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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fcfa521 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #66215 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66215) diff --git a/old/66215-0.txt b/old/66215-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1a0f7d7..0000000 --- a/old/66215-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9338 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Hidden Country, by Henry Oyen - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Hidden Country - -Author: Henry Oyen - -Release Date: September 3, 2021 [eBook #66215] -[Most recently updated: September 23, 2021] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Roger Frank and Sue Clark - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HIDDEN COUNTRY *** - - - - - - HIDDEN COUNTRY - - by Henry Oyen - - Author of “The Snow Burner,” “The Man Trail,” “Gaston Olaf,” etc. - - - - - I - - -George Chanler’s offer of a position as literary secretary of his -Arctic expedition came to me one fine May morning when I was sitting -at my desk, glooming from an eighteenth-story height down upon the -East River, and dreading to begin the day’s work. - -I had sat so for many mornings past. I was not happy; I was a failure. -I was thirty years old, had a college education; my health was -splendid and I was intelligent and ambitious. And I was precariously -occupying a position as country correspondent in Hurst’s Mail Order -Emporium, salary $25 a week, with every reason to believe that I had -achieved the limits of such success as my capabilities entitled me to. - -“You ain’t got no punch, Mr. Pitt; that’s the matter vit’ you,” was my -employer’s verdict. “You’re a fine feller, but—oof! How you haf got -into the rut!” - -I had. I was in so deeply that I had lost confidence and was losing -hope. That was why I, Gardner Pitt, bookman by instinct and office-cog -by vocation, was ripe for Chanler’s sensational offer. - -My friendship with Chanler, which had been a close one at school where -I had done half his work for him, had of a necessity languished during -the last few years. There is not much room for friendship between a -poorly paid office man and an idle young millionaire. Yet it was -apparent that George had not forgotten, for now he turned to me when -he wanted some one to accompany him and write the history of his -Arctic achievements. - -His offer came in the form of a long telegram from Seattle where he -was outfitting his new yacht, _Wanderer_. Being what he was George -gave me absolutely no useful information concerning the nature of his -expedition. In what most concerned me, however, his message was -sufficient: a light task, a Summer vacation, and at generous terms. - -I looked out of the window at the wearying roofs of the city, and the -yellow paper crumpled in my fingers as I clenched my fist. There was -none of the adventurer in me. I was not in the optimistic frame of -mind necessary to an explorer. But Chanler’s offer was, at least, a -chance to escape from New York. I bade Mr. Hurst good-by, and went out -and sent a wire of acceptance. - - * * * * * - -Eight days later, shortly before noon, I stood on the curb outside the -station in Seattle bargaining with a cabman to drive me to the dock -where I had been directed to find a launch from the _Wanderer_ -awaiting me that morning. The particular cabman that I happened to hit -upon was an honest man. He cheerfully admitted that he did not know -the exact location of the dock mentioned in my directions, but he -assured me that he knew in a general way in which section of the -water-front it must be. - -“And when we get down there I’ll step in and ask at Billy Taylor’s,” -he said, as if that settled the matter. “Billy’ll know; he knows -everything that’s going along the water-front.” - -Billy Taylor’s proved to be a tiny waterfront saloon which my man -entered with an alacrity that testified to a desire for something more -than information concerning my dock. I waited in patience for many -minutes with no sign of his return. I waited many more minutes in -impatience with a like result. - -In my broken-spirited condition I was not fit or inclined to reprimand -a drinking cabman, but neither was I minded to sit idle while my man -filled himself up. I stepped out of the cab and thrust open the -swinging doors of the saloon. - -I did not enter. My cabman was in the act of coming out, standing with -one hand absently thrust out toward the doors, his attention arrested -and held by something that was taking place in a small room at the -rear of the saloon. The door of this room was half open. I saw a -small, wiry man in seaman’s clothes leaning over a round table, -shaking his fist at a large man with light cropped hair who sat -opposite him. A bottle of beer, knocked over, was gurgling out its -contents on the floor. The large man was sitting up very stiff and -straight, but smiling easily at the other’s fury. - -“No, you don’t, Foxy; no you don’t! You can’t come any of your -‘Captain’ business on me, you Laughing Devil,” screamed the little -man. “Ah, ha! That stung, eh? Didn’t think I knew what the Aleuts -called you, eh, Foxy? ‘Laughing Devil.’ An’ you talk like a captain to -me, and ask me to go North with you! Here: what became of Slade and -Harris, that let you into partnership with ’em after you’d lost your -sealer in Omkutsk Strait? And what became of the gold strike they’d -made? Eh? And you talk to me about a rich gold find you’ve got, and -want me to help you take a rich sucker up North——” - -“Still,” said the big man suddenly. “Still, Madigan.” - -He had been smiling up till then, his huge, red face lighted up like a -wrinkled red sun, but suddenly the light seemed to go out. The fat of -his face seemed to become like cast bronze, with two pin-points of -fire gleaming, balefully from under down-drawn lids. Several heavy -lines which had been hidden in genial wrinkles now were apparent, and, -though only the flat profile was visible to me, I saw, or rather I -felt, that the man’s face for the while was terrible. - -To my amazement the infuriated sea-man’s abuse ceased as abruptly as -if the power of speech had been taken from him. He remained in his -threatening attitude, leaning across the table, his clenched fist -thrust forward, his mouth open; but his eyes were held by the -crop-haired man’s and not a sound came from his lips. - -“Down, Madigan,” continued the big man. “It is my wish that you sit -down.” - -A snarl came from the small man’s lips. He seemed about to break out -again, but suddenly he subsided and sat down. The big man nodded -stiffly, as one might at child who has obeyed an unpleasant command, -and the smaller man humbly closed the door. - -My cabman came hurtling out through the swinging doors, nearly running -me down in his hurry. - -“Hullo!” he cried. “Did you see that, too? Whee-yew! That was a funny -thing. That little fellow’s Tad Madigan, a mate that’s lost his -papers, and the toughest man along the water-front; and he—he shut up -like a schoolboy, didn’t he?” - -Saloon brawls, even when displaying amazing characters, do not -interest me. - -I reminded him that he had gone in to inquire about the location of my -dock. - -“Oh, that’s a good joke on me,” he laughed. “Your dock’s right next -door here, and you can see the _Wanderer_ from Billy’s back room.” - -A few minutes later I was standing in the midst of my baggage on this -dock, looking out across the water to where lay anchored the white, -clean-lined yacht, _Wanderer_. - -It was a morning in early June, a day alive with bright, warm sun. A -slight breeze with a mingling of sea, and pine, and the subtle scents -of Spring in it, was coming up the Sound, and beneath its breath the -water was rippling into wavelets, each with a touch of sun on its tiny -crest. - -An outdoor man might have thrilled with the scene, the sun, the fresh -Spring-scent and all. But I was fresh from the asphalt and stone walls -of New York, and I was broken-spirited, resigned to anything, elated -over nothing, that fate might allot me. I merely looked over the water -to the _Wanderer_ to see if the promised launch was on its way. - -“Sure enough, Mister, there comes a little gas-boat for you now,” -exclaimed my cabman, pointing with his whip to a small launch that was -coming away from the yacht’s stern. “You’ll be all right; your friends -have seen you. Well, good luck to you, friend, and lots of it.” - -“Thank you,” I said, “and the same to you.” - -But I felt bitterly that there was little hope that his cheery wish -would be realized for me. - -As the launch drew nearer the dock I saw that a bareheaded and -red-haired young man was in charge, and as it came quite near I saw -that the young man’s mouth was opening and closing prodigiously, and -from snatches of sound that drifted toward me above the noise of the -engine, I heard that he was singing joyously at the top of a strained -and thoroughly unmusical voice. - -He drove the launch straight at the dock in a fashion that seemed to -threaten inevitable collision, but at the crucial moment the engine -suddenly was reversed, the rudder swung around, and the little craft -came sidling alongside against the timber on which I was standing; the -young man tossed a rope around a pile, and with a sudden spring he was -on the dock beside me. - -“You’re Mr. Gardner Pitt, if your baggage is marked right,” he said, -though I had not seen the swift glance he had shot at the initials on -my bags. - -He stood on his tip-toes, blinking in the sun, and filled his lungs -with a great draft of air. - -“Gee! It’s some morning, ain’t it, Mr. Pitt? A-a-ah-ah!” he continued -with ineffable satisfaction. “It certainly is one grand thing to be -alive.” - -I could not wholly subscribe to his sentiment at that time, but there -was such an aura of wholesome good humor about the young man that I -warmed toward him at once. He was probably twenty-three years old, -short and boyish of build: his face was a mass of freckles; his eyes -were very blue and merry; his nose very snubbed, his mouth large. He -wore one of the most awful red ties that ever tortured the eyes of -humanity, and the crime was aggravated by a pin containing a large -yellow stone; but when he grinned it was apparent that he was one of -those whom much is to be forgiven. - -“I’m Freddy Pierce,” he said. “Wireless operator and odd-job-man on -the _Wanderer_. Say, Mr. Pitt, will you do me a favor?” - -He looked at me with an expression of indescribable comicality on his -sun-wrinkled face, and, willy-nilly, I found myself smiling. - -“Thank you for them kind words,” he laughed before I had opened my -mouth. “Knew you’d do it; knew I had you sized up right. Let me roll a -pill before we start back? Thanks.” - -With amazing swiftness he had produced tobacco and paper, rolled a -cigaret, and sent a ring of smoke rolling upward through the clear -air. - -“Mr. Pitt,” he said suddenly in a new tone, “do you know Captain -Brack?” - -“No,” I said. “Who is Captain Brack?” - -“Captain of the _Wanderer_,” was the reply. - -“I don’t know him.” - -He threw away his cigaret and began easing my baggage down into the -launch. He was serious for the moment. - -“And—and say, Mr. Pitt, do you know a Jane—I mean, a lady named Miss -Baldwin?” - -I did not. - -“Who is Miss Baldwin?” - -Pierce suddenly snapped his teeth together, and the look that came -upon his freckled countenance puzzled me for days to come. - -“God knows—and the boss,” he said enigmatically. “She—she’s——” - -He shook his head vigorously, then sprang into the launch. His serious -moment had gone. - -“Now get in while I’m holding ’er steady, Mr. Pitt. That’s right.” And -now, _putt-putt_ said the engine, and bearing its precious freight the -launch sped across the blue water to the noble yacht. “Ah, ha! And -there’s old ‘Frozen Face,’ the Boss’s valet, waiting to welcome you on -board.” - - - - - II - - -I followed the direction of Pierce’s outstretched arm and on the deck -of the _Wanderer_ made out the stiff, precise figure of Chanler’s man, -Simmons, waiting in exactly the same pose with which he admitted one -to his master’s bachelor apartments in Central Park West. It was -Simmons who welcomed me on board, and he did it ill, for it irked his -serving-man’s soul to countenance his master’s friendship with persons -of no wealth. - -“Mr. Chanler is in his room, sir. You are to come there at once. This -way, if you please, sir.” - -He led the way in his stiffest manner to a stateroom in the forward -part of the yacht and knocked diffidently on the door. - -“Go away! Please go away!” came the petulant response. - -“Mr. Pitt, sir,” said Simmons. - -“Oh!” There was the sound of a desk being closed. “Show him in. Hello, -Gardy! Glad to see you! I’m fairly dying for somebody to talk to!” - -Chanler was sprawled gracefully over a chair before a writing-desk -built into the forward wall of the stateroom. He was wearing a mauve -dressing-gown of padded silk and smoking one of his phenomenally long -cigarets in a phenomenally long amber holder. It had been long since I -had seen him and he had changed deplorably; but so rapid and eager was -his greeting that I had no time to note just where the change had -come. - -“You’re a good fellow to come, Gardy,” said he with a genuine note of -gratitude in his tones. “I knew you’d help me, though. Simmons—bring a -couple of green ones, please.” - -“Not for me,” I hastened to interpose. “You know I never touch -anything before dinner.” - -“That’s so; I forgot. You’ve got yourself disciplined. Well, bring one -green one, Simmons. I don’t usually do this sort of thing so early, -either,” he continued as Simmons vanished, “but I sat up late with -Captain Brack last night, and I’m a little off. Wonderful chap, the -captain; head on him like a piece of steel. Well, Gardy, what do you -think of the trip?” - -“When you have told me something about it I may have an opinion,” I -replied. “You know all the knowledge of it that I have was what came -in your message.” - -“That’s so. Well, what did you think when you got the wire? You must -have thought something; you think about everything. What did you think -when you heard that I was planning a stunt like this—something useful, -you know? Eh?” - -“Well, it was something of a shock,” I admitted. - -Chanler smiled. But it was not the likable, indolent, boyish smile of -old which admitted: - -“Quite so. Came as a shock to hear that I was planning to be something -besides a loafer spending the money my governor made. I knew it would. -You never expected anything like this of me, Gardy?” - -“No, I can’t say that I did.” - -“Neither did I. Never dreamed of it until three months ago, and -then—then I discovered that I had to do—come in, Simmons,” he -interrupted himself as the valet knocked. - -While he was swallowing his little drink of absinth I studied him more -closely. - -There had always been something of the young Greek god about George -Chanler, an indolent, likable, self-satisfied young god with a long, -elegant body and a small curl-wrapped head. Now I saw how he had -changed. The fine body and head had grown flabby from too much -self-indulgence and too little use. There was a new look about the -lazy eyes which hinted at a worry, the sort of worry which troubles a -man awake or sleeping. Something had happened to George Chanler, -something that had shaken him out of the armor of indolent -self-sufficiency which Chanler money had grown around him. The boyish -lines about his mouth were gone. It was not a likable face now; it was -cynical, almost brutal. - -“That’s all, Simmons,” he said, allowing Simmons to take the empty -glass from his hand. “What was I saying, Gardy, when I stopped?” - -“That you discovered that you had to do——” - -“Oh, yes.” He paused a while. “Didn’t you wonder why I was doing this -sort of thing when you got my wire, Gardy?” - -“Naturally, I did.” - -“And you haven’t got any idea, or that sort of thing, about why I’m -doing it?” - -“You say that your purpose is to explore——” - -“I mean, what started me on the trip?” - -I shook my head. - -“Haven’t you even got a good guess?” - -“Well, it might be a bet, doctor’s orders, or just an ordinary whim.” - -He shook his head, looking pensively out of the window, or at least, -as near pensively as he could. - -“No,” he said. “Nothing so easy as that. I’m doing it because of a——” - -He caught himself sharply and looked at me. - -“What did you think I was going to finish with, Gardy?” - -“I had three guesses,” I replied. “I wouldn’t guess again.” - -“I’m doing it,” he resumed slowly, “I’m doing it because—I had to do -something useful, and this is the sort of thing I like to do.” - -I smiled a little. - -“What’s that for, Gardy?” he asked. - -“I didn’t know you ever recognized the words ‘had to’ as applicable to -yourself.” - -“By jove! And I didn’t, Gardy; I never did in the world—until three -months ago. But then something happened.” - -He looked out of the window for a long time. - -“No, I’m not going to tell you, Gardy. It’s none of your business. No -offense, you know.” - -“Of course not. I didn’t ask.” - -“You’ll know without asking, in time. Well, I’ve told you I found I -had to do something—something useful. That was quite a jolt, you know. -Never fancied I’d ever _have_ to do anything, and as for doing -anything useful—rot, my boy, for me, you know. But I found I had to, -and so when I met Brack—By the way, Brack’s the chap who’s responsible -for my ‘doing something’ in this way. Wonderful fellow. Met him in San -Francisco. Don’t mind admitting to you, old man, that I was traveling -pretty fast. - -“Went to San Francisco with an idea of going to China, or around the -world, or something like that, to forget. Met him in the Palace -barroom. Saved me. He’d just come back from the North, where he’d lost -his sealing vessel. He said: ‘Why don’t you buy the _Wanderer_ and do -some exploring?’ ‘What’s the _Wanderer_,’ says I. ‘Strongest gasoline -yacht in the world,’ he says. I began to pick up; life held interest, -you know. Went to see the _Wanderer_. Belonged to old Harrison, the -steel man, who’d done a world tour in her and wanted to sell. ‘Where’s -a good place to explore if I do buy her?’ says I, and Brack told me -about Petroff Sound. Ever hear of it before this, Gardy?” - -“I’ve seen the name some place, nothing more.” - -“I wired old Doc Harper about it after Brack had talked to me about -the place. Asked if it would be a good stunt to go up there; credit to -the old school to have a ‘grad’ get the bones, you know.” - -“Bones?” I exclaimed. - -“Bones,” said Chanler. “Read that,” and he handed me a long letter -signed by the venerable president of our school. - - The Petroff Sound territory unquestionably is a district - which science demands be explored. Mikal Petroff, the - Russian who in 1889 brought out the tibea of a mammoth, - (elephas primigenius) and several bone fragments which - certainly had belonged to an animal of characteristics - similar to the extinct elephant species, was an illiterate - fur-trader and therefore his report of a field of similar - bones frozen in the never-thawing ice of the Sound must - not be accepted as positive information. - - In 1892, however, Sturlasson, the Norwegian captain, who - reached the Sound after the wreck of his sealing vessel, - made entries in his diary before dying which substantiate - Petroff’s story. As the location of the Sound, as recorded - by Sturlasson, is three minutes west of the location as - given by your informant, it is certain that the latter - knows of Petroff Sound. No nobler use could be found for - your activity and wealth than the expedition you are - considering. Before expressing myself further, I will give - such data as is obtainable from sources at my command. - -Dr. Harper’s data on Petroff Sound was deadly dry scientific matter -which explained that while the possible discovery of frozen mammoth -bones would be of great interest to the scientific world, the study of -the terrain and of conditions surrounding these bones would be of -infinitely greater value. - -“Then it’s purely a scientific affair,” I said. “To be of any value it -must be scientific.” - -“Positively, dear boy, positively. I’ll give you a lot of stuff to -read up on after luncheon. Old Harper took trouble to wire me to be -sure to have an authentic, coherent report made of the expedition’s -findings. Well, that’s where you came in. I haven’t got brains, but -you have, Gardy, and you’re going to help me out. We sail tonight, by -the way, and we won’t be back until cold weather, so ye who have tears -prepare to shed them between now and midnight.” - -“But who is the scientist of the expedition?” - -“Brack. He’s a geologist, mineralogist, oceanographer, and general -shark on all that sort of stuff. Expert explorer. Quit exploring and -went sealing. Lost his schooner, and had come down and was living at -the Palace, waiting for capital to start again. Wonderful mind. He’s -ashore at present framing up a little sport to help us pass the -afternoon. We’ll get ready for luncheon now, Gardy. He’ll be here then -and you’ll meet him. Sure you won’t have a tot of grog before eating, -Gardy?” - -“No, thanks.” - -“Well, I will, just a little. Simmons will show you to your stateroom. -Hope you’re witty and full of scandal, Gardy, ’cause I’m awf’ly, -awf’ly bored these days and I’ve got to be amused.” - -Simmons, summoned by the bell, ushered me into the stateroom next to -Chanler’s. The two rooms were nearly identical in size and -furnishings, and I wondered idly why Chanler, as owner, did not occupy -the owner’s suite forward. Later I had a glimpse into the owner’s -suite through a half-open door, and was more puzzled: the suite was -obviously furnished for feminine occupation. - -Captain Brack had not arrived when we entered the dining-saloon of the -_Wanderer_ for luncheon. There were present Mr. Riordan, Chief -Engineer, Dr. Olson, physician to the expedition, and the second -officer, Mr. Wilson. Riordan was a pale, sour-looking Irishman, tall, -loosely built, heavy-jawed, and with a bitter down-curve to the -corners of his large, loose mouth. Once I saw him shoot a sly glance -at George Chanler’s long, thin hands, and the look was not what a -dutiful employee should have bestowed upon so generous an employer. - -Opposite Riordan, and beside me, sat Mr. Wilson, second in command, -who had come with the _Wanderer_ from her former owner. He was a -strongly built, silent, brown-faced man, of about thirty-five who -always appeared as if he had just been shaven, as if his clothes had -just been brushed, and whose shoes always seemed to be polished to the -same degree. His face was square and lean, and against the -weather-beaten neck his immaculate collar gleamed with startling -whiteness. He spoke seldom except when spoken to and then modestly and -to the point. “Yes sir” and, “No sir,” were the words most frequently -on his lips. - -Dr. Olson was a small, unobtrusive man with a light Vandyke beard, to -whom no one paid any attention and who spoke even less than Mr. -Wilson. - -The introductions were barely over when a quick light step fell on the -deck outside and Chanler, languidly waving his hand at the door behind -me, said— - -“Mr. Pitt, meet Captain Brack.” - -I rose and turned with interest. My interest suddenly gave way to -consternation. A chill went flashing along my spine. I stood like a -dumb man. Captain Brack was the large man whom I had heard called -“Laughing Devil” in Billy Taylor’s saloon a short time before. - - - - - III - - -The Captain was bowing to me with the easy impressiveness of the man -to whom ceremonial is no novelty. He was smiling. There was in his -smile the good humor of an adult toward a half-grown child. He stood -up very straight and precise, his shoulders at exact right angles to -his thick neck, his out-thrust chest almost pompous in its roundness. - -He was, I judged, exactly my own height, which was five feet nine, but -so thick was he in every portion of his anatomy that the physical -impression which he made was overpowering. His head and face were -large and, thanks to a closely cropped pompadour, gave, in spite of -considerable fat, the impression of being square. The eyes were out of -place in his head. Hidden under half-closed, fat lids they were mere -specks in size, yet when I had once looked into them I stared in -fascination. - -The head, and the fat, square face with its brutalized lines were -frankly, flauntingly animal. The eyes betrayed a great mind. In that -gross, brutal countenance the gleam of such an intellect seemed a -shocking accident, one of those perversions of Nature’s plans which -result in the production of abnormalities. What was this man? Was he -the common creature of his thick jowls? or was he the developed man to -whom belonged those eyes? Was that animal countenance but a mask? Or -did the low instincts, which its lines betrayed, dominate, while the -mind struggled in vain beneath such a handicap? - -Those tiny eyes held mine and studied me cruelly. Before them I felt -stripped to the marrow of my soul. My dreams, my weaknesses, my -failures seemed to stand out like print for Brack to read. His -superior smile indicated that he had read, that he had appraised me -for a weakling; and for the life of me I could not control the -resentment that leaped within me. - -I looked him as steadily in the eyes as I could. He saw the resentment -that lay there; for an instant there flickered a new look in his eyes; -then they were bland and smiling again. But that instant was enough -for each of us to know that one could never be aught but the other’s -enemy. - -“I am glad to see you on board, Mr. Pitt, as they say in the navy,” -said Captain Brack with deepest courtesy. - -“I am glad to be on board, Captain Brack,” I replied steadfastly. - -“It is a pleasure to have for shipmate a literary man like Mr. Pitt.” - -“It is a pleasure to contemplate a voyage in such company as Captain -Brack’s.” - -“We shall strive to make the voyage as interesting as possible, for -you, Mr. Pitt,” said he. - -“I am sure of that,” said I, “and I will do my poor best to -reciprocate.” - -“In a rough seaman’s way I have studied a little—enough to be -interested in books. So we have, in a way, a bond of interest to begin -with.” - -“Mr. Chanler has told me something of your achievements, Captain -Brack; I am sure you belittle them.” - -It was very ridiculous. Brack had put me on my mettle; so there we -stood and slavered each other with fine speeches, each knowing well -that the other meant not a word of the esteem that he uttered. Yet as -the luncheon progressed I was inclined to agree with George: Brack was -a wonderful chap. The man’s mind seemed to be a great, well-ordered -storehouse of facts and impressions which he had collected in his -travels. Sitting back in his chair he dominated the company, led the -talk whither he willed, and having said his say, beamed contentedly. -And before the meal was over I had a distinct impression that Brack -not Chanler, was master on the yacht. - -Chanler, Brack, Riordan and Dr. Olson drank steadily throughout the -luncheon. Mr. Wilson and myself drank not at all. As the luncheon -neared its end, Chanler, his eyes steady but his under lip hanging -drunkenly, broke out: - -“Well, how about it, cappy? Did you land your two bad men?” - -“Yes,” said Brack. “After luncheon I can promise you a little sport.” - -Chanler laughed a dreary, half-drunken laugh. - -“Gardy, we’ve fixed up a little sport. Awf’lly dull lying here. Have -to pass the time some way.” - -“If I may make the suggestion,” said Brack courteously, “perhaps Mr. -Pitt has duties or wishes which will prevent him from viewing our -little sport.” - -“Not ’tall, not ’tall,” said Chanler. - -“Perhaps it would be well for Mr. Pitt to wait a few days until—shall -we say until he has become more accustomed to our ways—before treating -himself to a sight of our little amusements?” - -“Why so?” I demanded. - -“Oh, it is merely a suggestion. Our sport is rather primitive—the -bare, crawling stuff of life without the perfumery, wrappings, or -other fanciful hypocrisies of civilization. Mr. Pitt does not look -like a man who would admit that life so exists, and therefore must -refuse to behold it.” - -Chanler turned from Brack to me, his teeth showing in a pleased smile. - -“Ha! Hot shot for you, that, Gardy. What say, old peg; where’s your -comeback—repartee, and all that?” - -As I hesitated for a reply, he tapped the table impatiently. - -“Come, come, Gardy! A little brilliance, please. We don’t let him -touch us and get away without a counter, do we? Ha! At ’im, boy; at -’im!” - -“As Mr. Brack——” - -“Ha! Mister Brack! Well, struck, Gardy; go on.” - -“As Captain Brack has failed to inform me what it is we are about to -see I, of course, can not be expected to express any opinion on it,” I -said. “But as concerns ‘the bare, crawling stuff of life,’ I will -reply that Life no longer crawls, nor is it bare.” - -Chanler turned his eyes upon Brack. - -“Your shot, cappy. What say to that?” - -Brack bowed. - -“I will reply by asking Mr. Pitt why he thinks life no longer is bare -and crawling?” - -“Because,” said I, “the mind of man has decreed that it should not be -so. Because mas has erected a civilization in order to insure that -life shall not be bare and crawling.” - -“Civilization is not the point,” said Brack. “We spoke of Life. We, as -we stand here, clothed, barbered, wearing the products of machinery to -hide our bodies, we are Civilization. We, as we enter the bathtub in -the morning, are Life—forked radishes.” He rolled his great head far -back and looked down his thick cheeks at me appraisingly. “Some are -small radishes; others are large.” - -“Ha! Rather raw on you with that last one, Gardy. Small and large -ones. You are small, you know, Gardy, compared to me or the captain.” - -“Size can scarcely matter to radishes,” I said. - -“Cappy, cappy! He scored on you there. What say to that?” - -“I will say—” began Captain Brack, but Chanler had tired of his sport -as suddenly as he had become interested. - -“Rot, rot!” he said, tapping on the table. “You were going to amuse us -with your new finds. Let’s have it.” - -“Very well,” said the captain, arising. “It will be ready in fifteen -minutes.” - -I was glad of that respite of fifteen minutes. It gave me an -opportunity to slip into my stateroom and pull myself together. Brack -had shaken and stirred me as I had not thought possible. His terrific -personality had exerted upon me the effects of a powerful stimulant. -Once or twice in my life I had taken whisky in sufficient quantity to -cause me to experience thoughts, emotions, elations which did not -properly belong in the normal, self-controlled Me. Now I experienced -something of the same sensation. My mind was buzzing with a hundred -swift impressions and conjectures upon Brack. - -The picture I had beheld and the words I had heard through the -swinging doors of Billy Taylor’s repeated themselves to me, and I felt -the same sensation of a chill that I had felt upon recognizing in -Brack the big man from the saloon. The words which the small man had -uttered were fraught with sinister suggestion. From them it was -apparent that he recognized in the captain a man who was known as -“Laughing Devil,” whose reputation, if the seaman’s words might be -taken for truth, was not of the sort that one would care to have in -the captain of the yacht on which one was sailing into far seas. Also -it was apparent from the man’s words that Brack had made some sort of -proposition: “a rich sucker,” had been mentioned. - -My course was plain before me: to go to Chanler’s state-room, tell him -what I had seen and heard, and demand that he investigate Brack’s -actions or permit me to resign my position. I had no definite idea of -what the words between Brack and Madigan might portend, but there was -no doubt that they established faithfully the captain’s character. In -my depressed condition I shuddered at the idea of putting to sea with -such a man. - -But—Captain Brack had smiled. That smile stopped me. The appalling -brutality of the captain’s mental processes had started within me a -slow, steady flame. It was ghastly; the man’s expression had shown -that he considered me a thing to play with! The brute had looked in my -eyes, had stripped me to the marrow, read me for a weakling, and -smiled, so that I might know that he had seen all! And the worst of it -was that he was doing it with a mind which weighed me calmly, without -prejudice, with scientific calmness. - -It was not fair, it was not human. The man should at least have -refrained from forcing me to see how weak he considered me. And was I -so weak? Was I the worm he thought me to be? - -“No!” I cried aloud; and I was pacing the floor when Simmons knocked -on my door. - - - - - IV - - -Up on the roomy bridge of the yacht I found Chanler and Brack seated -on deck stools drawn close to the rail, looking down upon the -immaculate fore-deck. As I followed their example I saw near the port -side two seamen holding a squat, heavy negro by a rope passed under -his arms. The man was trembling and moaning. - -“He’s a bad man and near the snakes from gin,” laughed Chanler. “Over -there’s Garvin, who fought Sharkey a couple of times.” - -The pugilist, a large, young man, flashily dressed, though miserably -bedraggled, was leaning against the starboard rail, scowling darkly at -the negro. - -“Give you gin?” he was saying to the negro. “Give you gin? What yah -talkin’ about, Smoke? Give you gin? Nix. I’m the guy who gets the gin. -I’m Bill Garvin. That’s why I get the gin and you get hell.” - -As the negro broke out into his terrible moaning, the pugilist’s -debauched nerves seemed to snap. - -“Stop him! —— you! You lousy ——! Stop him! If you don’t I’ll kick his -head off—I’ll kick your black head off, Smoke; I’ll kick your head -off.” - -His mad wandering eyes caught sight of Brack on the bridge. - -“How ’bout that, pal? Won’t I kick his —— black head off. I’m Bill -Garvin.” - -He took a step forward and stood staring at Brack. “Say, you’re the -guy who was going to gimme booze, ain’t you? Billy wouldn’t let me run -my face any more; you said, ‘Come on, I’ll take you where there’s lots -of it.’ Well, how ’bout it, there? Hah! How ’bout it?” - -Brack smiled down upon him. And his smile was the same as he had -bestowed upon me; Garvin, too, was a thing to play with. - -“Well, I don’t know, Garvin,” he replied. “I promised Black Sam the -same thing. I think I shall give him drink before you. He said he’d -kill you if you got a drink before him.” - -The pugilist stared stupidly while the significance of these words -seeped into his sodden brain. A weird smile distorted one side of his -face. - -“He—” pointing to the negro—“said he’d do that to me?” Thumping his -chest he roared: “Kill me! Bill Garvin? Sa-a-ay!” - -He lurched over to where the negro stood. At first he seemed undecided -what to do. Then he suddenly reached forward and caught the black’s -head in chancery, and bent furiously over it. There came a horrible -growl from Garvin’s throat, a piercing scream from the negro. Garvin -had bitten deeply into the black’s ear. - -I started back from the rail, every sense revolting, and found Brack -studying me, the smile with which he favored me fixed on his lips. - -“So? The stomach is not strong enough, Mr. Pitt? You feel a faintness. -Yes; I have even seen delicate ladies lose consciousness under similar -circumstances.” - -“I do not lose consciousness,”’ I replied, drawing a chair up to the -railing and seating myself, “but at the same time I fail to see what -amusement a civilized man can find in this spectacle.” - -“So? You can not see that, Mr. Pitt? If it would not be rude I would -say that it is the truly civilized man, so highly civilized that he is -not troubled by sentimentality or humanitarian motives, who can -appreciate spectacles of this nature. The scientific type of mind is -the ultimate product of civilization, is it not, Mr. Pitt? Well, it is -only the scientist who can view properly the bare, crawling thing -called Life.” - -“Rot, rot, rot!” interrupted Chanler, each word punctuated with a rap -of his cane on the deck. “Put on your show, Brack. Hope that wasn’t -all you dragged me out here for?” - -“That was entirely impromptu. I had no idea Mr. Garvin was so -versatile. The show follows. Dr. Olson.” - -The little doctor appeared on the deck bearing a large bottle of -whisky and a tumbler. First he filled the glass full and poured it -down the negro’s gaping mouth, then served Garvin in the same way. The -negro grew calmer as the stimulant took hold. He examined the rope -with which he was imprisoned and seemed to realize his situation. - -“Say, boss, ah ain’t done nuffin. What yah got me in heah foh?” he -said in a rational tone of voice. “Lemme out, kain’t yah? Ah’m awri’.” - -“Let him go,” said Brack. - -The two seamen let go the rope and the black fell forward. Garvin -waved his hands at the sea. - -“That’s where you’ll go, Smoke—overboard in pieces.” - -The negro was crouched against the wheel-house, rubbing his hands on -his thighs, his small red eyes feasting on the pugilist, a stream of -profanity flowing in low tones from his lips. - -“Dah he be, Sam, dah he be,” he whispered. “Dah deh white —— what bit -you eah. Got you eah, got you eah! What yah goin’ do ’bout it, what -yah goin’ do, what you goin’ do?” His words came swifter and swifter; -he crouched lower, his hands moved more rapidly. “Goin’ kill ’im, -goin’ kill ’im, kill ’im—kill ’im. Ow!” - -With such a howl as belonged in no human throat, he launched himself, -a ball of black bounding across the deck, straight at Garvin. He came -head down, like a bull charging, and, Garvin side-stepping, he plunged -head and shoulders between two rods of the port railing, where he -stuck. - -Chanler laughed drily. - -“Not so bad, cappy,” he drawled. “It promises to be amusing, really.” - -Garvin fell upon the negro before the latter had freed himself. He -caught one of the black’s hands, drew it upward, and bent the arm over -the rail till it threatened to snap or tear out the muscles at the -shoulders. - -“No,” said Brack in the same tone he had used on Madigan in Taylor’s -saloon. “No more of that, Garvin.” - -The pugilist, his brutality warming with the work in hand, looked up, -a leer of contempt on his face. - -“You will let go of his arm, Garvin,” said Brack. - -The fighter obeyed, releasing his hold reluctantly, but he obeyed -nevertheless. The black thrust himself free of the rail and faced his -tormentor. - -“Get hold ob ’im, Sammy; get hold ob ’im!” he whispered loudly, and -moved toward Garvin with slow shuffling steps. - -Garvin waited until the instant when the negro had planned the final -spring, then his fist flashed up from below his knees and the black -fell like a thrown sack of grain against the wheel-house. - -“By Jove!” said Chanler. “Your man Garvin is really promising, Brack. -Ha! The nigger’s no cripple, either.” - -Black Sam had come to his feet with a spring. Again began his slow, -determined advance upon Garvin, again Garvin’s fist flew out and the -negro dropped with a thud. - -This happened four times, and the negro was red from the neck up. The -fifth time his small round head dropped suddenly as Garvin launched -another terrific blow. The fist and black poll met with a sharp crack. -The negro was flung back on his haunches, but Garvin grasped his right -hand and swore futilely. Garvin looked up at the bridge, holding forth -his hand. - -“Hey! Call ’im off; take a look at me meathook!” he shouted. - -“You still have your feet,” said Brack. - -The fight raged again. Garvin was on his back now, kicking furiously. -At last a kick favored him; he knocked the negro down. But this was -his undoing, for Black Sam in falling landed full length upon Garvin, -and in an instant his short, thick fingers had closed upon the white -man’s throat. - -After awhile Brack gave a signal to Mr. Riordan, the chief engineer, -who was standing below. Without any hurry or excitement, Riordan -walked over and kicked the negro in the temple. The stunned black -released his hold. With another kick Riordan lifted him clear off -Garvin. - -Brack turned toward Chanler. - -“Well, are they worth keeping?” - -“Oh, I s’pose so,” said Chanler, yawning as he rose. “Rather amusing. -Suit yourself, cappy.” - -“Come ’long, Gardy,” said Chanler, leading the way off the bridge. He -chuckled a little pointing back toward the combatants. “Conceited -scum, those. Fighting men. Bad men. Be interesting to see Brack make -’em behave.” - -“Chanler,” I said, “do you mean to tell me that you found any pleasure -watching that bestial fight?” - -“Pleasure? Pleasure, Gardy? Ha! It’s a long time since I’ve met the -lady, m’boy. But a chap’s got to do what he can to keep from being -bored. They did it—a little. I’m bored now. Do something, Gardy, say -something. Hang it, man; can’t you do as much for me as those two -brutes? Simmons! Some other togs, please. These I’ve got on make me -dopy.” - -He strode down into the cabin, forgetting me absolutely in this new -evanescent whim. - - - - - V - - -I stepped to the port rail and bared my head to the young Spring -breeze. I was disgusted. The sense of something uncleanly seemed to -cling to me from the spectacle on the fore-deck and I was grateful for -the antiseptic feel of the wind with its pure odors. - -“Pretty raw, wasn’t it, Mr. Pitt?” - -I looked up and saw Pierce, the young wireless operator, standing -beside me. - -“Yep. I feel that way about it, too,” he went on. “Not that I’ve got -anything against seeing a good battle any time, ’cause I was raised -back o’ the Yards in Chicago, and no more need be said. But that—that -go forward, that was too raw. Garvin, he’s a sure ’nough pug—he stayed -ten rounds with Sharkey once when Tom was starting, but the poor stew -was about ready to have the ‘willies’; and the poor dinge was seeing -snakes. Naw, it was too raw. Ear-eating and that kind of stuff. They -hadn’t ought to have matched ’em. They couldn’t put up half a battle, -the shape they was.” - -“I didn’t object to it on those grounds,” I said, and as I looked at -his merry, freckled face I was forced to smile. “Though I can -appreciate your artistic disapproval. It disgusted me because it was -so useless and brutal.” - -“That’s what I said,” he responded promptly. “It was useless, because -it wasn’t half a go, and brutal because they wasn’t in shape to stand -the punishment.” - -“We are slightly apart in our view-points, I am afraid, Mr. Pierce.” - -“But you’re with me that it was bum match-making?” - -I nodded. - -“And that a right guy—you know what I mean: a guy who was right all -the way through—couldn’t get any fun out of watching it?” - -I nodded again. Pierce placed both hands on the railing, running his -fingers up and down as if on a keyboard, whistling softly through his -teeth. - -“Did you notice how the boss ate it up?” he said abruptly. - -“Mr. Chanler?” - -“Yep. He eyed it like—like it was a pretty little thing to him.” - -I said nothing. Pierce resumed his whistling and finger-practise on -the rail. Suddenly he turned and faced me squarely, his countenance -uncomfortably serious, as it had been on the dock that morning. - -“I suppose you’re thinking what an awful dub I am to be making a crack -about the boss to one of his friends, ain’t you, Mr. Pitt?” - -“Well, to be frank,” I replied, “I have been wondering at your doing -so. How do you know that I won’t go straight to Mr. Chanler with your -words? I won’t do it, of course, but I would prefer that you do not -discuss Mr. Chanler with me. One doesn’t do such things, you know.” - -“No,” he said, “I didn’t know; I was raised back o’ the Yards. But if -you say, ‘nix on it,’ nix it is. What—what do you think of the boat, -Mr. Pitt? We can discuss that, can’t we?” - -“Freely,” I laughed. “From what I’ve seen the _Wanderer_ is a -remarkable yacht.” - -“And you haven’t seen anything but the gingerbread work. I’m off -watch. Come on; let’s walk around and pipe her off. It’ll take the -taste of that bum battle out of your mouth.” - -I accepted willingly, and for an hour Pierce piloted me about the -yacht. - -The _Wanderer_ is a craft of wonders. I have Pierce’s word that the -yacht is 152 feet long on the water line with her present load, and -that the load is the maximum which we could carry with safety. Her -size below the cabin deck is amazing. In her engine room are some of -the largest gasoline engines ever placed in a yacht, if Pierce’s -information is correct. There are two great gleaming batteries of -them, each battery capable of driving us at a speed of ten knots an -hour, the two combined able to hurry us along at fourteen knots, if -necessary. Besides this we have a small auxiliary engine and -propeller, a novelty installed by the former owner, Harrison. We could -smash both of our major engines and the auxiliary still would move us. - -Built into the bows are the reserve gasoline tanks. There is enough -fuel in them, says Pierce, to drive the _Wanderer_ twice around the -world. Aft of these vast tanks are the storerooms. They are locked. -Captain Brack has the key, but Freddy assures me that enough -provisions have been loaded into them to keep our company of fifteen -men well fed for two years. - -“Which certainly is playing safe, seeing as we’re not supposed to get -frozen in,” said he, as we completed our tour below decks. “Now, come -on and I’ll show you my private office.” - -He led the way up a ladder to the little wireless house on the aft of -the main cabin. This was Pierce’s room. His bunk was beside the table -on which were his instruments, and he had covered the -walls—“decorated,” he called it—with newspaper cuts of celebrated -baseball players, pugilists, motor-racers, and women of the musical -comedy stage. Lajoie’s picture was next to Terry McGovern’s, and -Chevrolet’s beside Miss Anna Held’s. I smiled as I seated myself. - -“Something of a connoisseur, I see, Pierce.” - -“Whatever that means,” he responded. He had become serious again. He -took a cigaret paper from his pocket, absently tore it to pieces and -sat glancing out over the waters of the Sound. - -“So you don’t know a Jane—a girl named Miss Beatrice Baldwin, Mr. -Pitt?” he said, as if he had been thinking of saying it for a long -time. - -“You asked me that this morning,” said I. “Why do you think I might -know her?” - -“You’n’ the Boss is close friends, ain’t you?” - -“I wouldn’t say ‘close friends’.” - -“I know. But you know him back East, and train with him, and know the -bunch he trains with back there, don’t you?” - -“Oh, yes, to a certain extent.” - -“That’s why I thought you might have heard of this Jane—Miss Baldwin, -I mean.” - -“I assure you, Pierce,” I said, smiling, “that one would have to -possess a much larger circle of acquaintances than I have to know all -the young ladies of Mr. Chanler’s acquaintance.” - -He looked up. - -“Is he that kind of a guy?” he asked. - -“What kind do you mean?” - -“A charmer, a Jane-chaser, lady-killer?” - -The perfect naiveté with which he uttered this outrageous slang -brought me to hearty laughter, the first of long time. - -“Mr. Chanler,” I said, suppressing my amusement, “is a much sought -after man.” - -“Sure; he’s got the dough. But does he chase ’em back? Eh? Is he—Here, -I’ll put it up to you straight: would you let your own sister go -walking with him alone in the park after dark?” - -I rose. But for the life of me I could not hold offense in the face of -his honest, worried expression. - -“Pierce,” I said, “that is another thing one does not do—ask such -questions. And I have told you that you are not to discuss Mr. Chanler -with me.” - -“Aw, the devil!” he blurted. “Why can’t you be human? You’re a reg’lar -fellow; I can see it in the back of your eyes. I’m a reg’lar fellow. -Why can’t we get together?” - -“Not on a discussion of Mr. Chanler behind his back,” I chuckled. “It -isn’t done.” - -Pierce doubled himself up on the stool which he was sitting on and -grasped his thin ankles in his hands. - -“All right, then,” he said moodily. “But I want to tell you I’ve been -handling messages between the boss and a Miss Beatrice Baldwin; and he -sent her one this morning and got a reply; and—I wished I’d never -learned wireless, that’s all.” - -“Mr. Chanler is a gentleman,” I said severely. - -“A gentleman?” said Pierce gloomily. “I suppose that makes it all -right, then, eh? But nevertheless and notwithstanding, I wish I hadn’t -learned wireless, just the same. And you don’t even ask me what the -message was about,” he continued as I remained silent. “That’s the -difference: I’d have asked first crack; you’re a gent. You don’t ask -at all.” - -“Naturally not,” I replied. “That’s another thing one doesn’t do. I -won’t even permit you to tell me what it was.” - -“You won’t?” - -“Decidedly not.” - -“Not even if I tell you——” - -“No.” - -“All right then,” he said with a comical air of resignation and -relief. “I’ve done me jooty. It’s something out of my class; I wanted -to pass it up to somebody with a better nut than I’ve got; but if I -can’t—all right. I suppose after you ’n’ me ’ve known each other five -or six years we’ll be well enough acquainted to talk together like a -couple o’ human beings, eh? I know I hadn’t ought to be talking to you -like this, Mr. Pitt; you’re a New York highbrow and I’m from back o’ -the Yards; but I’ll make you a nice little bet right now, that before -this trip is over—if you’re the guy I think you are, Brains—you ’n’ -me’ll tear off more’n one little confab behind the boss’s back, and -you’ll be darn glad to do it.” - -I rose to go. - -“I can imagine no reason why we should,” I said. “This is a scientific -expedition; you are the wireless operator, and I am Mr. Chanler’s -literary secretary. Under the circumstances, why should you be willing -to bet?” - -“Under those circumstances, I wouldn’t be willing to bet,” he -retorted. “But—scientific expedition!” he exploded in disgust. -“Scientific ——!” - - - - - VI - - -I retired precipitately to my stateroom, not wishing to hear more. By -this time I had seen enough to realize that the hard-drinking George -Chanler of the present was not the same man whom I had been friendly -with back East. That Chanler never would have endured the brutal sport -with Garvin and the negro. He would not have fallen under the spell of -a man like Brack; he would not have sent wireless messages to a girl -which would make an honest operator like Pierce wish he had never -learned his trade. I remembered the owner’s suite, unoccupied and -furnished for a woman’s comfort. - -“Scientific ——!” Pierce had said. - -But it was too late for me to consider quitting now. Captain Brack and -his taunting smile had attended to that. If I left now the contempt in -his eyes would be justified: I would be the weakling which his look -announced me to be. He would smile that smile as I went over the side; -would continue to smile it whenever my name was mentioned. - -I was disgusted with Chanler. But in my heart I was afraid of Brack, -and, paradoxically, for this reason I was afraid to quit. - -“Scientific ——!” What did Pierce mean? Whatever it was I judged it to -concern only Chanler, therefore it did not greatly concern me. But -Brack—so greatly did his smile distress me that I actually looked -forward to meeting him again with something akin to relish. - -That evening, near the end of the dinner, Dr. Olson happened to speak -of the totem gods of the Northern Pacific tribes. - -“Yes,” said Brack, “they whittle their gods out of wood with knives; -white men use their minds to whittle theirs. Men are greater than -gods. What would gods amount to if they didn’t have men to worship -them? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Can you imagine anything more -impotent than an unworshiped god? Man creates gods; not gods man. Men -are absolutely indispensable to gods; but men can do very well without -gods if it pleases them to do so.” - -“Has it pleased you to do so, Captain Brack?” I asked. - -“Decidedly so. I sail light. Men make a slavery of this job of -existence because they encumber themselves with laws, gods, and so on. -I decided long ago not to be a slave to gods or anything.” He turned -upon me with his devilish smile. “Now, Mr. Pitt, it is easy to see, is -a slave to his gods.” - -“Which gods, for instance.” - -He burst into ready laughter, as if I had fallen into a trap he had -laid for me. - -“The petty, insignificant gods of civilized conduct!” - -“Hear, hear!” interjected Chanler, lazily blowing away the smoke. -“What you two doing: making religious speeches? ‘God,’ you said. Stow -that. There’s no room for gods of any kind on board this boat.” - -“Except the gods of science,” laughed Brack. - -“Ha! Science! That’s good, awf’ly good, cappy. You don’t know how good -that is. I’ll stand for science, cappy, but not religion. Religion -sort of suggests conscience, and conscience—m’boy, I cut the chap dead -days ago and refuse to be re-introduced. One bottle to science, men, -and then it’ll be time to kiss our native land good-by. Pitt, if -you’ve a tender woman’s heart pining for you some place, better go -send her your farewell message, ’cause cappy and I are going to make a -wet evening of it until we sail in the interests of science! -Glor-ee-ous, glorious science! Hah!” - -I accepted his suggestion eagerly as a means to escape from the cabin. -There was no woman pining for me; there was no woman in my life. I had -no farewell message to send to any one. While Chanler, Brack and the -doctor made merry over their bottle I sought the solitude of the upper -deck. - - * * * * * - -It was a dark night, and a rising wind was blowing in from the sea. -Along the water-front lights twinkled and gleamed, mere red-hot dots -in the all-encompassing darkness. - -At a dock near by the outline of a long steamer showed beneath the -flare of a myriad gasoline torches, and across the water there came -from her decks the clang of hammers and the hollow rumble of trucks -pouring freight into her hold. - -“The _City of Nome_, sir,” said a voice behind me, and turning I -beheld the sturdy figure of Mr. Wilson, the second officer. “They’re -rushing the job of preparing her for her first trip of the season. She -follows the _Wanderer_ up. She’ll be about forty-eight hours behind -us.” - -“Will she overtake us?” - -“Hardly, sir. We’re as fast as she is, if not faster. No, we’ll show -her the way into Bering Sea if nothing happens to check our speed.” - -A sudden gust of wind shook us and a splattering of great rain-drops -struck the deck. The mate turned toward the sea and sniffed the air. - -“Hello!” he exclaimed, as if the wind had told him something. “I hope -you’re a good sailor, Mr. Pitt; it may be a little rough outside -tomorrow and for a couple of days to come.” - - - - - VII - - -I was awakened next morning by a sensation as of mighty blows being -struck against the yacht’s hull, shaking it from stem to stem. My -nostrils caught the tang of cold sea air, while gusts of fog-laden -wind swept whistling past the open port-hole. - -I dressed, went on deck, and swiftly retreated to shelter. The -_Wanderer_ was out at sea and boring her twelve-knot way through the -smoke and welter of a raw Spring gale from the north. - -The entire aspect of the yacht, of its personnel, and of the -expedition seemed to have changed overnight. Captain Brack was upon -the bridge. His neat, gold-braided uniform had vanished and he wore a -rough sheepskin jacket and oilskin trousers. A shaggy cap was pulled -down to his eyes and he chewed and spat tobacco. - -In the gray light of a raw day, shuddering and washed by spray, the -_Wanderer_ had become a grim, serviceable sea-conqueror rather than -the magnificent pleasure-boat she had seemed yesterday, and two -seamen, roughly clad and dripping, were putting extra lashings on a -life-boat forward. - -I went down to breakfast with new impressions of the grim -potentialities of this expedition. - -I had breakfast alone. Chanler was still in his stateroom and the -officers all had breakfasted long before. While I was eating, Freddy -Pierce popped his head in. - -“Oh, hello; it’s you, is it,” he greeted. “I was looking for the boss; -another message.” - -“Mr. Chanler is in his stateroom,” I said. - -“He sent another message to this Jane—to Miss Baldwin, last night,” -said Pierce. - -I continued to eat. - -“This is a reply to it that I’ve got here.” - -“Pierce,” said I, looking up, “you will find Mr. Chanler in his -stateroom.” - -“Right!” said he. Saying which the messenger boy turned and ran. “Oh, -Simmons! Come here. Message for the boss.” - -Simmons, who was passing, paused and bestowed on Freddy his most -freezing look of disapproval. - -“Mr. Chanler is not to be disturbed,” said he, and made to pass on. - -“Not so, old Frozen Face,” said Freddy, catching him by the arm. “You -don’t pass me by with a haughty look this time. This is the reply to -the message the boss sent last night. He wants it while it’s hot off -the griddle. Get busy.” - -Simmons seemed about to choke. - -“Mr. Chanler is not to be disturbed,” he repeated with emphasis. - -Freddy turned toward Chanler’s door. - -“Will you take it in—or shall I?” he asked. - -“But you can’t—it is forbidden!” cried Simmons. - -Freddy knocked loudly on the owner’s door. - -“The reply to your message from last night, Mr. Chanler,” he called. -“It just came.” - -An instant later he opened the door, to Simmons’s horror, and entered. -When he came out he bore another message and went straight up to the -wireless house to send it. - -Soon after this Captain Brack came to Chanler’s stateroom, knocked and -entered. He remained within for some time. When he emerged his look -was dark and scowling, and he hurried straight to the bridge. A moment -later the _Wanderer’s_ twelve-knot rush began to diminish, and -presently we were moving along at a speed that seemed barely -sufficient to keep our headway against the sea. - -Not long after this came the clash between Brack and Garvin. - -I was starting on my morning constitutional when I came upon the pair -facing one another on the fore-deck. Chanler was looking on from the -bridge. Garvin was an unpleasant-looking brute to behold. His face was -swollen and he had evidently slept in his clothes. He was standing -lowering ferociously at Brack, who stood leaning against the -chart-house, his arms folded. - -“Sa-a-ay, sa-a-ay guy; what kind uv a game d’yah think yah’re running? -Eh?” the fighter was snarling. “What d’yah think yah’re putting over -on me? Hah? D’yah know who yah got hold of? I’m Bill Garvin.” - -“That is how I have put you down—as one of the crew,” said Brack. He -placed himself more firmly against the wall of the wheel-house. - -“Put—put me down?” cried Garvin incredulously. “Me—one of your crew? -Guess again, bo, guess again.” - -“I never guess,” retorted Brack and there was just a warning hint of -coldness in his tones. - -“Wa-ll, git next tuh yerself den, bo, an’ quit dat crew talk wid me. -When do we git back tuh Seattle?” - -“Perhaps never—for you—unless you soon say ‘sir’ when you speak to -me.” - -“Hah?” - -“‘Sir!’” bellowed Brack, and even the sodden plug-ugly blinked in -alarm at the menace in his tones. But only for a moment. He was a true -fighting brute, Garvin; his courage only swelled at a challenge. - -“Step out here an’ put up yer mitts, Bo,” he snapped. “I’m Bill -Garvin; who the —— are you?” - -From the bridge came Chanler’s cynical cackle. - -“He wants an introduction, cappy,” he chuckled. “Come, come; let’s -have your come-back.” - -Brack smiled in his old suave manner as he looked up at Chanler, but -as he turned away the smile changed to a black scowl. He looked -steadily at Garvin for several seconds, and it grew very quiet. - -Garvin started a little in surprise and fright, as if suddenly he had -seen something in Brack’s face which he had not expected to find -there. He was a stubborn fighting brute, however, and instinct told -him to charge when in fear. He leaped at Brack, his fists held taut; -and an instant later he was on his back on the deck, screaming in -agony, his hands covering his scalded face. - -Then for the first time I saw the hose-nozzle that the captain had -concealed beneath his folded arms. He had been standing so that his -broad back entirely concealed the hose, running from a fire-plug in -the wall. So the fighter had rushed, open-eyed, open-mouthed, against -a two-inch stream of hot water which swept him off his feet and left -him groveling and screaming on the deck. - -“Ha!” said George Chanler. “Sharp repartee that, cappy—though a bit -rough.” - -Brack found Garvin’s hands, neck, head with the water, and suddenly -turned it off. - -“Don’t!” cried Garvin. “For Gawd’s sake, don’t.” - -“Sir,” said Brack. - -“You go to ——!” - -The water found him again. - -“Sir.” - -“Sir,” whimpered Garvin. “Oh, Gawd! You’ve killed me!” - -“Sir.” - -“Sir.” - -Brack tossed the hose aside and wiped his hands. - -“Take him below,” he directed a couple of seamen. “Tell Dr. Olson to -care for him. I have too much need for Garvin to have him lose his -sight.” - -He turned abruptly toward Chanler on the bridge. - -“The wind is rising, sir,” he said. “At five knots we will barely -crawl.” - -“Yes?” said Chanler, yawning. “Well, crawling is exactly my mood -today.” - -“We’ll lose precious days up north if we continue at this speed.” - -Chanler smiled the shrewd smile of a man who has a joke all to -himself. - -“No, cappy; that’s once you’re wrong. It’s just the other way round: -I’d lose precious days if we didn’t continue at this speed, as you’ll -see when the time comes.” - -The captain glared after him as Chanler leisurely went aft to his -stateroom. The glare turned for an instant to a smile, of a sort that -Chanler would have been troubled to understand had it been seen. Then -Brack stamped forward and stood with folded arms, looking ahead over -the gray, tossing sea, his face raging with impatience over the -slowness of the yacht’s progress. - - - - - VIII - - -I climbed to the wireless house and found Freddy Pierce eagerly -looking for my appearance. - -“Did you see it?” he demanded. “Did you see it?” - -“Brack and Garvin? Yes, I saw it. It was horrible. Is that the way -Brack handles the men of the crew?” - -“Na-ah! I should say not. That isn’t his regular system. He don’t need -to touch ’em; he laughs at ’em and scares ’em stiff. He’s got a -fighting grouch on this morning, and Garvin was just something to take -it out on. Poor Garvin! He had to come staggering up and make his play -just after the captain come out of the boss’s cabin boiling mad. Any -other time the cap’ would ’a’ laughed at him so he’d snuck back to his -bunk like a bad little boy.” - -“Then what was wrong with the captain this morning?” - -Freddy shrugged his shoulders. - -“You notice we cut our speed down to a crawl, didn’t you? Well, it -must have been that that gave Brack his grouch. I haven’t quite got it -doped out yet. All I know is, I grab a bunch of words off the air for -the boss, I take him the message, he reads it, smiles, slips me a -double saw-buck for good luck and says: ‘Kindly tell Captain Brack to -step down here at once.’ I do. Captain Brack goes in smiling and comes -out with his eyes showing he’d been made to do something he didn’t -want to do. Bing! He gets Riordan on the engine-room phone. Zowie! He -shouts an order. And then the screw begins easing off little by -little, and pretty soon we’ve stopped running and are walking the way -we are now. Dope: the boss made cappy cut her down, and it made cappy -so sore he burnt Garvin’s face half off to blow off his grouch.” - -“But why in the world should Captain Brack grow so angry over that!” I -exclaimed. “Chanler is owner. Certainly it is to be expected that he -can sail where, when and how he pleases.” - -“Sure. It got cap’s goat, though.” - -“By Captain Brack’s own statement we may have to wait for the Spring -drift-ice to clear when we get up north. Surely there can be no -sensible objection to slow running under the circumstances, especially -as that is the owner’s wish.” - -Pierce doubled up, grasping his thin ankles and staring at the floor, -as was his custom when thinking seriously. - -“Brack has been hurrying ever since we lay in ’Frisco. Hurried about -the crew; took Wilson because he couldn’t find another officer in a -hurry; and, we ran at maximum all last night after we cleared the -Sound.” - -“What of that?” - -“That would take us to Petroff Sound just a week before we scheduled.” - -“Well?” - -“On our schedule time we’d probably have to lay offshore a week before -the ice breaks up so we could go in. Then what would be the sense of -getting there a week ahead of schedule? I saw the log this morning, -too, just after Brack’d written it. He had the night’s run down at -nine knots an hour; we were going better’n twelve. Put your noodle to -working, Mr. Brains. What’s the answer?” - -“Apparently Captain Brack wishes to reach Petroff Sound ahead of our -schedule.” - -“Without letting the boss know we were going to do it. Yep. Go on.” - -“It is impossible for me to guess at what his object may be.” - -“Same here, Brains. Brack isn’t doing it just for the fast ride -though, that’s a cinch. Go on.” - -“Chanler’s orders to slow down may be ascribed to one of his whims——” - -“Huh!” interrupted Freddy. “I wish you were right there.” - -“Why?” - -“The boss didn’t play up a whim when he cut down our speed. He’d done -some close figuring before he did that.” - -“How do you know?” - -“I ought to know. I’m operator, ain’t I? I handle his messages, don’t -I? Well, that’s how I know.” - -“Then the order to slow down was not due to a whim, but to a message?” - -“To the one he got this morning in reply to the one he sent last -night. Yep.” - -“There seems, then,” said I, “to be a conflict of interests on board; -Captain Brack wishes to go fast and Mr. Chanler wishes to go slow.” - -“Yes,” said Freddy Pierce, scratching his red head, “and if the -captain’s reasons are anything like the boss’s I’ve got a feeling that -you’ll have some —— funny things to write about before we get back -home. What’s more, if one of ’em’s got to have his way about the speed -you can put your money on the captain and cash.” - -“Nonsense! Mr. Chanler is the owner.” - -“Yes, and Captain Brack is—Brack.” - -I recalled what I had heard Brack called back in Billy Taylor’s in -Seattle. - -“Pierce,” I said, “how much do you know about Brack?” - -He cast a look of disapproval at me. - -“You don’t need to ask me that, Brains,” he said. “I got eyes—I can -see you got him sized up, too.” - -“You joined the _Wanderer_ in San Francisco two weeks before I did,” I -reminded him. “Surely you know more about the man than I do.” - -“Well,” he said, “I know that he’s a devil with men.” - -“A masterful personality,” I agreed. “Any one can see that.” - -“Yep. But that ain’t what’s worrying me.” - -“Worrying? Are you worrying about Brack?” - -“Oh, sort of.” - -“Why?” - -“Why,” he said, as his instrument began to crackle. He turned to take -a message. “Brack’s a devil toward men, but that ain’t a marker to -what he is with women.” - - - - - IX - - -While I stood watching Pierce busied at his instruments Simmons came -climbing up with word that Mr. Chanler wished me to come to his -stateroom. The sky had begun to clear to the eastward by now; a rift -of clean blue Spring heaven was showing through the great pall of -Winter-like gray clouds; and as I entered Chanler’s stateroom the sun -broke through and relieved the ugly monotony of the raw day. - -Chanler was trailing his mandarin-like dressing-gown behind him as he -paced the room, and his face was not the face of a man at ease. - -“Gardy,” he said, “I want to talk with you. Got to talk with you. -Brack’s all right to drink with; Doc Olson doesn’t talk at all; you’re -the only one fit to talk to on board. ’Member I started to tell you -yesterday how I discovered I had to do something useful, and then I -changed my mind and didn’t tell you after all? Well, I’m going to tell -you the whole story now. Gardy, how much do you know about -women—girls?” - -By this time I was prepared for any turn of thought on Chanler’s part -and replied—“Not as much as you do, that’s sure.” - -The careless reply seemed exactly what he wished to hear. He nodded -gravely. - -“That’s right. You don’t know how right that is. You may know a lot -about ’em, Gardy, but I know more. I’ve learned a lot about ’em -lately, a whole lot. You think that Brack, and those Petroff Sound -mammoths, and old Doc Harper are responsible for this little trip -we’re on. Well, they’re not.” - -He paused, then concluded slowly— - -“Gardy, it’s a girl.” - -I recalled Chanler’s bachelor fear that some day a shrewd mama would -snare him for her young daughter, and the determination with which he -had fled whenever he found himself growing interested in a girl in a -way that threatened his bachelor’s liberty. - -“Arctic Alaska is a long way to run away,” I laughed. - -“Hang it, Gardy!” he snapped. “Don’t talk that way. I’m not running -away.” - -“No?” - -“No. I—I’m doing this because I want to—want to—I know it will shock -you—but, hang it, Gardy! I want to marry her.” - -I had an uncomfortable series of visions: Chanler entangled by some -woman, a light actress, probably; family objections, and George being -sent away to the Arctic Circle while the family money convinced the -woman that she had made a mistake. - -“You mean that you’re being sent up here?” I asked. - -“Yes,” he replied, his chin sunk on his chest. “Yes, that’s it; I’m -being sent up here.” - -“By——” - -“By—her.” He looked straight out of the window, gnawing his underlip -nervously. “By a little girl, almost a kid, by Jove!” - -He paused again, then went on didactically: - -“The trouble with girls, Gardy—young girls; pretty, clever, charming -girls, you know—the trouble is they’re too popular. Too many pursuers. -Men are too eager to marry ’em. Fact. Girls have too many chances. Get -an exaggerated idea of their own importance, and pick and pick before -they decide on a chap, and then they demand that the one they’ve -picked is—is a little, white god. Fact. Even the common ones. Ordinary -man try to marry one—hah! Got to show ’em. Money? Oh, yes; big -percentage, show ’em money and they don’t ask anything else. Limousine -and poodle-dog type. - -“But, hang it, Gardy, there’s a new kind of girl growing up in this -country at present, and she’s the one who makes a man trouble. New -American breed. She doesn’t look back over her shoulder to make you -follow her. Hang it, no! She stands right up to you and looks you -square in both eyes. She won’t notice when you show her money; what -she’s looking at is you. Fact. Not what you got; but what you are. New -type. - -“Rotten world for men it’s getting to be. Our own fault, though. We -chase ’em; make ’em think themselves worth too much. Men ought to -quit—lose interest. That’d bring ’em to their senses, and they -wouldn’t ask a man uncomfy questions. But hang it, it’d be too late -now to do me any good,” he concluded gloomily. “I’m shot.” - -I said nothing, and he soon went on. - -“Shot, by Jove! Shot by a little girl. Just like a kid fresh from -school. Hit so hard I’ve got to have her, and, hang it! She’s one of -that—that new kind.” - -Still I remained silent, and for many seconds Chanler struggled with -his next words. - -“Gardy!” he broke out in mingled anger and awe. “She wouldn’t have -me!” - -Once more we sat in silence, an uncomfortable silence for me. I had no -desire to discuss affairs of the heart with any one. Up to that time I -had never felt the need of any woman in my life. - -Presently Chanler opened his writing-desk and drew out a small -photograph which he passed to me. - -“There she is, there’s the cause of this expedition, Gardy.” - -I looked with interest at the picture in my hand. - -It was as poor a specimen of the outdoor picture as any amateur ever -made on a sunny Sunday. It represented a bareheaded girl in tennis -costume, her hair considerably tousled as if she had just finished a -set; but as the picture had been taken against the sun the face was so -dark as to be scarcely discernible. Just an ordinary outdoor girl, -apparently, as ordinary as the photograph. - -“That’s the reason for this trip,” said George, carefully returning -the picture to its place. “She isn’t anybody you know or have heard -of. She’s nobody. She’s just a common doctor’s daughter from a little -town in the Middle West, and I want to marry her, Gardy, and by -Jove—she wouldn’t have me!” - -He was started now, and there was no opportunity to stop him had I so -wished. I listened in humble resignation. I was Chanler’s hired man. I -was engaged as his literary secretary, but probably he counted me paid -for listening to him while he poured out his amazement and despair at -having been refused. - -“She wouldn’t have me, Gardy,” he repeated over and over again; and, -considering how many girls had fished for Chanler’s name and money, I -wondered what sort of a girl this could be. - -“I met her down at Aiken last Winter. She was visiting some folks—but -that didn’t count. I met her at the tennis court. By Jove!” A new -light came into his cynical eyes, a clean light, and for the time -being his face was almost fine. “Can’t stand athletic girls as a usual -thing, you know that, Gardy; but she—she was different.” - -They had danced together that night at the club ball. If she had been -stunning on the courts, she was overwhelming in evening dress. He -scarcely had dared to touch her. - -They had spent a great part of the next day rolling slowly about -country roads in one of his roadsters. Sometimes they had stopped at -convenient points along the road and had sat silent and looked at each -other. Again they had halted and picked flowers along the roadside. -And between times they had rolled along at six miles an hour -and—talked. - -“Oh, hang it, Gardy. For the first time in my life I wished I was -clever like you and had done something. It ain’t fair. Nobody ever -made me do a thing; what chance have I had to amount to anything? And -then a fellow meets a girl like this, who likes you from the start and -when she asks you what you’re doing, or have done, or are going to do, -and you say nothin’, she looks at you in a certain way as if to say: -‘Why, what excuse do you make to yourself for cumbering the earth?’ -No, by George, it ain’t fair; is it, Gardy? - -“I told her I had money, and she laughed and said she didn’t -understand how a man could be satisfied to have money and nothing -else, and money that his father had earned at that. Then I asked her -to marry me, so I would have something besides money. Hang it, old -man, she cried. Yes, she did, just for a little while. Then she looked -up and laughed at me, and said: ‘George, I’ve known you less than two -days, and I’ve learned to like you so much that I wish I dared like -you more. But if I liked you any more,’ she says, ‘I’m afraid I’d want -to marry you, and have to depend upon you for my future happiness, and -to be the father of my children,’ and says she, ‘you haven’t the right -to ask that, George, so long as you play around like a thoughtless -boy, and do nothing that a man should do.’ - -“Jove! That was enough to make a fellow pull up and think, wasn’t it? -I said to myself right there: ‘I’m going to do something.’ And I am. I -ain’t clever like you, Gardy, and I haven’t got business experience -like some fellows, but—” he smiled with self-satisfaction—“I have got -money.” - -It all ended there. He had money; he need have nothing else. The new -look vanished from his eyes and they became cynical and supercilious -again. His underlip protruded cunningly. - -“Science is a great help if you know how to use it, Gardy,” he -chuckled. “What’s your opinion of our little expedition now?” - -“I don’t see any reason why what you have told me should alter my -opinion of the expedition.” - -“Ha! I thought maybe that old conscientious streak in you would get -troublesome. You don’t quibble about motives then, Gardy?” - -“Why should I? I am your hired writing man——” - -“Oh, hang it, Gardy! Don’t put it that way. Don’t be so precise. As -one chap to another, you know—what do you think?” - -“I see nothing wrong with your motive, Chanler. In fact, I think it -rather fine. As I understand it you are undertaking this expedition -because you wish to prove to this girl that you can and will do -something useful.” - -“Right-o. That’s why I undertook it—in the first place.” - -“That surely established an excellent motive, for a man in your -sentimental frame of mind, at least.” - -“Yes,” he said with a hollow laugh, “there’s nothing wrong with that, -is there?” - -“And if the expedition is successful the results will be a credit to -you—a genuine success—irrespective of what your motives might be.” - -“Now you’re shouting, Gardy!” he cried vehemently, striking the desk. -“The results, that’s what counts. Not the motive or the means. Who -asks a winner why or how? Win out! Get what you want! That’s the idea. -And, by Jove! What I want I get; and I want Betty Baldwin to be my -wife!” - - - - - X - - -The _Wanderer_ wallowed her faltering way northward, a new atmosphere -of sinister suggestion about her spray-damped decks. Yet even now, -with Chanler’s sudden confession ringing in my ears, I thought, not of -him and his plans, not of the owner’s empty stateroom furnished for a -woman, not of the Miss Baldwin mentioned, but of Brack. Brack was the -great force on board. Chanler might plan well or evil; but it would be -Brack’s will that would determine the fate of these plans, and of any -one who came aboard. And I had not gaged Brack. Though by this time I -was ready to credit him with Machiavellian cunning and power, my -estimate of the man failed to do him full justice. - -It was on the fourth day out that this conclusion was forced upon me. -As Wilson had predicted, the weather remained rough and raw, and the -_Wanderer_ lifted and rolled leisurely through a smother of fog and -spray from the long, slow North Pacific rollers. - -In the middle of the afternoon the sun broke through for a period, the -fog disappeared, and I climbed to the wireless deck to enjoy the -cheeriness of unwonted sunshine and Pierce’s company combined. I found -Pierce squatted on the starboard edge of the cabin roof, absorbed in -watching the deck below. At the sound of my footsteps he looked up, -grinned and crooked his finger for me to come to his side. - -“Garvin’s out again,” he whispered. “He’s just come up from the aft on -the starboard side. Brack’s forward just now, but he’s been hiking the -starboard promenade for the last five minutes. He’s in a sweat again -about our running half speed, and if Garvin doesn’t see him and duck -they’re going to meet.” - -I looked aft and saw Garvin, the pugilist, standing bareheaded in the -sunlight, steadying himself easily to the pitch and rise of the -_Wanderer’s_ deck. - -Surprise and relief came to me as I saw him look around, blinking -against the sun. I had feared to hear that he had been blinded, or -that he had been scalded so fearfully that he might succumb, or lie -helpless for weeks. Yet here he was, save for the bandages that -covered most of his face, apparently in better physical condition than -when he had come aboard. In reality this was true. Two days of medical -treatment and rest had given his splendid vitality that opportunity to -throw off the load of alcoholic poison with which it had been -surcharged. His bony face, hardened by training and blows, had -withstood without serious damage the stream of boiling water that -would have blinded, probably killed, a normal man. - -As he moved slowly forward along the port rail in the bright sunlight -there was none of the weakened, defeated look of a badly injured man -about him. With his head and shoulders thrust forward, the short neck -completely hidden, the long arms hanging easily, and moving with the -sure step of the man whose muscular feet grip the ground, he was -formidable to look at, a fighting animal, unafraid and undefeated. - -“One bad, tough guy!” whispered Pierce in admiration. “Say, Brains, -even money that he takes a swing at Brack before the cruise is over.” - -Brack had made a swift, impatient turn near the bow and was coming aft -along the starboard rail. He was wearing his rough sea-clothes and he -walked with his eyes on the deck, chewing tobacco viciously. - -From the aft Garvin advanced slowly, and from the bow came Brack. And -as I looked from one to the other now I was shocked with the -impression that they were much alike. The same thickness about the -neck and shoulders, the same sense of force about them both. But in -Garvin it was a blind force, stupid and unenlightened as the force of -a thick-necked bull, while in Brack the force was directed by one of -the most efficient minds it had been my fortune to come in contact -with. - -“Pipe ’em off, pipe ’em off!” whispered Pierce excitedly. “They’re -going to meet face to face in the companionway. Brains, a dollar says -there’ll be something doing when Garvin looks up and sees himself -alone with the guy who cooked him.” - -“Hush!” I warned. - -A sudden stillness and tension seemed to have settled down on the -yacht. Above a hatchway aft I saw the heads of a pair of the crew -eagerly watching Garvin as his steps carried him toward Brack. In the -bow the cook and Simmons followed the captain with their eyes; and -from the bridge, Wilson, the mate, erect and stanch, looked down with -his calm, serious expression unchanged. - -And then they met. It was almost directly beneath where Pierce and I -sat. They stopped and looked at one another. I had the sensation of a -calm before a storm. And then—— - -“Hello, cap,” said Garvin in a low voice, and I could see in spite of -his bandages that he winked. “How’s tricks?” - -Brack smiled. - -“All right, Garvin. How are you coming on?” - -“Oh, I’m all right.” Garvin stepped to one side. “Little thing like -that don’t bother me.” - -“Good!” Brack actually patted him on the shoulder. “You’re the kind of -man I want. I suppose you’ve taken worse beatings than that when it’s -paid you to throw a fight?” - -“——! That wasn’t even a knock-out. Just a little hot water. I’d take -more’n that to be let in on a job like this.” - -“That’s the way to talk,” said the captain heartily. “And this will -bring you more than any fight you ever won or lost.” - -That was all. They passed on, Brack toward the aft, Garvin toward the -bow. - -I looked at Pierce. He shivered slightly. - -“I feel cold,” he whispered. - -I looked up at Wilson. His eyes had widened a little. He swung around -and began to pace the bridge. He knew what his duty was; he would do -it no matter what went on between captain and crew. - -“It’s getting chilly,” said Pierce. - -We retired to the wireless house. Pierce shut the door and stared at -me. - -“Now what—now what do you make of that, Brains?” - -I shook my head. I, too, felt inclined to shiver. - -“Something’s wrong, Brains, something’s wronger than a fixed fight. -The captain’s framing something. He’s let Garvin in on it. What is -it—what is it? Can you dope it out?” - -“No. Perhaps you’re mistaken.” - -“Don’t talk that way; you know better’n that. Come to bat. Didn’t you -hear him say this’d get him more’n he ever got in a fight? Garvin’s -got thousands. The cap’s framed something, and he’s taken Garvin in. -Now, what is it? I’ve had a hunch something was going on. I’m all ice -below the ankles. What d’you s’pose they’re going to do? By God! I -wouldn’t put it past ’em to steal the yacht!” - -“Easy, Pierce,” I laughed. “People don’t do such things nowadays.” - -“‘People don’t’? D’you call Brack and Garvin ‘people’? Garvin’s a -gorilla and the captain’s—Brack. Come on. Brains, can’t you dope out -what they’re framing?” - -“Roll yourself a cigaret,” I advised laughingly. “If you’re so eager -to find out what Brack is planning, suppose we ask him?” - -“Don’t,” he sputtered, horrified. “Don’t do anything like that.” - -“Why not?” - -“‘Why not?’” he repeated, growing calm. “Oh, just because I kind o’ -like your company and I don’t want you to go overboard into the -briny.” - -I laughed. Pierce, I felt, was given to extravagant expressions. - -At dinner that evening I sat down resolved to lead the conversation -around to Garvin’s new-born docility, but, face to face with Brack, I -admit that I feared to attempt it. I was no match for him. His -terrible eyes, I felt, would have read the thoughts in my mind try as -I might to hide them, and I smiled and replied as best I could to his -sallies, and wondered in vain over what was going on behind that -gross, smiling mask. - -The weather grew suddenly rougher toward the end of the meal. - -“That’s the tail of it,” said Wilson in reply to my question. “Now -we’re getting the blow that has been chasing the rough weather down -from the north, where it’s been a lot worse than we’ve been having. -It’ll kick up hard for a few hours. Ought to die down and clear off by -tomorrow morning.” - -The smashing storm drove Brack and Wilson to their duties on deck. -Riordan went, too, presently, and while Chanler and Dr. Olson, -agreeing that the dining salon was the best place on a night like -this, ordered another bottle, I found an oilskin and sou’wester and -followed. - -As I stepped out on deck I wished for a moment to be back in the warm, -lighted cabin. The wind had increased to what seemed to me a tornado, -and the night was so dark that only in the beam of the _Wanderer’s_ -search-light could one see the tossing water. - -The sea had changed with the rising of the wind, and in place of the -long, slow rollers, sharp, spiteful waves shot their crests high over -the yacht’s bridge, and with the driving rain which was falling made -the decks uncomfortable, even dangerous. I recoiled from the dark, the -wind and the rain. - -A gust of wind and a slanting deck swept me off my feet and sent me -slithering on my knees, gasping for breath, into the scuppers. I grew -angry. My anger was with myself. I was timid, and I was weak; and, so, -moved probably by some inherited streak of stubbornness, I forced -myself to my feet, forced my face to meet the wind and rain without -flinching, and so forced myself, much against a portion of my will, to -remain outside, with the warmth and comfort of the cabin only a step -away. - -The storm grew worse. A life-boat on the port side was torn loose from -a davit and swung noisily along the side. Through the brawl of the -storm Wilson’s voice rang out sternly, there was a rush of feet on the -deck and suddenly men were swinging the boat back to its place, making -it fast, while the wind and waves snatched at them hungrily. Then the -decks were empty again. - -The wind strove to force me back to the cabin, and with a new -stubbornness I refused to go. It was boyish, it was silly, but the -harder the wind blew, the more the spray drenched me, the more -determined I was to remain. I began to glow with the struggle. - -New and strange sensations came and went. I felt an inexplicable -desire to shout back at the storm. For the first time in years I was -thrilled by the impulse of a physical contest, and I fought my way to -the bow and stood spread-legged, leaning forward against the -wave-crests which drenched me. Then I went leisurely aft, hanging onto -the rail, denying the wind the right to hurry me. And in the noise and -darkness I all but walked squarely into Captain Brack and Riordan. - -They were standing in the lee of the engineer’s cabin. I did not see -them, for I was moving by hand-holds along the cabin wall when, in a -lull of the storm, I heard their voices and stopped. - -“You got a bad one, sir, when you picked Larson,” Riordan was saying. - -“Larson?” repeated Brack, as if trying to place the name. “Oh, the -young hand from the Sound boat? What’s wrong with him?” - -“He knows Madigan.” - -“——!” said Brack. “Is he the only one?” - -“Yes. I’ve sounded the others a second time to make sure. But Larson -knew Madigan in some little town up the Sound. What’s more he’s no -good to us. He’s ambitious and he’s working for a mate’s certificate, -got a good family, and he won’t keep his mouth shut. I know he won’t.” - -Brack made a sound in his throat like a bear growling. - -“Oh, yes he will,” he said. “I’ll have a talk with him. He’ll keep his -mouth shut when he understands there’s something in it for him. He’s -one of the lookouts tonight, isn’t he? All right. Tell Garvin I want -to see him in your cabin in half an hour.” - -“Yes sir.” - -A door slid open and shut as Riordan slipped back into his cabin, and -I heard Brack’s heavy breathing as he came around the corner toward -where I was hiding. - -I retreated, swiftly and noiselessly, and slipped back into my -stateroom. All hope that Pierce’s interpretation of Brack’s -conversation with Garvin was wrong now had vanished. Brack was -plotting something, and Riordan was partner to it, whatever it was. I -did not sleep much that night. - -In the morning I went in to breakfast early and found Wilson sitting -staring at a cup of black coffee which he had ordered. One glance at -the gravity of his lean, brown face and I knew that something was -wrong. - -“What has happened, Mr. Wilson?” I asked nervously. - -Without lifting his eyes he said— - -“Lookout Larson was swept overboard and lost from his watch last -night.” - - - - - XI - - -I sat staring across the table at Wilson for many minutes before my -wits returned to me. The mate’s words seemed too awful to be true; -they seemed words heard in a hideous nightmare. Throughout the night I -had fought and denied the still whisperings of potential horrors -aboard which had striven for room in my thoughts; and here the -blackest depths of these horrors were realized by Wilson’s simple -words. For in my mind’s eye I did not see the picture that his words -should have conjured up: of a seaman swept from his post, falling into -the sea by mischance, drowning in the dark, without a chance to be -saved—I saw Brack talking to young Larson, I saw the brutal gleam of -Garvin’s bandaged eyes, I saw—Good God! I was afraid to admit to -myself what I did see. - -“Lost?” I repeated stupidly. “You mean drowned?” - -“Yes sir.” - -“Good God!” I chattered. “How can you sit there and talk about it so -calmly.” - -“I have followed the sea since I was fourteen, Mr. Pitt,” he replied -respectfully. “I have seen many men lost, good men, better men than -myself. The sea is hard.” - -“But how—how could it happen?” - -“I don’t know, sir; it wasn’t in my watch.” - -As he rose to go he added, with a puzzled shake of his head— - -“He was a good seaman, too, Larson was, and a clean, sober young -fellow.” - -I was still too much of the coward, still too much the indoor man, to -face brutal facts honestly. - -“But it must have been an accident!” I said. “An accident might -overtake even a good and sober seaman.” - -“Yes sir,” said Wilson. - -“You don’t think it was anything but an accident, do you?” - -He thought for a while before replying. - -“Well, sir, Larson and the rest of the crew didn’t get on together. He -was from the Sound, you see, sir, and the rest of the hands, except -Garvin and the negro, were shipped at ’Frisco. Larson was different -from them, sir; he was young, and sober, and ambitious. He came from a -good family in Portland, and he had his whole life in front of him, -and he was living it so he was bound to rise, sir. He was a credit to -the _Wanderer_, Larson was, sir.” - -“Then you mean that the rest of the crew is not?” - -“I didn’t say that, sir.” - -“It was what you meant, though.” - -“I don’t say so. I said that Larson and the rest of the crew didn’t -get on together. He kept himself apart, and they saw he was too good -for them, and they had trouble.” - -“What do you mean by trouble?” - -“Well, for one thing he wouldn’t join their crap-game, and they had -words and Larson smashed a couple of their faces.” - -“Good Heavens, Wilson! You don’t mean to say that you think the crew -was responsible——” - -“No, sir. I don’t say anything of the sort.” - -He opened the door to step out. - -“Wilson!” I said. “Do you think everything is right on board?” - -“I don’t, sir,” he said promptly. “I would be blind if I did. But I -know that I am right, sir, and I know my duty to my ship.” - -Chanler came in for breakfast at that moment. He was apparently -pleased at something, but at the sight of our faces his expression -changed. He stood for a few seconds, looking first at Wilson, then at -myself, greatly displeased. - -“You’re a fine looking pair of grouches for a man to look at first -thing he gets up,” he said irritably. “Hang it! Here I’ve had my first -decent night’s sleep in months: get up feeling like a boy, by Jove! -And here you chaps greet me with faces that look like before the -morning drink. I won’t have it, you hear! You’re too sober both of -you, anyhow. Hang you water-wagon riders! Smile—you! Can’t you look -cheerful when you see I want it?” - -A slight flush showed beneath Wilson’s tan. - -“Not this morning, sir,” he said. - -“Hah?” Chanler looked at him, looked at me, with alarm in his eyes. -“What’s the matter? Eh? Whatd’ you know—what’re you so serious about? -Out with it, Wilson? What is it?” - -“Lookout Larson was swept overboard and lost in the dog-watch last -night, sir.” - -Chanler sank into his chair, actually relieved. - -“Hang it! Is that all——” - -“Good God, Chanler!” I cried springing up. “‘Is that all?’ Isn’t that -enough?” - -He looked at me, surprised and a little amused. - -“Hello! Getting excited, Gardy? I didn’t think you had it in you.” - -“I didn’t think you had this in you, Chanler!” I retorted indignantly. -“Didn’t you hear Wilson say that one of the men—Larson, a fine young -man—was drowned last night, while we slept?” - -He looked at me steadily. - -“Yes, I heard,” he said carelessly. - -“And you said, ‘is that all?’ And it was a relief to you. Did you -expect to hear something worse than that—that one of your seamen had -lost his life?” - -“Gardy,” he said softly, “who do you think you are talking to? - -“I don’t know,” I said hotly. “I thought I knew you, Chanler. I find I -am mistaken.” - -“By Jove, Gardy!” he repeated. “I didn’t think you had it in you.” - -“Oh, drop that! That’s a pose, Chanler, and this is no time for -posing. A man has lost his life from your yacht, and you are relieved -because that is all. What sort of a condition of affairs is this?” - -“I didn’t think you had it in you, Gardy,” he repeated. “No, I didn’t -think you’d dare to talk to me this way face to face.” - -“Dare!” I cried, and he sat up and looked at me strangely. - -“By Jove! Gardy, you’re growing. The sea air is doing wonders for you. -As for this chap—this hand—what’s his name, Wilson——” - -“Larson, sir.” - -“Larson. He was paid and paid well, and came on board of his own free -will.” - -“And your feeling of responsibility ends there?” I asked. - -“Feeling of responsibility? My dear, excited Gardy! What are we going -to have—a lecture on the responsibility of employer to employed, and -that sort of rot?” - -“No,” I said, “it would be wasted here.” - -“Sensible man. Wilson, you may tell Captain Brack to step in, please.” - -Brack came promptly, bustling in with a smile on his face. - - * * * * * - -“H’llo, cappy,” said Chanler indolently. “I hear we had an accident -last night.” - -“Yes sir.” - -“Well—” Chanler’s face was working angrily—“Well, after this if -anything unpleasant happens you give orders to keep it from me until -after breakfast, d’you hear? I don’t like to hear of unpleasant -things; I don’t like it. This—thing has spoiled my appetite for the -whole morning!” - -“Why not,” I said, staring hard at Brack, “why not ask Captain Brack -to prevent such accidents from happening?” - -“Hah?” Chanler started at the sound of my voice; I was startled at it -myself. Even Brack’s smile vanished. “What’s this, Gardy—some more of -your unpleasant rot? I won’t have it: I——” - -“For I am sure if Captain Brack utilized his great ability in an -effort to prevent accidents such as happened to young Larson, they -would not occur.” - -Not a shade did Brack’s florid face lose in color, not a flicker of -change showed in his eyes. But he drew himself up a little, and in -that moment I knew that my worst fears concerning the loss of Larson -were true. - -“Mr. Pitt flatters me, I fear,” said Brack, smiling again. “I——” - -“You ‘fear’?” I said. “What do you fear? Have you any reason for using -the phrase, ‘I fear,’ Captain Brack? It sounds so strange on your -lips.” - -He looked at Chanler and back at me. - -“Mr. Pitt flatters me, I think,” he said, his old smile back in place. -“Does that sound better?” - -Guilty! As guilty as the devil, he was, and I knew it; yet he stood -and smiled as if nothing was wrong in the world; not a thing troubling -his conscience. - -“Gardy, you’re—unpleasant company this morning, I must say that,” -interrupted Chanler. “Why, hang it! Captain, what d’you suppose he’s -been putting up to me? That I ought to feel responsible about this -hand, Carson, Larson, whatever his name was. Now he’s jumping on you. -You ought to be responsible too, I suppose. Gardy, you’re impossible.” - -The captain smiled upon me tolerantly. Chanler’s explanation of my -words and wafted away the whispers of suspicion. - -“Mr. Pitt, having an exaggerated idea of the value of a human life, is -greatly upset by our accident. I appreciate his condition. If his -philosophy were less tainted with sentimentality——” - -“I might smile over the loss of a young, hopeful life? Thank you, that -is a mental level which I hardly hope to achieve.” - -I went out on deck and climbed up to the wireless house. Pierce -greeted me with a sorry shake of the head. - -“Gee! That was a dirty shame about poor Larson. He was the only white -man in the crew. If anything had to happen why couldn’t it happen to -one of the bums?” - -I saw that Pierce knew nothing that might make him suspect that -Larson’s disappearance was not accidental and I told him hurriedly of -the conversation between Riordan and Brack which I had overheard last -night. - -“Oh, my God!” he groaned. “The dirty dogs! Young Larson, as nice a lad -as you ever talked with, against Brack, and that gorilla, Garvin! Oh, -they’re a fine bunch of crooks, the bunch in this crew. As fine a -bunch o’ crooks as ever went to sea to duck the police. Brack and -Riordan picked ’em, you know, in San Fran’. Wilson’s all right, and -besides him I think they made just one mistake in their picking.” - -“How so?” - -“The nigger they got at Seattle. He’s a crook, too, but he certainly -has got it in for Garvin.” - -The rest of that day was a trying one to me. Save for Pierce, Wilson -and myself, not a soul on board seemed to have a single serious -thought about Larson’s disappearance. The weather had cleared; the -wind had shifted to the south and was only a gentle breeze; the sun -was shining; and to the rest of the company life aboard the _Wanderer_ -seemed like a holiday. - -Chanler seemed both elated and impatient. At times he lolled in a -deck-chair and chaffed me good humoredly, and the next moment he would -be up, pacing the promenade nervously. - -“Gad! Time goes slow, doesn’t it, Gardy?” he exclaimed half a dozen -times during the day. “Well, we’ll have a little something to break -the monotony soon. The _City of Nome_ will overtake us about nine -tomorrow morning.” - -And Captain Brack, as he heard, smiled secretively; and I wondered -what joke he might be keeping to himself. - -Next morning at dawn a rush of feet outside my stateroom put an end to -my efforts to sleep. I dressed and went on deck. A seaman came -hurrying past, running toward an excited group gathered on the -after-deck. I shouted to ask the cause of the excitement. - -“We’ve run a man down in an open boat at sea,” he called back, “and -he’s lousy with gold!” - - - - - XII - - -I followed the man, caught by the electricity of excitement which -seemed to dominate all on deck. - -On the after-deck of the _Wanderer_, near the rail, was a long settee, -and about this eight or nine men were grouped closely. In the half -light of dawn their figures loomed bulkily and strangely alike. As I -drew near I made out Captain Brack, Riordan and Garvin. Pierce was -there, too, I saw on closer scrutiny, in the center of the throng, -apparently as excited as any of them. - -A black figure, dripping wet, was lying on one end of the settee. I -saw that it was a man, and that Dr. Olson was bending over him, a -bottle of brandy in his right hand. - -“He’s coming to again,” said the doctor. “He’ll be all right.” - -No one paid any attention; not a man turned to look. They were bending -over something that lay on the other end of the settee, and so eager -were their attitudes that I, too, paid no attention to Dr. Olson, or -the man he was nursing, but crowded in among the close-pressed -shoulders for a sight of what the magnet might be. - -“Go-o-old!” the pugilist, Garvin, was repeating in awe-stricken -whispers. - -“Go-o-old! My Gawd! Look at it. And he said there was barrels of -it—barrels—where that comes from!” - -A water-soaked canvas bag, roughly slit open, was spread out on the -settee. What appeared to be a score or so of small pebbles was lying -on the canvas, beside what seemed to me to be a handful of sand; but -at that moment the first rays of the sun reached the _Wanderer’s_ -decks, the pebbles and sand began to gleam dully, and I saw that I was -looking at a pile of gold nuggets and gold dust. - -“Two men to carry him below, cap’n,” came Dr. Olson’s voice from the -other end of the settee. “He’s all right; in surprisingly good -condition; but we’ve got to strip him and get dry clothes on him.” - -Not one of us turned our heads. The others were fascinated by the -gold, and I was fascinated by the expression on their faces. Each face -bore the same expression; to a man they had dropped such masks of -civilization as they possessed, and greed, pure, primitive greed, -shone frankly from their strangely lighted eyes. - -Life—raw and crawling! Brack’s words flashed through my mind. He was -right, then. Raw and crawling! It was the first time I had viewed the -souls of men, naked and unashamed of their nudity, and the vision was -appalling. - -“Schwartz—Dillon,” Captain Brack spoke over his shoulder. “To the -doctor. Jump!” - -The two men named withdrew reluctantly. I heard them marching behind, -bearing the dripping man below, but I did not turn to look. My eyes -were on Garvin. He was standing so that I had a fair view of his eyes -and his unbandaged mouth, and I stared in fascination, as one is -fascinated by something grewsome, which one has not believed possible. - -I became conscious that somebody was watching me. It was Brack. He was -smiling. - -“Raw and crawling, Mr. Pitt,” he said, reading my thoughts like print. -“You wouldn’t believe it when I told you; but there it is, all over -Garvin’s face. Now what do you say?” - -Garvin swung his head around viciously. - -“What’s the matter with my face?” he snarled. - -“It is the face of a frankly carnivorous animal with a bone in sight,” -laughed Brack, “and it does not please our friend, Mr. Pitt.” - -“Oh, him!” said Garvin, turning back. “To —— with him.” - -“To —— with everybody!” growled another man. “Look at it—gold! And he -said he just scraped that up with his bare hands.” - -“And it’s only a few hundred miles away—the place he got it.” - -“And we’re going up north hunting bones, for thirty a month! ——!” - -“Enough!” With a swoop of his hands Brack gathered the gold into the -bag and stuffed it into his pocket. “Get out! Get below!” - -He swept them out of sight with a commanding gesture. They went, but -they looked back with threats in their excited faces. - - * * * * * - -“You have seen it now, Mr. Pitt,” Brack said, turning to me. “What do -you say now—is not life raw and crawling?” - -“As an exhibition of the primal instinct of greed the spectacle was -quite worth seeing,” I replied. “Now tell me what it was all about?” - -“This!” said he, striking the bag of gold in his pocket. “All about -this. For this the man whom we picked up in an open boat a short time -ago risked and all but lost his life. For this the men of the crew are -ready to cut the throats of any one who opposes them. And why? Because -it is gold. Because it is power; because it means the gratification of -all that is encompassed in—life. - -“So you see what is behind life, with all its veneer and politeness, -Mr. Pitt. The primal instincts, as you expressed it—raw and crawling. -You must excuse me now; I must go down and see the man we picked up. -If he should happen to die it would not be right to let the secret of -the source of this gold die with him. Besides, I want Olson to save -him. He can take Larson’s place in the crew.” - -I walked to the bow of the _Wanderer_ and back. A new atmosphere -seemed to have descended upon the yacht. The movements of the men of -the watch, the sullen, slovenly manner in which they attended to their -duties, reeked with menace. It seemed to me that the decks of the -_Wanderer_ merely hid a cauldron of seething elements, ready to -explode and destroy. - -Then Wilson came on deck to take the watch in Captain Brack’s absence, -and at the sight of his trig seaman’s figure I felt assured. There was -one man at least who had not lost his sense of duty toward ship and -owner. The yacht might be a mad-house, surcharged with dangerous -greed, but Wilson would do his duty as if nothing were out of the way. - -“Yesterday morning we had news of losing a man, this morning we pick -one up,” I said. - -“Yes sir,” he said, and looked at me narrowly. - -“A strange coincidence.” - -“Yes sir.” He looked at me again, and turned his eyes out over the -sea. - -“Mr. Pitt,” he said after awhile, “yesterday you spoke of Larson’s -disappearance as if you believed it might have been something besides -an accident, and that things were not as they should be aboard. Well, -now I know that you are right; things are not as they should be on -this yacht.” - -“What have you discovered?” - -He took his time about replying. - -“That man never was picked up in an open boat at sea, Mr. Pitt,” he -said quietly. “The land where he claims to have come from is about six -hundred miles away. No small boat could have lived five minutes in the -storm we have been having, and that storm was stronger farther north.” - -He spoke as if he were stating an ordinary fact, and his calmness -helped me to control myself. - -“What does it mean, then, Wilson?” I asked as easily as I could. - -“I don’t know, sir. I’m a seaman; I can’t follow such a queer course. -I only know that this man was not picked up, after a long voyage as he -claims; because his boat could not have lived through.” - -“Captain Brack must know that, too?” - -“Any seaman who has sailed these waters in Springtime knows that, -sir.” - -“Yet Brack seemed to accept the man’s story as true. Oh!” I gasped as -I saw him smile. “Then it was Captain Brack who claimed to have picked -him up?” - -“I can’t discuss that, sir; Captain Brack is my superior. But I know -that what I have told you is the truth; and I thought it right you -should know.” - -“Why do you tell me, Wilson? Mr. Chanler is the owner.” - -“Yes sir.” He hesitated a moment, then added: “You are near to the -owner. You’ll tell him if you see fit.” - - - - - XIII - - -Chanler was in fine fettle that morning. He arose early, snatched a -cup of coffee for breakfast and came out to pace the deck, frequently -turning his glasses on the horizon over the yacht’s stern. - -“Greetings and salutations, Gardy!” he exclaimed as we met. “Down with -the long face, up with the merry-merry! Hang it, Gardy, get enthused. -Can’t you see I’m actually not bored this morning?” - -Captain Brack soon appeared with a detailed account of the new man’s -adventures. The man had been one of the crew of a sealing schooner -which had been blown far off its course and lost the Autumn before -with all hands, save our man and one companion. - -Clinging to an upturned boat they had been driven ashore in an inlet -which appeared on no map of Alaska to that date, a region so secluded -that the man called it the “Hidden Country.” The pair had wintered -precariously. With the beginning of the Spring break-up they had -discovered that in the upper reaches of a river running into the inlet -they had but to turn up the sand and find gold in quantities unheard -of. - -Rendered desperate by lack of food, they had set forth in their open -boat in hope of somehow striking the first steamers going North. The -man’s companion had died of hardships two days before. They had called -the inlet Kalmut Fiord, after the wrecked sealer; it was so well -hidden behind an island that a thousand boats might sail past and -never guess of its existence, never know there was a hidden country -there in which nature had hoarded a great amount of the stuff men -prize above all other things material. - -“By Jove!” cried Chanler, as Brack finished. “Sounds like a book, -doesn’t it? Have the beggar up, cappy, and let’s have a look at him; -let’s see the gold and hear his story.” - -We were sitting on the long settee in the stern at the time. A couple -of hands were working near by, polishing brass work. - -As word was sent below to bring the miner up, the number of men near -by gradually increased to half a dozen, and half of these loafed -around boldly, making no pretense at being occupied. They looked at -Chanler and myself with hard, insolent eyes. They did not fancy the -notion of going bone-hunting for wages while fortunes waited to be dug -from the sands of the nearest shore. - -I looked idly back over the yacht’s wake. On the horizon appeared what -seemed to be a peculiar cloud. I watched it curiously, and saw that -with each minute the cloud grew larger. It became a long smudge on the -horizon, and I was about to call Chanler’s attention to it, when—— - -“_City of Nome_ overhauling us, sir!” megaphoned Pierce from the -wireless house. “They say: ‘Heave to. Have passenger for you.’” - -“Ah, ha!” cried Chanler springing up, for the moment his blasé -countenance flushing with life. “Never mind about the gold-hunter, -cappy. We’ll have him another time. Just have Riordan shut down, will -you, and lay to for our passenger?” - -He started for his state-room, when, seeing the men lounging about, he -added: - -“Send ’em below, cappy. They look tough; they’d give any one a bad -impression. Simmons! Come here.” - -Not a man moved. No order was given as he had requested. Captain Brack -laughed shortly and went forward to the engine-room telephone. - -The men smiled with an evil showing of teeth at Chanler’s retreating -back. When he had disappeared in his stateroom they spat generously -upon the _Wanderer’s_ immaculate deck, lounged over to the rail and -stood looking back toward the rapidly approaching steamer. I stared at -them with a sickening weakness at my knees. - -I scarcely noticed the steamer. For what had just taken place told as -plainly as words that Chanler no longer was master of his own yacht, -that the men, and Brack, had thrown off the cloak and were in open -revolt. - -The _City of Nome_ came to a stop a good distance away to port. A -boat, well loaded with baggage, and with four oarsmen and an officer -in place, was swung briskly out from the davits and dropped into the -water. A slender, be-capped figure, sheathed in a coat that reached -from chin to ankles, flashed down the ladder and leaped to a seat in -the stern. Along the rail of the _City of Nome_ ranged crew and -passengers, waving and shouting farewells. The passenger in the boat -stood up bowing, cap in hand, and at that a sharp-eyed seaman near me -blurted out: - -“Well, I’ll be ——! It’s a woman—a girl!” - -Wilson was standing near our lowered ladder, looking through his -glasses, and I hurried to him. - -“Was the man right, Mr. Wilson?” I asked. “Is it a woman?” - -“Yes sir,” said he and handed me his glasses. - -I placed them to my eyes, swept the sea until I picked up the boat, -and let the glasses rest on the passenger in the stern. - -The seaman was right; it was a girl. She was probably twenty-one or -two, and she was laughing. I had but a glimpse of her face, for as the -men pushed off from the steamer she leaned forward and spoke to the -officer in charge. The men stopped rowing. One of them let go his oar -and crawled forward, and the girl took his place and swung the long -oar in a fashion that brought cheer after cheer from the watching -passengers and crew. - -Chanler now emerged from his stateroom and took the glasses from my -hand. For several seconds he studied the girl in the boat as she swung -herself easily against the oar. - -“Gad!” he whispered excitedly. “Gad!” - -He looked around and saw the men gathered aft. - -“Wilson,” he commanded, “drive that bunch below. Where’s Brack? On the -bridge? All right.” - -I moved away, but he called: “No, Gardy, you stay right here; you look -civilized. I need you. Stay and get introduced.” - -I remained, but my interest was all for Wilson as he walked briskly -toward the lounging men. Brack had been ordered to send the men below, -and he had gone forward laughing, and the men had remained. Would they -obey the command of the second officer? - -Wilson’s first order was given in a tone too low for us to hear. In -reply the men grinned at him, and Garvin, through his bandages -growled— - -“Who the —— are you?” - -Wilson’s voice raised itself slightly. - -“I am one officer on board that you can’t talk back to or get chummy -with,” he said. “Get below or, by glory, I’ll show you what it means -to give slack to an officer. Move there! You—Garvin! Get below!” - -And they went. Bad men that they were, and in revolt, they were not -able to defy Wilson when his blood was up. Chanler looked up at the -bridge, puzzled. - -“I told cappy to send them below,” he said. “Why didn’t he do it?” - -“He gave no order at all,” I volunteered. - -George looked at me unsteadily, his tongue wetting his lips. - -“He didn’t give any order—after I told him to?” - -“No.” - -He looked up at the bridge again, hesitated, and smiled carelessly. - -“Oh, well, what’s the difference? Here’s the boat. Ah! By gad!” - -The boat was alongside our grating and the girl was springing out. A -seaman offered to assist her, and she laughed and ran up the swaying -stairway. Half-way she stopped and threw back her head, looking up at -us. - -“Yo-hoo, George!” she called and came running up the rest of the way, -landing on the deck with a leap. - -“Oh, George!” she cried. “Isn’t it glorious!” - -She turned to the rail and waved her farewells to the sailors in the -boat. They touched their hats and rowed away, their eyes upon her. - -“And what a beautiful yacht you’ve got, George. And, oh! This -wonderful sea! Isn’t it all splendid!” - -She paused and looked at George carefully. The animation of her -countenance disappeared for a moment; something she saw disappointed -her. - -“You—you’re not—looking quite as well as you were, George,” she said -slowly. - -“I’ve been awf’ly lonesome, Betty,” he replied. “I—it was awf’ly good -of you to come.” - -“Good of me? Why, it was a privilege. It was too sweet of your sister -to invite me to come.” - -“No, no! Don’t—don’t say that. I—” He stopped confused. “Betty, I was -desperate to see you—just see you, you understand.” - -She reached out and took his hand impulsively. - -“You poor boy! And your sister, Mrs. Payne——” - -Chanler was tugging at his collar. - -“Here, here! I’ve forgotten,” he interrupted nervously, “Here’s -Gardy—Miss Baldwin, Mr. Gardner Pitt.” - -And Miss Beatrice Baldwin looked at me squarely for the first time. -Her look was frankly appraising. We shook hands. I do not remember -that we spoke a word. She looked up at George Chanler’s drink-hardened -face; her eyes turned again to me, and after awhile she looked away. - -There was a tiny up-flaring of lace about her neck. It was this -picture that stuck in my mind: the delicate femininity of the lace -collar, its suggestion of defenselessness, and, rising out of it, the -firm, white neck, the slightly tanned face, girlishly delicate, but -with the look on it of the outdoor girl who is not afraid. - -Miss Baldwin was not afraid. She stood firmly upright; for my eyes, -dropping in confusion, saw how the red rubber soles of her tan shoes -gripped the deck, and the strong slim ankles above them. Her chin was -almost childishly round, her hair was dark and wavy, and her mouth -seemed eager to smile. Yet there was a seriousness about her frank -eyes which told that while on the surface she might be a laughing, -romping girl, in reality the woman was full grown. - -There was a moment of silence while she looked out to sea and I looked -at the deck; and then the men come rushing back on deck. They had been -reinforced by two or three of their fellows, and with Garvin at their -head they came marching forward in determined fashion. - -At the sight of Miss Baldwin they paused. Some remaining shred of -respect for womanhood held them, and they stood, a compact, menacing -mob, some twenty feet away, undecided on their next move. - -“Come along, Betty, I’ll show you to your stateroom,” said Chanler -hurriedly. - -He led the way toward the unoccupied owner’s suite, the suite which -from the beginning had been furnished for her coming. - -Miss Baldwin hesitated. - -“But where’s Mrs. Payne, George?” she called. - -Chanler paused and looked away. “Well, you see, Betty, I was crazy to -see you, and—and, Sis’ took ill, and—” He pulled himself together in -desperation. “She didn’t come with us, Betty, that’s all there is to -it.” - -Miss Baldwin had stopped at the cabin door. - -“Then I am the only woman on board?” she asked. - -“Yes.” - -I expected her to shrink, to demand that she be sent back to the City -of Nome. - -Instead, she looked around calmly, looked out upon the sea, at the -rough faces of the men who were staring at her curiously, at the free -sweep of the _Wanderer’s_ deck and said with quiet resignation— - -“Oh, how jolly!” - - - - - XIV - - -Captain Brack and Riordan had joined the men by the time Chanler -returned from showing Miss Baldwin to her stateroom. The entire crew -of the _Wanderer_ now was assembled, and Chanler ran his eyes -nervously over the group. - -“Cappy,” he said, “what is the meaning of this?” - -Brack stepped forward. - -“Mr. Chanler,” he said solemnly, “it has become necessary to tell you -that this crew will not go to Petroff Sound—directly, at least.” - -Chanler looked around. The men were standing in a semicircle about -him, watching him menacingly. - -“What do you mean?” he demanded. “Do you mean that you refuse to -fulfil your contract?” - -Brack shrugged his shoulders. - -“Oh, for myself, I don’t say,” he said. “Perhaps I would be willing to -go to Petroff Sound, even after picking up this gold-hunter. But that -doesn’t matter. I can’t sail the _Wanderer_ without the crew, and the -crew refuses to go any place but to the hidden country at Kalmut -Fiord, where this man’s gold came from.” - -“That’s what we said,” supplemented Garvin. “Give us boats and grub, -if you want to, and turn us loose; or go with us in the yacht. But we -ain’t goin’ bonehuntin’ when there’s gold laying round loose so close -by.” - -An inarticulate growl came from the rest of the men. Too stupid to put -their plans in words they uttered a single, primitive sound which told -better than Garvin’s words what was working in their primitive minds. -They had seen gold; they had been told there was enough of it to make -them all rich; their sluggish desires had been aroused, and -consequently they growled. - -They were white men, as to skin, but they were savages at heart. And -into this company Chanler had brought Miss Baldwin. - -“Cappy,” said Chanler, falling back into his blasé manner, “what are -you trying to do? Do you mean to tell me that you’re letting this crew -walk over you? D’you mean to tell me that you no longer can run ’em? -Come, come! I won’t have such poppycock.” - -Riordan now stepped forward. - -“It is not only the crew that wants to quit, Mr. Chanler,” said he. -“I’m through, too. Here is our proposition: Kalmut Fiord, where this -miner came from, is about three days’ sailing due north. We want to go -there and take a look. If you’ll let the yacht go there, and we find -there’s no gold there, we’ll go on with you to Petroff Sound, and -there’s only a week lost, which you can dock from our pay. If you -won’t let the yacht go there—well, we’re going there anyhow.” - -Chanler laughed his dry, cynical laugh. - -“Cappy,” said he, “this is what they call mutiny in stories, isn’t -it?” - -“No, sir,” said Brack promptly. “Mutiny is the refusal of seamen to -obey their captain. None of these men has refused to obey me.” - -“Hah? Come again, cappy.” - -“I have given them no orders which they have refused to obey.” - -“You mean—you’re in with ’em, eh?” - -“I mean that it would be a crime against us for this expedition to -continue on its original course without first investigating, at least, -the story which the miner has told. There may be much gold there; -certainly there is some. You have more money than you need, Chanler; -we haven’t enough to make our lives comfortable.” - -“This voyage is a pastime to you; to us it’s a means of making a -living. The bones at Petroff Sound will keep. I have this suggestion -to make: that we alter the course of the yacht and go to Kalmut Fiord. -There will be more credit for you if you lead the way to a new gold -field than if you come back with a hold full of old bones. And it will -be much easier and pleasant, I assure you.” - -“You—you’re not threatening, cappy?” said George. - -“Not at all. I am merely asking you to see this thing from our point -of view.” - -“‘Our? Our point of view?’ You’re not one of the crew are you, cappy?” - -Brack did not reply. - -“What shall it be, Mr. Chanler?” he said curtly. “Petroff Sound or -Kalmut Fiord?” - -Chanler looked once more at the crew. He had no special reason for -going to Petroff Sound, but as he saw himself defied by his servants a -flare of anger showed in his eyes. - -“This may not be mutiny, but it is —— insolent, cappy,” said he. “I -can’t say I like it at all.” - -Garvin laughed. Chanler, looking at Brack, waved a hand toward the -pugilist. - -“Kindly have that man removed, cappy.” - -The captain merely smiled; the scene was pleasing him. Chanler swore -at him, and once more I saw that swift, terrible change come over -Brack’s countenance. - -“Careful, Chanler,” he said softly. - -“Careful! On my own yacht!” Chanler’s voice was strong, but his eyes -were wavering before Brack’s. - -I stepped to his side, and as I did so, Miss Baldwin, a shimmering -blue sweater in place of her rain-coat, and a tiny white tasseled cap -on her head, came running out of the cabin toward us. Her eyes were -taking in the _Wanderer’s_ beauty and her nostrils were quivering with -excitement. - -“Oh, what a jolly boat!” she cried. “George, take me round; I want to -see it all at once.” - -Then she noticed the crew. - -“Why!” She looked at the threatening faces of the men. “Why, George, -what’s the matter?” - -Chanler laughed easily. - -“Oh, nothing much, Betty. We picked up a man in a boat last night with -a bag of gold nuggets on him, and he told a story about a new gold -field in a hidden country not far away, and the men want to go there -instead of to Petroff Sound, that’s all.” - -Her eyes widened. - -“Really, George?” she asked incredulously. - -“Really,” he said. - -“But—do such things really happen, picking up men in boats with bags -of gold on them?” - -“It happened this time, at least,” he replied. - -“Oh, how perfectly thrilling! A hidden country. And there’s more gold -to find in the place he came from?” - -“So the man says.” - -“Oh, George!” cried Miss Baldwin eagerly “let’s go to this hidden -country, and let me dig some gold with my own hands!” - -Chanler looked puzzled, then relieved. Here was a creditable way out -of an unpleasant situation, and his interest in Petroff Sound already -was gone. - -“Would you rather do that than go bone-hunting, Betty?” he asked. - -“Of course. Wouldn’t you? Who cares for old bones? And think of the -thrill and adventures in exploring a hidden country and of hunting -gold!” - -Chanler turned and nodded curtly to Brack. - -“We go to Kalmut Fiord then, cappy.” - -“All right, men,” snapped Brack. They broke at his orders; he was the -captain again. “Full speed ahead, Mr. Riordan, please; I’ll take the -bridge myself.” - -He stood for a moment looking at Miss Baldwin. When George introduced -them she first looked at Brack’s brutal features and wonderful eyes as -casually as if he had been an ordinary member of the crew. Then her -look became interested. After awhile she blushed and looked away, -confused. - -Brack bowed, and spoke and smiled courteously, but as he hurried up on -the bridge there was a new look in his eyes. I could compare it only -to the look that was in Garvin’s eyes when he had seen the little raw -pile of gold. - - - - - XV - - -The _Wanderer_ seemed galvanized into new life. The sullenness and -tension that had hung over her decks all morning vanished as a fog -vanishes before the rising sun. The men jumped to their tasks, -grotesque grins on their faces where truculence had reigned a moment -before. - -Down below decks the engines began humming, slowly at first, rising -steadily, until presently we were racing along at a speed that sent -the water hissing along our sides. On the bridge Brack paced -energetically, now speaking to the wheelman, now down the engine-room -telephone. Our course was changed so abruptly that we felt the impact -when the wheel went over, and minutes later we were holding steady and -true on a course nearly at right angles to the one we had been -following. - -“Ha!” said Chanler. “Apparently cappy knows where he’s going, and is -going there as fast as the old scow can travel.” - -Miss Baldwin, bracing herself against the breeze, laughed nervously. -Chanler reached down and took her hand. She looked up at him; then she -drew her hand away. - -I turned to go. A sailor, dragging a hose aft, blocked my way for a -moment and I was forced to hear what they said. - -“George,” said she, “tell me the truth; did Mrs. Payne ever intend to -come on this voyage? Or did you deceive me altogether?” - -“I—I had to see you, Betty,” he faltered. “I——” - -“Don’t say any more, please.” - -As I entered the cabin she was looking out over the sea. Chanler was -chewing his under lip and staring hard at the deck. - -I had barely settled myself in my stateroom to try to think coherently -on the events of the morning when Freddy Pierce slipped in, closing -the door noiselessly behind him. - -“It’s all right, Brains,” he said. “Brack’s too busy on the bridge to -pay any attention to me. Let me roll one before you say anything; I’m -forty miles up in the air.” - -“Pierce,” I said, as he manufactured his cigaret, “what sort of -message did Mr. Chanler send Miss Baldwin?” - -“Ah ha! You’ll let me tell you now will you? Well, he sent two kinds; -one from himself, saying Mrs. Payne was on board, and one that he -signed ‘Dora Payne’, inviting Miss Baldwin to come on this voyage. Oh, -it’s a fine piece of business, I tell you——” - -“Stop!” I said. “Don’t tell me any more; that’s plenty.” - -He drew strongly at his cigaret and blew a shaft of smoke at the -ceiling. - -“And a Jane—I mean, a girl like that, for anybody to do what Chanler -did! What’s his game, Brains? He isn’t so raw——” - -“He isn’t himself,” I interrupted. “That’s the stuff; stick up for -your pals. But, think of me. I had a hand in getting this girl on -board ship.” He rose and tramped the room. “Chanler must be crazy, -especially after this morning, to let a girl come aboard. Can’t he see -what Brack is? And what do we know about where we’re going now? It’s -bad enough for us; I’d blow the job myself if there was any way out -and it didn’t look like being a quitter; but for a girl like this to -be pulled into it, it’s a fine business—I don’t think!” - -“Pierce,” said I, “could we get that steamer to turn back to us?” - -“Sure—if Chanler would give the order. They know he can pay for their -time, even if they are carrying mail.” - -“Then you may have a message to send them soon,” I said, and went out -to seek Chanler and Miss Baldwin. - - * * * * * - -I did not find Chanler. Miss Baldwin was alone in a deck-chair under -the awning on the forward deck. She was sitting with her chin in her -hand, and to my surprise a look of relief came upon her face as she -glanced up and saw me. Before I could speak she said. - -“Mr. Pitt, what has happened to George Chanler?” - -“Happened to Chanler?” I stammered. I tried to make light of it, but -the look on her face stopped the foolish words on my lips. - -“You know he is changed,” she continued. “What has done it?” - -“How do you mean he has changed,” I asked. - -“Don’t, please don’t try to deceive me?” She broke out. “I am not -blind. I can see he has changed, and I can see that your attitude -toward him is not what it would have been if he—if he were himself. -You’re an old friend of his?” - -“I have known him for several years.” - -“So he said. Then you know he has changed. Why, he was like a -good-natured boy last Winter; you couldn’t help liking him. And now he -is so different. What has happened to him?” - -I looked at her, and her eyes were frankly searching me for the truth. -The eyes were gray and very calm. - -“There is a change in him,” I admitted. “But I am still his friend.” - -Her eyes widened a little. - -“Do you mean by that that you can’t be my friend? Don’t you think I -have a right to know?” - -“Chanler has been very lonely——” - -“It’s drink, isn’t it?” she interrupted. “Don’t be afraid to tell me; -you can see I’m not afraid.” - -“He has been lonely,” I continued, “and therefore he has probably been -drinking more than is good for him. Now that you are here he will -undoubtedly become himself again.” - -“Do you think so, really?” - -“I do,” I said earnestly. “How can he do anything else now?” - -She rose and crossed over to the starboard rail. I followed. Looking -aft I saw Simmons hurrying into Chanler’s stateroom with a bottle -wrapped in a napkin, and Chanler’s absence was explained. - -Miss Baldwin did not see Simmons. She was looking down at the water -along our side. After several minutes she raised her head. - -“Poor George!” she said, “He’s never had to fight anything in his -life, so he’s handicapped. But we’ll hope, at least.” - -“Miss Baldwin,” I said vigorously, “it is not too late for you to -leave this yacht. We can reach the _City of Nome_ by wireless. You can -return there now.” - -The look which she bestowed on me had nothing in it but surprise. - -“Leave the yacht now, just at the beginning of the voyage? Why do you -suggest that, Mr. Pitt?” - -“I thought,” I stammered, “I thought that after you had seen how -things are on board you might be wishing you were safely back on the -steamer.” - -“But—but you said my being here would help straighten George up?” - -I was silent. - -“Why did you suggest that I leave, Mr. Pitt?” - -“Miss Baldwin,” said I, “I do not wish to alarm you, but I do not -think this yacht at present is a place for a young woman to take a -pleasure trip in. It is Chanler’s place to tell you this, but I am -quite sure he will not do so.” - -“Go on,” she said, “you must explain fully now.” - -“Well, to be blunt, the yacht is in the hands of Captain Brack and the -crew.” - -“Yes?” - -“You saw Captain Brack, Miss Baldwin; I saw that you studied him with -interest.” - -“Yes!” she said eagerly, and at the sudden play of excitement in her -expression I once more felt the old familiar chill creeping up my -spine. - -The power, the fascination, the dominant will of Captain Brack -suddenly took on new possibilities. How would those terrible, -compelling eyes affect a woman, a young girl? How had they affected -her? For it was obvious that Miss Baldwin’s brief meeting with him had -left its mark. - -“He has,” said she, “such strange eyes.” - -“Miss Baldwin,” I said, “when you came on board the crew practically -was in a state of mutiny. Captain Brack sided with them. The crew is -composed of a choice lot of brutes, ex-criminals, who may do Heaven -knows what.” - -Miss Baldwin stood firmly upright and looked at me, her eyes alight -with excitement. Her thin nostrils widened and trembled. - -“Oh, how you thrill me, Mr. Pitt!” she said. “Tell me honest -truth—you’re not joking? Is it really true, about the mutiny and the -crew of choice brutes?” - -“Miss Baldwin,” I stammered. “Do you mean to say that you’re pleased -to hear this? That you’d wish to stay on board if I assured you that -we are practically in the hands of a crew of dangerous men, with no -knowing what sort of adventure they may be going on?” - -“Would I?” she cried promptly. “Why, it’s what I’ve been longing for -all my life.” - -“You—you have—what?” I stammered. - -She smiled mischievously at my astonishment. - -“Mr. Pitt, who was it that said, ‘most men lead lives of quiet -desperation’? No matter. He should have included girls, too. Did you -ever think that we, too, sometimes might get tired of the hum drum -lives we’re born to and long for something wild to flavor our -existence?” - -“Good Lord, no!” - -“Of course, you haven’t. Well, possibly I’m different from other -girls. I don’t know. But I’ve always felt that if I had to live all my -life without one great adventure I—I’d burst.” - -“The great adventure for a girl,” said I severely, “is to love, marry, -and——” - -“Ah, yes! But somehow I seem to recall having heard that before.” - -A sea-gull, following the _Wanderer_ in search of galley droppings, -swooped past us, struck the crest of a small wave with a splash, and -soared upward and away. - -“There,” she said quietly, “that’s what I’ve longed for; just once, to -be absolutely free. Do you understand?” - -I shook my head. - -“There is nothing of the adventurer in me, Miss Baldwin.” - -“Then why are you here; why don’t you leave the yacht?” - -“That’s different. I came aboard as part of the expedition. I remain -because——” - -“Because you are not a quitter.” She laughed gaily, then grew serious. -“I’m a queer bird, am I not, Mr. Pitt?” - -“Well, you have succeeded in startling me. When you came on board I -judged you to be the typical young girl of your class who has led so -sheltered a life——” - -“I have, I have! Oh, so—so sheltered! That’s why I’m wild to be -something else for once.” - -“So sheltered a life that you would shrink and flee when you -discovered that you were the only woman on board the yacht. And that -you would be terror-stricken when I told you the true state of affairs -on board.” - -She nodded with mock contrition. - -“I know. That’s what I should have done to be proper. But I can’t help -it, Mr. Pitt. I’m not afraid; I don’t want to shrink and flee; and I -do look forward to something different with unholy joy. Awful, isn’t -it? But it’s all so thrilling—the wicked crew, the mutiny, and—and -Captain Brack.” - - - - - XVI - - -Chanler came up briskly before we had time to speak further. His -dullness had given place to animation. It was apparent that he had -wasted no time while in his stateroom. - -“Let’s go aft, Betty,” he said. “There’s an awning up there, and -deck-chairs, and no wind. Come on.” - -I watched them as they went, he, nervous, with unsteady eyes, she, -calm, buoyant, strong. He leaned toward her and talked excitedly, and -I saw that she drew a little away from him. - -They did not sit down. I saw Chanler urging her, and she shook her -head and continued to walk to and fro, Chanler following. He was -talking and gesticulating excitedly. She looked at him long and -steadily once, then looked away. - -As I turned I found myself face to face with Captain Brack. He had -come down noiselessly from the bridge and was studying me with that -old superior smile on his lips. - -“Ah, you idealist, Mr. Pitt!” he said softly. - -“Idealist, Captain Brack? Why do you say that?” - -“It is in your eyes. It is in the position of your chin; it is all -over you. You are uplifted and exalted for the moment. You feel that -you really are something; you feel strong, is that not so?” - -“Perhaps.” - -“No, not perhaps, but positively. You feel at this moment that you are -a big, strong man; in reality you are—Mr. Gardner Pitt.” He chuckled -carelessly at the flush that came to my cheek. “I have been watching -you for some seconds, Mr. Pitt; I have seen you swell and think you -were growing. In your calm reason—for you can reason somewhat, Mr. -Pitt—you know that you are not growing; but for the moment you have -allowed your emotions to hypnotize you. You are a victim of your own -emotions. For instance—” he waved his thick hand toward the aft where -Chanler and Miss Baldwin now were promenading together—“you fancy that -in Mr. Chanler’s partner you have been looking at something wonderful -and fine. Is that not so?” - -“That is so, captain.” - -“Something above the common, raw, crawling stuff of life?” - -“Decidedly so.” - -“Something which it is not the sphere of reason to grasp, but which -the emotions alone can appreciate?” - -“Go on.” - -He laughed unctuously. - -“Then I have diagnosed your delusion accurately.” - -“Are you sure it is a delusion, captain?” - -“Yes. Self-hypnosis. What you see is not there.” - -Betty turned at this moment so that her face was toward us. - -“What do you see back there, Brack?” I asked. - -He looked at her steadily; his head was lowered a little, and again -there was in his eyes the look comparable to Garvin’s when he saw the -raw gold. - -“I see,” said he slowly, without taking his eyes off Betty, “just what -there is there; a very fine, healthy young specimen of the female of -the species.” - -His words were like a dull knife on my nerves, but I controlled -myself. - -“Nothing more?” I asked casually. - -“No. For there is no more.” - -I laughed, and I was conscious of a sensation of relief. The man had -his limitations then, even though one glance from his eyes had left so -strong an impression on Miss Baldwin. - -“I feel sorry for you then,” said I. “You are to be pitied for your -lack of imagination.” - -He did not take his eyes off Betty. - -“No,” he said, “for that is enough to see. It is more than enough. A -fine young woman. Only once or twice in my life have I seen finer. Too -fine to be wasted on a silly ineffectual. Yes, too fine to be won -except by a man.” - -He swung around on me and said with a wink: - -“I have a feeling, Mr. Pitt, that an interesting voyage lies before -us. And—and a short time ago I didn’t think anything could interest me -much except gold—which means power.” - -“Do you feel that we are going to find gold at this alleged gold-field -in the alleged hidden country to which we are going?” - -“Naturally. Else we would not be found there now.” - -“Have you any positive reason for believing gold is to be found there? -Not that story of the alleged miner,” I hastened on. “You don’t expect -any reasoning being to accept that story as a reason. Have you any -real reason for thinking there is gold at this so-called Kalmut -Fiord?” - -His eyebrows raised a trifle and he smiled as one might at a child who -displays unexpected shrewdness. - -“You do not have much confidence in the miner’s story, Mr. Pitt?” he -asked. - -“The maundering of a delirious man,” I retorted. “Surely you would not -change the purpose of this expedition on such slender information as -that.” - -He ceased smiling for a moment. - -“I know that there is gold at Kalmut Fiord,” he said. “Does that ease -you?” - -“If I knew how you know there is gold there, I would be more -satisfied. And even granting that you know there is gold there—Captain -Brack, you will pardon me—but it scarcely seems in keeping with your -character to cheerfully sail a ship-load of people to this gold-field, -where they will have an equal chance with you to enrich themselves.” - -“No?” he said, and his smile was back in its place. “You have sounded -my character then, have you, Mr. Pitt?” - -“My dear captain! I am sure you hardly expect to impress even a casual -observer as a man who would freely invite a crowd to share a gold find -with him.” - -He laughed, nodding at me approvingly. - -“That isn’t bad, Pitt. The sea air sharpens wits. But have you ever -been in the North, away from police officers and courts?” - -“Never.” - -“Have you ever been in a spot where laws do not reach?” - -“No.” - -“Well, it is such a place that you are going to now, Pitt. You will -find yourself in a new world, in this hidden country, a world as it -was in the beginning, with the laws of nature the only ones necessary -to consider. In such places gold naturally is attracted to the -strongest man, no matter who digs it out of the ground. Gold, do I -say? Ha! All things to the strong in this place, Pitt. Nature’s law; -all things to the strong, and especially—” he looked again toward the -after deck— “women.” - - - - - XVII - - -My expressed faith that Chanler would straighten up now that Miss -Baldwin was on board was doomed to early destruction. George had sunk -further than his face betrayed, further than any of us had guessed. As -a matter of fact this probably was the first time in his life that he -had seriously struggled with a big problem, and the struggle had -exposed him in a fashion I had not thought possible. - -Twice that afternoon he left Miss Baldwin for short runs into his -stateroom, and each time he returned vivacious and aggressive. At -luncheon he was glum and distrait. Out of regard for Miss Baldwin he -had banished liquor from the table and he suffered without it. - -Captain Brack was not present at luncheon. He was too occupied between -the bridge and the engine-room. Riordan also was absent. - -“We are running at our maximum now, yes sir,” said Wilson in reply to -a question. “The captain is anxious to hold her so, and he is laying -the course himself.” - -“Do you know where we are going, Wilson?” I asked. - -“No sir. Our course is due north. We should strike somewhere on the -Kenai Peninsula, sir.” - -“What kind of a country is it there?” asked Betty. - -“No country at all, Miss. Entirely unsettled. A rough coast-line.” - -“Cappy apparently knows where he’s going,” muttered Chanler. - -“Yes sir,” said Wilson. - -“And nobody else does.” - -“No sir.” - -“And that’s what I call a situation to keep a chap from being bored. -What do you say, Wilson?” - -“I’m not easily bored, sir.” - -“You lucky dog!” - -“Yes sir,” said Wilson, and excusing himself went out. - -When Dr. Olson had done likewise Chanler looked long and lovingly at -Miss Baldwin. - -“Betty,” he said, as if rousing himself with an effort. - -“Yes, George.” - -“Betty, don’t you think you were an awful fool to come on a crazy trip -like this?” - -She smiled as if humoring him. - -“Why do you say that, George?” - -“Suppose folks should hear about it?” - -“What then?” - -“Betty—you—all alone on a yacht with me. What’ll folks think if they -know?” - -“They do know,” she said. “I told my folks and friends where I was -going.” - -“Yes, but you told them my sister was on board.” - -“Certainly—as you told me.” - -“Oh, don’t rub it in, Betty. That’s past. But what do you think people -will think when they know she wasn’t on board, and that you came ’way -up here alone to join me?” - -She looked at him steadily. I half rose to leave, but a glance from -her eyes told me to remain. It was not a pleasant scene. I stared at -my napkin. - -“You see, Betty,” he continued, leaning loosely across the table, -“that’s what it will look like. Won’t it, Gardy?” - -I did not reply. - -“What will it look like, George?” she asked evenly. - -“Like you were chasing me.” - -She laughed, and her laughter was like a song-burst of wholesome young -life in the atmosphere of Chanler’s drink-drugged maundering. - -“Well, George, isn’t that what I am doing?” - -“People will talk, Betty,” he persisted. “It’s a bad situation—for -you. I—I’m sorry I got you to come here—no, hang it! I’m not. But I am -worrying about your reputation, Betty.” - -“I think I can take care of my reputation, George,” she said quietly. - -“Let me take care of it, Betty!” he cried hoarsely, taking her hand. - -“Please, George,” she said, smiling, as she rose. - -“Betty!” He clung to her hand. - -With swift, confident strength she drew her hand free, lifting him -slightly from his chair in doing so. - -“You’ll excuse me now, won’t you?” she said, and went to her room. - -Chanler flung himself back in his chair, laughing harshly. - -“Did you see that—did you see it, Gardy?” he said, as he pressed the -bell. “She doesn’t care if I do own this yacht. I’m nothing to her. -Oh, what a rotten trip this is going to be!” - -“Chanler,” I said, “sit still for a minute and listen. You have got to -pull yourself together. You have got to straighten out this mess. You -have got to show Miss Baldwin that you are the man she is hoping to -find in you. Buck up, man! Her hopes are pinned on you. She cares. Do -you think she would have come this far if she didn’t care? She has -done her share; she’s here. Now, for her sake, do your share. Pull -yourself together and be the man she has been hoping all this time she -would find you.” - -“Hooray!” he whispered mockingly. “Go on, Gardy; you’re the boy who -can say things. King’s peg,” he said to the steward who had come in. - -“Wait!” I said. The man stopped. “Chanler, you’ve been overdoing it. -You’re not yourself. You’ve done things that aren’t done; you’ve got -to sober up and straighten them out.” - -“Got to!” - -“Yes; as a gentleman you’ve got to. Miss Baldwin’s happiness—perhaps -her whole life’s happiness—depends on your being a gentleman from now -on. For God’s sake man! Isn’t it worth sobering up to win a prize like -that?” - -“Oh, leave me alone, Gardy,” he growled. “Don’t you think I know what -I’m doing? It doesn’t make any difference what I do now. I’ve lost -her. She wouldn’t have me no matter what I did now. I know it. Knew it -five minutes after she came on board. Saw it in her eyes. Felt it. My -hold on her’s slipped—just like that. Gone—forever. No use trying. -King’s peg,” he repeated, “and hurry.” - -I sat silent, rage and disgust choking me, while the man brought in -that terrible mixture of champagne and brandy in equal parts. Chanler -drank it in gulps. - -“Have some, Gardy? No? That’s right. Some men shouldn’t touch rum; -you’re one of them. ’Cause why? ’Cause you’ve got a conscience. Rot, -rot, rot! Got to straighten up, have I, Gardy? ‘Got to’ are words that -weren’t made for me, my boy.” - -“For God’s sake! Chanler, drop that sort of talk!” I cried, springing -to my feet. “If you knew what a sickening parody you are on the -gentleman you were at home, you wouldn’t put on airs.” - -“Not to me, Gardy, not to me can you utter such contemptuous words,” -he said harshly. - -“You be ——, you and your big talk!” I exploded. “Do you think you’re -entitled to any respect? Do you think I or any one else on board cares -who you are at present? Do you think your money is still a power? -Well, it’s not. It ceased to be this morning. Brack and the crew—Brack -especially—there’s the power aboard this yacht. And you’re disgracing -yourself and your class before them all. - -“First you lie by wireless to get Miss Baldwin on board, and now -you’re taking the easiest way, keeping drunk, because you’re not man -enough to face the situation sober—not man enough to make things right -for the girl who came here trustfully depending on you. Think of it, -Chanler; think who you are—of your family. Have one more try at -decency, at least. Chuck away that poison in your hand and let me call -Dr. Olson and get you straightened up.” - -He raised the large glass to his lips and drank the peg down without a -falter. - -“Gardy,” he said, setting the glass down, “you’re fired.” - -I laughed. - -“I like you, Gardy; you’re a dear old fellow,” he continued, “but you -mustn’t presume on our friendship and talk to me like that. I’ve got -to let you out.” - -“And I suppose I’m to pack my things and go?” said I. “Oh, come, -Chanler; wake up. Try to see things with sane eyes. I don’t care -whether I’m fired or whether we remain friends. We’re all on the same -plane for the present; you, Miss Baldwin, myself, we’re in the hands -of Captain Brack and the crew.” - -He shuddered nervously. - -“Don’t say such things, Gardy; I forbid them in my hearing.” - -“You’re afraid to hear them, you mean.” - -“Afraid or not, it makes no difference. They annoy me and I won’t be -annoyed. I won’t, you hear. Been annoyed enough on this trip. Here I -was waiting for Betty’s coming. Felt sure she’d have me if I got her -away alone, just herself and me. She comes, looks around. I look in -her eyes and bang! I see she won’t have me. Plain as print. Whole trip -useless. It’s a rotten world!” - -“You’re giving up without a struggle, Chanler?” - -“No use, my boy. I don’t like struggling, anyhow.” - -“But, Miss Baldwin is, at least your guest, on board your yacht. The -yacht is in the hands of Brack and the crew. Haven’t you thought that -this situation might develop into one that may be unpleasant and even -unsafe for Miss Baldwin?” - -“I have,” he said, signaling for another peg. “And I wish I was back -home in the big leather chair at the club, looking out on Fifth -Avenue.” He waved his hand drunkenly toward me. “I entrust—entrust -Miss Beatrice Baldwin—safety, pleasure, honor, rep’tation to you, -Gardy. Ha! There’s a bright little idea. I hire you again, Gardy. New -job. You—you see Betty safe and sound back to her folks.” - -That hour marked the beginning of Chanler’s eclipse. At dinner-time -Simmons reported him indisposed. During the next three days he left -his room but seldom. He had but one desire now: to eliminate himself -as a responsible factor in the storm of events about to break upon the -_Wanderer_ and its people. - - - - - XVIII - - -Captain Brack was sitting in Chanler’s chair when we went in to dinner -that evening and Miss Baldwin’s place was beside him. Dr. Olson and -myself—neither Riordan nor Wilson had appeared—sat opposite. - -Brack was dressed with the care of a captain of a popular -trans-Atlantic liner, and his attitude toward Miss Baldwin was solely -that of a captain solicitous for his passenger’s comfort and pleasure. -The yacht might have been the _Mauretania_, our little party the -dinner crowd of the liner’s first saloon. Brack’s personality, -polished and radiant for the time being, his flashing conversation, -filled and illumined the room. It was difficult not to forget young -Larson as one sat beneath his spell. - -“An apology is necessary, Miss Baldwin, for my absence from luncheon,” -he said. “It is not etiquette to fail to welcome a passenger to her -first meal on board. It was necessary, however, that I stay on the -bridge until I was sure that the _Wanderer_ had reached her limit of -speed and that we were holding true on our course. I have stolen -thirty minutes from that duty this evening to fulfil my social -obligation as captain.” - -“Then we are in a hurry, Captain Brack?” she asked. - -His eyes were upon her—those eyes with their compelling power—and her -manner was subdued. - -“The crew is in a desperate hurry, Miss Baldwin,” he said with one of -his flashing smiles. “Men are always in a hurry when they hear of -gold. And, really—” he bowed to her deferentially—“we have much to -thank you for, Miss Baldwin, for relieving a tense situation this -morning. I do not mean that there was the slightest danger of any -trouble. No, no! But the situation was a trifle uncomfortable when you -appeared and voted that we go hunting for gold instead of bones.” He -laughed softly. “I have wondered why you did that, Miss Baldwin; is it -presumptuous to ask?” - -Miss Baldwin toyed with her spoon. - -“I thought that this—going gold-hunting—was so much more alive.” - -“Good!” he said earnestly. “That is why I voted for it, too. To be -alive while we are living—that is more important than to unearth old -skeletons. Isn’t that your idea, Miss Baldwin?” - -“Yes,” she said with a strange smile. - -“And to be alive means to live in the open, free and untrapped.” - -She looked up at him, and by her expression I knew that she saw only -his eyes. - -“You don’t look as if you would be contented indoors, captain,” she -said with a little laugh. - -“Are you?” he said, and looked straight at her. - -She smiled in puzzled fashion without replying. - -“No, you are not,” he answered for her. “For you are very, very much -alive, and so must naturally have longings for the free life, which -means life outdoors. Am I not right?” - -“Yes.” - -“Life—we can make it a free, glorious thing, or a gray, trapped -affair, just as we choose. It is all a matter of courage. There is -still much room in the world. It is not crowded except in spots. If we -choose to remain in one of those crowded spots, or rather, if we are -afraid to leave them, we must, of necessity, become one of the gray, -trapped crowd, existing through a certain span of years without ever -knowing what it is to be truly alive. But in the great open spaces -people live—they are alive. They are natural, they are hand-in-hand -with Nature, and Nature gives them more reward for living than does -what man calls civilization. - -“As one who has lived under both conditions, Miss Baldwin, I assure -you that it is only in the uncrowded spaces that man may get close -enough to the root of Life to experience the sensation of immortality. -Haven’t you felt something like that yourself?” - -“Yes,” she said again, and her eyes were puzzled and full of wonder. - -“You will learn,” he said, nodding his head gravely. “You are one of -those who will learn quickly the message that the open has for you. -You are free-born. You would not be here unless the call to freedom -had come to you. Isn’t that so?” - -“I—I have always longed for an experience like this. How did you -know?” - -“It is written upon you as plain as print; you are finding your true -sphere. Tell me truthfully: do you not at this moment feel stirred as -you never did before in your life?” - -She looked up at him quickly; it seemed as if he had frightened her. - -“How could you know that?” she faltered. - -He smiled, leaning toward her, his eyes holding hers. - -“That and many more things you will learn, Miss Baldwin,” he said -impressively. “You are beginning a new life. The new impulses you feel -are the commands of your true spirit, stricken free of the bonds of -civilization. Obey them. Remember, they are your true self; there can -be for you no realization of the full possibilities of life save along -the way they lead you. There is hidden country in all of us, and until -we explore it we don’t know what it is to live.” - -He sat back in his chair, smiling, satisfied. - -“And now you must excuse me; my thirty minutes are up and I have -promised Riordan thirty minutes to dine.” As he bowed and rose his -glance went across the table to me. “Now, Mr. Pitt, I will wager, -never has felt a call to be free—to explore any hidden country.” - -I did not reply. - -“No, Mr. Pitt is not one of us. But, Miss Baldwin,” he concluded, -bending over her as he passed out, “you are. Your true life is about -to begin.” - -And she followed him with her eyes as he left the room, though there -was that in her expression which suggested that she did so -unwillingly. - -“Ah!” - -The faintest exclamation of relief escaped her lips as the captain -disappeared. She sank back in her chair as if suddenly released. She -looked around; our eyes met. She excused herself in a dazed sort of -fashion and went to her room. - - * * * * * - -Hours afterward I was pacing the deck. It was another pitch-dark -night, and to one fresh from the glare of New York, the darkness was -well-nigh appalling. The _Wanderer’s_ searchlight seemed only a thin -knife-gash, parting the darkness before us. On either side of its beam -the blackness of night stood like a wall. There were no stars to be -seen above. East, north, south and west, naught but the dead night; -below, only the hiss of unseen waters through which we were rushing -toward—what? - -I shuffled to and fro on the deck, caring neither where nor how I was -going. The scene between Brack and Miss Baldwin at the dinner-table -repeated itself again and again, each time with a new, sinister -significance. I know what power lay within Brack’s eyes. Had they not -roused me and thrilled me and made me fighting mad, which was exactly -what Brack, in idle sport wished to do? What would be the effect of -his will, gleaming through his glances, on a woman, on a young, -inexperienced girl like Miss Baldwin? For after all, she was nothing -but an inexperienced girl. Yes, I told myself, she was so -inexperienced, so ignorant, through the sheltered life she had lived, -that she did not know enough to recognize a distressing situation when -she met it. She was brave because she didn’t have sense enough to be -cautious. - -“Mr. Pitt,” called a voice softly, “is that you?” - -I swung around. I was near a cabin porthole and by its light I made -out Miss Baldwin coming toward me. - -“I’m glad,” she said. “Don’t stop, please; let us walk. - -“I came out,” she continued, as we fell into step, “because I didn’t -like to be alone.” - -“Why not?” - -“I don’t know. I seemed lonesome. It was nice to come out here and -find you.” - -I made no response, and our walk was silent for a long time. - -“I wanted to speak to you about something,” she said at last, “about -Captain Brack.” - -“Yes?” - -She hesitated. - -“Is—is he as wonderful as he seems?” - -“Captain Brack is a remarkable man,” I replied. - -“I thought he was wonderful when he was speaking,” she said -falteringly. “But when he was gone I—it seemed different.” - -“How different?” - -“I don’t know just. I loved to listen while he was talking. But after -he’d gone I felt relieved. It frightened me a little. That’s why I -came out. What do you know about him?” - -I was at loss for a reply. To tell her what I knew of Brack, of my -first sight of him in the Seattle saloon, of what I had learned aboard -the _Wanderer_, would serve to alarm her in an uncomfortable manner. - -“Chanler selected him as his captain,” I said. - -She gave an impatient toss to her shoulders as we walked on. - -“Oh, that doesn’t mean anything. What sort of a man is he?” - -“Very strong.” - -“I know that.” - -“Very capable.” - -“Yes.” - -“And entirely unscrupulous.” - -She nodded her head, not in the least surprised. - -“I thought so,” she said. - -There was a moment of silence. We heard the murmur of waters against -our bows. - -“He’s something like that,” she said, pointing out over the dark sea. -“A blind, remorseless force; isn’t he?” - -“But more subtle.” - -“Oh! Is he?” - -“As subtle as he is strong.” - -She gave a little gasp, as if she had caught herself in an error. - -“I didn’t know that. I didn’t realize—I must be going in. You’ll -excuse me. Good night, Mr. Pitt. Pleasant dreams.” - -Pleasant dreams! It was past one in the morning before I ceased my -troubled pacing of the _Wanderer’s_ promenade, and such sleep as -weariness finally brought to me was beset by a jumble of nightmares, -dominated by Brack’s eyes and smile. - - - - - XIX - - -After breakfast next morning I went to see Chanler. He was sitting up -in bed, and he had changed greatly overnight. His face was puffed and -gray-looking, and the swollen eyelids were parted only enough to -disclose a slit of blood-shot eyes. Dr. Olson was with him, -whisky-glass in hand, but he was watching Chanler shrewdly. - -“I’ve got him filled up with bromides,” whispered the doctor to me. -“If we can’t get him to sleep he’ll have the D. T.’s.” - -Chanler slowly turned his head toward me and endeavored to open his -eyes wide. The effort was too much for him and his face became -distorted with a drunken smile. - -“There he is—li’l Gardy, the foe of rum,” he murmured sleepily. “Model -young man. Gardy, know wha’ I’d like see? Like see you stewed to -zenith. Like see you spiff-iflicated. Oh, wha’ ’n ez’bition you’d be! -Horr’ble, horr’ble!” He shook his head slowly. “Nay, nay! Don’ catch -Gardy spiff-iflicated. Don’ catch Gardy putting things in’s brain to -steal his mouth away, do they, Gard’? Noshirr-rr! Noshir-r! Let George -do ’t, eh, Gardy? Let George—let——” - -His head fell forward. With an effort he raised it, but his eyes were -closed. - -“Gardy—you—you——” - -He collapsed slowly upon the pillow and was sound asleep. - -Dr. Olson set his glass down and wiped his forehead. - -“That’s good,” he said. “But he’s going to be a very sick man.” - -“Of course,” I said. “But now that you have got him asleep we are -going to stop his drinking and get him straightened up.” - -The doctor looked at Chanler’s puffed face. - -“What’s the use?” he said with a shrug of his thin shoulders. -“Besides, he doesn’t want to do anything of the sort.” - -“What he wants doesn’t matter,” I insisted. “He’s got to be -straightened up. What can you do for him?” - -The little man looked at me with a weary smile. - -“Why this eagerness, Pitt? If I put Chanler on his feet——” - -“Then that’s settled,” I interrupted. “You admit you can put him on -his feet, therefore you’ve got to do it. Your word?” - -“My word,” he said solemnly, and went to work. - -Miss Baldwin was waiting for me as I came from Chanler’s stateroom. - -“I saw you just as you went in,” she said. “Well?” - -“He’s sleeping now,” I replied. “He’ll be all right—or, at least -better—when he wakes. George will straighten up.” - -She looked at me in that wonderful quiet way of hers. - -“Are you so loyal to all your friends, Mr. Pitt?” she said. - -“George will straighten up,” I repeated. “He is in Dr. Olson’s hands. -He will make amends when he is himself again.” - -She turned away, a wistful—perhaps bitter—smile faintly touching her -lips. - -“Miss Baldwin!” I cried apologetically. “Have I said anything to hurt -you, to give you pain?” - -“You?” she said, smiling brightly. “Of course you haven’t. How could -you think that? I—I merely happened to think of how different George -was a few months ago. No, no! Don’t grow sad out of sympathy, please, -Mr. Pitt. I’m not unhappy. Do I look it? I cared for George. I know it -now. Maybe I could have learned to care for him deeply if he had cared -for me truly. But he didn’t, and I’m glad I found it out.” - -“You mustn’t say that, Miss Baldwin. You must give him another chance -when he’s himself again.” - -“Loyal Mr. Pitt!” she laughed. “Well, I can scarcely help giving -George another chance, can I? Here on the same yacht with him. Mr. -Pitt, I’ll bet I know what you think of me?” - -“And that is?” - -“That I’m an awful fool to be here?” - -I smiled. - -“I knew it!” she cried. - -“You’re wrong!” I protested. “I do not think so at this moment.” - -“But you have thought so?” - -“I have thought you—well, not quite as cautious——” - -“Prevaricator! You’ve thought: ‘What sort of a silly madcap is this -girl!’ I know it. Well, I guess you’re right. It was a foolish thing -to do; it’s foolish to be glad at the prospect of adventure. Other -girls wouldn’t do it. They wouldn’t think of it. They’d think a girl -queer who did. That proves it’s foolish, doesn’t it? It isn’t done. I -can’t help it, though; I’ve needed something like this.” - -“It is the day of restlessness among American women,” I said -fatuously. - -“Restlessness? Is it? Yes, I suppose it is. But my restlessness -doesn’t take the regular, honest truth road, you know. Lots of my girl -friends have felt they wanted to do something, but they’ve wanted to -go suff’ing, or paint, or write, or teach folk-dances, or something -like that. I didn’t, not any more than I wanted to be considered a -doll in pretty clothes all my life. - -“I wanted to break away. Well, I did. Here I am. And, scandalous as it -may sound, I’m enjoying every minute. Now, Mr. Pitt, there’s my whole -confession. I have acted foolishly, and I know it, but really, I feel -as if I had broken loose from something that had held me down. I feel -as if it was the beginning of a new life for me—of my real life.” - -“A new life?” I said. “Why, that’s what Captain Brack said last -night.” - -She looked away. - -“Yes, so he did,” she said slowly. - -And I thought she shivered a little. - - * * * * * - -I am afraid I cursed poor George Chanler in unchristian fashion during -the rest of that run up to Kalmut Fiord. For during those days Captain -Brack wooed Miss Baldwin steadily. At each meal he sat at her side; -his eyes were upon her, his magic words were for her alone. And even -while he spoke to her I saw in his eyes that terrible, ruthless look I -knew so well. - -“What does the hidden country of Kalmut Fiord hold?” he speculated one -evening. “Ah, Miss Baldwin, if we knew our interest would be -discounted. It is a primitive spot, surely; a primal piece of earth. -Let us pray that it holds Romance, without which there can be no -beginning of a new life.” Once more he repeated: “Hidden country! -There’s some in all of us, and until we explore it we don’t live.” - -The effect of his efforts was apparent upon Miss Baldwin. She seemed -to dread each meeting with him, yet she sat beneath his spell in a -state of fascination. So I cursed poor Chanler. Had he been the man -Miss Baldwin had hoped she would have had no attention for Brack. - -Near dusk on the third day after changing our course we sighted land -over our bows, a tiny gray smudge on the horizon. Our speed was cut -down to a crawl at once. The captain, after studying the land through -his glasses, ordered our course changed to west by nor’west, and -through the thickening darkness we moved at a foot-pace, gradually -drawing nearer a harboring, fir-lined coast line. - -That night, while most of us slept soundly, we slipped into Kalmut -Fiord. The cessation of the yacht’s motion aroused me in the morning, -and half awake I dressed and stumbled out on deck to learn the cause. - -In the darkness I had a jumbled impression that the _Wanderer_ was -lying in a small lake surrounded by a circle of small, craggy -mountains. Then, my senses clearing, I realized that I had stepped -into the midst of events of sinister portent. - - - - - XX - - -It was still too dark to gather an accurate impression of the yacht’s -surroundings, yet light enough to make out what was going on directly -before me. A number of sailors were dropping two of the port -life-boats into the water. They worked eagerly and cautiously, like -men in haste and with a desire for silence. A block, carelessly -handled, swung with a clang against one of the davits and a subdued -voice cursed the guilty man for his clumsiness. - -“Don’t do that again.” Through the darkness and morning fog the -whisper sounded like a threat of murder. “Now over with those -sea-ladders.” - -The voice was Brack’s. - -“All right here Foxy,” said another low voice as the second boat was -dropped with little noise into the water. “Let ’em come.” - -This was a new voice to me. It was not Riordan’s nor Garvin’s, nor -Wilson’s, yet it had in it a note of authority which did not belong to -any of the sailors. I was further puzzled because I seemed to have -heard it somewhere before. - -“Bring them up, Garvin. Hurry; we’ve got to be up there before it’s -light.” - -Brack was speaking again in a loud whisper. Garvin’s great bulk -slipped past me toward the after deck, his feet shuffling along the -deck to make as little noise as possible. He was breathing swiftly and -heavily as a man breathes under the stress of great excitement. - -I now saw that the captain was standing at one of the sea-ladders and -at the other was a man whose figure I did not recognize as belonging -to any of the men on board. It was a spare, wiry figure, with a poise -that belonged to no ordinary sailor. I moved a little closer. Now I -saw that the man carried a rifle in the hollow of his arm. I looked at -Brack; he was armed likewise. - -That movement proved my undoing. - -“Who the devil’s that?” demanded the wiry man hoarsely. - -Brack leaned forward and looked at me steadily for several seconds. - -“Don’t you sleep soundly, Pitt?” he asked. - -“Not very,” I replied. - -He continued to look at me steadfastly. Presently he began to grin. - -“That is unfortunate for you,” he said at last. - -“Surely not,” said I. “Had I been sleeping soundly this morning I -would have missed the sight of all this mysterious preparation.” - -He chuckled ominously. - -“Had you been sleeping soundly—” he began and stopped. “All right, -men. Hurry.” - -A file of men came slipping up from aft. They moved with their bodies -crouched far over and stepped softly. I heard their excited breathing -as they drew near. And each of them bore in his hands a rifle. - -“Four in this boat; four in the other,” commanded Brack. “Get down -there without any noise.” - -Garvin started to tumble over the side with the rest of the men; but -Brack stopped him. They whispered together, and Garvin again went aft. - -The men were all in the boats now and Brack and the new man stood at -the ladders waiting to follow. The new man had his back toward me. He -was speaking to the captain. - -“Who the devil is this guy, Foxy?” he whispered. “I thought we were -going to make a clean getaway.” - -“Pitt,” said Brack, “step up and meet the gold-finder, the man whose -story you didn’t think a good excuse for coming here.” - -I stood where I was, but the man turned and took a step forward to -have a better look at me, and then I knew why his voice had puzzled -me. The man was Madigan, whom I had seen quarreling with Brack back in -Billy Taylor’s saloon in Seattle. - -Perhaps some instinct had warned me to be prepared for a shock, for I -looked Madigan over without betraying the rush of thoughts with which -my mind was seething. In a flash the whole of Brack’s scheming, from -the time he had met Chanler in San Francisco to the present moment, -was made plain. He had influenced Chanler to purchase the _Wanderer_ -and go north; he had engaged Madigan to hide away on board and play -the wrecked miner at the proper moment; he had brought the _Wanderer_ -into the bay at night; and he was now starting out—for what? - -I managed to smile as I glanced significantly at the rifles which both -men carried. - -“And are you going gold-digging now, Captain Brack?” said I. “I -thought picks and shovels were the proper utensils for mining.” - -“Much easier to let others use them,” said he. “Much more satisfactory -to use this—” he patted his rifle—“after others have used the picks -and shovels. As you soon shall see, Mr. Pitt.” - -“I——” - -He lifted his right hand as if for a signal. Quicker than any normal -thought of mine, instinct whispered the imminence of danger. - -I ducked and crouched low before Brack’s signal was completed, and a -fist grazed the top of my head from behind and a hand—Garvin’s—caught -hold of my left arm. Terror drove me to action. - -As instinctively as any attacked animal whirls upon its assailant, I -turned on Garvin, sweeping my arms around wildly. He had expected no -resistance, and one of my fists thudded viciously into the middle of -his throat. He gurgled in strange fashion, throwing his head far back, -and I struck him again, struck with a strength which I had not dreamed -that I possessed. I saw him staggering, and turned to run. - -Madigan leaped nimbly to block me. I dodged back, but the captain was -there, so I turned to Madigan. He was on me with a rush; we clinched, -struggled, fell, and got up again. This continued for some time. Then -a great weight seemed to drop on the back of my head and my knowledge -of what was happening ceased suddenly. - - - - - XXI - - -My next moment of consciousness consisted of a sensation of -helplessness. I was awake; I heard sounds vaguely; but I could not -see, nor could I move. - -“There.” A voice seemed to speak from a far-away darkness. “He’s -coming to; you didn’t kill him after all, cap.” - -I felt something strike me heavily in the side. - -“Yes. He’s coming to. Prod him again. —— him! He delayed us, and every -minute counts.” - -Once more the heavy blow fell on my side. I opened my eyes wearily. -Painfully turning my head I looked toward my side and made out a heavy -boot. Some one had been kicking me. My eyes moved up the boot; Garvin -was its owner. The sight of his gross face brought back memory and -consciousness. There was blood on his mouth; in the lower lip was a -long cut, and I was glad. - -Garvin was staring at me with a mingling of curiosity and respect in -his expression. - -“Where the —— did you learn that punch in the Adam’s apple?” he said. -“That’s a new one to me. And, say, you’re quick; quickest man I ever -see; and you’re all there for a middle-weight, bo.” - -“Who hit me in the back of the head?” I demanded weakly. “That was a -cowardly blow.” - -I heard a growl somewhere which I recognized as Brack’s. - -“We were in a hurry,” he said, “and you would not give us a chance to -handle you gently. You delayed us. That may be serious.” - -I strove to rise and struck my chest against a board. I was conscious -of a rhythmic motion, and a dull, squeaky sound, repeated without -cessation. My senses cleared. I turned my head. I was lying under a -seat in one of the life-boats and the boat was being rushed onward -under the impulse of eagerly pulled oars. - -“What’s this?” I groaned. “What sort of an outrage is this?” - -I twisted myself from under the seat and sat up, looking around for -the yacht. There was no sight of it. There was no sight of anything -but water and steep hills, and the second life-boat closely following -us. We were pulling up a narrow, winding bay. Its width was fairly -uniform, probably a hundred yards. Its water was pure blue. And on -both sides, and before and behind us, rose the craggy, fir-clad hills, -approaching the size of mountains, shutting us out from all the rest -of the world. - -“Sit down, Mr. Pitt; it is more comfortable.” From the bow Brack -spoke, and I turned upon him. - -“What do you mean?” I began, and there I stopped. - -For, though Brack spoke in laughing fashion, there was no laughter -about his lips, none in his eyes. His face was set like a bronze mask, -his mouth was scarcely visible, his eyes shone hard and fiery between -slitted lids. Brack had ceased to pretend; the brute in him was having -its way, and he didn’t care who saw it. - -“You would better have slept soundly this morning, Mr. Pitt,” he said. -“If your foolish fight delayed us too long—you will soon know why.” - -“I want to know why right now!” I cried, in spite of the terror that -his face inspired. “You’ve assaulted me; you’ve taken me off the yacht -by force. You’ll pay for this when we get back home.” - -“Suppose,” said he musingly, “suppose you should never get back home?” - -His tone, not his words, froze me. I could not speak. I looked at the -faces of the men who were rowing furiously, at Garvin. And I looked at -the cold blue water through which we were speeding and knew it was no -more remorseless than the men in that boat. - -“Don’t you think now it would have been better for you to have slept?” -said Brack. - -“I think,” I retorted hotly as the power of speech came rushing back -to me, “that you had better take me back to the yacht; and I know that -I will see you punished for assault for this.” - -A sound like laughter issued from his throat, but his expression did -not change. - -“Assault?” he repeated. “Ha! You forget that you are out of the land -of courts now, Pity. Assault! Ha! Why, Pitt, that will be like a -maiden’s kiss compared to what’s going to happen in the next half -hour. Sit down; you’re in that oar’s way. Put him down, Garvin.” - -Garvin obediently kicked me back of the knee-joints and I dropped with -a noisy clatter to the bottom of the boat. - -“—— you!” swore Brack in a loud whisper. “If you make another noise -like that I’ll have you dumped overboard. You’ve made us late. Now -just you lay still and nice where you are, Pitt; we’re having no noise -on this excursion.” - -I sat silent. I was half dazed from the blow on the head and by my -situation, and for the next few minutes I observed what was taking -place as one who is less than half awake. By this time we had come to -the head of the bay and were entering the mouth of a small river which -rambled crookedly down through a gap in the hills. - -“More juice in your strokes, men,” whispered Brack. “It’s a strong -current, and we haven’t much farther to go.” - -His words stimulated the men. Their fierce eyes grew fiercer, and they -bent to their oars with all their might. Most of them were panting -from excitement and exertion. - -“We’ll land here,” said Brack presently. “No noise, men.” - -The boats swung in to the bank indicated and the men tumbled out, -clutching their rifles eagerly. - -“Come along, Pitt.” - -“No,” I responded. “From what I hear you’re bound for some sort of a -crime.” - -“So are you. That’s why I took you along—to make you pay for sleeping -so lightly. Get out.” - -Two men sprang into the boat toward me, and I was forced to obey. With -Brack in the lead a single file was formed and I started up a faintly -marked footpath which ran along the stream. I was placed near the -middle of the line; Madigan brought up the rear. I was the only man in -the party who was not armed. - -For the next ten minutes we hurried forward, through brush, over rocks -and fallen logs, and through muddy spring-holes without a word being -spoken. Brack in the lead, seemed to take no notice of the obstacles -that presented themselves, and every man in the line with the -exception of myself seemed imbued by the same fierce eagerness. I was -helpless. The man behind me was continually treading on my heels, his -heavy breath was on my neck, and I, too, was forced to hurry, driven -along, moving as in a cruel nightmare. - -Brack stopped suddenly and held up his hand. A sound had broken the -silence ahead of us. It was repeated, a dull, slapping sound, and -Brack whispered an oath. - -“They’re up; chopping wood for breakfast. Follow me.” - -He struck off into a wooded ravine at right angles to the trail. At a -distance which I estimated to be three city blocks from the river he -led the way by zigzags up a series of hills and presently we were -nearing the crest of a ridge beyond which no further hills were -visible. - -“Get down now,” he ordered. “The lake’s in the valley over this hill. -The man who shows himself above the brush or makes a noise’ll get -hurt.” - -He began to wriggle himself forward through the stunted trees until at -last he was able to peer over the crest of the ridge, and the rest -followed his example. - -A small, blackish lake lay in the marshy valley below. On the shore -opposite to us were two log cabins, several huge piles of dirt, and a -crude derrick. Daylight was streaming into the valley, dispersing the -night fogs, and we made out two men moving about the buildings. Brack -swore much but softly. - -“Slade and Harris!” He paused to curse again. “—— ’em! We’re too late. -—— you, Pitt, you’ll pay for this.” - -“What the ——!” snarled Madigan as the captain hesitated. “What’s all -this foxy work for, Foxy? They’re two and we’re ten. Why don’t we go -down an’ clean ’em up?” - -“Easy—easy, Tad,” said Brack softly. “No noise. Slade and Harris are -too good with the rifle to try any straight rushing. Besides, there’s -a back trail over there, and they might get away. They’ve got the gold -cached some place and we may need ’em alive to learn where it is. A -little hanging up by the thumbs will make ’em tell. Gad! The fools! -They’ve got three dumps; that means three shafts. The thing’s richer -than I thought, and they’ve kept it all right down there because they -swore to stay there till they had a hundred thousand apiece.” - -“Gawd!” whispered Garvin. “Let’s take a chance, cap.” - -“Easy, Garvin, easy!” chuckled Brack. “They’re a couple of suckers, -but they can shoot. - -“Well,” growled Madigan, “let’s have it—when do we go get ’em?” - -Brack studied the scene before him for several minutes before -replying. - -“We’ve got to wait until they’re in the shafts,” was his decision. -“This is too big a risk, giving ’em a chance. If we jump ’em now from -this side they’ll put up a stiff fight and at the same time have a -chance of getting away over their back trail. And if they get into the -woods, they won’t leave the gold where we can find it easily. We’ve -got to spoil that back trail for ’em.” - -“Yep;” said Garvin, “leave ’em no getaway.” - -“Madigan,” said Brack, “You take your men and circle around on this -side of the ridge and go north until you strike their trail running -out of the valley.” - -“That’ll take a couple of hours.” - -“A little longer, probably. When you’re set, fire three shots and -we’ll start to rush ’em from this side. The rest’ll be easy. Boys, by -ten o’clock we’ll all be rich.” - -We fell back from the top of the ridge, and in a ravine well out of -sight Madigan led his four men into the forest. Brack waited until -they were out of sight and then hurried us back to the boats. Pulling -Madigan’s boat behind us we were swiftly rowed down the river into the -bay. Here the empty boat was tied up in a well-hidden nook, and we -went on toward the yacht. - -I now had an opportunity to note the distance which we had traveled. -The fiord curved raggedly from the river’s mouth toward the sea. In -spite of the foothills which shut us in I saw that our course at first -took us away from the river and the lake. Then, where the bay began to -widen, we began to curve backward until when, at last the _Wanderer_, -riding serene and white on her cradle of blue water, appeared before -us, I knew that our course had been such that the distance overland to -the miner’s lake could not be much more than half of what it was by -water. I judged the distance down the bay from the river-mouth to the -_Wanderer_ to be about three miles. - -As we made out the yacht in the distance, the Captain looked at his -watch. - -“Back in nice time for breakfast,” he said. “Well, Pitt, how does it -feel to belong to a gang of robbers? Please don’t say you don’t -belong. You do, you know; we’ve elected you. Yes; you’re one of us -now, and we’re going to keep close watch on you until this little job -is over.” - -“What is your object?” I asked. “Why did you drag me up there with -you?” - -“Because I suspect that you like to talk, Pitt,” said he, as he -suddenly changed the course of the boat. “You were unfortunate enough -to see us leaving ship. Had I permitted you to stay on board you would -have talked. You might have talked in alarming fashion, and I do not -wish Miss Baldwin to be alarmed—until our work here is done, at -least.” - -“Then why did you bring me back?” I cried. “For you certainly can not -expect me to keep silent after what I have seen and heard.” - -“You can talk all you want to now, Pitt,” he laughed. Then I saw that -the boat was pointing toward the shore. “Talk your head off, Pitt. -Because no matter how loud you talk your voice won’t be among those -heard aboard.” - -The boat shot into a tiny indentation of the fiord, from which the -_Wanderer_ could not be seen, and grounded on the gravelly beach. - -“Will you get out sensibly, Pitt, or will you have to be knocked down -and dragged out?” said Brack carelessly. - -I stepped out. - -“Barry, you stay here with him.” - -A vicious-looking seaman of medium height followed me onto the beach, -his rifle under his arm. - -“We’ll be back in an hour or so,” continued Brack as the boat backed -away. “Must look after our passenger, you know. And be nice, Pitt, and -you won’t get hurt.” - -“Yes, and make it —— nice, too!” growled the man Barry, scowling at -me. “’Cause I don’t half like this job an’ I sort o’ figger the cap’ -wouldn’t be sore if he come back and found I’d had to put you out of -business.” - - - - - XXII - - -I stood with my head up until the boat had whisked Brack out of sight, -then slumped down in despair upon a convenient boulder. I was -horrified and frightened. My thoughts had cleared by now and the full -significance of what I had seen, heard, and undergone came to me. -Brutal robbery, probably murder; such was the sum and substance of -Brack’s plans. The expedition and the _Wanderer_ turned in the tools -of a piracy which would have been unbelievable with any other man than -the captain! And Miss Baldwin back there on the yacht, ignorant of the -morning’s happenings, unsuspecting of Brack’s true character, and I -helpless to warn her or be of any assistance. - -Brack would keep up the pretense. He would be the smooth-talking -captain this morning as if nothing untoward had happened, or was going -to happen. He would maintain this pose until he had accomplished the -robbery, until it pleased him to drop it. And after this morning I -knew that he would go to any lengths to fulfil his will. - -“Cold?” sneered Barry as I shivered. “Well, don’t worry, sissy, Cap’ll -make it warm enough for you when he gets ready to ’tend to you.” - -I turned to plead with him, and he laughed delightedly at the fear and -wretchedness in my face. For I was afraid. This was no place for me. -It was all too strange, too harsh. I was literally sick at my stomach; -and yet I knew all the time that I was going to try to warn those -unsuspecting miners whom Captain Brack planned to catch in their mine -like rats in a pit. Heaven knows I did not wish to do it! In my heart -I protested against the Fate that had placed such a task to my lot. I -was unfit for it. Somebody else, more used to such things, should have -had the job. - -I would have pleaded with Barry, have sought to bribe him, but the -expression on his vicious countenance made me hold my tongue. What -could I do? This sort of thing was new to me; how did one go about it? - -I thought of the two miners delving away in their shafts, of them -suddenly looking up to find Brack grinning down at them. The -unfairness of the thing was revolting. Did men do such things to their -fellows in this day and age? - -I glanced at Barry and his rifle and knew that they did. Craft and -brutality, those were the laws governing this situation. And craft and -brutality soon began to enter my thoughts as readily as they might -enter those of Brack, Garvin, or the lout who was guarding me. - -At my feet lay several stones the size of a man’s fist. Presently I -feigned sleepiness, nodded, and slipped from the boulder to a seat on -the sand. - -“Sleepy, eh?” Barry sneered. “You’re a fine piece o’ cheese.” - -“I’m sick,” I muttered. “My head aches.” - -“Oh, you poor