by Holman Day
XXXI ~ THE BIG FELLOW HIMSELF
Will had promised his Sue that this trip, if well ended, Should coil up his ropes and he'd anchor on shore. When his pockets were lined, why his life should be mended, The laws he had broken he'd never break more. --Will Watch.
They needed food, lease-money for their hired equipment was due, and thedependents at Maquoit must be looked after.
Pride and hope had inspired the crew at Razee to salvage the _Conomo_intact. Material removed from her would immediately become junk to bevalued at junk prices, instead of being a valuable and active asseton board. But there was no other resource in sight. No word came fromCaptain Wass; and Mayo had put little confidence in that possibility,anyway.
There was nothing else to do--they must sell off something on which theycould realize quickly.
In the estimation of many practical men this procedure would have beena warrantable makeshift, its sole drawback being a sacrifice of values.But to the captains on Razee it seemed like the beginning of completesurrender; it was the first step toward the dismantling of thesteamship. It was making a junk-pile of her, and they confessed tothemselves that they would probably be obliged to keep on in the work ofdestruction. In the past their bitterest toil had been spiced with thehope of big achievement; the work they now set themselves to do wasmelancholy drudgery.
They brought the _Ethel and May_ alongside and loaded into her theanchors, chains, spare cables, and several of the life-boats. Mayo tookcharge of the expedition to the main.
The little schooner, sagging low with her burden, wallowed up the harborof Limeport just before sunset, one afternoon. Early June was abroadon the seas and the pioneer yachting cruisers had been coaxed to theeastward; Mayo saw several fine craft anchored inside the breakwaterand paid little attention to them. He paced the narrow confines of hisquarter-deck and felt the same kind of shame a ruined man feels when heis on his way to the pawnshop for the first time. He had his head down;he hated to look forward at the telltale cargo of the schooner.
"By ginger! here's an old friend of yours, this yacht!" called Mr.Speed, who was at the wheel.
They were making a reach across the harbor to an anchorage well uptoward the wharves, and were passing under the stern of a big yacht.Mayo looked up. It was the _Olenia_.
"But excuse me for calling it a friend, Captain Mayo," bawled the mate,with open-water disregard of the possibilities of revelation in hisfar-carrying voice.
A man rose from a chair on the yacht's quarter-deck and came to therail. Though the schooner passed hardly a biscuit-toss away, the manleveled marine glasses, evidently to make sure that what he had guessed,after Mr. Speed's remark, was true.
Mayo felt an impulse to turn his back, to dodge below. But he didnot retreat; he walked to his own humble rail and scowled up into thecountenance of Julius Mar-ston. The schooner was sluggish and the breezewas light, and the two men had time for a prolonged interchange ofvisual rancor.
"I didn't mean to holler so loud, Captain Mayo," barked Oakum Otie,in still more resonant manner, to offer apology. "But seeing her, andremembering last time I laid eyes on her--"
"Shut up!" commanded the master. "I'll take the wheel. Go forward andclear cable, and stand by for the word!"
He looked behind, in spite of himself, and saw that a motor-tenderhad come away from the _Olenia_. It foamed along in the wake ofthe schooner. It circled her after it had passed, and kept up thosemanouvers until the schooner's anchor was let go. Then the tender cameto the side and stopped. The mate and engineer in her were new men; Mayodid not know them. The mate tipped respectful salute and stated that Mr.Marston had sent them to bring Captain Mayo on board the yacht at once.
"My compliments to Mr. Marston. But I am not able to come."
They went away, but returned in a short time, and the mate handed a noteover the rail. It was a curt statement, dictated and typewritten, thatMr. Marston wished to see Captain Mayo on business connected withthe _Conomo_, and that if Captain Mayo were not able to transact thatbusiness Mr. Marston would be obliged to hunt up some other party whocould do business regarding the _Conomo_. Remembering that he had theinterests of others to consider, Mayo dropped into the tender, sullen,resentful, wondering what new test of his endurance was to be made, andfeeling peculiarly ill-equipped, in his present condition of courage andtemper, to meet Julius Marston.
