He stopped in the midst of his ravings and drew himself erect, a smile of infinite cruelty on his lips.
“Let them all come with their damned, empty palms! They’re ghosts, and they cannot stop me so long as I follow the small voice that’s inside of me. They can’t stop me, and I’ll win back to Beatrice. There I’m safe—safe! Her hands are thin and light and cool and as fragrant as flowers. She’ll lay them on my eyelids and I’ll go to sleep! And the ghosts will close their empty hands. Ha! McTee, d’you know aught of the power of a woman’s love?”
He stepped close to the burly Scotchman.
“Keep off,” growled McTee. “I want none of you! There’s poison in your touch!”
He raised his hand like a guard, but two lean, thin hands, incredibly strong, closed on his wrists.
“A woman’s love,” went on the old buccaneer of the South Seas, “is stronger than armor plate to save the man she cares for. You can’t see it; you could never see it! But I tell you there are times when the ghosts have come close to me, and then sometimes I’ve seen the shadows of thin, small hands come in front of me and push them back. The hands of Beatrice push them back, and they’re helpless to harm me!”
CHAPTER 27
But McTee wrenched his arms away and fled out on the deck. He blundered into Jerry Hovey, who started back at sight of him.
“What’s happened, sir?” asked the bos’n. “Been seein’ ghosts?”
“Damn you,” growled McTee, “I had a nap and a bad dream—a hell of a nightmare.”
“You look it! You heard what Harrigan said? Does that sound as if I had enough backing?”
“If the rest of them are as strong for it as Harrigan, it does.”
“As strong for it as Harrigan? Between you and me—just a whisper in your ear—I don’t think Harrigan is half as strong for it as he talks. I don’t trust him, somehow.”
“No?”
“Look here,” said the bos’n cautiously. “We hear there was once some trouble between you and Harrigan?”
“Well?”
“Would you waste much tune if somethin’ was to happen to him—say in the middle of the night, silent and unexpected?”
“I would not! Take him by the foot and heave him into the sea. Very good idea, Hovey. Is he getting the eyes of the lads too much?”
Hovey fenced: “He’s a landlubber, and he don’t understand sea things. He’s better out of the way.”
“How’ll you do it?” asked McTee softly. “Speak out, Hovey. Would you try your own hand on Harrigan?”
“Not me! I know a better way. There’s one that’s in the mutiny who has a hand as strong as mine—almost—and a foot as silent as the paw of a cat. I’ll give him the tip.”
“And now for the details of the attack,” said McTee, anxious not to lay too much stress upon the destruction of Harrigan.
“Here it is,” answered Hovey, and entered into an elaborate description of all their plans. McTee listened with faraway eyes. He heard the words, but he was thinking of the death of Harrigan.
That invincible Irishman, after his talk with Hovey in front of the cabin of Kate, returned to the cool room of the chief engineer. The worthy Campbell, in wait for the ultimatum of White Henshaw, had been fortifying himself steadily with liquor, and by the middle of the afternoon he had reached a state in which he had no care for consequences; he would have defied all the powers upon earth and beyond it.
The next morning, as he went up to his usual task of scrubbing the bridge, Harrigan thought he perceived a possible reason why his persecution was being neglected. It was the picture of McTee and Kate Malone leaning at the rail. McTee was content. There was no doubt of that. He leaned above Kate and talked seriously down into her face. Harrigan was mightily tempted to turn about and climb to the bridge from the other side of the deck, but he made himself march on and begin whistling a tune.
McTee raised his head instantly, and, staring at the Irishman, he murmured a word to Kate, and she turned and regarded Harrigan with an almost painful curiosity. He was about to swagger past her when she shook off the detaining hand of McTee and ran to the Irishman.
“Dan,” she said eagerly, and laid a hand on his arm.
“Come back, Kate,” growled McTee. “You’ve promised me not to speak—”
“Did you promise him not to speak with me again?” broke in Harrigan.
“I only meant—” she began.
“It’s little I care what you meant,” said the Irishman coldly, and he shook off her hand. “Go play with McTee. I want none of ye! After I’ve slaved for ye an’ saved ye from God knows what, ye dare to turn and make them eyes cold and distant when ye look at me? Ah-h, get back to McTee! I’m through with ye!”
She only insisted the more: “I will speak to you, Dan!”
“Come away, Kate,” urged McTee, grinding his teeth. “Doesn’t this prove what I told you?”
“I don’t care what it proves,” she said hotly. “Dan, I’ve been thinking grisly things of you. I simply can’t believe them now that I look you in the face.”
“Whisht!” said Harrigan, and his face was black. “Have you the right to doubt me?”
She answered sadly: “I have, Dan.”
The Irishman turned slowly away and started up for the bridge without answer. As he went, he groaned beneath his breath: “Ochone! Ochone! She’s heard!”
He could not dream how she knew of the mutiny, but if it was carried through, he was damned in her eyes forever. What she guessed McTee must know. What McTee knew must be familiar to White Henshaw, yet Henshaw could not know, for if he did, the ring-leaders would be instantly clapped into irons. Once or twice he looked down from his work to Kate and McTee. They still leaned at the rail, talking seriously.
And McTee was saying: “I have learned what I want to know. Every detail of the plot is in my hands. Now I am going to the cabin of White Henshaw and tell him everything. It’s the simplest way. And you’ve started a suspicion in the mind of Harrigan. He’ll spread the word to the rest of the mutineers, and they’ll be on their watch against us.”
She made a little gesture of appeal. “I couldn’t help speaking to him, Angus. Suspecting him of such a thing is like—is like suspecting myself!”
“Let it go. It’s done. Now I’m going up to see White Henshaw. The old man will be crazy when he hears it.”
He found the captain giving some orders to Salvain, and waited until they were alone. Then he said: “There are about ten of us against the rest of the crew of the ship. Can we hold them in case of a mutiny?”
He had planned this laconic statement carefully, expecting to see Henshaw turn pale and stammer in terror. Instead, the captain regarded McTee with quietly contemplative eyes.
“So,” he murmured, “you’ve heard of the mutiny?”
The tables were completely turned on the Scotchman. He gasped: “You have known all the time?”
“Certainly,” said Henshaw; “I even know every word that Hovey said to you.”
McTee turned