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diff --git a/10008-h/10008-h.htm b/10008-h/10008-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..76614c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/10008-h/10008-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13355 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mystery, by Edward Stewart White and Samuel Hopkins Adams</title> +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- +body {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; background-color: white} +img {border: 0;} +h1,h2,h3 {text-align: center;} +.ind {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} +hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} +.ctr {text-align: center;} +--> +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mystery +by Stewart Edward White and Samuel Hopkins Adams + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mystery + +Author: Stewart Edward White and Samuel Hopkins Adams + +Release Date: November 7, 2003 [EBook #10008] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Danny Wool, Luiz Antonio de Souza, Elisa Williams, +Tonya Allen and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="cover.jpg"><img src="cover_th.jpg" alt=""></a> +</p> + + +<h1> +THE MYSTERY +</h1> + +<h3> +BY +</h3> + +<h2> +STEWART EDWARD WHITE +</h2> + +<h3> +AND +</h3> + +<h2> +SAMUEL HOPKINS ADAMS +</h2> + +<h3> +<i>Illustrations by Will Crawford</i> +</h3> + +<h3> +1907 +</h3> + +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<h3> +PART ONE +</h3> + +<h3> +THE SEA RIDDLE +</h3> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#1-1">I. DESERT SEAS</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#1-2">II. THE "LAUGHING LASS"</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#1-3">III. THE DEATH SHIP</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#1-4">IV. THE SECOND PRIZE CREW</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#1-5">V. THE DISAPPEARANCE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#1-6">VI. THE CASTAWAYS</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#1-7">VII. THE FREE LANCE</a> +</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<h3> +PART TWO +</h3> + +<h3> +THE BRASS BOUND CHEST +</h3> + +<p class="ctr"> +<i>Being the story told by Ralph Slade, Free Lance, to the officers of +the United States Cruiser "Wolverine"</i> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-1">I. THE BARBARY COAST</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-2">II. THE GRAVEN IMAGE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-3">III. THE TWELVE REPEATING RIFLES</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-4">IV. THE STEEL CLAW</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-5">V. THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-6">VI. THE ISLAND</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-7">VII. CAPTAIN SELOVER LOSES HIS NERVE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-8">VIII. WRECKING OF THE "GOLDEN HORN"</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-9">IX. THE EMPTY BRANDY BOTTLE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-10">X. CHANGE OF MASTERS</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-11">XI. THE CORROSIVE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-12">XII. "OLD SCRUBS" COMES ASHORE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-13">XIII. I MAKE MY ESCAPE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-14">XIV. AN ADVENTURE IN THE NIGHT</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-15">XV. FIVE HUNDRED YARDS' RANGE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-16">XVI. THE MURDER</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-17">XVII. THE OPEN SEA</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#2-18">XVIII. THE CATASTROPHE</a> +</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<h3> +PART THREE +</h3> + +<h3> +THE MAROON +</h3> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#3-1">I. IN THE WARDROOM</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#3-2">II. THE JOLLY ROGER</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#3-3">III. THE CACHE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#3-4">IV. THE TWIN SLABS</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#3-5">V. THE PINWHEEL VOLCANO</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#3-6">VI. MR. DARROW RECEIVES</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#3-7">VII. THE SURVIVORS</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#3-8">VIII. THE MAKER OF MARVELS</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#3-9">IX. THE ACHIEVEMENT</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#3-10">X. THE DOOM</a> +</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<h2> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</h2> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="frontis.jpg">"And you know a heap too much"</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="illp014.jpg">A schooner comporting herself in a manner uncommon on the Pacific</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="illp030.jpg">A man who was a bit of a mechanic was set to work to open the chest</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="illp074.jpg">Slowly the man defined himself as a shape takes form in a fog</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="illp136.jpg">"These sheep had become as wild as deer"</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="illp186.jpg">The firing now became miscellaneous. No one paid any attention to any one else</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="illp222.jpg">With a strangled cry the sailor cast the shirt from him</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="illp250.jpg">"Sorry not to have met you at the door," he said courteously</a> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="frontis.jpg"><img src="frontis_th.jpg" alt=""></a> +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h2> +PART ONE +</h2> + +<h3> +THE SEA RIDDLE +</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h2><a name="1-1">I</a></h2> + +<h3>DESERT SEAS</h3> + +<p> +The late afternoon sky flaunted its splendour of blue and gold like a +banner over the Pacific, across whose depths the trade wind droned in +measured cadence. On the ocean's wide expanse a hulk wallowed sluggishly, +the forgotten relict of a once brave and sightly ship, possibly the +Sphinx of some untold ocean tragedy, she lay black and forbidding in the +ordered procession of waves. Half a mile to the east of the derelict +hovered a ship's cutter, the turn of her crew's heads speaking +expectancy. As far again beyond, the United States cruiser +<i>Wolverine</i> outlined her severe and trim silhouette against the +horizon. In all the spread of wave and sky no other thing was visible. +For this was one of the desert parts of the Pacific, three hundred miles +north of the steamship route from Yokohama to Honolulu, five hundred +miles from the nearest land, Gardner Island, and more than seven hundred +northwest of the Hawaiian group. +</p> + +<p> +On the cruiser's quarter-deck the officers lined the starboard rail. +Their interest was focussed on the derelict. +</p> + +<p> +"Looks like a heavy job," said Ives, one of the junior lieutenants. +"These floaters that lie with deck almost awash will stand more hammering +than a mud fort." +</p> + +<p> +"Wish they'd let us put some six-inch shells into her," said Billy +Edwards, the ensign, a wistful expression on his big round cheerful face. +"I'd like to see what they would do." +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing but waste a few hundred dollars of your Uncle Sam's money," +observed Carter, the officer of the deck. "It takes placed charges inside +and out for that kind of work." +</p> + +<p> +"Barnett's the man for her then," said Ives. "He's no economist when it +comes to getting results. There she goes!" +</p> + +<p> +Without any particular haste, as it seemed to the watchers, the hulk was +shouldered out of the water, as by some hidden leviathan. Its outlines +melted into a black, outshowering mist, and from that mist leaped a +giant. Up, up, he towered, tossed whirling arms a hundred feet abranch, +shivered, and dissolved into a widespread cataract. The water below was +lashed into fury, in the midst of which a mighty death agony beat back +the troubled waves of the trade wind. Only then did the muffled double +boom of the explosion reach the ears of the spectators, presently to be +followed by a whispering, swift-skimming wavelet that swept irresistibly +across the bigger surges and lapped the ship's side, as for a message +that the work was done. +</p> + +<p> +Here and there in the sea a glint of silver, a patch of purple, or dull +red, or a glistening apparition of black showed where the unintended +victims of the explosion, the gay-hued open-sea fish of the warm waters, +had succumbed to the force of the shock. Of the intended victim there was +no sign save a few fragments of wood bobbing in a swirl of water. +</p> + +<p> +When Barnett, the ordnance officer in charge of the destruction, returned +to the ship, Carter complimented him. +</p> + +<p> +"Good clean job, Barnett. She was a tough customer, too." +</p> + +<p> +"What was she?" asked Ives. +</p> + +<p> +"The <i>Caroline Lemp</i>, three-masted schooner. Anyone know about her?" +</p> + +<p> +Ives turned to the ship's surgeon, Trendon, a grizzled and brief-spoken +veteran, who had at his finger's tips all the lore of all the waters +under the reign of the moon. +</p> + +<p> +"What does the information bureau of the Seven Seas know about it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Lost three years ago--spring of 1901--got into ice field off the tip of +the Aleutians. Some of the crew froze. Others got ashore. Part of +survivors accounted for. Others not. Say they've turned native. Don't +know myself." +</p> + +<p> +"The Aleutians!" exclaimed Billy Edwards. "Great Cats! What a drift! How +many thousand miles would that be?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not as far as many another derelict has wandered in her time, son," said +Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +The talk washed back and forth across the hulks of classic sea mysteries, +new and old; of the <i>City of Boston</i>, which went down with all +hands, leaving for record only a melancholy scrawl on a bit of board to +meet the wondering eyes of a fisherman on the far Cornish coast; of the +<i>Great Queensland</i>, which set out with five hundred and sixty-nine +souls aboard, bound by a route unknown to a tragic end; of the +<i>Naronic</i>, with her silent and empty lifeboats alone left, drifting +about the open sea, to hint at the story of her fate; of the +<i>Huronian</i>, which, ten years later, on the same day and date, and +hailing from the same port as the <i>Naronic</i>, went out into the void, +leaving no trace; of Newfoundland captains who sailed, roaring with +drink, under the arches of cathedral bergs, only to be prisoned, buried, +and embalmed in the one icy embrace; of craft assailed by the terrible +one-stroke lightning clouds of the Indian Ocean, found days after, stone +blind, with their crews madly hauling at useless sheets, while the +officers clawed the compass and shrieked; of burnings and piracies; of +pest ships and slave ships, and ships mad for want of water; of whelming +earthquake waves, and mysterious suctions, drawing irresistibly against +wind and steam power upon unknown currents; of stout hulks deserted in +panic although sound and seaworthy; and of others so swiftly dragged down +that there was no time for any to save himself; and of a hundred other +strange, stirring and pitiful ventures such as make up the inevitable +peril and incorrigible romance of the ocean. In a pause Billy Edwards +said musingly: +</p> + +<p> +"Well, there was the <i>Laughing Lass</i>." +</p> + +<p> +"How did you happen to hit on her?" asked Barnett quickly. +</p> + +<p> +"Why not, sir? It naturally came into my head. She was last seen +somewhere about this part of the world, wasn't she?" After a moment's +hesitation he added: "From something I heard ashore I judge we've a +commission to keep a watch out for her as well as to destroy derelicts." +</p> + +<p> +"What about the <i>Laughing Lass</i>?" asked McGuire, the paymaster, a +New Englander, who had been in the service but a short time. +</p> + +<p> +"Good Lord! don't you remember the <i>Laughing Lass</i> mystery and the +disappearance of Doctor Schermerhorn?" +</p> + +<p> +"Karl Augustus Schermerhorn, the man whose experiments to identify +telepathy with the Marconi wireless waves made such a furore in the +papers?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, that was only a by-product of his mind. He was an original +investigator in every line of physics and chemistry, besides most of the +natural sciences," said Barnett. "The government is particularly +interested in him because of his contributions to aërial photography." +</p> + +<p> +"And he was lost with the <i>Laughing Lass</i>?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nobody knows," said Edwards. "He left San Francisco two years ago on a +hundred-foot schooner, with an assistant, a big brass-bound chest, and a +ragamuffin crew. A newspaper man named Slade, who dropped out of the +world about the same time, is supposed to have gone along, too. Their +schooner was last sighted about 450 miles northeast of Oahu, in good +shape, and bound westward. That's all the record of her that there is." +</p> + +<p> +"Was that Ralph Slade?" asked Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. He was a free-lance writer and artist." +</p> + +<p> +"I knew him well," said Barnett. "He was in our mess in the Philippine +campaign, on the <i>North Dakota</i>. War correspondent then. It's +strange that I never identified him before with the Slade of the +<i>Laughing Lass</i>." +</p> + +<p> +"What was the object of the voyage?" asked Ives. +</p> + +<p> +"They were supposed to be after buried treasure," said Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"I've always thought it more likely that Doctor Schermerhorn was on a +scientific expedition," said Edwards. "I knew the old boy, and he wasn't +the sort to care a hoot in Sheol for treasure, buried or unburied." +</p> + +<p> +"Every time a ship sets out from San Francisco without publishing to all +the world just what her business is, all the world thinks it's one of +those wild-goose hunts," observed Ives. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," agreed Barnett. "Flora and fauna of some unknown island would be +much more in the Schermerhorn line of traffic. Not unlikely that some of +the festive natives collected the unfortunate professor." +</p> + +<p> +Various theories were advanced, withdrawn, refuted, defended, and the +discussion carried them through the swift twilight into the darkness +which had been hastened by a high-spreading canopy of storm-clouds. +Abruptly from the crow's-nest came startling news for those desolate +seas: "Light--ho! Two points on the port bow." +</p> + +<p> +The lookout had given extra voice to it. It was plainly heard throughout +the ship. +</p> + +<p> +The group of officers stared in the direction indicated, but could see +nothing. Presently Ives and Edwards, who were the keenest-sighted, made +out a faint, suffused radiance. At the same time came a second hail from +the crow's-nest. +</p> + +<p> +"On deck, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"Hello," responded Carter, the officer of the deck. +</p> + +<p> +"There's a light here I can't make anything out of, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"What's it like?" +</p> + +<p> +"Sort of a queer general glow." +</p> + +<p> +"General glow, indeed!" muttered Forsythe, among the group aft. "That +fellow's got an imagination." +</p> + +<p> +"Can't you describe it better than that?" called Carter. +</p> + +<p> +"Don't make it out at all, sir. 'Tain't any regular and proper light. +Looks like a lamp in a fog." +</p> + +<p> +Among themselves the officers discussed it interestedly, as it grew +plainer. +</p> + +<p> +"Not unlike the electric glow above a city, seen from a distance," said +Barnett, as it grew plainer. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes: but the nearest electric-lighted city is some eight hundred miles +away," objected Ives. +</p> + +<p> +"Mirage, maybe," suggested Edwards. +</p> + +<p> +"Pretty hard-working mirage, to cover that distance" said Ives. "Though +I've seen 'em----" +</p> + +<p> +"Great heavens! Look at that!" shouted Edwards. +</p> + +<p> +A great shaft of pale brilliance shot up toward the zenith. Under it +whirled a maelstrom of varied radiance, pale with distance, but +marvellously beautiful. Forsythe passed them with a troubled face, on his +way below to report, as his relief went up. +</p> + +<p> +"The quartermaster reports the compass behaving queerly," he said. +</p> + +<p> +Three minutes later the captain was on the bridge. The great ship had +swung, and they were speeding direct for the phenomenon. But within a few +minutes the light had died out. +</p> + +<p> +"Another sea mystery to add to our list," said Billy Edwards. "Did anyone +ever see a show like that before? What do you think, Doc?" +</p> + +<p> +"Humph!" grunted the veteran. "New to me. Volcanic, maybe." +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="1-2">II</a></h2> + +<h3>THE <i>LAUGHING LASS</i></h3> + +<p> +The falling of dusk on June the 3d found tired eyes aboard the +<i>Wolverine</i>. Every officer in her complement had kept a private and +personal lookout all day for some explanation of the previous night's +phenomenon. All that rewarded them were a sky filmed with lofty clouds, +and the holiday parade of the epauletted waves. +</p> + +<p> +Nor did evening bring a repetition of that strange glow. Midnight found +the late stayers still deep in the discussion. +</p> + +<p> +"One thing is certain," said Ives. "It wasn't volcanic." +</p> + +<p> +"Why so?" asked the paymaster. +</p> + +<p> +"Because volcanoes are mostly stationary, and we headed due for that +light." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes; but did we keep headed?" said Barnett, who was navigating officer +as well as ordnance officer, in a queer voice. +</p> + +<p> +"What do you mean, sir?" asked Edwards eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +"After the light disappeared the compass kept on varying. The stars were +hidden. There is no telling just where we were headed for some time." +</p> + +<p> +"Then we might be fifty miles from the spot we aimed at." +</p> + +<p> +"Hardly that," said the navigator. "We could guide her to some extent by +the direction of wind and waves. If it was volcanic we ought certainly to +have sighted it by now." +</p> + +<p> +"Always some electricity in volcanic eruptions," said Trendon. "Makes +compass cut didoes. Seen it before." +</p> + +<p> +"Where?" queried Carter. +</p> + +<p> +"Off Martinique. Pelée eruption. Needle chased its tail like a kitten." +</p> + +<p> +"Are there many volcanoes hereabouts?" somebody asked. +</p> + +<p> +"We're in 162 west, 31 north, about," said Barnett. "No telling whether +there are or not. There weren't at last accounts, but that's no evidence +that there aren't some since. They come up in the night, these volcanic +islands." +</p> + +<p> +"Just cast an eye on the charts," said Billy Edwards. "Full of E. D.'s +and P. D.'s all over the shop. Every one of 'em volcanic." +</p> + +<p> +"E. D.'s and P. D.'s?" queried the paymaster. +</p> + +<p> +"Existence doubtful, and position doubtful," explained the ensign. "Every +time the skipper of one of these wandering trade ships gets a speck in +his eye, he reports an island. If he really does bump into a rock he cuts +in an arithmetic book for his latitude and longitude and lets it go at +that. That's how the chart makers make a living, getting out new editions +every few months." +</p> + +<p> +"But it's a fact that these seas are constantly changing," said Barnett. +"They're so little travelled that no one happens to be around to see an +island born. I don't suppose there's a part on the earth's surface more +liable to seismic disturbances than this region." +</p> + +<p> +"Seismic!" cried Billy Edwards, "I should say it was seismic! Why, when a +native of one of these island groups sets his heart on a particular loaf +of bread up his bread-fruit tree, he doesn't bother to climb after it. +Just waits for some earthquake to happen along and shake it down to him." +</p> + +<p> +"Good boy, Billy," said Dr. Trendon, approvingly. "Do another." +</p> + +<p> +"It's a fact," said the ensign, heatedly. "Why, a couple of years back +there was a trader here stocked up with a lot of belly-mixture in +bottles. Thought he was going to make his pile because there'd been a +colic epidemic in the islands the season before. Bottles were labelled +'Do not shake.' That settled his business. Might as well have marked 'em +'Keep frozen' in this part of the world. Fellow went broke." +</p> + +<p> +"In any case," said Barnett, "such a glow as that we sighted last night +I've never seen from any volcano." +</p> + +<p> +"Nor I," said Trendon. "Don't prove it mightn't have been." +</p> + +<p> +"I'll just bet the best dinner in San Francisco that it isn't," said +Edwards. +</p> + +<p> +"You're on," said Carter. +</p> + +<p> +"Let me in," suggested Ives. +</p> + +<p> +"And I'll take one of it," said McGuire. +</p> + +<p> +"Come one, come all," said Edwards cheerily. "I'll live high on the +collective bad judgment of this outfit." +</p> + +<p> +"To-night isn't likely to settle it, anyhow," said Ives. "I move we turn +in." +</p> + +<p> +Expectant minds do not lend themselves to sound slumber. All night the +officers of the <i>Wolverine</i> slept on the verge of waking, but it was +not until dawn that the cry of "Sail-ho!" sent them all hurrying to their +clothes. Ordinarily officers of the U.S. Navy do not scuttle on deck like +a crowd of curious schoolgirls, but all hands had been keyed to a high +pitch over the elusive light, and the bet with Edwards now served as an +excuse for the betrayal of unusual eagerness. Hence the quarter-deck was +soon alive with men who were wont to be deep in dreams at that hour. +</p> + +<p> +They found Carter, whose watch on deck it was, reprimanding the lookout. +</p> + +<p> +"No, sir," the man was insisting, "she didn't show no light, sir. I'd 'a' +sighted her an hour ago, sir, if she had." +</p> + +<p> +"We shall see," said Carter grimly. "Who's your relief?" +</p> + +<p> +"Sennett." +</p> + +<p> +"Let him take your place. Go aloft, Sennett." +</p> + +<p> +As the lookout, crestfallen and surly, went below, Barnett said in +subdued tones: +</p> + +<p> +"Upon my word, I shouldn't be surprised if the man were right. Certainly +there's something queer about that hooker. Look how she handles herself." +</p> + +<p> +The vessel was some three miles to windward. She was a schooner of the +common two-masted Pacific type, but she was comporting herself in a +manner uncommon on the Pacific, or any other ocean. Even as Barnett +spoke, she heeled well over, and came rushing up into the wind, where she +stood with all sails shaking. Slowly she paid off again, bearing away +from them. Now she gathered full headway, yet edged little by little to +windward again. +</p> + +<p> +"Mighty queer tactics," muttered Edwards. "I think she's steering +herself." +</p> + +<p> +"Good thing she carries a weather helm," commented Ives, who was an +expert on sailing rigs. "Most of that type do. Otherwise she'd have jibed +her masts out, running loose that way." +</p> + +<p> +Captain Parkinson appeared on deck and turned his glasses for a full +minute on the strange schooner. +</p> + +<p> +"Aloft there," he hailed the crow's-nest. "Do you make out anyone +aboard?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, sir," came the answer. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Carter, have the chief quartermaster report on deck with the signal +flags." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"Aren't we going to run up to her?" asked McGuire, turning in surprise to +Edwards. +</p> + +<p> +"And take the risk of getting a hole punched in our pretty paint, with +her running amuck that way? Not much!" +</p> + +<p> +Up came the signal quartermaster to get his orders, and there ensued a +one-sided conversation in the pregnant language of the sea. +</p> + +<p> +"What ship is that?" +</p> + +<p> +No answer. +</p> + +<p> +"Are you in trouble?" asked the cruiser, and waited. The schooner showed +a bare and silent main-peak. +</p> + +<p> +"Heave to." Now Uncle Sam was giving orders. +</p> + +<p> +But the other paid no heed. +</p> + +<p> +"We'll make that a little more emphatic," said Captain Parkinson. A +moment later there was the sharp crash of a gun and a shot went across +the bows of the sailing vessel. Hastened by a flaw of wind that veered +from the normal direction of the breeze the stranger made sharply to +windward, as if to obey. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, there she comes," ran the comment along the cruiser's quarter-deck. +</p> + +<p> +But the schooner, after standing for a moment, all flapping, answered +another flaw, and went wide about on the opposite tack. +</p> + +<p> +"Derelict," remarked Captain Parkinson. "She seems to be in good shape, +too, Dr. Trendon!" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir." The surgeon went to the captain, and the others could hear +his deep, abrupt utterance in reply to some question too low for their +ears. +</p> + +<p> +"Might be, sir. Beri-beri, maybe. More likely smallpox if anything of +that kind. But <i>some</i> of 'em would be on deck." +</p> + +<p> +"Whew! A plague ship!" said Billy Edwards. "Just my luck to be ordered to +board her." He shivered slightly. +</p> + +<p> +"Scared, Billy?" said Ives. Edwards had a record for daring which made +this joke obvious enough to be safe. +</p> + +<p> +"I wouldn't want to have my peculiar style of beauty spoiled by smallpox +marks," said the ensign, with a smile on his homely, winning face. "And +I've a hunch that that ship is not a lucky find for this ship." +</p> + +<p> +"Then I've a hunch that your hunch is a wrong one," said Ives. "How long +would you guess that craft to be?" +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="illp014.jpg"><img src="illp014_th.jpg" alt="A schooner comporting herself in a manner uncommon on the Pacific"></a> +</p> + +<p> +They were now within a mile of the schooner. Edwards scrutinised her +calculatingly. +</p> + +<p> +"Eighty to ninety feet." +</p> + +<p> +"Say 150 tons. And she's a two-masted schooner, isn't she?" continued +Ives, insinuatingly. +</p> + +<p> +"She certainly is." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, I've a hunch that that ship is a lucky find for any ship, but +particularly for this ship." +</p> + +<p> +"Great Caesar!" cried the ensign excitedly. "Do you think it's +<i>her</i>?" +</p> + +<p> +A buzz of electric interest went around the group. Every glass was +raised; every eye strained toward her stern to read the name as she +veered into the wind again. About she came. A sharp sigh of excited +disappointment exhaled from the spectators. The name had been painted +out. +</p> + +<p> +"No go," breathed Edwards. "But I'll bet another dinner----" +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Edwards," called the captain. "You will take the second cutter, +board that schooner, and make a full investigation." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"Take your time. Don't come alongside until she is in the wind. Leave +enough men aboard to handle her." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir." +</p> + +<p> +The cruiser steamed to within half a mile of the aimless traveller, and +the small boat put out. Not one of his fellows but envied the young +ensign as he left the ship, steered by Timmins, a veteran bo's'n's mate, +wise in all the ins and outs of sea ways. They saw him board, neatly +running the small boat under the schooner's counter; they saw the +foresheet eased off and the ship run up into the wind; then the foresail +dropped and the wheel lashed so that she would stand so. They awaited the +reappearance of Edwards and the bo's'n's mate when they had vanished +below decks, and with an intensity of eagerness they followed the return +of the small boat. +</p> + +<p> +Billy Edwards's face as he came on deck was a study. It was alight with +excitement; yet between the eyes two deep wrinkles of puzzlement +quivered. Such a face the mathematician bends above his paper when some +obstructive factor arises between him and his solution. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, sir?" There was a hint of effort at restraint in the captain's +voice. +</p> + +<p> +"She's the <i>Laughing Lass</i>, sir. Everything ship-shape, but not a +soul aboard." +</p> + +<p> +"Come below, Mr. Edwards," said the captain. And they went, leaving +behind them a boiling cauldron of theory and conjecture. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="1-3">III</a></h2> + +<h3>THE DEATH SHIP</h3> + +<p> +Billy Edwards came on deck with a line of irritation right-angling the +furrows between his eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"Go ahead," the quarter-deck bade him, seeing him aflush with +information. +</p> + +<p> +"The captain won't believe me," blurted out Edwards. +</p> + +<p> +"Is it as bad as that?" asked Barnett, smiling. +</p> + +<p> +"It certainly is," replied the younger man seriously. "I don't know that +I blame him. I'd hardly believe it myself if I hadn't----" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, go on. Out with it. Give us the facts. Never mind your credibility." +</p> + +<p> +"The facts are that there lies the <i>Laughing Lass</i>, a little +weather-worn, but sound as a dollar, and not a living being aboard of +her. Her boats are all there. Everything's in good condition, though none +too orderly. Pitcher half full of fresh water in the rack. Sails all O. +K. Ashes of the galley fire still warm. I tell you, gentlemen, that ship +hasn't been deserted more than a couple of days at the outside." +</p> + +<p> +"Are you sure all the boats are there?" asked Ives. +</p> + +<p> +"Dory, dingy, and two surf boats. Isn't that enough?" +</p> + +<p> +"Plenty." +</p> + +<p> +"Been over her, inside and out. No sign of collision. No leak. No +anything, except that the starboard side is blistered a bit. No evidence +of fire anywhere else. I tell you," said Billy Edwards pathetically, +"it's given me a headache." +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps it's one of those cases of panic that Forsythe spoke of the +other night," said Ives. "The crew got frightened at something and ran +away, with the devil after them." +</p> + +<p> +"But crews don't just step out and run around the corner and hide, when +they're scared," objected Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"That's true, too," assented Ives. "Well, perhaps that volcanic eruption +jarred them so that they jumped for it." +</p> + +<p> +"Pretty wild theory, that," said Edwards. +</p> + +<p> +"No wilder than the facts, as you give them," was the retort. +</p> + +<p> +"That's so," admitted the ensign gloomily. +</p> + +<p> +"But how about pestilence?" suggested Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"Maybe they died fast and the last survivor, after the bodies of the rest +were overboard, got delirious and jumped after them." +</p> + +<p> +"Not if the galley fire was hot," said Dr. Trendon, briefly. "No; +pestilence doesn't work that way." +</p> + +<p> +"Did you look at the wheel, Billy?" asked Ives. +</p> + +<p> +"Did I! There's another thing. Wheel's all right, but compass is no good +at all. It's regularly bewitched." +</p> + +<p> +"What about the log, then?" +</p> + +<p> +"Couldn't find it anywhere. Hunted high, low, jack, and the game; +everywhere except in the big, brass-bound chest I found in the captain's +cabin. Couldn't break into that." +</p> + +<p> +"Dr. Schermerhorn's chest!" exclaimed Barnett. "Then he was aboard." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, he isn't aboard now," said the ensign grimly. "Not in the flesh. +And that's all," he added suddenly. +</p> + +<p> +"No; it isn't all," said Barnett gently. "There's something else. +Captain's orders?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, no. Captain Parkinson doesn't take enough stock in my report to tell +me to withhold anything," said Edwards, with a trace of bitterness in his +voice. "It's nothing that I believe myself, anyhow." +</p> + +<p> +"Give <i>us</i> a chance to believe it," said Ives. +</p> + +<p> +"Well," said the ensign hesitantly, "there's a sort of atmosphere about +that schooner that's almost uncanny." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, you had the shudders before you were ordered to board," bantered +Ives. +</p> + +<p> +"I know it. I'd have thought it was one of those fool presentiments if I +were the only one to feel it. But the men were affected, too. They kept +together like frightened sheep. And I heard one say to another: 'Hey, +Boney, d'you feel like someone was a-buzzin' your nerves like a +fiddle-string?' Now," demanded Edwards plaintively, "what right has a +jackie to have nerves?" +</p> + +<p> +"That's strange enough about the compass," said Barnett slowly. "Ours is +all right again. The schooner must have been so near the electric +disturbance that her instruments were permanently deranged." +</p> + +<p> +"That would lend weight to the volcanic theory," said Carter. +</p> + +<p> +"So the captain didn't take kindly to your go-look-see?" questioned Ives +of Edwards. +</p> + +<p> +"As good as told me I'd missed the point of the thing," said the ensign, +flushing. "Perhaps he can make more of it himself. At any rate, he's +going to try. Here he is now." +</p> + +<p> +"Dr. Trendon," said the captain, appearing. "You will please to go with +me to the schooner." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir," said the surgeon, rising from his chair with such alacrity as +to draw from Ives the sardonic comment: +</p> + +<p> +"Why, I actually believe old Trendon is excited." +</p> + +<p> +For two hours after the departure of the captain and Trendon there were +dull times on the quarter-deck of the <i>Wolverine</i>. Then the surgeon +came back to them. +</p> + +<p> +"Billy was right," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"But he didn't tell us anything," cried Ives. "He didn't clear up the +mystery." +</p> + +<p> +"That's what," said Trendon. "One thing Billy said," he added, waxing +unusually prolix for him, "was truer than maybe he knew." +</p> + +<p> +"Thanks," murmured the ensign. "What was that?" +</p> + +<p> +"You said 'Not a living being aboard.' Exact words, hey?" +</p> + +<p> +"Well, what of it?" exclaimed the ensign excitedly. "You don't mean you +found dead----?" +</p> + +<p> +"Keep your temperature down, my boy. No. You were exactly right. Not a +living being aboard." +</p> + +<p> +"Thanks for nothing," retorted the ensign. +</p> + +<p> +"Neither human nor other," pursued Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +"What!" +</p> + +<p> +"Food scattered around the galley. Crumbs on the mess table. Ever see a +wooden ship without cockroaches?" +</p> + +<p> +"Never particularly investigated the matter." +</p> + +<p> +"Don't believe such a thing exists," said Ives. +</p> + +<p> +"Not a cockroach on the <i>Laughing Lass</i>. Ever know of an old hooker +that wasn't overrun with rats?" +</p> + +<p> +"No; nor anyone else. Not above water." +</p> + +<p> +"Found a dozen dead rats. No sound or sign of a live one on the +<i>Laughing Lass</i>. No rats, no mice. No bugs. Gentlemen, the +<i>Laughing Lass</i> is a charnel ship." +</p> + +<p> +"No wonder Billy's tender nerves went wrong." said Ives, with +irrepressible flippancy. "She's probably haunted by cockroach wraiths." +</p> + +<p> +"He'll have a chance to see," said Trendon. "Captain's going to put him +in charge." +</p> + +<p> +"By way of apology, then," said Barnett. "That's pretty square." +</p> + +<p> +"Captain Parkinson wishes to see you in his cabin, Mr. Edwards," said an +orderly, coming in. +</p> + +<p> +"A pleasant voyage, Captain Billy," said Ives. "Sing out if the goblins +git yer." +</p> + +<p> +Fifteen minutes later Ensign Edwards, with a quartermaster, Timmins, the +bo's'n's mate, and a crew, was heading a straight course toward his first +command, with instructions to "keep company and watch for signals"; and +intention to break into the brass-bound chest and ferret out what clue +lay there, if it took dynamite. As he boarded, Barnett and Trendon, with +both of whom the lad was a favourite, came to a sinister conclusion. +</p> + +<p> +"It's poison, I suppose," said the first officer. +</p> + +<p> +"And a mighty subtle sort," agreed Trendon. "Don't like the looks of it." +He shook a solemn head. "Don't like it for a damn." +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="1-4">IV</a></h2> + +<h3>THE SECOND PRIZE CREW</h3> + +<p> +In semi-tropic Pacific weather the unexpected so seldom happens as to be +a negligible quantity. The <i>Wolverine</i> met with it on June 5th. From +some unaccountable source in that realm of the heaven-scouring trades +came a heavy mist. Possibly volcanic action, deranging by its electric +and gaseous outpourings the normal course of the winds, had given birth +to it. Be that as it may, it swept down upon the cruiser, thickening as +it approached, until presently it had spread a curtain between the +warship and its charge. The wind died. Until after fall of night the +<i>Wolverine</i> moved slowly, bellowing for the schooner, but got no +reply. Once they thought they heard a distant shout of response, but +there was no repetition. +</p> + +<p> +"Probably doesn't carry any fog horn," said Carter bitterly, voicing a +general uneasiness. +</p> + +<p> +"No log; compass crazy; without fog signal; I don't like that craft. +Barnett ought to have been ordered to blow the damned thing up, as a +peril to the high seas." +</p> + +<p> +"We'll pick her up in the morning, surely," said Forsythe. "This can't +last for ever." +</p> + +<p> +Nor did it last long. An hour before midnight a pounding shower fell, +lashing the sea into phosphorescent whiteness. It ceased, and with the +growl of a leaping animal a squall furiously beset the ship. Soon the +great steel body was plunging and heaving in the billows. It was a gloomy +company about the wardroom table. Upon each and all hung an oppression of +spirit. Captain Parkinson came from his cabin and went on deck. +Constitutionally he was a nervous and pessimistic man with a fixed belief +in the conspiracy of events, banded for the undoing of him and his. Blind +or dubious conditions racked his soul, but real danger found him not only +prepared, but even eager. Now his face was a picture of foreboding. +</p> + +<p> +"Parky looks as if Davy Jones was pulling on his string," observed the +flippant Ives to his neighbour. +</p> + +<p> +"Worrying about the schooner. Hope Billy Edwards saw or heard or felt +that squall coming," replied Forsythe, giving expression to the anxiety +that all felt. +</p> + +<p> +"He's a good sailor man," said Ives, "and that's a staunch little +schooner, by the way she handled herself." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, it will be all right," said Carter confidently. "The wind's +moderating now." +</p> + +<p> +"But there's no telling how far out of the course this may have blown +him." +</p> + +<p> +Barnett came down, dripping. +</p> + +<p> +"Anything new?" asked Dr. Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +The navigating officer shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing. But the captain's in a state of mind," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"What's wrong with him?" +</p> + +<p> +"The schooner. Seems possessed with the notion that there's something +wrong with her." +</p> + +<p> +"Aren't you feeling a little that way yourself?" said Forsythe. "I am. +I'll take a look around before I turn in." +</p> + +<p> +He left behind him a silent crowd. His return was prompt and swift. +</p> + +<p> +"Come on deck," he said. +</p> + +<p> +Every man leaped as to an order. There was that in Forsythe's voice which +stung. The weather had cleared somewhat, though scudding wrack still blew +across them to the westward. The ship rolled heavily. Of the sea naught +was visible except the arching waves, but in the sky they beheld again, +with a sickening sense of disaster, that pale and lovely glow which had +so bewildered them two nights before. +</p> + +<p> +"The aurora!" cried McGuire, the paymaster. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, certainly," replied Ives, with sarcasm. "Dead in the west. Common +spot for the aurora. Particularly on the edge of the South Seas, where +they are thick!" +</p> + +<p> +"Then what is it?" +</p> + +<p> +Nobody had an answer. Carter hastened forward and returned to report. +</p> + +<p> +"It's electrical anyway," said Carter. "The compass is queer again." +</p> + +<p> +"Edwards ought to be close to the solution of it," ventured Ives. "This +gale should have blown him just about to the centre of interest." +</p> + +<p> +"If only he isn't involved in it," said Carter anxiously. +</p> + +<p> +"What could there be to involve him?" asked McGuire. +</p> + +<p> +"I don't know," said Carter slowly. "Somehow I feel as if the desertion +of the schooner was in some formidable manner connected with that light." +</p> + +<p> +For perhaps fifteen minutes the glow continued. It seemed to be nearer at +hand than on the former sighting; but it took no comprehensible form. +Then it died away and all was blackness again. But the officers of the +<i>Wolverine</i> had long been in troubled slumber before the sensitive +compass regained its exact balance, and with the shifting wind to mislead +her, the cruiser had wandered, by morning, no man might know how far from +her course. +</p> + +<p> +All day long of June 6th the <i>Wolverine</i>, baffled by patches of mist +and moving rain-squalls, patrolled the empty seas without sighting the +lost schooner. The evening brought an envelope of fog again, and +presently a light breeze came up from the north. An hour of it had failed +to disperse the mist, when there was borne down to the warship a flapping +sound as of great wings. The flapping grew louder--waned--ceased--and +from the lookout came a hail. +</p> + +<p> +"Ship's lights three points on the starboard quarter." +</p> + +<p> +"What do you make it out to be?" came the query from below. +</p> + +<p> +"Green light's all I can see, sir." There was a pause. +</p> + +<p> +"There's her port light, now. Looks to be turning and bearing down on us, +sir. Coming dead for us"--the man's voice rose--"close aboard; less'n two +ship's lengths away!" +</p> + +<p> +As for a prearranged scene, the fog-curtain parted. There loomed silently +and swiftly the <i>Laughing Lass</i>. Down she bore upon the greater +vessel until it seemed as if she must ram; but all the time she was +veering to windward, and now she ran into the wind with a castanet rattle +of sails. So close aboard was she that the eager eyes of Uncle Sam's men +peered down upon her empty decks--for she was void of life. +</p> + +<p> +Behind the cruiser's blanketing she paid off very slowly, but presently +caught the breeze full and again whitened the water at her prow. +Forgetting regulations, Ives hailed loudly: +</p> + +<p> +"Ahoy, <i>Laughing Lass</i>! Ahoy, Billy Edwards!" +</p> + +<p> +No sound, no animate motion came from aboard that apparition, as she fell +astern. A shudder of horror ran across the <i>Wolverine</i>'s +quarter-deck. A wraith ship, peopled with skeletons, would have been less +dreadful to their sight than the brisk and active desolation of the +heeling schooner. +</p> + +<p> +"Been deserted since early last night," said Trendon hoarsely. +</p> + +<p> +"How can you tell that?" asked Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"Both sails reefed down. Ready for that squall. Been no weather since to +call for reefs. Must have quit her during the squall." +</p> + +<p> +"Then they jumped," cried Carter, "for I saw her boats. It isn't +believable." +</p> + +<p> +"Neither was the other," said Trendon grimly. +</p> + +<p> +A hurried succession of orders stopped further discussion for the time. +Ives was sent aboard the schooner to lower sail and report. He came back +with a staggering dearth of information. The boats were all there; the +ship was intact--as intact as when Billy Edwards had taken charge--but +the cheery, lovable ensign and his men had vanished without trace or +clue. As to the how or the wherefore they might rack their brains without +guessing. There was the beginning of a log in the ensign's handwriting, +which Ives had found with high excitement and read with bitter +disappointment. +</p> + +<p> +"Had squall from northeast," it ran. "Double reefed her and she took it +nicely. Seems a seaworthy, quick ship. Further search for log. No result. +Have ordered one of crew who is a bit of a mechanic to work at the +brass-bound chest till he gets it open. He reports marks on the lock as +if somebody had been trying to pick it before him." +</p> + +<p> +There was no further entry. +</p> + +<p> +"Dr. Trendon is right," said Barnett. "Whatever happened--and God only +knows what it could have been--it happened just after the squall." +</p> + +<p> +"Just about the time of the strange glow," cried Ives. +</p> + +<p> +It was decided that two men and a petty officer should be sent aboard the +<i>Laughing Lass</i> to make her fast with a cable, and remain on board +over night. But when the order was given the men hung back. One of them +protested brokenly that he was sick. Trendon, after examination, reported +to the captain. +</p> + +<p> +"Case of blue funk, sir. Might as well be sick. Good for nothing. Others +aren't much better." +</p> + +<p> +"Who was to be in charge?" +</p> + +<p> +"Congdon," replied the doctor, naming one of the petty officers. +</p> + +<p> +"He's my coxswain," said Captain Parkinson. "A first-class man. I can +hardly believe that he is afraid. We'll see." +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="illp030.jpg"><img src="illp030_th.jpg" alt="A man who was a bit of a mechanic was set to work to open +the chest"></a> +</p> + +<p> +Congdon was sent for. +</p> + +<p> +"You're ordered aboard the schooner for the night, Congdon," said the +captain. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"Is there any reason why you do not wish to go?" +</p> + +<p> +The man hesitated, looking miserable. Finally he blurted out, not without +a certain dignity: +</p> + +<p> +"I obey orders, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"Speak out, my man," urged the captain kindly. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, sir: it's Mr. Edwards, then. You couldn't scare him off a ship, +sir, unless it was something--something----" +</p> + +<p> +He stopped, failing of the word. +</p> + +<p> +"You know what Mr. Edwards was, sir, for pluck," he concluded. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Was</i>!" cried the captain sharply. "What do you mean? +</p> + +<p> +"The schooner got him, sir. You don't make no doubt of that, do you, +sir?" The man spoke in a hushed voice, with a shrinking glance back of +him. +</p> + +<p> +"Will you go aboard under Mr. Ives?" +</p> + +<p> +"Anywhere my officer goes I'll go, and gladly, sir." +</p> + +<p> +Ives was sent aboard in charge. For that night, in a light breeze, the +two ships lay close together, the schooner riding jauntily astern. But +not until morning illumined the world of waters did the +<i>Wolverine</i>'s people feel confident that the <i>Laughing Lass</i> +would not vanish away from their ken like a shape of the mist. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="1-5">V</a></h2> + +<h3>THE DISAPPEARANCE</h3> + +<p> +When Barnett come on deck very early in the morning of June 7th, he found +Dr. Trendon already up and staring moodily out at the <i>Laughing +Lass</i>. As the night was calm the tow had made fair time toward their +port in the Hawaiian group. The surgeon was muttering something which +seemed to Barnett to be in a foreign tongue. +</p> + +<p> +"Thought out any clue, doctor?" asked the first officer. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Petit Chel</i>--Pshaw! <i>Jolie Celimene!</i> No," muttered Trendon. +"<i>Marie--Marie</i>--I've got it! The <i>Marie Celeste</i>." +</p> + +<p> +"Got what? What about her?" +</p> + +<p> +"Parallel case," said Trendon. "Sailed from New York back in the +seventies. Seven weeks out was found derelict. Everything in perfect +order. Captain's wife's hem on the machine. Boats all accounted for. No +sign of struggle. Log written to within forty-eight hours." +</p> + +<p> +"What became of the crew?" +</p> + +<p> +"Wish I could tell you. Might help to unravel our tangle." He shook his +head in sudden, unwonted passion. +</p> + +<p> +"Evidently there's something criminal in her record," said Barnett, +frowning at the fusty schooner astern. "Otherwise the name wouldn't be +painted out." +</p> + +<p> +"Painted out long ago. See how rusty it is. Schermerhorn's work maybe," +replied Trendon. "Secret expedition, remember." +</p> + +<p> +"In the name of wonders, why should he do it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Secret expedition, wasn't it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Um-ah; that's true," said the other thoughtfully. "It's quite possible." +</p> + +<p> +"Captain wishes to see both of you gentlemen in the ward room, if you +please," came a message. +</p> + +<p> +Below they found all the officers gathered. Captain Parkinson was pacing +up and down in ill-controlled agitation. +</p> + +<p> +"Gentlemen," he said, "we are facing a problem which, so far as I know, +is without parallel. It is my intention to bring the schooner which we +have in tow to port at Honolulu. In the present unsettled weather we +cannot continue to tow her. I wish two officers to take charge. Under the +circumstances I shall issue no orders. The duty must be voluntary." +</p> + +<p> +Instantly every man, from the veteran Trendon to the youthful paymaster, +volunteered. +</p> + +<p> +"That is what I expected," said Captain Parkinson quietly. "But I have +still a word to say. I make no doubt in my own mind that the schooner has +twice been beset by the gravest of perils. Nothing less would have driven +Mr. Edwards from his post. All of us who know him will appreciate that. +Nor can I free myself from the darkest forebodings as to his fate and +that of his companions. But as to the nature of the peril I am unable to +make any conjecture worthy of consideration. Has anyone a theory to +offer?" +</p> + +<p> +There was a dead silence. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Barnett? Dr. Trendon? Mr. Ives?" +</p> + +<p> +"Is there not possibly some connection between the unexplained light +which we have twice seen, and the double desertion of the ship?" +suggested the first officer, after a pause. +</p> + +<p> +"I have asked myself that over and over. Whatever the source of the light +and however near to it the schooner may have been, she is evidently +unharmed." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir," said Barnett. "That seems to vitiate that explanation." +</p> + +<p> +"I thank you, gentlemen, for the promptitude of your offers," continued +the captain. "In this respect you make my duty the more difficult. I +shall accept Mr. Ives because of his familiarity with sailing craft and +with these seas." His eyes ranged the group. +</p> + +<p> +"I beg your pardon, Captain Parkinson," eagerly put in the paymaster, +"but I've handled a schooner yacht for several years and I'd appreciate +the chance of----" +</p> + +<p> +"Very well, Mr. McGuire, you shall be the second in command." +</p> + +<p> +"Thank you, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"You gentlemen will pick a volunteer crew and go aboard at once. Spare no +effort to find records of the schooner's cruise. Keep in company and +watch for signals. Report at once any discovery or unusual incident, +however slight." +</p> + +<p> +Not so easily was a crew obtained. Having in mind the excusable +superstition of the men, Captain Parkinson was unwilling to compel any of +them to the duty. Awed by the mystery of their mates' disappearance, the +sailors hung back. Finally by temptation of extra prize money, a +complement was made up. +</p> + +<p> +At ten o'clock of a puffy, mist-laden morning a new and strong crew of +nine men boarded the <i>Laughing Lass</i>. There were no farewells among +the officers. Forebodings weighed too heavy for such open expression. +</p> + +<p> +All the fates of weather seemed to combine to part the schooner from her +convoy. As before, the fog fell, only to be succeeded by squally +rain-showers that cut out the vista into a checkerboard pattern of +visible sea and impenetrable greyness. Before evening the <i>Laughing +Lass</i>, making slow way through the mists, had become separated by a +league of waves from the cruiser. One glimpse of her between mist areas +the <i>Wolverines</i> caught at sunset. Then wind and rain descended in +furious volume from the southeast. The cruiser immediately headed about, +following the probable course of her charge, which would be beaten far +down to leeward. It was a gloomy mess on the warship. In his cabin, +Captain Parkinson was frankly sea-sick: a condition which nothing but the +extreme of nervous depression ever induced in him. +</p> + +<p> +For several hours the rain fell and the gale howled. Then the sky swiftly +cleared, and with the clearing there rose a great cry of amaze from stem +to stern of the <i>Wolverine</i>. For far toward the western horizon +appeared such a prodigy as the eye of no man aboard that ship had ever +beheld. From a belt of marvellous, glowing gold, rich and splendid +streamers of light spiralled up into the blackness of the heavens. +</p> + +<p> +In all the colours of the spectrum they rose and fell; blazing orange, +silken, wonderful, translucent blues, and shimmering reds. Below, a broad +band of paler hue, like sheet lightning fixed to rigidity, wavered and +rippled. All the auroras of the northland blended in one could but have +paled away before the splendour of that terrific celestial apparition. +</p> + +<p> +On board the cruiser all hands stood petrified, bound in a stricture of +speechless wonder. After the first cry, silence lay leaden over the ship. +It was broken by a scream of terror from forward. The quartermaster who +had been at the wheel came clambering down the ladder and ran along the +deck, his fingers splayed and stiffened before him in the intensity of +his panic. +</p> + +<p> +"The needle! The compass!" he shrieked. +</p> + +<p> +Barnett ran to the wheel house with Trendon at his heels. The others +followed. The needle was swaying like a cobra's head. And as a cobra's +head spits venom, it spat forth a thin, steel-blue stream of lucent fire. +Then so swiftly it whirled that the sparks scattered from it in a tiny +shower. It stopped, quivered, and curved itself upward until it rattled +like a fairy drum upon the glass shield. Barnett looked at Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +"Volcanic?" he said. +</p> + +<p> +"'Mine eyes have seen the coming of the glory of the Lord,'" muttered the +surgeon in his deep bass, as he looked forth upon the streaming, radiant +heavens. "It's like nothing else." +</p> + +<p> +In the west the splendour and the terror shot to the zenith. Barnett +whirled the wheel. The ship responded perfectly. +</p> + +<p> +"I though she might be bewitched, too," he murmured. +</p> + +<p> +"You may heal her for the light, Mr. Barnett," said Captain Parkinson +calmly. He had come from his cabin, all his nervous depression gone in +the face of an imminent and visible danger. +</p> + +<p> +Slowly the great mass of steel swung to the unknown. For an hour the +unknown guided her. Then fell blackness, sudden, complete. After that +radiance the dazzled eye could make out no stars, but the look-out's +keen vision discerned something else. +</p> + +<p> +"Ship afire," he shouted hoarsely. +</p> + +<p> +"Where away?" +</p> + +<p> +"Two points to leeward, near where the light was, sir." +</p> + +<p> +They turned their eyes to the direction indicated, and beheld a majestic +rolling volume of purple light. Suddenly a fiercer red shot it through. +</p> + +<p> +"That's no ship afire," said Trendon. "Volcano in eruption." +</p> + +<p> +"And the other?" asked the captain. +</p> + +<p> +"No volcano, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"Poor Billy Edwards wins his bet," said Forsythe, in a low voice. +</p> + +<p> +"God grant he's on earth to collect it," replied Barnett solemnly. +</p> + +<p> +No one turned in that night. When the sun of June 8th rose, it showed an +ocean bare of prospect except that on the far horizon where the chart +showed no land there rose a smudge of dirty rolling smoke. Of the +schooner there was neither sign nor trace. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="1-6">VI</a></h2> + +<h3>THE CASTAWAYS</h3> + +<p> +"This ship," growled Carter, the second officer, to Dr. Trendon, as they +stood watching the growing smoke-column, "is a worse hot-bed of rumours +than a down-east village. That's the third sea-gull we've had officially +reported since breakfast." +</p> + +<p> +As he said, three distinct times the <i>Wolverine</i> had thrilled to an +imminent discovery, which, upon nearer investigation, had dwindled to +nothing more than a floating fowl. Upon the heels of Carter's complaint +came another hail. +</p> + +<p> +"Boat ahoy. Three points on the starboard bow." +</p> + +<p> +"If that's another gull," muttered Carter, "I'll have something to say to +you, my festive lookout." +</p> + +<p> +The news ran electrically through the cruiser, and all eyes were strained +for a glimpse of the boat. The ship swung away to starboard. +</p> + +<p> +"Let me know as soon as you can make her out," ordered Carter. +</p> + +<p> +"Aye, aye, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"There's certainly something there," said Forsythe, presently. "I can +make out a speck rising on the waves." +</p> + +<p> +"Bit o' wreckage from Barnett's derelict," muttered Trendon, scowling +through his glasses. +</p> + +<p> +"Rides too high for a spar or anything of that sort," said the junior +lieutenant. +</p> + +<p> +"She's a small boat," came in the clear tones of the lookout, "driftin' +down." +</p> + +<p> +"Anyone in her?" asked Carter. +</p> + +<p> +"Can't make out yet, sir. No one's in charge though, sir." +</p> + +<p> +Captain Parkinson appeared and Carter pointed out the speck to him. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. Give her full speed," said the captain, replying to a question from +the officer of the deck. +</p> + +<p> +Forward leapt the swift cruiser, all too slow for the anxious hearts of +those aboard. For there was not one of the <i>Wolverines</i> who did not +expect from this aimless traveller of desert seas at the least a leading +clue to the riddle that oppressed them. +</p> + +<p> +"Aloft there!" +</p> + +<p> +"Aye, aye, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"Can you make out her build?" +</p> + +<p> +"Rides high, like a dory, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"Wasn't there a dory on the <i>Laughing Lass</i>?" cried Forsythe. +</p> + +<p> +"On her stern davits," answered Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +"It is hardly probable that unattached small boats should be drifting +about these seas," said Captain Parkinson, thoughtfully. "If she's a +dory, she's the <i>Laughing Lass</i>'s boat." +</p> + +<p> +"That's what she is," said Barnett. "You can see her build plain enough +now." +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Barnett, will you go aloft and keep me posted?" said the captain. +</p> + +<p> +The executive officer climbed to join the lookout. As he ascended, those +below saw the little craft rise high and slow on a broad swell. +</p> + +<p> +"Same dory," said Trendon. "I'd swear to her in Constantinople." +</p> + +<p> +"What else could she be?" muttered Forsythe. +</p> + +<p> +"Somethin' that looks like a man in the bottom of her," sang out the +crow's-nest. "Two of 'em, I think." +</p> + +<p> +For five minutes there was stillness aboard, broken only by an occasional +low-voiced conjecture. Then from aloft: +</p> + +<p> +"Two men rolling in the bottom." +</p> + +<p> +"Are they alive?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, sir; not that I can see." +</p> + +<p> +The wind, which had been extremely variable since dawn, now whipped +around a couple of points, swinging the boat's stern to them. Barnet, +putting aside his glass for a moment, called down: +</p> + +<p> +"That's the one, sir. I can make out the name." +</p> + +<p> +"Good," said the captain quietly. "We should have news, at least." +</p> + +<p> +"Ives or McGuire," suggested Forsythe, in low tones. +</p> + +<p> +"Or Billy Edwards," amended Carter. +</p> + +<p> +"Not Edwards," said Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +"How do you know?" demanded Forsythe. +</p> + +<p> +"Dory was aboard when we found her the second time, after Edwards had +left." +</p> + +<p> +"Can you make out which of the men are in her?" hailed the captain. +</p> + +<p> +"Don't think it's any of our people," came the astonishing reply from +Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"Are you sure?" +</p> + +<p> +"I can see only one man's face, sir. It isn't Ives or McGuire. He's a +stranger to me." +</p> + +<p> +"It must be one of the crew, then." +</p> + +<p> +"No, sir, beg your parding," called the lookout. "Nothin' like that in +our crew, sir." +</p> + +<p> +The boat came down upon them swiftly. Soon the quarter-deck was looking +into her. She was of a type common enough on the high seas, except that a +step for a mast showed that she had presumably been used for skimming +about open shores. Of her passengers, one lay forward, prone and quiet. A +length of sail cloth spread over him made it impossible to see his garb. +At his breast an ugly protuberance, outlined vaguely, hinted a deformity. +</p> + +<p> +The other sprawled aft, and at a nearer sight of him some of the men +broke out into nervous titters. There was some excuse, for surely such a +scarecrow had never before been the sport of wind and wave. A thing of +shreds he was, elaborately ragged, a face overrun with a scrub of beard, +and preternaturally drawn, surmounted by a stiff-dried, dirty, cloth +semi-turban, with a wide, forbidding stain along the side, worked out the +likeness to a make-up. +</p> + +<p> +"My God!" cackled Forsythe with an hysterical explosion; and again, "My +God!" +</p> + +<p> +A long-drawn, irrepressible aspiration of expectancy rose from the +warship's decks as the stranger raised his haggard face, turned eyes +unseeingly upon them, and fell back. The forward occupant stirred not, +save as the boat rolled. +</p> + +<p> +From between decks someone called out, sharply, an order. In the grim +silence it seemed strangely incongruous that the measured business of a +ship's life should be going forward as usual. Something within the +newcomer's consciousness stirred to that voice of authority. +Mechanically, like some huge, hideous toy, he raised first one arm, then +the other, and hitched himself halfway up on the stern seat. His mouth +opened. His face wrinkled. He seemed groping for the meaning of a joke at +which he knew he ought to laugh. Suddenly from his lips in surprising +volume, raucous, rasping, yet with a certain rollicking deviltry fit to +set the head a-tilt, burst a chanty: +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + "Oh, their coffin was their ship, and their grave it was the sea:<br> + <i>Blow high, blow low, what care we!</i><br> + And the quarter that we gave them was to sink them in the sea:<br> + <i>Down on the coast of the high Barbaree-ee.</i>" +</p> + +<p> +Long-drawn, like the mockery of a wail, the minor cadence wavered through +the stillness, and died away. +</p> + +<p> +"The High Barbaree!" cried Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +"You know it?" asked the captain, expectant of a clue. +</p> + +<p> +"One of those cursed tunes you can't forget," said the surgeon. "Heard a +scoundrel of a beach-comber sing it years ago. Down in New Zealand, that +was. When the fever rose on him he'd pipe up. Used to beat time with a +steel hook he wore in place of a hand. The thing haunted me till I was +sorry I hadn't let the rascal die. This creature might have learned it +from him. Howls it out exactly like." +</p> + +<p> +"I don't see that that helps us any," said Forsythe, looking down on the +preparations that were making to receive the unexpected guests. +</p> + +<p> +With a deftness which had made the <i>Wolverine</i> famous in the navy +for the niceties of seamanship, the great cruiser let down her tackle as +she drew skilfully alongside, and made fast, preparatory to lifting the +dory gently to her broad deck. But before the order came to hoist away, +one of the jackies who had gone down drew the covering back from the +still figure forward, and turned it over. With a half-stifled cry he +shrank back. And at that the tension of soul and mind on the +<i>Wolverine</i> snapped, breaking into outcries and sudden, sharp +imprecations. The face revealed was that of Timmins, the bo's'n's mate, +who had sailed with the first vanished crew. A life preserver was +fastened under his arms. He was dead. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm out," said the surgeon briefly, and stood with mouth agape. Never +had the disciplined <i>Wolverines</i> performed a sea duty with so ragged +a routine as the getting in of the boat containing the live man and the +dead body. The dead seaman was reverently disposed and covered. As to the +survivor there was some hesitancy on the part of the captain, who was +inclined to send him forward until Dr. Trendon, after a swift scrutiny, +suggested that for the present, at least, he be berthed aft. They took +the stranger to Edwards's vacant room, where Trendon was closeted with +him for half an hour. When he emerged he was beset with questions. +</p> + +<p> +"Can't give any account of himself yet," said the surgeon. "Weak and not +rightly conscious." +</p> + +<p> +"What ails him?" +</p> + +<p> +"Enough. Gash in his scalp. Fever. Thirst and exhaustion. Nervous shock, +too, I think." +</p> + +<p> +"How came he aboard the <i>Laughing Lass</i>?" "Does he know anything of +Billy?" "Was he a stow-away?" "Did you ask him about Ives and McGuire?" +"How came he in the small boat?" "Where are the rest?" +</p> + +<p> +"Now, now," said the veteran chidingly. "How can I tell? Would you have +me kill the man with questions?" +</p> + +<p> +He left them to look at the body of the bo's'n's mate. Not a word had he +to say when he returned. Only the captain got anything out of him but +growling and unintelligible expressions, which seemed to be objurgatory +and to express bewildered cogitation. +</p> + +<p> +"How long had poor Timmins been drowned?" the captain had asked him, and +Trendon replied: +</p> + +<p> +"Captain Parkinson, the man wasn't drowned. No water in his lungs." +</p> + +<p> +"Not drowned! Then how came he by his death?" +</p> + +<p> +"If I were to diagnose it under any other conditions I should say that he +had inhaled flames." +</p> + +<p> +Then the two men stared at each other in blank impotency. Meantime the +scarecrow was showing signs of returning consciousness and a message was +dispatched for the physician. On his way he met Barnett, who asked and +received permission to accompany him. The stranger was tossing restlessly +in his bunk, opening and shutting his parched mouth in silent, piteous +appeal for the water that must still be doled to him parsimoniously. +</p> + +<p> +"I think I'll try him with a little brandy," said Trendon, and sent for +the liquor. +</p> + +<p> +Barnett raised the patient while the surgeon held the glass to his lips. +The man's hand rose, wavered, and clasped the glass. +</p> + +<p> +"All right, my friend. Take it yourself, if you like," said Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +The fingers closed. Tremulously held, the little glass tilted and rattled +against the teeth. There was one deep, eager spasm of swallowing. Then +the fevered eyes opened upon the face of the <i>Wolverine</i>'s first +officer. +</p> + +<p> +"Prosit, Barnett," said the man, in a voice like the rasp of rusty metal. +</p> + +<p> +The navy man straightened up as from a blow under the jaw. +</p> + +<p> +"Be careful what you are about," warned Trendon, addressing his superior +officer sharply, for Barnett had all but let his charge drop. His face +was a puckered mask of amaze and incredulity. +</p> + +<p> +"Did you hear him speak my name--or am I dreaming?" he half whispered. +</p> + +<p> +"Heard him plain enough. Who is he?" +</p> + +<p> +The man's eyes closed, but he smiled a little--a singular, wry-mouthed, +winning smile. With that there sprung from behind the brush of beard, +filling out the deep lines of emaciation, a memory to the recognition of +Barnett; a keen and gay countenance that whisked him back across seven +years time to the days of Dewey and the Philippines. +</p> + +<p> +"Ralph Slade, by the Lord!" he exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +"Of the <i>Laughing Lass</i>?" cried Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +"Of the <i>Laughing Lass</i>." +</p> + +<p> +Such a fury of eagerness burned in the face of Barnett that Trendon +cautioned him. "See here, Mr. Barnett, you're not going to fire a +broadside of disturbing questions at my patient yet a while. He's in no +condition." +</p> + +<p> +But it was from the other that the questions came. Opening his eyes he +whispered, "The sailor? Where?" +</p> + +<p> +"Dead," said Trendon bluntly. Then, breaking his own rule of repression, +he asked: +</p> + +<p> +"Did he come off the schooner with you?" +</p> + +<p> +"Picked him up," was the straining answer. "Drifting." +</p> + +<p> +The survivor looked around him, then into Barnett's face, and his mind +too, traversed the years. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>North Dakota?</i>" he queried. +</p> + +<p> +"No; I've changed my ship," said Barnett. "This is the <i>Wolverine</i>." +</p> + +<p> +"Where's the <i>Laughing Lass</i>?" +</p> + +<p> +Barnett shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me," begged Slade. +</p> + +<p> +"Wait till you're stronger," admonished Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +"Can't wait," said the weak voice. The eyes grew wild. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Barnett, tell him the bare outline and make it short," said the +surgeon. +</p> + +<p> +"We sighted the <i>Laughing Lass</i> two days ago. She was in good shape, +but deserted. That is, we thought she was deserted." +</p> + +<p> +The man nodded eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +"I suppose you were aboard," said Barnett, and Trendon made a quick +gesture of impatience and rebuke. +</p> + +<p> +"No," said Slade. "Left three--four--don't know how many nights ago." +</p> + +<p> +The officers looked at each other. "Go on," said Trendon to his +companion. +</p> + +<p> +"We put a crew aboard in command of an ensign," continued Barnett, "and +picked up the schooner the next night, deserted. You must know about it. +Where is Billy Edwards?" +</p> + +<p> +"Never heard of him," whispered the other. +</p> + +<p> +"Ives and McGuire, then. They were there after--Great God, man!" he +cried, his agitation breaking out, "Pull yourself together! Give us +something to go on." +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Barnett!" said the surgeon peremptorily. +</p> + +<p> +But the suggestion was working in the sick man's brain. He turned to the +officers a face of horror. +</p> + +<p> +"Your man, Edwards--the crew--they left her? In the night?" +</p> + +<p> +"What does he mean?" cried Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"The light! You saw it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes; we saw a strange light," answered Trendon soothingly. Slade half +rose. "Lost; all lost!" he cried, and fell back unconscious. Trendon +exploded into curses. "See what you've done to my patient," he fumed. +Barnett looked at him with contrite eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"Better get out before he comes to," growled the surgeon. "Nice way to +treat a man half dead of exhaustion." +</p> + +<p> +It was nearly an hour before Slade came back to the world again. The +doctor forbade him to attempt speech. But of one thing he would not be +denied. There was a struggle for utterance, then: +</p> + +<p> +"The volcano?" he rasped out. +</p> + +<p> +"Dead ahead," was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +"Stand by!" grasped Slade. He strove to rise, to say something further, +but endurance had reached its limit. The man was utterly done. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Trendon went on deck, his head sunk between his shoulders. For a +minute he was in earnest talk with the captain. Presently the +<i>Wolverine</i>'s engines slowed down, and she lay head to the waves, +with just enough turn of the screw to hold her against the sea-way. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="1-7">VII</a></h2> + +<h3>THE FREE LANCE</h3> + +<p> +By the following afternoon Dr. Trendon reported his patient as quite +recovered. +</p> + +<p> +"Starved for water," proffered the surgeon. "Tissues fairly dried out. +Soaked him up. Fed him broth. Put him to sleep. He's all right. Just +wakes up to eat; then off again like a two-year old. Wonderful +constitution." +</p> + +<p> +"The gentleman wants to know if he can come on deck, sir," saluted an +orderly. +</p> + +<p> +"Waked up, eh. Come on, Barnett. Help me boost him on deck." +</p> + +<p> +The two officers disappeared to return in a moment arm-in-arm with Ralph +Slade. +</p> + +<p> +Nearly twenty-four hours' rest and skilful treatment had done wonders. He +was still a trifle weak and uncertain, was still a little glad to lean on +the arms of his companions, but his eye was bright and alert, and his +hollow cheeks mounted a slight colour. This, with the clothes lent him by +Barnett, transformed his appearance, and led Captain Parkinson to +congratulate himself that he had not obeyed his first impulse to send the +castaway forward with the men. +</p> + +<p> +The officers pressed forward. +</p> + +<p> +"Mighty glad to see you out." "Hope you've got your pins under you +again." "Old man, I'm mighty glad we came along." +</p> + +<p> +The chorus of greeting was hearty enough, but the journalist barely paid +the courtesy of acknowledgment. His eye swept the horizon eagerly until +it rested on the cloud of volcanic smoke billowing up across the setting +sun. A sigh of relief escaped him. +</p> + +<p> +"Where are we?" he asked Barnett. "I mean since you picked me up. How +long ago was that, anyway?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yesterday," replied the navigating officer. "We've stood off and on, +looking for some of our men." +</p> + +<p> +"Then that's the same volcano----" +</p> + +<p> +Barnett laughed softly. "Well, they aren't quite holding a caucus of +volcanoes down in this country. One like that is enough." +</p> + +<p> +But Slade brushed the remark aside. +</p> + +<p> +"Head for it!" he cried excitedly. "We may be in time! There's a man on +that island." +</p> + +<p> +"A man!" "Another!" "Not Billy Edwards?" "Not some of our boys?" +</p> + +<p> +Slade stared at them bewildered. +</p> + +<p> +"Hold on," interposed Dr. Trendon authoritatively. "What's his name?" he +inquired of the journalist. +</p> + +<p> +"Darrow," replied the latter. "Percy Darrow. Do you know him?" +</p> + +<p> +"Who in Kamschatka is Percy Darrow?" demanded Forsythe. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, he's the assistant." It's a long story----" +</p> + +<p> +"Of course, it's a long story. There's a lot we want to know," +interrupted Captain Parkinson. "Quartermaster, head for the volcano +yonder. Mr. Slade, we want to know where you came from; and why you left +the schooner, and who Percy Darrow is. And there's dinner, so we'll just +adjourn to the messroom and hear what you can tell us. But there's one +thing we're all anxious to know; how came you in the dory which we found +and left on the <i>Laughing Lass</i> no later than two days ago?" +</p> + +<p> +"I haven't set eyes on the <i>Laughing Lass</i> for--well, I don't know +how long, but it's five days anyway, perhaps more," replied Slade. +</p> + +<p> +They stared at him incredulously. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I see!" he burst out suddenly; "there were twin dories on the +schooner. The other one's still there, I suppose. Did you find her on the +stern davits?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"That's it, then. You see when I left----" +</p> + +<p> +Captain Parkinson's raised hand checked him. "If you will be so good, Mr. +Slade, let us have it all at once, after mess." +</p> + +<p> +At table the young officers, at a sharp hint from Dr. Trendon, conversed +on indifferent subjects until the journalist had partaken heartily of +what the physician allowed him. Slade ate with keen appreciation. +</p> + +<p> +"I tell you, that's good," he sighed, when he had finished. "Real, live, +after-dinner coffee, too. Why, gentlemen, I haven't eaten a civilised +meal, with all the trimmings, for over two years. Doctor, do you think a +little of the real stuff would hurt me? It's a pretty dry yarning." +</p> + +<p> +"One glass," growled the surgeon, "no more." +</p> + +<p> +"Scotch high-ball, then," voted Slade, "the higher the better." +</p> + +<p> +The steward brought a tall glass with ice, in which the newcomer mixed +his drink. Then for quite a minute he sat silent, staring at the table, +his fingers aimlessly rubbing into spots of wetness the water beads as +they gathered on the outside of his glass. Suddenly he looked up. +</p> + +<p> +"I don't know how to begin," he confessed. "It's too confounded +improbable. I hardly believe it myself, now that I'm sitting here in +human clothes, surrounded by human beings. Old Scrubs, and the Nigger, +and Handy Solomon, and the Professor, and the chest, and the--well, they +were real enough when I was caught in the mess. But I warn you, you are +not going to believe me, and hanged if I blame you a bit." +</p> + +<p> +"We've seen marvels ourselves in the last few days," encouraged Captain +Parkinson. +</p> + +<p> +"Fire ahead, man," advised Barnett impatiently. "Just begin at the +beginning and let it go at that." +</p> + +<p> +Slade sipped at his glass reflectively. +</p> + +<p> +"Well," said he at length, "the best way to begin is to show you how I +happened to be mixed up in it at all." +</p> + +<p> +The officers unconsciously relaxed into attitudes of greater ease. +Overhead the lamps swayed gently to the swell. The dull throb of the +screw pulsated. Stewards clad in white moved noiselessly, filling the +glasses, deferentially striking lights for the smokers, clearing away the +last dishes of the repast. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm a reporter by choice, and a detective by instinct," began Slade, +with startling abruptness. "Furthermore, I'm pretty well off. I'm what +they call a free lance, for I have no regular desk on any of the +journals. I generally turn my stuff in to the <i>Star</i> because they +treat me well. In return it is pretty well understood between us that I'm +to use my judgment in regard to 'stories' and that they'll stand back of +me for expenses. You see, I've been with them quite a while." +</p> + +<p> +He looked around the circle as though in appeal to the comprehension of +his audience. Some of the men nodded. Others sipped from their glasses or +drew at their cigars. +</p> + +<p> +"I loaf around here and there in the world, having a good time +travelling, visiting, fooling around. Every once in a while something +interests me. The thing is a sort of instinct. I run it down. If it's a +good story, I send it in. That's all there is to it." He laughed +slightly. "You see, I'm a sort of magazine writer in method, but my stuff +is newspaper stuff. Also the game suits me. That's why I play it. That's +why I'm here. I have to tell you about myself this way so you will +understand how I came to be mixed up in this <i>Laughing Lass</i> +matter." +</p> + +<p> +"I remember," commented Barnett, "that when you came aboard the <i>South +Dakota</i>, you had a little trouble making Captain Arnold see it." He +turned to the others with a laugh. "He had all kinds of papers of ancient +date, but nothing modern--letter from the <i>Star</i> dated five years +back, recommendations to everybody on earth, except Captain Arnold, +certificate of bravery in Apache campaign, bank identifications, and all +the rest. 'Maybe you're the <i>Star's</i> correspondent, and maybe you're +not,' said the Captain, 'I don't see anything here to prove it.' Slade +argued an hour; no go. Remember how you caught him?" he inquired of +Slade. +</p> + +<p> +The reporter grinned assent. +</p> + +<p> +"After the old man had turned him down for good, Slade fished down in his +warbag and hauled out an old tattered document from an oilskin case. +'Hold on a minute,' said he, 'you old shellback. I've proved to you that +I can write; and I've proved to you that I have fought, and now here I'll +prove to you that I can sail. If writing, fighting, and sailing don't fit +me adequately to report any little disturbances your antiquated +washboiler may blunder into, I'll go to raising cabbages.' With that he +presented a master's certificate! Where did you get it, anyway? I never +found out." +</p> + +<p> +"Passed as 'fresh-water' on the Great Lakes," replied Slade briefly. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, the spunk and the certificate finished the captain. He was an old +square rigger himself in the Civil War." +</p> + +<p> +"So much for myself," Slade continued. "As for the <i>Laughing +Lass</i>----" +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<br> + +<h3> +THE BRASS BOUND CHEST +</h3> + +<p class="ctr"> +<i>Being the story told by Ralph Slade, Free Lance, to the officers of +the United States cruiser Wolverine</i>. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-1">I</a></h2> + +<h3>THE BARBARY COAST</h3> + +<p> +A coincidence got me aboard her. I'll tell you how it was. One evening +late I was just coming out of a dark alley on the Barbary Coast, San +Francisco. You know--the water front, where you can hear more tongues +than at Port Said, see stranger sights, and meet adventure with the +joyous certainty of mediaeval times. I'd been down there hunting up a man +reported, by a wharf-rat of my acquaintance, to have just returned from a +two years' whaling voyage. He'd been "shanghaied" aboard, and as a matter +of fact, was worth nearly a million dollars. Landed in the city without a +cent, could get nobody to believe him, nor trust him to the extent of a +telegram East. Wharf-rat laughed at his yarn; but I believe it was true. +Good copy anyway---- +</p> + +<p> +Just at the turn of the alley I nearly bumped into two men. On the +Barbary Coast you don't pass men in narrow places until you have +reconnoitered a little. I pulled up, thanking fortune that they had not +seen me. The first words were uttered in a voice I knew well. +</p> + +<p> +You've all heard of Dr. Karl Augustus Schermerhorn. He did some big +things, and had in mind still bigger. I'd met him some time before in +connection with his telepathy and wireless waves theory. It was +picturesque stuff for my purpose, but wasn't in it with what the old +fellow had really done. He showed me--well, that doesn't matter. The +point is, that good, staid, self-centred, or rather science-centred, Dr. +Schermerhorn was standing at midnight in a dark alley on the Barbary +Coast in San Francisco talking to an individual whose facial outline at +least was not ornamental. +</p> + +<p> +My curiosity, or professional instinct, whichever you please, was all +aroused. I flattened myself against the wall. +</p> + +<p> +The first remark I lost. The reply came to me in a shrill falsetto. So +grotesque was the effect of this treble from a bulk so squat and broad +and hairy as the silhouette before me that I almost laughed aloud. +</p> + +<p> +"I guess you've made no mistake on that. I'm her master, and her owner +too." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, I haf been told you might rent her," said the Doctor. +</p> + +<p> +"Rent her!" mimicked the falsetto. "Well, that--hell, yes, I'll +<i>rent</i> her!" he laughed again. +</p> + +<p> +"Doch recht." The Doctor was plainly at the end of his practical +resources. +</p> + +<p> +After waiting a moment for something more definite, the falsetto inquired +rather drily: +</p> + +<p> +"How long? What to? What for? Who are you, anyway?" +</p> + +<p> +"I am Dr. Schermerhorn," the latter answered. +</p> + +<p> +"Seen pieces about you in the papers." +</p> + +<p> +"How many men haf you in the crew?" +</p> + +<p> +"Me and the mate and the cook and four hands." +</p> + +<p> +"And you could go--soon?" +</p> + +<p> +"Soon as you want--<i>if</i> I go." +</p> + +<p> +"I wish to leaf to-morrow." +</p> + +<p> +"If I can get the crew together, I might make it. But say, let's not hang +out here in this run of darkness. Come over to the grog shop yonder where +we can sit down." +</p> + +<p> +To my relief, for my curiosity was fully aroused--Dr. Schermerhorn's +movements are usually productive--this proposal was vetoed. +</p> + +<p> +"No, no!" cried the Doctor, with some haste, "this iss well! Somebody +might oferhear." +</p> + +<p> +The huge figure stirred into an attitude of close attention. After a +pause the falsetto asked deliberately: +</p> + +<p> +"Where we goin'?" +</p> + +<p> +"I brefer not to say." +</p> + +<p> +"H'm! How long a cruise?" +</p> + +<p> +"I want to rent your schooner and your crew as-long-as I-please-to +remain." +</p> + +<p> +"H'm! How long's that likely to be?" +</p> + +<p> +"Maybe a few months; maybe seferal years." +</p> + +<p> +"H'm! Unknown port; unknown cruise. See here, anything crooked in this?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, no! Not at all! It iss simply business of my own." +</p> + +<p> +"Not that I care," commented the other easily, "only risks is worth +paying for." +</p> + +<p> +"There shall not be risk." +</p> + +<p> +"Pearls likely?" hazarded the other, without much heed to the assurance. +"Them Jap gunboats is getting pretty hard to dodge of late years. +However, I've dodged 'em before." +</p> + +<p> +"Now as to pay--how mooch iss your boat worth?" +</p> + +<p> +I could almost follow the man's thoughts as he pondered how much he dared +ask. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, you see, for a proposition like that--don't know where we're +going, when we're going to get back,--and them gunboats--how would a +hundred and twenty-five a month strike you?" +</p> + +<p> +"Double it up. I want you to do ass I say, and I will also give your crew +double wages. Bud I want goot men, who will stay, and who will keep the +mouth shut." +</p> + +<p> +"Gosh all fish-hooks! They'd go to hell with you for that!" +</p> + +<p> +"Now you can get all you want of Adams & Marsh. Tell them it iss for me, +Brovisions for three years, anyhow. Be ready to sail to-morrow." +</p> + +<p> +"Tide turns at eight in the evening." +</p> + +<p> +"I will send some effects in the morning." +</p> + +<p> +The master hesitated. +</p> + +<p> +"That's all right, Doctor, but how do I know it's all right? Maybe by +morning you'll change your mind." +</p> + +<p> +"That cannot be. My plans are all----" +</p> + +<p> +"It's the usual thing to pay something----" +</p> + +<p> +"Ach, but yes. I haf forgot. Darrow told me. I will make you a check. Let +us go to the table of which you spoke." +</p> + +<p> +They moved away, still talking. I did not dare follow them into the +light, for I feared that the Doctor would recognise me. I'd have given my +eye teeth, though, to have gathered the name of the schooner, or that of +her master. As it was, I hung around until the two had emerged from the +corner saloon. They paused outside, still talking earnestly. I ventured a +hasty interview with the bar-keeper. +</p> + +<p> +"Did you notice the two men who were sitting at the middle table?" I +asked him. +</p> + +<p> +"Sure!" said he, shoving me my glass of beer. +</p> + +<p> +"Know them?" I inquired. +</p> + +<p> +"Never laid eyes on 'em before. Old chap looked like a sort of corn +doctor or corner spell-binder. Other was probably one of these longshore +abalone men." +</p> + +<p> +"Thanks," I muttered, and dodged out again, leaving the beer untouched. +</p> + +<p> +I cursed myself for a blunderer. When I got to the street the two men had +disappeared. I should have shadowed the captain to his vessel. +</p> + +<p> +The affair interested me greatly. Apparently Dr. Schermerhorn was about +to go on a long voyage. I prided myself on being fairly up to date in +regard to the plans of those who interested the public; and the public at +that time was vastly interested in Dr. Schermerhorn. I, in common with +the rest of the world, had imagined him anchored safely in Philadelphia, +immersed in chemical research. Here he bobbed up at the other end of the +continent, making shady bargains with obscure shipping captains, and +paying a big premium for absolute secrecy. It looked good. +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly I was out early the next morning. I had not much to go by; +schooners are as plenty as tadpoles in San Francisco harbour. However, I +was sure I could easily recognise that falsetto voice; and I knew where +the supplies were to be purchased. Adams & Marsh are a large firm, and +cautious. I knew better than to make direct inquiries, or to appear in +the salesroom. But by hanging around the door of the shipping room I soon +had track of the large orders to be sent that day. In this manner I had +no great difficulty in following a truck to Pier 10, nor to identify a +consignment to Captain Ezra Selover as probably that of which I was in +search. +</p> + +<p> +The mate was in charge of the stowage, so I could not be quite sure. +Here, however, was a schooner--of about a hundred and fifty tons burden. +I looked her over. +</p> + +<p> +You're all acquainted with the <i>Laughing Lass</i> and the perfection of +her lines. You have not known her under Captain Ezra Selover. She was the +cleanest ship I ever saw. Don't know how he accomplished it, with a crew +of four and the cook; but he did. The deck looked as though it had been +holystoned every morning by a crew of jackies; the stays were whipped and +tarred, the mast new-slushed, and every foot of running gear coiled down +shipshape and Bristol fashion. There was a good deal of brass about her; +it shone like gold, and I don't believe she owned an inch of paint that +wasn't either fresh or new-scrubbed. +</p> + +<p> +I gazed for some time at this marvel. It's unusual enough anywhere, but +aboard a California hooker it is little short of miraculous. The crew had +all turned up, apparently, and a swarm of stevedores were hustling every +sort of provisions, supplies, stock, spars, lines and canvas down into +the hold. It was a rush job, and that mate was having his hands full. I +didn't wonder at his language nor at his looks, both of which were +somewhat mussed up. Then almost at my elbow I heard that shrill falsetto +squeal, and turned just in time to see the captain ascend the after +gangplank. +</p> + +<p> +He was probably the most dishevelled and untidy man I ever laid my eyes +on. His hair and beard were not only long, but tangled and unkempt, and +grew so far toward each other as barely to expose a strip of dirty brown +skin. His shoulders were bowed and enormous. His arms hung like a +gorilla's, palms turned slightly outwards. On his head was jammed a linen +boating hat that had once been white; gaping away from his hairy chest +was a faded dingy checked cotton shirt that had once been brown and +white; his blue trousers were spotted and splashed with dusty stains; he +was chewing tobacco. A figure more in contrast to the exquisitely neat +vessel it would be hard to imagine. +</p> + +<p> +The captain mounted the gangplank with a steadiness that disproved my +first suspicion of his having been on a drunk. He glanced aloft, cast a +speculative eye on the stevedores trooping across the waist of the ship, +and ascended to the quarter-deck where the mate stood leaning over the +rail and uttering directed curses from between sweat-beaded lips. There +the big man roamed aimlessly on what seemed to be a tour of casual +inspection. Once he stopped to breathe on the brass binnacle and to rub +it bright with the dirtiest red bandana handkerchief I ever want to see. +</p> + +<p> +His actions amused me. The discrepancy between his personal habits and +his particularity in the matter of his surroundings was exceedingly +interesting. I have often noticed that such discrepancies seem to +indicate exceptional characters. As I watched him, his whole frame +stiffened. The long gorilla arms contracted, the hairy head sunk forward +in the tenseness of a serpent ready to strike. He uttered a shrill +falsetto shriek that brought to a standstill every stevedore on the job; +and sprang forward to seize his mate by, the shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +Evidently the grasp hurt. I can believe it might, from those huge hands. +The man wrenched himself about with an oath of inquiry and pain. I could +hear one side of what followed. The captain's high-pitched tones carried +clearly; but the grumble and growl of the mate were indistinguishable at +that distance. +</p> + +<p> +"How far is it to the side of the ship, you hound of hell?" shrieked the +captain. +</p> + +<p> +Mumble--surprised--for an answer. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, I'll tell you, you <i>swab</i>! It's just two fathom from where +you stand. Just two fathom! How long would it take you to walk there? How +long? Just about six seconds! There and back! You--" I won't bother with +all the epithets, although by now I know Captain Selover's vocabulary +fairly well. "And you couldn't take six seconds off to spit over the +side! Couldn't walk two fathom! Had to spit on my quarter-deck, did you!" +</p> + +<p> +Rumble from the mate. +</p> + +<p> +"No, by God, you won't call up any of the crew. You'll get a swab and do +it yourself. You'll get a <i>hand</i> swab and get down on your knees, +damn you! I'll teach you to be lazy!" +</p> + +<p> +The mate said something again. +</p> + +<p> +"It don't matter if we ain't under way. That has nothing to do with it. +The quarter-deck is clean, if the waist ain't, and nobody but a damn +misbegotten son-of-a-sea-lawyer would spit on deck anyhow!" From this +Captain Selover went on into a good old-fashioned deep-sea "cussing out," +to the great joy of the stevedores. +</p> + +<p> +The mate stood it pretty well, but there comes a time when further talk +is useless even in regard to a most heinous offense. And, of course, as +you know, the mate could hardly consider himself very seriously at fault. +Why, the ship was not yet at sea, and in all the clutter of charging. He +began to answer back. In a moment it was a quarrel. Abruptly it was a +fight. The mate marked Selover beneath the left eye. The captain with +beautiful simplicity crushed his antagonist in his gorilla-like squeeze, +carried him to the side of the vessel, and dropped him limp and beaten to +the pier. And the mate was a good stout specimen of a sea-farer, too. +</p> + +<p> +Then the captain rushed below, emerging after an instant with a chest +which he flung after his subordinate. It was followed a moment later by a +stream of small stuff,--mingled with language--projected through an open +port-hole. This in turn ceased. The captain reappeared with a pail and +brush, scrubbed feverishly at the offending spot, mopped it dry with that +same old red bandana handkerchief, glared about him,--and abruptly became +as serene and placid as a noon calm. He took up the direction of the +stevedores. It was all most astounding. +</p> + +<p> +Nobody paid any attention to the mate. He looked toward the ship once or +twice, thought better of it, and began to pick up his effects, muttering +savagely. In a moment or so he threw his chest aboard an outgoing truck +and departed. +</p> + +<p> +It was now nearly noon and I was just in the way of going for something +to eat, when I caught sight of another dray laden with boxes and crated +affairs which I recognised as scientific apparatus. It was followed in +quick succession by three others. Ignorant as I was of the requirements +of a scientist, my common sense told me this could be no exploring +outfit. I revised my first intention of going to the club, and bought a +sandwich or two at the corner coffee house. I don't know why, but even +then the affair seemed big with mystery, with the portent of tragedy. +Perhaps the smell of tar was in my nostrils and the sea called. It has +always possessed for me an extraordinary allurement---- +</p> + +<p> +A little after two o'clock a cab drove to the after gangplank and +stopped. From it alighted a young man of whom I shall later have occasion +to tell you more, followed by Dr. Schermerhorn. The young man carried +only a light leather "serviette," such as students use abroad; while the +doctor fairly staggered under the weight of a square, brass-bound chest +without handles. The singularity of this unequal division of labour +struck me at once. +</p> + +<p> +It struck also one of the dock men, who ran forward, eager for a tip. +</p> + +<p> +"Kin I carry th' box for you, boss?" he asked, at the same time reaching +for it. +</p> + +<p> +The doctor's thin figure seemed fairly to shrink at the idea. +</p> + +<p> +"No, no!" he cried. "It iss not for you to carry!" +</p> + +<p> +He hastened up the gangplank, clutching the chest close. At the top +Captain Selover met him. +</p> + +<p> +"Hello, doctor," he squeaked. "Here in good time. We're busy, you see. +Let me carry your chest for you." + +"No, no!" Dr. Schermerhorn fairly glared. +</p> + +<p> +"It's almighty heavy," insisted the captain. "Let me give you a hand." +</p> + +<p> +"You must not <i>touch!</i>" emphatically ordered the scientist. "Where +iss the cabin?" +</p> + +<p> +He disappeared down the companionway clasping his precious load. The +young man remained on deck to superintend the stowing of the scientific +goods and the personal baggage. +</p> + +<p> +All this time I had been thinking busily. I remembered distinctly one +other instance when Dr. Schermerhorn had disappeared. He came back +inscrutably, but within a week his results on aerial photography were +public property. I told myself that in the present instance his lavish +use of money, the elaborate nature of his preparations, the evident +secrecy of the expedition as evidenced by the fact that he had negotiated +for the vessel only the day before setting sail, the importance of +personal supervision as proved by the fact that he--notoriously +impractical in practical matters, and notoriously disliking anything to +do with business--had conducted the affair himself instead of delegating +it,--why; gentlemen, don't you see that all this was more than enough to +wake me up, body and soul? Suddenly I came to a definite resolution. +Captain Selover had descended to the pier. I approached him. +</p> + +<p> +"You need a mate," said I. +</p> + +<p> +He looked me over. +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps," he admitted. "Where's your man?" +</p> + +<p> +"Right here," said I. +</p> + +<p> +His eyes widened a little. Otherwise he showed no sign of surprise. I +cursed my clothes. +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately I had my master's certificate with me--I'd passed +fresh-water on the Great Lakes--I always carry that sort of document on +the chance that it may come handy. It chanced to have a couple of naval +endorsements, results of the late war. +</p> + +<p> +"Look here," I said before I gave it to him. "You don't believe in me. My +clothes are too good. That's all right. They're all I have that are good. +I'm broke. I came down here wondering whether I'd better throw myself in +the drink." +</p> + +<p> +"You look like a dude," he squeaked. "Where did you ever ship?" +</p> + +<p> +I handed him my certificate. The endorsements from Admiral Keays and +Captain Arnold impressed him. He stared at me again, and a gleam of +cunning crept into his eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing crooked about this?" he breathed softly. +</p> + +<p> +I had the key to this side of his character. You remember I had overheard +the night before his statement of his moral scruples. I said nothing, but +looked knowing. +</p> + +<p> +"What was it?" he murmured. "Plain desertion, or something worse?" +</p> + +<p> +I remained inscrutable. +</p> + +<p> +"Well," he conceded, "I do need a mate; and a naval man--even if he is +wantin' to get out of sight----" +</p> + +<p> +"He won't spit on your decks, anyway," I broke in boldly. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Selover's hairy face bristled about the mouth. This I +subsequently discovered was symptom of a grin. +</p> + +<p> +"You saw that, eh?" he trebled. +</p> + +<p> +"Aren't you afraid he'll bring down the police and delay your sailing?" I +asked. +</p> + +<p> +He grinned again, with a cunning twinkle in his eye. +</p> + +<p> +"You needn't worry. There ain't goin' to be any police. He had his +advance money, and he won't risk it by tryin' to come back." +</p> + +<p> +We came to an agreement. I professed surprise at the wages. The captain +guardedly explained that the expedition was secret. +</p> + +<p> +"What's our port?" I asked, to test him. +</p> + +<p> +"Our papers are made out for Honolulu," he replied. +</p> + +<p> +We adjourned to sign articles. +</p> + +<p> +"By the way," said I, "I wish you wouldn't make them out in my own name. +'Eagen' will do." +</p> + +<p> +"All right," he laughed, "I <i>sabe</i>. Eagen it is." +</p> + +<p> +"I'll be aboard at six," said I. "I've got to make some arrangements." +</p> + +<p> +"Wish you could help with the lading," said he. "Still, I can get along. +Want any advance money?" +</p> + +<p> +"No," I replied; then I remembered that I was supposed to be broke. +"Yes," I amended. +</p> + +<p> +He gave me ten dollars. +</p> + +<p> +"I guess you'll show up," he said. "Wouldn't do this to everybody. But a +naval man--even if he is dodgin' Uncle Sam----" +</p> + +<p> +"I'll be here," I assured him. +</p> + +<p> +At that time I wore a pointed beard. This I shaved. Also I was accustomed +to use eye-glasses. The trouble was merely a slight astigmatism which +bothered me only in reading or close inspection. I could get along +perfectly well without the glasses, so I discarded them. I had my hair +cut rather close. When I had put on sea boots, blue trousers and shirt, a +pea jacket and a cap I felt quite safe from the recognition of a man like +Dr. Schermerhorn. In fact, as you shall see, I hardly spoke to him during +all the voyage out. +</p> + +<p> +Promptly at six, then, I returned with a sea chest, bound I knew not +whither, to be gone I knew not for how long, and pledged to act as second +officer on a little hundred-and-fifty-ton schooner. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-2">II</a></h2> + +<h3>THE GRAVEN IMAGE</h3> + +<p> +I had every reason to be satisfied with my disguise,--if such it could +be called. Captain Selover at first failed to recognise me. Then he burst +into his shrill cackle. +</p> + +<p> +"Didn't know you," he trebled. "But you look shipshape. Come, I'll show +you your quarters." +</p> + +<p> +Immediately I discovered what I had suspected before; that on so small a +schooner the mate took rank with the men rather than the afterguard. +Cabin accommodations were of course very limited. My own lurked in the +waist of the ship--a tiny little airless hole. +</p> + +<p> +"Here's where Johnson stayed," proffered Selover. "You can bunk here, or +you can go in the foc'sle with the men. They's more room there. We'll get +under way with the turn of the tide." +</p> + +<p> +He left me. I examined the cabin. It was just a trifle larger than its +single berth, and the berth was just a trifle larger than myself. My +chest would have to be left outside. I strongly suspected that my lungs +would have to be left outside also; for the life of me I could not see +where the air was to come from. With a mental reservation in favour of +investigating the forecastle, I went on deck. +</p> + +<p> +The <i>Laughing Lass</i> was one of the prettiest little schooners I ever +saw. Were it not for the lines of her bilges and the internal arrangement +of her hold, it might be imagined she had been built originally as a +pleasure yacht. Even the rake of her masts, a little forward of the +plumb, bore out this impression, which a comparatively new suit of +canvas, well stopped down, brass stanchions forward, and two little guns +under tarpaulins, almost confirmed. One thing struck me as peculiar. Her +complement of boats was ample enough. She had two surf boats, a dingy, +and a dory slung to the davits. In addition another dory,--the one you +picked me up in--was lashed to the top of the deck house. +</p> + +<p> +"They'd mighty near have a boat apiece," I thought, and went forward. +</p> + +<p> +Just outside the forecastle hatch I paused. Someone below was singing in +a voice singularly rich in quality. The words and the quaintness of the +minor air struck me immensely and have clung to my memory like a burr +ever since. +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + "'Are you a man-o'-war or a privateer,' said he.