The Web of the Golden Spider Part 20

Day after day of the long voyage pa.s.sed without incident. Danbury and Wilson in the close relations.h.i.+p necessary aboard s.h.i.+p grew to be warm friends. And yet the latter still remained silent concerning that part of his quest relating to the hidden treasure. This was not so much due to any remaining suspicion of Danbury as to the fact that the latter seemed so occupied with his own interests. In fact, he was tempted far more to confide in Stubbs. The latter would be an ideal partner on such a search. As the days pa.s.sed he became more and more convinced that it would be to his advantage to enlist the services of Stubbs even upon as big a basis as share and share alike.

Danbury trod the decks each day with a light step, and at night relieved his buoyant heart of its dreams to Wilson and of its plans to Stubbs. The latter had spoken once or twice of the necessity of finding something for the men below to do, but Danbury had waved aside the suggestion with a good-natured "Let 'em loaf." But finally their grumblings and complainings grew so loud that Stubbs was forced to take some notice of it, and so, upon his own responsibility, had them up on deck where he put them through a form of drill. But they rebelled at this and at last reached a condition which threatened to become serious.

"We've jus' got to find something for them to do," Stubbs informed him.

"They ought certainly to be kept in trim. Don't want them to get flabby."

"'Nother thing, they are livin' too high," said Stubbs. "Salt pork and hardtack is what they needs,--not beefsteak."

"Nonsense, Stubbs. This isn't a slave-s.h.i.+p. Nothing like good fodder to keep 'em in trim. They are getting just what you get at a training table, and I know what that does,--keeps you fit as a king."

"Mebbe so. I'll tell you what it'ull do for them,--it'll inspire 'em to cut our bonny throats some day. The ale alone 'ud do it. Think of servin' ale to sech as them with nothin' to do but sit in the sun.

Darned if they ain't gettin' to look as chubby as them babies you see in the advertis.e.m.e.nts. An' their tempers is growin' likewise."

"Good fightin' spirit, eh?"

"Yes," drawled Stubbs, "an' a h.e.l.l of a bad thing to have on the high seas."

"Well," said Danbury, after a moment's thought, "you have them up on deck to-morrow and I'll have a talk with them."

It was Danbury's first opportunity to look over his mercenaries as a whole and he gave a gasp of surprise at the row after row of villainous faces raised with sneering grins to his. Well in the front squatted "b.u.m" Jocelin, known to the water-front police for fifteen years,--six feet of threatening insolence; "Black" Morrison with two penitentiary sentences back of him; and "Splinter" Mallory, thin, leering, s.h.i.+fty. And yet Danbury, after he had recovered himself a bit, saw in their very ugliness the fighting spirit of the bulldog. He had not hired them for ornament but for the very lawlessness which led them rather to fight for what they wished than to work for it.

Doubtless below their flannel s.h.i.+rts they all had hearts which beat warmly. So he met their gaze frankly and, raising one foot to a capstan, he bent forward with a smile and began. Stubbs stood by with the strained expression of a father who stands helpless watching a son do a foolish thing. On the other hand, Wilson, though he would not have done it himself, rather admired the spirit that prompted the act.

"Men," began Danbury,--and Stubbs choked back an exclamation at his gentleness,--"men, I haven't told you much about the errand upon which you are bound, but I feel now that you ought to know. You signed for two months and agreed to accept your orders from me. You were told there would be some sc.r.a.pping----"

"The h.e.l.l we were," broke in Splinter. Danbury, ignoring the interruption, blandly continued:

"And you were all picked out as men who wouldn't balk at a bit of a mix-up. But you weren't told what it is all about.

"Well, then, this is the game: down there in Carlina where we are going there is a one-horse republic where they used to have a d.i.n.ky little kingdom. A republic is all right when it's an honest republic, but this one isn't. It was stolen, and stolen from the finest woman in the world. I'm going to give you all a chance to see her some day, and I know you'll throw up your hats then and say the game is worth it, if you don't before."

Their faces were as stolid as though they could not understand a word of what he was saying. But he had lost sight of them and saw only the eyes of the girl of whom he was speaking.

"Once, when she was a little girl, they put her in prison. And it wasn't a man's prison either, but a mangy, low-down, dog kennel. Think of it! Put her down there in the dark among the rats. But that was too much for the decent ones of even that crowd, and they had to let her go. So now she lives in a little house in her kingdom, like a beggar outside her own door."

