The Courage of Captain Plum

by James Oliver Curwood

  CHAPTER V

  THE MYSTERY

  Hardly had Nathaniel fought his way through the thin crowd of startledspectators about the whipping-post before the enormity of his offense ininterrupting the king's justice dawned upon him. He was not sorry thathe had responded to the mute appeal of the girl who had entered sostrangely into his life. He rejoiced at the spirit that had moved him toaction, that had fired his blood and put the strength of a giant in hisarms; and his nerves tingled with an unreasoning joy that he had leapedall barriers which in cooler moments would have restrained him, andwhich fixed in his excited brain only the memory of the beautiful facethat had sought his own in those crucial moments of its suffering. Thegirl had turned to him and to him alone among all those men. He hadheard her voice, he had felt the soft sweep of her hair as he severedthe prisoner's thongs, he had caught the flash of her eyes and themovement of her lips as he dashed himself into the crowd. And as he spedswiftly up the slope he considered himself amply repaid for all that hehad done. His blood was stirred as if by the fire of sharp wines; he wasstill in a tension of fighting excitement. Yet no sooner had he foughthimself clear of the mob than his better judgment leaped into theascendency. If danger had been lurking for him before it was doublythreatening now and he was sufficiently possessed of the common spiritof self-preservation to exult at the speed with which he was enabled toleave pursuit behind. A single glance over his shoulder assured him thatthe man whom he had saved from the prophet's wrath was close at hisheels. His first impulse was to direct his flight toward Obadiah'scabin; his second to follow the path that led to his ship. At this hoursome of his men would surely be awaiting him in a small boat and onceaboard the _Typhoon_ he could continue his campaign against the Mormonking with better chances of success than as a lone fugitive on theisland. Besides, he knew what Casey would do at sundown.

  At the top of the slope he stopped and waited for the other to come upto him.

  "I've got a ship off there," he called, pointing inland. "Take a shortcut for the point at the head of the island. There's a boat waiting forus!"

  Neil came up panting. He was breathing so hard that for a moment hefound it impossible to speak but in his eyes there was a look that toldhis unbounded gratitude. They were clear, fearless eyes, with the blueglint of steel in them and, as he held out his hands to Nathaniel, theywere luminous with the joy of his deliverance.

  "Thank you, Captain Plum!"

  He spoke his companion's name with the assurance of one who had knownit for a long time. "If they loose the dogs there will be no time forthe ship," he added, with a suggestive hunch of his naked shoulders."Follow me!"

  There was no alarm in his voice and Nathaniel caught the flashing gleamof white teeth as Neil smiled grimly back at him, running in the lead.From the man's eyes the master of the _Typhoon_ had sized up hiscompanion as a fighter. The smile--daring, confident, and yet signalingtheir danger--assured him that he was right, and he followed closebehind without question. A dozen rods up the path Neil turned into adense thicket of briars and underbrush and for ten minutes they plungedthrough the pathless jungle. Now and then Nathaniel saw the three redstripes of the whipper's lash upon the bare shoulders of the man aheadand to these every step seemed to add new wounds made by the thorns. Asthey came out upon an old roadway the captain stripped off his coat andNeil thrust himself into it as they ran.

  Even in these first minutes of their flight Nathaniel was thrilled byanother thought than that of the peril behind them. Whom had he saved?Who was this clear-eyed young fellow for whom the girl had so openlysacrificed herself at the whipping-post, about whom she had thrown herarms and covered with the protection of her glorious hair? With his joyat having served her there was mingled a chilling doubt as thesequestions formed themselves in his mind. Obadiah's vague suggestions,the scene in the king's room, the night visits of the girl to thecouncilor's cabin--and last of all this incident at the jail flashedupon him now with another meaning, with a significance that slowlycooled the enthusiasm in his veins. He was sure that he was near thesolution of the mysterious events in which he had become involved, andyet this knowledge brought with it something of apprehension, somethingwhich made him anticipate and yet dread the moment when the fugitiveahead would stop in his flight, and he might ask him those questionswhich would at least relieve him of his burden of doubt. They hadtraveled a mile through forest unbroken by path or road when Neil haltedon the edge of a little stream that ran into a swamp. Pointing into thetangled fen with a confident smile he plunged to his waist in the waterand waded slowly through the slough into the gloom of the densest alder.A few minutes later he turned in to the shore and the soft bog gaveplace to firm ground. Before Nathaniel had cleared the stream he saw hiscompanion drop to his knees beside a fallen log and when he came up tohim he was unwrapping a piece of canvas from about a gun. With a warninggesture he rose to his feet and for twenty seconds the men stood andlistened. No sound came to them but the chirp of a startled squirrel andthe barking of a dog in the direction of St. James.

  "They haven't turned out the dogs yet," said Neil, holding a handagainst his heaving chest. "If they do they can't reach us through thatslough." He leaned his rifle against the log and again thrusting an arminto the place where it had been concealed drew forth a small box.

  "Powder and ball--and grub!" he laughed. "You see I am a sort ofrevolutionist and have my hiding-places. To-morrow--I will be a martyr."He spoke as quietly as though his words but carried a careless jest.

  "A martyr?" laughed Nathaniel, looking down into the smiling, sweatingface.

  "Yes, to-morrow I shall kill Strang."

  There was no excitement in Neil's voice as he stood erect. The smile didnot leave his lips. But in his eyes there shone that which neither wordsnor smiling lips revealed, a reckless, blazing fury hidden deep inthem--so deep that Nathaniel stared to assure himself what it was. Theother saw the doubt in his face.

  "To-morrow I shall kill Strang," he repeated. "I shall kill him withthis gun from under the window of his house through which you sawMarion."

  "Marion!" exclaimed Nathaniel. "Marion--" He leaned forward eagerly,questioning. "Tell me--"

  "My sister, Captain Plum!"

  It seemed to Nathaniel that every fiber in his body was stretched to thebreaking point. He reached out, dazed by what he had heard and with bothhands seized Neil's arm.

  "Your sister--who came to you at the whipping-post?"

  "That was Marion."

  "And--Strang's wife?"

  "No!" cried Neil. "No--not his wife!" He drew back from Nathaniel'stouch as if the question had stabbed him to the heart. The passion thathad slumbered in his eyes burst into savage flame and his face becamesuddenly terrible to look upon. There was hatred there such as Nathanielhad never seen; a ferocious, pitiless hatred that sent a shudderingthrill through him as he stood before it. After a moment the clenchedfist that had risen above Neil's head dropped to his side. Halfapologetically he held out his hand to his companion.

  "Captain Plum, we've got a lot to thank you for, Marion and I," he said,a tremble of the passing emotion in his voice. "Obadiah told Marion thathelp might come to us through you and Marion brought the word to me atthe jail late last night--after she had seen you at the window. The oldcouncilor kept his word! You have saved her!"

  "Saved her!" gasped Nathaniel. "From what? How?" A hundred questionsseemed leaping from his heart to his lips.

  "From Strang. Good God, don't you understand? I tell you that I am goingto kill Strang!"

  Neil stood as though appalled by his companion's incomprehension. "I amgoing to kill Strang, I tell you!" he cried again, the fire burningdeeper through the sweat of his cheeks.

  Nathaniel's bewilderment still shone in his face.

  "She is not Strang's wife," he spoke softly, as if to himself. "And sheis not--" His face flushed as he nearly spoke the words. "Obadiah lied!"He looked squarely into Neil's eyes. "No, I don't understand you. Thecouncilor said that she--that Marion was Strang
's wife. He told menothing more than that, nothing of her trouble, nothing about you. Untilthis moment I have been completely mystified. Only her eyes led me todo--what I did at the jail."

  Neil gazed at him in astonishment.

  "Obadiah told--you--nothing?" he asked incredulously.

