Her gaze searched me.
"You think you love someone else? Is that it?"
That was horribly startling; but she did not mean it just that way. She amended with caustic venom: "That little Anita Prince! You thought you loved her! Was that it?"
"No!"
But I hardly deceived her. "Sacred to her memory! Her ratlike little face--soft voice like a purring, sniveling cat! Is that what you"re remembering, Gregg Haljan?" she sneered.
I tried to laugh. "What nonsense!"
"Is it? Then why are you cold under my touch? Am I--a girl descended from the Martian flame-workers--impotent now to awaken a man?"
A woman scorned! In all the Universe there could be no more dangerous an enemy. An incredible venom shot from her eyes.
"That miserable mouselike creature! Well for her that my brother killed her."
It struck me cold. If Anita was unmasked, beyond all the menace of Miko"s wooing, I knew that the venom of Moa"s jealousy was a greater danger.
I said sharply, "Don"t be simple, Moa!" I shook off her grip. "You imagine too much. You forget that I am a man of the Earth and you a girl of Mars."
"Is that reason why we should not love?"
"No. But our instincts are different. Men of the Earth are born to the chase."
I was smiling. With thought of Anita"s danger I could find it readily in my heart to dupe this Amazon.
"Give me time, Moa. You attract me."
"You lie!"
"Do you think so?" I gripped her arm with all the power of my fingers.
It must have hurt her, but she gave no sign; her gaze clung to me steadily.
"I don"t know what to think, Gregg Haljan...."
I held my grip. "Think what you like. Men of Earth have been known to kill the thing they love."
"You want me to fear you?"
"Perhaps."
She smiled scornfully. "That is absurd."
I released her. I said earnestly, "I want you to realize that if you treat me fairly, I can be of great advantage to this venture. There will be fighting--I am fearless."
Her venomous expression was softening. "I think that is true, Gregg."
"And you need my navigating skill. Even now I should be in the turret."
I stood up. I half expected she would stop me, but she did not. I added, "Shall we go?"
She stood beside me. Her height brought her face level with mine.
"I think you will cause no more trouble, Gregg?"
"Of course not. I am not wholly witless."
"You have been."
"Well, that is over." I hesitated. Then I added, "A man of Earth does not yield to love when there is work to do. This treasure--"
I think that of everything I said, this last most convinced her.
She interrupted, "That I understand." Her eyes were smoldering. "When it is over--when we are rich--then I will claim you, Gregg."
She turned from me. "Are you ready?"
"Yes. No! I must get that sheet of Hahn"s last figures."
"Are they checked?"
"Yes." I picked the sheet up from my desk. "Hahn is fairly accurate, Moa."
"A fool nevertheless. An apprehensive fool."
A comradeship seemed coming between us. It was my purpose to establish it.
"Are we going to maroon Dr. Frank with the pa.s.sengers?" I asked.
"Yes."
"But he may be of use to us." I wanted Dr. Frank kept aboard. I still felt that there was a chance for us to recapture the ship.
But Moa shook her head decisively. "My brother has decided not. We will be well rid of Dr. Frank. Are you ready, Gregg?"
"Yes."
She opened the door. Her gesture rea.s.sured the look-out, who was alertly watching the stern watch-tower.
"Come, Gregg."
I stepped out, and followed her forward along the deck, which now was bright with the radiance of the nearby asteroid.