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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1703-0.txt b/1703-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8aacb04 --- /dev/null +++ b/1703-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6480 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dead Men Tell No Tales, by E. W. Hornung + +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: Dead Men Tell No Tales + +Author: E. W. Hornung + +Posting Date: October 1, 2008 [EBook #1703] +Release Date: April, 1999 +[Last Updated: June 10, 2022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteer. + + + + + +DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES + +By E. W. Hornung + + + + +CONTENTS + + Chapter I Love on the Ocean + + Chapter II The Mysterious Cargo + + Chapter III To the Water's Edge + + Chapter IV The Silent Sea + + Chapter V My Reward + + Chapter VI The Sole Survivor + + Chapter V I Find a Friend + + Chapter VI A Small Precaution + + Chapter VII My Convalescent Home + + Chapter VIII Wine and Weakness + + Chapter IX I Live Again + + Chapter X My Lady's Bidding + + Chapter XI The Longest Day of My Life + + Chapter XII In the Garden + + Chapter XIII First Blood + + Chapter XIV A Deadlock + + Chapter XV When Thieves Fall Out + + Chapter XVI A Man of Many Murders + + Chapter XVII My Great Hour + + Chapter XVIII The Statement of Francis Rattray + + + + +CHAPTER I. LOVE ON THE OCEAN + + +Nothing is so easy as falling in love on a long sea voyage, except +falling out of love. Especially was this the case in the days when the +wooden clippers did finely to land you in Sydney or in Melbourne under +the four full months. We all saw far too much of each other, unless, +indeed, we were to see still more. Our superficial attractions mutually +exhausted, we lost heart and patience in the disappointing strata +which lie between the surface and the bed-rock of most natures. My own +experience was confined to the round voyage of the _Lady Jermyn_, in the +year 1853. It was no common experience, as was only too well known +at the time. And I may add that I for my part had not the faintest +intention of falling in love on board; nay, after all these years, +let me confess that I had good cause to hold myself proof against such +weakness. Yet we carried a young lady, coming home, who, God knows, +might have made short work of many a better man! + +Eva Denison was her name, and she cannot have been more than nineteen +years of age. I remember her telling me that she had not yet come out, +the very first time I assisted her to promenade the poop. My own name +was still unknown to her, and yet I recollect being quite fascinated by +her frankness and self-possession. She was exquisitely young, and yet +ludicrously old for her years; had been admirably educated, chiefly +abroad, and, as we were soon to discover, possessed accomplishments +which would have made the plainest old maid a popular personage on board +ship. Miss Denison, however, was as beautiful as she was young, with the +bloom of ideal health upon her perfect skin. She had a wealth of lovely +hair, with strange elusive strands of gold among the brown, that drowned +her ears (I thought we were to have that mode again?) in sunny ripples; +and a soul greater than the mind, and a heart greater than either, lay +sleeping somewhere in the depths of her grave, gray eyes. + +We were at sea together so many weeks. I cannot think what I was made of +then! + +It was in the brave old days of Ballarat and Bendigo, when ship after +ship went out black with passengers and deep with stores, to bounce home +with a bale or two of wool, and hardly hands enough to reef topsails +in a gale. Nor was this the worst; for not the crew only, but, in many +cases, captain and officers as well, would join in the stampede to the +diggings; and we found Hobson's Bay the congested asylum of all manner +of masterless and deserted vessels. I have a lively recollection of our +skipper's indignation when the pilot informed him of this disgraceful +fact. Within a fortnight, however, I met the good man face to face upon +the diggings. It is but fair to add that the _Lady Jermyn_ lost every +officer and man in the same way, and that the captain did obey tradition +to the extent of being the last to quit his ship. Nevertheless, of +all who sailed by her in January, I alone was ready to return at the +beginning of the following July. + +I had been to Ballarat. I had given the thing a trial. For the most +odious weeks I had been a licensed digger on Black Hill Flats; and I had +actually failed to make running expenses. That, however, will surprise +you the less when I pause to declare that I have paid as much as four +shillings and sixpence for half a loaf of execrable bread; that my mate +and I, between us, seldom took more than a few pennyweights of gold-dust +in any one day; and never once struck pick into nugget, big or little, +though we had the mortification of inspecting the “mammoth masses” of +which we found the papers full on landing, and which had brought the +gold-fever to its height during our very voyage. With me, however, as +with many a young fellow who had turned his back on better things, the +malady was short-lived. We expected to make our fortunes out of hand, +and we had reckoned without the vermin and the villainy which rendered +us more than ever impatient of delay. In my fly-blown blankets I dreamt +of London until I hankered after my chambers and my club more than after +much fine gold. Never shall I forget my first hot bath on getting back +to Melbourne; it cost five shillings, but it was worth five pounds, and +is altogether my pleasantest reminiscence of Australia. + +There was, however, one slice of luck in store for me. I found the dear +old _Lady Jermyn_ on the very eve of sailing, with a new captain, a new +crew, a handful of passengers (chiefly steerage), and nominally no cargo +at all. I felt none the less at home when I stepped over her familiar +side. + +In the cuddy we were only five, but a more uneven quintette I defy you +to convene. There was a young fellow named Ready, packed out for +his health, and hurrying home to die among friends. There was an +outrageously lucky digger, another invalid, for he would drink nothing +but champagne with every meal and at any minute of the day, and I have +seen him pitch raw gold at the sea-birds by the hour together. Miss +Denison was our only lady, and her step-father, with whom she was +travelling, was the one man of distinction on board. He was a Portuguese +of sixty or thereabouts, Senhor Joaquin Santos by name; at first it was +incredible to me that he had no title, so noble was his bearing; but +very soon I realized that he was one of those to whom adventitious +honors can add no lustre. He treated Miss Denison as no parent ever +treated a child, with a gallantry and a courtliness quite beautiful to +watch, and not a little touching in the light of the circumstances under +which they were travelling together. The girl had gone straight from +school to her step-father's estate on the Zambesi, where, a few months +later, her mother had died of the malaria. Unable to endure the place +after his wife's death, Senhor Santos had taken ship to Victoria, there +to seek fresh fortune with results as indifferent as my own. He was +now taking Miss Denison back to England, to make her home with other +relatives, before he himself returned to Africa (as he once told me) to +lay his bones beside those of his wife. I hardly know which of the pair +I see more plainly as I write--the young girl with her soft eyes and her +sunny hair, or the old gentleman with the erect though wasted figure, +the noble forehead, the steady eye, the parchment skin, the white +imperial, and the eternal cigarette between his shrivelled lips. + +No need to say that I came more in contact with the young girl. She was +not less charming in my eyes because she provoked me greatly as I came +to know her intimately. She had many irritating faults. Like most young +persons of intellect and inexperience, she was hasty and intolerant in +nearly all her judgments, and rather given to being critical in a crude +way. She was very musical, playing the guitar and singing in a style +that made our shipboard concerts vastly superior to the average of their +order; but I have seen her shudder at the efforts of less gifted folks +who were also doing their best; and it was the same in other directions +where her superiority was less specific. The faults which are most +exasperating in another are, of course, one's own faults; and I confess +that I was very critical of Eva Denison's criticisms. Then she had +a little weakness for exaggeration, for unconscious egotism in +conversation, and I itched to tell her so. I felt so certain that the +girl had a fine character underneath, which would rise to noble heights +in stress or storm: all the more would I long now to take her in hand +and mould her in little things, and anon to take her in my arms just as +she was. The latter feeling was resolutely crushed. To be plain, I had +endured what is euphemistically called “disappointment” already; and, +not being a complete coxcomb, I had no intention of courting a second. + +Yet, when I write of Eva Denison, I am like to let my pen outrun my +tale. I lay the pen down, and a hundred of her sayings ring in my +ears, with my own contradictious comments, that I was doomed so soon +to repent; a hundred visions of her start to my eyes; and there is the +trade-wind singing in the rigging, and loosening a tress of my darling's +hair, till it flies like a tiny golden streamer in the tropic sun. +There, it is out! I have called her what she was to be in my heart ever +after. Yet at the time I must argue with her--with her! When all my +courage should have gone to love-making, I was plucking it up to sail as +near as I might to plain remonstrance! I little dreamt how the ghost of +every petty word was presently to return and torture me. + +So it is that I can see her and hear her now on a hundred separate +occasions beneath the awning beneath the stars on deck below at noon +or night but plainest of all in the evening of the day we signalled +the Island of Ascension, at the close of that last concert on the +quarter-deck. The watch are taking down the extra awning; they are +removing the bunting and the foot-lights. The lanterns are trailed +forward before they are put out; from the break of the poop we watch the +vivid shifting patch of deck that each lights up on its way. The stars +are very sharp in the vast violet dome above our masts; they shimmer on +the sea; and our trucks describe minute orbits among the stars, for the +trades have yet to fail us, and every inch of canvas has its fill of the +gentle steady wind. It is a heavenly night. The peace of God broods upon +His waters. No jarring note offends the ear. In the forecastle a voice +is humming a song of Eva Denison's that has caught the fancy of the men; +the young girl who sang it so sweetly not twenty minutes since who +sang it again and again to please the crew she alone is at war with our +little world she alone would head a mutiny if she could. + +“I hate the captain!” she says again. + +“My dear Miss Denison!” I begin; for she has always been severe upon our +bluff old man, and it is not the spirit of contrariety alone which makes +me invariably take his part. Coarse he may be, and not one whom the +owners would have chosen to command the _Lady Jermyn_; a good seaman none +the less, who brought us round the Horn in foul weather without losing +stitch or stick. I think of the ruddy ruffian in his dripping oilskins, +on deck day and night for our sakes, and once more I must needs take his +part; but Miss Denison stops me before I can get out another word. + +“I am not dear, and I'm not yours,” she cries. “I'm only a +school-girl--you have all but told me so before to-day! If I were a +man--if I were you--I should tell Captain Harris what I thought of him!” + +“Why? What has he done now?” + +“Now? You know how rude he was to poor Mr. Ready this very afternoon!” + +It was true. He had been very rude indeed. But Ready also had been at +fault. It may be that I was always inclined to take an opposite view, +but I felt bound to point this out, and at any cost. + +“You mean when Ready asked him if we were out of our course? I must +say I thought it was a silly question to put. It was the same the other +evening about the cargo. If the skipper says we're in ballast why not +believe him? Why repeat steerage gossip, about mysterious cargoes, at +the cuddy table? Captains are always touchy about that sort of thing. I +wasn't surprised at his letting out.” + +My poor love stares at me in the starlight. Her great eyes flash their +scorn. Then she gives a little smile--and then a little nod--more +scornful than all the rest. + +“You never are surprised, are you, Mr. Cole?” says she. “You were not +surprised when the wretch used horrible language in front of me! You +were not surprised when it was a--dying man--whom he abused!” + +I try to soothe her. I agree heartily with her disgust at the epithets +employed in her hearing, and towards an invalid, by the irate skipper. +But I ask her to make allowances for a rough, uneducated man, rather +clumsily touched upon his tender spot. I shall conciliate her presently; +the divine pout (so childish it was!) is fading from her lips; the +starlight is on the tulle and lace and roses of her pretty evening +dress, with its festooned skirts and obsolete flounces; and I am +watching her, ay, and worshipping her, though I do not know it yet. And +as we stand there comes another snatch from the forecastle:-- + + “What will you do, love, when I am going. + With white sail flowing, + The seas beyond? + What will you do, love--” + +“They may make the most of that song,” says Miss Denison grimly; “it's +the last they'll have from me. Get up as many more concerts as you like. +I won't sing at another unless it's in the fo'c'sle. I'll sing to the +men, but not to Captain Harris. He didn't put in an appearance tonight. +He shall not have another chance of insulting me.” + +Was it her vanity that was wounded after all? “You forget,” said I, +“that you would not answer when he addressed you at dinner.” + +“I should think I wouldn't, after the way he spoke to Mr. Ready; and he +too agitated to come to table, poor fellow!” + +“Still, the captain felt the open slight.” + +“Then he shouldn't have used such language in front of me.” + +“Your father felt it, too, Miss Denison.” + +I hear nothing plainer than her low but quick reply: + +“Mr. Cole, my father has been dead many; many years; he died before I +can remember. That man only married my poor mother. He sympathizes +with Captain Harris--against me; no father would do that. Look at them +together now! And you take his side, too; oh! I have no patience with +any of you--except poor Mr. Ready in his berth.” + +“But you are not going.” + +“Indeed I am. I am tired of you all.” + +And she was gone with angry tears for which I blamed myself as I fell to +pacing the weather side of the poop--and so often afterwards! So often, +and with such unavailing bitterness! + +Senhor Santos and the captain were in conversation by the weather rail. +I fancied poor old Harris eyed me with suspicion, and I wished he had +better cause. The Portuguese, however, saluted me with his customary +courtesy, and I thought there was a grave twinkle in his steady eye. + +“Are you in deesgrace also, friend Cole?” he inquired in his all but +perfect English. + +“More or less,” said I ruefully. + +He gave the shrug of his country--that delicate gesture which is done +almost entirely with the back--a subtlety beyond the power of British +shoulders. + +“The senhora is both weelful and pivish,” said he, mixing the two vowels +which (with the aspirate) were his only trouble with our tongue. “It is +great grif to me to see her growing so unlike her sainted mother!” + +He sighed, and I saw his delicate fingers forsake the cigarette they +were rolling to make the sacred sign upon his breast. He was always +smoking one cigarette and making another; as he lit the new one the glow +fell upon a strange pin that he wore, a pin with a tiny crucifix inlaid +in mosaic. So the religious cast of Senhor Santos was brought twice home +to me in the same moment, though, to be sure, I had often been struck +by it before. And it depressed me to think that so sweet a child as Eva +Denison should have spoken harshly of so good a man as her step-father, +simply because he had breadth enough to sympathize with a coarse old +salt like Captain Harris. + +I turned in, however, and I cannot say the matter kept me awake in the +separate state-room which was one luxury of our empty saloon. Alas? I +was a heavy sleeper then. + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE MYSTERIOUS CARGO + + +“Wake up, Cole! The ship's on fire!” + +It was young Ready's hollow voice, as cool, however, as though he were +telling me I was late for breakfast. I started up and sought him wildly +in the darkness. + +“You're joking,” was my first thought and utterance; for now he was +lighting my candle, and blowing out the match with a care that seemed in +itself a contradiction. + +“I wish I were,” he answered. “Listen to that!” + +He pointed to my cabin ceiling; it quivered and creaked; and all at once +I was as a deaf man healed. + +One gets inured to noise at sea, but to this day it passes me how even I +could have slept an instant in the abnormal din which I now heard raging +above my head. Sea-boots stamped; bare feet pattered; men bawled; women +shrieked; shouts of terror drowned the roar of command. + +“Have we long to last?” I asked, as I leaped for my clothes. + +“Long enough for you to dress comfortably. Steady, old man! It's only +just been discovered; they may get it under. The panic's the worst part +at present, and we're out of that.” + +But was Eva Denison? Breathlessly I put the question; his answer was +reassuring. Miss Denison was with her step-father on the poop. “And both +of 'em as cool as cucumbers,” added Ready. + +They could not have been cooler than this young man, with death at the +bottom of his bright and sunken eyes. He was of the type which is all +muscle and no constitution; athletes one year, dead men the next; but +until this moment the athlete had been to me a mere and incredible +tradition. In the afternoon I had seen his lean knees totter under the +captain's fire. Now, at midnight--the exact time by my watch--it was as +if his shrunken limbs had expanded in his clothes; he seemed hardly to +know his own flushed face, as he caught sight of it in my mirror. + +“By Jove!” said he, “this has put me in a fine old fever; but I don't +know when I felt in better fettle. If only they get it under! I've not +looked like this all the voyage.” + +And he admired himself while I dressed in hot haste: a fine young +fellow; not at all the natural egotist, but cast for death by the +doctors, and keenly incredulous in his bag of skin. It revived one's +confidence to hear him talk. But he forgot himself in an instant, and +gave me a lead through the saloon with a boyish eagerness that made me +actually suspicious as I ran. We were nearing the Line. I recalled the +excesses of my last crossing, and I prepared for some vast hoax at the +last moment. It was only when we plunged upon the crowded quarter-deck, +and my own eyes read lust of life and dread of death in the starting +eyes of others, that such lust and such dread consumed me in my turn, so +that my veins seemed filled with fire and ice. + +To be fair to those others, I think that the first wild panic was +subsiding even then; at least there was a lull, and even a reaction in +the right direction on the part of the males in the second class and +steerage. A huge Irishman at their head, they were passing buckets +towards the after-hold; the press of people hid the hatchway from +us until we gained the poop; but we heard the buckets spitting and a +hose-pipe hissing into the flames below; and we saw the column of white +vapor rising steadily from their midst. + +At the break of the poop stood Captain Harris, his legs planted wide +apart, very vigorous, very decisive, very profane. And I must confess +that the shocking oaths which had brought us round the Horn inspired a +kind of confidence in me now. Besides, even from the poop I could see +no flames. But the night was as beautiful as it had been an hour or two +back; the stars as brilliant, the breeze even more balmy, the sea even +more calm; and we were hove-to already, against the worst. + +In this hour of peril the poop was very properly invaded by all classes +of passengers, in all manner of incongruous apparel, in all stages of +fear, rage, grief and hysteria; as we made our way among this motley +nightmare throng, I took Ready by the arm. + +“The skipper's a brute,” said I, “but he's the right brute in the right +place to-night, Ready!” + +“I hope he may be,” was the reply. “But we were off our course this +afternoon; and we were off it again during the concert, as sure as we're +not on it now.” + +His tone made me draw him to the rail. + +“But how do you know? You didn't have another look, did you?” + +“Lots of looks-at the stars. He couldn't keep me from consulting them; +and I'm just as certain of it as I'm certain that we've a cargo aboard +which we're none of us supposed to know anything about.” + +The latter piece of gossip was, indeed, all over the ship; but this +allusion to it struck me as foolishly irrelevant and frivolous. As to +the other matter, I suggested that the officers would have had more to +say about it than Ready, if there had been anything in it. + +“Officers be damned!” cried our consumptive, with a sound man's vigor. +“They're ordinary seamen dressed up; I don't believe they've a second +mate's certificate between them, and they're frightened out of their +souls.” + +“Well, anyhow, the skipper isn't that.” + +“No; he's drunk; he can shout straight, but you should hear him try to +speak.” + +I made my way aft without rejoinder. “Invalid's pessimism,” was my +private comment. And yet the sick man was whole for the time being; the +virile spirit was once more master of the recreant members; and it +was with illogical relief that I found those I sought standing almost +unconcernedly beside the binnacle. + +My little friend was, indeed, pale enough, and her eyes great with +dismay; but she stood splendidly calm, in her travelling cloak and +bonnet, and with all my soul I hailed the hardihood with which I had +rightly credited my love. Yes! I loved her then. It had come home to me +at last, and I no longer denied it in my heart. In my innocence and my +joy I rather blessed the fire for showing me her true self and my own; +and there I stood, loving her openly with my eyes (not to lose another +instant), and bursting to tell her so with my lips. + +But there also stood Senhor Santos, almost precisely as I had seen him +last, cigarette, tie-pin, and all. He wore an overcoat, however, and +leaned upon a massive ebony cane, while he carried his daughter's guitar +in its case, exactly as though they were waiting for a train. Moreover, +I thought that for the first time he was regarding me with no very +favoring glance. + +“You don't think it serious?” I asked him abruptly, my heart still +bounding with the most incongruous joy. + +He gave me his ambiguous shrug; and then, “A fire at sea is surely +sirrious,” said he. + +“Where did it break out?” + +“No one knows; it may have come of your concert.” + +“But they are getting the better of it?” + +“They are working wonders so far, senhor.” + +“You see, Miss Denison,” I continued ecstatically, “our rough old +diamond of a skipper is the right man in the right place after all. A +tight man in a tight place, eh?” and I laughed like an idiot in their +calm grave faces. + +“Senhor Cole is right,” said Santos, “although his 'ilarity sims a +leetle out of place. But you must never spik against Captain 'Arrees +again, menma.” + +“I never will,” the poor child said; yet