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diff --git a/12202-0.txt b/12202-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..faeb9ce --- /dev/null +++ b/12202-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,604 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12202 *** + +ODD CRAFT + +By W.W. Jacobs + + + +THE CASTAWAY + +Mrs. John Boxer stood at the door of the shop with her hands clasped on +her apron. The short day had drawn to a close, and the lamps in the +narrow little thorough-fares of Shinglesea were already lit. For a time +she stood listening to the regular beat of the sea on the beach some +half-mile distant, and then with a slight shiver stepped back into the +shop and closed the door. + +[Illustration: "Mrs. John Boxer stood at the door of the shop with her +hands clasped on her apron."] + +The little shop with its wide-mouthed bottles of sweets was one of her +earliest memories. Until her marriage she had known no other home, and +when her husband was lost with the _North Star_ some three years before, +she gave up her home in Poplar and returned to assist her mother in the +little shop. + +In a restless mood she took up a piece of needle-work, and a minute or +two later put it down again. A glance through the glass of the door +leading into the small parlour revealed Mrs. Gimpson, with a red shawl +round her shoulders, asleep in her easy-chair. + +Mrs. Boxer turned at the clang of the shop bell, and then, with a wild +cry, stood gazing at the figure of a man standing in the door-way. He +was short and bearded, with oddly shaped shoulders, and a left leg which +was not a match; but the next moment Mrs. Boxer was in his arms sobbing +and laughing together. + +Mrs. Gimpson, whose nerves were still quivering owing to the suddenness +with which she had been awakened, came into the shop; Mr. Boxer freed an +arm, and placing it round her waist kissed her with some affection on the +chin. + +"He's come back!" cried Mrs. Boxer, hysterically. + +"Thank goodness," said Mrs. Gimpson, after a moment's deliberation. + +"He's alive!" cried Mrs. Boxer. "He's alive !" + +She half-dragged and half-led him into the small parlour, and thrusting +him into the easy-chair lately vacated by Mrs. Gimpson seated herself +upon his knee, regardless in her excitement that the rightful owner was +with elaborate care selecting the most uncomfortable chair in the room. + +"Fancy his coming back!" said Mrs. Boxer, wiping her eyes. "How did you +escape, John? Where have you been? Tell us all about it." + +Mr. Boxer sighed. "It 'ud be a long story if I had the gift of telling +of it," he said, slowly, "but I'll cut it short for the present. When +the _North Star_ went down in the South Pacific most o' the hands got +away in the boats, but I was too late. I got this crack on the head with +something falling on it from aloft. Look here." + +He bent his head, and Mrs. Boxer, separating the stubble with her +fingers, uttered an exclamation of pity and alarm at the extent of the +scar; Mrs. Gimpson, craning forward, uttered a sound which might mean +anything--even pity. + +"When I come to my senses," continued Mr. Boxer, "the ship was sinking, +and I just got to my feet when she went down and took me with her. How I +escaped I don't know. I seemed to be choking and fighting for my breath +for years, and then I found myself floating on the sea and clinging to a +grating. I clung to it all night, and next day I was picked up by a +native who was paddling about in a canoe, and taken ashore to an island, +where I lived for over two years. It was right out o' the way o' craft, +but at last I was picked up by a trading schooner named the _Pearl,_ +belonging to Sydney, and taken there. At Sydney I shipped aboard the +_Marston Towers,_ a steamer, and landed at the Albert Docks this +morning." + +"Poor John," said his wife, holding on to his arm. "How you must have +suffered!" + +"I did," said Mr. Boxer. "Mother got a cold?" he inquired, eying that +lady. + +"No, I ain't," said Mrs. Gimpson, answering for herself. "Why didn't you +write when you got to Sydney?" + +"Didn't know where to write to," replied Mr. Boxer, staring. "I didn't +know where Mary had gone to." + +"You might ha' wrote here," said Mrs. Gimpson. + +"Didn't think of it at the time," said Mr. Boxer. "One thing is, I was +very busy at Sydney, looking