All the Brothers Were Valiant

hen he and Joel were puffing at t

"No. But I do no

ld not. For you never felt an overwhelming notion that you must dance

nd for dancin

living over again the days of which he spoke. "Mind, Joel," he said, "there's a pagan in every man of us. And t

t when you l

ings, not by way of excuse and palliation; but only so that you may understand. D'ye see? I was three pagans in one body, and that body witched by moo

as singing at the one side, and the wind in the palms on the other. And ahead of me, the wild, discordant chanting of the Islanders about their fires.... That singing it was

nd they scattered, and yelled their harsh, meaningless, throaty yells. And they hid in the bu

h his brother's eyes; for he knew, for all his slow

gs of things that clothed her. A little brown girl, with eyes like the eyes of a deer. And--not afraid of me. T

and soft.... You could not even mark the ridge of her collar bones, she was fleshed so sweetly. She stood, and watched me; and the others crept out of the grasses, at last, and stood about us.

n the shadows, their eyeballs shining as they watched us.... And they seemed, after a little, to move about in a misty, inhuman fashion; and they twisted into strange, cloud-like shapes.

e been many days that I was on the island there. And I knew, after a time, that I was most extremely sick; and the little brown girl put cool leaves on my head, and gave me strange brews to drink, a

n those days. The thing's clear beyond your guessing, Joel. But it was big. An immense thing. I was ba

aid my hand on the spot beside me where the little brown girl used to lie, and she was gone. So I got up, unsteadily. There were rifles snap

upon the open beach. There was no moon, that night; and the water of the lagoon was s

got what I was about, and stopped to laugh at these drops of fire. But in the end, I always swam on. I remember once I thought the little brown girl swam beside me, and I tried to throw my arm about her, and she wrenc

it, and it was empty. But I saw a rope at the end of it, and I pulle

eck, astern there. And some one cried out, in the waist of her; and I knew it was the little brown girl. So I left thos

ack at me, and no longer tore at my fingers with his, I dropped him over the side. I saw a fiery streak in the water where I dropped him. That shark was

knee. Mark saw, and laughed softly. "There's blood in y

y: "What then?

to laugh at the folly of it all, she slipped away from me, and went aft, and got all their rifles. She brought them to me. She seemed to expect things of me. So I, still laughing, for the fever was on me; I to

nd wondered where I was. And my head was clear again. She made me understand t

ner underfoot. So I took the rifle in the crook of my arm, and with the

and Joel watched him, and wai

ey had been waiting till another schooner should leave the place, to leave their own way clear. And when that time came, they went ashore to get the brown wom

ere of no account. And the other two women. These other two were chattering

alled himself Quint. But his eyes were Jap, or Chinese; and he had their calm, blank screen across his countenance, to hide

ith a slink and a grin. His name was F

e without speech. And I stood there, with the rifle in my

took F

. 'He took my girl, and so I dropped him into the wat

oed, in a nasty way.

thought to the fore. And his eyes held min

I was mista

' I told him. 'Now--w

ow; and the prospect of looting some still lagoon, in company with these two rats, had a wild flavor about it that caught me. My blood was burning; and the sun was hot. Also, they had liquor aboard her. Liquor, and loot,

can see it," he taunted mockingly. Joel shook his head. "Will you hear the rest?" Mark asked;

to the ropes with our teeth, bare to the waist, with the wind scourging us. It tore at us, and lashed at us.... And we drove the three black men with knives to the

me.... Hour on hour, dealing, and playing with few words; and our eyes burned hollow in their sockets, and Quint's thin m

a knife from his sleeve into the man's ribs, and tipped the black over the rail without a word. I was twenty fee

bbles still rising, overside. I was afraid of the man, Joel. I tell you I was afraid. The only time. Fea

I said, to Quint.

and went astern. I stood aside to let him pass,

the water was shallow, and we worked the men with knives, and they got pearls. Sometimes one or two in a day; sometimes a dozen. D

laughed too much. They made Quin

laughed. "But it could not last, in that fashion," he said. "It might have been anything. It turned out to be the women. I sa

schooner; and ashore, we found her tracks in the sand. She had gone into the trees

with food. I said to him: 'No. She's mine, Quint.' And he looked at me, and I beat him with my eyes. And as his turned

I--for I was minded to see sport, came across

s willing, because he was the better player. They sat down to the game, in the

Card by card, face upward. I remember those hands. And my

k, Quint a six. Fetcher a ten, Quint a ten. Only the last card to come to each. If Fetcher paired any card, he would win. Hi

efore I could speak, or stir, Fetcher dropped his own hand to his trouser leg, a

ad a pair, eno

down quietly across the table. I heard the bubbling of his last breath.... Then Fetcher laughed, and called his woman, and they took Quint on deck and tipped him overside. The kn

the broad stern of the ship beneath them, and Joel's pipe was gurgling. There was no other sound. L

ghed softly,

e blacks brought up the shells, and we idled through the days, and played cards at night. We divided the take, each day; so

ther, very pleasantly; and he fell a little behind. I looked back, and his knife brushed my neck and quivered in a tree a yard beyond me. So I went back and

r, with the two blacks, and Fetcher

decided it was time for me to go away from that place. The pagans

Fetcher's pearls, as well as mine, in my pocket. There are some hard men in these seas, Joel; and I knew none of them

after hiding the pearls, I saw them rowing very swiftly toward the schooner. And they looked back at me i

there, and suffered certain contusions and bruises and minor cuts. Also, I grew very tired of killing them. They were wiry, but they were sm

not true. They could not come; for they had tried to seize the schooner and go quickly away fro

ff, I heard rifles from the other schooner, firing past us at the blacks in the bush; and the girl stopped rowing. So I turned around and saw that one of the b

the story I told them was a shocking one. They were much impressed, and they seemed glad to get away. But the blacks were s

alone thus, a day