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Page 53
Tightening his hold on his daughter's arm he strode off toward the
shanty boat, dragging poor Mollie along at a cruel rate of speed.
Phil, still clasping Mollie's other arm, kept pace with her, while
Madge marched a little to the rear with the air of a grenadier.
Mollie's beautiful white face was set in lines of despair, but her
companions felt nothing save righteous indignation against the brutal
man they were forced either to follow or else leave Mollie to her fate.
On the deck of the wretched shanty boat, this time, a man and a woman
were waiting with burning impatience. The man was Bill and the woman
was Mike Muldoon's wife. A group of fisher folk stood near, evidently
anxious to know what was going to happen. It was late in the
afternoon, and they had returned from the day's work on the water.
Madge broke away from her own party to run toward these men and women.
There were about half a dozen in number. "Won't you help us?" she
cried excitedly. "Captain Mike is trying to force his daughter to
marry that dreadful Bill. He has beaten her cruelly because she
refuses to do it. My friend and I tried to get Mollie away from him,
but he found us and forced her to come back here."
"Don't hurt the young ladies, Mike," remonstrated one of the fishermen,
with a satirical grin in their direction, "it wouldn't be good
business." Then he turned to Madge and said gruffly: "It ain't any of
our lookout what Mike does with his daughter. She's foolish, anyhow.
Can't see why Bill wants to marry her."
Muldoon had jerked Mollie from Phil's restraining grasp and flung her
aboard the shanty boat. The woman pushed the girl inside the cabin and
closed the door. Then she stood waiting to see what her husband
intended to do with the two girls.
Captain Mike was puzzled. He stood frowning angrily at Mollie's
defiant champions. They had refused to go back home. He had given
them their opportunity. It was just as well they had not taken it, for
suddenly the man was seized with an idea.
"Git into my rowboat," he ordered Phil and Madge. "I am going to put
you aboard my sailboat and carry you home to your friends. You had
better take my offer. You'll only get into worse trouble if you stay
around here. How do you think you are going to take care of
Moll--knock me and Bill and my old woman down and run off with Moll?"
"Won't any one here help us?" asked Phil, turning to the grinning crowd.
"You had better go home with Mike. It's the only thing for you to do,"
advised a grizzled old fisherman. "Your hanging around here ain't
going to help Moll."
Madge and Phil exchanged inquiring glances. For the time being they
were beaten. It was better to go home. Later on they would see what
could be done for their friend.
"We would rather go back in our own boat," Phil announced, making a
last resistance. Madge, who was already in Mike's skiff, beckoned to
Phil to join her. It was too undignified and hopeless for them to
argue longer with these coarse, rough men. Phyllis followed her chum
reluctantly. She hung back as long as she could, staring hard at the
shanty boat. But there was no sight nor sound of Mollie.
Even after they were aboard Captain Mike's sailing craft Phil's eyes
strained toward the receding shore. When it was no longer to be seen
she sat with her hands folded, gazing into her lap. She was still
thinking and planning what she could do to rescue Mollie. Madge sat
with closed eyes; she was too weary to speak.
The sailor's boat had left the island far behind and was moving
swiftly. It was after sunset, and the sun had just thrown itself, like
the golden ball in the fairy tale, into the depth of the clear water.
The girls were looking anxiously toward the direction of their boat,
and wondering if their friends were worrying over their late return.
The houseboat lay a little to the southwest of Fisherman's Island, and
so far they had not been able to catch sight of it. It was growing so
dark that it was impossible to see the shore very clearly on either
side of the bay. It was Madge's sharp eyes that first made the
discovery that what she could see of the shore was unfamiliar. Captain
Mike was not taking them to their houseboat. He was sailing in exactly
the opposite direction. Madge glanced quickly at Phyllis, who was yet
happily unconscious of their plight, then, turning to Muldoon, she said
sharply: "You are sailing the wrong way to bring us to our houseboat.
The boat lies southwest of the island and you are taking us due north.
Turn about and take us to our boat instantly."
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