The Studs Lonigan Trilogy - James T. Farrell [143]
But he bided his time.
And one day while Morgan, now Jerome, lived harassed with his new fears, gold was discovered. Gloria quickly persuaded Ames to go out with her and stake some promising claims. As they journeyed, Ames attempted to climax his pursuit of Gloria, and ruin her. She resisted girlishly, suddenly touching the deeper and better chords of his nature.
“Pretty broad, all right,” Studs mumbled.
“If the guy gets her, he’s gettin’ something,” Slug said.
Ames changed from a trifler and a Don Juan into a genuine lover. She promised him her hand. They sacredly sealed their newly awakened love by a kiss under a snow-laden spreading chestnut tree. Happy as two larks, they staked some of the best claims.
In the meantime, Morgan, now Jerome, and Durer had gone out to stake ground. On their return, the happy news of love was broken. In the midst of the congratulations and new-found joyousness, Captain Arnold nefariously revealed to Gloria that she was a half-breed.
“He’s a rat, all right!” Studs whispered.
His interest was completely absorbed. He was, and he wasn’t and he was Ames. He felt that that rat, Arnold, would crimp up all the plans. Ames had to get the girl. Usually in the pictures the hero did. But it was exciting, and wracking waiting, and he was strung tight.
Ames and Gloria walked moodily off by themselves, their faces saddened with this new rift that had been cast, like a menacing cloud, between them. He pleaded with her that this new revelation, that no revelation, could chill the ardor of his love for her.
Just like Studs had so often pleaded with Lucy in his mind.
She was stunned, and it did matter to her. One small tear crawled from her eye, slid down her cheek. And another. Gloria wept. Ames’ tender solicitations and persuasions were vain. She turned and walked slowly away, and Ames’ face gleamed disappointment as he watched her disappear beyond the snow-laden spreading chestnut tree where they had sealed their love with a sacred kiss.
Gloria returned home, and quickly packed a few belongings, determined that duty demanded that she go off with her father, no matter if he were a vicious brute. Durer, discovering her note, followed. Ames returned to the general store, and he too set out to apprehend and save his beloved. In a threatened icefloe, Captain Arnold set sail with his daughter. The ship was jammed in an ice field. The crew deserted. Captain Arnold and Gloria were alone on the ice. Separately, Durer and Ames stumbled and fought their way over the slippery ice. Heavy, blinding Alaska snow fell. Ames slipped into the water, and clung tenaciously for life to the precarious ice.
In the cabin of the ship, Arnold looked with eyes of lust on Gloria. She was his daughter. But he was a brute.
Like a bastard, Studs watched, hoping that Arnold would be successful, and rape her. No, he didn’t. He thought of himself as Ames, coming to the vessel in the nick of time.
Arnold trapped her in a corner, and imprinted a long and filthy kiss upon her unsoiled lips. She squirmed free. He trapped her in another corner. She dodged under his arm, her sleeve ripping, and fled behind a table. He faced her with eyes of lust.
Studs could just see him grabbing her, flinging her on the bunk, and …
Outside, in an Alaskan blizzard, Ames crawled back onto the ice, inch by inch. Durer reached the ship, staggering from his exertions. He busted into the cabin, just as the powerful arms of Captain Arnold encircled the girlish waist of Gloria. Arnold flung her aside, and her left breast almost, but not quite, fell out of her torn dress. The dent where her breasts commenced, and about half an inch of warm bare flesh were revealed.
Durer punched Arnold. Arnold fell. He rose and drove Durer to the other side of the cabin. Durer charged, and with a punch knocked Arnold back three feet. Arnold lifted