Wikisource:WikiProject Film/Intertitles from GeoCities/Victory
Victory 1 Samburan, the Island of our tale, was a lonely, desert outpost in the Dutch East Indies.
2
It was here that Axel
Heyst, for reasons best known to himself, had lived for two years in com- plete, impregnable solitude.
3
His only visitors were
shadows - the shadows of a life foresworn, drawn from the books of his father, a writer of great vision and charm.
4
Heyst had permitted
only one creature to share his self-made exile - Wang, his houseboy.
5
Up and down the Islands,
even now, Heyst's myste- rious desire for seclusion still excited much comment adverse and otherwise.
6
Take Schomberg, the
hotelkeeper of Soerabaja, who suspected every- thing he could not understand.
7
"A man don't hide
away in a lonely island like that unless he's got something to hide from -"
8
"Don't be silly,
Schomberg! Everybody knows that Heyst, in spite of his peculiar ideas, is perfectly harmless -"
9
Several weeks later,
Heyst came to Soerabaja to cut the last links, com- mercial and otherwise, which bound him to civilization.
10
His business finished,
Heyst found Soerabaja very dull, while he awaited a boat to take him home.
11
"These concerts cost
a lot of money - but do you think that fellow Heyst would spend a florin to hear a little good music?"
12
"Please give me a
ticket for the concert, Mrs. Schomberg -"
13
Zangiacomo, owner,
manager and director of the Ladies Orchestra.
14
Madame Zangiacomo,
his wife.
15 During the intermission Schomberg, with an eye to business, had stipulated that the lady performers favor the audience with their com- pany.
16
If you took Madame
Zangiacomo's word for it, Alma, the first violin, was a stubborn, good-for-nothing little hussy!
17
"I'm sure that horrible
female pinched you just now when she stood by your chair -"
18
"I'm quite sure
of it myself -"
19
"Does that woman
always treat you like that?"
20
"I'm used to it -
people have been treating me like that all my life -"
21
"You're the one's to
blame - that little piece wouldn't dare to put on airs with me unless she had you and Schomberg dangling on a string -"
22
"How did you get
amongst this lot?"
23
"Bad luck - that's
all. I've never had anything else, I sup- pose I never will -"
24
"You mustn't give up
like that - are you sure you can't defend your- self somehow?"
25
"I'm afraid they're
too many for me -"
26
After the morning
rehearsal.
27
Speaking of signs,
a woman who pow- ders her nose is not entirely without hope.
28
"Is that a new way
you've got your hair fixed? It looks ever so much better -"
29
Surely the girl had
not given her hair a new primp for this -
30
"Look here, you pretty
little Hex, when are you going to give me a chance to have a nice, quiet talk with you?"
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"Don't worry about
the old woman! Say the word and I'll soon get rid of her -"
32
Heyst soon learned of
Schomberg's clandestine pursuit of the girl.
33
"I've a good notion
to go down and make a hole in the water - nobody would care -"
34
"Oh, if you do care,
take me away - take me to that island of yours - anything to escape this -"
35
"Promise that
you'll help me get away?"
36
Heyst's whole plan of
life was to avoid situations like this, yet pity makes meddlers of us all.
37
"Schomberg and
Zangiacomo will probably kick up an awful row if I try to walk off with you in broad daylight -"
38
"If we can get our
things out of the hotel I might be able to hire a native junk to take us to Sam- buran."
39
"Ssh! Schomberg's
room is right at the top of the stairs -"
40
"Don't you dare to
thank me, you little hussy! I'm only too glad to get rid of you -"
41
"I thought I heard
somebody prowling around in the gar- den, August -"
42
Into the beauty of the
tropical dawn, Samburan bound.
43
Wherein Schomberg
loses his appetite for an otherwise perfectly good breakfast.
44
"What have you
done with that girl?"