I saw her wince whenever the +captain raised that hoarse voice of his in more and more blasphemous +exhortation; and I began to fear with Ready that the man was drunk. + +My eyes were still upon my darling, devouring her, revelling in her, +when suddenly I saw her hand twitch within her step-father's arm. It was +an answering start to one on his part. The cigarette was snatched from +his lips. There was a commotion forward, and a cry came aft, from mouth +to mouth: + +“The flames! The flames!” + +I turned, and caught their reflection on the white column of smoke and +steam. I ran forward, and saw them curling and leaping in the hell-mouth +of the hold. + +The quarter-deck now staged a lurid scene: that blazing trap-door in +its midst; and each man there a naked demon madly working to save his +roasting skin. Abaft the mainmast the deck-pump was being ceaselessly +worked by relays of the passengers; dry blankets were passed forward, +soaking blankets were passed aft, and flung flat into the furnace one +after another. These did more good than the pure water: the pillar of +smoke became blacker, denser: we were at a crisis; a sudden hush denoted +it; even our hoarse skipper stood dumb. + +I had rushed down into the waist of the ship--blushing for my delay--and +already I was tossing blankets with the rest. Looking up in an enforced +pause, I saw Santos whispering in the skipper's ear, with the expression +of a sphinx but no lack of foreign gesticulation--behind them a fringe +of terror-stricken faces, parted at that instant by two more figures, +as wild and strange as any in that wild, strange scene. One was our +luckless lucky digger, the other a gigantic Zambesi nigger, who for +days had been told off to watch him; this was the servant (or rather the +slave) of Senhor Santos. + +The digger planted himself before the captain. His face was reddened by +a fire as consuming as that within the bowels of our gallant ship. He +had a huge, unwieldy bundle under either arm. + +“Plain question--plain answer,” we heard him stutter. “Is there any ---- +chance of saving this ---- ship?” + +His adjectives were too foul for print; they were given with such a +special effort at distinctness, however, that I was smiling one instant, +and giving thanks the next that Eva Denison had not come forward with +her guardian. Meanwhile the skipper had exchanged a glance with Senhor +Santos, and I think we all felt that he was going to tell us the truth. + +He told it in two words--“Very little.” + +Then the first individual tragedy was enacted before every eye. With +a yell the drunken maniac rushed to the rail. The nigger was at his +heels--he was too late. Uttering another and more piercing shriek, the +madman was overboard at a bound; one of his bundles preceded him; the +other dropped like a cannon-ball on the deck. + +The nigger caught it up and carried it forward to the captain. + +Harris held up his hand. We were still before we had fairly found our +tongues. His words did run together a little, but he was not drunk. + +“Men and women,” said he, “what I told that poor devil is Gospel truth; +but I didn't tell him we'd no chance of saving our lives, did I? Not +me, because we have! Keep your heads and listen to me. There's two +good boats on the davits amidships; the chief will take one, the second +officer the other; and there ain't no reason why every blessed one of +you shouldn't sleep in Ascension to-morrow night. As for me, let me see +every soul off of my ship and perhaps I may follow; but by the God that +made you, look alive! Mr. Arnott--Mr. McClellan--man them boats and +lower away. You can't get quit o' the ship too soon, an' I don't mind +tellin' you why. I'll tell you the worst, an' then you'll know. There's +been a lot o' gossip goin', gossip about my cargo. I give out as I'd +none but ship's stores and ballast, an' I give out a lie. I don't mind +tellin' you now. I give out a cussed lie, but I give it out for the +good o' the ship! What was the use o' frightenin' folks? But where's the +sense in keepin' it back now? We have a bit of a cargo,” shouted Harris; +“and it's gunpowder--every damned ton of it!” + +The effect of this announcement may be imagined; my hand has not the +cunning to reproduce it on paper; and if it had, it would shrink from +the task. Mild men became brutes, brutal men, devils, women--God help +them!--shrieking beldams for the most part. Never shall I forget them +with their streaming hair, their screaming open mouths, and the cruel +ascending fire glinting on their starting eyeballs! + +Pell-mell they tumbled down the poop-ladders; pell-mell they raced +amidships past that yawning open furnace; the pitch was boiling through +the seams of the crackling deck; they slipped and fell upon it, one over +another, and the wonder is that none plunged headlong into the flames. +A handful remained on the poop, cowering and undone with terror. Upon +these turned Captain Harris, as Ready and I, stemming the torrent of +maddened humanity, regained the poop ourselves. + +“For'ard with ye!” yelled the skipper. “The powder's underneath you in +the lazarette!” + +They were gone like hunted sheep. And now abaft the flaming hatchway +there were only we four surviving saloon passengers, the captain, his +steward, the Zambesi negro, and the quarter-master at the wheel. The +steward and the black I observed putting stores aboard the captain's gig +as it overhung the water from the stern davits. + +“Now, gentlemen,” said Harris to the two of us, “I must trouble you to +step forward with the rest. Senhor Santos insists on taking his chance +along with the young lady in my gig. I've told him the risk, but he +insists, and the gig'll hold no more.” + +“But she must have a crew, and I can row. For God's sake take me, +captain!” cried I; for Eva Denison sat weeping in her deck chair, and my +heart bled faint at the thought of leaving her, I who loved her so, and +might die without ever telling her my love! Harris, however, stood firm. + +“There's that quartermaster and my steward, and José the nigger,” said +he. “That's quite enough, Mr. Cole, for I ain't above an oar myself; +but, by God, I'm skipper o' this here ship, and I'll skip her as long as +I remain aboard!” + +I saw his hand go to his belt; I saw the pistols stuck there for +mutineers. I looked at Santos. He answered me with his neutral shrug, +and, by my soul, he struck a match and lit a cigarette in that hour of +life and death! Then last I looked at Ready; and he leant invertebrate +over the rail, gasping pitiably from his exertions in regaining the +poop, a dying man once more. I pointed out his piteous state. + +“At least,” I whispered, “you won't refuse to take him?” + +“Will there be anything to take?” said the captain brutally. + +Santos advanced leisurely, and puffed his cigarette over the poor wasted +and exhausted frame. + +“It is for you to decide, captain,” said he cynically; “but this one +will make no deeference. Yes, I would take him. It will not be far,” he +added, in a tone that was not the less detestable for being lowered. + +“Take them both!” moaned little Eva, putting in her first and last sweet +word. + +“Then we all drown, Evasinha,” said her stepfather. “It is impossible.” + +“We're too many for her as it is,” said the captain. “So for'ard with +ye, Mr. Cole, before it's too late.” + +But my darling's brave word for me had fired my blood, and I turned +with equal resolution on Harris and on the Portuguese. “I will go like +a lamb,” said I, “if you will first give me five minutes' conversation +with Miss Denison. Otherwise I do not go; and as for the gig, you may +take me or leave me, as you choose.” + +“What have you to say to her?” asked Santos, coming up to me, and again +lowering his voice. + +I lowered mine still more. “That I love her!” I answered in a soft +ecstasy. “That she may remember how I loved her, if I die!” + +His shoulders shrugged a cynical acquiescence. + +“By all mins, senhor; there is no harm in that.” + +I was at her side before another word could pass his withered lips. + +“Miss Denison, will you grant me five minutes', conversation? It may be +the last that we shall ever have together!” + +Uncovering her face, she looked at me with a strange terror in her great +eyes; then with a questioning light that was yet more strange, for in it +there was a wistfulness I could not comprehend. She suffered me to take +her hand, however, and to lead her unresisting to the weather rail. + +“What is it you have to say?” she asked me in her turn. “What is it that +you--think?” + +Her voice fell as though she must have the truth. + +“That we have all a very good chance,” said I heartily. + +“Is that all?” cried Eva, and my heart sank at her eager manner. + +She seemed at once disappointed and relieved. Could it be possible she +dreaded a declaration which she had foreseen all along? My evil first +experience rose up to warn me. No, I would not speak now; it was no +time. If she loved me, it might make her love me less; better to trust +to God to spare us both. + +“Yes, it is all,” I said doggedly. + +She drew a little nearer, hesitating. It was as though her +disappointment had gained on her relief. + +“Do you know what I thought you were going to say?” + +“No, indeed.” + +“Dare I tell you?” + +“You can trust me.” + +Her pale lips parted. Her great eyes shone. Another instant, and she had +told me that which I would have given all but life itself to know. But +in that tick of time a quick step came behind me, and the light went out +of the sweet face upturned to mine. + +“I cannot! I must not! Here is--that man!” + +Senhor Santos was all smiles and rings of pale-blue smoke. + +“You will be cut off, friend Cole,” said he. “The fire is spreading.” + +“Let it spread!” I cried, gazing my very soul into the young girl's +eyes. “We have not finished our conversation. + +“We have!” said she, with sudden decision. “Go--go--for my sake--for +your own sake--go at once!” + +She gave me her hand. I merely clasped it. And so I left her at the +rail--ah, heaven! how often we had argued on that very spot! So I left +her, with the greatest effort of all my life (but one); and yet in +passing, full as my heart was of love and self, I could not but lay a +hand on poor Ready's shoulders. + +“God bless you, old boy!” I said to him. + +He turned a white face that gave me half an instant's pause. + +“It's all over with me this time,” he said. “But, I say, I was right +about the cargo?” + +And I heard a chuckle as I reached the ladder; but Ready was no longer +in my mind; even Eva was driven out of it, as I stood aghast on the +top-most rung. + + + + +CHAPTER III. TO THE WATER'S EDGE + + +It was not the new panic amidships that froze my marrow; it was not that +the pinnace hung perpendicularly by the fore-tackle, and had shot out +those who had swarmed aboard her before she was lowered, as a cart +shoots a load of bricks. It was bad enough to see the whole boat-load +struggling, floundering, sinking in the sea; for selfish eyes (and which +of us is all unselfish at such a time?) there was a worse sight yet; for +I saw all this across an impassable gulf of fire. + +The quarter-deck had caught: it was in flames to port and starboard of +the flaming hatch; only fore and aft of it was the deck sound to the +lips of that hideous mouth, with the hundred tongues shooting out and +up. + +Could I jump it there? I sprang down and looked. It was only a few feet +across; but to leap through that living fire was to leap into eternity. +I drew back instantly, less because my heart failed me, I may truly say, +than because my common sense did not. + +Some were watching me, it seemed, across this hell. “The bulwarks!” they +screamed. “Walk along the bulwarks!” I held up my hand in token that +I heard and understood and meant to act. And as I did their bidding I +noticed what indeed had long been apparent to idler eyes: the wind was +not; we had lost our southeast trades; the doomed ship was rolling in a +dead calm. + +Rolling, rolling, rolling so that it seemed minutes before I dared to +move an inch. Then I tried it on my hands and knees, but the scorched +bulwarks burned me to the bone. And then I leapt up, desperate with the +pain; and, with my tortured hands spread wide to balance me, I walked +those few yards, between rising sea and falling fire, and falling sea +and rising fire, as an acrobat walks a rope, and by God's grace without +mishap. + +There was no time to think twice about my feat, or, indeed, about +anything else that befell upon a night when each moment was more +pregnant than the last. And yet I did think that those who had +encouraged me to attempt so perilous a trick might have welcomed me +alive among them; they were looking at something else already; and this +was what it was. + +One of the cabin stewards had presented himself on the poop; he had a +bottle in one hand, a glass in the other; in the red glare we saw +him dancing in front of the captain like an unruly marionette. Harris +appeared to threaten him. What he said we could not hear for the +deep-drawn blast and the high staccato crackle of the blazing hold. But +we saw the staggering steward offering him a drink; saw the glass flung +next instant in the captain's face, the blood running, a pistol drawn, +fired without effect, and snatched away by the drunken mutineer. Next +instant a smooth black cane was raining blow after blow on the man's +head. He dropped; the blows fell thick and heavy as before. He lay +wriggling; the Portuguese struck and struck until he lay quite still; +then we saw Joaquin Santos kneel, and rub his stick carefully on the +still thing's clothes, as a man might wipe his boots. + +Curses burst from our throats; yet the fellow deserved to die. Nor, as I +say, had we time to waste two thoughts upon any one incident. This +last had begun and ended in the same minute; in another we were at the +starboard gangway, tumbling helter-skelter aboard the lowered long-boat. + +She lay safely on the water: how we thanked our gods for that! Lower and +lower sank her gunwale as we dropped aboard her, with no more care than +the Gadarene swine whose fate we courted. Discipline, order, method, +common care, we brought none of these things with us from our floating +furnace; but we fought to be first over the bulwarks, and in the bottom +of the long-boat we fought again. + +And yet she held us all! All, that is, but a terror-stricken few, who +lay along the jibboom like flies upon a stick: all but two or three more +whom we left fatally hesitating in the forechains: all but the selfish +savages who had been the first to perish in the pinnace, and one +distracted couple who had thrown their children into the kindly ocean, +and jumped in after them out of their torment, locked for ever in each +other's arms. + +Yes! I saw more things on that starry night, by that blood-red glare, +than I have told you in their order, and more things than I shall tell +you now. Blind would I gladly be for my few remaining years, if that +night's horrors could be washed from these eyes for ever. I have said so +much, however, that in common candor I must say one thing more. I have +spoken of selfish savages. God help me and forgive me! For by this time +I was one myself. + +In the long-boat we cannot have been less than thirty; the exact number +no man will ever know. But we shoved off without mischance; the chief +mate had the tiller; the third mate the boat-hook; and six or eight +oars were at work, in a fashion, as we plunged among the great smooth +sickening mounds and valleys of fathomless ink. + +Scarcely were we clear when the foremast dropped down on the fastenings, +dashing the jib-boom into the water with its load of demented human +beings. The mainmast followed by the board before we had doubled our +distance from the wreck. Both trailed to port, where we could not see +them; and now the mizzen stood alone in sad and solitary grandeur, her +flapping idle sails lighted up by the spreading conflagration, so that +they were stamped very sharply upon the black add starry sky. But the +whole scene from the long-boat was one of startling brilliancy and +horror. The fire now filled the entire waist of the vessel, and the +noise of it was as the rumble and roar of a volcano. As for the light, +I declare that it put many a star clean out, and dimmed the radiance +of all the rest, as it flooded the sea for miles around, and a sea of +molten glass reflected it. My gorge rose at the long, low billows-sleek +as black satin--lifting and dipping in this ghastly glare. I preferred +to keep my eyes upon the little ship burning like a tar barrel as the +picture grew. But presently I thanked God aloud: there was the gig +swimming like a beetle over the bloodshot rollers in our wake. + +In our unspeakable gladness at being quit of the ship, some minutes +passed before we discovered that the long-boat was slowly filling. The +water was at our ankles before a man of us cried out, so fast were our +eyes to the poor lost _Lady Jermyn_. Then all at once the ghastly fact +dawned upon us; and I think it was the mate himself who burst out crying +like a child. I never ascertained, however, for I had kicked off my +shoes and was busy baling with them. Others were hunting for the leak. +But the mischief was as subtle as it was mortal--as though a plank +had started from end to end. Within and without the waters rose +equally--then lay an instant level with our gunwales--then swamped us, +oh! so slowly, that I thought we were never going to sink. It was +like getting inch by inch into your tub; I can feel it now, creeping, +crawling up my back. “It's coming! O Christ!” muttered one as it came; +to me it was a downright relief to be carried under at last. + +But then, thank God, I have always been a strong swimmer. The water was +warm and buoyant, and I came up like a cork, as I knew I should. I shook +the drops from my face, and there were the sweet stars once more; for +many an eye they had gone Out for ever; and there the burning wreck. + +A man floundered near me, in a splutter of phosphorescence. I tried to +help him, and in an instant he had me wildly round the neck. In the end +I shook him off, poor devil, to his death. And he was the last I tried +to aid: have I not said already what I was become? + +In a little an oar floated my way: I threw my arms across it and gripped +it with my chin as I swam. It relieved me greatly. Up and down I rode +among the oily black hillocks; I was down when there was a sudden flare +as though the sun had risen, and I saw still a few heads bobbing and a +few arms waving frantically around me. At the same instant a terrific +detonation split the ears; and when I rose on the next bald billow, +where the ship lay burning a few seconds before, there remained but a +red-hot spine that hissed and dwindled for another minute, and then left +a blackness through which every star shone with redoubled brilliance. + +And now right and left splashed falling missiles; a new source of danger +or of temporary respite; to me, by a merciful Providence, it proved the +latter. + +Some heavy thing fell with a mighty splash right in front of me. A few +more yards, and my brains had floated with the spume. As it was, the +oar was dashed from under my armpits; in another moment they had found a +more solid resting-place. + +It was a hen-coop, and it floated bars upwards like a boat. In this +calm it might float for days. I climbed upon the bars-and the whole cage +rolled over on top of me. + +Coming to the surface, I found to my joy that the hen-coop had righted +itself; so now I climbed up again, but this time very slowly and +gingerly; the balance was undisturbed, and I stretched myself cautiously +along the bars on my stomach. A good idea immediately occurred to me. I +had jumped as a matter of course into the flannels which one naturally +wears in the tropics. To their lightness I already owed my life, but the +common cricket-belt which was part of the costume was the thing to which +I owe it most of all. Loosening this belt a little, as I tucked my toes +tenaciously under the endmost bar, I undid and passed the two ends under +one of the middle bars, fastening the clasp upon the other side. If I +capsized now, well, we might go to the bottom together; otherwise the +hen-coop and I should not part company in a hurry; and I thought, I +felt, that she would float. + +Worn out as I was, and comparatively secure for the moment, I will not +say that I slept; but my eyes closed, and every fibre rested, as I rose +and slid with the smooth, long swell. Whether I did indeed hear voices, +curses, cries, I cannot say positively to this day. I only know that I +raised my head and looked sharply all ways but the way I durst not look +for fear of an upset. And, again, I thought I saw first a tiny flame, +and then a tinier glow; and as my head drooped, and my eyes closed +again, I say I thought I smelt tobacco; but this, of course, was my +imagination supplying all the links from one. + + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE SILENT SEA + + +Remember (if indeed there be any need to remind you) that it is a +flagrant landsman who is telling you this tale. Nothing know I of +seamanship, save what one could not avoid picking up on the round voyage +of the _Lady Jermyn_, never to be completed on this globe. I may be told +that I have burned that devoted vessel as nothing ever burned on land or +sea. I answer that I write of what I saw, and that is not altered by a +miscalled spar or a misunderstood manouvre. But now I am aboard a craft +I handle for myself, and must make shift to handle a second time with +this frail pen. + +The hen-coop was some six feet long, by eighteen or twenty inches in +breadth and depth. It was simply a long box with bars in lieu of a lid; +but it was very strongly built. + +I recognized it as one of two which had stood lashed against either rail +of the _Lady Jermyn_'s poop; there the bars had risen at right angles to +the deck; now they lay horizontal, a gridiron six feet long-and my bed. +And as each particular bar left its own stripe across my wearied body, +and yet its own comfort in my quivering heart, another day broke over +the face of the waters, and over me. + +Discipline, what there was of it originally, had been the very first +thing to perish aboard our ill-starred ship; the officers, I am afraid, +were not much better than poor Ready made them out (thanks to Bendigo +and Ballarat), and little had been done in true ship-shape style all +night. All hands had taken their spell at everything as the fancy seized +them; not a bell had been struck from first to last; and I can only +conjecture that the fire raged four or five hours, from the fact that +it was midnight by my watch when I left it on my cabin drawers, and that +the final extinction of the smouldering keel was so soon followed by the +first deep hint of dawn. The rest took place with the trite rapidity of +the equatorial latitudes. It had been my foolish way to pooh-pooh the +old saying that there is no twilight in the tropics. I saw more truth in +it as I lay lonely on this heaving waste. + +The stars were out; the sea was silver; the sun was up. + +And oh! the awful glory of that sunrise! It was terrific; it was +sickening; my senses swam. Sunlit billows smooth and sinister, without a +crest, without a sound; miles and miles of them as I rose; an oily grave +among them as I fell. Hill after hill of horror, valley after valley of +despair! The face of the waters in petty but eternal unrest; and now +the sun must shine to set it smiling, to show me its cruel ceaseless +mouthings, to reveal all but the ghastlier horrors underneath. + +How deep was it? I fell to wondering! Not that it makes any difference +whether you drown in one fathom or in ten thousand, whether you fall +from a balloon or from the attic window. But the greater depth or +distance is the worse to contemplate; and I was as a man hanging by his +hands so high above the world, that his dangling feet cover countries, +continents; a man who must fall very soon, and wonders how long he