Wild Norene/Chapter 3
CHAPTER III.
Wild Norene.
THE throbbing of engines, the washing of waves came to the ears of Jack Connor. He opened his eyes, sitting up quickly at the same time, and in an instant was lying down again, for his head had struck sharply against the top of the bunk.
He realized then that he was in the forecastle of some craft.
He slipped from the bunk and tried to stand up. The vessel was rolling and pitching. Connor guessed instantly that she was passing out over the bar at the mouth of the Columbia River.
He cursed softly to himself as he put his hands to his aching head and tried to remember what had occurred. He had risen from the chair after hurling his defiance into the face of Captain Bill Adams, and gone to the bar, to be joined there by Morgan and some of his friends.
As they drank they had watched Captain Adams and Guerrero walk through the room and out the front door.
Connor had talked with Sally Wood again for a short time, but Sally had acted in a peculiar fashion. Sally's face had been white, and she appeared nervous, and Connor had left her, afraid she was going to lecture him again for drinking so heavily.
Together with Morgan and the others, he had gone to another resort. There Morgan and he had seated themselves in a corner and ordered a Chinese to bring drinks.
He had tossed his off—and that was all he could remember.
Shanghaied! Jack Connor Shanghaied!
Connor laughed mirthlessly as he held his aching head. He did not doubt that he was aboard the Amingo, that Captain Bill Adams had won.
He found a bucket of water in a corner and drank deeply, then bathed his head. A groan caused him to whirl around. A cry escaped him. Crawling out of another bunk was Morgan, his friend.
"You!" Morgan gasped. "You?"
"The same!" said Connor.
"Where are we?"
"Aboard some old hooker, just crossing the bar, I should imagine. We're shanghaied, that's what!"
Morgan cursed as he made his way toward the water-bucket.
"But—" he began.
"It isn't a hard puzzle to solve," said Connor, laughing again. "I'll bet we're aboard the Amingo."
"She wasn't to have sailed for twenty-four hours."
"Maybe it's been twenty-four hours," replied Connor, "and maybe Cap'n Bill made up his mind to sail earlier. Cap'n Bill has a habit, I've understood, of changing his mind at times. Take another swig of that water, and we'll go on deck and face the music."
"Shanghaied!" gasped Morgan, only half able to get the idea through his befogged brain. "Now, by Davy Jones—"
"Going to whip the skipper and crew and put back into port?" sneered Connor. "If we're shanghaied aboard the Amingo we might as well take our medicine, that's what! We're due to obey cap'n's orders until we make a port, then there'll be a chance to desert. We might as well make the best of it."
Morgan sat down on the edge of a bunk and held his head in his hands. Connor stood before him smiling.
"We might get a chance to get square with Cap'n Bill, you know," he said. "That is, if we are aboard the Amingo, and I'll make a big bet we are. And, if we are, we're helping pack arms and ammunition to the Mexican revolutionists, and there'll be a Mexican gunboat at our heels. Oh, we'll have experience and excitement, all right, and maybe get shot up and maybe go to jail!
"We'll be lucky if we have only the Mexican to deal with. One of Uncle Sam's revenue cutters might take a notion to overhaul us before we get on the high seas."
"What are we going to do?" Morgan asked.
"Go on deck. Come on."
Connor led the way. They reached the deck to discover that day was breaking. To starboard the light at North Head flashed. Behind was the river and Astoria.
And they were aboard the Amingo, as Connor had guessed.
Her lights were not burning, and Connor guessed they had not been burning when the craft slipped from the river. Her nose was pointed toward the open sea, and the throbbing of her engines told that they were being driven to the utmost. Captain Adams was barking orders, and members of the crew were hurrying about.
Morgan followed at Connor's heels as he led the way across the deck toward the skipper. There was a grin on the face of Captain Adams as he met them. He stood before them with arms folded, waiting for one of them to speak.
"Would you mind telling us, cap'n, what we're doing here?" Connor asked.
