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have another prisoner. May I have your
beckoned to him, and walked to the break
room to lock him in?”
of the poop.
She assented and they dragged the
“A passenger?” The second mate
mate to the spare room and tied him with
was surprised.
spun yarn. Then they locked him up and
“No.” Annesty drew one of the
Annesty suggested the chart-room, with its
revolvers. “I’m in charge of the ship.”
array of useless guns, for her resting-place.
The second mate’s mouth opened
She made no objection, and the man stupidly and Annesty went on, telling of
Adventure
18
the crime Spritz had committed, that death
flying-fish flushed past, harried by bonita,
was the penalty and that all who assisted
the breeze dropped to a light air, and it was
the captain would be made accomplices.
day. With an excited cry the girl clutched
“Now,” he finished, “I have Annesty’s arm.
destroyed all the guns but these—unless
“See! Didn’t I tell you?”
you have one?”
He followed the direction of her
The second mate shook his head—
pointing finger and saw a ship. Then he
he had no gun.
made a dive for the companionway and
“Well, then, do as I tell you and
brought up the glasses, focusing them with
make the crew obey and you’ll be all right.
trembling fingers.
If you don’t, I’ll shoot.”
The ship was about a mile and a
“You can’t boss all hands—” the
half away and Annesty didn’t need the
second mate’s voice was ugly—“and I glass to tell him she was an English man-won’t go against Spritz. So you can’t get
of-war.
the schooner to Sydney or anywhere. I’m
“Quick—” he laid down the
going to keep out of it by going to my
glasses— “help me hoist the ensign, union
room.”
down. What luck, what wonderful luck!
And he went off the poop.
It’s a man-of-war. We’re all right.”
Things looked very black. Annesty
“It’s not luck,” she insisted. “I told
did not want to shoot any one. He had to
you God would answer my prayer.”
have a crew to work the ship. If they all
The man-of-war ran up the
imitated the second mate—as they likely
answering pennant, but Annesty did not
would—he was helpless and it would be
feel that he had been sufficiently definite—
only a question of time before some one
and well for him he didn’t. Therefore, with
released Spritz. When that happened, to
much difficulty, he searched the
shoot the girl and himself would be the
“Commercial Code” until he found the
only thing to do. And then he saw the girl
flag-hoist for “Mutiny, send armed boat,”
at the head of the companionway.
and he sent the four flags up in place of the
“It’s nearly day, isn’t it?” she inverted ensign. But the schooner had asked.
barely steerageway and in the light air the
“Yes. This twilight will disappear
flags hung indistinguishably; but after
very soon, with the sun coming up. But I
Annesty had ordered the man at the wheel
ought to tell you that things look bad, very
to alter his course so that the flags would
bad.”
get all the breeze favorably—and rather to
She
smiled.
his surprise the man obeyed—they one by
“I feel sure that everything is going
one spread long enough for the officer on
to come out all right. You see, I have just
the man-of-war to read them. Dimly over
been praying and I feel that God is going to
the water came the boatswain’s pipe and at
answer my prayer.”
that moment Annesty heard a noise in the
“I don’t see how, unless He makes
main cabin below.
the crew go to work.”
He opened the skylight quickly and
saw the second mate, who had promised to
SHE did not answer, but her smile was one
remain neutral, trying to open Sprite’s door
of complete faith. Then suddenly the dawn
with a chisel and hammer. The sight made
vanished with the sunrise, a school of him furious—the second mate’s action
Dirty Jim
19
seemed to be directed against the girl—and
mutinous crew. When that crew threw him
he pulled one of the revolvers out of its
a rope and then put a side-ladder over he
holster and, without caring, began to shoot
began to think some one was playing tricks
at the second mate. That individual with him. And there was no sign of trouble.
responded with a howl in spite of
True, the girl and Annesty quickly
Annesty’s bad shooting and dived for told their story, but the wily second mate, safety.
looking for future favors from Spritz,
But the ex-beachcomber wanted to
swore that the girl and Annesty had come
kill. The long night vigil had reacted upon
on board together, pretending to be man
his frazzled nerves with almost a blood-
and wife; that in the night they had brutally
lust, and the second mate’s treachery had
stunned the captain and the mate, smashed
supplied the incentive. He started down the
all the guns, and then threatened to shoot
companion way determined to kill, while
him—the second mate—if he didn’t take
the crew came out on deck to see what was
the ship where they wanted.
the matter—for it must be remembered that
He had refused because he was
this was their first intimation of any honest and no pirate, but only a few change, although the second mate had minutes before, as the crew would testify, waylaid the steward when he brought the
the man Annesty had amused himself by
coffee, which was something Annesty had
shooting at him. No, sir, there had been no
overlooked. But the girl stopped him. mutiny as any one could see. ’Twas just a
“Don’t bother with him,” she pleaded.
sheer case of piracy.
“But you don’t understand what he
“But why did I hoist the flags, if
was doing.”
that is the case?” suggested Annesty.
“Yes, I do. But we ought to be so
This puzzled the officer, who
grateful to God for sending the man-of-war
decided to put the matter before his
that we would want to forgive our captain—taking the girl, Annesty, Spritz enemies.”
and Sydney Dick on board the man-of-war
Annesty sighed. The literalness of
with him.
this Salvation Army girl was a bit too much
So the now conscious and
for him, although he was an orthodox blasphemous captain and mate were untied Christian.
