ALL THE BROTHERS WERE VALIANT * * * * * * The MacMillan Company New York · Boston · Chicago · DallasAtlanta · San Francisco MacMillan & Co. , Limited London · Bombay · CalcuttaMelbourne The MacMillan Co. Of Canada, Ltd. Toronto * * * * * * ALL THE BROTHERS WERE VALIANT by BEN AMES WILLIAMS New YorkThe MacMillan Company1919 All rights reserved Copyright, 1919, byThe Ridgway Company Copyright, 1919by The MacMillan Company Set up and electrotyped. Published, May, 1919 ALL THE BROTHERS WERE VALIANT ALL THE BROTHERS WERE VALIANT I The fine old house stood on Jumping Tom Hill, above the town. It hadstood there before there was a town, when only a cabin or two fringed thewoods below, nearer the shore. The weather boarding had been brought inships from England, ready sawed; likewise the bricks of the chimney. Indians used to come to the house in the cold of winter, begging shelter. Given blankets, and food, and drink, they slept upon the kitchen floor;and when Joel Shore's great-great-grandfather came down in the morning, he found Indians and blankets gone together. Sometimes the Indians cameback with a venison haunch, or a bear steak ... Sometimes not at all. The house had, now, the air of disuse which old New England houses oftenhave. It was in perfect repair; its paint was white, and its shuttershung squarely at the windows. But the grass was uncut in the yard, andthe lack of a veranda, and the tight-closed doors and windows, made thehouse seem lifeless and lacking the savor of human presence. There was awhite-painted picket fence around the yard; and a rambler rose drapedthese pickets. The buds on the rose were bursting into crimson flower. The house was four-square, plain, and without any ornamentation. It wasbuilt about a great, square chimney that was like a spine. There were sixflues in this chimney, and a pot atop each flue. These little chimneypots breaking the severe outlines of the house, gave the only suggestionof lightness or frivolity about it. They were like the heads of impishchildren, peeping over a fence.... Across the front of this house, on the second floor, ran a single, longroom like a corridor. Its windows looked down, across the town, to theHarbor. A glass hung in brackets on the wall; there was a hog-yoke in itscase upon a little table, and a ship's chronometer, and a compass.... There were charts in a tin tube upon the wall, and one that showed theHarbor and the channel to the sea hung between the middle windows. In thenorth corner, a harpoon, and two lances, and a boat spade leaned. Theirblades were covered with wooden sheaths, painted gray. A fifteen-footjawbone, cleaned and polished and with every curving tooth in place, hungupon the rear wall and gleamed like old and yellow ivory. The chair atthe table was fashioned of whalebone; and on a bracket above the tablerested the model of a whaling ship, not more than eighteen inches long, fashioned of sperm ivory and perfect in every detail. Even the tinyharpoons in the boats that hung along the rail were tipped with bits ofsteel.... The windows of this place were tight closed; nevertheless, the room wasfilled with the harsh, strong smell of the sea. Joel Shore sat in the whalebone chair, at the table, reading a book. Thebook was the Log of the House of Shore. Joel's father had begun it, whenJoel and his four brothers were ranging from babyhood through youth.... Afull half of the book was filled with entries in old Matthew Shore'ssmall, cramped hand. The last of these entries was very short. It beganwith a date, and it read: "Wind began light, from the south. This day came into Harbor the bark_Winona_, after a cruise of three years, two months, and four days. Captain Chase reported that my eldest son, Matthew Shore, was killed bythe fluke of a right whale, at Christmas Island. The whale yieldedseventy barrels of oil. Matthew Shore was second mate. " And below, upon a single line, like an epitaph, the words: "'All the brothers were valiant. '" Two days after, the old man sickened; and three weeks later, he died. Hehad set great store by big Matt.... Joel, turning the leaves of the Log, and scanning their brief entries, came presently to this--written in the hand of his brother John: "Wind easterly. This day the _Betty_ was reported lost on the Japangrounds, with all hands save the boy and the cook. Noah Shore was thirdmate. Day ended as it began. " And below, again, that single line: "'All the brothers were valiant. '" There followed many pages filled with reports of rich cruises, when shipscame home with bursting casks, and the brothers of the House of Shoreplayed the parts of men. The entries were now in the hand of one, now ofanother; John and Mark and Joel.... Joel read phrases here and there.... "This day the _Martin Wilkes_ returned ... Two years, eleven months andtwenty-two days ... Died on the cruise, and first mate John Shore becamecaptain. Day ended as it began. " And, a page or two further on: "... _Martin Wilkes_ ... Two years, two months, four days ... Tubs ondeck filled with oil, for which there was no more room in the casks ... Captain John Shore. " Mark Shore's first entry in the Log stood out from the others; for Mark'shand was bold, and strong, and the letters sprawled blackly along thelines. Furthermore, Mark used the personal pronoun, while the otherbrothers wrote always in the third person. Mark had written: "This day, I, Mark Shore, at the age of twenty-seven, was given commandof the whaling bark _Nathan Ross_. " Joel read this sentence thrice. There was a bold pride in it, and astrong and reckless note which seemed to bring his brother before hisvery eyes. Mark had always been so, swift of tongue, and strong, andsure. Joel turned another page, came to where Mark had written: "This day I returned from my first cruise with full casks in two years, seven months, fifteen days. I found the _Martin Wilkes_ in the dock. Theyreport Captain John Shore lost at Vau Vau in an effort to save the ship'sboy, who had fallen overboard. The boy was also lost. " And, below, in bold and defiant letters: "'All the brothers were valiant. '" There were two more pages of entries, in Mark's hand or in Joel's, beforethe end. When he came to the fresh page, Joel dipped his pen, and huddledhis broad shoulders over the book, and slowly wrote that which had to bewritten. "Wind northeast, light, " he began, according to the ancient form of thesea, which makes the state of wind and weather of first and foremostimport. "Wind northeast, light. This day the _Martin Wilkes_ finished athree year cruise. Found in port the _Nathan Ross_. She reports thatCaptain Mark Shore left the ship when she watered at the Gilbert Islands. He did not return, and could not be found. They searched three weeks. They encountered hostile islanders. No trace of Mark Shore. " When he had written thus far, he read the record to himself, his lipsmoving; then he sat for a space with frowning brows, thinking, thinking, wondering if there were a chance.... But in the end he cast the hope aside. If Mark lived, they would havefound him, would surely have found him.... And so Joel wrote the ancient line: "'All the brothers were valiant. '" And below, as an afterthought, he added: "Joel Shore became first mate ofthe _Martin Wilkes_ on her cruise. " He blotted this line, and closed the book, and put it away. Then he wentto the windows that looked down upon the Harbor, and stood there for along time. His face was serene, but his eyes were faintly troubled. Hedid not see the things that lay outspread below him. Yet they were worth seeing. The town was old, and it had the fragrance ofage about it. Below Joel, on the hill's slopes, among the trees, stood the square whitehouses of the town folk. Beyond them, the white spire of the church withits weather vane atop. Joel marked that the wind was still northeast. Thevane swung fitfully in the light air. He could see the masts and yards ofthe ships along the waterfront. The yards of the _Nathan Ross_ werecanted in mournful tribute to his brother. At the pier end beside her, hemarked the ranks of casks, brown with sweating oil. Beyond, the smoothwater ruffled in the wind, and dark ripple-shadows moved across itssurface with each breeze. There were gulls in the air, and on the water. Such stillness lay upon the sleepy town that if his windows had beenopen, he might have heard the harsh cries of the birds. A man wassculling shoreward from a fishing schooner that lay at anchor off thedocks; and a whaleboat crawled like a spider across the harbor towardFairhaven on the other side. On a flag staff above a big building near the water, a half-masted flaghung idly in the faintly stirring air. It hung there, he knew, for hisbrother's sake. He watched it thoughtfully, wondering.... There had beensuch an abounding insolence of life in big Mark Shore.... It was hard tobelieve that he was surely dead. A woman passed along the street below the house, and looked up and sawhim at the window. He did not see her. Two boys crawled along the whitepicket fence, and pricked their fingers as they broke half-open clustersfrom the rambler without molestation. A gray squirrel, when the boys hadgone, came down from an elm across the street and sprinted desperately tothe foot of the great oak below the house. When it was safe in the oak'supper branches, it scolded derisively at the imaginary terrors it hadescaped. A blue jay, with ruffled feathers--a huge, blue ball in theair--rocketed across from the elm, and established himself near thesquirrel, and they swore at each other like coachmen. The squirrel sworefrom temper and disposition; the jay from malice and derision. The birdseemed to have the better of the argument, for the squirrel suddenly fellsilent and departed, his emotions revealing themselves only in the angryflicks of his tail. When he was gone, the jay began to investigate a knotin a limb of the oak. The bird climbed around this knot with slow motionscuriously like those of a parrot. A half-grown boy came up the street and turned in at the gate. Joelremained where he was until the boy manipulated the knocker on the door;then he went down and opened. He knew the boy; Peter How. Peter was thinand freckled and nervous; and he was inclined to stammer. When Joelopened the door, Peter was at first unable to speak. He stood on thestep, jerking his chin upward and forward as though his collar irked him. Joel smiled slowly. "Come in, Peter, " he said. Peter jerked his chin, jerked his whole head furiously. "C--C--C--" hesaid. "Asa W-W-Worthen wants to s-s-see you. " Asa Worthen was the owner of the _Martin Wilkes_, and of the _NathanRoss_. Joel nodded gently. "Thank you, Peter, " he told the boy. "I'll get my hat and come. " Peter jerked his head. He seemed to be choking. "He's a-a-a-a-at hisoffice, " he blurted. Joel had found his hat. He closed the door of the house behind him, andhe and Peter went down the shady street together. II Asa Worthen was a small, lean, strong old man, immensely voluble. He musthave been well over sixty years old; and he had grown rich by harvestingthe living treasures of the sea. At thirty-four, he owned his first ship. She was old, and cranky, and no more seaworthy than a log; but she earnedhim more than four hundred thousand dollars, net, before he beached heron the sand below the town. She lay there still, her upper parts strongand well preserved. But her bottom was gone, and she was slowly rottinginto the sand. Asa himself had captained this old craft, until she had served herappointed time; but when she went to the sand flats, he, too, stayedashore, to watch his ships come in. When they were in harbor, theyberthed in his own dock; and from his office at the shoreward end of thepier, he could look down upon their decks, and watch the casks come out, so fat with oil, and the stores go aboard for each cruise. The cries ofthe men and the wheeling gulls, the rattle of the blocks and gear, andthe rich smell of the oil came up to him.... The _Nathan Ross_ wasloading now; and when Joel climbed the office stairs, he found the oldman at the window watching them sling great shooks of staves into herhold, and fidgeting at the lubberliness of the men who did the work. Asa's office was worth seeing; a strange, huge room, windowed on threesides; against one wall, a whaleboat with all her gear in place; in acorner, the twisted jaw of a sixty-barrel bull, killed in the Seychelles;and Asa Worthen's big desk, with a six-foot model of his old ship atopit, between the forward windows. Beside the desk stood that contrivanceknown to the whalemen as a "woman's tub"; a cask, sawed chair-fashion, with a cross board for seat, and ropes so rigged that the whole might beeasily and safely swung from ship to small boat or back again. Asa hadtaken his wife along on more than one of his early voyages ... Before shedied.... At Joel's step, the little man swung awkwardly away from the window, toward the door. Many years ago, a racing whale line had snarled his leftleg and whipped away a gout of muscle; and this leg was now shorter thanits fellow, so that Asa walked with a pegging limp. He hitched across thebig room, and took Joel's arm, and led the young man to the desk. "Sit down, Joel. Sit down, " he said briskly. "I've words to say to you, my son. Sit down. " Asa was smoking; and Joel took a twist of leaf fromhis pocket, and cut three slices, and crumbled them and stuffed them intothe bowl of his black pipe. Asa watched the process, and he watched Joel, puffing without comment. There was something furtive in the scrutiny ofthe young man, but Joel did not mark it. When the pipe was ready, Asapassed across a match, and Joel struck it, and puffed slowly.... Asa began, abruptly, what he had to say. "Joel, the _Nathan Ross_ will beready for sea in five days. She's stout, her timbers are good and hertackle is strong. She's a lucky ship. The oil swims after her across thebroad sea, and begs to be taken. She's my pet ship, Joel, as you know;and she's uncommon well fitted. Mark had her. Now I want you to takeher. " Joel's calm eyes had met the other's while Asa was speaking; and Asa hadshifted to avoid the encounter. But Joel's heart was pounding so, at thewords of the older man, that he took no heed. He listened, and he waitedthoughtfully until he was sure of what he wished to say. Then he askedquietly: "Is not James Finch the mate of her? Did he not fetch her home?" "Aye, " said Asa impatiently. "He brought her home--in the top scurry ofhaste. There was no need of such haste; for he had still casks unfilled, and there was sparm all about him where he lay. He should have filledthose last casks. 'Tis in them the profit lies. " He shook his headsorrowfully. "No, Jim Finch will not do. He is a good man--under anotherman. But he has not the spine that stands alone. When Mark Shore was gone... Jim had no thought but to throw the try works overside and scurryhitherward as though he feared to be out upon the seas alone. " Joel puffed thrice at his pipe. Then: "You said this morning that forthree weeks he hunted Mark, up and down the Gilbert Islands. " Asa's little eyes whipped toward Joel, and away again. "Oh, aye, " he saidharshly. "Three weeks he hunted, when one was plenty. If Mark Shorelived, and wished to find his ship again, he'd have found her in a week. If he were dead ... There was no need of the time wasted. " "Nevertheless, " said Joel quietly, "James Finch has my thanks for hissearch; and I'm no mind to do him a harm, or to step into his shoes. " Asa smiled grimly. "Ye're over considerate, " he said. "Jim Finch was yourbrother's man, and a very loyal one. As long as he is another's man, heis content. But he has no want to be his own master and the master of aship, and of men. I've askit him. " Joel puffed hard at his pipe; and after a little he asked: "Sir, whatthink you it was that came to Mark?" Asa looked at him sharply, then away; and his accustomed volubility fellaway from him. He lifted his hands. "Ask James Finch. I've no way totell, " he said curtly. "Have you no opinion?" Joel insisted. The ship owner tilted his head, set finger tip to finger tip, assumed theair of one who delivers judgment. "Islanders, 'tis like, " he said. "There's a many there. " He looked sidewise at Joel, looked away. Joel wasnodding. "Yes, many thereabouts, " he agreed. "But there would have been tracks. Were there none?" "Mark left his boat's crew, " said Asa. "Walked away along the shore. Thatwas all. " "No tracks?" "They saw where he'd left the sand. " The ship owner shifted in his chair. "Seems like I'd heard you and Mark wa'n't too good friends, Joel. Youra'mighty worked up. " Joel looked at the little man with bleak eyes. "He was my brother. " "I've heard tell he forgot you was his, sometimes. " Joel paid no heed. "You think it was Islanders?" Asa kicked the corner of his desk, watching his foot. "What else wasthere?" "I've nothing in my mind, " said Joel, and shook his head. "But it sticksin me that Mark was no man to die easy. There was a full measure of lifein him. " Asa got up awkwardly, waved his hand. "We're off the course, Joel. Whatabout the _Nathan Ross_? Ready for sea, come Tuesday. I'm not one topress her on any man, unwilling. Say your say, man. Do you take her? Orno?" Joel drew slowly once more upon his pipe. "If I take her, " he said, "we'll work the Gilberts first of all, and try once again for a sign ofmy brother Mark. " Asa jerked his head. "So you pick up any oil that comes your way, I've noobjection, " he agreed. "Matter of fact, that's the best thing to do. Markmay yet live. " His eyes snapped up to the others. "You take her, then?" Joel nodded slowly. "I take her, sir, " he said. "With thanks to you. " Asa banged his hand jubilantly on his desk. "That's done. Now ... " The two men sat down at Asa's big desk again; and for an hour they werebusy with matters that concerned the coming cruise. When a whaleship goesto sea, she goes for a three-year cruise; and save only the items of foodand water, she carries with her everything she will need for that wholetime, with an ample allowance to spare. She is a department store of theseas; for she works with iron and wood, with steel and bone, with fireand water and rope and sail. All these things she must have, and manymore. And the lists of a whaleship's stores are long and long, and takemuch checking. When they had considered these matters, Asa sent out tothe pierhead to summon Jim Finch, and told the man that Joel would havethe ship. Joel said to Finch slowly: "I've no mind to fight a grudgeaboard my ship, sir. If you blame me for stepping into your shoes, Mr. Worthen will give you another berth. " Finch shook his head. He was a big, laughing man with soft, fat cheeks. "No, sir, " he declared. "It's yours, and welcome. Your brother was a man;and you've the look of another, sir. " Joel frowned. He was uncomfortable; he had an angry feeling that Finchwas too amiable. But he said no more, and Finch went back to the ship, and Asa and Joel continued with their task. While they worked, the afternoon sun drifted down the western sky tillits level rays were flame lances laid across the harbor. A fishing craftat anchor in mid-stream hoisted her sails with a creak and rattle ofblocks and drifted down the channel with the tide. The wheeling gullsdropped, one by one, to the water; or they lurched off to some quiet coveto spend the night. Their harsh cries came less frequently, were lesspersistent. The wind had swung around, and it was fetching now from thewater a cold and salty chill. There was a smell of cooking in the air, and the smoke from the _Nathan Ross_' galley, and the cool smell of thesea mingled with the strong odor of the oil in the casks ranked at theend of the pier. The sun had touched the horizon when Joel at last rose to go. Asa got upwith him, dropped a hand on the young man's shoulder. They passed thecontrivance called a "woman's tub"; and Asa, at sight of it, seemed to beminded of something. He stopped, and checked Joel, and with eyestwinkling, pointed to the tub. "Will you be wishful to take that on thecruise, Joel?" he asked, and looked up sidewise at the younger man, andchuckled. Joel's brown cheeks were covered with slow fire; but his voice was steadyenough when he replied. "It's a kind offer, sir, " he said. "I know wellwhat store you set by that tub. " "Will you be wanting it?" Asa still insisted. "I'll see, " said Joel quietly. "I will see. " III The brothers of the House of Shore had been, on the whole, slow to taketo themselves wives. Matt had never married, nor Noah, nor Mark. John hada wife for the weeks he was at home before his last cruise; but he didnot take her with him on that voyage, and there was no John Shore tocarry on the name. John Shore's widow was called Rachel. She had been Rachel Holt; and hersister's name was Priscilla. Rachel was one of those women who suggestslumbering fires; she was slow of speech, and quiet, and calm.... ButJohn Shore and Mark had both loved her; and when she married John, Marklaughed a hard and reckless laugh that made the woman afraid. John andMark never spoke, one to another, after that marriage. Rachel's sister, Priscilla, was a gay and careless child. She was sixyears younger than Joel, and she had acquired in babyhood the habit ofthinking Joel the most wonderful created thing. Their yards adjoined; andshe was the baby of her family, and he of his. Thus the big boy and thelittle girl had always been comrades and allies against the world. BeforeJoel first went to sea, as ship's boy, the two had decided they wouldsome day be married.... Joel went to supper that night at Priscilla's home. He was alone in hisown house; and Mrs. Holt was a person with a mother's heart. Rachel livedat home. She gave Joel quiet welcome at the door, before Priscilla in thekitchen heard his voice and came flying to overwhelm him. She had beenmaking popovers, and there was flour on her fingers--and on Joel's bestblack coat, when she was done with him. Rachel brushed it off, when Prisshad run back to her oven. They sat down at table. Mrs. Holt at one end, her husband--he was a bigman, an old sea captain, and full of yarns as a knitting bag--at theother; and Rachel at one side, facing Priss and Joel. Joel's ship hadcome in only that day; the _Nathan Ross_ had been in port for weeks. Sothe whole town knew Mark Shore's story. They spoke of it now, and Joeltold them what he knew.... Rachel wondered if there was any chance thatMark might still be alive. Her father broke in with a story of Mark'sfirst cruise, when the boy had saved a man's life by his quickness withthe hatchet on the racing line. The town was full of such stories; forMark was one of those men about whom legends arise. And now he wasgone.... Priscilla listened to the talk with the wide eyes of youth, awed by themystery and majesty of tragic things. She remembered Mark as a huge man, like a pagan god, in whose eyes she had been only a thin-legged littlegirl who made faces through the fence.... After supper, when the othershad left them in the parlor together, she said to Joel: "Do you thinkhe's dead?" Her voice was a whisper. "I aim to know, " said Joel. Rachel looked in at the door. "You needn't bother with the dishes, Priss, " she said. "I'll do them. " Priscilla had forgotten all about that task. She ran contritely towardher sister. "Oh, I'm sorry, Rachel. I will, I will do them. Joel andI.... " Rachel laughed softly. "I don't mind them. You two stay here. " Priscilla accepted the offer, in the end; but she had no notion ofstaying in the tight-windowed parlor, with its harsh carpet on the floor, and its samplers on the walls. She was of the new generation, thegeneration which discovered that the night is beautiful, and notunhealthy. "Let's go outside, " she said to Joel. "There's a moon. We cansit on the bench, under the apple tree.... " They went out, side by side. Joel was not a tall man, but he was inchestaller than Priscilla. She was tiny; a dainty, sweetly proportionedcreature, built on fine lines that were strangely out of keeping with thestalwart stock from which she sprung. Her hair was darker than Joel's; itwas a brown so dark that it was almost black. But her eyes were vividlyblue, and her lips were vividly red, and her cheeks were bright.... Sheslipped her hand through Joel's big arm as they crossed the yard; andwhen they had found the seat, she drew his arm frankly about hershoulders. "I'm cold, " she said, laughing up at him. "You must keep mewarm.... " The moon flecked down through the leaves upon her face. There wasmoonlight on her cheek, and on her mouth; but her thick hair and her eyeswere shadowed and mysterious. Joel saw that her lips were smiling.... Shedrew his head down toward hers.... Joel was flesh and blood; and shepanted, and gasped, and pushed him away, and smoothed her hair, andlaughed at him. "I love you to be so strong, " she whispered, happily. He had not told them, at supper, of his promotion. He told Priscilla now;and the girl could not sit still beside him. She danced in the pathbefore the seat; she perched on his knee, and caught his big shoulders inher tiny hands and tried to shake him back and forth in her delight. "Youdon't act a bit excited, " she scolded. "You don't act as though you wereglad, a bit. Aren't you glad, Joe? Aren't you just so proud?... " "Yes, " he told her. "Of course. Yes. Yes, I am glad, and I am proud. " "Oh, " she cried, "I could--I could just hug you in two. " She tried it, tightening her arms about his big neck, clinging to him.... He sat stiffand awkward under her caresses, thrilling with a happiness that he didnot know how to express. He felt uneasy, half embarrassed. Her ecstasycontinued.... Then, abruptly, it passed. She became practical. Still upon his knee, shebegan to ask questions. When would he sail away? She had heard the_Nathan Ross_ was almost ready. When would he come back? When would he berich, so that they might be married? Would it be long?... Joel found tongue. "We will be married Monday, " he said slowly. "We willgo away--on the _Nathan Ross_--together. I do not want to go alone. " She slipped from his knee, stood before him. "Why, Joel! You're--you'rejust crazy to think of it. " He shook his head. "No, " he said. "No, I have thought all about it. It isthe best thing to do. We will be married Monday; and we will make abigger cabin on the--_Nathan Ross_.... " His voice always slowed a littleas he spoke the name of his first ship. "You will be happy on her, " hesaid. "You will like it all.... The sea.... " She returned to his knee, tumbling his hair. "You silly! Men don'tunderstand. Why, I couldn't be ready for ever so long. And I wouldn'tdare go away with you. For so awfully long. I just couldn't.... " Her eyesmisted with thought, and she said quite seriously: "Why, Joel, we mightfind we didn't like each other at all. But we'd be on the ship, with noway to get away from it ... For three years. Don't you see?" Joel said calmly: "That is not so; because we know about--liking eachother, already. I know how it is with you. It is clothes that you arethinking about. Well, you can get them in the stores. And you have many, already. You have new dresses whenever I see you.... " She laughed gayly. "But, Joel, you only see me once in three years. Ofcourse I have new dresses, then. But I just couldn't.... " She laughed again, a faint uneasiness in her laughter. She left his knee, and sat down soberly beside him. She was feeling a little crushed, smothered ... As though she were being pushed back against a wall. Joelsaid steadily: "Mr. Worthen will be glad to know you go with me. And every one will beglad for you.... " She burst, abruptly, into tears. She was miserable, she told him. He wasmaking her miserable. She hated to be bullied, and he was trying to bullyher. She hated him. She wouldn't marry him. Never. He could go off on hisold ship and never come back. That was all. She would not go; and heought not to ask her to, anyway. To prove how much she hated him, shenestled against his side, and his arm enfolded her. Joel had not the outward seeming of a wise man; nevertheless he now said: "The other girls will all be envying you. To be married so quickly, andcarried away the very next day.... " Her sobs miraculously ceased, and hesmiled quietly down upon her dark head against his breast. "Every onewill do things for you.... The whole town.... They will come down to seeus sail away. " He fell silent, leaving his words for her consideration. She remainedvery quiet against his side for a long time, breathing very softly. Hethought he could almost read her thoughts.... "It will be, " he said, "like a story. Like a romance. " And the wordsounded strangely on his sober lips. But at the word, the girl sat up quickly, both hands gripping his arm. Hecould see her eyes dancing in the moonlight.... "Oh, Joe, " she cried, "itwould really be just loads of fun. And terribly romantic.... Wonderful!"She pressed a hand to her cheek, thinking: "And I could.... " She could, she said, do thus and so.... Joel listened, and he smiled. For he knew that his bride would sail awaywith him. IV In the few days that remained before the _Nathan Ross_ was to sail, therewas no time for remodeling her cabin to accommodate Priscilla; so thatwas left for the first weeks of the cruise. There were matters enough, without it, to occupy those last days. Little Priss was caught up like aleaf in the wind; she was whirled this way and that in a pleasant andheart-stirring confusion. And through it all, her laughter rang in theair like the sound of bells. To Joel, Sunday night, she said: "Oh, Joe... It's been an awful rush. But it's been such fun.... And I never wasso happy in my life. " And Joel smiled, and said quietly: "Yes--with happier times to come. " She looked up at him wistfully. "You'll be good to me, won't you, Joel?"He patted her shoulder. They were married in the big old white church, and every pew was filled. Afterwards they all went down to the piers, where Asa Worthen had spreadlong tables and loaded them so that they groaned. Alongside lay the_Nathan Ross_, her decks littered with the last confusion of preparation. Joel showed Priscilla the lumber for the cabin alterations, ranked alongthe rail beneath the boathouse; and she gripped his arm tight with bothhands. Afterwards, he took Priscilla up the hill to the great House ofShore. Rachel had prepared their wedding supper there.... At a quarter before ten o'clock the next morning, the _Nathan Ross_ wentout with the tide. When she had cleared the dock and was fairly in thestream, Joel gave her in charge of Jim Finch; and he and Priscilla stoodin the after house, astern, and looked back at the throng upon the pieruntil the individual figures merged into a black mass, pepper-and-saltedwith color where the women stood. They could see the handkerchiefsflickering, until a turn of the channel swept them out of sight of thetown, and they drifted on through the widening mouth of the bay, towardthe open sea. At dusk that night, there was still land in sight behindthem and on either side; but when Priscilla came on deck in the morning, there was nothing but blue water and laughing waves. And so she washomesick, all that day, and laughed not at all till the evening, when themoon bathed the ship in silver fire, and the white-caps danced all aboutthem. The _Nathan Ross_ was in no sense a lovely ship. There was about her noneof the poetry of the seas. She was designed strictly for utility, and forhard and dirty toil. Blunt she was of bow and stern, and her widest pointwas just abeam the foremast, so that she had great shoulders thatbuffeted the sea. These shoulders bent inward toward the prow and met inwhat was practically a right angle; and her stern was cut almost straightacross, with only enough overhang to give the rudder room. Furthermore, her masts had no rake. They stood up stiff and straight as sore thumbs;and the bowsprit, instead of being something near horizontal, rose towardthe skies at an angle close to forty-five degrees. This bowsprit made the_Nathan Ross_ look as though she had just stubbed her toe. She carriedfour boats at the davits; and two spare craft, bottom up, on theboathouse just forward of the mizzenmast. Three of the four at the davitswere on the starboard side, and since they were each thirty feet long, while the ship herself was scarce a hundred and twenty, they gave her asadly cluttered and overloaded appearance. For the rest, she was paintedblack, with a white checkerboarding around the rail; and her sails weresmeared and smutty with smoke from burning blubber scraps. Nevertheless, she was a comfortable ship, and a dry one. She rode wavesthat would have swept a vessel cut on prouder lines; and she wasmoderately steady. She was not fast, nor cared to be. An easy five or sixknots contented her; for the whole ocean was her hunting ground, andthough there were certain more favored areas, you might meet whalesanywhere. Give her time, and she would poke that blunt nose of hers right'round the world, and come back with a net profit anywhere up to ahundred and fifty thousand dollars in her sweating casks. Priscilla Holt knew all these things, and she respected the _Nathan Ross_on their account. But during the first weeks of the cruise, she was toomuch interested in the work on the cabin to consider other matters. OldAaron Burnham, the carpenter, did the work. He was a wiry little man, gray and grizzled; and he loved the tools of his craft with a jealouslove that forbade the laying on of impious hands. Through the long, calmdays, when the ship snored like a sleep-walker through the empty seas, Priscilla would sit on box or bench or floor, and watch Aaron at histask, and ask him questions, and listen to the old man's long stories ofthings that had come and gone. Sometimes she tried to help him; but he would not let her handle an edgedtool. "Ye'll no have the eye for it, " he would say. "Leave it be. " Nowand then he let her try to drive a nail; but as often as not she missedthe nail head and marred the soft wood, until Aaron lost patience withher. "Mark you, " he cried, "men will see the scar there, and they'll bethinking I did this task with my foot, Ma'am. " And Priscilla would laugh at him, and curl up with her feet tucked underher skirts and her chin in her hands, and watch him by the long hour onhour. The task dragged on; it seemed to her endless. For Aaron had other workthat must be done, and he could give only his spare time to this. Also, he was a slow worker, accustomed to take his own time; and when Priscillagrew impatient and scolded him, the old man merely sat back on his knees, and scratched his head, and tapped thoughtfully with his hammer on thefloor beside him. "We-ell, Ma'am, " he said, "I do things so, and I do things so; and ittakes time, that does, Ma'am. " Now and then, through those days, Priscilla's enthusiasm would send herskittering up the companion to fetch Joel to see some new wonder--awindow set in the stern, or a bench completed, or a door hung. And Joel, looking far oftener at Priscilla than at the object she wished him toconsider, would chuckle, and touch her shoulder affectionately, and goback to his post. In the sixth week, the last nail had been driven, and the last lick ofpaint was dry. In the result, Priscilla was as happy as a bride has aright to be. Across the very stern of the ship, with windows looking out upon thewake, ran what might have been called a sitting room. It was perhapstwenty feet wide and eight feet deep; and its rear wall--formed by theoverhanging stern--sloped outward toward the ceiling. Against this slope, beneath the three windows, a broad, cushioned bench was built, to serveas couch or seat. The bench was broken in one place to make room forJoel's desk, and the cabinet wherein he kept his records and hisinstruments. Priss had put curtains on the windows; and she had a lily, in a pot, at one of them, and a clump of pansies at another. Joel's cabinopened off this compartment, on the starboard side; hers was opposite. The main cabin, with its folding table built about the thick butt of themizzenmast, had been extended forward to make room for the enlargement ofthis stern apartment; and the mates were quartered off this main cabin. The galley and the store rooms were on the main deck, in the after house, on either side of the awkward "walking wheel" by which the ship wassteered; and the cabin companion was just forward of this wheel. There were aboard the _Nathan Ross_ about thirty men, all told; but themost of them were not of Priscilla's world. The foremast hands never cameaft of the try works, save on tasks assigned; and the secondaryofficers--boat-steerers and the like--slept in the steerage and keptforward of the boathouse. Thus the after deck was shared only byPriscilla and Joel, the mates, the cook, and old Aaron, who was a man ofmany privileges. This world, Priscilla ruled. Joel adored her; Jim Finch gave her theclumsy homage of a puppy--and was at times just as oppressively amiable. Old Aaron talked to her by the hour, while he went about his work. Andthe other mates--Varde, the sullen; and Hooper, who was old and losinghis grip; and Dick Morrell, who was young and finding his--paid her therespect that was her due. Young Morrell--he was not even as old as shewas--helped her on her first climb to the mast head. He was only aboy.... The girl, when the first homesick pangs were past, was happy. Until the day they killed their whale, a seventy-barrel cachalot cow whodied as peaceably as a chicken, with only a convulsive flop or two whenthe lances found the life. Priscilla took a single glimpse of theshuddering, bloody, oily work of cutting in the carcass, and then shefled to her cabin and remained there steadfastly until the long task wasdone. The smoke from the bubbling try pots, and the persistent smell ofboiling blubber sickened her; and the grime that descended overeverything appalled her dainty soul. Not until the men had cleaned shipdid she go on deck again; and even then she scolded Joel for the affairas though it were a matter for which he was wholly to blame. "There just isn't any sense in making so much dirt, " she told him. "I'vehad to wash out every one of my curtains; and I can't ever get rid ofthat smell. " Joel chuckled. "Aye, the smell sticks, " he agreed. "But you'll be used toit soon, Priss. You'll come to like it, I'm thinking. Any case, we'll notbe rid of it while the cruise is on. " She was so angry that she wanted to cry. "Do you actually mean, JoelShore, that I've got to live with that sickening, hot-oil smell forth-three years?" He nodded slowly. "Yes, Priss. No way out of it. It's part of the work. Come another month, and you'll not mind at all. " She said positively: "I may not say anything, but I shall always hatethat smell. " His eyes twinkled slowly; and she stamped her foot. "If I'd known it wasgoing to be like this, I wouldn't have come, Joel. Now don't you laugh atme. If there was any way to go back, I'd go. I hate it. I hate it all. You ought not to have brought me.... " They were on the broad bench across the stern, in their cabin; and he puthis big arm about her shoulders and laughed at her till she could do noless than laugh back at him. But--she assured herself of this--she wasangry, just the same. Nevertheless, she laughed.... Joel had put the _Nathan Ross_ on the most direct southward course, touching neither Azores nor Cape Verdes. For it was in his mind, as hehad told Asa Worthen, to make direct for the Gilbert Islands and seeksome trace of his brother there. That had been his plan before he leftport; but the plan had become determination after a word with AaronBurnham, one day. Joel, resting in the cabin while old Aaron workedthere, fell to thinking of his brother, and so asked: "Aaron, what is your belief about my brother, Mark Shore? Is he dead?" Aaron was building, that day, the forward partition of the new cabin, fitting his boards meticulously, and driving home each nail with hammerstrokes that seemed smooth and effortless, yet sank the nail to the headin an instant. He looked up over his shoulder at Joel, between nails. "Dead, d'ye say?" he countered quizzically. Joel nodded. "The Islanders? Did they do it, do you believe?" Old Aaron chuckled asthmatically. He had lost a fore tooth, and theeffect of his mirth was not reassuring. "There's a brew i' the Islands, "he said. "More like 'twas the island brew nor the island men. " Joel, for a moment, sat very still and considered. He knew Mark Shore hadnever scrupled to take strong drink when he chose; but Mark had alwaysbeen a strong man to match his drink, and conquer it. Said Joel, therefore, after a space of thought: "Why do you think that, Aaron? Drink was never like to carry Mark away. " Aaron squinted up at him. "Have ye sampled that island brew? 'Tis made ofpineapples, or sago, or the like outlandish stuff, I've heard. And onesip is deviltry, and two is madness, and three is corruption. Somestomachs are used to it; they can handle it. But a raw man.... " There was significance in the pause, and the unfinished sentence. Joelconsidered the matter. There had always been, between him and Mark, something of that sleeping enmity that so often arises between brothers. Mark was a man swift of tongue, flashing, and full of laughter and hotblood; a colorful man, like a splash of pigment on white canvas. Joel wasin all things his opposite, quiet, and slow of thought and speech, andsteady of gait. Mark was accustomed to jeer at him, to taunt him; andJoel, in the slow fashion of slow men, had resented this. Nevertheless, he cast aside prejudice now in his estimate of the situation; and heasked old Aaron: "Do you know there were Islanders about? Or this wild brew you speak of?" Aaron drove home a nail, and with his punch set it flush with the softwood. "There was some drunken crew, shouting and screeching a mile up thebeach, " he said. "Some few of them came off to us with fruit. The soberones. 'Twas them Mark Shore went to pandander with. " "He went to them?" Joel echoed. Aaron nodded. "Aye. That he did. " There was a long moment of silence before Joel asked huskily: "But was itlike that he should stay with them freely?" For it is a black andshameful thing that a captain should desert his ship. When he had askedthe question, he waited in something like fear for the carpenter'sanswer. "It comes to me, " said Aaron slowly at last, "that you did not well knowyour brother. Ye'd only seen him ashore. And--I'm doubting that you knewall the circumstances of his departure from this ship. " "I know that he went ashore, " said Joel. "Went ashore, and left his men, and departed; and I know that they searched for him three weeks without asign. " Aaron sat back on his heels, and rubbed the smooth head of his hammerthoughtfully against his dry old cheek. "I'm not one to speak harm, " hesaid. "And I've said naught, in the town. But--you have some right toknow that Mark Shore was not a sober man when he left the ship. I' truth, he had not been sober--cold sober--for a week. And he left with a bottlein his coat. " He nodded his gray old head, eyes not on Joel, but on thehammer in his hand. "Also, there was a pearling schooner in the lagoon, with drunk white men aboard. " He glanced sidewise at Joel then, and saw the Captain's cheek bonesslowly whiten. Whereupon old Aaron bent swiftly to his task, half fearfulof what he had said. But when Joel spoke, it was only to say quietly: "Asa should have told me this. " Aaron shook his head vehemently, but without looking up from his task. "Not so, " he said. "There was no need the town should chew Mark's name. Better--" He glanced at Joel. "Better if he were thought dead. Asa's agood man, you mind. And--he knew your father. " Joel nodded at that. "Asa meant wisest, I've no doubt, " he agreed. "But--Mark would do nothing that he was shamed of. " "Mark Shore, " said Aaron thoughtfully, "did many things without shame forwhich other men would have blushit. " Joel said curtly: "Aaron, ye'll say no more such things as that. " "Ye're right, " Aaron agreed. "I should no have said it. But--'tis so. " Joel left him and went on deck, and his eyes were troubled.... Priss wasthere, with Dick Morrell showing her some trick of the wheel, and theywere laughing together like children. Joel felt immensely older thanPriss.... Yet the difference was scarce six years.... She saw him, andleft Morrell and came running to Joel's side. "Did you sleep?" she asked. "You needed rest, Joe. " "I rested, " he told her, smiling faintly. "I'll be fine.... " V They drifted past Pernambuco, and touched at Trinidad, and so workedsouth and somewhat westward for Cape Horn. And in Joel grew, stronger andever, the resolve to hunt out Mark, and find him, and fetch him home.... The blood tie was strong on Joel; stronger than any memory of Mark'sderision. And--for the honor of the House of Shore, it were well to provethe matter, if Mark were dead. It is not well for a Shore to abandon hisship in strange seas. He asked Aaron, two weeks after their first talk, whether they hadquestioned the white men on the pearling schooner. "Oh, aye, " said Aaron cheerfully. "I sought 'em out, myself. Three ofthem, they was; and ill-favored. A slinky small man, and a rat-eyed largeman, and a fat man in between; all unshaven, and filthy, and drunken asowls. They'd seen naught of Mark Shore, they said. I'm thinking he'd letthem see but little of him. He had no tenderness for dirt. " Joel told Priss nothing of what he hoped and feared; nor did he questionJim Finch in the matter. Finch was a good man at set tasks, but he wastoo amiable, and he had no clamp upon his lips.... Joel did not wish theword to go abroad among the men. He was glad that most of the crew werenew since last voyage; but the officers were unchanged, save that hestood in his brother's shoes. They left Trinidad behind them, and shouldered their way southward, theblunt bow of the _Nathan Ross_ battering the seas. And they came to theStraits, and worked in, and made their westing day by day, while littlePriss, wide-eyed on the deck, watched the gaunt cliffs past whosewave-gnawed feet they stole. And so at last the Pacific opened out beforethem, and they caught the winds, and worked toward Easter Island. But their progress was slow. To men unschooled in the patience of thewhaling trade, it would have been insufferably slow. For they struckfish; and day after day they hung idle on the waves while the trypotsboiled; and day after day they loitered on good whaling grounds, when theboats were out thrice and four times between sun's rise and set. If Joelwas impatient, he gave no sign. If his desires would have made him hastenon, his duty held him here, where rich catches waited for the taking; andwhile there were fish to be taken, he would not leave them behind. Priscilla hated it. She hated the grime, and the smoke, and the smell ofboiling oil; and she hated this dawdling on the open seas, with never aglimpse of land. More than once she made Joel bear the brunt of her ownunrest; and because it is not always good for two people to be too muchtogether, and because she had nothing better to do, she began to pickJoel to pieces in her thoughts, and fret at his patience and stolidity. She wished he would grow angry, wished even that he might be angry withher.... She wished for anything to break the long days of deadly calm. And she watched Joel more intently than it is well for wife to watchhusband, or for husband to watch wife. He did so many things that tried her sore. He had a fashion, when he hadfinished eating, of setting his hands against the table and pushinghimself back from the board with slow and solid satisfaction. She came tothe point where she longed to scream when he did this. When they were attable in the main cabin, she watched with such agony of trembling nervesfor that movement of his that she forgot to eat, and could not relishwhat she ate. Joel was a man, and his life was moving smoothly. His ship's casks werefilling more swiftly than he had any right to hope; his wife was at hisside; his skies were clear. He was happy, and comfortable, and wellcontent. Sometimes, when they were preparing for sleep, at night, in thecabin at the stern, he would relax on the couch there. But she did notwish for him to put his feet upon the cushions; she said that his shoeswere dirty. He offered to take off his shoes; and she shuddered.... He had a fashion of stretching and yawning comfortably as he bade hergood night; and sometimes a yawn caught him in the middle of a word, andhe talked while he yawned. She hated this. She was passing through thathard middle ground, that purgatory between maidenhood and wifehood in thecourse of which married folk find each other only human, after all. Andshe had not yet come to accept this condition, and to glory in it. Shehad always thought of Joel as a hero, a protector, a fine, stalwart, able, noble man. Now she forgot that he was commander of this ship andmaster of the men aboard her, and saw in him only a man who, when workwas done, liked to take his ease--and who talked through his yawns. She gnawed at this bone of discontent, in the hours when Joel was busy withhis work. She was furiously resentful of Joel's flesh-and-bloodness.... AndJoel, because he was too busy to be introspective, continued calmly happyand content. The whales led them past Easter Island for a space; and then, abruptly, they were gone. Came day on day when the men at the masthead saw no mistyspout against the wide blue of the sea, no glistening black body lyingawash among the waves. And the Nathan Ross, with all hands scrubbingwhite the decks again, bent northward, working toward that maze of tinyislands which dots the wide South Seas. Their water was getting stale, and running somewhat low; and they neededfresh foodstuffs. Joel planned to touch at the first land that offered. Tubuai, that would be. He marked their progress on the chart. On the evening before they would reach the island, when Joel and Prisswere preparing for sleep, Priss burst out furiously, like a teapot thatboils over. The storm came without warning, and--so far as Joel couldsee--without provocation. She was sick, she said, of the endless wastesof blue. She wanted to see land. To step on it. If she were not allowedto do so very soon, she would die. Joel, at first, was minded to tell her they would sight land in themorning; then, with one of the blundering impulses to which husbands fallvictim at such moments, he decided to wait and surprise her. So, insteadof telling her, he chuckled as though at some secret jest, and tried toquiet her by patting her dark head. She fell silent at his caress; and Joel thought she was appeased. As amatter of fact, she was hating him for having laughed at her; and hercalm was ferocious. He discovered this, too late.... He had just kissed her good night. She turned her cheek to his lips; andhe was faintly hurt at this. But he only said cheerfully: "There, Priss.... You'll be all right in the morning.... " He yawned in mid-sentence, so that the last two or three words sounded asthough he were trying to swallow a large and hot potato while he utteredthem. Priss could stand no more of that. Positively. So she slapped hisface. He was amazed; and he stood, looking at her helplessly, while the slappedcheek grew red and red. Priss burst into tears, stamped her foot, calledhim names she did not mean, and as a climax, darted into her own cabin, and swung the door, and snapped the latch. Joel did not in the least understand; and he went to his bunk at last, profoundly troubled. An hour after they anchored, the next day, at Tubuai, a boat came outfrom shore and ran alongside, and Mark Shore swung across the rail, aboard the _Nathan Ross_. VI Joel was below, in the cabin with Priss, when his brother boarded theship. Varde and Dick Morrell had gone ashore for water and supplies, andPriss was to go that afternoon, with Joel. She was sewing a ribbonrosette upon the hat she would wear, when she and Joel heard the sound ofexcited voices, and the movement of feet on the deck above their head. Heleft her, curled up on the cushioned bench, with the gay ribbon in herhands, and went out through the main cabin, and up the companion. He hadbeen trying, clumsily enough, to make friends with Priss; but she wasvery much on her dignity that morning.... When his head rose above the level of the cabin skylight, he saw a groupof men near the rail, amidships. Finch, and Hooper, and old AaronBurnham, and two of the harpooners, all pressing close about anotherman.... Finch obscured this other man from Joel's view, until he climbedup on deck. Then he saw that the other man was his brother. He went forward to join them; and it chanced that at first no one of themlooked in his direction. Mark's back was half-turned; but Joel could seethat his brother was lean, and bronzed by the sun. And he wore no hat, and his thick, black hair was rumpled and wild. The white shirt that hewore was open at the throat above his brown neck. His arms were bare tothe elbows. His chest was like a barrel. There was a splendor of strengthand vigor about the man, in the very look of him, and in his eye, and hisvoice, and his laughter. He seemed to shine, like the sun.... Joel, as he came near them, heard Mark laugh throatily at something Finchhad said; and he heard Finch say unctuously: "Be sure, Captain Shore, every man aboard here is damned glad you've come back to us. You weremissed, missed sore, sir. " Mark laughed again, at that; and he clapped Jim's fat shoulder. Theaction swung him around so that he saw Joel for the first time. Joelthrust out his hand. "Mark, man! They said you were dead, " he exclaimed. Mark Shore's eyes narrowed for an instant, in a quick, appraisingscrutiny of his brother. "Dead?" he laughed, jeeringly. "Do I look dead?"He stared at Joel more closely, glanced at the other men, and chuckled. "By the Lord, kid, " he cried, "I believe old Asa has put you in myshoes. " Joel nodded. "He gave me command of the _Nathan Ross_. Yes. " Mark looked sidewise at big Jim Finch, and grinned. "Over your head, eh, Jim? Too damned bad!" Finch grinned. "I had no wish for the place, sir. You see, I felt verysure you would be coming back to your own. " Mark tilted back his head and laughed. "You were always a very cautiousman, Jim Finch. Never jumped till you were sure where you would land. " Hewheeled on Joel. "Well, boy--how does it feel to wear long pants?" Joel, holding his anger in check, said slowly: "We've done well. Close oneight hundred barrel aboard. " Mark wagged his head in solemn reproof. "Joey, Joey, you've been fiddlingaway your time. I can see that!" Over his brother's shoulder, Joel saw the grinning face of big Jim Finch, and his eyes hardened. He said quietly: "If that's your tone, Mark, you'll call back your boat and go ashore. " A flame surged across Mark's cheek; and he took one swift, terrible steptoward his brother. But Joel did not give ground; and after a moment inwhich their eyes clashed like swords, Mark relaxed, and laughed and bowedlow. "I was wrong, grievously wrong, Captain Shore, " he said sonorously. "Ineglected the respect due your office. Your high office, sir. I thank youfor reminding me of the--the proprieties, Captain. " And he added, in adifferent tone, "Now will you not invite me aft on your ship, sir?" Joel hesitated for a bare instant, caught by a vague foreboding that hecould not explain. But in the end he nodded, as though in answer to theunspoken question in his thoughts. "Will you come down into the cabin, Mark?" he invited quietly. "I've much to ask you; and you must have manythings to tell. " Mark nodded. "I will come, " he said; and his eyes lighted suddenly, andhe dropped a hand on Joel's shoulder. "Aye, Joel, " he said softly, intohis brother's ear, as they went aft together. "Aye, I've much to tell. Many things and marvelous. Matters you'd scarce credit, Joel. " Joellooked at him quickly, and Mark nodded. "True they are, Joel, " he criedexultantly. "Marvelous--and true as good, red gold. " At the tone, and the eager light in his brother's eyes, Joel's slowpulses quickened, but he said nothing. At the top of the cabin companion, he stepped aside to let Mark descend first; and Mark went down the steepand awkward stair with the easy, sliding gait of a great cat. Joel, behind him, could see the muscles stir and swell upon his shoulders. Inthe cabin, Mark halted abruptly, and looked about, and exclaimed: "You'vechanged things, Joel. I'd not know the ship. " The door into Priscilla's cabin, across the stern, was open. Priss hadfinished that matter of the ribbon, and was watering her flowers, kneeling on the bench, when she heard Mark's voice, and knew it. And shecried, in surprise and joy: "Mark! Oh--Mark!" And she ran to the door, and stood there, framed for Mark's eyes against the light behind her, hands holding to the door frame on either side. Mark cried delightedly: "Priss Holt!" And he was at her side in aninstant, and caught her without ceremony, and kissed her roundly, as hehad been accustomed to do when he came home from the sea. But he musthave been a blind man not to have seen in that first moment that Prisswas no longer child, but woman. And Mark was not blind. He kissed hertill she laughingly fought herself free. "Mark!" she cried again. "You're not dead. I knew you couldn't be.... " Joel, behind them, at sight of Priscilla in his brother's arms, hadstirred with a quick rush of anger; but he was ashamed of it in the nextmoment, and stood still where he was. Mark held Priss by the shoulders, laughing down at her. "And how did you know I couldn't be dead?" he demanded. "Miss Wise Lady. " She moved her head confusedly. "Oh--you were always so--so alive, orsomething.... You just couldn't be.... " He chuckled, released her, and stood away and surveyed her. "Priss, Priss, " he said contritely, "you're not a little kid any longer. Dressesdown, and hair up.... " He wagged his head. "It's a wonder you did notslap my face. " And then he looked from her to Joel, and abruptly hetossed his great head back and laughed aloud. "By the Lord, " he roared. "The children are married. Married.... " Priscilla flushed furiously, and stamped her foot at him. "Of coursewe're married, " she cried. "Did you think I'd come clear around the worldwith.... " Her words were smothered in her own hot blushes, and Marklaughed again, until she cried: "Stop it. I won't have you laughing atus. Joel--make him stop!" Mark sobered instantly, and he backed away from Joel in mock panic, bothhands raised, defensively, so that they laughed at him. When theylaughed, he cast aside his panic, and sat down on the cushions, stretching his legs luxuriously before him. "Now, " he exclaimed. "Tell meall about it. When, and why, and how?" Priss dropped on the bench beside him, feet tucked under her in themiraculous fashion of small women; and she enumerated her answers on thepink tips of her fingers. "When?" she repeated. "The day before wesailed. Why? Just because. How? In the same old way. " She waved her hand, as though disposing of the matter once and for all, and looked up at him, and laughed. Joel thought she had not seemed so completely happy sincethe day the cabin was finished. "So, " she said, "that's all there is totell you about us. Tell us about you. " Mark's eyes twinkled. "Ah, now, what's the use? That will come later. Besides--some chapters are not for gentle ears. " He nodded toward Joel. "So you love the boy, yonder?" Priss bobbed her head, red lips pursed, eyes dancing. "Why?" Mark demanded. "What do you discover in him?" She looked at Joel, and they laughed together as though at somedelightful secret, mutually shared. Mark wagged his head dolorously. "AndI suppose he's wild about you?" he asked. She nodded more vigorously than ever. Mark rubbed his hands together. He looked at Joel, with a faintlymalicious twinkle in his eyes. "Well, now!" he exclaimed. "That iscertainly the best of news.... " Joel saw the mocking and malignant littledevil in his eye. "I've never had a kid sister, " said Mark gayly. "Andit's been the great sorrow of my life, Priss. So, Joel, you must expectPriss and myself to turn out the very best of friends. " And Priscilla, on the seat beside him, nodded her lovely head once more. "I should say so, " she exclaimed. VII Mark Shore held something like a reception, on the _Nathan Ross_, allthat first day. He went forward among the men to greet old friends andmeet new ones, and came back and complimented Joel on the quality of hiscrew. "You've made good men of them, " he said. "Those that weren't goodmen before. " He listened, with a smile half contemptuous, to Jim Finch's somewhatslavish phrases of welcome and admiration; and he talked with Varde, themorose second mate, so gayly that even Varde was cozened at last into agrin. Old Hooper was pathetically glad to see him. Hooper had been mateof the ship on which Mark started out as a boy; and he liked to hark backto those days. Young Dick Morrell, on his trips from the shore, gave Markfrank worship. Joel saw all this. He could not help seeing it. And he told himself, again and again, that it was only to be expected. Mark had captained thisship, had captained these men, on their last cruise; they had thought himdead. It was only natural that they should welcome him back to lifeagain.... But even while he gave himself this reassurance, he knew that it wasuntrue. There was more than mere welcome in the attitude of the men;there was more than admiration. There was a quality of awe that was akinto worship; and there was, beneath this awe, a lively curiosity as towhat Mark would do.... They knew him for a quick man, dominant, one withthe will to lead; and now he found himself supplanted, dependent on theword of his own younger brother.... Every one knew that Mark and Joel hadalways been rather enemies than comrades; so, now, they wondered, andwaited, and watched with all their eyes. Joel saw them, by twos andthrees, whispering together about the ship; and he knew what it was theywere asking each other. Of all those on the _Nathan Ross_ that day, Mark himself seemed leastconscious of the dramatic possibilities of the situation. He was glad tobe back among friends; but beyond that he did not go. He gave Joel anexaggerated measure of respect, so extreme that it was worse than scornor mockery. Otherwise, he took no notice of the potentialities created byhis return. Priss had planned to go ashore in the afternoon; but Mark dissuaded her. This was not difficult; he did it so laughingly and so dextrously thatPriss changed her mind without knowing just why she did so. Mark took itupon himself to make up for her disappointment; they were together mostof the long, hot afternoon. Joel could hear their laughter now and then. He had expected to go ashore with Priss; but when she came to him andsaid: "Joel, Mark says it's just dirty and hot and ugly, ashore, and I'mnot going, " he changed his mind. There was no need of his making thetrip, after all. Varde and Morrell had brought out water, towing longstrings of almost-filled casks behind their boats; and boats from theshore had come off to sell fresh food. So at dusk, the anchor came up, and the _Nathan Ross_ spread her dingy sails, and stalked out of theharbor with the utmost dignity in every stiff line of her, and the nightbehind them swallowed up the island. Mark and Priss were astern to watchit blend in the darkness and lose itself; and Priss, when their lastglimpse of it faded, heard the man draw a deep breath of something likerelief. She looked up at him with wide, curious eyes. "What is it?" she asked softly. "Were you--unhappy there?" Mark laughed aloud. "My dear Priss, " he said, in the elder-brother mannerhe affected toward her. "My dear Priss, the South Sea Islands are noplace for a white man, especially when he is alone. I'm glad to get backin the smell of oil, with an honest deck underfoot. And I don't mindsaying so. " Priss shuddered, and wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, how I hate that smell, " sheexclaimed. "But, Mark--tell me where you've been, and what you did, and--everything. Why won't you tell?" He wagged his head at her severely. "Children, " he said, "should be seenand not heard. " She stamped her foot. "I'm not a child. I'm a woman. " He bent toward her suddenly, his dark eyes so close to hers that shecould see the flickering flame which played in them, and the twist of hissmile. "I wonder!" he whispered. "Oh--I wonder if you are.... " She was frightened, deliciously.... Mark had persisted, all day long, in his refusal to tell her of himself. He had dropped a sentence now and then that brought to life in herimagination a strange, wild picture.... But always he set a bar upon hislips, caught back the words, refused to explain what it was he had meantto say. When she persisted, he laughed at her and told her he only did itto be mysterious. "Mystery is always interesting, you understand, " heexplained. "And--I wish to be very interesting to you, Priss. " She looked around the after deck for Joel; but he was below in the cabin, and she decided, abruptly, that she must go down.... They had bought chickens at Tubuai, and they had two of them, boiled, forsupper that night in the cabin. It was a feast, after the long months ofsober diet; and the presence of Mark made it something more. He was agood talker, and without revealing anything of the months of hisdisappearance, he nevertheless told them stories that held each onebreathless with interest. But after supper, he went on deck with Finch, and Joel and Priss sat in the cabin astern for a while; and Joel wroteup, in the ship's log, the story of his brother's return. Priss read itover his shoulder, and afterwards she clung close to Joel. "He's aterribly--overwhelming man, isn't he?" she whispered. Joel looked down at her, and smiled thoughtfully. "Aye, Mark's a bigman, " he agreed. "Big--in many ways. But--you'll be used to himpresently, Priss. " When she prepared to go to bed, he bade her good night and left her, andwent on deck; and Priss, in her narrow bunk in the cabin at the side ofthe ship, lay wide-eyed with many thoughts stirring in her small head. She was still awake when she heard them come down into the main cabintogether, Joel and Mark. The walls were thin; she could hear their words, and she heard Mark ask: "Sure Priss is asleep? There are parts--not forthe pretty ears of a bride, Joel. " Priss was not asleep, but when Joel came to see, she closed her eyes, andlay as still as still, scarce breathing. Joel bent over her softly; andhe touched her head, clumsily, with his hand, and patted it, and wentaway again, closing her door behind him. She heard him tell Mark: "Aye, she's fast asleep. " The brothers sat by Joel's desk, in the cabin across the stern; and Mark, without preamble, told his story there. Priss, ten feet away, heard everyword; and she lay huddled beneath the blankets, eyes staring upward intothe darkness of her cabin; and as she listened, she shuddered andtrembled and shrank at the terror and wonder and ugliness of the tale hetold. No Desdemona ever listened with such half-caught breath.... VIII "You're blaming me, " said Mark, when he and Joel were puffing at theirpipes, "for leaving my ship. " Joel said slowly: "No. But I do not understand it. " Mark laughed, a soft and throaty laugh. "You would not, Joel. You wouldnot. For you never felt an overwhelming notion that you must dance in themoon upon the sand. You've never felt that, Joel; and--I have. " "I'm not a hand for dancing, " said Joel. Mark seemed to forget that his brother sat beside him. His eyes becamemisty and thoughtful, as though he were living over again the days ofwhich he spoke. "Mind, Joel, " he said, "there's a pagan in every man ofus. And there's two pagans in some of us. And I'm minded, Joel, thatthere are three of them in me. 'Twas so, that night. " "It was night when you left the ship?" "Aye, night. Night, and the moon; and it may have been that I had beendrinking a drop or two. Also, as you shall see, I was not well. I tellthese things, not by way of excuse and palliation; but only so that youmay understand. D'ye see? I was three pagans in one body, and that bodywitched by moon, and twisted by drink, and trembling with fever. And soit was I went ashore, and flung my men behind me, and went off, dancing, along the hard sand. "That was a night, Joel. A slow-winded, warm, trembling night when therewas a song in the very air. The wind tingled on your throat like awoman's finger tips; and the sea was singing at the one side, and thewind in the palms on the other. And ahead of me, the wild, discordantchanting of the Islanders about their fires.... That singing it was thatgot me by the throat, and led me. I twirled around and around, verysolemnly, by myself in the moonlight on the sand; and all the time I wentonward toward the fires.... "I remember, when I came in sight of the fires, I threw away my coat andran in among them. And they scattered, and yelled their harsh, meaningless, throaty yells. And they hid in the bush to stare at me bythe fire.... They hid in the rank, thick grasses. All except one, Joel. " Joel, listening, watched his brother and saw through his brother's eyes;for he knew, for all his slow blood, the witchery of those warm, southernnights. "The moon was on her, " said Mark. "The moon was on her, and there was ared blossom in her hair, and some strings of things that clothed her. Alittle brown girl, with eyes like the eyes of a deer. And--not afraid ofme. That was the thing that got me, Joel. She stood in my path, met me, watched me; and her eyes were not afraid.... "She was very little. She was only a child. I suppose we would call hersixteen or seventeen years old. But they ripen quickly, Joel--theseIsland children. Her little shoulders were as smooth and soft.... Youcould not even mark the ridge of her collar bones, she was fleshed sosweetly. She stood, and watched me; and the others crept out of thegrasses, at last, and stood about us. And then this little brown girlheld up her hand to me, and pointed me out to the others, and saidsomething. I did not know what it was that she said; but I know now. Shesaid that I was sick. "I did not know then that I was sick. When she lifted her hand to me, Icaught it; and I began to lead her in a wild dance, in the moonlight, about their dying fires. I could see them, in the shadows, their eyeballsshining as they watched us.... And they seemed, after a little, to moveabout in a misty, inhuman fashion; and they twisted into strange, cloud-like shapes. And I stopped to laugh at them, and my head droppeddown before I could catch it and struck against the earth, and the earthforsook me, Joel, and left me swimming in nothing at all.... "My memory was a long time in coming back to me, Joel. It would peep outat me like a timid child, hiding among the trees. I would see it for aninstant; then 'twould be gone. But I know it must have been many daysthat I was on the island there. And I knew, after a time, that I was mostextremely sick; and the little brown girl put cool leaves on my head, andgave me strange brews to drink, and rubbed and patted my chest and mybody with her hands in a fashion that was immensely comfortable andstrengthening. And I twisted on a bed of coarse grass.... And I remembersinging, at times.... " He looked toward Joel, eyes suddenly flaming. "Eh, Joel, I tell you I wasnot three pagans, but six, in those days. The thing's clear beyond yourguessing, Joel. But it was big. An immense thing. I was back at thebeginning of the world, with food, and drink, and my woman.... It wasbig, I tell you. Big!" His eyes clouded--he fell silent, and so at last went on again. "I wasasleep one night, tossing in my sleep. And something woke me. And I laidmy hand on the spot beside me where the little brown girl used to lie, and she was gone. So I got up, unsteadily. There were rifles snapping inthe night; and there were screams. And I heard a white man's black curse;and the slap of a blow of flesh on flesh. And the screams. "So I went that way; and the sounds retreated before me, until I cameout, unsteadily, upon the open beach. There was no moon, that night; andthe water of the lagoon was shot with fire. And there was a boat, pullingaway from the beach, with screaming in it. "I swam after the boat for a long time, for I thought I had heard thevoice of the little brown girl. The water was full of fire. When I liftedmy arms, the fire ran down them in streams and drops. And sometimes Iforgot what I was about, and stopped to laugh at these drops of fire. Butin the end, I always swam on. I remember once I thought the little browngirl swam beside me, and I tried to throw my arm about her, and shewrenched away, and she burned me like a brand. I found, afterwards, whatthat was. My breast and sides were rasped and raw where a shark's roughskin had scraped them. I've wondered, Joel, why the beast did not takeme.... "But he did not; for I bumped at last into the boat, and climbed into it, and it was empty. But I saw a rope at the end of it, and I pulled therope, and came to the schooner's stern, and climbed aboard her. " His voice was ringing, exultantly and proudly. "I swung aboard, " he said. "And I stumbled over fighting bodies on the deck, astern there. And someone cried out, in the waist of her; and I knew it was the little browngirl. So I left those struggling bodies at the stern, for they were notmy concern; and I went forward to the waist. And I found her there. "A fat man had her. She was fighting him; and he did not see me. And Iput my fingers quietly into his neck, from behind; and when he no longerkicked back at me, and no longer tore at my fingers with his, I droppedhim over the side. I saw a fiery streak in the water where I dropped him. That shark was not so squeamish as the one I had--embraced. It may havebeen the other was embarrassed at my ways, Joel. D'ye think that mighthave been the way of it?" Joel's knuckles were white, where his hand rested on his knee. Mark saw, and laughed softly. "There's blood in you, after all, boy, " he applauded. "I've hopes for you. " Joel said slowly: "What then? What then, Mark?" Mark laughed. "Well, that was a very funny thing, " he said. "You see, theother two men, they were busy, astern, with their own concerns. And whenI had comforted the little brown girl, and sat down on the deck to laughat the folly of it all, she slipped away from me, and went aft, and gotall their rifles. She brought them to me. She seemed to expect things ofme. So I, still laughing, for the fever was on me; I took the rifles andthrew them, all but one, over the side. And I went down into the cabin, with the little brown girl, and went to bed; and she sat beside me, withthe rifle, and a lamp hanging above the door.... "And that was all that happened, until I woke one morning and saw herthere, and wondered where I was. And my head was clear again. She made meunderstand that the men had sought to come at me, but had feared therifle in her hands.... "And we were in the open sea, as I could feel by the labor of theschooner underfoot. So I took the rifle in the crook of my arm, and withthe little brown girl at my heel, I went up on deck. And we made atreaty. " He fell silent for a moment, and Joel watched him, and waited. And atlast, Mark went on. "I had been more than a month on the island, " he said. "The _Nathan Ross_had gone. This schooner was a pearler, and they had the location of a bedof shell. They had been waiting till another schooner should leave theplace, to leave their own way clear. And when that time came, they wentashore to get the brown women for companions on that cruise. And theymade the mistake of picking up my little brown girl, when she ran out ofthe hut. And so brought me down upon them. "There were two of them left; two whites, and three black men forward, who were of no account. And the other two women. These other two werechattering together, on the deck astern, when I appeared. They seemedcontent enough.... "The men were not happy. There was a large man with slanting eyes. Therewas Oriental blood in him. You could see that. He called himself Quint. But his eyes were Jap, or Chinese; and he had their calm, blank screenacross his countenance, to hide what may have been his thoughts. Quint, he called himself. And he was a big man, and very much of a man in hisown way, Joel. "The other was little, and he walked with a slink and a grin. His namewas Fetcher. And he was oily in his speech. "When they saw me, they studied me for a considerable time withoutspeech. And I stood there, with the rifle in my arm, and laughed at them. And at last, Quint said calmly: "'You took Farrell. ' "'The fat man?' I asked him. He nodded. 