Blow the Man Down - A Romance of the Coast

Mayo walked backward limply, feeling for the wall with his hands behind

him, and leaned against it.

"You are single-handed--it's a big game they play up in the city when

they are after money--and you must take what cards are offered," she

insisted, displaying the shrewdness of the Marston nature.

"You mean to say that I'm going to your father as if I were holding you

for ransom?" he gasped.

"Something like that," she returned, eagerly. "The only way you'll get

what you want--and get it quickly--is by a good bluff. I have had some

good samples of your courage, Captain Mayo. You can do it beautifully."

"But I'm not going to do it!"

"I say you are!"

"Not by a--" His feelings were carrying him away. He was forgetting that

these dealings were with an impulsive girl. His anger was mounting. She

was putting him on the plane of a blackleg.

"Go ahead and talk as strongly as you like, Captain Mayo. It will make

it seem like man's business between us."

"Those tricks may be all right in Wall Street, but they don't do for me.

And you've got a pretty poor opinion of me if you think I'll do it."

"Don't be quixotic," she protested, impatiently. "We are living in

up-to-date times, Captain Mayo. Some of those underlings have played a

nasty trick on you. They must be exposed."

"This is a girl's crazy notion!"

"Captain Mayo, is this the way you help me pay my debt?"

"You don't owe me anything."

"And now you pay me an insult! Are my honor as a girl and my life worth

nothing? You have saved both."

"I don't know how to talk to you. I haven't had any experience in

talking with women. I simply say that I'm not going to your father in

any such manner. Certainly not!"

"Don't you realize what I have offered you?" she pleaded. "You are

throwing my sacrifice in my face. As the case stands now, I can hurry

off to the home of some girl friend and make up a little story of a

foolish lark, and my father will never know what has been happening. He

expects me to do a lot of silly things."

"That's your business--and his," he returned, dryly.

"Captain Mayo, I have been trying to show you that I am fit to be

considered something besides a silly girl. I wanted you to know that

I have a sense of obligation. The plan may seem like a girl's romantic

notion. But it isn't. It's bold, and your case heeds boldness. I was

trying to show you that I'm not a coward. I was going to confess to my

father what I have done and start on the level with him. You throw it

all in my face--you insult my plan by calling it crazy."