The latter had himself under full restraint when they met on the yacht'squarter-deck, and Mayo was more fully conscious of his own inadequacy.
"Below, if you please, captain." He led the way, even while he utteredthe invitation.
No one was visible in the saloon. In the luxury of that interior theunkempt visitor seemed especially strange, particularly out of place.
"You will excuse what has seemed to be my hurry in getting you overhere, sir, but I take it that your sailing into this port just nowcoincides with the arrival of the Vose crowd in this city to-day."
Mr. Fletcher Fogg first, and now Mr. Fogg's employer, had given advanceinformation which anticipated Mayo's knowledge. The young man had beenhaving some special training in dissimulation, and he did not betray anysurprise. He bowed.
"It's better for you to talk with me before you allow them to make afool of you. I am prepared to take that steamer off your hands, asshe stands, at a fair appraisal, and I will give bonds to assume allexpenses of the suit brought by the underwriters."
"There has been no suit brought by the underwriters."
Mr. Marston raised his eyebrows. "Oh! I must remember that you areconsiderably out of the world. The underwriters make claim that thevessel was not legally surrendered by them. Have you documents showingrelease? If so, I'll be willing to pay you about double what otherwise Ishall feel like offering. Take a disputed title in an admiralty case andit's touchy business."
Mayo remembered the haphazard manner in which the steamer had beentransferred, and he did not reply.
Marston's manner was that of calm, collected, cool business; his aircarried weight. More than ever did Mayo feel his own pitiful weakness inthese big affairs where more than honest hard work counted in the finaladjustment.
"How much did you pay your big lawyers to stir up this suit by theunderwriters?" he blurted, and Marston's eyelids flicked, in spite ofhis impassivity. There was instinct of the animal at bay, rather thanany knowledge, behind Mayo's question.
"Why should you suggest that I have anything to do with such a suit?"
"You seem almighty ready to assume all liability."
"I'm not here to have childish disputes with you, sir. This is straightbusiness."
"Very well. What do you want?"
"Have you documents, as I have suggested?"
"I have my bill of sale. I take it for granted that the folks who soldto me are backed by papers from the underwriters."
"That's where you are in error, unfortunately. You are all made party toa suit. Time clause, actual abandonment, right of redemption--allthose matters are concerned. Of course, it means injunction and longlitigation. I suggested assuming liabilities and stepping in, because Iam backed by the best admiralty lawyers in New York. I repeat the offerMr. Fogg made to you."
"You admit that Mr. Fogg made that offer for you or your interests, doyou?"
"Well, yes!" admitted Marston. "We allow Mr. Fogg to act for us in a fewmatters."
"I am glad to know it. There has been so much cross-tag going on that Ihave been a little doubtful!"
"Kindly avoid sarcasm and temper, if you please! Do you care to acceptthe offer?"
Mayo glared at the financier, looking him up and down. Furious hatredtook away his power of sane consideration. He was in no mood to weighchances, either for himself or for his associates. He doubtedMarston's honesty of purpose. He knew how this man must feel towardthe presumptuous fool who had dared to look up at Alma Marston; he wasconscious that the magnate must be concealing some especial motive underhis cold exterior.
Whet
her Marston was anticipating blackmail from Mayo's possession of thedocuments or had hatched up ostensible litigation in order to force thebothersome amateurs out of the _Conomo_ proposition, the young man couldnot determine; either view of the situation was equally insulting tothose whom he made his antagonists.
"Well!" snapped the magnate, plainly finding it difficult to restrainhis own violent hatred much longer in this interview. "Decide whetheryou will have a little ready cash and a good position or whether youwill be kicked out entirely!"
"I don't want your money! You're trying to cheat me with fake lawbusiness even while you are offering me money! I don't want your job! Ihave worked for you once. I'll never be your hired man again."
"If I did not know that you have a better reason for standing out inthis fashion, I'd say that you have allowed, your spite to drive youcrazy, young man."
"What is that better reason?"
"Blackmail! You propose to trade on a theft."
