ed.

"I rather think," he said seriously, "that one might read such letters.
Unless the offense is against some definite person there is no offense
at all."

"Perhaps you are right," I admitted, with a listless avoidance of
argument, and in a moment more he had opened the book at random and was
reading aloud.

CHAPTER IV

SOME PASSAGES FROM A DIARY

Mansfield was right. The pages of this diary struck the essentially
human note of frank self-avowal. They were as fragrant as May orchards,
their sweetness of personality made one think of brave young dreams
among dewy blossoms. But I confessed to him the feeling that we were
trespassers into these secrets, and after that he either laid the book
by altogether or read it only when alone.

The _Wastrel_ was cruising at her cripple's pace southeast by east,
through those hot waters which lie directly above the equator. After
some days we sloped across the line, but still clung to the hideous
swelter of the next meridian. Our course lay among groups of lush
islands which simmered in steam and fever, and the merciless, overhead
sun beat upon us, as if focused through a burning glass until the pitch
oozed from the deck cracks, and the sweat from our pores, and the
self-control from our curdled tempers. Faces that had been sullen at
Sandakan grew malevolent and menacing at 150 degrees, east, where, if I
remember rightly, we crossed the equator.

The scowls of the men dwelt hatefully upon Captain Coulter as he paced
the bridge. From scraps of information picked up here and there in
fo'castle disparagement, I pieced together a lurid abstract of his
history. I knew how wild and unsavory were the reputations of many of
the men of the eastern beaches. I had listened to tales of _lanai_ and
_bund_, but even in such company our skipper stood out as uniquely
wicked.

The sheer and hypnotic force of his masterful will lay over and silenced
the ship. From the first, he dominated. But if he had dominated at the
latitude of 120 he domineered at 150, and to this domineering he brought
all those extremes of tyranny which lie at the hand of a ship's captain
on the high seas. At times the sheer, undiluted brutality of this
control compelled my unwilling admiration. Every pair of eyes that met
his from the fo'castle, were eyes of smoldering hatred and fear, and
though he assumed scornful unconsciousness of this attitude, he knew
that his security was no greater than that of the l