Part 6

Howard in fact gave him little chance, plying him with questions as to Forbes’s probable course of action. After he had gone, Howard talked with Guantanamo until late in the night.

The next morning the man came again. “Can you foight, sor?” he demanded.

“Fighting is my trade, Joyce. Why?”

“Well, sor, the captain’s going to marry the young lady at four o’clock the day, unless somebody stops him. And the only way to stop him is to foight him. It’s a big man an’ a bad man he is, sor. Are ye game for it?”

Howard smiled. “Oh! yes. I’m game,” he declared.

“Then I’ll get ye out in good time. Tare and ’oun’s, but it’ll be a grand foight entoirely.”

XI

IN accepting Captain Forbes’s invitation to supper Dorothy had taken it for granted that the other two survivors of the Queen were included, and was somewhat startled to find that they were not.

“Gallegher insisted on your friends eating with him,” explained Forbes, with a smile. “He declared that I might have the best, but that I shouldn’t hog everything, and I had to give in.”

Dorothy accepted the explanation, but her heart beat anxiously. Nor was her anxiety lessened by Captain Forbes’s attitude. Had she not been warned of his probable designs, she might have passed over his behavior as merely the would-be gallantry of an uncultivated man, and even then would have found it sufficiently offensive. But, in view of all she had been told, its import quickly became portentous. Between extravagant compliments, often so pointed as to cause her considerable embarrassment, Forbes sandwiched encomiums of the life on the wreckage, for support of which he appealed to Mother Joyce, declaring that Dorothy would soon submit to the inevitable, and settle down to remain there for life. All suggestions as to the possibility of escape he pushed aside.

“Our known history of life here goes back for more than fifty years,” he declared, “and in that time nobody has escaped. Nobody ever will. It’s impossible. You will fight against the idea for awhile, and then settle down to enjoy yourself.”

“Enjoy myself!”

“Why not? We have everything here that any one needs--all the necessaries, and far more of the luxuries than any except a very few favored people enjoy anywhere. We have a storehouse full of everything that delights a woman, and if it was destroyed to-morrow, we could easily fill it again. Duplicates of all its contents will drift in to us again sooner or later on some ship. Ask what you will, and it will be my delight to lay it at your feet.”

Dorothy tried to smile. “Very well, then,” she particularized, “just give me a telegraph-office.”

“With pleasure. We have a complete outfit. I’m sorry to say, though, that the wires are not strung yet.”

“Then give me a boat and a--compass, isn’t it, that we need?”

“Those are about the only things we cannot furnish, Miss Fairfax. When sailors are forced to leave their ships, they invariably take the boats and the compasses with them. But why do you wish to leave us? It will be our constant study to make you happy. You shall have the best of everything, and your lightest wish shall be law.”

“My only wish is to get back to dry land. If my wish is law, help me to do so.”

“I cannot! And I would not if I could. I have waited long for a woman as fair and sweet as you to drift in to me, and now that you have come, I will not give you up lightly. The wrecks and their contents are ours by right of salvage. You, too, are salvage--and the fairest salvage I have ever known.”

This was forcing the game with a vengeance. Dorothy’s lip quivered, and she cast a frightened glance at Mother Joyce. But that lady was eating her supper stolidly, and made no sign. Evidently, for the moment at least, she intended to let Dorothy play her own hand.

Forbes continued: “No, you are here for life, Miss Fairfax. I regret it for your sake, but I rejoice in it for my own. You are here for life, and you must make up your mind to it, choose a husband, and settle down.”

“I shall never marry.”

“You must consider a moment. There are twenty-two of us men here and only two women. Under such circumstances, how can we afford to permit any woman to remain single. We used to do it years ago, when the disproportion was not quite so great, and what was the result? Decimation of our numbers, no less! The men quarreled and fought and murdered each other, exactly as wild beasts do, all for the sake of one woman. Well do I remember the last time this happened! In a week five men had been killed, and bad blood stirred up that did not subside for years. We could not chance a repetition of this sort of thing, and we made a law that every woman who arrived here must marry within twenty-four hours. She could choose any one she liked, but choose she must.”

“But no such rule can apply to me.”