Mayo struggled for a moment with an impulse that was almost frantic; hewanted to throw the packet in Mar-ston's face and tell him that he lied.Again the young man felt that queer sense of helplessness; he knew thathe could not make Marston understand.
"Mayo, I have tried to deal with you as if you were more or less ofa man. I was willing to admit that my agents had injured you by theirmistakes. I have offered a decent compromise. I have done what I hardlyever do--bother with petty details like this!"
That impulse to deliver the papers to Marston was then not so insistent;even Mayo's rising anger did not prompt him to do that. The wreck of aman's life and hopes dismissed flippantly as petty details!
"Seeing that I am not able to deal with you on a business man's basis, Ishall handle you as I would handle any other thief."
Mayo turned to leave, afraid of his own desperate desire to beat thatsneering mouth into shapelessness.
At the head of the companionway stood half a dozen sailors, armed withiron grate-bars.
"If those papers are on you, I'm going to have them," stated thefinancier. "If they are not on you, you'll be glad to tell me where theyare before I get done with you."
The captive halted between the master and the vassals.
"I'm going to crucify my feelings a little more, Mayo," stated Marston."Step forward here where those men can't hear. It's important."
Marston knocked softly on a stateroom door and his daughter came forth.She gasped when she saw this ragged visitor, and in her stare there wasreal horror.
"I haven't been able to sift this thing to the bottom. By facing youtwo, as I'm doing, I may be able to get the truth of the case," saidMarston, with the air of a magistrate dealing with malefactors. "Now,Alma, I'll allow you a minute or two to use your tongue on this finespecimen before my men use their bars."
"I heard what my father offered you. You must take it."
"I have other men to consider--honest men, who have worked hard withme."
He trembled in their presence. Her appearance put sane thoughts out ofhis head and choked the words in his throat. He saw himself in a mirrorand wondered if this were not a dream--if it had not been a dream thatshe had ever loved him.
He wanted to put out to her his mutilated hands which he was hidingbehind him. He yearned to explain to her the man's side of the case. Hewanted her to understand what he owed to the men who had risked theirlives to serve him, to make her realize the bond which exists betweenmen who have toiled and starved together.
"You have yourself to consider, first of all. Much depends. In yoursilly notions about a lot of paupers you are throwing my father'skindness in his face!"
He stammered, unable to frame coherent reply.
"Be sensible. You have no right to put a heap of scrap-iron and a lot oflow creatures ahead of your personal interests."
There was malice in Marston's eyes. He saw an opportunity to make Mayo'sposition even more false in the opinion of the girl.
"I'll be entirely frank, Mayo. In spite of our personal differences, Iwant your services--I need them. I have found out that you're a youngman of determination and plenty of ability. I'll put you ahead fast ifyou'll come over with me. But you must come clean. No strings on youwith that other crowd."
"I can't sell 'em out. I won't do it," protested Mayo. He did notexactly understand all the reasons for his obstinacy. But his instincttold him that Julius Marston was not descending in this manner exceptfor powerful reasons, and that he was attempting to buy a traitor forhis uses.
"How do you dare to turn against my father?"
"I--I don't know! Something seems to be the matter with me." He wrenchedat his throat with his hand.
"And after what I did--my wicked foolishness--those papers--"
"Go on! I propose to get to the bottom of this thing," declared Marston.
The young man drove his hand into his pocket, pulled out the sealedpacket, and forced it into the girl's hands. Marston promptly seized it.
"You have not opened it?"
"No, sir."
"I did not open it, either," cried the girl. "I sealed it, just as itwas tied up."
Marston ripped off the strings and the wax.
Outside a loud voice was hailing the yacht. "Compliments of Captain Wassto Captain Mayo, and will he please say when he is coming back aboardhis schooner?"
The financier paid no attention; he was busy with the papers. His facewas white with rage. He threw them about him on the floor.
"Every sheet is blank--it is waste-paper!" he shouted. "What confoundedtrick is this?"
"You'd better ask the man who gave that packet to your daughter,"suggested Mayo. He seemed to be less astonished than Marston and thegirl. "I might have known that your man, Bradish, would be that kind ofa sneak."
"What do you know about Bradish being concerned in this?"
"I'm guessing it. Probably your daughter can say."
"I'll have no more of your evasions, Alma. I'm going to the bottom ofthis matter now. Did Bradish give you this packet?"
"Yes, father."
"How did it get to this man here?"
"I gave it to a man named Captain Wass."
Again they heard the voice outside. "I don't care if he is busy! I tellyou to take word to Captain Mayo that he is wanted right away on hisschooner. Tell him it's Captain Wass."
"The devil has sent that man along at about the right time," declaredMarston. He strode to the companion-way. "Inform Captain Wass that he iswanted on board here! Hide those bars till he is below!"
He came back, raging, and stood between Mayo and the girl, who hadseemed to find words inadequate during the short time they had been lefttogether.
"I don't believe anything you tell me! There's an infernal trick, here.The papers are missing. Somebody has them."
His fury blinded his prudence.
He strode toward Captain Wass when the old mariner came stumping downthe companionway.
"Is your name Wass?"
"Captain Wass, sir."
"You took papers from my daughter and brought them to this man!"
"Correct."
Marston stepped back and kicked at the blank sheets on the floor.
"Perhaps you can tell me if these are what you brought.".
Captain Wass stared long at Mayo, at the girl, and at the incensedmagnate. Then he looked down at the scattered papers and scratched hishead with much deliberation.
"Why don't you say something?" demanded Marston.
"I'm naturally slow and cautious," stated Captain Wass. He put on hisspectacles, kneeled on the soft carpet, and examined the blank papersand the broken seals. He laid them back on the carpet and meditated forsome time, still on his knees. When he looked up, peering over the edgeof his spectacles, he paid no attention to Mar-ston, to the latter'sindignant astonishment.
"Vose and others are waiting for us at the hotel," he informed CaptainMayo, "and it's important business, and we'd better be tending to itinstead of fooling around here."
"No matter about any other bu
siness except this, sir," cried Marston.
"There can't be much business mixed up in a lot of blank sheets ofpaper," snapped Captain Wass. "What's the matter?"
"I have lost valuable papers."
The old skipper bent shrewd squint at the angry man who was standingover him. "Steamer combination papers, hey?"
"You seem to know pretty well."
"Ought to know."
"Why?"
Captain Wass rose slowly, with grunts, and rubbed his stiff knees."Because I've got 'em."
"Stole them from the package, did you?"
"It wasn't stealing--it was business."
"Hand them over."
"I insist on that, too, Captain Wass," said Mayo, with indignation."Hand over those papers."
"Can't be done, for I haven't got 'em with me. And I won't hand 'em overtill I have used them in my business."
"I shall have you arrested," announced Marston.
"So do. Sooner the whole thing gets before the court, the better." Hisperfect calmness had its effect on the financier.
"What are you proposing to use those papers for?"
"To make you pirates turn back the Vose line property and pay damages.As to the rest of your combination, the critters that's in it can skintheir own skunks. I guess the whole thing will take care of itself afterwe get the Vose line back."
"You are asking for an impossibility. The matter cannot be arranged."
"Then we'll see how far Uncle Sam can go in unscrambling that particularnestful of eggs. I'll give the papers to the government."
"Haven't you any influence with this man?" Marston asked the astoundedMayo.
"No, he hasn't--not a mite in this case," returned Captain Wass. "Heneeds a guardeen in some things, and I'm serving as one just now."
"You must get them from him--you must, Captain Mayo," cried the girl. "Idid not understand what I was doing."
"I will get them."
"I'd like to see you do it, son!"
He turned on the Wall Street man. "I'm only asking for what isrightfully due my own people. I'm a man of few words and just now I'msticking close to schedule. Until eleven o'clock to-night you'll findVose, myself, and our lawyers at the Nicholas Hotel. After eleveno'clock we shall be in bed because we've got to get an early start forthe wreck out on Razee. We're going to finance that job. And in case wedon't come to terms with you tonight we shall use our club to keep youout of our business after this. You know what the club is."
Marston was too busily engaged with Captain Wass to pay heed to hisdaughter. She went close to Mayo and whispered.
"You must quit them, Boyd. It's for my sake. You must help my father.They are wretches. Think of what it will mean to you if you can help us!You will do it. Promise me!"
He did not reply.
"Do you dare to hesitate for one moment--when I ask you--for my sake?"
"That's my last word," bawled Captain Wass. "There's no blackmail aboutit--we're only taking back what's our own."
"Are you one of those--creatures?" she asked, indignantly.
If she had shown one spark of sympathy or real understanding in thatcrisis of their affairs, if she had not been so much, in that moment,the daughter of Julius Marston, counseling selfishness, he might havefatuously continued to coddle his romance, in spite of all that hadpreceded. But her eyes were hard. Her voice had the money-chink in it.He started, like a man awakened. His old cap had fallen on the carpet.He picked it up.
"Good-by!" he said. "I have found out where I belong in this world."
And in that unheroic fashion ended something which, so he then realized,should never have been begun. He followed Captain Wass across thesaloon.
"Better advise your buckos to be careful how they handle themgrate-bars," shouted Captain Wass. "I'm loaded, and if I'm joggled I'mliable to explode."
They were not molested when they left the yacht. The doryman who hadbrought Captain Wass rowed them to the wharf.
"Those papers--" Mayo had ventured, soon after they left the yacht'sside.
"Not one word about 'em!" yelped the old skipper. "It's mybusiness--entire! When the time comes right I'll show you that it's myprivate business. I never allow anybody to interfere in that."
That night, after the conference at the hotel, and after Julius Marston,growling profanity, had put his name to certain papers, drawn by carefullawyers, Captain Wass explained why the matter of the sealed packetwas his private business. He took Marston apart from the others for thepurpose of explaining.
"I haven't said one word to Vose or his associates about this businessof the documents. They think you have come because you wanted tostraighten out a low-down trick worked by an understrapper. So this hasput you in mighty well with the Vose crowd, sir."
Marston grunted.
"It ought to be kind of pleasing to have a few men think you are on thesquare," pursued Captain Wass.
"That's enough of this pillycock conversation. Hand over those papers!"
"Just one moment!" He signaled to Captain Mayo, who came to them. "I'mgoing to tell Mr. Marston why those documents were my especial businessto-day, and why you couldn't control me in the matter. I may as wellexplain to the two of you at once. It was my own business for thisreason: I don't know anything about any papers. I never saw any. Inever opened that package. I handed it along just as it was given to me.That's true, on my sacred word, Mr. Marston; and I haven't any reasonfor lying to you--not after you have signed those agreements."
"Come outside," urged the financier. "I want to tell you what I think ofyou."
"No," said the old skipper, mildly. "And I'd lower your voice, sir, if Iwere you. These men here have a pretty good idea of you just now, and Idon't want you to spoil it."
"You're a lying renegade!"
"Oh no! I have only showed you that all the good bluffers are notconfined to Wall Street. There's one still loose there. Your man Bradishprobably had reasons for wanting to bluff your daughter--and save hisown skin. He'll probably hand your papers to you!"
Marston swore and departed.
"I laid out that course whilst I was down on my knees in his cabin,sort of praying for a good lie in a time of desp'rit need," CaptainWass confided to Mayo. "It wasn't bad, considering the way it has workedout."
XXXII ~ A GIRL'S DEAR "BECAUSE!"
Cheer up, Jack, bright smiles await you From the fairest of the fair, And her loving eyes will greet you With kind welcomes everywhere. Rolling home, rolling home, Rolling home across the sea. Rolling home to dear old England, Rolling home, dear land, to thee! --Rolling Home.
There was no niggardliness in the trade the Vose folks made with CaptainMayo. They contracted to co-operate with him and his men in floating thesteamship, repairing her in dry dock, and refitting her for herroute. She would be appraised as she stood after refitting, as agoing proposition, and Mayo was to receive stock to the amount of hervalue--stock in the newly organized Vose line.
"Furthermore," stated old man Vose, "we shall need a chap of just aboutyour gauge as manager. You have shown that you are able to do things."
He was up on the _Conomo's_ deck after a long inspection of the workwhich had been done under difficulties.