for a ship. However, I'm 'ere now." + +"I always felt you'd turn up some day," said Mrs. Gimpson. "I felt +certain of it in my own mind. Mary made sure you was dead, but I said +'no, I knew better.'" + +There was something in Mrs. Gimpson's manner of saying this that +impressed her listeners unfavourably. The impression was deepened when, +after a short, dry laugh _a propos_ of nothing, she sniffed again--three +times. + +"Well, you turned out to be right," said Mr. Boxer, shortly. + +"I gin'rally am," was the reply; "there's very few people can take me +in." + +She sniffed again. + +"Were the natives kind to you?" inquired Mrs. Boxer, hastily, as she +turned to her husband. + +"Very kind," said the latter. "Ah! you ought to have seen that island. +Beautiful yellow sands and palm-trees; cocoa-nuts to be 'ad for the +picking, and nothing to do all day but lay about in the sun and swim in +the sea." + +"Any public-'ouses there?" inquired Mrs. Gimpson. + +"Cert'nly not," said her son-in-law. "This was an island--one o' the +little islands in the South Pacific Ocean." + +"What did you say the name o' the schooner was?" inquired Mrs. Gimpson. + +"_Pearl,_" replied Mr. Boxer, with the air of a resentful witness under +cross-examination. + +"And what was the name o' the captin?" said Mrs. Gimpson. + +"Thomas--Henery--Walter--Smith," said Mr. Boxer, with somewhat unpleasant +emphasis. + +"An' the mate's name?" + +"John Brown," was the reply. + +"Common names," commented Mrs. Gimpson, "very common. But I knew you'd +come back all right--I never 'ad no alarm. 'He's safe and happy, my +dear,' I says. 'He'll come back all in his own good time.'" + +"What d'you mean by that?" demanded the sensitive Mr. Boxer. "I come +back as soon as I could." + +"You know you were anxious, mother," interposed her daughter. "Why, you +insisted upon our going to see old Mr. Silver about it." + +"Ah! but I wasn't uneasy or anxious afterwards," said Mrs. Gimpson, +compressing her lips. + +"Who's old Mr. Silver, and what should he know about it?" inquired Mr. +Boxer. + +"He's a fortune-teller," replied his wife. "Reads the stars," said his +mother-in-law. + +Mr. Boxer laughed--a good ringing laugh. "What did he tell you?" he +inquired. "Nothing," said his wife, hastily. "Ah!" said Mr. Boxer, +waggishly, "that was wise of 'im. Most of us could tell fortunes that +way." + +"That's wrong," said Mrs. Gimpson to her daughter, sharply. "Right's +right any day, and truth's truth. He said that he knew all about John +and what he'd been doing, but he wouldn't tell us for fear of 'urting our +feelings and making mischief." + +"Here, look 'ere," said Mr. Boxer, starting up; "I've 'ad about enough o' +this. Why don't you speak out what you mean? I'll mischief 'im, the old +humbug. Old rascal." + +"Never mind, John," said his wife, laying her hand upon his arm. "Here +you are safe and sound, and as for old Mr. Silver, there's a lot o' +people don't believe in him." + +"Ah! they don't want to," said Mrs. Gimpson, obstinately. "But don't +forget that he foretold my cough last winter." + +"Well, look 'ere," said Mr. Boxer, twisting his short, blunt nose into as +near an imitation of a sneer as he could manage, "I've told you my story +and I've got witnesses to prove it. You can write to the master of the +Marston Towers if you like, and other people besides. Very well, then; +let's go and see your precious old fortune-teller. You needn't say who I +am; say I'm a friend, and tell 'im never to mind about making mischief, +but to say right out where I am and what I've been doing all this time. +I have my 'opes it'll cure you of your superstitiousness." + +[Illustration: "'Well, look 'ere,' said Mr. Boxer, 'I've told you my +story and I've got witnesses to prove it.'"] + +"We'll go round after we've shut up, mother," said Mrs. Boxer. "We'll +have a bit o' supper first and then start early." + +Mrs. Gimpson hesitated. It is never pleasant to submit one's +superstitions to the tests of the unbelieving, but after the attitude she +had taken up she was extremely loath to allow her son-in-law a triumph. + +"Never mind, we'll say no more about it," she said, primly, "but I 'ave +my own ideas." + +"I dessay," said Mr. Boxer; "but you're afraid for us to go to your old +fortune-teller. It would be too much of a show-up for 'im." + +"It's no good your trying to