Her religion was such a personal
and helped into the boat. Their scowls and
and intimate affair that he would not have
muttered threats were disconcerting to
been greatly surprised if her conception of
Annesty, whose nerves were nearly gone,
God had suddenly appeared on the poop of
but the girl treated them with contempt;
the Lady Ellen. The realness of her faith and in such wise they gathered before the
was staggering.
captain of the man-of-war.
“Oh, all right—if you don’t want
The girl told her tale first—who she
him shot.” He placed the revolver in the
was, why she went to the island, and about
holster.
Spritz’s attempt to kidnap her. Then
“That’s a good man—and the boat
Annesty told of his seeing this, and of what
will be here in a minute.”
he had done to protect the girl. Spritz and
But when the boat did arrive Sydney Dick denied it all and insisted that Annesty found himself confronted with a
Annesty was a pirate. The naval captain
situation he had never expected. In the first
was obviously undecided—both tales were
place, the officer in charge had expected a
unusual—when another officer entered the
Adventure
20
cabin. This one looked at Jim for some
back to the schooner.
moments, then whispered in his captain’s
car.
ANNESTY in some of his old friend’s
“So you rowed in the Oxford boat?”
clothes looked very different from the
asked the captain.
beachcomber the girl had tried to convert,
Annesty admitted it, and then the
and she no longer talked conversion to him.
other officer revealed himself as an old
Instead, she was shy, and her eyes met his
friend. This was all very bad for Spritz, for
with difficulty, and she blushed easily. So
the captain of the man-of-war, discovering
that Annesty’s old friend told him he was a
that Annesty was one of his own kind,
lucky dog, for the girl was wonderfully
understood his mental processes and felt he
pretty, the more so now that love thrilled
was telling the truth; when the girl her.
explained that she had no clothes on the
But Annesty doubted his luck, and
schooner, proving she had not gone on
he thought long and deeply on the subject.
board freely—for what woman would go
She loved him, but better a little pain now
for a voyage without taking any clothes?—
than the pain of a lifetime. He meant to
the case went against Spritz.
avoid drink, but he knew how often he had
“We’re bound for Sydney,” said the
made that same resolution and failed. He
captain. “I think we’ll take you along and
did not know that he was cured—that he
get you sent to jail.”
had been cured by one of those uncommon
At this Sydney Dick weakened, psychological shocks akin to hypnotism or swearing he had only obeyed his captain,
prayerful suggestion, and that when the
who had gone ashore to steal the girl.
poison died out of him he would be entirely
“Take them for’ard and put ’em in
well. And so, seeing his duty as he saw it,
cells—the schooner we’ll take charge of,”
he was not happy on the way to Sydney.
ordered the captain.
Then the girl began to plead for
THE sun was setting behind the fast
leniency. It was a matter of religious disappearing coast-line of Australia, and conviction. Enemies must be forgiven. The
Annesty leaned over the rail of the
captain of the man-of-war attempted to Liverpool-bound ship watching it. That show her the fallacy of such a creed by
coast-line held all in the world that loved
illustrating what would happen to the navy
him, all that he loved. Somewhere on that
if it followed it. But the girl would not
land was the only woman he had ever
reason.
loved, the one woman who ever loved him.
Like many others, she believed a
He knew this, although he had not spoken
thing was right, and when her common
of his love to her. There had been no need
sense showed it was wrong she deliberately
for either to do that. And yet, perversely, he
denied common sense. And after all she
had tried to believe that if he went away
was the person most interested. The captain
without a word of farewell she would think
knew it would be an awful bore attending
he did not love her.
Spritz’s trial in Sydney. So he gave in, and
He had changed greatly from the
gave an order. The order resulted in two
nerveless wreck that had so bravely gone to
splashes and much cursing, and the crew of
the girl’s rescue on the schooner and three
the man-of-war crowded the rail to watch
or four months more on the ship without
Spritz and his mate swim ungracefully whisky would see a yet better man. He was
Dirty Jim
21
working his way to England, to begin life
disease in their budding womanhood; and
there where he had left it.
the degenerate age of all of them, palsied,
There was a tang in the wind that
useless, filthy, criminal.
seemed to hint at great deeds—deeds
He had shuddered at the picture and
untold, unsung, never shouted about from
clenched his fist with the resolve that, no
the housetops; and Annesty, looking far
such unhappy line should descend from
into the future, saw many people, his him. No, he loved the little girl and she descendants, all tainted with that alcoholic
loved him, but he felt that he was showing
tendency which would remain in him even
a greater love by leaving her forever.
if he were cured.
Then the dark fell, the side-lights
He pictured them, helpless to resist
were lit, the lookout went on the forecastle
the craving for the poison, in the gutter, in
head and presently eight bells were struck
jail, in the lowest places of the world, and
aft and the lookout repeated it.
all of them suffering: young men suddenly
“All’s well,” was borne aft by the
stricken as he had been in their athletic
wind, and the ex-beachcomber, looking
prime; young women falling victims to the
reverently upward, swore to keep it so.
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