Blow The Man Down: A Romance Of The Coast

by Holman Day

  XXIX ~ THE TOILERS OF OLD RAZEE

  Hurrah! Hurrah! for Yankee wit. Hurrah! Hurrah! for Cape Ann grit. It's pluck and dash that's sure to win--"The _Horton's_ in! The _Horton's_ in!" --Old Locality.

  Polly Candage, covering her emotions with that mask of demurenesswhich nature lends to the weaker sex for their protection, received atumultuous Mayo next morning in the parlor of the cottage.

  "I don't know how it has happened. I don't understand it," he exploded."I didn't suppose anybody could blast money out of his pocket withdynamite--your father said it couldn't be done. But Deacon Rowley hasloaned us five thousand dollars. Here's his check on the Limeport FirstNational. Only charges six per cent. I'm so weak it was all I could doto walk up here."

  "What did he say to explain it?" inquired Polly, with maiden's curiosityin learning to what extent of prevarication a deacon would go in orderto make three hundred dollars.

  "Wouldn't say much of anything. Handed out this check, said myindorsement on it would be enough for a receipt, and said your fatherand I could sign a joint note later--sometime--when he got around toit. Have you heard any rumor that the old fellow is losing his mind? Butthis check looks good!"

  "Well, I think he's been pondering on the matter since father was here.In fact, Deacon Rowley has said a few things to me," said the girl,meeting Mayo's gaze frankly. "Not much, of course, but something thathinted he had a lot of confidence in both of you, seeing that you haveused him nicely in the other business he has done with you. Sometimes,you know, these hard old Yankees take a liking to somebody and do thingsall of a sudden."

  "This is sudden, all right enough," stated Mayo, scratching the serratededge of the check across his palm as if to make sure it was real and nota shadow. "Yes, he told me not to mention the note to him till he saidsomething to us about it himself, and to keep quiet about the loan.Didn't want others running to him with their schemes."

  "And if I were in your place," advised the girl, "I wouldn't tell fatherwhere you got the money--not for a time. You know, he doesn't get alongso very well with Deacon Rowley--old folks sometimes do quarrel so--andhe might be worried, thinking the deacon had some scheme behind this.But you don't think that way, do you?"

  "I have the money, and he hasn't asked me to sign any papers. There's nocome-back there, far as I can see," declared the young man.

  "Now what will you do?"

  "Rush for Limeport, hire equipment--for I've cash to pay in advance forany leases--and get to that wreck and on to my job."

  "Simply tell father you raised the money--from a friend! If he isworrying about anything, he doesn't work half as well. I'll ask God tohelp and bless you every hour in the day."

  "Polly Candage," cried Mayo, taking her warm, plump hands, "there'ssomething about you that has put courage and grit and determination inme ever since you patted my shoulder there in the old Polly. I have beenthinking it over a lot--I had time to think when I was out aboard thatsteamer, waiting."

  "There's only one girl for you to think about," she chided.

  His face clouded. "And it's the kind of thinking that isn't healthy fora man with a normal mind. Thank the Lord, I've got some real work tothink about now--and the cash to do that work with." He fondled hispocket.

  She went with him to the wharf, and when the schooner slid to sea behindHue and Cry her white handkerchief gave him final salute and silentGod-speed.

  Captain Boyd Mayo, back in Limeport once more, was not the cowed,apologetic, pleading suppliant who had solicited the water-frontmachinists and ship-yard owners a few days before. He profferedno checks for them to look askance at. He pulled a wallet that wasplethoric with new yellowbacks. He showed his money often, and with apurpose. He drove sharp bargains while he held it in view. He receivedoffers of credit in places where before he had been denied. Such magicdoes visible wealth exert in the dealings between men!

  He did not come across Fletcher Fogg in Limeport, and he was glad ofthat. Somebody informed him that the magnate had gone back to New York.It was manifest to Mayo that in his contempt Fogg had decided that thesalvaging of the _Conomo_ intact had been relegated to the storehouse ofdreams. His purpose would be suited if she were junked, so the youngman realized. Only the _Conomo_ afloat, a successful pioneer in newtransportation experiments alongcoast, would threaten his vestedinterests.

