"Him boss on yacht."
I felt well satisfied at this identification, which was the first definite a.s.surance that the owner of the _Orchid_ and my neighbor in the cafe were one and the same. He came out scowling, listened unmoved to the fellow"s recital and turned back without a word, while the aggrieved one walked sulkily to his quarters.
But soon Efaw Kotee reappeared, this time with another man, and Smilax became excited.
"Look," he whispered. "Him name Jess. Him bust Smilax head!"
It was the fellow who had drawn back when Tommy and Monsieur went to the gambling rooms, but now without his uniform he seemed coa.r.s.er and more cruel.
"That makes ten, all told," I whispered.
"Whole lot," was the black"s only comment.
They came slowly, talking in low tones. At the water"s edge across from us they halted and Jess, pointing to the punt, said something whereupon the older man"s face turned dark with anger.
"Echochee!" he called.
No answer; the door of Sylvia"s dwelling remained closed.
"Echochee," he called again, and his voice grated hatefully on my nerves, "bring that punt over here!"
Then the door did open, I thought reluctantly, and the Indian woman came out.
"What you want?" she asked.
"Say: "What you want, _Master_!"" he yelled at her.
"Why I say that?" she asked, a dull fire of hatred kindling in her eyes.
"Because it"s so," he thundered, stamping the ground in fury while his palsied head shook more noticeably.
"You lie," she replied. "You no master of my Lady or me, any more. We go to Great Spirit any time now."
A chill ran over me. What, in G.o.d"s name, did she mean? Was Sylvia dying? Again Smilax touched my arm to caution prudence.
Efaw Kotee was, I think, trying to control himself, yet his long arms and veiny hands were swinging, pendulum-like, to and fro across his body. It was an uncanny indication of anger, suggesting rather a beast than a human being. The captain was standing silent, with his arms folded.
"Echochee," said the chief, "bring us that punt. We must see your Lady."
"My Lady see no one."
"I want that punt," he bellowed at her.
"You got plenty punt; me go in house," she replied stoically.
There were, indeed, three or four punts tied to the sh.o.r.e near by.
"Hold on, there," he commanded, "or it"ll go bad for you! I want that punt, there, understand?"
"Then get that punt there," she said indifferently.
"You d.a.m.ned old hag," he screamed, now quite beside himself, "one of your rotten tribe"s in that lookout tower, d"you understand? If you don"t bring that punt across I"ll have him crucified before your eyes!
Hear me, hag?"
"All right," she said quietly. "Him no "count; do him good."
She turned back to pa.s.s through the door, but was stopped by some one coming out. Sylvia! Never more beautiful than now! Echochee put up both arms to stop her and I noticed--for in tense moments one"s eyes retain some of the most insignificant details--how incongruously her brown old bony fingers sank into the dainty folds of her lady"s morning gown. But Sylvia would not be stopped. She placed a hand on the woman"s shoulder and spoke a few hurried words, then raised her head and looked imperiously at the men, saying:
"You shan"t hurt any one because Echochee obeys me. Is the punt all you want?"
Jess moved uneasily, but there was no trace of embarra.s.sment in the bearing of Efaw Kotee.
"No, it"s not! We want to cross to you!"
"No one comes on this island," she said.
"I"ve had enough of your nonsense," the old fellow cried. "I believe yet you steered that bunch of pups after us, in spite of h.e.l.l I believe it; but, whether you did or didn"t, I"ve had enough of bowing and sc.r.a.ping like a n.i.g.g.e.r, and begging to be allowed to go over there! Enough, I tell you!"
"Then don"t try any more," she indifferently replied, turning to go in; but he checked her with another threat--and by the way she flinched I knew that he meant it.
"If you go in that door till I"m through," he bellowed, "that crucifying comes off in ten minutes--right on this spot where you can hear the beggar squeal!"
She stopped and looked at him, and I realized that we had come in the nick of time for some great crisis which was enveloping her.
"Now, see here," he continued, in a calmer voice, "you"ve kept this up since yesterday morning, and it"s unreasonable. Why don"t you let us come over and have a talk? I"ve been a good father to you! You"ve had everything you want--and just bought six trunks full of clothes in Havana last week! Why do you keep us--keep me--away?"
While absorbedly listening, I was struck by the oddity of a girl in this wilderness buying six trunks full of clothes; but it then occurred to me that Efaw Kotee would encourage extravagant buying of all things, when the _Orchid_ visited a city, in order that he might get bona fide change for his spurious bills. At least there was good reason for her gown to be modern, smart, and becoming, as Havana"s best Americanized shops are quite continental.
"I keep you away," she answered icily, "because you"re planning to marry me to an unprincipled scoundrel."
"A what?" Jess yelled.
"Shut up!" the old one snapped at him.
"An unprincipled scoundrel," she answered evenly, "who"s as loathsome as an ape. And I shan"t be married to that kind of thing, or any one else.
You"ve had my warning. If you, or he, or any of your beastly men come to this island, you"ll get only my dead body. And Echochee, dear soul, is going with me. What"s more, if you start any tortures, we"ll die before witnessing them."
"Then, by G.o.d," he screamed, "you and your d.a.m.ned hag"ll begin to starve from this day! With no more provisions sent over we"ll see who obeys me!
And in three more days if you don"t come to your senses I"ll crucify an offering to your dead body--head down on the spot I stand!" He had been raving, but now his tone quickly changed to one of whining entreaty, as he added: "I hope you understand how it pains your dear old father to threaten you, my child!"
It was so maudlin an exhibition that I wondered if he were sane.
"Dear old father," she repeated, giving a short laugh of contempt.
I did not know how much of this was real and how much acting on her part, although it did seem genuine enough when she could not be looking for relief. Yet, as she stood there calmly mistress of herself while Efaw Kotee writhed beneath her scorn, I was reminded of an angler who had hooked an ungainly fish--she with intellect at one end, he at the other representing brute strength, fear, cunning; both connected by a barely visible thread that in this case was not a line, but Fate. For another moment she let him writhe, then turned and went in.
Jess laughed.