<h2 id="id00088" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER 2</h2>
<p id="id00089" style="margin-top: 2em">They were past the thick of the mob now and they dodged rapidly among
the cottages until the clamor of police fell away to a murmur behind
them, and they swung out onto the narrow, dark street which led back
toward the heart of Honolulu. For ten minutes they strode along without
a word. Under the light of a street lamp they stopped of one accord.</p>
<p id="id00090">"I'm McTee."</p>
<p id="id00091">"I'm Harrigan."</p>
<p id="id00092">The gripping of the hands was more than fellowship; it was like a test
of strength which left each uncertain of the other's resources. They
were exactly opposite types. McTee was long of face, with an arched,
cruel nose, gleaming eyes, heavy, straight brows which pointed up and
gave a touch of the Mephistophelian to his expression, a narrow,
jutting chin, and lips habitually compressed to a thin line. It was a
handsome face, in a way, but it showed such a brutal dominance that it
inspired fear first and admiration afterward.</p>
<p id="id00093">Such a man must command. He might be only the boss of a gang of
laborers, or he might be a financier, but never in any case an
underling. Altogether he combined physical and intellectual strength to
such a degree that both men and women would have stopped to look at
him, and once seen he would be remembered.</p>
<p id="id00094">On the other hand, in Harrigan one felt only force, not directed and
controlled as in McTee, but impulsive, irregular, irresponsible,
uncompassed. He carried a contradiction in his face. The heavy,
hard-cut jaw, the massive cheekbones, the stiff, straight upper lip
indicated merely brutal endurance and energy, but these qualities were
tempered by possibilities of tenderness about the lips and by the
singular lights forever changing in the blue eyes. He would be hard for
the shrewdest judge to understand, for the simple reason that he did
not know himself.</p>
<p id="id00095">In looking at McTee, one asked: "What is he?" In looking at Harrigan,
the question was: "What will he become?"</p>
<p id="id00096">"Stayin' in town long?" asked Harrigan, and his voice was a little
wistful.</p>
<p id="id00097">"I'm bound out tonight."</p>
<p id="id00098">"So long, then."</p>
<p id="id00099">"So long."</p>
<p id="id00100">They turned on their heels into opposite streets without further words,
with no thanks given for service rendered, with no exchange of
congratulations for the danger they had just escaped. That parting
proved them hardened knights of the road which leads across the world
and never turns back home.</p>
<p id="id00101">Harrigan strode on full of thought. His uncertain course brought him at
last to the waterfront, and he idled along the black, odorous docks
until he came to a pier where a ship was under steam, making ready to
put out to sea. The spur touched the heart of Harrigan. The urge never
failed to prick him when he heard the scream of a steamer's horn as it
put to sea. It brought the thoughts of far lands and distant cities.</p>
<p id="id00102">He strolled out to the pier and watched the last ropes cast loose. The
ship was not large, and even in the dark it seemed dingy and
dilapidated. He guessed that, big or small, this boat would carry her
crew to some distant quarter of the world, and therefore to a place to
be desired.</p>
<p id="id00103">A strong voice gave an order from the deck—a hard voice with a ring in
it like the striking of iron against iron. Harrigan glanced up with a
start of recognition, and by the light of a swinging lantern he saw
McTee. If he were in command, this ship was certainly going to a far
port. Black water showed between the dock and the ship. In a moment
more it would be beyond reach, and that thought decided Harrigan. He
made a few paces back, noted the aperture in the rail of the ship where
the gangplank was being drawn in, then ran at full speed and leaped
high in the air.</p>
<p id="id00104">The three sailors at the rail shouted their astonishment as Harrigan
struck the edge of the gangplank, reeled, and then pitched forward to
his knees. He rose and shook himself like a cat that has dropped from a
high fence to the ground.</p>
<p id="id00105">"What're you?"</p>
<p id="id00106">"I'm the extra hand."</p>
<p id="id00107">And Harrigan ran up the steps to the bridge. There he found McTee with
the first and second mates.</p>
<p id="id00108">"McTee," he said, "I came on your ship by chance an' saw you. If you
<i>can</i> use an extra hand, let me stay. I'm footfree an' I need to be
movin' on."</p>
<p id="id00109">Even through the gloom he caught the glint of the Scotchman's eye.</p>
<p id="id00110">"Get off the bridge!" thundered McTee.</p>
<p id="id00111">"But I'm Harrigan, and—"</p>
<p id="id00112">McTee turned to his first and second mates.</p>
<p id="id00113">"Throw that man off the bridge!" he ordered.</p>
<p id="id00114">Harrigan didn't wait. He retreated down the steps to the deck and went
to the rail. A wide gap of swarthy water now extended between the ship
and the dock, but he placed his knee on the rail ready to dive. Then he
turned and stood with folded arms looking up to the bridge, for his
mind was dark with many doubts. He tapped a passing sailor on the
shoulder.</p>
<p id="id00115">"What sort of an old boy is the captain?"</p>
<p id="id00116">He made up his mind that according to the answer he would stay with the
ship or swim to the shore, but the sailor merely stared stupidly at him
for a moment and then grinned slowly. There might be malice, there
might be mere ridicule in that smile. He passed on before another
question could be asked.</p>
<p id="id00117">"Huh!" grunted Harrigan. "I stay!"</p>
<p id="id00118">He kept his eyes fixed on the bridge, remaining motionless at the rail
for an hour while the glow of Honolulu grew dimmer and dimmer past the
stern. There were lights in the after-cabin and he guessed that the
ship, in a small way, carried both freight and passengers. At last
McTee came down the steps to the deck and as he passed Harrigan
snapped: "Follow me."</p>
<p id="id00119">He led the way aft and up another flight of steps to the after-cabin,
unlocked a door, and showed Harrigan into the captain's room. Here he
took one chair and Harrigan dropped easily into another.</p>
<p id="id00120">"Now, what 'n hell was your line of thinkin', McTee," he began, "when
you told me to—"</p>
<p id="id00121">"Stand up!" said McTee.</p>
<p id="id00122">"What?"</p>
<p id="id00123">"Stand up!"</p>
<p id="id00124">Harrigan rose very slowly. His jaw was setting harder and harder, and
his face became grim.</p>
<p id="id00125">"Harrigan, you took a chance and came with me."</p>
<p id="id00126">"Yes."</p>
<p id="id00127">"I didn't ask you to come."</p>
<p id="id00128">"Sure you didn't, but if you think you can treat me like a swine and
get away with it—"</p>
<p id="id00129">It was wonderful to see the eyes of McTee grow small. They seemed to
retreat until they became points of light shining from the deep shadow
of his brow. They were met by the cold, incurious light of Harrigan's
stare.</p>
<p id="id00130">"You're a hard man, Harrigan."</p>
<p id="id00131">He made no answer, but listened to the deep thrum of the engines. It
seemed to him that the force which drove the ship was like a part of
McTee's will, a thing of steel.</p>
<p id="id00132">"And I'm a hard man, Harrigan. On this ship I'm king. There's no will
but my will; there's no right but my right; there's no law but my law.
Remember, on land we stood as equals. On this ship you stand and I
sit."</p>
<p id="id00133">The thin lips did not curve, and yet they seemed to be smiling cruelly,
and the eyes were probing deep, deep, deep into Harrigan's soul,
weighing, measuring, searching.</p>
<p id="id00134">"When we reach land," said Harrigan, "I got an idea I'll have to break
you."</p>
<p id="id00135">He raised his hands, which trembled with the restrained power of his
arms, and moved them as though slowly breaking a stick of wood.</p>
<p id="id00136">"I've broken men—like that," he finished.</p>
<p id="id00137">"When I'm through with you, Harrigan, you'll take water from a
Chinaman. You're the first man I've ever seen who could make me stop
and look twice. I need a fellow like you, but first I've got to make
you my man. The best colt in the world is no good until he learns to
take the whip without bucking. I'm going to get you used to the whip.
This is frank talk, eh? Well, I'm a frank man. You're in the harness
now, Harrigan; make up your mind: Will you pull or will you balk? Answer
me!"</p>
<p id="id00138">"I'll see you damned!"</p>
<p id="id00139">"Good. You've started to balk, so now you'll have to feel the whip."</p>
<p id="id00140">He pulled a cord, and while they waited, the relentless duel of the
eyes continued. A flash of instinct like a woman's intuition told
Harrigan what impulse was moving McTee. He knew it was the same thing
which makes the small schoolboy fight with the stranger; the same
curiosity as to the unknown power, the same relentless will to be
master, but now intensified a thousandfold in McTee, who looked for the
first time, perhaps, on a man who might be his master. Harrigan knew,
and smiled. He was confident. He half rejoiced in looking forward to
the long struggle.</p>
<p id="id00141">A knock came and the door opened.</p>
<p id="id00142">"Masters," said McTee to the boatswain, "we're three hands short."</p>
<p id="id00143">"Yes, sir."</p>
<p id="id00144">"Here are the three hands. Take them forward."</p>
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