“Why not? You are a lady, of course, and far above the level of nine-tenths of the men here. But there is the remaining tenth to choose from. Of course, none of us are worthy of you, but--we will make good husbands.”

Dorothy tried to laugh the words away, but could not. She told herself that all this was some horrible dream from which she would presently awake, but all the while she knew it was terribly real. The toils were closing round her fast. Her thoughts flew to Howard. He, she felt, would save her, if man could; but he was one, and Forbes and his followers were many. If it came to a struggle the result would be inevitable. What could she do? What _could_ she do?

Forbes was watching her keenly. “You realize the situation now?” he continued. “For our own welfare we cannot permit you to remain single. You could not get away, and we would not permit you to do so if you could. You must marry--in twenty-four hours. And since you must marry, let me advise you to choose one who can provide for you--and there is no one here who can do that so well as I. I won’t talk about love--that is for boys, and I am a man; but if you will marry me, you shall be queen here. Come! what do you say?”

Dorothy pushed back her chair and rose. “I say that this is utterly preposterous. I will not marry any one on compulsion. Certainly I will not marry you. I wish you good day, Captain Forbes.”

She turned toward the door, but Forbes stepped before her.

“One moment, Miss Fairfax,” he said. “I know how you feel, and I do not wish to turn you against me by undue persistency. If you want to go now, go! But think over what I have said. I believe that you will come to see that it is the best thing you can possibly do. Talk it over with your friends, I think they will advise you to consent. At all events, you have twenty-four hours--till four o’clock to-morrow, to get used to the idea. Take my advice and wait calmly till then.”

Dorothy bowed haughtily. “Very well,” she returned. “I will wait. Now, will you kindly summon my friends. I wish to return to my ship.”

Forbes’ lips curved in a cruel smile. “_Your_ ship, Miss Fairfax,” he echoed. “You have no ship. You and your companions abandoned the Queen of your own accord, and by the law of the sea she and everything on her became the property of any one who salvaged her. My men have taken possession of everything, including your abandoned trunks--which are now mine. You have no place to lay your head, and nothing in the world except what you have on your person. However, I am not unkind. For twenty-four hours I will give you food and shelter. At the end of that time--well, we will see. Now you may go with Mother Joyce, who will care for you. And think over my proposition.”

XII

DOROTHY’S hours of grace passed all too quickly. The girl’s natural impulse was to turn at once to Howard for aid, and when the moments sped by without bringing him, she turned to Mrs. Joyce and learned of his imprisonment.

“But don’t you be worryin’ about that, miss,” said the kindly Irishwoman. “It’s safe and sound he is. The cap’n is just kapin’ him locked up till after the wedding.”

“There’ll be no wedding,” flashed Dorothy.

“An’ why not? It’s worse you might do, my dear. All men are cantankerous, but Cap’n Forbes ain’t a bad sort, if you take him the right way; an’ he’ll make a good husband--the best here, anyway. An’ you’ve got to remember that while a smart man might get out of here, if he was free, even the smartest man--let alone a woman--couldn’t if the cap’n didn’t want him to; and sure it is the cap’n don’t want you to go. I know it’s hard, but I don’t see but what it’s the best thing you can do--seein’ you wouldn’t marry your friend, Mr. Howard, under any circumstances.” And Mother Joyce glanced quizzically into Dorothy’s face.

The girl blushed; then hid her face. “Oh! Mrs. Joyce,” she sobbed. “I--he--things were different when I said that.”

“Oh! indade! Now, were they? You nad’n’t say any more, miss. A nod’s as good as a wink to a blind horse. It’s a fine, upstandin’ young fellow he is, and I don’t blame you. Joyce and I’ll do what we can for you and him. And you’ll not be lavin’ us behind when you sail away?”

“Leave you! Never!”

Fortunate it was that this understanding had been reached so quickly, for little further opportunity for talk was offered later. All that evening and all the next morning the members of the community visited Dorothy, one by one, each with tales to tell of the pleasures of life in the Sea and with praises of Captain Forbes. Not one seemed disposed to help the girl.

Even Mr. Willoughby, the minister, could give her little comfort. When she appealed to him directly to help her, he squirmed uncomfortably.

