His Unknown Wife

by Louis Tracy

  CHAPTER XVII

  RUNNING THE GANTLET

  Maseden was not greatly concerned about the dead Indian lying on theshore. What he really expected was a sudden rush of savages from anambuscade, since it was now certain that a party of natives haddescended on Hanover Island. Some might have escaped, but others hadcome to grief.

  The mere presence of a body showed that one, at least, must have diedquite recently, while the bleaching bones passed in Hell Gate hadprobably been alive two days earlier. Some vultures were alreadycircling high overhead, and he wondered why the birds had not beguntheir ghoulish task.

  He could not recollect what manner of sepulture the aborigines adopted,but, from every point of view, it was more than strange to find a corpseabandoned on the beach in such conditions, unless, indeed, some drownedman had just been cast up there by the receding tide.

  If that were so, why did the vultures wait?

  He was on the alert, therefore, for any suspicious movement among thenearest trees and tall grasses, and warned Sturgess to keep a sharplook-out in the same direction.

  "These natives are treacherous brutes," he said. "They may have seenthat our boat was heading this way, and be simply waiting an opportunityto stick harpoons into us. Don't shoot actually on sight, but be readyto put a stopper on anything like an attack."

  The words had hardly left his lips when the body on the beach moved!Slowly and, as it seemed, painfully, the Indian raised head andshoulders, and turned in the direction of the voice, finally sitting upsideways and using the right arm as a support.

  Then, as Maseden drew near, he saw that this was not a man, but a woman,a woman so emaciated and feeble that the first astonished glance he tookher to be middle-aged, whereas, in reality, she was not yet eighteen.She was stark naked, and he soon discovered that her left leg wasbroken.

  The unfortunate wretch had dragged herself to an oyster bed, as an arrayof freshly opened shells testified; but there was no great supply inthat place; the water was too shallow. At any rate, Maseden had no othermeans of estimating how long she had been there; indeed, he gave littlethought to that consideration, because the problem of what to do withher arose instantly.

  He argued, however, that the members of her tribe could not be close athand, since the merest instinct of self-preservation would lead them toassist one of their number rendered helpless by an accident, though,among these wild folk, an old woman might be regarded as of no account.

  He spoke to her in Spanish, asking what had happened, and she appearedto have a vague sense of his meaning; but her eyes were glistening withterror and fever, and he could make nothing of a mumbled reply except aword that sounded like _humo_, "smoke." She showed extreme fear at sightof the gun carried by Sturgess. Holding out her left hand as if pleadingfor mercy, she collapsed with a groan.

  Sturgess, of course, was as fully aware as his companion of thedifficulties raised by the discovery of this maimed creature.

  "Well, by way of a change, Alec, I guess we're up against a mighty toughproposition," he said, scratching his head in sheer perplexity.

  "We have only one course open, I take it," said Maseden, though he, likeSturgess, felt that they might well have been spared this additionalburden.

  "That's so. But--are broken legs in your line?"

  "I have a notion that the bone-setter has to straighten and adjust thefracture by main force, and then bind the limb tightly, leaving therest to nature. We have a spare oar. Chop the blade into two lengths ofabout fifteen inches, and get the girls to cut narrow strips out of thecanvas cover. Bring me my oilskin, and what is left of the cover. We cancarry her in that. Leave the rifle with me--and hurry! On no accountmust either Nina or Madge come away from the boat. Be sure and impressthat on them. We may have to run for our lives any second."

  Sturgess soon returned with the improvised splints and bandages. He alsobrought a tin of beef essence which Madge had found among the boat'sstores and was hoarding carefully for such Lucullian feast when soupwould appear on the menu.

  When Maseden spoke of the remains of the canvas cover he had in mind thefact that the girls had fashioned the greater part of the coarsematerial into divided skirts. Seals were not plentiful in Rotunda Bay,and the devising of garments had become a sheer necessity.

  They persuaded the Indian girl to swallow some of the beef extract.After tasting the first mouthful she would have emptied the tin, butthis Maseden would not permit, because he knew the ordeal that wascoming.

  It was a tough job, too. In a sense, it almost proved more trying forthe amateur surgeons than for their unfortunate patient. Luckily, shefainted at the first wrench. Then they set their teeth and pulled thebroken bones into their correct positions as well as they could adjudgethem. When the girl revived she was already clothed in the oilskin andslung in the canvas sheet as in a hammock, while the limb was boundimmovably between two roughly fashioned splints.

  Maseden imagined that this creature of the wild was, in all probability,as hardy as a cormorant, and equally voracious. At any rate, when laidin the boat, she gobbled up the remaining contents of the tin, ateravenously of ship's biscuits and salt beef, and drank a mug of coffeein a gulp. When she discovered that no more food would be supplied sheyielded to an evidently overwhelming desire to sleep.

  Before closing her eyes, however, she had something to say. She wasafraid of the men, but obviously placed trust in the two girls, neitherof whom knew a syllable of Spanish beyond the few phrases which alltravelers in South America must perforce acquire.

