They had scarcely put to sea when Stuart began to curse himself for being led into such a situation.
Bivens had insisted with amateurish2 enthusiasm that they begin the cruise on the little schooner—with her limited crew and close quarters—at once, and use the Buccaneer as her tender. The moment they struck the swell3 outside Sandy Hook the financier went to bed and the doctor never left his side until the trip ended.
Nan was in magnificent spirits, her cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkling with the joy of a child. Stuart watched her with growing wonder at her eternal youth. She was more beautiful in her stylish4 yachting costume than the day she landed in New York, at nineteen. There was not a line in the smooth surface of her rounded neck and shoulders.
The night was one of extraordinary springlike air though it was the fifteenth of December. A gentle breeze was blowing from the south and the full moon flooded the smooth sea with soft silvery radiance. Nan insisted that Stuart sit on deck with her. There was no help for it. Bivens would allow no one except the doctor in his room, and so he resigned himself to the beauty of the glorious scene. Not a sound broke the stillness save the soft ripple5 of the water about the bow of the swan-like yacht.
Nan sat humming a song, when she suddenly stopped and leaned toward Stuart.
"Jim!" she said, softly.
He looked up with a start.
"I honestly believe you were asleep!" she laughed with a touch of petulance6.
"No," he protested seriously. "I was just drinking in the joy of this wonderful night."
"Forgetting that I exist?"
Stuart looked at her intently a moment and said, gravely:
"As if any man who ever knew you, could forget!"
"I don't like your attitude, Jim, and I think we'd better fight it out here and now in the beginning of this trip."
"And what is my offense7?"
"Not offense, but defense8."
"Why Nan!"
"It's useless to deny it," she said banteringly. "You hesitated to come on deck with me in the moonlight this evening. You've kept trotting9 to Cal's stateroom, when he only begs to be let alone."
"Honestly——"
"It's no use to shuffle10. I'm going to be perfectly11 frank with you. Your assumption of such chilling virtue13 is insulting. I wish an apology and a promise never to do so again."
"Have I really made you feel this?" he asked, contritely14.
"You have, and feel it keenly. Let's come to an understanding. You and I both live in glass houses set on a very high hill. No matter what may be the secrets of my heart, I'm not a fool and you can trust my good sense."
Stuart pressed her hand, and said gently:
"I'm awfully15 sorry if I've made such an ass12 of myself that you have received this impression."
"You repent16?"
"In sackcloth and ashes."
"Then I forgive you," she cried, with a laugh, releasing her hand and rising, "but on one condition."
"Name it."
"That from this hour you be your old self, without restraint, and let me be mine."
"I promise faithfully."
"Then, you can help me down that steep companion-way and I'll go to bed."
He held her hand with firm grasp as she picked her way down the steps. Her eyes looked straight into the depths of his as her face almost touched him. He was sure that she had felt the mad impulse to take her in his arms that quivered in every nerve and muscle of his body, for his hand trembled and she smiled.
At her stateroom door she paused, smiled again and said:
"Good night."
His answer was very low.
"Good night."
But he didn't spend a good night. The longer he thought of it the more sinister17 and dangerous he felt his position. At last he squarely faced the fact that his desire for Nan had increased a hundred-fold by the fact that he had lost her, and that it might become a dangerous mania18 under the conditions of physical nearness which this little schooner made inevitable19.
As he sat in the darkness in his stateroom he could hear every sound in the adjoining one which she occupied as plainly as if the thin panelling of wood were not between them.
He was a fool to be caught in such a trap! His love had been too big and serious a tragedy to end in a vulgar intrigue20. There was something painful and stupefying in the spell which she threw over his senses. He realized, too, that she had put him practically at her mercy by the promise he had given. And what made it all the more dangerous was that she was sincere, and apparently21 sure of herself.
He made up his mind to cut his trip short on some pretext22, and in the meantime he would devote himself faithfully to an attempt to start Bivens on the road to a recovery of his shattered health.
At eight o'clock the next morning the black nose of the Buccaneer slowly felt her way into Hog24 Island Inlet on the shores of old Virginia and dropped her anchor in the deep waters of the channel back of the sand spit on which the U.S. Life Saving station is built.
