| Show SANK AT THE FIRST SHOT the captain of the northern S light I 1 by LLOYD BOURNE 05 v S copyright by joseph B bowles it was a wild march day and tha rising wind sang in the rigging ot the hips the weather horizon dark and brilliant in ominous alternations bowed a sky ot piled up cloud inter with inky patches where squalls were bursting to leeward the broad lagoon stretching for a dozen miles to the tree topped rim of reef smoked with the haze of an am pending gale ashore the palms bent like grass in the succeeding gusts and the ocean beaches reverberated with a furious surf the great atoll of no higher than a man no wider than a couple of furlongs but in circumference a sinuous giant of 90 miles or more lay like a snake on the boisterous waters of the equator and defied the sea and storm within the lagoon and not far off tte two ships rocked at anchor one the northern light was a powerful topsail schooner of n hundred tons straight bowed low lu the water built on fine lines and yet sparred tor safety the sort of vessel that does well under plain sail and when pressed can fly the other the edelweiss was a miniature fore and after of about 20 tons a toy ot dell cacy and grace betraying at a glance that she bad been designed a yacht and in spite of fallen fortunes was till sailed as one the man that laid ler lee rail under would get danger as well as speed for his pains and in time would be likely to satisfy a taste for both by making a swift trip to the bottom the deck of the northern light was empty save for the single tall fig ore of gregory cole captain and owner who was leaning over the rail at the edelweiss he was a man of about 30 bis tanned band bamo bomo face overcast and somber his yes with their characteristic hunted look fixed n an uneasy stare on his mailer neighbor he had never known how passion abely he had loved madge blanchard until he had lost her until after that wild quarrel on when her father had called him a slaver to his ace and they had parted on either ide la anger until he had beaten up from westward to find her the month old wife of joe somehow in the course of those long miserable months he had never thought of her marrying he felt so confident of that fierce love she had so often con assed for him he had come back e pendant pen tant ashamed of the burning of tense he had then taken determined to let bygones be bygones and to be gin it need be a new and a more blameless wa of life he had to see her he was mad to bee her the of her tortured find tempted him without end sup pose she too had learned that love 1 stronger than oneself that the mouth can say yes when the heart within Is breaking that she like him elf had found the time to repent her s tolly was he the man to leave her thus to acquiesce tamely in a decision that was doubtless already abhorrent to her to remain with un lutted hands when she might be on alro tor the sign to come to him no sever hed beg her forgiveness and offer her the choice yea or no it was for her to choose he jumped into the dinghy and pulled over to the schooner small at a distance she seemed to shrink as he deew near her so that when be tood up he was to find hie bead above the rall so this was corble this coarse red faced trader with the pug nose the fat hands th faded blue eyes that met his own so bourly capt corble said gregory cole glad to see ou aboard said corble they shook bend and eat by ide OB the rail y i i where s madge said gregory mrs Hor blea ashore said tho cap tain I 1 m afraid I 1 can never call her any thing but madge said gregory de the covert reproach in the others voice was plainly ill at ease his ace turned a deeper red he was on the edge of blurting out a als agreeable remark and then hesitated making an inarticulate sound in his throat like everybody else he was afraid of the labor captain crew s ashore too said gregory glancing about the empty deck there aln t no crew muttered corble thunder cried gregory do you do it with electricity or what me and madge runs her returned corble do you mean to say she pully hauls your damn ropes exclaimed gregory yes said corble 20 tons between the two of us and cooks said gregory and cooks said corble I 1 know she can sail a boat against anybody said gregory wincing at the remark corble apat in the water and said nothing his fat broad back said plainer than words you re an in trudea get out 1 I believe ashes aboard this very minute said gregory with a strange smile she s ashore I 1 tell you said hor ble sullenly just run below and make sure said gregory he slipped down the little compan ion way looked about thai empty cabin and peered into the semidarkness semi darkness of the only stateroom madge he cried madga corble had not lied to him there was not a below but on the cabin table he saw madges sewing machine and a half made dress of col ton print she had always been fond of books and there in the corner was her little bookcase taken bodily from her old home in scattered about here and there were other things that brought hep memory painfully back to him that hurt him with their familiarity that caused him to lift them up and hold them with a sort of despairing wonder her guitar her worn lock fast desk the old gilt pho album he remembered BO well he sat down at the tabie and buried his face in his hands what a fool