"Sleep must have robbed you of your wits, Mr. Connor," came the reply. "You are aboard the steam schooner Amingo, Portland to Mazatlan, with lumber, of which craft you are first mate and your friend a member of the crew."
"Oh! That's it! I'm first mate, eh?"
"You must have taken too much liquor, Mr. Connor, that you fail to remember. I shall be obliged to deny you shore leave when we make port. You'll ruin your health."
"Would you mind telling me just how it came about?"
"Delighted. I offered you the berth and you refused, you'll remember. When you left that resort you went to a saloon where the proprietor is under obligations to me. He put the old reliable knock-out drops in the poison you ordered. A couple of my men took pity on you and your friend and carried you aboard. We didn't want to leave you behind."
Morgan took a step forward. His chin made an inviting target as he bent toward the skipper.
"And let me tell you, you'll suffer for this!" he cried. "No man can shanghai me and get away with it!"
Captain Bill's arm flashed through the air, there was a crack, and Morgan stretched his length on the deck.
Connor did not make a move. Morgan should have known better, he thought. Shanghaied or not, no man can rebuke a ship's master and expect to go unpunished.
"I am glad to see, Mr. Connor, that you take a sensible view of the matter," said the captain. "I'll ask you to take the deck presently. Just now I am interested in putting three miles of the Pacific between the schooner and the coast.
"Of course, you must understand. There's a little vessel in the river that might follow us. You mentioned her last night during our interesting conversation."
He called a couple of the men and ordered them to take Morgan to the forecastle for the time being and place him in irons, then faced Connor again.
"I said I'd have you for mate, and I have you," he announced. "I am a man of my word. I suppose you wonder why?"
"Because I smashed your old mate, Riney, I reckon."
"Wrong, Mr. Connor. Riney deserved the smashing, but I didn't want you for mate because I admired your fistic ability. I can supply all of that necessary on this craft. I wanted you under me where I could give you the punishment you deserved."
Connor's face flushed as he looked the other man squarely in the eyes.
"You gave me your word of honor that, if I made the voyage with you, you'd not lay hand on me," he said. "Now that you have me aboard, I suppose you'll take it out on me. Start in, Captain Bill Adams. You'll win, maybe, and anyway I'm helpless on your ship and out at sea. But I'll leave my mark on you—"
The look in the captain's face caused him to hesitate.
"I am a man of my word," replied the captain, "and when I said I'd not lay hands on you I meant it. I'm not going to beat you up on this voyage. "But I am going to make your life a hell!
"I overheard you last night, as you know. I don't care what you think of me or what you have said about me. But you spoke of my niece. You divided women into classes, and put her in the worthless class.
"You called her wild and untamed, and said you could tame her. You could make her love you, promise to marry you, you said. And you intimated she was a woman of loose character, my niece, one of the sweetest girls God ever let breathe the breath of life! You can tame her, can you! Very well, Mr. Jack Connor, that's exactly what you'll have to do!"
His eyes blazed into Connor's, and Connor took a step backward, not because of sudden fear, but because of the spectacle of wrath and pain mingled that those eyes held.
"I'll be watching you," the captain continued, "and Heaven help you if you show an instant of disrespect. I'll tell the girl what I heard you say. She's a good girl, a sweet and honest girl. I've kept her with me because I was afraid to leave her alone in some port. I worship her. Whatever I have been, Norene is honest and good.
"Tame her, then, if you can; make her love you and promise to marry you, and do it honestly and honorably. You have until we make port. I've put you in the mate's place so you'll have every chance. I'm playing fair!"
"Suppose I do not fancy making a young woman fall in love with me," said Connor. "Suppose I do not make the attempt; suppose I grant you that I made a mistake, that she is a good, sweet girl?"
"There still remains the fact that you said you could tame her, boasted of it before your worthless companions. You have until we reach port."
"And if I do not try, or do try and fail?"
"Then you stand proved a liar, Jack Connor, and I'll remember the insults and deal with you."
"But you've passed your word you'll not lay a hand on me."
"And I'll not. But I can do something else. I can make it appear you are guilty of certain things, violating international law, for instance. I can swear, and my men will back me up, that what this vessel carries is known to you alone, was shipped by you, that I thought it honest cargo—for so it looks. I can have you stood up against a wall, a file of Mexican Federal soldiers before you, and shot.
"Do you understand now? Make good your boast. Tame Wild Norene after she knows what you have said about her—or die! Take the deck!"
Captain Adams went aft. Connor stood near the rail, looking after him. What the skipper had said was damnably true—Adams could, perhaps, do as he promised.
Ordinarily, Connor would have had no scruples. He would have laid siege to the heart of Wild Norene and won it to save his own life, if he could.
But now the scheme seemed distasteful to him. Even if such a thing were possible after the girl's mind had been poisoned against him, he did not want to play with a girl's affections only to cast her aside if he won.
He remembered the girl in Astoria, the one he could not meet now on Commercial Street, as he had hoped. He saw a vision of her before him—her large, trusting eyes and frank face. She was the first woman he ever had met for whom he thought he could care.
What would she think of a man who would make love to a woman when he did not mean it, merely to save his own half-worthless life?
"I'll not do it!" he muttered. "There'll be some other way. I can wait until the last—put up a fight. Morgan will help me!"
He took charge of the deck and for a time worked frantically. Captain Adams watched him and recognized that Connor knew his business, that the new mate was familiarizing himself with the men and the ship.
Half an hour passed; then Connor turned aft—to meet the vision of which he had dreamed.
She was coming across the deck toward him, her face flushed, her eyes wide in wonder. She was dressed in a loose blouse and short skirt, and her hair was whipped about her face by the wind. Connor stared at her as she advanced.
What could she be doing here? he wondered. If she was surprised to see him, he was more surprised to see her. But his heart beat wildly as he realized she was aboard, that he would see her every day, talk with her, walk the deck with her.
Tame Wild Norene to save his own life? Not with this girl aboard! He could not act falsely before her, could not let her despise him, as he felt sure she would if he did such a thing.
"You?" he heard her say. "You are the new mate?"
"I whipped Riney, then got his job," he replied, laughing. "But how do you happen to be here? I was to have met you this afternoon in Astoria."
"I intended to sail on the Amingo, but she wasn't to have sailed until to-night," she answered. "There was a change in plans. I really expected to see you in Astoria this afternoon. And now—to find you here—"
"But why are you here?" he asked. "I didn't know the Amingo carried passengers."
Captain Adams, smiling evilly, stepped between them.
"Mr. Connor," he said, "let me make you acquainted with my niece, Miss Norene Adams!"
The captain's eyes were upon him, but Connor could not prevent the look of amazement and pain that came into his face.
Norene Adams! This woman he had met on the street in Astoria, the only woman he ever had taken the trouble to look at more than once, the woman for whom he had thrashed a man, the woman it had pained him to see in the resort, mention of whose name he had prohibited there—was Wild Norene, of whom he had spoken lightly to his friends!
The girl was dimpling, her eyes sparkling, ready to laugh at her uncle and tell him they had met before. But Connor, watching the evil smile on the captain's face, was thinking of the predicament in which he found himself.
That this girl could be the Wild Norene of whom he had heard so much was not to be believed. How she would despise him when her uncle told her!
There was a pleading in Connor's face as he looked at the skipper, but Captain Bill did not show mercy.
"Norene," he said, "I've something to tell you in Mr. Connor's presence."
"Well, uncle?"
"You know I went to a certain resort in Astoria last night to learn the truth about Riney being a man I could not trust?"
"I heard you say you were going with Señor Guerrero."
"Mr. Connor was sitting at a table near me with some of his companions. They began talking of the Amingo, of me and my business, finally of you."
"Of me!" she exclaimed.
