AN END AND A BEGINNING
A red moon rose out of the sea, and threw a fiery trail over the
heaving wastes that reached to the schooner's side. Her hull and
masts stood out in bold relief like a vessel in silhouette before
the glare of a volcano.
Trask, Locke, and Shanghai Tom stood on the starboard side abreast
of the foremast where they could see over the bows and still be in
a position to resist from either side when the crew attempted to
board. Locke had a pair of iron belaying pins, and while Tom had a
similar weapon, he also had a galley knife. Marjorie stood just
outside the cabin door, where she could retreat inside and protect
herself against bullets.
The boat came forward slowly and cautiously, now only a dark spot
on the water, still covered by the gloom of the island. The crew
apparently hoped to get close without alarming those aboard.
"We'll let them come on, and then give it to them without warning,"
said Trask. "I'll hold my fire until they're right under us. Keep
low, so they can't see our heads."
Watching over the bulwark, Trask saw the boat come out of the
island's shadow into the moonlight. He expected a dash once the
boat was exposed, for it would be useless to attempt to sneak up on
the schooner if any watch were kept.
But the rowers came on leisurely. It might be that they supposed
Jarrow would be the only one on watch and would allow them to get
alongside before their proximity was suspected by Trask and Locke.
"I can't see but three," whispered Locke.
"Others may be hidden," said Trask. "Or they've decided to cut
their party in two, to intercept anybody who got away to the
island."
"We can handle three, all right," said Locke, with some relief.
"They'll walk right into a trap."
"They probably figured Jarrow would have things fixed for them by
the time they arrived, by having some of us out of the way. It
isn't possible that they could know what's happened to him,"
remarked Trask.
The boat came on slowly and silently, the oars working steadily but
with little noise of locks. It headed for the starboard side, and
came up within a dozen yards of the bow abreast of it. Then the
oars were held, backing slowly.
"Aboard there!" came a low, hoarse voice. Trask and his friends
remained silent.
There was an exchange of whispers. Then the oars backed water
quietly, to check the way and overcome the tide.
"Aboard there!" This time it was louder, and Trask knew it was not
the voice of Peth.
"Hello!" he answered, gruffly, speaking as he thought Jarrow might
if he were waiting for his treacherous crew to seize the schooner.
"Who's that?" asked the voice. It was more cautious, and apparently
worried. After a pause: "Is it Mr. Trask?"
"Yes," replied Trask boldly. There was something hopeful in the
tone of the other. If it had been Peth, Trask would not have
admitted his own identity.
"Then it's all right," said the other. "I'm Bevins. Where's the
skipper?"
"In his room asleep," answered Trask, still cautious, and not to be
fooled into telling the truth. If they expected Jarrow, it would
puzzle them to be told the captain was not there to meet them.
"Look out for him," said Bevins, hastily. "He's fixin' to do for
ye. We've run away from Mr. Peth. Shope and Pennock are here with
me. We don't want no trouble. We want to come back aboard for duty.
But have an eye out for the skipper. He's lookin' for Mr. Peth to
come out, but we got the dinghy."
"We stood in with him for gold," said another voice, pleadingly.
"But when it come to makin' trouble for you folks, we ain't for
it."
"Come up closer so I can look into the boat," commanded Trask.
"You better lock the skipper in his room," said Bevins. "We don't
want to come aboard if he's going to make a row. He's a slick one,
and he thought we stood in with him--thought we'd come out with Mr.
Peth to put you ashore, but we give 'em the dish--Mr. Peth and the
nigger. You better git the skipper or he'll be down on ye."
They pulled the boat in, and under Trask's orders walked about the
bottom, to prove that there was no one lying hidden under their
feet.
"You may come aboard, Bevins," said Trask finally. "But the others
stay where they are a few minutes. If they attempt to rush, they'll
get shot."
"Git the skipper before I come," begged Bevins. "Git him while he's
asleep. Don't take no chances. He's up to maroon ye all."
"We've got the skipper," said Trask, grimly. "Don't worry about
him. He is dead."
There were exclamations of surprise and joy from the boat.
"Ye done for him? No foolin'?" asked Bevins.
"No doubt about it. Come aboard and see for yourself."
"Ye won't make no trouble for us for what we done if we come for
duty?"
"Not if you help us get back to Manila, and make no more trouble."
"We don't want no trouble, honest to Gawd!" said Shope.
"Mr. Peth he got us to go ashore just for fun," said Bevins. "I
know we had no call for doin' of it but he said we'd be back in the
mornin'. Said the skipper give orders for it."