  There had been wintry winds and intervening calms in the days sinceMayo had been prosecuting his projects ashore. But by word of mouth fromstraying fishermen and captains of packets he had been assured that thesteamer still stuck on Razee.

  And when at last he was equipped he went forth from Limeport; he wentblithely, although he knew that a Titan's job faced him. He kept his owncounsel as to what he proposed to do with the steamer. He even allowedthe water-front gossips to guess, unchallenged, that he was going tojunk the wreck. He was not inviting more of that brazen hostility thatcharacterized the operations of Fogg and his hirelings.

  He was at the wheel of a husky lighter which he had chartered; the restof the crew he supplied from his own men. The lighter was driven by itsown power, and carried a good pump and a sturdy crane; its decks wereloaded high with coal. The schooner was now merely convoy. It was anall-day trip to Razee, for the lighter was a slow and clumsy craft, butwhen Mayo at last made fast to the side of the _Conomo_ and squealed ashrill salute with the whistle, the joy he found in Captain Candage'srubicund countenance made amends for anxiety and delay.

  "I knew you'd make a go of it, somehow," vouchsafed the old skipper."But who did you have to knock down in a dark place so as to steal hismoney off'n him?"

  "That's private business till we get ready to pay it back, with six percent, interest," stated the young man, bluntly.

  "Oh, very well. So long as we've got it I don't care where you stoleit," returned Candage, with great serenity. "I simply know that youdidn't get it from skinflint Rowley, and that's comfort enough for me.Let me tell you that we haven't been loafing on board here. We riggedthat taakul you see aloft, and jettisoned all the cargo we could getat. It was all spoiled by the water. There's pretty free space foroperations 'midships. I've got out all her spare cable, and it's ready."

  "And you've done a good job there, sir. We've got to make this lighterfast alongside in such a way that a blow won't wreck her against us.Spring cables--plenty of them--and we are sailors enough to know how tomoor. But when I think of what amateurs we are in the rest of this job,cold shivers run over me."

  "That Limeport water-front crowd got at you, too, hey?"

  "Captain Candage, I have watched men more or less in this life. It'ssometimes a mighty big handicap for a man to be too wise. While theawfully wise man sits back and shakes his head and figures prospects andsays it can't be done, the fool rushes in, because he doesn't know anybetter, and blunders the job through and wins out. Let's keep on beingfools, good and plenty, but keep busy just the same."

  And on that basis the rank amateurs of Razee proceeded with all the gritthat was in them.

  The men of Hue and Cry had plenty of muscle and little wit. They askedno questions, they did not look forward gioomily to doubtful prospects.The same philosophy, or lack of it, that had always made life full ofmerry hope when their stomachs were filled, taking no thought of themorrow, animated them now. Fate had given Mayo and his associate anideal crew for that parlous job. It was not a question of union hoursand stated wages; they worked all night just as cheerily as they workedall day.

  An epic of the sea was lived there on Razee Reef during the weeks thatfollowed.

  The task which was wrought out would make a story in itself, far beyondthe confines of such a narrative as this must be.

  Bitter toil of many days often proved to be a sad mistake, for the menwho wrought there had more courage in endeavor than good understandingof methods.

  Then, after disappointment, hope revived, for further effort avoided themistakes that had been so costly.

  The brunt of the toil, the duty of bei
ng pioneer, fell on Mayo.

  He donned a diving-suit and descended into the riven bowels of the wreckand cleared the way for the others.

  On deck they built sections of bulkhead, and he went down and groped inthe murky water, and spiked the braces and set those sections and calkedthe spaces between bulkhead and hull.

  There were storms that menaced their lighter and drove the littleschooner to sea in a welter of tempest.

  There were calms that cheered them with promise of spring.

  The schooner was the errand-boy that brought supplies and coal from themain. But the men who went ashore refused to gossip on the water-front,and the occasional craft that hove to in the vicinity of Razee were notallowed to land inquisitive persons on the wreck.

