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!
They shook hands and sat side by side on the rail.
"Mrs. Horble's ashore," said the captain.
"I'm afraid I can never call her anything but Madge," said Gregory, detecting the covert reproach in the other's voice.
Horble was plainly ill at ease. His face turned a deeper red. He was on the edge of blurting out a disagreeable remark, and then hesitated, making an inarticulate sound in his throat. Like everybody else, he was afraid of the labor captain.
"Crew's ashore, too," said Gregory, glancing about the empty deck.
"Thunder!" cried Gregory. "Do you do it with electricity, or what?"
"Me and Madge runs her," returned Horble.
"Do you mean to say she pully-hauls your damn ropes?" exclaimed Gregory.