with a fair imitation of regret. "We had
+expected to make Manning Island by night."
+
+"Yes, it is too bad, but it's better to stop than ruin her, isn't it,
+sir?"
+
+"Certainly it is, and I quite approve your judgment. But I presume we
+can go a little way yet, until we find a good berth somewhere? There's
+a deep channel comes in from the left, just ahead, and I think if we
+move on half a mile or so, we can get water enough to float even at
+low tide, and at the same time be out of sight of any boats passing in
+the lower part of the bay."
+
+"Oh, yes, sir, we can get that far," said the engineer. Peterson was
+full of gloom, and though he thought nothing less than that we were
+going to be kept here a month, as one more event in a trip already
+unlucky enough, he gave the wheel to our Cajun pilot, and we crawled
+on around the head of a long point that came out into the bay. Here we
+could not see Manning Island, and were out of sight from most of the
+bay, so that, once more, the feeling of remoteness, aloofness, came
+upon me.
+
+Not that it did me any present good. I despatched L'Olonnois as
+messenger to the ladies, telling them the cause of our delay, and
+explaining how difficult it was to say just when we would get in to
+the island; and then I betook myself to gloomy pacing up and down what
+restricted part of the deck I felt free for my own use. I wearied of
+it soon, and went to my cabin, trying to read.
+
+At first I undertook one of the modern novels which had been
+recommended by my bookseller, but I found myself unable to get on with
+it, and standing before my shelves took down one volume after another
+of philosophers who once were wont to comfort me--men with brains,
+thinking men who had done something in the world beside buying yachts
+and country houses. My eye caught a page which earlier I had turned
+down, and I read again:
+
+"Trust thyself; every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the
+place the Divine Providence has found for you--the society of friends,
+the connexion of events. Great men have always done so, and confided
+themselves childlike to the genius of their age.... And we now are
+men, and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent
+destiny; and not pinched in a corner nor cowards fleeing before a
+revolution, but redeemers, and benefactors, pious aspirants to be
+noble clay, under the Almighty effort let us advance on Chaos and the
+Dark."
+
+I read the mystic, involved, subjective words again, as most of the
+Concord Sage's words require, and reflected how well they jumped with
+the note of my heathen Epictetus, who had said, "Be natural and
+noble". And, so thinking, I began to wonder whether, after all, my
+father, whose ruthless ways I betimes had explored, whose ruthless
+sins I had betimes atoned, had not been, perhaps, a better man than
+sometimes I had credited him with being. He, in accordance with his
+lights, had accepted the part given him by the Poet of the Play. He
+had confided himself childlike to the genius of his age, roaring,
+fighting, scrambling, getting and sometimes giving. He had trusted
+himself; and in the end, a bold man, he had advanced bravely on Chaos
+and the Dark. After a life of war and sometimes of rapine, done under
+the genius of his day, he had struck boldly the last chord on an iron
+string. Dear old Governor! I did not regret the million of his money I
+had spent to restore his memory clean in my own mind: for after all,
+it had all been in open war--that time when he unloaded a worthless
+mine on his friend, Dan Emory--Helena's father, Daniel Emory, who was,
+at first, said to have left his family penniless; until a shrewd
+lawyer in some miraculous way had managed to sell at a good price a
+box full of worthless mining stock to some innocent victim.
+
+Helena Emory never knew of that sale, nor did her guardian aunt. I did
+know of it, for the very good reason that I was both the shrewd lawyer
+and the innocent purchaser. It was the last act of my professional
+career; and it was this which caused the general report that I had
+made a bad mining venture, had lost my father's fortune, and retired
+from my career a ruined man. A few friends knew otherwise: and I
+blessed the rumor which cost me certain friends who thought me poor
+and so forsook me. Perhaps, my father would have called me quixotic
+had he known. Now, as I read and pondered, I neither blamed him for
+his own course in fair business war with old Dan Emory, nor did I
+censure myself for my own hidden act of restitution. Let the world wag
+its head if it liked, and remain ignorant of other millions given to
+me before my father's death, unprobated, secret, after the fashion of
+my pirate parent who buried his treasures and told none but his kin
+how they might be found.
+
+Of course, in time, it all might come out. In time, Helena would know
+that this yacht which she supposed to be Davidson's was my own, that
+the farm I was supposed to have rented really was a handsome estate
+that I owned, that many covert deeds in finance had been my own--it
+was only my silence and my absence in many parts of the world which
+had prevented her, also much a traveler, from knowing the truth about
+me long ago. And the truth was, I was not a poor man, but a rich one.
+
+Yet he who had stolen my purse would indeed have stolen trash this
+day. Rich in one way, I was poor, indeed, in others. I cared nothing
+for old Dan Emory's money, but very, very much for old Dan Emory's
+daughter; and her I might not have, even after all my efforts.... No,
+the waters would leave no trail; and once more, after I had restored
+old Dan Emory's daughter to her home and friends, I would travel the
+wide world again, and the gossipers might guess what causes had ended
+a professional career, apparently ended a great fortune, and actually
+had ended a life.... For, I thought--using some philosophy of my own
+making--it is not wealth, but usefulness, contentment and independence
+which a man should hold as his most desired success. These achieved,
+little is left to gain. Any one of these last, and nothing remains
+worth gaining.
+
+I took up another book, at another marked page: "Let us learn to be
+content with what we have. Let us get rid of our false estimates, set
+up all the higher ideals--a quiet home, vines of our own planting; a
+few books full of the inspiration of genius; a few friends worthy of
+being loved; a hundred innocent pleasures that bring no pain or
+remorse; a devotion to the right that will never swerve; a simple
+religion empty of all bigotry, full of trust and hope and love--and to
+such a philosophy, this world will give up all the empty joy it has."
+
+I meditated over this also, applying these tests to my own life....
+Ah! now I saw why my foot was ever restless, why I sought always new
+scenes.... Where was my quiet home, the vines of my own planting?
+Would I flee from that to every corner of the world? Not if it held
+the woman of my choice. Would she thus roam restless, if she held the
+heart of her chosen and if they had a home?... I began to see the Plan
+unfold. Yes, and saw myself outside the Plan.... Because of a devotion
+to the right that would not swerve. Because of a fanaticism, an
+"oddness", a nonconformity--ah! so I said bitterly to myself, because,
+after all, I was unattuned to my age, because I was unfit to survive
+before a man's own judge.... It is Portia judges this world. The case
+of every man comes before a woman for decision. I, who rarely had lost
+a case at law where I could use my own trained mind, had lost my first
+and only case at the bar of Love....