thing!” He prodded me carelessly with the butt of his -rifle. “For two cents I’d give you a clout that’d take the ache out of -that head for good.” - -The minutes went by in silence. Half an hour later, perhaps, I saw -Barry’s vigilance begin to relax. - -My right hand dropped languidly at my side and found a round stone, -slightly larger than a baseball. Barry did not see. - -More time passed. At last Barry, catching himself nodding, -straightened up and again prodded me with the butt. - -“Don’t do that again,” I whined. “Please don’t.” - -“‘Please don’t!’” mocked Barry. - -In his estimation I was such a weakling that he had no need to be -cautious. The rifle-butt again touched my side. I grasped it suddenly -with my left hand, the fingers fastening themselves around the -trigger-guard, and sprang up, the stone in my right hand. Barry jerked -at the rifle, drawing me close, and I felled him to the ground with a -blow from the stone on the temple. - -I had the rifle now, and as he strove to rise I struck him on the head -with the heavy barrel and he lay still. I stood over him, ready to -strike again, but he did not move and with the rifle in my hand I ran -through the green-leaved brush which fringed the fiord and started to -climb the rocky hills that walled it in. - -What I had to do I knew must be done in a hurry, before Brack or -Madigan were in a position to keep a watch on the lake, and I ran on, -regardless of the fissures and gaps with which the hill was pitted. In -my haste I paid little attention to my path, and near the top I -plunged suddenly through a tangle of brush and fell into what proved -to be the mouth of a cave-like opening in the rocky portion of the -hill. - -The cave was so well hidden by the spring foliage that I had literally -to walk into it before suspecting its existence. I hid the rifle -there, clambered out and went on. If my senses of direction and -distance were right the lake should be straight north and about a mile -and a half away. - -Though I ran and walked as rapidly as possible, it was half an hour -before I struck the ridge which shut out the lake from sight of the -bay. Then I knew that in spite of my ignorance of the woods, I had -gone straight to my goal. I went down the farther side at once, -keeping myself hidden in the brush as much as possible in case -Madigan’s crew should be on the lookout, and finding the trail along -the river I went straight up toward the miners’ camp. - -A man was waiting for me as I stepped from the alder-brush into the -clearing about the mine. My clumsy traveling had warned of my approach -and he lay behind a pile of dirt before a shaft, a large blue pistol -pointing straight down the trail where I emerged. - -“Don’t shoot!” I cried running toward him, with my hands in the air. -“I’m a friend. I’ve come to warn you that a man named Brack with a -crew of cutthroats is on his way to raid your camp.” - -The mention of Brack’s name had a pitiful effect upon the man. He -leaped back, his eyes shifty with fright, and made as if to run back -to the cabins. He caught himself, however, and swung his pistol -steadily on the trail behind me. - -He was an old man with a patriarchal beard and a gentle face. When he -saw that no one was following me he said— - -“Come with me, stranger; we’ll get Bill.” - -He retreated, walking backward, covering me and the trail with his -weapon, while I followed. Arriving at the first shaft, still keeping -his eyes on me, he called— - -“Oh, Bill!” - -A tall, laughing youth, with a soft, curly beard, came clambering out -of the mine in response to his summons. At the sight of me his hand -flashed to the pistol on his hip. - -“Tell it to Bill, stranger,” said the patriarch. “Bill, the Laughing -Devil’s back and this gentleman says he’s layin’ to come an’ clean us -_pronto_.” - -“Brack?” gasped the youth, with a frightened glance down the trail. -“Foxy Brack?” - -“Yes,” I said. “He’s here to rob you. He’s sent one of his lieutenants -around the ridge to cut off your back trail. He has ten of the worst -men in Christendom with him.” - -“Oh, my God!” groaned the young man. Steadying himself he said, “Who -are you, stranger?” - -I told about the _Wanderer_ and its party, and about the morning’s -happenings as swiftly as possible. - -“Why did you run the risk of coming here and telling us this?” asked -the youth when I concluded. “And how do we know you’re telling the -truth?” - -“Bill!” said the old man reprovingly. “Can’t you see? Stranger, we -take this right neighborly of you. My name’s Slade, and this is my -partner, young Bill Harris. Pitt, you said your name was? Well, Mr. -Pitt, you’re a man. This Brack, now, he’s a devil. Bill and me saved -his life when he come ashore up at Omkutsk, and he spoke us fine and -friendly, and acted like a man, and we took him in with us on this -gold find. - -“Then one day he tried to put us both out of business and we caught -him in the act just in time. It’s hard to kill a man when you got him -helpless, stranger, though we should ’a’ done it then. We give him a -boat with grub, and when the wind was blowing offshore we sent him out -to sea. The devil must ’a’ took care of its own, since he’s still -living; and now he’s come back to clean us out. We been sort of ’fraid -of it all the time.” - -“How many d’ you say with him?” queried young Harris. “And all bad -men, too, eh? God! There’s only two of us——” - -“Bill,” said Slade patiently, “we can’t stay an’ fight him. You know -what he is.” - -“They’re circling round us now?” Harris was looking around wildly. -“We’re cut off.” - -“How many went around to cut our trail, neighbor?” - -“Five.” - -“We may be able to handle five of ’em, Bill,” said Slade. “We wouldn’t -have no chance with ten. We mustn’t let ’em head us off. Brack ’ud use -fire to make us tell where the gold is cached. We’ll start right away -and travel light.” - -Harris ran into the large cabin. I started to go back the way I had -come. - -“Wha-a-at? You ain’t going back to Brack’s boat, are you? Neighbor, -there’ll be only hell where that devil is.” - -“And for that reason I must go back there.” - -“Why?” - -“There is a girl—a young lady—on the yacht.” - -Old Slade shook his head. - -“That dirty devil! But we can’t stay and fight ten men and Brack. -Well, Mr. Pitt, I reckon we owe you our lives and everything we got, -but I dunno how we’re goin’ to square it with you.” - -My eyes fell on the automatic pistol in his hand. - -“You’re —— whistlin’!” cried Slade suddenly as he thrust the weapon -into my hands. I put it inside my shirt. “That don’t square us. Best I -can do, though. Now, Mr. Pitt—” he gripped my hand—“God bless yoh!” - - - - - XXIII - - -I hurried back down the river-trail until I reached the ridge. Here I -quitted the way I had come and climbed away over the hills toward the -sea. My plan was to step aboard the _Wanderer_ while Brack was absent, -and without being seen by any of his men. Hence, I gave the cove where -I had struck down Barry a wide berth. In fact, I did not follow the -windings of the fiord at all but struck straight across the rough -country toward where I judged the sea to be. - -I got lost twice. Once I found myself turning toward the fiord and -once I had circled back toward the lake. It was well into the -afternoon when I found the rough seacoast and following it southward -came to the mouth of the fiord and, from a hilltop looked down upon -the _Wanderer_ at anchor. - -I saw now why my first impression of the morning had been that the -yacht was surrounded by mountains. This was nearly so. The hills, one -of which I was lying on, walled the fiord in on both sides, while -across its mouth, shutting it in from the sea and leaving only a -narrow channel on either side, lay a narrow, crescent-shaped island -consisting of a fir-covered hill of equal height to those of the -mainland. - -The Hidden Country! It was the inevitable name for the region. - -Small wonder that Kalmut Fiord was not on the maps. It lay behind its -crescent-shaped island securely hidden from all the world. Outside, -the dun, gray North Pacific heaved and murmured, a part of the busy -world. Somewhere on its restless water ships were sailing, men were -active in the doings of our day and age. But in the hidden country -behind the island there was no such suggestion. - -The fiord lay hill-ringed and calm, a part of the world, and yet not -of it. Its green Spring foliage, delicate, masking gray hills and -black cliffs, its quiet blue water, its virgin beaches, its very air, -all were heavy with the primitive’s eternal calm. - -As I looked about I saw that the heights immediately about the fiord -were in reality but foot-hills of a great valley. And the valley was -ringed in by a mountain range. West, north, east—everywhere save -toward the open sea southward—a curving wall of towering mountains -shut it in. There was snow on most of the peaks, and others were -wrapped in wisps of clouds. One great narrow gash, seeming to cleave -the range down to sea level, was visible in the west. Save for this, -the Kalmut Valley seemed a spot walled in by frowning stone. - -The colossal scheme of the scene left me awed. The sense of the -primitive which dominated it all held me spellbound. We had left the -world with which I was familiar. This was the sensation that crept -over me. We were in a new world—no, an old one, so old that modernity -had nothing in common with it. Skin-clad, white-skinned vikings, might -have stepped out on those moss-clad rocks and have fitted perfectly -into the picture. But not the _Wanderer_, not its personnel—save -Brack. Yes, Brack and that valley belonged together. - -I shuddered and turned toward the yacht. - - * * * * * - -Brack’s boat was gone. That was good. But I looked in vain for some -sign of life aboard. Apparently the _Wanderer_ was deserted. I waited -in hope that some one might appear on deck and in response to my hail -send over a boat, but after half an hour I gave this up. I was rested -now from the unaccustomed strain of hill-climbing, and I was -determined to reach the yacht. - -The _Wanderer’s_ anchorage was probably two hundred yards from the -shore on which I was lying and I had never been but a poor swimmer. -But from an out-jutting point of the island it was but half that -distance and to the island I turned my attention. - -The channel separating the island and the mainland was about fifty -yards wide. I swam it, after having divested myself of shoes and coat, -ran along the island to the point nearest the yacht and plunged in -again. The water of the fiord was like ice, and I had not swum far -before my teeth were chattering. I was tempted to shout and call for -help, but the caution which that day had instilled in me prevented -this and I kept on in silence. - -No one saw me as I came climbing up the _Wanderer’s_ starboard -sea-ladder. My flesh, my bones, my marrow, were aching with the -torture of cold. I staggered stiffly across the deck and rounded the -main cabin. There I came upon Freddy Pierce in a deckchair -disconsolately rolling a cigaret. - -We did not speak for some time. - -At my appearance the paper fluttered from Pierce’s limp hand, the -tobacco dribbled unnoticed from the bag onto the deck and by this I -knew that the sight of me must have appalled him. He stared at me, his -lips opening and closing, and I stared back, uttering no word, as men -do in moments when words are too slow a means of expression. I was -freezing; I was near to collapsing; but at the sight of Pierce’s -appalled countenance my body seemed forgotten. - -“Brains!” exploded Freddy at last in agony. “What the ——! Ain’t she -with you?” - -“No,” I said, “she is not with me.” - -Pierce rose from the deck chair, his boyish, freckled face white and -sickly for the moment. - -“Mean to say—” he licked his dry lips—“mean to say you ain’t seen -her?” - -“I haven’t seen her.” - -“He said—Cap’ Brack said—you’d stayed up there with the men, and that -you suggested Miss Baldwin’d like to come up and take a look.” - -“‘Brack said?’” My mind refused to comprehend fully the significance -of Pierce’s bare words. - -“Eyah. He said that the second time he was down—for lunch. Said you -were up there. And Miss Baldwin got in the boat with ’em and went up -there, thinking to meet you. Brains—Mr. Pitt!” he cried, springing -forward and grasping my arms, “what’s come off? What’s Brack been -pulling? Didn’t you send that word to Miss Baldwin at all?” - -“No.” - -I turned to go to my stateroom. I was like a man in a dream. - -“Brains!” he whispered in agony, “didn’t you hear what I said? She -went away with Brack in a boat, and he lied about your being where -they was going.” - -I released myself from his grasp. - -“Yes, I heard. I must get a dry change.” I went straight to my room, -Pierce following on my heels. - -“Freddy,” I said, as quietly as I could, “you had better get up to -your wireless and send word to any ship within call to relay word to -the nearest authorities that we need help.” - -He merely stared at me without moving. - -“Go on,” I said. “Send that message at once.” - -“Aw, Brains,” he said gently. “Where’s your thinker; you know better’n -that.” - -“Do as I tell you. Don’t wait to hear the story; start your wireless -at once.” - -“You’re up in the air forty miles,” was his reply. “If you wasn’t -you’d know that Brack’d never leave me here on the yacht without -putting the wireless out of business.” - -“What!” - -“Yep. When they all turned up missing this morning, you with ’em, and -there hadn’t been anything said about it, I began to feel kind of cold -below the ankles and I sneaked up to slip some juice into the air and -try to put the revenue-cutter, _Bear_, hep to something doing here. -She ought to be down this way just now. Well, nothing doing. The whole -works are gone; Brack’s put the wireless outfit on the bum.” - -Somehow I managed to be calm. - -“Where’s Wilson?” - -Pierce’s face clouded. - -“A dirty shame! Wilson’s laid up. Garvin’s gun went off accidentally -when they were coming on board and the bullet went through Wilson’s -leg below the knee.” - -“Riordan?” - -“He’s left in charge; yep. Chanler’s keeping him in his room to talk -to. The nigger’s here, too. He had a row with Garvin last night and -they left him behind to do scullion work. Simmons is sleeping.” - -“Chanler?” - -“He’s coming around. Cold sober, but shaky.” - -“Dr. Olson?” - -“Went back with Brack on the second trip. Brack had him take his case -and a lot of stuff, too.” - -“You mean that the captain came after Dr. Olson?” - -“Yep. And Miss Baldwin. He made two trips, you know. First he came -back early in the morning for breakfast, and said they’d found the -mine, and you were staying up there to look around. He said we’d all -go up after awhile. Then they went away. At noon they came back again. -Then was when Doc’ Olson and Miss Baldwin went with him. I tried to -horn myself in but he details me to split the watches with Riordan and -tells Riordan to see I stay on board. She—Miss Baldwin—asked if I -couldn’t go along, and he said no. Then she got into the boat, like -she didn’t know whether she wanted to or not, and they pulled away. -And, Brains, I’m afraid—I got a hunch he’s got her going south.” - -“Got who? Going where?” I asked, not comprehending his slang. - -“Got Miss Baldwin—going south. You know: falling for him.” Then as my -expression continued to betray my lack of comprehension, “Brack can -fool any woman, and he’s got her charmed.” - -The pistol which the old miner had given me came to sight at that -moment as I undressed, and Pierce gasped. - -“You—packing a gat’!” he exclaimed. “What’s happened? Where have you -been if you haven’t been up there with the crew?” - -I continued my dressing without replying. When completed I again -placed the pistol out of sight within my shirt. - -“We’ll go and see Wilson,” I said. “Then I’ll only have to tell my -story once.” - - - - - XXIV - - -We found the wounded man lying in his bunk calmly dividing his time -between a book and his bandaged leg which was stretched out before -him. There was no look of pain or mental stress upon his bronzed face. -It was all in the day’s work; he would not permit a little thing like -a bullet through his leg to disturb his poise. - -“I’m all right, sir,” he said. “Be up soon.” - -“Wilson,” said I, “how much accident was there about that shot?” - -“I don’t know, sir. Garvin was behind me when it happened. I don’t -mind saying that I’ll settle personally with him for it when I’m on my -feet again.” - -“Garvin is merely the captain’s tool.” - -“He’ll be a dull tool, sir, when I’ve paid him for his clumsiness.” - -I told him all that I had heard, and what had happened to me that -morning. When I came to my affair with Barry and my escape to warn the -miners his eyes widened. - -“The captain planned well, didn’t he, sir?” he said quietly. “The only -thing—” he smiled a little—“the only thing he hadn’t charted right was -you, Mr. Pitt. He was far on his reckonings of you, sir, and so was I. -He never expected that from you. You threw him off his course nicely, -sir. You may have spoiled the whole cruise for him, though that’s -hardly probable. He always has a trick left.” - -“And what do you think his plans are beyond this, Wilson?” I asked. -“He certainly can’t intend to return with us to civilization after -what he’s done today.” - -“I’ve been thinking of that, sir,” he replied. “And I always get back -to remembering that the _Wanderer_ is outfitted for two years. I’ve a -notion that the captain’s original plan was to rob these miners and -then slip off to the edges of nowhere with the yacht.” - -“And what of us?” - -He shrugged his shoulders. - -“Can’t tell, sir. As it is, you’ve put him off his course. If he -doesn’t make out on his robbery he’ll have trouble with the men. He -promised them a lot of easy gold. They’re a hard crew and he’ll have -trouble handling them unless they catch those miners and make them -give up the secret of where they’ve hidden the gold. If they catch -’em, the captain will get the secret out of them, you can bet on that. -Then they’ll come piling back here to get away as soon as possible to -where they can blow their loot.” - -“And then we’ll have to look out for ourselves, you mean?” - -Wilson nodded. - -“Well,” said he slowly, “things like this ain’t so bad for men, sir, -but there’s the girl.” - -The conversation ceased abruptly. We sat silent, each troubled by the -same thought. - -“Did he say when he would return?” I asked at last. - -“No,” said Pierce. - -“How much grub did they take?” asked Wilson. - -Pierce gulped. - -“Not much. I heard him say there was enough up there for months.” - -“And not a hint of when they were coming back?” - -“No.” - -We were silent again. Presently Wilson cleared his throat: - -“Those fellows up there, the miners must have got away. The captain -wouldn’t take her up there if they were there.” - -“And he took the doc’ with him, too,” reminded Pierce. “Somebody must -have got hurt.” - -“Were they hard men, these two miners?” asked Wilson of me. “They -were, eh? Well, the way it looks to me, they hurt some of the crew and -got away, and the crew is still after them. They’ll be afraid to let -’em get away if they’ve had a fight. The miners would get word to the -outside and they’d come back with help.” - -“But Brack can’t be taking part in the chase if there is one,” I -interrupted. - -Wilson shook his head. - -“He came back here. He wouldn’t be doing that if he was in the chase.” - -“And he took Miss Baldwin with him,” supplemented Pierce. - -“He probably sent the men on the chase as soon as he found that the -miners had got away,” continued Wilson. “Then he’s alone——” - -He caught himself; but we know what he intended to say. - -“Chanler is better, you say?” I said, rising. - -“Sure,” said Pierce. “He’s nervous and shaky, but he’s a human being -again.” - -“What are you going to do, sir?” asked Wilson as I stepped to the -door. “Going up there? Well, there’s a canoe in the port storage-room -forward, sir?” - -“Good! Pierce, will you get the canoe out and put it in the water? -I’ll go and have a little talk with Chanler.” - -“You bet! Say, Brains, wha’d’ you do with the rifle you copped off -Barry?” - -I told him where I had hidden the weapon and went out. Chanler should -have his chance. He must be a man now if ever. Riordan was with -Chanler in the latter’s stateroom when I entered. Chanler had come out -of his madness. He was nervous and looked ill, but his eyes were sane -again. He was lying in a lounge-chair with Riordan at his side. - -“Good gad, Gardy! I am glad to see you!” cried George as I entered. -“Here, sit down and talk to me; talk to me, you hear? Say something. -Riordan, you’re relieved. Take a rest, like Simmons. Gardy, say -something. I’ve got to have somebody talk to me or I’ll—I’ll start -hitting it up again.” - -Riordan was regarding me suspiciously. - -“How did you come aboard?” he demanded. - -“Never mind how he came aboard,” interrupted George petulantly. “What -d’you s’pose I care how he came aboard. He’s here now. Sit down, -Gardy, and talk. You can go, Riordan; I’ll have you in when Gardy’s -winded.” - -Riordan went, scowling at me, and I seated myself in the chair he had -vacated. - -“Chanler, there is no time for me to talk to you for your -entertainment,” I began abruptly. “You’re sober now, you’re yourself, -and you can’t shirk responsibility on the pretense of being -incapacitated. Brack got Miss Baldwin to accompany him up to the mine -with the lie that I was up there and had suggested that she come up. -He is up there with her—alone. And the devil only knows what his plans -are.” - -Chanler merely shuddered nervously. - -“Darn you, Gardy! Here I was just coming out of a sinking spell and -you come along and spoil everything. Why do you bring me news like -that? It—it disturbs me, really.” - -“No,” I said, “you can’t talk in that strain and have it accepted any -longer, Chanler. You are a man again, not an alcoholic imbecile, and -you’ve got to play the part.” - -I told him the true purpose of Brack’s visit to Kalmut Fiord and of -the day’s events. - -“And now, by a lie he has Miss Baldwin go with him. Chanler, we can’t -leave her up there with him, alone.” - -Chanler writhed and groaned. - -“Oh, Gardy! You’re terrible. What do you propose to do?” - -“You are Miss Baldwin’s host. You and I will take a canoe which Pierce -is getting ready and go up to the mine.” - -“You’re mad,” he muttered. “What shape am I in to go anywhere?” - -“The doctor is up there. It’s a short paddle.” - -“But I’m not fit, Gardy; I tell you it will set me back.” - -“You’ve got the choice before you, Chanler. Do you want to drop back -into what you’ve been for the past week, or do you want to be a man?” - -“I feel so rotten, Gardy.” - -“You’ve got a chance now with Miss Baldwin. You’re almost your old -self. Come, man; this is your chance to win back your standing with -her.” - -“I haven’t got a chance,” he said despairingly. “That’s all off. I -know it.” - -“And you’re quitting—leaving Brack to have his own way?” - -“Brack? Brack! What do you mean?” - -“While you’ve been lying in your room Brack has been doing his best to -fascinate Miss Baldwin. You should know something of the man’s power. -Well?” - -“Brack?” Chanler was struggling to his feet. “Brack, eh? So he’s after -Betty, and you—you say he’s made an impression?” - -“You know the man,” I replied bitterly. - -He straightened, struggling to tighten the set of his jaw. - -“Brack, eh?” he repeated. “Brack and little Betty. Oh, no. We can’t -have that. He doesn’t belong. Get your —— canoe ready. I suppose we’ll -have to go up to this place, but I warn you, Gardy, I warn you I’m -going to be awf’ly bored.” - - - - - XXV - - -Riordan was inclined to be brusk to me when he saw the canoe going -into the water. He was captain for the time being; he had given no -orders for using any of the yacht’s boats. Then came Chanler, -grumbling and shuffling, and Riordan’s expression suddenly showed -great elation which he tried hard to conceal. - -“Pleasant trip,” he said sarcastically. “Captain Brack’ll be glad to -see you.” - -Neither of us said a word as we settled ourselves into the canoe. -George was angry with me for causing him to go, and I was eager only -to reach the mine and Miss Baldwin and the captain. I hoped—no, I felt -confident—that Chanler’s appearance in his present condition would -solve the most delicate and dangerous phase of the problem confronting -us, which was a safe return of Miss Baldwin to civilization. - -She had cared for George Chanler once, not deeply, she had admitted -but enough to bring wistful moments at the thought of the change which -had come over him. Now she would see him as she had seen him in those -days when he had made upon her a favorable impression. - -She would at once see the difference between Chanler and Brack. George -was of her own kind; Brack was not. She would see this now; the spell -which the captain had been weaving would be broken; and she would turn -to her own kind. I felt that Brack’s sole purpose in getting Betty up -to the mine was to weave his spell more firmly; he would scarcely -frighten her by display of brutality for awhile at least. - -We paddled on in silence. The perspiration began to creep out on -Chanler’s forehead, but, though he swore at me beneath his breath, his -paddle rose and fell steadily. - -Evening came upon us with appalling suddenness. The snow-covered -western mountains shut out the sun’s rays, and at once the narrow bay -grew dark. With the sun gone a chill crept through the valley. The -scene became one of depressing gloom and Chanler broke out into -querulous protest. - -“Paddle,” I said, when his words died out petulantly. “We’re almost to -the river.” - -We swung from the bay into the river and there the current took -liberties with the light canoe. Chanler’s experience in canoeing was -much greater than mine, and now for the first time he roused himself -and asserted his knowledge. - -“Shorter strokes,” he snapped. “Shorter and faster. Now! Drive her!” - -In the struggle against the current he forgot his nervousness, and -when we landed at the spot where Brack’s boat had beached that morning -he sprang out with a vim which he had not displayed since we left -Seattle. We went straight up to the mine. - -From a distance we saw candle-lights shining from the open door of one -of the cabins and we hurried thither. We did not enter. In the single -room of the cabin Miss Baldwin and Captain Brack were seated at a -table upon which was placed a substantial meal. The captain was eating -heartily. Miss Baldwin was looking across the table at him with an -expression in which surprise and anger seemed equally mingled; and -George and I stopped as one just outside the open door without being -seen or heard. - -Miss Baldwin was speaking. - -“I wish to return to the yacht, Captain Brack,” we heard her say. -“Must I repeat that many times more?” - -“No, no!” He did not look up, but we saw that he smiled. “It isn’t -necessary. I have good ears.” - -“Then why don’t you answer me?” - -“Perhaps because it amused me to hear you speak. Your voice is a -delight to the ear.” - -By the flickering candlelight we saw that Miss Baldwin’s mouth and -chin became very firm. - -“I am quite certain you have been lying to me, Captain Brack,” she -said quietly. “I don’t believe that Mr. Pitt suggested that I come up -here. If he had he would have stayed here and not have gone on with -the men into the hills, as you say he has done.” - -Brack lifted his head. - -“You hold a brief for Mr. Pitt, Miss Baldwin?” he laughed, looking at -her closely. “Well, well; so there’s a certain interest in that pretty -little head for Pitt, eh? Well well! Pitt, the writer—the -ultra-civilized person! And I thought it was only Chanler I had to -fear. But never mind.” - -His playfulness vanished. - -“You are in the North now, Miss Baldwin, and you will fall beneath the -North’s just rule. Back there, in your civilized country, you have -lived under a different standard. Back there the most handsome male, -the best mannered, most prosperous, best dressed, might win you. Even -a Mr. Pitt would have a chance. Back there women are attracted to a -man because his head is carried a certain way, because he orders a -dinner excellently, helps one into a cab in a pleasing manner. That’s -not just, Miss Baldwin, not just. The nice man may not be the worthy -man. But here—this is the North. The strong man wins here—only the -strong man can win. Gold, women, everything. Life is primitive here, -therefore just. And you are here now, and here you are going to stay. -And here women fall to the strongest man. And that’s me, my dear, -that’s me! Look at me.” - -He rose and leaned over the table toward her. The candles flickered -and nearly went out. Betty sat upright in her chair. Still leaning -forward, his eyes holding hers, the captain with his right hand moved -the table to one side. There was nothing between them now, and Chanler -started forward, but I caught him by the arm. - -“Wait!” I whispered. For in the candle-gleam I had seen a new look on -Betty’s face. “Only wait!” - -Brack was bending over her. - -“Stand up!” he commanded, and she stood up in all the litheness of her -slim young womanhood. - -“Come to me.” - -She did not move. - -“Come. I am your Man. You are—you are——” - -His speech suddenly collapsed. Betty was smiling. The smile broadened. -There was a moment of struggle and then she threw back her head and -the cabin rang with peal after peal of lark-like laughter. - -“Oh, Captain Brack!” she stammered, struggling to control herself. -“That’s too—too stagy! Too, too melodramatic!” - -Again and again her merriment broke out, welling in gusts from -compressed lips, like merry music that would not be suppressed. - -“Forgive me, captain; it’s not polite of me, but—but, oh! If you could -only see yourself as I see you now!” - -Brack stood and glared, dumfounded, impotent. His arms slowly fell to -his sides; he drew back. On his face there was the amazement and anger -of a schoolmaster outfaced by a pupil. - -“Huh-huh! What’s this?” he snorted. “It’s very funny, no doubt, -but—explain—explain!” - -“That’s just what you may do, cappy,” said Chanler, stepping through -the doorway. “Hello, Betty. Everything all right, and all that?” - -One thing stood out in that room as we entered, and that was the swift -play of expression on Betty’s face as she beheld Chanler. First, it -was surprise, then incredulity, then glad relief. And I read in her -eyes that she was glad that George once more was fit, so she could -care for him again. - -“Why, George!” she cried. “You—you’re sober!” - -Brack’s sharp laughter filled the room. He had recovered his poise; he -was the captain again. - -“Yes. A great surprise; so unusual for Mr. Chanler,” he said; but his -eyes were studying me. - -“Cappy, I’m through with you,” said Chanler. “You’re a dear, -interesting fellow, but this—this is too much, you know. You’re -fired.” - -The captain laughed again, but not for an instant did his eyes leave -me. He was trying to bore into my mind, trying to learn what he wished -to know without resorting to questioning words. - -“So,” he said softly. “I begin to understand. It was not Madigan who -bungled it after all. Some one else warned Slade and Harris. I -underestimated you, Pitt. Why, it has acted almost like a man.” - -“Thank you,” I said. “I did warn Slade and Harris. I’m glad that I -helped throw your devilish plans awry.” - -“And talks almost like a man,” he continued with a touch of his old -smile. “But as for interfering with my devilish plans, Pitt, you must -not rejoice too soon. You have merely delayed the fulfilment of my -plans, and you have made things very uncomfortable for yourself and -your friends. When one acts like a man one must pay for it.” - -“That’ll do, cappy,” said Chanler. He had taken Betty’s hand and was -patting it assuringly while she looked up at him in wonderment. “I’ve -told you that you’re fired. You’re not with us any more.” - -“Not with you?” Brack appeared to notice George for the first time. -“No? I am not with you any more, but you see—you still are with me.” - -“Not at all, cappy. We leave you now. Sorry, cappy; enjoyed your -society immensely, but, really, you know, this sort of thing can’t be -done.” - -To my great surprise the captain stood where he was, smiling -tolerantly, while George and Betty moved toward the door. - -“Miss Baldwin,” he said suddenly. - -Betty stopped in the doorway. - -“Yes?” - -“It was a very funny joke—whatever it was?” - -“It was rude of me to laugh, I know,” said Betty. “But I really -couldn’t help it.” - -“‘Really couldn’t help it,’” repeated Brack mockingly. “A matter of -temperament. Typical of the American young woman—to giggle at big -moments. I shall cure you of giggling. You may go now.” - -“‘May go!’” stormed George. “That’s insolent, cappy. What do you -mean?” - -“I give you permission to go.” - -“Well, hang you for your impudence!” - -“Careful, Chanler. I might change my mind.” - -“Let me assure you, captain, that that would make no difference,” I -interposed. The pistol inside my shirt was pressing my ribs and I -smiled with the confidence it gave me. “We will go when we wish, no -matter what your mind on the subject may be.” - -For the second time in a few minutes his eyes bored into mine, seeking -to read my thoughts. - -“So you have a hidden ace somewhere, somehow, eh, Pitt?” he laughed. -“I see that plainly; but I can’t quite see what it is. You’re growing, -Pitt. One of your ancestors must have been a man. Ah! Barry’s -rifle—what did you do with it?” - -“Wrong, captain, absolutely wrong!” I replied. “Barry’s rifle isn’t a -factor in the present situation.” - -He studied me for fully a minute in silence and gave up, baffled. - -“I have said you may go,” he said curtly. “Go away. All things in -their order; gold first, then woman.” He seated himself at the table -and resumed his eating. “Go as quickly, as swiftly as you please. -But,” he called as we went out, “I beg of you—as my guests, you -understand—do not, please do not, go too far!” - -Behind us as we hurried into the night we heard him laughing, his -laughter some what smothered by mouthfuls of food and drink. - - - - - XXVI - - -“Hang him! What does he mean?” broke out Chanler querulously, as soon -as we were out of hearing. “What does he mean, Gardy? What’s he got up -his sleeve? He means something. Probably got some of the crew waiting -to waylay us, steal our canoe, or something like that. Hang it!” - -“I don’t think so, George,” said Betty. “There haven’t been any of the -men about since we got here. They went straight on into the woods, and -Dr. Olson and the captain went with them. The captain came back alone, -something over an hour ago. He said the rest were hunting gold up in -the hills and wouldn’t be back for some time.” - -“Well, hang it! He’s got something,” began George again, but I managed -to catch him by the arm and draw him back out of Betty’s hearing. - -“Forget yourself for the present,” I whispered. “Think of Miss Baldwin -a little.” - -“I think he’s bluffing,” I said aloud. “As Miss Baldwin says, there -can’t be any of the men around here. He was talking to frighten us. -We’ll go straight down to the canoe.” - -“Surely, surely!” said George, with an assumed laugh. “I see now he -was bluffing. It’s all right, Betty. Jolly, little evening party, I -call it.” - -I dropped behind, letting them go on ahead, and I heard the rumble of -George’s voice without hearing what he was saying. But from its tone I -knew what it was: he was apologizing, explaining, promising. - -“I’m sorry I said what I did when I first saw you, George,” Betty was -saying as we neared the place where our canoe was tied. - -“What was that? ’Bout my being sober? Ha! I deserved that, Betty; -don’t let that trouble you. It’s all over now. Every thing’s turning -out fine now, and—there’s our canoe. Nothing to that bluff of cappy’s, -Gardy,” he called back to me. - -“Of course not,” I said. “Now we’ll just paddle home and——” - -“And live happy ever afterward,” he laughed. - -Betty seated herself in the middle of the little craft without a word, -and we remained silent while we shot down the river, into the bay, and -turned our bow toward the yacht. - -“Tell us all about it, Betty,” said George, at last. “By Jove! You -made cappy look foolish.” - -Betty waited several minutes before replying: - -“Well, when Captain Brack came back the first time, in the morning, he -said that you, Mr. Pitt, had decided to go with them when they left -the yacht at daylight, and that you had remained up at the mine with -the men. Then he went away again and returned about noon. He said that -you were still up there, and that you’d suggested it would be a -pleasant thing for me to come up when they returned. I don’t suppose I -should have gone, really, but there wasn’t anything about that to keep -me from going, was there?” - -“Absolutely not,” I said. “On the contrary it was quite natural that -you should go.” - -“I know it. But at the same time I had a feeling—a tiny, tiny -feeling—that everything wasn’t quite right. There wasn’t any reason -why I should, unless possibly it was the way he looked at me. I can’t -explain what it was, but I had that feeling. I wanted to ask somebody, -but—but——” - -“Rub it into me, Betty,” laughed George. “I deserve it: I wasn’t fit -to be asked anything.” - -“I didn’t know then, George,” she said gently. “You’ll forgive me?” - -“All my fault; make it up, though,” he said. “Go on.” - -“Then I saw Dr. Olson getting into the boat, but still I didn’t feel -quite right about going. Then the captain—” she hesitated a -moment—“Captain Brack said: ‘Get in; you know you are coming with us. -Don’t delay.’ And before I knew it I was in the boat and we were -rowing away. - -“There was a man waiting for us when we got up at the mine—that big, -rough man.” - -“Garvin.” - -“And he spoke something to Captain Brack, and the captain and the -doctor and the man hurried away into the hills on the other side of -the lake. The captain said that you were out there with the men, Mr. -Pitt, and that he’d tell you that I was there and you’d be back soon. -Well, that’s about all. I had a lovely time roaming around that lake -by myself for hours. And every minute I was getting more and more -convinced that the captain had lied. When he came back alone I knew -that he had.” - -“Because he was alone?” - -“No-o-o! Not only that. It was the way he looked at me. On the yacht -I’d often wondered if he really was nice, or if he was just -pretending. Now he’d quit pretending, and he—he wasn’t nice at all. -You can’t guess what he did?” - -I held my breath; I felt sure that George did likewise. - -“He—he made me—cook that—dinner! He did. He said that he wanted to see -me in the rôle of a real woman. I thought I’d better do it, to keep -the peace. He sat and watched me and talked. He said that that was as -things should be; said I’d be a real woman in time. I wasn’t -frightened, but it was—oh, thrilling, you know. Funny, too. I laughed -a little at myself, because I’d always fancied I’d like to live the -adventurous life, and here I had, and it wasn’t nice at all.” - -“How come you weren’t frightened?” interrupted George. - -“I don’t know; I wasn’t, though. Well, maybe I was once, when I asked -him when we were going back to the yacht and he said for me to put the -yacht out of my thoughts. Then I had a wild idea of making a sprint -for the boat and getting away, but I remembered they’d pulled it up in -the brush. Then I thought of running down the bay and swimming out to -the yacht, but I knew I couldn’t outrun him and outswim him. It was -dark then, too, and I knew some of you would soon be up looking for -me.” - -“You knew? How? You didn’t know that Gardy,” began George, but I cut -him short. - -“Of course,” I said. “It was certain that somebody would be up soon -after dark since you didn’t return. Then what?” - -“Then we sat down to eat. With tears and woe in my tones I must admit -it, I wouldn’t like to subsist on my own cooking. But Captain Brack -has a better appetite. He fairly reveled in the fruits of my labors. -Then he become personal, and then—then you came in and everything was -lovely.” - -We paddled in silence for awhile. - -“And so you were rather disappointed in cappy, Betty?” said George -slowly. - -“Yes. He wasn’t nice at all, he was common, when he stopped acting.” - -“Wonderful chap, though,” mused George. “Must say I enjoyed his -company. Couldn’t put up with him any more, however. Well, we won’t -have to. We’ll leave him here—we’ll sail tonight. Wilson can be -captain. We’ll have to go some place and get a new crew, I suppose. -Then we’ll go on to Petroff Sound. I—I’m really much better, Betty,” -he added softly. - -“Of course you are, George. You don’t know how glad I am to see you -yourself again.” - -“Really, Betty?” - -“Of course.” - -“It’s going to be all right now, Betty. I’ll make it all up to you.” - -“Of course you will, George,” she said, and I splashed my paddle in -the water so I might not hear. - -I was an outsider, an incident. My mission had been to help straighten -out a tangle for which George’s condition had been responsible. I had -succeeded. Good and well. Now Betty would have George’s attention. She -would see him as she had seen him when first she had learned to care -for him; she would care for him again. She would forget Brack. She -would forget this adventure. In her proper sphere back home it would -become an incident; it would be something to laugh over—with George. - -So I reasoned as we paddled down Kalmut Fiord, our eyes confidently -searching the darkness ahead for the first flash of the _Wanderer’s_ -welcoming lights. So little did I know about women, and especially -about Miss Beatrice Baldwin. - -Presently George stopped paddling. - -“Gardy,” he said in a strange tone. - -“Yes?” - -“Doesn’t it seem to you we’re pretty near there?” - -I looked around. So absorbed had I been in my thoughts that I had not -paid any attention to the distance we had traveled. Now I saw by the -hills about us that we were nearing the foot of the bay. - -“It’s funny we don’t see any lights,” said George. “Let’s sprint a -little, Gardy.” - -We paddled at top speed for several minutes, but we fell back to our -former stroke. No lights were in sight. - -A sinister silence fell upon us. Our paddles rose and fell -methodically, but in spite of the exercise I felt cold and faint. - -“Here we are,” said George anxiously. “Here’s the point just above -where the yacht’s anchored. Soon’s we get around this point we’ll see -her lights, sure.” - -Our strokes increased in speed and power. Once around the promontory -which loomed ahead in the darkness and the lights of the _Wanderer_ -would gleam out to us a hearty welcome. - -“Got to get there soon; got to!” muttered George. “I’m all in. Need -some of the dope the doctor left for me. Need it badly.” - -We rounded the promontory. The mouth of the bay, down to the island -which shut it in from the sea, was before us. And it was all dark, as -dark as the bay behind us, with not a pin-prick of light disturbing -the primitive night. - -George stopped paddling. - -“What—what?” he gasped. “Oh, oh, my God!” - -I did not speak. I continued to paddle like an automaton. In five -minutes we were floating over the spot where the _Wanderer_ had lain. -The yacht was gone. - - - - - XXVII - - -We had little time to speculate on the problem of the _Wanderer’s_ -disappearance. After the first moment of stunned silence Chanler broke -down, promptly and completely. - -“Hang it, hang it!” he cried, striking the bow of the canoe with his -paddle. “This is too much. Your fault, too, Gardy. Now find the -yacht.” - -“Steady, George!” I warned, as the light craft rocked dangerously. -“You’re in a canoe, remember. Keep still.” - -“Keep still, keep still! How d’you expect me to keep still? Isn’t this -enough to make a man nervous. Hang it! I can’t keep still, I tell you. -This is too much.” - -“It nearly was,” I agreed. “A little more that time and we’d have been -in the water.” - -“Then do something! Say something!” he commanded. “Where’s the yacht? -What are we going to do?” - -“First of all, if you’ll please sit still for a minute or two, we’re -going to get to land without tipping over. Will you sit still that -long?” - -“Go ahead! You’ve got me into this mess; now get me out.” - -“Only sit still,” I pleaded and carefully guided the canoe towards the -nearest land. This was the little out-jutting point of the island from -which I had swum to the _Wanderer_ that afternoon, and I did not -breathe fully until I had beached the canoe solidly and the danger of -capsizing from George’s jerky movements was over. He stepped out -hurriedly. - -“My God! This is awful, awful!” he said hoarsely, looking around in -the dark. “This is terrible! A fine mess you’ve got me into, Gardy.” - -“Why, George, it can’t be so bad,” said Betty cheerily, stepping out -beside him. “The yacht’s been moved that’s all. We’ll only have to -find her new anchorage. It will be all right.” - -“All right? All right! Hang it, Betty; I’m in no shape to stand this -sort of thing. It’s Gardy’s fault. He got me into it. Now what are you -going to do, Gardy? Eh?” - -“Look around for the yacht’s new anchorage, as Miss Baldwin says,” I -replied. “She can’t be far off.” - -“Can’t be far off! Can you see her? Is she anywhere around? Don’t you -suppose we’d see the lights if she was near?” - -“Not if they had no outside lights and the curtains in the cabin were -down,” said Betty soothingly. - -“Rot, rot, rot! Didn’t they know I was coming back? Weren’t they -expecting me? Wouldn’t they have the lights out so we could see’em? -Rot! They’ve gone. The yacht’s gone. What are we going to do?” - -“If you will just sit here quietly with Miss Baldwin,” I said, “I’ll -take a look around. The yacht must be near, of course, and we can’t -help finding it.” - -The first part of this statement I felt to be true: the yacht must be -near, for no stretch of imagination could picture Riordan putting to -sea. On the other hand I recalled the countless crooked indentations -of the fiord and knew there were a score of places where the -_Wanderer_, with lights out, might be hidden. We might even have -passed it without being aware of its nearness. - -I pulled the canoe safely from the water and made my way in the -darkness around the island to the open sea. But the sea was only a -noisy waste with no light upon it. I went around the island, returning -to my starting point, and no glimpse of the yacht or her lights did I -have. - -Betty now was sitting beside George, who had slumped down against a -boulder, and was patting his hand and talking to him assuringly. - -“I told you so,” he whined when I made my report. “Nothing doing. -She’s gone. Now what in the world are we going to do? Eh?” - -“The yacht must be somewhere in the bay. You mustn’t worry so, George; -it will all come out all right.” Betty was speaking to him as one -might to a frightened child. “Mr. Pitt has only started on his hunt, -haven’t you, Mr. Pitt?” - -“Of course,” I said, “I’ll take the canoe and run up some of these -inlets. She’ll probably be there.” - -I paddled away from the island with an appearance of confidence that I -did not feel. By this time I had begun to appreciate the ironic humor -with which Brack had warned us not to go too far. This was his work, -and as I recalled the sly certainty of his smile, such hope as I had -of finding the yacht dwindled to a minimum. Nevertheless I searched -the inlets on both sides of the bay for the matter of half a mile -before I returned to the island with my admission of failure. - -Chanler by this time had passed into the furious stage of nervousness. -He was pacing swiftly up and down the beach, clenching and unclenching -his hands and breathing heavily. - -“I don’t care—I don’t care where you did look and where you didn’t -look!” he burst out as I stepped from the canoe. “You didn’t find the -yacht, and you’ve got me into this, and I can’t stand it much longer; -that’s all.” - -He swung away and I followed and caught his arm savagely. - -“If you would think of Miss Baldwin a little you might forget your -nerves,” I whispered. - -I found myself repeating Wilson’s words— - -“These things aren’t so bad for men, but there’s the girl.” - -“I know, I know, Gardy,” he replied hoarsely. “I—I can’t help it. -Don’t throw me down, Gardy; don’t ball me out. I’m shaky. I can’t help -anything else. You’ve got to get me to that yacht where my dope is, -or—or you’ve got to get me back to Doc’ Olson.” - -“What!” - -“You have. I can’t stand it much longer.” His voice was raised, -regardless of Betty. “I won’t, you hear? I won’t stand it any longer.” - -He turned and rushed back to Betty, holding out his hands. - -“You know how I feel, don’t you Betty? You understand, don’t you?” - -“Yes, George,” she said, taking his hands in hers, “I understand. But -can’t you sit down and quiet yourself a little?” - -“No, no, no! I can’t. Gardy, you’ve got to get me to the doctor at -once. You understand, don’t you, Betty?” - -“Yes, George. You shall go to the doctor at once.” - -“What!” I cried. “Go back there now, when we’re so well rid of Brack?” - -“What else is there to do?” she said. “Can we do anything but help -him? Please don’t think of me. There isn’t the least bit of need of -that.” - -“I will do as you say,” I said. “Is it your wish we go back there?” - -“We must. You can see there’s nothing else to do. - -“You’ll stay here——” - -“Certainly not!” cried George. “Takes two to paddle; I’m in no shape -am I, Betty?” - -I could have struck him for that, but Betty said soothingly— - -“No, George, you’re not.” - -She was right. Chanler was in no shape to paddle any more, so Betty -took his place in the bow, and, with George crouched in the middle, -the journey up the fiord began. Save for an occasional groan or -exclamation from George and a soothing response from Betty, we spoke -but little. - -I was lost in admiration of the manner in which Betty tackled the task -before us. She sat up, slim and straight, bending but little to her -paddle, but by our progress I knew the force which her young arms -placed behind each stroke. There was no hesitation, no faltering, -though I knew that she, too, dreaded returning to Brack in this -fashion. She seemed to have forgotten herself in the need to help -George; and the Spring-like youth of her reached back to me, putting -new life into my tiring arms, new confidence in my troubled thoughts. -I had for the moment almost fallen into despair, accepting Brack’s -will with us as invincible. Without Betty I would have felt that we -were beaten. But there was the indomitable confidence of youth in the -poise of her little head, there was inspiration in the swing of her -young-woman body, and as we paddled on into the darkness my heart -cried out: - -“Bravo, Betty! Bravo, brave girl! We’ll beat him yet.” - - - - - XXVIII - - -The problem of the _Wanderer’s_ whereabouts was one which offered no -clue for its solution. One thing I felt certain: the yacht had not -gone to sea. Whatever Riordan’s wishes in that matter might be—and I -knew such a move would have pleased him as revenge upon Betty and -me—Pierce and Wilson would never have permitted it. - -True, Wilson was crippled, but if I had gaged the man’s character -rightly it would have required more than a wounded leg to prevent his -intervention in so colossal a piece of treachery. As for Pierce, with -his terrible neckties and soul of gold, he would have died rather than -allow Miss Baldwin to be treated in such fashion. More, he would be -too clever to die; he would at least have escaped to join us. - -The yacht must be somewhere in the fiord. Riordan would not have moved -her without Brack’s orders. These orders probably had been given at -noon, and Riordan had waited until George and I were out of sight -before obeying them. With the yacht hidden we would be at Brack’s -mercy in that wilderness, the only shelter and food being at the mine. -The pistol in my shirt grated against my ribs as I dug viciously at -the water. - -Had Captain Brack been present when we reached the mine I am quite -certain that we would have clashed. - -The light was still burning in the cabin as we reached the -mine-clearing, and with the pistol in my hand I walked straight up to -the cabin door, leaving Betty to guide George, who now was staggering -and groaning constantly. Brack was not there. In his place Dr. Olson -was sitting, refreshing himself from the remnants of a meal and a -bottle of whisky. - -The sight of me brought a sudden end to his meal, for he promptly -threw up his hands, crying: - -“Don’t shoot, Pitt! Great Scott! What’s the matter?” - -“Where’s Brack?” I demanded. - -“Put that gun away!” he stammered. “Man, you’ve got murder in your -face.” - -I lowered the weapon and the doctor dropped his hands with a sigh of -relief. - -“Whew! I’m glad you aren’t after me. You certainly can look fierce, -Pitt. What’s up?” - -“Brack?” I repeated, but before he could reply Chanler lurched wildly -past me into the room. His eyes fell on the doctor’s bottle and he -rushed for it like a madman. The professional instinct rose in Olson -at the sight of him and he whisked the bottle out of reach. In the end -Olson resorted to a hypodermic injection, and presently George was -dozing on a bunk in the corner. - -“Whew! Close call,” said the doctor looking down at his patient. “You -got him here just about in time.” - -“Where is Brack?” I demanded. “And where’s the yacht?” - -“The yacht?” repeated Olson staring stupidly. “Our yacht? Isn’t it——” - -“No,” I interrupted, “it isn’t where it ought to be. It’s gone. Do you -know where it is?” - -He shook his head. - -“How should I know? I just got back here with my patients about -fifteen minutes ago. The captain went up with the men then——” - -“Patients?” said Betty. “Are some of the men ill, doctor?” - -Olson grew confused. - -“Well, well, yes. That is, they had a little—a little accident up in -the hills. Two of them got hurt.” - -“Oh! Badly? Can I do anything?” - -“Oh, no. No, no,” he replied quickly. “No, you couldn’t do anything -for them, Miss Baldwin. It wouldn’t do any good for you to see them. -I’ve got them all fixed up in the other cabin. They’re all right, I -assure you.” - -“And the captain?” I reminded him. - -“Why, when I got down here with those two men the captain was sitting -here eating and drinking. He went up into the hills afterwards.” - -“And he didn’t say anything about the yacht?” - -“Not a thing.” - -I informed him of the evening’s happenings, and of the _Wanderer’s_ -disappearance. At that he gasped, and a look of comprehension came -slowly into his eyes. - -“Oh,” he said. “Oh, so that’s it, eh?” - -“What’s it?” I demanded. - -He glanced at Betty, dropped his eyes to the floor, and looked at me -significantly. - -“Nothing at all,” he said. “Aren’t you starving, Pitt? You look it. As -a physician I suggest you get some nourishment into your system at -once, before you begin to suffer.” - -The unexpected quickness of wit on his part took me slightly aback, -but I responded promptly. - -“I’m fairly famished,” I agreed, grasping at the remnants of food on -the table. “You’re right, doctor; I must eat at once.” - -It worked excellently. Betty, instantly solicitous, flew about to -prepare a meal for me, and under the pretense of gathering fire-wood -Dr. Olson beckoned me outside. - -“Those men—my patients—were shot,” he said swiftly. “And two others, -Madigan and a seaman, were killed.” - -A day before such news would have shocked me inexpressibly. Now it -seemed only a normal result of the circumstances which Brack had woven -about us all. - -“And Slade and Harris? Did they get away?” I asked eagerly. - -“I don’t know anything about anybody by those names,” he replied. “All -I know is what Brack told me: that our men were attacked by a couple -of outlaws while hunting in the hills, with the results that I’ve told -you. These outlaws shot our men.” - -“And did those other fellows—the outlaws—get away?” - -“For the present, yes. But Brack’s men are guarding the only pass by -which they can get out of this valley, so they can’t get away. The -captain says he’ll get them if he has to hunt all Summer. He’s managed -to get roaring drunk.” - -“And he said something about Miss Baldwin, too, didn’t he? What was -it?” - -“Well, he was drunk, you know. It makes him look and act and talk like -a devil.” - -“Go on.” - -“He said, ‘I expect we’ll have company here tonight, doctor.’ Said you -and Chanler had come and taken Miss Baldwin back to the yacht. ‘But -I’ve a feeling they’ll come back here,’ he says. ‘She can’t resist me. -Yes,’ he said, ‘they’ll be back, and this time they’ll stay.’ Then he -took out a big knife and cut himself in the hand. ‘The blood of kings, -doctor,’ he said. ‘I’m king of Kalmut Valley, and I’ll make cripples -of Pitt and Chanler, and have them for my jesters, and—’ Well, he was -drunk, you know.” - -“Say it,” I commanded. “What else did he say?” - -“‘And I’ll tie ’em up,’ he said, ‘and let ’em watch me make Miss -Baldwin my queen.’ I told him he’d better let me tie up his hand, and -he hit me across the face with it and went off into the hills. That’s -all.” - -“No,” I said, “there’s more to this.” - -I told him why Brack was after Slade and Harris. He was skeptical at -first; men didn’t dare do such things nowadays; Brack’s wild talk had -been only the raving of too much whisky. In the end, however, he was -convinced. - -“Then this scientific expedition was only the captain’s way of getting -an outfit for robbery on a big, piratical scale! By George! The man’s -big, isn’t he? A regular pirate’s raid in this year of our Lord! And -yet it’s all simple and easy up here when you think of it, isn’t it?” - -“Devilishly so. But it became more serious than mere robbery when Miss -Baldwin came on board. Now, are you going to help us, doctor, or——” - -“Of course. I’m civilized, I hope. But what can we do, Pitt? The -captain’s got the men, and he’s too strong——” - -“Dinner, gentlemen!” came Betty’s fresh young voice. “Honesty impels -me to warn you, Mr. Pitt, that I’m a horrible example as a cook, but -such as ’tis, ’tis ready.” - -I was in no frame of mind to be a judge of Betty’s cooking. I ate -ravenously, because I was hungry, but my thoughts were not upon the -food. Dr. Olson’s picture of Brack in his cups was of a piece with the -impression I had gathered of him early that morning. He had thrown off -the mask and his true nature, raw, rank, savagery, was in full sway. - -“When do you expect the captain back, doctor?” I asked casually. - -“I don’t know. He probably will be back tonight, though. He warned me -not to drink up all the whisky as he’d want some when he got back.” - -I turned to Betty. - -“Captain Brack is intoxicated, Miss Baldwin,” I said. “The doctor and -I do not think it would be pleasant for you to be here when he -returns.” - -“No,” said the doctor, “you mustn’t be here then, Miss Baldwin.” - -Betty’s wide-open eyes grew wider, but there was no alarm in the quiet -gray depths of them. - -“I understand,” she said, nodding thoughtfully. “I will do whatever -you suggest, Mr. Pitt.” - -There lay the trouble. I had nothing to suggest, nor had the doctor. -Flight suggested itself first of all, but in that wilderness, with -only a light Peterboro canoe and a rough sea as means of escape, the -success of such a move seemed improbable. To bring our fate to a -crisis by remaining there openly, defying Brack and appealing to the -men for help, would have been suicidal. Had we been on the yacht -strengthened by Pierce and Wilson, such action might have had a basis -of reason. - -Really thoughts of Pierce and Wilson kept me from losing hope at that -moment. Though by now I had more confidence in myself than I had -thought possible, I did not feel that I was capable of finding a -solution to the problem confronting us. But there were Pierce, the -shrewd, and Wilson, the brave, still to reckon with. What were they -thinking at that moment of our failure to return to the yacht? What -would Pierce’s sharp mind be doing but seeking a way to assist us, or, -at least Miss Baldwin, to safety? - -And then I looked at Betty, quietly serious, but not alarmed, and my -spirits rose at the sight of her. It was no strength of mine that -raised my courage then; it was the strength I drew from the courage of -Betty. Once more, as in the canoe, I felt a desire to cry out: - -“Bravo, Betty! Bravo, brave girl! We’ll beat him yet.” - -It was well that I did not cry out. For in that instant, from out on -the back trail, came a maddened bellow, scarcely human in tone, yet -recognizable as coming from no one else than Captain Brack. - - - - - XXIX - - -I glanced instinctively toward the back of the cabin, at the large, -sack-covered window cut in the logs. - -“Out that way, Betty!” I whispered, tearing down the sacking. - -It was the first time I had called her by that name. She obeyed -promptly. - -“George?” she whispered, as she stood ready to climb through the -window. - -“No,” said Dr. Olson. “He’s helpless—I’ll stay here. Hurry!” - -I was stuffing my pockets with food, with a snuffed candle, scarcely -conscious of what I was doing. Also, in the same instinctive manner, -without any conscious thought, yet somehow realizing that it was a -vital action, I snatched a blanket from Chanler’s bunk and threw it -over my shoulder. - -“We’re going to the cave where I hid the rifle. Tell that to Pierce, -doctor; he’ll understand.” - -“Yes. Hurry, for God’s sake!” he whispered. “Good luck.” - -Betty went through the window with a lithe vault and a noiseless drop -outside. I followed, dropped beside her, and, catching her hand, led -as silently as possible away from the cabin until I felt sure we were -out of hearing. Then we swung carefully back through the brush to the -river trail at a point well below the mine clearing. - -“Now for the canoe!” I whispered. “Come on!” - -I ran as I had not run since a boy, and as I glanced back over my -shoulder I saw Betty following closely. - -We found the canoe where we had left it. Betty was in the bow before I -had it untied. I pushed off, and, regardless of the rocks, we paddled -furiously down-stream for the open water of the bay. - -Not until we had entered the fiord and put an out-jutting cliff -between ourselves and the river-mouth did we relax. Then Betty laid -her paddle across the bows, bowed her head, and a tremor shook her -slim body. - -“Don’t—don’t, Miss Baldwin!” I pleaded. “On my word and honor I feel -absolutely confident that we are safe now.” - -To my surprise she replied— - -“I feel safe, too.” - -“You’re tired, then, and cold. Put the blanket about you, and rest. -I’ll paddle the rest of the way.” - -She shook her head, and resumed her paddling. - -“It wasn’t that. It wasn’t that, please. I’ve camped out often. But -George—poor George!” - -Her words came as a shock to me. So George still occupied first place -in her mind. I had been right: she had seen George as he had been when -first she had learned to care for him; and she had realized that she -still cared. Her first thought in the moment of our hurried flight -from the cabin had been of him. Even though she had seen him go to -pieces piteously she still cared. She thought of him before all -others. Well, that was as it should be, as I had hoped it would be -when I brought George up to the cabin, sane and sober, and in his -right mind. It was right. - -But Fate persisted with its tantalizing pranks, for here was I, an -outsider, still necessary in the task of bringing George and Betty to -the haven of safety and happiness. The doctor would look after George; -I felt sure that Chanler’s condition would keep him free from any -cruelty by Brack. I would do my best to look after Betty. - -She would be very happy, too. She had the faculty of happiness. That -faculty was saving her from the torture of fear now; it would be a -guarantee of future happiness for her and George. Verily, when a man -forecasts a woman’s ways he is as a child! - -My reason for going to the cavern on the hillside was twofold. The -place offered a fair shelter for Betty where she could lie hidden -safely. I also wished to recover the rifle which I had taken from -Barry. - -I was certain that sooner or later Pierce would make an attempt to -join us if it was possible, and with the rifle and my pistol we would -at least be two armed men. If Pierce came, even though Brack was in -possession of the yacht, we could strike out through the wilderness, -keeping near the coast, in hope of finding a settlement. - -In spite of the darkness we easily found the inlet where Barry’s -negligent watching had given me an opportunity to escape. At first I -thoughtlessly steered the canoe straight at the sandy beach, but an -instant before our bow would have run up on the sands the same -instinct which had prompted me to snatch food and blanket from the -cabin, warned me to back water. Brack would have his men out by -daylight searching the bay for signs of our whereabouts. If we landed -on the soft sand of the beach the canoe and our tracks—especially the -rubber heels of Betty’s outing shoes—would easily be seen. - -On one side of the inlet a ledge of rock jutted into the water and -toward this I now turned the canoe, explaining to Betty the reason for -so doing. - -“How did you ever think of that?” she exclaimed. “You haven’t done -these things before, have you?” - -“Not since I was a boy,” I replied. - -“Did you play Injun then?” - -“Of course. All boys do.” - -“I’m glad.” - -“So am I; it’s helpful just now.” - -“Yes; but I didn’t mean that.” - -“What then?” - -“Because if you played Injun you must have been a regular boy, and -regular boys have such a lot of jolly fun, Mr. Pitt?” - -“Yes?” - -“Don’t you ever feel like playing Injun now? No? Too old and -dignified? Never play Injun any more?” - -I laughed negatively as I swung the bow toward the rock. - -“Shucks! It’s too bad,” she said. “You play it so well it’s a shame -you don’t like to do it.” - -We ran alongside the ledge and found that its flat top was just out of -reach above our heads. A canoe offers no safe foundation to leap from -and for the moment I was nonplused. - -Betty, her hand resting on the flat surface of the rocks, found a -crevice. On closer examination it proved to be only a slight crack, -not large enough to provide a foothold, but Betty was thrusting at the -opening with the blade of her paddle. - -“Ah! There we are!” she chuckled, as the thin paddle entered the -crack. “There’s a step for us.” - -“How did you ever think of that?” I exclaimed. - -“I used to play Injun, too,” she replied. - -With the paddle as a step I was able to reach the top of the ledge and -draw myself up. Betty then passed me the paddles and the painter of -the canoe. Lying flat down on the ledge I stretched my arms downward -until our hands met. Her strong warm fingers gripped my wrists and I -promptly imitated her grasp. - -“Now!” I said, and as she leaped I pulled upward with all my might. - -Her hair brushed my eyes as she came up over the edge, and when our -fingers released each other’s wrists, I was vaguely conscious that -something strange had happened, though I did not know what. We drew -the canoe up together. It had been my intention merely to hide it in -the brush out of sight of the bay, but now another idea presented -itself. - -I gave Betty the paddles and with the canoe on my back started up the -hill for my cave. - -“No, sir,” objected Betty. “That isn’t fair. If we’re going to play -Injun I want my share of the game.” - -I protested; the distance was short, the weight slight; but in the end -the march was resumed with each of us sharing equally the weight of -the canoe. - -A seventy-pound canoe is no burden for two people in the open. But our -way lay in the darkness up a rocky ridge, through brush and timber, -and we tripped and fell, ran into trees, got caught in the brush, and -suffered other minor mishaps until I stopped and insisted that Betty -allow me to carry the canoe alone. - -“No, sir,” she repeated firmly. “I’m not stumbling any more than you -are. Be fair and let me play, too.” - -We compromised by putting down the canoe, and, leaving Betty to wait -beside it, I went on to locate my cave. I found it, as I had that -morning, by stumbling into it. - -I struck a match and glanced at the spot where I had hid the rifle. -Then I stood staring dumbly until the match burned down to my fingers. -For the second time that night I experienced the same shock; the rifle -was gone; someone had been in the cave. - - * * * * * - -When I returned to Betty my self-control had been regained. Whatever -the significance of the rifle’s disappearance might be Betty must have -shelter for the night, and the cave was the only place available for -that purpose. We carried the canoe thither and I lighted my piece of -candle and stepped down. - -The cave really was a wedge-shaped opening in the side of the hill, -its mouth probably twenty feet across, and about the same in depth. -Betty cried out as the candle-light revealed the place. - -“Why it’s almost jolly! It’s a perfect place to play Injun.” - -We slid the canoe down and placed it as near the back of the cave as -it would go. - -“That,” said I, “is going to be your bed,” and clambering out I began -to gather armfuls of fragrant small branches and brush. - -The canoe was soon half filled, and, spreading the blanket over the -boughs, I said— - -“Whenever you are ready to retire, there is your chamber.” - -“How jolly!” she cried. - -Then she stopped. A new expression, which I misread, came into her -eyes. - -“I have my lodgings up the hill a ways,” I said hurriedly. “I’ll bid -you good night.” - -“Mr. Pitt!” she said, and for the first time her under lip trembled -suspiciously. - -“It’s a considerable distance away,” I assured her. “I’ll be quite out -of sight. Really, you needn’t——” - -Her lip ceased trembling. A tiny twinkle came into her eyes, a trace -of a smile showed in the corners of her mouth. - -“Good gracious!” she cried. “I believe that you—you think I’m -worrying—about being alone with you!” - -I looked at her stupidly. - -“Well, weren’t you?” - -Her smile vanished. - -“Oh, what a perfectly selfish pig you must think me, Mr. Pitt!” - -“Good heavens, no! Anything but that. But—but we’re alone—no -chaperon—wasn’t that the natural thing to think?” - -“The conventional thing, you mean! And—and we’re playing Injun -together!” - -“But—but you looked!” I stammered protestingly. “What were you -thinking about?” - -And she replied— - -“I was wishing we had two canoes.” - -Presently she said— - -“How are you going to sleep, Mr. Pitt?” - -“On a bed of boughs.” - -“Where?” - -“Oh, there’s plenty of room all around.” - -“And no shelter? Suppose it rains? Why do you wish to leave this -cave?” - -“My dear Miss Baldwin!” I protested. - -“Shocked?” she said mournfully. “I can’t help it. It seems so -ridiculous to think of such things out here. We—we’re Injuns. See, -there’s a nice corner right near the opening, yet with a roof over it. -We can fill that with boughs. I—I’d get frightened, really, if you -left me here all alone.” - -“Putting it that way, of course—” - -“That’s right. Now I’m going to help make your bed.” - -Fifteen minutes later, perhaps, I lay down upon a pile of branches -near the mouth of the cavern and blew out the candle. - -“Good night,” came Betty’s voice from the canoe. - -“Good night.” - -Silence reigned. We were tired; soon we grew drowsy. Just before she -fell asleep Betty murmured— - -“Mr. Pitt!” - -“Yes.” - -“I still insist ’tisn’t fair—we haven’t got—two canoes.” - - - - - XXX - - -The cave became still. Snuggled down in her bed in the canoe Betty had -fallen asleep as readily as if in her bed in the owner’s suite aboard -the _Wanderer_. Sleep pressed on my eyelids, too; my body, tired from -the unwonted exertions of the day, demanded insistently the boon of -recreating slumber. - -I fought off my drowsiness, however, and lay curled up on my bed of -boughs, facing the cave’s mouth, and tried to think. Yet though I -realized that I was awake it all seemed like a dream, such a dream as -youth dreams when the call of Romance and Adventure still is real. - -I was Gardner Pitt, writing man; my accustomed environment, the -carefully barbered, denaturalized life of my set in New York. No, that -must be a mistake. That New York existence seemed too far away to be a -part of my present life. That was the dream; this the reality. I was -Gardner Pitt, but I was not a writer; I was simply a hundred and sixty -pounds of man, and I was sleeping on a pile of brush at the mouth of a -cavern, in which slept a woman guarded by my presence. And it all -seemed so natural, so vital and true a field for a man’s activities, -that for the time nothing else had significance. True, this was not my -woman that I was guarding, but another’s. But no thought of this -entered my mind at the time. I did not think at all beyond the problem -of escaping from Brack. - -I placed my pistol in my right hand, determined to lie awake through -the night. - -I must have fallen asleep immediately after this, because when I was -awakened by the rays of the morning sun slanting into the cave, the -pistol lay with my relaxed hand upon it. I started up with a sensation -of guilt. - -With my pistol in my hand I peered out of the cave, more than half -expecting to find Brack calmly awaiting me with his tantalizing smile -in its place. But no human presence disturbed the primitive peace of -that hillside that morning. A covey of feeding grouse lifted their -heads and looked at me without fear. Birds were singing, the sun was -bright and warm, and down on the blue water of the bay a pair of tiny -ducks played. - -I turned to look at Betty and was greeted by the sight of a very -tousled, half-awake little head, peering over the side of the canoe. - -“‘Mornin’,” murmured the little head sleepily. - -“‘Mornin’,” I replied. - -“Oo-oo-ah!” The little head yawned tremendously. “Wha’ time is ’t?” - -It was 7:02 by my watch as I consulted it. - -“Oo-o-wah!” Little head looked at me appealingly. “Do we got to get up -so early when we play Injun?” - -“Only the hunting Injun’s got to get up so early. Other Injuns sleep -as long as they please.” - -“Hunting? What for?” - -“Oh, for a nice, big white yacht, for one thing. I’ll be gone only a -short while. In the meantime you sleep.” - -“O-um-mum,” murmured the little head and sank comfortably out of sight -in the canoe. - -Parting the brush that hid the cave, I stepped out and went down the -hillside a short distance. Looking back I was pleased to find that the -cave was so well hidden that unless one knew its location it might be -passed close by without its existence being suspected. Save for the -possibility that man who had taken the rifle was one of Brack’s gang -the cave offered a fairly safe hiding place. - -My first move was to assure myself that the yacht was not anchored -near by. I went cautiously up the bay for half a mile, scrutinizing -each inlet in vain for a sight of the _Wanderer’s_ white sides. I then -swung up into the hills, marching a circle around the cave, impelled -by the instinctive desire to ascertain the possible presence of any -enemy. - -At a distance of a city block from the cave I found a tiny spring -sending its rivulet down the hillside to the bay, and as I lay down to -drink I saw huddled beneath a tiny fir a flock of grouse watching me -from a distance of ten or twelve feet. - -Instinct promptly whispered: “Food” and I recalled the scant supply I -had taken from the cabin, and reached for my pistol. The pistol, -however, would roar like a cannon in that morning stillness and my -supply of ammunition was limited to the ten cartridges in the -magazine. - -Lying motionless I looked around until my eyes fell upon a club. It -was out of reach, but the foolish birds, confident that they were -hidden, sat still while I secured the club and hurled it with all my -might into their midst. I leaped forward instantly, and in the roar -and flurry of the covey’s rising pounced upon two fluttering birds -which my club had stunned. - -Betty was up and wide awake when I returned to the cave. She had made -her hair into one thick braid which hung down her back, and her face -was rosy from sound sleep. She shuddered first at the sight of the -birds. - -“Oh, the poor, pretty things!” she murmured, stroking their feathers. -“I wish you hadn’t hurt them.” - -“I didn’t hurt them,” I replied. “They never knew what struck them. I -didn’t like to do it, but we must find our own food, or surrender to -Brack.” - -She looked at the birds wistfully and said nothing as I led her to the -spring. I left her splashing the ice-cold water upon her face and -proceeded to dress the birds. When I returned to the cave she was -waiting with her sleeves rolled up and a set look in her eyes. - -“I can cook them,” she said firmly. “That’s my share of the game. You -cut them in two and put a stick through the pieces and hold them -before a hot fire that doesn’t smoke.” - -“Any fire that we have must not smoke,” I said. “The smoke would show -above the trees and be seen.” - -“Then we must have perfectly dry wood,” she said quickly. “A small -fire and dry; that doesn’t smoke.” - -We set about gathering the wood together. Between two stones at the -cave’s opening we built our fire, watching it jealously, to see that -only the minimum of smoke arose from it in the clear air. Betty put -her conscience to rest as she regarded the dressed grouse, composed -mainly of succulent breast. - -“They must be intended for food,” she said, “or they wouldn’t be made -as they are.” - -I agreed with her emphatically, and with a skewered half bird in each -hand we sat down before the fire and proceeded with our cookery. - -Freshly killed spruce grouse, roasted before an uncertain fire, and -without salt, do not make ideal breakfast food, a fact which we -discovered soon after the birds were done. - -“I believe,” said Betty, when she had nibbled at half a bird, “I have -had enough.” - -“I have other viands in my pocket.” - -“To be saved for future reference,” she laughed. - -“We’ll wrap the rest of this wild poultry up in nice clean leaves and -save it for another meal.” - -“We will. It will be tasty when cold.” - -At the spring where we went to wash down the meal with drafts of -water, Betty’s eyes began to twinkle and the corners of her lips -twitched suspiciously. - -“Well, we’ve perfectly beautiful drinking water, at least,” she said, -and smothered her laughter behind both hands. - -“Now then,” she said briskly, when we were back in the cave, “are we -going to occupy this apartment for some time, or do we continue our -travels of last night?” - -I told her that it seemed best for us to stay in hiding. - -“All right. Then let’s try to brighten the place up a little. We don’t -have to sit here and look at these black stone walls just because -we’re playing Injun. Come and help me; I love to select furnishings -for a room.” - - * * * * * - -From the hillside near the cave we gathered more branches and brush. -Pine, spruce, birch and willow, budding into the full growth of -Summer, came by the armfuls into the cavern. - -“You never would have thought that this place needed decorating, would -you?” said Betty, as she set to work. “Certainly not. This rough roof -offers a shelter; these harsh walls hide us from our enemies. So you, -being a mere man, think it’s all right. Ha! I’d hate to be a mere -man.” - -She was flying about the cave, fastening branches in the clefts of the -rock, stepping back to view the results, altering her arrangements, -apparently so lost in her work as to have forgotten our true -situation. - -“Now hand me that birch branch—the white contrasts beautifully with -the green pine; now another piece of pine, now some more birch. There. -That’s what you call repetition of color, isn’t it? You don’t know? -Gracious. How can men be so ignorant of the really important things of -life!” - -On the rock forming the roof of the cave we found a patch of moss, -velvet soft to the touch, and a gentle brown and gold in color. With a -stick I loosened great pieces from the rock and bore it carefully -within where Betty directed the carpeting of the cave. When a large -piece reached its destination intact Betty beamed; when the moss broke -between my outstretched hands she pouted. - -“I think so long as Nature goes to the trouble of creating a carpet -for us it might as well do a good job and make it strong enough to -stand transportation.” - -But when the cave was carpeted with its soft, yielding cushion of moss -she clapped her hands in delight. - -“Look at it!” she cried, embracing the cave with a gesture. “Why, it’s -cozy; people could almost live here.” - -Our coming and going had trodden down much of the brush which had so -thoroughly hidden the cave, and with some of the branches left over -from Betty’s decorations I proceeded to weave a screen over the -opening. When I had completed it I crawled out and inspected my work -from a distance. The cave now was hidden more thoroughly than ever. -Brack must look long and carefully to find us. - -When I slipped back into our shelter I surprised Betty sitting on the -canoe with her head bowed upon her hands in an attitude of dejection. -She looked up, smiling bravely, but her cheerfulness was only -surface-deep. - -I looked away without a word, as did she, but in that moment we had -confessed to one another that our display of high spirits had merely -been acting, each wishing to help bolster up the courage of the other. -We sat so for some time. Betty finally broke the silence. - -“Well,” she said quietly, “there’s no use pretending any more, is -there?” - -As I had no reply she continued— - -“We might as well admit out loud that neither of us feels—well, -exactly jolly about it.” - -“That’s true,” I replied inanely. - -We were silent again. - -“What—what are we going to do about it, Mr. Pitt?” - -“There is nothing much to do; we are safe for the time being. So long -as we keep out of Brack’s sight we are safe. For the present we could -do just that—and hope.” - -Betty heard me without a word. Once more she bowed her face upon her -hands, and her girlish shoulders trembled. I was at her side in an -instant. - -“Don’t, Betty, please don’t!” I pleaded. “You mustn’t give way. It’s -rough, and it’s hard, specially hard for a girl like you, but don’t -give way for—for my sake. It’s been your fine courage and cheerfulness -that’s kept me from showing that I’m really a coward. Yes, it is; -you’ve kept me from being a coward. Don’t—please don’t be afraid. -We’ll get out of this all right somehow, sure.” - -She looked at me, her eyes moist, but with her old thoughtful look in -them. - -“Do you really believe we will, in your heart, Mr. Pitt?” - -“Most emphatically I do.” - -“How?” - -“I don’t know.” - -“Then you only hope——?” - -“No; I believe.” - -“Oh!” she cried suddenly. “I hope—I pray—that you’re right; because -it’s all my fault, all my fault, and I’d never forgive myself if I’d -brought harm to you—or George.” - -Once more the sound of George’s name on her tongue shocked me. Could -she never get the man out of her head? - -I picked aimlessly at a birch bough over my head, and each little -budding leaf that I plucked away seemed like the tiny dreams which -unconsciously had been in my mind all morning, and which now were -driven away. The dreams that come to a man willy-nilly, without -reason, without basis of hope. It probably was the stress of -yesterday, the natural romance of a cave in the wilderness that were -responsible. Well, I had that, anyhow; hours with Betty, in the -sunlit, primitive woods. The memory of that would remain. Why, I was -rich, richer than I had ever been in my life. - -“Will you allow me to say something serious, Betty?” - -Her look was startled, apprehensive, but her eyes gave consent. - -“These hours have been the biggest of my life.” - -I stopped. Betty was looking at the ground. And suddenly all the winds -of the world seemed to be drawing me toward her, urging me to throw -myself beside her, and a stream of words was upon my tongue. - -I reached up, plucked a twig of pine from its cleft, and when I had -stripped its needles one by one my self-control had returned. - -“So you see I’m a winner,” I laughed. “You mustn’t worry one little -worry about me. Whatever happens I’m ahead of the game.” - -It was a long time before she spoke, and then she did so without -looking up. - -“Is—that—true?” - -“Can’t you see it is?” - -She nodded without looking to see. - -“And—is that—all?” - -“Isn’t that plenty? The biggest hours of my life—to have and -remember?” - -She poked her white toe into the moss, but still her eyes were on the -ground. - -“I feel awf’ly guilty,” she said faintly. “It’s all my fault. The -whole thing is my fault. Poor George! If it hadn’t been for me he -never would have met Brack, and then all this would not have -happened.” - -“George probably is all right by this time. He is under Dr. Olson’s -care, and the doctor is one of us.” - -“I’ve made him suffer terribly, haven’t I?” - -“No. If he hadn’t—” I checked myself. “You haven’t made him suffer. -And he’ll be a wiser man when you see him again, and you’ll both -forget and be happy together.” - -Betty lifted her eyes and studied me closely. Her expression was -puzzling; she seemed incredulous. A quizzical smile touched her lips; -she suppressed it and looked away. - -“And George,” she said, as if her thoughts had wandered away from him, -“I must make up for it all to him—if I can.” - -“If you can! Of course you can. You will!” - -Again she lifted her head and looked me squarely in the eyes. And this -time when she looked away I knew that I was a fool, though I did not -know just why. - - - - - XXXI - - -It was now near ten o’clock and we soon would know whether our -hiding-place was a safe one. I knew that it was safer than would have -been a flight through the woods, where Brack and his men might be -prowling, yet I was so apprehensive that the sight of Brack’s big head -thrust through the brush, his old sneering smile on his lips, would -not have surprised me in the least. But no one came. - -The forenoon passed without sight or sound of human being. At noon we -were more hungry than we had been at breakfast. The spruce grouse had -improved remarkably in flavor. In fact we agreed as we devoured what -remained of them that seldom had we tasted better food. - -“And nourishing; I’m sure they’re very nourishing,” said Betty. “They -improve on acquaintance, as one’s appetite grows less finicky.” - -My hopes began to rise as the hours passed with no sign of the -appearance of Brack or any of his men. Apparently it was no man of the -captain’s who had found the cave and removed the rifle. Then he had no -way of knowing where we were hidden; we were safe at least for the -present. When I explained this to Betty she said quietly— - -“I’ve felt safe all the time, Mr. Pitt.” - -“And quite right, too,” I replied. “The situation hasn’t been what any -one but a pessimist would call dangerous.” - -“Mr. Pitt!” - -“What?” - -She looked at me gravely for several seconds. - -“I’m not a child, Mr. Pitt; it isn’t necessary to lie to me.” - -“What! Lie to you?” - -“Please. I understand how you feel about it. I’m a weak, carefully -reared and sheltered girl who must be treated as a child, sheltered -from everything unpleasant, and lied to about—about the fact that she -is in danger, because she has happened to attract a brute; and that -your life is in danger because you’re hiding her.” - -“But, really——” - -“Well, you needn’t keep up the pretense, Mr. Pitt. I’ve known all the -time. I’ve known better than you have; the woman can know better, you -know, even if she is a girl. I’ve known ever since Captain Brack came -toward me last night up there in the cabin. His eyes were like—like -he’d dropped a curtain and let me see a lot of uncaged wild beasts -baring their teeth to me. I knew then—more than you could; and I know -that he won’t give up—ever.” - -“As I recall it,” I said when I could speak with a calmness equal to -her own, “you laughed at him at just the moment that you saw all -this?” - -“Of course. We couldn’t let him see we were scared, could we?” - -“And in the canoe, you sang——” - -“That was partly for George’s sake. And then I did feel safe; and have -felt so ever since.” - -“And all your high spirits—playing Injun—fixing up the cave, and so -on, have all been acting?” - -“No. Certainly not. I tell you I do feel safe.” - -“Why?” - -Again she smiled inscrutably. - -“You wouldn’t believe me now if I told you. Some day maybe you will. -Then I’ll tell you—if you ask. But you must not ask now.” - -For the present I, too, felt safe. But only for the present. Brack -would not give up. That implacable will would have its way and the -hunt for us probably was on at that moment. Brack, realizing our -helplessness in the wilderness, would know that our field of flight -would be restricted to the vicinity of the fiord, and with his men -would search the hills relentlessly. I blessed the fate that had sent -my feet stumbling into our well-hidden cavern. - -As I weighed the chances of our discovery—which chance consisted -practically of some literally blundering into the cave—I considered -our plight in a more favorable aspect. The doctor would deliver my -message to Pierce, and Freddy would pass on to the others the secret -of our place of concealment. Dr. Olson, Freddy, Wilson and George, by -this time probably knew where we were. - -There was a world of consolation in this thought. They would -communicate with us; Freddy would see to that. Yes, we would hear from -our friends before much longer. - -But as the hours passed with no sign of such good fortune I began to -doubt. What were our friends doing? What were they thinking of? Didn’t -they realize that every minute which we passed in this uncertainty was -a minute of torture? - -Betty’s patience seemed to grow as mine diminished. She had begun to -weave a mat out of the branches which we had carried in, and -apparently she was more interested in this than in what our friends -were doing. The mat was finished as darkness began to creep up the -hillside, and Betty spread thereupon the food I had snatched from the -cabin table. There was a piece of sausage, three slices of bread, and -a can of sardines. - -“Perhaps,” I suggested, “we had better save some for the morrow.” - -“I refuse to save,” she retorted, chin in air. “Poor we may be, sir; -but never shall it be said that we stinted ourselves in the matter of -rich and nourishing sustenance. Pray, sir, draw up before it gets too -dark to distinguish the varied viands.” - -“This is prodigal conduct,” I protested, as she divided the food -equally and passed my share to me. “What of tomorrow?” - -“Tomorrow you will get more birds, and if you do not, you will get -something else. And if you don’t get that—Sir! I refuse to worry about -anything so sordid as food. Now if it were a matter pertaining to -higher things—Oh! Aren’t these sardines delicious!” - -And when the scanty meal was finished she leaned back with a mock air -of repletion and said— - -“Now, let come what may; I have dined.” - -“Do you feel so brave?” I asked. - -“Yes sir. As brave as beseems one who has dined sumptuously.” - -“Joking aside, do you feel brave enough to spend an hour or two in -this dark cave—alone?” - -“Is it necessary?” she asked after making sure that I was not joking. -“What are you going to do?” - -“We must try to learn what’s been going on today. As soon as it is -thoroughly dark I propose to sneak back to the cabins. If I have good -luck I may be able to get a word with Dr. Olson, or George. Then we’ll -know if it’s necessary or advisable for us to remain hidden -underground.” - -“I’m sure it is,” she said swiftly and with conviction. - -“Why are you sure?” - -“I don’t know; I feel it.” - -“It may be well enough,” said I, “but I don’t feel it’s right of us to -lie here without making a move. If our friends can’t help us we ought -to know, so we may plan to help ourselves.” - -“If you have decided upon it, I suppose you will go.” - -“Not unless you give your consent.” - -“My consent?” - -“Yes. You don’t think I’d go away and leave you here alone in the cave -if you tell me you’d be afraid?” - -“I shall be afraid,” she said soberly. I looked at her a little -disappointed. “I shall be afraid every minute until your return that -something may happen to you. And then,” she added lightly, “who would -get birds for my breakfast in the morning? Of course you have my -consent to go. I’ll lie here in my canoe and try to think noble -thoughts. But do be careful.” - -I waited until nine before leaving the cave. It was then pitch-dark in -the woods. I had, however, laid out my course in my mind’s eye, and -set out for the crest of the ridge without hesitation. - -My progress at first was nothing to be proud of. I stumbled and fell -over unseen rocks and logs, walked smack into sturdy trees, and was -tangled in the brush constantly. At the top of the ridge the woods and -brush grew thinner. It was practically bare ground here and I traveled -the crest swiftly until the odorous dampness of the night air warned -me that I was approaching the lake, and I paused sharply. - -I was now, I judged, near the spot where I had descended from the -ridge to warn Slade and Harris. If I was right, I would soon be able -to see the lights from the cabins in the clearing below; and so -fearful was I of Brack’s devilish shrewdness that I dropped to my -hands and knees and crawled noiselessly forward to peer over the -ridge. - -Apparently my caution was unnecessary. So far as I could see there -were no lights in the cabins. In fact, there might have been no cabins -there, so absolutely was everything below me sunk in the black night. - -Minute after minute passed with my eyes straining in vain for a -glimpse of light and my ears listening vainly for some sound of human -nearness, but the darkness was no less complete than the silence. -Perhaps I had gone wrong. Perhaps that open space below, from whence -rose dampness and odor, was not the lake at all, but the bay. More -careful appraisal of my surroundings, however, convinced me that my -course had been true. That was the lake down there; the cabins were on -the farther side; and it being on toward ten o’clock, the candles were -out and the doctor, George, and the others, were asleep. - -This was the reasoning with which I relieved myself, as I let myself -down the ridge toward the clearing. My caution, however, had not -deserted me, and my progress was as noiseless as could be. - -It was fully half an hour after leaving the top of the ridge before I -lay in the brush behind the clearing. The cabin in which Betty and I -had left George was before me and probably fifty yards away, but no -sound or light hinted that it was inhabited. - -The cold shiver which always came to me when I was afraid once more -ran up my spine as I contemplated the open space between myself and -the cabin. I wished greatly to retreat, so I promptly drove myself -forward, pistol in hand, literally dragging myself up to the rear of -the squat cabin whose very darkness and silence seemed eloquent with -sinister possibilities. - -Beneath the open window through which Betty and I had fled I lay with -my head against the logs, listening for the sounds of breathing -within. No such sound came. No sound of any kind came. - -I lifted my head until an ear was over the sill of the window. It was -so still that a man’s breathing, or the ticking of a watch, could not -have escaped my strained hearing. I thrust my head inside the room. -Now by its complete silence I knew that the room was empty, and I drew -myself up slowly and clambered in. - -After a while I struck a match. The room was bare. The bunks, -blankets, chairs, dishes, the table, the stove, all had been removed. -The floor and walls were bare. - -I went to the other cabin, where the wounded men had lain. Then I sat -down on the nearest threshold, weak and numbed. The cabins were empty. -Brack had removed our friends beyond our ken. We were deserted. But -more sinister than that; the cabins had been stripped of their last -morsel of food, of everything that might have been of assistance to us -in maintaining existence in the wilderness. - - - - - XXXII - - -I sat there in the cabin doorway for a long time, the props upon which -I had builded hope and confidence suddenly knocked away. George was -gone; Dr. Olson was gone. And there was no trace of them left behind, -no trace of where they had gone, or why, or how. They had disappeared -from our ken. We were out of touch with them. And upon them had been -built our hopes. - -Far off on some hilltop a wolf barked suddenly. I pictured Brack with -his sneering eyes laughing at me. It was all his work, of course. If -it had not been—if the abandonment of the cabins had been -accidental—Dr. Olson, knowing that I would return there sometime, -would have managed to leave a note or sign to tell the why and where -of the going. - -But the captain, also knowing that we would come back to the cabins, -had taken proper precautions. There was no note, no sign. There was no -hope, no chance to escape him. That was the lesson he had prepared for -us with these empty cabins. - -The wolf barked again, and I thought of Betty alone in the cave and -sprang up. And there was something selfish in the speed with which I -traveled back over the ridge, for the nearness of her was a stay to my -waning confidence and courage. - -Nearing the cave I moved more cautiously, not wishing to blunder -through the mask of brush we had made to hide the opening. Fumbling in -the darkness I found the overhanging rock, and then the opening which -I had left as a door in the brush. I paused a moment before crawling -inside, and as I did so Betty’s voice came faintly from the canoe: - -“Is that you, Gardy? And are you all right?” - -“I am,” I replied, as I entered. “And you?” - -“Fine and dandy. But—oh, you were away an awful long time.” - -“Yes. It was farther than I thought.” - -“And did you see George? And what did you find out?” - -“A lot of things,” I mumbled with assumed sleepiness. “Everything’s -all right. No need to worry. But I’m so tired, so sleepy I can’t talk -now. Forgive me, but I’ll have to wait until morning before telling -about it.” - -“You poor boy!” I heard her sit up. - -“Oh, I’m all right,” I protested as I lay down on my nest of boughs. I -was sitting up an instant later. “Here; what’s this? You’ve put the -blanket on my bed.” - -“Only half of it. I ripped it in two while you were gone. It wasn’t -fair——” - -“You’re going to take it back.” - -“No, sir. I’m as warm as a cat back here. I’ll never forgive you if -you make me take it back after my feeling so noble for giving it to -you. So there.” - -“Now really——” - -“No, sir! You lie right down and cover yourself up and get the sleep -you need so much. You wouldn’t deprive me of feeling like a heroine, -would you? Of course not. Good night.” - -“Good night.” - -She chuckled softly as she lay down. - -“I called you ‘Gardy,’ Mr. Pitt; did you notice that? Shocking, isn’t -it? After a few days’ acquaintance. I wonder—I wonder if cave-people -ever had more than one name.” - -And after awhile her soft, steady breathing as she slept made me glad -I had withheld the bad news for the morrow. - - * * * * * - -I awoke the next morning at the first gray light of dawn and slipped -out while Betty still slept. I was now as eager to find some sign of -human nearness as the morning before I had been eager to assure myself -of the isolation of our hiding-place. A sight of the yacht, of any -one, of Brack even, would have been a relief from the growing -sensation that we had been left completely alone. - -I went down to the bay and followed its indentations for more than a -mile, making no effort at concealment, in another fruitless search for -the yacht. I went over the ridge to the cabins and stood in the -clearing before them and shouted recklessly. And when the hills had -mockingly echoed back my futile shouts, I knew the calmness of -resignation to the worst. We were alone, and we must exist, and -escape, if escape we could, solely by our own efforts. - -I gathered a pocketful of stones and half a dozen clubs and went back -to our spring to hunt for grouse. My good fortune of the day before -was not to be repeated. Birds in plenty there were. They flushed from -beneath my feet, flew past my head, and sat in rows on branches and -looked down upon me. I found, however, that it is one thing to hurl a -club into a covey huddled under a bush, and quite another to knock a -bird out of a tree, and in desperation I finally used the pistol to -bring down the single bird which I thought was to comprise our -breakfast that morning. - -In the primitive morning stillness the noise of the shot was like a -crack of lightning, splitting the silence and echoing through the -hills. But by this time I was convinced that we were alone there in -Kalmut Valley, and that no one was near enough to hear the report. - -As I reentered the cave Betty sprang up, asking: - -“Well? Who and what did you see at the cabins last night?” - -While I sought for a way to break the news without any unnecessary -alarm to her she continued: - -“It’s bad news, of course. I felt that last night. You’d never have -been selfish enough to go to sleep without telling me if the news had -been good. What is it, Mr. Pitt?” - -“I am sorry to say that I didn’t see any one at the cabins,” I -replied. “There was no one there. There was nothing there. The cabins -were stripped bare. Everything in them was gone—food, everything.” - -“Then thank goodness for the bird,” she said quietly. “Where do you -think George and everybody, and everything has gone?” - -“Oh, Brack’s taken them and all the stuff away some place. But where I -can’t imagine. I really don’t believe the yacht’s in the fiord at all, -so it doesn’t seem they could be on board. Brack may have headquarters -somewhere on shore.” - -“But what could be his object in taking everything away from the -cabins?” - -“To leave us without food or anything to help us.” - -“Hm,” said Betty, her chin in her hands. “I was thinking of something -else.” - -“What?” - -“Brack knew you’d go back and have a look at the cabins. He thinks -we’re in the open wilderness without a shelter over our heads. Well, -when you find that the cabins have been stripped, deserted, apparently -abandoned for good, wouldn’t it be natural for us to rush to them for -shelter?” - -“Certainly.” - -“Well, couldn’t he be watching, and when we were in—” her hand pounced -onto a sprig of birch and crushed it—“just like that?” - -“A trap!” I cried. “I never thought of that. Of course. And with no -food, even if we were safe at first, we’d have to give in in the end.” - -“Which we’ll never, never do, of course,” she said firmly. She looked -around at the fir and birch boughs hung in the cave. “I don’t think I -care to move just at the present. While this apartment is not as roomy -or light as it might be, I am quite fascinated with its interior -decorations, as well as its safety. No; Mr. Brack must find other -tenants for his cabins. I think we shall remain right here.” - -I laughed in sheer relief at the serio-comic air with which she said -this. - -“Betty,” I said, “aren’t you even a little bit afraid?” - -“Oh, yes, Gardy,” she said, instantly serious. “Aren’t you? I’m lots -afraid. But we mustn’t let that bother us, must we?” - -“Emphatically, no! We mustn’t let anything bother us. You mustn’t let -anything worry you. We’ll get along, somehow; I don’t know how, but I -know we will——” - -“Of course we will!” - -“And when it comes to Captain Brack——” - -“Are we downhearted?” demanded Betty, and together we answered: “No!” - -It was immediately after this that we once more saw the captain. I was -preparing to go out and clean the bird, and as I parted the branches a -boat from the yacht, rowed by four men, with Brack at the rudder, came -rushing down the fiord and steered for the beach directly below where -we were hidden. - -Betty saw me start and sprang to my side. Neither of us said a word -while we watched the boat come to land. As the men sprang out and -hurried into the brush we drew back to the rear of the cave, sat down -on the canoe, and looked at each other. - -“It’s my fault,” I whispered. “I shouldn’t have fired that shot. They -heard it. Don’t give up, though. They haven’t found us yet.” - -“I wonder if they are coming here?” she whispered back. - -I went back to the opening and peered cautiously through the branches. -The men, even Captain Brack, were crouched down in the shelter of a -huge boulder, and Brack was giving them directions. - -Immediately they scattered, and began to work up the hill. They did -not come directly toward the cave but went slightly to the north, in -the direction where I had fired my pistol. - -The caution with which they moved puzzled me. They crouched and ran -from tree to tree, keeping in cover as much as possible, peering -around carefully, their rifles always ready. Brack brought up the -rear. The other men appeared almost frightened and it seemed that only -his presence drove them forward. - -“They’re searching the hill, but they’re not coming in this -direction,” I whispered as I drew back to Betty. “Apparently they -don’t know the exact location of this cave.” - -“Do you think they will find it?” - -“How can I tell? It’s wonderfully hidden.” - -“If they do find it, what will you do?” - -I did not reply. I did not know what I would do. But one thing I did -know: Brack would not lead us away as his prisoners. - -“Gardy,” she whispered, “if they are going to find us tell me, because -there’s something I’ve got to tell you if—if—anything happens.” - -“Nothing is going to happen to you,” I whispered assuringly. “Be easy -on that. Nothing will happen to you.” - -“Even if they do find us?” - -“Even if they do find us. Hush now. We’d better not even whisper.” - -We sat waiting in silence, our eyes upon the brush-mask across the -cavern’s mouth. We were cornered. There was nothing to do but sit and -wait for what fate might allot us. Each second I expected to see a -face peering through the brush, and to hear the shout that would -announce our discovery. But the seconds, infinitely long and -throbbing, passed and became minutes, and still we had no sign of -Brack and his men. - -It was at least half an hour after the men had started up the hill -that a spruce grouse, flushed from the ground, flashed across the -opening, so close that its wings touched the brush. By the rising -flight of the bird I knew that it had been flushed but a few yards -away, and, I judged, by some one who was coming toward the cave. They -would be here soon now. - - - - - XXXIII - - -“Lie down in the canoe,” I whispered to Betty. “They must have missed -us; I’m going to take a little look.” - -When she had obeyed, and could not see what I did, I slipped the -safety catch off my pistol and crept forward to the mouth of the cave. - -I was right; some one was walking near the cave. After a few seconds I -could make out the heavy footsteps of two men. They were walking -carelessly, brush crackling beneath their feet, and they were coming -down-hill. Suddenly from some distance off came the sound of a sharp -whistle twice repeated. The footsteps stopped. - -“There,” said a voice. “Wha’d’ I tell you? The cap’s given up, too, -and it’s a case of get back to the boat for us.” - -“I tell you,” responded a second voice, “I don’t believe it was the -guys we’re after at all. They’re old-timers and wise guys. It don’t -seem nach’rel they’d go shooting this close to the water, where they -knew we’d be sure to hear it. That was a revolver, too.” - -“Who the —— else would it be, then?” demanded the first man. “There -ain’t nobody else to do any revolver shooting round here, is they? -Sure it was the guys we’re after. Nobody else. They’re hard up fer -grub, and had to shoot something wherever they could get it—nobody -else ’round here.” - -“There’s that —— Pitt, an’ the skirt the cap’s gone crazy about, ain’t -there? They’re loose somewhere in the valley, too, ain’t they?” - -“Sure. They got no revolver, though. He ain’t a shootin’ man, either. -Naw; it was those miner guys who fired that shot, all right; an’ -they’re old-timers an’ beat it like —— right away an’ kept traveling, -so we didn’t find them or their trail. They might be layin’ round here -some place at that.” - -“Well, come on. Let’s get down.” - -Their footsteps sounded again on the ground. I placed my eyes to an -interstice in the brush and peered out. Perhaps fifty feet north of -the cave two of Brack’s men were slouching down-hill toward the boat, -their rifles hanging carelessly over their shoulders like men who are -returning from an unsuccessful hunt. - -Farther down the hill and a good distance to the north were two other -men, and as I watched Brack broke out of the brush along the bay and -ran swiftly down the beach to where his boat lay tied. Here he dropped -promptly out of sight behind the boulder where he and his men had -sought shelter when they landed, and there, safely hidden, he awaited -the return of his men. - -His tactics puzzled me at first. Why did he run so swiftly across the -open space of the beach? Why hide himself behind the boulder? It was -not like Brack to run or hide. Then, considering the speech I had just -heard, I understood. It was Slade and Harris that Brack and his men -had come hunting, summoned by my pistol-shot, and the captain, knowing -their deadly skill with the rifle, was not wishful to expose himself -any more than was necessary. - -“Betty,” I said swiftly, as the men came out upon the beach and -tumbled into the boat, “they’re going away. It wasn’t us they were -after. They’ve no idea we’re here. They’re rowing away now, and I’m -going to try and see if I can’t follow them and find where they’re -staying.” - -They were shoving the boat out now, and as soon as they had turned its -bow toward the head of the fiord, I leaped from the cave and ran as -swiftly as I could northward, keeping out of sight of the water. When -I knew that I was well ahead of the boat I curved toward the fiord, -and the moment the water came in view I lay flat down in the brush and -waited. If the boat did not appear I would at least know that Brack’s -rendezvous was somewhere between the cave and the point where I was -lying. - -I had but a minute or two to wait, however, when the boat came rushing -along and continued farther north. Once more I waited until it was out -of sight, then again curving my path out of sight of the water, I once -more ran desperately to get in the lead. - -My rush this time led me to where I found further progress barred by -the river at the head of the fiord. At the junction of the two waters -I hid myself and waited. When the boat came in view I drew back, for I -was perilously near the river and I judged that having come this far -Brack was bound up the river toward the cabins. I was mistaken. The -boat turned eastward, before reaching the river-mouth. It went -straight toward an opening on the other side of the fiord which I had -not previously noticed. This opening was to some degree hidden by an -out-jutting bluff. Without slacking speed the boat swung around the -bluff and disappeared into a part of the fiord whose existence I had -not suspected. - -Then I stood up and cursed aloud. And at that a voice cried out from a -clump of willows near by: - -“Oh ——! Is that really you, Brains? Oh, ——! Mebbe I ain’t glad to see -you!” - -Pierce’s expression as he came stumbling out of the willows was a -study. The last two days had wrinkled and drawn his honest face into a -mask of despair, and now, suddenly convulsed with relief and joy, his -eyes honestly shed tears while his lips grinned happily. - -“Put ’er there, Brains! Mitt me, mitt me!” he stammered, grasping my -hand. “Gee! I didn’t know you with all that fuzz on your face. Well, -you’re all right, and—and there ain’t anything happened to Her, has -they?” - -“No, Freddy,” I managed to say at last. “Miss Baldwin is all right. -She’s back in the cave that I told you about.” - -“Wow!” He fairly wilted with relief. “Say, if anything had happened to -her I’d hike straight back to the yacht and blow a hole through -Brack’s head the second I saw him.” - -“The yacht?” I cried. “Do you mean to say the yacht is near at hand?” - -“Right up at the end of the bay there,” was his casual reply. “Riordan -ran ’er up right after you’d left that afternoon with the boss. Say, -how long ago is that, Brains?” - -“Two days ago, isn’t it?” - -“Yah! You ain’t sure yourself, are you? It’s been long for you, too, -eh? Seems about a month to me. An’ you been living in the cave! Say! -Look at this.” He patted the sweater which he was wearing and which -was swollen far out in front. - -“Grub,” he said. “Come on; let’s beat it before anybody comes nosing -around.” - -“Pierce!” I said, “do you mean to say that you’ve got food—real, -civilized food there?” - -“Sure. I was on my way to the cave to feed you. Wait a second while I -get my rifle.” - -He dove back into the willows and reappeared bearing the rifle which I -had taken from Barry. - -“Come on. Lead the way. Tell you all about it later. Got to beat it -now. I put a bump on Garvin’s bean to get away and they may be after -me any minute. Go ahead, fast’s you can; I’ll keep up.” - - * * * * * - -I waited to ask no more questions but plunged into the forest at a run -with Pierce following at my heels. There was no need for caution now -and we went straight to the cave, to find Betty ruefully picking the -bird I had shot. At the sight of Pierce she stopped and stared, while -I took the bird from her hand. - -“No need for this now,” I laughed. “Here’s Freddy, and he’s brought us -some real civilized food.” - -“Best I could do,” said Pierce, and opening his belt there clattered -to the floor of the cave a quantity of the _Wanderer’s_ choicest -viands that made me gasp. “Wilson’s sweater,” explained Pierce, -looking at the pile. “Big enough for two of me. Held quite a lot, -didn’t it?” - -“Food!” Betty clasped her hands and gazed in amazement at the -collection. - -There was potted turkey, _paté-de-foie-gras_, asparagus tips, -veal-loaf, all in glass. There were packages of tea biscuit. There was -a bundle which contained sandwiches. - -“Food! Oh, you blessed, perambulating pantry! You—you angel!” she -cried, and hugged Pierce in a way that left him red and stammering. - -“Gee! Beg pardon—I mean, you’re all right, ain’t you, Miss Baldwin? -Gee—I mean, that’s fine!” - -“Freddy,” said I with genuine feeling, “as you say, ‘mitt me,’ once -more. ‘Put ’er there.’ You’re a prince. You’re more than a prince; -you’re a clever man.” - -“Aw, c’m on now, Brains; don’t go kidding me,” he protested. - -“Kidding you!” cried Betty, biting into a generous sandwich. “If you -knew how we felt toward you at this moment—if you knew how like an -angel you appear to us! Oh, but real food does taste good!” - -“I ought to have got here before this,” said Pierce, as Betty and I -devoted ourselves to nourishment, “but first Riordan had me locked in -the engine-room, and then Brack had me there, and this was the first -chance for a getaway I had.” - -“Begin at the beginning,” I commanded, opening the asparagus. “We -don’t know a thing except that when we came back the other night the -yacht was gone.” - -“And roll yourself a cigaret, do,” supplemented Betty. - -“Aw—aw, I guess I can get along without smoking,” said Pierce lamely. - -“Roll a cigaret,” repeated Betty. “Then tell us—about everything. And -how is George—Mr. Chanler?” - - - - - XXXIV - - -“The boss is all right,” was Pierce’s prompt response, as he began to -manufacture his cigaret. “Yes, sir, he’s all right, but he ain’t -letting Brack know it. He’s a reg’lar guy, the boss is, after all.” - -“Of course,” I said. “But begin at the beginning.” - -“All right.” - -He blew a puff of smoke toward the opening of the cave, fanned it away -from Betty, and began: - -“The first thing that happened after you and the boss went up the bay, -Mr. Pitt, was for little Freddy to slip into the water and go after -his rifle, here. I did a dive when Riordan was taking a lunch, got up -here, got the gun and got back on board before he knew I’d been gone. -I hid the gun in the oil locker, back of the tanks where nobody could -see it. I got through just in time, too, ’cause pretty soon Riordan -comes on deck and orders me down to start the auxiliary engine, while -he and the nigger gets up the anchor. - -“I start her all right, but I says to myself if Riordan turns her nose -out to sea I’ll get my gun and start a little mutiny all by my -lonesome. Well, he don’t do nothing of the sort; just starts right up -the bay, running on the auxiliary. I think that’s all right, because -of course I knew it was the cap’s orders, and we was going up the same -way you went. Then after awhile we anchored, and then I knew it wasn’t -all right, because I tried the engine-room door and Riordan had me -locked in tight. - -“The cap let me out himself in the morning, because Doc’ Olson had -told him he wanted me to help him with the boss and the two guys that -was shot.” - -“Shot!” cried Betty. “Who was shot?” - -“The two seamen that Dr. Olson said were hurt,” I said hurriedly. -“Never mind now. Go on, Freddy.” - -“The doc’ just got me out to get a chance to slip me the news about -you and where you’d gone; but there wasn’t any chance for a getaway -’cause Brack was there, and Garvin was on guard all the time with his -gun. Doc sent me running first to the boss and then to Wilson and the -two other guys with dope and drinks, and so on, and pretty soon the -boss got his noodle working and starts framing things.” - -“Chanler began to think out a plan,” I translated to Betty. - -“Eh-yah,” continued Freddy unabashed. “It was the boss that framed it -all up. He’s a reg’lar guy. ‘Tell Wilson to pretend to be worse,’ says -he. ‘I’ll do the same.’ Wilson was fit to get up, but the boss says, -no; he and Wilson were to be like they was helpless. Then the boss -says to Brack he’d give him any sum he’d name if he’d sail out of -there and take him home.” - -“What?” said Betty. “George wanted to leave us?” - -“Naw! You don’t understand. Naw, I should say not he didn’t want to -leave anybody. I told you he was a reg’lar guy. And there with the -brains, too. He was just playing up to Brack. But cappy says he -couldn’t think of leaving without—well, you know; he’s a pretty wicked -guy.” - -“I understand,” said Betty quietly. “Well?” - -“So the boss pretended to have a fit, and did a lot of fancy stalling. -You see now, don’t you: the boss is putting cappy off his guard and -laying for a chance to jump the bunch and get control of the yacht.” - -“But, great heavens!” I expostulated. “They’ve no arms, and they’re -outnumbered.” - -“Well, they ain’t outnumbered so bad,” said Pierce. “There’s the boss, -and Wilson, and Doc Olson, and Simmons, and the big nigger. Oh, yes; -we got the nigger with us. I know he wanted to get Garvin, and felt -him out. He’s only waiting to be turned loose.” - -“It’s impossible,” said I. “Brack and his men are armed to the teeth.” - -“That’s the trouble. If we’d had a gun apiece there’d been something -doing this morning while the cap was away. But the cap’s cleaned the -boat of guns and got ’em in his possession, ’cept one Doc’ Olson -copped off one of the men who was shot. So Wilson told me what to do, -and I sneaked an iron bar into his room and two into the boss’s, one -for him and one for Simmons, and the nigger’s got a knife down one -pants leg and a club down the other. When the chance comes they’re -going to try to put cappy out of business while the nigger gets -Garvin. The rest of ’em don’t amount to much. The trouble is the -chance don’t come. - -“The boss was worried about you last night. He said we’d have to try -to get some grub to you since we didn’t have a chance to get the -yacht. The last thing he says to me last night was, ‘Remember, we’ve -got to get some grub to ’em tomorrow no matter what happens to us.’ - -“Well, when the cap went away this morning after he heard that shot, -he set Barry to watching the boss and Simmons, and Doc’ all in the -boss’s room. Garvin was set to doing a watch aft, and Riordan was set -to pacing the deck to watch everything in general. The two guys who -was hurt had guns, too. I knew Barry’d get the boss if we tried to -start anything, so I just put on Wilson’s sweater and stuffed it full -of food, and got my gun and waited for a chance to get away without -being seen. But there was Garvin aft, near the shore I wanted to make, -and Riordan doing the rounds. But I remembered what the boss’d said -about getting you grub, and when Riordan was forward I took a chance. - -“Garvin turned around just as I was getting ready to clout him and he -got the butt right in the temple. Then I did a dive, and if I’d had -ten feet farther to swim it would have been a ‘good-by Freddy,’ -because the grub and rifle was pretty heavy, and Riordan took one shot -at me just as I made the brush. Then I hiked it and swam the river, -and I was hiding when you stood up and swore at cappy.” - -“Did you swear?” demanded Betty, turning to me. “Did you really swear -at him? Oh, I’m so glad; I was afraid you never did it.” - -“And don’t you worry,” concluded Freddy, “the boss is all there and -wide awake, and there ain’t going to be any fall-down: when the chance -comes he’ll put the trick over and we’ll be out of the woods. He’s -just living for that now.” - -And Betty and I said as one— - -“Good old George!” - -“There’s only one thing worrying me,” resumed Freddy, peering out -apprehensively. “The cap’ll be wise that I made a getaway to join you, -and he’ll see my tracks where I crossed the river and come this way -looking for the bunch of us.” - -“That’s nothing to worry about,” I assured him. “Two of his men were -within fifty feet of the cave a short time ago and didn’t see it.” - -“What I’m worrying about,” said Betty, “is that you left George.” - -“Hah? The boss? Why, how could I get the grub to you without leaving -him? And he says we got to do that no matter what happened to us.” - -“We could have got along without the food,” Betty continued, “and by -leaving the yacht you weakened George’s plan. If he attempts to -overcome Brack now he—why, he may be in danger of his life.” - -“Sure thing. That’s understood. The boss knows that, but that ain’t -what’s worrying him, not at all. If he can fix things right with you, -that’s all he cares about. He told me so.” - -“Chanler is himself again,” I said. “You remember I said he would be.” - -Betty sat with her chin in her hands, thinking. Her eyes were turned -in my direction, but she was seeing beyond me without noticing my -presence. Suddenly she spoke the words that brought upon us the great -crisis. - -“I won’t have George risking his life on my account. I can’t bear -that. I won’t have it.” - - - - - XXXV - - -For a moment after she spoke I experienced a sensation as if the -sound, comfortable earth had dropped away from beneath me, a sensation -of a great fall into a void. Then followed the impression that after -all, Betty was a stranger; that I did not know her at all. - -“I won’t have George risking his life for me,” she repeated quietly. -“I—I’ll go back on board before that.” - -I went from cold to warm. Freddy tried to speak and I silenced him -with a look. When I spoke, my voice was hoarse and heavy. - -“Miss Baldwin, you will not go aboard until Brack is beaten, and the -yacht is in our possession. I am responsible to Chanler for your -safety.” - -There followed a trying period of silence. - -“Why—why, Mr. Pitt!” Betty finally tried to laugh, but the grimness of -my expression must have convinced her that laughter was out of place. -“That was the first rude speech you have made. Do you realize how rude -it was?” - -I did not speak. Her solicitude for George had awakened in me an -anger, adamite and smoldering, which grew with each minute. George -must not risk his precious life! Freddy had risked his. I had risked -mine. But George must be protected at all costs! And why? Why, because -he meant so much to her that the lives of others, and her own safety, -were insignificant in comparison? I made an attempt to smile. - -“Mr. Pitt! Gardy!” she cried, shrinking. “Don’t look at me that way. -What are you going to do?” - -“I beg your pardon; I didn’t realize that I was looking at you in an -offensive manner.” - -“What—are you—going—to—do?” - -I looked at the ground. It did not take me long to make my plans. I -said— - -“I’m going to pray that it’s a very dark night.” - -From that moment the hearty camaraderie which had existed between us -was gone. We seemed to have been moved far apart. Betty once more was -Miss Baldwin; I was not Gardy, but Mr. Pitt. She literally drew away -from me and from a distance cast puzzled glances in my direction. - -Then we became formally polite to one another. When we spoke it was as -if we had been but recently introduced, and we spoke only when it was -necessary. And Freddy wrinkled his freckled forehead and glanced from -Betty to me, frankly puzzled. - -It was a long day for us all in the cave. When darkness finally began -to fall we greeted it with relief. Freddy, peering out at the -darkening sky, said: - -“Well, your prayers have been answered all right: it’s going to be -dark enough to suit anybody. Now put me next, Brains; what’s your -stunt?” - -“Brack doesn’t know that I’ve got this pistol,” I said. - -“What of it?” - -“As he thinks I’m unarmed—helpless—he won’t be on his guard—when I go -aboard tonight.” - -“Oh!” It was Betty who exclaimed, but she smothered the exclamation -with her hand. - -“What you going to do when you get on board?” asked Pierce. - -“You’ll stay here with Miss Baldwin,” I continued, paying no attention -to his query. “If everything goes as I hope, George will come down and -bring you to the yacht.” - -It was dark now and I prepared to leave. - -“Hold on,” said Pierce. “What’s the use of your going swimming in that -cold water? You’d have to swim the river, and then out to the yacht, -and by the time you go on board you’d be so cold and stiff you -wouldn’t be any good. Tell you what let’s do; let’s paddle up in the -canoe, you ’n’ me. It’s so dark they’d never see us. Then you can get -on board, warm and supple, and fit to do something.” - -There was much sense in his argument, and after discussing it for -awhile I agreed to it. Brack, of course, must not suspect Pierce’s -presence. - -“As soon as I go over the side you’re to paddle off and be ready to -return to Miss Baldwin.” - -“Sure. Anything you say, Brains.” - -“Thank you,” said Betty stiffly, “but there will be no need for you to -come back here for me. Mr. Pitt, just as surely as you go away without -me I’ll leave this cave and go to the yacht alone. I mean it. I will -not be left here. You can take me in the canoe, too. I will be as safe -as Mr. Pierce.” - -“You will stay right here,” said I. - -“Will I!” she slipped past me, bounded through the brush, and stood -outside the cave, ready to run. “I can find the yacht. You can’t catch -me. Now, Mr. Pitt, what shall it be?” - -Pierce promptly relieved the situation. - -“We can land her at some point up there. That’ll be all right, won’t -it?” - -“Ask her,” I said. - -“Yes; that will be all right,” she replied promptly. - - * * * * * - -With this understanding we carried the canoe down to the water, and -with Betty in the middle, started up the fiord. As Pierce said, my -prayers for a dark night seemed to have been answered. - -So complete was the darkness that twice we grounded, having run into -land which we were not able to see. The sound of the river current -warned us when we had reached the head of the bay, and carefully -following the shore we glided through the opening where I had seen -Brack’s boat disappear. - -“There—there she is, right ahead of us,” whispered Pierce, and in the -inchoate darkness we made out a series of tiny lights, the gleam from -the _Wanderer’s_ cabin windows. - -“She’s laying bows out with her stern near the shore on our port,” -whispered Pierce as we backed water and lay still. “Her starboard’s -toward us. There’s one ladder down at the stern and one at the bow, -port side. Better take the bow one; the cap’s more’n likely to be aft. -And there’s a good place to land Miss Baldwin, right here.” - -We lay without moving or speaking for many long, distressful seconds. - -“Mr. Pitt,” whispered Betty finally, “do you insist on going through -with your mad plan?” - -“Yes.” - -We were silent again. - -“All right,” said Betty. - -Pierce silently moved the canoe to the shore on our port side, the -shore toward which the _Wanderer’s_ stern was turned, and without a -word Betty stepped out. - -“Pierce will come back here as soon as he sees me go over the side,” I -whispered. - -She made no reply. Then we paddled silently away, steering for the -_Wanderer’s_ bow. - -I was conscious now of nothing but a spirit of elation. There was not -a pang, not a fear in my thoughts. The old fright-chill along the -spine, which hitherto always had come to me when approaching danger, -was gone. I was like a boy turned loose for a holiday. All the -considerations which cause men to fear danger I had put away. All the -responsibilities which hold men to a cautious rôle in life had gone -from me. My responsibility toward Betty would be discharged when I had -removed for her the danger of Brack. And Betty cared so much for -George Chanler that she wouldn’t have him risk his life for her, and -consequently there was no reason why anything in the world mattered -much to me. - -“Faster!” I whispered, digging viciously at the water. “Hurry up; I -want it over with.” - -“Easy, Brains, easy.” - -Pierce silently backed water. We were four or five lengths from the -_Wanderer’s_ starboard side, and though we were invisible in the -darkness the lights and white paint of the yacht revealed her outlines -and superstructure. - -“There’s a boat in the water at the stern,” whispered Freddy. “Mebbe -it’d be a good thing to cut her loose in case we have to make a -getaway.” - -“Cut nothing loose,” I whispered contentedly. “Move up to the bow -ladder and let’s have it over with quickly.” - -He took a stroke forward then backed again. - -“Hey! There he is; walking aft. See him? By the last light aft.” - -“Yes,” I breathed, as I made out Captain Brack’s figure where Pierce -had indicated. “Now hurry and put me aboard, and I may surprise him.” - -The canoe moved forward again. Pierce paddled in a semi-circle, -heading away from the _Wanderer’s_ side and curving back toward the -bows. The yacht was all dark forward, save from a single gleam from a -port-hole in George’s stateroom. Leaning well forward in the canoe I -held my hands thrust out before me, and presently my finger-tips -rested against the _Wanderer’s_ sharp bow. - -“Here’s the ladder—right here,” whispered Pierce. I moved the canoe -backwards with my hands, and presently held the rope rungs of the -ladder in my grasp. I reached up high above my head and gripped a rope -rung firmly. - -“Now hurry back to Miss Baldwin,” I whispered, and swung myself up. - -Pierce did not answer at once. - -“Do you hear?” I demanded. - -“Oh, sure.” - -I was well up the ladder then, but his tone prompted me to turn and -look down. Pierce, with his rifle under one arm, was tying the canoe -to the ladder. When, looking up, he saw that I had stopped and -observed him he started guiltily, then leaped resolutely onto the -ladder below me. - -“Get off! Go back to the girl!” I commanded. - -“I won’t,” said he. And we were hanging so, against the yacht’s sides, -when Betty’s voice called softly from the shore beyond the stern: - -“Oh, Captain Brack! Quick, please. I’m tired and afraid. Hurry, hurry! -Take me aboard at once!” - - - - - XXXVI - - -A moment of silence followed, silence as complete as the darkness of -the night. On the ladder Pierce and I hung as if frozen to the rungs. -The tone of Betty’s call seemed to permeate the air; its pleading, -compelling notes lingered like a perfume. Oh, the power of woman! The -might of so slight a part of her as the nuances of her speech! For the -call of Betty was a command. Nay, it was a force, a law, as -indubitable as the law of gravity. It was surcharged with the thrill -and power of Nature’s will. It was Woman. And Brack would go. He must -go, in response to it. And Betty knew it. - -Brack’s laugh, short and excited, sounded aft. - -“Ah! Yes, yes; one minute.” His voice was exultant. “I’m coming.” - -He must have leaped at the last words, for instantly there was a -clatter as he dropped into the boat. Then the creak of an oar as he -swung the boat clear. - -“Where are you, Miss Baldwin?” he laughed. - -And then, when it was too late, I recovered from the shock that had -congealed me. I cried out, an involuntary, agonized cry, and as if in -response a man come running swiftly to the ladder and peered over the -rail. - -“Who’s dere; who is it? Speak, or I’ll shoot!” - -Head and voice I recognized as one of the most vicious of Brack’s men, -and it was too late to attempt to retreat. - -“It’s Mr. Pitt,” said I, and climbed upward. - -“Hold on; stop right dere.” - -I had thrown one leg over the guard rail. The man was a yard away, a -revolver pointed at my chest. - -“’S all right, Joe.” From below the quick-witted Freddy sent up a -reassuring growl. “’S all right; let ’im go.” - -“Hah?” The seaman, startled, bent forward to look, and I leaped, -sinking both hands into his throat and bearing him to the rail. - -In the same second Pierce seemed to be on the rail. His rifle rose -over his head and came down on my man’s arm, knocking the revolver -from his hand. - -“The gun—the gun! Get his gat’!” whispered Freddy. - -I had it even as he spoke, and with a weapon in each hand I ran aft, -madly, unthinkingly, wishful only to follow whither Captain Brack had -gone. Riordan was the first man I met, and as he retreated at the -sight of me and tugged at his hip pocket, I struck at him, saw him -fall, and went on with scarcely a pause. - -I heard Freddy pounding at George’s stateroom, but I ran past. Garvin -leaped at me from aft the main cabin. I fired twice at his right arm -and heard his weapon clatter on the deck. - -On the after-deck Barry caught me about the hips and threw me down, -the violence of the fall throwing my weapons from my hands. I was -beneath him and the man was trying to stab me as I hugged him tight to -my breast. I felt the knife enter my thigh. Barry was the stronger, -and I cried out a curse of despair. - -“Hang tough for a jiffy, sir,” came Wilson’s calm voice from a -companionway. He, too, was fighting. I heard the sound of two bodies -falling. “Hang tough!” - -I put all my strength into a paroxysm of pressure, but Barry managed -to cut me once more ere Wilson, hobbling on one leg, came to my -relief. - -I found myself on my knees feeling ill. - -“That’s three down,” said Wilson. - -He was at the rail, pulling the stern sea-ladder up on deck. Vaguely I -realized then that Wilson, too, had heard Brack leave the ship. -Afterward I learned that he had attacked his guards at the sound of my -first shot, which he had thought to come from Dr. Olson’s revolver as -a signal for the revolt. In that way only had it been possible for him -to reach me in time to save my life. - -The negro and Garvin were fighting near us, with a stamping and -roaring as of two great animals locked in battle. Like the hissing of -an over-driven pump came the negro’s: - -“Got you now; got you now, bad man.” - -Garvin in turn panted. - -“You —— nigger! You —— nigger!” - -They whirled from the darkness into the shaft of light from a -port-hole. The negro struck with some weapon; the thick glass crashed -in splinters. They whirled on, into the dark again. - -“Swing him around, Sam, and I’ll club him for you,” said Wilson -quietly, hobbling after them. - -“Don’ touch ’im!” pleaded the negro. “’Foh Gawd! Don’ nobody touch -’im. He’s mah meat.” - -Forward, at George’s stateroom, there was a tumult; then cries and -shots. The door was locked, and as I came running up, Pierce and Dr. -Olson were fighting Riordan, and the man who had detected me on the -ladder. In the stateroom George and Simmons were battling to keep -their guards from joining the fight on deck. - -I leaped upon Riordan from behind and Wilson, with his iron bar, began -to beat down the door. Barry had recovered consciousness and with one -of my pistols came hurrying forward, dancing around seeking for a -chance to shoot one of us. - -Pierce was knocked down, and as Barry sprang toward him, Wilson -turned, and hurled himself clumsily at the fellow’s legs. Barry fell, -leaped up, and still holding the revolver, went over the side. The -other seaman did likewise at the sight of Wilson, and Riordan, felled -by the butt of Dr. Olson’s revolver, soon followed his example. - -“—— ’im! He copped my rifle, too!” spluttered Pierce, Riordan having -snatched the weapon from the deck as he went over the side. - -In the cabin cracked a shot and there came a shriek which we knew to -be Simmons’s. Three of us threw our weight with Wilson’s, and the door -went in. - -George was on his feet, throttling one of the guards over a chair. -Simmons lay like a bundle of old clothes in a corner. Near by the -other guard, on all fours, strove to rise and fell flat. Wilson’s -right fist smote George’s victim senseless and Chanler stood up, gory -and calm. - -“They’ve hurt Simmons bad,” he said. “Poor old Simmons. My fault. But -I’ll pay that devil, Brack, out if I never do anything else as long as -I live.” - -The negro had cornered Garvin in the dining-saloon. These two had -ceased to resemble human beings. They were all but naked, and their -nakedness was red, with spots of white or black showing through. -Garvin was crouching on one side of the table with a knife, and at the -sight of the negro’s empty hands we sprang to help. - -“Don’t spoil it, white folks, don’t spoil it!” growled the negro, -moving toward his victim. “I done got ’im; he’s mah meat—mah meat!” - -He knocked the knife from Garvin’s hand somehow. Then they wrecked the -room with their hurtling falling bodies. The roar of battle rose to a -crescendo and began to diminish. Garvin was losing. - -“Guahd dat do’h!” cried the negro, but it was too late. - -Garvin had turned to flee. In a bound he was in the doorway, one more -and he was at the rail, and the negro cried in real agony as the -bruiser vaulted over into the water. - -“You got ’im plenty, Sam,” said Freddy. - -Wilson was hobbling here and there on deck. - -“We’ve cleared ship, sir,” he reported. “Now we’ve got to hold her.” - -Then I remembered why I had started aft. I was in a fog. Presently I -found myself trying to climb the after rail while a cluster of arms -held me back. - -“Betty! Brack!” I was muttering. “Over there. Let me go.” - -“No, no, Gardy, old man. Steady down, Brains; you can’t walk the -water. Easy, sir, easy.” - -George, Freddy and Wilson; they were all holding me, pleading with me. -They drew me forward toward the staterooms. - -Suddenly I tore myself free. The light from the open door of George’s -room reached up to and illuminated the port bow rail. I had seen a -head appear where the ladder reached the deck. It was a small, wet -head. Then showed a wet, white face and much wet hair, and finally -over the rail came a very wet young woman, pausing bewildered in the -glare of light and calling: - -“Mr. Pitt! Gardy! Where are you?” - -The fog cleared. I was sane again. In the shaft of light Betty Baldwin -stood balanced ready to run forward at my response. Her right hand was -at her bosom, her head on one side in an attitude of anxious -listening, but the darkness hid us from her sight! - -There was not one of us but was hideous to behold. Wilson, who had -done the most fighting in spite of his wounded leg, was the least -damaged and he required water, bandages, and fresh clothes, before -being presentable. I closed George’s door, leaving the deck in total -darkness. - -“Everything is all right,” I said as quietly as I could. “Now come -straight ahead.” - -I met her in the darkness, caught her wet sleeve and guided her -swiftly to the door of her stateroom. - -“Go in and shut the door. Quick!” - -She obeyed without questioning. - -“Where’s Captain Brack?” I asked through the keyhole. - -“Over there—ashore, I suppose. I slipped into the water and swam out -here you know, as soon as I heard him go crashing into the brush where -he thought I was.” - -“You—what? You called—you swam?” - -“That was why I called to him, of course,” she said. “To get him -ashore and slip past him and come aboard. Was it too treacherous to be -decent?” - -“You—you fooled Captain Brack?” At first the thing seemed impossible. -“You fooled Brack!” I laughed wildly because the joke was on the -captain. - -“Gardy—Mr. Pitt, are you all right? Is——” - -“George is all right!” I cried. “Rest easy; he’s all right. But stay -where you are.” - -I ran aft to break the news. There was no need for this, however. -Brack’s boat was even then scraping at our stern. - -“Throw down that ladder!” he was bellowing. “Riordan! You —— swab! The -ladder!” - -Chanler leaned on the rail and called down into the darkness: - -“You lose, cappy, Riordan’s overboard, and Wilson is captain. Come -aboard, cappy. I promise you that I’ll see you hanged if it takes -every cent I’ve got.” - -“Ah save you dat trouble, boss,” laughed Black Sam, and fired -instantly. - -We heard Brack fall on his oars. The boat drifted away out of sight. -Then we heard him move again. Presently the sound of a faint laugh -came out of the darkness. - -“Poor shooting! Pitt, you there?” he called easily. - -“Yes,” I said, stepping forward. - -“My only mistake was in underestimating you, Pitt. One tiny mistake in -an otherwise perfect plan. You haven’t won yet, but—my compliments, -Pitt.” - -I saw the flash as he fired, a roaring, brain-splitting streak of red, -which hurled me like a blast into the pit of oblivion. - - - - - XXXVII - - -Of what took place on board during the rest of that night I had only -the vaguest of knowledge. Once I had an indistinct impression of -consciousness, such as one may have through the film of opiates. Dr. -Olson was explaining to some one that it was a pretty close call, -considering that it wasn’t going to amount to anything. Brack’s bullet -had struck me under the angle of the left jaw, had ranged upward -through the muscles of the neck and gone out squarely above the -occiput. - -“Those cuts in his leg will give him more trouble,” the doctor was -saying. - -My next impression was of hearing the same sharp report as had ushered -me into unconsciousness. I smiled. My senses had cleared now and I was -sure that what I fancied I heard was simply the echo of Brack’s shot -in my disordered mind. - -I sank gratefully back toward the slumber that invited me, and then— -_Crack! Crack-crack!_ _Crack-crack-crack!_ Up on the after deck a -perfect splatter of shots which seemed echoed from a distance, drove -the sleepiness from my head. - -I opened my eyes and sat up. I was in bed in my own stateroom, and the -gray light of dawn was coming through the port-hole. From a distance -far off came two more reports, and on the steel plates of the -_Wanderer’s_ after cabin resounded two heavy, dull blows. - -I was out of bed and on my feet ere the two shots from our stern spat -out their reply. I understood the significance of those sounds now. -Brack and his gang were attacking at the first light of dawn, and they -had not caught our men napping. - -My legs bent weakly under me as I stood up, the thigh which Barry had -cut seemed numb and helpless, and my head whirled till I nearly fell. -With my hands hugging the wall for support I made my way to the door. -I wished to step out on deck, and so, naturally, in my tumbled mental -condition it was the door leading into the cabin saloon that I found. - -I opened the door but slightly and stopped. Betty was sitting before -the door. Her back was toward me, there was a book in her lap and her -hair was hanging down her back in the disordered condition of a woman -who has kept ceaseless vigil, regardless of appearances, through the -night. - -Softly as I closed the door she heard and was up in a flash. - -“Gardy! Mr. Pitt! Are you up?” she called, her hand on the knob. I had -slipped the catch as I closed the door so she could not come in. “Do -you want anything? I’ll get it for you. You mustn’t move, you know. -Are you—are you feeling stronger—Mr. Pitt?” - -“I am all right,” I said. - -“Oh! Are you really? Are you able to get up?” - -“Certainly.” I was flinging a dressing gown about me. “What is -happening aft?” - -Another volley of shots from the shore was answered from the yacht. - -“Brack and his men shot Mr. Wilson, and now they’re trying to shoot -the rest of us.” - -“Badly? Is Wilson hurt badly?” - -“I don’t know. I—I’ve been sitting here. You—you have been so terribly -quiet for such a long time, Mr. Pitt.” - -“And who’s back there? Who’s doing the shooting on our side?” - -“All of them. Pierce, and the negro, and Dr. Olson, and George.” - -I opened the door and stepped out. - -“Oh! Oh, you mustn’t,—Mr. Pitt! Really you mustn’t. Go back—what are -you going to do?” - -I laughed. - -“George mustn’t be allowed to risk his life, you know.” - -She recoiled with a sudden wilting, as a child before an unexpected -blow. - -“Oh!” she moaned. “Oh! How can you?” - -My weakness forced me to clutch the wall for support. - -“I can’t,” I said, “unless you get me some whisky.” - -She was still shrinking, her hands to her breast, and her face white. - -“Oh! I didn’t know—I couldn’t believe—there was anything like—like -this in you.” - -“Hidden country,” I laughed, stumbling along the wall. “There’s hidden -country in all of us.” - -My hand was on the door of George’s stateroom. I pushed it open. -Simmons was lying in George’s bed, a horrified expression upon his -wooden-like countenance as he viewed his surroundings. - -“Not my fault, sir,” he apologized as I betrayed surprise at seeing -him there. “I was put here, sir; I couldn’t help it.” - -“Glory be, Simmons! You’re looking sound.” - -“Oh, I’m doing nicely, thank you, sir. A bit shot off the bottom of my -liver, sir, the doctor says. I’ll do, says he, thank you.” - -A revolver was lying on a table and I picked it up. It was loaded. - -“Whisky, Simmons! Where is it? I’ve got to have some, quick.” - -He grimaced guiltily. - -“I—I had a tiny bottle in my coat, sir. It’s lying over there. If the -bottle isn’t smashed—ah! The master’s silver flask, so it was. I—I had -a bit of cold, sir, and there was no other bottle——” - -I drank the stuff like water. My veins, which had felt empty and -slack, seemed to fill with warm blood. - -I drank again. My legs stiffened and grew firm. My head was in a -whirl, but I had strength enough to move easily now, and I went out of -the room with a rush. Betty tried to stop me as I went through the -saloon, but I lurched on. - -The sound of firing came to me as if from far away. In the whirl of my -head it seemed first in one direction then in another. I steadied -myself for an instant as I came out on deck. The yacht seemed to be -heaving and falling, and presently it felt as if it were whirling in a -maelstrom. - -Where was the aft? Where was the firing? I held my head to steady it. -The firing broke out afresh. There it was! It was in front of me. No, -it was behind me. A non-drinker shouldn’t take so much whisky. Ah! -There it was. I lurched forward, intending to go aft. It was not -strange that I should cross the fore-deck on my way aft. Nothing was -strange in my present condition. Not even the fact that Brack and -Garvin were climbing over the rail at the bow, as I came forward. - -I was very steady. - -“Hello, Brack.” - -At the sound of my voice and the sight of the revolver in my hand -Garvin gave a spring backward and splashed into the water. Brack -smiled and vaulted on to the deck. There was a wound on one side of -his head where the negro’s bullet had marked him, but he bore himself -as confidently and masterful as ever. He had two revolvers in his -belt, but as I made ready to shoot him when his hands moved toward -them he desisted and smiled again. - -“So I didn’t quite get you, eh, Pitt? Well, it was pretty dark, though -you did step out into the light like an accommodating lamb to the -butcher. Well, what are you going to do?” - -“Put up your hands.” - -He looked at me, smiled, and calmly folded his arms across his chest. - -“Putting up one’s hands is undignified. I do not do so. What are you -going to do about it?” - -I was nonplussed. Here I was, the victor. I was armed, he was -helpless; and yet he had taken the upper hand. What did one do under -such circumstances? - -“This revolver is loaded, Brack,” I warned, but I knew that my speech -was futile. - -“I know it is: I can see the lead in the cylinder. That doesn’t make -any difference. To be of any danger to me said loaded revolver must be -in the hands of a man who is capable of shooting another man. You -can’t do that, Pitt; you know you can’t. You’re too civilized. Try it. -Just try it. Pick out a certain spot on me—my forehead, for -instance—point the gun at that spot and pull the trigger. Try it. -You’ll find that it’s a very hard thing to do—impossible for you, in -fact.” - -He laughed low. - -“No, Pitt, you can’t shoot me.” With imperceptible movements he began -to approach me. “Do you hear me, Pitt: You can’t shoot me—you can’t -shoot me.” - -Suddenly he stopped. His countenance seemed to break into flame. I -heard a light step behind me and understood. - -“Go back, Betty!” I said, keeping my eyes on Brack. “Go back!” - -I was retreating slowly. For the moment Brack was invincible, he was -great! His colossal will was mastering us. With it he was driving me -back, helpless in spite of my weapon, and he was holding Betty -fascinated to the spot. - -“Go back!” My shoulder had touched hers. I turned to look at her. - -“Gardy!” she gasped, pointing. - -I turned. Brack’s mighty spring had carried him on to us, and I sprang -between him and Betty. He paid scarcely any attention to me, merely -struck with his right arm and smashed me to the deck. Then he had -Betty in his arms, kissing her, sweeping her to his breast like a -struggling child, and retreating toward the rail, the girl held as a -shield before him. - -I sprang up and ran toward them. My weapon had been knocked from my -hands, and as Brack crouched to spring over the rail with his burden I -threw myself on him. He shifted Betty to his left arm and with his -right drove me back with a single blow. - -“Never fear, Pitt,” he laughed, tugging at his revolver, “I don’t -intend leaving before I’ve settled you.” - -I rushed again as his weapon came free. I struck him between the eyes -and tore Betty from his grasp. My blow staggered and blinded him for -the instant. He was at the rail brushing his hand across his eyes when -two rifle reports sounded far across the bay and Brack fell flat on -the deck without a struggle. - -“But you’ve got to admit he was game—game as a mad ol’ silver-tip,” -said the patriarchal Slade when a boat had brought him and Harris -aboard from the point from which they had shot Brack. “A devil he was, -with a twisted laugh, but too game to live if he was licked. Me ’n’ -Bill we was hiding up in the hills and come down to take a peek when -the shooting begun. We see him and the other fellow crawling up the -anchor-chains, and Brack was driving the other fellow with a gun. - -“We couldn’t believe it was him at first; didn’t seem any man’d try -anything so desp’rit; but when we see you scuffling with him, Mr. -Pitt, we knew it was him, and savvied how he’d had his gang to start -shooting from the other shore to draw everybody aft so we could take -one desp’rit whirl at you. Me ’n’ Bill we put the sights on him then, -but we was afraid of hitting your young lady. So I prayed a little for -a clear shot, and the Lord answered my prayer pretty _pronto_. Amen.” - - - - - XXXVIII - - -Then the _Wanderer_ for days became a hospital ship, for with the end -of Brack, his crew, including Garvin and Riordan, fled promptly out of -the Hidden Country into the vast Alaskan wilderness that lay beyond -the gap in the mountains, and with the sudden release from danger came -the inevitable collapse of the wounded members of our company. - -Wilson now had a bullet-wound through each leg and another through his -great chest, and for the time being was helpless. Pierce told me -afterward how Wilson, suddenly shot down on the after-deck, had -borrowed a chew from Black Sam and, lying flat on his back, had -reloaded the rifles in the fight that followed. - -Pierce, now that the excitement of danger was gone, discovered that -Riordan’s boot had broken one of his ribs in the battle at Chanler’s -state-room; Black Sam had lost so much blood that he collapsed and was -content to sit basking in the sun like a sick bear; and Dr. Olson was -a nervous and physical wreck. Only Chanler had escaped disablement. He -was scarred and bruised, but he was up and around while the rest of us -lay helpless. - -Dr. Olson ordered me back to bed and filled me up with opiates. My -affair with Brack had not been good for my wounds, and absolute quiet -was necessary to repair the damage which had been done to them. Slade -and Harris remained on board, making themselves useful with the skill -and adaptability of pioneers. And George, in his right mind, and Betty -were together. - -My days and nights for a space then were a series of semi-lucid -moments alternated with nightmares. In the former I was at times -conscious that Betty was sitting at my side. Occasionally I caught her -studying me anxiously. When I returned her scrutiny she looked away. -Next it would be Slade or Harris who was with me, then George. Always -there seemed to be some one. - -The nightmares were rather trying. Two things ran through them -consistently: the sound of Betty’s voice as she had cried out -passionately for Captain Brack, and the spectacle of Brack dragging -her to the rail. Then I would wake up raving and presently some one -would be holding me down, urging me to be quiet. - -On one of these occasions, after midnight, it was George who held me -in bed and soothed me. - -“It’s all right, Gardy old man; it’s all right, I tell you,” he was -saying. “She’s all right; safe and sound asleep in her room.” - -“Brack—Brack’s got her!” I moaned. - -“No, no, no! Can’t you hear me? She’s all right. Gardy! Old man. You -know me, don’t you?” - -I returned to sanity. Chanler was grimly trying to smile. - -“What have I been saying?” I gasped. - -“Oh, nothing.” He tried to pass it off carelessly. “Nothing—nothing at -all.” - -“Tell me.” - -“Oh, just about Brack and Betty; you thought he’d got her.” - -He looked away. - -“What else?” - -“Oh, shut up, Gardy! You were out of your head. D’you s’pose I paid -any attention to what you were saying? Now drop that. How are you -feeling?” - -“Embarrassed,” I replied. - -“Don’t!” he protested. “Don’t you do it. It—it wasn’t anything like -that. It—it was all right. I knew it anyway.” - -“Knew what?” - -He looked at me for a long time. Then he appeared to change the -subject. - -“Everything’s all right, old man. We’ve come to an understanding, -Betty and I. It’s all settled as it should be. I’ve had a lot of time -for long talks with Betty.” He laughed. “She’s opened her heart to me, -at last, and told me everything. We—we’ve been exploring hidden -country, Betty and I. Good phrase of Brack’s, that.” - -I raised myself and held out my hand. - -“Congratulations, George. I knew it would come out all right.” - -His brows came down in puzzled, skeptical fashion as he took my hand. -There was in his expression a tinge of suspicion, and he smiled as one -smiles when humoring a sick man. - -“There’s hidden country in you, all right, old boy,” he said. “You -ought to play poker.” - -More sleep and more nightmares, the latter now complicated by the -presence of George. Brack no longer was dragging Betty to the rail; -she was standing by George’s side; and Brack and I were playing poker. -Then at last came the sane untroubled sleep of normal condition, and I -awoke one morning ravenously hungry and glad that the sun was bright -outside. - -“You can join the convalescent squad now,” said Dr. Olson, and under -the awning on the fore-deck I joined Pierce and Simmons, stretched at -ease in luxurious deck-chairs. - -“Though it isn’t my fault, sir,” protested Simmons, “the master is not -doing right by himself in putting me here.” - - * * * * * - -I sank down into my chair and looked over water and hills with the -wondering eyes of a man who has come back to the world after a long -absence. And I found it good. - -The _Wanderer_ lay in the same spot where Pierce and I had found her -on that dark night, Wilson still being too weak to navigate her and -there being nobody else capable of the task. The water about us was -blue and still, and the birch and pine of the shores were mirrored in -it to the smallest shade and detail. Back from the bay rose the -age-old hills, step after step of them, growing higher and higher, -until they became the great mountain-range which shut the valley in -from the rest of the world. And the sun was so bright that I closed my -eyes, and the primal peace soaked me to the bone. - -Betty came and went, and George; and they made a splendid pair as they -rounded the decks on their promenade. They went canoeing together, and -Old Slade swore, and we agreed with him, that “there couldn’t be no -purtier sight than that on God’s green earth.” - -Then George would join us under the awning, and Slade and Harris and -he would talk over the development of their property. For George was -going in partnership with them. The free pay dirt of their mine was -about played out and machinery and labor to tear the hills to pieces -were necessary for the further working of the find. - -“And what about the bones up at Petroff Sound?” I asked. - -“No use—not necessary now,” George replied. “Besides, this is easier, -and nearer to Fifth Avenue, and these last days have been so strenuous -that I’m about filled up.” - -I thought over what he said. - -Not necessary to go to Petroff Sound now. No, of course not. Betty had -decided that gold-mining was more fun. And why go on to Petroff Sound -when they had already come to an understanding. - -George did not display quite the elation he should have done under the -circumstances, I thought; but he was so blasé that even the winning of -Betty wouldn’t keep him animated for long. - -Betty finally came and sat with us. She talked to Pierce, to Simmons, -and to me; and at me she looked with puzzlement in her quiet gray eyes -and bit her under lip and looked away. - -“Do you feel so completely a stranger to me?” she whispered, drawing -her chair near to mine. - -“Like a stranger?” I said. “Why do you ask that?” - -“Because you look at me as if—as if we were just speaking -acquaintances.” - -“I didn’t know,” I apologized. “I’ll do better. You,” I continued, -looking at her, “don’t look as happy as I expected you would.” - -“One doesn’t,” she whispered, rising to go, “when one’s in a hidden -country and nobody will help one out.” - -“Help you out?” I whispered, but she was gone. - -I wearied my brains in vain puzzling over her meaning; but that -evening Dr. Olson whistled and wondered whence had come the new -strength which animated my pulse, my eyes, my whole being. - -“And that makes two of you,” said he, “because Wilson’s sitting up -shaving himself and says he’ll take the yacht out to sea tomorrow.” - - - - - XXXIX - - -And so came the last day in Kalmut Fiord; and I greeted its dawning -from the _Wanderer’s_ decks, where I had paced at intervals during the -night, and I was not tired. In amazement I watched the sun roll back -the fog-banks from the hills, for I was seeing with new eyes, and the -sense of a new beginning, of a freshening of life, was upon me. - -That same incomprehensible force which was clearing the valley of its -nightly cloak of gray was stirring me, troubling me, lifting me. -Vaguely—for my thoughts were elsewhere—I sensed the quickening of my -being and knew that never had I been so thoroughly alive. - -That night had been a period of alternate joy and torture to me. I -flung myself on my bed, but the stateroom seemed insufferably small -and confining. - -I sprang up and went out, pacing the decks. I passed Betty’s -state-room and the thrill that leapt within me sent me staggering on, -drunken with new feelings. I passed Chanler’s room, and the thrill -died and I was bitter. I sought the fore-deck and in my mind reenacted -the meeting with Brack. There he had stood, there Betty, here myself. -There her shoulder had touched mine and here I had met Brack as he -hurled himself upon her. There Brack had kissed her, while I lay on -the deck; there near the rail he had held her, and there I had taken -her from him and for a brief moment had held her in my arms. - -I pictured the night when she had called to him, and the memory of her -tone was like a storm, shaking me to my knees. I looked in on Chanler -and found him awake and reading. There was in his eyes the strength of -a man who has won through a crisis and found peace. And well there -might be! I told him that I wished to get back to Seattle, so I might -quit him, as soon as possible, and went out before he could reply. - -Old Slade, standing the dog-watch, approached me wonderingly and asked -if I couldn’t sleep. - -“Sleep!” I sneered. “Why should a man want to do anything so simple as -sleep when he can walk out here beneath the stars and torture himself -with thoughts.” - -He stroked his long beard. “Pain cometh to all men——” - -“So I’ve heard,” I replied curtly, and walked away. - -And so I greeted the dawning of our last day in the Hidden Country -unslept; and yet I was as fresh as Wilson when he came hobbling up to -judge the weather. - -“A beautiful day, Mr. Pitt,” said he, after studying the sky. “The -good weather will hold, and short-handed as we are that’s what we must -be praying for.” - -“We sail today, then?” - -“This afternoon, sir.” - -“Good!” I said. “It will be a relief to get out of here.” - -I breakfasted alone. From the cabin-door I saw Betty Baldwin come from -her stateroom, stand blinking in the morning sun and filling her lungs -with the tingling air. And she was beautiful to my eyes as she had -never been before, and I entered my stateroom and locked the door. - -Hours afterward I heard Black Sam dropping the paddles into a canoe -alongside; heard him telling Betty that the craft was ready. Presently -Chanler knocked on my door. - -“Oh, Gardy! Come out here.” - -I flung open the door. - -“Betty wants to have one last paddle down the bay,” he said casually. - -“Well,” I replied, “why doesn’t she go?” - -“Can’t go alone comfortably in that long canoe, you know. It won’t -handle except with some one in the bow.” - -“Are you busy?” I tried to be sarcastic and failed. - -“It’s your turn to go,” he said. “She—she said so, old man. Go along, -now. Good luck.” - - * * * * * - -I took my place in the bow without a word, without our eyes meeting. I -was in no shape to paddle and sat with the paddle across my knees. - -Betty began to paddle. Presently she stopped. We sat silent while the -canoe drifted. - -“I’d like to see our—to see that cave again, if you don’t mind,” she -said timidly. “Do you?” - -“Why should I?” I said. - -Not a word more did we speak as we went through the gap into the bay -proper nor while she paddled down to our landing-place. She steered -the canoe past the rock where we had gone ashore to avoid leaving -tracks behind us, and landed on the sandy beach. I got out stiffly and -sat down upon a boulder. - -“We’re not going to play Injun this morning, then?” she said with a -wan attempt at gaiety. - -“No,” said I. “Why should we? There’s no necessity now.” - -“Don’t—don’t you ever play Injun except when it’s necessary?” she said -reproachfully. - -I did not reply. - -“Didn’t you like to play Injun that time?” - -“It served its purpose,” I said. - -She cast at me a swift and troubled glance, bowed her head, and -stepped out. Without looking back she started up the hill, and -presently I rose, without any conscious effort on my part, and began -to follow. - -Once she stopped and looked behind her; I only felt it; I dared not -look to see. For the tumult which woke within me at the sight of her -as she moved through that primitive scene frightened me. It seemed to -lift me above, or cast me below, considerations of right or wrong. My -conventional self whispered that I was treading on dangerous ground; -that I must not go up the hill. But I went, even as Brack had gone, in -answer to Betty’s call, but with my eyes held fearfully on the ground. - -“Look!” she cried at the cave’s mouth. “The foliage has grown so in a -few days that you scarcely could tell we’d ever had an entrance -there.” - -I tore the brush aside to make a way for her and stood aside with eyes -averted. - -“Aren’t you going in—Mr. Pitt?” she asked softly. - -“No,” I said. “Why should I?” - -She sighed and crumpled up a little and entered the cave alone. For -awhile there came no sound from within, but I dared not look to see -what she was doing. Then she began to move around. - -“Oh, the poor little branches!” She was half-whispering to herself. -“All withered up and dead, all gone from their pretty little trees. -Poor, poor little leaves. And they looked so bright and hopeful once, -and now they’re gray and dead. And the moss is drying. The soft, -pretty moss! All turned hard and dry. What a pity! What a little, -little pity!” - -She was silent for awhile. I peered in and saw her on her knees, her -hands tenderly stroking the withered moss with which we had carpeted -the cave. - -“Good-by, little cave,” she whispered. “By-by.” - -She did not come out at once. There was a moment during which I turned -my back on the cave, not daring to look in, and the only motion and -sound in the world was that of the young Summer breeze stirring -through the age-old scene. - -“Mr. Pitt—, Gardy.” She was only whispering, yet her voice was strong -enough to reach forth and sway me where I stood. I did not reply. The -fight was going against me. Flight would have saved me, yet I would -not fly. But if I trusted myself to speak, I would be lost. - -“Aren’t you going to bid our cave good-by?” - -I took a step away. I should have taken many; for I felt then that -right and safety prescribed that I step out of the lives of Betty and -George, promptly and forever. - -And seconds passed, seconds that seemed minutes, and I hoped that she -would not speak again. - -Presently she was standing behind me. I knew it, though I had not -heard or seen her come. Straight ahead I looked, out over the bay, -denying the force that urged me to do otherwise. - -“Gardy!” - -“Don’t!” I moaned. “Go back—get in the canoe; go back to -George—alone—quick!” - -“Gardy!” - -She placed her fingers on my arm. And I turned around and faced her, -because I could not do otherwise. Then suddenly all the winds in the -world seemed to be pressing upon me, drawing, coaxing, forcing me -toward her. One agonized cry my conscience sent up in protest at the -wrong I did. Then I swept her to me; I held her against my breast; I -kissed her; then tore myself away. - -Slowly, painfully I lifted my gaze from the ground to take my -punishment from her eyes. And then my heart leaped and stopped within -me. For Betty, with her hands clasped rapturously before her, was -looking up at me with the soft flame of grateful happiness in her -expression. - -“Oh, Gardy, Gardy!” She swayed her shoulders a little. “Then you do -care for me; you do—you do—don’t you?” - -“Betty!” - -“Oh, oh!” She teetered up and down on her toes, unable to contain -herself. “He cares for her; he isn’t going to leave little Betty all -lonesome and unhappy!” - -I saw her and heard her in a half-daze. - -“Betty!” I cried. “What does this mean?” - -“It means that I’m happy—happy! I’m the happiest girl in the world!” - -“Happy? Now? Because I kissed you, when you’re engaged to George?” - -It was her turn to stare blankly. - -“Engaged to George?” she said. - -I stammered brokenly a flood of words. - -“He said you’d come to an understanding—that everything was all -right—and as it should be.” - -“That’s true. Oh, that’s very true!” - -“That you’d opened your heart to him.” - -“I did—I did!” - -“And—and I knew by the look in his eyes as well as his saying so that -you had come to an understanding.” - -“And you knew right, Gardy; perfectly right.” - -“Then, what——” - -“I did open my heart to him, and I told him everything. And we both -knew it was all right—everything all right—and as it should be.” - -My voice grew small and faint and all but failed me. - -“Then—then what was it you told him, Betty?” - -She wrung her hands, and her eyes were filled with tears, but neither -the gesture nor the tears were those of distress. - -“Oh, Gardy, my boy!” she cried holding out her arms. “Are you going to -make me propose to you?” - - - - - XL - - -We stayed there at the cave much longer than we had planned. At times, -during the forenoon, conscience smote us. - -“Really, they’ll be worrying about us on the yacht,” said I. - -“They certainly will,” agreed Betty. - -“They’re probably getting ready to sail now.” - -“Undoubtedly.” - -“We’re short-handed; I ought to be there to help,” I suggested. - -“You certainly had.” - -“We’d better go.” - -“Oh, positively!” - -And then we would forget the yacht, the imminence of sailing, -everything but ourselves, for a considerable space of time. It was all -a little too wonderful for me to grasp intelligently, but Betty -accepted it with the woman’s genius for such events. - -“I don’t understand?” I repeated over and over. “You had an -understanding with George while I was knocked out, and George seemed -satisfied?” - -“Yes; he was satisfied, dear. He was fine enough and strong enough to -be that.” - -“And you told him?” - -“Gardy, dearest! Are you going to make me say it after all?” - -“Positively. You know I’m harsh and stern. You told George——” - -She clasped her arms about me, pressing against my breast, surrender -and victory in her upturned face. - -“I told him that I loved you. I told him that if you didn’t get -well—oh, my boy, my boy! I was so frightened over you!” - -“And George was satisfied with that?” - -“Yes. He had accepted it by that time. He said he knew it from the -moment I came on board, and he knew now that it was all right.” - -After a long silence I persisted— - -“When did you know it, Betty?” - -She blushed. - -“I don’t want to tell you that.” - -I coaxed. - -“Well, if you must know, I—I _hoped_ from the first time I saw you.” - -“You hoped! Good heavens, dear! Why didn’t you let me know. I—I didn’t -think I had a chance.” - -She snuggled more closely against me. - -“A girl can’t let a man know she loves him until she knows that he -loves her, dear. You seemed so far away, and so—so disinterested. I -was afraid you would never let me know that—that you loved me.” - -“But I thought it was George, Betty. How could I let you know? You -see, it’s the first time I’ve done this sort of thing.” - -“You dear, blind darling!” - -“I know it now. I see. But even now I can’t see why—I can hardly -believe——” - -“Tut, tut!” She pinched my arm. “Can he believe now? Isn’t it real, to -him?” - -“I’ve acted like a brute since the night we left the cave, Betty.” - -“So you have. Deep, ’bysmal brute.” - -“I was angry because you said you wouldn’t have George risking his -life for you. I was jealous.” - -“Oh, darling! Were you really? I gloat!” She rocked in my arms, then -grew suddenly serious. “How could I have him risking his life for me, -Gardy, dear? I had nothing to give him. I knew then it was you, you; -only you. I had no right to let George make any sacrifice for me. -You—you were my man. Do you understand?” - -“Yes, dear.” - -“And when I called to poor Captain Brack that night, Gardy, I was -calling to you with my heart. Oh! I was calling so to you. Do you -understand that, too, dear?” - -“Yes; yes!” - -“And—and you heard, too, didn’t you, Gardy? You heard me, because you -wanted to hear it, didn’t you? And when we came here this morning, and -you were so far-awayish I was afraid you hadn’t heard at all. Oh, -Gardy!” She looked up with eyes wet from happiness too great to be -suppressed. “Isn’t life good to us? Isn’t it glorious to be alive!” - -“And think of it!” I whispered. “We’re just beginning a new life—just -beginning to live.” - -“Yes,” she whispered, stroking my hand. “We’ve explored the hidden -country.” Then she quoted Brack: “‘There is hidden country in all of -us; and until we’ve explored it we don’t know what it is to live.’” - -A silence fell upon us as deep, as primitive as the aged rocks about -us, and ere we spoke again the _Wanderer’s_ siren had sent its -strident notes down the fiord warning us that it was time for -luncheon. - -“I suppose we must really go now,” sighed Betty as we rose. “Ah, -little cave, little cave!” she murmured, holding her arms out to it. -“You are a good little cave and you helped make one little girl very, -very happy.” - -“And one man, too,” said I. “We’ll never forget this cave, dear, even -though the time we spent in it was trying enough.” - -“No, we’ll never forget it.” Her grave, gray eyes were looking far out -over the fiord. “It has become a part of our lives. It has all become -a part of our lives—our new lives, Gardy, dear. We’ll not forget any -of it. Oh, dearest! Maybe sometime we can come back here, and camp -here, and remember all these wonderful days. You’ll never forget them, -and what they’ve meant to us, will you, dear?” - -“We will neither of us forget as long as we live!” - -“Yes. I feel that, too. We’ll look back, and we’ll never forget any of -it, not even Captain Brack.” - -“Poor Brack!” - -She leaned against me, as if seeking shelter from the sad thoughts of -the moment. - -“Yes, we’ll even remember him with gladness, Gardy. Won’t we?” - -“Yes. Of course. For it was Brack who led us into the hidden country.” - -“Yes; yes.” She lifted her eyes slowly to mine. “He led us into the -hidden country; but, oh, Gardy, my heart! What was it that led us -out!” - -And I answered with my lips, but not with words. - - -[Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the December, 1916 -issue of Adventure magazine.] - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HIDDEN COUNTRY *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Hidden Country</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Henry Oyen</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September 3, 2021 [eBook #66215]<br/> -[Most recently updated: September 23, 2021]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Roger Frank and Sue Clark</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HIDDEN COUNTRY ***</div> -<div id='i001' class='mt01 mb01 wi001'> - <img src='images/illus-001.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<h1 style='font-size:1.4em;'>HIDDEN COUNTRY</h1> -<div style='font-size:1.1em;margin-top:1em;'>by Henry Oyen </div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;'>Author of “The Snow Burner,” “The Man Trail,” “Gaston Olaf,” etc.</div> -</div> -<h2>I </h2> - -<p>George Chanler’s offer of a position as literary secretary of his -Arctic expedition came to me one fine May morning when I was sitting -at my desk, glooming from an eighteenth-story height down upon the -East River, and dreading to begin the day’s work.</p> - -<p>I had sat so for many mornings past. I was not happy; I was a failure. -I was thirty years old, had a college education; my health was -splendid and I was intelligent and ambitious. And I was precariously -occupying a position as country correspondent in Hurst’s Mail Order -Emporium, salary $25 a week, with every reason to believe that I had -achieved the limits of such success as my capabilities entitled me to.</p> - -<p>“You ain’t got no punch, Mr. Pitt; that’s the matter vit’ you,” was my -employer’s verdict. “You’re a fine feller, but—oof! How you haf got -into the rut!”</p> - -<p>I had. I was in so deeply that I had lost confidence and was losing -hope. That was why I, Gardner Pitt, bookman by instinct and office-cog -by vocation, was ripe for Chanler’s sensational offer.</p> - -<p>My friendship with Chanler, which had been a close one at school where -I had done half his work for him, had of a necessity languished during -the last few years. There is not much room for friendship between a -poorly paid office man and an idle young millionaire. Yet it was -apparent that George had not forgotten, for now he turned to me when -he wanted some one to accompany him and write the history of his -Arctic achievements.</p> - -<p>His offer came in the form of a long telegram from Seattle where he -was outfitting his new yacht, <i>Wanderer</i>. Being what he was George -gave me absolutely no useful information concerning the nature of his -expedition. In what most concerned me, however, his message was -sufficient: a light task, a Summer vacation, and at generous terms.</p> - -<p>I looked out of the window at the wearying roofs of the city, and the -yellow paper crumpled in my fingers as I clenched my fist. There was -none of the adventurer in me. I was not in the optimistic frame of -mind necessary to an explorer. But Chanler’s offer was, at least, a -chance to escape from New York. I bade Mr. Hurst good-by, and went out -and sent a wire of acceptance.</p> - -<div style='height:1.5em;'></div> - -<p>Eight days later, shortly before noon, I stood on the curb outside the -station in Seattle bargaining with a cabman to drive me to the dock -where I had been directed to find a launch from the <i>Wanderer</i> -awaiting me that morning. The particular cabman that I happened to hit -upon was an honest man. He cheerfully admitted that he did not know -the exact location of the dock mentioned in my directions, but he -assured me that he knew in a general way in which section of the -water-front it must be.</p> - -<p>“And when we get down there I’ll step in and ask at Billy Taylor’s,” -he said, as if that settled the matter. “Billy’ll know; he knows -everything that’s going along the water-front.”</p> - -<p>Billy Taylor’s proved to be a tiny waterfront saloon which my man -entered with an alacrity that testified to a desire for something more -than information concerning my dock. I waited in patience for many -minutes with no sign of his return. I waited many more minutes in -impatience with a like result.</p> - -<p>In my broken-spirited condition I was not fit or inclined to reprimand -a drinking cabman, but neither was I minded to sit idle while my man -filled himself up. I stepped out of the cab and thrust open the -swinging doors of the saloon.</p> - -<p>I did not enter. My cabman was in the act of coming out, standing with -one hand absently thrust out toward the doors, his attention arrested -and held by something that was taking place in a small room at the -rear of the saloon. The door of this room was half open. I saw a -small, wiry man in seaman’s clothes leaning over a round table, -shaking his fist at a large man with light cropped hair who sat -opposite him. A bottle of beer, knocked over, was gurgling out its -contents on the floor. The large man was sitting up very stiff and -straight, but smiling easily at the other’s fury.</p> - -<p>“No, you don’t, Foxy; no you don’t! You can’t come any of your -‘Captain’ business on me, you Laughing Devil,” screamed the little -man. “Ah, ha! That stung, eh? Didn’t think I knew what the Aleuts -called you, eh, Foxy? ‘Laughing Devil.’ An’ you talk like a captain to -me, and ask me to go North with you! Here: what became of Slade and -Harris, that let you into partnership with ’em after you’d lost your -sealer in Omkutsk Strait? And what became of the gold strike they’d -made? Eh? And you talk to me about a rich gold find you’ve got, and -want me to help you take a rich sucker up North——”</p> - -<p>“Still,” said the big man suddenly. “Still, Madigan.”</p> - -<p>He had been smiling up till then, his huge, red face lighted up like a -wrinkled red sun, but suddenly the light seemed to go out. The fat of -his face seemed to become like cast bronze, with two pin-points of -fire gleaming, balefully from under down-drawn lids. Several heavy -lines which had been hidden in genial wrinkles now were apparent, and, -though only the flat profile was visible to me, I saw, or rather I -felt, that the man’s face for the while was terrible.</p> - -<p>To my amazement the infuriated sea-man’s abuse ceased as abruptly as -if the power of speech had been taken from him. He remained in his -threatening attitude, leaning across the table, his clenched fist -thrust forward, his mouth open; but his eyes were held by the -crop-haired man’s and not a sound came from his lips.</p> - -<p>“Down, Madigan,” continued the big man. “It is my wish that you sit -down.”</p> - -<p>A snarl came from the small man’s lips. He seemed about to break out -again, but suddenly he subsided and sat down. The big man nodded -stiffly, as one might at child who has obeyed an unpleasant command, -and the smaller man humbly closed the door.</p> - -<p>My cabman came hurtling out through the swinging doors, nearly running -me down in his hurry.</p> - -<p>“Hullo!” he cried. “Did you see that, too? Whee-yew! That was a funny -thing. That little fellow’s Tad Madigan, a mate that’s lost his -papers, and the toughest man along the water-front; and he—he shut up -like a schoolboy, didn’t he?”</p> - -<p>Saloon brawls, even when displaying amazing characters, do not -interest me.</p> - -<p>I reminded him that he had gone in to inquire about the location of my -dock.</p> - -<p>“Oh, that’s a good joke on me,” he laughed. “Your dock’s right next -door here, and you can see the <i>Wanderer</i> from Billy’s back room.”</p> - -<p>A few minutes later I was standing in the midst of my baggage on this -dock, looking out across the water to where lay anchored the white, -clean-lined yacht, <i>Wanderer</i>.</p> - -<p>It was a morning in early June, a day alive with bright, warm sun. A -slight breeze with a mingling of sea, and pine, and the subtle scents -of Spring in it, was coming up the Sound, and beneath its breath the -water was rippling into wavelets, each with a touch of sun on its tiny -crest.</p> - -<p>An outdoor man might have thrilled with the scene, the sun, the fresh -Spring-scent and all. But I was fresh from the asphalt and stone walls -of New York, and I was broken-spirited, resigned to anything, elated -over nothing, that fate might allot me. I merely looked over the water -to the <i>Wanderer</i> to see if the promised launch was on its way.</p> - -<p>“Sure enough, Mister, there comes a little gas-boat for you now,” -exclaimed my cabman, pointing with his whip to a small launch that was -coming away from the yacht’s stern. “You’ll be all right; your friends -have seen you. Well, good luck to you, friend, and lots of it.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” I said, “and the same to you.”</p> - -<p>But I felt bitterly that there was little hope that his cheery wish -would be realized for me.</p> - -<p>As the launch drew nearer the dock I saw that a bareheaded and -red-haired young man was in charge, and as it came quite near I saw -that the young man’s mouth was opening and closing prodigiously, and -from snatches of sound that drifted toward me above the noise of the -engine, I heard that he was singing joyously at the top of a strained -and thoroughly unmusical voice.</p> - -<p>He drove the launch straight at the dock in a fashion that seemed to -threaten inevitable collision, but at the crucial moment the engine -suddenly was reversed, the rudder swung around, and the little craft -came sidling alongside against the timber on which I was standing; the -young man tossed a rope around a pile, and with a sudden spring he was -on the dock beside me.</p> - -<p>“You’re Mr. Gardner Pitt, if your baggage is marked right,” he said, -though I had not seen the swift glance he had shot at the initials on -my bags.</p> - -<p>He stood on his tip-toes, blinking in the sun, and filled his lungs -with a great draft of air.</p> - -<p>“Gee! It’s some morning, ain’t it, Mr. Pitt? A-a-ah-ah!” he continued -with ineffable satisfaction. “It certainly is one grand thing to be -alive.”</p> - -<p>I could not wholly subscribe to his sentiment at that time, but there -was such an aura of wholesome good humor about the young man that I -warmed toward him at once. He was probably twenty-three years old, -short and boyish of build: his face was a mass of freckles; his eyes -were very blue and merry; his nose very snubbed, his mouth large. He -wore one of the most awful red ties that ever tortured the eyes of -humanity, and the crime was aggravated by a pin containing a large -yellow stone; but when he grinned it was apparent that he was one of -those whom much is to be forgiven.</p> - -<p>“I’m Freddy Pierce,” he said. “Wireless operator and odd-job-man on -the <i>Wanderer</i>. Say, Mr. Pitt, will you do me a favor?”</p> - -<p>He looked at me with an expression of indescribable comicality on his -sun-wrinkled face, and, willy-nilly, I found myself smiling.</p> - -<p>“Thank you for them kind words,” he laughed before I had opened my -mouth. “Knew you’d do it; knew I had you sized up right. Let me roll a -pill before we start back? Thanks.”</p> - -<p>With amazing swiftness he had produced tobacco and paper, rolled a -cigaret, and sent a ring of smoke rolling upward through the clear -air.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt,” he said suddenly in a new tone, “do you know Captain -Brack?”</p> - -<p>“No,” I said. “Who is Captain Brack?”</p> - -<p>“Captain of the <i>Wanderer</i>,” was the reply.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know him.”</p> - -<p>He threw away his cigaret and began easing my baggage down into the -launch. He was serious for the moment.</p> - -<p>“And—and say, Mr. Pitt, do you know a Jane—I mean, a lady named Miss -Baldwin?”</p> - -<p>I did not.</p> - -<p>“Who is Miss Baldwin?”</p> - -<p>Pierce suddenly snapped his teeth together, and the look that came -upon his freckled countenance puzzled me for days to come.</p> - -<p>“God knows—and the boss,” he said enigmatically. “She—she’s——”</p> - -<p>He shook his head vigorously, then sprang into the launch. His serious -moment had gone.