  After many weeks the bulkheads were set and the pumps were started.There were three crews for these pumps, and their clanking never ceased,day or night. There was less water in the fore part; her bow was proppedhigh on the ledges. The progress here was encouraging.

  Aft, there were disasters. Three times the bulkhead crumpled under thetremendous pressure of the sea, as soon as the pumps had relieved theopposing pressure within the hull. Mayo, haggard, unkempt, unshorn, thinwith his vigils, stayed underwater in his diving-dress until he becamethe wreck of a man. But at last they built a transverse section thatpromised to hold. The pumps began to make gains on the water. Asthe flood within was lowered and they could get at the bulkhead moreeffectively from the inside, they kept adding to it and strengtheningit.

  And then came the need of more material and more equipment, for thegigantic job of floating the steamer was still ahead of them.

  Mayo felt that he had proved his theory and was now in a position toenlist the capital that would see them through. He could show a hullthat was sound except for the rent amidships--a hull from both ends ofwhich the trespassing sea was being evicted. With the money that wouldfurnish buoying lighters and tugs and the massive equipment for floatingher, he felt that he would be able to convert that helpless mass of junkinto a steamer once more--change scrap-iron into an active value of atleast one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

  And when he and Captain Candage had arrived at that hopeful and earnestbelief, following days of tremulous watching of the work the pumps weredoing, the young man went again to the main on his momentous errand.

  As they sailed into Limeport, Mayo was a bit astonished to see green onthe sloping hills. He had been living in a waking dream of mighty toilon Razee; he had almost forgotten that so many weeks had gone past.

  When he went ashore in his dory from the schooner, the balmy breathof spring breathed out to him from budding gardens and the warm breezefanned his roughened cheeks.

  As he had forgotten that spring had come, so had he forgotten about hispersonal appearance. He had rushed ashore from a man's job that was nowwaiting for him to rush back to it. He did not realize that he lookedlike a cave-man--resembled some shaggy, prehistoric human; his mind wastoo full of his affairs on Razee.

  When Captain Mayo strode down the main street of Limeport, it troubledhim not a whit because folks gaped at him and turned to stare after him.He had torn himself from his gigantic task for only one purpose, andthat idea filled his mind.

  He was ragged, his hands were swollen, purple, cut, and raw from hisdiver's labors, his hair hung upon his collar, and a beard masked hisface. They who thronged the streets were taking advantage of the firstwarm days to show their spring finery. The contrast of this rude figurefrom the open sea was made all the more striking as he brushed throughthe crowds.

  Here and there he bolted into offices where there were men he knew andwhom he hoped to interest. He had no fat wallet to exhibit to them thistime. He had only his empty, swollen hands and a wild, eager, stammeringstory of what he expected to do. They stared at him, many of themstupidly, some of them frankly incredulous, most of them withoutparticular interest. He looked like a man who had failed miserably;there was nothing about him to suggest success.

  One man put the matter succinctly: "Look here, Mayo, if you came inhere, looking the way you do, and asked me for a quarter to buy ameal with, I'd think it was perfectly natural, and would slip you thequarter. But not ten thousand--you don't look the part."

  "What have my clothes got to do with it? I haven't time to think aboutclothes. I can't wear a plug hat in a diving-suit. I've been working.And I'm still on the job. The way I look ought to show you that I meanbusiness."

  But they turned him down. In half a dozen offices they listened andshook their heads or curtly refused to look into the thing. He had notcome ashore to beg for assistance as if it were a favor. He had comefeeling certain that this time he had a valuable thing to offer. Hislabors had racked his body, his nerves were on edge, his temper wasshort. When they refused to help he cursed them and tore out. That theyallowed his personal appearance to influence their judgment stirred hisfury--it was so unjust to his self-sacrificing devotion to his task.

  He soon exhausted his circle of acquaintances, but the rebuffs made himangry instead of despondent. Thrusting rudely past pedestrians who werepolite and sleek, he marched along the street, scowling.

