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,[161] 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[162] 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[163] 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.”
[164]“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[165] 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[166] 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.
[167]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[168] 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[169] 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[170] 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[171] 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.”
[172]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?”
[173]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.
[174]“you’ve won,” he gritted. “you’ve won. take your prize.” then his eyes fell on dorothy and jackson, now close to the edge of the deck. “stop those two!” he yelled. “by heaven, no one shall say peter forbes does not play fair. she’s chosen you, you infernal convict, and marry you she shall, here and now.”
howard faced him. “i refuse,” he declared. “miss fairfax owes me nothing. i give her back her promise.”
“you do! then she shall many me. me or you! the captain or the jailbird. we’ll have a wedding before we part.”
the man’s face was a mass of cuts and bruises, and his words came gaspingly; but there was no doubt that he was in earnest, and none that he had the men behind him.
fickle as the wind, they veered back to his side. “a wedding. let’s have a wedding!” they cried.
howard looked despairingly around, then darted to the mainmast, caught up[175] a handspike, and swung dorothy behind him. the fight would be hopeless, but it was for her!
“come on,” he challenged.
grimly the men drew near, but before a blow could be struck, dorothy’s voice rang out.
“wait!” she cried. then she turned to howard. “if you will have me, i will marry you,” she murmured, gently.