</p> - -<p>“Now get in while I’m holding ’er steady, Mr. Pitt. That’s right.” And -now, <i>putt-putt</i> said the engine, and bearing its precious freight the -launch sped across the blue water to the noble yacht. “Ah, ha! And -there’s old ‘Frozen Face,’ the Boss’s valet, waiting to welcome you on -board.”</p> - -<h2>II </h2> - -<p>I followed the direction of Pierce’s outstretched arm and on the deck -of the <i>Wanderer</i> made out the stiff, precise figure of Chanler’s man, -Simmons, waiting in exactly the same pose with which he admitted one -to his master’s bachelor apartments in Central Park West. It was -Simmons who welcomed me on board, and he did it ill, for it irked his -serving-man’s soul to countenance his master’s friendship with persons -of no wealth.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Chanler is in his room, sir. You are to come there at once. This -way, if you please, sir.”</p> - -<p>He led the way in his stiffest manner to a stateroom in the forward -part of the yacht and knocked diffidently on the door.</p> - -<p>“Go away! Please go away!” came the petulant response.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt, sir,” said Simmons.</p> - -<p>“Oh!” There was the sound of a desk being closed. “Show him in. Hello, -Gardy! Glad to see you! I’m fairly dying for somebody to talk to!”</p> - -<p>Chanler was sprawled gracefully over a chair before a writing-desk -built into the forward wall of the stateroom. He was wearing a mauve -dressing-gown of padded silk and smoking one of his phenomenally long -cigarets in a phenomenally long amber holder. It had been long since I -had seen him and he had changed deplorably; but so rapid and eager was -his greeting that I had no time to note just where the change had -come.</p> - -<p>“You’re a good fellow to come, Gardy,” said he with a genuine note of -gratitude in his tones. “I knew you’d help me, though. Simmons—bring a -couple of green ones, please.”</p> - -<p>“Not for me,” I hastened to interpose. “You know I never touch -anything before dinner.”</p> - -<p>“That’s so; I forgot. You’ve got yourself disciplined. Well, bring one -green one, Simmons. I don’t usually do this sort of thing so early, -either,” he continued as Simmons vanished, “but I sat up late with -Captain Brack last night, and I’m a little off. Wonderful chap, the -captain; head on him like a piece of steel. Well, Gardy, what do you -think of the trip?”</p> - -<p>“When you have told me something about it I may have an opinion,” I -replied. “You know all the knowledge of it that I have was what came -in your message.”</p> - -<p>“That’s so. Well, what did you think when you got the wire? You must -have thought something; you think about everything. What did you think -when you heard that I was planning a stunt like this—something useful, -you know? Eh?”</p> - -<p>“Well, it was something of a shock,” I admitted.</p> - -<p>Chanler smiled. But it was not the likable, indolent, boyish smile of -old which admitted:</p> - -<p>“Quite so. Came as a shock to hear that I was planning to be something -besides a loafer spending the money my governor made. I knew it would. -You never expected anything like this of me, Gardy?”</p> - -<p>“No, I can’t say that I did.”</p> - -<p>“Neither did I. Never dreamed of it until three months ago, and -then—then I discovered that I had to do—come in, Simmons,” he -interrupted himself as the valet knocked.</p> - -<p>While he was swallowing his little drink of absinth I studied him more -closely.</p> - -<p>There had always been something of the young Greek god about George -Chanler, an indolent, likable, self-satisfied young god with a long, -elegant body and a small curl-wrapped head. Now I saw how he had -changed. The fine body and head had grown flabby from too much -self-indulgence and too little use. There was a new look about the -lazy eyes which hinted at a worry, the sort of worry which troubles a -man awake or sleeping. Something had happened to George Chanler, -something that had shaken him out of the armor of indolent -self-sufficiency which Chanler money had grown around him. The boyish -lines about his mouth were gone. It was not a likable face now; it was -cynical, almost brutal.</p> - -<p>“That’s all, Simmons,” he said, allowing Simmons to take the empty -glass from his hand. “What was I saying, Gardy, when I stopped?”</p> - -<p>“That you discovered that you had to do——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes.” He paused a while. “Didn’t you wonder why I was doing this -sort of thing when you got my wire, Gardy?”</p> - -<p>“Naturally, I did.”</p> - -<p>“And you haven’t got any idea, or that sort of thing, about why I’m -doing it?”</p> - -<p>“You say that your purpose is to explore——”</p> - -<p>“I mean, what started me on the trip?”</p> - -<p>I shook my head.</p> - -<p>“Haven’t you even got a good guess?”</p> - -<p>“Well, it might be a bet, doctor’s orders, or just an ordinary whim.”</p> - -<p>He shook his head, looking pensively out of the window, or at least, -as near pensively as he could.</p> - -<p>“No,” he said. “Nothing so easy as that. I’m doing it because of a——”</p> - -<p>He caught himself sharply and looked at me.</p> - -<p>“What did you think I was going to finish with, Gardy?”</p> - -<p>“I had three guesses,” I replied. “I wouldn’t guess again.”</p> - -<p>“I’m doing it,” he resumed slowly, “I’m doing it because—I had to do -something useful, and this is the sort of thing I like to do.”</p> - -<p>I smiled a little.</p> - -<p>“What’s that for, Gardy?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t know you ever recognized the words ‘had to’ as applicable to -yourself.”</p> - -<p>“By jove! And I didn’t, Gardy; I never did in the world—until three -months ago. But then something happened.”</p> - -<p>He looked out of the window for a long time.</p> - -<p>“No, I’m not going to tell you, Gardy. It’s none of your business. No -offense, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Of course not. I didn’t ask.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll know without asking, in time. Well, I’ve told you I found I -had to do something—something useful. That was quite a jolt, you know. -Never fancied I’d ever <i>have</i> to do anything, and as for doing -anything useful—rot, my boy, for me, you know. But I found I had to, -and so when I met Brack—By the way, Brack’s the chap who’s responsible -for my ‘doing something’ in this way. Wonderful fellow. Met him in San -Francisco. Don’t mind admitting to you, old man, that I was traveling -pretty fast.</p> - -<p>“Went to San Francisco with an idea of going to China, or around the -world, or something like that, to forget. Met him in the Palace -barroom. Saved me. He’d just come back from the North, where he’d lost -his sealing vessel. He said: ‘Why don’t you buy the <i>Wanderer</i> and do -some exploring?’ ‘What’s the <i>Wanderer</i>,’ says I. ‘Strongest gasoline -yacht in the world,’ he says. I began to pick up; life held interest, -you know. Went to see the <i>Wanderer</i>. Belonged to old Harrison, the -steel man, who’d done a world tour in her and wanted to sell. ‘Where’s -a good place to explore if I do buy her?’ says I, and Brack told me -about Petroff Sound. Ever hear of it before this, Gardy?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve seen the name some place, nothing more.”</p> - -<p>“I wired old Doc Harper about it after Brack had talked to me about -the place. Asked if it would be a good stunt to go up there; credit to -the old school to have a ‘grad’ get the bones, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Bones?” I exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“Bones,” said Chanler. “Read that,” and he handed me a long letter -signed by the venerable president of our school.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>The Petroff Sound territory unquestionably is a district which science -demands be explored. Mikal Petroff, the Russian who in 1889 brought -out the tibea of a mammoth, (elephas primigenius) and several bone -fragments which certainly had belonged to an animal of characteristics -similar to the extinct elephant species, was an illiterate fur-trader -and therefore his report of a field of similar bones frozen in the -never-thawing ice of the Sound must not be accepted as positive -information.</p> - -<p>In 1892, however, Sturlasson, the Norwegian captain, who reached the -Sound after the wreck of his sealing vessel, made entries in his diary -before dying which substantiate Petroff’s story. As the location of -the Sound, as recorded by Sturlasson, is three minutes west of the -location as given by your informant, it is certain that the latter -knows of Petroff Sound. No nobler use could be found for your activity -and wealth than the expedition you are considering. Before expressing -myself further, I will give such data as is obtainable from sources at -my command.</p> - -</blockquote> - -<p>Dr. Harper’s data on Petroff Sound was deadly dry scientific matter -which explained that while the possible discovery of frozen mammoth -bones would be of great interest to the scientific world, the study of -the terrain and of conditions surrounding these bones would be of -infinitely greater value.</p> - -<p>“Then it’s purely a scientific affair,” I said. “To be of any value it -must be scientific.”</p> - -<p>“Positively, dear boy, positively. I’ll give you a lot of stuff to -read up on after luncheon. Old Harper took trouble to wire me to be -sure to have an authentic, coherent report made of the expedition’s -findings. Well, that’s where you came in. I haven’t got brains, but -you have, Gardy, and you’re going to help me out. We sail tonight, by -the way, and we won’t be back until cold weather, so ye who have tears -prepare to shed them between now and midnight.”</p> - -<p>“But who is the scientist of the expedition?”</p> - -<p>“Brack. He’s a geologist, mineralogist, oceanographer, and general -shark on all that sort of stuff. Expert explorer. Quit exploring and -went sealing. Lost his schooner, and had come down and was living at -the Palace, waiting for capital to start again. Wonderful mind. He’s -ashore at present framing up a little sport to help us pass the -afternoon. We’ll get ready for luncheon now, Gardy. He’ll be here then -and you’ll meet him. Sure you won’t have a tot of grog before eating, -Gardy?”</p> - -<p>“No, thanks.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I will, just a little. Simmons will show you to your stateroom. -Hope you’re witty and full of scandal, Gardy, ’cause I’m awf’ly, -awf’ly bored these days and I’ve got to be amused.”</p> - -<p>Simmons, summoned by the bell, ushered me into the stateroom next to -Chanler’s. The two rooms were nearly identical in size and -furnishings, and I wondered idly why Chanler, as owner, did not occupy -the owner’s suite forward. Later I had a glimpse into the owner’s -suite through a half-open door, and was more puzzled: the suite was -obviously furnished for feminine occupation.</p> - -<p>Captain Brack had not arrived when we entered the dining-saloon of the -<i>Wanderer</i> for luncheon. There were present Mr. Riordan, Chief -Engineer, Dr. Olson, physician to the expedition, and the second -officer, Mr. Wilson. Riordan was a pale, sour-looking Irishman, tall, -loosely built, heavy-jawed, and with a bitter down-curve to the -corners of his large, loose mouth. Once I saw him shoot a sly glance -at George Chanler’s long, thin hands, and the look was not what a -dutiful employee should have bestowed upon so generous an employer.</p> - -<p>Opposite Riordan, and beside me, sat Mr. Wilson, second in command, -who had come with the <i>Wanderer</i> from her former owner. He was a -strongly built, silent, brown-faced man, of about thirty-five who -always appeared as if he had just been shaven, as if his clothes had -just been brushed, and whose shoes always seemed to be polished to the -same degree. His face was square and lean, and against the -weather-beaten neck his immaculate collar gleamed with startling -whiteness. He spoke seldom except when spoken to and then modestly and -to the point. “Yes sir” and, “No sir,” were the words most frequently -on his lips.</p> - -<p>Dr. Olson was a small, unobtrusive man with a light Vandyke beard, to -whom no one paid any attention and who spoke even less than Mr. -Wilson.</p> - -<p>The introductions were barely over when a quick light step fell on the -deck outside and Chanler, languidly waving his hand at the door behind -me, said—</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt, meet Captain Brack.”</p> - -<p>I rose and turned with interest. My interest suddenly gave way to -consternation. A chill went flashing along my spine. I stood like a -dumb man. Captain Brack was the large man whom I had heard called -“Laughing Devil” in Billy Taylor’s saloon a short time before.</p> - -<h2>III </h2> - -<p>The Captain was bowing to me with the easy impressiveness of the man -to whom ceremonial is no novelty. He was smiling. There was in his -smile the good humor of an adult toward a half-grown child. He stood -up very straight and precise, his shoulders at exact right angles to -his thick neck, his out-thrust chest almost pompous in its roundness.</p> - -<p>He was, I judged, exactly my own height, which was five feet nine, but -so thick was he in every portion of his anatomy that the physical -impression which he made was overpowering. His head and face were -large and, thanks to a closely cropped pompadour, gave, in spite of -considerable fat, the impression of being square. The eyes were out of -place in his head. Hidden under half-closed, fat lids they were mere -specks in size, yet when I had once looked into them I stared in -fascination.</p> - -<p>The head, and the fat, square face with its brutalized lines were -frankly, flauntingly animal. The eyes betrayed a great mind. In that -gross, brutal countenance the gleam of such an intellect seemed a -shocking accident, one of those perversions of Nature’s plans which -result in the production of abnormalities. What was this man? Was he -the common creature of his thick jowls? or was he the developed man to -whom belonged those eyes? Was that animal countenance but a mask? Or -did the low instincts, which its lines betrayed, dominate, while the -mind struggled in vain beneath such a handicap?</p> - -<p>Those tiny eyes held mine and studied me cruelly. Before them I felt -stripped to the marrow of my soul. My dreams, my weaknesses, my -failures seemed to stand out like print for Brack to read. His -superior smile indicated that he had read, that he had appraised me -for a weakling; and for the life of me I could not control the -resentment that leaped within me.</p> - -<p>I looked him as steadily in the eyes as I could. He saw the resentment -that lay there; for an instant there flickered a new look in his eyes; -then they were bland and smiling again. But that instant was enough -for each of us to know that one could never be aught but the other’s -enemy.</p> - -<p>“I am glad to see you on board, Mr. Pitt, as they say in the navy,” -said Captain Brack with deepest courtesy.</p> - -<p>“I am glad to be on board, Captain Brack,” I replied steadfastly.</p> - -<p>“It is a pleasure to have for shipmate a literary man like Mr. Pitt.”</p> - -<p>“It is a pleasure to contemplate a voyage in such company as Captain -Brack’s.”</p> - -<p>“We shall strive to make the voyage as interesting as possible, for -you, Mr. Pitt,” said he.</p> - -<p>“I am sure of that,” said I, “and I will do my poor best to -reciprocate.”</p> - -<p>“In a rough seaman’s way I have studied a little—enough to be -interested in books. So we have, in a way, a bond of interest to begin -with.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Chanler has told me something of your achievements, Captain -Brack; I am sure you belittle them.”</p> - -<p>It was very ridiculous. Brack had put me on my mettle; so there we -stood and slavered each other with fine speeches, each knowing well -that the other meant not a word of the esteem that he uttered. Yet as -the luncheon progressed I was inclined to agree with George: Brack was -a wonderful chap. The man’s mind seemed to be a great, well-ordered -storehouse of facts and impressions which he had collected in his -travels. Sitting back in his chair he dominated the company, led the -talk whither he willed, and having said his say, beamed contentedly. -And before the meal was over I had a distinct impression that Brack -not Chanler, was master on the yacht.</p> - -<p>Chanler, Brack, Riordan and Dr. Olson drank steadily throughout the -luncheon. Mr. Wilson and myself drank not at all. As the luncheon -neared its end, Chanler, his eyes steady but his under lip hanging -drunkenly, broke out:</p> - -<p>“Well, how about it, cappy? Did you land your two bad men?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Brack. “After luncheon I can promise you a little sport.”</p> - -<p>Chanler laughed a dreary, half-drunken laugh.</p> - -<p>“Gardy, we’ve fixed up a little sport. Awf’lly dull lying here. Have -to pass the time some way.”</p> - -<p>“If I may make the suggestion,” said Brack courteously, “perhaps Mr. -Pitt has duties or wishes which will prevent him from viewing our -little sport.”</p> - -<p>“Not ’tall, not ’tall,” said Chanler.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps it would be well for Mr. Pitt to wait a few days until—shall -we say until he has become more accustomed to our ways—before treating -himself to a sight of our little amusements?”</p> - -<p>“Why so?” I demanded.</p> - -<p>“Oh, it is merely a suggestion. Our sport is rather primitive—the -bare, crawling stuff of life without the perfumery, wrappings, or -other fanciful hypocrisies of civilization. Mr. Pitt does not look -like a man who would admit that life so exists, and therefore must -refuse to behold it.”</p> - -<p>Chanler turned from Brack to me, his teeth showing in a pleased smile.</p> - -<p>“Ha! Hot shot for you, that, Gardy. What say, old peg; where’s your -comeback—repartee, and all that?”</p> - -<p>As I hesitated for a reply, he tapped the table impatiently.</p> - -<p>“Come, come, Gardy! A little brilliance, please. We don’t let him -touch us and get away without a counter, do we? Ha! At ’im, boy; at -’im!”</p> - -<p>“As Mr. Brack——”</p> - -<p>“Ha! Mister Brack! Well, struck, Gardy; go on.”</p> - -<p>“As Captain Brack has failed to inform me what it is we are about to -see I, of course, can not be expected to express any opinion on it,” I -said. “But as concerns ‘the bare, crawling stuff of life,’ I will -reply that Life no longer crawls, nor is it bare.”</p> - -<p>Chanler turned his eyes upon Brack.</p> - -<p>“Your shot, cappy. What say to that?”</p> - -<p>Brack bowed.</p> - -<p>“I will reply by asking Mr. Pitt why he thinks life no longer is bare -and crawling?”</p> - -<p>“Because,” said I, “the mind of man has decreed that it should not be -so. Because mas has erected a civilization in order to insure that -life shall not be bare and crawling.”</p> - -<p>“Civilization is not the point,” said Brack. “We spoke of Life. We, as -we stand here, clothed, barbered, wearing the products of machinery to -hide our bodies, we are Civilization. We, as we enter the bathtub in -the morning, are Life—forked radishes.” He rolled his great head far -back and looked down his thick cheeks at me appraisingly. “Some are -small radishes; others are large.”</p> - -<p>“Ha! Rather raw on you with that last one, Gardy. Small and large -ones. You are small, you know, Gardy, compared to me or the captain.”</p> - -<p>“Size can scarcely matter to radishes,” I said.</p> - -<p>“Cappy, cappy! He scored on you there. What say to that?”</p> - -<p>“I will say—” began Captain Brack, but Chanler had tired of his sport -as suddenly as he had become interested.</p> - -<p>“Rot, rot!” he said, tapping on the table. “You were going to amuse us -with your new finds. Let’s have it.”</p> - -<p>“Very well,” said the captain, arising. “It will be ready in fifteen -minutes.”</p> - -<p>I was glad of that respite of fifteen minutes. It gave me an -opportunity to slip into my stateroom and pull myself together. Brack -had shaken and stirred me as I had not thought possible. His terrific -personality had exerted upon me the effects of a powerful stimulant. -Once or twice in my life I had taken whisky in sufficient quantity to -cause me to experience thoughts, emotions, elations which did not -properly belong in the normal, self-controlled Me. Now I experienced -something of the same sensation. My mind was buzzing with a hundred -swift impressions and conjectures upon Brack.</p> - -<p>The picture I had beheld and the words I had heard through the -swinging doors of Billy Taylor’s repeated themselves to me, and I felt -the same sensation of a chill that I had felt upon recognizing in -Brack the big man from the saloon. The words which the small man had -uttered were fraught with sinister suggestion. From them it was -apparent that he recognized in the captain a man who was known as -“Laughing Devil,” whose reputation, if the seaman’s words might be -taken for truth, was not of the sort that one would care to have in -the captain of the yacht on which one was sailing into far seas. Also -it was apparent from the man’s words that Brack had made some sort of -proposition: “a rich sucker,” had been mentioned.</p> - -<p>My course was plain before me: to go to Chanler’s state-room, tell him -what I had seen and heard, and demand that he investigate Brack’s -actions or permit me to resign my position. I had no definite idea of -what the words between Brack and Madigan might portend, but there was -no doubt that they established faithfully the captain’s character. In -my depressed condition I shuddered at the idea of putting to sea with -such a man.</p> - -<p>But—Captain Brack had smiled. That smile stopped me. The appalling -brutality of the captain’s mental processes had started within me a -slow, steady flame. It was ghastly; the man’s expression had shown -that he considered me a thing to play with! The brute had looked in my -eyes, had stripped me to the marrow, read me for a weakling, and -smiled, so that I might know that he had seen all! And the worst of it -was that he was doing it with a mind which weighed me calmly, without -prejudice, with scientific calmness.</p> - -<p>It was not fair, it was not human. The man should at least have -refrained from forcing me to see how weak he considered me. And was I -so weak? Was I the worm he thought me to be?</p> - -<p>“No!” I cried aloud; and I was pacing the floor when Simmons knocked -on my door.</p> - -<h2>IV </h2> - -<p>Up on the roomy bridge of the yacht I found Chanler and Brack seated -on deck stools drawn close to the rail, looking down upon the -immaculate fore-deck. As I followed their example I saw near the port -side two seamen holding a squat, heavy negro by a rope passed under -his arms. The man was trembling and moaning.</p> - -<p>“He’s a bad man and near the snakes from gin,” laughed Chanler. “Over -there’s Garvin, who fought Sharkey a couple of times.”</p> - -<p>The pugilist, a large, young man, flashily dressed, though miserably -bedraggled, was leaning against the starboard rail, scowling darkly at -the negro.</p> - -<p>“Give you gin?” he was saying to the negro. “Give you gin? What yah -talkin’ about, Smoke? Give you gin? Nix. I’m the guy who gets the gin. -I’m Bill Garvin. That’s why I get the gin and you get hell.”</p> - -<p>As the negro broke out into his terrible moaning, the pugilist’s -debauched nerves seemed to snap.</p> - -<p>“Stop him! —— you! You lousy ——! Stop him! If you don’t I’ll kick his -head off—I’ll kick your black head off, Smoke; I’ll kick your head -off.”</p> - -<p>His mad wandering eyes caught sight of Brack on the bridge.</p> - -<p>“How ’bout that, pal? Won’t I kick his —— black head off. I’m Bill -Garvin.”</p> - -<p>He took a step forward and stood staring at Brack. “Say, you’re the -guy who was going to gimme booze, ain’t you? Billy wouldn’t let me run -my face any more; you said, ‘Come on, I’ll take you where there’s lots -of it.’ Well, how ’bout it, there? Hah! How ’bout it?”</p> - -<p>Brack smiled down upon him. And his smile was the same as he had -bestowed upon me; Garvin, too, was a thing to play with.</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t know, Garvin,” he replied. “I promised Black Sam the -same thing. I think I shall give him drink before you. He said he’d -kill you if you got a drink before him.”</p> - -<p>The pugilist stared stupidly while the significance of these words -seeped into his sodden brain. A weird smile distorted one side of his -face.</p> - -<p>“He—” pointing to the negro—“said he’d do that to me?” Thumping his -chest he roared: “Kill me! Bill Garvin? Sa-a-ay!”</p> - -<p>He lurched over to where the negro stood. At first he seemed undecided -what to do. Then he suddenly reached forward and caught the black’s -head in chancery, and bent furiously over it. There came a horrible -growl from Garvin’s throat, a piercing scream from the negro. Garvin -had bitten deeply into the black’s ear.</p> - -<p>I started back from the rail, every sense revolting, and found Brack -studying me, the smile with which he favored me fixed on his lips.</p> - -<p>“So? The stomach is not strong enough, Mr. Pitt? You feel a faintness. -Yes; I have even seen delicate ladies lose consciousness under similar -circumstances.”</p> - -<p>“I do not lose consciousness,”’ I replied, drawing a chair up to the -railing and seating myself, “but at the same time I fail to see what -amusement a civilized man can find in this spectacle.”</p> - -<p>“So? You can not see that, Mr. Pitt? If it would not be rude I would -say that it is the truly civilized man, so highly civilized that he is -not troubled by sentimentality or humanitarian motives, who can -appreciate spectacles of this nature. The scientific type of mind is -the ultimate product of civilization, is it not, Mr. Pitt? Well, it is -only the scientist who can view properly the bare, crawling thing -called Life.”</p> - -<p>“Rot, rot, rot!” interrupted Chanler, each word punctuated with a rap -of his cane on the deck. “Put on your show, Brack. Hope that wasn’t -all you dragged me out here for?”</p> - -<p>“That was entirely impromptu. I had no idea Mr. Garvin was so -versatile. The show follows. Dr. Olson.”</p> - -<p>The little doctor appeared on the deck bearing a large bottle of -whisky and a tumbler. First he filled the glass full and poured it -down the negro’s gaping mouth, then served Garvin in the same way. The -negro grew calmer as the stimulant took hold. He examined the rope -with which he was imprisoned and seemed to realize his situation.</p> - -<p>“Say, boss, ah ain’t done nuffin. What yah got me in heah foh?” he -said in a rational tone of voice. “Lemme out, kain’t yah? Ah’m awri’.”</p> - -<p>“Let him go,” said Brack.</p> - -<p>The two seamen let go the rope and the black fell forward. Garvin -waved his hands at the sea.</p> - -<p>“That’s where you’ll go, Smoke—overboard in pieces.”</p> - -<p>The negro was crouched against the wheel-house, rubbing his hands on -his thighs, his small red eyes feasting on the pugilist, a stream of -profanity flowing in low tones from his lips.</p> - -<p>“Dah he be, Sam, dah he be,” he whispered. “Dah deh white —— what bit -you eah. Got you eah, got you eah! What yah goin’ do ’bout it, what -yah goin’ do, what you goin’ do?” His words came swifter and swifter; -he crouched lower, his hands moved more rapidly. “Goin’ kill ’im, -goin’ kill ’im, kill ’im—kill ’im. Ow!”</p> - -<p>With such a howl as belonged in no human throat, he launched himself, -a ball of black bounding across the deck, straight at Garvin. He came -head down, like a bull charging, and, Garvin side-stepping, he plunged -head and shoulders between two rods of the port railing, where he -stuck.</p> - -<p>Chanler laughed drily.</p> - -<p>“Not so bad, cappy,” he drawled. “It promises to be amusing, really.”</p> - -<p>Garvin fell upon the negro before the latter had freed himself. He -caught one of the black’s hands, drew it upward, and bent the arm over -the rail till it threatened to snap or tear out the muscles at the -shoulders.</p> - -<p>“No,” said Brack in the same tone he had used on Madigan in Taylor’s -saloon. “No more of that, Garvin.”</p> - -<p>The pugilist, his brutality warming with the work in hand, looked up, -a leer of contempt on his face.</p> - -<p>“You will let go of his arm, Garvin,” said Brack.</p> - -<p>The fighter obeyed, releasing his hold reluctantly, but he obeyed -nevertheless. The black thrust himself free of the rail and faced his -tormentor.</p> - -<p>“Get hold ob ’im, Sammy; get hold ob ’im!” he whispered loudly, and -moved toward Garvin with slow shuffling steps.</p> - -<p>Garvin waited until the instant when the negro had planned the final -spring, then his fist flashed up from below his knees and the black -fell like a thrown sack of grain against the wheel-house.</p> - -<p>“By Jove!” said Chanler. “Your man Garvin is really promising, Brack. -Ha! The nigger’s no cripple, either.”</p> - -<p>Black Sam had come to his feet with a spring. Again began his slow, -determined advance upon Garvin, again Garvin’s fist flew out and the -negro dropped with a thud.</p> - -<p>This happened four times, and the negro was red from the neck up. The -fifth time his small round head dropped suddenly as Garvin launched -another terrific blow. The fist and black poll met with a sharp crack. -The negro was flung back on his haunches, but Garvin grasped his right -hand and swore futilely. Garvin looked up at the bridge, holding forth -his hand.</p> - -<p>“Hey! Call ’im off; take a look at me meathook!” he shouted.</p> - -<p>“You still have your feet,” said Brack.</p> - -<p>The fight raged again. Garvin was on his back now, kicking furiously. -At last a kick favored him; he knocked the negro down. But this was -his undoing, for Black Sam in falling landed full length upon Garvin, -and in an instant his short, thick fingers had closed upon the white -man’s throat.</p> - -<p>After awhile Brack gave a signal to Mr. Riordan, the chief engineer, -who was standing below. Without any hurry or excitement, Riordan -walked over and kicked the negro in the temple. The stunned black -released his hold. With another kick Riordan lifted him clear off -Garvin.</p> - -<p>Brack turned toward Chanler.</p> - -<p>“Well, are they worth keeping?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I s’pose so,” said Chanler, yawning as he rose. “Rather amusing. -Suit yourself, cappy.”</p> - -<p>“Come ’long, Gardy,” said Chanler, leading the way off the bridge. He -chuckled a little pointing back toward the combatants. “Conceited -scum, those. Fighting men. Bad men. Be interesting to see Brack make -’em behave.”</p> - -<p>“Chanler,” I said, “do you mean to tell me that you found any pleasure -watching that bestial fight?”</p> - -<p>“Pleasure? Pleasure, Gardy? Ha! It’s a long time since I’ve met the -lady, m’boy. But a chap’s got to do what he can to keep from being -bored. They did it—a little. I’m bored now. Do something, Gardy, say -something. Hang it, man; can’t you do as much for me as those two -brutes? Simmons! Some other togs, please. These I’ve got on make me -dopy.”</p> - -<p>He strode down into the cabin, forgetting me absolutely in this new -evanescent whim.</p> - -<h2>V </h2> - -<p>I stepped to the port rail and bared my head to the young Spring -breeze. I was disgusted. The sense of something uncleanly seemed to -cling to me from the spectacle on the fore-deck and I was grateful for -the antiseptic feel of the wind with its pure odors.</p> - -<p>“Pretty raw, wasn’t it, Mr. Pitt?”</p> - -<p>I looked up and saw Pierce, the young wireless operator, standing -beside me.</p> - -<p>“Yep. I feel that way about it, too,” he went on. “Not that I’ve got -anything against seeing a good battle any time, ’cause I was raised -back o’ the Yards in Chicago, and no more need be said. But that—that -go forward, that was too raw. Garvin, he’s a sure ’nough pug—he stayed -ten rounds with Sharkey once when Tom was starting, but the poor stew -was about ready to have the ‘willies’; and the poor dinge was seeing -snakes. Naw, it was too raw. Ear-eating and that kind of stuff. They -hadn’t ought to have matched ’em. They couldn’t put up half a battle, -the shape they was.”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t object to it on those grounds,” I said, and as I looked at -his merry, freckled face I was forced to smile. “Though I can -appreciate your artistic disapproval. It disgusted me because it was -so useless and brutal.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what I said,” he responded promptly. “It was useless, because -it wasn’t half a go, and brutal because they wasn’t in shape to stand -the punishment.”</p> - -<p>“We are slightly apart in our view-points, I am afraid, Mr. Pierce.”</p> - -<p>“But you’re with me that it was bum match-making?”</p> - -<p>I nodded.</p> - -<p>“And that a right guy—you know what I mean: a guy who was right all -the way through—couldn’t get any fun out of watching it?”</p> - -<p>I nodded again. Pierce placed both hands on the railing, running his -fingers up and down as if on a keyboard, whistling softly through his -teeth.</p> - -<p>“Did you notice how the boss ate it up?” he said abruptly.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Chanler?”</p> - -<p>“Yep. He eyed it like—like it was a pretty little thing to him.”</p> - -<p>I said nothing. Pierce resumed his whistling and finger-practise on -the rail. Suddenly he turned and faced me squarely, his countenance -uncomfortably serious, as it had been on the dock that morning.</p> - -<p>“I suppose you’re thinking what an awful dub I am to be making a crack -about the boss to one of his friends, ain’t you, Mr. Pitt?”</p> - -<p>“Well, to be frank,” I replied, “I have been wondering at your doing -so. How do you know that I won’t go straight to Mr. Chanler with your -words? I won’t do it, of course, but I would prefer that you do not -discuss Mr. Chanler with me. One doesn’t do such things, you know.”</p> - -<p>“No,” he said, “I didn’t know; I was raised back o’ the Yards. But if -you say, ‘nix on it,’ nix it is. What—what do you think of the boat, -Mr. Pitt? We can discuss that, can’t we?”</p> - -<p>“Freely,” I laughed. “From what I’ve seen the <i>Wanderer</i> is a -remarkable yacht.”</p> - -<p>“And you haven’t seen anything but the gingerbread work. I’m off -watch. Come on; let’s walk around and pipe her off. It’ll take the -taste of that bum battle out of your mouth.”</p> - -<p>I accepted willingly, and for an hour Pierce piloted me about the -yacht.</p> - -<p>The <i>Wanderer</i> is a craft of wonders. I have Pierce’s word that the -yacht is 152 feet long on the water line with her present load, and -that the load is the maximum which we could carry with safety. Her -size below the cabin deck is amazing. In her engine room are some of -the largest gasoline engines ever placed in a yacht, if Pierce’s -information is correct. There are two great gleaming batteries of -them, each battery capable of driving us at a speed of ten knots an -hour, the two combined able to hurry us along at fourteen knots, if -necessary. Besides this we have a small auxiliary engine and -propeller, a novelty installed by the former owner, Harrison. We could -smash both of our major engines and the auxiliary still would move us.</p> - -<p>Built into the bows are the reserve gasoline tanks. There is enough -fuel in them, says Pierce, to drive the <i>Wanderer</i> twice around the -world. Aft of these vast tanks are the storerooms. They are locked. -Captain Brack has the key, but Freddy assures me that enough -provisions have been loaded into them to keep our company of fifteen -men well fed for two years.</p> - -<p>“Which certainly is playing safe, seeing as we’re not supposed to get -frozen in,” said he, as we completed our tour below decks. “Now, come -on and I’ll show you my private office.”</p> - -<p>He led the way up a ladder to the little wireless house on the aft of -the main cabin. This was Pierce’s room. His bunk was beside the table -on which were his instruments, and he had covered the -walls—“decorated,” he called it—with newspaper cuts of celebrated -baseball players, pugilists, motor-racers, and women of the musical -comedy stage. Lajoie’s picture was next to Terry McGovern’s, and -Chevrolet’s beside Miss Anna Held’s. I smiled as I seated myself.</p> - -<p>“Something of a connoisseur, I see, Pierce.”</p> - -<p>“Whatever that means,” he responded. He had become serious again. He -took a cigaret paper from his pocket, absently tore it to pieces and -sat glancing out over the waters of the Sound.</p> - -<p>“So you don’t know a Jane—a girl named Miss Beatrice Baldwin, Mr. -Pitt?” he said, as if he had been thinking of saying it for a long -time.</p> - -<p>“You asked me that this morning,” said I. “Why do you think I might -know her?”</p> - -<p>“You’n’ the Boss is close friends, ain’t you?”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t say ‘close friends’.”</p> - -<p>“I know. But you know him back East, and train with him, and know the -bunch he trains with back there, don’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, to a certain extent.”</p> - -<p>“That’s why I thought you might have heard of this Jane—Miss Baldwin, -I mean.”</p> - -<p>“I assure you, Pierce,” I said, smiling, “that one would have to -possess a much larger circle of acquaintances than I have to know all -the young ladies of Mr. Chanler’s acquaintance.”</p> - -<p>He looked up.</p> - -<p>“Is he that kind of a guy?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“What kind do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“A charmer, a Jane-chaser, lady-killer?”</p> - -<p>The perfect naiveté with which he uttered this outrageous slang -brought me to hearty laughter, the first of long time.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Chanler,” I said, suppressing my amusement, “is a much sought -after man.”</p> - -<p>“Sure; he’s got the dough. But does he chase ’em back? Eh? Is he—Here, -I’ll put it up to you straight: would you let your own sister go -walking with him alone in the park after dark?”</p> - -<p>I rose. But for the life of me I could not hold offense in the face of -his honest, worried expression.</p> - -<p>“Pierce,” I said, “that is another thing one does not do—ask such -questions. And I have told you that you are not to discuss Mr. Chanler -with me.”</p> - -<p>“Aw, the devil!” he blurted. “Why can’t you be human? You’re a reg’lar -fellow; I can see it in the back of your eyes. I’m a reg’lar fellow. -Why can’t we get together?”</p> - -<p>“Not on a discussion of Mr. Chanler behind his back,” I chuckled. “It -isn’t done.”</p> - -<p>Pierce doubled himself up on the stool which he was sitting on and -grasped his thin ankles in his hands.</p> - -<p>“All right, then,” he said moodily. “But I want to tell you I’ve been -handling messages between the boss and a Miss Beatrice Baldwin; and he -sent her one this morning and got a reply; and—I wished I’d never -learned wireless, that’s all.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Chanler is a gentleman,” I said severely.</p> - -<p>“A gentleman?” said Pierce gloomily. “I suppose that makes it all -right, then, eh? But nevertheless and notwithstanding, I wish I hadn’t -learned wireless, just the same. And you don’t even ask me what the -message was about,” he continued as I remained silent. “That’s the -difference: I’d have asked first crack; you’re a gent. You don’t ask -at all.”</p> - -<p>“Naturally not,” I replied. “That’s another thing one doesn’t do. I -won’t even permit you to tell me what it was.”</p> - -<p>“You won’t?”</p> - -<p>“Decidedly not.”</p> - -<p>“Not even if I tell you——”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“All right then,” he said with a comical air of resignation and -relief. “I’ve done me jooty. It’s something out of my class; I wanted -to pass it up to somebody with a better nut than I’ve got; but if I -can’t—all right. I suppose after you ’n’ me ’ve known each other five -or six years we’ll be well enough acquainted to talk together like a -couple o’ human beings, eh? I know I hadn’t ought to be talking to you -like this, Mr. Pitt; you’re a New York highbrow and I’m from back o’ -the Yards; but I’ll make you a nice little bet right now, that before -this trip is over—if you’re the guy I think you are, Brains—you ’n’ -me’ll tear off more’n one little confab behind the boss’s back, and -you’ll be darn glad to do it.”</p> - -<p>I rose to go.</p> - -<p>“I can imagine no reason why we should,” I said. “This is a scientific -expedition; you are the wireless operator, and I am Mr. Chanler’s -literary secretary. Under the circumstances, why should you be willing -to bet?”</p> - -<p>“Under those circumstances, I wouldn’t be willing to bet,” he -retorted. “But—scientific expedition!” he exploded in disgust. -“Scientific ——!”</p> - -<h2>VI </h2> - -<p>I retired precipitately to my stateroom, not wishing to hear more. By -this time I had seen enough to realize that the hard-drinking George -Chanler of the present was not the same man whom I had been friendly -with back East. That Chanler never would have endured the brutal sport -with Garvin and the negro. He would not have fallen under the spell of -a man like Brack; he would not have sent wireless messages to a girl -which would make an honest operator like Pierce wish he had never -learned his trade. I remembered the owner’s suite, unoccupied and -furnished for a woman’s comfort.</p> - -<p>“Scientific ——!” Pierce had said.</p> - -<p>But it was too late for me to consider quitting now. Captain Brack and -his taunting smile had attended to that. If I left now the contempt in -his eyes would be justified: I would be the weakling which his look -announced me to be. He would smile that smile as I went over the side; -would continue to smile it whenever my name was mentioned.</p> - -<p>I was disgusted with Chanler. But in my heart I was afraid of Brack, -and, paradoxically, for this reason I was afraid to quit.</p> - -<p>“Scientific ——!” What did Pierce mean? Whatever it was I judged it to -concern only Chanler, therefore it did not greatly concern me. But -Brack—so greatly did his smile distress me that I actually looked -forward to meeting him again with something akin to relish.</p> - -<p>That evening, near the end of the dinner, Dr. Olson happened to speak -of the totem gods of the Northern Pacific tribes.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Brack, “they whittle their gods out of wood with knives; -white men use their minds to whittle theirs. Men are greater than -gods. What would gods amount to if they didn’t have men to worship -them? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Can you imagine anything more -impotent than an unworshiped god? Man creates gods; not gods man. Men -are absolutely indispensable to gods; but men can do very well without -gods if it pleases them to do so.”</p> - -<p>“Has it pleased you to do so, Captain Brack?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“Decidedly so. I sail light. Men make a slavery of this job of -existence because they encumber themselves with laws, gods, and so on. -I decided long ago not to be a slave to gods or anything.” He turned -upon me with his devilish smile. “Now, Mr. Pitt, it is easy to see, is -a slave to his gods.”</p> - -<p>“Which gods, for instance.”</p> - -<p>He burst into ready laughter, as if I had fallen into a trap he had -laid for me.</p> - -<p>“The petty, insignificant gods of civilized conduct!”</p> - -<p>“Hear, hear!” interjected Chanler, lazily blowing away the smoke. -“What you two doing: making religious speeches? ‘God,’ you said. Stow -that. There’s no room for gods of any kind on board this boat.”</p> - -<p>“Except the gods of science,” laughed Brack.</p> - -<p>“Ha! Science! That’s good, awf’ly good, cappy. You don’t know how good -that is. I’ll stand for science, cappy, but not religion. Religion -sort of suggests conscience, and conscience—m’boy, I cut the chap dead -days ago and refuse to be re-introduced. One bottle to science, men, -and then it’ll be time to kiss our native land good-by. Pitt, if -you’ve a tender woman’s heart pining for you some place, better go -send her your farewell message, ’cause cappy and I are going to make a -wet evening of it until we sail in the interests of science! -Glor-ee-ous, glorious science! Hah!”</p> - -<p>I accepted his suggestion eagerly as a means to escape from the cabin. -There was no woman pining for me; there was no woman in my life. I had -no farewell message to send to any one. While Chanler, Brack and the -doctor made merry over their bottle I sought the solitude of the upper -deck.</p> - -<div style='height:1.5em;'></div> - -<p>It was a dark night, and a rising wind was blowing in from the sea. -Along the water-front lights twinkled and gleamed, mere red-hot dots -in the all-encompassing darkness.</p> - -<p>At a dock near by the outline of a long steamer showed beneath the -flare of a myriad gasoline torches, and across the water there came -from her decks the clang of hammers and the hollow rumble of trucks -pouring freight into her hold.</p> - -<p>“The <i>City of Nome</i>, sir,” said a voice behind me, and turning I -beheld the sturdy figure of Mr. Wilson, the second officer. “They’re -rushing the job of preparing her for her first trip of the season. She -follows the <i>Wanderer</i> up. She’ll be about forty-eight hours behind -us.”</p> - -<p>“Will she overtake us?”</p> - -<p>“Hardly, sir. We’re as fast as she is, if not faster. No, we’ll show -her the way into Bering Sea if nothing happens to check our speed.”</p> - -<p>A sudden gust of wind shook us and a splattering of great rain-drops -struck the deck. The mate turned toward the sea and sniffed the air.</p> - -<p>“Hello!” he exclaimed, as if the wind had told him something. “I hope -you’re a good sailor, Mr. Pitt; it may be a little rough outside -tomorrow and for a couple of days to come.”</p> - -<h2>VII </h2> - -<p>I was awakened next morning by a sensation as of mighty blows being -struck against the yacht’s hull, shaking it from stem to stem. My -nostrils caught the tang of cold sea air, while gusts of fog-laden -wind swept whistling past the open port-hole.</p> - -<p>I dressed, went on deck, and swiftly retreated to shelter. The -<i>Wanderer</i> was out at sea and boring her twelve-knot way through the -smoke and welter of a raw Spring gale from the north.</p> - -<p>The entire aspect of the yacht, of its personnel, and of the -expedition seemed to have changed overnight. Captain Brack was upon -the bridge. His neat, gold-braided uniform had vanished and he wore a -rough sheepskin jacket and oilskin trousers. A shaggy cap was pulled -down to his eyes and he chewed and spat tobacco.</p> - -<p>In the gray light of a raw day, shuddering and washed by spray, the -<i>Wanderer</i> had become a grim, serviceable sea-conqueror rather than -the magnificent pleasure-boat she had seemed yesterday, and two -seamen, roughly clad and dripping, were putting extra lashings on a -life-boat forward.</p> - -<p>I went down to breakfast with new impressions of the grim -potentialities of this expedition.</p> - -<p>I had breakfast alone. Chanler was still in his stateroom and the -officers all had breakfasted long before. While I was eating, Freddy -Pierce popped his head in.</p> - -<p>“Oh, hello; it’s you, is it,” he greeted. “I was looking for the boss; -another message.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Chanler is in his stateroom,” I said.</p> - -<p>“He sent another message to this Jane—to Miss Baldwin, last night,” -said Pierce.</p> - -<p>I continued to eat.</p> - -<p>“This is a reply to it that I’ve got here.”</p> - -<p>“Pierce,” said I, looking up, “you will find Mr. Chanler in his -stateroom.”</p> - -<p>“Right!” said he. Saying which the messenger boy turned and ran. “Oh, -Simmons! Come here. Message for the boss.”</p> - -<p>Simmons, who was passing, paused and bestowed on Freddy his most -freezing look of disapproval.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Chanler is not to be disturbed,” said he, and made to pass on.</p> - -<p>“Not so, old Frozen Face,” said Freddy, catching him by the arm. “You -don’t pass me by with a haughty look this time. This is the reply to -the message the boss sent last night. He wants it while it’s hot off -the griddle. Get busy.”</p> - -<p>Simmons seemed about to choke.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Chanler is not to be disturbed,” he repeated with emphasis.</p> - -<p>Freddy turned toward Chanler’s door.</p> - -<p>“Will you take it in—or shall I?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“But you can’t—it is forbidden!” cried Simmons.</p> - -<p>Freddy knocked loudly on the owner’s door.</p> - -<p>“The reply to your message from last night, Mr. Chanler,” he called. -“It just came.”</p> - -<p>An instant later he opened the door, to Simmons’s horror, and entered. -When he came out he bore another message and went straight up to the -wireless house to send it.</p> - -<p>Soon after this Captain Brack came to Chanler’s stateroom, knocked and -entered. He remained within for some time. When he emerged his look -was dark and scowling, and he hurried straight to the bridge. A moment -later the <i>Wanderer’s</i> twelve-knot rush began to diminish, and -presently we were moving along at a speed that seemed barely -sufficient to keep our headway against the sea.</p> - -<p>Not long after this came the clash between Brack and Garvin.</p> - -<p>I was starting on my morning constitutional when I came upon the pair -facing one another on the fore-deck. Chanler was looking on from the -bridge. Garvin was an unpleasant-looking brute to behold. His face was -swollen and he had evidently slept in his clothes. He was standing -lowering ferociously at Brack, who stood leaning against the -chart-house, his arms folded.</p> - -<p>“Sa-a-ay, sa-a-ay guy; what kind uv a game d’yah think yah’re running? -Eh?” the fighter was snarling. “What d’yah think yah’re putting over -on me? Hah? D’yah know who yah got hold of? I’m Bill Garvin.”</p> - -<p>“That is how I have put you down—as one of the crew,” said Brack. He -placed himself more firmly against the wall of the wheel-house.</p> - -<p>“Put—put me down?” cried Garvin incredulously. “Me—one of your crew? -Guess again, bo, guess again.”</p> - -<p>“I never guess,” retorted Brack and there was just a warning hint of -coldness in his tones.</p> - -<p>“Wa-ll, git next tuh yerself den, bo, an’ quit dat crew talk wid me. -When do we git back tuh Seattle?”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps never—for you—unless you soon say ‘sir’ when you speak to -me.”</p> - -<p>“Hah?”</p> - -<p>“‘Sir!’” bellowed Brack, and even the sodden plug-ugly blinked in -alarm at the menace in his tones. But only for a moment. He was a true -fighting brute, Garvin; his courage only swelled at a challenge.</p> - -<p>“Step out here an’ put up yer mitts, Bo,” he snapped. “I’m Bill -Garvin; who the —— are you?”</p> - -<p>From the bridge came Chanler’s cynical cackle.</p> - -<p>“He wants an introduction, cappy,” he chuckled. “Come, come; let’s -have your come-back.”</p> - -<p>Brack smiled in his old suave manner as he looked up at Chanler, but -as he turned away the smile changed to a black scowl. He looked -steadily at Garvin for several seconds, and it grew very quiet.</p> - -<p>Garvin started a little in surprise and fright, as if suddenly he had -seen something in Brack’s face which he had not expected to find -there. He was a stubborn fighting brute, however, and instinct told -him to charge when in fear. He leaped at Brack, his fists held taut; -and an instant later he was on his back on the deck, screaming in -agony, his hands covering his scalded face.</p> - -<p>Then for the first time I saw the hose-nozzle that the captain had -concealed beneath his folded arms. He had been standing so that his -broad back entirely concealed the hose, running from a fire-plug in -the wall. So the fighter had rushed, open-eyed, open-mouthed, against -a two-inch stream of hot water which swept him off his feet and left -him groveling and screaming on the deck.</p> - -<p>“Ha!” said George Chanler. “Sharp repartee that, cappy—though a bit -rough.”</p> - -<p>Brack found Garvin’s hands, neck, head with the water, and suddenly -turned it off.</p> - -<p>“Don’t!” cried Garvin. “For Gawd’s sake, don’t.”</p> - -<p>“Sir,” said Brack.</p> - -<p>“You go to ——!”</p> - -<p>The water found him again.</p> - -<p>“Sir.”</p> - -<p>“Sir,” whimpered Garvin. “Oh, Gawd! You’ve killed me!”</p> - -<p>“Sir.”</p> - -<p>“Sir.”</p> - -<p>Brack tossed the hose aside and wiped his hands.</p> - -<p>“Take him below,” he directed a couple of seamen. “Tell Dr. Olson to -care for him. I have too much need for Garvin to have him lose his -sight.”</p> - -<p>He turned abruptly toward Chanler on the bridge.</p> - -<p>“The wind is rising, sir,” he said. “At five knots we will barely -crawl.”</p> - -<p>“Yes?” said Chanler, yawning. “Well, crawling is exactly my mood -today.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll lose precious days up north if we continue at this speed.”</p> - -<p>Chanler smiled the shrewd smile of a man who has a joke all to -himself.</p> - -<p>“No, cappy; that’s once you’re wrong. It’s just the other way round: -I’d lose precious days if we didn’t continue at this speed, as you’ll -see when the time comes.”</p> - -<p>The captain glared after him as Chanler leisurely went aft to his -stateroom. The glare turned for an instant to a smile, of a sort that -Chanler would have been troubled to understand had it been seen. Then -Brack stamped forward and stood with folded arms, looking ahead over -the gray, tossing sea, his face raging with impatience over the -slowness of the yacht’s progress.</p> - -<h2>VIII </h2> - -<p>I climbed to the wireless house and found Freddy Pierce eagerly -looking for my appearance.</p> - -<p>“Did you see it?” he demanded. “Did you see it?”</p> - -<p>“Brack and Garvin? Yes, I saw it. It was horrible. Is that the way -Brack handles the men of the crew?”</p> - -<p>“Na-ah! I should say not. That isn’t his regular system. He don’t need -to touch ’em; he laughs at ’em and scares ’em stiff. He’s got a -fighting grouch on this morning, and Garvin was just something to take -it out on. Poor Garvin! He had to come staggering up and make his play -just after the captain come out of the boss’s cabin boiling mad. Any -other time the cap’ would ’a’ laughed at him so he’d snuck back to his -bunk like a bad little boy.”</p> - -<p>“Then what was wrong with the captain this morning?”</p> - -<p>Freddy shrugged his shoulders.</p> - -<p>“You notice we cut our speed down to a crawl, didn’t you? Well, it -must have been that that gave Brack his grouch. I haven’t quite got it -doped out yet. All I know is, I grab a bunch of words off the air for -the boss, I take him the message, he reads it, smiles, slips me a -double saw-buck for good luck and says: ‘Kindly tell Captain Brack to -step down here at once.’ I do. Captain Brack goes in smiling and comes -out with his eyes showing he’d been made to do something he didn’t -want to do. Bing! He gets Riordan on the engine-room phone. Zowie! He -shouts an order. And then the screw begins easing off little by -little, and pretty soon we’ve stopped running and are walking the way -we are now. Dope: the boss made cappy cut her down, and it made cappy -so sore he burnt Garvin’s face half off to blow off his grouch.”</p> - -<p>“But why in the world should Captain Brack grow so angry over that!” I -exclaimed. “Chanler is owner. Certainly it is to be expected that he -can sail where, when and how he pleases.”</p> - -<p>“Sure. It got cap’s goat, though.”</p> - -<p>“By Captain Brack’s own statement we may have to wait for the Spring -drift-ice to clear when we get up north. Surely there can be no -sensible objection to slow running under the circumstances, especially -as that is the owner’s wish.”</p> - -<p>Pierce doubled up, grasping his thin ankles and staring at the floor, -as was his custom when thinking seriously.</p> - -<p>“Brack has been hurrying ever since we lay in ’Frisco. Hurried about -the crew; took Wilson because he couldn’t find another officer in a -hurry; and, we ran at maximum all last night after we cleared the -Sound.”</p> - -<p>“What of that?”</p> - -<p>“That would take us to Petroff Sound just a week before we scheduled.”</p> - -<p>“Well?”</p> - -<p>“On our schedule time we’d probably have to lay offshore a week before -the ice breaks up so we could go in. Then what would be the sense of -getting there a week ahead of schedule? I saw the log this morning, -too, just after Brack’d written it. He had the night’s run down at -nine knots an hour; we were going better’n twelve. Put your noodle to -working, Mr. Brains. What’s the answer?”</p> - -<p>“Apparently Captain Brack wishes to reach Petroff Sound ahead of our -schedule.”</p> - -<p>“Without letting the boss know we were going to do it. Yep. Go on.”</p> - -<p>“It is impossible for me to guess at what his object may be.”</p> - -<p>“Same here, Brains. Brack isn’t doing it just for the fast ride -though, that’s a cinch. Go on.”</p> - -<p>“Chanler’s orders to slow down may be ascribed to one of his whims——”</p> - -<p>“Huh!” interrupted Freddy. “I wish you were right there.”</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>“The boss didn’t play up a whim when he cut down our speed. He’d done -some close figuring before he did that.”</p> - -<p>“How do you know?”</p> - -<p>“I ought to know. I’m operator, ain’t I? I handle his messages, don’t -I? Well, that’s how I know.”</p> - -<p>“Then the order to slow down was not due to a whim, but to a message?”</p> - -<p>“To the one he got this morning in reply to the one he sent last -night. Yep.”</p> - -<p>“There seems, then,” said I, “to be a conflict of interests on board; -Captain Brack wishes to go fast and Mr. Chanler wishes to go slow.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Freddy Pierce, scratching his red head, “and if the -captain’s reasons are anything like the boss’s I’ve got a feeling that -you’ll have some —— funny things to write about before we get back -home. What’s more, if one of ’em’s got to have his way about the speed -you can put your money on the captain and cash.”</p> - -<p>“Nonsense! Mr. Chanler is the owner.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and Captain Brack is—Brack.”</p> - -<p>I recalled what I had heard Brack called back in Billy Taylor’s in -Seattle.</p> - -<p>“Pierce,” I said, “how much do you know about Brack?”</p> - -<p>He cast a look of disapproval at me.</p> - -<p>“You don’t need to ask me that, Brains,” he said. “I got eyes—I can -see you got him sized up, too.”</p> - -<p>“You joined the <i>Wanderer</i> in San Francisco two weeks before I did,” I -reminded him. “Surely you know more about the man than I do.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” he said, “I know that he’s a devil with men.”</p> - -<p>“A masterful personality,” I agreed. “Any one can see that.”</p> - -<p>“Yep. But that ain’t what’s worrying me.”</p> - -<p>“Worrying? Are you worrying about Brack?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, sort of.”</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>“Why,” he said, as his instrument began to crackle. He turned to take -a message. “Brack’s a devil toward men, but that ain’t a marker to -what he is with women.”</p> - -<h2>IX </h2> - -<p>While I stood watching Pierce busied at his instruments Simmons came -climbing up with word that Mr. Chanler wished me to come to his -stateroom. The sky had begun to clear to the eastward by now; a rift -of clean blue Spring heaven was showing through the great pall of -Winter-like gray clouds; and as I entered Chanler’s stateroom the sun -broke through and relieved the ugly monotony of the raw day.</p> - -<p>Chanler was trailing his mandarin-like dressing-gown behind him as he -paced the room, and his face was not the face of a man at ease.</p> - -<p>“Gardy,” he said, “I want to talk with you. Got to talk with you. -Brack’s all right to drink with; Doc Olson doesn’t talk at all; you’re -the only one fit to talk to on board. ’Member I started to tell you -yesterday how I discovered I had to do something useful, and then I -changed my mind and didn’t tell you after all? Well, I’m going to tell -you the whole story now. Gardy, how much do you know about -women—girls?”</p> - -<p>By this time I was prepared for any turn of thought on Chanler’s part -and replied—“Not as much as you do, that’s sure.”</p> - -<p>The careless reply seemed exactly what he wished to hear. He nodded -gravely.</p> - -<p>“That’s right. You don’t know how right that is. You may know a lot -about ’em, Gardy, but I know more. I’ve learned a lot about ’em -lately, a whole lot. You think that Brack, and those Petroff Sound -mammoths, and old Doc Harper are responsible for this little trip -we’re on. Well, they’re not.”</p> - -<p>He paused, then concluded slowly—</p> - -<p>“Gardy, it’s a girl.”</p> - -<p>I recalled Chanler’s bachelor fear that some day a shrewd mama would -snare him for her young daughter, and the determination with which he -had fled whenever he found himself growing interested in a girl in a -way that threatened his bachelor’s liberty.</p> - -<p>“Arctic Alaska is a long way to run away,” I laughed.</p> - -<p>“Hang it, Gardy!” he snapped. “Don’t talk that way. I’m not running -away.”</p> - -<p>“No?”</p> - -<p>“No. I—I’m doing this because I want to—want to—I know it will shock -you—but, hang it, Gardy! I want to marry her.”</p> - -<p>I had an uncomfortable series of visions: Chanler entangled by some -woman, a light actress, probably; family objections, and George being -sent away to the Arctic Circle while the family money convinced the -woman that she had made a mistake.</p> - -<p>“You mean that you’re being sent up here?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he replied, his chin sunk on his chest. “Yes, that’s it; I’m -being sent up here.”</p> - -<p>“By——”</p> - -<p>“By—her.” He looked straight out of the window, gnawing his underlip -nervously. “By a little girl, almost a kid, by Jove!”</p> - -<p>He paused again, then went on didactically:</p> - -<p>“The trouble with girls, Gardy—young girls; pretty, clever, charming -girls, you know—the trouble is they’re too popular. Too many pursuers. -Men are too eager to marry ’em. Fact. Girls have too many chances. Get -an exaggerated idea of their own importance, and pick and pick before -they decide on a chap, and then they demand that the one they’ve -picked is—is a little, white god. Fact. Even the common ones. Ordinary -man try to marry one—hah! Got to show ’em. Money? Oh, yes; big -percentage, show ’em money and they don’t ask anything else. Limousine -and poodle-dog type.</p> - -<p>“But, hang it, Gardy, there’s a new kind of girl growing up in this -country at present, and she’s the one who makes a man trouble. New -American breed. She doesn’t look back over her shoulder to make you -follow her. Hang it, no! She stands right up to you and looks you -square in both eyes. She won’t notice when you show her money; what -she’s looking at is you. Fact. Not what you got; but what you are. New -type.</p> - -<p>“Rotten world for men it’s getting to be. Our own fault, though. We -chase ’em; make ’em think themselves worth too much. Men ought to -quit—lose interest. That’d bring ’em to their senses, and they -wouldn’t ask a man uncomfy questions. But hang it, it’d be too late -now to do me any good,” he concluded gloomily. “I’m shot.”</p> - -<p>I said nothing, and he soon went on.</p> - -<p>“Shot, by Jove! Shot by a little girl. Just like a kid fresh from -school. Hit so hard I’ve got to have her, and, hang it! She’s one of -that—that new kind.”</p> - -<p>Still I remained silent, and for many seconds Chanler struggled with -his next words.</p> - -<p>“Gardy!” he broke out in mingled anger and awe. “She wouldn’t have -me!”</p> - -<p>Once more we sat in silence, an uncomfortable silence for me. I had no -desire to discuss affairs of the heart with any one. Up to that time I -had never felt the need of any woman in my life.</p> - -<p>Presently Chanler opened his writing-desk and drew out a small -photograph which he passed to me.</p> - -<p>“There she is, there’s the cause of this expedition, Gardy.”</p> - -<p>I looked with interest at the picture in my hand.</p> - -<p>It was as poor a specimen of the outdoor picture as any amateur ever -made on a sunny Sunday. It represented a bareheaded girl in tennis -costume, her hair considerably tousled as if she had just finished a -set; but as the picture had been taken against the sun the face was so -dark as to be scarcely discernible. Just an ordinary outdoor girl, -apparently, as ordinary as the photograph.</p> - -<p>“That’s the reason for this trip,” said George, carefully returning -the picture to its place. “She isn’t anybody you know or have heard -of. She’s nobody. She’s just a common doctor’s daughter from a little -town in the Middle West, and I want to marry her, Gardy, and by -Jove—she wouldn’t have me!”</p> - -<p>He was started now, and there was no opportunity to stop him had I so -wished. I listened in humble resignation. I was Chanler’s hired man. I -was engaged as his literary secretary, but probably he counted me paid -for listening to him while he poured out his amazement and despair at -having been refused.</p> - -<p>“She wouldn’t have me, Gardy,” he repeated over and over again; and, -considering how many girls had fished for Chanler’s name and money, I -wondered what sort of a girl this could be.</p> - -<p>“I met her down at Aiken last Winter. She was visiting some folks—but -that didn’t count. I met her at the tennis court. By Jove!” A new -light came into his cynical eyes, a clean light, and for the time -being his face was almost fine. “Can’t stand athletic girls as a usual -thing, you know that, Gardy; but she—she was different.”</p> - -<p>They had danced together that night at the club ball. If she had been -stunning on the courts, she was overwhelming in evening dress. He -scarcely had dared to touch her.</p> - -<p>They had spent a great part of the next day rolling slowly about -country roads in one of his roadsters. Sometimes they had stopped at -convenient points along the road and had sat silent and looked at each -other. Again they had halted and picked flowers along the roadside. -And between times they had rolled along at six miles an hour -and—talked.</p> - -<p>“Oh, hang it, Gardy. For the first time in my life I wished I was -clever like you and had done something. It ain’t fair. Nobody ever -made me do a thing; what chance have I had to amount to anything? And -then a fellow meets a girl like this, who likes you from the start and -when she asks you what you’re doing, or have done, or are going to do, -and you say nothin’, she looks at you in a certain way as if to say: -‘Why, what excuse do you make to yourself for cumbering the earth?’ -No, by George, it ain’t fair; is it, Gardy?</p> - -<p>“I told her I had money, and she laughed and said she didn’t -understand how a man could be satisfied to have money and nothing -else, and money that his father had earned at that. Then I asked her -to marry me, so I would have something besides money. Hang it, old -man, she cried. Yes, she did, just for a little while. Then she looked -up and laughed at me, and said: ‘George, I’ve known you less than two -days, and I’ve learned to like you so much that I wish I dared like -you more. But if I liked you any more,’ she says, ‘I’m afraid I’d want -to marry you, and have to depend upon you for my future happiness, and -to be the father of my children,’ and says she, ‘you haven’t the right -to ask that, George, so long as you play around like a thoughtless -boy, and do nothing that a man should do.’</p> - -<p>“Jove! That was enough to make a fellow pull up and think, wasn’t it? -I said to myself right there: ‘I’m going to do something.’ And I am. I -ain’t clever like you, Gardy, and I haven’t got business experience -like some fellows, but—” he smiled with self-satisfaction—“I have got -money.”</p> - -<p>It all ended there. He had money; he need have nothing else. The new -look vanished from his eyes and they became cynical and supercilious -again. His underlip protruded cunningly.</p> - -<p>“Science is a great help if you know how to use it, Gardy,” he -chuckled. “What’s your opinion of our little expedition now?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t see any reason why what you have told me should alter my -opinion of the expedition.”</p> - -<p>“Ha! I thought maybe that old conscientious streak in you would get -troublesome. You don’t quibble about motives then, Gardy?”</p> - -<p>“Why should I? I am your hired writing man——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, hang it, Gardy! Don’t put it that way. Don’t be so precise. As -one chap to another, you know—what do you think?”</p> - -<p>“I see nothing wrong with your motive, Chanler. In fact, I think it -rather fine. As I understand it you are undertaking this expedition -because you wish to prove to this girl that you can and will do -something useful.”</p> - -<p>“Right-o. That’s why I undertook it—in the first place.”</p> - -<p>“That surely established an excellent motive, for a man in your -sentimental frame of mind, at least.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said with a hollow laugh, “there’s nothing wrong with that, -is there?”</p> - -<p>“And if the expedition is successful the results will be a credit to -you—a genuine success—irrespective of what your motives might be.”</p> - -<p>“Now you’re shouting, Gardy!” he cried vehemently, striking the desk. -“The results, that’s what counts. Not the motive or the means. Who -asks a winner why or how? Win out! Get what you want! That’s the idea. -And, by Jove! What I want I get; and I want Betty Baldwin to be my -wife!”</p> - -<h2>X </h2> - -<p>The <i>Wanderer</i> wallowed her faltering way northward, a new atmosphere -of sinister suggestion about her spray-damped decks. Yet even now, -with Chanler’s sudden confession ringing in my ears, I thought, not of -him and his plans, not of the owner’s empty stateroom furnished for a -woman, not of the Miss Baldwin mentioned, but of Brack. Brack was the -great force on board. Chanler might plan well or evil; but it would be -Brack’s will that would determine the fate of these plans, and of any -one who came aboard. And I had not gaged Brack. Though by this time I -was ready to credit him with Machiavellian cunning and power, my -estimate of the man failed to do him full justice.</p> - -<p>It was on the fourth day out that this conclusion was forced upon me. -As Wilson had predicted, the weather remained rough and raw, and the -<i>Wanderer</i> lifted and rolled leisurely through a smother of fog and -spray from the long, slow North Pacific rollers.</p> - -<p>In the middle of the afternoon the sun broke through for a period, the -fog disappeared, and I climbed to the wireless deck to enjoy the -cheeriness of unwonted sunshine and Pierce’s company combined. I found -Pierce squatted on the starboard edge of the cabin roof, absorbed in -watching the deck below. At the sound of my footsteps he looked up, -grinned and crooked his finger for me to come to his side.</p> - -<p>“Garvin’s out again,” he whispered. “He’s just come up from the aft on -the starboard side. Brack’s forward just now, but he’s been hiking the -starboard promenade for the last five minutes. He’s in a sweat again -about our running half speed, and if Garvin doesn’t see him and duck -they’re going to meet.”</p> - -<p>I looked aft and saw Garvin, the pugilist, standing bareheaded in the -sunlight, steadying himself easily to the pitch and rise of the -<i>Wanderer’s</i> deck.</p> - -<p>Surprise and relief came to me as I saw him look around, blinking -against the sun. I had feared to hear that he had been blinded, or -that he had been scalded so fearfully that he might succumb, or lie -helpless for weeks. Yet here he was, save for the bandages that -covered most of his face, apparently in better physical condition than -when he had come aboard. In reality this was true. Two days of medical -treatment and rest had given his splendid vitality that opportunity to -throw off the load of alcoholic poison with which it had been -surcharged. His bony face, hardened by training and blows, had -withstood without serious damage the stream of boiling water that -would have blinded, probably killed, a normal man.</p> - -<p>As he moved slowly forward along the port rail in the bright sunlight -there was none of the weakened, defeated look of a badly injured man -about him. With his head and shoulders thrust forward, the short neck -completely hidden, the long arms hanging easily, and moving with the -sure step of the man whose muscular feet grip the ground, he was -formidable to look at, a fighting animal, unafraid and undefeated.</p> - -<p>“One bad, tough guy!” whispered Pierce in admiration. “Say, Brains, -even money that he takes a swing at Brack before the cruise is over.”</p> - -<p>Brack had made a swift, impatient turn near the bow and was coming aft -along the starboard rail. He was wearing his rough sea-clothes and he -walked with his eyes on the deck, chewing tobacco viciously.</p> - -<p>From the aft Garvin advanced slowly, and from the bow came Brack. And -as I looked from one to the other now I was shocked with the -impression that they were much alike. The same thickness about the -neck and shoulders, the same sense of force about them both. But in -Garvin it was a blind force, stupid and unenlightened as the force of -a thick-necked bull, while in Brack the force was directed by one of -the most efficient minds it had been my fortune to come in contact -with.</p> - -<p>“Pipe ’em off, pipe ’em off!” whispered Pierce excitedly. “They’re -going to meet face to face in the companionway. Brains, a dollar says -there’ll be something doing when Garvin looks up and sees himself -alone with the guy who cooked him.”</p> - -<p>“Hush!” I warned.</p> - -<p>A sudden stillness and tension seemed to have settled down on the -yacht. Above a hatchway aft I saw the heads of a pair of the crew -eagerly watching Garvin as his steps carried him toward Brack. In the -bow the cook and Simmons followed the captain with their eyes; and -from the bridge, Wilson, the mate, erect and stanch, looked down with -his calm, serious expression unchanged.</p> - -<p>And then they met. It was almost directly beneath where Pierce and I -sat. They stopped and looked at one another. I had the sensation of a -calm before a storm. And then——</p> - -<p>“Hello, cap,” said Garvin in a low voice, and I could see in spite of -his bandages that he winked. “How’s tricks?”</p> - -<p>Brack smiled.</p> - -<p>“All right, Garvin. How are you coming on?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’m all right.” Garvin stepped to one side. “Little thing like -that don’t bother me.”</p> - -<p>“Good!” Brack actually patted him on the shoulder. “You’re the kind of -man I want. I suppose you’ve taken worse beatings than that when it’s -paid you to throw a fight?”</p> - -<p>“——! That wasn’t even a knock-out. Just a little hot water. I’d take -more’n that to be let in on a job like this.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the way to talk,” said the captain heartily. “And this will -bring you more than any fight you ever won or lost.”</p> - -<p>That was all. They passed on, Brack toward the aft, Garvin toward the -bow.</p> - -<p>I looked at Pierce. He shivered slightly.</p> - -<p>“I feel cold,” he whispered.</p> - -<p>I looked up at Wilson. His eyes had widened a little. He swung around -and began to pace the bridge. He knew what his duty was; he would do -it no matter what went on between captain and crew.</p> - -<p>“It’s getting chilly,” said Pierce.</p> - -<p>We retired to the wireless house. Pierce shut the door and stared at -me.</p> - -<p>“Now what—now what do you make of that, Brains?”</p> - -<p>I shook my head. I, too, felt inclined to shiver.</p> - -<p>“Something’s wrong, Brains, something’s wronger than a fixed fight. -The captain’s framing something. He’s let Garvin in on it. What is -it—what is it? Can you dope it out?”</p> - -<p>“No. Perhaps you’re mistaken.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t talk that way; you know better’n that. Come to bat. Didn’t you -hear him say this’d get him more’n he ever got in a fight? Garvin’s -got thousands. The cap’s framed something, and he’s taken Garvin in. -Now, what is it? I’ve had a hunch something was going on. I’m all ice -below the ankles. What d’you s’pose they’re going to do? By God! I -wouldn’t put it past ’em to steal the yacht!”</p> - -<p>“Easy, Pierce,” I laughed. “People don’t do such things nowadays.”</p> - -<p>“‘People don’t’? D’you call Brack and Garvin ‘people’? Garvin’s a -gorilla and the captain’s—Brack. Come on. Brains, can’t you dope out -what they’re framing?”</p> - -<p>“Roll yourself a cigaret,” I advised laughingly. “If you’re so eager -to find out what Brack is planning, suppose we ask him?”</p> - -<p>“Don’t,” he sputtered, horrified. “Don’t do anything like that.”</p> - -<p>“Why not?”</p> - -<p>“‘Why not?’” he repeated, growing calm. “Oh, just because I kind o’ -like your company and I don’t want you to go overboard into the -briny.”</p> - -<p>I laughed. Pierce, I felt, was given to extravagant expressions.</p> - -<p>At dinner that evening I sat down resolved to lead the conversation -around to Garvin’s new-born docility, but, face to face with Brack, I -admit that I feared to attempt it. I was no match for him. His -terrible eyes, I felt, would have read the thoughts in my mind try as -I might to hide them, and I smiled and replied as best I could to his -sallies, and wondered in vain over what was going on behind that -gross, smiling mask.</p> - -<p>The weather grew suddenly rougher toward the end of the meal.</p> - -<p>“That’s the tail of it,” said Wilson in reply to my question. “Now -we’re getting the blow that has been chasing the rough weather down -from the north, where it’s been a lot worse than we’ve been having. -It’ll kick up hard for a few hours. Ought to die down and clear off by -tomorrow morning.”</p> - -<p>The smashing storm drove Brack and Wilson to their duties on deck. -Riordan went, too, presently, and while Chanler and Dr. Olson, -agreeing that the dining salon was the best place on a night like -this, ordered another bottle, I found an oilskin and sou’wester and -followed.</p> - -<p>As I stepped out on deck I wished for a moment to be back in the warm, -lighted cabin. The wind had increased to what seemed to me a tornado, -and the night was so dark that only in the beam of the <i>Wanderer’s</i> -search-light could one see the tossing water.</p> - -<p>The sea had changed with the rising of the wind, and in place of the -long, slow rollers, sharp, spiteful waves shot their crests high over -the yacht’s bridge, and with the driving rain which was falling made -the decks uncomfortable, even dangerous. I recoiled from the dark, the -wind and the rain.</p> - -<p>A gust of wind and a slanting deck swept me off my feet and sent me -slithering on my knees, gasping for breath, into the scuppers. I grew -angry. My anger was with myself. I was timid, and I was weak; and, so, -moved probably by some inherited streak of stubbornness, I forced -myself to my feet, forced my face to meet the wind and rain without -flinching, and so forced myself, much against a portion of my will, to -remain outside, with the warmth and comfort of the cabin only a step -away.</p> - -<p>The storm grew worse. A life-boat on the port side was torn loose from -a davit and swung noisily along the side. Through the brawl of the -storm Wilson’s voice rang out sternly, there was a rush of feet on the -deck and suddenly men were swinging the boat back to its place, making -it fast, while the wind and waves snatched at them hungrily. Then the -decks were empty again.</p> - -<p>The wind strove to force me back to the cabin, and with a new -stubbornness I refused to go. It was boyish, it was silly, but the -harder the wind blew, the more the spray drenched me, the more -determined I was to remain. I began to glow with the struggle.</p> - -<p>New and strange sensations came and went. I felt an inexplicable -desire to shout back at the storm. For the first time in years I was -thrilled by the impulse of a physical contest, and I fought my way to -the bow and stood spread-legged, leaning forward against the -wave-crests which drenched me. Then I went leisurely aft, hanging onto -the rail, denying the wind the right to hurry me. And in the noise and -darkness I all but walked squarely into Captain Brack and Riordan.</p> - -<p>They were standing in the lee of the engineer’s cabin. I did not see -them, for I was moving by hand-holds along the cabin wall when, in a -lull of the storm, I heard their voices and stopped.</p> - -<p>“You got a bad one, sir, when you picked Larson,” Riordan was saying.</p> - -<p>“Larson?” repeated Brack, as if trying to place the name. “Oh, the -young hand from the Sound boat? What’s wrong with him?”</p> - -<p>“He knows Madigan.”</p> - -<p>“——!” said Brack. “Is he the only one?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. I’ve sounded the others a second time to make sure. But Larson -knew Madigan in some little town up the Sound. What’s more he’s no -good to us. He’s ambitious and he’s working for a mate’s certificate, -got a good family, and he won’t keep his mouth shut. I know he won’t.”</p> - -<p>Brack made a sound in his throat like a bear growling.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes he will,” he said. “I’ll have a talk with him. He’ll keep his -mouth shut when he understands there’s something in it for him. He’s -one of the lookouts tonight, isn’t he? All right. Tell Garvin I want -to see him in your cabin in half an hour.”</p> - -<p>“Yes sir.”</p> - -<p>A door slid open and shut as Riordan slipped back into his cabin, and -I heard Brack’s heavy breathing as he came around the corner toward -where I was hiding.</p> - -<p>I retreated, swiftly and noiselessly, and slipped back into my -stateroom. All hope that Pierce’s interpretation of Brack’s -conversation with Garvin was wrong now had vanished. Brack was -plotting something, and Riordan was partner to it, whatever it was. I -did not sleep much that night.</p> - -<p>In the morning I went in to breakfast early and found Wilson sitting -staring at a cup of black coffee which he had ordered. One glance at -the gravity of his lean, brown face and I knew that something was -wrong.</p> - -<p>“What has happened, Mr. Wilson?” I asked nervously.</p> - -<p>Without lifting his eyes he said—</p> - -<p>“Lookout Larson was swept overboard and lost from his watch last -night.”</p> - -<h2>XI </h2> - -<p>I sat staring across the table at Wilson for many minutes before my -wits returned to me. The mate’s words seemed too awful to be true; -they seemed words heard in a hideous nightmare. Throughout the night I -had fought and denied the still whisperings of potential horrors -aboard which had striven for room in my thoughts; and here the -blackest depths of these horrors were realized by Wilson’s simple -words. For in my mind’s eye I did not see the picture that his words -should have conjured up: of a seaman swept from his post, falling into -the sea by mischance, drowning in the dark, without a chance to be -saved—I saw Brack talking to young Larson, I saw the brutal gleam of -Garvin’s bandaged eyes, I saw—Good God! I was afraid to admit to -myself what I did see.</p> - -<p>“Lost?” I repeated stupidly. “You mean drowned?”</p> - -<p>“Yes sir.”</p> - -<p>“Good God!” I chattered. “How can you sit there and talk about it so -calmly.”</p> - -<p>“I have followed the sea since I was fourteen, Mr. Pitt,” he replied -respectfully. “I have seen many men lost, good men, better men than -myself. The sea is hard.”</p> - -<p>“But how—how could it happen?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know, sir; it wasn’t in my watch.”</p> - -<p>As he rose to go he added, with a puzzled shake of his head—</p> - -<p>“He was a good seaman, too, Larson was, and a clean, sober young -fellow.”</p> - -<p>I was still too much of the coward, still too much the indoor man, to -face brutal facts honestly.</p> - -<p>“But it must have been an accident!” I said. “An accident might -overtake even a good and sober seaman.”</p> - -<p>“Yes sir,” said Wilson.</p> - -<p>“You don’t think it was anything but an accident, do you?”</p> - -<p>He thought for a while before replying.</p> - -<p>“Well, sir, Larson and the rest of the crew didn’t get on together. He -was from the Sound, you see, sir, and the rest of the hands, except -Garvin and the negro, were shipped at ’Frisco. Larson was different -from them, sir; he was young, and sober, and ambitious. He came from a -good family in Portland, and he had his whole life in front of him, -and he was living it so he was bound to rise, sir. He was a credit to -the <i>Wanderer</i>, Larson was, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Then you mean that the rest of the crew is not?”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t say that, sir.”</p> - -<p>“It was what you meant, though.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t say so. I said that Larson and the rest of the crew didn’t -get on together. He kept himself apart, and they saw he was too good -for them, and they had trouble.”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean by trouble?”</p> - -<p>“Well, for one thing he wouldn’t join their crap-game, and they had -words and Larson smashed a couple of their faces.”</p> - -<p>“Good Heavens, Wilson! You don’t mean to say that you think the crew -was responsible——”</p> - -<p>“No, sir. I don’t say anything of the sort.”</p> - -<p>He opened the door to step out.</p> - -<p>“Wilson!” I said. “Do you think everything is right on board?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t, sir,” he said promptly. “I would be blind if I did. But I -know that I am right, sir, and I know my duty to my ship.”</p> - -<p>Chanler came in for breakfast at that moment. He was apparently -pleased at something, but at the sight of our faces his expression -changed. He stood for a few seconds, looking first at Wilson, then at -myself, greatly displeased.</p> - -<p>“You’re a fine looking pair of grouches for a man to look at first -thing he gets up,” he said irritably. “Hang it! Here I’ve had my first -decent night’s sleep in months: get up feeling like a boy, by Jove! -And here you chaps greet me with faces that look like before the -morning drink. I won’t have it, you hear! You’re too sober both of -you, anyhow. Hang you water-wagon riders! Smile—you! Can’t you look -cheerful when you see I want it?”</p> - -<p>A slight flush showed beneath Wilson’s tan.</p> - -<p>“Not this morning, sir,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Hah?” Chanler looked at him, looked at me, with alarm in his eyes. -“What’s the matter? Eh? Whatd’ you know—what’re you so serious about? -Out with it, Wilson? What is it?”</p> - -<p>“Lookout Larson was swept overboard and lost in the dog-watch last -night, sir.”</p> - -<p>Chanler sank into his chair, actually relieved.</p> - -<p>“Hang it! Is that all——”</p> - -<p>“Good God, Chanler!” I cried springing up. “‘Is that all?’ Isn’t that -enough?”</p> - -<p>He looked at me, surprised and a little amused.</p> - -<p>“Hello! Getting excited, Gardy? I didn’t think you had it in you.”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t think you had this in you, Chanler!” I retorted indignantly. -“Didn’t you hear Wilson say that one of the men—Larson, a fine young -man—was drowned last night, while we slept?”</p> - -<p>He looked at me steadily.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I heard,” he said carelessly.</p> - -<p>“And you said, ‘is that all?’ And it was a relief to you. Did you -expect to hear something worse than that—that one of your seamen had -lost his life?”</p> - -<p>“Gardy,” he said softly, “who do you think you are talking to?</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” I said hotly. “I thought I knew you, Chanler. I find I -am mistaken.”</p> - -<p>“By Jove, Gardy!” he repeated. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, drop that! That’s a pose, Chanler, and this is no time for -posing. A man has lost his life from your yacht, and you are relieved -because that is all. What sort of a condition of affairs is this?”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t think you had it in you, Gardy,” he repeated. “No, I didn’t -think you’d dare to talk to me this way face to face.”</p> - -<p>“Dare!” I cried, and he sat up and looked at me strangely.</p> - -<p>“By Jove! Gardy, you’re growing. The sea air is doing wonders for you. -As for this chap—this hand—what’s his name, Wilson——”</p> - -<p>“Larson, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Larson. He was paid and paid well, and came on board of his own free -will.”</p> - -<p>“And your feeling of responsibility ends there?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“Feeling of responsibility? My dear, excited Gardy! What are we going -to have—a lecture on the responsibility of employer to employed, and -that sort of rot?”</p> - -<p>“No,” I said, “it would be wasted here.”</p> - -<p>“Sensible man. Wilson, you may tell Captain Brack to step in, please.”</p> - -<p>Brack came promptly, bustling in with a smile on his face.</p> - -<div style='height:1.5em;'></div> - -<p>“H’llo, cappy,” said Chanler indolently. “I hear we had an accident -last night.”</p> - -<p>“Yes sir.”</p> - -<p>“Well—” Chanler’s face was working angrily—“Well, after this if -anything unpleasant happens you give orders to keep it from me until -after breakfast, d’you hear? I don’t like to hear of unpleasant -things; I don’t like it. This—thing has spoiled my appetite for the -whole morning!”</p> - -<p>“Why not,” I said, staring hard at Brack, “why not ask Captain Brack -to prevent such accidents from happening?”</p> - -<p>“Hah?” Chanler started at the sound of my voice; I was startled at it -myself. Even Brack’s smile vanished. “What’s this, Gardy—some more of -your unpleasant rot? I won’t have it: I——”</p> - -<p>“For I am sure if Captain Brack utilized his great ability in an -effort to prevent accidents such as happened to young Larson, they -would not occur.”</p> - -<p>Not a shade did Brack’s florid face lose in color, not a flicker of -change showed in his eyes. But he drew himself up a little, and in -that moment I knew that my worst fears concerning the loss of Larson -were true.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt flatters me, I fear,” said Brack, smiling again. “I——”</p> - -<p>“You ‘fear’?” I said. “What do you fear? Have you any reason for using -the phrase, ‘I fear,’ Captain Brack? It sounds so strange on your -lips.”</p> - -<p>He looked at Chanler and back at me.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt flatters me, I think,” he said, his old smile back in place. -“Does that sound better?”</p> - -<p>Guilty! As guilty as the devil, he was, and I knew it; yet he stood -and smiled as if nothing was wrong in the world; not a thing troubling -his conscience.</p> - -<p>“Gardy, you’re—unpleasant company this morning, I must say that,” -interrupted Chanler. “Why, hang it! Captain, what d’you suppose he’s -been putting up to me? That I ought to feel responsible about this -hand, Carson, Larson, whatever his name was. Now he’s jumping on you. -You ought to be responsible too, I suppose. Gardy, you’re impossible.”</p> - -<p>The captain smiled upon me tolerantly. Chanler’s explanation of my -words and wafted away the whispers of suspicion.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt, having an exaggerated idea of the value of a human life, is -greatly upset by our accident. I appreciate his condition. If his -philosophy were less tainted with sentimentality——”</p> - -<p>“I might smile over the loss of a young, hopeful life? Thank you, that -is a mental level which I hardly hope to achieve.”</p> - -<p>I went out on deck and climbed up to the wireless house. Pierce -greeted me with a sorry shake of the head.</p> - -<p>“Gee! That was a dirty shame about poor Larson. He was the only white -man in the crew. If anything had to happen why couldn’t it happen to -one of the bums?”</p> - -<p>I saw that Pierce knew nothing that might make him suspect that -Larson’s disappearance was not accidental and I told him hurriedly of -the conversation between Riordan and Brack which I had overheard last -night.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my God!” he groaned. “The dirty dogs! Young Larson, as nice a lad -as you ever talked with, against Brack, and that gorilla, Garvin! Oh, -they’re a fine bunch of crooks, the bunch in this crew. As fine a -bunch o’ crooks as ever went to sea to duck the police. Brack and -Riordan picked ’em, you know, in San Fran’. Wilson’s all right, and -besides him I think they made just one mistake in their picking.”</p> - -<p>“How so?”</p> - -<p>“The nigger they got at Seattle. He’s a crook, too, but he certainly -has got it in for Garvin.”</p> - -<p>The rest of that day was a trying one to me. Save for Pierce, Wilson -and myself, not a soul on board seemed to have a single serious -thought about Larson’s disappearance. The weather had cleared; the -wind had shifted to the south and was only a gentle breeze; the sun -was shining; and to the rest of the company life aboard the <i>Wanderer</i> -seemed like a holiday.</p> - -<p>Chanler seemed both elated and impatient. At times he lolled in a -deck-chair and chaffed me good humoredly, and the next moment he would -be up, pacing the promenade nervously.</p> - -<p>“Gad! Time goes slow, doesn’t it, Gardy?” he exclaimed half a dozen -times during the day. “Well, we’ll have a little something to break -the monotony soon. The <i>City of Nome</i> will overtake us about nine -tomorrow morning.”</p> - -<p>And Captain Brack, as he heard, smiled secretively; and I wondered -what joke he might be keeping to himself.</p> - -<p>Next morning at dawn a rush of feet outside my stateroom put an end to -my efforts to sleep. I dressed and went on deck. A seaman came -hurrying past, running toward an excited group gathered on the -after-deck. I shouted to ask the cause of the excitement.</p> - -<p>“We’ve run a man down in an open boat at sea,” he called back, “and -he’s lousy with gold!”</p> - -<h2>XII </h2> - -<p>I followed the man, caught by the electricity of excitement which -seemed to dominate all on deck.</p> - -<p>On the after-deck of the <i>Wanderer</i>, near the rail, was a long settee, -and about this eight or nine men were grouped closely. In the half -light of dawn their figures loomed bulkily and strangely alike. As I -drew near I made out Captain Brack, Riordan and Garvin. Pierce was -there, too, I saw on closer scrutiny, in the center of the throng, -apparently as excited as any of them.</p> - -<p>A black figure, dripping wet, was lying on one end of the settee. I -saw that it was a man, and that Dr. Olson was bending over him, a -bottle of brandy in his right hand.</p> - -<p>“He’s coming to again,” said the doctor. “He’ll be all right.”</p> - -<p>No one paid any attention; not a man turned to look. They were bending -over something that lay on the other end of the settee, and so eager -were their attitudes that I, too, paid no attention to Dr. Olson, or -the man he was nursing, but crowded in among the close-pressed -shoulders for a sight of what the magnet might be.</p> - -<p>“Go-o-old!” the pugilist, Garvin, was repeating in awe-stricken -whispers.</p> - -<p>“Go-o-old! My Gawd! Look at it. And he said there was barrels of -it—barrels—where that comes from!”</p> - -<p>A water-soaked canvas bag, roughly slit open, was spread out on the -settee. What appeared to be a score or so of small pebbles was lying -on the canvas, beside what seemed to me to be a handful of sand; but -at that moment the first rays of the sun reached the <i>Wanderer’s</i> -decks, the pebbles and sand began to gleam dully, and I saw that I was -looking at a pile of gold nuggets and gold dust.</p> - -<p>“Two men to carry him below, cap’n,” came Dr. Olson’s voice from the -other end of the settee. “He’s all right; in surprisingly good -condition; but we’ve got to strip him and get dry clothes on him.”</p> - -<p>Not one of us turned our heads. The others were fascinated by the -gold, and I was fascinated by the expression on their faces. Each face -bore the same expression; to a man they had dropped such masks of -civilization as they possessed, and greed, pure, primitive greed, -shone frankly from their strangely lighted eyes.</p> - -<p>Life—raw and crawling! Brack’s words flashed through my mind. He was -right, then. Raw and crawling! It was the first time I had viewed the -souls of men, naked and unashamed of their nudity, and the vision was -appalling.</p> - -<p>“Schwartz—Dillon,” Captain Brack spoke over his shoulder. “To the -doctor. Jump!”</p> - -<p>The two men named withdrew reluctantly. I heard them marching behind, -bearing the dripping man below, but I did not turn to look. My eyes -were on Garvin. He was standing so that I had a fair view of his eyes -and his unbandaged mouth, and I stared in fascination, as one is -fascinated by something grewsome, which one has not believed possible.</p> - -<p>I became conscious that somebody was watching me. It was Brack. He was -smiling.</p> - -<p>“Raw and crawling, Mr. Pitt,” he said, reading my thoughts like print. -“You wouldn’t believe it when I told you; but there it is, all over -Garvin’s face. Now what do you say?”</p> - -<p>Garvin swung his head around viciously.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter with my face?” he snarled.</p> - -<p>“It is the face of a frankly carnivorous animal with a bone in sight,” -laughed Brack, “and it does not please our friend, Mr. Pitt.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, him!” said Garvin, turning back. “To —— with him.”</p> - -<p>“To —— with everybody!” growled another man. “Look at it—gold! And he -said he just scraped that up with his bare hands.”</p> - -<p>“And it’s only a few hundred miles away—the place he got it.”</p> - -<p>“And we’re going up north hunting bones, for thirty a month! ——!”</p> - -<p>“Enough!” With a swoop of his hands Brack gathered the gold into the -bag and stuffed it into his pocket. “Get out! Get below!”</p> - -<p>He swept them out of sight with a commanding gesture. They went, but -they looked back with threats in their excited faces.</p> - -<div style='height:1.5em;'></div> - -<p>“You have seen it now, Mr. Pitt,” Brack said, turning to me. “What do -you say now—is not life raw and crawling?”</p> - -<p>“As an exhibition of the primal instinct of greed the spectacle was -quite worth seeing,” I replied. “Now tell me what it was all about?”</p> - -<p>“This!” said he, striking the bag of gold in his pocket. “All about -this. For this the man whom we picked up in an open boat a short time -ago risked and all but lost his life. For this the men of the crew are -ready to cut the throats of any one who opposes them. And why? Because -it is gold. Because it is power; because it means the gratification of -all that is encompassed in—life.</p> - -<p>“So you see what is behind life, with all its veneer and politeness, -Mr. Pitt. The primal instincts, as you expressed it—raw and crawling. -You must excuse me now; I must go down and see the man we picked up. -If he should happen to die it would not be right to let the secret of -the source of this gold die with him. Besides, I want Olson to save -him. He can take Larson’s place in the crew.”</p> - -<p>I walked to the bow of the <i>Wanderer</i> and back. A new atmosphere -seemed to have descended upon the yacht. The movements of the men of -the watch, the sullen, slovenly manner in which they attended to their -duties, reeked with menace. It seemed to me that the decks of the -<i>Wanderer</i> merely hid a cauldron of seething elements, ready to -explode and destroy.</p> - -<p>Then Wilson came on deck to take the watch in Captain Brack’s absence, -and at the sight of his trig seaman’s figure I felt assured. There was -one man at least who had not lost his sense of duty toward ship and -owner. The yacht might be a mad-house, surcharged with dangerous -greed, but Wilson would do his duty as if nothing were out of the way.</p> - -<p>“Yesterday morning we had news of losing a man, this morning we pick -one up,” I said.</p> - -<p>“Yes sir,” he said, and looked at me narrowly.</p> - -<p>“A strange coincidence.”</p> - -<p>“Yes sir.” He looked at me again, and turned his eyes out over the -sea.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt,” he said after awhile, “yesterday you spoke of Larson’s -disappearance as if you believed it might have been something besides -an accident, and that things were not as they should be aboard. Well, -now I know that you are right; things are not as they should be on -this yacht.”</p> - -<p>“What have you discovered?”</p> - -<p>He took his time about replying.</p> - -<p>“That man never was picked up in an open boat at sea, Mr. Pitt,” he -said quietly. “The land where he claims to have come from is about six -hundred miles away. No small boat could have lived five minutes in the -storm we have been having, and that storm was stronger farther north.”</p> - -<p>He spoke as if he were stating an ordinary fact, and his calmness -helped me to control myself.</p> - -<p>“What does it mean, then, Wilson?” I asked as easily as I could.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know, sir. I’m a seaman; I can’t follow such a queer course. -I only know that this man was not picked up, after a long voyage as he -claims; because his boat could not have lived through.”</p> - -<p>“Captain Brack must know that, too?”</p> - -<p>“Any seaman who has sailed these waters in Springtime knows that, -sir.”</p> - -<p>“Yet Brack seemed to accept the man’s story as true. Oh!” I gasped as -I saw him smile. “Then it was Captain Brack who claimed to have picked -him up?”</p> - -<p>“I can’t discuss that, sir; Captain Brack is my superior. But I know -that what I have told you is the truth; and I thought it right you -should know.”</p> - -<p>“Why do you tell me, Wilson? Mr. Chanler is the owner.”</p> - -<p>“Yes sir.” He hesitated a moment, then added: “You are near to the -owner. You’ll tell him if you see fit.”</p> - -<h2>XIII </h2> - -<p>Chanler was in fine fettle that morning. He arose early, snatched a -cup of coffee for breakfast and came out to pace the deck, frequently -turning his glasses on the horizon over the yacht’s stern.</p> - -<p>“Greetings and salutations, Gardy!” he exclaimed as we met. “Down with -the long face, up with the merry-merry! Hang it, Gardy, get enthused. -Can’t you see I’m actually not bored this morning?”</p> - -<p>Captain Brack soon appeared with a detailed account of the new man’s -adventures. The man had been one of the crew of a sealing schooner -which had been blown far off its course and lost the Autumn before -with all hands, save our man and one companion.</p> - -<p>Clinging to an upturned boat they had been driven ashore in an inlet -which appeared on no map of Alaska to that date, a region so secluded -that the man called it the “Hidden Country.” The pair had wintered -precariously. With the beginning of the Spring break-up they had -discovered that in the upper reaches of a river running into the inlet -they had but to turn up the sand and find gold in quantities unheard -of.</p> - -<p>Rendered desperate by lack of food, they had set forth in their open -boat in hope of somehow striking the first steamers going North. The -man’s companion had died of hardships two days before. They had called -the inlet Kalmut Fiord, after the wrecked sealer; it was so well -hidden behind an island that a thousand boats might sail past and -never guess of its existence, never know there was a hidden country -there in which nature had hoarded a great amount of the stuff men -prize above all other things material.</p> - -<p>“By Jove!” cried Chanler, as Brack finished. “Sounds like a book, -doesn’t it? Have the beggar up, cappy, and let’s have a look at him; -let’s see the gold and hear his story.”</p> - -<p>We were sitting on the long settee in the stern at the time. A couple -of hands were working near by, polishing brass work.</p> - -<p>As word was sent below to bring the miner up, the number of men near -by gradually increased to half a dozen, and half of these loafed -around boldly, making no pretense at being occupied. They looked at -Chanler and myself with hard, insolent eyes. They did not fancy the -notion of going bone-hunting for wages while fortunes waited to be dug -from the sands of the nearest shore.</p> - -<p>I looked idly back over the yacht’s wake. On the horizon appeared what -seemed to be a peculiar cloud. I watched it curiously, and saw that -with each minute the cloud grew larger. It became a long smudge on the -horizon, and I was about to call Chanler’s attention to it, when——</p> - -<p>“<i>City of Nome</i> overhauling us, sir!” megaphoned Pierce from the -wireless house. “They say: ‘Heave to. Have passenger for you.’”</p> - -<p>“Ah, ha!” cried Chanler springing up, for the moment his blasé -countenance flushing with life. “Never mind about the gold-hunter, -cappy. We’ll have him another time. Just have Riordan shut down, will -you, and lay to for our passenger?”</p> - -<p>He started for his state-room, when, seeing the men lounging about, he -added:</p> - -<p>“Send ’em below, cappy. They look tough; they’d give any one a bad -impression. Simmons! Come here.”</p> - -<p>Not a man moved. No order was given as he had requested. Captain Brack -laughed shortly and went forward to the engine-room telephone.</p> - -<p>The men smiled with an evil showing of teeth at Chanler’s retreating -back. When he had disappeared in his stateroom they spat generously -upon the <i>Wanderer’s</i> immaculate deck, lounged over to the rail and -stood looking back toward the rapidly approaching steamer. I stared at -them with a sickening weakness at my knees.</p> - -<p>I scarcely noticed the steamer. For what had just taken place told as -plainly as words that Chanler no longer was master of his own yacht, -that the men, and Brack, had thrown off the cloak and were in open -revolt.</p> - -<p>The <i>City of Nome</i> came to a stop a good distance away to port. A -boat, well loaded with baggage, and with four oarsmen and an officer -in place, was swung briskly out from the davits and dropped into the -water. A slender, be-capped figure, sheathed in a coat that reached -from chin to ankles, flashed down the ladder and leaped to a seat in -the stern. Along the rail of the <i>City of Nome</i> ranged crew and -passengers, waving and shouting farewells. The passenger in the boat -stood up bowing, cap in hand, and at that a sharp-eyed seaman near me -blurted out:</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ll be ——! It’s a woman—a girl!”</p> - -<p>Wilson was standing near our lowered ladder, looking through his -glasses, and I hurried to him.</p> - -<p>“Was the man right, Mr. Wilson?” I asked. “Is it a woman?”</p> - -<p>“Yes sir,” said he and handed me his glasses.</p> - -<p>I placed them to my eyes, swept the sea until I picked up the boat, -and let the glasses rest on the passenger in the stern.</p> - -<p>The seaman was right; it was a girl. She was probably twenty-one or -two, and she was laughing. I had but a glimpse of her face, for as the -men pushed off from the steamer she leaned forward and spoke to the -officer in charge. The men stopped rowing. One of them let go his oar -and crawled forward, and the girl took his place and swung the long -oar in a fashion that brought cheer after cheer from the watching -passengers and crew.</p> - -<p>Chanler now emerged from his stateroom and took the glasses from my -hand. For several seconds he studied the girl in the boat as she swung -herself easily against the oar.</p> - -<p>“Gad!” he whispered excitedly. “Gad!”</p> - -<p>He looked around and saw the men gathered aft.</p> - -<p>“Wilson,” he commanded, “drive that bunch below. Where’s Brack? On the -bridge? All right.”</p> - -<p>I moved away, but he called: “No, Gardy, you stay right here; you look -civilized. I need you. Stay and get introduced.”</p> - -<p>I remained, but my interest was all for Wilson as he walked briskly -toward the lounging men. Brack had been ordered to send the men below, -and he had gone forward laughing, and the men had remained. Would they -obey the command of the second officer?</p> - -<p>Wilson’s first order was given in a tone too low for us to hear. In -reply the men grinned at him, and Garvin, through his bandages -growled—</p> - -<p>“Who the —— are you?”</p> - -<p>Wilson’s voice raised itself slightly.</p> - -<p>“I am one officer on board that you can’t talk back to or get chummy -with,” he said. “Get below or, by glory, I’ll show you what it means -to give slack to an officer. Move there! You—Garvin! Get below!”</p> - -<p>And they went. Bad men that they were, and in revolt, they were not -able to defy Wilson when his blood was up. Chanler looked up at the -bridge, puzzled.</p> - -<p>“I told cappy to send them below,” he said. “Why didn’t he do it?”</p> - -<p>“He gave no order at all,” I volunteered.</p> - -<p>George looked at me unsteadily, his tongue wetting his lips.</p> - -<p>“He didn’t give any order—after I told him to?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>He looked up at the bridge again, hesitated, and smiled carelessly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, what’s the difference? Here’s the boat. Ah! By gad!”</p> - -<p>The boat was alongside our grating and the girl was springing out. A -seaman offered to assist her, and she laughed and ran up the swaying -stairway. Half-way she stopped and threw back her head, looking up at -us.</p> - -<p>“Yo-hoo, George!” she called and came running up the rest of the way, -landing on the deck with a leap.</p> - -<p>“Oh, George!” she cried. “Isn’t it glorious!”</p> - -<p>She turned to the rail and waved her farewells to the sailors in the -boat. They touched their hats and rowed away, their eyes upon her.</p> - -<p>“And what a beautiful yacht you’ve got, George. And, oh! This -wonderful sea! Isn’t it all splendid!”</p> - -<p>She paused and looked at George carefully. The animation of her -countenance disappeared for a moment; something she saw disappointed -her.</p> - -<p>“You—you’re not—looking quite as well as you were, George,” she said -slowly.</p> - -<p>“I’ve been awf’ly lonesome, Betty,” he replied. “I—it was awf’ly good -of you to come.”</p> - -<p>“Good of me? Why, it was a privilege. It was too sweet of your sister -to invite me to come.”</p> - -<p>“No, no! Don’t—don’t say that. I—” He stopped confused. “Betty, I was -desperate to see you—just see you, you understand.”</p> - -<p>She reached out and took his hand impulsively.</p> - -<p>“You poor boy! And your sister, Mrs. Payne——”</p> - -<p>Chanler was tugging at his collar.</p> - -<p>“Here, here! I’ve forgotten,” he interrupted nervously, “Here’s -Gardy—Miss Baldwin, Mr. Gardner Pitt.”</p> - -<p>And Miss Beatrice Baldwin looked at me squarely for the first time. -Her look was frankly appraising. We shook hands. I do not remember -that we spoke a word. She looked up at George Chanler’s drink-hardened -face; her eyes turned again to me, and after awhile she looked away.</p> - -<p>There was a tiny up-flaring of lace about her neck. It was this -picture that stuck in my mind: the delicate femininity of the lace -collar, its suggestion of defenselessness, and, rising out of it, the -firm, white neck, the slightly tanned face, girlishly delicate, but -with the look on it of the outdoor girl who is not afraid.</p> - -<p>Miss Baldwin was not afraid. She stood firmly upright; for my eyes, -dropping in confusion, saw how the red rubber soles of her tan shoes -gripped the deck, and the strong slim ankles above them. Her chin was -almost childishly round, her hair was dark and wavy, and her mouth -seemed eager to smile. Yet there was a seriousness about her frank -eyes which told that while on the surface she might be a laughing, -romping girl, in reality the woman was full grown.</p> - -<p>There was a moment of silence while she looked out to sea and I looked -at the deck; and then the men come rushing back on deck. They had been -reinforced by two or three of their fellows, and with Garvin at their -head they came marching forward in determined fashion.</p> - -<p>At the sight of Miss Baldwin they paused. Some remaining shred of -respect for womanhood held them, and they stood, a compact, menacing -mob, some twenty feet away, undecided on their next move.</p> - -<p>“Come along, Betty, I’ll show you to your stateroom,” said Chanler -hurriedly.</p> - -<p>He led the way toward the unoccupied owner’s suite, the suite which -from the beginning had been furnished for her coming.</p> - -<p>Miss Baldwin hesitated.</p> - -<p>“But where’s Mrs. Payne, George?” she called.</p> - -<p>Chanler paused and looked away. “Well, you see, Betty, I was crazy to -see you, and—and, Sis’ took ill, and—” He pulled himself together in -desperation. “She didn’t come with us, Betty, that’s all there is to -it.”</p> - -<p>Miss Baldwin had stopped at the cabin door.</p> - -<p>“Then I am the only woman on board?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>I expected her to shrink, to demand that she be sent back to the City -of Nome.</p> - -<p>Instead, she looked around calmly, looked out upon the sea, at the -rough faces of the men who were staring at her curiously, at the free -sweep of the <i>Wanderer’s</i> deck and said with quiet resignation—</p> - -<p>“Oh, how jolly!”</p> - -<h2>XIV </h2> - -<p>Captain Brack and Riordan had joined the men by the time Chanler -returned from showing Miss Baldwin to her stateroom. The entire crew -of the <i>Wanderer</i> now was assembled, and Chanler ran his eyes -nervously over the group.</p> - -<p>“Cappy,” he said, “what is the meaning of this?”</p> - -<p>Brack stepped forward.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Chanler,” he said solemnly, “it has become necessary to tell you -that this crew will not go to Petroff Sound—directly, at least.”</p> - -<p>Chanler looked around. The men were standing in a semicircle about -him, watching him menacingly.</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?” he demanded. “Do you mean that you refuse to -fulfil your contract?”</p> - -<p>Brack shrugged his shoulders.</p> - -<p>“Oh, for myself, I don’t say,” he said. “Perhaps I would be willing to -go to Petroff Sound, even after picking up this gold-hunter. But that -doesn’t matter. I can’t sail the <i>Wanderer</i> without the crew, and the -crew refuses to go any place but to the hidden country at Kalmut -Fiord, where this man’s gold came from.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what we said,” supplemented Garvin. “Give us boats and grub, -if you want to, and turn us loose; or go with us in the yacht. But we -ain’t goin’ bonehuntin’ when there’s gold laying round loose so close -by.”</p> - -<p>An inarticulate growl came from the rest of the men. Too stupid to put -their plans in words they uttered a single, primitive sound which told -better than Garvin’s words what was working in their primitive minds. -They had seen gold; they had been told there was enough of it to make -them all rich; their sluggish desires had been aroused, and -consequently they growled.</p> - -<p>They were white men, as to skin, but they were savages at heart. And -into this company Chanler had brought Miss Baldwin.</p> - -<p>“Cappy,” said Chanler, falling back into his blasé manner, “what are -you trying to do? Do you mean to tell me that you’re letting this crew -walk over you? D’you mean to tell me that you no longer can run ’em? -Come, come! I won’t have such poppycock.”</p> - -<p>Riordan now stepped forward.</p> - -<p>“It is not only the crew that wants to quit, Mr. Chanler,” said he. -“I’m through, too. Here is our proposition: Kalmut Fiord, where this -miner came from, is about three days’ sailing due north. We want to go -there and take a look. If you’ll let the yacht go there, and we find -there’s no gold there, we’ll go on with you to Petroff Sound, and -there’s only a week lost, which you can dock from our pay. If you -won’t let the yacht go there—well, we’re going there anyhow.”</p> - -<p>Chanler laughed his dry, cynical laugh.</p> - -<p>“Cappy,” said he, “this is what they call mutiny in stories, isn’t -it?”</p> - -<p>“No, sir,” said Brack promptly. “Mutiny is the refusal of seamen to -obey their captain. None of these men has refused to obey me.”</p> - -<p>“Hah? Come again, cappy.”</p> - -<p>“I have given them no orders which they have refused to obey.”</p> - -<p>“You mean—you’re in with ’em, eh?”</p> - -<p>“I mean that it would be a crime against us for this expedition to -continue on its original course without first investigating, at least, -the story which the miner has told. There may be much gold there; -certainly there is some. You have more money than you need, Chanler; -we haven’t enough to make our lives comfortable.”</p> - -<p>“This voyage is a pastime to you; to us it’s a means of making a -living. The bones at Petroff Sound will keep. I have this suggestion -to make: that we alter the course of the yacht and go to Kalmut Fiord. -There will be more credit for you if you lead the way to a new gold -field than if you come back with a hold full of old bones. And it will -be much easier and pleasant, I assure you.”</p> - -<p>“You—you’re not threatening, cappy?” said George.</p> - -<p>“Not at all. I am merely asking you to see this thing from our point -of view.”</p> - -<p>“‘Our? Our point of view?’ You’re not one of the crew are you, cappy?”</p> - -<p>Brack did not reply.</p> - -<p>“What shall it be, Mr. Chanler?” he said curtly. “Petroff Sound or -Kalmut Fiord?”</p> - -<p>Chanler looked once more at the crew. He had no special reason for -going to Petroff Sound, but as he saw himself defied by his servants a -flare of anger showed in his eyes.</p> - -<p>“This may not be mutiny, but it is —— insolent, cappy,” said he. “I -can’t say I like it at all.”</p> - -<p>Garvin laughed. Chanler, looking at Brack, waved a hand toward the -pugilist.</p> - -<p>“Kindly have that man removed, cappy.”</p> - -<p>The captain merely smiled; the scene was pleasing him. Chanler swore -at him, and once more I saw that swift, terrible change come over -Brack’s countenance.</p> - -<p>“Careful, Chanler,” he said softly.</p> - -<p>“Careful! On my own yacht!” Chanler’s voice was strong, but his eyes -were wavering before Brack’s.</p> - -<p>I stepped to his side, and as I did so, Miss Baldwin, a shimmering -blue sweater in place of her rain-coat, and a tiny white tasseled cap -on her head, came running out of the cabin toward us. Her eyes were -taking in the <i>Wanderer’s</i> beauty and her nostrils were quivering with -excitement.</p> - -<p>“Oh, what a jolly boat!” she cried. “George, take me round; I want to -see it all at once.”</p> - -<p>Then she noticed the crew.</p> - -<p>“Why!” She looked at the threatening faces of the men. “Why, George, -what’s the matter?”</p> - -<p>Chanler laughed easily.</p> - -<p>“Oh, nothing much, Betty. We picked up a man in a boat last night with -a bag of gold nuggets on him, and he told a story about a new gold -field in a hidden country not far away, and the men want to go there -instead of to Petroff Sound, that’s all.”</p> - -<p>Her eyes widened.</p> - -<p>“Really, George?” she asked incredulously.</p> - -<p>“Really,” he said.</p> - -<p>“But—do such things really happen, picking up men in boats with bags -of gold on them?”</p> - -<p>“It happened this time, at least,” he replied.</p> - -<p>“Oh, how perfectly thrilling! A hidden country. And there’s more gold -to find in the place he came from?”</p> - -<p>“So the man says.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, George!” cried Miss Baldwin eagerly “let’s go to this hidden -country, and let me dig some gold with my own hands!”</p> - -<p>Chanler looked puzzled, then relieved. Here was a creditable way out -of an unpleasant situation, and his interest in Petroff Sound already -was gone.</p> - -<p>“Would you rather do that than go bone-hunting, Betty?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Of course. Wouldn’t you? Who cares for old bones? And think of the -thrill and adventures in exploring a hidden country and of hunting -gold!”</p> - -<p>Chanler turned and nodded curtly to Brack.</p> - -<p>“We go to Kalmut Fiord then, cappy.”</p> - -<p>“All right, men,” snapped Brack. They broke at his orders; he was the -captain again. “Full speed ahead, Mr. Riordan, please; I’ll take the -bridge myself.”</p> - -<p>He stood for a moment looking at Miss Baldwin. When George introduced -them she first looked at Brack’s brutal features and wonderful eyes as -casually as if he had been an ordinary member of the crew. Then her -look became interested. After awhile she blushed and looked away, -confused.</p> - -<p>Brack bowed, and spoke and smiled courteously, but as he hurried up on -the bridge there was a new look in his eyes. I could compare it only -to the look that was in Garvin’s eyes when he had seen the little raw -pile of gold.</p> - -<h2>XV </h2> - -<p>The <i>Wanderer</i> seemed galvanized into new life. The sullenness and -tension that had hung over her decks all morning vanished as a fog -vanishes before the rising sun. The men jumped to their tasks, -grotesque grins on their faces where truculence had reigned a moment -before.</p> - -<p>Down below decks the engines began humming, slowly at first, rising -steadily, until presently we were racing along at a speed that sent -the water hissing along our sides. On the bridge Brack paced -energetically, now speaking to the wheelman, now down the engine-room -telephone. Our course was changed so abruptly that we felt the impact -when the wheel went over, and minutes later we were holding steady and -true on a course nearly at right angles to the one we had been -following.</p> - -<p>“Ha!” said Chanler. “Apparently cappy knows where he’s going, and is -going there as fast as the old scow can travel.”</p> - -<p>Miss Baldwin, bracing herself against the breeze, laughed nervously. -Chanler reached down and took her hand. She looked up at him; then she -drew her hand away.</p> - -<p>I turned to go. A sailor, dragging a hose aft, blocked my way for a -moment and I was forced to hear what they said.</p> - -<p>“George,” said she, “tell me the truth; did Mrs. Payne ever intend to -come on this voyage? Or did you deceive me altogether?”</p> - -<p>“I—I had to see you, Betty,” he faltered. “I——”</p> - -<p>“Don’t say any more, please.”</p> - -<p>As I entered the cabin she was looking out over the sea. Chanler was -chewing his under lip and staring hard at the deck.</p> - -<p>I had barely settled myself in my stateroom to try to think coherently -on the events of the morning when Freddy Pierce slipped in, closing -the door noiselessly behind him.</p> - -<p>“It’s all right, Brains,” he said. “Brack’s too busy on the bridge to -pay any attention to me. Let me roll one before you say anything; I’m -forty miles up in the air.”</p> - -<p>“Pierce,” I said, as he manufactured his cigaret, “what sort of -message did Mr. Chanler send Miss Baldwin?”</p> - -<p>“Ah ha! You’ll let me tell you now will you? Well, he sent two kinds; -one from himself, saying Mrs. Payne was on board, and one that he -signed ‘Dora Payne’, inviting Miss Baldwin to come on this voyage. Oh, -it’s a fine piece of business, I tell you——”</p> - -<p>“Stop!” I said. “Don’t tell me any more; that’s plenty.”</p> - -<p>He drew strongly at his cigaret and blew a shaft of smoke at the -ceiling.</p> - -<p>“And a Jane—I mean, a girl like that, for anybody to do what Chanler -did! What’s his game, Brains? He isn’t so raw——”</p> - -<p>“He isn’t himself,” I interrupted. “That’s the stuff; stick up for -your pals. But, think of me. I had a hand in getting this girl on -board ship.” He rose and tramped the room. “Chanler must be crazy, -especially after this morning, to let a girl come aboard. Can’t he see -what Brack is? And what do we know about where we’re going now? It’s -bad enough for us; I’d blow the job myself if there was any way out -and it didn’t look like being a quitter; but for a girl like this to -be pulled into it, it’s a fine business—I don’t think!”</p> - -<p>“Pierce,” said I, “could we get that steamer to turn back to us?”</p> - -<p>“Sure—if Chanler would give the order. They know he can pay for their -time, even if they are carrying mail.”</p> - -<p>“Then you may have a message to send them soon,” I said, and went out -to seek Chanler and Miss Baldwin.</p> - -<div style='height:1.5em;'></div> - -<p>I did not find Chanler. Miss Baldwin was alone in a deck-chair under -the awning on the forward deck. She was sitting with her chin in her -hand, and to my surprise a look of relief came upon her face as she -glanced up and saw me. Before I could speak she said.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt, what has happened to George Chanler?”</p> - -<p>“Happened to Chanler?” I stammered. I tried to make light of it, but -the look on her face stopped the foolish words on my lips.</p> - -<p>“You know he is changed,” she continued. “What has done it?”</p> - -<p>“How do you mean he has changed,” I asked.</p> - -<p>“Don’t, please don’t try to deceive me?” She broke out. “I am not -blind. I can see he has changed, and I can see that your attitude -toward him is not what it would have been if he—if he were himself. -You’re an old friend of his?”</p> - -<p>“I have known him for several years.”</p> - -<p>“So he said. Then you know he has changed. Why, he was like a -good-natured boy last Winter; you couldn’t help liking him. And now he -is so different. What has happened to him?”</p> - -<p>I looked at her, and her eyes were frankly searching me for the truth. -The eyes were gray and very calm.</p> - -<p>“There is a change in him,” I admitted. “But I am still his friend.”</p> - -<p>Her eyes widened a little.</p> - -<p>“Do you mean by that that you can’t be my friend? Don’t you think I -have a right to know?”</p> - -<p>“Chanler has been very lonely——”</p> - -<p>“It’s drink, isn’t it?” she interrupted. “Don’t be afraid to tell me; -you can see I’m not afraid.”</p> - -<p>“He has been lonely,” I continued, “and therefore he has probably been -drinking more than is good for him. Now that you are here he will -undoubtedly become himself again.”</p> - -<p>“Do you think so, really?”</p> - -<p>“I do,” I said earnestly. “How can he do anything else now?”</p> - -<p>She rose and crossed over to the starboard rail. I followed. Looking -aft I saw Simmons hurrying into Chanler’s stateroom with a bottle -wrapped in a napkin, and Chanler’s absence was explained.</p> - -<p>Miss Baldwin did not see Simmons. She was looking down at the water -along our side. After several minutes she raised her head.</p> - -<p>“Poor George!” she said, “He’s never had to fight anything in his -life, so he’s handicapped. But we’ll hope, at least.”</p> - -<p>“Miss Baldwin,” I said vigorously, “it is not too late for you to -leave this yacht. We can reach the <i>City of Nome</i> by wireless. You can -return there now.”</p> - -<p>The look which she bestowed on me had nothing in it but surprise.</p> - -<p>“Leave the yacht now, just at the beginning of the voyage? Why do you -suggest that, Mr. Pitt?”</p> - -<p>“I thought,” I stammered, “I thought that after you had seen how -things are on board you might be wishing you were safely back on the -steamer.”</p> - -<p>“But—but you said my being here would help straighten George up?”</p> - -<p>I was silent.</p> - -<p>“Why did you suggest that I leave, Mr. Pitt?”</p> - -<p>“Miss Baldwin,” said I, “I do not wish to alarm you, but I do not -think this yacht at present is a place for a young woman to take a -pleasure trip in. It is Chanler’s place to tell you this, but I am -quite sure he will not do so.”</p> - -<p>“Go on,” she said, “you must explain fully now.”</p> - -<p>“Well, to be blunt, the yacht is in the hands of Captain Brack and the -crew.”</p> - -<p>“Yes?”</p> - -<p>“You saw Captain Brack, Miss Baldwin; I saw that you studied him with -interest.”</p> - -<p>“Yes!” she said eagerly, and at the sudden play of excitement in her -expression I once more felt the old familiar chill creeping up my -spine.</p> - -<p>The power, the fascination, the dominant will of Captain Brack -suddenly took on new possibilities. How would those terrible, -compelling eyes affect a woman, a young girl? How had they affected -her? For it was obvious that Miss Baldwin’s brief meeting with him had -left its mark.</p> - -<p>“He has,” said she, “such strange eyes.”</p> - -<p>“Miss Baldwin,” I said, “when you came on board the crew practically -was in a state of mutiny. Captain Brack sided with them. The crew is -composed of a choice lot of brutes, ex-criminals, who may do Heaven -knows what.”</p> - -<p>Miss Baldwin stood firmly upright and looked at me, her eyes alight -with excitement. Her thin nostrils widened and trembled.</p> - -<p>“Oh, how you thrill me, Mr. Pitt!” she said. “Tell me honest -truth—you’re not joking? Is it really true, about the mutiny and the -crew of choice brutes?”</p> - -<p>“Miss Baldwin,” I stammered. “Do you mean to say that you’re pleased -to hear this? That you’d wish to stay on board if I assured you that -we are practically in the hands of a crew of dangerous men, with no -knowing what sort of adventure they may be going on?”</p> - -<p>“Would I?” she cried promptly. “Why, it’s what I’ve been longing for -all my life.”</p> - -<p>“You—you have—what?” I stammered.</p> - -<p>She smiled mischievously at my astonishment.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt, who was it that said, ‘most men lead lives of quiet -desperation’? No matter. He should have included girls, too. Did you -ever think that we, too, sometimes might get tired of the hum drum -lives we’re born to and long for something wild to flavor our -existence?”</p> - -<p>“Good Lord, no!”</p> - -<p>“Of course, you haven’t. Well, possibly I’m different from other -girls. I don’t know. But I’ve always felt that if I had to live all my -life without one great adventure I—I’d burst.”</p> - -<p>“The great adventure for a girl,” said I severely, “is to love, marry, -and——”</p> - -<p>“Ah, yes! But somehow I seem to recall having heard that before.”</p> - -<p>A sea-gull, following the <i>Wanderer</i> in search of galley droppings, -swooped past us, struck the crest of a small wave with a splash, and -soared upward and away.</p> - -<p>“There,” she said quietly, “that’s what I’ve longed for; just once, to -be absolutely free. Do you understand?”</p> - -<p>I shook my head.</p> - -<p>“There is nothing of the adventurer in me, Miss Baldwin.”</p> - -<p>“Then why are you here; why don’t you leave the yacht?”</p> - -<p>“That’s different. I came aboard as part of the expedition. I remain -because——”</p> - -<p>“Because you are not a quitter.” She laughed gaily, then grew serious. -“I’m a queer bird, am I not, Mr. Pitt?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you have succeeded in startling me. When you came on board I -judged you to be the typical young girl of your class who has led so -sheltered a life——”</p> - -<p>“I have, I have! Oh, so—so sheltered! That’s why I’m wild to be -something else for once.”</p> - -<p>“So sheltered a life that you would shrink and flee when you -discovered that you were the only woman on board the yacht. And that -you would be terror-stricken when I told you the true state of affairs -on board.”</p> - -<p>She nodded with mock contrition.</p> - -<p>“I know. That’s what I should have done to be proper. But I can’t help -it, Mr. Pitt. I’m not afraid; I don’t want to shrink and flee; and I -do look forward to something different with unholy joy. Awful, isn’t -it? But it’s all so thrilling—the wicked crew, the mutiny, and—and -Captain Brack.”</p> - -<h2>XVI </h2> - -<p>Chanler came up briskly before we had time to speak further. His -dullness had given place to animation. It was apparent that he had -wasted no time while in his stateroom.</p> - -<p>“Let’s go aft, Betty,” he said. “There’s an awning up there, and -deck-chairs, and no wind. Come on.”</p> - -<p>I watched them as they went, he, nervous, with unsteady eyes, she, -calm, buoyant, strong. He leaned toward her and talked excitedly, and -I saw that she drew a little away from him.</p> - -<p>They did not sit down. I saw Chanler urging her, and she shook her -head and continued to walk to and fro, Chanler following. He was -talking and gesticulating excitedly. She looked at him long and -steadily once, then looked away.</p> - -<p>As I turned I found myself face to face with Captain Brack. He had -come down noiselessly from the bridge and was studying me with that -old superior smile on his lips.</p> - -<p>“Ah, you idealist, Mr. Pitt!” he said softly.</p> - -<p>“Idealist, Captain Brack? Why do you say that?”</p> - -<p>“It is in your eyes. It is in the position of your chin; it is all -over you. You are uplifted and exalted for the moment. You feel that -you really are something; you feel strong, is that not so?”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps.”</p> - -<p>“No, not perhaps, but positively. You feel at this moment that you are -a big, strong man; in reality you are—Mr. Gardner Pitt.” He chuckled -carelessly at the flush that came to my cheek. “I have been watching -you for some seconds, Mr. Pitt; I have seen you swell and think you -were growing. In your calm reason—for you can reason somewhat, Mr. -Pitt—you know that you are not growing; but for the moment you have -allowed your emotions to hypnotize you. You are a victim of your own -emotions. For instance—” he waved his thick hand toward the aft where -Chanler and Miss Baldwin now were promenading together—“you fancy that -in Mr. Chanler’s partner you have been looking at something wonderful -and fine. Is that not so?”</p> - -<p>“That is so, captain.”</p> - -<p>“Something above the common, raw, crawling stuff of life?”</p> - -<p>“Decidedly so.”</p> - -<p>“Something which it is not the sphere of reason to grasp, but which -the emotions alone can appreciate?”</p> - -<p>“Go on.”</p> - -<p>He laughed unctuously.</p> - -<p>“Then I have diagnosed your delusion accurately.”</p> - -<p>“Are you sure it is a delusion, captain?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Self-hypnosis. What you see is not there.”</p> - -<p>Betty turned at this moment so that her face was toward us.</p> - -<p>“What do you see back there, Brack?” I asked.</p> - -<p>He looked at her steadily; his head was lowered a little, and again -there was in his eyes the look comparable to Garvin’s when he saw the -raw gold.</p> - -<p>“I see,” said he slowly, without taking his eyes off Betty, “just what -there is there; a very fine, healthy young specimen of the female of -the species.”</p> - -<p>His words were like a dull knife on my nerves, but I controlled -myself.</p> - -<p>“Nothing more?” I asked casually.</p> - -<p>“No. For there is no more.”</p> - -<p>I laughed, and I was conscious of a sensation of relief. The man had -his limitations then, even though one glance from his eyes had left so -strong an impression on Miss Baldwin.</p> - -<p>“I feel sorry for you then,” said I. “You are to be pitied for your -lack of imagination.”</p> - -<p>He did not take his eyes off Betty.</p> - -<p>“No,” he said, “for that is enough to see. It is more than enough. A -fine young woman. Only once or twice in my life have I seen finer. Too -fine to be wasted on a silly ineffectual. Yes, too fine to be won -except by a man.”</p> - -<p>He swung around on me and said with a wink:</p> - -<p>“I have a feeling, Mr. Pitt, that an interesting voyage lies before -us. And—and a short time ago I didn’t think anything could interest me -much except gold—which means power.”</p> - -<p>“Do you feel that we are going to find gold at this alleged gold-field -in the alleged hidden country to which we are going?”</p> - -<p>“Naturally. Else we would not be found there now.”</p> - -<p>“Have you any positive reason for believing gold is to be found there? -Not that story of the alleged miner,” I hastened on. “You don’t expect -any reasoning being to accept that story as a reason. Have you any -real reason for thinking there is gold at this so-called Kalmut -Fiord?”</p> - -<p>His eyebrows raised a trifle and he smiled as one might at a child who -displays unexpected shrewdness.</p> - -<p>“You do not have much confidence in the miner’s story, Mr. Pitt?” he -asked.</p> - -<p>“The maundering of a delirious man,” I retorted. “Surely you would not -change the purpose of this expedition on such slender information as -that.”</p> - -<p>He ceased smiling for a moment.</p> - -<p>“I know that there is gold at Kalmut Fiord,” he said. “Does that ease -you?”</p> - -<p>“If I knew how you know there is gold there, I would be more -satisfied. And even granting that you know there is gold there—Captain -Brack, you will pardon me—but it scarcely seems in keeping with your -character to cheerfully sail a ship-load of people to this gold-field, -where they will have an equal chance with you to enrich themselves.”</p> - -<p>“No?” he said, and his smile was back in its place. “You have sounded -my character then, have you, Mr. Pitt?”</p> - -<p>“My dear captain! I am sure you hardly expect to impress even a casual -observer as a man who would freely invite a crowd to share a gold find -with him.”</p> - -<p>He laughed, nodding at me approvingly.</p> - -<p>“That isn’t bad, Pitt. The sea air sharpens wits. But have you ever -been in the North, away from police officers and courts?”</p> - -<p>“Never.”</p> - -<p>“Have you ever been in a spot where laws do not reach?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it is such a place that you are going to now, Pitt. You will -find yourself in a new world, in this hidden country, a world as it -was in the beginning, with the laws of nature the only ones necessary -to consider. In such places gold naturally is attracted to the -strongest man, no matter who digs it out of the ground. Gold, do I -say? Ha! All things to the strong in this place, Pitt. Nature’s law; -all things to the strong, and especially—” he looked again toward the -after deck— “women.”</p> - -<h2>XVII </h2> - -<p>My expressed faith that Chanler would straighten up now that Miss -Baldwin was on board was doomed to early destruction. George had sunk -further than his face betrayed, further than any of us had guessed. As -a matter of fact this probably was the first time in his life that he -had seriously struggled with a big problem, and the struggle had -exposed him in a fashion I had not thought possible.</p> - -<p>Twice that afternoon he left Miss Baldwin for short runs into his -stateroom, and each time he returned vivacious and aggressive. At -luncheon he was glum and distrait. Out of regard for Miss Baldwin he -had banished liquor from the table and he suffered without it.</p> - -<p>Captain Brack was not present at luncheon. He was too occupied between -the bridge and the engine-room. Riordan also was absent.</p> - -<p>“We are running at our maximum now, yes sir,” said Wilson in reply to -a question. “The captain is anxious to hold her so, and he is laying -the course himself.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know where we are going, Wilson?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“No sir. Our course is due north. We should strike somewhere on the -Kenai Peninsula, sir.”</p> - -<p>“What kind of a country is it there?” asked Betty.</p> - -<p>“No country at all, Miss. Entirely unsettled. A rough coast-line.”</p> - -<p>“Cappy apparently knows where he’s going,” muttered Chanler.</p> - -<p>“Yes sir,” said Wilson.</p> - -<p>“And nobody else does.”</p> - -<p>“No sir.”</p> - -<p>“And that’s what I call a situation to keep a chap from being bored. -What do you say, Wilson?”</p> - -<p>“I’m not easily bored, sir.”</p> - -<p>“You lucky dog!”</p> - -<p>“Yes sir,” said Wilson, and excusing himself went out.</p> - -<p>When Dr. Olson had done likewise Chanler looked long and lovingly at -Miss Baldwin.</p> - -<p>“Betty,” he said, as if rousing himself with an effort.</p> - -<p>“Yes, George.”</p> - -<p>“Betty, don’t you think you were an awful fool to come on a crazy trip -like this?”</p> - -<p>She smiled as if humoring him.</p> - -<p>“Why do you say that, George?”</p> - -<p>“Suppose folks should hear about it?”</p> - -<p>“What then?”</p> - -<p>“Betty—you—all alone on a yacht with me. What’ll folks think if they -know?”</p> - -<p>“They do know,” she said. “I told my folks and friends where I was -going.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but you told them my sister was on board.”</p> - -<p>“Certainly—as you told me.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, don’t rub it in, Betty. That’s past. But what do you think people -will think when they know she wasn’t on board, and that you came ’way -up here alone to join me?”</p> - -<p>She looked at him steadily. I half rose to leave, but a glance from -her eyes told me to remain. It was not a pleasant scene. I stared at -my napkin.</p> - -<p>“You see, Betty,” he continued, leaning loosely across the table, -“that’s what it will look like. Won’t it, Gardy?”</p> - -<p>I did not reply.</p> - -<p>“What will it look like, George?” she asked evenly.</p> - -<p>“Like you were chasing me.”</p> - -<p>She laughed, and her laughter was like a song-burst of wholesome young -life in the atmosphere of Chanler’s drink-drugged maundering.</p> - -<p>“Well, George, isn’t that what I am doing?”</p> - -<p>“People will talk, Betty,” he persisted. “It’s a bad situation—for -you. I—I’m sorry I got you to come here—no, hang it! I’m not. But I am -worrying about your reputation, Betty.”</p> - -<p>“I think I can take care of my reputation, George,” she said quietly.</p> - -<p>“Let me take care of it, Betty!” he cried hoarsely, taking her hand.</p> - -<p>“Please, George,” she said, smiling, as she rose.</p> - -<p>“Betty!” He clung to her hand.</p> - -<p>With swift, confident strength she drew her hand free, lifting him -slightly from his chair in doing so.</p> - -<p>“You’ll excuse me now, won’t you?” she said, and went to her room.</p> - -<p>Chanler flung himself back in his chair, laughing harshly.</p> - -<p>“Did you see that—did you see it, Gardy?” he said, as he pressed the -bell. “She doesn’t care if I do own this yacht. I’m nothing to her. -Oh, what a rotten trip this is going to be!”</p> - -<p>“Chanler,” I said, “sit still for a minute and listen. You have got to -pull yourself together. You have got to straighten out this mess. You -have got to show Miss Baldwin that you are the man she is hoping to -find in you. Buck up, man! Her hopes are pinned on you. She cares. Do -you think she would have come this far if she didn’t care? She has -done her share; she’s here. Now, for her sake, do your share. Pull -yourself together and be the man she has been hoping all this time she -would find you.”</p> - -<p>“Hooray!” he whispered mockingly. “Go on, Gardy; you’re the boy who -can say things. King’s peg,” he said to the steward who had come in.</p> - -<p>“Wait!” I said. The man stopped. “Chanler, you’ve been overdoing it. -You’re not yourself. You’ve done things that aren’t done; you’ve got -to sober up and straighten them out.”</p> - -<p>“Got to!”</p> - -<p>“Yes; as a gentleman you’ve got to. Miss Baldwin’s happiness—perhaps -her whole life’s happiness—depends on your being a gentleman from now -on. For God’s sake man! Isn’t it worth sobering up to win a prize like -that?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, leave me alone, Gardy,” he growled. “Don’t you think I know what -I’m doing? It doesn’t make any difference what I do now. I’ve lost -her. She wouldn’t have me no matter what I did now. I know it. Knew it -five minutes after she came on board. Saw it in her eyes. Felt it. My -hold on her’s slipped—just like that. Gone—forever. No use trying. -King’s peg,” he repeated, “and hurry.”</p> - -<p>I sat silent, rage and disgust choking me, while the man brought in -that terrible mixture of champagne and brandy in equal parts. Chanler -drank it in gulps.</p> - -<p>“Have some, Gardy? No? That’s right. Some men shouldn’t touch rum; -you’re one of them. ’Cause why? ’Cause you’ve got a conscience. Rot, -rot, rot! Got to straighten up, have I, Gardy? ‘Got to’ are words that -weren’t made for me, my boy.”</p> - -<p>“For God’s sake! Chanler, drop that sort of talk!” I cried, springing -to my feet. “If you knew what a sickening parody you are on the -gentleman you were at home, you wouldn’t put on airs.”</p> - -<p>“Not to me, Gardy, not to me can you utter such contemptuous words,” -he said harshly.</p> - -<p>“You be ——, you and your big talk!” I exploded. “Do you think you’re -entitled to any respect? Do you think I or any one else on board cares -who you are at present? Do you think your money is still a power? -Well, it’s not. It ceased to be this morning. Brack and the crew—Brack -especially—there’s the power aboard this yacht. And you’re disgracing -yourself and your class before them all.</p> - -<p>“First you lie by wireless to get Miss Baldwin on board, and now -you’re taking the easiest way, keeping drunk, because you’re not man -enough to face the situation sober—not man enough to make things right -for the girl who came here trustfully depending on you. Think of it, -Chanler; think who you are—of your family. Have one more try at -decency, at least. Chuck away that poison in your hand and let me call -Dr. Olson and get you straightened up.”</p> - -<p>He raised the large glass to his lips and drank the peg down without a -falter.</p> - -<p>“Gardy,” he said, setting the glass down, “you’re fired.”</p> - -<p>I laughed.</p> - -<p>“I like you, Gardy; you’re a dear old fellow,” he continued, “but you -mustn’t presume on our friendship and talk to me like that. I’ve got -to let you out.”</p> - -<p>“And I suppose I’m to pack my things and go?” said I. “Oh, come, -Chanler; wake up. Try to see things with sane eyes. I don’t care -whether I’m fired or whether we remain friends. We’re all on the same -plane for the present; you, Miss Baldwin, myself, we’re in the hands -of Captain Brack and the crew.”</p> - -<p>He shuddered nervously.</p> - -<p>“Don’t say such things, Gardy; I forbid them in my hearing.”</p> - -<p>“You’re afraid to hear them, you mean.”</p> - -<p>“Afraid or not, it makes no difference. They annoy me and I won’t be -annoyed. I won’t, you hear. Been annoyed enough on this trip. Here I -was waiting for Betty’s coming. Felt sure she’d have me if I got her -away alone, just herself and me. She comes, looks around. I look in -her eyes and bang! I see she won’t have me. Plain as print. Whole trip -useless. It’s a rotten world!”</p> - -<p>“You’re giving up without a struggle, Chanler?”</p> - -<p>“No use, my boy. I don’t like struggling, anyhow.”</p> - -<p>“But, Miss Baldwin is, at least your guest, on board your yacht. The -yacht is in the hands of Brack and the crew. Haven’t you thought that -this situation might develop into one that may be unpleasant and even -unsafe for Miss Baldwin?”</p> - -<p>“I have,” he said, signaling for another peg. “And I wish I was back -home in the big leather chair at the club, looking out on Fifth -Avenue.” He waved his hand drunkenly toward me. “I entrust—entrust -Miss Beatrice Baldwin—safety, pleasure, honor, rep’tation to you, -Gardy. Ha! There’s a bright little idea. I hire you again, Gardy. New -job. You—you see Betty safe and sound back to her folks.”</p> - -<p>That hour marked the beginning of Chanler’s eclipse. At dinner-time -Simmons reported him indisposed. During the next three days he left -his room but seldom. He had but one desire now: to eliminate himself -as a responsible factor in the storm of events about to break upon the -<i>Wanderer</i> and its people.</p> - -<h2>XVIII </h2> - -<p>Captain Brack was sitting in Chanler’s chair when we went in to dinner -that evening and Miss Baldwin’s place was beside him. Dr. Olson and -myself—neither Riordan nor Wilson had appeared—sat opposite.</p> - -<p>Brack was dressed with the care of a captain of a popular -trans-Atlantic liner, and his attitude toward Miss Baldwin was solely -that of a captain solicitous for his passenger’s comfort and pleasure. -The yacht might have been the <i>Mauretania</i>, our little party the -dinner crowd of the liner’s first saloon. Brack’s personality, -polished and radiant for the time being, his flashing conversation, -filled and illumined the room. It was difficult not to forget young -Larson as one sat beneath his spell.</p> - -<p>“An apology is necessary, Miss Baldwin, for my absence from luncheon,” -he said. “It is not etiquette to fail to welcome a passenger to her -first meal on board. It was necessary, however, that I stay on the -bridge until I was sure that the <i>Wanderer</i> had reached her limit of -speed and that we were holding true on our course. I have stolen -thirty minutes from that duty this evening to fulfil my social -obligation as captain.”</p> - -<p>“Then we are in a hurry, Captain Brack?” she asked.</p> - -<p>His eyes were upon her—those eyes with their compelling power—and her -manner was subdued.</p> - -<p>“The crew is in a desperate hurry, Miss Baldwin,” he said with one of -his flashing smiles. “Men are always in a hurry when they hear of -gold. And, really—” he bowed to her deferentially—“we have much to -thank you for, Miss Baldwin, for relieving a tense situation this -morning. I do not mean that there was the slightest danger of any -trouble. No, no! But the situation was a trifle uncomfortable when you -appeared and voted that we go hunting for gold instead of bones.” He -laughed softly. “I have wondered why you did that, Miss Baldwin; is it -presumptuous to ask?”</p> - -<p>Miss Baldwin toyed with her spoon.</p> - -<p>“I thought that this—going gold-hunting—was so much more alive.”</p> - -<p>“Good!” he said earnestly. “That is why I voted for it, too. To be -alive while we are living—that is more important than to unearth old -skeletons. Isn’t that your idea, Miss Baldwin?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she said with a strange smile.</p> - -<p>“And to be alive means to live in the open, free and untrapped.”</p> - -<p>She looked up at him, and by her expression I knew that she saw only -his eyes.</p> - -<p>“You don’t look as if you would be contented indoors, captain,” she -said with a little laugh.</p> - -<p>“Are you?” he said, and looked straight at her.</p> - -<p>She smiled in puzzled fashion without replying.</p> - -<p>“No, you are not,” he answered for her. “For you are very, very much -alive, and so must naturally have longings for the free life, which -means life outdoors. Am I not right?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Life—we can make it a free, glorious thing, or a gray, trapped -affair, just as we choose. It is all a matter of courage. There is -still much room in the world. It is not crowded except in spots. If we -choose to remain in one of those crowded spots, or rather, if we are -afraid to leave them, we must, of necessity, become one of the gray, -trapped crowd, existing through a certain span of years without ever -knowing what it is to be truly alive. But in the great open spaces -people live—they are alive. They are natural, they are hand-in-hand -with Nature, and Nature gives them more reward for living than does -what man calls civilization.</p> - -<p>“As one who has lived under both conditions, Miss Baldwin, I assure -you that it is only in the uncrowded spaces that man may get close -enough to the root of Life to experience the sensation of immortality. -Haven’t you felt something like that yourself?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she said again, and her eyes were puzzled and full of wonder.</p> - -<p>“You will learn,” he said, nodding his head gravely. “You are one of -those who will learn quickly the message that the open has for you. -You are free-born. You would not be here unless the call to freedom -had come to you. Isn’t that so?”</p> - -<p>“I—I have always longed for an experience like this. How did you -know?”</p> - -<p>“It is written upon you as plain as print; you are finding your true -sphere. Tell me truthfully: do you not at this moment feel stirred as -you never did before in your life?”</p> - -<p>She looked up at him quickly; it seemed as if he had frightened her.</p> - -<p>“How could you know that?” she faltered.</p> - -<p>He smiled, leaning toward her, his eyes holding hers.</p> - -<p>“That and many more things you will learn, Miss Baldwin,” he said -impressively. “You are beginning a new life. The new impulses you feel -are the commands of your true spirit, stricken free of the bonds of -civilization. Obey them. Remember, they are your true self; there can -be for you no realization of the full possibilities of life save along -the way they lead you. There is hidden country in all of us, and until -we explore it we don’t know what it is to live.”</p> - -<p>He sat back in his chair, smiling, satisfied.</p> - -<p>“And now you must excuse me; my thirty minutes are up and I have -promised Riordan thirty minutes to dine.” As he bowed and rose his -glance went across the table to me. “Now, Mr. Pitt, I will wager, -never has felt a call to be free—to explore any hidden country.”</p> - -<p>I did not reply.</p> - -<p>“No, Mr. Pitt is not one of us. But, Miss Baldwin,” he concluded, -bending over her as he passed out, “you are. Your true life is about -to begin.”</p> - -<p>And she followed him with her eyes as he left the room, though there -was that in her expression which suggested that she did so -unwillingly.</p> - -<p>“Ah!”</p> - -<p>The faintest exclamation of relief escaped her lips as the captain -disappeared. She sank back in her chair as if suddenly released. She -looked around; our eyes met. She excused herself in a dazed sort of -fashion and went to her room.</p> - -<div style='height:1.5em;'></div> - -<p>Hours afterward I was pacing the deck. It was another pitch-dark -night, and to one fresh from the glare of New York, the darkness was -well-nigh appalling. The <i>Wanderer’s</i> searchlight seemed only a thin -knife-gash, parting the darkness before us. On either side of its beam -the blackness of night stood like a wall. There were no stars to be -seen above. East, north, south and west, naught but the dead night; -below, only the hiss of unseen waters through which we were rushing -toward—what?</p> - -<p>I shuffled to and fro on the deck, caring neither where nor how I was -going. The scene between Brack and Miss Baldwin at the dinner-table -repeated itself again and again, each time with a new, sinister -significance. I know what power lay within Brack’s eyes. Had they not -roused me and thrilled me and made me fighting mad, which was exactly -what Brack, in idle sport wished to do? What would be the effect of -his will, gleaming through his glances, on a woman, on a young, -inexperienced girl like Miss Baldwin? For after all, she was nothing -but an inexperienced girl. Yes, I told myself, she was so -inexperienced, so ignorant, through the sheltered life she had lived, -that she did not know enough to recognize a distressing situation when -she met it. She was brave because she didn’t have sense enough to be -cautious.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt,” called a voice softly, “is that you?”</p> - -<p>I swung around. I was near a cabin porthole and by its light I made -out Miss Baldwin coming toward me.</p> - -<p>“I’m glad,” she said. “Don’t stop, please; let us walk.</p> - -<p>“I came out,” she continued, as we fell into step, “because I didn’t -like to be alone.”</p> - -<p>“Why not?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know. I seemed lonesome. It was nice to come out here and -find you.”</p> - -<p>I made no response, and our walk was silent for a long time.</p> - -<p>“I wanted to speak to you about something,” she said at last, “about -Captain Brack.”</p> - -<p>“Yes?”</p> - -<p>She hesitated.</p> - -<p>“Is—is he as wonderful as he seems?”</p> - -<p>“Captain Brack is a remarkable man,” I replied.</p> - -<p>“I thought he was wonderful when he was speaking,” she said -falteringly. “But when he was gone I—it seemed different.”</p> - -<p>“How different?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know just. I loved to listen while he was talking. But after -he’d gone I felt relieved. It frightened me a little. That’s why I -came out. What do you know about him?”</p> - -<p>I was at loss for a reply. To tell her what I knew of Brack, of my -first sight of him in the Seattle saloon, of what I had learned aboard -the <i>Wanderer</i>, would serve to alarm her in an uncomfortable manner.</p> - -<p>“Chanler selected him as his captain,” I said.</p> - -<p>She gave an impatient toss to her shoulders as we walked on.</p> - -<p>“Oh, that doesn’t mean anything. What sort of a man is he?”</p> - -<p>“Very strong.”</p> - -<p>“I know that.”</p> - -<p>“Very capable.”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“And entirely unscrupulous.”</p> - -<p>She nodded her head, not in the least surprised.</p> - -<p>“I thought so,” she said.</p> - -<p>There was a moment of silence. We heard the murmur of waters against -our bows.</p> - -<p>“He’s something like that,” she said, pointing out over the dark sea. -“A blind, remorseless force; isn’t he?”</p> - -<p>“But more subtle.”</p> - -<p>“Oh! Is he?”</p> - -<p>“As subtle as he is strong.”</p> - -<p>She gave a little gasp, as if she had caught herself in an error.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t know that. I didn’t realize—I must be going in. You’ll -excuse me. Good night, Mr. Pitt. Pleasant dreams.”</p> - -<p>Pleasant dreams! It was past one in the morning before I ceased my -troubled pacing of the <i>Wanderer’s</i> promenade, and such sleep as -weariness finally brought to me was beset by a jumble of nightmares, -dominated by Brack’s eyes and smile.</p> - -<h2>XIX </h2> - -<p>After breakfast next morning I went to see Chanler. He was sitting up -in bed, and he had changed greatly overnight. His face was puffed and -gray-looking, and the swollen eyelids were parted only enough to -disclose a slit of blood-shot eyes. Dr. Olson was with him, -whisky-glass in hand, but he was watching Chanler shrewdly.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got him filled up with bromides,” whispered the doctor to me. -“If we can’t get him to sleep he’ll have the D. T.’s.”</p> - -<p>Chanler slowly turned his head toward me and endeavored to open his -eyes wide. The effort was too much for him and his face became -distorted with a drunken smile.</p> - -<p>“There he is—li’l Gardy, the foe of rum,” he murmured sleepily. “Model -young man. Gardy, know wha’ I’d like see? Like see you stewed to -zenith. Like see you spiff-iflicated. Oh, wha’ ’n ez’bition you’d be! -Horr’ble, horr’ble!” He shook his head slowly. “Nay, nay! Don’ catch -Gardy spiff-iflicated. Don’ catch Gardy putting things in’s brain to -steal his mouth away, do they, Gard’? Noshirr-rr! Noshir-r! Let George -do ’t, eh, Gardy? Let George—let——”</p> - -<p>His head fell forward. With an effort he raised it, but his eyes were -closed.</p> - -<p>“Gardy—you—you——”</p> - -<p>He collapsed slowly upon the pillow and was sound asleep.</p> - -<p>Dr. Olson set his glass down and wiped his forehead.</p> - -<p>“That’s good,” he said. “But he’s going to be a very sick man.”</p> - -<p>“Of course,” I said. “But now that you have got him asleep we are -going to stop his drinking and get him straightened up.”</p> - -<p>The doctor looked at Chanler’s puffed face.</p> - -<p>“What’s the use?” he said with a shrug of his thin shoulders. -“Besides, he doesn’t want to do anything of the sort.”</p> - -<p>“What he wants doesn’t matter,” I insisted. “He’s got to be -straightened up. What can you do for him?”</p> - -<p>The little man looked at me with a weary smile.</p> - -<p>“Why this eagerness, Pitt? If I put Chanler on his feet——”</p> - -<p>“Then that’s settled,” I interrupted. “You admit you can put him on -his feet, therefore you’ve got to do it. Your word?”</p> - -<p>“My word,” he said solemnly, and went to work.</p> - -<p>Miss Baldwin was waiting for me as I came from Chanler’s stateroom.</p> - -<p>“I saw you just as you went in,” she said. “Well?”</p> - -<p>“He’s sleeping now,” I replied. “He’ll be all right—or, at least -better—when he wakes. George will straighten up.”</p> - -<p>She looked at me in that wonderful quiet way of hers.</p> - -<p>“Are you so loyal to all your friends, Mr. Pitt?” she said.</p> - -<p>“George will straighten up,” I repeated. “He is in Dr. Olson’s hands. -He will make amends when he is himself again.”</p> - -<p>She turned away, a wistful—perhaps bitter—smile faintly touching her -lips.</p> - -<p>“Miss Baldwin!” I cried apologetically. “Have I said anything to hurt -you, to give you pain?”</p> - -<p>“You?” she said, smiling brightly. “Of course you haven’t. How could -you think that? I—I merely happened to think of how different George -was a few months ago. No, no! Don’t grow sad out of sympathy, please, -Mr. Pitt. I’m not unhappy. Do I look it? I cared for George. I know it -now. Maybe I could have learned to care for him deeply if he had cared -for me truly. But he didn’t, and I’m glad I found it out.”</p> - -<p>“You mustn’t say that, Miss Baldwin. You must give him another chance -when he’s himself again.”</p> - -<p>“Loyal Mr. Pitt!” she laughed. “Well, I can scarcely help giving -George another chance, can I? Here on the same yacht with him. Mr. -Pitt, I’ll bet I know what you think of me?”</p> - -<p>“And that is?”</p> - -<p>“That I’m an awful fool to be here?”</p> - -<p>I smiled.</p> - -<p>“I knew it!” she cried.</p> - -<p>“You’re wrong!” I protested. “I do not think so at this moment.”</p> - -<p>“But you have thought so?”</p> - -<p>“I have thought you—well, not quite as cautious——”</p> - -<p>“Prevaricator! You’ve thought: ‘What sort of a silly madcap is this -girl!’ I know it. Well, I guess you’re right. It was a foolish thing -to do; it’s foolish to be glad at the prospect of adventure. Other -girls wouldn’t do it. They wouldn’t think of it. They’d think a girl -queer who did. That proves it’s foolish, doesn’t it? It isn’t done. I -can’t help it, though; I’ve needed something like this.”</p> - -<p>“It is the day of restlessness among American women,” I said -fatuously.</p> - -<p>“Restlessness? Is it? Yes, I suppose it is. But my restlessness -doesn’t take the regular, honest truth road, you know. Lots of my girl -friends have felt they wanted to do something, but they’ve wanted to -go suff’ing, or paint, or write, or teach folk-dances, or something -like that. I didn’t, not any more than I wanted to be considered a -doll in pretty clothes all my life.</p> - -<p>“I wanted to break away. Well, I did. Here I am. And, scandalous as it -may sound, I’m enjoying every minute. Now, Mr. Pitt, there’s my whole -confession. I have acted foolishly, and I know it, but really, I feel -as if I had broken loose from something that had held me down. I feel -as if it was the beginning of a new life for me—of my real life.”</p> - -<p>“A new life?” I said. “Why, that’s what Captain Brack said last -night.”</p> - -<p>She looked away.</p> - -<p>“Yes, so he did,” she said slowly.</p> - -<p>And I thought she shivered a little.</p> - -<div style='height:1.5em;'></div> - -<p>I am afraid I cursed poor George Chanler in unchristian fashion during -the rest of that run up to Kalmut Fiord. For during those days Captain -Brack wooed Miss Baldwin steadily. At each meal he sat at her side; -his eyes were upon her, his magic words were for her alone. And even -while he spoke to her I saw in his eyes that terrible, ruthless look I -knew so well.</p> - -<p>“What does the hidden country of Kalmut Fiord hold?” he speculated one -evening. “Ah, Miss Baldwin, if we knew our interest would be -discounted. It is a primitive spot, surely; a primal piece of earth. -Let us pray that it holds Romance, without which there can be no -beginning of a new life.” Once more he repeated: “Hidden country! -There’s some in all of us, and until we explore it we don’t live.”</p> - -<p>The effect of his efforts was apparent upon Miss Baldwin. She seemed -to dread each meeting with him, yet she sat beneath his spell in a -state of fascination. So I cursed poor Chanler. Had he been the man -Miss Baldwin had hoped she would have had no attention for Brack.</p> - -<p>Near dusk on the third day after changing our course we sighted land -over our bows, a tiny gray smudge on the horizon. Our speed was cut -down to a crawl at once. The captain, after studying the land through -his glasses, ordered our course changed to west by nor’west, and -through the thickening darkness we moved at a foot-pace, gradually -drawing nearer a harboring, fir-lined coast line.</p> - -<p>That night, while most of us slept soundly, we slipped into Kalmut -Fiord. The cessation of the yacht’s motion aroused me in the morning, -and half awake I dressed and stumbled out on deck to learn the cause.</p> - -<p>In the darkness I had a jumbled impression that the <i>Wanderer</i> was -lying in a small lake surrounded by a circle of small, craggy -mountains. Then, my senses clearing, I realized that I had stepped -into the midst of events of sinister portent.</p> - -<h2>XX </h2> - -<p>It was still too dark to gather an accurate impression of the yacht’s -surroundings, yet light enough to make out what was going on directly -before me. A number of sailors were dropping two of the port -life-boats into the water. They worked eagerly and cautiously, like -men in haste and with a desire for silence. A block, carelessly -handled, swung with a clang against one of the davits and a subdued -voice cursed the guilty man for his clumsiness.</p> - -<p>“Don’t do that again.” Through the darkness and morning fog the -whisper sounded like a threat of murder. “Now over with those -sea-ladders.”</p> - -<p>The voice was Brack’s.</p> - -<p>“All right here Foxy,” said another low voice as the second boat was -dropped with little noise into the water. “Let ’em come.”</p> - -<p>This was a new voice to me. It was not Riordan’s nor Garvin’s, nor -Wilson’s, yet it had in it a note of authority which did not belong to -any of the sailors. I was further puzzled because I seemed to have -heard it somewhere before.</p> - -<p>“Bring them up, Garvin. Hurry; we’ve got to be up there before it’s -light.”</p> - -<p>Brack was speaking again in a loud whisper. Garvin’s great bulk -slipped past me toward the after deck, his feet shuffling along the -deck to make as little noise as possible. He was breathing swiftly and -heavily as a man breathes under the stress of great excitement.</p> - -<p>I now saw that the captain was standing at one of the sea-ladders and -at the other was a man whose figure I did not recognize as belonging -to any of the men on board. It was a spare, wiry figure, with a poise -that belonged to no ordinary sailor. I moved a little closer. Now I -saw that the man carried a rifle in the hollow of his arm. I looked at -Brack; he was armed likewise.</p> - -<p>That movement proved my undoing.</p> - -<p>“Who the devil’s that?” demanded the wiry man hoarsely.</p> - -<p>Brack leaned forward and looked at me steadily for several seconds.</p> - -<p>“Don’t you sleep soundly, Pitt?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Not very,” I replied.</p> - -<p>He continued to look at me steadfastly. Presently he began to grin.</p> - -<p>“That is unfortunate for you,” he said at last.</p> - -<p>“Surely not,” said I. “Had I been sleeping soundly this morning I -would have missed the sight of all this mysterious preparation.”</p> - -<p>He chuckled ominously.</p> - -<p>“Had you been sleeping soundly—” he began and stopped. “All right, -men. Hurry.”</p> - -<p>A file of men came slipping up from aft. They moved with their bodies -crouched far over and stepped softly. I heard their excited breathing -as they drew near. And each of them bore in his hands a rifle.</p> - -<p>“Four in this boat; four in the other,” commanded Brack. “Get down -there without any noise.”</p> - -<p>Garvin started to tumble over the side with the rest of the men; but -Brack stopped him. They whispered together, and Garvin again went aft.</p> - -<p>The men were all in the boats now and Brack and the new man stood at -the ladders waiting to follow. The new man had his back toward me. He -was speaking to the captain.</p> - -<p>“Who the devil is this guy, Foxy?” he whispered. “I thought we were -going to make a clean getaway.”</p> - -<p>“Pitt,” said Brack, “step up and meet the gold-finder, the man whose -story you didn’t think a good excuse for coming here.”</p> - -<p>I stood where I was, but the man turned and took a step forward to -have a better look at me, and then I knew why his voice had puzzled -me. The man was Madigan, whom I had seen quarreling with Brack back in -Billy Taylor’s saloon in Seattle.</p> - -<p>Perhaps some instinct had warned me to be prepared for a shock, for I -looked Madigan over without betraying the rush of thoughts with which -my mind was seething. In a flash the whole of Brack’s scheming, from -the time he had met Chanler in San Francisco to the present moment, -was made plain. He had influenced Chanler to purchase the <i>Wanderer</i> -and go north; he had engaged Madigan to hide away on board and play -the wrecked miner at the proper moment; he had brought the <i>Wanderer</i> -into the bay at night; and he was now starting out—for what?</p> - -<p>I managed to smile as I glanced significantly at the rifles which both -men carried.</p> - -<p>“And are you going gold-digging now, Captain Brack?” said I. “I -thought picks and shovels were the proper utensils for mining.”</p> - -<p>“Much easier to let others use them,” said he. “Much more satisfactory -to use this—” he patted his rifle—“after others have used the picks -and shovels. As you soon shall see, Mr. Pitt.”</p> - -<p>“I——”</p> - -<p>He lifted his right hand as if for a signal. Quicker than any normal -thought of mine, instinct whispered the imminence of danger.</p> - -<p>I ducked and crouched low before Brack’s signal was completed, and a -fist grazed the top of my head from behind and a hand—Garvin’s—caught -hold of my left arm. Terror drove me to action.</p> - -<p>As instinctively as any attacked animal whirls upon its assailant, I -turned on Garvin, sweeping my arms around wildly. He had expected no -resistance, and one of my fists thudded viciously into the middle of -his throat. He gurgled in strange fashion, throwing his head far back, -and I struck him again, struck with a strength which I had not dreamed -that I possessed. I saw him staggering, and turned to run.</p> - -<p>Madigan leaped nimbly to block me. I dodged back, but the captain was -there, so I turned to Madigan. He was on me with a rush; we clinched, -struggled, fell, and got up again. This continued for some time. Then -a great weight seemed to drop on the back of my head and my knowledge -of what was happening ceased suddenly.</p> - -<h2>XXI </h2> - -<p>My next moment of consciousness consisted of a sensation of -helplessness. I was awake; I heard sounds vaguely; but I could not -see, nor could I move.</p> - -<p>“There.” A voice seemed to speak from a far-away darkness. “He’s -coming to; you didn’t kill him after all, cap.”</p> - -<p>I felt something strike me heavily in the side.</p> - -<p>“Yes. He’s coming to. Prod him again. —— him! He delayed us, and every -minute counts.”</p> - -<p>Once more the heavy blow fell on my side. I opened my eyes wearily. -Painfully turning my head I looked toward my side and made out a heavy -boot. Some one had been kicking me. My eyes moved up the boot; Garvin -was its owner. The sight of his gross face brought back memory and -consciousness. There was blood on his mouth; in the lower lip was a -long cut, and I was glad.</p> - -<p>Garvin was staring at me with a mingling of curiosity and respect in -his expression.</p> - -<p>“Where the —— did you learn that punch in the Adam’s apple?” he said. -“That’s a new one to me. And, say, you’re quick; quickest man I ever -see; and you’re all there for a middle-weight, bo.”</p> - -<p>“Who hit me in the back of the head?” I demanded weakly. “That was a -cowardly blow.”</p> - -<p>I heard a growl somewhere which I recognized as Brack’s.</p> - -<p>“We were in a hurry,” he said, “and you would not give us a chance to -handle you gently. You delayed us. That may be serious.”</p> - -<p>I strove to rise and struck my chest against a board. I was conscious -of a rhythmic motion, and a dull, squeaky sound, repeated without -cessation. My senses cleared. I turned my head. I was lying under a -seat in one of the life-boats and the boat was being rushed onward -under the impulse of eagerly pulled oars.</p> - -<p>“What’s this?” I groaned. “What sort of an outrage is this?”</p> - -<p>I twisted myself from under the seat and sat up, looking around for -the yacht. There was no sight of it. There was no sight of anything -but water and steep hills, and the second life-boat closely following -us. We were pulling up a narrow, winding bay. Its width was fairly -uniform, probably a hundred yards. Its water was pure blue. And on -both sides, and before and behind us, rose the craggy, fir-clad hills, -approaching the size of mountains, shutting us out from all the rest -of the world.</p> - -<p>“Sit down, Mr. Pitt; it is more comfortable.” From the bow Brack -spoke, and I turned upon him.</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?” I began, and there I stopped.</p> - -<p>For, though Brack spoke in laughing fashion, there was no laughter -about his lips, none in his eyes. His face was set like a bronze mask, -his mouth was scarcely visible, his eyes shone hard and fiery between -slitted lids. Brack had ceased to pretend; the brute in him was having -its way, and he didn’t care who saw it.</p> - -<p>“You would better have slept soundly this morning, Mr. Pitt,” he said. -“If your foolish fight delayed us too long—you will soon know why.”</p> - -<p>“I want to know why right now!” I cried, in spite of the terror that -his face inspired. “You’ve assaulted me; you’ve taken me off the yacht -by force. You’ll pay for this when we get back home.”</p> - -<p>“Suppose,” said he musingly, “suppose you should never get back home?”</p> - -<p>His tone, not his words, froze me. I could not speak. I looked at the -faces of the men who were rowing furiously, at Garvin. And I looked at -the cold blue water through which we were speeding and knew it was no -more remorseless than the men in that boat.</p> - -<p>“Don’t you think now it would have been better for you to have slept?” -said Brack.</p> - -<p>“I think,” I retorted hotly as the power of speech came rushing back -to me, “that you had better take me back to the yacht; and I know that -I will see you punished for assault for this.”</p> - -<p>A sound like laughter issued from his throat, but his expression did -not change.</p> - -<p>“Assault?” he repeated. “Ha! You forget that you are out of the land -of courts now, Pity. Assault! Ha! Why, Pitt, that will be like a -maiden’s kiss compared to what’s going to happen in the next half -hour. Sit down; you’re in that oar’s way. Put him down, Garvin.”</p> - -<p>Garvin obediently kicked me back of the knee-joints and I dropped with -a noisy clatter to the bottom of the boat.</p> - -<p>“—— you!” swore Brack in a loud whisper. “If you make another noise -like that I’ll have you dumped overboard. You’ve made us late. Now -just you lay still and nice where you are, Pitt; we’re having no noise -on this excursion.”</p> - -<p>I sat silent. I was half dazed from the blow on the head and by my -situation, and for the next few minutes I observed what was taking -place as one who is less than half awake. By this time we had come to -the head of the bay and were entering the mouth of a small river which -rambled crookedly down through a gap in the hills.</p> - -<p>“More juice in your strokes, men,” whispered Brack. “It’s a strong -current, and we haven’t much farther to go.”</p> - -<p>His words stimulated the men. Their fierce eyes grew fiercer, and they -bent to their oars with all their might. Most of them were panting -from excitement and exertion.</p> - -<p>“We’ll land here,” said Brack presently. “No noise, men.”</p> - -<p>The boats swung in to the bank indicated and the men tumbled out, -clutching their rifles eagerly.</p> - -<p>“Come along, Pitt.”</p> - -<p>“No,” I responded. “From what I hear you’re bound for some sort of a -crime.”</p> - -<p>“So are you. That’s why I took you along—to make you pay for sleeping -so lightly. Get out.”</p> - -<p>Two men sprang into the boat toward me, and I was forced to obey. With -Brack in the lead a single file was formed and I started up a faintly -marked footpath which ran along the stream. I was placed near the -middle of the line; Madigan brought up the rear. I was the only man in -the party who was not armed.</p> - -<p>For the next ten minutes we hurried forward, through brush, over rocks -and fallen logs, and through muddy spring-holes without a word being -spoken. Brack in the lead, seemed to take no notice of the obstacles -that presented themselves, and every man in the line with the -exception of myself seemed imbued by the same fierce eagerness. I was -helpless. The man behind me was continually treading on my heels, his -heavy breath was on my neck, and I, too, was forced to hurry, driven -along, moving as in a cruel nightmare.</p> - -<p>Brack stopped suddenly and held up his hand. A sound had broken the -silence ahead of us. It was repeated, a dull, slapping sound, and -Brack whispered an oath.</p> - -<p>“They’re up; chopping wood for breakfast. Follow me.”</p> - -<p>He struck off into a wooded ravine at right angles to the trail. At a -distance which I estimated to be three city blocks from the river he -led the way by zigzags up a series of hills and presently we were -nearing the crest of a ridge beyond which no further hills were -visible.</p> - -<p>“Get down now,” he ordered. “The lake’s in the valley over this hill. -The man who shows himself above the brush or makes a noise’ll get -hurt.”</p> - -<p>He began to wriggle himself forward through the stunted trees until at -last he was able to peer over the crest of the ridge, and the rest -followed his example.</p> - -<p>A small, blackish lake lay in the marshy valley below. On the shore -opposite to us were two log cabins, several huge piles of dirt, and a -crude derrick. Daylight was streaming into the valley, dispersing the -night fogs, and we made out two men moving about the buildings. Brack -swore much but softly.</p> - -<p>“Slade and Harris!” He paused to curse again. “—— ’em! We’re too late. -—— you, Pitt, you’ll pay for this.”</p> - -<p>“What the ——!” snarled Madigan as the captain hesitated. “What’s all -this foxy work for, Foxy? They’re two and we’re ten. Why don’t we go -down an’ clean ’em up?”</p> - -<p>“Easy—easy, Tad,” said Brack softly. “No noise. Slade and Harris are -too good with the rifle to try any straight rushing. Besides, there’s -a back trail over there, and they might get away. They’ve got the gold -cached some place and we may need ’em alive to learn where it is. A -little hanging up by the thumbs will make ’em tell. Gad! The fools! -They’ve got three dumps; that means three shafts. The thing’s richer -than I thought, and they’ve kept it all right down there because they -swore to stay there till they had a hundred thousand apiece.”</p> - -<p>“Gawd!” whispered Garvin. “Let’s take a chance, cap.”</p> - -<p>“Easy, Garvin, easy!” chuckled Brack. “They’re a couple of suckers, -but they can shoot.</p> - -<p>“Well,” growled Madigan, “let’s have it—when do we go get ’em?”</p> - -<p>Brack studied the scene before him for several minutes before -replying.</p> - -<p>“We’ve got to wait until they’re in the shafts,” was his decision. -“This is too big a risk, giving ’em a chance. If we jump ’em now from -this side they’ll put up a stiff fight and at the same time have a -chance of getting away over their back trail. And if they get into the -woods, they won’t leave the gold where we can find it easily. We’ve -got to spoil that back trail for ’em.”</p> - -<p>“Yep;” said Garvin, “leave ’em no getaway.”</p> - -<p>“Madigan,” said Brack, “You take your men and circle around on this -side of the ridge and go north until you strike their trail running -out of the valley.”</p> - -<p>“That’ll take a couple of hours.”</p> - -<p>“A little longer, probably. When you’re set, fire three shots and -we’ll start to rush ’em from this side. The rest’ll be easy. Boys, by -ten o’clock we’ll all be rich.”</p> - -<p>We fell back from the top of the ridge, and in a ravine well out of -sight Madigan led his four men into the forest. Brack waited until -they were out of sight and then hurried us back to the boats. Pulling -Madigan’s boat behind us we were swiftly rowed down the river into the -bay. Here the empty boat was tied up in a well-hidden nook, and we -went on toward the yacht.</p> - -<p>I now had an opportunity to note the distance which we had traveled. -The fiord curved raggedly from the river’s mouth toward the sea. In -spite of the foothills which shut us in I saw that our course at first -took us away from the river and the lake. Then, where the bay began to -widen, we began to curve backward until when, at last the <i>Wanderer</i>, -riding serene and white on her cradle of blue water, appeared before -us, I knew that our course had been such that the distance overland to -the miner’s lake could not be much more than half of what it was by -water. I judged the distance down the bay from the river-mouth to the -<i>Wanderer</i> to be about three miles.</p> - -<p>As we made out the yacht in the distance, the Captain looked at his -watch.</p> - -<p>“Back in nice time for breakfast,” he said. “Well, Pitt, how does it -feel to belong to a gang of robbers? Please don’t say you don’t -belong. You do, you know; we’ve elected you. Yes; you’re one of us -now, and we’re going to keep close watch on you until this little job -is over.”</p> - -<p>“What is your object?” I asked. “Why did you drag me up there with -you?”</p> - -<p>“Because I suspect that you like to talk, Pitt,” said he, as he -suddenly changed the course of the boat. “You were unfortunate enough -to see us leaving ship. Had I permitted you to stay on board you would -have talked. You might have talked in alarming fashion, and I do not -wish Miss Baldwin to be alarmed—until our work here is done, at -least.”</p> - -<p>“Then why did you bring me back?” I cried. “For you certainly can not -expect me to keep silent after what I have seen and heard.”</p> - -<p>“You can talk all you want to now, Pitt,” he laughed. Then I saw that -the boat was pointing toward the shore. “Talk your head off, Pitt. -Because no matter how loud you talk your voice won’t be among those -heard aboard.”</p> - -<p>The boat shot into a tiny indentation of the fiord, from which the -<i>Wanderer</i> could not be seen, and grounded on the gravelly beach.</p> - -<p>“Will you get out sensibly, Pitt, or will you have to be knocked down -and dragged out?” said Brack carelessly.</p> - -<p>I stepped out.</p> - -<p>“Barry, you stay here with him.”</p> - -<p>A vicious-looking seaman of medium height followed me onto the beach, -his rifle under his arm.</p> - -<p>“We’ll be back in an hour or so,” continued Brack as the boat backed -away. “Must look after our passenger, you know. And be nice, Pitt, and -you won’t get hurt.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and make it —— nice, too!” growled the man Barry, scowling at -me. “’Cause I don’t half like this job an’ I sort o’ figger the cap’ -wouldn’t be sore if he come back and found I’d had to put you out of -business.”</p> - -<h2>XXII </h2> - -<p>I stood with my head up until the boat had whisked Brack out of sight, -then slumped down in despair upon a convenient boulder. I was -horrified and frightened. My thoughts had cleared by now and the full -significance of what I had seen, heard, and undergone came to me. -Brutal robbery, probably murder; such was the sum and substance of -Brack’s plans. The expedition and the <i>Wanderer</i> turned in the tools -of a piracy which would have been unbelievable with any other man than -the captain! And Miss Baldwin back there on the yacht, ignorant of the -morning’s happenings, unsuspecting of Brack’s true character, and I -helpless to warn her or be of any assistance.</p> - -<p>Brack would keep up the pretense. He would be the smooth-talking -captain this morning as if nothing untoward had happened, or was going -to happen. He would maintain this pose until he had accomplished the -robbery, until it pleased him to drop it. And after this morning I -knew that he would go to any lengths to fulfil his will.</p> - -<p>“Cold?” sneered Barry as I shivered. “Well, don’t worry, sissy, Cap’ll -make it warm enough for you when he gets ready to ’tend to you.”</p> - -<p>I turned to plead with him, and he laughed delightedly at the fear and -wretchedness in my face. For I was afraid. This was no place for me. -It was all too strange, too harsh. I was literally sick at my stomach; -and yet I knew all the time that I was going to try to warn those -unsuspecting miners whom Captain Brack planned to catch in their mine -like rats in a pit. Heaven knows I did not wish to do it! In my heart -I protested against the Fate that had placed such a task to my lot. I -was unfit for it. Somebody else, more used to such things, should have -had the job.</p> - -<p>I would have pleaded with Barry, have sought to bribe him, but the -expression on his vicious countenance made me hold my tongue. What -could I do? This sort of thing was new to me; how did one go about it?</p> - -<p>I thought of the two miners delving away in their shafts, of them -suddenly looking up to find Brack grinning down at them. The -unfairness of the thing was revolting. Did men do such things to their -fellows in this day and age?</p> - -<p>I glanced at Barry and his rifle and knew that they did. Craft and -brutality, those were the laws governing this situation. And craft and -brutality soon began to enter my thoughts as readily as they might -enter those of Brack, Garvin, or the lout who was guarding me.