Chapter TWENTY-FOUR

For two long, weary weeks Mary Ingleton watched upon her island prison, with a patience born of hope, for the news that would tell her of the safe arrival of Howard Redmond at Honolulu. Day after day she sat in the improvised wireless room with the receivers fastened to her ears, vainly listening for the code word they had agreed upon before his departure--the code which meant ultimate freedom for her and the longed for return to her parents.

Her watch for this signal, though weary and lonesome, was actuated by her keen desire to get back to her mother who was deeply distressed when Levanter took her off the airship. She knew that her mother would be worrying over her safety and that worry would materially affect her mother’s health. This thought greatly depressed Mary and added to her anxiousness to get away from the island.

Mary had little thought that a long captivity awaited her when she agreed to leave the airship Wilbur Wright at the pirate’s behest; and of course, she did not know then that the pirate was Joe Levanter, the man she had refused to marry in Washington. Many times since then, however, she had pondered over the momentous occasion and regretted the actions she had not taken at that time. At the critical moment when she was ordered out of the lifeboat by Levanter it seemed as though she had done the best thing possible under the circumstances for everybody on the airship. She did not then know what motive actuated the pirate in ordering her to go aboard his airplane, and still less did she dream that her compliance would mean separation from her family, and virtual imprisonment upon an isolated island for many months.

Had she known these facts, she mused, she would have insisted that her mother be permitted to accompany her, and she felt that Levanter would finally have given in to her demands. Many times had she berated herself for not having done this. Now, as she waited for the agreed signal, all these thoughts came back to her mind with greater force to add to her dejection.

Now that Redmond had gone, there came upon her for the first time a true realization of the seriousness of her situation upon the island and of its possibilities. While Redmond had been on the island the thought of personal danger had never occurred to her. She had automatically become accustomed to looking upon him as a protector in case of need. Moreover the attitude of Levanter toward her had been irreproachable. In a vague way she had occasionally been disturbed by fears as to what her captor might do, but as yet nothing had occurred that would indicate what his intentions were. She was his prisoner, but he had been a most irreprovable jailer both in word and in deed. This situation in particular had been responsible for the fact that the thought of personal danger never occurred to her at any time during her reflections upon her imprisonment.

For the first time in her life Mary felt that something was lacking in herself. For the first time her dominant spirit of independence left her. For the first time she experienced the feeling of helplessness. These new and strange misgivings came upon her as soon as Redmond had started out so bravely upon his mission. Within her heart there grew a feeling such as she had never known before; a feeling she could not define, but yet one which left her ill-content and perplexed.

It was a feeling strangely bound up with Redmond, and when in the grip of it she frequently surprised herself conjecturing upon his fate. Each time her mind reverted to Redmond her imagination painted a picture of him in the open boat, upon the waters of the Pacific; a picture that seemed to affect her mood and bring fears for his safety. Each day this picture was re-drawn in colors more vivid and theme more ardent and hopeless. Thus did she live in each day an eternity of alternate hope and despair. Added to this was the constant fear that Levanter would make the discovery that the Hilo’s lifeboat was missing and guess that a stranger had been on his island base.

Then with that malice which the Fates seem to delight in visiting upon human beings in distress the cloud of uncertainty that hung over Mary was lifted only to bring her face to face with despair. Early in the second week after Redmond’s departure Levanter came to her and for the first time spoke about her presence on the island. There was something in his manner and his attitude that sent a thrill of apprehension through her.

“Mary,” he said. “For what reason do you suppose have I brought you here?”

She looked at him in blank amazement. The suddenness and unexpectedness of his question took her completely unawares, and she was unable to reply. He watched her intently for several seconds, then without heeding her silence went on:

“Shortly after you turned me down in Washington I made up my mind that you would marry either me or no one. You little thought at that time that you would ever be in this position, but I knew then what I could do, and I was certain that sooner or later I would get you. Of course, I did not know that you would make a trip on one of the Pacific airships, in fact I had no idea of such a voyage, but that did not make any difference, because I would have succeeded in getting you eventually. Your trip on the Wilbur Wright only hastened matters.”

“Oh! I would never believe that you could stoop to that!” exclaimed Mary passionately.

“Well of course, you may regard this as a stooping down affair. But I rather think that I have risen to the height of a daring opportunity,” replied Levanter.

“What do you intend to do with me?” demanded Mary, her anger overcoming her fear.

“I am going to marry you!” he replied.

“Never! I will never marry you! Never!! I would sooner die,” declared Mary with emphasis.

“Don’t be in such a hurry to die. Your life means infinitely more to me than your heroic death might possibly mean to you,” said Levanter. “Take your time and think it over. Do you really think you can oppose my power?”

“I don’t know what you can do, and I don’t care,” exclaimed Mary, stamping her foot in emphasis. “I will never marry you, never!”

“Well, never is a long, long time and may never come,” he replied, with a sardonic smile. “You are a little obstinate just now, but you’ll soon see the light.”

“You are just a brute, and I hate you!” The last remark of Mary wrought a sudden change in Levanter.

From the forceful, dominating man who had successfully pitted himself against the rest of the world, outlawed himself and resisted all efforts to subdue him, he changed to the pleading attitude of a suitor.

“Now, Mary, don’t be cruel. I can’t bear to think that I am hateful to you. I love you and you must be mine! Nothing in the world, not even this power that I have and the riches it brings me, can make me forget my passion for you. I would be willing to give it all up on the condition!”

