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diff --git a/6014.txt b/6014.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d1b6a2e --- /dev/null +++ b/6014.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11660 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of West Wind Drift, by George Barr McCutcheon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: West Wind Drift + +Author: George Barr McCutcheon + +Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6014] +Posting Date: March 26, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WEST WIND DRIFT *** + + + + +Produced by Carrie Fellman + + + + + + + +WEST WIND DRIFT + +By George Barr McCutcheon + + + +On a bright, still morning in October, the Doraine sailed from a South +American port and turned her glistening nose to the northeast. All told, +there were some seven hundred and fifty souls on board; and there +were stores that filled her holds from end to end,--grain, foodstuffs, +metals, chemicals, rubber and certain sinister things of war. Her +passenger list contained the names of men who had achieved distinction +in world affairs,--in finance, in business, in diplomacy, in war, +besides that less subtle pursuit, adventure: men from both hemispheres, +from all continents. It was a cosmopolitan company that sailed out to +sea that placid day, bound for a port six thousand miles away. + +Her departure, heavy-laden, from this South American port was properly +recorded in the then secret annals of a great nation; the world at +large, however, was none the wiser. For those were the days when sly +undersea monsters of German descent were prowling about the oceans, +taking toll of humanity and breeding the curse that was to abide with +their progenitors forever. + +Down through the estuary and into the spreading bay slid the big +steamer; abreast the curving coast-line she drove her way for leagues +and leagues, and then swept boldly into the vast Atlantic desert. + +Four hundred years ago and more, Amerigo Vespucci had sailed this +unknown southern sea in his doughty caravel; he had wallowed and rocked +for months over a course that the Doraine was asked to cover in the wink +of an eye by comparison. Up from the south he had come in an age when +the seas he sailed were no less strange than the land he touched from +time to time; the blue waste of sky and sea as boundless then as now; +the west wind drift as sure and unfailing; the waves as savage or +as mild; the star by which he laid his course as far away and +immutable,--but he came in 1501 and his ship was alone in the trackless +ocean. + +The mighty Doraine was not alone; she sailed a sea whose every foot was +charted, whose every depth was sounded. She sailed in an age of Titans, +while the caravel was a frolicksome pygmy, dancing to the music of a +thousand winds, buffeted today, becalmed tomorrow, but always a snail on +the face of the waters. Four hundred years ago Vespucci and his men were +lost in the wilderness of waves. Out of touch with the world were they +for months,--aye, even years,--and no man knew whither they sailed nor +whence they came, for those were the days when the seven seas kept their +secrets better than they keep them now. + +Into the path traversed by the lowly caravel steamed the towering +Doraine, pointing her gleaming nose to the north and east. + +She was never seen again. + +Out from the lairs of the great American navy sped the swiftest +hounds of the ocean. They swept the face of the waters with a thousand +sleepless eyes; they called with the strange, mysterious voice that +carries a thousand miles; they raked the sea as with a fine-tooth comb; +they searched the coast of a continent; they penetrated its rivers, +circled its islands, scanned its rocks and reefs,--and asked a single +question that had but one reply from every ship that sailed the southern +sea. + +For months ships of all nations searched for the missing steamer. Not so +much as the smallest piece of wreckage rewarded the ceaseless quest. The +great vessel, with all its precious cargo, had slipped into its niche +among the profoundest mysteries of the sea. Came the day, therefore, +when the Secretary of the Navy wrote down against her name the ugly +sentence: "Lost with all on board." + +Maritime courts issued their decrees; legatees parcelled estates, great +and small; insurance companies paid in hard cash for the lives that +were lost, and went blandly about their business; more than one widow +reconsidered her thoughts of self-denial; and ships again sailed the +course of Amerigo Vespucci without a thought of the Doraine. + +For months the newspapers in many lands speculated on the fate of the +missing liner. That a great ship could disappear from the face of the +waters in these supreme days of navigation without leaving so much as +a trace behind was inconceivable. At first there were tales of the +dastardly U-boats; then came the sinister reports of treachery on board +resulting in the ship being taken over by German plotters, with the +prediction that she would emerge from oblivion as a well-armed "raider" +cruising in the North Atlantic; then the generally accepted theory that +she had been swiftly, suddenly rent asunder by a mighty explosion in +her hold. All opinions, all theories, all conjectures, however, revolved +about a single fear;--that she was the victim of a German plot. But +in the course of events there came a day when the German Navy, ever +boastful of its ignoble deeds, issued the positive and no doubt sincere +declaration that it had no record of the sinking of the Doraine. The +fate of the ship was as much of a mystery to the German admiralty as it +was to the rest of the puzzled world. + +And so it was that the Doraine, laden with nearly a thousand souls, +sailed out into the broad Atlantic and was never heard from again. + + + + + +BOOK ONE. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +The Captain of the liner was an old man. He had sailed the seas for +two-score years, at least half of them as master. At the outbreak of the +Great War he was given command of the Doraine, relieving a younger man +for more drastic duty in the North Sea. He was an Englishman, and his +name, Weatherby Trigger, may be quite readily located on the list of +retired naval officers in the British Admiralty offices if one cares to +go to the trouble to look it up. + +After two years the Doraine, with certain other vessels involved in a +well-known and somewhat thoroughly debated transaction, became to all +intents and purposes the property of the United States of America; she +flew the American flag, carried an American guncrew and American papers, +and, with some difficulty, an English master. The Captain was making his +last voyage as master of the ship. An American captain was to succeed +him as soon as the Doraine reached its destination in the United States. +Captain Trigger, a little past seventy, had sailed for nearly two +years under the American flag at a time when all Englishmen were looking +askance at it and wondering if it was ever to take its proper place +among the righteous banners of the world. It had taken its place among +them, and the "old man" was happy. + +His crew of one hundred and fifty was what might be aptly described as +international. The few Englishmen he had on board were noticeably +unfit for active duty in the war zone. There was a small contingent of +Americans, a great many Portuguese, some Spaniards, Norwegians, and a +more or less polyglot remainder without national classification. + +His First Officer was a Scotch-American, the Second an Irish-American, +the Chief Engineer a plain unhyphenated American from Baltimore, +Maryland. The purser, Mr. Codge, was still an Englishman, although he +had lived in the United States since he was two years old,--a matter of +forty-seven years and three months, if we are to believe Mr. Codge, +who seemed rather proud of the fact that his father had neglected to +forswear allegiance to Queen Victoria, leaving it to his son to follow +his example in the case of King Edward the Seventh and of King George +the Fifth. + +There were eighty-one first-cabin passengers, one hundred and nineteen +in the second cabin,--for the two had not been consolidated on the +Doraine as was the case with the harried trans-Atlantic liners,--and +approximately three hundred and fifty in the steerage. The first +and second cabin lists represented many races, South Americans +predominating. + +The great republics in the lower half of the hemisphere were cut +off almost entirely from the Old World so far as general travel was +concerned. The people of Argentine, Brazil and Chili turned their eyes +from the east and looked to the north, where lay the hitherto ignored +and sometime hated continent whose middle usurped the word American. A +sea voyage in these parlous days meant but one thing to the people of +South America: a visit to an unsentimental land whose traditions, if any +were cherished at all, went back no farther than yesterday and were to +be succeeded by fresh ones tomorrow. At least, such was the belief of +the Latin who still dozed superciliously in the glory of his long-dead +ancestors. Not having Paris, or London, or Madrid, or Rome as the Mecca +of his dreams, his pilgrimage now carried him to the infidel realities +of the North,--to Washington, New York, New Orleans, Newport and +Atlantic City! He had the money for travel, so why stay at home? He had +the money to waste, so why not dissipate? He had the thirst for sin, so +why famish? + +There were lovely women on board, and children with and without the +golden spoon; there were men whose names were known on both sides of +the Atlantic and whose reputations for integrity, sagacity, intellect, +and,--it must be confessed,--corruptness, (with the author's apology for +the inclusion); doughty but dogmatic university men who had penetrated +the wildernesses as naturalists, entomologists, mineralogists, +archaeologists, explorers; sportsmen who had forsaken the lion, +rhinoceros, hartebeest and elephant of Africa for the jaguar, cougar, +armadillo and anteater of South America; soldiers of fortune whose +gods had lured them into the comparative safety of South American +revolutions; miners, stock buyers and raisers, profiteersmen, diplomats, +priests, preachers, gamblers, smugglers and thieves; others who had +gone out for the Allies to buy horses, beeves, grain, metal, chemicals, +manganese and men; financiers, merchants, lawyers, writers, musicians, +doctors, dentists, architects; gentiles and Jews, Protestants and +Catholics, skeptics and infidels,--in short, good men, bad men, beggar +men, thieves. + +The world will readily recall such names and personalities as these: +Abel T. Landover, the great New York banker; Peter Snipe, the novelist; +Solomon Nicklestick, the junior member in the firm of Winkelwein & +Nicklestick, importers of hides, etc., Ninth Avenue, New York; Moses +Block, importer of rubber; James January Jones, of San Francisco, +promoter and financier; Randolph Fitts, of Boston, the well-known +architect; Percy Knapendyke, the celebrated naturalist; Michael +O'Malley Malone, of the law firm of Eads, Blixton, Solomon, Carlson, +Vecchiavalli, Revitsky, Perkins & Malone, New York; William Spinney, +of the Chicago Police force, (and his prisoner, "Soapy" Shay, diamond +thief); Denby Flattner, the taxidermist; Morris Shine, the motion +picture magnate; Madame Careni-Amori, soprano from the Royal Opera, +Rome; Signer Joseppi, the new tenor, described as the logical successor +to the great Caruso; Madame Obosky and three lesser figures in +the Russian Ballet, who were coming to the United States to head +a long-heralded tour, "by special arrangement with the Czar"; Buck +Chizler, the famous jockey,--and so on. + +These were the names most conspicuously displayed by the newspapers +during the anxious, watchful days and weeks that succeeded the sailing +of the Doraine from the port in the Tropic of Capricorn. + +Dozens of cities in the United States were represented by one or more +persons on board the Doraine, travellers of both sexes who, being denied +the privilege of a customary dash to Europe for the annual holiday, +resolved not to be deprived of their right to wander, nor the right +to return when they felt inclined. Whilom, defiant rovers in search of +change, they scoffed at conditions and went their way regardless of +the peril that stalked the seas. In the main they were money-spending, +time-dragging charges against the resources of a harassed, bewildered +government, claiming protection in return for arrogance. + +Far to the south, off the Falkland Islands, at the bottom of the sea, +lay the battered hulls of what ware supposed to be the last of the +German fighting-ships in South Atlantic waters. Report had it, however, +that several well-armed cruisers had either escaped the hurricane of +shells from the British warships, or had been detached from the squadron +before the encounter took place. In any event, no vessel left a South +American port without maintaining a sharp lookout for prowling survivors +of the vanquished fleet, and no passenger went aboard who did not +experience the thrill of a hazardous undertaking. The ever-present and +ever-ready individual with official information from sources that could +not be questioned, travelled with remarkable regularity on each and +every craft that ventured out upon the Hun-infested waters. In the +smoke-room the invariable word went round that raiders were sinking +everything in sight. Every ship that sailed had on board at least one +individual who claimed to have been chased on a former voyage by a +blockade-breaker,--(according to the most reliable reports, the Germans +were slipping warships through the vaunted British net with the most +astounding ease and frequency,)--and there was no one with the hardihood +or desire to question his veracity; indeed, it was something of a joy +to believe him, for was he not a living and potential document to prove +that the merchant marine could outwit, outrace and outshoot the German +pirates? + +The Doraine was barely twenty-four hours out from port and ploughing +along steadily through a choppy sea when Mr. Mott, the First Officer, +reported to Captain Trigger that a stowaway had been found on board. + +"German?" inquired Captain Trigger tersely. + +"No, sir. At least, he doesn't look it and, what's more, he doesn't act +it. Claims to be American born and bred." + +"That's what a great many Germans are claiming these days, Mr. Mott. We +can't take any chances, you know. Where was he found?" + +Mr. Mott cleared his throat. "Ahem! He wasn't what you might call found, +sir. As a matter of fact, he applied in person to the Chief Engineer +about half an hour ago and asked for a job. He said he was perfectly +willing to work out his passage home. Mr. Gray had him conducted to me, +sir,--rather sharply guarded, of course,--and he--" + +"Fetch him here at once, Mr. Mott," commanded Captain Trigger. "I'll +hear what he has to say first hand." + +"Very well, sir." Mr. Mott started away, hesitated, rubbed his chin +dubiously, and then came back. "He's having a bit of breakfast, sir, and +has asked for the loan of Mr. Codge's razors--" + +"What?" roared the captain. + +"I informed him he would have to appear before you at once, sir, and he +said he was quite willing to do so, but would it be possible for him +to tidy up a bit beforehand. I am obliged to confess, sir, that I have +never encountered a more interesting stowaway in all my career, which +leads me to confess still further that I gave orders to feed him,--he +hasn't had a mouthful to eat since we left port, owing to the fact, he +says, that his luggage shifted the first day out and try as he would +he couldn't locate it without a match, or something to that effect,--he +rather stumped me, sir, with the graceful way he lies,--and then Mr. +Codge agreed to let him take one of his razors, and when I left him +below, sir, it seemed quite certain that Mr. Gray was on the point of +lending him a shirt and a change of underwear. I--" + +"Good God, sir!" gasped Captain Trigger, with something more than +emotion in his voice. "What is this you are telling me?" + +"He seems a most likeable chap," explained Mr. Mott lamely. "Quite +a courteous fellow, too, sir. I forgot to mention that he sent his +compliments to you and asks for an interview at your earliest conven--" + +"Asked for an interview? Drag him here at once--by the heels, if +necessary. Tell him I shan't keep him waiting an instant," said the +captain ironically. + +Mr. Mott still hesitated. "In the event, sir, that he is in the midst of +shaving--" + +"I don't care a hang what he's in the midst of," exclaimed Captain +Trigger. "Even in the midst of changing shirts. Present my compliments +to him, Mr. Mott, and say that he needn't dress up on my account. I +am an old-fashioned sailor-man. It is nothing new to me to see men who +haven't shaved in a fortnight, and others who never change shirts." + +"Very well, sir," said Mr. Mott, and departed. + +Presently he reappeared with the stowaway in charge. + +Captain Trigger beheld a well set-up young man of medium height, with +freshly shaven chin and jaws, carefully brushed hair, spotless white +shirt and collar, and,--revealed in a quick glance,--recently scrubbed +hands. His brown Norfolk jacket was open, and he carried a brand new, +though somewhat shapeless pan-ama hat in his hand. Evidently he had +ceased fanning himself with it at the moment of entering the captain's +presence. The keen, good-looking face was warm and moist as the result +of a most violent soaping. He wore corduroy riding-breeches, cavalry +boots that betrayed their age in spite of a late polishing at the hands +of an energetic and carefully directed bootblack, and a broad leather +belt from which only half an eye was required to see that a holster had +been detached with a becoming regard for neatness. His hair was thick +and sun-bleached; his eyes, dark and unafraid, met the stern gaze of +the captain with directness and respect; his lips and chin were firm in +repose, but they might easily be the opposite if relaxed; his skin was +so tanned and wind-bitten that the whites of his eyes were startlingly +defined and vivid. He was not a tall man,--indeed, one would have been +justified in suspecting him of being taller than he really was because +of the more or less deceiving erectness with which he carried himself. +As a matter of fact, he was not more than five feet ten or ten and a +half. + +Captain Trigger eyed him narrowly for a moment. + +"What is your name?" + +"A. A. Percival, sir." + +"Your full name, young man. No initials." + +The stowaway seemed to add an inch to his height before replying. + +"Algernon Adonis Percival, sir," he said, a very clear note of defiance +in his voice. + +The Captain looked at the First Officer, and the First Officer, after a +brief stare at the speaker, looked at the Captain. + +"It's his right name, you can bet, sir," said Mr. Mott, with conviction. +"Nobody would voluntarily give himself a name like that." + +"You never can tell about these Americans, Mr. Mott," said the Captain +warily. "They've got what they call a keen sense of humour, you know." + +Mr. Percival smiled. His teeth were very white and even. + +"I am a first and only child," he explained. "That ought to account for +it, sir," he went on, a trifle defensively. + +Captain Trigger did not smile. Mr. Mott, however, looked distinctly +sympathetic. + +"You say you are an American,--a citizen of the United States?" demanded +the former. + +"Yes, sir. My home is in Baltimore." + +"Baltimore?" repeated Mr. Mott quickly. "That's where Mr. Gray hails +from, sir," he added, as a sort of apology to the Captain for the +exclamation. + +The Captain's gaze settled on the stowaway's spotless white shirt and +collar. Then he nodded his head slowly. + +"Mr. Gray is the Chief Engineer," he explained, with mock courtesy. + +"Yes, sir,--I know," responded Percival. "He comes of one of the oldest +and most highly connected families in Baltimore. He informs me that his +father--" + +"Never mind!" snapped the Captain. "We need not discuss Mr. Gray's +antecedents. How old are you?" + +"Thirty last Friday, sir." + +"Married?" + +"No, sir." + +"Parents living?" + +"No, sir." + +"And now, what the devil do you mean by sneaking aboard this ship and +hiding yourself in the--by the way, Mr. Mott, where was he hiding?" + +Mr. Mott: "It doesn't seem to be quite clear as yet, sir." + +Captain Trigger: "What's that?" + +Mr. Mott: "I say, it isn't quite clear. We have only his word for it. +You see, he wasn't discovered until he accosted Mr. Shannon on the +bridge and asked--" + +Captain Trigger: "On the bridge, Mr. Mott?" + +Mr. Mott: "That is to say, sir, Mr. Shannon was on the bridge and he was +below on the promenade deck. He asked Mr. Shannon if he was the Captain +of the boat." + +Captain Trigger: "He did, eh? Well?" + +Mr. Mott: "He was informed that you were at breakfast, sir,--no one +suspecting him of being a stowaway, of course,--and then, it appears, +he started out to look for you. That's how he fell in with the Chief +Engineer. Mr. Gray informs me that he applied for work, admitting that +he was aboard without leave, or passage, or funds, or anything else, +it would seem. But, as for where he lay in hiding, there hasn't been +anything definite arrived at as yet, sir. He seems to have been hiding +in a rather wide-spread sort of way." + +Mr. Percival, amiably: "Permit me to explain, Captain Trigger. You see, +I have been obliged to change staterooms three times. Naturally, that +might be expected to create some little confusion in my mind. I began +in the second cabin. Much to my surprise and chagrin I found, too late, +that the stateroom I had chosen,--at random, I may say,--was merely in +the state of being prepared for a lady and gentleman who had asked to be +transferred from a less desirable one. I had some difficulty in getting +out of it without attracting attention. I don't know what I should have +done if the steward hadn't informed them that he could not move their +steamer-trunk until morning. There wouldn't have been room for both of +us under the berth, sir. If the gentleman had been alone I shouldn't +have minded in the least remaining, under his berth, but he--" + +Captain Trigger: "How did you happen to get into that room, young man? +The doors are never unlocked when the rooms are unoccupied." + +Mr. Percival: "You are mistaken, sir. I found at least three stateroom +doors unlocked that night, and my search was by no means extensive." + +Captain Trigger: "This is most extraordinary, Mr. Mott,--if true." + +Mr. Mott: "It shall be looked into, sir." + +Captain Trigger: "Go on, young man." + +Mr. Percival: "I tried another room in the second cabin, but had +to abandon it also. It had no regular occupant,--it was Number 221 +remember,--but along about midnight two men opened the door with a key +and came in. They were stewards. I gathered that they were getting +the room ready for someone else, so when they departed,--very quietly, +sir,--I sneaked out and decided to try for accommodations in the first +cabin. I--" + +Mr. Mott: "Did you say stewards?" + +Mr. Percival: "That's what I took them to be." + +Captain Trigger: "You are either lying, young man, or plumb crazy." + +Mr. Percival, with dignity: "The latter is quite possible, Captain,--but +not the former. I managed quite easily to get from the second cabin to +the first. You'd be surprised to know how simple it was. Running without +lights as you do, sir, simplified things tremendously. I found a very +sick and dejected Jewish gentleman trying to die in the least exposed +corner of the promenade deck. At least, he said he didn't want to live. +I offered to put him to bed and to sit up with him all night if it would +make him feel a little less like passing away. He lurched at the chance. +I accompanied him to his stateroom, and so got a few much-needed +hours of repose, despite his groans. I also ate his breakfast for him. +Skirmishing around this morning, I found there were no unoccupied rooms +in the first cabin, so I decided that we were far enough from land for +me to reveal myself to the officer of the day,--if that's what you call +'em on board ship,--with a very honest and laudable desire to work my +passage home. I can only add, Captain, that I am ready and willing to do +anything from swabbing floors on the upper deck to passing coal at the +bottom of the ship." + +Captain Trigger stared hard at the young man, a puzzled expression in +his eyes. + +"You appear to be a gentleman," he said at last. "Why are you on board +this ship as a stowaway? Don't you know that I can put you in irons, +confine you to the brig, and put you ashore at the first port of call?" + +"Certainly, sir. That's just what I am trying to avoid. As a gentleman, +I am prepared to do everything in my power to relieve you of what must +seem a most painful official duty." + +Mr. Mott smiled. The Captain stiffened perceptibly. + +"How did you come aboard this ship?" he demanded. + +"As a coal passer, sir. Day before yesterday, when you were getting +in the last lot of coal. I had a single five dollar gold piece in my +pocket. It did the trick. With that seemingly insignificant remnant of +a comfortable little fortune, I induced one of the native coal +carriers,--a Portuguese nobleman, I shall always call him,--to part +with his trousers, shirt and hat. I slipped 'em on over my own clothes, +stuffed my boots and socks inside my shirt, picked up his basket of +coal, and walked aboard. It isn't necessary, I suppose, to state that my +career as a dock-hand ceased with that solitary basket of coal, or that +having once put foot aboard the Doraine, I was in a position to book +myself as a passenger." + +"Well, I'm damned!" said Captain Trigger. "Some one shall pay for this +carelessness, Mr. Mott. I've never heard of anything so cool. What did +you say your name is, young man?" + +"A. A. Percival, sir." + +"Ah--ahem! I see. Will it offend you, A. A., if I make so bold as to +inquire why the devil you neglected to book your passage in the regular +way, as any gentleman from Baltimore might have been expected to do, and +where is your passport, your certificate of health, your purse and your +discharge from prison?" + +Mr. Percival spread out his hands in a gesture of complete surrender. + +"Would you be interested in my story, Captain Trigger? It is brief, but +edifying. When I arrived in town, the evening before you were to sail, +I had a wallet well-filled with gold, currency, and so forth. I had +travelled nearly two thousand miles,--from the foothills of the Andes, +to be more definite,--and I had my papers, my cancelled contract, and a +clear right-of-way, so to speak. My personal belongings were supposed to +have arrived in town on the train with me. A couple of cow-hide trunks, +in fact. Well, they didn't arrive. I don't know what became of them. I +had no time to investigate. This was the last boat I could get for +two or three weeks that would land me in the U. S. A. I put up at the +Alcazar Grand for the night. It was then too late to secure passage, but +I fully intended to do so the first thing in the morning. There was a +concert and dance at the hotel that night, and I went in to look on for +awhile. I ran across a friend, an engineer who was on the job with me +up in the hills a few months ago. He is also an American, a chap from +Providence, Rhode Island. Connected with the consular service now. He +was with a small party of Americans,--am I boring you?" + +"No, no,--get on with it," urged Captain Trigger. + +"Several of them were sailing on this ship, and they were having a +little farewell party. That, however, has nothing to do with the case. +I left them at midnight and went up to my room. Now comes the part you +will not believe. During the night,--I sleep very soundly,--some one +entered my room, rifled my pockets, and got away with everything I +possessed, except my clothes and the five-dollar gold piece I have +carried ever since I left home,--as a lucky coin, you know. He--" + +"How did he happen to overlook your lucky coin?" inquired the Captain +sarcastically. + +"Because it couldn't be a lucky coin if I carried it in my purse. No +coin is ever lucky that gets into my purse, Captain. I always kept it +tightly sewed up in the band of my trousers, safe from the influence of +evil companions. I did not discover the loss until morning. It was then +too late to do anything, as you were sailing at eight. My Providence +friend was not available. I knew no one else. But I was determined to +sail on the Doraine. That's the story, sir, in brief. I leave it to +you if I wasn't justified in doing the best I could under the +circumstances." + +Captain Trigger was not as fierce as he looked. He could not keep the +twinkle out of his eye. + +"We will see about that," he managed to say with commendable gruffness. +"Assuming that your story is true, why are you in such a tremendous +hurry to reach the United States? Skipping out for some reason, eh?" + +"Well," said the young man slowly, "you see, news is a long time getting +out into the wilderness where I've been located for a couple of years. +We knew, of course, that there was a war on, but we didn't know how it +was progressing. Down here in this part of the world we have a war every +two or three months, and we've got so used to having 'em over within a +week or two that we just naturally don't pay much attention to them. +We don't even care who wins. But a couple of months ago we got word +up there that the United States had finally got into it with everybody +under the sun, and that the Germans were bound to win if we didn't get +a couple of million men across in pretty short order. I am thirty years +old, Captain, strong and healthy, and I'm a good American. That's why +I want to get home. I've told you the truth about being robbed. I don't +mind losing the money,--only a couple of thousand pesos, you know,--but +if you chuck me off at the next port of call, Captain Trigger, I'll +curse you to my dying day. I'm willing to work, I'm willing to be put in +irons, I'm willing to get along on bread and water, but you've just got +to land me in the United States. You are an Englishman. I suppose you've +got relatives over in France fighting the Germans. Maybe you've had some +one killed who is dear to you." + +"My youngest son was killed in Flanders," said the Captain simply. + +"I am sorry, sir. Well, for every Englishman and every Frenchman who has +died over there, my country ought to supply some one to take his place. +I expect to be one of those men, Captain. I have no other excuse for +coming aboard your ship as a stowaway." + +The Captain still eyed him narrowly. + +"I believe you are honest, young man. If I am deceived in you I shall +never trust the eyes of another man as long as I live. Sit down, Mr. +Percival. I shall put you to work, never fear, but in the meantime I am +very much interested in what you were doing up in the hills. You will +oblige me by going as fully as possible into all the details. I shall +not pass judgment on you until I've heard all of your story." + + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Algernon Adonis Percival, civil and mining engineer, Cornell, had gone +through certain rather harsh stages of development in the mines of +Montana and later in the perilous districts of Northern Mexico. A year +or two prior to the breaking out of the great World War, he was sent +to South America to replace the general superintendent of a new +copper-mining enterprise in a remote section of the Andes, on +the Bolivian side of the mountains. Here he was in charge of the +heterogeneous horde of miners, labourers, structural workers and +assayists who were engaged in the development and extension of the vast +concession controlled by his company. + +His description of the camp or town in which this motley assemblage +dwelt from one year's end to the other, far from civilization, was +illuminating to the two sea-faring men. It must be confessed, however, +that a sound reluctance to swallow the tale without the proverbial grain +of salt caused them to watch closely for the slightest sign that might +reveal to them the always-to-be expected and seldom successful +duplicity so common in those harrowing days when all men were objects of +suspicion. From time to time they glanced inquiringly at each other, +but the stranger's story was so straightforward, so lacking in personal +exploitation, so free from unnecessary detail, that they were finally +convinced that he was all that he represented himself to be and that +they had nothing to fear from him. + +His long, hazardous journey by horse through the passes down into the +forests and jungles, out upon the endless, sparsely settled pampas, +and eventually into the remote village that witnessed the passing every +second day of a primitive and far from dependable railway train, was +presented with agreeable simplicity and conciseness. He passed briefly +over what might have been expanded into grave experiences, and at last +came, so to speak, to the gates of the city, unharmed, resolute and full +of the fire that knows no quenching. + +"By the way," observed the Captain, still wary, "has it occurred to you +we may be justified in suspecting that you deserted your post up +there in the hills, and that you have betrayed the confidence of your +employers?" Percival had completed what he evidently believed to be a +full and satisfactory account of himself. + +"I was in full charge up there, Captain Trigger. My contract had but a +month more to run. I appointed my own successor, and the company will +not be any the worse off for the change. My letter to headquarters, +announcing my decision not to renew the contract, went forward two weeks +before I left the camp. I merely anticipated the actual termination of +my contract by a month or so, and as I handed my resignation at once to +my own newly appointed superintendent, I submit that I acted in absolute +good faith. I may say that he accepted it without a word of protest, +sir. As a matter of fact, I told him in advance that I wouldn't appoint +him unless he agreed to accept my resignation." + +The Captain smiled at this ingenuous explanation. + +"I daresay I ought to put you under guard, Mr. Percival," he said. "My +duty is very plain. A stowaway is a stowaway, no matter how you look +at him. The regulations do not leave me any choice. Maritime justice +is rarely tempered by mercy. However, under the circumstances, I am +inclined to accept your word of honour that you will not violate your +parole if I refrain from putting you in irons. Have I your word of +honour that you will not leave this ship until I hand you over to the +proper authorities in the United States?" + +"You have, sir." + +"You are a very head-strong, ambitious young man. You will not jump +overboard and try to beat us into port under your own steam?" + +"You may trust me, sir, never to give up the ship." + +"And you will kill as many Germans as possible?" + +"Yes, sir," said A. A. Percival submissively. + +Captain Trigger arose and extended his hand. + +"I've never done anything like this before in all my years as ship's +master. You ought to be flogged and stowed away in the brig until you +show a properly subdued spirit, young man. I suppose you've heard of the +cat-o'-nine-tails?" + +"My reading up to the age of fifteen was confined almost exclusively to +the genteel histories of pirates, buccaneers and privateersmen, Captain +Trigger," announced A. A. Percival, taking the master's hand in a +firm grip. "I wonder if you know what a black-snake whip is, or a +cattle-adder? Well, they're both painful and convincing. As director of +morals in the camp I have just left behind me, it was my official duty +on frequent occasions to see to it that current offenders had from +fifteen to fifty applications of the black-snake in a public sort of +way. The black-snake, I may explain, could be wielded by a strong but +unskilled arm. It was different, however, with the cattle-adder. That +had to be handled by an expert, one who could stand off twenty paces, +more or less, and crack the long lash with such astonishing precision +that the tip end of it barely touched the back of the culprit, the +result being a nobby assortment of splotches that looked for all the +world like hives after the blood got back into them again. You see, +I was chief magistrate, executioner ex-officio, chief of police, jury +commissioner--in fact, an all-around potentate. Sort of Pooh-bah, you +know. For serious offences, such as wife beating, wife stealing, +or having more than one wife at a time, we were not so lenient. The +offender, on conviction, was strung up by the thumbs and used as a +target by amateurs who desired to become proficient in the use of the +cattle-adder. Murderers were attended to a trifle more expeditiously. +They were strung up by the neck." + +"Good God, man,--do you mean to say you hung men in that off-hand +fashion?" cried Captain Trigger, aghast. + +"Not without a fair trial, sir. No innocent man was ever hung. There was +no such thing as circumstantial evidence in that camp. The guilty man +was always taken red-handed. We had good laws and they were rigidly +enforced. There was no other way, sir. Short, sharp and decisive. It's +the best way. Men understand that sort of thing and honest men approve +of the method. You see, gentlemen, we had a hard lot of characters to +deal with. I wish to add, however, that before I had been up there six +months we had a singularly law-abiding and self-respecting camp. Crime +was not tolerated, not even by the men who had once been criminals. +If two men quarrelled, they were allowed to fight it out fairly and +squarely in any way they could agree upon. Knives, hatchets and all +other messy weapons were barred. It was either fists, pistols or rifles +at a fairly long range, and under the strictest rules. Duels were fought +according to Hoyle, and were witnessed by practically every one in camp. +You will perceive that Copperhead Camp was no place for a coward or a +bluffer or a bully. It takes a brave man to fight a duel with a chap who +may be only half as big as he is, but who can shoot like the devil. So +you see, Captain Trigger, the cat-o'-nine-tails has no terror for me." + +Mr. Mott regarded the young man with wide-open, somewhat incredulous +eyes. + +"You don't look like a fire-eating, swashbuckling party to me," he said. + +"I am the most peaceable chap you've ever seen, Mr. Mott. You needn't +be alarmed. I'm not going to bite a hole in the ship and scuttle her. +Moreover, I am a very meek and lowly individual on board this ship. +There's a lot of difference between being in supreme command with all +kinds of authority to bolster you up and being a rat in a trap as I am +now. Up in Copperhead Camp I was a nabob, here I'm a nobody. Up there I +was the absolute boss of five or six hundred men,--I won't say I could +boss the women,--and I made 'em all walk chalk without once losing +step. There were murderers and crooks, blacklegs and gunmen in my genial +aggregation, men whose true names we never knew, men who were wanted in +every part of the civilized world. The only place on earth, I suppose, +where they could feel reasonably at home was in that gosh-awful nowhere +that we called Copperhead Camp. You can't handle such men with mittens. +And there were good men there as well,--good, strong, righteous men. +They were the leaven that made the whole thing palatable. Without them I +could have had no authority. But I dare say I am boring you. The present +situation is the one we're interested in, not the lordly past of your +humble and, I trust, obedient servant." + +His smile was most engaging, but back of it the two seamen read +strength, decision, integrity. The gay, bantering, whilom attitude of +this unusual young man was not assumed. It was not a pose. He was not +a dare-devil, nor was he a care-free, unstable youth who had matured +abruptly in the exercise of power. On the contrary, he was,--and Captain +Trigger knew it,--the personification of confidence, an optimist to whom +victory and defeat are equally unavoidable and therefore to be reckoned +as one in the vast scheme of human endeavour; a fighter who merely rests +on his arms but never lays them down; a spirit that absorbs the bitters +and the sweets of life with equal relish. + +Captain Trigger was not slow in making up his mind. This clean-minded, +clean-bodied American with the confident though respectful smile, was a +chap after his own heart. + +"I hardly know what to do with you, Percival," he said, a scowl of +genuine perplexity in his eyes. "You are not an ordinary transgressor. +You are a gentleman. You have exercised an authority perhaps somewhat +similar to my own,--possibly in some respects your position up there was +even more autocratic, if I may use the term. I am not unconscious of all +this, and yet I have no choice other than that designated by law. The +regulations are unalterable. It is a matter of morale, pure and simple. +We are compelled to treat all stowaways alike. Of course, I shall not +subject you to the ordinary--shall we say methods of--" + +"Pardon me, Captain," broke in the young man, his smile no longer in +evidence; "I am asking no favours. I expect to be treated as an ordinary +stowaway. Set me to work at anything you like and I will make as good a +job of it as possible." + +"I was about to suggest that you serve as a sort of assistant to Mr. +Codge, the purser. I've no doubt he could find something for you to do +and--" + +"If that is your way of punishing me, Captain Trigger, of course there +is nothing for me to do but to submit." + +"Eh? I am sure you will not find Mr. Codge a hard taskmaster. He is +quite a good-natured man." + +"Extremely kind and considerate," hastily added Mr. Mott, reassuringly. + +"But I don't want to loaf my passage home," protested Percival. "I want +to be sentenced to the hardest sort of labour, if you don't mind. I +don't want to owe this steamship company a penny when I step ashore. It +is your duty, sir, as master of this ship, to put me on the meanest job +you've got." + +"My word!" exclaimed Captain Trigger. + +"I'm blessed!" said Mr. Mott. + +"Up where I've been running things and cock-walking like a foreman in a +shirt-waist factory, I made the rules and I enforced them. I want to say +to you that no favours were shown. If the Prince of Wales had drifted in +there, dead broke, and asked for something to eat, he would have got it, +but you bet your life he'd have had to work for it. A tramp's a tramp, +no matter how much purple he's been used to, and you can say the same +for a stowaway. What's the matter with me taking the place of one of +those deck-hands, or whatever you call 'em, you lost last night?" + +"What's that?" + +"Swabbers, maybe you call 'em. Men that mop up the decks after everybody +else has turned in." + +"What are you talking about?" demanded the Captain, sitting up very +straight. Percival stared at him in astonishment. + +"I thought you knew about it, of course. Good Lord, sir, don't you know +that a couple of your men jumped overboard last night,--or early this +morning, rather? Just as the ship was rounding that big headland--" + +"Good God, man, are you in earnest?" cried Mr. Mott, starting toward the +door. + +"I certainly am. I took them for deserters, of course,--not suicides, +because they didn't forget to put on life preservers before they jumped. +I haven't a doubt they were picked up, so there's no use worrying. A +minute or two after they went over,--from the bottom deck or whatever +you call it,--I heard a motor boat popping away like a gatling-gun not +far,--" + +But he was alone. Captain Trigger had dashed out of the cabin in the +wake of the First Officer. + +Algernon Adonis Percival stared blankly at the open door. + +"Good Lord, why all this excitement over a couple of bums?" he said, +addressing space. "If they were working for me, I'd thank the Lord to be +rid of 'em so cheaply. They--Hello!" + +The Second Officer popped into the room. + +"Come along with me," he snapped. "Lively, now. Just where and when did +you see a couple of men go overboard? Quietly, now. We don't want to +alarm the passengers." + +Within five minutes after Percival's disturbing report, the officers +of the Doraine, with set faces, were employed in a swift but silent +investigation. Before many more minutes had passed, at least a portion +of the stowaway's story had been verified. Two men were found to be +missing, although, strange to say, they had not been missed up to the +time that noses were counted. They were down on the ship's roster as +Norwegians, New York registry, and had come down with the Doraine on her +trip from the north. + +Percival repeated his story, but had little to add in the way of detail. +He had stolen on deck some time after midnight for a breath of air, +risking detection, and from the shelter of a secluded corner well aft +had heard the two men swabbing the deck below. Suddenly they ceased +work, and he prepared to creep back to a place of safety, concluding +that they were on their way to the upper deck. + +He went to the rail to listen. The two men were almost directly below +him, and he could see the upper portions of their figures as they leaned +far out over the rail, apparently looking into the swirling waters +below. Quite distinctly he heard one of them say, in English: "We got +to do it now or never." The other mumbled something he could not +distinguish. He was only mildly interested, not anticipating what was to +follow. For a few seconds he heard them scrambling and puffing and then +he saw them quite plainly on the rail, their figures bulky with what he +identified as life buoys, a faint light from somewhere falling directly +upon the grayish-white objects in which they were swathed. + +One of them uttered the word "Now!" and to his amazement they shot out, +as one man, into the black-ness below. There was a single splash. For a +moment or two he stood spell-bound. Then he heard some one running +along the deck below. Convinced that the incident had been witnessed by +others, he darted into the companion-way and made his way back to the +stateroom of the sick passenger. Through the lightless porthole he +listened for the terrifying shout, "Man overboard!" It did not come, +but his ear caught the staccato beat of a motor near by, striking +up abruptly out of the swish of rushing waters. In his ignorance, he +decided that it was a boat from the ship going to the rescue of the +daring deserters, and calmly waited for the engines of the mighty +Doraine to cease their rhythmic pulsing. He fell asleep. + +When he awoke, he concluded that he had dreamed the whole thing. This +conclusion was justified when he asked his wretched "bunkie" if he +had observed him leaving the room during the night. The answer was a +mournful negative, followed by the sufferer's more or less positive +declaration that he was staring wide awake the whole damned night long. + +Percival, unconvinced, boldly made his way to the lower deck and +discovered that two life buoys were missing from their supports, a +circumstance that put an end to the hope that he had dreamed it all. His +own affairs however now loomed large, taking precedence over the plight +of the men who had deliberately abandoned the ship. In any case, the +ship's officers had done everything that could be done in the matter. +He was genuinely astonished to learn that the act of the two men was +unknown to the Captain. + +A hurried conference of the ship's officers and the commander of the +gun-crew resulted in a single but definite conclusion. The desperate, +even suicidal manner in which the men left the ship signified but one +thing: the absolute necessity of flight before an even more sinister +peril confronted them. Not a man on board doubted for an instant that +they had taken their chance in the waters as a part of a preconceived +plan, and they had taken it with all the devilish hardihood of fanatics. + +The presence of the motor craft, so far out from port, lurking +with silent engine in the path of the steamship, could have but one +significance. It represented one of the carefully thought-out details in +a stupendous, far-reaching plot. + +If there were signals between the motor boat and the two men aboard the +steamship, they were not observed by the lookouts. In all probability no +signals were given. The little craft was to be at a certain place at a +certain hour,--and she was there! The men who jumped knew that she would +be there. A black, tiny speck on the broad expanse of water, sheltered +by a night of almost stygian darkness, she lay outside the narrow radius +to which visual observation was confined, patiently waiting for the +Doraine to pass a designated point. There was to be no miscalculation on +the part of either the boat or the men who went over the side of the big +steamship into the seething waters. + +The closest inquiry among the members of the crew failed to reveal +any one who had witnessed the leap of the men. Percival was positive, +however, that some one ran along the lower deck, but whether toward or +away from the spot where the men went over he had no means of knowing. +He offered the suggestion that there were three persons actually +involved, and that one of them, more than likely the victim of a +coin-flipping decision, had remained on board to complete the work the +trio had been chosen to perform, even though death was to be his lot. + +The Second Officer had been regarding Percival with ever-growing +suspicion. + +"Is there anything to prove, young man, that you are not the one who +stayed behind to complete the job?" he demanded at last. + +"Nothing," said Percival promptly, and somewhat scathingly, "nothing at +all, except the trifling fact that I am here talking it over with you +gentlemen instead of attending to my business, as any honest conspirator +should be doing. You may be quite sure of one thing: if there is a man +on board this ship whose business it is to finish the job, he isn't +idle. He's getting on with the job at this minute, gentlemen. If you'll +take my advice you will institute two investigations. First, search +the ship from stem to stern, from keel to bridge, for bombs or infernal +machines. Second, ask your rich passengers if they have lost anything in +the shape of pearls, diamonds, coin of the realm, or anything else worth +jumping into the ocean for." + +Captain Trigger looked at him over the top of his eye-glasses. + +"You are not in Copperhead Camp at present, Mr. Percival," he said +stiffly. + +The young man flushed. "I beg your pardon, Captain Trigger," he said +simply. + +"All you have to do," said the Second Officer, fixing him with an +inimical eye, "is to answer questions and not to tell us how to run this +ship." + +Percival did his best to hold back the retort, but, failing, released it +with considerable sharpness: + +"Well, if I was running this ship I'd head her for shore pretty damned +quick." + +The American in command of the gun-crew was the only one who smiled, and +he did it openly. Captain Trigger's face darkened redly. + +"Take this man in charge, Mr. Shannon. He wants work. Give it him. Under +guard." + +"Am I suspected, Captain Trigger, of being in league--" + +"Every man, every woman on board this ship is suspected," said the +Captain with decision. "Every one, sir, from myself down. The rest of us +grasp that fact, even if you do not." + +And so it was that while Algernon Adonis Percival, under the watchful +eye of a burly seaman, fell to work scraping the scuppers on the boat +deck, the stern business of searching the ship went forward with +a thoroughness that left no room for doubt as to the fears and +apprehensions of the men who had her in charge. Despite the fact that +intensive, anxious hours of delving revealed no hidden, sinister agent +of destruction, there was no relaxation on the part of the officers and +crew. One by one the passengers were examined; their rooms and their +luggage were systematically overhauled. No one resented these drastic +operations, for by midday the whole ship's company knew what had +transpired during the night. Eagerly they answered the questions, +cheerfully they submitted to the examination of their effects, and then +fell silent and subdued, oppressed by the suspense that hung over the +ship like a cloud. Crew and passengers alike underwent the most rigid +questioning, the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the young and +the old. + +Early that morning, in fact some time prior to the time that Percival +told his story, the wireless operator reported that his transmitter was +out of order. While he was satisfied that the apparatus had not been +tampered with, he was plainly affected by the rather grim coincidence. +He was an old and trusted man in the service, competent, efficient and +loyal. + +His assistant, the night operator, however, had made less than half a +dozen voyages on the Doraine. He was an Englishman, a cripple; twice +he had been rescued after vessels on which he sailed were sent to the +bottom by German submarines. His credentials were flawless. He was on +duty during the night just past, and had picked up several indistinct, +incomplete radio messages. There was nothing wrong with the receiving or +transmitting apparatus when he went off duty at six in the morning, and +as his superior came on at the same hour,--they exchanged greetings at +the door of the wireless house,--it was absolutely impossible for any +one to have entered the well-guarded room without attracting attention. +Cruise, the chief radio-man, had his assistant routed out of bed and +together they worked like beavers over the disabled mechanism. + +Hour after hour, the nervous, uneasy passengers paced the decks. Few +remained indoors, and few possessed the calmness to loll in deck-chairs. + +Percival toiled cheerfully, but with eye and ear alert for the first +inkling of definite peril. With commendable thoughtfulness, he had shed +the clean white shirt and collar so generously supplied by his fellow +townsman, and had donned a commodious sea-jacket. + +He could not help observing the dark, suspicious glances cast upon him +by the deck-walkers, nor were his ears proof against audible comments. +Mothers nudged their children and said, in slightly lowered but +distinctly impressive tones: + +"That's the man. He's a stowaway." + +"See, Wilfred,--see the man? No, no! The one with the mop, dear. Don't +go near him." + +"What a dreadful looking creature he is." + +"The Captain captured him this morning away down in the bottom of the +ship. He was stealing a ride." + +"Poor fellow! He doesn't look like a bad man, does he?" + +And so on and so forth, as the day went along. + +Masculine strollers had very decided opinions about him. Mr. Landover, +the banker, stopped to discuss the toiling menial with Mr. Nicklestick, +Mr. Block and Mr. Fitts. + +"He ought to be in irons," said Mr. Landover, glowering at Percival. +"That's what I told the Captain a little while ago. He's a bad egg, that +fellow is. I'm a pretty good judge of men, gentlemen, and I don't often +make mistakes. That fellow is a fugitive from justice, if he isn't +something worse. Observe the cut of his mouth--ah! see that? What did I +tell you? Did you ever see a more evil grin?" + +"Take it from me," said Mr. Nicklestick, "that guy knows a good deal +more about what is going on aboard this ship than he lets on. He ain't +as simple as he looks. I told Captain Trigger just now that he ought to +give him a dose of the third degree. That's the way to get to the bottom +of this business. String him up by the thumbs till he squeals. What say, +Mr. Fitts?" + +Mr. Fitts, the architect, was a mild man. + +"He strikes me as a rather honest looking sort of chap," he said, and +was promptly glared at by his companions. "Of course," he hastened to +add, "I am not saying that he is all right. He may be as crooked as the +deuce. I'm only saying he's got a rather pleasing sort of face." + +"The most innocent, open-faced young fellow we ever had in the bank," +said Mr. Landover, "turned out to be the damnedest rascal I've ever +encountered." + +"How did you happen to have him in the bank if you are such a good judge +of men?" inquired Mr. Fitts, utterly without malice. + +Mr. Landover reddened. "My dear sir, I do not come in contact with +every employe of the bank. You forget that it is quite an immense +institution." + +"It sure is," said Mr. Nicklestick. "I'm thinking of transferring our +account to your bank, Mr. Landover. We've been banking with--" + +"I vas telling my vife at lunch," broke in Mr. Block, twitching his +Hebraic nose emphatically,--"not that we could eat any lunch, by +gracious, no!--I vas telling her I bet my boots dere ain't enough +life-boats to get as much as half of us off safe in case something +happens. I counted up all the life-boats I could see, and ven I estimate +the number of peoples on board, w'y, by gracious, the loss of life +vould be frightful, gentlemen. The only chance we would haf would be +for approxi-madely fifty percent of the peoples on board to be killed +outright by the explosion." + +"I hear there is a detective from Chicago on board, with a prisoner," +ventured Mr. Fitts. "Why doesn't the Captain ask him to have a look at +this stowaway fellow?" + +"What would be the good of that?" demanded Mr. Landover. "I never saw a +detective in my life that knew what to do in an emergency. Soon as +you get one of them where he can't telephone in to headquarters +for instructions he's as helpless as a baby. Don't talk to me about +detectives. Why, this fellow would simply laugh in his face." + +"Just, as he is laughing in yours at this moment, Mr. Landover," pursued +Mr. Fitts pleasantly. + +"The damned rascal," said Mr. Landover, and stalked away. + +"There goes one of the biggest figures in the United States," said Mr. +Nicklestick, looking after the banker. His remark was addressed to Mr. +Fitts. "I wish I had his brains." + +"Dey vouldn't do you any good, Nicklestick," said Mr. Block, "unless you +had his money too also." + +"If I had his brains," said Mr. Nicklestick, "he wouldn't have his +money, so what's the difference?" + + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Mr. Block looked uneasily out over the tumbling ocean, focusing his gaze +on a section of the horizon that for want of something more definite +than mere hope lay in a direct line with the City of New York. + +"And ven you stop to think," said he wistfully, "that we are still +something like six thousand miles from home,--oh, veil! Vat's the use? I +bet you I never go so far avay from my business again. Vat a fool I vas +to make this trip ven the whole ocean is full of submarines and German +agents and plotters and--Yes, vat a fool ven I had so many high-priced +men vorking for me who vas crazy to come. But my vife she vould do it. +Paris and London every year it used to be, so she must haf a little +holiday or she vill die, she say. Veil, here we are. And ven I think +vat a long holiday it is going to be maybe,--by gracious, I could kick +myself for not giving in to my brother-in-law ven he begged so hard to +be allowed to make the trip because he needed the change from not being +avay from the office for five years, and his vife and children too. His +vife she needed a change as much as he, vat with not being able to get +into any good hotels in the summer time and not being able to keep +out of them in the vinter time, she vas nearly distracted. No, I vas +selfish. My vife she vas selfish too,--and him her own brother. Vy +shouldn't he haf a vacation vonce in awhile?" + +He turned abruptly to the sailor who lounged near the perspiring +Percival. + +"How far is it to land, my frient?" he inquired. + +The sailor touched his cap. "Which way, sir?" he asked solemnly. "Fore +or aft?" + +(Percival said to himself: "By golly, I'll bet that man is an +American.") + +"Vat? Land,--you know vat I mean,--the end of the ocean. How far avay is +it?" + +The sailor calculated. "Well, the nearest land, sir, I should say, is +about three hundred miles away, to port." + +"How deep is it here?" asked Mr. Nicklestick, moving away from the rail +suddenly. + +The sailor glanced down at the water, squinted an eye, and then spoke +reassuringly. + +"It ain't half as deep here as it is a little furder on," he said. "It's +only a shade over three miles where we are now, sir. We're comin' to +the deepest part of the ocean,--ought to be there inside of a couple of +hours. Here, you! On the job, on the job!" + +"You ought to search that man carefully," advised Mr. Nicklestick. + +"I have," growled the sailor. "He says he never uses it in that form. I +guess he's tellin' the truth." + +"Never uses what?" + +"Tobacco, sir." + +"Oh!" said Mr. Nicklestick, and, catching a glimpse of Madame Obosky +emerging upon the deck, unceremoniously deserted his companions and +hurried off to join her, his speed being suddenly accelerated by the +spectacle of Mr. Shine, the motion picture magnate, who approached the +lady from an equidistant station and with similar haste. Mr. Block, +being a trifle near-sighted and in some doubt as to the whereabouts of +his wife, peered here and there intently, and then bore down upon the +celebrated Russian dancer, who, it would seem, was in dire need of +consolation. + +Mr. Fitts followed them with a glance over his glasses and then turned +to the sailor man. + +"I suppose it's against orders for me to speak to this man," he said. + +"Yes, sir." + +The architect sighed, and walked away. + +The parade became more interesting as the lack of news from the +investigators restored a sort of hopeful optimism to the breasts of the +anxious company. Those who had maintained a stubborn air of bravado, +now became almost offensively jaunty. Others, frankly terrified at the +outset, sauntered timidly away from the life-boats to which they were +assigned. Every one was glad that the Captain had ordered a life-boat +drill on the first afternoon out, and every one was glad that he had +ignored the demand of Mr. Landover that the boats be lowered the instant +he discovered that his passengers were in peril. No news was good news, +argued the majority, and jesting was in order. + +Peter Snipe, the novelist, got out a pad of paper and began jotting down +impressions. Madam Careni-Amori and Signor Joseppi exchanged the first +friendly words they had spoken to each other in weeks, and in full view +of an entranced audience linked arms and strode bravely to and fro, the +former clasping a huge jewel case to her ample bosom, the latter +chafing perceptibly under the weight of an invisible belt stuffed to its +capacity with banknotes and gold. Chilean ladies and Chilean gentlemen, +dazzling Brazilian ladies and pompous Brazilian gentlemen, smug +Argentinians, lordly Castilians, garrulous Portuguese, lofty English +gentlemen and supercilious English ladies, friendly and irrepressible +Americans,--all of them swinging their sea-legs with new-found +abandon--clattered solidly around the wind-swept circuit. New faces +appeared in the procession, new voices were raised with energy, new +figures sprang into existence with marvellous rapidity. It seemed to +Percival that the population doubled and tripled and quadrupled with +every throb of the powerful engines. He saw his "bunkie" of the night +before,--the man who was trying so hard to die and couldn't,--he saw him +plunging along with the throng, pale but valiant, ferociously glaring at +every one who smoked. + +A small group of American nurses, some young and pretty, others young +and homely, but all of them sprightly and clear-eyed,--nine of them, in +fact--tramped by in "columns of three." + +Percival's guardian jerked his head in their direction after they had +passed, and volunteered this bit of information: + +"Hornswoggled, them girls was. Come all the way down from New York +six months ago. Promised double pay and plenty of work in the American +colony. Sore as crabs, all of 'em. They got double pay all right, all +right, but there was some misunderstandin' as to what single pay was to +be to start off with. Single pay turned out to be just whatever suited +the people that employed 'em, seein's they were nearly seven thousand +miles away from God and up against it, so they're beatin' it back home +to volunteer for service in France. I heard one of 'em say she could +save more money workin' for nothin' in France than she could earn in +a year down here at double pay. What'd you say your name was, young +feller?" + +"Percival." + +"I mean your last name." + +"That's it." + +"Come off! Nobody ever had a last name like that." + +"You ought to hear what my first name is,--and my middle one, too. You +said a little while ago you'd never seen any one of my size with bigger +and harder muscles. Well, if you knew what my full name is, old man, +you'd understand why I began developing them,--I've got a lot more too +that you can't see,--when I first began going to school." + +"What is your other names?" inquired the sailor curiously. + +"Algernon Adonis," said Percival. + +The sailor was silent for a moment, thinking of the proper thing to say. +Then he said: + +"You're dead right. It takes a heap of muscle to pertect a name like +that." + +Three women stopped in front of the two men. Percival kept his eyes +lowered. + +"Why,--why, Auntie,--I know him," fell from the lips of one of the trio. +There was not only surprise in her voice but a trace of awe as well. + +The swabber looked up quickly. He found himself gazing straight into the +eyes of the speaker. Her lips were parted, her head was bent slightly +forward, her eyes expressed utter incredulity and bewilderment. Her +companion, an elderly lady, and a bespectacled young woman who carried +an arm-load of steamer-rugs, stared not at him but at the girl who had +delivered this startling announcement. + +"I mean I,--that is, I may be mistaken," stammered the latter, suddenly +averting her eyes. A wave of crimson swept over her face. + +"Undoubtedly," exclaimed the elderly lady with great positiveness. +Turning to inspect the object under discussion, she sustained a shock +that caused her to stiffen and draw in her breath quickly. + +Percival was smiling in a most friendly and encouraging manner. He went +farther, and lifted his disreputable white canvas hat. + +"Oh, goodness!" exclaimed the young lady in a sort of panic. "Are +you--is it really you, Mr. Percival?" + +Mr. Percival glanced inquiringly at his guard. + +"That's his name, Miss," said that worthy. "And that's one of the +three reasons why he's got them muscular arms you're lookin' at. Sorry, +though, but my orders are not to allow any one to speak to him." + +"Are you crazy, Ruth?" cried the older lady, aghast. "It's the stowaway +every one is talking about. The one who tried to blow up the ship." + +The young lady returned Percival's smile,--rather a diffident, uncertain +effort, to be sure, but still a smile,--and murmured something about +night before last at the Alcazar Grand. + +"What are you saying, Ruth? Do you mean to say you met this man at the +Alcazar Grand?" + +"Yes, Aunt Julia," said the other wrinkling her pretty forehead in +perplexity. "He--he danced with me." + +"He--you danced with him?" gasped the horrified Aunt Julia. + +"Don't you remember? Phil Morton introduced him to us. I--I can't +believe my eyes." + +"I can't believe mine," snapped the elder woman. "I never saw this +fellow before in my life. The idea! Phil Morton having a friend +like--You are mistaken. And people are staring at us." + +"Just the same," said her niece, stubbornly, "I did dance with him, and, +what's more, I danced more than once with him. Didn't I, Mr. Percival?" + +Mr. Percival, still beaming, again looked at the sailor appealingly. + +"You can tell it to me," said the latter, furtively glancing to the +right and left before making the concession. + +Looking straight into the sailor's eyes, Percival said: + +"Yes, Miss Clinton. I had four dances with you,--and a lemon squash." + +"Wait a moment, Aunt Julia," protested the young lady, holding back. +"Would you mind telling me, Mr. Percival, how you happen to be here and +in this plight? You didn't mention sailing on the Doraine." + +Mr. Percival, to the sailor: "Neither did you, Miss Clinton. You +certainly are no more surprised than I am." + +"Why are you on board as a stowaway? Phil Morton told me you belong to +an old Baltimore family and had all kinds of--that is, you were quite +well-off." + +Mr. Percival, to the sailor: "Please don't blush, Miss Clinton. I'm not +the least bit sensitive. Money isn't everything. I seem to be able +to get along without it. Later on, I hope to have the opportunity to +explain just why--" + +"That'll do," interrupted the sailor. "Here comes the Captain." + +Captain Trigger hove in sight around the corner of the deck building, +with Chief Engineer Gray and the Second Officer. + +"I don't know what to make of you," said Miss Clinton, sorely puzzled. +Her aunt was clutching her arm. "You seemed so awfully jolly the other +night. And--and just look at you now." + +She moved away, followed by the bespectacled young woman and the +steamer-rugs, graceful despite the sudden yank with which her aunt set +her in motion. Percival managed to keep an eye on her till she turned +the corner. Then he sighed. + +The Captain halted in front of him. + +"Are you acquainted with Mrs. Spofford and her niece, Percival?" he +inquired. + +"Miss Clinton has done me the honour to remember meeting me night before +last at the Alcazar Grand, sir. Mrs. Spofford is not so generous." + +"I see," said Captain Trigger reflectively. "You will report at once to +Mr. Gray. He will give you a less public job, as you call it." A twinkle +came into his eyes. "He doesn't like the hat you're wearing. Nor the +shirt. Nor the boots." + +"Thank you, sir." + +"And, by the way, Percival, as soon as you are slightly refurbished I +want you to stroll through the second cabin and if possible identify the +two stewards who came to No. 22. Let me see, was it during the day or at +night?" + +"Some time during the night, sir. Eleven or half-past, I should say." + +"Very well." + +An hour later he reported to Captain Trigger. "I have seen all of the +stewards, sir, according to Mr. Codge, and I do not recognize any of +them as the men who came to No. 22. I had a fairly good view of them, +too, from beneath the lower berth. They spoke in a language I did not +understand--" + +"Do you understand German?" + +"No, sir. I know it when I hear it, however. They were not speaking +German. I may have been wrong, but I came to the conclusion that they +were transferring some one to No. 22. They brought in two suitcases, and +left them when they went out. I--" + +Captain Trigger brought his