</p> - -<p>At my feet lay several stones the size of a man’s fist. Presently I -feigned sleepiness, nodded, and slipped from the boulder to a seat on -the sand.</p> - -<p>“Sleepy, eh?” Barry sneered. “You’re a fine piece o’ cheese.”</p> - -<p>“I’m sick,” I muttered. “My head aches.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you poor thing!” He prodded me carelessly with the butt of his -rifle. “For two cents I’d give you a clout that’d take the ache out of -that head for good.”</p> - -<p>The minutes went by in silence. Half an hour later, perhaps, I saw -Barry’s vigilance begin to relax.</p> - -<p>My right hand dropped languidly at my side and found a round stone, -slightly larger than a baseball. Barry did not see.</p> - -<p>More time passed. At last Barry, catching himself nodding, -straightened up and again prodded me with the butt.</p> - -<p>“Don’t do that again,” I whined. “Please don’t.”</p> - -<p>“‘Please don’t!’” mocked Barry.</p> - -<p>In his estimation I was such a weakling that he had no need to be -cautious. The rifle-butt again touched my side. I grasped it suddenly -with my left hand, the fingers fastening themselves around the -trigger-guard, and sprang up, the stone in my right hand. Barry jerked -at the rifle, drawing me close, and I felled him to the ground with a -blow from the stone on the temple.</p> - -<p>I had the rifle now, and as he strove to rise I struck him on the head -with the heavy barrel and he lay still. I stood over him, ready to -strike again, but he did not move and with the rifle in my hand I ran -through the green-leaved brush which fringed the fiord and started to -climb the rocky hills that walled it in.</p> - -<p>What I had to do I knew must be done in a hurry, before Brack or -Madigan were in a position to keep a watch on the lake, and I ran on, -regardless of the fissures and gaps with which the hill was pitted. In -my haste I paid little attention to my path, and near the top I -plunged suddenly through a tangle of brush and fell into what proved -to be the mouth of a cave-like opening in the rocky portion of the -hill.</p> - -<p>The cave was so well hidden by the spring foliage that I had literally -to walk into it before suspecting its existence. I hid the rifle -there, clambered out and went on. If my senses of direction and -distance were right the lake should be straight north and about a mile -and a half away.</p> - -<p>Though I ran and walked as rapidly as possible, it was half an hour -before I struck the ridge which shut out the lake from sight of the -bay. Then I knew that in spite of my ignorance of the woods, I had -gone straight to my goal. I went down the farther side at once, -keeping myself hidden in the brush as much as possible in case -Madigan’s crew should be on the lookout, and finding the trail along -the river I went straight up toward the miners’ camp.</p> - -<p>A man was waiting for me as I stepped from the alder-brush into the -clearing about the mine. My clumsy traveling had warned of my approach -and he lay behind a pile of dirt before a shaft, a large blue pistol -pointing straight down the trail where I emerged.</p> - -<p>“Don’t shoot!” I cried running toward him, with my hands in the air. -“I’m a friend. I’ve come to warn you that a man named Brack with a -crew of cutthroats is on his way to raid your camp.”</p> - -<p>The mention of Brack’s name had a pitiful effect upon the man. He -leaped back, his eyes shifty with fright, and made as if to run back -to the cabins. He caught himself, however, and swung his pistol -steadily on the trail behind me.</p> - -<p>He was an old man with a patriarchal beard and a gentle face. When he -saw that no one was following me he said—</p> - -<p>“Come with me, stranger; we’ll get Bill.”</p> - -<p>He retreated, walking backward, covering me and the trail with his -weapon, while I followed. Arriving at the first shaft, still keeping -his eyes on me, he called—</p> - -<p>“Oh, Bill!”</p> - -<p>A tall, laughing youth, with a soft, curly beard, came clambering out -of the mine in response to his summons. At the sight of me his hand -flashed to the pistol on his hip.</p> - -<p>“Tell it to Bill, stranger,” said the patriarch. “Bill, the Laughing -Devil’s back and this gentleman says he’s layin’ to come an’ clean us -<i>pronto</i>.”</p> - -<p>“Brack?” gasped the youth, with a frightened glance down the trail. -“Foxy Brack?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” I said. “He’s here to rob you. He’s sent one of his lieutenants -around the ridge to cut off your back trail. He has ten of the worst -men in Christendom with him.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, my God!” groaned the young man. Steadying himself he said, “Who -are you, stranger?”</p> - -<p>I told about the <i>Wanderer</i> and its party, and about the morning’s -happenings as swiftly as possible.</p> - -<p>“Why did you run the risk of coming here and telling us this?” asked -the youth when I concluded. “And how do we know you’re telling the -truth?”</p> - -<p>“Bill!” said the old man reprovingly. “Can’t you see? Stranger, we -take this right neighborly of you. My name’s Slade, and this is my -partner, young Bill Harris. Pitt, you said your name was? Well, Mr. -Pitt, you’re a man. This Brack, now, he’s a devil. Bill and me saved -his life when he come ashore up at Omkutsk, and he spoke us fine and -friendly, and acted like a man, and we took him in with us on this -gold find.</p> - -<p>“Then one day he tried to put us both out of business and we caught -him in the act just in time. It’s hard to kill a man when you got him -helpless, stranger, though we should ’a’ done it then. We give him a -boat with grub, and when the wind was blowing offshore we sent him out -to sea. The devil must ’a’ took care of its own, since he’s still -living; and now he’s come back to clean us out. We been sort of ’fraid -of it all the time.”</p> - -<p>“How many d’ you say with him?” queried young Harris. “And all bad -men, too, eh? God! There’s only two of us——”</p> - -<p>“Bill,” said Slade patiently, “we can’t stay an’ fight him. You know -what he is.”</p> - -<p>“They’re circling round us now?” Harris was looking around wildly. -“We’re cut off.”</p> - -<p>“How many went around to cut our trail, neighbor?”</p> - -<p>“Five.”</p> - -<p>“We may be able to handle five of ’em, Bill,” said Slade. “We wouldn’t -have no chance with ten. We mustn’t let ’em head us off. Brack ’ud use -fire to make us tell where the gold is cached. We’ll start right away -and travel light.”</p> - -<p>Harris ran into the large cabin. I started to go back the way I had -come.</p> - -<p>“Wha-a-at? You ain’t going back to Brack’s boat, are you? Neighbor, -there’ll be only hell where that devil is.”</p> - -<p>“And for that reason I must go back there.”</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>“There is a girl—a young lady—on the yacht.”</p> - -<p>Old Slade shook his head.</p> - -<p>“That dirty devil! But we can’t stay and fight ten men and Brack. -Well, Mr. Pitt, I reckon we owe you our lives and everything we got, -but I dunno how we’re goin’ to square it with you.”</p> - -<p>My eyes fell on the automatic pistol in his hand.</p> - -<p>“You’re —— whistlin’!” cried Slade suddenly as he thrust the weapon -into my hands. I put it inside my shirt. “That don’t square us. Best I -can do, though. Now, Mr. Pitt—” he gripped my hand—“God bless yoh!”</p> - -<h2>XXIII </h2> - -<p>I hurried back down the river-trail until I reached the ridge. Here I -quitted the way I had come and climbed away over the hills toward the -sea. My plan was to step aboard the <i>Wanderer</i> while Brack was absent, -and without being seen by any of his men. Hence, I gave the cove where -I had struck down Barry a wide berth. In fact, I did not follow the -windings of the fiord at all but struck straight across the rough -country toward where I judged the sea to be.</p> - -<p>I got lost twice. Once I found myself turning toward the fiord and -once I had circled back toward the lake. It was well into the -afternoon when I found the rough seacoast and following it southward -came to the mouth of the fiord and, from a hilltop looked down upon -the <i>Wanderer</i> at anchor.</p> - -<p>I saw now why my first impression of the morning had been that the -yacht was surrounded by mountains. This was nearly so. The hills, one -of which I was lying on, walled the fiord in on both sides, while -across its mouth, shutting it in from the sea and leaving only a -narrow channel on either side, lay a narrow, crescent-shaped island -consisting of a fir-covered hill of equal height to those of the -mainland.</p> - -<p>The Hidden Country! It was the inevitable name for the region.</p> - -<p>Small wonder that Kalmut Fiord was not on the maps. It lay behind its -crescent-shaped island securely hidden from all the world. Outside, -the dun, gray North Pacific heaved and murmured, a part of the busy -world. Somewhere on its restless water ships were sailing, men were -active in the doings of our day and age. But in the hidden country -behind the island there was no such suggestion.</p> - -<p>The fiord lay hill-ringed and calm, a part of the world, and yet not -of it. Its green Spring foliage, delicate, masking gray hills and -black cliffs, its quiet blue water, its virgin beaches, its very air, -all were heavy with the primitive’s eternal calm.</p> - -<p>As I looked about I saw that the heights immediately about the fiord -were in reality but foot-hills of a great valley. And the valley was -ringed in by a mountain range. West, north, east—everywhere save -toward the open sea southward—a curving wall of towering mountains -shut it in. There was snow on most of the peaks, and others were -wrapped in wisps of clouds. One great narrow gash, seeming to cleave -the range down to sea level, was visible in the west. Save for this, -the Kalmut Valley seemed a spot walled in by frowning stone.</p> - -<p>The colossal scheme of the scene left me awed. The sense of the -primitive which dominated it all held me spellbound. We had left the -world with which I was familiar. This was the sensation that crept -over me. We were in a new world—no, an old one, so old that modernity -had nothing in common with it. Skin-clad, white-skinned vikings, might -have stepped out on those moss-clad rocks and have fitted perfectly -into the picture. But not the <i>Wanderer</i>, not its personnel—save -Brack. Yes, Brack and that valley belonged together.</p> - -<p>I shuddered and turned toward the yacht.</p> - -<div style='height:1.5em;'></div> - -<p>Brack’s boat was gone. That was good. But I looked in vain for some -sign of life aboard. Apparently the <i>Wanderer</i> was deserted. I waited -in hope that some one might appear on deck and in response to my hail -send over a boat, but after half an hour I gave this up. I was rested -now from the unaccustomed strain of hill-climbing, and I was -determined to reach the yacht.</p> - -<p>The <i>Wanderer’s</i> anchorage was probably two hundred yards from the -shore on which I was lying and I had never been but a poor swimmer. -But from an out-jutting point of the island it was but half that -distance and to the island I turned my attention.</p> - -<p>The channel separating the island and the mainland was about fifty -yards wide. I swam it, after having divested myself of shoes and coat, -ran along the island to the point nearest the yacht and plunged in -again. The water of the fiord was like ice, and I had not swum far -before my teeth were chattering. I was tempted to shout and call for -help, but the caution which that day had instilled in me prevented -this and I kept on in silence.</p> - -<p>No one saw me as I came climbing up the <i>Wanderer’s</i> starboard -sea-ladder. My flesh, my bones, my marrow, were aching with the -torture of cold. I staggered stiffly across the deck and rounded the -main cabin. There I came upon Freddy Pierce in a deckchair -disconsolately rolling a cigaret.</p> - -<p>We did not speak for some time.</p> - -<p>At my appearance the paper fluttered from Pierce’s limp hand, the -tobacco dribbled unnoticed from the bag onto the deck and by this I -knew that the sight of me must have appalled him. He stared at me, his -lips opening and closing, and I stared back, uttering no word, as men -do in moments when words are too slow a means of expression. I was -freezing; I was near to collapsing; but at the sight of Pierce’s -appalled countenance my body seemed forgotten.</p> - -<p>“Brains!” exploded Freddy at last in agony. “What the ——! Ain’t she -with you?”</p> - -<p>“No,” I said, “she is not with me.”</p> - -<p>Pierce rose from the deck chair, his boyish, freckled face white and -sickly for the moment.</p> - -<p>“Mean to say—” he licked his dry lips—“mean to say you ain’t seen -her?”</p> - -<p>“I haven’t seen her.”</p> - -<p>“He said—Cap’ Brack said—you’d stayed up there with the men, and that -you suggested Miss Baldwin’d like to come up and take a look.”</p> - -<p>“‘Brack said?’” My mind refused to comprehend fully the significance -of Pierce’s bare words.</p> - -<p>“Eyah. He said that the second time he was down—for lunch. Said you -were up there. And Miss Baldwin got in the boat with ’em and went up -there, thinking to meet you. Brains—Mr. Pitt!” he cried, springing -forward and grasping my arms, “what’s come off? What’s Brack been -pulling? Didn’t you send that word to Miss Baldwin at all?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>I turned to go to my stateroom. I was like a man in a dream.</p> - -<p>“Brains!” he whispered in agony, “didn’t you hear what I said? She -went away with Brack in a boat, and he lied about your being where -they was going.”</p> - -<p>I released myself from his grasp.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I heard. I must get a dry change.” I went straight to my room, -Pierce following on my heels.</p> - -<p>“Freddy,” I said, as quietly as I could, “you had better get up to -your wireless and send word to any ship within call to relay word to -the nearest authorities that we need help.”</p> - -<p>He merely stared at me without moving.</p> - -<p>“Go on,” I said. “Send that message at once.”</p> - -<p>“Aw, Brains,” he said gently. “Where’s your thinker; you know better’n -that.”</p> - -<p>“Do as I tell you. Don’t wait to hear the story; start your wireless -at once.”</p> - -<p>“You’re up in the air forty miles,” was his reply. “If you wasn’t -you’d know that Brack’d never leave me here on the yacht without -putting the wireless out of business.”</p> - -<p>“What!”</p> - -<p>“Yep. When they all turned up missing this morning, you with ’em, and -there hadn’t been anything said about it, I began to feel kind of cold -below the ankles and I sneaked up to slip some juice into the air and -try to put the revenue-cutter, <i>Bear</i>, hep to something doing here. -She ought to be down this way just now. Well, nothing doing. The whole -works are gone; Brack’s put the wireless outfit on the bum.”</p> - -<p>Somehow I managed to be calm.</p> - -<p>“Where’s Wilson?”</p> - -<p>Pierce’s face clouded.</p> - -<p>“A dirty shame! Wilson’s laid up. Garvin’s gun went off accidentally -when they were coming on board and the bullet went through Wilson’s -leg below the knee.”</p> - -<p>“Riordan?”</p> - -<p>“He’s left in charge; yep. Chanler’s keeping him in his room to talk -to. The nigger’s here, too. He had a row with Garvin last night and -they left him behind to do scullion work. Simmons is sleeping.”</p> - -<p>“Chanler?”</p> - -<p>“He’s coming around. Cold sober, but shaky.”</p> - -<p>“Dr. Olson?”</p> - -<p>“Went back with Brack on the second trip. Brack had him take his case -and a lot of stuff, too.”</p> - -<p>“You mean that the captain came after Dr. Olson?”</p> - -<p>“Yep. And Miss Baldwin. He made two trips, you know. First he came -back early in the morning for breakfast, and said they’d found the -mine, and you were staying up there to look around. He said we’d all -go up after awhile. Then they went away. At noon they came back again. -Then was when Doc’ Olson and Miss Baldwin went with him. I tried to -horn myself in but he details me to split the watches with Riordan and -tells Riordan to see I stay on board. She—Miss Baldwin—asked if I -couldn’t go along, and he said no. Then she got into the boat, like -she didn’t know whether she wanted to or not, and they pulled away. -And, Brains, I’m afraid—I got a hunch he’s got her going south.”</p> - -<p>“Got who? Going where?” I asked, not comprehending his slang.</p> - -<p>“Got Miss Baldwin—going south. You know: falling for him.” Then as my -expression continued to betray my lack of comprehension, “Brack can -fool any woman, and he’s got her charmed.”</p> - -<p>The pistol which the old miner had given me came to sight at that -moment as I undressed, and Pierce gasped.</p> - -<p>“You—packing a gat’!” he exclaimed. “What’s happened? Where have you -been if you haven’t been up there with the crew?”</p> - -<p>I continued my dressing without replying. When completed I again -placed the pistol out of sight within my shirt.</p> - -<p>“We’ll go and see Wilson,” I said. “Then I’ll only have to tell my -story once.”</p> - -<h2>XXIV </h2> - -<p>We found the wounded man lying in his bunk calmly dividing his time -between a book and his bandaged leg which was stretched out before -him. There was no look of pain or mental stress upon his bronzed face. -It was all in the day’s work; he would not permit a little thing like -a bullet through his leg to disturb his poise.</p> - -<p>“I’m all right, sir,” he said. “Be up soon.”</p> - -<p>“Wilson,” said I, “how much accident was there about that shot?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know, sir. Garvin was behind me when it happened. I don’t -mind saying that I’ll settle personally with him for it when I’m on my -feet again.”</p> - -<p>“Garvin is merely the captain’s tool.”</p> - -<p>“He’ll be a dull tool, sir, when I’ve paid him for his clumsiness.”</p> - -<p>I told him all that I had heard, and what had happened to me that -morning. When I came to my affair with Barry and my escape to warn the -miners his eyes widened.</p> - -<p>“The captain planned well, didn’t he, sir?” he said quietly. “The only -thing—” he smiled a little—“the only thing he hadn’t charted right was -you, Mr. Pitt. He was far on his reckonings of you, sir, and so was I. -He never expected that from you. You threw him off his course nicely, -sir. You may have spoiled the whole cruise for him, though that’s -hardly probable. He always has a trick left.”</p> - -<p>“And what do you think his plans are beyond this, Wilson?” I asked. -“He certainly can’t intend to return with us to civilization after -what he’s done today.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve been thinking of that, sir,” he replied. “And I always get back -to remembering that the <i>Wanderer</i> is outfitted for two years. I’ve a -notion that the captain’s original plan was to rob these miners and -then slip off to the edges of nowhere with the yacht.”</p> - -<p>“And what of us?”</p> - -<p>He shrugged his shoulders.</p> - -<p>“Can’t tell, sir. As it is, you’ve put him off his course. If he -doesn’t make out on his robbery he’ll have trouble with the men. He -promised them a lot of easy gold. They’re a hard crew and he’ll have -trouble handling them unless they catch those miners and make them -give up the secret of where they’ve hidden the gold. If they catch -’em, the captain will get the secret out of them, you can bet on that. -Then they’ll come piling back here to get away as soon as possible to -where they can blow their loot.”</p> - -<p>“And then we’ll have to look out for ourselves, you mean?”</p> - -<p>Wilson nodded.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said he slowly, “things like this ain’t so bad for men, sir, -but there’s the girl.”</p> - -<p>The conversation ceased abruptly. We sat silent, each troubled by the -same thought.</p> - -<p>“Did he say when he would return?” I asked at last.</p> - -<p>“No,” said Pierce.</p> - -<p>“How much grub did they take?” asked Wilson.</p> - -<p>Pierce gulped.</p> - -<p>“Not much. I heard him say there was enough up there for months.”</p> - -<p>“And not a hint of when they were coming back?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>We were silent again. Presently Wilson cleared his throat:</p> - -<p>“Those fellows up there, the miners must have got away. The captain -wouldn’t take her up there if they were there.”</p> - -<p>“And he took the doc’ with him, too,” reminded Pierce. “Somebody must -have got hurt.”</p> - -<p>“Were they hard men, these two miners?” asked Wilson of me. “They -were, eh? Well, the way it looks to me, they hurt some of the crew and -got away, and the crew is still after them. They’ll be afraid to let -’em get away if they’ve had a fight. The miners would get word to the -outside and they’d come back with help.”</p> - -<p>“But Brack can’t be taking part in the chase if there is one,” I -interrupted.</p> - -<p>Wilson shook his head.</p> - -<p>“He came back here. He wouldn’t be doing that if he was in the chase.”</p> - -<p>“And he took Miss Baldwin with him,” supplemented Pierce.</p> - -<p>“He probably sent the men on the chase as soon as he found that the -miners had got away,” continued Wilson. “Then he’s alone——”</p> - -<p>He caught himself; but we know what he intended to say.</p> - -<p>“Chanler is better, you say?” I said, rising.</p> - -<p>“Sure,” said Pierce. “He’s nervous and shaky, but he’s a human being -again.”</p> - -<p>“What are you going to do, sir?” asked Wilson as I stepped to the -door. “Going up there? Well, there’s a canoe in the port storage-room -forward, sir?”</p> - -<p>“Good! Pierce, will you get the canoe out and put it in the water? -I’ll go and have a little talk with Chanler.”</p> - -<p>“You bet! Say, Brains, wha’d’ you do with the rifle you copped off -Barry?”</p> - -<p>I told him where I had hidden the weapon and went out. Chanler should -have his chance. He must be a man now if ever. Riordan was with -Chanler in the latter’s stateroom when I entered. Chanler had come out -of his madness. He was nervous and looked ill, but his eyes were sane -again. He was lying in a lounge-chair with Riordan at his side.</p> - -<p>“Good gad, Gardy! I am glad to see you!” cried George as I entered. -“Here, sit down and talk to me; talk to me, you hear? Say something. -Riordan, you’re relieved. Take a rest, like Simmons. Gardy, say -something. I’ve got to have somebody talk to me or I’ll—I’ll start -hitting it up again.”</p> - -<p>Riordan was regarding me suspiciously.</p> - -<p>“How did you come aboard?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>“Never mind how he came aboard,” interrupted George petulantly. “What -d’you s’pose I care how he came aboard. He’s here now. Sit down, -Gardy, and talk. You can go, Riordan; I’ll have you in when Gardy’s -winded.”</p> - -<p>Riordan went, scowling at me, and I seated myself in the chair he had -vacated.</p> - -<p>“Chanler, there is no time for me to talk to you for your -entertainment,” I began abruptly. “You’re sober now, you’re yourself, -and you can’t shirk responsibility on the pretense of being -incapacitated. Brack got Miss Baldwin to accompany him up to the mine -with the lie that I was up there and had suggested that she come up. -He is up there with her—alone. And the devil only knows what his plans -are.”</p> - -<p>Chanler merely shuddered nervously.</p> - -<p>“Darn you, Gardy! Here I was just coming out of a sinking spell and -you come along and spoil everything. Why do you bring me news like -that? It—it disturbs me, really.”</p> - -<p>“No,” I said, “you can’t talk in that strain and have it accepted any -longer, Chanler. You are a man again, not an alcoholic imbecile, and -you’ve got to play the part.”</p> - -<p>I told him the true purpose of Brack’s visit to Kalmut Fiord and of -the day’s events.</p> - -<p>“And now, by a lie he has Miss Baldwin go with him. Chanler, we can’t -leave her up there with him, alone.”</p> - -<p>Chanler writhed and groaned.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Gardy! You’re terrible. What do you propose to do?”</p> - -<p>“You are Miss Baldwin’s host. You and I will take a canoe which Pierce -is getting ready and go up to the mine.”</p> - -<p>“You’re mad,” he muttered. “What shape am I in to go anywhere?”</p> - -<p>“The doctor is up there. It’s a short paddle.”</p> - -<p>“But I’m not fit, Gardy; I tell you it will set me back.”</p> - -<p>“You’ve got the choice before you, Chanler. Do you want to drop back -into what you’ve been for the past week, or do you want to be a man?”</p> - -<p>“I feel so rotten, Gardy.”</p> - -<p>“You’ve got a chance now with Miss Baldwin. You’re almost your old -self. Come, man; this is your chance to win back your standing with -her.”</p> - -<p>“I haven’t got a chance,” he said despairingly. “That’s all off. I -know it.”</p> - -<p>“And you’re quitting—leaving Brack to have his own way?”</p> - -<p>“Brack? Brack! What do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“While you’ve been lying in your room Brack has been doing his best to -fascinate Miss Baldwin. You should know something of the man’s power. -Well?”</p> - -<p>“Brack?” Chanler was struggling to his feet. “Brack, eh? So he’s after -Betty, and you—you say he’s made an impression?”</p> - -<p>“You know the man,” I replied bitterly.</p> - -<p>He straightened, struggling to tighten the set of his jaw.</p> - -<p>“Brack, eh?” he repeated. “Brack and little Betty. Oh, no. We can’t -have that. He doesn’t belong. Get your —— canoe ready. I suppose we’ll -have to go up to this place, but I warn you, Gardy, I warn you I’m -going to be awf’ly bored.”</p> - -<h2>XXV </h2> - -<p>Riordan was inclined to be brusk to me when he saw the canoe going -into the water. He was captain for the time being; he had given no -orders for using any of the yacht’s boats. Then came Chanler, -grumbling and shuffling, and Riordan’s expression suddenly showed -great elation which he tried hard to conceal.</p> - -<p>“Pleasant trip,” he said sarcastically. “Captain Brack’ll be glad to -see you.”</p> - -<p>Neither of us said a word as we settled ourselves into the canoe. -George was angry with me for causing him to go, and I was eager only -to reach the mine and Miss Baldwin and the captain. I hoped—no, I felt -confident—that Chanler’s appearance in his present condition would -solve the most delicate and dangerous phase of the problem confronting -us, which was a safe return of Miss Baldwin to civilization.</p> - -<p>She had cared for George Chanler once, not deeply, she had admitted -but enough to bring wistful moments at the thought of the change which -had come over him. Now she would see him as she had seen him in those -days when he had made upon her a favorable impression.</p> - -<p>She would at once see the difference between Chanler and Brack. George -was of her own kind; Brack was not. She would see this now; the spell -which the captain had been weaving would be broken; and she would turn -to her own kind. I felt that Brack’s sole purpose in getting Betty up -to the mine was to weave his spell more firmly; he would scarcely -frighten her by display of brutality for awhile at least.</p> - -<p>We paddled on in silence. The perspiration began to creep out on -Chanler’s forehead, but, though he swore at me beneath his breath, his -paddle rose and fell steadily.</p> - -<p>Evening came upon us with appalling suddenness. The snow-covered -western mountains shut out the sun’s rays, and at once the narrow bay -grew dark. With the sun gone a chill crept through the valley. The -scene became one of depressing gloom and Chanler broke out into -querulous protest.</p> - -<p>“Paddle,” I said, when his words died out petulantly. “We’re almost to -the river.”</p> - -<p>We swung from the bay into the river and there the current took -liberties with the light canoe. Chanler’s experience in canoeing was -much greater than mine, and now for the first time he roused himself -and asserted his knowledge.</p> - -<p>“Shorter strokes,” he snapped. “Shorter and faster. Now! Drive her!”</p> - -<p>In the struggle against the current he forgot his nervousness, and -when we landed at the spot where Brack’s boat had beached that morning -he sprang out with a vim which he had not displayed since we left -Seattle. We went straight up to the mine.</p> - -<p>From a distance we saw candle-lights shining from the open door of one -of the cabins and we hurried thither. We did not enter. In the single -room of the cabin Miss Baldwin and Captain Brack were seated at a -table upon which was placed a substantial meal. The captain was eating -heartily. Miss Baldwin was looking across the table at him with an -expression in which surprise and anger seemed equally mingled; and -George and I stopped as one just outside the open door without being -seen or heard.</p> - -<p>Miss Baldwin was speaking.</p> - -<p>“I wish to return to the yacht, Captain Brack,” we heard her say. -“Must I repeat that many times more?”</p> - -<p>“No, no!” He did not look up, but we saw that he smiled. “It isn’t -necessary. I have good ears.”</p> - -<p>“Then why don’t you answer me?”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps because it amused me to hear you speak. Your voice is a -delight to the ear.”</p> - -<p>By the flickering candlelight we saw that Miss Baldwin’s mouth and -chin became very firm.</p> - -<p>“I am quite certain you have been lying to me, Captain Brack,” she -said quietly. “I don’t believe that Mr. Pitt suggested that I come up -here. If he had he would have stayed here and not have gone on with -the men into the hills, as you say he has done.”</p> - -<p>Brack lifted his head.</p> - -<p>“You hold a brief for Mr. Pitt, Miss Baldwin?” he laughed, looking at -her closely. “Well, well; so there’s a certain interest in that pretty -little head for Pitt, eh? Well well! Pitt, the writer—the -ultra-civilized person! And I thought it was only Chanler I had to -fear. But never mind.”</p> - -<p>His playfulness vanished.</p> - -<p>“You are in the North now, Miss Baldwin, and you will fall beneath the -North’s just rule. Back there, in your civilized country, you have -lived under a different standard. Back there the most handsome male, -the best mannered, most prosperous, best dressed, might win you. Even -a Mr. Pitt would have a chance. Back there women are attracted to a -man because his head is carried a certain way, because he orders a -dinner excellently, helps one into a cab in a pleasing manner. That’s -not just, Miss Baldwin, not just. The nice man may not be the worthy -man. But here—this is the North. The strong man wins here—only the -strong man can win. Gold, women, everything. Life is primitive here, -therefore just. And you are here now, and here you are going to stay. -And here women fall to the strongest man. And that’s me, my dear, -that’s me! Look at me.”</p> - -<p>He rose and leaned over the table toward her. The candles flickered -and nearly went out. Betty sat upright in her chair. Still leaning -forward, his eyes holding hers, the captain with his right hand moved -the table to one side. There was nothing between them now, and Chanler -started forward, but I caught him by the arm.</p> - -<p>“Wait!” I whispered. For in the candle-gleam I had seen a new look on -Betty’s face. “Only wait!”</p> - -<p>Brack was bending over her.</p> - -<p>“Stand up!” he commanded, and she stood up in all the litheness of her -slim young womanhood.</p> - -<p>“Come to me.”</p> - -<p>She did not move.</p> - -<p>“Come. I am your Man. You are—you are——”</p> - -<p>His speech suddenly collapsed. Betty was smiling. The smile broadened. -There was a moment of struggle and then she threw back her head and -the cabin rang with peal after peal of lark-like laughter.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Captain Brack!” she stammered, struggling to control herself. -“That’s too—too stagy! Too, too melodramatic!”</p> - -<p>Again and again her merriment broke out, welling in gusts from -compressed lips, like merry music that would not be suppressed.</p> - -<p>“Forgive me, captain; it’s not polite of me, but—but, oh! If you could -only see yourself as I see you now!”</p> - -<p>Brack stood and glared, dumfounded, impotent. His arms slowly fell to -his sides; he drew back. On his face there was the amazement and anger -of a schoolmaster outfaced by a pupil.</p> - -<p>“Huh-huh! What’s this?” he snorted. “It’s very funny, no doubt, -but—explain—explain!”</p> - -<p>“That’s just what you may do, cappy,” said Chanler, stepping through -the doorway. “Hello, Betty. Everything all right, and all that?”</p> - -<p>One thing stood out in that room as we entered, and that was the swift -play of expression on Betty’s face as she beheld Chanler. First, it -was surprise, then incredulity, then glad relief. And I read in her -eyes that she was glad that George once more was fit, so she could -care for him again.</p> - -<p>“Why, George!” she cried. “You—you’re sober!”</p> - -<p>Brack’s sharp laughter filled the room. He had recovered his poise; he -was the captain again.</p> - -<p>“Yes. A great surprise; so unusual for Mr. Chanler,” he said; but his -eyes were studying me.</p> - -<p>“Cappy, I’m through with you,” said Chanler. “You’re a dear, -interesting fellow, but this—this is too much, you know. You’re -fired.”</p> - -<p>The captain laughed again, but not for an instant did his eyes leave -me. He was trying to bore into my mind, trying to learn what he wished -to know without resorting to questioning words.</p> - -<p>“So,” he said softly. “I begin to understand. It was not Madigan who -bungled it after all. Some one else warned Slade and Harris. I -underestimated you, Pitt. Why, it has acted almost like a man.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” I said. “I did warn Slade and Harris. I’m glad that I -helped throw your devilish plans awry.”</p> - -<p>“And talks almost like a man,” he continued with a touch of his old -smile. “But as for interfering with my devilish plans, Pitt, you must -not rejoice too soon. You have merely delayed the fulfilment of my -plans, and you have made things very uncomfortable for yourself and -your friends. When one acts like a man one must pay for it.”</p> - -<p>“That’ll do, cappy,” said Chanler. He had taken Betty’s hand and was -patting it assuringly while she looked up at him in wonderment. “I’ve -told you that you’re fired. You’re not with us any more.”</p> - -<p>“Not with you?” Brack appeared to notice George for the first time. -“No? I am not with you any more, but you see—you still are with me.”</p> - -<p>“Not at all, cappy. We leave you now. Sorry, cappy; enjoyed your -society immensely, but, really, you know, this sort of thing can’t be -done.”</p> - -<p>To my great surprise the captain stood where he was, smiling -tolerantly, while George and Betty moved toward the door.</p> - -<p>“Miss Baldwin,” he said suddenly.</p> - -<p>Betty stopped in the doorway.</p> - -<p>“Yes?”</p> - -<p>“It was a very funny joke—whatever it was?”</p> - -<p>“It was rude of me to laugh, I know,” said Betty. “But I really -couldn’t help it.”</p> - -<p>“‘Really couldn’t help it,’” repeated Brack mockingly. “A matter of -temperament. Typical of the American young woman—to giggle at big -moments. I shall cure you of giggling. You may go now.”</p> - -<p>“‘May go!’” stormed George. “That’s insolent, cappy. What do you -mean?”</p> - -<p>“I give you permission to go.”</p> - -<p>“Well, hang you for your impudence!”</p> - -<p>“Careful, Chanler. I might change my mind.”</p> - -<p>“Let me assure you, captain, that that would make no difference,” I -interposed. The pistol inside my shirt was pressing my ribs and I -smiled with the confidence it gave me. “We will go when we wish, no -matter what your mind on the subject may be.”</p> - -<p>For the second time in a few minutes his eyes bored into mine, seeking -to read my thoughts.</p> - -<p>“So you have a hidden ace somewhere, somehow, eh, Pitt?” he laughed. -“I see that plainly; but I can’t quite see what it is. You’re growing, -Pitt. One of your ancestors must have been a man. Ah! Barry’s -rifle—what did you do with it?”</p> - -<p>“Wrong, captain, absolutely wrong!” I replied. “Barry’s rifle isn’t a -factor in the present situation.”</p> - -<p>He studied me for fully a minute in silence and gave up, baffled.</p> - -<p>“I have said you may go,” he said curtly. “Go away. All things in -their order; gold first, then woman.” He seated himself at the table -and resumed his eating. “Go as quickly, as swiftly as you please. -But,” he called as we went out, “I beg of you—as my guests, you -understand—do not, please do not, go too far!”</p> - -<p>Behind us as we hurried into the night we heard him laughing, his -laughter some what smothered by mouthfuls of food and drink.</p> - -<h2>XXVI </h2> - -<p>“Hang him! What does he mean?” broke out Chanler querulously, as soon -as we were out of hearing. “What does he mean, Gardy? What’s he got up -his sleeve? He means something. Probably got some of the crew waiting -to waylay us, steal our canoe, or something like that. Hang it!”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think so, George,” said Betty. “There haven’t been any of the -men about since we got here. They went straight on into the woods, and -Dr. Olson and the captain went with them. The captain came back alone, -something over an hour ago. He said the rest were hunting gold up in -the hills and wouldn’t be back for some time.”</p> - -<p>“Well, hang it! He’s got something,” began George again, but I managed -to catch him by the arm and draw him back out of Betty’s hearing.</p> - -<p>“Forget yourself for the present,” I whispered. “Think of Miss Baldwin -a little.”</p> - -<p>“I think he’s bluffing,” I said aloud. “As Miss Baldwin says, there -can’t be any of the men around here. He was talking to frighten us. -We’ll go straight down to the canoe.”</p> - -<p>“Surely, surely!” said George, with an assumed laugh. “I see now he -was bluffing. It’s all right, Betty. Jolly, little evening party, I -call it.”</p> - -<p>I dropped behind, letting them go on ahead, and I heard the rumble of -George’s voice without hearing what he was saying. But from its tone I -knew what it was: he was apologizing, explaining, promising.</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry I said what I did when I first saw you, George,” Betty was -saying as we neared the place where our canoe was tied.</p> - -<p>“What was that? ’Bout my being sober? Ha! I deserved that, Betty; -don’t let that trouble you. It’s all over now. Every thing’s turning -out fine now, and—there’s our canoe. Nothing to that bluff of cappy’s, -Gardy,” he called back to me.</p> - -<p>“Of course not,” I said. “Now we’ll just paddle home and——”</p> - -<p>“And live happy ever afterward,” he laughed.</p> - -<p>Betty seated herself in the middle of the little craft without a word, -and we remained silent while we shot down the river, into the bay, and -turned our bow toward the yacht.</p> - -<p>“Tell us all about it, Betty,” said George, at last. “By Jove! You -made cappy look foolish.”</p> - -<p>Betty waited several minutes before replying:</p> - -<p>“Well, when Captain Brack came back the first time, in the morning, he -said that you, Mr. Pitt, had decided to go with them when they left -the yacht at daylight, and that you had remained up at the mine with -the men. Then he went away again and returned about noon. He said that -you were still up there, and that you’d suggested it would be a -pleasant thing for me to come up when they returned. I don’t suppose I -should have gone, really, but there wasn’t anything about that to keep -me from going, was there?”</p> - -<p>“Absolutely not,” I said. “On the contrary it was quite natural that -you should go.”</p> - -<p>“I know it. But at the same time I had a feeling—a tiny, tiny -feeling—that everything wasn’t quite right. There wasn’t any reason -why I should, unless possibly it was the way he looked at me. I can’t -explain what it was, but I had that feeling. I wanted to ask somebody, -but—but——”</p> - -<p>“Rub it into me, Betty,” laughed George. “I deserve it: I wasn’t fit -to be asked anything.”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t know then, George,” she said gently. “You’ll forgive me?”</p> - -<p>“All my fault; make it up, though,” he said. “Go on.”</p> - -<p>“Then I saw Dr. Olson getting into the boat, but still I didn’t feel -quite right about going. Then the captain—” she hesitated a -moment—“Captain Brack said: ‘Get in; you know you are coming with us. -Don’t delay.’ And before I knew it I was in the boat and we were -rowing away.</p> - -<p>“There was a man waiting for us when we got up at the mine—that big, -rough man.”</p> - -<p>“Garvin.”</p> - -<p>“And he spoke something to Captain Brack, and the captain and the -doctor and the man hurried away into the hills on the other side of -the lake. The captain said that you were out there with the men, Mr. -Pitt, and that he’d tell you that I was there and you’d be back soon. -Well, that’s about all. I had a lovely time roaming around that lake -by myself for hours. And every minute I was getting more and more -convinced that the captain had lied. When he came back alone I knew -that he had.”</p> - -<p>“Because he was alone?”</p> - -<p>“No-o-o! Not only that. It was the way he looked at me. On the yacht -I’d often wondered if he really was nice, or if he was just -pretending. Now he’d quit pretending, and he—he wasn’t nice at all. -You can’t guess what he did?”</p> - -<p>I held my breath; I felt sure that George did likewise.</p> - -<p>“He—he made me—cook that—dinner! He did. He said that he wanted to see -me in the rôle of a real woman. I thought I’d better do it, to keep -the peace. He sat and watched me and talked. He said that that was as -things should be; said I’d be a real woman in time. I wasn’t -frightened, but it was—oh, thrilling, you know. Funny, too. I laughed -a little at myself, because I’d always fancied I’d like to live the -adventurous life, and here I had, and it wasn’t nice at all.”</p> - -<p>“How come you weren’t frightened?” interrupted George.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know; I wasn’t, though. Well, maybe I was once, when I asked -him when we were going back to the yacht and he said for me to put the -yacht out of my thoughts. Then I had a wild idea of making a sprint -for the boat and getting away, but I remembered they’d pulled it up in -the brush. Then I thought of running down the bay and swimming out to -the yacht, but I knew I couldn’t outrun him and outswim him. It was -dark then, too, and I knew some of you would soon be up looking for -me.”</p> - -<p>“You knew? How? You didn’t know that Gardy,” began George, but I cut -him short.</p> - -<p>“Of course,” I said. “It was certain that somebody would be up soon -after dark since you didn’t return. Then what?”</p> - -<p>“Then we sat down to eat. With tears and woe in my tones I must admit -it, I wouldn’t like to subsist on my own cooking. But Captain Brack -has a better appetite. He fairly reveled in the fruits of my labors. -Then he become personal, and then—then you came in and everything was -lovely.”</p> - -<p>We paddled in silence for awhile.</p> - -<p>“And so you were rather disappointed in cappy, Betty?” said George -slowly.</p> - -<p>“Yes. He wasn’t nice at all, he was common, when he stopped acting.”</p> - -<p>“Wonderful chap, though,” mused George. “Must say I enjoyed his -company. Couldn’t put up with him any more, however. Well, we won’t -have to. We’ll leave him here—we’ll sail tonight. Wilson can be -captain. We’ll have to go some place and get a new crew, I suppose. -Then we’ll go on to Petroff Sound. I—I’m really much better, Betty,” -he added softly.</p> - -<p>“Of course you are, George. You don’t know how glad I am to see you -yourself again.”</p> - -<p>“Really, Betty?”</p> - -<p>“Of course.”</p> - -<p>“It’s going to be all right now, Betty. I’ll make it all up to you.”</p> - -<p>“Of course you will, George,” she said, and I splashed my paddle in -the water so I might not hear.</p> - -<p>I was an outsider, an incident. My mission had been to help straighten -out a tangle for which George’s condition had been responsible. I had -succeeded. Good and well. Now Betty would have George’s attention. She -would see him as she had seen him when first she had learned to care -for him; she would care for him again. She would forget Brack. She -would forget this adventure. In her proper sphere back home it would -become an incident; it would be something to laugh over—with George.</p> - -<p>So I reasoned as we paddled down Kalmut Fiord, our eyes confidently -searching the darkness ahead for the first flash of the <i>Wanderer’s</i> -welcoming lights. So little did I know about women, and especially -about Miss Beatrice Baldwin.</p> - -<p>Presently George stopped paddling.</p> - -<p>“Gardy,” he said in a strange tone.</p> - -<p>“Yes?”</p> - -<p>“Doesn’t it seem to you we’re pretty near there?”</p> - -<p>I looked around. So absorbed had I been in my thoughts that I had not -paid any attention to the distance we had traveled. Now I saw by the -hills about us that we were nearing the foot of the bay.</p> - -<p>“It’s funny we don’t see any lights,” said George. “Let’s sprint a -little, Gardy.”</p> - -<p>We paddled at top speed for several minutes, but we fell back to our -former stroke. No lights were in sight.</p> - -<p>A sinister silence fell upon us. Our paddles rose and fell -methodically, but in spite of the exercise I felt cold and faint.</p> - -<p>“Here we are,” said George anxiously. “Here’s the point just above -where the yacht’s anchored. Soon’s we get around this point we’ll see -her lights, sure.”</p> - -<p>Our strokes increased in speed and power. Once around the promontory -which loomed ahead in the darkness and the lights of the <i>Wanderer</i> -would gleam out to us a hearty welcome.</p> - -<p>“Got to get there soon; got to!” muttered George. “I’m all in. Need -some of the dope the doctor left for me. Need it badly.”</p> - -<p>We rounded the promontory. The mouth of the bay, down to the island -which shut it in from the sea, was before us. And it was all dark, as -dark as the bay behind us, with not a pin-prick of light disturbing -the primitive night.</p> - -<p>George stopped paddling.</p> - -<p>“What—what?” he gasped. “Oh, oh, my God!”</p> - -<p>I did not speak. I continued to paddle like an automaton. In five -minutes we were floating over the spot where the <i>Wanderer</i> had lain. -The yacht was gone.</p> - -<h2>XXVII </h2> - -<p>We had little time to speculate on the problem of the <i>Wanderer’s</i> -disappearance. After the first moment of stunned silence Chanler broke -down, promptly and completely.</p> - -<p>“Hang it, hang it!” he cried, striking the bow of the canoe with his -paddle. “This is too much. Your fault, too, Gardy. Now find the -yacht.”</p> - -<p>“Steady, George!” I warned, as the light craft rocked dangerously. -“You’re in a canoe, remember. Keep still.”</p> - -<p>“Keep still, keep still! How d’you expect me to keep still? Isn’t this -enough to make a man nervous. Hang it! I can’t keep still, I tell you. -This is too much.”</p> - -<p>“It nearly was,” I agreed. “A little more that time and we’d have been -in the water.”</p> - -<p>“Then do something! Say something!” he commanded. “Where’s the yacht? -What are we going to do?”</p> - -<p>“First of all, if you’ll please sit still for a minute or two, we’re -going to get to land without tipping over. Will you sit still that -long?”</p> - -<p>“Go ahead! You’ve got me into this mess; now get me out.”</p> - -<p>“Only sit still,” I pleaded and carefully guided the canoe towards the -nearest land. This was the little out-jutting point of the island from -which I had swum to the <i>Wanderer</i> that afternoon, and I did not -breathe fully until I had beached the canoe solidly and the danger of -capsizing from George’s jerky movements was over. He stepped out -hurriedly.</p> - -<p>“My God! This is awful, awful!” he said hoarsely, looking around in -the dark. “This is terrible! A fine mess you’ve got me into, Gardy.”</p> - -<p>“Why, George, it can’t be so bad,” said Betty cheerily, stepping out -beside him. “The yacht’s been moved that’s all. We’ll only have to -find her new anchorage. It will be all right.”</p> - -<p>“All right? All right! Hang it, Betty; I’m in no shape to stand this -sort of thing. It’s Gardy’s fault. He got me into it. Now what are you -going to do, Gardy? Eh?”</p> - -<p>“Look around for the yacht’s new anchorage, as Miss Baldwin says,” I -replied. “She can’t be far off.”</p> - -<p>“Can’t be far off! Can you see her? Is she anywhere around? Don’t you -suppose we’d see the lights if she was near?”</p> - -<p>“Not if they had no outside lights and the curtains in the cabin were -down,” said Betty soothingly.</p> - -<p>“Rot, rot, rot! Didn’t they know I was coming back? Weren’t they -expecting me? Wouldn’t they have the lights out so we could see’em? -Rot! They’ve gone. The yacht’s gone. What are we going to do?”</p> - -<p>“If you will just sit here quietly with Miss Baldwin,” I said, “I’ll -take a look around. The yacht must be near, of course, and we can’t -help finding it.”</p> - -<p>The first part of this statement I felt to be true: the yacht must be -near, for no stretch of imagination could picture Riordan putting to -sea. On the other hand I recalled the countless crooked indentations -of the fiord and knew there were a score of places where the -<i>Wanderer</i>, with lights out, might be hidden. We might even have -passed it without being aware of its nearness.</p> - -<p>I pulled the canoe safely from the water and made my way in the -darkness around the island to the open sea. But the sea was only a -noisy waste with no light upon it. I went around the island, returning -to my starting point, and no glimpse of the yacht or her lights did I -have.</p> - -<p>Betty now was sitting beside George, who had slumped down against a -boulder, and was patting his hand and talking to him assuringly.</p> - -<p>“I told you so,” he whined when I made my report. “Nothing doing. -She’s gone. Now what in the world are we going to do? Eh?”</p> - -<p>“The yacht must be somewhere in the bay. You mustn’t worry so, George; -it will all come out all right.” Betty was speaking to him as one -might to a frightened child. “Mr. Pitt has only started on his hunt, -haven’t you, Mr. Pitt?”</p> - -<p>“Of course,” I said, “I’ll take the canoe and run up some of these -inlets. She’ll probably be there.”</p> - -<p>I paddled away from the island with an appearance of confidence that I -did not feel. By this time I had begun to appreciate the ironic humor -with which Brack had warned us not to go too far. This was his work, -and as I recalled the sly certainty of his smile, such hope as I had -of finding the yacht dwindled to a minimum. Nevertheless I searched -the inlets on both sides of the bay for the matter of half a mile -before I returned to the island with my admission of failure.</p> - -<p>Chanler by this time had passed into the furious stage of nervousness. -He was pacing swiftly up and down the beach, clenching and unclenching -his hands and breathing heavily.</p> - -<p>“I don’t care—I don’t care where you did look and where you didn’t -look!” he burst out as I stepped from the canoe. “You didn’t find the -yacht, and you’ve got me into this, and I can’t stand it much longer; -that’s all.”</p> - -<p>He swung away and I followed and caught his arm savagely.</p> - -<p>“If you would think of Miss Baldwin a little you might forget your -nerves,” I whispered.</p> - -<p>I found myself repeating Wilson’s words—</p> - -<p>“These things aren’t so bad for men, but there’s the girl.”</p> - -<p>“I know, I know, Gardy,” he replied hoarsely. “I—I can’t help it. -Don’t throw me down, Gardy; don’t ball me out. I’m shaky. I can’t help -anything else. You’ve got to get me to that yacht where my dope is, -or—or you’ve got to get me back to Doc’ Olson.”</p> - -<p>“What!”</p> - -<p>“You have. I can’t stand it much longer.” His voice was raised, -regardless of Betty. “I won’t, you hear? I won’t stand it any longer.”</p> - -<p>He turned and rushed back to Betty, holding out his hands.</p> - -<p>“You know how I feel, don’t you Betty? You understand, don’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, George,” she said, taking his hands in hers, “I understand. But -can’t you sit down and quiet yourself a little?”</p> - -<p>“No, no, no! I can’t. Gardy, you’ve got to get me to the doctor at -once. You understand, don’t you, Betty?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, George. You shall go to the doctor at once.”</p> - -<p>“What!” I cried. “Go back there now, when we’re so well rid of Brack?”</p> - -<p>“What else is there to do?” she said. “Can we do anything but help -him? Please don’t think of me. There isn’t the least bit of need of -that.”</p> - -<p>“I will do as you say,” I said. “Is it your wish we go back there?”</p> - -<p>“We must. You can see there’s nothing else to do.</p> - -<p>“You’ll stay here——”</p> - -<p>“Certainly not!” cried George. “Takes two to paddle; I’m in no shape -am I, Betty?”</p> - -<p>I could have struck him for that, but Betty said soothingly—</p> - -<p>“No, George, you’re not.”</p> - -<p>She was right. Chanler was in no shape to paddle any more, so Betty -took his place in the bow, and, with George crouched in the middle, -the journey up the fiord began. Save for an occasional groan or -exclamation from George and a soothing response from Betty, we spoke -but little.</p> - -<p>I was lost in admiration of the manner in which Betty tackled the task -before us. She sat up, slim and straight, bending but little to her -paddle, but by our progress I knew the force which her young arms -placed behind each stroke. There was no hesitation, no faltering, -though I knew that she, too, dreaded returning to Brack in this -fashion. She seemed to have forgotten herself in the need to help -George; and the Spring-like youth of her reached back to me, putting -new life into my tiring arms, new confidence in my troubled thoughts. -I had for the moment almost fallen into despair, accepting Brack’s -will with us as invincible. Without Betty I would have felt that we -were beaten. But there was the indomitable confidence of youth in the -poise of her little head, there was inspiration in the swing of her -young-woman body, and as we paddled on into the darkness my heart -cried out:</p> - -<p>“Bravo, Betty! Bravo, brave girl! We’ll beat him yet.”</p> - -<h2>XXVIII </h2> - -<p>The problem of the <i>Wanderer’s</i> whereabouts was one which offered no -clue for its solution. One thing I felt certain: the yacht had not -gone to sea. Whatever Riordan’s wishes in that matter might be—and I -knew such a move would have pleased him as revenge upon Betty and -me—Pierce and Wilson would never have permitted it.</p> - -<p>True, Wilson was crippled, but if I had gaged the man’s character -rightly it would have required more than a wounded leg to prevent his -intervention in so colossal a piece of treachery. As for Pierce, with -his terrible neckties and soul of gold, he would have died rather than -allow Miss Baldwin to be treated in such fashion. More, he would be -too clever to die; he would at least have escaped to join us.</p> - -<p>The yacht must be somewhere in the fiord. Riordan would not have moved -her without Brack’s orders. These orders probably had been given at -noon, and Riordan had waited until George and I were out of sight -before obeying them. With the yacht hidden we would be at Brack’s -mercy in that wilderness, the only shelter and food being at the mine. -The pistol in my shirt grated against my ribs as I dug viciously at -the water.</p> - -<p>Had Captain Brack been present when we reached the mine I am quite -certain that we would have clashed.</p> - -<p>The light was still burning in the cabin as we reached the -mine-clearing, and with the pistol in my hand I walked straight up to -the cabin door, leaving Betty to guide George, who now was staggering -and groaning constantly. Brack was not there. In his place Dr. Olson -was sitting, refreshing himself from the remnants of a meal and a -bottle of whisky.</p> - -<p>The sight of me brought a sudden end to his meal, for he promptly -threw up his hands, crying:</p> - -<p>“Don’t shoot, Pitt! Great Scott! What’s the matter?”</p> - -<p>“Where’s Brack?” I demanded.</p> - -<p>“Put that gun away!” he stammered. “Man, you’ve got murder in your -face.”</p> - -<p>I lowered the weapon and the doctor dropped his hands with a sigh of -relief.</p> - -<p>“Whew! I’m glad you aren’t after me. You certainly can look fierce, -Pitt. What’s up?”</p> - -<p>“Brack?” I repeated, but before he could reply Chanler lurched wildly -past me into the room. His eyes fell on the doctor’s bottle and he -rushed for it like a madman. The professional instinct rose in Olson -at the sight of him and he whisked the bottle out of reach. In the end -Olson resorted to a hypodermic injection, and presently George was -dozing on a bunk in the corner.</p> - -<p>“Whew! Close call,” said the doctor looking down at his patient. “You -got him here just about in time.”</p> - -<p>“Where is Brack?” I demanded. “And where’s the yacht?”</p> - -<p>“The yacht?” repeated Olson staring stupidly. “Our yacht? Isn’t it——”</p> - -<p>“No,” I interrupted, “it isn’t where it ought to be. It’s gone. Do you -know where it is?”</p> - -<p>He shook his head.</p> - -<p>“How should I know? I just got back here with my patients about -fifteen minutes ago. The captain went up with the men then——”</p> - -<p>“Patients?” said Betty. “Are some of the men ill, doctor?”</p> - -<p>Olson grew confused.</p> - -<p>“Well, well, yes. That is, they had a little—a little accident up in -the hills. Two of them got hurt.”</p> - -<p>“Oh! Badly? Can I do anything?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no. No, no,” he replied quickly. “No, you couldn’t do anything -for them, Miss Baldwin. It wouldn’t do any good for you to see them. -I’ve got them all fixed up in the other cabin. They’re all right, I -assure you.”</p> - -<p>“And the captain?” I reminded him.</p> - -<p>“Why, when I got down here with those two men the captain was sitting -here eating and drinking. He went up into the hills afterwards.”</p> - -<p>“And he didn’t say anything about the yacht?”</p> - -<p>“Not a thing.”</p> - -<p>I informed him of the evening’s happenings, and of the <i>Wanderer’s</i> -disappearance. At that he gasped, and a look of comprehension came -slowly into his eyes.</p> - -<p>“Oh,” he said. “Oh, so that’s it, eh?”</p> - -<p>“What’s it?” I demanded.</p> - -<p>He glanced at Betty, dropped his eyes to the floor, and looked at me -significantly.</p> - -<p>“Nothing at all,” he said. “Aren’t you starving, Pitt? You look it. As -a physician I suggest you get some nourishment into your system at -once, before you begin to suffer.”</p> - -<p>The unexpected quickness of wit on his part took me slightly aback, -but I responded promptly.</p> - -<p>“I’m fairly famished,” I agreed, grasping at the remnants of food on -the table. “You’re right, doctor; I must eat at once.”</p> - -<p>It worked excellently. Betty, instantly solicitous, flew about to -prepare a meal for me, and under the pretense of gathering fire-wood -Dr. Olson beckoned me outside.</p> - -<p>“Those men—my patients—were shot,” he said swiftly. “And two others, -Madigan and a seaman, were killed.”</p> - -<p>A day before such news would have shocked me inexpressibly. Now it -seemed only a normal result of the circumstances which Brack had woven -about us all.</p> - -<p>“And Slade and Harris? Did they get away?” I asked eagerly.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know anything about anybody by those names,” he replied. “All -I know is what Brack told me: that our men were attacked by a couple -of outlaws while hunting in the hills, with the results that I’ve told -you. These outlaws shot our men.”</p> - -<p>“And did those other fellows—the outlaws—get away?”</p> - -<p>“For the present, yes. But Brack’s men are guarding the only pass by -which they can get out of this valley, so they can’t get away. The -captain says he’ll get them if he has to hunt all Summer. He’s managed -to get roaring drunk.”</p> - -<p>“And he said something about Miss Baldwin, too, didn’t he? What was -it?”</p> - -<p>“Well, he was drunk, you know. It makes him look and act and talk like -a devil.”</p> - -<p>“Go on.”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘I expect we’ll have company here tonight, doctor.’ Said you -and Chanler had come and taken Miss Baldwin back to the yacht. ‘But -I’ve a feeling they’ll come back here,’ he says. ‘She can’t resist me. -Yes,’ he said, ‘they’ll be back, and this time they’ll stay.’ Then he -took out a big knife and cut himself in the hand. ‘The blood of kings, -doctor,’ he said. ‘I’m king of Kalmut Valley, and I’ll make cripples -of Pitt and Chanler, and have them for my jesters, and—’ Well, he was -drunk, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Say it,” I commanded. “What else did he say?”</p> - -<p>“‘And I’ll tie ’em up,’ he said, ‘and let ’em watch me make Miss -Baldwin my queen.’ I told him he’d better let me tie up his hand, and -he hit me across the face with it and went off into the hills. That’s -all.”</p> - -<p>“No,” I said, “there’s more to this.”</p> - -<p>I told him why Brack was after Slade and Harris. He was skeptical at -first; men didn’t dare do such things nowadays; Brack’s wild talk had -been only the raving of too much whisky. In the end, however, he was -convinced.</p> - -<p>“Then this scientific expedition was only the captain’s way of getting -an outfit for robbery on a big, piratical scale! By George! The man’s -big, isn’t he? A regular pirate’s raid in this year of our Lord! And -yet it’s all simple and easy up here when you think of it, isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“Devilishly so. But it became more serious than mere robbery when Miss -Baldwin came on board. Now, are you going to help us, doctor, or——”</p> - -<p>“Of course. I’m civilized, I hope. But what can we do, Pitt? The -captain’s got the men, and he’s too strong——”</p> - -<p>“Dinner, gentlemen!” came Betty’s fresh young voice. “Honesty impels -me to warn you, Mr. Pitt, that I’m a horrible example as a cook, but -such as ’tis, ’tis ready.”</p> - -<p>I was in no frame of mind to be a judge of Betty’s cooking. I ate -ravenously, because I was hungry, but my thoughts were not upon the -food. Dr. Olson’s picture of Brack in his cups was of a piece with the -impression I had gathered of him early that morning. He had thrown off -the mask and his true nature, raw, rank, savagery, was in full sway.</p> - -<p>“When do you expect the captain back, doctor?” I asked casually.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know. He probably will be back tonight, though. He warned me -not to drink up all the whisky as he’d want some when he got back.”</p> - -<p>I turned to Betty.</p> - -<p>“Captain Brack is intoxicated, Miss Baldwin,” I said. “The doctor and -I do not think it would be pleasant for you to be here when he -returns.”</p> - -<p>“No,” said the doctor, “you mustn’t be here then, Miss Baldwin.”</p> - -<p>Betty’s wide-open eyes grew wider, but there was no alarm in the quiet -gray depths of them.</p> - -<p>“I understand,” she said, nodding thoughtfully. “I will do whatever -you suggest, Mr. Pitt.”</p> - -<p>There lay the trouble. I had nothing to suggest, nor had the doctor. -Flight suggested itself first of all, but in that wilderness, with -only a light Peterboro canoe and a rough sea as means of escape, the -success of such a move seemed improbable. To bring our fate to a -crisis by remaining there openly, defying Brack and appealing to the -men for help, would have been suicidal. Had we been on the yacht -strengthened by Pierce and Wilson, such action might have had a basis -of reason.</p> - -<p>Really thoughts of Pierce and Wilson kept me from losing hope at that -moment. Though by now I had more confidence in myself than I had -thought possible, I did not feel that I was capable of finding a -solution to the problem confronting us. But there were Pierce, the -shrewd, and Wilson, the brave, still to reckon with. What were they -thinking at that moment of our failure to return to the yacht? What -would Pierce’s sharp mind be doing but seeking a way to assist us, or, -at least Miss Baldwin, to safety?</p> - -<p>And then I looked at Betty, quietly serious, but not alarmed, and my -spirits rose at the sight of her. It was no strength of mine that -raised my courage then; it was the strength I drew from the courage of -Betty. Once more, as in the canoe, I felt a desire to cry out:</p> - -<p>“Bravo, Betty! Bravo, brave girl! We’ll beat him yet.”</p> - -<p>It was well that I did not cry out. For in that instant, from out on -the back trail, came a maddened bellow, scarcely human in tone, yet -recognizable as coming from no one else than Captain Brack.</p> - -<h2>XXIX </h2> - -<p>I glanced instinctively toward the back of the cabin, at the large, -sack-covered window cut in the logs.</p> - -<p>“Out that way, Betty!” I whispered, tearing down the sacking.</p> - -<p>It was the first time I had called her by that name. She obeyed -promptly.</p> - -<p>“George?” she whispered, as she stood ready to climb through the -window.</p> - -<p>“No,” said Dr. Olson. “He’s helpless—I’ll stay here. Hurry!”</p> - -<p>I was stuffing my pockets with food, with a snuffed candle, scarcely -conscious of what I was doing. Also, in the same instinctive manner, -without any conscious thought, yet somehow realizing that it was a -vital action, I snatched a blanket from Chanler’s bunk and threw it -over my shoulder.</p> - -<p>“We’re going to the cave where I hid the rifle. Tell that to Pierce, -doctor; he’ll understand.”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Hurry, for God’s sake!” he whispered. “Good luck.”</p> - -<p>Betty went through the window with a lithe vault and a noiseless drop -outside. I followed, dropped beside her, and, catching her hand, led -as silently as possible away from the cabin until I felt sure we were -out of hearing. Then we swung carefully back through the brush to the -river trail at a point well below the mine clearing.</p> - -<p>“Now for the canoe!” I whispered. “Come on!”</p> - -<p>I ran as I had not run since a boy, and as I glanced back over my -shoulder I saw Betty following closely.</p> - -<p>We found the canoe where we had left it. Betty was in the bow before I -had it untied. I pushed off, and, regardless of the rocks, we paddled -furiously down-stream for the open water of the bay.</p> - -<p>Not until we had entered the fiord and put an out-jutting cliff -between ourselves and the river-mouth did we relax. Then Betty laid -her paddle across the bows, bowed her head, and a tremor shook her -slim body.</p> - -<p>“Don’t—don’t, Miss Baldwin!” I pleaded. “On my word and honor I feel -absolutely confident that we are safe now.”</p> - -<p>To my surprise she replied—</p> - -<p>“I feel safe, too.”</p> - -<p>“You’re tired, then, and cold. Put the blanket about you, and rest. -I’ll paddle the rest of the way.”</p> - -<p>She shook her head, and resumed her paddling.</p> - -<p>“It wasn’t that. It wasn’t that, please. I’ve camped out often. But -George—poor George!”</p> - -<p>Her words came as a shock to me. So George still occupied first place -in her mind. I had been right: she had seen George as he had been when -first she had learned to care for him; and she had realized that she -still cared. Her first thought in the moment of our hurried flight -from the cabin had been of him. Even though she had seen him go to -pieces piteously she still cared. She thought of him before all -others. Well, that was as it should be, as I had hoped it would be -when I brought George up to the cabin, sane and sober, and in his -right mind. It was right.</p> - -<p>But Fate persisted with its tantalizing pranks, for here was I, an -outsider, still necessary in the task of bringing George and Betty to -the haven of safety and happiness. The doctor would look after George; -I felt sure that Chanler’s condition would keep him free from any -cruelty by Brack. I would do my best to look after Betty.</p> - -<p>She would be very happy, too. She had the faculty of happiness. That -faculty was saving her from the torture of fear now; it would be a -guarantee of future happiness for her and George. Verily, when a man -forecasts a woman’s ways he is as a child!</p> - -<p>My reason for going to the cavern on the hillside was twofold. The -place offered a fair shelter for Betty where she could lie hidden -safely. I also wished to recover the rifle which I had taken from -Barry.</p> - -<p>I was certain that sooner or later Pierce would make an attempt to -join us if it was possible, and with the rifle and my pistol we would -at least be two armed men. If Pierce came, even though Brack was in -possession of the yacht, we could strike out through the wilderness, -keeping near the coast, in hope of finding a settlement.</p> - -<p>In spite of the darkness we easily found the inlet where Barry’s -negligent watching had given me an opportunity to escape. At first I -thoughtlessly steered the canoe straight at the sandy beach, but an -instant before our bow would have run up on the sands the same -instinct which had prompted me to snatch food and blanket from the -cabin, warned me to back water. Brack would have his men out by -daylight searching the bay for signs of our whereabouts. If we landed -on the soft sand of the beach the canoe and our tracks—especially the -rubber heels of Betty’s outing shoes—would easily be seen.</p> - -<p>On one side of the inlet a ledge of rock jutted into the water and -toward this I now turned the canoe, explaining to Betty the reason for -so doing.</p> - -<p>“How did you ever think of that?” she exclaimed. “You haven’t done -these things before, have you?”</p> - -<p>“Not since I was a boy,” I replied.</p> - -<p>“Did you play Injun then?”</p> - -<p>“Of course. All boys do.”</p> - -<p>“I’m glad.”</p> - -<p>“So am I; it’s helpful just now.”</p> - -<p>“Yes; but I didn’t mean that.”</p> - -<p>“What then?”</p> - -<p>“Because if you played Injun you must have been a regular boy, and -regular boys have such a lot of jolly fun, Mr. Pitt?”</p> - -<p>“Yes?”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you ever feel like playing Injun now? No? Too old and -dignified? Never play Injun any more?”</p> - -<p>I laughed negatively as I swung the bow toward the rock.</p> - -<p>“Shucks! It’s too bad,” she said. “You play it so well it’s a shame -you don’t like to do it.”</p> - -<p>We ran alongside the ledge and found that its flat top was just out of -reach above our heads. A canoe offers no safe foundation to leap from -and for the moment I was nonplused.</p> - -<p>Betty, her hand resting on the flat surface of the rocks, found a -crevice. On closer examination it proved to be only a slight crack, -not large enough to provide a foothold, but Betty was thrusting at the -opening with the blade of her paddle.</p> - -<p>“Ah! There we are!” she chuckled, as the thin paddle entered the -crack. “There’s a step for us.”</p> - -<p>“How did you ever think of that?” I exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“I used to play Injun, too,” she replied.</p> - -<p>With the paddle as a step I was able to reach the top of the ledge and -draw myself up. Betty then passed me the paddles and the painter of -the canoe. Lying flat down on the ledge I stretched my arms downward -until our hands met. Her strong warm fingers gripped my wrists and I -promptly imitated her grasp.</p> - -<p>“Now!” I said, and as she leaped I pulled upward with all my might.</p> - -<p>Her hair brushed my eyes as she came up over the edge, and when our -fingers released each other’s wrists, I was vaguely conscious that -something strange had happened, though I did not know what. We drew -the canoe up together. It had been my intention merely to hide it in -the brush out of sight of the bay, but now another idea presented -itself.</p> - -<p>I gave Betty the paddles and with the canoe on my back started up the -hill for my cave.</p> - -<p>“No, sir,” objected Betty. “That isn’t fair. If we’re going to play -Injun I want my share of the game.”</p> - -<p>I protested; the distance was short, the weight slight; but in the end -the march was resumed with each of us sharing equally the weight of -the canoe.</p> - -<p>A seventy-pound canoe is no burden for two people in the open. But our -way lay in the darkness up a rocky ridge, through brush and timber, -and we tripped and fell, ran into trees, got caught in the brush, and -suffered other minor mishaps until I stopped and insisted that Betty -allow me to carry the canoe alone.</p> - -<p>“No, sir,” she repeated firmly. “I’m not stumbling any more than you -are. Be fair and let me play, too.”</p> - -<p>We compromised by putting down the canoe, and, leaving Betty to wait -beside it, I went on to locate my cave. I found it, as I had that -morning, by stumbling into it.</p> - -<p>I struck a match and glanced at the spot where I had hid the rifle. -Then I stood staring dumbly until the match burned down to my fingers. -For the second time that night I experienced the same shock; the rifle -was gone; someone had been in the cave.</p> - -<div style='height:1.5em;'></div> - -<p>When I returned to Betty my self-control had been regained. Whatever -the significance of the rifle’s disappearance might be Betty must have -shelter for the night, and the cave was the only place available for -that purpose. We carried the canoe thither and I lighted my piece of -candle and stepped down.</p> - -<p>The cave really was a wedge-shaped opening in the side of the hill, -its mouth probably twenty feet across, and about the same in depth. -Betty cried out as the candle-light revealed the place.</p> - -<p>“Why it’s almost jolly! It’s a perfect place to play Injun.”</p> - -<p>We slid the canoe down and placed it as near the back of the cave as -it would go.</p> - -<p>“That,” said I, “is going to be your bed,” and clambering out I began -to gather armfuls of fragrant small branches and brush.</p> - -<p>The canoe was soon half filled, and, spreading the blanket over the -boughs, I said—</p> - -<p>“Whenever you are ready to retire, there is your chamber.”</p> - -<p>“How jolly!” she cried.</p> - -<p>Then she stopped. A new expression, which I misread, came into her -eyes.</p> - -<p>“I have my lodgings up the hill a ways,” I said hurriedly. “I’ll bid -you good night.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt!” she said, and for the first time her under lip trembled -suspiciously.</p> - -<p>“It’s a considerable distance away,” I assured her. “I’ll be quite out -of sight. Really, you needn’t——”</p> - -<p>Her lip ceased trembling. A tiny twinkle came into her eyes, a trace -of a smile showed in the corners of her mouth.</p> - -<p>“Good gracious!” she cried. “I believe that you—you think I’m -worrying—about being alone with you!”</p> - -<p>I looked at her stupidly.</p> - -<p>“Well, weren’t you?”</p> - -<p>Her smile vanished.</p> - -<p>“Oh, what a perfectly selfish pig you must think me, Mr. Pitt!”</p> - -<p>“Good heavens, no! Anything but that. But—but we’re alone—no -chaperon—wasn’t that the natural thing to think?”</p> - -<p>“The conventional thing, you mean! And—and we’re playing Injun -together!”</p> - -<p>“But—but you looked!” I stammered protestingly. “What were you -thinking about?”</p> - -<p>And she replied—</p> - -<p>“I was wishing we had two canoes.”</p> - -<p>Presently she said—</p> - -<p>“How are you going to sleep, Mr. Pitt?”</p> - -<p>“On a bed of boughs.”</p> - -<p>“Where?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, there’s plenty of room all around.”</p> - -<p>“And no shelter? Suppose it rains? Why do you wish to leave this -cave?”</p> - -<p>“My dear Miss Baldwin!” I protested.</p> - -<p>“Shocked?” she said mournfully. “I can’t help it. It seems so -ridiculous to think of such things out here. We—we’re Injuns. See, -there’s a nice corner right near the opening, yet with a roof over it. -We can fill that with boughs. I—I’d get frightened, really, if you -left me here all alone.”</p> - -<p>“Putting it that way, of course—”</p> - -<p>“That’s right. Now I’m going to help make your bed.”</p> - -<p>Fifteen minutes later, perhaps, I lay down upon a pile of branches -near the mouth of the cavern and blew out the candle.</p> - -<p>“Good night,” came Betty’s voice from the canoe.</p> - -<p>“Good night.”</p> - -<p>Silence reigned. We were tired; soon we grew drowsy. Just before she -fell asleep Betty murmured—</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt!”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“I still insist ’tisn’t fair—we haven’t got—two canoes.”</p> - -<h2>XXX </h2> - -<p>The cave became still. Snuggled down in her bed in the canoe Betty had -fallen asleep as readily as if in her bed in the owner’s suite aboard -the <i>Wanderer</i>. Sleep pressed on my eyelids, too; my body, tired from -the unwonted exertions of the day, demanded insistently the boon of -recreating slumber.</p> - -<p>I fought off my drowsiness, however, and lay curled up on my bed of -boughs, facing the cave’s mouth, and tried to think. Yet though I -realized that I was awake it all seemed like a dream, such a dream as -youth dreams when the call of Romance and Adventure still is real.</p> - -<p>I was Gardner Pitt, writing man; my accustomed environment, the -carefully barbered, denaturalized life of my set in New York. No, that -must be a mistake. That New York existence seemed too far away to be a -part of my present life. That was the dream; this the reality. I was -Gardner Pitt, but I was not a writer; I was simply a hundred and sixty -pounds of man, and I was sleeping on a pile of brush at the mouth of a -cavern, in which slept a woman guarded by my presence. And it all -seemed so natural, so vital and true a field for a man’s activities, -that for the time nothing else had significance. True, this was not my -woman that I was guarding, but another’s. But no thought of this -entered my mind at the time. I did not think at all beyond the problem -of escaping from Brack.</p> - -<p>I placed my pistol in my right hand, determined to lie awake through -the night.</p> - -<p>I must have fallen asleep immediately after this, because when I was -awakened by the rays of the morning sun slanting into the cave, the -pistol lay with my relaxed hand upon it. I started up with a sensation -of guilt.</p> - -<p>With my pistol in my hand I peered out of the cave, more than half -expecting to find Brack calmly awaiting me with his tantalizing smile -in its place. But no human presence disturbed the primitive peace of -that hillside that morning. A covey of feeding grouse lifted their -heads and looked at me without fear. Birds were singing, the sun was -bright and warm, and down on the blue water of the bay a pair of tiny -ducks played.</p> - -<p>I turned to look at Betty and was greeted by the sight of a very -tousled, half-awake little head, peering over the side of the canoe.</p> - -<p>“‘Mornin’,” murmured the little head sleepily.</p> - -<p>“‘Mornin’,” I replied.</p> - -<p>“Oo-oo-ah!” The little head yawned tremendously. “Wha’ time is ’t?”</p> - -<p>It was 7:02 by my watch as I consulted it.</p> - -<p>“Oo-o-wah!” Little head looked at me appealingly. “Do we got to get up -so early when we play Injun?”</p> - -<p>“Only the hunting Injun’s got to get up so early. Other Injuns sleep -as long as they please.”</p> - -<p>“Hunting? What for?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, for a nice, big white yacht, for one thing. I’ll be gone only a -short while. In the meantime you sleep.”</p> - -<p>“O-um-mum,” murmured the little head and sank comfortably out of sight -in the canoe.</p> - -<p>Parting the brush that hid the cave, I stepped out and went down the -hillside a short distance. Looking back I was pleased to find that the -cave was so well hidden that unless one knew its location it might be -passed close by without its existence being suspected. Save for the -possibility that man who had taken the rifle was one of Brack’s gang -the cave offered a fairly safe hiding place.</p> - -<p>My first move was to assure myself that the yacht was not anchored -near by. I went cautiously up the bay for half a mile, scrutinizing -each inlet in vain for a sight of the <i>Wanderer’s</i> white sides. I then -swung up into the hills, marching a circle around the cave, impelled -by the instinctive desire to ascertain the possible presence of any -enemy.</p> - -<p>At a distance of a city block from the cave I found a tiny spring -sending its rivulet down the hillside to the bay, and as I lay down to -drink I saw huddled beneath a tiny fir a flock of grouse watching me -from a distance of ten or twelve feet.</p> - -<p>Instinct promptly whispered: “Food” and I recalled the scant supply I -had taken from the cabin, and reached for my pistol. The pistol, -however, would roar like a cannon in that morning stillness and my -supply of ammunition was limited to the ten cartridges in the -magazine.</p> - -<p>Lying motionless I looked around until my eyes fell upon a club. It -was out of reach, but the foolish birds, confident that they were -hidden, sat still while I secured the club and hurled it with all my -might into their midst. I leaped forward instantly, and in the roar -and flurry of the covey’s rising pounced upon two fluttering birds -which my club had stunned.</p> - -<p>Betty was up and wide awake when I returned to the cave. She had made -her hair into one thick braid which hung down her back, and her face -was rosy from sound sleep. She shuddered first at the sight of the -birds.</p> - -<p>“Oh, the poor, pretty things!” she murmured, stroking their feathers. -“I wish you hadn’t hurt them.”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t hurt them,” I replied. “They never knew what struck them. I -didn’t like to do it, but we must find our own food, or surrender to -Brack.”</p> - -<p>She looked at the birds wistfully and said nothing as I led her to the -spring. I left her splashing the ice-cold water upon her face and -proceeded to dress the birds. When I returned to the cave she was -waiting with her sleeves rolled up and a set look in her eyes.</p> - -<p>“I can cook them,” she said firmly. “That’s my share of the game. You -cut them in two and put a stick through the pieces and hold them -before a hot fire that doesn’t smoke.”</p> - -<p>“Any fire that we have must not smoke,” I said. “The smoke would show -above the trees and be seen.”</p> - -<p>“Then we must have perfectly dry wood,” she said quickly. “A small -fire and dry; that doesn’t smoke.”</p> - -<p>We set about gathering the wood together. Between two stones at the -cave’s opening we built our fire, watching it jealously, to see that -only the minimum of smoke arose from it in the clear air. Betty put -her conscience to rest as she regarded the dressed grouse, composed -mainly of succulent breast.</p> - -<p>“They must be intended for food,” she said, “or they wouldn’t be made -as they are.”</p> - -<p>I agreed with her emphatically, and with a skewered half bird in each -hand we sat down before the fire and proceeded with our cookery.</p> - -<p>Freshly killed spruce grouse, roasted before an uncertain fire, and -without salt, do not make ideal breakfast food, a fact which we -discovered soon after the birds were done.</p> - -<p>“I believe,” said Betty, when she had nibbled at half a bird, “I have -had enough.”</p> - -<p>“I have other viands in my pocket.”</p> - -<p>“To be saved for future reference,” she laughed.</p> - -<p>“We’ll wrap the rest of this wild poultry up in nice clean leaves and -save it for another meal.”</p> - -<p>“We will. It will be tasty when cold.”</p> - -<p>At the spring where we went to wash down the meal with drafts of -water, Betty’s eyes began to twinkle and the corners of her lips -twitched suspiciously.</p> - -<p>“Well, we’ve perfectly beautiful drinking water, at least,” she said, -and smothered her laughter behind both hands.</p> - -<p>“Now then,” she said briskly, when we were back in the cave, “are we -going to occupy this apartment for some time, or do we continue our -travels of last night?”</p> - -<p>I told her that it seemed best for us to stay in hiding.</p> - -<p>“All right. Then let’s try to brighten the place up a little. We don’t -have to sit here and look at these black stone walls just because -we’re playing Injun. Come and help me; I love to select furnishings -for a room.”</p> - -<div style='height:1.5em;'></div> - -<p>From the hillside near the cave we gathered more branches and brush. -Pine, spruce, birch and willow, budding into the full growth of -Summer, came by the armfuls into the cavern.</p> - -<p>“You never would have thought that this place needed decorating, would -you?” said Betty, as she set to work. “Certainly not. This rough roof -offers a shelter; these harsh walls hide us from our enemies. So you, -being a mere man, think it’s all right. Ha! I’d hate to be a mere -man.”</p> - -<p>She was flying about the cave, fastening branches in the clefts of the -rock, stepping back to view the results, altering her arrangements, -apparently so lost in her work as to have forgotten our true -situation.</p> - -<p>“Now hand me that birch branch—the white contrasts beautifully with -the green pine; now another piece of pine, now some more birch. There. -That’s what you call repetition of color, isn’t it? You don’t know? -Gracious. How can men be so ignorant of the really important things of -life!”</p> - -<p>On the rock forming the roof of the cave we found a patch of moss, -velvet soft to the touch, and a gentle brown and gold in color. With a -stick I loosened great pieces from the rock and bore it carefully -within where Betty directed the carpeting of the cave. When a large -piece reached its destination intact Betty beamed; when the moss broke -between my outstretched hands she pouted.</p> - -<p>“I think so long as Nature goes to the trouble of creating a carpet -for us it might as well do a good job and make it strong enough to -stand transportation.”</p> - -<p>But when the cave was carpeted with its soft, yielding cushion of moss -she clapped her hands in delight.</p> - -<p>“Look at it!” she cried, embracing the cave with a gesture. “Why, it’s -cozy; people could almost live here.”</p> - -<p>Our coming and going had trodden down much of the brush which had so -thoroughly hidden the cave, and with some of the branches left over -from Betty’s decorations I proceeded to weave a screen over the -opening. When I had completed it I crawled out and inspected my work -from a distance. The cave now was hidden more thoroughly than ever. -Brack must look long and carefully to find us.</p> - -<p>When I slipped back into our shelter I surprised Betty sitting on the -canoe with her head bowed upon her hands in an attitude of dejection. -She looked up, smiling bravely, but her cheerfulness was only -surface-deep.</p> - -<p>I looked away without a word, as did she, but in that moment we had -confessed to one another that our display of high spirits had merely -been acting, each wishing to help bolster up the courage of the other. -We sat so for some time. Betty finally broke the silence.</p> - -<p>“Well,” she said quietly, “there’s no use pretending any more, is -there?”</p> - -<p>As I had no reply she continued—</p> - -<p>“We might as well admit out loud that neither of us feels—well, -exactly jolly about it.”</p> - -<p>“That’s true,” I replied inanely.</p> - -<p>We were silent again.</p> - -<p>“What—what are we going to do about it, Mr. Pitt?”</p> - -<p>“There is nothing much to do; we are safe for the time being. So long -as we keep out of Brack’s sight we are safe. For the present we could -do just that—and hope.”</p> - -<p>Betty heard me without a word. Once more she bowed her face upon her -hands, and her girlish shoulders trembled. I was at her side in an -instant.</p> - -<p>“Don’t, Betty, please don’t!” I pleaded. “You mustn’t give way. It’s -rough, and it’s hard, specially hard for a girl like you, but don’t -give way for—for my sake. It’s been your fine courage and cheerfulness -that’s kept me from showing that I’m really a coward. Yes, it is; -you’ve kept me from being a coward. Don’t—please don’t be afraid. -We’ll get out of this all right somehow, sure.”</p> - -<p>She looked at me, her eyes moist, but with her old thoughtful look in -them.</p> - -<p>“Do you really believe we will, in your heart, Mr. Pitt?”</p> - -<p>“Most emphatically I do.”</p> - -<p>“How?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know.”</p> - -<p>“Then you only hope——?”</p> - -<p>“No; I believe.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” she cried suddenly. “I hope—I pray—that you’re right; because -it’s all my fault, all my fault, and I’d never forgive myself if I’d -brought harm to you—or George.”</p> - -<p>Once more the sound of George’s name on her tongue shocked me. Could -she never get the man out of her head?</p> - -<p>I picked aimlessly at a birch bough over my head, and each little -budding leaf that I plucked away seemed like the tiny dreams which -unconsciously had been in my mind all morning, and which now were -driven away. The dreams that come to a man willy-nilly, without -reason, without basis of hope. It probably was the stress of -yesterday, the natural romance of a cave in the wilderness that were -responsible. Well, I had that, anyhow; hours with Betty, in the -sunlit, primitive woods. The memory of that would remain. Why, I was -rich, richer than I had ever been in my life.</p> - -<p>“Will you allow me to say something serious, Betty?”</p> - -<p>Her look was startled, apprehensive, but her eyes gave consent.</p> - -<p>“These hours have been the biggest of my life.”</p> - -<p>I stopped. Betty was looking at the ground. And suddenly all the winds -of the world seemed to be drawing me toward her, urging me to throw -myself beside her, and a stream of words was upon my tongue.</p> - -<p>I reached up, plucked a twig of pine from its cleft, and when I had -stripped its needles one by one my self-control had returned.</p> - -<p>“So you see I’m a winner,” I laughed. “You mustn’t worry one little -worry about me. Whatever happens I’m ahead of the game.”</p> - -<p>It was a long time before she spoke, and then she did so without -looking up.</p> - -<p>“Is—that—true?”</p> - -<p>“Can’t you see it is?”</p> - -<p>She nodded without looking to see.</p> - -<p>“And—is that—all?”</p> - -<p>“Isn’t that plenty? The biggest hours of my life—to have and -remember?”</p> - -<p>She poked her white toe into the moss, but still her eyes were on the -ground.</p> - -<p>“I feel awf’ly guilty,” she said faintly. “It’s all my fault. The -whole thing is my fault. Poor George! If it hadn’t been for me he -never would have met Brack, and then all this would not have -happened.”</p> - -<p>“George probably is all right by this time. He is under Dr. Olson’s -care, and the doctor is one of us.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve made him suffer terribly, haven’t I?”</p> - -<p>“No. If he hadn’t—” I checked myself. “You haven’t made him suffer. -And he’ll be a wiser man when you see him again, and you’ll both -forget and be happy together.”</p> - -<p>Betty lifted her eyes and studied me closely. Her expression was -puzzling; she seemed incredulous. A quizzical smile touched her lips; -she suppressed it and looked away.</p> - -<p>“And George,” she said, as if her thoughts had wandered away from him, -“I must make up for it all to him—if I can.”</p> - -<p>“If you can! Of course you can. You will!”</p> - -<p>Again she lifted her head and looked me squarely in the eyes. And this -time when she looked away I knew that I was a fool, though I did not -know just why.</p> - -<h2>XXXI </h2> - -<p>It was now near ten o’clock and we soon would know whether our -hiding-place was a safe one. I knew that it was safer than would have -been a flight through the woods, where Brack and his men might be -prowling, yet I was so apprehensive that the sight of Brack’s big head -thrust through the brush, his old sneering smile on his lips, would -not have surprised me in the least. But no one came.</p> - -<p>The forenoon passed without sight or sound of human being. At noon we -were more hungry than we had been at breakfast. The spruce grouse had -improved remarkably in flavor. In fact we agreed as we devoured what -remained of them that seldom had we tasted better food.</p> - -<p>“And nourishing; I’m sure they’re very nourishing,” said Betty. “They -improve on acquaintance, as one’s appetite grows less finicky.”</p> - -<p>My hopes began to rise as the hours passed with no sign of the -appearance of Brack or any of his men. Apparently it was no man of the -captain’s who had found the cave and removed the rifle. Then he had no -way of knowing where we were hidden; we were safe at least for the -present. When I explained this to Betty she said quietly—</p> - -<p>“I’ve felt safe all the time, Mr. Pitt.”</p> - -<p>“And quite right, too,” I replied. “The situation hasn’t been what any -one but a pessimist would call dangerous.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt!”</p> - -<p>“What?”</p> - -<p>She looked at me gravely for several seconds.</p> - -<p>“I’m not a child, Mr. Pitt; it isn’t necessary to lie to me.”</p> - -<p>“What! Lie to you?”