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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of West Wind Drift, by George Barr McCutcheon
+
+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: West Wind Drift
+
+Author: George Barr McCutcheon
+
+Release Date: July, 2004  [EBook #6014]
+Posting Date: March 26, 2009
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WEST WIND DRIFT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Carrie Fellman
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+WEST WIND DRIFT
+
+By George Barr McCutcheon
+
+
+
+On a bright, still morning in October, the Doraine sailed from a South
+American port and turned her glistening nose to the northeast. All told,
+there were some seven hundred and fifty souls on board; and there
+were stores that filled her holds from end to end,--grain, foodstuffs,
+metals, chemicals, rubber and certain sinister things of war. Her
+passenger list contained the names of men who had achieved distinction
+in world affairs,--in finance, in business, in diplomacy, in war,
+besides that less subtle pursuit, adventure: men from both hemispheres,
+from all continents. It was a cosmopolitan company that sailed out to
+sea that placid day, bound for a port six thousand miles away.
+
+Her departure, heavy-laden, from this South American port was properly
+recorded in the then secret annals of a great nation; the world at
+large, however, was none the wiser. For those were the days when sly
+undersea monsters of German descent were prowling about the oceans,
+taking toll of humanity and breeding the curse that was to abide with
+their progenitors forever.
+
+Down through the estuary and into the spreading bay slid the big
+steamer; abreast the curving coast-line she drove her way for leagues
+and leagues, and then swept boldly into the vast Atlantic desert.
+
+Four hundred years ago and more, Amerigo Vespucci had sailed this
+unknown southern sea in his doughty caravel; he had wallowed and rocked
+for months over a course that the Doraine was asked to cover in the wink
+of an eye by comparison. Up from the south he had come in an age when
+the seas he sailed were no less strange than the land he touched from
+time to time; the blue waste of sky and sea as boundless then as now;
+the west wind drift as sure and unfailing; the waves as savage or
+as mild; the star by which he laid his course as far away and
+immutable,--but he came in 1501 and his ship was alone in the trackless
+ocean.
+
+The mighty Doraine was not alone; she sailed a sea whose every foot was
+charted, whose every depth was sounded. She sailed in an age of Titans,
+while the caravel was a frolicksome pygmy, dancing to the music of a
+thousand winds, buffeted today, becalmed tomorrow, but always a snail on
+the face of the waters. Four hundred years ago Vespucci and his men were
+lost in the wilderness of waves. Out of touch with the world were they
+for months,--aye, even years,--and no man knew whither they sailed nor
+whence they came, for those were the days when the seven seas kept their
+secrets better than they keep them now.
+
+Into the path traversed by the lowly caravel steamed the towering
+Doraine, pointing her gleaming nose to the north and east.
+
+She was never seen again.
+
+Out from the lairs of the great American navy sped the swiftest
+hounds of the ocean. They swept the face of the waters with a thousand
+sleepless eyes; they called with the strange, mysterious voice that
+carries a thousand miles; they raked the sea as with a fine-tooth comb;
+they searched the coast of a continent; they penetrated its rivers,
+circled its islands, scanned its rocks and reefs,--and asked a single
+question that had but one reply from every ship that sailed the southern
+sea.
+
+For months ships of all nations searched for the missing steamer. Not so
+much as the smallest piece of wreckage rewarded the ceaseless quest. The
+great vessel, with all its precious cargo, had slipped into its niche
+among the profoundest mysteries of the sea. Came the day, therefore,
+when the Secretary of the Navy wrote down against her name the ugly
+sentence: "Lost with all on board."
+
+Maritime courts issued their decrees; legatees parcelled estates, great
+and small; insurance companies paid in hard cash for the lives that
+were lost, and went blandly about their business; more than one widow
+reconsidered her thoughts of self-denial; and ships again sailed the
+course of Amerigo Vespucci without a thought of the Doraine.
+
+For months the newspapers in many lands speculated on the fate of the
+missing liner. That a great ship could disappear from the face of the
+waters in these supreme days of navigation without leaving so much as
+a trace behind was inconceivable. At first there were tales of the
+dastardly U-boats; then came the sinister reports of treachery on board
+resulting in the ship being taken over by German plotters, with the
+prediction that she would emerge from oblivion as a well-armed "raider"
+cruising in the North Atlantic; then the generally accepted theory that
+she had been swiftly, suddenly rent asunder by a mighty explosion in
+her hold. All opinions, all theories, all conjectures, however, revolved
+about a single fear;--that she was the victim of a German plot. But
+in the course of events there came a day when the German Navy, ever
+boastful of its ignoble deeds, issued the positive and no doubt sincere
+declaration that it had no record of the sinking of the Doraine. The
+fate of the ship was as much of a mystery to the German admiralty as it
+was to the rest of the puzzled world.
+
+And so it was that the Doraine, laden with nearly a thousand souls,
+sailed out into the broad Atlantic and was never heard from again.
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK ONE.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+The Captain of the liner was an old man. He had sailed the seas for
+two-score years, at least half of them as master. At the outbreak of the
+Great War he was given command of the Doraine, relieving a younger man
+for more drastic duty in the North Sea. He was an Englishman, and his
+name, Weatherby Trigger, may be quite readily located on the list of
+retired naval officers in the British Admiralty offices if one cares to
+go to the trouble to look it up.
+
+After two years the Doraine, with certain other vessels involved in a
+well-known and somewhat thoroughly debated transaction, became to all
+intents and purposes the property of the United States of America; she
+flew the American flag, carried an American guncrew and American papers,
+and, with some difficulty, an English master. The Captain was making his
+last voyage as master of the ship. An American captain was to succeed
+him as soon as the Doraine reached its destination in the United States.
+Captain Trigger, a little past seventy, had sailed for nearly two
+years under the American flag at a time when all Englishmen were looking
+askance at it and wondering if it was ever to take its proper place
+among the righteous banners of the world. It had taken its place among
+them, and the "old man" was happy.
+
+His crew of one hundred and fifty was what might be aptly described as
+international. The few Englishmen he had on board were noticeably
+unfit for active duty in the war zone. There was a small contingent of
+Americans, a great many Portuguese, some Spaniards, Norwegians, and a
+more or less polyglot remainder without national classification.
+
+His First Officer was a Scotch-American, the Second an Irish-American,
+the Chief Engineer a plain unhyphenated American from Baltimore,
+Maryland. The purser, Mr. Codge, was still an Englishman, although he
+had lived in the United States since he was two years old,--a matter of
+forty-seven years and three months, if we are to believe Mr. Codge,
+who seemed rather proud of the fact that his father had neglected to
+forswear allegiance to Queen Victoria, leaving it to his son to follow
+his example in the case of King Edward the Seventh and of King George
+the Fifth.
+
+There were eighty-one first-cabin passengers, one hundred and nineteen
+in the second cabin,--for the two had not been consolidated on the
+Doraine as was the case with the harried trans-Atlantic liners,--and
+approximately three hundred and fifty in the steerage. The first
+and second cabin lists represented many races, South Americans
+predominating.
+
+The great republics in the lower half of the hemisphere were cut
+off almost entirely from the Old World so far as general travel was
+concerned. The people of Argentine, Brazil and Chili turned their eyes
+from the east and looked to the north, where lay the hitherto ignored
+and sometime hated continent whose middle usurped the word American. A
+sea voyage in these parlous days meant but one thing to the people of
+South America: a visit to an unsentimental land whose traditions, if any
+were cherished at all, went back no farther than yesterday and were to
+be succeeded by fresh ones tomorrow. At least, such was the belief of
+the Latin who still dozed superciliously in the glory of his long-dead
+ancestors. Not having Paris, or London, or Madrid, or Rome as the Mecca
+of his dreams, his pilgrimage now carried him to the infidel realities
+of the North,--to Washington, New York, New Orleans, Newport and
+Atlantic City! He had the money for travel, so why stay at home? He had
+the money to waste, so why not dissipate? He had the thirst for sin, so
+why famish?
+
+There were lovely women on board, and children with and without the
+golden spoon; there were men whose names were known on both sides of
+the Atlantic and whose reputations for integrity, sagacity, intellect,
+and,--it must be confessed,--corruptness, (with the author's apology for
+the inclusion); doughty but dogmatic university men who had penetrated
+the wildernesses as naturalists, entomologists, mineralogists,
+archaeologists, explorers; sportsmen who had forsaken the lion,
+rhinoceros, hartebeest and elephant of Africa for the jaguar, cougar,
+armadillo and anteater of South America; soldiers of fortune whose
+gods had lured them into the comparative safety of South American
+revolutions; miners, stock buyers and raisers, profiteersmen, diplomats,
+priests, preachers, gamblers, smugglers and thieves; others who had
+gone out for the Allies to buy horses, beeves, grain, metal, chemicals,
+manganese and men; financiers, merchants, lawyers, writers, musicians,
+doctors, dentists, architects; gentiles and Jews, Protestants and
+Catholics, skeptics and infidels,--in short, good men, bad men, beggar
+men, thieves.
+
+The world will readily recall such names and personalities as these:
+Abel T. Landover, the great New York banker; Peter Snipe, the novelist;
+Solomon Nicklestick, the junior member in the firm of Winkelwein &
+Nicklestick, importers of hides, etc., Ninth Avenue, New York; Moses
+Block, importer of rubber; James January Jones, of San Francisco,
+promoter and financier; Randolph Fitts, of Boston, the well-known
+architect; Percy Knapendyke, the celebrated naturalist; Michael
+O'Malley Malone, of the law firm of Eads, Blixton, Solomon, Carlson,
+Vecchiavalli, Revitsky, Perkins & Malone, New York; William Spinney,
+of the Chicago Police force, (and his prisoner, "Soapy" Shay, diamond
+thief); Denby Flattner, the taxidermist; Morris Shine, the motion
+picture magnate; Madame Careni-Amori, soprano from the Royal Opera,
+Rome; Signer Joseppi, the new tenor, described as the logical successor
+to the great Caruso; Madame Obosky and three lesser figures in
+the Russian Ballet, who were coming to the United States to head
+a long-heralded tour, "by special arrangement with the Czar"; Buck
+Chizler, the famous jockey,--and so on.
+
+These were the names most conspicuously displayed by the newspapers
+during the anxious, watchful days and weeks that succeeded the sailing
+of the Doraine from the port in the Tropic of Capricorn.
+
+Dozens of cities in the United States were represented by one or more
+persons on board the Doraine, travellers of both sexes who, being denied
+the privilege of a customary dash to Europe for the annual holiday,
+resolved not to be deprived of their right to wander, nor the right
+to return when they felt inclined. Whilom, defiant rovers in search of
+change, they scoffed at conditions and went their way regardless of
+the peril that stalked the seas. In the main they were money-spending,
+time-dragging charges against the resources of a harassed, bewildered
+government, claiming protection in return for arrogance.
+
+Far to the south, off the Falkland Islands, at the bottom of the sea,
+lay the battered hulls of what ware supposed to be the last of the
+German fighting-ships in South Atlantic waters. Report had it, however,
+that several well-armed cruisers had either escaped the hurricane of
+shells from the British warships, or had been detached from the squadron
+before the encounter took place. In any event, no vessel left a South
+American port without maintaining a sharp lookout for prowling survivors
+of the vanquished fleet, and no passenger went aboard who did not
+experience the thrill of a hazardous undertaking. The ever-present and
+ever-ready individual with official information from sources that could
+not be questioned, travelled with remarkable regularity on each and
+every craft that ventured out upon the Hun-infested waters. In the
+smoke-room the invariable word went round that raiders were sinking
+everything in sight. Every ship that sailed had on board at least one
+individual who claimed to have been chased on a former voyage by a
+blockade-breaker,--(according to the most reliable reports, the Germans
+were slipping warships through the vaunted British net with the most
+astounding ease and frequency,)--and there was no one with the hardihood
+or desire to question his veracity; indeed, it was something of a joy
+to believe him, for was he not a living and potential document to prove
+that the merchant marine could outwit, outrace and outshoot the German
+pirates?
+
+The Doraine was barely twenty-four hours out from port and ploughing
+along steadily through a choppy sea when Mr. Mott, the First Officer,
+reported to Captain Trigger that a stowaway had been found on board.
+
+"German?" inquired Captain Trigger tersely.
+
+"No, sir. At least, he doesn't look it and, what's more, he doesn't act
+it. Claims to be American born and bred."
+
+"That's what a great many Germans are claiming these days, Mr. Mott. We
+can't take any chances, you know. Where was he found?"
+
+Mr. Mott cleared his throat. "Ahem! He wasn't what you might call found,
+sir. As a matter of fact, he applied in person to the Chief Engineer
+about half an hour ago and asked for a job. He said he was perfectly
+willing to work out his passage home. Mr. Gray had him conducted to me,
+sir,--rather sharply guarded, of course,--and he--"
+
+"Fetch him here at once, Mr. Mott," commanded Captain Trigger. "I'll
+hear what he has to say first hand."
+
+"Very well, sir." Mr. Mott started away, hesitated, rubbed his chin
+dubiously, and then came back. "He's having a bit of breakfast, sir, and
+has asked for the loan of Mr. Codge's razors--"
+
+"What?" roared the captain.
+
+"I informed him he would have to appear before you at once, sir, and he
+said he was quite willing to do so, but would it be possible for him
+to tidy up a bit beforehand. I am obliged to confess, sir, that I have
+never encountered a more interesting stowaway in all my career, which
+leads me to confess still further that I gave orders to feed him,--he
+hasn't had a mouthful to eat since we left port, owing to the fact, he
+says, that his luggage shifted the first day out and try as he would
+he couldn't locate it without a match, or something to that effect,--he
+rather stumped me, sir, with the graceful way he lies,--and then Mr.
+Codge agreed to let him take one of his razors, and when I left him
+below, sir, it seemed quite certain that Mr. Gray was on the point of
+lending him a shirt and a change of underwear. I--"
+
+"Good God, sir!" gasped Captain Trigger, with something more than
+emotion in his voice. "What is this you are telling me?"
+
+"He seems a most likeable chap," explained Mr. Mott lamely. "Quite
+a courteous fellow, too, sir. I forgot to mention that he sent his
+compliments to you and asks for an interview at your earliest conven--"
+
+"Asked for an interview? Drag him here at once--by the heels, if
+necessary. Tell him I shan't keep him waiting an instant," said the
+captain ironically.
+
+Mr. Mott still hesitated. "In the event, sir, that he is in the midst of
+shaving--"
+
+"I don't care a hang what he's in the midst of," exclaimed Captain
+Trigger. "Even in the midst of changing shirts. Present my compliments
+to him, Mr. Mott, and say that he needn't dress up on my account. I
+am an old-fashioned sailor-man. It is nothing new to me to see men who
+haven't shaved in a fortnight, and others who never change shirts."
+
+"Very well, sir," said Mr. Mott, and departed.
+
+Presently he reappeared with the stowaway in charge.
+
+Captain Trigger beheld a well set-up young man of medium height, with
+freshly shaven chin and jaws, carefully brushed hair, spotless white
+shirt and collar, and,--revealed in a quick glance,--recently scrubbed
+hands. His brown Norfolk jacket was open, and he carried a brand new,
+though somewhat shapeless pan-ama hat in his hand. Evidently he had
+ceased fanning himself with it at the moment of entering the captain's
+presence. The keen, good-looking face was warm and moist as the result
+of a most violent soaping. He wore corduroy riding-breeches, cavalry
+boots that betrayed their age in spite of a late polishing at the hands
+of an energetic and carefully directed bootblack, and a broad leather
+belt from which only half an eye was required to see that a holster had
+been detached with a becoming regard for neatness. His hair was thick
+and sun-bleached; his eyes, dark and unafraid, met the stern gaze of
+the captain with directness and respect; his lips and chin were firm in
+repose, but they might easily be the opposite if relaxed; his skin was
+so tanned and wind-bitten that the whites of his eyes were startlingly
+defined and vivid. He was not a tall man,--indeed, one would have been
+justified in suspecting him of being taller than he really was because
+of the more or less deceiving erectness with which he carried himself.
+As a matter of fact, he was not more than five feet ten or ten and a
+half.
+
+Captain Trigger eyed him narrowly for a moment.
+
+"What is your name?"
+
+"A. A. Percival, sir."
+
+"Your full name, young man. No initials."
+
+The stowaway seemed to add an inch to his height before replying.
+
+"Algernon Adonis Percival, sir," he said, a very clear note of defiance
+in his voice.
+
+The Captain looked at the First Officer, and the First Officer, after a
+brief stare at the speaker, looked at the Captain.
+
+"It's his right name, you can bet, sir," said Mr. Mott, with conviction.
+"Nobody would voluntarily give himself a name like that."
+
+"You never can tell about these Americans, Mr. Mott," said the Captain
+warily. "They've got what they call a keen sense of humour, you know."
+
+Mr. Percival smiled. His teeth were very white and even.
+
+"I am a first and only child," he explained. "That ought to account for
+it, sir," he went on, a trifle defensively.
+
+Captain Trigger did not smile. Mr. Mott, however, looked distinctly
+sympathetic.
+
+"You say you are an American,--a citizen of the United States?" demanded
+the former.
+
+"Yes, sir. My home is in Baltimore."
+
+"Baltimore?" repeated Mr. Mott quickly. "That's where Mr. Gray hails
+from, sir," he added, as a sort of apology to the Captain for the
+exclamation.
+
+The Captain's gaze settled on the stowaway's spotless white shirt and
+collar. Then he nodded his head slowly.
+
+"Mr. Gray is the Chief Engineer," he explained, with mock courtesy.
+
+"Yes, sir,--I know," responded Percival. "He comes of one of the oldest
+and most highly connected families in Baltimore. He informs me that his
+father--"
+
+"Never mind!" snapped the Captain. "We need not discuss Mr. Gray's
+antecedents. How old are you?"
+
+"Thirty last Friday, sir."
+
+"Married?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Parents living?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"And now, what the devil do you mean by sneaking aboard this ship and
+hiding yourself in the--by the way, Mr. Mott, where was he hiding?"
+
+Mr. Mott: "It doesn't seem to be quite clear as yet, sir."
+
+Captain Trigger: "What's that?"
+
+Mr. Mott: "I say, it isn't quite clear. We have only his word for it.
+You see, he wasn't discovered until he accosted Mr. Shannon on the
+bridge and asked--"
+
+Captain Trigger: "On the bridge, Mr. Mott?"
+
+Mr. Mott: "That is to say, sir, Mr. Shannon was on the bridge and he was
+below on the promenade deck. He asked Mr. Shannon if he was the Captain
+of the boat."
+
+Captain Trigger: "He did, eh? Well?"
+
+Mr. Mott: "He was informed that you were at breakfast, sir,--no one
+suspecting him of being a stowaway, of course,--and then, it appears,
+he started out to look for you. That's how he fell in with the Chief
+Engineer. Mr. Gray informs me that he applied for work, admitting that
+he was aboard without leave, or passage, or funds, or anything else,
+it would seem. But, as for where he lay in hiding, there hasn't been
+anything definite arrived at as yet, sir. He seems to have been hiding
+in a rather wide-spread sort of way."
+
+Mr. Percival, amiably: "Permit me to explain, Captain Trigger. You see,
+I have been obliged to change staterooms three times. Naturally, that
+might be expected to create some little confusion in my mind. I began
+in the second cabin. Much to my surprise and chagrin I found, too late,
+that the stateroom I had chosen,--at random, I may say,--was merely in
+the state of being prepared for a lady and gentleman who had asked to be
+transferred from a less desirable one. I had some difficulty in getting
+out of it without attracting attention. I don't know what I should have
+done if the steward hadn't informed them that he could not move their
+steamer-trunk until morning. There wouldn't have been room for both of
+us under the berth, sir. If the gentleman had been alone I shouldn't
+have minded in the least remaining, under his berth, but he--"
+
+Captain Trigger: "How did you happen to get into that room, young man?
+The doors are never unlocked when the rooms are unoccupied."
+
+Mr. Percival: "You are mistaken, sir. I found at least three stateroom
+doors unlocked that night, and my search was by no means extensive."
+
+Captain Trigger: "This is most extraordinary, Mr. Mott,--if true."
+
+Mr. Mott: "It shall be looked into, sir."
+
+Captain Trigger: "Go on, young man."
+
+Mr. Percival: "I tried another room in the second cabin, but had
+to abandon it also. It had no regular occupant,--it was Number 221
+remember,--but along about midnight two men opened the door with a key
+and came in. They were stewards. I gathered that they were getting
+the room ready for someone else, so when they departed,--very quietly,
+sir,--I sneaked out and decided to try for accommodations in the first
+cabin. I--"
+
+Mr. Mott: "Did you say stewards?"
+
+Mr. Percival: "That's what I took them to be."
+
+Captain Trigger: "You are either lying, young man, or plumb crazy."
+
+Mr. Percival, with dignity: "The latter is quite possible, Captain,--but
+not the former. I managed quite easily to get from the second cabin to
+the first. You'd be surprised to know how simple it was. Running without
+lights as you do, sir, simplified things tremendously. I found a very
+sick and dejected Jewish gentleman trying to die in the least exposed
+corner of the promenade deck. At least, he said he didn't want to live.
+I offered to put him to bed and to sit up with him all night if it would
+make him feel a little less like passing away. He lurched at the chance.
+I accompanied him to his stateroom, and so got a few much-needed
+hours of repose, despite his groans. I also ate his breakfast for him.
+Skirmishing around this morning, I found there were no unoccupied rooms
+in the first cabin, so I decided that we were far enough from land for
+me to reveal myself to the officer of the day,--if that's what you call
+'em on board ship,--with a very honest and laudable desire to work my
+passage home. I can only add, Captain, that I am ready and willing to do
+anything from swabbing floors on the upper deck to passing coal at the
+bottom of the ship."
+
+Captain Trigger stared hard at the young man, a puzzled expression in
+his eyes.
+
+"You appear to be a gentleman," he said at last. "Why are you on board
+this ship as a stowaway? Don't you know that I can put you in irons,
+confine you to the brig, and put you ashore at the first port of call?"
+
+"Certainly, sir. That's just what I am trying to avoid. As a gentleman,
+I am prepared to do everything in my power to relieve you of what must
+seem a most painful official duty."
+
+Mr. Mott smiled. The Captain stiffened perceptibly.
+
+"How did you come aboard this ship?" he demanded.
+
+"As a coal passer, sir. Day before yesterday, when you were getting
+in the last lot of coal. I had a single five dollar gold piece in my
+pocket. It did the trick. With that seemingly insignificant remnant of
+a comfortable little fortune, I induced one of the native coal
+carriers,--a Portuguese nobleman, I shall always call him,--to part
+with his trousers, shirt and hat. I slipped 'em on over my own clothes,
+stuffed my boots and socks inside my shirt, picked up his basket of
+coal, and walked aboard. It isn't necessary, I suppose, to state that my
+career as a dock-hand ceased with that solitary basket of coal, or that
+having once put foot aboard the Doraine, I was in a position to book
+myself as a passenger."
+
+"Well, I'm damned!" said Captain Trigger. "Some one shall pay for this
+carelessness, Mr. Mott. I've never heard of anything so cool. What did
+you say your name is, young man?"
+
+"A. A. Percival, sir."
+
+"Ah--ahem! I see. Will it offend you, A. A., if I make so bold as to
+inquire why the devil you neglected to book your passage in the regular
+way, as any gentleman from Baltimore might have been expected to do, and
+where is your passport, your certificate of health, your purse and your
+discharge from prison?"
+
+Mr. Percival spread out his hands in a gesture of complete surrender.
+
+"Would you be interested in my story, Captain Trigger? It is brief, but
+edifying. When I arrived in town, the evening before you were to sail,
+I had a wallet well-filled with gold, currency, and so forth. I had
+travelled nearly two thousand miles,--from the foothills of the Andes,
+to be more definite,--and I had my papers, my cancelled contract, and a
+clear right-of-way, so to speak. My personal belongings were supposed to
+have arrived in town on the train with me. A couple of cow-hide trunks,
+in fact. Well, they didn't arrive. I don't know what became of them. I
+had no time to investigate. This was the last boat I could get for
+two or three weeks that would land me in the U. S. A. I put up at the
+Alcazar Grand for the night. It was then too late to secure passage, but
+I fully intended to do so the first thing in the morning. There was a
+concert and dance at the hotel that night, and I went in to look on for
+awhile. I ran across a friend, an engineer who was on the job with me
+up in the hills a few months ago. He is also an American, a chap from
+Providence, Rhode Island. Connected with the consular service now. He
+was with a small party of Americans,--am I boring you?"
+
+"No, no,--get on with it," urged Captain Trigger.
+
+"Several of them were sailing on this ship, and they were having a
+little farewell party. That, however, has nothing to do with the case.
+I left them at midnight and went up to my room. Now comes the part you
+will not believe. During the night,--I sleep very soundly,--some one
+entered my room, rifled my pockets, and got away with everything I
+possessed, except my clothes and the five-dollar gold piece I have
+carried ever since I left home,--as a lucky coin, you know. He--"
+
+"How did he happen to overlook your lucky coin?" inquired the Captain
+sarcastically.
+
+"Because it couldn't be a lucky coin if I carried it in my purse. No
+coin is ever lucky that gets into my purse, Captain. I always kept it
+tightly sewed up in the band of my trousers, safe from the influence of
+evil companions. I did not discover the loss until morning. It was then
+too late to do anything, as you were sailing at eight. My Providence
+friend was not available. I knew no one else. But I was determined to
+sail on the Doraine. That's the story, sir, in brief. I leave it to
+you if I wasn't justified in doing the best I could under the
+circumstances."
+
+Captain Trigger was not as fierce as he looked. He could not keep the
+twinkle out of his eye.
+
+"We will see about that," he managed to say with commendable gruffness.
+"Assuming that your story is true, why are you in such a tremendous
+hurry to reach the United States? Skipping out for some reason, eh?"
+
+"Well," said the young man slowly, "you see, news is a long time getting
+out into the wilderness where I've been located for a couple of years.
+We knew, of course, that there was a war on, but we didn't know how it
+was progressing. Down here in this part of the world we have a war every
+two or three months, and we've got so used to having 'em over within a
+week or two that we just naturally don't pay much attention to them.
+We don't even care who wins. But a couple of months ago we got word
+up there that the United States had finally got into it with everybody
+under the sun, and that the Germans were bound to win if we didn't get
+a couple of million men across in pretty short order. I am thirty years
+old, Captain, strong and healthy, and I'm a good American. That's why
+I want to get home. I've told you the truth about being robbed. I don't
+mind losing the money,--only a couple of thousand pesos, you know,--but
+if you chuck me off at the next port of call, Captain Trigger, I'll
+curse you to my dying day. I'm willing to work, I'm willing to be put in
+irons, I'm willing to get along on bread and water, but you've just got
+to land me in the United States. You are an Englishman. I suppose you've
+got relatives over in France fighting the Germans. Maybe you've had some
+one killed who is dear to you."
+
+"My youngest son was killed in Flanders," said the Captain simply.
+
+"I am sorry, sir. Well, for every Englishman and every Frenchman who has
+died over there, my country ought to supply some one to take his place.
+I expect to be one of those men, Captain. I have no other excuse for
+coming aboard your ship as a stowaway."
+
+The Captain still eyed him narrowly.
+
+"I believe you are honest, young man. If I am deceived in you I shall
+never trust the eyes of another man as long as I live. Sit down, Mr.
+Percival. I shall put you to work, never fear, but in the meantime I am
+very much interested in what you were doing up in the hills. You will
+oblige me by going as fully as possible into all the details. I shall
+not pass judgment on you until I've heard all of your story."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+Algernon Adonis Percival, civil and mining engineer, Cornell, had gone
+through certain rather harsh stages of development in the mines of
+Montana and later in the perilous districts of Northern Mexico. A year
+or two prior to the breaking out of the great World War, he was sent
+to South America to replace the general superintendent of a new
+copper-mining enterprise in a remote section of the Andes, on
+the Bolivian side of the mountains. Here he was in charge of the
+heterogeneous horde of miners, labourers, structural workers and
+assayists who were engaged in the development and extension of the vast
+concession controlled by his company.
+
+His description of the camp or town in which this motley assemblage
+dwelt from one year's end to the other, far from civilization, was
+illuminating to the two sea-faring men. It must be confessed, however,
+that a sound reluctance to swallow the tale without the proverbial grain
+of salt caused them to watch closely for the slightest sign that might
+reveal to them the always-to-be expected and seldom successful
+duplicity so common in those harrowing days when all men were objects of
+suspicion. From time to time they glanced inquiringly at each other,
+but the stranger's story was so straightforward, so lacking in personal
+exploitation, so free from unnecessary detail, that they were finally
+convinced that he was all that he represented himself to be and that
+they had nothing to fear from him.
+
+His long, hazardous journey by horse through the passes down into the
+forests and jungles, out upon the endless, sparsely settled pampas,
+and eventually into the remote village that witnessed the passing every
+second day of a primitive and far from dependable railway train, was
+presented with agreeable simplicity and conciseness. He passed briefly
+over what might have been expanded into grave experiences, and at last
+came, so to speak, to the gates of the city, unharmed, resolute and full
+of the fire that knows no quenching.
+
+"By the way," observed the Captain, still wary, "has it occurred to you
+we may be justified in suspecting that you deserted your post up
+there in the hills, and that you have betrayed the confidence of your
+employers?" Percival had completed what he evidently believed to be a
+full and satisfactory account of himself.
+
+"I was in full charge up there, Captain Trigger. My contract had but a
+month more to run. I appointed my own successor, and the company will
+not be any the worse off for the change. My letter to headquarters,
+announcing my decision not to renew the contract, went forward two weeks
+before I left the camp. I merely anticipated the actual termination of
+my contract by a month or so, and as I handed my resignation at once to
+my own newly appointed superintendent, I submit that I acted in absolute
+good faith. I may say that he accepted it without a word of protest,
+sir. As a matter of fact, I told him in advance that I wouldn't appoint
+him unless he agreed to accept my resignation."
+
+The Captain smiled at this ingenuous explanation.
+
+"I daresay I ought to put you under guard, Mr. Percival," he said. "My
+duty is very plain. A stowaway is a stowaway, no matter how you look
+at him. The regulations do not leave me any choice. Maritime justice
+is rarely tempered by mercy. However, under the circumstances, I am
+inclined to accept your word of honour that you will not violate your
+parole if I refrain from putting you in irons. Have I your word of
+honour that you will not leave this ship until I hand you over to the
+proper authorities in the United States?"
+
+"You have, sir."
+
+"You are a very head-strong, ambitious young man. You will not jump
+overboard and try to beat us into port under your own steam?"
+
+"You may trust me, sir, never to give up the ship."
+
+"And you will kill as many Germans as possible?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said A. A. Percival submissively.
+
+Captain Trigger arose and extended his hand.
+
+"I've never done anything like this before in all my years as ship's
+master. You ought to be flogged and stowed away in the brig until you
+show a properly subdued spirit, young man. I suppose you've heard of the
+cat-o'-nine-tails?"
+
+"My reading up to the age of fifteen was confined almost exclusively to
+the genteel histories of pirates, buccaneers and privateersmen, Captain
+Trigger," announced A. A. Percival, taking the master's hand in a
+firm grip. "I wonder if you know what a black-snake whip is, or a
+cattle-adder? Well, they're both painful and convincing. As director of
+morals in the camp I have just left behind me, it was my official duty
+on frequent occasions to see to it that current offenders had from
+fifteen to fifty applications of the black-snake in a public sort of
+way. The black-snake, I may explain, could be wielded by a strong but
+unskilled arm. It was different, however, with the cattle-adder. That
+had to be handled by an expert, one who could stand off twenty paces,
+more or less, and crack the long lash with such astonishing precision
+that the tip end of it barely touched the back of the culprit, the
+result being a nobby assortment of splotches that looked for all the
+world like hives after the blood got back into them again. You see,
+I was chief magistrate, executioner ex-officio, chief of police, jury
+commissioner--in fact, an all-around potentate. Sort of Pooh-bah, you
+know. For serious offences, such as wife beating, wife stealing,
+or having more than one wife at a time, we were not so lenient. The
+offender, on conviction, was strung up by the thumbs and used as a
+target by amateurs who desired to become proficient in the use of the
+cattle-adder. Murderers were attended to a trifle more expeditiously.
+They were strung up by the neck."
+
+"Good God, man,--do you mean to say you hung men in that off-hand
+fashion?" cried Captain Trigger, aghast.
+
+"Not without a fair trial, sir. No innocent man was ever hung. There was
+no such thing as circumstantial evidence in that camp. The guilty man
+was always taken red-handed. We had good laws and they were rigidly
+enforced. There was no other way, sir. Short, sharp and decisive. It's
+the best way. Men understand that sort of thing and honest men approve
+of the method. You see, gentlemen, we had a hard lot of characters to
+deal with. I wish to add, however, that before I had been up there six
+months we had a singularly law-abiding and self-respecting camp. Crime
+was not tolerated, not even by the men who had once been criminals.
+If two men quarrelled, they were allowed to fight it out fairly and
+squarely in any way they could agree upon. Knives, hatchets and all
+other messy weapons were barred. It was either fists, pistols or rifles
+at a fairly long range, and under the strictest rules. Duels were fought
+according to Hoyle, and were witnessed by practically every one in camp.
+You will perceive that Copperhead Camp was no place for a coward or a
+bluffer or a bully. It takes a brave man to fight a duel with a chap who
+may be only half as big as he is, but who can shoot like the devil. So
+you see, Captain Trigger, the cat-o'-nine-tails has no terror for me."
+
+Mr. Mott regarded the young man with wide-open, somewhat incredulous
+eyes.
+
+"You don't look like a fire-eating, swashbuckling party to me," he said.
+
+"I am the most peaceable chap you've ever seen, Mr. Mott. You needn't
+be alarmed. I'm not going to bite a hole in the ship and scuttle her.
+Moreover, I am a very meek and lowly individual on board this ship.
+There's a lot of difference between being in supreme command with all
+kinds of authority to bolster you up and being a rat in a trap as I am
+now. Up in Copperhead Camp I was a nabob, here I'm a nobody. Up there I
+was the absolute boss of five or six hundred men,--I won't say I could
+boss the women,--and I made 'em all walk chalk without once losing
+step. There were murderers and crooks, blacklegs and gunmen in my genial
+aggregation, men whose true names we never knew, men who were wanted in
+every part of the civilized world. The only place on earth, I suppose,
+where they could feel reasonably at home was in that gosh-awful nowhere
+that we called Copperhead Camp. You can't handle such men with mittens.
+And there were good men there as well,--good, strong, righteous men.
+They were the leaven that made the whole thing palatable. Without them I
+could have had no authority. But I dare say I am boring you. The present
+situation is the one we're interested in, not the lordly past of your
+humble and, I trust, obedient servant."
+
+His smile was most engaging, but back of it the two seamen read
+strength, decision, integrity. The gay, bantering, whilom attitude of
+this unusual young man was not assumed. It was not a pose. He was not
+a dare-devil, nor was he a care-free, unstable youth who had matured
+abruptly in the exercise of power. On the contrary, he was,--and Captain
+Trigger knew it,--the personification of confidence, an optimist to whom
+victory and defeat are equally unavoidable and therefore to be reckoned
+as one in the vast scheme of human endeavour; a fighter who merely rests
+on his arms but never lays them down; a spirit that absorbs the bitters
+and the sweets of life with equal relish.
+
+Captain Trigger was not slow in making up his mind. This clean-minded,
+clean-bodied American with the confident though respectful smile, was a
+chap after his own heart.
+
+"I hardly know what to do with you, Percival," he said, a scowl of
+genuine perplexity in his eyes. "You are not an ordinary transgressor.
+You are a gentleman. You have exercised an authority perhaps somewhat
+similar to my own,--possibly in some respects your position up there was
+even more autocratic, if I may use the term. I am not unconscious of all
+this, and yet I have no choice other than that designated by law. The
+regulations are unalterable. It is a matter of morale, pure and simple.
+We are compelled to treat all stowaways alike. Of course, I shall not
+subject you to the ordinary--shall we say methods of--"
+
+"Pardon me, Captain," broke in the young man, his smile no longer in
+evidence; "I am asking no favours. I expect to be treated as an ordinary
+stowaway. Set me to work at anything you like and I will make as good a
+job of it as possible."
+
+"I was about to suggest that you serve as a sort of assistant to Mr.
+Codge, the purser. I've no doubt he could find something for you to do
+and--"
+
+"If that is your way of punishing me, Captain Trigger, of course there
+is nothing for me to do but to submit."
+
+"Eh? I am sure you will not find Mr. Codge a hard taskmaster. He is
+quite a good-natured man."
+
+"Extremely kind and considerate," hastily added Mr. Mott, reassuringly.
+
+"But I don't want to loaf my passage home," protested Percival. "I want
+to be sentenced to the hardest sort of labour, if you don't mind. I
+don't want to owe this steamship company a penny when I step ashore. It
+is your duty, sir, as master of this ship, to put me on the meanest job
+you've got."
+
+"My word!" exclaimed Captain Trigger.
+
+"I'm blessed!" said Mr. Mott.
+
+"Up where I've been running things and cock-walking like a foreman in a
+shirt-waist factory, I made the rules and I enforced them. I want to say
+to you that no favours were shown. If the Prince of Wales had drifted in
+there, dead broke, and asked for something to eat, he would have got it,
+but you bet your life he'd have had to work for it. A tramp's a tramp,
+no matter how much purple he's been used to, and you can say the same
+for a stowaway. What's the matter with me taking the place of one of
+those deck-hands, or whatever you call 'em, you lost last night?"
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Swabbers, maybe you call 'em. Men that mop up the decks after everybody
+else has turned in."
+
+"What are you talking about?" demanded the Captain, sitting up very
+straight. Percival stared at him in astonishment.
+
+"I thought you knew about it, of course. Good Lord, sir, don't you know
+that a couple of your men jumped overboard last night,--or early this
+morning, rather? Just as the ship was rounding that big headland--"
+
+"Good God, man, are you in earnest?" cried Mr. Mott, starting toward the
+door.
+
+"I certainly am. I took them for deserters, of course,--not suicides,
+because they didn't forget to put on life preservers before they jumped.
+I haven't a doubt they were picked up, so there's no use worrying. A
+minute or two after they went over,--from the bottom deck or whatever
+you call it,--I heard a motor boat popping away like a gatling-gun not
+far,--"
+
+But he was alone. Captain Trigger had dashed out of the cabin in the
+wake of the First Officer.
+
+Algernon Adonis Percival stared blankly at the open door.
+
+"Good Lord, why all this excitement over a couple of bums?" he said,
+addressing space. "If they were working for me, I'd thank the Lord to be
+rid of 'em so cheaply. They--Hello!"
+
+The Second Officer popped into the room.
+
+"Come along with me," he snapped. "Lively, now. Just where and when did
+you see a couple of men go overboard? Quietly, now. We don't want to
+alarm the passengers."
+
+Within five minutes after Percival's disturbing report, the officers
+of the Doraine, with set faces, were employed in a swift but silent
+investigation. Before many more minutes had passed, at least a portion
+of the stowaway's story had been verified. Two men were found to be
+missing, although, strange to say, they had not been missed up to the
+time that noses were counted. They were down on the ship's roster as
+Norwegians, New York registry, and had come down with the Doraine on her
+trip from the north.
+
+Percival repeated his story, but had little to add in the way of detail.
+He had stolen on deck some time after midnight for a breath of air,
+risking detection, and from the shelter of a secluded corner well aft
+had heard the two men swabbing the deck below. Suddenly they ceased
+work, and he prepared to creep back to a place of safety, concluding
+that they were on their way to the upper deck.
+
+He went to the rail to listen. The two men were almost directly below
+him, and he could see the upper portions of their figures as they leaned
+far out over the rail, apparently looking into the swirling waters
+below. Quite distinctly he heard one of them say, in English: "We got
+to do it now or never." The other mumbled something he could not
+distinguish. He was only mildly interested, not anticipating what was to
+follow. For a few seconds he heard them scrambling and puffing and then
+he saw them quite plainly on the rail, their figures bulky with what he
+identified as life buoys, a faint light from somewhere falling directly
+upon the grayish-white objects in which they were swathed.
+
+One of them uttered the word "Now!" and to his amazement they shot out,
+as one man, into the black-ness below. There was a single splash. For a
+moment or two he stood spell-bound. Then he heard some one running
+along the deck below. Convinced that the incident had been witnessed by
+others, he darted into the companion-way and made his way back to the
+stateroom of the sick passenger. Through the lightless porthole he
+listened for the terrifying shout, "Man overboard!" It did not come,
+but his ear caught the staccato beat of a motor near by, striking
+up abruptly out of the swish of rushing waters. In his ignorance, he
+decided that it was a boat from the ship going to the rescue of the
+daring deserters, and calmly waited for the engines of the mighty
+Doraine to cease their rhythmic pulsing. He fell asleep.
+
+When he awoke, he concluded that he had dreamed the whole thing. This
+conclusion was justified when he asked his wretched "bunkie" if he
+had observed him leaving the room during the night. The answer was a
+mournful negative, followed by the sufferer's more or less positive
+declaration that he was staring wide awake the whole damned night long.
+
+Percival, unconvinced, boldly made his way to the lower deck and
+discovered that two life buoys were missing from their supports, a
+circumstance that put an end to the hope that he had dreamed it all. His
+own affairs however now loomed large, taking precedence over the plight
+of the men who had deliberately abandoned the ship. In any case, the
+ship's officers had done everything that could be done in the matter.
+He was genuinely astonished to learn that the act of the two men was
+unknown to the Captain.
+
+A hurried conference of the ship's officers and the commander of the
+gun-crew resulted in a single but definite conclusion. The desperate,
+even suicidal manner in which the men left the ship signified but one
+thing: the absolute necessity of flight before an even more sinister
+peril confronted them. Not a man on board doubted for an instant that
+they had taken their chance in the waters as a part of a preconceived
+plan, and they had taken it with all the devilish hardihood of fanatics.
+
+The presence of the motor craft, so far out from port, lurking
+with silent engine in the path of the steamship, could have but one
+significance. It represented one of the carefully thought-out details in
+a stupendous, far-reaching plot.
+
+If there were signals between the motor boat and the two men aboard the
+steamship, they were not observed by the lookouts. In all probability no
+signals were given. The little craft was to be at a certain place at a
+certain hour,--and she was there! The men who jumped knew that she would
+be there. A black, tiny speck on the broad expanse of water, sheltered
+by a night of almost stygian darkness, she lay outside the narrow radius
+to which visual observation was confined, patiently waiting for the
+Doraine to pass a designated point. There was to be no miscalculation on
+the part of either the boat or the men who went over the side of the big
+steamship into the seething waters.
+
+The closest inquiry among the members of the crew failed to reveal
+any one who had witnessed the leap of the men. Percival was positive,
+however, that some one ran along the lower deck, but whether toward or
+away from the spot where the men went over he had no means of knowing.
+He offered the suggestion that there were three persons actually
+involved, and that one of them, more than likely the victim of a
+coin-flipping decision, had remained on board to complete the work the
+trio had been chosen to perform, even though death was to be his lot.
+
+The Second Officer had been regarding Percival with ever-growing
+suspicion.
+
+"Is there anything to prove, young man, that you are not the one who
+stayed behind to complete the job?" he demanded at last.
+
+"Nothing," said Percival promptly, and somewhat scathingly, "nothing at
+all, except the trifling fact that I am here talking it over with you
+gentlemen instead of attending to my business, as any honest conspirator
+should be doing. You may be quite sure of one thing: if there is a man
+on board this ship whose business it is to finish the job, he isn't
+idle. He's getting on with the job at this minute, gentlemen. If you'll
+take my advice you will institute two investigations. First, search
+the ship from stem to stern, from keel to bridge, for bombs or infernal
+machines. Second, ask your rich passengers if they have lost anything in
+the shape of pearls, diamonds, coin of the realm, or anything else worth
+jumping into the ocean for."
+
+Captain Trigger looked at him over the top of his eye-glasses.
+
+"You are not in Copperhead Camp at present, Mr. Percival," he said
+stiffly.
+
+The young man flushed. "I beg your pardon, Captain Trigger," he said
+simply.
+
+"All you have to do," said the Second Officer, fixing him with an
+inimical eye, "is to answer questions and not to tell us how to run this
+ship."
+
+Percival did his best to hold back the retort, but, failing, released it
+with considerable sharpness:
+
+"Well, if I was running this ship I'd head her for shore pretty damned
+quick."
+
+The American in command of the gun-crew was the only one who smiled, and
+he did it openly. Captain Trigger's face darkened redly.
+
+"Take this man in charge, Mr. Shannon. He wants work. Give it him. Under
+guard."
+
+"Am I suspected, Captain Trigger, of being in league--"
+
+"Every man, every woman on board this ship is suspected," said the
+Captain with decision. "Every one, sir, from myself down. The rest of us
+grasp that fact, even if you do not."
+
+And so it was that while Algernon Adonis Percival, under the watchful
+eye of a burly seaman, fell to work scraping the scuppers on the boat
+deck, the stern business of searching the ship went forward with
+a thoroughness that left no room for doubt as to the fears and
+apprehensions of the men who had her in charge. Despite the fact that
+intensive, anxious hours of delving revealed no hidden, sinister agent
+of destruction, there was no relaxation on the part of the officers and
+crew. One by one the passengers were examined; their rooms and their
+luggage were systematically overhauled. No one resented these drastic
+operations, for by midday the whole ship's company knew what had
+transpired during the night. Eagerly they answered the questions,
+cheerfully they submitted to the examination of their effects, and then
+fell silent and subdued, oppressed by the suspense that hung over the
+ship like a cloud. Crew and passengers alike underwent the most rigid
+questioning, the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the young and
+the old.
+
+Early that morning, in fact some time prior to the time that Percival
+told his story, the wireless operator reported that his transmitter was
+out of order. While he was satisfied that the apparatus had not been
+tampered with, he was plainly affected by the rather grim coincidence.
+He was an old and trusted man in the service, competent, efficient and
+loyal.
+
+His assistant, the night operator, however, had made less than half a
+dozen voyages on the Doraine. He was an Englishman, a cripple; twice
+he had been rescued after vessels on which he sailed were sent to the
+bottom by German submarines. His credentials were flawless. He was on
+duty during the night just past, and had picked up several indistinct,
+incomplete radio messages. There was nothing wrong with the receiving or
+transmitting apparatus when he went off duty at six in the morning, and
+as his superior came on at the same hour,--they exchanged greetings at
+the door of the wireless house,--it was absolutely impossible for any
+one to have entered the well-guarded room without attracting attention.
+Cruise, the chief radio-man, had his assistant routed out of bed and
+together they worked like beavers over the disabled mechanism.
+
+Hour after hour, the nervous, uneasy passengers paced the decks. Few
+remained indoors, and few possessed the calmness to loll in deck-chairs.
+
+Percival toiled cheerfully, but with eye and ear alert for the first
+inkling of definite peril. With commendable thoughtfulness, he had shed
+the clean white shirt and collar so generously supplied by his fellow
+townsman, and had donned a commodious sea-jacket.
+
+He could not help observing the dark, suspicious glances cast upon him
+by the deck-walkers, nor were his ears proof against audible comments.
+Mothers nudged their children and said, in slightly lowered but
+distinctly impressive tones:
+
+"That's the man. He's a stowaway."
+
+"See, Wilfred,--see the man? No, no! The one with the mop, dear. Don't
+go near him."
+
+"What a dreadful looking creature he is."
+
+"The Captain captured him this morning away down in the bottom of the
+ship. He was stealing a ride."
+
+"Poor fellow! He doesn't look like a bad man, does he?"
+
+And so on and so forth, as the day went along.
+
+Masculine strollers had very decided opinions about him. Mr. Landover,
+the banker, stopped to discuss the toiling menial with Mr. Nicklestick,
+Mr. Block and Mr. Fitts.
+
+"He ought to be in irons," said Mr. Landover, glowering at Percival.
+"That's what I told the Captain a little while ago. He's a bad egg, that
+fellow is. I'm a pretty good judge of men, gentlemen, and I don't often
+make mistakes. That fellow is a fugitive from justice, if he isn't
+something worse. Observe the cut of his mouth--ah! see that? What did I
+tell you? Did you ever see a more evil grin?"
+
+"Take it from me," said Mr. Nicklestick, "that guy knows a good deal
+more about what is going on aboard this ship than he lets on. He ain't
+as simple as he looks. I told Captain Trigger just now that he ought to
+give him a dose of the third degree. That's the way to get to the bottom
+of this business. String him up by the thumbs till he squeals. What say,
+Mr. Fitts?"
+
+Mr. Fitts, the architect, was a mild man.
+
+"He strikes me as a rather honest looking sort of chap," he said, and
+was promptly glared at by his companions. "Of course," he hastened to
+add, "I am not saying that he is all right. He may be as crooked as the
+deuce. I'm only saying he's got a rather pleasing sort of face."
+
+"The most innocent, open-faced young fellow we ever had in the bank,"
+said Mr. Landover, "turned out to be the damnedest rascal I've ever
+encountered."
+
+"How did you happen to have him in the bank if you are such a good judge
+of men?" inquired Mr. Fitts, utterly without malice.
+
+Mr. Landover reddened. "My dear sir, I do not come in contact with
+every employe of the bank. You forget that it is quite an immense
+institution."
+
+"It sure is," said Mr. Nicklestick. "I'm thinking of transferring our
+account to your bank, Mr. Landover. We've been banking with--"
+
+"I vas telling my vife at lunch," broke in Mr. Block, twitching his
+Hebraic nose emphatically,--"not that we could eat any lunch, by
+gracious, no!--I vas telling her I bet my boots dere ain't enough
+life-boats to get as much as half of us off safe in case something
+happens. I counted up all the life-boats I could see, and ven I estimate
+the number of peoples on board, w'y, by gracious, the loss of life
+vould be frightful, gentlemen. The only chance we would haf would be
+for approxi-madely fifty percent of the peoples on board to be killed
+outright by the explosion."
+
+"I hear there is a detective from Chicago on board, with a prisoner,"
+ventured Mr. Fitts. "Why doesn't the Captain ask him to have a look at
+this stowaway fellow?"
+
+"What would be the good of that?" demanded Mr. Landover. "I never saw a
+detective in my life that knew what to do in an emergency. Soon as
+you get one of them where he can't telephone in to headquarters
+for instructions he's as helpless as a baby. Don't talk to me about
+detectives. Why, this fellow would simply laugh in his face."
+
+"Just, as he is laughing in yours at this moment, Mr. Landover," pursued
+Mr. Fitts pleasantly.
+
+"The damned rascal," said Mr. Landover, and stalked away.
+
+"There goes one of the biggest figures in the United States," said Mr.
+Nicklestick, looking after the banker. His remark was addressed to Mr.
+Fitts. "I wish I had his brains."
+
+"Dey vouldn't do you any good, Nicklestick," said Mr. Block, "unless you
+had his money too also."
+
+"If I had his brains," said Mr. Nicklestick, "he wouldn't have his
+money, so what's the difference?"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+Mr. Block looked uneasily out over the tumbling ocean, focusing his gaze
+on a section of the horizon that for want of something more definite
+than mere hope lay in a direct line with the City of New York.
+
+"And ven you stop to think," said he wistfully, "that we are still
+something like six thousand miles from home,--oh, veil! Vat's the use? I
+bet you I never go so far avay from my business again. Vat a fool I vas
+to make this trip ven the whole ocean is full of submarines and German
+agents and plotters and--Yes, vat a fool ven I had so many high-priced
+men vorking for me who vas crazy to come. But my vife she vould do it.
+Paris and London every year it used to be, so she must haf a little
+holiday or she vill die, she say. Veil, here we are. And ven I think
+vat a long holiday it is going to be maybe,--by gracious, I could kick
+myself for not giving in to my brother-in-law ven he begged so hard to
+be allowed to make the trip because he needed the change from not being
+avay from the office for five years, and his vife and children too. His
+vife she needed a change as much as he, vat with not being able to get
+into any good hotels in the summer time and not being able to keep
+out of them in the vinter time, she vas nearly distracted. No, I vas
+selfish. My vife she vas selfish too,--and him her own brother. Vy
+shouldn't he haf a vacation vonce in awhile?"
+
+He turned abruptly to the sailor who lounged near the perspiring
+Percival.
+
+"How far is it to land, my frient?" he inquired.
+
+The sailor touched his cap. "Which way, sir?" he asked solemnly. "Fore
+or aft?"
+
+(Percival said to himself: "By golly, I'll bet that man is an
+American.")
+
+"Vat? Land,--you know vat I mean,--the end of the ocean. How far avay is
+it?"
+
+The sailor calculated. "Well, the nearest land, sir, I should say, is
+about three hundred miles away, to port."
+
+"How deep is it here?" asked Mr. Nicklestick, moving away from the rail
+suddenly.
+
+The sailor glanced down at the water, squinted an eye, and then spoke
+reassuringly.
+
+"It ain't half as deep here as it is a little furder on," he said. "It's
+only a shade over three miles where we are now, sir. We're comin' to
+the deepest part of the ocean,--ought to be there inside of a couple of
+hours. Here, you! On the job, on the job!"
+
+"You ought to search that man carefully," advised Mr. Nicklestick.
+
+"I have," growled the sailor. "He says he never uses it in that form. I
+guess he's tellin' the truth."
+
+"Never uses what?"
+
+"Tobacco, sir."
+
+"Oh!" said Mr. Nicklestick, and, catching a glimpse of Madame Obosky
+emerging upon the deck, unceremoniously deserted his companions and
+hurried off to join her, his speed being suddenly accelerated by the
+spectacle of Mr. Shine, the motion picture magnate, who approached the
+lady from an equidistant station and with similar haste. Mr. Block,
+being a trifle near-sighted and in some doubt as to the whereabouts of
+his wife, peered here and there intently, and then bore down upon the
+celebrated Russian dancer, who, it would seem, was in dire need of
+consolation.
+
+Mr. Fitts followed them with a glance over his glasses and then turned
+to the sailor man.
+
+"I suppose it's against orders for me to speak to this man," he said.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+The architect sighed, and walked away.
+
+The parade became more interesting as the lack of news from the
+investigators restored a sort of hopeful optimism to the breasts of the
+anxious company. Those who had maintained a stubborn air of bravado,
+now became almost offensively jaunty. Others, frankly terrified at the
+outset, sauntered timidly away from the life-boats to which they were
+assigned. Every one was glad that the Captain had ordered a life-boat
+drill on the first afternoon out, and every one was glad that he had
+ignored the demand of Mr. Landover that the boats be lowered the instant
+he discovered that his passengers were in peril. No news was good news,
+argued the majority, and jesting was in order.
+
+Peter Snipe, the novelist, got out a pad of paper and began jotting down
+impressions. Madam Careni-Amori and Signor Joseppi exchanged the first
+friendly words they had spoken to each other in weeks, and in full view
+of an entranced audience linked arms and strode bravely to and fro, the
+former clasping a huge jewel case to her ample bosom, the latter
+chafing perceptibly under the weight of an invisible belt stuffed to its
+capacity with banknotes and gold. Chilean ladies and Chilean gentlemen,
+dazzling Brazilian ladies and pompous Brazilian gentlemen, smug
+Argentinians, lordly Castilians, garrulous Portuguese, lofty English
+gentlemen and supercilious English ladies, friendly and irrepressible
+Americans,--all of them swinging their sea-legs with new-found
+abandon--clattered solidly around the wind-swept circuit. New faces
+appeared in the procession, new voices were raised with energy, new
+figures sprang into existence with marvellous rapidity. It seemed to
+Percival that the population doubled and tripled and quadrupled with
+every throb of the powerful engines. He saw his "bunkie" of the night
+before,--the man who was trying so hard to die and couldn't,--he saw him
+plunging along with the throng, pale but valiant, ferociously glaring at
+every one who smoked.
+
+A small group of American nurses, some young and pretty, others young
+and homely, but all of them sprightly and clear-eyed,--nine of them, in
+fact--tramped by in "columns of three."
+
+Percival's guardian jerked his head in their direction after they had
+passed, and volunteered this bit of information:
+
+"Hornswoggled, them girls was. Come all the way down from New York
+six months ago. Promised double pay and plenty of work in the American
+colony. Sore as crabs, all of 'em. They got double pay all right, all
+right, but there was some misunderstandin' as to what single pay was to
+be to start off with. Single pay turned out to be just whatever suited
+the people that employed 'em, seein's they were nearly seven thousand
+miles away from God and up against it, so they're beatin' it back home
+to volunteer for service in France. I heard one of 'em say she could
+save more money workin' for nothin' in France than she could earn in
+a year down here at double pay. What'd you say your name was, young
+feller?"
+
+"Percival."
+
+"I mean your last name."
+
+"That's it."
+
+"Come off! Nobody ever had a last name like that."
+
+"You ought to hear what my first name is,--and my middle one, too. You
+said a little while ago you'd never seen any one of my size with bigger
+and harder muscles. Well, if you knew what my full name is, old man,
+you'd understand why I began developing them,--I've got a lot more too
+that you can't see,--when I first began going to school."
+
+"What is your other names?" inquired the sailor curiously.
+
+"Algernon Adonis," said Percival.
+
+The sailor was silent for a moment, thinking of the proper thing to say.
+Then he said:
+
+"You're dead right. It takes a heap of muscle to pertect a name like
+that."
+
+Three women stopped in front of the two men. Percival kept his eyes
+lowered.
+
+"Why,--why, Auntie,--I know him," fell from the lips of one of the trio.
+There was not only surprise in her voice but a trace of awe as well.
+
+The swabber looked up quickly. He found himself gazing straight into the
+eyes of the speaker. Her lips were parted, her head was bent slightly
+forward, her eyes expressed utter incredulity and bewilderment. Her
+companion, an elderly lady, and a bespectacled young woman who carried
+an arm-load of steamer-rugs, stared not at him but at the girl who had
+delivered this startling announcement.
+
+"I mean I,--that is, I may be mistaken," stammered the latter, suddenly
+averting her eyes. A wave of crimson swept over her face.
+
+"Undoubtedly," exclaimed the elderly lady with great positiveness.
+Turning to inspect the object under discussion, she sustained a shock
+that caused her to stiffen and draw in her breath quickly.
+
+Percival was smiling in a most friendly and encouraging manner. He went
+farther, and lifted his disreputable white canvas hat.
+
+"Oh, goodness!" exclaimed the young lady in a sort of panic. "Are
+you--is it really you, Mr. Percival?"
+
+Mr. Percival glanced inquiringly at his guard.
+
+"That's his name, Miss," said that worthy. "And that's one of the
+three reasons why he's got them muscular arms you're lookin' at. Sorry,
+though, but my orders are not to allow any one to speak to him."
+
+"Are you crazy, Ruth?" cried the older lady, aghast. "It's the stowaway
+every one is talking about. The one who tried to blow up the ship."
+
+The young lady returned Percival's smile,--rather a diffident, uncertain
+effort, to be sure, but still a smile,--and murmured something about
+night before last at the Alcazar Grand.
+
+"What are you saying, Ruth? Do you mean to say you met this man at the
+Alcazar Grand?"
+
+"Yes, Aunt Julia," said the other wrinkling her pretty forehead in
+perplexity. "He--he danced with me."
+
+"He--you danced with him?" gasped the horrified Aunt Julia.
+
+"Don't you remember? Phil Morton introduced him to us. I--I can't
+believe my eyes."
+
+"I can't believe mine," snapped the elder woman. "I never saw this
+fellow before in my life. The idea! Phil Morton having a friend
+like--You are mistaken. And people are staring at us."
+
+"Just the same," said her niece, stubbornly, "I did dance with him, and,
+what's more, I danced more than once with him. Didn't I, Mr. Percival?"
+
+Mr. Percival, still beaming, again looked at the sailor appealingly.
+
+"You can tell it to me," said the latter, furtively glancing to the
+right and left before making the concession.
+
+Looking straight into the sailor's eyes, Percival said:
+
+"Yes, Miss Clinton. I had four dances with you,--and a lemon squash."
+
+"Wait a moment, Aunt Julia," protested the young lady, holding back.
+"Would you mind telling me, Mr. Percival, how you happen to be here and
+in this plight? You didn't mention sailing on the Doraine."
+
+Mr. Percival, to the sailor: "Neither did you, Miss Clinton. You
+certainly are no more surprised than I am."
+
+"Why are you on board as a stowaway? Phil Morton told me you belong to
+an old Baltimore family and had all kinds of--that is, you were quite
+well-off."
+
+Mr. Percival, to the sailor: "Please don't blush, Miss Clinton. I'm not
+the least bit sensitive. Money isn't everything. I seem to be able
+to get along without it. Later on, I hope to have the opportunity to
+explain just why--"
+
+"That'll do," interrupted the sailor. "Here comes the Captain."
+
+Captain Trigger hove in sight around the corner of the deck building,
+with Chief Engineer Gray and the Second Officer.
+
+"I don't know what to make of you," said Miss Clinton, sorely puzzled.
+Her aunt was clutching her arm. "You seemed so awfully jolly the other
+night. And--and just look at you now."
+
+She moved away, followed by the bespectacled young woman and the
+steamer-rugs, graceful despite the sudden yank with which her aunt set
+her in motion. Percival managed to keep an eye on her till she turned
+the corner. Then he sighed.
+
+The Captain halted in front of him.
+
+"Are you acquainted with Mrs. Spofford and her niece, Percival?" he
+inquired.
+
+"Miss Clinton has done me the honour to remember meeting me night before
+last at the Alcazar Grand, sir. Mrs. Spofford is not so generous."
+
+"I see," said Captain Trigger reflectively. "You will report at once to
+Mr. Gray. He will give you a less public job, as you call it." A twinkle
+came into his eyes. "He doesn't like the hat you're wearing. Nor the
+shirt. Nor the boots."
+
+"Thank you, sir."
+
+"And, by the way, Percival, as soon as you are slightly refurbished I
+want you to stroll through the second cabin and if possible identify the
+two stewards who came to No. 22. Let me see, was it during the day or at
+night?"
+
+"Some time during the night, sir. Eleven or half-past, I should say."
+
+"Very well."
+
+An hour later he reported to Captain Trigger. "I have seen all of the
+stewards, sir, according to Mr. Codge, and I do not recognize any of
+them as the men who came to No. 22. I had a fairly good view of them,
+too, from beneath the lower berth. They spoke in a language I did not
+understand--"
+
+"Do you understand German?"
+
+"No, sir. I know it when I hear it, however. They were not speaking
+German. I may have been wrong, but I came to the conclusion that they
+were transferring some one to No. 22. They brought in two suitcases, and
+left them when they went out. I--"
+
+Captain Trigger brought his clenched fist down on the table with a
+resounding, emphatic bang.
