MARY KAVANAGH USES HER WITS
For half a minute the skipper was mad enough to kill the unconscious
sailor with his hands and feet; but Mother Nolan and Mary Kavanagh
together were equal to the task of holding him and bringing him to a
glimmering of reason. Mother Nolan's tongue did not spare him, even as
her fingers had not spared poor, loyal Bill Brennen's whiskers.
"Would ye be murderin' him?" she cried. "An' him helpless--aye, an' a
better man nor ye be yerself, Denny Nolan. Then ye be no blood an' kin
to me, ye great murderer! Didn't he land ye on the flat o' yer great
back, ye limb, though ye took him all suddant an' unawares? Sure, he
did! Kill him, then; an' 'twill be your own father's mother goes to St.
John's to bring the police to hang ye up by yer cowardly neck. Aye, ye
kin lay to that! What old Kate Nolan says she says, an' the divil
himself couldn't make a liar of her!"
"I thought ye was a man, Denny, an' fought like a man," said Mary
Kavanagh, in a low voice that shook with unuttered sobs; "but if ye
strikes him now, a-layin' there as harmless as a swile, then I'll know
ye for a coward an' a murderer."
The skipper looked down at Flora Lockhart, who knelt above Darling,
weeping bitterly. His black eyes glowed and his face twisted and paled.
"If it had bin meself hit the blow that downed him, then I'd be
finishin' him," he said, "but I don't kill where I don't down! I bain't
no coward, Mary Kavanagh, as well ye knows! Bes there any more o' the
likes of him a-sneakin' 'round me own harbor?"
"He come alone," said Mary. "He come alone, to find the girl ye've bin
hidin' an' holdin' in Chance Along till all her folks thinks she bes
dead."
"Sure, then, he found her," snarled the skipper, "an' little good 'twill
be doin' him!"
"Shame upon ye, Denny Nolan!" exclaimed the old woman. "Shame upon ye
an' yer lies an' yer wicked, silly heart that t'ought to keep the likes
o' her forever in Chance Along. Ye bain't able to fool old Kate Nolan
wid yer lies! Sure, wasn't I on to ye from the minute ye come home that
ye'd not bin to Witless Bay wid the letter? I seed the lie writ across
yer face, Denny Nolan. Shame upon ye to be tryin' to bury the poor
helpless girl alive!"
"Pick him up," said the skipper, sullenly. "There bes grub enough an' to
spare to feed him an' a hundred like him. Heave him up atween ye, men,
an' we'll be lockin' of him up in a safe place. Fetch along the lantern,
Cormy, lad."
John Darling opened his eyes at this moment, stared dizzily around him
and struggled up to one elbow.
"Flora!" he cried. "Flora, where are you?"
The girl tried to go to him, but the skipper held her. Bill Brennen
pressed the sailor back, and tied his wrists and ankles.
"Who carried the letter out to him?" demanded the skipper, gripping the
girl's shoulders with his great hands, and glaring down into her
colorless face. For answer, she wrenched herself away, and struck him a
stinging blow across the mouth with her right hand.
"How dare you?" she cried. "How dare you lay hands on me? I despise you,
you brute!"
He stepped back, his face crimson, his mouth twitching, all the fire
and mastery gone from his eyes. He had thought, poor fool, that she was
learning to care for him; for of late, in her game of self-defence, she
had treated him with evident consideration and many little attentions of
the voice and eyes. And now he understood. He saw the truth in every
flash of her eyes, in every line of brow, mouth and chin. He turned,
took the lantern from Cormick and strode from the house, with Bill and
Nick and their prisoner at his heels.
"Go down to the land-wash an' spy 'round for his boat," he said to
Cormick. "Turn out a couple o' men to help ye hunt for it--an' maybe
ye'll find some more o' these sneakin' robbers hangin' 'round the
harbor."
They carried Darling to the store, the skipper leading the way, and his
trusties swinging and hoisting their helpless burden by heels and
shoulders. They dropped him on the cold floor as if he had no more
feelings than a sack of hard bread.
"That bes all, lads," said the skipper. "Go help hunt for the boat now
an' shut the door behind ye. I'll jist be sayin' a few words to this
dirty spy afore I leaves him to his dreams."
Brennen and Leary turned and left the store without a word. They felt
vaguely uneasy, as if the great world of up-along had at last found them
out, and reached a menacing hand into their snug harbor. Would the
skipper be able to deal with so vast an enemy? If he killed this
stranger it would mean hanging by the neck, sooner or later--perhaps for
every man in the harbor? If he let him live, and held him a prisoner, it
would bring the law prying into their affairs, some time or other. Doubt
chilled them. They stumbled heavily away in the darkness.
The skipper held the lantern to his captive's face and regarded him with
wolfish, sneering attention. Soon the sneer faded a little.
"I's seed ye afore," he said. "Aye, sure as hell, I's seed ye afore!"
"And this is not the first time I've seen _your_ ugly mug, either,"
returned Darling. "I saw you the night the _Durham Castle_ came ashore
on this coast--the night you robbed the captain and the passengers.
