Glenister gazed out over
the harbor, agleam with the lights of anchored ships, then up at
the crenelated mountains, black against the sky. He drank the cool
air burdened with its taints of the sea, while the blood of his
boyhood leaped within him.
"Oh, it's fine—fine," he
murmured, "and this is my country—my country, after all, Dex. It's
in my veins, this hunger for the North. I grow. I expand."
"Careful you don't bust," warned
Dextry. "I've seen men get plumb drunk on mountain air. Don't
expand too strong in one spot." He went back abruptly to his pipe,
its villanous fumes promptly averting any danger of the air's too
tonic quality.
"Gad! What a smudge!" sniffed the
younger man. "You ought to be in quarantine."
"I'd ruther smell like a man than
talk like a kid. You desecrate the hour of meditation with
rhapsodies on nature when your aesthetics ain't honed up to the
beauties of good tobacco."
The other laughed, inflating his
deep chest. In the gloom he stretched his muscles restlessly, as
though an excess of vigor filled him.
They were lounging upon the dock,
while before them lay the Santa Maria ready for her midnight
sailing. Behind slept Unalaska, quaint, antique, and Russian,
rusting amid the fogs of Bering Sea. Where, a week before,
mild-eyed natives had dried their cod among the old bronze cannon,
now a frenzied horde of gold-seekers paused in their rush to the
new El Dorado. They had come like a locust cloud, thousands strong,
settling on the edge of the Smoky Sea, waiting the going of the ice
that barred them from their Golden Fleece—from Nome the new, where
men found fortune in a night.
The mossy hills back of the
village were ridged with graves of those who had died on the
out-trip the fall before, when a plague had gripped the land—but
what of that? Gold glittered in the sands, so said the survivors;
therefore men came in armies. Glenister and Dextry had left Nome
the autumn previous, the young man raving with fever. Now they
returned to their own land.
"This air whets every animal
instinct in me," Glenister broke out again. "Away from the cities I
turn savage. I feel the old primitive passions—the fret for
fighting."
"Mebbe you'll have a
chance."
"How so?"
"Well, it's this way. I met
Mexico Mullins this mornin'. You mind old
Mexico, don't you? The feller
that relocated Discovery Claim on Anvil
Creek last summer?"
"You don't mean that 'tin-horn'
the boys were going to lynch for claim-jumping?"
"Identical! Remember me tellin'
you about a good turn I done him once down Guadalupe way?"
"Greaser shooting-scrape, wasn't
it?"
"Yep! Well, I noticed first off
that he's gettin fat; high-livin' fat, too, all in one spot, like
he was playin' both ends ag'in the centre. Also he wore di'mon's
fit to handle with ice-tongs.
"Says I, lookin' at his side
elevation, 'What's accented your middle syllable so strong,
Mexico?'
"'Prosperity, politics, an' the
Waldorf-Astorier,' says he. It seems
Mex hadn't forgot old days. He
claws me into a corner an' says, 'Bill,
I'm goin' to pay you back for
that Moralez deal.'
"'It ain't comin' to me,' says I.
'That's a bygone!'
"'Listen here,' says he, an',
seein' he was in earnest, I let him run on.
"'How much do you value that
claim o' yourn at?'
"'Hard tellin',' says I. 'If she
holds out like she run last fall, there'd ought to be a million
clear in her."
"'How much'll you clean up this
summer?'
"''Bout four hundred thousand,
with luck.'
"'Bill,' says he, 'there's hell
a-poppin' an' you've got to watch that ground like you'd watch a
rattle-snake. Don't never leave 'em get a grip on it or you're down
an' out.'
"He was so plumb in earnest it
scared me up, 'cause Mexico ain't a gabby man.
"'What do you mean?' says
I.
"'I can't tell you nothin' more.
I'm puttin' a string on my own neck, sayin' THIS much. You're a
square man, Bill, an' I'm a gambler, but you saved my life oncet,
an' I wouldn't steer you wrong. For God's sake, don't let 'em jump
your ground, that's all.'
