The Sea Bride Part 11

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Roy Kilcup was another who did not like Brander. This was in part a consequence of his position on the _Sally_, in part the result of Dan'l Tobey's skillful tongue. Dan'l saw the tendency in Roy, and capitalized it.

Roy lived in the cabin, where his duties as ship's boy kept him for most of the time. It was true that in pay he ranked below the men, that he was of small account in the general scheme of work aboard the whaler; but he lived in the cabin, he was of the select, and to that extent he was set apart from the men. Also, he was the brother of the captain's wife, and that gave him prestige.

There was no great harm in Roy, but he was at that age where boys worship men, and not always the best men. Also, he was at what might be called the c.o.c.ky age. He felt that the fact of his living in the cabin made him superior to the men who hived in the fo'c's'le; and this feeling showed itself in his att.i.tude toward them. He liked to order them around.... They were for the most part willing to obey him in the minor matters with which he concerned himself.

Roy saw, as soon as any one, that Brander was a man above the average.

The day Brander was found on the island, he had gone ash.o.r.e with Mr.

Tichel, and roved through the little native village, and returned to the ship with the third mate before Faith appeared. Faith had suggested that he go with her, but the boy scorned the notion of poking through the woods.... He was thus back on the ship when Brander appeared.... But he heard Dan'l Tobey object to the man, and he took his cue from Dan'l.

He disliked Brander.

This dislike was accentuated by a small thing which happened in the second week Brander was on the _Sally_. They had killed a whale and cut it in; and because the weather was bad, it had been a task for all hands. The men were tired; but after the job was done, the regular watches were resumed.... Dan'l Tobey's watch, which included Brander, took first turn at scrubbing up; and when they went off and the other watch came on, Roy was forward, fishing over the bow. He saw the tired men trooping forward and dropping into the fo'c's'le; and he hailed Brander.

"You, Brander," he called, in his shrill, boy's voice. "Get my other line, from the starboard rail, under the boathouse. Look sharp, now!"

Now Roy had no right in the world to give orders, except as a messenger of authority, and Brander knew this. So Brander said amiably: "Sorry, youngster. I'm tired. Your legs are spry as mine...."

And he descended into the fo'c's'le with no further word, while Roy's face blazed with humiliation, and the men who had heard laughed under their breath. Some boys would have stormed, beaten out their strength in futile efforts to compel Brander to do their bidding; Roy had cooler blood in him. He fell abruptly silent; he went on with his fishing....

But he did not forget....

He told Dan'l Tobey about it. Dan'l was his confidant, in this as in other things. And Dan'l comforted him.

"Best forget it, Roy," he said. "No good in going to the Old Man. The man was right.... He didn't have to do it...."

"There was no reason why he should be impertinent," Roy blazed. "He holds himself too high."

"Well, I'll not say he does not," Dan'l agreed. "Same time, it never hurts to wait." And he added, a little uncomfortably, as though he were unwilling to make the suggestion: "Besides, your sister shipped the man.

She'd have the say, in any trouble."

"I guess not," Roy stoutly boasted. "I guess she's nothing but a woman.

I guess Noll Wing is the boss around here."

"Sure," said Dan'l. "Sure. But--let's wait a bit."

This pleased Roy; it had a mysteriously ominous sound. He waited; and he fell into the way of watching Brander, spying on the man, keeping the newcomer constantly under his eye. Brander marked this at once, smiled good-humoredly....

Brander and Faith saw very little of each other in those days; they exchanged no words whatever, save on one day when Brander had the wheel and Faith nodded to him and bade him good morning. For the rest, the convention of the deck kept Brander forward of the tryworks; and Faith never went forward. But now and then their eyes met, across the length of the _Sally_; and one night at the cutting in, she heard Brander singing a chanty to inspire the men as they tugged at the capstan bars.... He sang well, a clear voice and a true one. In the shadows of the after deck, she listened thoughtfully.

Dan'l came upon her there, when he paused for a moment in his work. He saw her before she saw him, saw her face illumined by the light of the flare in the rigging above the tryworks. And for a moment he stood, watching; and the man's lip twisted....

That moment was a turning point in Dan'l Tobey's life. Before, there had been a measure of good in the man; he had loved Faith well and decently.... His capacity for mischief had been curbed. But in those seconds while he studied Faith's countenance as she listened to Brander's singing, he saw something that curdled the venom in the man.

When he stepped nearer, and she heard him, he was a different Dan'l....

The stocky, round-faced, freckled, sandy young man had become a power for evil.... He was to use this power thenceforward without scruple....

Faith smiled at him; he said pleasantly: "The man sings well."

"Yes," Faith agreed. "I like it."

Then Dan'l turned back to his tasks, and Faith slipped down into the cabin where Noll was, and offered to read aloud to her husband. Noll sleepily agreed; he went to sleep, presently, while she read. When she saw he was asleep, she dropped her book in her lap and studied the sleeping man; and suddenly her eyes filled, so that she went down on her knees beside him, and laid her arms gently about his shoulders, and whispered pleadingly:

"Oh, Noll, Noll...."

Roy Kilcup, coming up from the cabin one day, saw Dan'l Tobey strike a man. He saw this at the moment his head rose above the companion. Dan'l and the man were amidships, and Dan'l cuffed him and drove him forward.

Dan'l was not given to blows; he seldom needed to use them. So Roy was curious. He went forward along the deck, and touched Dan'l's elbow, and pointed after the cuffed man and asked huskily:

"What's the matter? What did he do?"

Dan'l had not seen Roy coming. He took a moment to think before he answered; then he said in a fashion that indicated his unwillingness to tell the truth:

"Oh--nothing. He was spitting on the deck."

Now a whaler is, when she is doing her work, a dirty craft; she is never overly clean at best. But it is never permitted, on a ship that pretends to decency, to spit upon the deck. Any man who did that on the _Sally_ would have been punished with the utmost rigor; and Roy knew this as well as Dan'l. And Dan'l knew that Roy knew. Roy grinned youthfully, protested:

"Oh, say, what's the secret about? What did he do?"

Dan'l smiled in a way that admitted his misstatement; he shook his head.

"Nothing," he said.

Roy looked angry. "Keep it to yourself if you want to." He had known Dan'l all his life, and had no awe of him. "Don't tell if you don't want to. If it's a secret, I guess I can keep still about it as well as any one."

Dan'l looked sorrowful. "Just forget it, Roy," he said. "It doesn't matter."

Roy flamed at him. "All right.... Keep it to yourself."

And Dan'l yielded reluctantly. "Well, if you've got to know," he said, "I'll tell you.... He was laughing at Brander's story of why Faith brought him aboard the ship here."

Roy's cheeks began to burn. "Brander.... What did Brander say?"

Dan'l shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't hear. He wasn't here at the time. Probably didn't say anything. Probably the men just made it up. The fo'c's'le is a dirty place, you know, Roy. Dirty men.... And dirty talk...."

Roy said hotly: "By G.o.d, I won't have them talking about my sister...."

"I felt the same way," Dan'l agreed. "But--you can't do anything."

"What did Brander say? The sneak...."

"I don't know that he said anything," Dan'l insisted. "Probably not. I just heard this man snickering, and telling two others something....

Heard him name Brander, and your sister.... So I struck in. The others were just listening. They got out of the way. I asked this man what he said; and he wouldn't tell me, so I hit him a clip and told him to keep his tongue still...."

Roy whirled to look forward. The deck was all but empty, but Brander and another man were by the knight's heads, talking casually together. Roy said under his breath: "I'm going to...."

Dan'l caught his arm. "Wait...."