As Stuart stepped on deck a great flock of thousands of brant swept in from sea and pitched on the bar beyond the channel. A cloud of black ducks circled gracefully25 overhead and slowly spread out on their feeding grounds beyond the brant.
His heart gave a throb26 of primitive27 joy. He was a boy again, and the world was young.
"Confound them!" he cried. "I'll show these ducks a trick or two before this trip is over."
He was glad he came. To the devil with worry and women and all the problems of the universe! He watched the flight of the birds for half an hour, entranced with the memories they evoked28. He made up his mind to stay the whole month out and get even with them for a hundred bitter disappointments they had given him in the past.
The long gleaming sweep of the Broadwater Bay, stretching from the tip of the Cape29 Charles peninsula to the mouth of the Delaware, was literally30 alive with ducks.
Bivens had put him in command of the little schooner and he gave orders at once to lower a tender and tow her to an old anchorage he knew in a little cove23 behind Gull31 Marsh32.
And then his trouble began with Bivens.
Stuart rushed to his stateroom and described the prospects33 of a great day in the blinds with boyish enthusiasm. It didn't move Bivens, except to rage.
"Let 'em fly if they want to, I'm not going to budge34. Go yourself, Jim."
Stuart was furious, and began to talk to Bivens as if he were a schoolboy.
"Go myself!" he cried with rage. "What do you suppose I gave up my work and came down here a month for?"
"To shoot ducks, of course," the financier answered, politely.
"I came to try to teach you how to live, you fool, and I'm not going without you. Get into your togs! The guides are here and ready. The tide waits for no man, not even a millionaire; it's ebbing36 now."
"Well, let it ebb35, I don't want to stop it!" the sick man snarled37.
Nan came in, pressed Stuart's hand as she passed, nodded good morning and joined her voice to Stuart's.
"Come, you must go, Cal. It's a glorious day."
The doctor slipped in a word, too.
"By all means, Mr. Bivens, get your hand in the first day."
Bivens lifted himself to a half-sitting posture38, glared at his physician and yelled with fury:
"Get out—all of you—and let me alone!"
The doctor and Nan left on tip-toe, but Stuart folded his arms and looked at Bivens.
"I'd just like to choke you," he quietly said at last.
Bivens turned on him with rage.
"How dare you speak to me in that manner?"
Stuart broke into a laugh and sat down on the edge of the bed, deliberately39 fixing him with a contemptuous look.
"Well, of all the gall40 I've ever encountered—did you say dare to me? What do you take me for, one of your servants? If you weren't sick I'd slap you."
"You'd better not try it," the little man growled41.
"Oh, come now. Bivens, this is too ridiculous, a quarrel the first day of our shooting. But you'll have to get one thing fixed42 in your head once for all; you don't run the entire world. The telephone, telegraph and mail service have been suspended. The Buccaneer has put to sea for New York. You're on a little eighty-foot schooner, anchored in a bay ten miles wide and a hundred-miles long and I'm in command. I won't stand any nonsense from you. Come down off your perch43, quick!"
Bivens started to swear, caught the expression of Stuart's face and suddenly extended his hand.
"I'm sorry, Jim; you must not mind my foolishness. I've had the temper of the devil the last few months, and I'm used to making everybody hop44 when I get mad. I guess I'm spoiled. Forget it, old boy, go ahead and have a good time by yourself to-day. I'm out of sorts from that sea-sickness. You don't mind what I said?"
"No," Stuart slowly answered, "but don't do it again."
"I won't. It was awfully nice of you to come. I'll stay in to-day, but you go and get some ducks for dinner, like a good boy, and say—take Nan along and teach her to shoot. It's getting to be the rage among the high-flyers for the women to shoot."
"Please do, Jim!" Nan cried from the door. She had listened outside to the duel45 in the stateroom.
"All right," he answered, gaily46, "quick about it. You've got a rig?"
"Yes, a half dozen," she cried, with childish glee. "Come into my stateroom and show me which one to put on to-day."
"Oh, you have one for each day of the week?"
"Yes, of course; why not?"
Stuart stepped gingerly inside and inspected the suits she laid out on her bed.