Danbury had worked himself up to a fever pitch. His words came hoa.r.s.ely and he stepped nearer in his excitement. But as he paused once more, he realized that he was facing a pack of dummies. For a moment he stared at them in amazement. Then he burst out,

"Are you with us, men? Haven't we something worth fighting for--something worth fighting hard for?"

He heard a rough guffaw from a few men in the rear; then a voice:

"It's the dough we're out fer--no d.a.m.ned princess."

Danbury whitened. He leaped forward as though to throw himself into the midst of them all, and reached for the throat of the man who had spoken. But Stubbs who had been watching, drew his revolver, and followed close behind. With the aid of Wilson he separated the two and drew off Danbury, while keeping the others at bay.

"Go below," he commanded. "Let me talk to 'em a minute."

"But--but the d.a.m.ned jellyfish--the----"

Wilson seized his arm and managed to drag him away and down to his cabin. Then Stubbs, with feet wide apart, faced the gang. His voice was low, but they did not miss a word.

"Th' cap'n," he began, "has talked to ye as though ye was white men 'cause he's young and clean an' doesn't know the likes of ye. He hain't had so much to do with a bunch of white-livered, swill-tub jail birds as I have. But don't you go further an' make th' mistake thet 'cause he's young he ain't a man yet. 'Cause if ye do, ye'll wake up sudden with a jolt. Even if he did mistake a pack of yaller dogs fer men, don't ye think he doesn't know how to handle yaller dogs. But I s'pose ye are jus' as good to shoot at as better. Now I gut ye aboard this craft--me, Stubbs," he pointed to his breast with a thick forefinger, "an' ye're goneter earn yer grub afore ye're done."

"Shanghaied--we was shanghaied," ventured Splinter.

"You was, was ye? D' ye think ye could make anyone b'lieve a man in his sober senses would shanghai the likes of you? But howsomever that may be, here you is and here you stays till ye git ash.o.r.e.

Then you has yer chi'ce er gittin' shot in front er gittin' shot behind,--gittin' shot like white men er gittin' shot like n.i.g.g.e.rs.

'Cause I tells you right now thet in all the shootin', I'll be hangin' round where I can spot the first man who goes the wrong way.

An'," he drew his weapon from his pocket, "I can shoot."

He placed a bullet within two inches of the hand of a man who was leaning against the rail. The group huddled more closely together like frightened sheep.

"Now," he concluded, "ye're goneter git more exercise an' less grub arter this. Tuck it away fer future ref'rence thet th' next time yer cap'n talks to yer ye'd better show a little life. Now, jus' ter prove ye appreciate what he said, cheer. An' cheer good, ye dogs."

They let out a howl.

"Now back to yer kennels!"

They slunk away, crowding one another in their effort to get from the range of the weapon which Stubbs still carelessly held pointed at their heels.

It was several days after this that Wilson was pacing the deck alone one night rather later than usual. The sky was filled with big, top-heavy clouds which rolled across the purple, blotting out every now and then the half moon which sprinkled the sea with silver b.u.t.terflies. The yacht quivered as though straining every timber, but it looked to Wilson a hopeless task ever to run out from under the dark cup and unchanging circ.u.mference. It seemed as though one might go on this path through eternity with the silver b.u.t.terflies ever fluttering ahead into the boundless dark.

He lounged up to Martin at the wheel. The latter, a st.u.r.dy, somewhat reserved man, appeared glad to see him and showed evidence of being disturbed about something. He frequently glanced up from the lighted compa.s.s before the wheel as though on the point of speaking, but turned back to his task each time, reconsidering his impulse. Finally he cleared his throat and remarked with a fine show of indifference, "Everything been all quiet below, to-day?"

"So far as I know."

"Been down there lately?"

"No; but the men seemed this morning in unusually good form. More cheerful than they've been at all."

"So?"

For a few moments he appeared engrossed in his work, turning the creaking wheel to the right, the left, and finally steadying it on its true course. Wilson waited. The man had said enough to excite his interest and he knew the best way to induce him to talk more freely was to keep silent.

"Happened to go for'ard afore my s.h.i.+ft to-night an' I heard some of 'em talkin'. Didn't sound to me like th' sorter talk that's good aboard s.h.i.+p."

"So? What were they saying?"

"Nothin' much," he answered, frightened back into stubborn silence.

"They talk pretty free at all times," returned Wilson. "They haven't learned much about s.h.i.+p discipline."

"I hopes they don't act as free as they talk."

"No fear of that, I guess."

Another long silence. Then Martin asked: