Fear, numb, freezing fear, was in
the girl's eyes now. The mucker read it there as plain as print,
and had she not said that she was frightened? That was what
he had wanted to accomplish back there upon the Halfmoon
--to frighten her. He would have enjoyed the sight, but he
had not been able to accomplish the thing. Now she not only
showed that she was frightened--she had admitted it, and it
gave the mucker no pleasure--on the contrary it made him
unaccountably uncomfortable.
And then came the last straw--tears welled to those lovely
eyes. A choking sob wracked the girl's frame--"And just
when I was learning to trust you so!" she cried.
They had reached the top of the bank, now, and the man,
still holding her in his arms, stood upon a mat of jungle grass
beneath a great tree. Slowly he lowered her to her feet. The
madness of desire still gripped him; but now there was another
force at work combating the evil that had predominated
before.
Theriere's words came back to him: "Good-bye, Byrne;
take good care of Miss Harding," and his admission to the
Frenchman during that last conversation with the dying man:
"--a week ago I guess I was a coward. Dere seems to be
more'n one kind o' nerve--I'm just a-learnin' of the right
kind, I guess.
Pages:
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213