  And then his eyes fell on a face that gave a fresh stir to all thebitterness that was in him.

  He saw Fletcher Fogg standing outside the Nicholas Hotel. The day wasbland, the spring sun was warming, but it was evident that Mr. Fogg wasnot basking contentedly; his countenance was fully as gloomy as that ofCaptain Mayo, and he chewed on an unlighted cigar and spat snippets oftobacco over the curb while he pondered.

  Mayo was not in a mood to reason with his passion. He had just beenbattering his pride and persistence up against men whose mannerof refusal showed that they remembered what Fletcher Fogg had saidregarding the prospects of successful floating of the _Conomo_. Therestood the ponderous pirate, blocking Mayo's way on the sidewalk, justas he had blocked the young man's prospects in life in the _Montana_affair--just as he had closed avenues of credit. Mayo bumped against himand crowded him back across the sidewalk to the hotel's granite wall. Heput his two raw, swollen hands on Fogg's immaculate waistcoat and shovedsalt-stained, work-worn, and bearded face close.

  Even then the promoter did not seem to recognize Mayo. He blinkedapprehensively. He looked about as if he intended to summon help.

  "You don't seem to have your iron wishbone in your pocket this time,"growled the assailant. He jabbed his thumbs cruelly into Fogg's ribs.

  "Gad! You're--you're Captain Mayo! I'll be cursed if I knew you till youspoke!"

  "I managed to hold myself in the last time you saw me, Fogg. I waswaiting. Now, damn you, I've got you!"

  He was making reference merely to the physical grip in which he held theman. But Fogg seemed to find deeper significance in the words.

  "I know it, Mayo," he whined. "That's why I'm down here. I have beenwondering about the best way to get to you--to meet you right!"

  "You got to me all right, you infernal renegade!"

  "But, see here, Mayo, we can't talk this matter here on the street."

  "There isn't going to be any talking!" The meeting-up had been sounexpected and Mayo's ire was so hasty that the young man had not takenthought of what he intended to do. His impulse was to beat that fat faceinto pulp. He had long before given up all hope that any appeal to Foggas a man would help. He expected no consideration, no restitution.

  "But there must be some talk. I'm here to make it. You have me foul! Iadmit it. But listen to reason," he pleaded. "It isn't going to do youany good to rave."

  "I'm going to mash your face for you! I'll take the consequences."

  "But after you do that, you still have got to talk turkey with me aboutthose papers."

  In spite of his fury, Mayo realized from Fogg's demeanor and his wordsthat mere fear of a whipping was not producing this humility; there wasa policeman on the corner.

  "Don't talk so loud," urged Fogg. "Come up to my room where we can beprivate."

  Mayo hesitated, puzzled by his enemy's
attitude.

  "It's a word from the Old Man himself. He ordered me down here. It'sfrom Marston!" whispered the promoter. "I'm in a devil of a hole allaround, Mayo."

  "Very well! I'll come. I can beat you up in your room more comfortably!"

  "I'm not afraid of the beating! I wish that was all there was to it,"muttered Fogg. He led the way into the hotel and Mayo followed, gettinga new grip on himself, conscious that there was some new crisis in hisaffairs, scenting surrender of some sort in Fogg's astonishing humility.

  "Will you smoke?" asked Fogg, obsequiously, when they were in the hotelroom.

  "No!" He refused with venom. He saw himself in one of the long mirrorsand had not realized until then how unkempt and uncouth he was. He wasill at ease when he sat down in a cushioned chair. For weeks he had beenaccustomed to the rude makeshifts of shipboard. In temper and looks hefelt like a cave-man.

  "I'm in hopes that we can get together on some kind of a friendlybasis," entreated Fogg, humbly. "Simply fighting the thing over againwon't get us anywhere. I had to do certain things and I did them. Youspoke of my iron wishbone! Now about that _Montana_ matter--"

  "I don't want any rehearsal, Mr. Fogg. What's your business with me?"

