“I came because Elsa asked me to save a friend,” she said, “not because I wished to revenge myself on Nat. I am glad it was you, for I would do anything on earth for Elsa.”
Code turned mystified eyes upon Mrs. Mallaby.
“I thought you did this to revenge yourself on Nat,” he half whispered.
“I did, partly,” she replied. She lifted her eyes to his and he saw something in them that startled him––something that, in all his association with her, he had never seen before. He stood silent, amazed, overwhelmed while she turned her face away.
CHAPTER XXX
ELSA’S TRIUMPH
Code Schofield’s appearance at his schooner the next morning to help the crew unload was the signal for a veritable native-son demonstration. Not only had the story of Code’s sudden liberation and Nat’s as sudden imprisonment spread like wild-fire clear to Southern Head Light, twenty miles away, but the tale was hailed with joy.
For Nat had come into his own in the hatred of his townsfolk. Among the fleet he was heartily unpopular because he had not fished all season and then had tried to catch the first market with a purchased cargo, merely to revenge himself on Code and the Tanners. Throughout his conduct had been utterly selfish, whereas others had worked for the island and for its salvation.