“Captain Forbes is a man of wrath,” he mumbled; “hard to resist. My sacred calling is of little import in his eyes. If you decide to refuse him, I trust I shall find strength to offer you such support as I may. But you must remember that I am only one--and a man of peace besides.”

Clearly there was little hope to be placed in the minister. But Dorothy made one more appeal.

“You could refuse to perform the ceremony,” she suggested, tearfully.

“And so I shall,” promised Mr. Willoughby. “If I must,” he added, with quickly following repentance. “But to what end? Captain Forbes is a sea-captain, and as such can perform marriages at sea. Whether he can marry himself is doubtful. But I know him; he will settle the doubt in his own favor and marry you willy-nilly. I--I really think that you had best submit. Since you have to stay here, you cannot occupy a better place than as Captain Forbes’s wife.”

“But I don’t have to stay. I won’t stay. Mr. Howard promised----” She stopped and bit her lip. “I see you cannot help me, Mr. Willoughby,” she finished. “Good morning.”

The minister sneaked away, and Prudence Gallegher crept in, weak, ill, and frightened, to add her mite to the weight that was crushing Dorothy’s heart.

“I’m sorry,” she whimpered, glancing fearfully behind her from time to time. “Oh, I’m so sorry. But--but hadn’t you better marry Cap’n Forbes? Nobody will dare to hurt him, and--and--you won’t be handed on from one to another as I was.”

This sort of thing, kept up almost without cessation for twenty-four hours, drove Dorothy almost to distraction. As four o’clock drew near, her condition grew pitiful. In vain she looked for a means of escape. If any had offered she would have taken it instantly, facing without hesitation the terrors of the foodless desert in the heart of the wreckage. But none did offer. Always she was surrounded by jailers. She could see no hope anywhere--nothing to do but resist till the last, and then---- What then? What should she do then? What could she do? One weak girl beset by a score of men. Her brain reeled at the thought.

Eight bells rang out, and Joe appeared at the door.

“Cap’n Forbes says as how will you an’ Mother Joyce please step on deck, miss,” he petitioned.

XIII

THE deck had been decorated as for a gala occasion. Bright-colored flags were twined everywhere under the cool, airy awnings; canaries, in gilded cages, hung about, each carolling at the top of its tiny throat; the members of the colony were all standing about, each dressed in garments which, though perhaps lacking somewhat in taste and style, at least left nothing to be desired in the way of color or ornament. The scene, though odd, was undoubtedly bright and cheerful.

Mother Joyce led Dorothy to a slightly raised platform, in front of which were ranged chairs, in which, at her approach, the sailors hurriedly seated themselves. Dorothy looked eagerly among them for a sight of Howard, and her last hope vanished when she knew he was not there.

As she stepped upon the platform, Forbes came up from below. Clean shaven, and well and correctly dressed, he furnished a strong contrast to the others with their motley attire.

He bowed courteously to Dorothy, and greeted her as though their relations were of the pleasantest. “Please sit down for a moment,” he concluded, and turned away without waiting to see whether the invitation was accepted.

“Men,” he said, stepping to the edge of the platform and looking them over, “by our laws every unmarried woman coming into this community must, within twenty-four hours, choose a husband from those who come forward to offer themselves. The one she chooses must defend his right against all others, and, if conquered, must give way to his conqueror. So she will wed the best man, and all smoldering quarrels that might disrupt our community will be avoided.”

He paused a moment and then went on:

“As you all know, Miss Fairfax joined us yesterday. She is so far above all of us in beauty, grace, and culture that it is presumptuous for any of us to aspire to her hand. Yet, the law is the law, and we must all bow to it. So I call on all candidates for her hand to speak out that she may choose. I offer, for one. Who else comes forward?”

He stopped and looked around inquiringly, but no one moved. Evidently all knew what was planned, and had no wish to interpose. Even if not awed by his ascendency, his significant assertion that the favored suitor must defend his right against all comers was enough to give them pause. For Forbes was six feet high, broad and strong in proportion.

After a moment, seeing that no one spoke, Forbes turned to Dorothy. “It seems, fair lady,” he began, “that I am the only suitor for your hand. I beg you to believe, however, that this is rather from the desire of my men not to oppose the dearest hope of their captain, whom they so love, than from any lack of appreciation of your charms. But it comes to the same thing. I am the only candidate. Does it please you to accept me?”

