"Let's get back to the ship," he said abruptly...
That night a pigtailed Chinese paddled out to the Caroline.
"Me want to see 'Melican cap'n," he said to Peary.
The first officer led him to Scott's cabin, then stood by impatiently.
"Well?" Scott demanded.
The Chinese clasped his hands together in front of him and bowed humbly. "You want to know about boy Muzaffar, yes?"
"I do," Scott said.
"Ten dollar, then. Can tell."
"Why, you yellow monkey!" Peary burst out furiously, catching the fellow by his queue. "I'll tear your head off if you don't tell us!"
"Easy," Scott said. "Right now it's worth ten dollars to find out quickly what he knows." He counted five dollars down on the cabin table. "You get the other five if your information sounds good."
The Chinese understood. "Boy gone with Hamzah. Him Darus' man. See him swim to ship last night. Him and boy swim ashore. Me fishing."
Peary grasped the man cruelly when he finished, twisting his arm so that he grimaced in pain and dropped the silver already paid to him. "So much for that. Now I'll throw you off the ship, you bastard oriental ape."
Scott spoke sharply. "Let him go. I made a deal and I'll go through with it. I'm glad to hear the boy isn't in the town."
"Now that we've dropped five hundred and ten dollars down the drain, what're you going to do?" Peary demanded when the informer had taken his pay and gone hurriedly.
"Exactly what I said I'd do. I'm going up Rocky River to find Darus. I'll take Hurst and eight or ten others. We'll set out in the morning."
"Still anxious to play the hero, eh, brother-in-law?" Peary demanded nastily, his lips twisting. "Now that my sister's dead, you're anxious to show off for our passenger."
Scott rose so suddenly that his chair was overturned. It banged woodenly on the deck. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Peary laughed mirthlessly. "What the hell do you think? Do you think I'm blind? We pick up this little baggage from Manila. Fox starts shining up to her right away... playing the knowledgeable, indispensable ship's officer. Then Bryant shows up and starts mooning over her. Then you get into the act, still playing the indomitable captain. By God, it didn't take long for you to forget Rowena!"
The captain stared at him more in wonder than anger, puzzled by the outburst. He was even more bewildered when Peary's mood abruptly underwent a complete change. "I'm sorry, Scott. I guess I'm just fed up with this part of the world . . . with the dysentery, the bugs, the heat and the stinking, lying natives."
Feeling wrath beginning to get the upper hand, Scott said nothing. Watching Peary, he reminded himself that this man was his late wife's brother and, in addition, the son of one of his employers. The mate suddenly put his hands on the table and leaned forward. "Take me upriver with you, Scott. I can help you there. I agree that going to Darus is the thing to do."
"What about the ship?"
"Let Fox stay with the ship."
"All right," Scott said, mastering his temper. "Now turn out a boat crew to take me to the Sally Culbreath; we've got to settle all this business tonight."
"That won't be necessary. Bryant's up for'ard with Miss Russell, while Fox is sulking 'midships."
Seeking Bryant out immediately, Scott acquainted him with what he had learned from his nocturnal caller. Dorcas, who felt she should leave them while they talked, was restrained by natural curiosity. She listened interestedly while Scott outlined what he intended doing.
"I think one of us should remain here," Bryant said quietly when he had finished. "Let's toss to decide who goes and who stays."
"We won't gamble on it," Scott said decisively. "I said earlier today that I'd go, and I meant it."
"It'll be dangerous, Scott."
"It may not be too safe here. I don't like leaving my ship undermanned and in command of anybody else, but I'll feel better about it with you here."
The New Englander smoothed back his hair with his hand. He spoke thoughtfully. "My mate couldn't possibly take the Sally home, and that's a fact. He's not even a good disciplinarian. Your mates, on the other hand, are good navigators and good officers."
Scott nodded. "Fox probably is the better navigator of the two; and I think he's less likely to have trouble with the Quallah Battoo people, who are none too friendly. He's more of a diplomat than Peary."
"On the latter score I agree," Bryant said, looking shoreward, then at his fellow captain. "But do you think a thousand dollars is worth the risk you're about to take, Scott? I'm willing to write off my five hundred to experience."
"It's not the money, Zenas, it's the principle. We can't let word get up and down the coast that Darus hooked us for a thousand dollars. We'd have nothing but trouble with the other rajahs."
"You're right, of course. How do you propose getting our friend to fulfill his bargain—or return the money?"
Scott shrugged. "I'll just go to his village and lay it on the line to him. It worked with Pa' Mahmud."
"Pa' Mahmud didn't have payment in advance, and you had two ships to back you up. It'll be different twenty or thirty miles inland. The cannon won't reach there." Bryant paused anxiously, then added hopefully, "Surely you have something specific in mind."
"I do. If Darus gets belligerent, we'll seize him and hold him until the account is squared one way or another."
"That's easier said than done, you know. But I'm still willing to flip a dollar to decide which one of us goes upriver."
Scott shook his head stubbornly. "I'm going at daylight. Keep a sharp watch while I'm gone."
Returning to his cabin, the captain summoned Fox. On deck meanwhile Bryant spoke in a troubled voice to Dorcas.
"There was something I wanted to talk to you about," he said, "but I reckon this isn't the time. I don't like the idea of Captain Rogers going to that village without me, but I'm not willing to leave my ship indefinitely while he's away. The people in Quallah Battoo are on edge; there are too many of them and too few of us. I could insist on going, too—maybe I should insist on it—but I can't force Captain Rogers to remain behind."
"No," she said thoughtfully, "I don't think you or anybody else could. He's made up his mind."
"Well, I'll tell you this," Bryant said candidly, "I don't really want to go looking for Darus at home."
When Fox reported, Scott advised him of the plan agreed on. The second officer immediately offered to replace Peary on the projected expedition, but he obviously was pleased to be left in command of the Caroline.
"Maybe Darus'll show up in the morning, sir," Fox offered. "Then nobody'll have to go."
"I can tell you I'm not looking forward to going," Scott told him. Then, as if to justify his own determination to go, he added, "But you know we can't let something like this pass unprotested."
"I agree fully, sir. I'll have everything in readiness at first light."
Scott was cleaning his pistols and cutlass when, sometime later, there was a timid tapping at his door.
"Come," he said, not looking up. "What is it?"
When he got no reply, he lifted his eyes. To his surprise, Dorcas stood in the doorway, her face troubled. He laid down the weapon in his hand and rose. Lifting her skirt a little she stepped over the high coaming and into the cabin itself.
"I heard all that you and Captain Bryant said," she began.
"I assumed that you did."
"You have to go, don't you?"
"I think so."
She took a hesitant step in his direction, and he came around from behind the table. It was almost as if she had touched him with her hand. The lamplighted cabin was charged with tension. She spoke hastily, almost incoherently. "I—I just wanted to say vaya con Dios—go with God—if go you must."