"'Let who jump it? Congress has
give us judges an' courts an' marshals—' I begins.
"'That's just it. How you goin'
to buck that hand? Them's the best cards in the deck. There's a man
comin' by the name of McNamara. Watch him clost. I can't tell you
no more. But don't never let 'em get a grip on your ground.' That's
all he'd say."
"Bah! He's crazy! I wish somebody
would try to jump the Midas; we'd enjoy the exercise."
The siren of the Santa Maria
interrupted, its hoarse warning throbbing up the mountain.
"We'll have to get aboard," said
Dextry.
"Sh-h! What's that?" the other
whispered.
At first the only sound they
heard was a stir from the deck of the steamer. Then from the water
below them came the rattle of rowlocks and a voice cautiously
muffled.
"Stop! Stop there!"
A skiff burst from the darkness,
grounding on the beach beneath. A figure scrambled out and up the
ladder leading to the wharf. Immediately a second boat, plainly in
pursuit of the first one, struck on the beach behind it.
As the escaping figure mounted to
their level the watchers perceived with amazement that it was a
young woman. Breath sobbed from her lungs, and, stumbling, she
would have fallen but for Glenister, who ran forward and helped her
to her feet.
"Don't let them get me," she
panted.
He turned to his partner in
puzzled inquiry, but found that the old man had crossed to the head
of the landing ladder up which the pursuers were climbing.
"Just a minute—you there! Back up
or I'll kick your face in." Dextry's voice was sharp and
unexpected, and in the darkness he loomed tall and menacing to
those below.
"Get out of the way. That woman's
a runaway," came from the one highest on the ladder.
"So I jedge."
"She broke qu—"
"Shut up!" broke in another. "Do
you want to advertise it? Get out of the way, there, ye damn fool!
Climb up, Thorsen." He spoke like a bucko mate, and his words
stirred the bile of Dextry.
Thorsen grasped the dock floor,
trying to climb up, but the old miner stamped on his fingers and
the sailor loosened his hold with a yell, carrying the under men
with him to the beach in his fall.
"This way! Follow me!" shouted
the mate, making up the bank for the shore end of the wharf.
"You'd better pull your freight,
miss," Dextry remarked; "they'll be here in a minute."
"Yes, yes! Let us go! I must get
aboard the Santa Maria. She's leaving now. Come, come!"
Glenister laughed, as though
there were a humorous touch in her remark, but did not stir.
"I'm gettin' awful old an' stiff
to run," said Dextry, removing his mackinaw, "but I allow I ain't
too old for a little diversion in the way of a rough-house when it
comes nosin' around." He moved lightly, though the girl could see
in the half-darkness that his hair was silvery.
"What do you mean?" she
questioned, sharply.
"You hurry along, miss; we'll toy
with 'em till you're aboard." They stepped across to the dockhouse,
backing against it. The girl followed.
Again came the warning blast from
the steamer, and the voice of an officer:
"Clear away that stern
line!"
"Oh, we'll be left!" she
breathed, and somehow it struck Glenister that she feared this more
than the men whose approaching feet he heard.
"YOU can make it all right," he
urged her, roughly. "You'll get hurt if you stay here. Run along
and don't mind us. We've been thirty days on shipboard, and were
praying for something to happen." His voice was boyishly glad, as
if he exulted in the fray that was to come; and no sooner had he
spoken than the sailors came out of the darkness upon them.
During the space of a few
heart-beats there was only a tangle of whirling forms with the
sound of fist on flesh, then the blot split up and forms plunged
outward, falling heavily. Again the sailors rushed, attempting to
clinch. They massed upon Dextry only to grasp empty air, for he
shifted with remarkable agility, striking bitterly, as an old wolf
snaps. It was baffling work, however, for in the darkness his blows
fell short or overreached.
Glenister, on the other hand,
stood carelessly, beating the men off as they came to him. He
laughed gloatingly, deep in his throat, as though the encounter
were merely some rough sport. The girl shuddered, for the desperate
silence of the attacking men terrified her more than a din, and yet
she stayed, crouched against the wall.