"We'll call it square if you men turn to," said Trask. "But if
there's any more trouble the first man to start it, follows Jarrow.
You'll have to understand that before you come aboard. We're all
armed and you'll have to be searched."
"That's fair," said Bevins. "I'll come first. I ain't got no arms."
They worked the boat aft to where the pilot-ladder was and Bevins
came up. Trask searched him from head to toe while Locke and Tom
kept watch on the others in the dinghy.
Trask believed that Bevins was telling the truth. His warning about
the captain and his reluctance to come aboard until he was assured
that Jarrow could do no harm were convincing. If the three in the
boat had been in league with Jarrow, it was improbable that they
would tell Trask that the captain was a menace.
Bevins then asked to see Jarrow. So Trask sent him aft and gave him
matches to examine the captain's room. He came back presently, and
with considerable satisfaction assured his companions that they
need have no further fear of the skipper.
Marjorie came forward to her father, and finding that instead of a
battle they were safer than ever, she began to cry softly.
Bevins now advised that it was necessary to keep a sharp lookout
toward shore. He was afraid that Peth and Doc would make some
attempt to get out to the schooner.
Shanghai Tom went to the galley and prepared a meal for the three
who had returned. After shutting the door of Jarrow's room the
cabin lamp was lighted, as if in defiance of the two ashore and to
prove that all was well aboard the schooner.
Shope was given coffee and a cigar and put on watch, while all
hands joined in a meal in the cabin. Bevins went over the whole
story of how Mr. Peth had held up the captain ashore, but that it
was all to mislead those in the schooner, and how after taking to
the brush the captain had told them his plans for "making a nice
pot of money" out of the expedition, they having found no gold.
Doc had been in with Jarrow and Peth from the first. He had been
told to play the spy, but he had kept secret his theft of the
pistol from Trask's bag, a circumstance which puzzled Jarrow. The
captain taxed Peth with having made a blunder so early in the game,
and it was not until Doc had declared himself as the dinghy
approached the schooner with Jarrow and his men that the secret of
who had the pistol came out.
Doc had been told to return with the long boat after Jarrow was
held up by Peth, and announce the captain's capture. When the
captain came out again it was with the intention of getting aboard
the schooner and putting Trask, Locke, and Marjorie ashore.
Jarrow had planned that the party which went ashore in the night
would get back in the morning before they were discovered, but when
Trask learned of the secret departure, Jarrow had signalled them to
remain ashore, by means of the lantern in the forerigging.
If the crew had got back aboard the schooner without having aroused
any suspicions, it was Jarrow's intention to get his three
passengers on the island, and then demand checks, leaving them
there while he took the schooner back to Manila and got the money.
Bevins, Shope, and Pennock had no idea of what had been planned
until Jarrow told the whole plot ashore. Then it came out that
Peth's refusal to sleep aft was arranged by Jarrow and Peth to make
it appear that they were at odds. The demand for money was to be
made ostensibly by Peth, Jarrow always pretending that he was in
the power of the crew.
Doc's report of how Trask had "cooked" gold out of the sand had set
them all to burning sand, but when they found no gold after cooling
the sand, Peth and Doc had quarrelled, the mate calling the steward
names and charging him with being as crazy as Dinshaw. Peth doubted
Doc's story of Trask finding gold at all. Doc had been chased by
Peth, and in escaping from the mate's fury, the steward, being
barefoot, had burned his feet so badly that he couldn't walk,
having run into some of the red-hot sand.
So Doc was to have been left behind in the night attack on the
schooner, and it was due to his disability that the trio was able
to steal the dinghy. Bevins said that Doc had once killed a man,
and Jarrow knew about it, with the result that the captain held the
Negro under his control.
During the night they heard Peth halloing to the schooner, calling
for Jarrow, but they gave no answer. Peth continued to call, like a
dog baying the great moon which wheeled overhead, until along
toward dawn, when the fire on the beach flared up for a while and
then died.
Before daylight there was a nervous stir of air, and the sun rose
on a cloud from the north. The breeze freshened, and Bevins, now in
command, got the anchor, and under jib and reefed foresail they
headed out for the sea.
Jarrow's room having been cleared early in the night, and the
captain wrapped in old canvas, the body was dropped overboard as
they passed clear of the reefs, Trask saying from memory as much as
he could remember of the service for burials at sea.