He turned them over and laughed.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"They're all wrong. These things were made to hunt butterflies in the tropics, not ducks in Virginia."
"Can't I wear either of them?" she asked in dismay.
"If you could get all six of them on, one on top of the other and wear your flannels47."
"But I don't wear flannels."
"All right, put on two of these gossamer48 webs, two heavy sweaters and wrap yourself in oil skins and maybe you won't freeze."
"Must I?" she sighed; "I'll look like a fright."
"What's the difference? You've got to hide from the ducks, anyhow. No one else will stroll down these wide avenues to-day."
"You'll be there."
He dropped his voice instinctively49.
"Well, you'll always look the same to me whether you are dressed in silk or cotton bagging."
She looked up quickly with a startled expression, began to say something, changed her mind and spoke50 in a matter-of-fact voice:
"Then get out and I'll be ready in fifteen minutes."
When she appeared on deck, Stuart sat down and laughed heartily51. She had managed to dress herself warmly and yet look pretty as a picture. Her jaunty52 little hunting hat was tipped with an eagle's feather. She wore a brown sweater of the finest heavy wool over her jacket. The corduroy skirt came to the knees, and she had on the most remarkable53 pair of wading54 boots he had ever seen. They were made of brown cloth-covered rubber and cut to the shape of the leg like the old-fashioned leather boots of ancient knights55.
Stuart helped her down the gangway and took his seat by her side in the tender. In five minutes they were towed to the blind the old guide had selected for the day's shooting.
The blinds are made of cedar56 bushes stuck into the mud in such a way that the little gunning boat just fits inside. When the tide ebbs57 enough for the ducks to reach bottom they come in to feed on their favourite wild celery.
The guide took the tender to keep the ducks moving and left them alone.
He had scarcely gone when a pair of black ducks started for the decoys. Just as they were about to settle, in spite of Stuart's warning, Nan popped her head over the bushes to see where they were.
Quick as a flash they leaped a hundred feet into the air and left for parts unknown at the rate of a hundred miles an hour.
"That's great!" Stuart cried, in disgust.
"I'm sorry, Jim," she said, contritely. "I won't do it again. But, you know, I'm glad they got away after all."
"Yes?"
"Because they were mates; didn't you see the beautiful colours on the drake's head? And what a yell he gave to his girl when he saw me? Aren't you really glad they got away?"
"I am not!" he answered, emphatically. "Don't you dare to do that again."
"I won't, honest. I'll kill the next one myself. Tell me just when to get up; I'll shoot him just like I do a clay pigeon at the trap, without sighting, just by instinct."
"Exactly, but please remember you are not shooting clay pigeons. A duck has an eye that can see the movement of your hand three miles away, remember that—keep your head down, there comes one now!"
"Where?"
"Sh! keep down, I tell you!"
"I am—but where, which side, where is he?"
Again Nan's big dark eyes slowly peered over the top of the blind and the eagle's feather in her hat moved.
With a sharp cry the duck swung out of range and was gone.
"Oh, Jim, I didn't do that. I declare I didn't move! He squawked just for nothing and flew away."
"Yes, of course, he dreamed he saw an eagle after him. Ducks often go to sleep flying and have nightmares."
"I won't do it again, please don't get cross now." She laid her hand on his. He smiled and said nothing.
"You're not angry, Jim?" she asked, peeping around shyly. She was sitting in the front of the boat with her back toward him.
"How could any man get angry at such a wonderful shot. You never cripple them, they just drop at the crack of your gun. I think, however, they die of fright. We will know to-night when we eat them for dinner whether the shot killed them or you just scared them to death."
"Don't be nasty, Jim, I'll let you shoot the very next one. I won't move."
She had scarcely spoken when Stuart seized her arm with a sudden fierce grip.
"Sh—now, as still as death!" he whispered. "Don't you dare move or speak or whisper, or breathe aloud."
"I won't!" Nan groaned58, crouching59 low.
"He's circling the blind, but he's coming in sure," he whispered.
Just then the live decoy goose raised his head, saw his friend in the air, and broke into a shrill60 cry that rang like a trumpet61 over the smooth waters of the bay.
Nan sprang to her feet crying:
"It's a goose!"