+
+"Now, we have it! That Chicago detective is right, by gad!"
+
+He turned to the small group of officers clustered behind him. Fresh
+alarm,--real consternation,--had leaped into the eyes of every man of
+them.
+
+"Then--then, that means our search isn't over?" cried Mr. Mott, starting
+up.
+
+"It does! Every inch of this ship,--every damned inch of it, from stem
+to stern. Overlook nothing, Mr. Mott. Don't delay a second."
+
+Percival was alone with the agitated Captain an instant later. Trigger's
+eyes were rather wild and bloodshot. The younger man's face blanched. He
+knew now that the danger was real. He waited for the Captain to speak.
+
+"Percival, the two men you saw in 22 were not stewards. They were the
+men who jumped overboard. You tell me they left two bags there when they
+went out of the room. Well, they were not there this morning when the
+regular steward went into the room. They have disappeared. But the
+contents of those bags are still somewhere on board this ship. And if
+they are not found in time, by gad, sir, we will all be in Kingdom Come
+before we know it."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+The first explosion occurred at eleven minutes past six. The chart-house
+and part of the bridge were blown to pieces. Three dull, splintering
+crashes ensued in rapid succession, proving beyond question that the
+bombs were set to automatically explode at a given time. One of them
+wrecked the engine-room; another blew a great hole in the stern of the
+ship, above the water line; the third destroyed the wireless house and
+carried away a portion of the deck with it.
+
+There were eight in all of these devilish machines in the heart of the
+Doraine. Some time prior to the first explosion, the feverish searchers
+had uncovered four of them, cunningly planted in the most vital parts
+of the ship. Two were taken from the lower hold, one at each end of the
+vessel, and two more were found close to the carefully protected section
+of the vessel in which a rather insignificant but deadly shipment of
+high explosives was stored.
+
+The discovery of the four bombs and their immediate consignment to the
+sea saved the ship from being blown to bits. With another hour to spare,
+it is more than probable the remaining four would have been found,
+notwithstanding the amazing cleverness with which they were hidden, so
+thorough and so dogged was the search. Confusion, terror, stupefaction
+and finally panic followed the successive blasts. The decks were strewn
+with people prostrated by the violent upheavals, and many there were who
+never got up again. Stunned, dazed, bewildered, those who were able to
+do so scrambled to their feet only to be hurled down again and again.
+Shrieks, groans, prayers,--and curses,--filled the brief, ghastly
+silences between the muffled detonations. The great vessel surged and
+rolled and plunged like a tortured animal.
+
+The splintering of wood, the rending of plates, the shattering of glass,
+and above all this horrid turmoil the mighty roaring and hissing of
+steam!... And the wild, gurgling cries of the frantic unfortunates who
+had leaped into the sea!
+
+Out of the chaos with incredible swiftness came the paralysis of
+despair, and out of that slowly but surely groped the never-failing
+courage of the men who go down to the sea in ships. Hoarse commands
+lifted above the groans and prayers, and strong but shaken figures
+sprang with mechanical precision to the posts allotted them. Life-boat
+after life-boat went down into the sea that glistened with the slanting
+rays of an untroubled sun, low-lying at the end of day.
+
+Fire broke out in several places. Down into the bowels of the ship
+plunged the resolute, undaunted heroes who remained behind, the chosen
+complement reserved for just such an emergency by the far-seeing master.
+
+Above the hissing of steam and the first feeble cracklings of flame,
+rose the stentorian voice of the Captain from his post at the base of
+the demolished bridge.
+
+"Fight, men! Fight! Fight! There are dying men below! Stand by! Fight
+for them!"
+
+He was bloody and almost unrecognizable as he stood there clutching a
+stanchion for support. His legs were rigid, his body swayed, but his
+spirit was as staunch as the star that had guided him for fifty years
+through the trackless waste.
+
+And while these doughty, desperate spirits fought the fire and smoke
+with every means at their command, down in the suffocating depths of the
+ship, braving not only the peril visible and at hand, but the prospect
+of annihilation in the event that a belated bomb projected its hideous
+force into the nest of high explosives,--while these men fought, the
+smiling, placid sea was alive with small white craft that bobbed in the
+gleaming sunlight, life-boats crowded to the gunwales with shuddering,
+bleak-eyed men, women and children waiting to pick up those who stayed
+behind, and who inevitably would be driven overboard by the resistless,
+conquering flames.
+
+Cruising about at a safe distance from the menacing hull, these boats
+managed to rescue a few of the beings who had leaped overboard in the
+first mad panic of fear, but many there were who went down never to be
+seen again. No boat was without its wounded--and its dead; no boat was
+without its stricken, anxious-eyed survivors who watched and prayed
+for the salvation of loved ones left behind. With straining eyes they
+searched the surface of the sea, peered at the occupants of near and
+distant boats, stared at the scurrying figures on the decks of the
+smoking steamer, hoping,--always hoping,--and always sobbing out the
+endless prayer.
+
+At last, as the sun sank below the blue-black horizon, exhausted,
+red-eyed, gasping men struggled up from the drenched, smothering
+interior of the ship, and hurled themselves, not into the sea, but
+prone upon the decks! They had conquered! The scattered, vagrant fires,
+attacked in their infancy, while still in the creeping stage, had been
+subdued.
+
+Darkness fell. A chill night air stole out of the east, stealthily
+trailing the sun. Will-o'-the-wisp lights bespecked the sea, surrounding
+the black hulk that lay motionless in the center of the circle. Lanterns
+in a score or more of small boats bobbed fitfully in the gentle swell.
+Presently lights appeared on board the Doraine, one here, one there,
+then others in twos and threes,--some of them stationary, others moving
+slowly from place to place. The life-boats crept closer, still closer.
+Then, out from the silent hulk, came the voice of man. It was the
+voice of the First Officer, hoarse and unrecognizable, but sharp with
+authority. Other voices repeated the commands from various parts of the
+ship,--commands to the encircling will-o'-the-wisps.
+
+The word came down to the scores who filled the boats that they were to
+lie by until sunrise, keeping in close contact with each other and at no
+great distance from the ship. The most thorough, careful examination of
+the steamer was in progress. If it was found that she was in no danger
+of foundering,--and the word was most reassuring,--all of them would
+be taken aboard in the morning. Nothing could be done at present. A few
+hours more would tell the tale.
+
+And then, for the first time since the disaster, the note of the croaker
+was heard. Each and every boat contained at least one individual who
+knew exactly what ought to be done in a crisis like this.
+
+Mr. Landover addressed the benumbed, unresisting occupants of the boat
+into which he had climbed with commendable reluctance as one of the last
+persons to leave the ship.
+
+"Why don't they begin sending out S. O. S. calls? What's the wireless
+for, if not to be used at a time like this? Say, you! Yell up there to
+some of those damned muddled-headed idiots and tell them what to do.
+Tell them that I say for them to send out calls for help. What's that?
+What did you say?"
+
+The steward in charge of the boat repeated his remark and Mr. Landover
+at once said he would report him to Captain Trigger.
+
+"But it won't do any good," complained the banker despairingly. "Captain
+Trigger hasn't got the backbone of a fishworm. He'd let you tell him to
+go to hell and never think of jacking you up for it. No wonder we're
+in the fix we're in now. If he'd had the sense of a jelly-fish he'd
+have--Here! Sit still! You'll upset the boat, you fool! What--What are
+you going to do with that oar?"
+
+"I'm going to crack you over the bean with it if you don't take back
+what you said about Captain Trigger," said the steward, very earnestly.
+"Take it back, do you hear me?"
+
+"My God, would you murder me for a little thing like that?"
+
+Mr. Nicklestick aroused himself from the torpor of despair.
+
+"Take it back, Mr. Landover,--please do. If he misses you, he'll get me
+sure, it's so dark, and so help me God, I got nothing but the deepest
+respect for Captain Trigger. He's a vonderful man, steward. Don't make
+any mistake. You hear me say he is a vonderful man? Veil,--"
+
+"Oh, shut up, Nicklestick," grated Landover, crouching down behind the
+gentleman addressed.
+
+The steward sat down. "I'd do it in a minute if it wasn't for the women
+an' children in this boat."
+
+"I intend to have every officer on that steamer arrested for criminal
+negligence the instant I set foot in New York," boomed the banker. "I
+call upon every one of you, my fellow-passengers, to testify to the
+utter lack of precaution taken by the men in charge of that ship. And
+what effort are they making to bring help to us now? By gad, if I was
+in command of that vessel I'd be shooting wireless calls to every--Great
+Scott! What's that?"
+
+"That's a rocket, you blamed old fool!" roared the steward.
+
+"Good God!" gasped the exasperated banker. "Are we having a celebration
+with fireworks?"
+
+The dull, hapless occupants of the lifeboats watched with fascinated
+eyes the first of the giant rockets that whizzed and roared its way up
+from the deck of the ship, an endless arrow of fire piercing the night.
+A loud report, the scattering of a hundred stars, and then--denser
+blackness than before.
+
+Morning came. Up out of the east stole a sickly grey. It turned slowly
+into pink, and then suddenly the sea once more was blue and smiling.
+In the heart of the dancing cordon lay the weirdly camouflaged Doraine,
+inert, sinister, as still and cold as death. No smoke issued from her
+stacks to cheer the wretched watchers; no foam, no spray leaped from her
+mighty bow. She was a great, lifeless thing. Waves lapped gently against
+her sides and fell away only to come back again in playful scorn for the
+vast object that had rent and baffled them so long. On high fluttered
+the Stars and Stripes, gay in the presence of death, a sprightly
+harbinger of hope flaunting defiance in the face of despair.
+
+Men, stripped to the waist, grimy and shining with the sweat of hours,
+moving about in knots of three and four--always in knots of three or
+four as if afraid to disintegrate--leaned upon the rail and watched the
+approach of the crowded boats, looked down into pallid, anguished faces
+with their eager, hungry eyes, eyes that devoured the groups along the
+rail. Now and then a glad shout of joy went up from one of the boats,
+and a figure in the huddled mass was transformed into a responsive thing
+of life.
+
+In each of the square, black openings in the hull of the ship stood
+men with ropes and ladders. The great steel doors lay flat against the
+sides, swung wide to admit this time a human cargo. From the interior of
+the vessel came the brisk, incessant clatter of hammers against wood and
+steel; from the decks broke the loud, commanding voices of men calling
+out directions; from the gliding, slapping boats went up the hearty
+shouts of understanding and obedience, the rattling of boat-hooks, the
+grinding of oars in the locks, the murmur of voices revived.
+
+"Vomen and children first!" was the shrill, oft-repeated exhortation
+from one of the boats.
+
+And up in the centre of another sprang a fine, imposing figure, from
+whose lips rolled these thrilling words:
+
+"By God, they're great! They're great, after all! God bless Captain
+Trigger and every man-jack of them!"
+
+"Get down!" roared his still unpacified critic, the steward. "You'll
+fall overboard, you dam' fool!"
+
+The gaunt, coatless Mr. Mott commanded the port side of the vessel;
+Mr. Codge, the purser, the starboard. Fighting men in the breeches and
+leggings of the American Navy; blackened and bandaged stokers, sailors
+and landsmen comprised the motley company that stood ready to drag the
+occupants of the boats up into the dank, smoke-scented maw of the ship.
+
+One by one, in regular, systematic order, the lifeboats came alongside.
+There was no confusion, no bungling. They bumped gently against the
+towering rows of plates, and, made fast by ropes with ample play,
+gave up in time their precious cargoes. No one lifted up his voice in
+rejoicing, for there were dead and injured back in the shadows; there
+were grief-stricken, anxious men and women crouching out there in the
+sunshine; there were limp, unconscious women and half-dead children; and
+over all still hung the ominous cloud of catastrophe fat with prophecies
+of perils yet to come.
+
+They had gone out from a ship filled with a monstrous clangour and
+confusion, they were returning to a tomblike hulk, a lonely mass in
+which echoes would abound, a thing of sighs and silences, the corpse of
+a mammoth that had throbbed yesterday,--but never more.
+
+Up in the curving triangle of the forward deck were two long,
+canvas-covered rows. The dead! Forty-six twisted, silent forms lying
+side by side, some calm in death, others charred and mutilated beyond
+all possibility of identification. Every man in the engine-room at
+the time of the explosion was now a mangled, unrecognizable thing.
+Engineers, electricians, stokers,--all of them wiped out in the flash of
+an eye,--burnt, boiled, shattered. Half a dozen women, as many children,
+lay with the silent men.
+
+The injured had been placed in staterooms on the promenade deck,
+regardless of previous occupancy or subsequent claim. There lay the
+score and a half of seriously injured, and there toiled the ship's
+surgeon and his volunteer helpers. Sailor and merchant, worker and
+idler, scholar and dolt, steerage and first cabin, wealth and poverty,
+shared alike in the disposition of quarters and shared alike in
+attention. There was no discrimination. One life was as good as another
+to the doctor and his men, the poor man's moan as full of suffering as
+that of the rich man, the wail of the steerage woman as piteous as that
+of her sister above.
+
+Captain Trigger was one of the injured. He swore a great deal when the
+doctor ordered him to bed. Ribs and a broken arm? Why the devil should
+he be put to bed for something a schoolboy would laugh at? Mr. Shannon
+and two of the younger officers were killed by the explosion that
+wrecked the bridge and chart house. Chief Engineer Gray died in the
+engine-room. Cruise was blown to pieces in the wireless house. His
+assistant, the cripple with the charmed life, was dead.
+
+A few seconds before the first explosion took place he blew out his
+brains with a big navy revolver. The last seen of Cruise was when he
+appeared in the door of his station, an expression of mingled rage and
+alarm on his face. Pointing frantically at the figure of his assistant
+as it shot down the steps and across the deck, he shouted:
+
+"Get that man! Get him! For God's sake, get him!"
+
+It all happened in a few seconds of time. The shrill laugh of
+the fleeing assistant, the report of the revolver, an instant of
+stupefaction,--and then the dull, grinding crash.
+
+It will never be known what Cruise had heard or seen in the last moments
+of his life. No one on board the Doraine, however, doubted for an
+instant that he had discovered, too late, the truth about his misshapen
+assistant. They now knew with almost absolute certainty the identity of
+the odd man in that devilish trio, the man whose footsteps Percival had
+heard, the man who stayed behind to guarantee the consummation of the
+hideous plot. Coward in the end, he shirked the death he was pledged to
+accept. He knew what was coming. Unlike his braver comrades, he took the
+simplest way.
+
+The count began. Late in the afternoon it was completed. There were
+forty-six known dead on board the Doraine, the majority being members
+of the crew. Seventeen persons were missing, chiefly from the steerage.
+Twenty-nine seriously injured were under the doctor's care. Some of
+them would not recover. A hundred or more persons suffered from shock,
+bruises, cuts and exposure, but only a few of them required or demanded
+attention. In spite of their injuries, they fell to with the spirit that
+makes for true heroism and devoted themselves to the care of the less
+fortunate, or to the assistance of the sorely-tried officers and men who
+strove to bring order out of chaos.
+
+Among the survivors were two American surgeons and a physician from Rio
+Janeiro. They, with the nurses, all of whom had been saved, immediately
+went to the relief of the ship's doctor, and in short order an
+improvised hospital was established. There was a remarkable unanimity
+of self-sacrifice among the passengers. High and low, they fell to in
+a frenzy of comradeship, and worked side by side in whatsoever capacity
+they were needed, whether fitted for it or not. No man, no woman,
+who was able to lift a helping hand, failed in this hour of need. The
+bereaved, as well as those who were untouched by a personal grief, gave
+all that was in them, tearfully, grimly, ardently.
+
+Menial labour fell to the lot of the lordly but uncomplaining Landover,
+to Block and Nicklestick, Jones and Snipe, and even to the precious
+Signor Joseppi, who, forgetting his Caruso-like throat, toiled and
+sweated in the smoky saloon.
+
+Morris Shine, the motion picture magnate, the while he laboured amidst
+the wreckage of the after deck, lamented not the cheerless task but the
+evil fate that prevented the making of the most spectacular film the
+world had ever known.
+
+Madame Careni-Amori, Madame Obosky and her dancers; bejewelled Jewesses
+and half-clad emigrants; gentle women unused to toil and women who were
+born to it; the old and the young--all of them, without exception,--rose
+from the depths of despair and faced the rigours of the day with
+unflinching courage, gave out of a limitless store of tenderness all
+that their strength could spare.
+
+And through a neglected, abandoned field of pearls and gold and precious
+stones, limped unchallenged the tireless figure of "Soapy" Shay,
+diamond thief, a bloody bandage about his head, an exalted light in
+his pain-stricken eyes. His one-time captor lay stark and cold in the
+gruesome line in the bow of the boat. It was "Soapy" Shay who staggered
+out of the rack and smoke with the burly, stricken detective in his
+arms, and it was "Soapy" Shay who wept when the last breath of life
+cased out through his tortured lips. For of all the company on board the
+Doraine, there was but one whom "Soapy" knew, but one who called him by
+name and shared tobacco with him,--and that one was William Spinney, the
+man who was taking him back to a place where mercy would not be shown.
+
+After the sun had set and the decks were dark and deserted except for
+the men employed in the gruesome business, the dead were lowered into
+the sea, swathed in canvas and weighted with things that were made to
+kill,--shells from the gunners' hoard. Swiftly, methodically, one after
+the other, they slid down to the black, greedy waters, sank to the
+grave that is never still yet always silent, to the vast, unexplored
+wilderness that stretches around the world. The thin little missionary
+from the barren plateaus of Patagonia and the plump priest from the
+heart of Buenos Aires monotonously commended each and every one of them
+to the mercy of God!
+
+The sun came up again in the morning over a smiling, happy sea that
+licked the sides of the Doraine with the tenderness of a dog.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+The plight of the hapless steamer could not be disguised. Even the most
+ignorant passenger knew that the wrecked engines could not be repaired
+or compounded. They knew that the Doraine was completely paralysed. The
+power to move at will was for ever lost, the force that had driven her
+resistlessly along the chosen path was still. The powerful propellers
+were idle, the huge stern-post wrenched so badly that the rudder was
+useless. She was adrift, helplessly adrift. Of what avail the wheel
+and a patched-up rudder to the mass that lay inert, motionless on the
+smiling sea?
+
+Every one on board realized, with sinking heart, that the Doraine was to
+go on drifting, drifting no man knew whither, until she crossed the
+path of a friendly stranger out there in the mighty waste. No cry
+of distress, no call for help could go crackling into the boundless
+reaches. That was the plight of the Doraine and her people on the
+mocking day that followed the disaster, and unless fate intervened that
+would be her plight for days without end.
+
+Mr. Mott, temporarily in command, addressed the passengers in the main
+saloon, where they had congregated at his request. He did not mince
+matters. He stated the situation plainly. It was best that they should
+realize, that they should understand, that they should know the truth,
+in order that they might adapt themselves to the conditions he was now
+compelled of necessity to impose upon them. They were, so to speak,
+occupying a derelict. Help might come before nightfall, it might not
+come for days. He hoped for the best but he intended to prepare for the
+worst.
+
+Without apology he laid down a rigid set of rules, and from these rules,
+he made it perfectly clear, there could be no deviation. The available
+supply of food was limited. It was his purpose to conserve it with the
+greatest possible care. Down in the holds, of course, was a vast store
+of consigned foodstuffs, but he had no authority to draw upon it and
+would not do so unless the ship's own stock was exhausted. Passengers
+and crew, therefore, would be obliged to go on short rations. "Better
+to eat sparingly now," he said, "than not to eat at all later on." He
+concluded his remarks in this fashion:
+
+"Remember that we are all in the same boat. We don't know how long we'll
+be drifting like this and we don't know where we're drifting to. It's an
+everlastingly big ocean we're on. We ought to thank God we're not at the
+bottom of it now. If we're lucky we'll be picked up soon, if not,--well,
+it's up to us, every one of us, to make the best of it. We're alive,
+and that's certainly something. We'll all find it easier if we keep
+ourselves busy. That's why I'm asking you, one and all, to do a good
+day's work regularly, one way or another, from now until relief comes.
+We can't have any loafers or quitters on board this ship. That means
+everybody, rich and poor. You may think I'm putting a hardship on you,
+seeing as how you have paid for your passage and all that, but what I'm
+ordering you to do ain't a marker to what you'd be doing if you were out
+there in lifeboats, eight hundred miles from shore, and--well, we won't
+go into that. We've got to make the best of it, my friends. We're up
+against it good and plenty, that's the plain facts of the case. There's
+no use in me saying it's all going to turn out right in a day or so,
+because I don't know a da--- blamed thing about it. We're in God's
+hands. Maybe it will help to pray, but I doubt it. All I've got to say
+is this: go down on your knees as much as you like, but don't lick!"
+
+Signor Joseppi lifted his voice, but not in song. In very bad English he
+wanted to know how long the Captain thought it would be before they were
+rescued, and when he was informed that it might not be for weeks or even
+months, he cried out in worse English that he was ruined. He would have
+to violate his contract! No impressario would think of engaging him
+again! His wonderful American tour! If he was not rescued within a
+week--Oh, my God, the consequences! He did not regret the paltry two
+thousand a week--for thirty weeks--but to violate a contract!
+
+Mr. Mott looked rather helpless. He appreciated the fact that Signor
+Joseppi was a very great personage, but what was he saying? Was
+it--could it be mutiny?
+
+"I'm sorry, Mr. Joseppi," he broke in, "but if Madame Amori is willing
+to take her regular turn at making up berths, I guess it won't hurt you
+to help every now and then in the dining-room."
+
+Signor Joseppi did not understand a word of it. He turned to the man at
+his elbow for enlightenment.
+
+"What did he say?" he whispered.
+
+"He says you have a perfectly marvellous voice and that he'd give two
+thousand any time to hear you sing," replied his neighbour in excellent
+Italian.
+
+Whereupon the Signor favoured the severe-looking Mr. Mott with a beaming
+smile and as deep a bow as he could make in such close quarters.
+
+"A most courteous officer," he said to his neighbour. "It will be a joy
+to serve him, my friend. We should, one and all, do what he asks of us,
+no matter how mean the task. I, Joseppi,--you have heard of Joseppi, my
+friend?--I shall be the example for all of you. Should he say, 'Wash
+the dishes, Joseppi,' then will I wash the dishes. I, Joseppi, who never
+washed a dish in his life. Should he say, 'Cook the meals, Joseppi,'
+then will Joseppi, who never cooked a thing in his life, then will
+Joseppi cook the meals. Should he say, 'Joseppi, scrub the floor,' then
+will I scrub the floor. Should he say, 'Signor, steer the ship,' then
+will I do my best to steer the ship. I who have never steered a ship. So
+let me be your example, my friend."
+
+"That's fine," said his neighbour, as they moved off together. "But
+supposing he asks you to sing occasionally to amuse the rest of
+us,--what then?"
+
+"Amuse?" cried the Signor. "Amuse?"
+
+"Well, then, entertain."
+
+The great Joseppi pursed his lips. His brows grew dark with trouble.
+
+"Ah, but that would be violating my contract," he said. "My contract
+specifically states that under no circumstances may I--" Then suddenly,
+as if renouncing a sacred principle, his brow cleared, and he cried out:
+"Damn the contract! Joseppi's voice is his own. Joseppi will do as he
+pleases with it. Let him but make the request, my friend,--and Joseppi
+will sing till he drops from exhaustion." Lowering his voice to a
+confidential undertone, he went on: "And that, my friend, is more than
+you will find Careni-Amori willing to do. There is one cold-blooded,
+grasping woman for you. Money! She thinks of nothing but money. And
+flattery! Ah, how she thrives on flattery. That woman, my friend,
+beautiful as she is, has no more heart than a--"
+
+"Excuse me, please," broke in his listener, in English. "I've got to
+beat it."
+
+He had caught sight of a slim young figure at the head of the stairs,--a
+girl in a rumpled blue serge tailor-suit and a tan-coloured sport hat
+pulled well down over her dark hair. He made his way through the crowd
+and caught her up as she passed out on the deck.
+
+"I've been terribly worried about you," he began without other greeting,
+planting himself in front of her. "I thought maybe you might have--but,
+thank the good Lord, you weren't."
+
+She looked momentarily bewildered. Then she recognized him and held out
+her hand. Her face was serious, unsmiling, her voice low and tired.
+
+"Isn't it dreadful, Mr. Percival? What a terrible experience it has
+been. Oh--and I am glad you came through safely, too. But--" as her eyes
+narrowed anxiously,-"you were hurt. Your hands?"
+
+"I can't very well shake hands with you, Miss Clinton," said he.
+"Scorched a little, that's all. You'd think it was serious, the way
+they're bandaged. One of the sailors fixed them up for me last night. I
+can't tell you how glad I am that you are all right. And your aunt? Is
+she--" He paused.
+
+"Auntie is all right, Mr. Percival. She's in bed. Shock and exposure. We
+were out there all night. In one of the boats. Katherine,--" her voice
+shook a little,--"Katherine is gone. She leaped overboard. I--I saw her
+go. I shall never forget it,--never. Aunt Julia's maid. For, oh, so
+many years, Mr. Percival." She spoke in sharp, broken sentences, as if
+breathless. "You must have been terribly burned. Your hair,--your eyes,
+how bloodshot they are."
+
+"Smoke," he said succinctly. "Singed on this side only. Really nothing
+serious. I got off very lightly."
+
+"Some of the men were frightfully burned," she said with a shudder. "I
+am trying to be a nurse. There are two men in my--in my--"
+
+"I know," he broke in hastily. "Don't talk about it, Miss Clinton. It's
+corking of you to take hold like this. Corking!"
+
+"Tell me about yourself. Where were you when it happened?"'
+
+"I hate to admit it, but I was having a bite to eat down in the galley.
+You see, they'd somehow forgotten to give me anything to eat,--in the
+excitement, of course,--and I had been so busy myself it didn't occur
+to me to be hungry till rather late in the day. I managed to get on
+deck but not until after the bombs had all gone off. My friend, Mr.
+Gray,--the Chief Engineer, you know,--was down in the engine-room.
+That's how I got my hands burned. Not badly, I assure you, but--well,
+they may be a little scarred. You may not know it, but Mr. Gray and I
+came from the same place. Baltimore. He belonged to a fine old family
+there--and he'd been very kind to me. Poor fellow! Penned in. They never
+had a chance down there. He was--well, he died a few minutes after he
+was dragged out here on the deck. His clothes were on fire. But let's
+not talk about it. Tell me, is there anything I can do to make you more
+comfort-able? Or your aunt? I'm what you might call officer of the deck
+at present. Mr. Mott--"
+
+"You ought to be in bed, Mr. Percival," she interrupted sharply. "Your
+face is burned, too,--you must be suffering terribly. Wait! Now don't
+tell me you are not. I know better. I've seen those other men who were
+burned. I--"
+
+"It's nothing, I tell you," he interrupted, almost roughly. "There are
+dozens of men worse off than I am, and are they in bed? Not much. This
+is no time to lie down, Miss Clinton, if you've got a leg to stand on.
+See that little chap over there with his head and hands covered with
+bandages,--and barely able to drag his feet after him? He's an American
+jockey. I don't know his name. He was blown twenty or thirty feet
+across the after-deck. Brought up at the bottom of a companion-way. He's
+nothing but cuts and bruises from head to foot. But he's around on his
+wobbly little pins today, just the same, trying to edge in on some sort
+of a job. Couldn't keep him in bed."
+
+Miss Clinton's eyes were full of wonder and incredulity. "I cannot
+understand it," she said. "My cousin was with the American Ambulance in
+France. He says that the slightest flesh wound sends a soldier to the
+hospital."
+
+"They haven't any choice in the matter. Besides, it isn't the same. Poor
+devils, they may have been at it in the trenches for weeks and months. A
+wound of any sort means a pleasant vacation. Still," he went on after
+a moment, a faint derisive smile on his lips, "we had a big husky up in
+Camp who insisted on going to bed every time he had the nosebleed."
+
+She was looking into his blood-shot eyes, infinite pity and concern in
+her own.
+
+"Will you let me dress your hands, Mr. Percival, whenever it is
+necessary? I am getting used to it now."
+
+"It's good of you, Miss Clinton," he replied gratefully. "But I think
+you'd better stick to the fellows who really need attention. Don't add
+an extra ounce to your burden. You'll need all of your strength and
+courage to face the demands of the next few days. Those chaps have
+just begun to suffer. They're going to have a tight squeeze getting
+through,--if they get through at all. You have not answered my question.
+Is there anything I can do for you or your aunt?"
+
+"No,--not a thing," she said. "We are quite all right. As Mr. Mott said,
+we are all in the same boat, Mr. Percival. We've got to make up our
+minds to that. We can't have the comforts and the luxuries we had day
+before yesterday. Whatever is left of them, we must share with others."
+
+"Even with stowaways," he ventured, but not fatuously.
+
+"No one is likely to forget how our only stowaway came by his wounds,"
+she said simply. "Despite your modesty, I am quite certain who it was
+that carried the Chief Engineer on deck, Mr. Percival. While his clothes
+were burning, too."
+
+Percival turned his face away and many seconds passed before he spoke.
+
+"By the way," he said at last, a trifle unsteadily, "at regular
+intervals the gun up there in the bow is to be fired. You must not be
+alarmed when it goes off. There is a chance that some ship may hear the
+report. The British have a few warships down here, you know. They would
+investigate if they got word of big guns being fired anywhere in these
+parts. Mr. Mott will give warning when the gun is to be fired, so that
+every one will understand. I--I just thought I'd tell you."
+
+"Thank you. Good-bye for the present. I must get back to my wounded."
+
+"Keep your spirits up," he said. "That's the principal job now, Miss
+Clinton. Good-bye,--and thank you."
+
+He watched her as she moved off down the deck. He could not help
+noticing that her figure drooped perceptibly. In his mind's eye he saw
+her as she was but two days before, straight, graceful, full of the joy
+of living, with a stride that was free and swinging. He recalled her
+lovely, inquiring grey eyes as she stared at him on that ignominious
+afternoon, the parted red lips and the smile that came to them,
+the smartly dressed hair, the jaunty hat, the trim sport suit of
+tan-coloured jersey--he recalled the alluring picture she made that day,
+and sadly shook his head.
+
+"Poor girl," he said to himself, and walked slowly in the opposite
+direction, favouring his left leg.
+
+He went down to see the Captain. The old seadog was stretched out in his
+berth, a look of pain and utter despair in his eyes. One of the Russian
+dancers, a rather pretty girl of a distinctly Slavic type, was cleaning
+up the room. The ship's doctor had just left.
+
+"Feeling a bit more comfortable, sir?" inquired the young man.
+
+"I wish you'd get this girl out of here," growled Captain Trigger with
+difficulty. "I want to swear."
+
+"I think it would be all right to go ahead with it, sir," said Percival.
+"She doesn't understand a word of English."
+
+The Captain shook his head. "I'll let it wait." Then, looking at his
+visitor's bandaged hands: "How are your hands, my lad?"
+
+"Fairly easy. The doctor says the burns are not deep. Mr. Mott asked me
+to step in and see you, sir, and give you my opinion as to the bombs.
+You see, I've had a great deal of experience with high explosives. There
+isn't the slightest doubt in my mind that you found and got rid of the
+worst of them. The officer in charge of the gun-crew agrees with me.
+They planted the big ones, the ones that were to destroy the ship, down
+in the hold, where there was less chance of discovery. The others, I am
+convinced, were much smaller. It would have been impossible to hide a
+bomb of any noticeable size in any of the places where the explosions
+occurred. They went about it very cunningly, very systematically. Of
+course, no one saw the bombs that exploded, but judging by the actual
+results, they could not have been very powerful."
+
+"And I also," said the Captain, "thank God we dug out the big ones."
+He scowled forlornly. "Dr. Cullen says I am in for a week of this,
+Percival. You don't think so, do you?"
+
+Percival smiled. "I am more or less of an expert on explosives, sir," he
+replied.
+
+"Umph," grunted Captain Trigger. "I see. Just the same, I think I'll be
+up and about by tomorrow. If I were your age, young man, you can bet I
+wouldn't be lying here in this bed."
+
+"On the other hand, if I were your age, Captain Trigger," said Percival,
+"I'd probably have sense enough to do exactly what the doctor ordered."
+
+Captain Trigger's mouth fell open.
+
+"Well, of all the damned--" he began, and then swallowed hard.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+For three days and nights the Doraine drifted lazily in a calm and
+rippling sea, always to the southward. The days were bright and warm,
+the nights black and chill. It was the spring of the year in that zone.
+Without adequate navigation instruments, Mr. Mott was forced to rely to
+a great extent on speculation. He was able to make certain calculations
+with reasonable accuracy, but they were of little real significance.
+It was, of course, possible to determine the general direction in which
+they were drifting, and the speed. They were slowly but surely edging
+into the strong west wind drift. The Falkland Islands would soon be off
+to the right, with South Georgia and the Sandwich group farther to the
+south and east, the southernmost tip of Africa to the left.
+
+Not a sail had been sighted, not a sign of smoke appeared on the
+spotless horizon. At regular intervals the gun on the forward deck
+boomed thrice in quick succession, startling the lifeless hulk into a
+sort of spasmodic vitality. Then she would sink back once more into
+the old, irksome lethargy, incapable of resisting the gentlest wave,
+submissive to the whim of the slightest breeze. The ship's carpenter
+and his men were making slow headway in the well-nigh impossible task of
+repairing the rudder. Attempts were being made to rig up makeshift sails
+to replace those licked from the supplemental spars by flames that had
+earned considerable progress along the roof of the upper deck building
+before they were subdued. Blackened, charred masts and yards, stripped
+of rigging, reared themselves like pines at the edge of a fire-swept
+forest. Sail-makers and riggers laboured stubbornly, but the work was
+slow and the means of restoration limited.
+
+The occupants of the derelict had settled down to a dull, almost dogged
+state of resignation. There were several deaths and burials, incidents
+that made but little impression on the waiting, watchful survivors. Each
+succeeding day brought forth additional watchers to swell the anxious
+throng,--resolute and sometimes ungovernable men who, defying their
+wounds and the nurses, refused to stay where they could not have a hand
+in all that was going on.
+
+Back of all this pitiful courage, however, lurked the unholy fear that
+they might be left to their fate in case the ship had to be hurriedly
+abandoned.
+
+Mr. Mott watched the weather. Every seaman on board the Doraine scanned
+the cloudless sky with searching, anxious eyes. They sniffed the steady
+wind that blew them farther south. Always they scanned the sky and
+sniffed the wind.
+
+"It's got to come sometime," repeated Captain Trigger, after each report
+from Mr. Mott.
+
+"I've known weather like this to last for weeks," said the First
+Officer.
+
+"In the South Pacific, yes," said the Captain grimly. "But we're in the
+South Atlantic, Mott."
+
+On the sixth day the barometer began to fall. The breeze stiffened.
+The sea became choppy, and white-caps danced fitfully over the greenish
+stretches, growing wilder and wilder under the whip of a flouting wind.
+The two patchwork sails on the lumbering Doraine flapped noisily for
+awhile, as if shaking off their tor-por, then suddenly grew taut and
+fat with prosperity. The twisted, half-jammed rudder,--far from worthy
+despite the efforts of its repairers,--whiningly obeyed the man at
+the wheel, and once more the ship felt the caress of the deep on her
+cleaving bows.
+
+The horizon to the north and west seemed to draw nearer, the contrast
+between the deepening blue of the water and the clear azure of the
+contracting dome more sharply defined. The sky that had been cloudless
+for days still remained barren, but the sailor knew what lay beyond the
+clear-cut rim of the world. The man of the sea could look far beyond the
+horizon. He could see the ugly clouds that were even now speeding down
+from the north, invisible as yet but soon to creep into view; he could
+see the mighty billows on the other side of that distant line; he could
+hear the roar and shriek of the tempest that was still hundreds of
+miles away. It was the matter of but a few hours before the wind and the
+billows would rush up to smite the Doraine with all their might under
+the cover of a black and storm-rent sky. And what was to become of the
+vessel, floundering in the path of the hurricane?
+
+Late afternoon brought the forerunner of the gale, a whistling, howling
+squall that frantically strove, it would seem, to outrace the baleful
+clouds. Then the Doraine was in the thick of the furious revel of sea
+and sky, plunging, leaping, rolling like a monstrous cork....
+
+How she managed to weather the storm, God knows, and He alone. At the
+mercy of wave and wind, she was tossed and hammered and racked for
+two frightful days and nights, and yet she remained afloat, battered,
+smashed, raked from stem to stern, stripped of everything the tempest
+could wrench from her in its fury. And yet on the third day, when the
+storm abated, the sturdy ship was still riding the waves, flayed but
+un-conquered, and the baffled sea was licking the sides of her once more
+with servile though deceitful tenderness.
+
+But there was water in the hold. The ship was leaking badly.
+
+Up from the stifling interior straggled the unhappy inmates. They looked
+again upon the unbelievable: a smiling, dancing sea of blue under a
+canopy clean and spotless. It was unbelievable. Even the stouthearted
+Captain and the faithful mate, blear-eyed and haggard from loss of
+sleep, were filled with wonder.
+
+"I can't understand it," muttered Mr. Mott a dozen times that day,
+shaking his head in a bewildered sort of way. "I can't understand how
+she did it. By right, she ought to be at the bottom of the ocean, and
+here she is on top of it, same as ever."
+
+"Do you believe in God, Mr. Mott?" asked the Captain solemnly.
+
+"I do," said Mr. Mott emphatically. After a moment he added: "I've been
+a long time coming to it, Captain Trigger, but I do. Nothing short of an
+Almighty Being could have steered this ship for the past two days."
+
+The Captain nodded his head slowly, his gaze fixed on something above
+and far beyond the horizon.
+
+"I suppose it's too much to ask of Him, though," said he, audibly
+completing a thought.
+
+Mr. Mott evidently had been thinking of the same thing, for he said:
+
+"I'm sorry to say it's gained about two feet on the pumps since last
+night."
+
+Captain Trigger's face was very grave. "That means a couple of days more
+at the outside." His eyes rested speculatively on the three lifeboats
+still hanging above the starboard rail. There was another being repaired
+on the port side. "More than six hundred of us on board, Andrew." His
+head dropped suddenly, his chin twitched. Mr. Mott looked away.
+
+"I don't believe it will come to that," said he, an odd note of
+confidence in his voice. "'Tain't likely, old friend, that God would see
+us safely through all we've had to tackle and then desert us in the end.
+Something's bound to turn up. I've a feeling,--a queer feeling,--that
+we're going to pull out of this all right. I know it looks mighty
+hopeless, but--"
+
+"Just the same, Mr. Mott," broke in the Captain, lifting his head and
+setting his jaw, "you'd better set all available hands to work on the
+rafts immediately. It's true God has helped us through a lot, but it
+strikes me we'd better be on the safe side and help God a little at
+this stage of the game. He is wonderful, Andrew, but He isn't wonderful
+enough to keep man afloat very long unless man himself builds the raft.
+So don't lose a minute."
+
+Anxious, inquiring eyes followed the Captain and his First Officer
+wherever they went. On all sides were silent, beaten people who asked
+no questions, for they were afraid of the answers. Sick, dazed, haggard,
+they stared hopelessly, drearily out over the water; for all that their
+faces revealed the end was near at hand and they cared but little. They
+had been through one hell; death could bring nothing worse.
+
+Here and there a stout-hearted optimist appeared among them, but his
+very cheerfulness seemed to offend. They did not want to hear his silly,
+stupid predictions that something was "sure to turn up." They knew
+that water was coming into the hold; they knew that there were but four
+lifeboats and seven hundred men and women; they knew that the Doraine
+was going down in a very few hours; they knew that the Captain had given
+up all hope of rescue. Nothing could "turn up" now but death.
+
+Madame Obosky had taken a great fancy to Algernon Adonis Percival, and
+for a most peculiar reason. He had, it appears, abused her roundly
+on the first night of the storm for venturing on deck against orders,
+compelling him to risk what he considered a very precious life in a
+successful effort to drag her back to safety. As a matter of fact,
+he did not drag her back to safety. That feat was accomplished by two
+sailors who managed to reach both of them before another devastating
+wave came up to tear his grip loose from the broken rail to which he
+clung with one bandaged hand while he kept her from sliding into the sea
+with the other.
+
+He was very angry. In the first place, his hands hurt him dreadfully,
+and in the second place she had forced him to disobey orders by going
+out to save her. He did not mutter his complaints. He told her in plain
+and violent English what he thought of her, and if she went out there
+again he'd be damned happy to let her drown.
+
+Now, it had been some time since any man had had the hardihood or
+temerity to upbraid Madame Obosky. No male had cursed her since she
+left Petrograd,--and that was four years ago. She had been cursed often
+enough by her own sex,--professionally, of course,--but the men she
+had encountered since leaving Russia were either too chivalrous or too
+cowardly to abuse her, and she missed it terribly.
+
+She had gone through a very hard school in order to become one of the
+principal dancers in her land. Teachers had cursed her, teachers had
+beaten her,--and they always were men.
+
+When she was eighteen she married a lion-tamer. Who would have thought
+that a man who trained lions could be gentle and mild, and as tame as
+the beasts he had beaten for years? She was barely nineteen when he
+died, quite suddenly. There was a dark rumour that she had poisoned him.
+True or false, the rumour persisted, and she soon became one of the most
+popular dancers in the Empire. For three years she had a manager who
+treated her so vilely, so contemptuously that she tried to kill his
+wife, whereupon the unnatural husband refused to have anything more to
+do with her.
+
+She was dancing in Germany when the War broke out, but succeeded in
+getting over into Holland within a week or two, thereby escaping what
+she was pleased to describe as "something zat no woman could endure, no
+matter how long she have live' in Russia." Paris and London had treated
+her kindly, courteously, but that was to be expected, she repined,
+because all of the real men were off at the front fighting. Instead of
+being scowled at and ordered about by managers and orchestra leaders, or
+brow-beaten by hotel-clerks and head-waiters, she met with nothing
+but the most servile politeness,--due, she was prone to argue, to the
+unquestioned decadence of the French and English races. They were a
+bloodless lot, those Frenchmen and Englishmen.
+
+It was the same in Rio Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Santiago,--and it would
+be even worse in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. The Americans, she
+had heard, were the worst of them all. They didn't know the first thing
+about the majesty of sex. The Indian, she understood, was an exception.
+From all accounts, he knew how to treat his woman.
+
+She was homesick. Her heart leaped with joy when she discovered in
+Percival what she believed to be a domineering, masterful man. He had
+been neither servile, nor polite, nor afraid. He had treated her,--at
+least for an illuminating, transcendent ten minutes,--as if she were
+the dirt under his feet,--and he was an American at that. True, he had
+apologized a little later on, and had blushed quite becomingly in doing
+so, but nothing,--nothing in the world,--would ever make her believe
+that he was not the sort of man who could be depended upon to put a
+woman in her place and keep her there. He might apologize until he was
+black in the face and still be unable to take back the words he had
+uttered. Notwithstanding that he, in his apology, professed to have
+mistaken her in the darkness for one of the Portuguese immigrant women
+who didn't understand a word of English, she forgave him quite humbly,
+and that was going pretty far for Olga Obosky, whose identity ought not
+to have been a matter of doubt, even on the darkest of nights.
+
+She was a lithe, perfectly formed young woman, beautiful in an unusual
+way. Her body was as sinuous as that of a woodland nymph. Indeed, in
+one of her most spectacular dances, she appeared as a nymph, barefooted,
+bare-legged, and,--as Mrs. Spofford caustically remarked,--bare-faced.
+She possessed the marvellously clear, colourless complexion found only
+among the purely Slavic women. Her lips were red and sensuous, her eyes
+darkly mysterious and brooding, her hair as black as the raven's wing.
+
+When she smiled her face became strikingly alive, radiant, transforming
+her into a jolly, good-natured, wholesome girl in whom not the faintest
+trace of the carnal was left. Every move, every thought, every impulse
+was feminine; her imagination was feminine; she cast the spell of her
+femininity over all with whom she came in contact. Primitively sensuous,
+she was also primitively wary,--and so she was ineffably feminine.
+
+Prior to the time of her dramatic encounter with the American, she had
+favoured him with no more than a glance or two of curiosity. He was a
+stowaway; for a brief while he was suspected of being involved in the
+plot to blow up the ship. That was enough for her. Twice she had seen
+Miss Clinton talking with him, and once, just before the storm set in,
+she had paused to watch the young American girl renew the bandages on
+his hands after dressing the burns. Half an hour after he had apologized
+for speaking so roughly to her, she decided that it was her duty to hunt
+him up and minister to him. The ship was rolling terribly, the din of
+the elements was deafening, but Olga Obosky was not a faint-hearted
+person. She went forth boldly, confidently. Terrified, clinging
+observers marvelled at her sure-footedness, at the graceful way in which
+her sinuous body bent itself to the perilous heavings of the vessel.
+
+She found him in the reading-room, seated in a corner. Miss Clinton was
+readjusting the bandage on one of his hands. Half a dozen people were
+in the room, manfully defying the turmoil that had sent nearly every one
+else to bed in terror and distress. Without hesitation the dancer joined
+the couple in the corner. Her smile was engaging; a faint line between
+her eyebrows signified the concern she felt for him.
+
+WEST WIND DRIFT
+
+Miss Clinton looked up from her work. Her smile was politely
+accusative,--and brief.
+
+"It is all my fault," began Madame Obosky, standing before them, her
+feet wide apart, her knees bent slightly to meet the varying slants and
+lurches of the vessel. She spoke the English language confidently and
+well. Her accent, which was scarcely noticeable, betrayed the fact that
+she had mastered French long before attempting English. There was
+a piquant boldness in the occasional misplacing of words and in the
+haphazard construction of sentences. She was unafraid.
+
+"I have subject him to much pain and discomfort," she went on,
+addressing the girl. "Those poor hand! It is I who should kiss them,
+Mademoiselle, not you."
+
+"Kiss them?" gasped Miss Clinton.
+
+"Of no doubt," said Madame Obosky readily. "Do they not pain because of
+me? Should I not kiss the hand who snatch me from the horrible death?
+From the Kingdom Come, as the doctor he say to me such a little time
+ago. And you, Mademoiselle, who have not been save by him from
+the Kingdom Come, you attend his hands and make him to be greatly
+comfortable."
+
+"I am merely dressing the burns, Madame Obosky," said the other, coldly.
+"I have done as much for the other poor fellows who--"
+
+"I know, I know," broke in the Russian, smiling. "You must not be offend
+with me if I speak your language so badly."
+
+"It strikes me you speak it most acceptably," interposed Percival.
+
+"What is your name?" she asked abruptly. "I have heard you called the
+stowaway. No one has speak your name to me."
+
+"My name is Percival," said he.
+
+"It is a pretty name," said she, dubiously. "But surely you do not
+approve of me to call you Percival so quick. What is the other name, the
+name I am to--"
+
+"That's the trouble with a name like mine. It sounds so beastly informal
+when you leave off the Mister, and it sounds as if you'd been a servant
+in the family for at least one generation if you stick it on. If you
+could only call me Monsieur Percival, or Senor Percival, or even Herr
+Percival, it wouldn't seem so bad, but Mister Percival,--well, it's
+pretty soft, isn't it, Miss Clinton?"
+
+"Please hold your hand still, Mr. Percival," ordered the girl. She
+smiled up at the puzzled dancer. "His name is Mr. Percival, Madame
+Obosky. That's the poor creature's last name."
+
+"Oh, I see. Then even you, Mademoiselle, may not call him Percival?"
+
+"No, I do not call him Percival."
+
+"You see, she's known me such a very short time," explained the subject
+of these remarks.
+
+For a few moments Madame Obosky watched the bandaging process in
+silence. When she spoke again it was to say:
+
+"You are so skilful, so gentle, Mademoiselle. I am taking a lesson in
+gentleness from you."
+
+"It is quite simple, Madame. I am very awkward. I have had no
+experience. But if we ever live to see home again, I shall prepare
+myself at once for work in France. We are needed over there. We will be
+needed more than ever, now that America has gone in. Our own soldiers
+are over there, God bless them."
+
+Madame Obosky gave her a pitying look.
+
+"You may thank your God that you do not live in a land of soldiers,
+Mademoiselle. If you did, you would not be so eager to nurse them back
+to life. Do I shock you? Voila! When you train a boy to be a soldier, as
+the boys are trained in my country and in Germany, you make an animal of
+him,--and not a very nice animal at that. You nurse him back to life and
+strength and in return for your kindness he outrages you, and goes his
+way rejoicing. No, I do not like the soldiers."
+
+Miss Clinton did not look up. Percival stared at the Russian for a
+moment and then observed:
+
+"I don't think you can say that of the French or the English, Madame."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders. "Quite true. But the French and the English,
+Mr. Percival, are decadent races," she said coolly, as if there were
+nothing more to be said on the subject. "Please, Mademoiselle," she went
+on, briskly, "will you not let me see how you have prepared his hands? I
+mean, how have you,--is it right to say fixed them?"
+
+"Dressed them, you mean, Madame Obosky."
+
+"I see. First you undress them, then you dress them, is it not so?"
+
+Ruth Clinton laughed. The woman was quaint.
+
+"I am about to begin on the left hand. You may watch me, if you care to
+do so."
+
+"Will it not make you embarrass?"
+
+"Why should I be embarrassed?" inquired Ruth, flushing.
+
+"I have said the wrong word," lamented the other. "Nervous,--zat,--that
+is the word."
+
+"They're not very lovely things to look at," said Percival. "All red and
+blistery and greasy. Miss Clinton is a regular heroine to tackle 'em."
+
+"I have witnessed some very terrible sights, Mr. Percival," said
+the Russian, her eyes narrowing. "Have you ever seen a little Jewish
+girl,--but no, Mademoiselle, no! I have catch the look in your eyes. I
+shall not tell you what I have seen. Go on! I shall be silent and take
+my first lesson."
+
+Closely, intently she watched the process. When it was all over and the
+bottle containing ointment had been restored to the patient's pocket,
+she spread out her hands and exclaimed:
+
+"It is not difficult. May I inquire where the gauze bandages are to be
+obtained, Miss Clinton? And do you always use the same safety pins?"
+
+She arose early the next morning. Rousing her maid, she ordered her to
+apply to the ship's surgeon for bandages and to fetch them to her at
+once.
+
+"I know,--yes, I know. You are dying, but do as I tell you. This
+instant! Why should you, a great hulking beast of a woman, be dying
+every minute of the day while I, not half your size, am tingling all
+over with life? Go!"
+
+"But, Madame," groaned the wretched woman, rolling her eyes, "I shall
+be dashed to pieces against the walls. I cannot stand. My legs will not
+hold me up. They--"
+
+"Enough! That is no excuse. My legs manage to hold me up."
+
+"But, Madame, it is my legs I am speaking of. My legs are not like
+yours."
+
+"Any fool can see that," retorted her mistress, and the ungainly maid
+staggered out on her mission.
+
+Later on, supplied with a roll of gauze, Madame Obosky set out in quest
+of her preserver. Even the veterans among the seamen gazed upon her
+in wondering admiration as she made her way about the ship. She was a
+revelation to them. The increasing fury of the storm had driven all save
+the hardiest sailors and a few of the non-praying male passengers to
+their rooms. Now and then one or two of the courageous, devoted nurses
+appeared in the corridors, reeling from patient to patient, but except
+for them the ship seemed entirely bereft of women. Small wonder then
+that the lithe, undaunted Russian created a sensation among the sailors
+who themselves were cold with dread.
+
+She discovered him at last, coming up the steps from the devastated
+engine room. He was with Mr. Mott and several other half-dressed men.
+Their faces were grave,--more serious than ever. They had been down to
+investigate the leak. Percival was stripped to the waist. The glare of
+the lanterns fell upon his broad shoulders and powerful arms, bronzed
+and burnished by the sun of the high hills.
+
+"Come," she said, laying her hand on one of his brawny arms, "I have
+with me the bandages." She sent a swift glance over him, and smiled.
+"But I see you have not the bottle. Is it in your cabin, Mr. Percivail?"
+
+He flushed darkly under his coat of tan. His companions stared for a
+moment, and then went on.
+
+"I am busy," he said. "I haven't the time now, Madame Obosky. Thank you,
+just the same." Then a sense of loyalty to the girl who had been kind to
+him impelled him to add: "Besides, Miss Clinton has been taking care of
+my hands. She has got used to dressing them, so I--"
+
+"But it is my duty now," she protested. "She owes so little to you and I
+so much. Come, let us procure the lotion. Where is your cabin?"
+
+He held back. "You can't go to my cabin."
+
+"And why not?" she exclaimed, in surprise. "Does not Miss Clinton go to
+your cabin?"
+
+"No, she does not!"
+
+"But she goes to the cabins of other men who are wounded. I have see her
+with my own eyes."
+
+"That's different. They can't come to her."
+
+She looked searchingly into his eyes.
+
+"I see," she said after a moment. "You are in love with her."
+
+"Ridiculous," he exclaimed, scowling.
+
+"And so you prefer to have her fix your hands. I see, my friend. Voila!
+If so is the case, I am outcast."
+
+"But, confound it, it isn't the case," he cried. "It's simply this: I
+wouldn't for the world have her feel that I am not grateful, and that's
+exactly what it would look like if I allowed you or any one else to butt
+in, Madame Obosky."
+
+"Butt in?" she said, a puzzled look in her dark eyes. "What is that?"
+
+"It's English for interfere," said he, shortly.
+
+She removed her hand from his arm. He was conscious of the abrupt
+termination of an exquisite thrill.
+
+"Very well," she said, lifting her chin. "I shall not interfere."
+
+"Forgive me, please," he said. "It's mighty good of you. Please don't
+think me ungracious. You understand, however,--don't you?"
+
+"No, I do not," she replied, shaking her head slowly. Suddenly her eyes
+widened. "Is it because I dance in my bare feet, in my bare legs, that
+you think so vilely of me?"
+
+He stared. "Good Lord! I don't think vilely of you, Madame Obosky. I
+wasn't even aware that you danced in your bare feet and legs."
+
+"You have never seen Obosky dance?" she cried in astonishment.
+
+"Never."
+
+She frowned. "Then, my friend, I was wrong in what I say just now. Most
+men who have seen me dance think I am a bad woman, and so they either
+covet me or despise me. If you have not had ze pleasure of seeing me,
+Mr. Percivail, you do not either covet me or despise me. That is fine.
+It is good to know that you do not despise me." Observing the expression
+in his eyes, she went on calmly. "Oh, yes, I shall be very much please
+to have you covet me. Zat--that is all right. But if you despise
+me,--no, no, zat would be terrible."
+
+For a moment he was dashed. He did not know how to take her remark. She
+was a new, a strange type to him. After a sharp, quick look into
+her eyes, however, he came to the conclusion that she was absolutely
+sincere. So far as she was concerned, it was as if she had said nothing
+more outrageous than: "I shall be please to consider you one of my
+admirers."
+
+"My dear Madame," he said, smiling, "permit me to express the hope that
+both of us may go on to the end of our days without having our peace of
+mind disturbed."
+
+She looked puzzled for a moment, and then favoured him with her broad,
+good-natured smile.
+
+WEST WIND DRIFT 85
+
+"Spoken like a Frenchman," she cried, and added, "and with equal
+sincerity, I fear. Go your way, Monsieur Percivail. I shall keep my
+gauze. Some day when we are very old people and very old friends I may
+then be permitted to bandage your hands. At present, however, the risk
+is too great, eh? I am so inexperience. I might by accident tie your
+hands in my clumsiness, and zat--that would make so much trouble for
+Miss Clinton to untie zem,--yes?"
+
+Now there was mockery in her eyes. His face hardened.
+
+"I must be on my way," he said curtly. "We have been looking things over
+down below. The Captain is waiting for our report."
+
+He bowed and started off. She swung along at his side.
+
+"What have you discover, Mr. Percivail?" she inquired anxiously.
+
+"That, Madame Obosky, is something that will have to come from Captain
+Trigger."
+
+"I see. That means it is bad. I see."
+
+The lurching of the ship threw her body against his. She righted herself
+promptly, but did not reveal the slightest confusion nor utter a word of
+apology.
+
+"By Jove, you're a cool one!" he exclaimed. "I don't believe you know
+the meaning of fear. Don't you realize, Madame Obosky, that we are in
+the gravest peril? Don't you know this ship has but one chance in a
+thousand to pull through?"
+
+"Ah, my friend, but it has the one chance, has it not? Surely I know the
+meaning of fear. I am afraid of rats and snakes and thieves--and drunken
+soldiers. I am afraid of death,--terribly afraid of death. Oh, yes, I
+know what fear is, Mr. Percivail."
+
+"Then, why don't you show it now?" he cried. "Good Lord, I don't mind
+confessing that I'm scared half to death. I don't want to die like
+this,--like a rat in a trap."
+
+"But you are not going to die," she proclaimed. "I too would be groaning
+and praying in my bed if I thought we were going down to the bottom of
+zis dreadful ocean. But we are not. I have no fear. We shall come out
+all right on top, and some day we will laugh and tell funny stories
+about how everybody else was frightened but us,--us apiece, I mean."
+
+"Well, you're a wonder! And how the deuce do you manage to keep your
+feet with the ship rolling like this?"
+
+"Two things I have been taught, since I am ten years old. First, to keep
+my head, and second to keep my feet. In my profession, one must do both.
+You will always find me doing that. Good-bye,--we part here. You will
+not forget zat--that I have retain the bandage for you? And you will not
+ever despise me?"
+
+As she turned away a roll that must have caused the wallowing vessel to
+list thirty-five degrees at the very least, sent her headlong across the
+passage. She slipped down in a heap. The same lurch had sent him reeling
+against the wall some distance away. She sat up but did not at once
+attempt to arise. Instead she clutched frantically at her skirt to draw
+it down over her shapely ankles and calves. In the lantern light he
+saw the dismayed, shamed look in her eyes and the vivid blush of
+embarrassment that suffused her pale cheeks. As the ship rolled back,
+he moved forward to assist her, but she sprang lightly to her feet and
+hurried on ahead of him, disappearing around a corner.
+
+"Well, by gosh!" he muttered aloud in his surprise. "And she dances half
+naked before thousands of people every night! Can you beat it! The last
+person in the world you'd think would care a whoop, and she turns out
+to be as finicky about her legs as your grandmother. Women certainly are
+queer."
+
+With this profound comment on the inconsistency of the sex, he took
+himself off in the direction of the Captain's quarters,--a forward cabin
+which served in lieu of the dismantled bridge.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+He saw but little of her during the next forty-eight hours. She
+seemed to avoid him. At any other time and in other circumstances he
+undoubtedly would have resented her indifference,--a very common and
+natural masculine failing,--but in these strenuous hours he was too
+fully occupied with the affairs of life and death. Once she stopped him
+to inquire if Miss Clinton was still able to dress his wounds.
+
+"Once a day," he replied. "She's even pluckier than you are, Madame
+Obosky."
+
+Her eyes narrowed. "Indeed?"
+
+"Yes, because she believes we are going to die--every one of us. It
+takes pluck to keep going when you've got that sort of thing to face,
+doesn't it?"
+
+Her gesture took in the dozen or more men within range of her vision.
+"It should take no more pluck to keep a woman going than a man, my
+friend. You do not call yourself plucky, do you? I do not call myself
+plucky. On the contrary, I call myself a coward. I am afraid to stay in
+my stateroom. I like to be out in the open like zis. One has to be very,
+very brave, Mr. Percivail, to lie in one's bed all alone and think that
+death is waiting just outside the thin little walls. Miss Clinton is
+splendid, but she is not plucky. She is as I am: afraid of the darkness,
+afraid to be alone, afraid to be where she cannot know and see all zat
+is happening. She has a woman's courage, just as I have it,--if you
+please. It is the courage that depends so much on the courage of others.
+You think I am brave. I am brave because I am with trained, efficient
+men. But if the Captain were to come to me now as I stand here, and say
+zat the ship is to sink in ten minutes and that we all must go down with
+her, would I face it bravely? No! I would throw myself down on the floor
+and scream and pray and tear my hair. Why? Because the men had given up.
+I am kept up by the courage of others. That is the courage of woman. She
+must be supported in her pain, in her suffering, in her courage."
+
+"Well, if you put it that way, there are very few men who would take
+such an announcement from the Captain calmly."
+
+"Perhaps not, my friend. But if there were room for but few in the
+boats, who would stay behind and go down with the ship? Nine out of
+every ten of the men. Why? Not because they are all courageous, I grant
+you, but because of the horrible conceit that makes them our masters.
+Pride and conceit constitute what stands for courage in most men. The
+wild animal has no conceit, he has no pride. Does the male lion rush out
+to be shot in place of his mate? He do not. He sneaks off in the high
+reeds and leaves her to take care of herself. The Captain of this
+steamer is so full of pride zat he will stay on it till it goes under
+the wave. It is not courage, Mr. Percivail. It is his pride in the
+power zat--that God has give to his sex. These men here,--you, my
+friend,--face the danger now so unflinching for why? Because for ages
+and ages you have believe in and depend upon the man beside you, the men
+around you. Zat is the difference between man and woman. Woman believes
+in and depends on man. She has no faith in her own sex. So, you see, my
+friend, when I say I am brave and you say Miss Clinton is plucky, it is
+all because we have men about us who are so proud and conceited zat they
+will die before they will admit that they are not as helpless and as
+weak as we are in times like zis."
+
+"You may be right," he mused, struck by her argument. "It's usually
+pride that makes a man stand up and fight another, even when he knows
+he's sure to be beaten. It's neither confidence nor courage. It's just
+plain fear of being a coward."
+
+"You will admit then that I understand the wonderful male animal which
+struts on two legs and rules all the other animals of the world, eh?
+It is the only animal in the whole big world zat--that is completely
+satisfied with itself. So now, Mr. Percivail, you have the secret of the
+so-called courage of the male of our species."
+
+"I hope all women haven't gone into the subject so deeply," he said,
+with a rueful smile. "You make rather small potatoes of us."
+
+"Ah, do not say that," she cried, "for, alas, I am denied potatoes."
+
+"Well, then," he said, laughing, "if all women understood us as well as
+you do, we wouldn't rule the world very much longer. They'd yank us off
+the pedestal and revile us forevermore."
+
+"But you do not understand women, my friend. Did we not bring you into
+the world? Are you not our sons, and therefore begotten to be kings? We
+may despise our husbands, we may loathe our brothers and our fathers,
+we women, but our sons are the gods we worship. My dear Mr. Percivail,
+women will go on being ruled to the end of time unless they cease
+populating the world with sons. The mother of the man is the humblest
+subject of the son and yet the proudest. The mothers of kings, of
+emperors, of presidents,--do they think of them as kings, emperors,
+presidents? No. They think of them as sons. That is why man is supreme.