aggravate me, John Boxer, because you can't +do it," said Mrs. Gimpson, in a voice trembling with passion. + +"O' course, if people like being deceived they must be," said Mr. Boxer; +"we've all got to live, and if we'd all got our common sense fortune- +tellers couldn't. Does he tell fortunes by tea-leaves or by the colour +of your eyes?" + +"Laugh away, John Boxer," said Mrs. Gimpson, icily; "but I shouldn't have +been alive now if it hadn't ha' been for Mr. Silver's warnings." + +"Mother stayed in bed for the first ten days in July," explained Mrs. +Boxer, "to avoid being bit by a mad dog." + +"Tchee--tchee--tchee," said the hapless Mr. Boxer, putting his hand over +his mouth and making noble efforts to restrain himself; "tchee--tch + +"I s'pose you'd ha' laughed more if I 'ad been bit?" said the glaring +Mrs. Gimpson. + +"Well, who did the dog bite after all?" inquired Mr. Boxer, recovering. + +"You don't understand," replied Mrs. Gimpson, pityingly; "me being safe +up in bed and the door locked, there was no mad dog. There was no use +for it." + +"Well," said Mr. Boxer, "me and Mary's going round to see that old +deceiver after supper, whether you come or not. Mary shall tell 'im I'm +a friend, and ask him to tell her everything about 'er husband. Nobody +knows me here, and Mary and me'll be affectionate like, and give 'im to +understand we want to marry. Then he won't mind making mischief." + +"You'd better leave well alone," said Mrs. Gimpson. + +Mr. Boxer shook his head. "I was always one for a bit o' fun," he said, +slowly. "I want to see his face when he finds out who I am." + +Mrs. Gimpson made no reply; she was looking round for the market-basket, +and having found it she left the reunited couple to keep house while she +went out to obtain a supper which should, in her daughter's eyes, be +worthy of the occasion. + +She went to the High Street first and made her purchases, and was on the +way back again when, in response to a sudden impulse, as she passed the +end of Crowner's Alley, she turned into that small by-way and knocked at +the astrologer's door. + +A slow, dragging footstep was heard approaching in reply to the summons, +and the astrologer, recognising his visitor as one of his most faithful +and credulous clients, invited her to step inside. Mrs. Gimpson +complied, and, taking a chair, gazed at the venerable white beard and +small, red-rimmed eyes of her host in some perplexity as to how to begin. + +"My daughter's coming round to see you presently," she said, at last. + +The astrologer nodded. + +"She--she wants to ask you about 'er husband," faltered' Mrs. Gimpson; +"she's going to bring a friend with her--a man who doesn't believe in +your knowledge. He--he knows all about my daughter's husband, and he +wants to see what you say you know about him." + +The old man put on a pair of huge horn spectacles and eyed her carefully. + +"You've got something on your mind," he said, at last; "you'd better tell +me everything." + +Mrs. Gimpson shook her head. + +"There's some danger hanging over you," continued Mr. Silver, in a low, +thrilling voice; "some danger in connection with your son-in-law. There" +he waved a lean, shrivelled hand backward and for-ward as though +dispelling a fog, and peered into distance--"there is something forming +over you. You--or somebody--are hiding something from me." + +[Illustration: "There is something forming over you."] + +Mrs. Gimpson, aghast at such omniscience, sank backward in her chair. + +"Speak," said the old man, gently; "there is no reason why you should be +sacrificed for others." + +Mrs. Gimpson was of the same opinion, and in some haste she reeled off +the events of the evening. She had a good memory, and no detail was +lost. + +"Strange, strange," said the venerable Mr. Silver, when he had finished. +"He is an ingenious man." + +"Isn't it true?" inquired his listener. "He says he can prove it. And +he is going to find out what you meant by saying you were afraid of +making mischief." + +"He can prove some of it," said the old man, his eyes snapping +spitefully. "I can guarantee that." + +"But it wouldn't have made mischief if you had told us that," ventured +Mrs. Gimpson. "A man can't help being cast away." + +"True," said the astrologer, slowly; "true. But let them come and +question me; and whatever you do, for your own sake don't let a soul