A Man to His Mate

ng of the open sea and a hint of Oriental spices from the wharves. He whistled as he went, watching a lumber coaster outward bound. The dull thump of a heavy cane upon the timbered wa

ou put a blind man in the way of f

all his shoregoing clothes and shuffle, the man was certainly a sailor, or had been. All the skin uncovered by cloth or hair was weathered to leather, the gre

at seemed to be appraising him, almost as if the will of the man was peering, or listening, focused through those l

replied. "But you're bound in the wrong direction

stlin' as you came swingin' along. Light-hearted, I thinks, an' young, most likely; he'll h

f his left hand placed themselves on Rainey's proffered arm. Strong fingers, almost vibrant wi

ripling beside this hulk, this stranded hulk, of manhood. And, for all the spectacled eyes and shuffling feet, there was a stamp of coord

rling red, from high cheek-bones down out of sight below the soft loose collar of his shirt. The bridge of his glasses rested on the outcurve of a nose like the beak

ld projection of the latter. About thirty, Rainey judged him.

nt Barrow, a year an' more ago. Brought me up all

d Rainey. "Water-front

y so, matey?

the firm fingers contract ever so slightly, sinking into the muscles of his forearm for a second with a hint of how they could bruise and p

sails to-mor

told me, matey. Y

when she docked. Not much of a yarn.

d shipmate of mine. He don't dream I'm within a hundred miles o' here. Aye, o

the slip in which the sealer lay. The Karluk's decks were des

him. Nigh missed him. Only got in from Seattle this mornin'. He ain't expectin' me, an' it's in my mind to sur

sight," s

ll never sight the vapor of a right whale ag'in. Stranded, I am. So you'll do me a favor, matey, an' pilot me down into the cabin, if so be the skipper's

e and there that showed his familiarity with the vessel's rig. And he no longer shuffled, but walked lightly, grinning at Rainey through his beard, with one blunt forefinger set to his mouth as

oper," he lipped r

bin table, leaning forward, hands and forearms outstretched, fingering something. One Rainey recognized as the captain, Simms-a heavy, square-built man, gr

tween them was a long slim sack of leather, a miner's poke. It was half full of something that stuffed its lower extremity solid

ompanionway, towering in the cabin while he thrust his stick with a thump on the floor and t

luk

come into his eyes. His companion did not stir a muscle except for the quick shift of his glance, but w

asped the cap

by this, didn't you, blast yore rotten soul to hell! But I

discharge their congested contents. Out of the purpling flesh his scarlet hair curled in diabolical effect. His teeth gleamed th

vin' blizzard with the ice breakin' up! If I didn't have use for yore ca

nvulsively. Before Rainey the visio

y his words lacked conviction. "I didn't know you were bli

with an inar

n explain it to you when we're by ours

silent, keenly observant, draw back his arm with a catlike swiftness that only just evaded the stroke. The

at I hit?"

s forehead puckered with deep seams, discovered the open end, poured out some of the colors on one palm, and used that for a mort

ainey could have gone when the blind man reached for the gold and left the ladder clear. He had meant to go at the firs

after more?" His forehead was still creased with puzzlement. "Wal, I'm going with ye, eyes or no eyes

saw the sweat standing out on the

e, Jim. No need for y

in me for fourteen months o' blackness, an' it's comin' out, now it'

till sat motionless, apparently calm, looking on as if at

ip, Jim," said Simms deprecatingly, though he dart

er quietly enough, but Lund had nipped him

sen what kind of a man Simms is, with his poke full of gold and me with

bout an island north of Bering Strait, west of Kotzebue Sound, where there was gold on the beach richer and thicker than it ever lay at Nome. I makes for it, gits close enough for my Aleut to recognize it-it

him Honest Simms those days. Some said his honesty accounted for his hard luck. I like him, an' I f

e. It looks like we've got to winter there. Mind ye, I've given Honest Simms the reckonin' of the island. We go out on the ice after bear, though t

bear, an' we're goin' back to the schooner for a sled. I stayed behind to bleed the brute. All of a sudden, like it always hits you

ently the wind starts the ice to buckin' an' tremblin' like a jelly under you, splitting inter lanes. You lose yore direction even when you got eyes. I'm left in it by that bilge-blooded

what you were as right as the rest of us. The gale shut us all out from each other. We found the

'in. D'ye know what saved me? The bear! I stumbled over the carcass when I was nigh spent. I ripped it up and clawed some of the warm guts, an

it, an' me in it, more dead than alive. Never mind the re

' fair accountin' o' what you got already. I've got this young

s and then loosened his grip. The captai

f Doctor Carlsen, whose dark eyes appeared to be mocking the whole proceedings, looking o

tely deserted him and, later, found the gold he speaks of. The first charge is nonse

ll we secured. We are going back for more, quite naturally. I can prove all this to you by the log. It is manifestly not doctored, for we imagine

The doctor sat with one leg crossed, smoking a cigarette, his expression sardonic, sphinxlike. To Rainey, a little bewildered at being dragged int

ou didn't hear me call out I was blind. Sixty yards away, I was, an' the wind hadn't started. I was af

ven

ind, tucked in the bloody, freezin' carcass of

e. One of two doors in the after-end of the main cabin had opened, and she stood in the

she faced Lund with such intrepid challenge in her voi

ould have come out before. If you s

mehow. The girl's entrance, her vivid, sudden personality forbade that. He felt an intruder as her eyes regarded him, standing by Lund's side in apparent sympathy with him, arrayed against her fa

s is no place for you. I can handle the matter. Lun

girl. To Rainey he seemed attempting to visualize her by sheer sense of hearing, by percept

d his voice wa

ss," he said. "Yore father's right. You let

ister undertone to his voice that the girl seemed to recogniz

mething. Mr. Lund, I can understand your attitude. You've suffered a great deal. But you have misunderstood Captain Simms. I have heard about

on pleasantly, to Rainey. "The cap

es. I knew nothing of th

natural agitation, that this is not a story for your paper. We shou

l. He did not like the man from first appearances. He was too aloof, too sardonic in his attitudes. But his manner was friendly enough, his voice

"I have some Scotch in my cabin. If you'll excuse me for a mome

emed to have entirely departed. It was Rainey who got the chair for the latter and seated hi

upposed, but he was not a first-class man, in that sense. He let his own ethics interfere sometim

k's expedition. And there was the girl. Rainey was not going to forget t

as the doctor came back with a bottle of Scotch whisky and a siphon. T

r pleasantly, passing the bottle. "Captain Simms, I know, uses plain water. Siphon

r for mine,

d the doctor. "Here's to

board, Mr. Rainey,

erely

an unusual brand, he fancied. And then inertia suddenly seized him. He lost the use of his limbs, of his tongue, when he tried to

heard Lund's big voice booming, "Here, what's this?" and the doctor's cutting in,