be bad been what a fool he had been he was roused by the sound of hor ble s footsteps down the ladder with bis head leaning on bis hand he looked at the big naked feet feeling for the steps then at the uncouth clothes as they gradually appeared then at the fat weak frightened baca faca of the min himself ho grew sick at the sight of him would corble him would corble have the grit to order him oil the ship no the infernal coward waa getting out the gin a bottle of square face and two glasses say when said corble when said gregory corble tipped the bottle into bis own glass A second mates grogg one could see what the fellow drank heres luck said gregory drink hearty said corble joe corble said gregory lean ing both elbows on the table theres something cu ought to know I 1 love madge and maago lovea me corble gasped ashes alnet said gregory corble helped himself to more gin and then slowly wiped bis mouth with toe back of his hand you re forgetting abes my wife be said rive ion a tho theand and pounds Ss assi Si aj for her cash and bills said aregi ory you can t sell walto women said sha aln t labor A thousand pounds repeated gregory I 1 won t sell my wife to no man sold the pa r looked at each other bior bles hand felt for the gin again ills speech bad grown a thick he was angry and flustered and a dull resentment was mantling his heavy face go the schooner cried greg ory the northern light as she lies there this minute not a dollar owing on her bottom with of specie in her safe lock stock and barrel shea yours I 1 corble shook his head madge aln t for sale he said please yourself said gregory you 11 end by losing her for noth ing capt cole said ll orble madge has told me bow near it was a go between you and her and how it you haan hadn t cleared out so sudden the way you did she would have married you in spite of old blanchard Dlan chard but when you went away like that you left the field clear and you bear me no malice tor having stepped in and taken your leavings what a dones done and its a sorry game to come back too late and insult a man who never did you no barm oh said gregory it you choose continued in his tone 0 wounded reasonable ness you can make a power of mis chief between me and madge I 1 don t think it comes very well from you to do it I 1 dont think anything that calls himself a man would do it least of all a gebelman ge nelman like yourself whom we all respect and look up to capt cole ac youve lost madge you know you can only blame yourself I 1 don t call her lost said gregory capt cole said II orble calmly but with a quiver of his lip we II 11 take another drink and then well say good by im not going hilll I 1 see madge said gregory began to tremble its for madge to decide added gregory decide demanded in a husky stutter between you and me old fellow said gregory and you ve the gall to say that on my ship at my table about my wife exclaimed II orble punctuating the sentence with the possessive yes said gregory sat awhile silent he was obviously turning the matter over in his head he said at last he would go on deck and take another look to windward there a a power of dirt to wind ward he said gregory was conscious of a be laying pin being whipped out of sight and in an instant ho was roused and tense his nostrils ing with a sense of danger the two men stared at each other and then corble backed into the state room remarking with furtive insincerity theres a power of dirt to windward this said the door went shut behind him gregory sprang to where madge his feet and burst it open with his powerful shoulders crushing corble against the bunk who pistol in band fired at him point blank the bullet went wide and there was a sound of shattering glass gregoras gregorys Gre gorys hands clenched themselves on hobbles Hor bles and the revolver this way and that under the double grasp corble was panting like a steam engine his lower jaw hung open and he cried as he fought the tears streaking his red face there was an agonized light in his eyes for his forefinger was break ing in the trigger guard A hairs breadth more and he could have driven a bullet through his opponents body a twist the other way and he moaned and ground his teeth and strove t regain what he had lost suddenly he let go snatched his left hand clear and throttled gregory against the wall gregory suffocating his eyes staring from their sockets his mouth dribbling blood and froth struggled with supreme desperation for the pistol getting it in the very nick of time and eluding s right hand he fired twice through the armpit down corble sank at the first shot and received the second kneeling then he toppled backward and lay fa a twitching heap against the drawers below tho bunk groaning and cough ing gregory with averted face gave him another shot behind the ear and another through the mouth and then neat out sick and faint shut ting the stateroom door behind him II 11 sat for a long time beade tho I 1 vf 1 3 table absolutely spent and still nold ins the revolver in his hand he was shaking in a chilt though the temper was over SO and the cabin when he bad first entered it bad seemed to him overpoweringly hot and stifling lie warmed himself with a nip of gin he looked over bis clothes for a trace ot blood and wag thankful to find none he took off hla coat he examined tho