Part 5 (2/2)
”It seems so remarkable,” she went on, ”that you should be a prisoner upon the sao we received and entertained a friend of yours who brought a letter froain that telltale flush mantled the man's cheek He cursed hiirl would have his whole secret out of him in another half-hour if he were nothis thueneral direction of Skipper Si The 'Count de Cadenet' is a fellow named Theriere, second mate of this shi+p They sent hi from Honolulu and your course They are all crooks and villains If I hadn't done as they bid they would have killed irl made no comment, but Divine saw the conte to do this If I had I'd have died before I'd have written that note,” he added rather la very sad She was thinking of Billy Mallory who had died in an effort to save her Thebetween hientleman
”They killed poor Billy,” she said at last ”He tried to protect hts He tried to find some excuse for his cowardly act; but with the realization of the true cowardliness and treachery of it that the girl didn't even guess he understood the futility of seeking to extenuate it He saw that the chances were excellent that after all he would be compelled to resort to force or threats to win her hand at the last
”Billy would have done better to have bowed to the inevitable as I did,” he said ”Living I am able to help you now Dead I could not have prevented the out their intentions any more than Billy has, nor could I have been here to aid you now any more than he is I cannot see that his action helped you to any great extent, brave as it was”
”The memory of it and him will always help me,” she answered quietly
”They will help me to bear whatever is before me bravely, and, when the time comes, to die bravely; for I shall always feel that upon the other side a true, brave heart is awaiting irl spoke again ”I think I would rather be alone, Larry,” she said ”I am very unhappy and nervous
Possibly I could sleep now”
With a bow he turned and left the cabin
For weeks the Halfmoon kept steadily on her course, a little south of west There was no e in the relations of those aboard her Barbara Harding, finding herself unmolested, finally acceded to the repeated pleas of Mr Divine, to whose society she had been driven by loneliness and fear, and appeared on deck frequently during the daylight watches Here, one afternoon, she came face to face with Theriere for the first time since her abduction The officer lifted his cap deferentially; but the girl nition with a cold, blank stare that passed through and beyond hie of color rose to the h content to accept her rebuff; but after a step or two he turned suddenly and confronted her
”Miss Harding,” he said, respectfully, ”I cannot bla and distrust you must harbor toward me; but in common justice I think you should hear ine,” she returned coldly, ”what defense there can be for the cowardly act you perpetrated”
”I have been utterly deceived by e of the tacit periven to understand that the whole thing was to be but a hoax--that I was taking part in a great practical joke that Mr Divine was to play upon his old friends, the Hardings and their guests Until they wrecked and deserted the Lotus inelse was conteh I felt that the matter, even before that event, had been carried quite far enough for a joke
”They explained,” he continued, ”that before sailing you had expressed the hope that so and adventurous would befall the party--that you were tired of the monotonous huretted the decadence of piracy, and the expunging of romance from the seas
”Mr Divine, they told ed to be reat expense of the rather re I saw no har of the supposititious purpose of the cruise until just before we reached Honolulu Before that I had been led to believe that it was but a pleasure trip to the South Pacific that Mr Divine intended
”You see, Miss Harding, that I have been as badly deceived as you Won't you letyour friend? I can assure you that you will need one whost this shi+pload of scoundrels”
”Who airl ”Mr Divine assures me that he, too, has been forced into this affair, but by threats of death rather than deception”
The expression on Mr Theriere's face was eloquent of sarcastic incredulity
”How about the note of introduction that I carried to your father from Mr Divine?” asked Theriere
”He says that he was compelled to write it at the point of a revolver,”
replied the girl