"Yes, two of them; one right here in the blind!" Stuart laughed.
"No, no! There he goes, Jim! Look, isn't he a big one?"
"A very fine goose, but not nearly so plump and nice as the one we have here."
Nan looked puzzled a moment, blushed and sat down.
"Jim, I think you're awfully mean. He was going the other way when I saw him. I didn't scare him. You know I didn't."
"Certainly not!" was the scornful answer. "He just turned around and went back to pick up a feather he dropped. He'll call again some day."
Nan peeped around to see if he were angry, deliberately rose, turned and sat down on the bow of the boat facing Stuart, smiling at him, mischievously62.
"Let's not shoot to-day, Jim!" she pleaded.
"We won't," he answered, dryly.
"You know I think this blind is such a cute little house, with the blue sky above and the still, beautiful waters stretching away into the mists around us; isn't it?"
"Dangerously beautiful to mere63 mortals, I'm afraid, Nan!" he answered soberly.
"Not if they are sensible, as you and I. Come, you can't be angry to-day. I'm too happy. You don't really care about ducks anyhow, do you? I want to talk. I'm in fairyland alone with the old sweetheart of my girlish dreams! And you're ten times better looking than you were then, Jim."
Stuart broke into a boyish laugh, and gave up to the charm of her chatter64.
For hours they sat laughing and joking. The years rolled back, the fevered life of the great city faded, and they were boy and girl again.
As the sun was sinking in a sea of scarlet65 they were startled by the approach of the tender.
The guide took up the decoys, and made fast their boat to tow them back to the yacht.
His comment on the day's work was brief:
"Great sport!"
He winked66 at Stuart, grasped the tiller of the tender and signalled to the man at the engine to let her go.
The old man was unusually quiet in the crew's quarters that night. It was nine o'clock before he startled the cook with a sudden remark:
"Gee67, but she's a beauty!"
"Who's a beauty?"
"Sometimes he called her 'Nan,' sometimes he called her 'Dianner.'"
"Oh!"
"You know what I'd like to do?"
"No, what?"
"She's so purty, I feel that I want to put out one finger—just like that—and tech her ter see ef she'd fly!"
"Oh, hell!" the cook sneered68. "Her wings ain't sprouted69 yet; wait till you see her riled."
For five days Bivens stuck to his bed with dogged determination, and each day Stuart went out with Nan.
Never had she been more resistlessly charming. With tireless fancy he watched the wind blow the ringlets of black hair across her rosy70 cheeks, while her deep eyes sparkled with joy. Sometimes he imagined her the daughter of Venus suddenly risen from the sea, the dim roar of whose surf he could hear behind the white sands of the beach. Each day she grew more and more dependent on him, until her whole life seemed to move only at his command. Each day their association grew in tender intimacy71 and every fear that had stirred his heart at first was lulled72 at last to sleep.
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1
schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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amateurish
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| n.业余爱好的，不熟练的 | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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stylish
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| adj.流行的，时髦的；漂亮的，气派的 | |
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ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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petulance
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| n.发脾气，生气，易怒，暴躁，性急 | |
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offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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shuffle
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| n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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contritely
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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repent
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| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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hog
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| n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占 | |
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gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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evoked
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| [医]诱发的 | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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gull
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| n.鸥；受骗的人；v.欺诈 | |
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marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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budge
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| v.移动一点儿；改变立场 | |
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ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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ebbing
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的现在分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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45
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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flannels
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| 法兰绒男裤； 法兰绒( flannel的名词复数 ) | |
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gossamer
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| n.薄纱，游丝 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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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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51
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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52
jaunty
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| adj．愉快的，满足的；adv.心满意足地，洋洋得意地；n.心满意足；洋洋得意 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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wading
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 ) | |
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knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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56
cedar
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| n.雪松，香柏(木) | |
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57
ebbs
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| 退潮( ebb的名词复数 )； 落潮； 衰退 | |
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58
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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59
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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60
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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61
trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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62
mischievously
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| adv.有害地；淘气地 | |
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63
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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64
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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65
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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66
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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67
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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68
sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69
sprouted
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| v.发芽( sprout的过去式和过去分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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70
rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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71
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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72
lulled
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| vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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