“I guess youse must o' been seein' things,” said Byrne, drily.
“Yes,” said the girl, “and I see them again. Look! Quick! Down there—to the right.”
Byrne looked in the direction she indicated.
“Chinks,” he commented. “Gee1! Look at 'em comin'. Dere must be a hundred of 'em.”
He turned a rueful glance back into the amphitheater.
“I dunno as dis place looks as good to me as it did,” he remarked. “Dose yaps wid de toad2 stabbers could hike up on top o' dese cliffs an' make it a case o' 'thence by carriages to Calvary' for ours in about two shakes.”
“Yes,” said the girl, “I'm afraid it's a regular cul-de-sac.”
“I dunno nothin' about dat,” replied the mucker; “but I do know dat if we wants to get out o' here we gotta get a hump on ourselves good an' lively. Come ahead,” and with his words he ran quickly through the entrance, and turning squarely toward the right skirted the perpendicular3 cliffs that extended as far as they could see to be lost to view in the forest that ran up to meet them from below.
The trees and underbrush hid them from the head-hunters. There had been danger of detection but for the brief instant that they passed through the entrance of the hollow, but at the time they had chosen the enemy had been hidden in a clump4 of thick brush far down the slope.
For hours the two fugitives5 continued their flight, passing over the crest6 of a ridge7 and downward toward another valley, until by a small brook8 they paused to rest, hopeful that they had entirely9 eluded10 their pursuers.
Again Byrne fished, and again they sat together at a one-course meal. As they ate the man found himself looking at the girl more and more often. For several days the wonder of her beauty had been growing upon him, until now he found it difficult to take his eyes from her. Thrice she surprised him in the act of staring intently at her, and each time he had dropped his eyes guiltily. At length the girl became nervous, and then terribly frightened—was it coming so soon?
The man had talked but little during this meal, and for the life of her Barbara Harding could not think of any topic with which to distract his attention from his thoughts.
“Hadn't we better be moving on?” she asked at last.
Byrne gave a little start as though surprised in some questionable12 act.
“I suppose so,” he said; “this ain't no place to spend the night—it's too open. We gotta find a sort o' hiding place if we can, dat a fellow kin11 barricade13 wit something.”
Again they took up their seemingly hopeless march—an aimless wandering in search of they knew not what. Away from one danger to possible dangers many fold more terrible. Barbara's heart was very heavy, for again she feared and mistrusted the mucker.
They followed down the little brook now to where it emptied into a river and then down the valley beside the river which grew wider and more turbulent with every mile. Well past mid-afternoon they came opposite a small, rocky island, and as Byrne's eyes fell upon it an exclamation14 of gratification burst from his lips.
“Jest de place!” he cried. “We orter be able to hide dere forever.”
“But how are we to get there?” asked the girl, looking fearfully at the turbulent river.
“It ain't deep,” Byrne assured her. “Come ahead; I'll carry yeh acrost,” and without waiting for a reply he gathered her in his arms and started down the bank.
What with the thoughts that had occupied his mind off and on during the afternoon the sudden and close contact of the girl's warm young body close to his took Billy Byrne's breath away, and sent the hot blood coursing through his veins16. It was with the utmost difficulty that he restrained a mad desire to crush her to him and cover her face with kisses.
And then the fatal thought came to him—why should he restrain himself? What was this girl to him? Had he not always hated her and her kind? Did she not look with loathing17 and contempt upon him? And to whom did her life belong anyway but to him—had he not saved it twice? What difference would it make? They'd never come out of this savage18 world alive, and if he didn't take her some monkey-faced Chink would get her.
They were in the middle of the stream now. Byrne's arms already had commenced to tighten19 upon the girl. With a sudden tug20 he strove to pull her face down to his; but she put both hands upon his shoulders and held his lips at arms' length. And her wide eyes looked full into the glowing gray ones of the mucker. And each saw in the other's something that held their looks for a full minute.
Barbara saw what she had feared, but she saw too something else that gave her a quick, pulsing hope—a look of honest love, or could she be mistaken? And the mucker saw the true eyes of the woman he loved without knowing that he loved her, and he saw the plea for pity and protection in them.
“Don't,” whispered the girl. “Please don't, you frighten me.”
A week ago Billy Byrne would have laughed at such a plea. Doubtless, too, he would have struck the girl in the face for her resistance. He did neither now, which spoke21 volumes for the change that was taking place within him, but neither did he relax his hold upon her, or take his burning eyes from her frightened ones.
Thus he strode through the turbulent, shallow river to clamber up the bank onto the island. In his soul the battle still raged, but he had by no means relinquished22 his intention to have his way with the girl. Fear, numb23, freezing fear, was in the girl's eyes now. The mucker read it there as plain as print, and had she not said that she was frightened? That was what he had wanted to accomplish back there upon the Halfmoon—to frighten her. He would have enjoyed the sight, but he had not been able to accomplish the thing. Now she not only showed that she was frightened—she had admitted it, and it gave the mucker no pleasure—on the contrary it made him unaccountably uncomfortable.
And then came the last straw—tears welled to those lovely eyes. A choking sob24 wracked the girl's frame—“And just when I was learning to trust you so!” she cried.
They had reached the top of the bank, now, and the man, still holding her in his arms, stood upon a mat of jungle grass beneath a great tree. Slowly he lowered her to her feet. The madness of desire still gripped him; but now there was another force at work combating the evil that had predominated before.
Theriere's words came back to him: “Good-bye, Byrne; take good care of Miss Harding,” and his admission to the Frenchman during that last conversation with the dying man: “—a week ago I guess I was a coward. Dere seems to be more'n one kind o' nerve—I'm just a-learnin' of the right kind, I guess.”
He had been standing25 with eyes upon the ground, his heavy hand still gripping the girl's arm. He looked into her face again. She was waiting there, her great eyes upon his filled with fear and questioning, like a prisoner before the bar awaiting the sentence of her judge.
As the man looked at Barbara Harding standing there before him he saw her in a strange new light, and a sudden realization26 of the truth flashed upon him. He saw that he could not harm her now, or ever, for he loved her!
And with the awakening27 there came to Billy Byrne the withering28, numbing29 knowledge that his love must forever be a hopeless one—that this girl of the aristocracy could never be for such as he.
Barbara Harding, still looking questioningly at him, saw the change that came across his countenance—she saw the swift pain that shot to the man's eyes, and she wondered. His fingers released their grasp upon her arm. His hands fell limply to his sides.
“Don't be afraid,” he said. “Please don't be afraid o' me. I couldn't hurt youse if I tried.”
A deep sigh of relief broke from the girl's lips—relief and joy; and she realized that its cause was as much that the man had proved true to the new estimate she had recently placed upon him as that the danger to herself had passed.
“Come,” said Billy Byrne, “we'd better move in a bit out o' sight o' de mainland, an' look fer a place to make camp. I reckon we'd orter rest here for a few days till we git in shape ag'in. I know youse must be dead beat, an' I sure am, all right, all right.”
Together they sought a favorable site for their new home, and it was as though the horrid30 specter of a few moments before had never risen to menace them, for the girl felt that a great burden of apprehension31 had been lifted forever from her shoulders, and though a dull ache gnawed32 at the mucker's heart, still he was happier than he had ever been before—happy to be near the woman he loved.
With the long sword of Oda Yorimoto, Billy Byrne cut saplings and bamboo and the fronds33 of fan palms, and with long tough grasses bound them together into the semblance34 of a rude hut. Barbara gathered leaves and grasses with which she covered the floor.
“Number One, Riverside Drive,” said the mucker, with a grin, when the work was completed; “an' now I'll go down on de river front an' build de Bowery.”
“Oh, are you from New York?” asked the girl.
“Not on yer life,” replied Billy Byrne. “I'm from good ol' Chi; but I been to Noo York twict wit de Goose Island Kid, an' so I knows all about it. De roughnecks belongs on de Bowery, so dat's wot we'll call my dump down by de river. You're a highbrow, so youse gotta live on Riverside Drive, see?” and the mucker laughed at his little pleasantry.
But the girl did not laugh with him. Instead she looked troubled.
“Wouldn't you rather be a 'highbrow' too?” she asked, “and live up on Riverside Drive, right across the street from me?”
“I don't belong,” said the mucker gruffly.
“Wouldn't you rather belong?” insisted the girl.
All his life Billy had looked with contempt upon the hated, pusillanimous35 highbrows, and now to be asked if he would not rather be one! It was unthinkable, and yet, strange to relate, he realized an odd longing36 to be like Theriere, and Billy Mallory; yes, in some respects like Divine, even. He wanted to be more like the men that the woman he loved knew best.
“It's too late fer me ever to belong, now,” he said ruefully. “Yeh gotta be borned to it. Gee! Wouldn't I look funny in wite pants, an' one o' dem dinky, little 'Willie-off-de-yacht' lids?”
Even Barbara had to laugh at the picture the man's words raised to her imagination.
“I didn't mean that,” she hastened to explain. “I didn't mean that you must necessarily dress like them; but BE like them—act like them—talk like them, as Mr. Theriere did, you know. He was a gentleman.”
“An' I'm not,” said Billy.
“Oh, I didn't mean THAT,” the girl hastened to explain.
“Well, whether youse meant it or not, it's so,” said the mucker. “I ain't no gent—I'm a mucker. I have your word for it, you know—yeh said so that time on de Halfmoon, an' I ain't fergot it; but youse was right—I am a mucker. I ain't never learned how to be anything else. I ain't never wanted to be anything else until today. Now, I'd like to be a gent; but it's too late.”
“Won't you try?” asked the girl. “For my sake?”
“Go to't,” returned the mucker cheerfully; “I'd even wear side whiskers fer youse.”
“Horrors!” exclaimed Barbara Harding. “I couldn't look at you if you did.”
“Well, then, tell me wot youse do want me to do.”
Barbara discovered that her task was to be a difficult one if she were to accomplish it without wounding the man's feelings; but she determined37 to strike while the iron was hot and risk offending him—why she should be interested in the regeneration of Mr. Billy Byrne it never once occurred to her to ask herself. She hesitated a moment before speaking.
“One of the first things you must do, Mr. Byrne,” she said, “is to learn to speak correctly. You mustn't say 'youse' for 'you,' or 'wot' for 'what'—-you must try to talk as I talk. No one in the world speaks any language faultlessly, but there are certain more or less obvious irregularities of grammar and pronunciation that are particularly distasteful to people of refinement38, and which are easy to guard against if one be careful.”
“All right,” said Billy Byrne, “youse—you kin pitch in an' learn me wot—whatever you want to an' I'll do me best to talk like a dude—fer your sake.”
And so the mucker's education commenced, and as there was little else for the two to do it progressed rapidly, for once started the man grew keenly interested, spurred on by the evident pleasure which his self-appointed tutor took in his progress—further it meant just so much more of close companionship with her.
For three weeks they never left the little island except to gather fruit which grew hard by on the adjacent mainland. Byrne's wounds had troubled him considerably—at times he had been threatened with blood poisoning. His temperature had mounted once to alarming heights, and for a whole night Barbara Harding had sat beside him bathing his forehead and easing his sufferings as far as it lay within her power to do; but at last the wonderful vitality39 of the man had saved him. He was much weakened though and neither of them had thought it safe to attempt to seek the coast until he had fully15 regained40 his old-time strength.
So far but little had occurred to give them alarm. Twice they had seen natives on the mainland—evidently hunting parties; but no sign of pursuit had developed. Those whom they had seen had been pure-blood Malays—there had been no samurai among them; but their savage, warlike appearance had warned the two against revealing their presence.
They had subsisted41 upon fish and fruit principally since they had come to the island. Occasionally this diet had been relieved by messes of wild fowl42 and fox that Byrne had been successful in snaring43 with a primitive44 trap of his own invention; but lately the prey45 had become wary46, and even the fish seemed less plentiful47. After two days of fruit diet, Byrne announced his intention of undertaking48 a hunting trip upon the mainland.
“A mess of venison wouldn't taste half bad,” he remarked.
“Yes,” cried the girl, “I'm nearly famished49 for meat—it seems as though I could almost eat it raw.”
“I know that I could,” stated Billy. “Lord help the deer that gets within range of this old gat of Theriere's, and you may not get even a mouthful—I'm that hungry I'll probably eat it all, hoof50, hide, and horns, before ever I get any of it back here to you.”
“You'd better not,” laughed the girl. “Good-bye and good luck; but please don't go very far—I shall be terribly lonely and frightened while you are away.”
“Maybe you'd better come along,” suggested Billy.
“No, I should be in the way—you can't hunt deer with a gallery, and get any.”
“Well, I'll stay within hailing distance, and you can look for me back any time between now and sundown. Good-bye,” and he picked his way down the bank into the river, while from behind a bush upon the mainland two wicked, black eyes watched his movements and those of the girl on the shore behind him while a long, sinewy51, brown hand closed more tightly upon a heavy war spear, and steel muscles tensed for the savage spring and the swift throw.
The girl watched Billy Byrne forging his way through the swift rapids. What a mighty52 engine of strength and endurance he was! What a man! Yes, brute53! And strange to relate Barbara Harding found herself admiring the very brutality54 that once had been repellent to her. She saw him leap lightly to the opposite bank, and then she saw a quick movement in a bush close at his side. She did not know what manner of thing had caused it, but her intuition warned her that behind that concealing56 screen lay mortal danger to the unconscious man.
“Billy!” she cried, the unaccustomed name bursting from her lips involuntarily. “In the bush at your left—look out!”
At the note of warning in her voice Byrne had turned at her first word—it was all that saved his life. He saw the half-naked savage and the out-shooting spear arm, and as he would, instinctively57, have ducked a right-for-the-head in the squared circle of his other days, he ducked now, side stepping to the right, and the heavy weapon sped harmlessly over his shoulder.
The warrior58, with a growl59 of rage, drew his sharp parang, leaping to close quarters. Barbara Harding saw Byrne whip Theriere's revolver from its holster, and snap it in the face of the savage; but to her horror the cartridge60 failed to explode, and before he could fire again the warrior was upon him.
The girl saw the white man leap to one side to escape the furious cut aimed at him by his foe61, and then she saw him turn with the agility62 of a panther and spring to close quarters with the wild man. Byrne's left arm went around the Malay's neck, and with his heavy right fist he rained blow after blow upon the brown face.
The savage dropped his useless parang—clawing and biting at the mighty creature in whose power he found himself; but never once did those terrific, relentless63 blows cease to fall upon his unprotected face.
The sole witness to this battle primeval stood spellbound at the sight of the fierce, brutal55 ferocity of the white man, and the lion-like strength he exhibited. Slowly but surely he was beating the face of his antagonist64 into an unrecognizable pulp—with his bare hands he had met and was killing65 an armed warrior. It was incredible! Not even Theriere or Billy Mallory could have done such a thing. Billy Mallory! And she was gazing with admiration66 upon his murderer!
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1
gee
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| n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转 | |
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toad
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| n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆 | |
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perpendicular
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| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
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clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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eluded
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的过去式和过去分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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questionable
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| adj.可疑的，有问题的 | |
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barricade
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| n.路障，栅栏，障碍；vt.设路障挡住 | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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tighten
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| v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧 | |
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tug
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| v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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relinquished
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| 交出，让给( relinquish的过去式和过去分词 )； 放弃 | |
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numb
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| adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木 | |
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sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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withering
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| 使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的 | |
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numbing
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| adj.使麻木的，使失去感觉的v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的现在分词 ) | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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gnawed
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| 咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物 | |
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fronds
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| n.蕨类或棕榈类植物的叶子( frond的名词复数 ) | |
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semblance
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| n.外貌，外表 | |
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pusillanimous
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| adj.懦弱的，胆怯的 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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subsisted
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| v.（靠很少的钱或食物）维持生活，生存下去( subsist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
fowl
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| n.家禽，鸡，禽肉 | |
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snaring
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| v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的现在分词 ) | |
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44
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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46
wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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47
plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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48
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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49
famished
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| adj.饥饿的 | |
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50
hoof
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| n.(马，牛等的)蹄 | |
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51
sinewy
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| adj.多腱的，强壮有力的 | |
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52
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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56
concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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58
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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59
growl
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| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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60
cartridge
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| n.弹壳，弹药筒；(装磁带等的)盒子 | |
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61
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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62
agility
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| n.敏捷，活泼 | |
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63
relentless
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| adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的 | |
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64
antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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65
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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66
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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