  Madge, having the gift of music, contrived to mimic certain words withtolerable accuracy, and "smoke," "boats," "bad men," seemed, toMaseden's ear, to emerge from the guttural Indian accents. In oneimportant respect, the wishes of the new addition to the party werequite understandable. She pointed to Providence Beach, indicated theboat, and made it clear that she counselled a prompt move eastward.

  At last Maseden evolved a fairly intelligible notion of what she wasendeavoring to convey. He believed, and rightly so, that she was tellingher rescuers how a number of Indians had been attracted to HanoverIsland by the smoke of the castaways' fire. They assumed a wreck, withits prospect of loot, and, egged on by greed, had ultimately dared apassage hitherto regarded as impracticable. Some had been killed; othershad escaped, and were now on the camping-ground at Providence Beach.

  Apparently the girl was warning these strangers against her own peopleand recommending a speedy flight to safer quarters. Oddly enough, heradvice coincided with Maseden's own views. By landing on that part ofthe coast, and lighting a fire, they would be incurring a grave risk ifthere were Indians about, since the few miles' strip of shore, difficultthough it was, would be negotiated easily by natives.

  The abandonment of the injured girl he could not account for, nor was hesure the boat had been observed, granted even that Providence Beach wasnot actually occupied by savages. But he was not inclined to take anychances. Deep water flowed yet in the main channel, and the day was notfar advanced.

  So he and Sturgess shipped the oars and pulled until they were weary;before night fell they had met the rising tide, and made a good landing,not on Hanover Island, but on the eastern end of Island Number Two.

  They slept in the boat as best they could, the men taking turns atmounting guard, as in addition to the now somewhat improbable chance ofbeing attacked, their craft had to be maneuvered into slack water as thetide rose and fell. They were all heartily glad to see the dawn and eata good meal.

  The very smell of food awakened the Indian girl. Like a healthy animalrecovering from hardship, she was growing plumper and comelier undertheir very eyes. With each hour she shed a year in appearance, and herconfidence increased in about the same ration.

  When she discovered that Maseden alone spoke Spanish she tried toexplain matters to him. But her own knowledge of the language was of theslightest, and he was only able to confirm his overnight belief as tothe danger of remaining in the vicinity of their first landing-place.

&n
bsp; Singularly his close acquaintance with the San Juan _patois_ proved mosthelpful. It occurred to him that this might be so, as the root words ofIndian tribes throughout the South American continent have undergonefewer changes than would have been the case among civilized peoples.Many were in use among the Spanish half-castes on the ranch, and thisaborigine grasped their meaning at once. Good linguist though he was,however, Maseden failed to extract more than a glimmering of sense fromher uncouth accents.

  But none could fail to be impressed by her relief when the boat wasafloat and traveling east. They soon quitted the channel between theislands and entered the wide expanse of Nelson Straits. The weather wasfine, and a steady wind from the southwest encouraged Maseden to rig thesail.

  Having a wholesome respect for the Pacific tides, he meant to hug thecoast of Hanover Island. But after studying the clouds intently for anhour, the Indian girl signified that she wished to be lifted in herhammock. She then pointed to some small islands just distinguishable onthe horizon, and apparently situated in the middle of the straits.

  She saw the hesitancy in Maseden's face, and by this time had evidentlysingled him out as the leader of the party. Then she turned to NinaForbes, and her gestures said as plainly, no doubt, as her words:

  "If _I_ can't persuade him, perhaps _you_ can. Tell him to take thecourse I recommend."

  For some reason Nina's cheeks grew scarlet under the brown tan ofconstant exposure to the weather, nor did a pronounced wink by Sturgessat Madge tend to restore her composure. But she met the Indian girl'sappeal with seeming nonchalance and bravely ignored the obviousinference.

  "I suppose she thinks that I may exercise some influence in the matter,Alec," she said, striving in vain to suppress a nervous little laugh. "Ido honestly believe she means well. She is extraordinarily grateful tous. I have been watching her, and there is a dog-like devotion in hereyes when we render any little service that is reassuring."

  "Those islets out there may be bare rocks," protested Maseden. He hadlittle knowledge of sailing boats, and hesitated at a long trip in thesefickle waters.

  "Perhaps that is why she wishes us to go that way. They lie due east,and that is something in their favor."

  Still was he dubious, largely owing to the intervening stretch of opensea, but again he essayed to question their would-be pilot.

  The girl was quite emphatic in her direction as to the course, andequally opposed to the more cautious method he favored. A good deal ofthis was expressed in pantomime, but it was none the lessunderstandable.

  Finally, finding that the others had faith in her, Maseden nodded toMadge, who was at the tiller, as the rudder had been shipped when thesail was hoisted; and the boat was put across the wind. The Indian girlsmiled, and was satisfied. They lifted her down to her place amidships,where her head rested on the package of treasure, and she remained therecontentedly many hours.