'Yes, ' I said. 'He took my girl, and so I dropped him into the water, and a friend met him there andhurried him away. ' "'Your girl?' he echoed, in a nasty way. 'You're that, then?' "'Am I?' I asked, and shifted the rifle a thought to the fore. And hiseyes held mine for a space, and then he shook his head. "'I see that I was mistaken, ' he said. "'Your sight is good, ' I told him. 'Now--what is this? Tell me. ' "He told me, evenly and without malice. They had a line on the pearls;there were enough for three. I was welcome. And at the end, I nodded myconsent. The _Nathan Ross_ was gone. Furthermore, there were nine pagansin me now; and the prospect of looting some still lagoon, in company withthese two rats, had a wild flavor about it that caught me. My blood wasburning; and the sun was hot. Also, they had liquor aboard her. Liquor, and loot, and the three women. Pagan, Joel. Pagan! But wild and red andraw. There's a glory about such things.... Songs are made of them.... There was no handshaking; but we made alliance, and crowded on sail, andwent on our way. " He stopped short, laughed, filled his pipe again, watched Joel. "You'reshocked with me, boy. I can see it, " he taunted mockingly. Joel shook hishead. "Will you hear the rest?" Mark asked; and Joel nodded. Mark lightedhis pipe, laughed.... His fingers thrummed on the desk beside him. "We were a week on the way, " he said. "And all pagan, every minute of theweek. Days when we fought a storm--as bad as I've ever seen, Joel. Wefought it, holding to the ropes with our teeth, bare to the waist, withthe wind scourging us. It tore at us, and lashed at us.... And we drovethe three black men with knives to their work. And the three women stayedbelow, except my little brown girl. She came up, now and then, with dryclothes for me.... And I had to drive her to shelter.... "And when there was not the storm, there was liquor; and they had cards. We staked our shares in the catch that was to come.... Hour on hour, dealing, and playing with few words; and our eyes burned hollow in theirsockets, and Quint's thin mouth twisted and writhed all the time like aworm on a pin. He was a nervous man, for all his calm. A very nervousman.... "The fifth day, one of the blacks stumbled in Quint's path, on deck. Quint had been losing, at the cards. He slid a knife from his sleeve intothe man's ribs, and tipped the black over the rail without a word. I wastwenty feet away, and it was done before I could catch breath. I shouted;and Quint turned and looked at me, and he smiled. "'What is it?' he asked. 'Have you objections to present?' And thesmeared blade in his hand, and the bubbles still rising, overside. I wasafraid of the man, Joel. I tell you I was afraid. The only time. Fear's apagan joy, boy. It was like a new drink to me. I nursed it, eating it. And I shook my head, humble. "'No objections, ' I said, to Quint. ''Tis your affair. ' "'That was my thought, ' he agreed, and passed me, and went astern. Istood aside to let him pass, and trembled, and laughed for the joy of myfear. "And then we came to the lagoon, and the blacks began to dive. Only thetwo we had; and there was no sign of Islanders, ashore. But the water wasshallow, and we worked the men with knives, and they got pearls. Sometimes one or two in a day; sometimes a dozen. Do you know pearls, Joel? They're sweet as a woman's skin. I had never seen them, before. Andwe all went a little mad over them.... "They made Fetcher hysterical. He laughed too much. They made Quintmorose. They made me tremble.... " He wiped his hand across his eyes, as though the memory wearied him; andhe moved his great shoulders, and looked at Joel, and laughed. "But itcould not last, in that fashion, " he said. "It might have been anything. It turned out to be the women. I said they seemed content. They did. Butthat may be the way of the blacks. They have a happy habit of life; theylaugh easily.... "At any rate, we found one morning that Quint's girl was gone. She wasnot on the schooner; and ashore, we found her tracks in the sand. She hadgone into the trees. And we beat the island, and we did not find her. AndQuint sweated. All that day. "That night, he looked at my little brown girl, and touched her shoulder. I was across the deck, the girl coming to me with food. I said to him:'No. She's mine, Quint. ' And he looked at me, and I beat him with myeyes. And as his turned from mine, Fetcher and his woman came on deck, and Quint tapped Fetcher, and said to him: 'What will you take for her?' "Fetcher laughed at him; and Quint scowled. And I--for I was minded tosee sport, came across to them and said: 'Play for her. Play for her!' "Fetcher was willing; because he had the blood that gambles anything. Quint was willing, because he was the better player. They sat down to thegame, in the cabin, after supper. Poker. Cold hands. Nine of them. Winnerof five to win.... "Fetcher got two, lost four, got two more. I was dealing. Card by card, face upward. I remember those hands. And my little brown girl, and theother, watching from the corner. "The hands on the table grew, card by card. Fetcher got an ace, Quint adeuce. Fetcher a queen, Quint a seven. Fetcher a jack, Quint a six. Fetcher a ten, Quint a ten. Only the last card to come to each. IfFetcher paired any card, he would win. His card came first. It was aseven. He was ace, queen high. Quint had deuce, six, seven, ten. He hadto get a pair to win.... "I saw Quint's hand stir, beneath the table; and I glimpsed a knife init. But before I could speak, or stir, Fetcher dropped his own hand tohis trouser leg, and I knew he kept a blade there.... So I laughed, anddealt Quint's last card.... "A deuce. He had a pair, enough to win.... "He leaned back, laughing grimly; and Fetcher's knife went in beneath theleft side of his jaw, where the jugular lies. Quint looked surprised, andgot up out of his chair and lay down quietly across the table. I heardthe bubbling of his last breath.... Then Fetcher laughed, and called hiswoman, and they took Quint on deck and tipped him overside. The knife hadbeen well thrown. Fetcher had barely moved his wrist.... I was muchimpressed with the little man, and told my brown girl so. But she wasfrightened, and I comforted her. " He was silent again for a time, pressing the hot ashes in his pipe withhis thumb. The water slapped the broad stern of the ship beneath them, and Joel's pipe was gurgling. There was no other sound. Little Priss, nails biting her palms, thought she would stream if the silence held aninstant more.... But Mark laughed softly, and went on. "Fetcher and I worked smoothly together, " he said. "The little man wasvery pleasant and affable; and I met him half way. The blacks brought upthe shells, and we idled through the days, and played cards at night. Wedivided the take, each day; so our stakes ran fairly high. But luck has away of balancing. On the day when we saw the end in sight, we were fairlyeven.... "Fetcher, and the blacks and I went ashore to get fruit from the treesthere. Plenty of it everywhere; and we were running short. We went intothe brush together, very pleasantly; and he fell a little behind. Ilooked back, and his knife brushed my neck and quivered in a tree a yardbeyond me. So I went back and took him in my hands. He had anotherknife--the little man fairly bristled with them. But it struck a rib, andbefore he could use it again, his neck snapped. "So that I was alone on the schooner, with the two blacks, and Fetcher'swoman, and the little brown girl. "Fetcher's woman went ashore to find him and never came back. And Idecided it was time for me to go away from that place. The pagans weredying in me. I did not like that quiet little island any more. "But the next morning, when I looked out beyond the lagoon, anotherschooner was coming in. So I was uncomfortable with Fetcher's pearls, aswell as mine, in my pocket. There are some hard men in these seas, Joel;and I knew none of them would treasure me above my pearls. So I planned astory of misfortune, and I went ashore to hide my pearls under a rock. "The blacks had brought me ashore. I went out of their sight to do what Ihad to do; and when I came back, after hiding the pearls, I saw themrowing very swiftly toward the schooner. And they looked back at me in afearful way. I wondered why; and then four black men came down on me frombehind, with knives and clubs. "I had a very hard day, that day. They hunted me back and forth throughthe island--I had not even a knife with me--and I met them here andthere, and suffered certain contusions and bruises and minor cuts. Also, I grew very tired of killing them. They were wiry, but they were small, and died easily. So I was glad, when from a point where they had corneredme I saw the little brown girl rowing the big boat toward me. "She was alone. The blacks were afraid to come, I thought. But I foundafterward that this was not true. They could not come; for they had triedto seize the schooner and go quickly away from that place, and the littlebrown girl had drilled them both. She had a knack with the rifle.... "I waded to meet the boat, and she tossed me the gun. I held them off fora little, while we drew away from the shore. But when we were thirty orforty yards off, I heard rifles from the other schooner, firing past usat the blacks in the bush; and the girl stopped rowing. So I turnedaround and saw that one of the balls from the other schooner had struckher in the back. So I sat there, in the sun, drifting with the wind, andheld her in my arms till she coughed and died. "Then I went out to the other schooner and told them they were badmarksmen. They had only been passing by, for copra; and the story I toldthem was a shocking one. They were much impressed, and they seemed gladto get away. But the blacks were still on shore, so that I could not goback for the pearls; and I worked the schooner out by myself, and shapeda course.... "I came to Tubuai, alone thus, a day before you, Joel. " IX For a long time after Mark's story ended, the two brothers sat still inthe cabin, puffing at their pipes, thinking.... Mark watched Joel, waiting for the younger man to speak. And Joel's thoughts ranged back, and picked up the tale in the beginning, and followed it through oncemore.... They were silent for so long that little Priss, in the cabin, driftedfrom waking dreams to dreams in truth. The pictures Mark's words hadconjured up merged with troubled phantasies, and she twisted and criedout softly in her sleep so that Joel went in at last to be sure she wasnot sick. But while he stood beside her, she passed into quiet anduntroubled slumber, and he came back and sat down with Mark again. "You brought the schooner into Tubuai?" he asked. "Aye. Alone. Half a thousand miles. There's a task, Joel. " "And left it there?" "Yes. " "Why?" Mark smiled grimly. "It was known there, " he said quietly. "Also, thethree whom I had found aboard it were known. And they had friends inTubuai, who wondered what had come to them. I was beginning to--findtheir questions troublesome--when the _Nathan Ross_ came in. " "They will ask more questions now, " said Joel. "They must ask them of the schooner; and--she does not speak, " Mark toldhim. Joel was troubled and uncertain. "It's--a black thing, " he said. "They'll not be after me, if that distresses you, " Mark promised him. "Curiosity does not go to such lengths in these waters. " "You told no one?" Mark laughed. "The pearls were--my own concern. You're the first I'vetold. " He watched his brother. Joel frowned thoughtfully, shook his head. "You plan to go back for them?" he asked. "You and I, " said Mark casually. Joel looked at him in quick surprise;and Mark laughed. "Yes, " he repeated. "You and I. I am not selfish, Joel. Besides--there are plenty for two. " Joel, for an instant, found no word; and Mark leaned quickly toward him. He tapped Joel's knee. "We'll work up that way, " he said quietly. "Whenwe come to the island, you and I go ashore, and get them where they'rehid beneath the rock; and we come back aboard with no one any wiser.... Rich. A double handful of them, Joel.... " Joel's eyes were clouded with thought; he shook his head slowly. "What ofthe blacks?" he asked. Mark laughed. "They were brought down on us by the woman who got away, "he said. "Quint's woman. I heard as much that day, saw her among them. But--they're gone before this. " Joel said slowly: "You are not sure of that. And--I cannot risk theship.... " Mark asked sneeringly: "Are you afraid?" The younger man flushed; but he said steadily: "Yes. Afraid of losing AsaWorthen's ship for him. " Mark chuckled unpleasantly. "I'm minded of what is written, here andthere, in the 'Log of the House of Shore, '" he said, half to himself. Andhe quoted: "'All the brothers were valiant.... ' There's more to that, Joel. 'And all the sisters virtuous. ' I had not known we had sisters--butit seems you're one, boy. Not valiant, by your own admission; but atleast you're fairly virtuous. " Joel paid no heed to the taunt. "Asa Worthen likes care taken of hisship, " he said, half to himself. "I'm thinking he would not think well ofthis.... He's not a man to gamble.... " "Gamble?" Mark echoed scornfully. "He has no gamble in this. The pearlsare for you and me. He will know nothing whatever about them. A handfulfor me, and a handful for you, Joel. For the taking.... " "You did not think to give him owner's lay?" Joel asked. "No. " "Where is this island?" Mark laughed. "I'll not be too precise--until I have your word, Joel. But--'tis to the northward. " "Our course is west, then south. " "Since when has the _Nathan Ross_ kept schedule and time table like amail ship?" Joel shook his head. "I cannot do it, Mark. " "Why not?" "A risk I have no right to take; and wasted weeks, out of our course. Forwhich Asa Worthen pays. " Mark smiled sardonically. "You're vastly more virtuous than any sistercould be, Joel, my dear. " Joel said steadily: "There may be two minds about that. There may be twominds as to--the duty of a captain to his ship and his owner. But--I'veshown you my mind in the matter. " Mark leaned toward him, eyes half-friendly. "You're wrong, Joel. I'llconvince you. " "You'll not. " "A handful of them, " Mark whispered. "Worth anything up to a hundredthousand. Maybe more. I do not know the little things as well as some. All for a little jog out of your way.... " Joel shook his head. And Mark, in a sudden surge of anger, stormed to hisfeet with clenched hand upraised. "By the Lord, Joel, I'd not havebelieved it. You're mad; plain mad--sister, dear! You.... " Joel said quietly: "Your schooner is at Tubuai. I'll set you back there, if you will. " Mark mocked him. "Would you throw your own brother off the ship hecaptained?... Oh hard, hard heart.... " "You may stay, or go, " Joel told him. "Have your way. " Mark's eyes for an instant narrowed; they turned toward the door of thecabin where Priss lay.... And there was a flicker of black hatred inthem, but his voice was suave when he replied: "With your permission, captain dear, I'll stay. " Joel nodded; he rose. "Young Morrell has given you his bunk, " he said. "So--good night, to you. " He opened the door into the main cabin; and Mark, his fingers twitching, went out. He turned, spoke over his shoulder. "Good night; and--pleasantdreams, " he said. X Even Joel Shore saw the new light in Priscilla's eyes when she met Markat breakfast in the cabin next morning; and it is said husbands are thelast to see such things. That story she had heard the night before, the story Mark told Joel inthe after cabin, had made of him something superhuman in her eyes. He wasa gigantic, an epic figure; he had lived red life, and fought for hislife, and killed.... There was Puritan blood in Priscilla; butoverrunning it was a flood of warmer life, a cross-strain from somesouthern forebear, which sang now in answer to the touch of Mark's words. She watched him, that morning, with wide eyes that were full of wonderand of awe. Mark saw, and was immensely amused. He asked her: "Why do you look at melike that, little sister? I'm not going to bite.... " Priscilla caught herself, and smiled, and laughed at him. "How do I lookat you? You're--imagining things, Mark. " "Am I?" he asked. And he touched Joel's arm. "Look at her, Joel, and seewhich of us is right. " Joel was eating his breakfast silently, but he had seen Priscilla's eyes. He looked toward her now, and she flushed in spite of herself, and got upquickly, and slipped away.... They watched her go, Joel's eyes cloudedthoughtfully, Mark's shining. And when she was gone, Mark leaned acrossand said to Joel softly, a devil of mischief in his eyes: "She heard mytale last night, Joel. She was not asleep. Fooled you.... " Joel shook his head. "No. She was asleep. " Mark laughed. "Don't you suppose I know. I've seen that look in woman'seyes before. In the eyes of the little brown girl, the night I droppedthe fat man overside.... " He sat there, chuckling, when Joel got abruptly to his feet and went ondeck; and when he came up the companion a little later, he was stillchuckling under his breath. After that first morning, Priss was able to cloak her eyes and hide herthoughts; and on the surface, life aboard the _Nathan Ross_ seemed to goon as before. Mark threw himself into the routine of the work, mixingwith the men, going off in the boats when there was a whale to be struck, doing three men's share of toil. Joel one day remonstrated with him. "Itis not wise, " he said. "You were captain here; you are my brother. It isnot wise for you to mix, as an equal, with the men. " Mark only laughed at him. "Your dignity is very precious to you, Joel, "he mocked. "But as for me--I am not proud. You'd not have me sit aft andtwiddle my thumbs and hold yarn for little Priss.... And I must be doingsomething.... " He and Jim Finch were much together. Finch always gave Joel carefulobedience, always handled the ship when he was in charge with smoothefficiency. His boat was the best manned and the most successful of thefour. But he and Joel were not comradely. Joel instinctively disliked thebig man; and Finch's servility disgusted him. The mate was full of smoothand flattering words, but his eyes were shallow. Mark talked with him long, one morning; and then he left Finch and cameto Joel, by the after house, chuckling as though at some enormous jest. "Will ye look at Finch, there?" he begged. Joel had been watching the two. He saw Finch now, standing just forwardof the boat house with flushed cheeks and eyes fixed and hands twitching. The big man was powerfully moved by something.... "What is it that's gothim?" Joel asked. "I've told him about the pearls, " Mark chuckled. "He's wild to be afterthem.... " Joel turned on his brother hotly. "You're mad, Mark, " he snapped. "Thatis no word to be loose in the ship. " "I've but told Finch, " Mark protested. "It's mirthful to watch the manwiggle. " "He'll tell the ship. His tongue wags unceasingly. " Mark lifted his shoulders. "Tell him to be silent. You should keep orderon your ship, Joel. " Joel beckoned, and Finch came toward them. As he came, he fought for selfcontrol; and when he stood before them, his lips were twisting intosomething like a smile, and his eyes were shifty and gleaming. Joel saidquietly: "Mr. Finch, my brother says he has told you his story. " "Yes, sir, " said Finch. "An extraordinary adventure, Captain Shore. " "I think it best the men should know nothing about it, " Joel told him. "You will please keep it to yourself. " Finch grinned. "Of course, sir. There's no need they should have anyshare in them. " Joel flushed angrily. "We are not going after them. I consider itdangerous, and unwise. " Over Finch's fat cheeks swept a twitching grimace of dismay. "But Ithought.... " He looked at Mark, and Mark was chuckling. "It's so easy, sir, " he protested. "Just go, and get them.... Rich.... " Joel shook his head. "Keep silent about the matter, Finch. " Finch slowly bowed his head, and he smirked respectfully. "Very well, Captain Shore, " he agreed. "You always know best, sir. " He turned away; and after a little Mark said softly: "You have him welltrained, Joel. Like a little dog.... I wonder that you can handle menso.... " Two days later, Joel knew that either Finch or Mark had told the taleanew. Young Dick Morrell came to him with shining eyes. "Is it true, sir, that we're going after the pearls your brother hid?" he asked. "I justheard.... " Joel gripped the boy's arm. "Who told you?" Morrell twisted free, half angry. "I--overheard it, sir. Is it true?" "No, " said Joel. "We're a whaler, and we stick to our trade. " Dick lifted both hands, in a gesture almost pleading. "But it would be sosimple, sir.... " "Keep the whole matter quiet, Morrell, " Joel told him. "I do not wish themen to know of it. And if you hear any further talk, report it to me. " Morrell's eyes were sulky. He said slowly: "Yes, sir. " The set of hisshoulders, as he stalked forward, seemed to Joel defiant.... Within the week, the whole ship knew the story. Old Aaron Burnham, repairing a bunk in the fo'c's'le, heard the men whispering the thingamong themselves. "Tongues hissing like little serpents, sir, " he toldJoel, in the cabin that night. "All of pearls, and women, and thelike.... And a shine in their eyes.... " "Thanks, Aaron, " Joel said. "I'm sorry the men know.... " "Aye, they know. Be sure of that, " Aaron repeated, with bobbing head. "And they're roused by what they know. Some say you're going after thepearls, and aim to fraud them of their lay. And some say you're a madfool that will not go.... " Joel's fist, on the table, softly clenched. "What else?" he asked. Aaron watched him sidewise. "There was a whisper that you might be madeto go.... " Priscilla saw, that night, that Joel was troubled. She and Mark weretogether on the cushioned seat in the after cabin, and Joel sat at hisdesk, over the log. Mark was telling Priss an expurgated version of someone of his adventures; and Joel, looking once or twice that way, saw thequick-caught breath in her throat, saw her tremulous interest.... And hiseyes clouded, so that when Priscilla chanced to look toward him, she saw, and cried: "Joel! What's the matter? You look so.... " He looked from one of them to the other for a space; and then his eyesrested on Mark's, and he said slowly: "It's in my mind that I'd have donebest to set you ashore at Tubuai, Mark. " Mark laughed; but Priss cried hotly: "Joel! What a perfectly horriblething to say!" Her voice had grown deeper and more resonant of late, Joelthought. It was no longer the voice of a girl, but of a woman.... Marktouched her arm. "Don't care about him, " he told her. "That's only brotherly love.... " "He oughtn't to say it. " Joel said quietly: "This is a matter you do not understand, Priscilla. You would do well to keep silent. It is my affair. " A month before, this would have swept Priss into a fury of anger; butthis night, though her eyes burned with slow resentment, she bit her lipsand was still. A month ago, she would have forgotten over night. Now shewould remember.... Mark got up, laughed. "He's bad company, Priss, " he told her. "Come ondeck with me. " She rose, readily enough; and they went out through the main cabin, andup the companionway. Joel watched them go. They left open the door intothe cabin, and he heard Varde and Finch, at the table there, talking inhusky whispers.... It was so, he knew, over the whole ship. Everywhere, the men were whispering.... There hung over the _Nathan Ross_ a cloud asdefinite as a man's hand; and every man scowled--save Mark Shore. Marksmiled with malicious delight at the gathering storm he had provoked.... Joel, left in the after cabin, felt terribly lonely. He wanted Priss withhim, laughing, at his side. His longing for her was like a hot coal inhis throat, burning there. And she had taken sides with Mark, againsthim.... His shoulders shook with the sudden surge of his desire to gripMark's lean throat.... Ashore, he would have done so. But as things were, the ship was his first charge; and a break with Mark would precipitatethe thing that menaced the ship.... He could not fight Mark withoutrisking the _Nathan Ross_; and he could not risk the _Nathan Ross_. Noteven.... His head dropped for an instant in his arms, and then he got upquickly, and shook himself, and set his lips.... No man aboard must seethe trouble in his heart.... He went through the main cabin, and climbed to the deck. There was somesea running, and a wind that brushed aside all smaller sounds, so that hemade little noise. Thus, when he reached the top of the companion, he sawtwo dark figures in the shadows of the boat house, closely clasped.... He stood for an instant, white hot.... His wife, and Mark.... His littlePriss, and his brother.... Then he went quietly below, and glanced at the chart, and chose a courseupon it. The nearest land; he and Mark ashore together.... His blood ranhungrily at the thought.... XI Priscilla went on deck that night so angry with Joel that she could havekilled him; and Mark played upon her as a skilled hand plays upon theharp. It was such a night as the South Seas know, warm and languorous, the wind caressing, and the salt spray stinging gently on the cheek. Themoon was near the full, and it laid a path of silver on the water. Thispath was like the road to fairyland; and Mark told Priscilla so. Hedropped into a gay little phantasy that he conceived on the moment, astory of fairies, and of dancing in the moonlight, and of a man and awoman, hand in hand.... She felt the spell he laid upon her, and struggled against it. "Tell meabout the last fight, when the little brown girl was killed, " she begged. He had told her snatches of his story here and there; but he had not, till that night, spoken of the pearls. When Priss heard of them, sheswung about and lifted up her face to his, listening like a child. AndMark told the story with a tongue of gold, so that she saw it all; thelagoon, blue in the sun; and the schooner creeping in from the sea; andthe hours of flight through the semi-jungle of the island, with theblacks in such hot pursuit. He told her of the times when they surroundedhim, when he fought himself free.... How he got a great stone and grippedit in his hand, and how with this stone he crushed the skull of a youngblack with but one eye. Priss shuddered with delicious horror at thetale.... She loved best to hear of the little brown girl whom Mark had loved; andthat would have told either of them, if they had stopped to consider, that she did not love Mark. Else she would have hated the other, brown orwhite.... And he told how the brown girl saved him, and gave her life inthe saving, and how he had stopped at a little atoll on his homeward wayand buried her.... She had died in his arms, smiling because she laythere.... "And the pearls?" Priss asked, when she had heard the story through. "Youleft them there?" "There they are still, " he told her. "Safely hid away. " "How many?" she asked. "Are they lovely?" "Three big ones, and thirty-two of a fair size, and enough little onesand seeds to make a double handful. " "But why did you leave them there?" "The black men were on the island. They were there, and watchful, andvery angry. " "Couldn't you have kept them in your pocket?" He laughed. "That other schooner made me cautious. Man's life is cheap, in such matters. And if they guessed I had such things upon me.... If Islept too soundly, or the like.... D'ye see?" She nodded her dark head. "I see. But you'll go back.... " He chuckled at that, and tapped on the rail with one knuckle, in athoughtful way. "I had thought that Joel and I would go, in the _NathanRoss_, and fetch the things away, " he said. "Of course, " she exclaimed. "That would be so easy.... I'd love to seethe--pearls.... " "Easy? That was my own thought, " he agreed. Something in his toneprompted her question. "Why--isn't it?" "Joel objects, " he said drily. "He--won't. But why? I don't understand. Why?" Mark laughed. "He speaks of a matter of duty, not to risk the ship. " "Is there a risk?" "No. " He chuckled maliciously. "As a matter of cold fact, Priss, I'mfearful that Joel is a bit--timid in such affairs. " She flamed at him: "Afraid?" He nodded. "I don't believe it. " His eyes shone. "What a loyal little bride? But--I taxed him with it. And--that was the word he used.... " She was so angry that she beat upon Mark's great breast with her tinyfists. "It's not true! It's not true!" she cried. "You know.... " Abruptly, Mark took fire. She was swept in his arms, clipped there, half-lifted from the deck to meet his lips that dipped to hers. She waslike nothing in his grasp; she could not stir.... And from his lips, andcircling arms, and great body the hot fire of the man flung throughher.... She fought him.... But even in that terrific moment she knew thatJoel had never swept or whelmed her so.... She twisted her face away.... And thus, from the shadow where they stood, she saw Joel. He was at the top of the cabin companion, looking towardthem, his face illumined by the light from below. And she watched for aninstant, frozen with terror, expecting him to leap toward them and plungeat Mark and buffet him.... Joel stood for an instant, unstirring. Then he turned, very quietly, andwent down stairs again into the cabin.... She thought, sickly, that he had shirked; he had seen, and held hishand.... What was it Mark had said? Afraid.... Mark had not seen Joel. He kissed her again. Then she twisted away fromhim, and fled below. Joel was at his desk. He did not look up at her coming; and she stood foran instant, behind him, watching his bent head.... Then she slipped into her own cabin, and snapped the latch, and plungedher face in her pillow to stifle bursting sobs. XII The _Nathan Ross_ changed course that day; and the word went around theship. It passed from man to man. There was whispering; and there weredark looks, flung toward Joel. Joel kept the deck all day, silent, and watchful, and waiting. Mark spoketo him once or twice, asking what he meant to do. Joel told him nothing. He had fought out his fight the night before; he knew himself.... Mark and Finch talked together, during the morning. Joel watched themwithout comment. Later he saw Mark speak to the other mates, one by one. At dinner in the cabin, the mates were silent. Their eyes had somethingof shame in them, and something of venomous hate.... They already hatedJoel, whom they planned to wrong.... The day was fair, and the wind drove them smoothly. There was no work tobe done, never a spout on the sea. Joel, watching once or twice thewhispering groups of idle men, wished a whale might be sighted; and oncehe sent Morrell and Varde to find tasks for the men to do, and kept themat it through the long afternoon, scraping, scrubbing, painting.... Priss kept to her cabin. When she did not appear at breakfast, Joel wentto her door and knocked. She called to him: "I've a headache. I'm goingto rest. " He ordered that food be sent to her.... He stayed on deck till late, that night; but with the coming of night theship had grown quiet, and most of the men were below in the fo'c's'le. Soat last Joel left the deck to Varde, and went below. He sat down at hisdesk and wrote up the day's log.... Priss came to him there. She had been in bed; and she wore a heavydressing gown over her night garments. Her hair was braided, hangingacross her shoulders. She sat down beside the desk, and when Joel couldfight back the misery in his eyes, he looked toward her and asked: "Is your head--better?" She said very quietly: "Joel, I want to ask you something. " He wanted her sympathy so terribly, and her tone was so cool and so aloofthat he winced; but he said: "Very well?" "Mark says he asked you to take the _Nathan Ross_ to get--the pearls heleft on that island. Is that true?" "Yes, " said Joel. "He says you would not do it. " "I will not do it, " Joel told her. "He says, " said Priss quietly, "that you are afraid. He says that wasyour own word ... When he accused you. Is that true?" If there had been any sympathy or understanding in her voice or in hereyes, he would have told her ... Told her that it was for his ship andnot for himself that he was afraid. But there was not. She was so coldand hard.... He would not seek to justify himself to her.... "Yes, " he said quietly. "I used that word. " She turned her eyes quickly away from his, that he might not see the painin hers.... She rose to go back to her cabin.... As she reached the door, some one knocked on the door that led to themain cabin; and without waiting for word from Joel, that door opened. Mark stood there. He came in, with Finch, and Varde, and old Hooper andyoung Morrell on his heels.... Priss shrank back into her cabin, closedthe door to a crack, listened.... Joel got to his feet. "What is it?" he asked. Mark bowed low, faced his brother with a cold and triumphant smile. "These gentlemen have asked me, " he explained, "to tell you that we havedecided to go fetch the pearls. " XIII When Priss, through the crack in the door, heard what Mark had said, sheshut the door of her cabin soundlessly, and crouched against it, listening. She was trembling.... There was a long moment when no one of the men in the after cabin spoke. Then big Jim Finch said suavely: "That is to say, if Captain Shore doesnot object. " Joel asked then: "What if I do object?" Mark laughed. "If you do object, why--we'll just go anyway. But you'llhave no share. " And surly Varde added: "We'd as soon you did object. " Mark bade him be quiet. "That's not true, Joel, " he said. "You know, Iwanted you in this, from the first. Your coming in will--preventcomplications. With you in, the whole matter is very simple, and safe.... But without you, we will be forced to take measures that maybe--reprehensible. " Joel did not speak; and Priss, trembling against the door, thoughtbitterly: "He's afraid.... He said, himself, that he is afraid.... " Dick Morrell begged eagerly: "Please, Captain Shore. There's a fortunefor all of us. Mr. Worthen would tell you to do it.... " Joel said then: "I told Mark Shore in the beginning that I would not riskmy ship. The enterprise is not lawful. The pearls were stolen in thebeginning; murder hung around them. Bad luck would follow them--and thereare blacks on the island to prevent our finding them, in any case. " "There's no harm in going to see, " Morrell urged. "'Tis far out of our proper way. Wasted time. And--the men should bethinking of oil, not of pearls. " Mark laughed. "That may be, " he agreed. "But the men's thoughts arealready on the pearls. They've no mind for whaling, Joel. They've no mindfor it. " "I'm doubtful that what you say is true. " His brother snapped angrily: "Do you call me liar?" "No, " said Joel gently. "You were never one to lie, Mark. " And Priss, listening, winced at the thing that was like apology in his tone. Sheheard Mark laugh again, aloud; and she heard the fat chuckle of JimFinch. Then Mark said: "It's well you remember that. So.... Will you go with us; or do we gowithout you?" There was a long moment of silence before Joel answered. At last he said:"You're making to spill blood on the _Nathan Ross_, Mark. I've no mindfor that. I'll not have it--if I can stop it. So ... I'll consider thismatter, to-night, and give you your answer in the morning. " "You'll answer now, " Varde said sullenly. "There's too much words andwords.... You'll answer now. " "I'll answer in the morning, " Joel repeated, as though he had not heardVarde. "In the morning. And--for now--I'll bid you good night, gentlemen. " Mark chuckled. "There's one matter, Joel. You've two rifles and a pair ofrevolvers in the lockfast by your cabin there. I'll take them--to avoidthat blood-spilling you mention. " Priss held her breath, listening.... But Joel said readily: "Yes. Here isthe key, Mark. And--I hold you responsible for the weapons. " Her anger at Joel for his submission beat in her ears; and she heard thejingle of the keys, and the scrape and ring of the weapons as Mark tookthem. He