Blow the Man Down by Holman Day (read the beginning after the end novel .TXT) 📖

rusty chain groaned querulously from her hawse-hole.
Mayo rowed ashore and toiled his way up the little street to the widow's cottage. He was ashamed to meet Polly Candage--ashamed with the feelings of a strong man who has put out every effort and has failed. But, somehow, he wanted to feel that sisterly grip of her hand and look down into those encouraging gray eyes. He remembered that in times past she had soothed and stimulated him. This time he did not come to her expecting to get new courage for further effort; he had exhausted all resources, he told himself. But in his bitter humiliation he needed the companionship of a true friend--yes, he felt, almost, that she was now the only friend he had left. His experiences with those whom he had before looked on as friends had made him feel that he stood alone.
She came running to him in the little parlor, her hands outstretched and her face alight.
He felt at first sight of her, and his face flushed at thought of his weakness, that he wanted to put his head on her shoulder and weep.
"You poor boy, things have not been going well!"
He choked, for the caress in her tones touched his heart. He patted her hands, and she sat down beside him on the old haircloth sofa.
"I've had a terrible week of it, Polly."
Her sweet smile did not waver. The gray eyes stared straight into his.
"I have talked to 'em till my mouth has been parched and my tongue sore, and God knows my heart is sore. All they do is look at me and shake their heads. I thought I had friends alongshore--men who believed in me--men who would take my word and help me. I'll never be fooled again by the fellows who pat you on the back in sunny weather, and won't lend you an umbrella when it rains unless you'll leave your watch with 'em for security. And speaking of the watch," he went on, smiling wistfully, for her mere presence and her unspoken sympathy had begun to cheer him, "reminds me why I'm here in Maquoit. Oh yes," he put in, hastily, catching a queer look of disappointment on her face, "I did want to see you. I looked forward to seeing you after all the others had turned their backs on me. There's something wonderfully comforting in your face, Polly, when you just look at me. You don't have to say a word."
"I do thank you, Boyd."
"I hear that Rowley is getting uneasy about his schooner--wants to take it away from us. So I have sold my watch and all the other bits of personal things I could turn into cash, and am here to give him the money and tell him we're going back to fishing again."
"You'll give up the steamer?"
"Yes--and hopes and prospects and all. I've got to."
"But if you could win!"
"I'll stay down where I belong. I won't dream any more."
"Don't give up."
"There's nothing else to do. We poor devils need something besides our bare hands."
The girl struggled mightily with her next question, but he did not note her emotions, for his elbows were on his knees and he was staring at the rag carpet.
"Will it cost a lot of money for what you want to do on the steamer?"
"We may need a lot before we can do it all. But I have been sitting up nights planning the thing, Polly. I have gone over and over it. When I was on board the steamer waiting for your father, I examined her as best I could.. If I had a little money, I could make a start, and after I started, and could show the doubters what could be done, I could raise more money then. I am sure of it. Of course the first investment is the most dangerous gamble, and that's why everybody is shy. But I believe my scheme would work, though I can't seem to get anybody else to believe it."
"Will I understand if you'll tell me?"
"I'd get a diver's outfit and material, and build bulk-heads in her, both sides of the hole in her bottom. Then I'd have an engine and pumps, and show that I could get the water out of her, or enough of it so that she'd float."
"But the big hole, you wouldn't mend that?"
"I think we could brace the bulkheads so that we could hold the water out of both ends of her and let the main hole in her alone."
"And she wouldn't sink?"
He was patient with the girl's unwisdom in the ways of the sea.
"Since you've been here at Maquoit, Polly, you have seen the lobster-smacks with what they call 'wells' in them. All amidships is full of water, you know--comes in through holes bored in the hull--fresh sea-water that swashes in and out and keeps the lobsters alive till they get to market. But the vessel is tight at both ends, and she floats. Well, that's what I plan to do with the Conomo. With a few thousand dollars I'm sure I can make enough of a start so I can show 'em the rest can be done." He promptly lost the bit of enthusiasm he had shown while he was explaining. He began his gloomy survey of the carpet once more. "But it's no use. Nobody will listen to a man who wants to borrow money on a wild hope."
She was silent a long time, and gazed at him, and he did not realize that he was the object of such intent regard. Several times she opened her mouth and seemed about to address him eagerly, for her eyes were brilliant and her cheeks were flushed.
"I wish I had the money to lend you," she ventured, at last.
"Oh, I wouldn't take it--not from a girl, Polly. No, indeed! This is a gamble for men--not an investment for the widow and orphan," he declared, smiling at her. "I believe in it; that's because I'm desperate and need to win. It's for a big reason, Polly!"
