Young Lonigan - James T. Farrell [152]
“The little guy has guts,” Slug said with his mispronunciations.
Captain Arnold staggered backwards in a daze. Morgan clubbed him, until he toppled like a heavy, dropped sack of potatoes. He looked at the prostrate form of Captain Arnold, fearing that he had killed him. He took the baby, hustled out of the cabin, and escaped in a lifeboat.
Years passed, and much water ran under a crumbling wooden bridge. Seventeen years later, Morgan, now known as Jerome because he feared that he had murdered Captain Arnold, owned a general store in Flamingo, Alaska, where men still gambled their lives and souls with the dice of death, and sin for love and gold. Tenderly reared and named Gloria by Morgan, the baby girl had become a beautiful wild flower of Alaska. Not the faintest suspicion that she was a half-breed clouded her pure and innocent mind. She had been sent away to school, and on the day of her expected return, the Law came to Flamingo. The commanding officer of the contingent of soldiers was Lieutenant Ames Dubois, a cynical Southern aristocrat and Don Juan.
Morgan, now Jerome, feared that the soldiers might discover him to be the murderer of Captain Arnold. Morgan’s friend, the half-breed Durer, feared them because he was engaged in fur-trading enterprises which they might halt. Durer loved Gloria, the wild flower of Alaska, but she reciprocated only with the affection she would have borne a brother. An even greater fear developed for both men when Lieutenant Ames Dubois captivated Gloria’s innocent heart. For they perceived that the officer was only a trifler. And Gloria was young, and as lovely and as innocent as the flowers and sunshine of the springtime.
Then one day, a strange ship put into the harbor, apparently for repairs and supplies. When the captain strode into the general store like a self-confident bully, Morgan, now Jerome, recognized him. He recognized Morgan, now Jerome. Morgan, now Jerome, was relieved of the fear that he was a murderer only to have it supplanted by the fear that Captain Arnold might demand his daughter, and tell her that she was a half-breed. Smiling, and just as innocent, she ran into the store, and back of the counter to the rear, girlishly pecking a kiss on the forehead of Morgan, now Jerome. The captain asked who she was, and Morgan, now Jerome, replied that it was his own daughter. The captain nodded his head sceptically.
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