will +be falling, falling; and how far his soul will bear his body company. + +In time I became more accustomed to the sun upon this heaving void; less +frightened, as a child is frightened, by the mere picture. And I have +still the impression that, as hour followed hour since the falling of +the wind, the nauseous swell in part subsided. I seemed less often on +an eminence or in a pit; my glassy azure dales had gentler slopes, or a +distemper was melting from my eyes. + +At least I know that I had now less work to keep my frail ship trim, +though this also may have come by use and practice. In the beginning one +or other of my legs had been for ever trailing in the sea, to keep the +hen-coop from rolling over the other way; in fact, as I understand they +steer the toboggan in Canada, so I my little bark. Now the necessity for +this was gradually decreasing; whatever the cause, it was the greatest +mercy the day had brought me yet. With less strain on the attention, +however, there was more upon the mind. No longer forced to exert some +muscle twice or thrice a minute, I had time to feel very faint, and yet +time to think. My soul flew homing to its proper prison. I was no longer +any unit at unequal strife with the elements; instincts common to my +kind were no longer my only stimulus. I was my poor self again; it was +my own little life, and no other, that I wanted to go on living; and +yet I felt vaguely there was some special thing I wished to live for, +something that had not been very long in my ken; something that had +perhaps nerved and strengthened me all these hours. What, then, could it +be? I could not think. + +For moments or for minutes I wondered stupidly, dazed as I was. Then +I remembered--and the tears gushed to my eyes. How could I ever have +forgotten? I deserved it all, all, all! To think that many a time we +must have sat together on this very coop! I kissed its blistering edge +at the thought, and my tears ran afresh, as though they never would +stop. + +Ah! how I thought of her as that cruel day's most cruel sun climbed +higher and higher in the flawless flaming vault. A pocket-handkerchief +of all things had remained in my trousers pocket through fire and water; +I knotted it on the old childish plan, and kept it ever drenched upon +the head that had its own fever to endure as well. Eva Denison! Eva +Denison! I was talking to her in the past, I was talking to her in the +future, and oh! how different were the words, the tone! Yes, I hated +myself for having forgotten her; but I hated God for having given her +back to my tortured brain; it made life so many thousandfold more sweet, +and death so many thousandfold more bitter. + +She was saved in the gig. Sweet Jesus, thanks for that! But I--I was +dying a lingering death in mid-ocean; she would never know how I loved +her, I, who could only lecture her when I had her at my side. + +Dying? No--no--not yet! I must live--live--live--to tell my darling how +I had loved her all the time. So I forced myself from my lethargy of +despair and grief; and this thought, the sweetest thought of all my +life, may or may not have been my unrealized stimulus ere now; it was in +very deed my most conscious and perpetual spur henceforth until the end. + +From this onward, while my sense stood by me, I was practical, +resourceful, alert. It was now high-noon, and I had eaten nothing since +dinner the night before. How clearly I saw the long saloon table, only +laid, however, abaft the mast; the glittering glass, the cool white +napery, the poor old dried dessert in the green dishes! Earlier, this +had occupied my mind an hour; now I dismissed it in a moment; there was +Eva, I must live for her; there must be ways of living at least a day or +two without sustenance, and I must think of them. + +So I undid that belt of mine which fastened me to my gridiron, and I +straddled my craft with a sudden keen eye for sharks, of which I never +once had thought until now. Then I tightened the belt about my hollow +body, and just sat there with the problem. The past hour I had been +wholly unobservant; the inner eye had had its turn; but that was over +now, and I sat as upright as possible, seeking greedily for a sail. Of +course I saw none. Had we indeed been off our course before the fire +broke out? Had we burned to cinders aside and apart from the regular +track of ships? Then, though my present valiant mood might ignore +the adverse chances, they were as one hundred to a single chance of +deliverance. Our burning had brought no ship to our succor; and how +should I, a mere speck amid the waves, bring one to mine? + +Moreover, I was all but motionless; I was barely drifting at all. This +I saw from a few objects which were floating around me now at noon; they +had been with me when the high sun rose. One was, I think, the very +oar which had been my first support; another was a sailor's cap; but +another, which floated nearer, was new to me, as though it had come to +the surface while my eyes were turned inwards. And this was clearly the +case; for the thing was a drowned and bloated corpse. + +It fascinated me, though not with extraordinary horror; it came too late +to do that. I thought I recognized the man's back. I fancied it was +the mate who had taken charge of the long-boat. Was I then the single +survivor of those thirty souls? I was still watching my poor lost +comrade, when that happened to him against which even I was not proof. +Through the deep translucent blue beneath me a slim shape glided; three +smaller fish led the way; they dallied an instant a fathom under my +feet, which were snatched up, with what haste you may imagine; then on +they went to surer prey. + +He turned over; his dreadful face stared upwards; it was the chief +officer, sure enough. Then he clove the water with a rush, his dead hand +waved, the last of him to disappear; and I had a new horror to think +over for my sins. His poor fingers were all broken and beaten to a pulp. + +The voices of the night came back to me--the curses and the cries. Yes, +I must have heard them. In memory now I recognized the voice of the +chief mate, but there again came in the assisted imagination. Yet I +was not so sure of this as before. I thought of Santos and his horrible +heavy cane. Good God! she was in the power of that! I must live for Eva +indeed; must save myself to save and protect my innocent and helpless +girl. + +Again I was a man; stronger than ever was the stimulus now, louder than +ever the call on every drop of true man's blood in my perishing frame. +It should not perish! It should not! + +Yet my throat was parched; my lips were caked; my frame was hollow. Very +weak I was already; without sustenance I should surely die. But as yet +I was far enough from death, or I had done disdaining the means of life +that all this time lay ready to my hand. A number of dead fowls imparted +ballast to my little craft. + +Yet I could not look at them in all these hours; or I could look, but +that was all. So I must sit up one hour more, and keep a sharper eye +than ever for the tiniest glimmer of a sail. To what end, I often asked +myself? I might see them; they would never see me. + +Then my eyes would fail, and “you squeamish fool!” I said at intervals, +until my tongue failed to articulate; it had swollen so in my mouth. +Flying fish skimmed the water like thick spray; petrels were so few that +I could count them; another shark swam round me for an hour. In sudden +panic I dashed my knuckles on the wooden bars, to get at a duck to give +the monster for a sop. My knuckles bled. I held them to my mouth. My +cleaving tongue wanted more. The duck went to the shark; a few minutes +more and I had made my own vile meal as well. + + + + +CHAPTER V. MY REWARD + + +The sun declined; my shadow broadened on die waters; and now I felt that +if my cockle-shell could live a little longer, why, so could I. + +I had got at the fowls without further hurt. Some of the bars took out, +I discovered how. And now very carefully I got my legs in, and knelt; +but the change of posture was not worth the risk one ran for it; there +was too much danger of capsizing, and failing to free oneself before she +filled and sank. + +With much caution I began breaking the bars, one by one; it was hard +enough, weak as I was; my thighs were of more service than my hands. + +But at last I could sit, the grating only covering me from the knees +downwards. And the relief of that outweighed all the danger, which, as I +discovered to my untold joy, was now much less than it had been before. +I was better ballast than the fowls. + +These I had attached to the lashings which had been blown asunder by the +explosion; at one end of the coop the ring-bolt had been torn clean out, +but at the other it was the cordage that had parted. To the frayed +ends I tied my fowls by the legs, with the most foolish pride in my own +cunning. Do you not see? It would keep them fresh for my use, and it was +a trick I had read of in no book; it was all my own. + +So evening fell and found me hopeful and even puffed up; but yet, no +sail. + +Now, however, I could lie back, and use had given me a strange sense of +safety; besides, I think I knew, I hope I felt, that the hen-coop was in +other Hands than mine. + +All is reaction in the heart of man; light follows darkness nowhere more +surely than in that hidden self, and now at sunset it was my heart's +high-noon. Deep peace pervaded me as I lay outstretched in my narrow +rocking bed, as it might be in my coffin; a trust in my Maker's will +to save me if that were for the best, a trust in His final wisdom and +loving-kindness, even though this night should be my last on earth. For +myself I was resigned, and for others I must trust Him no less. Who was +I to constitute myself the protector of the helpless, when He was in +His Heaven? Such was my sunset mood; it lasted a few minutes, and then, +without radically changing, it became more objective. + +The west was a broadening blaze of yellow and purple and red. I cannot +describe it to you. If you have seen the sun set in the tropics, you +would despise my description; and, if not, I for one could never make +you see it. Suffice it that a petrel wheeled somewhere between deepening +carmine and paling blue, and it took my thoughts off at an earthy +tangent. I thanked God there were no big sea-birds in these latitudes; +no molly-hawks, no albatrosses, no Cape-hens. I thought of an albatross +that I had caught going out. Its beak and talons were at the bottom +with the charred remains of the _Lady Jermyn_. But I could see them +still, could feel them shrewdly in my mind's flesh; and so to the old +superstition, strangely justified by my case; and so to the poem which +I, with my special experience, not unnaturally consider the greatest +poem ever penned. + +But I did not know it then as I do now--and how the lines eluded me! I +seemed to see them in the book, yet I could not read the words! + + “Water, water, everywhere, + Nor any drop to drink.” + +That, of course, came first (incorrectly); and it reminded me of my +thirst, which the blood of the fowls had so very partially appeased. I +see now that it is lucky I could recall but little more. Experience is +less terrible than realization, and that poem makes me realize what I +went through as memory cannot. It has verses which would have driven me +mad. On the other hand, the exhaustive mental search for them distracted +my thoughts until the stars were back in the sky; and now I had a new +occupation, saying to myself all the poetry I could remember, especially +that of the sea; for I was a bookish fellow even then. But I never +was anything of a scholar. It is odd therefore, that the one apposite +passage which recurred to me in its entirety was in hexameters and +pentameters: + + Me miserum, quanti montes volvuntur aquarum! + Jam jam tacturos sidera summa putes. + Quantae diducto subsidunt aequore valles! + Jam jam tacturas Tartara nigra putes. + Quocunque adspicio, nihil est nisi pontus et aether; + Fluctibus hic tumidis, nubibus ille minax.... + +More there was of it in my head; but this much was an accurate statement +of my case; and yet less so now (I was thankful to reflect) than in +the morning, when every wave was indeed a mountain, and its trough a +Tartarus. I had learnt the lines at school; nay, they had formed my very +earliest piece of Latin repetition. And how sharply I saw the room I +said them in, the man I said them to, ever since my friend! I figured +him even now hearing Ovid rep., the same passage in the same room. And I +lay saying it on a hen-coop in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean! + +At last I fell into a deep sleep, a long unconscious holiday of the +soul, undefiled by any dream. + +They say that our dreaming is done as we slowly wake; then was I out of +the way of it that night, for a sudden violent rocking awoke me in +one horrid instant. I made it worse by the way I started to a sitting +posture. I had shipped some water. I was shipping more. Yet all around +the sea was glassy; whence then the commotion? As my ship came trim +again, and I saw that my hour was not yet, the cause occurred to me; and +my heart turned so sick that it was minutes before I had the courage to +test my theory. + +It was the true one. + +A shark had been at my trailing fowls; had taken the bunch of them +together, dragging the legs from my loose fastenings. Lucky they had +been no stronger! Else had I been dragged down to perdition too. + +Lucky, did I say? The refinement of cruelty rather; for now I had +neither meat nor drink; my throat was a kiln; my tongue a flame; and +another day at hand. + +The stars were out; the sea was silver; the sun was up! + + . . . . . + +Hours passed. + +I was waiting now for my delirium. + +It came in bits. + +I was a child. I was playing on the lawn at home. I was back on the +blazing sea. + +I was a schoolboy saying my Ovid; then back once more. + +The hen-coop was the _Lady Jermyn_. I was at Eva Denison's side. They were +marrying us on board. The ship's bell was ringing for us; a guitar in +the background burlesqued the Wedding March under skinny fingers; the +air was poisoned by a million cigarettes, they raised a pall of smoke +above the mastheads, they set fire to the ship; smoke and flame covered +the sea from rim to rim, smoke and flame filled the universe; the sea +dried up, and I was left lying in its bed, lying in my coffin, with +red-hot teeth, because the sun blazed right above them, and my withered +lips were drawn back from them for ever. + +So once more I came back to my living death; too weak now to carry a +finger to the salt water and back to my mouth; too weak to think of Eva; +too weak to pray any longer for the end, to trouble or to care any more. + +Only so tired. + + . . . . . + +Death has no more terrors for me. I have supped the last horror of the +worst death a man can die. You shall hear now for what I was delivered; +you shall read of my reward. + +My floating coffin was many things in turn; a railway carriage, a +pleasure boat on the Thames, a hammock under the trees; last of all it +was the upper berth in a not very sweet-smelling cabin, with a clatter +of knives and forks near at hand, and a very strong odor of onions in +the Irish stew. + +My hand crawled to my head; both felt a wondrous weight; and my head +was covered with bristles no longer than those on my chin, only less +stubborn. + +“Where am I?” I feebly asked. + +The knives and forks clattered on, and presently I burst out crying +because they had not heard me, and I knew that I could never make them +hear. Well, they heard my sobs, and a huge fellow came with his mouth +full, and smelling like a pickle bottle. + +“Where am I?” + +“Aboard the brig Eliza, Liverpool, homeward bound; glad to see them eyes +open.” + +“Have I been here long?” + +“Matter o' ten days.” + +“Where did you find me?” + +“Floating in a hen-coop; thought you was a dead 'un.” + +“Do you know what ship?” + +“Do we know? No, that's what you've got to tell us!” + +“I can't,” I sighed, too weak to wag my head upon the pillow. + +The man went to my cabin door. + +“Here's a go,” said he; “forgotten the name of his blessed ship, he has. +Where's that there paper, Mr. Bowles? There's just a chance it may be +the same.” + +“I've got it, sir.” + +“Well, fetch it along, and come you in, Mr. Bowles; likely you may think +o' somethin'.” + +A reddish, hook-nosed man, with a jaunty, wicked look, came and smiled +upon me in the friendliest fashion; the smell of onions became more than +I knew how to endure. + +“Ever hear of the ship _Lady Jermyn_?” asked the first corner, winking at +the other. + +I thought very hard, the name did sound familiar; but no, I could not +honestly say that I had beard it before. + +The captain looked at his mate. + +“It was a thousand to one,” said he; “still we may as well try him with +the other names. Ever heard of Cap'n Harris, mister?” + +“Not that I know of.” + +“Of Saunderson-stooard?” + +“No.” + +“Or Crookes-quartermaster.” + +“Never.” + +“Nor yet of Ready--a passenger?” + +“No.” + +“It's no use goin' on,” said the captain folding up the paper. + +“None whatever, sir,” said the mate + +“Ready! Ready!” I repeated. “I do seem to have heard that name before. +Won't you give me another chance?” + +The paper was unfolded with a shrug. + +“There was another passenger of the name of San-Santos. Dutchman, +seemin'ly. Ever heard o' him?” + +My disappointment was keen. I could not say that I had. Yet I would not +swear that I had not. + +“Oh, won't you? Well, there's only one more chance. Ever heard of Miss +Eva Denison--” + +“By God, yes! Have you?” + +I was sitting bolt upright in my bunk. The skipper's beard dropped upon +his chest. + +“Bless my soul! The last name o' the lot, too!” + +“Have you heard of her?” I reiterated. + +“Wait a bit, my lad! Not so fast. Lie down again and tell me who she +was.” + +“Who she was?” I screamed. “I want to know where she is!” + +“I can't hardly say,” said the captain awkwardly. “We found the gig o' +the _Lady Jermyn_ the week arter we found you, bein' becalmed like; there +wasn't no lady aboard her, though.” + +“Was there anybody?” + +“Two dead 'uns--an' this here paper.” + +“Let me see it!” + +The skipper hesitated. + +“Hadn't you better wait a bit?” + +“No, no; for Christ's sake let me see the worst; do you think I can't +read it in your face?” + +I could--I did. I made that plain to them, and at last I had the +paper smoothed out upon my knees. It was a short statement of the last +sufferings of those who had escaped in the gig, and there was nothing +in it that I did not now expect. They had buried Ready first--then my +darling--then her step-father. The rest expected to follow fast enough. +It was all written plainly, on a sheet of the log-book, in different +trembling hands. Captain Harris had gone next; and two had been +discovered dead. + +How long I studied that bit of crumpled paper, with the salt spray +still sparkling on it faintly, God alone knows. All at once a peal of +nightmare laughter rattled through the cabin. My deliverers started +back. The laugh was mine. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. THE SOLE SURVIVOR + + +A few weeks later I landed in England, I, who no longer desired to set +foot on any land again. + +At nine-and-twenty I was gaunt and gray; my nerves were shattered, my +heart was broken; and my face showed it without let or hindrance from +the spirit that was broken too. Pride, will, courage, and endurance, all +these had expired in my long and lonely battle with the sea. They had +kept me alive-for this. And now they left me naked to mine enemies. + +For every hand seemed raised against me, though in reality it was the +hand of fellowship that the world stretched out, and the other was the +reading of a jaundiced eye. I could not help it: there was a poison in +my veins that made me all ingratitude and perversity. The world welcomed +me back, and I returned the compliment by sulking like the recaptured +runaway I was at heart. The world showed a sudden interest in me; so I +took no further interest in the world, but, on the contrary, resented +its attentions with unreasonable warmth and obduracy; and my would-be +friends I regarded as my very worst enemies. The majority, I feel sure, +meant but well and kindly by the poor survivor. But the survivor could +not forget that his name was still in the newspapers, nor blink the fact +that he was an unworthy hero of the passing hour. And he suffered +enough from brazenly meddlesome and self-seeking folk, from impudent and +inquisitive intruders, to justify some suspicion of old acquaintances +suddenly styling themselves old friends, and of distant connections +newly and unduly eager to claim relationship. Many I misjudged, and have +long known it. On the whole, however, I wonder at that attitude of mine +as little as I approve of it. + +If I had distinguished myself in any other way, it would have been a +different thing. It was the fussy, sentimental, inconsiderate +interest in one thrown into purely accidental and necessarily painful +prominence--the vulgarization of an unspeakable tragedy--that my soul +abhorred. I confess that I regarded it from my own unique and selfish +point of view. What was a thrilling matter to the world was a torturing +memory to me. The quintessence of the torture was, moreover, my own +secret. It was not the loss of the _Lady Jermyn_ that I could not bear to +speak about; it was my own loss; but the one involved the other. My +loss apart, however, it was plain enough to dwell upon experiences so +terrible and yet so recent as those which I had lived to tell. I did +what I considered my duty to the public, but I certainly did no more. My +reticence was rebuked in the papers that made the most of me, but would +fain have made more. And yet I do not think that I was anything but +docile with those who had a manifest right to question me; to the +owners, and to other interested persons, with whom I was confronted on +one pretext or another, I told my tale as fully and as freely as I have +told it here, though each telling hurt more than the last. That was +necessary and unavoidable; it was the private intrusions which I +resented with all the spleen the sea had left me in exchange for the +qualities it had taken away. + +Relatives I had as few as misanthropist could desire; but from +self-congratulation on the fact, on first landing, I soon came to keen +regret. They at least would have sheltered me from spies and busybodies; +they at least would have secured the peace and privacy of one who was +no hero in fact or spirit, whose noblest deed was a piece of self +preservation which he wished undone with all his heart. + +Self-consciousness no doubt multiplied my flattering assailants. I +have said that my nerves were shattered. I may have imagined much and +exaggerated the rest. Yet what truth there was in my suspicions you +shall duly see. I felt sure that I was followed in the street, and my +every movement dogged by those to whom I would not condescend to turn +and look. Meanwhile, I had not the courage to go near my club, and +the Temple was a place where I was accosted in every court, effusively +congratulated on the marvellous preservation of my stale spoilt life, +and invited right and left to spin my yarn over a quiet pipe! Well, +perhaps such invitations were not so common as they have grown in my +memory; nor must you confuse my then feelings on all these matters with +those which I entertain as I write. I have grown older, and, I hope, +something kindlier and wiser since then. Yet to this day I cannot blame +myself for abandoning my chambers and avoiding my club. + +For a temporary asylum I pitched upon a small, quiet, empty, private +hotel which I knew of in Charterhouse Square. Instantly the room next +mine became occupied. + +All the first night I imagined I heard voices talking about me in that +room next door. It was becoming a disease with me. Either I was being +dogged, watched, followed, day and night, indoors and out, or I was the +victim