She turned her face away and grew pale. She flushed at his next words:
"The biggest thing in the world to me is getting that steamer off Razee and showing that infernal Marston and all his 'longcoast gang that I'm no four-flusher. I've got it in for 'em!"
He patted the hands she clasped on her knees, and he did not notice that she was locking her fingers so tightly that they were almost bloodless. He rose and started for the door.
"I'll go and pacify Rowley to-night, and be ready for an early start."
"Boyd," she pleaded, "will you do me a little favor?"
"Most certainly, Polly."
"Wait till to-morrow morning for your business with Mr. Rowley."
"Why?" He looked at her with considerable surprise.
"Because--well, because you are a bit unstrung, and are tired, and you and he might have words, and you might not use your cool judgment if he should be short with you. You know you are a little at odds with all the world just now!" She spoke nervously and smiled wistfully. "I would be sorry to have you quarrel with Mr. Rowley because--well, father is a partner, and has already had words with him. Please wait till morning. You must not lose the schooner!"
"I'm too far down and out to dare to quarrel with Rowley, but I'll do as you say, Polly. Good night."
"You're a good boy to obey a girl's whim. Good night."
The moment his foot was off the last step of the porch she hurried to her room in the cottage and secured a little packet from her portfolio.
She heard the thud of his dory oars as she walked down the street. She was glad to know that he was safely out of the way.
Rowley's dingy windows shed a dim blur upon the frosty night. It was near time for him to close his store, and when she entered he was turning out the loafers who had been cuddling close to his barrel stove.
After a few moments of waiting the girl was alone with him.
"No, I don't want to buy anything, Mr. Rowley. I need your help. I ask you to help me to do a good deed."
He pulled his spectacles to the end of his nose and stared at her doubtfully and with curiosity.
"If it's about the schooner, I'd rather do business with men-folks," he said.
"This is business that only you and I can do, and it must be a secret between us. Will you please glance at this bank-book?"
He licked a thin finger and turned the leaves.
"Deposit of five thousand dollars and accrued interest," he observed, resuming his inquisitive inspection of her animated countenance.
"My mother's sister left me that legacy. It's all my little fortune, sir. I want to loan that money to my father and Captain Mayo."
"Well, go ahead, if you're fool enough to. I ain't your guardeen," assented Deacon Rowley, holding the book out to her. "But I advise you to keep your money. I know all about their foolishness."
"My father wouldn't take it from me--and Captain Mayo wouldn't, either."
"That shows they ain't rogues on top of being fools."
"But I have faith that they can succeed and make a lot of money if they get a start," she insisted. "I see you do not understand, sir, what I need of you. I want you to lend them that money, just as if it came from you. I'll give you the book and a writing, and you can draw it."
"No, ma'am."
"Won't you help a girl who needs help so much? You're a Christian man, you say."
"That's just why I can't lie about this money. I'll have to tell 'em I'm lending it."
"You will be lending it."
"How's that, miss?"
"For your trouble in the matter I'll let you collect the interest for yourself at six per cent. Oh, Deacon Rowley, all you need to do is hand over the money, and say you prefer not to talk about it. You're a smart business man; you'll know what to say without speaking a falsehood. You'll break my heart if you refuse. Think! You're only helping me to help my own father. He has foolish notions about this. You can say you'll let them have it for a year, and you'll get three hundred dollars interest for your trouble."
"I don't believe they'll ever make enough to pay the interest--much less the principal."
"Give them five thousand dollars and draw a year's interest for yourself out of my interest that has accrued."
"Say, how old be you?"
"I'll be twenty-two in June."
Deacon Rowley looked at her calculatingly, fingering his nose.
"Being of age, you ought to know better, but being of age, you can do what you want to with your own. Do you promise never to let on to anybody about this?"
"I do promise, solemnly."
"Then you sign some papers when I get 'em drawn up, and I'll hand 'em the money; but look-a-here, if I go chasing 'em with five thousand dollars, I'll have 'em suspecting that I'm crazy, or something worse. It ain't like Rufus Rowley to do a thing of this sort with his money."
"I know it," she confessed, softening her frank agreement with an ingenuous smile. "But Captain Mayo is coming to you to-morrow morning on business about the schooner, and you can put the matter to him in some way. Oh, I know you're so keen and smart you can do it without his suspecting a thing."
"I don't know whether you're complimenting me or sassing me, miss. But I'll see it through, somehow."
She signed the papers giving him power of