“When you came in you were friends,” she
said, “and the only thing that could bring you
to friendship was danger. There is danger.
What?”
They exchanged glances of wonder at this shrewd interpretation.
“There is danger,” said McTee at length,
“and it’s a danger which is something
more than the mutiny, perhaps.”
“I will tell it,” said Harrigan.
He drew his chair closer to Kate and leaned over so
that his face was near hers. She knew at once
that he had forgotten all about the presence of McTee.
“Kate, I will not lie to ye, colleen”—here
McTee set his teeth, but Harrigan went on—“I
hate McTee, and it’s for your sake that I hate
him. And it’s for your sake that I’m
goin’ to forget it for a while. There’s
throuble abroad—there’s a cloud over
this ship an’ a curse on it—”
“What he means to say,” broke in McTee,
and then he became aware that she had not heard him
speak, and he saw her smiling as she drank in the
musical brogue of the Irishman.
“A curse on it, acushla, an’ a promise
av death that only two shtrong men can save you from—an’
McTee is shtrong—so I’ve put away
desire av killin’ him till we get you safe an’
sound to the shore, colleen, acushla; but ye must
trust in us, an’ follow us as ye love your life
an’ as I love ye!”
She straightened in her chair and turned her eyes
toward McTee.
“And you cannot tell me what the danger is?”
“We cannot,” he answered, “but you
must pay no attention to anything that happens or
to anything that is said to you by others. There
are only two men on the Heron whom you can
trust—and here we are. But there may
be wild happenings on the Heron. Keep your
courage and trust hi Angus McTee and—”
“And Harrigan,” broke in the Irishman
quickly, with a glare at the captain.
She reached an impulsive hand to both of them, and
they met the clasp, keeping, as it were, one eye upon
her and one eye of hate upon each other.
She said, and her voice was low and musical with exultation:
“I’ve no care what happens. I know
we shall pull through safely. The three of us—Dan,
Angus—we lived through the storm when the
Mary Rogers sank, we lived on the island and
survived, we reached the Heron in safety, and
as long as we stay together, we’d be safe if
the whole world were against us. Don’t
you feel it?”
She rose, and they stood up, towering above her, while
she went on in a voice trembling somewhat: “But
we must not be seen together if all these dangers
threaten us; they must not know that the three of us
are like one great heart.”
They stepped back, and McTee pulled open the door,
but still she retained their hands, and now she raised
them both to her lips with a gesture so swift that
they could not resist it.
“Both of you,” she said; “God bless
you both!”