of a very ominous hallucination. That night I never closed an eye +nor lowered my light. In the morning I took a four-wheel cab and +drove straight to Harley Street; and, upon my soul, as I stood on the +specialist's door-step, I could have sworn I saw the occupant of the +room next mine dash by me in a hansom! + +“Ah!” said the specialist; “so you cannot sleep; you hear voices; +you fancy you are being followed in the street. You don't think these +fancies spring entirely from the imagination? Not entirely--just so. And +you keep looking behind you, as though somebody were at your elbow; and +you prefer to sit with your back close to the wall. Just so--just so. +Distressing symptoms, to be sure, but--but hardly to be wondered at in a +man who has come through your nervous strain.” A keen professional light +glittered in his eyes. “And almost commonplace,” he added, smiling, +“compared with the hallucinations you must have suffered from on that +hen-coop! Ah, my dear sir, the psychological interest of your case is +very great!” + +“It may be,” said I, brusquely. “But I come to you to get that hen-coop +out of my head, not to be reminded of it. Everybody asks me about the +damned thing, and you follow everybody else. I wish it and I were at the +bottom of the sea together!” + +This speech had the effect of really interesting the doctor in my +present condition, which was indeed one of chronic irritation and +extreme excitability, alternating with fits of the very blackest +despair. Instead of offending my gentleman I had put him on his mettle, +and for half an hour he honored me with the most exhaustive inquisition +ever elicited from a medical man. His panacea was somewhat in the nature +of an anti-climax, but at least it had the merits of simplicity and +of common sense. A change of air--perfect quiet--say a cottage in the +country--not too near the sea. And he shook my hand kindly when I left. + +“Keep up your heart, my dear sir,” said he. “Keep up your courage and +your heart.” + +“My heart!” I cried. “It's at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.” + +He was the first to whom I had said as much. He was a stranger. What did +it matter? And, oh, it was so true--so true. + +Every day and all day I was thinking of my love; every hour and all +hours she was before me with her sunny hair and young, young face. Her +wistful eyes were gazing into mine continually. Their wistfulness I +had never realized at the time; but now I did; and I saw it for what it +seemed always to have been, the soft, sad, yearning look of one fated +to die young. So young--so young! And I might live to be an old man, +mourning her. + +That I should never love again I knew full well. This time there was no +mistake. I have implied, I believe, that it was for another woman I fled +originally to the diggings. Well, that one was still unmarried, and when +the papers were full of me she wrote me a letter which I now believe to +have been merely kind. At the time I was all uncharitableness; but words +of mine would fail to tell you how cold this letter left me; it was as a +candle lighted in the full blaze of the sun. + +With all my bitterness, however, you must not suppose that I had quite +lost the feelings which had inspired me at sunset on the lonely ocean, +while my mind still held good. I had been too near my Maker ever to lose +those feelings altogether. They were with me in the better moments of +these my worst days. I trusted His wisdom still. There was a reason for +everything; there were reasons for all this. I alone had been saved out +of all those souls who sailed from Melbourne in the _Lady Jermyn_. Why +should I have been the favored one; I with my broken heart and now +lonely life? Some great inscrutable reason there must be; at my worst +I did not deny that. But neither did I puzzle my sick brain with the +reason. I just waited for it to be revealed to me, if it were God's will +ever to reveal it. And that I conceive to be the one spirit in which a +man may contemplate, with equal sanity and reverence, the mysteries and +the miseries of his life. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. I FIND A FRIEND + + + +The night after I consulted the specialist I was quite determined to +sleep. I had laid in a bundle of the daily papers. No country cottage +was advertised to let but I knew of it by evening, and about all the +likely ones I had already written. The scheme occupied my thoughts. +Trout-fishing was a desideratum. I would take my rod and plenty of +books, would live simply and frugally, and it should make a new man of +me by Christmas. It was now October. I went to sleep thinking of autumn +tints against an autumn sunset. It must have been very early, certainly +not later than ten o'clock; the previous night I had not slept at all. + +Now, this private hotel of mine was a very old fashioned house, dark and +dingy all day long, with heavy old chandeliers and black old oak, and +dead flowers in broken flower-pots surrounding a grimy grass-plot in the +rear. On this latter my bedroom window looked; and never am I likely to +forget the vile music of the cats throughout my first long wakeful night +there. The second night they actually woke me; doubtless they had been +busy long enough, but it was all of a sudden that I heard them, and lay +listening for more, wide awake in an instant. My window had been very +softly opened, and the draught fanned my forehead as I held my breath. + +A faint light glimmered through a ground-glass pane over the door; and +was dimly reflected by the toilet mirror, in its usual place against the +window. This mirror I saw moved, and next moment I had bounded from bed. + +The mirror fell with a horrid clatter: the toilet-table followed it with +a worse: the thief had gone as he had come ere my toes halted aching +amid the debris. + +A useless little balcony--stone slab and iron railing--jutted out from +my window. I thought I saw a hand on the railing, another on the slab, +then both together on the lower level for one instant before they +disappeared. There was a dull yet springy thud on the grass below. Then +no more noise but the distant thunder of the traffic, and the one that +woke me, until the window next mine was thrown up. + +“What the devil's up?” + +The voice was rich, cheery, light-hearted, agreeable; all that my own +was not as I answered “Nothing!” for this was not the first time my +next-door neighbor had tried to scrape acquaintance with me. + +“But surely, sir, I heard the very dickens of a row?” + +“You may have done.” + +“I was afraid some one had broken into your room!” + +“As a matter of fact,” said I, put to shame by the undiminished +good-humor of my neighbor, “some one did; but he's gone now, so let him +be.” + +“Gone? Not he! He's getting over that wall. After him--after him!” And +the head disappeared from the window next mine. + +I rushed into the corridor, and was just in time to intercept a +singularly handsome young fellow, at whom I had hardly taken the trouble +to look until now. He was in full evening dress, and his face was +radiant with the spirit of mischief and adventure. + +“For God's sake, sir,” I whispered, “let this matter rest. I shall have +to come forward if you persist, and Heaven knows I have been before the +public quite enough!” + +His dark eyes questioned me an instant, then fell as though he would not +disguise that he recollected and understood. I liked him for his good +taste. I liked him for his tacit sympathy, and better still for the +amusing disappointment in his gallant, young face. + +“I am sorry to have robbed you of a pleasant chase,” said I. “At one +time I should have been the first to join you. But, to tell you the +truth, I've had enough excitement lately to last me for my life.” + +“I can believe that,” he answered, with his fine eyes full upon me. +How strangely I had misjudged him! I saw no vulgar curiosity in his +flattering gaze, but rather that very sympathy of which I stood in need. +I offered him my hand. + +“It is very good of you to give in,” I said. “No one else has heard a +thing, you see. I shall look for another opportunity of thanking you +to-morrow.” + +“No, no!” cried he, “thanks be hanged, but--but, I say, if I promise +you not to bore you about things--won't you drink a glass of +brandy-and-water in my room before you turn in again?” + +Brandy-and-water being the very thing I needed, and this young man +pleasing me more and more, I said that I would join him with all my +heart, and returned to my room for my dressing-gown and slippers. To +find them, however, I had to light my candles, when the first thing +I saw was the havoc my marauder had left behind him. The mirror was +cracked across; the dressing-table had lost a leg; and both lay flat, +with my brushes and shaving-table, and the foolish toilet crockery which +no one uses (but I should have to replace) strewn upon the carpet. But +one thing I found that had not been there before: under the window lay +a formidable sheath-knife without its sheath. I picked it up with +something of a thrill, which did not lessen when I felt its edge. The +thing was diabolically sharp. I took it with me to show my neighbor, +whom I found giving his order to the boots; it seemed that it was barely +midnight, and that he had only just come in when the clatter took place +in my room. + +“Hillo!” he cried, when the man was gone, and I produced my trophy. +“Why, what the mischief have you got there?” + +“My caller's card,” said I. “He left it behind him. Feel the edge.” + +I have seldom seen a more indignant face than the one which my new +acquaintance bent over the weapon, as he held it to the light, and ran +his finger along the blade. He could have not frowned more heavily if he +had recognized the knife. + +“The villains!” he muttered. “The damned villains!” + +“Villains?” I queried. “Did you see more than one of them, then?” + +“Didn't you?” he asked quickly. “Yes, yes, to be sure! There was at +least one other beggar skulking down below.” He stood looking at me, the +knife in his hand, though mine was held out for it. “Don't you think, +Mr. Cole, that it's our duty to hand this over to the police? I--I've +heard of other cases about these Inns of Court. There's evidently a gang +of them, and this knife might convict the lot; there's no saying; anyway +I think the police should have it. If you like I'll take it to Scotland +Yard myself, and hand it over without mentioning your name.” + +“Oh, if you keep my name out of it,” said I, “and say nothing about +it here in the hotel, you may do what you like, and welcome! It's the +proper course, no doubt; only I've had publicity enough, and would +sooner have felt that blade in my body than set my name going again in +the newspapers.” + +“I understand,” he said, with his well-bred sympathy, which never went +a shade too far; and he dropped the weapon into a drawer, as the boots +entered with the tray. In a minute he had brewed two steaming jorums of +spirits-and-water; as he handed me one, I feared he was going to drink +my health, or toast my luck; but no, he was the one man I had met who +seemed, as he said, to “understand.” Nevertheless, he had his toast. + +“Here's confusion to the criminal classes in general,” he cried; “but +death and damnation to the owners of that knife!” + +And we clinked tumblers across the little oval table in the middle of +the room. It was more of a sitting-room than mine; a bright fire was +burning in the grate, and my companion insisted on my sitting over it +in the arm-chair, while for himself he fetched the one from his bedside, +and drew up the table so that our glasses should be handy. He then +produced a handsome cigar-case admirably stocked, and we smoked and +sipped in the cosiest fashion, though without exchanging many words. + +You may imagine my pleasure in the society of a youth, equally charming +in looks, manners and address, who had not one word to say to me about +the _Lady Jermyn_ or my hen-coop. It was unique. Yet such, I suppose, +was my native contrariety, that I felt I could have spoken of the +catastrophe to this very boy with less reluctance than to any other +creature whom I had encountered since my deliverance. He seemed so full +of silent sympathy: his consideration for my feelings was so marked and +yet so unobtrusive. I have called him a boy. I am apt to write as the +old man I have grown, though I do believe I felt older then than now. +In any case my young friend was some years my junior. I afterwards found +out that he was six-and-twenty. + +I have also called him handsome. He was the handsomest man that I have +ever met, had the frankest face, the finest eyes, the brightest smile. +Yet his bronzed forehead was low, and his mouth rather impudent and bold +than truly strong. And there was a touch of foppery about him, in the +enormous white tie and the much-cherished whiskers of the fifties, which +was only redeemed by that other touch of devilry that he had shown me +in the corridor. By the rich brown of his complexion, as well as by a +certain sort of swagger in his walk, I should have said that he was a +naval officer ashore, had he not told me who he was of his own accord. + +“By the way,” he said, “I ought to give you my name. It's Rattray, +of one of the many Kirby Halls in this country. My one's down in +Lancashire.” + +“I suppose there's no need to tell my name?” said I, less sadly, I +daresay, than I had ever yet alluded to the tragedy which I alone +survived. It was an unnecessary allusion, too, as a reference to the +foregoing conversation will show. + +“Well, no!” said he, in his frank fashion; “I can't honestly say there +is.” + +We took a few puffs, he watching the fire, and I his firelit face. + +“It must seem strange to you to be sitting with the only man who lived +to tell the tale!” + +The egotism of this speech was not wholly gratuitous. I thought it did +seem strange to him: that a needless constraint was put upon him by +excessive consideration for my feelings. I desired to set him at his +ease as he had set me at mine. On the contrary, he seemed quite startled +by my remark. + +“It is strange,” he said, with a shudder, followed by the biggest sip +of brandy-and-water he had taken yet. “It must have been +horrible--horrible!” he added to himself, his dark eyes staring into the +fire. + +“Ah!” said I, “it was even more horrible than you suppose or can ever +imagine.” + +I was not thinking of myself, nor of my love, nor of any particular +incident of the fire that still went on burning in my brain. My tone was +doubtless confidential, but I was meditating no special confidence when +my companion drew one with his next words. These, however, came after a +pause, in which my eyes had fallen from his face, but in which I heard +him emptying his glass. + +“What do you mean?” he whispered. “That there were other +circumstances--things which haven't got into the papers?” + +“God knows there were,” I answered, my face in my hands; and, my +grief brought home to me, there I sat with it in the presence of that +stranger, without compunction and without shame. + +He sprang up and paced the room. His tact made me realize my weakness, +and I was struggling to overcome it when he surprised me by suddenly +stopping and laying a rather tremulous hand upon my shoulder. + +“You--It wouldn't do you any good to speak of those circumstances, I +suppose?” he faltered. + +“No: not now: no good at all.” + +“Forgive me,” he said, resuming his walk. “I had no business--I felt so +sorry--I cannot tell you how I sympathize! And yet--I wonder if you will +always feel so?” + +“No saying how I shall feel when I am a man again,” said I. “You see +what I am at present.” And, pulling myself together, I rose to find my +new friend quite agitated in his turn. + +“I wish we had some more brandy,” he sighed. “I'm afraid it's too late +to get any now.” + +“And I'm glad of it,” said I. “A man in my state ought not to look at +spirits, or he may never look past them again. Thank goodness, there are +other medicines. Only this morning I consulted the best man on nerves in +London. I wish I'd gone to him long ago.” + +“Harley Street, was it?” + +“Yes.” + +“Saw you on his doorstep, by Jove!” cried Rattray at once. “I was +driving over to Hampstead, and I thought it was you. Well, what's the +prescription?” + +In my satisfaction at finding that he had not been dogging me +intentionally (though I had forgotten the incident till he reminded me +of it), I answered his question with unusual fulness. + +“I should go abroad,” said Rattray. “But then, I always am abroad; it's +only the other day I got back from South America, and I shall up anchor +again before this filthy English winter sets in.” + +Was he a sailor after all, or only a well-to-do wanderer on the face of +the earth? He now mentioned that he was only in England for a few weeks, +to have a look at his estate, and so forth; after which he plunged into +more or less enthusiastic advocacy of this or that foreign resort, as +opposed to the English cottage upon which I told him I had set my heart. + +He was now, however, less spontaneous, I thought, than earlier in the +night. His voice had lost its hearty ring, and he seemed preoccupied, as +if talking of one matter while he thought upon another. Yet he would +not let me go; and presently he confirmed my suspicion, no less than my +first impression of his delightful frankness and cordiality, by candidly +telling me what was on his mind. + +“If you really want a cottage in the country,” said he, “and the most +absolute peace and quiet to be got in this world, I know of the very +thing on my land in Lancashire. It would drive me mad in a week; but if +you really care for that sort of thing--” + +“An occupied cottage?” I interrupted. + +“Yes; a couple rent it from me, very decent people of the name of +Braithwaite. The man is out all day, and won't bother you when he's in; +he's not like other people, poor chap. But the woman 's all there, and +would do her best for you in a humble, simple, wholesome sort of way.” + +“You think they would take me in?” + +“They have taken other men--artists as a rule.” + +“Then it's a picturesque country?” + +“Oh, it's that if it's nothing else; but not a town for miles, mind you, +and hardly a village worthy the name.” + +“Any fishing?” + +“Yes--trout--small but plenty of 'em--in a beck running close behind the +cottage.” + +“Come,” cried I, “this sounds delightful! Shall you be up there?” + +“Only for a day or two,” was the reply. “I shan't trouble you, Mr. +Cole.” + +“My dear sir, that wasn't my meaning at all. I'm only sorry I shall not +see something of you on your own heath. I can't thank you enough for +your kind suggestion. When do you suppose the Braithwaites could do with +me?” + +His charming smile rebuked my impatience. + +“We must first see whether they can do with you at all,” said he. “I +sincerely hope they can; but this is their time of year for tourists, +though perhaps a little late. I'll tell you what I'll do. As a matter +of fact, I'm going down there to-morrow, and I've got to telegraph to my +place in any case to tell them when to meet me. I'll send the telegram +first thing, and I'll make them send one back to say whether there's +room in the cottage or not.” + +I thanked him warmly, but asked if the cottage was close to Kirby Hall, +and whether this would not be giving a deal of trouble at the other end; +whereupon he mischievously misunderstood me a second time, saying the +cottage and the hall were not even in sight of each other, and I really +had no intrusion to fear, as he was a lonely bachelor like myself, +and would only be up there four or five days at the most. So I made my +appreciation of his society plainer than ever to him; for indeed I +had found a more refreshing pleasure in it already than I had hoped to +derive from mortal man again; and we parted, at three o'clock in the +morning, like old fast friends. + +“Only don't expect too much, my dear Mr. Cole,” were his last words to +me. “My own place is as ancient and as tumble-down as most ruins that +you pay to see over. And I'm never there myself because--I tell you +frankly--I hate it like poison!” + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. A SMALL PRECAUTION + + +My delight in the society of this young Squire Rattray (as I soon was to +hear him styled) had been such as to make me almost forget the sinister +incident which had brought us together. When I returned to my room, +however, there were the open window and the litter on the floor to +remind me of what had happened earlier in the night. Yet I was less +disconcerted than you might suppose. A common housebreaker can have +few terrors for one who has braved those of mid-ocean single-handed; my +would-be visitor had no longer any for me; for it had not yet occurred +to me to connect him with the voices and the footsteps to which, indeed, +I had been unable to swear before the doctor. On the other hand, these +morbid imaginings (as I was far from unwilling to consider them) had +one and all deserted me in the sane, clean company of the capital young +fellow in the next room. + +I have confessed my condition up to the time of this queer meeting. +I have tried to bring young Rattray before you with some hint of his +freshness and his boyish charm; and though the sense of failure is heavy +upon me there, I who knew the man knew also that I must fail to do him +justice. Enough may have been said, however, to impart some faint idea +of what this youth was to me in the bitter and embittering anti-climax +of my life. Conventional figures spring to my pen, but every one of them +is true; he was flowers in spring, he was sunshine after rain, he was +rain following long months of drought. I slept admirably after all; +and I awoke to see the overturned toilet-table, and to thrill as I +remembered there was one fellow-creature with whom I could fraternize +without fear of a rude reopening of my every wound. + +I hurried my dressing in the hope of our breakfasting together. I +knocked at the next door, and, receiving no answer, even ventured +to enter, with the same idea. He was not there. He was not in the +coffee-room. He was not in the hotel. + +I broke my fast in disappointed solitude, and I hung about disconsolate +all the morning, looking wistfully for my new-made friend. Towards +mid-day he drove up in a cab which he kept waiting at the curb. + +“It's all right!” he cried out in his hearty way. “I sent my telegram +first thing, and I've had the answer at my club. The rooms are vacant, +and I'll see that Jane Braithwaite has all ready for you by to-morrow +night.” + +I thanked him from my heart. “You seem in a hurry!” I added, as I +followed him up the stairs. + +“I am,” said he. “It's a near thing for the train. I've just time to +stick in my things.” + +“Then I'll stick in mine,” said I impulsively, “and I'll come with you, +and doss down in any corner for the night.” + +He stopped and turned on the stairs. + +“You mustn't do that,” said he; “they won't have anything ready. I'm +going to make it my privilege to see that everything is as cosey as +possible when you arrive. I simply can't allow you to come to-day, Mr. +Cole!” He smiled, but I saw that he was in earnest, and of course I gave +in. + +“All right,” said I; “then I must content myself with seeing you off at +the station.” + +To my surprise his smile faded, and a flush of undisguised annoyance +made him, if anything, better-looking than ever. It brought out a +certain strength of mouth and jaw which I had not observed there +hitherto. It gave him an ugliness of expression which only emphasized +his perfection of feature. + +“You mustn't do that either,” said he, shortly. “I have an appointment +at the station. I shall be talking business all the time.” + +He was gone to his room, and I went to mine feeling duly snubbed; yet I +deserved it; for I had exhibited a characteristic (though not chronic) +want of taste, of which I am sometimes guilty to this day. Not to show +ill-feeling on the head of it, I nevertheless followed him down again +in four or five minutes. And