+That is why he rules. To be sure, we women are not always disposed to
+have our husbands rule, we even go so far as to say they are not fit
+to rule, but alas, the men we are permitted to know the best of all
+are always the sons of some one else, and so there you have the endless
+chain. Sons! Sons! Sons! Sons to create new sons,--sons without end,
+amen! God bless our sons!"
+
+"And I say God bless our mothers!"
+
+"In that one little sentence, Mr. Percivail, spoke from the heart,
+you have reveal the secret history of the world. You have account for
+everything."
+
+"You are a million years old, Madame Obosky," he said, looking into her
+deep, unfathomable eyes.
+
+She smiled. "So? And which of my sons, Mr. Percivail, do you think I
+love the most? Cain or Abel?"
+
+"It would take a woman to answer that question. There's one thing
+certain, however. You loved both of them more than you loved Adam."
+
+"True. But I followed Adam out of the Garden of Eden and I have never
+left his heels from zat day to this. What more could any man ask?"
+
+On the second morning after the storm, the lookout fixed his straining
+eyes on a far-distant, shadowy line that had not been a part of the
+boundless horizon the day before. Dawn was breaking, night was lifting
+her sheet from the new-born day. He waited. He could not be sure.
+Minutes that seemed like hours passed. Then suddenly his hoarse shout
+rose out of the silence:
+
+"Land ho!"
+
+Down into the heart of the ship boomed the cry, taken from the lookout's
+lips by one after another of the weary men below. The sweating,
+exhausted toilers who manned the pumps paused for a moment, then fell
+to work again revitalized. Out from the cabins, up from every nook and
+corner of the ship scrambled the excited horde, fully dressed, their
+faces haggard with doubt, their eyes aglow with joy. Land! In every
+round little window gleamed a face,--for a moment only along the
+portside. Nothing but the same endless ocean on the port side of the
+ship. Water! Sick and wounded drew themselves up to the portholes and
+peered out from their cells for the first time.
+
+"Where?... Where?" ran the wild, eager cry of the scurrying throng, and
+there was disappointment--bitter disappointment in their voices. They
+had been tricked. There was no land in sight! The glasses of the ship's
+officers, clustered far forward, were directed toward some point off the
+starboard bow, but if there was land over there it was not visible to
+the naked eye. A junior engineer saluted Captain Trigger and left the
+group.
+
+"There is land ahead,--a long way off," he announced as he passed
+through the throng in the saloon deck.
+
+Up above the clamour of questions shouted from all sides as the crazed
+people flocked behind the messenger of hope, rose the voice of Morris
+Shine.
+
+"Land ahoy! Ahoy-yoy-yoy!" he yelled over and over again, his chin
+raised like that of a dog baying at the moon.
+
+Every person on deck was either carrying a life-belt or was already
+encased in one. Grim orders of the night just past. Here and there were
+to be seen men who clutched tightly the handles of suitcases and kit
+bags! Evidently they were expecting to step ashore at once. In any case,
+they belonged to the class of people who never fail to crowd their
+way down the gang-plank ahead of every one else. The fashionable ocean
+liners always have quite a number of these on board, invariably in the
+first cabin.
+
+Percival ranged the decks in quest of Ruth Clinton. She was well aft on
+the boat deck, where the rail was not so crowded as it was forward.
+Her arm was about the drooping, pathetic figure of her aunt. They were
+staring intently out over the water,--the girl's figure erect, vibrant,
+alive with the spirit of youth, her companion's sagging under the doubt
+and scepticism of age. He hesitated a moment before accosting them.
+Nicklestick, the Jew, was excitedly retailing the news to them. He went
+so far as to declare that he could see land quite clearly,--and so could
+they if they would only look exactly where he was pointing. He claimed
+to have been one of the very first men on board to see the land.
+
+Ruth was hatless. Her braided brown hair had been coiled so hastily, so
+thoughtlessly that stray strands fell loose about her neck and ears to
+be blown gaily by the breeze across her cheek. Her blouse was open at
+the neck, her blue serge jacket flared in the wind. Every vestige of the
+warm, soft colour had left her face. She was deathly pale with emotion.
+
+Percival was suddenly conscious of a mist bedimming his eyes.
+
+Several people were grouped near them at the rail, listening to
+Nicklestick. The stowaway joined them. As if sensing his presence, Ruth
+turned suddenly and saw him.
+
+"Oh!" she cried, tremulously. "Have--have you seen it, Mr. Percival?"
+
+"No," he replied. "It won't be visible for an hour or so longer. It's
+off there all right, though. The lookout, Captain Trigger and several
+others got a glimpse of it before the sun began to pull the mist up
+to obscure it for a little while. That's mist over there," he went on,
+turning to Nicklestick. "You couldn't see the Andes Mountains if they
+were where that strip of land is hidden. It won't be long, Miss Clinton,
+before we all can see it."
+
+"How far away is it?" she asked, controlling her voice with an effort.
+"Do they know? Can they estimate?"
+
+"I'll tell you what let's do," he said abruptly. "Let's go up on the sun
+deck. I've got Mr. Gray's glasses. We can see better up there. Let me
+assist you, Mrs. Spofford. The sun deck is pretty badly smashed up and
+littered with all sorts of wreckage, but we can manage it all right."
+
+Mrs. Spofford looked at him intently for a moment.
+
+"I remember you now," she said. "Are you sure,--are you positive there
+is land over there?"
+
+"I have Captain Trigger's word for it."
+
+"And mine, too," added Mr. Nicklestick. "You may rest assured, Mrs.
+Spofford, that we will all be on dry land before many hours."
+
+Percival leaned close to the speaker and said in a very low but emphatic
+tone:
+
+"You don't know a damn thing about it, so keep your trap closed. If
+you're a man, you won't go on raising false hopes in the breasts of
+these women."
+
+Nicklestick's jaw fell. He whispered:
+
+"My God,--ain't we--you don't mean to say there is a chance we won't be
+able to--"
+
+But Percival had turned away with the two women. Mrs. Spofford took his
+arm, leaning heavily against him. Her figure had straightened, however.
+He had given her the needed confidence.
+
+They made their way up the steps leading to the topmost deck. Others had
+already preceded them. A dozen men and women were looking out over
+the sea through their binoculars. They recognized Landover, Madame
+Careni-Amori (clutching her jewel case), Joseppi, Fitts and one or two
+more. Olga Obosky was well forward, seated on the edge of a partially
+wrecked skylight and ventilator. Her three dancing girls were with her,
+closely grouped.
+
+Percival purposely remained near the steps. He knew full well that the
+ship's hours were numbered. It was only a question of time when she
+would founder. In the lee of one of the big stacks they huddled close
+together and waited for the lifting of the veil. The wind was soft but
+strong up there at the top of the vessel. He took hope in the fact that
+it was blowing toward the shores of that unseen land, and that slowly
+but surely the Doraine was drifting thither.
+
+Suddenly, as if a curtain were being raised, a far-off line appeared on
+the surface of the waters. Higher rose the curtain, and like magic the
+line developed into an irregular ridge, the ends of which sank below the
+horizon far to the right and left.
+
+Percival felt the girl's hand on his arm. He shot a swift glance at her
+face. It was turned away. She staring at the mystic panorama that was
+being unveiled off there on the rim of the world. Her eyes were bright,
+her lips were parted in the ecstasy of hope revived, she was breathing
+deeply. The pulse in her smooth white neck was beating rapidly,
+rythmically. He could see it. He laid his bandaged hand firmly upon hers
+and pressed it tightly to his arm. She did not look around. Her every
+thought was centred upon the unfolding vision.
+
+"There are trees," she murmured, enthralled. "Trees,--and hills! See,
+Auntie,--but oh, how far away they are!"
+
+For many minutes they stood there without speaking. Then from all sides
+came the clamour of voices,--shouts of joy, cheers,--laughter! She
+looked down at the clumsy object that imprisoned her hand, then swiftly
+up into his eyes. A warm flush spread over her face.
+
+"I--I couldn't help it," he muttered. "It--it looked so helpless."
+
+"It isn't half as helpless as yours, Mr. Percival," she said, and
+smiled. She waited a moment before withdrawing her hand. "May I have the
+glasses, please? Had you forgotten them?"
+
+"Completely," he replied.
+
+Later, while Mrs. Spofford was peering through the glasses, she drew him
+aside.
+
+"Tell me about the water in the hold," she said in a low tone. "Is it
+serious?"
+
+He looked grave. "Very. If you will take a peep over the side of the
+ship, you'll see how low down she is in the water."
+
+"My aunt doesn't know the ship is leaking," she went on, hurriedly. "I
+want to keep it from her as long as possible." He nodded his head.
+
+"Mr. Mott figures we'll stay afloat for ten or twelve hours,--maybe
+longer. I will see to it that you and Mrs. Spofford get into one of the
+boats in case we--well, just in case, you know. We will be given ample
+warning, Miss Clinton. Things don't look as hopeless as they did last
+night." He pointed toward the land. "It looks like heaven, doesn't it?"
+
+Her face clouded. "But only a very few of us may--" she stopped,
+shuddering.
+
+"You poor little girl!" he cried brokenly. He steadied himself and went
+on: "It wouldn't surprise me in the least if every blessed one of us got
+safely ashore."
+
+"You do not believe that, Mr. Percival. I can tell by the look in your
+eyes. I want you to promise me one thing. If we have to take to the
+boats, you will come with us--"
+
+He drew himself up. "My dear Miss Clinton, there is quite a difference
+between being a stowaway on an ocean liner and being one in a lifeboat.
+I have no standing on this ship. I have no right in one of her boats. I
+am the very last person on board to be considered."
+
+She looked searchingly into his eyes, her own wide with comprehension.
+"You mean you will make no effort to leave the ship until every one else
+is--"
+
+He checked her with a gesture of his hand. "I may be one of the first to
+leave. But I'll not rob any one else of his place in a boat or his space
+on one of those rafts. I'll swim for it."
+
+Slowly the land crept down upon the Doraine. The illusion was startling.
+The ship seemed to be lying absolutely motionless; it was the land that
+approached instead of the other way round. A thin white beach suddenly
+emerged from the green background to the left, to the right an ugly mass
+of rocks took shape, stretching as far as the eye could reach. Farther
+inland rose high, tree covered hills, green as emeralds in the blazing
+sunlight. On a sea of turquoise lolled the listless Doraine.
+
+Soundings were taken from time to time. Even the bottom of the ocean was
+coming up to meet the Doraine. Its depth appreciably lessened with each
+successive measurement. From fifty fathoms it had decreased to ten since
+the first line was dropped.
+
+At four o'clock, Captain Trigger ordered a boat lowered and manned by a
+picked crew in charge of the Second Engineer. The Doraine was about
+five miles off shore at the time, and was drifting with a noticeably
+increased speed directly toward the rock-bound coast. He had hoped she
+would go aground in the shallow waters off the sandy beach, but there
+was now no chance that such a piece of good fortune was in store for
+her. She was going straight for the huge black rocks.
+
+The boat's crew rowed in for observations. Even before they returned to
+report, the anxious officers on board the vessel had made out a narrow
+fissure in the rocky coast line. They assumed that it was the mouth of
+a small river. The Second Engineer brought back the astonishing
+information that this opening in the coast was the gateway to a channel
+that in his judgment split the island into two distinct sections. That
+it was not the mouth of a river was made clear by the presence of a
+current so strong that his men had to exert themselves to the utmost to
+prevent the boat being literally sucked into the channel by the powerful
+tide, which apparently was at its full. This opening,--the water rushed
+into it so swiftly that he was satisfied it developed into a gorge
+farther back from the coast,--was approximately two hundred yards wide,
+flanked on either side by low lying, formidable bastions of rock. The
+water was not more than fifty feet deep off the entrance to the channel.
+
+Gradually the prow of the Doraine swung around and pointed straight for
+the cleft in the shore. The ship, two miles out, had responded to
+the insidious pressure of the current and was being drawn toward the
+rocks,--at first so slowly that there was scarcely a ripple off her
+bows; then, as she lumbered onward, she began to turn over the water as
+a ploughshare turns over the land.
+
+At precisely six o'clock she slid between the rocky portals and entered
+a canal so straight and true that it might have been drilled and blasted
+out of the earth under the direction of the most skilful engineers in
+the world.
+
+Soundings were hastily taken. Discovering that the water was not deep
+enough even at high tide to submerge the vessel when the inevitable came
+to pass and she sank to the bottom, Captain Trigger renewed his efforts
+to release the anchor chains, which had been caught and jammed in the
+wreckage. He realized the vital necessity for checking the Doraine in
+her flight before she accomplished the miracle of passing unhindered
+through the channel and out into the open sea beyond. The swiftness of
+the current indicated plainly enough that this natural canal was of no
+great length.
+
+The ship slid on between the tree lined banks. The trees were of the
+temperate zone, with spreading limbs, thick foliage and hardy trunks.
+There were no palms visible, but in the rarely occurring open spaces
+a large shrub abounded. This was instantly recognized by Percival, who
+proclaimed it to be the algaroba, a plant commonly found on the Gran
+Chaco in Argentina. While the woodland was thick there was nothing about
+it to suggest the tropical jungle with its impenetrable fastnesses.
+
+The keel of the half-sunken Doraine was scraping ominously on the bed
+of the channel. She shivered and swerved from frequent contact with
+submerged rocks, but held her course with uncanny steadiness, while
+every soul on board gazed with stark, despairing eyes at the land which
+mocked them as they passed. Far on ahead loomed the lofty hills, and
+beyond them lay--What? The ocean?
+
+Gradually the passage widened. Its depth also increased. The ship no
+longer scraped the bottom, she no longer caromed off the sunken rocks.
+On the other hand, water poured into her interior with increasing force
+and volume, indicating a disastrous rent forward. She was sloshing along
+toward the centre of a basin which appeared to be half a mile wide and
+not more than a mile long. Directly ahead of her the hills came down
+to meet the water. A dark narrow cut, with towering sides, indicated an
+outlet for the tiny, inland sea. This gorge, toward which the Doraine
+was being resistlessly drawn, appeared to be but little wider than the
+ship itself.
+
+Almost in the shadow of the hills, and within a dozen ship-lengths of
+the sinister opening, the worn, exhausted, beaten Doraine came to rest
+at the end of her final voyage. She shivered and groaned under the
+jarring impact, forged onward half her length, heeled over slightly--and
+died! She was anchored for ever in the tiny landlocked sea, proud
+leviathan whose days had been spent in the boundless reaches of the open
+deep.
+
+And here for the centuries to come would lie the proud Doraine, guided
+to her journey's end by the pilot Chance, moored for all time in the
+strangest haven ever put into by man.
+
+Behind the stranded vessel stretched centuries incalculable, and in all
+these centuries no man had entered here. Screened from the rest of
+the world, untended by chortling tugs, unheralded by raucous sirens,
+welcomed only by primeval solitude, the Doraine had come to rest.
+
+She settled down on her bed of rocks to sleep for evermore, a mottled
+monster whose only covering was the night; indifferent to storm and
+calm, to time and tide, to darkness and light, she sat serene in her
+little sea. Her lofty walls towered high above the waves that broke
+tremblingly against them, as if afraid of this strange object from
+another world that could rest upon the bottom of the ocean and yet be so
+far above them.
+
+Reported "Lost with all on board!"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+Captain Trigger and a dozen men stood on the boat deck with guns and
+revolvers, facing several hundred sullen, determined men and women
+from the steerage. Night had not yet fallen; the shadow of the hills,
+however, was reaching half way across the oval pool; gloom impenetrable
+had settled on the wooded shores.
+
+With the striking of the Doraine, nearly every one on board was hurled
+to the decks. As she heeled over five or six degrees in settling
+herself among the rocks, a panic ensued among the ignorant people of the
+steerage. They scrambled to their feet and made a rush for the boats,
+shouting and screaming in their terror. Other passengers were trampled
+under foot and sailors standing by the davits were hurled aside.
+
+Captain Trigger, anticipating just such a stampede, rushed up with
+members of the gun crew. The gaunt, broken old master of the Doraine
+drove the horde back from the boats, but as he stood there haranguing
+them in good maritime English he could see plainly enough that they were
+not to be so easily subdued. The first panic was over, but they were
+crazed by the fear that had gripped them for days; they believed that
+the ship was soon to sink beneath their feet; safety lay not more than
+a hundred yards away,--and it was being denied them by this heartless,
+unfeeling despot.
+
+They were mainly low-caste Portuguese bound for Rio and Bahia, and they
+had obeyed him through all those tortuous days out on the deep where
+he was the shepherd and they the flock. But now,--now they could well
+afford to turn upon and rend him, for he had brought them safe to land
+and they no longer owed him anything!
+
+"My God, I don't want to shoot any of them," groaned the Captain,
+steadying himself against the rail. "But they've got guns, and they're
+crazy. I--"
+
+Some one touched his arm, and a firm, decisive voice spoke in his ear.
+
+"I'm used to handling gangs like this, Captain Trigger. They don't
+understand you, but they'll damn soon understand me, if you'll turn the
+job over to me. I'm not trying to be officious, sir, and I'm not even
+hinting that you can't bring 'em to their senses. I know how to handle
+'em and you don't, that's all. They're not sailors, you see. And it
+isn't mutiny. They need a boss, sir,--that's what they need. And they
+need him damned quick, so if you don't mind saying the word,--they're
+ready to make a rush, and if--"
+
+"Go ahead, Percival,--if you can hold them--"
+
+"Say no more!" shouted Percival, and stepped resolutely forward. His
+hands were bare,--swollen, red and ugly; his eyes were as cold as steel,
+his voice as sharp as a keen-edged sword. He spoke in Spanish to the
+wavering, threatening horde.
+
+"You damned, sneaking, low-lived cowards! What sort of swine are you?
+Have you no thought for the women you've trampled upon and beaten out of
+your path,--your own women, as well as the others,--think of them and
+ask yourselves if you are men. I'm in command of this ship now, and,
+by God, I'm going to let you get into those boats and start for shore.
+Don't cheer! You don't know what's coming to you. I'm going to turn that
+cannon on you up there and blow every one of you to hell and gone before
+you get fifty feet from the side of this ship. You don't believe that,
+eh? Well, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Lieutenant Platt!" He
+called over his shoulder in English to the young commander of the gun's
+crew. "Get some of your men up there and train that gun so as to blow
+these boats to smithereens. Quick!" In a half-whisper to the Captain:
+"It's all right. I know what I'm talking about." Then to the crowd:
+"We don't want you on board this ship a minute longer than we can help.
+We've got no room for dogs here among decent white men and women. Do
+you understand that? We don't want to have anything more to do with you,
+either here or on shore. I'm going to wipe you out, every damned one of
+you,--men women and children. You're not fit to live. You're going to
+climb into those boats now and get off this ship. You'll never realize
+how safe you are here till you get down there in the water and hear that
+gun go off. Come on! Get a move! We're through with you, now and for
+ever. Nobody's going to stop you. I'm even going to have the boats
+lowered for you, so as not to delay matters." He shouted after
+Lieutenant Platt: "Be lively, please. You've got your orders. We'll make
+short work of this pack of wolves." To Captain Trigger, authoritatively:
+"Withdraw your men, sir. I am going to let them leave the ship. At once,
+sir! Do you mean to disobey me, sir?" He gave the captain a sly wink.
+
+Then as the bewildered master withdrew with his armed men, he turned
+once more to the mob. "Come on! Step lively, now! No rushing! Take your
+turn. Every blasted one of you, I mean. What the hell are you hanging
+back for,--you? You were so darned eager to go a little while ago,
+what's the matter with you now? No one's trying to stop you. Here are
+the boats. Put up your guns and knives, and pile in. You're absolutely
+free to go, you swine. We'll be damned good and rid of you, and that's
+all we're asking. It's a pity to waste powder and cannon-balls on you,
+when we may have use for all we've got later on, killing the lions and
+tigers and anacondas up there in the woods, but I'm going to do it."
+
+He stepped back. Not a man or woman moved. They stood transfixed, packed
+in a huddled mass along the deck. Then a woman cried out for mercy. The
+cry was taken up by other women. Percival halted and faced them once
+more.
+
+"Get into those boats!" he roared savagely. "It won't do you a bit of
+good to whine and pray and squeal. I'm through with you. You've got
+to--Well?"
+
+Several of the men edged forward, some of them trying to smile.
+
+"Would you kill us when we are only trying to save our lives?" called
+out one of them, finding his courage and voice.
+
+"I don't want to talk to you. Get in!"
+
+"We have as much right to remain on this ship as anybody else," shouted
+another. "We paid for our passage. We are honest, hard-working--"
+
+"No use! I'll give you ten minutes to climb into those boats."
+
+There was a moment's silence. "And what will you do if we refuse to
+leave the ship?" cried one of the men.
+
+"Be quiet!" he bawled at the whimpering women. "We cannot hear what the
+gentleman has to say."
+
+"You'll soon find out what I'll do, if you don't obey me inside of ten
+minutes," replied Percival.
+
+"But the ship is not going to sink any more," protested another, looking
+over the rail timidly. "She is safe. We do not wish to leave now."
+
+Captain Trigger and Mr. Mott joined Percival. In an undertone he told
+them what he had said to the mob.
+
+"And now, gentlemen," he whispered in conclusion, "it's up to you to
+intercede in their behalf. They're as tame as rabbits now. They know
+the ship's all right, and they believe I intend to blow 'em to pieces
+if they once put off in the boats. Start in now, Captain, and argue with
+me. Plead for them. They know who I am. They know I come from the hills
+and they think I'm a bloodthirsty devil. They're like a lot of cattle.
+Most of them are simple, honest, God-fearing people,--and if we handle
+them properly now we'll not have much trouble with them in the future.
+And only the Good Lord knows what the future is going to bring."
+
+So the three of them argued, two against one. Finally Percival threw up
+his hands in a gesture of complete surrender.
+
+"All right, Captain. I give in. Perhaps you are right. I suppose it
+would be butchery."
+
+There were a few in the crowd who understood English. These edged
+forward eagerly, hopefully. They called out protestations against the
+"slaughter."
+
+"Tell them you have reconsidered, Mr. Percival," said the Captain. "They
+are to remain on board."
+
+Excited shouts went up from the few who understood, and then the word
+went among the others that they were to be spared. There were cries of
+relief, joy, gratitude, and not a few fell upon their knees!
+
+Percival stood forth once more. Silence fell upon the throng.
+
+"The Captain has put in a plea for you, and I have decided to grant it.
+You may remain on board. Now, listen to me! No one is to leave this
+ship until tomorrow morning. We are safe here. We are stuck fast on the
+bottom, and nothing can happen to us at present. Tomorrow we will see
+what is best to be done. Every man and woman here is to return to the
+task he was given by Mr. Mott at the beginning of our troubles. We've
+got to eat, and sleep, and--Wait a minute! Well, all right,--beat it, if
+you feel that way about it."
+
+He stood watching them as they excitedly withdrew toward the bow of the
+ship, breaking up into clattering groups, all of them talking at once.
+
+Captain Trigger laid his hand on the young man's shoulder.
+
+"If it had not been for you, Percival, this deck would now be red
+with blood,--and some of us would be dead. You saved a very ticklish
+situation. I take off my hat to you, and I say, with a full heart, that
+I shall never again doubt your ability to handle men. No one but an
+American could have tricked that mob as you did, my lad."
+
+From various points of vantage the foregoing scene had been witnessed by
+uneasy, alarmed persons from upper cabins. Overwhelmed and dismayed by
+the rush of the yelling mob, the elect had fled for safety, urged by a
+greater fear than any that had gone before,--the fear of rioting men.
+
+A few of them, more daring and inquisitive than the rest, had ventured
+recklessly into the zone of danger. Among them were Ruth Clinton and
+Madame Olga Obosky, who, disregarding the command of Mr. Mott, were the
+only women to venture beyond the protecting corner of the deck building.
+They stood side by side, bracing themselves against the downward slope
+of the deck. Half-way forward were Trigger and the armed gunners,
+and beyond them the dense, irresolute mass of humanity. Percival, in
+rounding the corner to go to the assistance of Captain Trigger, observed
+with dismay the exposed position in which the two women had placed
+themselves. He paused to cry out to them sharply:
+
+"What are you doing here? Get back to the other side. Can't you see
+there is likely to be shooting? Don't stand there like a couple of
+idiots! You're right in line if that gang begins to fire."
+
+"He is tearing off his bandages," cried Ruth, as Percival hurried on.
+
+Madame Obosky was silent, her gaze fixed intently on the brisk,
+aggressive figure of the man who had called them idiots. She understood
+every word he uttered to the Portuguese. Her eyes glistened with pride
+when he stepped forward to tackle the mob single-handed, and as he went
+on with his astonishing speech she actually broke into a soft giggle.
+Her companion looked at her in amazement.
+
+"Why do you laugh?" she demanded hotly. "Those dreadful creatures may
+tear him to pieces. He is unarmed and defenceless. They could sweep
+him--"
+
+"You would laugh also if you understood," interrupted Olga, her
+eyes dancing. "Oh, what a grand--what do you call it?--bluff? What a
+magnificent bluff he is doing! It is beautiful. See,--they whisper among
+themselves,--they have back down completely. Wait! I will presently tell
+you what he have said to them."
+
+"I never dreamed any man could be so fearless. Look at the odds against
+him. There are scores of them,--and they--"
+
+"Pooh! Do you suppose he would stand up and fight them if they rushed at
+him? Not he! He would turn and run as fast as he could. He is no fool,
+my dear. He is a very intelligent man. So he would run if they make a
+single move toward him."
+
+"I think this is rather a poor time to accuse him of cowardice, Madame
+Obosky, in view of what he--"
+
+"Have I accused him of cowardice?"
+
+"I'd like to know what you call it. You say he would run if they--"
+
+"But that would not be cowardice. It would be the simplest kind of
+common sense. He is so very sure of himself. It is not courage. It is
+confidence. That is his strength. He would be a fool to stand in front
+of them empty-handed if they were to charge upon him. Maybe when
+you have known him as long as I have, you will realize he is not a
+fool,--about himself or any one else."
+
+Ruth stared at her. "Unless I am greatly mistaken, Madame Obosky, I have
+known Mr. Percival as long if not longer than you have."
+
+"You do not know him at all," rejoined the Russian brusquely. "Be still,
+please! I must hear what he is saying to them now." A little later she
+turned to the American girl and laid her hand on her arm. "For-give me,
+if I was rude to you. I am so very much older than you that I--how old
+are you, Miss Clinton?"
+
+"I am twenty-five," replied the other, surprised into replying.
+
+"And I am twenty-six," said Madame Obosky, as if she were at least twice
+the age of her companion. "See! They are dispersing. It's all over.
+Come! Let us go back to the other side."
+
+"I am not ready to go back to the other side," protested the American
+girl, resisting the hand on her arm. "Why should we go back, now that
+the danger is over?"
+
+"Because we must not let him catch us here," urged Olga in some
+agitation.
+
+"And why not, pray?"
+
+The Russian looked at her in astonishment. "But surely you heard him
+tell us to go back to the other side. You heard him call us idiots, Miss
+Clinton?"
+
+And Ruth Clinton suffered herself to be hurried incontinently around the
+corner of the deck building.
+
+"Once, in Moscow, I saw a Grand Duke confront a mob of students who had
+gathered in the street near his house. They were armed and they had
+come to destroy this man himself. There were hundreds of them. He walked
+straight toward them, his head erect, his shoulders squared, and
+when they stopped he spoke to them as if they were dogs. When he had
+finished, he turned his back upon them and walked away. They might have
+filled him with bullets,--but they did not fire a shot. At the corner
+he entered his carriage and disappeared. And then what did he do? He
+fainted, that Grand Duke, he did. Fainted like a stupid, silly young
+girl. But while he was standing before zat---that mob of terrorists he
+was the strongest man in Russia. Nevertheless, he was afraid of them.
+You have therefore the curious spectacle to perceive, Miss Clinton, of
+one man being afraid of hundreds, and of hundreds of men at the same
+time being afraid of one. Man, he is a queer animal, eh?"
+
+It was not long before the doubts and fears of all on board the Doraine
+gave way to a strange, unnatural state of exhilaration. It represented
+joy without happiness, relief without security, exultation without
+conviction,--for, after all, there still remained unanswered the
+question that robbed every sensation of its thrill. While they were
+singing the hymns of thanksgiving in the saloon that night, and
+listening to the fervent prayers; while they ate, drank and were merry,
+their thoughts were not of the day but of the morrow. What of the
+morrow? In the eyes of every one who laughed and sang dwelt the
+unchanging shadow of anxiety; on every face was stamped an expression
+that spoke more plainly than words the doubts and misgivings that
+constituted the background of their jubilation. They had escaped the
+sea, but would they ever escape the land? Had God, in answer to their
+complaints and prayers, directed them to a land from which the hand of
+man would never rescue them? Were they isolated here in the untraversed
+southern seas, cast upon an island unknown to the rest of the world? Or
+were they, on the other hand, within reach of human agencies by which
+the world might be made acquainted with their plight?
+
+Uppermost in every mind was the sickening recollection, however, that
+for days they had ranged the sea without sighting a single craft. They
+were far from the travelled lanes, they were out of the worth-while
+world. Hope rested solely on the possibility that the hills and forests
+hid from view the houses and wharves of a desolate little sea-town set
+up by the far-reaching people of the British Isles.
+
+The story of Percival's achievement was not long in going the rounds.
+It went through the customary process of elaboration. By the time it
+reached his ears,--through the instrumentality of Mr. Morris Shine, the
+motion picture magnate,--it had assumed sufficient magnitude to draw
+from that enterprising gentleman a bona fide offer of quite a large sum
+for the film rights in case Mr. Percival would agree to re-enact the
+thrilling scene later on. In fact, Mr. Shine, having recovered his
+astuteness and his courage simultaneously, was already working at the
+preliminary details of the most "stupendous" picture ever conceived by
+man. His deepest lament now was that he had neglected to bring a good
+camera man down from New York, so that on the day of the explosion he
+could have "got" the people actually jumping overboard, and drowning in
+plain sight--(although he did not see them because of the trouble he
+was having to get a seat in one of the life-boats),--and the wounded
+scattered over the decks, the fire, the devastation, the departure and
+return of the boats, the storm and all that followed, including himself
+in certain judiciously preserved scenes, and the whole production could
+have been made at practically no cost at all. There never had been
+such an opportunity, complained Mr. Shine the moment he felt absolutely
+certain that the opportunity was a thing of the past.
+
+"No wonder he got away with it," said Mr. Landover to a group of
+rejuvenated satellites. "He is hand in glove with them, that fellow is.
+I wouldn't trust him around the corner. Why, it's perfectly plain to
+anybody with a grain of intelligence that he's the leader of that gang
+of anarchists. All he had to do was to speak to them,--in their own
+language, mind you,--and back they slunk to their quarters. They obeyed
+him because he is their chosen leader, and that's all there is to
+this--What say, Fitts?"
+
+Mr. Fitts, who was not a satellite but a very irritating Christian
+gentleman, cleared his throat and said:
+
+"I didn't speak, Mr. Landover. I always make a noise like that when I
+yawn. It's an awfully middle-class habit I've gotten into. Still, don't
+you think one obtains a little more--shall we say enjoyment?--a little
+more enjoyment out of a yawn if he lets go and puts his whole soul into
+it? Of course, it isn't really necessary to utter the 'hi-ho-hum!' quite
+so vociferously as I do,--in fact, it might even be better to omit it
+altogether,--if possible,--when some one else is speaking. There are, I
+grant you, other ways of expressing one's complete mastery of the art
+of yawning, such as a prolonged but audible sigh, or a sort of muffled
+howl, or even a series of blissful little shrieks peculiar to the
+feminine of the species,--any one of these, I admit, is a trifle more
+elegant and up-to-date, but they all lack the splendid resonance,--you
+might even say grandiloquence,--of the old-fashioned 'hi-ho-hum!' to
+which I am addicted. Now, if you will consider--"
+
+"My God!" exclaimed the banker, with a positively venomous emphasis on
+the name of the Deity. "Who wants to know anything about yawns?"
+
+Mr. Fitts looked hurt. "I am sorry. My mistake. I thought you were
+trying to change the subject when you interrupted my yawn."
+
+"That fellow's a damn' fool," said the banker, as Fitts strolled off to
+join another group.
+
+"Try one of these cigars, Mr. Landover," said Mr. Nicklestick
+persuasively. "Of course, they're nothing like the kind you smoke,
+but--"
+
+"Is mine out? So it is. No, thank you. I'll take a match, however, if
+you have one about you."
+
+Four boxes were hastily thrust upon the great financier.
+
+"Haf you noticed how poor the matches are lately, Mr. Landover?"
+complained Mr. Block.
+
+"As for this vagabond being superintendent of a mining concession up in
+Bolivia," continued Landover, absentmindedly sticking Mr. Nicklestick's
+precious, box of matches into his own pocket, "that's all poppycock.
+He's an out-and-out adventurer. You can't fool me. I've handled too many
+men in my time. I sized him up right from the start. But the devil of it
+is, he's got all the officers on this boat hypnotized. And most of the
+women too. I made it a point to speak to Mrs. Spofford and her niece
+about him this morning,--and the poor girl has been making quite a fool
+of herself over him, you may have observed. Mrs. Spofford owns quite a
+block of stock in our institution, so I considered it my duty to put a
+flea in her ear, if you see what I mean."
+
+"Certainly, certainly," said Mr. Nicklestick.
+
+"She should have been very grateful," said Mr. Block.
+
+Mr. Landover frowned. "I'm going to speak to her again as soon as she
+has regained her strength and composure. Nerves all shot to pieces, you
+understand. Everything distorted,--er--shot to pieces, as I say. I dare
+say I should have had more sense than to--er--ahem!--two or three days'
+rest, that's what she needs, poor thing."
+
+"Absolutely," said Mr. Nicklestick.
+
+"You can't tell a woman anything when she's upset," said Mr. Block,
+feelingly.
+
+"Miss Clinton is a very charming young lady," said Mr. Nicklestick,
+giving his moustache a slight twist. "I should hate to see her lose her
+head over a fellow like him."
+
+"She is a splendid girl," said Landover warmly. "One of the oldest
+families in New York. She deserves nothing but the best."
+
+"That's right, that's right," assented Mr. Nicklestick. "I don't know
+when I've met a more charming young lady, Mr. Landover."
+
+"I didn't know you had met her," observed the banker coldly.
+
+"Oh, yes," replied Mr. Nicklestick. "We were in the same lifeboat, Mr.
+Landover, you know,--all night, you know, Mr. Landover."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+Early the next morning, Percival turned out long before there were any
+sounds from the galley or dining-room. The sun had not yet cleared the
+tree-tops to the east; the decks of the Doraine were still wet with dew.
+A few sailors were abroad; a dull-eyed junior officer moodily picked
+his way through the debris on the forward deck. Birds were singing and
+chattering in the trees that lined the shore; down at the water's edge,
+like sentinels on duty, with an eye always upon the strange, gigantic
+intruder, strutted a number of stately, bright-plumaged birds of the
+flamingo variety--(doubtless they were flamingoes); the blue surface of
+the basin was sprinkled with the myriad white, gleaming backs of winged
+fishermen, diving, flapping, swirling; on high, far above the hills,
+soared two or three huge birds with wings outspread and rigid, monarchs
+of all that they surveyed. The stowaway leaned on the port rail and
+fixed his gaze upon the crest of the severed hill, apparently the
+tallest of the half dozen or so that were visible from his position.
+
+With powerful glasses he studied the wooded slope. This hill was
+probably twelve or fourteen hundred feet high. He thought of it as a
+hill, for he had lived long in the heart of the towering Andes. Behind
+him lay the belt of woodland that separated the basin from the open
+sea, a scant league away. The cleft through the hill lay almost directly
+ahead. It's walls apparently were perpendicular; a hundred feet or
+less from the pinnacle, the opening spread out considerably, indicating
+landslides at some remote period, the natural sloughing off of earth
+and stone in the formation of this narrow, unnatural passage through
+the very centre of the little mountain. For at least a thousand feet,
+however, the sides of the passage rose as straight as a wall. That the
+mountain was of solid rock could not be doubted after a single glance at
+those sturdy, unflinching walls, black and sheer.
+
+"Well, what do you make of it?" inquired a voice at his elbow. He turned
+to find Mr. Mott standing beside him.
+
+"Earthquake," he replied. "Thousands of years ago, of course. Split the
+island completely in two."
+
+"Sounds plausible," mused the First Officer. "But if that is the case,
+how do you account for the shallowness of the water in the passage and
+out here in the basin? An earthquake violent enough to split that hill
+would make a crack in the earth a thousand fathoms deep."
+
+"I have an idea that if we took soundings in this basin we'd find a
+section twenty or thirty feet wide in the centre of it where we couldn't
+touch bottom. The same would be true of the passage if we plumbed the
+middle. When we came through it the ship scraped bottom time and again.
+As a matter of fact,--the way I figure it out,--she was simply bumping
+against the upper edges of a crevice that reaches down God knows how
+far. We took no soundings, you will remember, until we swung out into
+this pool. I'll bet my head that that cut through the hill yonder is a
+mile deep. Earthquake fissures seldom go deeper than that, I've heard.
+Generally they are mere surface cracks, a hundred feet deep at the
+outside. But this one,--My God, it gives me the creeps, that crack in
+the earth does."
+
+"Umph!" said Mr. Mott, his elbows on the rail beside the young man, his
+chin in his hands. He was looking down at the water. "Captain Trigger is
+planning to send a couple of boats outside to survey the coast. I
+dare say he'll be asking you to go out in one of them. You're a civil
+engineer and so he feels--"
+
+"Excuse me, Mr. Mott, but what's the sense of sending boats out to
+explore the coast before we find out how big the island is?"
+
+"What's the sense? Why, how are we to find out how big the island is
+unless we make the circuit of it? And how in thunder are we to find out
+that there isn't a village or some sort of trading port on it--What are
+you pointing up there for?"
+
+Percival's finger was levelled at the top of the higher half of the
+bisected mountain.
+
+"See that hill, Mr. Mott? Well, unless we're on a darned sight bigger
+island than I think we are, we can see from one end of it to the other
+from the top of that hill. It isn't much of a climb. A few huskies with
+axes to cut a path through the underbrush, and we might get up there in
+a few hours. I've been figuring it out. That's why I got up so early.
+Had it on my mind all night. The sensible thing to do is to send a gang
+of us up there to have a look around. Strange Captain Trigger never
+thought of it. I suppose it's because he's an old sea-dog and not a
+landlubber."
+
+Mr. Mott coughed. "I fancy he would have thought of it in good time."
+
+"Well, in case he doesn't think of it in time, you might suggest it to
+him, Mr. Mott."
+
+The result of this conversation was the formation of a party of
+explorers to ascend the mountain. They were sent ashore soon after
+breakfast, well-armed, equipped with axes and other implements,
+boat-hooks, surveying instruments, and the most powerful glasses on
+board. Percival was in command. The party was made up of a dozen
+men, half of them from the gun crew, with an additional complement of
+laborers from the steerage.
+
+Ruth Clinton, as soon as she learned of the proposed expedition, sought
+out Percival and insisted upon re-bandaging his hands.
+
+"You must not go into all that tangle of brushwood with your hands
+unprotected," she declared, obstinately shaking her head in response to
+his objections. "Don't be foolish, Mr. Percival. It won't take me five
+minutes to wrap them up. Sit down,--I insist. You are still one of my
+patients. Hold out your hand!"
+
+"They are ever so much better," he protested, but he obeyed her.
+
+"Of course they are," she agreed, in a matter-of-fact tone. "You did
+not give me a chance last night to tell you how splendid you were in
+tackling that crazy mob. I witnessed it all, you know. Madame Obosky and
+I."
+
+"Then, you didn't beat it when I told you to, eh?"
+
+"Certainly not. What are you going to do about it?"
+
+"What can I do? I can only say this: I'm glad Captain Trigger's opinion
+of me is based on my ability to reason with an ignorant mob and not on
+my power to intimidate a couple of very intelligent young women."
+
+"I wouldn't have missed it for worlds," she said coolly. She looked up
+into his eyes, a slight frown puckering her brow. "Do you know, Madame
+Obosky had the impertinence to say that you would have turned tail and
+fled if those people had shown fight."
+
+He grinned. "She's an amazing person, isn't she? Wonderful faculty for
+sizing the most of us up."
+
+"You would have run?"
+
+"Like a rabbit," he answered, unabashed. "That's a little too tight, I
+think, Miss Clinton. Would you mind loosening it up a bit?"
+
+"Oh, I'm sorry. Is that better? Now the other one, please."
+
+"Yes, I'm an awful coward," he said, after a long silence.
+
+She looked up quickly. Something in his eyes brought a faint flush to
+her cheek. For a second or two she met his gaze steadily and then her
+eyes fell, but not before he had caught the shy, wondering expression
+that suddenly filled them. He experienced an almost uncontrollable
+desire to lay his clumsy hand upon the soft, smooth brown hair. Through
+his mind flashed a queer rush of comparison. He recalled the
+dark, knowing eyes of the Russian dancer, mysterious and
+seductive,--man-reading eyes from which nothing was concealed,--and
+contrasted them with the clear, honest, blue-grey orbs that still could
+fall in sweet confusion. His heart began to pound furiously, he felt a
+queer tightening of the throat. He was afraid to trust his voice. How
+white and soft and gentle were her hands,--and how beautiful they were.
+
+Suddenly she stroked the bandaged hand,--as an amiable manicurist might
+have done--and arose.
+
+"There!" she said, composedly. Her cheek was cool and unflushed, her
+eyes serene and smiling. "Now you may go, Mr. Percival. Good luck! Bring
+back good news to us. I dreamed last night that we were marooned, that
+we would have to stay here for ever."
+
+"All of us?" he asked, a trifle thickly.
+
+"Certainly," she replied, after the moment required for comprehension.
+Her eyes were suddenly cold and uncompromising.
+
+"If I never come back," he began, somewhat dashed, "I'd like you to
+remember always, Miss Clinton, that I--well, that I am the most grateful
+dog alive. You've been corking."
+
+"But it isn't possible you won't come back," she cried, and he was happy
+to see a flicker of alarm in her eyes. "What--what could happen to you?
+It isn't--"
+
+"Oh, all sorts of things," he broke in, much in the same spirit as that
+which dominates the boy who wishes he could die in order to punish his
+parents for correcting him.
+
+"Are--are you really in earnest?"
+
+"Would you care--very much?"
+
+She hesitated. "Haven't I wished you good luck, Mr. Percival?"
+
+"Would you mind answering my question?"
+
+"Of course I should care,--very much indeed," she replied calmly. "I am
+sure that everybody would be terribly grieved if anything were to happen
+to you out there."
+
+"Well,--good-bye, Miss Clinton. I guess they're waiting for me."
+
+"Good-bye! Oh, how I wish I were in your place! Just to put my foot
+on the blessed, green earth once more. Good-bye! And--and good luck,
+again."
+
+"If you will take a pair of glasses and watch the top of that
+hill,--there is a bare knob up there, you see,--you will know long
+before we come back whether this island is inhabited or not. I am
+taking an American flag with me. If we do not see another flag floating
+anywhere on this island, I intend to plant the Stars and Stripes on that
+hill,--just for luck!"
+
+She walked a few steps at his side, their bodies aslant against the
+slope of the deck.
+
+"And if you do not raise the flag, we shall know at once that--that
+there are other people here?" she said, her voice eager with suppressed
+excitement. "It will mean that ships--" Her voice failed her.
+
+"It will mean home,--some day," he returned solemnly.
+
+The one remaining port-side boat was lowered a few minutes later and to
+the accompaniment of cheers from the throng that lined the rails, the
+men pulled away, heading for a tiny cove on the far side of the
+basin. The shore at that point was sloping and practically clear of
+undergrowth.
+
+It was while Percival was waiting to take his place in the boat that
+Olga Obosky hurried up to him.
+
+"I have brought my luck piece for you," she said, and revealed in her
+open palm a small gold coin, worn smooth with age and handling.
+"Carry it, my friend. Nothing will happen to you while it is in your
+possession. It was given me by the son of a Grand Duke. It was his lucky
+piece. It brought me luck, for he was killed zat very same day, and so I
+was saved from him. Keep it in your pocket till you come safely back and
+then--then you shall return it to me, because I would not be without my
+luck, no." She slipped her hand deep into his trousers pocket. "There is
+no hole. That is good. I have place it there. It is safe. Au revoir! You
+will have good luck, my friend."
+
+Withdrawing her warm hand from his pocket she turned and walked swiftly
+away.
+
+The throng on board the Doraine watched the party land; hats and
+handkerchiefs were waved as the adventurers turned for a last look
+behind, before they disappeared into the forest.
+
+Hours passed,--long interminable hours for those who were not engaged
+in the active preparations for the landing of people and stores. Captain
+Trigger was making ready to transfer the passengers from the ship at the
+earliest possible moment. He was far from certain that the Doraine would
+maintain its rather precarious balance on the rocks. With safety not
+much more than a stone's throw away, he was determined to take no
+further risk.
+
+At last a shout went up from some one on the forecastle deck. It was
+taken up by eager voices. Out upon the bald crest of the mountain
+straggled the first of the explorers to reach the goal. They were
+plainly visible. One after another the rest of the party appeared. The
+illusion was startling. It was as if they had actually emerged from the
+tree-tops. With straining eyes the observers below watched the group of
+figures outlined against the sky. They spoke in subdued tones. As time
+went on and the flag was not unfurled, they took hope; eyes brightened,
+the hushed tones increased to a cheerful, excited clatter, the tenseness
+that had held them rigid for so long gave way before the growing
+conviction that another flag already fluttered somewhere beyond the
+screening hills.
+
+And then, when hope was highest, the Stars and Stripes went up!
+
+Captain Trigger assembled the ship's company on the forward deck later
+in the day. The landing party returned about three o'clock. Acting on
+advance instructions, they made their report in private to the Captain,
+denying all information to the clamorous passengers. A brief conference
+of officers, to which a number of men from the first cabin were invited,
+was held immediately after Percival's return. A course of action was
+discussed and agreed upon, and then all on board were summoned to the
+open deck to hear the result of the expedition.
+
+Percival reported the following facts and conclusions:
+
+1. The island was approximately fifteen miles long and six or seven
+miles wide in the centre. The basin in which the Doraine rested was
+about midway between the extreme points, and about two miles inland from
+the northern shore. The southern slope of the range descended to a flat
+plain, or perhaps moor, some two miles across at its broadest point and
+ran in varying width from one end of the island to the other. It was
+green and almost entirely devoid of timber. The central eminence from
+which the observations were taken was the loftiest of a range of ten or
+twelve diminishing hills that formed what might actually be described as
+the backbone of the island. The eastern extremity tapered off to a
+long, level, low-lying promontory that ended in a point so sharp and
+wedge-like that it bore a singular resemblance to the forward deck and
+prow of a huge ironclad. The hills, as they approached the plateau,
+terminated altogether a couple of miles from the tip of land. The
+western half of the island (strictly speaking, it was a separate bit of
+land, cut off from its neighbour by the ribbon-like channel), was of
+a more rugged character, the hills, in fact, extending to the sea,
+forming, no doubt, steep and precipitous cliffs, rising directly from
+the water's edge.
+
+(Since his return, Percival had painted on a large piece of canvas a
+fairly accurate outline map of the bisected island as it had appeared
+to him from the top of the mountain. This crude map was hung up in full
+view of the spectators, and served him well in an effort to make clear
+his deductions. His original sketch is reproduced later on in this
+chronicle.)
+
+2. There was no visible sign of past or present human habitation.
+Absolutely nothing appeared to indicate that man had ever attempted to
+claim or occupy this virgin land.
+
+3. The channel through the mountain was less than one hundred feet wide.
+The walls of this gorge at one point were fully seven hundred feet high,
+absolutely perpendicular, and of solid rock. It was as if the hill had
+been split wide open with one blow of a tremendous broad-ax. Beyond the
+elevation the channel spread out fan-fashion, creating a funnel-like bay
+or inlet from the sea.
+
+4. There was no other land in sight. As far as the eye could reach with
+the aid of lenses there was nothing but water, a mighty waste of water.
+
+5. The wind, which had veered around to the south, was cold and dry.
+
+6. A curving beach of almost snowy whiteness extended for a mile or so
+along the northern shore, about half way between the entrance to the
+channel and the eastern point of land. Inside the fringe of trees that
+lined this beach stretched what appeared to be a long strip of rolling
+meadow-land, reaching far up the hillsides.
+
+7. Monkeys, parrots and snakes abounded in the forest. An occasional
+gay-plumaged bird of the toucan variety, but larger than the ordinary
+South American species, was seen, while large numbers of plump birds of
+the tinamou family went drumming off through the forest at the approach
+of the party. Penguins strutted in complete "full dress" among the rocks
+of the southern shore. A dead armadillo of extraordinary dimensions was
+found near the foot of the slope. It was at least thrice the size of
+the common South American mammal. The same could be said of the single
+iguana encountered. This large lizard, which was alive, must have been
+fully ten feet from head to tail, and gave rise to the belief that the
+supposedly extinct iguanodon, described by the scientists as attaining a
+length of thirty feet, might any day be discovered in the fastnesses
+of this unexplored land. The mere existence of this rather amiable,
+unfrightened monster was of the greatest significance. If it were known
+to man, why had it never been reported in zoological or natural history
+journals?
+
+8. The trees on the mountain-side were thick and stunted, with
+interlocking limbs that created a sort of endless canopy which the sun
+was unable to penetrate. The cool, dry wind that swept the slope would
+account, however, for the surprising absence of moisture in soil and
+vegetation in the dense shade of the trees. Oak, elm, spruce, even
+walnut, and other trees of a sturdy character indigenous to the
+temperate zone were identified. What appeared to be a clump of cypress
+trees, fantastic, misshapen objects that seemed to, shrink back in
+terror from the assaulting breakers, stood out in bold relief upon a
+rocky point to the south and west of the observation hill. Their gaunt,
+twisted trunks leaned backward from the sea; their shorn limbs, racked
+by gales, were raised as if in supplication to the sombre forest behind
+them. Trunks of enormous trees that had fallen perhaps a century ago
+were found half-buried in the earth, while scattered along the northern
+base of the range, overlooking the downs, a few of their gigantic
+counterparts, alive and flourishing, raised their lofty heads far above
+the surrounding forest, and stood like sentinels, guarding the plain.
+
+9. A small river wound its devious way, with serpentine crooks and
+curves, through the downs and across the meadow, emptying into the ocean
+some distance east of the gleaming beach. That its source was far up
+in the secretive hills was not a matter of conjecture, however;
+the incessant hiss and roar of a cataract was plainly heard by the
+investigators.
+
+Here is the crude, hastily sketched map of the island as made by
+Percival:
+
+1. Position of stranded vessel in basin.
+
+2. Entrance to channel from the north.
+
+3. Entrance to channel from the south.
+
+4. Narrow strip of woodland from channel almost to river's mouth.
+
+5. Strip of meadow-land clear of trees.
+
+6. River.
+
+7. Stretch of lowland leading down to the water.
+
+8. Crest of hill from which observations were taken with range extending
+east and west.
+
+9. Point of rocks with cypress trees.
+
+10. Buttress-like west end of island.
+
+11. Dense forest reaching to channel.
+
+12. Rocky cape.
+
+13. Level plateau, without trees.
+
+14. Beach.
+
+15. Penguins.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+After the second reading of the foregoing report, the first being
+in English, Percival requested his fellow explorers to verify the
+statements contained therein. This they did promptly. He then went on:
+
+"I am delegated by Captain Trigger and the officers of this vessel,
+after a conference just concluded,--and of which you are all well
+aware,--to put before you as briefly and as clearly as possible the
+decision that has been reached. I may as well confess in the beginning
+that this decision is based on the recommendations of the party who went
+to the top of the mountain. It is out of the question for the people on
+board this vessel to go ashore until further investigations have been
+made. For the present, we are all safe here on board the ship. We
+don't know what perils exist in the absolutely unexplored country that
+surrounds us. Additional parties are to be sent out to explore the
+island, especially the eastern section of it. There is no use mincing
+matters. We are confronted by a very plain situation. It is possible,
+even probable, that we are the first human beings ever to set foot on
+this land. If that be true, we are now so far out of the path of the few
+ships and steamers sailing these southern seas that there is small hope
+or chance of a speedy rescue. As a matter of fact, it isn't likely that
+we will be discovered until the island itself is discovered, if you see
+what I mean.
+
+"There isn't the slightest chance that the ship we're now standing on
+will ever float again. Even if the engines could be put in order,--and
+that is possible, I am told,--the vessel cannot be raised. If anybody
+has been nursing that sort of hope, he may as well get rid of it.
+It's no good. We are here to stay, unless help comes from the outside.
+There's the plain English of it. We may have to live here on this
+island, like poor old Robinson Crusoe, for years,--for a great many
+years. I'm going to stop just a few seconds to let that soak into your
+brains. We've got to face it. We've got to make the best of it. It is
+not for Captain Trigger or me or any one else to say that we will not
+be taken off this island some time--maybe sooner than we think. Whaling
+vessels must visit these parts. That's neither here nor there. We've got
+our work cut out for us, friends. We've got to think of the present and
+let the future take care of itself. Now, here are the facts. We cannot
+remain on board this wreck. We've got to go to work, every man, woman
+and child of us. I don't know what can be cultivated on this island, but
+we've got to find out, and when we find out we've got to begin raising
+it. If we don't, my friends, we'll starve to death in a very short time.
+And what's more, if we do not get out there and put up houses to live
+in, we'll freeze to death when winter comes along.
+
+"According to calculations, winter is still five or six months away. We
+won't get it, I dare say, before next April or May. All you have to do
+is to take a look at all these trees around here to realize that we are
+a long way from the tropics. It gets as cold as blazes here in the dead
+of winter, I can tell you that. We've got to build homes. We've got to
+build a camp,--not a flimsy, half-way sort of camp, but a good, solid,
+substantial one, my friends. There is what you might call a minority
+report in regard to the situation. Captain Trigger asked me to speak
+for him and others who look at it as I do. Mr. Landover, who is, I
+understand, one of the leading bankers in the United States of America,
+contends that we are well enough off as we are, on board the Doraine,
+where we've got cabins and beds and shelter from the elements. He may be
+right. All I have to say to him is this,--I don't believe I mentioned
+it at this conference, Mr. Landover, simply because I'm one of those
+unhappy individuals who always think of the brilliant things I might
+have said when it's too late to say them,--all I have to say is this: if
+Mr. Landover and his supporters expect to sit snugly on this ship while
+the rest of us build houses and plant crops, and then conclude to come
+out and bone the rest of us for a square meal and a nice warm place to
+sleep, they are going to be badly fooled. We're all equal here. A couple
+of million dollars, more or less, doesn't cut any ice on this little
+island. What counts here is muscle and commonsense and a willingness to
+use both.
+
+"A little while ago I asked Mr. Landover how much money he has with him.
+He informed me that while it wasn't any of my business, he has about
+five hundred dollars in American money and a couple of hundred pesos
+besides, but that his letter of credit is still good for fifteen
+thousand. Mr. Nicklestick has about five hundred dollars in money,
+and so has Mr. Block and one or two others. They've all got letters
+of credit, express checks, and so forth, and I suppose there is a
+wheelbarrow full of jewellery on board this ship. Now, if money is to
+talk down here, I wish to state that the men and women from the steerage
+have got more real dough than all the first and second cabins put
+together. They haven't any letters of credit or bank accounts in New
+York, but there are a dozen men in the steerage who have as much as two
+or three thousand pesos sewed up inside their clothes. So far as I can
+make out, the only people who can afford to hire anybody to build a
+hut for them, and pay for it in real money, are the plutocrats from the
+steerage.
+
+"Mr. Landover's letter of credit is good for fifteen thousand if he ever
+gets back to New York, but it isn't worth fifteen cents here. His life
+is insured for one million dollars, I am told. I don't know who the
+beneficiaries are, but, whoever they are, they are going to put in a
+claim for the million if he doesn't show up in New York pretty shortly.
+He is going to be declared officially dead, and so are all the rest of
+us, after a reasonable time has elapsed. Now, I don't say that we are
+never going to be rescued. We may be found inside of a month. Some of us
+don't quite realize the fix we are in. Mr. Codge, the purser, was saying
+a little while ago that a lady from the first cabin nearly took his head
+off when he told her it was impossible to send a cable message to her
+people in Boston. A number of passengers have already demanded that
+their passage money be refunded.
+
+"You have doubtless heard how I came to be on board this steamer. I am
+a stowaway. I have no standing among you. I haven't a penny in my
+pocket,--aside from a luck-piece that doesn't belong to me. I wanted to
+get back to the States so that I could carry a gun or something over in
+France. I wanted to fight for my country. I wasn't thinking very much
+about my life when I started for home and France, but I want to say that
+I'm thinking about it now. I don't intend to starve or freeze to death
+if I can help it. I am going to fight for my life, not for my country.
+
+"This is no time to be sentimental. It is no time to sit down and pity
+ourselves or each other. God knows I am just as sorry for myself as you
+are for yourselves, but that isn't going to get me anywhere. We've got
+to work. That means all of us. It means the women as well as the men.
+It means the women with soft, white hands and the men who never did a
+stroke of manual labour in their lives, just as much as it means the
+people who have never done anything else but work. Something will be
+found for every one of us to do, and, ladies and gentlemen, we will have
+to do it without whining.
+
+"Captain Trigger is accountable for the cargo on board this ship.
+Naturally he is opposed to our confiscating anything that has been
+entrusted to him for safe delivery. He takes a very sensible attitude,
+however. He will officially protest against the removal of anything from
+the hold of his vessel, but he will not employ force to resist us when
+we begin to land stores, foodstuffs and all that sort of thing. He
+understands the situation perfectly.
+
+"Now, here is what we will have to do. We must select a site for our
+camp,--or town, you may well say,--and we must build upon it without
+delay. That is to be our first step. Details will come later. There are
+over six hundred of us here. We represent a fair-sized village. We have
+mechanics, carpenters, farmers, surveyors, masons,--and merchants, to
+say nothing of cooks, housekeepers, and so on. The ship contains all
+sorts of tools to work with, canvas for temporary quarters, beds and
+bedding, cooking utensils,--in fact, we have everything that Robinson
+Crusoe didn't have, and besides all that, we've got each other. We are
+not alone on a desert island. We are, my friends, as well off as the
+Pilgrims who landed on Plymouth Rock, and we are better off than the
+hardy colonists who laid the foundation for the country that flies
+that flag up there. Centuries ago bold adventurers set out to discover
+unknown lands. They were few in number and poorly equipped. But they
+ventured into the wilderness and built villages that grew to be cities.
+They went through a thousand hardships that we will never know, and they
+survived.
+
+"Captain Trigger and the others selected me to make this talk to
+you because I have had some practical experience in establishing and
+developing a camp, such as we will have to build. Experience has taught
+me one thing above all others: work, hard work of a constructive nature,
+is our only salvation. Unless we occupy ourselves from one day's end to
+another in good, hard, honest toil, we will all go mad. That's the long
+and the short of it. If we sat still on this boat for thirty days, doing
+nothing, we'd lose our minds. There isn't a man in this crowd, I am
+sure, who wouldn't work his head off to spare the women an hour of
+hardship. But the greatest hardship you women could possibly know would
+be idleness. There will be work for every one to do, and we can thank
+God for it, my friends. We will have to work for nothing. We will have
+to help each other. There is but one class on this island at present,
+and that is the working class.
+
+"We've all got people at home waiting for us. By this time the whole
+world knows that the Doraine is three weeks overdue at Rio Janeiro, and
+that no word has been had from her. The ocean is being searched. Our
+friends, our relatives are doing everything in their power to get trace
+of this lost ship. You may depend on that. In a little while,--a few
+weeks, at best,--the ship will be given up for lost. We will be counted
+as dead, all of us. That's a hard, cruel thing for me to say, and I hate
+to say it,--but we've just got to realize the position we're in. It's
+best that we should look at it from the worst possible angle. I do not
+speak jestingly when I say that we may as well consider ourselves dead
+and forgotten. I am as full of hope and confidence as anybody and I am
+an optimist if there ever was one, but I don't work on the theory that
+God takes any better care of an optimist than He does of a pessimist.
+
+"It will require months, maybe years, for us to construct a ship, and
+even then it will not be big enough to transport all of us. The most we
+can hope for is a craft that will be stout enough to go out and bring
+help to the rest of us. I am trying, at Captain Trigger's suggestion,
+to convince you that we can't build a ship, that we can't expect to get
+away from this island by our own endeavours, unless we go about it in
+the proper and sensible way. That means, first of all, that we must
+safeguard ourselves against time. We've got to live and we've got to
+keep our strength.
+
+"Mr. Landover has made a very generous proposition. He agrees to give a
+hundred thousand dollars to any boat's crew that will take one of these
+lifeboats and make port somewhere. He fails to mention the compensation
+they are to receive if they never make port. He forgets that this big
+ship floundered around for a good many days without sighting anything
+but water. He would have been perfectly safe in offering a hundred
+million dollars, because he would never be called upon to pay it. I
+understand, however, that his offer still stands.
+
+"Tomorrow morning surveying parties will be sent ashore to look for a
+possible site for our town. Volunteers will undertake this work. As soon
+as possible thereafter a temporary camp will be set up, and practically
+every one on board will be moved from this ship. Captain Trigger and
+a few chosen men will remain on board. It is his wish, ladies and
+gentlemen. He is the captain of the Doraine. He will not leave her. We
+are all here today, and alive, because Captain Trigger would not leave
+his ship. We owe our lives to him. This is not the time to propose three
+cheers for the gallant master of the Doraine. It is not the time to
+cheer for anybody or for anything. We do not feel like cheering.
+We've done all the praying that is necessary, we've offered up all the
+thanksgiving that the situation calls for, so now we've got to roll up
+our sleeves and go to work."
+
+He, stepped down from the gun-platform. There were no cheers. Every
+voice was stilled, every face was set. Many seconds passed before there
+was even the slightest stir among those who had listened so intently.
+
+Then the few English-speaking people from the steerage began to whisper
+hoarsely to their bewildered companions.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK TWO
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+The warm, summer season was well-advanced in this far southern land
+before the strenuous, tireless efforts of the marooned settlers began to
+show definite results.
