"Romantic!" Cleigh leaned back in his chair. "That's a new point of view
for Tungsten Cleigh. That's what my enemies call me--the hardest metal on
earth. Romantic!" He chuckled. "To hear a woman call me romantic!"
"It does not follow that to be romantic one must be sentimental. Romance
is something heroic, imaginative, big; it isn't a young man and a girl
spooning on a park bench. I myself am romantic, but nobody could possibly
call me sentimental."
"No?"
"Why, if I knew that we'd come through this without anybody getting hurt
I'd be gloriously happy. All my life I've been cooped up. For a little
while to be free! But I don't like that."
She indicated Dodge, who sat in Dennison's chair, his head bandaged, his
arm in a sling, thousands of miles from his native plains, at odds with
his environment. His lean brown jaws were set and the pupils of his blue
eyes were mere pin points. During the discussion of art, during the
reading, he had not stirred.
"You mean," said Cleigh, gravely, "that Dodge may be only the beginning?"
"Yes. Your--Captain Dennison had an encounter with the man Flint before
you came up. He is very strong and--and a bit intolerant."
"Ah!" Cleigh rubbed his jaw and smiled ruminatively. "He was always rather
handy with his fists. Did he kill the ruffian?"
"No, held him at arm's length and threatened to kill him. I'm afraid Flint
will not accept the situation with good grace."
"Flint? I never liked that rogue's face."
"He has found liquor somewhere, and I saw murder in his eyes. Denny isn't
afraid, and that's why I am--afraid he'll run amuck uselessly. His very
strength will react against him."
"I was like that thirty years ago." So she called him Denny? Cleigh laid
his hand over hers. "Keep your chin up. There's a revolver handy should we
need it. I dare not carry it for fear Cunningham might discover and
confiscate it. Six bullets."
"And if worse comes to worse, will--will you save one for me? Please don't
let Denny do it! You are old, and if you lived after it wouldn't be in
your thoughts so long as it would be in his--if he killed me. Will you
promise?"
"Yes--if worse comes to worse. Will you forgive me?"
"I do. But still I'm going to hold you to your word."
"I'll pay the score, whatever it is. Now suppose you come below with me
and take a look at the paintings? You haven't seen my cabin yet."