called to Joel as he did so: "They'll not leave my hands. Tillthe morning, Joel, my boy.... " The keys jingled again. Mark said: "We'll ask you to stay in the aftercabin here till morning. And--Varde will be in the main cabin to see thatyou do it. " "I'll stay here, " Joel promised. "Then--we'll bid you good night!" Priss heard Joel echo the words, in even tones. Then the door closedbehind the men.... There was no further sound in the after cabin. She opened her door. Joel stood by his desk, head drooping, one handresting on the open log before him. She went toward him, and when heturned and saw her, she stopped, and studied him, her eyes searching his. And at last she said, so softly it was as though she spoke to herself: "'All the brothers were valiant, ' Joel. Are you--just a coward?" He would not justify himself to her; he could only remember the shadoweddeck beneath the boat house--Priscilla in his brother's arms.... Helifted his right hand a little, said sternly: "Go back to your place. " She flung her eyes away from him, stood for an instant, then went to hercabin with feet that lagged and stumbled. XIV Joel lay for an hour, planning what he should do. He could not yield.... He could not yield, even though he might wish to do so; for the yieldingwould forfeit forever all control over these men, or any others. He couldnot yield.... Yet he did not wish to fight; for the battle would be hopeless, with onlydeath at the end for him, and it would ruin the men and lose the ship.... Blood marks a ship with a mark that cannot be washed away. And Joel lovedhis ship; and he loved his men with something of the love of a father forchildren. Children they were. He knew them. Simple, easily led, easilyswept by some adventurous vision.... He slept, at last, dreamlessly; and in the morning, when they came tohim, he told them what he wished to do. "Call the men aft, " he said. "I'll speak to them. We'll see what theirwill is. " Mark mocked him. "Ask the men, is it?" he exclaimed. "Let them vote, you'll be saying. Are you master of the ship, man; or just firstselectman, that you'd call a town meeting on the high seas?" "I'll talk with the men, " said Joel stubbornly. Varde strode forward angrily. "You'll talk with us, " he said. "Yes or no. Now. What is it?" They were in the main cabin. Joel looked at Varde steadily for aninstant; then he said: "I'm going on deck. You'll come.... " Priss, in the door of the after cabin, a frightened and trembling littlefigure, called to him: "Joel. Joel. Don't.... " He said, without turning: "Stay in your cabin, Priscilla. " And then hepassed between Varde and Finch, at the foot of the companion, and turnedhis back upon them and went steadily up the steep, ladder-like stair. Varde made a convulsive movement to seize his arm; but Mark touched theman, held him with his eyes, whispered something.... They had left old Hooper on deck. He and Aaron Burnham were standing inthe after house when Joel saw them. Joel said to the third mate: "Mr. Hooper, tell the men to lay aft. " Mark had come up at Joel's heels; and Hooper looked past Joel to Mark forconfirmation. And Mark smiled mirthlessly, and approved. "Yes, Mr. Hooper, call the men, " he said. "We're to hold a town meeting. " Old Hooper's slow brain could not follow such maneuvering; nevertheless, he bellowed a command. And the harpooners from the steerage, and the menfrom forecastle and fore deck came stumbling and crowding aft. The menstopped amidships; and Joel went toward them a little ways, until he wasunder the boat house. The mates stood about him, the harpooners a littleto one side; and Mark leaned on the rail at the other side of the deck, watching, smiling.... The revolvers were in his belt; the rifles leanedagainst the after rail. He polished the butt of one of the revolverswhile he watched and smiled.... Joel said, without preamble: "Men, the mates tell me that you've heard ofmy brother's pearls. " The men looked at one another, and at the mates. They were a jumbled lot, riff-raff of all the seas, Cape Verders, Islanders, a Cockney or two, aFrenchman, two or three Norsemen, and a backbone of New England stock. They looked at one another, and at the mates, with stupid, questioningeyes; and one or two of them nodded in a puzzled way, and the CapeVerders grinned with embarrassment. A New Englander drawled: "Aye, sir. We've heard th' tale. " Joel nodded. "When my brother came aboard at Tubuai, " he said quietly, "he proposed that we go to this island.... I do not know its position--" Mark drawled from across the deck: "You know as much as any manaboard--myself excepted, Joel. It's my own secret, mind. " "He proposed that we go to this island, " Joel pursued, "and that he and Igo ashore and get the pearls and say nothing about them. " Varde, at Joel's side, swung his head and looked bleakly at Mark Shore;and one or two of the men murmured. Joel said quickly: "Don'tmisunderstand. I'm not blaming him for that. You must not. The pearls arehis. He has a right to them.... "What I want you to know is that I refused to go with him and get them onhalf shares. I could have had half, and refused.... "Now he has spread the story among you. And the mates say that I must gowith you all, and get the things. " He stopped, and the eyes of the men were on him; and one or two nodded, and a voice here and there exclaimed in approval. Joel waited until theywere quiet again; then he said: "These--pearls--have cost life. At leastfive men and a woman died in the getting of them. If we had them aboardhere, more of us would die; for none would be content with his share.... "It's in my mind that they'd bring blood aboard the _Nathan Ross_. And Ihave no wish for that. But first-- "How many of you are for going after them?" There was a murmur of assent from many throats; and Joel looked from manto man. "Most of you, at least, " he said. "Is there any man againstgoing?" There may have been, but no man spoke; and over Joel's face passed aweary little shadow of pain. For a long moment he stood in the sun, studying them; and they saw his lips were white. Then he said quietly: "You shall not go. The _Nathan Ross_ goes on about her proper matters. The pearls stay where they are. " He shifted his weight, looked quickly toward his brother.... He waspoised for battle. By the very force of his word, there was a chance hemight prevail. He watched the men, in whose hands the answer lay. If hecould hold them.... Hands clamped his arms, and Mark smiled across the deck. Finch and oldHooper on one side, Varde and Morrell on the other. And after the firstwrench of his surprise, he knew it was hopeless to struggle, and stoodquietly. Mark strolled across the deck, smiling coldly. "If you'll not go, Joel, you must be taken, " he said. And to the mates:"Bring back his arms. " Joel felt the cord slipped through his elbows and drawn tight and loopedand made secure. Old Aaron Burnham pushed forward and tugged at them; andJoel heard him say: "They'll hold him fast, Captain Shore. Like a trussedfowl, sir. That he is.... " "Captain Shore?" That would be Mark, come into command of the ship again. And Aaron added: "I've set the bolt on his cabin door, sir. Not fiveminutes gone. " Mark laughed. "Good enough, Aaron. You and Varde take him down. Varde, you'll stay in the after cabin. If he tries to get free, summon me. And--treat Mrs. Shore with the utmost courtesy. " Varde was at Joel's side; and Joel saw the twist of his smile at Mark'slast word. For a moment, thought of Priss left Joel sick. He thrust thethought aside.... They took him down into the main cabin; Varde ahead, then Joel, and oldAaron close behind, his hand on Joel's elbow. Priss met them in the aftercabin, crouching in a corner, white and still, her hands at her throat. Her eyes met his for an instant, before Varde led him toward his owncabin. Aaron, behind, looked toward Priss; and the girl whisperedhoarsely: "Is he--hurt?" "He is not, " said Aaron grimly. "We were most gentle with the man; and hemade no struggle at all.... " Varde thrust Joel into the little cabin where his bunk was; and Joelheard the snick of a new-set bolt on the outer side of the door. He wasalone, bound fast.... Before he left the deck, he had heard Mark cry an order to the man at thewheel. The telltale in the after cabin ceiling told him the _Nathan Ross_had changed her course again ... For Mark's island.... In the face ofmen, he had held himself steady and calm.... But now, alone in his cabin, he strained at his bonds, lips cracking over set teeth. He strained andtugged.... Hopeless.... No! Not hopeless! He felt them yield a little, a little more.... Then, with a tiny snap of sound, the coils were loose, and he shook the cordsdown over his wrists and hands. He caught them as they fell across hisfingers, lest the sound of their fall might warn Varde, in the cabinoutside his door; and--he was still stupefied by the surprise of thisdeliverance--he lifted the broken bonds and examined them.... A single strand had yielded, loosing all the rest. And where it hadbroken, Joel saw, it had been sliced all but through, with a keen blade. Who? His thoughts raced back over the brief minutes of his bondage. Who? No other but Aaron Burnham could have had the chance and the good will. Old Aaron.... And Aaron's knives were always razor sharp. Drawn onceacross the tight-stretched cord.... Aaron had freed him. Aaron.... He remembered something else. Aaron's words to Mark on deck. "I've setthe bolt on his cabin door.... " Aaron had set the new bolt that was the only bar between him and theafter cabin, where Varde stood watch. Aaron had set the bolt; and Aaronhad cut his bonds. Therefore--the bolt must be flimsy, easily forcedaway. That would be Aaron's plan. A single thrust would open the way.... He turned toward the door; then caught himself, drew back, dropped on thebunk and lay there, planning what he must do. XV The discovery of Aaron's loyalty had been immensely heartening to Joel. If Aaron were loyal, there might be others.... Must be.... Not all menare false.... He wondered who they would be; he went over the men, one by one, frommate to humblest foremast hand. Finch and Varde were surely against him. Old Hooper--he and Aaron were cronies, and the other mates had leftHooper somewhat out of their movements thus far. Old Hooper might be, give him his chance, on Joel's side.... Old Hooper, and Aaron. Two. Dick Morrell? A boy, hot with the wonder andglamor of Mark's tale. Easily swung to either side. Joel thought he wouldnot swing too desperately to the lawless side. But--he could not becounted on. What others were there? Joel had brought his own harpooner from the _Martin Wilkes_. A big Islandblack. A decent man.... A chance. Besides him, there were three men whohad served Asa Worthen long among the foremast hands. Uncertainquantities. Chances everywhere.... But--he must strike quickly. There was no time to sound them out. Whenhis dinner was brought at noon, his broken bonds would be discovered. They would be more careful thereafter. Three hours lay before him.... He set himself to listen with all his ears; to guess at what was going onabove decks, and so choose his moment. He must wait as long as it wassafe to wait; he must wait till men's bloods ran less hot after thecrisis of the morning. He must wait till sober second thought was uponthem.... But there was always the chance to fear that Mark might come down. Hecould not wait too long.... He could hear feet moving on the deck above his head. The _Nathan Ross_had run into rougher weather with her change of course; the wind wasstiffening, and now and then a whisk of spray came aboard. He heard JimFinch's bellowing commands.... Heard Mark's laughter. Mark and Jim wereastern, fairly over his head. There were men in the main cabin. The scrape of their feet, the murmur oftheir voices came to him. Dick Morrell and old Hooper, perhaps.... It was through these men that Joel's moment came. Finch, on deck, shouteddown to them.... Mark had decided to shorten sail, ease the strain on theold masts. Joel heard Morrell and Hooper go up to the deck.... That would mean most of the men aloft.... The decks would be fairlyclear. His chance.... He wished he could know where Varde sat; but he could not be sure ofthat, and he could not wait to guess by listening. He caught up a blanketfrom his bunk, held it open in his hands, drew back--and threw himselfagainst the cabin door. It opened so easily that he overbalanced, all but fell. The screws hadbeen set in punch holes so large that the threads scarce took hold atall. Joel stumbled out--saw Varde on the cushioned bench which ran acrossthe stern. The mate was reading, a book from Joel's narrow shelf. Atsight of Joel, he was for an instant paralyzed with surprise.... That instant was long enough for Joel. He swept the blanket down upon theman, smothering his cries with fold on fold; and he grappled Varde, andcrushed him, and beat at his head with his fists until the mate'sspasmodic struggles slackened. Priss had heard the sounds of combat, swept out of her cabin, bent above them. He looked up and saw her; and hesaid quietly: "Get back into your place. " She cried pitifully: "I want to help. Please.... " He shook his head. "This is my task. Quick. " She fled.... He lifted Varde and carried him back to the cabin where he himself hadbeen captive; and there, with the cords that had bound his own arms, hebound Varde, wrist and ankle; and he stripped away the blanket, andstuffed into Varde's mouth a heavy, woolen sock, and tied it there with ahandkerchief.... Varde's eyes flickered open at the last; and Joel saidto him: "I must leave you here for the present. You will do well to lie quietly. " He left the man lying on the floor, and went out into the after cabin andsalvaged the bolt and screws that had been sent flying by his thrust. Heput the bolt back in place, pushed the screws into the holes, bolted thedoor.... No trace remained of his escape.... Priss stood in her own door. Without looking at her, he opened the doorinto the main cabin. That apartment was empty, as he had expected. Thecompanion stair led to the deck.... But he could not go up that way. Mark and Jim Finch were within reach ofthe top of the stair; he would be at a disadvantage, coming up to themfrom below. He must reach the deck before they saw him. He crossed the cabin to a lockfast, and opened it, and took out the twopairs of heavy ship's irons that lay there. Spring handcuffs that lockedwithout a key.... He put one pair in each pocket of his coat. There was a seldom used door that opened from the main cabin into apassage which led in turn to the steerage where the harpooners slept. Joel stepped to this door, slipped the bolt, entered the passage, andclosed the door behind him. It was black dark, where he stood. The passage was unlighted; and theswinging lamp in the steerage did not send its rays this far. The _NathanRoss_ was heeling and bucking heavily in the cross seas, and Joel chosehis footing carefully, and moved forward along the passage, his handsbraced against the wall on either side. The way was short, scarce half adozen feet; but he was long in covering the distance, and he pausedfrequently to listen. He had no wish to encounter the harpooners in theirnarrow quarters.... He heard, at last, the muffled sound of a snore; and so covered the lastinches of his way more quickly. When he was able to look into the place, he saw that two of the men were in their bunks, apparently asleep. Theblack whom he had brought from the _Nathan Ross_ was not there. Joel wasglad to think he was on deck; glad to hope for the chance of his help.... With steps so slow he seemed like a shadow in the semi-darkness, hecrossed to the foot of the ladder that led to the deck. The men in theirbunks still slept. He began to climb.... The ship was rolling heavily, sothat he was forced to grip the ladder tightly.... One of the sleepersstirred, and Joel froze where he stood, and watched, and waited forendless seconds till the man became quiet once more. He climbed till his head was on a level with the deck still hidden by thesides of the scuttle at the top of the ladder. And there he poisedhimself; for the last steps to the deck must be made in a single rush, soquickly that interference would be impossible.... He made them; one ... Three.... He stood upon the deck, looked aft.... Mark and Jim Finch stood there, not ten feet away from him. Finch's backwas turned, but Mark saw Joel instantly; and Joel, watching, saw Mark'smouth widen in a broad and mischievously delighted smile. XVI At the moment when Joel reached the deck, the other men aboard the_Nathan Ross_ were widely scattered. Varde, the second mate, he had left tied and helpless in the cabin. Twoof the four harpooners were below in their bunks, asleep. The greaterpart of one watch was likewise below, in the fo'c's'le; and the rest ofthe crew, under Dick Morrell's eye, were shortening sail. In the afterpart of the ship there were only Mark Shore, Finch, a foremast hand atthe wheel, old Aaron Burnham, and the cook. Of these, Mark, Jim, and theman at the wheel were in sight when Joel appeared; and only Mark had seenhim. Joel saw his brother smile, and stood for an instant, poised to meet anattack. None came. He swept his eyes forward and saw that he need fear noimmediate interference from that direction; and so he went quietly towardthe men astern. The broad back of Jim Finch was within six feet ofhim.... What moved Mark Shore in that moment, it is hard to say. It may have beenthe reckless spirit of the man, willing to wait and watch and see whatJoel would do; or it may have been the distaste he must have felt for JimFinch's slavish adulation; or it may have been an unadmitted admirationfor Joel's courage.... At any rate, while Joel advanced, Mark stood still and smiled; and hegave Finch no warning, so that when Joel touched the mate's elbow, Finchwhirled with a startled gasp of surprise and consternation, and in hisfirst panic, tried to back away. Still Mark made no move. The man at thewheel uttered one exclamation, looked quickly at Mark for commands, andtook his cue from his leader. Finch was left alone and unsupported toface Joel. Joel did not pursue the retreating mate. He stepped to the rail, wherethe whaleboats hung, and called to Finch quietly: "Mr. Finch, step here. " Finch had retreated until his shoulders were braced against the wall ofthe after house. He leaned there, hands outspread against the wall behindhim, staring at Joel with goggling eyes. And Joel said again: "Come here, Mr. Finch. " Joel's composure, and the determination and the confidence in his tone, frightened Finch. He clamored suddenly: "How did he get here, CaptainShore? Jump him. Tie him up--you--Aaron.... " He appealed to the man at the wheel, and to old Aaron, who