"You would have had this steamer off with your own efforts if your moneyhad lasted. Your next job is the _Montana_; but you'll simply managethat, Captain Mayo--use your head and save your muscle."
"I'll get her off, seeing that I put her on."
"We all know just how she was put on--and Marston will pay for it in hishard coin."
Under these circumstances Razee Reef was no longer a mourners' bench!The dreary days of makeshift were at an end.
The lighters of one of the biggest wrecking companies of the coasthurried to Razee and flocked around the maimed steamer--Samaritans ofthe sea. Gigantic equipment embraced her; great pumps gulped the waterfrom her; bolstered and supported, as a stricken man limps with his armsacross the
shoulders of his friends, the steamer came off Razee Reefwith the first spring tide in July, and toiled off across the sea inthe wake of puffing tugs, and was shored up and safe at last in a drydock--the hospital of the crippled giants of the ocean.
No music ever sounded as sweet to Captain Mayo as that clanging chorusthe hammers of the iron-workers played on the flanks of the _Conomo_.But he tore himself away from that music, and went down to Maquoit alongwith a vastly contented Captain Candage, who remembered now that he hada daughter waiting for him.
She had been apprised by letter of their success and of their coming.
Maquoit made a celebration of that arrival of the _Ethel and May_, andDolph and Otie, cook and mate of the schooner, led the parade when themen were on shore.
They came back to their own with the full purses that the generosity oftheir employers had provided, and there was no longer any doubt as tothe future of the men who once starved on Hue and Cry.
Captain Mayo had declared that he knew where to find faithful workerswhen it came time to distribute jobs.
Polly Candage had come to him when he stepped foot on shore, handsoutstretched to him, and eyes alight. And when she put her hands in hishe knew, in his soul, that this was the greeting he had been waitingfor; her words of congratulation were the dearest of all, her smile wasthe best reward, and for her dear self he had been hungry.
But he would not admit to himself that he had come to woo.
When the soft dusk had softened the harsh outlines of the little hamlet,and the others were busy with their own affairs and had left Mayoand Polly to themselves, he sat with her on the porch of the widow'scottage, where they spent that first evening after they had been savedfrom the sea.
There had been a long silence between them. "We have had noopportunity--I have not dared yet to tell you my best hopes for thedearest thing of all," she ventured.
"The one up inland. I know. I am glad for you."
"What one up inland?"
"That young man--the only young man in all the world."
"Oh yes! I had forgotten."
He stared at her. "Forgotten?"
"Why--why--I don't exactly mean forgotten. But I was not thinking abouthim when I spoke. I mean that now--with your new prospects--you can goto--to--There may come a time when you can speak to Mr. Marston."
"I have spoken to Mr. Marston, quite lately. He has spoken to me," hesaid, his face hard. "We shall never speak to each other again, if I canhave my way."
He met her astonished gaze. "Polly, I hate to trouble you with my pooraffairs of this kind. I can talk of business to Mr. Vose, and of thesea to your father. But there's another matter that I can't mentionto anybody--except you will listen. I will tell you where I saw Mr.Marston--and his daughter."
She listened, her lips apart.
"So, you see," he said at the end, "it was worse than a dream; it wasa mistake. It couldn't have been real love, for it was not built on theright foundation. I have never had much experience with girls. I havebeen swashing about at sea 'most all my life. Perhaps I don't know whatreal love is. But it seems to me it can't amount to much unless it isbuilt up on mutual understanding, willingness to sacrifice for eachother."
"I think so," returned Polly, softly.
"I want to see that young man of yours, up inland. I want to tell himthat he is mighty lucky because he met you first."
"Why?"
"I can't tell you just why. It isn't right for me to do so."
"But a girl likes to hear such things. Please!"
"Will you forgive me for saying what I shouldn't say?"
"I will forgive you."
"He's lucky, because if I didn't know you were promised and in love,I'd go down at your feet and beg you to marry me. You're the wife fora Yankee sailor, Polly Candage. If only there were two of you in thisworld, we'd have a double wedding."
He leaped up and started away.