Dorothy rose and faced him. “Sir,” she said, with a break in her voice. “I am only a girl, alone, unprotected, far from all her friends. I beg you, I implore you, to be merciful. Do not do this thing. Let me go.”

Forbes shook his head. “Your presence here, single, must cause strife,” he began, “and----”

“Then let me go away. Let me wander away by myself. You nor your men shall ever see me again. I will lose myself in the wreckage, and----”

“You are salvage, and I cannot surrender you.”

“Think! Think! My father is rich--a multimillionaire. In his name I promise you a million dollars if you will spare me and get me back to him. Think! A million dollars.”

“Even if I would, it is impossible. We are all alike helpless here.”

“You will not spare me?”

“I love you too much to do so.”

With a quick movement Dorothy pushed by him and faced the others. “Men,” she cried, “will you let this thing be done? Will you let me be forced into marriage with a man I loathe. For God’s sake have pity on me, and say to this man that he shall not do this thing.”

The men shifted uneasily in their seats, but no one spoke. Dorothy’s eyes flashed.

“Cowards!” she cried. “Is there not one of you who dares face this man. Come! I offer you a bargain. If any man will save me, to him will I give myself in all wifely humility. Any man! _Any_ man! Speak! What! Does no one speak? Am I so poor a prize?”

“I speak!”

Absorbed in the scene, no one had noted Howard’s approach, but at the sound of his voice all faced him. His sea-stained clothes were torn, and there was a fleck of blood on his lip, but his glance was high.

“I speak,” he repeated. “Not for the prize, but for the honor of womanhood.” He turned to Forbes, who had flushed furiously at his appearance. “Ah! you craven,” he flared. “You thought you had me safe while you worked your coward will. Look better to your shackles next time.”

Three or four of the men had risen and were closing in on Howard, but Forbes waved them back. “Since you are here,” he remarked, nonchalantly, “do I understand that you offer as a candidate for the lady’s hand? If not, you have no standing.”

“I offer for anything that will save this lady from your insults.”

“Ah! So you _do_ offer. That is well. That is in line with the very object of this ceremony and shows the wisdom of our laws. You and I will fight this out and bury all ill-feeling--in your grave. Kindly choose some one as second, and let’s get to work.”

Howard looked around him. “I’ll take my companion, Jackson,” he decided. “I suppose you’ve got him locked up somewhere.”

“Bring him,” ordered Forbes, calmly. He turned to Howard and began to take off his coat. “Get ready,” he ordered.

“You’ll give me fair play?”

“Surely. And marry you to the lady--if you win.”

In the revulsion of feeling consequent on the appearance of her champion, Dorothy’s limbs had given way, and she would have fallen had not Mother Joyce caught her and helped her to a chair, where she leaned back, white and dazed. When she recovered enough to note what was going on, Howard and Forbes, stripped to the waist, stood facing each other before her, the latter towering, giant-like, above his smaller adversary.

With a cry she sought to struggle up, but Mother Joyce restrained her. “Don’t interfere,” she whispered. “It’s your only chance.”

“But he’ll kill him.”

The older woman seemed to have no difficulty in assigning the confused pronouns correctly. “I’m not so sure,” she muttered consolingly. “I fancy the captain has his work cut out for him. Anyhow, it’s for you to kape still.”

Jackson’s eyes had lighted up when he had reached Howard’s side and understood what game was on. “It’s many a fight I had in the ring myself before I went on the force,” he whispered, with something very nearly approaching enthusiasm. “It’s a big fellow he is. Can you do him?”

Howard smiled grimly. “I’ve got to,” he answered.

“Well, take the tip from me and tire him out. He’s too big to rush, and if he hits you square once, he’ll knock you out of the ring. Sprint all you can. Get him mad. He’s got a wicked temper, if I know anything of men; and when he loses it, he’ll forget to guard, and you can slug him.”

Under other circumstances Howard would have smiled at the detective’s unaccustomed volubility, but at the moment he had other things to think about. With a nod to show that he understood, he stepped forward to face his adversary.