I was rewarded by his brightest smile as he +grasped my hand. + +“Come to-morrow by the same train,” said he, naming station, line, and +hour; “unless I telegraph, all will be ready and you shall be met. You +may rely on reasonable charges. As to the fishing, go up-stream--to the +right when you strike the beck--and you'll find a good pool or two. I +may have to go to Lancaster the day after to-morrow, but I shall give +you a call when I get back.” + +With that we parted, as good friends as ever. I observed that my regret +at losing him was shared by the boots, who stood beside me on the steps +as his hansom rattled off. + +“I suppose Mr. Rattray stays here always when he comes to town?” said I. + +“No, sir,” said the man, “we've never had him before, not in my time; +but I shouldn't mind if he came again.” And he looked twice at the coin +in his hand before pocketing it with evident satisfaction. + +Lonely as I was, and wished to be, I think that I never felt my +loneliness as I did during the twenty-four hours which intervened +between Rattray's departure and my own. They dragged like wet days by +the sea, and the effect was as depressing. I have seldom been at such +a loss for something to do; and in my idleness I behaved like a child, +wishing my new friend back again, or myself on the railway with my new +friend, until I blushed for the beanstalk growth of my regard for him, +an utter stranger, and a younger man. I am less ashamed of it now: he +had come into my dark life like a lamp, and his going left a darkness +deeper than before. + +In my dejection I took a new view of the night's outrage. It was no +common burglar's work, for what had I worth stealing? It was the work of +my unseen enemies, who dogged me in the street; they alone knew why; the +doctor had called these hallucinations, and I had forced myself to agree +with the doctor; but I could not deceive myself in my present mood. +I remembered the steps, the steps--the stopping when I stopped--the +drawing away in the crowded streets---the closing up in quieter places. +Why had I never looked round? Why? Because till to-day I had thought it +mere vulgar curiosity; because a few had bored me, I had imagined the +many at my heels; but now I knew--I knew! It was the few again: a few +who hated me even unto death. + +The idea took such a hold upon me that I did not trouble my head with +reasons and motives. Certain persons had designs upon my life; that was +enough for me. On the whole, the thought was stimulating; it set a new +value on existence, and it roused a certain amount of spirit even in me. +I would give the fellows another chance before I left town. They should +follow me once more, and this time to some purpose. Last night they had +left a knife on me; to-night I would have a keepsake ready for them. + +Hitherto I had gone unarmed since my landing, which, perhaps, was no +more than my duty as a civilized citizen. On Black Hill Flats, however, +I had formed another habit, of which I should never have broken myself +so easily, but for the fact that all the firearms I ever had were +reddening and rotting at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. I now went +out and bought me such a one as I had never possessed before. + +The revolver was then in its infancy; but it did exist; and by dusk +I was owner of as fine a specimen as could be procured in the city of +London. It had but five chambers, but the barrel was ten inches long; +one had to cap it, and to put in the powder and the wadded bullet +separately; but the last-named would have killed an elephant. The oak +case that I bought with it cumbers my desk as I write, and, shut, +you would think that it had never contained anything more lethal than +fruit-knives. I open it, and there are the green-baize compartments, one +with a box of percussion caps, still apparently full, another that could +not contain many more wadded-bullets, and a third with a powder-horn +which can never have been much lighter. Within the lid is a label +bearing the makers' names; the gentlemen themselves are unknown to me, +even if they are still alive; nevertheless, after five-and-forty years, +let me dip my pen to Messrs. Deane, Adams and Deane! + +That night I left this case in my room, locked, and the key in my +waistcoat pocket; in the right-hand side-pocket of my overcoat I carried +my Deane and Adams, loaded in every chamber; also my right hand, as +innocently as you could wish. And just that night I was not followed! I +walked across Regent's Park, and I dawdled on Primrose Hill, without +the least result. Down I turned into the Avenue Road, and presently was +strolling between green fields towards Finchley. The moon was up, but +nicely shaded by a thin coating of clouds which extended across the sky: +it was an ideal night for it. It was also my last night in town, and I +did want to give the beggars their last chance. But they did not even +attempt to avail themselves of it: never once did they follow me: my +ears were in too good training to make any mistake. And the reason only +dawned on me as I drove back disappointed: they had followed me already +to the gunsmith's! + +Convinced of this, I entertained but little hope of another midnight +visitor. Nevertheless, I put my light out early, and sat a long time +peeping through my blind; but only an inevitable Tom, with back hunched +up and tail erect, broke the moonlit profile of the back-garden wall; +and once more that disreputable music (which none the less had saved my +life) was the only near sound all night. + +I felt very reluctant to pack Deane and Adams away in his case next +morning, and the case in my portmanteau, where I could not get at it in +case my unknown friends took it into their heads to accompany me out of +town. In the hope that they would, I kept him loaded, and in the same +overcoat pocket, until late in the afternoon, when, being very near my +northern destination, and having the compartment to myself, I locked the +toy away with considerable remorse for the price I had paid for it. All +down the line I had kept an eye for suspicious characters with an eye +upon me; but even my self-consciousness failed to discover one; and I +reached my haven of peace, and of fresh fell air, feeling, I suppose, +much like any other fool who has spent his money upon a white elephant. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. MY CONVALESCENT HOME + + +The man Braithwaite met me at the station with a spring cart. The very +porters seemed to expect me, and my luggage was in the cart before I +had given up my ticket. Nor had we started when I first noticed that +Braithwaite did not speak when I spoke to him. On the way, however, a +more flagrant instance recalled young Rattray's remark, that the man was +“not like other people.” I had imagined it to refer to a mental, not +a physical, defect; whereas it was clear to me now that my prospective +landlord was stone-deaf, and I presently discovered him to be dumb as +well. Thereafter I studied him with some attention during our drive of +four or five miles. I called to mind the theory that an innate physical +deficiency is seldom without its moral counterpart, and I wondered how +far this would apply to the deaf-mute at my side, who was ill-grown, +wizened, and puny into the bargain. The brow-beaten face of him was +certainly forbidding, and he thrashed his horse up the hills in a +dogged, vindictive, thorough-going way which at length made me jump +out and climb one of them on foot. It was the only form of protest that +occurred to me. + +The evening was damp and thick. It melted into night as we drove. +I could form no impression of the country, but this seemed desolate +enough. I believe we met no living soul on the high road which we +followed for the first three miles or more. At length we turned into a +narrow lane, with a stiff stone wall on either hand, and this eventually +led us past the lights of what appeared to be a large farm; it was +really a small hamlet; and now we were nearing our destination. Gates +had to be opened, and my poor driver breathed hard from the continual +getting down and up. In the end a long and heavy cart-track brought us +to the loneliest light that I have ever seen. It shone on the side of a +hill--in the heart of an open wilderness--as solitary as a beacon-light +at sea. It was the light of the cottage which was to be my temporary +home. + +A very tall, gaunt woman stood in the doorway against the inner glow. +She advanced with a loose, long stride, and invited me to enter in a +voice harsh (I took it) from disuse. I was warming myself before the +kitchen fire when she came in carrying my heaviest box as though it had +nothing in it. I ran to take it from her, for the box was full of books, +but she shook her head, and was on the stairs with it before I could +intercept her. + +I conceive that very few men are attracted by abnormal strength in a +woman; we cannot help it; and yet it was not her strength which first +repelled me in Mrs. Braithwaite. It was a combination of attributes. She +had a poll of very dirty and untidy red hair; her eyes were set close +together; she had the jowl of the traditional prize-fighter. But far +more disagreeable than any single feature was the woman's expression, +or rather the expression which I caught her assuming naturally, and +banishing with an effort for my benefit. To me she was strenuously +civil in her uncouth way. But I saw her give her husband one look, as +he staggered in with my comparatively light portmanteau, which she +instantly snatched out of his feeble arms. I saw this look again before +the evening was out, and it was such a one as Braithwaite himself had +fixed upon his horse as he flogged it up the hills. + +I began to wonder how the young squire had found it in his conscience to +recommend such a pair. I wondered less when the woman finally ushered +me upstairs to my rooms. These were small and rugged, but eminently snug +and clean. In each a good fire blazed cheerfully; my portmanteau was +already unstrapped, the table in the sitting-room already laid; and I +could not help looking twice at the silver and the glass, so bright was +their condition, so good their quality. Mrs. Braithwaite watched me from +the door. + +“I doubt you'll be thinking them's our own,” said she. “I wish they +were; t'squire sent 'em in this afternoon.” + +“For my use?” + +“Ay; I doubt he thought what we had ourselves wasn't good enough. An' +it's him 'at sent t' armchair, t'bed-linen, t'bath, an' that there +lookin'-glass an' all.” + +She had followed me into the bedroom, where I looked with redoubled +interest at each object as she mentioned it, and it was in the glass--a +masqueline shaving-glass--that I caught my second glimpse of my +landlady's evil expression--levelled this time at myself. + +I instantly turned round and told her that I thought it very kind of Mr. +Rattray, but that, for my part, I was not a luxurious man, and that I +felt rather sorry the matter had not been left entirely in her hands. +She retired seemingly mollified, and she took my sympathy with her, +though I was none the less pleased and cheered by my new friend's zeal +for my comfort; there were even flowers on my table, without a doubt +from Kirby Hall. + +And in another matter the squire had not misled me: the woman was an +excellent plain cook. I expected ham and eggs. Sure enough, this was my +dish, but done to a turn. The eggs were new and all unbroken, the ham +so lean and yet so tender, that I would not have exchanged my humble, +hearty meal for the best dinner served that night in London. It made a +new man of me, after my long journey and my cold, damp drive. I was for +chatting with Mrs. Braithwaite when she came up to clear away. I +thought she might be glad to talk after the life she must lead with her +afflicted husband, but it seemed to have had the opposite effect on her. +All I elicited was an ambiguous statement as to the distance between the +cottage and the hall; it was “not so far.” And so she left me to my pipe +and to my best night yet, in the stillest spot I have ever slept in +on dry land; one heard nothing but the bubble of a beck; and it seemed +very, very far away. + +A fine, bright morning showed me my new surroundings in their true +colors; even in the sunshine these were not very gay. But gayety was the +last thing I wanted. Peace and quiet were my whole desire, and both were +here, set in scenery at once lovely to the eye and bracing to the soul. + +From the cottage doorstep one looked upon a perfect panorama of +healthy, open English country. Purple hills hemmed in a broad, green, +undulating plateau, scored across and across by the stone walls of the +north, and all dappled with the shadows of rolling leaden clouds with +silver fringes. Miles away a church spire stuck like a spike out of the +hollow, and the smoke of a village dimmed the trees behind. No nearer +habitation could I see. I have mentioned a hamlet which we passed in the +spring-cart. It lay hidden behind some hillocks to the left. My landlady +told me it was better than half a mile away, and “nothing when you get +there; no shop; no post-office; not even a public-house.” + +I inquired in which direction lay the hall. She pointed to the nearest +trees, a small forest of stunted oaks, which shut in the view to the +right, after quarter of a mile of a bare and rugged valley. Through this +valley twisted the beck which I had heard faintly in the night. It ran +through the oak plantation and so to the sea, some two or three miles +further on, said my landlady; but nobody would have thought it was so +near. + +“T'squire was to be away to-day,” observed the woman, with the broad +vowel sound which I shall not attempt to reproduce in print. “He was +going to Lancaster, I believe.” + +“So I understood,” said I. “I didn't think of troubling him, if that's +what you mean. I'm going to take his advice and fish the beck.” + +And I proceeded to do so after a hearty early dinner: the keen, chill +air was doing me good already: the “perfect quiet” was finding its +way into my soul. I blessed my specialist, I blessed Squire Rattray, I +blessed the very villains who had brought us within each other's ken; +and nowhere was my thanksgiving more fervent than in the deep cleft +threaded by the beck; for here the shrewd yet gentle wind passed +completely overhead, and the silence was purged of oppression by the +ceaseless symphony of clear water running over clean stones. + +But it was no day for fishing, and no place for the fly, though I went +through the form of throwing one for several hours. Here the stream +merely rinsed its bed, there it stood so still, in pools of liquid +amber, that, when the sun shone, the very pebbles showed their shadows +in the deepest places. Of course I caught nothing; but, towards the +close of the gold-brown afternoon, I made yet another new acquaintance, +in the person of a little old clergyman who attacked me pleasantly from +the rear. + +“Bad day for fishing, sir,” croaked the cheery voice which first +informed me of his presence. “Ah, I knew it must be a stranger,” he +cried as I turned and he hopped down to my side with the activity of a +much younger man. + +“Yes,” I said, “I only came down from London yesterday. I find the spot +so delightful that I haven't bothered much about the sport. Still, I've +had about enough of it now.” And I prepared to take my rod to pieces. + +“Spot and sport!” laughed the old gentleman. “Didn't mean it for a +pun, I hope? Never could endure puns! So you came down yesterday, young +gentleman, did you? And where may you be staying?” + +I described the position of my cottage without the slightest hesitation; +for this parson did not scare me; except in appearance he had so +little in common with his type as I knew it. He had, however, about the +shrewdest pair of eyes that I have ever seen, and my answer only served +to intensify their open scrutiny. + +“How on earth did you come to hear of a God-forsaken place like this?” + said he, making use, I thought, of a somewhat stronger expression than +quite became his cloth. + +“Squire Rattray told me of it,” said I. + +“Ha! So you're a friend of his, are you?” And his eyes went through and +through me like knitting-needles through a ball of wool. + +“I could hardly call myself that,” said I. “But Mr. Rattray has been +very kind to me.” + +“Meet him in town?” + +I said I had, but I said it with some coolness, for his tone had dropped +into the confidential, and I disliked it as much as this string of +questions from a stranger. + +“Long ago, sir?” he pursued. + +“No, sir; not long ago,” I retorted. + +“May I ask your name?” said he. + +“You may ask what you like,” I cried, with a final reversal of all my +first impressions of this impertinent old fellow; “but I'm hanged if +I tell it you! I am here for rest and quiet, sir. I don't ask you your +name. I can't for the life of me see what right you have to ask me mine, +or to question me at all, for that matter.” + +He favored me with a brief glance of extraordinary suspicion. It faded +away in mere surprise, and, next instant, my elderly and reverend friend +was causing me some compunction by coloring like a boy. + +“You may think my curiosity mere impertinence, sir,” said he; “you would +think otherwise if you knew as much as I do of Squire Rattray's friends, +and how little you resemble the generality of them. You might even feel +some sympathy for one of the neighboring clergy, to whom this godless +young man has been for years as a thorn in their side.” + +He spoke so gravely, and what he said was so easy to believe, that I +could not but apologize for my hasty words. + +“Don't name it, sir,” said the clergyman; “you had a perfect right to +resent my questions, and I enjoy meeting young men of spirit; but not +when it's an evil spirit, such as, I fear, possesses your friend! I do +assure you, sir, that the best thing I have heard of him for years is +the very little that you have told me. As a rule, to hear of him at all +in this part of the world, is to wish that we had not heard. I see him +coming, however, and shall detain you no longer, for I don't deny that +there is no love lost between us.” + +I looked round, and there was Rattray on the top of the bank, a long +way to the left, coming towards me with a waving hat. An extraordinary +ejaculation brought me to the right-about next instant. + +The old clergyman had slipped on a stone in mid-stream, and, as he +dragged a dripping leg up the opposite bank, he had sworn an oath worthy +of the “godless young man” who had put him to flight, and on whose +demerits he had descanted with so much eloquence and indignation. + + + + +CHAPTER X. WINE AND WEAKNESS + + +“Sporting old parson who knows how to swear?” laughed Rattray. “Never saw +him in my life before; wondered who the deuce he was.” + +“Really?” said I. “He professed to know something of you.” + +“Against me, you mean? My dear Cole, don't trouble to perjure yourself. +I don't mind, believe me. They're easily shocked, these country clergy, +and no doubt I'm a bugbear to 'em. Yet, I could have sworn I'd never +seen this one before. Let's have another look.” + +We were walking away together. We turned on the top of the bank. And +there the old clergyman was planted on the moorside, and watching us +intently from under his hollowed hands. + +“Well, I'm hanged!” exclaimed Rattray, as the hands fell and their +owner beat a hasty retreat. My companion said no more; indeed, for some +minutes we pursued our way in silence. And I thought that it was with an +effort that he broke into sudden inquiries concerning my journey and my +comfort at the cottage. + +This gave me an opportunity of thanking him for his little attentions. +“It was awfully good of you,” said I, taking his arm as though I had +known him all my life; nor do I think there was another living man with +whom I would have linked arms at that time. + +“Good?” cried he. “Nonsense, my dear sir! I'm only afraid you find +it devilish rough. But, at all events, you're coming to dine with me +to-night.” + +“Am I?” I asked, smiling. + +“Rather!” said he. “My time here is short enough. I don't lose sight of +you again between this and midnight.” + +“It's most awfully good of you,” said I again. + +“Wait till you see! You'll find it rough enough at my place; all my +retainers are out for the day at a local show.” + +“Then I certainly shall not give you the trouble.” + +He interrupted me with his jovial laugh. + +“My good fellow,” he cried, “that's the fun of it! How do you suppose +I've been spending the day? Told you I was going to Lancaster, did I? +Well, I've been cooking our dinner instead--laying the table--getting +up the wines--never had such a joke! Give you my word, I almost forgot I +was in the wilderness!” + +“So you're quite alone, are you?” + +“Yes; as much so as that other beggar who was monarch of all he +surveyed, his right there was none to dispute, from the what-is-it down +to the glade--” + +“I'll come,” said I, as we reached the cottage. “Only first you must let +me make myself decent.” + +“You're decent enough!” + +“My boots are wet; my hands--” + +“All serene! I'll give you five minutes.” + +And I left him outside, flourishing a handsome watch, while, on my way +upstairs, I paused to tell Mrs. Braithwaite that I was dining at the +hall. She was busy cooking, and I felt prepared for her unpleasant +expression; but she showed no annoyance at my news. I formed the +impression that it was no news to her. And next minute I heard a +whispering below; it was unmistakable in that silent cottage, where not +a word had reached me yet, save in conversation to which I was myself a +party. + +I looked out of window. Rattray I could no longer see. And I confess +that I felt both puzzled and annoyed until we walked away together, when +it was his arm which was immediately thrust through mine. + +“A good soul, Jane,” said he; “though she made an idiotic marriage, and +leads a life which might spoil the temper of an archangel. She was my +nurse when I was a youngster, Cole, and we never meet without a yarn.” + Which seemed natural enough; still I failed to perceive why they need +yarn in whispers. + +Kirby Hall proved startlingly near at hand. We descended the bare +valley to the right, we crossed the beck upon a plank, were in the +oak-plantation about a minute, and there was the hall upon the farther +side. + +And a queer old place it seemed, half farm, half feudal castle: fowls +strutting at large about the back premises (which we were compelled to +skirt), and then a front door of ponderous oak, deep-set between walls +fully six feet thick, and studded all over with wooden pegs. The facade, +indeed, was wholly grim, with a castellated tower at one end, and a +number of narrow, sunken windows looking askance on the wreck and +ruin of a once prim, old-fashioned, high-walled garden. I thought that +Rattray might have shown more respect for the house of his ancestors. +It put me in mind of a neglected grave. And yet I could forgive a bright +young fellow for never coming near so desolate a domain. + +We dined delightfully in a large and lofty hall, formerly used (said +Rattray) as a court-room. The old judgment seat stood back against the +wall, and our table was the one at which the justices had been wont to +sit. Then the chamber had been low-ceiled; now it ran to the roof, and +we ate our dinner beneath a square of fading autumn sky, with I wondered +how many ghosts looking down on us from the oaken gallery! I was +interested, impressed, awed not a little, and yet all in a way which +afforded my mind the most welcome distraction from itself and from the +past. To Rattray, on the other hand, it was rather sadly plain that the +place was both a burden and a bore; in fact he vowed it was the dampest +and the dullest old ruin under the sun, and that he would sell it +to-morrow if he could find a lunatic to buy. His want of sentiment +struck me as his one deplorable trait. Yet even this displayed his +characteristic merit of frankness. Nor was it at all unpleasant to hear +his merry, boyish laughter ringing round hall and gallery, ere it died +away against a dozen closed doors. + +And there were other elements of good cheer: a log fire blazing heartily +in the old dog-grate, casting a glow over the stone flags, a reassuring +flicker into the darkest corner: cold viands of the very best: and the +finest old Madeira that has ever passed my lips. + +Now, all my life I have been a “moderate drinker” in the most literal +sense of that slightly elastic term. But at the sad time of which I +am trying to write, I was almost an abstainer, from the fear, the +temptation--of seeking oblivion in strong waters. To give way then was +to go on giving way. I realized the danger, and I took stern measures. +Not stern enough, however; for what I did not realize was my weak and +nervous state, in which a glass would have the same effect on me as +three or four upon a healthy man. + +Heaven knows how much or how little I took that evening! I can swear +it was the smaller half of either bottle--and the second we never +finished--but the amount matters nothing. Even me it did not make +grossly tipsy. But it warmed my blood, it cheered my heart, it excited +my brain, and--it loosened my tongue. It set me talking with a freedom +of which I should have been incapable in my normal moments, on a subject +whereof I had never before spoken of my own free will. And yet the will +to--speak--to my present companion--was no novelty. I had felt it at our +first meeting in the private hotel. His tact, his sympathy, his handsome +face, his personal charm, his frank friendliness, had one and all +tempted me to bore this complete stranger with unsolicited confidences +for which an inquisitive relative might have angled in vain. And the +temptation was the stronger because I knew in my heart that I should +not bore the young squire at all; that he was anxious enough to hear my +story from my own lips, but too good a gentleman intentionally to +betray such anxiety. Vanity was also in the impulse. A vulgar newspaper +prominence had been my final (and very genuine) tribulation; but to +please and to interest one so pleasing and so interesting to me, was +another and a subtler thing. And then there was his sympathy--shall I +add his admiration?--for my reward. + +I do not pretend that I argued thus deliberately in my heated and +excited brain. I merely hold that all these small reasons and motives +were there, fused and exaggerated by the liquor which was there as well. +Nor can I say positively that Rattray put no leading questions; only +that I remember none which had that sound; and that, once started, I am +afraid I needed only too little encouragement to run on and on. + +Well, I was set going before we got up from the table. I continued in +an armchair that my host dragged from a little book-lined room adjoining +the hall. I finished on my legs, my back to the fire, my hands beating +wildly together. I had told my dear Rattray of my own accord more than +living man had extracted from me yet. He interrupted me very little; +never once until I came to the murderous attack by Santos on the drunken +steward. + +“The brute!” cried Rattray. “The cowardly, cruel, foreign devil! And you +never let out one word of that!” + +“What was the good?” said I. “They are all gone now--all gone to their +account. Every man of us was a brute at the last. There was nothing to +be gained by telling the public that.” + +He let me go on until I came to another point which I had hitherto kept +to myself: the condition of the dead mate's fingers: the cries that the +sight of them had recalled. + +“That Portuguese villain again!” cried my companion, fairly leaping from +the chair which I had left and he had taken. “It was the work of the +same cane that killed the steward. Don't tell me an Englishman would +have done it; and yet you said nothing about that either!” + +It was my first glimpse of this side of my young host's character. Nor +did I admire him the less, in his spirited indignation, because much of +this was clearly against myself. His eyes flashed. His face was white. I +suddenly found myself the cooler man of the two. + +“My dear fellow, do consider!” said I. “What possible end could have +been served by my stating what I couldn't prove against a man who +could never be brought to book in this world? Santos was punished as he +deserved; his punishment was death, and there's an end on't.” + +“You might be right,” said Rattray, “but it makes my blood boil to hear +such a story. Forgive me if I have spoken strongly;” and he paced his +hall for a little in an agitation which made me like him better and +better. “The cold-blooded villain!” he kept muttering; “the infernal, +foreign, blood-thirsty rascal! Perhaps you were right; it couldn't have +done any good, I know; but--I only wish he'd lived for us to hang him, +Cole! Why, a beast like that is capable of anything: I wonder if +you've told me the worst even now?” And he stood before me, with candid +suspicion in his fine, frank eyes. + +“What makes you say that?” said I, rather nettled. + +“I shan't tell you if it's going to rile you, old fellow,” was his reply. +And with it reappeared the charming youth whom I found it impossible +to resist. “Heaven knows you have had enough to worry you!” he added, in +his kindly, sympathetic voice. + +“So much,” said I, “that you cannot add to it, my dear Rattray. Now, +then! Why do you think there was something worse?” + +“You hinted as much in town: rightly or wrongly I gathered there was +something you would never speak about to living man.” + +I turned from him with a groan. + +“Ah! but that had nothing to do with Santos.” + +“Are you sure?” he cried. + +“No,” I murmured; “it had something to do with him, in a sense; but +don't ask me any more.” And I leaned my forehead on the high oak +mantel-piece, and groaned again. + +His hand was upon my shoulder. + +“Do tell me,” he urged. I was silent. He pressed me further. In my +fancy, both hand and voice shook with his sympathy. + +“He had a step-daughter,” said I at last. + +“Yes? Yes?” + +“I loved her. That was all.” + +His hand dropped from my shoulder. I remained standing, stooping, +thinking only of her whom I had lost for ever. The silence was intense. +I could hear the wind sighing in the oaks without, the logs burning +softly away at my feet And so we stood until the voice of Rattray +recalled me from the deck of the _Lady Jermyn_ and my lost love's side. + +“So that was all!” + +I turned and met a face I could not read. + +“Was it not enough?” cried I. “What more would you have?” + +“I expected some more-foul play!” + +“Ah!” I exclaimed bitterly. “So that was all that interested you! No, +there was no more foul play that I know of; and if there was, I don't +care. Nothing matters to me but one thing. Now that you know what that +is, I hope you're satisfied.” + +It was no way to speak to one's host. Yet I felt that he had pressed me +unduly. I hated myself for my final confidence, and his want of sympathy +made me hate him too. In my weakness, however, I was the natural prey +of violent extremes. His hand flew out to me. He was about to speak. +A moment more and I had doubtless forgiven him. But another sound +came instead and made the pair of us start and stare. It was the soft +shutting of some upstairs door. + +“I thought we had the house to ourselves?” cried I, my miserable nerves +on edge in an instant. + +“So did I,” he answered, very pale. “My servants must have come back. By +the Lord Harry, they shall hear of this!” + +He sprang to a door, I heard his feet clattering up some stone stairs, +and in a trice he was running along the gallery overhead; in another +I heard him railing behind some upper door that he had flung open and +banged behind him; then his voice dropped, and finally died away. I was +left some minutes in the oppressively silent hall, shaken, startled, +ashamed of my garrulity, aching to get away. When he returned it was by +another of the many closed doors, and he found me awaiting him, hat in +hand. He was wearing his happiest look until he saw my hat. + +“Not going?” he cried. “My dear Cole, I can't apologize sufficiently for +my abrupt desertion of you, much less for the cause. It was my man, +just come in from the show, and gone up the back way. I accused him of +listening to our conversation. Of course he denies it; but it really +doesn't matter, as I'm sorry to say he's much too 'fresh' (as they call +it down here) to remember anything to-morrow morning. I let him have it, +I can tell you. Varlet! Caitiff! But if you bolt off on the head of it, +I shall go back and sack him into the bargain!” + +I assured him I had my own reasons for wishing to retire early. He could +have no conception of my weakness, my low and nervous condition of +body and mind; much as I had enjoyed myself, he must really let me go. +Another glass of wine, then? Just one more? No, I had drunk too much +already. I was in no state to stand it. And I held out my hand with +decision. + +Instead of taking it he looked at me very hard. + +“The place doesn't suit you,” said he. “I see it doesn't, and I'm +devilish sorry! Take my advice and try something milder; now do, +to-morrow; for I should never forgive myself if it made you worse +instead of better; and the air is too strong for lots of people.” + +I was neither too ill nor too vexed to laugh outright in his face. + +“It's not the air,” said I; “it's that splendid old Madeira of yours, +that was too strong for me, if you like! No, no, Rattray, you don't get +rid of me so cheaply-much as you seem to want to!” + +“I was only thinking of you,” he rejoined, with a touch of pique that +convinced me of his sincerity. “Of course I want you to stop, though +I shan't be here many days; but I feel responsible for you, Cole, +and that's the fact. Think you can find your way?” he continued, +accompanying me to the gate, a postern in the high garden wall. “Hadn't +you better have a lantern?” + +No; it was unnecessary. I could see splendidly, had the bump of locality +and as many more lies as would come to my tongue. I was indeed burning +to be gone. + +A moment later I feared that I had shown this too plainly. For his final +handshake was hearty enough to send me away something ashamed of +my precipitancy, and with a further sense of having shown him +small gratitude for his kindly anxiety on my behalf. I would behave +differently to-morrow. Meanwhile I had new regrets. + +At first it was comparatively easy to see, for the lights of the house +shone faintly among the nearer oaks. But the moon was hidden behind +heavy clouds, and I soon found myself at a loss in a terribly dark zone +of timber. Already I had left the path. I felt in my pocket for matches. +I had none. + +My head was now clear enough, only deservedly heavy. I was still +quarrelling with myself for my indiscretions and my incivilities, one +and all the result of his wine and my weakness, and this new predicament +(another and yet more vulgar result) was the final mortification. I +swore aloud. I simply could not see a foot in front of my face. Once I +proved it by running my head hard against a branch. I was hopelessly and +ridiculously lost within a hundred yards of the hall! + +Some minutes I floundered, ashamed to go back, unable to proceed for +the trees and the darkness. I heard the beck running over its stones. I +could still see an occasional glimmer from the windows I had left. But +the light was now on this side, now on that; the running water chuckled +in one ear after the other; there was nothing for it but to return in +all humility for the lantern which I had been so foolish as to refuse. + +And as I resigned myself to this imperative though inglorious course, my +heart warmed once more to the jovial young squire. He would laugh, but +not unkindly, at my grotesque dilemma; at the thought of his laughter I +began to smile myself. If he gave me another chance I would smoke that +cigar with him before starting home afresh, and remove, from my own +mind no less than from his, all ill impressions. After all it was not +his fault that I had taken too much of his wine; but a far worse offence +was to be sulky in one's cups. I would show him that I was myself again +in all respects. I have admitted that I was temporarily, at all events, +a creature of extreme moods. It was in this one that I retraced my steps +towards the lights, and at length let myself into the garden by the +postern at which I had shaken Rattray's hand not ten minutes before. + +Taking heart of grace, I stepped up jauntily to the porch. The weeds +muffled my steps. I myself had never thought of doing so, when all at +once I halted in a vague terror. Through the deep lattice windows I +had seen into the lighted hall. And Rattray was once more seated at his +table, a little company of men around him. + +I crept nearer, and my heart stopped. Was I delirious, or raving mad +with wine? Or had the sea given up its dead? + + + + +CHAPTER XI. I LIVE AGAIN + + +Squire Rattray, as I say, was seated at the head of his table, where +the broken meats still lay as he and I had left them; his fingers, I +remember, were playing with a crust, and his eyes fixed upon a distant +door, as he leant back in his chair. Behind him hovered the nigger of +the _Lady Jermyn_, whom I had been the slower to recognize, had not her +skipper sat facing me on the squire's right. Yes, there was Captain +Harris in the flesh, eating heartily between great gulps of wine, +instead of feeding the fishes as all the world supposed. And nearer +still, nearer me than any, with his back to my window but his chair +slued round a little, so that he also could see that door, and I his +profile, sat Joaquin Santos with his cigarette! + +None spoke; all seemed waiting; and all were silent but the captain, +whose vulgar champing reached me through the crazy lattice, as I stood +spellbound and petrified without. + +They say that a drowning man lives his life again before the last; but +my own fight with the sea provided me with no such moments of vivid and +rapid retrospect as those during which I stood breathless outside the +lighted windows of Kirby Hall. I landed again. I was dogged day and +night. I set it down to nerves and notoriety; but took refuge in a +private hotel. One followed me, engaged the next room, set a watch on +all my movements; another came in by the window to murder me in my +bed; no party to that, the first one nevertheless turned the outrage to +account, wormed himself into my friendship on the strength of it, and +lured me hither, an easy prey. And here was the gang of them, to meet +me! No wonder Rattray had not let me see him off at the station; no +wonder I had not been followed that night. Every link I saw in its +right light instantly. Only the motive remained obscure. Suspicious +circumstances swarmed upon my slow perception: how innocent I had been! +Less innocent, however, than wilfully and wholly reckless: what had it +mattered with whom I made friends? What had anything mattered to me? +What did anything matter-- + +I thought my heart had snapped! + +Why were they watching that door, Joaquin Santos and the young squire? +Whom did they await? I knew! Oh, I knew! My heart leaped, my blood +danced, my eyes lay in wait with theirs. Everything began to matter +once more. It was as though the machinery of my soul, long stopped, had +suddenly been set in motion; it was as though I was born again. + +How long we seemed to wait I need not say. It cannot have been many +moments in reality, for Santos was blowing his rings of smoke in the +direction of the door, and the first that I noticed were but dissolving +when it opened--and the best was true! One instant I saw her very +clearly, in the light of a candle which she carried in its silver stick; +then a mist blinded me, and I fell on my knees in the rank bed into +which I had stepped, to give such thanks to the Almighty as this heart +has never felt before or since. And I remained kneeling; for now my face +was on a level with the sill; and when my eyes could see again, there +stood my darling before them in the room. + +Like a queen she stood, in the very travelling cloak in which I had seen +her last; it was tattered now, but she held it close about her as though +a shrewd wind bit her to the core. Her sweet face was all peeked and +pale in the candle-light: she who had been a child was come to womanhood +in a few weeks. But a new spirit flashed in her dear eyes, a new +strength hardened her young lips. She stood as an angel brought to book +by devils; and so noble was her calm defiance, so serene her scorn, +that, as I watched and listened; all present fear for her passed out of +my heart. + +The first sound was the hasty rising of young Rattray; he was at Eva's +side next instant, essaying to lead her to his chair, with a flush which +deepened as she repulsed him coldly. + +“You have sent for me, and I have come,” said she. “But I prefer not to +sit down in your presence; and what you have to say, you will be good +enough to say as quickly as possible, that I may go again before I +am--stifled!” + +It was her one hot word; aimed at them all, it seemed to me to fall like +a lash on Rattray's cheek, bringing the blood to it like lightning. But +it was Santos who snatched the cigarette from his mouth, and opened upon +the defenceless girl in a torrent of Portuguese, yellow with rage, and a +very windmill of lean arms and brown hands in the terrifying rapidity of +his gesticulations. They did not terrify Eva Denison. When Rattray took +a step towards the speaker, with flashing eyes, it was some word from +Eva that checked him; when Santos was done, it was to Rattray that she +turned with her answer. + +“He calls me a liar for telling you that Mr. Cole knew all,” said she, +thrilling me with my own name. “Don't you say anything,” she added, as +the young man turned on Santos with a scowl; “you are one as wicked as +the other, but there was a time when I thought differently of you: his +character I have always known. Of the two evils, I prefer to speak to +you.” + +Rattray bowed, humbly enough, I thought; but my darling's nostrils only +curled the more. + +“He calls me a liar,” she continued; “so may you all. Since you have +found it out, I admit it freely and without shame; one must be false in +the hands of false fiends like all of you. Weakness is nothing to you; +helplessness is nothing; you must be met with your own weapons, and so I +lied in my sore extremity to gain the one miserable advantage within my +reach. He says you found me out by making friends with Mr. Cole. He +says that Mr. Cole has been dining with you in this very room, this +very night. You still tell the truth sometimes; has that man--that +demon--told it for once?” + +“It is perfectly true,” said Rattray in a low voice. + +“And poor Mr. Cole told you that he knew nothing of your villany?” + +“I found out that he knew absolutely nothing--after first thinking +otherwise.” + +“Suppose he had known? What would you have done?” + +Rattray said nothing. Santos shrugged as he lit a fresh cigarette. The +captain went on with his supper. + +“Ashamed to say!” cried Eva Denison. “So you have some shame left still! +Well, I will tell you. You would have murdered him, as you murdered all +the rest; you would have killed him in cold blood, as I wish and pray +that you would kill me!” + +The young fellow faced her, white to the lips. “You have no right to +say that, Miss Denison!” he cried. “I may be bad, but, as I am ready to +answer for my sins, the crime of murder is not among them.” + +Well, it is still some satisfaction to remember that my love never +punished me with such a look as was the young squire's reward for this +protestation. The curl of the pink nostrils, the parting of the proud +lips, the gleam of the sound white teeth, before a word was spoken, +were more than I, for one, could have borne. For I did not see the grief +underlying the scorn, but actually found it in my heart to pity this +poor devil of a Rattray: so humbly fell those fine eyes of his, so like +a dog did he stand, waiting to be whipped. + +“Yes; you are very innocent!” she began at last, so softly that I could +scarcely hear. “You have not committed murder, so you say; let it stand +to your credit by all means. You have no blood upon your hands; you say +so; that is enough. No! you are comparatively innocent, I admit. All +you have done is to make murder easy for others; to get others to do the +dirty work, and then shelter them and share the gain; all you need have +on your conscience is every life that was lost with the _Lady Jermyn_, and +every soul that lost itself in losing them. You call that innocence? +Then give me honest guilt! Give me the man who set fire to the ship, and +who sits there eating his supper; he is more of a man than you. Give me +the wretch who has beaten men to death before my eyes; there's something +great about a monster like that, there's something to loathe. His +assistant is only little--mean--despicable!” Loud and hurried in its +wrath, low and deliberate in its contempt, all this was uttered with a +furious and abnormal eloquence, which would have struck me, loving her, +to the ground. On Rattray it had a different effect. His head lifted as +she heaped abuse upon it, until he met her flashing eye with that of a +man very thankful to take his deserts and something more; and to mine he +was least despicable when that last word left her lips. When he saw that +it was her last, he took her candle (she had put it down on the ancient +settle against the door), and presented it to her with another bow. And +so without a word he led her to the door, opened it, and bowed yet lower +as she swept out, but still without a tinge of mockery in the obeisance. + +He was closing the door after her when Joaquin Santos reached it. + +“Diablo!” cried he. “Why let her go? We have not done with her.” + +“That doesn't matter; she is done with us,” was the stern reply. + +“It does matter,” retorted Santos; “what is more, she is my +step-daughter, and back she shall come!” + +“She is also my visitor, and I'm damned if you're going to make her!” + +An instant Santos stood, his back to me, his fingers working, his neck +brown with blood; then his coat went into creases across the shoulders, +and he was shrugging still as he turned away. + +“Your veesitor!” said he. “Your veesitor! Your veesitor!” + +Harris laughed outright as he raised his glass; the hot young squire +had him by the collar, and the wine was spilling on the cloth, as I rose +very cautiously and crept back to the path. + +“When rogues fall out!” I was thinking to myself. “I shall save her +yet--I shall save my darling!” + +Already I was accustomed to the thought that she still lived, and to the +big heart she had set beating in my feeble frame; already the continued +existence of these villains, with the first dim inkling of their +villainy, was ceasing to be a novelty in a brain now quickened and +prehensile beyond belief. And yet--but a few minutes had I knelt at the +window--but a few more was it since Rattray and I had shaken hands! + +Not his visitor; his prisoner, without a doubt; but alive! alive! and, +neither guest nor prisoner for many hours more. O my love! O my heart's +delight! Now I knew why I was spared; to save her; to snatch her from +these rascals; to cherish and protect her evermore! + +All the past shone clear behind me; the dark was lightness and the +crooked straight. All the future lay clear ahead it presented no +difficulties yet; a mad, ecstatic confidence was mine for the wildest, +happiest moments of my life. + +I stood upright in the darkness. I saw her light! + +It was ascending the tower at the building's end; now in this window it +glimmered, now in the one above. At last it was steady, high up near the +stars, and I stole below. + +“Eva! Eva!” + +There was no answer. Low as it was, my voice was alarming; it cooled +and cautioned me. I sought little stones. I crept back to throw them. +Ah God! her form eclipsed that lighted slit in the gray stone tower. I +heard her weeping high above me at her window. + +“Eva! Eva!” + +There was a pause, and then a little cry of gladness. + +“Is it Mr. Cole?” came in an eager whisper through her tears. + +“Yes! yes! I was outside the window. I heard everything.” + +“They will hear you!” she cried softly, in a steadier voice. + +“No-listen!” They were quarrelling. Rattray's voice was loud and angry. +“They cannot hear,” I continued, in more cautious tones; “they think +I'm in bed and asleep half-a-mile away. Oh, thank God! I'll get you away +from them; trust me, my love, my darling!” + +In my madness I knew not what I said; it was my wild heart speaking. +Some moments passed before she replied. + +“Will you promise to do nothing I ask you not to do?” + +“Of course.” + +“My life might answer for it--” + +“I promise--I promise.” + +“Then wait--hide--watch my light. When you see it back in the window, +watch with all your eyes! I am going to write and then throw it out. Not +another syllable!” + +She was gone; there was a long yellow slit in the masonry once more; her +light burnt faint and far within. + +I retreated among some bushes and kept watch. + +The moon was skimming beneath the surface of a sea of clouds: now the +black billows had silver crests: now an incandescent buoy bobbed among +them. O for enough light, and no more! + +In the hall the high voices were more subdued. I heard the captain's +tipsy laugh. My eyes fastened themselves upon that faint and lofty +light, and on my heels I crouched among the bushes. + +The flame moved, flickered, and shone small but brilliant on the very +sill. I ran forward on tip-toe. A white flake fluttered to my feet. I +secured it and waited for one word; none came; but the window was softly +shut. + +I stood in doubt, the treacherous moonlight all over me now, and once +more the window opened. + +“Go quickly!” + +And again it was shut; next moment I was stealing close by the spot +where I had knelt. I saw within once more. + +Harris nodded in his chair. The nigger had disappeared. Rattray was +lighting a candle, and the Portuguese holding out his hand for the +match. + +“Did you lock the gate, senhor?” asked Santos. + +“No; but I will now.” + +As I opened it I heard a door open within. I could hardly let the latch +down again for the sudden trembling of my fingers. The key turned behind +me ere I had twenty yards' start. + +Thank God there was light enough now! I followed the beck. I found +my way. I stood in the open valley, between the oak-plantation and my +desolate cottage, and I kissed my tiny, twisted note again and again in +a paroxysm of passion and of insensate joy. Then I unfolded it and held +it to my eyes in the keen October moonshine. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. MY LADY'S BIDDING + + +Scribbled in sore haste, by a very tremulous little hand, with a pencil, +on the flyleaf of some book, my darling's message is still difficult to +read; it was doubly so in the moonlight, five-and-forty autumns ago. My +eyesight, however, was then perhaps the soundest thing about me, and in +a little I had deciphered enough to guess correctly (as it proved) at +the whole:-- + + +“You say you heard everything just now, and there is no time for further +explanations. I am in the hands of villains, but not ill-treated, though +they are one as bad as the other. You will not find it easy to rescue +me. I don't see how it is to be done. You have promised not to do +anything I ask you not to do, and I implore you not to tell a soul until +you have seen me again and heard more. You might just as well kill me as +come back now with help. + +“You see you know nothing, though I told them you knew all. And so you +shall as soon as I can see you for five minutes face to face. In the +meantime do nothing--know nothing when you see Mr. Rattray--unless you +wish to be my death. + +“It would have been possible last night, and it may be again to-morrow +night. They all go out every night when they can, except José, who is +left in charge. They are out from nine or ten till two or three; if they +are out to-morrow night my candle will be close to the window as I shall +put it when I have finished this. You can see my window from over the +wall. If the light is in front you must climb the wall, for they will +leave the gate locked. I shall see you and will bribe José to let me +out for a turn. He has done it before for a bottle of wine. I can manage +him. Can I trust to you? If you break your promise--but you will not? +One of them would as soon kill me as smoke a cigarette, and the rest are +under his thumb. I dare not write more. But my life is in your hands. + +“EVA DENISON.” + + +“Oh! beware of the woman Braithwaite; she is about the worst of the +gang.” + +I could have burst out crying in my bitter discomfiture, mortification, +and alarm: to think that her life was in my hands, and that it depended, +not on that prompt action which was the one course I had contemplated, +but on twenty-four hours of resolute inactivity! I would not think it. +I refused the condition. It took away my one prop, my one stay, that +prospect of immediate measures which alone preserved in me such coolness +as I had retained until now. I was cool no longer; where I had relied +on practical direction I was baffled and hindered and driven mad; on my +honor believe I was little less for some moments, groaning, cursing, +and beating the air with impotent fists--in one of them my poor love's +letter crushed already to a ball. + +Danger and difficulty I had been prepared to face; but the task that I +was set was a hundred-fold harder than any that had whirled through my +teeming brain. To sit still; to do nothing; to pretend I knew nothing; +an hour of it would destroy my reason--and I was invited to wait +twenty-four! + +No; my word was passed; keep it I must. She knew the men, she must know +best; and her life depended on my obedience: she made that so plain. +Obey I must and would; to make a start, I tottered over the plank that +spanned the beck, and soon I saw the cottage against the moonlit sky. +I came up to it. I drew back in sudden fear. It was alight upstairs and +down, and the gaunt strong figure of the woman Braithwaite stood out +as I had seen it first, in the doorway, with the light showing warmly +through her rank red hair. + +“Is that you, Mr. Cole?” she cried in a tone that she reserved for me; +yet through the forced amiability there rang a note of genuine surprise. +She had been prepared for me never to return at all! + +My knees gave under me as I forced myself to advance; but my wits took +new life from the crisis, and in a flash I saw how to turn my weakness +into account. I made a false step on my way to the door; when I reached +it I leant heavily against the jam, and I said with a slur that I felt +unwell. I had certainly been flushed with wine when I left Rattray; it +would be no bad thing for him to hear that I had arrived quite tipsy at +the cottage; should he discover I had been near an hour on the way, here +was my explanation cut and dried. + +So I shammed a degree of intoxication with apparent success, and Jane +Braithwaite gave me her arm up the stairs. My God, how strong it was, +and how weak was mine! + +Left to myself, I reeled about my bedroom, pretending to undress; then +out with my candles, and into bed in all my clothes, until the cottage +should be quiet. Yes, I must lie still and feign sleep, with every nerve +and fibre leaping within me, lest the she-devil below should suspect +me of suspicions! It was with her I had to cope for the next +four-and-twenty hours; and she filled me with a greater present terror +than all those villains at the hall; for had not their poor little +helpless captive described her as “about the worst of the gang?” + +To think that my love lay helpless there in the hands of those wretches; +and to think that her lover lay helpless here in the supervision of this +vile virago! + +It must have been one or two in the morning when I stole to my +sitting-room window, opened it, and sat down to think steadily, with the +counterpane about my shoulders. + +The moon sailed high and almost full above the clouds; these were +dispersing as the night wore on, and such as remained were of a +beautiful soft tint between white and gray. The sky was too light for +stars, and beneath it the open country stretched so clear and far that +it was as though one looked out at noonday through slate-colored glass. +Down the dewy slope below my window a few calves fed with toothless +mouthings; the beck was very audible, the oak-trees less so; but for +these peaceful sounds the stillness and the solitude were equally +intense. + +I may have sat there like a mouse for half an hour. The reason was that +I had become mercifully engrossed in one of the subsidiary problems: +whether it would be better to drop from the window or to trust to the +creaking stairs. Would the creaking be much worse than the thud, and +the difference worth the risk of a sprained ankle? Well worth it, I at +length decided; the risk was nothing; my window was scarce a dozen feet +from the ground. How easily it could be done, how quickly, how safely in +this deep, stillness and bright moonlight! I would fall so lightly on +my stocking soles; a single soft, dull thud; then away under the moon +without fear or risk of a false step; away over the stone walls to the +main road, and so to the nearest police-station with my tale; and before +sunrise the villains would be taken in their beds, and my darling would +be safe! + +I sprang up softly. Why not do it now? Was I bound to keep my rash, +blind promise? Was it possible these murderers would murder her? +I struck a match on my trousers, I lit a candle, I read her letter +carefully again, and again it maddened and distracted me. I struck my +hands together. I paced the room wildly. Caution deserted me, and I made +noise enough to wake the very mute; lost to every consideration but that +of the terrifying day before me, the day of silence and of inactivity, +that I must live through with an unsuspecting face, a cool head, a civil +tongue! The prospect appalled me as nothing else could or did; nay, the +sudden noise upon the stairs, the knock at my door, and the sense that +I had betrayed myself already even now all was over--these came as a +relief after the haunting terror which they interrupted. + +I flung the door open, and there stood Mrs. Braithwaite, as fully +dressed as myself. + +“You'll not be very well sir?” + +“No, I'm not.” + +“What's t' matter wi' you?” + +This second question was rude and fierce with suspicion: the real woman +rang out in it, yet its effect on me was astonishing: once again was I +inspired to turn my slip into a move. + +“Matter?” I cried. “Can't you see what's the matter; couldn't you see +when I came in? Drink's the matter! I came in drunk, and now I'm mad. I +can't stand it; I'm not in a fit state. Do you know nothng of me? Have +they told you nothing? I'm the only man that was saved from the Lady +Jermyn, the ship that was burned to the water's edge with every soul but +me. My nerves are in little ends. I came down here for peace and quiet +and sleep. Do you know that I have hardly slept for two months? And now +I shall never sleep again! O my God I shall die for want of it! The wine +has done it. I never should have touched a drop. I can't stand it; I +can't sleep after it; I shall kill myself if I get no sleep. Do you +hear, you woman? I shall kill myself in your house if I don't get to +sleep!” + +I saw her shrink, virago as she was. I waved my arms, I shrieked in +her face. It was not all acting. Heaven knows how true it was about the +sleep. I was slowly dying of insomnia. I was a nervous wreck. She must +have heard it. Now she saw it for herself. + +No; it was by no means all acting. Intending only to lie, I found +myself telling little but the strictest truth, and longing for sleep as +passionately as though I had nothing to keep me awake. And yet, while my +heart cried aloud in spite of me, and my nerves relieved themselves in +this unpremeditated ebullition, I was all the time watching its effect +as closely as though no word of it had been sincere. + +Mrs. Braithwaite seemed frightened; not at all pitiful; and as I calmed +down she recovered her courage and became insolent. I had spoilt her +night. She had not been told she was to take in a raving lunatic. She +would speak to Squire Rattray in the morning. + +“Morning?” I yelled after her as she went. “Send your husband to the +nearest chemist as soon as it's dawn; send him for chloral, chloroform, +morphia, anything they've got and as much of it as they'll let him have. +I'll give you five pounds if you get me what'll send me to sleep all +to-morrow--and to-morrow night!” + +Never, I feel sure, were truth and falsehood more craftily interwoven; +yet I had thought of none of it until the woman was at my door, while of +much I had not thought at all. It had rushed from my heart and from my +lips. And no sooner was I alone than I burst into hysterical tears, only +to stop and compliment myself because they sounded genuine--as though +they were not! Towards morning I took to my bed in a burning fever, and +lay there, now congratulating myself upon it, because when night came +they would all think me so secure; and now weeping because the night +might find me dying or dead. So I tossed, with her note clasped in my +hand underneath the sheets; and beneath my very body that stout weapon +that I had bought in town. I might not have to use it, but I was +fatalist enough to fancy that I should. In the meantime it helped me to +lie still, my thoughts fixed on the night, and the day made easy for me +after all. + +If only I could sleep! + +About nine o'clock Jane Braithwaite paid me a surly visit; in half an +hour she was back with tea and toast and an altered mien. She not only +lit my fire, but treated me the while to her original tone of almost +fervent civility and respect and determination. Her vagaries soon ceased +to puzzle me: the psychology of Jane Braithwaite was not recondite. In +the night it had dawned upon her that Rattray had found me harmless and +was done with me, therefore there was no need for her to put herself out +any further on my account. In the morning, finding me really ill, she +had gone to the hall in alarm; her subsequent attentions were an act of +obedience; and in their midst came Rattray himself to my bedside. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. THE LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE + + +The boy looked so blithe and buoyant, so gallant and still so frank, +that even now I could not think as meanly of him as poor Eva did. A +rogue he must be, but surely not the petty rogue that she had made him +out. Yet it was dirty work that he had done by me; and there I had to +lie and take his kind, false, felon's hand in mine. + +“My poor dear fellow,” he cried, “I'm most sorry to find you like this. +But I was afraid of it last night. It's all this infernally strong air!” + +How I longed to tell him what it was, and to see his face! The thought +of Eva alone restrained me, and I retorted as before, in a tone I strove +to make as friendly, that it was his admirable wine and nothing else. + +“But you took hardly any.” + +“I shouldn't have touched a drop. I can't stand it. Instead of soothing +me it excites me to the verge of madness. I'm almost over the verge--for +want of sleep--my trouble ever since the trouble.” + +Again I was speaking the literal truth, and again congratulating myself +as though it were a lie: the fellow looked so distressed at my state; +indeed I believe that his distress was as genuine as mine, and his +sentiments as involved. He took my hand again, and his brow wrinkled at +its heat. He asked for the other hand to feel my pulse. I had to drop my +letter to comply. + +“I wish to goodness there was something I could do for you,” he said. +“Would you--would you care to see a doctor?” + +I shook my head, and could have smiled at his visible relief. + +“Then I'm going to prescribe for you,” he said with decision. “It's the +place that doesn't agree with you, and it was I who brought you to the +place; therefore it's for me to get you out of it as quick as possible. +Up you get, and I'll drive you to the station myself!” + +I had another work to keep from smiling: he was so ingenuously +disingenuous. There was less to smile at in his really nervous anxiety +to get me away. I lay there reading him like a book: it was not my +health that concerned him, of course: was it my safety? I told him he +little knew how ill I was--an inglorious speech that came hard, though +not by any means untrue. “Move me with this fever on me?” said I; “it +would be as much as my miserable life is worth.” + +“I'm afraid,” said he, “that it may be as much as your life's worth to +stay on here!” And there was such real fear, in his voice and eyes, +that it reconciled me there and then to the discomfort of a big revolver +between the mattress and the small of my back. “We must get you out +of it,” he continued, “the moment you feel fit to stir. Shall we say +to-morrow?” + +“If you like,” I said, advisedly; “and if I can get some sleep to-day.” + +“Then to-morrow it is! You see I know it's the climate,” he added, +jumping from tone to tone; “it couldn't have been those two or three +glasses of sound wine.” + +“Shall I tell you what it is?” I said, looking him full in the face, +with eyes that I dare say were wild enough with fever and insomnia. +“It's the burning of the _Lady Jermyn_!” I cried. “It's the faces and the +shrieks of the women; it's the cursing and the fighting of the men; it's +boat-loads struggling in an oily sea; it's husbands and wives jumping +overboard together; it's men turned into devils, it's hell-fire +afloat--” + +“Stop! stop!” he whispered, hoarse as a crow. I was sitting up with my +hot eyes upon him. He was white as the quilt, and the bed shook with his +trembling. I had gone as far as was prudent, and I lay back with a glow +of secret satisfaction. + +“Yes, I will stop,” said I, “and I wouldn't have begun if you hadn't +found it so difficult to understand my trouble. Now you know what it +is. It's the old trouble. I came up here to forget it; instead of that +I drink too much and tell you all about it; and the two things together +have bowled me over. But I'll go to-morrow; only give me something to +put me asleep till then.” + +“I will!” he vowed. “I'll go myself to the nearest chemist, and he shall +give me the very strongest stuff he's got. Good-by, and don't you stir +till I come back--for your own sake. I'll go this minute, and I'll ride +like hell!” And if ever two men were glad to be rid of each other, they +were this young villain and myself. + +But what was his villany? It was little enough that I had overheard +at the window, and still less that poor Eva had told me in her hurried +lines. All I saw clearly was that the _Lady Jermyn_ and some hundred souls +had perished by the foulest of foul play; that, besides Eva and myself, +only the incendiaries had escaped; that somehow these wretches had made +a second escape from the gig, leaving dead men and word of their own +death behind them in the boat. And here the motive was as much a mystery +to me as the means; but, in my present state, both were also matters +of supreme indifference. My one desire was to rescue my love from her +loathsome captors; of little else did I pause to think. Yet Rattray's +visit left its own mark on my mind; and long after he was gone I lay +puzzling over the connection between a young Lancastrian, of good +name, of ancient property, of great personal charm, and a crime of +unparalleled atrocity committed in cold blood on the high seas. That +his complicity was flagrant I had no room to doubt, after Eva's own +indictment of him, uttered to his face and in my hearing. Was it then +the usual fraud on the underwriters, and was Rattray the inevitable +accomplice on dry land? I could think of none but the conventional +motive for destroying a vessel. Yet I knew there must be another and a +subtler one, to account not only for the magnitude of the crime, but for +the pains which the actual perpetrators had taken to conceal the fact +of their survival, and for the union of so diverse a trinity as Senhor +Santos, Captain Harris, and the young squire. + +It must have been about mid-day when Rattray reappeared, ruddy, spurred, +and splashed with mud; a comfort to sick eyes, I declare, in spite +of all. He brought me two little vials, put one on the chimney-piece, +poured the other into my tumbler, and added a little water. + +“There, old fellow,” said he; “swallow that, and if you don't get some +sleep the chemist who made it up is the greatest liar unhung.” + +“What is it?' I asked, the glass in my hand, and my eyes on those of my +companion. + +“I don't know,” said he. “I just told them to make up the strongest +sleeping-draught that was safe, and I mentioned something about your +case. Toss it off, man; it's sure to be all right.” + +Yes, I could trust him; he was not that sort of villain, for all that +Eva Denison had said. I liked his face as well as ever. I liked his eye, +and could have sworn to its honesty as I drained the glass. Even had it +been otherwise, I must have taken my chance or shown him all; as it was, +when he had pulled down my blind, and shaken my pillow, and he gave +me his hand once more, I took it with involuntary cordiality. I only +grieved that so fine a young fellow should have involved himself in so +villainous a business; yet for Eva's sake I was glad that he had; for +my mind failed (rather than refused) to believe him so black as she had +painted him. + +The long, long afternoon that followed I never shall forget. The opiate +racked my head; it did not do its work; and I longed to sleep till +evening with a longing I have never known before or since. Everything +seemed to depend upon it; I should be a man again, if only I could +first be a log for a few hours. But no; my troubles never left me for an +instant; and there I must lie, pretending that they had! For the other +draught was for the night; and if they but thought the first one had +taken due effect, so much the less would they trouble their heads about +me when they believed that I had swallowed the second. + +Oh, but it was cruel! I lay and wept with weakness and want of sleep; +ere night fell I knew that it would find me useless, if indeed my reason +lingered on. To lie there helpless when Eva was expecting me, that would +be the finishing touch. I should rise a maniac if ever I rose at +all. More probably I would put one of my five big bullets into my own +splitting head; it was no small temptation, lying there in a double +agony, with the loaded weapon by my side. + +Then sometimes I thought it was coming; and perhaps for an instant would +be tossing in my hen-coop; then back once more. And I swear that +my physical and mental torments, here in my bed, would have been +incomparably greater than anything I had endured on the sea, but for the +saving grace of one sweet thought. She lived! She lived! And the God who +had taken care o me, a castaway, would surely deliver her also from +the hands of murderers and thieves. But not through me--I lay weak and +helpless--and my tears ran again and yet again as I felt myself growing +hourly weaker. + +I remember what a bright fine day it was, with the grand open country +all smiles beneath a clear, almost frosty sky, once when I got up on +tip-toe and peeped out. A keen wind whistled about the cottage; I felt +it on my feet as I stood; but never have I known a more perfect and +invigorating autumn day. And there I must lie, with the manhood ebbing +Out of me, the manhood that I needed so for the night! I crept back into +bed. I swore that I would sleep. Yet there I lay, listening sometimes to +that vile woman's tread below; sometimes to mysterious whispers, between +whom I neither knew nor cared; anon to my watch ticking by my side, to +the heart beating in my body, hour after hour--hour after hour. I prayed +as I have seldom prayed. I wept