soles of abts shoes no blood thank god no blood he went on deck and cast the re volver overboard standing at the taff rail and watching it sink even in the time he had been below the wind I 1 bad risen it was blowing great guns to seaward the lagoon itself was white and broken as far as the eyo could reach aboard his own schoon er they were busy housing the top masts and tho yeo heave i eo of straining voices warned him that cracroft Crac rott was hoisting in the boats and making even thing snug gregory leaned against the wheel and tried to think to throw hor bles body overboard would be to ac com nothing the blood the shot holes the disordered cabin would all betray him to scuttle the schooner with a stick of dynamite was a better plan but that involved re turning to the northern light with the possibility of madge coming off in the interval and discovering the murder for herself no the risk of that appalled him Des ldes what ever happened he had another rea son for keeping the truth from madge the fact of hornblas death even it she thought it accidental would shock her to the core it was inconceivable that she would feel any thing but horror stricken whether she judged her former lover innocent or not she might even undergo a terrible remorse at such a moment how little likely she would be to give way to him of course she would re fuse any woman would refuse every restraining influence would be massed against him no his only hope lay in getting her aboard bis schooner and out of the lagoon before the least suspicion could flawd upon her once away and it might be two years before she might even hear of II orblea death once away and the empty seas would keep bis secret once away he studied the weather with a new and consuming anxiety how could he manage to get out at all or pick a course through the middle channel it was thick with coral rocks and in a day so overcast the keenest eye aloft would be at fault and out side what then already it was working up a hurricane to run be tore it would be courting death but to stake madges life madge whom he loved so dearly madge for whom he would have died and yet there was something BUD almo in the thought of taking her in his arms and driving before the gale the storm sails treble beefed reefed on the bending yards the decks awash from end to end madge beside him the pitchy night in front the engulfing seas behind to swim or sink to ride or smother accepting their fate together and it need be drowning at the last in each others arms he looked toward the settlement and saw a crowd of natives pushing a whaleboat into the water looked again and saw old maka taking his place la the stem sheets and assist ing a woman in beside him the woman it needed no second glance to tell him it was madge he had never counted on her coming off in company fool that he was he had taken it for granted that she would be alone everything in tact turned on her being alone then with a start he remembered his own dinghy and how it would betray him he had made it fast on the schooners ners stai board quarter near the accommodation ladder going on his hands and knees lest his head should be seen above the shallow rail ho loosed the painter worked the boat astern and drew it again to port then he crouched down in the alley way and waited A few minutes later and the whaler was bumping against the schooners ners side it might have been bumping against gregory s heart so agonizing was the suspense as he lay breathless and cramped between the width of the house and rail it was kind of you to bring me off maka said madge the old hawaiian laughed mu in denial no no he cried you must come below and see the captain said madge gregory was in a cold sweat of ap too much storm said maka doubtfully I 1 go home now and put rocks on the church roof five minutes won t matter said madge again gregory trembled more better I 1 go home quick said maka no rocks no the boat shoved off the crew ing up a song madge seemed to remain standing at the gangway where they had left her gregory felt by instinct that seq was gazing at the northern light and that as she gazed she sighed that she was lost in rev erie and was loath to go below he rose stiffly from his hiding place even as he did so it came over him that he was extraordinarily tired so tired that he swayed as he stood and looked at her madge he said in almost a wals per madge she turned instantly paling as she saw who confronted her greg she cried for a moment they stared at each other speechless then he leaped on the and ran to her she lag beck from him aa he tried to take her hankte you must sot she arted aa he A 1 liss 5 jalaa would have kissed her grog you must hotl 1 m married it a all alt terent now he tried to put hla arms around her but she pushed him fiercely back her eyes were flashing and her bosom rose and fell im joes wife she said then from hla face she seemed to divine something what have you done to joe she cried she would have passed him but he stopped her no nol he protested let me go or I 1 shall call him she broke out you shant insult me you shant kiss me he was kissing her even as he held her back even as she fought and struggled with him on the lips on the neck on hetblack her black loosened hair now tangling and flying in the wind he was so weak that sha soon got the |
