Robert Anderson

“ The sullenness of the innkeeper had given way to violent wrath. One clawlike hand was clutched in her luxuriant hair, the other held the heavy leg of a broken stool, and this was falling again and again with a dull thud on the girl's body.
It was strange what strength those slender fingers of the Frenchman possessed. They twisted the dried-up, grasshopper figure of Linda's tormentor into a praying heap on the floor, then threw the offending bank-notes on the pavement beside him. ”

“ Then a whisk, and the blue willow ware dishes were on the freshly-papered shelves.
"Sixteen knots an hour," he was grunting. Did he suspect! All-of-a-flutter she tried to read. Seven-fifteen, seven-thirty, the old clock chimed, then a quarter to eight.
No, thank Heaven, he couldn't for there, with the eight strokes, he was puffing up the stairs, she dutifully after him.
She leaned out of the window and listened. The crickets were making fiddles of themselves as usual; the tree-frogs were in full chime, like far-off sleigh-bells ”

“ And now Pierre's whole body was shaking faster than the vibrating engine, so that he could scarcely outline the cross on his frightened heart.
"Saints deliver us! It is a spirit—the man we have killed!"
The tarpaulin parted. It was no evil face. The wavering tresses were covered with moonlit spray.
"Linda!"
"Even I, Monsieur!"
"But, Mademoiselle, you cannot go——"
"Why not—the old man he beat me. Would you have me go back to die? If I go back I will surely die, for if he do not, I will kill myself." ”

“ She ran up the street, turned into the alley. A mongrel sniffed at the face which lay on the edge of one of those half-dried green puddles. She looked into the still features. There was a dark stain upon them. Tenderly she gathered the head to her bosom, murmuring an incoherent jumble of love-cries.
Three squares up the Main Street and one turn to the right, Pushbutton Pete was taking his seat in the launch. With its cocky "put, put, put," the little boat moved on its course towards the steam yacht. ”

“ Oh Uncle Harve, why don't you stop them! You've got the gun. Shoot them. Do anything. Only save him for God's sake."
"They've got to fight it out. This is men's work, Sally. Sorry you had to see it. Don't be afraid—look at that!"
But she retreated from him in an agony of anger and fear.
"You're heartless—you're all alike—all b-b-b-brutes."
Pete's head was rocking with two furious swings from Ben's right—but again the boy had to give way. The mechanic was no quitter, and that whiskey was a fiery juice that had started the dynamo of his powerful frame to wild swift working. ”

“ Then the older man looked at her in alarm. He wondered if the island were bewitched. Islands, especially these tropical ones, were like women. Too much beauty was suspicious.
"Are you daft?" he queried. "You've just got Ben back and you want to stay on this God-forsaken place!"
"Uncle Harve, there's treasure here!"
"Treasure! By the blue beard of Old Cap'n Teach—sometimes I think the old sinner was right in reducing the number of petticoats and empty heads in the world."
He turned savagely on poor Dick, who was teaching Don Alfonso to balance a piece of drift-wood on his nose. ”

“ He felt barred out by age from actual conflict, and was content with his rôle of wicked, old Nestor to the party, though his advice consisted of little besides qualifying expletives.
"You ban a wise old bird," jeered the Pink Swede, the cunning twist of his usually expressionless mouth belying the vacuous look of his eyes, which had the chalky blue of watered milk. "The chief he ban no little baby. They do the dirty work. We cop the gold." ”

“ Pete whistled.
"So that's his game!"
"Ay tank so," said the Pink Swede simply.
Within, Philip was gazing sullenly at the blackleg and gambler. To the eye of an unbiased spectator he would have been infinitely more satisfying than most of his ilk, drab fellows enough outwardly and designedly unobtrusive. MacAllister was ever smooth, polished, immaculate. His well-fitting suit, eyes, and close-trimmed mustache were black, all contrasting strangely with the deadwhite of his complexion. ”