+
+So--and I sighed as I shut the books and returned them to their
+shelves--contentment never could be mine, nor that quiet home where
+only life is lived that is worth living; nor usefulness; nor
+independence.
+
+I did not hear Jimmy when he came in, and when he spoke I jumped,
+startled.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+IN WHICH IS AN ARMISTICE WITH FATE
+
+
+"Black Bart!" said Jimmy. "Say, now----"
+
+"Well, good mate," said I, and laid a hand on his curly fair head,
+"what shall I say?"
+
+"Say nothin'," he remarked, dropping his voice. "Listen!"
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"We have held a council."
+
+"Who has?"
+
+"Why, me and Jean Lafitte and the heartless jade. I told her you sent
+us to her to bid her seek your presence."
+
+"Jimmy! What on earth do you mean! That's precisely the last thing I
+would have done--I haven't done it. On the contrary----"
+
+"I told her," he resumed calmly, "that when Black Bart, the pirut,
+spoke, he spoke to be obeyed. She said, 'I can't go,' and I said, 'You
+_gotta_ go.'"
+
+"You, yourself, may now go and tell her that there has been a very bad
+mistake, Jimmy; and that she need not come."
+
+"An' make her cry worse? I ain't goin' to do it!"
+
+"Sir! This is mutiny!--But did she cry, Jimmy?"
+
+"Yes. Awful. She said she was homesick. She ain't. I don't know what
+really is the matter. I ast Jean Lafitte, an' he said maybe you'd
+know. We thought maybe it was something about yon varlet. Do you
+know?"
+
+"No, I do not, Jimmy." I found myself engaged in one of those
+detestable conversations where one knows the talk ought to end, yet
+dislikes to end it.
+
+Jimmy stood for some time, much perturbed, looking every way but at
+me, and at last he blurted out.
+
+"Don't you just jolly well awfully love the fair captive, yon
+heartless jade--my Auntie Helen? Don't you, Black Bart?"
+
+I made no answer, but frowned very much at his presumption.
+
+"--Because, everybody else does. She's nice. I should think you would.
+_I_ do, I know mighty well."
+
+"She is--she is--she's a very estimable young woman, Jimmy," said I,
+coloring. "I think I may say that without compromising myself."
+
+"Then why do you hurt her feelings the way you do--when she's plumb
+gone on you, the way she is?"
+
+I sprang toward him to clap a hand over his garrulous mouth, but he
+evaded me, and spoke from behind the bathroom door. "Well, she is!
+Don't I hear her sticking up for you all the time--didn't I hear her
+an' Auntie Lucinda havin' a reg'lar row over it again, 'I don't care
+if he _hasn't_ got a cent!' says she."
+
+"But yon varlet is rich," said I.
+
+"She didn't mean yon varlet--she meant you, I'm pretty sure, Black
+Bart. An' she's been feedin' Partial all the afternoon--say, he's the
+shape of a sausage."
+
+"She is heartless, Jimmy! Little do you know the ways of a heartless
+jade--she wants to win away from me the last thing on earth I
+have--even my dog. That's all. Now, Jimmy, you must go."
+
+But he emerged only in part from his shelter. "So Jean Lafitte an' me,
+we looked it up in the book; an' it says where the heartless jade is
+brought before the pirut chief, 'How now, fair one!' says he, an' he
+bends on her the piercin' gaze o' his iggle eye: 'how now, wouldst
+spurn me suit?' The fair captive she bends her head an' stands before
+him unable to encounter his piercin' gaze, an' for some moments a deep
+silence prevails----"
+
+"Jimmy!" I heard a clear voice calling along the deck. No answer, and
+Jimmy raised a hand to command silence of me also.
+
+"Jimme-e-e-e!" It was Helena's voice, and nearer along the rail.
+"Here's the fudges--now where can the little nuisance have gone! Jim!"
+
+"Here I am, Auntie," replied the little nuisance, as she now
+approached the door of our cabin; and he brushed past me and started
+not aft but toward the bows. "An' there _you_ are!" he shouted over
+his shoulder in cryptic speech, whether to me or to his Auntie Helen I
+could not say.
+
+She stood now in such position near my door that neither of us could
+avoid the other without open rudeness. I looked at her gravely and she
+at me, her eyes wide, her lips silent for a time. Silently also, I
+swung the cabin door wide and stood back for her to pass.
+
+"You have sent for me?" she said at last, still standing as she was. A
+faint smile--part in humor, part in timidity, part, it seemed suddenly
+to me, wistful; and all just a trifle pathetic--stirred her lips.
+
+"'I sent my soul through the Invisible,'" said I; and stepped within
+and quite aside for her to pass.
+
+"Jimmy told the biggest lie in all his career," said I. She would have
+sprung back.
+
+"--And the greatest truth ever told in all the world. Come in, Helena
+Emory. Come into my quiet home. Already, as you know, you have come
+into my heart."
+
+"I am not used to going into a gentleman's--quarters," said she: but
+her foot was on the shallow stair.
+
+"It is common to three gentlemen of the ship's company, Helena Emory,"
+said I, "and we have no better place to receive our friends."
+
+She now was in the room. I closed the door, and sprung the catch.
+
+"At last," said I, "you are in my power!" And I bent upon her the
+piercing gaze of my eagle eye.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+IN WHICH ARE SEALED ORDERS
+
+
+She stood before me for just a moment undecided. The twilight was
+coming and the room was dim.
+
+"Auntie will miss me," said she, "after a time."
+
+"I have missed you all the time," was my reply.
+
+"But you sent for me?"
+
+"Of course I did. Doesn't this look as though I had?"
+
+"I don't quite understand----"
+
+"Shall I call Jimmy to explain? He called you a heartless jade----"
+
+"The little imp! How dare he!"
+
+"--As in fact all of our brotherhood has come to call you: 'The
+heartless jade.'"
+
+"I made fudges for him! And the little wretch told me I wasn't playing
+the game! What did he mean? Oh, Harry, I wouldn't have come if I
+hadn't wanted to play the game fairly. I'm sorry for what I said." She
+spoke now suddenly, impulsively.
+
+"What was it you said?"
+
+"When I said--when I called you--a coward. I didn't mean it."