Through the glass Trask saw a white figure watching them from the
edge of the jungle as they drove southward for Manila before a
steady wind from the northeast.
Marjorie, who had slept after midnight, leaned against the taffrail
with Trask, watching Shope and Pennock trimming the sails. Bevins
had the wheel but Locke was asleep below, having remained up all
night.
"Poor old Captain Dinshaw," said Marjorie. "He'll never have his
big house with good soup for supper."
"Perhaps it's just as well," replied Trask. "He was too old and
pitifully crazy ever to enjoy anything. It's likely he would have
suffered more if he'd never come to his island. And he might have
killed somebody not so deserving of the fate he meted out to
Jarrow."
"I suppose you'll come back and really look for gold when we're
gone," she said.
He looked at her.
"No more of that island for me," he said. "The government will most
likely send a boat to get Mr. Peth and Doc but I wouldn't come back
here if the island were all gold."
"Why not?" she asked, somewhat surprised.
"Because it meant great peril for you. I would not care to have
those terrible dangers recalled. I want to think of you as safe and
happy. But there's one thing about it all which gives me
satisfaction."
"What's that?"
"You'll never forget me!"
"Why, Mr. Trask, of course I won't! What a silly thing to say!"
"You might if it hadn't been for what we've been through in this
schooner." He looked out over the sea.
"I hardly think so," she said, smiling at him. "Of course, you
didn't understand what a joke Dad was going to play on Jarrow about
the checks."
"What joke!" demanded Trask, turning to her.
"Dad's balance at the International in Manila is only about four
thousand dollars."
"Then it might have been anything but a joke if Jarrow had come on
for the money and didn't get it," said Trask. "But I suppose the
bank would have allowed an overdraft."
"There couldn't be any overdraft. That four thousand is all the
cash we've got in the world. Dad's supposed to be rich, but he
isn't. We have only a little fruit ranch in Southern California.
We've been saving up for ten years for this trip around the world,
since mother died. Jarrow would have found himself in trouble if he
had attempted to cash those checks."
"I thought your father was a millionaire?"
"There is a man named Locke who has millions in California, but he
is not a relative of ours."
"Glad to hear it!" cried Trask. "By George, I'm glad to hear it!"
"Glad that we're not rich! Why, Mr. Trask!"
"I'm--I'm going back to the States," he announced. "On the same
boat you do, if you don't mind."
"You've changed your plans?"
"Yes. I'm going to quit mine-scouting out in these God-forsaken
ends of the earth, and get back to where there's civilization. I
think I'll buy a fruit ranch in Southern California. I've got
enough capital. And what mining I do, I'll do it in California."
She scanned his face, amazed at what he was saying, and startled at
his seriousness.
"Come below, and I'll tell you about it," he said, and she went
down before him.
"Marjorie," he said, seeing that Shanghai Tom was out of sight in
the galley, and her father's door was closed, "I've been in love
with you since that first night in the _Manchuria_. But I
thought--well, I thought you had millions!"
"Wilkins told everybody we were rich." She put her hand on his arm
so gently that he could scarcely feel its weight. "I--love you. I
was sure of it when Doc aimed that revolver at you."
He swept her into his arms.
"Thank God you missed the Hong Kong boat," he said.
"I really wanted to see you again," she confessed.
"But you were going home."
"It was I who made Dad miss the _Taming_. Anyway, I didn't tell him
we'd have to get the morning train from Dagupan."
"For that I'm going to kiss you again," said Trask. And he did.
Immediately on the arrival of the _Nuestra Senora del Rosario_ at
Manila the coastguard cutter _Candelaria_ sailed for Dinshaw's
island. Peth and Doc Bird, seeing the steamer approaching,
attempted to leave the island on an uncompleted raft, which broke
up with them, and both were drowned, Doc clinging to the mate when
they were thrown into the water.
The next Hong Kong boat left Manila with Mr. Locke and Mr. and Mrs.
Robert Trask among the passengers.
Shanghai Tom opened a Chinese restaurant in Manila with the capital
provided by Locke and Trask as a reward for his bravery in
disarming the steward.
Trask declares that his days of hunting gold are over. Locke says
that there is no longer a lure for him in tropical islands, and
Mrs. Trask vows that all the romance there is between Cancer and
Capricorn can be claimed by any one who wants it, for she is happy
enough on the west coast of the United States of America, with the
picture of Dinshaw's island hanging in the Trask bungalow.
THE END
[Illustration]
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS
GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected; however,
hyphenation inconsistencies appear as in the original text.