Joel dropped his hand in his coat pocket and drew out a pair of irons. He tossed them toward Finch; and the mate shrank, and the irons struck him in the body and fell to the deck. He stared down at them, stared at Joel.
Joel said: "Pick them up. Snap one on your right wrist. Then put your arms around the davit, there, and snap the other...."
Finch shook his head in a bewildered way, as though trying to understand; and abruptly, a surge of honest anger swept him, and he stiffened, and wheeled to rush at Joel. But Joel made no move either to retreat or to meet the attack; and Finch, like a huge and baffled bear, slumped again, and slowly stooped, and gathered up the handcuffs....
With them in his hands, he looked again at Joel; and for a long moment their eyes battled. Then Joel stepped forward, touched Finch lightly on the arm, and guided him toward the rail. Finch was absolutely unresisting. The sap had gone out of him....
Joel drew the man"s arms around the davit, and snapped the irons upon his wrist. Finch was fast there, out of whatever action there was to come.
And Joel"s lips tightened with relief. He stepped back....
He saw, then, that some of the crew had heard, and three or four of them were gathering amidships, near the try works. The two harpooners were there; and one of them was that black whom Joel had brought from the _Martin Wilkes_, and in whom he placed some faith. He eyed these men for a moment, wondering whether they were nerved to strike....
But they did not stir, they did not move toward him; and he guessed they were as stupefied as Finch by what had happened. So long as the men aft allowed him to go free, they would not interfere. They did not understand; and without understanding, they were helpless.
He turned his back on them, and looked toward Mark.
Mark Sh.o.r.e had watched Joel"s encounter with Finch in frank enjoyment.
Such incidents pleased him; they appealed to his love for the bold and daring facts of life.... He had smiled.
But now Joel saw that he had stepped back a little, perhaps by accident.
He was behind the man at the wheel, behind the spot where Aaron Burnham stood. He was standing almost against the after rail, in the narrow corridor that runs fore and aft through the after house....
The pistols were in his belt, and the two rifles leaned on the rail at his side. Mark himself was standing at ease, his arms relaxed, his hands resting lightly on his hips and his feet apart. He swayed to the movement of the ship, balancing with the unconscious ease of long custom.
Joel went toward him, not slowly, yet without haste. He pa.s.sed old Aaron with no word, pa.s.sed the wheelman, and faced his brother. They were scarce two feet apart when he stopped; and there were no others near enough to hear, above the slashing of the seas and the whistle of the wind, his low words.
He said: "Mark, you"ve made a mistake. A bad mistake. In--starting this mutiny."
Mark smiled slowly. "That"s a hard word, Joel. It"s in my mind that if this is mutiny, it"s a very peaceful model."
"Nevertheless, it is just that," said Joel. "It is that, and it is also a mistake. And--you are wise man enough to see this. There is still time to remedy the thing. It can be forgotten."
Mark chuckled. "If that is true, you"ve a most convenient memory, Joel."
Joel"s cheeks flushed slowly, and he answered: "I am anxious to forget--whatever shames the House of Sh.o.r.e."
Mark threw back his head and laughed aloud. "Bless you, boy," he exclaimed. ""Tis no shame to you to have fallen victim to our numbers."
But there was a heat in his tones that told Joel he was shaken. And Joel insisted steadily:
"It was not my own shame I feared."
"Mine, then?" Mark challenged.
"Aye," said Joel. "Yours."
Mark bent toward him with a mocking flare of anger in his eyes; and he said harshly: "You"ve spoken too much for a small man. Be silent. And go below."
Joel waited for an instant; then his shoulders stirred as though he chose a hard course, and he held out his hand and said quietly: "Give me the guns, Mark."
Mark stared at him; and he laughed aloud. "You"re immense, boy," he applauded. "The cool nerve of you...." His eyes warmed with frank admiration. "Joel, hark to this," he cried, and jerked his head toward the captive Finch. "You"ve ripped the innards out of that mate of mine.
I"ll give you the job. You"re mate of the _Nathan Ross_ and I"m proud to have you...."
"I am captain of the _Nathan Ross_," said Joel. "And you are my brother, and a--mutineer. Give me the guns."
Mark threw up his hand angrily. "You"ll not hear reason. Then--go below, and stay there. You...."
There are few men who can stand flat-footed and still hit a crushing blow; but Joel did just this. When Mark began to speak, Joel"s hands had been hanging limply at his sides. On Mark"s last word, Joel"s right hand whipped up as smoothly as a whip snaps; and it smacked on Mark"s lean jaw with much the sound a whip makes. It struck just behind the point of the jaw, on the left hand side; and Mark"s head jerked back, and his knees sagged, and he tottered weakly forward into Joel"s very arms.
Joel"s hands were at the other"s belt, even as Mark fell. He brought out the revolvers, then let Mark slip down to the deck; and he stepped over the twitching body of his brother, and caught up the two rifles, and dropped them, with the revolvers, over the after rail.
Mark"s splendid body had already begun to recover from the blow; he was struggling to sit up, and he saw what Joel did, and cried aloud: "Don"t be a fool, boy. Keep them.... h.e.l.l!" For the weapons were gone. Joel turned, and looked down at him; and he said quietly:
"While I can help it, there"ll be no blood shed on my ship."
Mark swept an arm toward the waist of the ship, and Joel looked and saw a growing knot of angry men there. "See them, do you?" Mark demanded.
"They"re drunk for blood. It"s out of your hands, Joel. You"ve thrown your ace away. Now, boy--what will you do?"
The men began to surge aft, along the deck.
XVII
THE story of that battle upon the tumbling decks of the _Nathan Ross_ was to be told and re-told at many a gam upon the whaling grounds. It was such a story as strong men love; a story of overwhelming odds, of epic combat, of splendid death where blood ran hot and strong....
There were a full score of men in the group that came aft toward Joel.
And as they came, others, running from the fo"c"s"le and dropping from the rigging, joined them. Every man was drunk with the vision of wealth that he had built upon Mark Sh.o.r.e"s story. The thing had grown and grown in the telling; it had fattened on the greed native in the men; and it was a monstrous thing now, and one that would not be denied.... The men, as they moved aft, made grumbling sounds with their half-caught breath; and these sounds blended into a roaring growl like the growl of a beast.
To face these men stood Joel. For an instant, he was alone. Then, without word, old Aaron took his stand beside his captain. Aaron held gripped in both hands an adze. Its edge was sharp enough to slice hard wood like cheese.... And at Joel"s other side, the cook. A round man, with greasy traces of his craft upon his countenance. He carried a heavy cleaver.
There is an ancient feud between galley and fo"c"s"le; and the men greeting the cook"s coming with a hungry cry of delight....
Joel glanced at these new allies, and saw their weapons. He took the adze from Aaron, the cleaver from the other; and he turned and hurled them behind him, over the rail. And in the moment"s silence that followed on this action, he called to the men:
"Go back to your places."
They growled at him; they were wordless, but they knew the thing they desired. The cook complained at Joel"s elbow: "I could use that cleaver."
"I"ll not have blood spilled," Joel told him. "If there"s fighting, it will be with fists...."
And Mark touched Joel lightly on the shoulder, and took his place beside him. He was smiling, a twisted smile above the swollen lump upon his jaw.
He said lightly: "If it"s fists, Joel--I think I"m safest to fight beside you."
Joel looked up at him with a swift glance, and he brushed his hand across his eyes, and nodded. "I counted on that, Mark--in the last, long run,"
he said. Mark gripped his arm and pressed it; and in that moment the long, unspoken enmity between the brothers died forever. They faced the men....
One howled like a wolf: "He"s done us. Done us in."