  "Not a word about you or Marion except that Marion was the king'sseventh wife. But he hinted at many things and kept me on the trail,always expecting, always watching, and yet every hour was one ofmystery. I am in the darkest of it at this instant. What does it allmean? Why are you going to kill Strang? Why--"

  Neil interrupted him with a cry so poignant in its wretchedness thatthe last question died upon his lips.

  "I thought that the councilor had told you all," he said. "I thought youknew." The disappointment in his voice was almost despair. "Then--it wasonly accidentally--you helped us?"

  "Only accidentally that I helped _you_--yes! But Marion--" Nathanielcrushed Neil's hand in both his own and his eyes betrayed more than hewould have said. "I've got an armed ship and a dozen men out there andif I can help Marion by blowing up St. James--I'll do it!"

  For a time only the tense breathing of the two broke the silence oftheir lips. They looked into each other's face, Nathaniel with all theeagerness of the passion with which Marion had stirred his soul, Neilhalf doubting, as if he were trying to find in this man's eyes thefriendship which he had not questioned a few minutes before.

  "Obadiah told you nothing?" he asked again, as if still unbelieving.

  "Nothing."

  "And you have not seen Marion--to talk with her?"

  "No."

  Nathaniel had dropped his companion's hand, and now Neil walked to thelog and sat down with his face turned in the direction from which theirpursuers must come if they entered the swamp.

  Suddenly the memory of Obadiah's note shot into Nathaniel's head, thecouncilor's admonition, his allusion to a visitor. With this memorythere recurred to him Obadiah's words at the temple, "If you hadremained at the cabin, Nat, you would have known that I was your friend.She would have come to you, but now--it is impossible." For the firsttime the truth began to dawn upon him. He went and sat down beside Neil.

  "I am beginning to understand--a little," he said. "Obadiah had plannedthat I should meet Marion, but I was a fool and spoiled his scheme. If Ihad done as he told me I should have seen her this morning."

  In a few words he reviewed the events of the preceding evening and ofthat morning--of his coming to the island, his meeting with Obadiah, andof the singular way in which he had become interested in Marion. Heomitted the oaths but told of Winnsome's warning and of his interviewwith the Mormon king. When he spoke of the girl as he had seen herthrough the king's window, and of her appealing face turned to him atthe jail, his voice trembled with an excitement that deepened the flushin Neil's cheeks.

  "Captain Plum, I thank God that you like Marion," he said simply. "AfterI kill Strang will you help her?"

  "Yes."

  "You are willing to risk--"

  "My life--my men--my ship!"

  Nathaniel spoke like one to whom there had been suddenly opened theportals to a great joy. He sprang to his feet and stood before Neil, hiswhole being throbbing with the emotions which had been awakened withinhim.

  "Good God, why don't you tell me what her peril is?" he cried, no longerrestraining himself. "Why are you going to kill Strang? Has he--hashe--" His face flamed with the question which he dared not finish.

  "No--not that!" interrupted Neil. "He has never laid a hand on Marion.She hates him as she hates the snakes in this swamp. And yet--nextSunday she is to become his seventh wife!"

  Nathaniel started as if he had been threatened by a blow.

  "You mean--he is forcing her into his harem?" he asked.

  "No, he can not do that!" exclaimed Neil, the hatred bursting out anewin his face. "He can not force her into marrying him, and yet--" Heflung his arms above his head in sudden passionate despair. "As thereis a God in Heaven I would give ten years of my life for the secret ofthe prophet's power over Marion!" he groaned. "Three months ago herhatred of him was terrible. She loathed the sight of him. I have seenher shiver at the sound of his voice. When he asked her to become hiswife she refused him in words that I had believed no person in thekingdom would dared to have used. Then--less than a month ago--thechange came, and one day she told me that she had made up her mind tobecome Strang's wife. From that day her heart was broken. I wasdumfounded. I raged and cursed and even threatened. Once I accused herof a shameful thing and though I implored her forgiveness a thousandtimes I know that she weeps over my brutal words still. But nothingcould change her. On my knees I have pleaded with her, and once sheflung her arms round my shoulders and said, 'Neil, I can not tell youwhy I am marrying Strang. But I must.' I went to Strang and demanded anexplanation; I told him that my sister hated him, that the sight of hisface and the sound of his voice filled her with abhorrence, but he onlylaughed at me and asked why I objected to becoming the brother-in-law ofa prophet. Day by day I have seen Marion's soul dying within her. Someterrible secret is gnawing at her heart, robbing her of the very lifewhich a few weeks ago made her the most beautiful thing on this island;some dreadful influence is shadowing her every step, and as the daydraws near when she is to join the king's harem I see in her eyes attimes a look that frightens me. There is only one salvation. To-morrow Ishall kill Strang!"