+
+Some six weeks after the stranding of the Doraine, staunch log cabins
+were in course of completion along the base of the hills overlooking the
+clear, rolling meadow-land to the north and east. Down in the lowlands
+scores of men were employed in sowing and planting. The soil was rich.
+Farmers and grain-raisers among the passengers were unanimously of
+the opinion that almost any vegetable, cereal or fruit indigenous
+to Argentina (or at the worst, Patagonia), could be produced here.
+Uncertainty as to the duration of the warm period, so vital to the
+growing and maturing of crops, was the chief problem. No time was to be
+lost if there were to be harvests before the cold and blighting weather
+set in.
+
+It was extremely doubtful if the spring and summer seasons combined
+covered more than five months in this latitude. Assuming that the
+climate in this open part of the world was anything like that of the
+Falkland Islands, the rainy season was overdue. Midwinter usually comes
+in July, with the temperature averaging between 35 deg. and 10 deg.
+above zero over a period of four or five months. At the time of the
+wreck, the thermometers were registering about 70 deg. during the day,
+and dropping to 50 deg. or thereabouts after nightfall. This would
+indicate that spring was fairly well-advanced, and that midsummer might
+be figured on as coming in January. It was now the end of November. Warm
+weather probably would last until February or March. Possibly they
+would be too late with their planting, but they went about it speedily,
+determinedly, just the same.
+
+All of them had had crop failures before. All of them had seen the
+labour of months go for naught in the blight of an evening's frost, or
+the sweep of a prairie fire. So here on this virgin isle, in soil whose
+sod had never been turned, they sowed from the bins of the slumbering
+ship. Wheat and oats and flax, brought from the Argentina plains;
+potatoes, squash and beet-root; even beans and peas were tried, but with
+small hope. And there were women ready to till the soil and work the
+gardens, women to draw the strangely fashioned ploughshares as willing
+beasts of burden, to wield the hoe and spade, and to watch for the
+cherished sprout that was to glorify their deeds.
+
+The ring of the ax resounded in the forest; the clangour of hammer and
+nail, the rasp of the saw, the clatter of timber went on from dawn to
+dusk,--for there was no eight-hour law in this smiling land, nor
+was there any other union save that of staunch endeavour, no other
+Brotherhood except that of Man. There was never a question of wage,
+never a dispute as to hours, never a thought of strike. Every labourer
+was worthy of his hire,--and his hire was food!
+
+The Doraine was gradually being dismantled. She was being stripped of
+every bit of material that could be used in constructing and furnishing
+the huts. The new camp lay not more than a mile and a half from the
+basin. A road had been cleared through the wood from the small, hastily
+constructed dock and runway on the eastern side of the basin to the open
+territory beyond.
+
+Material, supplies, equipment were carried through the densely shaded
+avenue, and later on, after the warehouses and granaries had been built,
+the leafy lane witnessed the transportation of ton upon ton of stores,
+patiently borne in hundredweight lots, in bushel bags, in clumsy
+parcels, by men whose work seemed endless; wheat, barley, oats, sugar,
+coffee and other commodities entrusted to the steamship company for
+delivery in the United States. Tobacco, canned and refrigerated meats,
+olives, flour, figs and dates in large quantities were included in the
+vast cargo, to say nothing of the enormous supply of canned fruits and
+vegetables. Washed wool, tanned leather, homespun cotton and woollen
+cloth, silks, hides, furs, rugs, laces, linseed oil, blankets,--all
+these came ashore in course of time, but of the sinister treasure that
+had inspired the destruction of the ship, i.e., the manganese,
+the rubber, the nitrates, the copper bars, and the stacks of high
+explosives, not a pound was moved. All this was left for another and
+more leisurely day.
+
+In the end, the once luxurious liner was to be reduced to "skin and
+bones," to employ a trite but eminently appropriate phrase. Ultimately
+she became a black, unlovely skeleton, bereft of every vestige of her
+former opulence. Her decks were torn up and the timbers hauled away to
+make floors in the huts; the doors, mirrors, stairways, windows, rails,
+carpets, pipes, bathtubs, toilets, lamps, every foot of woodwork from
+stem to stern, berths, washbasins, kitchen ranges, boilers,--in fact,
+everything that man could make use of was taken from the ship, leaving
+nothing of her but a hollow, echoing shell through which the wind howled
+or moaned a ghostly requiem.
+
+Much of this material was carefully stacked or stored away against the
+day when it could be utilized in the construction of a small but sturdy
+ship, in which a chosen company of sailors were to fare out to sea once
+more in search of the world they had lost.
+
+Tireless and indomitable engineers later on succeeded in transferring
+portions of the damaged machinery, including dynamos, to the camp, where
+in course of time their skill and ingenuity bade fair to triumph over
+seemingly insurmountable difficulties in the matter of restoration.
+
+Fully six weeks elapsed, however, before the women were allowed to leave
+the ship for their new homes on the land, and even then they came but a
+few at a time and only as huts were ready and fully equipped to receive
+them. Each hut contained a combination kitchen and living-room, with a
+single bedchamber. A substantial fireplace, built of stone and mortar,
+with a tall chimney at the back, was a feature in every house. The
+cracks between the logs, and all chinks, were sealed with thick layers
+of mortar; the ceilings, made of stout saplings, were treated in a
+similar manner, while the roof, resting on a sturdy ridge-pole, and
+securely anchored, was of three layers of poles, interstices mortared
+and the whole covered with a vast quantity of seaweed, moss and reeds
+held in place by several well-fastened sections of iron railing from the
+decks of the Doraine.
+
+While the huts were uniform in size, shape and construction, there
+was nothing to prevent the occupant from subsequently enlarging and
+improving his house. For the present, however, the interests of all were
+best served by speed and compactness.
+
+The superintendent of construction was Algernon Adonis Percival. As
+a matter of fact, the end of the first week found him occupying the
+position of General Manager for the whole enterprise, an unsolicited
+honour but one which he was resolved that no one, great or small,
+should deride. He had one stormy "run-in," as he described it, with Mr.
+Landover and his group of satellites. This occurred about the middle of
+their first week on the island when practically every able-bodied man
+from the Doraine was at work cutting a way through the forest or in
+constructing the dock at the water's edge. As the incident is entitled
+to a very definite place in this narrative, a more or less extended
+account of it may be given here and now, even at the risk of being
+classed as a digression, or a step backward in the sequence of the
+history.
+
+Mr. Landover, Mr. Block, Mr. Nicklestick and two or three other men
+were grouped on the after-deck early one morning decrying the brainless
+scheme to build a camp out there in the open. Their audience included
+several women, among them Mrs. Spofford, Ruth Clinton, Madame
+Careni-Amori, Madame Obosky, Mrs. Block and a couple of loquacious Rio
+Janeiro ladies.
+
+Percival bore down upon this group. He wasted no time in getting to the
+point.
+
+"We've been at work for two days out there, gentlemen, and up to date
+not one of you has turned to with the rest of us. The understanding was
+that--"
+
+Mr. Landover whirled on him, white with anger. "That will do!" he
+exclaimed. "Clear out! I do not intend to allow any such riff-raff as
+you to order me to--Oh, pray do not be alarmed, ladies! This rowdy is
+not likely to assault me. Nothing will happen, I assure you. Clear out,
+you bum,--do you hear me?"
+
+Percival was smiling. "I wish you wouldn't interrupt me, Mr. Landover.
+As I was saying, it was understood that every man on this ship who is
+well enough to--"
+
+"Can't you see that there are ladies present? Haven't you an atom of
+decency about you?"
+
+"--understood that every man on this ship was to do his share of the
+work laid out. I owe these ladies an apology for reminding you in their
+presence that the boats are leaving for shore and that if you do not get
+off in the next relay you will be compelled to swim to that landing over
+there,--and I doubt very much whether any of you can make it."
+
+"Wha-what's that?" demanded Mr. Block.
+
+Mr. Landover was speechless. A hard glitter came to Percival's eyes, the
+smile left his lips.
+
+"You heard what I said, Mr. Block. I'll make it plainer, however. If you
+men don't get into the next boat leaving this ship, I'm going to
+have you thrown overboard and made to swim to your work. I regret
+exceedingly, ladies, that I have been obliged to resort to harsh words
+in your presence, but time is so precious that I can't afford to give
+them a private audience."
+
+"Oh, my goodness gracious!" cried Mrs. Block, twisting her fat hands in
+an agony of alarm. "Maybe you better go, Moses. You vas nearly drownded
+twice yet in pool at White Sulphur."
+
+"This is the most outrageous, high-handed,--" began Landover,
+explosively, but stopped short as Percival levelled his unlovely
+forefinger at him.
+
+"Cut it out, Mr. Landover,--cut it out," he snapped, inelegantly. "Now,
+listen to me. For two days you and these boon companions of yours have
+been loafing on the job. While the rest of us have been working like
+dogs, you and your friends,--you needn't look insulted, because by the
+looks of things they are your friends,--you've been sitting up here
+talking to the ladies, smoking cigars, and telling every one how
+successfully you conduct a bank in New York. Now, Mr. Landover, you're
+not an old man. If you were, I'd be the first to suggest the easiest
+sort of work for you. You are under fifty and you're a strong, healthy
+man. You ride every morning in Central Park, you play golf in winter and
+summer, and you're one of the men who made Muldoon famous.
+
+"You are able to work as the rest of us are working. Your hands are in
+a much better condition than mine. If we were in New York, I would take
+off my hat to you and admit that you are one of the greatest bankers in
+the world, and that you know your business. But we're not in New York.
+We're down here on a lonely island. You know how to build and conduct
+banks, I know how to build and conduct camps. We have no use for
+scientific bankers here, but we have considerable use for experienced
+camp builders. I have been put in charge of this work. I'm going to see
+it through. Up in the hills I got a full day's work out of my men,--and
+there were worse men among them than you will ever be. There were
+gunmen, knife slingers, cutthroats and bullies,--but they had to work,
+just the same. Just a minute, if you please. I'm not through. I think I
+appreciate your position, Mr. Landover.
+
+"You regard me as a four-flusher, a tramp,--maybe a thief or worse. I
+am but little more than half your age and I am a person of absolutely no
+importance. That's neither here nor there. I have been selected to run
+this job because Captain Trigger, with Mr. Mott and virtually every
+other man on this ship, believes that I know how to handle it. But even
+that's neither here nor there. What I'm coming to is this. As long as
+I am in charge of this job, every man, woman and child has got to do
+something. Just at present there isn't much that the women and children
+can do, but there is work for every man who can stand on his feet. You
+needn't glare at me. I'm not afraid of you, Mr. Landover. You say you
+are going to stay on this ship. Well, I've come here to tell you that
+you are not going to do anything of the sort. The women and children are
+to remain on board until we've got houses built for them on shore, or
+until the time comes when there is work for them to do. If they choose
+to come ashore occasionally it will be to watch the men work and to
+cheer them up with their presence. But no man is to stay on this ship
+after we've once got the real job going out there. Now you've heard my
+statement, sir. I am willing to listen for a few minutes to your side of
+the question. Don't all speak at once,--and please be careful, there are
+ladies present."
+
+While Percival did not take his eyes from Landover's face during this
+speech, he was aware that Miss Clinton and her aunt had turned abruptly
+away and were leaning against the rail a few yards distant, their backs
+to him. Olga Obosky and Careni-Amori were regarding him with shining,
+approving eyes, while Mrs. Block,--gulping furiously,--clasped her
+husband's arm and kept up a constant muttering. Something told him that
+Ruth Clinton and Mrs. Spofford had turned against him.
+
+"I have nothing to say to you," said Landover, curtly. Turning on his
+heel, he joined the two ladies at the rail. He spoke a few words to them
+in a lowered tone, and then the three of them strode off without so much
+as a glance at the young man.
+
+Percival flushed a dull red under his tan. His eyes followed them until
+they disappeared around a corner. Down in his heart he hoped that Ruth
+would not deny him a fleeting look of encouragement and approval.
+
+Landover carried himself like a soldier. He was tall, well set-up, and
+almost offensively erect. He was a handsome man of perhaps forty-eight.
+His cleanshaven face was firm, aggressive, domineering. There was not
+a trace of grey in his dark hair. He typified strength, mentality,
+shrewdness and that most essential quality in the standards of wealth
+and power,--arrogance. In a word, he personified Finance.
+
+"Now, see here, Percival," began Nicklestick, in a most cavalier manner,
+greatly encouraged by the lofty conduct of the Money King, "you know you
+can't do this sort of thing. We won't stand for it, not for a minute. We
+object to this high-handed business. You got to realize that--"
+
+"Object and be hanged!" snapped Percival. "The next thing, you'll
+be calling yourselves conscientious objectors. Well, it's no use,
+Nicklestick. There's no such animal on board this Ark. I see a couple
+of boats returning from shore. You've got about fifteen minutes to shed
+that Stein & Bloch suit and jump into something that will never need
+pressing again,--your working clothes. I'm doing you a kindness. That
+gang out there won't stand for slackers. If you're wise you'll take my
+word for it."
+
+He was turning away when Nicklestick intercepted him.
+
+"What do you think they would do, Mr. Percival?" he inquired in some
+agitation. "We are gentlemen. We got a right to decide for ourselves vat
+we shall do. We can pay for--"
+
+"You will find a lot of gentlemen out there who have already decided for
+themselves,--and very cheerfully, too. You will not be lonely. If you
+desire any further information as to the class of labourers you will
+come in contact with, Mr. Nicklestick, I would suggest a careful study
+of the first cabin list, the second cabin list, and finally the third
+cabin list, if you can find such a thing. You will also run up against
+some excellent material from the United States Navy, to say nothing of a
+fine lot of able seamen. They've adopted a common name. Do you know what
+they call each other?"
+
+"No," said Nicklestick, wiping his brow. "Vat--vat do they call each
+other?"
+
+"Men," said Percival, and walked away.
+
+He was followed closely by Careni-Amori and Olga Obosky, and at some
+distance by the whispering, gesticulating Jews. The great soprano was
+profoundly agitated. Obosky, a pace or two behind her, was tense and
+silent. Her head was slightly bent. There was a strange, dog-like
+expression in her eyes as they regarded the back of Percival's head.
+
+"But what will you do?" Careni-Amori was crying, as she clutched his
+arm. "He is a great man. He is a millionaire. He owns part of this
+steamship line,--so he have inform me. You will not throw him into the
+water,--yes?"
+
+"As sure as you are a foot high, Madame Careni-Amori," said he, grimly.
+
+"Oh, mon Dieu! You hear him, Obosky? He means what he have say."
+
+"Be careful, my friend," said Obosky, drawing alongside of Percival. "Do
+you not see how the wind blows?"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Have you count the cost of victory? You may lose more than you will
+gain."
+
+Percival looked at her intently for a moment; then, in a flash, the
+meaning of her words was revealed to him.
+
+"Even so, Madame Obosky," he returned, his jaw setting, "I am a good
+loser."
+
+"The spoils do not always go to the victor," she warned him.
+
+"I still have your luck-piece," said he, smiling as he slapped his
+trousers-leg.
+
+"It has always brought me luck," she said, looking straight into his
+eyes. "It may continue to do so, who knows? Alas for you, my friend,
+you may yet have to turn to me for consolation. It is the ill-wind that
+blows nobody good. Am I not shocking, Mr. Percivail?"
+
+They had lost Madame Careni-Amori, who was behind them, shrieking a
+command through a port-hole to her maid.
+
+He looked at her in amazement. "I don't know what to think of you,
+Madame Obosky." Then he grinned. "Good Lord! You--you can't be making me
+an offer of marriage?"
+
+"Heaven forbid!" she cried. "I have had all I want of marriage, my
+friend. You will never catch me doing anything so foolish as that again.
+No, no! I do not desire to marry you, Mr. Percivail. Nothing so dreadful
+as that! Suppose we would be married,--what zen? Poof! Because I am an
+honest woman I would have to tell you some time zat I have had ze honour
+to be once the mistress of a Crown Prince,--and then you would hold up
+your holy hands and cry out, 'My God, what kind of a woman is this I
+have marry?' and--Oh, but I would not tell you about zat Crown Prince
+until we have been married a year or two, so do not look so pleased!
+In a year you would be hating me so much zat you would rejoice to hear
+about the Crown Prince, and I would be loathing you so much zat I would
+probably have to kill you,--because I do not believe in divorce any more
+than I believe in marriage. You see? Most women hate their husbands.
+They never hate their lovers. It is so difficult to get rid of the one,
+and so easy to keep the other,--zat is the explanation. So! Now you
+may know zat love is the humblest thing in the world, and passion the
+noblest, for love is for the weak while passion is for the strong. Love
+is easily deceived, passion never. Love endures, passion conquers. Love
+is blind, passion is sight itself. Love rules the world, but passion
+rules love. Love consents, passion demands. Love is law, passion is
+life. I could go on forever, but I see you do not like my discourse. Zat
+is because you are already in love, my friend. Poof! You will get over
+that!" She laughed.
+
+Percival was white clear through. He was red-blooded, but at the same
+time his heart was clean. Once more he found himself contrasting the
+honest-eyed, pure-hearted Ruth with this sensual scoffer. There was no
+denying the physical appeal of the lithe, sinuous Russian; there was no
+gainsaying the call of the blood. On the other hand, the American girl
+stood for everything his own mother exemplified in flesh and spirit.
+
+As it is with all men, he was absolutely incapable of associating
+passion with the mother who bore him, or with sisters who marry and give
+them nieces and nephews to adore. It was impossible, utterly impossible
+that they should have possessed the instincts of this woman beside
+him. But even as the thought raced through his mind he experienced the
+sudden, almost staggering realization that after all the chief, probably
+the only difference between his women and Olga Obosky was that they were
+good!
+
+"Do you want me to tell you what I think of you?" he inquired, his eyes
+hardening.
+
+"Yes," she said calmly. "But not now. When you have more time, my
+friend. I shall be very much interested to hear what you think of me. In
+the meantime, I am troubled for you. You are in love with her,--oh, yes,
+you are,--and I am very much afraid zat you will lose her if you are
+not careful. I am your friend. Be warned in time, Mr. Percivail. She is
+sorry for him. Landover. You have humiliated him before all of us. He is
+the friend of her family. Go slow, my friend, or she will turn against
+you and you will lose her. You have still a good chance. She is more
+nearly in love with you than she suspects. A little good judgment on
+your part, my friend, and you will win. She will marry you, and when
+she have done so, zen you may with impunity toss Mr. Landover in the
+sea,--but not now, my friend, not now."
+
+"By Jove, you've got me guessing, Madame Obosky," he exclaimed, frankly
+puzzled. "I can't make you out at all."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"Zat is because I am a thousand years old and very, oh, so very wise,
+Mr. Percivail," she returned, with a smile. "Au revoir!"
+
+Percival went straight to Captain Trigger.
+
+"See here, Captain," he said at once, "I'm up against it with Landover.
+He refuses to take orders from me. I don't want to do anything drastic
+without consulting you. If you say I'm to let him off, that's the end
+of it so far as I'm concerned. Of course, I can't answer for the rest
+of the crowd. But if you say I am to go ahead along the line originally
+laid out, I'll do it."
+
+Captain Trigger's eyes, red from loss of sleep, pinched with anxiety,
+rested for a few seconds on the three boats coming across the basin.
+Then he turned to the young man.
+
+"Mr. Landover is one of the owners of this steamship line, Percival."
+
+"So I understand, sir."
+
+"He notified me this morning that he will see that I am dismissed from
+the service if I continue to support this silly, suicidal plan to build
+a camp on shore."
+
+"Yes, sir. And you?"
+
+"I promptly tendered my resignation as master of this vessel," answered
+the Captain.
+
+"You did?" cried Percival, dismayed.
+
+"To take effect when I have tied her safely up to her pier in New York,"
+said the old man, striking the rail with his fist.
+
+"Great!" cried Percival.
+
+"He has just come to me with the complaint that you have threatened to
+throw him overboard. Is that true, Percival?"
+
+"Yes, sir,--in a way. I mentioned an alternative."
+
+"Mr. Landover is no better than any of the rest of us. You will proceed
+to throw him overboard, Percival, if he refuses to do his share of the
+work."
+
+Percival gulped, and then saluted.
+
+"Orders, sir?"
+
+"Orders!"
+
+The young man started away, but the Captain called him back.
+
+"What are you going to do after you have had him thrown into the water?"
+
+"Why, dammit all," exclaimed Percival, "what can I do but jump in and
+save his life? You don't suppose I'd let him drown, do you? And, God
+knows, nobody else would save it. They want to tar and feather him, as
+it is, or lynch him, or make him walk the plank."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+The first of the two boats came alongside, and men began to go clumsily,
+even fearfully down the ladders. Throughout the early stages of activity
+on shore, the passengers and crew went out in shifts, so to speak.
+Percival and others experienced in construction work had learned that
+efficiency and accomplishment depend entirely upon the concentration
+of force, and so, instead of piling hundreds of futile men on shore to
+create confusion, they adopted the plan of sending out daily detachments
+of fifty or sixty, to work in regular rotation until all available
+man power had been broken in and classified according to fitness and
+strength. For example, certain men developed into capable wood-choppers,
+while others were useless in that capacity. Each successive draft,
+therefore, had its choppers, its strippers, its haulers, its "handy
+men,"--and its water-boys. Moreover, this systematic replacement of
+toilers made it possible for those who were not accustomed to hard,
+manual labour to recover from the unusual tax on strength and endurance.
+
+It should be explained, however, that this system was not applied to
+individuals selected for the purpose of exploration and research. Four
+parties, well-armed and equipped, were sent out to explore both sections
+of the island. These expeditions had numerous objects in view: to
+determine, if possible, whether the island had ever been visited
+or occupied by man; to determine the character of the fruits and
+vegetables; extent and variety of animal life; the natural food
+resources, etc. The groups were made up of men familiar with nature
+in the rough. Lieutenant Platt headed one group, Professor Flattner
+another, a Bolivian ranchman and an English horse buyer the remaining
+two.
+
+Abel Landover was to have gone out with the first day's shift to work
+on the road through the wood. He refused point-blank to leave the ship.
+This state of affairs lasted through the next two days, the banker
+stubbornly ignoring the advice and finally the commands of Captain
+Trigger. In the meantime he had been joined in his rebellion,--a word
+used here for want of a milder one,--by half a dozen gentlemen who did
+a great deal of talking about how the Turks were maltreating the
+Armenians, but, for fear of being suspected of pro-Germanism, studiously
+avoided pre-war dissertations on the conduct of the Russians.
+
+The first shift's turn had come around once more in the natural order
+of things, and practically all of the men had been landed. Landover
+had refused to go out with either of the other shifts. He had stood
+his ground obstinately. Percival's ultimatum, sweeping like wildfire
+throughout the ship's company, brought nearly every one on board to the
+rails to see whether he would carry out his threat. Would he dare throw
+the great capitalist, this mighty Croesus, this autocrat, into the sea?
+
+The first boat carried off Nicklestick, Block, Shine and the other
+objectors. Landover was in his stateroom.
+
+"Just a minute," called out Percival to the oarsmen, as they waited for
+him to take his place in the last boat. "We're shy a man, I see." His
+eye ranged the deck. His face was a sickly yellow. It would have been
+white save for the tan. "Where is Landover?" he demanded of the crowd.
+
+Some one answered: "He went to his cabin a couple of minutes ago," and
+another volunteered: "It's Number 9 on the promenade deck."
+
+Half a minute later Percival rapped peremptorily on the door of Number
+9.
+
+"We're waiting for you, Mr. Landover," he called out.
+
+"Wait and be damned," came strongly from the stateroom. "The door is
+unlocked. If you put a foot inside this room, I'll shoot you like a
+dog."
+
+"You will have the satisfaction of killing a mighty good dog," said
+Percival, and threw the door wide open. He did not enter the room,
+however. Standing just outside the door, he faced the banker. Landover
+stood in the centre of the luxurious cabin, a revolver in his hand.
+
+"I mean exactly what I say, Percival. I will shoot the instant you put a
+foot through that door."
+
+"I don't believe you would," said Percival, "but, just the same, I'm not
+going to chance it. If I ever conclude to commit suicide, I'll go off
+somewhere and blow my brains out with my own gun. At present, I have no
+thought of committing suicide, so I'll stay right where I am. I didn't
+come here to kill you, Mr. Landover. I have no gun with me. I simply
+came to tell you that the last boat is leaving, and we are waiting for
+you."
+
+For many seconds the two men looked straight into each other's eyes.
+
+"Are you coming?" demanded the young man levelly.
+
+"Certainly not!"
+
+Percival's shoulders sagged. His face wore an expression of complete
+surrender.
+
+"Well,--if you won't, I suppose you won't," he muttered.
+
+A triumphant sneer greeted this abject back-down on the part of the
+would-be dictator.
+
+"I thought so," exclaimed Landover. "You're yellow. You can bully these
+poor, ignorant--"
+
+He never finished the sentence. Percival cleared the eight or nine feet
+of intervening space with the lunge of a panther. His solid, compact
+body struck Landover with the force of a battering ram. Before the
+larger and heavier man could fire a shot, his wrist was caught in a
+grip of steel. As he staggered back under the impact, Percival's right
+fore-arm was jammed up under his chin. In the fraction of a second,
+Landover, unable to withstand this sudden, savage onslaught, toppled
+over backwards and, with his assailant clinging to him like a wildcat,
+found himself pinned down to the spacious, inset washstand.
+
+The revolver was discharged, the bullet burying itself in the floor. An
+instant later the weapon fell from his paralysed fingers. With his free
+left hand he struck wildly, frantically at Percival, but with no effect.
+The broad back and shoulders of his assailant proved a barrier he could
+not drive past. And that rigid, merciless right arm, as hard as a bar of
+steel, was pressing relentlessly against his throat, crushing, choking
+the life out of him. He was a strong, vigorous man, but he was helpless
+in the grasp of this tigerish young fighter from the slopes of the
+Andes. He heard Percival's voice, panting in his ear.
+
+"I can keep this up longer than you can. I don't want to break your
+neck,--do you understand? I don't want to break your neck, Landover, but
+if you don't give in, I'll--I'll--" The pressure slackened perceptibly.
+"Say it! Now's your chance. Say you've--got enough!"
+
+Landover managed to gasp out the word. He could still feel his eyes
+starting from his head, his tongue seemed to fill his mouth completely.
+
+Percival released him instantly and fell back a yard or so, ready,
+however, to spring upon his man again at the first sign of treachery. No
+more than sixty seconds elapsed between the beginning and the end of the
+encounter. It was all over in the twinkling of an eye, so to speak. In
+fact, it was over so quickly that the first man to reach the door after
+the report of the revolver rang out, found the two men facing each
+other, one coughing and clutching at his throat, the other erect and
+menacing. For the first time, Percival took his eyes from the purplish
+face of the banker. They fell first upon a head and pair of shoulders
+that blocked one of the two port-holes. He recognized the countenance of
+Soapy Shay, the thief. To his amazement, Soapy grinned and then winked
+at him!
+
+"The boat is ready to leave, Landover," said the victor briskly. "We
+have no more use for this thing at present," he went on, shoving the
+revolver under the berth with the toe of his boot. The banker stared
+past him at the agitated group in the corridor. The man was trembling
+like a leaf, not so much from fear as from the effects of the tremendous
+physical shock.
+
+Percival was a generous foe. He experienced a sudden pity,--a rush of
+consideration for the other's feelings. He saw the tears of rage
+and mortification well up in the eyes of the banker, he heard the
+half-suppressed sob that broke from his lips. Whirling, he ordered the
+crowd away from the door. "It's all right," he said. "Please leave us."
+He addressed Soapy Shay. "Beat it, you!"
+
+Soapy saluted with mock servility. "Aye, aye, sir. I saw the whole show.
+It was certainly worth the price of admission." Having delivered himself
+of that graceful acknowledgment, he effaced himself.
+
+"Just a word or two, Mr. Landover," said Percival as the crowd shuffled
+away from the door. "I am sorry this had to happen. Even now I am not
+sure that you fully understand the situation. You may still be inclined
+to resist. You are not in the habit of submitting to force, reason or
+justice. I am only asking you, however, to recognize the last of these.
+You will be happier in the end. I don't give a hang how much you hate
+me, nor how far you may go to depose me. I don't want your friendship
+any more than I want your enmity. I can get along very nicely without
+either. But that isn't the point. At present I am in charge of a gang of
+workmen. Every man on this ship belongs to that gang, you with the rest.
+I ask you to look at the matter fairly, honestly, open-mindedly. You
+accuse me of being high-handed. I return the charge. It's you who are
+high-handed. You set yourself above your fellow-unfortunates. You refuse
+to abide by the will of the majority. I represent the majority. I am
+not acting for myself, but for them. God knows, I am not looking for
+trouble. This job isn't one that I would have chosen voluntarily. But
+now that it has been thrust upon me, I have no other alternative than to
+see it through. You ought to be man enough, you ought to be fair enough
+to see it in that light. If conditions were reversed, Mr. Landover, and
+you were in my place, I would be the last to oppose you, because I
+have learned in a very tough school that it pays to live up to the
+regulations. Everywhere else in the world it is a question of capital
+and labour. Here it is a question of labour alone. There is no such
+thing as capital. Socialism is forced upon us, the purest kind of
+socialism, for even the socialist can't get rich at the expense of his
+neighbour. But I'm beginning to lecture again. Let's get down to cases.
+Are you prepared to go out peaceably,--I'll not say willingly,--and do
+your share on the job as long as you are physically able?"
+
+"I submit to brute force. There is no other course left open to me,"
+said Landover hoarsely.
+
+"Very well, then. Come along,--we're wasting valuable time here."
+
+"I will follow you in a few minutes."
+
+"You will come now," said Percival levelly. "You and I, Mr. Landover,
+are jointly concerned in the establishment of a very definite order of
+discipline. We represent the two extremes." He stood aside. "Precede me,
+if you please."
+
+After a moment's hesitation, the other lifted his chin and walked past
+the young man. The corridors were clear. Percival followed close behind.
+He kept up a glib, one-sided conversation.
+
+"You see, there was no other way to handle you. I was obliged to resort
+to punitive measures. That's always the case when you are dealing with
+sensible, intelligent, educated men. It is impossible to reason with an
+intelligent, educated man. He invariably has opinions, ideas, viewpoints
+of his own. He is mentally equipped to resist any kind of an argument.
+Take our United States Senators, our Congressmen, even our Presidents.
+You can't reason with them. No doubt you've tried it a thousand times,
+you and the other capitalists. We've all tried it. You've got to hit 'em
+on the head with some sort of a club or big stick if you want to bring
+'em to time. You have to club them to death at the polls, so to speak.
+Now, you take these wops. They can't argue. They haven't got that sort
+of intelligence. They're considerably like the common or garden variety
+of dog. No matter how much you beat them and scold them, you can always
+get along with them if you feed them and let them see that you're
+not afraid of them. If they once get an idea that you are afraid of
+them,--well, it's all off. They begin to be sensible right away, and
+then they form a labour union. And the more sensible and intelligent
+they become, the easier it is for the labour leaders, the walking
+delegates, and blood-sucking agitators to make fools of 'em. It's all a
+matter of leadership, Mr. Landover, as you will admit, any way you look
+at it. Well, here we are."
+
+Landover paused before starting down the ladder to the boat. He turned
+to address Percival in a loud, clear voice.
+
+"You will not long be in a position to browbeat and bully the rest
+of us, young man. Your reign will be short. I would like my
+fellow-passengers to know that I have never refused to work with them.
+I have merely declined to work under an outlaw. Life is as dear to me
+as it is to any one else on this ship. I am taking this step against
+my will, rather than subject myself to further indignities and the
+cruelties you would inflict if I held out against you. I am sorry to
+deprive you of the spectacular hit you might have made by throwing me
+into the sea, a treat which you doubtless led all of these people to
+expect."
+
+He climbed down the ladder and dropped into the boat. As he took his
+seat, he ran his eye along the line of faces above. Finding the persons
+he sought, he smiled, shook his head slowly to signify a state of
+resignation, and then set his flushed, angry face toward the land.
+
+Percival, following him, did not look up at the row of faces.
+
+Careni-Amori sang that evening in the main saloon. Signer Joseppi, tired
+and sore after his hard day's work, wept, and after weeping as
+publicly as possible created a profound sensation by kissing the great
+prima-donna in full view of the applauding spectators. Then, to cap
+the climax, he proclaimed in a voice charged with emotion that Madame
+Careni-Amori never had sung better in all her life! This to an artist
+who had the rare faculty for knowing when she was off the key,--and who
+knew that she was very badly off on this particular occasion.
+
+Percival was standing near the door as Ruth Clinton and her aunt left
+the saloon on the way to their rooms. He joined them after a moment's
+hesitation. The two ladies bowed coldly to him. He was the essence of
+decision. As usual, he went straight to the point.
+
+"I can't take back what I did this morning, and I wouldn't if I could,"
+he said, falling in beside Mrs. Spofford. "I know you are displeased
+with me. Can't we thresh it out now, Mrs. Spofford?"
+
+The elder woman raised her chin and stared at him coldly. He shot a
+glance past her at the girl's face. There was no encouragement to be
+found in the calm, unsmiling eyes.
+
+"I fail to see precisely why we should thresh anything out with you, Mr.
+Percival," replied Mrs. Spofford.
+
+"It is barely possible that you are not quite clear as to my motives,
+and therefore unable to gauge my actions."
+
+"I understand your motives perfectly,--and I approve of them. Your
+actions are not so acceptable. Good-night, Mr. Percival."
+
+He smiled whimsically at Ruth. "My left hand is rather in need of
+attention, Miss Clinton. I suppose I am so deeply in your bad graces
+that I may not hope for--er--the same old kindness?"
+
+She stopped short. "Is this a request or a command? Mr. Percival, I will
+be quite frank with you. Mr. Landover is our friend. I am not, however,
+defending him in the position he has taken. There is no reason why he
+should not do his share with the rest of the men. But was it necessary
+to humiliate him, was it necessary to insult him as you did this
+morning? He is a distinguished man. He--"
+
+"Are you coming, Ruth?" demanded Mrs. Spofford, sharply.
+
+"In just a moment, Aunt Julia."
+
+"You will oblige me by coming with me at once. We have nothing more to
+say to this young man."
+
+"I have asked him a question. I shall wait for his answer."
+
+"I will answer it, Miss Clinton, by saying it was necessary," said
+he steadily. "There are other distinguished men here who are further
+distinguishing themselves by toeing the mark without complaint or cavil.
+Mr. Landover was appealed to on three distinct occasions by Captain
+Trigger and the committee. He ignored all private appeals--and commands.
+The time had come for a show-down. It was either Landover and his little
+band of sycophants, or me and the entire company of men on this ship.
+It may interest you to know that you and Mrs. Spofford are the only two
+people on board, outside of Mr. Landover's retrievers, who blame me for
+what I did this morning."
+
+"You can hardly expect me to be interested in what other people think of
+my position, Mr. Percival," she said, raising her eyebrows slightly.
+
+"No more, I dare say, than Landover cares what they think of his," was
+his retort.
+
+She lifted her chin. "I am beginning to appreciate Mr. Landover's
+attitude toward you, Mr. Percival," she said icily.
+
+"And to justify it, I suppose," he said dejectedly. "I want your
+friendship, Miss Clinton,--yes, I want a great deal more than your
+friendship. You may as well know it. I'm not asking for it,--I'm
+just telling you. Please don't go away. I promise not to make myself
+ridiculous. You have been good to me, you have been wonderful. I--I
+can't bear the thought of losing your friendship or your respect. I just
+had to bring Landover to time. You may think there was some other way,
+but I do not. At any rate, it isn't a matter that we can discuss. Some
+day you may admit that I was right, but I don't believe I will ever see
+the day when I will admit that I was wrong. Won't--can't we be friends?"
+
+"I do not believe I can ever feel the same toward you after witnessing
+what I did this morning," said she, shaking her head. "You deliberately,
+intentionally degraded Mr. Landover in the presence of others. Was that
+the act of a gentleman? No! It was the act of an overbearing, arrogant
+bully who had nothing to fear. You took advantage of your authority
+and of the fact that he is so rich and powerful that he is practically
+without a friend or champion. You knew only too well that ninety-nine
+per cent of the people on board this ship were behind you in your attack
+on him because he represents capital! You had nothing to fear. No, Mr.
+Percival, I don't believe we can be friends. I am sorry."
+
+"You heard what Mr. Landover said to me this morning, Miss Clinton,"
+said he, paling. "You heard what he called me. Do you believe these
+things of me?"
+
+She was silent for a moment. "No, I do not," she replied slowly. "I
+believe that you are all you have represented yourself to be."
+
+"Thank you," he said, with gentle dignity. "I am sorry if I have
+distressed you this evening. Please don't think too harshly of me when
+I say that I just had to find out how we stand, you and I. Now that I
+know, I can only promise not to bother you again, and you may rely on my
+promises. I never break them. Good-night, Miss Clinton."
+
+He bowed to Mrs. Spofford, who ignored him, and then to Ruth, a wistful
+smile struggling to his lips and eyes as he did so. As he turned away,
+she spoke to him.
+
+"You mentioned your hand being bad again. If you would like me to dress
+it for you,--under the circumstances,--I will do so."
+
+"Ruth!" cried Mrs. Spofford in a shocked voice.
+
+He put his left hand behind his back. It was the one with which he
+had gripped Landover's wrist that morning. The strain had reopened the
+partially healed wounds.
+
+"I injured it this morning in an encounter with your friend, Miss
+Clinton. I can hardly ask you to dress it. Thank you, just the same."
+
+"I know all that happened in Mr. Landover's cabin, but even so, I am
+ready and willing to do anything in my power to ease the pain you are
+suffering." She spoke calmly, dispassionately, almost perfunctorily.
+
+He shook his head. "I shouldn't have spoken of it," he said. "It isn't
+so bad that I can't fix it up myself. Good-night."
+
+She joined her aunt and they made their way in silence to the latter's
+stateroom. It was not until after the door was safely locked that Mrs.
+Spofford delivered herself of the thought that had been in her mind the
+whole length of the slanting corridor.
+
+"I hope he will not take advantage of his position to--to bully us--to
+bully you, dearest,--he might, you know. He has shown himself to be
+perfectly capable of it. And we are so defenceless. No one but Abel
+Landover to look to for help if he,--for, of course, no one else would
+dare oppose this lawless young,--oh, you need not smile! He has the
+power and it is quite plain now that he intends to exercise it. He will
+brook no interference--"
+
+"I am not afraid of Mr. Percival, Aunt Julia," said the girl, sitting
+down wearily on the edge of the berth. "He is a gentleman."
+
+"A--a gentleman?" gasped Mrs. Spofford. "Good gracious!"
+
+"He will not annoy me," said Ruth, absently study-ing the tips of her
+slim, shapely shoes. "Possess your soul in peace. I think I know him."
+
+"Are you defending the braggart?"
+
+"Not at all! I detest him," cried the girl, springing to her feet, her
+face crimsoning. "He is perfectly abominable."
+
+"I--I wouldn't speak quite so loudly, my dear," cautioned her aunt,
+glancing at the door uneasily--"It would be like him to listen outside
+the door,--or at any rate, one of his men may have been set to spy
+upon--"
+
+"Don't be silly, Aunt Julia. And don't be afraid. Mr. Percival isn't
+going to make us walk the plank for mutiny, or put us in chains,--or
+outrage us,--if that is what you are thinking. Now, go to bed, you old
+dear, and--"
+
+"I insist on your staying in my room, Ruth. He is in love with you."
+
+"He can be in love with me and still be a gentleman, can't he, Aunt
+Julia? Don't worry! I shall sleep in my own room. I may even go so far
+as to leave my door unlocked."
+
+"What! And if he should come to--"
+
+"Ah, I shan't send him word that it's unlocked, dear," scoffed Ruth,
+finding a malicious enjoyment in her aunt's dismay. "Good-night. Sleep
+tight! We must sleep while we have the opportunity, you know. Our lazy
+days will soon be over. He says we've all got to work like,--I think he
+said dogs."
+
+"Oh, dear me. I,--I wonder what is to become of us?" moaned the wretched
+lady. "After what he tried to do to Abel Landover, there is no telling
+to what lengths he may go in--By the way, has Mr. Landover reported to
+Captain Trigger that the fellow attempted to shoot him this morning?"
+
+"Of course not, Aunt Julia."
+
+"Well, I think it is his duty to do so. Captain Trigger should take
+drastic means to curb this--"
+
+"You forget that Mr. Landover maintains that Captain Trigger and all
+the other officers are like putty in the hands of Mr. Percival. I am
+beginning to believe it myself. He--he has got them all hypnotized."
+
+"He hasn't got me hypnotized!" exclaimed Mrs. Spofford.
+
+"In any case, he is in the saddle," sighed Ruth.
+
+"He deliberately tried to kill Mr. Landover," said the other. "Is
+nothing to be done about it? We heard the shot,--every one heard it. And
+no one has the courage to say a word about it! What a lot of cowards we
+are! I don't see why he refuses to let me take the matter up with the
+Captain. Captain Trigger ought to know the truth."
+
+Ruth was silent for a moment or two. "It's hard for me to believe, Aunt
+Julia, that he would attack a defenceless man with a revolver. It--it
+doesn't seem like him."
+
+"But you have Abel Landover's word for it, Ruth. The bullet grazed his
+head. The coward would have killed him most certainly if he had not
+succeeded in knocking the pistol out of his hand and overpowering him."
+
+"If I did not believe Mr. Landover to be an absolutely truthful,
+honourable man, I--" began Ruth, a little furrow between her eyebrows,
+"well, I might still believe a little in Mr. Percival."
+
+"And what chance had poor Landover with that highwayman, or whatever he
+is, pointing a revolver at him through the porthole and threatening to
+blow his brains out if he did not throw up his hands and let Percival
+alone?"
+
+Olga Obosky bandaged Percival's hand. She intercepted him on his way to
+Dr. Cullen's cabin.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+During the days and weeks that followed, Percival maintained an
+attitude of rigid but courteous aloofness. Only on occasions when it was
+necessary to consult with Ruth and her aunt on matters pertaining to
+the "order of the day" did he relax in the slightest degree from the
+position he had taken in regard to them.
+
+In time, the captious Mrs. Spofford began to resent this studied
+indifference. She detested him more than ever for not running true to
+the form she had predicted; her apprehensiveness gave way to irritation.
+She resented his dignified, pleasant "good mornings"; she complained
+acidly to Ruth about what she was now pleased to describe as "disgusting
+superciliousness."
+
+The truth of the matter was, he failed to take any account whatsoever
+of Mrs. Spofford in his calculations; he did not even make a pretence
+of consulting her in matters relating to the common good of the common
+people, and as she was in the habit of devoting a considerable portion
+of her time, energy and executive ability to the interests of the common
+or lower class people, the omission was an insult.
+
+Nor was his cause benefited by the unnecessary and uncalled for
+deference he seemed to feel was due her on account of her age. What had
+her age to do with it? No one had ever deferred to her age in New York?
+She was one to be reckoned with, she was accustomed to the deference
+that hasn't anything at all to do with age. And here she was, shunted
+to one side, ignored, disregarded,--she who had been the brains and
+inspiration of a dozen charitable enterprises, to say nothing of
+war-work and very important activities in opposition to Woman Suffrage!
+
+She found little consolation in Landover's contention that the upstart
+was bound to hang himself if they gave him rope enough, or in Ruth's
+patient reminder that Percival was getting results,--and getting them
+without bullying anybody.
+
+Ruth accepted the situation with a calmness that exasperated her aunt.
+She announced her intention to obey any order the "boss" might issue,
+without recrimination, without complaint. And so, when the day came
+for her to go forth with other women to do her share of the cooking,
+washing, cleaning, and later on the more interesting task of putting the
+huts in order for occupancy, she went with a full understanding of what
+was required of her and without a word of protest. The women with whom
+she toiled from early morn till sombre dusk draped the land were under
+the immediate direction of a stewardess of many years experience, an
+Englishwoman whose husband, an engineer, had been killed at the time of
+the explosions.
+
+Each night she returned to the ship tired and sore but uncomplaining.
+Her strong young body stood the test with the hardiest; her spirit was
+unflinching; her heart in the common cause. For she looked ahead with
+a clear, far-seeing eye, and saw not one but many winters in this vast,
+unguarded prison. And she wondered,--wondered day and night,--what was
+ahead of her.
+
+She was young. The young do not dream of death. They dream of life,
+and of its fullness. What did fate have in store for her? Sometimes she
+crimsoned, sometimes she paled as she looked ahead.
+
+Bare-armed, her heavy sport skirt caught up with pins, her bonny brown
+hair loosely coiled, thick golf stockings and sturdy shoes covering her
+legs and feet, she presented a figure that caused more than one heart to
+thump, more than one head to turn, more than one pair of eyes to follow
+her as she went about her work. Her cheeks and throat and breast and
+arms were browning under the fire of the noonday sun, her eyes glowed
+with the fervour of enthusiasm; her voice was ever cheerful and her
+smile, though touched with the blight that lay upon the soul of all these
+castaways, was unfailingly bright. And when she returned "home" at night
+from her wageless day of toil, she slept as she never had slept before.
+
+Her aunt worked in what was known as the salvage corps. She was one of
+the clerks employed in checking out the cargo and other materials seized
+by the committee of ten, as the leaders in this singular enterprise were
+called. Captain Trigger having protested against the dismantling of the
+vessel and the confiscation of its cargo,--which was as far as he could
+go,--announced that he would abide by any satisfactory plan to salvage
+the property. He required an official, documentary report, however, in
+which every item removed was accounted for, with its condition and value
+set down and sworn to by responsible persons. The purser, Mr. Codge, and
+First Officer Mott represented the Captain in this operation, while the
+consignees were properly taken care of by Michael O'Malley Malone,
+the lawyer, James K. Jones, the promoter, and Moses Block, the rubber
+importer. It is unnecessary to deal further with this feature of
+the situation. Suffice it to say, the transaction,--if it may be so
+denoted,--was managed with the utmost regularity and formality. Elderly
+men and women were chosen for the clerical work which this rather
+laborious undertaking entailed.
+
+On the crest of the loftiest hill there was established a permanent
+observation and signal station. Near the top a sort of combination
+dug-out and shanty was constructed by order of Captain Trigger, and
+day and night, week in and week out, watches were kept similar to those
+maintained on board ship.
+
+While the entire company, high and low, worked with a zeal that
+eventually resulted in a state of good-natured though intense rivalry
+in skill and accomplishment,--while they were generally cheerful and
+courageous,--there was a profound lack of gaiety. In the eyes of each
+and every one of them lay the never-vanishing shadow of anxiety,--an
+eternal unspoken question. The hardest, fiercest faces wore a wistful
+expression; the broadest smile revealed a touch of sadness. Over all,
+however, the surpassing spirit of kindness and generosity presided.
+
+Calamity had softened the hearts in the same crucible that hardened the
+hands. The arrogance of the strong mellowed into consideration for the
+weak; wisdom and culture went hand in hand with ignorance and brawn;
+malice and rancour left the hearts of the lowly and met half-way the
+departing insolence of the lofty; fellowship took root and throve in a
+field rich with good deeds. The heart of man was master here, the brain
+its humble servant.
+
+Landover worked hard, doggedly. To all outward appearances, he had
+resigned himself to the inevitable. He affected a spirit of camaraderie
+and good humour that deceived many. Down in his heart, however, he
+was bitterly rebellious. He despised these people as a class. In his
+estimation, all creatures who worked for a living were branded with the
+obnoxious iron of socialism; he even went so far as to believe that they
+were, after a fashion, anarchists! His conception of anarchy was rather
+far-reaching; it took in everything that was contrary to his notion of
+a satisfactory distribution of wealth. He believed that every man who
+worked for a wage was at heart an enemy to law and order. He regarded
+the wage-earner as one whose hand is eternally against the employer,
+absolutely without honour, justice or reason. The workingman was for
+self, always for self,--and to Landover that was anarchy.
+
+The thought that people,--men and women,--of the lower classes possessed
+physical and mental qualities similar to those possessed by himself,
+even in a modified form, was not only repugnant to him but incredible.
+They had none of the finer emotions,--such as love, for instance. He
+could not conceive of a labouring man loving his wife and children;
+it wasn't natural! He pictured the home-life of the lower classes as
+nothing short of indecent; there couldn't be anything fine or noble or
+enduring in the processes of birth, existence and death as related to
+them. Nature took its course with them, and society,--as represented by
+the class to which he belonged,--provided for the litters they cast
+upon the world. In a word, Abel Landover's father and grandfather and
+great-grandfather had been rich men before him.
+
+He despised Captain Trigger for the simple reason that that faithful,
+gallant sailor was an employee of the company in which he was a
+director. It meant nothing to him that Captain Trigger came of fine,
+hardy, valiant stock; it meant less to him that he was a law unto
+himself aboard the Doraine. For, when all was said and done, Captain
+Trigger worked for just so much money per month and doubtless hated the
+men who paid him his wage. On board the Doraine,--as was the case with
+all other vessels on which he chose to sail,--the banker sat at the
+Captain's table. But he did not consider that to be a distinction or an
+honour; it was his due. As a matter of fact, he looked upon himself as
+the real head of the Captain's table!
+
+Half a dozen persons in all that company comprised Landover's circle of
+desirables. Of the rest, most of them were impossible, three-fourths
+of them were "anarchists," all of them were beneath notice,--except
+as listeners. As for Percival, if that young man was not literally and
+actually a bandit, at least he had all the instincts of one. In any
+case, he was a "bum." Whenever Mr. Landover was at a loss for a word to
+express contumely for his fellow-man,--and he was seldom at a loss,--he
+called him a "bum."
+
+The women on board were divided into three classes in Landover's worldly
+opinion: the kind you would marry (rare), the kind you wouldn't marry
+(plentiful), and the kind you wouldn't have to marry (common). He put
+Olga Obosky and Careni-Amori in this rather extensive third class, and
+even went so far as to set what he considered a fair value upon them as
+human commodities!
+
+He worked with the gang of "log-toters," a term supplied by Percival.
+They were the men who carried or dragged the trimmed tree-trunks from
+the forest to the camp site, where they were subsequently hewn into
+shape for structural purposes by the more skilful handlers of ax and
+wedge and saw.
+
+A certain man named Manuel Crust was the fore-man of this gang. He was
+a swarthy, powerful "Portugee" who was on his way to Rio to kill the pal
+who had run away with his wife. He was going up there to kill Sebastian
+Cabral and live happily for ever afterward. His idea of future happiness
+was to sit by the fireside in his declining years and pleasantly
+ruminate over the variety of deaths he had inflicted upon the loathsome
+Sebastian. In the first place, he was going to strangle him with his
+huge, gnarled hands; then he was going to cut off his ears and nose and
+stuff them into the vast slit he had made in his throat; then he would
+dig his heart out with a machete; then, one by one, he would expertly
+amputate his legs, arms and tongue; afterwards he would go through the
+grisly process of disemboweling him; and, then, in the end, he would
+build a nice, roaring fire and destroy what remained of Sebastian.
+Inasmuch as either of these sanguinary and successive measures might
+reasonably be expected to produce the desired result, it will be seen
+that Sebastian was doomed to experience at least six horrific deaths
+before the avenger got through with him. At any rate, if one could
+believe Manuel,--and there seemed to be no end of conviction in the
+way he expressed himself,--the luckless home-wrecker, if he lived long
+enough, was absolutely certain to die.
+
+Landover took a strange fancy to Manuel Crust. He was drawn to him in
+the first place by the blasphemous things he said about Percival. In the
+second place, he enjoyed Manuel's vituperative remarks about cutting the
+liver out of the "boss." Notwithstanding the fact that Manuel was
+more or less given to cutting the livers out of remote and invisible
+persons,--including King Alfonso, the Kaiser, Queen Victoria (he didn't
+know she was dead), King Manuel, the Czar of Russia, the Presidents
+of all the South American republics, the Sultan of Turkey, President
+Roosevelt, and Sebastian Cabral,--Mr. Landover positively loved to hear
+him talk. He made a point of getting him to talk about Percival a great
+deal of the time. He also liked the way in which the prodigious Manuel
+deferred to him. It inspired the philanthropic motives that led him to
+share his very excellent cigars with the doughty foreman. Moreover, he
+had something far back in his mind, had Mr. Abel Landover.
+
+Percival was indefatigable. He set the example for every one else, and
+nothing daunted him. The sceptics,--and there were many of them at the
+start,--no longer shook their heads as they went about what once
+had loomed as a hopeless enterprise, for to their astonishment and
+gratification the "camp" was actually becoming a substantial reality.
+
+The small group of men who, for obvious reasons, had courted the favour
+of Abel Landover at the outset, now went out of their way to "stand in"
+with the amazingly popular man of the hour.
+
+He represented power, he stood for achievement, he rode on the crest of
+the wave,--and so they believed in him! Landover may have been a wizard
+in New York, but the wizard of Trigger Island was quite another person
+altogether,--hence the very sensible defection.
+
+These gentlemen openly and ardently opposed him on one occasion,
+however. It was when he proposed that the island should be named for
+the beloved Captain. They insisted that it be called Percival Island.
+Failing in this, they advocated with great enthusiasm, but with no
+success, the application of Percival's name to almost every noticeable
+peculiarity that the island possessed. They objected fiercely to
+the adoption of such titles as these: Mott Haven (the basin); Split
+Mountain; Gray Ridge (after the lamented Chief Engineer); Penguin Rocks;
+The Gate of the Winds; Top o' the Morning Peak; Dismal Forest (west of
+the channel); Peter Pan Wood (east of the channel); Good Luck Channel;
+Cypress Point; Cape Sunrise (the extreme easterly end of the island);
+Leap-frog River; Little Sandy and Big Sandy (the beaches); Cracko-day
+Farm; New Gibraltar (the western end of the island); St. Anthony Falls.
+Michael O'Malley Malone christened the turbulent little waterfall up in
+the hills. He liked the sound of the name, he claimed, and besides it
+was about time the stigma of shame that had so long rested upon the poor
+old saint was rewarded by complete though belated vindication.
+
+Strange to say, no name was ever proposed for the "camp." Back in the
+mind of each and every member of the lost company lay the unvoiced
+belief,--amounting to superstition,--that it would be tempting fate to
+speak of this long row of cabins as anything more enduring than "the
+camp."
+
+Notwithstanding his dominant personality and the remarkable capacity
+he had for real leadership, Percival was a simple, sensitive soul. He
+writhed under the lash of conspicuous adulation, and there was a good
+deal of it going on.
+
+The satiric Randolph Fitts, notwithstanding his unquestioned admiration
+for the younger man, took an active delight in denouncing what he was
+prone to allude to as Percival's political aspirations. It is only fair
+to state that Fitts confined his observations to a very small coterie of
+friends, chief among whom was the subject himself.
+
+"You are the smartest politician I've ever encountered, and that's
+saying a good deal," he remarked one evening as he sat smoking with a
+half dozen companions in front of one of the completed huts. They were
+ranged in a row, like so many birds, their tired backs against the
+"facade" of the cabin, their legs stretched out in front of them.
+"You're too deep for me. I don't see just what your game is, A. A. If
+there was a chance to graft, I'd say that was it, but you could graft
+here for centuries and have nothing to show for it but fresh air.
+Even if you were to run for the office of king, or sultan or shah, you
+wouldn't get anything but votes,--and you'd get about all of 'em, I'll
+say that for you. To a man, the women would vote for you,--especially if
+you were to run for sultan. What is your game?"
+
+Percival smoked in silence, his gaze fixed on the moonlit line of trees
+across the field.
+
+"And speaking of women, that reminds me," went on Fitts. "When does my
+lord and master intend to transplant our crop of ladies?"
+
+"What's that, Fitts?" said Percival, called out of his dream.
+
+"Ladies,--what about 'em? When do they come ashore to occupy the
+mansions we have prepared for them?"
+
+"Captain Trigger suggests next week."
+
+"What's he got to do with it? Ain't you king?"
+
+"He's got a lot to do with it, you blithering boob."
+
+"Besides," drawled Peter Snipe, the novelist, picking doggedly at the
+calloused ridges on one of his palms, "some of the women object to
+moving in the dark of the moon. They say it's sure to bring bad luck."
+
+"There's quite a mixup about it," observed Flattner. "Part of 'em claim
+it's good luck. Madame Obosky says she never had any good luck moving by
+the light of the moon, and Careni-Amori says she doesn't blame her for
+feeling that way. Sort of cattish way of implying that the fair Olga
+could get along without any moon at all. Professional jealousy, I
+suppose."
+
+"I was speaking to Miss Clinton about it today," remarked Michael
+Malone.
+
+"What does she think about it?" from Percival.
+
+"I don't know. She asked me what I thought about it."
+
+"And what did you tell her?"
+
+"I told her I wasn't a woman, and that let me out. Being a man, I'm not
+entitled to a vote or an opinion, and I'd be very much obliged to her
+if she'd not try to drag me into it,--and to answer my question if she
+could. Whereupon she said she was in favour of moving by the light of
+the sun, and payin' no attention at all to the moon. Which I thought was
+a very intelligent arrangement. You see, if they move in the daytime the
+damned old moon won't know anything about it till it's too late and--"
+
+"You're the first Irisher I've ever seen who wasn't superstitious,
+Mike," broke in Fitts, with enthusiasm. "It takes a great load off
+my mind. Now I can ask you why the devil you've never returned that
+pocket-knife of mine. I thought you had some sort of superstition
+about it. A good many people,--really bright and otherwise intelligent
+people,--firmly believe it's bad luck to return anything that's been
+borrowed. I suppose I've owned fifty umbrellas in my time. The only man
+who ever returned one,--but you know what happened without my telling
+you. He got caught in a sudden shower on his way home from my apartment
+after making a special trip to return it, and died some three years
+later of pneumonia. Sick two days, I heard. So, as long as you're not a
+bit superstitious about it, I'd thank you--"
+
+"I'd have you know that I never keep anything I borrow,--that is, never
+more than a day. It's against my principles. Don't ask me for your
+dommed old knife. I lent it weeks ago to Soapy Shay."
+
+"You did?" cried Fitts, incredulity and relief in his voice. "Much
+obliged. I haven't been able to look Soapy in the face for a month. Did
+he recognize it?"
+
+"I think he did. He kissed it."
+
+"Landover tried to borrow my lead pencil yesterday," remarked Flattner.
+"Finally offered to put up his letter of credit as security. I gave him
+the laugh. That lead pencil is worth more than all the letters of credit
+lumped together. He wanted to write a note. So I agreed to let him
+use it if he wouldn't take it out of my sight and on condition that he
+didn't write more than five or six line's. But when he made as if he was
+going to sharpen it, I threatened him with an ax. Can you beat that for
+wastefulness? These low-down rich don't know the meaning of frugality.
+Why, if I hadn't stopped him he might have whittled off five thousand
+dollars' worth of lead, just like that. I also had to caution him about
+bearing down too hard while he was writing."
+
+"What was he wanting to write a note for?" demanded Malone. "Has he lost
+his voice?"
+
+"It was a note of apology. He says he never fails to write a note of
+apology when he's done something he's ashamed of, or words to that
+effect. Lifelong practice, he says."
+
+"Who was he apologizin' to?"
+
+"That little nurse, Miss Lake,--the one with the coral earrings. You
+know, Mike. I saw you carrying a bucket of water for her yesterday."
+
+"Her name isn't Lake," said Malone. "It's Hardwickley. And if you had
+your eyes open, you'd have seen me carrying one for her every day, so
+you would, my lad."
+
+"The damned villain!" exploded Flattner. "He told me her name was
+Lake,--word with only four letters,--and she turns out to have--let's
+see,--eleven! I call that pretty shifty work, I do. You can't trust
+these wizards of Wall Street. They'll do you every crack, if you don't
+keep your eye peeled. Hornswoggled me out of seven letters."
+
+"You've got to watch 'em," mused Fitts. "What was he apologizing to her
+for?"
+
+"Something to do with his washing. I don't just remember what it was,
+but I think she didn't iron and fold his handkerchiefs properly,
+or maybe it was his collars. In any case, he panned her for it, and
+afterwards repented. Told me in so many words that he felt like a
+blooming cad about it, and couldn't rest till he had apologized."
+
+Fitts took several puffs at his pipe and then remarked: "That man has
+the biggest wash of anybody in this camp. I don't see any real reason
+why he should change collars three times a day while he's hauling logs
+down from the hills. As a matter of fact, what's the sense of wearing
+a collar at all? Most of us don't even wear shirts. See here, your
+majesty,--begging your pardon for disturbing your thoughts with my
+foot,--why don't you issue a manifesto or edict or something prohibiting
+the use of collars except on holidays, or at weddings, funerals and so
+forth?"
+
+Percival yawned. "If Landover didn't have a collar on he'd think he was
+stark naked. Gosh, I'd like to go to bed."
+
+"Why don't you? We'll call you as soon as we get any news," said
+Flattner.
+
+"No, I'll stick it out a while longer. I say, Flat, it begins to look
+as if there's real wheat coming up over there after all. Old Pedro was
+telling me today that it looks like a cinch unless we got it sowed too
+late and cold weather comes along too soon. I never dreamed we'd get
+results. Putting out spring wheat in virgin soil like this is a new
+one on me. If it does thrive and deliver, by gosh, a whole lot of
+agricultural dope will be knocked to pieces. I thought spring wheat
+had to be sown in land that was ploughed the fall before. What's the
+explanation?"
+
+"You can't explain nature, A. A.," said Percy Knapendyke. "Nature does
+so darned many unnatural things that you can't pin your faith to it at
+all. Of course, it was a pure experiment we made. We happened to have
+a lot of hard spring wheat, and this alluvial soil, deep and rich, was
+worth tackling. Old Pedro was as much surprised as I was when it began
+to come up. Using that fertilizer was an experiment, too. He swore it
+wouldn't help a bit. Now he just scratches his head and says God did it.
+We've got fifty acres out there as green as paint and you can almost
+see it grow. If nothing happens we ought to harvest it by the middle of
+February, and if God keeps on doing things for us, we may get as much as
+twenty-five bushels to the acre. It's different with the oats. You can
+plant oats on unploughed land, just as we did, and you can't stop it
+growing. The oats field up there along the base of the hills is a peach.