45
"Your houseboy says
that man Heyst also did not sleep in his room last night -"
46
"Heyst has stolen
her! But I'll pay him off! I'll search the island - I'll search every ship -"
47
Schomberg, torn by the
pangs of wounded vanity and thwarted passion, pros- ecuted a most thorough pursuit.
48
"Mr. Jones, do you
think I've got time to run down and tap the skipper's strong box?"
49
"My dear Ricardo,
I've already attended to that myself -"
50
"All right, we'll give
your hotel a trial; my secretary, Mr. Ricardo, must have the room next to mine - you can do what you please with Pedro."
51
Schomberg, looking at
life through a murderous gloom, soon found reason to suspect the integrity of his new guests.
52
"Why didn't you
tell them that the rules of my house expressly forbid gambling?"
53
Near their journey's
end.
54
"Oh, it's nothing
dangerous - he only smokes intermit- tently - a puff or two after dinner, as the saying is -"
55
His hatred of Heyst and
the flagrant conduct of his unwelcome guests kept Schomberg in a state of perpetual misery.
56
"Look here, I must
ask you to leave - you are giving my house a bad name -"
57
"There's no use
trying to put us out - if you do, somebody's going to get hurt -"
58
"We'll go when
we get good and ready - not be- fore -"
59
"Be careful with
Ricardo - I warn you he would think nothing of setting fire to this house of yours -"
60
"All right, gentlemen,
do as you like. It is all one thing to me. I ap- pear to have nothing to say in my own house -"
61
On her arrival at Sam-
buran the girl's first feeling was one of immense des- olation and despair.
62
The junk was gone;
and she was alone on a desert isle with a man she scarcely knew.
63
"Oh, I'm afraid -
I shouldn't have come -"
64
"You have nothing
to fear from me - my scheme of life does not include women - I've always kept away from them -"
65
"To love, to slay - the
greatest enterprises in life! And I have no experience of either - I have never loved a woman or killed a man - I hope I never shall -"
66
Quite by chance Schom-
berg stumbled on a means of avenging himself on Heyst.
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"It's the king
of hearts -"
68
"You're not the
first card shark I've seen perform that trick -"
69
"Did you hear
him call me a card shark?"
70
"I apologize - don't
stab me - I meant no harm - let me go and order a drink -"
71
"Oh, I wasn't going to
hurt you - there ain't no technique, Mr. Jones often tells me, in ferocity -"
72
"Mr. Jones is always
cautioning me against violence - he says it'll be the death of me one of these days -"
73
"I remember the
time it was nearly the death of Pedro here -"
74
"Pedro put an
edge on this once - for me and Mr. Jones -"
75
"It was three or
four years ago - when me and Mr. Jones were hunting buried treasure down in South America -"
76
"Our bearers -
Pedro and his pal had been carry- ing on kind of peculiar, like, for two or three days -"
77
"There they were,
cool as you please, figuring on killing us before sundown - just for the sake of the few valuables in our pack -"
78
"The Guv'nor never
turned a hair when I told him at supper. That's where a gen- tleman has the best of you. He don't get excited -"
79
"I was for finishing
the handsome Pedro with his own knife -"
80
"But Mr. Jones, always
the thoughtful gentle- man, reminded me that I could hardly carry both packs alone -"
81
"And Pedro's wor-
shipped Mr. Jones ever since - and I will say there have been times when he was a great help -"
82
"Time and again
I've seen him do it - crack! And the man's back snaps like a rotten stick -"
83
"How would you
like to go on an- other treasure hunt?"
84
"Did you ever
hear of a man by the name of Heyst?"
85
Very craftily, Schom-
berg portrayed Heyst's island as the hiding place of great stores of ill-gotten gains....
86
Somewhat piqued at
Heyst's attitude toward women, Alma tried to wound him, after the fashion of Eve, with her beauty.
87
"Did you
write it?"
