The Spoilers | Page 4

little chap I ever fought over, Mexikin, Injun, or white. What's the trouble?"
"I suppose you think I've done something dreadful, don't you?" she said. "But I haven't. I had to get away from the Ohio to-night for--certain reasons. I'll tell you all about it to-morrow. I haven't stolen anything, nor poisoned the crew--really I haven't." She smiled at them, and Glenister found it impossible not to smile with her, though dismayed by her feeble explanation.
"Well, I'll wake up the steward and find a place for you to go," he said at length. "You'll have to double up with some of the women, though; it's awfully crowded aboard."
She laid a detaining hand on his arm. He thought he felt her tremble.
"No, no! I don't want you to do that. They mustn't see me to- night. I know I'm acting strangely and all that, but it's happened so quickly I haven't found myself yet. I'll tell you to-morrow, though, really. Don't let any one see me or it will spoil everything. Wait till to-morrow, please."
She was very white, and spoke with eager intensity.
"Help you? Why, sure Mike!" assured the impulsive Dextry, "an', see here, Miss--you take your time on explanations. We don't care a cuss what you done. Morals ain't our long suit, 'cause 'there's never a law of God or man runs north of Fifty-three,' as the poetry man remarked, an' he couldn't have spoke truer if he'd knowed what he was sayin'. Everybody is privileged to 'look out' his own game up here. A square deal an' no questions asked."
She looked somewhat doubtful at this till she caught the heat of Glenister's gaze. Some boldness of his look brought home to her the actual situation, and a stain rose in her cheek. She noted him more carefully; noted his heavy shoulders and ease of bearing, an ease and looseness begotten of perfect muscular control. Strength was equally suggested in his face, she thought, for he carried a marked young countenance, with thrusting chin, aggressive thatching brows, and mobile mouth that whispered all the changes from strength to abandon. Prominent was a look of reckless energy. She considered him handsome in a heavy, virile, perhaps too purely physical fashion.
"You want to stowaway?" he asked.
"I've had a right smart experience in that line," said Dextry, "but I never done it by proxy. What's your plan?"
"She will stay here to-night," said Glenister quickly. "You and I will go below. Nobody will see her."
"I can't let you do that," she objected. "Isn't there some place where I can hide?" But they reassured her and left.
When they had gone, she crouched trembling upon her seat for a long time, gazing fixedly before her. "I'm afraid!" she whispered; "I'm afraid. What am I getting into? Why do men look so at me? I'm frightened. Oh, I'm sorry I undertook it." At last she rose wearily. The close cabin oppressed her; she felt the need of fresh air. So, turning out the lights, she stepped forth into the night. Figures loomed near the rail and she slipped astern, screening herself behind a life-boat, where the cool breeze fanned her face.
The forms she had seen approached, speaking earnestly. Instead of passing, they stopped abreast of her hiding-place; then, as they began to talk, she saw that her retreat was cut off and that she must not stir.
"What brings her here?" Glenister was echoing a question of Dextry's. "Bah! What brings them all? What brought 'the Duchess,' and Cherry Malotte, and all the rest?"
"No, no," said the old man. "She ain't that kind--she's too fine, too delicate--too pretty."
"That's just it--too pretty! Too pretty to be alone--or anything except what she is."
Dextry growled sourly. "This country has plumb ruined you, boy. You think they're all alike--an' I don't know but they are--all but this girl. Seems like she's different, somehow--but I can't tell."
Glenister spoke musingly:
"I had an ancestor who buccaneered among the Indies, a long time ago--so I'm told. Sometimes I think I have his disposition. He comes and whispers things to me in the night. Oh, he was a devil, and I've got his blood in me--untamed and hot--I can hear him saying something now--something about the spoils of war. Ha, ha! Maybe he's right. I fought for her to-night--Dex--the way he used to fight for his sweethearts along the Mexicos. She's too beautiful to be good--and 'there's never a law of God or man runs north of Fifty-three.'"
They moved on, his vibrant, cynical laughter stabbing the girl till she leaned against the yawl for support.
She held herself together while the blood beat thickly in her ears, then fled to the cabin, hurling herself into her berth, where she writhed silently, beating the pillow with hands into which her nails had bitten, staring the while into the darkness with