And now Cunningham had to wedge in compellingly! She could hesitate between Denny and Cunningham! The rank disloyalty of it shocked her. To give Cunningham his eight months! Pity, urgent pity for the broken body and tortured soul of the man—mothering pity! Denny was whole and sound, mentally and physically; he would never know any real mental torture, anything 245 that compared with Cunningham’s, which was enduring, now waxing, now waning, but always sensible. To secure for him his eight months, without let or hindrance from the full enmity of Cleigh; to give him his boyhood dream, whether he found his pearls or not. Her throat became stuffed with the presage of tears. The poor thing!
But Denny, parting from his father at Manila, the cleavage wider than ever, beyond hope! Oh, she could not tolerate the thought of that! These two, so full of strong and bitter pride—they would never meet again if they separated now. Perhaps fate had assigned the rôle of peacemaker to her, and she had this weapon in her hand to enforce it or bring it about—the father’s solemn promise to grant whatever she might ask. And she could dodder between Denny and Cunningham!
To demand both conditions would probably appeal to Cleigh as not humanly possible. One or the other, but not the two together.
An interval of several minutes of which she had no clear recollection, and then she was conscious that she was reclining in her chair on deck, staring at the stars which appeared jerkily and queerly shaped—through tears. She hadn’t had the courage to make a decision. As if it became 246 any easier to solve by putting it over until to-morrow!
Chance—the Blind Madonna of the Pagan—was preparing to solve the riddle for her—with a thunderbolt!
The mental struggle had exhausted Jane somewhat, and she fell into a doze. When she woke she was startled to see by her wrist watch that it was after eleven. The yacht was plowing along through the velvet blackness of the night. The inclination to sleep gone, Jane decided to walk the deck until she was as bodily tired as she was mentally. All the hidden terror was gone. To-morrow these absurd pirates would be on their way.
Study the situation as she might, she could discover no flaw in this whimsical madman’s plans. He held the crew in his palm, even as he held Cleigh—by covetousness. Cleigh would never dare send the British after Cunningham; and the crew would obey him to the letter because that meant safety and recompense. The Great Adventure Company! Only by an act of God! And what could possibly happen between now and the arrival of the Haarlem?
Cleigh had evidently turned in, for through the transoms she saw that the salon lights were out. She circled the deck house six times, then went up 247 to the bow and stared down the cutwater at the phosphorescence. Blue fire! The eternal marvel of the sea!
A hand fell upon her shoulder. She thought it would be Denny’s. It was Flint’s!
“Be a good sport, an’ give us a kiss!”