+
+"You said it."
+
+"But not the way you thought. I only meant, you took an unfair
+advantage of a girl, running off with her, this way, and giving her no
+chance to--to get away. But now you do give me a chance--you meant to,
+all along--and in every way, as I've just done telling auntie, you've
+been perfectly fine, perfectly splendid, perfectly bully, too! It has
+been a hard place for a man, too, but--Harry, dear boy, I'll have to
+say it, you've been some considerable gentleman through it all! There
+now!" And she stood, aloof, agitated, very likely flushed, though I
+could not tell in the dark.
+
+"Thank you, Helena," I said.
+
+"And as to your being any other sort of a coward--that you had
+physical fear--that you wouldn't do a man's part--why, I never did
+mean that at all. How could I? And if I had--why, even Auntie Lucinda
+said your going out after that Chinaman the other night was
+heroic--even if he couldn't have cooked a bit!--and you know Auntie
+Lucinda has always been against you."
+
+"Yes, and you both called me a coward, because I quit my law office
+and ran away from misfortune."
+
+"Yes, we did. And I meant that, too! I say it now to your face, Harry.
+But maybe I don't know all about that----"
+
+"Maybe not."
+
+"Well, I wouldn't want to be unjust, of course, but I _don't_ think a
+man ought to throw away his life. You're young. You could start over
+again, and you ought to have tried. Your father made his own money,
+and so did my father--why, look at the Sally M. mine, that has given
+me my own fortune. Do you suppose that grew on a bush to be shaken
+off? So why couldn't you go out in the same way and do something in
+the world--I don't mean just make money, you know, but _do_ something?
+That's what a girl likes. And you were able enough. You are young and
+strong, and you have your education; and I've heard my father say,
+before he died--and other men agreed with him--that you were the best
+lawyer at our bar, and that you had an extraordinary mind, and a clear
+sense of justice, and, and----"
+
+"Go on. Did he say that?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But with all my fine qualities of mind and heart," said I, "I lost
+all when I lost my money!"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I'll tell you what I mean--you dropped me because you thought me
+poor. Well, I don't blame you. It takes money to live, and you
+deserved all that the world can give. I don't blame you. There were
+other men in the world for you. The trouble with me was that there was
+no other woman in the world for me. All our trouble--all our many
+meetings and partings--have come out of those two facts."
+
+"Did you think that of me?" she asked at length, slowly. I suppose she
+was pale, but I could not see.
+
+"I certainly did. How could I think anything else?"
+
+"Harry!" she half whispered. "Why, Harry, Harry!"
+
+"Admit that you did!" I exclaimed bitterly, "and let me start from
+that as a premise. Listen! If you were a man, and loved a woman, and
+she chucked you when you lost your money, do you think you'd break
+your neck to make any more success in the world after that? Why should
+you? Why does a man work? It's for a home, for the sake of power, and
+mostly for the sake of the game."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And I could play that game--I can play it now, and win at it, any
+time I like. I quit it not because I was afraid of the game--it's the
+easiest thing in the world to make money, if that's all you really
+want to do. That's all your father wanted, or mine, and it was easy. I
+can play that game. But why? Ah! if it were to win a quiet home, the
+woman I loved, independence, usefulness, contentment,--yes! But when
+all those stakes were out of the game, Helena, I didn't care to play
+it any more. And that was why you thought I ran away. I did run
+away--from myself, and you."
+
+She was silent now, and perhaps paler--I could not see.
+
+"--But wherever I have gone, Helena, all over the world, I've found
+those two people there ahead of me, and I couldn't escape
+them--myself, and you!"
+
+"Did you think that of me, Harry?" She half whispered once more.
+
+"Yes, I did. And did you think that of me?"
+
+"Yes, I did. But I did not understand."
+
+"No. Like many a woman, you got cause and effect mixed up: and you
+never troubled yourself to get it straight. Let me tell you, unless
+two people can come to each other without compromises and without
+explanations and without reservations, they would better never come
+at all. I don't want you cheap, you oughtn't to want me cheap. So how
+can it end any way other than the way it has? If it was my loss of
+fortune that made you chuck me, I oughtn't ever to give you a second
+thought, for you wouldn't be worth it. The fact you did, and that I
+do, hasn't anything to do with it at all."
+
+"No."
+
+"And if you don't think me able and disposed to play a man's part in
+the world, you oughtn't to care a copper for me, that is plain, isn't
+it?"
+
+"Yes, quite plain."
+
+"And the fact that you did, and that you do, has nothing to do with
+it--nothing in the world, has it, Helena?"
+
+"No." She must have been very pale, though I could not tell.
+
+"Therefore, as logic shows us, my dear, and because we never did get
+our premises straight, and so never will get our conclusions straight,
+either--we don't belong together and never can come together, can we?"
+
+"No." I could barely hear her whisper.
+
+"No. And that is why, just before you came, I was trying to pull
+myself together and to advance as best an unhappy devil may, upon
+Chaos and the Dark! And that's all I see ahead, Helena, without
+you--Chaos and the Dark."
+
+"It was all you saw that night, in the little boat," she said after a
+time. "Yet you went?"
+
+"Oh, yes, but that was different."
+
+"Is this all, Harry?" she said, and moved toward the door.
+
+"Yes, my dear; it is all--but all the rest."
+
+Her color must have risen, for I saw dimly that she raised both her
+hands to her bosom, her throat. Thus the heartless jade stood, her
+head drooped, unable to meet the piercing gaze of my eagle eye.
+
+There came a faint scratching at the door, a little whimpering whine.
+
+"It is Partial, my dog, come after you," said I bitterly. "He knows
+you are here. He never has done that way for me. He loves you."
+
+"He knows _you_ are here, and he loves you," said she. "That is why
+things come and scratch at doors where ruffians live."
+
+I flung open the door. "Partial," said I, "come in; and choose between
+us."
+
+As to the first part of my speech, the invitation to enter, Partial
+obeyed with a rush; as to the second, the admonition, he apparently
+could not obey at all. In his poor dumb brute affliction, lack of
+human speech, he stood, after saluting us both, alternately and
+equally, hesitant between us, wagging, whining and gazing, knowing
+full well somewhat was wrong between us, grieving over us, beseeching
+us--but certainly not choosing between us.
+
+"Give him time," said I hoarsely. "He loves you more, and is merely
+polite to me."
+
+"Give him time," said she bitterly. "He loves you more, and you don't
+deserve it."
+
+But Partial would not choose.
+
+"He wants us _both_, Helena!" said I at last. "He has wiped out logic,
+premises, conclusions, cause and effect, horse, cart and all! He wants
+us _both_! He wants a quiet home and independence, Helena, and
+usefulness, and contentment. Ah, my God!"
+
+She reached down and put a hand on his head, but he only looked from
+one to the other of us, unhappy.
+
+"Don't you love me, Helena?" I asked quietly, after a time. "For the
+sake of my dog, can you not love me?"
+
+She continued stroking the head of the agonized Partial.... And until,
+somewhat inarticulately, I had choked or spoken, and had caught her
+dark hair against my cheek and kissed her hair and stammered in her
+ear, and turned her face and kissed her eyes and her cheek and her
+lips many, many times, Partial held his peace and issued no
+decision.... At least, I did not hear him....
+
+She was sobbing now, her head on my shoulder, as we sat on the locker
+seat, and Partial's head was on the cushion beside us, and he was
+silent and overjoyed, and tranquilly happy--seeing perhaps, that a
+quiet home would in the event be his, and that he was going to live
+happy ever after. And after I drew Helena's head closer to my face, I
+kissed her hair.
+
+"Do you love me, Helena?" I asked. "Only the truth now, in God's
+name!"
+
+"You know I do," she said, and I felt her arms about my neck.
+
+"Have you, always?"
+
+"I think so, yes. It seems always."
+
+"We have been cruel to each other."
+
+"Yes, are cruel now."
+
+"How now?"
+
+"You make me say I love you, and yet----"
+
+"You will marry me--right away, soon, Helena--as I am, poor, ragged,
+without a cent, only myself?"
+
+"Not here," she smiled.
+
+"At Edouard Manning's, at once, as soon as we get in?"
+
+"It is duress! I am in the power of a ruffian band! Is it fair? Are
+you sure I know my mind?"
+
+"I am sure only that I know my own! Tell me, what was in that note I
+carried, addressed to yon varlet Davidson?"
+
+"Sealed orders!"
+
+"And how does that affect me, Helena. Tell me--I know you love me, and
+you know that all the rest is small, to that; but as to that wedding
+part of it, Helena--what do you say?"
+
+She hesitated for an instant. "You want me to--come--to come with
+honor, as you do?"
+
+"Yes. I'll take any risk that means with you."
+
+"Will you take sealed orders, too?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Turn on the lights."
+
+I reached the switch, and an instant later a dozen high candle-power
+bulbs flooded the suite with light. With a little cry of dismay Helena
+sprang away, and stood at my shaving-glass, arranging her hair. Now
+and then she turned her face just enough to smile at me a little, her
+eyes dark, languid, heavy lidded, a faint shadow of blue beneath. And
+now and then her breast heaved, as though it were a sea late troubled
+by a storm gone by.
+
+"What will auntie say?" she sighed at last.
+
+"What will you say?" I replied.
+
+"Oh, brute, you shall not know! I must have some manner of revenge
+against a ruffian who has taken advantage of me while I was in his
+power!"
+
+"Ah, heartless jade!"
+
+"--So you shall wait until we are ashore. I will give you sealed
+orders----"
+
+"When?"
+
+"Now. And you shall open them at your friend's house--as soon as we
+are all settled and straightened after leaving the boat--as soon
+as----"
+
+"It looks as though it were as soon as you please, not when I please."
+
+"Harry, it is my revenge for the indignities you have heaped on me. Do
+you think a girl will submit to that meekly--to be browbeaten, abused,
+endangered as I have been! No, sir--sealed orders or none. I have only
+owned I loved you. So many girls have been mistaken about things
+when--when the moon, or a desert island or--or something has bewitched
+them. But I haven't said I would marry you, have I, ever?"
+
+"No. I don't care about that so much as the other; but I care a very,
+very great deal about it, too. You, too, are cruel. You are a
+heartless jade."
+
+"And you have been a cruel and ruthless pirate."
+
+"Tell me now!"
+
+"No." And she evaded me, and gained the door. "I must go. Oh, it's all
+a ruin now--Auntie'll be furious. And what shall I say?"
+
+"Give her sealed orders, and my love! And when do I get mine?"
+
+"In five minutes."
+
+She was gone.... And after some moments, rapt as I was at her late
+presence, which still seemed to fill the room like the fragrance, like
+the fragrance of her hair which still lingered in my senses, I looked
+about, sighing for that she was gone. Then I noted that our friend
+Partial had gone with her. "Fie! Partial, after all, you loved her
+more!" I said to myself.
+
+But in a few moments I heard a faint sound at my door. I opened. There
+stood Partial in the dusk, gravely wagging his tail, looking at me
+without moving his head. And I saw that he held daintily in his mouth
+a dainty note, addressed to me in the same handwriting as that on the
+note I had sent out from the heartless jade to yon varlet. And it was
+sealed, and marked with instructions for its opening.... "When You
+Two Varlets Meet." No more.
+
+"Peterson," said I, advancing to the forward deck, where I found him
+smoking, "I've been getting up some correspondence, since we'll be
+ashore by to-morrow noon----"
+
+"--I don't know as to that, Mr. Harry."
+
+"Well, I know about it. So, tell Williams that, even if he has to work
+all night, we must be moving as soon as it's light enough to see. I've
+got a very important message----"
+
+"By wireless, Mr. Harry?" chuckled the old man.
+
+"Yes, by wireless," (and I looked at Partial, who wagged his tail and
+smiled). "So I must get into Manning Island the first possible moment
+to-morrow. And Peterson, as we've had so good a run this trip, with no
+accident or misfortune of any kind, I don't know but I may make it a
+month or two extra pay--double--for you and Williams, and even John.
+And as to Willy, please don't fire him, Peterson, for his deserting
+the ship's cook the other night. In fact, I'm very glad, on the whole,
+he did. Give him double pay for doing it, Peterson!"
+
+"Ain't this the wonderful age!" remarked Peterson to a star which was
+rising over the misty marsh. "Especial, now, that wireless!"
+
+I only patted Partial on the head, and we smiled pleasantly and
+understandingly at each other. Of course, Peterson could not know what
+we knew.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+IN WHICH LAND SHOWS IN THE OFFING
+
+
+Before the white sea mists had rolled away I was on deck, and had
+summoned a general conference of my crew.