<br> + <i>Blow high, blow low, what care we!</i><br> + 'Oh, I am a jolly pirate, and I'm sailing for my fee.'<br> + <i>Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e."</i> +</p> + +<p> +I stepped to the companion. The voice at once ceased. I descended. +</p> + +<p> +A glimmer of late afternoon struggled through the deadlights. I found +myself in a really commodious space,--extending far back of where the +forward bulk-heads are usually placed,--accommodating rows and row of +bunks--eighteen of them, in fact. The unlighted lamp cast its shadow on +wood stained black by much use, but polished like ebony from the +continued friction of men's garments. I wish I could convey to you the +uncanny effect, this--of dropping from the decks of a miniature craft to +the internal arrangements of a square-rigged ship. It was as though, +entering a cottage door, you were to discover yourself on the floor of +Madison Square Garden. A fresh sweet breeze of evening sucked down the +hatch. I immediately decided on the forecastle. Already it was being +borne in on me that I was little more than a glorified bo's'n's mate. The +situation suited me, however. It enabled me to watch the course of events +more safely, less exposed to the danger of recognition. + +I stood for a moment at the foot of the companion accustoming my eyes to +the gloom. After a moment, with a shock of surprise, I made out a shining +pair of bead-points gazing at me unblinkingly from the shadow under the +bitts. Slowly the man defined himself, as a shape takes form in a fog. He +was leaning forward in an attitude of attention, his elbows resting on +his knees, his forearms depending between them, his head thrust out. I +could detect no faintest movement of eyelash, no faintest sound of +breathing. The stillness was portentous. The creature was exactly like a +wax figure, one of the sort you meet in corridors of cheap museums and +for a moment mistake for living beings. Almost I thought to make out the +customary grey dust lying on the wax of his features. +</p> + +<p> +I am going to tell you more of this man, because, as you shall see, he +was destined to have much to do with my life, the fate of Dr. Karl +Augustus Schermerhorn, and the doom of the <i>Laughing Lass</i>. +</p> + +<p> +He wore on his head a red bandana handkerchief. I never saw him with +other covering. From beneath It straggled oily and tangled locks of +glossy black. His face was long, narrow, hook-nosed and sinister; his +eyes, as I have described them, a steady and beady black. I could at +first glance ascribe great activity, but only moderate strength to his +slender, wiry figure. In this I was mistaken. His sheer physical power +was second only to that of Captain Selover. One of his forearms ended in +a steel hook. At the moment I could not understand this; could not see +how a man so maimed could be useful aboard a ship. Later I wished we had +more as handy. He knew a jam hitch which he caught over and under his +hook quicker than most men can grasp a line with the naked hand. It would +render one way, but held fast the other. He told me it was a cinch-hook +hitch employed by mule packers in the mountains, and that he had used it +on swamp-hooks in the lumber woods of Michigan. I shouldn't wonder. He +was a Wandering Jew.--His name was Anderson, but I never heard him called +that. It was always "Handy Solomon" with men and masters. +</p> + +<p> +We stared at each other, I fascinated by something, some spell of the +ship, which I have never been able to explain to myself--nor even +describe. It was a mystery, a portent, a premonition such as overtakes a +man sometimes in the dark passageways of life. I cannot tell you of it, +nor make you believe--let it pass---- +</p> + +<p> +Then by a slow process of successive perceptions I became aware that I +was watched by other eyes, other wax figures, other human beings with +unwavering gaze. They seemed to the sense of mystic apprehension that for +the moment held possession of me, to be everywhere--in the bunks, on the +floor, back in the shadows, watching, watching, watching from the +advantage of another world. +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="illp074.jpg"><img src="illp074_th.jpg" alt="Slowly the man defined himself as a shape takes form in a fog."></a> +</p> + +<p> +I don't know why I tell you this; why I lay so much stress on the first +weird impression I got of the forecastle. It means something to me +now--in view of all that happened subsequently. Almost can I look back +and see, in that moment of occultism, a warning, an enlightenment----But +the point is, it meant something to me then. I stood there fascinated, +unable to move, unable to speak. + +Then the grotesque figure in the corner stirred. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, mates," said the man, "believe or not believe, it's in the book, +and it stands to reason, too. We have gold mines here in Californy and +Nevada and all them States; and we hear of gold mines in Mexico and +Australia, too, but did you ever hear tell of gold mines in Europe? Tell +me that! And where did the gold come from then, before they discovered +America? Tell me that! Why they made it, just as the man that wrote +this-here says, and you can kiss the Book on that." +</p> + +<p> +"How about that place, Ophir, I read about?" asked a voice from the +bunks. +</p> + +<p> +The man shot a keen glance thither from beneath his brows. +</p> + +<p> +"Know last year's output from the mines of Ophir, Thrackles?" he inquired +in silky tones. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, no," stammered the man addressed as Thrackles. +</p> + +<p> +"Well I do," pursued the man with the steel hook, "and it's just the +whole of nothing, and you can kiss the Book on that too! There ain't any +gold output, because there ain't any mines, and there never have been. +They made their gold." +</p> + +<p> +He tossed aside a book he had been holding in his left hand. I recognised +the fat little paper duodecimo with amusement, and some wonder. The only +other copy I had ever laid my eyes on is in the Astor Library. It is +somewhat of a rarity, called <i>The Secret of Alchemy, or the Grand +Doctrine of Transmutation Fully Explained</i>, and was written by a Dr. +Edward Duvall,--a most extraordinary volume to have fallen into the hands +of seamen. +</p> + +<p> +I stepped forward, greeting and being greeted. Besides the man I have +mentioned they were four. The cook was a bullet-headed squat negro with a +broken nose. I believe he had a name,--Robinson, or something of that +sort. He was to all of us, simply the Nigger. Unlike most of his race, he +was gloomy and taciturn. +</p> + +<p> +Of the other two, a little white-faced, thin-chested youth named Pulz, +and a villainous-looking Mexican called Perdosa, I shall have more to say +later. +</p> + +<p> +My arrival broke the talk on alchemy. It resumed its course in the +direction of our voyage. Each discovered that the others knew nothing; +and each blundered against the astounding fact of double wages. +</p> + +<p> +"All I know is the pay's good; and that's enough," concluded Thrackles, +from a bunk. +</p> + +<p> +"The pay's too good," growled Handy Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +"This ain't no job to go look at the 'clipse of the moon, or the devil's +a preacher!" +</p> + +<p> +"W'at you maik heem, den?" queried Perdosa. +</p> + +<p> +"It's treasure, of course," said Handy Solomon shortly. +</p> + +<p> +"He, he, he!" laughed the negro, without mirth. +</p> + +<p> +"What's the matter with you, Doctor?" demanded Thrackles. +</p> + +<p> +"Treasure!" repeated the Nigger. "You see dat box he done carry so +cairful? You see dat?" +</p> + +<p> +A pause ensued. Somebody scratched a match and lit a pipe. +</p> + +<p> +"No, I don't see that!" broke out Thrackles finally, with some +impatience. "I <i>sabe</i> how a man goes after treasure with a box; but +why should he take treasure away in a box? What do you think, Bucko?" he +suddenly appealed to me. +</p> + +<p> +I looked up from my investigation of the empty berths. +</p> + +<p> +"I don't think much about it," I replied, "except that by the look of the +stores we're due for more than Honolulu; and from the look of the light +we'd better turn to on deck." +</p> + +<p> +An embarrassed pause fell. +</p> + +<p> +"Who are you, anyway?" bluntly demanded the man with the steel hook. +</p> + +<p> +"My name is Eagen," I replied; "I've the berth of mate. Which of these +bunks are empty?" +</p> + +<p> +They indicated what I desired with just a trace of sullenness. I +understood well enough their resentment at having a ship's officer +quartered on them,--the forec'stle they considered as their only liberty +when at sea, and my presence as a curtailment to the freedom of speech. I +subsequently did my best to overcome this feeling, but never quite +succeeded. +</p> + +<p> +At my command the Nigger went to his galley, I ascended to the deck. Dusk +was falling, in the swift Californian fashion. Already the outlines of +the wharf houses were growing indistinct, and the lights of the city were +beginning to twinkle. Captain Selover came to my side and leaned over the +rail, peering critically at the black water against the piles. +</p> + +<p> +"She's at the flood," he squeaked. "And here comes the Lucy Belle." +</p> + +<p> +The tug took us in charge and puffed with us down the harbour and through +the Golden Gate. We had sweated the canvas on her, even to the flying jib +and a huge club topsail she sometimes carried at the main, for the +afternoon trades had lost their strength. About midnight we drew up on +the Farallones. +</p> + +<p> +The schooner handled well. Our crew was divided into three watches--an +unusual arrangement, but comfortable. Two men could sail her handily in +most sorts of weather. Handy Solomon had the wheel. Otherwise the deck +was empty. The man's fantastic headgear, the fringe of his curling oily +locks, the hawk outline of his face momentarily silhouetted against the +phosphorescence astern as he glanced to windward, all lent him an +appearance of another day. I could almost imagine I caught the gleam of +silver-butted horse pistols and cutlasses at his waist. +</p> + +<p> +I brooded in wonder at what I had seen and how little I had explained. +The number of boats, sufficient for a craft of three times the tonnage; +the capacity of the forec'stle with its eighteen bunks, enough for a +passenger ship,--what did it mean? And this wild, unkempt, villainous +crew with its master and his almost ridiculous contrast of neatness and +filth;--did Dr. Schermerhorn realise to what he had trusted himself and +his precious expedition, whatever it might be? +</p> + +<p> +The lights of shore had sunk; the <i>Laughing Lass</i> staggered and +leaped joyously with the glory of the open sea. She seemed alone on the +bosom of the ocean; and for the life of me I could not but feel that I +was embarked on some desperate adventure. The notion was utterly +illogical; that I knew well. In sober thought, I, a reporter, was +shadowing a respectable and venerable scientist, who in turn was probably +about to investigate at length some little-known deep-sea conditions or +phenomena of an unexplored island. But that did not suffice to my +imagination. The ship, its surroundings, its equipment, its crew--all +read fantastic. So much the better story, I thought, shrugging my +shoulders at last. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-3">III</a></h2> + +<h3>THE TWELVE REPEATING RIFLES</h3> + +<p> +After my watch below the next morning I met Percy Darrow. In many ways he +is, or was, the most extraordinary of my many acquaintances. During that +first half hour's chat with him I changed my mind at least a dozen times. +One moment I thought him clever, the next an utter ass; now I found him +frank, open, a good companion, eager to please,--and then a droop of his +blond eyelashes, a lazy, impertinent drawl of his voice, a hint of +half-bored condescension in his manner, convinced me that he was shy and +affected. In a breath I appraised him as intellectual, a fool, a shallow +mind, a deep schemer, an idler, and an enthusiast. One result of his +spasmodic confidences was to throw a doubt upon their accuracy. This +might be what he desired; or with equal probability it might be the +chance reflection of a childish and aimless amiability. +</p> + +<p> +He was tall and slender and pale, languid of movement, languid of eye, +languid of speech. His eyes drooped, half-closed beneath blond brows; a +long wiry hand lazily twisted a rather affected blond moustache, his +voice drawled his speech in a manner either insufferably condescending +and impertinent, or ineffably tired,--who could tell which? +</p> + +<p> +I found him leaning against the taffrail, his languid graceful figure +supported by his elbows, his chin propped against his hand. As I +approached the binnacle, he raised his eyes and motioned me to him. The +insolence of it was so superb that for a moment I was angry enough to +ignore him. Then I reflected that I was here, not to stand on my personal +dignity, but to get information. I joined him. +</p> + +<p> +"You are the mate?" he drawled. +</p> + +<p> +"Since I am on the quarter-deck," I snapped back at him. +</p> + +<p> +He eyed me thoughtfully, while he rolled with one hand a corn-husk +Mexican cigarette. +</p> + +<p> +"Do you know where you are going?" he inquired at length. +</p> + +<p> +"Depends on the moral character of my future actions," I rejoined tartly. +</p> + +<p> +He allowed a smile to break and fade, then lighted his cigarette. +</p> + +<p> +"The first mate seems to have a remarkable command of language," said he. +</p> + +<p> +I did not reply. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, to tell you the truth I don't know where we are going," he +continued. "Thought you might be able to inform me. Where did this ship +and its precious gang of cutthroats come from, anyway?" +</p> + +<p> +"Meaning me?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, meaning you too, for all I know," he shrugged wearily. Suddenly he +turned to me and laid his hand on my shoulder with one of those sudden +bursts of confidence I came later to recognise and look for, but in which +I could never quite believe--nor disbelieve. +</p> + +<p> +"I am eaten with curiosity," he stated in the least curious voice in the +world. "I suppose you know who his Nibs is?" +</p> + +<p> +"Dr. Schermerhorn, do you mean?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. Well, I've been with him ten years. I am his right-hand man. All +his business I transact down to the last penny. I even order his meals. +His discoveries have taken shape in my hands. Suddenly he gets a freak. +He will go on a voyage. Where? I shall know in good time. For how long? I +shall know in good time. For what purpose? Same answer. What +accommodations shall I engage? I experience the worst shock of my +life;--he will engage them himself. What scientific apparatus? Shock +number two;--he will attend to that. Is there anything I can do? What do +you suppose he says?" +</p> + +<p> +"How should I know?" I asked. +</p> + +<p> +"You should know in the course of intelligent conversation with me," he +drawled. "Well, he, good old staid Schermie with the vertebrated thoughts +gets kittenish. He says to me, 'Joost imachin, Percy, you are +all-alone-on-a-desert-island placed; and that you will sit on those sands +and wish within yourself all you would buy to be comfortable. Go out and +buy me those things--in abundance.' Those were my directions." +</p> + +<p> +He puffed. +</p> + +<p> +"What does he pay you?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Enough," I replied. +</p> + +<p> +"More than enough, by a good deal, I'll bet," he rejoined. "The old fool! +He ought to have left it to me. What is this craft? Have you ever sailed +on her before?" +</p> + +<p> +"No." +</p> + +<p> +"Have any of the crew?" +</p> + +<p> +I replied that I believed all of them were Selover's men. He threw the +cigarette butt into the sea and turned back. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, I wish you joy of your double wages," he mocked. +</p> + +<p> +So he knew that, after all! How much more of his ignorance was pretended +I had no means of guessing. His eye gleamed sarcastically as he sauntered +toward the companion-way. Handy Solomon was at the wheel, steering easily +with one foot and an elbow. His steel hook lay fully exposed, glittering +in the sunlight. Darrow glanced at it curiously, and at the man's +headgear. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, my genial pirate," he drawled, "if you had a line to fit that +hook, you'd be equipped for fishing." The man's teeth bared like an +animal's, but Darrow went on easily as though unconscious of giving +offence. "If I were you, I'd have it arranged so the hook would turn +backward as well as forward. It would be handier for some +things,--fighting, for instance." +</p> + +<p> +He passed on down the companion. Handy Solomon glared after him, then +down at his hook. He bent his arm this way and that, drawing the hook +toward him softly, as a cat does her claws. His eyes cleared and a look +of admiration crept into them. +</p> + +<p> +"By God, he's right!" he muttered, and after a moment; "I've wore that +ten year and never thought of it. The little son of a gun!" +</p> + +<p> +He remained staring for a moment at the hook. Then he looked up and +caught my eye. His own turned quizzical. He shifted his quid and began to +hum: +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + "The bos'n laid aloft, aloft laid he,<br> + <i>Blow high, blow low! What care we?</i><br> + 'There's a ship upon the wind'ard, a wreck upon the lee,'<br> + <i>Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e."</i> +</p> + +<p> +We had entered the trades and were making good time. I was content to +stay on deck, even in my watch below. The wind was strong, the waves +dashing, the sky very blue. From under our forefoot the flying fish sped, +the monsters pursued them. A tingle of spray was in the air. It was all +very pleasant. The red handkerchief around Solomon's head made a pretty +spot of colour against the blue of the sky and the darker blue of the +sea. Silhouetted over the flaw-less white of the deck house was the +sullen, polished profile of the Nigger. Beneath me the ship swerved +and leaped, yielded and recovered. I breathed deep, and saw cutlasses in +harmless shadows. It was two years ago. I was young--then---- +</p> + +<p> +At the mess hour I stood in doubt. However, I was informed by the +captain's falsetto that I was to eat in the cabin. As the only other +officer, I ate alone, after the others had finished, helping myself from +the dishes left on the table. It was a handsome cabin, well kept, with +white woodwork spotlessly clean, leather cushions--much better than one +would expect. I afterwards found that the neatness of this cabin and of +the three staterooms was maintained by the Nigger--at peril of his neck. +A rack held a dozen rifles, five revolvers, and,--at last--my cutlasses. +I examined the lot with interest. They were modern weapons,--the new high +power 30-40 box-magazine rifle, shooting government ammunition,--and had +been used. The revolvers were of course the old 45 Colt's. This was an +extraordinary armament for a peaceable schooner of one hundred and fifty +tons burden. +</p> + +<p> +The rest of the cabin's fittings were not remarkable. By the +configuration of the ship I guessed that two of the staterooms must be +rather large. I could make out voices within. +</p> + +<p> +On deck I talked with Captain Selover. +</p> + +<p> +"She's a snug craft," I approached him. +</p> + +<p> +He nodded. +</p> + +<p> +"You have armed her well." +</p> + +<p> +He muttered something of pirates and the China seas. +</p> + +<p> +I laughed. +</p> + +<p> +"You have arms enough to give your crew about two magazine rifles +apiece--unless you filled all your berths forward!" +</p> + +<p> +Captain Selover looked me direct in the eye. +</p> + +<p> +"Talk straight, Mr. Eagen," said he. +</p> + +<p> +"What is this ship, and where is she bound?" I asked, with equal +simplicity. +</p> + +<p> +He considered. +</p> + +<p> +"As for the ship," he replied at length, "I don't mind saying. You're my +first officer, and on you I depend if it comes to--well, the small arms +below. If the ship's a little under the shade, why, so are you. She's by +way of being called a manner of hard names by some people. I do not see +it myself. It is a matter of conscience. If you would ask some +interested, they would call her a smuggler, a thief, a wrecker, and all +the other evil titles in the catalogue. She has taken in Chinks by way of +Santa Cruz Island--if that is smuggling. The country is free, and a Chink +is a man. Besides, it paid ten dollars a head for the landing. She has +carried in a cargo or so of junk; it was lying on the beach where a fool +master had piled it, and I took what I found. I couldn't keep track of +the underwriters' intentions." +</p> + +<p> +"But the room forward----?" I broke in. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, you see, last season we were pearl fishing." +</p> + +<p> +"But you needed only your diver and your crew," I objected. +</p> + +<p> +"There was the matter of a Japanese gunboat or so," he explained. +</p> + +<p> +"Poaching!" I cried. +</p> + +<p> +"So some call it. The shells are there. The islands are not inhabited. I +do not see how men claim property beyond the tide water. I have heard it +argued----" +</p> + +<p> +"Hold on!" I cried. "There was a trouble last year in the Ishigaki Jima +Islands where a poacher beat off the <i>Oyama</i>. It was a desperate +fight." +</p> + +<p> +Captain Selover's eye lit up. +</p> + +<p> +"I've commanded a black brigantine, name of <i>The Petrel</i>," he +admitted simply. "She was a brigantine aloft, but <i>alow</i> she had +much the same lines as the <i>Laughing Lass</i>." He whirled on his heel +to roll to one of the covered yacht's cannon. "Looks like a harmless +little toy to burn black powder, don't she?" he remarked. He stripped off +the tarpaulin and the false brass muzzle to display as pretty a little +Maxim as you would care to see. "Now you know all about it," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"Look here, Captain Selover," I demanded, "don't you know that I could +blow your whole shooting-match higher than Gilderoy's kite. How do you +know I won't do it when I get back? How do you know I won't inform the +doctor at once what kind of an outfit he has tied to?" +</p> + +<p> +He planted far apart his thick legs in their soiled blue trousers, pushed +back his greasy linen boating hat and stared at me with some amusement. +</p> + +<p> +"How do you know I won't blow on Lieutenant or Ensign Ralph Slade, +U.S.N., when I get back?" he demanded. I blessed that illusion, anyway. +"Besides, I know my man. You won't do anything of the sort." He walked to +the rail and spat carefully over the side. +</p> + +<p> +"As for the doctor," he went on, "he knows all about it. He told me all +about myself, and everything I had ever done from the time I'd licked +Buck Jones until last season's little diversion. Then he told me that was +why he wanted me to ship for this cruise." The captain eyed me +quizzically. +</p> + +<p> +I threw out my hands in a comic gesture of surrender. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, where are we bound, anyway?" +</p> + +<p> +The dirty, unkempt, dishevelled figure stiffened. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Eagen," its falsetto shrilled, "you are mate of this vessel. Your +duty is to see that my orders as to sailing are carried out. Beyond that +you do not go. As to navigation, and latitude and longitude and where the +hell we are, that is outside your line of duty. As to where we are bound, +you are getting double wages not to get too damn curious. Remember to +earn your wages, Mr. Eagen!" +</p> + +<p> +He turned away to the binnacle. In spite of his personal filth, in spite +of the lawless, almost piratical, character of the man, in that moment I +could not but admire him. If Percy Darrow was ignorant of the purposes of +this expedition, how much more so Captain Selover. Yet he accepted his +trust blindly, and as far as I could then see, intended to fulfil it +faithfully. I liked him none the worse for snubbing me. It indicated a +streak in his moral nature akin to and quite as curious as his excessive +neatness regarding his immediate surroundings. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-4">IV</a></h2> + +<h3>THE STEEL CLAW</h3> + +<p> +During the next few days the crew discussed our destination. Discipline, +while maintained strictly, was not conventional. During the dog watches, +often, every man aboard would be below, for at that period Captain +Selover loved to take the wheel in person, a thick cigar between his +lips, the dingy checked shirt wide open to expose his hairy chest to the +breeze. In the twilight of the forecastle we had some great sea-lawyer's +talks--I say "We," though I took little part in them. Generally I lay +across my bunk smoking my pipe while Handy Solomon held forth, his speech +punctuated by surly speculations from the Nigger, with hesitating +deep-sea wisdom from the hairy Thrackles, or with voluminous bursts of +fractured English from Perdosa. Pulz had nothing to offer, but watched +from his pale green eyes. The light shifted and wavered from one to the +other as the ship swayed: garments swung; the empty berths yawned +cavernous. I could imagine the forecastle filled with the desperate men +who had beaten off the <i>Oyama</i>. The story is told that they had +swept the gunboat's decks with her own rapid-fires, turned in. +</p> + +<p> +No one knew where we were going, nor why. The doctor puzzled them, and +the quantity of his belongings. +</p> + +<p> +"It ain't pearls," said Handy Solomon. "You can kiss the Book on that, +for we ain't a diver among us. It ain't Chinks, for we are cruising +sou'-sou'-west. Likely it's trade,--trade down in the Islands." +</p> + +<p> +We were all below. The captain himself had the wheel. Discipline, while +strict, was not conventional. +</p> + +<p> +"Contrabandista," muttered the Mexican, "for dat he geev us double pay." +</p> + +<p> +"We don't get her for nothing," agreed Thrackles. "Double pay and duff on +Wednesday generally means get your head broke." +</p> + +<p> +"No trade," said the Nigger gloomily. +</p> + +<p> +They turned to him with one accord. +</p> + +<p> +"Why not?" demanded Pulz, breaking his silence. +</p> + +<p> +"No trade," repeated the Nigger. +</p> + +<p> +"Ain't you got a reason, Doctor?" asked Handy Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +"No trade," insisted the Nigger. +</p> + +<p> +An uneasy silence fell. I could not but observe that the others held the +Nigger's statements in a respect not due them as mere opinions. +Subsequently I understood a little more of the reputation he possessed. +He was believed to see things hidden, as their phrase went. +</p> + +<p> +Nobody said anything for some time; nobody stirred, except that Handy +Solomon, his steel claw removed from its socket, whittled and tested, +screwed and turned, trying to fix the hook so that, in accordance with +the advice of Percy Darrow, it would turn either way. +</p> + +<p> +"What is it, then, Doctor?" he asked softly at last. +</p> + +<p> +"Gold," said the Nigger shortly. "Gold--treasure." +</p> + +<p> +"That's what I said at first!" cried Handy Solomon triumphantly. It was +extraordinary, the unquestioning and entire faith with which they +accepted as gospel fact the negro's dictum. +</p> + +<p> +There followed much talk of the nature of this treasure, whether it was +to be sought or conveyed, bought, stolen, or ravished in fair fight. No +further soothsaying could they elicit from the Nigger. They followed +their own ideas, which led them nowhere. Someone lit the forecastle lamp. +They settled themselves. Pulz read aloud. +</p> + +<p> +This was the programme every day during the dog watch. Sometimes the +watch on deck was absent, leaving only Handy Solomon, the Nigger and +Pulz, but the order of the day was not on that account varied. They +talked, they lit the lamp, they read. Always the talk was of the +treasure. +</p> + +<p> +As to the reading, it was of the sort usual to seamen, cowboys, +lumbermen, and miners. Thrackles had a number of volumes of very cheap +love stories. Pulz had brought some extraordinary garish detective +stories. The others contributed sensational literature with paper covers +adorned lithographically. By the usual incongruity a fragment of <i>The +Marble Faun</i> was included in the collection. The Nigger has his copy +of <i>Duvall on Alchemy</i>. I haven't the slightest idea where he could +have got it. +</p> + +<p> +While Pulz read, Handy Solomon worked on the alteration of his claw. He +could never get it to hold, and I remember as an undertone to Pulz's +reading, the rumble of strange, exasperated oaths. Whatever the evening's +lecture, it always ended with the book on alchemy. These men had no +perspective by which to judge such things. They accepted its speculations +and theories at their face value. Extremely laughable were the +discussions that followed. I often wished the shade of old Duvall could +be permitted to see these, his last disciples, spelling out dimly his +teachings, mispronouncing his grave utterances, but believing utterly. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Schermerhorn appeared on deck seldom. When he did, often his fingers +held a pen which he had forgotten to lay aside. I imagined him +preoccupied by some calculation of his own, but the forecastle, more +picturesquely, saw him as guarding constantly the heavy casket he had +himself carried aboard. He breathed the air, walked briskly, turned with +the German military precision at the end of his score of strides, and +re-entered his cabin at the lapse of the half hour. After he had gone, +remained Percy Darrow leaning indolently against the taffrail, his +graceful figure swaying with the ship's motion, smoking always the +corn-husk Mexican cigarettes which he rolled with one hand. He seemed +from that farthest point aft to hold in review the appliances, the +fabric, the actions, yes, even the very thoughts, of the entire ship. +From them he selected that on which he should comment or with which he +should play, always with a sardonic, half-serious, quite wearied and +indifferent manner. His inner knowledge, viewed by the light of this +manner or mannerism, was sometimes uncanny, though perhaps the sources of +his information were commonplace enough, after all. Certainly he always +viewed with amusement his victim's wonder. +</p> + +<p> +Thus one evening at the close of our day-watch on deck, he approached +Handy Solomon. It was at the end of ten days, on no one of which had the +seaman failed to tinker away at his steel claw. Darrow balanced in front +of him with a thin smile. +</p> + +<p> +"Too bad it doesn't work, my amiable pirate," said he. "It would be so +handy for fighting--See here," he suddenly continued, pulling some object +from his pocket, "here's a pipe; present to me; I don't smoke 'em. Twist +her halfway, like that, she comes out. Twist her halfway, like this, she +goes in. That's your principle. Give her back to me when you get +through." +</p> + +<p> +He thrust the briar pipe into the man's hand, and turned away without +waiting for a reply. The seaman looked after him in open amazement. That +evening he worked on the socket of the steel hook, and in two days he had +the job finished. Then he returned the pipe to Darrow with some growling +of thanks. +</p> + +<p> +"That's all right," said the young man, smiling full at him. "Now what +are you going to fight?" +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-5">V</a></h2> + +<h3>THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE</h3> + +<p> +Captain Selover received as his due the most absolute and implicit +obedience imaginable. When he condescended to give an order in his +own person, the men fairly jumped to execute it. The matter had evidently +been threshed out long ago. They did not love him, not they; but they +feared him with a mighty fear, and did not hesitate to say so, +vividly, and often, when in the privacy of the forecastle. The +prevailing spirit was that of the wild beast, cowed but snarling +still. Pulz and Thrackles in especial had a great deal to say of what +they were or were not going to do, but I noticed that their resolution +always began to run out of them when first foot was set to the +companion ladder. + +One day we were loafing along, everything drawing well, and everybody +but the doctor on deck to enjoy the sun. I was in the crow's-nest for +my pleasure. Below me on the deck Captain Selover roamed here and +there, as was his custom, his eye cocked out like a housewife's for +disorder. He found it, again in the evidence of expectoration, and +as Perdosa happened to be handiest, fell on the unfortunate Mexican. +</p> + +<p> +Perdosa protested that he had had nothing to do with it, but Captain +Selover, enraged as always when his precious deck was soiled, would +not listen. Finally the Mexican grew sulky and turned away as though +refusing to hear more. The captain thereupon felled him to the deck, +and began brutally to kick him in the face and head. +</p> + +<p> +Perdosa writhed and begged, but without avail. The other members of +the crew gathered near. After a moment, they began to murmur. Finally +Thrackles ventured, most respectfully, to intervene. +</p> + +<p> +"You'll kill him, sir," he interposed. "He's had enough." +</p> + +<p> +"Had enough, has he?" screeched the captain. "Well, you take what's +left." +</p> + +<p> +He marked Thrackles heavily over the eye. There was a breathless +pause; and then Thrackles, Pulz, the Nigger, and Perdosa attacked at +once. +</p> + +<p> +They caught the master unawares, and bore him to the deck. I dropped +at once to the ratlines, and commenced my descent. Before I had +reached the deck, however, Selover was afoot again, the four hanging +to him like dogs. In a moment more he had shaken them off; and before +I could intervene, he had seized a belaying pin in either hand, and +was hazing them up and down the deck. +</p> + +<p> +"Mutiny, would you?" he shrilled. "You poor swabs! Forgot who was your +captain, did ye? Well, it's Captain Ezra Selover, and you can lay to +that! It would need about eight fathom of <i>stuff</i> like you to +tie me down." +</p> + +<p> +He chased them forward, and he chased them aft, and every time the +pins fell, blood followed. Finally they dived like rabbits into the +forecastle hatch. Captain Selover leaned down after them. +</p> + +<p> +"Now tie yourselves up," he advised, "and then come on deck and clean +up after yourselves!" He turned to me. "Mr. Eagen, turn out the crew +to clean decks." +</p> + +<p> +I descended to the forecastle, followed immediately by Handy Solomon. +The latter had taken no part in the affair. We found the men in +horrible shape, what with the bruises and cuts, and bleeding freely. +</p> + +<p> +"Now you're a nice-looking Sunday school!" observed Handy Soloman, +eyeing them sardonically. "Tackel Old Scrubs, will ye? Well, some +needs a bale of cotton to fall on 'em afore they learns anything. +Enjoyed your little diversions, mates? And w'at do you expect to gain? +I asks you that, now. You poor little infants! Ain't you never tackled +him afore? Don't remember a little brigatine, name of the +<i>Petrel!</i> My eye, but you <i>are</i> a pack of damn fools!" +</p> + +<p> +To this he received no reply. The men sullenly assisted each other. +Then they went immediately on deck and to work. +</p> + +<p> +After this taste of his quality, Captain Selover enjoyed a quiet ship. +We made good time, but for a long while nothing happened. Finally the +monotony was broken by an incident. +</p> + +<p> +One evening before the night winds I sat in the shadow of the extra +dory on top of the deck house. The moon was but just beyond the full, +so I suppose I must have been practically invisible. Certainly the +Nigger did not know of my presence, for he came and stood within three +feet of me without giving any sign. The companion was open. In a +moment some door below was opened also, and a scrap of conversation +came up to us very clearly. +</p> + +<p> +"You haf dem finished?" the doctor's voice inquired. "So, that iss +well,"--papers rustled for a few moments. "And the r-result-- +ah--exactly--it iss that exactly. Percy, mein son, that maigs +the experiment exact. We haf the process----" +</p> + +<p> +"I don't see, sir, quite," replied the voice of Percy Darrow, with +a tinge of excitement. "I can follow the logic of the experiment, of +course--so can I follow the logic of a trip to the moon. But when you +come to apply it--how do you get your re-agent? There's no known +method----" +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Schermerhorn broke in: "Ach, it iss that I haf perfected. Pardon +me, my boy, it iss the first I haf worked from you apart. It iss for +a surprise. I haf made in small quantities the missing ingredient. +It will form a perfect interruption to the current. Now we go----" +</p> + +<p> +"Do you mean to say," almost shouted Darrow, "that you have succeeded +in freeing it in the metal?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," replied the doctor simply. +</p> + +<p> +I could hear a chair overturned. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, with that you can----" +</p> + +<p> +"I can do everything," broke in the doctor. "The possibilities are +enormous." +</p> + +<p> +"And you can really produce it in quantity?" +</p> + +<p> +"I think so; it iss for us to discover." +</p> + +<p> +A pause ensued. +</p> + +<p> +"Why!" came the voice of Percy Darrow, awestricken. "With fifty +centigrammes only you could--you could transmute any substance--why, +you could make anything you pleased almost! You could make enough +diamonds to fill that chest! It is the philosopher's stone!" +</p> + +<p> +"Diamonds--yes--it is possible," interrupted the doctor impatiently, +"if it was worth while. But you should see the real importance----" +</p> + +<p> +The ship careened to a chance swell; a door slammed; the voices were +cut off. I looked up. The Nigger's head was thrust forward fairly into +the glow from the companionway. The mask of his sullenness had fallen. +His eyes fairly rolled in excitement, his thick lips were drawn back +to expose his teeth, his powerful figure was gathered with the tensity +of a bow. When the door slammed, he turned silently to glide away. +At that instant the watch was changed, and in a moment I found myself +in my bunk. +</p> + +<p> +Ten seconds later the Nigger, detained by Captain Selover for some +trifling duty, burst into the forecastle. He was possessed by the +wildest excitement. This in itself was enough to gain the attention +of the men, but his first words were startling. +</p> + +<p> +"I found de treasure!" he almost shouted. "I know where he kept!" +</p> + +<p> +They leaped at him--Handy Solomon and Pulz--and fairly shook out of +him what he thought he knew. He babbled in the forgotten terms of +alchemy, dressing modern facts in the garments of mediaeval thought +until they were scarcely to be recognised. +</p> + +<p> +"And so he say dat he fine him, de Philosopher Stone, and he keep him +in dat heavy box we see him carry aboard, and he don' have to make +gol' with it--he can make diamon's--<i>diamon's</i>--he say it too +easy to fill dat box plum full of diamon's." +</p> + +<p> +They gesticulated and exclaimed and breathed hard, full of the marvel +of such a thought. Then abruptly the clamour died to nothing. I felt +six eyes bent on me, six unwinking eyes moving restless in motionless +figures, suspicious, deadly as cobras---- +</p> + +<p> +Up to now my standing with the men had been well enough. Now they drew +frankly apart. One of the most significant indications of this was +the increased respect they paid my office. It was as though by prompt +obedience, instant deference, and the emphasising of ship's etiquette +they intended to draw sharply the line between themselves and me. +There was much whispering apart, many private talks and consultations +in which I had no part. Ordinarily they talked freely enough before +me. Even the reading during the dog watch was intermitted--at least +it was on such days as I happened to be in the watch below. But twice +I caught the Nigger and Handy Solomon consulting together over the +volume on alchemy. +</p> + +<p> +I was in two minds whether to report the whole matter to Captain +Selover. The only thing that restrained me was the vagueness of the +intention, and the fact that the afterguard was armed, and was four +to the crew's five. An incident, however, decided me. One evening I +was awakened by a sound of violent voices. Captain Selover occasionally +juggled the watches for variety's sake, and I now had Handy Solomon +and Perdosa. The Nigger, being cook, stood no watch. +</p> + +<p> +"You drunken Greaser swab!" snarled Handy Solomon. "You misbegotten +son of a Yaqui! I'll learn you to step on a seaman's foot, and you +can kiss the book on that! I'll cut your heart out and feed it to the +sharks!" +</p> + +<p> +"Potha!" sneered Perdosa. "You cut heem you finger wid your knife." +</p> + +<p> +They wrangled. At first I thought the quarrel genuine, but after a +moment or so I could not avoid a sort of reminiscent impression of +the cheap melodrama. It seemed incredible, but soon I could not dodge +the conclusion that it was a made-up quarrel designed to impress me. +</p> + +<p> +Why should they desire to do so? I had to give it up, but the fact +itself was obvious enough. I laughed to see them. The affair did not +come to blows, but it did come to black looks on meeting, muttered +oaths, growls of enmity every time they happened to pass each other +on the deck. Perdosa was not so bad; his Mexican blood inclined him +to the histrionic, and his Mexican cast lent itself well to evil looks. +But Handy Solomon, for the first time in my acquaintance with him, +was ridiculous. +</p> + +<p> +About this time we crossed into frequent thunders. One evening just +at dark we made out a heavy black squall. Not knowing exactly what +weight lay behind it, I called up all hands. We ducked the staysail +and foresail, lowered the peak of the mainsail, and waited to feel +of it--a rough and ready seamanship often used in these little California +windjammers. I was pretty busy, but I heard distinctly Handy Solomon's +voice behind me. +</p> + +<p> +"I'll kill you sure, you Greaser, as soon as my hands are free!" +</p> + +<p> +And some muttered reply from the Mexican. +</p> + +<p> +The wind hit us hard, held on a few moments, and moderated to a stiff +puff. There followed the rain, so of course I knew it would amount +to nothing. I was just stooping to throw the stops off the staysail +when I felt myself seized from behind, and forced rapidly toward the +side of the ship. +</p> + +<p> +Of course I struggled. The Japanese have a little trick to fool a man +who catches you around the waist from behind. It is part of the +jiu-jitsu taught the Samurai--quite a different proposition from the +ordinary "policeman jiu-jitsu." I picked it up from a friend in the +nobility. It came in very handy now, and by good luck a roll of the +ship helped me. In a moment I stood free, and Perdosa was picking +himself out of the scuppers. +</p> + +<p> +The expression of astonishment was fairly well done--I will say that +for him--but I was prepared for histrionics. +</p> + +<p> +"Señor!" he gasped. "Eet is you! <i>Sacrosanta Maria!</i> I thought +you was dat Solomon! Pardon me, señor! Pardon! Have I hurt you?" +</p> + +<p> +He approached me almost wheedling. I could have laughed at the +villain. It was all so transparent. He no more mistook me for Handy +Solomon than he felt any real enmity for that person. But being angry, +and perhaps a little scared, I beat him to his quarters with a +belaying pin. +</p> + +<p> +On thinking the matter over, however, I failed to see all the ins and +outs of it. I could understand a desire to get rid of me; there would +be one less of the afterguard, and then, too, I knew too much of the +men's sentiments, if not of their plans. But why all this elaborate +farce of the mock quarrel and the alleged mistake? Could it be to +guard against possible failure? I could hardly think it worth while. +My only theory was that they had wished to test my strength and +determination. The whole affair, even on that supposition, was +childish enough, but I referred the exaggerated cunning to Handy +Solomon, and considered it quite adequately explained. It is a minor +point, but subsequently I learned that this surmise was correct. I +was to be saved because none of the conspirators understood navigation. +</p> + +<p> +The next morning I approached Captain Selover. +</p> + +<p> +"Captain," said I, "I think it my duty to report that there is trouble +brewing among the crew." +</p> + +<p> +"There always is," he replied, unmoved. +</p> + +<p> +"But this is serious. Dr. Schermerhorn came aboard with a chest which +the men think holds treasure. The other evening Robinson overheard +him tell his assistant that he could easily fill the box with diamonds. +Of course, he was merely illustrating the value of some scientific +experiment, but Robinson thinks, and has made the others think, that +the chest contains something to make diamonds with. I am sure they +intend to get hold of it. The affair is coming to a head." +</p> + +<p> +Captain Selover listened almost indifferently. +</p> + +<p> +"I came back from the islands last year," he piped, "with three +hundred thousand dollars' worth of pearls. There was sixteen in the +crew, and every man of them was blood hungry for them pearls. They +had three or four shindies and killed one man over the proper way to +divide the loot after they had got it. They didn't get it. Why?" He +drew his powerful figure to its height and spread his thick arms out +in the luxury of stretching. "Why?" he repeated, exhaling abruptly. +"Because their captain was Ezra Selover! Well, Mr. Eagen," he went +on crisply, "Captain Ezra Selover is their captain, <i>and they know +it</i>! They'll talk and palaver and git into dark corners, and +sharpen their knives, and perhaps fight it out as to which one's going +to work the monkey-doodle business in the doctor's chest, and which +one's going to tie up the sacks of them diamonds, but they won't git +any farther as long as Captain Ezra is on deck." "Yes," I objected, +"but they mean business. Last night in the squall one of them tried +to throw me overboard." +</p> + +<p> +Captain Selover grinned. +</p> + +<p> +"What did you do?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Hazed him to his quarters with a belaying pin." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, that's all settled then, isn't it? What more do you want?" +</p> + +<p> +I stood undecided. +</p> + +<p> +"I can take care of myself," he went on. "You ought to take care of +yourself. Then there's nothing more to do." +</p> + +<p> +He mused a moment. +</p> + +<p> +"You have a gun, of course?" he inquired. "I forgot to ask." +</p> + +<p> +"No," said I. +</p> + +<p> +He whistled. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, no wonder you feel sort of lost and hopeless! Here, take this, +it'll make a man of you." +</p> + +<p> +He gave me a Colt's 45, the barrel of which had been filed down to +about two inches of length. It was a most extraordinary weapon, but +effective at short range. +</p> + +<p> +"Here's a few loose cartridges," said he. "Now go easy. This is no +warship, and we ain't got men to experiment on. Lick 'em with your +fists or a pin, if you can; and if you do shoot, for God's sake just +wing 'em a little. They're awful good lads, but a little restless." +</p> + +<p> +I took the gun and felt better. With it I could easily handle the +members of my own watch, and I did not doubt that with the assistance +of Percy Darrow even a surprise would hardly overwhelm us. I did not +count on Dr. Schermerhorn. He was quite capable of losing himself in +a problem of trajectory after the first shot. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-6">VI</a></h2> + +<h3>THE ISLAND</h3> + +<p> +I came on deck one morning at about four bells to find the entire +ship's company afoot. Even the doctor was there. Everybody was gazing +eagerly at a narrow, mountainous island lying slate-coloured across +the early morning. +</p> + +<p> +We were as yet some twenty miles distant from it, and could make out +nothing but its general outline. The latter was sharply defined, +rising and falling to a highest point one side of the middle. Over +the island, and raggedly clasping its sides, hung a cloud, the only +one visible in the sky. +</p> + +<p> +I joined the afterguard. +</p> + +<p> +"You see?" the doctor was exclaiming. "It iss as I haf said. The +island iss there. Everything iss as it should be!" He was quite +excited. +</p> + +<p> +Percy Darrow, too, was shaken out of his ordinary calm. +</p> + +<p> +"The volcano is active," was his only comment, but it explained the +ragged cloud. +</p> + +<p> +"You say there's a harbour?" inquired Captain Selover. +</p> + +<p> +"It should be on the west end," said Dr. Schermerhorn. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Selover drew me one side. He, too was a little aroused. +</p> + +<p> +"Now wouldn't that get you?" he squeaked. "Doctor runs up against a +Norwegian bum who tells him about a volcanic island, and gives its +bearings. The island ain't on the map at all. Doctor believes it, and +makes me lay my course for those bearings. <i>And here's the +island</i>! So the bum's story was true! I'd like to know what the +rest of it was!" His eyes were shining. +</p> + +<p> +"Do we anchor or stand off and on?" I asked. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Selover turned to grip me by the shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +"I have orders from Darrow to get to a good berth, to land, to build +shore quarters, and to snug down for a stay of a year at least!" +</p> + +<p> +We stared at each other. +</p> + +<p> +"Joyous prospect," I muttered. "Hope there's something to do there." +</p> + +<p> +The morning wore, and we rapidly approached the island. It proved to +be utterly precipitous. The high rounded hills sloped easily to within +a hundred feet or so of the water and then fell away abruptly. Where +the earth ended was a fantastic filigree border, like the fancy paper +with which our mothers used to line the pantry shelves. Below, the +white surges flung themselves against the cliffs with a wild abandon. +Thousands of sea birds wheeled in the eddies of the wind, thousands +of ravens perched on the slopes. With our glasses we could make out +the heads of seals fishing outside the surf, and a ragged belt of kelp. +</p> + +<p> +When within a mile we put the helm up, and ran for the west end. A +bold point we avoided far out, lest there should be outlying ledges. +Then we came in sight of a broad beach and pounding surf. +</p> + +<p> +I was ordered to take a surf boat and investigate for a landing and +an anchorage. The swell was running high. We rowed back and forth, +puzzled as to how to get ashore with all the freight it would be +necessary to land. The ship would lie well enough, for the only open +exposure was broken by a long reef over which we could make out the +seas tumbling. But inshore the great waves rolled smoothly, swiftly-- +then suddenly fell forward as over a ledge, and spread with a roar +across the yellow sands. The fresh winds blew the spume back to us. +We conversed in shouts. +</p> + +<p> +"We can surf the boat," yelled Thrackles, "but we can't land a load." +</p> + +<p> +That was my opinion. We rowed slowly along, parallel to the shore, +and just outside the line of breakers. I don't know exactly how to +tell you the manner in which we became aware of the cove. It was as +nearly the instantaneous as can be imagined. One minute I looked ahead +on a cliff as unbroken as the side of a cabin; the very next I peered +down the length of a cove fifty fathoms long by about ten wide, at +the end of which was a gravel beach. I cried out sharply to the men. +They were quite as much astonished as I. We backed water, watching +closely. At a given point the cove and all trace of its entrance +disappeared. We could only just make out the line where the headlands +dissolved into the background of the cliffs, and that merely because +we knew of its existence. The blending was perfect. +</p> + +<p> +We rowed in. The water was still. A faint ebb and flow whispered +against the tiny gravel beach at the end. I noted a practicable way +from it to the top of the cliff, and from the cliff down again to the +sand beach. Everything was perfect. The water was a beautiful light +green, like semi-opaque glass, and from the indistinctness of its +depths waved and beckoned, rose and disappeared with indescribable +grace and deliberation long feathery sea growths. In a moment the +bottom abruptly shallowed. The motion of the boat toward the beach +permitted us to catch a hasty glimpse of little fish darting, of big +fish turning, of yellow sand and some vivid colour. Then came the +grate of gravel and the scraping of the boat's bottom on the beach. +We jumped ashore eagerly. I left the men, very reluctant, and ascended +a natural trail to a high sloping down over which blew the great Trades. +Grass sprung knee-high. A low hill rose at the back. From below the +fall of the cliff came the pounding of surf. +</p> + +<p> +I walked to the edge. Various ledges, sloping toward me, ran down to +the sea. Against one of them was a wreck, not so very old, head on, +her afterworks gone. I recognised the name <i>Golden Horn</i>, and +was vastly astonished to find her here against this unknown island. +Far up the coast I could see--with the surges dashing up like the explosion +of shells, and the cliffs, and the rampart of hills grown with grass +and cactus. A bold promontory terminated the coast view to the north, +and behind it I could glimpse a more fertile and wooded country. The +sky was partly overcast by the volcanic murk. It fled before the +Trades, and the red sun alternately blazed and clouded through it. +</p> + +<p> +As there was nothing more to be seen here, I turned above the hollow +of our cove, skirted the base of the hill, and so down to the beach. +</p> + +<p> +It occupied a wide semicircle where the hills drew back. The flat was +dry and grown with thick, coarse grass. A stream emerged from a sort +of canon on its landward side. I tasted it, found it sulphurous, and +a trifle worse than lukewarm. A little nearer the cliff, however, was +a clear, cold spring from the rock, and of this I had a satisfying +drink. When I arose from my knees, I made out an animal on the hill +crest looking at me, but before I could distinguish its +characteristics it had disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +I returned along the tide sands. The surf dashed and roared, lifting +seaweeds of a blood red, so that in places the water looked pink. +Seals innumerable watched me from just outside the breakers. As the +waves lifted to a semi-transparence, I could make out others playing, +darting back and forth, up and down like disturbed tadpoles, clinging +to the wave until the very instant of its fall, then disappearing as +though blotted out. The salt smell of seaweed was in my nostrils: I +found the place pleasant-- +</p> + +<p> +With these few and scattered impressions we returned to the ship. It +had been warped to a secure anchorage, and snugged down. Dr. +Schermerhorn and Darrow were on deck waiting to go ashore. +</p> + +<p> +I made my report. The two passengers disappeared. They carried lunch +and would not be back until night-fall. We had orders to pitch a large +tent at a suitable spot and to lighten ship of the doctor's personal +and scientific effects. By the time this was accomplished, the two +had returned. +</p> + +<p> +"It's all right," Darrow volunteered to Captain Selover, as he came +over the side. "We've found what we want." +</p> + +<p> +Their clothes were picked by brush and their boots muddy. Next morning +Captain Selover detailed me to especial work. +</p> + +<p> +"You'll take two of the men and go ashore under Darrow's orders," said +he. +</p> + +<p> +Darrow told us to take clothes for a week, an axe apiece, and a block +and tackle. We made up our ditty bags, stepped into one of the surf +boats, and were rowed ashore. There Darrow at once took the lead. +</p> + +<p> +Our way proceeded across the grass flat, through the opening of the +narrow cañon, and so on back into the interior by way of the bed +through which flowed the sulphur stream. The country was badly eroded. +Most of the time we marched between perpendicular clay banks about +forty feet high. These were occasionally broken by smaller tributary +arroyos of the same sort. It would have been impossible to reach the +level of the upper country. The bed of the main arroyo was flat, and +grown with grasses and herbage of an extraordinary vividness, due, +I supposed, to the sulphur water. The stream itself meandered aimlessly +through the broader bed. It steadily grew warmer and the sulphur smell +more noticeable. Above us we could see the sky and the sharp clay edge +of the arroyo. I noticed the tracks of Darrow and Dr. Schermerhorn +made the day before. +</p> + +<p> +After a mile of this, the bottom ran up nearly to the level of the +sides, and we stepped out on the floor of a little valley almost +surrounded by more hills. +</p> + +<p> +It was an extraordinary place, and since much happened there, I must +give you an idea of it. +</p> + +<p> +It was round and nearly encircled by naked painted hills. From its +floor came steam and a roaring sound. The steam blew here and +there among the pines on the floor; rose to eddy about the naked +painted hills. At one end we saw intermittently a broad ascending +cañon--deep red and blue-black--ending in the cone of a smoking +volcano. The other seemed quite closed by the sheer hills; in fact +the only exit was the route by which we had come. +</p> + +<p> +For the hills were utterly precipitous. I suppose a man might have +made his way up the various knobs, ledges, and inequalities, but it +would have required long study and a careful head. I, myself, later +worked my way a short distance, merely to examine the texture of their +marvellous colour. +</p> + +<p> +This was at once varied and of great body--not at all like the smooth, +glossed colour of most rock, but soft and rich. You've seen painters' +palettes--it was just like that, pasty and <i>fat</i>. There were reds +of all shades, from a veritable scarlet to a red umber; greens, from +sea-green to emerald; several kinds of blue, and an indeterminate +purple-mauve. The whole effect was splendid and barbaric. + +We stopped and gasped as it hit our eyes. Darrow alone was unmoved. +He led the way forward and in an instant had disappeared behind the +veil of steam. Thrackles and Perdosa hung back murmuring, but at a +sharp word from me gathered their courage in their two hands and proceeded. +</p> + +<p> +We found that the first veil of steam, and a fearful stench of gases, +proceeded from a miniature crater whose edge was heavily encrusted +with a white salt. Beyond, close under the rise of the hill, was +another. Between the two Percy Darrow had stopped and was waiting. +</p> + +<p> +He eyed us with his lazy, half-quizzical glance as we approached. +</p> + +<p> +"Think the place is going to blow up?" he inquired, with a tinge of +irony. "Well, it isn't." He turned to me. "Here's where we shall stay +for a while. You and the men are to cut a number of these pine trees +for a house. Better pick out the little ones, about three or four +inches through: they're easier handled. I'll be back by noon." +</p> + +<p> +We set to work then in the roaring, steaming valley with the vapour +swirling about us, sometimes concealing us, sometimes half revealing +us gigantic, again in the utterness of exposure showing us dwindled +pigmies against the magnitudes about us. The labour was not difficult. +By the time Darrow returned we had a pile of the saplings ready for +his next direction. +</p> + +<p> +He was accompanied by the Nigger, very much terrified, very much +burdened with food and cooking utensils. The assistant was lazily +relating tales of voodoos, a glimmer of mischief in his eyes. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-7">VII</a></h2> + +<h3>CAPTAIN SELOVER LOSES HIS NERVE</h3> + +<p> +I lived in the place for three weeks. We were afoot shortly after +daybreak, under way by sun-up, and at work before the heats began. +Three of us worked on the buildings, and the rest formed a pack train +carrying all sorts of things from the shore to the valley. The men +grumbled fiercely at this, but Captain Selover drove them with slight +regard for their opinions or feelings. +</p> + +<p> +"You're getting double pay," was his only word, "earn it!" +</p> + +<p> +They certainly earned it during those three weeks. The things they +brought up were astounding. Besides a lot of scientific apparatus and +chests of chemical supplies, everything that could possibly be +required, had been provided by that omniscient young man. After we +had built a long, low structure, windows were forthcoming, shelves, +tables, sinks, faucets, forges, burners, all cut out, fitted and ready +to put together, each with its proper screws, nails, clamps, or pipes +ready to our hands. When we had finished, we had constructed as +complete a laboratory on a small scale as you could find on a college +campus, even to the stone pillar down to bed-rock for delicate +microscopic experiments, and hot and cold water led from the springs. +And we were utterly unskilled. It was all Percy Darrow. +</p> + +<p> +I was toward the last engaged in screwing on a fixture for the +generation of acetelyne gas. +</p> + +<p> +"Darrow," said I, "there's one thing you've overlooked; you forgot +to bring a cupola and a gilt weather-cock for this concern." +</p> + +<p> +After the laboratory was completed, we put up sleeping quarters for +the two men, with wide porches well screened, and a square, heavy +storeroom. By the end of the third week we had quite finished. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Schermerhorn had turned with enthusiasm to the unpacking of his +chemical apparatus. Almost immediately at the close of the +freight-carrying, he had appeared, lugging his precious chest, this +time suffering the assistance of Darrow, and had camped on the spot. +We could not induce him to leave, so we put up a tent for him. Darrow +remained with him by way of safety against the men, whose measure, +I believe, he had taken. Now that all the work was finished, the doctor +put in a sudden appearance. +</p> + +<p> +"Percy," said he, "now we will have the defence built." +</p> + +<p> +He dragged us with him to the narrow part of the arroyo, just before +it rose to the level of the valley. +</p> + +<p> +"Here we will build the stockade-defence," he announced. +</p> + +<p> +Darrow and I stared at each other blankly. +</p> + +<p> +"What for, sir?" inquired the assistant. +</p> + +<p> +"I haf come to be undisturbed," announced the doctor, with owl-like, +Teutonic gravity, "and I will not be disturbed." +</p> + +<p> +Darrow nodded to me and drew his principal aside. +</p> + +<p> +They conversed earnestly for several minutes. Then the assistant +returned to me. +</p> + +<p> +"No use," he shrugged in complete return to his indifferent manner. +"Stockade it is. Better make it of fourteen foot logs, slanted out. +Dig a trench across, plant your logs three or four feet, bind them +at the top. That's his specification for it. Go at it." +</p> + +<p> +"But," I expostulated, "what's the <i>use</i> of it? Even if the men +were dangerous, that would just make them think you <i>did</i> have +something to guard." +</p> + +<p> +"I know that. Orders," replied Percy Darrow. +</p> + +<p> +We built the stockade in a day. When it was finished we marched to +the beach, and never, save in the three instances of which I shall +later tell you, did I see the valley again. The next day we washed +our clothes, and moved ashore with all our belongings. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm not going to have this crew aboard," stated Captain Selover +positively, "I'm going to clean her." He himself stayed, however. +</p> + +<p> +We rowed in, constructed a hasty fireplace of stones, spread our +blankets, and built an unnecessary fire near the beach. +</p> + +<p> +"Clean her!" grumbled Thrackles, "my eye!" +</p> + +<p> +"I'd rather round the Cape," growled Pulz hopelessly. +</p> + +<p> +"Come, now, it can't be as bad as all that," I tried to cheer them. +"It can't be more than a week or ten days' job, even if we careen her." +</p> + +<p> +"You don't know what you're talking about," said Thrackles. "It's +worse than the yellow jack. It's six weeks at least. Mind when we last +'cleaned her'?" he inquired of Handy Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +"You can kiss the Book on it," replied he. "Down by the line in that +little swab of a sand island. My eye, but <i>don't</i> I remember! +I sweated my liver white." +</p> + +<p> +They smoked in silence. +</p> + +<p> +"That's a main queer contrivance of the Perfessor's--that +stockade-like," ventured Solomon, after a little. +</p> + +<p> +"He doesn't want any intrusion," I said. "These scientific experiments +are very delicate." +</p> + +<p> +"Quite like," he commented non-committally. +</p> + +<p> +We slept on the ground that night, and next morning, under Captain +Selover's directions, we commenced the task of lightening the ship. +He detailed the Nigger and Perdosa for special duty. +</p> + +<p> +"I'll just see to your shore quarters," he squeaked. "You empty her." +</p> + +<p> +All day long we rowed back and forth from the ship to the cove, +landing the contents of the hold. These, by good fortune, we did not +have to carry over the neck of land, for just above the gravel beach +was a wide ledge on which we could pile the stores. We ate aboard, +and so had no opportunity of seeing what Captain Selover and his men +were about, until evening. Then we discovered that they had collected +and lowered to the beach a quantity of stateroom doors from the wreck, +and had trundled the galley stove to the edge where it awaited our +assistance. We hitched a cable to it, and let it down gently. The +Nigger was immensely pleased. After some experiment he got it to draw, +and so cooked us our supper on it. After supper, Captain Selover rowed +himself back to the ship. +</p> + +<p> +"Eagen," he had said, drawing me aside, "I'm going to leave you with +them. It's better that one of us--I think as owner I ought to be +aboard----" +</p> + +<p> +"Of course, sir," said I, "it's the only proper place for you." +</p> + +<p> +"I'm glad you think so," he rejoined, apparently relieved. "And +anyway," he cried, with a burst of feeling, "I hate the gritty feeling +of it under my feet! Solid oak's the only walking for a man." +</p> + +<p> +He left me hastily, as though a trifle ashamed. I thought he seemed +depressed, even a little furtive, and yet on analysis I could discover +nothing definite on which to base such a conclusion. +</p> + +<p> +It was rather a feeling of difference from the man I had known. In +my fatigue it seemed hardly worth thinking about. +</p> + +<p> +The men had rolled themselves in their blankets, tired with the long +day. +</p> + +<p> +Next morning Captain Selover was ashore early. He had quite recovered +his spirits, and offered me a dram of French brandy, which I refused. +We worked hard again; again the master returned at night to his +vessel, this time without a word to any of us; again the men, drugged +by toil, turned in early and slept like the dead. +</p> + +<p> +We became entangled in a mesh of days like these, during which things +were accomplished, but in which was no space for anything but the +tasks imposed upon us. The men for the most part had little to say. +</p> + +<p> +"Por Dios, eet is too mooch work!" sighed Perdosa once. +</p> + +<p> +"Why don't you kick to the Old Man, then?" sneered Thrackles. +</p> + +<p> +The silence that followed, and the sullenness with which Perdosa +readdressed himself to his work, was significant enough of Captain +Selover's past relations with the men. + +And how we did clean her! We stripped her of every stitch and sliver +until she floated high, an empty hull, even her spars and running +rigging ashore. I understood now the crew's grumbling. We literally +went at her with a nail brush. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Selover took charge of us when we had reached this period. +He and the Nigger and Perdosa had long since finished the installation +of the permanent camp. They had built us huts from the wreck, collecting +stateroom doors for the sides, and hatches for the roofs, huge and +solid, with iron rings in them. The bronze and iron ventilation +gratings to the doors gave us glimpses of the coast through fretwork; +the rich inlaying of woods surrounded us. We set up on a solid rock +the galley stove--with its rails to hold the cooking pots from +upsetting, in a sea way. In it we burned the débris of the wreck, all +sorts of wood, some sweet and aromatic and spicy as an incensed +cathedral. I have seen the Nigger boiling beans over a blaze of sandal +wood fragrant as an Eastern shop. +</p> + +<p> +First we scrubbed the <i>Laughing Lass</i>, then we painted her, and +resized and tarred her standing rigging, resized and rove her running +gear, slushed her masts, finally careened her and scraped and painted +her below. +</p> + +<p> +When we had quite finished, we had the anchor chain dealt out to us +in fathoms, and scraped, pounded and polished that. These were indeed +days full of labour. +</p> + +<p> +Being busy from morning until night we knew but little of what was +about us. We saw the open sea and the waves tumbling over the reef +outside. We saw the headlands, and the bow of the bay and the surf +with its watching seals and the curve of yellow sands. We saw the +sweep of coast and the downs and the strange huts we had built out +of departed magnificence. And that was all; that constituted our world. +</p> + +<p> +In the evening sometimes we lit a big bonfire, sailor fashion, just +at the edge of the beach. There we sat at ease and smoked our pipes +in silence, too tired to talk. Even Handy Solomon's song was still. +Outside the circle of light were mysterious things--strange wavings +of white hands, bendings of figures, callings of voices, rustling of +feet. We knew them for the surf and the wind in the grasses: but they +were not the less mysterious for that. +</p> + +<p> +Logically Captain Selover and I should have passed most of our +evenings together. As a matter of fact we so spent very few. Early +in the dusk the captain invariably rowed himself out to his beloved +schooner. What he did there I do not know. We could see his light now +in one part of her, now in the other. The men claimed he was scrubbing +her teeth. "Old Scrubs" they called him to his back: never Captain +Selover. +</p> + +<p> +"He has to clean up after his own feet, he's so dirty," sagely +proffered Handy Solomon. And this was true. +</p> + +<p> +The seaman's prophecy held good. Seven weeks held us at that infernal +job--seven weeks of solid, grinding work. The worst of it was, that +we were kept at it so breathlessly, as though our very existence were +to depend on the headlong rush of our labour. And then we had fully +half the stores to put away again, and the other half to transport +painfully over the neck of land from the cove to the beach. +</p> + +<p> +So accustomed had I become to the routine in which we were involved, +so habituated to anticipating the coming day as exactly like the day +that had gone, that the completion of our job caught me quite by +surprise. I had thrown myself down by the fire prepared for the some +old half hour of drowsy nicotine, to be followed by the accustomed +heavy sleep, and the usual early rising to toil. The evening was warm; +I half closed my eyes. +</p> + +<p> +Handy Solomon was coming in last. Instead of dropping to his place, +he straddled the fire, stretching his arms over his head. He let them +fall with a sharp exhalation. +</p> + +<p> + "'Lay aloft, lay aloft,' the jolly bos'n cried. + <i>Blow high, blow low, what care we!</i> + 'Look ahead, look astern, look a-windward, look a-lee.' + <i>Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e.</i>" +</p> + +<p> +The effect was electrical. We all sprang to our feet and fell to +talking at once. +</p> + +<p> +"By God, we're <i>through</i>!" cried Pulz. "I'd clean forgot it!" +</p> + +<p> +The Nigger piled on more wood. We drew closer about the fire. All the +interests in life, so long held in the background, leaped forward, +eager for recognition. We spoke of trivialities almost for the first +time since our landing, fused into a temporary but complete good +fellowship by the relief. +</p> + +<p> +"Wonder how the old doctor is getting on?" ventured Thrackles, after +a while. +</p> + +<p> +"The devil's a preacher! I wonder?" cried Handy Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +"Let's make 'em a call," suggested Pulz. +</p> + +<p> +"Don't believe they'd appreciate the compliment," I laughed. "Better +let them make first call: they're the longer established." This was +lost on them, of course. But we all felt kindly to one another that +evening. +</p> + +<p> +I carried the glow of it with me over until next morning, and was +therefore somewhat dashed to meet Captain Selover, with clouded brows +and an uncertain manner. He quite ignored my greeting. +</p> + +<p> +"By God, Eagen," he squeaked, "can you think of anything more to be +done?" +</p> + +<p> +I straightened my back and laughed. +</p> + +<p> +"Haven't you worked us hard enough?" I inquired. "Unless you gild the +cabins, I don't see what else there can be to do." +</p> + +<p> +Captain Selover stared me over. +</p> + +<p> +"And you a naval man!" he marvelled. "Don't you see that the only +thing that keeps this crew from gettin' restless is keeping them busy? +I've sweat a damn sight more with my brain than you have with your +back thinking up things to do. I can't see anything ahead, and then +we'll have hell to pay. Oh, they're a sweet lot!" +</p> + +<p> +I whistled and my crest fell. Here was a new point of view; and also +a new Captain Ezra. Where was the confidence in the might of his two +hands? +</p> + +<p> +He seemed to read my thoughts, and went on. +</p> + +<p> +"I don't feel <i>sure</i> here on this cussed land. It ain't like a +deck where a man has some show. They can scatter. They can hide. It +ain't right to put a man ashore alone with such a crew. I'm doing my +best, but it ain't goin' to be good enough. I wisht we were safe in +'Frisco harbour----" +</p> + +<p> +He would have maundered on, but I seized his arm and led him out of +possible hearing of the men. +</p> + +<p> +"Here, buck up!" I said to him sternly. "There's nothing to be scared +of. If it comes to a row, there's three of us and we've got guns. We +could even sail the schooner at a pinch, and leave them here. You've +stood them off before." +</p> + +<p> +"Not ashore," protested Captain Selover weakly. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, they don't know that. For God's sake don't let them see you've +lost your nerve this way." He did not even wince at the accusation. +"Put up a front." +</p> + +<p> +He shook his head. The sand had completely run out of him. Yet I am +convinced that if he could have felt the heave and roll of the deck +beneath him, he would have faced three times the difficulties he now +feared. However, I could see readily enough the wisdom of keeping the +men at work. +</p> + +<p> +"You can wreck the <i>Golden Horn</i>," I suggested. "I don't know +whether there's anything left worth salvage; but it'll be something +to do." +</p> + +<p> +He clapped me on the shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +"Good!" he cried, "I never thought of it." +</p> + +<p> +"Another thing," said I, "you better give them a day off a week. That +can't hurt them and it'll waste just that much more time." +</p> + +<p> +"All right," agreed Captain Selover. +</p> + +<p> +"Another thing yet. You know I'm not lazy, so it ain't that I'm trying +to dodge work. But you'd better lay me off. It'll be so much more for +the others." +</p> + +<p> +"That's true," said he. +</p> + +<p> +I could not recognise the man for what I knew him to be. He groped, +as one in the dark, or as a sea animal taken out of its element and +placed on the sands. Courage had given place to fear; decision to +wavering; and singleness of purpose to a divided counsel. He who had +so thoroughly dominated the entire ship, eagerly accepted advice of +me--a man without experience. +</p> + +<p> +That evening I sat apart considerably disturbed. I felt that the +ground had dropped away beneath my feet. To be sure, everything was +tranquil at present; but now I understood the source of that +tranquillity and how soon it must fail. With opportunity would come +more scheming, more speculation, more cupidity. How was I to meet it, +with none to back me but a scared man, an absorbed man, and an +indifferent man? + +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-8">VIII</a></h2> + +<h3>WRECKING OF THE GOLDEN HORN</h3> + +<p> +Percy Darrow, unexpected, made his first visit to us the very next +evening. He sauntered in with a Mexican corn-husk cigarette between +his lips, carrying a lantern; blew the light out, and sat down with +a careless greeting, as though he had seen us only the day before. +</p> + +<p> +"Hullo, boys," said he, "been busy?" +</p> + +<p> +"How are ye, sir?" replied Handy Solomon. "Good Lord, mates, look at +that!" +</p> + +<p> +Our eyes followed the direction of his forefinger. Against the dark +blue of the evening sky to northward glowed a faint phosphorescence, +arch-shaped, from which shot, with pulsating regularity, long shafts +of light. They beat almost to the zenith, and back again, a half dozen +times, then the whole illumination disappeared with the suddenness +of gas turned out. +</p> + +<p> +"Now I wonder what that might be!" marvelled Thrackles. +</p> + +<p> +"Northern lights," hazarded Pulz. "I've seen them almost like that +in the Behring Seas." +</p> + +<p> +"Northern lights your eye!" sneered Handy Solomon. "You may have seen +them in the Behring Seas, but never this far south, and in August, +and you can, kiss the Book on that." +</p> + +<p> +"What do you think, sir?" Thrackles inquired of the assistant. +</p> + +<p> +"Devil's fire," replied Percy Darrow briefly. "The island's a little +queer. I've noticed it before." +</p> + +<p> +"Debbil fire," repeated the Nigger. +</p> + +<p> +Darrow turned directly to him. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, devil's fire; and devils, too, for all I know; and certainly +vampires. Did you ever hear of vampires, Doctor?" +</p> + +<p> +"No," growled the Nigger. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, they are women, wonderful, beautiful women. A man on a long +voyage would just smack his lips to see them. They have shiny grey +eyes, and lips red as raspberries. When you meet them they will talk +with you and go home with you. And then when you're asleep they tear +a little hole in your neck with their sharp claws, and they suck the +blood with their red lips. When they aren't women, they take the shape +of big bats like birds." He turned to me with so beautifully casual +an air that I wanted to clap him on the back with the joy of it. +</p> + +<p> +"By the way, Eagen, have you noticed those big bats the last few +evenings, over by the cliff? <i>I</i> can't make out in the dusk +whether they are vampires or just plain bats." He directed his remarks +again to the Nigger. "Next time you see any of those big bats, Doctor, +just you notice close. If they have just plain, black eyes, they're +all right; but if they have grey eyes, with red rims around 'em, +they're vampires. I wish you'd let me know, if you do find out. It's +interesting." +</p> + +<p> +"Don' get me near no bats," growled the Nigger. +</p> + +<p> +"Where's Selover?" inquired Darrow. +</p> + +<p> +"He stays aboard," I hastened to say. "Wants to keep an eye on the +ship." +</p> + +<p> +"That's laudable. What have you been doing?" +</p> + +<p> +"We've been cleaning ship. Just finished yesterday evening." +</p> + +<p> +"What next?" +</p> + +<p> +"We were thinking of wrecking the <i>Golden Horn</i>." +</p> + +<p> +"Quite right. Well, if you want any help with your engines or anything +of the sort, call on me." +</p> + +<p> +He arose and began to light his lantern. "I hope as how you're getting +on well there above, sir?" ventured Handy Solomon insinuatingly. +</p> + +<p> +"Very well, I thank you, my man," replied Percy Darrow drily. +"Remember those vampires, Doctor." +</p> + +<p> +He swung the lantern and departed without further speech. We followed +the spark of it until it disappeared in the arroyo. +</p> + +<p> +Behind us bellowed the sea; over against us in the sky was the dull +threatening glow of the volcano; about us were mysterious noises of +crying birds, barking seals, rustling or rushing winds. I felt the +thronging ghosts of all the old world's superstition swirling madly +behind us in the eddies that twisted the smoke of our fire. +</p> + +<p> +We wrecked the <i>Golden Horn</i>. Forward was a rusted-out donkey +engine, which we took to pieces and put together again. It was no mean +job, for all the running parts had to be cleaned smooth, and with the +exception of a rudimentary knowledge on the part of Pulz and Perdosa, +we were ignorant. In fact we should not have succeeded at all had it +not been for Percy Darrow and his lantern. The first evening we took +him over to the cliff's edge he laughed aloud. +</p> + +<p> +"Jove, boys, how could you guess it <i>all</i> wrong," he wondered. +</p> + +<p> +With a few brief words he set us right, Pulz, Perdosa, and I listening +intently; the others indifferent in the hopelessness of being able +to comprehend. Of course, we went wrong again in our next day's +experiments; but Darrow was down two or three times a week, and +gradually we edged toward a practical result. +</p> + +<p> +His explanations consumed but a few moments. After they were finished, +we adjourned to the fire. +</p> + +<p> +Thus we came gradually to a better acquaintance with the doctor's +assistant. In many respects he remained always a puzzle, to me. +Certainly the men never knew how to take him. He was evidently not +only unafraid of them, but genuinely indifferent to them. +</p> + +<p> +Yet he displayed a certain interest in their needs and affairs. His +practical knowledge was enormous. I think I have told you of the +completeness of his arrangements--everything had been foreseen from +grindstones to gas nippers. The same quality of concrete speculation +showed him what we lacked in our own lives. +</p> + +<p> +There was, as you remember, the matter of Handy Solomon's steel claw. +He showed Thrackles a kind of lanyard knot that deep-sea person had +never used. He taught Captain Selover how to make soft soap out of +one species of seaweed. Me, he initiated in the art of fishing with +a white bone lure. Our camp itself he reconstructed on scientific lines +so that we enjoyed less aromatic smoke and more palatable dinner. And +all of it he did amusedly, as though his ideas were almost too obvious +to need communication. +</p> + +<p> +We became in a manner intimate with him. He guyed the men in his +indolent fashion, playing on their credulity, their good nature, even +their forbearance. They alternately grinned and scowled. He left +always a confused impression, so that no one really knew whether he +cherished rancour against Percy Darrow or kindly feeling. +</p> + +<p> +The Nigger was Darrow's especial prey. The assistant had early +discovered that the cook was given to signs, omens, and superstitions. +</p> + +<p> +From a curious scholar's lore he drew fantastics with which to torment +his victim. We heard of all the witches, warlocks, incubi, succibi, +harpies, devils, imps, and haunters of Avitchi, from all the teachings +of history, sacred and profane, Hindu, Egyptian, Greek, mediaeval, +Swedenborg, Rosicrucian, theosophy, theology, with every last ounce +of horror, mystery, shivers, and creeps squeezed out of them. They +were gorgeous ghost stories, for they were told by a man fully informed +as to all the legendary and gruesome details. At first I used to think +he might have communicated it more effectively. Then I saw that the +cool, drawling manner, the level voice, were in reality the highest +art. He told his stories in a half-amused, detached manner which imposed +confidence more readily than any amount of earnest asseveration. The +mere fact of his own belief in what he said came to matter little. +He was the vehicle by which was brought accurate knowledge. He had +read all these things, and now reported them as he had read: each man +could decide for himself as to their credibility. +</p> + +<p> +At last the donkey engine was cleared and reinstalled, atop the cliff. +The Nigger built under her a fire of black walnut; Captain Selover +handed out grog all around; and we started her up with a cheer, just +to see the wheels revolve. +</p> + +<p> +Next we half buried some long hatches, end up, to serve as bitts for +the lines, hitched our cables to them, and joyfully commenced the task +of pulling the <i>Golden Horn</i> piece by piece up the side of the +cliff. +</p> + +<p> +The stores were badly damaged by the wet, and there was no liquor, +for which I was sincerely grateful. We broke into the boxes, and arrayed +ourselves in various garments--which speedily fell to pieces--and +appropriated gim-cracks of all sorts. There were some arms, but the +ammunition had gone bad. Perdosa, out of forty or fifty mis-fires, +got one feeble sputter, and a tremendous <i>bang</i> which blew up +his piece, leaving only the stock in his hand. A few tinned goods were +edible; but all the rest was destroyed. A lot of hard woods, a +thousand feet of chain cable, and a fairly good anchor might be +considered as prizes. As for the rest, it was foolishness, but we +hauled it up just the same until nothing at all remained. Then we shut +off the donkey engine, and put on dry clothes. We had been quite happy +for the eight months. +</p> + +<p> +It was now well along toward spring. The winter had been like summer, +and with the exception of a few rains of a week or so, we had enjoyed +beautiful skies. The seals had thinned out considerably, but were now +returning in vast numbers ready for their annual domestic +arrangements. +</p> + +<p> +Our Sundays we had mostly spent in resting, or in fishing. There were +many deep sea fish to be had, of great palatability, but small +gameness; they came like so many leaden weights. A few of us had +climbed some of the hills in a half-hearted curiosity, but from their +summits saw nothing to tempt weariness. Practically we knew nothing +beyond the mile or so of beach on which we lived. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Selover had made a habit of coming ashore at least once during +the day. He had contented himself with standing aloof, but I took +pains to seem to confer with him, so that the men might suppose that +I, as mate, was engaged in carrying out his directions. The dread of +him was my most potent influence over them. +</p> + +<p> +During the last few days of our wrecking, Captain Selover had omitted +his daily visit. The fact made me uneasy, so that at my first +opportunity I sculled myself out to the schooner. I found him, +moist-eyed as usual, leaning against the mainmast doing nothing. +</p> + +<p> +"We've finished, sir," said I. +</p> + +<p> +He looked at me. +</p> + +<p> +"Will you come ashore and have a look, sir?" I inquired. +</p> + +<p> +"I ain't going ashore again," he muttered thickly. +</p> + +<p> +"What!" I cried. +</p> + +<p> +"I ain't going ashore again," he repeated obstinately, "and that's +all there is to it. It's too much of a strain on any man. Suit yourself. +You run them. I shipped as captain of a vessel. I'm no dock walloper. +I won't <i>do</i> it--for no man!" +</p> + +<p> +I gasped with dismay at the man's complete moral collapse. It seemed +incredible. I caught myself wondering whether he would recover tone +were he again to put to sea. +</p> + +<p> +"My God, man, but you <i>must</i>!" I cried at last. +</p> + +<p> +"I won't, and that's flat," said he, and turned deliberately on his +heel and disappeared in the cabin. +</p> + +<p> +I went ashore thoughtful and a little scared. But on reflection I +regained a great part of my ease of mind. You see, I had been with +these men now eight months, during which they had been as orderly as +so many primary schoolboys. They had worked hard, without grumbling, +and had even approached a sort of friendliness about the camp fire. +My first impression was overlaid. As I looked back on the voyage, with +what I took to be a clearer vision, I could not but admit that the +incidents were in themselves trivial enough--a natural excitement by +a superstitious negro, a little tall talk that meant nothing. It must +have been the glamour of the adventure that had deceived me; that, +and the unusual stage setting and costuming. Certainly few men would +work hard for eight months without a murmur, without a chance to look +about them. +</p> + +<p> +In that, of course, I was deceived by my inexperience. I realised +later the wonderful effect Captain Selover threw away with his empty +brandy bottles. The crew might grumble and plot during the watch +below; but when Captain Ezra Selover said <i>work</i>, they worked. +He had been saying work, for eight months. They had, from force of +experience, obeyed him. It was all very simple. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-9">IX</a></h2> + +<h3>THE EMPTY BRANDY BOTTLE</h3> + +<p> +So there I was at once deprived of my chief support. Although no +danger seemed imminent, nevertheless the necessity of acting on my +own initiative and responsibility oppressed me somewhat. +</p> + +<p> +Truth to tell, after the first, I was more relieved than dismayed at +the captain's resolution to stay aboard. His drinking habit was +growing on him, and afloat or ashore he was now little more than a +figurehead, so that my chief asset as far as he was concerned, was +rather his reputation than his direct influence. In contact with the +men, I dreaded lest sooner or later he do something to lessen or +destroy the awe in which they held him. +</p> + +<p> +Of course Dr. Schermerhorn had been mistaken in his man: A real +captain of men would have risen to circumstances wherever he found +them. But who could have foretold? Captain Selover had been a rascal +always, but a successful and courageous rascal. He had run desperate +chances, dominated desperate crews. Who could know that a crumble of +island beach and six months ashore would turn him into what he had +become? Yet I believe such cases are not uncommon in other walks of +life. A man and his work combine to mean something; yet both may be +absolutely useless when separated. It was the weak link---- +</p> + +<p> +I put in some time praying earnestly that the eyes of the crew might +be blinded, and that the doctor would finish his experiments before +the cauldron could boil up again. +</p> + +<p> +My first act as real commander was to announce holiday. My idea was +that the island would keep the men busy for a while. Then I would +assign them more work to do. They proposed at once a tour into the +interior. +</p> + +<p> +We started up the west coast. After three or four miles along a mesa +formation where often we had to circle long detours to avoid the +gullies, we came upon another short beach, and beyond it a series of +ledges on which basked several hundred seals. They did not seem +alarmed. In fact one old bull, scarred by many battles, made toward +us. +</p> + +<p> +We left him, scaled the cliff, and turned up a broad, pleasant valley +toward the interior. +</p> + +<p> +There the later lava flow had been deflected. All that showed of the +original eruption were occasional red outcropping rocks. Soil and +grass had overlaid the mineral. Scattered trees were planted +throughout the flat. Cacti and semi-tropical bushes mingled with brush +on the rounded side hills. A number of brilliant birds fluttered at +our approach. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly Handy Solomon, who was in advance, stopped and pointed to +the crest of the hill. A file of animals moved along the sky line. +</p> + +<p> +"Mutton!" said he, "or the devil's a preacher!" +</p> + +<p> +"Sheep!" cried Thrackles. "Where did they come from?" +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Golden Horn</i>," I suggested. "Remember that wide, empty deck +forward? They carried sheep there." The men separated, intending fresh +meat. The affair was ridiculous. These sheep had become as wild as +deer. Our surrounding party with its silly bared knives could only +look after them open-mouthed, as they skipped nimbly between its +members. +</p> + +<p> +"Get a gun of the Old Man, Mr. Eagen," suggested Pulz, "and we'll have +something besides salt horse and fish." +</p> + +<p> +I nodded. +</p> + +<p> +We continued. The island was like this as far as we went. When we +climbed a ridge, we found ourselves looking down on a spider-web of +other valleys and cañons of the same nature, all diverging to broad +downs and a jump into the sea, all converging to the outworks that +guarded the volcano with its canopy of vapour. +</p> + +<p> +On our way home we cut across the higher country and the heads of the +cañons until we found ourselves looking down on the valley and Dr. +Schermerhorn's camp. The steam from the volcanic blowholes swayed +below us. Through its rifts we saw the tops of the buildings. +Presently we made out Percy Darrow, dressed in overalls, his sleeves +rolled back, and carrying a retort. He walked, very preoccupied, to +one of the miniature craters, where he knelt and went through some +operation indistinguishable at the distance. I looked around to see +my companions staring at him fascinated, their necks craned out, their +bodies drawn back into hiding. In a moment he had finished, and +carried the retort carefully into the laboratory. The men sighed and +stood erect, once more themselves. As we turned away Perdosa voiced +what must have been in the minds of all. +</p> + +<p> +"A man could climb down there," said he. +</p> + +<p> +"Why should he want to?" I demanded sharply. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Quien sabe</i>?" shrugged he. +</p> + +<p> +We turned in silence toward the beach. Each brooded his thoughts. The +sight of that man dressed in overalls, carrying on some mysterious +business, brought home to each of us the fact that our expedition had +an object, as yet unknown to us. The thought had of late dropped into +the background. For my part I had been so immersed in the adventure +and the labour and the insistent need of the hour that I had forgotten +why I had come. Dr. Schermerhorn's purpose was as inscrutable to me +as at first. What had I accomplished? +</p> + +<p> +The men, too, seemed struck with some such idea. There were no yarns +about the camp fire that night. Percy Darrow did not appear, for which +I was sincerely sorry. His presence might have created a diversion. +For some unknown reason all my old apprehensions, my sense of +impending disaster, had returned to me strengthened. In the firelight +the Nigger's sullen face looked sinister, Pulz's nervous white +countenance looked vicious. Thrackles' heavy, bulldog expression was +threatening, Perdosa's Mexican cast fit for knife work in the back. +And Handy Solomon, stretched out, leaning on his elbow, with his red +headgear, his snaky hair, his hook nose, his restless eye and his +glittering steel claw--the glow wrote across his aura the names of +Kid, Morgan, Blackbeard. They sat smoking, staring into the fire with +mesmerised eyes. The silence got on my nerves I arose impatiently and +walked down the pale beach, where the stars glimmered in splashes +along the wettest sands. The black silhouette of the hills against +the dark blue of the night sky; the white of breakers athwart the +indistinct heave of the ocean, a faint light marking the position of +the <i>Laughing Lass</i>--that was everything in the world. I made +out some object rolled about in the edge of the wash. At the cost of +wet feet I rescued it. It was an empty brandy bottle. +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="illp136.jpg"><img src="illp136_th.jpg" alt="'These sheep had become as wild as deer'"></a> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-10">X</a></h2> + +<h3>CHANGE OF MASTERS</h3> + +<p> +The next day we continued our explorations by land, and so for a week +after that. I thought it best not to relinquish all authority, so I +organised regular expeditions, and ordered their direction. The men +did not object. It was all good enough fun to them. +</p> + +<p> +The net results were that we found a nesting place of sea birds--too +late in the season for eggs; a hot spring near enough camp to be +useful; and that was about all. The sheep were the only animals on +the island, although there were several sorts of birds. In general, +the country was as I have described it--either volcanic or overlaid +with fertile earth. In any case it was cañon and hill. We soon grew +tired of climbing and turned our attention to the sea. +</p> + +<p> +With the surf boat we skirted the coast. It was impregnable except +in three places: our own beach, that near the seal rookery, and on +the south side of the island. We landed at each one of these places. +But returning close to the coast we happened upon a cave mouth more +or less guarded by an outlying rock. +</p> + +<p> +The day was calm, so we ventured in. At first I thought it merely a +gorge in the rock, but even while peering for the end wall we slipped +under the archway and found ourselves in a vast room. +</p> + +<p> +Our eyes were dazzled so we could make out little at first. But +through the still, clear water the light filtered freely from below, +showing the bottom as through a sea glass. We saw the fish near the +entrance, and coral and sea growths of marvellous vividness. They +waved slowly as in a draught of air. The medium in which they floated +was absolutely invisible, for, of course, there were no reflections +from its surface. We seemed to be suspended in mid-air, and only when +the dipping oars made rings could we realise that anything sustained +us. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly the place let loose in pandemonium. The most fiendish cries, +groans, shrieks, broke out, confusing themselves so thoroughly with +their own echoes that the volume of sound was continuous. Heavy +splashes shook the water. The boat rocked. The invisible surface was +broken into facets. +</p> + +<p> +We shrank, terrified. From all about us glowed hundreds of eyes like +coals of fire--on a level with us, above us, almost over our heads. +Two by two the coals were extinguished. +</p> + +<p> +Below us the bottom was clouded with black figures, darting rapidly +like a school of minnows beneath a boat. They darkened the coral and +the sands and the glistening sea growths just as a cloud temporarily +darkens the landscape--only the occultations and brightenings +succeeded each other much more swiftly. +</p> + +<p> +We stared stupefied, our thinking power blurred by the incessent whirl +of motion and noise. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly Thrackles laughed aloud. +</p> + +<p> +"Seals!" he shouted through his trumpeted hands. + +Our eyes were expanding to the twilight. We could make out the arch +of the room, its shelves, and hollows, and niches. Lying on them we +could discern the seals, hundreds and hundreds of them, all staring +at us, all barking and bellowing. As we approached, they scrambled +from their elevations, and, diving to the bottom, scurried to the entrance +of the cave. +</p> + +<p> +We lay on our oars for ten minutes. Then silence fell. There persisted +a tiny <i>drip, drip, drip</i> from some point in the darkness. It +merely accentuated the hush. Suddenly from far in the interior of the +hill there came a long, hollow <i>boo-o-o-m</i>! It reverberated, +roaring. The surge that had lifted our boat some minutes before thus +reached its journey's end. +</p> + +<p> +The chamber was very lofty. As we rowed cautiously in, it lost nothing +of its height, but something in width. It was marvellously coloured, +like all the volcanic rocks of this island. In addition some chemical +drip had thrown across its vividness long gauzy streamers of white. +We rowed in as far as the faintest daylight lasted us. The occasional +reverberating <i>boom</i> of the surges seemed as distant as ever. +</p> + +<p> +This was beyond the seal rookery on the beach. Below it we entered +an open cleft of some size to another squarer cave. It was now high +tide; the water extended a scant ten fathoms to end on an interior +shale beach. The cave was a perfectly straight passage following the +line of the cleft. How far in it reached we could not determine, for +it, too, was full of seals, and after we had driven them back a hundred +feet or so their fiery eyes scared us out. We did not care to put them +at bay. The next day I rowed out to the <i>Laughing Lass</i> and got +a rifle. I found the captain asleep in his bunk, and did not disturb +him. Perdosa and I, with infinite pains, tracked and stalked the +sheep, of which I killed one. We found the mutton excellent. The +hunting was difficult, and the quarry, as time went on, more and more +suspicious, but henceforward we did not lack for fresh meat. +Furthermore we soon discovered that fine trolling was to be had +outside the reef. We rigged a sail for the extra dory, and spent much +of our time at the sport. I do not know the names of the fish. They +were very gamy indeed, and ran from five to an indeterminate number +of pounds in weight. Above fifty pounds our light tackle parted, so +we had no means of knowing how large they may have been. +</p> + +<p> +Thus we spent very pleasantly the greater part of two weeks. At the +end of that time I made up my mind that it would be just as well to +get back to business. Accordingly I called Perdosa and directed him +to sort and clear of rust the salvaged chain cable. He refused flatly. +I took a step toward him. He drew his knife and backed away. +</p> + +<p> +"Perdosa," said I firmly, "put up that knife." +</p> + +<p> +"No," said he. +</p> + +<p> +I pulled the saw-barrelled Colt's 45 and raised it slowly to a level +with his breast. +</p> + +<p> +"Perdosa," I repeated, "drop that knife." +</p> + +<p> +The crisis had come, but my resolution was fully prepared for it. I +should not have cared greatly if I had had to shoot the man--as I +certainly should have done had he disobeyed. There would then have +been one less to deal with in the final accounting, which strangely +enough I now for a moment never doubted would come. I had not before +aimed at a man's life, so you can see to what tensity the baffling +mystery had strung me. +</p> + +<p> +Perdosa hesitated a fraction of an instant. I really think he might +have chanced it, but Handy Solomon, who had been watching me closely, +growled at him. +</p> + +<p> +"Drop it, you fool!" he said. +</p> + +<p> +Perdosa let fall the knife. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, get at that cable," I commanded, still at white heat. I stood +over him until he was well at work, then turned back to set tasks for +the other men. Handy Solomon met me halfway. + +"Begging your pardon, Mr. Eagen," said he, "I want a word with you." +</p> + +<p> +"I have nothing to say to you," I snapped, still excited. +</p> + +<p> +"It ain't reasonable not to hear a man's say," he advised in his most +conciliatory manner, "I'm talking for all of us." +</p> + +<p> +He paused a moment, took my silence for consent, and went ahead. +</p> + +<p> +"Begging your pardon, Mr. Eagen," said he, "we ain't going to do any +more useless work. There ain't no laziness about us, but we ain't +going to be busy at nothing. All the camp work and the haulin' and +cuttin' and cleanin' and the rest of it, we'll do gladly. But we ain't +goin' to pound any more cable, and you can kiss the Book on that." +</p> + +<p> +"You mean to mutiny?" I asked. +</p> + +<p> +He made a deprecatory gesture. +</p> + +<p> +"Put us aboard ship, sir, and let us hear the Old Man give his orders, +and you'll find no mutiny in us. But here ashore it's different. Did +the Old Man give orders to pound the cable?" +</p> + +<p> +"I represent the captain," I stammered. +</p> + +<p> +He caught the evasion. "I thought so. Well, if you got any kick on +us, please, sir, go get the Old Man. If he says to our face, pound +cable, why pound cable it is. Ain't that right, boys?" +</p> + +<p> +They murmured something. Perdosa deliberately dropped his hammer and +joined the group. My hand strayed again toward the sawed-off Colt's +45. +</p> + +<p> +"I wouldn't do that," said Handy Solomon, almost kindly. "You couldn't +kill us all. And w'at good would it do? I asks you that. I can cut +down a chicken with my knife at twenty feet. You must surely see, sir, +that I could have killed you too easy while you were covering Pancho +there. This ain't got to be a war, Mr. Eagen, just because we don't +want to work without any sense to it." +</p> + +<p> +There was more of the same sort. I had plenty of time to see my +dilemma. Either I would have to abandon my attempt to keep the men +busy, or I would have to invoke the authority of Captain Selover. To +do the latter would be to destroy it. The master had become a stuffed +figure, a bogie with which to frighten, an empty bladder that a prick +would collapse. With what grace I could muster, I had to give in. +</p> + +<p> +"You'll have to have it your own way, I suppose," I snapped. +</p> + +<p> +Thrackles grinned, and Pulz started to say something, but Handy +Solomon, with a peremptory gesture, and a black scowl, stopped him +short. +</p> + +<p> +"Now that's what I calls right proper and handsome!" he cried +admiringly. "We reely had no right to expect that, boys, as seamen, +from our first officer! You can kiss the Book on it, that very few +crews have such kind masters. Mr. Eagen has the right, and we signed +to it all straight, to work us as he pleases; and w'at does he do? +Why, he up and gives us a week shore leave, and then he gives us light +watches, and all the time our pay goes on just the same. Now that's +w'at I calls right proper and handsome conduct, or the devil's a +preacher, and I ventures with all respect to propose three cheers for +Mr. Eagen." +</p> + +<p> +They gave them, grinning broadly. The villain stood looking at me, +a sardonic gleam in the back of his eye. Then he gave a little hitch +to his red head covering, and sauntered away humming between his teeth. +I stood watching him, choked with rage and indecision. The humming +broke into words. +</p> + +<p> + "'Oh, quarter, oh, quarter!' the jolly pirates cried. + <i>Blow high, blow low! What care we</i>? + But the quarter that we gave them was to sink them in the sea, + <i>Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e</i>." +</p> + +<p> +"Here, you swab," he cried to Thrackles, "and you, Pancho! get some +wood, lively! And Pulz, bring us a pail of water. Doctor, let's have +duff to celebrate on." +</p> + +<p> +The men fell to work with alacrity. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-11">XI</a></h2> + +<h3>THE CORROSIVE</h3> + +<p> +That evening I smoked in a splendid isolation while the men whispered +apart. I had nothing to do but smoke, and to chew my cud, which was +bitter. There could be no doubt, however I may have saved my face, +that command had been taken from me by that rascal, Handy Solomon. +I was in two minds as to whether or not I should attempt to warn Darrow +or the doctor. Yet what could I say? and against whom should I warn +them? The men had grumbled, as men always do grumble in idleness, and +had perhaps talked a little wildly; but that was nothing. +</p> + +<p> +The only indisputable fact I could adduce was that I had allowed my +authority to slip through my fingers. And adequately to excuse that, +I should have to confess that I was a writer and no handler of men. +</p> + +<p> +I abandoned the unpleasant train of thought with a snort of disgust, +but it had led me to another. In the joy and uncertainty of living +I had practically lost sight of the reason for my coming. With me it +had always been more the adventure than the story; my writing was a +by-product, a utilisation of what life offered me. I had set sail +possessed by the sole idea of ferreting out Dr. Schermerhorn's +investigations, but the gradual development of affairs had ended by +absorbing my every faculty. Now, cast into an eddy by my change of +fortunes, the original idea regained its force. I was out of the +active government of affairs, with leisure on my hands, and my +thoughts naturally turned with curiosity again to the laboratory in +the valley. +</p> + +<p> +Darrow's "devil fires" were again painting the sky. I had noticed them +from time to time, always with increasing wonder. The men accepted +them easily as only one of the unexplained phenomena of a sailor's +experience, but I had not as yet hit on a hypothesis that suited me. +They were not allied to the aurora; they differed radically from the +ordinary volcanic emanations; and scarcely resembled any electrical +displays I had ever seen. The night was cool; the stars bright: I +resolved to investigate. +</p> + +<p> +Without further delay I arose to my feet and set off into the +darkness. Immediately one of the group detached himself from the fire +and joined me. +</p> + +<p> +"Going for a little walk, sir?" asked Handy Solomon sweetly. "That's +quite right and proper. Nothin' like a little walk to get you fit and +right for your bunk." +</p> + +<p> +He held close to my elbow. We got just as far as the stockade in the +bed of the arroyo. The lights we could make out now across the zenith; +but owing to the precipitance of the cliffs, and the rise of the +arroyo bed, it was impossible to see more. Handy Solomon felt the +defences carefully. +</p> + +<p> +"A man would think, sir, it was a cannibal island," he observed. "All +so tight and tidy-like here. It would take a ship's guns to batter +her down. A man might dig under these here two gate logs, if no one +was against him. Like to try it, sir?" +</p> + +<p> +"No," I answered gruffly. +</p> + +<p> +From that time on I was virtually a prisoner; yet so carefully was +my surveillance accomplished that I could place my finger on nothing +definite. Someone always accompanied me on my walks; and in the +evening I was herded as closely as any cattle. +</p> + +<p> +Handy Solomon took the direction of affairs off my hands. You may be +sure he set no very heavy tasks. The men cut a little wood, carried +up a few pails of water--that was all. +</p> + +<p> +Lacking incentive to stir about, they came to spend most of their time +lying on their backs watching the sky. This in turn bred a languor +which is the sickest, most soul- and temper-destroying affair invented +by the devil. They could not muster up energy enough to walk down the +beach and back, and yet they were wearied to death of the inaction. +After a little they became irritable toward one another. Each +suspected the other of doing less than he should. You who know men +will realise what this meant. +</p> + +<p> +The atmosphere of our camp became surly. I recognised the precursor +of its becoming dangerous. One day on a walk in the hills I came on +Thrackles and Pulz lying on their stomachs gazing down fixedly at Dr. +Schermerhorn's camp. This was nothing extraordinary, but they started +guiltily to their feet when they saw me, and made off, growling under +their breaths. +</p> + +<p> +All this that I have told you so briefly, took time. It was the eating +through of men's spirits by that worst of corrosives, idleness. I +conceive it unnecessary to weary you with the details---- +</p> + +<p> +The situation was as yet uneasy but not alarming. One evening I +overheard the beginning of an absurd plot to gain entrance to the +Valley--that was as far as detail went. I became convinced at last +that I should in some way warn Percy Darrow. +</p> + +<p> +That seems a simple enough proposition, does it not? But if you will +stop to think one moment of the difficulties of my position, you will +see that it was not as easy as at first it appears. Darrow still +visited us in the evening. The men never allowed me even the chance +of private communication while he was with us. One or two took pains +to stretch out between us. Twice I arose when the assistant did, resolved +to accompany him part way back. Both times men resolutely escorted +us, and as resolutely separated us from the opportunity of a single +word apart. The crew never threatened me by word or look. But we understood +each other. +</p> + +<p> +I was not permitted to row out to the <i>Laughing Lass</i> without +escort. Therefore I never attempted to visit her again. The men were +not anxious to do so, their awe of the captain made them only too glad +to escape his notice. That empty shell of a past reputation was my +only hope. It shielded the arms and ammunition. +</p> + +<p> +As I look back on it now, the period seems to me to be one of merely +potential trouble. The men had not taken the pains to crystallise +their ideas. I really think their compelling emotion was that of +curiosity. They wanted to <i>see</i>. It needed a definite impulse +to change that desire to one of greed. +</p> + +<p> +The impulse came from Percy Darrow and his idle talk of voodoos. As +usual he was directing his remarks to the sullen Nigger. +</p> + +<p> +"Voodoos?" he said. "Of course there are. Don't fool yourself for a +minute on that. There are good ones and bad ones. You can tame them +if you know how, and they will do anything you want them to." Pulz +chuckled in his throat. "You don't believe it?" drawled the assistant +turning to him. "Well, it's so. You know that heavy box we are so +careful of? Well, that's got a tame voodoo in it." +</p> + +<p> +The others laughed. + +"What he like?" asked the Nigger gravely. +</p> + +<p> +"He's a fine voodoo, with wavery arms and green eyes, and red glows." +Watching narrowly its effect he swung off into one of the genuine old +crooning voodoo songs, once so common down South, now so rarely heard. +No one knows what the words mean--they are generally held to be +charm-words only--a magic gibberish. But the Nigger sprang across the +fire like lightning, his face altered by terror, to seize Darrow by +the shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +"Doan you! Doan you!" he gasped, shaking the assistant violently back +and forth. "Dat he King Voodoo song! Dat call him all de voodoo--all!" +</p> + +<p> +He stared wildly about in the darkness as though expecting to see the +night thronged. There was a moment of confusion. Eager for any chance +I hissed under my breath; "Danger! Look out!" +</p> + +<p> +I could not tell whether or not Darrow heard me. He left soon after. +The mention of the chest had focussed the men's interest. +</p> + +<p> +"Well," Pulz began, "we've been here on this spot o' hell for a long +time." +</p> + +<p> +"A year and five months," reckoned Thrackles. +</p> + +<p> +"A man can do a lot in that time." +</p> + +<p> +"If he's busy." +</p> + +<p> +"They've been busy." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Wonder what they've done?" +</p> + +<p> +There was no answer to this, and the sea lawyer took a new tack. +</p> + +<p> +"I suppose we're all getting double wages." +</p> + +<p> +"That's so." +</p> + +<p> +"And that's say four hunder' for us and Mr. Eagen here. I suppose the +Old Man don't let the schooner go for nothing." +</p> + +<p> +"Two hundred and fifty a month," said I, and then would have had the +words back. +</p> + +<p> +They cried out in prolonged astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +"Seventeen months," pursued the logician after a few moments. He +scratched with a stub of lead. "That makes over eleven thousand +dollars since we've been out. How much do you suppose his outfit +stands him?" he appealed to me. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm sure I can't tell you," I replied shortly. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, it's a pile of money, anyway." +</p> + +<p> +Nobody said anything for some time. +</p> + +<p> +"Wonder what they've done?" Pulz asked again. +</p> + +<p> +"Something that pays big." Thrackles supplied the desired answer. +</p> + +<p> +"Dat chis'----" suggested Perdosa. +</p> + +<p> +"Voodoo----" muttered the Nigger. +</p> + +<p> +"That's to scare us out," said Handy Solomon, with vast contempt. +"That's what makes me sure it <i>is</i> the chest." +</p> + +<p> +Pulz muttered some of the jargon of alchemy. + +"That's it," approved Handy Solomon. "If we could get----" +</p> + +<p> +"We wouldn't know how to use it," interrupted Pulz. +</p> + +<p> +"The book----" said Thrackles. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, the book----" asserted Pulz pugnaciously. +</p> + +<p> +"How do you know what it will be? It may be the Philosopher's Stone +and it may be one of these other damn things. And then where'd we be?" +</p> + +<p> +It was astounding to hear this nonsense bandied about so seriously. +And yet they more than half believed, for they were deep-sea men of +the old school, and this was in print. Thrackles voiced approximately +the general attitude. +</p> + +<p> +"Philosopher's stone or not, something's up. The old boy took too good +care of that box, and he's spending too much money, and he's got hold +of too much hell afloat to be doing it for his health." +</p> + +<p> +"You know w'at I t'ink?" smiled Perdosa. "He mak' di'mon's. He +<i>say</i> dat." +</p> + +<p> +The Nigger had entered one of his black, brooding moods from which +these men expected oracles. +</p> + +<p> +"Get him ches'," he muttered. "I see him full--full of di'mon's!" +</p> + +<p> +They listened to him with vast respect, and were visibly impressed. +So deep was the sense of awe that Handy Solomon unbent enough to whisper +to me: +</p> + +<p> +"I don't take any stock in the Nigger's talk <i>ordinarily</i>. He's +a hell of a fool nigger. But when his eye looks like that, then you +want to listen close. He sees things then. Lots of times he's seen +things. Even last year--the <i>Oyama</i>--he told about her three days +ahead. That's why we were so ready for her," he chuckled. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing more developed for a long time except a savage fight between +Pulz and Perdosa. I hunted sheep, fished, wandered about--always with +an escort tired to death before he started. The thought came to me +to kill this man and so to escape and make cause with the scientists. +My common sense forbade me. I begin to think that common sense is a +very foolish faculty indeed. +</p> + +<p> +It taught me the obvious--that all this idle, vapouring talk was +common enough among men of this class, so common that it would hardly +justify a murder, would hardly explain an unwarranted intrusion on +those who employed me. How would it look for me to go to them with +these words in my mouth: +</p> + +<p> +"The captain has taken to drinking to dull the monotony. The crew +think you are an alchemist and are making diamonds. Their interest +in this fact seemed to me excessive, so I killed one of them, and here +I am." +</p> + +<p> +"And who are you?" they could ask. +</p> + +<p> +"I am a reporter," would be my only truthful reply. +</p> + +<p> +You can see the false difficulties of my position. I do not defend +my attitude. Undoubtedly a born leader of men, like Captain Selover +at his best, would have known how to act with the proper decision both +now and in the inception of the first mutiny. At heart I never doubted +the reality of the crisis. +</p> + +<p> +Even Percy Darrow saw the surliness of the men's attitudes, and with +his usual good sense divined the cause. +</p> + +<p> +"You chaps are getting lazy," said he, "why don't you do something? +Where's the captain?" +</p> + +<p> +They growled something about there being nothing to do, and explained +that the captain preferred to live aboard. +</p> + +<p> +"Don't blame him," said Darrow, "but he might give us a little of his +squeaky company occasionally. Boys, I'll tell you something about +seals. The old bull seals have long, stiff whiskers--a foot long. Do +you know there's a market for those whiskers? Well, there is. The +Chinese mount them in gold and use them for cleaners for their long +pipes. Each whisker is worth from six bits to a dollar and a quarter. +Why don't you kill a few bull seal for the 'trimmings'?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nothin' to do with a voodoo?" grunted Handy Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +Darrow laughed amusedly. "No, this is the truth," he assured. "I'll +tell you what: I'll give you boys six bits apiece for the whisker +hairs, and four bits for the galls. I expect to sell them at a +profit." +</p> + +<p> +Next morning they shook off their lethargy and went seal-hunting. +I was practically commanded to attend. This attitude had been growing +of late: now it began to take a definite form. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Eagan, don't you want to go hunting?" or "Mr. Eagen, I guess I'll +just go along with you to stretch my legs," had given way to, "We're +going fishing: you'd better come along." +</p> + +<p> +I had known for a long time that I had lost any real control of them; +and that perhaps humiliated me a little. However, my inexperience at +handling such men, and the anomalous character of my position to some +extent consoled me. In the filaments brushed across the face of my +understanding I could discover none so strong as to support an overt +act on my part. I cannot doubt, that had the affair come to a focus, +I should have warned the scientists even at the risk of my life. In +fact, as I shall have occasion to show you, I did my best. But at the +moment, in all policy I could see my way to little besides +acquiescence. +</p> + +<p> +We killed seals by sequestrating the bulls, surrounding them, and +clubbing them at a certain point of the forehead. It was surprising +to see how hard they fought, and how quickly they succumbed to a blow +properly directed. Then we stripped the mask with its bristle of long +whiskers, took the gall, and dragged the carcass into the surf where +it was devoured by fish. At first the men, pleased by the novelty, +stripped the skins. The blubber, often two or three inches in +thickness, had then to be cut away from the pelt, cube by cube. It +was a long, an oily, and odoriferous job. We stunk mightily of seal +oil; our garments were shiny with it, the very pores of our skins seemed +to ooze it. And even after the pelt was fairly well cleared, it had +still to be tanned. Percy Darrow suggested the method, but the process +was long, and generally unsatisfactory. With the acquisition of the +fifth greasy, heavy, and ill-smelling piece of fur the men's interest +in peltries waned. They confined themselves in all strictness to the +"trimmings." +</p> + +<p> +Percy Darrow showed us how to clean the whiskers. The process was +evil. The masks were, quite simply, to be advanced so far in the way +of putrefaction that the bristles would part readily from their +sockets. The first batch the men hung out on a line. A few moments +later we heard a mighty squawking, and rushed out to find the island +ravens making off with the entire catch. Protection of netting had +to be rigged. We caught seals for a month or so. There was novelty +in it, and it satisfied the lust for killing. As time went on, the +bulls grew warier. Then we made expeditions to outlying rocks. +</p> + +<p> +Later Handy Solomon approached me on another diplomatic errand. +</p> + +<p> +"The seals is getting shy, sir," said he. +</p> + +<p> +"They are," said I. +</p> + +<p> +"The only way to do is to shoot them," said he. +</p> + +<p> +"Quite like," I agreed. +</p> + +<p> +A pause ensued. +</p> + +<p> +"We've got no cartridges," he insinuated. +</p> + +<p> +"And you've taken charge of my rifle," I pointed out. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, not a bit, sir," he cried. "Thrackles, he just took it to clean +it--you can have it whenever you want it, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"I have no cartridges--as you have observed," said I. +</p> + +<p> +"There's plenty aboard," he suggested. +</p> + +<p> +"And they're in very good hands there," said I. +</p> + +<p> +He ruminated a moment, polishing the steel of his hook against the +other arm of his shirt. Suddenly he looked up at me with a humorous +twinkle. +</p> + +<p> +"You're afraid of us!" he accused. +</p> + +<p> +I was silent, not knowing just how to meet so direct an attack. +</p> + +<p> +"No need to be," he continued. +</p> + +<p> +I said nothing. +</p> + +<p> +He looked at me shrewdly; then stood off on another tack. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, sir, I didn't mean just that. I didn't mean you was really +scared of us. But we're gettin' to know each other, livin' here on +this old island, brothers-like. There ain't no officers and men +ashore--is there, now, sir? When we gets back to the old <i>Laughing +Lass</i>, then we drops back into our dooty again all right and +proper. You can kiss the Book on that. Old Scrubs, he knows that. He +don't want no shore in his. <i>He</i> knows enough to stay aboard, +where we'd all rather be." +</p> + +<p> +He stopped abruptly, spat, and looked at me. I wondered whither this +devious diplomacy led us. +</p> + +<p> +"Still, in one way, an officer's an officer, and a seaman's a seaman, +thinks you, and discipline must be held up among mates ashore or +afloat, thinks you. Quite proper, sir. And I can see you think that +the arms is for the afterguard except in case of trouble. Quite +proper. You can do the shooting, and you can keep the cartridges +always by you. Just for discipline, sir." +</p> + +<p> +The man's boldness in so fully arming me was astonishing, and his +carelessness in allowing me aboard with Captain Selover astonished +me still more. Nevertheless I promised to go for the desired cartridges, +fully resolved to make an appeal. +</p> + +<p> +A further consideration of the elements of the game convinced me, +however, of the fellow's shrewdness. It was no more dangerous to allow +me a rifle--under direct surveillance--for the purposes of hunting, +than to leave me my sawed--off revolver, which I still retained. The +arguments he had used against my shooting Perdosa were quite as cogent +now. As to the second point, I, finding the sun unexpectedly strong, +returned from the cove for my hat, and so overheard the following +between Thrackles and his leader: +</p> + +<p> +"What's to keep him from staying aboard?" cried Thrackles, protesting. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, he might," acknowledged Handy Solomon, "and then are we the +worse off? You ain't going to make a boat attack against Old Scrubs, +are you?" +</p> + +<p> +Thrackles hesitated. +</p> + +<p> +"You can kiss the Book on it, you ain't," went on Handy Solomon +easily, "nor me, nor Pulz, nor the Greaser, nor the Nigger, nor none +of us all together. We've had our dose of that. Well, if he goes +aboard and <i>stays</i>, where are we the worse off? I asks you that. +But he won't. This is w'ats goin' to happen. Says he to Old Scrubs, +'Sir, the men needs you to bash in their heads.' 'Bash 'em in +yourself,' says he, 'that's w'at you're for.' And if he should come +ashore, w'at could he do? I asks you that. We ain't disobeyed no +orders dooly delivered. We're ready to pull halliards at the word. +No, let him go aboard, and if he peaches to the Old Man, why all the +better, for it just gets the Old Man down on him." +</p> + +<p> +"How about Old Scrubs----" +</p> + +<p> +"Don't you believe none in luck?" asked Handy Solomon. "Aye." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, so do I, with w'at that law-crimp used to call joodicious +assistance." +</p> + +<p> +I rowed out to the <i>Laughing Lass</i> very thoughtful, and a little +shaken by the plausible argument. Captain Selover was lying dead drunk +across the cabin table. I did my best to waken him, but failed, took +a score of cartridges--no more--and departed sadly. Nothing could be +gained by staying aboard; every chance might be lost. Besides, an +opening to escape in the direction of the laboratory might offer--I, +as well as they, believed in luck judiciously assisted. +</p> + +<p> +In the ensuing days I learned much of the habits of seals. We sneaked +along the cliff tops until over the rookeries; then lay flat on our +stomachs and peered cautiously down on our quarry. The seals had +become very wary. A slight jar, the fall of a pebble, sometimes even +sounds unnoticed by ourselves, were enough to send them into the +water. There they lined up just outside the surf, their sleek heads +glossy with the wet, their calm, soft eyes fixed unblinkingly on us. +</p> + +<p> +It was useless to shoot them in the water: they sank at once. +</p> + +<p> +When, however, we succeeded in gaining an advantageous position, it +was necessary to shoot with extreme accuracy. A bullet directly +through the back of the head would kill cleanly. A hit anywhere else +was practically useless, for even in death the animals seemed to +retain enough blind instinctive vitality to flop them into the water. +There they were lost. +</p> + +<p> +Each rookery consisted of one tremendous bull who officiated +apparently as the standing army; a number of smaller bulls, his direct +descendants; the cows, and the pups. The big bull held his position +by force of arms. Occasionally other, unattached, bulls would come +swimming by. On arriving opposite the rookery the stranger would utter +a peculiar challenge. It was never refused by the resident champion, +who promptly slid into the sea, and engaged battle. If he conquered, +the stranger went on his way. If, however, the stranger won, the big +bull immediately struck out to sea, abandoning his rookery, while the +new-comer swam in and attempted to make his title good with all the +younger bulls. I have seen some fierce combats out there in the blue +water. They gashed each other deep---- +</p> + +<p> +You can see by this how our hunting was never at an end. On Tuesday +we would kill the boss bull of a certain establishment. By Thursday, +at latest, another would be installed. +</p> + +<p> +I learned curious facts about seals in those days. The hunting did +not appeal to me particularly, because it seemed to me useless to kill +so large an animal for so small a spoil. Still, it was a means to my +all-absorbing end, and I confess that the stalking, the lying belly +down on the sun-warmed grass over the surge and under the clear sky, +was extremely pleasant. While awaiting the return of the big bull often +we had opportunity to watch the others at their daily affairs, and +even the unresponsive Thrackles was struck with their almost human +intelligence. Did you know that seals kiss each other, and weep tears +when grieved? +</p> + +<p> +The men often discussed among themselves the narrow, dry cave. There +the animals were practically penned in. They agreed that a great +killing could be made there, but the impossibility of distinguishing +between the bulls and the cows deterred them. The cave was quite dark. +</p> + +<p> +Immerced in our own affairs thus, the days, weeks, and months went +by. Events had slipped beyond my control. I had embarked on a journalistic +enterprise, and now that purpose was entirely out of my reach. +</p> + +<p> +Up the valley Dr. Schermerhorn and his assistant were engaged in some +experiment of whose very nature I was still ignorant. Also I was +likely to remain so. The precautions taken against interference by +the men were equally effective against me. As if that were not enough, +any move of investigation on my part would be radically misinterpreted, +and to my own danger, by the men. I might as well have been in London. +</p> + +<p> +However, as to my first purpose in this adventure I had evolved +another plan, and therefore was content. I made up my mind that on +the voyage home, if nothing prevented, I would tell my story to Percy +Darrow, and throw myself on his mercy. The results of the experiment +would probably by then be ready for the public, and there was no +reason, as far as I could see, why I should not get the "scoop" at +first hand. +</p> + +<p> +Certainly my sincerity would be without question; and I hoped that +two years or more of service such as I had rendered would tickle Dr. +Schermerhorn's sense of his own importance. So adequate did this plan +seem, that I gave up thought on the subject. +</p> + +<p> +My whole life now lay on the shores. I was not again permitted to +board the <i>Laughing Lass</i>. Captain Selover I saw twice at a +distance. Both times he seemed to be rather uncertain. The men did +not remark it. The days went by. I relapsed into that state so well +known to you all, when one seems caught in the meshes of a dream existence +which has had no beginning and which is destined never to have an end. +</p> + +<p> +We were to hunt seals, and fish, and pry bivalves from the rocks at +low tide, and build fires, and talk, and alternate between suspicion +and security, between the danger of sedition and the insanity of men +without defined purpose, world without end forever. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-12">XII</a></h2> + +<h3>"OLD SCRUBS" COMES ASHORE</h3> + +<p> +The inevitable happened. One noon Pulz looked up from his labour of +pulling the whiskers from the evil-smelling masks. +</p> + +<p> +"How many of these damn things we got?" he inquired. +</p> + +<p> +"About three hunder' and fifty," Thrackles replied. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, we've got enough for me. I'm sick of this job. It stinks." +</p> + +<p> +They looked at each other. I could see the disgust rising in their +eyes, the reek of rotten blubber expanding their nostrils. With one +accord they cast aside the masks. +</p> + +<p> +"It ain't such a hell of a fortune," growled Pulz, his evil little +white face thrust forward. "There's other things worth all the seal +trimmin's of the islands." +</p> + +<p> +"Diamon's," gloomed the Nigger. +</p> + +<p> +"You've hit it, Doctor," cut in Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +There we were again, back to the old difficulty, only worse. Idleness +descended on us again. We grew touchy on little things, as a misplaced +plate, a shortage of firewood, too deep a draught at the nearly empty +bucket. The noise of bickering became as constant as the noise of the +surf. If we valued peace, we kept our mouths shut. The way a man spat, +or ate, or slept, or even breathed became a cause of irritation to +every other member of the company. We stood the outrage as long as +we could; then we objected in a wild and ridiculous explosion which +communicated its heat to the object of our wrath. Then there was a +fight. It needed only liquor to complete the deplorable state of +affairs. +</p> + +<p> +Gradually the smaller things came to worry us more and more. A certain +harmless singer of the cricket or perhaps of the tree-toad variety +used to chirp his innocent note a short distance from our cabin. For +all I know he had done so from the moment of our installation, but +I had never noticed him before. Now I caught myself listening for his +irregular recurrence with every nerve on the quiver. If he delayed +by ever so little, it was an agony; yet when he did pipe up, his feeble +strain struck to my heart cold and paralysing like a dagger. And with +every advancing minute of the night I became broader awake, more +tense, fairly sweating with nervousness. One night--good God, was it +only last week? ... it seems ages ago, another existence ... a state +cut off from this by the wonder of a transmigration, at least ... Last +week! +</p> + +<p> +I did not sleep at all. The moon had risen, had mounted the heavens, +and now was sailing overhead. By the fretwork of its radiance through +the chinks of our rudely-built cabin I had marked off the hours. A +thunderstorm rumbled and flashed, hull down over the horizon. It was +many miles distant, and yet I do not doubt that its electrical +influence had dried the moisture of our equanimity, leaving us +rattling husks for the winds of destiny to play upon. Certainly I can +remember no other time, in a rather wide experience, when I have felt +myself more on edge, more choked with the restless, purposeless +nervous energy that leaves a man's tongue parched and his eyes +staring. And still that infernal cricket, or whatever it was, chirped. +</p> + +<p> +I had thought myself alone in my vigil, but when finally I could stand +it no longer, and kicked aside my covering with an oath of protest, +I was surprised to hear it echoed from all about me. +</p> + +<p> +"Damn that cricket!" I cried. +</p> + +<p> +And the dead shadows stirred from the bunks, and the hollow-eyed +victims of insomnia crept out to curse their tormentor. We organised +an expedition to hunt him down. It was ridiculous enough, six strong +men prowling for the life of one poor little insect. We did not find +him, however, though we succeeded in silencing him. But no sooner were +we back in our bunks than he began it again, and such was the turmoil +of our nerves that day found us sitting wan about a fire, hugging our +knees. +</p> + +<p> +We were so genuinely emptied, not so much by the cricket as by the +two years of fermentation, that not one of us stirred toward breakfast, +in fact not one of us moved from the listless attitude in which day +found him, until after nine o'clock. Then we pulled ourselves together +and cooked coffee and salt horse. As a significant fact, the Nigger +left the dishes unwashed, and no one cared. +</p> + +<p> +Handy Solomon finally shook himself and arose. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm sick of this," said he, "I'm goin' seal-hunting." +</p> + +<p> +They arose without a word. They were sick of it, too, sick to death. +We were a silent, gloomy crew indeed as we thrust the surf boat +afloat, clambered in, and shipped the oars. No one spoke a word; no +one had a comment to make, even when we saw the rookery slide into +the water while we were still fifty yards from the beach. We pulled +back slowly along the coast. Beyond the rock we made out the entrance +to the dry cave. +</p> + +<p> +"There's seal in there," cried Handy Solomon, "lots of 'em!" +</p> + +<p> +He thrust the rudder over, and we headed for the cave. No one +expressed an opinion. +</p> + +<p> +As it was again high tide, we rowed in to the steep shore inside the +cave's mouth and beached the boat. The place was full of seals; we +could hear them bellowing. +</p> + +<p> +"Two of you stand here," shouted Handy Solomon, "and take them as they +go out. We'll go in and scare 'em down to you." +</p> + +<p> +"They'll run over us," screamed Pulz. +</p> + +<p> +"No, they won't. You can dodge up the sides when they go by." +</p> + +<p> +This was indeed well possible, so we gripped our clubs and ventured +into the darkness. +</p> + +<p> +We advanced four abreast, for the cave was wide enough for that. As +we penetrated, the bellowing and barking became more deafening. +It was impossible to see anything, although we <i>felt</i> an +indistinguishable tumbling mass receding before our footsteps. +Thrackles swore violently as he stumbled over a laggard. With uncanny +abruptness the black wall of darkness in front of us was alive with +fiery eyeballs. The seals had reached the end of the cave and had +turned toward us. We, too, stopped, a little uncertain as to how to +proceed. +</p> + +<p> +The first plan had been to get behind the band and to drive it slowly +toward the entrance to the cave. This was now seen to be impossible. +The cavern was too narrow; its sides at this point too steep, and the +animals too thickly congested. Our eyes, becoming accustomed to the +twilight, now began to make out dimly the individual bodies of the +seals and the general configuration of the rocks. One big boulder lay +directly in our path, like an island in the shale of the cave's floor. +Perdosa stepped to the top of it for a better look. The men attempted +to communicate their ideas of what was to be done, but could not make +themselves heard above the uproar. I could see their faces contorting +with the fury of being baffled. A big bull made a dash to get by; all +the herd flippered after him. If he had won past they would have +followed as obstinately as sheep, and nothing could have stopped them, +but the big bull went down beneath the clubs. Thrackles hit the animal +two vindictive blows after it had succumbed. +</p> + +<p> +This settled the revolt, and we stood as before. Pulz and Handy +Solomon tried to converse by signs, but evidently failed, for their +faces showed angry in the twilight. Perdosa, on his rock, rolled and +lit a cigarette. Thrackles paced to and fro, and the Nigger leaned +on his club, farther down the cave. They had been left at the entrance, +but now in lack of results had joined their companions. +</p> + +<p> +Now Thrackles approached and screamed himself black trying to impart +some plan. He failed; but stooped and picked up a stone and threw it +into the mass of seals. The others understood. A shower of stones +followed. The animals milled like cattle, bellowed the louder, but +would not face their tormentors. Finally an old cow flopped by in a +panic. I thought they would have let her go, but she died a little +beyond the bull. No more followed, although the men threw stones as +fast and hard as they were able. Their faces were livid with anger, +like that of an evil-tempered man with an obstinate horse. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly Handy Solomon put his head down, and with a roar distinctly +audible even above the din that filled the cave, charged directly into +the herd. I saw the beasts cringe before him; I saw his club rising +and falling indiscriminately; and then the whole back of the cave +seemed to rise and come at us. +</p> + +<p> +This was no chance of sport now, but a struggle for very life. We +realised that once down there would be no hope, for while the seals +were more anxious to escape than to fight, we knew that their jaws +were powerful. There was no time to pick and choose. We hit out with +all the strength and quickness we possessed. It was like a bad dream, +like struggling with an elusive hydra-headed monster, knee high, +invulnerable. We hit, but without apparent effect. New heads rose, +the press behind increased. We gave ground. We staggered, struggling +desperately to keep our feet. +</p> + +<p> +How long this lasted I cannot tell. It seemed hours. I know my arms +became leaden from swinging my club; my eyes were full of sweat; my +breath gasped. A sharp pain in my knee nearly doubled me to the ground +and yet I remember clamping to the thought that I must keep my feet, +keep my feet at any cost. Then all at once I recalled the fact that +I was armed. I jerked out the short-barrelled Colt's 45 and turned +it loose in their faces. +</p> + +<p> +Whether the flash and detonation frightened them; whether Perdosa, +still clinging to his rock, managed to turn their attention by his +flanking efforts, or whether, quite simply, the wall of dead finally +turned them back, I do not know, but with one accord they gave over +the attempt. +</p> + +<p> +I looked at once for Handy Solomon, and was surprised to see him still +alive, standing upright on a ledge the other side of the herd. His +clothing was literally torn to shreds, and he was covered with blood. +But in this plight he was not alone, for when I turned toward my +companions they, too, were tattered, torn, and gory. We were a +dreadful crew, standing there in the half-light, our chests heaving, +our rags dripping red. +</p> + +<p> +For perhaps ten seconds no one moved. Then with a yell of demoniac +rage my companions clambered over the rampart of dead seals and +attacked the herd. +</p> + +<p> +The seals were now cowed and defenceless. It was a slaughter, and the +most debauching and brutal I have ever known. I had hit out with the +rest when it had been a question of defence, but from this I turned +aside in a sick loathing. The men seemed possessed of devils, and of +their unnatural energy. Perdosa cast aside the club and took to his +natural weapon, the knife. +</p> + +<p> +I can see him yet rolling over and over embracing a big cow, his head +jammed in an ecstasy of ferocity between the animal's front flippers, +his legs clasped to hold her body, only his right arm rising and +falling as he plunged his knife again and again. She struggled, +turning him over and under, wept great tears, and fairly whined with +terror and pain. Finally she was still, and Perdosa staggered to his +feet, only to stare about him drunkenly for a moment before throwing +himself with a screech on another victim. +</p> + +<p> +The Nigger alone did not jump into the turmoil. He stood just down +the cave, his club ready. Occasionally a disorganised rush to escape +would be made. The Nigger's lips snarled, and with a truly mad enjoyment +he beat the poor animals back. +</p> + +<p> +I pressed against the wall horrified, fascinated, unable either to +interfere or to leave. A close, sticky smell took possession of the +air. After a little a tiny stream, growing each moment, began to flow +past my feet. It sought its channel daintily, as streamlets do, +feeling among the stones in eddies, quiet pools, miniature falls, and +rapids. For the moment I did not realise what it could be. Then the +light caught it down where the Nigger waited, and I saw it was red. +</p> + +<p> +At first the racket of the seals was overpowering. Now, gradually, +it was losing volume. I began to hear the blasphemies, ferocious cries, +screams of anger hurled against the cave walls by the men. The thick, +sticky smell grew stronger; the light seemed to grow dimmer, as though +it could not burn in that fetid air. A seal came and looked up at me, +big tears rolling from her eyes; then she flippered aimlessly away, +out of her poor wits with terror. The sight finished me. I staggered +down the length of the black tunnel to the boat. +</p> + +<p> +After a long interval a little three months' pup waddled down to the +water's edge, caught sight of me, and with a squeal of fright dived +far. Poor little devil! I would not have hurt him for worlds. As far +as I know this was the only survivor of all that herd. +</p> + +<p> +The men soon appeared, one by one, tired, sleepy-eyed, glutted, +walking in a cat-like trance of satiety. They were blood and tatters +from head to foot, and from drying red masks peered their bloodshot +eyes. Not a word said they, but tumbled into the boat, pushed off, +and in a moment we were floating in the full sunshine again. We rowed +home in an abstraction. For the moment Berserker rage had burned itself +out. Handy Solomon continually wetted his lips, like an animal licking +its chops. Thrackles stared into space through eyes drugged with +killing. No one spoke. +</p> + +<p> +We landed in the cove, and were surprised to find it in shadow. The +afternoon was far advanced. Over the hill we dragged ourselves, and +down to the spring. There the men threw themselves flat and drank in +great gulps until they could drink no more. We built a fire, but the +Nigger refused to cook. +</p> + +<p> +"Someone else turn," he growled, "I cook aboard ship." +</p> + +<p> +Perdosa, who had hewed the fuel, at once became angry. +</p> + +<p> +"I cut heem de wood!" he said, "I do my share; eef I cut heem de wood +you mus' cook heem de grub!" +</p> + +<p> +But the Nigger shook his head, and Perdosa went into an ecstasy of +rage. He kicked the fire to pieces; he scattered the unburned wood +up and down the beach; he even threw some of it into the sea. +</p> + +<p> +"Eef you no cook heem de grub, you no hab my wood!" he shrieked, with +enough oaths to sink his soul. +</p> + +<p> +Finally Pulz interfered. +</p> + +<p> +"Here you damn foreigners," said he, "quit it! Let up, I say! We got +to eat. You let that wood alone, or you'll pick it up again!" +</p> + +<p> +Perdosa sprang at him with a screech. Pulz was small but nimble, and +understood rough and tumble fighting. He met Perdosa's rush with two +swift blows--a short arm jab and an upper-cut. Then they clinched, +and in a moment were rolling over and over just beyond the wash of +the surf. +</p> + +<p> +The row waked the Nigger from his sullen abstraction. He seemed to +come to himself with a start; his eye fell surprisedly on the +combatants, then lit up with an unholy joy. He drew his knife and +crept down on the fighters. It was too good an opportunity to pay off +the Mexican. +</p> + +<p> +But Thrackles interfered sharply. +</p> + +<p> +"Come off!" he commanded. "None o' that!" +</p> + +<p> +"Go to hell!" growled the Nigger. +</p> + +<p> +A great rage fell on them all, blind and terrible, like that leading +to the slaughter of the seals. They fought indiscriminately, hitting +at each other with fists and knives. It was difficult to tell who was +against whom. The sound of heavy breathing, dull blows, the tear of +cloth; and grunts of punishment received; the swirl of the sand, the +heave of struggling bodies, all riveted my attention, so that I did +not see Captain Ezra Selover until he stood almost at my elbow. +"Stop!" he shrieked in his high, falsetto voice. +</p> + +<p> +And would you believe it, even through the blood haze of their combat +the men heard him, and heeded. They drew reluctantly apart, got to +their feet, stood looking at him through reeking brows half submissive +and half defiant. The bull-headed Thrackles even took a half step +forward, but froze in his tracks when Old Scrubs looked at him. +</p> + +<p> +"I hire you men to fight when I tell you to, and only then," said the +captain sternly. "What does this mean?" +</p> + +<p> +He menaced them one after another with his eyes, and one after another +they quailed. All their plottings, their threats, their dangerousness +dissipated like mist before the command of this one resolute man. +These pirates who had seemed so dreadful to me, now were nothing more +than cringing schoolboys before their master. +</p> + +<p> +And then suddenly to my horror I, watching closely, saw the captain's +eye turn blank. I am sure the men must have felt the change, though +certainly they were too far away to see it, for they shifted by ever +so little from their first frozen attitude. The captain's hand sought +his pocket, and they froze again, but instead of the expected +revolver, he produced a half-full brandy bottle. +</p> + +<p> +The change in his eyes had crept into his features. They had turned +foolishly amiable, vacant, confiding. +</p> + +<p> +"'llo boys," said he appealingly, "you good fellowsh, ain't you? Have +a drink. 'S good stuff. Good ol' bottl'," he lurched, caught himself, +and advanced toward them, still with the empty smile. +</p> + +<p> +They stared at him for ten seconds, quite at a loss. Then: +</p> + +<p> +"By God, he's drunk!" Handy Solomon breathed, scarcely louder than +a whisper. +</p> + +<p> +There was no other signal given. They sprang as with a single impulse. +One instant I saw clear against the waning daylight the bulky, +foolish-swaying form of Captain Selover: the next it had disappeared, +carried down and obliterated by the rush of attacking bodies. Knives +gleamed ruddy in the sunset. There was no struggle. I heard a deep +groan. Then the murderers rose slowly to their feet. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-13">XIII</a></h2> + +<h3>I MAKE MY ESCAPE</h3> + +<p> +I had plenty of time to run away. I do not know why I did not do so; +but the fact stands that I remained where I was until they had +finished Captain Selover. Then I took to my heels, but was soon +cornered. I drew my revolver, remembered that I had emptied it in the +seal cave--and had time for no more coherent mental processes. A +smothering weight flung itself on me, against which I struggled as +hard as I could, shrinking in anticipation from the thirsty plunge +of the knives. However, though the weight increased until further +struggle was impossible, I was not harmed, and in a few moments found +myself, wrists and ankles tied, beside a roaring fire. While I +collected myself I heard the grate of a boat being shoved off from +the cove, and a few moments later made out lights aboard the <i>Laughing +Lass</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The looting party returned very shortly. Their plundering had gone +only as far as liquor and arms. Thrackles let down from the cliff top +a keg at the end of a line. Perdosa and the Nigger each carried an +armful of the 30-40 rifles. The keg was rolled to the fire and +broached. +</p> + +<p> +The men got drunk, wildly drunk, but not helplessly so. A flame +communicated itself to them through the liquor. The ordinary +characteristics of their composition sprung into sharper relief. The +Nigger became more sullen; Perdosa more snake-like; Pulz more +viciously evil; Thrackles more brutal; while Handy Solomon staggering +from his seat to the open keg and back again, roaring fragments of +a chanty, his red headgear contrasting with his smoky black hair and +his swarthy hook-nosed countenance--he needed no further touch. +</p> + +<p> +Their evil passions were all awake, and the plan, so long indefinite, +developed like a photographer's plate. +</p> + +<p> +"That's one," said Thrackles. "One gone to hell." +</p> + +<p> +"And now the diamonds," muttered Pulz. +</p> + +<p> + "There's a ship upon the windward, a wreck upon the lee, + <i>Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e</i>," +</p> + +<p> +roared Handy Solomon. "Damn it all, boys, it's the best night's work +we ever did. The stuff's ours. Then it's me for a big stone house in +Frisco O!" +</p> + +<p> +"Frisco, hell," sneered Pulz, "that's all you know. You ought to +travel. Paris for me and a little gal to learn the language from." +</p> + +<p> +"I get heem a fine <i>caballo</i>, an' fine saddle, an' fine clo's," +breathed Perdosa sentimentally. "I ride, and the silver jingle, and +the <i>señorita</i> look----" +</p> + +<p> +Thrackles was for a ship and the China trade. +</p> + +<p> +"What you want, Doctor?" they demanded of the silent Nigger. +</p> + +<p> +But the Nigger only rolled his eyes and shook his head. By and by he +arose and disappeared in the dusk and was no more seen. +</p> + +<p> +"Dam' fool," muttered Handy Solomon. "Well, here's to crime!" +</p> + +<p> +He drank a deep cup of the raw rum, and staggered back to his seat +on the sands. +</p> + +<p> + "'I am not a man-o'-war, nor a privateer,' said he. + <i>Blow high, blow low! What care we</i>! + 'But I am a jolly pirate and I'm sailing for my fee,' + <i>Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e</i>." +</p> + +<p> +he sang. "We'll land in Valparaiso and we'll go every man his way; +and we'll sink the old <i>Laughing Lass</i> so deep the mermaids can't +find her." +</p> + +<p> +Thrackles piled on more wood and the fire leaped high. +</p> + +<p> +"Let's get after 'em,' said he. +</p> + +<p> +"To-morrow's jes' 's good," muttered Pulz. "Les' hav' 'nother drink." +</p> + +<p> +"We'll stay here 'n see if our ol' frien' Percy don' show up," said +Handy Solomon. He threw back his head and roared forth a volume of +sound toward the dim stars. +</p> + +<p> + "Broadside to broadside the gallant ships did lay, + <i>Blow high, blow low! What care we</i>? + 'Til the jolly man-o'-war shot the pirate's mast away, + <i>Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e</i>." +</p> + +<p> +I saw near me a live coal dislodged from the fire when Thrackles had +thrown on the armful of wood. An idea came to me. I hitched myself +to the spark, and laid across it the rope with which my wrists were +tied. This, behind my back, was not easy to accomplish, and twice I +burned my wrists before I succeeded. +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately I was at the edge of illumination, and behind the group. +I turned over on my side so that my back was toward the fire. Then +rapidly I cast loose my ankle lashings. Thus I was free, and selecting +a moment when universal attention was turned toward the rum barrel, +I rolled over a sand dune, got to my hands and knees, and crept away. +</p> + +<p> +Through the coarse grass I crept thus, to the very entrance of the +arroyo, then rose to my feet. In the middle distance the fire leaped +red. Its glow fell intermittently on the surges rolling in. The men +staggered or lay prone, either as gigantic silhouettes or as +tatterdemalions painted by the light. The keg stood solid and +substantial, the hub about which reeled the orgy. At the edge of the +wash I could make out something prone, dim, limp, thrown constantly +in new positions of weariness as the water ebbed and flowed beneath +it, now an arm thrown out, now cast back, as though Old Scrubs slept +feverishly. The drunkards were getting noisy. Handy Solomon still +reeled off the verses of, his song. The others joined in, frightfully +off the key; or punctuated the performance by wild staccato yells. +</p> + +<p> + "Their coffin was their ship and their grave it was the sea, + <i>Blow high, blow low! What care we</i>? + And the quarter that we gave them was to sink them in the sea, + <i>Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e,</i>" +</p> + +<p> +bellowed Handy Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +I turned and plunged into the cool darkness of the cañon. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-14">XIV</a></h2> + +<h3>AN ADVENTURE IN THE NIGHT</h3> + +<p> +Ten seconds after entering the arroyo I was stumbling along in an +absolute blackness. It almost seemed to me that I could reach out my +hands and touch it, as one would touch a wall. Or perhaps not exactly +that, for a wall is hard, and this darkness was soft and yielding, +in the manner of enveloping hangings. Directly above me was a narrow, +jagged, and irregular strip of sky with stars. I splashed in the +brook, finding its waters strangely warm, rustled through the grasses, +my head back, chin out, hands extended as one makes his way through +a house at night. There were no sounds except the tinkle of the +sulphurous stream: successive bends in the cañon wall had shut off +even the faintest echoes of the bacchanalia on the beach. +</p> + +<p> +The way seemed much longer than by daylight. Already in my calculation +I had traversed many times the distance, when, with a jump at the +heart, I made out a glow ahead, and in front of it the upright logs +of the stockade. +</p> + +<p> +To my surprise the gate was open. I ascended the gentle slope to the +valley's level--and stumbled over a man lying prostrate, shivering +violently, and moaning. +</p> + +<p> +I bent over to discover whom it might be. As I did so a brilliant +light seemed to fill the valley, throwing an illumination on the man +at my feet. I saw it was the Nigger, and perceived at the same instant +that he was almost beside himself with terror. His eyes rolled, his +teeth chattered, his frame contracted in a strong convulsion, and the +black of his complexion had faded to a washed-out dirty grey, +revolting to contemplate. He felt my touch and sprang to his feet, +clutching me by the shoulder as a man clutching rescue. +</p> + +<p> +"My Gawd!" he shivered. "Look! Dar it is again!" +</p> + +<p> +He fell to pattering in a tongue unknown to me--charms, spells, +undoubtedly, to exorcise the devils that had hold of him. I followed +the direction of his gaze, and myself cried out. +</p> + +<p> +The doctor's laboratory stood in plain sight between the two columns +of steam blown straight upward through the stillness of the evening. +It seemed bursting with light. Every little crack leaked it in +generous streams, while the main illumination appeared fairly to bulge +the walls outward. This was in itself nothing extraordinary, and +indicated only the activity of those within, but while I looked an +irregular patch of incandescence suddenly splashed the cliff opposite. +For a single instant the very substance of the rock glowed white hot; +then from the spot a shower of spiteful flakes shot as from a +pyrotechnic, and the light was blotted out as suddenly as it came. +At the same moment it appeared at another point, exhibited the same +phenomena, died, flashed out at still a third place, and so was +repeated here and there with bewildering rapidity until the walls of +the valley crackled and spat sparks. Abruptly the darkness fell. +</p> + +<p> +As abruptly it was broken again by a similar exhibition; only this +time the fire was blue. Blue was followed by purple, purple by red. +Then ensued the briefest possible pause, in which a figure moved +across the bars of light escaping through the chinks of the +laboratory, and then the whole valley blazed with patches of +vari-coloured fire. It was not a reflection: it was actual physical +conflagration of the solid rock, in irregular areas. Some of the fire +shapes were most fantastic. And with the unexpectedness of a bursting +shell the surface of the ground before our feet crackled into a +ghastly blue flame. +</p> + +<p> +The Nigger uttered a cry in his throat and disappeared. I felt a sharp +breath on my neck, an ejaculation of surprise at my very ear. It was +startling enough to scare the soul out of a man, but I held fast and +was just about to step forward, when my collar was twisted tight from +behind. I raised both hands, felt steel, and knew that I was in the +grasp of Handy Solomon's claw. +</p> + +<p> +The sailor had me foul. I did my best to twist around, to unbutton +the collar, but in vain. I felt my wind leaving me, the ghastly blue +light was shot with red. Distinctly I heard the man's sharp intaken +breath as some new phenomenon met his eye, and his great oath as he +swore. "By the mother of God!" he cried, "it's the devil." +</p> + +<p> +Then I was jerked off my feet, and the next I knew I was lying on my +back, very wet, on the beach; the day was breaking, and the men, quite +sober, were talking vehemently. +</p> + +<p> +It was impossible to make out what they said, but as Handy Solomon +and the Nigger were the centre of discussion, I could imagine the subject. +I felt very stiff and sore and hazy in my mind. My neck was lame from +the dragging and my tongue dry from the choking. For some time I lay +in a half-torpor watching the lilac of dawn change to the rose of +sunrise, utterly indifferent to everything. They had thrown me down +across the first rise of the little sand dunes back of the tide sands, +and from it I could at once look out over the sea full of the restless +shadows of dawn, and the land narrowing to the mouth of the arroyo. +I remember wondering whether Captain Selover were up yet. Then with +a sharp stab at the heart I remembered. +</p> + +<p> +The thought was like a dash of cold water in clearing my faculties. +I raised my head. Seaward a white gull had caught the first rays of +the sun beyond the cliffs. Landward--I saw with a choke in my throat--a +figure emerging from the arroyo. +</p> + +<p> +At the sight I made a desperate attempt to move, but with the effort +discovered that I was again bound. My stirring thus called Pulz's +attention. Before I could look away he had followed the direction of +my gaze. The discussion instantly ceased. They waited in grim silence. +</p> + +<p> +I did not know what to do. Percy Darrow, carrying some sort of large +book, was walking rapidly toward us. Perdosa had disappeared. +Thrackles after an instant came and sat beside me and clapped his big +hand over my mouth. It was horrible. +</p> + +<p> +When within a hundred paces or so, I could see that Darrow laboured +under some great excitement. His usual indifferent saunter had, as +I have indicated, given way to a firm and decided step; his ironical +eye glistened; his sallow cheek glowed. +</p> + +<p> +"Boys," he shouted cheerfully. "The time's up. We've succeeded. We'll +sail just as soon as the Lord'll let us get ready. Rustle the stuff +aboard. The doctor'll be down in a short time, and we ought to be +loaded by night." +</p> + +<p> +Handy Solomon and Pulz laid hand on two of the rifles near by and +began surreptitiously to fill their magazines. The Nigger shook his +knife free of the scabbard and sat with it in his left hand, concealed +by his body. I could feel Thrackles's muscles stiffen. Another fifty +paces and it would be no longer necessary to stop my mouth. +</p> + +<p> +The thought made me desperate. I had failed as a leader of these men, +and I had been forced to stand by at debauching, cruel, and murderous +affairs, but now it is over I thank Heaven the reproach cannot be made +against me that at any time I counted the consequences to myself. +Thrackles's hand lay heavy across my mouth. I bit it to the bone, and +as he involuntarily snatched it away, I rolled over toward the sea. +</p> + +<p> +Thus for an instant I had my mouth free. "Run! Run!" I shouted. "For +God's sake----" +</p> + +<p> +Thrackles leaped upon me and struck me heavily upon the mouth, then +sprang for a rifle. I managed to struggle back to the dune, whence +I could see. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-15">XV</a></h2> + +<h3>FIVE HUNDRED YARDS' RANGE</h3> + +<p> +Percy Darrow, with the keenness that always characterised his mental +apprehension, had understood enough of my strangled cry. He had not +hesitated nor delayed for an explanation, but had turned track and +was now running as fast as his long legs would carry him back toward +the opening of the ravine. My companions stood watching him, but making +no attempt either to shoot or to follow. For a moment I could not +understand this, then remembered the disappearance of Perdosa. My +heart jumped wildly, for the Mexican had been gone quite long enough +to have cut off the assistant's escape. I could not doubt that he +would pick off his man at close range as soon as the fugitive should +have reached the entrance to the arroyo. +</p> + +<p> +There can be no question that he would have done so had not his +Mexican impatience betrayed him. He shot too soon. Percy Darrow +stopped in his tracks. Although we heard the bullet sing by us, for +an instant we thought he was hit. Then Perdosa fired a second time, +again without result. Darrow turned sharp to the left and began desperately +to scale the steep cliffs. +</p> + +<p> +I once took part in a wild boar hunt on the coast of California. Our +dogs had penned a small band at the head of a narrow <i>barranca</i>, +from which a single steep trail led over the hill. We, perched on +another hill some three or four hundred yards away, shot at the +animals as they toiled up the trail. The range was long, but we had +time, for the severity of the climb forced the boars to a foot pace. +</p> + +<p> +It was exactly like that. Percy Darrow had two hundred feet of ascent +to make. He could go just so fast; must consume just so much time in +his snail-like progress up the face of the hill. During that time he +furnished an excellent target, and the loose sandstone showed where +each shot struck. +</p> + +<p> +A significant indication was that the men did not take the trouble +to get nearer, for which manoeuvre they would have had time in plenty, +but distributed themselves leisurely for a shooting match. +</p> + +<p> +"First shot," claimed Handy Solomon, and without delay fired off-hand. +A puff of dust showed to the right. "Nerve no good," he commented, +"jerked her just as I pulled." +</p> + +<p> +Pulz fired from the knee. The dust this time puffed below. +</p> + +<p> +"Thought she'd carry up at that distance," he muttered. +</p> + +<p> +The Nigger, too, missed, and Thrackles grinned triumphantly. +</p> + +<p> +"I get a show," said he. He spread his massive legs apart, drew a deep +breath, and raised his weapon. It lay in his grasp steady as a log, +and I saw that Percy Darrow's fate was in the hands of that dangerous +class of natural marksman that possesses no nerves. But for the second +time my teeth saved his life. The trigger guard slipped against +Thrackles's lacerated hand almost at the instant of discharge. He +missed; and the bullet went wide. +</p> + +<p> +Darrow had climbed a matter of twenty feet. +</p> + +<p> +Now the seamen distributed themselves for more leisurely and accurate +marksmanship. Handy Solomon lay flat on his stomach, resting the rifle +muzzle across the top of a sand dune. Pulz sat down, an elbow on +either knee for the greater steadiness. The Nigger knelt; but +Thrackles remained on his feet. No rest could be steadier than the +stone-like rigidity of his thick arms. +</p> + +<p> +The firing now became miscellaneous. No one paid any attention to +anyone else. Each discovered what I could have told them, that even +the human figure at five hundred yards is a small mark for a strange +rifle. The constant correction of elevation, however, brought the +puffs of dust always closer, and I could not but realise that the +doctrine of chances must bring home some of the bullets. I soon +discovered by way of comfort that only Thrackles and Handy Solomon +really understood firearms; and of those two Thrackles alone had had +much experience at long range. He told me afterward he had hunted +otter. +</p> + +<p> +About halfway up the cliff Thrackles fired his fifth shot. No dust +followed the discharge; and I saw Percy Darrow stagger and almost lose +his hold. The men yelled savagely, but the assistant pulled himself +together and continued his crawling. +</p> + +<p> +The sun had been shining in our faces. I could imagine its blurring +effect on the sights. Now abruptly it was blotted out, and a +semi-twilight fell. We all looked up, in spite of ourselves. An opaque +veil had been drawn quite across the heavens, through which we could +not make out even the shape of the sun. It was like a thunder cloud +except that its under surface instead of being the usual grey-black +was a deep earth-brown. As we looked up, a deep bellow stirred the air, +which had fallen quite still, long forks of lightning shot +horizontally from the direction of the island's interior, and flashes +of dull red were reflected from the canopy of cloud. +</p> + +<p> +The men stared with their mouths open. Undoubtedly the change had been +some time in preparation, but all had been so absorbed in the affair +of the doctor's assistant that no one had noticed. It came to our +consciousness with the suddenness of a theatrical change. A dull +roaring commenced, grew in volume, and then a great explosion shook +the very ground under our feet. +</p> + +<p> +We stared at each other, our faces whitening. +</p> + +<p> +"What kind of hell has broke loose?" muttered Pulz. +</p> + +<p> +The Nigger fell flat on his face, uttering deep lamentations. +</p> + +<p> +"Voodoo! Voodoo!" he groaned. +</p> + +<p> +A gentle shower of white flakes began, powdering the surface of +everything. Far out to sea we could make out the sun on the water. +Gradually the roaring died down; the lightning ceased. Comparative +peace ensued. We looked again toward the cliff. Percy Darrow had not +for one instant ceased to climb. He was just topping the edge of the +bluff. Handy Solomon, with a cry of rage, seized another rifle and +emptied the magazine at him as fast as the lever could be worked. The +dust flew wild in a half dozen places. Darrow drew himself up to the +sky line, raised his hat ironically, and disappeared. +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="illp186.jpg"><img src="illp186_th.jpg" alt="The firing now became miscellaneous. No one paid any attention to any one else."></a> +</p> + +<p> +"Damn his soul!" cried Handy Solomon, his face livid. He threw his +rifle to the beach and danced on it in an ecstasy of rage. +</p> + +<p> +"What do we care," growled Thrackles, "he's no good to us. W'at I want +to know is, wat's up here, anyhow!" +</p> + +<p> +"Didn't you never see a volcano go off, you swab?" snapped Handy +Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +"Easy with your names, mate. No, I never did. We better get out." +</p> + +<p> +"Without the chest?" +</p> + +<p> +"S'pose we go up the gulch and get it, then," suggested Thrackles. +</p> + +<p> +But at this Handy Solomon drew back in evident terror. +</p> + +<p> +"Up that hole of hell?" he objected. "Not I. You an' Pulz go." +</p> + +<p> +They wrangled over it, Pulz joining. Perdosa, shaken to the soul, +crept in, and made a bee-line for the rum barrel. He and the Nigger +were frankly scared. They had the nervous jumps at every little noise +or unexpected movement; and even the natural explanation of these +phenomena gave them very little reassurance. I knew that Darrow would +hurry as fast as he could back to the valley by way of the upper +hills; I knew that he had there several sporting rifles; and I hoped +greatly that he and Dr. Schermerhorn might accomplish something before +the men had recovered their wits to the point of foreseeing his +probable attack. The uncanny cloud in the heavens, the weird +half-light, and the explosions, which now grew more frequent, had +their strong effect in spite of explanation. The men were not really +afraid to venture in quest of the supposed treasure; but they were in +a frame of mind that dreaded the first plunge. And time was going by. +</p> + +<p> +But the fates were against us, as always in this ill-starred voyage. +I, watching from my sand dune, saw a second figure emerge from the +arroyo's mouth. It appeared to stagger as though hurt; and every eight +or ten paces it stopped and rested in a bent-over position. The murky +light was too dim for me to make out details; but after a moment a +rift in the veil enabled me to identify Dr. Schermerhorn carrying, +with great difficulty, the chest. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-16">XVI</a></h2> + +<h3>THE MURDER</h3> + +<p> +I took no chances, but began at once to shout, as soon as I saw the men +had noticed his coming. It was impossible for me to tell whether or not +Dr. Schermerhorn heard me. If he did, he misunderstood my intention, for +he continued painfully to advance. The only result I gained was to get +myself well gagged with my own pocket handkerchief, and thrown in a hollow +between the dunes. Thence I could hear Handy Solomon speaking fiercely and +rapidly. +</p> + +<p> +"Now you let me run this," he commanded; "we got to find out somethin'. It +ain't no good to us without we knows--and we want to find out how he's got +the rest hid." +</p> + +<p> +They assented. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm goin' out to help him carry her in," announced the seaman. +</p> + +<p> +A long pause ensued, in which I watched the deep canopy of red-black +thicken overhead. A strange and unearthly light had fallen on the world, +and the air was quite still. After a while I heard Handy Solomon and Dr. +Schermerhorn join the group. +</p> + +<p> +"There you are, Perfessor," cried Handy Solomon, in tones of the greatest +heartiness, "I'll put her right there, and she'll be as safe as a babby at +home. She's heavy, though." +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Schermerhorn laughed a pleased and excited laugh. I could tell by the +tone of his voice that he was strung high, and guessed that his triumph +needed an audience. +</p> + +<p> +"You may say so well!" he said. "It iss heafy; and it iss heafy with the +world-desire, the great substance than can do efferything. Where iss +Percy?" +</p> + +<p> +"He's gone aboard." +</p> + +<p> +"We must embark. The time is joost right. A day sooner and the egsperiment +would haf been spoilt; but now"--he laughed--"let the island sink, we do +not care. We must embark hastily." +</p> + +<p> +"It'll take a man long time to carry down all your things, Perfessor." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, led them go! The eruption has alretty swallowed them oop. The lava +iss by now a foot deep in the valley. Before long it flows here, so we +must embark." +</p> + +<p> +"But you've lost all them vallyable things, Perfessor," said Handy +Solomon. "Now, I call that hard luck." +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Schermerhorn snapped his fingers. +</p> + +<p> +"They do not amoundt to that!" he cried. "Here, here, in this leetle box +iss all the treasure! Here iss the labour of ten years! Here iss the +<i>Laughing Lass</i>, and the crew, and all the equipmendt comprised. Here iss +the world!" +</p> + +<p> +"I'm a plain seaman, Perfessor, and I suppose I got to believe you; but +she's a main small box for all that." +</p> + +<p> +"With that small box you can haf all your wishes," asserted the Professor, +still in the German lyric strain over his triumph. "It iss the box of +enchantments. You haf but to will the change you would haf taig place--it +iss done. The substance of the rocks, the molecule--all!" +</p> + +<p> +"Could a man make diamonds?" asked Pulz abruptly. I could hear the sharp +intake of the men's breathing as they hung on the reply. +</p> + +<p> +"Much more wonderful changes than that it can accomplish," replied the +doctor, with an indulgent laugh. "That change iss simple. Carbon iss coal; +carbon iss diamond. You see? One has but to change the form, not the +substance." +</p> + +<p> +"Then it'll change coal to diamonds?" asked Handy Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, you gather my meanings--" +</p> + +<p> +I heard a sharp squeak like a terrified mouse. Then a long, dreadful +silence; then two dull, heavy blows, spaced with deliberation. A moment +later I caught a glimpse of Handy Solomon bent forward to the labour of +dragging a body toward the sea, his steel claw hooked under the angle of +the jaw as a man handles a fish. Pulz came and threw off my bonds and gag. +</p> + +<p> +"Come along!" said he. +</p> + +<p> +All kept looking fearfully toward the arroyo. A dense white steam marked +its course. The air was now heavy with portent. Successive explosions, +some light, some severe, shook the foundations of the island. Great rocks +and boulders bounded down the hills. The flashes of lightning had become +more frequent. We moved, exaggerated to each other's vision by the strange +light, uncouth and gigantic. +</p> + +<p> +"Let's get out of this!" cried Thrackles. +</p> + +<p> +We turned at the word and ran, Thrackles staggering under the weight of +the chest. All our belongings we abandoned, and set out for the <i>Laughing +Lass</i> with only the tatters in which we stood. Luckily for us a great part +of the ship's stores had been returned to her hold after the last thorough +scrubbing, so we were in subsistence, but all our clothes, all our +personal belongings, were left behind us on the beach. For after once we +had topped the cliff that led over to the cove, I doubt if any +consideration on earth would have induced us to return to that accursed +place. +</p> + +<p> +The row out to the ship was wet and dangerous. Seismic disturbances were +undoubtedly responsible for high pyramidic waves that lifted and fell +without onward movement. We fairly tumbled up out of the dory, which we +did not hoist on deck, but left at the end of the painter to beat her +sides against the ship. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-17">XVII</a></h2> + +<h3>THE OPEN SEA</h3> + +<p> +Our haste, however, availed us little, for there was no wind at all. We +lay for over two hours under the weird light, over-canopied by the red- +brown cloud, while the explosions shook the foundations of the world. +Nobody ventured below. The sails flapped idly from the masts: the blocks +and spars creaked: the three-cornered waves rose straight up and fell +again as though reaching from the deep. +</p> + +<p> +When the men first began to sweat the sails up, evidently in preparation +for an immediate departure, I objected vehemently. +</p> + +<p> +"You aren't going to leave him on the island," I cried. "He'll die of +starvation." +</p> + +<p> +They did not answer me; but after a little more, when my expostulations +had become more positive, Handy Solomon dropped the halliard, and drew me +to one side. +</p> + +<p> +"Look here, you," he snarled, "you'd better just stow your gab. You're +lucky to be here yourself, let alone botherin' your thick head about +anybody else, and you can kiss the Book on that! Do you know why you ain't +with them carrion?" He jerked his thumb toward the beach. "It's because +Solomon Anderson's your friend. Thrackles would have killed you in a +minute 'count of his bit hand. I got you your chance. Now don't you be a +fool, for I ain't goin' to stand between you and them another time. +Besides, he won't last long if that volcano keeps at it." +</p> + +<p> +He left me. Whatever truth lay in his assumption of friendship, and I +doubted there existed much of either truth or friendship in him, I saw the +common sense of his advice. I was in no position to dictate a course of +action. +</p> + +<p> +After the sails were on her we gathered at the starboard rail to watch the +shore. There the hills ran into inky blackness, as the horizon sometimes +merges into a thunder squall. A dense white steam came from the creek bed +within the arroyo. The surges beat on the shore louder than the ordinary, +and the foam, even in these day hours, seemed to throw up a faint +phosphorescence. Frequent earthquakes oscillated the landscape. We +watched, I do not know for what, our eyes straining into the murk of the +island. Nobody thought of the chest, which lay on the cabin table aft. I +contributed maliciously my bit to their fear. +</p> + +<p> +"These volcanic islands sometimes sink entirely," I suggested, "and in +that case we'd be carried down by the suction." +</p> + +<p> +It was intended merely to increase their uneasiness, but, strangely +enough, after a few moments it ended by imposing itself on my own fears. I +began to be afraid the island would sink, began to watch for it, began to +share the fascinated terror of these men. +</p> + +<p> +The suspense after a time became unbearable, for while the portent-- +whether physical or moral we were too far under its influence to +distinguish--grew momentarily, our own souls did not expand in due +correspondence. We talked of towing, of kedging out, of going to any +extreme, even to small boats. Then just as we were about to move toward +some accomplishment, a new phenomenon chained our attention to the shore. +</p> + +<p> +In the mouth of the arroyo appeared a red glow. A moment later a wave of +lava, white-hot, red, iridescent, cooling to a black crust cracked in +incandescence, rolled majestically out over the grassy plain. Each instant +it grew in volume, until the ravine must have been flowing half full. +</p> + +<p> +Before its scorching the grasses even at the edge of the sea were smoking, +and our camp had already burst into flames. We had to shield our faces +against the heat, and the wooden railing under our hands was growing warm. +</p> + +<p> +Pulz turned an ashy countenance toward us. +</p> + +<p> +"My God," he screamed. "What's going to happen when she hits the sea?" +</p> + +<p> +She hit the sea, and immediately a great cloud of steam arose, and the +hissing as of a thousand serpents. We felt the strong suction under our +keel, and staggered under the jerk of the ship's cable as she swung toward +the beach. The paint was beginning to crackle along the rail. We could see +nothing for the scalding white veil that enveloped us; we could hear +nothing for the roar of steam, the bombardment of explosions, and the +crash of thunder; but our nostrils were assaulted by a most unearthly +medley of smells. +</p> + +<p> +"Hell's loose," growled Thrackles. +</p> + +<p> +We were clinging hard as the ship reeled. Huge surges were racing in from +seaward, growing larger with each successive billow. +</p> + +<p> +Handy Solomon raised his head, listened intently, and struck his forehead. +</p> + +<p> +"Wind," he screamed at the top of his voice, and jumped for the halliards. +</p> + +<p> +Thrackles followed him, but no one else moved. In an instant the two were +back, striking and kicking savagely, rousing their companions to the +danger. We all laid into the canvas like mad, and in no time had snugged +down to a staysail and the peak of our mainsail. Thrackles drew his knife +and jumped for the cable, while Handy Solomon, his eyes snapping, seized +the wheel. +</p> + +<p> +We finished just in time. I was turning away after tying the last gasket +on the foresail, when the deck up-ended and tipped me headforemost into +the starboard scupper. At the same time a smother of salt water blew over +the port rail, now far above me, to drench me as thoroughly as though I +had fallen overboard. I brushed out my eyes to find the ship smack on her +beam ends, and the wind howling by from the sea. +</p> + +<p> +I had company enough in the scuppers. Only Handy Solomon clung desperately +to the wheel, jamming his weight to port in the hope she might pay up: +Thrackles, too, his eye squinted along some bearing of his own, was +waiting for her to drag. Presently it became evident that she was doing +so, whereupon he drew his knife across our hawser. +</p> + +<p> +"My God," chattered Pulz at my ear. "If we go ashore--" +</p> + +<p> +He did not need to finish. Unless the <i>Laughing Lass</i> could recover before +the squall had driven her to leeward a scant half mile, we should be +cooked alive in the boiling cauldron at the shore's edge. +</p> + +<p> +For an interminable time, as it seemed to me, we lay absolutely +motionless. The scene is stamped indelibly on my memory--the bulwarks high +above me, the steep, sleek deck, the piratical figure tense at the wheel, +the snarling water racing from beneath us, the lurid glow to landward +crawling up on us inch by inch like a hungry wild beast. Then almost +imperceptibly the brave schooner righted. The strained lines on Handy +Solomon's carven features relaxed little by little. Thrackles, staring +over the side, let out a mighty roar. +</p> + +<p> +"Steerage way," he shouted, and executed an awkward clog dance on the +reeling deck. +</p> + +<p> +She moved forward, there was no doubt of that, for gradually we were +eating toward the wind--but we made considerable leeway as well. Handy +Solomon, taut as the weather rigging, took his little advantages one by +one like precious gifts. Light there was none; the land was blotted out by +the steam and murk which had crept to sea and now was hurled back by the +wind. All we could do was to hang there, tasting the copper of excitement, +waiting for these different forces to adjust themselves. Inch by inch we +crept forward: foot by foot we made leeway. The intensest of the lava glow +worked its way from directly abeam to the quarter. By this we knew we must +be nearly opposite the cove. At once a new doubt sprang up in our minds. +</p> + +<p> +A moment ago all the energy of our desires had gone up in the ambition to +avoid being cast on the beach. Now we saw that that was not enough. It was +necessary to squeeze around the point where lay the <i>Golden Horn</i>, in +order to avoid the fate that had overtaken her. Handy Solomon yelled +something at us. We could not hear, but our own knowledge told us what it +must be, and with one accord we turned to on the foresail. With the peak +of it hoisted we moved a trifle faster, though the schooner lay over at a +perilous angle. A moment later the fogs parted to show us the cliffs +looming startlingly near. There were the donkey engine and the works we +had constructed for wrecking--and there beside them, watching us +reflectively, stood Percy Darrow. +</p> + +<p> +For ten minutes we stared at him fascinated, during which time the ship +laboured against the staggering winds, gained and lost in its buffeting +with the great surges. The breakers hurling themselves in wild abandon +against the rocks sent their back-wash of tumbling peaks to our very +bilges. The few remains of the <i>Golden Horn</i>, alternately drenched and +draining, seemed to picture to us our inevitable end. +</p> + +<p> +I think we had all selected the same two points for our "bearings," a rock +and a drop of the cliff bolder than the ordinary. If the rock opened from +the cliff to eastward, we were lost; if it remained stationary, we were at +least holding our own; if it opened out to westward, we were saved. We +watched with a strained eagerness impossible to describe. At each +momentary gain or rebuff we uttered ejaculations. The Nigger mumbled +charms. Every once in a while one of us would snatch a glance to leeward +at the cruel, white waters, the whirl of eddies where the sea was beaten, +only to hurry back to the rock and the point of the cliff whence our +message of safety or destruction was to be flung. Once I looked up. Percy +Darrow was leaning gracefully against a stanchion, watching. His soft hat +was pulled over his eyes; he stroked softly his little moustache; I caught +the white puff of his cigarette. During the moment of my inattention +something happened. A wild shout burst from the men. I whirled, and saw to +my great joy a strip of sky westward between the cliff and the rock. And +at that very instant a billow larger than the ordinary rolled beneath us, +and in the back suction of its passage I could dimly make out cruel, +dangerous rocks lying almost under our keel. + +Slowly we crept away. Our progress seemed infinitesimal, and yet it was +real. In a while we had gained sea room; in a while more we were fairly +under sailing way, and the cliffs had begun to drop from our quarter. With +one accord we looked back. Percy Darrow waved his hand in an indescribably +graceful and ironic gesture; then turned square on his heel and sauntered +away to the north valley, out of the course of the lava. That was the last +I ever saw of him. +</p> + +<p> +As we made our way from beneath the island, the weight of the wind seemed +to lessen. We got the foresail on her, then a standing jib; finally little +by little all her ordinary working canvas. Before we knew it, we were +bowling along under a stiff breeze, and the island was dropping astern. + +From a distance it presented a truly imposing sight. The centre shot +intermittent blasts of ruddy light; explosions, deadened by distance, +still reverberated strongly; the broad canopy of brown-red, split with +lightnings, spread out like a huge umbrella. The lurid gloom that had +enveloped us in the atmosphere apparently of a nether world had given +place to a twilight. Abruptly we passed from it to a sun-kissed, sparkling +sea. The breeze blew sweet and strong; the waves ran untortured in their +natural long courses. +</p> + +<p> +At once the men seemed to throw off the superstitious terror that had +cowed them. Pulz and Thrackles went to bail the extra dory, alongside, +which by a miracle had escaped swamping. The Nigger disappeared in the +galley. Perdosa relieved Handy Solomon at the wheel; and Handy Solomon +came directly over to me. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="2-18">XVIII</a></h2> + +<h3>THE CATASTROPHE</h3> + +<p> +He approached me with a confidence that proclaimed the new leader. A brace +of Colt's revolvers swung from his belt, the tatters of his blood-stained +garments hung about him. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, here we are," he remarked. +</p> + +<p> +I nodded, waiting for what he had to disclose. +</p> + +<p> +"And lucky for you that you're here at all, say I," he continued. "And now +that you're here, w'at are you going to do? That's the question--w'at are +you going to do?" He cocked his head sidewise and looked at me +speculatively as a cat might look at a rather large mouse. "We been a +little rough," he went on after a moment, "and some folks is strait-laced. +There might be trouble. And you know a heap too much." +</p> + +<p> +"What do you want of me?" I demanded. +</p> + +<p> +"It's just this," he returned briskly. "If you'll lay us our course to San +Salvador, we'll let you go as one of us and no questions asked." +</p> + +<p> +"If not?" I inquired. +</p> + +<p> +He shrugged his shoulders. "I leave it to you." +</p> + +<p> +"There's always the sea," I suggested. +</p> + +<p> +"And it's deep," he agreed. +</p> + +<p> +We looked out to the horizon in a diplomatic silence. I did not know +whether to be angry, amused, or alarmed that the man estimated my +cleverness so slightly. Why, the hook was barely concealed, and the bait +of the coarsest. That I would go safe to a sight of San Salvador I did not +doubt: that I would never enter the harbour I was absolutely certain. The +choice offered me was practically whether I preferred being thrown +overboard now or several hundred miles to southeastward. +</p> + +<p> +I thought rapidly. It might be possible to announce a daily false +reckoning to the crew, to sail the ship within rowing distance of some +coast; and then to escape while the men believed themselves many hundred +miles at sea. It would take nice calculation to prevent suspicion, but as +it was the only chance I resolved upon it immediately. +</p> + +<p> +"That's all very well," I said firmly, "but you can't get anywhere without +me, and I'm not going to put in two years and then keep my mouth shut for +nothing. I want a share in the swag--an even share with the rest of you." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, that'll be all right," he cried; "you can have it." +</p> + +<p> +If anything was needed to convince me of the man's sinister intentions, +this too ready acquiescence would have been enough. I knew him too well. +If he had had the slightest intention of permitting me to go free, he +would have bargained. +</p> + +<p> +The Nigger called us to mess. We ate in the after cabin. The chest was +locked and the men had as yet been unable to break into it. Pulz professed +some skill in locksmithing and promised to experiment later. After mess we +went on deck again. The island had dropped down to the horizon and showed +as a brilliant glow under a dark canopy. I leaned over the rail looking at +it. Below me the extra dory bumped along. The idea came to me that if I +could escape that night, I could row back to Percy Darrow. The two of us +could make shift to live on fish and shellfish and mutton. The plan +rapidly defined itself in my brain. From the remains of the <i>Golden Horn</i> +we could construct some kind of a craft in which to run free to the summer +trades. Thus we might in time reach some one or another of the Sandwich +Islands, whence a passing trader could take us back to civilisation. There +were many elements of uncertainty in the scheme, but it seemed to me less +desperate than trusting to the caprices of these men, especially since +they now had free access to the liquor stores. +</p> + +<p> +While I leaned over the rail engrossed in these thoughts, one of the black +thunder clouds that had been gathering and dissipating over the island +during the entire afternoon suddenly glowed overhead with a strange white +incandescence startlingly akin to Darrow's so-called "devil fires." +Strangely enough, this illumination, unlike the volcanic glows, appeared +to be cast on the clouds from without rather than shot through them from +within, as were the other volcanic emanations. At the same instant I +experienced a sharp interior revulsion of some sort, most briefly +momentary, but of a character that shook me from head to toe. +</p> + +<p> +I had no time to analyse these various impressions, however, for my +attention was almost instantly distracted. From the cabin came the sound +of a sharp fall, then a man cried out, and on the heels of it Pulz darted +from the cabin, screaming horribly. We were all on deck, and as the little +man rushed toward the stern Handy Solomon twisted him deftly from his +feet. +</p> + +<p> +"My God, mate, what is it?" he cried, as he pinned the sufferer to the +deck. +</p> + +<p> +But Pulz could not answer. He shivered, stiffened, and lay rigid, his eyes +rolled back. +</p> + +<p> +"Fits," remarked Thrackles impatiently. +</p> + +<p> +The excitement died. Rum was forced between the victim's lips. After a +little he recovered, but could tell us nothing of his seizure. +</p> + +<p> +After the dishes had been swept aside from supper, Handy Solomon announced +a second attempt to open the chest. +</p> + +<p> +"Pancho, here, says he's been a mechanic," said he. "I right well know +he's been a housebreaker. So he's got the <i>sabe</i> for the job, and you can +kiss the Book on that." +</p> + +<p> +Perdosa, with a grin, leaned over the cover from behind and began to pick +away at the lock with a long, crooked wire. The others drew close about. I +slipped nearer the door, imagining that in their riveted interest I saw my +opportunity. To my surprise I caught a glimpse of legs disappearing up the +companion. I took stock. Pulz had gone on deck. +</p> + +<p> +This surprised me, for I should have thought every man interested enough +in the supposed treasure to wish to be present at its uncovering; and it +annoyed me still more--the success of my plan demanded a clear deck. +However, there was nothing for it now but to trust that Pulz had wished to +visit the forecastle, and that I might find the afterworks empty. +</p> + +<p> +I paused at the foot of the companion and looked back. A breathlessness of +excitement held the pirates in a vise. From above, the hanging lamp threw +strong shadows across their faces, bringing out the deep lines, +accentuating the dominant passions. With their rags and blood, their +unshaven faces, their firearms, their filth, they showed in violent +antithesis to the immaculate white of Old Scrubs's cabin, its glittering +brass, and its shining leather. I darted up the steps. +</p> + +<p> +The contrast of the starry night with the glare of the cabin lamp dazzled +my eyes. I stood stock still for a moment, during which the only sounds +audible were the singing of the winds through the rigging, the wash of the +sea, and the small, sharp click of Perdosa's instrument as he worked at +the chest. +</p> + +<p> +Presently I could see better. I looked forward and aft for Pulz, but could +see nothing of him, and had just about concluded that he had gone forward +when I happened to glance aloft. There, to my astonishment, I made him +out, huddled in silhouette against the stars, close to the main truck. +What he was doing there I could not imagine. However, I did not have time +to bother my head about him, further than to rejoice that he could not +obstruct me. +</p> + +<p> +I should very much have liked to get hold of a rifle and ammunition, or at +least to lay in biscuit and water, but for this there was no time. It was +not absolutely essential. The dull glow of the island was still visible. I +had my pillar of fire and smoke to guide me. +</p> + +<p> +Without further delay I jerked loose the painter and drew the extra dory +alongside. +</p> + +<p> +I had proceeded just so far in my movements, when the most extraordinary +thing happened. I shall try to tell you of it as accurately as possible, +and in the exact order of its occurrence. First a long, straight shaft of +white light shot straight up through the cabin roof to a great height. It +shone through the wooden planks as an ordinary light shines through glass. +By contrast the surrounding blackness was thrown into a deeper shade, and +yet the shaft itself was so brilliant as almost to scotch the sight. +Curiously enough, it was defined accurately, being exactly in shape like +one of the rectangular tin air-shafts you see so often in city hotels. At +the instant of its appearance, the wind fell quite calm. +</p> + +<p> +Almost immediately the rectangle on the roof through which the light made +its passage began to splay out, like lighted oil, although the column +retained still the integrity of its outline. The fire, if such it could be +called, ran with incredible rapidity along the seams between the planks, +forward and aft, until the entire deck was sketched like a pyrotechnic +display in thin, vivid lines of incandescence. From each of these lines +then the fire began again to spread, as though soaking through the planks. +</p> + +<p> +All took place practically in an instant of time. I had no opportunity to +move nor to cry out; indeed, my perceptions were inadequate to the task of +mere observation. Up to now there had been no sound. The wind had fallen; +the waters passed unnoticed. A stillness of death seemed to have descended +on the ship. It was broken by a sharp double report, one as of the fall of +a metallic substance, the other caused by the body of Pulz, which, shaken +loose from the truck by a heavy roll, smashed against the rail of the ship +and splashed overboard. Someone cried out sharply. An instant later the +entire crew struggled out from the companionway, rushed in grim silence to +the side of the vessel, and threw themselves into the sea. +</p> + +<p> +My own ideas were somewhat confused. The fire had practically enveloped +the ship. I thought to feel it; and yet my skin was cool to the touch. The +ship's outlines became blurred. A dizziness overtook me; and then all at +once a great desire seized and shook my very soul. I cannot tell you the +vehemence of this desire. It was a madness; nothing could stand in the way +of its gratification. Whatever happened, I must have water. It was not +thirst, nor yet a purpose to allay the very real physical burning of which +I was now dimly conscious; but a craving for the liquid itself as +something apart from and unconnected with anything else. Without +hesitation, and as though it were the most natural thing in the world, I +vaulted the rail to cast myself into the ocean. I dimly remember a last +flying impression of a furnace of light, then a great shock thudded +through me, and I lost consciousness. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2>PART THREE</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>THE MAROON</h3> + +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h2><a name="3-1">I</a></h2> + +<h3>IN THE WARDROOM</h3> + +<p> +Over the wardroom of the <i>Wolverine</i> had fallen a silence. It held after +Slade had finished. Captain Parkinson, stiff and erect in his chair, +staring fixedly at a spot two feet above the reporter's head, seemed to +weigh, as a judge weighs, the facts so picturesquely, set forth. Dr. +Trendon, his sturdy frame half in shadow, had slouched far down into +himself. Only the regard of his keen eyes fixed upon Slade's face, +unwaveringly and a bit anxiously, showed that he was thinking of the +narrator as well as of the narrative. The others had fallen completely +under the spell of the tale. They sat, as children in a theatre, absorbed, +forgetful of the world around them, wrapped in a more vivid element. At +the close, they stirred and blinked, half dazed by the abrupt fall of the +curtain. +</p> + +<p> +Slade had told his story with fire, with something of passion, even. Now +he felt the sharp reflex. He muttered uncertainly beneath his breath and +glanced from one to another of the circled faces. +</p> + +<p> +"That's all," he said unsteadily. +</p> + +<p> +There passed through the group a stir and a murmur. Someone broke into +sharp coughing. Chairs, shoved back, grated on the floor. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, of all the extraordinary--" began a voice, ruminatingly, and broke +short off, as if abashed at its own infraction of the silence. +</p> + +<p> +"That's all," repeated Slade, a note of insistence in his voice. "Why +don't you say something? Confound you, why don't you say something?" His +speech rose husky and cracked. "Don't you believe it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Hold on," said the surgeon quietly. "No need to get excited." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, well," muttered the reporter, with a sudden lapse. "Possibly you +think I'm romancing. It doesn't matter. I don't suppose I'd believe it +myself, in your place." +</p> + +<p> +"But we're heading for the island," suggested Forsythe. +</p> + +<p> +"That's so," cried Slade. "Well, that's all right. Believe or disbelieve +as much as you like. Only get Percy Darrow off that island. Then we'll +have his version. There are a few things I want to find out about, +myself." +</p> + +<p> +"There are several that promise to be fairly interesting," said Forsythe, +under his breath. +</p> + +<p> +Slade turned to the captain. "Have you any questions to put to me, sir?" +he asked formally. +</p> + +<p> +"Just one moment," interrupted Trendon. "Boy, a pony of brandy for Mr. +Slade." +</p> + +<p> +The reporter drank the liquor and again turned to Captain Parkinson. +</p> + +<p> +"Only about our men," said the commanding officer, after a little thought. +</p> + +<p> +Slade shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm sorry I can't help you there, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"Dr. Trendon said that you knew nothing about Edwards." +</p> + +<p> +"Edwards?" repeated Slade inquiringly. His mind, still absorbed in the +events which he had been relating, groped backward. +</p> + +<p> +Trendon came to his aid. "Barnett asked you about him, you remember. It +was when you recovered consciousness. Our ensign. Took over charge of the +<i>Laughing Lass</i>." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, of course. I was a little dazed, I fancy." +</p> + +<p> +"We put Mr. Edwards aboard when we first picked up the deserted schooner," +explained the captain. +</p> + +<p> +"Pardon me," said the other. "My head doesn't seem to work quite right +yet. Just a moment, please." He sat silent, with closed eyes. "You say you +picked up the <i>Laughing Lass</i>. When?" he asked presently. +</p> + +<p> +"Four--five--six days ago, the first time." +</p> + +<p> +"Then you put out the fire." +</p> + +<p> +The circle closed in on Slade, with an unconscious hitching forward of +chairs. He had fixed his eyes on the captain. His mouth worked. Obviously +he was under a tensity of endeavour in keeping his faculties set to the +problem. The surgeon watched him, frowning. +</p> + +<p> +"There was no fire," said the captain. +</p> + +<p> +Slade leaped in his chair. "No fire! But I saw her, I tell you. When I +went overboard she was one living flame!" +</p> + +<p> +"You landed in the small boat. Knocked you senseless," said Trendon. +"Concussion of the brain. Idea of flame might have been a retroactive +hallucination." +</p> + +<p> +"Retroactive rot," cried the other. "I beg your pardon, Dr. Trendon. But +if you'd seen her as I saw her--Barnett!" +</p> + +<p> +He turned in appeal to his old acquaintance. +</p> + +<p> +"There was no fire, Slade," replied the executive officer gently. "No sign +of fire that we could find, except that the starboard rail was blistered." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, that was from the volcano," said Slade. "That was nothing." +</p> + +<p> +"It was all there was," returned Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"Just let me run this thing over," said the free lance slowly. "You found +the schooner. She wasn't afire. She didn't even seem to have been afire. +You put a crew aboard under your ensign, Edwards. Storm separated you from +her. You picked her up again deserted. Is that right?" +</p> + +<p> +"Day before yesterday morning." +</p> + +<p> +"Then," cried the other excitedly, "the fire was smouldering all the time. +It broke out and your men took to the water." +</p> + +<p> +"Impossible," said Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"Fiddlesticks!" said the more downright surgeon. +</p> + +<p> +"I hardly think Mr. Edwards would be driven overboard by a fire which did +not even scorch his ship," suggested the captain mildly. +</p> + +<p> +"It drove our lot overboard," insisted Slade. "Do you think we were a pack +of cowards? I tell you, when that hellish thing broke loose, you had to +go. It wasn't fear. It wasn't pain. It was--What's the use. You can't +explain a thing like that." +</p> + +<p> +"We certainly saw the glow the night Billy Edwards was--disappeared," +mused Forsythe. +</p> + +<p> +"And again, night before last," said the captain. +</p> + +<p> +"What's that!" cried Slade. "Where is the <i>Laughing Lass</i>?" +</p> + +<p> +"I'd give something pretty to know," said Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"Isn't she in tow?" +</p> + +<p> +"In tow?" said Forsythe. "No, indeed. We hadn't adequate facilities for +towing her. Didn't you tell him, Mr. Barnett?" +</p> + +<p> +"Where is she, then?" Slade fired the question at them like a cross- +examiner. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, we shipped another crew under Ives and McGuire that noon. We were +parted again, and haven't seen them since." +</p> + +<p> +"God forgive you!" said the reporter. "After the warnings you'd had, too. +It was--it was--" +</p> + +<p> +"My orders, Mr. Slade," said Captain Parkinson, with quiet dignity. +</p> + +<p> +"Of course, sir. I beg your pardon," returned the other. "But--you say you +saw the light again?" +</p> + +<p> +"The first night they were out," said Barnett, in a low voice. +</p> + +<p> +"Then your second crew is with your first crew," said Slade, shakily. "And +they're with Thrackles, and Pulz and Solomon, and many another black- +hearted scoundrel and brave seaman. Down there!" +</p> + +<p> +He pointed under foot. Captain Parkinson rose and went to his cabin. Slade +rose, too, but his knees were unsteady. He tottered, and but for the swift +aid of Barnett's arm, would have fallen. +</p> + +<p> +"Overdone," said Dr. Trendon, with some irritation. "Cost you something in +strength. Foolish performance. Turn in now." +</p> + +<p> +Slade tried to protest, but the surgeon would not hear of it, and marched +him incontinently to his berth. Returning, Trendon reported, with growls +of discontent, that his patient was in a fever. +</p> + +<p> +"Couldn't expect anything else," he fumed. "Pack of human interrogation +points hounding him all over the place." +</p> + +<p> +"What do you think of his story?" asked Forsythe. +</p> + +<p> +The grizzled surgeon drew out a cigar, lighted it, took three deliberate +puffs, turned it about, examined the ash end with concentration, and +replied: +</p> + +<p> +"Man's telling a straight story." +</p> + +<p> +"You think it's all true?" cried Forsythe. +</p> + +<p> +"Humph!" grunted the other. "<i>He thinks it's all true</i>." +</p> + +<p> +An orderly appeared and knocked at the captain's cabin. +</p> + +<p> +"Beg pardon, sir," they heard him say. "Mr. Carter would like to know how +close in to run. Volcano's acting up pretty bad, sir." +</p> + +<p> +Captain Parkinson went on deck, followed by the rest. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="3-2">II</a></h2> + +<h3>THE JOLLY ROGER</h3> + +<p> +Feeling the way forward, the cruiser was soon caught in a maze of cross +currents. Hither and thither she was borne, a creature bereft of volition. +Order followed order like the rattle of quick-fire, and was obeyed with +something more than the <i>Wolverine's</i> customary smartness. From the bridge +Captain Parkinson himself directed his ship. His face was placid: his +bearing steady and confident. This in itself was sufficient earnest that +the cruiser was in ticklish case. For it was an axiom of the men who +sailed under Parkinson that the calmer that nervous man grew, the more +cause was there for nervousness on the part of others. +</p> + +<p> +The approach was from the south, but suspicious aspects of the water had +fended the cruiser out and around, until now she stood prow-on to a bold +headland at the northwest corner of the island. Above this headland lay a +dark pall of vapour. In the shifting breeze it swayed sluggishly, heavily, +as if riding at anchor like a logy ship of the air. Only once did it show +any marked movement. +</p> + +<p> +"It's spreading out toward us," said Barnett to his fellow officers, +gathered aft. +</p> + +<p> +"Time to move, then," grunted Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +The others looked at him inquiringly. +</p> + +<p> +"About as healthful as prussic acid, those volcanic gases," explained the +surgeon. +</p> + +<p> +The ship edged on and inward. Presently the sing-song of the leadsman +sounded in measured distinctness through the silence. Then a sudden +activity and bustle forward, the rattle of chains, and the <i>Wolverine</i> was +at anchor. The captain came down from the bridge. +</p> + +<p> +"What do you think, Dr. Trendon?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +More explicit inquiry was not necessary. +</p> + +<p> +The surgeon understood what was in his superior's mind. +</p> + +<p> +"Never can tell about volcanoes, sir," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"Of course," agreed the captain. "But--well, do you recognise any of the +symptoms?" +</p> + +<p> +"Want me to diagnose a case of earthquake, sir?" grinned Trendon. "She +might go off to-day, or she might behave herself for a century." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, it's all chance," said the other, cheerfully. "The man <i>might</i> be +alive. At any rate we must do our best on that theory. What do you make of +that cloud on the peak?" +</p> + +<p> +"Poisonous vapours, I suppose. Thought we'd have a chance to make sure +just now. Seemed to be coming right for us. Wind's shifted it since." +</p> + +<p> +"There couldn't be anything alive up there?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not so much as a bug," replied the doctor positively. +</p> + +<p> +"Yet I thought when the vapour lifted a bit that I saw something moving." +</p> + +<p> +"When was that, sir?" +</p> + +<p> +"Ten or fifteen minutes back." +</p> + +<p> +"We'll see soon enough, sir," put in Forsythe. "The wind is driving it +down to the south'ard." +</p> + +<p> +Sullenly, reluctantly, the forbidding mass moved across the headland. All +glasses were bent upon it. Without taking his binocular from his eyes, +Trendon began to ruminate aloud. +</p> + +<p> +"If he could have got to the beach.... No vapour there.... Signal, +though.... Perhaps he hadn't time.... And I'd hate to risk good men on +that hell's cauldron.... Just as much risk here, perhaps. Only it seems--" +</p> + +<p> +"There it is," cried Forsythe. "Look. The highest point." +</p> + +<p> +Dull, gray wisps of murk, the afterguard of the gaseous cloud, were +twisting and spiraling in a witch-dance across the landscape, and, seen by +snatches and glimpses through it, something flapped darkly in the breeze. +Suddenly the veil parted and fled. A flag stood forth in the sharp gust, +rigid, and appalling. It was black. +</p> + +<p> +"The Jolly Roger, by God! They've come back!" exclaimed Forsythe. +</p> + +<p> +"And set up the sign of their shop," added Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"If they stuck to their flag--good-bye," observed Trendon grimly. +</p> + +<p> +"Dr. Trendon," said Captain Parkinson, "you will arm yourself and go with +me in the gig to make a landing." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir," responded the surgeon. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Barnett." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"Should we be overtaken by the vapour while on the highland and be unable +to get back to the beach, you are to send no rescuing party up there until +the air has cleared." +</p> + +<p> +"But, sir, may we not--" +</p> + +<p> +"Do you understand?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"In case of an attack you will at once send in another boat with a +howitzer." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"Dr. Trendon, will you see Mr. Slade and inquire of him the best point for +landing?" +</p> + +<p> +Trendon hesitated. +</p> + +<p> +"I suppose it would hardly do to take him with us?" pursued the commanding +officer. +</p> + +<p> +"If he is roused now, even for a moment, I won't answer for the +consequences, sir," said the surgeon bluntly. +</p> + +<p> +"Surely you can have him point out a landing place," said the captain. +</p> + +<p> +"On your responsibility," returned the other, obstinately. "He's under +opiate now." +</p> + +<p> +"Be it so," said Captain Parkinson, after a time. +</p> + +<p> +Going in, they saw no sign of life along the shore. Even the birds had +deserted it. For the time the volcano seemed to have pretermitted its +activity. Now and again there was a spurtle of smoke from the cone, +followed by subterranean growlings, but, on the whole, the conditions were +reassuring. +</p> + +<p> +"Penny-pop-pinwheel of a volcano, anyhow," remarked Trendon, +disparagingly. "Real man-size eruption would have wiped the whole thing +off the map, first whack." +</p> + +<p> +As they drew in, it became apparent that they must scale the cliff from +the boat. Farther to the south opened out a wide cove that suggested easy +beaching, but over it hung a cloud of steam. +</p> + +<p> +"Lava pouring down," said Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately at the point where the cliff looked easiest the seas ran low. +Ropes had been brought. After some dainty manoeuvring two of the sailors +gained foothold and slung the ropes so that the remainder of the +disembarcation was simple. Nor was the ascent of the cliff a harsh task. +Half an hour after the landing the exploring party stood on the summit of +the hill, where the black flag waved over a scene of utter desolation. The +vegetation was withered to pallid rags: even the tiniest weedling in the +rock crevices had been poisoned by the devastating blast. +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of that deathly scene, the flag seemed instinct with a +sinister liveliness. Whoever had set it there had accurately chosen the +highest available point on that side of the island, the spot of all others +where it would make good its signal to the eye of any chance farer upon +those shipless seas. For the staff a ten-foot sapling, finely polished, +served. A mound of rock-slabs supported it firmly. Upon the cloth itself +was no design. It was of a dull black, the hue of soot. Captain Parkinson, +standing a few yards off, viewed it with disfavour. +</p> + +<p> +"Furl that flag," he ordered. +</p> + +<p> +Congdon, the coxswain of the gig, stepped forward and began to work at the +fastenings. Presently he turned a grinning face to the captain, who was +scanning the landscape through his glass. +</p> + +<p> +"Beggin' your pardon, sir," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, what is it?" demanded Captain Parkinson. +</p> + +<p> +"Beggin' your pardon, sir, that ain't rightly no flag. That's what you +might rightly call a garment, sir. It's an undershirt, beggin' your +pardon." +</p> + +<p> +"Black undershirt's a new one to me," muttered Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +"No, sir. It ain't rightly black, look." +</p> + +<p> +Wrenching the object from its fastenings, he flapped it violently. A cloud +of sooty dust, beaten out, spread about his face. With a strangled cry the +sailor cast the shirt from him and rolled in agony upon the ground. +</p> + +<p> +"You fool!" cried Trendon. "Stand back, all of you." +</p> + +<p> +Opening his medicine case, he bent over the racked sufferer. Presently the +man sat up, pale and abashed. +</p> + +<p> +"That's how poisonous volcanic gas is," said the surgeon to his commanding +officer. "Only inhaled remnants of the dust, too." +</p> + +<p> +"An ill outlook for the man we're seeking," the captain mused. +</p> + +<p> +"Dead if he's anywhere on this highland," declared Trendon. "Let's look at +his flag-pole." +</p> + +<p> +He examined the staff. "Came from the beach," he pronounced. "Waterworn. +H'm! Maybe he ain't so dead, either." +</p> + +<p> +"I don't quite follow you, Dr. Trendon." +</p> + +<p> +"Why, I guess our man has figured this thing all out. Brought this pole up +from the beach to plant it here. Why? Because this was the best +observation point. No good as a permanent residence, though. Planted his +flag and went back." +</p> + +<p> +"Why didn't we see him on the beach, then?" +</p> + +<p> +"Did you notice a cave around to the north? Good refuge in case of fumes." +</p> + +<p> +"It's worth trying," said the captain, putting up his glass. +</p> + +<p> +"Hold on, sir. What's this? Here's something. Look here." +</p> + +<p> +Trendon pointed to a small bit of wood rather neatly carved to the shape +of an indicatory finger, and lashed to the staff, at the height of a man's +face. The others clustered around. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, the devil!" cried Trendon. "It must have got twisted. It's pointing +straight down." +</p> + +<p> +"Strange performance," said the captain. "However, since it points that +way--heave aside those rocks, men." +</p> + +<p> +The first slab lifted brought to light a corner of cardboard. This, on +closer examination, proved to be the cover of a book. The rocks rolled +right and left, and as the flag-staff, deprived of its support, tottered +and fell, the trove was dragged forth and handed to the captain. While the +ground jarred with occasional tremors and the mountain puffed forth its +vaporous threats, he and the surgeon, seated on a rock, gave themselves +with complete absorption to the reading. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="3-3">III</a></h2> + +<h3>THE CACHE</h3> + +<p> +Outwardly the book accorded ill with its surroundings. In that place of +desolation and death, it typified the petty neatness of office processes. +Properly placed, it should have been found on a desk, with pens, rulers, +and other paraphernalia forming exact angles or parallels to it. It was a +quarto, bound in marbled paper, with black leather over the hinges. No +external label suggested its ownership or uses, but through one corner, +blackened and formidable in its contrast to the peaceful purposes of the +volume, a hole had been bored. The agency of perforation was obvious. A +bullet had made it. +</p> + +<p> +"Seen something of life, I reckon," said Trendon, as the captain turned +the volume about slowly in his hands. +</p> + +<p> +"And of death," returned Captain Parkinson solemnly. "Do you know, +Trendon, I almost dread to open this." +</p> + +<p> +"Pshaw!" returned the other. "What is it to us?" +</p> + +<p> +He threw the cover back. Neatly lettered on the inside, in the fine and +slightly angular writing characteristic of the Teutonic scholar, was the +legend: +</p> + +<p> + Karl Augustus Schermerhorn, + 1409-1/2 Spruce Street, + Philadelphia, Pa. +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="illp222.jpg"><img src="illp222_th.jpg" alt="With a strangled cry the sailor cast the shirt from him"></a> +</p> + +<p> +The opposite page was blank. Captain Parkinson turned half a dozen leaves. +</p> + +<p> +"German!" he cried, in a note of disappointment, "Can you read German +script?" +</p> + +<p> +"After a fashion," replied the other. "Let's see. <i>Es wonnte sechs--und-- +dreissig unterjacke</i>," he read. "Why, blast it, was the man running a +haberdashery? What have three dozen undershirts to do with this?" +</p> + +<p> +"A memorandum for outfitting, probably," suggested the captain. "Try +here." +</p> + +<p> +"Chemical formulae," said Trendon. "Pages of 'em. The devil! Can't make a +thing of it." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, here's something in English." +</p> + +<p> +"Good," said the other. "<i>By combining the hyper-sulphate of iridium with +the fumes arising from oxide of copper heated to 1000 C. and combining +with picric acid in the proportions described in formula x 18, a reaction, +the nature of which I have not fully determined, follows. This must be +performed with extreme care owing to the unstable nature of the benzene +compounds.</i>" +</p> + +<p> +"Picric acid? Benzene compounds? Those are high explosives," said Captain +Parkinson. "We should have Barnett go over this." +</p> + +<p> +"Here's a name under the formula. <i>Dr. A. Mardenter, Ann Arbor, Mich</i>. +That explains its being in English. Probably copied from a letter." +</p> + +<p> +"This must have been one of the experiments in the valley that Slade told +us of," said the captain, thoughtfully. "Why, see here," he cried, with +something like exultation. "That's what Dr. Schermerhorn was doing here. +He has the clue to some explosive so terrific that he goes far out of the +world to experiment with its manufacture. For companions he chooses a gang +of cutthroats that the world would never miss in case anything went wrong. +Possibly it was some trial of the finished product that started the +eruption, even. Do you see?" +</p> + +<p> +"Don't explain enough," grunted Trendon. "Deserted ship. Billy Edwards. +Mysterious lights. Slade and his story. Any explosives in those? Good +enough, far as it goes. Don't go far enough." +</p> + +<p> +"It certainly leaves gaps," admitted the other. +</p> + +<p> +He turned over a few more pages. +</p> + +<p> +"Formulas, formulas, formulas. What's this? Here are some marginal +annotations." +</p> + +<p> +"Unbehasslich," read Trendon. "Let's see. That means 'highly +unsatisfactory,' or words to that effect. Hi! Here's where the old man +loses his temper. Listen: <i>'May the devil take Carroll and Crum for +careless'</i>--h'm--well, <i>'pig-dogs.'</i> Now, where do Carroll and Crum come +in?" +</p> + +<p> +"They're a firm of analytical chemists in Washington," said the captain. +"When I was on the ordnance board I used to get their circulars." +</p> + +<p> +"Fits in. What? More English? Worse than the German, this is." +</p> + +<p> +The writing, beginning evenly enough at the top of a page, ran along for a +line or two, then fell, sprawling in huge, ragged characters the full +length. Trendon stumbled among them, indignantly. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>June 1, 1904</i>," he read. "<i>It is done. Triumph</i>. (German word.) <i>Eureka. +Es ist gefillt. From the</i> (can't make out that word) <i>of the +inspiration--god-like power--solution of the world-problems</i>. Why, the +old fool is crazy! And his writing is crazier. Can't make head or tail of +it." +</p> + +<p> +The captain turned several more pages. They were blank. "At any rate, it +seems to be the end," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"I should hope so," returned the other, disgustedly. +</p> + +<p> +He took the book on his knees, fluttering the leaves between thumb and +finger. Suddenly he checked, cast back, and threw the book wide open. +</p> + +<p> +"Here beginneth a new chapter," said he, quietly. +</p> + +<p> +No imaginable chirography could have struck the eye with more of contrast +to the professor's small and nervous hand. Large, rounded, and rambling, +it filled the page with few and careless words. +</p> + +<p> +<i>June 2, 1904. On this date I find myself sole occupant and absolute +monarch of this valuable island. This morning I was a member of a +community, interesting if not precisely peaceful. To-night I am the last +leaf. 'All his lovely companions are faded and gone,' the sprightly +Solomon, the psychic Nigger, the amiable Thrackles, the cheerful Perdosa, +the genial Pulz, and the high-minded Eagen. Undoubtedly the social +atmosphere has cleared; moreover, I am for the first time in my life a +landed proprietor. Item: several square miles of grass land; item: several +dozen head of sheep; item: a cove full of fish; item: a handsomely +decorated cave; item: a sportive though somewhat unruly volcano. At times, +it may be, I shall feel the lack of company. The seagulls alone are not +distrustful of me. Undoubtedly the seagull is an estimable creature, but +he leaves something to be desired in the way of companionship. Hence this +diary, the inevitable refuge of the empty-minded. Materially, I shall do +well enough, though I face one tragic circumstance. My cigarette material, +I find, is short. Upon counting up--"</i> +</p> + +<p> +"Damn his cigarettes!" cried the surgeon. "This must be Darrow. Finicky +beast! Let's see if it's signed." +</p> + +<p> +He whirled the leaves over to the last sheet, glanced at it, and sprang to +his feet. There, sprawled in tremulous characters, as by a hand shaken +with agony or terror, was written: +</p> + +<p> + <i>Look for me in the cave. + Percy Darrow.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The bullet hole in the corner furnished a sinister period to the +signature. +</p> + +<p> +Trendon handed the ledger back to the captain, who took one quick look, +closed it, and handed it to Congdon. +</p> + +<p> +"Wrap that up and carry it carefully," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"Aye, aye, sir," said the coxswain, swathing it in his jacket and tucking +it under his arm. +</p> + +<p> +"Now to find that cave," said Captain Parkinson to the surgeon. +</p> + +<p> +"The cave in the cliff, of course," said Trendon. "Noticed it coming in, +you know." +</p> + +<p> +"Where?" +</p> + +<p> +"On the north shore, about a mile to the east of here." +</p> + +<p> +"Then we'll cut directly across." +</p> + +<p> +"Beg your pardon, sir," put in Congdon, "but I don't think we can make it +from this side, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"Why not?" +</p> + +<p> +"No beach, sir, and the cliff's like the side of a ship. Looks to be deep +water right into the cave's mouth." +</p> + +<p> +"Back to the boat, then. Bring that flag along." +</p> + +<p> +The descent was swift, at times reckless, but the party embarked without +accident. Soon they were forging through the water at racing speed, the +boat leaping to the impulsion of the sailorman's strongest motives, +curiosity and the hope of saving a life. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="3-4">IV</a></h2> + +<h3>THE TWIN SLABS</h3> + +<p> +Within half an hour the gig had reached the mouth of the cave. As the +coxswain had predicted, the seas ran into the lofty entrance. Elsewhere +the surf fell whitely, but through the arch the waves rolled unbroken into +a heavy stillness. Only as the boat hovered for a moment at the face of +the cliff could the exploring party hear, far within, the hollow boom that +told of breakers on a distant, subterranean beach. +</p> + +<p> +"Run her in easy," came the captain's order. "Keep a sharp lookout for +hidden rocks." +</p> + +<p> +To the whispering plash of the oars they moved from sunlight into +twilight, from twilight into darkness. Of a sudden the oars jerked +convulsively. A great roar had broken upon the ears of the sailors; the +invisible roof above them, the water heaving beneath them, the walls that +hemmed them in, called, with a multiplication of resonance, upon the name +of Darrow. The boat quivered with the start of its occupants. Then one or +two laughed weakly as they realised that what they had heard was no +supernatural voice. It was the captain hailing for the marooned man. +</p> + +<p> +No vocal answer came. But an indeterminable space away they could hear a +low splash followed by a second and a third. Something coughed weakly in +front and to the right. Trendon's hand went to his revolver. The men sat, +stiffened. One of them swore, in a whisper, and the oath came back upon +them, echoing the name of the Saviour in hideous sibilance. +</p> + +<p> +"Silence in the boat," said the captain, in such buoyant tones that the +men braced themselves against the expected peril. +</p> + +<p> +"Light the lantern and pass it to me," came the order. "Keep below the +gunwale, men." +</p> + +<p> +As the match spluttered: "Do you see something, a few rods to port?" asked +the captain in Trendon's ear. +</p> + +<p> +"Pair of green lights," said Trendon. "Eyes. <i>Seals!</i>" +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Seals! Seals! Seals</i>!" shouted the walls, for the surgeon had suddenly +released his voice. And as the mockery boomed, the green lights +disappeared and there was more splashing from the distance. The crew sat +up again. +</p> + +<p> +The lantern spread its radiance. It was reflected from battlements of +fairy beauty. Everywhere the walls were set, as with gems, in broad wales +of varied and vivid hues. Dazzled at first, the explorers soon were able +to discern the general nature of the subterranean world which they had +entered. In most places the walls rose sheer and unscaleable from the +water. In others, turretted rocks thrust their gleaming crags upward. Over +to starboard a little beach shone with Quaker greyness in that spectacular +display. The end of the cavern was still beyond the area of light. +</p> + +<p> +"Must have been a swimmer to get in here," commented Trendon, glancing at +the walls. +</p> + +<p> +"Unless he had a boat," said the captain. "But why doesn't he answer?" +</p> + +<p> +"Better try again. No telling how much more there is of this." +</p> + +<p> +The surgeon raised his ponderous bellow, and the cave roared again with +the summons. Silence, formidable and unbroken, succeeded. +</p> + +<p> +"House to house search is now in order," he said. "Must be in here +somewhere--unless the seals got him." +</p> + +<p> +Cautiously the boat moved forward. Once she grazed on a half submerged +rock. Again a tiny islet loomed before her. Scattered bones glistened on +the rocky shore, but they were not human relics. Occasional beaches +tempted a landing, but all of these led back to precipitous cliffs except +one, from the side of which opened two small caves. Into the first the +lantern cast its glare, revealing emptiness, for the arch was wide and the +cave shallow. The entrance to the other was so narrow as to send a visitor +to his knees. But inside it seemed to open out. Moreover, there were fish +bones at the entrance. The captain, the surgeon, and Congdon, the +coxswain, landed. Captain Parkinson reached the spot first. Stooping, he +thrust his head in at the orifice. A sharp exclamation broke from him. He +rose to his feet, turning a contorted face to the others. +</p> + +<p> +"Poisonous," he cried. +</p> + +<p> +"More volcano," said Trendon. He bent to the black hole and sniffed +cautiously. +</p> + +<p> +"I'll go in, sir," volunteered Congdon. "I've had fire-practice." +</p> + +<p> +"My business," said Trendon, briefly. "Decomposition; unpleasant, but not +dangerous." +</p> + +<p> +Pushing the lantern before him, he wormed his way until the light was +blotted out. Presently it shone forth from the funnel, showing that the +explorer had reached the inner open space. Captain Parkinson dropped down +and peered in, but the evil odour was too much for him. He retired, +gagging and coughing. Trendon was gone for what seemed an interminable +time. His superior officer fidgeted uneasily. At last he could stand it no +longer. +</p> + +<p> +"Dr. Trendon, are you all right?" he shouted. +</p> + +<p> +"Yup," answered a choked voice. "Cubbing oud dow." +</p> + +<p> +Again the funnel was darkened. A pair of feet appeared; then the surgeon's +chunky trunk, his head, and the lantern. Once, twice, and thrice he +inhaled deeply. +</p> + +<p> +"Phew!" he gasped. "Thought I was tough, but--Phee-ee-ee-ew!" +</p> + +<p> +"Did you find--" +</p> + +<p> +"No, sir. Not Darrow. Only a poor devil of a seal that crawled in there to +die." +</p> + +<p> +The exploration continued. Half a mile, as they estimated, from the open, +they reached a narrow beach, shut off by a perpendicular wall of rock. +Skirting this, they returned on the other side, minutely examining every +possible crevice. When they again reached the light of day, they had +arrived at the certain conclusion that no living man was within those +walls. +</p> + +<p> +"Would a corpse rise to the surface soon in waters such as these, Dr. +Trendon?" asked the captain. +</p> + +<p> +"Might, sir. Might not. No telling that." +</p> + +<p> +The captain ruminated. Then he beat his fist on his knee. +</p> + +<p> +"The other cave!" +</p> + +<p> +"What other cave?" asked the surgeon. +</p> + +<p> +"The cave where they killed the seals." +</p> + +<p> +"Surely!" exclaimed Trendon. "Wait, though. Didn't Slade say it was +between here and the point?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. Beyond the small beach." +</p> + +<p> +"No cave there," declared the surgeon positively. +</p> + +<p> +"There must be. Congdon, did you see an opening anywhere in the cliff as +we came along?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, sir. This is the only one, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"We'll see about that," said the captain, grimly. "Head her about. Skirt +the shore as near the breakers as you safely can." +</p> + +<p> +The gig retraced its journey. +</p> + +<p> +"There's the beach, as Slade described it," said Captain Parkinson, as +they came abreast of the little reach of sand. +</p> + +<p> +"And what are those two bird-roosts on it?" asked Trendon. "See 'em? Dead +against that patch of shore-weed." +</p> + +<p> +"Bits of wreckage fixed in the sand." +</p> + +<p> +"Don't think so, sir. Too well matched." +</p> + +<p> +"We have no time to settle the matter now," said the captain impatiently. +"We must find that cave, if it is to be found." +</p> + +<p> +Hovering just outside the final drag of the surf, under the skilful +guidance of Congdon, the boat moved slowly along the line of beach to the +line of cliff. All was open as the day. The blazing sun picked out each +detail of jut and hollow. Evidently the poisonous vapours from the volcano +had not spread their blight here, for the face of the precipice was bright +with many flowers. So close in moved the boat that its occupants could +even see butterflies fluttering above the bloom. But that which their +eager eyes sought was still denied them. No opening offered in that +smiling cliff-side. Not by so much as would admit a terrier did the mass +of rock and rubble gape. +</p> + +<p> +"And Slade described the cave as big enough to ram the <i>Wolverine</i> into," +muttered Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +Up to the point of the headland, and back, passed the boat. Blank +disappointment was the result. +</p> + +<p> +"What is your opinion now, Dr. Trendon?" asked the captain of the older +man. +</p> + +<p> +"Don't know, sir," answered the surgeon hopelessly. "Looks as if the cave +might have been a hallucination." +</p> + +<p> +"I shall have something to say to Mr. Slade on our return," said the +captain crisply. "If the cave was an hallucination, as you suggest, the +seal-murder was fiction." +</p> + +<p> +"Looks so," agreed the other. +</p> + +<p> +"And the murder of the captain. How about that?" +</p> + +<p> +"And the mutiny of the men," added the surgeon. +</p> + +<p> +"And the killing of the doctor. Your patient seems to be a romantic +genius." +</p> + +<p> +"And the escape of Darrow. Hold hard," quoth Trendon. "Darrow's no +romance. Nothing fictional about the flag and ledger." +</p> + +<p> +"True enough," said the captain, and fell to consideration. +</p> + +<p> +"Anyway," said Trendon vigorously, "I'd like to have a look at those bird- +roosts. Mighty like signposts, to my mind." +</p> + +<p> +"Very well," said the captain. "It'll cost us only a wetting. Run her in, +Congdon." +</p> + +<p> +With all the coxswain's skill, and the oarsmen's technique, the passage of +the surf was a lively one, and little driblets of water marked the trail +of the officers as they shuffled up the beach. +</p> + +<p> +The two slabs stood less than fifty yards beyond high water tide. Nearing +them, the visitors saw that each marked a mound, but not until they were +close up could they read the neat carving on the first. It ran as follows: +</p> + +<p> + <i>Here lies</i> + SOLOMON ANDERSON + <i>alias</i> + HANDY SOLOMON + <i>who murdered his employer, + his captain, and his shipmates, + and was found, dead + of his deserts, on these shores, + June 5, 1904.</i> +</p> + +<p> + <i>This slab is erected as a + memento of admiring esteem + by + the last of his victims.</i> +</p> + +<p> + <i>"And you can kiss the + Book on that."</i> +</p> + +<p> +"Percy Darrow <i>fecit</i>," said the surgeon. "You can kiss the Book on +<i>that</i>, too." +</p> + +<p> +"Then Slade was telling the truth!" +</p> + +<p> +"Apparently. Seems good corroboration." + +The captain turned to the other mound. Its slab was carved by the same +hand. +</p> + +<p> + <i>Sacred to the memory of an + Ensign of the U. S. Navy, + whose body, washed upon this + coast, is here buried with all + reverence, by strange hands; + whose soul may God rest. + "The seas shall sing his + requiem." June the Sixth, + MXMIV.</i> +</p> + +<p> +"Billy Edwards," said the captain, very low. +</p> + +<p> +He uncovered. The surgeon did likewise. So, for a space, they stood with +bared heads between the twin graves. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="3-5">V</a></h2> + +<h3>THE PINWHEEL VOLCANO</h3> + +<p> +The surgeon spoke first. +</p> + +<p> +"Another point," said he. "Darrow was alive within a few days." +</p> + +<p> +Captain Parkinson turned slowly away from the grave. "You are right," he +said, with an effort. "Our business is with the living now. The dead must +wait." +</p> + +<p> +"Hide and seek," growled Trendon. "If he's here why don't he show +himself?" +</p> + +<p> +The other shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +"Place is all trampled up with his footprints," said Trendon. "He's +plodded back and forth like a prisoner in a cell." +</p> + +<p> +"The ledger," said the captain. "I'd forgotten it. That grave drove +everything else out of my mind." +</p> + +<p> +"Bring the book here," called Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +Congdon unwrapped it from his jacket and handed it to him. The sailors +cast curious glances at the two headstones. +</p> + +<p> +"Mount guard over Mr. Edwards's grave," commanded the captain. +</p> + +<p> +The coxswain saluted and gave an order. One of the sailors stepped forward +to the first mound. +</p> + +<p> +"Not that one," rasped the officer. "The other." +</p> + +<p> +The man saluted and moved on. +</p> + +<p> +"With your permission, sir," said Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +On a nod from his superior officer he opened the ledger and took up +Darrow's record. +</p> + +<p> +"Here it is. Entry of June 3d." +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Everything lovely. Schooner lost to sight. Query--to memory dear? Not +exactly. Though I shouldn't mind having her under orders for a few days. +Queer glow in the sky last night: if they've been investigating they may +have got what's coming to them. Volcano exhibiting fits of temper. Spouted +out considerable fire about nine o'clock. Quite spectacular, but no harm +done. Can foresee short rations of tobacco. Lava in valley still too hot +for comfort. No sign of Dr. Schermerhorn. Still sleep on beach</i>. +</p> + +<p> +"Not much there," sniffed Trendon. "Go on," said the captain. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>June 3. Evening. Thick and squally weather again. Local atmospheric +conditions seem upset. Volcano still leading strenuous life. Climbed the +headland this afternoon. Wind very shifty. Got an occasional whiff of +volcanic output. One in particular would have sent a skunk to the camphor +bottle. No living on the headland. Will explore cave to-morrow with a view +to domicile. Have come down to an allowance of seven cigarettes per diem.</i> +</p> + +<p> +<i>"June 4. Explored cave to-day. Full of dead seals. Not only dead, but all +bitten and cut to pieces. Must have been lively doings in Seal-Town. Not +much choice between air in the cave and vapours from the volcano. Barring +seals, everything suitable for light housekeeping, such as mine. Undertook +to clean house. Dragged late lamented out into the water. Some sank and +were swept away by the sea-puss. Others, I regret to say, floated. Found +trickle of fresh water in depth of cave, and little sand-ledge to sleep +on. So far, so good: we may be 'appy yet. If only I had my cigarette +supply. Once heard a botanist say that leaves of the white shore-willow +made fair substitute for tobacco. Fair substitute for nux vomica! Would +like to interview said botanist</i>. +</p> + +<p> +"The fellow is a tobacco maniac," growled Trendon, feeling in his breast +pocket. "The devil," he cried, bringing forth an empty hand. +</p> + +<p> +Silently the captain handed him a cigar. "Thank you, sir," he said, +lighted it, and continued reading. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>June 5. Had a caller to-day. Climbed the headland this morning. Found +volcano taking a day off. Looking for sign of "Laughing Lass", noticed +something heliographing to me from the waves beyond the reef. Seemed to be +metal. I guessed a tin can. Caught in the swirl, it rounded the cape, and +I came down to the shore to meet it. Halfway down the cliff I had a better +view. I saw it was not a tin can. There was a dark body under it, which +the waves were tossing about, and as the metal moved with the body, it +glinted in the sun. Suddenly it was borne in upon me that an arm was doing +the signalling, waving to me with a sprightly, even a jocular +friendliness. Then I saw what it really was. It was Handy Solomon and his +steel hook. He was riding quite high. Every now and again he would bow and +wave. He grounded gently on the sand beach. I planted him promptly. First, +however, I removed a bag of tobacco from his pocket. Poor stuff, and water +soaked, but still tobacco. Spent a quiet afternoon carving a headstone for +the dear departed. Pity it were that virtues so shining should be +uncommemorated. Idle as the speculation is, I wonder who my next visitor +will be. Thrackles, I hope. Evidently some of them have been playing the +part of Pandora. Spent last night in the cave. Air quite fresh.</i> +</p> + +<p> +<i>"June 6. Saw the glow again last night."</i> +</p> + +<p> +The surgeon paused in his reading. "That would be the night of the 5th: +the night before we picked her up empty." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," agreed Captain Parkinson. "That was the night Billy Edwards--Go +on." +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Saw the glow again last night. Don't understand it. Once should have +been enough for them. This matter of hoarding tobacco may be a sad error. +If Old Spitfire keeps on the way she has to-day I shan't need much more. +It would be a raw jest to be burned or swallowed up with a month's supply +of unsmoked cigarettes on one. Cave getting shaky. Still, I think I'll +stick there. As between being burned alive and buried alive, I'm for the +respectable and time honoured fashion of interment. Bombardment was mostly +to the east to-day, but no telling when it may shift.</i> +</p> + +<p> +<i>"June 7. This morning I found a body rolling in the surf. It was the body +of a young man, large and strongly built, dressed in the uniform of an +ensign of our navy. Surely a strange visitor to these shores! There was no +mark of identification upon him except a cigarette case graven with an +undecipherable monogram in Tiffany's most illegible style of arrow-headed +inscription. This I buried with him, and staked the grave with a +headboard. An officer and a gentleman, a youth of friendly ways and kindly +living, if one may judge by the face of the dead; and he comes by the same +end to the same goal as Handy Solomon. Why not? And why should one +philosophise in a book that will never be read? Hold on! Perhaps--just +perhaps--it may be read. The officer was not long dead. Ensigns of the U. +S. navy do not wander about untraversed waters alone. There must be a +warship somewhere in the vicinity. But why, then, an unburied officer +floating on the ocean? I will smoke upon this, luxuriously and +plentifully. (Later.) No use. I can't solve it. But one thing I do. I put +up a signal pole on the headland and cache this record under it this +afternoon. From day to day, with the kindly permission of the volcano, I +will add to it.... Bad doings by Old Spitfire. The cloud is coming down on +me. Also seems to be moving along the cliff. I will retire hastily to my +private estate in the cave</i>. +</p> + +<p> +"That's all, except the scrawl on the last page," said Trendon. "Some +action of the volcano scared him off. He just had time to scrawl that last +message and drop the book into the cache. The question is, did he get back +alive?" +</p> + +<p> +"I doubt it," said the captain. "We will search the headland for his +body." +</p> + +<p> +"But the cave," insisted the surgeon. "We ought to have found some sign of +him there." +</p> + +<p> +"Slade is the solution," said the captain. "We must ask him." +</p> + +<p> +They put back to the ship. Barnett was anxiously awaiting them. +</p> + +<p> +"Your patient has been in a bad way, Dr. Trendon," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"What's wrong?" asked Trendon, frowning. +</p> + +<p> +"He came up on deck, wild-eyed and staggering. There was a sheet of paper +in his hand which seemed to have some bearing on his trouble. When he +found you had gone to the island without him he began to rage like a +maniac. I had to have him carried down by force. In the rumpus the paper +disappeared. I assumed the responsibility of giving him an opiate." +</p> + +<p> +"Quite right," approved Trendon. "I'll go down. Will you come with me, +sir?" he said to the captain. +</p> + +<p> +They found Slade in profound slumber. +</p> + +<p> +"Won't do to wake him now," growled Trendon. "Hello, what's here?" +</p> + +<p> +Lying in the hollow of the sick man's right hand, where it had been +crushed to a ball, was a crumpled mass of tracing paper. Trendon smoothed +it out, peered at it and passed it to the captain. +</p> + +<p> +"It's a sketch of an Indian arrow-head," he exclaimed in surprise, at the +first glance. "What are all these marks?" +</p> + +<p> +"Map of the island," barked Trendon. "Look here." +</p> + +<p> +The drawing was a fairly careful one, showing such geographical points as +had been of concern to the two-year inhabitants. There was the large +cavern, indicated as they had found it, and at a point between it and the +headland the legend, "Seal Cave." +</p> + +<p> +"But it's wrong," cried Captain Parkinson, setting finger to the spot. "We +passed there twice. There's no opening." +</p> + +<p> +"No guarantee that there may not have been," returned the other. "This +island has been considerably shaken up lately. Entrance may have been +closed by a landslide down the cliff. Noticed signs myself, but didn't +think of it in connection with the cave." +</p> + +<p> +"That's work for Barnett, then," said the captain, brightening. "We'll +blow up the whole face of the cliff, if necessary, but we'll get at that +cave." +</p> + +<p> +He hurried out. Order followed order, and soon the gig, with the captain, +Trendon, and the torpedo expert, was driving for the point marked "Seal +Cave" on the map over which they were bent. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="3-6">VI</a></h2> + +<h3>MR. DARROW RECEIVES</h3> + +<p> +"You say the last entry is June 7th?" asked Barnett, as the boat entered +the light surf. +</p> + +<p> +Trendon nodded. +</p> + +<p> +"That was the night we saw the last glow, and the big burst from the +volcano, wasn't it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Right." +</p> + +<p> +"The island would have been badly shaken up." +</p> + +<p> +"Not so violently but that the flag-pole stood," said the captain. +</p> + +<p> +"That's true, sir. But there's been a good deal of volcanic gas going. The +man's been penned up for four days." +</p> + +<p> +"Give the fellow a chance," growled Trendon. "Air may be all right in the +cave. Good water there, too. Says so himself. By Slade's account he's a +pretty capable citizen when it comes to looking after himself. Wouldn't +wonder if we'd find him fit as a fiddle." +</p> + +<p> +"There was no clue to Ives and McGuire?" asked Barnett presently. +</p> + +<p> +"None." It was the captain who answered. +</p> + +<p> +The gig grated, and the tide being high, they waded to the base of the +cliff, Barnett carrying his precious explosives aloft in his arms. +</p> + +<p> +"Here's the spot," said the captain. "See where the water goes in through +those crevices." +</p> + +<p> +"Opening at the top, too," said Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +He let out his bellow, roaring Darrow's name. +</p> + +<p> +"I doubt if you could project your voice far into a cave thus blocked," +said Captain Parkinson. "We'll try this." +</p> + +<p> +He drew his revolver and fired. The men listened at the crevices of the +rock. No sound came from within. +</p> + +<p> +"Your enterprise, Mr. Barnett," said the commander, with a gesture which +turned over the conduct of the affair to the torpedo expert. +</p> + +<p> +Barnett examined the rocks with enthusiasm. +</p> + +<p> +"Looks like moderately easy stuff," he observed. "See how the veins run. +You could almost blow a design to order in that." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes; but how about bringing down the whole cave?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, of course there's always an element of uncertainty when you're +dealing with high explosives," admitted the expert. "But unless I'm +mistaken, we can chop this out as neat as with an axe." +</p> + +<p> +Dropping his load of cartridges carelessly upon a flat rock which +projected from the water, he busied himself in a search along the face of +the cliff. Presently, with an "Ah," of satisfaction, he climbed toward a +hand's breadth of platform where grew a patch of purple flowers. +</p> + +<p> +"Throw me up a knife, somebody," he called. +</p> + +<p> +"Take notice," said Trendon, good-naturedly, "that I'm the botanist of +this expedition." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, you can have the flowers. All I want is what they grow in." +</p> + +<p> +Loosening a handful of the dry soil, he brought it down and laid it with +the explosives. Next he called one of the sailors to "boost" him, and was +soon perched on the flat slant of a huge rock which formed, as it were, +the keystone to the blockade. +</p> + +<p> +"Let's see," he ruminated. "We want a slow charge for this. One that will +exert a widespread pressure without much shattering force. The No. 3, I +think." +</p> + +<p> +"How is that, Mr. Barnett?" asked the captain, with lively interest. +</p> + +<p> +"You see, sir," returned the demonstrator, perched high, like a sculptor +at work on some heroic masterpiece, "what we want is to split off this +rock." He patted the flank of the huge slab. "There's a lovely vein +running at an angle inward from where I sit. Split that through, and the +rock should roll, of its own weight, away from the entrance. It's held +only by the upper projection that runs under the arch here." +</p> + +<p> +"Neat programme," commented Trendon, with a tinge of sardonic scepticism. +</p> + +<p> +"Wait and see," retorted Barnett blithely, for he was in his element now. +"I'll appoint you my assistant. Just toss me up that cartridge: the third +one on the left." +</p> + +<p> +The surgeon recoiled. +</p> + +<p> +"Supposing you don't catch it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Well, supposing I don't." +</p> + +<p> +"It's dynamite, isn't it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Something of the same nature. Joveite, it's called." +</p> + +<p> +Still the surgeon stared at him. Barnett laughed. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, you've got the high explosives superstition," he said lightly. +"Dynamite don't go off as easy as people think. You could drop that stuff +from the cliffhead without danger. Have I got to come down for it?" +</p> + +<p> +With a wry face Trendon tossed up the package. It was deftly caught. +</p> + +<p> +"Now wet that dirt well. Put it in the canvas bag yonder, and send one of +the men up with it. I'm going to make a mud pie." +</p> + +<p> +Breaking the package open, he spread the yellow powder in a slightly +curving line along the rock. With the mud he capped this over, forming a +little arched roof. +</p> + +<p> +"To keep it from blowing away," surmised Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +"No; to make it blow down instead of blowing up." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, rot!" returned the downright surgeon. "That pound of dirt won't make +the shadow of a feather's difference." +</p> + +<p> +"Won't it!" retorted the other. "Curious thing about high explosives. A +mud-cap will hold down the force as well as a ton of rock. Wait and see +what happens to the rock beneath." +</p> + +<p> +He slid off his perch into the ankle-deep water and waded out to the boat. +Here he burrowed for a moment, presently emerging with a box. This he +carried gingerly to a convenient rock and opened. First he lifted out some +soft padding. A small tin box honey-combed inside came to light. With +infinite precaution Barnett picked out an object that looked like a 22- +calibre short cartridge, wadded some cotton batten in his hand, set the +thing in the wadding, laid it on the rock, carefully returned the small +box to the large box and the large box to the boat, took up the cartridge +again and waded back to the cliff. They watched him in silence. +</p> + +<p> +"This is the little devil," he said, indicating his delicate burden. +"Fulminate of mercury. This is the stuff that'll remove your hand with +neatness and despatch. It's the quickest tempered little article in the +business. Just give it one hard look and it's off." +</p> + +<p> +"Here," said Trendon, "I resign. From now on I'm a spectator." +</p> + +<p> +Barnett swung the fulminate in his handkerchief and gave it to a sailor to +hold. The man dandled it like a new-born infant. Back to his rock went +Barnett. Producing some cord, he let down an end. +</p> + +<p> +"Tie the handkerchief on, and get out of the way," he directed. +</p> + +<p> +With painful slowness the man carried out the first part of the order; the +latter half he obeyed with sprightly alacrity. Very slowly, very +delicately, the expert drew in his dangerous burden. Once a current of air +puffed it against the face of the rock, and the operator's head was +hastily withdrawn. Nothing happened. Another minute and he had the tiny +shell in hand. A fuse was fixed in it and it was shoved under the mud-cap. +Barnett stood up. +</p> + +<p> +"Will you kindly order the boat ready, Captain Parkinson?" he called. +</p> + +<p> +The order was given. +</p> + +<p> +"As soon as I light the fuse I will come down and we'll pull out fifty +yards. Leave the rest of the Joveite where it is. All ready? Here goes." +</p> + +<p> +He touched a match to the fuse. It caught. For a moment he watched it. +</p> + +<p> +"Going all right," he reported, as he struck the water. "Plenty of time." +</p> + +<p> +Some seventy yards out they rested on their oars. They waited. And waited. +And waited. +</p> + +<p> +"It's out," grunted Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +From the face of the cliff puffed a cloud of dust. A thudding report +boomed over the water. Just a wisp of whitish-grey smoke arose, and +beneath it the great rock, with a gapping seam across its top, rolled +majestically outward, sending a shower of spray on all sides, and opening +to their eager view a black chasm into the heart of the headland. The +experiment had worked out with the accuracy of a geometric problem. +</p> + +<p> +"That's all, sir," Barnett reported officially. +</p> + +<p> +"Magic! Modern magic!" said the captain. He stared at the open door. For +the moment the object of the undertaking was forgotten in the wonder of +its exact accomplishment. +</p> + +<p> +"Darrow'll think an earthquake's come after him," remarked Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +"Give way," ordered the captain. +</p> + +<p> +The boat grated on the sand. Captain Parkinson would have entered, but +Barnett restrained him. +</p> + +<p> +"It's best to wait a minute or two," he advised. "Occasionally slides +follow an explosion tardily, and the gases don't always dissipate +quickly." +</p> + +<p> +Where they stood they could see but a short way into the cave. Trendon +squatted and funnelled his hands to one eye. +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="illp250.jpg"><img src="illp250_th.jpg" alt="'Sorry not to have met you at the door,' he said courteously."></a> +</p> + +<p> +"There's fire inside," he said. +</p> + +<p> +In a moment they all saw it, a single, pin-point glow, far back in the +blackness, a Cyclopean eye, that swayed as it approached. Alternately it +waned and brightened. Suddenly it illuminated the dim lineaments of a +face. The face neared them. It joined itself to reality by a very solid +pair of shoulders, and a man sauntered into the twilit mouth of the +cavern, removed a cigarette from his lips, and gave them greeting. +</p> + +<p> +"Sorry not to have met you at the door," he said, courteously. "It was you +that knocked, was it not? Yes? It roused me from my siesta." +</p> + +<p> +They stared at him in silence. He blinked in the light, with unaccustomed +eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"You will pardon me for not asking you in at once. Past circumstances have +rendered me--well--perhaps suspicious is not too strong a word." +</p> + +<p> +They noticed that he held a revolver in his hand. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Parkinson came forward a step. The host half raised his weapon. +Then he dropped it abruptly. +</p> + +<p> +"Navy men!" he said, in an altered voice. "I beg your pardon. I could not +see at first. My name is Percy Darrow." +</p> + +<p> +"I am Captain Parkinson of the United States cruiser <i>Wolverine</i>," said +the commander. "This is Mr. Barnett, Mr. Darrow. Dr. Trendon, Mr. Darrow." +</p> + +<p> +They shook hands all around. +</p> + +<p> +"Like some damned silly afternoon tea," Trendon said later, in retailing +it to the mess. A pause followed. +</p> + +<p> +"Won't you step in, gentlemen?" said Darrow, "May I offer you the makings +of a cigarette?" +</p> + +<p> +"Wouldn't you be robbing yourself?" inquired the captain, with a twinkle. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, you found the diary, then," said Darrow easily. "Rather silly of me +to complain so. But really, in conditions like these, tobacco becomes a +serious problem." +</p> + +<p> +"So one might imagine," said Trendon drily. He looked closely at Darrow. +The man's eyes were light and dancing. From the nostrils two livid lines +ran diagonally. Such lines one might make with a hard blue pencil pressed +strongly into the flesh. The surgeon moved a little nearer. +</p> + +<p> +"Can you give me any news of my friend Thrackles?" asked Darrow lightly. +"Or the esteemed Pulz? Or the scholarly and urbane Robinson of Ethiopian +extraction?" +</p> + +<p> +"Dead," said the captain. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, a pity," said the other. He put his hand to his forehead. "I had +thought it probable." His face twitched. "Dead? Very good. In fact ... +really ... er ... amusing." +</p> + +<p> +He began to laugh, quite to himself. It was not a pleasant laugh to hear. +Trendon caught and shook him by the shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +"Drop it," he said. +</p> + +<p> +Darrow seemed not to hear him. "Dead, all dead!" he repeated. "And I've +outlasted 'em! God damn 'em, I've outlasted 'em!" And his mirth broke +forth in a strangely shocking spasm. +</p> + +<p> +Trendon lifted a hand and struck him so powerfully between the shoulder +blades that he all but plunged forward on his face. +</p> + +<p> +"Quit it!" he ordered again. "Get hold of yourself!" +</p> + +<p> +Darrow turned and gripped him. The surgeon winced with the pain of his +grasp. "I can't," gasped the maroon, between paroxysms. "I've been living +in hell. A black, shaking, shivering hell, for God knows how long.... What +do you know? Have you ever been buried alive?" And again the agony of +laughter shook him. +</p> + +<p> +"This, then," muttered the doctor, and the hypodermic needle shot home. +</p> + +<p> +During the return Darrow lay like a log in the bottom of the gig. The +opiate had done its work. Consciousness was mercifully dead within him. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="3-7">VII</a></h2> + +<h3>THE SURVIVORS</h3> + +<p> +Rest and good food quickly brought Percy Darrow back to his normal poise. +One inspection satisfied Dr. Trendon that all was well with him. He asked +to see the captain, and that gentleman came to Ives's room, which had been +assigned to the rescued man. +</p> + +<p> +"I hope you've been able to make yourself comfortable," said the +commander, courteously. +</p> + +<p> +"It would be strange indeed if I could not," returned Darrow, smiling. +"You forget that you have set a savage down in the midst of luxury." +</p> + +<p> +"Make yourself free of Ives's things," invited Captain Parkinson. "Poor +fellow; he will not use them again, I fear." +</p> + +<p> +"One of your men lost?" asked Darrow. "Ah, the young officer whose body I +found on the beach, perhaps?" +</p> + +<p> +"No; but we have to thank you for that burial," said the captain. +</p> + +<p> +Darrow made a swift gesture. "Oh, if thanks are going," he cried, and +paused in hopelessness of adequate expression. +</p> + +<p> +"This has been a bitter cruise for us," continued the captain. He sighed +and was silent for a moment. "There is much to tell and to be told," he +resumed. +</p> + +<p> +"Much," agreed the other, gravely. +</p> + +<p> +"You will want to see Slade first, I presume," said the captain. +</p> + +<p> +"One of your officers whom I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting?" +</p> + +<p> +The captain stared. "Slade," he said. "Ralph Slade." +</p> + +<p> +"Apparently there's a missing link. Or--I fear I was not wholly myself +yesterday for a time. Possibly something occurred that I did not quite +take in." +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps we'd better wait," said Captain Parkinson, with obvious +misgiving. "You're not quite rested. You will feel more like--" +</p> + +<p> +"If you don't mind," said Darrow composedly, "I'd like to get at this +thing now. I'm in excellent understanding, I assure you." +</p> + +<p> +"Very well. I am speaking of the man who acted as mate in the <i>Laughing +Lass</i>. The journalist who--good heavens! What arrant stupidity! I have to +beg your pardon, Mr. Darrow. It has just occurred to me. He called himself +Eagen with you." +</p> + +<p> +"Eagen! What is this? Is Eagen alive?" +</p> + +<p> +"And on this ship. We picked him up in an open boat." +</p> + +<p> +"And you say he calls himself Slade?" +</p> + +<p> +"He is Ralph Slade, adventurer and journalist. Mr. Barnett knows him and +vouches for him." +</p> + +<p> +"And he was on our island under an assumed name," said Darrow in tones +that had the smoothness and the rasp of silk. "Rather annoying. Not good +form, quite, even for a pirate." +</p> + +<p> +"Yet, I believe he saved your life," suggested the captain. +</p> + +<p> +Darrow looked up sharply. "Why, yes," he admitted. "So he did. I had +hoped--" He checked himself. "I had thought that all of the crew went the +same way. You didn't find any of the others?" +</p> + +<p> +"None." +</p> + +<p> +Darrow got to his feet. "I think I'd like to see Eagen--Slade--whatever he +calls himself." +</p> + +<p> +"I don't know," began the captain. "It might not be--" He hesitated and +stopped. +</p> + +<p> +Darrow drew back a little, misinterpreting the other's attitude. "Do I +understand that I am under restraint?" he asked stiffly. +</p> + +<p> +"Certainly not. Why should you be?" +</p> + +<p> +"Well," returned the other contemplatively, "it really might be regarded +as a subject for investigation. Of course I know only a small part of it. +But there have certainly been suspicious circumstances. Piracy there has +been: no doubt of that. Murder, too, if my intuitions are not at fault. Or +at least, a disappearance to be accounted for. Robbery can't be denied. +And there's a dead body or two to be properly accredited." He looked the +captain in the eye. +</p> + +<p> +"Well?" +</p> + +<p> +"You'll find my story highly unsatisfactory in detail, I fancy. I merely +want to know whether I'm to present it as a defence, or only an +explanation." +</p> + +<p> +"We shall be glad to hear your story when you are ready to tell it--after +you have seen Mr. Slade." +</p> + +<p> +"Thank you," said Darrow simply. "You have heard his?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. It needs filling in." +</p> + +<p> +"When may I see him?" +</p> + +<p> +"That's for Dr. Trendon to say. He came to us almost dead. I'll find out." +</p> + +<p> +The surgeon reported Slade much better, but all a-quiver with excitement. +</p> + +<p> +"Hate to put the strain on him," said he. "But he'll be in a fever till he +gets this thing off his mind. Send Mr. Darrow to him." +</p> + +<p> +After a moment's consideration Darrow said: "I should like to have you and +Dr. Trendon present, Captain Parkinson, while I ask Eagen one or two +questions." +</p> + +<p> +"Understand one thing, Mr. Darrow," said Trendon briefly. "This is not to +be an inquisition." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah," said Darrow, unmoved. "I'm to be neither defendant nor prosecutor." +</p> + +<p> +"You are to respect the condition of Dr. Trendon's patient, sir," said +Captain Parkinson, with emphasis. "Outside of that, your attitude toward a +man who has twice thought of your life before his own is for you to +determine." +</p> + +<p> +No little cynicism lurked in Darrow's tones as he said: +</p> + +<p> +"You have confidence in Mr. Slade, alias Eagen." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," replied Captain Parkinson, in a tone that closed that topic. +</p> + +<p> +"Still, I should be glad to have you gentlemen present, if only for a +moment," insisted Darrow, presently. +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps it would be as well--on account of the patient," said the surgeon +significantly. +</p> + +<p> +"Very well," assented the captain. +</p> + +<p> +The three went to Slade's cabin. He was lying propped up in his bunk. +Trendon entered first, followed by the captain, then Darrow. +</p> + +<p> +"Here's your prize, Slade," said the surgeon. +</p> + +<p> +Darrow halted, just inside the door. With an eager light in his face Slade +leaned forward and stretched out his hand. +</p> + +<p> +"I couldn't believe it until I saw you, old man," he cried. +</p> + +<p> +Darrow's eyebrows went up. Before Slade had time to note that there was no +response to his outstretched hand, the surgeon had jumped in and pushed +him roughly back upon his pillow. +</p> + +<p> +"What did you promise?" he growled. "You were to lie still, weren't you? +And you'll do it, or out we go." +</p> + +<p> +"How are you, Eagen?" drawled Darrow. +</p> + +<p> +"Not Eagen. I'm done with that. They've told you, haven't they?" +</p> + +<p> +Darrow nodded. "Are you the only survivor?" he inquired. +</p> + +<p> +"Except yourself." +</p> + +<p> +"The Nigger? Pulz? Thrackles? The captain? All drowned?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not the captain. They murdered him." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah," said Darrow softly. "And you--I beg your pardon--your--er--friends +disposed of the doctor in the same way?" +</p> + +<p> +"Handy Solomon," replied Slade with shaking lips. "Hell's got that fiend, +if there's a hell for human fiends. They threw the doctor's body in the +surf." +</p> + +<p> +"You didn't notice whether there were any papers?" +</p> + +<p> +"If there were they must have been destroyed with the body when the lava +poured down the valley into the sea." +</p> + +<p> +"The lava: of course," assented Darrow, with elaborate nonchalance. "Well, +he was a kind old boy. A cheerful, simple, wise old child." +</p> + +<p> +"I would have given my right hand to save him," cried Slade. "It was so +sudden--so damnable--" +</p> + +<p> +"Better to have saved him than me," said Darrow. He spoke with the first +touch of feeling that he exhibited. "I have to thank you for my life, +Eagen--I beg your pardon: Slade. It's hard to remember." +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Trendon arose, and Captain Parkinson with him. +</p> + +<p> +"Give you two hours, Mr. Darrow," said the surgeon. "No more. If he seems +exhausted, give him one of these powders. I'll look in in an hour." +</p> + +<p> +At the end of an hour he returned. Slade was lying back on his pillow. +Darrow was talking, eagerly, confidentially. In another hour he came out. +</p> + +<p> +"The whole thing is clear," he said to Captain Parkinson. "I am ready to +report to you." +</p> + +<p> +"This evening," said the captain. "The mess will want to hear." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, they will want to hear," assented Darrow. "You've had Slade's story. +I'll take it up where he left off, and he'll check me. Mine's as +incredible as--as Slade's was. And it's as true." +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="3-8">VIII</a></h2> + +<h3>THE MAKER OF MARVELS</h3> + +<p> +As they had gathered to hear Ralph Slade's tale, so now the depleted mess +of the <i>Wolverine</i> grouped themselves for Percy Darrow's sequel. Slade +himself sat directly across from the doctor's assistant. Before him lay a +paper covered with jotted notes. Trendon slouched low in the chair on +Slade's right. Captain Parkinson had the other side. Convenient to +Darrow's hand lay the material for cigarettes. As he talked he rolled +cylinder after cylinder, and between sentences consumed them in long, +satisfying puffs. +</p> + +<p> +"First you will want to learn of the fate of your friends and shipmates," +he began. "They are dead. One of them, Mr. Edwards, fell to my hands to +bury, as you know. He lies beside Handy Solomon. The others we shall +probably not see: any one of a score of ocean currents may have swept them +far away. The last great glow that you saw was the signal of their +destruction. So the work of a great scientist, a potent benefactor of the +race, a gentle and kindly old heart, has brought about the death of your +friends and of my enemies. The innocent and the guilty ... the murderer +with his plunder, the officer following his duty ... one and the same +end ... a paltry thing our vaunted science is in the face of such tangled +fates." He spoke low and bitterly. Then he squared his shoulders and his +manner became businesslike. +</p> + +<p> +"Interrupt me when any point needs clearing up," he said. "It's a blind +trail at best. You've the right to see it as plain as I can make it--with +Slade's help. Cut right in with your questions: There'll be plenty to +answer and some never will be answered.... +</p> + +<p> +"Now let me get this thing laid out clearly in my own mind. You first saw +the glow--let me see--" +</p> + +<p> +"Night of June 2d," said Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"June 2d," agreed Darrow. "That was the end of Solomon, Thrackles & Co. A +very surprising end to them, if they had time to think," he added grimly. +</p> + +<p> +"Surprising enough, from the survivor's viewpoint," said Slade. +</p> + +<p> +"Doubtless. They've had that story from you; I needn't go over it. This +ship picked up the <i>Laughing Lass</i>, deserted, and put your first crew +aboard. That night, was it not, you saw the second pillar of fire?" +</p> + +<p> +Barnett nodded. +</p> + +<p> +"So your men met their death. Then came the second finding of the empty +schooner.... Captain Parkinson, they must have been brave men who faced +the unknown terrors of that prodigy." +</p> + +<p> +"They volunteered, sir," said the Captain, with simple pride. +</p> + +<p> +Darrow bowed with a suggestion of reverence in the slow movement of his +head. "And that night--or was it two nights later?--you saw the last +appearance of the portent. Well, I shall come to that.... Slade has told +you how they lived on the beach. With us in the valley it was different. +Almost from the first I was alone. The doctor ceased to be a companion. He +ceased to be human, almost. A machine, that's what he was. His one human +instinct was--well, distrust. His whole force of being was centred on his +discovery. It was to make him the foremost scientist of the world; the +foremost individual entity of his time--of all time, possibly. Even to +outline it to you would take too much time. Light, heat, motive power in +incredible degrees and under such control as has never been known: these +were to be the agencies at his call. The push of a button, the turn of a +screw--oh, he was to be master of such power as no monarch ever wielded! +Riches--pshaw! Riches were the least of it. He could create them, +practically. But they would be superfluous. Power: unlimited, absolute +power was his goal. With his end achieved he could establish an autocracy, +a dynasty of science: whatever he chose. Oh, it was a rich-hued, golden, +glowing dream; a dream such as men's souls don't formulate in these stale +days--not our kind of men. The Teutonic mysticism--you understand. And it +was all true. Oh, quite." +</p> + +<p> +"Do you mean us to understand that he had this power you describe?" asked +Captain Parkinson. +</p> + +<p> +"In his grasp. Then comes a practical gentleman with a steel hook. A +follower of dreams, too, in his way. Conflicting interests--you know how +it is. One well-aimed blow from the more practical dreamer, and the +greater vision passes.... I'm getting ahead of myself. Just a moment." +</p> + +<p> +His cigarette glowed fiercely in the dimness before he took up his tale +again. +</p> + +<p> +"You all know who Dr. Schermerhorn was. None of you know--I don't know +myself, though I've been his factotum for ten years--along how many varied +lines of activity that mind played. One of them was the secret of energy: +concentrated, resistless energy. Man's contrivances were too puny for him. +The most powerful engines he regarded as toys. For a time high explosives +claimed his attention. He wanted to harness them. Once he got to the point +of practical experiment. You can see the ruins yet: a hole in southern New +Jersey. Nobody ever understood how he escaped. But there he was on his +feet across a ten-foot fence in a ploughed field--yes, he flew the fence-- +and running, running furiously in the opposite direction, when the dust +cleared away. Someone stopped him finally. Told him the danger was over. +'Yet, I will not return,' he said firmly, and fainted away. That disgusted +him with high explosives. What secrets he discovered he gave to the +government. They were not without value, I believe." +</p> + +<p> +"They were not, indeed," corroborated Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"Next his interest turned to the natural phenomena of high energy. He +studied lightning in an open steel network laboratory, with few results +save a succession of rheumatic attacks, and an improved electric +interrupter, since adopted by one of the great telegraph companies. The +former obliged him to stop these experiments, and the invention he +considered trivial. Probably the great problem of getting at the secret of +energy led him into his attempts to study the mysterious electrical waves +radiated by lightning flashes; at any rate he was soon as deep into the +subject of electrical science as his countryman, Hertz, had ever been. He +used to tell me that he often wondered why he hadn't taken up this line +before--the world of energy he now set out to explore, waves in that +tremendous range between those we hear and those we see. It was natural +that he should then come to the most prominent radio-active elements, +uranium, thorium, and radium. But though his knowledge surpassed that of +the much-exploited authorities, he was never satisfied with any of his +results. +</p> + +<p> +"'Pitchblende; no!' he would exclaim. 'It has not the great power. The +mines are not deep enough, yet!' +</p> + +<p> +"Then suddenly the great idea that was to bring him success, and cost him +his life, came to him. The bowels of the earth must hold the secret! He +took up volcanoes.... Does all this sound foolish? It was not if you knew +the man. He was a mighty enthusiast, a born martyr. Not cold-blooded, like +the rest of us. The fire was in his veins.... A light, please. Thank you. +</p> + +<p> +"We chased volcanoes. There was a theory under it all. He believed that +volcanic emanations are caused by a mighty and uncomprehended energy, +something that achieves results ascribable neither to explosions nor heat, +some eternal, inner source.... Radium, if you choose, only he didn't call +it that. Radium itself, as known to our modern scientists, he regarded as +the harmless plaything of people with time hanging heavy on their hands. +He wasn't after force in pin-point quantities: he wanted bulk results. Yet +I believe that, after all, what he sought was a sort of higher power of +radium. The phenomena were related. And he had some of that concentrated +essence of pitchblende in the chest when we started. Oh, not much: say +about twenty thousand dollars' worth. Maybe thirty. For use? No; rather +for comparison, I judge. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, we chased volcanoes. I became used to camping between sample hells +of all known varieties. I got so that the fumes of a sulphur match seemed +like a draught of pure, fresh air. Wherever any of the earth's pimples +showed signs of coming to a head, there were we, taking part in the +trouble. By and by the doctor got so thoroughly poisoned that he had to +lay off. Back to Philadelphia we came. There an aged seafaring person, +temporarily stranded, mulcted the Professor of a dollar--an undertaking +that required no art--and in the course of his recital touched upon yonder +little cesspool of infernal iniquities. An uncharted volcanic island: one +that he could have all for his own; you may guess whether Dr. Schermerhorn +was interested. +</p> + +<p> +"'That iss for which we haf so-long-in-vain sought, Percy,' he said to me +in his quaint, link-chain style of speech. 'A leedle prifate volcano- +laboratory to ourselves to have. Totally unknown: undescribed, not-on-the- +chart-to-be-found. To-morrow we start. I make a list of the things-to- +get.' +</p> + +<p> +"He began his list, as I remember, with three dozen undershirts, a gallon +of pennyroyal for insect bites, a box of assorted fish hooks, thirty +pounds of tea, and a case of carpet tacks. When I hadn't anything else to +worry over, I used to lie awake at night and speculate on the purpose of +those carpet tacks. He had something in mind: if there was anything on +which he prided himself, it was his practical bent. But the list never got +any further: it ceased short of one page in the ledger, as you may have +noticed. I outfitted by telegraph on the way across the continent. +</p> + +<p> +"The doctor didn't ask me whether I'd go. He took it for granted. That's +probably why I didn't back out. Nor did I tell him that the three life +insurance companies which had foolishly and trustingly accepted me as a +risk merely on the strength of a good constitution were making frantic +efforts to compromise on the policies. They felt hurt, those companies: my +healthy condition had ceased to appeal to them. What's a good constitution +between earthquakes? No, there was no use telling the doctor. It would +only have worried him. Besides, I didn't believe that the island was +there. I thought it was a myth of that stranded ancient mariner's +imagination. When it rose to sight at the proper spot, none were more +astounded than the bad risk who now addresses you. +</p> + +<p> +"Yet, I must say for the island that it came handsomely up to +specifications. Down where you were, Slade. you didn't get a real insight +into its disposition. But in back of us there was any kind of action for +your money. Geysers, hell-spouts, fuming fissures, cunning little +craterlets with half-portions of molten lava ready to serve hot; more +gases than you could create in all the world's chemical laboratories: in +fact, everything to make the place a paradise for Old Nick--and Dr. +Schermerhorn. He brought along in his precious chest, besides the radium, +some sort of raw material: also, as near as I could make out, a sort of +cage or guardianship scheme for his concentrated essence of cussedness, +when he should get it out of the volcano. +</p> + +<p> +"In the first seven months he puttered around the little fumers, with an +occasional excursion up to the main crater. It was my duty to follow on +and drag him away when he fell unconscious. Sometimes I would try to get +him before he was quite gone. Then he would become indignant, and fight +me. Perhaps that helped to lose me his confidence. More and more he +withdrew into himself. There were days when he spoke no word to me. It was +lonely. Do you know why I used to visit you at the beach, Slade? I suppose +you thought I was keeping watch on you. It wasn't that, it was loneliness. +In a way, it hurt me, too: for one couldn't help but be fond of the old +boy; and at times it seemed as if he weren't quite himself. Pardon me, if +I may trouble you for the matches? Thanks.... +</p> + +<p> +"Matters went very wrong at times: the doctor fumed like his little +craters; growled out long-winded, exhaustive German imprecations: wouldn't +even eat. Then again the demon of work would drive him with thong and +spur: he would rush to his craters, to his laboratories, to his ledger for +the purpose of entering unintelligible commentaries. He had some peculiar +contrivance, like a misshapen retort, with which he collected gases from +the craterlets. Whenever I'd hear one of those smash, I knew it was a bad +day. +</p> + +<p> +"Meantime, the volcano also became--well, what you might call +temperamental. +</p> + +<p> +"It got to be a year and a quarter--a year and a half. I wondered whether +we should ever get away. My tobacco was running short. And the bearing of +the men was becoming fidgetty. My visits to the beach became quite +interesting--to me. One day the doctor came running out of his laboratory +with so bright a face that I ventured to ask him about departure. +</p> + +<p> +"'Not so long, now, Percy,' he said, in his old, kind manner. 'Not so +long. The first real success. It iss made. We have yet under-entire- +control to bring it, but it iss made.' +</p> + +<p> +"'And about time, sir,' said I. 'If we don't do something soon we may have +trouble with the men.' +</p> + +<p> +"'So?' said he in surprise. 'But they could do nothing. Nothing.' He +wagged his great head confidently. 'We are armed.' +</p> + +<p> +"'Oh, yes, armed. So are they.' +</p> + +<p> +"'We are armed,' he repeated obstinately. 'Such as no man was ever armed, +are we armed.' +</p> + +<p> +"He checked himself abruptly and walked away. Well, I've since wondered +what would have happened had the men attacked us. It would have been worth +seeing, and--and surprising. Yes: I'm quite certain it would have been +surprising. Perhaps, too, I might have learned more of the Great +Secret ... and yet, I don't know. It's all dark ... a hint +here ... theory ... mere glints of light.... Where did I put.... Ah, +thank you." +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="3-9">IX</a></h2> + +<h3>THE ACHIEVEMENT</h3> + +<p> +For some moments Darrow sat gazing fixedly at the table before him. His +cigarette tip glowed and failed. Someone suggested drinks. The captain +asked Darrow what he would have, but the question went unnoted. +</p> + +<p> +"How I passed the next six months I could hardly tell you," he began +again, quite abruptly. "At times I was bored--fearfully bored. Yet the +element of mystery, of uncertainty, of underlying peril, gave a certain +zest to the affair. In the periods of dulness I found some amusement in +visiting the lower camp and baiting the Nigger. Slade will have told you +about him; he possessed quite a fund of bastard Voodooism: he possessed +more before I got through with him. Yes; if he had lived to return to his +country, I fancy he would have added considerably to Afro-American witch- +lore. You remember the vampire bats, Slade? And the devil-fires? Naturally +I didn't mention to you that the devil-fire business wasn't altogether as +clear to me as I pretended. It wasn't, though. But at the time it served +very well as an amusement. All the while I realised that my self- +entertainment was not without its element of danger, too: I remember +glances not altogether friendly but always a little doubtful, a little +awed. Even Handy Solomon, practical as he was, had a scruple or two of +superstition in his make-up, on which one might work. Only Eagen--Slade, I +mean--was beyond me there. You puzzled me not a little in those days, +Slade. Well.... +</p> + +<p> +"Did I say that I was sometimes annoyed by the doctor's attitude? Yes: it +seemed that he might have given me a little more of his confidence; but +one can't judge such a man as he was. Among the ordinary affairs of life +he had relied on me for every detail. Now he was independent of me. +Independent! I doubt if he remembered my existence at times. Even in his +blackest moods of depression he was sufficient unto himself. It was +strange.... How he did rage the day the chemicals from Washington went +wrong! I was washing my shirt in the hot water spring when he came bolting +out of the laboratory and keeled me over. I came out pretty indignant. +Apologise? Not at all. He just sputtered. His nearest approach to +coherence seemed to indicate a desire that I should go back to Washington +at once and destroy a perfectly reputable firm of chemists. Finally he +calmed down and took it out in entering it in his daily record. He was +quite proud of that daily record and remembered to write in it on an +average of once a week. +</p> + +<p> +"Then the chest went wrong. Whether it had rusted a bit, or whether the +chemicals had got in their work on the hinges, I don't know; but one day +the Professor, of his own initiative, recognised my existence by lugging +his box out in the open and asking me to fix it. Previously he had emptied +it. It was rather a complicated thing, with an inner compartment over +which was a hollow cover, opening along one rim. That, I conjectured, was +designed to hold some chemical compound or salt. There were many minor +openings, too, each guarded by a similar hollow door. My business was with +the heavy top cover. +</p> + +<p> +"'It should shut and open softly, gently,' explained the Professor. 'So. +Not with-a-grating-sound-to-be-accompanied,' he added, with his curious +effect of linked phraseology. +</p> + +<p> +"Half a day's work fixed it. The lid would stand open of itself until +tipped at a considerable angle, when it would fall and lock. Only on the +outer shell was there a lock: that one was a good bit of craftsmanship. +</p> + +<p> +"'So, Percy, my boy,' said the doctor kindly. 'That will with-sufficient- +safety guard our treasure. When we obtain it, Percy. When it entirely- +finished-and-completed shall be.' +</p> + +<p> +"'And when will that be?' I asked. +</p> + +<p> +"'God knows,' he said cheerfully. 'It progresses.' +</p> + +<p> +"Whenever I went strolling at night, he would produce his curious lights. +Sometimes they were fairly startling. One fact I made out by accident, +looking down from a high place. They did not project from the laboratory. +He always worked in the open when the light was to be produced. Once the +experiment took a serious turn. The lights had flickered and gone. Dr. +Schermerhorn had returned to his laboratory. I came up the arroyo as he +flung the door open and rushed out. He was a grotesque figure, clad in an +undershirt and a worn pair of trousers, fastened with an old bit of tarred +rope in lieu of his suspenders, which I had been repairing. About his +waist flickered a sort of aura of radiance which was extinguished as he +flung himself headforemost into the cold spring. I hauled him out. He +seemed dazed. To my questions he replied only by mumblings, the burden of +which was: +</p> + +<p> +"'I do not understand. It is a not-to-be-comprehended accident.' It +appears that he didn't quite know why he had taken to the water. Or if he +did, he didn't want to tell. +</p> + +<p> +"Next day he was as good as new. Just as silent as before, but it was a +smiling, satisfied silence. So it went for weeks, for months, with the +accesses of depression and anger always rarer. Then came an afternoon +when, returning from a stalk after sheep, I heard strange and shocking +noises from the laboratory. Strict as was the embargo which kept me +outside the door, I burst in, only to be seized in a suffocating grip. Of +a sudden I realised that I was being embraced. The doctor flourished a +hand above my head and jigged with ponderous steps. The dismal noises +continued to emanate from his mouth. He was singing. I wish I could give +you a notion of the amazement, the paralysing wonder with which.... No, +you did not know Dr. Schermerhorn: you would not understand.... +</p> + +<p> +"We polkaed into the open. There he cast me loose. He stopped singing and +burst into a rhapsody of disjointed words. Mostly German, it was--a +wondrous jumble of the scientific and poetic. 'Eureka' occurred at +intervals. Then he would leap in the air. It was weird, it was +distressing. Crazy? Oh, quite. For the time, you understand. If any of us +should suddenly become the most potent individual in the world, wouldn't +he be apt to lose balance temporarily? One must make allowances. There was +excuse for the doctor. He had reached the goal. +</p> + +<p> +"'Percy, you shall be rewarded,' he said. 'You haf like-a-trump-card stuck +by me. You shall haf riches, gold, what you will. You are young; your +blood runs red. With such riches nothing is beyond you. You could the +ancient-tombs-of-Egypt explore. It is open to you such collections-as- +have-never-been-gathered to make. What shall it be? Scarabs? Missals? +Prehistoric implements? Amuse yourself, <i>mein kind</i>. We shall be able the- +bills-with-usurious-interest to pay. What will you haf?' +</p> + +<p> +"I said I'd like a vacation, if convenient. +</p> + +<p> +"'Presently,' he replied. 'There yet remains the guardianship to be +perfected. Then to-a-world-astonished-and-respectful we return. To-night +we celebrate. I play you a rubber of pinochle.' +</p> + +<p> +"We played. With the greatest secret of science resting at our elbows, we +played. The doctor won; my mind was not strictly on the game. In the +morning the doctor sang once more.... I shall never hear its like again. +Was it a week, or a month, after that?... I cannot remember. I fancy I was +excited. Then, too, there was something in the atmosphere about the +laboratory ... I don't know; imagination, possibly. Once we had a little +manifestation: the night that the Nigger and Slade were terrified by the +rock fires. Days of excitement and pleasant work, with the little volcano +grumbling more sulkily all the time ... I have spent worse days. +</p> + +<p> +"Such indifference as the doctor displayed toward the volcano I have never +known. If I ventured to warn him he would assure me that there was no +cause for alarm. I think he regarded that little hell's kitchen as merely +a feed-spout for his vast enterprise. He felt a sort of affection toward +it; he was tolerant of its petty fits of temper. That he completed his +work before the destruction came was sheer luck. Nothing else. The day +before the outburst he came to me with a tiny phial of complicated design. +</p> + +<p> +"'Percy, I will at-a-reasonable-price sell this to you,' he said. +</p> + +<p> +"'How much?' I inquired, responding to his playfulness. +</p> + +<p> +"'A bargain,' he cried gaily. 'Five millions dollars. No! Shall I upon-a- +needy-friend hard-press? Never. One million. One little million dollars.' +</p> + +<p> +"'I haven't that amount with me,' I began. +</p> + +<p> +"'Of no account,' he declared airily. 'Soon we shall haf many more times +as that. Gif me your C.O. D.' +</p> + +<p> +"'My I. O. U.?' I inquired. +</p> + +<p> +"'It makes no matter. See. I will gif it to you gratis.' +</p> + +<p> +"He handed me the metal contrivance. It was closed. +</p> + +<p> +"'Inside iss a little, such a very little. Not yet iss it arranged the +motive-power to give-forth. One more change-to-be-made that shall require. +But the other phenomena are all in this little half-grain comprised. Later +I shall tell you more. Take it. It iss without price.' He laid his hand on +my shoulder. 'Like the love of friends,' he said gently." +</p> + +<p> +Feeling in his upper waistcoat pocket, Darrow brought out a phial, so tiny +that it rolled in the palm of his hand. He contemplated it, lost in +thought. +</p> + +<p> +"Radium?" queried Barnett, with the keen interest of the scientist. +</p> + +<p> +"God knows what it is," said Darrow, rousing himself. "Not the perfected +product; the doctor said that when he gave it to me. If I could remember +one-tenth of what he told me that night! It is like a disordered dream, a +phantasmagoria of monstrous powers, lit up with an intolerable, almost an +infernal radiance. This much I did gather: that Dr. Schermerhorn had +achieved what the greatest minds before him had barely outlined. Yes, and +more. Becquerel, the Curies, Rutherford--they were playing with the +letters of the Greek alphabet, Alphas, Gammas, and Rhos, while the simple, +gentle old boy that I served had read the secret. From the molten +eruptions of the racked earth he had taken gases and potencies that are +nameless. By what methods of combination and refining I do not know, he +produced something that was to be the final word of power. Control-- +control--that was all that lacked. +</p> + +<p> +"Reduced to its simplest terms, it meant this: the doctor had something as +much greater than radium as radium is greater than the pitchblende of +which a thousand tons are melted down to the one ounce of extract. And the +incredible energies of this he proposed to divide into departments of +activity. One manifestation should be light, a light that would illuminate +the world. Another was to make motive power so cheap that the work of the +world could be done in an hour out of the day. Some idea he had of healing +properties. Yes; he was to cure mankind. Or kill, kill as no man had ever +killed, did he choose. The armies and navies of the powers would be at his +mercy. Magnetism was to be his slave. Aerial navigation, transmutation of +metals, the screening of gravity--does this sound like delirium? Sometimes +I think it was. +</p> + +<p> +"That night he turned over to me the key of the large chest and his +ledger. The latter he bade me read. It was a complete jumble. You have +seen it.... We were up a good part of the night with our pet volcano. It +was suffering from internal disturbances. 'So,' the doctor would say +indulgently, when a particularly active rock came bounding down our way. +'Little play-antics-to-exhibit now that the work iss finished.' +</p> + +<p> +"In the morning he insisted on my leaving him alone and going down to give +the orders. I took the ledger, intending to send it aboard. It saved my +life possibly: Solomon's bullet deflected slightly, I think, in passing +through the heavy paper. Slade has told you about my flight. I ought to +have gone straight up the arroyo.... Yet I could hardly have made it.... I +did not see him again, the doctor. My last glimpse ... the old man--I +remember now how the grey had spread through his beard--he was growing +old--it had been ageing labour. He stood there at his laboratory door and +the mountain spouted and thundered behind. +</p> + +<p> +"'We will a name-to-suit-properly gif it,' he said, as I left him. 'It +shall make us as the gods. We will call it celestium.' +</p> + +<p> +"I left him there smiling. Smiling happily. The greatest force of his +age--if he had lived. Very wise, very simple--a kind old child. May I +trouble you for a light? Thanks." +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="3-10">X</a></h2> + +<h3>THE DOOM</h3> + +<p> +"Nothing remained but to search for his body. I was sure they had killed +him and taken the chest. I had little expectation of finding him, dead or +alive. None after I saw the stream of lava pouring into the sea. One saves +his own life by instinct, I suppose. There I was. I had to live. It did +not matter much, but I continued to do it by various shifts. That last day +on the headland the fumes nearly got me. You may have noted the rather +excited scrawl in the back of the ledger? Yes, I thought I was gone that +time. But I got to the cave. It was low tide. Then the earthquake, and I +was walled in.... Mr. Barnett's very accurate explosives--Slade's +insistence--your risking your lives as you did, mites on the crust of a +red-hot cheese--I hope you know how I feel about it all. One can't thank a +man properly for the life.... +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, the pirates. Necessarily it must be a matter of theory, but I think +we have it right. Slade and I built it up. For what it's worth, here it +is. Let me see: you sighted the glow on the night of the 2d. Next day came +the deserted ship. It must have puzzled you outrageously." +</p> + +<p> +"It did," said Captain Parkinson, drily. +</p> + +<p> +"Not an easy problem, even with all the data at hand. You, of course, had +none. On Slade's showing, Handy Solomon and his worthy associates thought +they had a chest full of riches when they got the doctor's treasure; +believed they owned the machinery for making diamonds or gold or what-not +of ready-to-hand wealth. It's fair to assume a certain eagerness on their +part. Disturbed weather keeps them busy until they're well out from the +island. Then to the chest. Opening it isn't so easy: I had the key, you +know." He brought a curious and delicately wrought skeleton from his +pocket. "Tipped with platinum," he observed. "Rather a gem of a key, I +think. You see, there must have been some action, even through the +keyhole, or he wouldn't have used a metal of this kind. But the crew was +rich in certain qualities, it seems, which I failed, stupidly, to +recognise in my acquaintance with them. Both Pulz and Perdosa appear to +have been handy men where locks were concerned. First Pulz sneaks down and +has his turn at the chest. He gets it open. Small profit for him in that: +the next we know of him he is scandalising Handy Solomon by having a fit +on the deck." +</p> + +<p> +"That is what I couldn't figure out to save my life," said Slade eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +"If you recollect, I told you of the Professor's plunge in the cold +spring, in a sort of paroxysm, one day," said Darrow. "That was the +physiological action of the celestium. At other times, I have seen him +come out and deliberately roll in the creek, head under. Once he explained +that the medium he worked in caused a kind of uncontrollable longing for +water; something having none of the qualities of burning or thirst, but an +irresistible temporary mania. It worried him a good deal; he didn't +understand it. That, then, was what ailed Pulz. When he opened the chest +there was, as I surmise, a trifling quantity of this stuff lying in the +inner lid. It wasn't the celestium itself, as I imagine, but a sort of by- +product with the physiological and radiant effects of the real thing, and +it had been set there on guard, a discouragement to the spirit of +investigation, as it were. So, when the top was lifted, our little +guardian gets in its work, producing the light phenomenon that so puzzled +Slade, and inspiring Pulz with a passion for the rolling wave, which is +only interrupted by Handy Solomon's tackling him. As he fled he must have +pulled down the cover." +</p> + +<p> +"He did," said Slade. "I heard the clang. But I saw the radiance on the +clouds. And the whole thickness of a solid oak deck was in between the sky +and the chest." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, a little thing like an oak deck wouldn't interrupt the kind of rays +the doctor used. He had his own method of screening, you understand. +However, this inconsiderable guardian affair must have used itself up, +which true celestium wouldn't have done. So when Perdosa sets his genius +for lock-picking to the task, the inner box, full of the genuine article, +has no warning sign-post, so to speak. Everything's peaceful until they +raise the compound-filled hollow layer of the inner cover, which serves to +interrupt the action. Then comes the general exit and the superior +fireworks." +</p> + +<p> +"That's when the rays ran through the ship," said Slade. "It seemed to +follow the deck-lines." +</p> + +<p> +"The stuff had a strange affinity for tar," said Darrow. "I told you of +the circle of fire about Professor Schermerhorn's waist the day he gave me +such a scare. That was the celestium working on the tarred rope he wore +for a belt. It made a livid circle on his skin. Did I tell you of his +experiments with pitch? It doesn't matter. Where was I?" +</p> + +<p> +"At the place where we all jumped," said Slade. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, yes. And you dove into the small boat, trying to reach the water." +</p> + +<p> +"Wait a bit," said Barnett. "If that was the exhibition of radiance we +saw, it died out in a few minutes. How was that? Did they close the chest +before they ran?" +</p> + +<p> +"Probably not," replied Darrow. "Slade spoke of Pulz taking to the maintop +and being shaken out by the sudden shock of a wave. That may have been a +volcanic billow. Whatever it was, it undoubtedly heeled the ship +sufficiently to bring down both lids, which were rather delicately +balanced." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, for Billy Edwards found the chest closed and locked," said Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"Of course; it was a spring lock. You sent Mr. Edwards and his men aboard. +No such experts as Pulz or Perdosa were in your crew. Consequently it took +longer to get the chest open. When at length the lid was raised, there was +a repetition of the tragedy. Mr. Edwards and his men leaped. Probably they +were paralysed almost before they struck the water. Your bos'n, whom Slade +picked up, was the only one who had time even to grab a life preserver +before the impulse toward water became irresistible. There was no element +of fright, you understand: no desertion of their post. They were dragged +as by the sweep of a tornado." Darrow spoke direct to Captain Parkinson. +"If there is any feeling among you other than sorrow for their death, it +is unjust and unworthy." +</p> + +<p> +"Thank you, Mr. Darrow," returned the captain quietly. +</p> + +<p> +"We found the chest closed again when the empty ship came back," observed +Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"Being masterless, the schooner began to yaw," continued Darrow. "The +first time she came about would have heeled her enough to shut the chest. +Now came the turn of your other men." +</p> + +<p> +"Ives and McGuire," said the Captain, as Darrow paused. +</p> + +<p> +"The glow came again that night, and the next day we picked up Slade," +said Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"You know what the glow meant for your companions," said Darrow. +</p> + +<p> +"But the ship. The <i>Laughing Lass</i>, man. She's vanished. No one has seen +her since." +</p> + +<p> +"You are wrong there," said Darrow. "I have seen her." +</p> + +<p> +In a common impulse the little circle leaned to him. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, I have seen her. I wish I had not. Let me bring my story back to the +cave on the island. After the volcanic gases had driven me to the refuge, +I sat near the mouth of the cave looking out into the darkness. That was +the night of the 7th, the night you saw the last glow. It was very dark, +except for occasional bursts of fire from the crater. Judge of my +incredulous amazement when, in an access of this illumination, I saw +plainly a schooner hardly a mile off shore, coming in under bare poles." +</p> + +<p> +"Under bare poles?" cried Slade. +</p> + +<p> +"The halliards must have disintegrated from some slow action of the +celestium. It could be destructive: terrifically destructive. You shall +judge. There was the schooner, naked as your hand. Possibly I might have +thought it a hallucination but for what came after. Darkness fell again. I +supposed then that Handy Solomon's crew were managing--or mismanaging--the +<i>Laughing Lass</i> without the aid of their leader, whom I had satisfactorily +buried. I hoped they would come ashore on the rocks. Yes I was +vengeful ... then. +</p> + +<p> +"Of a sudden there sprang from the darkness a ship of light. You have all +seen those great electric effects at expositions. Someone touches a +button ... you know. It was like that. Only that the piercingly brilliant +jewelled wonder of a ship was set in the midst of a swirl of vari-coloured +radiance such as I can't begin to describe. You saw it from a distance. +Imagine what it was, coming close upon you that way--dead on, out of the +night. A living glory, a living terror...." +</p> + +<p> +His voice sank. With a shaking hand he fumbled amid his cigarette papers. +</p> + +<p> +"It came on. A human figure, glowing like a diamond ablaze, leaped out +from it; another shot down from the foremast. I don't know how many I saw +go. It was like a theatric effect, unreal, unconvincing, incredible. The +end fitted it." +</p> + +<p> +Darrow's eye roved. It fell upon a quaintly modelled ship, hung above the +door. +</p> + +<p> +"What's that?" he cried. +</p> + +<p> +"Fool thing some Malay gave me," grunted Trendon. "Pretended to be +grateful because I cut his foot off. No good. Go on with the story." +</p> + +<p> +"No good? You don't care what happens to it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Meant to heave it overboard before now," growled the other. +</p> + +<p> +Someone handed it down to Darrow. +</p> + +<p> +"If I had something to hold enough water," muttered he, "I'd like to float +it. I'd like to see for myself how it worked out. I'd like to see that +devil-work in action." +</p> + +<p> +He spoke feverishly. +</p> + +<p> +"Boy, fill the portable rubber tub in Mr. Forsythe's cabin and bring it +here," ordered the captain. +</p> + +<p> +"That will do." said Darrow, recovering himself. +</p> + +<p> +He floated the model in the tub. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, I don't know how this will come out," he said. "Nor do I know why +the <i>Laughing Lass</i> met her fate under Ives and McGuire, and not before. +Perhaps the chest lay open longer ... long enough, anyway. We'll try it." +</p> + +<p> +From his pocket he took a curious small phial. +</p> + +<p> +"Is that what Dr. Schermerhorn gave you?" asked Slade. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," said Darrow. He set it carefully inside the little model and +slipped a lever. Slade quietly turned down the light. +</p> + +<p> +A faint glow shot up. It grew bright and eddied in lovely, variant +colours. As if set to a powder train, it ran through the ship. The pale +faces of the spectators shone ghastly in its radiance. From someone burst +a sudden gasp. +</p> + +<p> +"There is not enough for danger," said Darrow, quietly. +</p> + +<p> +"As a point of interest," grunted Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +Everyone looked at his outstretched hand. A little pocket compass lay in +the palm. The needle spun madly, projecting blue, vivid sparklings. +</p> + +<p> +"My God!" cried Slade, and covered his eyes for a moment. +</p> + +<p> +He snatched away his hands as a suppressed cry went up from the others. +</p> + +<p> +"As I expected," said Darrow quietly. +</p> + +<p> +The little craft opened out; it disintegrated. All that radiance dissolved +and with its going the substance upon which it shaped itself vanished. The +last glow showed a formless pulp, spreading upon the water. +</p> + +<p> +"So passed the <i>Laughing Lass</i>," said Darrow solemnly. +</p> + +<p> +"And the chest is at the bottom of the sea," said Barnett. +</p> + +<p> +"Good place for it," muttered Trendon. +</p> + +<p> +"In all probability it closed as the ship dissolved around it," said +Darrow. "Otherwise we should see the effects in the water." +</p> + +<p> +"It might be recovered," cried Slade, excitedly. +</p> + +<p> +"Could you chart it, Darrow? Think of the possibilities--" +</p> + +<p> +"Let it lie," said the captain. "Has it not cost enough? Let it lie." +</p> + +<p> +The water in the tub fumed and sparkled faintly and was still. Darkness +fell, except where Darrow's cigarette point glowed and faded. +</p> + +<h2> +THE END +</h2> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mystery +by Stewart Edward White and Samuel Hopkins Adams + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY *** + +***** This file should be named 10008-h.htm or 10008-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/0/0/10008/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Danny Wool, Luiz Antonio de Souza, Elisa Williams, +Tonya Allen and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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