  "And then?"

  Neil shrugged his shoulders.

  "I will shoot him through the abdomen so that he will live to tell hiswives who did the deed. After that I will try to make my escape to themainland."

  "And Marion--"

  "Will not marry Strang! Isn't that plain?"

  "You have guessed nothing--no cause for the prophet's power over yoursister?" asked Nathaniel.

  "Absolutely nothing. And yet that influence is such that at times thethought of it freezes the blood in my veins. It is so great that Strangdid not hesitate to throw me into jail on the pretext that I hadthreatened his life. Marion implored him to spare me the disgrace of apublic whipping and he replied by reading to her the commandments of thekingdom. That was last night--when you saw her through the window.Strang is madly infatuated with her beauty and yet he dares to go to anylength without fear of losing her. She has become his slave. She is ascompletely in his power as though bound in iron chains. And the mostterrible thing about it all is that she has constantly urged me to leavethe island--to go, and never return. Great God, what does it all mean? Ilove her more than anything else on earth, we have been inseparablesince the day she was old enough to toddle alone--and yet she would haveme leave her! No power on earth can reveal the secret that is torturingher. No power can make Strang divulge it."

  "And Obadiah Price!" cried Nathaniel, sudden excitement flashing in hiseyes. "Does he not know?"

  "I believe that he does!" replied Neil, pacing back and forth in hisagitation. "Captain Plum, if there is a man on this island who lovesMarion with all of a father's devotion it is Obadiah Price, and yet heswears that he knows nothing of the terrible influence which has sosuddenly enslaved her to the prophet! He suggests that it may bemesmerism, but I--" He interrupted himself with a harsh, mirthlesslaugh. "Mesmerism be damned! It's not that!"

  "Your sister--is--a Mormon," ventured Nathaniel, remembering what theprophet had said to him that morning. "Could it be her faith?--amessage revealed through Strang from--"

  Neil stopped him almost fiercely.

  "Marion is not a Mormon!" he said. "She hates Mormonism as she hatesStrang. I have tried to get her to leave the island with me but sheinsists on staying because of the old folk. They are very old, CaptainPlum, and they believe in the prophet and his Heaven as you and Ibelieve in that blue sky up there. The day before I was arrested Ibegged my sister to flee to the mainland with me but she refused withthe words that she had said to me a hundred times before--'Neil, I mustmarry the prophet!' Don't you see there is nothing to do--but to killStrang?"

  N
athaniel thrust his hand into a pocket of the coat he had loaned toNeil and drew forth his pipe and tobacco pouch. As he loaded the pipe helooked squarely into the other's eyes and smiled.

  "Neil," he said softly. "Do you know that you would have made an awfulfool of yourself if I hadn't hove in sight just when I did?"

  He lighted his pipe with exasperating coolness, still smiling over itsbowl.

  "You are not going to kill Strang to-morrow," he added, throwing awaythe match and placing both hands on Neil's shoulders. His eyes werelaughing with the joy that shone in them. "Neil, I am ashamed of you!You have worried a devilish lot over a very simple matter. See here--"He blew a cloud of smoke over the other's head. "I've learned to demandsome sort of pay for my services since I landed on this island. Will youpromise to be--a sort of brother--to me--if I steal Marion and sail awaywith her to-night?"