had appearedin the doorway of the tiny compartment where his tools were stored. Neither stirred. Mark Shore, chuckling, stared at Finch and at Joel; andFinch cried: "Captain Shore. Come on. Let's get him.... " Joel said for the third time: "Come here, Finch. " Finch held out a hand to Mark, appealingly. Mark shook his head. "This isyour affair, Finch, " he said. "Go get him, yourself. He's waiting foryou. And--you're twice his size. " Give Finch his due. With even moral support behind him, he would haveoverwhelmed Joel in a single rush. Without that support, he would stillhave faced any reasonable attack. But there was something baffling aboutJoel's movements, his tones, the manner of his command, that stupefiedFinch. He felt that he was groping in the dark. The mutiny must havecollapsed.... It may have been only a snare to trap him.... He wasalone--against Joel, and with none to support him.... Finch's courage was not of the solitary kind. He took one slow steptoward Joel, and in that single step was surrender. Joel stood still, but his eyes held the big man's; and he said curtly:"Quickly, Finch. " Finch took another lagging step, another.... Joel dropped his hand in his coat pocket and drew out a pair of irons. Hetossed them toward Finch; and the mate shrank, and the irons struck himin the body and fell to the deck. He stared down at them, stared at Joel. Joel said: "Pick them up. Snap one on your right wrist. Then put yourarms around the davit, there, and snap the other.... " Finch shook his head in a bewildered way, as though trying to understand;and abruptly, a surge of honest anger swept him, and he stiffened, andwheeled to rush at Joel. But Joel made no move either to retreat or tomeet the attack; and Finch, like a huge and baffled bear, slumped again, and slowly stooped, and gathered up the handcuffs.... With them in his hands, he looked again at Joel; and for a long momenttheir eyes battled. Then Joel stepped forward, touched Finch lightly onthe arm, and guided him toward the rail. Finch was absolutelyunresisting. The sap had gone out of him.... Joel drew the man's arms around the davit, and snapped the irons upon hiswrist. Finch was fast there, out of whatever action there was to come. And Joel's lips tightened with relief. He stepped back.... He saw, then, that some of the crew had heard, and three or four of themwere gathering amidships, near the try works. The two harpooners werethere; and one of them was that black whom Joel had brought from the_Martin Wilkes_, and in whom he placed some faith. He eyed these men fora moment, wondering whether they were nerved to strike.... But they did not stir, they did not move toward him; and he guessed theywere as stupefied as Finch by what had happened. So long as the men aftallowed him to go free, they would not interfere. They did notunderstand; and without understanding, they were helpless. He turned his back on them, and looked toward Mark. Mark Shore had watched Joel's encounter with Finch in frank enjoyment. Such incidents pleased him; they appealed to his love for the bold anddaring facts of life.... He had smiled. But now Joel saw that he had stepped back a little, perhaps by accident. He was behind the man at the wheel, behind the spot where Aaron Burnhamstood. He was standing almost against the after rail, in the narrowcorridor that runs fore and aft through the after house.... The pistols were in his belt, and the two rifles leaned on the rail athis side. Mark himself was standing at ease, his arms relaxed, his handsresting lightly on his hips and his feet apart. He swayed to the movementof the ship, balancing with the unconscious ease of long custom. Joel went toward him, not slowly, yet without haste. He passed old Aaronwith no word, passed the wheelman, and faced his brother. They werescarce two feet apart when he stopped; and there were no others nearenough to hear, above the slashing of the seas and the whistle of thewind, his low words. He said: "Mark, you've made a mistake. A bad mistake. In--starting thismutiny. " Mark smiled slowly. "That's a hard word, Joel. It's in my mind that ifthis is mutiny, it's a very peaceful model. " "Nevertheless, it is just that, " said Joel. "It is that, and it is also amistake. And--you are wise man enough to see this. There is still time toremedy the thing. It can be forgotten. " Mark chuckled. "If that is true, you've a most convenient memory, Joel. " Joel's cheeks flushed slowly, and he answered: "I am anxious toforget--whatever shames the House of Shore. " Mark threw back his head and laughed aloud. "Bless you, boy, " heexclaimed. "'Tis no shame to you to have fallen victim to our numbers. "But there was a heat in his tones that told Joel he was shaken. And Joelinsisted steadily: "It was not my own shame I feared. " "Mine, then?" Mark challenged. "Aye, " said Joel. "Yours. " Mark bent toward him with a mocking flare of anger in his eyes; and hesaid harshly: "You've spoken too much for a small man. Be silent. And gobelow. " Joel waited for an instant; then his shoulders stirred as though he chosea hard course, and he held out his hand and said quietly: "Give me theguns, Mark. " Mark stared at him; and he laughed aloud. "You're immense, boy, " heapplauded. "The cool nerve of you.... " His eyes warmed with frankadmiration. "Joel, hark to this, " he cried, and jerked his head towardthe captive Finch. "You've ripped the innards out of that mate of mine. I'll give you the job. You're mate of the _Nathan Ross_ and I'm proud tohave you.... " "I am captain of the _Nathan Ross_, " said Joel. "And you are my brother, and a--mutineer. Give me the guns. " Mark threw up his hand angrily. "You'll not hear reason. Then--go below, and stay there. You.... " There are few men who can stand flat-footed and still hit a crushingblow; but Joel did just this. When Mark began to speak, Joel's hands hadbeen hanging limply at his sides. On Mark's last word, Joel's right handwhipped up as smoothly as a whip snaps; and it smacked on Mark's lean jawwith much the sound a whip makes. It struck just behind the point of thejaw, on the left hand side; and Mark's head jerked back, and his kneessagged, and he tottered weakly forward into Joel's very arms. Joel's hands were at the other's belt, even as Mark fell. He brought outthe revolvers, then let Mark slip down to the deck; and he stepped overthe twitching body of his brother, and caught up the two rifles, anddropped them, with the revolvers, over the after rail. Mark's splendid body had already begun to recover from the blow; he wasstruggling to sit up, and he saw what Joel did, and cried aloud: "Don'tbe a fool, boy. Keep them.... Hell!" For the weapons were gone. Joelturned, and looked down at him; and he said quietly: "While I can help it, there'll be no blood shed on my ship. " Mark swept an arm toward the waist of the ship, and Joel looked and saw agrowing knot of angry men there. "See them, do you?" Mark demanded. "They're drunk for blood. It's out of your hands, Joel. You've thrownyour ace away. Now, boy--what will you do?" The men began to surge aft, along the deck. XVII THE story of that battle upon the tumbling decks of the _Nathan Ross_ wasto be told and re-told at many a gam upon the whaling grounds. It wassuch a story as strong men love; a story of overwhelming odds, of epiccombat, of splendid death where blood ran hot and strong.... There were a full score of men in the group that came aft toward Joel. And as they came, others, running from the fo'c's'le and dropping fromthe rigging, joined them. Every man was drunk with the vision of wealththat he had built upon Mark Shore's story. The thing had grown and grownin the telling; it had fattened on the greed native in the men; and itwas a monstrous thing now, and one that would not be denied.... The men, as they moved aft, made grumbling sounds with their half-caught breath;and these sounds blended into a roaring growl like the growl of a beast. To face these men stood Joel. For an instant, he was alone. Then, withoutword, old Aaron took his stand beside his captain. Aaron held gripped inboth hands an adze. Its edge was sharp enough to slice hard wood likecheese.... And at Joel's other side, the cook. A round man, with greasytraces of his craft upon his countenance. He carried a heavy cleaver. There is an ancient feud between galley and fo'c's'le; and the mengreeting the cook's coming with a hungry cry of delight.... Joel glanced at these new allies, and saw their weapons. He took the adzefrom Aaron, the cleaver from the other; and he turned and hurled thembehind him, over the rail. And in the moment's silence that followed onthis action, he called to the men: "Go back to your places. " They growled at him; they were wordless, but they knew the thing theydesired. The cook complained at Joel's elbow: "I could use that cleaver. " "I'll not have blood spilled, " Joel told him. "If there's fighting, itwill be with fists.... " And Mark touched Joel lightly on the shoulder, and took his place besidehim. He was smiling, a twisted smile above the swollen lump upon his jaw. He said lightly: "If it's fists, Joel--I think I'm safest to fight besideyou. " Joel looked up at him with a swift glance, and he brushed his hand acrosshis eyes, and nodded. "I counted on that, Mark--in the last, long run, "he said. Mark gripped his arm and pressed it; and in that moment thelong, unspoken enmity between the brothers died forever. They faced themen.... One howled like a wolf: "He's done us. Done us in. " And another: "They're going to hog it. Them two.... " The little sea of scowling, twisting faces moved, it surged forward.... The men charged, more than a score, to overwhelm the four. In the moment before, Joel had marked young Dick Morrell, at one side, twisted with indecision; and in the instant when the men moved, hecalled: "With us, Mr. Morrell. " It was command, not question; and the boy answered with a shout and ablow.... On the flank of the men, he swept toward them. And Joel'sharpooner, and one of Asa Worthen's old men formed a triumvirate thatfought there.... They were thus seven against a score. But they were seven good men. Andthe score were a mob.... It was fists, at the first, as Joel had sworn. The first, charging linebroke upon them; and old Aaron was swept back, fighting like a cat, andcrushed and bruised and left helpless in an instant. The fat cook dodgedinto his galley, and snatched a knife and held the door there, proddingthe flanks of those who swirled past his stronghold. Joel dropped thefirst man who came to him; and likewise Mark. But another twined 'roundJoel's legs, and he could not kick them free, and there was no time tostoop and tear the man away. He and Mark kept back to back for a moment; but Mark was not a defensivefighter. He could not stand still and wait attack; and when his secondman fell, he leaped the twisting body and charged into the clump of them. His black hair tossed, his eye was flaming; and his long arms worked likepistons and like flails. He became the center of a group that writhed anddissolved, and formed again. His head rose above them all. The man who gripped Joel's legs, freed one hand and began to beat atJoel's body from below. Joel could not endure the blows; he bent, andtook a rain of buffets on his head and shoulders while he caught theattacker by the throat, and lifted him up and flung him away. Hestaggered free, set his back against the galley wall; and when he shiftedto avoid another attack, he found his place in the galley door. The fatcook crouched behind him, and Joel heard him shout: "I'll watch yourlegs, Cap'n. Give 'em the iron, sir. Give 'em th' iron. " Once Joel, looking down, saw the cook's knife play like a flame betweenhis knees.... None would seek to pin him there. The black harpooner fought his way across the deck to Joel's side. Heleft a trail of twisting bodies behind him. And he was grinning with ahuge delight. "Now, sar, we'll do 'em, sar, " he screamed. The sweatpoured down his black cheeks; and his mouth was cut and bleeding. Hisshirt was torn away from one shoulder and arm.... "Good man, " said Joel, between his panting blows. "Good man!" Across the deck, one who had run forward for a handspike swept it down onyoung Dick Morrel's brown head. Morrell dodged, but the blow cracked hisshoulder and swept him to the deck. The man who had fought beside himspraddled the prostrate body, and jerked an iron from the boat on thedavits at his back and held it like a lance, to keep all men at adistance. A sheath knife sped, and twisted in the air, and struck himbutt first above the eye, so that he fell limply and lay still.... Mark Shore had been forced against the rail near where Jim Finch waspinned. Big Finch was howling and weeping with fright; and a little manof the crew with a rat's mean soul who hated Finch had found his hour. Hewas leaping about the mate, lashing him mercilessly with a heavy end ofrope; and Finch screamed and twisted beneath the blows. So swiftly had the tumult of the battle arisen that all these things hadcome to pass before the harpooners asleep in the steerage could wake andreach the deck. When they climbed the ladder, and looked about them, theysaw Morrell and his ally prostrate at one side, Joel and the cook holdingthe galley door against a half dozen men; and big Mark's towering headamidst a knot of half a dozen more. And one of the harpooners backed awaytoward the waist of the ship, watchful and wary, taking no part in theaffair. But the other ... He was a Cape Verder, black blood crossed with Spanish;and Mark Shore had tied him to a davit, once upon a time, and lashed himtill he bled, for faults committed. He saw Mark now, and his eyes shonegreedily. This man crouched, and crossed to a boat--his own--and chose his ownharpoon. He twisted off the wooden sheath that covered the point, andflung it across the deck; and he poised the heavy iron in his hands, andstarted slowly toward Mark, moving on tiptoe, lightly as a cat. Mark saw him coming; and the big man shouted joyfully: "Why, Silva! Come, you.... " He flung aside the men encircling him. One among them held the handspikewith which he had struck down Morrell; and Mark smote this man in thebody, and when he doubled, wrenched the great club from his hands. Heswung this, leaped to meet the harpooner. They came together in mid-deck. The great handspike whistled through theair, and down. An egg-shell crunched beneath a heel.... Silva dropped. Mark stood for an instant above him; and in that instant, every man sawthe harpoon which Silva had driven home. Its heavy shaft hung, draggingon the deck; it hung from Mark's breast, high in the right shoulder; andthe point stood out six inches behind his shoulder blade. It seemed todrag at him; he bent slowly beneath its weight, and drooped, and lay atlast across the body of the man whose skull the handspike had crushed. There were, at that moment, about a dozen of the men still on their feet;but in the instant of their paralyzed dismay, two things struck them; twofuries ... Dick Morrell, tottering on unsteady feet, brandishing arazor-tipped lance full ten feet long. He came upon the men from theflank, shouting; and Joel, when he saw his brother fall, left his shelterin the galley door and swept upon them. The fat cook, with the knife, fought nobly at his side. The men broke; they fled headlong, forward; and Joel and Morrell and thecook pursued them, through the waist, past the trypots, till they tumbleddown the fo'c's'le scuttle and huddled in their bunks and howled.... A dozen limp bodies sprawled upon the deck, bodies of moaning men withheads that would ache and pound for days.... Joel left Morrell to guardthe fo'c's'le, and went back among them, going swiftly from man toman.... Silva was dead. The others would not die--save only Mark. The iron hadpierced his chest, had ripped a lung.... XVIII He died that night, smiling to the last. He was able to speak, now andthen, before the end; and Joel and Priss were near him, at his side, soothing him, listening.... He asked Joel, once: "Shall I tell you--where--pearls... " Joel shook his head. "I do not want them, " he said. "They have enoughblood to turn them crimson. Let them lie. " And Mark smiled, and nodded faintly. "Right, boy. Let them lie.... " Andhis eyes shone up at them; and he whispered presently: "That was--a fightto tell about, Joel.... " In those hours beside Mark, Priss completed the transition from girl towoman. She was very sober, and quiet; but she did not weep, and sheanswered Mark's smiles. And Mark, watching her, seemed to remembersomething, toward the last. Joel saw his eyes beckon; and he bent abovehis brother, and Mark whispered weakly: "Treasure--Priss, Joel. She's--worth all.... Kissed her, but she foughtme.... " Joel gripped his brother's hand. "I knew there was no--harm in you--or inher, " he said. "Don't trouble, Mark.... " When old Aaron had stitched the canvas shroud, they laid Mark on thecutting stage; and Joel read over him from the Book, while the men stoodsilent by. Chastened men, heads bandaged, arms in slings ... Big JimFinch at one side, shamed of face. Varde, sullen as ever, but withhopelessness writ large upon him. Morrell, and old Hooper.... Joel finished, and he closed the Book. "Unto the deep.... " The cuttingstage tilted, and the wave leaped and caught its burden and bore itsoftly down.... The sun was shining, the sea danced, the wind was warm onfair Priscilla's cheek.... And as though, the brief, dramatic chapter being ended, another must atonce begin, the masthead man presently called down to Joel the long, droning hail: "Ah-h-h-h! Blow-w-w-w-w!" And he flung his arm toward where a misty spout sparkled in the sun amile or two away. Minutes later, the boats took water; and the _NathanRoss_ was about her business again. * * * * * Joel wrote in the log that night, with Priscilla beside him, her fingersin his hair. Priscilla had been very humble, till Joel took her in hisarms and comforted her.... He set down the ship's position; he recorded their capture, that day, ofa great bull cachalot; and then: "... This day Mark Shore was buried at sea. He died late last night, fromwounds received when he fought valiantly to put down the mutiny of thecrew. Fourth brother of the House of Shore.... " And below, the ancient and enduring epitaph: "'All the brothers were valiant. '" Priscilla, reading over his shoulder, pointed to this line and whisperedsorrowfully: "But I--called you coward, Joel. " He looked up at her, andsmiled a little. "I know better now, " she said. "So--give me the pen ... And close your eyes.... " He heard the scratch of steel on paper; and when he opened his eyes againhe saw that Priscilla had underscored, with three deep strokes, the firstword of that honorable line. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA