"No man can eat more than three square meals a day and be happy; no man can lie upon more than one bed at a time;--so, what right have I, or any other man for the matter of that, to steal some other fellow's food and bedding?"

"But some day you may wish to marry," she put in.

"Some day,--yes! maybe. And the lady I marry must also love the open air, away from the city turmoil; she must hanker after the glories of a place such as this; otherwise, we should not agree for long.

"And,--Mary,--" I continued, "the man you would marry,--what would you demand of him?"

"The man I would marry may be a Merchant Prince or a humble tiller of the soil. A few things only I would demand of him, and these are:--that he love me with all his great loving heart; that he be honourable in all things and that his right arm be strong to protect his own and ever ready to a.s.sist his weaker brother.

"Marriages may be made in heaven, George, but they have to be lived on earth, and the one essential thing in every marriage is love."

She sat for a while in thought, then she threw out her hands as if to ward off a danger.

"Of what use me talking in this way," she cried. "Marriage, for me, with my foolish ideas, is impossible. I am destined to remain as I am."

My pulse quickened as she spoke.

"And why?" I asked;--for this evening of evenings was one for open hearts and tender feelings.

"It was arranged for me that by this time I should be the wife of a man; and,--G.o.d knows,--though I did not love him, I meant to be a true and dutiful wife to him, even when I knew my eternal soul would be bruised in the effort.

"This man was taller than you are, George. Sometimes, in your devil-may-care moods, I seem to see him again in you. I am glad to say, though, the similarity ends there.

"For all his protestations of love for me, for all his boasted ideals, his anxiety for the preservation of his honour as a gentleman, he proved himself not even faithful in that which every woman has a right to demand of the man she is about to marry, as he demands it of her.

"I would not marry him then. I could not. I would sooner have died.

"That was my reward for trying to do my duty."

Her voice broke. "Sometimes, I wonder if any man is really true and honourable."

She covered her face with her hands; she, who had always been so self-possessed.

"The shame of it! The shame of it!" she sobbed.

In my heart, I cursed the dishonour of men. Would the dreadful procession of it never cease? Deceit and dishonour! Dishonour and deceit! Here, there, everywhere,--and always the woman suffering while the man goes free!

I moved over beside her in the stern of the boat. I laid my hand upon her shoulder. In my rough, untutored way, without breaking into the agony of her thoughts, I tried to comfort her with the knowledge of my sympathetic presence.

For long we sat thus; but at last she turned to me and her hair brushed my cheek. She looked into my eyes and I know she read what was in my heart, for it was br.i.m.m.i.n.g over with a love for her that I had never known before, a love that overwhelmed me and left me dumb.

"George!" she whispered softly, laying her hand upon mine, "you must not, you must not."

Then she became imperious and haughty once more.

"Back to your oars, sailorman," she cried, with an astonishing effort at gaiety. "The dark is closing in and Mrs. Malmsbury will be thinking all kinds of things she would not dare say, even if she were able."

Late that night, I heard the second verse of Mary's little song. It was hardly sung; it was whispered, as if she feared that even the fairies and sprites might be eavesdropping; but, had she lilted it in her heart only, still, I think, I should have heard it.

A maid there was in the North Countree; A gay little, blythe little maid was she.

Her dream of a gallant knight came true.

He wooed her long and so tenderlee.

And, day by day, as their fond love grew, Her spinning wheel stood with its threads askew; It stood.--It stood.--It stood with its threads askew.

CHAPTER XXI

The Beachcombers

The Autumn, with its shortening days and lengthening nights, was upon Golden Crescent, but still the charm and beauty of its surroundings were unimpaired.

I never tired of the scenes, for they were kaleidoscopic in their changing. Even in the night, when sleep was unable to bind me, I have risen and stood by my open window, in reverie and peaceful contemplation, and the dark has grown to dawn ere I turned back to bed.

It was on such an occasion as I speak of. I was leaning on the window ledge, looking far across the Bay. The sea was a mirror of oily calm.

A crescent moon was shining fairly high in the south, laying a streak of silver along the face of the water near the far sh.o.r.e. It was a night when every dip of an oar would threaten to bring up the reflected moon from the liquid deep; a night of quiet when the winging of a sea-fowl, or the plop of a fish, could be heard a mile away. In the stillness could be heard the occasional tinkle, tinkle of a cow-bell from the grazing lands across the Bay.

As I listened to the night noises, I heard the distant throb of a launch out in the vicinity of the Ghoul Rock. Suddenly, the throbbing stopped and I fancied I caught the sound of deep voices. All went still again, but, soon after, my ear detected the splashing of oars and the rattle of a badly fitting rowlock.

I watched, peering out into the darkness. The moon shot swiftly from under a cloud and threw its white illuminant like a searchlight sheer upon a large rowing boat as it crept up past the wharf, some fifty yards out from the point.

I counted five figures in the boat, which was heading up the Bay.

A cloud pa.s.sed over the moon again and the picture of the boat and its occupants vanished from my sight.

Strange, I thought, why these men should arrive in a launch, leave it so far out and come in with a rowing boat of such dimensions, when there was good, safe and convenient anchorage almost anywhere close in!

I listened again. The sound of the rattling row-lock ceased and I heard the grinding of a boat's bottom on the gravel somewhere in the vicinity of Jake's cove.

I stood in indecision for some minutes, then I decided that I would find out what these men were up to. I put on my clothes without haste, picked up a broken axe-handle that lay near the doorway and started noiselessly down the back path in the direction of Meaghan's shack, reaching there about half an hour after I had first detected the boat.

When I came to the clearing, I saw a light in the cabin. As I drew closer, I heard the sound of hoa.r.s.e voices. Stepping cautiously, I went up to the window and peered through.

I saw four strange men there. The lower parts of their faces were masked by handkerchiefs in real highwaymen fashion.

With a dirty neckcloth stuffed into his mouth, old Jake was sitting on a chair and tied securely to it by ropes. Mike, his faithful old dog, was lying at his feet in a puddle of blood.

The liquor keg in the corner had been broached, and I could see that, already, the men had been drinking. Jake's bra.s.s-bound chest had been dragged to the middle of the floor and the man who appeared to be the leader of the gang was sitting astride of it, with a cup of liquor in his hand, laughing boisterously.

My anger rose furiously.

"The low skunks," I growled, gripping my improvised club as I tip-toed quietly to the door, hoping to rush in, injure some of them and stampede the others before they would know by how many they were being attacked.

I was gently turning the handle, when something crashed down on my head. I stumbled into the shack, sprawled upon the floor, strange voices sang in my ears and everything became blurred.

It could have been only a few minutes later when I revived. I was in Jake's cabin, and was trussed with ropes, hands and feet, to one of the wooden uprights of the old Klondiker's home-made bed. I could feel something warm, oozy and clammy, making its way from my hair, down the back of my neck.

I opened my eyes wide, and reason enough came to me to close them quickly again. Then I opened them once more, cautiously and narrowly.