The disproportion between the two men was very marked. Howard was not a small man, but Forbes was several inches taller, and at least forty pounds heavier. His corded arms looked capable of felling an ox. On the other hand, he was twenty years older, and presumably, slower in his movements than the naval officer, who was in the prime of the late twenties.

Forbes wasted no time in preliminaries. Evidently he meant to show his power by crushing his adversary without delay. The moment that Howard faced him he sprang forward and launched a right-hand swing that would have ended the fight then and there had it connected with Howard’s body. But it did not connect. Howard sprang back, just out of reach, and returned a half-arm jolt that brought the big man up standing.

“Ugh!” he exclaimed, stepping back. Then he grinned viciously. “You know something, do you,” he half soliloquized. “So much the better. There’ll be some sport in it.”

He rushed in again, striking furiously.

Howard gave ground slowly under the attack, dodging when he could, parrying as he might, every nerve alert to save himself from being crushed by the sheer weight of his adversary. In vain Forbes tried to beat down his guard. Dorothy’s frightened face was ever before his eyes, and he fought on breathless, but unharmed, until the first fury of the attack had spent itself; until the passing moments told him that the struggle would not be so uneven as it had seemed. Exultation swelled in him when at last he could stand steady and give back blow for blow.

Gradually his opponent’s mood changed. From coolness to anger; from anger to baffled fury. Howard watched the changes as they mirrored themselves in the other’s face. And when, with the recklessness of utter rage, Forbes dropped his guard and threw all his weight into one smashing blow, Howard ducked beneath it, swung his right with deadly force against the bull neck and beat the devil’s tattoo on the thick ribs before him.

Then the round ended.

But Howard knew that there was still plenty of fight in the big man. He had shaken him, but had accomplished nothing more. Indeed, the fury of the attack in the second round was little less than that of the first, and Howard again had to give ground. Had Forbes been able to regain his temper as he had regained his strength, there would still have been little doubt as to the result.

But this the captain could not do. So often had he fought and won in the past, so invariably had his bull strength served him well, that he could not believe that he had at last met one who could withstand him. Wild with rage, he spent himself against the impenetrable defense of the naval officer until the second round ended with the odds of the fight in favor of the latter.

So plain was this that Gallegher urged treachery, only to be repelled; not yet would Forbes admit the possibility of defeat. “Naw! I’ll kill him myself,” he muttered hoarsely, as, red-eyed, he stumbled forward once more to the attack.

Howard met him with changed tactics. Jackson’s trained eye had read the signs, and he had counselled the officer wisely. “Rush him,” he had said. “Rush him. He’s all in. Don’t give him time to get his second wind. Rush him.”

And Howard obeyed, drawing on some fount of nervous energy for a fury of attack almost as violent as Forbes’s had been. The fighting rage was on him at last, and bubbled over in words.

“So you’ll persecute a helpless woman, will you,” he jeered, as he handed a jolt on the captain’s cheek. “How do you like to face a man? Oh! never mind that eye; you’ve got one left. Don’t worry about your nose; it’ll straighten out again. Here’s one for your solar plexus. Why don’t you guard better? And here’s the end of the show.”

With every ounce of his weight behind it, he drove his left against the point of the captain’s chin, and that individual went down like a pole-axed ox and lay still.

As he fell Gallegher sprang forward, belaying-pin in hand, but shrank back again as Jackson shoved his revolver into his face.

“Hold hard!” cried the policeman. “Fair play, ain’t it, mates?”

For an instant the situation hung in the wind as the sailors hesitated. Then Joyce sang out:

“Fair play!” he cried. “The cap’n said he should have fair play. And hurrah for Lootenant Howard, says I.”

Sailors are like children; a straw will turn them. With one accord they burst into a cheer. “It was a good fight,” they cried. “The lieutenant’s won the girl fair.”

While they had hesitated Howard had acted. He was under no illusions as to the permanency of their mood, and, even as they cheered him, he turned to Dorothy.

“Quick!” he whispered. “Don’t lose a moment. Come, Jackson! Get Miss Fairfax out of this and back to the Queen. I’ll cover your retreat.”

But escape was not to be so easy. As Howard turned to face the sailors, Forbes struggled to his feet. His face was gray with rage and his words came thick.