Dan'l said: "I've no right to talk against him, sir. No doubt he's all
right."
Noll shook his great head like a horse that is harassed by a fly. "I
tell you I want no more words about him, Mr. Tobey. Be still." He got
up and stalked into his cabin. Faith followed him. The officers, one by
one, went on deck. Willis, there, came to Dan'l.
"You really think he means trouble, Mr. Tobey?"
Dan'l smiled. "If he were in my boat, I'd keep an eye peeled," he said.
Young Willis Cox set his jaw. "By God, I will that," he swore.
Dan'l pointed forward; and Willis looked and saw Brander talking with
Mauger, the one-eyed man, by the lee rail. "Mark that," said Dan'l.
"They're a chummy pair, those two."
Willis frowned. "That's queer, too," he said. "Mauger--he's not much of
a man. Why should Brander take up with him, anyhow?"
Dan'l smiled, sidewise. "Does Mauger--Is Mauger the captain's man?" he
asked.
"No. Hates him like death and hell."
"And Brander plays up to him...."
"Because Mauger hates the Old Man. Is that it?" Willis asked anxiously.
"I'm saying no word," protested Dan'l Tobey. "See for yourself, Will."
X
Roy Kilcup was another who did not like Brander. This was in part a
consequence of his position on the _Sally_, in part the result of Dan'l
Tobey's skillful tongue. Dan'l saw the tendency in Roy, and capitalized
it.
Roy lived in the cabin, where his duties as ship's boy kept him for most
of the time. It was true that in pay he ranked below the men, that he
was of small account in the general scheme of work aboard the whaler;
but he lived in the cabin, he was of the select, and to that extent he
was set apart from the men. Also, he was the brother of the captain's
wife, and that gave him prestige.
There was no great harm in Roy, but he was at that age where boys
worship men, and not always the best men. Also, he was at what might be
called the cocky age. He felt that the fact of his living in the cabin
made him superior to the men who hived in the fo'c's'le; and this
feeling showed itself in his attitude toward them. He liked to order
them around.... They were for the most part willing to obey him in the
minor matters with which he concerned himself.
Roy saw, as soon as any one, that Brander was a man above the average.
The day Brander was found on the island, he had gone ashore with Mr.
Tichel, and roved through the little native village, and returned to the
ship with the third mate before Faith appeared. Faith had suggested
that he go with her, but the boy scorned the notion of poking through
the woods.... He was thus back on the ship when Brander appeared.... But
he heard Dan'l Tobey object to the man, and he took his cue from Dan'l.
He disliked Brander.
This dislike was accentuated by a small thing which happened in the
second week Brander was on the _Sally_. They had killed a whale and cut
it in; and because the weather was bad, it had been a task for all
hands. The men were tired; but after the job was done, the regular
watches were resumed.... Dan'l Tobey's watch, which included Brander,
took first turn at scrubbing up; and when they went off and the other
watch came on, Roy was forward, fishing over the bow. He saw the tired
men trooping forward and dropping into the fo'c's'le; and he hailed
Brander.
"You, Brander," he called, in his shrill, boy's voice. "Get my other
line, from the starboard rail, under the boathouse. Look sharp, now!"
Now Roy had no right in the world to give orders, except as a messenger
of authority, and Brander knew this. So Brander said amiably: "Sorry,
youngster. I'm tired. Your legs are spry as mine...."
And he descended into the fo'c's'le with no further word, while Roy's
face blazed with humiliation, and the men who had heard laughed under
their breath. Some boys would have stormed, beaten out their strength in
futile efforts to compel Brander to do their bidding; Roy had cooler
blood in him. He fell abruptly silent; he went on with his fishing....
But he did not forget....
He told Dan'l Tobey about it. Dan'l was his confidant, in this as in
other things. And Dan'l comforted him.
"Best forget it, Roy," he said. "No good in going to the Old Man. The
man was right.... He didn't have to do it...."
"There was no reason why he should be impertinent," Roy blazed. "He
holds himself too high."
"Well, I'll not say he does not," Dan'l agreed. "Same time, it never
hurts to wait." And he added, a little uncomfortably, as though he were
unwilling to make the suggestion: "Besides, your sister shipped the man.
She'd have the say, in any trouble."
"I guess not," Roy stoutly boasted. "I guess she's nothing but a woman.
I guess Noll Wing is the boss around here."
"Sure," said Dan'l. "Sure. But--let's wait a bit."
This pleased Roy; it had a mysteriously ominous sound. He waited; and he
fell into the way of watching Brander, spying on the man, keeping the
newcomer constantly under his eye. Brander marked this at once, smiled
good-humoredly....
Brander and Faith saw very little of each other in those days; they
exchanged no words whatever, save on one day when Brander had the wheel
and Faith nodded to him and bade him good morning. For the rest, the
convention of the deck kept Brander forward of the tryworks; and Faith
never went forward. But now and then their eyes met, across the length
of the _Sally_; and one night at the cutting in, she heard Brander
singing a chanty to inspire the men as they tugged at the capstan
bars.... He sang well, a clear voice and a true one. In the shadows of
the after deck, she listened thoughtfully.
Dan'l came upon her there, when he paused for a moment in his work. He
saw her before she saw him, saw her face illumined by the light of the
flare in the rigging above the tryworks. And for a moment he stood,
watching; and the man's lip twisted....
That moment was a turning point in Dan'l Tobey's life. Before, there had
been a measure of good in the man; he had loved Faith well and
decently.... His capacity for mischief had been curbed. But in those
seconds while he studied Faith's countenance as she listened to
Brander's singing, he saw something that curdled the venom in the man.
When he stepped nearer, and she heard him, he was a different Dan'l....
The stocky, round-faced, freckled, sandy young man had become a power
for evil.... He was to use this power thenceforward without scruple....