“I wouldn’t have anything to do with you under any conditions,” interrupted Mary. “You have got me here in your power, but you can’t make me do anything willingly. To me you will always be repulsive, because I think you are a coward at heart.”

“But surely, Mary, you don’t want me to continue this work, do you?” Levanter still pleaded.

“Don’t try to put the responsibility of your evil deeds on me,” said Mary angrily. “You don’t have to commit these crimes, and you know it. Nothing you say will change my mind about you, or about your proposal. I won’t have anything to do with you, no matter what you promised.”

The steely determination which shone in Mary’s eyes stung and hurt him to the point of madness. He shook with anger and anguish. Suddenly a wave of passion swept through his frame. Lunging forward, he violently grasped Mary in his arms and pulled her toward him. She struggled desparately.

“You’ll do as I want you to do,” he exclaimed savagely.

In sheer desperation Mary slapped and scratched her captor. Their interlocked figures swayed and wriggled in the room as Levanter, actuated by the unreasoning passion that engulfed him, struggled desparately to overpower Mary.

Suddenly in the midst of the struggle, just as the strength of Mary was about to give out, the door of the room opened, and Walter Johnston, the chief lieutenant rushed in. He was the man who had tried to kiss Mary on the first day of her arrival on the island and had received a violent blow from Levanter for his pains. He had been attracted to the room by the sound of the struggle, and rushed to investigate. Taking the situation in at a glance, he strode over and separated the two.

As Levanter released his hold on Mary he turned ferociously upon his aide and aimed a terrific blow at the intruder. Johnston, fresh and alert, easily avoided the blow and in turn planted one on the face of his chief which sent the latter sprawling on the floor.

“What’s the idea?” asked Johnston. “You don’t think you are going to pull anything over on me, do you? I’ll tell you right now that don’t go with me. What I can’t do, you can’t do, chief, and that ought to about settle it.”

Levanter slowly rose from the floor.

“This is my affair, Johnston.”

“Oh, no, Boss,” replied Johnston smoothly, “you’ve got it wrong. It’s my affair, too. We sink or swim together, and what’s good enough for me, is good enough for you. That’s only fair.”

“What do you mean?” asked Levanter.

“What I say,” replied Johnston, “you are trying to do something you stopped me from doing, and that don’t go--see!”

While the two men thus disputed, Mary, with her hand over her palpitating heart, stood in the corner, panting from her exertions in resisting Levanter. Her eyes followed every movement of the two men, and she listened keenly to each word that passed between them. For upwards of half an hour they engaged in a rapid fire of violent argument, then gradually the heat of the altercation spent itself. As it subsided, Levanter said with a smile slowly growing upon his face:

“Let’s forget it, Johnston. If we quarrel we are lost. You don’t understand the situation. Miss Ingleton is an old friend of mine, and I asked her to marry me. The reason I stopped you from molesting her the day she came here was because I was still waiting for her answer, and I hoped to marry her. Now she has refused to marry me. So it’s no use quarreling about her.”

“Well, that’s alright, you leave her alone and I’ll do the same,” said Johnston.

Then turning to Mary, he added:

“You tell me, Miss, if he tries to interfere with you in any way.”

To this Mary made no reply, but she experienced a feeling of great relief. The struggle she had just undergone with Levanter had left her exhausted and had caused her great alarm, although it had awakened in her a lively feeling of resentment and determination to fight for her safety and honor to the very last. A hundred desperate thoughts had been engendered in her mind while the altercation between the two men was raging. She would plunge into the sea as soon as she got out of the room. Then came the determination to kill Levanter with the first weapon that came to hand, should he attempt to molest her again. Finally she had decided she would destroy Levanter, his crew, and herself with one of his liquid bombs.

Then the altercation between the two men came to an end, and its outcome rent the curtain of her fears and disclosed the clear path of safety before her. She realized that the bad blood that had been stirred up between Levanter and Johnston spelled freedom from danger for her, at least for a time, and she determined to be wary and never be with either one of them alone, or go anywhere where one of them could be alone with her.

She could therefore allay her fears for several days at least, allowing for a reasonable time to hear from Redmond. Then should such time elapse without hearing from him by wireless, she would know that he had failed in his attempt to get to Honolulu, and then she could think the situation over and make whatever plans were necessary under those circumstances. Until that time she was now determined to compose her mind and wait patiently and hopefully.

By the time these thoughts had revolved themselves in her mind she was thoroughly recovered from her exertions and emotions. With a rapid but cold glance at the two men, Mary turned around and walked out of the room. She went into the wireless room. A glance at her watch showed her that it was almost time for the news schedule of the naval wireless station at Honolulu.

She sat down at the instrument table and picked up the receivers which she carefully adjusted to her head. Then, after delicately adjusting the apparatus in front of her, she picked up a pencil and began to write as the news message came in.

Mechanically she wrote down word by word the first item of the despatch, her mind following its import just as mechanically. As the sentence terminated her hand had already began to write the word “stop” which normally came at the end of each item. She had already got the first letter of the customary word on the paper before her, when suddenly she arrested the movement of her hand and listened more intently. In place of the usual “stop” a new signal was coming. Within her mind she repeated it as it came.

It was composed of three letters “QVT.”

The full meaning of the signal burst in upon her thoughts. Joyously she pulled the receivers off her head, flung them on the instrument table and with all the fervor of her soul exclaimed, “Thank God!”