know +that you have been here. If you do, the danger to yourself will be so +terrible that even I may be unable to help you." + +Mrs. Gimpson shivered, and more than ever impressed by his marvellous +powers made her way slowly home, where she found the unconscious Mr. +Boxer relating his adventures again with much gusto to a married couple +from next door. + +"It's a wonder he's alive," said Mr. Jem Thompson, looking up as the old +woman entered the room; "it sounds like a story-book. Show us that cut +on your head again, mate." + +The obliging Mr. Boxer complied. + +"We're going on with 'em after they've 'ad sup-per," continued Mr. +Thompson, as he and his wife rose to depart. "It'll be a fair treat to +me to see old Silver bowled out." + +Mrs. Gimpson sniffed and eyed his retreating figure disparagingly; Mrs. +Boxer, prompted by her husband, began to set the table for supper. + +It was a lengthy meal, owing principally to Mr. Boxer, but it was over at +last, and after that gentleman had assisted in shutting up the shop they +joined the Thompsons, who were waiting outside, and set off for Crowner's +Alley. The way was enlivened by Mr. Boxer, who had thrills of horror +every ten yards at the idea of the supernatural things he was about to +witness, and by Mr. Thompson, who, not to be outdone, persisted in +standing stock-still at frequent intervals until he had received the +assurances of his giggling better-half that he would not be made to +vanish in a cloud of smoke. + +By the time they reached Mr. Silver's abode the party had regained its +decorum, and, except for a tremendous shudder on the part of Mr. Boxer as +his gaze fell on a couple of skulls which decorated the magician's table, +their behaviour left nothing to be desired. Mrs. Gimpson, in a few +awkward words, announced the occasion of their visit. Mr. Boxer she +introduced as a friend of the family from London. + +"I will do what I can," said the old man, slowly, as his visitors seated +themselves, "but I can only tell you what I see. If I do not see all, or +see clearly, it cannot be helped." + +Mr. Boxer winked at Mr. Thompson, and received an understanding pinch in +return; Mrs. Thompson in a hot whisper told them to behave themselves. + +The mystic preparations were soon complete. A little cloud of smoke, +through which the fierce red eyes of the astrologer peered keenly at Mr. +Boxer, rose from the table. Then he poured various liquids into a small +china bowl and, holding up his hand to command silence, gazed steadfastly +into it. "I see pictures," he announced, in a deep voice. "The docks of +a great city; London. I see an ill-shaped man with a bent left leg +standing on the deck of a ship." + +Mr. Thompson, his eyes wide open with surprise, jerked Mr. Boxer in the +ribs, but Mr. Boxer, whose figure was a sore point with him, made no +response. + +"The ship leaves the docks," continued Mr. Silver, still peering into the +bowl. "As she passes through the entrance her stern comes into view with +the name painted on it. The--the--the----" + +"Look agin, old chap," growled Mr. Boxer, in an undertone. + +"The North Star," said the astrologer. "The ill-shaped man is still +standing on the fore-part of the ship; I do not know his name or who he +is. He takes the portrait of a beautiful young woman from his pocket and +gazes at it earnestly." + +Mrs. Boxer, who had no illusions on the subject of her personal +appearance, sat up as though she had been stung; Mr. Thompson, who was +about to nudge Mr. Boxer in the ribs again, thought better of it and +assumed an air of uncompromising virtue. + +"The picture disappears," said Mr. Silver. "Ah! I see; I see. A ship +in a gale at sea. It is the North Star; it is sinking. The ill-shaped +man sheds tears and loses his head. I cannot discover the name of this +man." + +Mr. Boxer, who had been several times on the point of interrupting, +cleared his throat and endeavoured to look unconcerned. + +"The ship sinks," continued the astrologer, in thrilling tones. "Ah! +what is this? a piece of wreck-age with a monkey clinging to it? No, +no-o. The ill-shaped man again. Dear me!" + +[Illustration: "Ah! what is this? a piece of wreckage with a monkey +clinging to it?"] + +His listeners sat spellbound. Only the laboured and intense breathing of +Mr. Boxer broke the silence. + +"He is alone on the boundless sea," pursued