He came and stood
over Mark Hammar. He said:
"I've had enough of this. I've had just enough of you two hanging around
Deolda. She's my woman--I'm going to marry Deolda myself. Nobody else is
going to touch her; so just as soon as you two want to clear out you
can."
There was silence so that you could hear a pin drop. And then the wind
that had been making hit the house like the blow of a fist and went
screaming down the road. Deolda didn't see or hear; she was just looking
at Johnny. He went to her.
"Don't you listen to 'em, Deolda. I'll make money for you; I'll make
more than any of 'em. It's right you should want it. Tell 'em that
you're going to marry me, Deolda. Clear 'em out."
That was where he made his mistake. _He_ should have cleared them out.
Now Captain Hammar spoke:
"You're quite a little man, ain't you, Johnny? Here's where you got a
chance to prove it. You can make a hundred dollars tonight by taking the
_Anita_ across to Gloucester with me. We'll start right off."
Everyone was quiet. Then old Conboy cried out:
"Don't go, Mark. Don't go! Why, it's _murder_ to tempt that boy out
there."
At the word "murder" Deolda drew her breath in and clapped her hand over
her mouth, her eyes staring at Johnny Deutra. "Nick" Hammar pretended he
hadn't noticed.
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