“ But he was greeting her cheerily now, as if there never had been any night before. Dismal and reproachful was the glance she gave him, though it softened a little when her eyes dwelt on the bruises, still discolouring his face in spite of his plunge in the cool waters.
"Ben, dear, promise me one thing."
"Sure, what is it?"
"That you won't fight again, except in self-defense."
"What would you have a man do? There are some things a man can't stand."
"Revenge doesn't pay—ever. It's better to stand some things than to turn into a—a—"
"A what, Sally?" ”

“ He followed its pennons, to discover a group around it,—a tall fellow, pallid of feature, and dressed in contrasting black, of the sort, the observing stranger decided, an American would at once label "smooth"; a trio of rascals that most certainly deserved the epithet "precious"; a smartly-dressed youth, a little the worse for whiskey—and a girl.
Pictorially she would have made an excellent Carmen, he thought, with her swarthiness set in a crimson dress, but she seemed ill at ease, every once in a while casting a troubled glance at the sea. ”

“ Their gaits were eloquent of their characters, the tall man with the rolled-up canvas, moving with easy though calculated steps, the burly figure with the bulky shoulders and the suspicious crouch, stepping with feet wide apart. The slighter one at his right walked with the spring of youth, but swaggered a little, the hat tilted on one side. Bringing up the rear, the short bowlegged man trudged along, behind the others, pausing now and then for replenishment from a solid, dark object in his hip pocket. ”

“ With his forefinger Ben hastily sketched in the sand his recollection of the odd markings on the stone in the cavern.
"It was like this," he said, "or at least something like it——"
"The tongue of land is surely the cape, and that forking mark, like a spur or a chicken track, represents the palm, we decided. It's as good a guess as any."
"A pretty safe bet that, I should say," commented the skipper over his shoulder. "My boy, you could read the devil's own chart of the shoals and reefs of Hades."
"It is a sort of a devil's chart, isn't it? but it was Sally's idea. ”

“ All seemed quiet along the Potomac, so he broached the dangerous subject:
"What's this I hear about young Boltwood?"
"No good, I'll warrant," blared the other, dropping his jaw and pipe in suspicion.
"It's too fine weather to be unreasonable, Hiram." He looked around. Sally was at the other end of the porch, trying, this way and that, the new scarf which he had brought her as the tribute which all returning captains must render. ”

“ As spring passed and summer ripened the fruit in the old orchard, Philip persisted in his wooing; and Aunt Abigail and that eternal "tamp, tamp," finally tortured the girl into an apathetic consent. When August came and the harvest moon, Ned Bowlby, the whistling printer, set up his copy that ran somewhat in this wise:
"Captain Hiram Fell requests the honour of your presence," and so on down through the old formula.
Sally refused even to look at the proof. What mattered a little letter or a misplaced comma when the whole universe was turned upside down! ”

“ As they rejoined the group, they heard the voice of the girl Linda unsuccessfully pleading with the strange Frenchman, just inside the ancient doorway. He left her and slowly paced up the street towards the north, lost in some brooding memories of the past, or perhaps some faintly flickering hope of the future.
"Pete," whispered MacAllister, drawing that worthy aside, "that French boy is starting a little expedition of his own for our island. No first degree stuff—a week's lay-up will be enough. These greaser cops are as helpless as Secaucus constables, but it's better to play safe. ”

“ Ben, you're the chief Bey or Pshaw of this island—so you strike first."
"No, the Captain's daughter always christens the ship. Let Sally try, for good luck."
So the mariners gathered round, and the small black slipper rested on the iron rim of the implement, when she glanced at Spanish Dick, who was rolling his eyes and crossing himself while he muttered incoherently.
"Whatever are you doing now, Spanish Dick?"
"Do not deeg, Señorita. It ees bad luck. The gold ees stain with red. That means someone die a bad death." ”

“ The whisky you always pack, she breed snakes like rabbits."
After another whispered council, in which her ears, sharpened by fear, distinguished one question of Pete's,—"Why don't you leave 'er here, Cap, with the chest," and the reply: "No, they've captured the yacht, and we can't pack too much baggage, she's safer up there," the gambler and Phil left the camp, Pete and the Swede standing guard. Her mouth was swathed in the scarf again, and she was dispatched northward with the wicked old man as her guide. At first she was glad that it was not the gambler. ”

“ She had to kiss him for that, of course—and then, as Spanish Dick was trying to tame another parrot more brilliant than his own pet, and the little yellow Don Alfonso was always a model of discretion—why, she kissed him again.
Then—after a moment—maybe it was ten—he shouted to make himself heard above the roar of the cascade.
"We'll have to stop here—I'll tell you about the rest."
"Oh—don't stop now—just when we've reached the most interesting part. We've just got to finish that picture puzzle, you know."
"Do you see that bridge?"
"Yes."
"Well, it's too dangerous for a girl." ”

“ Such voyages always come to sudden endings. This time the rock that stove in the frail bark was a bit of gashouse slang from Phil—about Sally. He was half-drunk or he wouldn't have said it.
The retort from Ben's right was swifter and more accurate than Pushbutton Pete's and Master Phil was stretched out on the cobbles of the alley, when MacAllister, with an almost imperceptible gesture, signaled to Pete. And Pete always caught the slightest of his chief's signals. Ben turned instinctively, only to slip in the lees from a battened-in wine-cask that lay near the gutter. ”

“ But perhaps it is only because I am homesick."
"Yep, quaint place—called Salthaven," the painter said between puffs.
"Salthaven—in what department, mon ami!"
"Department! Oh, I see—in what state—Massachusetts—" then he looked up at him inquiringly. "You're not thinking of trekking there, you mad Gaul, are you?"
"I tire of your city, fren' Tony, too much fever——"
"And that from you!"
"It is a different sort of fever. Our kind is that of the sea, of the winds, and is governed by some law of Nature. There is peace even in the unrest, the wandering. ”

“ So she waved to Ben, and forthwith entered into that game called, in different ages, banter, persiflage, repartee—"jollying" in hers—at which, for all her straightforwardness, she was quite as expert as Master Phil.
The banished first mate sauntered by; looked chagrined, bashful, wistful, and envious, all at once; then gazed up at the apple-tree. The reddening Baldwins offered a suggestion which, seated upon an upturned skiff, a little way up the street, he promptly began to put into execution.
First he halved the apple very carefully, then removed the core. ”

“ All the bones in my spine was clicking like castanets, tangoing faster'n Reny Castle's."
"Well, there's a lot more of them, heaps all over the island," returned her opponent viciously.
"Fur the luv o' Mike! you don't say so! The place is a morgue. We gotta beat it, we gotta beat it. I've seen guys croaked and never turned a hair—but no skeletons for mine."
Appeased a little with the advantage in the skirmish, Sally smiled. The tables were surely turned. True, terra firma was all that and more to Carlotta. ”

“ The rusted metal cover of a great chest was revealed.
Forgetting the watchers, the girl shouted.
"Look out, there's no use letting them know," warned Ben.
The group on the shore had paused midway in the deal and were gazing intently in their direction.
"I've a hunch that there's a nice fat jackpot over there," said MacAllister, "and we're going to rake it in ourselves. We don't need to draw to our hands either. Just stand pat, boys, just stand pat."
"Shovel a little away from the ends, Ben," Sally was ordering.
Then they sought for the handles.
"Here, where my pick caught," she said. ”

“ Perhaps she was responsible, in part, for his flight, and, most of all, his moral disintegration, so evident now.
"I was awfully sorry, Phil, but you know when I became engaged to you, Rogers had brought back word that Ben had been lost. I promised Ben first, so when that message came in the bottle, what could I do but go?"
"You might better have stayed with me. A pretty mess you re in now."
"What are you doing with these criminals anyway?" she retorted. "They're nothing but thieves and murderers." ”

“ Perhaps the foolish old Boltwood grudge had something to do with it, more likely the fact that her coldness to the Huntington heir made the catastrophe remote—but then, of course, Captain had a lee eye on that Huntington fortune.
All through the meal he annoyed her by constant innuendo which he meant to be subtle but which was only sly. She said nothing until Aunt Abigail was locked in rigid slumber, and she herself was sitting on the arm of the old Washington rocker. The firelight softened the stiffness of the oval portraits on the wall and the picture of Nelson s victory ”