  Long before the violet-hued blurs in front took definite shape as agroup of two fair-sized islands, with trees, lying among a great manystark rocks, sticking straight up out of the sea, the voyagers becameaware of at least one good reason for their guide's choice of direction.The coast of Hanover Island began to fall away sharply to the northeast,and a wide gap opened up between it and the nearest land, a gap whichmust have been crossed in any event.

  Maseden himself was the first to admit that they had been given soundadvice.

  Luckily the wind remained steady, and brought their craft on at a fairpace against a falling tide. Nevertheless it was a long sail, far longerthan any of them had anticipated, and the shadows were deepening whenthe men again lifted the Indian girl level with the gunwale to find outif she could recommend the safest way of approaching a particularlyforbidding shore.

  She understood at once what they wanted, and indicated a narrow channelbetween two gigantic outlying rocks. Though it was precisely the one ofthree possible waterways which no stranger would have chosen, they didnot dream now of disputing her judgment. The passage was made moreeasily than they had counted on, and a second time was their faithjustified, because a strip of white beach soon showed on the line wheretrees and sea met.

  The boat was run ashore, and a fire was lighted. The weather had becomemuch colder, probably owing to the absence of shelter from the hillsunder which they had camped during the past month. The Indian girloffered no objection to the fire. In fact, when laid near it in a sandhollow, she fell asleep long before any of them.

  The boat, of course, had to be safeguarded, as they landed at low water.Were it not for a fissure in the rock which permitted them to row fullya quarter of a mile nearer high-water mark than would have been possibleotherwise, they must have devoted a wearisome time to the task ofhauling her in as the tide rose. Fortunately, there was no heavy surf.The reefs they had seen some fifteen miles to the westward had broken upthe long Pacific rollers, and the breeze was not strong enough todisturb this inland sea.

  Nina and Madge elected to sleep on the sand.

  "You can have too much of a good thing," explained Madge laughingly,"and, greatly as I prize our ark, I am tired of it to-day. Every bone inmy body is aching."

  They had, of course, given up each skin and strip of canvas theypossessed in order to render the Indian girl more comfortable during thevoyage, and a ship's boat can be a most irksome conveyance in suchcircumstances.

  When the tide was high Sturgess and Maseden, before they, too, turnedin, rose to make sure that the anchor could not drag during the night,and Sturgess electrified his friend by choosing that odd moment toallude to the Cartagena marriage.

  "Say, Alec," he said, "you sure have had the time of your life eversince you were hauled off to San Juan and sentenced to be shot."

  Maseden imagined that the New Yorker was merely referring to theincidents following the shipwreck.

  "I don't see exactly how life has been more of a sizzle for me than foryou and the girls," he said.

  "Ah, come off it, Alec!" laughed the other. "You know better than that.But I guess I'll have to hand the explanation on a tray. Madge and Ninahave told the facts about your wedding. Gosh! What a jolt it must havegiven you to find your wife on board the _Southern Cross_!"

  "You _know_?" gasped Maseden.

  "Yep. They up and told me while you were gathering fire-wood. Nina saidshe had promised you to put the full hand on the table at the firstopportunity. She's done it."

  "Nina! Didn't Madge say anything?"

  "You bet your life. She was tickled to death. It's been worrying her noend."

  "May I ask--"

  "No, you mayn't. It was square of you, Alec, to insist that I shouldcome in on the inside track. Of course, I wasn't born and bred in littleold New York for nothing, and I had my doubts a while back. One day,too, you were within an ace of blurting out the whole yarn. I rememberit well. I'm glad now you didn't. It would have made things kind ofdifficult for me. But both girls are a bit shy where you're concerned.You don't blame 'em, do you?"

  Maseden was absolutely bewildered. Sturgess was an irresponsible,devil-may-care fellow in many respects, but these effervescent qualitiescloaked a fine sensibility, and it was astounding to find him treatingthe matter so lightly.

  "I--I hardly know what to say," he stammered.

  "Say nothing. The tangle will straighten out in time. We're going to winthrough all right, so let us forget the San Juan affair till itovertakes us. You ain't going to switch off from Nina on to Madge, Iguess, so you and I won't quarrel, and the other kinks in the chain willsort themselves if we all go easy."

  "Tell me this. What was the cause of the marriage?"

  "I don't know."

  "You don't _know_?" Each word was a crescendo of astonishment.

  "No. What business is it of mine, anyhow?"

  "But you yourself have told me that you mean to marry Madge."

  "Sure as death."

  "Yet--"

  "Sorry, Alec. I've promised to keep mum. Suppose we leave it at that."

  "What is there to keep mum abo
ut?"

  "Hanged if _I_ can tell you, though you yourself haven't been what youmight call bursting with information during the past month."

  "It was a woman's secret, C. K."

  "And that's just how I size it up at this sitting."

  Sturgess's logic was unanswerable, but Maseden was in high dudgeon ashe strode back to the camp-fire. He was far more angry with Nina thanwith Madge. He suspected that Madge simply followed her sister'sinstructions, and the injustice of this steady refusal of confidencewas aggravated by the fact that Sturgess seemed to know more about theins and outs of the affair now than he did.

  True, the New Yorker said he was still in ignorance of the motive whichled up to the marriage, yet he had hinted at the possession of knowledgewithheld from the man who had saved their lives not once but a dozentimes. Nina was to blame. Maseden was certain of that. He would haveliked to shake her.

  As it happened, she was either sound asleep or pretending it, so he,too, curled up in the sand and slept till long after dawn.

  The new day began with an unexpected difficulty. The Indian girl wascheerful as a grig during breakfast. She ascertained their names, whichshe pronounced fairly well. "Nina" she had no trouble with. "Madge" shemade into "Mad-je." Maseden was "Ah-lek," and Sturgess "See-ke." Herown name had a barbarous sound, if, indeed, it was a name at all; soMadge christened her "Topsy," which seemed to please her. But herlight-heartedness vanished when she saw preparations being made to renewthe voyage. She protested volubly, pointed to a colony of seals andwell-filled beds of oysters, and generally implied an earnest desire toremain on the island.

  Eastward, it would appear, were other "bad men" and "much smoke," but,whatsoever her motive, Maseden sternly overruled her. She was greatlydistressed when placed on board the boat, and sulked for a couple ofhours. As the coast drew near, however, she evinced renewed anxiety, andsignified that she would act as pilot again.

  The land seemed to be a replica of seaward islands; a fast-running tidalstream passed due east between two gaunt promontories. According toMaseden's reckoning the straits they were now entering should open intoSmyth's Channel, and he bent his wits to the task of getting Topsy tounderstand that he wanted to meet one of the big ships which follow thatroute.

  He believed she understood, but there could be no doubting she was sodeeply concerned as to the probable whereabouts of the inhabitants ofthe coast region that she gave little heed to the wishes of herrescuers.

  Oblivious of the pain she must be enduring, she contrived toperch herself in the bows, and scanned each bay and inlet of theever-narrowing passage, though this was no subsidiary channel, but adeep and swift tide-way. The wind was strong and favorable and the boatwas traveling fully eight knots an hour, a speed which no native craftcould hope to rival. Still, Topsy's marked uneasiness led Maseden toexamine the rifle and make sure that its mechanism was in good orderand the magazine charged.

  He had no definite notion as to the type of weapons used by the Indians.Nearly all savages are armed with spears and clubs, but he believedthat a people so low in the social scale as these South American nomadswould not possess firearms. At any rate, he bade all hands keep a sharplook-out, and specifically ordered Sturgess and the girls to take coverin the event of an attack, unless an actual attempt was made to boardthe boat, in which case the girls could thrust with the rapiers andSturgess might do good work with an ax.

  They ran on several miles without incident, and were beginning to thinkthat their guide was, perhaps, swayed more by recollection of earliersufferings than by any active peril of the hour, when Topsy, whosepiercing black eyes were ever and anon turned to the bluffs on eitherhand, uttered a sharp cry and pointed to a low cliff overhanging a baythey had just passed on the left.

  Three thin columns of smoke were ascending from its summit.

  Maseden could make nothing of her excited speech, but he understood hergestures readily, and took it that the smoke was a signal, while thedanger, whatever it may be, lay ahead.

  And, indeed, they had not long to wait for an explanation. From arounda point not a mile distant, and directly in front, appeared a number ofcoracles, eight all told, and each containing two men, or a man and awoman. It was clear that this flotilla meant to waylay them, and theterror exhibited by the Indian girl was only too eloquent as to the fateof the boat's occupants if they allowed themselves to be overpowered.

  Maseden disposed his forces promptly. Sturgess was given the tiller.Topsy was put back on her couch in the bottom of the boat, and Nina andMadge were told to crouch by her side until their help was called for.From the outset the Americans did not dream of attempting to parley.Topsy's unfeigned dread was sufficient to ban any such quixotic notion.

  The coracles were strung out in an irregular line, covering a width ofabout four hundred yards, and, in laying his plans, Maseden recalled thestrategy of a certain great admiral.

  "Head slap for their center," he told Sturgess confidently. "Thatwas Nelson's favorite way of attack. If possible, he always brokethe enemy's line in two, and I suppose it paid him. I think theseheavy-caliber bullets will rip a native craft as though it were madeof brown paper, and I should be able to sink at least four beforethe others can close in."

  Sturgess nodded.

  "What Nelson says goes," he grinned.

  The battle opened at a range of one hundred yards, and Maseden's firstshot buckled the framework of the nearest coracle, so that it sank likea stone. There was a spurt of steam as the fire which every Indian boatcarries reached the water, and two men swam away like otters.

  The second shot struck a little too high. It whizzed through the craft'shide cover and lodged in an Indian's body, because the man yelledfrantically. Maseden fired again, and damaged another coracle.

  But by this time he had made the unpleasing discovery that these lightskiffs could be propelled very rapidly for a short distance. In each aman or woman was paddling with furious energy, while their companionswere using slings. Small, heavy stones rattled against and into theboat.

  Sturgess was struck twice on the breast and left shoulder, and was onlysaved from serious injury by the stout oilskin coat he was wearing. Evenso, he went white with pain, but he neither uttered a word nor neglectedhis task, which was to keep the sail filled and the boat traveling.

  Maseden had two objects in mind--to beat off their assailants and yetkeep sufficient ammunition in stock lest other Indians were encounteredlater. He sank two more coracles, and had killed or wounded three men,when a flint pebble struck him on the head, finding the exact spot wherehe was injured during the wreck.

  He sank to his knees, and tried to say something. He believed he heard acrash and some shouting. Then the sky and hills and swift-running waterswhirled in a mad dance before his eyes, and he lost consciousness.

  CHAPTER XVIII

  THE SETTLEMENT

  Just as before, when he awoke on board the _Southern Cross_ insurroundings so bewildering that he gave up the effort to localizethem, his puzzled eyes now surveyed white-painted panelled walls, abrass-bound port-light, and some tapestry curtains. At any other time hewould have realized at once that he was in a ship's cabin, but now anuncomprehending stare soon yielded to a torpor of pain.

  He believed that a gentle hand adjusted a bandage on his head, and wasaware of a grateful coldness where before there had been heat and athrobbing ache. Afterwards--he thought it was immediately, though theinterval was a full half hour--he looked again at the walls and ceilingwith something of real recognition in his glance.

  "Glad to see you're regaining your wits, Mr. Alexander," said a man'svoice, a strange but very pleasant voice. "Lucky for you you've got theright sort of thick head, or, from what I hear, it would certainly havebeen cracked twice."

  Mr. Alexander! Who was he? And where was he? Where were--

  "May he talk a little now, doctor?" and Maseden would have had to bevery dead if he did not know that Nina Forbes was sitting by his side.He turned, and even remembered to repress a groan
lest some one inauthority might not grant her request.

  Even so the doctor was dubious.

  "He must not be allowed to get excited," he said.

  "Then may he listen to me a minute?"

  "Yes, if you really keep to schedule."

  "Don't move, Alec!" whispered Nina, and there seemed to be a note inher voice that Maseden had heard only once before, though he could notrecall the occasion. "We're on board a mail steamer bound for England,but she touches at Punta Arenas and Buenos Ayres, so you must be 'Mr.Alexander,' not 'Mr. Maseden,' until we reach home. Don't ask why justnow. I'll tell you to-morrow, or next day, when you are stronger. Youwill trust me, won't you?"

  "Trust you, Nina! Yes, forever!"

  He looked at her, as though to make sure that his senses were notdeceiving him and that it was really Nina Forbes who sat there, a Ninawith her hair nicely combed and coiled and wearing a particularlyattractive pink jersey and white serge skirt.

  He thought that her eyes--those frank blue eyes he had gazed into sooften--were suffused with tears.

  "Why are you crying?" he demanded, with just a hint of that domineeringway of his.

  "Not for grief," she said quietly. "But you must drink this now, and goto sleep. When you awaken again, perhaps the doctor will let C. K. comeand chat with you."

  "C. K.? Is he all right?"

  "Yes."

  "And Madge?"

  "Yes. Not another word. Drink--to please me."

  "I'll do anything to please you."

  He swallowed some milk and soda-water; took a whole tumbler-full, infact.

  "That's fine," he said. "Now I'll hold your hand and you'll tell me--"

  "You're going to close your eyes and lie still," she said firmly. "Ifyou don't I'll leave you. If you do, I'll stay here."

  "I'm bribed," he said, smiling. Soon he slept, but this was nature'shealing sleep, not the coma of insensibility. When next he entered aworld of reality he found Sturgess sitting where Nina had been.

  "Going strong now, Alec?" inquired his friend.

  Maseden did not answer at once. He wanted to be quite sure that thewretched throbbing in his head had ceased. Yes; there was a greatsoreness, but it was of the scalp, not of the internal mechanism. Hesat bolt upright.

  "Hi!" shouted Sturgess, "you mustn't do that! Gosh! The doctor man willraise Cain with me if he knows I let you move."

  "I'm all right, C. K."

  "You're going to flatten out straight away, or I'll shriek for help."

  Maseden lay down. The dominant emotion of the moment was curiosity.Perhaps, if he kept quiet, Sturgess would talk.

  At any rate, the New Yorker was much relieved, and said so.

  "You've nearly hopped it," he explained anxiously. "It was a case oftouch and go with you for two days, and--"

  "Two days!" gasped Maseden. "Have I been stretched here two days?"

  "And more. We were picked up by the _Valentia_ on Thursday evening, andnow it is Sunday morning."

  "Everything seems to happen on a Sunday," said Maseden inconsequently;but Sturgess understood.

  "Sunday is our day," he agreed. "Now, if you don't butt into thesoliloquy, but show an intelligent interest by an occasional nod, I'llswitch you on to the Information Bureau. The doc said I might, just tostop you from worrying.

  "When an Indian with a spit lip got you with a stone at about five yardsthere were two coracles on each side of us. I suspicioned that the Thugsin them meant to spring aboard at the same time, which would have meanttrouble, so it was up to me to spoil the combination. I shoved the helmhard over and drove into the two on the port side. Our heavy boat wentthrough them as though they were jelly-fish, and the sudden rise of ourstarboard gunwale upset the calculations of the other crowd.

  "Everybody, including you, rolled over with the sudden lurch, but Ninagathered herself together, grabbed your gun, stood straight on her feet,and said to me: 'Do you know which of these men hit Alec?' 'Yes,' Isaid, 'that joker with the criss-cross mouth. But you lie down. We'reclear now.' Without another word she drew a steady bead on thestone-slinger and got him with the first shot.

  "Then she attended to you. It seemed almost as though we had reached thelimit, with you lying like dead, and me weak and sick, because theslingers gave me a couple to begin with, and the Indian girl screamingfor all she was worth. Nina was just crooning over you like a mothernursing an ailing baby, so Madge came and took the tiller--not beforetime, as I didn't know enough to run with the wind again.

  "We missed a howling reef by a hair's breadth--missed it only becausethe new course had taken us close inshore towards the north. Half anhour later we were in Smyth's Channel, and didn't know it, so we wouldhave been sailing yet into the middle of the Andes if the _Valentia_hadn't bumped around a corner. Since then we three have been setting thescene for you when you come on deck. The passengers are the right sort,every man and woman among 'em all wool and a yard wide. Tell you what,Alec--I'd better warn you--Nina and Madge have fixed up a star turn foryou on your first appearance."

  Sturgess paused to grin largely, so Maseden broke in with a question.

  "Are we at sea now?" he inquired.

  "No. We're anchored at Punta Arenas. The girls have gone ashore to seethat Topsy is well fixed in a mission-house. The man who runs it cameaboard for mail. He talks Topsy's lingo, so now we know why we happenedon her. She broke her leg when one of half a dozen coracles was upset,and the brutes simply left her there to die, as they were in such adashed hurry to go for the supposed loot of a wrecked ship. She will beall right here. I've attended to the financial side of it. They tell methat a hundred dollars will make her a great heiress."

  "What about my name--Alexander?"

  "Gee whiz! I was nearly forgetting. That was Nina's notion. She's realcute, that girl. She sized up the position in San Juan, and in casethere might be any difficulty while the ship is in South American watersgave your name as Philip Alexander. She remembered that there was a Mr.Alexander on board the _Southern Cross_, and it would be just silly totry and pass you off as a broncho-buster. No one gave any heed to yourclothes. Our collective rig was so cubist or futurist, in generaleffect, that your _vaquero_ outfit passed with the rest.

  "The skipper is about your size, and he has sent you a suit. The girlsare buying linen and underclothes for all of us in Punta Arenas. I hadno money, so instead of borrowing from the other people I went throughyour pants for five hundred dollars. You'll find a note with your wad,so that you can collect if I peg out before we find a bank."

  Then Maseden laughed, and was heard by the doctor, who was coming alongthe gangway.

  "Halloa!" he said. "Was it you who laughed, Mr. Alexander?"

  "Yes, doctor."

  "Any pain in your head?"

  "Outside, yes; inside, no."

  "Feeling sick?"

  "Sick. I could eat a pound of grilled steak."

  "You'll do! Wonderful health resort, that wild land you've beenwandering through. You have survived the nastiest concussion, short ofabsolutely fatal injuries, I've come across. I can't prescribe steakjust yet, but if you get through the night without a temperature I'llallow you on deck to-morrow for a couple of hours."

  Maseden chafed against the enforced rest, and rebelled against a dietof milk and beef tea, but the doctor was wiser than he, and the patientacknowledged it when really strong again.

  On the day the ship left Buenos Ayres he was able to dress unaided andreach a chair on deck without a helping arm. The boat which had provedthe salvation of the castaways had been hoisted on board, and thatparticular part of the deck was allotted to the party of four. The otherpassengers were never tired of hearing them recount their adventures,and Maseden, to his secret amazement, discovered that Nina Forbes seemedto find delight in attracting an audience.

  Madge and Sturgess could, and did, stroll off together for many anuninterrupted chat, but Nina was always surrounded by a coterie ofstrangers, some of them men, young men, frankly admiring young men.

&n
bsp; Maseden endured this state of affairs until the ship had signalled hername and destination at Fernando Noronha, whence there was a straightrun home. Then, disobeying the doctor, and coming on deck for the firsttime after dinner, he found Nina ensconced in her corner alone.

  He took her by surprise. She would have sprung up, but he stopped herwith a firm hand.

  "No, you don't," he said, pulling a chair around and seating himself sothat his broad back offered a barrier to any would-be intruder. "You andI are going to have a heart-to-heart talk, Nina. I've been waiting manydays for the chance of it, and now is the time."

  She tried to laugh carelessly.

  "What an alarming announcement," she tittered. "Wherein have I erredthat I am to be catechised? Or is it only a lecture on generalbehavior?"

  "I'll tell you. While we were trying to dodge the worries of existenceround about Hanover Island I gave little real thought to my own affairs.But the calm of the past few days has enabled me to sort out events inwhat I may term their natural sequence, and the second rap on the headmay have restored my wits to their average working capacity. Perhaps itwill simplify matters if I begin at the beginning. The woman Imarried--"

  "Are you still harping on that unfortunate marriage?"

  The tone was flippant enough, but its studied nonchalance was a trifleoverdone.

  "Yes," he said quietly. "I promise that you will not be bored by thefacts I intend to put before you--now--to-night--unless you resolve notto listen."

  There was no answer. Somehow, every woman knows just how far she mayplay with a man. Had Nina Forbes chosen, she might have sent her truelover out of her life that instant. She did not so choose. Indeed,nothing was further from her mind. She did not commit the error ofimagining that Maseden would pester her with his wooing and wait hergood pleasure to yield. His temperament did not incline to gusts ofpassion. She must hear him now or lose him forever.

  "Of course I'll listen," she said timidly.

  "Thank you. Well, then, my wife signed the register as Madeleine. Thatis not your sister's name."

  "No."

  "Nor yours?"

  "No."

  "Yet you led me to believe that I had married your sister?"

  "No. You assumed it."

  "What really happened was that you assumed the name of Madeleine. Nina,_you_ are my wife!"

  "In a sense, yes."

  Though the promenade deck was lighted by a few lamps, there was acertain gloom in that corner. Nina's face was discernable, but not itsexpression, and a curious hardening in her voice brought to Maseden awhiff of surprise, almost of anxiety. Happily he had mapped out the linehe meant to follow, and adhered to it inflexibly.

  "In the sense that you are legally Mrs. Philip Alexander Maseden," hepersisted.

  "I may or may not be. I am not sure. I used a name not my own. It wasthe first that come into my head--a frightened woman's attempt to leaveherself some loophole of escape in the future."

  "You are mistaken, Nina. I know enough about the law to say definitelythat it is the ceremony which counts, not the name. You will see at oncethat this must be so. If you married another man to-morrow, and signedyourself 'Mary Smith,' you would still be committing bigamy."

  At that she laughed.

  "I must really be careful," she said.

  "I only want to fix in your mind the absolute finality of that earlymorning wedding in the Castle of San Juan. It makes matters easier."

  "To my thinking it makes them most complex."

  "Not at all. You and I have only reversed the usual procedure.Common-place folk meet, fall in love, go through a more or lessfrenzied period of being engaged, and, finally, get married. We beganby getting married. Circumstances beyond our control stopped thenatural progression of the affair, but I suggest that the frenziedpart of the business might well start now."

  He caught her left hand and held it. She did not endeavor to withdrawit, but he was startled by her seeming indifference. Still, being adetermined person, even in such a delicate matter as love-making, hepursued his theme.

  "You well know that I mean to marry you, Nina, though I have regardedmyself as bound to your sister until freed by process of law," he wenton. "But I ought to have guessed sooner that Madge would never haveallowed Sturgess to become so openly her slave if she had contracted tolove, honor and obey me. She might, indeed, have shared my view that themarriage was a make-believe affair as between her and me, but she wouldhave held it as binding until the law declared her free. Then, that dayin Hell Gate, when the hazard of a few minutes would decide whether welived or died, you meant to tell me the truth before the end came. Isthat so?"

  "Yes."

  "Why?"

  "You have no right to ask." Her voice was very low.

  "I can answer my own question. You wanted to die in my arms, Nina, withour first and last kiss on our lips. Fool that I was, I was so concernedabout the height of a tide-mark on a rock that I gave no heed to thefaltering speech of the woman I loved. The next time I heard those sameaccents from you was when I came to my senses on board this ship. For afew seconds you bared your heart again, Nina, and again I was deaf.

  "You must forgive me, sweetheart, though such grievous lack ofperception was really the highest compliment I could pay you. The notionthat I was married to Madge was firmly established in my mind, and Iliterally dared not tell you that you were the one woman in the worldfor me till the other obstacle was removed. Seldom, if ever, I suppose,has any man been in such a position. Of course, there would have been nodifficulty at all if I had happened to guess the truth--"

  "That is just where you are mistaken, Alec," and the words came with asorrowful earnestness that Maseden found vastly disconcerting. "Whatwoman with a shred of self-respect would agree to regard such a union asours binding? Now, you have had your say; let me have mine," and shesnatched her hand away vehemently. "I married you as part of an infamouscompact between that trader, Steinbaum, and Mr. Gray.

  "My family is not wealthy, Alec. When my mother married a second timeshe did so largely on account of Madge and myself. She lacked money toeducate us, or give us the social position every good mother desiresfor her daughters. But Mr. Gray, though a man of means, frittered awaya good income in foolish speculations. He was worth half a milliondollars, and believed himself such a financial genius that he could soonbe a multi-millionaire. Instead of making money, he lost it, and thelatest of his follies was to finance Enrico Suarez in a scheme to seizethe presidency. The attempt was to have been made two years ago, but waspostponed, or defeated, I don't know which--"

  "Defeated," put in Maseden. "I know, because I helped to put a stopperon it."

  "Well, the collapse of that undertaking and its golden promisefrightened my stepfather. After a lot of correspondence betweenSteinbaum and himself he came to South America, bringing with himpractically the remnants of his fortune. My mother was too ill toaccompany him, and he refused to travel alone, so we two girls weregiven the trip. Naturally, we were quite ignorant of the facts, andbelieved he was merely visiting a little republic in which he hadfinancial interests.

  "By chance we arrived in Cartagena on the very day Suarez had plannedfor the president's murder--and yours, too, for that matter. Your arrestand condemnation gave the conspirators a chance of repaying Mr. Graythe money he had advanced. They were afraid he would lodge an officialcomplaint, and get the State Department to interfere. But they hadnot the means in hard cash, and it occurred to one of them--Suarez, Ibelieve--that if one of Mr. Gray's daughters married you, and inheritedyour estate, the property could be sold for a sum sufficient to clearhis claim and leave a balance for the other thieves.

  "That is the precious project in which I, the elder of the two, became apawn. Mr. Gray terrified me into compliance by telling me that we wouldbe paupers on our return home. For myself I cared little, but when Ithought of my mother I yielded. I am not excusing myself, Alec, thoughI little guessed the true nature of the bargain. I see now that Suarezand Steinbaum wished to avoi
d the actual semblance of having committeddaylight murder and robbery. They might justify your death as a rebelagainst the state, but they could not explain away the seizure of yourproperty, whereas its sale by your widow would be a most reasonableproceeding.

  "Please understand that I believed I was only carrying out a formalundertaking meant to enable my stepfather to recover money honestlylent. Even so, my resolution faltered at the last moment, and I signedthe register in my mother's name. And now I have bared my heart to you,and you see how--utterly--impossible--it is--Oh, Alec, don't be cruel!Don't torture me! I can never, never be your wife, because I can neverforgive myself!"

  Alec, the wise, as Sturgess had often styled him, showed exceedingwisdom now by letting her cry her fill. Never a word did he say untilthe tempest subsided. Then he took her hand again and drew her to him.

  "Tell me one thing, Nina," he said gently. "What became of the ring--ourring?"

  "It is tied around my neck--on a bit of ribbon," she sobbed.

  "Then it shall remain there until we reach New York," he said.

  "But--I want--to keep it--as a souvenir--of all that has passed," shesaid brokenly.

  "So you shall, dear one. You would never feel satisfied, anyhow, with aSpanish marriage, so we'll try an American one."

  "Alec, I cuc--cuc--can't marry you. I'm too ashamed."

  He laughed happily, and drew her to him.

  "You can't wriggle out of the knot now, girlie," he said. "But, just tobehave like other folk, we'll begin again at the beginning, and not atthe end. Nina, do you think you can learn to love me quick enough topermit of a real wedding when we arrive in New York? You and I have gonethrough so many experiences since we met that we can dispense with someof the preliminaries to courtship. Shall we fix a date now? Say threeweeks after we land, or sooner, if matters can be arranged."

  She lifted her tear-stained face, and her soul went out to his in theirfirst kiss.

  * * * * *

  Sturgess, when he heard of the latest development, "got busy," as he putit, on his own account. He, of course, had been told the exact facts byNina on that night passed on the island in Nelson Straits. The upshotof the general agreement speedily arrived at was a noteworthy doublewedding, at which, as a topic of conversation, the beauty of the bridesrivaled, if it did not eclipse, their extraordinary adventures.

  It should be said, as a fitting rounding off of a record of singularevents, that Maseden not only obtained the money held in trust for himby the consul at Cartagena, but the proceeds of the sale of the ranchas well. Enrico Suarez was stabbed to the heart by a maniac with agrievance. Senor Porilla, an honest man, according to South Americanstandards, became president, and saw to it that Maseden's rights weresafeguarded. Even the wily Steinbaum was compelled to disgorge to Gray'sexecutors.

  The Aztec treasure was sold for a mint of money to a millionairecollector, and this sum was settled on Mrs. Gray for life, withreversion to her daughters in equal shares.

  If any one is really curious to ascertain the identity and whereaboutsof Mr. and Mrs. Philip Alexander Maseden or Mr. and Mrs. C. K. Sturgess,all that is necessary is to visit a town on the coast of Maine anyAugust, and keep an eye peeled for a ship's life-boat converted into ayawl and named "_The Ark_." Therein will be found some very pleasantpeople, and, with the help of the foregoing history, the rest of thetask should be simplicity itself.

  THE END.

  TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:

  Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors; otherwise,every effort has been made to remain true to the author's words andintent.