clenched fist down on the table with a +resounding, emphatic bang. + +"Now, we have it! That Chicago detective is right, by gad!" + +He turned to the small group of officers clustered behind him. Fresh +alarm,--real consternation,--had leaped into the eyes of every man of +them. + +"Then--then, that means our search isn't over?" cried Mr. Mott, starting +up. + +"It does! Every inch of this ship,--every damned inch of it, from stem +to stern. Overlook nothing, Mr. Mott. Don't delay a second." + +Percival was alone with the agitated Captain an instant later. Trigger's +eyes were rather wild and bloodshot. The younger man's face blanched. He +knew now that the danger was real. He waited for the Captain to speak. + +"Percival, the two men you saw in 22 were not stewards. They were the +men who jumped overboard. You tell me they left two bags there when they +went out of the room. Well, they were not there this morning when the +regular steward went into the room. They have disappeared. But the +contents of those bags are still somewhere on board this ship. And if +they are not found in time, by gad, sir, we will all be in Kingdom Come +before we know it." + + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +The first explosion occurred at eleven minutes past six. The chart-house +and part of the bridge were blown to pieces. Three dull, splintering +crashes ensued in rapid succession, proving beyond question that the +bombs were set to automatically explode at a given time. One of them +wrecked the engine-room; another blew a great hole in the stern of the +ship, above the water line; the third destroyed the wireless house and +carried away a portion of the deck with it. + +There were eight in all of these devilish machines in the heart of the +Doraine. Some time prior to the first explosion, the feverish searchers +had uncovered four of them, cunningly planted in the most vital parts +of the ship. Two were taken from the lower hold, one at each end of the +vessel, and two more were found close to the carefully protected section +of the vessel in which a rather insignificant but deadly shipment of +high explosives was stored. + +The discovery of the four bombs and their immediate consignment to the +sea saved the ship from being blown to bits. With another hour to spare, +it is more than probable the remaining four would have been found, +notwithstanding the amazing cleverness with which they were hidden, so +thorough and so dogged was the search. Confusion, terror, stupefaction +and finally panic followed the successive blasts. The decks were strewn +with people prostrated by the violent upheavals, and many there were who +never got up again. Stunned, dazed, bewildered, those who were able to +do so scrambled to their feet only to be hurled down again and again. +Shrieks, groans, prayers,--and curses,--filled the brief, ghastly +silences between the muffled detonations. The great vessel surged and +rolled and plunged like a tortured animal. + +The splintering of wood, the rending of plates, the shattering of glass, +and above all this horrid turmoil the mighty roaring and hissing of +steam!... And the wild, gurgling cries of the frantic unfortunates who +had leaped into the sea! + +Out of the chaos with incredible swiftness came the paralysis of +despair, and out of that slowly but surely groped the never-failing +courage of the men who go down to the sea in ships. Hoarse commands +lifted above the groans and prayers, and strong but shaken figures +sprang with mechanical precision to the posts allotted them. Life-boat +after life-boat went down into the sea that glistened with the slanting +rays of an untroubled sun, low-lying at the end of day. + +Fire broke out in several places. Down into the bowels of the ship +plunged the resolute, undaunted heroes who remained behind, the chosen +complement reserved for just such an emergency by the far-seeing master. + +Above the hissing of steam and the first feeble cracklings of flame, +rose the stentorian voice of the Captain from his post at the base of +the demolished bridge. + +"Fight, men! Fight! Fight! There are dying men below! Stand by! Fight +for them!" + +He was bloody and almost unrecognizable as he stood there clutching a +stanchion for support. His legs were rigid, his body swayed, but his +spirit was as staunch as the star that had guided him for fifty years +through the trackless waste. + +And while these doughty, desperate spirits fought the fire and smoke +with every means at their command, down in the suffocating depths of the +ship, braving not only the peril visible and at hand, but the prospect +of annihilation in the event that a belated bomb projected its hideous +force into the nest of high explosives,--while these men fought, the +smiling, placid sea was alive with small white craft that bobbed in the +gleaming sunlight, life-boats crowded to the gunwales with shuddering, +bleak-eyed men, women and children waiting to pick up those who stayed +behind, and who inevitably would be driven overboard by the resistless, +conquering flames. + +Cruising about at a safe distance from the menacing hull, these boats +managed to rescue a few of the beings who had leaped overboard in the +first mad panic of fear, but many there were who went down never to be +seen again. No boat was without its wounded--and its dead; no boat was +without its stricken, anxious-eyed survivors who watched and prayed +for the salvation of loved ones left behind. With straining eyes they +searched the surface of the sea, peered at the occupants of near and +distant boats, stared at the scurrying figures on the decks of the +smoking steamer, hoping,--always hoping,--and always sobbing out the +endless prayer. + +At last, as the sun sank below the blue-black horizon, exhausted, +red-eyed, gasping men struggled up from the drenched, smothering +interior of the ship, and hurled themselves, not into the sea, but +prone upon the decks! They had conquered! The scattered, vagrant fires, +attacked in their infancy, while still in the creeping stage, had been +subdued. + +Darkness fell. A chill night air stole out of the east, stealthily +trailing the sun. Will-o'-the-wisp lights bespecked the sea, surrounding +the black hulk that lay motionless in the center of the circle. Lanterns +in a score or more of small boats bobbed fitfully in the gentle swell. +Presently lights appeared on board the Doraine, one here, one there, +then others in twos and threes,--some of them stationary, others moving +slowly from place to place. The life-boats crept closer, still closer. +Then, out from the silent hulk, came the voice of man. It was the +voice of the First Officer, hoarse and unrecognizable, but sharp with +authority. Other voices repeated the commands from various parts of the +ship,--commands to the encircling will-o'-the-wisps. + +The word came down to the scores who filled the boats that they were to +lie by until sunrise, keeping in close contact with each other and at no +great distance from the ship. The most thorough, careful examination of +the steamer was in progress. If it was found that she was in no danger +of foundering,--and the word was most reassuring,--all of them would +be taken aboard in the morning. Nothing could be done at present. A few +hours more would tell the tale. + +And then, for the first time since the disaster, the note of the croaker +was heard. Each and every boat contained at least one individual who +knew exactly what ought to be done in a crisis like this. + +Mr. Landover addressed the benumbed, unresisting occupants of the boat +into which he had climbed with commendable reluctance as one of the last +persons to leave the ship. + +"Why don't they begin sending out S. O. S. calls? What's the wireless +for, if not to be used at a time like this? Say, you! Yell up there to +some of those damned muddled-headed idiots and tell them what to do. +Tell them that I say for them to send out calls for help. What's that? +What did you say?" + +The steward in charge of the boat repeated his remark and Mr. Landover +at once said he would report him to Captain Trigger. + +"But it won't do any good," complained the banker despairingly. "Captain +Trigger hasn't got the backbone of a fishworm. He'd let you tell him to +go to hell and never think of jacking you up for it. No wonder we're +in the fix we're in now. If he'd had the sense of a jelly-fish he'd +have--Here! Sit still! You'll upset the boat, you fool! What--What are +you going to do with that oar?" + +"I'm going to crack you over the bean with it if you don't take back +what you said about Captain Trigger," said the steward, very earnestly. +"Take it back, do you hear me?" + +"My God, would you murder me for a little thing like that?" + +Mr. Nicklestick aroused himself from the torpor of despair. + +"Take it back, Mr. Landover,--please do. If he misses you, he'll get me +sure, it's so dark, and so help me God, I got nothing but the deepest +respect for Captain Trigger. He's a vonderful man, steward. Don't make +any mistake. You hear me say he is a vonderful man? Veil,--" + +"Oh, shut up, Nicklestick," grated Landover, crouching down behind the +gentleman addressed. + +The steward sat down. "I'd do it in a minute if it wasn't for the women +an' children in this boat." + +"I intend to have every officer on that steamer arrested for criminal +negligence the instant I set foot in New York," boomed the banker. "I +call upon every one of you, my fellow-passengers, to testify to the +utter lack of precaution taken by the men in charge of that ship. And +what effort are they making to bring help to us now? By gad, if I was +in command of that vessel I'd be shooting wireless calls to every--Great +Scott! What's that?" + +"That's a rocket, you blamed old fool!" roared the steward. + +"Good God!" gasped the exasperated banker. "Are we having a celebration +with fireworks?" + +The dull, hapless occupants of the lifeboats watched with fascinated +eyes the first of the giant rockets that whizzed and roared its way up +from the deck of the ship, an endless arrow of fire piercing the night. +A loud report, the scattering of a hundred stars, and then--denser +blackness than before. + +Morning came. Up out of the east stole a sickly grey. It turned slowly +into pink, and then suddenly the sea once more was blue and smiling. +In the heart of the dancing cordon lay the weirdly camouflaged Doraine, +inert, sinister, as still and cold as death. No smoke issued from her +stacks to cheer the wretched watchers; no foam, no spray leaped from her +mighty bow. She was a great, lifeless thing. Waves lapped gently against +her sides and fell away only to come back again in playful scorn for the +vast object that had rent and baffled them so long. On high fluttered +the Stars and Stripes, gay in the presence of death, a sprightly +harbinger of hope flaunting defiance in the face of despair. + +Men, stripped to the waist, grimy and shining with the sweat of hours, +moving about in knots of three and four--always in knots of three or +four as if afraid to disintegrate--leaned upon the rail and watched the +approach of the crowded boats, looked down into pallid, anguished faces +with their eager, hungry eyes, eyes that devoured the groups along the +rail. Now and then a glad shout of joy went up from one of the boats, +and a figure in the huddled mass was transformed into a responsive thing +of life. + +In each of the square, black openings in the hull of the ship stood +men with ropes and ladders. The great steel doors lay flat against the +sides, swung wide to admit this time a human cargo. From the interior of +the vessel came the brisk, incessant clatter of hammers against wood and +steel; from the decks broke the loud, commanding voices of men calling +out directions; from the gliding, slapping boats went up the hearty +shouts of understanding and obedience, the rattling of boat-hooks, the +grinding of oars in the locks, the murmur of voices revived. + +"Vomen and children first!" was the shrill, oft-repeated exhortation +from one of the boats. + +And up in the centre of another sprang a fine, imposing figure, from +whose lips rolled these thrilling words: + +"By God, they're great! They're great, after all! God bless Captain +Trigger and every man-jack of them!" + +"Get down!" roared his still unpacified critic, the steward. "You'll +fall overboard, you dam' fool!" + +The gaunt, coatless Mr. Mott commanded the port side of the vessel; +Mr. Codge, the purser, the starboard. Fighting men in the breeches and +leggings of the American Navy; blackened and bandaged stokers, sailors +and landsmen comprised the motley company that stood ready to drag the +occupants of the boats up into the dank, smoke-scented maw of the ship. + +One by one, in regular, systematic order, the lifeboats came alongside. +There was no confusion, no bungling. They bumped gently against the +towering rows of plates, and, made fast by ropes with ample play, +gave up in time their precious cargoes. No one lifted up his voice in +rejoicing, for there were dead and injured back in the shadows; there +were grief-stricken, anxious men and women crouching out there in the +sunshine; there were limp, unconscious women and half-dead children; and +over all still hung the ominous cloud of catastrophe fat with prophecies +of perils yet to come. + +They had gone out from a ship filled with a monstrous clangour and +confusion, they were returning to a tomblike hulk, a lonely mass in +which echoes would abound, a thing of sighs and silences, the corpse of +a mammoth that had throbbed yesterday,--but never more. + +Up in the curving triangle of the forward deck were two long, +canvas-covered rows. The dead! Forty-six twisted, silent forms lying +side by side, some calm in death, others charred and mutilated beyond +all possibility of identification. Every man in the engine-room at +the time of the explosion was now a mangled, unrecognizable thing. +Engineers, electricians, stokers,--all of them wiped out in the flash of +an eye,--burnt, boiled, shattered. Half a dozen women, as many children, +lay with the silent men. + +The injured had been placed in staterooms on the promenade deck, +regardless of previous occupancy or subsequent claim. There lay the +score and a half of seriously injured, and there toiled the ship's +surgeon and his volunteer helpers. Sailor and merchant, worker and +idler, scholar and dolt, steerage and first cabin, wealth and poverty, +shared alike in the disposition of quarters and shared alike in +attention. There was no discrimination. One life was as good as another +to the doctor and his men, the poor man's moan as full of suffering as +that of the rich man, the wail of the steerage woman as piteous as that +of her sister above. + +Captain Trigger was one of the injured. He swore a great deal when the +doctor ordered him to bed. Ribs and a broken arm? Why the devil should +he be put to bed for something a schoolboy would laugh at? Mr. Shannon +and two of the younger officers were killed by the explosion that +wrecked the bridge and chart house. Chief Engineer Gray died in the +engine-room. Cruise was blown to pieces in the wireless house. His +assistant, the cripple with the charmed life, was dead. + +A few seconds before the first explosion took place he blew out his +brains with a big navy revolver. The last seen of Cruise was when he +appeared in the door of his station, an expression of mingled rage and +alarm on his face. Pointing frantically at the figure of his assistant +as it shot down the steps and across the deck, he shouted: + +"Get that man! Get him! For God's sake, get him!" + +It all happened in a few seconds of time. The shrill laugh of +the fleeing assistant, the report of the revolver, an instant of +stupefaction,--and then the dull, grinding crash. + +It will never be known what Cruise had heard or seen in the last moments +of his life. No one on board the Doraine, however, doubted for an +instant that he had discovered, too late, the truth about his misshapen +assistant. They now knew with almost absolute certainty the identity of +the odd man in that devilish trio, the man whose footsteps Percival had +heard, the man who stayed behind to guarantee the consummation of the +hideous plot. Coward in the end, he shirked the death he was pledged to +accept. He knew what was coming. Unlike his braver comrades, he took the +simplest way. + +The count began. Late in the afternoon it was completed. There were +forty-six known dead on board the Doraine, the majority being members +of the crew. Seventeen persons were missing, chiefly from the steerage. +Twenty-nine seriously injured were under the doctor's care. Some of +them would not recover. A hundred or more persons suffered from shock, +bruises, cuts and exposure, but only a few of them required or demanded +attention. In spite of their injuries, they fell to with the spirit that +makes for true heroism and devoted themselves to the care of the less +fortunate, or to the assistance of the sorely-tried officers and men who +strove to bring order out of chaos. + +Among the survivors were two American surgeons and a physician from Rio +Janeiro. They, with the nurses, all of whom had been saved, immediately +went to the relief of the ship's doctor, and in short order an +improvised hospital was established. There was a remarkable unanimity +of self-sacrifice among the passengers. High and low, they fell to in +a frenzy of comradeship, and worked side by side in whatsoever capacity +they were needed, whether fitted for it or not. No man, no woman, +who was able to lift a helping hand, failed in this hour of need. The +bereaved, as well as those who were untouched by a personal grief, gave +all that was in them, tearfully, grimly, ardently. + +Menial labour fell to the lot of the lordly but uncomplaining Landover, +to Block and Nicklestick, Jones and Snipe, and even to the precious +Signor Joseppi, who, forgetting his Caruso-like throat, toiled and +sweated in the smoky saloon. + +Morris Shine, the motion picture magnate, the while he laboured amidst +the wreckage of the after deck, lamented not the cheerless task but the +evil fate that prevented the making of the most spectacular film the +world had ever known. + +Madame Careni-Amori, Madame Obosky and her dancers; bejewelled Jewesses +and half-clad emigrants; gentle women unused to toil and women who were +born to it; the old and the young--all of them, without exception,--rose +from the depths of despair and faced the rigours of the day with +unflinching courage, gave out of a limitless store of tenderness all +that their strength could spare. + +And through a neglected, abandoned field of pearls and gold and precious +stones, limped unchallenged the tireless figure of "Soapy" Shay, +diamond thief, a bloody bandage about his head, an exalted light in +his pain-stricken eyes. His one-time captor lay stark and cold in the +gruesome line in the bow of the boat. It was "Soapy" Shay who staggered +out of the rack and smoke with the burly, stricken detective in his +arms, and it was "Soapy" Shay who wept when the last breath of life +cased out through his tortured lips. For of all the company on board the +Doraine, there was but one whom "Soapy" knew, but one who called him by +name and shared tobacco with him,--and that one was William Spinney, the +man who was taking him back to a place where mercy would not be shown. + +After the sun had set and the decks were dark and deserted except for +the men employed in the gruesome business, the dead were lowered into +the sea, swathed in canvas and weighted with things that were made to +kill,--shells from the gunners' hoard. Swiftly, methodically, one after +the other, they slid down to the black, greedy waters, sank to the +grave that is never still yet always silent, to the vast, unexplored +wilderness that stretches around the world. The thin little missionary +from the barren plateaus of Patagonia and the plump priest from the +heart of Buenos Aires monotonously commended each and every one of them +to the mercy of God! + +The sun came up again in the morning over a smiling, happy sea that +licked the sides of the Doraine with the tenderness of a dog. + + + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +The plight of the hapless steamer could not be disguised. Even the most +ignorant passenger knew that the wrecked engines could not be repaired +or compounded. They knew that the Doraine was completely paralysed. The +power to move at will was for ever lost, the force that had driven her +resistlessly along the chosen path was still. The powerful propellers +were idle, the huge stern-post wrenched so badly that the rudder was +useless. She was adrift, helplessly adrift. Of what avail the wheel +and a patched-up rudder to the mass that lay inert, motionless on the +smiling sea? + +Every one on board realized, with sinking heart, that the Doraine was to +go on drifting, drifting no man knew whither, until she crossed the +path of a friendly stranger out there in the mighty waste. No cry +of distress, no call for help could go crackling into the boundless +reaches. That was the plight of the Doraine and her people on the +mocking day that followed the disaster, and unless fate intervened that +would be her plight for days without end. + +Mr. Mott, temporarily in command, addressed the passengers in the main +saloon, where they had congregated at his request. He did not mince +matters. He stated the situation plainly. It was best that they should +realize, that they should understand, that they should know the truth, +in order that they might adapt themselves to the conditions he was now +compelled of necessity to impose upon them. They were, so to speak, +occupying a derelict. Help might come before nightfall, it might not +come for days. He hoped for the best but he intended to prepare for the +worst. + +Without apology he laid down a rigid set of rules, and from these rules, +he made it perfectly clear, there could be no deviation. The available +supply of food was limited. It was his purpose to conserve it with the +greatest possible care. Down in the holds, of course, was a vast store +of consigned foodstuffs, but he had no authority to draw upon it and +would not do so unless the ship's own stock was exhausted. Passengers +and crew, therefore, would be obliged to go on short rations. "Better +to eat sparingly now," he said, "than not to eat at all later on." He +concluded his remarks in this fashion: + +"Remember that we are all in the same boat. We don't know how long we'll +be drifting like this and we don't know where we're drifting to. It's an +everlastingly big ocean we're on. We ought to thank God we're not at the +bottom of it now. If we're lucky we'll be picked up soon, if not,--well, +it's up to us, every one of us, to make the best of it. We're alive, +and that's certainly something. We'll all find it easier if we keep +ourselves busy. That's why I'm asking you, one and all, to do a good +day's work regularly, one way or another, from now until relief comes. +We can't have any loafers or quitters on board this ship. That means +everybody, rich and poor. You may think I'm putting a hardship on you, +seeing as how you have paid for your passage and all that, but what I'm +ordering you to do ain't a marker to what you'd be doing if you were out +there in lifeboats, eight hundred miles from shore, and--well, we won't +go into that. We've got to make the best of it, my friends. We're up +against it good and plenty, that's the plain facts of the case. There's +no use in me saying it's all going to turn out right in a day or so, +because I don't know a da--- blamed thing about it. We're in God's +hands. Maybe it will help to pray, but I doubt it. All I've got to say +is this: go down on your knees as much as you like, but don't lick!" + +Signor Joseppi lifted his voice, but not in song. In very bad English he +wanted to know how long the Captain thought it would be before they were +rescued, and when he was informed that it might not be for weeks or even +months, he cried out in worse English that he was ruined. He would have +to violate his contract! No impressario would think of engaging him +again! His wonderful American tour! If he was not rescued within a +week--Oh, my God, the consequences! He did not regret the paltry two +thousand a week--for thirty weeks--but to violate a contract! + +Mr. Mott looked rather helpless. He appreciated the fact that Signor +Joseppi was a very great personage, but what was he saying? Was +it--could it be mutiny? + +"I'm sorry, Mr. Joseppi," he broke in, "but if Madame Amori is willing +to take her regular turn at making up berths, I guess it won't hurt you +to help every now and then in the dining-room." + +Signor Joseppi did not understand a word of it. He turned to the man at +his elbow for enlightenment. + +"What did he say?" he whispered. + +"He says you have a perfectly marvellous voice and that he'd give two +thousand any time to hear you sing," replied his neighbour in excellent +Italian. + +Whereupon the Signor favoured the severe-looking Mr. Mott with a beaming +smile and as deep a bow as he could make in such close quarters. + +"A most courteous officer," he said to his neighbour. "It will be a joy +to serve him, my friend. We should, one and all, do what he asks of us, +no matter how mean the task. I, Joseppi,--you have heard of Joseppi, my +friend?--I shall be the example for all of you. Should he say, 'Wash +the dishes, Joseppi,' then will I wash the dishes. I, Joseppi, who never +washed a dish in his life. Should he say, 'Cook the meals, Joseppi,' +then will Joseppi, who never cooked a thing in his life, then will +Joseppi cook the meals. Should he say, 'Joseppi, scrub the floor,' then +will I scrub the floor. Should he say, 'Signor, steer the ship,' then +will I do my best to steer the ship. I who have never steered a ship. So +let me be your example, my friend." + +"That's fine," said his neighbour, as they moved off together. "But +supposing he asks you to sing occasionally to amuse the rest of +us,--what then?" + +"Amuse?" cried the Signor. "Amuse?" + +"Well, then, entertain." + +The great Joseppi pursed his lips. His brows grew dark with trouble. + +"Ah, but that would be violating my contract," he said. "My contract +specifically states that under no circumstances may I--" Then suddenly, +as if renouncing a sacred principle, his brow cleared, and he cried out: +"Damn the contract! Joseppi's voice is his own. Joseppi will do as he +pleases with it. Let him but make the request, my friend,--and Joseppi +will sing till he drops from exhaustion." Lowering his voice to a +confidential undertone, he went on: "And that, my friend, is more than +you will find Careni-Amori willing to do. There is one cold-blooded, +grasping woman for you. Money! She thinks of nothing but money. And +flattery! Ah, how she thrives on flattery. That woman, my friend, +beautiful as she is, has no more heart than a--" + +"Excuse me, please," broke in his listener, in English. "I've got to +beat it." + +He had caught sight of a slim young figure at the head of the stairs,--a +girl in a rumpled blue serge tailor-suit and a tan-coloured sport hat +pulled well down over her dark hair. He made his way through the crowd +and caught her up as she passed out on the deck. + +"I've been terribly worried about you," he began without other greeting, +planting himself in front of her. "I thought maybe you might have--but, +thank the good Lord, you weren't." + +She looked momentarily bewildered. Then she recognized him and held out +her hand. Her face was serious, unsmiling, her voice low and tired. + +"Isn't it dreadful, Mr. Percival? What a terrible experience it has +been. Oh--and I am glad you came through safely, too. But--" as her eyes +narrowed anxiously,-"you were hurt. Your hands?" + +"I can't very well shake hands with you, Miss Clinton," said he. +"Scorched a little, that's all. You'd think it was serious, the way +they're bandaged. One of the sailors fixed them up for me last night. I +can't tell you how glad I am that you are all right. And your aunt? Is +she--" He paused. + +"Auntie is all right, Mr. Percival. She's in bed. Shock and exposure. We +were out there all night. In one of the boats. Katherine,--" her voice +shook a little,--"Katherine is gone. She leaped overboard. I--I saw her +go. I shall never forget it,--never. Aunt Julia's maid. For, oh, so +many years, Mr. Percival." She spoke in sharp, broken sentences, as if +breathless. "You must have been terribly burned. Your hair,--your eyes, +how bloodshot they are." + +"Smoke," he said succinctly. "Singed on this side only. Really nothing +serious. I got off very lightly." + +"Some of the men were frightfully burned," she said with a shudder. "I +am trying to be a nurse. There are two men in my--in my--" + +"I know," he broke in hastily. "Don't talk about it, Miss Clinton. It's +corking of you to take hold like this. Corking!" + +"Tell me about yourself. Where were you when it happened?"' + +"I hate to admit it, but I was having a bite to eat down in the galley. +You see, they'd somehow forgotten to give me anything to eat,--in the +excitement, of course,--and I had been so busy myself it didn't occur +to me to be hungry till rather late in the day. I managed to get on +deck but not until after the bombs had all gone off. My friend, Mr. +Gray,--the Chief Engineer, you know,--was down in the engine-room. +That's how I got my hands burned. Not badly, I assure you, but--well, +they may be a little scarred. You may not know it, but Mr. Gray and I +came from the same place. Baltimore. He belonged to a fine old family +there--and he'd been very kind to me. Poor fellow! Penned in. They never +had a chance down there. He was--well, he died a few minutes after he +was dragged out here on the deck. His clothes were on fire. But let's +not talk about it. Tell me, is there anything I can do to make you more +comfort-able? Or your aunt? I'm what you might call officer of the deck +at present. Mr. Mott--" + +"You ought to be in bed, Mr. Percival," she interrupted sharply. "Your +face is burned, too,--you must be suffering terribly. Wait! Now don't +tell me you are not. I know better. I've seen those other men who were +burned. I--" + +"It's nothing, I tell you," he interrupted, almost roughly. "There are +dozens of men worse off than I am, and are they in bed? Not much. This +is no time to lie down, Miss Clinton, if you've got a leg to stand on. +See that little chap over there with his head and hands covered with +bandages,--and barely able to drag his feet after him? He's an American +jockey. I don't know his name. He was blown twenty or thirty feet +across the after-deck. Brought up at the bottom of a companion-way. He's +nothing but cuts and bruises from head to foot. But he's around on his +wobbly little pins today, just the same, trying to edge in on some sort +of a job. Couldn't keep him in bed." + +Miss Clinton's eyes were full of wonder and incredulity. "I cannot +understand it," she said. "My cousin was with the American Ambulance in +France. He says that the slightest flesh wound sends a soldier to the +hospital." + +"They haven't any choice in the matter. Besides, it isn't the same. Poor +devils, they may have been at it in the trenches for weeks and months. A +wound of any sort means a pleasant vacation. Still," he went on after +a moment, a faint derisive smile on his lips, "we had a big husky up in +Camp who insisted on going to bed every time he had the nosebleed." + +She was looking into his blood-shot eyes, infinite pity and concern in +her own. + +"Will you let me dress your hands, Mr. Percival, whenever it is +necessary? I am getting used to it now." + +"It's good of you, Miss Clinton," he replied gratefully. "But I think +you'd better stick to the fellows who really need attention. Don't add +an extra ounce to your burden. You'll need all of your strength and +courage to face the demands of the next few days. Those chaps have +just begun to suffer. They're going to have a tight squeeze getting +through,--if they get through at all. You have not answered my question. +Is there anything I can do for you or your aunt?" + +"No,--not a thing," she said. "We are quite all right. As Mr. Mott said, +we are all in the same boat, Mr. Percival. We've got to make up our +minds to that. We can't have the comforts and the luxuries we had day +before yesterday. Whatever is left of them, we must share with others." + +"Even with stowaways," he ventured, but not fatuously. + +"No one is likely to forget how our only stowaway came by his wounds," +she said simply. "Despite your modesty, I am quite certain who it was +that carried the Chief Engineer on deck, Mr. Percival. While his clothes +were burning, too." + +Percival turned his face away and many seconds passed before he spoke. + +"By the way," he said at last, a trifle unsteadily, "at regular +intervals the gun up there in the bow is to be fired. You must not be +alarmed when it goes off. There is a chance that some ship may hear the +report. The British have a few warships down here, you know. They would +investigate if they got word of big guns being fired anywhere in these +parts. Mr. Mott will give warning when the gun is to be fired, so that +every one will understand. I--I just thought I'd tell you." + +"Thank you. Good-bye for the present. I must get back to my wounded." + +"Keep your spirits up," he said. "That's the principal job now, Miss +Clinton. Good-bye,--and thank you." + +He watched her as she moved off down the deck. He could not help +noticing that her figure drooped perceptibly. In his mind's eye he saw +her as she was but two days before, straight, graceful, full of the joy +of living, with a stride that was free and swinging. He recalled her +lovely, inquiring grey eyes as she stared at him on that ignominious +afternoon, the parted red lips and the smile that came to them, +the smartly dressed hair, the jaunty hat, the trim sport suit of +tan-coloured jersey--he recalled the alluring picture she made that day, +and sadly shook his head. + +"Poor girl," he said to himself, and walked slowly in the opposite +direction, favouring his left leg. + +He went down to see the Captain. The old seadog was stretched out in his +berth, a look of pain and utter despair in his eyes. One of the Russian +dancers, a rather pretty girl of a distinctly Slavic type, was cleaning +up the room. The ship's doctor had just left. + +"Feeling a bit more comfortable, sir?" inquired the young man. + +"I wish you'd get this girl out of here," growled Captain Trigger with +difficulty. "I want to swear." + +"I think it would be all right to go ahead with it, sir," said Percival. +"She doesn't understand a word of English." + +The Captain shook his head. "I'll let it wait." Then, looking at his +visitor's bandaged hands: "How are your hands, my lad?" + +"Fairly easy. The doctor says the burns are not deep. Mr. Mott asked me +to step in and see you, sir, and give you my opinion as to the bombs. +You see, I've had a great deal of experience with high explosives. There +isn't the slightest doubt in my mind that you found and got rid of the +worst of them. The officer in charge of the gun-crew agrees with me. +They planted the big ones, the ones that were to destroy the ship, down +in the hold, where there was less chance of discovery. The others, I am +convinced, were much smaller. It would have been impossible to hide a +bomb of any noticeable size in any of the places where the explosions +occurred. They went about it very cunningly, very systematically. Of +course, no one saw the bombs that exploded, but judging by the actual +results, they could not have been very powerful." + +"And I also," said the Captain, "thank God we dug out the big ones." +He scowled forlornly. "Dr. Cullen says I am in for a week of this, +Percival. You don't think so, do you?" + +Percival smiled. "I am more or less of an expert on explosives, sir," he +replied. + +"Umph," grunted Captain Trigger. "I see. Just the same, I think I'll be +up and about by tomorrow. If I were your age, young man, you can bet I +wouldn't be lying here in this bed." + +"On the other hand, if I were your age, Captain Trigger," said Percival, +"I'd probably have sense enough to do exactly what the doctor ordered." + +Captain Trigger's mouth fell open. + +"Well, of all the damned--" he began, and then swallowed hard. + + + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +For three days and nights the Doraine drifted lazily in a calm and +rippling sea, always to the southward. The days were bright and warm, +the nights black and chill. It was the spring of the year in that zone. +Without adequate navigation instruments, Mr. Mott was forced to rely to +a great extent on speculation. He was able to make certain calculations +with reasonable accuracy, but they were of little real significance. +It was, of course, possible to determine the general direction in which +they were drifting, and the speed. They were slowly but surely edging +into the strong west wind drift. The Falkland Islands would soon be off +to the right, with South Georgia and the Sandwich group farther to the +south and east, the southernmost tip of Africa to the left. + +Not a sail had been sighted, not a sign of smoke appeared on the +spotless horizon. At regular intervals the gun on the forward deck +boomed thrice in quick succession, startling the lifeless hulk into a +sort of spasmodic vitality. Then she would sink back once more into +the old, irksome lethargy, incapable of resisting the gentlest wave, +submissive to the whim of the slightest breeze. The ship's carpenter +and his men were making slow headway in the well-nigh impossible task of +repairing the rudder. Attempts were being made to rig up makeshift sails +to replace those licked from the supplemental spars by flames that had +earned considerable progress along the roof of the upper deck building +before they were subdued. Blackened, charred masts and yards, stripped +of rigging, reared themselves like pines at the edge of a fire-swept +forest. Sail-makers and riggers laboured stubbornly, but the work was +slow and the means of restoration limited. + +The occupants of the derelict had settled down to a dull, almost dogged +state of resignation. There were several deaths and burials, incidents +that made but little impression on the waiting, watchful survivors. Each +succeeding day brought forth additional watchers to swell the anxious +throng,--resolute and sometimes ungovernable men who, defying their +wounds and the nurses, refused to stay where they could not have a hand +in all that was going on. + +Back of all this pitiful courage, however, lurked the unholy fear that +they might be left to their fate in case the ship had to be hurriedly +abandoned. + +Mr. Mott watched the weather. Every seaman on board the Doraine scanned +the cloudless sky with searching, anxious eyes. They sniffed the steady +wind that blew them farther south. Always they scanned the sky and +sniffed the wind. + +"It's got to come sometime," repeated Captain Trigger, after each report +from Mr. Mott. + +"I've known weather like this to last for weeks," said the First +Officer. + +"In the South Pacific, yes," said the Captain grimly. "But we're in the +South Atlantic, Mott." + +On the sixth day the barometer began to fall. The breeze stiffened. +The sea became choppy, and white-caps danced fitfully over the greenish +stretches, growing wilder and wilder under the whip of a flouting wind. +The two patchwork sails on the lumbering Doraine flapped noisily for +awhile, as if shaking off their tor-por, then suddenly grew taut and +fat with prosperity. The twisted, half-jammed rudder,--far from worthy +despite the efforts of its repairers,--whiningly obeyed the man at +the wheel, and once more the ship felt the caress of the deep on her +cleaving bows. + +The horizon to the north and west seemed to draw nearer, the contrast +between the deepening blue of the water and the clear azure of the +contracting dome more sharply defined. The sky that had been cloudless +for days still remained barren, but the sailor knew what lay beyond the +clear-cut rim of the world. The man of the sea could look far beyond the +horizon. He could see the ugly clouds that were even now speeding down +from the north, invisible as yet but soon to creep into view; he could +see the mighty billows on the other side of that distant line; he could +hear the roar and shriek of the tempest that was still hundreds of +miles away. It was the matter of but a few hours before the wind and the +billows would rush up to smite the Doraine with all their might under +the cover of a black and storm-rent sky. And what was to become of the +vessel, floundering in the path of the hurricane? + +Late afternoon brought the forerunner of the gale, a whistling, howling +squall that frantically strove, it would seem, to outrace the baleful +clouds. Then the Doraine was in the thick of the furious revel of sea +and sky, plunging, leaping, rolling like a monstrous cork.... + +How she managed to weather the storm, God knows, and He alone. At the +mercy of wave and wind, she was tossed and hammered and racked for +two frightful days and nights, and yet she remained afloat, battered, +smashed, raked from stem to stern, stripped of everything the tempest +could wrench from her in its fury. And yet on the third day, when the +storm abated, the sturdy ship was still riding the waves, flayed but +un-conquered, and the baffled sea was licking the sides of her once more +with servile though deceitful tenderness. + +But there was water in the hold. The ship was leaking badly. + +Up from the stifling interior straggled the unhappy inmates. They looked +again upon the unbelievable: a smiling, dancing sea of blue under a +canopy clean and spotless. It was unbelievable. Even the stouthearted +Captain and the faithful mate, blear-eyed and haggard from loss of +sleep, were filled with wonder. + +"I can't understand it," muttered Mr. Mott a dozen times that day, +shaking his head in a bewildered sort of way. "I can't understand how +she did it. By right, she ought to be at the bottom of the ocean, and +here she is on top of it, same as ever." + +"Do you believe in God, Mr. Mott?" asked the Captain solemnly. + +"I do," said Mr. Mott emphatically. After a moment he added: "I've been +a long time coming to it, Captain Trigger, but I do. Nothing short of an +Almighty Being could have steered this ship for the past two days." + +The Captain nodded his head slowly, his gaze fixed on something above +and far beyond the horizon. + +"I suppose it's too much to ask of Him, though," said he, audibly +completing a thought. + +Mr. Mott evidently had been thinking of the same thing, for he said: + +"I'm sorry to say it's gained about two feet on the pumps since last +night." + +Captain Trigger's face was very grave. "That means a couple of days more +at the outside." His eyes rested speculatively on the three lifeboats +still hanging above the starboard rail. There was another being repaired +on the port side. "More than six hundred of us on board, Andrew." His +head dropped suddenly, his chin twitched. Mr. Mott looked away. + +"I don't believe it will come to that," said he, an odd note of +confidence in his voice. "'Tain't likely, old friend, that God would see +us safely through all we've had to tackle and then desert us in the end. +Something's bound to turn up. I've a feeling,--a queer feeling,--that +we're going to pull out of this all right. I know it looks mighty +hopeless, but--" + +"Just the same, Mr. Mott," broke in the Captain, lifting his head and +setting his jaw, "you'd better set all available hands to work on the +rafts immediately. It's true God has helped us through a lot, but it +strikes me we'd better be on the safe side and help God a little at +this stage of the game. He is wonderful, Andrew, but He isn't wonderful +enough to keep man afloat very long unless man himself builds the raft. +So don't lose a minute." + +Anxious, inquiring eyes followed the Captain and his First Officer +wherever they went. On all sides were silent, beaten people who asked +no questions, for they were afraid of the answers. Sick, dazed, haggard, +they stared hopelessly, drearily out over the water; for all that their +faces revealed the end was near at hand and they cared but little. They +had been through one hell; death could bring nothing worse. + +Here and there a stout-hearted optimist appeared among them, but his +very cheerfulness seemed to offend. They did not want to hear his silly, +stupid predictions that something was "sure to turn up." They knew +that water was coming into the hold; they knew that there were but four +lifeboats and seven hundred men and women; they knew that the Doraine +was going down in a very few hours; they knew that the Captain had given +up all hope of rescue. Nothing could "turn up" now but death. + +Madame Obosky had taken a great fancy to Algernon Adonis Percival, and +for a most peculiar reason. He had, it appears, abused her roundly +on the first night of the storm for venturing on deck against orders, +compelling him to risk what he considered a very precious life in a +successful effort to drag her back to safety. As a matter of fact, +he did not drag her back to safety. That feat was accomplished by two +sailors who managed to reach both of them before another devastating +wave came up to tear his grip loose from the broken rail to which he +clung with one bandaged hand while he kept her from sliding into the sea +with the other. + +He was very angry. In the first place, his hands hurt him dreadfully, +and in the second place she had forced him to disobey orders by going +out to save her. He did not mutter his complaints. He told her in plain +and violent English what he thought of her, and if she went out there +again he'd be damned happy to let her drown. + +Now, it had been some time since any man had had the hardihood or +temerity to upbraid Madame Obosky. No male had cursed her since she +left Petrograd,--and that was four years ago. She had been cursed often +enough by her own sex,--professionally, of course,--but the men she +had encountered since leaving Russia were either too chivalrous or too +cowardly to abuse her, and she missed it terribly. + +She had gone through a very hard school in order to become one of the +principal dancers in her land. Teachers had cursed her, teachers had +beaten her,--and they always were men. + +When she was eighteen she married a lion-tamer. Who would have thought +that a man who trained lions could be gentle and mild, and as tame as +the beasts he had beaten for years? She was barely nineteen when he +died, quite suddenly. There was a dark rumour that she had poisoned him. +True or false, the rumour persisted, and she soon became one of the most +popular dancers in the Empire. For three years she had a manager who +treated her so vilely, so contemptuously that she tried to kill his +wife, whereupon the unnatural husband refused to have anything more to +do with her. + +She was dancing in Germany when the War broke out, but succeeded in +getting over into Holland within a week or two, thereby escaping what +she was pleased to describe as "something zat no woman could endure, no +matter how long she have live' in Russia." Paris and London had treated +her kindly, courteously, but that was to be expected, she repined, +because all of the real men were off at the front fighting. Instead of +being scowled at and ordered about by managers and orchestra leaders, or +brow-beaten by hotel-clerks and head-waiters, she met with nothing +but the most servile politeness,--due, she was prone to argue, to the +unquestioned decadence of the French and English races. They were a +bloodless lot, those Frenchmen and Englishmen. + +It was the same in Rio Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Santiago,--and it would +be even worse in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. The Americans, she +had heard, were the worst of them all. They didn't know the first thing +about the majesty of sex. The Indian, she understood, was an exception. +From all accounts, he knew how to treat his woman. + +She was homesick. Her heart leaped with joy when she discovered in +Percival what she believed to be a domineering, masterful man. He had +been neither servile, nor polite, nor afraid. He had treated her,--at +least for an illuminating, transcendent ten minutes,--as if she were +the dirt under his feet,--and he was an American at that. True, he had +apologized a little later on, and had blushed quite becomingly in doing +so, but nothing,--nothing in the world,--would ever make her believe +that he was not the sort of man who could be depended upon to put a +woman in her place and keep her there. He might apologize until he was +black in the face and still be unable to take back the words he had +uttered. Notwithstanding that he, in his apology, professed to have +mistaken her in the darkness for one of the Portuguese immigrant women +who didn't understand a word of English, she forgave him quite humbly, +and that was going pretty far for Olga Obosky, whose identity ought not +to have been a matter of doubt, even on the darkest of nights. + +She was a lithe, perfectly formed young woman, beautiful in an unusual +way. Her body was as sinuous as that of a woodland nymph. Indeed, in +one of her most spectacular dances, she appeared as a nymph, barefooted, +bare-legged, and,--as Mrs. Spofford caustically remarked,--bare-faced. +She possessed the marvellously clear, colourless complexion found only +among the purely Slavic women. Her lips were red and sensuous, her eyes +darkly mysterious and brooding, her hair as black as the raven's wing. + +When she smiled her face became strikingly alive, radiant, transforming +her into a jolly, good-natured, wholesome girl in whom not the faintest +trace of the carnal was left. Every move, every thought, every impulse +was feminine; her imagination was feminine; she cast the spell of her +femininity over all with whom she came in contact. Primitively sensuous, +she was also primitively wary,--and so she was ineffably feminine. + +Prior to the time of her dramatic encounter with the American, she had +favoured him with no more than a glance or two of curiosity. He was a +stowaway; for a brief while he was suspected of being involved in the +plot to blow up the ship. That was enough for her. Twice she had seen +Miss Clinton talking with him, and once, just before the storm set in, +she had paused to watch the young American girl renew the bandages on +his hands after dressing the burns. Half an hour after he had apologized +for speaking so roughly to her, she decided that it was her duty to hunt +him up and minister to him. The ship was rolling terribly, the din of +the elements was deafening, but Olga Obosky was not a faint-hearted +person. She went forth boldly, confidently. Terrified, clinging +observers marvelled at her sure-footedness, at the graceful way in which +her sinuous body bent itself to the perilous heavings of the vessel. + +She found him in the reading-room, seated in a corner. Miss Clinton was +readjusting the bandage on one of his hands. Half a dozen people were +in the room, manfully defying the turmoil that had sent nearly every one +else to bed in terror and distress. Without hesitation the dancer joined +the couple in the corner. Her smile was engaging; a faint line between +her eyebrows signified the concern she felt for him. + +WEST WIND DRIFT + +Miss Clinton looked up from her work. Her smile was politely +accusative,--and brief. + +"It is all my fault," began Madame Obosky, standing before them, her +feet wide apart, her knees bent slightly to meet the varying slants and +lurches of the vessel. She spoke the English language confidently and +well. Her accent, which was scarcely noticeable, betrayed the fact that +she had mastered French long before attempting English. There was +a piquant boldness in the occasional misplacing of words and in the +haphazard construction of sentences. She was unafraid. + +"I have subject him to much pain and discomfort," she went on, +addressing the girl. "Those poor hand! It is I who should kiss them, +Mademoiselle, not you." + +"Kiss them?" gasped Miss Clinton. + +"Of no doubt," said Madame Obosky readily. "Do they not pain because of +me? Should I not kiss the hand who snatch me from the horrible death? +From the Kingdom Come, as the doctor he say to me such a little time +ago. And you, Mademoiselle, who have not been save by him from +the Kingdom Come, you attend his hands and make him to be greatly +comfortable." + +"I am merely dressing the burns, Madame Obosky," said the other, coldly. +"I have done as much for the other poor fellows who--" + +"I know, I know," broke in the Russian, smiling. "You must not be offend +with me if I speak your language so badly." + +"It strikes me you speak it most acceptably," interposed Percival. + +"What is your name?" she asked abruptly. "I have heard you called the +stowaway. No one has speak your name to me." + +"My name is Percival," said he. + +"It is a pretty name," said she, dubiously. "But surely you do not +approve of me to call you Percival so quick. What is the other name, the +name I am to--" + +"That's the trouble with a name like mine. It sounds so beastly informal +when you leave off the Mister, and it sounds as if you'd been a servant +in the family for at least one generation if you stick it on. If you +could only call me Monsieur Percival, or Senor Percival, or even Herr +Percival, it wouldn't seem so bad, but Mister Percival,--well, it's +pretty soft, isn't it, Miss Clinton?" + +"Please hold your hand still, Mr. Percival," ordered the girl. She +smiled up at the puzzled dancer. "His name is Mr. Percival, Madame +Obosky. That's the poor creature's last name." + +"Oh, I see. Then even you, Mademoiselle, may not call him Percival?" + +"No, I do not call him Percival." + +"You see, she's known me such a very short time," explained the subject +of these remarks. + +For a few moments Madame Obosky watched the bandaging process in +silence. When she spoke again it was to say: + +"You are so skilful, so gentle, Mademoiselle. I am taking a lesson in +gentleness from you." + +"It is quite simple, Madame. I am very awkward. I have had no +experience. But if we ever live to see home again, I shall prepare +myself at once for work in France. We are needed over there. We will be +needed more than ever, now that America has gone in. Our own soldiers +are over there, God bless them." + +Madame Obosky gave her a pitying look. + +"You may thank your God that you do not live in a land of soldiers, +Mademoiselle. If you did, you would not be so eager to nurse them back +to life. Do I shock you? Voila! When you train a boy to be a soldier, as +the boys are trained in my country and in Germany, you make an animal of +him,--and not a very nice animal at that. You nurse him back to life and +strength and in return for your kindness he outrages you, and goes his +way rejoicing. No, I do not like the soldiers." + +Miss Clinton did not look up. Percival stared at the Russian for a +moment and then observed: + +"I don't think you can say that of the French or the English, Madame." + +She shrugged her shoulders. "Quite true. But the French and the English, +Mr. Percival, are decadent races," she said coolly, as if there were +nothing more to be said on the subject. "Please, Mademoiselle," she went +on, briskly, "will you not let me see how you have prepared his hands? I +mean, how have you,--is it right to say fixed them?" + +"Dressed them, you mean, Madame Obosky." + +"I see. First you undress them, then you dress them, is it not so?" + +Ruth Clinton laughed. The woman was quaint. + +"I am about to begin on the left hand. You may watch me, if you care to +do so." + +"Will it not make you embarrass?" + +"Why should I be embarrassed?" inquired Ruth, flushing. + +"I have said the wrong word," lamented the other. "Nervous,--zat,--that +is the word." + +"They're not very lovely things to look at," said Percival. "All red and +blistery and greasy. Miss Clinton is a regular heroine to tackle 'em." + +"I have witnessed some very terrible sights, Mr. Percival," said +the Russian, her eyes narrowing. "Have you ever seen a little Jewish +girl,--but no, Mademoiselle, no! I have catch the look in your eyes. I +shall not tell you what I have seen. Go on! I shall be silent and take +my first lesson." + +Closely, intently she watched the process. When it was all over and the +bottle containing ointment had been restored to the patient's pocket, +she spread out her hands and exclaimed: + +"It is not difficult. May I inquire where the gauze bandages are to be +obtained, Miss Clinton? And do you always use the same safety pins?" + +She arose early the next morning. Rousing her maid, she ordered her to +apply to the ship's surgeon for bandages and to fetch them to her at +once. + +"I know,--yes, I know. You are dying, but do as I tell you. This +instant! Why should you, a great hulking beast of a woman, be dying +every minute of the day while I, not half your size, am tingling all +over with life? Go!" + +"But, Madame," groaned the wretched woman, rolling her eyes, "I shall +be dashed to pieces against the walls. I cannot stand. My legs will not +hold me up. They--" + +"Enough! That is no excuse. My legs manage to hold me up." + +"But, Madame, it is my legs I am speaking of. My legs are not like +yours." + +"Any fool can see that," retorted her mistress, and the ungainly maid +staggered out on her mission. + +Later on, supplied with a roll of gauze, Madame Obosky set out in quest +of her preserver. Even the veterans among the seamen gazed upon her +in wondering admiration as she made her way about the ship. She was a +revelation to them. The increasing fury of the storm had driven all save +the hardiest sailors and a few of the non-praying male passengers to +their rooms. Now and then one or two of the courageous, devoted nurses +appeared in the corridors, reeling from patient to patient, but except +for them the ship seemed entirely bereft of women. Small wonder then +that the lithe, undaunted Russian created a sensation among the sailors +who themselves were cold with dread. + +She discovered him at last, coming up the steps from the devastated +engine room. He was with Mr. Mott and several other half-dressed men. +Their faces were grave,--more serious than ever. They had been down to +investigate the leak. Percival was stripped to the waist. The glare of +the lanterns fell upon his broad shoulders and powerful arms, bronzed +and burnished by the sun of the high hills. + +"Come," she said, laying her hand on one of his brawny arms, "I have +with me the bandages." She sent a swift glance over him, and smiled. +"But I see you have not the bottle. Is it in your cabin, Mr. Percivail?" + +He flushed darkly under his coat of tan. His companions stared for a +moment, and then went on. + +"I am busy," he said. "I haven't the time now, Madame Obosky. Thank you, +just the same." Then a sense of loyalty to the girl who had been kind to +him impelled him to add: "Besides, Miss Clinton has been taking care of +my hands. She has got used to dressing them, so I--" + +"But it is my duty now," she protested. "She owes so little to you and I +so much. Come, let us procure the lotion. Where is your cabin?" + +He held back. "You can't go to my cabin." + +"And why not?" she exclaimed, in surprise. "Does not Miss Clinton go to +your cabin?" + +"No, she does not!" + +"But she goes to the cabins of other men who are wounded. I have see her +with my own eyes." + +"That's different. They can't come to her." + +She looked searchingly into his eyes. + +"I see," she said after a moment. "You are in love with her." + +"Ridiculous," he exclaimed, scowling. + +"And so you prefer to have her fix your hands. I see, my friend. Voila! +If so is the case, I am outcast." + +"But, confound it, it isn't the case," he cried. "It's simply this: I +wouldn't for the world have her feel that I am not grateful, and that's +exactly what it would look like if I allowed you or any one else to butt +in, Madame Obosky." + +"Butt in?" she said, a puzzled look in her dark eyes. "What is that?" + +"It's English for interfere," said he, shortly. + +She removed her hand from his arm. He was conscious of the abrupt +termination of an exquisite thrill. + +"Very well," she said, lifting her chin. "I shall not interfere." + +"Forgive me, please," he said. "It's mighty good of you. Please don't +think me ungracious. You understand, however,--don't you?" + +"No, I do not," she replied, shaking her head slowly. Suddenly her eyes +widened. "Is it because I dance in my bare feet, in my bare legs, that +you think so vilely of me?" + +He stared. "Good Lord! I don't think vilely of you, Madame Obosky. I +wasn't even aware that you danced in your bare feet and legs." + +"You have never seen Obosky dance?" she cried in astonishment. + +"Never." + +She frowned. "Then, my friend, I was wrong in what I say just now. Most +men who have seen me dance think I am a bad woman, and so they either +covet me or despise me. If you have not had ze pleasure of seeing me, +Mr. Percivail, you do not either covet me or despise me. That is fine. +It is good to know that you do not despise me." Observing the expression +in his eyes, she went on calmly. "Oh, yes, I shall be very much please +to have you covet me. Zat--that is all right. But if you despise +me,--no, no, zat would be terrible." + +For a moment he was dashed. He did not know how to take her remark. She +was a new, a strange type to him. After a sharp, quick look into +her eyes, however, he came to the conclusion that she was absolutely +sincere. So far as she was concerned, it was as if she had said nothing +more outrageous than: "I shall be please to consider you one of my +admirers." + +"My dear Madame," he said, smiling, "permit me to express the hope that +both of us may go on to the end of our days without having our peace of +mind disturbed." + +She looked puzzled for a moment, and then favoured him with her broad, +good-natured smile. + +WEST WIND DRIFT 85 + +"Spoken like a Frenchman," she cried, and added, "and with equal +sincerity, I fear. Go your way, Monsieur Percivail. I shall keep my +gauze. Some day when we are very old people and very old friends I may +then be permitted to bandage your hands. At present, however, the risk +is too great, eh? I am so inexperience. I might by accident tie your +hands in my clumsiness, and zat--that would make so much trouble for +Miss Clinton to untie zem,--yes?" + +Now there was mockery in her eyes. His face hardened. + +"I must be on my way," he said curtly. "We have been looking things over +down below. The Captain is waiting for our report." + +He bowed and started off. She swung along at his side. + +"What have you discover, Mr. Percivail?" she inquired anxiously. + +"That, Madame Obosky, is something that will have to come from Captain +Trigger." + +"I see. That means it is bad. I see." + +The lurching of the ship threw her body against his. She righted herself +promptly, but did not reveal the slightest confusion nor utter a word of +apology. + +"By Jove, you're a cool one!" he exclaimed. "I don't believe you know +the meaning of fear. Don't you realize, Madame Obosky, that we are in +the gravest peril? Don't you know this ship has but one chance in a +thousand to pull through?" + +"Ah, my friend, but it has the one chance, has it not? Surely I know the +meaning of fear. I am afraid of rats and snakes and thieves--and drunken +soldiers. I am afraid of death,--terribly afraid of death. Oh, yes, I +know what fear is, Mr. Percivail." + +"Then, why don't you show it now?" he cried. "Good Lord, I don't mind +confessing that I'm scared half to death. I don't want to die like +this,--like a rat in a trap." + +"But you are not going to die," she proclaimed. "I too would be groaning +and praying in my bed if I thought we were going down to the bottom of +zis dreadful ocean. But we are not. I have no fear. We shall come out +all right on top, and some day we will laugh and tell funny stories +about how everybody else was frightened but us,--us apiece, I mean." + +"Well, you're a wonder! And how the deuce do you manage to keep your +feet with the ship rolling like this?" + +"Two things I have been taught, since I am ten years old. First, to keep +my head, and second to keep my feet. In my profession, one must do both. +You will always find me doing that. Good-bye,--we part here. You will +not forget zat--that I have retain the bandage for you? And you will not +ever despise me?" + +As she turned away a roll that must have caused the wallowing vessel to +list thirty-five degrees at the very least, sent her headlong across the +passage. She slipped down in a heap. The same lurch had sent him reeling +against the wall some distance away. She sat up but did not at once +attempt to arise. Instead she clutched frantically at her skirt to draw +it down over her shapely ankles and calves. In the lantern light he +saw the dismayed, shamed look in her eyes and the vivid blush of +embarrassment that suffused her pale cheeks. As the ship rolled back, +he moved forward to assist her, but she sprang lightly to her feet and +hurried on ahead of him, disappearing around a corner. + +"Well, by gosh!" he muttered aloud in his surprise. "And she dances half +naked before thousands of people every night! Can you beat it! The last +person in the world you'd think would care a whoop, and she turns out +to be as finicky about her legs as your grandmother. Women certainly are +queer." + +With this profound comment on the inconsistency of the sex, he took +himself off in the direction of the Captain's quarters,--a forward cabin +which served in lieu of the dismantled bridge. + + + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +He saw but little of her during the next forty-eight hours. She +seemed to avoid him. At any other time and in other circumstances he +undoubtedly would have resented her indifference,--a very common and +natural masculine failing,--but in these strenuous hours he was too +fully occupied with the affairs of life and death. Once she stopped him +to inquire if Miss Clinton was still able to dress his wounds. + +"Once a day," he replied. "She's even pluckier than you are, Madame +Obosky." + +Her eyes narrowed. "Indeed?" + +"Yes, because she believes we are going to die--every one of us. It +takes pluck to keep going when you've got that sort of thing to face, +doesn't it?" + +Her gesture took in the dozen or more men within range of her vision. +"It should take no more pluck to keep a woman going than a man, my +friend. You do not call yourself plucky, do you? I do not call myself +plucky. On the contrary, I call myself a coward. I am afraid to stay in +my stateroom. I like to be out in the open like zis. One has to be very, +very brave, Mr. Percivail, to lie in one's bed all alone and think that +death is waiting just outside the thin little walls. Miss Clinton is +splendid, but she is not plucky. She is as I am: afraid of the darkness, +afraid to be alone, afraid to be where she cannot know and see all zat +is happening. She has a woman's courage, just as I have it,--if you +please. It is the courage that depends so much on the courage of others. +You think I am brave. I am brave because I am with trained, efficient +men. But if the Captain were to come to me now as I stand here, and say +zat the ship is to sink in ten minutes and that we all must go down with +her, would I face it bravely? No! I would throw myself down on the floor +and scream and pray and tear my hair. Why? Because the men had given up. +I am kept up by the courage of others. That is the courage of woman. She +must be supported in her pain, in her suffering, in her courage." + +"Well, if you put it that way, there are very few men who would take +such an announcement from the Captain calmly." + +"Perhaps not, my friend. But if there were room for but few in the +boats, who would stay behind and go down with the ship? Nine out of +every ten of the men. Why? Not because they are all courageous, I grant +you, but because of the horrible conceit that makes them our masters. +Pride and conceit constitute what stands for courage in most men. The +wild animal has no conceit, he has no pride. Does the male lion rush out +to be shot in place of his mate? He do not. He sneaks off in the high +reeds and leaves her to take care of herself. The Captain of this +steamer is so full of pride zat he will stay on it till it goes under +the wave. It is not courage, Mr. Percivail. It is his pride in the +power zat--that God has give to his sex. These men here,--you, my +friend,--face the danger now so unflinching for why? Because for ages +and ages you have believe in and depend upon the man beside you, the men +around you. Zat is the difference between man and woman. Woman believes +in and depends on man. She has no faith in her own sex. So, you see, my +friend, when I say I am brave and you say Miss Clinton is plucky, it is +all because we have men about us who are so proud and conceited zat they +will die before they will admit that they are not as helpless and as +weak as we are in times like zis." + +"You may be right," he mused, struck by her argument. "It's usually +pride that makes a man stand up and fight another, even when he knows +he's sure to be beaten. It's neither confidence nor courage. It's just +plain fear of being a coward." + +"You will admit then that I understand the wonderful male animal which +struts on two legs and rules all the other animals of the world, eh? +It is the only animal in the whole big world zat--that is completely +satisfied with itself. So now, Mr. Percivail, you have the secret of the +so-called courage of the male of our species." + +"I hope all women haven't gone into the subject so deeply," he said, +with a rueful smile. "You make rather small potatoes of us." + +"Ah, do not say that," she cried, "for, alas, I am denied potatoes." + +"Well, then," he said, laughing, "if all women understood us as well as +you do, we wouldn't rule the world very much longer. They'd yank us off +the pedestal and revile us forevermore." + +"But you do not understand women, my friend. Did we not bring you into +the world? Are you not our sons, and therefore begotten to be kings? We +may despise our husbands, we may loathe our brothers and our fathers, +we women, but our sons are the gods we worship. My dear Mr. Percivail, +women will go on being ruled to the end of time unless they cease +populating the world with sons. The mother of the man is the humblest +subject of the son and yet the proudest. The mothers of kings, of +emperors, of presidents,--do they think of them as kings, emperors, +presidents? No. They think of them as sons. That is why man is supreme. +That is why he rules. To be sure, we women are not always disposed to +have our husbands rule, we even go so far as to say they are not fit +to rule, but alas, the men we are permitted to