Well, what are you going to do about it?"
"Ye'll larn that soon enough," returned the other. "Did ye get a letter
from--from her?"
"No," replied Darling, unable to see any danger in telling the truth of
that matter. "No, I didn't get any letter. I met a friend of yours in
St. John's, and he told me a great deal about you, and the game you are
playing in this harbor--and also about her. Your friend's name is Dick
Lynch."
"Dick Lynch," repeated the skipper, quietly. "I'll be cuttin' the heart
out o' that dog yet!"
"And a good job, no doubt," said Darling. "But I warn you, my man, that
if you injure Miss Lockhart in any way you'll curse the day you first
saw daylight. You'll be burned out of here like the dirty, murdering
pirate that you are--you and your whole crew. The law will have you, my
man--it will have you by the neck. Do you think I risked coming to this
place without leaving word behind me of where I was bound for and what I
was after?"
"Now ye be lyin'," said the skipper, coolly. "Ye telled the truth about
Dick Lynch; but now ye lie. Don't ye try to fool wid me, damn ye! Ye
come to Chance Along widout leavin' a word behind ye. I sees the lie in
yer face."
"I left Dick Lynch behind me," said the sailor.
That shook the skipper's assurance; but he was in no mood to feel fear
for more than a moment. He laughed sneeringly and began to unload his
captive's pockets. He took out the pistols, admired them and laid them
aside. Next, he unearthed a few cakes of hard bread, a small flask of
brandy, and a pipe and half a plug of tobacco.
"How'd ye come to Chance Along, anyhow? Where bes yer boat?" he asked,
suddenly, pausing in his work.
"I walked across from Witless Bay," said Darling.
"Where bes yer boat?" asked the other.
"In Witless Bay, you fool! Do you think I carried it across my back?"
The skipper swung the lantern back and glanced at the soles of the
other's boots.
"Ye bes a liar--and a desperate poor one at that," he said. "Where bes
yer boat?"
John Darling lost his temper. He disliked being forced into telling a
lie--and, being human, he disliked still more to have the lie discovered
and the effort wasted.
"Go to hell and find it, you black-faced pirate!" he roared.
The skipper stopped, glared down at him, and swung his right hand back
for a blow.
"Hit away, I'm tied," said the other, without flinching.
The skipper let his hand sink to his side.
"I don't hit a tied man. That bain't my way," he said, flushing darkly.
"Untie me, then, and you can hit all you want to. Cut these ropes and
let me at you. Come now, for I see that you have some sense of manliness
in you, after all."
"Not jist now. To-morrow, maybe--or maybe next day--I'll fight ye. And,
by hell, when I do I'll kill ye wid me two hands!"
"I'll take the chance. Unless you starve me or cripple me in the
meantime, I'll knock the everlasting life out of you."
The skipper growled and took up his interrupted work of investigating
the other's pockets. He unbuttoned the heavy reefer and thrust a hand
into an inner pocket. In a second he withdrew it, holding the little
casket bound in red leather. A cry of astonishment escaped him. He
pressed the catch with his thumb and the diamonds and rubies flashed and
glowed beneath his dazzled eyes.
"Me own diamonds!" he cried. "Holy saints alive, me own diamonds!
Where'd ye find 'em? Tell me that, now--where'd ye find 'em?"
Darling did not reply for a moment. Then, speaking quietly and somewhat
bitterly, he said, "If you really want to know, I found them on a dead
man, under the cliff a few miles to the north of here."
"That would be Foxey Jack Quinn," said the skipper. He closed the box
and put it in his pocket, then took up the lantern and went out, locking
the door behind him.
In the meantime, Mary Kavanagh had not been idle. She felt sure that the
stranger was safe from bodily harm for the night at least, now that
Dennis had shaken off the first blind deviltry of his rage. She knew
Dennis almost as well as old Mother Nolan did; and to-night she felt
sorry for him as well as angry with him. Leaving Flora in Mother Nolan's
care, she left the house, and followed Cormick and the others down to
the land-wash. The fog was thinning swiftly; but night had fallen, and
the sky, sea and land were all black as tar. She soon learned that no
sign of the stranger's boat could be found in the harbor. Returning from
the land-wash, she met Nick Leary.
"How bes ye a-feelin' now?" she asked, not unkindly. "But it served ye
right, Nick. A great man like ye has no call to be fightin' wid women."
"Me poor head buzzes like a nest o' wasps whin ye pokes it wid a club,"
said Nick. "Sure, Mary, 'twas a sweet tap ye give me! Marry me, girl,
an' ye'll be free to bat me every day o' yer born life."
"Sure, an' 'twould do ye no harm," said Mary. And then, "So ye've shut
the poor lad in the store, have ye?"
"Aye, but how'd ye know it, Mary?"
"I didn't know it, Nick, till ye telled me. Now go on wid yer business
o' huntin' for the boat an' I'll be goin' on wid mine. An' thanks for
yer offer, lad; but sure I'll never marry a man I kin knock down wid the
leg o' a chair."
