Blow The Man Down Part 56

In spite of his absorption in his task, Mayo could not resist taking an occasional swift peep at the pa.s.senger. The young man's demeanor had become so peculiar that it attracted attention. He looked worried, ill at ease, smoked his cigarettes nervously, flung over the rail one which he had just lighted, and started for the captain, his mouth open. Then he turned away, shielded a match under the hood of the companionway, and touched off another cigarette. He was plainly wrestling with a problem that distressed him very much.

At last he hurried below. He came up almost immediately. He had the air of a man who had made up his mind to have a disagreeable matter over with.

"Captain Downs," he blurted, stepping in front of Old Mull and halting that astonished skipper, "will you please step down into the cabin with me for a few moments? I've something to tell you."

"Well, tell it--tell it here!" barked the captain.

"It's very private, sir!"

"I don't know of any privater place than this quarterdeck, fifteen miles offsh.o.r.e."

"But the--the man at the wheel!"

"Good Josephus! That ain't a man! That's a n.i.g.g.e.r sailor steering my schooner. Tell your tale, Mr. Bradish. Tell it right here. That fellow don't count any more 'n that rudder-head counts."

"If you could step down into the cabin, I--"

"My place is on this quarter-deck, sir. If you've got anything to say to me, say it!" He began to pace again.

Bradish caught step, after a scuff or two.

"I hope you're going to take this thing right, Captain Downs. It may sound queer to you at first," he stammered.

"Well, well, well, tell it to me--tell it! Then I will let you know whether it sounds queer or not."

"I brought another pa.s.senger on board with me. She is locked in a stateroom."

Old Mull stopped his patrol with a jerk. "She?" he demanded. "You mean to tell me you've got a woman aboard here?"

"We're engaged--we want to get married. So she came along--"

"Then why in tophet didn't ye go get married? You don't think this is a parsonage, do you?"

"There were reasons why we couldn't get married ash.o.r.e. You have to have licenses, and questions are asked, and we were afraid it would be found out before we could arrange it."

"So this is an elopement, hey?"

"Well, the young lady's father has foolish ideas about a husband for his daughter, and she doesn't agree with him."

"Who is her father?"

"I don't intend to tell you, sir. That hasn't anything to do with the matter."

Captain Downs looked his pa.s.senger up and down with great disfavor. "And what's your general idea in loading yourselves onto me in this fashion?"

"You have the right, as captain of a ship outside the three-mile limit, to marry folks in an emergency."

"I ain't sure that I've got any such right, and I ain't at all certain about the emergency, Mr. Bradish. I ain't going to stick my head into a sc.r.a.pe."

"But there can't be any sc.r.a.pe for you. You simply exercise your right and marry us and enter it in your log and give us a paper. It will be enough of a marriage so that we can't be separated."

"Want to hold a hand you can bluff her father with, hey? I don't approve of any such tactics in matrimony."

"I wouldn't be doing this if there were any other safe way for us,"

protested Bradish, earnestly. "I'm no cheap fellow. I hold down a good job, sir. But the trouble is I work for her father--and you know how it always is in a case like that. He can't see me!"

"Rich, eh?"

"Yes, sir!" Bradish made the admission rather sullenly.

"It's usually the case when there's eloping done!"

"But this will not seem like eloping when it's reported right in the newspapers. Marriage at sea--it will seem like a romantic way of getting rid of the fuss of a church wedding. We'll put out a statement of that sort. It will give her father a chance to stop all the gossip. He'll be glad if you perform the ceremony."

"Say, young fellow, you're not rehearsing the stuff on me that you used on the girl, are you? Well, it doesn't go!

"Captain Downs, you must understand how bull-headed some rich men are in matters of this kind. I am active and enterprising. I'll be a handy man for him. He likes me in a business way--he has said so. He'll be all right after he gets cooled down."

"More rehearsal! But I ain't in love with you like that girl is."

"We're in a terrible position, captain! Perhaps it wasn't a wise thing to do. But it will come out all right if you marry us."

"What's her name?"

"I can't tell you."

"How in the devil can I marry you and her if I don't know her name?"

"But you haven't promised that you will do your part! I don't want to expose this whole thing and then be turned down."

"I ain't making any rash promises," stated Captain Downs, walking to the rail and taking a squint at the top-hamper. "Besides," he added, on his tramp past to the other rail, "he may be an owner into this schooner property, for all I know. Sixteenths of her are scattered from tophet to Tar Hollow!"

"You needn't worry about his owning schooner property! He is doing quite a little job at putting you fellows out of business!"

Curiosity and something else gleamed in Captain Downs's eyes. "Chance for me to rasp him, hey, by wishing you onto the family?"

This new idea in the situation appealed instantly to Bradish as a possibility to be worked. "Promise man to man that you'll perform the marriage, and I'll tell you his name; then you'll be glad that you have promised," he said, eagerly.

"I don't reckon I'd try to get even with Judas I-scarrot himself by stealing his daughter away from him, sir. There's the girl to be considered in all such cases!"

"But this isn't stealing! We're in love."

"Maybe, but you ain't fooling me very much, young fellow. I don't say but what you like her all right, but you're after something else, too."

"A man has to make his way in the world as best he can."

"That plan seems to be pretty fashionable among you financing fellows nowadays. But I'm a pretty good judge of men and you can't fool me, I say. Now how did you fool the girl?"

It was blunt and insulting query, but Bradish did not have the courage to resent it; he had too much need of placating this despot. The lover hesitated and glanced apprehensively at the man at the wheel.