He went off toward the forecastle hitching at his
trousers and whistling an old English song of the
Spanish Main. As for Black McTee, he remained
staring after Hovey with a rising thought of perjury.
The loot of the Heron was a deep temptation,
and his pledged word to the bos’n was a strong
bond, for as Hovey had said, the honor of Black McTee,
in spite of his other failings, was respected throughout
the South Seas. For one purpose, however, he
would have sacrificed all hopes of plunder and a thousand
plighted words, and that purpose was the undoing of
Harrigan in the eyes of Kate.
She had grown into a necessity to him. Though
were she twice as beautiful, he would never have paid
her the dangerous honor of a second glance under ordinary
conditions, but their life together on the island
and his rivalry with Harrigan for her sake had made
her infinitely dear to him.
Seeing the opportunity to destroy all her respect
for Harrigan, he schemed instantly to betray his word
to Hovey. Like Harrigan earlier in the day, he
had no purpose to reveal the planned mutiny at once.
The Irishman waited because he did not know to whom
he could confide the dangerous information; McTee
delayed hi the hope of nipping insurrection in the
bud at the very instant when it was about to flower.
It would be far more spectacular. Moreover, he
saw in this a manner of enlisting Kate on his side.
Shortly before four bells in the afternoon he went
to her cabin and knocked at the door. When she
opened it to him, she stood with one hand upon the
knob, blocking the way and waiting silently for an
explanation of his coming. That quiet coldness
banished from his mind the speech which he had prepared.
He said at last: “Kate, I want you to talk
with me for a few minutes.”
She considered him seriously—without fear,
but with such a deep distrust that he was startled.
He had not dreamed that matters had progressed as
far as that. At length she stepped back, and without
a word beckoned him to come inside. He entered
and then his eyes raised and met her glance with such
a deep, still yearning that she was startled.
No woman can see the revelation of a man’s love
without being moved to the heart.
She said: “You are in trouble, Angus?”
The hunger of his eyes came full in her face.
“Aye, trouble.”
“And you have come to me—”
she asked; and before she could finish her sentence,
McTee broke in, pleadingly:
“For help.”
He saw her lips part, her eyes brighten; he knew it
was his despair which was winning her.
“Tell me!” And she made a little gesture
with both hands toward him.
“I have seen it for days. I have lost all
hope of you, Kate.”
Her glance wandered slightly, and his hope increased.
“Because of Harrigan,” he said.