Dextry swung at a dim target,
and, missing it, was whirled off his balance. Instantly his
antagonist grappled with him, and they fell to the floor, while a
third man shuffled about them. The girl throttled a scream.
"I'm goin' to kick 'im, Bill,"
the man panted hoarsely. "Le' me fix 'im." He swung his heavy shoe,
and Bill cursed with stirring eloquence.
"Ow! You're kickin' me! I've got
'im, safe enough. Tackle the big un."
Bill's ally then started towards
the others, his body bent, his arms flexed yet hanging loosely. He
crouched beside the girl, ignoring her, while she heard the breath
wheezing from his lungs; then silently he leaped. Glenister had
hurled a man from him, then stepped back to avoid the others, when
he was seized from behind and felt the man's arms wrapped about his
neck, the sailor's legs locked about his thighs. Now came the
girl's first knowledge of real fighting. The two spun back and
forth so closely entwined as to be indistinguishable, the others
holding off. For what seemed many minutes they struggled, the young
man striving to reach his adversary, till they crashed against the
wall near her and she heard her champion's breath coughing in his
throat at the tightening grip of the sailor. Fright held her
paralyzed, for she had never seen men thus. A moment and Glenister
would be down beneath their stamping feet—they would kick his life
out with their heavy shoes. At thought of it, the necessity of
action smote her like a blow in the face. Her terror fell away, her
shaking muscles stiffened, and before realizing what she did she
had acted.
The seaman's back was to her. She
reached out and gripped him by the hair, while her fingers, tense
as talons, sought his eyes. Then the first loud sound of the battle
arose. The man yelled in sudden terror; and the others as suddenly
fell back. The next instant she felt a hand upon her shoulder and
heard Dextry's voice.
"Are ye hurt? No? Come on, then,
or we'll get left." He spoke quietly, though his breath was loud,
and, glancing down, she saw the huddled form of the sailor whom he
had fought.
"That's all right—he ain't hurt.
It's a Jap trick I learned. Hurry up!"
They ran swiftly down the wharf,
followed by Glenister and by the groans of the sailors in whom the
lust for combat had been quenched. As they scrambled up the Santa
Maria's gang-plank, a strip of water widened between the boat and
the pier.
"Close shave, that," panted
Glenister, feeling his throat gingerly, "but I wouldn't have missed
it for a spotted pup."
"I've been through b'iler
explosions and snowslides, not to mention a triflin' jail-delivery,
but fer real sprightly diversions I don't recall nothin' more
pleasin' than this." Dextry's enthusiasm was boylike.
"What kind of men are you?" the
girl laughed nervously, but got no answer.
They led her to their deck cabin,
where they switched on the electric light, blinking at each other
and at their unknown guest.
They saw a graceful and
altogether attractive figure in a trim, short skirt and long, tan
boots. But what Glenister first saw was her eyes; large and gray,
almost brown under the electric light. They were active eyes, he
thought, and they flashed swift, comprehensive glances at the two
men. Her hair had fallen loose and crinkled to her waist, all
agleam. Otherwise she showed no sign of her recent ordeal.
Glenister had been prepared for
the type of beauty that follows the frontier; beauty that may stun,
but that has the polish and chill of a new-ground bowie. Instead,
this girl with the calm, reposeful face struck a note almost
painfully different from her surroundings, suggesting countless
pleasant things that had been strange to him for the past few
years.
Pure admiration alone was patent
in the older man's gaze.
"I make oration," said he, "that
you're the gamest little chap I ever fought over, Mexikin, Injun,
or white. What's the trouble?"
"I suppose you think I've done
something dreadful, don't you?" she said. "But I haven't. I had to
get away from the Ohio to-night for—certain reasons. I'll tell you
all about it to-morrow. I haven't stolen anything, nor poisoned the
crew—really I haven't." She smiled at them, and Glenister found it
impossible not to smile with her, though dismayed by her feeble
explanation.
"Well, I'll wake up the steward
and find a place for you to go," he said at length. "You'll have to
double up with some of the women, though; it's awfully crowded
aboard."
She laid a detaining hand on his
arm. He thought he felt her tremble.
"No, no! I don't want you to do
that. They mustn't see me to-night. I know I'm acting strangely and
all that, but it's happened so quickly I haven't found myself yet.
I'll tell you to-morrow, though, really. Don't let any one see me
or it will spoil everything. Wait till to-morrow, please."
She was very white, and spoke
with eager intensity.
"Help you? Why, sure Mike!"
assured the impulsive Dextry, "an', see here, Miss—you take your
time on explanations. We don't care a cuss what you done. Morals
ain't our long suit, 'cause 'there's never a law of God or man runs
north of Fifty-three,' as the poetry man remarked, an' he couldn't
have spoke truer if he'd knowed what he was sayin'. Everybody is
privileged to 'look out' his own game up here. A square deal an' no
questions asked."
She looked somewhat doubtful at
this till she caught the heat of Glenister's gaze. Some boldness of
his look brought home to her the actual situation, and a stain rose
in her cheek. She noted him more carefully; noted his heavy
shoulders and ease of bearing, an ease and looseness begotten of
perfect muscular control. Strength was equally suggested in his
face, she thought, for he carried a marked young countenance, with
thrusting chin, aggressive thatching brows, and mobile mouth that
whispered all the changes from strength to abandon. Prominent was a
look of reckless energy. She considered him handsome in a heavy,
virile, perhaps too purely physical fashion.
"You want to stowaway?" he
asked.
"I've had a right smart
experience in that line," said Dextry, "but I never done it by
proxy. What's your plan?"
"She will stay here to-night,"
said Glenister quickly. "You and I will go below. Nobody will see
her."
"I can't let you do that," she
objected. "Isn't there some place where
I can hide?" But they reassured
her and left.
When they had gone, she crouched
trembling upon her seat for a long time, gazing fixedly before her.
"I'm afraid!" she whispered; "I'm afraid. What am I getting into?
Why do men look so at me? I'm frightened. Oh, I'm sorry I undertook
it." At last she rose wearily. The close cabin oppressed her; she
felt the need of fresh air. So, turning out the lights, she stepped
forth into the night. Figures loomed near the rail and she slipped
astern, screening herself behind a life-boat, where the cool breeze
fanned her face.
The forms she had seen
approached, speaking earnestly. Instead of passing, they stopped
abreast of her hiding-place; then, as they began to talk, she saw
that her retreat was cut off and that she must not stir.
"What brings her here?" Glenister
was echoing a question of Dextry's.
"Bah! What brings them all? What
brought 'the Duchess,' and Cherry
Malotte, and all the rest?"
"No, no," said the old man. "She
ain't that kind—she's too fine, too delicate—too pretty."
"That's just it—too pretty! Too
pretty to be alone—or anything except what she is."
Dextry growled sourly. "This
country has plumb ruined you, boy. You think they're all alike—an'
I don't know but they are—all but this girl. Seems like she's
different, somehow—but I can't tell."
Glenister spoke musingly:
"I had an ancestor who
buccaneered among the Indies, a long time ago—so I'm told.
Sometimes I think I have his disposition. He comes and whispers
things to me in the night. Oh, he was a devil, and I've got his
blood in me—untamed and hot—I can hear him saying something
now—something about the spoils of war. Ha, ha! Maybe he's right. I
fought for her to-night—Dex—the way he used to fight for his
sweethearts along the Mexicos. She's too beautiful to be good—and
'there's never a law of God or man runs north of
Fifty-three.'"
They moved on, his vibrant,
cynical laughter stabbing the girl till she leaned against the yawl
for support.
She held herself together while
the blood beat thickly in her ears, then fled to the cabin, hurling
herself into her berth, where she writhed silently, beating the
pillow with hands into which her nails had bitten, staring the
while into the darkness with dry and aching eyes.