the seer; "night falls. Day +breaks, and a canoe propelled by a slender and pretty but dusky maiden +approaches the castaway. She assists him into the canoe and his head +sinks on her lap, as with vigorous strokes of her paddle she propels the +canoe toward a small island fringed with palm trees." + +"Here, look 'ere--" began the overwrought Mr. Boxer. + +"H'sh, h'sh!" ejaculated the keenly interested Mr. Thompson. "W'y don't +you keep quiet?" + +"The picture fades," continued the old man. "I see another: a native +wedding. It is the dusky maiden and the man she rescued. Ah! the +wedding is interrupted; a young man, a native, breaks into the group. He +has a long knife in his hand. He springs upon the ill-shaped man and +wounds him in the head." + +Involuntarily Mr. Boxer's hand went up to his honourable scar, and the +heads of the others swung round to gaze at it. Mrs. Boxer's face was +terrible in its expression, but Mrs. Gimpson's bore the look of sad and +patient triumph of one who knew men and could not be surprised at +anything they do. + +"The scene vanishes," resumed the monotonous voice, "and another one +forms. The same man stands on the deck of a small ship. The name on +the stern is the Peer--no, Paris--no, no, no, Pearl. It fades from the +shore where the dusky maiden stands with hands stretched out +imploringly. The ill-shaped man smiles and takes the portrait of the +young and beautiful girl from his pocket." + +"Look 'ere," said the infuriated Mr. Boxer, "I think we've 'ad about +enough of this rubbish. I have--more than enough." + +"I don't wonder at it," said his wife, trembling furiously. "You can go +if you like. I'm going to stay and hear all that there is to hear." + +"You sit quiet," urged the intensely interested Mr. Thompson. "He ain't +said it's you. There's more than one misshaped man in the world, I +s'pose?" + +"I see an ocean liner," said the seer, who had appeared to be in a trance +state during this colloquy. "She is sailing for England from Australia. +I see the name distinctly: the _Marston Towers_. The same man is on +board of her. The ship arrives at London. The scene closes; another one +forms. The ill-shaped man is sitting with a woman with a beautiful face +--not the same as the photograph." + +"What they can see in him I can't think," muttered Mr. Thompson, in an +envious whisper. "He's a perfick terror, and to look at him----" + +"They sit hand in hand," continued the astrologer, raising his voice. +"She smiles up at him and gently strokes his head; he----" + +A loud smack rang through the room and startled the entire company; Mrs. +Boxer, unable to contain herself any longer, had, so far from profiting +by the example, gone to the other extreme and slapped her husband's head +with hearty good-will. Mr. Boxer sprang raging to his feet, and in the +confusion which ensued the fortune-teller, to the great regret of Mr. +Thompson, upset the contents of the magic bowl. + +"I can see no more," he said, sinking hastily into his chair behind the +table as Mr. Boxer advanced upon him. + +Mrs. Gimpson pushed her son-in-law aside, and laying a modest fee upon +the table took her daughter's arm and led her out. The Thompsons +followed, and Mr. Boxer, after an irresolute glance in the direction of +the ingenuous Mr. Silver, made his way after them and fell into the rear. +The people in front walked on for some time in silence, and then the +voice of the greatly impressed Mrs. Thompson was heard, to the effect +that if there were only more fortune-tellers in the world there would be +a lot more better men. + +Mr. Boxer trotted up to his wife's side. "Look here, Mary," he began. + +"Don't you speak to me," said his wife, drawing closer to her mother, +"because I won't answer you." + +Mr. Boxer laughed, bitterly. "This is a nice home-coming," he remarked. + +He fell to the rear again and walked along raging, his temper by no means +being improved by observing that Mrs. Thompson, doubtless with a firm +belief in the saying that "Evil communications corrupt good manners," +kept a tight hold of her husband's arm. His position as an outcast was +clearly defined, and he ground his teeth with rage as he observed the +virtuous uprightness of Mrs. Gimpson's back. By the time they reached +home he was in a spirit of mad recklessness far in advance of the +character given him by the astrologer. + +His wife gazed at him with a look of such strong interrogation as he was +about to follow her into the house that he paused with his foot on the +step and eyed her dumbly. + +"Have you left anything inside that you want?" she inquired. + +[Illustration: "'Have you left anything inside that you want?' she +inquired."] + +Mr. Boxer shook his head. "I only wanted to come in and make a clean +breast of it," he said, in a curious voice; "then I'll go." + +Mrs. Gimpson stood aside to let him pass, and Mr. Thompson, not to be +denied, followed close behind with his faintly protesting wife. They sat +down in a row against the wall, and Mr. Boxer, sitting opposite in a +hang-dog fashion, eyed them with scornful wrath. + +"Well?" said Mrs. Boxer, at last. + +"All that he said was quite true," said her husband, defiantly. "The +only thing is, he didn't tell the arf of it. Altogether, I married three +dusky maidens." + +Everybody but Mr. Thompson shuddered with horror. + +"Then I married a white girl in Australia," pursued Mr. Boxer, musingly. +"I wonder old Silver didn't see that in the bowl; not arf a fortune- +teller, I call 'im." + +"What they see in 'im!" whispered the astounded Mr. Thompson to his wife. + +"And did you marry the beautiful girl in the photograph?" demanded Mrs. +Boxer, in trembling accents. + +"I did," said her husband. + +"Hussy," cried Mrs. Boxer. + +"I married her," said Mr. Boxer, considering--"I married her at +Camberwell, in eighteen ninety-three." + +"Eighteen ninety-three!" said his wife, in a startled voice. "But you +couldn't. Why, you didn't marry me till eighteen ninety-four." + +"What's that got to do with it?" inquired the monster, calmly. + +Mrs. Boxer, pale as ashes, rose from her seat and stood gazing at him +with horror-struck eyes, trying in vain to speak. + +"You villain!" cried Mrs. Gimpson, violently. "I always distrusted you." + +[Illustration: "'You villain!' cried Mrs. Gimpson, violently. 'I always +distrusted you.'"] + +"I know you did," said Mr. Boxer, calmly. "You've been committing +bigamy," cried Mrs. Gimpson. + +"Over and over agin," assented Mr. Boxer, cheerfully. "It's got to be a +'obby with me." + +"Was the first wife alive when you married my daughter?" demanded Mrs. +Gimpson. + +"Alive?" said Mr. Boxer. "O' course she was. She's alive now--bless +her." + +He leaned back in his chair and regarded with intense satisfaction the +horrified faces of the group in front. + +"You--you'll go to jail for this," cried Mrs. Gimpson, breathlessly. +"What is your first wife's address?" + +"I decline to answer that question," said her son-in-law. + +"What is your first wife's address?" repeated Mrs. Gimpson. + +"Ask the fortune-teller," said Mr. Boxer, with an aggravating smile. +"And then get 'im up in the box as a witness, little bowl and all. He +can tell you more than I can." + +"I demand to know her name and address," cried Mrs. Gimpson, putting a +bony arm around the waist of the trembling Mrs. Boxer. + +"I decline to give it," said Mr. Boxer, with great relish. "It ain't +likely I'm going to give myself away like that; besides, it's agin the +law for a man to criminate himself. You go on and start your bigamy +case, and call old red-eyes as a witness." + +Mrs. Gimpson gazed at him in speechless wrath and then stooping down +conversed in excited whispers with Mrs. Thompson. Mrs. Boxer crossed +over to her husband. + +"Oh, John," she wailed, "say it isn't true, say it isn't true." + +Mr. Boxer hesitated. "What's the good o' me saying anything?" he said, +doggedly. + +"It isn't true," persisted his wife. "Say it isn't true." + +"What I told you when I first came in this evening was quite true," said +her husband, slowly. "And what I've just told you is as true as what +that lying old fortune-teller told you. You can please yourself what you +believe." + +"I believe you, John," said his wife, humbly. + +Mr. Boxer's countenance cleared and he drew her on to his knee. + +"That's right," he said, cheerfully. "So long as you believe in me I +don't care what other people think. And before I'm much older I'll find +out how that old rascal got to know the names of the ships I was aboard. +Seems to me somebody's been talking." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Castaway, by W.W. Jacobs + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12202 *** |