“Won’t you go? We’ll speak to-morrow!” she said softly, as though she would appeal to his heart. Again he swore that he would not harm her.
Gabrielle looked in despair through the port-hole. For a moment she was half inclined to put her head out and scream. Then she thought of the hideous mulatto mate and the fierce Kanaka crew. She shuddered. What hope had she? Even as she realised the hopelessness of her position the Rajah’s booted foot crashed at the door.
Gabrielle hardly knew what she was doing as she flung the door open. “I believe you,” she said, as she stood there, just inside her cabin and gazed courageously into the man’s eyes. For a moment he was taken aback, but in another moment he had responded by hastily stepping forward.
Gabrielle was quite unprepared for his sudden outburst, notwithstanding all that had happened. He took her hand in his own. He pressed warm kisses on the soft white fingers. He became almost incoherent as he talked and told her how he had dreamed of her and seen her image in the great magical lagoons in his native land.
“The gods said that such as you would be mine. Yes, Gabri-ar-le, long years ago before you were born.”
He had seized her in a passionate clasp. The terrible magic of his vile personality began to work on the girl’s overwrought mind. “Go away! Go away!” she pleaded. But still he wailed on about his old gods, their magic and the wonders of his country. For a moment he leaned against the frame of the cabin door as though he were about to depart, but he did not go. He leaned forward and began to murmur a weird Papuan chant. His voice was peculiarly mellow and sweet. There was something melodiously caressing in the strain. Just for a moment his eyes softened, as though his heart was influenced by the music of his lips. It was only for a second, though, ere the tiger beast of his nature returned and once more he gazed unabashed at the girl, as only the low order of the dark races can gaze. He touched her fingers. His dark hands had begun to creep in a caressing way up her arms. His burning eyes still stared relentlessly into the terrified eyes of the girl. He would not vary that glance, no, not for one second, as he stared on triumphant, magnetising her soul by the eerie fire of his own.
“My beloved, putih bunga!” he murmured, as he noticed the look of terror fading away from the eyes that had looked up so appealingly into his.
Gabrielle’s face, ghastly pale but a moment before, now appeared strangely flushed, almost swarthy-looking. But even the Rajah looked startled as he saw the change in her expression, as she stood there dimly revealed by the light of the stars that gleamed through the little cabin’s port-hole. Standing there framed between her bunk and the slanting beam of the bulwark, her tumbled hair about her neck, she looked like some wonderful emblematic figure of spiritual beauty struggling against the temptation of passion. But still his hands stole stealthily up her arms and about her: now he softly touched the silky material of her blouse, his face within three inches of her own. His arms curved snake-wise over her shoulders. “Marlino sa wean, placer your lips to mine—quick, quick!” he whispered. His voice was hoarse with passion as he drew her near to him. “Putih bunga, mine! Ola savoo, beautiful!” he babbled. He felt the sighing heave and fall of her bosom. Gently but firmly he pressed her head slowly backwards, so that her face should be uplifted to his own. Even in the gloom he noticed that her eyes stared up at him as though in sleep. He leaned half fearfully forward and let his mouth touch her lips.
“Go! Go!” she wailed, as she tried to overcome the darkness that was sweeping her very life away. She fancied that a shadow had slipped out of the night to torture her soul. Again in some terrible rivalship of dark and mystery it sought to strangle her. She fancied she saw strange, wild eyes appealing to her, peering over the Rajah’s shoulder; but it was only the Rajah’s eyes she really saw.
He saw her eyelids quiver. He felt the wild throb of her bosom still; but he noticed that the limbs had ceased to tremble.