The Black Pearl

the Spaniard's voice when making those last predictions, his evidently sincere belief that his daughter would not appear under Hanson's management, had impressed

h moment, assuring himself that he was tired, that all morning he had played a part, every faculty on t

he had heard of her avarice and her coquetries; he thought of her jewels, her name, her wiles. Who was she to object to past peccadillos on his part? Then, uncomforted, he sought to reassure himself with the rem

hat his imagination revive for him those moments when his heart had thrilled to the liquid languor of her gaze, and instead he saw only the world-weariness of that sphynx g

ir, according well with the oppression of his thoughts. When he arrived at the San Gorgonio, he was glad to take refuge in his room and there, to

oom. He looked out curiously, half fearfully, dimly but rebelliously aware that the world, his human world of personal desires and activities, as well as all external nature was threatened by vast, unseen, menaci

he sea. And truly it did. It lifted in waves that mounted almost to the sky and swept forward with a savage eagerness as if to bear down upon and engulf and oblitera

savage, primeval menace alternated with every wail of human grief and anguish which has echoed through the ages. All desolation in the heart of man, "I am without refuge!" shrieked in its high cries, and, as if

ne continuous shower from the very roof. It covered everything with a white rime; it sif

ers; rugs and carpets rose and fell upon the floor, and, whether one sat alone or with others, the air seemed

thousand years is as a single day, and when it chooses t

as his warfare with beasts, and tribes as savage as beasts; when he lifts his dull eyes and dares to dream only joy and beauty, then he will know that the gray cries of the wind are but the

had to endure; and his depression and unrest induced by the suspense he suffered in continually wondering how Pearl wou

ng like an enchantress, exhibiting all of her marvelous illusions of color and wrapped in a g

g thither with her. The note was brief, a mere line, and, study it as he would, he found nothing in it to indicate what her attitude was toward him, therefore it did not allay his nervousness in the

And then he saw her, at first a mere speck in the distance; then she became more and more distinct, for she rode fast. She waved her hand to him as she came nearer and his heart rose in a great bound. Slacken

ainst him and kissing her upturned face again and again. "Oh,

about a sand-storm," she said. "Well, we sure gave you some nice theatrical effects, didn't we? It's the biggest I've seen for many a long day. But you were bound to se

vens! I wish you could see yourself th

om his shoulder and looked at him with a soft, c

as ugly as sin, it wouldn't make any difference, you'd get us all just the same. All women like you got to

reached up her arm and touched his hair caressingly. "I love that little touch of reddish gold in your hair,

but I never see one of these desert nights sparkling with their

delighted at

dead sure when I talked to him that you'd have nothing more to do with me that it got to worrying me, and I thought maybe you'd hold it

ish you had told me," she said, "then I'd been a little better pr

uldn't spoil those first few days; and, anyway, you drove everything but you out of my head. I just determined every time it came into my m

the sand storm, and we didn't live it all over beforehand, getting ready for it, and deciding how we'd meet it when it

gay gaze to the sky. "Why, Pearl, it most frightens me w

tling closer

that enough? It is for me. But"-with drooping head and affectedly humble

ed up at him throu

se you're going to be advertised proper, see?" And then, sketching out plans with his former bold, optimistic confidence, "We're going to travel on the other side and travel in style, too,

. "Fine!" she laughed. "It sure sounds good to me." Floating n

st, I've been so plum scared these last few days, I been almost crazy. I didn't know, you see, just how much influence

of explaining things off your shoulders, d

for snooping into my business. Oh, I've cursed myself more than once for letting him tell you, but I never loved a woman before

woman." Her eyes gloomed and she slashed her

ol. There have been many others, Pearl, I ain't goi

ace darkened again. "But there's one that

t do you mean?"

a? Don't she stand between y

don't," emphati

to some of their tricks! They been doing their best to ram

. "I've tried every way, turned every trick known to sharp lawyers for the last six years, trying to get free; bu

en how are you going to get free now?" she cried. "What are your p

f he would never release her. "But what difference does that make to us?" he pleaded ard

n a trap like that. I thought you were so quick and keen to plan and were so full of ideas that you could get around any

s about her, again endeavored to draw he

way. You've seen too much of life, and your folks have always been show people. They didn't hold any such ideas. Anyway, you got brains to think for yourself. What joke you playing on me, honey? Oh, don't

ried harshly. "I'm th

don't want time to think. Why, there's nothing to think about. We're going off on the train this afternoon to be happy together, and we d

eatening aloofness that made him hesitate to clasp her as he longed to do for fear he should mee

s, and preachers and things like that, hypocrites that have got to make their living by playing the respectable game. But we're not that kind, Pearl, we're alive, and we're not afraid. We're going to be hap

her head to look at him, "and I ain't through yet. Now I've got to

I was talking about. You couldn't have; not with Isobel Montmorenci for a grandmother, and Queenie Madrew for a mother, and the same kind on your Pop's side of the h

on her face, the set of her mouth, the horse-shoe frown on her forehead gave her a

ably. "You gave me a jolt a while ago, telling me you cou

he had again turned to her contemplation of the desert, and realizing that

s brow. "Oh, God!" he muttered, lifting his face to

kirts to her shoe tops, her mother had traveled with her, and, although this evidence of chaperonage irked her, she had with her quick intelligence early seen its value. All about her she saw the struggling flotsam of feminine youth, living easi

nd hard study which she gave to her profession which set her above the butterflies and apart f

ed virtue, a woman's greatest asset in a world of desire and barter, became to her a possession she cherished above her jewels

rom their maimed lives only emphasized the resisting force of her nature. She was not born to be a leaf in the current, whirl

weeping with shaking sobs, telling her pitiful stories, and begging her for money, for a word with the management. And, when they had gone, she had turned to her looking-glass and gazed at herself with conscious pride and delight. Contempt, not pity, st

timulated her ambition enormously. She was by nature as insatiable as the horse-leech's daughter; she would take all-love, money, jewels in

dvancement. She was perfectly cognizant of her own ability, aware that its resources were scarcely developed. Al

ong will kept this attraction from proving overmastering. And here came the struggle. The right or the wrong of the matter, the morals

ud to yield, stirred in her, rose and dominated her hard ambition. She lifted her head a little and, still with it turned from him, looked at the pagan glory of the day. Her eyes clo

g at his usual self-confidence, "I'm a fool to get scared this way. You've showed me that you care, you have, honey; and I guess," with a n

the same ominous, brooding silence that the desert had held before the storm, had Hanson but noticed. He did not. He wa

with her low, unpleasant laugh. "Don't you

t with a deft twist of her lithe body she slipped almost away from him, although his arms still held her. "Care? Of course I care. But what's tha

her face was turned toward him, but her eyes were cast down, her long lashes sweeping her cheeks. "But I must be pretty bad to get

irst for you, honey, such as men die of out there in the desert. Before God, I don'

ce of the sand wind over the desert, the storm broke. Her eyes had an odd green glitter, her face w

etter, any man on the desert could have told you better. The Black Pearl! Why, I've been

w you what

lf, began incoherent explanations and excuses. "Of course," he stammered, "of course, I-I-was just fooli

I ride all over the desert where I've a mind to without protection? I guess not." She lifte

it for me," he said. "Your eyes are doing it anyway. Oh, Pearl!" he fell

ou that pick up women and drop them when you're tired of them. Me, the Black Pearl." She turned quickl

ain't going

already in

but you ain't going to throw me down just for that-you can't. Think how happy we've been this last

h you across your lying face." Her arm was already uplifted, riding crop in hand. "Let me go!" Her voice was so low that he hardly heard it, but fu