  "It's hard to start unless I can feel that you'd listen to someexplanations and make some allowances. When a man works for JuliusMarston he has to forget himself and do--"

  "I have worked for Julius Marston!"

  "But not in the finance game, Mayo!" There was a tremble in thepromoter's voice. "Men are only shadows to him when it's a matter of bigfinance. He gives his orders to have results produced. He doesn't stopto think about the men concerned. It's the figures on his books he looksat! He uses a man like he'd use a napkin at table!"

  "As you used me! You have had good training!"

  "Well, if the trick was passed on down, it's now being passed on up,"stated Fogg, despondently. "I'm the goat, right now. Can't you view mepersonally in this matter?"

  "I don't want to. I would get up and use these fists on you, sore asthey are!"

  "I'm afraid it's going to be a tough matter for us to settle," sighedthe promoter. "I thought I had everything tied up in the usual way. Damnit, if it wasn't for a woman being mixed into it, the thing would haveworked out all right!" He let his temper loose. "You can never reckon onbusiness when a woman sticks in her fingers! I don't care if you are inlove with Marston's daughter, Mayo! She is like a lot of other cursedhigh-flier girls who have always had more time and money than isgood for them. She is Trouble swishing petticoats! And you must haveconsiderable of a mortgage on her, seeing that she has double-crossedher own father in order to pull your chestnuts out of the fire!"

  Having not the least idea what Mr. Fogg was talking about, Mayo wassilent.

  "You're a cool one! I must hand it to you!" snapped the promoter.

  "You'd better leave the name of Miss Marston out of this business withme, sir."

  "How in blazes can I leave it out, seeing what she has done?"

  And Mayo, not knowing what new outbreak had marked the activities of theincomprehensible young lady, resumed his grim silence, his own interestssuggesting that watchful waiting would be his best policy.

  "Well, what are you going to say about the papers?" demanded Fogg. "Wemay as well get down to cases!"

  "I'm not going to say anything."

  "You've got to say something, Mayo. This is too big a matter to foolwith. If you are reasonable, you can help me fix it up--and that willhelp the girl. She's Mar-ston's daughter, all right, and her fatherunderstands how erratic she is and makes allowances for her freaks. Buthe can't stand for some things."

  At that moment curiosity was more ardent in Mayo than resentment, thoughFogg's tone in regard to Alma Marston did provoke the latter emotion. Itwas evident that she had undertaken something in his behalf--had in somemanner sacrificed her father's interests and her own peace of mind inorder to assist the outcast. He wondered why he did not feel more joywhen he heard that news. He remembered her promise to him when theyparted, but he had erected no hopes on that promise. It had not consoledhim while he had been struggling with his problems. He was consciousthat his sentiments in regard to the whole affair were rather complex,and he did not bother to analyze them; he sat tight and stared at Mr.Fogg with non-committal blankness of expression.

  "Have you the papers with you?"

  "No!" He added, "Of course not!"

  "That's all right. It may be better, providing they are in a safe place.Now see here, Mayo! I'm not going to work any bluffs with you. I can't,under the circumstances. I don't know where Burkett went and--"

  "Burkett is with me on the _Conomo_. I'm not going to work any bluffswith you, either, Fogg!"

  "I don't care where he is nor what he has told you. Any allegations fromregular liars and men who have been fired can be taken care of in court,under the blackmail law. But in the case of those papers it's different.I'm open and frank with you, Mayo. We have been betrayed from insidethe fort. Through some leak in the office that girl got hold of thosepapers. I don't know what your sense of honor is in such matters. I'mnot here to appeal to it. Too much dirt has been done you to have thatargument have any special effect. I'm open and frank, I say!" He spreadhis hands. "Probably she didn't half realize what she was doing! But nowthat you have the papers, you realize!"

  Not by a flicker of an eyelid did Mayo betray his total ignorance ofwhat Fogg referred to.

  "I want to ask you, man to man," proceeded the emissary, "whether youpropose to use those papers simply for yourself--to get back--well--youknow!" He waved his hand. "Or are you going to slash right and left with'em, for general revenge?"

  "I haven't decided."

  "It's a fair question I have asked. So far as you are concernedin anything which may be in those papers--and that's mostly my ownreports--you will be squared and more, captain. You can have the_Triton_ with a ten-years' contract as master, contract to be protectedby a bond, your pay two hundred and fifty dollars a month. Of coursethat trade includes your reinstatement as a licensed master and thedropping of all charges in the _Montana_ matter. There is no indictment,and the witnesses will be taken care of, so that the matter will notcome up, providing you have enemies. This is man's talk, Mayo! You'llhave to admit it!"

  "There's another thing which must be admitted, Fogg! I have beendisgraced, hounded, and persecuted. The men along this coast, the mostof them, will always believe I made a mistake. You know what that meansto a shipmaster!"

  Mr. Fogg wiped the moisture off his cheeks with a purple handkerchief.

  "You were put in devilish wrong. I admit it. I went too far. That'swhy Marston is making me the goat now. I shall be dumped if this matterisn't straightened out between us!"

  "I was in this very room one day, Mr. Fogg, and saw how you dumped oneBurkett. You seemed to enjoy doing it. Why shouldn't I have a littleenjoyment of my own?"

  "I had to dump him. He was a fool. He had bragged. I had to protectinterests as well as myself. But you haven't anything to consider, rightnow, but your own profit."

  "Is that so?" inquired Mayo, sardonically. "You seem to have me sized upas one of these mild and forgiving angels."

  "Now, look here, Mayo, don't let any fool notions stand in the way ofyour making good. It isn't sense; it isn't business! You have somethingwe want and we're willing to come across for it."

  "What other strings are hitched on?" asked the young man, feigningintractability as his best resource in this puzzling affair.

  "Well, of course you give up that fool job you're working on. Quit beinga junkman!"

  "I'm not a junkman. We're going to float the Conomo."

  "Mayo, talk sense! That job can't be done!"

  "So you've been telling every outfitter and banking-man in this city,Fogg! But now you are talking to a man who knows better. And let me saysomething else to you. I'll do no business with the kind of a man youhave shown yourself to be."

  "Don't be a boy, Mayo. I'm here with full powers.
We'll take that wreckoff your hands."

  "Want to kill her as she stands, do you?"

  "It's our business what we do with her after we pay our money," declaredFogg, bridling.

  "There's something more than business--business with you--in thismatter."

  "Yes, I see there is! It's your childish revenge you're looking after.I'll give you ten thousand dollars to divide among that bunch ofpaupers. Send them along about their fishing, and be sensible."

  "It's no use for us to talk, Fogg. I see that you don't understand me atall. You ought to know better than to ask me to sell out myself and mypartners." He rose and started for the door.

  "Partners--those paupers?"

  "They have frozen and sweat, worked and starved, with me out on RazeeReef, Fogg. They are partners."

  "What's your lay? What are the writings?" insisted the promoter,following Mayo.

  "Not the scratch of a pen. Only man's decency and honor. You and yourboss haven't got money enough to buy--There isn't anything to sell!"

  "But there are some things we can buy, if it has come to a matter ofblackmail," raged Fogg. "Are you cheap enough to trade on a foolishgirl's cursed butting into matters she didn't understand? You have beenpawing those papers over. You know what they mean!"

  Mayo turned and looked at the excited man.

  "They have nothing to do with you or your affairs, the most of thosepapers," sputtered Fogg. "Mayo, be reasonable. We can't afford to haveour holding companies shown up. The syndicate can get by that infernalFederal law if we work carefully."

  "Otherwise Marston and you and a few others might go to Atlanta, eh?"

  "It isn't too late to send you there."

  "You are worrying about those papers, are you?"

  "Of course I'm worrying about them! What do you suppose I'm down herefor?"

  "You keep on worrying, Mr. Fogg! Come on into the little corner of hellwhere I have been for the last few months; the fire is fine!"

  He yanked open the door and slammed it behind him, shutting off thepromoter's frenzied appeals.