know the best of all +are always the sons of some one else, and so there you have the endless +chain. Sons! Sons! Sons! Sons to create new sons,--sons without end, +amen! God bless our sons!" + +"And I say God bless our mothers!" + +"In that one little sentence, Mr. Percivail, spoke from the heart, +you have reveal the secret history of the world. You have account for +everything." + +"You are a million years old, Madame Obosky," he said, looking into her +deep, unfathomable eyes. + +She smiled. "So? And which of my sons, Mr. Percivail, do you think I +love the most? Cain or Abel?" + +"It would take a woman to answer that question. There's one thing +certain, however. You loved both of them more than you loved Adam." + +"True. But I followed Adam out of the Garden of Eden and I have never +left his heels from zat day to this. What more could any man ask?" + +On the second morning after the storm, the lookout fixed his straining +eyes on a far-distant, shadowy line that had not been a part of the +boundless horizon the day before. Dawn was breaking, night was lifting +her sheet from the new-born day. He waited. He could not be sure. +Minutes that seemed like hours passed. Then suddenly his hoarse shout +rose out of the silence: + +"Land ho!" + +Down into the heart of the ship boomed the cry, taken from the lookout's +lips by one after another of the weary men below. The sweating, +exhausted toilers who manned the pumps paused for a moment, then fell +to work again revitalized. Out from the cabins, up from every nook and +corner of the ship scrambled the excited horde, fully dressed, their +faces haggard with doubt, their eyes aglow with joy. Land! In every +round little window gleamed a face,--for a moment only along the +portside. Nothing but the same endless ocean on the port side of the +ship. Water! Sick and wounded drew themselves up to the portholes and +peered out from their cells for the first time. + +"Where?... Where?" ran the wild, eager cry of the scurrying throng, and +there was disappointment--bitter disappointment in their voices. They +had been tricked. There was no land in sight! The glasses of the ship's +officers, clustered far forward, were directed toward some point off the +starboard bow, but if there was land over there it was not visible to +the naked eye. A junior engineer saluted Captain Trigger and left the +group. + +"There is land ahead,--a long way off," he announced as he passed +through the throng in the saloon deck. + +Up above the clamour of questions shouted from all sides as the crazed +people flocked behind the messenger of hope, rose the voice of Morris +Shine. + +"Land ahoy! Ahoy-yoy-yoy!" he yelled over and over again, his chin +raised like that of a dog baying at the moon. + +Every person on deck was either carrying a life-belt or was already +encased in one. Grim orders of the night just past. Here and there were +to be seen men who clutched tightly the handles of suitcases and kit +bags! Evidently they were expecting to step ashore at once. In any case, +they belonged to the class of people who never fail to crowd their +way down the gang-plank ahead of every one else. The fashionable ocean +liners always have quite a number of these on board, invariably in the +first cabin. + +Percival ranged the decks in quest of Ruth Clinton. She was well aft on +the boat deck, where the rail was not so crowded as it was forward. +Her arm was about the drooping, pathetic figure of her aunt. They were +staring intently out over the water,--the girl's figure erect, vibrant, +alive with the spirit of youth, her companion's sagging under the doubt +and scepticism of age. He hesitated a moment before accosting them. +Nicklestick, the Jew, was excitedly retailing the news to them. He went +so far as to declare that he could see land quite clearly,--and so could +they if they would only look exactly where he was pointing. He claimed +to have been one of the very first men on board to see the land. + +Ruth was hatless. Her braided brown hair had been coiled so hastily, so +thoughtlessly that stray strands fell loose about her neck and ears to +be blown gaily by the breeze across her cheek. Her blouse was open at +the neck, her blue serge jacket flared in the wind. Every vestige of the +warm, soft colour had left her face. She was deathly pale with emotion. + +Percival was suddenly conscious of a mist bedimming his eyes. + +Several people were grouped near them at the rail, listening to +Nicklestick. The stowaway joined them. As if sensing his presence, Ruth +turned suddenly and saw him. + +"Oh!" she cried, tremulously. "Have--have you seen it, Mr. Percival?" + +"No," he replied. "It won't be visible for an hour or so longer. It's +off there all right, though. The lookout, Captain Trigger and several +others got a glimpse of it before the sun began to pull the mist up +to obscure it for a little while. That's mist over there," he went on, +turning to Nicklestick. "You couldn't see the Andes Mountains if they +were where that strip of land is hidden. It won't be long, Miss Clinton, +before we all can see it." + +"How far away is it?" she asked, controlling her voice with an effort. +"Do they know? Can they estimate?" + +"I'll tell you what let's do," he said abruptly. "Let's go up on the sun +deck. I've got Mr. Gray's glasses. We can see better up there. Let me +assist you, Mrs. Spofford. The sun deck is pretty badly smashed up and +littered with all sorts of wreckage, but we can manage it all right." + +Mrs. Spofford looked at him intently for a moment. + +"I remember you now," she said. "Are you sure,--are you positive there +is land over there?" + +"I have Captain Trigger's word for it." + +"And mine, too," added Mr. Nicklestick. "You may rest assured, Mrs. +Spofford, that we will all be on dry land before many hours." + +Percival leaned close to the speaker and said in a very low but emphatic +tone: + +"You don't know a damn thing about it, so keep your trap closed. If +you're a man, you won't go on raising false hopes in the breasts of +these women." + +Nicklestick's jaw fell. He whispered: + +"My God,--ain't we--you don't mean to say there is a chance we won't be +able to--" + +But Percival had turned away with the two women. Mrs. Spofford took his +arm, leaning heavily against him. Her figure had straightened, however. +He had given her the needed confidence. + +They made their way up the steps leading to the topmost deck. Others had +already preceded them. A dozen men and women were looking out over +the sea through their binoculars. They recognized Landover, Madame +Careni-Amori (clutching her jewel case), Joseppi, Fitts and one or two +more. Olga Obosky was well forward, seated on the edge of a partially +wrecked skylight and ventilator. Her three dancing girls were with her, +closely grouped. + +Percival purposely remained near the steps. He knew full well that the +ship's hours were numbered. It was only a question of time when she +would founder. In the lee of one of the big stacks they huddled close +together and waited for the lifting of the veil. The wind was soft but +strong up there at the top of the vessel. He took hope in the fact that +it was blowing toward the shores of that unseen land, and that slowly +but surely the Doraine was drifting thither. + +Suddenly, as if a curtain were being raised, a far-off line appeared on +the surface of the waters. Higher rose the curtain, and like magic the +line developed into an irregular ridge, the ends of which sank below the +horizon far to the right and left. + +Percival felt the girl's hand on his arm. He shot a swift glance at her +face. It was turned away. She staring at the mystic panorama that was +being unveiled off there on the rim of the world. Her eyes were bright, +her lips were parted in the ecstasy of hope revived, she was breathing +deeply. The pulse in her smooth white neck was beating rapidly, +rythmically. He could see it. He laid his bandaged hand firmly upon hers +and pressed it tightly to his arm. She did not look around. Her every +thought was centred upon the unfolding vision. + +"There are trees," she murmured, enthralled. "Trees,--and hills! See, +Auntie,--but oh, how far away they are!" + +For many minutes they stood there without speaking. Then from all sides +came the clamour of voices,--shouts of joy, cheers,--laughter! She +looked down at the clumsy object that imprisoned her hand, then swiftly +up into his eyes. A warm flush spread over her face. + +"I--I couldn't help it," he muttered. "It--it looked so helpless." + +"It isn't half as helpless as yours, Mr. Percival," she said, and +smiled. She waited a moment before withdrawing her hand. "May I have the +glasses, please? Had you forgotten them?" + +"Completely," he replied. + +Later, while Mrs. Spofford was peering through the glasses, she drew him +aside. + +"Tell me about the water in the hold," she said in a low tone. "Is it +serious?" + +He looked grave. "Very. If you will take a peep over the side of the +ship, you'll see how low down she is in the water." + +"My aunt doesn't know the ship is leaking," she went on, hurriedly. "I +want to keep it from her as long as possible." He nodded his head. + +"Mr. Mott figures we'll stay afloat for ten or twelve hours,--maybe +longer. I will see to it that you and Mrs. Spofford get into one of the +boats in case we--well, just in case, you know. We will be given ample +warning, Miss Clinton. Things don't look as hopeless as they did last +night." He pointed toward the land. "It looks like heaven, doesn't it?" + +Her face clouded. "But only a very few of us may--" she stopped, +shuddering. + +"You poor little girl!" he cried brokenly. He steadied himself and went +on: "It wouldn't surprise me in the least if every blessed one of us got +safely ashore." + +"You do not believe that, Mr. Percival. I can tell by the look in your +eyes. I want you to promise me one thing. If we have to take to the +boats, you will come with us--" + +He drew himself up. "My dear Miss Clinton, there is quite a difference +between being a stowaway on an ocean liner and being one in a lifeboat. +I have no standing on this ship. I have no right in one of her boats. I +am the very last person on board to be considered." + +She looked searchingly into his eyes, her own wide with comprehension. +"You mean you will make no effort to leave the ship until every one else +is--" + +He checked her with a gesture of his hand. "I may be one of the first to +leave. But I'll not rob any one else of his place in a boat or his space +on one of those rafts. I'll swim for it." + +Slowly the land crept down upon the Doraine. The illusion was startling. +The ship seemed to be lying absolutely motionless; it was the land that +approached instead of the other way round. A thin white beach suddenly +emerged from the green background to the left, to the right an ugly mass +of rocks took shape, stretching as far as the eye could reach. Farther +inland rose high, tree covered hills, green as emeralds in the blazing +sunlight. On a sea of turquoise lolled the listless Doraine. + +Soundings were taken from time to time. Even the bottom of the ocean was +coming up to meet the Doraine. Its depth appreciably lessened with each +successive measurement. From fifty fathoms it had decreased to ten since +the first line was dropped. + +At four o'clock, Captain Trigger ordered a boat lowered and manned by a +picked crew in charge of the Second Engineer. The Doraine was about +five miles off shore at the time, and was drifting with a noticeably +increased speed directly toward the rock-bound coast. He had hoped she +would go aground in the shallow waters off the sandy beach, but there +was now no chance that such a piece of good fortune was in store for +her. She was going straight for the huge black rocks. + +The boat's crew rowed in for observations. Even before they returned to +report, the anxious officers on board the vessel had made out a narrow +fissure in the rocky coast line. They assumed that it was the mouth of +a small river. The Second Engineer brought back the astonishing +information that this opening in the coast was the gateway to a channel +that in his judgment split the island into two distinct sections. That +it was not the mouth of a river was made clear by the presence of a +current so strong that his men had to exert themselves to the utmost to +prevent the boat being literally sucked into the channel by the powerful +tide, which apparently was at its full. This opening,--the water rushed +into it so swiftly that he was satisfied it developed into a gorge +farther back from the coast,--was approximately two hundred yards wide, +flanked on either side by low lying, formidable bastions of rock. The +water was not more than fifty feet deep off the entrance to the channel. + +Gradually the prow of the Doraine swung around and pointed straight for +the cleft in the shore. The ship, two miles out, had responded to +the insidious pressure of the current and was being drawn toward the +rocks,--at first so slowly that there was scarcely a ripple off her +bows; then, as she lumbered onward, she began to turn over the water as +a ploughshare turns over the land. + +At precisely six o'clock she slid between the rocky portals and entered +a canal so straight and true that it might have been drilled and blasted +out of the earth under the direction of the most skilful engineers in +the world. + +Soundings were hastily taken. Discovering that the water was not deep +enough even at high tide to submerge the vessel when the inevitable came +to pass and she sank to the bottom, Captain Trigger renewed his efforts +to release the anchor chains, which had been caught and jammed in the +wreckage. He realized the vital necessity for checking the Doraine in +her flight before she accomplished the miracle of passing unhindered +through the channel and out into the open sea beyond. The swiftness of +the current indicated plainly enough that this natural canal was of no +great length. + +The ship slid on between the tree lined banks. The trees were of the +temperate zone, with spreading limbs, thick foliage and hardy trunks. +There were no palms visible, but in the rarely occurring open spaces +a large shrub abounded. This was instantly recognized by Percival, who +proclaimed it to be the algaroba, a plant commonly found on the Gran +Chaco in Argentina. While the woodland was thick there was nothing about +it to suggest the tropical jungle with its impenetrable fastnesses. + +The keel of the half-sunken Doraine was scraping ominously on the bed +of the channel. She shivered and swerved from frequent contact with +submerged rocks, but held her course with uncanny steadiness, while +every soul on board gazed with stark, despairing eyes at the land which +mocked them as they passed. Far on ahead loomed the lofty hills, and +beyond them lay--What? The ocean? + +Gradually the passage widened. Its depth also increased. The ship no +longer scraped the bottom, she no longer caromed off the sunken rocks. +On the other hand, water poured into her interior with increasing force +and volume, indicating a disastrous rent forward. She was sloshing along +toward the centre of a basin which appeared to be half a mile wide and +not more than a mile long. Directly ahead of her the hills came down +to meet the water. A dark narrow cut, with towering sides, indicated an +outlet for the tiny, inland sea. This gorge, toward which the Doraine +was being resistlessly drawn, appeared to be but little wider than the +ship itself. + +Almost in the shadow of the hills, and within a dozen ship-lengths of +the sinister opening, the worn, exhausted, beaten Doraine came to rest +at the end of her final voyage. She shivered and groaned under the +jarring impact, forged onward half her length, heeled over slightly--and +died! She was anchored for ever in the tiny landlocked sea, proud +leviathan whose days had been spent in the boundless reaches of the open +deep. + +And here for the centuries to come would lie the proud Doraine, guided +to her journey's end by the pilot Chance, moored for all time in the +strangest haven ever put into by man. + +Behind the stranded vessel stretched centuries incalculable, and in all +these centuries no man had entered here. Screened from the rest of +the world, untended by chortling tugs, unheralded by raucous sirens, +welcomed only by primeval solitude, the Doraine had come to rest. + +She settled down on her bed of rocks to sleep for evermore, a mottled +monster whose only covering was the night; indifferent to storm and +calm, to time and tide, to darkness and light, she sat serene in her +little sea. Her lofty walls towered high above the waves that broke +tremblingly against them, as if afraid of this strange object from +another world that could rest upon the bottom of the ocean and yet be so +far above them. + +Reported "Lost with all on board!" + + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Captain Trigger and a dozen men stood on the boat deck with guns and +revolvers, facing several hundred sullen, determined men and women +from the steerage. Night had not yet fallen; the shadow of the hills, +however, was reaching half way across the oval pool; gloom impenetrable +had settled on the wooded shores. + +With the striking of the Doraine, nearly every one on board was hurled +to the decks. As she heeled over five or six degrees in settling +herself among the rocks, a panic ensued among the ignorant people of the +steerage. They scrambled to their feet and made a rush for the boats, +shouting and screaming in their terror. Other passengers were trampled +under foot and sailors standing by the davits were hurled aside. + +Captain Trigger, anticipating just such a stampede, rushed up with +members of the gun crew. The gaunt, broken old master of the Doraine +drove the horde back from the boats, but as he stood there haranguing +them in good maritime English he could see plainly enough that they were +not to be so easily subdued. The first panic was over, but they were +crazed by the fear that had gripped them for days; they believed that +the ship was soon to sink beneath their feet; safety lay not more than +a hundred yards away,--and it was being denied them by this heartless, +unfeeling despot. + +They were mainly low-caste Portuguese bound for Rio and Bahia, and they +had obeyed him through all those tortuous days out on the deep where +he was the shepherd and they the flock. But now,--now they could well +afford to turn upon and rend him, for he had brought them safe to land +and they no longer owed him anything! + +"My God, I don't want to shoot any of them," groaned the Captain, +steadying himself against the rail. "But they've got guns, and they're +crazy. I--" + +Some one touched his arm, and a firm, decisive voice spoke in his ear. + +"I'm used to handling gangs like this, Captain Trigger. They don't +understand you, but they'll damn soon understand me, if you'll turn the +job over to me. I'm not trying to be officious, sir, and I'm not even +hinting that you can't bring 'em to their senses. I know how to handle +'em and you don't, that's all. They're not sailors, you see. And it +isn't mutiny. They need a boss, sir,--that's what they need. And they +need him damned quick, so if you don't mind saying the word,--they're +ready to make a rush, and if--" + +"Go ahead, Percival,--if you can hold them--" + +"Say no more!" shouted Percival, and stepped resolutely forward. His +hands were bare,--swollen, red and ugly; his eyes were as cold as steel, +his voice as sharp as a keen-edged sword. He spoke in Spanish to the +wavering, threatening horde. + +"You damned, sneaking, low-lived cowards! What sort of swine are you? +Have you no thought for the women you've trampled upon and beaten out of +your path,--your own women, as well as the others,--think of them and +ask yourselves if you are men. I'm in command of this ship now, and, +by God, I'm going to let you get into those boats and start for shore. +Don't cheer! You don't know what's coming to you. I'm going to turn that +cannon on you up there and blow every one of you to hell and gone before +you get fifty feet from the side of this ship. You don't believe that, +eh? Well, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Lieutenant Platt!" He +called over his shoulder in English to the young commander of the gun's +crew. "Get some of your men up there and train that gun so as to blow +these boats to smithereens. Quick!" In a half-whisper to the Captain: +"It's all right. I know what I'm talking about." Then to the crowd: +"We don't want you on board this ship a minute longer than we can help. +We've got no room for dogs here among decent white men and women. Do +you understand that? We don't want to have anything more to do with you, +either here or on shore. I'm going to wipe you out, every damned one of +you,--men women and children. You're not fit to live. You're going to +climb into those boats now and get off this ship. You'll never realize +how safe you are here till you get down there in the water and hear that +gun go off. Come on! Get a move! We're through with you, now and for +ever. Nobody's going to stop you. I'm even going to have the boats +lowered for you, so as not to delay matters." He shouted after +Lieutenant Platt: "Be lively, please. You've got your orders. We'll make +short work of this pack of wolves." To Captain Trigger, authoritatively: +"Withdraw your men, sir. I am going to let them leave the ship. At once, +sir! Do you mean to disobey me, sir?" He gave the captain a sly wink. + +Then as the bewildered master withdrew with his armed men, he turned +once more to the mob. "Come on! Step lively, now! No rushing! Take your +turn. Every blasted one of you, I mean. What the hell are you hanging +back for,--you? You were so darned eager to go a little while ago, +what's the matter with you now? No one's trying to stop you. Here are +the boats. Put up your guns and knives, and pile in. You're absolutely +free to go, you swine. We'll be damned good and rid of you, and that's +all we're asking. It's a pity to waste powder and cannon-balls on you, +when we may have use for all we've got later on, killing the lions and +tigers and anacondas up there in the woods, but I'm going to do it." + +He stepped back. Not a man or woman moved. They stood transfixed, packed +in a huddled mass along the deck. Then a woman cried out for mercy. The +cry was taken up by other women. Percival halted and faced them once +more. + +"Get into those boats!" he roared savagely. "It won't do you a bit of +good to whine and pray and squeal. I'm through with you. You've got +to--Well?" + +Several of the men edged forward, some of them trying to smile. + +"Would you kill us when we are only trying to save our lives?" called +out one of them, finding his courage and voice. + +"I don't want to talk to you. Get in!" + +"We have as much right to remain on this ship as anybody else," shouted +another. "We paid for our passage. We are honest, hard-working--" + +"No use! I'll give you ten minutes to climb into those boats." + +There was a moment's silence. "And what will you do if we refuse to +leave the ship?" cried one of the men. + +"Be quiet!" he bawled at the whimpering women. "We cannot hear what the +gentleman has to say." + +"You'll soon find out what I'll do, if you don't obey me inside of ten +minutes," replied Percival. + +"But the ship is not going to sink any more," protested another, looking +over the rail timidly. "She is safe. We do not wish to leave now." + +Captain Trigger and Mr. Mott joined Percival. In an undertone he told +them what he had said to the mob. + +"And now, gentlemen," he whispered in conclusion, "it's up to you to +intercede in their behalf. They're as tame as rabbits now. They know +the ship's all right, and they believe I intend to blow 'em to pieces +if they once put off in the boats. Start in now, Captain, and argue with +me. Plead for them. They know who I am. They know I come from the hills +and they think I'm a bloodthirsty devil. They're like a lot of cattle. +Most of them are simple, honest, God-fearing people,--and if we handle +them properly now we'll not have much trouble with them in the future. +And only the Good Lord knows what the future is going to bring." + +So the three of them argued, two against one. Finally Percival threw up +his hands in a gesture of complete surrender. + +"All right, Captain. I give in. Perhaps you are right. I suppose it +would be butchery." + +There were a few in the crowd who understood English. These edged +forward eagerly, hopefully. They called out protestations against the +"slaughter." + +"Tell them you have reconsidered, Mr. Percival," said the Captain. "They +are to remain on board." + +Excited shouts went up from the few who understood, and then the word +went among the others that they were to be spared. There were cries of +relief, joy, gratitude, and not a few fell upon their knees! + +Percival stood forth once more. Silence fell upon the throng. + +"The Captain has put in a plea for you, and I have decided to grant it. +You may remain on board. Now, listen to me! No one is to leave this +ship until tomorrow morning. We are safe here. We are stuck fast on the +bottom, and nothing can happen to us at present. Tomorrow we will see +what is best to be done. Every man and woman here is to return to the +task he was given by Mr. Mott at the beginning of our troubles. We've +got to eat, and sleep, and--Wait a minute! Well, all right,--beat it, if +you feel that way about it." + +He stood watching them as they excitedly withdrew toward the bow of the +ship, breaking up into clattering groups, all of them talking at once. + +Captain Trigger laid his hand on the young man's shoulder. + +"If it had not been for you, Percival, this deck would now be red +with blood,--and some of us would be dead. You saved a very ticklish +situation. I take off my hat to you, and I say, with a full heart, that +I shall never again doubt your ability to handle men. No one but an +American could have tricked that mob as you did, my lad." + +From various points of vantage the foregoing scene had been witnessed by +uneasy, alarmed persons from upper cabins. Overwhelmed and dismayed by +the rush of the yelling mob, the elect had fled for safety, urged by a +greater fear than any that had gone before,--the fear of rioting men. + +A few of them, more daring and inquisitive than the rest, had ventured +recklessly into the zone of danger. Among them were Ruth Clinton and +Madame Olga Obosky, who, disregarding the command of Mr. Mott, were the +only women to venture beyond the protecting corner of the deck building. +They stood side by side, bracing themselves against the downward slope +of the deck. Half-way forward were Trigger and the armed gunners, +and beyond them the dense, irresolute mass of humanity. Percival, in +rounding the corner to go to the assistance of Captain Trigger, observed +with dismay the exposed position in which the two women had placed +themselves. He paused to cry out to them sharply: + +"What are you doing here? Get back to the other side. Can't you see +there is likely to be shooting? Don't stand there like a couple of +idiots! You're right in line if that gang begins to fire." + +"He is tearing off his bandages," cried Ruth, as Percival hurried on. + +Madame Obosky was silent, her gaze fixed intently on the brisk, +aggressive figure of the man who had called them idiots. She understood +every word he uttered to the Portuguese. Her eyes glistened with pride +when he stepped forward to tackle the mob single-handed, and as he went +on with his astonishing speech she actually broke into a soft giggle. +Her companion looked at her in amazement. + +"Why do you laugh?" she demanded hotly. "Those dreadful creatures may +tear him to pieces. He is unarmed and defenceless. They could sweep +him--" + +"You would laugh also if you understood," interrupted Olga, her +eyes dancing. "Oh, what a grand--what do you call it?--bluff? What a +magnificent bluff he is doing! It is beautiful. See,--they whisper among +themselves,--they have back down completely. Wait! I will presently tell +you what he have said to them." + +"I never dreamed any man could be so fearless. Look at the odds against +him. There are scores of them,--and they--" + +"Pooh! Do you suppose he would stand up and fight them if they rushed at +him? Not he! He would turn and run as fast as he could. He is no fool, +my dear. He is a very intelligent man. So he would run if they make a +single move toward him." + +"I think this is rather a poor time to accuse him of cowardice, Madame +Obosky, in view of what he--" + +"Have I accused him of cowardice?" + +"I'd like to know what you call it. You say he would run if they--" + +"But that would not be cowardice. It would be the simplest kind of +common sense. He is so very sure of himself. It is not courage. It is +confidence. That is his strength. He would be a fool to stand in front +of them empty-handed if they were to charge upon him. Maybe when +you have known him as long as I have, you will realize he is not a +fool,--about himself or any one else." + +Ruth stared at her. "Unless I am greatly mistaken, Madame Obosky, I have +known Mr. Percival as long if not longer than you have." + +"You do not know him at all," rejoined the Russian brusquely. "Be still, +please! I must hear what he is saying to them now." A little later she +turned to the American girl and laid her hand on her arm. "For-give me, +if I was rude to you. I am so very much older than you that I--how old +are you, Miss Clinton?" + +"I am twenty-five," replied the other, surprised into replying. + +"And I am twenty-six," said Madame Obosky, as if she were at least twice +the age of her companion. "See! They are dispersing. It's all over. +Come! Let us go back to the other side." + +"I am not ready to go back to the other side," protested the American +girl, resisting the hand on her arm. "Why should we go back, now that +the danger is over?" + +"Because we must not let him catch us here," urged Olga in some +agitation. + +"And why not, pray?" + +The Russian looked at her in astonishment. "But surely you heard him +tell us to go back to the other side. You heard him call us idiots, Miss +Clinton?" + +And Ruth Clinton suffered herself to be hurried incontinently around the +corner of the deck building. + +"Once, in Moscow, I saw a Grand Duke confront a mob of students who had +gathered in the street near his house. They were armed and they had +come to destroy this man himself. There were hundreds of them. He walked +straight toward them, his head erect, his shoulders squared, and +when they stopped he spoke to them as if they were dogs. When he had +finished, he turned his back upon them and walked away. They might have +filled him with bullets,--but they did not fire a shot. At the corner +he entered his carriage and disappeared. And then what did he do? He +fainted, that Grand Duke, he did. Fainted like a stupid, silly young +girl. But while he was standing before zat---that mob of terrorists he +was the strongest man in Russia. Nevertheless, he was afraid of them. +You have therefore the curious spectacle to perceive, Miss Clinton, of +one man being afraid of hundreds, and of hundreds of men at the same +time being afraid of one. Man, he is a queer animal, eh?" + +It was not long before the doubts and fears of all on board the Doraine +gave way to a strange, unnatural state of exhilaration. It represented +joy without happiness, relief without security, exultation without +conviction,--for, after all, there still remained unanswered the +question that robbed every sensation of its thrill. While they were +singing the hymns of thanksgiving in the saloon that night, and +listening to the fervent prayers; while they ate, drank and were merry, +their thoughts were not of the day but of the morrow. What of the +morrow? In the eyes of every one who laughed and sang dwelt the +unchanging shadow of anxiety; on every face was stamped an expression +that spoke more plainly than words the doubts and misgivings that +constituted the background of their jubilation. They had escaped the +sea, but would they ever escape the land? Had God, in answer to their +complaints and prayers, directed them to a land from which the hand of +man would never rescue them? Were they isolated here in the untraversed +southern seas, cast upon an island unknown to the rest of the world? Or +were they, on the other hand, within reach of human agencies by which +the world might be made acquainted with their plight? + +Uppermost in every mind was the sickening recollection, however, that +for days they had ranged the sea without sighting a single craft. They +were far from the travelled lanes, they were out of the worth-while +world. Hope rested solely on the possibility that the hills and forests +hid from view the houses and wharves of a desolate little sea-town set +up by the far-reaching people of the British Isles. + +The story of Percival's achievement was not long in going the rounds. +It went through the customary process of elaboration. By the time it +reached his ears,--through the instrumentality of Mr. Morris Shine, the +motion picture magnate,--it had assumed sufficient magnitude to draw +from that enterprising gentleman a bona fide offer of quite a large sum +for the film rights in case Mr. Percival would agree to re-enact the +thrilling scene later on. In fact, Mr. Shine, having recovered his +astuteness and his courage simultaneously, was already working at the +preliminary details of the most "stupendous" picture ever conceived by +man. His deepest lament now was that he had neglected to bring a good +camera man down from New York, so that on the day of the explosion he +could have "got" the people actually jumping overboard, and drowning in +plain sight--(although he did not see them because of the trouble he +was having to get a seat in one of the life-boats),--and the wounded +scattered over the decks, the fire, the devastation, the departure and +return of the boats, the storm and all that followed, including himself +in certain judiciously preserved scenes, and the whole production could +have been made at practically no cost at all. There never had been +such an opportunity, complained Mr. Shine the moment he felt absolutely +certain that the opportunity was a thing of the past. + +"No wonder he got away with it," said Mr. Landover to a group of +rejuvenated satellites. "He is hand in glove with them, that fellow is. +I wouldn't trust him around the corner. Why, it's perfectly plain to +anybody with a grain of intelligence that he's the leader of that gang +of anarchists. All he had to do was to speak to them,--in their own +language, mind you,--and back they slunk to their quarters. They obeyed +him because he is their chosen leader, and that's all there is to +this--What say, Fitts?" + +Mr. Fitts, who was not a satellite but a very irritating Christian +gentleman, cleared his throat and said: + +"I didn't speak, Mr. Landover. I always make a noise like that when I +yawn. It's an awfully middle-class habit I've gotten into. Still, don't +you think one obtains a little more--shall we say enjoyment?--a little +more enjoyment out of a yawn if he lets go and puts his whole soul into +it? Of course, it isn't really necessary to utter the 'hi-ho-hum!' quite +so vociferously as I do,--in fact, it might even be better to omit it +altogether,--if possible,--when some one else is speaking. There are, I +grant you, other ways of expressing one's complete mastery of the art +of yawning, such as a prolonged but audible sigh, or a sort of muffled +howl, or even a series of blissful little shrieks peculiar to the +feminine of the species,--any one of these, I admit, is a trifle more +elegant and up-to-date, but they all lack the splendid resonance,--you +might even say grandiloquence,--of the old-fashioned 'hi-ho-hum!' to +which I am addicted. Now, if you will consider--" + +"My God!" exclaimed the banker, with a positively venomous emphasis on +the name of the Deity. "Who wants to know anything about yawns?" + +Mr. Fitts looked hurt. "I am sorry. My mistake. I thought you were +trying to change the subject when you interrupted my yawn." + +"That fellow's a damn' fool," said the banker, as Fitts strolled off to +join another group. + +"Try one of these cigars, Mr. Landover," said Mr. Nicklestick +persuasively. "Of course, they're nothing like the kind you smoke, +but--" + +"Is mine out? So it is. No, thank you. I'll take a match, however, if +you have one about you." + +Four boxes were hastily thrust upon the great financier. + +"Haf you noticed how poor the matches are lately, Mr. Landover?" +complained Mr. Block. + +"As for this vagabond being superintendent of a mining concession up in +Bolivia," continued Landover, absentmindedly sticking Mr. Nicklestick's +precious, box of matches into his own pocket, "that's all poppycock. +He's an out-and-out adventurer. You can't fool me. I've handled too many +men in my time. I sized him up right from the start. But the devil of it +is, he's got all the officers on this boat hypnotized. And most of the +women too. I made it a point to speak to Mrs. Spofford and her niece +about him this morning,--and the poor girl has been making quite a fool +of herself over him, you may have observed. Mrs. Spofford owns quite a +block of stock in our institution, so I considered it my duty to put a +flea in her ear, if you see what I mean." + +"Certainly, certainly," said Mr. Nicklestick. + +"She should have been very grateful," said Mr. Block. + +Mr. Landover frowned. "I'm going to speak to her again as soon as she +has regained her strength and composure. Nerves all shot to pieces, you +understand. Everything distorted,--er--shot to pieces, as I say. I dare +say I should have had more sense than to--er--ahem!--two or three days' +rest, that's what she needs, poor thing." + +"Absolutely," said Mr. Nicklestick. + +"You can't tell a woman anything when she's upset," said Mr. Block, +feelingly. + +"Miss Clinton is a very charming young lady," said Mr. Nicklestick, +giving his moustache a slight twist. "I should hate to see her lose her +head over a fellow like him." + +"She is a splendid girl," said Landover warmly. "One of the oldest +families in New York. She deserves nothing but the best." + +"That's right, that's right," assented Mr. Nicklestick. "I don't know +when I've met a more charming young lady, Mr. Landover." + +"I didn't know you had met her," observed the banker coldly. + +"Oh, yes," replied Mr. Nicklestick. "We were in the same lifeboat, Mr. +Landover, you know,--all night, you know, Mr. Landover." + + + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Early the next morning, Percival turned out long before there were any +sounds from the galley or dining-room. The sun had not yet cleared the +tree-tops to the east; the decks of the Doraine were still wet with dew. +A few sailors were abroad; a dull-eyed junior officer moodily picked +his way through the debris on the forward deck. Birds were singing and +chattering in the trees that lined the shore; down at the water's edge, +like sentinels on duty, with an eye always upon the strange, gigantic +intruder, strutted a number of stately, bright-plumaged birds of the +flamingo variety--(doubtless they were flamingoes); the blue surface of +the basin was sprinkled with the myriad white, gleaming backs of winged +fishermen, diving, flapping, swirling; on high, far above the hills, +soared two or three huge birds with wings outspread and rigid, monarchs +of all that they surveyed. The stowaway leaned on the port rail and +fixed his gaze upon the crest of the severed hill, apparently the +tallest of the half dozen or so that were visible from his position. + +With powerful glasses he studied the wooded slope. This hill was +probably twelve or fourteen hundred feet high. He thought of it as a +hill, for he had lived long in the heart of the towering Andes. Behind +him lay the belt of woodland that separated the basin from the open +sea, a scant league away. The cleft through the hill lay almost directly +ahead. It's walls apparently were perpendicular; a hundred feet or +less from the pinnacle, the opening spread out considerably, indicating +landslides at some remote period, the natural sloughing off of earth +and stone in the formation of this narrow, unnatural passage through +the very centre of the little mountain. For at least a thousand feet, +however, the sides of the passage rose as straight as a wall. That the +mountain was of solid rock could not be doubted after a single glance at +those sturdy, unflinching walls, black and sheer. + +"Well, what do you make of it?" inquired a voice at his elbow. He turned +to find Mr. Mott standing beside him. + +"Earthquake," he replied. "Thousands of years ago, of course. Split the +island completely in two." + +"Sounds plausible," mused the First Officer. "But if that is the case, +how do you account for the shallowness of the water in the passage and +out here in the basin? An earthquake violent enough to split that hill +would make a crack in the earth a thousand fathoms deep." + +"I have an idea that if we took soundings in this basin we'd find a +section twenty or thirty feet wide in the centre of it where we couldn't +touch bottom. The same would be true of the passage if we plumbed the +middle. When we came through it the ship scraped bottom time and again. +As a matter of fact,--the way I figure it out,--she was simply bumping +against the upper edges of a crevice that reaches down God knows how +far. We took no soundings, you will remember, until we swung out into +this pool. I'll bet my head that that cut through the hill yonder is a +mile deep. Earthquake fissures seldom go deeper than that, I've heard. +Generally they are mere surface cracks, a hundred feet deep at the +outside. But this one,--My God, it gives me the creeps, that crack in +the earth does." + +"Umph!" said Mr. Mott, his elbows on the rail beside the young man, his +chin in his hands. He was looking down at the water. "Captain Trigger is +planning to send a couple of boats outside to survey the coast. I +dare say he'll be asking you to go out in one of them. You're a civil +engineer and so he feels--" + +"Excuse me, Mr. Mott, but what's the sense of sending boats out to +explore the coast before we find out how big the island is?" + +"What's the sense? Why, how are we to find out how big the island is +unless we make the circuit of it? And how in thunder are we to find out +that there isn't a village or some sort of trading port on it--What are +you pointing up there for?" + +Percival's finger was levelled at the top of the higher half of the +bisected mountain. + +"See that hill, Mr. Mott? Well, unless we're on a darned sight bigger +island than I think we are, we can see from one end of it to the other +from the top of that hill. It isn't much of a climb. A few huskies with +axes to cut a path through the underbrush, and we might get up there in +a few hours. I've been figuring it out. That's why I got up so early. +Had it on my mind all night. The sensible thing to do is to send a gang +of us up there to have a look around. Strange Captain Trigger never +thought of it. I suppose it's because he's an old sea-dog and not a +landlubber." + +Mr. Mott coughed. "I fancy he would have thought of it in good time." + +"Well, in case he doesn't think of it in time, you might suggest it to +him, Mr. Mott." + +The result of this conversation was the formation of a party of +explorers to ascend the mountain. They were sent ashore soon after +breakfast, well-armed, equipped with axes and other implements, +boat-hooks, surveying instruments, and the most powerful glasses on +board. Percival was in command. The party was made up of a dozen +men, half of them from the gun crew, with an additional complement of +laborers from the steerage. + +Ruth Clinton, as soon as she learned of the proposed expedition, sought +out Percival and insisted upon re-bandaging his hands. + +"You must not go into all that tangle of brushwood with your hands +unprotected," she declared, obstinately shaking her head in response to +his objections. "Don't be foolish, Mr. Percival. It won't take me five +minutes to wrap them up. Sit down,--I insist. You are still one of my +patients. Hold out your hand!" + +"They are ever so much better," he protested, but he obeyed her. + +"Of course they are," she agreed, in a matter-of-fact tone. "You did +not give me a chance last night to tell you how splendid you were in +tackling that crazy mob. I witnessed it all, you know. Madame Obosky and +I." + +"Then, you didn't beat it when I told you to, eh?" + +"Certainly not. What are you going to do about it?" + +"What can I do? I can only say this: I'm glad Captain Trigger's opinion +of me is based on my ability to reason with an ignorant mob and not on +my power to intimidate a couple of very intelligent young women." + +"I wouldn't have missed it for worlds," she said coolly. She looked up +into his eyes, a slight frown puckering her brow. "Do you know, Madame +Obosky had the impertinence to say that you would have turned tail and +fled if those people had shown fight." + +He grinned. "She's an amazing person, isn't she? Wonderful faculty for +sizing the most of us up." + +"You would have run?" + +"Like a rabbit," he answered, unabashed. "That's a little too tight, I +think, Miss Clinton. Would you mind loosening it up a bit?" + +"Oh, I'm sorry. Is that better? Now the other one, please." + +"Yes, I'm an awful coward," he said, after a long silence. + +She looked up quickly. Something in his eyes brought a faint flush to +her cheek. For a second or two she met his gaze steadily and then her +eyes fell, but not before he had caught the shy, wondering expression +that suddenly filled them. He experienced an almost uncontrollable +desire to lay his clumsy hand upon the soft, smooth brown hair. Through +his mind flashed a queer rush of comparison. He recalled the +dark, knowing eyes of the Russian dancer, mysterious and +seductive,--man-reading eyes from which nothing was concealed,--and +contrasted them with the clear, honest, blue-grey orbs that still could +fall in sweet confusion. His heart began to pound furiously, he felt a +queer tightening of the throat. He was afraid to trust his voice. How +white and soft and gentle were her hands,--and how beautiful they were. + +Suddenly she stroked the bandaged hand,--as an amiable manicurist might +have done--and arose. + +"There!" she said, composedly. Her cheek was cool and unflushed, her +eyes serene and smiling. "Now you may go, Mr. Percival. Good luck! Bring +back good news to us. I dreamed last night that we were marooned, that +we would have to stay here for ever." + +"All of us?" he asked, a trifle thickly. + +"Certainly," she replied, after the moment required for comprehension. +Her eyes were suddenly cold and uncompromising. + +"If I never come back," he began, somewhat dashed, "I'd like you to +remember always, Miss Clinton, that I--well, that I am the most grateful +dog alive. You've been corking." + +"But it isn't possible you won't come back," she cried, and he was happy +to see a flicker of alarm in her eyes. "What--what could happen to you? +It isn't--" + +"Oh, all sorts of things," he broke in, much in the same spirit as that +which dominates the boy who wishes he could die in order to punish his +parents for correcting him. + +"Are--are you really in earnest?" + +"Would you care--very much?" + +She hesitated. "Haven't I wished you good luck, Mr. Percival?" + +"Would you mind answering my question?" + +"Of course I should care,--very much indeed," she replied calmly. "I am +sure that everybody would be terribly grieved if anything were to happen +to you out there." + +"Well,--good-bye, Miss Clinton. I guess they're waiting for me." + +"Good-bye! Oh, how I wish I were in your place! Just to put my foot +on the blessed, green earth once more. Good-bye! And--and good luck, +again." + +"If you will take a pair of glasses and watch the top of that +hill,--there is a bare knob up there, you see,--you will know long +before we come back whether this island is inhabited or not. I am +taking an American flag with me. If we do not see another flag floating +anywhere on this island, I intend to plant the Stars and Stripes on that +hill,--just for luck!" + +She walked a few steps at his side, their bodies aslant against the +slope of the deck. + +"And if you do not raise the flag, we shall know at once that--that +there are other people here?" she said, her voice eager with suppressed +excitement. "It will mean that ships--" Her voice failed her. + +"It will mean home,--some day," he returned solemnly. + +The one remaining port-side boat was lowered a few minutes later and to +the accompaniment of cheers from the throng that lined the rails, the +men pulled away, heading for a tiny cove on the far side of the +basin. The shore at that point was sloping and practically clear of +undergrowth. + +It was while Percival was waiting to take his place in the boat that +Olga Obosky hurried up to him. + +"I have brought my luck piece for you," she said, and revealed in her +open palm a small gold coin, worn smooth with age and handling. +"Carry it, my friend. Nothing will happen to you while it is in your +possession. It was given me by the son of a Grand Duke. It was his lucky +piece. It brought me luck, for he was killed zat very same day, and so I +was saved from him. Keep it in your pocket till you come safely back and +then--then you shall return it to me, because I would not be without my +luck, no." She slipped her hand deep into his trousers pocket. "There is +no hole. That is good. I have place it there. It is safe. Au revoir! You +will have good luck, my friend." + +Withdrawing her warm hand from his pocket she turned and walked swiftly +away. + +The throng on board the Doraine watched the party land; hats and +handkerchiefs were waved as the adventurers turned for a last look +behind, before they disappeared into the forest. + +Hours passed,--long interminable hours for those who were not engaged +in the active preparations for the landing of people and stores. Captain +Trigger was making ready to transfer the passengers from the ship at the +earliest possible moment. He was far from certain that the Doraine would +maintain its rather precarious balance on the rocks. With safety not +much more than a stone's throw away, he was determined to take no +further risk. + +At last a shout went up from some one on the forecastle deck. It was +taken up by eager voices. Out upon the bald crest of the mountain +straggled the first of the explorers to reach the goal. They were +plainly visible. One after another the rest of the party appeared. The +illusion was startling. It was as if they had actually emerged from the +tree-tops. With straining eyes the observers below watched the group of +figures outlined against the sky. They spoke in subdued tones. As time +went on and the flag was not unfurled, they took hope; eyes brightened, +the hushed tones increased to a cheerful, excited clatter, the tenseness +that had held them rigid for so long gave way before the growing +conviction that another flag already fluttered somewhere beyond the +screening hills. + +And then, when hope was highest, the Stars and Stripes went up! + +Captain Trigger assembled the ship's company on the forward deck later +in the day. The landing party returned about three o'clock. Acting on +advance instructions, they made their report in private to the Captain, +denying all information to the clamorous passengers. A brief conference +of officers, to which a number of men from the first cabin were invited, +was held immediately after Percival's return. A course of action was +discussed and agreed upon, and then all on board were summoned to the +open deck to hear the result of the expedition. + +Percival reported the following facts and conclusions: + +1. The island was approximately fifteen miles long and six or seven +miles wide in the centre. The basin in which the Doraine rested was +about midway between the extreme points, and about two miles inland from +the northern shore. The southern slope of the range descended to a flat +plain, or perhaps moor, some two miles across at its broadest point and +ran in varying width from one end of the island to the other. It was +green and almost entirely devoid of timber. The central eminence from +which the observations were taken was the loftiest of a range of ten or +twelve diminishing hills that formed what might actually be described as +the backbone of the island. The eastern extremity tapered off to a +long, level, low-lying promontory that ended in a point so sharp and +wedge-like that it bore a singular resemblance to the forward deck and +prow of a huge ironclad. The hills, as they approached the plateau, +terminated altogether a couple of miles from the tip of land. The +western half of the island (strictly speaking, it was a separate bit of +land, cut off from its neighbour by the ribbon-like channel), was of +a more rugged character, the hills, in fact, extending to the sea, +forming, no doubt, steep and precipitous cliffs, rising directly from +the water's edge. + +(Since his return, Percival had painted on a large piece of canvas a +fairly accurate outline map of the bisected island as it had appeared +to him from the top of the mountain. This crude map was hung up in full +view of the spectators, and served him well in an effort to make clear +his deductions. His original sketch is reproduced later on in this +chronicle.) + +2. There was no visible sign of past or present human habitation. +Absolutely nothing appeared to indicate that man had ever attempted to +claim or occupy this virgin land. + +3. The channel through the mountain was less than one hundred feet wide. +The walls of this gorge at one point were fully seven hundred feet high, +absolutely perpendicular, and of solid rock. It was as if the hill had +been split wide open with one blow of a tremendous broad-ax. Beyond the +elevation the channel spread out fan-fashion, creating a funnel-like bay +or inlet from the sea. + +4. There was no other land in sight. As far as the eye could reach with +the aid of lenses there was nothing but water, a mighty waste of water. + +5. The wind, which had veered around to the south, was cold and dry. + +6. A curving beach of almost snowy whiteness extended for a mile or so +along the northern shore, about half way between the entrance to the +channel and the eastern point of land. Inside the fringe of trees that +lined this beach stretched what appeared to be a long strip of rolling +meadow-land, reaching far up the hillsides. + +7. Monkeys, parrots and snakes abounded in the forest. An occasional +gay-plumaged bird of the toucan variety, but larger than the ordinary +South American species, was seen, while large numbers of plump birds of +the tinamou family went drumming off through the forest at the approach +of the party. Penguins strutted in complete "full dress" among the rocks +of the southern shore. A dead armadillo of extraordinary dimensions was +found near the foot of the slope. It was at least thrice the size of +the common South American mammal. The same could be said of the single +iguana encountered. This large lizard, which was alive, must have been +fully ten feet from head to tail, and gave rise to the belief that the +supposedly extinct iguanodon, described by the scientists as attaining a +length of thirty feet, might any day be discovered in the fastnesses +of this unexplored land. The mere existence of this rather amiable, +unfrightened monster was of the greatest significance. If it were known +to man, why had it never been reported in zoological or natural history +journals? + +8. The trees on the mountain-side were thick and stunted, with +interlocking limbs that created a sort of endless canopy which the sun +was unable to penetrate. The cool, dry wind that swept the slope would +account, however, for the surprising absence of moisture in soil and +vegetation in the dense shade of the trees. Oak, elm, spruce, even +walnut, and other trees of a sturdy character indigenous to the +temperate zone were identified. What appeared to be a clump of cypress +trees, fantastic, misshapen objects that seemed to, shrink back in +terror from the assaulting breakers, stood out in bold relief upon a +rocky point to the south and west of the observation hill. Their gaunt, +twisted trunks leaned backward from the sea; their shorn limbs, racked +by gales, were raised as if in supplication to the sombre forest behind +them. Trunks of enormous trees that had fallen perhaps a century ago +were found half-buried in the earth, while scattered along the northern +base of the range, overlooking the downs, a few of their gigantic +counterparts, alive and flourishing, raised their lofty heads far above +the surrounding forest, and stood like sentinels, guarding the plain. + +9. A small river wound its devious way, with serpentine crooks and +curves, through the downs and across the meadow, emptying into the ocean +some distance east of the gleaming beach. That its source was far up +in the secretive hills was not a matter of conjecture, however; +the incessant hiss and roar of a cataract was plainly heard by the +investigators. + +Here is the crude, hastily sketched map of the island as made by +Percival: + +1. Position of stranded vessel in basin. + +2. Entrance to channel from the north. + +3. Entrance to channel from the south. + +4. Narrow strip of woodland from channel almost to river's mouth. + +5. Strip of meadow-land clear of trees. + +6. River. + +7. Stretch of lowland leading down to the water. + +8. Crest of hill from which observations were taken with range extending +east and west. + +9. Point of rocks with cypress trees. + +10. Buttress-like west end of island. + +11. Dense forest reaching to channel. + +12. Rocky cape. + +13. Level plateau, without trees. + +14. Beach. + +15. Penguins. + + + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +After the second reading of the foregoing report, the first being +in English, Percival requested his fellow explorers to verify the +statements contained therein. This they did promptly. He then went on: + +"I am delegated by Captain Trigger and the officers of this vessel, +after a conference just concluded,--and of which you are all well +aware,--to put before you as briefly and as clearly as possible the +decision that has been reached. I may as well confess in the beginning +that this decision is based on the recommendations of the party who went +to the top of the mountain. It is out of the question for the people on +board this vessel to go ashore until further investigations have been +made. For the present, we are all safe here on board the ship. We +don't know what perils exist in the absolutely unexplored country that +surrounds us. Additional parties are to be sent out to explore the +island, especially the eastern section of it. There is no use mincing +matters. We are confronted by a very plain situation. It is possible, +even probable, that we are the first human beings ever to set foot on +this land. If that be true, we are now so far out of the path of the few +ships and steamers sailing these southern seas that there is small hope +or chance of a speedy rescue. As a matter of fact, it isn't likely that +we will be discovered until the island itself is discovered, if you see +what I mean. + +"There isn't the slightest chance that the ship we're now standing on +will ever float again. Even if the engines could be put in order,--and +that is possible, I am told,--the vessel cannot be raised. If anybody +has been nursing that sort of hope, he may as well get rid of it. +It's no good. We are here to stay, unless help comes from the outside. +There's the plain English of it. We may have to live here on this +island, like poor old Robinson Crusoe, for years,--for a great many +years. I'm going to stop just a few seconds to let that soak into your +brains. We've got to face it. We've got to make the best of it. It is +not for Captain Trigger or me or any one else to say that we will not +be taken off this island some time--maybe sooner than we think. Whaling +vessels must visit these parts. That's neither here nor there. We've got +our work cut out for us, friends. We've got to think of the present and +let the future take care of itself. Now, here are the facts. We cannot +remain on board this wreck. We've got to go to work, every man, woman +and child of us. I don't know what can be cultivated on this island, but +we've got to find out, and when we find out we've got to begin raising +it. If we don't, my friends, we'll starve to death in a very short time. +And what's more, if we do not get out there and put up houses to live +in, we'll freeze to death when winter comes along. + +"According to calculations, winter is still five or six months away. We +won't get it, I dare say, before next April or May. All you have to do +is to take a look at all these trees around here to realize that we are +a long way from the tropics. It gets as cold as blazes here in the dead +of winter, I can tell you that. We've got to build homes. We've got to +build a camp,--not a flimsy, half-way sort of camp, but a good, solid, +substantial one, my friends. There is what you might call a minority +report in regard to the situation. Captain Trigger asked me to speak +for him and others who look at it as I do. Mr. Landover, who is, I +understand, one of the leading bankers in the United States of America, +contends that we are well enough off as we are, on board the Doraine, +where we've got cabins and beds and shelter from the elements. He may be +right. All I have to say to him is this,--I don't believe I mentioned +it at this conference, Mr. Landover, simply because I'm one of those +unhappy individuals who always think of the brilliant things I might +have said when it's too late to say them,--all I have to say is this: if +Mr. Landover and his supporters expect to sit snugly on this ship while +the rest of us build houses and plant crops, and then conclude to come +out and bone the rest of us for a square meal and a nice warm place to +sleep, they are going to be badly fooled. We're all equal here. A couple +of million dollars, more or less, doesn't cut any ice on this little +island. What counts here is muscle and commonsense and a willingness to +use both. + +"A little while ago I asked Mr. Landover how much money he has with him. +He informed me that while it wasn't any of my business, he has about +five hundred dollars in American money and a couple of hundred pesos +besides, but that his letter of credit is still good for fifteen +thousand. Mr. Nicklestick has about five hundred dollars in money, +and so has Mr. Block and one or two others. They've all got letters +of credit, express checks, and so forth, and I suppose there is a +wheelbarrow full of jewellery on board this ship. Now, if money is to +talk down here, I wish to state that the men and women from the steerage +have got more real dough than all the first and second cabins put +together. They haven't any letters of credit or bank accounts in New +York, but there are a dozen men in the steerage who have as much as two +or three thousand pesos sewed up inside their clothes. So far as I can +make out, the only people who can afford to hire anybody to build a +hut for them, and pay for it in real money, are the plutocrats from the +steerage. + +"Mr. Landover's letter of credit is good for fifteen thousand if he ever +gets back to New York, but it isn't worth fifteen cents here. His life +is insured for one million dollars, I am told. I don't know who the +beneficiaries are, but, whoever they are, they are going to put in a +claim for the million if he doesn't show up in New York pretty shortly. +He is going to be declared officially dead, and so are all the rest of +us, after a reasonable time has elapsed. Now, I don't say that we are +never going to be rescued. We may be found inside of a month. Some of us +don't quite realize the fix we are in. Mr. Codge, the purser, was saying +a little while ago that a lady from the first cabin nearly took his head +off when he told her it was impossible to send a cable message to her +people in Boston. A number of passengers have already demanded that +their passage money be refunded. + +"You have doubtless heard how I came to be on board this steamer. I am +a stowaway. I have no standing among you. I haven't a penny in my +pocket,--aside from a luck-piece that doesn't belong to me. I wanted to +get back to the States so that I could carry a gun or something over in +France. I wanted to fight for my country. I wasn't thinking very much +about my life when I started for home and France, but I want to say that +I'm thinking about it now. I don't intend to starve or freeze to death +if I can help it. I am going to fight for my life, not for my country. + +"This is no time to be sentimental. It is no time to sit down and pity +ourselves or each other. God knows I am just as sorry for myself as you +are for yourselves, but that isn't going to get me anywhere. We've got +to work. That means all of us. It means the women as well as the men. +It means the women with soft, white hands and the men who never did a +stroke of manual labour in their lives, just as much as it means the +people who have never done anything else but work. Something will be +found for every one of us to do, and, ladies and gentlemen, we will have +to do it without whining. + +"Captain Trigger is accountable for the cargo on board this ship. +Naturally he is opposed to our confiscating anything that has been +entrusted to him for safe delivery. He takes a very sensible attitude, +however. He will officially protest against the removal of anything from +the hold of his vessel, but he will not employ force to resist us when +we begin to land stores, foodstuffs and all that sort of thing. He +understands the situation perfectly. + +"Now, here is what we will have to do. We must select a site for our +camp,--or town, you may well say,--and we must build upon it without +delay. That is to be our first step. Details will come later. There are +over six hundred of us here. We represent a fair-sized village. We have +mechanics, carpenters, farmers, surveyors, masons,--and merchants, to +say nothing of cooks, housekeepers, and so on. The ship contains all +sorts of tools to work with, canvas for temporary quarters, beds and +bedding, cooking utensils,--in fact, we have everything that Robinson +Crusoe didn't have, and besides all that, we've got each other. We are +not alone on a desert island. We are, my friends, as well off as the +Pilgrims who landed on Plymouth Rock, and we are better off than the +hardy colonists who laid the foundation for the country that flies +that flag up there. Centuries ago bold adventurers set out to discover +unknown lands. They were few in number and poorly equipped. But they +ventured into the wilderness and built villages that grew to be cities. +They went through a thousand hardships that we will never know, and they +survived. + +"Captain Trigger and the others selected me to make this talk to +you because I have had some practical experience in establishing and +developing a camp, such as we will have to build. Experience has taught +me one thing above all others: work, hard work of a constructive nature, +is our only salvation. Unless we occupy ourselves from one day's end to +another in good, hard, honest toil, we will all go mad. That's the long +and the short of it. If we sat still on this boat for thirty days, doing +nothing, we'd lose our minds. There isn't a man in this crowd, I am +sure, who wouldn't work his head off to spare the women an hour of +hardship. But the greatest hardship you women could possibly know would +be idleness. There will be work for every one to do, and we can thank +God for it, my friends. We will have to work for nothing. We will have +to help each other. There is but one class on this island at present, +and that is the working class. + +"We've all got people at home waiting for us. By this time the whole +world knows that the Doraine is three weeks overdue at Rio Janeiro, and +that no word has been had from her. The ocean is being searched. Our +friends, our relatives are doing everything in their power to get trace +of this lost ship. You may depend on that. In a little while,--a few +weeks, at best,--the ship will be given up for lost. We will be counted +as dead, all of us. That's a hard, cruel thing for me to say, and I hate +to say it,--but we've just got to realize the position we're in. It's +best that we should look at it from the worst possible angle. I do not +speak jestingly when I say that we may as well consider ourselves dead +and forgotten. I am as full of hope and confidence as anybody and I am +an optimist if there ever was one, but I don't work on the theory that +God takes any better care of an optimist than He does of a pessimist. + +"It will require months, maybe years, for us to construct a ship, and +even then it will not be big enough to transport all of us. The most we +can hope for is a craft that will be stout enough to go out and bring +help to the rest of us. I am trying, at Captain Trigger's suggestion, +to convince you that we can't build a ship, that we can't expect to get +away from this island by our own endeavours, unless we go about it in +the proper and sensible way. That means, first of all, that we must +safeguard ourselves against time. We've got to live and we've got to +keep our strength. + +"Mr. Landover has made a very generous proposition. He agrees to give a +hundred thousand dollars to any boat's crew that will take one of these +lifeboats and make port somewhere. He fails to mention the compensation +they are to receive if they never make port. He forgets that this big +ship floundered around for a good many days without sighting anything +but water. He would have been perfectly safe in offering a hundred +million dollars, because he would never be called upon to pay it. I +understand, however, that his offer still stands. + +"Tomorrow morning surveying parties will be sent ashore to look for a +possible site for our town. Volunteers will undertake this work. As soon +as possible thereafter a temporary camp will be set up, and practically +every one on board will be moved from this ship. Captain Trigger and +a few chosen men will remain on board. It is his wish, ladies and +gentlemen. He is the captain of the Doraine. He will not leave her. We +are all here today, and alive, because Captain Trigger would not leave +his ship. We owe our lives to him. This is not the time to propose three +cheers for the gallant master of the Doraine. It is not the time to +cheer for anybody or for anything. We do not feel like cheering. +We've done all the praying that is necessary, we've offered up all the +thanksgiving that the situation calls for, so now we've got to roll up +our sleeves and go to work." + +He, stepped down from the gun-platform. There were no cheers. Every +voice was stilled, every face was set. Many seconds passed before there +was even the slightest stir among those who had listened so intently. + +Then the few English-speaking people from the steerage began to whisper +hoarsely to their bewildered companions. + + + + + + +BOOK TWO + +CHAPTER I. + + +The warm, summer season was well-advanced in this far southern land +before the strenuous, tireless efforts of the marooned settlers began to +show definite results. + +Some six weeks after the stranding of the Doraine, staunch log cabins +were in course of completion along the base of the hills overlooking the +clear, rolling meadow-land to the north and east. Down in the lowlands +scores of men were employed in sowing and planting. The soil was rich. +Farmers and grain-raisers among the passengers were unanimously of +the opinion that almost any vegetable, cereal or fruit indigenous +to Argentina (or at the worst, Patagonia), could be produced here. +Uncertainty as to the duration of the warm period, so vital to the +growing and maturing of crops, was the chief problem. No time was to be +lost if there were to be harvests before the cold and blighting weather +set in. + +It was extremely doubtful if the spring and summer seasons combined +covered more than five months in this latitude. Assuming that the +climate in this open part of the world was anything like that of the +Falkland Islands, the rainy season was overdue. Midwinter usually comes +in July, with the temperature averaging between 35 deg. and 10 deg. +above zero over a period of four or five months. At the time of the +wreck, the thermometers were registering about 70 deg. during the day, +and dropping to 50 deg. or thereabouts after nightfall. This would +indicate that spring was fairly well-advanced, and that midsummer might +be figured on as coming in January. It was now the end of November. Warm +weather probably would last until February or March. Possibly they +would be too late with their planting, but they went about it speedily, +determinedly, just the same. + +All of them had had crop failures before. All of them had seen the +labour of months go for naught in the blight of an evening's frost, or +the sweep of a prairie fire. So here on this virgin isle, in soil whose +sod had never been turned, they sowed from the bins of the slumbering +ship. Wheat and oats and flax, brought from the Argentina plains; +potatoes, squash and beet-root; even beans and peas were tried, but with +small hope. And there were women ready to till the soil and work the +gardens, women to draw the strangely fashioned ploughshares as willing +beasts of burden, to wield the hoe and spade, and to watch for the +cherished sprout that was to glorify their deeds. + +The ring of the ax resounded in the forest; the clangour of hammer and +nail, the rasp of the saw, the clatter of timber went on from dawn to +dusk,--for there was no eight-hour law in this smiling land, nor +was there any other union save that of staunch endeavour, no other +Brotherhood except that of Man. There was never a question of wage, +never a dispute as to hours, never a thought of strike. Every labourer +was worthy of his hire,--and his hire was food! + +The Doraine was gradually being dismantled. She was being stripped of +every bit of material that could be used in constructing and furnishing +the huts. The new camp lay not more than a mile and a half from the +basin. A road had been cleared through the wood from the small, hastily +constructed dock and runway on the eastern side of the basin to the open +territory beyond. + +Material, supplies, equipment were carried through the densely shaded +avenue, and later on, after the warehouses and granaries had been built, +the leafy lane witnessed the transportation of ton upon ton of stores, +patiently borne in hundredweight lots, in bushel bags, in clumsy +parcels, by men whose work seemed endless; wheat, barley, oats, sugar, +coffee and other commodities entrusted to the steamship company for +delivery in the United States. Tobacco, canned and refrigerated meats, +olives, flour, figs and dates in large quantities were included in the +vast cargo, to say nothing of the enormous supply of canned fruits and +vegetables. Washed wool, tanned leather, homespun cotton and woollen +cloth, silks, hides, furs, rugs, laces, linseed oil, blankets,--all +these came ashore in course of time, but of the sinister treasure that +had inspired the destruction of the ship, i.e., the manganese, +the rubber, the nitrates, the copper bars, and the stacks of high +explosives, not a pound was moved. All this was left for another and +more leisurely day. + +In the end, the once luxurious liner was to be reduced to "skin and +bones," to employ a trite but eminently appropriate phrase. Ultimately +she became a black, unlovely skeleton, bereft of every vestige of her +former opulence. Her decks were torn up and the timbers hauled away to +make floors in the huts; the doors, mirrors, stairways, windows, rails, +carpets, pipes, bathtubs, toilets, lamps, every foot of woodwork from +stem to stern, berths, washbasins, kitchen ranges, boilers,--in fact, +everything that man could make use of was taken from the ship, leaving +nothing of her but a hollow, echoing shell through which the wind howled +or moaned a ghostly requiem. + +Much of this material was carefully stacked or stored away against the +day when it could be utilized in the construction of a small but sturdy +ship, in which a chosen company of sailors were to fare out to sea once +more in search of the world they had lost. + +Tireless and indomitable engineers later on succeeded in transferring +portions of the damaged machinery, including dynamos, to the camp, where +in course of time their skill and ingenuity bade fair to triumph over +seemingly insurmountable difficulties in the matter of restoration. + +Fully six weeks elapsed, however, before the women were allowed to leave +the ship for their new homes on the land, and even then they came but a +few at a time and only as huts were ready and fully equipped to receive +them. Each hut contained a combination kitchen and living-room, with a +single bedchamber. A substantial fireplace, built of stone and mortar, +with a tall chimney at the back, was a feature in every house. The +cracks between the logs, and all chinks, were sealed with thick layers +of mortar; the ceilings, made of stout saplings, were treated in a +similar manner, while the roof, resting on a sturdy ridge-pole, and +securely anchored, was of three layers of poles, interstices mortared +and the whole covered with a vast quantity of seaweed, moss and reeds +held in place by several well-fastened sections of iron railing from the +decks of the Doraine. + +While the huts were uniform in size, shape and construction, there +was nothing to prevent the occupant from subsequently enlarging and +improving his house. For the present, however, the interests of all were +best served by speed and compactness. + +The superintendent of construction was Algernon Adonis Percival. As +a matter of fact, the end of the first week found him occupying the +position of General Manager for the whole enterprise, an unsolicited +honour but one which he was resolved that no one, great or small, +should deride. He had one stormy "run-in," as he described it, with Mr. +Landover and his group of satellites. This occurred about the middle of +their first week on the island when practically every able-bodied man +from the Doraine was at work cutting a way through the forest or in +constructing the dock at the water's edge. As the incident is entitled +to a very definite place in this narrative, a more or less extended +account of it may be given here and now, even at the risk of being +classed as a digression, or a step backward in the sequence of the +history. + +Mr. Landover, Mr. Block, Mr. Nicklestick and two or three other men +were grouped on the after-deck early one morning decrying the brainless +scheme to build a camp out there in the open. Their audience included +several women, among them Mrs. Spofford, Ruth Clinton, Madame +Careni-Amori, Madame Obosky, Mrs. Block and a couple of loquacious Rio +Janeiro ladies. + +Percival bore down upon this group. He wasted no time in getting to the +point. + +"We've been at work for two days out there, gentlemen, and up to date +not one of you has turned to with the rest of us. The understanding was +that--" + +Mr. Landover whirled on him, white with anger. "That will do!" he +exclaimed. "Clear out! I do not intend to allow any such riff-raff as +you to order me to--Oh, pray do not be alarmed, ladies! This rowdy is +not likely to assault me. Nothing will happen, I assure you. Clear out, +you bum,--do you hear me?" + +Percival was smiling. "I wish you wouldn't interrupt me, Mr. Landover. +As I was saying, it was understood that every man on this ship who is +well enough to--" + +"Can't you see that there are ladies present? Haven't you an atom of +decency about you?" + +"--understood that every man on this ship was to do his share of the +work laid out. I owe these ladies an apology for reminding you in their +presence that the boats are leaving for shore and that if you do not get +off in the next relay you will be compelled to swim to that landing over +there,--and I doubt very much whether any of you can make it." + +"Wha-what's that?" demanded Mr. Block. + +Mr. Landover was speechless. A hard glitter came to Percival's eyes, the +smile left his lips. + +"You heard what I said, Mr. Block. I'll make it plainer, however. If you +men don't get into the next boat leaving this ship, I'm going to +have you thrown overboard and made to swim to your work. I regret +exceedingly, ladies, that I have been obliged to resort to harsh words +in your presence, but time is so precious that I can't afford to give +them a private audience." + +"Oh, my goodness gracious!" cried Mrs. Block, twisting her fat hands in +an agony of alarm. "Maybe you better go, Moses. You vas nearly drownded +twice yet in pool at White Sulphur." + +"This is the most outrageous, high-handed,--" began Landover, +explosively, but stopped short as Percival levelled his unlovely +forefinger at him. + +"Cut it out, Mr. Landover,--cut it out," he snapped, inelegantly. "Now, +listen to me. For two days you and these boon companions of yours have +been loafing on the job. While the rest of us have been working like +dogs, you and your friends,--you needn't look insulted, because by the +looks of things they are your friends,--you've been sitting up here +talking to the ladies, smoking cigars, and telling every one how +successfully you conduct a bank in New York. Now, Mr. Landover, you're +not an old man. If you were, I'd be the first to suggest the easiest +sort of work for you. You are under fifty and you're a strong, healthy +man. You ride every morning in Central Park, you play golf in winter and +summer, and you're one of the men who made Muldoon famous. + +"You are able to work as the rest of us are working. Your hands are in +a much better condition than mine. If we were in New York, I would take +off my hat to you and admit that you are one of the greatest bankers in +the world, and that you know your business. But we're not in New York. +We're down here on a lonely island. You know how to build and conduct +banks, I know how to build and conduct camps. We have no use for +scientific bankers here, but we have considerable use for experienced +camp builders. I have been put in charge of this work. I'm going to see +it through. Up in the hills I got a full day's work out of my men,--and +there were worse men among them than you will ever be. There were +gunmen, knife slingers, cutthroats and bullies,--but they had to work, +just the same. Just a minute, if you please. I'm not through. I think I +appreciate your position, Mr. Landover. + +"You regard me as a four-flusher, a tramp,--maybe a thief or worse. I +am but little more than half your age and I am a person of absolutely no +importance. That's neither here nor there. I have been selected to run +this job because Captain Trigger, with Mr. Mott and virtually every +other man on this ship, believes that I know how to handle it. But even +that's neither here nor there. What I'm coming to is this. As long as +I am in charge of this job, every man, woman and child has got to do +something. Just at present there isn't much that the women and children +can do, but there is work for every man who can stand on his feet. You +needn't glare at me. I'm not afraid of you, Mr. Landover. You say you +are going to stay on this ship. Well, I've come here to tell you that +you are not going to do anything of the sort. The women and children are +to remain on board until we've got houses built for them on shore, or +until the time comes when there is work for them to do. If they choose +to come ashore occasionally it will be to watch the men work and to +cheer them up with their presence. But no man is to stay on this ship +after we've once got the real job going out there. Now you've heard my +statement, sir. I am willing to listen for a few minutes to your side of +the question. Don't all speak at once,--and please be careful, there are +ladies present." + +While Percival did not take his eyes from Landover's face during this +speech, he was aware that Miss Clinton and her aunt had turned abruptly +away and were leaning against the rail a few yards distant, their backs +to him. Olga Obosky and Careni-Amori were regarding him with shining, +approving eyes, while Mrs. Block,--gulping furiously,--clasped her +husband's arm and kept up a constant muttering. Something told him that +Ruth Clinton and Mrs. Spofford had turned against him. + +"I have nothing to say to you," said Landover, curtly. Turning on his +heel, he joined the two ladies at the rail. He spoke a few words to them +in a lowered tone, and then the three of them strode off without so much +as a glance at the young man. + +Percival flushed a dull red under his tan. His eyes followed them until +they disappeared around a corner. Down in his heart he hoped that Ruth +would not deny him a fleeting look of encouragement and approval. + +Landover carried himself like a soldier. He was tall, well set-up, and +almost offensively erect. He was a handsome man of perhaps forty-eight. +His cleanshaven face was firm, aggressive, domineering. There was not +a trace of grey in his dark hair. He typified strength, mentality, +shrewdness and that most essential quality in the standards of wealth +and power,--arrogance. In a word, he personified Finance. + +"Now, see here, Percival," began Nicklestick, in a most cavalier manner, +greatly encouraged by the lofty conduct of the Money King, "you know you +can't do this sort of thing. We won't stand for it, not for a minute. We +object to this high-handed business. You got to realize that--" + +"Object and be hanged!" snapped Percival. "The next thing, you'll +be calling yourselves conscientious objectors. Well, it's no use, +Nicklestick. There's no such animal on board this Ark. I see a couple +of boats returning from shore. You've got about fifteen minutes to shed +that Stein & Bloch suit and jump into something that will never need +pressing again,--your working clothes. I'm doing you a kindness. That +gang out there won't stand for slackers. If you're wise you'll take my +word for it." + +He was turning away when Nicklestick intercepted him. + +"What do you think they would do, Mr. Percival?" he inquired in some +agitation. "We are gentlemen. We got a right to decide for ourselves vat +we shall do. We can pay for--" + +"You will find a lot of gentlemen out there who have already decided for +themselves,--and very cheerfully, too. You will not be lonely. If you +desire any further information as to the class of labourers you will +come in contact with, Mr. Nicklestick, I would suggest a careful study +of the first cabin list, the second cabin list, and finally the third +cabin list, if you can find such a thing. You will also run up against +some excellent material from the United States Navy, to say nothing of a +fine lot of able seamen. They've adopted a common name. Do you know what +they call each other?" + +"No," said Nicklestick, wiping his brow. "Vat--vat do they call each +other?" + +"Men," said Percival, and walked away. + +He was followed closely by Careni-Amori and Olga Obosky, and at some +distance by the whispering, gesticulating Jews. The great soprano was +profoundly agitated. Obosky, a pace or two behind her, was tense and +silent. Her head was slightly bent. There was a strange, dog-like +expression in her eyes as they regarded the back of Percival's head. + +"But what will you do?" Careni-Amori was crying, as she clutched his +arm. "He is a great man. He is a millionaire. He owns part of this +steamship line,--so he have inform me. You will not throw him into the +water,--yes?" + +"As sure as you are a foot high, Madame Careni-Amori," said he, grimly. + +"Oh, mon Dieu! You hear him, Obosky? He means what he have say." + +"Be careful, my friend," said Obosky, drawing alongside of Percival. "Do +you not see how the wind blows?" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Have you count the cost of victory? You may lose more than you will +gain." + +Percival looked at her intently for a moment; then, in a flash, the +meaning of her words was revealed to him. + +"Even so, Madame Obosky," he returned, his jaw setting, "I am a good +loser." + +"The spoils do not always go to the victor," she warned him. + +"I still have your luck-piece," said he, smiling as he slapped his +trousers-leg. + +"It has always brought me luck," she said, looking straight into his +eyes. "It may continue to do so, who knows? Alas for you, my friend, +you may yet have to turn to me for consolation. It is the ill-wind that +blows nobody good. Am I not shocking, Mr. Percivail?" + +They had lost Madame Careni-Amori, who was behind them, shrieking a +command through a port-hole to her maid. + +He looked at her in amazement. "I don't know what to think of you, +Madame Obosky." Then he grinned. "Good Lord! You--you can't be making me +an offer of marriage?" + +"Heaven forbid!" she cried. "I have had all I want of marriage, my +friend. You will never catch me doing anything so foolish as that again. +No, no! I do not desire to marry you, Mr. Percivail. Nothing so dreadful +as that! Suppose we would be married,--what zen? Poof! Because I am an +honest woman I would have to tell you some time zat I have had ze honour +to be once the mistress of a Crown Prince,--and then you would hold up +your holy hands and cry out, 'My God, what kind of a woman is this I +have marry?' and--Oh, but I would not tell you about zat Crown Prince +until we have been married a year or two, so do not look so pleased! +In a year you would be hating me so much zat you would rejoice to hear +about the Crown Prince, and I would be loathing you so much zat I would +probably have to kill you,--because I do not believe in divorce any more +than I believe in marriage. You see? Most women hate their husbands. +They never hate their lovers. It is so difficult to get rid of the one, +and so easy to keep the other,--zat is the explanation. So! Now you +may know zat love is the humblest thing in the world, and passion the +noblest, for love is for the weak while passion is for the strong. Love +is easily deceived, passion never. Love endures, passion conquers. Love +is blind, passion is sight itself. Love rules the world, but passion +rules love. Love consents, passion demands. Love is law, passion is +life. I could go on forever, but I see you do not like my discourse. Zat +is because you are already in love, my friend. Poof! You will get over +that!" She laughed. + +Percival was white clear through. He was red-blooded, but at the same +time his heart was clean. Once more he found himself contrasting the +honest-eyed, pure-hearted Ruth with this sensual scoffer. There was no +denying the physical appeal of the lithe, sinuous Russian; there was no +gainsaying the call of the blood. On the other hand, the American girl +stood for everything his own mother exemplified in flesh and spirit. + +As it is with all men, he was absolutely incapable of associating +passion with the mother who bore him, or with sisters who marry and give +them nieces and nephews to adore. It was impossible, utterly impossible +that they should have possessed the instincts of this woman beside +him. But even as the thought raced through his mind he experienced the +sudden, almost staggering realization that after all the chief, probably +the only difference between his women and Olga Obosky was that they were +good! + +"Do you want me to tell you what I think of you?" he inquired, his eyes +hardening. + +"Yes," she said calmly. "But not now. When you have more time, my +friend. I shall be very much interested to hear what you think of me. In +the meantime, I am troubled for you. You are in love with her,--oh, yes, +you are,--and I am very much afraid zat you will lose her if you are +not careful. I am your friend. Be warned in time, Mr. Percivail. She is +sorry for him. Landover. You have humiliated him before all of us. He is +the friend of her family. Go slow, my friend, or she will turn against +you and you will lose her. You have still a good chance. She is more +nearly in love with you than she suspects. A little good judgment on +your part, my friend, and you will win. She will marry you, and when +she have done so, zen you may with impunity toss Mr. Landover in the +sea,--but not now, my friend, not now." + +"By Jove, you've got me guessing, Madame Obosky," he exclaimed, frankly +puzzled. "I can't make you out at all." + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"Zat is because I am a thousand years old and very, oh, so very wise, +Mr. Percivail," she returned, with a smile. "Au revoir!" + +Percival went straight to Captain Trigger. + +"See here, Captain," he said at once, "I'm up against it with Landover. +He refuses to take orders from me. I don't want to do anything drastic +without consulting you. If you say I'm to let him off, that's the end +of it so far as I'm concerned. Of course, I can't answer for the rest +of the crowd. But if you say I am to go ahead along the line originally +laid out, I'll do it." + +Captain Trigger's eyes, red from loss of sleep, pinched with anxiety, +rested for a few seconds on the three boats coming across the basin. +Then he turned to the young man. + +"Mr. Landover is one of the owners of this steamship line, Percival." + +"So I understand, sir." + +"He notified me this morning that he will see that I am dismissed from +the service if I continue to support this silly, suicidal plan to build +a camp on shore." + +"Yes, sir. And you?" + +"I promptly tendered my resignation as master of this vessel," answered +the Captain. + +"You did?" cried Percival, dismayed. + +"To take effect when I have tied her safely up to her pier in New York," +said the old man, striking the rail with his fist. + +"Great!" cried Percival. + +"He has just come to me with the complaint that you have threatened to +throw him overboard. Is that true, Percival?" + +"Yes, sir,--in a way. I mentioned an alternative." + +"Mr. Landover is no better than any of the rest of us. You will proceed +to throw him overboard, Percival, if he refuses to do his share of the +work." + +Percival gulped, and then saluted. + +"Orders, sir?" + +"Orders!" + +The young man started away, but the Captain called him back. + +"What are you going to do after you have had him thrown into the water?" + +"Why, dammit all," exclaimed Percival, "what can I do but jump in and +save his life? You don't suppose I'd let him drown, do you? And, God +knows, nobody else would save it. They want to tar and feather him, as +it is, or lynch him, or make him walk the plank." + + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The first of the two boats came alongside, and men began to go clumsily, +even fearfully down the ladders. Throughout the early stages of activity +on shore, the passengers and crew went out in shifts, so to speak. +Percival and others experienced in construction work had learned that +efficiency and accomplishment depend entirely upon the concentration +of force, and so, instead of piling hundreds of futile men on shore to +create confusion, they adopted the plan of sending out daily detachments +of fifty or sixty, to work in regular rotation until all available +man power had been broken in and classified according to fitness and +strength. For example, certain men developed into capable wood-choppers, +while others were useless in that capacity. Each successive draft, +therefore, had its choppers, its strippers, its haulers, its "handy +men,"--and its water-boys. Moreover, this systematic replacement of +toilers made it possible for those who were not accustomed to hard, +manual labour to recover from the unusual tax on strength and endurance. + +It should be explained, however, that this system was not applied to +individuals selected for the purpose of exploration and research. Four +parties, well-armed and equipped, were sent out to explore both sections +of the island. These expeditions had numerous objects in view: to +determine, if possible, whether the island had ever been visited +or occupied by man; to determine the character of the fruits and +vegetables; extent and variety of animal life; the natural food +resources, etc. The groups were made up of men familiar with nature +in the rough. Lieutenant Platt headed one group, Professor Flattner +another, a Bolivian ranchman and an English horse buyer the remaining +two. + +Abel Landover was to have gone out with the first day's shift to work +on the road through the wood. He refused point-blank to leave the ship. +This state of affairs lasted through the next two days, the banker +stubbornly ignoring the advice and finally the commands of Captain +Trigger. In the meantime he had been joined in his rebellion,--a word +used here for want of a milder one,--by half a dozen gentlemen who did +a great deal of talking about how the Turks were maltreating the +Armenians, but, for fear of being suspected of pro-Germanism, studiously +avoided pre-war dissertations on the conduct of the Russians. + +The first shift's turn had come around once more in the natural order +of things, and practically all of the men had been landed. Landover +had refused to go out with either of the other shifts. He had stood +his ground obstinately. Percival's ultimatum, sweeping like wildfire +throughout the ship's company, brought nearly every one on board to the +rails to see whether he would carry out his threat. Would he dare throw +the great capitalist, this mighty Croesus, this autocrat, into the sea? + +The first boat carried off Nicklestick, Block, Shine and the other +objectors. Landover was in his stateroom. + +"Just a minute," called out Percival to the oarsmen, as they waited for +him to take his place in the last boat. "We're shy a man, I see." His +eye ranged the deck. His face was a sickly yellow. It would have been +white save for the tan. "Where is Landover?" he demanded of the crowd. + +Some one answered: "He went to his cabin a couple of minutes ago," and +another volunteered: "It's Number 9 on the promenade deck." + +Half a minute later Percival rapped peremptorily on the door of Number +9. + +"We're waiting for you, Mr. Landover," he called out. + +"Wait and be damned," came strongly from the stateroom. "The door is +unlocked. If you put a foot inside this room, I'll shoot you like a +dog." + +"You will have the satisfaction of killing a mighty good dog," said +Percival, and threw the door wide open. He did not enter the room, +however. Standing just outside the door, he faced the banker. Landover +stood in the centre of the luxurious cabin, a revolver in his hand. + +"I mean exactly what I say, Percival. I will shoot the instant you put a +foot through that door." + +"I don't believe you would," said Percival, "but, just the same, I'm not +going to chance it. If I ever conclude to commit suicide, I'll go off +somewhere and blow my brains out with my own gun. At present, I have no +thought of committing suicide, so I'll stay right where I am. I didn't +come here to kill you, Mr. Landover. I have no gun with me. I simply +came to tell you that the last boat is leaving, and we are waiting for +you." + +For many seconds the two men looked straight into each other's eyes. + +"Are you coming?" demanded the young man levelly. + +"Certainly not!" + +Percival's shoulders sagged. His face wore an expression of complete +surrender. + +"Well,--if you won't, I suppose you won't," he muttered. + +A triumphant sneer greeted this abject back-down on the part of the +would-be dictator. + +"I thought so," exclaimed Landover. "You're yellow. You can bully these +poor, ignorant--" + +He never finished the sentence. Percival cleared the eight or nine feet +of intervening space with the lunge of a panther. His solid, compact +body struck Landover with the force of a battering ram. Before the +larger and heavier man could fire a shot, his wrist was caught in a +grip of steel. As he staggered back under the impact, Percival's right +fore-arm was jammed up under his chin. In the fraction of a second, +Landover, unable to withstand this sudden, savage onslaught, toppled +over backwards and, with his assailant clinging to him like a wildcat, +found himself pinned down to the spacious, inset washstand. + +The revolver was discharged, the bullet burying itself in the floor. An +instant later the weapon fell from his paralysed fingers. With his free +left hand he struck wildly, frantically at Percival, but with no effect. +The broad back and shoulders of his assailant proved a barrier he could +not drive past. And that rigid, merciless right arm, as hard as a bar of +steel, was pressing relentlessly against his throat, crushing, choking +the life out of him. He was a strong, vigorous man, but he was helpless +in the grasp of this tigerish young fighter from the slopes of the +Andes. He heard Percival's voice, panting in his ear. + +"I can keep this up longer than you can. I don't want to break your +neck,--do you understand? I don't want to break your neck, Landover, but +if you don't give in, I'll--I'll--" The pressure slackened perceptibly. +"Say it! Now's your chance. Say you've--got enough!" + +Landover managed to gasp out the word. He could still feel his eyes +starting from his head, his tongue seemed to fill his mouth completely. + +Percival released him instantly and fell back a yard or so, ready, +however, to spring upon his man again at the first sign of treachery. No +more than sixty seconds elapsed between the beginning and the end of the +encounter. It was all over in the twinkling of an eye, so to speak. In +fact, it was over so quickly that the first man to reach the door after +the report of the revolver rang out, found the two men facing each +other, one coughing and clutching at his throat, the other erect and +menacing. For the first time, Percival took his eyes from the purplish +face of the banker. They fell first upon a head and pair of shoulders +that blocked one of the two port-holes. He recognized the countenance of +Soapy Shay, the thief. To his amazement, Soapy grinned and then winked +at him! + +"The boat is ready to leave, Landover," said the victor briskly. "We +have no more use for this thing at present," he went on, shoving the +revolver under the berth with the toe of his boot. The banker stared +past him at the agitated group in the corridor. The man was trembling +like a leaf, not so much from fear as from the effects of the tremendous +physical shock. + +Percival was a generous foe. He experienced a sudden pity,--a rush of +consideration for the other's feelings. He saw the tears of rage +and mortification well up in the eyes of the banker, he heard the +half-suppressed sob that broke from his lips. Whirling, he ordered the +crowd away from the door. "It's all right," he said. "Please leave us." +He addressed Soapy Shay. "Beat it, you!" + +Soapy saluted with mock servility. "Aye, aye, sir. I saw the whole show. +It was certainly worth the price of admission." Having delivered himself +of that graceful acknowledgment, he effaced himself. + +"Just a word or two, Mr. Landover," said Percival as the crowd shuffled +away from the door. "I am sorry this had to happen. Even now I am not +sure that you fully understand the situation. You may still be inclined +to resist. You are not in the habit of submitting to force, reason or +justice. I am only asking you, however, to recognize the last of these. +You will be happier in the end. I don't give a hang how much you hate +me, nor how far you may go to depose me. I don't want your friendship +any more than I want your enmity. I can get along very nicely without +either. But that isn't the point. At present I am in charge of a gang of +workmen. Every man on this ship belongs to that gang, you with the rest. +I ask you to look at the matter fairly, honestly, open-mindedly. You +accuse me of being high-handed. I return the charge. It's you who are +high-handed. You set yourself above your fellow-unfortunates. You refuse +to abide by the will of the majority. I represent the majority. I am +not acting for myself, but for them. God knows, I am not looking for +trouble. This job isn't one that I would have chosen voluntarily. But +now that it has been thrust upon me, I have no other alternative than to +see it through. You ought to be man enough, you ought to be fair enough +to see it in that light. If conditions were reversed, Mr. Landover, and +you were in my place, I would be the last to oppose you, because I +have learned in a very tough school that it pays to live up to the +regulations. Everywhere else in the world it is a question of capital +and labour. Here it is a question of labour alone. There is no such +thing as capital. Socialism is forced upon us, the purest kind of +socialism, for even the socialist can't get rich at the expense of his +neighbour. But I'm beginning to lecture again. Let's get down to cases. +Are you prepared to go out peaceably,--I'll not say willingly,--and do +your share on the job as long as you are physically able?" + +"I submit to brute force. There is no other course left open to me," +said Landover hoarsely. + +"Very well, then. Come along,--we're wasting valuable time here." + +"I will follow you in a few minutes." + +"You will come now," said Percival levelly. "You and I, Mr. Landover, +are jointly concerned in the establishment of a very definite order of +discipline. We represent the two extremes." He stood aside. "Precede me, +if you please." + +After a moment's hesitation, the other lifted his chin and walked past +the young man. The corridors were clear. Percival followed close behind. +He kept up a glib, one-sided conversation. + +"You see, there was no other way to handle you. I was obliged to resort +to punitive measures. That's always the case when you are dealing with +sensible, intelligent, educated men. It is impossible to reason with an +intelligent, educated man. He invariably has opinions, ideas, viewpoints +of his own. He is mentally equipped to resist any kind of an argument. +Take our United States Senators, our Congressmen, even our Presidents. +You can't reason with them. No doubt you've tried it a thousand times, +you and the other capitalists. We've all tried it. You've got to hit 'em +on the head with some sort of a club or big stick if you want to bring +'em to time. You have to club them to death at the polls, so to speak. +Now, you take these wops. They can't argue. They haven't got that sort +of intelligence. They're considerably like the common or garden variety +of dog. No matter how much you beat them and scold them, you can always +get along with them if you feed them and let them see that you're +not afraid of them. If they once get an idea that you are afraid of +them,--well, it's all off. They begin to be sensible right away, and +then they form a labour union. And the more sensible and intelligent +they become, the easier it is for the labour leaders, the walking +delegates, and blood-sucking agitators to make fools of 'em. It's all a +matter of leadership, Mr. Landover, as you will admit, any way you look +at it. Well, here we are." + +Landover paused before starting down the ladder to the boat. He turned +to address Percival in a loud, clear voice. + +"You will not long be in a position to browbeat and bully the rest +of us, young man. Your reign will be short. I would like my +fellow-passengers to know that I have never refused to work with them. +I have merely declined to work under an outlaw. Life is as dear to me +as it is to any one else on this ship. I am taking this step against +my will, rather than subject myself to further indignities and the +cruelties you would inflict if I held out against you. I am sorry to +deprive you of the spectacular hit you might have made by throwing me +into the sea, a treat which you doubtless led all of these people to +expect." + +He climbed down the ladder and dropped into the boat. As he took his +seat, he ran his eye along the line of faces above. Finding the persons +he sought, he smiled, shook his head slowly to signify a state of +resignation, and then set his flushed, angry face toward the land. + +Percival, following him, did not look up at the row of faces. + +Careni-Amori sang that evening in the main saloon. Signer Joseppi, tired +and sore after his hard day's work, wept, and after weeping as +publicly as possible created a profound sensation by kissing the great +prima-donna in full view of the applauding spectators. Then, to cap +the climax, he proclaimed in a voice charged with emotion that Madame +Careni-Amori never had sung better in all her life! This to an artist +who had the rare faculty for knowing when she was off the key,--and who +knew that she was very badly off on this particular occasion. + +Percival was standing near the door as Ruth Clinton and her aunt left +the saloon on the way to their rooms. He joined them after a moment's +hesitation. The two ladies bowed coldly to him. He was the essence of +decision. As usual, he went straight to the point. + +"I can't take back what I did this morning, and I wouldn't if I could," +he said, falling in beside Mrs. Spofford. "I know you are displeased +with me. Can't we thresh it out now, Mrs. Spofford?" + +The elder woman raised her chin and stared at him coldly. He shot a +glance past her at the girl's face. There was no encouragement to be +found in the calm, unsmiling eyes. + +"I fail to see precisely why we should thresh anything out with you, Mr. +Percival," replied Mrs. Spofford. + +"It is barely possible that you are not quite clear as to my motives, +and therefore unable to gauge my actions." + +"I understand your motives perfectly,--and I approve of them. Your +actions are not so acceptable. Good-night, Mr. Percival." + +He smiled whimsically at Ruth. "My left hand is rather in need of +attention, Miss Clinton. I suppose I am so deeply in your bad graces +that I may not hope for--er--the same old kindness?" + +She stopped short. "Is this a request or a command? Mr. Percival, I will +be quite frank with you. Mr. Landover is our friend. I am not, however, +defending him in the position he has taken. There is no reason why he +should not do his share with the rest of the men. But was it necessary +to humiliate him, was it necessary to insult him as you did this +morning? He is a distinguished man. He--" + +"Are you coming, Ruth?" demanded Mrs. Spofford, sharply. + +"In just a moment, Aunt Julia." + +"You will oblige me by coming with me at once. We have nothing more to +say to this young man." + +"I have asked him a question. I shall wait for his answer." + +"I will answer it, Miss Clinton, by saying it was necessary," said +he steadily. "There are other distinguished men here who are further +distinguishing themselves by toeing the mark without complaint or cavil. +Mr. Landover was appealed to on three distinct occasions by Captain +Trigger and the committee. He ignored all private appeals--and commands. +The time had come for a show-down. It was either Landover and his little +band of sycophants, or me and the entire company of men on this ship. +It may interest you to know that you and Mrs. Spofford are the only two +people on board, outside of Mr. Landover's retrievers, who blame me for +what I did this morning." + +"You can hardly expect me to be interested in what other people think of +my position, Mr. Percival," she said, raising her eyebrows slightly. + +"No more, I dare say, than Landover cares what they think of his," was +his retort. + +She lifted her chin. "I am beginning to appreciate Mr. Landover's +attitude toward you, Mr. Percival," she said icily. + +"And to justify it, I suppose," he said dejectedly. "I want your +friendship, Miss Clinton,--yes, I want a great deal more than your +friendship. You may as well know it. I'm not asking for it,--I'm +just telling you. Please don't go away. I promise not to make myself +ridiculous. You have been good to me, you have been wonderful. I--I +can't bear the thought of losing your friendship or your respect. I just +had to bring Landover to time. You may think there was some other way, +but I do not. At any rate, it isn't a matter that we can discuss. Some +day you may admit that I was right, but I don't believe I will ever see +the day when I will admit that I was wrong. Won't--can't we be friends?" + +"I do not believe I can ever feel the same toward you after witnessing +what I did this morning," said she, shaking her head. "You deliberately, +intentionally degraded Mr. Landover in the presence of others. Was that +the act of a gentleman? No! It was the act of an overbearing, arrogant +bully who had nothing to fear. You took advantage of your authority +and of the fact that he is so rich and powerful that he is practically +without a friend or champion. You knew only too well that ninety-nine +per cent of the people on board this ship were behind you in your attack +on him because he represents capital! You had nothing to fear. No, Mr. +Percival, I don't believe we can be friends. I am sorry." + +"You heard what Mr. Landover said to me this morning, Miss Clinton," +said he, paling. "You heard what he called me. Do you believe these +things of me?" + +She was silent for a moment. "No, I do not," she replied slowly. "I +believe that you are all you have represented yourself to be." + +"Thank you," he said, with gentle dignity. "I am sorry if I have +distressed you this evening. Please don't think too harshly of me when +I say that I just had to find out how we stand, you and I. Now that I +know, I can only promise not to bother you again, and you may rely on my +promises. I never break them. Good-night, Miss Clinton." + +He bowed to Mrs. Spofford, who ignored him, and then to Ruth, a wistful +smile struggling to his lips and eyes as he did so. As he turned away, +she spoke to him. + +"You mentioned your hand being bad again. If you would like me to dress +it for you,--under the circumstances,--I will do so." + +"Ruth!" cried Mrs. Spofford in a shocked voice. + +He put his left hand behind his back. It was the one with which he +had gripped Landover's wrist that morning. The strain had reopened the +partially healed wounds. + +"I injured it this morning in an encounter with your friend, Miss +Clinton. I can hardly ask you to dress it. Thank you, just the same." + +"I know all that happened in Mr. Landover's cabin, but even so, I am +ready and willing to do anything in my power to ease the pain you are +suffering." She spoke calmly, dispassionately, almost perfunctorily. + +He shook his head. "I shouldn't have spoken of it," he said. "It isn't +so bad that I can't fix it up myself. Good-night." + +She joined her aunt and they made their way in silence to the latter's +stateroom. It was not until after the door was safely locked that Mrs. +Spofford delivered herself of the thought that had been in her mind the +whole length of the slanting corridor. + +"I hope he will not take advantage of his position to--to bully us--to +bully you, dearest,--he might, you know. He has shown himself to be +perfectly capable of it. And we are so defenceless. No one but Abel +Landover to look to for help if he,--for, of course, no one else would +dare oppose this lawless young,--oh, you need not smile! He has the +power and it is quite plain now that he intends to exercise it. He will +brook no interference--" + +"I am not afraid of Mr. Percival, Aunt Julia," said the girl, sitting +down wearily on the edge of the berth. "He is a gentleman." + +"A--a gentleman?" gasped Mrs. Spofford. "Good gracious!" + +"He will not annoy me," said Ruth, absently study-ing the tips of her +slim, shapely shoes. "Possess your soul in peace. I think I know him." + +"Are you defending the braggart?" + +"Not at all! I detest him," cried the girl, springing to her feet, her +face crimsoning. "He is perfectly abominable." + +"I--I wouldn't speak quite so loudly, my dear," cautioned her aunt, +glancing at the door uneasily--"It would be like him to listen outside +the door,--or at any rate, one of his men may have been set to spy +upon--" + +"Don't be silly, Aunt Julia. And don't be afraid. Mr. Percival isn't +going to make us walk the plank for mutiny, or put us in chains,--or +outrage us,--if that is what you are thinking. Now, go to bed, you old +dear, and--" + +"I insist on your staying in my room, Ruth. He is in love with you." + +"He can be in love with me and still be a gentleman, can't he, Aunt +Julia? Don't worry! I shall sleep in my own room. I may even go so far +as to leave my door unlocked." + +"What! And if he should come to--" + +"Ah, I shan't send him word that it's unlocked, dear," scoffed Ruth, +finding a malicious enjoyment in her aunt's dismay. "Good-night. Sleep +tight! We must sleep while we have the opportunity, you know. Our lazy +days will soon be over. He says we've all got to work like,--I think he +said dogs." + +"Oh, dear me. I,--I wonder what is to become of us?" moaned the wretched +lady. "After what he tried to do to Abel Landover, there is no telling +to what lengths he may go in--By the way, has Mr. Landover reported to +Captain Trigger that the fellow attempted to shoot him this morning?" + +"Of course not, Aunt Julia." + +"Well, I think it is his duty to do so. Captain Trigger should take +drastic means to curb this--" + +"You forget that Mr. Landover maintains that Captain Trigger and all +the other officers are like putty in the hands of Mr. Percival. I am +beginning to believe it myself. He--he has got them all hypnotized." + +"He hasn't got me hypnotized!" exclaimed Mrs. Spofford. + +"In any case, he is in the saddle," sighed Ruth. + +"He deliberately tried to kill Mr. Landover," said the other. "Is +nothing to be done about it? We heard the shot,--every one heard it. And +no one has the courage to say a word about it! What a lot of cowards we +are! I don't see why he refuses to let me take the matter up with the +Captain. Captain Trigger ought to know the truth." + +Ruth was silent for a moment or two. "It's hard for me to believe, Aunt +Julia, that he would attack a defenceless man with a revolver. It--it +doesn't seem like him." + +"But you have Abel Landover's word for it, Ruth. The bullet grazed his +head. The coward would have killed him most certainly if he had not +succeeded in knocking the pistol out of his hand and overpowering him." + +"If I did not believe Mr. Landover to be an absolutely truthful, +honourable man, I--" began Ruth, a little furrow between her eyebrows, +"well, I might still believe a little in Mr. Percival." + +"And what chance had poor Landover with that highwayman, or whatever he +is, pointing a revolver at him through the porthole and threatening to +blow his brains out if he did not throw up his hands and let Percival +alone?" + +Olga Obosky bandaged Percival's hand. She intercepted him on his way to +Dr. Cullen's cabin. + + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +During the days and weeks that followed, Percival maintained an +attitude of rigid but courteous aloofness. Only on occasions when it was +necessary to consult with Ruth and her aunt on matters pertaining to +the "order of the day" did he relax in the slightest degree from the +position he had taken in regard to them. + +In time, the captious Mrs. Spofford began to resent this studied +indifference. She detested him more than ever for not running true to +the form she had predicted; her apprehensiveness gave way to irritation. +She resented his dignified, pleasant "good mornings"; she complained +acidly to Ruth about what she was now pleased to describe as "disgusting +superciliousness." + +The truth of the matter was, he failed to take any account whatsoever +of Mrs. Spofford in his calculations; he did not even make a pretence +of consulting her in matters relating to the common good of the common +people, and as she was in the habit of devoting a considerable portion +of her time, energy and executive ability to the interests of the common +or lower class people, the omission was an insult. + +Nor was his cause benefited by the unnecessary and uncalled for +deference he seemed to feel was due her on account of her age. What had +her age to do with it? No one had ever deferred to her age in New York? +She was one to be reckoned with, she was accustomed to the deference +that hasn't anything at all to do with age. And here she was, shunted +to one side, ignored, disregarded,--she who had been the brains and +inspiration of a dozen charitable enterprises, to say nothing of +war-work and very important activities in opposition to Woman Suffrage! + +She found little consolation in Landover's contention that the upstart +was bound to hang himself if they gave him rope enough, or in Ruth's +patient reminder that Percival was getting results,--and getting them +without bullying anybody. + +Ruth accepted the situation with a calmness that exasperated her aunt. +She announced her intention to obey any order the "boss" might issue, +without recrimination, without complaint. And so, when the day came +for her to go forth with other women to do her share of the cooking, +washing, cleaning, and later on the more interesting task of putting the +huts in order for occupancy, she went with a full understanding of what +was required of her and without a word of protest. The women with whom +she toiled from early morn till sombre dusk draped the land were under +the immediate direction of a stewardess of many years experience, an +Englishwoman whose husband, an engineer, had been killed at the time of +the explosions. + +Each night she returned to the ship tired and sore but uncomplaining. +Her strong young body stood the test with the hardiest; her spirit was +unflinching; her heart in the common cause. For she looked ahead with +a clear, far-seeing eye, and saw not one but many winters in this vast, +unguarded prison. And she wondered,--wondered day and night,--what was +ahead of her. + +She was young. The young do not dream of death. They dream of life, +and of its fullness. What did fate have in store for her? Sometimes she +crimsoned, sometimes she paled as she looked ahead. + +Bare-armed, her heavy sport skirt caught up with pins, her bonny brown +hair loosely coiled, thick golf stockings and sturdy shoes covering her +legs and feet, she presented a figure that caused more than one heart to +thump, more than one head to turn, more than one pair of eyes to follow +her as she went about her work. Her cheeks and throat and breast and +arms were browning under the fire of the noonday sun, her eyes glowed +with the fervour of enthusiasm; her voice was ever cheerful and her +smile, though touched with the blight that lay upon the soul of all these +castaways, was unfailingly bright. And when she returned "home" at night +from her wageless day of toil, she slept as she never had slept before. + +Her aunt worked in what was known as the salvage corps. She was one of +the clerks employed in checking out the cargo and other materials seized +by the committee of ten, as the leaders in this singular enterprise were +called. Captain Trigger having protested against the dismantling of the +vessel and the confiscation of its cargo,--which was as far as he could +go,--announced that he would abide by any satisfactory plan to salvage +the property. He required an official, documentary report, however, in +which every item removed was accounted for, with its condition and value +set down and sworn to by responsible persons. The purser, Mr. Codge, and +First Officer Mott represented the Captain in this operation, while the +consignees were properly taken care of by Michael O'Malley Malone, +the lawyer, James K. Jones, the promoter, and Moses Block, the rubber +importer. It is unnecessary to deal further with this feature of +the situation. Suffice it to say, the transaction,--if it may be so +denoted,--was managed with the utmost regularity and formality. Elderly +men and women were chosen for the clerical work which this rather +laborious undertaking entailed. + +On the crest of the loftiest hill there was established a permanent +observation and signal station. Near the top a sort of combination +dug-out and shanty was constructed by order of Captain Trigger, and +day and night, week in and week out, watches were kept similar to those +maintained on board ship. + +While the entire company, high and low, worked with a zeal that +eventually resulted in a state of good-natured though intense rivalry +in skill and accomplishment,--while they were generally cheerful and +courageous,--there was a profound lack of gaiety. In the eyes of each +and every one of them lay the never-vanishing shadow of anxiety,--an +eternal unspoken question. The hardest, fiercest faces wore a wistful +expression; the broadest smile revealed a touch of sadness. Over all, +however, the surpassing spirit of kindness and generosity presided. + +Calamity had softened the hearts in the same crucible that hardened the +hands. The arrogance of the strong mellowed into consideration for the +weak; wisdom and culture went hand in hand with ignorance and brawn; +malice and rancour left the hearts of the lowly and met half-way the +departing insolence of the lofty; fellowship took root and throve in a +field rich with good deeds. The heart of man was master here, the brain +its humble servant. + +Landover worked hard, doggedly. To all outward appearances, he had +resigned himself to the inevitable. He affected a spirit of camaraderie +and good humour that deceived many. Down in his heart, however, he +was bitterly rebellious. He despised these people as a class. In his +estimation, all creatures who worked for a living were branded with the +obnoxious iron of socialism; he even went so far as to believe that they +were, after a fashion, anarchists! His conception of anarchy was rather +far-reaching; it took in everything that was contrary to his notion of +a satisfactory distribution of wealth. He believed that every man who +worked for a wage was at heart an enemy to law and order. He regarded +the wage-earner as one whose hand is eternally against the employer, +absolutely without honour, justice or reason. The workingman was for +self, always for self,--and to Landover that was anarchy. + +The thought that people,--men and women,--of the lower classes possessed +physical and mental qualities similar to those possessed by himself, +even in a modified form, was not only repugnant to him but incredible. +They had none of the finer emotions,--such as love, for instance. He +could not conceive of a labouring man loving his wife and children; +it wasn't natural! He pictured the home-life of the lower classes as +nothing short of indecent; there couldn't be anything fine or noble or +enduring in the processes of birth, existence and death as related to +them. Nature took its course with them, and society,--as represented by +the class to which he belonged,--provided for the litters they cast +upon the world. In a word, Abel Landover's father and grandfather and +great-grandfather had been rich men before him. + +He despised Captain Trigger for the simple reason that that faithful, +gallant sailor was an employee of the company in which he was a +director. It meant nothing to him that Captain Trigger came of fine, +hardy, valiant stock; it meant less to him that he was a law unto +himself aboard the Doraine. For, when all was said and done, Captain +Trigger worked for just so much money per month and doubtless hated the +men who paid him his wage. On board the Doraine,--as was the case with +all other vessels on which he chose to sail,--the banker sat at the +Captain's table. But he did not consider that to be a distinction or an +honour; it was his due. As a matter of fact, he looked upon himself as +the real head of the Captain's table! + +Half a dozen persons in all that company comprised Landover's circle of +desirables. Of the rest, most of them were impossible, three-fourths +of them were "anarchists," all of them were beneath notice,--except +as listeners. As for Percival, if that young man was not literally and +actually a bandit, at least he had all the instincts of one. In any +case, he was a "bum." Whenever Mr. Landover was at a loss for a word to +express contumely for his fellow-man,--and he was seldom at a loss,--he +called him a "bum." + +The women on board were divided into three classes in Landover's worldly +opinion: the kind you would marry (rare), the kind you wouldn't marry +(plentiful), and the kind you wouldn't have to marry (common). He put +Olga Obosky and Careni-Amori in this rather extensive third class, and +even went so far as to set what he considered a fair value upon them as +human commodities! + +He worked with the gang of "log-toters," a term supplied by Percival. +They were the men who carried or dragged the trimmed tree-trunks from +the forest to the camp site, where they were subsequently hewn into +shape for structural purposes by the more skilful handlers of ax and +wedge and saw. + +A certain man named Manuel Crust was the fore-man of this gang. He was +a swarthy, powerful "Portugee" who was on his way to Rio to kill the pal +who had run away with his wife. He was going up there to kill Sebastian +Cabral and live happily for ever afterward. His idea of future happiness +was to sit by the fireside in his declining years and pleasantly +ruminate over the variety of deaths he had inflicted upon the loathsome +Sebastian. In the first place, he was going to strangle him with his +huge, gnarled hands; then he was going to cut off his ears and nose and +stuff them into the vast slit he had made in his throat; then he would +dig his heart out with a machete; then, one by one, he would expertly +amputate his legs, arms and tongue; afterwards he would go through the +grisly process of disemboweling him; and, then, in the end, he would +build a nice, roaring fire and destroy what remained of Sebastian. +Inasmuch as either of these sanguinary and successive measures might +reasonably be expected to produce the desired result, it will be seen +that Sebastian was doomed to experience at least six horrific deaths +before the avenger got through with him. At any rate, if one could +believe Manuel,--and there seemed to be no end of conviction in the +way he expressed himself,--the luckless home-wrecker, if he lived long +enough, was absolutely certain to die. + +Landover took a strange fancy to Manuel Crust. He was drawn to him in +the first place by the blasphemous things he said about Percival. In the +second place, he enjoyed Manuel's vituperative remarks about cutting the +liver out of the "boss." Notwithstanding the fact that Manuel was +more or less given to cutting the livers out of remote and invisible +persons,--including King Alfonso, the Kaiser, Queen Victoria (he didn't +know she was dead), King Manuel, the Czar of Russia, the Presidents +of all the South American republics, the Sultan of Turkey, President +Roosevelt, and Sebastian Cabral,--Mr. Landover positively loved to hear +him talk. He made a point of getting him to talk about Percival a great +deal of the time. He also liked the way in which the prodigious Manuel +deferred to him. It inspired the philanthropic motives that led him to +share his very excellent cigars with the doughty foreman. Moreover, he +had something far back in his mind, had Mr. Abel Landover. + +Percival was indefatigable. He set the example for every one else, and +nothing daunted him. The sceptics,--and there were many of them at the +start,--no longer shook their heads as they went about what once +had loomed as a hopeless enterprise, for to their astonishment and +gratification the "camp" was actually becoming a substantial reality. + +The small group of men who, for obvious reasons, had courted the favour +of Abel Landover at the outset, now went out of their way to "stand in" +with the amazingly popular man of the hour. + +He represented power, he stood for achievement, he rode on the crest of +the wave,--and so they believed in him! Landover may have been a wizard +in New York, but the wizard of Trigger Island was quite another person +altogether,--hence the very sensible defection. + +These gentlemen openly and ardently opposed him on one occasion, +however. It was when he proposed that the island should be named for +the beloved Captain. They insisted that it be called Percival Island. +Failing in this, they advocated with great enthusiasm, but with no +success, the application of Percival's name to almost every noticeable +peculiarity that the island possessed. They objected fiercely to +the adoption of such titles as these: Mott Haven (the basin); Split +Mountain; Gray Ridge (after the lamented Chief Engineer); Penguin Rocks; +The Gate of the Winds; Top o' the Morning Peak; Dismal Forest (west of +the channel); Peter Pan Wood (east of the channel); Good Luck Channel; +Cypress Point; Cape Sunrise (the extreme easterly end of the island); +Leap-frog River; Little Sandy and Big Sandy (the beaches); Cracko-day +Farm; New Gibraltar (the western end of the island); St. Anthony Falls. +Michael O'Malley Malone christened the turbulent little waterfall up in +the hills. He liked the sound of the name, he claimed, and besides it +was about time the stigma of shame that had so long rested upon the poor +old saint was rewarded by complete though belated vindication. + +Strange to say, no name was ever proposed for the "camp." Back in the +mind of each and every member of the lost company lay the unvoiced +belief,--amounting to superstition,--that it would be tempting fate to +speak of this long row of cabins as anything more enduring than "the +camp." + +Notwithstanding his dominant personality and the remarkable capacity +he had for real leadership, Percival was a simple, sensitive soul. He +writhed under the lash of conspicuous adulation, and there was a good +deal of it going on. + +The satiric Randolph Fitts, notwithstanding his unquestioned admiration +for the younger man, took an active delight in denouncing what he was +prone to allude to as Percival's political aspirations. It is only fair +to state that Fitts confined his observations to a very small coterie of +friends, chief among whom was the subject himself. + +"You are the smartest politician I've ever encountered, and that's +saying a good deal," he remarked one evening as he sat smoking with a +half dozen companions in front of one of the completed huts. They were +ranged in a row, like so many birds, their tired backs against the +"facade" of the cabin, their legs stretched out in front of them. +"You're too deep for me. I don't see just what your game is, A. A. If +there was a chance to graft, I'd say that was it, but you could graft +here for centuries and have nothing to show for it but fresh air. +Even if you were to run for the office of king, or sultan or shah, you +wouldn't get anything but votes,--and you'd get about all of 'em, I'll +say that for you. To a man, the women would vote for you,--especially if +you were to run for sultan. What is your game?" + +Percival smoked in silence, his gaze fixed on the moonlit line of trees +across the field. + +"And speaking of women, that reminds me," went on Fitts. "When does my +lord and master intend to transplant our crop of ladies?" + +"What's that, Fitts?" said Percival, called out of his dream. + +"Ladies,--what about 'em? When do they come ashore to occupy the +mansions we have prepared for them?" + +"Captain Trigger suggests next week." + +"What's he got to do with it? Ain't you king?" + +"He's got a lot to do with it, you blithering boob." + +"Besides," drawled Peter Snipe, the novelist, picking doggedly at the +calloused ridges on one of his palms, "some of the women object to +moving in the dark of the moon. They say it's sure to bring bad luck." + +"There's quite a mixup about it," observed Flattner. "Part of 'em claim +it's good luck. Madame Obosky says she never had any good luck moving by +the light of the moon, and Careni-Amori says she doesn't blame her for +feeling that way. Sort of cattish way of implying that the fair Olga +could get along without any moon at all. Professional jealousy, I +suppose." + +"I was speaking to Miss Clinton about it today," remarked Michael +Malone. + +"What does she think about it?" from Percival. + +"I don't know. She asked me what I thought about it." + +"And what did you tell her?" + +"I told her I wasn't a woman, and that let me out. Being a man, I'm not +entitled to a vote or an opinion, and I'd be very much obliged to her +if she'd not try to drag me into it,--and to answer my question if she +could. Whereupon she said she was in favour of moving by the light of +the sun, and payin' no attention at all to the moon. Which I thought was +a very intelligent arrangement. You see, if they move in the daytime the +damned old moon won't know anything about it till it's too late and--" + +"You're the first Irisher I've ever seen who wasn't superstitious, +Mike," broke in Fitts, with enthusiasm. "It takes a great load off +my mind. Now I can ask you why the devil you've never returned that +pocket-knife of mine. I thought you had some sort of superstition +about it. A good many people,--really bright and otherwise intelligent +people,--firmly believe it's bad luck to return anything that's been +borrowed. I suppose I've owned fifty umbrellas in my time. The only man +who ever returned one,--but you know what happened without my telling +you. He got caught in a sudden shower on his way home from my apartment +after making a special trip to return it, and died some three years +later of pneumonia. Sick two days, I heard. So, as long as you're not a +bit superstitious about it, I'd thank you--" + +"I'd have you know that I never keep anything I borrow,--that is, never +more than a day. It's against my principles. Don't ask me for your +dommed old knife. I lent it weeks ago to Soapy Shay." + +"You did?" cried Fitts, incredulity and relief in his voice. "Much +obliged. I haven't been able to look Soapy in the face for a month. Did +he recognize it?" + +"I think he did. He kissed it." + +"Landover tried to borrow my lead pencil yesterday," remarked Flattner. +"Finally offered to put up his letter of credit as security. I gave him +the laugh. That lead pencil is worth more than all the letters of credit +lumped together. He wanted to write a note. So I agreed to let him +use it if he wouldn't take it out of my sight and on condition that he +didn't write more than five or six line's. But when he made as if he was +going to sharpen it, I threatened him with an ax. Can you beat that for +wastefulness? These low-down rich don't know the meaning of frugality. +Why, if I hadn't stopped him he might have whittled off five thousand +dollars' worth of lead, just like that. I also had to caution him about +bearing down too hard while he was writing." + +"What was he wanting to write a note for?" demanded Malone. "Has he lost +his voice?" + +"It was a note of apology. He says he never fails to write a note of +apology when he's done something he's ashamed of, or words to that +effect. Lifelong practice, he says." + +"Who was he apologizin' to?" + +"That little nurse, Miss Lake,--the one with the coral earrings. You +know, Mike. I saw you carrying a bucket of water for her yesterday." + +"Her name isn't Lake," said Malone. "It's Hardwickley. And if you had +your eyes open, you'd have seen me carrying one for her every day, so +you would, my lad." + +"The damned villain!" exploded Flattner. "He told me her name was +Lake,--word with only four letters,--and she turns out to have--let's +see,--eleven! I call that pretty shifty work, I do. You can't trust +these wizards of Wall Street. They'll do you every crack, if you don't +keep your eye peeled. Hornswoggled me out of seven letters." + +"You've got to watch 'em," mused Fitts. "What was he apologizing to her +for?" + +"Something to do with his washing. I don't just remember what it was, +but I think she didn't iron and fold his handkerchiefs properly, +or maybe it was his collars. In any case, he panned her for it, and +afterwards repented. Told me in so many words that he felt like a +blooming cad about it, and couldn't rest till he had apologized." + +Fitts took several puffs at his pipe and then remarked: "That man has +the biggest wash of anybody in this camp. I don't see any real reason +why he should change collars three times a day while he's hauling logs +down from the hills. As a matter of fact, what's the sense of wearing +a collar at all? Most of us don't even wear shirts. See here, your +majesty,--begging your pardon for disturbing your thoughts with my +foot,--why don't you issue a manifesto or edict or something prohibiting +the use of collars except on holidays, or at weddings, funerals and so +forth?" + +Percival yawned. "If Landover didn't have a collar on he'd think he was +stark naked. Gosh, I'd like to go to bed." + +"Why don't you? We'll call you as soon as we get any news," said +Flattner. + +"No, I'll stick it out a while longer. I say, Flat, it begins to look +as if there's real wheat coming up over there after all. Old Pedro was +telling me today that it looks like a cinch unless we got it sowed too +late and cold weather comes along too soon. I never dreamed we'd get +results. Putting out spring wheat in virgin soil like this is a new +one on me. If it does thrive and deliver, by gosh, a whole lot of +agricultural dope will be knocked to pieces. I thought spring wheat +had to be sown in land that was ploughed the fall before. What's the +explanation?" + +"You can't explain nature, A. A.," said Percy Knapendyke. "Nature does +so darned many unnatural things that you can't pin your faith to it at +all. Of course, it was a pure experiment we made. We happened to have +a lot of hard spring wheat, and this alluvial soil, deep and rich, was +worth tackling. Old Pedro was as much surprised as I was when it began +to come up. Using that fertilizer was an experiment, too. He swore it +wouldn't help a bit. Now he just scratches his head and says God did it. +We've got fifty acres out there as green as paint and you can almost +see it grow. If nothing happens we ought to harvest it by the middle of +February, and if God keeps on doing things for us, we may get as much as +twenty-five bushels to the acre. It's different with the oats. You can +plant oats on unploughed land, just as we did, and you can't stop it +growing. The oats field up there along the base of the hills is a peach. +Takes about ninety days for oats to ripen. That means we'll harvest it +in about two months, and we'll beat the cold weather to it. Forty or +fifty to the acre, if we have any luck at all. Potatoes doing well +and--Say, did I tell you what I've found out about that stuff growing +over there in the lowlands beyond the river? Well, it's flax. It's +the same sort of thing that grows in New Zealand. Those plants I was +pointing out to you last week,--the ones with the long brownish leaves, +like swords. There's no mistake about it. I took those two Australian +sailors over to look at 'em a day or two ago and they swear it's the +same plant, growing wild. Same little capsule shaped fruit, with the +little black seeds, and everything. I've been reading up on it in the +encyclopedia. You cut those leaves off when they get to be full size, +macerate 'em in water for a few days, sun dry 'em, and then weave 'em +some way or another. We'll have to work that out. Strongest sort of +fibre in the leaves. Makes a very stout cloth, rope, twine,--all +that sort of thing. Opens up a new and important industry, +boys,--particularly obnoxious to married men. We'll be having +dress-making establishments in full blast before you know it, and model +gowns till you can't rest. I almost hate to spread the news among the +women. We won't have a cook, or a laundress, or a school-teacher on the +Island if this dressmaking craze gets started. Every hut along this row +will have a sign beside the door: 'Dressmaking Done Here.' On the other +hand, I doubt very much if we'll be able to get a single tailor-shop +going,--and God knows I'll soon need a new pair of pants, especially if +we're going to have regular church services every Sunday, as Percival +says." + +"Father Francisco and Parson Mackenzie have finally got together on it," +said Malone gloomily. "For the first time in the history of civilization +we're going to have a combination Catholic and Protestant Church. It's +all arranged. Father Francisco is going to conduct mass in the morning +and Parson Mackenzie is going to talk about hell-fire in the evening. +I was wondering what the Jews are going to do for a synagogue and a +rabbi." + +"I can't answer that question," said Peter Snipe; "but Morris Shine +tackled me the other day to write a play for him, something with music +and dancing in it. He's got a great idea, he says. A stock company to +use the church building once a month. Expects to submit his scheme to +Fitts as soon as he gets it worked out, with the idea of having our +prize little architect provide for a stage with ecclesiastical props in +the shape of pulpits and chancels and so forth, which can be removed on +short notice. Suggests, as a matter of thrift, that footlights be put in +instead of altar candles. Free show, free acting, no advertising bills, +no royalties to authors, free programs,--everything free, including +supper." + +"Grand little idea, Pete," said Percival. "Are you going to write the +play?" + +"Sure. My faithful old typewriter is aching to be thumped once +more,--and I've got half-a-dozen extra ribbons, thank God. Good for +two long novels and an epitaph. Just as soon as we can get the ship's +printing press and dining-room type ashore, I'll be ready to issue The +Trigger Island Transcript, w.t.f.--if you know what that means. I see +you don't. Weekly till forbidden." + +"I've always wondered what those confounded letters meant down in the +corner of the half-inch advertisements," said Flattner. "It will be a +rotten-looking newspaper if it's anything like the sheet the Doraine +put out on the trip down. No two letters matched, and some of 'em were +always upside down. Why were they upside down, Pete? You're an old +newspaper man. Tell us." + +"Because it's impossible to set 'em sideways. If it was possible, the +blamed printers could do it, you bet. When I was writing leaders on the +Saxville Citizen years ago there was a ruffian up in the composing-room +who used to set whole paragraphs of my best editorials in em quads, and +when I kicked,--Hello, isn't that a lantern, A. A.?" + +They all scrambled to their feet and peered intently in the direction of +the wooded strip that lined the channel. This whilom conversation came +to an abrupt end. Ghostly forms suddenly took shape in front of other +huts, figures of men that were until then as logs in the shadows. +Far off in the road through the wood, a light bobbed, flashed and +disappeared intermittently, and finally emerged into the open and came +steadily forward. Detached knots of men down the line of huts, twos and +threes and fours, swiftly welded themselves into groups, and, hurrying +forward, swelled the crowd that congregated at the end of the "street." +Two hundred of them, tired but eager, awaited the arrival of the man +with the lantern. + +These were the men who slept on shore, the unmarried men, those who +had no "feminine hearth," as Snipe put it dolefully one dark and windy +night. Since supper-time these men had been waiting and watching. But +few of them had gone to bed. Gentleman and roustabout, one and all, were +linked together by a common anxiety. News of the greatest import was +expected during the night. + +A child was coming to the pathetic little widow of Cruise, the +radio-man. + +Two messengers had gone down to the landing to wait for the report to be +shouted from the afterdeck of the Doraine,--Soapy Shay and Buck Chizler, +the jockey. Now they were returning,--and it was nearing midnight. + +They drew near, the lantern buffeting the legs of the one-time diamond +thief as he swung along in the rear of the more active jockey. + +"It's a girl," called out Buck to the silent mob. Not a sound, not a +word from the eager crowd. "Mother and kid both doing well," went on the +jockey, a thrilling note of triumph in his voice. + +And then a roar of voices went up to the moonlit sky. The shackles +of doubt and anxiety fell away, and every heart swelled with joy and +relief. Men began to dance and laugh. Out in front of the crowd leaped +Percival. + +"Come on now, fellows! Everybody up! Three cheers for the Trigger Island +baby! One--two--three!" + +And while the last wild cheer was echoing back from, the mountainside: +"Now, three good ones for the baby's mother, God bless her!" + +Thrice again the exultant yells echoed across the plain, and then out +leaped another excited figure. It was Nicklestick the Jew. + +"Come on! Come on! Ve got to light the bonfires! Come on! I got the +matches! Vait! Vait! Let's vait while we take off our hats a minute, +boys,--take them off to our baby's father, Jimmy Cruise. No cheers!" + +A hush fell over the crowd. Every hat came off, and every head was bent. +To many of them James Cruise was no more than a name salvaged from the +shocking experiences of those first dreadful days. Few of them had +come in actual contact with him. The time had been too short. But Betty +Cruise, his widow, was known to all of them, high and low. They had +watched over her, and protected her, and slaved for her, for +besides pity there was in every man's soul the fiercest desire that +nothing,--absolutely nothing,--should be left undone to insure the happy +delivery of the babe they were counting so keenly upon! + +She was a frail, delicate English girl whom Cruise had married in Buenos +Aires the year before. He was taking her up to his mother's home in +Connecticut. His death,--alas, his annihilation!--almost killed her. +There were those who said she would die of grief. But, broken and frail +as she was, she made the fight. And now came the news that she had +"pulled through." + +There were mothers on board with tiny babies,--three or four of them, in +fact,--peevish, squalling infants that innocently undertook to inspire +loathing in the souls of these self-same men. They had no claim upon the +imagination or the sympathy of the eager crowd,--no such hold as this +newcomer, the child born in their pockets, so to speak,--an expression +first employed by an ardent champion of the impending infant +in defending his righteous solicitude when it was attacked by a +sophisticated and at the same time exasperated nurse. + +Two bonfires were started in the open space known as "The Green." The +huge piles of twigs and branches had been thrown up earlier in the +evening. They were in plain view of the "lookout" at the top of Split +Mountain. It had been agreed that if it was a boy one fire was to be the +signal; if a girl, two. The "watch" was to share in the glad tidings! + +The cheering awoke Abel Landover from a sound sleep. He turned in his +bunk and growled: + +"The damned idiots!" + +Mr. Landover did not like children. He declined to sit up half the +night to find out "how things were going." So he went to bed, knowing +perfectly well that his three bunkies would come piling in at some +outlandish hour and jabber about the "kid," and he wouldn't be able to +get back to sleep again for hours. + +He was what is commonly known as a "grass widower." His wife rather too +promptly married inside of a month after leaving Reno, and, much to +her own gratification and joy, proceeded to have three very desirable +children within a period of five years, causing him a great deal of pain +and annoyance for the reason that their father had once been regarded as +his best friend,--and now he couldn't abide the sight of him. He hated +children. Now you know the kind of a man he was. + +Five tired and thoughtful men were going to bed a little later on in one +of the huts. + +"What shall we call her?" came from Randolph Fitts, as he threw one of +his clay-covered shoes into the corner. + +"There's only one name for her," said Percival firmly, from the edge of +his bunk. "We'll call her Doraine." + +"Good shot!" cried Peter Snipe. "I had two names in mind, but Doraine's +got 'em both beat. It may not be as pretty as Angelica, but it's more +appropriate. Mortimer was the other name I had in mind." + +"Yep," was the smothered decision of Michael Malone. His shirt came off, +and then he spoke more distinctly. "We can't do better than to name her +after her birthplace. That's her name. Doraine Cruise. It sounds Irish. +Got music in it. All Irish names have,--leaving out Michael and Patrick +and Cornelius and others applied solely to the creatures who don't +take after their blessed mothers and who grow up to be policemen and +hod-carriers, with once in awhile a lawyer or labour-leader to glorify +the saints they were named for, and--Yes, begorry, Doraine's her name." + +And so it was that, with an arbitrary quaintness, the babe was named +without so much as a thought of consulting the mother. They assumed a +proprietary interest in her, a sort of corporate ownership that had as +its basis a genuine affection for and pride in Cruise's widow. It did +not occur to one of them that she ought to have been considered in the +matter of naming her own child; they went to sleep perfectly satisfied +that when the question was put to a general vote on the morrow there +wouldn't be a single dissenting voice against the name they had +selected. + +And Mrs. Cruise herself would be very grateful to them for the prompt +assistance they had given her at a time when she was in no condition to +be bothered with minor details! + + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +The death of Betty Cruise occurred the second day after her baby was +born. In a way, this lamentable occurrence solved a knotty problem and +pacified two warring sexes, so to speak. For, be it known, the women of +the Doraine took a most determined stand against the manner in which +the men, viva voce, had arrogated unto themselves the right to name the +baby. Not that any one of the women objected to the name they had given +her; they were, in fact, pleased with it. But, they protested, this was +a matter over which but one person had jurisdiction, and that person +was Betty Cruise. If it was not a mother's privilege to name her +own child,--especially in a case where the infant's father was in no +position to decide the question for her, whether she consented or no, +then all they could say was that things had come to a pretty pass. + +At any rate, they were going to see to it that the baby was not named by +a mob! + +Ruth Clinton went straight to Percival. + +"I hear you have named the baby, Mr. Percival," she said, prefacing her +remark by a curt "good morning." + +It was the first time she had spoken to him in many days. Their ways not +only lay apart but she had made a point of avoiding him. She stopped him +this morning as he was passing the hut in which she and her aunt were to +live with two of the American nurses. + +The three young women had spent several days in the making and putting +up of some very unusual and attractive window curtains and portieres; +painting the stones that framed the fireplace, the crude window-casings +and door jamb; and in draping certain corner recesses which were to +achieve dignity as clothes closets. They were scrubbing the floor when +Percival passed on his way to the "office." + +His "office," by the way, was a rude "lean-to" at the extreme outer end +of the street. It was characteristic of him to establish headquarters +at a point farthest removed from the approach to the camp from the ship. +Fitts was perhaps the only person who sensed the real motive back of +this selection. Every one else attributed it to an amiable conclusion on +Percival's part to sacrifice himself for others by walking almost twice +as far as any of them. As a matter of fact, he had nothing of the sort +in mind. He deliberately arranged it so that all operations should be +carried on between headquarters and "home." It was his plan to drive +inward instead of outward, to push always in one direction. In other +words, thought Fitts quite correctly, he "never had to look behind him +for trouble." + +To save his life, Percival could not subdue the eager, devouring gleam +that flashed into his eyes as he looked into hers. He could have cursed +himself. A swift warm flush raced from her throat to her cheeks. +Her direct, steady gaze faltered under fire, and a confused, trapped +expression flickered perceptibly for a moment or two. He mistook it for +dismay, or, on second thought, even worse,--displeasure. + +"I--I can't help it," he stammered, surprised into voicing the thought +that was uppermost. "You know how I feel. I--I--" + +But she had recovered her self-possession. "Do you really think you have +the right to name Mrs. Cruise's baby?" she inquired coolly. + +He managed a wry, deprecatory smile. "Everybody seems to like the name, +Miss Clinton. The more I think of it myself, the better it sounds. I +tried it out last night in all sorts of combinations. It fits nicely +into almost any family tree--even Nicklestick's. Just say it to +yourself. Doraine Nicklestick. Try any name you like. Doraine Smith, +Doraine Humperdinck, Doraine Landover--even Doraine Shay--and, I tried +it out with Clinton. Doraine Clinton. Don't you like it? I even +tried Percival. It isn't quite so satisfying tacked onto a name like +mine,--and it's a poor beginning for Fitts,--but with good, sensible +surnames, it's fine." + +"It isn't a question of how it sounds, Mr. Percival." + +"Don't you like Doraine Clinton?" + +"I like almost anything better than Ruth. I suppose most people loathe +the names that other people have given them." + +"No one knows that better than I. I sometimes wonder what they might +have called me if I were a girl. Nothing as nice as Doraine, or Ruth, +I'll bet my soul on that. Something like Guinevere Aphrodite, or +Desdemona Venus, or--" + +"We are getting away from the subject," she interrupted crisply. "Has it +occurred to you that poor little Mrs. Cruise might like to name her own +baby? Why should you men take it upon yourselves to choose a name for +her child? Don't you think you were a trifle high-handed in the matter?" + +"Of course, if Mrs. Cruise doesn't like Doraine, we will--" + +"You will suggest another, I suppose," she broke in scornfully. "Well, +I may as well inform you that you are about to strike a snag," she went +on, a trifle inelegantly in her desire to be emphatic. "We intend to see +to it that the mother of that baby gives it a name of her own choosing." + +"May I inquire just who you mean by we?" he asked. + +"The women,--three hundred of us, Mr. Percival, that's who. I for one +happen to know that Betty Cruise chose a name long ago. Her heart is set +on naming the baby after her mother,--Judith, I think it is. That's the +name she wants, but do you imagine she will have the hardihood or the +courage, poor little scrap, to oppose you, Mr. Percival? I mean you, +personally. She thinks your word is law. She would no more think of +defying you than she would think of--" + +"Pardon me, Miss Clinton," he interrupted gently, "but don't you think +that's a trifle far-fetched? I am not a dictator, you know. I fancy Mrs. +Cruise knows that, even if you do not." + +"I have heard all about your meeting last night," she went on +ruthlessly, her eyes flashing. "How you suggested the name, how you +settled the question to suit yourself, and how you called the men +together this morning and told them that the child was to be called +Doraine before you asked them to vote on it. Vote on it! What a +travesty! And no one had the nerve to stand up and say a word for that +poor little woman. Oh, you've got them well-tamed, Mr. Percival." + +By this time the two nurses had appeared in the doorway, and several +other women at work down the line, scenting the fray, were approaching. + +"I guess you'd better call off the vote, Mr. Percival," said one of the +nurses, eyeing him unflinchingly. + +"I can't call it off. The men adopted the name unanimously. I have no +right to set aside their decision, no matter how hastily it was made," +said he, beginning to bridle now that he tasted concerted opposition. + +"I warn you that I intend to call the women,--and what few men there are +with minds of their own,--together this evening to see that Betty Cruise +gets fair play," said Ruth. "When she hears that we are behind her, +she'll have the backbone to tell you men to mind your own business +and--" + +"Have I a mind of my own or not, Miss Clinton?" he interrupted. + +"You certainly have," she declared with conviction. + +"Then you may expect me to be one of the men to attend your meeting. +Good morning." He lifted his hat, smiled and walked briskly away. + +"He'll crab the whole thing," observed one of the women, and despite +her vocal rancour there was an admiring expression in her eyes as they +followed him down the road. + +"If he wants to call that baby Andrew Jackson or George Washington, +he'll have his way," said another. "Sex won't make any difference to +him." + +"You just wait and see," said Ruth, quivering with indignation. + +"Mercy, how you must hate him, Miss Clinton," cried one of her +house-mates. + +"I only wish I were a man," cried the other, clenching her fists. + +"It would simplify matters tremendously," came in dry, masculine tones +from the outskirts of the group. They turned and discovered Randolph +Fitts. He was smiling sympathetically. + +"I don't quite see what you mean, Mr. Fitts," said Ruth, after a moment. + +"Because if you were a man, Miss Clinton, you wouldn't even think of +hating him. You'd love him." + +Miss Clinton stared at him for a second or two and then, whirling, +entered the hut. Her cheeks were burning. Who shall say whether the +tears that sprang to her eyes as she fell to work scrubbing in the +corner were of anger or self-pity? + +Briefly, the situation became quite strained as the day wore on. Women +gathered in little knots to discuss the unprecedented "nerve" of the +men. By nightfall they were pretty thoroughly worked up over a matter +that had mildly amused them at the outset of the day. A comparatively +small proportion had cared one way or the other in the beginning. Most +of them did not care at all. Given time, however, to digest the thought, +aided by such seasoning as could be supplied by a half dozen determined +and more or less eloquent voices, they came in the course of a few hours +to the conclusion that they never had heard of anything so outrageous, +and, to a woman, were ready to fight for little Mrs. Cruise's rights! + +Several of the stewardesses and two or three women from the second cabin +were avowed and bitter suffragettes. Indeed, two of the stewardesses, +being English, were of the hatchet-wielding, brick-throwing element that +made things so warm for the pained but bull-headed male population of +London shortly before the Great War began. These ladies harangued their +companions with great effect. + +To have heard or witnessed the little gatherings at noon and at the +close of work for the day, one might have been led to believe that a +grave, portentous ques-tion of state was involved. Trifling and simple +as all this may seem to the reader of this narrative, it serves a +definite purpose. It reveals to a no uncertain degree the eagerness with +which these castaways reached out hungrily for the slightest morsel +that would satisfy the craving of active minds dulled by the constant, +never-absent thought of self; minds charged with thoughts that centred +on something thousands of miles away; minds that seldom if ever worked +in harmony with hands that toiled. + +The men took up the gauntlet. They considered themselves challenged. +Notwithstanding the secret conviction that the women were right, they +stood united in defence of their action. Nothing that Percival could +say or do moved them. He tramped from one group of toilers to another, +always meeting with the same grins and laughter when he suggested that +they wait until Mrs. Cruise was able to approve or disapprove of the +name they had chosen. + +"Good gosh!" cried one of the sailors. "Are you goin' to give in to the +women, boss?" + +"Well, I've been thinking it over, boys. I guess we were a little too +officious. We meant well, God knows, but after all, Betty Cruise ought +to be consulted,--now, oughtn't she?" + +"Sure," cried any number of them cheerfully. "It's her kid." + +"Well, there you are," he rejoined persuasively. + +"But how do we know she won't be tickled to death with our name? She'd +ought to be. It's purtier than any name I can think of," argued Jack +Wales, a sailor. "When she's well enough, we'll tell her the kid's name +is Doraine, and--" + +"She won't hold back a second, boss, when she finds out that you picked +it for her," broke in another. "Only a couple o' days ago she was sayin' +to one of the other women in my hearin' that if it was a boy she was +goin' to call him Percival,--and she didn't know what on earth she'd do +if it was a girl. Said she'd probably have to call it after her mother +and she didn't like her mother's name a little bit." + +"I know, but after all, we did butt in a trifle too soon with our--" + +"For God's sake, don't let any of these here women hear you talk like +that, boss," groaned Jack Wales. "They'll think we're beginning to +hedge. We got to stand together in this thing. If we don't, they'll rule +this camp sure as you're a foot high. I don't give a dern what the kid's +name is, far as I'm concerned, but on principle, boss, it's just got to +be Doraine. Doraine she is an' Doraine she stays." + +Every one of them was good-humoured about it. They were taking it as a +rare and unexpected bit of politics. The thrill of opposition invested +them. They scoffed at surrender. + +Buck Chizler, however, was seriously affected. He was courting one of +the nurses and he, for one, saw peril in preliminary defeat. + +"There won't be any living with 'em," he proclaimed, scowling darkly. "I +know what it is to have 'em get the bit in their teeth. You just can't +manage 'em, that's all. Upset all the dope. Likely to throw you clear +over the fence. Experience ain't a particle of use. The gad don't do a +bit of good. They just shut their jaws, lay back their ears, and--" + +"We're not talking about race-horses, Buck," interrupted Percival, +smiling. + +"Neither am I," said Buck forcibly. + +Ruth went to Olga Obosky. She did so only after a rather prolonged +inward struggle. The Russian's interest in Percival was not moderated +by the reserve supposed to be inherent in women. She was an open +idolatress. One had only to watch the way she followed him with her +dark, heavy-lidded eyes to know what was in her mind. Ruth tried not to +despise her. She tried not to care, when she saw Percival laughing and +talking with this beguiling sensualist,--and it was not an infrequent +occurrence. + +The dancer was seated on the floor of her hut, tailor-fashion, a +cigarette between her lips, her bare arms resting limply on her knees, +her body bent forward in an attitude of extreme fatigue. The three +"coryphees" were busy at work about the place with Olga's maid. Ruth +stopped in the doorway. Olga lazily removed the cigarette from her lips +and smiled. + +"I once thought I was very strong and unbreakable," she said, "but now +I know I am not. See, I am all in, as we would say in America. Suffering +snakes,--how tired I am! That also comes from America. Won't you sit +down, Miss Clinton? We have three or four deck chairs, you see, and some +cushions." + +"Why do you sit there on the floor, all doubled up and--heavens, it must +be uncomfortable,--if you are so tired? How do you manage your legs?" + +"My legs? Oh, my legs are never tired. It is my poor back." Whereupon +she slowly, gracefully straightened out one of her legs, and without +changing the position of her body, raised it, with toes and instep on +a perfect line, until the heel was some three feet from the floor. Then +she swung it slowly backward, twisting her body sinuously to one side. +A moment later the foot was stretched out behind her and she lifted +herself steadily, without apparent exertion, upon the other knee,--and +then stood erect. Ruth watched this remarkable feat in wonder and +admiration. + +"How--how on earth do you do it?" she cried. "Why,--you must be as +strong as--as--a--" She was about to say horse, and floundered. + +"But I trust not as clumsy as one," said Madame Obosky, stretching her +body in luxurious abandon. "I sit on the floor like zat, my friend, +because my back is tired, not my legs. If I lie back in ze deck chair +when I am tired, I would relax,--and would make so much more regret for +myself when the time came to get up again. Besides, it is a good way +to rest, zis way. Have you never tried it? Do, sometime. The whole body +rests, it sags; the muscles have nothing to do, so they become soft and +grateful. The backbone, the shoulders, the neck,--they all droop and +oh, zey--they are so happy to be like zat. It is the same as when I am +asleep and they are not running errands all the time for my brain. The +Arab sits like zat when he rests,--and the Hindoo,--and they are strong, +oh, so very strong. Try it, sometime, Miss Clinton, when you are very +tired. It is the best way to let go, all over." + +Ruth laughed. "I couldn't do it to save my soul." + +"Oh, I do not mean for you to get up as I did, or use your leg as I did. +You could not do zat. You are too old. That is one of the fruits, one +of the benefits of the cruelest kind of child labour. I was a great many +years in making myself able to do zat. See! Put your hand on my leg. Now +my back,--my arm. What you think, eh?" + +Ruth, in some embarrassment, had shyly obeyed her. The dancer's thigh +was like a column of warm iron; her waist, free as ever from stays, was +firm and somehow suggestive of actual resilience; her shoulders and +back possessed the hard, rippling muscles of a well-developed boy; her +shapely forearm was as hard as steel. Ruth marvelled. + +"How strong you are!" she cried; "and yet you are slight. You are not as +big as I am, but oh, how much stronger you are!" + +"I have a perfect figure," said Olga calmly. "It is worth preserving. No +one admires my body so much as I do myself. I must not get fat. When you +are a fat old woman, I shall still be as I am now. You will diet, and +pray, and rave,--because you are growing old,--and I shall do none of +these things. I eat like a pig, I never pray, and I do not believe in +growing old. But you do not come to see me about myself, Miss Clinton. +You find me sitting idly with my legs crossed, and you are surprise. +I work as I dance,--very, oh, so very hard while I am at ze task,--but +with frequent periods of rest. So I do not wear out myself too soon. +It is the only way. Work for an hour, rest for ten minutes,--relax and +forget,--and you will see how well it goes. Why do you come? Is it to +talk about the baby?" + +"Yes, it is, Madame Obosky. I have come to ask you to use your influence +with Mr. Percival. You--" + +"But I have no influence with Mr. Percivail," interrupted the other, +staring. + +Ruth flushed. "You are his friend. You--" + +"Ah, yes,--but nothing more than zat. You too are his friend, Miss +Clinton." + +"I see little or nothing of Mr. Percival," said Ruth stiffly. "We are +not friends,--not really friends." + +"But you admire him, eh? Quite as much as I admire him,--and as every +one else does." + +"There are certain things about him that I admire, of course." + +"You admire him for the same reason that I admire him. Because he has +a most charming and agreeable way of telling me to go to the devil. Is +that not so?" + +"Madame Obosky!" + +"It comes to the same thing. If you would like me to put it in another +form, he has a very courteous way of resisting. He is most aggravating, +Miss Clinton. He is most disappointing. He should be like soft clay in +our hands, and he isn't. Is that not so?" + +"Is it not possible, Madame Obosky, that we,--you and I,--may have an +entirely different viewpoint so far as Mr. Percival is concerned? Or any +other man, for that matter?" Ruth spoke coldly, almost insultingly. + +"I dare say," agreed Olga, composedly, not in the least offended by the +implication. "You want to marry him. I do not." + +"How dare you say that? I do not want to marry that man. I do not want +to marry him, I say." + +"How interesting. You surprise me, Miss Clinton. It appears, then, that +our viewpoint is in nowise different, after all." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"I leave it to your imagination,--and to reflection. Listen! We may as +well be friends. You do not wish to admit it, even to yourself, but +you are in love with him. So am I. The difference between us is that +I realize I can get along without him, and still be happy. I am not +jealous, my dear. If I were, I should hate you,--and I do not. He is in +love with you. You know it perfectly well, because you are not a fool. +He is not in love with me. No more am I a fool. He--" + +"I am not in love with him!" + +"So be it," said Olga shortly. "Have your own way about it. It is not my +affair. You have come to me, however, because you know he loves you and +you know you do not love him. Why, therefore, are you afraid of me?" + +"It is useless to continue this--" + +"Oh, I see! You do not wish my girls to hear our conversation." Without +more ado, she ordered the three girls out of the hut. "Go out and play," +she commanded. Then, as the girls imparted in haste, she turned to Ruth. +"I am very thoughtless. You are not in the habit of discussing your love +affairs quite so generously as I. Poof! They do not care, those girls. +Love affairs mean nothing to my girls." + +"I have no love affair to discuss, Madame Obosky. You need not have sent +them away. Good-bye..There is nothing more to be said--" + +"Do not go away,--please. You do not know whether to like me or not. You +do not understand me. You have never encountered any woman as honest as +I am, zat is the trouble. Sit down, please. Let us talk. We may be here +together on this island all the rest of our lives, Miss Clinton. It +would not be right for us to hate each other. When you are married to +Mr. Percivail, you will have nothing to fear from me. I give you my +solemn oath on zat, Miss Clinton. Our little world here is too small. If +we were out in the great big world,--well, it might be different then. +But, how, I ask you, is it possible for me to run away with your husband +when there is no place to run away to?" + +She spoke so quaintly that Ruth smiled in spite of herself. + +"You are a most extraordinary person, Madame Obosky. I--I can't dislike +you. No, thank you, I sha'n't sit down. I came to see you about the +naming of the baby. I suppose you know that we women have decided to +oppose the--" + +"Yes, yes,--I know," interrupted the other. "But why should we oppose? +It is a very small matter." + +"Do you really believe those men had--or have--the right to give a name +to Betty Cruise's baby? I don't believe it, Madame Obosky." + +"In the first place, can you blame Mr. Percivail for taking the +matter out of the mother's hands? Mothers are very, oh, so very stupid +sometime, you know. For example, my dear Miss Clinton, you have but to +see what Mr. Percivail's mother did to him when he was an infant. She +called him Algernon Adonis,--and why? Because she thought he was the +most wonderful child in all the world,--and because she was silly. I can +almost hear her arguing now with the father, poor man. One day I asked +Algernon Adonis what name his father called him by,--I was so sure he +would not call him Algernon. He said that up to the day his father +died he called him Bud. That's a toy's name, you see. I am in favour of +children being named by outsiders, disinterested outsiders,--a committee +or something,--men preferably. I think this child should be called +Doraine. Betty Cruise she do not care what she call it now that it is +not possible to call it Jimmy Percivail or Percivail Jimmy. Has it occur +to you that if it had been a boy, all these men would have insisted on +Jimmy, without the Percivail?" + +"I like the name Doraine,--we all do. What we resent is Mr. Percival's +presumption in--" + +"Let me tell you one more thing. Do not permit Mr. Percivail to address +your indignation meeting tonight, for if you do, and he smiles zat +nice, good-humoured smile and tells the ladies zat he is sorry to have +displease them, and zat he is to blame entirely for the blunder,--poof! +Zat will be the end!" + +"I am not so sure of that," said Ruth. "There are some very determined +women among us, Madame Obosky." A faint line appeared between her eyes, +however,--a line acknowledging doubt and uncertainty. "And you will not +join us in the protest?" + +"No," said Olga, shaking her head. "I am content to let the men have +their way in small things, Miss Clinton. It makes zem--them so +much easier to manage when it comes to the big things. I speak from +experience. Once let a man think he is monarch of all he surveys and he +becomes the most humble of subjects. As I have said before, we may all +be here for a long, long time. No one can tell. So, I say, we must pat +our men on the back and tell zem what great, wise, strong fellows they +are,--and how good and gallant too. Then they will fight for us like the +lion, and zey--they will work for us like the ass and the oxen, because +man he enjoys to be applauded greatly. A man likes to have his hair +rubbed gently with the finger tips. He will smile and close his eyes and +if he knew how he would purr like the cat. But, my dear, he do not like +to have his hair pulled. Zat is something for you to remember,--you and +all your determined women, as you call them." + +"Of course you understand, Madame Obosky, I--and the other women,--are +thinking only of Betty Cruise in this matter." + +"From what I have been told, all these men out here stayed awake half +the night thinking about her, Miss Clinton. They behave like so many +distracted fathers waiting for news from the bed-chamber. Bless their +hearts, you might think from their actions that the whole two--three +hundred of them consider themselves the consolidated father of zat +single infant." + +"I must be getting back to my work," said Ruth abruptly. Her eyes were +shining, her voice was soft and strangely thick. "But," she went on +bravely, after clearing her throat, "we intend to fight it out with +them, just the same, Madame Obosky." + +Olga went to the door with her. + +"You mean, you intend to fight it out with Mr. Percivail,--you yourself, +eh?" + +"It is not a personal matter with me, let me remind you once more. He +is their leader. He dominates them. He is the force that holds them +together. That's all." + +"And you would render that force impotent, eh? I see. How wise you women +are!" + +Ruth stopped short, struck by the remark. "Say that again, please." + +Olga repeated the words slowly, significantly, and added: "They might +have a worse leader, Miss Clinton." + +At another time, Ruth Clinton would have been deeply impressed by the +underlying significance of the Russian's words. But she was at the mercy +of a stubborn, rebellious pride. She chose to ignore the warning that +lay in Obosky's remark. She felt herself beaten, and she was defiant. It +was too late to hark now to the mild, temperate voice of reason. + +Something rankled deep down in her soul, something she was ashamed to +acknowledge even to herself. It was the disagreeable conviction that +Percival ascribed her activities to nothing more stable than feminine +perversity,--in fact, she had the uncomfortable feeling that he even +went so far as to attribute them to spitefulness. Something in his voice +and manner, as he left her that morning, suggested the kindly chiding of +a wilful child. Well, he should see! + +"I don't care what it all comes to, Madame Obosky," she said, a red spot +in each cheek. "He shall not name that baby." + +The Russian smiled. "Forgive me for saying that you will not feel so +bitterly toward him when the time comes for him to name your baby." + +Ruth's lips fell apart. She stared for a moment in sheer astonishment. +Then she paled with anger. Drawing herself to her full height, she +asked: + +"Are you deliberately trying to make me despise you?" + +"By no means," replied the other, quite cheerfully. "I am merely giving +you something to think about, zat is all." + +"Rubbish!" was all that Ruth flung over her shoulder as she walked away. + + + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +It was the noon hour. Scores of men were resting in the shade of the +huts as she strode briskly past. They all smiled cheerily, but there +was good humoured mockery in their smiles. Here and there were groups of +women talking earnestly, excitedly. + +Abel Landover was leaning in his doorway, watching her approach. His +eyes gleamed. She was very beautiful, she was very desirable. She had +been in his mind for months,--this fine, strong, thoroughbred daughter +of a thoroughbred gentleman. His sleeves were rolled up, his throat +was bare; his strong, deeply lined face was as brown as a berry; if +anything, his cold grey eyes were harder and more penetrating than +in the days when they looked out from a whiter countenance. He was a +strong, dominant figure despite, the estate to which he had fallen,--a +silent, sinister figure that might well have been described as "The +Thinker." For he was always thinking. + +"I understand you tackled the 'boss' this morning, Ruth," he said as she +came up. + +"I daresay the news is all over the island by this time," she replied, +still angry. + +"Was it worth while?" he inquired, a trace of derision in his voice. + +She was on the point of replying rather emphatically in the negative, +when suddenly she recalled the look in Percival's eyes and the first +words he spoke to her. She caught her breath. Her eyes sparkled, her +lips parted in a rosy smile. + +"Yes, Mr. Landover, it was worth while," she said, and went on, leaving +him to reflections that were as perplexing as they were unanticipated. + +She experienced a short spell of triumph. After all, Percival was in +love with her. She did not need Olga Obosky to tell her that. She could +see, she could feel for herself. A certain glee possessed her,--indeed, +as she afterwards succeeded in analysing the sensation, it bordered +decidedly on malice. She had it in her power to make him miserable and +unhappy. She would enjoy seeing him unhappy! + +The meanness of the woman who longs to injure the man who loves her, +whether loved or unloved, revealed itself for the moment in this +fair-minded, generous girl. (It is a common trait, admitted by many +fair-minded and generous women!) But even as she coddled and encouraged +the little sprout of vengeance, the chill of common-sense rushed up and +blighted it. + +She had a sickening impression that Percival would fail to play the +part according to her conception. In fact, he was quite capable of +not playing it at all. He would pursue the even tenor of his way--(she +actually made use of the time-honoured phrase in her reflections),--and +she would get small satisfaction out of that. + +Moreover, there was Olga Obosky to be reckoned with. She was conscious +of a hot, swiftly passing sense of suffocation as the thought of Olga +rushed unbidden into her brain,--for an instant only,--and then came the +reaction: a queer chill that raced over her body from head to foot. What +part would Olga Obosky play in the game? + +The women congregated on the forward deck of the Doraine after supper +that night. The evening repast was no longer dignified by the word +dinner. The sky was inky black; not a star flickered in the vault above. +There were low, far off mutterings of thunder. The rail lanterns,--few +and far between,--threw their pallid beams down into the rippling basin +in a sickly effort to penetrate the gloom. + +Captain Trigger and Mr. Mott, smoking their pipes on the makeshift +bridge, studied the throng of women in dour silence. + +"I understand the farmers are praying for rain," remarked Mr. Mott, +sniffing the air with considerable satisfaction. + +"It would do no end of good," said Captain Trigger, without taking his +eyes from the chattering mass below. + +Mr. Codge, the purser, joined them. + +"What are they waiting for?" he asked. "Why don't they call the meeting +to order?" + +"They did that half an hour ago," said Mr. Mott. "Good Lord, man, can't +you hear them talking? Have you no ears at all?" + +"But they're all talking at once." + +"And why shouldn't they?" demanded the First Officer. "It's their +meeting, isn't it?" + +"I met Miss Clinton as I was coming up. She was going to her room. +I asked her how the meeting was getting along. I don't believe she +understood me, because all she said was 'good-night.'" + +"I guess she understood you, all right," said Mr. Mott, again sniffing +the air. "Seems to me it's getting a little nearer, Captain Trigger. +There's a little breeze coming up, too." + +"A good thunder-storm,--" began the Captain, musingly, but failed to +complete the sentence. + +"Would settle something besides the dust," said Mr. Codge, after a +deferential wait of a few seconds. + +A figure detached itself from the mass on the weirdly lighted deck below +and, approaching the perch of the three officers, came to a halt almost +directly below them. The light of a lantern fell fairly on the upturned, +smiling face of Olga Obosky. + +"What is the hour, Captain Trigger?" she inquired. + +"Almost nine, Madame Obosky. + +"That is nearly two bells, eh, yes? How peaceful you look up there, you +three old owls." + +"Come up!" invited the Captain cheerily. She joined them a moment later. +"Tell me, are they leaving a shred of Percival and his band of outlaws?" + +Mr. Codge struck a match and held it for her to light a cigarette. +She inhaled deeply and then expelled the smoke in what seemed like a +prolonged sigh of satisfaction. + +"They are very funny, those women," she said, placing her elbows on the +rail and looking down at the crowd. "Do you know what the trouble is +now? It is this: they cannot think of a way to condemn the action +of those men as a body without also including Mr. Percivail in the +verdict." + +"How's that?" + +"Ninety-five per cent, of them want to exonerate Mr. Percivail, but they +don't know how to do it in view of the fact that he is the guiltiest +man of them all. That's why I say they are very funny, those women. They +approve of what he has done in naming the baby, because whatever he does +must be right, but they are almost unanimous in charging that all the +other men out there were wrong. So they are in a great dilemma." + +Captain Trigger laughed. "I see. What was Miss Clinton's position in the +debate?" + +"Oh, she was one of those who insisted that Mr. Percivail alone be held +accountable, the other men not at all. She was the chairman, you see, +and they were oblige to listen to her at first. But zen, presently, one +of those Brazilian ladies said it was a shame to put all the blame on +dear Mr. Percivail, who is such a gentleman and so splendid and all +zat,--and zen--then zat Mrs. Block jump up and say that if it was not +for Mr. Percivail her husband would have been killed last week when he +fell off of the landing into ten sousand feet of water. And the great +Careni-Amori she get up and say she would die for Mr. Percivail because +he is such a gentleman, and two of those nurses at the same time cry out +that he ought to be in the hospital because he is so worn-out working +for other people zat he can hardly drag his poor feet around. And so it +goes. Miss Clinton has departed, her chin in the air. But she does not +deceive me. She has gone to her room to have a good weeping." + +"Well, I wish they'd get together on something," growled the Captain; +"so's we can all go to bed and get a few hours' sleep." + +"Like as not they're keeping the baby awake with all this jabbering," +said Mr. Codge. "And that isn't good for babies, you know. They've got +to have plenty of sleep. Specially little ones." + +"Will you tell me, Captain Trigger, why Mr. Percivail did not come +aboard tonight?" asked Olga suddenly. "They were expecting him." + +"And they were disappointed, eh?" + +"I dare say. At any rate, a good many of them kept peering out over +the water most of the time, and listening for the sound of oars." She +laughed softly. + +The men chuckled. "Talk about strategy," said Mr. Mott, "he's a bird +at it. Keeps 'em guessing, he does. By glory, I wish I'd known how to +handle women as well as he does. I might have been married fifteen +or twenty times if I could have kept 'em anxious and worried,--but +I couldn't. I never did have any sense about women. That's why I'm a +bachelor instead of a grandfather." + +"He told Miss Clinton he was coming," said Olga, harking back to the +unanswered question. + +"I daresay he changed his mind," said the Captain, rather evasively. + +"I do not believe zat. There is some other reason. He is not a woman, +Captain Trigger." + +"Well, to tell you the truth--but don't let it go any farther, +Madame,--he came aboard just before supper to find out how Mrs. Cruise +is getting along. Dr. Cullen told him exactly what all these women down +there know,--that she's very low,--so he went ashore. Said something +about not wanting to take part in any racket that might disturb +her,--noisy talk, and all that,--and left a bunch of wild flowers for +her in case she was better by morning." + +There was a slight noise behind them. Turning, they saw the figure of a +woman in the shadow of the deck house. + +"Who's there?" demanded Mr. Mott. + +Ruth Clinton stepped forward into the light. + +"Did he--did he do that?" she asked huskily. + +"He did," said the Captain. + +"And is she so very ill? I did not know, Captain Trigger." + +"She's likely to die, Miss Clinton,--poor little woman." + +Ruth was silent for a moment. Then: "Do you think she--she can hear all +that hubbub down there?" + +"I am sure she cannot. But Percival was afraid she could, so he--well, +he thought it best not to make it any worse by adding his groans of +agony when you women tore him limb from limb out here on deck. That's +the way he put it, so don't look at me like that." + +Ruth suddenly hung her head and walked away. As she disappeared down the +steps, Mr. Codge remarked, sotto voce: + +"She isn't as rabid as she was, is she?" + +"She's got it in for Percival ever since he took that fall out of +Landover," said Mr. Mott. + +"Think she's--er--keen on Landover? He's a good bit older than she +is,--twenty years or so, I should say." + +"Don't ask me, Codge. As I was saying awhile ago, I don't know anything +whatsoever about women. They know all about me, but, gosh, I'm worse +than a baby goat where they're concerned. There's no law against her +being in love with Landover, and there's no law against him marrying a +woman fifty years younger'n himself if he feels like it. Now you take +that good looking Russian over there talking to the Captain. Who knows +what's in her mind? Nobody, sir,--nobody. All I know is that Landover +tried to--" + +"Sh! They've got ears like cats," cautioned Mr. Codge. + +"--And she put him in his place so quick it made his head swim. That's +why he's got it in for her so hard. He says she's not fit for decent +women to associate with. On the other hand, if she had been willing to +flirt a little with him, and so on, he would have said all the other +women were cats if they refused to take up with her. That's a man all +over for you, Codge. I hope Miss Clinton ain't considering getting +married to that man. He's one of these here what-do-you-call-'ems? Er--" + +"Sybarites?" said Codge, who had picked up a good deal from +conversations with Peter Snipe. + +"That ain't the word," said Mr. Mott. "Now, I'll lay awake all night +trying to think of that word. Damn the luck!" + +He fell into a profound state of mental concentration, from which he was +aroused a few minutes later by the swift and almost unheralded shower +that rushed up ahead of the thunderstorm. The rumble of the "apple +carts" in the vault above had suddenly become ominous, and there were +fitful flares of light in the blackness. + +The indignation meeting broke up in a wild scurry of skirts. It is +worthy of mention that nothing definite had transpired. The speeches of +the ardent suffragettes from the wilds of London were all that the most +exacting could have demanded, for they covered all of the known and a +great many of the unsuspected iniquities that the masculine flesh is +heir to, but except for an introductory sentence or two they failed to +touch upon the object of the meeting. They all began with something +like "While I am frank to admit that Doraine is a very pretty name," or +"Notwithstanding the fact that Doraine is a lovely name," or "If I had +a child of my own, I should not in the least object to calling her +Doraine," and so on and so forth, but they cruelly abandoned the baby in +the next breath, leaving it to be revived by the ensuing speaker. + +The rain came just in time to prevent a vote being taken on a motion +made by Miss Gladys Spotts. She moved that a committee of three be +appointed to serve notice on Captain Trigger, et al, that it was the +unanimous sense of the meeting that the women should not only have +voice and vote on all public questions, but also representation in the +official government. She had learned that there was talk of electing +a mayor, a town clerk, a treasurer, a sheriff and a board of +commissioners, and it ought to be understood in advance that-- + +The torrent came at that instant, but it requires a very slight +stretching of the imagination in order to understand precisely what Miss +Spotts insisted ought to be understood. + +It rained very hard all night, and thundered, and lightened, and blew +great guns. Not one, but all of the women, tucked away in their bunks, +wondered how those poor men were faring out there in that black and +lonely camp! + +The next morning it was still raining. (In fact, it rained steadily for +three days and nights.) Betty Cruise died shortly after daybreak, and +with her death ended the controversy over the naming of her babe. + +She was the first to be laid to rest in the burying-ground on Cape +Sunrise. Services were conducted on the Doraine by the Reverend Mr. +Mackenzie, assisted by Father Francisco. All work was suspended on the +morning of the funeral. Shortly before noon the entire company walked, +in a long, straggling procession, from the landing to the spot three +miles distant where the lonely grave awaited its occupant. Careni-Amori +sang "Lead, Kindly Light" and "Nearer, my God, to Thee," at the +graveside. There were tears in a thousand eyes, and every voice was +husky. To most of these people, Betty Cruise meant nothing, but she was +to lie out there alone on the wind-swept point, and they were deeply +moved. They all went back to work after the midday meal, a strangely +silent, thoughtful company,--even down to the lowliest "Portugee." + +Mr. Mott, the gaunt old cynic, surprised every one, including himself, +by adopting the infant! He announced his decision on the day after the +funeral. + +"That baby's got to have a father and a grandfather and a mother, and +all that," he declared to Captain Trigger, "and I'm going to be all of +them, Weatherby. It ain't legal, I know, and I reckon I'll have to turn +her over to her proper relatives if they make any demand,--provided we +ever get off this island,--but while she's here she's mine, and that +settles it, and as long afterward as God's willing. Chances are that no +one at home will want to be bothered with an infant that don't actually +belong to 'em, so I shouldn't wonder but what I'll have her always. What +are you laughing at?" + +"I was just thinking that you didn't mention anything about being a +grandmother to her." + +"Is that meant to be sarcastic?" + +"Not at all," said the Captain hastily, noting the look in Mr. Mott's +eyes. "But for fear you may think it was, I take it all back, Andrew." + +"I laid awake all last night worrying about how lonely and useless +and unoccupied I'm going to be if we stick here on this island for any +considerable length of time, not to say, always, and I made up my mind +that if I had that kid to bring up, life would be sort of worth while. +I'll probably live a good deal longer if I have something to live and +work for. Ain't that so?" + +"It certainly is," agreed the Captain. "Do you mind my asking how you're +going to feed it?" + +"I've got that all attended to," said Mr. Mott calmly. "I've been to +see three of these women who've got tiny babies, and they've promised +between 'em to nurse this one. It's all fixed, Captain. Of course, I +don't know how it's going to work out, seeing as one of 'em is Spanish, +one of 'em Portugee and the other a full-blooded Indian,--but they're +all healthy." + +"It's very noble of you, Andrew," said the Captain, laying his hand on +the First Officer's shoulder. + +"Absolutely not," snapped Mr. Mott. "It's nothing but plain, rotten +selfishness on my part,--and I don't give a damn who knows it." + + + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Inside of a fortnight after the events just chronicled, the women came +ashore to occupy the practically completed huts. + +The Doraine was deserted except for Captain Trigger and the half-dozen +sailors who remained with him. These sailors were ancient tars whose +lives had been spent at sea. They were grizzled, wizened old chaps. One +of them, Joe Sands, had been an able seaman for forty-six years, and, +despite a perpetual crick in the back, he insisted that he was still +an abler seaman than ninety-five per cent, of the thirty-year-olds +who followed the sea for a living. When Captain Trigger announced his +resolve to stay on board, where he belonged, these vainglorious old +seadogs elected to remain with him to the end. + +The exodus of women was hastened somewhat by the further listing of the +Doraine. This was due primarily to the removal of thousands of tons from +the holds, the galley and the engine room. A more sinister cause for +alarm, however, was the action of the greatly lightened vessel when a +tidal wave swept into the basin from the north. This came at the tag end +of the storm,--on the third day, in fact. The Doraine seemed actually to +be afloat for a few seconds, heaving, shuddering, groaning. Her bottom, +after scraping and grinding and giving up the most unearthly sounds, +suddenly appeared to have freed itself completely from the rocks on +which it was jammed. She seemed on the point of righting herself. Then +she started to roll over on her side! Almost as abruptly she stopped, +shivered, and then lay still again. But she was not in her old position. +She was lying over at least two degrees farther than before the +upheaval. + +This same, tremendous tidal wave, driven up by the strong wind that +had blown steadily and viciously out of the north for three +days,--or perhaps created by some vast internal convulsion of the +earth,--completely inundated the low-lying point of land known as Cape +Sunrise, At least two miles of the island was temporarily under water. +The high ridge lining the shore alone prevented the sea from hurtling +over into the valley to destroy the fields and gardens and even to +imperil the row of huts along the opposite slope. + +Out on Cape Sunrise the waters swept over the lonely grave of Betty +Cruise, but fell back baffled when they attacked the foothills that +protected the homes of the living. There were superstitious persons who +read meaning into this startling visitation of the sea. They made ugly +romance of it. For, said they, the lonely spirit of Jimmy Cruise was +trying to reach its mate,--aye, striving to drag her body down to the +bottom of the sea to lie beside his own. + +As the days went by,--long days that were not governed by any daylight +saving law,--the settlement took on the air and life of a sequestered +village. There was the general warehouse from which stores were +dispensed sparingly by agents selected for such duties. Women and +men went to market and carried home the provender. A fish market was +established; wood-yards, fruit and vegetable booths, a dispensary, and +a general store where leather, cloths of various description, and furs +were to be had by requisition. + +In speaking of the dispensary, Dr. Cullen complacently announced that +the supply of medicine was limited, but that it was nothing to worry +about. He declared bluntly,--and with a twinkle in his eye,--that people +took too much medicine anyhow. + +"Medicine is a luxury," he said. "The more we stuff into people the more +they want, and the less they take the sooner they forget they're sick. +As your doctor, from this time on, I shall be delighted to set your +broken bones, sew up your gashes, and all that sort of thing, but it is +precious little medicine I'll give to you. So don't get sick. The only +epidemic we can have here, according to my judgment, is an epidemic of +good health. Am I right, gentlemen?" + +The two young American doctors put aside their dignity and grinned. + +The wines and liquors from the Doraine were brought ashore and locked +away in the cellar beneath the warehouse. It could be had only on the +doctor's orders. + +"It won't hurt any of us to drink nothing but water for awhile," said +Percival in discussing the matter; "and the chances are we'll be less +likely to hurt each other if we let the grog alone. There'll be no +drinking on this island if I can help it. I understand some of you +men are planning to put the pulp of the algarobo through a process of +fermentation and make chica by the barrel. Well, if I have anything to +say about it, you'll do nothing of the sort. I know that stuff. It's got +more murder in it than anything I've ever tackled. We can make flour out +of that pulp, as some of you know, and that's all we are going to make +out of it. Besides, we can be decent longer on flour than we can on +chica. + +"We'll find it harder to do without tobacco than without booze, and +unless we discover something to take its place we'll be smokeless in +a few weeks. Professor Knapendyke is experimenting with a shrub he has +discovered here. He says it may be a fairly good substitute if properly +cured. But it won't be tobacco, so I guess we may as well make up our +minds to swear off smoking as well as drinking. I hope there's nothing +in the saying that the good die young. Because if there is, we're in for +an epidemic that will wipe out four-fifths of our population in no time +at all. We're going to be so good we'll die like flies." + +The weeks wore on and the fields of grain were harvested. The yield was +not a heavy one, but it was sufficient to justify the rather hap-hazard +experiments. The fifty-odd acres of wheat produced a little over a +thousand bushels. The twenty-acre oat-field had averaged forty bushels. +A few acres of barley, sown broadcast in the calcareous loam along the +coast, amounted to nothing. + +Primitive means for grinding the grain had been devised. This first +crop was being laboriously crushed between roughly made mill-stones, but +before another harvest came along, a mill would be in operation on the +banks of Leap Frog River. + +The exploration of the island had long since been completed. In certain +parts of the dense forest covering the western section there were +magnificent specimens of the Norfolk Island pine. Fruits of the citrous +family were found in abundance; wild cherries, wild grapes, figs, and an +apple of amazing proportions and exceeding sweetness. Pigeons in great +numbers were found, a fact that puzzled Professor Knapendyke not a +little. + +He finally arrived at an astonishing conclusion. He connected the +presence of these birds with the remark-able exodus of wild pigeons from +their haunts in the United States in the eighties. Millions of pigeons +at that time took their annual flight southward from Michigan, Indiana +and other states in that region, and were never seen again. What became +of this prodigious cloud of birds still remains a mystery. Knapendyke +now advanced the theory that in skirting the Gulf of Mexico on their way +to the winter roosts in Central America they were caught by a hurricane +and blown out to sea. By various stages the bewildered survivors of the +gale made their way down the east coast of South America, only to +be caught up again by another storm that carried them out into the +Atlantic. A few reached this island, hundreds of miles from the +mainland, and here they remained to propagate. At any rate, the +naturalist was preparing to put his impressions and deductions into the +form of a paper which he intended to submit to the National Geographic +Magazine as soon as he returned to the United States. + +The more practical Mr. Fitts decided to start a squab farm. + +A few of the giant iguanas were seen, and many smaller ones. The meat +of the iguana is a great delicacy. There were no beasts of prey, no +herbaceous animals. + +Lookouts on Top o' the Morning Peak reported the presence of monstrous +birds at rare intervals. Where they came from and whither they went no +one could tell. There were unscalable cliffs and crags at the western +end of the island, and it is possible that they had their nests among +them. + +Lieutenant Platt described the first of these huge birds as being at +least thirty feet from tip to tip. It flew low above the top of Split +Mountain and disappeared beyond the hills to the west. When first +descried by one of the lookouts, this bird was far out over the ocean, +approaching the island from the east. As it soared over the heads of the +men, several hundred feet above them, its wings full spread, it was more +like a small monoplane than a bird. In colour it was a dirty yellow, +with a black belly and head. Before any one could procure a gun from the +hut it was out of range, flying at an incredible speed. A few days later +another was seen, coming from the same direction. It was flying much +higher, and a few futile shots were fired at it. Then, after a week or +ten days without a single one of the monsters being seen, five of them +appeared in the west and flew eastward over the island and out to sea. + +"What was the name of that passenger-carrying bird they were always +talking about in the 'Arabian Nights'?" inquired Platt. + +"You mean the roc," replied Knapendyke. "If it ever really existed +outside of the fairy tales, it is now extinct. The nearest thing to it +in size is the condor, I suppose." + +"I've seen some whopping big condors up in the Andes," said Percival, +"but twelve feet from tip to tip was what the natives called a +full-grown specimen. What do you make of these birds, Flattner?" + +"After seeing an iguana eighteen feet long, I'm ready to believe +anything. A protracted and an enforced spell of sobriety is the only +thing that keeps me from diagnosing my own case as delirium tremens. +There's one thing sure. Birds as big as these, and iguanas as huge as +the three we've seen,--to say nothing of the enormous flying fish Morris +Shine claims to have seen,--take me back to the Dark Ages. I daresay +we're seeing the tag end of the giants. God knows how old these birds +and reptiles are,--hundreds of years, at least. I'd give almost anything +to get one of those birds and stuff him. There was once a flying animal +known as the pteranodon. It has been extinct for millions of years. +Belonged to the class called pterodactyls. Who knows? If you fellows +could shoot for sour apples, I'd have one of 'em." + +Christmas and New Year's day, long since past, had been celebrated in +a mild, half-hearted way on board the Doraine. Easter was drawing +near, and Ruth Clinton took upon herself the task of arranging special +services for the children. She was going ahead with her plans when +her aunt, with some bitterness, advised her to consult the "King of +Babylon"--(a title surreptitiously accorded Percival by the unforgiving +lady)--before committing herself too deeply to the enterprise. + +"It would be just like him to cut Easter out of the calendar +altogether," said she. + +"He cannot possibly have any objection to an Easter service," protested +Ruth, her brow puckering. + +"There's no telling what he will object to," said Mrs. Spofford. + +"He is really quite tenderhearted, and awfully fond of children, you +know. I am sure he will be very much pleased with the--Besides," she +broke off to say with considerable heat, "Mr. Percival is not as high +and mighty as he imagines himself to be. Other people have something +to say about the management of this camp. You forget,--and so does he +perhaps,--that we have a council of ten. I rather fancy--" + +"Pooh!" sniffed her aunt. "He is worse than all the Tammany bosses put +together. The other men on the council of ten eat out of his hand, as +Abel Landover says. His word is law,--or, I should have said, his smile +is law. All he has to do is to grin and the argument is over. I've +never seen anything like the way people give in when he smiles. It is +disgusting." + +"Please don't forget, Auntie, that he did not smile on Saturday when +Manuel Crust stopped him in front of the meeting-house and said he was +going to take Sunday off from work up in the woods. He didn't smile +then, did he? And there were a dozen men planning to take the day off +with Manuel Crust, too." + +"I confess I was frightened," admitted Mrs. Spofford, with a slight +shudder. "That Manuel Crust is a--a dangerous man. He carries a knife. I +saw it." + +"Were your sympathies with Manuel Crust or Mr. Percival? Answer, +please." + +"Naturally, my dear, I--why, of course, they were with Percival. He was +one man against a dozen. Besides, he does represent law and order. I +have never questioned that, have I?" + +"Weren't you a weeny, teeny bit proud of him yesterday, Aunt Julia?" + +"Weren't you?" countered the other. + +"I could have hugged him," exclaimed Ruth, her eyes sparkling. "I hate +him,--mind you,--but I could have hugged him, just the same." + +Mrs. Spofford looked searchingly into the girls clear, shining eyes. + +"I wish I knew just how much you hate him, Ruth." + +"Be honest, Auntie. What you mean is, how little I hate him; isn't that +so?" + +"I don't believe you hate him at all." + +"Well, the first chance you get, ask him how much I hate him. He will +tell you. Now let's talk about Easter Sunday. I don't in the least see +why I should go down on my knees to Mr. Percival in order to--" + +"Manuel Crust went down on his knees, didn't he?" + +"Don't be silly! Manuel Crust was leading a strike. I am arranging a +sacred entertainment." + +"Still, if I were you, my dear, I would ask him what he thinks about +it." + +"All right," cried Ruth, "I'll ask him. And what's more, I shall ask him +to sing in the choir. He will love it." + +Not only did Percival promise to sing in the choir, but he eagerly +offered to help her with the decorations. But when she announced that +she was going up into the hills in quest of the little red winter +berries that grew in profusion, he flatly put his foot down on the +project. + +"I don't feel any too sure of Manuel Crust and his gang," said he. +"They're in an ugly mood and they are brutes, Miss Clinton. Don't be +alarmed. They're not likely to molest you or any one else, but I don't +believe in taking chances. Just at present they're pretty sore at me +and they're doing all they can to stir up discord. It will work out all +right in the end, of course. They may be beasts but they're not fools." + +"Is it true that Manuel Crust claims that every man should have his +woman?" she asked steadily. + +He was surprised by the frank, unembarrassed question. "Crust is about +as vile as they make them, Miss Clinton. Most of these fellows are +decent, however." + +"But you have not answered my question." + +"I will answer it by saying that if he has any such notion as that in +his mind he will have it taken out of him in short order if he attempts +to put it into practice. The women on this island will be protected, +Miss Clinton, if we have to kill Manuel Crust and his fol-lowers. It +is true he has been preaching that sort of gospel among the vicious +and ignorant Portugees and half-casts, but it's all talk. Don't pay any +attention to it." + +"We can't help being worried. Suppose his following is much larger than +you think. They are a rough, lawless crowd, and--" + +"Ninety-five per cent, of the men here are decent. That's the only +comfort I can give you." He smiled his whimsical smile. "I think you +will find that you will be courted in the regular, old-fashioned way, +and proposed to with as much solemnity and uncertainty as if you were +back at home, and it will be left for you to choose your own husband. We +have two ministers of the gospel here, you know. I predict some rather +violent courtships, and perhaps a few ill-advised marriages, but you may +rest assured that no man is going to claim you until you claim him." + +He was looking straight into her eyes. She felt the blood mounting to +her cheek,--and was conscious of a strange, delicious sensation as of +peril stealing over her. + +"You are most reassuring," she managed to say, scarcely above a whisper, +and then paused expectant. + +Afterwards she was shamed by the exquisite pain of anticipation that +had coursed through her in that moment of waiting. She never could quite +account for the temporary weakness that assailed her and left her mute +and helpless under the spell of his eyes. She only knew that she waited +expectant,--for something that never came! What she might have said in +response, what she might have done if he had uttered the words she was +prepared to hear, she did not care to contemplate, even in the privacy +of her own thoughts. She only knew that she was ashamed of the thrill +that went over her and strangely bitter toward him for being the cause +of it. She would not admit to herself that disappointment had anything +to do with it,--for she found herself arguing, nothing could have been +more distressing than to rebuff him when he seemed so eager to help her +in her plans for Easter Sunday. + +The fact remains, however, that Percival held his tongue, and she never +quite understood why he did. + +The time and the place of this encounter invited confession. There was +a full moon in the heavens, the night was still, the air crisp with the +tang of October in the north,--and they were alone in the shadow of the +"tabernacle." Lights gleamed in the little windows that stretched to +the right and left of them. Far off somewhere in the dark, an unseen +musician was gently thrumming a fandango on his Spanish guitar. She had +been on her way home from Careni-Amori's cabin, where she had gained the +prima-donna's promise to sing, when she saw him, walking slowly across +the "Green." His hands were clasped behind his back, his head was bent. +She experienced a sudden rush of pity for him,--she knew not why, except +that he looked lonely and forgotten. It was she who turned aside from +her course and went out across the Green to join him. + +"You are most reassuring," she had said. The dusky light of the moon +fell full upon her upturned face; her shadowy, limpid eyes were looking +straight into his; enchantment charged the air with its soft and +languorous breath,--and yet he looked away! + +After a moment he spoke. His voice was steady and,--to her,--almost +sardonic. + +"The day of the cave-man is past. Likewise the cannibal. I think I can +promise that you will neither be beaten nor eaten,--but you do run a +little risk in being abroad on such a night as this,--and alone." + +She stiffened. "I don't think there is the slightest danger, Mr. +Percival." + +"I wasn't thinking of danger," he said. "There is a lot of difference +between danger and consequences. You see, you might have been mistaken +in your man. I might have turned out to be Manuel Crust." + +"I--I--I was sure it was you," she stammered, and wished she had not +said it. It was a confession that she knew his figure so well that she +could recognize it in the gloom of the night and at a distance that +should have rendered him almost invisible. + +"Even so, I am Manuel's brother under the skin," he said. "Like Judy +O'Grady and the Colonel's lady, you know. However, all's well that ends +well, so what's the use of magnifying the peril that stalks through the +land." + +"You were brought up on the good, old-fashioned novels, I see. That's +the language of heroes,--and heroes live only in novels, where they are +perfectly safe from harm, thanks to the benevolent author." + +"You're right. I was brought up among the old-fashioned heroes. I lived +through every adventure they had, I longed for every girl they loved, +I envied everything they did, and I dreamed the most beautiful dreams +about prowess and virtue and love. I rather fancy I'm a better man +for having been a swashbuckling boy. I acquired the generous habit of +falling in love with every heroine I read about, and in my thoughts I +performed even more prodigious deeds of valour in her behalf than the +hero to whom she inevitably plighted her troth in the final chapter. In +real life, however, I've never been in a position to do anything more +heroic than give up my seat in trolley-cars to ladies of all ages,--By +the way, have you never longed desperately to be a heroine?" + +"Of course, I have," she cried, smiling in spite of herself. Her eyes +were sparkling again, for the danger was past. "And I have loved a +hundred heroes,--madly." She hesitated and then went on impulsively: "We +haven't been very friendly, Mr. Percival. Perhaps I am to blame. In any +case, you have been very generous and forbearing. That is more than I +have been. I never thought I could bring myself to the point of saying +this to you. Can't we be friends again?" + +He was silent for a moment. + +"Do you mean to go back to where we were before--Well, before we +clashed?" + +"Yes,--if you will put it in that way." + +"I can't go back to that stage," he said, shaking his head. "You may +have stood still, Miss Clinton, but I have progressed." + +"I don't know what you mean." + +"You will, after you reflect awhile," he said. + +She drew back, in a sudden panic. She spoke hurriedly, her composure +wrecked. + +"I--at least, Mr. Percival, I have done my part. If you do not care +to be friends, I--I have nothing more to say. We must go on just as we +were,--and I am sorry. I have done my part." + +"I do not want to distress you," he said huskily. "If I were to tell +you why it is best for us to go on as we are, you would lose what little +faith you may still have in me. I have not always been able to conceal +my feelings. You do not care as I do,--and I have been pretty much of +a rotter in showing you just how I feel from time to time,--an ordinary +bounder, and God knows I hate the word,--so there's nothing more I can +say without distressing and offending you. I want you to feel perfectly +secure so far as I am concerned. We are out here alone in the night. If +I were to let go of myself now and say what I want to say to you,--well, +you would be frightened and hurt and,--God knows I wouldn't hurt you for +the world. I hope you understand, Miss Clinton." + +She had had time to fortify herself. + +"Yes,--I understand," she said, but not without a strange wonder filling +her mind. + +He was fair,--and yet he was baffling. She had not expected this rare +trait in him. Men she had known were not like this. The men who loved +her,--and they had been many,--were impetuous and insistent, demanding +much and offering everything,--vain-glorious warriors who counted +confidently on easy conquest. She had come in contact with but one class +of men: the spoiled, cocksure sons of the rich who love in haste and +have it over with while there is yet time to love again. She caught +herself guiltily wondering how many men of her acquaintance would have +allowed this engaging opportunity to pass without making the most of it! +And why should this man be different from the others? She experienced a +sharp feeling of irritation, and out of that sprang the wilful desire to +hurt him because he was different. So she lifted her chin, and looking +straight into his eyes, said: "I understand perfectly. You prefer that I +should not put you in the class with Manuel Crust." + +"I'm not quite certain that Manuel's way of handling women isn't the +best after all," he said musingly. "Ride over 'em rough-shod, trample +them under foot, kick them to one side and then ask them whether they +love you or not. If they say they don't, all you have to do is to behave +like a gentleman and leave them alone." + +She laughed. "But suppose they were to say they did love you,--what +then?" + +"That, I understand, is what they generally do say,--and it causes a +great deal of trouble for the unfortunate gentleman." + +"Are you never in earnest, Mr. Percival?" + +"I was very much in earnest a moment ago. You knew how much in earnest I +was or you wouldn't have said that nasty thing about Manuel Crust." + +"I am sorry I said it," she cried. "It was uncalled for,--and I was +deliberately trying to be mean." + +"I knew it," he said quietly. "I don't think any the worse of you for +it. A woman plays fair until you get her into a corner,--and then she +plays fairer than ever to make up for what she did when cornered. Am I +not right?" + +She did not reply. She was staring past him, down the line of huts. The +door of Olga Obosky's cabin had opened and closed, projecting for an +instant an oblong block of light into the darkness. The figure of a +woman, emerging into the full light of the moon, had caught Ruth's +attention. Percival turned quickly. Together they watched the figure +move swiftly across the Green toward them. Suddenly it stopped, and +then, after a moment, whirled and made off down the line of cabins, soon +to be swallowed up by the gloom. + +"Were you expecting some one?" inquired Ruth, icily. + +He was still looking intently into the far-reaching gloom. Neither had +spoken for many seconds. He started, and looked searchingly into her +eyes. + +"That was Madame Obosky," he said. + +"I know. I recognized her," said she evenly. + +"And you believe she was coming out here to meet me,--isn't that so?" + +She drew herself up. "I shall have to say good night, Mr. Percival. No! +It is not necessary for you to walk home with me." + +He placed himself in front of her. "Would you mind answering my +question?" + +"Yes," she flashed, "I think she was coming out here to meet you. Permit +me to pass, please." + +He stood aside. "Good night, Miss Clinton." + +He watched her until the door of her cabin swung open,--and he smiled +as she stood revealed for an instant in the square of light, for she had +obeyed the impulse to glance over her shoulder. + +She was angry, hurt, disgusted as she slammed the door behind her. + +"Where have you been?" cried out an accusing voice, and Ruth's gaze fell +upon the figure in one of the deck chairs beside the fire. "I have been +waiting for you for--" + +"How long have you been here?" cried the girl, stock-still and staring. + +"If Mrs. Spofford had not been so entertaining, I should say for hours +and hours," said Madame Obosky. + +"As a matter of fact," said Mrs. Spofford from her side of the +fireplace, "it hasn't been more than an hour. Madame Obosky came soon +after you went out, dear." + +"But--but I saw you just now coming out of your cabin," cried Ruth +blankly. She had a queer sensation as of the floor giving way beneath +her. + +"You saw--Oh, now I understand!" cried the Russian, with a laugh. "Zose +girls of mine! Zey--they are like so many grandmothers. They will not go +to bed until zey know I am safely tucked in myself. Alas, Mrs. Spofford, +zose girls do not trust me, I fear. If I go out at night alone, zey +instantly put their heads together and shake zem all at the same time. +So that is what has happen, Miss Clinton. One of them,--Alma, I suspect, +because she had a sister who,--Yes, it would be Alma, I am sure,--in any +case, one of zem comes out to get me, so like a policeman. But still I +do not understand something. I have told them I was coming here to see +you. If it was one of my girls, why has she not come?" + +Ruth had turned away, ostensibly to pull down the little window shade +but really to send a swift searching glance out across the Green. + +"She went the other way," she replied, rather breathlessly. + +Olga sprang to her feet. "Now, what is zat little fool up to?" she +cried, angrily. "If I catch her running out to meet men at zis hour +of--" + +Ruth interrupted her. "She started in this direction but when she saw +us, she turned and went the other way. I was talking to Mr. Percival +out near the meeting-house. About the Easter services, Auntie," she made +haste to say as Mrs. Spofford looked up in surprise. + +Olga was looking at her fixedly, an odd expression in her eyes, her lips +slightly parted. + +"He has promised to help me. He is delighted to sing in the choir. +Madame Careni-Amori will sing two solos. She promises to make Joseppi +sing one or two. I--I was discussing the arrangements with Mr. +Percival." + +"Now I understand," said Olga, gaily, but with the odd, inquiring look +still in her eyes. "Alma thought it was I. I have zem very well-trained, +those girls. She sees me with a man,--zip! She runs the other way as +fast as she can! That is the height of propriety,--is it not, Mrs. +Spofford?" + +"I do not quite understand what you mean, Madame Obosky." + +"Why did he say it was you?" cried Ruth, hot with chagrin. + +Olga shrugged her shoulders. "He is so very amiable," said she. "I dare +say he thought it would please you." + +Ruth bit her lip. There was no mistaking the challenge in the Russian's +remark, however careless it may have sounded. + +"I came to see you about Mr. Percivail's birthday," said Olga, abruptly +changing the subject. "Some one has suggested zat we all join in giving +him a grand great big celebration. Bonfires, fire-works, a banquet with +speeches, and all zat kind of thing. What do you think, eh?" + +"He wouldn't like it at all," said Ruth promptly. "Moreover, why should +we celebrate his birthday? He doesn't deserve it any more than scores of +other--" + +"Oh, then we must drop it altogether," broke in Olga, rather +plaintively. "I thought every one would be in favour of it. But, of +course, if there is the slightest opposition--" + +"I do not oppose it," said Ruth coldly. "Pray do not let me upset your +plans." + +"It is not my plan. Zat nice, sarcastic Mr. Fitts, and Mr. Malone, and +Captain Trigger, they have proposed it, Miss Clinton, not I. But men +never quite get over being boys. They do not stop to question whether +a thing is right or wrong. I dare say after they have thought a little +longer over it, zey will agree with you that it is foolish to be so +enthusiastic about this fellow Percivail,--and the whole project will +dissolve into thin air." + +Her hand was on the latch. She met Ruth's harassed, unhappy gaze +with her indolent, almost insolent, smile. Suddenly the American girl +snatched up her jacket and the little fur collar she had thrown across a +chair in the corner. + +"If you don't mind, I will walk part of the way home with you," she +said. + +Olga opened the door and looked out. "Thank you,--I am not afraid. Pray +do not think of it,--I cannot permit you to come. It is late,--and the +moon is under the clouds. Good night,--good night, Mrs. Spofford." + + + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +She quickly closed the door behind her and sped off down the line of +now lightless cabins. A man stepped out of the black shadow beyond +the second cabin and stood in her path. She did not pause, but walked +swiftly, fearlessly up to him, her heart quickening under the thrill of +exultation. He was waiting for her! He had been waiting for her all the +long evening. The time had come! + +The night was dark now; a strong wind had sprung up to drive the black +and storm-laden clouds across the moonlit sky. She held out her hands +with a little moan of ecstasy,--and then she was in his strong, crushing +arms, pressed fiercely to his breast. + +"God, can I believe,--is it true? You have come,--you have come of your +own free will,--you are here in my arms!" His hot lips found hers in a +wild, passionate kiss. "Speak to me! Tell me it is all real,--that I am +not dreaming. Oh, Ruth, Ruth,--darling!" + +Her body stiffened. A convulsive shudder raced over her, and then, for +an instant, she was limp and heavy in his embrace. Then suddenly she +threw her arms about his neck and kissed him furiously, savagely, again +and again,--breaking away at last with a low, suffocating laugh. + +"Now,--now,-" she cried, "now, what are you going to do with me?" + +He lifted his head with a jerk, peering into her face, slow to realize +the incredible mistake he had made. He was still under the spell of the +riotous passion that her lustful response had aroused. It had rushed +over him like a great, resistless wave,--hot, delicious, tingling. He +had been amazed, bewildered by the unbelievable craving,--furious and +uncontrolled,--which she revealed in her momentary surrender to the +elemental. The truth began to dawn upon him even before she spoke. Could +this be Ruth,--could this unbridled, voluptuous wanton who clung to him +and smothered him with kisses be the pure, high-minded girl he had grown +to love and revere? She spoke, and then he knew that the consuming fire +in his blood was unholy,--as unholy as the spark that set it ablaze. + +"Damn you!" he whispered hoarsely,--but he did not put her away from +him. The lure of the flesh was upon him. It was stronger than his will, +stronger than his love. + +For months this woman had beguiled him. There had been times when he was +compelled to fight himself,--times when he asked: "Why not?" + +She was alluring, she was frankly a sensualist; but she was patient, she +was crafty. She knew that he was honourably in love with another, but +she was not deterred by that nor by the conviction that her conquest, +if she prevailed, would be transitory. She had a code of her own. It +included an uncertain element of honour, fixed rather rigidly upon what +she would have called constancy. Singleness of purpose was her notion of +morality. She would not have believed herself to be a bad woman any more +than she would have looked upon her lover as a bad man. To her, morality +in its accepted sense signified no more than the suppression of human +emotions and human sensations. As a matter of fact, she considered +herself a good woman if for no other reason than that she steadfastly +had repelled the munificent appeals of countless infatuated men. +Treasure had been laid at her feet, only to be kicked aside. She calmly +spoke of herself as a pearl without price. She was content to possess, +but not to be possessed. That was what she called self-respect. She was +a pagan, but she was her own idol. She worshipped herself. She would +never permit her idol to be desecrated. + +All this Percival knew,--or rather sensed. He was not above feeling +a queer sort of respect and admiration for her. She was not without +integrity. + +He had reached the pinnacle of happiness in believing that the girl he +loved was in his arms. He was blind and deaf with ecstasy. The awakening +was a shock. His senses reeled for an instant,--and then Ruth Clinton +went out of his thoughts entirely! + +"Damn you!" he cried again, and drew her close. "She hates me,--she +will always hate me," he was mumbling. "Why should I care? Why should +I refuse to take--" Her lips were on his again, warm, firm, voluptuous, +drawing his heart's blood with the resistless power of a magnet. + +They did not hear the rapid approach of footsteps--heavy, swift as of +one running. A dark, panting figure raced past them, and then another +but a few paces behind. + +Percival's senses were released. They cast off the bewitching bonds. His +head went up again. In a flash his brain was clear. His arms were still +about her, she was still lying close against him,--but the current of +passion that consumed both of them was checked. + +"What was that?" she gasped, as if coming out of a dream. + +He released her, and sprang out into the path to peer fruitlessly after +the unseen runners. The sound of footsteps was rapidly diminishing. + +They were suddenly aware of women's voices far away to the right. +They were indistinct but there was a sinister significance in the +ever-increasing volume. + +"There's trouble out there," said Percival. "Something wrong. +Come,--come along! You must get indoors at once." He grasped her arm +and started rapidly off in the direction of her cabin. She stumbled +at first, but quickly fell into stride with him. Men's shouts were now +added to the clamour. + +"I know,--I know," she cried in his ear. "It has happened, just as I +said it would. Some of these men are beasts." + +"Then, there's hell to pay," he grated. + +They reached her cabin just as the door was thrown open. The three +startled coryphees filled the entrance. Recognition was followed by a +clatter of agitated voices. Olga was fairly dragged into the cabin. + +"Bolt your door," was Percival's command as he turned away. + +She stood in the door for a moment, looking after him. He passed out +of the radius of light. The chorus of voices grew louder down the +way,--like the make-believe mob in the theatre. + +Then she closed the door slowly, reluctantly. The three girls watched +her in silence as she stood for many seconds with her hand on the knob, +her eyes tightly shut. + +She turned and faced them. There was a wry smile on her lips as +she shrugged her shoulders and spread out her hands in a gesture of +resignation. + +"Yes,--bolt the door," she said. As Alma hesitated, her eyes grew hard, +her voice imperative. "Do you know of any reason why you should not do +as both Mr. Percivail and I have commanded?" + +"No,--no, Madame," cried Alma hastily. + +As the heavy wooden bolt fell into place, Olga again shrugged her +shoulders and threw herself into a chair in front of the fireplace. + +"Put on your clothes," she ordered. + +"What is happening, Madame? What is all the noise about?" questioned one +of the girls. + +But there was no answer. Olga was staring into the fire. + + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Percival's blood was still in a tumult as he ran down the line of +cabins. From every doorway men were now stumbling, half-dressed, +half-asleep. Behind them, in many cabins, alarmed, agitated women +appeared. Farther on there were lanterns and a chaotic mass of moving +objects. Above the increasing clamour rose the horrible, uncanny wail +of a woman. Percival's blood cooled, his brain cleared. Men shouted +questions as he passed, and obeyed his command to follow. + +The ugly story is soon told. Philippa, the fifteen-year-old daughter of +Pedro, the head-farmer, had gone out from her father's cabin at dusk +to fetch water from the little reservoir that had been constructed +alongside Leap Frog River a short distance above the cabins. The pool +was a scant two hundred yards from her home. It was a five minutes' +walk there and back. Half-an-hour passed, and she had not returned. Her +mother became uneasy. Pedro reassured her. He laughed at her fears. + +"She could not have fallen into the pool," he said. "You forget the +fence we have built around it." + +"I am not thinking of the pool, Pedro," she argued. "Go you at once and +search for her. She is no laggard. She has not stopped in to see one of +the girls." + +And Pedro went grumpily forth to search for his daughter. An hour later +he came staggering down from the woods above the pool to meet the dozen +or more friends and neighbours who had set out some-time earlier to look +for the two of them, father and daughter. + +He bore in his arms the limp, apparently lifeless form of Philippa. +He was covered with blood, he was chattering like a madman. Out of his +incoherent babble the horrified searchers were able to put together the +cruel story. It seems he had heard a faint cry far back in the dense +wood,--another and yet another. Then utter silence. Even the night-birds +were still. Swift, paralysing fear choked him. He tried to call out as +he rushed blindly up from the pool into the forest, but only hoarse, +unnatural gasps left his lips. He fell often, he crashed into the trunks +of trees, but always he went onward, gasping out his futile cries. He +knew not how long he beat through the forest. He was not even sure +that it was Philippa's cry he had heard, but his soul was filled with a +great, convincing dread. He knew that his beloved Philippa, the idol +of his heart, the sunshine of his life, was up there in the woods. +Frequently he stopped to listen. He could hear nothing save the pounding +of his own heart, and the wheezing of his breath, thick and laboured. + +Then, at last, during one of those silences, he heard something moving +in the darkness near at hand. Something--some one was coming toward him +through the underbrush. He called out hoarsely: "Philippa!" The sound +ceased instantly, and then he heard a whispered execration. Wild rage +possessed him. He plunged forward into the brush. Something crashed down +upon his head, and he felt himself falling forward. The next he knew, +he was trying vainly to rise to his feet. Something hot was running into +his eyes,--hot and sticky. He lifted his hand to his head; it came away +wet. He put his fingers into his mouth,-and tasted blood! It was +enough. His strength came back. He sprang to his feet and rushed onward, +shouting, cursing, calling upon God! He had no recollection of finding +his girl. Apparently everything was a blank to him until long afterwards +he saw lights moving among the trees, and voices were calling his name. + +Percival and other cool-headed men were hard put to check the fury of +the mob. Men and women, bent on vengeance, made the night hideous with +their curses, howls and shrieks. In their senseless fury they prepared +to kill. They had heard the stories about Manuel Crust and his +disciples. Only the determined stand taken by the small group that +rallied to Percival's support kept the maddened crowd from seeking out +these men and rending them limb from limb. The sailors from the Doraine +were the first to listen to the pleas of the level-headed,--just as they +had been the first to demand the lives of Manuel Crust and his gang. +Individually they were rough men and lawless, collectively they were +the slaves of discipline. It was to their vanity that Percival and the +others appealed,--only they called it honour instead of vanity. The mob +spirit was--quelled for the time being, at least. No one was so foolish +as to believe that it was dead, however. Unless the man guilty of the +shocking crime was found and delivered up for punishment, the inevitable +would happen. + +"We'll get the right man," said the voice of universal fury, "if we have +to cut the heart out of every one of Manuel Crust's gang." + +The women were the worst. They fought like wildcats to reach the cabins +occupied by the known followers of Manuel Crust. With knives and axes +and burn-ing faggots they tried again and again to force their way +through the stubborn wall of men that had been raised against them. + +As for Manuel Crust and his little group of radicals, they had vanished. +They had mingled with the mob at the outset. There were many who +recalled seeing this one and that one, remembered speaking to him, +remembered hearing him curse the ravisher. But as their own names began +to run from lip to lip, they silently, swiftly disappeared. + +Dawn found the camp awake, but grimly silent. No one had gone to bed. +With the first streak of day, the man-hunt began in earnest. All night +long the camp had been patrolled. Every cabin had been searched, even +those occupied solely by women. This search had been conducted in +an orderly, business-like way under the supervision of men chosen by +Percival. The folly of beating the woods during the night was recognized +even by the most impatient; there was time enough for that when the +blackness of night had lifted. + +Throughout the long night, the restless crowd, with but one thought in +mind, hung about the cabin of Pedro the farmer. The doctors and several +of the nurses were in there. Down at the meeting-house a bonfire had +been started, and here were grouped the men to whom the leaders had +intrusted firearms and other weapons,--men of the gun crew, under +officers from the Doraine, the committee of ten and others. + +It was accepted as a fact that two men were involved in the heinous +deed. Percival's account of the mysterious runners seemed definitely to +establish this. He called upon Olga Obosky to verify his statement. If +she was surprised by his admission that he was in her company when the +men rushed past them in the darkness, she did not betray the fact. She +indulged in a derisive smile when he went on to explain that it was so +dark he had failed to recognize her until she spoke to him. She agreed +with him that the two men must have come into the open a very short +distance above them, having sneaked out between the cabins before +suddenly breaking into a run. Avoiding the beaten roadway, they had laid +their course twenty or thirty feet to the right of it, keeping to the +soft, springy turf. + +Percival had issued orders for the entire camp to congregate on the +Green at the first sign of day. The cold grey light of dawn fell upon +vague, unreal forms moving across the open spaces from all directions. +There was no shouting, no turmoil, scarcely the sound of a voice. The +silent, ghostly figures merged into a compact, motionless mass in front +of the meetinghouse. It was not necessary for Percival to call for order +when he appeared on the steps and began to speak. The only sounds were +the shuffling of feet, the rustling of garments, the deep, restrained +breathing of the mass. + +He spoke partly in English and partly in Spanish, and he was brief. + +"You know what we are here for and what is ahead of us. I don't have to +tell you the story of last night. You know it as well as I. You will be +glad to hear the latest word from Dr. Cullen. Philippa is conscious. He +thinks she will recover. She is having the best of care and attention. I +will explain why we are all here now. The first thing for us to do is to +count noses. We will go about it as rapidly as possible. After that, we +will get down to business. Mr. Landover and Mr. Malone will check off +the name of every man, woman and child. As your names are called, come +forward, answer, and then move over beyond the corner of the building. +We've got to find out just who is missing,--if any one is missing at +all." + +He raised his voice. "I want you all to keep cool. Don't forget that we +are after the men who committed this crime. We have no right to say that +Manuel Crust or any of his crowd did this thing until we have positive +proof of the fact. It may not have been any of Manuel's gang, don't +forget that, people. We must make no mistakes. I am saying this to you +now because I see Manuel Crust and some of his friends standing over +there at the edge of the clearing. Stop! Don't make a move in their +direction. We've all had time to think,--we've all had time to get +ourselves in hand. There is a right and a wrong way to handle this +thing,--and we've got to be sure we're right. The guilty cannot escape. +They haven't a chance, and you know it. So, let's be sure,--let's be +dead sure before we accuse any man. We have no right to charge Manuel's +gang with this crime. The guilty men may be here among us,--absolutely +unsuspected. Chizler! You and Soapy Shay go over and tell those men that +we are taking a count of all the people in this camp. Tell them to come +and answer to their names. They will be safe." + +The count was never completed. Manuel Crust did not wait for his name +to be called. He pushed his way through the crowd, leaving his followers +behind. Advancing to the foot of the steps he cried out hoarsely to +Percival: + +"If you want your men, I--I, Manuel Crust, will lead you to one of them. +He is up there in the wood. Three men are guarding him. He is Sancho +Mendez, the blacksmith. Listen, I will tell you. It is the God's truth +I tell. There were seven of us hiding out there in the wood. We were +scared. We heard our names called out. We had heard the threats to burn +us alive. We ran away. We were not cowards,--but still we ran away. We +would wait till the crowd cooled off. That was my advice. Then we would +return,--then we would help to find the men who did it,--and we would +help to burn them alive. An hour ago Sancho Mendez crawled out of the +brush up there above the landing and begged us to protect him. His leg +was broken. He had fallen over a log. You all know Sancho Mendez. He was +a good boy. He was the friend of Boss Percival. He was no friend to me. +But he swears he will be my slave for ever if I will save him. Then he +tells us everything. When I ask him why the hell he run away, he says he +lose his mind or something. He just go crazy, he says. He say everybody +was chasing him,--he could hear them in the bushes, he could hear that +girl screaming out his name,--and all that. He was going to jump in the +water and drown, because he say people tell him always it is the easy +way to die. But he falls down and breaks his leg,--here below the knee. +He cannot run no more. It is all up. He is afraid to breathe. People are +all around him with knives and axes and clubs. He can hear them in the +brush. Then the daylight comes, and he sees us down below in the wood, +and he says he thanks God. I will be his friend,--I will save him +because I am an angel from heaven! Bah! I spit in his face. We tie him +to a tree with our belts, and then I come down to tell Boss Percival we +have his man,--his good and loyal friend." + +"Stop!" yelled Percival, as the crowd began to show symptoms of breaking +away. "Listen to me! I give you fair warning. I don't want to do it, +but, by God, I'll order these men to shoot the first who tries to start +anything. We're going to have law and order here. This man Sancho is +going to have a fair trial. What's more, he had a companion. What does +he say of the other man, Manuel Crust?" + +"Sancho Mendez says he was alone. There was no other man." + +Percival looked hard into Manuel Crust's bloodshot eyes. An appalling +thought had suddenly flashed into his mind. Many seconds passed before +he dared to open his lips. As if by divine revelation the situation lay +bare before him,--the whole Machiavelian scheme as conceived by Manuel. +Sancho Mendez was to be sacrificed! + +Even as he stood there speechless, the plan began to work toward its +well-calculated end. Manuel's friends started to harangue the crowd. +They were growling hoarse invectives, shaking their fists in the +direction of the wood, fanning the pent-up fury of the mob into a +whirlwind that would sweep everything before it. Once the tide turned +there would be no stopping it until Sancho Mendez was torn to pieces. He +would shriek his innocence into deaf ears. And that was Manuel's game. + +Percival's heart leaped with joy as he saw the armed force under +Lieutenant Platt move swiftly into a position barring the way to the +woods. He thrilled with a mighty pride in the shrewd intelligence and +resourcefulness of this trained fighting-man from the far-off homeland. + +Manuel Crust was turning away to mingle with the crowd. Quick as a +flash, Percival was down from the steps and at the "Portugee's" side. He +grasped the man's arm. + +"I've got a gun against your back," he cried in fierce suppressed tones. +"Stand still and keep your mouth shut, or I'll drill a hole through you. +You're safe if you do as I tell you, Crust. I'm onto your little game. +I'm not saying you are the guilty man, but you know who he is,--and it +won't work." + +Manuel Crust was as rigid as a block of stone. He did not even turn his +head to look into the face of the man who held him. + +Michael Malone and Landover were at Percival's side in an instant. From +their position on the steps they could see what was not visible to +the crowd beyond,--the revolver that was pressed against the small of +Crust's back. + +"Cover this man," whispered Percival to Malone. "Shoot if he opens his +mouth." + +Malone's revolver was jammed against the "Portugee's" back, and Percival +sprang back up the steps. + +Manuel Crust shot a look of surprise at Abel Landover. + +"What the hell--" he began, but choked off the words at a command from +Malone. While Percival was rapidly calling out orders from above, he +broke out recklessly again, addressing the stern-faced banker. + +"Are you my friend or not?" he snarled. "What kind of a man are you? +Speak up! Tell them I'm all right." + +"Keep quiet," warned Malone. + +Landover's eyes met the searching, questioning gaze of the Portuguese. +Manuel Crust apparently was satisfied with what he read in them, for a +quick gleam of confidence leaped into his own. His chest swelled with a +tremendous intake of breath. + +The remarkable personality,--or perhaps the magnetism,--of the "boss," +again asserted itself. He made no allusion to the thing uppermost in his +mind as he spoke hurriedly, emphatically to the tense throng. When he +directed Randolph Fitts to take a few picked men with him up into the +woods to bring down the captive, there were mutterings but no move on +the part of the crowd either to anticipate or to follow the detachment. +A few terse words to Buck Chizler sent that active young man after +Fitts, the bearer of instructions. Sancho Mendez was to be brought in +alive. His guards were not to be given a chance to kill him when they +realized that the scheme had failed and he would be allowed to tell his +own story. + +With the departure of Fitts and his men, Percival ordered the people to +return to their cabins. He promised them that Sancho Mendez should have +his just deserts. Slowly, reluctantly the crowd broke up and shuffled +away in small groups across the dewy Green. Manuel Crust was free to +go. The few words that passed between Landover and Percival, although +unheard by the man, sufficed to put courage back into his heart. He had +come to look upon the banker as his "pal"! And his "pal" had not failed +him! + +This is what Landover said to Percival: + +"Whatever may be in your mind, Percival, I want to say this to you. I +was in Manuel Crust's cabin when the thing happened. There were eight +of us there. I can point out to you the other six. I must beg you to +overlook the fact that we are not friends, and believe what I am saying. +It is the absolute truth." + +"I will take your word for it, Mr. Landover," said Percival, after a +moment. "I am aware of your dealings with Crust and his crowd. I don't +know what the game is, but I do know that you have been fostering +discontent,--it may even amount to revolt,--among; these men. If you say +you were with Crust and that he was not out of your sight all evening, +I will believe you. You may be a misguided, domineering fool, Mr. +Landover, but you are honest. You have failed to appreciate what you +were stirring up,--what you were letting yourself and all the rest of us +in for, that's all." + +Landover flushed. He compressed his lips for a second or two before +speaking. + +"My opposition to you as a dictator, Percival, hardly warrants the +implication that I am in a sense responsible for the devilish thing that +happened last night." + +"I grant you that," said Percival. "Nevertheless, it is your purpose to +down me, no matter what it costs,--isn't that true?" + +"No, it is not true. There is an honest, sincere belief on the part of +some of us that you are not the man to rule this camp. You may call it +politics, if you like,--or revolt, if you prefer." + +"We'll call it politics, Mr. Landover. It was not politics that made me +the superintendent of construction here, however. I've looked after the +job to the best of my ability. I am ready to retire whenever the people +decide they've found a better man. You may be right in supposing that +Manuel Crust is the right man for the job,--but I don't agree with you." + +Landover started. "Nothing is farther from my thoughts than to turn the +affairs of this camp over to Crust," he said. + +"Once more I agree with you. But that is what you will be doing, just +the same. If you think that Manuel Crust is going to play second fiddle +to you, Mr. Landover, you'll suddenly wake up to find yourself mistaken. +You know what Crust is advocating, don't you? Well, I guess there's +nothing more to be said on the subject." + +"We will drop it, then," said Landover curtly. "I merely want you to +understand that Crust had no hand in last night's affair. I can vouch +for that." + +"Can you vouch for each and every member of his gang?" + +"I know nothing about his gang, as you call it. If I am not +mistaken, this fellow Mendez is one of your pet supporters. He may be +double-crossing you." + +"We'll see. For the present, your friend Crust is safe. As long as he +lives within the law, he is all right. We're going to have law and order +here, Mr. Landover. I want you to understand that. The best evidence +that most of us want law and order is the incredible manner in which +these people have curbed their natural instincts." + +"No one wants law and order more than I," said Landover. + +"And I suppose Manuel Crust is of the same mind, eh?" + +"So far as I know, he is," replied the other firmly. + +Percival looked at him in blank astonishment. "Well, I'm damned!" he +said, after a moment. "Do you really believe that?" + +"It does not follow that he is an advocate of lawlessness and disorder +because he happens to be opposed to some of your pet schemes, does it, +Mr. Percival?" inquired Landover ironically. + +"One of my pet schemes happens to conflict seriously with Manuel's pet +scheme, if that will strengthen your argument any, Mr. Landover." + +"I don't believe Crust ever had any such thought," said the other +flatly. + +"We're not getting anywhere by arguing the point," said Percival. He +turned to walk away. + +"Just a moment," called out Landover, after the younger man had taken a +few steps. "See here, Percival, I don't want you to misunderstand me. If +there is anything in this talk about Crust,--you know what I mean,--and +if it should come to the point where stern measures are required, I will +be with you, heart and soul. You know that, don't you?" + +Percival studied the banker's face for a moment. "I've never doubted it +for an instant, Landover. We may yet shake hands and be friends in spite +of ourselves." + +Landover turned on his heel and walked away, and Percival, with a shrug +of his shoulders, set about making preparations to safe-guard Sancho +Mendez when he was brought in from the wood. He posted a number of +reliable, cool-headed men around the "meetinghouse," many of them being +armed. Arrangements were made for barricading the door and the few +windows. The prisoner was to be confined in the building, a long, low +structure, and there he was to tell his story and stand trial. There was +to be no delay in the matter of a trial. + +"You will sit as judge, Mike," said the "boss," addressing Malone. +"There will not be any legal technicalities, old man, and there won't be +any appeal,--so all you've got to do is to act like a judge and not like +a lawyer. We've got to do this thing in the regular way. Try to forget +that you have practiced in the New York City courts. Remember that there +is such a thing as justice and pay absolutely no attention to what you +are in the habit of calling the law. The law is a beautiful thing if you +don't take it too seriously. Ninety-nine out of every hundred judges in +the courts of the U. S. A. sit through a trial worrying their heads +off trying to remember the law so that they can keep out of the record +things that might make them look like jackasses when the case is carried +up to a higher court,--and while they are thinking so hard about the law +they forget all about the poor little trifle called justice. I guess you +know that as well as I do, so there's no use talking about it." + +"I guess I do," said Michael Malone. "I live on technicalities when I'm +in New York. If it were not for technicalities, I'd starve to death. +And, my God, man, if we had to stop and think about justice every time +we go into court, we'd be a disgrace to the profession." + +Percival, Peter Snipe, Flattner and several others strode out from the +meeting-house and swept the long line of huts with serious, apprehensive +eyes. They had expected to find the people congregated at some nearby +point, ready to swoop down upon the prisoner the instant he appeared +with his captors at the edge of the wood. To their amazement and relief, +the people had taken Percival's command literally. They had retired +to their huts, and but few of them were to be seen, even on their +doorsteps. + +"Can you beat it?" cried Snipe. "By golly, boys, they've put it squarely +up to us. It's the greatest exhibition of restraint and confidence I've +ever known. This couldn't have happened at home. Hello!" + +The gaze of all was centred upon two persons who walked rapidly in the +direction taken by Fitts and his party. No one spoke for a few seconds. +Flattner, after a quick look at Percival's set, scowling face, was the +first to speak. To a certain degree, he understood the situation. It was +out of pure consideration for his friend's feelings that he said: + +"I'll go and head 'em off, A. A." + +"Thanks, old chap,--but there's no sense in getting yourself disliked. +I'll do it. I'm in bad already,--and besides I'm the one who gave the +order." + +Near the end of the row of huts, he drew alongside of Ruth Clinton and +Landover. + +"The order was meant for every one, Miss Clinton," he said levelly. "Am +I to understand that you have decided to ignore it?" + +She stopped short and drew herself up haughtily. Their eyes met. There +was defiance in hers. She did not speak. Landover confronted Percival, +white with fury. + +"I am capable of looking after Miss Clinton," he exclaimed. "Your +beastly officiousness--" + +"You will go back to your cabin at once, Miss Clinton," said Percival, +ignoring Landover. + +She did not move. + +"Miss Clinton came out here at my suggestion," said Landover. "If you +have any more bullying to do, confine yourself to me, Percival." + +"I am not doing this because I enjoy it, Miss Clinton," went on the +young man, still looking into her unwavering eyes. "I am sorry it is +necessary to remind you that there are no privileged classes here. You +will have to obey orders the same as every one else." + +"Very well," she said, suddenly lowering her eyes. "Take me back to the +cabin, Mr. Landover. There is nothing more to say." + +Percival stood aside. They walked past him without so much as a glance +at his set, unsmiling face. Landover slipped an arm through hers. She +did not resist when he drew her up close to his side. Percival saw him +lean over and speak to her after they had gone a few paces. His lips +were close to her ear, but though his voice was low and repressed, the +words were distinctly audible to the young man. + +"Ruth darling, I am sorry,--I can't tell you how sorry I am for having +subjected you to this insult. God, if I could only help matters by +resenting it, I--" + +She broke in, her voice as clear as a bell. + +"Oh, if I were only a man,--if I were only a man!" + +They were well out of hearing before Percival looked despairingly up at +the pink and grey sky and muttered with heartfelt earnestness: + +"I wish to God you were. I'd like nothing better than to be soundly +threshed by you." + + + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Just before sunset that evening, Sancho Mendez was publicly hanged. +Confessing the crime, he was carried to the rude gibbet at the far edge +of the wheat field and paid the price in full. He had been tried by a +jury of twelve; and there was absolutely no question as to his guilt. +His companion, a lad named Dominic, callously betrayed by the older man, +fled to the forest and it was not until the second day after the +hanging that he was found by a party of man-hunters, half-starved and +half-demented. He was hanged at sunrise on the following day. + +Manuel Crust considered himself glorified. After a fashion, he posed +as a martyr. Some sort of cunning, as insidious as it was unexpected, +caused him to assume an air of humility. He went about shaking his head +sorrowfully, as if cut to the quick by the unjust suspicions that had +been heaped upon him by the ignorant, easily-persuaded populace. + +Sentiment began to swing toward him. He and his so-called followers were +vindicated. It was his gloomy, dejected contention that if Providence +had not intervened he and his honest fellows undoubtedly would have been +placed in the most direful position, so strong and so bitter was +the prejudice that conspired against him. He was constantly thanking +Providence. And presently other people undertook to thank Providence +too. They began to regard Manuel as a much-abused man. + +The burly "Portugee" haunted the cabin of Pedro the farmer. He was the +most solicitous and the most active of all who strove to befriend and +encourage the unhappy father, and no one was more devoted than he to the +slowly-recovering girl. He carried flowers to Pedro's hut; he did many +chores for Pedro's wife; he went out into the woods and killed the +plumpest birds he could find and cooked them himself for Pedro's +daughter. + +Presently he began to assert a more or less proprietary interest in the +family. It was no uncommon thing for him to issue orders to the nurses; +he hectored the Doctor; and on several occasions he went so far as to +offend such well-meaning ladies as Mrs. Spofford, Madame Careni-Amori, +Mrs. Block and others when they appeared at Pedro's cabin with +delicacies for the girl. And finally the people in that end of the camp +began to speak of Manuel Crust as a good fellow and a gentleman! + +On Easter Sunday he stood guard over Pedro's cabin while that worthy and +his family went to the "Tabernacle" to attend the special services. Two +of the nurses were inside with the girl, but outside sat Manuel, a grim +watch-dog that growled when any one approached. + +The horror of that black night and the days that witnessed the wiping +out of Sancho Mendez and Dominic hung like a pall over the camp. Both +executions had been witnessed by practically all of the inhabitants. +Captain Trigger came ashore. + +With set, relentless faces the people watched two men go to their doom. +The women were as stony-faced, as repressed, as the men. Save for the +involuntary groans, and the queer hissing sound of long-pent breath as +the black-capped figures swung off into space, the tremulous hush of +intense restraint rested upon the staring crowd. + +Twice they came out to see men they had known and respected "hanged by +the neck until dead," and on neither occasion was there the slightest +manifestation of pity, nor was there a single word of gloating. They +watched and then they went away, leaving the victims to be disposed +of by the men selected for the purpose. No shouts, no execrations, no +hysterical cries or sobs,--nothing save the grim silence of awe. For +these people, even to the tiniest child, had ceased to live in the light +of other days. + +Peter Snipe, in his journal, wrote of that silent, subdued throng as +other historians have written of the rock-hearted people of Salem, and +of the soulful Puritans who grew heartless in the service of the Lord. + +They stood afar-off and watched the small detachment of sailors carry +the bodies down to the basin, and every one knew that Sancho Mendez and +Dominic, heavily weighted, were rowed out to the middle and dumped into +a bottomless grave. Some there were who declared that their bodies would +sink for ages before reaching the bottom,--and no one thought of Sancho +Mendez and Dominic without picturing them as gliding deeper and deeper +into the endless abyss of water. + +Michael Malone's speech to the multitude on the shorn edge of the wheat +field was brief. He spoke from the scaffold on which Sancho Mendez, the +blacksmith, sat with a noose around his neck. + +"This man has been fairly tried and he is being fairly punished. There +is no way to circumvent the laws of God or the laws of man on this +island, my friends. The guilty cannot escape. If we transgress the law, +we must pay in proportion to our transgression. This man is to die. +The laws of our homeland would not have demanded the life of such as +he,--but they should, my friends, they should. This island is small. +It will be easy for us to keep it clean,--and we must keep it clean. +We must not live in fear of each other. The lion and the lamb lie down +together here; the thief and the honest man walk hand in hand. Our sins +will find us out. We cannot hide them. Remember that. In this little +land of ours there is nothing to stand in the way of the soundest +principle ever laid down for man. 'Do unto others as ye would have +others do unto you.' That is the Golden Rule. All we have to do is to +observe that rule and there will be no use for the Ten Commandments, +nor the laws of Moses, nor all the laws that man has made. We don't even +have to be Christians. 'Do unto others as ye would have others do +unto you.' That, my friends, is the law of laws. It is the religion of +religions." + +"Soapy" Shay, sitting before the fire in his cabin a few nights after +the executions, held forth at some length and with peculiar emphasis on +what he called an exploded theory. + +"As I said before, and as I've always said,--not being a drinking man +myself,--it's all bunk about booze being responsible for all the crimes +that are committed. Now here were these two guys, Sancho and Dominic. +Look at what they did,--and they hadn't touched a drop for months. I'm +not saying that licker is a soothin' syrup for a man's morals, but what +I am saying is that if a feller has got it in him to be ornery, he'll be +ornery, drunk or sober. I was tellin' Parson Mackenzie only this morning +that him and me both have good reason for not touchin' the stuff,--for +different reasons, of course,--but I didn't see why other people +oughtn't to have it if they want it. + +"With me, in my former profession, it would have been criminal to touch +the stuff. The worst crime a burglar can commit is to get drunk. No +decent, bang-up burglar ever does it. I don't suppose there is a more +self-respectin' sort of man in the world than a high-grade burglar. And +it's the same with a preacher. He can't any more preach a good sermon +when he is lit up than a burglar can crack a safe or jimmy a window if +he tanks up beforehand. The parson seemed surprised when I put it right +up to him like that. He said he'd never thought of it in that light +before. Of course, says he, a minister of the gospel ain't even supposed +to know what licker tastes like, and I says to him that's where we have +the advantage of him. We know what it tastes like, and we like it, +and we leave it alone because it cramps our style. He leaves it alone +because it's the style for preachers to leave it alone, and because +they'd go to hell if they drank like ordinary men. The only place a +burglar goes to if he boozes is jail. + +"Well, as I was sayin', this here Sancho wasn't soused when he committed +that crime, and it all goes to prove that these temperance cranks are +off their base. Most of the crime that's committed in this world is +committed because the feller wants to commit it. When I was up in Sing +Sing once,--sort of by accident, you might say,--there was a lot of talk +about prison reform, and pattin' the crooks on the back, and tellin' +them they could be just as good as anybody else if they had a chance. +The only chance them guys want, and keep lookin' for night and day, is +a chance to lift something when nobody's lookin'. That's all they're +thinkin' about while they're in the pen, and God knows they're as sober +as judges all the time they're there. Crime is crime and you can't +always lay it to booze. It's human nature with some people. I'm not +sayin' the world wouldn't be better off if there wasn't any licker to +drink. It stands to reason that there wouldn't be half so much bunglin' +if people kept sober, 'specially when it comes to crime. Now, if this +guy Sancho had had a couple of pints in him, everybody would be going +around preachin' about the horrible effects of booze, and--What say?" + +"I said you make me tired," said Buck Chizler, repeating his remark. "I +never did anything wrong in my life except when I was half-soused." + +"Sure," agreed Soapy. "But you'd have done it right if you'd been sober, +my boy. That's the principal trouble with booze. It never gives a feeler +a chance to do anything right." Whereupon, with a slow wink for the +other members of the group, he arose and passed out into the night. + +"I can't make that feller out," grumbled Buck, uncomfortably. + +Easter Sunday was bright and clear, following a fortnight of cold, +penetrating winds and rain. The sun smiled, but it was a cold smile that +mocked rather than cheered. The sky was the colour of thin, transparent +ice; the vast white dome was unspotted by a single cloud; the rose tints +of early morn, frightened away at birth by the chill, unfeeling glare, +took with them every promise of tenderness that dawned with the new day. +But, though the sky was hard, the air was soft; the tang of the salt-sea +spice lay over everything. + +Percival had no active part in the exercises arranged by Ruth. The song +service was held in the open. A platform had been erected in front +of the "tabernacle" (the meeting-house on occasion) for the choir and +musicians. There were no seats for the congregation. Every one stood, +bareheaded, in a wide semi-circle facing the platform. The "boss" took +his place inconspicuously among those who formed the outer fringe of the +assemblage. His gaze seldom left the face of the girl he loved. Once her +eyes met his. She was on the platform discussing arrangements with the +two clergymen when her roving, unsettled gaze chanced to fall upon him. +For many seconds she stared at him fixedly,--so fixedly, in fact, that +Father Francisco, after a moment, shot a look in the same direction. +Even from his far-off post, Percival saw the colour mount to her cheeks +as she hastily turned away to resume the conversation that had been so +incontinently broken off. She was bare-headed. He had been watching the +sun at play among the coils of her soft, dark hair,--a glint here as of +bronze, a gleam there as of gold, ever changing under the caresses of +that flaming lover a hundred million miles away. + +The affable Mr. Nicklestick was standing beside Percival, carrying on a +more or less one-sided conversation. + +"You see, it's this way," he was saying, contriving to reduce his +far-reaching voice to a moderate undertone; "I'm not in the habit of +attending Easter services. I'm not opposed to them, believe me, A. +A.,--not in the slightest. Now at home in New York, I make it a habit to +walk from the Metropolitan Museum down to the Waldorf-Astoria regularly +every Easter. Between eleven and twelve-thirty. You get them going into +certain churches and you get them coming out of others, don't you see? +Oh, vat would I give to be on Fif' Avenue at this minute, A. A.! +A hundred thousand dollars,--gladly, villingly,--yes, two hundred +thousand! I vonder vat things are like on Fif Avenue now,--at this +minute, I mean. I vonder what the vimmin are wearing this season. My +God, don't you vish you were on Fif Avenue, A. A.?" + +"What?" + +"I say don't you vish you were on Fif Avenue now?" + +"No, I don't," gruffly. + +"You--you don't?" gasped Nicklestick. "My God, where do you wish you +were?" + +"Over in France,--or better still, in Germany,--that's where I'd like to +be. Keep still! Can't you see Careni-Amori is singing?" + +Nicklestick was silent for two minutes. Then he volunteered: "Do you +know what that song vould cost if she vas to give it in the Metropolitan +Opera House, A. A.? A thousand dollars, von thousand simoleons. And +we get it for nothing. It ain't possible to realize that you can get +something for nothing in these days, is it? I vas saying to Morrie Shine +only this morning that--" + +"Sh!" hissed an exasperated Brazilian in front of them. + +"I guess we better not talk any more, A. A.," said Nicklestick, +deprecatingly. Presently he leaned close to Percival's ear and +whispered: "Miss Clinton is looking very fine today, isn't she?" +Receiving no reply, he waited a moment and then went on: "Landover is +a very lucky dog, eh?" Failing again, he was silent for some time. His +next effort was along a totally different line. "I've been feeling some +of the people out in regard to the election next week. I think it's +a great idea. You got a cinch, A. A. Nobody vants anybody but you for +governor. What seems to be--" + +"Sh!" + +"Oh, you go to the devil!" addressed the exasperated Mr. Nicklestick +to the Brazilian. "Ain't we got freedom of speech here on this island? +Veil, then! What seems to be troubling most every one, A. A., is who is +the best man for clerk. Nobody vants to be treasurer, for why? Because +there ain't anything to be treasurer about. Say, where are you going?" + +"Nowhere," replied Percival, as he strode away. + +Over against the line of trees on the opposite side of the wheat field +still loomed the gibbet from which Sancho Mendez and Dominic had stepped +blindfolded into another and darker world. While Pastor Mackenzie, +leading up to the glorious resurrection, was repeating the story of the +Crucifixion, Ruth Clinton, sitting behind him on the platform, stared +wide-eyed at this gaunt object, and she saw not Christ on the Cross but +the spectre of Sancho Mendez falling off into darkness. Percival's gaze +followed hers, and his heart smote him,--for it was he who had demanded +that the gruesome reminder be left standing as a warning to carrion. And +he had laughed when Peter Snipe christened it "the scarecrow!" + +"Leave it standing, A. A.," Peter had said, "and you can bet your boots +no jailbird will ever roost on it if he thinks twice. And it's just that +sort of thing that makes a man think twice." + +But the look of dread in the eyes of this girl who could do no wrong, +and yet was to be everlastingly tortured by the sight of the thing that +stood as a silent accuser of all who looked, was more than Percival +could stand. Easter Sunday,--and that gibbet pointing its long arm +toward the little flock in the shadow of sanctuary,--mocking the good as +it beckoned to the bad,--Easter Sunday and that! + +He stole quietly away, circling the edge of the crowd, his head bent, +his teeth set. Just as he was about to pass from view around the corner +of the "tabernacle," he cast a quick glance at the girl on the platform. +Their eyes met again. She turned her head quickly, but he was certain +that she had followed his movements from the beginning. + + + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Toward the close of the exercises, the congregation was startled by +the sound of an ax smiting wood. The blows were rapid and vigorous. +The surprised people looked at each other first in wonder and then in +consternation. Who was guilty of this unseemly sacrilege? + +Finally those on the edge of the multitude discovered the wielder of the +ax. Some one, not easily recognizable, was chopping away the supports of +the scaffold. The crowd grew restless; angry mutterings were to be heard +on all sides. Every eye was turned from the platform to glare at the +lone chopper across the fallow field. + +Madame Careni-Amori, who was about to begin her second song, looked +helplessly at Ruth Clinton. + +Ruth had recognized the man at once. At first she was annoyed, then +there surged over her a great, uplifting thrill of exaltation. She +stepped quickly to the front and, raising her clear young voice, +reclaimed the wandering attention of the throng. + +"Please be quiet. Madame Careni-Amori is to sing for us once more. Mr. +Percival is knocking down that horrible thing over there. It is right +that he should. We do not need it there as a warning. Mr. Percival has +had a change of heart. He has been moved,--tremendously moved,--by +what he has seen in your faces today. That is why he is over there now +hacking down that dreadful thing. It is the skeleton at our feast. We +were conscious of its presence all the time. He is over there all by +himself cutting it down so that our hearts may be lighter, so that this +glad hour may end without its curse. Please remain where you are. He +requires no assistance. He prefers to do it all alone. And now, if you +will all give attention, Madame Careni-Amori will sing for us." + +Careni-Amori lifted up her glorious voice in song. The rhythmic beat +of the ax went on unceasingly; the powerful arms and shoulders of the +destroyer were behind every frenzied blow. As the last notes of the song +died away, there came the sound of splintering wood, then a dull crash, +and the gibbet lay flat upon the ground. Some one uttered an involuntary +shout. As Percival turned from his completed work and wiped the sweat +from his brow with his bare forearm, he found the gaze of the entire +company fastened upon him. Then there came to his ears the clapping of +hands, then the shrill clamour of voices raised in approbation. Swinging +the ax on high, he buried its blade deep in the fallen timber and left +it imbedded there. Snatching up his coat from a nearby stump, he waved +his hand to the crowd and then, whirling, was quickly lost among the +trees that lined the shore. + +Landover walked beside the thoughtful Ruth as she crossed the Green on +her way home. He studied her lovely profile out of the corner of his +eye. As they drew away from the dispersing throng, he spoke to her. + +"If money were of any value here in this Godforsaken spot, I would offer +considerably more than a penny for your thoughts, Ruth." + +She started slightly. "You couldn't buy them, Mr. Landover. They are not +for sale at any price." + +"I suppose there is no harm in venturing a guess, however. You will give +me one guess, won't you?" + +"All the guesses you like,--free of charge," she rejoined airily. + +"You are trying to decide whether or not it was all done for effect." + +She smiled mysteriously, looking straight ahead. Her eyes were very +bright. + +"You are wrong. I was thinking about hats, Mr. Landover. Don't you know +that every woman's thoughts run to hats on Easter?" + +"I confess I had a better opinion of him," he said, disregarding her +flippancy. "I don't like him, but I've never suspected him of being a +stupid ass before." + +"Of whom are you speaking?" she inquired, suddenly looking him full in +the eye. + +"Our mutual friend, the enemy," he replied. + +"Mr. Percival?" + +"Certainly." + +"But I thought he was beneath our notice." + +"We can't very well help noticing him when he goes to such extreme +lengths to attract attention." + +"You think he did it to attract attention?" + +"Not so much that, perhaps, as to get back into the lime-light. You +see, he was rather out of it for as much as half an hour, and he simply +couldn't stand it. So he went off and staged a little sideshow of his +own." + +She walked on in silence for a few moments, torn by doubts and +misgivings. Landover's sarcastic analysis was like a douche of cold +water. Perhaps he was right. It had been a spectacular, not to say +diverting, exhibition. Her eyes darkened. An expression of pain lurked +in them. + +"I can't believe it of him, Mr. Landover," she said at last, in a +slightly muffled voice. + +"I thought it was understood you were to call me Abel, my dear." + +"If he did it deliberately,--and with that motive,--it was unspeakable," +she went on, a faint furrow appearing between her eyes. + +"Of course, I may be wrong," said he magnanimously. "It may have been +the result of an honest, uncontrollable impulse. But I doubt it." + +"Men do queer, strange things when under the influence of a strong +emotion," she said, a hopeful note in her voice. + +"True. They are also capable of doing very base things. You don't for an +instant suspect Percival of being a religious fanatic, do you?" + +"Please don't sneer. And what, pray, has religion to do with it?" + +"I dare say Morris Shine is again lamenting the absence of a motion +picture camera. He is always complaining about the chances he has missed +to--" + +"Stop!" + +"Why, Ruth dear, I--" + +"We have no right to judge him, Mr. Landover." + +"Are you defending him?" + +"I don't believe he had the faintest notion that he was +being--theatrical, as you call it. I am sure he did it because he was +moved by an overpowering desire to make all of us happy. He couldn't +bear the thought of that evil thing out there, pointing at us while we +worshipped and tried to sing with gladness in our hearts. No! He did +it for you, and for me, and for all the rest of us,--and he made every +heart lighter when that thing toppled over and fell. Did you not see +the change that came over every one when they realized that it was +destroyed? There were smiles on every face, and every voice was +cheerful. The look of uneasy dread was gone--Oh, you must have seen." + +"I can only say that it ought to have been done before, Ruth,--not +during the exercises." + +"It was his way of publicly admitting he was wrong in insisting that it +should remain." + +"He had his way with that weak-kneed committee, as usual. The tactics +of that Copperhead Camp he talks so much about are hardly applicable to +conditions here. We are not law-defying ruffians, you know,--and these +are women of quite another order." + +"No one,--not even you, Mr. Landover,--can say that he has been +anything but kind and considerate and sympathetic," she flashed. "He is +firm,--but isn't that what we want? And the people worship him,--they +will do anything for him. Even Manuel Crust respects him,--and obeys +him. And you, down in your heart, respect him. He is your kind of a man, +Mr. Landover. He does things. He is like Theodore Roosevelt. He does +things." + +Landover smiled grimly. "Perhaps that is why I dislike him." + +"Because he is like Roosevelt?" + +"My dear, let's not start an argument about Roosevelt." + +"Just the same, I've heard you say over and over again that you wish +Roosevelt were President now," she persisted. "Why do you say that if +you are so down on him?" + +Landover shrugged his shoulders expressively. + +"I can wish that, my dear, and still not be an admirer of Mr. +Roosevelt," he replied. "But to return to Percival, isn't it quite plain +to you that he was pouting like a school-boy because he had not been +asked to take part in today's exercises?" + +"He was asked to take part in them. I asked him myself." + +He glanced at her sharply. "You never told me you had asked him, Ruth." + +"The night the crime was committed," she said briefly. "He was very nice +about it. He promised to sing in the choir and--and to help me with +the decorations. After our unpleasant experience the next day, he had +the--shall we say tact or kindness?--to reconsider his promise." + +"Openly advertising the fact that he preferred to have no part in any +entertainment you were arranging," was Landover's comment. "I don't +believe it was because of any particular delicacy of feeling on his +part, my dear. In any case, the fact remains that he let you go ahead +with the affair, and then, bang! right in the middle of it he stages his +cheap, melodramatic, moving-picture act. Bosh!" + +She turned on him with blazing eyes. + +"You will not see anything good in him, will you? You can't be fair, can +you? Well, I can be,--and I am. He has been fair with both of us,--and +I am ashamed of the way I have treated him. We deserved his rebuke that +morning, and he did not hesitate to turn us back,--although he realized +what it would mean. He loves me, Abel Landover,--he loves me a thousand +times more than you do, in spite of all your protestations. He--" + +"Why, Ruth,--I--I--" + +"Yes,--I know,--I know you are shocked. And I don't care,--do you +understand? I don't care that! You want your answer, Mr. Landover. Well, +you shall have it now. I cannot marry you. This is final." + +The blood left his face. "You don't know what you are saying, Ruth," he +exclaimed. "You are angry. When you have had time to--" + +"I've had all the time I need," she interrupted shortly. "I don't want +to be disagreeable,--but it's no use, Mr. Landover. I do not love you. +I am sorry if I have misled you into hoping. There is nothing more to be +said." + +"You have misled me," he cried out bitterly. + +"I am to blame, I suppose, for not giving you your answer before this. I +have temporized. It is a woman's trick,--and a horrid one, I'll admit. I +have never even thought of marrying you." + +"Are you in love with Percival?" he demanded. + +"Yes,--I think I am," she replied, looking him straight in the eye. She +spoke with a sort of gasp, as if releasing a confession that surprised +even herself. + +"My God, Ruth,--I can't believe it," he groaned. + +"I have denied it to myself--oh, a thousand times,--I've fought against +it. I've tried to hate him. I've done everything in my power to make him +believe that I despise him. But it's no use,--it's no use. I--I can't +think of anything else. I can't think of any one else. Oh, I know I am +quite mad to say this, but I sometimes find myself praying that we may +never be rescued. It might mean--well, you can see what it might mean. +Thank God, you have driven me to this confession. It is the first time I +have been really honest with myself. I have lied to myself over and over +again about my feeling toward him. I have lain awake for hours at night +lying to myself--telling myself that I hate him and always will hate +him. Now, it's out,--the truth is out. I have never hated him,--I have +cared for him from the very beginning." + +She spoke rapidly, the words rushing forth like a flood suddenly +released after breaking through the dam, sweeping everything before +it,--resistless, devastating, cruelly rapturous. She thought nothing of +the hurt she was inflicting upon the man beside her; he was an atom in +the path of the torrent, a thing that went down and was left behind as +the flood swept over and by him. As suddenly as it began the torrent was +checked. A hot flush seared her neck, her cheeks, her brow. + +"What a fool you must think me!" she cried in dire chagrin. "What a +stupid fool!" + +He had not taken his eyes from her transfigured face. He had listened +with his jaw set, his lips tightly pressed, his brow dark with anger. + +"I don't think that," he said shortly. "You have merely lost your head, +as any woman might, over a picturesque, good-looking soldier of fortune. +Perhaps I should not be surprised, nor even shocked by what you've just +told me. He is the sort that women do fall in love with,--and I suppose +they are not to be blamed for it. No, I do not think you are a fool. +When one reflects that such experienced heads as those possessed by +the irreproachable Obosky, the immaculate Amori,--to say nothing of the +estimable lady we are pleased to call the 'Empress of Brazil,'--when +such heads as theirs are turned by a man it is high time to admit that +he has something more than personal magnetism. I am wondering how far +the contagion has really spread. There is a difference between +contagion and infection, you know. Infection is the result of +personal contact,--contagion is something in the air. This epidemic +of infatuation very plainly is in two forms. It appears to be both +infectious and contagious. I rather fancy the amiable Obosky has +selected the former type of the prevailing malady. Percivalitis, I +believe, is the name it goes by." + +There was no mistaking the significance of his words. The implication +was clear, even though veiled in the heaviest sarcasm. He had the +satisfaction of seeing the colour ebb from her cheek. Her face being +averted, he missed the swift flicker of pain that rushed to her eyes +and, departing, took away with it the soft light that had glowed in them +the instant before. He had touched a concealed canker,--the sensitive +spot that had been the real cause of her sleepless, troubled +nights,--the thing she had refused in her pride to accept as the real +source of discomfort. + +Down in her soul lay the poison of jealousy, a cruel and malignant +influence that until now had been subdued by a mind stubbornly unwilling +to recognize its existence. + +In the eagerness to supply herself with additional reasons for hating +Percival, she had given her imagination a rather free rein in regard to +his relations with Olga Obosky. While she was without actual proof, she +nevertheless tortured herself with suspicions that came almost to +the same thing; in any case, they had the desired effect in that they +created a very positive sense of irritation, and nothing seemed to +please her more in the dead hour of night than the feeling that she had +a right to be disgusted with him. + +And now, Landover, in his sly arraignment, prodded a very live, raw +spot, and she knew that it was bleak unhappiness and not rancour that +had kept her awake. + +"Is it necessary to beat about the bush, Mr. Land-over? If you have +anything definite to tell me about Mr. Percival and Madame Obosky, +I grant you permission to say all you have to say in the plainest +language. Call a spade a spade. I am quite old enough to hear things +called by their right names." + +"Since you have been so quick to get my meaning, I don't consider it +necessary to go into details. I daresay you have ears and eyes of your +own. You can see and hear as well as I,--unless you are resolved to be +both blind and deaf." + +"Did you not hear me say that I know he loves me?" + +"Yes,--I heard you quite distinctly." + +"As a rule, do men love two women at the same time?" she inquired, +patiently. + +"I have never said that he loves Obosky. It is barely possible, however, +that he may not choose to resist her,--if that conveys anything to your +intelligence." + +"It does and it does not," she replied steadily. "You see, I believe in +him. I trust him." + +"And I suppose you trust Olga Obosky," he said, with a sneer. + +"I understand Olga Obosky far better than you do, Mr. Landover." + +"I doubt it," said he drily. + +"She is my friend." + +"Ah! That measurably simplifies the situation. She will no doubt prove +her friendship by delivering Mr. Percival to you, slightly damaged but +guaranteed to--" + +"Please be good enough to remember, Mr. Land-over, that you are not +speaking to Manuel Crust," she exclaimed haughtily, and, with flaming +cheeks, swept past him. + +He hesitated a moment, and then started to follow her. She stopped short +and, facing him, cried out: "Don't follow me! I do not want to hear +another word. Stop! I can see by your eyes that you are ashamed,--you +want to apologize. I do not want to hear it. I am hurt,--terribly hurt. +Nothing you can say will help matters now, Mr. Landover." + +"Just a second, Ruth," he cried, now thoroughly dismayed. "Give me a +chance to explain. It was my mad, unreasoning love that--" + +But, with an exclamation of sheer disgust, she put her fingers to her +ears and sped rapidly down the walk. He stood still, watching her until +she entered the cabin door and closed it behind her. Then he completed +the broken sentence, but not in the voice of humility nor with the words +that he had intended to utter. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +Shay, coming up the walk, distinctly heard what he said. + +"What's the matter, Bill?" he inquired, pausing. "Did she throw the +hooks into you?" + +Landover glared at him balefully. "You go to hell, damn you," he +snarled, and walked away. + +"Soapy" rubbed his chin dubiously as he watched the retreating figure. +Pursing his thin lips, he turned his attention to an unoffending stump +six or eight feet away and scowled at it vindictively. He was turning +something over in his mind, and he was manifestly in a state of +indecision. Ruminating, he spoke aloud, perhaps for the benefit of a +Portuguese farm-hand who happened to be approaching from the opposite +direction, but who still had some rods to cover before he was within +hearing distance. + +"Gee, he's getting to be as decent and democratic as any of us. Shows +what association will do for a man. Two months ago he would have been +too high and mighty to tell me to go to hell. If he keeps on at this +rate, he'll be worth payin' attention to in a couple of months more. +Won't he, Bill?" This to the farmhand, who obligingly halted. + +Mr. Shay made constant and impartial use of the name Bill. Except in a +very few instances, he applied it to all males over the age of two, +and he did it so genially that resentment was rare. Americans, Britons, +Irishmen, Portuguese, Spaniards, Indians, Swedes,--all races, in fact, +except the Hebrew,--came under the sweeping appellation. His Hebrew +acquaintances were addressed by the name of Ike. + +It so happened that this particular "Bill" was lamentably slow in +picking up the English language. It was even said that he prided himself +on being halfwitted. However, being an exceedingly dull creature, he was +quite naturally a polite one. He was a good listener. You could speak +English to him by the hour and never be annoyed by verbal interruptions. +At regular intervals he would insert a shrug of the shoulders, or nod +his head, or lift an eye-brow, or spread out his hands, or purse his +lips,--and he never smiled unless you did. + +Perceiving that some sort of an answer was expected, "Bill" +wisely shrugged his shoulders. "Soapy" interpreted the shrug as +affirmative,--having a distinct advantage over "Bill," who hadn't the +faintest idea which it was,--and proceeded to go a little deeper into +the matter. + +"Now, as I was saying, this Landover guy is up against something, Bill. +She handed him something he didn't like. Right on the nose, too, if I'm +any judge. What do you suppose it was, Bill?" + +"Bill" nodded his head very earnestly. + +"That's what I think," said "Soapy," fixing his hearer with a moody, +speculative frown. "Now, I know something about this Landover guy that +she don't know. I suppose A. A. will give me an awful panning if I up +and tell her what I saw that day. He seems to think it's a secret." + +There was a slight pause, suggesting to "Bill" that he ought to frown as +if also in doubt. + +"At the same time, I think she ought to be told, don't you, Bill?" + +This called for something definite. So Bill scratched his left ear. + +"In the first place, she's too nice a girl to be hitched up with a +Priscilla like him. Now, I don't know what happened here a couple of +minutes ago, but it looks to me as if she needs a little moral support. +It strikes me that this would be a good time to tell her. What do you +think about it, Bill?" + +Always on the lookout for rising inflections, "Bill" was ever in a +position to give prompt replies. He could dispose of the most profound +questions almost before they were out of the speaker's mouth. His answer +to "Soapy's" query was a broad grin,--for he had detected a sly twinkle +in the speaker's eye. He also shrugged his shoulders and spread out his +hands,--and, to clinch the matter, he winked. + +"Now, I don't want to take this important step without being backed-up +by some clever, intelligent feller like you, Bill," went on "Soapy." +"It's all for her good,--and A. A.'s, too, although he won't see it in +that light. If you say you think she ought to be told, that's enough for +me. If you say she oughtn't,--why, nothing doing. It's up to you, Bill." + +"Bill" was plainly at sea. You can't decide a question that lacks an +interrogation point. So all that "Bill" could do was to stare blankly +at "Soapy" and wait for something tangible to turn up. Mr. Shay suddenly +appreciated the poor fellow's dilemma and supplied the necessary relief. + +"What say, Bill?" + +Whereupon "Bill" started to shake his head, but, catching the scowl of +disapproval on "Soapy's" brow, hastily changed his reply to a vigorous +nod. + +"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Shay. "That completely clears my conscience. So +long, Bill." + +And half a minute later he presented himself at Ruth Clinton's cabin. + +"Goodness!" exclaimed Mrs. Spofford, as she opened the door. She also +opened her eyes very wide, and sent a startled, apprehensive glance over +her shoulder into the warm, fire-lit interior. "What do you want?" she +demanded querulously of the unexpected visitor. + +Mr. Shay took off his hat. "I'd like a few words with Miss Clinton," he +said. "I saw her come in, so she's not out. It's important, ma'am. She +will hear something to her advantage, as they say in the personals." + +"Will you please return at three o'clock, Mr. Shay? My niece is resting +after the arduous labours of the--" + +"I dassent wait," said "Soapy," with a furtive glance over his shoulder. +"If he sees me, I'll probably have to change my mind." + +"Who is it, Auntie?" called out a clear voice from within. + +"'Soapy' Shay," replied the visitor himself. + +"Mr. Landover will be here presently, Mr. Shay,--" began the obstacle in +the doorway. + +"I guess not," broke in "Soapy," forgetting himself so far as to wink. +"I expect you haven't heard the news, ma'am. He's had his nose put out +of joint." + +"Good heavens! His nose out of--" + +"Come in, Soapy," cried Ruth. + +"Ruth, my dear,--do you know who--do you know what--" + +"Sure she knows," again interrupted "Soapy," unembarrassed. "I'm not +after anybody's jewels, Mrs. Spofford,--and besides which I am the +principal candidate for Sheriff of this bailiwick. You don't suppose +a man who's running for the office of sheriff on Mr. A. A. Percival's +ticket is going to lift anything before election, do you? Besides which +I've made up my mind to be straight as long as I'm on this island, and +if I'm elected,--which I will be,--I'm going to see that nobody else +does anything crooked. Mr. A.A. Percival is a wise guy,--a mighty wise +guy. Says he to me, 'Soapy, you are one of the most expert--'" + +"Come inside, Soapy," called out Ruth. + +Mr. Shay entered. "You better shut the door, Mrs. Spofford," he said +coolly. "What I got to say is private. As I was saying, A. A. says to +me, 'Soapy, you are one of the craftiest and slipperiest crooks on this +side of the Atlantic Ocean. What you don't know about crime would fill +a book about as thick as a postage stamp. There's nobody on this island +more fittin' to be an officer of the law. You know everything that an +officer of the law ought to know, and besides which you know everything +that a thief has to know. So you're going to be elected Sheriff of +Trigger Island.' That's what A. A. says to me, and, as usual, he's dead +right. Why, ma'am, there ain't a thief in the universe that can fool me. +I don't have to have any evidence,--not a grain of it. All I got to do +is to just ask 'em why they done it. But what I dropped in to see you +about, Miss Ruth, is--Say, you ain't by any chance expecting A. A. to +drop in, are you? I wouldn't have him ketch me here for--" + +"I am not expecting Mr. Percival, Soapy," she said, her gaze fixed +expectantly on the man's face. + +"Well, then," said he, "I got a little story to tell you. It's the +gospel truth. Just try to forget that I used to be a crook and that +in ordinary times I am one of the most gosh-awful liars on earth. But +there's absolutely no pleasure in lying nowadays, and as for working at +my regular trade, Mrs. Spofford, you needn't be the least bit nervous. +It ain't necessary for you to set on that trunk. Take this chair, +please. Now, you remember some time back that A. A. and your friend +Landover had a mix-up in the last named gentleman's stateroom, and you +also must remember that Mr. Landover told you about it and that Mr. +Percival never told you anything about it. Well, I was a witness to +that fracas. I just happened to be walking along the deck when something +caught my eye and I went up close to see what it was. You'd never guess +what it was. After looking at it very carefully I discovered it was a +port-hole." + +Forsaking his whimsical manner, he related tersely in as few words as +possible the story of the encounter. + +"Now, it's my guess that Mr. Abel Landover didn't speak the whole truth +and nothing but the truth when he furnished you with his version of the +affair. Am I right, or am I wrong?" he asked, in conclusion. + +"I prefer to believe Mr. Landover's story," said Mrs. Spofford stiffly. +"Will you be good enough to go now, Mr. Shay?" + +"Sure," said "Soapy," rising. "I'm not asking anybody to take my word +against his. I'm just telling you, that's all. Good afternoon, ladies." + +"It was not Mr. Percival who fired the shot? You are sure of that, +Soapy?" Ruth was standing now. Her eyes were very dark and tempestuous. + +"Sure as my right name ain't Soapy Shay," returned the witness, holding +up his right hand. + +"Ruth, it isn't possible that you place any credence in--" + +"Thank you for coming, Soapy," interrupted Ruth. "It was very good of +you." + +"Soapy" lingered at the door, fumbling his dilapidated hat. Mrs. +Spofford was staring speechlessly at her niece. + +"I'd a little sooner you wouldn't say anything to A. A. about me +peaching on him," said "Soapy," somewhat nervously. + +"I shall not 'peach' on you, Soapy," said the girl, a joyous smile +suddenly illuminating her face. + +"Soapy" went out. As he closed the door, he said to himself: "Next time +you tell me to go to hell, Abe Landover, I guess you'd better furnish a +guide that knows the way." + +As soon as the door was closed, Mrs. Spofford turned upon her radiant +niece. + +"You are not such a fool as to believe that rascal's story, Ruth?" + +"I believe every word of it!" cried the girl. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Sailors, sniffing the gale that night, shook their heads and said +there was snow on the tail of it. Morning found the ground mottled with +splashes of white and a fine, frost-like sleet blowing fitfully across +the plain. The ridge of trees over against the shore became vague and +shapeless beneath the filmy veil, while the sea out beyond the breakers +was clothed in a grey shroud, bleak and impenetrable. + +Knapendyke was positive and reassuring in his contention that no great +amount of snow ever fell upon the island. While much of the vegetation +was of a character indigenous to the temperate zone, there was, he +pointed out, another type peculiar to tropical climates,--and although +the latter was of a singularly hardy nature, it was not calculated to +survive the rigours of a harsh, protracted winter. + +"We'll have spells like this, off and on, just as they occasionally do +in Florida or Southern California, is the way I figure it out," he said +to the group of uneasy men who contemplated the embryonic blizzard with +alarm and misgiving. "Moreover, I believe the wet, cold season is a +short one here. The birds are content to stick it out. The fact there is +no migration is proof enough for me that the winter is never severe. +As the weather prognosticators say, look out for squalls, unsettled +weather, frost tonight, rising temperature tomorrow, rain the next +day, doctors' bills the end of the month. Avoid crowded street-cars, +passenger elevators and places of amusement. Take plenty of out-door +exercise and don't eat too many strawberries." + +Children, on their way to school in the town hall, shouted with glee +as they romped in the snow-laden gale. It had no terrors for them. They +were not concerned with the dour prospect that brought anxiety to the +hearts of their elders. + +"It's fine to be a kid," said Percival, watching the antics of a crowd +of boys. "Why do we have to grow up?" + +"So that we can appreciate what it was to be a kid," said Randolph +Fitts. + +Ruth Clinton was one of the teachers. There were, all told, about thirty +children in the school, their ages ranging from five to fourteen. Most +of them were youngsters from the steerage, bright-eyed little Latins who +had picked up with lively avidity no small store of English. They were +being taught in English. + +The council, spurred by the far-seeing Percival, recognized the perils +of a period of inactivity following the harvest and the flailing +days. The majority of the men and women would be comparatively idle. +Preparations for the building of a small ship occupied the time and +interest of a few engineers and ship-carpenters, but as some weeks were +bound to pass before the work could be begun in earnest, an interim of +impatience would have to be bridged. Work, and plenty of it, was the +only prescription for despair. + +Already symptoms of increasing moodiness marked the mien of the less +resourceful among the castaways. While it was not generally known, two +men had attempted suicide, and one of the Brazilian ladies,--a beautiful +young married woman,--was in a pitiful state of collapse. She had +a husband and two small children in Rio Janeiro. The separation was +driving her mad. There were others,--both men and women,--whose minds +were never free from the thought of loved ones far across the waters +and whose hearts ached with a great pain that could not be subdued by +philosophy, but they were strong and they were cheerful. In their souls +burnt an unquenchable fire, the fire of hope; they stirred it night and +day with the song of the unvanquished. + +Improvements in the hastily constructed cabins provided not only +occupation but interest for the able-bodied men and women. There was no +little rivalry in the matter of interior embellishments; those skilled +in the use of implements took great pride in hewing out and adding +more or less elaborate ornamentation to the facades of their +habitations,--such as casements, door-posts and capitals, awnings, +porches, and so forth. A shell road was in process of construction +from one end of the village to the other, while over in Dismal Forest +woodsmen were even now cutting down the towering Norfolk pines and +hewing out the staunch timbers for the ship that was to sail out one day +in quest of the world they had left behind them. But these enterprises +provided work for men only. The women, in the main, were without +occupation. With the approach of winter the men in active control of the +camp's affairs realized that something would have to be done to relieve +the strain,--at least, to lighten it until spring came to the rescue +with toil in the fields and gardens. + +A system of exchange was being worked out. As has been mentioned before +in this chronicle, the people of the steerage were the plutocrats. Their +hoardings represented real money, the savings of years. When it came to +an actual "show-down,"--to use Percival's expression,--these people +who were poor in the accepted sense, now were rich. They could "buy and +sell" the "plutocrats" of another day and another world. + +The theory that one good turn deserves another was an insufficient +foundation upon which to construct a substantial system of exchange. +It is all very well to talk about brotherly love, said Percival. The +trouble is that certain brothers are for ever imposing upon other +brothers, and the good turn does not always find its recompense. +Socialism, he argued, is a fine thing until you discover that you are +not alone in the world. Brotherly love began with Cain and Abel, and +socialism is best exemplified by a parlour aquarium. Nothing happens to +disturb the serene existence of the goldfish until somebody forgets to +feed them, and then they begin nibbling at each other. + +"You mend my fence, I'll mend yours," is an ideal arrangement until you +find it is "our fence" and doesn't need mending. + +To Landover, Block and other financial experts was delegated the power +and authority to perfect a fair, impartial monetary system. First of +all, they arbitrarily declared the dollar, the peso and the shilling to +be without value. "Time" script was to be issued by the governing board, +and as this substitute would automatically become useless on the day the +castaways, were discovered and taken off the island, no citizen was to +be allowed to reduce or dissipate his hoard of real money. + +Landover's proposal that a central depository be established for the +purpose of holding and safe-guarding the possessions of each and every +person was primarily intended to prevent the surreptitious use of real +money. This project met with almost universal opposition. The "rich" +preferred to hang onto their money, thereby running true to form. While +professing the utmost confidence in the present integrity of the banker +and his friends they ingenuously wanted to know what chance they would +have of getting their money back when these masters of finance were +ready to leave the island! So they elected to hide their gold and silver +where it would be safe from unscrupulous financiers! And nothing could +shake them in this resolve. + +"Time" was the basic principle on which the value of the script was to +be determined, and as "time," in this instance, meant hours and nothing +else, a citizen's income depended entirely on his readiness to work. Ten +hours represented a full day's work. The hand-press on board the Doraine +was used to print the "hours," as the little slips made from the +stock of menu card-board were called. They were divided into five +denominations, viz.: One Hour, Three Hours, Five Hours, Seven Hours and +Ten Hours. Each of these checks bore the signature of Abel T. Landover +and a seal devised by Peter Snipe, who besides being an author was +something of a draughtsman,--indeed, his enemies said he was a far +better artist than he was an author, which annoyed him tremendously in +view of the fact that he had stopped drawing when he was fifteen because +eminent cartoonists and illustrators had told him he had no talent at +all. The printing and stamping was done on board the Doraine and the +script was shortly to be put into circulation. Landover was slated to +become treasurer of Trigger Island at the general election. + +As an illustration, this sort of dialogue was soon to become more or +less common: + +"What's the price of this hat, Madame Obosky?" + +"Twenty-seven hours, Mrs. Block." + +Or: + +"Gimme an hour's worth of 'smoke,' Andy," meaning, of course, the +substitute for tobacco. + +Or: + +"You blamed robber, what do you mean charging six hours for half-soling +them shoes? If you was any good, you could ha' done it in half the +time." + +Every individual in camp over the age of thirteen was obliged to have an +occupation. To a certain extent, this occupation was selective, but in +the main it was to be determined by a board whose business it was to see +that the man-power was directed to the best advantage for all concerned. +A camp tax was ordered. At the end of the week, every citizen was +required to pay into the common treasury two "hours." He could not +"work out" this tax. It had to be paid in "cash." Out of the taxes so +received, the school, the church, the "hospital" and the "government" +were to be supported. + +The "governor" of Trigger Island and the humblest workingman were to +receive exactly the same pay: "hour" for hour. Thirty thousand "hours" +represented the total issue, or, approximately fifty units for each +individual over the age of thirteen. + +As no man's hours was worth more than another's, and as every +transaction was to be based on time, rather than on money, there was no +small likelihood that any one man or group of men could ever obtain a +commanding grip on the finances of the Island. + +And so it came to pass that all manner of enterprises sprang into +existence. Competition was not allowed. There could be but one millinery +shop, one dress-making establishment, one shoe and sandal factory, and +so on. Everything was conducted on a strictly cash basis; there were no +"charge accounts." + +Olga Obosky, as the proprietress of the millinery shop, earned no more +than any one of her half-dozen assistants,--and they were all paid by +the "government." The same could be said of Madame Careni-Amori, who +conducted a school of music, and the great Joseppi who graciously,--even +gladly,--went into the tailoring business. Andrew Mott, one time First +Officer on the Doraine, opened a "smoke" store and dispensed cured +weed that Flattner authorized him to call "tobacco." The austere Mrs. +Spofford decided to open a dress-making shop! + +It was all very simple, this man-to-man system of traffic, but no one +took it lightly or in the spirit of jest. They were serious, they were +sober-minded. Interest, incentive, grim determination centred in the +seemingly childish arrangement. Greed was lacking, for there was no +chance to hoard; confidence was paramount, for there was no chance to +lose. + +The "hours" travelled in a circle, from the "government" to people, from +people to "government"; when all was said and done, it was the product +of soil and sea that formed the backbone of the system. + +With the adoption of the plan, it was to become a punishable +offence,--indeed, it was to be classified as treason,--for any resident +of Trigger Island to "forage" for necessities. He could do what he +pleased in respect to the non-essentials, but when it came to foodstuffs +of any kind or description, he was guilty of a felony if he failed to +turn all that he produced or secured into the general stores. + +"Strikes me," said Randolph Fitts in council meet-ing, "that we are +arriving at the most exquisite state of socialism. This comes pretty +close to being the essence of that historic American dream, 'of the +people, by the people, for the people.' Up to date, that has been the +rarest socialistic doctrine ever promulgated, but we are going it a long +sight better. 'From the people, by the people, to the people.' What do +you call that but socialism?" + +"Are you speaking to me?" demanded Percival. + +"In a general way, yes." + +"Well, it's not my idea of socialism. So far as I've been able to +discover, socialism is a game in which you are supposed to take +something out of your pocket and put it into the other fellow's whether +he wants it or not. This scheme of ours is quite another thing. We're +not planning to split even on what we've got in our pockets so much as +we're planning to divide what we've got in our hands, and there's a lot +of difference between a hand and a pocket, old top. You can see what's +in one and you can't see what's in the other. And, by the way, Fitts, +if we let the socialists in this camp suspect that we're trying to +introduce socialism here, there'll be a revolution before you can say +Jack Robinson. They won't stand for it. They'd let out the blamedest +roar on record if they thought we were trying to deprive them of the +right to feel sorry for themselves." + +Ruth hurried over to the town-hall bright and early on this snowy, gusty +morning. The forenoon session of the school began punctually at 8:30 +o'clock. She was there half an hour ahead of time to see that there +was a roaring fire in the huge fire-place, and that the benches for +the scholars were drawn up close to it. There were two teachers besides +herself,--and both of them were experienced "school marms." She taught +the "infant class," comprising about a dozen tots. The three teachers +took turns about in building the fires, arranging the benches and +cleaning the crude blackboard. + +There had been church-services the night before, and the benches +were all in use, arranged so that they faced the combination +pulpit-rostrum-stage at the far end of the room. Tonight there was to be +a general committee meeting to discuss the prospective financial scheme +and the general election that was to take place the following week. + +The structure was not blessed with a paucity of names. If there was +to be a council-meeting or a camp assembly, it was called the +"Meeting-house." On Sundays it became the "tabernacle." Week-days it +was known as the "schoolhouse," and at odd times it was spoken of as the +"theatre," the "concert-hall," and the "Trigger Island court-house." +In one corner stood the grand piano from the Doraine, regularly and +laboriously tuned by the great Joseppi. Madame Careni-Amori gave vocal +and instrumental lessons here every afternoon in the week, from three +to six. Among the older children there were a number who had voices that +seemed worth developing, and the famous soprano put her heart and soul +into the bewildering task of stuffing the rudiments of music down their +throats. + +Ruth stopped just inside the door and looked about her in astonishment. +The benches had been drawn up in an orderly semi-circle about the +fire-place. Beyond them she observed the figure of a man kneeling before +the fire, using a bellows with great effect. The big logs were snapping, +and cracking, and spitting before the furious blasts. + +She closed the door and started across the room in his direction. +Suddenly she recognized the broad back and the familiar but very +unseasonable panama hat. Panic seized her. She turned quickly, bent on +making her escape. Her heart was beating like a triphammer,--she felt +strangely weak in the knees. As abruptly, she checked the impulse to +flee. Why should she run away, now that the moment she had wished for so +ardently the night before was at hand? Chance had answered her call with +amazing swiftness. She was alone with him,--she could go to him and lay +her weapons at his feet and say,--as she had said a hundred times in the +night,--"I can fight no more. I am beaten." + +But now that the time had come for bravery, she found herself sorely +afraid. A chill swept through her,--a weakening chill that took away +her strength and left her trembling from head to foot. The crisis was +at hand,--the great, surpassing crisis. She found herself hazily, +tremulously wondering what the next minute in her life would be like? +What would be said in it, what would happen to her? Would she be in his +arms, would his lips be upon hers,--all in the minute to come? Was the +whole of her life to be altered in the brief space of a minute's time? + +A warm glow suddenly drove off the chill. It came with the realization +that he was building the fire for her,--that his thoughts were +of her,--that he had stolen into the building to make it warm and +comfortable long before she was due to arrive,--and that he would steal +away again as soon as the "chores" were done. + +He arose to his feet and stood over the fire for a moment or two, +watching its lively progress. Apparently satisfied with his efforts, he +turned and started toward the door. She was standing in his path, a shy, +wavering smile on her lips. + +He halted, and after an instant's hesitation, stammered: + +"I--I never dreamed you'd be around so early. I thought I'd run in as I +was passing and build a fire for--for the kiddies. Get the place warmed +up a bit before--" + +"Will you let me say something, Mr. Percival?" she broke in, hurrying +the words. + +He fumbled for his hat. "I am sorry if you are annoyed, Miss Clinton. +Please believe me when I tell you I hoped to get out before you came. I +came early so that you would not find me--" + +"You are not letting me say what I want to say." + +She came toward him, her hand extended. "Oh, I don't want to thank you +for lighting the fire and putting the room in order. I want to tell you +that I surrender." + +"Surrender?" he exclaimed, staring. + +"I cannot fight you any longer," she said breathlessly. + +He looked dumbly first at her hand and then into her eyes. She was an +arm's length away. + +"Fight me?" he mumbled, uncomprehending. + +"You--you said we could not be friends. I knew what you meant. If--if +you love me,--oh, if you do love me, we need not be friends. But I know +you love me. If I did not know it I could not have come to you like this +and--" + +"Do I love you?" he cried out. "My God, I--I worship you." + +She held out both arms to him. "Then, we will try no more to be +friends," she murmured very softly. "Here are my arms. I surrender." + +A long time after he said to her as they sat before the jubilant, +applauding fire,--the only witness to their ecstasy: + +"Now I understand why we have never really been friends. It wasn't what +God intended. Even in the beginning we were not friends. We thought we +were,--but we weren't. We were lovers, Ruth,--from the start." + +"I tried very hard to hate you," she sighed, drawing a little closer +in the crook of his encircled arm. "How wonderful it all is,--how +wonderful!" + +"I never believed it could come true. I hoped, God, how I hoped,--but +it didn't seem possible that this could ever happen. I've wanted to hold +you in my arms, to kiss your dear lips, to kiss your eyes, to touch +your hair, to press you tight against my heart. And here I am awake, not +dreaming, not longing,--and I have done all these things. Lord! I wonder +if I can possibly be dreaming all this for the thousandth time." + +"I was thinking of you when I came into this room,--not ten minutes +ago,--and suddenly I saw you. I was terrified. I knew then that my +dreams were coming true,--I knew it, and I don't know why I did not run +away. Any self-respecting, modest girl would have done so. But what did +I do? I, a supposedly sensible, well-brought-up--" + +"You caught me trying to run away," he broke in. "I give you my word, +my heart was in my throat all the time I was working over that +fire,--scared stiff with the fear that you would come in and bayonet me +with one of those icicle looks of yours. And see what really happened!" + +They were silent for some time, staring into the fire. Suddenly his arm +tightened; he drew a sharp breath. She looked up quickly. + +"Why are you frowning?" + +"I was just thinking," he replied after a moment's hesitation. + +He gave a queer little jerk of his head, as if casting off something +that bothered him. Into his paradise had slipped the memory of a night +not long since when he held the yielding, responsive form of another +woman in his arms, and felt the thrill of an ignoble passion surging +through his veins. The kiss of the sensualist had burned on his lips for +days; even to this hour it had clung to them; he was never free from +the fire it had started in his imagination. And always on Olga's red, +alluring lips lurked the reminder that she had not forgotten; in her +eyes lay the light of expectancy. + +"Of whom?" asked Ruth, not coyly, but with a directness that startled +him. She seemed to have divined that his thoughts were not of her in +that brief, flitting instant. + +"Of myself," he answered, quite truthfully. + +She laid her hand on his. "I forbid you to think of any one but me," she +said. + +He was silent for a moment. "I shall never think of any one but you, +Ruth Clinton," he said earnestly. "You have nothing to fear." + +"I believe you," she said, and pressed his hand tightly. After a slight +pause, she went on, looking straight into his eyes: "I might have lost +you, dear,--and I could have blamed no one but myself. She--she is very +alluring." + +He shook his head. "I've always been of the opinion that Samson's hair +needed trimming. His mother probably brought him up with Fauntleroy +curls, poor chap. If he'd had his hair cut regularly, he wouldn't have +looked such an ass when Delilah got through with him." + +"I don't quite follow the parable." + +"In other words, it's what a man's got in his head and not so much what +he's got on it that makes him strong," he explained, still more or less +cryptically. + +"I am beginning to see. You made good use of what you have in your head, +is that it?" + +"I made use of what you put into it a good many months ago, dear heart. +You have been in my head and in my heart all these months, and so it was +you who made me strong. Without you in there, I might have been as +weak as Samson was before he had his hair cut. No sensible man blames +Delilah. In fact, men are rather strong for her. When you stop to think +how long old Samson got away with it, and what a shock it must have been +to her after she trimmed him and found there wasn't anything left to +speak of, you've just got to feel sorry for her. She took one good look +at his head and understood why he let his hair grow. He was like the +fellow who wears long whiskers to develop his chin. If Samson had +had room enough in his head for a thought of anything except himself, +Delilah wouldn't have been able to catch him napping." + +She could not help laughing. "You take a most original way of evading +the point. Still, I am satisfied. You did not have room in your head +for any one else but me,--and that's all there is to it. I can't help +feeling tremendously complimented, however. She is quite capable of +turning any man's head." + +"She plays fair, Ruth," he said seriously. "She keeps the danger signal +up all the time. That's more than you can say for most women." + +"Yes," said she; "she plays fair. She is a strange woman. She has given +me a lot of advice,--and I am just beginning to take it." + +"If I had believed what she told me three months ago," said he, "this +glorious hour would have been advanced just that length of time." + +Ruth stiffened. "What did she tell you?" + +"She told me I was a fool and a coward; that all I had to do was to walk +up to you and say 'Here, I want you,' and that would have been the +end of my suspense. She told me something I didn't know and couldn't +believe." + +"Indeed! I like her impudence! She--" + +"She told me you were as much in love with me as I was with you. +Honest,--was she right?" + +Ruth sighed. "I suppose she was right." + +"And would you have come to me if I had said 'I want you '?" + +"If you had said it as you say it now, I--listen! Good gracious! There +are the children!" + +She sprang to her feet, blushing furiously. The door opened and +three small children were fairly blown into the room,--three swarthy, +black-eyed urchins who stared in some doubt at the "boss" and the adored +"teacher." + +"Good morning, children," she cried out jerkily, and then glanced at +each of the windows in quick succession. "You don't suppose,--" she +began under her breath, turning to Percival with a distressed look in +her eyes. + +"I wouldn't put it above 'em," said he, cheerfully. + +"We should have thought of the windows." + +"Thank God, we didn't," he cried. + +He went out into the storm with the song of the lark in his heart. + +"God, what a beautiful place the world is!" he was saying to himself, +and all the while the sleet was stinging his radiant face with the +relentlessness of angry bees. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +As he swung jauntily down the road in the direction of his "office," +all the world might have seen that it was a beautiful place for him. He +passed children hurrying to school, and shouted envious "hurry-ups" to +them. Men and women, going about the morning's business, felt better for +the cheery greetings he gave them. Even Manuel Crust, pushing a crude +barrow laden with fire-wood, paused to look after the strutting figure, +resuming his progress with an annoyed scowl on his brow, for he had +been guilty of a pleasant response to Percival's genial "good-morning." +Manuel went his way wondering what the devil had got into both of them. + +Olga Obosky was peering from a window as he passed her hut. He waved +his hand at her,--and then shook his head. He had passed her three +dancing-girls some distance down the road, romping like children in the +snow. + +Buck Chizler was waiting for him outside the "office." The little jockey +had something on his mind,--something that caused him to grin sheepishly +and at the same time look furtively over his shoulder. + +"Can I see you for a coupla minutes, A. A.?" he inquired, following the +other to the door. + +"Certainly, Buck,--as many minutes as you like." + +Buck discovered Randolph Fitts and Michael Malone seated before the +fire. He drew back. + +"I'd like to see you outside," he said nervously. + +"Well, what is it?" asked Percival, stepping outside and closing the +door. + +Buck led him around the corner of the hut. + +"It ain't so windy here," he explained. "Awful weather, ain't it?" + +"What's troubling you, Buck? Put on your cap, you idiot. You'll take +cold." + +"Plumb nervousness," said Buck. "Same as if I was pulling up to the +start with fifty thousand on the nag. I want to ask your advice, A. A. +Just a little private matter. Oh, nothing serious. Nothing like that, +you know. I just thought maybe you'd--Gosh, I never saw it snow like +this up home, did you? Funny, too, when you think how tropical we ought +to be. There was a bad blizzard a coupla years ago in Buenos Aires, +but--" + +"Come to the point, Buck. What's up?" + +Buck lowered his voice. "Well, you see it's this way. I'm thinking +of getting married. Tomorrow, if possible. Don't laugh! I don't see +anything to laugh at in--" + +"I beg your pardon, old chap. I couldn't help laughing. It's because I'm +happy. Don't mind me. Go ahead. You're thinking of getting married, eh? +Well, what's to prevent?" + +"Do you approve of it? That's what I want to know." + +"Sure. Of course, I approve of it." + +"I just thought I'd make sure. You see, nobody's ever got married here +before, and I didn't know what you'd think of me--er--sort of breaking +the ice, don't you see." + +"She's finally said 'yes,' has she? Good girl! Congratulations, old +chap,--thousands of 'em'--millions." + +"Well, that takes some of the load off my mind," said Buck, as they +shook hands. "Now, there's one or two things more. First, she says she +won't come and live in a hut where five men besides myself are bunking. +I don't blame her, do you? Second, she says if we ever get rescued from +this island, she won't let me go to the war,--not a step, she swears. +I put up a holler right away. I says to her I was on my way to the war +before I ever met her, and then she says I ain't got anything on her. +She was going over to nurse. But she says if she gets married she's +going to claim exemption, or whatever they call it, and she says I got +to do the same,--'cause we'll both have dependents then. Then I says the +chances are the war's over by this time anyhow, and she says a feller +in the Argentine told her on his word of honour it wouldn't be over for +five years or more. But that's a minor point. What's rusting me is this: +how am I going to get rid of them five guys in my cabin?" + +"Have you told them you're going to be married?" + +"Oh, hell, they're the ones that told me." + +"It's pretty rough weather to turn men out into the cold, unfeeling +world, Buck." + +Buck scratched his ear in deep perplexity. "Well, it's got me guessing." +He slumped into an attitude of profound dejection. "What we'd ought to +have done, A. A., was to build a hotel or something like that. If we had +a hotel here, there'd be so blamed many weddings you couldn't keep track +of 'em. That's the only thing that's holding people back. Why, half +the unmarried fellers here are thinking about getting married. They're +thinking, and thinking, and thinking, morning, noon and night. And +they've got the girls thinking, too,--and most of the widders and old +maids besides. I don't see how a smart feller like you, A. A., happened +to overlook the possibility of just this kind of thing happening." + +"Good Lord, what have I got to do with it?" + +"Why, darn it all, you'd ought to have put up a few huts with 'For Rent' +signs on 'em, or else--" + +"By George, Buck! I've got it," cried Percival excitedly. "Have you +thought of a wedding journey?" + +"A what?" + +"Wedding trip,--honeymoon." + +"Well, we might walk up and down the main street here a coupla times," +said Buck sarcastically. "Or take a stroll along the beach or something +like that." + +"What's the matter with a nice long sea voyage?" + +"Say, I'm not kidding about this thing," exclaimed Mr. Chizler, +bristling. "I'm in dead earnest." + +"Has it occured to you that the Doraine is lying out there in the +harbour--Here! Look out! I don't like being hugged by--" + +"My gosh, A. A! Oh, my gosh!" barked the ecstatic bridegroom-apparent. +"How did you happen to think of such a beautiful, wonderful--" + +"How did I happen to think of it?" shouted Percival, just as +ecstatically. "Why, darn your eyes, why shouldn't I think of it? Why did +old Noah think of the Ark? Why, I ask you?" + +"He didn't," said Buck succinctly. "The feller that wrote the Bible +thought of it." + +"What time is it? Oh, Lord, nearly three hours yet before school is +out." + +"Say, are you off your base,--lemme smell your breath. You act +like--Wait a second! There's something else I want to speak to you +about. Is it--is it all right for me to get married? She says I'll have +to get your O. K. before she'll move an inch. She says nobody can do +anything around here without you say so. So I--" + +"You tell her I give my consent gladly, Buck, my boy. Give her a good +kiss for me, and say I'll speak to Captain Trigger this afternoon about +passage on the Doraine. By George, I--I think I'll go and speak to him +about it now." + +"Much obliged, boss. By gosh, you are a brick. There ain't anything you +won't do for a friend, is there?" + +Percival blushed and stammered. "I--I've got to see him anyhow, +Buck,--so don't thank me. By the way, while I'm about it, I suppose +I might as well speak to Parson Mackenzie, eh? Or is it to be Father +Francisco? And that reminds me, I'll have to see Malone and find out +about the legality,--got to have the law on our side, you see, Buck. +Something in the form of a license,--United States of America and all +that,--and also see about fixing up desirable quarters on board the +Doraine. I may have to transfer quite a lot of--er--furniture and so +forth from my hut to the ship, and--" + +"Gee whiz, A. A., you mustn't go to so blamed much trouble for me," +gasped the delighted Buck. + +"Eh? What? Oh, the devil take you! Beat it now. I'm going to be mighty +busy this morning." + +"I'll do as much for you, A. A., if you ever get married," cried Buck, +once more wringing the other's hand. Then he was off up the road like a +schoolboy. + +Shortly before the noon recess, Percival returned from the Doraine. By +this time, the news had spread through the camp that there was to be a +wedding. Every one he met hailed him with the excited question: + +"Say, have you heard the news?" + +"What news?" + +"There's going to be a wedding." + +"Good Lord!" said Percival to himself. "They must have been peeping +through those windows after all." + +Finding that he had ten minutes to spare before school was out, he +decided to call upon Mrs. Spofford. That lady received him with icy +politeness. + +"I have been expecting you," she said. "Your friend Mr. Shay honoured us +with a visit yesterday. My niece is at the school. Will you sit down and +wait for her, or--" + +"I beg your pardon. What was that you said about Shay?" + +"I said he came to see us." + +Percival stared, "He did?" + +"Please sit down, Mr. Percival. Do not ask me to tell you anything more +about Mr. Shay," she went on hurriedly, and in some confusion. "I don't +believe he would like it,--and as he is a dangerous character, I beg of +you not to--" + +"If Soapy Shay dared to intrude--" + +"I implore you, do not think anything more about it. He was most +courteous and polite and all that." + +He remained standing, his gaze fixed upon her face. Somehow, he guessed +the nature of Soapy's visit. + +"I suppose he came as a tale-bearer." + +"I must decline to discuss the matter, Mr. Percival." + +"Mrs. Spofford," he began, with all the dignity of a courtier, "I have +come to request the hand of your niece in marriage. I have loved her +from the very--" + +"Oh, God!" groaned the trembling lady. "It has come at last! It has +come,--just as I feared. For pity's sake, Mr. Percival, spare her! She +is--" + +"I beg your pardon," he broke in, flushing. "I think you misunderstand +me. I am asking your consent to marry her. I believe it is still +customary among gentlemen to consult the--" + +"Permit me to interrupt you, Mr. Percival," said she, regaining her +composure and her austerity. "What you ask is quite impossible. My niece +is,--ah,--I may say tentatively engaged. I am sorry for you. Perhaps it +would be just as well if you did not wait for her to come in. She will +be--" + +"Mrs. Spofford, I am obliged to confess to you that I have already +spoken to Miss Clinton, and I may add that she is not tentatively +engaged. She has promised to be my wife." + +She drew back as if struck. She was silent for many seconds. + +"It would appear that my consent is not necessary, Mr. Percival," she +said at last, "Why do you come to me?" + +"Because, while you may not suspect it, I was born a gentleman," said he +stiffly. + +She received this with a slight nod of the head and no more. + +"My niece, no doubt in her excitement, has neglected to ask you one or +two very important questions," she said levelly. "First of all, have you +any means of convincing us that you do not already possess a wife?" + +He started. "You are right," he said. "That is an important question, +and she has not asked it. I have no means of convincing you that I have +never been married, Mrs. Spofford. My word of honour is the only thing I +can offer." + +She regarded him narrowly. "Do you consider that sufficient, Mr. +Percival?" + +"I do," said he simply. She waited for him to go on, and was distinctly +impressed by his failure to do so. So far as he was concerned, there was +nothing more to be added. + +"How are we to know what your past life contains? You may have left your +homeland in disgrace, you may even have been a fugitive from justice. We +have no means of knowing. You were a stowaway on board the Doraine. That +much, at least, we do know. We know nothing more. You are smart, you +are clever. Surely you must see yourself that under other circumstances, +under normal conditions, my niece would not have condescended to notice +you, Mr. Percival. We are on an undiscovered island, remote from the +environment, the society, the--" + +"Permit me to remind you, Mrs. Spofford," he interrupted, a trifle +coldly, "that you just remarked that you know nothing whatever about me. +Isn't it barely possible that my life may contain something desirable in +the shape of family, position and environment?" + +"I recall that Mr. Gray did speak of knowing the Percival family. My +niece never allows me to forget it." + +"Mr. Gray did not know my family. He knew of my family, Mrs. Spofford, +if that conveys anything to you. Not that they would not have been proud +to have known him, for he was a gentleman. As for my own case, I can +only say that I am not a fugitive from justice, nor have I done anything +more disgraceful than the average young man who has been through college +and who, ignoring the counsel of his father, proceeds to find out for +himself the same things that his father had found out a great many years +before,--and his father before him, and so on back to the beginning of +man. My great-great-grandfather on my mother's side was a comparatively +recent settler in America. He didn't come over from Scotland until about +1750. My father's people came over in the days of Lord Baltimore. Most +of my remote ancestors were very wicked men. You will find that one of +them was executed in the Tower of London the same week that Lady Jane +Grey went to her death, and another was openly in love with Mistress +Nell Gwyn, thereby falling into disgrace with a monarch named Charles. I +admit that I come of very bad stock." + +A fleeting twinkle lurked in her eyes. + +"You are very adroit, Mr. Percival." + +"Which is as much as to say that I have an agreeable and interesting way +of lying. Is that what you wish to imply, Mrs. Spofford?" + +"Not at all. I say you are adroit because you place me in an +embarrassing position. If I believe your confession that you come of +bad stock, I must also believe that you come of an exceedingly good +old Maryland family." He bowed very low. "My niece, Mr. Percival, is an +orphan. I am and have been her protector since she was fourteen years +of age. She is the possessor of a large fortune in her own right. Her +father,--who was my brother,--gave her into my care when he was on his +death-bed. I leave you to surmise just what were his dying words to me. +She was his idol. I have not failed him in any respect. You ask me to +give my consent to your marriage. I cannot do so. No doubt you will be +married, just as you have planned. She loves you. I have known it for +months. I have seen this day and hour coming,--yes, I have seen it even +more clearly than she, for while she struggled desperately to deceive +herself she has never been able to deceive me. You are a strong, +attractive man. The glamour of mystery rests upon you. You have done +prodigious deeds here, Mr. Percival. All of this I recognize, and I +should be unfair to my own sense of honour were I to deny you my respect +and gratitude. I must be fair. Fear has been the cause of my attitude +toward you,--not fear of you, sir, but fear for my niece. Now I am +confronted by the inevitable. The thing I have tried so hard to avoid +has come to pass. In these circumstances, I am forced to confess that +I have not been without a real, true admiration for you. I admit that +I have felt a great security with you in command of our camp. But, even +so, you are not the man I would have chosen to be Ruth's husband. The +time is surely coming when we will be delivered from this island prison, +when we will return to the life and the people and the conditions we +knew before catastrophe made a new world for us. I am thinking of that +time, Mr. Percival, and not of the present. I fear my niece is thinking +only of the present and not of the future." + +He had listened with grave deference. "Forgive me if I appear +impertinent, Mrs. Spofford, but is it not, after all, the past you are +thinking about?" + +She did not answer at once. His question had startled her. + +"Youth does not live in the past," he went on quietly. "It deals only +with the present. I love Ruth Clinton,--I love her with the cleanest +love a man can feel for a woman. It will not alter when we leave this +island. If we are fated to spend the rest of our lives here, it will +endure to the end." + +"You are speaking for yourself," she said. "Can you speak for Ruth?" + +"No, I cannot," he admitted. "Nor can you," he added boldly. "That is +what I meant when I asked if you were not thinking chiefly of the past. +I cannot say that Ruth will love me always, but I can say this: she +loves me now, as I love her, and in her heart she has said just what I +said to you a moment ago,--that her love will endure." + +"I daresay I do think more of the past than of the present, Mr. +Percival. You are right about the future. It is a blank page, to be +glorified or soiled by what is set down upon it. Fate has thrown you +two together. Perhaps it was so written in the past that you despise. +A single turn of the mysterious wheel of fortune brought you into her +life. Half a turn,--the matter of minutes,--and you would never have +seen each other, and you would have gone your separate ways to the end +of time without even knowing that the other existed. No doubt you both +contend that you cannot live without each other. It is the usual wail of +lovers. But are you quite as certain in your minds that you would have +perished if you had never seen each other?" + +The note of irony did not escape him. He smiled. "In that case, Mrs. +Spofford, we should not have existed at all." + +She shook her head despairingly. "You are too clever for me," she said. +"I warn you, however, that I shall do everything in my power to persuade +Ruth to reconsider her promise to you." + +"Nothing could be fairer than that," said he, without rancor. "If she +comes to me this afternoon and says she has changed her mind and cannot +marry me, I shall not ask her again. Will you be kind enough, Mrs. +Spofford, to include that in your argument? It may spare her a lot of +worry and anxiety." + +He bowed ceremoniously and took his departure. She went to the window +and, drawing aside the curtain, watched him until he disappeared down +the road. Then, as the curtain fell into place, she said to herself: + +"Their children will be strong and beautiful." + + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +A fortnight later, Ruth and Percival were married. He was now governor +of Trigger Island. + +The ceremony took place at noon on the Green in front of the Government +Building,--(an imposing name added to the already extensive list by +which the "meeting-house" was known),--and was attended by the whole +population of the island. His desire for a simple wedding had been +vigorously, almost violently opposed by the people. Led by Randolph +Fitts and the eloquent Malone, they demanded the pomp and ceremony of a +state wedding. As governor of Trigger Island, they clamoured, it was his +duty to be married in the presence of a multitude! A general holiday was +declared, a great "barbecue" was arranged--(minus the roasted ox),--and +when it was all over, the joyous throng escorted the governor and his +lady to the gaily decorated "barge" that was to transport them from the +landing to the Doraine. + +Olga Obosky made the bride's bonnet and veil, and draped the latter on +the morning of the wedding day. Like the fabled merchants of the Arabian +Nights she appeared to the bride-elect and displayed her wares. From the +depths of her theatre trunks she produced a bewildering assortment of +laces, chiffon, silks, and the filmiest of gauzes. + +"You must not be afraid zat they will contaminate you," she explained, +noting the look of dismay in Ruth's eyes. "Zey have never adorned my +body, zey have never been expose to the speculating eye of the public, +zey have not hid from view these charms of mine. No, these are fair +and virtuous fabrics. It is you who will be the first to wear them, my +friend. Take your choice. See! Zis piece, is it not wonderful? It comes +from Buda Pesth. One day it would perhaps have caressed my flesh in the +Dance of the Sultan's Dream,--but, alas,--zat is not to be. Feel, my +friend,--take it in your hand. See? You could hide it in the palm of one +of them,--and presto! Throw it outspread,--and it is like a blanket of +mist filling the room. It is priceless. It is unobtainable. None except +Obosky can afford to dance in such imperial stuff as this. Take it,--it +is yours. It is my pleasure that you should have it. Better far it +should be your bridal veil than to drape these abandoned legs of mine." + +And so it was that the scant costume of the Sultan's Dream became the +bridal veil of the governor's lady. + +If Olga Obosky was sore at heart, she gave no sign. On the contrary, +she revealed the sprightliest interest in the coming nuptials. Percival +himself had told her the news within the hour after his interview with +Mrs. Spofford. In his blind happiness, he had failed to notice the +momentary stiffening of her body as if resisting a shock; he did not see +the hurt, baffled look that darkened her eyes for a few seconds, and +the swiftly passing pallor that stole into her face and vanished almost +instantly. He saw only the challenging smile that followed close upon +these fleeting signs, and the mocking gleam in her eyes. + +"So?" she had said. "So the citadel is yours, my friend. Hail to the +chief! I salute you. But consider, O conqueror, what it is you are +about to do. You are setting a woeful example. There will be a stampede, +a panic. People will trample each other under foot in ze mad rush +for captivity. The wedding bell will crack under ze strain of so much +ringing. Everybody will be getting married, now zat they find it is so +easy and so simple. I congratulate you, my friend. You have been very +slow,--I have said she was yours for the asking, you will remember. She +is good, she is beautiful, she is pure gold, my friend. I am her friend. +Do not ever forget, my Percivail, I am her friend." + +He flushed warmly. He could not misinterpret her meaning. She spoke +slowly, deliberately. It was renunciation on her part. + +"I understand, Olga," he said. + +She smiled, and shrugged her shoulders. + +"Oh, but you do not understand!" she cried. "You are so very much +perplexed. It is enough for me that you are perplexed. I am content. I +am the puzzle you will never solve. So! La la! You will never cease to +wonder. Look!" + +She pointed her finger at a man who was crossing the Green below them. + +"I am a puzzle to zat man also. He thought that he understood." + +"Landover? What do you mean?" + +A spasm of fury transformed her features. She hissed out the words: + +"I did spit in his face last night,--zat is all." + +The thirteenth of April, 1918, came on Saturday. Defying superstition, +Ruth selected it as her wedding day. It was a bright, warm autumn day, +bestowed by a gallant sun, and there was great rejoicing over this +evidence of God's approval. It came as a winter's whim, for that night +the skies were black and thunderous; the winds roared savagely between +the lofty walls of Split Mountain and whined across the decks of the +slanting Doraine, snug in the little basin, while out on the boundless +deep the turmoil of hell was raging. + +And so began the honeymoon of the stowaway and the lady fair, even as +the "voyage" of the jockey and his bride had begun a fortnight before. +They sat at the Captain's table in the ghostly, dismantled saloon. Above +them hung two brightly burnished lanterns, shedding a mellow light upon +the festal board. Outside, the whistling wind, the swish of the darkened +waters, the rattle of davits and the creak of the straining timbers. + +Up from his place at the head of the table rose the gray and gallant +skipper. + +"Up, gentlemen," said he, his face aglow. "I give you the health, the +happiness and the never diminishing glory of the governor's lady." + +"May she never be less," added the gaunt First Officer, who spent his +days ashore watching the growth of a new Doraine and his nights on board +with the failing master of the older one. + +And in the rare old port from the Captain's locker they pledged the +radiant bride. + +"A long voyage and a merry one!" cried Mr. Codge, the purser, as he +drained his goblet dry. + +Mr. Furman Nicholas Chizler bowed very gravely to the lady on the +Captain's right, and then to the one at his left. + +"What care we which way we sail so long as the wind's behind us?" quoth +he. + + + + + + +BOOK THREE + +CHAPTER I. + + +In the far-off Northland it is winter again,--the winter of 1919-20. +Trigger Island is bright and clean with the furbishings of summer. It +is January,--January without its coat of white,--January as green as the +tender gourd. + +There are a dozen graves or more on Cape Sunrise; Betty Cruise no longer +lies alone out on the windswept point. Crudely chiseled on the rough +headstones are names that have not been mentioned in this chronicle, +still not the less enduring. One name is there, however, chipped in a +great black slab from the face of Split Mountain, that will never +be forgotten as long as Trigger Island exists: it is that of Captain +Weatherby Trigger. + +The master of the Doraine died aboard-ship in the second winter. After +his death the ship was abandoned. Mr. Codge and the half-dozen old +mariners who had made their home in the dismal hulk came ashore. + +Grim and ugly and as silent as the grave, save for the winds that moan +through her portholes and corridors, she lies rusting in sun and storm, +a gloomy presence that fills the soul with awe. Even the birds of the +air shun her barren decks; less fastidious bats have taken up their +abode in the heart of her, and spiders great and small are at work on a +sickly shroud. + +Twenty months have passed. Christmas and New Year's day have twice been +celebrated and another Easter Sunday has found its way into the faithful +journal of Peter Snipe, and with them two amazing Fourths of July when +there was coasting on the long slopes and winter sports on the plains. +There has been one bountiful harvest and seed has been sown for yet +another. The full length of the sunny plain is under cultivation. The +bins in the granaries are well-filled with the treasures of the soil; +the gardens have increased and flourished; the warehouse is stacked +with fresh and dried fruits, vegetables, honey, and row upon row of +preserves! Great earthen jars, modeled with all the severity of the +primitive cave-dweller, serve as receptacles. The grist-mill on Leap +Frog River is busy from dawn till dusk; the forge rings with the music +of hammer and anvil; a saw-mill in the heart of Dismal Forest hums its +whining tune all day long. A noisy, determined engine, fashioned by +mechanics out of material taken from the engine and boiler room of the +Doraine provides the motive power for the saws and the means to produce +ponderous, far-reaching blasts on the transferred "fog-horn." + +New and more commodious huts have gone up, roads have been blazed +through the forests, a logging ferry plies between the opposite shores +of Mott Haven, and a ship is on the ways above the landing "stage." + +At the top of Split Mountain stands a lofty wireless tower. For months +it has been spitting vain messages to the four winds. Out of the great +silences at rare intervals come faint flickers of radio calls, jumbled, +indistinct, undecipherable,--but, for all that, definite pulse beats of +a far-off life. + +Trigger Island went mad with joy when the first of these aerial +mutterings was reported down from the mountain-top. "Only a question +of time now," they cried in their delirium. But weeks went by before +another sound was heard. Now the report of feeble, long-separated +manifestations, like vague spirit-rappings, no longer caused excitement +or enthusiasm,--only a rueful shaking of heads. + +Lieutenant Platt's station at the top of the mountain is a rude, +elementary affair, notwithstanding the many weary, puzzling, +disheartening months spent in its construction. The damaged, almost +useless dynamo from the Doraine had to be repaired and conveyed to the +crest of the eminence; what seemed to be fruitless ages were consumed +in devising an engine with power sufficient to produce even the feeble +results that followed. And when the task of installing the plant was +completed, the effective radius was far short of a hundred miles. +Constant efforts were being made to develop greater sending power, but +the means at hand were inadequate, the material unobtainable. + +The firing of the Doraine's gun had long since been discontinued. The +supply of shells being greatly reduced, Lieutenant Platt decided to +waste no more of them, but to wait for some visible evidence that a +vessel was within signalling distance: a shadowy plume of smoke on +the far horizon or the white tip of a sail peeping over the rim of the +world. + +Frugality is the watchword. The days of plenty are sternly guarded so +that their substance may not be squandered; always there is the thought +of the lean year that may come, the year when the harvests fail and +famine stalks naked through the land. + +The first law, therefore, is thrift. Not thrift in its common, accepted +sense, based on the self-denial of the individual, but a systematic +shoulder-to-shoulder stand for the general welfare of the community. +There is no such thing as waste on Trigger Island. The grim spectre of +want and privation treads softly behind every mortal there, and there is +none who treats its invisible presence with disdain. Even the wood-ashes +from stoves and fireplaces are carefully hoarded in hoppers, for the +alkaline solution obtained by treating them with water is lye. This lye +is being used chiefly in the production of a soap not unlike that made +by thrifty farmers' wives in the Argentine, experimentation with +the pulpy fruit of a tree belonging to the variety known as Sapindus +marginatus bringing about rather astonishing results. + +For many months of the year the people wear sandals on their bare feet. +Only those who toil in the forests don the uncouth boots turned out +by the firm of cobblers known as Block & Nicklestick. Shoes, boots +and slippers of another day are zealously guarded by their owners, in +anticipation of still another day,--the day of deliverance. "Waste not, +want not," is the motto of Trigger Island. + +The second winter brought a double catastrophe, and for days thereafter +deepest gloom prevailed. Even the stout-hearted Percival drooped under +the weight of it. + +Fire wiped out the work of months in the space of a few bleak, bitter +hours. The sturdy little ship that was so well along toward completion +was destroyed. + +Months of faithful, patient, dogged toil had resulted in the +construction of a stout hull which stood proudly on the ways to +be admired and glorified by the eager, confident supporters of the +determined little band of builders. Six weeks more would have seen the +vessel off the ways and floating gaily on the surface of the snug little +basin, ready for the final touches, the provisioning and the ultimate +departure of the hardy company that was to take her out into the open +stretches in quest of the helping hand. For weeks a devoted, one-minded +community had been preparing food, raiment and comforts for the men who +were to go forth in the new Doraine. The masts and spars were in place, +the forecastle and cabin were almost ready for occupancy, the galley was +nearing completion,--and then came swift, relentless disaster. + +The night was cold and windy. Down at the water's edge, almost under the +bulging side of the ship, two men had their quarters at one end of the +low, rambling carpenter shop. At the other end was located the forge. +The very thing they were there to guard against happened on this +miserable night. Fire broke out in the forge. + +The man on watch had fallen asleep. His name was Smiley. It is mentioned +here for the only time in this narrative. + +Shortly before midnight, his companion was awakened by the smell of +smoke. He scrambled out of his blankets on the floor,--and cursed the +man who still slept in his chair beside the smoke-befogged lantern on +the end of a carpenter's bench. Flames were creeping along the wooden +partition separating the forge from the shop. Half a mile away three +hundred men were sleeping,--but half a mile is half a mile. Before the +watchmen could sound the alarm, after their first courageous efforts +to subdue the blaze, the building was a roaring mass of flames and a +gleeful wind had carried tongues of fire to the side of the vessel where +they licked shapeless black patterns at first and then swiftly turned +them to red. + +Stark-eyed, shivering people stood far back among the trees throughout +the rest of the night and watched the work of months go up in flame and +smoke. Nothing could be done to save the ship. Hewn from the hardiest +trees in the forest, caulked and fortified to defy the most violent +assaults of water, she was like paper in the clutch of flames. In the +grey of early morn the stricken people slunk back to their cabins and +gave up hope. For not only was their ship destroyed but the priceless +tools and implements with which she had been built were gone as well. It +was the double catastrophe that took the life, the spirit, out of them. + +And while the day was still breaking, the man who had slept at his post, +stole off into the forest and cut his throat from ear to ear. + +But now, months afterward, another ship is on the ways. Indomitable, +undaunted, the builders rose above disaster and set to work again. +New tools were fashioned from steel and iron and wood,--saws, chisels, +sledges, planes and hammers--in fact, everything except the baffling +augurs. Resolute, unbeaten hands toiled anew, and this time the humble +craft was not to be given a luckless name. + +Superstition was rife. All save Andrew Mott saw ill-omen in the name +"Doraine." Steadfastly he maintained that as the Doraine had brought +them safely to the island, guided by a divine Providence, a Doraine +could be trusted to take them as miraculously away. And as for changing +the name of his prattling ward, he fairly roared his objection; though +an uncommonly mild man for a sailor, he uttered such blasphemous things +to a group of well-meaning women that even Sheriff Soapy Shay was +aghast. + +After the dreary period that followed the disaster, there came a sharp +awakening as from a dream filled with horrors. Something lying dormant +in the com-mon breast had stirred. It was the unbeaten spirit that would +not die. These men and women lifted up their heads and beheld the star +of hope undimmed. In a flash, the aspect changed. + +"We must start all over again," was the cry that awoke them, and from +that time on there was no such word as fail in the lexicon of Trigger +Island. + +Slowly, laboriously out of the ashes rose a new hull, a stauncher one +than its ill-fated predecessor. The year wasted in the building of the +first ship was lamented but not mourned. Cheerfulness, even optimism, +prevailed throughout the village. No man, no woman lifted the voice +of complaint. Resignation took the form of stoicism. A sort of dogged +taciturnity was measurably relieved by the never-failing spirit of +camaraderie. There was even a touch of bravado in the attitude of these +people toward each other,--as of courage kept up by scoffing. Even +Death, on his sombre visits, was regarded with a strange derision by +those who continued to spin. They had cheated him not once but many +times, and they mocked him in their souls. + +"I'm not afraid of Death," was Buck Chizler's contribution. "I've just +discovered that Death is the rottenest coward in the world. He either +waits till you get too blamed old to fight, or else he jumps on you when +you ain't looking, or when you're so weak from sickness you don't care +what happens. I used to be afraid of Death. And why? Because I wasn't +onto the old bum; Why, look at what he does. He jumps onto weeny little +babies and feeble old women and--and horses. Now, I'm onto him, and I +ain't got any use for a cheap sport,--not me." + +The little community had taken to religion. As is invariably the case, +adversity seeks surcease in some form of piety. Men who had not entered +a church since the days of their childhood, men who had scoffed at the +sentimentality of religion, now found consolation in the thing they had +once despised. They were abashed and bewildered at first, as one after +another they fell into the habit of attending services. They were +surprised to find something that they needed, something that made life +simpler and gentler for them, something uplifting. + +"We're a queer mess of Puritans," reflected Randolph Fitts. "You know +that parrot of old Bob Carr's? Well, he took it out and wrung its neck +last night,--after all the time, and trouble, and patience he spent in +giving her a swell private education. There never was a bird that could +swear so copiously as that bird of Bob's. He taught her every thing +she knew. He worked day and night to provide her with an up-to-date +vocabulary. He used to lie awake nights thinking up new words for old +Polly to conquer. Now he says the blamed old rip was deceiving him all +the time. She began springing expletives on him that he'd never heard +of before in all his forty years before the mast. She first began using +them a couple of months ago when he undertook to reform her. He +started in to teach her to say 'good gracious' and 'goodness me' and +'hoity-toity' and all such stuff, and she cursed so loud and so long +that he had to throw a bucket of water on her. + +"Every time he came home from church, that redheaded harridan would open +up on him with such a string of vituperation that he had to hold his +ears so's not to forget himself and backslide. Well, it got so that Bob +couldn't live with her any longer. She simply wouldn't puritanize. The +nearest he ever got her to saying 'good' was when she said it with only +one 'o,' and then as prefix to 'dammit.' So he decided the only way to +reform her was to murder her. She managed to nip a piece out of his hand +while he was doing it, however, and he's had the hump all day because he +fell from grace and said something he'd oughtn't to. Yes, sir; we're a +queer mess of Puritans. Look at us. Catholics, Presbyterians, +Baptists, Methodists, Jews, infidels, Theosophists,--even Christian +Scientists,--all rolled up into one big bundle labeled: 'Handle with +Prayer.' We know nearly all the Ten Commandments by heart, and the +Beatitudes flow from us in torrents. My wife was saying only the other +night that if Sheriff Shay didn't arrest that bird for using profane +language, she'd start a petition to have--Hello, Soapy! I didn't know +you were present." + +"What was she going to do?" demanded the Sheriff of Trigger Island. + +"There's no use telling you now. It's too late. Polly has gone to a +place I don't dare mention, so what's the use talking about it?" + +"I can't go 'round pinchin' fallen parrots," growled Soapy. "Besides, +I'm the feller that learned her most of the cuss-words old Bob never +heard before. I never saw a bird that was so anxious to improve. She +used to set there with her ear cocked, just simply crazy to learn +something new. Every time she'd see me coming she'd begin to hop up and +down on her perch and call me names, figurin' I'd lose my temper and +give her a tongue lashin'. Gosh, I'm glad she's dead. It was gettin' +to be an awful nuisance chasing parrots out of the trees back of Bob's +house. They got so's they'd come down there and set around all day +pickin' up things she said. Somebody told me the other day he heard a +parrot 'way up in the woods swearin' like a sailor. He fired a club at +it, and what do you think it said to him?" + +"If you weren't such an ungodly liar, Soapy, I'd ask you," said Chief +Justice Malone. + +Soapy regarded him sorrowfully. + +"If you keep on sayin' things like that, Judge, I'll have to tell your +wife you ain't true to her," said he. + +"And that would be the most prodigious lie you ever told," exclaimed Mr. +Malone. + +"Sure. You and me know it's a lie, but you'd ketch hell, just the same." + + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The population of Trigger Island has increased. Following the example +of Buck Chizler and the Governor himself, scores of dubious lovers +took heart. They succeeded in dispelling certain misgivings--and doubts +lurking in the hearts,--not to say consciences,--of approximately +three-fourths of the unmarried women on the island, with the result that +Father Francisco and Parson Mackenzie were kept exceedingly busy for a +number of weeks. + +The "state," guided by the newly elected Chief Justice, extracted vows +even more severe than those incorporated in the marriage +service. And yet, despite the emphatic declarations of certain +candidates,--principally male,--there remained in the minds of +all,--including brides,--a lingering doubt. On the other hand, several +ardent and undoubtedly honest gentlemen were unable to marry the objects +of their affection for the simple reason that too many people were able +to recall the lamentations of the ladies themselves, in the early days +when it was customary to suffer because of the suspense and agony their +poor husbands were enduring at home. + +The case of Joe Hooker and Matilda Larson was particularly distressing, +and ultimately led to the passage of a rather drastic law by the +Council. Judge Malone was the father of this law. It provided for the +automatic annulment of all previous marriages at the expiration of two +years,--provided, however, the absent husband or wife didn't turn up to +contest the matter. This law also granted absolute freedom to the absent +husband or wife, who was thereby authorized to remarry without further +notice,--or words to that effect. It was, declared Randolph Fitts, a +perfectly just and equable law, and would no doubt ease the minds of +quite a number of people in far-off lands,--if they ever heard of it. + +Joe and Matilda had been married nearly two months when, in the thick +of a connubial row, he demanded her passport. He even went so far as to +threaten her with his if she didn't produce it at once. Matilda's +temper was no milder than Joe's. She not only dug up her passport but a +marriage certificate as well, while all he could show was a passport. +It was a very unfortunate contretemps, in view of the fact that they +shortly afterwards kissed and "made up." It so happened that there +were quite a number of witnesses to the flaunting of these damaging +documents, and as Trigger Island was then in the first stages of a +religious upheaval, it was impossible to overlook this definite instance +of iniquity. Despite the recantations of the chagrined couple,--and, +it must be added, the surreptitious disappearance of the incriminating +papers,--the matter was brought before the tribunal of justice. Chief +Justice Malone was equal to the emergency. Indeed, he had been expecting +something of the sort, and was prepared. He ordered both of the +interested parties to bring suit for divorce from their legal spouses, +one for "failure to provide," the other for "desertion," and promptly +granted decrees, service by publication having been obtained through the +medium of the Trigger Island Pioneer, printed monthly by Peter Snipe, +editor and publisher, limited to an edition of one, owing to the +scarcity of paper, and posted conspicuously for all subscribers on the +bulletin board in front of the "government building." Additional spice +was lent to the affair by the surprising reluctance of Joe and Matilda +to re-enter the paradise from which they had been ejected. Apparently +they had had enough of each other. Moreover, they had both "got +religion" and insisted on repenting at leisure, separately and alone. +But people took a very decided stand in the matter. They could repent in +any manner they liked after Matilda's baby was born, but not before. And +so they were married once more, and, strange to relate, lived happily +and contentedly thereafter. + +Now, while all this may strike the reader as footless and trivial, it +really has a distinct place in the chronicles of Trigger Island. +If, perforce, the writer has succeeded in treating the situation +facetiously, it should not be assumed that the people of Trigger Island +had any desire or inclination to be funny about it. On the contrary, +they took it very seriously, and quite naturally so, if one stops to +consider the narrow confines by which their very existence was bounded. +There were no such things as "trifles" in the daily life of Trigger +Island. The smallest incident took on the importance of an event, the +slightest departure from the ordinary at once became significant. In +other circumstances, these people would have been vastly amused by the +quixotic settlement of the affairs of Joe and Matilda; they would have +grinned over the extraordinary decree of Justice Malone, and they would +have taken it all with an indulgent wink. As a matter of fact, they +were stern-faced and intense. They had made laws of their own, they had +established a code. The violation of either was not to be countenanced. +It was of no consequence to them that Judge Malone's methods were +without precedent, that they were not even a travesty in the true light +of the law. + +No one was more soberly in earnest than Michael Malone himself. The +proceedings were carried out with the utmost dignity and formality. +There were no smiles, no jocose comments. + +Nothing will serve more clearly to illustrate the sense of isolation to +which the people of Trigger Island had resigned themselves than the fact +that they accepted the Judge's decision and the subsequent marriage +as absolutely unassailable, either from a legal or an ethical point of +view. + +The town itself was flourishing. Traffic and commerce were carried on +in the most systematic, organized manner. Everybody was busy. The utter +impossibility for one man or set of men to profit at the expense of +others naturally put a curb upon ambitions, but it did not subdue the +spirit of enterprise. + +There is a baby in the Governor's Mansion,--a lusty boy with blue eyes +and an engaging smile. He is four months old, and his name is already a +household word on Trigger Island. It is not Algernon, nor is it Adonis. +It is John;--John Clinton Percival. + +The Governor's Mansion is a pretentious structure. It has four rooms and +a bath! A wide porch extends along the full front of the house, with a +steeply pitched awning protecting it from the rain and sun. At one end +of the porch is a very cosy arrangement of hand-wrought chairs and +a commodious swinging seat. The other end, just off the parental +bed-chamber, has been converted into an out-door sleeping-room for John +C. Percival. The Governor's lady has no nursemaid. She does her own +housework, her own washing and ironing, and she takes care of her own +baby. (There is no such thing on Trigger Island as a servant. More +than one woman who reads this tale will sigh and murmur something about +Paradise.) Ruth still teaches in the little school. Though she is the +first lady of the land, she supports herself, she earns her daily bread. +It is the law irrevocable. There are no distinctions. Nor would she have +it otherwise. + +The "Mansion," as it was universally called, stands alone at the upper +end of the Green, facing the meeting-house. The nearest hut is at least +two hundred yards away. Work on its construction was begun the day +after the wedding. For weeks men had toiled eagerly, enthusiastically, +voluntarily, and in the first gay days of spring it was completed. +Since then, the same hands, the same thoughts, the same interests were +constantly employed in improvements,--not only to the house itself but +to the grounds about it. The Governor's "Mansion" became the plaything +of the people. Percival's protests were received with amiable grins. + +"It's our house, boss,--not yours," explained Buck Chizler, whose spare +time was largely expended in the development,--you might almost say, +the financing,--of a flower-bed on the lawn. It was to be the finest +flower-bed of them all, he swore. "This is government property and we, +the people, are going to do what we please with it." + +"That's all very fine, Buck, but don't you think you ought to be +spending your spare hours with your wife, instead of puttering around +here?" + +"Do you know who the boss of this job is? My wife. I'm nothing but an +ordinary day-laborer, a plain Mick, a sort of a Wop, obeying orders. +Good gosh, you don't think I've got brains enough to design this +flower-bed, do you? No, sirree! It takes an artist to think up a design +like this. When I get all these rocks in place according to plans you'll +see what I mean. It'll be a hum-dinger, A. A. This here thing running +off this way is the tail. Come over here and look at it from this +side,--it's upside down from where you're standin'." + +"Tail? Tail of what?" + +"Tail of a horse. This is going to be a horse when it's finished." + +"My God!" + +Buck was not above being irritated by the dismay in Percival's voice. + +"Minnie's got her heart set on it, A. A.," he explained. "It's going to +be a sorrel horse, you see,--with a blue tail and a red head. Mustard, +hollyhocks and geraniums is what she's going to plant here when I get +the bed fixed. Socrates,--he was the best horse I ever straddled,--he +was a sorrel. I took him down the--" + +"As far as you've got, Buck, it looks more like a dachshund than a +horse," observed Percival. + +Buck eyed his work deprecatingly. "That's because there ain't space +enough. I had to either saw his legs off or else have him layin' down. +Minnie had him kneelin' in her first sketch, but gosh, it was the +funniest thing you ever saw. It ain't possible for a horse to kneel +with his hind legs, but she had him doin' it all right,--kneeling +forward, at that, with his tail stickin' straight up so's it wouldn't +be in the way of his heels. It's all Jack Wales's fault. He simply would +put that blamed sun-dial of his right in the middle of this plot,--and +these doggoned gravel-walks running every which way give me the +blind-staggers. Why, A. A., you got more gravel walks here than +they've got in Central Park. And all these scrubby hedges, stone walls, +fountains, flower-beds, cedar freaks,--my God, Perce, I'd hate to come +home a little squiffed if I lived in that house of yours, 'specially at +night. Look at old Pedro and Philippa over there, setting out that stuff +that looks like sparrowgrass. And that prize job of Ed Keller's,--my +God, A. A., what good is a dog kennel on this island? There ain't a dog +inside a thousand miles. The only one we ever had was that poodle old +Mrs. Velasco had, and it died before--" + +"That isn't a kennel, Buck." + +"It ain't? Well, what is it?" + +"It's a Swiss chalet." + +"What does Ed Keller know about Swiss chalets?" + +"Nothing,--absolutely nothing, Buck," admitted Percival forcibly. + +A tall, perfectly straight flagpole graced the extensive "front-yard," +and from its peak floated the flag of Trigger Island,--a great white +pennon with a red heart in the centre, symbolic of love, courage, +fidelity. But on the tip of Split Mountain the Stars and Stripes still +waves from sunrise to sunset. + +The new cabins are farther up the slope of the mountains, overlooking +what is now called the "old" town. There is something fairy-like in +the picture one sees at night from the Green below. Dozens of lighted +windows gleam softly through the foliage, for all the world like +witches' lamps. The day reveals thin, blue plumes of smoke stealing out +of the tops of the trees to be wafted off into nothingness; they come +from invisible chimneys far down in the leafy fastnesses. Up here are +the huts of the newly married. Almost without exception, they are tiny +affairs, scarcely larger than the metaphorical bandbox. Each contains +two rooms. + +During the very hot weather in January and February, the long, curving +beach is alive with oddly dressed bathers and idlers. This is at midday +only, when the sun is so hot and fierce that all work ceases for two +hours or more. Though the sun is hot, the water is never warm. A dip in +the surf is all that any one save the hardiest cares to take. They loll +on the cool white sands, under improvised shelters made of boughs, +or indulge in spirited games on the long level stretches. This is the +play-hour of the people throughout the hot months of summer. They "knock +off" work of all sorts, and seek relief from the stifling heat of the +woodland in the cool wet sands along the shore. + +The costumes are strange and varied; some are pretty, others almost +ludicrous. Small children appear in a scant breech-cloth; women of all +ages and proportions wear a sort of one-piece "jumper," arms bare and +legs uncovered up to the knees. The men affect nothing except trunks +made from coffee sacks. The few real bathing-suits belong to such +experienced travellers as Nicklestick, Shine and the Blocks,--regular +and persistent patrons of the hotels at Atlantic City, Palm Beach and +Rockaway. They never travel without a full and complete equipment. Mr. +Nicklestick, very superior in his red two piece "costume," goes so +far as to contend that a man never should be without a bathing-suit, +because, says he, "it takes up no room in your trunk, and if you leave +it at home some one else is sure to stretch it so's you can't use it +yourself again." + +Olga Obosky and her three dancing-girls, Careni-Amori, and several +of the Brazilian ladies possess Ostend costumes in which they disport +themselves with complacent disregard for public opinion, favourable or +otherwise. + +"She's got 'em all skinned a mile," was Morris Shine's comment upon +Olga's lithe, graceful figure. "Ain't that so, Abey?" + +The remark was addressed to Abel Landover. + +"Even so," returned that gentleman, glaring at the offender, "it doesn't +give you the right to call me Abey. You've got to cut it out, Shine. +Understand?" + +"Sure," said the affable Morris. "Only I've got a brother named Abraham, +and that was my father's name too. It comes natural to me to--Why, by +gracious, she's got the Venus Belvedere lashed to the mast. Did you ever +see--" + +"I've never had the pleasure of seeing the Venus Belvedere," interrupted +Landover coldly. + +"You haven't?" exclaimed Morris, amazed. "The armless wonder? You ain't +seen her? Why, she's supposed to have the most perfect figger in the +world. Maybe you've seen her without knowing what her name is. They +never put the name on it, simply because every school boy and girl is +supposed to know who it is without being told. Funny you don't know--Oh, +she ain't alive, you know,--she ain't real. She's a statue,--thousands +of 'em turned out every year. Gee, the feller that designed that statue +must have cleaned up a pile. But, as I was saying, our little old Olga +has got her--Say, did you ever see a figger like that?" + +"Yes," broke in Landover shortly, "thousands of them." + +Mr. Shine looked sceptical. "Well," he said after a moment's reflection, +and with studied politeness,--having already offended at the outset, +"all I got to say is, you talk like a woman, that's all I got to say." + +Landover was a greatly changed man in these days. There had come a +crisis in the affairs of Trigger Island, not many weeks before the +second annual election in April, when he was obliged to show his true +colours. The banker suddenly realized with a shock that he was actually +involved in a well-organized, though secret plot to overthrow the +so-called "government." He had been completely deceived by the wily +Manuel Crust and several of his equally wily friends. They professed to +be organizing an opposition party to oust the dictatorial Percival and +his clique from office at the ensuing election,--a feat, they +admitted, that could be accomplished only by the most adroit and covert +"educational" campaign, "under the rose" perforce, but justifiable in +the circumstances. They had led Landover to believe that he was their +choice for governor. They went among the people, insidiously sowing the +seeds of discontent, hinting at the advantages to be obtained by the +election of an entirely new set of officers, mostly from among the +people themselves, but headed by the ablest man on the island,--Abel T. +Landover. They argued that as treasurer and comptroller of currency he +had shown himself to be the only man qualified to direct the affairs of +the people. + +And Landover believed them. Despite his superior intelligence and +his vaunted ability to size up his fellow man, he was as blind and +unsuspecting as a child when it came to penetrating the real motives +of the conspirators. Vain, self-important, possessed of an abnormal +conceit, men of his type go ahead ruthlessly, ignoring the details, bent +only on achieving the ultimate. In Landover's case, he made the fatal +error of underestimating the craftiness of Manuel Crust; he looked upon +him as a blatant, ignorant ruffian of the stripe best known to him as +a "beer saloon politician,"--and known only by hearsay, at that. He +regarded himself as the master-politician and Crust as a contemptible +necessity. + +As a matter of fact, Crust was using him to very materially advance his +own ends. The big Portuguese had a very definite purpose in mind. He had +no more intention of making Landover the chief man of the island than +he had of flying to the moon. He,--Manuel Crust,--was to have that +distinction! He despised Landover and all that he represented. He hated +him because he was rich, educated, favoured by fortune,--and given to +washing himself with unnecessary frequency and thoroughness. Manuel was +foul of body as well as foul at heart. He bitterly resented the sanitary +rules set up and enforced by the Council because those rules interfered +with what he was pleased to call his personal liberty. Why should he be +required to wash himself if he didn't want to do so? And why should he +do a great many silly things that Dr. Cullen ordered, just because a lot +of aristocrats were in the habit of doing them? + +His hatred of Landover, however, was impersonal. The banker merely +represented a class. On the other hand, he hated Percival as an +individual; he hated him with every drop of blood in his black, venomous +heart. He had a certain grudging regard,--it might even be called +respect,--for the class to which Landover belonged; he was sometimes +conscious of a strange but quite positive sense of his own inferiority. +But he did not for an instant put Percival in the class with Landover. +He looked upon the young American as being no better than himself, and +yet the people from the Doraine had showered honours upon him, had made +him their chief, had suffered him,--a vagabond without a penny to his +name,--to marry the fairest and rarest woman of them all. What right had +this interloper to everything that was worth having, while he, an honest +fellow who always had paid his way, was denied even the smallest place +in the councils of the land? What right had he, a tramp, to sit upon a +throne? + +Landover was an unwitting, but thoroughly self-satisfied dupe. He fitted +in very nicely with Manuel's plan to gain control of the island. There +were certain people who regarded the great banker as an apostle, a man +to follow, to be imitated,--such men as Block, Nicklestick and a few +others. Was he not one of the great financial geniuses of the day? Was +he not a power, a tremendous power, in the banking world? Was he not +a man who understood how to transform a dollar into a business block +almost over-night? For a time, sentiment had played tricks with their +boasted astuteness. Swept along by the current, they had failed to +appreciate the true conditions. They began to realize that it had been a +mistake to keep such men as Percival in power; behind the hand they +went about convincing each other that it was high time to rectify the +original error. These, in addition to the ignorant, easily persuaded +rabble from the steerage,--who, by the way, could give ample testimony +as to Percival's ability to "bluff,"--provided Crust with a decidedly +formidable following. The steerage people had but to be reminded of the +time when Percival tricked them so successfully. + +Crust contended that if the American could fool them once, he would do +so again,--in fact, he went so far as to say that he had been doing it +all the time. + +There was nothing open and above board about the methods of Manuel +Crust. He proceeded about the business of fomenting dissatisfaction and +strife with an artfulness surprising in one of his type. At no time did +he openly denounce the "government." He was very careful about that. +A jesting word here, a derisive smile there, a shrug of the +shoulders,--and in good time others less politic than himself began to +do the talking. Others began to complain of the high-handed, dictatorial +manner in which Percival and his friends ruled the community. + +The secret, stealthy opposition grew apace; it assumed sinister +proportions,--all the more sinister because it was masked by every +outward sign of submission. Crust had won friends right and left among +the very people who would have killed him not so many months before but +for the very man he was planning to destroy. + +Outwardly he had changed,--not subtly, it is true,--from a sullen, +threatening bully into a hearty, smiling, sympathetic comrade who laid +himself out to be obliging. Even Percival was puzzled, if not deceived, +by this surprising transformation. + + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +It was Olga Obosky who discovered and exposed the plot. A young Spaniard +had fallen hopelessly, madly in love with her. He was a good-looking, +hard-eyed boy from the pampas,--a herder who was on his way to visit his +mother in from Rio. He was a "gun-slinger" bearing close relationship to +the type of cowboy that existed in the old days of the Far West but who +is now extinct save for pictorial perpetuation on the moving-picture +screens. + +Down in his wild young heart smouldered a furious jealousy of Percival. +Crust played upon this jealousy to fine effect. He did not hesitate +to feed the flame with sly speculations, innuendos and even tales +concerning Percival and Olga. + +One day the Spaniard, in the midst of his violent protestations and +pleadings, became reckless with promises to Olga. He swore that if she +would have him he would make her the first lady of the land in place of +the stupid American girl who now held the honour. Then, having loosed +his tongue, he poured out the whole of the ugly scheme which was to +alter every existing condition on the island. The wiping out of the +dictator and his swell-headed gang of "intellectuals"; the seizure of +all firearms, ammunition and stores; the complete subjugation of the +people, even to the point of slavery; the elevation of Manuel Crust +and his followers to a state of absolute power; the confiscation of all +property,--including women! He naively advised her to jump at the chance +offered her,--the chance to avoid the most unpleasant feature of the new +regime. + +"As my woman," he said, "you will be safe. It is understood. It is all +arranged. If you belong to me, nothing can happen to you. We shall be +of the elect. I am to be of the council. I am to be one of the masters, +the--" + +"But," she cried, scarcely able to believe her ears, "how is all this to +be accomplished? How will the few overcome the many? You say there are +scarcely more than a dozen of you, my friend. What can a dozen men do +to--" + +"It will be simple," cried he, his eyes flaming. "How is it that +Percival and his little gang hold all of us in bondage? It is because +they have the guns, the revolvers, the bullets. Well, we shall have the +guns, and everything. When the time comes, when the people have voted +in the election and a new party is in control, then we will have our +chance. We will have the upper hand. To hell with the people, Olga. They +will count for nothing once we have charge of the guns and stores. This +Percival he has ordered the election. He insists that the people be +given a chance to vote once a year, to elect some one to take his place +if they feel like it. He says it is only fair. Faugh! He laughs in his +sleeve. Come! Your promise! I love you. I must have you for my woman. +I cannot live without you. I will give you power to spit in the face +of that woman down there--that American aristocrat! We will be rich, we +will be happy, we will have everything. Diamonds and pearls and rubies +and all the gold there is on this island. We will be the ones to go away +in the ship, and we will have jewels to shame the richest of them." + +"We--you and Manuel and the rest--are to go away in the ship?" she +cried, cold to the marrow of her bones. + +"Sure. Why not? Are we not to be the owners of that ship? It is your +chance to go back to the world again,--with me! Oh, and I agree to this +also: If you do not want me any longer after you are in Rio or Buenos +Aires or anywhere out there,--if you would rather be free again,--I +promise to release you. What could be fairer than that? Nothing! I shall +kill myself, of course, when you leave me,--but still I promise, and I +never break a promise. But I shall love you so much that you will never +leave me. You are my queen. Hell, how I love you--how I love you!" His +face darkened, then slowly paled. He realized that he had gone too far. +Leaning close to her, his frightened eyes not a foot from hers, he said: +"You cannot deny me now. I have told you everything. I do not know why +I have told you. I must be crazy with love of you. Ah,--the look in your +beautiful eyes! God, how it takes the weight off my mind. You will love +me,--you will be mine,--I see it in your eyes. When? When?" + +She affected a bantering smile. She knew how to play with such fools as +he. + +"Do you think I am a fool? How do I know you are not lying to me about +all this? It may be a trick to influence me. No, no! I am not such a +simpleton. You promise me diamonds, and gold, and much love. You promise +to take me away from this dreadful place on a ship, back to the world +I worship. But you may be lying. I must have something better than your +word, my friend." + +"But I am telling you the truth. I swear it!" he cried eagerly. + +"Keep your hands off of me,--do you hear! Don't touch me! Not yet, not +yet. I must have some proof that you can give me all these things you +offer. Will you have Manuel Crust guarantee that--" + +"My God,--Manuel,--he must not know I have spoken to you. He must never +know," he gasped. "Take my word,--believe me, beloved one. It is +the God's truth I tell you. Within the month I will lay diamonds, +pearls,--everything,--at your feet. I--" + +"Leave me now. Come again,--tomorrow. I must think. I must--" + +"But you will love me? You will come to me? You--" + +"You are a very handsome boy," she said softly, "and I should like to +believe you." + +He followed her for a few steps, trouble in his eyes. + +"It is not enough. I must have your promise," he said. + +She looked at him coldly. "You will have it when I am ready to give it," +she said, and his face lightened for a moment, only to darken again. + +"I will cut your heart out if you breathe a word of this to any one," he +whispered hoarsely. + +"Is that the way for a lover to speak?" she returned. + +"Yes," he said without hesitation. "It is the way,--with me." + +"Come to me tomorrow and tell me exactly what my share of the treasure +is to be,--and then I will let you know whether it is to be you--or +Manuel Crust, my friend. Oh, you see, I am greedy,--and I can love +Manuel quite as easily as I can love--" + +"I will cut his heart out if you--" + +"There--there! It will not be necessary. Come tomorrow." + +That same afternoon she went to Percival with the Spaniard's story. + +"Well, we'll nip that in the bud," said he, setting his jaw. "The first +thing to do is to warn Landover." + +"Warn Landover!" cried the Russian. "He is all mix up in it,--he is one +of ze ringleaders." + +"No, he isn't. He's not that kind of a man. He doesn't know a thing +about all this, I'll stake my life on it." + +"But, Olga," cried Ruth, white-faced and troubled; "Fernandez will kill +you. He will,--Good heaven, girl, did he not swear to cut your heart out +if you--" + +"Poof!" cried the other, snapping her fingers. "He will not do zat, +my dear. I am not afraid. Do you know what happens to informers in my +country? They vanish. No one ever sees them again, and no one ever asks +where they have gone. They are here today--tomorrow they are not. It is +the same the world over." + +"You mean,--Manuel's men will make way with him? How horrible!" + +"Do not waste your sympathy on zat Fernandez. He is no good. You would +see what kind of man he is if this plot should succeed." + +"But you will have to give him your answer tomorrow," cried Ruth. + +Olga shot a keen glance at Percival's face. + +"It is for you to say, Percivail, what my answer shall be," said she, +after, a slight pause. A queer pallor spread over her face. + +"For me to say?" he exclaimed. + +"Are you not the governor? If it suits your plans for me to give myself +to zat man--" + +"My God, Olga! What the devil are you driving at?" + +"--to satisfy him until you are prepared to nip zis revolution in the +bud, as you say,--I shall--" + +"Thunderation!" he gasped. "You mean you would sacrifice yourself--Great +Scot! What do you think I'm expecting to do? Go to sleep for a month or +so? Bless your heart, my dear Olga, if you are even thinking of getting +married to Fernandez, you'll have to be pretty spry about it. Because +I'm going to nip the business in the bud before tomorrow morning." + +"Zat is what I thought," said she, the colour rushing back to her face. + +That evening Percival called a meeting of the "cabinet,"--as the council +was now called. They were asked to come to his home, instead of to the +meetinghouse. This, of itself, was surprising. Landover had never set +foot inside the "governor's mansion." While his attitude toward the +"governor's lady" was studiedly courteous, he made no effort to resume +the intimate and friendly relationship that existed before her marriage +to his enemy. Contact with Percival was unavoidable. They met frequently +in "cabinet" conferences, but avoided each other at all other times. + +He came to this hastily called meeting, however, and Percival was the +only man present who was not dumbfounded. Sheriff Shay, in summoning the +members to this secret meeting, had delivered a message that Landover +could not well afford to ignore. + +Seventeen men were crowded into the little sitting-room of the house. +Each one of them bore a high-sounding title. There were present, besides +Percival, State Treasurer Landover, Chief Justice Malone, Minister of +War Platt, Minister of Marine Mott, Minister of Agriculture Pedro Drom, +State Clerk Flattner, Surgeon General Cullen, Lord High Sheriff Shay, +and the following members of the Executive Council: Snipe, Block, +Jones, Fitts, Knapendyke, Calkins, Ruiz' and Alvara. Ruiz was a Chilean +merchant and Alvara a Brazilian coffee grower. Calkins was an English +cattle buyer. + +Percival, with his customary abruptness, announced that there was a plot +on foot to destroy the present government and turn the island over to +the mercy of a gang of desperadoes headed by Manuel Crust. + +Landover was on his feet in an instant. + +"I am in a position, gentlemen, to declare that there is not a word of +truth in that statement. It is true there is a very definite movement on +foot to organize a new party to contest the election of many of us +who are gathered here tonight. The people want a change. They are +dissatisfied. They have a right to vote as they please, to choose their +own--" + +"We are not here to discuss the election, Mr. Landover," broke in +Percival. "Before we go any farther, however, I wish to state that if +you are chosen Governor of Trigger Island, you will find no one more +willing and ready to serve you than I. But, that is beside the question. +If you will listen to me, I will tell you exactly what it is that +confronts us. The election next month is to be the signal for all kinds +of hell. You may be elected governor, Mr. Landover,--but you will not be +allowed to serve. Now, here is the story that came to me today,--and I +can vouch for it. I am authorized,--in fact I am commanded to reveal to +you the name of my informant. You may be sure I did my best to +prevail upon her to remain unknown, for the present, at least, but she +threatened to go forth and shout her story from the housetops if I did +not do as she wished." + +The conference ended an hour later, and Abel Landover had shown his +true colours at last. He stood up, his face drawn and haggard, his eyes +ablaze, his voice husky, and addressed the group. + +"Gentlemen, I have been wrong. I am grateful to Mr. Percival for his +generosity in warning me of the danger into which I was rushing. We have +not been friends. He could have left me to my fate. I would not have +blamed him. He has played fair,--and I have not. I ask you all to +bear witness to that humiliating admission. I have argued here tonight +against all of you,--when down in my heart I had the sickening fear +that this damnable story is true. I now believe it to be true. I now see +through the whole devilish game. + +"I give you my word of honour as a gentleman and an American, I did not +realize the true conditions until tonight. Perhaps I might have found +out in time to upset their plans,--but that is doubtful. These men +are smart. They are natural born plotters. They are dark men with dark +souls. This fellow Fernandez has fooled me completely. He is a gay, +smiling boy, but now that I have heard Madame Obosky's account of him, I +recall many little traits in his make-up that go far to substantiate my +new opinion of him. I never quite understood till now why he hated you, +Percival. Frankly, I knew that he had it in his heart to kill you. Crust +has told me of his difficulty in keeping him from running a knife into +you. I thought it was all talk, boyish bravado,--but now I know he meant +it." + +He lifted his head and set his jaw. "Gentlemen, I have a shameful +confession to make. Ever since I can remember, my sole thought has been +to rule. I did not know what it was to take orders from another man +until I came to this island. My whole being has been in revolt. The +thought uppermost in my mind for two years has been to re-establish +myself as a dominating force. To that end, I have played pretty bad +politics. I have worked upon the credulity and cupidity of these men, +promising them positions of authority if I were chosen by vote to govern +the affairs of this island. But, I am sure you all will believe me +when I say that it was my purpose to administer those affairs honestly, +fairly and as capably as I knew how. I was not only deceived by these +men, but by myself as well. I have played, like a blundering fool, into +their hands. My chagrin is beyond words. I can only say to you now that +you may count upon my unfailing support in any action you may decide to +take. My forebears were honest, loyal, law-abiding Americans. I--I think +I may say without fear of contradiction that it is impossible for me to +run otherwise than true to form. + +"I lied, Percival, to Ruth Clinton about the encounter in my stateroom +on the Doraine. Believe me or not as you see fit, but I think that was +the only deliberate lie I have ever told in my life. I have done a great +many high-handed things, I have been inconsiderate of others, I have +crushed opposition in my own way, I have never allowed myself to +acknowledge defeat. My hand has been against you since the day you +appeared on the decks of the Doraine. It was not in my nature to see +good in you. To me, you were a good-for-nothing--Well, I'm glad to see +you smile! That is the devil with you,--your confounded smile. I ask you +to overlook what I have said, and done--and been, Percival,--and shake +hands. You have nothing to apologize for. There never has been a time +in all these months that I have not felt you to be a real man, an +honest one, and a gentleman. I think I know an honest man when I see +one,--indeed, it is my business to read men,--and I rarely make a +mistake." + +As the two men shook hands, Randolph Fitts remarked drily: + +"Seems to me I remember your saying something of the sort the first day +you ever laid eyes on A. A., Abel." + +"The trouble is," put in Soapy Shay sarcastically, "you don't know a +dishonest one when you see him, Bill." + +"Veil, let's get down to business," said Moses Block nervously. "Ve +must go slow and careful-like. If we show our hands too soon, they will +uprise and--veil, I don't know vat!" + +"Mr. Mott, what would you do if you got wind of a plot like this aboard +ship?" inquired Percival, his eyes narrowing. + +"I would have the whole gang in chains before morning. Then I'd give +'em a taste of the 'cat' at daybreak, and before noon I'd have the +ringleaders hanging from a yard-arm," said Andrew Mott, succinctly. + +"Oh, my gracious!" gulped Mr. Block. + +"Now, I'll tell you what would happen up in Copperhead Camp," said +Percival, darkly. "They would get a beautiful cow-hiding and then +sentenced to wear a ball and chain, day and night, for anywhere from six +months to two years,--depending largely on the process of regeneration. +My experience has been that six months is enough." + +"We wouldn't dare do that, A. A.," said Fitts. "You must not forget +public sentiment,--and public pity. I've got a better plan. How far out +is that little island off New Gibraltar, Platt?" + +"A quarter of a mile, I should say." + +"Well, if they're not satisfied with life and conditions here, let's +make 'em a present of a nice little island of their own. That's what +I've always advocated as the proper way to treat anarchists. Stick 'em +away on an island completely surrounded by sharks and let 'em run it to +suit themselves." + +"But there are no sharks in these waters," said Flattner. "They'd swim +over here some night and slit all our throats." + +"Not a chance. They hate water too much to have ever learned how to +swim. Now, here's the scheme. Round up as many of them as we're dead +sure about, row 'em out to the island, dump 'em with enough food and +water to last a week, supply them with tents and beds and tools, and let +'em build their own penitentiary. They'll have to do it or freeze next +winter. Once a week send food and drink out to them. The water is a +hundred fathoms deep between Trigger Island and that little green wart +out there on the face of the ocean. It will look like a million miles to +them. How does it strike you, gentlemen?" + +Off the precipitous western extremity of Trigger Island lies a tiny +scrap of tree-covered land. It is perhaps one hundred yards wide and +thrice as long. An exploring party had visited it shortly after the +wreck of the Doraine, but since then no one had set foot upon its +shores. Its steep slopes, densely wooded, viewed from afar, suggested a +mountain top sticking up out of the sea. By boat, skirting the coast, it +was a good ten miles distant from the town. + +Three men were seized that night and put through a rigid examination. +Early the next morning twelve more were taken, Manuel Crust among them. +Half of them, in their terror, "squealed." Crust himself was one of +these. Almost before the people of the town knew what was afoot, the +fifteen had been tried, convicted, and were on their way to the landing +where boats were waiting to take them and their belongings off into +exile. As for the conspirators themselves, the blow was so swift, so +sudden, that they were dazed. It was like a bolt out of a clear sky. + +Judge Malone sent them to "the Island" for indeterminate periods. At +stated intervals they were to be released, one by one, and restored +to citizenship. The shortest term of exile, however, was one year. The +releases were to be decided by lot, except in the case of three +men: Crust, Fernandez and an Irish sailor named Clark. They were the +ringleaders and they were to remain on "the Island" until the time came +for them to go aboard the relief ship with all the other citizens of +Trigger. At the end of the first year, and once a month thereafter for +twelve months, drawings were to be held, and the man whose name was +drawn would be released. + +"You are prisoners of state," said Judge Malone, in passing sentence. +"The state is obliged to feed you, and clothe you, and sustain you if +you fall ill, no matter how bitterly it goes against the grain. You will +not be obliged to work, or wash, or observe a single law. You may rob +each other to your hearts' content, you may murder each other with +perfect impunity, you may do just as you like. We started out to conduct +the affairs of this island along lines laid down by the Golden Rule. I +have come to the conclusion that the Golden Rule would be all right if +it were not for the human race. I am beginning to believe that the Rule +of Iron is the only one for the people of this earth to live under,--and +that is a pretty hard thing for an Irishman to say. You men ought to be +lined up against a wall and shot. We do not feel that we have the right +to take your lives. It is not in our hearts to destroy you, as you would +have destroyed us. But you may not dwell among us." + +Fernandez, wild with fury, shrieked vengeance upon the head of Olga +Obosky. Out of his ravings, the unsavoury crew gleaned enough to +convince them that he was responsible for their present unhappy plight. + +"You will pay for this, you snake!" he yelled, foaming at the mouth and +shaking his fist at her. "I will drink your heart's blood! Remember what +Joe Fernandez says. I will come back here and get you,--Oh, I will get +you,--and when I am through with you your dog of a lover may have what +is left. I will cut you to pieces! I swear it--I swear it! Hear my oath! +You double-crossed me! You squealed on me! I will come back, and I will +drink your heart's blood! I swear it!" + +He spat in her direction as he was dragged away with the rest of the +gang. Through his glittering, bloodshot eyes he saw the cool, derisive +sneer on her red lips. He had failed, however, to note the keen, +appraising look with which she searched the faces of his baffled, +glowering companions. In that long, tense look she had seen dawning +comprehension change to conviction; she had read his doom, so she +could, in perfect security, give him that scoffing, heartless smile to +take with him on the journey from which he was never to return. + +Fifteen men went out to "the Island" that afternoon. From that day, the +authorities provided weekly rations for that number of men. To this +day they are ignorant of the fact that there are but fourteen mouths to +feed. + + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +In the cool of a balmy January evening, following what had been the +hottest day the castaways had experienced since coming to Trigger +Island, a group of men and women sat upon the Governor's porch. There +was no moon, but the sky was speckled with millions of stars. + +Olga Obosky, sitting on the squared log that served as a step, leaned +back against the awning post, her legs stretched out in luxurious +abandon. She was fanning herself, and her breath came rapidly, +pantingly. Now and then she patted her moist face with a handkerchief. + +"How warm you are, Olga," said Ruth, who sat beside her. "And you must +be dreadfully tired." + +"I am hot, but I am not tired," replied the other. "I could dance all +night, my dear, without tiring. Did you really like the children, Ruth?" + +"They were lovely. You have done wonders with them." + +"Regular Isadora Duncan stuff," sighed Peter Snipe, drawing lazily at +his pipe. "Woodland nymphs, phantom pixies floating on the wind, zephyrs +in the guise of fairies, dreams come true,--my dear Olga, you are a +sorceress. You change clods into moonbeams, you turn human beings into +vapours, you cast the mantle of enchantment over the midsummer night, +and we see Oberon, Titania and all the rest of them disporting on the +breeze. And to think that only this afternoon I saw all of those gawky +girls working in the fields, their legs the colour of tan bark, with +sandals that looked like canal-boats, skirts made of hemp,--just regular +kids. And you transform them tonight into gleaming cloudlets to float +upon the ambient atmosphere--" + +"For heaven's sake, Pete, stop being an author and talk like a real +man," interrupted Fitts. "Can't you say, 'Gee, they was great, Olger'?" + +It was "Twelfth Night," and Olga's pupils had given a fairy dance on +the Green. To conclude the almost mystic entertainment, the great Obosky +herself had appeared in one of her most marvellous creations,--the +"Dance of the Caliph's Dream,"--the sensational, never-to-be-forgotten +dance that had been the talk of three continents. There was no spotlight +to follow her sinuous, scantily clad figure as it spun and leaped and +glided about the dim, starlit Green; there was no blare of brass and +cymbals, nor the haunting wail of flageolets,--only the tinkle of +mandolins and Spanish guitars to guide her bewildering feet,--and yet +she had never been so alluring. + +When it was all over,--when the charmed circle of faces had vanished +into the byways of the night,--she came and flung herself down upon +the steps of the Governor's mansion. She had wrapped her warm body in a +sheath of yellow velvet; the tips of her bare feet were exposed to the +grateful night air. Her uplifted eyes shone like the stars that looked +down into them; her lips were parted in a smile; her flesh quivered with +the physical ecstasy that comes only with supreme lassitude. + +"You never danced so beautifully in your life, Olga," said Careni-Amori. +"And after two years, too. I cannot understand. I shall never sing again +as I sang two years ago. But you,--ah, you dance even better. I take +courage from you. Perhaps my voice has not gone to seed as Joseppi's +has,--poor man. Not that it had very far to go,--but still it was second +only to Caruso's, and that is something. How can it be that you improve +with idleness, while I--while we go the other way?" + +"I shall never dance like zat again," replied Olga, her eyes clouding. + +"You speak as if it were your swan dance," cried Michael Malone. + +"Oh, I shall dance for ever," said she, "but never again like zat. You +would ask why not. I cannot tell you. I do not know. Only can I say I +shall never dance like zat again,--never." + +Ruth turned her head quickly to look at the woman beside her. Olga's +face gleamed white in the starlight. Her eyes were still searching the +speckled dome, and the smile had left her lips. + +"Don't say that, Olga," she whispered softly. "You will delight great +audiences again,--you will charm--" + +"Possibly," interrupted the other, lowering her voice, turning her eyes +upon Ruth, and smiling mysteriously. "Great audiences, yes,--but what +are they? I appeared tonight before an audience of one. I danced as I +have never danced before,--all for zat audience of one. Your husband, my +dear. He one time informs me he has never seen me dance. Well,--tonight +I dance for him. Now, he can say he have seen Obosky dance. He will +never forget zat he have seen Obosky dance." + +Ruth laughed, but it was a strained effort. "He was positively +enchanted, Olga," she said. Then she added: "But for goodness' sake, +don't ever let him know that you did it all for him. He will be so proud +and important that--" + +"Oh, he knows I danced for him," broke in the Russian calmly, in a most +matter-of-fact tone. + +"You--you told him?" + +"I did not have to tell him. He knew, without being told. La la, my +dear! Do not look so shocked. It is a habit I have. Always I dance for +one person in my audience. I pick him out,--sometimes it is a she,--and +zen I try only to please zat one person. I make him to feel he is the +one I am dancing for, zat he is all alone in the great big hall,--all +alone with me. Maybe he is in the gallery, looking down; maybe he is in +a box, or standing up at the back of the house,--no matter where he is, +I pick him out and so I think of no one else all ze time I dance." + +"And, by the same token, he is powerless to think of any one else. I +see. No wonder you charm them out of their boots." + +"And all the rest of his life he will remember that I danced for him +alone, zat man. As for me,--poof! I would not recognize him again if he +came to see me a thousand nights in succession. Once I saw a very tiny +boy in the stalls. He was with his mother and father. I danced for zat +child of six. When he is a very, very old man he will look back over +the years and see me dancing still,--always the same whirling, dazzling +thing that filled his little eyes and soul with wonder. So! Percivail +has seen me at my best. He will tell his grandchildren how wonderful +Obosky was,--and he will think of her to his dying day as something +beautiful, not something vile." + +"Oh, Olga!" + +"You see, my dear," said the other, composedly, "I wanted to make a good +impression on zat virtuous husband of jours. Now he will think of me as +the artist, not as the woman. It is much better so, is it not?" + +"Sometimes you say things that cause me to wonder why I don't hate you, +Olga Obosky," cried Ruth under her breath. + +Olga laughed softly. "I repeat zat Golden Rule to myself every night and +every morning, Ruthkin," said she, somewhat cryptically. Then they were +silent. + +Conversation on the porch behind them lagged and finally ceased +altogether. The soft swish of fans was the only sound to disturb the +tranquil stillness. + +"Nineteen-twenty," fell dreamily from the lips of Randolph Fitts's wife. +"I used to think of Nineteen-twenty as being so far in the future that +I would be an old, old woman when I came to it. And here it is,--I am +living in it,--and I am not old." + +"Presidential year," said Michael Malone, as he struck a match to +relight the pipe that had gone out. "Doesn't take them long to slip +around, does it? Seems only last week that I voted for Wilson. I wonder +if he'll be running again." + +"Sure! And if he can keep us in the war as long as he kept us out of +it," said Peter Snipe, "we'll have to elect him again." + +"I'd give a lot to know whether we've got the Germans licked or not," +mused Fitts. "We've had nearly three years to do it in." + +"Depends entirely on the navy," said Platt, Minister of Marine, late of +the U. S. Navy. + +"What can the navy do if the Germans will not come out?" demanded +Landover. + +"Why, confound it all, the navy can go in, can't it?" + +"The British Navy hasn't," was Landover's reply. + +"What's the use of speculating about the war?" said Percival, as he +threw himself on the grass at Ruth's feet. "Either it's over or it +isn't, and here we sit absolutely in the dark. They might as well be +fighting on Mars as over in Europe, so far as we are concerned. For +God's sake, let's not even think about the war. We'll all go crazy if we +do." + +"You're right," said Fitts, gloomily. + +"In any case," said Malone, "Trigger Island has done all that any +self-respecting government can do. She has declared war on Germany. We +have nothing to be ashamed of. Still, I'd feel better if we could fire a +few shots at the dirty blackguards." + +"The war is over," said Olga, staring up at the stars. "The Germans are +beaten. I have said so for many months, have I not?" + +"You have," agreed Malone. "But I don't see that you have anything on +the Kaiser. He said it was over in 1914." + +"'Don't argue with him, Olga," said young Mrs. Malone. "He's Irish." + +"Like all Irishers he's longing for something he'll never get," said +Fitts, drily. + +"And what is that?" inquired Mrs. Malone. + +"Home-rule," said Fitts. + +Olga Obosky yawned luxuriously. "I am so sleepy. My sandals, Governor +Percivail. I am going home." + +He picked up the sandals lying on the grass beside him and held them out +to her. She coolly extended one of her feet. + +"It cannot bite you. Put zem on for me, your Excellency." + +WEST WIND DRIFT + +He knelt and, slipping the sandals on one after the other, fastened the +straps over her bare insteps. + +"So," she sighed. "Thank you. Good night, Ruthkin. No! I shall go home +alone. There is nothing to be afraid of now on zis island, my dear. The +ardent Fernandez is playing--what you call it?--pea-knuckles?--he is +playing pea-knuckles away off yonder on zat prison island, as he has +been playing for nearly a year." + +Little she knew of Fernandez! + +Ruth and Percival walked around the corner of the porch with her, out of +sight of the others. + +"It was a perfectly ravishing dance, Olga," said he. "If I live a +thousand years I shall never forget how beautiful it was." + +"You see?" cried Olga softly, pressing Ruth's hand. "Was I not right?" + +"Men are very queer things," said Ruth, with a curious sidelong glance +at her husband. Then she squeezed his arm tightly and went on with +a little thrill in her voice: "Good night, Olga. Thank you for the +lesson." + +"What's all this?" inquired Percival. + +"Nothing you would be interested in, my friend," said Olga, with a +little laugh. She waved her hand airily as she moved swiftly away in the +gloom. + +They watched her yellow figure fade into the starlit shadows. As they +turned to rejoin the others, Ruth said: + +"I think you might have told her how beautiful she was, dear." So much +for the native perversity of woman, even when she is most content. + +He raised her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss upon the soft, warm +palm. It was a habit of his,--and she never failed to shiver in response +to the exquisite thrill. She drew a deep breath, and leaned a little +closer to him. + +"Look up yonder, sweetheart," he whispered. "Do you see the one star in +all the heavens that shines the brightest? It is the only one I see when +I raise my eyes. The big, full star in the Southern Cross. The others +are dim, feeble little things preening themselves in reflected glory. +That great, beautiful star at the foot of the Cross is all that I can +see. It's no use for me to look elsewhere. That star fills my vision. +Its splendour fascinates me." + +She waited for him to go on. Her eyes were shining. But the analogy was +complete. She laid her cheek against his and sighed tremulously. After a +moment, they turned their heads and their lips met in a long, passionate +kiss. + +"I should be content to stay on this dear little island for ever, +sweetheart," she murmured. "My whole world is here." + +He stroked her hair lovingly, and was silent for a long time. Then he +smiled his whimsical smile. + +"It's all right for you and me, dear,--but how about the future +President of the United States sleeping up there in his crib?" + +She smiled up into his eyes. "It's a nuisance, isn't it?--having to stop +and consider that we are parents as well as lovers." + +They rejoined the group on the porch. + +"I had a horrible dream last night," said Peter Snipe, getting up and +stretching himself. "That's why I'm staying up so late tonight. I hate +to go to bed." + +"What was your dream, Peter?" asked Ruth. + +"Do you believe in 'em?" + +"Only in day-dreams." + +"Well, I dreamed our little old ship was finished and had sailed at last +and for once our wireless plant up there began to get messages from the +sea. I dreamed I was sitting up there with the operator. It was a dark, +stormy night. The wireless began to crackle. He jumped up to see what +was coming. He was getting messages from our own ship, away out there +on the ocean. She was calling for help. 'Sinking fast,--sinking +fast,--sinking fast.' Over and over again,--just those two words. +'Gad,--it was so real, so terribly real, that the first thing I did this +morning was to walk down to see if the boat was still on the stocks. She +was there, a long way from being finished, and--and, by gad, I had hard +work to keep from blubbering, I was so relieved." + +"It will take more than a dream to knock that ship to pieces," said +Percival. "When she's ready for the water, there will not be a sturdier +craft afloat. Andrew Mott says she'll weather anything outside of the +China Sea. Don't look so distressed, Amy. Pete's a novelist. They never +do anything but dream horrible dreams. Generally they go so far as +to put them into print, and people read 'em and say they are wildly +improbable,--especially if they have a happy ending. It's always the +happy ending that makes them improbable,--but popular. Isn't that so, +Pete?" + +"If we didn't give them a happy ending, they would refuse to recognize +us the next time they saw us on a bookseller's counter," said Peter. +"Well, I guess I'll be on my way. I've got a busy day tomorrow, setting +up the Trigger Island Pioneer,--and as I belong to that almost extinct +species known as the bachelor, I am forced to be my own alarm clock. +Going my way, Abel?" + +"Good night, Ruth," said Landover. "Give the Lieutenant Governor a good +smack for me,--and tell him he is still in my will." + +"Umph!" grunted Fitts. "I'd like to know what you've got to leave the +little beggar. Your letter of credit?" + +"Certainly not," replied Landover. "Something worth while, Fittsy, my +boy. I am making it now. It's going to be a hobby-horse, if I live long +enough to finish it. Good night, Perce. 'Night, everybody." + +When the last of the company had departed, Ruth and Percival stood for +a long time in silence, listening to the far-off thrumming of a Spanish +guitar, their tranquil gaze fixed on the murky shadow that marked the +line of trees along the shore, her head resting lightly against his +shoulder, his arm about her waist. + +"What are you thinking of, dear?" she asked at last. + +"Peter's dream," he replied. "It has put an idea into my head. The day +that ship down there sails out to sea with her courageous little crew, I +shall start laying the keel for another just like her." + +Neither spoke for many seconds. Then she said, a deep, solemn note in +her voice: "I understand, Perce." + +They went into the house. Later they stole tiptoe to the side of the +crib where slept the sturdy, sun-kissed babe. The two middle fingers of +a chubby hand were in his mouth. With one hand Percival shaded the +pitch candle he had brought from the kitchen. She leaned over and gently +touched the smooth, warm cheek. + +"I--I can't believe he is real, Perce," she whispered. + +"He isn't," whispered he. "He is something out of a fairy story. Nothing +as wonderful as he is can possibly be real." + +THE END + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's West Wind Drift, by George Barr McCutcheon + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WEST WIND DRIFT *** + +***** This file should be named 6014.txt or 6014.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/1/6014/ + +Produced by Carrie Fellman + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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