Gordon Young

“ They knew how he felt. One man slapped another on the shoulder. They bent over, reeling. They leaned back, staggering. And they laughed. They shouted. They howled.
McGuire, passing around the group, slipped easily between those in his way, made for the door into the cabin. He looked for Brundage but did not see him.
Three or four men, too drunk to rise but still interested in what was going on, sprawled in chairs or swayed with arms on the table, blinking around them, fumbling with their cups, drinking on and on. ”

“ CHAPTER XV A VIRGIN—AND CROOKED DICE WHEN McGuire had come into the room Monty had both knife and cutlas out and was making dangerous swipes with the cutlas.
His shirt, rolled above the elbows, was open to the waist. The gold crucifix dangled and gleamed on his hair-covered breast as he stood, feet wide apart, looking quickly from side to side, his earrings jangling to the sharp splutter of oaths.
Nobody appeared to have much real wish to fight with him; for the prize was hardly worth blood when rum and gin, brandy, wine and liquors of many kinds were at hand. ”

“ He had shaken the emotional Monty to his very soul. He had hoped somehow to raise such commotion out on deck that the fellows would go staggering and shoving to see what was going on, then he would have tried to get her into the room. But Dicer, inspired by the devil and the fact that he was clever at cheating, had fired the men to gamble for her.
The men were divided into two groups. Sam-O was rattling the box, thumping it hard to stir the dice before making his throw.
McGuire leaped forward and shoved his way in among the men across the table from the negro. ”

“ Men pressed around him, admiringly. They would get away with the Heraldr all right, he said. Let those people in the stateroom alone—till they got hungry. There would then be some tricks for that crippled ape-man to do. Laughter flatteringly answered him. Clobb had an affectionate arm about the negro; and Sam-O had his right arm in a sling. It would never be of use to him again.
Men were crowding back into the cabin where the table had been let down and laid with snowy crisp linen and silver. ”

“ They might yield to the fellow who forcibly appropriated a treasure unto himself, but they would have flared dangerously had any one suggested that no one among them should touch the treasure, the loot, the women.
A mad beast sleeps in every man, and not very soundly; and hard men that have no families behind them, no feared power above them, no laws to face in front of them, are not now much different from what men were when as animals they had no homes, no priests, no magistrates.
McGuire was for a time like a specter at a bacchanal, helpless and apart. ”

“ Luck seemed with him. Monty was at hand. McGuire was going to carry Eve into a room.
“Don't let anybody stop me,” McGuire said.
Monty understood the tone better than the words.
Men were fumblingly examining the little lumps of ivory. Dicer's wail rose. Some heard nothing more than that they had an excuse for claiming that McGuire had not won the girl fairly, which was as much as they needed or wanted.
“Them's crooked dice han' 'e hused 'em!” Dicer screamed.
McGuire grabbed and dragged Eve from the table. She did not know who had caught her and shrieked in renewed terror. Men cried out at him. ”

“ He wanted to pretend to let the box slip from his hand to the deck, but men were pressing too close all about him.
“Throw 'em! Throw 'em!” voices called at him. Men were impatient to have the result.
“Throw 'em,” said McGuire, and Dicer made his throw.
They passed the line. Voices jeered McGuire. His superstitious quirk had got him nothing of value. Those who had bet against him were exultant; for they read:
“Four—six—five!”
A very good throw.
McGuire caught up the dice quickly, dropped them into the box, gave it a shake, spilled them out in a long roll that sent them clear along the table. ”

“ The little gambler picked up the dice and threw them into the box. He cupped it for a moment with both hands as he shook it up and down, then he removed one hand and shook heartily, dropping the box mouth-down. And men read:
“Five-six—six!”
Sam-O and the ten men with him on that side of the table were out of the game. They had lost. The eleven lined up on the side that had made the winning cast again divided themselves. McGuire stood with Dicer and two others; Clobb and four men were of a side. ”

“ Dice can be read on only three sides at once; and the two false dice each had two sixes, two fives, and two fours; the duplicate opposite its true number. The lowest throw that could be made with them was nine—two fours of the false dice and the ace of the honest one. The chance of getting big numbers was greatly increased by their use.
McGuire, tensely motionless, looked at Eve. Monty was close behind him.
“Tyke 'er away!” was yelled in hearty humor; and other things also in humor.
Men were thirsty again. Gambling is parching work.
Dicer had recovered his ivory cubes. ”

“ His fierceness was dominating, particularly on men hysterically hilarious about other things. Often he would look down at her with a great deal of the expression in his face that artists have given to the devil. Monty's head was bound, as always, with red cloth knotted at the back. ”

“ Yelling, Brundage struck a man across the face with the edge of his cutlas.
Dicer squawked hysterically, “'E cheated—kill 'im—kill 'im,” and ran with knife out.
McGuire had lifted Eve into his arms and was staggering for the door.
Sam-O rushed forward, his one hand out to snatch. Monty sprang to his back, digging at his throat with a knife-point. The negro fell and Monty with him. They rolled and tumbled against the unsteady legs of other men, so that some fell on them and many forgot what they were after. Monty slashed as a cat claws. Then Clobb brained him. ”

“ The Portuguese and half-breeds when they had thrown all the bodies overboard, having been kicked to that work by the lordly white men, got themselves well filled with hot rum so as not to be afraid and they had been so inspired with courage that they pulled off the dead whatever attracted their fancy. ”

“ He knew that he was helpless to do anything more effective than get himself killed; and while he had no unusual urge at that time to shelter a life never greatly swaddled from danger, there was little of romantic audacity in his nature. ”

“ There was futility, certain if not indeed violent failure, in one or two men trying forcibly to oppose anything the others wished. They were aroused, half-crazed by the stimulation of excitement and were ready to fight—were ready for anything but any kind of restraint. ”

“ McGuire moved rapidly. He caught up a wire tray, snatched tins and bread from the table; picked up a bucket of hot water freshly brought from the galley for the punch, and throwing open the door of Mrs. Gorvhalsen's room, set the water carefully in a corner. He tumbled the food from the tray and again filled it. He snatched a revolver from the belt of a fellow half-dozing in a chair. It was loaded. The man tried to protest, starting up quarrelsomely, and sank back under the butt of it.
“'Ere whash goin' on?” a voice from the table demanded. ”

“ They had thought to find Monty and McGuire quarreling, but it meant nothing but a second's surprise to see that McGuire and Monty were drinking side by side from gin and brandy bottles.
As they had begun to come, McGuire, his imagination flaring, had been saying:
“—brother just got to Heaven, Monty—in white-flame armor now, like a warrior saint. An' he's already plucked the sleeve o' God, and is pointin' right down here to the Heraldr. You an' me, Monty, we know the man that touches—”
His voice was drowned before he realized that the room was filling with men. ”

“ Silence and a bending of faces to read:
“Four—four-six——”
Fourteen.
The highest possible throw was eighteen; the lowest, three.
“Good work, black boy!” “Can't beat that!” “Yippee!”
“Now, Dicer, roll 'em out,” said Clobb. ”