Bryant spoke up. "There's still some specie hidden in the wreck of the Sally Culhreath, I'm certain. Promise all of it to Darus; promise him anything. We've got to save Dorc— Miss Russell."
Hurst picked up his rifle. "I ain't promisin' nothin' I can't deliver. Anyway, I got a trade in mind my own self. I reckon I better get goin' afore Darus clears out for home."
"I'll go with you," Scott said. "You take over here, Zenas." The rifleman demurred. "No point in your goin' with me, sir. I ain't afraid of th' townspeople, an' what you say ain't goin' to make no nevermind with Darus. If 'e'll listen to anybody, it'll be me. Just give me your word you'll go along with any deal I make."
"You've got it. Good luck!"
In the brig Fox was disturbed, although he hid the fact from Pa' Mahmud. Flushed with triumph, the Malays roamed the ship destructively; while the rajah himself, confident in the warlike ability of his son, was almost childishly complacent. Then, some two hours after dawn broke, a breathless swimmer brought news of Scott's victory and the slaying of Pa' Mahmud's son. Fox, who had a healthy respect for Scott's fighting qualities, had great difficulty in persuading the aroused rajah from going ashore with all his men in search of vengeance.
"Wait in the ship," he counseled earnestly. "Wait—and Rogers will come to us. If you go ashore, he will elude you and make for the ship. If he retakes the Caroline, he will destroy Stallapoo with her guns, sparing no one. But if we wait here, he will come to his own destruction."
"I have heeded you before, Fox," Pa' Mahmud said heavily. "Through your scheming I have lost my eldest son, the one dearest to me. I will have the blood of his slayer."
"Then wait in the ship," Fox reiterated. "Wait in readiness. I know Rogers and I tell you he will attack."
"We will wait," the rajah said after a moment of thought.
Fox immediately turned his attention to studying the town and mouth of the river intently through the long glass, but the distance was too great for him to make out anything. When Pa' Mahmud left him finally, he decided to head for the cabin for a drink to steady himself. The news from shore had shaken his confidence more than he dared admit even to himself. To himself he cursed the rajah's son for a bungling idiot; but the damage was done. Since a fight for possession of the brig now appeared inevitable, he was glad the man had been slain. The desire for revenge would make Pa' Mahmud a far more ferocious defender of the captured brig.
Dorcas had known fear more than once since fleeing from Manila, but never had she been in such despair as now. In an effort to find some relief she worked hard on the costume ordered by Fox. She still wore the heavy blanket, despite the broiling heat; and she sought to hide her fear of the power-mad renegade by a display of undisguised loathing when he entered the cabin. Her hostile silence and the sight of her bruised face upset him, but he said nothing until he had fortified himself with rum.
"You must be hot in that blanket," he said kindly. "Would you like some of your own clothing?"
Surprised by his tone, she hesitated momentarily.
"You'll be more comfortable," he went on, pouring himself another drink.
She decided to act on the suggestion. Once properly clad again, she might be better able to cope with her situation. Laying down her work, she started for her own cabin without a word. Fox stood aside and bowed slightly as she left. Then he gulped the rum he had poured out and followed it with a healthy swig straight from the bottle.
In her cabin Dorcas closed the door before bursting into tears of helplessness and hopelessness at sight of the vandalism wrought there. Almost at once she checked her weeping, though, and made a hasty search for sufficient untorn clothing to cover herself decently. Before returning to the captain's cabin she hid the knife in her bodice.
Fox by now had recovered his confidence. "I'm glad I didn't have to come for you," he said.
She eyed him coldly, then seated herself and picked up her sewing. "If I'm to finish this by noon, you'll have to leave me alone, Mr. Fox."
"Dorcas," he said almost humbly, "you don't have to finish it that soon. I—I spoke hastily."
She touched her battered face unconsciously and he flushed slightly, ashamed of the violence he had displayed. "I apologize for my actions earlier, Dorcas. Believe me, I am sorry."
"And are you sorry for what you have brought about... for the blood that is on your head?"
His flush deepened. "There are some things that can't be helped, girl. A man must follow his star."
She bent to her task, saying nothing. He watched her silently, wishing she would say something of a friendly nature. He suddenly felt the need of a friend of his own race. He spoke appealingly. "Don't hate me, Dorcas."
The plea surprised her, but she said nothing.
"Please don't hate me, Dorcas," he continued in the same beseeching vein. "I love you. I mean you no harm."
When she held her tongue, his temper rose gustily. Catching her arms roughly, he pulled her to her feet. "Can't you say anything?"
"What is there to say to such as you?" she demanded contemptuously. "You prate of meaning no harm, but already you have harmed me through what you have done to my father and my friends... to people who trusted you."
His grip on her arms tightened until she almost screamed with pain. "Then you do hate me?"
It was all she could do to hold her voice steady. "Yes."
His face paled and the light of madness glinted in his eyes. "You fool! I would have made you a queen, a woman above all others in my life, but instead I shall make you my concubine and nothing more. Do you understand?"
She remembered the knife hidden on her person and its possession gave her courage.
"Do you understand?" he repeated, shaking her savagely.
"Perfectly," she replied icily.
In her contempt for him she was more desirable than ever. Inflamed by rum and anger, it was in his mind to force himself on her then and there, to take in raging lust the virginity that mocked him in his strength; but Pa' Mahmud suddenly shouted for him and, fearful that Scott was about to attack, he thrust her brutally from him and rushed on deck. A dripping messenger from Chedula stood there. From him and from the rajah he learned that Scott not only had cowed all of Quallah Battoo, but had seized the pepper from the wreck.
"He will come to us now, this Captain Rogers, eh?" Pa' Mahmud demanded fiercely.
Fox felt a coldness in the pit of his stomach, but still he smiled confidently. "Aye. Even as I said, he will come to his own destruction. Soon we will avenge your noble son's death, my brother."
In the town Hurst returned to Chedula's fort after an hour's absence, finding the men there making themselves as comfortable as possible, storing up strength for the ultimate effort required of them. Some were preparing food for themselves and their mates and some were earnestly cleaning their weapons. Scott and Bryant looked at him expectantly.
"I made a trade, sir," Hurst reported quietly, leaning his rifle against a wall within easy reach, then hunkering down on his heels and wiping sweat from his forehead with a bare, sinewy arm. "Darus'll even help with th' fightin', so long as th' people of th' town stay out of it."
"I don't think he has anything to worry about on that score," Scott said dryly. "They'd like to pick our bones, but they haven't the guts to set on us."
"And we haven't the men to set on them," Bryant added in the same vein. "But I do think we ought to burn down this nest of Chedula's."
Scott vetoed the notion firmly. "No, that might force Chedula's hand, which would mean that Darus would desert us. We are going to take some of the pepper, though."
Bryant was incredulous. "Now? My God, let's worry about it later!"