Nick seemed to be in no mood to accept this statement as final; but the
girl soon cleared her tracks of him in the inky darkness, among the
little houses. She climbed the path to the edge of the barren and turned
northward. From what she had seen of John Darling she felt sure that he
was no fool; and therefore she had not expected to find his boat in the
harbor. He had told Mother Nolan that he had a boat, but had not
mentioned its whereabouts. Mary decided that it was hidden somewhere
handy to the harbor; and she was inclined to think that it was manned.
He had come from the north, of course; therefore the chances were good
that he had left his boat somewhere to the north of the harbor. She knew
every hollow, break and out-thrust of that coast for miles as well as
she knew the walls and floors of her father's cabin. A thought of the
little drook came to her mind and she quickened her steps along the
path. The light wind was shifting and the fog was trailing coastwise to
the south before it. Mary noted this, sniffed at the air, which was
slowly but surely changing in quality, and looked up at the black sky.
"There'll be snow afore mornin'," she said.
When she reached the head of the drook she halted and gave ear. The
sloshing and lapping of the tide came up to her; and that was all for a
minute or two. She parted the alders and young birches with her hands,
very cautiously, and moved downward into the thicket for a distance of
three or four yards, then halted again and again listened. At last,
above the noises of the tide and almost smothered by them, she heard a
sound unmistakably human--a violent sneeze. For a little while she
remained quiet, daunted by the darkness and trying to consider the
risks she was about to take. But the risks could not be considered, for
they were absolutely unknown. She was playing for peace and justice,
however--yes, and for Denny Nolan's happiness. Mastering her fear, she
whistled softly. After a minute's silence a guarded voice replied to the
whistle.
"Be that yerself, sir?" inquired the voice from the blackness below.
She descended lower, parting the tangled growth before her with her
hands.
"I bes a friend--an' a woman," she said. "I comes wid a word for ye,
from him."
"Stand where ye bes!" commanded George Wicks, his voice anxious and
suspicious. "What the divil bes the trouble now? Stand where ye bes an'
tell me the word."
"I bes all alone, so help me Peter!" replied the girl, "an' it bain't
safe the way we bes talkin' now, up an' down the drook. The lads o' the
harbor may be comin' this way an' a-hearin' us--an' then ye'll bes in as
bad a way as the captain himself. Let me come down to ye. Bes ye afeared
o' one lone woman?"
"Come down wid ye, then," said George, his voice none too steady, "but I
warns ye as how I hes a lantern here an' a pistol, an' if ye bain't all
alone by yerself I'll shoot ye like a swile an' ax ye yer business
afterwards. I's heard queer t'ings o' Chance Along!"
"I bes alone," returned Mary, "an' if ye fires yer pistol at me then ye
bes a dirty coward."
As she spoke she continued her difficult way down the channel of the
drook. She saw the yellow gleam of the lantern between the snarled stems
of the bushes. Strong, clear-headed and brave as she was, she began now
to sob quietly with fright; yet she continued to push her way down the
drook.
"They--they has caught the captain," she said, brokenly, "an' now they
bes huntin' all 'round the harbor for his boat. I has--come to tell
ye--an' to help ye."
George Wick parted the bushes, raised his lantern and peered up at her.
"There bain't no call for ye to be cryin'," he said, in a changed voice.
"If ye means no treachery, lass, then I'll not be hurtin' ye."
She stood beside him; and as he stared at her by the yellow light of the
lantern all thought of treachery from that quarter faded away. His
heart warmed and got a trifle out of hand. He could scarcely believe his
senses, and for a moment forgot John Darling and the queer stories he
had heard of Chance Along. All he realized was that his eyes and the
lantern told him that the finest looking girl he had ever seen had come
down the drook, all of her own free will, to pay him a visit.
"The skipper caught him an' tied him up in the store," whispered Mary,
"an' now all the men in the harbor bes searchin' for the boat." Then she
told the story of Flora Lockhart, and disclosed a plan for outwitting
the skipper that had just come to her mind.
"Sure, ye bes a wonder," said George, who was as clay in her hands.
"Aye, we'll be putting the comather on to Black Denny Nolan, ye kin lay
to that! Sure, it be a grand idee altogether!"
So they unloaded the bully and hid everything among the bushes.
"Now you must lay low," cautioned Mary, "an' I'll bring yer bully back
to ye as soon as I kin--or maybe one o' the skipper's bullies in its
place. Anyhow, I'll get to see ye agin to-morrow night. Lay low, now,
an' don't be lightin' a fire."
As she stepped aboard the bully George's mind cleared a little.
"Ye bain't playin' any tricks on me, I do hope," he whispered. "Ye
wouldn't be leavin' me here all alone by meself forever, widout me bully
even, would ye now?"
"Ye kin trust me," said Mary. Then she shoved off into the darkness.
Half an hour later the keel of the bully touched the land-wash in the
sheltered harbor of Chance Along. Mary Kavanagh stepped ashore, laid the
oar noiselessly inboard and set the bully adrift, and then made her
cautious way up and into her father's cabin. Snow began to fall thickly
and silently as she closed the door.