+
+"'Polyte," I demanded of our pilot, "how long before your partner will
+be at the lighthouse, below, there?"
+
+"'Ow long?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Oh, maybe thees day sometam."
+
+"And how long before he'll start back with the mail?"
+
+"'Ow long?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Oh, maybe thees same day sometam."
+
+"And how long will it take him to get back to some post-office with
+those letters?"
+
+"'Ow long?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Oh, maybe those nex' day sometam."
+
+"And then how long to the big railroad to New Orleans?"
+
+"'Ow long?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Oh, maybe those nex' day too h'also sometam, heem."
+
+"Then it will be three days, four days, before a letter could get from
+the lighthouse to New Orleans?"
+
+"'Ow long?"
+
+"Three or four days?"
+
+"_Oui_, maybe so."
+
+"And how long will it take us to get in to the plantation of Monsieur
+Edouard, above, there?"
+
+"'Ow long?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"H'I'll could not said, Monsieur. Maybe three four day--_'sais pas_."
+
+"Holy Mackinaw!" I remarked, _sotto voce_.
+
+"Pardon?" remarked 'Polyte respectfully. "Le
+Machinaw--_que-est-que-ce-que-est, ca_?"
+
+"It is my patron saint, 'Polyte," I explained, and he crossed himself
+for his mistake.
+
+"Suppose those h'engine he'll h'ron, we'll get in four five h'our
+h'all right, on Monsieur Edouard, yass," he added. "H'I'll know those
+channel lak some books."
+
+By now Williams--who, judging by certain rappings, hammerings and
+clankings heard through the cabin walls back and above the
+engine-rooms, had been at work much of the night--had reported, and
+much to my pleasure had said he thought we could make it in at least
+to the Manning dock before further repairs would be needed. To prove
+which, he went down and "turned her over a time or two," as he
+expressed it. Whereupon I gave orders to break out the anchor, and
+knowing that any Cajun market hunter and shrimp fisher like 'Polyte
+can travel in any mist or fog before sunup by some instinct of his
+own, I took a chance and began to feel our way out to the mouth of the
+Manning channel before the morning mists were gone; so that we were at
+breakfast by the time the wide and gently rippling bay broke clear
+below us, and by magic, we saw the oak-crowned heights of the island
+dead ahead.
+
+Thence on, within the walls of the deep dredged channel, all we had to
+do was to go sufficiently slow and follow the curves carefully, so
+that the heavy waves of our boat, larger than any intended for that
+channel, might not too much endanger the mud walls, or threaten
+wreckage to the frail stagings leading to the cabins of the
+half-aquatic trappers and fishers who dwell here in the marshes.
+
+So, at last, after many windings and doublings, we came in at the rear
+of the timbered slopes, and could see the mansion houses and the
+offices of the stately old plantation, where dwelt my friend, Edouard
+Manning, who knew nothing of my coming.
+
+After custom, I signaled loud and often with the boat's whistle, so
+that the men might come to the landing for us; and, in order that
+Edouard himself might be warned, I gave orders to my hardy mates to
+make proper nautical salute of honor.
+
+"Cast loose the stern-chaser, Jean Lafitte," said I: "and do you and
+L'Olonnois load and fire her often as you like until we land; or until
+you burst her."
+
+Gleefully they obeyed, and soon the roar of our deck gun echoed
+formidably along the slopes, as had no gun since the salt-seeking
+Union navy, in the Civil War, had pounded at the gates of Edouard's
+father: and until scores of coots and rail chattered in excited chorus
+for answer, and long clouds of wild ducks arose and circled over the
+marsh. Again and again, my bold mates loaded and fired: and now,
+turning back by chance from my own place at the wheel, I saw that they
+had assumed full character, and each with a red kerchief bound about
+his brow, was armed with, I dare not say how many, pistols, dirks,
+swords and cutlasses thrust through his belt or otherwise suspended
+on his person.
+
+I saw now the two ladies, their fingers in their ears, also on deck,
+protesting at this cannonading at their cabin door; and so I raised my
+hat to a very radiant and radiantly appareled Helena, for the first
+time that day; and heard the answer of L'Olonnois to the dour protest
+of Auntie Lucinda.
+
+"We follow Black Bart the Avenger, an' let any seek to stop us at
+their per-rul! Jean, run up the flag, while I load her up again."
+
+And Jean having once more hoisted the skull and cross-bones at our
+masthead, and assumed a specially savage scowl as he stood with folded
+arms on our bow deck, we made what a mild imagination might have
+called rather an impressive entry as we swept into the Manning
+landing.
+
+I was not surprised to see Edouard himself there, and his wife, and
+some thirty odd dogs and as many blacks, waiting for us at the wharf.
+Nor was I surprised to see that all seemed somewhat to marvel at our
+manner of advent, though I knew that Edouard, through his
+field-glasses, had recognized both my boat and myself long before we
+made the last curve and came gently in to the wharf where the grinning
+darkies could catch our line.
+
+What did surprise me--and perhaps for a time I may have shown
+surprise--was to see, in all this gay throng, two forms not usual on
+the Manning landing. One was the elegantly garbed and rather stunning
+figure of Sally Byington; and the other the robust, full-bodied,
+gorgeously arrayed form of my old friend, Cal Davidson! How or why
+they came there I could not for the moment guess.
+
+"'Tis he--yon varlet!" I heard a stern voice hiss at my ear. "Beshrew
+me, but it shall go hard with him! I'm loading her up with marbles
+now!" But I had no more than time to persuade my two lieutenants to
+modify this purpose, and partially to disarm themselves, before the
+two groups were mingling, with much chattering and laughing and gay
+saluting.
+
+Edouard, hat in hand, was on deck before our fenders touched the
+wharf, laughing and grasping my hands and looking up at my flag.
+
+"I knew you were coming," said he. "Fact is, all the country's been
+looking for you. Davidson just got in a couple of hours ago--and you
+know his lady is an old friend of Mrs. Manning's. And----"
+
+He was shaking the hands of Mrs. Daniver and Helena almost before I
+could present them. Auntie Lucinda bestowed upon him the gaze of a
+solemn and somewhat tear-stained visage (though I saw distinct
+approval on her face as she caught sight of the great mansion house
+among the giant oaks, and witnessed the sophisticatedness of the group
+on the landing, and the easy courtesy of Edouard himself).
+
+"By Jove! old man!" the latter found time to say to me, "I
+congratulate you--she's away beyond her pictures." He did not mean
+Mrs. Daniver; and he never had seen Helena before. I could only press
+his hand and attempt no comment as to the congratulations, for part of
+that was a matter which yet rested in a sealed envelope in my pocket;
+and at best it must be three or four days.... But then, with a great
+flash of arrested intelligence, it was borne in upon me that perhaps,
+after all, it was not so much a question of the tardy United States
+mails! Because yon varlet, fat and saucy, and well content with life,
+already, by some means and for some reason, had outrun the mails. He
+was here, and we had met. It need not be four days before I could
+learn my fate.... I reached into my pocket and looked at my sealed
+orders. No matter what Davidson's letter held, here was Davidson
+himself.
+
+"Oh, I say, there, you Harry, confound you!" roared Davidson to me in
+his great voice above the heads of everybody. "I say, what did I tell
+you?"
+
+Now I had not the slightest idea what Davidson had told me, nor what
+he meant by waving a paper over his head. "They've signed Dingleheimer
+for next year! Now what do you think of that? World's championship,
+and good old Dingleheimer for next year--I guess that's pretty poor
+for them little old Giants, what?" And he smiled like one devoid of
+all care as well as of all reason.
+
+I myself smiled just a moment later--after I had greeted the Manning
+ladies, had seen Helena step up and kiss Sally Byington fervently,
+directly on the cheek, whose too keen coloring I once had heard her
+decry; had slapped Edouard joyously on the shoulders and pointed to my
+pirate flag and gloomy black-visaged crew--I say I also smiled
+suddenly when I felt a hand touch me on the shoulder.
+
+'Polyte, the pilot, stood, cap in hand, and asked me to one side.
+
+"Pardon, Monsieur," said he, "but those _gentilhommes_--those fat
+one--ees eet she'll was Monsieur Davelson who'll H'I'll got letter on
+heem from those lighthouse, heem?"
+
+"Why, yes, 'Polyte--the letter you said would take four days to get to
+New Orleans."
+
+'Polyte smiled sheepishly. "He'll wouldn't took four days now,
+Monsieur! H'I'll got it h'all those letter here. H'I'll change the
+coat on the _lighthouse_, maybe, h'an H'I'll got the coat of Guillaume
+witt' h'all those letter in her, yass?" And he now handed me the
+entire packet of letters, which I had supposed left far behind us on
+the previous day!
+
+I took the letters from him, and handed all of them but one to
+Edouard's old body servant to put in the office mail. The remaining
+one I held in the same hand with its mate: and I motioned Davidson
+aside to a spot under a live oak as the other began now slowly to move
+toward the path from the landing up the hill.
+
+"This is for you," said I, handing him his letter; and told him how it
+came to him thus.
+
+"It's from Helena--dear old girl, isn't she a trump, after all!" he
+said, tearing open the letter and glancing at it.
+
+"She is a dear girl, Mr. Davidson," said I, stiffly, "yes."
+
+"Why, of course--yes, of course I'd have done it, if I'd got this
+before I left the city," said he, "but how can I now?"--holding the
+letter open in his hand.
+
+"Do you mean to tell me," I began, but choked in anger mixed with
+uncertainty. What was it she had asked of him, offered to him? And was
+not Helena's wish a command.
+
+"Yes, I mean to tell you or any one else, I'd do a favor to a lady if
+I could; but----"
+
+"What favor, Mr. Davidson?" I demanded icily.
+
+"Well, why 'Mr. Davidson'? Ain't I your pal, in spite of all the muss
+you made of my plans? Why, I'm damned if I'll pay you the charter
+money at all, after the way you've acted, and all----"
+
+"Mr. Davidson, damn the charter money!"
+
+"That's what I say! What's charter money among friends? All right, if
+you can forgive half the charter fee, I'll forgive the other half,
+and----"
+
+"What was in the letter from her?"
+
+"It's none of your business, Harry--but still, I don't mind saying
+that Miss Emory wrote me and said that if I was still--oh! I say!" he
+roared, turning suddenly and poking a finger into my ribs, "if you
+haven't got on one of my waistcoats!"
+
+"The one with pink stripes," said I still icily, "and deuced bad ones
+they all are. And these clothes I borrowed from my China boy. But
+then----"
+
+"I see, you must have come in a hurry, eh?"
+
+"Yes. But come now, old man, what's in that letter? I've got one of my
+own here, done in the same hand, hers. I am under sealed orders--until
+I shall have met you, which is now. So I suppose some sort of
+explanation is due on both sides. We might as well have it all out
+here, before we join the house party, so as to avoid any awkwardness."
+
+"Oh, nothing in my letter to amount to anything," he replied. "Miss
+Emory only wanted to know if I'd please have her trunks shipped out
+here from New Orleans--only that; and she asked me please to bring her
+a box of marshmallows, as hers were all gone. She's polite, always,
+dear old Helena--she says, here, 'So pleasant is our journey in every
+way, and so kind have you gentlemen been, and so thoughtful in
+providing every luxury, that I can not think of a single thing I could
+ask for except some more marshmallows. Jimmy, the young imp, my
+nephew, you know, has found mine, though I hid them under both
+cushions in the stateroom.'"
+
+I had my hat off, and was wiping my forehead. A sudden burst of glory
+seemed to me to envelope all the world. If there had been duplicity
+anywhere, I did not care.
+
+"I suppose Jimmy is the one with two guns and a Jap sword, eh?" asked
+Davidson.
+
+"No, the other one, God bless him! Is that all there was in the
+letter, Cal?"
+
+"Yes. What's in yours? What's the game--button, button, who's got the
+girl? And can't you _open_ your letter now?"
+
+"Yes," said I, and did so. It contained just two words (Helena
+afterward said she had not time to write more while Auntie Lucinda
+might be in from the other stateroom).[A]
+
+"Well, what's it say, dash you!" demanded Cal Davidson. "Play fair
+now--I told, and so must you!"
+
+"I'm damned if I do, Cal!" said I, and put it in my pocket. But I
+shook hands with him most warmly, none the less....
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[A] (Those interested may find them later in the text.[B])
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+IN WHICH IS MUCH ROMANCE, AND SOME TREASURE, ALSO VERY MUCH HAPPINESS
+
+
+We walked on slowly up the hill together, my friend Calvin Davidson
+and myself, following the parti-colored group now passing out of sight
+behind the shrubbery. At last we paused and sat down on one of the
+many seats that invited us. Around us, on the great lawn, were many
+tropic or half-tropic plants, and the native roses, still abloom.
+Yonder stood the old bronze sun-dial that I knew so well--I could have
+read the inscription, _I Mark Only Pleasant Hours_; and I knew its
+penciled shadow pointed to a high and glorious noon.... It seemed to
+me that Heaven had never made a more perfect place or a more perfect
+day; nor, that I am sure, was ever in the universe a world more
+beautiful than this, more fit to swing in union with all the harmony
+of the spheres.... I had fought so long, I had been so unhappy, had
+doubted so much, had grown so sad, so misanthropic, that I trust I
+shall be forgiven at this sudden joy I felt at hearing burst on my
+ears--albeit a chorus of Edouard's mocking-birds hid in the oaks--all
+the music of the spheres, soul-shaking, a thing of joy and
+reverence.... So I spoke but little.
+
+"But I say, old man," began Davidson presently, "it's all right for a
+joke, but my word! it was an awfully big one, and an awfully risky
+one, too,--your stealing your own yacht from me! I didn't think it of
+you. You not only broke up my boat party--you see, Sally was going on
+down with us from Natchez--Miss Emory said she'd be glad to have her
+come, and of course she and Mrs. Daniver made it proper, all right--I
+say, you not only busted that all up, but by not sending a fellow the
+least word of what you were going to do, you got those silly
+newspapers crazy, from New Orleans to New York--why, you're famous,
+that is, notorious! But so is Miss Emory, that's the worst of it. I
+don't just fancy she'll just fancy some of those pictures, or some of
+those stories. Least you can do now is to marry Helena and the old
+girl, too, right off!"
+
+"In part, that is good advice," said I. "I wish I could wear your
+clothes, Cal--but I remember now that Edouard and I can wear the same
+clothes, and have, many a time."
+
+"But I say, don't be so hoggish. There's other people in the world
+beside you--_you'd_ never have thought of making that river cruise,
+now would you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor you couldn't have got Helena aboard the boat if you had, now
+could you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Let alone the old girl, her revered aunt!" He dug another thumb into
+his own pink striped waistcoat. "She loves you a lot, I am not of the
+impression!"
+
+"No, I think she rather favored you!" I replied gravely.
+
+"No chance! And I say, isn't Sally a humdinger? Just the sort for
+me--something doing every minute. And a fellow can always tell just
+what she's thinkin'----"
+
+"I'm not right sure, Cal, whether that's safe to say of any woman,"
+said I. "A ship on the sea, or a serpent on a rock has--to use your
+own quaint manner of speech, my friend--so to speak, nothing on the
+way of a maid with a man. But go on. I do congratulate you. Do you
+know, old man, I almost thought, once--a good while ago--that you were
+just a little--that is--_epris_ of Helena your own self?"
+
+"Come again? 'Apree'--what's that?"
+
+"--Gone on her."
+
+"Oh, not at all, not at all--not in the least! Why, I can't see what
+in the world--oh, well of course, you know, she's _fine_; but what I
+mean is, why--there was Sally, you know. Say, do you know why I wanted
+to get Sally away on that boat?--I was afraid you'd cut in somewhere,
+run across her down at Mardi Gras, or something. And I just _figured_,
+once you got a girl on a boat that way, away from all the other
+fellows, you know, why even a plain chap like me would have a chance,
+do you see? And I say now, I'll own it up--I was right down _jealous_
+of _you_, too! Wasn't it silly? And I ask your pardon. You're an
+awfully good sort, Harry, though you're so d----d serious--you get too
+much in earnest, take things too hard, you know. Will you shake hands
+with me, knowing what a fool I've been? I say, you're the best chap in
+the world, old man--if only you were a little more _human_ once in a
+while."
+
+He put out his hand and I met it. "Will you shake hands with me, Cal?"
+said I, "on precisely those same terms about having been an awful
+fool? It's you who are the best chap in the world. And I'll admit
+it--I was jealous of you!"
+
+He roared at this. "Well," said he, "as George Cohan says, 'All's well
+that ends well', and I guess we couldn't beat this for a championship
+year, now could we? Now say, about Dingleheimer----"
+
+"Oh, hang Dingleheimer, Cal!" I exclaimed. "What I want to know is,
+did you ever talk any to Miss Emory about--well, about me, you
+know?--say anything about my affairs, or anything, you know? I mean
+while you were there on the boat together."
+
+"No. She wouldn't let me. Besides, the truth is, I was so full of
+Sally all the time, I mostly talked about _her_. By Jove! that was a
+measly trick you played us, running off with the boat from under my
+nose! But I proposed to Sally in Natchez that night, and she came on
+down to the city the next day by rail--while _I_ ran down in that
+dirty little scow you left behind. And I never tumbled for days that
+it was _you_ had run off with the boat--though I found a photo of
+Helena and your cigarette case in the boat you left. Never tumbled
+till that story of the taxi driver came out. Then I said, 'Well, of
+all things! Wonder if that old stick has really come to life after
+all!' And you sure had! What's in _your_ letter? Say, ain't a boat the
+place----"
+
+"But how did you happen to be here?"
+
+"Oh, I've known Ed Manning years, in New York, Paris, all around. He
+asked me to visit him some time. I wired and asked him if I could come
+out for our honeymoon--you know, Harry, I'm such a d----d romantic son
+of a gun, and once before I was out here at Ed's, and those d----d
+nightingales, catbirds, what d'ye call 'ems----"
+
+"--Mockers."
+
+"Yes, mockers, they sung so sweet, especial in the evenings, you
+know--and I'm so d----d romantic--_always_ was thataway--and you know,
+why, a fellow _can_ be romantic on his honeymoon, can't he?--he can
+just cut loose then an' be as big a d--n fool as he likes then--an'
+get away with it, what? Say, can't he?"
+
+--"Yes."
+
+--"So that's why I came."
+
+--"But--honeymoon? Are you going to be married?"
+
+--"Naw! I ain't goin' to be married--I _am_ married! Day before
+yesterday, in New Orleans. And I don't believe in dandlin' an' foolin'
+around about a little thing like that. Ain't you married yet?"
+
+"No. Impossible. No preacher on Cote Blanche Bay or on our boat. I've
+got Aunt Lucinda Daniver along, to take care of the proprieties. If I
+should leave it to her, I never would be married."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"She thinks I'm broke."
+
+"Yes, too bad about that! I wish I could swap bank rolls with you. Why
+didn't you tell her the truth--and Helena, too? Why didn't you tell
+'em it was your own yacht? Why didn't you tell 'em you're worth a few
+millions and don't have to work?"
+
+"I don't know--maybe I'm like you, Cal, foolish about nightingales and
+things. But tell me--you never did tell them anything about that Sally
+M. mine business, did you?"
+
+"No, I should say not! Didn't you tell me you didn't want it to get
+out? It was bad enough, the way old Dan and your--sainted father
+handed it to each other over that mine, wasn't it? I know about it,
+for I promoted that mine myself, and the name'll prove that--Sally M.
+Byington, with the Byington left off! There wasn't a blasted thing in
+it then. But when you--like a blame quixotic fool--after she was good
+for six thousand a month velvet, and ore blocked out to last a
+thousand years--why, then you fool around in Papa's records, and think
+Papa wasn't on the square with old Dan. So on the quiet you get it all
+made over, back to old Dan's daughter; and take a sneak into the
+hazelbrush when she turns you down! Say, you know what _I'd_ a-done?"
+
+"No."
+
+--"I'd a-held on to the mine and told the girl how much it was
+bringin' in--that's _my_ system. Then I'd a-got the mine and the girl
+both, maybe!"
+
+--"Maybe."
+
+"Well, that's the system I'd a-played. I wouldn't a-took to the tall
+grass, me."
+
+"On the other hand, I played a system invented by myself and Henri
+L'Olonnois."
+
+"I never heard of him. Well, anyhow, you were rich enough to afford to
+do what you liked. But as to keeping it secret, you can't do that any
+longer. Those newspaper fellows are the devil to get hold of things.
+Since all this stuff came out about you running away with your own
+boat--I can see now why you did it, and I'm glad you did--why, your
+whole life history has been printed, including all that restitution
+business about the Sally M. Fellows came to me and asked me about you,
+asked if I knew you. Said, yes, I knew you--said you were a romantic
+chap, and a good business man, too--and the best old scout in the
+world--what?"
+
+I had arisen, and stood in some doubt. "What's the matter--let's go
+on up to the house. I want to see Sally," he concluded.
+
+"And I want very much to see Helena," said I. "Only, it's going to be
+rather harder now to meet her--and Mrs. Daniver."
+
+"Well, I don't know," said Cal Davidson; "every fellow plays his own
+system. There's something in what you say about women having a good
+poker face so far as tellin' what they think about a man is
+concerned--yes. Frinstance, how much did Helena know I knew, or know
+you knew or thought you knew--well, you get me? But the trouble with
+you is, you ain't romantic in your temperament like me.... But if I
+was you, I wouldn't be scared to tell Mrs. Daniver I had a dollar and
+a quarter or so left! It'll soften the blow some to her, maybe. And as
+for Helena----"
+
+"And as for Helena, I can look her in the face, and she can me, now.
+And--will you telephone to New Iberia for a minister--at once--for
+this evening train? And will you tell Edouard to have his man lay out
+his best evening clothes for me--tell him I'll trade him these of my
+cook's for them--and a suit of traveling clothes? Because, oh! fellow
+varlet----" (I paused here; we both did; for a mocker just now broke
+into an extraordinary burst of song, so sweet, so throbbingly sweet,
+that we could not help but listen, both of us being lovers)....
+
+"What were you saying, old man?" Cal Davidson asked after a while,
+musingly, as one awakening.... "Some bird, what?"
+
+... "Because, to-night," I answered, "I am going to marry my fair
+captive, yon heartless jade, Helena. I've loved her always, rich or
+poor, and she loves me, rich or poor. And we shall live happy ever
+after. And may God bless us, and all true lovers!"
+
+"Amen!" I heard some one say; and have often wondered whether it was
+yon varlet, the mocking-bird, or Cal Davidson himself, who spoke.... I
+looked around for Partial. He had followed Helena.
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[B] (The words in Helena's note, addressed to Henry Francis Drake,
+Esquire, were, as I have said, but two: "Yes--Now". That was why I was
+married that evening. It was curious about the wedding ring, for that
+I would not borrow; so an old negro blacksmith took a gold ring
+Edouard gave me, one found years ago by a Cajun treasure hunter in
+some one of the few successful hunts for the treasure of Jean Lafitte;
+and into this, in place of the gem long since missing, he clasped my
+pearl, the one we got on the river far in the north; the great pearl
+later known as the largest and most brilliant ever found in fresh
+water. It was I who named it the "_Belle Helene_". So that our ring
+pleased all but L'Olonnois and Jean Lafitte. These two pirates had set
+at work that very afternoon, with 'Polyte (by Edouard's consent) and
+dug behind the smoke-house. Wonderful enough, they did find old
+bricks, enclosing a sort of hollow cavity, bricks of an ancient day;
+and though they got nothing else ('Polyte said he knew who had beaten
+them to this treasure--it was Achilles Dufrayne of Calcasieu, curse
+him!) they both explained how easy it would be to deceive the fair
+captive into thinking we really had found the ring's setting as well
+as the ring itself, in a pirate treasure-box. I would not do that, on
+the ground that already I had deceived the fair captive quite
+enough.... But, though yon varlet, my friend dear old Cal Davidson,
+spoke rather freely about his honeymoon, and all that, I can not do so
+of mine with Helena.... I did not know that I could again be so happy.
+Often I have wished I were a romantic man, like dear old Cal.... I
+fear my book on the mosquitoes of North America never will be written
+now.--H. F. D.)
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+Minor typographic errors in spelling and punctuation have been
+corrected without note.
+
+The Table of Contents has been made consistent with the chapter
+headers, as follows--"In Which I Have a Polite Conversation" amended
+to "In Which I Have Polite Conversation"; "In Which Is Certain
+Conversation" amended to "In Which Is Certain Polite Conversation".
+
+This book contains some archaic spelling, and some dialect; this is
+all reproduced here as in the original.
+
+Illustrations have been moved slightly so that they are not in the
+middle of a paragraph. The frontispiece illustration has been moved to
+follow the title page.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Lady and the Pirate, by Emerson Hough
+
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