"Where are you going?" she asked, and there was almost a wail in hertones. "No, he does not understand girls well," she told herself,bitterly.
"I'm going down to Rowley's store to see if he will take his money backand let us save interest. He told me I'd have to keep the money for ayear."
She called to him falteringly, but with such appeal in her tones that hehalted and stared at her.
"Couldn't you--Isn't it just as well to let the matter restuntil--till--"
"Oh, there's no time like the present in money matters," he declared,with a laugh, wholly oblivious, not in the least understanding herembarrassment, her piteous effort to bar her little temple of love'ssacrifice so that he could not trample in just then.
His laugh was a forced one. He realized that if he did not hurry awayfrom this girl he would be reaching out his arms to her, declaring thelove that surged in him, now that he had awakened to full consciousnessof that love; his Yankee reticence, his instinct of honor between men,were fighting hard against his passion; he told himself that he wouldnot betray a man he did not know, nor proffer love to a girl who, so hebelieved, loved another.
"May I not go with you?" she pleaded, restraining her wild impulse torun ahead of him and warn the deacon.
"Of course!" he consented, and they walked down the street, neitherdaring to speak.
They found Rowley alone in his store. He was puttering around, makingready to close the place for the night.
As they entered, the girl stepped behind Mayo and, catching the deacon'seye, made frantic gestures. In the half gloom those gestures weredecidedly incomprehensible; the deacon lowered his spectacles and staredat her, trying to understand this wigwagging.
"I'd like to take up that loan and save the rest of the year's interest,Deacon Rowley," stated Mayo, with sailorly bluntness.
The girl was trying to convey to the deacon the fact that he mustnot reveal her secret. She was shaking her head. This seemed to theintermediary like direct and conclusive orders from the principal.
"No, sir, Captain Mayo! It can't be done."
"I don't call that a square deal between men, no matter what straightbusiness may be."
Polly now signaled eager assent, meaning to make the deacon understandthat he must take the money. But the deacon did not understand; hethought the girl affirmed her desire for straight business.
"You took it for a year. No back tracks, captain."
She shook her head, violently.
"No, sir! Keep it, as you agreed, and pay your interest."
"Deacon Rowley, you're an old idiot!" blazed the girl.
When the deacon yanked off his spectacles, and Captain Mayo turnedamazed eyes to her, she put her hands to her face and ran out of thestore, sobbing. She was only a girl! She had no more resources left withwhich to meet that situation in men's affairs.
Mayo's impulse was to follow, but the deacon checked him.
"I ain't going to be made a fool of no longer in this, even to makethree hundred dollars," he rasped.
"A fool! What do you mean?"
"You go settle it with her."
"What has Polly Candage got to do with this business?"
"It's her money."
"You mean to say--"
"She drawed her money out of the bank, and horn-swoggled me into lyingfor her. What won't a girl do when she's in love with a fellow? If you'ain't knowed it before, it's high time you did know it!"
That last remark of the deacon's had disgusted reference only to thematter of the money. But it conveyed something else to Captain BoydMayo.
He ran out of the store!
Far up the road he overtook her. She was hurrying home. When she facedhim he saw tears on her cheeks, though the generous gloom of eveningwrapped them where they stood. He took both her hands.
"Polly Candage, why did you risk your money on me?" he demanded.
"I knew you would succeed!" she murmured, turning her face away. "It wasan--a good investment."
"When you gave it, did you--Were you thinking--Was it only for aninvestment, Polly?"
She did not
reply.
"Look here! This last thing ought to tie my tongue, for I owe everythingto you. But my tongue won't stay tied--not now, Polly. I don't care ifthere is somebody else up-country. I ought to care. I ought to respectyour--"
She pulled a hand free and put plump fingers on his lips. "There isnobody up-country; there never has been anybody, Boyd," she whispered.
He took her in his arms, and kissed her, and held her close.
"Will you tell me one thing, now? I know the answer, sweetheart mine,but I want to hear you say it. Why did you give me all your money?"
She put her palms against his cheeks and spoke the words his soul washungry for:
"Because I love you!"
THE END