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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of West Wind Drift, by George Barr McCutcheon
+(#12 in our series by George Barr McCutcheon)
+
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+Title: West Wind Drift
+
+Author: George Barr McCutcheon
+
+Release Date: July, 2004  [EBook #6014]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on October 16, 2002]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, WEST WIND DRIFT ***
+
+
+
+
+Carrie Fellman
+
+
+
+WEST WIND DRIFT
+
+By George Barr McCutcheon
+
+
+
+
+
+
+WEST WIND DRIFT
+
+
+
+
+
+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 swiftlv, 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+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 Amercan
+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, labaurers, 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 equi-distant 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 surelv 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 andd 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," inter-rupted 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-ad-vanced, 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. Per-civail?"
+
+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 va-riety 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
+con-ditions 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 attemped 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 inspi-ration 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 touchd 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
+formal-ity. 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 mo-ment 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 compla-cently 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 alga-robo 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 disap-peared 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. Perci-val."
+
+"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 ex-hibition 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 transgres-sion. 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 differ-ent 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
+si-moleons. 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. Appar-ently 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 suc-cession. "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 con-sider, 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. Noth-ing 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 convic-tion; 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 shail 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
+
+
+
+
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