Blow The Man Down Part 64

"Yes! It's just the man you think it is," he informed her, curtly. "But there's nothing to be said!"

"I must say something--"

But he checked her savagely. "This is no place to talk over folly! It's no place to talk anything! There's something else to do besides talk!"

"We are going to die, aren't we?" She leaned close to him, and the question was hardly more than a whisper framed by her quivering lips.

"I think so," he answered, brutally.

"Then let me tell you--"

"You can tell me nothing! Keep still!" he shouted, and drew away from her.

"Why doesn't Captain Downs come back after us?"

"Don't be a fool! The sea has taken them away."

They exchanged looks and were silent for a little while, and the pride in both of them set up mutual barriers. It was an att.i.tude which conspired for relief on both sides. Because there was so much to say there was nothing to say in that riot of the sea and of their emotions.

"I won't be a fool--not any more," she told him. There was so distinctly a new note in her voice that he stared at her. "I am no coward," she said. She seemed to have mastered herself suddenly and singularly.

Mayo's eyes expressed frank astonishment; he was telling himself again that he did not understand women.

"I don't blame you for thinking that I am a fool, but I am not a coward," she repeated.

"I'm sorry," stammered the young man. "I forgot myself."

"There is danger, isn't there?"

"I'm afraid the mast has pounded a bad hole in her. I must run forward.

I must see if something can't be done."

"I am going with you." She followed him when he started away.

"You must stay aft. You can't get forward along that deck. Look at the waves breaking over her!"

"I am going with you," she insisted. "Perhaps there is something that can be done. Perhaps I can help."

The girl was stubborn, and he knew there was no time for argument.

Three times on their way forward he was obliged to hold her in the hook of his arm while he fought with the torrent that a wave launched upon the deck.

There was no doubt regarding the desperate plight of the schooner. She was noticeably down by the head, and black water was swashing forward of the break of the main-deck. The door of the galley was open, and the one-eyed cook was revealed sitting within beneath a swinging lantern. He held a cat under his arm.

"Bear a hand here, cook!" called Mayo.

But the man did not get off his stool.

"Bear a hand, I say! We've got to rig tackle and get this long-boat over."

The schooner's spare boat was in chocks between the foremast and the main. Mayo noted that it was heaped full of spare cable and held the usual odds and ends of a clutter-box. He climbed in hastily and gave a hand to the girl to a.s.sist her over the rail.

"It will keep you out of the swash," he advised her. "Sit there in the stern while I toss out this truck."

But she did not sit down. She began to throw out such articles as her strength could manage.

Again Mayo hailed the cook, cursing him heartily.

"Oh, it ain't any use," declared the man, with resignation. "We're goners."

"We aren't gone till we go, you infernal turtle! Come here and pitch in."

"I hain't got no heart left for anything. I never would have believed it. The Old Man going off and saving a lot of n.i.g.g.e.r sailors instead of me--after all the vittles I've fixed up for him. If that's the kind of grat.i.tude there is in the world, I'm glad I'm going out of it. Me and the cat will go together. The cat's a friend, anyway."

Mayo lost his temper then in earnest. All his nature was on edge in that crisis, and this supine surrender of an able-bodied man whose two hands were needed so desperately was peculiarly exasperating. He leaped out of the boat, ran into the galley, and gave the cook an invigorating beating up with the flat of his hands. The cook clutched his cat more firmly, braced himself on the stool, and took his punishment.

"Kill me if you want to," he invited. "I've got to die, and it don't make a mite of difference how. Murder me if you're so inclined."

"Man--man--man, what's the matter with you?" gasped Mayo. "We've got a chance! Here's a girl to save!"

"She hain't got no business being here. Was sneaked aboard. It's no use to pound me. I won't lift a finger. My mind is made up. I've been deserted by the Old Man."

"You old lunatic, Captain Downs got carried away by those cowards. Wake up! Help me! For the love of the Lord, help me!"

"Rushing around will only take my mind off'n thoughts of the hereafter, and I need to do some right thinking before my end. It ain't any use to threaten and jaw; nothing makes any difference to me now."

Mayo saw the uselessness of further appeal, and the fellow dangled as limply as a stuffed dummy when the young man shook him. Therefore Mayo gave over his efforts and hurried back to the long-boat. The spectacle of the girl struggling with the stuff she was jettisoning put new determination into him. Her amazing fort.i.tude at the time when he had looked for hysterics and collapse gave him new light on the enigma of femininity.

"Did you tell me that Bradish is ill?" he asked, hurriedly.

"He is in the cabin. He would not talk to me. I could not induce him to come on deck."

"I must have help with the tackle," he told her, and started aft on the run.

He found Bradish sprawled in a morris-chair which was lashed to a radiator. He expected hot words and more insults, but Bradish turned to him a face that was gray with evident terror. His jaw sagged; his eyes appealed.

"This is awful!" he mourned. "What has happened on deck? I heard the fighting. Where is Miss Mar-ston?"

"She is forward. There has been an accident--a bad one. We have lost the captain and crew. Come on. I need help."

"I can't help. I'm all in!" groaned Bradish.

"I say you must. It's the only way to save our lives."

Bradish rolled his head on the back of the chair, refusing. His manner, his sudden change from the fighting mood, astonished Mayo. The thought came to him that this man had been p.r.i.c.ked to conflict by bitter grudge instead of by his courage.

"Look here, Bradish, aren't you going to help me save that girl?"

"I'm not a sailor. There's nothing I can do."