</p> - -<p>“Please. I understand how you feel about it. I’m a weak, carefully -reared and sheltered girl who must be treated as a child, sheltered -from everything unpleasant, and lied to about—about the fact that she -is in danger, because she has happened to attract a brute; and that -your life is in danger because you’re hiding her.”</p> - -<p>“But, really——”</p> - -<p>“Well, you needn’t keep up the pretense, Mr. Pitt. I’ve known all the -time. I’ve known better than you have; the woman can know better, you -know, even if she is a girl. I’ve known ever since Captain Brack came -toward me last night up there in the cabin. His eyes were like—like -he’d dropped a curtain and let me see a lot of uncaged wild beasts -baring their teeth to me. I knew then—more than you could; and I know -that he won’t give up—ever.”</p> - -<p>“As I recall it,” I said when I could speak with a calmness equal to -her own, “you laughed at him at just the moment that you saw all -this?”</p> - -<p>“Of course. We couldn’t let him see we were scared, could we?”</p> - -<p>“And in the canoe, you sang——”</p> - -<p>“That was partly for George’s sake. And then I did feel safe; and have -felt so ever since.”</p> - -<p>“And all your high spirits—playing Injun—fixing up the cave, and so -on, have all been acting?”</p> - -<p>“No. Certainly not. I tell you I do feel safe.”</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>Again she smiled inscrutably.</p> - -<p>“You wouldn’t believe me now if I told you. Some day maybe you will. -Then I’ll tell you—if you ask. But you must not ask now.”</p> - -<p>For the present I, too, felt safe. But only for the present. Brack -would not give up. That implacable will would have its way and the -hunt for us probably was on at that moment. Brack, realizing our -helplessness in the wilderness, would know that our field of flight -would be restricted to the vicinity of the fiord, and with his men -would search the hills relentlessly. I blessed the fate that had sent -my feet stumbling into our well-hidden cavern.</p> - -<p>As I weighed the chances of our discovery—which chance consisted -practically of some literally blundering into the cave—I considered -our plight in a more favorable aspect. The doctor would deliver my -message to Pierce, and Freddy would pass on to the others the secret -of our place of concealment. Dr. Olson, Freddy, Wilson and George, by -this time probably knew where we were.</p> - -<p>There was a world of consolation in this thought. They would -communicate with us; Freddy would see to that. Yes, we would hear from -our friends before much longer.</p> - -<p>But as the hours passed with no sign of such good fortune I began to -doubt. What were our friends doing? What were they thinking of? Didn’t -they realize that every minute which we passed in this uncertainty was -a minute of torture?</p> - -<p>Betty’s patience seemed to grow as mine diminished. She had begun to -weave a mat out of the branches which we had carried in, and -apparently she was more interested in this than in what our friends -were doing. The mat was finished as darkness began to creep up the -hillside, and Betty spread thereupon the food I had snatched from the -cabin table. There was a piece of sausage, three slices of bread, and -a can of sardines.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps,” I suggested, “we had better save some for the morrow.”</p> - -<p>“I refuse to save,” she retorted, chin in air. “Poor we may be, sir; -but never shall it be said that we stinted ourselves in the matter of -rich and nourishing sustenance. Pray, sir, draw up before it gets too -dark to distinguish the varied viands.”</p> - -<p>“This is prodigal conduct,” I protested, as she divided the food -equally and passed my share to me. “What of tomorrow?”</p> - -<p>“Tomorrow you will get more birds, and if you do not, you will get -something else. And if you don’t get that—Sir! I refuse to worry about -anything so sordid as food. Now if it were a matter pertaining to -higher things—Oh! Aren’t these sardines delicious!”</p> - -<p>And when the scanty meal was finished she leaned back with a mock air -of repletion and said—</p> - -<p>“Now, let come what may; I have dined.”</p> - -<p>“Do you feel so brave?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes sir. As brave as beseems one who has dined sumptuously.”</p> - -<p>“Joking aside, do you feel brave enough to spend an hour or two in -this dark cave—alone?”</p> - -<p>“Is it necessary?” she asked after making sure that I was not joking. -“What are you going to do?”</p> - -<p>“We must try to learn what’s been going on today. As soon as it is -thoroughly dark I propose to sneak back to the cabins. If I have good -luck I may be able to get a word with Dr. Olson, or George. Then we’ll -know if it’s necessary or advisable for us to remain hidden -underground.”</p> - -<p>“I’m sure it is,” she said swiftly and with conviction.</p> - -<p>“Why are you sure?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know; I feel it.”</p> - -<p>“It may be well enough,” said I, “but I don’t feel it’s right of us to -lie here without making a move. If our friends can’t help us we ought -to know, so we may plan to help ourselves.”</p> - -<p>“If you have decided upon it, I suppose you will go.”</p> - -<p>“Not unless you give your consent.”</p> - -<p>“My consent?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. You don’t think I’d go away and leave you here alone in the cave -if you tell me you’d be afraid?”</p> - -<p>“I shall be afraid,” she said soberly. I looked at her a little -disappointed. “I shall be afraid every minute until your return that -something may happen to you. And then,” she added lightly, “who would -get birds for my breakfast in the morning? Of course you have my -consent to go. I’ll lie here in my canoe and try to think noble -thoughts. But do be careful.”</p> - -<p>I waited until nine before leaving the cave. It was then pitch-dark in -the woods. I had, however, laid out my course in my mind’s eye, and -set out for the crest of the ridge without hesitation.</p> - -<p>My progress at first was nothing to be proud of. I stumbled and fell -over unseen rocks and logs, walked smack into sturdy trees, and was -tangled in the brush constantly. At the top of the ridge the woods and -brush grew thinner. It was practically bare ground here and I traveled -the crest swiftly until the odorous dampness of the night air warned -me that I was approaching the lake, and I paused sharply.</p> - -<p>I was now, I judged, near the spot where I had descended from the -ridge to warn Slade and Harris. If I was right, I would soon be able -to see the lights from the cabins in the clearing below; and so -fearful was I of Brack’s devilish shrewdness that I dropped to my -hands and knees and crawled noiselessly forward to peer over the -ridge.</p> - -<p>Apparently my caution was unnecessary. So far as I could see there -were no lights in the cabins. In fact, there might have been no cabins -there, so absolutely was everything below me sunk in the black night.</p> - -<p>Minute after minute passed with my eyes straining in vain for a -glimpse of light and my ears listening vainly for some sound of human -nearness, but the darkness was no less complete than the silence. -Perhaps I had gone wrong. Perhaps that open space below, from whence -rose dampness and odor, was not the lake at all, but the bay. More -careful appraisal of my surroundings, however, convinced me that my -course had been true. That was the lake down there; the cabins were on -the farther side; and it being on toward ten o’clock, the candles were -out and the doctor, George, and the others, were asleep.</p> - -<p>This was the reasoning with which I relieved myself, as I let myself -down the ridge toward the clearing. My caution, however, had not -deserted me, and my progress was as noiseless as could be.</p> - -<p>It was fully half an hour after leaving the top of the ridge before I -lay in the brush behind the clearing. The cabin in which Betty and I -had left George was before me and probably fifty yards away, but no -sound or light hinted that it was inhabited.</p> - -<p>The cold shiver which always came to me when I was afraid once more -ran up my spine as I contemplated the open space between myself and -the cabin. I wished greatly to retreat, so I promptly drove myself -forward, pistol in hand, literally dragging myself up to the rear of -the squat cabin whose very darkness and silence seemed eloquent with -sinister possibilities.</p> - -<p>Beneath the open window through which Betty and I had fled I lay with -my head against the logs, listening for the sounds of breathing -within. No such sound came. No sound of any kind came.</p> - -<p>I lifted my head until an ear was over the sill of the window. It was -so still that a man’s breathing, or the ticking of a watch, could not -have escaped my strained hearing. I thrust my head inside the room. -Now by its complete silence I knew that the room was empty, and I drew -myself up slowly and clambered in.</p> - -<p>After a while I struck a match. The room was bare. The bunks, -blankets, chairs, dishes, the table, the stove, all had been removed. -The floor and walls were bare.</p> - -<p>I went to the other cabin, where the wounded men had lain. Then I sat -down on the nearest threshold, weak and numbed. The cabins were empty. -Brack had removed our friends beyond our ken. We were deserted. But -more sinister than that; the cabins had been stripped of their last -morsel of food, of everything that might have been of assistance to us -in maintaining existence in the wilderness.</p> - -<h2>XXXII </h2> - -<p>I sat there in the cabin doorway for a long time, the props upon which -I had builded hope and confidence suddenly knocked away. George was -gone; Dr. Olson was gone. And there was no trace of them left behind, -no trace of where they had gone, or why, or how. They had disappeared -from our ken. We were out of touch with them. And upon them had been -built our hopes.</p> - -<p>Far off on some hilltop a wolf barked suddenly. I pictured Brack with -his sneering eyes laughing at me. It was all his work, of course. If -it had not been—if the abandonment of the cabins had been -accidental—Dr. Olson, knowing that I would return there sometime, -would have managed to leave a note or sign to tell the why and where -of the going.</p> - -<p>But the captain, also knowing that we would come back to the cabins, -had taken proper precautions. There was no note, no sign. There was no -hope, no chance to escape him. That was the lesson he had prepared for -us with these empty cabins.</p> - -<p>The wolf barked again, and I thought of Betty alone in the cave and -sprang up. And there was something selfish in the speed with which I -traveled back over the ridge, for the nearness of her was a stay to my -waning confidence and courage.</p> - -<p>Nearing the cave I moved more cautiously, not wishing to blunder -through the mask of brush we had made to hide the opening. Fumbling in -the darkness I found the overhanging rock, and then the opening which -I had left as a door in the brush. I paused a moment before crawling -inside, and as I did so Betty’s voice came faintly from the canoe:</p> - -<p>“Is that you, Gardy? And are you all right?”</p> - -<p>“I am,” I replied, as I entered. “And you?”</p> - -<p>“Fine and dandy. But—oh, you were away an awful long time.”</p> - -<p>“Yes. It was farther than I thought.”</p> - -<p>“And did you see George? And what did you find out?”</p> - -<p>“A lot of things,” I mumbled with assumed sleepiness. “Everything’s -all right. No need to worry. But I’m so tired, so sleepy I can’t talk -now. Forgive me, but I’ll have to wait until morning before telling -about it.”</p> - -<p>“You poor boy!” I heard her sit up.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’m all right,” I protested as I lay down on my nest of boughs. I -was sitting up an instant later. “Here; what’s this? You’ve put the -blanket on my bed.”</p> - -<p>“Only half of it. I ripped it in two while you were gone. It wasn’t -fair——”</p> - -<p>“You’re going to take it back.”</p> - -<p>“No, sir. I’m as warm as a cat back here. I’ll never forgive you if -you make me take it back after my feeling so noble for giving it to -you. So there.”</p> - -<p>“Now really——”</p> - -<p>“No, sir! You lie right down and cover yourself up and get the sleep -you need so much. You wouldn’t deprive me of feeling like a heroine, -would you? Of course not. Good night.”</p> - -<p>“Good night.”</p> - -<p>She chuckled softly as she lay down.</p> - -<p>“I called you ‘Gardy,’ Mr. Pitt; did you notice that? Shocking, isn’t -it? After a few days’ acquaintance. I wonder—I wonder if cave-people -ever had more than one name.”</p> - -<p>And after awhile her soft, steady breathing as she slept made me glad -I had withheld the bad news for the morrow.</p> - -<div style='height:1.5em;'></div> - -<p>I awoke the next morning at the first gray light of dawn and slipped -out while Betty still slept. I was now as eager to find some sign of -human nearness as the morning before I had been eager to assure myself -of the isolation of our hiding-place. A sight of the yacht, of any -one, of Brack even, would have been a relief from the growing -sensation that we had been left completely alone.</p> - -<p>I went down to the bay and followed its indentations for more than a -mile, making no effort at concealment, in another fruitless search for -the yacht. I went over the ridge to the cabins and stood in the -clearing before them and shouted recklessly. And when the hills had -mockingly echoed back my futile shouts, I knew the calmness of -resignation to the worst. We were alone, and we must exist, and -escape, if escape we could, solely by our own efforts.</p> - -<p>I gathered a pocketful of stones and half a dozen clubs and went back -to our spring to hunt for grouse. My good fortune of the day before -was not to be repeated. Birds in plenty there were. They flushed from -beneath my feet, flew past my head, and sat in rows on branches and -looked down upon me. I found, however, that it is one thing to hurl a -club into a covey huddled under a bush, and quite another to knock a -bird out of a tree, and in desperation I finally used the pistol to -bring down the single bird which I thought was to comprise our -breakfast that morning.</p> - -<p>In the primitive morning stillness the noise of the shot was like a -crack of lightning, splitting the silence and echoing through the -hills. But by this time I was convinced that we were alone there in -Kalmut Valley, and that no one was near enough to hear the report.</p> - -<p>As I reentered the cave Betty sprang up, asking:</p> - -<p>“Well? Who and what did you see at the cabins last night?”</p> - -<p>While I sought for a way to break the news without any unnecessary -alarm to her she continued:</p> - -<p>“It’s bad news, of course. I felt that last night. You’d never have -been selfish enough to go to sleep without telling me if the news had -been good. What is it, Mr. Pitt?”</p> - -<p>“I am sorry to say that I didn’t see any one at the cabins,” I -replied. “There was no one there. There was nothing there. The cabins -were stripped bare. Everything in them was gone—food, everything.”</p> - -<p>“Then thank goodness for the bird,” she said quietly. “Where do you -think George and everybody, and everything has gone?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Brack’s taken them and all the stuff away some place. But where I -can’t imagine. I really don’t believe the yacht’s in the fiord at all, -so it doesn’t seem they could be on board. Brack may have headquarters -somewhere on shore.”</p> - -<p>“But what could be his object in taking everything away from the -cabins?”</p> - -<p>“To leave us without food or anything to help us.”</p> - -<p>“Hm,” said Betty, her chin in her hands. “I was thinking of something -else.”</p> - -<p>“What?”</p> - -<p>“Brack knew you’d go back and have a look at the cabins. He thinks -we’re in the open wilderness without a shelter over our heads. Well, -when you find that the cabins have been stripped, deserted, apparently -abandoned for good, wouldn’t it be natural for us to rush to them for -shelter?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly.”</p> - -<p>“Well, couldn’t he be watching, and when we were in—” her hand pounced -onto a sprig of birch and crushed it—“just like that?”</p> - -<p>“A trap!” I cried. “I never thought of that. Of course. And with no -food, even if we were safe at first, we’d have to give in in the end.”</p> - -<p>“Which we’ll never, never do, of course,” she said firmly. She looked -around at the fir and birch boughs hung in the cave. “I don’t think I -care to move just at the present. While this apartment is not as roomy -or light as it might be, I am quite fascinated with its interior -decorations, as well as its safety. No; Mr. Brack must find other -tenants for his cabins. I think we shall remain right here.”</p> - -<p>I laughed in sheer relief at the serio-comic air with which she said -this.</p> - -<p>“Betty,” I said, “aren’t you even a little bit afraid?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, Gardy,” she said, instantly serious. “Aren’t you? I’m lots -afraid. But we mustn’t let that bother us, must we?”</p> - -<p>“Emphatically, no! We mustn’t let anything bother us. You mustn’t let -anything worry you. We’ll get along, somehow; I don’t know how, but I -know we will——”</p> - -<p>“Of course we will!”</p> - -<p>“And when it comes to Captain Brack——”</p> - -<p>“Are we downhearted?” demanded Betty, and together we answered: “No!”</p> - -<p>It was immediately after this that we once more saw the captain. I was -preparing to go out and clean the bird, and as I parted the branches a -boat from the yacht, rowed by four men, with Brack at the rudder, came -rushing down the fiord and steered for the beach directly below where -we were hidden.</p> - -<p>Betty saw me start and sprang to my side. Neither of us said a word -while we watched the boat come to land. As the men sprang out and -hurried into the brush we drew back to the rear of the cave, sat down -on the canoe, and looked at each other.</p> - -<p>“It’s my fault,” I whispered. “I shouldn’t have fired that shot. They -heard it. Don’t give up, though. They haven’t found us yet.”</p> - -<p>“I wonder if they are coming here?” she whispered back.</p> - -<p>I went back to the opening and peered cautiously through the branches. -The men, even Captain Brack, were crouched down in the shelter of a -huge boulder, and Brack was giving them directions.</p> - -<p>Immediately they scattered, and began to work up the hill. They did -not come directly toward the cave but went slightly to the north, in -the direction where I had fired my pistol.</p> - -<p>The caution with which they moved puzzled me. They crouched and ran -from tree to tree, keeping in cover as much as possible, peering -around carefully, their rifles always ready. Brack brought up the -rear. The other men appeared almost frightened and it seemed that only -his presence drove them forward.</p> - -<p>“They’re searching the hill, but they’re not coming in this -direction,” I whispered as I drew back to Betty. “Apparently they -don’t know the exact location of this cave.”</p> - -<p>“Do you think they will find it?”</p> - -<p>“How can I tell? It’s wonderfully hidden.”</p> - -<p>“If they do find it, what will you do?”</p> - -<p>I did not reply. I did not know what I would do. But one thing I did -know: Brack would not lead us away as his prisoners.</p> - -<p>“Gardy,” she whispered, “if they are going to find us tell me, because -there’s something I’ve got to tell you if—if—anything happens.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing is going to happen to you,” I whispered assuringly. “Be easy -on that. Nothing will happen to you.”</p> - -<p>“Even if they do find us?”</p> - -<p>“Even if they do find us. Hush now. We’d better not even whisper.”</p> - -<p>We sat waiting in silence, our eyes upon the brush-mask across the -cavern’s mouth. We were cornered. There was nothing to do but sit and -wait for what fate might allot us. Each second I expected to see a -face peering through the brush, and to hear the shout that would -announce our discovery. But the seconds, infinitely long and -throbbing, passed and became minutes, and still we had no sign of -Brack and his men.</p> - -<p>It was at least half an hour after the men had started up the hill -that a spruce grouse, flushed from the ground, flashed across the -opening, so close that its wings touched the brush. By the rising -flight of the bird I knew that it had been flushed but a few yards -away, and, I judged, by some one who was coming toward the cave. They -would be here soon now.</p> - -<h2>XXXIII </h2> - -<p>“Lie down in the canoe,” I whispered to Betty. “They must have missed -us; I’m going to take a little look.”</p> - -<p>When she had obeyed, and could not see what I did, I slipped the -safety catch off my pistol and crept forward to the mouth of the cave.</p> - -<p>I was right; some one was walking near the cave. After a few seconds I -could make out the heavy footsteps of two men. They were walking -carelessly, brush crackling beneath their feet, and they were coming -down-hill. Suddenly from some distance off came the sound of a sharp -whistle twice repeated. The footsteps stopped.</p> - -<p>“There,” said a voice. “Wha’d’ I tell you? The cap’s given up, too, -and it’s a case of get back to the boat for us.”</p> - -<p>“I tell you,” responded a second voice, “I don’t believe it was the -guys we’re after at all. They’re old-timers and wise guys. It don’t -seem nach’rel they’d go shooting this close to the water, where they -knew we’d be sure to hear it. That was a revolver, too.”</p> - -<p>“Who the —— else would it be, then?” demanded the first man. “There -ain’t nobody else to do any revolver shooting round here, is they? -Sure it was the guys we’re after. Nobody else. They’re hard up fer -grub, and had to shoot something wherever they could get it—nobody -else ’round here.”</p> - -<p>“There’s that —— Pitt, an’ the skirt the cap’s gone crazy about, ain’t -there? They’re loose somewhere in the valley, too, ain’t they?”</p> - -<p>“Sure. They got no revolver, though. He ain’t a shootin’ man, either. -Naw; it was those miner guys who fired that shot, all right; an’ -they’re old-timers an’ beat it like —— right away an’ kept traveling, -so we didn’t find them or their trail. They might be layin’ round here -some place at that.”</p> - -<p>“Well, come on. Let’s get down.”</p> - -<p>Their footsteps sounded again on the ground. I placed my eyes to an -interstice in the brush and peered out. Perhaps fifty feet north of -the cave two of Brack’s men were slouching down-hill toward the boat, -their rifles hanging carelessly over their shoulders like men who are -returning from an unsuccessful hunt.</p> - -<p>Farther down the hill and a good distance to the north were two other -men, and as I watched Brack broke out of the brush along the bay and -ran swiftly down the beach to where his boat lay tied. Here he dropped -promptly out of sight behind the boulder where he and his men had -sought shelter when they landed, and there, safely hidden, he awaited -the return of his men.</p> - -<p>His tactics puzzled me at first. Why did he run so swiftly across the -open space of the beach? Why hide himself behind the boulder? It was -not like Brack to run or hide. Then, considering the speech I had just -heard, I understood. It was Slade and Harris that Brack and his men -had come hunting, summoned by my pistol-shot, and the captain, knowing -their deadly skill with the rifle, was not wishful to expose himself -any more than was necessary.</p> - -<p>“Betty,” I said swiftly, as the men came out upon the beach and -tumbled into the boat, “they’re going away. It wasn’t us they were -after. They’ve no idea we’re here. They’re rowing away now, and I’m -going to try and see if I can’t follow them and find where they’re -staying.”</p> - -<p>They were shoving the boat out now, and as soon as they had turned its -bow toward the head of the fiord, I leaped from the cave and ran as -swiftly as I could northward, keeping out of sight of the water. When -I knew that I was well ahead of the boat I curved toward the fiord, -and the moment the water came in view I lay flat down in the brush and -waited. If the boat did not appear I would at least know that Brack’s -rendezvous was somewhere between the cave and the point where I was -lying.</p> - -<p>I had but a minute or two to wait, however, when the boat came rushing -along and continued farther north. Once more I waited until it was out -of sight, then again curving my path out of sight of the water, I once -more ran desperately to get in the lead.</p> - -<p>My rush this time led me to where I found further progress barred by -the river at the head of the fiord. At the junction of the two waters -I hid myself and waited. When the boat came in view I drew back, for I -was perilously near the river and I judged that having come this far -Brack was bound up the river toward the cabins. I was mistaken. The -boat turned eastward, before reaching the river-mouth. It went -straight toward an opening on the other side of the fiord which I had -not previously noticed. This opening was to some degree hidden by an -out-jutting bluff. Without slacking speed the boat swung around the -bluff and disappeared into a part of the fiord whose existence I had -not suspected.</p> - -<p>Then I stood up and cursed aloud. And at that a voice cried out from a -clump of willows near by:</p> - -<p>“Oh ——! Is that really you, Brains? Oh, ——! Mebbe I ain’t glad to see -you!”</p> - -<p>Pierce’s expression as he came stumbling out of the willows was a -study. The last two days had wrinkled and drawn his honest face into a -mask of despair, and now, suddenly convulsed with relief and joy, his -eyes honestly shed tears while his lips grinned happily.</p> - -<p>“Put ’er there, Brains! Mitt me, mitt me!” he stammered, grasping my -hand. “Gee! I didn’t know you with all that fuzz on your face. Well, -you’re all right, and—and there ain’t anything happened to Her, has -they?”</p> - -<p>“No, Freddy,” I managed to say at last. “Miss Baldwin is all right. -She’s back in the cave that I told you about.”</p> - -<p>“Wow!” He fairly wilted with relief. “Say, if anything had happened to -her I’d hike straight back to the yacht and blow a hole through -Brack’s head the second I saw him.”</p> - -<p>“The yacht?” I cried. “Do you mean to say the yacht is near at hand?”</p> - -<p>“Right up at the end of the bay there,” was his casual reply. “Riordan -ran ’er up right after you’d left that afternoon with the boss. Say, -how long ago is that, Brains?”</p> - -<p>“Two days ago, isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“Yah! You ain’t sure yourself, are you? It’s been long for you, too, -eh? Seems about a month to me. An’ you been living in the cave! Say! -Look at this.” He patted the sweater which he was wearing and which -was swollen far out in front.</p> - -<p>“Grub,” he said. “Come on; let’s beat it before anybody comes nosing -around.”</p> - -<p>“Pierce!” I said, “do you mean to say that you’ve got food—real, -civilized food there?”</p> - -<p>“Sure. I was on my way to the cave to feed you. Wait a second while I -get my rifle.”</p> - -<p>He dove back into the willows and reappeared bearing the rifle which I -had taken from Barry.</p> - -<p>“Come on. Lead the way. Tell you all about it later. Got to beat it -now. I put a bump on Garvin’s bean to get away and they may be after -me any minute. Go ahead, fast’s you can; I’ll keep up.”</p> - -<div style='height:1.5em;'></div> - -<p>I waited to ask no more questions but plunged into the forest at a run -with Pierce following at my heels. There was no need for caution now -and we went straight to the cave, to find Betty ruefully picking the -bird I had shot. At the sight of Pierce she stopped and stared, while -I took the bird from her hand.</p> - -<p>“No need for this now,” I laughed. “Here’s Freddy, and he’s brought us -some real civilized food.”</p> - -<p>“Best I could do,” said Pierce, and opening his belt there clattered -to the floor of the cave a quantity of the <i>Wanderer’s</i> choicest -viands that made me gasp. “Wilson’s sweater,” explained Pierce, -looking at the pile. “Big enough for two of me. Held quite a lot, -didn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“Food!” Betty clasped her hands and gazed in amazement at the -collection.</p> - -<p>There was potted turkey, <i>paté-de-foie-gras</i>, asparagus tips, -veal-loaf, all in glass. There were packages of tea biscuit. There was -a bundle which contained sandwiches.</p> - -<p>“Food! Oh, you blessed, perambulating pantry! You—you angel!” she -cried, and hugged Pierce in a way that left him red and stammering.</p> - -<p>“Gee! Beg pardon—I mean, you’re all right, ain’t you, Miss Baldwin? -Gee—I mean, that’s fine!”</p> - -<p>“Freddy,” said I with genuine feeling, “as you say, ‘mitt me,’ once -more. ‘Put ’er there.’ You’re a prince. You’re more than a prince; -you’re a clever man.”</p> - -<p>“Aw, c’m on now, Brains; don’t go kidding me,” he protested.</p> - -<p>“Kidding you!” cried Betty, biting into a generous sandwich. “If you -knew how we felt toward you at this moment—if you knew how like an -angel you appear to us! Oh, but real food does taste good!”</p> - -<p>“I ought to have got here before this,” said Pierce, as Betty and I -devoted ourselves to nourishment, “but first Riordan had me locked in -the engine-room, and then Brack had me there, and this was the first -chance for a getaway I had.”</p> - -<p>“Begin at the beginning,” I commanded, opening the asparagus. “We -don’t know a thing except that when we came back the other night the -yacht was gone.”</p> - -<p>“And roll yourself a cigaret, do,” supplemented Betty.</p> - -<p>“Aw—aw, I guess I can get along without smoking,” said Pierce lamely.</p> - -<p>“Roll a cigaret,” repeated Betty. “Then tell us—about everything. And -how is George—Mr. Chanler?”</p> - -<h2>XXXIV </h2> - -<p>“The boss is all right,” was Pierce’s prompt response, as he began to -manufacture his cigaret. “Yes, sir, he’s all right, but he ain’t -letting Brack know it. He’s a reg’lar guy, the boss is, after all.”</p> - -<p>“Of course,” I said. “But begin at the beginning.”</p> - -<p>“All right.”</p> - -<p>He blew a puff of smoke toward the opening of the cave, fanned it away -from Betty, and began:</p> - -<p>“The first thing that happened after you and the boss went up the bay, -Mr. Pitt, was for little Freddy to slip into the water and go after -his rifle, here. I did a dive when Riordan was taking a lunch, got up -here, got the gun and got back on board before he knew I’d been gone. -I hid the gun in the oil locker, back of the tanks where nobody could -see it. I got through just in time, too, ’cause pretty soon Riordan -comes on deck and orders me down to start the auxiliary engine, while -he and the nigger gets up the anchor.</p> - -<p>“I start her all right, but I says to myself if Riordan turns her nose -out to sea I’ll get my gun and start a little mutiny all by my -lonesome. Well, he don’t do nothing of the sort; just starts right up -the bay, running on the auxiliary. I think that’s all right, because -of course I knew it was the cap’s orders, and we was going up the same -way you went. Then after awhile we anchored, and then I knew it wasn’t -all right, because I tried the engine-room door and Riordan had me -locked in tight.</p> - -<p>“The cap let me out himself in the morning, because Doc’ Olson had -told him he wanted me to help him with the boss and the two guys that -was shot.”</p> - -<p>“Shot!” cried Betty. “Who was shot?”</p> - -<p>“The two seamen that Dr. Olson said were hurt,” I said hurriedly. -“Never mind now. Go on, Freddy.”</p> - -<p>“The doc’ just got me out to get a chance to slip me the news about -you and where you’d gone; but there wasn’t any chance for a getaway -’cause Brack was there, and Garvin was on guard all the time with his -gun. Doc sent me running first to the boss and then to Wilson and the -two other guys with dope and drinks, and so on, and pretty soon the -boss got his noodle working and starts framing things.”</p> - -<p>“Chanler began to think out a plan,” I translated to Betty.</p> - -<p>“Eh-yah,” continued Freddy unabashed. “It was the boss that framed it -all up. He’s a reg’lar guy. ‘Tell Wilson to pretend to be worse,’ says -he. ‘I’ll do the same.’ Wilson was fit to get up, but the boss says, -no; he and Wilson were to be like they was helpless. Then the boss -says to Brack he’d give him any sum he’d name if he’d sail out of -there and take him home.”</p> - -<p>“What?” said Betty. “George wanted to leave us?”</p> - -<p>“Naw! You don’t understand. Naw, I should say not he didn’t want to -leave anybody. I told you he was a reg’lar guy. And there with the -brains, too. He was just playing up to Brack. But cappy says he -couldn’t think of leaving without—well, you know; he’s a pretty wicked -guy.”</p> - -<p>“I understand,” said Betty quietly. “Well?”</p> - -<p>“So the boss pretended to have a fit, and did a lot of fancy stalling. -You see now, don’t you: the boss is putting cappy off his guard and -laying for a chance to jump the bunch and get control of the yacht.”</p> - -<p>“But, great heavens!” I expostulated. “They’ve no arms, and they’re -outnumbered.”</p> - -<p>“Well, they ain’t outnumbered so bad,” said Pierce. “There’s the boss, -and Wilson, and Doc Olson, and Simmons, and the big nigger. Oh, yes; -we got the nigger with us. I know he wanted to get Garvin, and felt -him out. He’s only waiting to be turned loose.”</p> - -<p>“It’s impossible,” said I. “Brack and his men are armed to the teeth.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the trouble. If we’d had a gun apiece there’d been something -doing this morning while the cap was away. But the cap’s cleaned the -boat of guns and got ’em in his possession, ’cept one Doc’ Olson -copped off one of the men who was shot. So Wilson told me what to do, -and I sneaked an iron bar into his room and two into the boss’s, one -for him and one for Simmons, and the nigger’s got a knife down one -pants leg and a club down the other. When the chance comes they’re -going to try to put cappy out of business while the nigger gets -Garvin. The rest of ’em don’t amount to much. The trouble is the -chance don’t come.</p> - -<p>“The boss was worried about you last night. He said we’d have to try -to get some grub to you since we didn’t have a chance to get the -yacht. The last thing he says to me last night was, ‘Remember, we’ve -got to get some grub to ’em tomorrow no matter what happens to us.’</p> - -<p>“Well, when the cap went away this morning after he heard that shot, -he set Barry to watching the boss and Simmons, and Doc’ all in the -boss’s room. Garvin was set to doing a watch aft, and Riordan was set -to pacing the deck to watch everything in general. The two guys who -was hurt had guns, too. I knew Barry’d get the boss if we tried to -start anything, so I just put on Wilson’s sweater and stuffed it full -of food, and got my gun and waited for a chance to get away without -being seen. But there was Garvin aft, near the shore I wanted to make, -and Riordan doing the rounds. But I remembered what the boss’d said -about getting you grub, and when Riordan was forward I took a chance.</p> - -<p>“Garvin turned around just as I was getting ready to clout him and he -got the butt right in the temple. Then I did a dive, and if I’d had -ten feet farther to swim it would have been a ‘good-by Freddy,’ -because the grub and rifle was pretty heavy, and Riordan took one shot -at me just as I made the brush. Then I hiked it and swam the river, -and I was hiding when you stood up and swore at cappy.”</p> - -<p>“Did you swear?” demanded Betty, turning to me. “Did you really swear -at him? Oh, I’m so glad; I was afraid you never did it.”</p> - -<p>“And don’t you worry,” concluded Freddy, “the boss is all there and -wide awake, and there ain’t going to be any fall-down: when the chance -comes he’ll put the trick over and we’ll be out of the woods. He’s -just living for that now.”</p> - -<p>And Betty and I said as one—</p> - -<p>“Good old George!”</p> - -<p>“There’s only one thing worrying me,” resumed Freddy, peering out -apprehensively. “The cap’ll be wise that I made a getaway to join you, -and he’ll see my tracks where I crossed the river and come this way -looking for the bunch of us.”</p> - -<p>“That’s nothing to worry about,” I assured him. “Two of his men were -within fifty feet of the cave a short time ago and didn’t see it.”</p> - -<p>“What I’m worrying about,” said Betty, “is that you left George.”</p> - -<p>“Hah? The boss? Why, how could I get the grub to you without leaving -him? And he says we got to do that no matter what happened to us.”</p> - -<p>“We could have got along without the food,” Betty continued, “and by -leaving the yacht you weakened George’s plan. If he attempts to -overcome Brack now he—why, he may be in danger of his life.”</p> - -<p>“Sure thing. That’s understood. The boss knows that, but that ain’t -what’s worrying him, not at all. If he can fix things right with you, -that’s all he cares about. He told me so.”</p> - -<p>“Chanler is himself again,” I said. “You remember I said he would be.”</p> - -<p>Betty sat with her chin in her hands, thinking. Her eyes were turned -in my direction, but she was seeing beyond me without noticing my -presence. Suddenly she spoke the words that brought upon us the great -crisis.</p> - -<p>“I won’t have George risking his life on my account. I can’t bear -that. I won’t have it.”</p> - -<h2>XXXV </h2> - -<p>For a moment after she spoke I experienced a sensation as if the -sound, comfortable earth had dropped away from beneath me, a sensation -of a great fall into a void. Then followed the impression that after -all, Betty was a stranger; that I did not know her at all.</p> - -<p>“I won’t have George risking his life for me,” she repeated quietly. -“I—I’ll go back on board before that.”</p> - -<p>I went from cold to warm. Freddy tried to speak and I silenced him -with a look. When I spoke, my voice was hoarse and heavy.</p> - -<p>“Miss Baldwin, you will not go aboard until Brack is beaten, and the -yacht is in our possession. I am responsible to Chanler for your -safety.”</p> - -<p>There followed a trying period of silence.</p> - -<p>“Why—why, Mr. Pitt!” Betty finally tried to laugh, but the grimness of -my expression must have convinced her that laughter was out of place. -“That was the first rude speech you have made. Do you realize how rude -it was?”</p> - -<p>I did not speak. Her solicitude for George had awakened in me an -anger, adamite and smoldering, which grew with each minute. George -must not risk his precious life! Freddy had risked his. I had risked -mine. But George must be protected at all costs! And why? Why, because -he meant so much to her that the lives of others, and her own safety, -were insignificant in comparison? I made an attempt to smile.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt! Gardy!” she cried, shrinking. “Don’t look at me that way. -What are you going to do?”</p> - -<p>“I beg your pardon; I didn’t realize that I was looking at you in an -offensive manner.”</p> - -<p>“What—are you—going—to—do?”</p> - -<p>I looked at the ground. It did not take me long to make my plans. I -said—</p> - -<p>“I’m going to pray that it’s a very dark night.”</p> - -<p>From that moment the hearty camaraderie which had existed between us -was gone. We seemed to have been moved far apart. Betty once more was -Miss Baldwin; I was not Gardy, but Mr. Pitt. She literally drew away -from me and from a distance cast puzzled glances in my direction.</p> - -<p>Then we became formally polite to one another. When we spoke it was as -if we had been but recently introduced, and we spoke only when it was -necessary. And Freddy wrinkled his freckled forehead and glanced from -Betty to me, frankly puzzled.</p> - -<p>It was a long day for us all in the cave. When darkness finally began -to fall we greeted it with relief. Freddy, peering out at the -darkening sky, said:</p> - -<p>“Well, your prayers have been answered all right: it’s going to be -dark enough to suit anybody. Now put me next, Brains; what’s your -stunt?”</p> - -<p>“Brack doesn’t know that I’ve got this pistol,” I said.</p> - -<p>“What of it?”</p> - -<p>“As he thinks I’m unarmed—helpless—he won’t be on his guard—when I go -aboard tonight.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” It was Betty who exclaimed, but she smothered the exclamation -with her hand.</p> - -<p>“What you going to do when you get on board?” asked Pierce.</p> - -<p>“You’ll stay here with Miss Baldwin,” I continued, paying no attention -to his query. “If everything goes as I hope, George will come down and -bring you to the yacht.”</p> - -<p>It was dark now and I prepared to leave.</p> - -<p>“Hold on,” said Pierce. “What’s the use of your going swimming in that -cold water? You’d have to swim the river, and then out to the yacht, -and by the time you go on board you’d be so cold and stiff you -wouldn’t be any good. Tell you what let’s do; let’s paddle up in the -canoe, you ’n’ me. It’s so dark they’d never see us. Then you can get -on board, warm and supple, and fit to do something.”</p> - -<p>There was much sense in his argument, and after discussing it for -awhile I agreed to it. Brack, of course, must not suspect Pierce’s -presence.</p> - -<p>“As soon as I go over the side you’re to paddle off and be ready to -return to Miss Baldwin.”</p> - -<p>“Sure. Anything you say, Brains.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” said Betty stiffly, “but there will be no need for you to -come back here for me. Mr. Pitt, just as surely as you go away without -me I’ll leave this cave and go to the yacht alone. I mean it. I will -not be left here. You can take me in the canoe, too. I will be as safe -as Mr. Pierce.”</p> - -<p>“You will stay right here,” said I.</p> - -<p>“Will I!” she slipped past me, bounded through the brush, and stood -outside the cave, ready to run. “I can find the yacht. You can’t catch -me. Now, Mr. Pitt, what shall it be?”</p> - -<p>Pierce promptly relieved the situation.</p> - -<p>“We can land her at some point up there. That’ll be all right, won’t -it?”</p> - -<p>“Ask her,” I said.</p> - -<p>“Yes; that will be all right,” she replied promptly.</p> - -<div style='height:1.5em;'></div> - -<p>With this understanding we carried the canoe down to the water, and -with Betty in the middle, started up the fiord. As Pierce said, my -prayers for a dark night seemed to have been answered.</p> - -<p>So complete was the darkness that twice we grounded, having run into -land which we were not able to see. The sound of the river current -warned us when we had reached the head of the bay, and carefully -following the shore we glided through the opening where I had seen -Brack’s boat disappear.</p> - -<p>“There—there she is, right ahead of us,” whispered Pierce, and in the -inchoate darkness we made out a series of tiny lights, the gleam from -the <i>Wanderer’s</i> cabin windows.</p> - -<p>“She’s laying bows out with her stern near the shore on our port,” -whispered Pierce as we backed water and lay still. “Her starboard’s -toward us. There’s one ladder down at the stern and one at the bow, -port side. Better take the bow one; the cap’s more’n likely to be aft. -And there’s a good place to land Miss Baldwin, right here.”</p> - -<p>We lay without moving or speaking for many long, distressful seconds.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt,” whispered Betty finally, “do you insist on going through -with your mad plan?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>We were silent again.</p> - -<p>“All right,” said Betty.</p> - -<p>Pierce silently moved the canoe to the shore on our port side, the -shore toward which the <i>Wanderer’s</i> stern was turned, and without a -word Betty stepped out.</p> - -<p>“Pierce will come back here as soon as he sees me go over the side,” I -whispered.</p> - -<p>She made no reply. Then we paddled silently away, steering for the -<i>Wanderer’s</i> bow.</p> - -<p>I was conscious now of nothing but a spirit of elation. There was not -a pang, not a fear in my thoughts. The old fright-chill along the -spine, which hitherto always had come to me when approaching danger, -was gone. I was like a boy turned loose for a holiday. All the -considerations which cause men to fear danger I had put away. All the -responsibilities which hold men to a cautious rôle in life had gone -from me. My responsibility toward Betty would be discharged when I had -removed for her the danger of Brack. And Betty cared so much for -George Chanler that she wouldn’t have him risk his life for her, and -consequently there was no reason why anything in the world mattered -much to me.</p> - -<p>“Faster!” I whispered, digging viciously at the water. “Hurry up; I -want it over with.”</p> - -<p>“Easy, Brains, easy.”</p> - -<p>Pierce silently backed water. We were four or five lengths from the -<i>Wanderer’s</i> starboard side, and though we were invisible in the -darkness the lights and white paint of the yacht revealed her outlines -and superstructure.</p> - -<p>“There’s a boat in the water at the stern,” whispered Freddy. “Mebbe -it’d be a good thing to cut her loose in case we have to make a -getaway.”</p> - -<p>“Cut nothing loose,” I whispered contentedly. “Move up to the bow -ladder and let’s have it over with quickly.”</p> - -<p>He took a stroke forward then backed again.</p> - -<p>“Hey! There he is; walking aft. See him? By the last light aft.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” I breathed, as I made out Captain Brack’s figure where Pierce -had indicated. “Now hurry and put me aboard, and I may surprise him.”</p> - -<p>The canoe moved forward again. Pierce paddled in a semi-circle, -heading away from the <i>Wanderer’s</i> side and curving back toward the -bows. The yacht was all dark forward, save from a single gleam from a -port-hole in George’s stateroom. Leaning well forward in the canoe I -held my hands thrust out before me, and presently my finger-tips -rested against the <i>Wanderer’s</i> sharp bow.</p> - -<p>“Here’s the ladder—right here,” whispered Pierce. I moved the canoe -backwards with my hands, and presently held the rope rungs of the -ladder in my grasp. I reached up high above my head and gripped a rope -rung firmly.</p> - -<p>“Now hurry back to Miss Baldwin,” I whispered, and swung myself up.</p> - -<p>Pierce did not answer at once.</p> - -<p>“Do you hear?” I demanded.</p> - -<p>“Oh, sure.”</p> - -<p>I was well up the ladder then, but his tone prompted me to turn and -look down. Pierce, with his rifle under one arm, was tying the canoe -to the ladder. When, looking up, he saw that I had stopped and -observed him he started guiltily, then leaped resolutely onto the -ladder below me.</p> - -<p>“Get off! Go back to the girl!” I commanded.</p> - -<p>“I won’t,” said he. And we were hanging so, against the yacht’s sides, -when Betty’s voice called softly from the shore beyond the stern:</p> - -<p>“Oh, Captain Brack! Quick, please. I’m tired and afraid. Hurry, hurry! -Take me aboard at once!”</p> - -<h2>XXXVI </h2> - -<p>A moment of silence followed, silence as complete as the darkness of -the night. On the ladder Pierce and I hung as if frozen to the rungs. -The tone of Betty’s call seemed to permeate the air; its pleading, -compelling notes lingered like a perfume. Oh, the power of woman! The -might of so slight a part of her as the nuances of her speech! For the -call of Betty was a command. Nay, it was a force, a law, as -indubitable as the law of gravity. It was surcharged with the thrill -and power of Nature’s will. It was Woman. And Brack would go. He must -go, in response to it. And Betty knew it.</p> - -<p>Brack’s laugh, short and excited, sounded aft.</p> - -<p>“Ah! Yes, yes; one minute.” His voice was exultant. “I’m coming.”</p> - -<p>He must have leaped at the last words, for instantly there was a -clatter as he dropped into the boat. Then the creak of an oar as he -swung the boat clear.</p> - -<p>“Where are you, Miss Baldwin?” he laughed.</p> - -<p>And then, when it was too late, I recovered from the shock that had -congealed me. I cried out, an involuntary, agonized cry, and as if in -response a man come running swiftly to the ladder and peered over the -rail.</p> - -<p>“Who’s dere; who is it? Speak, or I’ll shoot!”</p> - -<p>Head and voice I recognized as one of the most vicious of Brack’s men, -and it was too late to attempt to retreat.</p> - -<p>“It’s Mr. Pitt,” said I, and climbed upward.</p> - -<p>“Hold on; stop right dere.”</p> - -<p>I had thrown one leg over the guard rail. The man was a yard away, a -revolver pointed at my chest.</p> - -<p>“’S all right, Joe.” From below the quick-witted Freddy sent up a -reassuring growl. “’S all right; let ’im go.”</p> - -<p>“Hah?” The seaman, startled, bent forward to look, and I leaped, -sinking both hands into his throat and bearing him to the rail.</p> - -<p>In the same second Pierce seemed to be on the rail. His rifle rose -over his head and came down on my man’s arm, knocking the revolver -from his hand.</p> - -<p>“The gun—the gun! Get his gat’!” whispered Freddy.</p> - -<p>I had it even as he spoke, and with a weapon in each hand I ran aft, -madly, unthinkingly, wishful only to follow whither Captain Brack had -gone. Riordan was the first man I met, and as he retreated at the -sight of me and tugged at his hip pocket, I struck at him, saw him -fall, and went on with scarcely a pause.</p> - -<p>I heard Freddy pounding at George’s stateroom, but I ran past. Garvin -leaped at me from aft the main cabin. I fired twice at his right arm -and heard his weapon clatter on the deck.</p> - -<p>On the after-deck Barry caught me about the hips and threw me down, -the violence of the fall throwing my weapons from my hands. I was -beneath him and the man was trying to stab me as I hugged him tight to -my breast. I felt the knife enter my thigh. Barry was the stronger, -and I cried out a curse of despair.</p> - -<p>“Hang tough for a jiffy, sir,” came Wilson’s calm voice from a -companionway. He, too, was fighting. I heard the sound of two bodies -falling. “Hang tough!”</p> - -<p>I put all my strength into a paroxysm of pressure, but Barry managed -to cut me once more ere Wilson, hobbling on one leg, came to my -relief.</p> - -<p>I found myself on my knees feeling ill.</p> - -<p>“That’s three down,” said Wilson.</p> - -<p>He was at the rail, pulling the stern sea-ladder up on deck. Vaguely I -realized then that Wilson, too, had heard Brack leave the ship. -Afterward I learned that he had attacked his guards at the sound of my -first shot, which he had thought to come from Dr. Olson’s revolver as -a signal for the revolt. In that way only had it been possible for him -to reach me in time to save my life.</p> - -<p>The negro and Garvin were fighting near us, with a stamping and -roaring as of two great animals locked in battle. Like the hissing of -an over-driven pump came the negro’s:</p> - -<p>“Got you now; got you now, bad man.”</p> - -<p>Garvin in turn panted.</p> - -<p>“You —— nigger! You —— nigger!”</p> - -<p>They whirled from the darkness into the shaft of light from a -port-hole. The negro struck with some weapon; the thick glass crashed -in splinters. They whirled on, into the dark again.</p> - -<p>“Swing him around, Sam, and I’ll club him for you,” said Wilson -quietly, hobbling after them.</p> - -<p>“Don’ touch ’im!” pleaded the negro. “’Foh Gawd! Don’ nobody touch -’im. He’s mah meat.”</p> - -<p>Forward, at George’s stateroom, there was a tumult; then cries and -shots. The door was locked, and as I came running up, Pierce and Dr. -Olson were fighting Riordan, and the man who had detected me on the -ladder. In the stateroom George and Simmons were battling to keep -their guards from joining the fight on deck.</p> - -<p>I leaped upon Riordan from behind and Wilson, with his iron bar, began -to beat down the door. Barry had recovered consciousness and with one -of my pistols came hurrying forward, dancing around seeking for a -chance to shoot one of us.</p> - -<p>Pierce was knocked down, and as Barry sprang toward him, Wilson -turned, and hurled himself clumsily at the fellow’s legs. Barry fell, -leaped up, and still holding the revolver, went over the side. The -other seaman did likewise at the sight of Wilson, and Riordan, felled -by the butt of Dr. Olson’s revolver, soon followed his example.</p> - -<p>“—— ’im! He copped my rifle, too!” spluttered Pierce, Riordan having -snatched the weapon from the deck as he went over the side.</p> - -<p>In the cabin cracked a shot and there came a shriek which we knew to -be Simmons’s. Three of us threw our weight with Wilson’s, and the door -went in.</p> - -<p>George was on his feet, throttling one of the guards over a chair. -Simmons lay like a bundle of old clothes in a corner. Near by the -other guard, on all fours, strove to rise and fell flat. Wilson’s -right fist smote George’s victim senseless and Chanler stood up, gory -and calm.</p> - -<p>“They’ve hurt Simmons bad,” he said. “Poor old Simmons. My fault. But -I’ll pay that devil, Brack, out if I never do anything else as long as -I live.”</p> - -<p>The negro had cornered Garvin in the dining-saloon. These two had -ceased to resemble human beings. They were all but naked, and their -nakedness was red, with spots of white or black showing through. -Garvin was crouching on one side of the table with a knife, and at the -sight of the negro’s empty hands we sprang to help.</p> - -<p>“Don’t spoil it, white folks, don’t spoil it!” growled the negro, -moving toward his victim. “I done got ’im; he’s mah meat—mah meat!”</p> - -<p>He knocked the knife from Garvin’s hand somehow. Then they wrecked the -room with their hurtling falling bodies. The roar of battle rose to a -crescendo and began to diminish. Garvin was losing.</p> - -<p>“Guahd dat do’h!” cried the negro, but it was too late.</p> - -<p>Garvin had turned to flee. In a bound he was in the doorway, one more -and he was at the rail, and the negro cried in real agony as the -bruiser vaulted over into the water.</p> - -<p>“You got ’im plenty, Sam,” said Freddy.</p> - -<p>Wilson was hobbling here and there on deck.</p> - -<p>“We’ve cleared ship, sir,” he reported. “Now we’ve got to hold her.”</p> - -<p>Then I remembered why I had started aft. I was in a fog. Presently I -found myself trying to climb the after rail while a cluster of arms -held me back.</p> - -<p>“Betty! Brack!” I was muttering. “Over there. Let me go.”</p> - -<p>“No, no, Gardy, old man. Steady down, Brains; you can’t walk the -water. Easy, sir, easy.”</p> - -<p>George, Freddy and Wilson; they were all holding me, pleading with me. -They drew me forward toward the staterooms.</p> - -<p>Suddenly I tore myself free. The light from the open door of George’s -room reached up to and illuminated the port bow rail. I had seen a -head appear where the ladder reached the deck. It was a small, wet -head. Then showed a wet, white face and much wet hair, and finally -over the rail came a very wet young woman, pausing bewildered in the -glare of light and calling:</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt! Gardy! Where are you?”</p> - -<p>The fog cleared. I was sane again. In the shaft of light Betty Baldwin -stood balanced ready to run forward at my response. Her right hand was -at her bosom, her head on one side in an attitude of anxious -listening, but the darkness hid us from her sight!</p> - -<p>There was not one of us but was hideous to behold. Wilson, who had -done the most fighting in spite of his wounded leg, was the least -damaged and he required water, bandages, and fresh clothes, before -being presentable. I closed George’s door, leaving the deck in total -darkness.</p> - -<p>“Everything is all right,” I said as quietly as I could. “Now come -straight ahead.”</p> - -<p>I met her in the darkness, caught her wet sleeve and guided her -swiftly to the door of her stateroom.</p> - -<p>“Go in and shut the door. Quick!”</p> - -<p>She obeyed without questioning.</p> - -<p>“Where’s Captain Brack?” I asked through the keyhole.</p> - -<p>“Over there—ashore, I suppose. I slipped into the water and swam out -here you know, as soon as I heard him go crashing into the brush where -he thought I was.”</p> - -<p>“You—what? You called—you swam?”</p> - -<p>“That was why I called to him, of course,” she said. “To get him -ashore and slip past him and come aboard. Was it too treacherous to be -decent?”</p> - -<p>“You—you fooled Captain Brack?” At first the thing seemed impossible. -“You fooled Brack!” I laughed wildly because the joke was on the -captain.</p> - -<p>“Gardy—Mr. Pitt, are you all right? Is——”</p> - -<p>“George is all right!” I cried. “Rest easy; he’s all right. But stay -where you are.”</p> - -<p>I ran aft to break the news. There was no need for this, however. -Brack’s boat was even then scraping at our stern.</p> - -<p>“Throw down that ladder!” he was bellowing. “Riordan! You —— swab! The -ladder!”</p> - -<p>Chanler leaned on the rail and called down into the darkness:</p> - -<p>“You lose, cappy, Riordan’s overboard, and Wilson is captain. Come -aboard, cappy. I promise you that I’ll see you hanged if it takes -every cent I’ve got.”</p> - -<p>“Ah save you dat trouble, boss,” laughed Black Sam, and fired -instantly.</p> - -<p>We heard Brack fall on his oars. The boat drifted away out of sight. -Then we heard him move again. Presently the sound of a faint laugh -came out of the darkness.</p> - -<p>“Poor shooting! Pitt, you there?” he called easily.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” I said, stepping forward.</p> - -<p>“My only mistake was in underestimating you, Pitt. One tiny mistake in -an otherwise perfect plan. You haven’t won yet, but—my compliments, -Pitt.”</p> - -<p>I saw the flash as he fired, a roaring, brain-splitting streak of red, -which hurled me like a blast into the pit of oblivion.</p> - -<h2>XXXVII </h2> - -<p>Of what took place on board during the rest of that night I had only -the vaguest of knowledge. Once I had an indistinct impression of -consciousness, such as one may have through the film of opiates. Dr. -Olson was explaining to some one that it was a pretty close call, -considering that it wasn’t going to amount to anything. Brack’s bullet -had struck me under the angle of the left jaw, had ranged upward -through the muscles of the neck and gone out squarely above the -occiput.</p> - -<p>“Those cuts in his leg will give him more trouble,” the doctor was -saying.</p> - -<p>My next impression was of hearing the same sharp report as had ushered -me into unconsciousness. I smiled. My senses had cleared now and I was -sure that what I fancied I heard was simply the echo of Brack’s shot -in my disordered mind.</p> - -<p>I sank gratefully back toward the slumber that invited me, and then— -<i>Crack! Crack-crack!</i> <i>Crack-crack-crack!</i> Up on the after deck a -perfect splatter of shots which seemed echoed from a distance, drove -the sleepiness from my head.</p> - -<p>I opened my eyes and sat up. I was in bed in my own stateroom, and the -gray light of dawn was coming through the port-hole. From a distance -far off came two more reports, and on the steel plates of the -<i>Wanderer’s</i> after cabin resounded two heavy, dull blows.</p> - -<p>I was out of bed and on my feet ere the two shots from our stern spat -out their reply. I understood the significance of those sounds now. -Brack and his gang were attacking at the first light of dawn, and they -had not caught our men napping.</p> - -<p>My legs bent weakly under me as I stood up, the thigh which Barry had -cut seemed numb and helpless, and my head whirled till I nearly fell. -With my hands hugging the wall for support I made my way to the door. -I wished to step out on deck, and so, naturally, in my tumbled mental -condition it was the door leading into the cabin saloon that I found.</p> - -<p>I opened the door but slightly and stopped. Betty was sitting before -the door. Her back was toward me, there was a book in her lap and her -hair was hanging down her back in the disordered condition of a woman -who has kept ceaseless vigil, regardless of appearances, through the -night.</p> - -<p>Softly as I closed the door she heard and was up in a flash.</p> - -<p>“Gardy! Mr. Pitt! Are you up?” she called, her hand on the knob. I had -slipped the catch as I closed the door so she could not come in. “Do -you want anything? I’ll get it for you. You mustn’t move, you know. -Are you—are you feeling stronger—Mr. Pitt?”</p> - -<p>“I am all right,” I said.</p> - -<p>“Oh! Are you really? Are you able to get up?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly.” I was flinging a dressing gown about me. “What is -happening aft?”</p> - -<p>Another volley of shots from the shore was answered from the yacht.</p> - -<p>“Brack and his men shot Mr. Wilson, and now they’re trying to shoot -the rest of us.”</p> - -<p>“Badly? Is Wilson hurt badly?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know. I—I’ve been sitting here. You—you have been so terribly -quiet for such a long time, Mr. Pitt.”</p> - -<p>“And who’s back there? Who’s doing the shooting on our side?”</p> - -<p>“All of them. Pierce, and the negro, and Dr. Olson, and George.”</p> - -<p>I opened the door and stepped out.</p> - -<p>“Oh! Oh, you mustn’t,—Mr. Pitt! Really you mustn’t. Go back—what are -you going to do?”</p> - -<p>I laughed.</p> - -<p>“George mustn’t be allowed to risk his life, you know.”</p> - -<p>She recoiled with a sudden wilting, as a child before an unexpected -blow.</p> - -<p>“Oh!” she moaned. “Oh! How can you?”</p> - -<p>My weakness forced me to clutch the wall for support.</p> - -<p>“I can’t,” I said, “unless you get me some whisky.”</p> - -<p>She was still shrinking, her hands to her breast, and her face white.</p> - -<p>“Oh! I didn’t know—I couldn’t believe—there was anything like—like -this in you.”</p> - -<p>“Hidden country,” I laughed, stumbling along the wall. “There’s hidden -country in all of us.”</p> - -<p>My hand was on the door of George’s stateroom. I pushed it open. -Simmons was lying in George’s bed, a horrified expression upon his -wooden-like countenance as he viewed his surroundings.</p> - -<p>“Not my fault, sir,” he apologized as I betrayed surprise at seeing -him there. “I was put here, sir; I couldn’t help it.”</p> - -<p>“Glory be, Simmons! You’re looking sound.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’m doing nicely, thank you, sir. A bit shot off the bottom of my -liver, sir, the doctor says. I’ll do, says he, thank you.”</p> - -<p>A revolver was lying on a table and I picked it up. It was loaded.</p> - -<p>“Whisky, Simmons! Where is it? I’ve got to have some, quick.”</p> - -<p>He grimaced guiltily.</p> - -<p>“I—I had a tiny bottle in my coat, sir. It’s lying over there. If the -bottle isn’t smashed—ah! The master’s silver flask, so it was. I—I had -a bit of cold, sir, and there was no other bottle——”</p> - -<p>I drank the stuff like water. My veins, which had felt empty and -slack, seemed to fill with warm blood.</p> - -<p>I drank again. My legs stiffened and grew firm. My head was in a -whirl, but I had strength enough to move easily now, and I went out of -the room with a rush. Betty tried to stop me as I went through the -saloon, but I lurched on.</p> - -<p>The sound of firing came to me as if from far away. In the whirl of my -head it seemed first in one direction then in another. I steadied -myself for an instant as I came out on deck. The yacht seemed to be -heaving and falling, and presently it felt as if it were whirling in a -maelstrom.</p> - -<p>Where was the aft? Where was the firing? I held my head to steady it. -The firing broke out afresh. There it was! It was in front of me. No, -it was behind me. A non-drinker shouldn’t take so much whisky. Ah! -There it was. I lurched forward, intending to go aft. It was not -strange that I should cross the fore-deck on my way aft. Nothing was -strange in my present condition. Not even the fact that Brack and -Garvin were climbing over the rail at the bow, as I came forward.</p> - -<p>I was very steady.</p> - -<p>“Hello, Brack.”</p> - -<p>At the sound of my voice and the sight of the revolver in my hand -Garvin gave a spring backward and splashed into the water. Brack -smiled and vaulted on to the deck. There was a wound on one side of -his head where the negro’s bullet had marked him, but he bore himself -as confidently and masterful as ever. He had two revolvers in his -belt, but as I made ready to shoot him when his hands moved toward -them he desisted and smiled again.</p> - -<p>“So I didn’t quite get you, eh, Pitt? Well, it was pretty dark, though -you did step out into the light like an accommodating lamb to the -butcher. Well, what are you going to do?”</p> - -<p>“Put up your hands.”</p> - -<p>He looked at me, smiled, and calmly folded his arms across his chest.</p> - -<p>“Putting up one’s hands is undignified. I do not do so. What are you -going to do about it?”</p> - -<p>I was nonplussed. Here I was, the victor. I was armed, he was -helpless; and yet he had taken the upper hand. What did one do under -such circumstances?</p> - -<p>“This revolver is loaded, Brack,” I warned, but I knew that my speech -was futile.</p> - -<p>“I know it is: I can see the lead in the cylinder. That doesn’t make -any difference. To be of any danger to me said loaded revolver must be -in the hands of a man who is capable of shooting another man. You -can’t do that, Pitt; you know you can’t. You’re too civilized. Try it. -Just try it. Pick out a certain spot on me—my forehead, for -instance—point the gun at that spot and pull the trigger. Try it. -You’ll find that it’s a very hard thing to do—impossible for you, in -fact.”</p> - -<p>He laughed low.</p> - -<p>“No, Pitt, you can’t shoot me.” With imperceptible movements he began -to approach me. “Do you hear me, Pitt: You can’t shoot me—you can’t -shoot me.”</p> - -<p>Suddenly he stopped. His countenance seemed to break into flame. I -heard a light step behind me and understood.</p> - -<p>“Go back, Betty!” I said, keeping my eyes on Brack. “Go back!”</p> - -<p>I was retreating slowly. For the moment Brack was invincible, he was -great! His colossal will was mastering us. With it he was driving me -back, helpless in spite of my weapon, and he was holding Betty -fascinated to the spot.</p> - -<p>“Go back!” My shoulder had touched hers. I turned to look at her.</p> - -<p>“Gardy!” she gasped, pointing.</p> - -<p>I turned. Brack’s mighty spring had carried him on to us, and I sprang -between him and Betty. He paid scarcely any attention to me, merely -struck with his right arm and smashed me to the deck. Then he had -Betty in his arms, kissing her, sweeping her to his breast like a -struggling child, and retreating toward the rail, the girl held as a -shield before him.</p> - -<p>I sprang up and ran toward them. My weapon had been knocked from my -hands, and as Brack crouched to spring over the rail with his burden I -threw myself on him. He shifted Betty to his left arm and with his -right drove me back with a single blow.</p> - -<p>“Never fear, Pitt,” he laughed, tugging at his revolver, “I don’t -intend leaving before I’ve settled you.”</p> - -<p>I rushed again as his weapon came free. I struck him between the eyes -and tore Betty from his grasp. My blow staggered and blinded him for -the instant. He was at the rail brushing his hand across his eyes when -two rifle reports sounded far across the bay and Brack fell flat on -the deck without a struggle.</p> - -<p>“But you’ve got to admit he was game—game as a mad ol’ silver-tip,” -said the patriarchal Slade when a boat had brought him and Harris -aboard from the point from which they had shot Brack. “A devil he was, -with a twisted laugh, but too game to live if he was licked. Me ’n’ -Bill we was hiding up in the hills and come down to take a peek when -the shooting begun. We see him and the other fellow crawling up the -anchor-chains, and Brack was driving the other fellow with a gun.</p> - -<p>“We couldn’t believe it was him at first; didn’t seem any man’d try -anything so desp’rit; but when we see you scuffling with him, Mr. -Pitt, we knew it was him, and savvied how he’d had his gang to start -shooting from the other shore to draw everybody aft so we could take -one desp’rit whirl at you. Me ’n’ Bill we put the sights on him then, -but we was afraid of hitting your young lady. So I prayed a little for -a clear shot, and the Lord answered my prayer pretty <i>pronto</i>. Amen.”</p> - -<h2>XXXVIII </h2> - -<p>Then the <i>Wanderer</i> for days became a hospital ship, for with the end -of Brack, his crew, including Garvin and Riordan, fled promptly out of -the Hidden Country into the vast Alaskan wilderness that lay beyond -the gap in the mountains, and with the sudden release from danger came -the inevitable collapse of the wounded members of our company.</p> - -<p>Wilson now had a bullet-wound through each leg and another through his -great chest, and for the time being was helpless. Pierce told me -afterward how Wilson, suddenly shot down on the after-deck, had -borrowed a chew from Black Sam and, lying flat on his back, had -reloaded the rifles in the fight that followed.</p> - -<p>Pierce, now that the excitement of danger was gone, discovered that -Riordan’s boot had broken one of his ribs in the battle at Chanler’s -state-room; Black Sam had lost so much blood that he collapsed and was -content to sit basking in the sun like a sick bear; and Dr. Olson was -a nervous and physical wreck. Only Chanler had escaped disablement. He -was scarred and bruised, but he was up and around while the rest of us -lay helpless.</p> - -<p>Dr. Olson ordered me back to bed and filled me up with opiates. My -affair with Brack had not been good for my wounds, and absolute quiet -was necessary to repair the damage which had been done to them. Slade -and Harris remained on board, making themselves useful with the skill -and adaptability of pioneers. And George, in his right mind, and Betty -were together.</p> - -<p>My days and nights for a space then were a series of semi-lucid -moments alternated with nightmares. In the former I was at times -conscious that Betty was sitting at my side. Occasionally I caught her -studying me anxiously. When I returned her scrutiny she looked away. -Next it would be Slade or Harris who was with me, then George. Always -there seemed to be some one.</p> - -<p>The nightmares were rather trying. Two things ran through them -consistently: the sound of Betty’s voice as she had cried out -passionately for Captain Brack, and the spectacle of Brack dragging -her to the rail. Then I would wake up raving and presently some one -would be holding me down, urging me to be quiet.</p> - -<p>On one of these occasions, after midnight, it was George who held me -in bed and soothed me.</p> - -<p>“It’s all right, Gardy old man; it’s all right, I tell you,” he was -saying. “She’s all right; safe and sound asleep in her room.”</p> - -<p>“Brack—Brack’s got her!” I moaned.</p> - -<p>“No, no, no! Can’t you hear me? She’s all right. Gardy! Old man. You -know me, don’t you?”</p> - -<p>I returned to sanity. Chanler was grimly trying to smile.</p> - -<p>“What have I been saying?” I gasped.</p> - -<p>“Oh, nothing.” He tried to pass it off carelessly. “Nothing—nothing at -all.”</p> - -<p>“Tell me.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, just about Brack and Betty; you thought he’d got her.”</p> - -<p>He looked away.</p> - -<p>“What else?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, shut up, Gardy! You were out of your head. D’you s’pose I paid -any attention to what you were saying? Now drop that. How are you -feeling?”</p> - -<p>“Embarrassed,” I replied.</p> - -<p>“Don’t!” he protested. “Don’t you do it. It—it wasn’t anything like -that. It—it was all right. I knew it anyway.”</p> - -<p>“Knew what?”</p> - -<p>He looked at me for a long time. Then he appeared to change the -subject.</p> - -<p>“Everything’s all right, old man. We’ve come to an understanding, -Betty and I. It’s all settled as it should be. I’ve had a lot of time -for long talks with Betty.” He laughed. “She’s opened her heart to me, -at last, and told me everything. We—we’ve been exploring hidden -country, Betty and I. Good phrase of Brack’s, that.”</p> - -<p>I raised myself and held out my hand.</p> - -<p>“Congratulations, George. I knew it would come out all right.”</p> - -<p>His brows came down in puzzled, skeptical fashion as he took my hand. -There was in his expression a tinge of suspicion, and he smiled as one -smiles when humoring a sick man.</p> - -<p>“There’s hidden country in you, all right, old boy,” he said. “You -ought to play poker.”</p> - -<p>More sleep and more nightmares, the latter now complicated by the -presence of George. Brack no longer was dragging Betty to the rail; -she was standing by George’s side; and Brack and I were playing poker. -Then at last came the sane untroubled sleep of normal condition, and I -awoke one morning ravenously hungry and glad that the sun was bright -outside.</p> - -<p>“You can join the convalescent squad now,” said Dr. Olson, and under -the awning on the fore-deck I joined Pierce and Simmons, stretched at -ease in luxurious deck-chairs.</p> - -<p>“Though it isn’t my fault, sir,” protested Simmons, “the master is not -doing right by himself in putting me here.”</p> - -<div style='height:1.5em;'></div> - -<p>I sank down into my chair and looked over water and hills with the -wondering eyes of a man who has come back to the world after a long -absence. And I found it good.</p> - -<p>The <i>Wanderer</i> lay in the same spot where Pierce and I had found her -on that dark night, Wilson still being too weak to navigate her and -there being nobody else capable of the task. The water about us was -blue and still, and the birch and pine of the shores were mirrored in -it to the smallest shade and detail. Back from the bay rose the -age-old hills, step after step of them, growing higher and higher, -until they became the great mountain-range which shut the valley in -from the rest of the world. And the sun was so bright that I closed my -eyes, and the primal peace soaked me to the bone.</p> - -<p>Betty came and went, and George; and they made a splendid pair as they -rounded the decks on their promenade. They went canoeing together, and -Old Slade swore, and we agreed with him, that “there couldn’t be no -purtier sight than that on God’s green earth.”</p> - -<p>Then George would join us under the awning, and Slade and Harris and -he would talk over the development of their property. For George was -going in partnership with them. The free pay dirt of their mine was -about played out and machinery and labor to tear the hills to pieces -were necessary for the further working of the find.</p> - -<p>“And what about the bones up at Petroff Sound?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“No use—not necessary now,” George replied. “Besides, this is easier, -and nearer to Fifth Avenue, and these last days have been so strenuous -that I’m about filled up.”</p> - -<p>I thought over what he said.</p> - -<p>Not necessary to go to Petroff Sound now. No, of course not. Betty had -decided that gold-mining was more fun. And why go on to Petroff Sound -when they had already come to an understanding.</p> - -<p>George did not display quite the elation he should have done under the -circumstances, I thought; but he was so blasé that even the winning of -Betty wouldn’t keep him animated for long.</p> - -<p>Betty finally came and sat with us. She talked to Pierce, to Simmons, -and to me; and at me she looked with puzzlement in her quiet gray eyes -and bit her under lip and looked away.</p> - -<p>“Do you feel so completely a stranger to me?” she whispered, drawing -her chair near to mine.</p> - -<p>“Like a stranger?” I said. “Why do you ask that?”</p> - -<p>“Because you look at me as if—as if we were just speaking -acquaintances.”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t know,” I apologized. “I’ll do better. You,” I continued, -looking at her, “don’t look as happy as I expected you would.”</p> - -<p>“One doesn’t,” she whispered, rising to go, “when one’s in a hidden -country and nobody will help one out.”</p> - -<p>“Help you out?” I whispered, but she was gone.</p> - -<p>I wearied my brains in vain puzzling over her meaning; but that -evening Dr. Olson whistled and wondered whence had come the new -strength which animated my pulse, my eyes, my whole being.</p> - -<p>“And that makes two of you,” said he, “because Wilson’s sitting up -shaving himself and says he’ll take the yacht out to sea tomorrow.”</p> - -<h2>XXXIX </h2> - -<p>And so came the last day in Kalmut Fiord; and I greeted its dawning -from the <i>Wanderer’s</i> decks, where I had paced at intervals during the -night, and I was not tired. In amazement I watched the sun roll back -the fog-banks from the hills, for I was seeing with new eyes, and the -sense of a new beginning, of a freshening of life, was upon me.</p> - -<p>That same incomprehensible force which was clearing the valley of its -nightly cloak of gray was stirring me, troubling me, lifting me. -Vaguely—for my thoughts were elsewhere—I sensed the quickening of my -being and knew that never had I been so thoroughly alive.</p> - -<p>That night had been a period of alternate joy and torture to me. I -flung myself on my bed, but the stateroom seemed insufferably small -and confining.</p> - -<p>I sprang up and went out, pacing the decks. I passed Betty’s -state-room and the thrill that leapt within me sent me staggering on, -drunken with new feelings. I passed Chanler’s room, and the thrill -died and I was bitter. I sought the fore-deck and in my mind reenacted -the meeting with Brack. There he had stood, there Betty, here myself. -There her shoulder had touched mine and here I had met Brack as he -hurled himself upon her. There Brack had kissed her, while I lay on -the deck; there near the rail he had held her, and there I had taken -her from him and for a brief moment had held her in my arms.</p> - -<p>I pictured the night when she had called to him, and the memory of her -tone was like a storm, shaking me to my knees. I looked in on Chanler -and found him awake and reading. There was in his eyes the strength of -a man who has won through a crisis and found peace. And well there -might be! I told him that I wished to get back to Seattle, so I might -quit him, as soon as possible, and went out before he could reply.</p> - -<p>Old Slade, standing the dog-watch, approached me wonderingly and asked -if I couldn’t sleep.</p> - -<p>“Sleep!” I sneered. “Why should a man want to do anything so simple as -sleep when he can walk out here beneath the stars and torture himself -with thoughts.”</p> - -<p>He stroked his long beard. “Pain cometh to all men——”</p> - -<p>“So I’ve heard,” I replied curtly, and walked away.</p> - -<p>And so I greeted the dawning of our last day in the Hidden Country -unslept; and yet I was as fresh as Wilson when he came hobbling up to -judge the weather.</p> - -<p>“A beautiful day, Mr. Pitt,” said he, after studying the sky. “The -good weather will hold, and short-handed as we are that’s what we must -be praying for.”</p> - -<p>“We sail today, then?”</p> - -<p>“This afternoon, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Good!” I said. “It will be a relief to get out of here.”</p> - -<p>I breakfasted alone. From the cabin-door I saw Betty Baldwin come from -her stateroom, stand blinking in the morning sun and filling her lungs -with the tingling air. And she was beautiful to my eyes as she had -never been before, and I entered my stateroom and locked the door.</p> - -<p>Hours afterward I heard Black Sam dropping the paddles into a canoe -alongside; heard him telling Betty that the craft was ready. Presently -Chanler knocked on my door.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Gardy! Come out here.”</p> - -<p>I flung open the door.</p> - -<p>“Betty wants to have one last paddle down the bay,” he said casually.</p> - -<p>“Well,” I replied, “why doesn’t she go?”</p> - -<p>“Can’t go alone comfortably in that long canoe, you know. It won’t -handle except with some one in the bow.”</p> - -<p>“Are you busy?” I tried to be sarcastic and failed.</p> - -<p>“It’s your turn to go,” he said. “She—she said so, old man. Go along, -now. Good luck.”</p> - -<div style='height:1.5em;'></div> - -<p>I took my place in the bow without a word, without our eyes meeting. I -was in no shape to paddle and sat with the paddle across my knees.</p> - -<p>Betty began to paddle. Presently she stopped. We sat silent while the -canoe drifted.</p> - -<p>“I’d like to see our—to see that cave again, if you don’t mind,” she -said timidly. “Do you?”</p> - -<p>“Why should I?” I said.</p> - -<p>Not a word more did we speak as we went through the gap into the bay -proper nor while she paddled down to our landing-place. She steered -the canoe past the rock where we had gone ashore to avoid leaving -tracks behind us, and landed on the sandy beach. I got out stiffly and -sat down upon a boulder.</p> - -<p>“We’re not going to play Injun this morning, then?” she said with a -wan attempt at gaiety.</p> - -<p>“No,” said I. “Why should we? There’s no necessity now.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t—don’t you ever play Injun except when it’s necessary?” she said -reproachfully.</p> - -<p>I did not reply.</p> - -<p>“Didn’t you like to play Injun that time?”</p> - -<p>“It served its purpose,” I said.</p> - -<p>She cast at me a swift and troubled glance, bowed her head, and -stepped out. Without looking back she started up the hill, and -presently I rose, without any conscious effort on my part, and began -to follow.</p> - -<p>Once she stopped and looked behind her; I only felt it; I dared not -look to see. For the tumult which woke within me at the sight of her -as she moved through that primitive scene frightened me. It seemed to -lift me above, or cast me below, considerations of right or wrong. My -conventional self whispered that I was treading on dangerous ground; -that I must not go up the hill. But I went, even as Brack had gone, in -answer to Betty’s call, but with my eyes held fearfully on the ground.</p> - -<p>“Look!” she cried at the cave’s mouth. “The foliage has grown so in a -few days that you scarcely could tell we’d ever had an entrance -there.”</p> - -<p>I tore the brush aside to make a way for her and stood aside with eyes -averted.</p> - -<p>“Aren’t you going in—Mr. Pitt?” she asked softly.</p> - -<p>“No,” I said. “Why should I?”</p> - -<p>She sighed and crumpled up a little and entered the cave alone. For -awhile there came no sound from within, but I dared not look to see -what she was doing. Then she began to move around.</p> - -<p>“Oh, the poor little branches!” She was half-whispering to herself. -“All withered up and dead, all gone from their pretty little trees. -Poor, poor little leaves. And they looked so bright and hopeful once, -and now they’re gray and dead. And the moss is drying. The soft, -pretty moss! All turned hard and dry. What a pity! What a little, -little pity!”</p> - -<p>She was silent for awhile. I peered in and saw her on her knees, her -hands tenderly stroking the withered moss with which we had carpeted -the cave.</p> - -<p>“Good-by, little cave,” she whispered. “By-by.”</p> - -<p>She did not come out at once. There was a moment during which I turned -my back on the cave, not daring to look in, and the only motion and -sound in the world was that of the young Summer breeze stirring -through the age-old scene.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Pitt—, Gardy.” She was only whispering, yet her voice was strong -enough to reach forth and sway me where I stood. I did not reply. The -fight was going against me. Flight would have saved me, yet I would -not fly. But if I trusted myself to speak, I would be lost.</p> - -<p>“Aren’t you going to bid our cave good-by?”</p> - -<p>I took a step away. I should have taken many; for I felt then that -right and safety prescribed that I step out of the lives of Betty and -George, promptly and forever.</p> - -<p>And seconds passed, seconds that seemed minutes, and I hoped that she -would not speak again.</p> - -<p>Presently she was standing behind me. I knew it, though I had not -heard or seen her come. Straight ahead I looked, out over the bay, -denying the force that urged me to do otherwise.</p> - -<p>“Gardy!”</p> - -<p>“Don’t!” I moaned. “Go back—get in the canoe; go back to -George—alone—quick!”</p> - -<p>“Gardy!”</p> - -<p>She placed her fingers on my arm. And I turned around and faced her, -because I could not do otherwise. Then suddenly all the winds in the -world seemed to be pressing upon me, drawing, coaxing, forcing me -toward her. One agonized cry my conscience sent up in protest at the -wrong I did. Then I swept her to me; I held her against my breast; I -kissed her; then tore myself away.</p> - -<p>Slowly, painfully I lifted my gaze from the ground to take my -punishment from her eyes. And then my heart leaped and stopped within -me. For Betty, with her hands clasped rapturously before her, was -looking up at me with the soft flame of grateful happiness in her -expression.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Gardy, Gardy!” She swayed her shoulders a little. “Then you do -care for me; you do—you do—don’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Betty!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, oh!” She teetered up and down on her toes, unable to contain -herself. “He cares for her; he isn’t going to leave little Betty all -lonesome and unhappy!”</p> - -<p>I saw her and heard her in a half-daze.</p> - -<p>“Betty!” I cried. “What does this mean?”</p> - -<p>“It means that I’m happy—happy! I’m the happiest girl in the world!”</p> - -<p>“Happy? Now? Because I kissed you, when you’re engaged to George?”</p> - -<p>It was her turn to stare blankly.</p> - -<p>“Engaged to George?” she said.</p> - -<p>I stammered brokenly a flood of words.</p> - -<p>“He said you’d come to an understanding—that everything was all -right—and as it should be.”</p> - -<p>“That’s true. Oh, that’s very true!”</p> - -<p>“That you’d opened your heart to him.”</p> - -<p>“I did—I did!”</p> - -<p>“And—and I knew by the look in his eyes as well as his saying so that -you had come to an understanding.”</p> - -<p>“And you knew right, Gardy; perfectly right.”</p> - -<p>“Then, what——”</p> - -<p>“I did open my heart to him, and I told him everything. And we both -knew it was all right—everything all right—and as it should be.”</p> - -<p>My voice grew small and faint and all but failed me.</p> - -<p>“Then—then what was it you told him, Betty?”</p> - -<p>She wrung her hands, and her eyes were filled with tears, but neither -the gesture nor the tears were those of distress.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Gardy, my boy!” she cried holding out her arms. “Are you going to -make me propose to you?”</p> - -<h2>XL </h2> - -<p>We stayed there at the cave much longer than we had planned. At times, -during the forenoon, conscience smote us.</p> - -<p>“Really, they’ll be worrying about us on the yacht,” said I.</p> - -<p>“They certainly will,” agreed Betty.</p> - -<p>“They’re probably getting ready to sail now.”</p> - -<p>“Undoubtedly.”</p> - -<p>“We’re short-handed; I ought to be there to help,” I suggested.</p> - -<p>“You certainly had.”</p> - -<p>“We’d better go.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, positively!”</p> - -<p>And then we would forget the yacht, the imminence of sailing, -everything but ourselves, for a considerable space of time. It was all -a little too wonderful for me to grasp intelligently, but Betty -accepted it with the woman’s genius for such events.</p> - -<p>“I don’t understand?” I repeated over and over. “You had an -understanding with George while I was knocked out, and George seemed -satisfied?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; he was satisfied, dear. He was fine enough and strong enough to -be that.”</p> - -<p>“And you told him?”</p> - -<p>“Gardy, dearest! Are you going to make me say it after all?”</p> - -<p>“Positively. You know I’m harsh and stern. You told George——”</p> - -<p>She clasped her arms about me, pressing against my breast, surrender -and victory in her upturned face.</p> - -<p>“I told him that I loved you. I told him that if you didn’t get -well—oh, my boy, my boy! I was so frightened over you!”</p> - -<p>“And George was satisfied with that?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. He had accepted it by that time. He said he knew it from the -moment I came on board, and he knew now that it was all right.”</p> - -<p>After a long silence I persisted—</p> - -<p>“When did you know it, Betty?”</p> - -<p>She blushed.</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to tell you that.”</p> - -<p>I coaxed.</p> - -<p>“Well, if you must know, I—I <i>hoped</i> from the first time I saw you.”</p> - -<p>“You hoped! Good heavens, dear! Why didn’t you let me know. I—I didn’t -think I had a chance.”</p> - -<p>She snuggled more closely against me.</p> - -<p>“A girl can’t let a man know she loves him until she knows that he -loves her, dear. You seemed so far away, and so—so disinterested. I -was afraid you would never let me know that—that you loved me.”</p> - -<p>“But I thought it was George, Betty. How could I let you know? You -see, it’s the first time I’ve done this sort of thing.”</p> - -<p>“You dear, blind darling!”</p> - -<p>“I know it now. I see. But even now I can’t see why—I can hardly -believe——”</p> - -<p>“Tut, tut!” She pinched my arm. “Can he believe now? Isn’t it real, to -him?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve acted like a brute since the night we left the cave, Betty.”</p> - -<p>“So you have. Deep, ’bysmal brute.”</p> - -<p>“I was angry because you said you wouldn’t have George risking his -life for you. I was jealous.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, darling! Were you really? I gloat!” She rocked in my arms, then -grew suddenly serious. “How could I have him risking his life for me, -Gardy, dear? I had nothing to give him. I knew then it was you, you; -only you. I had no right to let George make any sacrifice for me. -You—you were my man. Do you understand?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, dear.”</p> - -<p>“And when I called to poor Captain Brack that night, Gardy, I was -calling to you with my heart. Oh! I was calling so to you. Do you -understand that, too, dear?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; yes!”</p> - -<p>“And—and you heard, too, didn’t you, Gardy? You heard me, because you -wanted to hear it, didn’t you? And when we came here this morning, and -you were so far-awayish I was afraid you hadn’t heard at all. Oh, -Gardy!” She looked up with eyes wet from happiness too great to be -suppressed. “Isn’t life good to us? Isn’t it glorious to be alive!”</p> - -<p>“And think of it!” I whispered. “We’re just beginning a new life—just -beginning to live.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she whispered, stroking my hand. “We’ve explored the hidden -country.” Then she quoted Brack: “‘There is hidden country in all of -us; and until we’ve explored it we don’t know what it is to live.’”</p> - -<p>A silence fell upon us as deep, as primitive as the aged rocks about -us, and ere we spoke again the <i>Wanderer’s</i> siren had sent its -strident notes down the fiord warning us that it was time for -luncheon.</p> - -<p>“I suppose we must really go now,” sighed Betty as we rose. “Ah, -little cave, little cave!” she murmured, holding her arms out to it. -“You are a good little cave and you helped make one little girl very, -very happy.”</p> - -<p>“And one man, too,” said I. “We’ll never forget this cave, dear, even -though the time we spent in it was trying enough.”</p> - -<p>“No, we’ll never forget it.” Her grave, gray eyes were looking far out -over the fiord. “It has become a part of our lives. It has all become -a part of our lives—our new lives, Gardy, dear. We’ll not forget any -of it. Oh, dearest! Maybe sometime we can come back here, and camp -here, and remember all these wonderful days. You’ll never forget them, -and what they’ve meant to us, will you, dear?”</p> - -<p>“We will neither of us forget as long as we live!”</p> - -<p>“Yes. I feel that, too. We’ll look back, and we’ll never forget any of -it, not even Captain Brack.”</p> - -<p>“Poor Brack!”</p> - -<p>She leaned against me, as if seeking shelter from the sad thoughts of -the moment.</p> - -<p>“Yes, we’ll even remember him with gladness, Gardy. Won’t we?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Of course. For it was Brack who led us into the hidden country.”</p> - -<p>“Yes; yes.” She lifted her eyes slowly to mine. “He led us into the -hidden country; but, oh, Gardy, my heart! What was it that led us -out!”</p> - -<p>And I answered with my lips, but not with words.</p> - -<div class='tn'> -Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the December, 1916 -issue of <i>Adventure</i> magazine. -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HIDDEN COUNTRY ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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