+Takes about ninety days for oats to ripen. That means we'll harvest it
+in about two months, and we'll beat the cold weather to it. Forty or
+fifty to the acre, if we have any luck at all. Potatoes doing well
+and--Say, did I tell you what I've found out about that stuff growing
+over there in the lowlands beyond the river? Well, it's flax. It's
+the same sort of thing that grows in New Zealand. Those plants I was
+pointing out to you last week,--the ones with the long brownish leaves,
+like swords. There's no mistake about it. I took those two Australian
+sailors over to look at 'em a day or two ago and they swear it's the
+same plant, growing wild. Same little capsule shaped fruit, with the
+little black seeds, and everything. I've been reading up on it in the
+encyclopedia. You cut those leaves off when they get to be full size,
+macerate 'em in water for a few days, sun dry 'em, and then weave 'em
+some way or another. We'll have to work that out. Strongest sort of
+fibre in the leaves. Makes a very stout cloth, rope, twine,--all
+that sort of thing. Opens up a new and important industry,
+boys,--particularly obnoxious to married men. We'll be having
+dress-making establishments in full blast before you know it, and model
+gowns till you can't rest. I almost hate to spread the news among the
+women. We won't have a cook, or a laundress, or a school-teacher on the
+Island if this dressmaking craze gets started. Every hut along this row
+will have a sign beside the door: 'Dressmaking Done Here.' On the other
+hand, I doubt very much if we'll be able to get a single tailor-shop
+going,--and God knows I'll soon need a new pair of pants, especially if
+we're going to have regular church services every Sunday, as Percival
+says."
+
+"Father Francisco and Parson Mackenzie have finally got together on it,"
+said Malone gloomily. "For the first time in the history of civilization
+we're going to have a combination Catholic and Protestant Church. It's
+all arranged. Father Francisco is going to conduct mass in the morning
+and Parson Mackenzie is going to talk about hell-fire in the evening.
+I was wondering what the Jews are going to do for a synagogue and a
+rabbi."
+
+"I can't answer that question," said Peter Snipe; "but Morris Shine
+tackled me the other day to write a play for him, something with music
+and dancing in it. He's got a great idea, he says. A stock company to
+use the church building once a month. Expects to submit his scheme to
+Fitts as soon as he gets it worked out, with the idea of having our
+prize little architect provide for a stage with ecclesiastical props in
+the shape of pulpits and chancels and so forth, which can be removed on
+short notice. Suggests, as a matter of thrift, that footlights be put in
+instead of altar candles. Free show, free acting, no advertising bills,
+no royalties to authors, free programs,--everything free, including
+supper."
+
+"Grand little idea, Pete," said Percival. "Are you going to write the
+play?"
+
+"Sure. My faithful old typewriter is aching to be thumped once
+more,--and I've got half-a-dozen extra ribbons, thank God. Good for
+two long novels and an epitaph. Just as soon as we can get the ship's
+printing press and dining-room type ashore, I'll be ready to issue The
+Trigger Island Transcript, w.t.f.--if you know what that means. I see
+you don't. Weekly till forbidden."
+
+"I've always wondered what those confounded letters meant down in the
+corner of the half-inch advertisements," said Flattner. "It will be a
+rotten-looking newspaper if it's anything like the sheet the Doraine
+put out on the trip down. No two letters matched, and some of 'em were
+always upside down. Why were they upside down, Pete? You're an old
+newspaper man. Tell us."
+
+"Because it's impossible to set 'em sideways. If it was possible, the
+blamed printers could do it, you bet. When I was writing leaders on the
+Saxville Citizen years ago there was a ruffian up in the composing-room
+who used to set whole paragraphs of my best editorials in em quads, and
+when I kicked,--Hello, isn't that a lantern, A. A.?"
+
+They all scrambled to their feet and peered intently in the direction of
+the wooded strip that lined the channel. This whilom conversation came
+to an abrupt end. Ghostly forms suddenly took shape in front of other
+huts, figures of men that were until then as logs in the shadows.
+Far off in the road through the wood, a light bobbed, flashed and
+disappeared intermittently, and finally emerged into the open and came
+steadily forward. Detached knots of men down the line of huts, twos and
+threes and fours, swiftly welded themselves into groups, and, hurrying
+forward, swelled the crowd that congregated at the end of the "street."
+Two hundred of them, tired but eager, awaited the arrival of the man
+with the lantern.
+
+These were the men who slept on shore, the unmarried men, those who
+had no "feminine hearth," as Snipe put it dolefully one dark and windy
+night. Since supper-time these men had been waiting and watching. But
+few of them had gone to bed. Gentleman and roustabout, one and all, were
+linked together by a common anxiety. News of the greatest import was
+expected during the night.
+
+A child was coming to the pathetic little widow of Cruise, the
+radio-man.
+
+Two messengers had gone down to the landing to wait for the report to be
+shouted from the afterdeck of the Doraine,--Soapy Shay and Buck Chizler,
+the jockey. Now they were returning,--and it was nearing midnight.
+
+They drew near, the lantern buffeting the legs of the one-time diamond
+thief as he swung along in the rear of the more active jockey.
+
+"It's a girl," called out Buck to the silent mob. Not a sound, not a
+word from the eager crowd. "Mother and kid both doing well," went on the
+jockey, a thrilling note of triumph in his voice.
+
+And then a roar of voices went up to the moonlit sky. The shackles
+of doubt and anxiety fell away, and every heart swelled with joy and
+relief. Men began to dance and laugh. Out in front of the crowd leaped
+Percival.
+
+"Come on now, fellows! Everybody up! Three cheers for the Trigger Island
+baby! One--two--three!"
+
+And while the last wild cheer was echoing back from, the mountainside:
+"Now, three good ones for the baby's mother, God bless her!"
+
+Thrice again the exultant yells echoed across the plain, and then out
+leaped another excited figure. It was Nicklestick the Jew.
+
+"Come on! Come on! Ve got to light the bonfires! Come on! I got the
+matches! Vait! Vait! Let's vait while we take off our hats a minute,
+boys,--take them off to our baby's father, Jimmy Cruise. No cheers!"
+
+A hush fell over the crowd. Every hat came off, and every head was bent.
+To many of them James Cruise was no more than a name salvaged from the
+shocking experiences of those first dreadful days. Few of them had
+come in actual contact with him. The time had been too short. But Betty
+Cruise, his widow, was known to all of them, high and low. They had
+watched over her, and protected her, and slaved for her, for
+besides pity there was in every man's soul the fiercest desire that
+nothing,--absolutely nothing,--should be left undone to insure the happy
+delivery of the babe they were counting so keenly upon!
+
+She was a frail, delicate English girl whom Cruise had married in Buenos
+Aires the year before. He was taking her up to his mother's home in
+Connecticut. His death,--alas, his annihilation!--almost killed her.
+There were those who said she would die of grief. But, broken and frail
+as she was, she made the fight. And now came the news that she had
+"pulled through."
+
+There were mothers on board with tiny babies,--three or four of them, in
+fact,--peevish, squalling infants that innocently undertook to inspire
+loathing in the souls of these self-same men. They had no claim upon the
+imagination or the sympathy of the eager crowd,--no such hold as this
+newcomer, the child born in their pockets, so to speak,--an expression
+first employed by an ardent champion of the impending infant
+in defending his righteous solicitude when it was attacked by a
+sophisticated and at the same time exasperated nurse.
+
+Two bonfires were started in the open space known as "The Green." The
+huge piles of twigs and branches had been thrown up earlier in the
+evening. They were in plain view of the "lookout" at the top of Split
+Mountain. It had been agreed that if it was a boy one fire was to be the
+signal; if a girl, two. The "watch" was to share in the glad tidings!
+
+The cheering awoke Abel Landover from a sound sleep. He turned in his
+bunk and growled:
+
+"The damned idiots!"
+
+Mr. Landover did not like children. He declined to sit up half the
+night to find out "how things were going." So he went to bed, knowing
+perfectly well that his three bunkies would come piling in at some
+outlandish hour and jabber about the "kid," and he wouldn't be able to
+get back to sleep again for hours.
+
+He was what is commonly known as a "grass widower." His wife rather too
+promptly married inside of a month after leaving Reno, and, much to
+her own gratification and joy, proceeded to have three very desirable
+children within a period of five years, causing him a great deal of pain
+and annoyance for the reason that their father had once been regarded as
+his best friend,--and now he couldn't abide the sight of him. He hated
+children. Now you know the kind of a man he was.
+
+Five tired and thoughtful men were going to bed a little later on in one
+of the huts.
+
+"What shall we call her?" came from Randolph Fitts, as he threw one of
+his clay-covered shoes into the corner.
+
+"There's only one name for her," said Percival firmly, from the edge of
+his bunk. "We'll call her Doraine."
+
+"Good shot!" cried Peter Snipe. "I had two names in mind, but Doraine's
+got 'em both beat. It may not be as pretty as Angelica, but it's more
+appropriate. Mortimer was the other name I had in mind."
+
+"Yep," was the smothered decision of Michael Malone. His shirt came off,
+and then he spoke more distinctly. "We can't do better than to name her
+after her birthplace. That's her name. Doraine Cruise. It sounds Irish.
+Got music in it. All Irish names have,--leaving out Michael and Patrick
+and Cornelius and others applied solely to the creatures who don't
+take after their blessed mothers and who grow up to be policemen and
+hod-carriers, with once in awhile a lawyer or labour-leader to glorify
+the saints they were named for, and--Yes, begorry, Doraine's her name."
+
+And so it was that, with an arbitrary quaintness, the babe was named
+without so much as a thought of consulting the mother. They assumed a
+proprietary interest in her, a sort of corporate ownership that had as
+its basis a genuine affection for and pride in Cruise's widow. It did
+not occur to one of them that she ought to have been considered in the
+matter of naming her own child; they went to sleep perfectly satisfied
+that when the question was put to a general vote on the morrow there
+wouldn't be a single dissenting voice against the name they had
+selected.
+
+And Mrs. Cruise herself would be very grateful to them for the prompt
+assistance they had given her at a time when she was in no condition to
+be bothered with minor details!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+The death of Betty Cruise occurred the second day after her baby was
+born. In a way, this lamentable occurrence solved a knotty problem and
+pacified two warring sexes, so to speak. For, be it known, the women of
+the Doraine took a most determined stand against the manner in which
+the men, viva voce, had arrogated unto themselves the right to name the
+baby. Not that any one of the women objected to the name they had given
+her; they were, in fact, pleased with it. But, they protested, this was
+a matter over which but one person had jurisdiction, and that person
+was Betty Cruise. If it was not a mother's privilege to name her
+own child,--especially in a case where the infant's father was in no
+position to decide the question for her, whether she consented or no,
+then all they could say was that things had come to a pretty pass.
+
+At any rate, they were going to see to it that the baby was not named by
+a mob!
+
+Ruth Clinton went straight to Percival.
+
+"I hear you have named the baby, Mr. Percival," she said, prefacing her
+remark by a curt "good morning."
+
+It was the first time she had spoken to him in many days. Their ways not
+only lay apart but she had made a point of avoiding him. She stopped him
+this morning as he was passing the hut in which she and her aunt were to
+live with two of the American nurses.
+
+The three young women had spent several days in the making and putting
+up of some very unusual and attractive window curtains and portieres;
+painting the stones that framed the fireplace, the crude window-casings
+and door jamb; and in draping certain corner recesses which were to
+achieve dignity as clothes closets. They were scrubbing the floor when
+Percival passed on his way to the "office."
+
+His "office," by the way, was a rude "lean-to" at the extreme outer end
+of the street. It was characteristic of him to establish headquarters
+at a point farthest removed from the approach to the camp from the ship.
+Fitts was perhaps the only person who sensed the real motive back of
+this selection. Every one else attributed it to an amiable conclusion on
+Percival's part to sacrifice himself for others by walking almost twice
+as far as any of them. As a matter of fact, he had nothing of the sort
+in mind. He deliberately arranged it so that all operations should be
+carried on between headquarters and "home." It was his plan to drive
+inward instead of outward, to push always in one direction. In other
+words, thought Fitts quite correctly, he "never had to look behind him
+for trouble."
+
+To save his life, Percival could not subdue the eager, devouring gleam
+that flashed into his eyes as he looked into hers. He could have cursed
+himself. A swift warm flush raced from her throat to her cheeks.
+Her direct, steady gaze faltered under fire, and a confused, trapped
+expression flickered perceptibly for a moment or two. He mistook it for
+dismay, or, on second thought, even worse,--displeasure.
+
+"I--I can't help it," he stammered, surprised into voicing the thought
+that was uppermost. "You know how I feel. I--I--"
+
+But she had recovered her self-possession. "Do you really think you have
+the right to name Mrs. Cruise's baby?" she inquired coolly.
+
+He managed a wry, deprecatory smile. "Everybody seems to like the name,
+Miss Clinton. The more I think of it myself, the better it sounds. I
+tried it out last night in all sorts of combinations. It fits nicely
+into almost any family tree--even Nicklestick's. Just say it to
+yourself. Doraine Nicklestick. Try any name you like. Doraine Smith,
+Doraine Humperdinck, Doraine Landover--even Doraine Shay--and, I tried
+it out with Clinton. Doraine Clinton. Don't you like it? I even
+tried Percival. It isn't quite so satisfying tacked onto a name like
+mine,--and it's a poor beginning for Fitts,--but with good, sensible
+surnames, it's fine."
+
+"It isn't a question of how it sounds, Mr. Percival."
+
+"Don't you like Doraine Clinton?"
+
+"I like almost anything better than Ruth. I suppose most people loathe
+the names that other people have given them."
+
+"No one knows that better than I. I sometimes wonder what they might
+have called me if I were a girl. Nothing as nice as Doraine, or Ruth,
+I'll bet my soul on that. Something like Guinevere Aphrodite, or
+Desdemona Venus, or--"
+
+"We are getting away from the subject," she interrupted crisply. "Has it
+occurred to you that poor little Mrs. Cruise might like to name her own
+baby? Why should you men take it upon yourselves to choose a name for
+her child? Don't you think you were a trifle high-handed in the matter?"
+
+"Of course, if Mrs. Cruise doesn't like Doraine, we will--"
+
+"You will suggest another, I suppose," she broke in scornfully. "Well,
+I may as well inform you that you are about to strike a snag," she went
+on, a trifle inelegantly in her desire to be emphatic. "We intend to see
+to it that the mother of that baby gives it a name of her own choosing."
+
+"May I inquire just who you mean by we?" he asked.
+
+"The women,--three hundred of us, Mr. Percival, that's who. I for one
+happen to know that Betty Cruise chose a name long ago. Her heart is set
+on naming the baby after her mother,--Judith, I think it is. That's the
+name she wants, but do you imagine she will have the hardihood or the
+courage, poor little scrap, to oppose you, Mr. Percival? I mean you,
+personally. She thinks your word is law. She would no more think of
+defying you than she would think of--"
+
+"Pardon me, Miss Clinton," he interrupted gently, "but don't you think
+that's a trifle far-fetched? I am not a dictator, you know. I fancy Mrs.
+Cruise knows that, even if you do not."
+
+"I have heard all about your meeting last night," she went on
+ruthlessly, her eyes flashing. "How you suggested the name, how you
+settled the question to suit yourself, and how you called the men
+together this morning and told them that the child was to be called
+Doraine before you asked them to vote on it. Vote on it! What a
+travesty! And no one had the nerve to stand up and say a word for that
+poor little woman. Oh, you've got them well-tamed, Mr. Percival."
+
+By this time the two nurses had appeared in the doorway, and several
+other women at work down the line, scenting the fray, were approaching.
+
+"I guess you'd better call off the vote, Mr. Percival," said one of the
+nurses, eyeing him unflinchingly.
+
+"I can't call it off. The men adopted the name unanimously. I have no
+right to set aside their decision, no matter how hastily it was made,"
+said he, beginning to bridle now that he tasted concerted opposition.
+
+"I warn you that I intend to call the women,--and what few men there are
+with minds of their own,--together this evening to see that Betty Cruise
+gets fair play," said Ruth. "When she hears that we are behind her,
+she'll have the backbone to tell you men to mind your own business
+and--"
+
+"Have I a mind of my own or not, Miss Clinton?" he interrupted.
+
+"You certainly have," she declared with conviction.
+
+"Then you may expect me to be one of the men to attend your meeting.
+Good morning." He lifted his hat, smiled and walked briskly away.
+
+"He'll crab the whole thing," observed one of the women, and despite
+her vocal rancour there was an admiring expression in her eyes as they
+followed him down the road.
+
+"If he wants to call that baby Andrew Jackson or George Washington,
+he'll have his way," said another. "Sex won't make any difference to
+him."
+
+"You just wait and see," said Ruth, quivering with indignation.
+
+"Mercy, how you must hate him, Miss Clinton," cried one of her
+house-mates.
+
+"I only wish I were a man," cried the other, clenching her fists.
+
+"It would simplify matters tremendously," came in dry, masculine tones
+from the outskirts of the group. They turned and discovered Randolph
+Fitts. He was smiling sympathetically.
+
+"I don't quite see what you mean, Mr. Fitts," said Ruth, after a moment.
+
+"Because if you were a man, Miss Clinton, you wouldn't even think of
+hating him. You'd love him."
+
+Miss Clinton stared at him for a second or two and then, whirling,
+entered the hut. Her cheeks were burning. Who shall say whether the
+tears that sprang to her eyes as she fell to work scrubbing in the
+corner were of anger or self-pity?
+
+Briefly, the situation became quite strained as the day wore on. Women
+gathered in little knots to discuss the unprecedented "nerve" of the
+men. By nightfall they were pretty thoroughly worked up over a matter
+that had mildly amused them at the outset of the day. A comparatively
+small proportion had cared one way or the other in the beginning. Most
+of them did not care at all. Given time, however, to digest the thought,
+aided by such seasoning as could be supplied by a half dozen determined
+and more or less eloquent voices, they came in the course of a few hours
+to the conclusion that they never had heard of anything so outrageous,
+and, to a woman, were ready to fight for little Mrs. Cruise's rights!
+
+Several of the stewardesses and two or three women from the second cabin
+were avowed and bitter suffragettes. Indeed, two of the stewardesses,
+being English, were of the hatchet-wielding, brick-throwing element that
+made things so warm for the pained but bull-headed male population of
+London shortly before the Great War began. These ladies harangued their
+companions with great effect.
+
+To have heard or witnessed the little gatherings at noon and at the
+close of work for the day, one might have been led to believe that a
+grave, portentous ques-tion of state was involved. Trifling and simple
+as all this may seem to the reader of this narrative, it serves a
+definite purpose. It reveals to a no uncertain degree the eagerness with
+which these castaways reached out hungrily for the slightest morsel
+that would satisfy the craving of active minds dulled by the constant,
+never-absent thought of self; minds charged with thoughts that centred
+on something thousands of miles away; minds that seldom if ever worked
+in harmony with hands that toiled.
+
+The men took up the gauntlet. They considered themselves challenged.
+Notwithstanding the secret conviction that the women were right, they
+stood united in defence of their action. Nothing that Percival could
+say or do moved them. He tramped from one group of toilers to another,
+always meeting with the same grins and laughter when he suggested that
+they wait until Mrs. Cruise was able to approve or disapprove of the
+name they had chosen.
+
+"Good gosh!" cried one of the sailors. "Are you goin' to give in to the
+women, boss?"
+
+"Well, I've been thinking it over, boys. I guess we were a little too
+officious. We meant well, God knows, but after all, Betty Cruise ought
+to be consulted,--now, oughtn't she?"
+
+"Sure," cried any number of them cheerfully. "It's her kid."
+
+"Well, there you are," he rejoined persuasively.
+
+"But how do we know she won't be tickled to death with our name? She'd
+ought to be. It's purtier than any name I can think of," argued Jack
+Wales, a sailor. "When she's well enough, we'll tell her the kid's name
+is Doraine, and--"
+
+"She won't hold back a second, boss, when she finds out that you picked
+it for her," broke in another. "Only a couple o' days ago she was sayin'
+to one of the other women in my hearin' that if it was a boy she was
+goin' to call him Percival,--and she didn't know what on earth she'd do
+if it was a girl. Said she'd probably have to call it after her mother
+and she didn't like her mother's name a little bit."
+
+"I know, but after all, we did butt in a trifle too soon with our--"
+
+"For God's sake, don't let any of these here women hear you talk like
+that, boss," groaned Jack Wales. "They'll think we're beginning to
+hedge. We got to stand together in this thing. If we don't, they'll rule
+this camp sure as you're a foot high. I don't give a dern what the kid's
+name is, far as I'm concerned, but on principle, boss, it's just got to
+be Doraine. Doraine she is an' Doraine she stays."
+
+Every one of them was good-humoured about it. They were taking it as a
+rare and unexpected bit of politics. The thrill of opposition invested
+them. They scoffed at surrender.
+
+Buck Chizler, however, was seriously affected. He was courting one of
+the nurses and he, for one, saw peril in preliminary defeat.
+
+"There won't be any living with 'em," he proclaimed, scowling darkly. "I
+know what it is to have 'em get the bit in their teeth. You just can't
+manage 'em, that's all. Upset all the dope. Likely to throw you clear
+over the fence. Experience ain't a particle of use. The gad don't do a
+bit of good. They just shut their jaws, lay back their ears, and--"
+
+"We're not talking about race-horses, Buck," interrupted Percival,
+smiling.
+
+"Neither am I," said Buck forcibly.
+
+Ruth went to Olga Obosky. She did so only after a rather prolonged
+inward struggle. The Russian's interest in Percival was not moderated
+by the reserve supposed to be inherent in women. She was an open
+idolatress. One had only to watch the way she followed him with her
+dark, heavy-lidded eyes to know what was in her mind. Ruth tried not to
+despise her. She tried not to care, when she saw Percival laughing and
+talking with this beguiling sensualist,--and it was not an infrequent
+occurrence.
+
+The dancer was seated on the floor of her hut, tailor-fashion, a
+cigarette between her lips, her bare arms resting limply on her knees,
+her body bent forward in an attitude of extreme fatigue. The three
+"coryphees" were busy at work about the place with Olga's maid. Ruth
+stopped in the doorway. Olga lazily removed the cigarette from her lips
+and smiled.
+
+"I once thought I was very strong and unbreakable," she said, "but now
+I know I am not. See, I am all in, as we would say in America. Suffering
+snakes,--how tired I am! That also comes from America. Won't you sit
+down, Miss Clinton? We have three or four deck chairs, you see, and some
+cushions."
+
+"Why do you sit there on the floor, all doubled up and--heavens, it must
+be uncomfortable,--if you are so tired? How do you manage your legs?"
+
+"My legs? Oh, my legs are never tired. It is my poor back." Whereupon
+she slowly, gracefully straightened out one of her legs, and without
+changing the position of her body, raised it, with toes and instep on
+a perfect line, until the heel was some three feet from the floor. Then
+she swung it slowly backward, twisting her body sinuously to one side.
+A moment later the foot was stretched out behind her and she lifted
+herself steadily, without apparent exertion, upon the other knee,--and
+then stood erect. Ruth watched this remarkable feat in wonder and
+admiration.
+
+"How--how on earth do you do it?" she cried. "Why,--you must be as
+strong as--as--a--" She was about to say horse, and floundered.
+
+"But I trust not as clumsy as one," said Madame Obosky, stretching her
+body in luxurious abandon. "I sit on the floor like zat, my friend,
+because my back is tired, not my legs. If I lie back in ze deck chair
+when I am tired, I would relax,--and would make so much more regret for
+myself when the time came to get up again. Besides, it is a good way
+to rest, zis way. Have you never tried it? Do, sometime. The whole body
+rests, it sags; the muscles have nothing to do, so they become soft and
+grateful. The backbone, the shoulders, the neck,--they all droop and
+oh, zey--they are so happy to be like zat. It is the same as when I am
+asleep and they are not running errands all the time for my brain. The
+Arab sits like zat when he rests,--and the Hindoo,--and they are strong,
+oh, so very strong. Try it, sometime, Miss Clinton, when you are very
+tired. It is the best way to let go, all over."
+
+Ruth laughed. "I couldn't do it to save my soul."
+
+"Oh, I do not mean for you to get up as I did, or use your leg as I did.
+You could not do zat. You are too old. That is one of the fruits, one
+of the benefits of the cruelest kind of child labour. I was a great many
+years in making myself able to do zat. See! Put your hand on my leg. Now
+my back,--my arm. What you think, eh?"
+
+Ruth, in some embarrassment, had shyly obeyed her. The dancer's thigh
+was like a column of warm iron; her waist, free as ever from stays, was
+firm and somehow suggestive of actual resilience; her shoulders and
+back possessed the hard, rippling muscles of a well-developed boy; her
+shapely forearm was as hard as steel. Ruth marvelled.
+
+"How strong you are!" she cried; "and yet you are slight. You are not as
+big as I am, but oh, how much stronger you are!"
+
+"I have a perfect figure," said Olga calmly. "It is worth preserving. No
+one admires my body so much as I do myself. I must not get fat. When you
+are a fat old woman, I shall still be as I am now. You will diet, and
+pray, and rave,--because you are growing old,--and I shall do none of
+these things. I eat like a pig, I never pray, and I do not believe in
+growing old. But you do not come to see me about myself, Miss Clinton.
+You find me sitting idly with my legs crossed, and you are surprise.
+I work as I dance,--very, oh, so very hard while I am at ze task,--but
+with frequent periods of rest. So I do not wear out myself too soon.
+It is the only way. Work for an hour, rest for ten minutes,--relax and
+forget,--and you will see how well it goes. Why do you come? Is it to
+talk about the baby?"
+
+"Yes, it is, Madame Obosky. I have come to ask you to use your influence
+with Mr. Percival. You--"
+
+"But I have no influence with Mr. Percivail," interrupted the other,
+staring.
+
+Ruth flushed. "You are his friend. You--"
+
+"Ah, yes,--but nothing more than zat. You too are his friend, Miss
+Clinton."
+
+"I see little or nothing of Mr. Percival," said Ruth stiffly. "We are
+not friends,--not really friends."
+
+"But you admire him, eh? Quite as much as I admire him,--and as every
+one else does."
+
+"There are certain things about him that I admire, of course."
+
+"You admire him for the same reason that I admire him. Because he has
+a most charming and agreeable way of telling me to go to the devil. Is
+that not so?"
+
+"Madame Obosky!"
+
+"It comes to the same thing. If you would like me to put it in another
+form, he has a very courteous way of resisting. He is most aggravating,
+Miss Clinton. He is most disappointing. He should be like soft clay in
+our hands, and he isn't. Is that not so?"
+
+"Is it not possible, Madame Obosky, that we,--you and I,--may have an
+entirely different viewpoint so far as Mr. Percival is concerned? Or any
+other man, for that matter?" Ruth spoke coldly, almost insultingly.
+
+"I dare say," agreed Olga, composedly, not in the least offended by the
+implication. "You want to marry him. I do not."
+
+"How dare you say that? I do not want to marry that man. I do not want
+to marry him, I say."
+
+"How interesting. You surprise me, Miss Clinton. It appears, then, that
+our viewpoint is in nowise different, after all."
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"I leave it to your imagination,--and to reflection. Listen! We may as
+well be friends. You do not wish to admit it, even to yourself, but
+you are in love with him. So am I. The difference between us is that
+I realize I can get along without him, and still be happy. I am not
+jealous, my dear. If I were, I should hate you,--and I do not. He is in
+love with you. You know it perfectly well, because you are not a fool.
+He is not in love with me. No more am I a fool. He--"
+
+"I am not in love with him!"
+
+"So be it," said Olga shortly. "Have your own way about it. It is not my
+affair. You have come to me, however, because you know he loves you and
+you know you do not love him. Why, therefore, are you afraid of me?"
+
+"It is useless to continue this--"
+
+"Oh, I see! You do not wish my girls to hear our conversation." Without
+more ado, she ordered the three girls out of the hut. "Go out and play,"
+she commanded. Then, as the girls imparted in haste, she turned to Ruth.
+"I am very thoughtless. You are not in the habit of discussing your love
+affairs quite so generously as I. Poof! They do not care, those girls.
+Love affairs mean nothing to my girls."
+
+"I have no love affair to discuss, Madame Obosky. You need not have sent
+them away. Good-bye..There is nothing more to be said--"
+
+"Do not go away,--please. You do not know whether to like me or not. You
+do not understand me. You have never encountered any woman as honest as
+I am, zat is the trouble. Sit down, please. Let us talk. We may be here
+together on this island all the rest of our lives, Miss Clinton. It
+would not be right for us to hate each other. When you are married to
+Mr. Percivail, you will have nothing to fear from me. I give you my
+solemn oath on zat, Miss Clinton. Our little world here is too small. If
+we were out in the great big world,--well, it might be different then.
+But, how, I ask you, is it possible for me to run away with your husband
+when there is no place to run away to?"
+
+She spoke so quaintly that Ruth smiled in spite of herself.
+
+"You are a most extraordinary person, Madame Obosky. I--I can't dislike
+you. No, thank you, I sha'n't sit down. I came to see you about the
+naming of the baby. I suppose you know that we women have decided to
+oppose the--"
+
+"Yes, yes,--I know," interrupted the other. "But why should we oppose?
+It is a very small matter."
+
+"Do you really believe those men had--or have--the right to give a name
+to Betty Cruise's baby? I don't believe it, Madame Obosky."
+
+"In the first place, can you blame Mr. Percivail for taking the
+matter out of the mother's hands? Mothers are very, oh, so very stupid
+sometime, you know. For example, my dear Miss Clinton, you have but to
+see what Mr. Percivail's mother did to him when he was an infant. She
+called him Algernon Adonis,--and why? Because she thought he was the
+most wonderful child in all the world,--and because she was silly. I can
+almost hear her arguing now with the father, poor man. One day I asked
+Algernon Adonis what name his father called him by,--I was so sure he
+would not call him Algernon. He said that up to the day his father
+died he called him Bud. That's a toy's name, you see. I am in favour of
+children being named by outsiders, disinterested outsiders,--a committee
+or something,--men preferably. I think this child should be called
+Doraine. Betty Cruise she do not care what she call it now that it is
+not possible to call it Jimmy Percivail or Percivail Jimmy. Has it occur
+to you that if it had been a boy, all these men would have insisted on
+Jimmy, without the Percivail?"
+
+"I like the name Doraine,--we all do. What we resent is Mr. Percival's
+presumption in--"
+
+"Let me tell you one more thing. Do not permit Mr. Percivail to address
+your indignation meeting tonight, for if you do, and he smiles zat
+nice, good-humoured smile and tells the ladies zat he is sorry to have
+displease them, and zat he is to blame entirely for the blunder,--poof!
+Zat will be the end!"
+
+"I am not so sure of that," said Ruth. "There are some very determined
+women among us, Madame Obosky." A faint line appeared between her eyes,
+however,--a line acknowledging doubt and uncertainty. "And you will not
+join us in the protest?"
+
+"No," said Olga, shaking her head. "I am content to let the men have
+their way in small things, Miss Clinton. It makes zem--them so
+much easier to manage when it comes to the big things. I speak from
+experience. Once let a man think he is monarch of all he surveys and he
+becomes the most humble of subjects. As I have said before, we may all
+be here for a long, long time. No one can tell. So, I say, we must pat
+our men on the back and tell zem what great, wise, strong fellows they
+are,--and how good and gallant too. Then they will fight for us like the
+lion, and zey--they will work for us like the ass and the oxen, because
+man he enjoys to be applauded greatly. A man likes to have his hair
+rubbed gently with the finger tips. He will smile and close his eyes and
+if he knew how he would purr like the cat. But, my dear, he do not like
+to have his hair pulled. Zat is something for you to remember,--you and
+all your determined women, as you call them."
+
+"Of course you understand, Madame Obosky, I--and the other women,--are
+thinking only of Betty Cruise in this matter."
+
+"From what I have been told, all these men out here stayed awake half
+the night thinking about her, Miss Clinton. They behave like so many
+distracted fathers waiting for news from the bed-chamber. Bless their
+hearts, you might think from their actions that the whole two--three
+hundred of them consider themselves the consolidated father of zat
+single infant."
+
+"I must be getting back to my work," said Ruth abruptly. Her eyes were
+shining, her voice was soft and strangely thick. "But," she went on
+bravely, after clearing her throat, "we intend to fight it out with
+them, just the same, Madame Obosky."
+
+Olga went to the door with her.
+
+"You mean, you intend to fight it out with Mr. Percivail,--you yourself,
+eh?"
+
+"It is not a personal matter with me, let me remind you once more. He
+is their leader. He dominates them. He is the force that holds them
+together. That's all."
+
+"And you would render that force impotent, eh? I see. How wise you women
+are!"
+
+Ruth stopped short, struck by the remark. "Say that again, please."
+
+Olga repeated the words slowly, significantly, and added: "They might
+have a worse leader, Miss Clinton."
+
+At another time, Ruth Clinton would have been deeply impressed by the
+underlying significance of the Russian's words. But she was at the mercy
+of a stubborn, rebellious pride. She chose to ignore the warning that
+lay in Obosky's remark. She felt herself beaten, and she was defiant. It
+was too late to hark now to the mild, temperate voice of reason.
+
+Something rankled deep down in her soul, something she was ashamed to
+acknowledge even to herself. It was the disagreeable conviction that
+Percival ascribed her activities to nothing more stable than feminine
+perversity,--in fact, she had the uncomfortable feeling that he even
+went so far as to attribute them to spitefulness. Something in his voice
+and manner, as he left her that morning, suggested the kindly chiding of
+a wilful child. Well, he should see!
+
+"I don't care what it all comes to, Madame Obosky," she said, a red spot
+in each cheek. "He shall not name that baby."
+
+The Russian smiled. "Forgive me for saying that you will not feel so
+bitterly toward him when the time comes for him to name your baby."
+
+Ruth's lips fell apart. She stared for a moment in sheer astonishment.
+Then she paled with anger. Drawing herself to her full height, she
+asked:
+
+"Are you deliberately trying to make me despise you?"
+
+"By no means," replied the other, quite cheerfully. "I am merely giving
+you something to think about, zat is all."
+
+"Rubbish!" was all that Ruth flung over her shoulder as she walked away.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+It was the noon hour. Scores of men were resting in the shade of the
+huts as she strode briskly past. They all smiled cheerily, but there
+was good humoured mockery in their smiles. Here and there were groups of
+women talking earnestly, excitedly.
+
+Abel Landover was leaning in his doorway, watching her approach. His
+eyes gleamed. She was very beautiful, she was very desirable. She had
+been in his mind for months,--this fine, strong, thoroughbred daughter
+of a thoroughbred gentleman. His sleeves were rolled up, his throat
+was bare; his strong, deeply lined face was as brown as a berry; if
+anything, his cold grey eyes were harder and more penetrating than
+in the days when they looked out from a whiter countenance. He was a
+strong, dominant figure despite, the estate to which he had fallen,--a
+silent, sinister figure that might well have been described as "The
+Thinker." For he was always thinking.
+
+"I understand you tackled the 'boss' this morning, Ruth," he said as she
+came up.
+
+"I daresay the news is all over the island by this time," she replied,
+still angry.
+
+"Was it worth while?" he inquired, a trace of derision in his voice.
+
+She was on the point of replying rather emphatically in the negative,
+when suddenly she recalled the look in Percival's eyes and the first
+words he spoke to her. She caught her breath. Her eyes sparkled, her
+lips parted in a rosy smile.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Landover, it was worth while," she said, and went on, leaving
+him to reflections that were as perplexing as they were unanticipated.
+
+She experienced a short spell of triumph. After all, Percival was in
+love with her. She did not need Olga Obosky to tell her that. She could
+see, she could feel for herself. A certain glee possessed her,--indeed,
+as she afterwards succeeded in analysing the sensation, it bordered
+decidedly on malice. She had it in her power to make him miserable and
+unhappy. She would enjoy seeing him unhappy!
+
+The meanness of the woman who longs to injure the man who loves her,
+whether loved or unloved, revealed itself for the moment in this
+fair-minded, generous girl. (It is a common trait, admitted by many
+fair-minded and generous women!) But even as she coddled and encouraged
+the little sprout of vengeance, the chill of common-sense rushed up and
+blighted it.
+
+She had a sickening impression that Percival would fail to play the
+part according to her conception. In fact, he was quite capable of
+not playing it at all. He would pursue the even tenor of his way--(she
+actually made use of the time-honoured phrase in her reflections),--and
+she would get small satisfaction out of that.
+
+Moreover, there was Olga Obosky to be reckoned with. She was conscious
+of a hot, swiftly passing sense of suffocation as the thought of Olga
+rushed unbidden into her brain,--for an instant only,--and then came the
+reaction: a queer chill that raced over her body from head to foot. What
+part would Olga Obosky play in the game?
+
+The women congregated on the forward deck of the Doraine after supper
+that night. The evening repast was no longer dignified by the word
+dinner. The sky was inky black; not a star flickered in the vault above.
+There were low, far off mutterings of thunder. The rail lanterns,--few
+and far between,--threw their pallid beams down into the rippling basin
+in a sickly effort to penetrate the gloom.
+
+Captain Trigger and Mr. Mott, smoking their pipes on the makeshift
+bridge, studied the throng of women in dour silence.
+
+"I understand the farmers are praying for rain," remarked Mr. Mott,
+sniffing the air with considerable satisfaction.
+
+"It would do no end of good," said Captain Trigger, without taking his
+eyes from the chattering mass below.
+
+Mr. Codge, the purser, joined them.
+
+"What are they waiting for?" he asked. "Why don't they call the meeting
+to order?"
+
+"They did that half an hour ago," said Mr. Mott. "Good Lord, man, can't
+you hear them talking? Have you no ears at all?"
+
+"But they're all talking at once."
+
+"And why shouldn't they?" demanded the First Officer. "It's their
+meeting, isn't it?"
+
+"I met Miss Clinton as I was coming up. She was going to her room.
+I asked her how the meeting was getting along. I don't believe she
+understood me, because all she said was 'good-night.'"
+
+"I guess she understood you, all right," said Mr. Mott, again sniffing
+the air. "Seems to me it's getting a little nearer, Captain Trigger.
+There's a little breeze coming up, too."
+
+"A good thunder-storm,--" began the Captain, musingly, but failed to
+complete the sentence.
+
+"Would settle something besides the dust," said Mr. Codge, after a
+deferential wait of a few seconds.
+
+A figure detached itself from the mass on the weirdly lighted deck below
+and, approaching the perch of the three officers, came to a halt almost
+directly below them. The light of a lantern fell fairly on the upturned,
+smiling face of Olga Obosky.
+
+"What is the hour, Captain Trigger?" she inquired.
+
+"Almost nine, Madame Obosky.
+
+"That is nearly two bells, eh, yes? How peaceful you look up there, you
+three old owls."
+
+"Come up!" invited the Captain cheerily. She joined them a moment later.
+"Tell me, are they leaving a shred of Percival and his band of outlaws?"
+
+Mr. Codge struck a match and held it for her to light a cigarette.
+She inhaled deeply and then expelled the smoke in what seemed like a
+prolonged sigh of satisfaction.
+
+"They are very funny, those women," she said, placing her elbows on the
+rail and looking down at the crowd. "Do you know what the trouble is
+now? It is this: they cannot think of a way to condemn the action
+of those men as a body without also including Mr. Percivail in the
+verdict."
+
+"How's that?"
+
+"Ninety-five per cent, of them want to exonerate Mr. Percivail, but they
+don't know how to do it in view of the fact that he is the guiltiest
+man of them all. That's why I say they are very funny, those women. They
+approve of what he has done in naming the baby, because whatever he does
+must be right, but they are almost unanimous in charging that all the
+other men out there were wrong. So they are in a great dilemma."
+
+Captain Trigger laughed. "I see. What was Miss Clinton's position in the
+debate?"
+
+"Oh, she was one of those who insisted that Mr. Percivail alone be held
+accountable, the other men not at all. She was the chairman, you see,
+and they were oblige to listen to her at first. But zen, presently, one
+of those Brazilian ladies said it was a shame to put all the blame on
+dear Mr. Percivail, who is such a gentleman and so splendid and all
+zat,--and zen--then zat Mrs. Block jump up and say that if it was not
+for Mr. Percivail her husband would have been killed last week when he
+fell off of the landing into ten sousand feet of water. And the great
+Careni-Amori she get up and say she would die for Mr. Percivail because
+he is such a gentleman, and two of those nurses at the same time cry out
+that he ought to be in the hospital because he is so worn-out working
+for other people zat he can hardly drag his poor feet around. And so it
+goes. Miss Clinton has departed, her chin in the air. But she does not
+deceive me. She has gone to her room to have a good weeping."
+
+"Well, I wish they'd get together on something," growled the Captain;
+"so's we can all go to bed and get a few hours' sleep."
+
+"Like as not they're keeping the baby awake with all this jabbering,"
+said Mr. Codge. "And that isn't good for babies, you know. They've got
+to have plenty of sleep. Specially little ones."
+
+"Will you tell me, Captain Trigger, why Mr. Percivail did not come
+aboard tonight?" asked Olga suddenly. "They were expecting him."
+
+"And they were disappointed, eh?"
+
+"I dare say. At any rate, a good many of them kept peering out over
+the water most of the time, and listening for the sound of oars." She
+laughed softly.
+
+The men chuckled. "Talk about strategy," said Mr. Mott, "he's a bird
+at it. Keeps 'em guessing, he does. By glory, I wish I'd known how to
+handle women as well as he does. I might have been married fifteen
+or twenty times if I could have kept 'em anxious and worried,--but
+I couldn't. I never did have any sense about women. That's why I'm a
+bachelor instead of a grandfather."
+
+"He told Miss Clinton he was coming," said Olga, harking back to the
+unanswered question.
+
+"I daresay he changed his mind," said the Captain, rather evasively.
+
+"I do not believe zat. There is some other reason. He is not a woman,
+Captain Trigger."
+
+"Well, to tell you the truth--but don't let it go any farther,
+Madame,--he came aboard just before supper to find out how Mrs. Cruise
+is getting along. Dr. Cullen told him exactly what all these women down
+there know,--that she's very low,--so he went ashore. Said something
+about not wanting to take part in any racket that might disturb
+her,--noisy talk, and all that,--and left a bunch of wild flowers for
+her in case she was better by morning."
+
+There was a slight noise behind them. Turning, they saw the figure of a
+woman in the shadow of the deck house.
+
+"Who's there?" demanded Mr. Mott.
+
+Ruth Clinton stepped forward into the light.
+
+"Did he--did he do that?" she asked huskily.
+
+"He did," said the Captain.
+
+"And is she so very ill? I did not know, Captain Trigger."
+
+"She's likely to die, Miss Clinton,--poor little woman."
+
+Ruth was silent for a moment. Then: "Do you think she--she can hear all
+that hubbub down there?"
+
+"I am sure she cannot. But Percival was afraid she could, so he--well,
+he thought it best not to make it any worse by adding his groans of
+agony when you women tore him limb from limb out here on deck. That's
+the way he put it, so don't look at me like that."
+
+Ruth suddenly hung her head and walked away. As she disappeared down the
+steps, Mr. Codge remarked, sotto voce:
+
+"She isn't as rabid as she was, is she?"
+
+"She's got it in for Percival ever since he took that fall out of
+Landover," said Mr. Mott.
+
+"Think she's--er--keen on Landover? He's a good bit older than she
+is,--twenty years or so, I should say."
+
+"Don't ask me, Codge. As I was saying awhile ago, I don't know anything
+whatsoever about women. They know all about me, but, gosh, I'm worse
+than a baby goat where they're concerned. There's no law against her
+being in love with Landover, and there's no law against him marrying a
+woman fifty years younger'n himself if he feels like it. Now you take
+that good looking Russian over there talking to the Captain. Who knows
+what's in her mind? Nobody, sir,--nobody. All I know is that Landover
+tried to--"
+
+"Sh! They've got ears like cats," cautioned Mr. Codge.
+
+"--And she put him in his place so quick it made his head swim. That's
+why he's got it in for her so hard. He says she's not fit for decent
+women to associate with. On the other hand, if she had been willing to
+flirt a little with him, and so on, he would have said all the other
+women were cats if they refused to take up with her. That's a man all
+over for you, Codge. I hope Miss Clinton ain't considering getting
+married to that man. He's one of these here what-do-you-call-'ems? Er--"
+
+"Sybarites?" said Codge, who had picked up a good deal from
+conversations with Peter Snipe.
+
+"That ain't the word," said Mr. Mott. "Now, I'll lay awake all night
+trying to think of that word. Damn the luck!"
+
+He fell into a profound state of mental concentration, from which he was
+aroused a few minutes later by the swift and almost unheralded shower
+that rushed up ahead of the thunderstorm. The rumble of the "apple
+carts" in the vault above had suddenly become ominous, and there were
+fitful flares of light in the blackness.
+
+The indignation meeting broke up in a wild scurry of skirts. It is
+worthy of mention that nothing definite had transpired. The speeches of
+the ardent suffragettes from the wilds of London were all that the most
+exacting could have demanded, for they covered all of the known and a
+great many of the unsuspected iniquities that the masculine flesh is
+heir to, but except for an introductory sentence or two they failed to
+touch upon the object of the meeting. They all began with something
+like "While I am frank to admit that Doraine is a very pretty name," or
+"Notwithstanding the fact that Doraine is a lovely name," or "If I had
+a child of my own, I should not in the least object to calling her
+Doraine," and so on and so forth, but they cruelly abandoned the baby in
+the next breath, leaving it to be revived by the ensuing speaker.
+
+The rain came just in time to prevent a vote being taken on a motion
+made by Miss Gladys Spotts. She moved that a committee of three be
+appointed to serve notice on Captain Trigger, et al, that it was the
+unanimous sense of the meeting that the women should not only have
+voice and vote on all public questions, but also representation in the
+official government. She had learned that there was talk of electing
+a mayor, a town clerk, a treasurer, a sheriff and a board of
+commissioners, and it ought to be understood in advance that--
+
+The torrent came at that instant, but it requires a very slight
+stretching of the imagination in order to understand precisely what Miss
+Spotts insisted ought to be understood.
+
+It rained very hard all night, and thundered, and lightened, and blew
+great guns. Not one, but all of the women, tucked away in their bunks,
+wondered how those poor men were faring out there in that black and
+lonely camp!
+
+The next morning it was still raining. (In fact, it rained steadily for
+three days and nights.) Betty Cruise died shortly after daybreak, and
+with her death ended the controversy over the naming of her babe.
+
+She was the first to be laid to rest in the burying-ground on Cape
+Sunrise. Services were conducted on the Doraine by the Reverend Mr.
+Mackenzie, assisted by Father Francisco. All work was suspended on the
+morning of the funeral. Shortly before noon the entire company walked,
+in a long, straggling procession, from the landing to the spot three
+miles distant where the lonely grave awaited its occupant. Careni-Amori
+sang "Lead, Kindly Light" and "Nearer, my God, to Thee," at the
+graveside. There were tears in a thousand eyes, and every voice was
+husky. To most of these people, Betty Cruise meant nothing, but she was
+to lie out there alone on the wind-swept point, and they were deeply
+moved. They all went back to work after the midday meal, a strangely
+silent, thoughtful company,--even down to the lowliest "Portugee."
+
+Mr. Mott, the gaunt old cynic, surprised every one, including himself,
+by adopting the infant! He announced his decision on the day after the
+funeral.
+
+"That baby's got to have a father and a grandfather and a mother, and
+all that," he declared to Captain Trigger, "and I'm going to be all of
+them, Weatherby. It ain't legal, I know, and I reckon I'll have to turn
+her over to her proper relatives if they make any demand,--provided we
+ever get off this island,--but while she's here she's mine, and that
+settles it, and as long afterward as God's willing. Chances are that no
+one at home will want to be bothered with an infant that don't actually
+belong to 'em, so I shouldn't wonder but what I'll have her always. What
+are you laughing at?"
+
+"I was just thinking that you didn't mention anything about being a
+grandmother to her."
+
+"Is that meant to be sarcastic?"
+
+"Not at all," said the Captain hastily, noting the look in Mr. Mott's
+eyes. "But for fear you may think it was, I take it all back, Andrew."
+
+"I laid awake all last night worrying about how lonely and useless
+and unoccupied I'm going to be if we stick here on this island for any
+considerable length of time, not to say, always, and I made up my mind
+that if I had that kid to bring up, life would be sort of worth while.
+I'll probably live a good deal longer if I have something to live and
+work for. Ain't that so?"
+
+"It certainly is," agreed the Captain. "Do you mind my asking how you're
+going to feed it?"
+
+"I've got that all attended to," said Mr. Mott calmly. "I've been to
+see three of these women who've got tiny babies, and they've promised
+between 'em to nurse this one. It's all fixed, Captain. Of course, I
+don't know how it's going to work out, seeing as one of 'em is Spanish,
+one of 'em Portugee and the other a full-blooded Indian,--but they're
+all healthy."
+
+"It's very noble of you, Andrew," said the Captain, laying his hand on
+the First Officer's shoulder.
+
+"Absolutely not," snapped Mr. Mott. "It's nothing but plain, rotten
+selfishness on my part,--and I don't give a damn who knows it."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+Inside of a fortnight after the events just chronicled, the women came
+ashore to occupy the practically completed huts.
+
+The Doraine was deserted except for Captain Trigger and the half-dozen
+sailors who remained with him. These sailors were ancient tars whose
+lives had been spent at sea. They were grizzled, wizened old chaps. One
+of them, Joe Sands, had been an able seaman for forty-six years, and,
+despite a perpetual crick in the back, he insisted that he was still
+an abler seaman than ninety-five per cent, of the thirty-year-olds
+who followed the sea for a living. When Captain Trigger announced his
+resolve to stay on board, where he belonged, these vainglorious old
+seadogs elected to remain with him to the end.
+
+The exodus of women was hastened somewhat by the further listing of the
+Doraine. This was due primarily to the removal of thousands of tons from
+the holds, the galley and the engine room. A more sinister cause for
+alarm, however, was the action of the greatly lightened vessel when a
+tidal wave swept into the basin from the north. This came at the tag end
+of the storm,--on the third day, in fact. The Doraine seemed actually to
+be afloat for a few seconds, heaving, shuddering, groaning. Her bottom,
+after scraping and grinding and giving up the most unearthly sounds,
+suddenly appeared to have freed itself completely from the rocks on
+which it was jammed. She seemed on the point of righting herself. Then
+she started to roll over on her side! Almost as abruptly she stopped,
+shivered, and then lay still again. But she was not in her old position.
+She was lying over at least two degrees farther than before the
+upheaval.
+
+This same, tremendous tidal wave, driven up by the strong wind that
+had blown steadily and viciously out of the north for three
+days,--or perhaps created by some vast internal convulsion of the
+earth,--completely inundated the low-lying point of land known as Cape
+Sunrise, At least two miles of the island was temporarily under water.
+The high ridge lining the shore alone prevented the sea from hurtling
+over into the valley to destroy the fields and gardens and even to
+imperil the row of huts along the opposite slope.
+
+Out on Cape Sunrise the waters swept over the lonely grave of Betty
+Cruise, but fell back baffled when they attacked the foothills that
+protected the homes of the living. There were superstitious persons who
+read meaning into this startling visitation of the sea. They made ugly
+romance of it. For, said they, the lonely spirit of Jimmy Cruise was
+trying to reach its mate,--aye, striving to drag her body down to the
+bottom of the sea to lie beside his own.
+
+As the days went by,--long days that were not governed by any daylight
+saving law,--the settlement took on the air and life of a sequestered
+village. There was the general warehouse from which stores were
+dispensed sparingly by agents selected for such duties. Women and
+men went to market and carried home the provender. A fish market was
+established; wood-yards, fruit and vegetable booths, a dispensary, and
+a general store where leather, cloths of various description, and furs
+were to be had by requisition.
+
+In speaking of the dispensary, Dr. Cullen complacently announced that
+the supply of medicine was limited, but that it was nothing to worry
+about. He declared bluntly,--and with a twinkle in his eye,--that people
+took too much medicine anyhow.
+
+"Medicine is a luxury," he said. "The more we stuff into people the more
+they want, and the less they take the sooner they forget they're sick.
+As your doctor, from this time on, I shall be delighted to set your
+broken bones, sew up your gashes, and all that sort of thing, but it is
+precious little medicine I'll give to you. So don't get sick. The only
+epidemic we can have here, according to my judgment, is an epidemic of
+good health. Am I right, gentlemen?"
+
+The two young American doctors put aside their dignity and grinned.
+
+The wines and liquors from the Doraine were brought ashore and locked
+away in the cellar beneath the warehouse. It could be had only on the
+doctor's orders.
+
+"It won't hurt any of us to drink nothing but water for awhile," said
+Percival in discussing the matter; "and the chances are we'll be less
+likely to hurt each other if we let the grog alone. There'll be no
+drinking on this island if I can help it. I understand some of you
+men are planning to put the pulp of the algarobo through a process of
+fermentation and make chica by the barrel. Well, if I have anything to
+say about it, you'll do nothing of the sort. I know that stuff. It's got
+more murder in it than anything I've ever tackled. We can make flour out
+of that pulp, as some of you know, and that's all we are going to make
+out of it. Besides, we can be decent longer on flour than we can on
+chica.
+
+"We'll find it harder to do without tobacco than without booze, and
+unless we discover something to take its place we'll be smokeless in
+a few weeks. Professor Knapendyke is experimenting with a shrub he has
+discovered here. He says it may be a fairly good substitute if properly
+cured. But it won't be tobacco, so I guess we may as well make up our
+minds to swear off smoking as well as drinking. I hope there's nothing
+in the saying that the good die young. Because if there is, we're in for
+an epidemic that will wipe out four-fifths of our population in no time
+at all. We're going to be so good we'll die like flies."
+
+The weeks wore on and the fields of grain were harvested. The yield was
+not a heavy one, but it was sufficient to justify the rather hap-hazard
+experiments. The fifty-odd acres of wheat produced a little over a
+thousand bushels. The twenty-acre oat-field had averaged forty bushels.
+A few acres of barley, sown broadcast in the calcareous loam along the
+coast, amounted to nothing.
+
+Primitive means for grinding the grain had been devised. This first
+crop was being laboriously crushed between roughly made mill-stones, but
+before another harvest came along, a mill would be in operation on the
+banks of Leap Frog River.
+
+The exploration of the island had long since been completed. In certain
+parts of the dense forest covering the western section there were
+magnificent specimens of the Norfolk Island pine. Fruits of the citrous
+family were found in abundance; wild cherries, wild grapes, figs, and an
+apple of amazing proportions and exceeding sweetness. Pigeons in great
+numbers were found, a fact that puzzled Professor Knapendyke not a
+little.
+
+He finally arrived at an astonishing conclusion. He connected the
+presence of these birds with the remark-able exodus of wild pigeons from
+their haunts in the United States in the eighties. Millions of pigeons
+at that time took their annual flight southward from Michigan, Indiana
+and other states in that region, and were never seen again. What became
+of this prodigious cloud of birds still remains a mystery. Knapendyke
+now advanced the theory that in skirting the Gulf of Mexico on their way
+to the winter roosts in Central America they were caught by a hurricane
+and blown out to sea. By various stages the bewildered survivors of the
+gale made their way down the east coast of South America, only to
+be caught up again by another storm that carried them out into the
+Atlantic. A few reached this island, hundreds of miles from the
+mainland, and here they remained to propagate. At any rate, the
+naturalist was preparing to put his impressions and deductions into the
+form of a paper which he intended to submit to the National Geographic
+Magazine as soon as he returned to the United States.
+
+The more practical Mr. Fitts decided to start a squab farm.
+
+A few of the giant iguanas were seen, and many smaller ones. The meat
+of the iguana is a great delicacy. There were no beasts of prey, no
+herbaceous animals.
+
+Lookouts on Top o' the Morning Peak reported the presence of monstrous
+birds at rare intervals. Where they came from and whither they went no
+one could tell. There were unscalable cliffs and crags at the western
+end of the island, and it is possible that they had their nests among
+them.
+
+Lieutenant Platt described the first of these huge birds as being at
+least thirty feet from tip to tip. It flew low above the top of Split
+Mountain and disappeared beyond the hills to the west. When first
+descried by one of the lookouts, this bird was far out over the ocean,
+approaching the island from the east. As it soared over the heads of the
+men, several hundred feet above them, its wings full spread, it was more
+like a small monoplane than a bird. In colour it was a dirty yellow,
+with a black belly and head. Before any one could procure a gun from the
+hut it was out of range, flying at an incredible speed. A few days later
+another was seen, coming from the same direction. It was flying much
+higher, and a few futile shots were fired at it. Then, after a week or
+ten days without a single one of the monsters being seen, five of them
+appeared in the west and flew eastward over the island and out to sea.
+
+"What was the name of that passenger-carrying bird they were always
+talking about in the 'Arabian Nights'?" inquired Platt.
+
+"You mean the roc," replied Knapendyke. "If it ever really existed
+outside of the fairy tales, it is now extinct. The nearest thing to it
+in size is the condor, I suppose."
+
+"I've seen some whopping big condors up in the Andes," said Percival,
+"but twelve feet from tip to tip was what the natives called a
+full-grown specimen. What do you make of these birds, Flattner?"
+
+"After seeing an iguana eighteen feet long, I'm ready to believe
+anything. A protracted and an enforced spell of sobriety is the only
+thing that keeps me from diagnosing my own case as delirium tremens.
+There's one thing sure. Birds as big as these, and iguanas as huge as
+the three we've seen,--to say nothing of the enormous flying fish Morris
+Shine claims to have seen,--take me back to the Dark Ages. I daresay
+we're seeing the tag end of the giants. God knows how old these birds
+and reptiles are,--hundreds of years, at least. I'd give almost anything
+to get one of those birds and stuff him. There was once a flying animal
+known as the pteranodon. It has been extinct for millions of years.
+Belonged to the class called pterodactyls. Who knows? If you fellows
+could shoot for sour apples, I'd have one of 'em."
+
+Christmas and New Year's day, long since past, had been celebrated in
+a mild, half-hearted way on board the Doraine. Easter was drawing
+near, and Ruth Clinton took upon herself the task of arranging special
+services for the children. She was going ahead with her plans when
+her aunt, with some bitterness, advised her to consult the "King of
+Babylon"--(a title surreptitiously accorded Percival by the unforgiving
+lady)--before committing herself too deeply to the enterprise.
+
+"It would be just like him to cut Easter out of the calendar
+altogether," said she.
+
+"He cannot possibly have any objection to an Easter service," protested
+Ruth, her brow puckering.
+
+"There's no telling what he will object to," said Mrs. Spofford.
+
+"He is really quite tenderhearted, and awfully fond of children, you
+know. I am sure he will be very much pleased with the--Besides," she
+broke off to say with considerable heat, "Mr. Percival is not as high
+and mighty as he imagines himself to be. Other people have something
+to say about the management of this camp. You forget,--and so does he
+perhaps,--that we have a council of ten. I rather fancy--"
+
+"Pooh!" sniffed her aunt. "He is worse than all the Tammany bosses put
+together. The other men on the council of ten eat out of his hand, as
+Abel Landover says. His word is law,--or, I should have said, his smile
+is law. All he has to do is to grin and the argument is over. I've
+never seen anything like the way people give in when he smiles. It is
+disgusting."
+
+"Please don't forget, Auntie, that he did not smile on Saturday when
+Manuel Crust stopped him in front of the meeting-house and said he was
+going to take Sunday off from work up in the woods. He didn't smile
+then, did he? And there were a dozen men planning to take the day off
+with Manuel Crust, too."
+
+"I confess I was frightened," admitted Mrs. Spofford, with a slight
+shudder. "That Manuel Crust is a--a dangerous man. He carries a knife. I
+saw it."
+
+"Were your sympathies with Manuel Crust or Mr. Percival? Answer,
+please."
+
+"Naturally, my dear, I--why, of course, they were with Percival. He was
+one man against a dozen. Besides, he does represent law and order. I
+have never questioned that, have I?"
+
+"Weren't you a weeny, teeny bit proud of him yesterday, Aunt Julia?"
+
+"Weren't you?" countered the other.
+
+"I could have hugged him," exclaimed Ruth, her eyes sparkling. "I hate
+him,--mind you,--but I could have hugged him, just the same."
+
+Mrs. Spofford looked searchingly into the girls clear, shining eyes.
+
+"I wish I knew just how much you hate him, Ruth."
+
+"Be honest, Auntie. What you mean is, how little I hate him; isn't that
+so?"
+
+"I don't believe you hate him at all."
+
+"Well, the first chance you get, ask him how much I hate him. He will
+tell you. Now let's talk about Easter Sunday. I don't in the least see
+why I should go down on my knees to Mr. Percival in order to--"
+
+"Manuel Crust went down on his knees, didn't he?"
+
+"Don't be silly! Manuel Crust was leading a strike. I am arranging a
+sacred entertainment."
+
+"Still, if I were you, my dear, I would ask him what he thinks about
+it."
+
+"All right," cried Ruth, "I'll ask him. And what's more, I shall ask him
+to sing in the choir. He will love it."
+
+Not only did Percival promise to sing in the choir, but he eagerly
+offered to help her with the decorations. But when she announced that
+she was going up into the hills in quest of the little red winter
+berries that grew in profusion, he flatly put his foot down on the
+project.
+
+"I don't feel any too sure of Manuel Crust and his gang," said he.
+"They're in an ugly mood and they are brutes, Miss Clinton. Don't be
+alarmed. They're not likely to molest you or any one else, but I don't
+believe in taking chances. Just at present they're pretty sore at me
+and they're doing all they can to stir up discord. It will work out all
+right in the end, of course. They may be beasts but they're not fools."
+
+"Is it true that Manuel Crust claims that every man should have his
+woman?" she asked steadily.
+
+He was surprised by the frank, unembarrassed question. "Crust is about
+as vile as they make them, Miss Clinton. Most of these fellows are
+decent, however."
+
+"But you have not answered my question."
+
+"I will answer it by saying that if he has any such notion as that in
+his mind he will have it taken out of him in short order if he attempts
+to put it into practice. The women on this island will be protected,
+Miss Clinton, if we have to kill Manuel Crust and his fol-lowers. It
+is true he has been preaching that sort of gospel among the vicious
+and ignorant Portugees and half-casts, but it's all talk. Don't pay any
+attention to it."
+
+"We can't help being worried. Suppose his following is much larger than
+you think. They are a rough, lawless crowd, and--"
+
+"Ninety-five per cent, of the men here are decent. That's the only
+comfort I can give you." He smiled his whimsical smile. "I think you
+will find that you will be courted in the regular, old-fashioned way,
+and proposed to with as much solemnity and uncertainty as if you were
+back at home, and it will be left for you to choose your own husband. We
+have two ministers of the gospel here, you know. I predict some rather
+violent courtships, and perhaps a few ill-advised marriages, but you may
+rest assured that no man is going to claim you until you claim him."
+
+He was looking straight into her eyes. She felt the blood mounting to
+her cheek,--and was conscious of a strange, delicious sensation as of
+peril stealing over her.
+
+"You are most reassuring," she managed to say, scarcely above a whisper,
+and then paused expectant.
+
+Afterwards she was shamed by the exquisite pain of anticipation that
+had coursed through her in that moment of waiting. She never could quite
+account for the temporary weakness that assailed her and left her mute
+and helpless under the spell of his eyes. She only knew that she waited
+expectant,--for something that never came! What she might have said in
+response, what she might have done if he had uttered the words she was
+prepared to hear, she did not care to contemplate, even in the privacy
+of her own thoughts. She only knew that she was ashamed of the thrill
+that went over her and strangely bitter toward him for being the cause
+of it. She would not admit to herself that disappointment had anything
+to do with it,--for she found herself arguing, nothing could have been
+more distressing than to rebuff him when he seemed so eager to help her
+in her plans for Easter Sunday.
+
+The fact remains, however, that Percival held his tongue, and she never
+quite understood why he did.
+
+The time and the place of this encounter invited confession. There was
+a full moon in the heavens, the night was still, the air crisp with the
+tang of October in the north,--and they were alone in the shadow of the
+"tabernacle." Lights gleamed in the little windows that stretched to
+the right and left of them. Far off somewhere in the dark, an unseen
+musician was gently thrumming a fandango on his Spanish guitar. She had
+been on her way home from Careni-Amori's cabin, where she had gained the
+prima-donna's promise to sing, when she saw him, walking slowly across
+the "Green." His hands were clasped behind his back, his head was bent.
+She experienced a sudden rush of pity for him,--she knew not why, except
+that he looked lonely and forgotten. It was she who turned aside from
+her course and went out across the Green to join him.
+
+"You are most reassuring," she had said. The dusky light of the moon
+fell full upon her upturned face; her shadowy, limpid eyes were looking
+straight into his; enchantment charged the air with its soft and
+languorous breath,--and yet he looked away!
+
+After a moment he spoke. His voice was steady and,--to her,--almost
+sardonic.
+
+"The day of the cave-man is past. Likewise the cannibal. I think I can
+promise that you will neither be beaten nor eaten,--but you do run a
+little risk in being abroad on such a night as this,--and alone."
+
+She stiffened. "I don't think there is the slightest danger, Mr.
+Percival."
+
+"I wasn't thinking of danger," he said. "There is a lot of difference
+between danger and consequences. You see, you might have been mistaken
+in your man. I might have turned out to be Manuel Crust."
+
+"I--I--I was sure it was you," she stammered, and wished she had not
+said it. It was a confession that she knew his figure so well that she
+could recognize it in the gloom of the night and at a distance that
+should have rendered him almost invisible.
+
+"Even so, I am Manuel's brother under the skin," he said. "Like Judy
+O'Grady and the Colonel's lady, you know. However, all's well that ends
+well, so what's the use of magnifying the peril that stalks through the
+land."
+
+"You were brought up on the good, old-fashioned novels, I see. That's
+the language of heroes,--and heroes live only in novels, where they are
+perfectly safe from harm, thanks to the benevolent author."
+
+"You're right. I was brought up among the old-fashioned heroes. I lived
+through every adventure they had, I longed for every girl they loved,
+I envied everything they did, and I dreamed the most beautiful dreams
+about prowess and virtue and love. I rather fancy I'm a better man
+for having been a swashbuckling boy. I acquired the generous habit of
+falling in love with every heroine I read about, and in my thoughts I
+performed even more prodigious deeds of valour in her behalf than the
+hero to whom she inevitably plighted her troth in the final chapter. In
+real life, however, I've never been in a position to do anything more
+heroic than give up my seat in trolley-cars to ladies of all ages,--By
+the way, have you never longed desperately to be a heroine?"
+
+"Of course, I have," she cried, smiling in spite of herself. Her eyes
+were sparkling again, for the danger was past. "And I have loved a
+hundred heroes,--madly." She hesitated and then went on impulsively: "We
+haven't been very friendly, Mr. Percival. Perhaps I am to blame. In any
+case, you have been very generous and forbearing. That is more than I
+have been. I never thought I could bring myself to the point of saying
+this to you. Can't we be friends again?"
+
+He was silent for a moment.
+
+"Do you mean to go back to where we were before--Well, before we
+clashed?"
+
+"Yes,--if you will put it in that way."
+
+"I can't go back to that stage," he said, shaking his head. "You may
+have stood still, Miss Clinton, but I have progressed."
+
+"I don't know what you mean."
+
+"You will, after you reflect awhile," he said.
+
+She drew back, in a sudden panic. She spoke hurriedly, her composure
+wrecked.
+
+"I--at least, Mr. Percival, I have done my part. If you do not care
+to be friends, I--I have nothing more to say. We must go on just as we
+were,--and I am sorry. I have done my part."
+
+"I do not want to distress you," he said huskily. "If I were to tell
+you why it is best for us to go on as we are, you would lose what little
+faith you may still have in me. I have not always been able to conceal
+my feelings. You do not care as I do,--and I have been pretty much of
+a rotter in showing you just how I feel from time to time,--an ordinary
+bounder, and God knows I hate the word,--so there's nothing more I can
+say without distressing and offending you. I want you to feel perfectly
+secure so far as I am concerned. We are out here alone in the night. If
+I were to let go of myself now and say what I want to say to you,--well,
+you would be frightened and hurt and,--God knows I wouldn't hurt you for
+the world. I hope you understand, Miss Clinton."
+
+She had had time to fortify herself.
+
+"Yes,--I understand," she said, but not without a strange wonder filling
+her mind.
+
+He was fair,--and yet he was baffling. She had not expected this rare
+trait in him. Men she had known were not like this. The men who loved
+her,--and they had been many,--were impetuous and insistent, demanding
+much and offering everything,--vain-glorious warriors who counted
+confidently on easy conquest. She had come in contact with but one class
+of men: the spoiled, cocksure sons of the rich who love in haste and
+have it over with while there is yet time to love again. She caught
+herself guiltily wondering how many men of her acquaintance would have
+allowed this engaging opportunity to pass without making the most of it!
+And why should this man be different from the others? She experienced a
+sharp feeling of irritation, and out of that sprang the wilful desire to
+hurt him because he was different. So she lifted her chin, and looking
+straight into his eyes, said: "I understand perfectly. You prefer that I
+should not put you in the class with Manuel Crust."
+
+"I'm not quite certain that Manuel's way of handling women isn't the
+best after all," he said musingly. "Ride over 'em rough-shod, trample
+them under foot, kick them to one side and then ask them whether they
+love you or not. If they say they don't, all you have to do is to behave
+like a gentleman and leave them alone."
+
+She laughed. "But suppose they were to say they did love you,--what
+then?"
+
+"That, I understand, is what they generally do say,--and it causes a
+great deal of trouble for the unfortunate gentleman."
+
+"Are you never in earnest, Mr. Percival?"
+
+"I was very much in earnest a moment ago. You knew how much in earnest I
+was or you wouldn't have said that nasty thing about Manuel Crust."
+
+"I am sorry I said it," she cried. "It was uncalled for,--and I was
+deliberately trying to be mean."
+
+"I knew it," he said quietly. "I don't think any the worse of you for
+it. A woman plays fair until you get her into a corner,--and then she
+plays fairer than ever to make up for what she did when cornered. Am I
+not right?"
+
+She did not reply. She was staring past him, down the line of huts. The
+door of Olga Obosky's cabin had opened and closed, projecting for an
+instant an oblong block of light into the darkness. The figure of a
+woman, emerging into the full light of the moon, had caught Ruth's
+attention. Percival turned quickly. Together they watched the figure
+move swiftly across the Green toward them. Suddenly it stopped, and
+then, after a moment, whirled and made off down the line of cabins, soon
+to be swallowed up by the gloom.
+
+"Were you expecting some one?" inquired Ruth, icily.
+
+He was still looking intently into the far-reaching gloom. Neither had
+spoken for many seconds. He started, and looked searchingly into her
+eyes.
+
+"That was Madame Obosky," he said.
+
+"I know. I recognized her," said she evenly.
+
+"And you believe she was coming out here to meet me,--isn't that so?"
+
+She drew herself up. "I shall have to say good night, Mr. Percival. No!
+It is not necessary for you to walk home with me."
+
+He placed himself in front of her. "Would you mind answering my
+question?"
+
+"Yes," she flashed, "I think she was coming out here to meet you. Permit
+me to pass, please."
+
+He stood aside. "Good night, Miss Clinton."
+
+He watched her until the door of her cabin swung open,--and he smiled
+as she stood revealed for an instant in the square of light, for she had
+obeyed the impulse to glance over her shoulder.
+
+She was angry, hurt, disgusted as she slammed the door behind her.
+
+"Where have you been?" cried out an accusing voice, and Ruth's gaze fell
+upon the figure in one of the deck chairs beside the fire. "I have been
+waiting for you for--"
+
+"How long have you been here?" cried the girl, stock-still and staring.
+
+"If Mrs. Spofford had not been so entertaining, I should say for hours
+and hours," said Madame Obosky.
+
+"As a matter of fact," said Mrs. Spofford from her side of the
+fireplace, "it hasn't been more than an hour. Madame Obosky came soon
+after you went out, dear."
+
+"But--but I saw you just now coming out of your cabin," cried Ruth
+blankly. She had a queer sensation as of the floor giving way beneath
+her.
+
+"You saw--Oh, now I understand!" cried the Russian, with a laugh. "Zose
+girls of mine! Zey--they are like so many grandmothers. They will not go
+to bed until zey know I am safely tucked in myself. Alas, Mrs. Spofford,
+zose girls do not trust me, I fear. If I go out at night alone, zey
+instantly put their heads together and shake zem all at the same time.
+So that is what has happen, Miss Clinton. One of them,--Alma, I suspect,
+because she had a sister who,--Yes, it would be Alma, I am sure,--in any
+case, one of zem comes out to get me, so like a policeman. But still I
+do not understand something. I have told them I was coming here to see
+you. If it was one of my girls, why has she not come?"
+
+Ruth had turned away, ostensibly to pull down the little window shade
+but really to send a swift searching glance out across the Green.
+
+"She went the other way," she replied, rather breathlessly.
+
+Olga sprang to her feet. "Now, what is zat little fool up to?" she
+cried, angrily. "If I catch her running out to meet men at zis hour
+of--"
+
+Ruth interrupted her. "She started in this direction but when she saw
+us, she turned and went the other way. I was talking to Mr. Percival
+out near the meeting-house. About the Easter services, Auntie," she made
+haste to say as Mrs. Spofford looked up in surprise.
+
+Olga was looking at her fixedly, an odd expression in her eyes, her lips
+slightly parted.
+
+"He has promised to help me. He is delighted to sing in the choir.
+Madame Careni-Amori will sing two solos. She promises to make Joseppi
+sing one or two. I--I was discussing the arrangements with Mr.
+Percival."
+
+"Now I understand," said Olga, gaily, but with the odd, inquiring look
+still in her eyes. "Alma thought it was I. I have zem very well-trained,
+those girls. She sees me with a man,--zip! She runs the other way as
+fast as she can! That is the height of propriety,--is it not, Mrs.
+Spofford?"
+
+"I do not quite understand what you mean, Madame Obosky."
+
+"Why did he say it was you?" cried Ruth, hot with chagrin.
+
+Olga shrugged her shoulders. "He is so very amiable," said she. "I dare
+say he thought it would please you."
+
+Ruth bit her lip. There was no mistaking the challenge in the Russian's
+remark, however careless it may have sounded.
+
+"I came to see you about Mr. Percivail's birthday," said Olga, abruptly
+changing the subject. "Some one has suggested zat we all join in giving
+him a grand great big celebration. Bonfires, fire-works, a banquet with
+speeches, and all zat kind of thing. What do you think, eh?"
+
+"He wouldn't like it at all," said Ruth promptly. "Moreover, why should
+we celebrate his birthday? He doesn't deserve it any more than scores of
+other--"
+
+"Oh, then we must drop it altogether," broke in Olga, rather
+plaintively. "I thought every one would be in favour of it. But, of
+course, if there is the slightest opposition--"
+
+"I do not oppose it," said Ruth coldly. "Pray do not let me upset your
+plans."
+
+"It is not my plan. Zat nice, sarcastic Mr. Fitts, and Mr. Malone, and
+Captain Trigger, they have proposed it, Miss Clinton, not I. But men
+never quite get over being boys. They do not stop to question whether
+a thing is right or wrong. I dare say after they have thought a little
+longer over it, zey will agree with you that it is foolish to be so
+enthusiastic about this fellow Percivail,--and the whole project will
+dissolve into thin air."
+
+Her hand was on the latch. She met Ruth's harassed, unhappy gaze
+with her indolent, almost insolent, smile. Suddenly the American girl
+snatched up her jacket and the little fur collar she had thrown across a
+chair in the corner.
+
+"If you don't mind, I will walk part of the way home with you," she
+said.
+
+Olga opened the door and looked out. "Thank you,--I am not afraid. Pray
+do not think of it,--I cannot permit you to come. It is late,--and the
+moon is under the clouds. Good night,--good night, Mrs. Spofford."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+She quickly closed the door behind her and sped off down the line of
+now lightless cabins. A man stepped out of the black shadow beyond
+the second cabin and stood in her path. She did not pause, but walked
+swiftly, fearlessly up to him, her heart quickening under the thrill of
+exultation. He was waiting for her! He had been waiting for her all the
+long evening. The time had come!
+
+The night was dark now; a strong wind had sprung up to drive the black
+and storm-laden clouds across the moonlit sky. She held out her hands
+with a little moan of ecstasy,--and then she was in his strong, crushing
+arms, pressed fiercely to his breast.
+
+"God, can I believe,--is it true? You have come,--you have come of your
+own free will,--you are here in my arms!" His hot lips found hers in a
+wild, passionate kiss. "Speak to me! Tell me it is all real,--that I am
+not dreaming. Oh, Ruth, Ruth,--darling!"
+
+Her body stiffened. A convulsive shudder raced over her, and then, for
+an instant, she was limp and heavy in his embrace. Then suddenly she
+threw her arms about his neck and kissed him furiously, savagely, again
+and again,--breaking away at last with a low, suffocating laugh.
+
+"Now,--now,-" she cried, "now, what are you going to do with me?"
+
+He lifted his head with a jerk, peering into her face, slow to realize
+the incredible mistake he had made. He was still under the spell of the
+riotous passion that her lustful response had aroused. It had rushed
+over him like a great, resistless wave,--hot, delicious, tingling. He
+had been amazed, bewildered by the unbelievable craving,--furious and
+uncontrolled,--which she revealed in her momentary surrender to the
+elemental. The truth began to dawn upon him even before she spoke. Could
+this be Ruth,--could this unbridled, voluptuous wanton who clung to him
+and smothered him with kisses be the pure, high-minded girl he had grown
+to love and revere? She spoke, and then he knew that the consuming fire
+in his blood was unholy,--as unholy as the spark that set it ablaze.
+
+"Damn you!" he whispered hoarsely,--but he did not put her away from
+him. The lure of the flesh was upon him. It was stronger than his will,
+stronger than his love.
+
+For months this woman had beguiled him. There had been times when he was
+compelled to fight himself,--times when he asked: "Why not?"
+
+She was alluring, she was frankly a sensualist; but she was patient, she
+was crafty. She knew that he was honourably in love with another, but
+she was not deterred by that nor by the conviction that her conquest,
+if she prevailed, would be transitory. She had a code of her own. It
+included an uncertain element of honour, fixed rather rigidly upon what
+she would have called constancy. Singleness of purpose was her notion of
+morality. She would not have believed herself to be a bad woman any more
+than she would have looked upon her lover as a bad man. To her, morality
+in its accepted sense signified no more than the suppression of human
+emotions and human sensations. As a matter of fact, she considered
+herself a good woman if for no other reason than that she steadfastly
+had repelled the munificent appeals of countless infatuated men.
+Treasure had been laid at her feet, only to be kicked aside. She calmly
+spoke of herself as a pearl without price. She was content to possess,
+but not to be possessed. That was what she called self-respect. She was
+a pagan, but she was her own idol. She worshipped herself. She would
+never permit her idol to be desecrated.
+
+All this Percival knew,--or rather sensed. He was not above feeling
+a queer sort of respect and admiration for her. She was not without
+integrity.
+
+He had reached the pinnacle of happiness in believing that the girl he
+loved was in his arms. He was blind and deaf with ecstasy. The awakening
+was a shock. His senses reeled for an instant,--and then Ruth Clinton
+went out of his thoughts entirely!
+
+"Damn you!" he cried again, and drew her close. "She hates me,--she
+will always hate me," he was mumbling. "Why should I care? Why should
+I refuse to take--" Her lips were on his again, warm, firm, voluptuous,
+drawing his heart's blood with the resistless power of a magnet.
+
+They did not hear the rapid approach of footsteps--heavy, swift as of
+one running. A dark, panting figure raced past them, and then another
+but a few paces behind.
+
+Percival's senses were released. They cast off the bewitching bonds. His
+head went up again. In a flash his brain was clear. His arms were still
+about her, she was still lying close against him,--but the current of
+passion that consumed both of them was checked.
+
+"What was that?" she gasped, as if coming out of a dream.
+
+He released her, and sprang out into the path to peer fruitlessly after
+the unseen runners. The sound of footsteps was rapidly diminishing.
+
+They were suddenly aware of women's voices far away to the right.
+They were indistinct but there was a sinister significance in the
+ever-increasing volume.
+
+"There's trouble out there," said Percival. "Something wrong.
+Come,--come along! You must get indoors at once." He grasped her arm
+and started rapidly off in the direction of her cabin. She stumbled
+at first, but quickly fell into stride with him. Men's shouts were now
+added to the clamour.
+
+"I know,--I know," she cried in his ear. "It has happened, just as I
+said it would. Some of these men are beasts."
+
+"Then, there's hell to pay," he grated.
+
+They reached her cabin just as the door was thrown open. The three
+startled coryphees filled the entrance. Recognition was followed by a
+clatter of agitated voices. Olga was fairly dragged into the cabin.
+
+"Bolt your door," was Percival's command as he turned away.
+
+She stood in the door for a moment, looking after him. He passed out
+of the radius of light. The chorus of voices grew louder down the
+way,--like the make-believe mob in the theatre.
+
+Then she closed the door slowly, reluctantly. The three girls watched
+her in silence as she stood for many seconds with her hand on the knob,
+her eyes tightly shut.
+
+She turned and faced them. There was a wry smile on her lips as
+she shrugged her shoulders and spread out her hands in a gesture of
+resignation.
+
+"Yes,--bolt the door," she said. As Alma hesitated, her eyes grew hard,
+her voice imperative. "Do you know of any reason why you should not do
+as both Mr. Percivail and I have commanded?"
+
+"No,--no, Madame," cried Alma hastily.
+
+As the heavy wooden bolt fell into place, Olga again shrugged her
+shoulders and threw herself into a chair in front of the fireplace.
+
+"Put on your clothes," she ordered.
+
+"What is happening, Madame? What is all the noise about?" questioned one
+of the girls.
+
+But there was no answer. Olga was staring into the fire.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+Percival's blood was still in a tumult as he ran down the line of
+cabins. From every doorway men were now stumbling, half-dressed,
+half-asleep. Behind them, in many cabins, alarmed, agitated women
+appeared. Farther on there were lanterns and a chaotic mass of moving
+objects. Above the increasing clamour rose the horrible, uncanny wail
+of a woman. Percival's blood cooled, his brain cleared. Men shouted
+questions as he passed, and obeyed his command to follow.
+
+The ugly story is soon told. Philippa, the fifteen-year-old daughter of
+Pedro, the head-farmer, had gone out from her father's cabin at dusk
+to fetch water from the little reservoir that had been constructed
+alongside Leap Frog River a short distance above the cabins. The pool
+was a scant two hundred yards from her home. It was a five minutes'
+walk there and back. Half-an-hour passed, and she had not returned. Her
+mother became uneasy. Pedro reassured her. He laughed at her fears.
+
+"She could not have fallen into the pool," he said. "You forget the
+fence we have built around it."
+
+"I am not thinking of the pool, Pedro," she argued. "Go you at once and
+search for her. She is no laggard. She has not stopped in to see one of
+the girls."
+
+And Pedro went grumpily forth to search for his daughter. An hour later
+he came staggering down from the woods above the pool to meet the dozen
+or more friends and neighbours who had set out some-time earlier to look
+for the two of them, father and daughter.
+
+He bore in his arms the limp, apparently lifeless form of Philippa.
+He was covered with blood, he was chattering like a madman. Out of his
+incoherent babble the horrified searchers were able to put together the
+cruel story. It seems he had heard a faint cry far back in the dense
+wood,--another and yet another. Then utter silence. Even the night-birds
+were still. Swift, paralysing fear choked him. He tried to call out as
+he rushed blindly up from the pool into the forest, but only hoarse,
+unnatural gasps left his lips. He fell often, he crashed into the trunks
+of trees, but always he went onward, gasping out his futile cries. He
+knew not how long he beat through the forest. He was not even sure
+that it was Philippa's cry he had heard, but his soul was filled with a
+great, convincing dread. He knew that his beloved Philippa, the idol
+of his heart, the sunshine of his life, was up there in the woods.
+Frequently he stopped to listen. He could hear nothing save the pounding
+of his own heart, and the wheezing of his breath, thick and laboured.
+
+Then, at last, during one of those silences, he heard something moving
+in the darkness near at hand. Something--some one was coming toward him
+through the underbrush. He called out hoarsely: "Philippa!" The sound
+ceased instantly, and then he heard a whispered execration. Wild rage
+possessed him. He plunged forward into the brush. Something crashed down
+upon his head, and he felt himself falling forward. The next he knew,
+he was trying vainly to rise to his feet. Something hot was running into
+his eyes,--hot and sticky. He lifted his hand to his head; it came away
+wet. He put his fingers into his mouth,-and tasted blood! It was
+enough. His strength came back. He sprang to his feet and rushed onward,
+shouting, cursing, calling upon God! He had no recollection of finding
+his girl. Apparently everything was a blank to him until long afterwards
+he saw lights moving among the trees, and voices were calling his name.
+
+Percival and other cool-headed men were hard put to check the fury of
+the mob. Men and women, bent on vengeance, made the night hideous with
+their curses, howls and shrieks. In their senseless fury they prepared
+to kill. They had heard the stories about Manuel Crust and his
+disciples. Only the determined stand taken by the small group that
+rallied to Percival's support kept the maddened crowd from seeking out
+these men and rending them limb from limb. The sailors from the Doraine
+were the first to listen to the pleas of the level-headed,--just as they
+had been the first to demand the lives of Manuel Crust and his gang.
+Individually they were rough men and lawless, collectively they were
+the slaves of discipline. It was to their vanity that Percival and the
+others appealed,--only they called it honour instead of vanity. The mob
+spirit was--quelled for the time being, at least. No one was so foolish
+as to believe that it was dead, however. Unless the man guilty of the
+shocking crime was found and delivered up for punishment, the inevitable
+would happen.
+
+"We'll get the right man," said the voice of universal fury, "if we have
+to cut the heart out of every one of Manuel Crust's gang."
+
+The women were the worst. They fought like wildcats to reach the cabins
+occupied by the known followers of Manuel Crust. With knives and axes
+and burn-ing faggots they tried again and again to force their way
+through the stubborn wall of men that had been raised against them.
+
+As for Manuel Crust and his little group of radicals, they had vanished.
+They had mingled with the mob at the outset. There were many who
+recalled seeing this one and that one, remembered speaking to him,
+remembered hearing him curse the ravisher. But as their own names began
+to run from lip to lip, they silently, swiftly disappeared.
+
+Dawn found the camp awake, but grimly silent. No one had gone to bed.
+With the first streak of day, the man-hunt began in earnest. All night
+long the camp had been patrolled. Every cabin had been searched, even
+those occupied solely by women. This search had been conducted in
+an orderly, business-like way under the supervision of men chosen by
+Percival. The folly of beating the woods during the night was recognized
+even by the most impatient; there was time enough for that when the
+blackness of night had lifted.
+
+Throughout the long night, the restless crowd, with but one thought in
+mind, hung about the cabin of Pedro the farmer. The doctors and several
+of the nurses were in there. Down at the meeting-house a bonfire had
+been started, and here were grouped the men to whom the leaders had
+intrusted firearms and other weapons,--men of the gun crew, under
+officers from the Doraine, the committee of ten and others.
+
+It was accepted as a fact that two men were involved in the heinous
+deed. Percival's account of the mysterious runners seemed definitely to
+establish this. He called upon Olga Obosky to verify his statement. If
+she was surprised by his admission that he was in her company when the
+men rushed past them in the darkness, she did not betray the fact. She
+indulged in a derisive smile when he went on to explain that it was so
+dark he had failed to recognize her until she spoke to him. She agreed
+with him that the two men must have come into the open a very short
+distance above them, having sneaked out between the cabins before
+suddenly breaking into a run. Avoiding the beaten roadway, they had laid
+their course twenty or thirty feet to the right of it, keeping to the
+soft, springy turf.
+
+Percival had issued orders for the entire camp to congregate on the
+Green at the first sign of day. The cold grey light of dawn fell upon
+vague, unreal forms moving across the open spaces from all directions.
+There was no shouting, no turmoil, scarcely the sound of a voice. The
+silent, ghostly figures merged into a compact, motionless mass in front
+of the meetinghouse. It was not necessary for Percival to call for order
+when he appeared on the steps and began to speak. The only sounds were
+the shuffling of feet, the rustling of garments, the deep, restrained
+breathing of the mass.
+
+He spoke partly in English and partly in Spanish, and he was brief.
+
+"You know what we are here for and what is ahead of us. I don't have to
+tell you the story of last night. You know it as well as I. You will be
+glad to hear the latest word from Dr. Cullen. Philippa is conscious. He
+thinks she will recover. She is having the best of care and attention. I
+will explain why we are all here now. The first thing for us to do is to
+count noses. We will go about it as rapidly as possible. After that, we
+will get down to business. Mr. Landover and Mr. Malone will check off
+the name of every man, woman and child. As your names are called, come
+forward, answer, and then move over beyond the corner of the building.
+We've got to find out just who is missing,--if any one is missing at
+all."
+
+He raised his voice. "I want you all to keep cool. Don't forget that we
+are after the men who committed this crime. We have no right to say that
+Manuel Crust or any of his crowd did this thing until we have positive
+proof of the fact. It may not have been any of Manuel's gang, don't
+forget that, people. We must make no mistakes. I am saying this to you
+now because I see Manuel Crust and some of his friends standing over
+there at the edge of the clearing. Stop! Don't make a move in their
+direction. We've all had time to think,--we've all had time to get
+ourselves in hand. There is a right and a wrong way to handle this
+thing,--and we've got to be sure we're right. The guilty cannot escape.
+They haven't a chance, and you know it. So, let's be sure,--let's be
+dead sure before we accuse any man. We have no right to charge Manuel's
+gang with this crime. The guilty men may be here among us,--absolutely
+unsuspected. Chizler! You and Soapy Shay go over and tell those men that
+we are taking a count of all the people in this camp. Tell them to come
+and answer to their names. They will be safe."
+
+The count was never completed. Manuel Crust did not wait for his name
+to be called. He pushed his way through the crowd, leaving his followers
+behind. Advancing to the foot of the steps he cried out hoarsely to
+Percival:
+
+"If you want your men, I--I, Manuel Crust, will lead you to one of them.
+He is up there in the wood. Three men are guarding him. He is Sancho
+Mendez, the blacksmith. Listen, I will tell you. It is the God's truth
+I tell. There were seven of us hiding out there in the wood. We were
+scared. We heard our names called out. We had heard the threats to burn
+us alive. We ran away. We were not cowards,--but still we ran away. We
+would wait till the crowd cooled off. That was my advice. Then we would
+return,--then we would help to find the men who did it,--and we would
+help to burn them alive. An hour ago Sancho Mendez crawled out of the
+brush up there above the landing and begged us to protect him. His leg
+was broken. He had fallen over a log. You all know Sancho Mendez. He was
+a good boy. He was the friend of Boss Percival. He was no friend to me.
+But he swears he will be my slave for ever if I will save him. Then he
+tells us everything. When I ask him why the hell he run away, he says he
+lose his mind or something. He just go crazy, he says. He say everybody
+was chasing him,--he could hear them in the bushes, he could hear that
+girl screaming out his name,--and all that. He was going to jump in the
+water and drown, because he say people tell him always it is the easy
+way to die. But he falls down and breaks his leg,--here below the knee.
+He cannot run no more. It is all up. He is afraid to breathe. People are
+all around him with knives and axes and clubs. He can hear them in the
+brush. Then the daylight comes, and he sees us down below in the wood,
+and he says he thanks God. I will be his friend,--I will save him
+because I am an angel from heaven! Bah! I spit in his face. We tie him
+to a tree with our belts, and then I come down to tell Boss Percival we
+have his man,--his good and loyal friend."
+
+"Stop!" yelled Percival, as the crowd began to show symptoms of breaking
+away. "Listen to me! I give you fair warning. I don't want to do it,
+but, by God, I'll order these men to shoot the first who tries to start
+anything. We're going to have law and order here. This man Sancho is
+going to have a fair trial. What's more, he had a companion. What does
+he say of the other man, Manuel Crust?"
+
+"Sancho Mendez says he was alone. There was no other man."
+
+Percival looked hard into Manuel Crust's bloodshot eyes. An appalling
+thought had suddenly flashed into his mind. Many seconds passed before
+he dared to open his lips. As if by divine revelation the situation lay
+bare before him,--the whole Machiavelian scheme as conceived by Manuel.
+Sancho Mendez was to be sacrificed!
+
+Even as he stood there speechless, the plan began to work toward its
+well-calculated end. Manuel's friends started to harangue the crowd.
+They were growling hoarse invectives, shaking their fists in the
+direction of the wood, fanning the pent-up fury of the mob into a
+whirlwind that would sweep everything before it. Once the tide turned
+there would be no stopping it until Sancho Mendez was torn to pieces. He
+would shriek his innocence into deaf ears. And that was Manuel's game.
+
+Percival's heart leaped with joy as he saw the armed force under
+Lieutenant Platt move swiftly into a position barring the way to the
+woods. He thrilled with a mighty pride in the shrewd intelligence and
+resourcefulness of this trained fighting-man from the far-off homeland.
+
+Manuel Crust was turning away to mingle with the crowd. Quick as a
+flash, Percival was down from the steps and at the "Portugee's" side. He
+grasped the man's arm.
+
+"I've got a gun against your back," he cried in fierce suppressed tones.
+"Stand still and keep your mouth shut, or I'll drill a hole through you.
+You're safe if you do as I tell you, Crust. I'm onto your little game.
+I'm not saying you are the guilty man, but you know who he is,--and it
+won't work."
+
+Manuel Crust was as rigid as a block of stone. He did not even turn his
+head to look into the face of the man who held him.
+
+Michael Malone and Landover were at Percival's side in an instant. From
+their position on the steps they could see what was not visible to
+the crowd beyond,--the revolver that was pressed against the small of
+Crust's back.
+
+"Cover this man," whispered Percival to Malone. "Shoot if he opens his
+mouth."
+
+Malone's revolver was jammed against the "Portugee's" back, and Percival
+sprang back up the steps.
+
+Manuel Crust shot a look of surprise at Abel Landover.
+
+"What the hell--" he began, but choked off the words at a command from
+Malone. While Percival was rapidly calling out orders from above, he
+broke out recklessly again, addressing the stern-faced banker.
+
+"Are you my friend or not?" he snarled. "What kind of a man are you?
+Speak up! Tell them I'm all right."
+
+"Keep quiet," warned Malone.
+
+Landover's eyes met the searching, questioning gaze of the Portuguese.
+Manuel Crust apparently was satisfied with what he read in them, for a
+quick gleam of confidence leaped into his own. His chest swelled with a
+tremendous intake of breath.
+
+The remarkable personality,--or perhaps the magnetism,--of the "boss,"
+again asserted itself. He made no allusion to the thing uppermost in his
+mind as he spoke hurriedly, emphatically to the tense throng. When he
+directed Randolph Fitts to take a few picked men with him up into the
+woods to bring down the captive, there were mutterings but no move on
+the part of the crowd either to anticipate or to follow the detachment.
+A few terse words to Buck Chizler sent that active young man after
+Fitts, the bearer of instructions. Sancho Mendez was to be brought in
+alive. His guards were not to be given a chance to kill him when they
+realized that the scheme had failed and he would be allowed to tell his
+own story.
+
+With the departure of Fitts and his men, Percival ordered the people to
+return to their cabins. He promised them that Sancho Mendez should have
+his just deserts. Slowly, reluctantly the crowd broke up and shuffled
+away in small groups across the dewy Green. Manuel Crust was free to
+go. The few words that passed between Landover and Percival, although
+unheard by the man, sufficed to put courage back into his heart. He had
+come to look upon the banker as his "pal"! And his "pal" had not failed
+him!
+
+This is what Landover said to Percival:
+
+"Whatever may be in your mind, Percival, I want to say this to you. I
+was in Manuel Crust's cabin when the thing happened. There were eight
+of us there. I can point out to you the other six. I must beg you to
+overlook the fact that we are not friends, and believe what I am saying.
+It is the absolute truth."
+
+"I will take your word for it, Mr. Landover," said Percival, after a
+moment. "I am aware of your dealings with Crust and his crowd. I don't
+know what the game is, but I do know that you have been fostering
+discontent,--it may even amount to revolt,--among; these men. If you say
+you were with Crust and that he was not out of your sight all evening,
+I will believe you. You may be a misguided, domineering fool, Mr.
+Landover, but you are honest. You have failed to appreciate what you
+were stirring up,--what you were letting yourself and all the rest of us
+in for, that's all."
+
+Landover flushed. He compressed his lips for a second or two before
+speaking.
+
+"My opposition to you as a dictator, Percival, hardly warrants the
+implication that I am in a sense responsible for the devilish thing that
+happened last night."
+
+"I grant you that," said Percival. "Nevertheless, it is your purpose to
+down me, no matter what it costs,--isn't that true?"
+
+"No, it is not true. There is an honest, sincere belief on the part of
+some of us that you are not the man to rule this camp. You may call it
+politics, if you like,--or revolt, if you prefer."
+
+"We'll call it politics, Mr. Landover. It was not politics that made me
+the superintendent of construction here, however. I've looked after the
+job to the best of my ability. I am ready to retire whenever the people
+decide they've found a better man. You may be right in supposing that
+Manuel Crust is the right man for the job,--but I don't agree with you."
+
+Landover started. "Nothing is farther from my thoughts than to turn the
+affairs of this camp over to Crust," he said.
+
+"Once more I agree with you. But that is what you will be doing, just
+the same. If you think that Manuel Crust is going to play second fiddle
+to you, Mr. Landover, you'll suddenly wake up to find yourself mistaken.
+You know what Crust is advocating, don't you? Well, I guess there's
+nothing more to be said on the subject."
+
+"We will drop it, then," said Landover curtly. "I merely want you to
+understand that Crust had no hand in last night's affair. I can vouch
+for that."
+
+"Can you vouch for each and every member of his gang?"
+
+"I know nothing about his gang, as you call it. If I am not
+mistaken, this fellow Mendez is one of your pet supporters. He may be
+double-crossing you."
+
+"We'll see. For the present, your friend Crust is safe. As long as he
+lives within the law, he is all right. We're going to have law and order
+here, Mr. Landover. I want you to understand that. The best evidence
+that most of us want law and order is the incredible manner in which
+these people have curbed their natural instincts."
+
+"No one wants law and order more than I," said Landover.
+
+"And I suppose Manuel Crust is of the same mind, eh?"
+
+"So far as I know, he is," replied the other firmly.
+
+Percival looked at him in blank astonishment. "Well, I'm damned!" he
+said, after a moment. "Do you really believe that?"
+
+"It does not follow that he is an advocate of lawlessness and disorder
+because he happens to be opposed to some of your pet schemes, does it,
+Mr. Percival?" inquired Landover ironically.
+
+"One of my pet schemes happens to conflict seriously with Manuel's pet
+scheme, if that will strengthen your argument any, Mr. Landover."
+
+"I don't believe Crust ever had any such thought," said the other
+flatly.
+
+"We're not getting anywhere by arguing the point," said Percival. He
+turned to walk away.
+
+"Just a moment," called out Landover, after the younger man had taken a
+few steps. "See here, Percival, I don't want you to misunderstand me. If
+there is anything in this talk about Crust,--you know what I mean,--and
+if it should come to the point where stern measures are required, I will
+be with you, heart and soul. You know that, don't you?"
+
+Percival studied the banker's face for a moment. "I've never doubted it
+for an instant, Landover. We may yet shake hands and be friends in spite
+of ourselves."
+
+Landover turned on his heel and walked away, and Percival, with a shrug
+of his shoulders, set about making preparations to safe-guard Sancho
+Mendez when he was brought in from the wood. He posted a number of
+reliable, cool-headed men around the "meetinghouse," many of them being
+armed. Arrangements were made for barricading the door and the few
+windows. The prisoner was to be confined in the building, a long, low
+structure, and there he was to tell his story and stand trial. There was
+to be no delay in the matter of a trial.
+
+"You will sit as judge, Mike," said the "boss," addressing Malone.
+"There will not be any legal technicalities, old man, and there won't be
+any appeal,--so all you've got to do is to act like a judge and not like
+a lawyer. We've got to do this thing in the regular way. Try to forget
+that you have practiced in the New York City courts. Remember that there
+is such a thing as justice and pay absolutely no attention to what you
+are in the habit of calling the law. The law is a beautiful thing if you
+don't take it too seriously. Ninety-nine out of every hundred judges in
+the courts of the U. S. A. sit through a trial worrying their heads
+off trying to remember the law so that they can keep out of the record
+things that might make them look like jackasses when the case is carried
+up to a higher court,--and while they are thinking so hard about the law
+they forget all about the poor little trifle called justice. I guess you
+know that as well as I do, so there's no use talking about it."
+
+"I guess I do," said Michael Malone. "I live on technicalities when I'm
+in New York. If it were not for technicalities, I'd starve to death.
+And, my God, man, if we had to stop and think about justice every time
+we go into court, we'd be a disgrace to the profession."
+
+Percival, Peter Snipe, Flattner and several others strode out from the
+meeting-house and swept the long line of huts with serious, apprehensive
+eyes. They had expected to find the people congregated at some nearby
+point, ready to swoop down upon the prisoner the instant he appeared
+with his captors at the edge of the wood. To their amazement and relief,
+the people had taken Percival's command literally. They had retired
+to their huts, and but few of them were to be seen, even on their
+doorsteps.
+
+"Can you beat it?" cried Snipe. "By golly, boys, they've put it squarely
+up to us. It's the greatest exhibition of restraint and confidence I've
+ever known. This couldn't have happened at home. Hello!"
+
+The gaze of all was centred upon two persons who walked rapidly in the
+direction taken by Fitts and his party. No one spoke for a few seconds.
+Flattner, after a quick look at Percival's set, scowling face, was the
+first to speak. To a certain degree, he understood the situation. It was
+out of pure consideration for his friend's feelings that he said:
+
+"I'll go and head 'em off, A. A."
+
+"Thanks, old chap,--but there's no sense in getting yourself disliked.
+I'll do it. I'm in bad already,--and besides I'm the one who gave the
+order."
+
+Near the end of the row of huts, he drew alongside of Ruth Clinton and
+Landover.
+
+"The order was meant for every one, Miss Clinton," he said levelly. "Am
+I to understand that you have decided to ignore it?"
+
+She stopped short and drew herself up haughtily. Their eyes met. There
+was defiance in hers. She did not speak. Landover confronted Percival,
+white with fury.
+
+"I am capable of looking after Miss Clinton," he exclaimed. "Your
+beastly officiousness--"
+
+"You will go back to your cabin at once, Miss Clinton," said Percival,
+ignoring Landover.
+
+She did not move.
+
+"Miss Clinton came out here at my suggestion," said Landover. "If you
+have any more bullying to do, confine yourself to me, Percival."
+
+"I am not doing this because I enjoy it, Miss Clinton," went on the
+young man, still looking into her unwavering eyes. "I am sorry it is
+necessary to remind you that there are no privileged classes here. You
+will have to obey orders the same as every one else."
+
+"Very well," she said, suddenly lowering her eyes. "Take me back to the
+cabin, Mr. Landover. There is nothing more to say."
+
+Percival stood aside. They walked past him without so much as a glance
+at his set, unsmiling face. Landover slipped an arm through hers. She
+did not resist when he drew her up close to his side. Percival saw him
+lean over and speak to her after they had gone a few paces. His lips
+were close to her ear, but though his voice was low and repressed, the
+words were distinctly audible to the young man.
+
+"Ruth darling, I am sorry,--I can't tell you how sorry I am for having
+subjected you to this insult. God, if I could only help matters by
+resenting it, I--"
+
+She broke in, her voice as clear as a bell.
+
+"Oh, if I were only a man,--if I were only a man!"
+
+They were well out of hearing before Percival looked despairingly up at
+the pink and grey sky and muttered with heartfelt earnestness:
+
+"I wish to God you were. I'd like nothing better than to be soundly
+threshed by you."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+Just before sunset that evening, Sancho Mendez was publicly hanged.
+Confessing the crime, he was carried to the rude gibbet at the far edge
+of the wheat field and paid the price in full. He had been tried by a
+jury of twelve; and there was absolutely no question as to his guilt.
+His companion, a lad named Dominic, callously betrayed by the older man,
+fled to the forest and it was not until the second day after the
+hanging that he was found by a party of man-hunters, half-starved and
+half-demented. He was hanged at sunrise on the following day.
+
+Manuel Crust considered himself glorified. After a fashion, he posed
+as a martyr. Some sort of cunning, as insidious as it was unexpected,
+caused him to assume an air of humility. He went about shaking his head
+sorrowfully, as if cut to the quick by the unjust suspicions that had
+been heaped upon him by the ignorant, easily-persuaded populace.
+
+Sentiment began to swing toward him. He and his so-called followers were
+vindicated. It was his gloomy, dejected contention that if Providence
+had not intervened he and his honest fellows undoubtedly would have been
+placed in the most direful position, so strong and so bitter was
+the prejudice that conspired against him. He was constantly thanking
+Providence. And presently other people undertook to thank Providence
+too. They began to regard Manuel as a much-abused man.
+
+The burly "Portugee" haunted the cabin of Pedro the farmer. He was the
+most solicitous and the most active of all who strove to befriend and
+encourage the unhappy father, and no one was more devoted than he to the
+slowly-recovering girl. He carried flowers to Pedro's hut; he did many
+chores for Pedro's wife; he went out into the woods and killed the
+plumpest birds he could find and cooked them himself for Pedro's
+daughter.
+
+Presently he began to assert a more or less proprietary interest in the
+family. It was no uncommon thing for him to issue orders to the nurses;
+he hectored the Doctor; and on several occasions he went so far as to
+offend such well-meaning ladies as Mrs. Spofford, Madame Careni-Amori,
+Mrs. Block and others when they appeared at Pedro's cabin with
+delicacies for the girl. And finally the people in that end of the camp
+began to speak of Manuel Crust as a good fellow and a gentleman!
+
+On Easter Sunday he stood guard over Pedro's cabin while that worthy and
+his family went to the "Tabernacle" to attend the special services. Two
+of the nurses were inside with the girl, but outside sat Manuel, a grim
+watch-dog that growled when any one approached.
+
+The horror of that black night and the days that witnessed the wiping
+out of Sancho Mendez and Dominic hung like a pall over the camp. Both
+executions had been witnessed by practically all of the inhabitants.
+Captain Trigger came ashore.
+
+With set, relentless faces the people watched two men go to their doom.
+The women were as stony-faced, as repressed, as the men. Save for the
+involuntary groans, and the queer hissing sound of long-pent breath as
+the black-capped figures swung off into space, the tremulous hush of
+intense restraint rested upon the staring crowd.
+
+Twice they came out to see men they had known and respected "hanged by
+the neck until dead," and on neither occasion was there the slightest
+manifestation of pity, nor was there a single word of gloating. They
+watched and then they went away, leaving the victims to be disposed
+of by the men selected for the purpose. No shouts, no execrations, no
+hysterical cries or sobs,--nothing save the grim silence of awe. For
+these people, even to the tiniest child, had ceased to live in the light
+of other days.
+
+Peter Snipe, in his journal, wrote of that silent, subdued throng as
+other historians have written of the rock-hearted people of Salem, and
+of the soulful Puritans who grew heartless in the service of the Lord.
+
+They stood afar-off and watched the small detachment of sailors carry
+the bodies down to the basin, and every one knew that Sancho Mendez and
+Dominic, heavily weighted, were rowed out to the middle and dumped into
+a bottomless grave. Some there were who declared that their bodies would
+sink for ages before reaching the bottom,--and no one thought of Sancho
+Mendez and Dominic without picturing them as gliding deeper and deeper
+into the endless abyss of water.
+
+Michael Malone's speech to the multitude on the shorn edge of the wheat
+field was brief. He spoke from the scaffold on which Sancho Mendez, the
+blacksmith, sat with a noose around his neck.
+
+"This man has been fairly tried and he is being fairly punished. There
+is no way to circumvent the laws of God or the laws of man on this
+island, my friends. The guilty cannot escape. If we transgress the law,
+we must pay in proportion to our transgression. This man is to die.
+The laws of our homeland would not have demanded the life of such as
+he,--but they should, my friends, they should. This island is small.
+It will be easy for us to keep it clean,--and we must keep it clean.
+We must not live in fear of each other. The lion and the lamb lie down
+together here; the thief and the honest man walk hand in hand. Our sins
+will find us out. We cannot hide them. Remember that. In this little
+land of ours there is nothing to stand in the way of the soundest
+principle ever laid down for man. 'Do unto others as ye would have
+others do unto you.' That is the Golden Rule. All we have to do is to
+observe that rule and there will be no use for the Ten Commandments,
+nor the laws of Moses, nor all the laws that man has made. We don't even
+have to be Christians. 'Do unto others as ye would have others do
+unto you.' That, my friends, is the law of laws. It is the religion of
+religions."
+
+"Soapy" Shay, sitting before the fire in his cabin a few nights after
+the executions, held forth at some length and with peculiar emphasis on
+what he called an exploded theory.
+
+"As I said before, and as I've always said,--not being a drinking man
+myself,--it's all bunk about booze being responsible for all the crimes
+that are committed. Now here were these two guys, Sancho and Dominic.
+Look at what they did,--and they hadn't touched a drop for months. I'm
+not saying that licker is a soothin' syrup for a man's morals, but what
+I am saying is that if a feller has got it in him to be ornery, he'll be
+ornery, drunk or sober. I was tellin' Parson Mackenzie only this morning
+that him and me both have good reason for not touchin' the stuff,--for
+different reasons, of course,--but I didn't see why other people
+oughtn't to have it if they want it.
+
+"With me, in my former profession, it would have been criminal to touch
+the stuff. The worst crime a burglar can commit is to get drunk. No
+decent, bang-up burglar ever does it. I don't suppose there is a more
+self-respectin' sort of man in the world than a high-grade burglar. And
+it's the same with a preacher. He can't any more preach a good sermon
+when he is lit up than a burglar can crack a safe or jimmy a window if
+he tanks up beforehand. The parson seemed surprised when I put it right
+up to him like that. He said he'd never thought of it in that light
+before. Of course, says he, a minister of the gospel ain't even supposed
+to know what licker tastes like, and I says to him that's where we have
+the advantage of him. We know what it tastes like, and we like it,
+and we leave it alone because it cramps our style. He leaves it alone
+because it's the style for preachers to leave it alone, and because
+they'd go to hell if they drank like ordinary men. The only place a
+burglar goes to if he boozes is jail.
+
+"Well, as I was sayin', this here Sancho wasn't soused when he committed
+that crime, and it all goes to prove that these temperance cranks are
+off their base. Most of the crime that's committed in this world is
+committed because the feller wants to commit it. When I was up in Sing
+Sing once,--sort of by accident, you might say,--there was a lot of talk
+about prison reform, and pattin' the crooks on the back, and tellin'
+them they could be just as good as anybody else if they had a chance.
+The only chance them guys want, and keep lookin' for night and day, is
+a chance to lift something when nobody's lookin'. That's all they're
+thinkin' about while they're in the pen, and God knows they're as sober
+as judges all the time they're there. Crime is crime and you can't
+always lay it to booze. It's human nature with some people. I'm not
+sayin' the world wouldn't be better off if there wasn't any licker to
+drink. It stands to reason that there wouldn't be half so much bunglin'
+if people kept sober, 'specially when it comes to crime. Now, if this
+guy Sancho had had a couple of pints in him, everybody would be going
+around preachin' about the horrible effects of booze, and--What say?"
+
+"I said you make me tired," said Buck Chizler, repeating his remark. "I
+never did anything wrong in my life except when I was half-soused."
+
+"Sure," agreed Soapy. "But you'd have done it right if you'd been sober,
+my boy. That's the principal trouble with booze. It never gives a feeler
+a chance to do anything right." Whereupon, with a slow wink for the
+other members of the group, he arose and passed out into the night.
+
+"I can't make that feller out," grumbled Buck, uncomfortably.
+
+Easter Sunday was bright and clear, following a fortnight of cold,
+penetrating winds and rain. The sun smiled, but it was a cold smile that
+mocked rather than cheered. The sky was the colour of thin, transparent
+ice; the vast white dome was unspotted by a single cloud; the rose tints
+of early morn, frightened away at birth by the chill, unfeeling glare,
+took with them every promise of tenderness that dawned with the new day.
+But, though the sky was hard, the air was soft; the tang of the salt-sea
+spice lay over everything.
+
+Percival had no active part in the exercises arranged by Ruth. The song
+service was held in the open. A platform had been erected in front
+of the "tabernacle" (the meeting-house on occasion) for the choir and
+musicians. There were no seats for the congregation. Every one stood,
+bareheaded, in a wide semi-circle facing the platform. The "boss" took
+his place inconspicuously among those who formed the outer fringe of the
+assemblage. His gaze seldom left the face of the girl he loved. Once her
+eyes met his. She was on the platform discussing arrangements with the
+two clergymen when her roving, unsettled gaze chanced to fall upon him.
+For many seconds she stared at him fixedly,--so fixedly, in fact, that
+Father Francisco, after a moment, shot a look in the same direction.
+Even from his far-off post, Percival saw the colour mount to her cheeks
+as she hastily turned away to resume the conversation that had been so
+incontinently broken off. She was bare-headed. He had been watching the
+sun at play among the coils of her soft, dark hair,--a glint here as of
+bronze, a gleam there as of gold, ever changing under the caresses of
+that flaming lover a hundred million miles away.
+
+The affable Mr. Nicklestick was standing beside Percival, carrying on a
+more or less one-sided conversation.
+
+"You see, it's this way," he was saying, contriving to reduce his
+far-reaching voice to a moderate undertone; "I'm not in the habit of
+attending Easter services. I'm not opposed to them, believe me, A.
+A.,--not in the slightest. Now at home in New York, I make it a habit to
+walk from the Metropolitan Museum down to the Waldorf-Astoria regularly
+every Easter. Between eleven and twelve-thirty. You get them going into
+certain churches and you get them coming out of others, don't you see?
+Oh, vat would I give to be on Fif' Avenue at this minute, A. A.!
+A hundred thousand dollars,--gladly, villingly,--yes, two hundred
+thousand! I vonder vat things are like on Fif Avenue now,--at this
+minute, I mean. I vonder what the vimmin are wearing this season. My
+God, don't you vish you were on Fif Avenue, A. A.?"
+
+"What?"
+
+"I say don't you vish you were on Fif Avenue now?"
+
+"No, I don't," gruffly.
+
+"You--you don't?" gasped Nicklestick. "My God, where do you wish you
+were?"
+
+"Over in France,--or better still, in Germany,--that's where I'd like to
+be. Keep still! Can't you see Careni-Amori is singing?"
+
+Nicklestick was silent for two minutes. Then he volunteered: "Do you
+know what that song vould cost if she vas to give it in the Metropolitan
+Opera House, A. A.? A thousand dollars, von thousand simoleons. And
+we get it for nothing. It ain't possible to realize that you can get
+something for nothing in these days, is it? I vas saying to Morrie Shine
+only this morning that--"
+
+"Sh!" hissed an exasperated Brazilian in front of them.
+
+"I guess we better not talk any more, A. A.," said Nicklestick,
+deprecatingly. Presently he leaned close to Percival's ear and
+whispered: "Miss Clinton is looking very fine today, isn't she?"
+Receiving no reply, he waited a moment and then went on: "Landover is
+a very lucky dog, eh?" Failing again, he was silent for some time. His
+next effort was along a totally different line. "I've been feeling some
+of the people out in regard to the election next week. I think it's
+a great idea. You got a cinch, A. A. Nobody vants anybody but you for
+governor. What seems to be--"
+
+"Sh!"
+
+"Oh, you go to the devil!" addressed the exasperated Mr. Nicklestick
+to the Brazilian. "Ain't we got freedom of speech here on this island?
+Veil, then! What seems to be troubling most every one, A. A., is who is
+the best man for clerk. Nobody vants to be treasurer, for why? Because
+there ain't anything to be treasurer about. Say, where are you going?"
+
+"Nowhere," replied Percival, as he strode away.
+
+Over against the line of trees on the opposite side of the wheat field
+still loomed the gibbet from which Sancho Mendez and Dominic had stepped
+blindfolded into another and darker world. While Pastor Mackenzie,
+leading up to the glorious resurrection, was repeating the story of the
+Crucifixion, Ruth Clinton, sitting behind him on the platform, stared
+wide-eyed at this gaunt object, and she saw not Christ on the Cross but
+the spectre of Sancho Mendez falling off into darkness. Percival's gaze
+followed hers, and his heart smote him,--for it was he who had demanded
+that the gruesome reminder be left standing as a warning to carrion. And
+he had laughed when Peter Snipe christened it "the scarecrow!"
+
+"Leave it standing, A. A.," Peter had said, "and you can bet your boots
+no jailbird will ever roost on it if he thinks twice. And it's just that
+sort of thing that makes a man think twice."
+
+But the look of dread in the eyes of this girl who could do no wrong,
+and yet was to be everlastingly tortured by the sight of the thing that
+stood as a silent accuser of all who looked, was more than Percival
+could stand. Easter Sunday,--and that gibbet pointing its long arm
+toward the little flock in the shadow of sanctuary,--mocking the good as
+it beckoned to the bad,--Easter Sunday and that!
+
+He stole quietly away, circling the edge of the crowd, his head bent,
+his teeth set. Just as he was about to pass from view around the corner
+of the "tabernacle," he cast a quick glance at the girl on the platform.
+Their eyes met again. She turned her head quickly, but he was certain
+that she had followed his movements from the beginning.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+Toward the close of the exercises, the congregation was startled by
+the sound of an ax smiting wood. The blows were rapid and vigorous.
+The surprised people looked at each other first in wonder and then in
+consternation. Who was guilty of this unseemly sacrilege?
+
+Finally those on the edge of the multitude discovered the wielder of the
+ax. Some one, not easily recognizable, was chopping away the supports of
+the scaffold. The crowd grew restless; angry mutterings were to be heard
+on all sides. Every eye was turned from the platform to glare at the
+lone chopper across the fallow field.
+
+Madame Careni-Amori, who was about to begin her second song, looked
+helplessly at Ruth Clinton.
+
+Ruth had recognized the man at once. At first she was annoyed, then
+there surged over her a great, uplifting thrill of exaltation. She
+stepped quickly to the front and, raising her clear young voice,
+reclaimed the wandering attention of the throng.
+
+"Please be quiet. Madame Careni-Amori is to sing for us once more. Mr.
+Percival is knocking down that horrible thing over there. It is right
+that he should. We do not need it there as a warning. Mr. Percival has
+had a change of heart. He has been moved,--tremendously moved,--by
+what he has seen in your faces today. That is why he is over there now
+hacking down that dreadful thing. It is the skeleton at our feast. We
+were conscious of its presence all the time. He is over there all by
+himself cutting it down so that our hearts may be lighter, so that this
+glad hour may end without its curse. Please remain where you are. He
+requires no assistance. He prefers to do it all alone. And now, if you
+will all give attention, Madame Careni-Amori will sing for us."
+
+Careni-Amori lifted up her glorious voice in song. The rhythmic beat
+of the ax went on unceasingly; the powerful arms and shoulders of the
+destroyer were behind every frenzied blow. As the last notes of the song
+died away, there came the sound of splintering wood, then a dull crash,
+and the gibbet lay flat upon the ground. Some one uttered an involuntary
+shout. As Percival turned from his completed work and wiped the sweat
+from his brow with his bare forearm, he found the gaze of the entire
+company fastened upon him. Then there came to his ears the clapping of
+hands, then the shrill clamour of voices raised in approbation. Swinging
+the ax on high, he buried its blade deep in the fallen timber and left
+it imbedded there. Snatching up his coat from a nearby stump, he waved
+his hand to the crowd and then, whirling, was quickly lost among the
+trees that lined the shore.
+
+Landover walked beside the thoughtful Ruth as she crossed the Green on
+her way home. He studied her lovely profile out of the corner of his
+eye. As they drew away from the dispersing throng, he spoke to her.
+
+"If money were of any value here in this Godforsaken spot, I would offer
+considerably more than a penny for your thoughts, Ruth."
+
+She started slightly. "You couldn't buy them, Mr. Landover. They are not
+for sale at any price."
+
+"I suppose there is no harm in venturing a guess, however. You will give
+me one guess, won't you?"
+
+"All the guesses you like,--free of charge," she rejoined airily.
+
+"You are trying to decide whether or not it was all done for effect."
+
+She smiled mysteriously, looking straight ahead. Her eyes were very
+bright.
+
+"You are wrong. I was thinking about hats, Mr. Landover. Don't you know
+that every woman's thoughts run to hats on Easter?"
+
+"I confess I had a better opinion of him," he said, disregarding her
+flippancy. "I don't like him, but I've never suspected him of being a
+stupid ass before."
+
+"Of whom are you speaking?" she inquired, suddenly looking him full in
+the eye.
+
+"Our mutual friend, the enemy," he replied.
+
+"Mr. Percival?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"But I thought he was beneath our notice."
+
+"We can't very well help noticing him when he goes to such extreme
+lengths to attract attention."
+
+"You think he did it to attract attention?"
+
+"Not so much that, perhaps, as to get back into the lime-light. You
+see, he was rather out of it for as much as half an hour, and he simply
+couldn't stand it. So he went off and staged a little sideshow of his
+own."
+
+She walked on in silence for a few moments, torn by doubts and
+misgivings. Landover's sarcastic analysis was like a douche of cold
+water. Perhaps he was right. It had been a spectacular, not to say
+diverting, exhibition. Her eyes darkened. An expression of pain lurked
+in them.
+
+"I can't believe it of him, Mr. Landover," she said at last, in a
+slightly muffled voice.
+
+"I thought it was understood you were to call me Abel, my dear."
+
+"If he did it deliberately,--and with that motive,--it was unspeakable,"
+she went on, a faint furrow appearing between her eyes.
+
+"Of course, I may be wrong," said he magnanimously. "It may have been
+the result of an honest, uncontrollable impulse. But I doubt it."
+
+"Men do queer, strange things when under the influence of a strong
+emotion," she said, a hopeful note in her voice.
+
+"True. They are also capable of doing very base things. You don't for an
+instant suspect Percival of being a religious fanatic, do you?"
+
+"Please don't sneer. And what, pray, has religion to do with it?"
+
+"I dare say Morris Shine is again lamenting the absence of a motion
+picture camera. He is always complaining about the chances he has missed
+to--"
+
+"Stop!"
+
+"Why, Ruth dear, I--"
+
+"We have no right to judge him, Mr. Landover."
+
+"Are you defending him?"
+
+"I don't believe he had the faintest notion that he was
+being--theatrical, as you call it. I am sure he did it because he was
+moved by an overpowering desire to make all of us happy. He couldn't
+bear the thought of that evil thing out there, pointing at us while we
+worshipped and tried to sing with gladness in our hearts. No! He did
+it for you, and for me, and for all the rest of us,--and he made every
+heart lighter when that thing toppled over and fell. Did you not see
+the change that came over every one when they realized that it was
+destroyed? There were smiles on every face, and every voice was
+cheerful. The look of uneasy dread was gone--Oh, you must have seen."
+
+"I can only say that it ought to have been done before, Ruth,--not
+during the exercises."
+
+"It was his way of publicly admitting he was wrong in insisting that it
+should remain."
+
+"He had his way with that weak-kneed committee, as usual. The tactics
+of that Copperhead Camp he talks so much about are hardly applicable to
+conditions here. We are not law-defying ruffians, you know,--and these
+are women of quite another order."
+
+"No one,--not even you, Mr. Landover,--can say that he has been
+anything but kind and considerate and sympathetic," she flashed. "He is
+firm,--but isn't that what we want? And the people worship him,--they
+will do anything for him. Even Manuel Crust respects him,--and obeys
+him. And you, down in your heart, respect him. He is your kind of a man,
+Mr. Landover. He does things. He is like Theodore Roosevelt. He does
+things."
+
+Landover smiled grimly. "Perhaps that is why I dislike him."
+
+"Because he is like Roosevelt?"
+
+"My dear, let's not start an argument about Roosevelt."
+
+"Just the same, I've heard you say over and over again that you wish
+Roosevelt were President now," she persisted. "Why do you say that if
+you are so down on him?"
+
+Landover shrugged his shoulders expressively.
+
+"I can wish that, my dear, and still not be an admirer of Mr.
+Roosevelt," he replied. "But to return to Percival, isn't it quite plain
+to you that he was pouting like a school-boy because he had not been
+asked to take part in today's exercises?"
+
+"He was asked to take part in them. I asked him myself."
+
+He glanced at her sharply. "You never told me you had asked him, Ruth."
+
+"The night the crime was committed," she said briefly. "He was very nice
+about it. He promised to sing in the choir and--and to help me with
+the decorations. After our unpleasant experience the next day, he had
+the--shall we say tact or kindness?--to reconsider his promise."
+
+"Openly advertising the fact that he preferred to have no part in any
+entertainment you were arranging," was Landover's comment. "I don't
+believe it was because of any particular delicacy of feeling on his
+part, my dear. In any case, the fact remains that he let you go ahead
+with the affair, and then, bang! right in the middle of it he stages his
+cheap, melodramatic, moving-picture act. Bosh!"
+
+She turned on him with blazing eyes.
+
+"You will not see anything good in him, will you? You can't be fair, can
+you? Well, I can be,--and I am. He has been fair with both of us,--and
+I am ashamed of the way I have treated him. We deserved his rebuke that
+morning, and he did not hesitate to turn us back,--although he realized
+what it would mean. He loves me, Abel Landover,--he loves me a thousand
+times more than you do, in spite of all your protestations. He--"
+
+"Why, Ruth,--I--I--"
+
+"Yes,--I know,--I know you are shocked. And I don't care,--do you
+understand? I don't care that! You want your answer, Mr. Landover. Well,
+you shall have it now. I cannot marry you. This is final."
+
+The blood left his face. "You don't know what you are saying, Ruth," he
+exclaimed. "You are angry. When you have had time to--"
+
+"I've had all the time I need," she interrupted shortly. "I don't want
+to be disagreeable,--but it's no use, Mr. Landover. I do not love you.
+I am sorry if I have misled you into hoping. There is nothing more to be
+said."
+
+"You have misled me," he cried out bitterly.
+
+"I am to blame, I suppose, for not giving you your answer before this. I
+have temporized. It is a woman's trick,--and a horrid one, I'll admit. I
+have never even thought of marrying you."
+
+"Are you in love with Percival?" he demanded.
+
+"Yes,--I think I am," she replied, looking him straight in the eye. She
+spoke with a sort of gasp, as if releasing a confession that surprised
+even herself.
+
+"My God, Ruth,--I can't believe it," he groaned.
+
+"I have denied it to myself--oh, a thousand times,--I've fought against
+it. I've tried to hate him. I've done everything in my power to make him
+believe that I despise him. But it's no use,--it's no use. I--I can't
+think of anything else. I can't think of any one else. Oh, I know I am
+quite mad to say this, but I sometimes find myself praying that we may
+never be rescued. It might mean--well, you can see what it might mean.
+Thank God, you have driven me to this confession. It is the first time I
+have been really honest with myself. I have lied to myself over and over
+again about my feeling toward him. I have lain awake for hours at night
+lying to myself--telling myself that I hate him and always will hate
+him. Now, it's out,--the truth is out. I have never hated him,--I have
+cared for him from the very beginning."
+
+She spoke rapidly, the words rushing forth like a flood suddenly
+released after breaking through the dam, sweeping everything before
+it,--resistless, devastating, cruelly rapturous. She thought nothing of
+the hurt she was inflicting upon the man beside her; he was an atom in
+the path of the torrent, a thing that went down and was left behind as
+the flood swept over and by him. As suddenly as it began the torrent was
+checked. A hot flush seared her neck, her cheeks, her brow.
+
+"What a fool you must think me!" she cried in dire chagrin. "What a
+stupid fool!"
+
+He had not taken his eyes from her transfigured face. He had listened
+with his jaw set, his lips tightly pressed, his brow dark with anger.
+
+"I don't think that," he said shortly. "You have merely lost your head,
+as any woman might, over a picturesque, good-looking soldier of fortune.
+Perhaps I should not be surprised, nor even shocked by what you've just
+told me. He is the sort that women do fall in love with,--and I suppose
+they are not to be blamed for it. No, I do not think you are a fool.
+When one reflects that such experienced heads as those possessed by
+the irreproachable Obosky, the immaculate Amori,--to say nothing of the
+estimable lady we are pleased to call the 'Empress of Brazil,'--when
+such heads as theirs are turned by a man it is high time to admit that
+he has something more than personal magnetism. I am wondering how far
+the contagion has really spread. There is a difference between
+contagion and infection, you know. Infection is the result of
+personal contact,--contagion is something in the air. This epidemic
+of infatuation very plainly is in two forms. It appears to be both
+infectious and contagious. I rather fancy the amiable Obosky has
+selected the former type of the prevailing malady. Percivalitis, I
+believe, is the name it goes by."
+
+There was no mistaking the significance of his words. The implication
+was clear, even though veiled in the heaviest sarcasm. He had the
+satisfaction of seeing the colour ebb from her cheek. Her face being
+averted, he missed the swift flicker of pain that rushed to her eyes
+and, departing, took away with it the soft light that had glowed in them
+the instant before. He had touched a concealed canker,--the sensitive
+spot that had been the real cause of her sleepless, troubled
+nights,--the thing she had refused in her pride to accept as the real
+source of discomfort.
+
+Down in her soul lay the poison of jealousy, a cruel and malignant
+influence that until now had been subdued by a mind stubbornly unwilling
+to recognize its existence.
+
+In the eagerness to supply herself with additional reasons for hating
+Percival, she had given her imagination a rather free rein in regard to
+his relations with Olga Obosky. While she was without actual proof, she
+nevertheless tortured herself with suspicions that came almost to
+the same thing; in any case, they had the desired effect in that they
+created a very positive sense of irritation, and nothing seemed to
+please her more in the dead hour of night than the feeling that she had
+a right to be disgusted with him.
+
+And now, Landover, in his sly arraignment, prodded a very live, raw
+spot, and she knew that it was bleak unhappiness and not rancour that
+had kept her awake.
+
+"Is it necessary to beat about the bush, Mr. Land-over? If you have
+anything definite to tell me about Mr. Percival and Madame Obosky,
+I grant you permission to say all you have to say in the plainest
+language. Call a spade a spade. I am quite old enough to hear things
+called by their right names."
+
+"Since you have been so quick to get my meaning, I don't consider it
+necessary to go into details. I daresay you have ears and eyes of your
+own. You can see and hear as well as I,--unless you are resolved to be
+both blind and deaf."
+
+"Did you not hear me say that I know he loves me?"
+
+"Yes,--I heard you quite distinctly."
+
+"As a rule, do men love two women at the same time?" she inquired,
+patiently.
+
+"I have never said that he loves Obosky. It is barely possible, however,
+that he may not choose to resist her,--if that conveys anything to your
+intelligence."
+
+"It does and it does not," she replied steadily. "You see, I believe in
+him. I trust him."
+
+"And I suppose you trust Olga Obosky," he said, with a sneer.
+
+"I understand Olga Obosky far better than you do, Mr. Landover."
+
+"I doubt it," said he drily.
+
+"She is my friend."
+
+"Ah! That measurably simplifies the situation. She will no doubt prove
+her friendship by delivering Mr. Percival to you, slightly damaged but
+guaranteed to--"
+
+"Please be good enough to remember, Mr. Land-over, that you are not
+speaking to Manuel Crust," she exclaimed haughtily, and, with flaming
+cheeks, swept past him.
+
+He hesitated a moment, and then started to follow her. She stopped short
+and, facing him, cried out: "Don't follow me! I do not want to hear
+another word. Stop! I can see by your eyes that you are ashamed,--you
+want to apologize. I do not want to hear it. I am hurt,--terribly hurt.
+Nothing you can say will help matters now, Mr. Landover."
+
+"Just a second, Ruth," he cried, now thoroughly dismayed. "Give me a
+chance to explain. It was my mad, unreasoning love that--"
+
+But, with an exclamation of sheer disgust, she put her fingers to her
+ears and sped rapidly down the walk. He stood still, watching her until
+she entered the cabin door and closed it behind her. Then he completed
+the broken sentence, but not in the voice of humility nor with the words
+that he had intended to utter.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+Shay, coming up the walk, distinctly heard what he said.
+
+"What's the matter, Bill?" he inquired, pausing. "Did she throw the
+hooks into you?"
+
+Landover glared at him balefully. "You go to hell, damn you," he
+snarled, and walked away.
+
+"Soapy" rubbed his chin dubiously as he watched the retreating figure.
+Pursing his thin lips, he turned his attention to an unoffending stump
+six or eight feet away and scowled at it vindictively. He was turning
+something over in his mind, and he was manifestly in a state of
+indecision. Ruminating, he spoke aloud, perhaps for the benefit of a
+Portuguese farm-hand who happened to be approaching from the opposite
+direction, but who still had some rods to cover before he was within
+hearing distance.
+
+"Gee, he's getting to be as decent and democratic as any of us. Shows
+what association will do for a man. Two months ago he would have been
+too high and mighty to tell me to go to hell. If he keeps on at this
+rate, he'll be worth payin' attention to in a couple of months more.
+Won't he, Bill?" This to the farmhand, who obligingly halted.
+
+Mr. Shay made constant and impartial use of the name Bill. Except in a
+very few instances, he applied it to all males over the age of two,
+and he did it so genially that resentment was rare. Americans, Britons,
+Irishmen, Portuguese, Spaniards, Indians, Swedes,--all races, in fact,
+except the Hebrew,--came under the sweeping appellation. His Hebrew
+acquaintances were addressed by the name of Ike.
+
+It so happened that this particular "Bill" was lamentably slow in
+picking up the English language. It was even said that he prided himself
+on being halfwitted. However, being an exceedingly dull creature, he was
+quite naturally a polite one. He was a good listener. You could speak
+English to him by the hour and never be annoyed by verbal interruptions.
+At regular intervals he would insert a shrug of the shoulders, or nod
+his head, or lift an eye-brow, or spread out his hands, or purse his
+lips,--and he never smiled unless you did.
+
+Perceiving that some sort of an answer was expected, "Bill"
+wisely shrugged his shoulders. "Soapy" interpreted the shrug as
+affirmative,--having a distinct advantage over "Bill," who hadn't the
+faintest idea which it was,--and proceeded to go a little deeper into
+the matter.
+
+"Now, as I was saying, this Landover guy is up against something, Bill.
+She handed him something he didn't like. Right on the nose, too, if I'm
+any judge. What do you suppose it was, Bill?"
+
+"Bill" nodded his head very earnestly.
+
+"That's what I think," said "Soapy," fixing his hearer with a moody,
+speculative frown. "Now, I know something about this Landover guy that
+she don't know. I suppose A. A. will give me an awful panning if I up
+and tell her what I saw that day. He seems to think it's a secret."
+
+There was a slight pause, suggesting to "Bill" that he ought to frown as
+if also in doubt.
+
+"At the same time, I think she ought to be told, don't you, Bill?"
+
+This called for something definite. So Bill scratched his left ear.
+
+"In the first place, she's too nice a girl to be hitched up with a
+Priscilla like him. Now, I don't know what happened here a couple of
+minutes ago, but it looks to me as if she needs a little moral support.
+It strikes me that this would be a good time to tell her. What do you
+think about it, Bill?"
+
+Always on the lookout for rising inflections, "Bill" was ever in a
+position to give prompt replies. He could dispose of the most profound
+questions almost before they were out of the speaker's mouth. His answer
+to "Soapy's" query was a broad grin,--for he had detected a sly twinkle
+in the speaker's eye. He also shrugged his shoulders and spread out his
+hands,--and, to clinch the matter, he winked.
+
+"Now, I don't want to take this important step without being backed-up
+by some clever, intelligent feller like you, Bill," went on "Soapy."
+"It's all for her good,--and A. A.'s, too, although he won't see it in
+that light. If you say you think she ought to be told, that's enough for
+me. If you say she oughtn't,--why, nothing doing. It's up to you, Bill."
+
+"Bill" was plainly at sea. You can't decide a question that lacks an
+interrogation point. So all that "Bill" could do was to stare blankly
+at "Soapy" and wait for something tangible to turn up. Mr. Shay suddenly
+appreciated the poor fellow's dilemma and supplied the necessary relief.
+
+"What say, Bill?"
+
+Whereupon "Bill" started to shake his head, but, catching the scowl of
+disapproval on "Soapy's" brow, hastily changed his reply to a vigorous
+nod.
+
+"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Shay. "That completely clears my conscience. So
+long, Bill."
+
+And half a minute later he presented himself at Ruth Clinton's cabin.
+
+"Goodness!" exclaimed Mrs. Spofford, as she opened the door. She also
+opened her eyes very wide, and sent a startled, apprehensive glance over
+her shoulder into the warm, fire-lit interior. "What do you want?" she
+demanded querulously of the unexpected visitor.
+
+Mr. Shay took off his hat. "I'd like a few words with Miss Clinton," he
+said. "I saw her come in, so she's not out. It's important, ma'am. She
+will hear something to her advantage, as they say in the personals."
+
+"Will you please return at three o'clock, Mr. Shay? My niece is resting
+after the arduous labours of the--"
+
+"I dassent wait," said "Soapy," with a furtive glance over his shoulder.
+"If he sees me, I'll probably have to change my mind."
+
+"Who is it, Auntie?" called out a clear voice from within.
+
+"'Soapy' Shay," replied the visitor himself.
+
+"Mr. Landover will be here presently, Mr. Shay,--" began the obstacle in
+the doorway.
+
+"I guess not," broke in "Soapy," forgetting himself so far as to wink.
+"I expect you haven't heard the news, ma'am. He's had his nose put out
+of joint."
+
+"Good heavens! His nose out of--"
+
+"Come in, Soapy," cried Ruth.
+
+"Ruth, my dear,--do you know who--do you know what--"
+
+"Sure she knows," again interrupted "Soapy," unembarrassed. "I'm not
+after anybody's jewels, Mrs. Spofford,--and besides which I am the
+principal candidate for Sheriff of this bailiwick. You don't suppose
+a man who's running for the office of sheriff on Mr. A. A. Percival's
+ticket is going to lift anything before election, do you? Besides which
+I've made up my mind to be straight as long as I'm on this island, and
+if I'm elected,--which I will be,--I'm going to see that nobody else
+does anything crooked. Mr. A.A. Percival is a wise guy,--a mighty wise
+guy. Says he to me, 'Soapy, you are one of the most expert--'"
+
+"Come inside, Soapy," called out Ruth.
+
+Mr. Shay entered. "You better shut the door, Mrs. Spofford," he said
+coolly. "What I got to say is private. As I was saying, A. A. says to
+me, 'Soapy, you are one of the craftiest and slipperiest crooks on this
+side of the Atlantic Ocean. What you don't know about crime would fill
+a book about as thick as a postage stamp. There's nobody on this island
+more fittin' to be an officer of the law. You know everything that an
+officer of the law ought to know, and besides which you know everything
+that a thief has to know. So you're going to be elected Sheriff of
+Trigger Island.' That's what A. A. says to me, and, as usual, he's dead
+right. Why, ma'am, there ain't a thief in the universe that can fool me.
+I don't have to have any evidence,--not a grain of it. All I got to do
+is to just ask 'em why they done it. But what I dropped in to see you
+about, Miss Ruth, is--Say, you ain't by any chance expecting A. A. to
+drop in, are you? I wouldn't have him ketch me here for--"
+
+"I am not expecting Mr. Percival, Soapy," she said, her gaze fixed
+expectantly on the man's face.
+
+"Well, then," said he, "I got a little story to tell you. It's the
+gospel truth. Just try to forget that I used to be a crook and that
+in ordinary times I am one of the most gosh-awful liars on earth. But
+there's absolutely no pleasure in lying nowadays, and as for working at
+my regular trade, Mrs. Spofford, you needn't be the least bit nervous.
+It ain't necessary for you to set on that trunk. Take this chair,
+please. Now, you remember some time back that A. A. and your friend
+Landover had a mix-up in the last named gentleman's stateroom, and you
+also must remember that Mr. Landover told you about it and that Mr.
+Percival never told you anything about it. Well, I was a witness to
+that fracas. I just happened to be walking along the deck when something
+caught my eye and I went up close to see what it was. You'd never guess
+what it was. After looking at it very carefully I discovered it was a
+port-hole."
+
+Forsaking his whimsical manner, he related tersely in as few words as
+possible the story of the encounter.
+
+"Now, it's my guess that Mr. Abel Landover didn't speak the whole truth
+and nothing but the truth when he furnished you with his version of the
+affair. Am I right, or am I wrong?" he asked, in conclusion.
+
+"I prefer to believe Mr. Landover's story," said Mrs. Spofford stiffly.
+"Will you be good enough to go now, Mr. Shay?"
+
+"Sure," said "Soapy," rising. "I'm not asking anybody to take my word
+against his. I'm just telling you, that's all. Good afternoon, ladies."
+
+"It was not Mr. Percival who fired the shot? You are sure of that,
+Soapy?" Ruth was standing now. Her eyes were very dark and tempestuous.
+
+"Sure as my right name ain't Soapy Shay," returned the witness, holding
+up his right hand.
+
+"Ruth, it isn't possible that you place any credence in--"
+
+"Thank you for coming, Soapy," interrupted Ruth. "It was very good of
+you."
+
+"Soapy" lingered at the door, fumbling his dilapidated hat. Mrs.
+Spofford was staring speechlessly at her niece.
+
+"I'd a little sooner you wouldn't say anything to A. A. about me
+peaching on him," said "Soapy," somewhat nervously.
+
+"I shall not 'peach' on you, Soapy," said the girl, a joyous smile
+suddenly illuminating her face.
+
+"Soapy" went out. As he closed the door, he said to himself: "Next time
+you tell me to go to hell, Abe Landover, I guess you'd better furnish a
+guide that knows the way."
+
+As soon as the door was closed, Mrs. Spofford turned upon her radiant
+niece.
+
+"You are not such a fool as to believe that rascal's story, Ruth?"
+
+"I believe every word of it!" cried the girl.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+Sailors, sniffing the gale that night, shook their heads and said
+there was snow on the tail of it. Morning found the ground mottled with
+splashes of white and a fine, frost-like sleet blowing fitfully across
+the plain. The ridge of trees over against the shore became vague and
+shapeless beneath the filmy veil, while the sea out beyond the breakers
+was clothed in a grey shroud, bleak and impenetrable.
+
+Knapendyke was positive and reassuring in his contention that no great
+amount of snow ever fell upon the island. While much of the vegetation
+was of a character indigenous to the temperate zone, there was, he
+pointed out, another type peculiar to tropical climates,--and although
+the latter was of a singularly hardy nature, it was not calculated to
+survive the rigours of a harsh, protracted winter.
+
+"We'll have spells like this, off and on, just as they occasionally do
+in Florida or Southern California, is the way I figure it out," he said
+to the group of uneasy men who contemplated the embryonic blizzard with
+alarm and misgiving. "Moreover, I believe the wet, cold season is a
+short one here. The birds are content to stick it out. The fact there is
+no migration is proof enough for me that the winter is never severe.
+As the weather prognosticators say, look out for squalls, unsettled
+weather, frost tonight, rising temperature tomorrow, rain the next
+day, doctors' bills the end of the month. Avoid crowded street-cars,
+passenger elevators and places of amusement. Take plenty of out-door
+exercise and don't eat too many strawberries."
+
+Children, on their way to school in the town hall, shouted with glee
+as they romped in the snow-laden gale. It had no terrors for them. They
+were not concerned with the dour prospect that brought anxiety to the
+hearts of their elders.
+
+"It's fine to be a kid," said Percival, watching the antics of a crowd
+of boys. "Why do we have to grow up?"
+
+"So that we can appreciate what it was to be a kid," said Randolph
+Fitts.
+
+Ruth Clinton was one of the teachers. There were, all told, about thirty
+children in the school, their ages ranging from five to fourteen. Most
+of them were youngsters from the steerage, bright-eyed little Latins who
+had picked up with lively avidity no small store of English. They were
+being taught in English.
+
+The council, spurred by the far-seeing Percival, recognized the perils
+of a period of inactivity following the harvest and the flailing
+days. The majority of the men and women would be comparatively idle.
+Preparations for the building of a small ship occupied the time and
+interest of a few engineers and ship-carpenters, but as some weeks were
+bound to pass before the work could be begun in earnest, an interim of
+impatience would have to be bridged. Work, and plenty of it, was the
+only prescription for despair.
+
+Already symptoms of increasing moodiness marked the mien of the less
+resourceful among the castaways. While it was not generally known, two
+men had attempted suicide, and one of the Brazilian ladies,--a beautiful
+young married woman,--was in a pitiful state of collapse. She had
+a husband and two small children in Rio Janeiro. The separation was
+driving her mad. There were others,--both men and women,--whose minds
+were never free from the thought of loved ones far across the waters
+and whose hearts ached with a great pain that could not be subdued by
+philosophy, but they were strong and they were cheerful. In their souls
+burnt an unquenchable fire, the fire of hope; they stirred it night and
+day with the song of the unvanquished.
+
+Improvements in the hastily constructed cabins provided not only
+occupation but interest for the able-bodied men and women. There was no
+little rivalry in the matter of interior embellishments; those skilled
+in the use of implements took great pride in hewing out and adding
+more or less elaborate ornamentation to the facades of their
+habitations,--such as casements, door-posts and capitals, awnings,
+porches, and so forth. A shell road was in process of construction
+from one end of the village to the other, while over in Dismal Forest
+woodsmen were even now cutting down the towering Norfolk pines and
+hewing out the staunch timbers for the ship that was to sail out one day
+in quest of the world they had left behind them. But these enterprises
+provided work for men only. The women, in the main, were without
+occupation. With the approach of winter the men in active control of the
+camp's affairs realized that something would have to be done to relieve
+the strain,--at least, to lighten it until spring came to the rescue
+with toil in the fields and gardens.
+
+A system of exchange was being worked out. As has been mentioned before
+in this chronicle, the people of the steerage were the plutocrats. Their
+hoardings represented real money, the savings of years. When it came to
+an actual "show-down,"--to use Percival's expression,--these people
+who were poor in the accepted sense, now were rich. They could "buy and
+sell" the "plutocrats" of another day and another world.
+
+The theory that one good turn deserves another was an insufficient
+foundation upon which to construct a substantial system of exchange.
+It is all very well to talk about brotherly love, said Percival. The
+trouble is that certain brothers are for ever imposing upon other
+brothers, and the good turn does not always find its recompense.
+Socialism, he argued, is a fine thing until you discover that you are
+not alone in the world. Brotherly love began with Cain and Abel, and
+socialism is best exemplified by a parlour aquarium. Nothing happens to
+disturb the serene existence of the goldfish until somebody forgets to
+feed them, and then they begin nibbling at each other.
+
+"You mend my fence, I'll mend yours," is an ideal arrangement until you
+find it is "our fence" and doesn't need mending.
+
+To Landover, Block and other financial experts was delegated the power
+and authority to perfect a fair, impartial monetary system. First of
+all, they arbitrarily declared the dollar, the peso and the shilling to
+be without value. "Time" script was to be issued by the governing board,
+and as this substitute would automatically become useless on the day the
+castaways, were discovered and taken off the island, no citizen was to
+be allowed to reduce or dissipate his hoard of real money.
+
+Landover's proposal that a central depository be established for the
+purpose of holding and safe-guarding the possessions of each and every
+person was primarily intended to prevent the surreptitious use of real
+money. This project met with almost universal opposition. The "rich"
+preferred to hang onto their money, thereby running true to form. While
+professing the utmost confidence in the present integrity of the banker
+and his friends they ingenuously wanted to know what chance they would
+have of getting their money back when these masters of finance were
+ready to leave the island! So they elected to hide their gold and silver
+where it would be safe from unscrupulous financiers! And nothing could
+shake them in this resolve.
+
+"Time" was the basic principle on which the value of the script was to
+be determined, and as "time," in this instance, meant hours and nothing
+else, a citizen's income depended entirely on his readiness to work. Ten
+hours represented a full day's work. The hand-press on board the Doraine
+was used to print the "hours," as the little slips made from the
+stock of menu card-board were called. They were divided into five
+denominations, viz.: One Hour, Three Hours, Five Hours, Seven Hours and
+Ten Hours. Each of these checks bore the signature of Abel T. Landover
+and a seal devised by Peter Snipe, who besides being an author was
+something of a draughtsman,--indeed, his enemies said he was a far
+better artist than he was an author, which annoyed him tremendously in
+view of the fact that he had stopped drawing when he was fifteen because
+eminent cartoonists and illustrators had told him he had no talent at
+all. The printing and stamping was done on board the Doraine and the
+script was shortly to be put into circulation. Landover was slated to
+become treasurer of Trigger Island at the general election.
+
+As an illustration, this sort of dialogue was soon to become more or
+less common:
+
+"What's the price of this hat, Madame Obosky?"
+
+"Twenty-seven hours, Mrs. Block."
+
+Or:
+
+"Gimme an hour's worth of 'smoke,' Andy," meaning, of course, the
+substitute for tobacco.
+
+Or:
+
+"You blamed robber, what do you mean charging six hours for half-soling
+them shoes? If you was any good, you could ha' done it in half the
+time."
+
+Every individual in camp over the age of thirteen was obliged to have an
+occupation. To a certain extent, this occupation was selective, but in
+the main it was to be determined by a board whose business it was to see
+that the man-power was directed to the best advantage for all concerned.
+A camp tax was ordered. At the end of the week, every citizen was
+required to pay into the common treasury two "hours." He could not
+"work out" this tax. It had to be paid in "cash." Out of the taxes so
+received, the school, the church, the "hospital" and the "government"
+were to be supported.
+
+The "governor" of Trigger Island and the humblest workingman were to
+receive exactly the same pay: "hour" for hour. Thirty thousand "hours"
+represented the total issue, or, approximately fifty units for each
+individual over the age of thirteen.
+
+As no man's hours was worth more than another's, and as every
+transaction was to be based on time, rather than on money, there was no
+small likelihood that any one man or group of men could ever obtain a
+commanding grip on the finances of the Island.
+
+And so it came to pass that all manner of enterprises sprang into
+existence. Competition was not allowed. There could be but one millinery
+shop, one dress-making establishment, one shoe and sandal factory, and
+so on. Everything was conducted on a strictly cash basis; there were no
+"charge accounts."
+
+Olga Obosky, as the proprietress of the millinery shop, earned no more
+than any one of her half-dozen assistants,--and they were all paid by
+the "government." The same could be said of Madame Careni-Amori, who
+conducted a school of music, and the great Joseppi who graciously,--even
+gladly,--went into the tailoring business. Andrew Mott, one time First
+Officer on the Doraine, opened a "smoke" store and dispensed cured
+weed that Flattner authorized him to call "tobacco." The austere Mrs.
+Spofford decided to open a dress-making shop!
+
+It was all very simple, this man-to-man system of traffic, but no one
+took it lightly or in the spirit of jest. They were serious, they were
+sober-minded. Interest, incentive, grim determination centred in the
+seemingly childish arrangement. Greed was lacking, for there was no
+chance to hoard; confidence was paramount, for there was no chance to
+lose.
+
+The "hours" travelled in a circle, from the "government" to people, from
+people to "government"; when all was said and done, it was the product
+of soil and sea that formed the backbone of the system.
+
+With the adoption of the plan, it was to become a punishable
+offence,--indeed, it was to be classified as treason,--for any resident
+of Trigger Island to "forage" for necessities. He could do what he
+pleased in respect to the non-essentials, but when it came to foodstuffs
+of any kind or description, he was guilty of a felony if he failed to
+turn all that he produced or secured into the general stores.
+
+"Strikes me," said Randolph Fitts in council meet-ing, "that we are
+arriving at the most exquisite state of socialism. This comes pretty
+close to being the essence of that historic American dream, 'of the
+people, by the people, for the people.' Up to date, that has been the
+rarest socialistic doctrine ever promulgated, but we are going it a long
+sight better. 'From the people, by the people, to the people.' What do
+you call that but socialism?"
+
+"Are you speaking to me?" demanded Percival.
+
+"In a general way, yes."
+
+"Well, it's not my idea of socialism. So far as I've been able to
+discover, socialism is a game in which you are supposed to take
+something out of your pocket and put it into the other fellow's whether
+he wants it or not. This scheme of ours is quite another thing. We're
+not planning to split even on what we've got in our pockets so much as
+we're planning to divide what we've got in our hands, and there's a lot
+of difference between a hand and a pocket, old top. You can see what's
+in one and you can't see what's in the other. And, by the way, Fitts,
+if we let the socialists in this camp suspect that we're trying to
+introduce socialism here, there'll be a revolution before you can say
+Jack Robinson. They won't stand for it. They'd let out the blamedest
+roar on record if they thought we were trying to deprive them of the
+right to feel sorry for themselves."
+
+Ruth hurried over to the town-hall bright and early on this snowy, gusty
+morning. The forenoon session of the school began punctually at 8:30
+o'clock. She was there half an hour ahead of time to see that there
+was a roaring fire in the huge fire-place, and that the benches for
+the scholars were drawn up close to it. There were two teachers besides
+herself,--and both of them were experienced "school marms." She taught
+the "infant class," comprising about a dozen tots. The three teachers
+took turns about in building the fires, arranging the benches and
+cleaning the crude blackboard.
+
+There had been church-services the night before, and the benches
+were all in use, arranged so that they faced the combination
+pulpit-rostrum-stage at the far end of the room. Tonight there was to be
+a general committee meeting to discuss the prospective financial scheme
+and the general election that was to take place the following week.
+
+The structure was not blessed with a paucity of names. If there was
+to be a council-meeting or a camp assembly, it was called the
+"Meeting-house." On Sundays it became the "tabernacle." Week-days it
+was known as the "schoolhouse," and at odd times it was spoken of as the
+"theatre," the "concert-hall," and the "Trigger Island court-house."
+In one corner stood the grand piano from the Doraine, regularly and
+laboriously tuned by the great Joseppi. Madame Careni-Amori gave vocal
+and instrumental lessons here every afternoon in the week, from three
+to six. Among the older children there were a number who had voices that
+seemed worth developing, and the famous soprano put her heart and soul
+into the bewildering task of stuffing the rudiments of music down their
+throats.
+
+Ruth stopped just inside the door and looked about her in astonishment.
+The benches had been drawn up in an orderly semi-circle about the
+fire-place. Beyond them she observed the figure of a man kneeling before
+the fire, using a bellows with great effect. The big logs were snapping,
+and cracking, and spitting before the furious blasts.
+
+She closed the door and started across the room in his direction.
+Suddenly she recognized the broad back and the familiar but very
+unseasonable panama hat. Panic seized her. She turned quickly, bent on
+making her escape. Her heart was beating like a triphammer,--she felt
+strangely weak in the knees. As abruptly, she checked the impulse to
+flee. Why should she run away, now that the moment she had wished for so
+ardently the night before was at hand? Chance had answered her call with
+amazing swiftness. She was alone with him,--she could go to him and lay
+her weapons at his feet and say,--as she had said a hundred times in the
+night,--"I can fight no more. I am beaten."
+
+But now that the time had come for bravery, she found herself sorely
+afraid. A chill swept through her,--a weakening chill that took away
+her strength and left her trembling from head to foot. The crisis was
+at hand,--the great, surpassing crisis. She found herself hazily,
+tremulously wondering what the next minute in her life would be like?
+What would be said in it, what would happen to her? Would she be in his
+arms, would his lips be upon hers,--all in the minute to come? Was the
+whole of her life to be altered in the brief space of a minute's time?
+
+A warm glow suddenly drove off the chill. It came with the realization
+that he was building the fire for her,--that his thoughts were
+of her,--that he had stolen into the building to make it warm and
+comfortable long before she was due to arrive,--and that he would steal
+away again as soon as the "chores" were done.
+
+He arose to his feet and stood over the fire for a moment or two,
+watching its lively progress. Apparently satisfied with his efforts, he
+turned and started toward the door. She was standing in his path, a shy,
+wavering smile on her lips.
+
+He halted, and after an instant's hesitation, stammered:
+
+"I--I never dreamed you'd be around so early. I thought I'd run in as I
+was passing and build a fire for--for the kiddies. Get the place warmed
+up a bit before--"
+
+"Will you let me say something, Mr. Percival?" she broke in, hurrying
+the words.
+
+He fumbled for his hat. "I am sorry if you are annoyed, Miss Clinton.
+Please believe me when I tell you I hoped to get out before you came. I
+came early so that you would not find me--"
+
+"You are not letting me say what I want to say."
+
+She came toward him, her hand extended. "Oh, I don't want to thank you
+for lighting the fire and putting the room in order. I want to tell you
+that I surrender."
+
+"Surrender?" he exclaimed, staring.
+
+"I cannot fight you any longer," she said breathlessly.
+
+He looked dumbly first at her hand and then into her eyes. She was an
+arm's length away.
+
+"Fight me?" he mumbled, uncomprehending.
+
+"You--you said we could not be friends. I knew what you meant. If--if
+you love me,--oh, if you do love me, we need not be friends. But I know
+you love me. If I did not know it I could not have come to you like this
+and--"
+
+"Do I love you?" he cried out. "My God, I--I worship you."
+
+She held out both arms to him. "Then, we will try no more to be
+friends," she murmured very softly. "Here are my arms. I surrender."
+
+A long time after he said to her as they sat before the jubilant,
+applauding fire,--the only witness to their ecstasy:
+
+"Now I understand why we have never really been friends. It wasn't what
+God intended. Even in the beginning we were not friends. We thought we
+were,--but we weren't. We were lovers, Ruth,--from the start."
+
+"I tried very hard to hate you," she sighed, drawing a little closer
+in the crook of his encircled arm. "How wonderful it all is,--how
+wonderful!"
+
+"I never believed it could come true. I hoped, God, how I hoped,--but
+it didn't seem possible that this could ever happen. I've wanted to hold
+you in my arms, to kiss your dear lips, to kiss your eyes, to touch
+your hair, to press you tight against my heart. And here I am awake, not
+dreaming, not longing,--and I have done all these things. Lord! I wonder
+if I can possibly be dreaming all this for the thousandth time."
+
+"I was thinking of you when I came into this room,--not ten minutes
+ago,--and suddenly I saw you. I was terrified. I knew then that my
+dreams were coming true,--I knew it, and I don't know why I did not run
+away. Any self-respecting, modest girl would have done so. But what did
+I do? I, a supposedly sensible, well-brought-up--"
+
+"You caught me trying to run away," he broke in. "I give you my word,
+my heart was in my throat all the time I was working over that
+fire,--scared stiff with the fear that you would come in and bayonet me
+with one of those icicle looks of yours. And see what really happened!"
+
+They were silent for some time, staring into the fire. Suddenly his arm
+tightened; he drew a sharp breath. She looked up quickly.
+
+"Why are you frowning?"
+
+"I was just thinking," he replied after a moment's hesitation.
+
+He gave a queer little jerk of his head, as if casting off something
+that bothered him. Into his paradise had slipped the memory of a night
+not long since when he held the yielding, responsive form of another
+woman in his arms, and felt the thrill of an ignoble passion surging
+through his veins. The kiss of the sensualist had burned on his lips for
+days; even to this hour it had clung to them; he was never free from
+the fire it had started in his imagination. And always on Olga's red,
+alluring lips lurked the reminder that she had not forgotten; in her
+eyes lay the light of expectancy.
+
+"Of whom?" asked Ruth, not coyly, but with a directness that startled
+him. She seemed to have divined that his thoughts were not of her in
+that brief, flitting instant.
+
+"Of myself," he answered, quite truthfully.
+
+She laid her hand on his. "I forbid you to think of any one but me," she
+said.
+
+He was silent for a moment. "I shall never think of any one but you,
+Ruth Clinton," he said earnestly. "You have nothing to fear."
+
+"I believe you," she said, and pressed his hand tightly. After a slight
+pause, she went on, looking straight into his eyes: "I might have lost
+you, dear,--and I could have blamed no one but myself. She--she is very
+alluring."
+
+He shook his head. "I've always been of the opinion that Samson's hair
+needed trimming. His mother probably brought him up with Fauntleroy
+curls, poor chap. If he'd had his hair cut regularly, he wouldn't have
+looked such an ass when Delilah got through with him."
+
+"I don't quite follow the parable."
+
+"In other words, it's what a man's got in his head and not so much what
+he's got on it that makes him strong," he explained, still more or less
+cryptically.
+
+"I am beginning to see. You made good use of what you have in your head,
+is that it?"
+
+"I made use of what you put into it a good many months ago, dear heart.
+You have been in my head and in my heart all these months, and so it was
+you who made me strong. Without you in there, I might have been as
+weak as Samson was before he had his hair cut. No sensible man blames
+Delilah. In fact, men are rather strong for her. When you stop to think
+how long old Samson got away with it, and what a shock it must have been
+to her after she trimmed him and found there wasn't anything left to
+speak of, you've just got to feel sorry for her. She took one good look
+at his head and understood why he let his hair grow. He was like the
+fellow who wears long whiskers to develop his chin. If Samson had
+had room enough in his head for a thought of anything except himself,
+Delilah wouldn't have been able to catch him napping."
+
+She could not help laughing. "You take a most original way of evading
+the point. Still, I am satisfied. You did not have room in your head
+for any one else but me,--and that's all there is to it. I can't help
+feeling tremendously complimented, however. She is quite capable of
+turning any man's head."
+
+"She plays fair, Ruth," he said seriously. "She keeps the danger signal
+up all the time. That's more than you can say for most women."
+
+"Yes," said she; "she plays fair. She is a strange woman. She has given
+me a lot of advice,--and I am just beginning to take it."
+
+"If I had believed what she told me three months ago," said he, "this
+glorious hour would have been advanced just that length of time."
+
+Ruth stiffened. "What did she tell you?"
+
+"She told me I was a fool and a coward; that all I had to do was to walk
+up to you and say 'Here, I want you,' and that would have been the
+end of my suspense. She told me something I didn't know and couldn't
+believe."
+
+"Indeed! I like her impudence! She--"
+
+"She told me you were as much in love with me as I was with you.
+Honest,--was she right?"
+
+Ruth sighed. "I suppose she was right."
+
+"And would you have come to me if I had said 'I want you '?"
+
+"If you had said it as you say it now, I--listen! Good gracious! There
+are the children!"
+
+She sprang to her feet, blushing furiously. The door opened and
+three small children were fairly blown into the room,--three swarthy,
+black-eyed urchins who stared in some doubt at the "boss" and the adored
+"teacher."
+
+"Good morning, children," she cried out jerkily, and then glanced at
+each of the windows in quick succession. "You don't suppose,--" she
+began under her breath, turning to Percival with a distressed look in
+her eyes.
+
+"I wouldn't put it above 'em," said he, cheerfully.
+
+"We should have thought of the windows."
+
+"Thank God, we didn't," he cried.
+
+He went out into the storm with the song of the lark in his heart.
+
+"God, what a beautiful place the world is!" he was saying to himself,
+and all the while the sleet was stinging his radiant face with the
+relentlessness of angry bees.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+As he swung jauntily down the road in the direction of his "office,"
+all the world might have seen that it was a beautiful place for him. He
+passed children hurrying to school, and shouted envious "hurry-ups" to
+them. Men and women, going about the morning's business, felt better for
+the cheery greetings he gave them. Even Manuel Crust, pushing a crude
+barrow laden with fire-wood, paused to look after the strutting figure,
+resuming his progress with an annoyed scowl on his brow, for he had
+been guilty of a pleasant response to Percival's genial "good-morning."
+Manuel went his way wondering what the devil had got into both of them.
+
+Olga Obosky was peering from a window as he passed her hut. He waved
+his hand at her,--and then shook his head. He had passed her three
+dancing-girls some distance down the road, romping like children in the
+snow.
+
+Buck Chizler was waiting for him outside the "office." The little jockey
+had something on his mind,--something that caused him to grin sheepishly
+and at the same time look furtively over his shoulder.
+
+"Can I see you for a coupla minutes, A. A.?" he inquired, following the
+other to the door.
+
+"Certainly, Buck,--as many minutes as you like."
+
+Buck discovered Randolph Fitts and Michael Malone seated before the
+fire. He drew back.
+
+"I'd like to see you outside," he said nervously.
+
+"Well, what is it?" asked Percival, stepping outside and closing the
+door.
+
+Buck led him around the corner of the hut.
+
+"It ain't so windy here," he explained. "Awful weather, ain't it?"
+
+"What's troubling you, Buck? Put on your cap, you idiot. You'll take
+cold."
+
+"Plumb nervousness," said Buck. "Same as if I was pulling up to the
+start with fifty thousand on the nag. I want to ask your advice, A. A.
+Just a little private matter. Oh, nothing serious. Nothing like that,
+you know. I just thought maybe you'd--Gosh, I never saw it snow like
+this up home, did you? Funny, too, when you think how tropical we ought
+to be. There was a bad blizzard a coupla years ago in Buenos Aires,
+but--"
+
+"Come to the point, Buck. What's up?"
+
+Buck lowered his voice. "Well, you see it's this way. I'm thinking
+of getting married. Tomorrow, if possible. Don't laugh! I don't see
+anything to laugh at in--"
+
+"I beg your pardon, old chap. I couldn't help laughing. It's because I'm
+happy. Don't mind me. Go ahead. You're thinking of getting married, eh?
+Well, what's to prevent?"
+
+"Do you approve of it? That's what I want to know."
+
+"Sure. Of course, I approve of it."
+
+"I just thought I'd make sure. You see, nobody's ever got married here
+before, and I didn't know what you'd think of me--er--sort of breaking
+the ice, don't you see."
+
+"She's finally said 'yes,' has she? Good girl! Congratulations, old
+chap,--thousands of 'em'--millions."
+
+"Well, that takes some of the load off my mind," said Buck, as they
+shook hands. "Now, there's one or two things more. First, she says she
+won't come and live in a hut where five men besides myself are bunking.
+I don't blame her, do you? Second, she says if we ever get rescued from
+this island, she won't let me go to the war,--not a step, she swears.
+I put up a holler right away. I says to her I was on my way to the war
+before I ever met her, and then she says I ain't got anything on her.
+She was going over to nurse. But she says if she gets married she's
+going to claim exemption, or whatever they call it, and she says I got
+to do the same,--'cause we'll both have dependents then. Then I says the
+chances are the war's over by this time anyhow, and she says a feller
+in the Argentine told her on his word of honour it wouldn't be over for
+five years or more. But that's a minor point. What's rusting me is this:
+how am I going to get rid of them five guys in my cabin?"
+
+"Have you told them you're going to be married?"
+
+"Oh, hell, they're the ones that told me."
+
+"It's pretty rough weather to turn men out into the cold, unfeeling
+world, Buck."
+
+Buck scratched his ear in deep perplexity. "Well, it's got me guessing."
+He slumped into an attitude of profound dejection. "What we'd ought to
+have done, A. A., was to build a hotel or something like that. If we had
+a hotel here, there'd be so blamed many weddings you couldn't keep track
+of 'em. That's the only thing that's holding people back. Why, half
+the unmarried fellers here are thinking about getting married. They're
+thinking, and thinking, and thinking, morning, noon and night. And
+they've got the girls thinking, too,--and most of the widders and old
+maids besides. I don't see how a smart feller like you, A. A., happened
+to overlook the possibility of just this kind of thing happening."
+
+"Good Lord, what have I got to do with it?"
+
+"Why, darn it all, you'd ought to have put up a few huts with 'For Rent'
+signs on 'em, or else--"
+
+"By George, Buck! I've got it," cried Percival excitedly. "Have you
+thought of a wedding journey?"
+
+"A what?"
+
+"Wedding trip,--honeymoon."
+
+"Well, we might walk up and down the main street here a coupla times,"
+said Buck sarcastically. "Or take a stroll along the beach or something
+like that."
+
+"What's the matter with a nice long sea voyage?"
+
+"Say, I'm not kidding about this thing," exclaimed Mr. Chizler,
+bristling. "I'm in dead earnest."
+
+"Has it occured to you that the Doraine is lying out there in the
+harbour--Here! Look out! I don't like being hugged by--"
+
+"My gosh, A. A! Oh, my gosh!" barked the ecstatic bridegroom-apparent.
+"How did you happen to think of such a beautiful, wonderful--"
+
+"How did I happen to think of it?" shouted Percival, just as
+ecstatically. "Why, darn your eyes, why shouldn't I think of it? Why did
+old Noah think of the Ark? Why, I ask you?"
+
+"He didn't," said Buck succinctly. "The feller that wrote the Bible
+thought of it."
+
+"What time is it? Oh, Lord, nearly three hours yet before school is
+out."
+
+"Say, are you off your base,--lemme smell your breath. You act
+like--Wait a second! There's something else I want to speak to you
+about. Is it--is it all right for me to get married? She says I'll have
+to get your O. K. before she'll move an inch. She says nobody can do
+anything around here without you say so. So I--"
+
+"You tell her I give my consent gladly, Buck, my boy. Give her a good
+kiss for me, and say I'll speak to Captain Trigger this afternoon about
+passage on the Doraine. By George, I--I think I'll go and speak to him
+about it now."
+
+"Much obliged, boss. By gosh, you are a brick. There ain't anything you
+won't do for a friend, is there?"
+
+Percival blushed and stammered. "I--I've got to see him anyhow,
+Buck,--so don't thank me. By the way, while I'm about it, I suppose
+I might as well speak to Parson Mackenzie, eh? Or is it to be Father
+Francisco? And that reminds me, I'll have to see Malone and find out
+about the legality,--got to have the law on our side, you see, Buck.
+Something in the form of a license,--United States of America and all
+that,--and also see about fixing up desirable quarters on board the
+Doraine. I may have to transfer quite a lot of--er--furniture and so
+forth from my hut to the ship, and--"
+
+"Gee whiz, A. A., you mustn't go to so blamed much trouble for me,"
+gasped the delighted Buck.
+
+"Eh? What? Oh, the devil take you! Beat it now. I'm going to be mighty
+busy this morning."
+
+"I'll do as much for you, A. A., if you ever get married," cried Buck,
+once more wringing the other's hand. Then he was off up the road like a
+schoolboy.
+
+Shortly before the noon recess, Percival returned from the Doraine. By
+this time, the news had spread through the camp that there was to be a
+wedding. Every one he met hailed him with the excited question:
+
+"Say, have you heard the news?"
+
+"What news?"
+
+"There's going to be a wedding."
+
+"Good Lord!" said Percival to himself. "They must have been peeping
+through those windows after all."
+
+Finding that he had ten minutes to spare before school was out, he
+decided to call upon Mrs. Spofford. That lady received him with icy
+politeness.
+
+"I have been expecting you," she said. "Your friend Mr. Shay honoured us
+with a visit yesterday. My niece is at the school. Will you sit down and
+wait for her, or--"
+
+"I beg your pardon. What was that you said about Shay?"
+
+"I said he came to see us."
+
+Percival stared, "He did?"
+
+"Please sit down, Mr. Percival. Do not ask me to tell you anything more
+about Mr. Shay," she went on hurriedly, and in some confusion. "I don't
+believe he would like it,--and as he is a dangerous character, I beg of
+you not to--"
+
+"If Soapy Shay dared to intrude--"
+
+"I implore you, do not think anything more about it. He was most
+courteous and polite and all that."
+
+He remained standing, his gaze fixed upon her face. Somehow, he guessed
+the nature of Soapy's visit.
+
+"I suppose he came as a tale-bearer."
+
+"I must decline to discuss the matter, Mr. Percival."
+
+"Mrs. Spofford," he began, with all the dignity of a courtier, "I have
+come to request the hand of your niece in marriage. I have loved her
+from the very--"
+
+"Oh, God!" groaned the trembling lady. "It has come at last! It has
+come,--just as I feared. For pity's sake, Mr. Percival, spare her! She
+is--"
+
+"I beg your pardon," he broke in, flushing. "I think you misunderstand
+me. I am asking your consent to marry her. I believe it is still
+customary among gentlemen to consult the--"
+
+"Permit me to interrupt you, Mr. Percival," said she, regaining her
+composure and her austerity. "What you ask is quite impossible. My niece
+is,--ah,--I may say tentatively engaged. I am sorry for you. Perhaps it
+would be just as well if you did not wait for her to come in. She will
+be--"
+
+"Mrs. Spofford, I am obliged to confess to you that I have already
+spoken to Miss Clinton, and I may add that she is not tentatively
+engaged. She has promised to be my wife."
+
+She drew back as if struck. She was silent for many seconds.
+
+"It would appear that my consent is not necessary, Mr. Percival," she
+said at last, "Why do you come to me?"
+
+"Because, while you may not suspect it, I was born a gentleman," said he
+stiffly.
+
+She received this with a slight nod of the head and no more.
+
+"My niece, no doubt in her excitement, has neglected to ask you one or
+two very important questions," she said levelly. "First of all, have you
+any means of convincing us that you do not already possess a wife?"
+
+He started. "You are right," he said. "That is an important question,
+and she has not asked it. I have no means of convincing you that I have
+never been married, Mrs. Spofford. My word of honour is the only thing I
+can offer."
+
+She regarded him narrowly. "Do you consider that sufficient, Mr.
+Percival?"
+
+"I do," said he simply. She waited for him to go on, and was distinctly
+impressed by his failure to do so. So far as he was concerned, there was
+nothing more to be added.
+
+"How are we to know what your past life contains? You may have left your
+homeland in disgrace, you may even have been a fugitive from justice. We
+have no means of knowing. You were a stowaway on board the Doraine. That
+much, at least, we do know. We know nothing more. You are smart, you
+are clever. Surely you must see yourself that under other circumstances,
+under normal conditions, my niece would not have condescended to notice
+you, Mr. Percival. We are on an undiscovered island, remote from the
+environment, the society, the--"
+
+"Permit me to remind you, Mrs. Spofford," he interrupted, a trifle
+coldly, "that you just remarked that you know nothing whatever about me.
+Isn't it barely possible that my life may contain something desirable in
+the shape of family, position and environment?"
+
+"I recall that Mr. Gray did speak of knowing the Percival family. My
+niece never allows me to forget it."
+
+"Mr. Gray did not know my family. He knew of my family, Mrs. Spofford,
+if that conveys anything to you. Not that they would not have been proud
+to have known him, for he was a gentleman. As for my own case, I can
+only say that I am not a fugitive from justice, nor have I done anything
+more disgraceful than the average young man who has been through college
+and who, ignoring the counsel of his father, proceeds to find out for
+himself the same things that his father had found out a great many years
+before,--and his father before him, and so on back to the beginning of
+man. My great-great-grandfather on my mother's side was a comparatively
+recent settler in America. He didn't come over from Scotland until about
+1750. My father's people came over in the days of Lord Baltimore. Most
+of my remote ancestors were very wicked men. You will find that one of
+them was executed in the Tower of London the same week that Lady Jane
+Grey went to her death, and another was openly in love with Mistress
+Nell Gwyn, thereby falling into disgrace with a monarch named Charles. I
+admit that I come of very bad stock."
+
+A fleeting twinkle lurked in her eyes.
+
+"You are very adroit, Mr. Percival."
+
+"Which is as much as to say that I have an agreeable and interesting way
+of lying. Is that what you wish to imply, Mrs. Spofford?"
+
+"Not at all. I say you are adroit because you place me in an
+embarrassing position. If I believe your confession that you come of
+bad stock, I must also believe that you come of an exceedingly good
+old Maryland family." He bowed very low. "My niece, Mr. Percival, is an
+orphan. I am and have been her protector since she was fourteen years
+of age. She is the possessor of a large fortune in her own right. Her
+father,--who was my brother,--gave her into my care when he was on his
+death-bed. I leave you to surmise just what were his dying words to me.
+She was his idol. I have not failed him in any respect. You ask me to
+give my consent to your marriage. I cannot do so. No doubt you will be
+married, just as you have planned. She loves you. I have known it for
+months. I have seen this day and hour coming,--yes, I have seen it even
+more clearly than she, for while she struggled desperately to deceive
+herself she has never been able to deceive me. You are a strong,
+attractive man. The glamour of mystery rests upon you. You have done
+prodigious deeds here, Mr. Percival. All of this I recognize, and I
+should be unfair to my own sense of honour were I to deny you my respect
+and gratitude. I must be fair. Fear has been the cause of my attitude
+toward you,--not fear of you, sir, but fear for my niece. Now I am
+confronted by the inevitable. The thing I have tried so hard to avoid
+has come to pass. In these circumstances, I am forced to confess that
+I have not been without a real, true admiration for you. I admit that
+I have felt a great security with you in command of our camp. But, even
+so, you are not the man I would have chosen to be Ruth's husband. The
+time is surely coming when we will be delivered from this island prison,
+when we will return to the life and the people and the conditions we
+knew before catastrophe made a new world for us. I am thinking of that
+time, Mr. Percival, and not of the present. I fear my niece is thinking
+only of the present and not of the future."
+
+He had listened with grave deference. "Forgive me if I appear
+impertinent, Mrs. Spofford, but is it not, after all, the past you are
+thinking about?"
+
+She did not answer at once. His question had startled her.
+
+"Youth does not live in the past," he went on quietly. "It deals only
+with the present. I love Ruth Clinton,--I love her with the cleanest
+love a man can feel for a woman. It will not alter when we leave this
+island. If we are fated to spend the rest of our lives here, it will
+endure to the end."
+
+"You are speaking for yourself," she said. "Can you speak for Ruth?"
+
+"No, I cannot," he admitted. "Nor can you," he added boldly. "That is
+what I meant when I asked if you were not thinking chiefly of the past.
+I cannot say that Ruth will love me always, but I can say this: she
+loves me now, as I love her, and in her heart she has said just what I
+said to you a moment ago,--that her love will endure."
+
+"I daresay I do think more of the past than of the present, Mr.
+Percival. You are right about the future. It is a blank page, to be
+glorified or soiled by what is set down upon it. Fate has thrown you
+two together. Perhaps it was so written in the past that you despise.
+A single turn of the mysterious wheel of fortune brought you into her
+life. Half a turn,--the matter of minutes,--and you would never have
+seen each other, and you would have gone your separate ways to the end
+of time without even knowing that the other existed. No doubt you both
+contend that you cannot live without each other. It is the usual wail of
+lovers. But are you quite as certain in your minds that you would have
+perished if you had never seen each other?"
+
+The note of irony did not escape him. He smiled. "In that case, Mrs.
+Spofford, we should not have existed at all."
+
+She shook her head despairingly. "You are too clever for me," she said.
+"I warn you, however, that I shall do everything in my power to persuade
+Ruth to reconsider her promise to you."
+
+"Nothing could be fairer than that," said he, without rancor. "If she
+comes to me this afternoon and says she has changed her mind and cannot
+marry me, I shall not ask her again. Will you be kind enough, Mrs.
+Spofford, to include that in your argument? It may spare her a lot of
+worry and anxiety."
+
+He bowed ceremoniously and took his departure. She went to the window
+and, drawing aside the curtain, watched him until he disappeared down
+the road. Then, as the curtain fell into place, she said to herself:
+
+"Their children will be strong and beautiful."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+A fortnight later, Ruth and Percival were married. He was now governor
+of Trigger Island.
+
+The ceremony took place at noon on the Green in front of the Government
+Building,--(an imposing name added to the already extensive list by
+which the "meeting-house" was known),--and was attended by the whole
+population of the island. His desire for a simple wedding had been
+vigorously, almost violently opposed by the people. Led by Randolph
+Fitts and the eloquent Malone, they demanded the pomp and ceremony of a
+state wedding. As governor of Trigger Island, they clamoured, it was his
+duty to be married in the presence of a multitude! A general holiday was
+declared, a great "barbecue" was arranged--(minus the roasted ox),--and
+when it was all over, the joyous throng escorted the governor and his
+lady to the gaily decorated "barge" that was to transport them from the
+landing to the Doraine.
+
+Olga Obosky made the bride's bonnet and veil, and draped the latter on
+the morning of the wedding day. Like the fabled merchants of the Arabian
+Nights she appeared to the bride-elect and displayed her wares. From the
+depths of her theatre trunks she produced a bewildering assortment of
+laces, chiffon, silks, and the filmiest of gauzes.
+
+"You must not be afraid zat they will contaminate you," she explained,
+noting the look of dismay in Ruth's eyes. "Zey have never adorned my
+body, zey have never been expose to the speculating eye of the public,
+zey have not hid from view these charms of mine. No, these are fair
+and virtuous fabrics. It is you who will be the first to wear them, my
+friend. Take your choice. See! Zis piece, is it not wonderful? It comes
+from Buda Pesth. One day it would perhaps have caressed my flesh in the
+Dance of the Sultan's Dream,--but, alas,--zat is not to be. Feel, my
+friend,--take it in your hand. See? You could hide it in the palm of one
+of them,--and presto! Throw it outspread,--and it is like a blanket of
+mist filling the room. It is priceless. It is unobtainable. None except
+Obosky can afford to dance in such imperial stuff as this. Take it,--it
+is yours. It is my pleasure that you should have it. Better far it
+should be your bridal veil than to drape these abandoned legs of mine."
+
+And so it was that the scant costume of the Sultan's Dream became the
+bridal veil of the governor's lady.
+
+If Olga Obosky was sore at heart, she gave no sign. On the contrary,
+she revealed the sprightliest interest in the coming nuptials. Percival
+himself had told her the news within the hour after his interview with
+Mrs. Spofford. In his blind happiness, he had failed to notice the
+momentary stiffening of her body as if resisting a shock; he did not see
+the hurt, baffled look that darkened her eyes for a few seconds, and
+the swiftly passing pallor that stole into her face and vanished almost
+instantly. He saw only the challenging smile that followed close upon
+these fleeting signs, and the mocking gleam in her eyes.
+
+"So?" she had said. "So the citadel is yours, my friend. Hail to the
+chief! I salute you. But consider, O conqueror, what it is you are
+about to do. You are setting a woeful example. There will be a stampede,
+a panic. People will trample each other under foot in ze mad rush
+for captivity. The wedding bell will crack under ze strain of so much
+ringing. Everybody will be getting married, now zat they find it is so
+easy and so simple. I congratulate you, my friend. You have been very
+slow,--I have said she was yours for the asking, you will remember. She
+is good, she is beautiful, she is pure gold, my friend. I am her friend.
+Do not ever forget, my Percivail, I am her friend."
+
+He flushed warmly. He could not misinterpret her meaning. She spoke
+slowly, deliberately. It was renunciation on her part.
+
+"I understand, Olga," he said.
+
+She smiled, and shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"Oh, but you do not understand!" she cried. "You are so very much
+perplexed. It is enough for me that you are perplexed. I am content. I
+am the puzzle you will never solve. So! La la! You will never cease to
+wonder. Look!"
+
+She pointed her finger at a man who was crossing the Green below them.
+
+"I am a puzzle to zat man also. He thought that he understood."
+
+"Landover? What do you mean?"
+
+A spasm of fury transformed her features. She hissed out the words:
+
+"I did spit in his face last night,--zat is all."
+
+The thirteenth of April, 1918, came on Saturday. Defying superstition,
+Ruth selected it as her wedding day. It was a bright, warm autumn day,
+bestowed by a gallant sun, and there was great rejoicing over this
+evidence of God's approval. It came as a winter's whim, for that night
+the skies were black and thunderous; the winds roared savagely between
+the lofty walls of Split Mountain and whined across the decks of the
+slanting Doraine, snug in the little basin, while out on the boundless
+deep the turmoil of hell was raging.
+
+And so began the honeymoon of the stowaway and the lady fair, even as
+the "voyage" of the jockey and his bride had begun a fortnight before.
+They sat at the Captain's table in the ghostly, dismantled saloon. Above
+them hung two brightly burnished lanterns, shedding a mellow light upon
+the festal board. Outside, the whistling wind, the swish of the darkened
+waters, the rattle of davits and the creak of the straining timbers.
+
+Up from his place at the head of the table rose the gray and gallant
+skipper.
+
+"Up, gentlemen," said he, his face aglow. "I give you the health, the
+happiness and the never diminishing glory of the governor's lady."
+
+"May she never be less," added the gaunt First Officer, who spent his
+days ashore watching the growth of a new Doraine and his nights on board
+with the failing master of the older one.
+
+And in the rare old port from the Captain's locker they pledged the
+radiant bride.
+
+"A long voyage and a merry one!" cried Mr. Codge, the purser, as he
+drained his goblet dry.
+
+Mr. Furman Nicholas Chizler bowed very gravely to the lady on the
+Captain's right, and then to the one at his left.
+
+"What care we which way we sail so long as the wind's behind us?" quoth
+he.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK THREE
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+In the far-off Northland it is winter again,--the winter of 1919-20.
+Trigger Island is bright and clean with the furbishings of summer. It
+is January,--January without its coat of white,--January as green as the
+tender gourd.
+
+There are a dozen graves or more on Cape Sunrise; Betty Cruise no longer
+lies alone out on the windswept point. Crudely chiseled on the rough
+headstones are names that have not been mentioned in this chronicle,
+still not the less enduring. One name is there, however, chipped in a
+great black slab from the face of Split Mountain, that will never
+be forgotten as long as Trigger Island exists: it is that of Captain
+Weatherby Trigger.
+
+The master of the Doraine died aboard-ship in the second winter. After
+his death the ship was abandoned. Mr. Codge and the half-dozen old
+mariners who had made their home in the dismal hulk came ashore.
+
+Grim and ugly and as silent as the grave, save for the winds that moan
+through her portholes and corridors, she lies rusting in sun and storm,
+a gloomy presence that fills the soul with awe. Even the birds of the
+air shun her barren decks; less fastidious bats have taken up their
+abode in the heart of her, and spiders great and small are at work on a
+sickly shroud.
+
+Twenty months have passed. Christmas and New Year's day have twice been
+celebrated and another Easter Sunday has found its way into the faithful
+journal of Peter Snipe, and with them two amazing Fourths of July when
+there was coasting on the long slopes and winter sports on the plains.
+There has been one bountiful harvest and seed has been sown for yet
+another. The full length of the sunny plain is under cultivation. The
+bins in the granaries are well-filled with the treasures of the soil;
+the gardens have increased and flourished; the warehouse is stacked
+with fresh and dried fruits, vegetables, honey, and row upon row of
+preserves! Great earthen jars, modeled with all the severity of the
+primitive cave-dweller, serve as receptacles. The grist-mill on Leap
+Frog River is busy from dawn till dusk; the forge rings with the music
+of hammer and anvil; a saw-mill in the heart of Dismal Forest hums its
+whining tune all day long. A noisy, determined engine, fashioned by
+mechanics out of material taken from the engine and boiler room of the
+Doraine provides the motive power for the saws and the means to produce
+ponderous, far-reaching blasts on the transferred "fog-horn."
+
+New and more commodious huts have gone up, roads have been blazed
+through the forests, a logging ferry plies between the opposite shores
+of Mott Haven, and a ship is on the ways above the landing "stage."
+
+At the top of Split Mountain stands a lofty wireless tower. For months
+it has been spitting vain messages to the four winds. Out of the great
+silences at rare intervals come faint flickers of radio calls, jumbled,
+indistinct, undecipherable,--but, for all that, definite pulse beats of
+a far-off life.
+
+Trigger Island went mad with joy when the first of these aerial
+mutterings was reported down from the mountain-top. "Only a question
+of time now," they cried in their delirium. But weeks went by before
+another sound was heard. Now the report of feeble, long-separated
+manifestations, like vague spirit-rappings, no longer caused excitement
+or enthusiasm,--only a rueful shaking of heads.
+
+Lieutenant Platt's station at the top of the mountain is a rude,
+elementary affair, notwithstanding the many weary, puzzling,
+disheartening months spent in its construction. The damaged, almost
+useless dynamo from the Doraine had to be repaired and conveyed to the
+crest of the eminence; what seemed to be fruitless ages were consumed
+in devising an engine with power sufficient to produce even the feeble
+results that followed. And when the task of installing the plant was
+completed, the effective radius was far short of a hundred miles.
+Constant efforts were being made to develop greater sending power, but
+the means at hand were inadequate, the material unobtainable.
+
+The firing of the Doraine's gun had long since been discontinued. The
+supply of shells being greatly reduced, Lieutenant Platt decided to
+waste no more of them, but to wait for some visible evidence that a
+vessel was within signalling distance: a shadowy plume of smoke on
+the far horizon or the white tip of a sail peeping over the rim of the
+world.
+
+Frugality is the watchword. The days of plenty are sternly guarded so
+that their substance may not be squandered; always there is the thought
+of the lean year that may come, the year when the harvests fail and
+famine stalks naked through the land.
+
+The first law, therefore, is thrift. Not thrift in its common, accepted
+sense, based on the self-denial of the individual, but a systematic
+shoulder-to-shoulder stand for the general welfare of the community.
+There is no such thing as waste on Trigger Island. The grim spectre of
+want and privation treads softly behind every mortal there, and there is
+none who treats its invisible presence with disdain. Even the wood-ashes
+from stoves and fireplaces are carefully hoarded in hoppers, for the
+alkaline solution obtained by treating them with water is lye. This lye
+is being used chiefly in the production of a soap not unlike that made
+by thrifty farmers' wives in the Argentine, experimentation with
+the pulpy fruit of a tree belonging to the variety known as Sapindus
+marginatus bringing about rather astonishing results.
+
+For many months of the year the people wear sandals on their bare feet.
+Only those who toil in the forests don the uncouth boots turned out
+by the firm of cobblers known as Block & Nicklestick. Shoes, boots
+and slippers of another day are zealously guarded by their owners, in
+anticipation of still another day,--the day of deliverance. "Waste not,
+want not," is the motto of Trigger Island.
+
+The second winter brought a double catastrophe, and for days thereafter
+deepest gloom prevailed. Even the stout-hearted Percival drooped under
+the weight of it.
+
+Fire wiped out the work of months in the space of a few bleak, bitter
+hours. The sturdy little ship that was so well along toward completion
+was destroyed.
+
+Months of faithful, patient, dogged toil had resulted in the
+construction of a stout hull which stood proudly on the ways to
+be admired and glorified by the eager, confident supporters of the
+determined little band of builders. Six weeks more would have seen the
+vessel off the ways and floating gaily on the surface of the snug little
+basin, ready for the final touches, the provisioning and the ultimate
+departure of the hardy company that was to take her out into the open
+stretches in quest of the helping hand. For weeks a devoted, one-minded
+community had been preparing food, raiment and comforts for the men who
+were to go forth in the new Doraine. The masts and spars were in place,
+the forecastle and cabin were almost ready for occupancy, the galley was
+nearing completion,--and then came swift, relentless disaster.
+
+The night was cold and windy. Down at the water's edge, almost under the
+bulging side of the ship, two men had their quarters at one end of the
+low, rambling carpenter shop. At the other end was located the forge.
+The very thing they were there to guard against happened on this
+miserable night. Fire broke out in the forge.
+
+The man on watch had fallen asleep. His name was Smiley. It is mentioned
+here for the only time in this narrative.
+
+Shortly before midnight, his companion was awakened by the smell of
+smoke. He scrambled out of his blankets on the floor,--and cursed the
+man who still slept in his chair beside the smoke-befogged lantern on
+the end of a carpenter's bench. Flames were creeping along the wooden
+partition separating the forge from the shop. Half a mile away three
+hundred men were sleeping,--but half a mile is half a mile. Before the
+watchmen could sound the alarm, after their first courageous efforts
+to subdue the blaze, the building was a roaring mass of flames and a
+gleeful wind had carried tongues of fire to the side of the vessel where
+they licked shapeless black patterns at first and then swiftly turned
+them to red.
+
+Stark-eyed, shivering people stood far back among the trees throughout
+the rest of the night and watched the work of months go up in flame and
+smoke. Nothing could be done to save the ship. Hewn from the hardiest
+trees in the forest, caulked and fortified to defy the most violent
+assaults of water, she was like paper in the clutch of flames. In the
+grey of early morn the stricken people slunk back to their cabins and
+gave up hope. For not only was their ship destroyed but the priceless
+tools and implements with which she had been built were gone as well. It
+was the double catastrophe that took the life, the spirit, out of them.
+
+And while the day was still breaking, the man who had slept at his post,
+stole off into the forest and cut his throat from ear to ear.
+
+But now, months afterward, another ship is on the ways. Indomitable,
+undaunted, the builders rose above disaster and set to work again.
+New tools were fashioned from steel and iron and wood,--saws, chisels,
+sledges, planes and hammers--in fact, everything except the baffling
+augurs. Resolute, unbeaten hands toiled anew, and this time the humble
+craft was not to be given a luckless name.
+
+Superstition was rife. All save Andrew Mott saw ill-omen in the name
+"Doraine." Steadfastly he maintained that as the Doraine had brought
+them safely to the island, guided by a divine Providence, a Doraine
+could be trusted to take them as miraculously away. And as for changing
+the name of his prattling ward, he fairly roared his objection; though
+an uncommonly mild man for a sailor, he uttered such blasphemous things
+to a group of well-meaning women that even Sheriff Soapy Shay was
+aghast.
+
+After the dreary period that followed the disaster, there came a sharp
+awakening as from a dream filled with horrors. Something lying dormant
+in the com-mon breast had stirred. It was the unbeaten spirit that would
+not die. These men and women lifted up their heads and beheld the star
+of hope undimmed. In a flash, the aspect changed.
+
+"We must start all over again," was the cry that awoke them, and from
+that time on there was no such word as fail in the lexicon of Trigger
+Island.
+
+Slowly, laboriously out of the ashes rose a new hull, a stauncher one
+than its ill-fated predecessor. The year wasted in the building of the
+first ship was lamented but not mourned. Cheerfulness, even optimism,
+prevailed throughout the village. No man, no woman lifted the voice
+of complaint. Resignation took the form of stoicism. A sort of dogged
+taciturnity was measurably relieved by the never-failing spirit of
+camaraderie. There was even a touch of bravado in the attitude of these
+people toward each other,--as of courage kept up by scoffing. Even
+Death, on his sombre visits, was regarded with a strange derision by
+those who continued to spin. They had cheated him not once but many
+times, and they mocked him in their souls.
+
+"I'm not afraid of Death," was Buck Chizler's contribution. "I've just
+discovered that Death is the rottenest coward in the world. He either
+waits till you get too blamed old to fight, or else he jumps on you when
+you ain't looking, or when you're so weak from sickness you don't care
+what happens. I used to be afraid of Death. And why? Because I wasn't
+onto the old bum; Why, look at what he does. He jumps onto weeny little
+babies and feeble old women and--and horses. Now, I'm onto him, and I
+ain't got any use for a cheap sport,--not me."
+
+The little community had taken to religion. As is invariably the case,
+adversity seeks surcease in some form of piety. Men who had not entered
+a church since the days of their childhood, men who had scoffed at the
+sentimentality of religion, now found consolation in the thing they had
+once despised. They were abashed and bewildered at first, as one after
+another they fell into the habit of attending services. They were
+surprised to find something that they needed, something that made life
+simpler and gentler for them, something uplifting.
+
+"We're a queer mess of Puritans," reflected Randolph Fitts. "You know
+that parrot of old Bob Carr's? Well, he took it out and wrung its neck
+last night,--after all the time, and trouble, and patience he spent in
+giving her a swell private education. There never was a bird that could
+swear so copiously as that bird of Bob's. He taught her every thing
+she knew. He worked day and night to provide her with an up-to-date
+vocabulary. He used to lie awake nights thinking up new words for old
+Polly to conquer. Now he says the blamed old rip was deceiving him all
+the time. She began springing expletives on him that he'd never heard
+of before in all his forty years before the mast. She first began using
+them a couple of months ago when he undertook to reform her. He
+started in to teach her to say 'good gracious' and 'goodness me' and
+'hoity-toity' and all such stuff, and she cursed so loud and so long
+that he had to throw a bucket of water on her.
+
+"Every time he came home from church, that redheaded harridan would open
+up on him with such a string of vituperation that he had to hold his
+ears so's not to forget himself and backslide. Well, it got so that Bob
+couldn't live with her any longer. She simply wouldn't puritanize. The
+nearest he ever got her to saying 'good' was when she said it with only
+one 'o,' and then as prefix to 'dammit.' So he decided the only way to
+reform her was to murder her. She managed to nip a piece out of his hand
+while he was doing it, however, and he's had the hump all day because he
+fell from grace and said something he'd oughtn't to. Yes, sir; we're a
+queer mess of Puritans. Look at us. Catholics, Presbyterians,
+Baptists, Methodists, Jews, infidels, Theosophists,--even Christian
+Scientists,--all rolled up into one big bundle labeled: 'Handle with
+Prayer.' We know nearly all the Ten Commandments by heart, and the
+Beatitudes flow from us in torrents. My wife was saying only the other
+night that if Sheriff Shay didn't arrest that bird for using profane
+language, she'd start a petition to have--Hello, Soapy! I didn't know
+you were present."
+
+"What was she going to do?" demanded the Sheriff of Trigger Island.
+
+"There's no use telling you now. It's too late. Polly has gone to a
+place I don't dare mention, so what's the use talking about it?"
+
+"I can't go 'round pinchin' fallen parrots," growled Soapy. "Besides,
+I'm the feller that learned her most of the cuss-words old Bob never
+heard before. I never saw a bird that was so anxious to improve. She
+used to set there with her ear cocked, just simply crazy to learn
+something new. Every time she'd see me coming she'd begin to hop up and
+down on her perch and call me names, figurin' I'd lose my temper and
+give her a tongue lashin'. Gosh, I'm glad she's dead. It was gettin'
+to be an awful nuisance chasing parrots out of the trees back of Bob's
+house. They got so's they'd come down there and set around all day
+pickin' up things she said. Somebody told me the other day he heard a
+parrot 'way up in the woods swearin' like a sailor. He fired a club at
+it, and what do you think it said to him?"
+
+"If you weren't such an ungodly liar, Soapy, I'd ask you," said Chief
+Justice Malone.
+
+Soapy regarded him sorrowfully.
+
+"If you keep on sayin' things like that, Judge, I'll have to tell your
+wife you ain't true to her," said he.
+
+"And that would be the most prodigious lie you ever told," exclaimed Mr.
+Malone.
+
+"Sure. You and me know it's a lie, but you'd ketch hell, just the same."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+The population of Trigger Island has increased. Following the example
+of Buck Chizler and the Governor himself, scores of dubious lovers
+took heart. They succeeded in dispelling certain misgivings--and doubts
+lurking in the hearts,--not to say consciences,--of approximately
+three-fourths of the unmarried women on the island, with the result that
+Father Francisco and Parson Mackenzie were kept exceedingly busy for a
+number of weeks.
+
+The "state," guided by the newly elected Chief Justice, extracted vows
+even more severe than those incorporated in the marriage
+service. And yet, despite the emphatic declarations of certain
+candidates,--principally male,--there remained in the minds of
+all,--including brides,--a lingering doubt. On the other hand, several
+ardent and undoubtedly honest gentlemen were unable to marry the objects
+of their affection for the simple reason that too many people were able
+to recall the lamentations of the ladies themselves, in the early days
+when it was customary to suffer because of the suspense and agony their
+poor husbands were enduring at home.
+
+The case of Joe Hooker and Matilda Larson was particularly distressing,
+and ultimately led to the passage of a rather drastic law by the
+Council. Judge Malone was the father of this law. It provided for the
+automatic annulment of all previous marriages at the expiration of two
+years,--provided, however, the absent husband or wife didn't turn up to
+contest the matter. This law also granted absolute freedom to the absent
+husband or wife, who was thereby authorized to remarry without further
+notice,--or words to that effect. It was, declared Randolph Fitts, a
+perfectly just and equable law, and would no doubt ease the minds of
+quite a number of people in far-off lands,--if they ever heard of it.
+
+Joe and Matilda had been married nearly two months when, in the thick
+of a connubial row, he demanded her passport. He even went so far as to
+threaten her with his if she didn't produce it at once. Matilda's
+temper was no milder than Joe's. She not only dug up her passport but a
+marriage certificate as well, while all he could show was a passport.
+It was a very unfortunate contretemps, in view of the fact that they
+shortly afterwards kissed and "made up." It so happened that there
+were quite a number of witnesses to the flaunting of these damaging
+documents, and as Trigger Island was then in the first stages of a
+religious upheaval, it was impossible to overlook this definite instance
+of iniquity. Despite the recantations of the chagrined couple,--and,
+it must be added, the surreptitious disappearance of the incriminating
+papers,--the matter was brought before the tribunal of justice. Chief
+Justice Malone was equal to the emergency. Indeed, he had been expecting
+something of the sort, and was prepared. He ordered both of the
+interested parties to bring suit for divorce from their legal spouses,
+one for "failure to provide," the other for "desertion," and promptly
+granted decrees, service by publication having been obtained through the
+medium of the Trigger Island Pioneer, printed monthly by Peter Snipe,
+editor and publisher, limited to an edition of one, owing to the
+scarcity of paper, and posted conspicuously for all subscribers on the
+bulletin board in front of the "government building." Additional spice
+was lent to the affair by the surprising reluctance of Joe and Matilda
+to re-enter the paradise from which they had been ejected. Apparently
+they had had enough of each other. Moreover, they had both "got
+religion" and insisted on repenting at leisure, separately and alone.
+But people took a very decided stand in the matter. They could repent in
+any manner they liked after Matilda's baby was born, but not before. And
+so they were married once more, and, strange to relate, lived happily
+and contentedly thereafter.
+
+Now, while all this may strike the reader as footless and trivial, it
+really has a distinct place in the chronicles of Trigger Island.
+If, perforce, the writer has succeeded in treating the situation
+facetiously, it should not be assumed that the people of Trigger Island
+had any desire or inclination to be funny about it. On the contrary,
+they took it very seriously, and quite naturally so, if one stops to
+consider the narrow confines by which their very existence was bounded.
+There were no such things as "trifles" in the daily life of Trigger
+Island. The smallest incident took on the importance of an event, the
+slightest departure from the ordinary at once became significant. In
+other circumstances, these people would have been vastly amused by the
+quixotic settlement of the affairs of Joe and Matilda; they would have
+grinned over the extraordinary decree of Justice Malone, and they would
+have taken it all with an indulgent wink. As a matter of fact, they
+were stern-faced and intense. They had made laws of their own, they had
+established a code. The violation of either was not to be countenanced.
+It was of no consequence to them that Judge Malone's methods were
+without precedent, that they were not even a travesty in the true light
+of the law.
+
+No one was more soberly in earnest than Michael Malone himself. The
+proceedings were carried out with the utmost dignity and formality.
+There were no smiles, no jocose comments.
+
+Nothing will serve more clearly to illustrate the sense of isolation to
+which the people of Trigger Island had resigned themselves than the fact
+that they accepted the Judge's decision and the subsequent marriage
+as absolutely unassailable, either from a legal or an ethical point of
+view.
+
+The town itself was flourishing. Traffic and commerce were carried on
+in the most systematic, organized manner. Everybody was busy. The utter
+impossibility for one man or set of men to profit at the expense of
+others naturally put a curb upon ambitions, but it did not subdue the
+spirit of enterprise.
+
+There is a baby in the Governor's Mansion,--a lusty boy with blue eyes
+and an engaging smile. He is four months old, and his name is already a
+household word on Trigger Island. It is not Algernon, nor is it Adonis.
+It is John;--John Clinton Percival.
+
+The Governor's Mansion is a pretentious structure. It has four rooms and
+a bath! A wide porch extends along the full front of the house, with a
+steeply pitched awning protecting it from the rain and sun. At one end
+of the porch is a very cosy arrangement of hand-wrought chairs and
+a commodious swinging seat. The other end, just off the parental
+bed-chamber, has been converted into an out-door sleeping-room for John
+C. Percival. The Governor's lady has no nursemaid. She does her own
+housework, her own washing and ironing, and she takes care of her own
+baby. (There is no such thing on Trigger Island as a servant. More
+than one woman who reads this tale will sigh and murmur something about
+Paradise.) Ruth still teaches in the little school. Though she is the
+first lady of the land, she supports herself, she earns her daily bread.
+It is the law irrevocable. There are no distinctions. Nor would she have
+it otherwise.
+
+The "Mansion," as it was universally called, stands alone at the upper
+end of the Green, facing the meeting-house. The nearest hut is at least
+two hundred yards away. Work on its construction was begun the day
+after the wedding. For weeks men had toiled eagerly, enthusiastically,
+voluntarily, and in the first gay days of spring it was completed.
+Since then, the same hands, the same thoughts, the same interests were
+constantly employed in improvements,--not only to the house itself but
+to the grounds about it. The Governor's "Mansion" became the plaything
+of the people. Percival's protests were received with amiable grins.
+
+"It's our house, boss,--not yours," explained Buck Chizler, whose spare
+time was largely expended in the development,--you might almost say,
+the financing,--of a flower-bed on the lawn. It was to be the finest
+flower-bed of them all, he swore. "This is government property and we,
+the people, are going to do what we please with it."
+
+"That's all very fine, Buck, but don't you think you ought to be
+spending your spare hours with your wife, instead of puttering around
+here?"
+
+"Do you know who the boss of this job is? My wife. I'm nothing but an
+ordinary day-laborer, a plain Mick, a sort of a Wop, obeying orders.
+Good gosh, you don't think I've got brains enough to design this
+flower-bed, do you? No, sirree! It takes an artist to think up a design
+like this. When I get all these rocks in place according to plans you'll
+see what I mean. It'll be a hum-dinger, A. A. This here thing running
+off this way is the tail. Come over here and look at it from this
+side,--it's upside down from where you're standin'."
+
+"Tail? Tail of what?"
+
+"Tail of a horse. This is going to be a horse when it's finished."
+
+"My God!"
+
+Buck was not above being irritated by the dismay in Percival's voice.
+
+"Minnie's got her heart set on it, A. A.," he explained. "It's going to
+be a sorrel horse, you see,--with a blue tail and a red head. Mustard,
+hollyhocks and geraniums is what she's going to plant here when I get
+the bed fixed. Socrates,--he was the best horse I ever straddled,--he
+was a sorrel. I took him down the--"
+
+"As far as you've got, Buck, it looks more like a dachshund than a
+horse," observed Percival.
+
+Buck eyed his work deprecatingly. "That's because there ain't space
+enough. I had to either saw his legs off or else have him layin' down.
+Minnie had him kneelin' in her first sketch, but gosh, it was the
+funniest thing you ever saw. It ain't possible for a horse to kneel
+with his hind legs, but she had him doin' it all right,--kneeling
+forward, at that, with his tail stickin' straight up so's it wouldn't
+be in the way of his heels. It's all Jack Wales's fault. He simply would
+put that blamed sun-dial of his right in the middle of this plot,--and
+these doggoned gravel-walks running every which way give me the
+blind-staggers. Why, A. A., you got more gravel walks here than
+they've got in Central Park. And all these scrubby hedges, stone walls,
+fountains, flower-beds, cedar freaks,--my God, Perce, I'd hate to come
+home a little squiffed if I lived in that house of yours, 'specially at
+night. Look at old Pedro and Philippa over there, setting out that stuff
+that looks like sparrowgrass. And that prize job of Ed Keller's,--my
+God, A. A., what good is a dog kennel on this island? There ain't a dog
+inside a thousand miles. The only one we ever had was that poodle old
+Mrs. Velasco had, and it died before--"
+
+"That isn't a kennel, Buck."
+
+"It ain't? Well, what is it?"
+
+"It's a Swiss chalet."
+
+"What does Ed Keller know about Swiss chalets?"
+
+"Nothing,--absolutely nothing, Buck," admitted Percival forcibly.
+
+A tall, perfectly straight flagpole graced the extensive "front-yard,"
+and from its peak floated the flag of Trigger Island,--a great white
+pennon with a red heart in the centre, symbolic of love, courage,
+fidelity. But on the tip of Split Mountain the Stars and Stripes still
+waves from sunrise to sunset.
+
+The new cabins are farther up the slope of the mountains, overlooking
+what is now called the "old" town. There is something fairy-like in
+the picture one sees at night from the Green below. Dozens of lighted
+windows gleam softly through the foliage, for all the world like
+witches' lamps. The day reveals thin, blue plumes of smoke stealing out
+of the tops of the trees to be wafted off into nothingness; they come
+from invisible chimneys far down in the leafy fastnesses. Up here are
+the huts of the newly married. Almost without exception, they are tiny
+affairs, scarcely larger than the metaphorical bandbox. Each contains
+two rooms.
+
+During the very hot weather in January and February, the long, curving
+beach is alive with oddly dressed bathers and idlers. This is at midday
+only, when the sun is so hot and fierce that all work ceases for two
+hours or more. Though the sun is hot, the water is never warm. A dip in
+the surf is all that any one save the hardiest cares to take. They loll
+on the cool white sands, under improvised shelters made of boughs,
+or indulge in spirited games on the long level stretches. This is the
+play-hour of the people throughout the hot months of summer. They "knock
+off" work of all sorts, and seek relief from the stifling heat of the
+woodland in the cool wet sands along the shore.
+
+The costumes are strange and varied; some are pretty, others almost
+ludicrous. Small children appear in a scant breech-cloth; women of all
+ages and proportions wear a sort of one-piece "jumper," arms bare and
+legs uncovered up to the knees. The men affect nothing except trunks
+made from coffee sacks. The few real bathing-suits belong to such
+experienced travellers as Nicklestick, Shine and the Blocks,--regular
+and persistent patrons of the hotels at Atlantic City, Palm Beach and
+Rockaway. They never travel without a full and complete equipment. Mr.
+Nicklestick, very superior in his red two piece "costume," goes so
+far as to contend that a man never should be without a bathing-suit,
+because, says he, "it takes up no room in your trunk, and if you leave
+it at home some one else is sure to stretch it so's you can't use it
+yourself again."
+
+Olga Obosky and her three dancing-girls, Careni-Amori, and several
+of the Brazilian ladies possess Ostend costumes in which they disport
+themselves with complacent disregard for public opinion, favourable or
+otherwise.
+
+"She's got 'em all skinned a mile," was Morris Shine's comment upon
+Olga's lithe, graceful figure. "Ain't that so, Abey?"
+
+The remark was addressed to Abel Landover.
+
+"Even so," returned that gentleman, glaring at the offender, "it doesn't
+give you the right to call me Abey. You've got to cut it out, Shine.
+Understand?"
+
+"Sure," said the affable Morris. "Only I've got a brother named Abraham,
+and that was my father's name too. It comes natural to me to--Why, by
+gracious, she's got the Venus Belvedere lashed to the mast. Did you ever
+see--"
+
+"I've never had the pleasure of seeing the Venus Belvedere," interrupted
+Landover coldly.
+
+"You haven't?" exclaimed Morris, amazed. "The armless wonder? You ain't
+seen her? Why, she's supposed to have the most perfect figger in the
+world. Maybe you've seen her without knowing what her name is. They
+never put the name on it, simply because every school boy and girl is
+supposed to know who it is without being told. Funny you don't know--Oh,
+she ain't alive, you know,--she ain't real. She's a statue,--thousands
+of 'em turned out every year. Gee, the feller that designed that statue
+must have cleaned up a pile. But, as I was saying, our little old Olga
+has got her--Say, did you ever see a figger like that?"
+
+"Yes," broke in Landover shortly, "thousands of them."
+
+Mr. Shine looked sceptical. "Well," he said after a moment's reflection,
+and with studied politeness,--having already offended at the outset,
+"all I got to say is, you talk like a woman, that's all I got to say."
+
+Landover was a greatly changed man in these days. There had come a
+crisis in the affairs of Trigger Island, not many weeks before the
+second annual election in April, when he was obliged to show his true
+colours. The banker suddenly realized with a shock that he was actually
+involved in a well-organized, though secret plot to overthrow the
+so-called "government." He had been completely deceived by the wily
+Manuel Crust and several of his equally wily friends. They professed to
+be organizing an opposition party to oust the dictatorial Percival and
+his clique from office at the ensuing election,--a feat, they
+admitted, that could be accomplished only by the most adroit and covert
+"educational" campaign, "under the rose" perforce, but justifiable in
+the circumstances. They had led Landover to believe that he was their
+choice for governor. They went among the people, insidiously sowing the
+seeds of discontent, hinting at the advantages to be obtained by the
+election of an entirely new set of officers, mostly from among the
+people themselves, but headed by the ablest man on the island,--Abel T.
+Landover. They argued that as treasurer and comptroller of currency he
+had shown himself to be the only man qualified to direct the affairs of
+the people.
+
+And Landover believed them. Despite his superior intelligence and
+his vaunted ability to size up his fellow man, he was as blind and
+unsuspecting as a child when it came to penetrating the real motives
+of the conspirators. Vain, self-important, possessed of an abnormal
+conceit, men of his type go ahead ruthlessly, ignoring the details, bent
+only on achieving the ultimate. In Landover's case, he made the fatal
+error of underestimating the craftiness of Manuel Crust; he looked upon
+him as a blatant, ignorant ruffian of the stripe best known to him as
+a "beer saloon politician,"--and known only by hearsay, at that. He
+regarded himself as the master-politician and Crust as a contemptible
+necessity.
+
+As a matter of fact, Crust was using him to very materially advance his
+own ends. The big Portuguese had a very definite purpose in mind. He had
+no more intention of making Landover the chief man of the island than
+he had of flying to the moon. He,--Manuel Crust,--was to have that
+distinction! He despised Landover and all that he represented. He hated
+him because he was rich, educated, favoured by fortune,--and given to
+washing himself with unnecessary frequency and thoroughness. Manuel was
+foul of body as well as foul at heart. He bitterly resented the sanitary
+rules set up and enforced by the Council because those rules interfered
+with what he was pleased to call his personal liberty. Why should he be
+required to wash himself if he didn't want to do so? And why should he
+do a great many silly things that Dr. Cullen ordered, just because a lot
+of aristocrats were in the habit of doing them?
+
+His hatred of Landover, however, was impersonal. The banker merely
+represented a class. On the other hand, he hated Percival as an
+individual; he hated him with every drop of blood in his black, venomous
+heart. He had a certain grudging regard,--it might even be called
+respect,--for the class to which Landover belonged; he was sometimes
+conscious of a strange but quite positive sense of his own inferiority.
+But he did not for an instant put Percival in the class with Landover.
+He looked upon the young American as being no better than himself, and
+yet the people from the Doraine had showered honours upon him, had made
+him their chief, had suffered him,--a vagabond without a penny to his
+name,--to marry the fairest and rarest woman of them all. What right had
+this interloper to everything that was worth having, while he, an honest
+fellow who always had paid his way, was denied even the smallest place
+in the councils of the land? What right had he, a tramp, to sit upon a
+throne?
+
+Landover was an unwitting, but thoroughly self-satisfied dupe. He fitted
+in very nicely with Manuel's plan to gain control of the island. There
+were certain people who regarded the great banker as an apostle, a man
+to follow, to be imitated,--such men as Block, Nicklestick and a few
+others. Was he not one of the great financial geniuses of the day? Was
+he not a power, a tremendous power, in the banking world? Was he not
+a man who understood how to transform a dollar into a business block
+almost over-night? For a time, sentiment had played tricks with their
+boasted astuteness. Swept along by the current, they had failed to
+appreciate the true conditions. They began to realize that it had been a
+mistake to keep such men as Percival in power; behind the hand they
+went about convincing each other that it was high time to rectify the
+original error. These, in addition to the ignorant, easily persuaded
+rabble from the steerage,--who, by the way, could give ample testimony
+as to Percival's ability to "bluff,"--provided Crust with a decidedly
+formidable following. The steerage people had but to be reminded of the
+time when Percival tricked them so successfully.
+
+Crust contended that if the American could fool them once, he would do
+so again,--in fact, he went so far as to say that he had been doing it
+all the time.
+
+There was nothing open and above board about the methods of Manuel
+Crust. He proceeded about the business of fomenting dissatisfaction and
+strife with an artfulness surprising in one of his type. At no time did
+he openly denounce the "government." He was very careful about that.
+A jesting word here, a derisive smile there, a shrug of the
+shoulders,--and in good time others less politic than himself began to
+do the talking. Others began to complain of the high-handed, dictatorial
+manner in which Percival and his friends ruled the community.
+
+The secret, stealthy opposition grew apace; it assumed sinister
+proportions,--all the more sinister because it was masked by every
+outward sign of submission. Crust had won friends right and left among
+the very people who would have killed him not so many months before but
+for the very man he was planning to destroy.
+
+Outwardly he had changed,--not subtly, it is true,--from a sullen,
+threatening bully into a hearty, smiling, sympathetic comrade who laid
+himself out to be obliging. Even Percival was puzzled, if not deceived,
+by this surprising transformation.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+It was Olga Obosky who discovered and exposed the plot. A young Spaniard
+had fallen hopelessly, madly in love with her. He was a good-looking,
+hard-eyed boy from the pampas,--a herder who was on his way to visit his
+mother in from Rio. He was a "gun-slinger" bearing close relationship to
+the type of cowboy that existed in the old days of the Far West but who
+is now extinct save for pictorial perpetuation on the moving-picture
+screens.
+
+Down in his wild young heart smouldered a furious jealousy of Percival.
+Crust played upon this jealousy to fine effect. He did not hesitate
+to feed the flame with sly speculations, innuendos and even tales
+concerning Percival and Olga.
+
+One day the Spaniard, in the midst of his violent protestations and
+pleadings, became reckless with promises to Olga. He swore that if she
+would have him he would make her the first lady of the land in place of
+the stupid American girl who now held the honour. Then, having loosed
+his tongue, he poured out the whole of the ugly scheme which was to
+alter every existing condition on the island. The wiping out of the
+dictator and his swell-headed gang of "intellectuals"; the seizure of
+all firearms, ammunition and stores; the complete subjugation of the
+people, even to the point of slavery; the elevation of Manuel Crust
+and his followers to a state of absolute power; the confiscation of all
+property,--including women! He naively advised her to jump at the chance
+offered her,--the chance to avoid the most unpleasant feature of the new
+regime.
+
+"As my woman," he said, "you will be safe. It is understood. It is all
+arranged. If you belong to me, nothing can happen to you. We shall be
+of the elect. I am to be of the council. I am to be one of the masters,
+the--"
+
+"But," she cried, scarcely able to believe her ears, "how is all this to
+be accomplished? How will the few overcome the many? You say there are
+scarcely more than a dozen of you, my friend. What can a dozen men do
+to--"
+
+"It will be simple," cried he, his eyes flaming. "How is it that
+Percival and his little gang hold all of us in bondage? It is because
+they have the guns, the revolvers, the bullets. Well, we shall have the
+guns, and everything. When the time comes, when the people have voted
+in the election and a new party is in control, then we will have our
+chance. We will have the upper hand. To hell with the people, Olga. They
+will count for nothing once we have charge of the guns and stores. This
+Percival he has ordered the election. He insists that the people be
+given a chance to vote once a year, to elect some one to take his place
+if they feel like it. He says it is only fair. Faugh! He laughs in his
+sleeve. Come! Your promise! I love you. I must have you for my woman.
+I cannot live without you. I will give you power to spit in the face
+of that woman down there--that American aristocrat! We will be rich, we
+will be happy, we will have everything. Diamonds and pearls and rubies
+and all the gold there is on this island. We will be the ones to go away
+in the ship, and we will have jewels to shame the richest of them."
+
+"We--you and Manuel and the rest--are to go away in the ship?" she
+cried, cold to the marrow of her bones.
+
+"Sure. Why not? Are we not to be the owners of that ship? It is your
+chance to go back to the world again,--with me! Oh, and I agree to this
+also: If you do not want me any longer after you are in Rio or Buenos
+Aires or anywhere out there,--if you would rather be free again,--I
+promise to release you. What could be fairer than that? Nothing! I shall
+kill myself, of course, when you leave me,--but still I promise, and I
+never break a promise. But I shall love you so much that you will never
+leave me. You are my queen. Hell, how I love you--how I love you!" His
+face darkened, then slowly paled. He realized that he had gone too far.
+Leaning close to her, his frightened eyes not a foot from hers, he said:
+"You cannot deny me now. I have told you everything. I do not know why
+I have told you. I must be crazy with love of you. Ah,--the look in your
+beautiful eyes! God, how it takes the weight off my mind. You will love
+me,--you will be mine,--I see it in your eyes. When? When?"
+
+She affected a bantering smile. She knew how to play with such fools as
+he.
+
+"Do you think I am a fool? How do I know you are not lying to me about
+all this? It may be a trick to influence me. No, no! I am not such a
+simpleton. You promise me diamonds, and gold, and much love. You promise
+to take me away from this dreadful place on a ship, back to the world
+I worship. But you may be lying. I must have something better than your
+word, my friend."
+
+"But I am telling you the truth. I swear it!" he cried eagerly.
+
+"Keep your hands off of me,--do you hear! Don't touch me! Not yet, not
+yet. I must have some proof that you can give me all these things you
+offer. Will you have Manuel Crust guarantee that--"
+
+"My God,--Manuel,--he must not know I have spoken to you. He must never
+know," he gasped. "Take my word,--believe me, beloved one. It is
+the God's truth I tell you. Within the month I will lay diamonds,
+pearls,--everything,--at your feet. I--"
+
+"Leave me now. Come again,--tomorrow. I must think. I must--"
+
+"But you will love me? You will come to me? You--"
+
+"You are a very handsome boy," she said softly, "and I should like to
+believe you."
+
+He followed her for a few steps, trouble in his eyes.
+
+"It is not enough. I must have your promise," he said.
+
+She looked at him coldly. "You will have it when I am ready to give it,"
+she said, and his face lightened for a moment, only to darken again.
+
+"I will cut your heart out if you breathe a word of this to any one," he
+whispered hoarsely.
+
+"Is that the way for a lover to speak?" she returned.
+
+"Yes," he said without hesitation. "It is the way,--with me."
+
+"Come to me tomorrow and tell me exactly what my share of the treasure
+is to be,--and then I will let you know whether it is to be you--or
+Manuel Crust, my friend. Oh, you see, I am greedy,--and I can love
+Manuel quite as easily as I can love--"
+
+"I will cut his heart out if you--"
+
+"There--there! It will not be necessary. Come tomorrow."
+
+That same afternoon she went to Percival with the Spaniard's story.
+
+"Well, we'll nip that in the bud," said he, setting his jaw. "The first
+thing to do is to warn Landover."
+
+"Warn Landover!" cried the Russian. "He is all mix up in it,--he is one
+of ze ringleaders."
+
+"No, he isn't. He's not that kind of a man. He doesn't know a thing
+about all this, I'll stake my life on it."
+
+"But, Olga," cried Ruth, white-faced and troubled; "Fernandez will kill
+you. He will,--Good heaven, girl, did he not swear to cut your heart out
+if you--"
+
+"Poof!" cried the other, snapping her fingers. "He will not do zat,
+my dear. I am not afraid. Do you know what happens to informers in my
+country? They vanish. No one ever sees them again, and no one ever asks
+where they have gone. They are here today--tomorrow they are not. It is
+the same the world over."
+
+"You mean,--Manuel's men will make way with him? How horrible!"
+
+"Do not waste your sympathy on zat Fernandez. He is no good. You would
+see what kind of man he is if this plot should succeed."
+
+"But you will have to give him your answer tomorrow," cried Ruth.
+
+Olga shot a keen glance at Percival's face.
+
+"It is for you to say, Percivail, what my answer shall be," said she,
+after, a slight pause. A queer pallor spread over her face.
+
+"For me to say?" he exclaimed.
+
+"Are you not the governor? If it suits your plans for me to give myself
+to zat man--"
+
+"My God, Olga! What the devil are you driving at?"
+
+"--to satisfy him until you are prepared to nip zis revolution in the
+bud, as you say,--I shall--"
+
+"Thunderation!" he gasped. "You mean you would sacrifice yourself--Great
+Scot! What do you think I'm expecting to do? Go to sleep for a month or
+so? Bless your heart, my dear Olga, if you are even thinking of getting
+married to Fernandez, you'll have to be pretty spry about it. Because
+I'm going to nip the business in the bud before tomorrow morning."
+
+"Zat is what I thought," said she, the colour rushing back to her face.
+
+That evening Percival called a meeting of the "cabinet,"--as the council
+was now called. They were asked to come to his home, instead of to the
+meetinghouse. This, of itself, was surprising. Landover had never set
+foot inside the "governor's mansion." While his attitude toward the
+"governor's lady" was studiedly courteous, he made no effort to resume
+the intimate and friendly relationship that existed before her marriage
+to his enemy. Contact with Percival was unavoidable. They met frequently
+in "cabinet" conferences, but avoided each other at all other times.
+
+He came to this hastily called meeting, however, and Percival was the
+only man present who was not dumbfounded. Sheriff Shay, in summoning the
+members to this secret meeting, had delivered a message that Landover
+could not well afford to ignore.
+
+Seventeen men were crowded into the little sitting-room of the house.
+Each one of them bore a high-sounding title. There were present, besides
+Percival, State Treasurer Landover, Chief Justice Malone, Minister of
+War Platt, Minister of Marine Mott, Minister of Agriculture Pedro Drom,
+State Clerk Flattner, Surgeon General Cullen, Lord High Sheriff Shay,
+and the following members of the Executive Council: Snipe, Block,
+Jones, Fitts, Knapendyke, Calkins, Ruiz' and Alvara. Ruiz was a Chilean
+merchant and Alvara a Brazilian coffee grower. Calkins was an English
+cattle buyer.
+
+Percival, with his customary abruptness, announced that there was a plot
+on foot to destroy the present government and turn the island over to
+the mercy of a gang of desperadoes headed by Manuel Crust.
+
+Landover was on his feet in an instant.
+
+"I am in a position, gentlemen, to declare that there is not a word of
+truth in that statement. It is true there is a very definite movement on
+foot to organize a new party to contest the election of many of us
+who are gathered here tonight. The people want a change. They are
+dissatisfied. They have a right to vote as they please, to choose their
+own--"
+
+"We are not here to discuss the election, Mr. Landover," broke in
+Percival. "Before we go any farther, however, I wish to state that if
+you are chosen Governor of Trigger Island, you will find no one more
+willing and ready to serve you than I. But, that is beside the question.
+If you will listen to me, I will tell you exactly what it is that
+confronts us. The election next month is to be the signal for all kinds
+of hell. You may be elected governor, Mr. Landover,--but you will not be
+allowed to serve. Now, here is the story that came to me today,--and I
+can vouch for it. I am authorized,--in fact I am commanded to reveal to
+you the name of my informant. You may be sure I did my best to
+prevail upon her to remain unknown, for the present, at least, but she
+threatened to go forth and shout her story from the housetops if I did
+not do as she wished."
+
+The conference ended an hour later, and Abel Landover had shown his
+true colours at last. He stood up, his face drawn and haggard, his eyes
+ablaze, his voice husky, and addressed the group.
+
+"Gentlemen, I have been wrong. I am grateful to Mr. Percival for his
+generosity in warning me of the danger into which I was rushing. We have
+not been friends. He could have left me to my fate. I would not have
+blamed him. He has played fair,--and I have not. I ask you all to
+bear witness to that humiliating admission. I have argued here tonight
+against all of you,--when down in my heart I had the sickening fear
+that this damnable story is true. I now believe it to be true. I now see
+through the whole devilish game.
+
+"I give you my word of honour as a gentleman and an American, I did not
+realize the true conditions until tonight. Perhaps I might have found
+out in time to upset their plans,--but that is doubtful. These men
+are smart. They are natural born plotters. They are dark men with dark
+souls. This fellow Fernandez has fooled me completely. He is a gay,
+smiling boy, but now that I have heard Madame Obosky's account of him, I
+recall many little traits in his make-up that go far to substantiate my
+new opinion of him. I never quite understood till now why he hated you,
+Percival. Frankly, I knew that he had it in his heart to kill you. Crust
+has told me of his difficulty in keeping him from running a knife into
+you. I thought it was all talk, boyish bravado,--but now I know he meant
+it."
+
+He lifted his head and set his jaw. "Gentlemen, I have a shameful
+confession to make. Ever since I can remember, my sole thought has been
+to rule. I did not know what it was to take orders from another man
+until I came to this island. My whole being has been in revolt. The
+thought uppermost in my mind for two years has been to re-establish
+myself as a dominating force. To that end, I have played pretty bad
+politics. I have worked upon the credulity and cupidity of these men,
+promising them positions of authority if I were chosen by vote to govern
+the affairs of this island. But, I am sure you all will believe me
+when I say that it was my purpose to administer those affairs honestly,
+fairly and as capably as I knew how. I was not only deceived by these
+men, but by myself as well. I have played, like a blundering fool, into
+their hands. My chagrin is beyond words. I can only say to you now that
+you may count upon my unfailing support in any action you may decide to
+take. My forebears were honest, loyal, law-abiding Americans. I--I think
+I may say without fear of contradiction that it is impossible for me to
+run otherwise than true to form.
+
+"I lied, Percival, to Ruth Clinton about the encounter in my stateroom
+on the Doraine. Believe me or not as you see fit, but I think that was
+the only deliberate lie I have ever told in my life. I have done a great
+many high-handed things, I have been inconsiderate of others, I have
+crushed opposition in my own way, I have never allowed myself to
+acknowledge defeat. My hand has been against you since the day you
+appeared on the decks of the Doraine. It was not in my nature to see
+good in you. To me, you were a good-for-nothing--Well, I'm glad to see
+you smile! That is the devil with you,--your confounded smile. I ask you
+to overlook what I have said, and done--and been, Percival,--and shake
+hands. You have nothing to apologize for. There never has been a time
+in all these months that I have not felt you to be a real man, an
+honest one, and a gentleman. I think I know an honest man when I see
+one,--indeed, it is my business to read men,--and I rarely make a
+mistake."
+
+As the two men shook hands, Randolph Fitts remarked drily:
+
+"Seems to me I remember your saying something of the sort the first day
+you ever laid eyes on A. A., Abel."
+
+"The trouble is," put in Soapy Shay sarcastically, "you don't know a
+dishonest one when you see him, Bill."
+
+"Veil, let's get down to business," said Moses Block nervously. "Ve
+must go slow and careful-like. If we show our hands too soon, they will
+uprise and--veil, I don't know vat!"
+
+"Mr. Mott, what would you do if you got wind of a plot like this aboard
+ship?" inquired Percival, his eyes narrowing.
+
+"I would have the whole gang in chains before morning. Then I'd give
+'em a taste of the 'cat' at daybreak, and before noon I'd have the
+ringleaders hanging from a yard-arm," said Andrew Mott, succinctly.
+
+"Oh, my gracious!" gulped Mr. Block.
+
+"Now, I'll tell you what would happen up in Copperhead Camp," said
+Percival, darkly. "They would get a beautiful cow-hiding and then
+sentenced to wear a ball and chain, day and night, for anywhere from six
+months to two years,--depending largely on the process of regeneration.
+My experience has been that six months is enough."
+
+"We wouldn't dare do that, A. A.," said Fitts. "You must not forget
+public sentiment,--and public pity. I've got a better plan. How far out
+is that little island off New Gibraltar, Platt?"
+
+"A quarter of a mile, I should say."
+
+"Well, if they're not satisfied with life and conditions here, let's
+make 'em a present of a nice little island of their own. That's what
+I've always advocated as the proper way to treat anarchists. Stick 'em
+away on an island completely surrounded by sharks and let 'em run it to
+suit themselves."
+
+"But there are no sharks in these waters," said Flattner. "They'd swim
+over here some night and slit all our throats."
+
+"Not a chance. They hate water too much to have ever learned how to
+swim. Now, here's the scheme. Round up as many of them as we're dead
+sure about, row 'em out to the island, dump 'em with enough food and
+water to last a week, supply them with tents and beds and tools, and let
+'em build their own penitentiary. They'll have to do it or freeze next
+winter. Once a week send food and drink out to them. The water is a
+hundred fathoms deep between Trigger Island and that little green wart
+out there on the face of the ocean. It will look like a million miles to
+them. How does it strike you, gentlemen?"
+
+Off the precipitous western extremity of Trigger Island lies a tiny
+scrap of tree-covered land. It is perhaps one hundred yards wide and
+thrice as long. An exploring party had visited it shortly after the
+wreck of the Doraine, but since then no one had set foot upon its
+shores. Its steep slopes, densely wooded, viewed from afar, suggested a
+mountain top sticking up out of the sea. By boat, skirting the coast, it
+was a good ten miles distant from the town.
+
+Three men were seized that night and put through a rigid examination.
+Early the next morning twelve more were taken, Manuel Crust among them.
+Half of them, in their terror, "squealed." Crust himself was one of
+these. Almost before the people of the town knew what was afoot, the
+fifteen had been tried, convicted, and were on their way to the landing
+where boats were waiting to take them and their belongings off into
+exile. As for the conspirators themselves, the blow was so swift, so
+sudden, that they were dazed. It was like a bolt out of a clear sky.
+
+Judge Malone sent them to "the Island" for indeterminate periods. At
+stated intervals they were to be released, one by one, and restored
+to citizenship. The shortest term of exile, however, was one year. The
+releases were to be decided by lot, except in the case of three
+men: Crust, Fernandez and an Irish sailor named Clark. They were the
+ringleaders and they were to remain on "the Island" until the time came
+for them to go aboard the relief ship with all the other citizens of
+Trigger. At the end of the first year, and once a month thereafter for
+twelve months, drawings were to be held, and the man whose name was
+drawn would be released.
+
+"You are prisoners of state," said Judge Malone, in passing sentence.
+"The state is obliged to feed you, and clothe you, and sustain you if
+you fall ill, no matter how bitterly it goes against the grain. You will
+not be obliged to work, or wash, or observe a single law. You may rob
+each other to your hearts' content, you may murder each other with
+perfect impunity, you may do just as you like. We started out to conduct
+the affairs of this island along lines laid down by the Golden Rule. I
+have come to the conclusion that the Golden Rule would be all right if
+it were not for the human race. I am beginning to believe that the Rule
+of Iron is the only one for the people of this earth to live under,--and
+that is a pretty hard thing for an Irishman to say. You men ought to be
+lined up against a wall and shot. We do not feel that we have the right
+to take your lives. It is not in our hearts to destroy you, as you would
+have destroyed us. But you may not dwell among us."
+
+Fernandez, wild with fury, shrieked vengeance upon the head of Olga
+Obosky. Out of his ravings, the unsavoury crew gleaned enough to
+convince them that he was responsible for their present unhappy plight.
+
+"You will pay for this, you snake!" he yelled, foaming at the mouth and
+shaking his fist at her. "I will drink your heart's blood! Remember what
+Joe Fernandez says. I will come back here and get you,--Oh, I will get
+you,--and when I am through with you your dog of a lover may have what
+is left. I will cut you to pieces! I swear it--I swear it! Hear my oath!
+You double-crossed me! You squealed on me! I will come back, and I will
+drink your heart's blood! I swear it!"
+
+He spat in her direction as he was dragged away with the rest of the
+gang. Through his glittering, bloodshot eyes he saw the cool, derisive
+sneer on her red lips. He had failed, however, to note the keen,
+appraising look with which she searched the faces of his baffled,
+glowering companions. In that long, tense look she had seen dawning
+comprehension change to conviction; she had read his doom, so she
+could, in perfect security, give him that scoffing, heartless smile to
+take with him on the journey from which he was never to return.
+
+Fifteen men went out to "the Island" that afternoon. From that day, the
+authorities provided weekly rations for that number of men. To this
+day they are ignorant of the fact that there are but fourteen mouths to
+feed.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+In the cool of a balmy January evening, following what had been the
+hottest day the castaways had experienced since coming to Trigger
+Island, a group of men and women sat upon the Governor's porch. There
+was no moon, but the sky was speckled with millions of stars.
+
+Olga Obosky, sitting on the squared log that served as a step, leaned
+back against the awning post, her legs stretched out in luxurious
+abandon. She was fanning herself, and her breath came rapidly,
+pantingly. Now and then she patted her moist face with a handkerchief.
+
+"How warm you are, Olga," said Ruth, who sat beside her. "And you must
+be dreadfully tired."
+
+"I am hot, but I am not tired," replied the other. "I could dance all
+night, my dear, without tiring. Did you really like the children, Ruth?"
+
+"They were lovely. You have done wonders with them."
+
+"Regular Isadora Duncan stuff," sighed Peter Snipe, drawing lazily at
+his pipe. "Woodland nymphs, phantom pixies floating on the wind, zephyrs
+in the guise of fairies, dreams come true,--my dear Olga, you are a
+sorceress. You change clods into moonbeams, you turn human beings into
+vapours, you cast the mantle of enchantment over the midsummer night,
+and we see Oberon, Titania and all the rest of them disporting on the
+breeze. And to think that only this afternoon I saw all of those gawky
+girls working in the fields, their legs the colour of tan bark, with
+sandals that looked like canal-boats, skirts made of hemp,--just regular
+kids. And you transform them tonight into gleaming cloudlets to float
+upon the ambient atmosphere--"
+
+"For heaven's sake, Pete, stop being an author and talk like a real
+man," interrupted Fitts. "Can't you say, 'Gee, they was great, Olger'?"
+
+It was "Twelfth Night," and Olga's pupils had given a fairy dance on
+the Green. To conclude the almost mystic entertainment, the great Obosky
+herself had appeared in one of her most marvellous creations,--the
+"Dance of the Caliph's Dream,"--the sensational, never-to-be-forgotten
+dance that had been the talk of three continents. There was no spotlight
+to follow her sinuous, scantily clad figure as it spun and leaped and
+glided about the dim, starlit Green; there was no blare of brass and
+cymbals, nor the haunting wail of flageolets,--only the tinkle of
+mandolins and Spanish guitars to guide her bewildering feet,--and yet
+she had never been so alluring.
+
+When it was all over,--when the charmed circle of faces had vanished
+into the byways of the night,--she came and flung herself down upon
+the steps of the Governor's mansion. She had wrapped her warm body in a
+sheath of yellow velvet; the tips of her bare feet were exposed to the
+grateful night air. Her uplifted eyes shone like the stars that looked
+down into them; her lips were parted in a smile; her flesh quivered with
+the physical ecstasy that comes only with supreme lassitude.
+
+"You never danced so beautifully in your life, Olga," said Careni-Amori.
+"And after two years, too. I cannot understand. I shall never sing again
+as I sang two years ago. But you,--ah, you dance even better. I take
+courage from you. Perhaps my voice has not gone to seed as Joseppi's
+has,--poor man. Not that it had very far to go,--but still it was second
+only to Caruso's, and that is something. How can it be that you improve
+with idleness, while I--while we go the other way?"
+
+"I shall never dance like zat again," replied Olga, her eyes clouding.
+
+"You speak as if it were your swan dance," cried Michael Malone.
+
+"Oh, I shall dance for ever," said she, "but never again like zat. You
+would ask why not. I cannot tell you. I do not know. Only can I say I
+shall never dance like zat again,--never."
+
+Ruth turned her head quickly to look at the woman beside her. Olga's
+face gleamed white in the starlight. Her eyes were still searching the
+speckled dome, and the smile had left her lips.
+
+"Don't say that, Olga," she whispered softly. "You will delight great
+audiences again,--you will charm--"
+
+"Possibly," interrupted the other, lowering her voice, turning her eyes
+upon Ruth, and smiling mysteriously. "Great audiences, yes,--but what
+are they? I appeared tonight before an audience of one. I danced as I
+have never danced before,--all for zat audience of one. Your husband, my
+dear. He one time informs me he has never seen me dance. Well,--tonight
+I dance for him. Now, he can say he have seen Obosky dance. He will
+never forget zat he have seen Obosky dance."
+
+Ruth laughed, but it was a strained effort. "He was positively
+enchanted, Olga," she said. Then she added: "But for goodness' sake,
+don't ever let him know that you did it all for him. He will be so proud
+and important that--"
+
+"Oh, he knows I danced for him," broke in the Russian calmly, in a most
+matter-of-fact tone.
+
+"You--you told him?"
+
+"I did not have to tell him. He knew, without being told. La la, my
+dear! Do not look so shocked. It is a habit I have. Always I dance for
+one person in my audience. I pick him out,--sometimes it is a she,--and
+zen I try only to please zat one person. I make him to feel he is the
+one I am dancing for, zat he is all alone in the great big hall,--all
+alone with me. Maybe he is in the gallery, looking down; maybe he is in
+a box, or standing up at the back of the house,--no matter where he is,
+I pick him out and so I think of no one else all ze time I dance."
+
+"And, by the same token, he is powerless to think of any one else. I
+see. No wonder you charm them out of their boots."
+
+"And all the rest of his life he will remember that I danced for him
+alone, zat man. As for me,--poof! I would not recognize him again if he
+came to see me a thousand nights in succession. Once I saw a very tiny
+boy in the stalls. He was with his mother and father. I danced for zat
+child of six. When he is a very, very old man he will look back over
+the years and see me dancing still,--always the same whirling, dazzling
+thing that filled his little eyes and soul with wonder. So! Percivail
+has seen me at my best. He will tell his grandchildren how wonderful
+Obosky was,--and he will think of her to his dying day as something
+beautiful, not something vile."
+
+"Oh, Olga!"
+
+"You see, my dear," said the other, composedly, "I wanted to make a good
+impression on zat virtuous husband of jours. Now he will think of me as
+the artist, not as the woman. It is much better so, is it not?"
+
+"Sometimes you say things that cause me to wonder why I don't hate you,
+Olga Obosky," cried Ruth under her breath.
+
+Olga laughed softly. "I repeat zat Golden Rule to myself every night and
+every morning, Ruthkin," said she, somewhat cryptically. Then they were
+silent.
+
+Conversation on the porch behind them lagged and finally ceased
+altogether. The soft swish of fans was the only sound to disturb the
+tranquil stillness.
+
+"Nineteen-twenty," fell dreamily from the lips of Randolph Fitts's wife.
+"I used to think of Nineteen-twenty as being so far in the future that
+I would be an old, old woman when I came to it. And here it is,--I am
+living in it,--and I am not old."
+
+"Presidential year," said Michael Malone, as he struck a match to
+relight the pipe that had gone out. "Doesn't take them long to slip
+around, does it? Seems only last week that I voted for Wilson. I wonder
+if he'll be running again."
+
+"Sure! And if he can keep us in the war as long as he kept us out of
+it," said Peter Snipe, "we'll have to elect him again."
+
+"I'd give a lot to know whether we've got the Germans licked or not,"
+mused Fitts. "We've had nearly three years to do it in."
+
+"Depends entirely on the navy," said Platt, Minister of Marine, late of
+the U. S. Navy.
+
+"What can the navy do if the Germans will not come out?" demanded
+Landover.
+
+"Why, confound it all, the navy can go in, can't it?"
+
+"The British Navy hasn't," was Landover's reply.
+
+"What's the use of speculating about the war?" said Percival, as he
+threw himself on the grass at Ruth's feet. "Either it's over or it
+isn't, and here we sit absolutely in the dark. They might as well be
+fighting on Mars as over in Europe, so far as we are concerned. For
+God's sake, let's not even think about the war. We'll all go crazy if we
+do."
+
+"You're right," said Fitts, gloomily.
+
+"In any case," said Malone, "Trigger Island has done all that any
+self-respecting government can do. She has declared war on Germany. We
+have nothing to be ashamed of. Still, I'd feel better if we could fire a
+few shots at the dirty blackguards."
+
+"The war is over," said Olga, staring up at the stars. "The Germans are
+beaten. I have said so for many months, have I not?"
+
+"You have," agreed Malone. "But I don't see that you have anything on
+the Kaiser. He said it was over in 1914."
+
+"'Don't argue with him, Olga," said young Mrs. Malone. "He's Irish."
+
+"Like all Irishers he's longing for something he'll never get," said
+Fitts, drily.
+
+"And what is that?" inquired Mrs. Malone.
+
+"Home-rule," said Fitts.
+
+Olga Obosky yawned luxuriously. "I am so sleepy. My sandals, Governor
+Percivail. I am going home."
+
+He picked up the sandals lying on the grass beside him and held them out
+to her. She coolly extended one of her feet.
+
+"It cannot bite you. Put zem on for me, your Excellency."
+
+WEST WIND DRIFT
+
+He knelt and, slipping the sandals on one after the other, fastened the
+straps over her bare insteps.
+
+"So," she sighed. "Thank you. Good night, Ruthkin. No! I shall go home
+alone. There is nothing to be afraid of now on zis island, my dear. The
+ardent Fernandez is playing--what you call it?--pea-knuckles?--he is
+playing pea-knuckles away off yonder on zat prison island, as he has
+been playing for nearly a year."
+
+Little she knew of Fernandez!
+
+Ruth and Percival walked around the corner of the porch with her, out of
+sight of the others.
+
+"It was a perfectly ravishing dance, Olga," said he. "If I live a
+thousand years I shall never forget how beautiful it was."
+
+"You see?" cried Olga softly, pressing Ruth's hand. "Was I not right?"
+
+"Men are very queer things," said Ruth, with a curious sidelong glance
+at her husband. Then she squeezed his arm tightly and went on with
+a little thrill in her voice: "Good night, Olga. Thank you for the
+lesson."
+
+"What's all this?" inquired Percival.
+
+"Nothing you would be interested in, my friend," said Olga, with a
+little laugh. She waved her hand airily as she moved swiftly away in the
+gloom.
+
+They watched her yellow figure fade into the starlit shadows. As they
+turned to rejoin the others, Ruth said:
+
+"I think you might have told her how beautiful she was, dear." So much
+for the native perversity of woman, even when she is most content.
+
+He raised her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss upon the soft, warm
+palm. It was a habit of his,--and she never failed to shiver in response
+to the exquisite thrill. She drew a deep breath, and leaned a little
+closer to him.
+
+"Look up yonder, sweetheart," he whispered. "Do you see the one star in
+all the heavens that shines the brightest? It is the only one I see when
+I raise my eyes. The big, full star in the Southern Cross. The others
+are dim, feeble little things preening themselves in reflected glory.
+That great, beautiful star at the foot of the Cross is all that I can
+see. It's no use for me to look elsewhere. That star fills my vision.
+Its splendour fascinates me."
+
+She waited for him to go on. Her eyes were shining. But the analogy was
+complete. She laid her cheek against his and sighed tremulously. After a
+moment, they turned their heads and their lips met in a long, passionate
+kiss.
+
+"I should be content to stay on this dear little island for ever,
+sweetheart," she murmured. "My whole world is here."
+
+He stroked her hair lovingly, and was silent for a long time. Then he
+smiled his whimsical smile.
+
+"It's all right for you and me, dear,--but how about the future
+President of the United States sleeping up there in his crib?"
+
+She smiled up into his eyes. "It's a nuisance, isn't it?--having to stop
+and consider that we are parents as well as lovers."
+
+They rejoined the group on the porch.
+
+"I had a horrible dream last night," said Peter Snipe, getting up and
+stretching himself. "That's why I'm staying up so late tonight. I hate
+to go to bed."
+
+"What was your dream, Peter?" asked Ruth.
+
+"Do you believe in 'em?"
+
+"Only in day-dreams."
+
+"Well, I dreamed our little old ship was finished and had sailed at last
+and for once our wireless plant up there began to get messages from the
+sea. I dreamed I was sitting up there with the operator. It was a dark,
+stormy night. The wireless began to crackle. He jumped up to see what
+was coming. He was getting messages from our own ship, away out there
+on the ocean. She was calling for help. 'Sinking fast,--sinking
+fast,--sinking fast.' Over and over again,--just those two words.
+'Gad,--it was so real, so terribly real, that the first thing I did this
+morning was to walk down to see if the boat was still on the stocks. She
+was there, a long way from being finished, and--and, by gad, I had hard
+work to keep from blubbering, I was so relieved."
+
+"It will take more than a dream to knock that ship to pieces," said
+Percival. "When she's ready for the water, there will not be a sturdier
+craft afloat. Andrew Mott says she'll weather anything outside of the
+China Sea. Don't look so distressed, Amy. Pete's a novelist. They never
+do anything but dream horrible dreams. Generally they go so far as
+to put them into print, and people read 'em and say they are wildly
+improbable,--especially if they have a happy ending. It's always the
+happy ending that makes them improbable,--but popular. Isn't that so,
+Pete?"
+
+"If we didn't give them a happy ending, they would refuse to recognize
+us the next time they saw us on a bookseller's counter," said Peter.
+"Well, I guess I'll be on my way. I've got a busy day tomorrow, setting
+up the Trigger Island Pioneer,--and as I belong to that almost extinct
+species known as the bachelor, I am forced to be my own alarm clock.
+Going my way, Abel?"
+
+"Good night, Ruth," said Landover. "Give the Lieutenant Governor a good
+smack for me,--and tell him he is still in my will."
+
+"Umph!" grunted Fitts. "I'd like to know what you've got to leave the
+little beggar. Your letter of credit?"
+
+"Certainly not," replied Landover. "Something worth while, Fittsy, my
+boy. I am making it now. It's going to be a hobby-horse, if I live long
+enough to finish it. Good night, Perce. 'Night, everybody."
+
+When the last of the company had departed, Ruth and Percival stood for
+a long time in silence, listening to the far-off thrumming of a Spanish
+guitar, their tranquil gaze fixed on the murky shadow that marked the
+line of trees along the shore, her head resting lightly against his
+shoulder, his arm about her waist.
+
+"What are you thinking of, dear?" she asked at last.
+
+"Peter's dream," he replied. "It has put an idea into my head. The day
+that ship down there sails out to sea with her courageous little crew, I
+shall start laying the keel for another just like her."
+
+Neither spoke for many seconds. Then she said, a deep, solemn note in
+her voice: "I understand, Perce."
+
+They went into the house. Later they stole tiptoe to the side of the
+crib where slept the sturdy, sun-kissed babe. The two middle fingers of
+a chubby hand were in his mouth. With one hand Percival shaded the
+pitch candle he had brought from the kitchen. She leaned over and gently
+touched the smooth, warm cheek.
+
+"I--I can't believe he is real, Perce," she whispered.
+
+"He isn't," whispered he. "He is something out of a fairy story. Nothing
+as wonderful as he is can possibly be real."
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's West Wind Drift, by George Barr McCutcheon
+
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