88
"I've tried to live by
this plan - but it isn't as simple as it looks - not half -"
89
"Take your case -
I knew it was dan- gerous for me to interfere - but you had your back to the wall, and I felt sorry for you -"
90
"Is that the
only reason?"
91
"Well, I admit that
you are a woman, and desirable - but pity formed the tie - and he who forms a tie is lost -"
92
"It isn't much fun
to be alone in a place like this - with a man - who just feels sorry for you -"
93
"You mustn't take
me too seriously - as a matter of fact, I'm really very fond of you -"
94
"May I ask what
brings you gentle- men to this part of the world?"
95
"My dear fellow,
we're just three men in a boat, come to see what we could see...."
96
"I'm sorry I can't
offer you a share of my own quarters - but I think I can make you comfort- able in one of the other bungalows -"
97
"I came to get my
keys and to tell you to keep out of sight - these men look like pretty tough characters -"
98
"Schomberg may
have sent them - haven't you got a weapon?"
99
"What difference
does it make? I wouldn't kill a man - even in my own defence."
100
"You have fingers
like steel, my lady - I never saw a wo- man put up such a fight -"
101
"I don't blame Heyst
for stealing you. I bet he's crazy about you, ain't he?"
102
"Why don't you
stand in with us? We're your kind - we'll treat you right - I'll see that you get your share of the swag -"
103
"What d'you say?
Will you come in with us?"
104
A little candle of hope
suddenly flamed up in the girl's heart, illuminating the shrine she had erected to a man.
105
"By the way, has
your gentlemen got a gun?"
106
"Not that I was
worrying about it - I've got some- thing better than a gun myself -"
107
"Don't you
trust me?"
108
"Don't you trust
me - now?"
109
"Mr. Jones said
I come help China boy cook -"
110
"I may be foolish,
but I have a feeling of something slowly closing in on us -"
111
"I don't like the
looks of this thing - we've got to get through with this business as quick- ly as we can -"
112
"It may take a
couple of days to locate the plunder -"
113
"That old man up at
Timor came around in very short order when we put that red hot flatiron on his stomach -"
114
"What'll we do
with the girl - after we finish up?"
115
"Well, if she is
pretty - I may take her along -"
116
"I think I'll go
in and shave -"
117
Night came with
heavy stealth, bring- ing a dreadful murk, broken now and then by the infernal glare of the pit.
118
"Mr. Jones is sick,
he wants to see you for a minute -"
119
"You and me are
going to leave the island tonight -"
120
"They're up to some-
thing - run and hide in the jungle - come back when I give signal - three lighted candles on table -"
121
"I've got fever and chills
- do you think a hot flat- iron would do me any good?"
122
"I think I better go and
help your man locate that flatiron -"
123
"You mustn't be shocked,
Mr. Heyst, if I tell you plainly that we are after your money -"
124
"Look here, girlie, you
haven't been playing square with me -"
125
"Your gentleman is a
dead card - you better stick to me - if you treat me right, I'll do anything you say -"
126
"Ricardo must be up
to something - by Jove, it's that girl of yours! Now I know why he shaved this evening!"
127
"They're having their
last talk together; who shall die first - my gentle- man or yours?"
128
"Come, I want you to see
me kill - their blood will give our love a touch of color -"
129
"Don't touch me! You
let that swine put his hands on you - I could have killed you both!"
130
"I did it for you - I was
trying to save you - I would have done any- thing -"
131
"You kill too much -
maybe you don't kill no more - Pedro he going to see -"
132
"When I saw that brute
kissing your hand I went all to pieces - something happened to me - I know what a dreadful, wonder- ful thing love is -"
133
Something has indeed
happened to Heyst. He was no longer the slave of an idea, but a man, free to slay and die for his woman.
134
"Have you gone
mad? What are you up to?"
135
"You don't know - but
that man you kill in fire one time down in South America - he my brother -"
136
"I've found it at last -
Love and Death are the two great adventures in life, but the greater of these is Love."
FINIS
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