"Very complimentary, wasn't it, to speak of you in such a place? Mr. Connor spoke, too, in a tone half the persons \n the resort could hear. One of his companions remonstrated with him about mentioning your name there.
"Do you know what he replied? That there were but two classes of women, one too good to be mentioned by men of his stamp, and the others of such standing that it made no difference what a man said about them.
"He put you in the latter class."
"Oh!" the girl, cried; her face flushed scarlet.
She looked at Connor, but he was not watching her; his eyes were blazing into those of the captain, and he said nothing.
"Is this—true?" she asked him.
"Your uncle has said that it is," he replied, without taking his eyes from the captain's face.
"Wait, Norene; that is not all," the skipper resumed. "One of the men said you were called Wild Norene, and Mr. Connor said you needed a man to tame you.
"‘I would tame her,' he boasted. 'I could make her love me, promise to be my wife. I could tame her so she'd eat out of my hand.'
"That was his boast, Norene, to his drunken companions, in a dive, where other men could hear.
"So I had him knocked out and carried aboard, and I've made him mate. We'll see if he makes good his boast. I've given him until we reach port to win your love and your promise to be his wife. If he fails, there will be punishment provided."
Captain Adams laughed raucously. Anger flamed in the girl's face as she turned toward Connor and stepped close to him.
"Is all this true?" she demanded.
"Cap'n Adams says it is."
"I want to hear you say so. Did you make that boast before your drunken companions in that resort?"
"Listen to me!" Connor cried. "I met you accidentally yesterday afternoon on the street. You're the first woman I ever took the trouble to look at twice. My friend taunted me about it when we went to that resort, and I warned all men they were not to mention you, even without mentioning your name. Your uncle, if he was there at the time, will say this is the truth.
"I didn't know you were Wild Norene; I'd never have guessed it. I knew only that you were a woman, and a good woman.
"I saw you later at the door of that resort, and you asked me to thrash a man who had insulted you, acted as if your presence in such a place was nothing unusual, and still I knew that you were good.
"When I spoke as I did to my friends I was not speaking of you. I was talking of the Norene I knew by reputation only, thinking only of what I had heard men say—"
"Then you did say it?"
"I said it—yes. But I didn't know—"
Her eyes held his. Her face went white for an instant, and with all the strength at her command she struck him across the face with the flat of her hand. Her fingers left white marks in the red and tan, but Connor did not move.
She started to turn away, half ashamed of what she had done.
"I didn't know!" he said. "Great heavens, girl, do you suppose I'd insult you purposely, whether I knew you personally or not? I tell you you're the last woman in the world whose name I'd speak lightly—the only woman in the world I'd look at a second time—"
"You already are beginning to tame me, I see. You are trying, perhaps, to make me believe you love me, trying to make me love you," she said in scorn.
"Miss Adams, can't you understand? I didn't know you were Wild Norene."
"And how may I be sure?" she asked. "You boasted you could tame me. When I asked you to thrash Riney for his insult to me, you did it instantly. Perhaps that was to gain my gratitude. Maybe that was part of the taming process."
"Miss Adams, I—"
"I do not care to discuss the matter with you," she interrupted. "You are beneath notice! You may prepare to take what punishment my uncle has promised, for small chance you have of taming me and winning my love!"
"And if that punishment is—death?"
"It does not matter to me; I am not interested," she said.
Without another word she turned her back upon him and walked slowly away to the rail, to stand there looking out over the sea, making a picture to attract the eyes of any man.
Connor looked after her. He was cursing himself for the words he had spoken in the resort.
Captain Adams was chuckling.
"I guess she told you something!" the skipper said.
Connor whirled upon him.
"And I'll tell you somethinig!" he exclaimed. "This is the third time I've met her. But I love her! Do you understand? I think she's the best and sweetest woman in the world. And I'll do what I boasted I could do, in spite of the way you have poisoned her against me.
"I'll win her and I'll marry her! And I'll not do it to escape any punishment you may hand out. but because she's the woman I want—the woman I'm ready to fight for! Can you understand that?"