either side in anger; until he had beaten up from westward to find her
the month-old wife of Joe Horble. Somehow, in the course of those long,
miserable months, he had never thought of her marrying; he felt so
confident of that fierce love she had so often confessed for him; he had
come back repentant, ashamed of the burning offense he had then taken,
determined to let bygones be bygones, and to begin, if need be, a new
and a more blameless way of life. It was natural for the girl to side
with her father; to resent her lover's violence and temper; to show a
face as cold as his own when he said he would up anchor and to sea.
Fool that he had been to keep his word! fool that he had been to tear
his heart to pieces out of pride! fool that he had been to let it stand
between him and the woman he loved! His pride! with Madge now in Joe
Horble's arms!

He cursed the fate that had brought him into the same lagoon with the
_Edelweiss_; that had laid his ship side by side with Joe's dainty
schooner; that shamed and mocked him with the unceasing thought that
Madge--his Madge--was aboard of her. He paced up and down the
quarter-deck. He had more than a mind to get to sea, but the gloom to
windward daunted him, and he ordered out the kedge instead and bade the
mate strip the awnings off her. By Jove! if things grew blacker he'd
house his topmasts. Then he looked again at the little _Edelweiss_, and
tried to keep back the thought of Horble sitting there below with Madge.

He had to see her. He was mad to see her. The thought of her tortured
and tempted him without end. Suppose she, too, had learned that love is
stronger than oneself; that the mouth can say Yes when the heart within
is breaking; that she, like himself, had found the time to repent her
folly? Was he the man to leave her thus; to acquiesce tamely in a
decision that was doubtless already abhorrent to her; to remain with
unlifted hand when she might be on fire for the sign to come to him?
No, by God! he'd beg her forgiveness and offer her the choice. Yes or
No! It was for her to choose.

He jumped into the dinghy and pulled over to the schooner. Small at a
distance, she seemed to shrink as he drew near her, so that when he
stood up he was surprised to find his head above the rail. So this was
Horble, this coarse, red-faced trader, with the pug nose, the fat hands,
the faded blue eyes that met his own so sourly!

"Captain Horble?" said Gregory Cole.

"Glad to see y