as I have never wept. I railed and +blasphemed--not with my lips, because the woman must think I was +asleep--but so much the more viciously in my heart. + +Suddenly it turned dark. There were no gradations--not even a tropical +twilight. One minute I aw the sun upon the blind; the next--thank God! +Oh, thank God! No light broke any longer through the blind; just a faint +and narrow glimmer stole between it and the casement; and the light that +had been bright golden was palest silver now. + +It was the moon. I had been in dreamless sleep for hours. + +The joy of that discovery! The transport of waking to it, and waking +refreshed! The swift and sudden miracle that it seemed! I shall never, +never forget it, still less the sickening thrill of fear which was +cruelly quick to follow upon my joy. The cottage was still as the tomb. +What if I had slept too long! + +With trembling hand I found my watch. + +Luckily I had wound it in the early morning. I now carried it to the +window, drew back the blind, and held it in the moonlight. It was not +quite ten o'clock. And yet the cottage was so still--so still. + +I stole to the door, opened it by cautious degrees, and saw the +reflection of a light below. Still not a sound could I hear, save the +rapid drawing of my own breath, and the startled beating of my own +heart. + +I now felt certain that the Braithwaites were out, and dressed hastily, +making as little noise as possible, and still hearing absolutely none +from below. Then, feeling faint with hunger, though a new being after my +sleep, I remembered a packet of sandwiches which I had not opened on my +journey north. These I transferred from my travelling-bag (where they +had lain forgotten to my jacket pocket), before drawing down the blind, +leaving the room on tip-toe, and very gently fastening the door behind +me. On the stairs, too, I trod with the utmost caution, feeling the wall +with my left hand (my right was full), lest by any chance I might +be mistaken in supposing I had the cottage to myself. In spite of my +caution there came a creak at every step. And to my sudden horror I +heard a chair move in the kitchen below. + +My heart and I stood still together. But my right hand tightened on +stout wood, my right forefinger trembled against thin steel. The sound +was not repeated. And at length I continued on my way down, my teeth +set, an excuse on my lips, but determination in every fibre of my frame. + +A shadow lay across the kitchen floor; it was that of the deaf mute, as +he stood on a chair before the fire, supporting himself on the chimney +piece with one puny arm, while he reached overhead with the other. I +stood by for an instant, glorying in the thought that he could not hear +me; the next, I saw what it was he was reaching up for--a bell-mouthed +blunderbuss--and I knew the little devil for the impostor that he was. + +“You touch it,” said I, “and you'll drop dead on that hearth.” + +He pretended not to hear me, but he heard the click of the splendid +spring which Messrs. Deane and Adams had put into that early revolver of +theirs, and he could not have come down much quicker with my bullet in +his spine. + +“Now, then,” I said, “what the devil do you mean by shamming deaf and +dumb?” + +“I niver said I was owt o' t' sort,” he whimpered, cowering behind the +chair in a sullen ague. + +“But you acted it, and I've a jolly good mind to shoot you dead!” + (Remember, I was so weak myself that I thought my arm would break from +presenting my five chambers and my ten-inch barrel; otherwise I should +be sorry to relate how I bullied that mouse of a man.) “I may let you +off,” I continued, “if you answer questions. Where's your wife?” + +“Eh, she'll be back directly!” said Braithwaite, with some tact; but his +look was too cunning to give the warning weight. “I've a bullet to spare +for her,” said I, cheerfully; “now, then, where is she?” + +“Gone wi' the oothers, for owt I knaw.” + +“And where are the others gone?” + +“Where they allus go, ower to t' say.” + +“Over to the sea, eh? We're getting on! What takes them there?” + +“That's more than I can tell you, sir,” said Braithwaite, with so much +emphasis and so little reluctance as to convince me that for once at +least he had spoken the truth. There was even a spice of malice in his +tone. I began to see possibilities in the little beast. + +“Well,” I said, “you're a nice lot! I don't know what your game is, and +don't want to. I've had enough of you without that. I'm off to-night.” + +“Before they get back?” asked Braithwaite, plainly in doubt about his +duty, and yet as plainly relieved to learn the extent of my intention. + +“Certainly,” said I; “why not? I'm not particularly anxious to see your +wife again, and you may ask Mr. Rattray from me why the devil he led +me to suppose you were deaf and dumb? Or, if you like, you needn't say +anything at all about it,” I added, seeing his thin jaw fall; “tell him +I never found you out, but just felt well enough to go, and went. When +do you expect them back?” + +“It won't be yet a bit,” said he. + +“Good! Now look here. What would you say to these?” And I showed him a +couple of sovereigns: I longed to offer him twenty, but feared to excite +his suspicions. “These are yours if you have a conveyance at the end of +the lane--the lane we came up the night before last--in an hour's time.” + +His dull eyes glistened; but a tremor took him from top to toe, and he +shook his head. + +“I'm ill, man!” I cried. “If I stay here I'll die! Mr. Rattray knows +that, and he wanted me to go this morning; he'll be only too thankful to +find me gone.” + +This argument appealed to him; indeed, I was proud of it. + +“But I was to stop an' look after you,” he mumbled; “it'll get me into +trooble, it will that!” + +I took out three more sovereigns; not a penny higher durst I go. + +“Will five pounds repay you? No need to tell your wife it was five, you +know! I should keep four of them all to myself.” + +The cupidity of the little wretch was at last overcoming his abject +cowardice. I could see him making up his miserable mind. And I still +flatter myself that I took only safe (and really cunning) steps to +precipitate the process. To offer him more money would have been +madness; instead, I poured it all back into my pocket. + +“All right!” I cried; “you're a greedy, cowardly, old idiot, and I'll +just save my money.” And out I marched into the moonlight, very briskly, +towards the lane; he was so quick to follow me that I had no fears of +the blunderbuss, but quickened my step, and soon had him running at my +heels. + +“Stop, stop, sir! You're that hasty wi' a poor owd man.” So he whimpered +as he followed me like the little cur he was. + +“I'm hanged if I stop,” I answered without looking back; and had him +almost in tears before I swung round on him so suddenly that he yelped +with fear. “What are you bothering me for?” I blustered. “Do you want me +to wring your neck?” + +“Oh, I'll go, sir! I'll go, I'll go,” he moaned. + +“I've a good mind not to let you. I wouldn't if I was fit to walk five +miles.” + +“But I'll roon 'em, sir! I will that! I'll go as fast as iver I can!” + +“And have a conveyance at the road-end of the lane as near an hour hence +as you possibly can?” + +“Why, there, sir!” he cried, crassly inspired; “I could drive you in our +own trap in half the time.” + +“Oh, no, you couldn't! I--I'm not fit to be out at all; it must be a +closed conveyance; but I'll come to the end of the lane to save time, +so let him wait there. You needn't wait yourself; here's a sovereign +of your money, and I'll leave the rest in the jug in my bedroom. There! +It's worth your while to trust me, I think. As for my luggage, I'll +write to Mr. Rattray about that. But I'll be shot if I spend another +night on his property.” + +I was rid of him at last; and there I stood, listening to his headlong +steps, until they stumbled out of earshot down the lane; then back to +the cottage, at a run myself, and up to my room to be no worse than my +word. The sovereigns plopped into the water and rang together at +the bottom of the jug. In another minute I was hastening through the +plantation, in my hand the revolver that had served me well already, and +was still loaded and capped in all five chambers. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. IN THE GARDEN + + +It so happened that I met nobody at all; but I must confess that my +luck was better than my management. As I came upon the beck, a new sound +reached me with the swirl. It was the jingle of bit and bridle; the beat +of hoofs came after; and I had barely time to fling myself flat, when +two horsemen emerged from the plantation, riding straight towards me in +the moonlight. If they continued on that course they could not fail +to see me as they passed along the opposite bank. However, to my +unspeakable relief, they were scarce clear of the trees when they turned +their horses' heads, rode them through the water a good seventy yards +from where I lay, and so away at a canter across country towards the +road. On my hands and knees I had a good look at them as they bobbed up +and down under the moon; and my fears subsided in astonished curiosity. +For I have already boasted of my eyesight, and I could have sworn that +neither Rattray nor any one of his guests was of the horsemen; yet the +back and shoulders of one of these seemed somehow familiar to me. Not +that I wasted many moments over the coincidence, for I had other things +to think about as I ran on to the hall. + +I found the rear of the building in darkness unrelieved from within; on +the other hand, the climbing moon beat so full upon the garden wall, it +was as though a lantern pinned me as I crept beneath it. In passing I +thought I might as well try the gate; but Eva was right; it was locked; +and that made me half inclined to distrust my eyes in the matter of the +two horsemen, for whence could they have come, if not from the hall? +In any case I was well rid of them. I now followed the wall some little +distance, and then, to see over it, walked backwards until I was all but +in the beck; and there, sure enough, shone my darling's candle, close as +close against the diamond panes of her narrow, lofty window! It brought +those ready tears back to my foolish, fevered eyes. But for sentiment +there was no time, and every other emotion was either futile or +premature. So I mastered my full heart, I steeled, my wretched nerves, +and braced my limp muscles for the task that lay before them. + +I had a garden wall to scale, nearly twice my own height, and without +notch or cranny in the ancient, solid masonry. I stood against it on my +toes, and I touched it with my finger-tips as high up as possible. Some +four feet severed them from the coping that left only half a sky above +my upturned eyes. + +I do not know whether I have made it plain that the house was not +surrounded by four walls, but merely filled a breach in one of the +four, which nipped it (as it were) at either end. The back entrance was +approachable enough, but barred or watched, I might be very sure. It is +ever the vulnerable points which are most securely guarded, and it was +my one comfort that the difficult way must also be the safe way, if only +the difficulty could be overcome. How to overcome it was the problem. +I followed the wall right round to the point at which it abutted on the +tower that immured my love; the height never varied; nor could my hands +or eyes discover a single foot-hole, ledge, or other means of mounting +to the top. + +Yet my hot head was full of ideas; and I wasted some minutes in trying +to lift from its hinges a solid, six-barred, outlying gate, that my +weak arms could hardly stir. More time went in pulling branches from the +oak-trees about the beck, where the latter ran nearest to the moonlit +wall. I had an insane dream of throwing a long forked branch over +the coping, and so swarming up hand-over-hand. But even to me the +impracticability of this plan came home at last. And there I stood in a +breathless lather, much time and strength thrown away together; and the +candle burning down for nothing in that little lofty window; and the +running water swirling noisily over its stones at my back. + +This was the only sound; the wind had died away; the moonlit valley +lay as still as the dread old house in its midst but for the splash and +gurgle of the beck. I fancied this grew louder as I paused and listened +in my helplessness. All at once--was it the tongue of Nature telling me +the way, or common gumption returning at the eleventh hour? I ran down +to the water's edge, and could have shouted for joy. Great stones lay in +equal profusion on bed and banks. I lifted one of the heaviest in both +hands. I staggered with it to the wall. I came back for another; for +some twenty minutes I was so employed; my ultimate reward a fine heap of +boulders against the wall. + +Then I began to build; then mounted my pile, clawing the wall to keep +my balance. My fingers were still many inches from the coping. I jumped +down and gave another ten minutes to the back-breaking work of carrying +more boulders from the water to the wall. Then I widened my cairn below, +so that I could stand firmly before springing upon the pinnacle with +which I completed it. I knew well that this would collapse under me if +I allowed my weight to rest more than an instant upon it. And so at last +it did; but my fingers had clutched the coping in time; had grabbed it +even as the insecure pyramid crumbled and left me dangling. + +Instantly exerting what muscle I had left, and the occasion gave me, +I succeeded in pulling myself up until my chin was on a level with my +hands, when I flung an arm over and caught the inner coping. The other +arm followed; then a leg; and at last I sat astride the wall, panting +and palpitating, and hardly able to credit my own achievement. One great +difficulty had been my huge revolver. I had been terribly frightened it +might go off, and had finally used my cravat to sling it at the back +of my neck. It had shifted a little, and I was working it round again, +preparatory to my drop, when I saw the light suddenly taken from the +window in the tower, and a kerchief waving for one instant in its place. +So she had been waiting and watching for me all these hours! I dropped +into the garden in a very ecstasy of grief and rapture, to think that I +had been so long in coming to my love, but that I had come at last. And +I picked myself up in a very frenzy of fear lest, after all, I should +fail to spirit her from this horrible place. + +Doubly desolate it looked in the rays of that bright October moon. +Skulking in the shadow of the wall which had so long baffled me, I +looked across a sharp border of shade upon a chaos, the more striking +for its lingering trim design. The long, straight paths were barnacled +with weeds; the dense, fine hedges, once prim and angular, had fattened +out of all shape or form; and on the velvet sward of other days you +might have waded waist high in rotten hay. Towards the garden end this +rank jungle merged into a worse wilderness of rhododendrons, the tallest +I have ever seen. On all this the white moon smiled, and the grim house +glowered, to the eternal swirl and rattle of the beck beyond its walls. + +Long enough I stood where I had dropped, listening with all my being +for some other sound; but at last that great studded door creaked +and shivered on its ancient hinges, and I heard voices arguing in the +Portuguese tongue. It was poor Eva wheedling that black rascal José. +I saw her in the lighted porch; the nigger I saw also, shrugging and +gesticulating for all the world like his hateful master; yet giving in, +I felt certain, though I could not understand a word that reached me. + +And indeed my little mistress very soon sailed calmly out, followed by +final warnings and expostulations hurled from the step: for the black +stood watching her as she came steadily my way, now raising her head to +sniff the air, now stooping to pluck up a weed, the very picture of a +prisoner seeking the open air for its own sake solely. I had a keen eye +apiece for them as I cowered closer to the wall, revolver in hand. But +ere my love was very near me (for she would stand long moments gazing +ever so innocently at the moon), her jailer had held a bottle to the +light, and had beaten a retreat so sudden and so hasty that I expected +him back every moment, and so durst not stir. Eva saw me, however, +and contrived to tell me so without interrupting the air that she was +humming as she walked. + +“Follow me,” she sang, “only keep as you are, keep as you are, close to +the wall, close to the wall.” + +And on she strolled to her own tune, and came abreast of me without +turning her head; so I crept in the shadow (my ugly weapon tucked out of +sight), and she sauntered in the shine, until we came to the end of +the garden, where the path turned at right angles, running behind the +rhododendrons; once in their shelter, she halted and beckoned me, and +next instant I had her hands in mine. + +“At last!” was all that I could say for many a moment, as I stood there +gazing into her dear eyes, no hero in my heroic hour, but the bigger +love-sick fool than ever. “But quick--quick--quick!” I added, as she +brought me to my senses by withdrawing her hands. “We've no time to +lose.” And I looked wildly from wall to wall, only to find them as +barren and inaccessible on this side as on the other. + +“We have more time than you think,” were Eva's first words. “We can do +nothing for half-an-hour.” + +“Why not?” + +“I'll tell you in a minute. How did you manage to get over?” + +“Brought boulders from the beck, and piled 'em up till I could reach the +top.” + +I thought her eyes glistened. + +“What patience!” she cried softly. “We must find a simpler way of +getting out--and I think I have. They've all gone, you know, but José.” + +“All three?” + +“The captain has been gone all day.” + +Then the other two must have been my horse-men, very probably in some +disguise; and my head swam with the thought of the risk that I had run +at the very moment when I thought myself safest. Well, I would have +finished them both! But I did not say so to Eva. I did not mention +the incident, I was so fearful of destroying her confidence in me. +Apologizing, therefore, for my interruption, without explaining it, I +begged her to let me hear her plan. + +It was simple enough. There was no fear of the others returning before +midnight; the chances were that they would be very much later; and +now it was barely eleven, and Eva had promised not to stay out above +half-an-hour. When it was up José would come and call her. + +“It is horrid to have to be so cunning!” cried little Eva, with an angry +shudder; “but it's no use thinking of that,” she was quick enough to +add, “when you have such dreadful men to deal with, such fiends! And I +have had all day to prepare, and have suffered till I am so desperate I +would rather die to-night than spend another in that house. No; let me +finish! José will come round here to look for me. But you and I will +be hiding on the other side of these rhododendrons. And when we hear him +here we'll make a dash for it across the long grass. Once let us get the +door shut and locked in his face, and he'll be in a trap. It will take +him some time to break in; time enough to give us a start; what's more, +when he finds us gone, he'll do what they all used to do in any doubt.” + +“What's that?” + +“Say nothing till it's found out; then lie for their lives; and it was +their lives, poor creatures on the Zambesi!” She was silent a moment, +her determined little face hard--set upon some unforgotten horror. +“Once we get away, I shall be surprised if it's found out till morning,” + concluded Eva, without a word as to what I was to do with her; neither, +indeed, had I myself given that question a moment's consideration. + +“Then let's make a dash for it now!” was all I said or thought. + +“No; they can't come yet, and José is strong and brutal, and I +have heard how ill you are. That you should have come to me +notwithstanding--” and she broke off with her little hands lying +so gratefully on my shoulders, that I know not how I refrained from +catching her then and there to my heart. Instead, I laughed and said +that my illness was a pure and deliberate sharp, and my presence there +its direct result. And such was the virtue in my beloved's voice, the +magic of her eyes, the healing of her touch, that I was scarce conscious +of deceit, but felt a whole man once more as we two stood together in +the moonlight. + +In a trance I stood there gazing into her brave young eyes. In a +trance I suffered her to lead me by the hand through the rank, dense +rhododendrons. And still entranced I crouched by her side near the +further side, with only unkempt grass-plot and a weedy path between us +and that ponderous door, wide open still, and replaced by a section of +the lighted hail within. On this we fixed our attention with mingled +dread and impatience, those contending elements of suspense; but the +black was slow to reappear; and my eyes stole home to my sweet girl's +face, with its glory of moonlit curls, and the eager, resolute, +embittered look that put the world back two whole months, and Eva +Denison upon the _Lady Jermyn_'s poop, in the ship's last hours. But it +was not her look alone; she had on her cloak, as the night before, +but with me (God bless her!) she found no need to clasp herself in its +folds; and underneath she wore the very dress in which she had sung at +our last concert, and been rescued in the gig. It looked as though she +had worn it ever since. The roses were crushed and soiled, the tulle all +torn, and tarnished some strings of beads that had been gold: a tatter +of Chantilly lace hung by a thread: it is another of the relics that I +have unearthed in the writing of this narrative. + +“I thought men never noticed dresses?” my love said suddenly, a pleased +light in her eyes (I thought) in spite of all. “Do you really remember +it?” + +“I remember every one of them,” I said indignantly; and so I did. + +“You will wonder why I wear it,” said Eva, quickly. “It was the first +that came that terrible night. They have given me many since. But I +won't wear one of them--not one!” + +How her eyes flashed! I forgot all about José. + +“I suppose you know why they hadn't room for you in the gig?” she went +on. + +“No, I don't know, and I don't care. They had room for you,” said I; +“that's all I care about.” And to think she could not see I loved her! + +“But do you mean to say you don't know that these--murderers--set fire +to the ship?” + +“No--yes! I heard you say so last night.” + +“And you don't want to know what for?” + +Out of politeness I protested that I did; but, as I live, all I wanted +to know just then was whether my love loved me--whether she ever +could--whether such happiness was possible under heaven! + +“You remember all that mystery about the cargo?” she continued eagerly, +her pretty lips so divinely parted! + +“It turned out to be gunpowder,” said I, still thinking only of her. + +“No--gold!” + +“But it was gunpowder,” I insisted; for it was my incorrigible passion +for accuracy which had led up to half our arguments on the voyage; but +this time Eva let me off. + +“It was also gold: twelve thousand ounces from the diggings. That was +the real mystery. Do you mean to say you never guessed?” + +“No, by Jove I didn't!” said I. She had diverted my interest at last. I +asked her if she had known on board. + +“Not until the last moment. I found out during the fire. Do you remember +when we said good-by? I was nearly telling you then.” + +Did I remember! The very letter of that last interview was cut deep in +my heart; not a sleepless night had I passed without rehearsing it word +for word and look for look; and sometimes, when sorrow had spent itself, +and the heart could bleed no more, vain grief had given place to vainer +speculation, and I had cudgelled my wakeful brains for the meaning of +the new and subtle horror which I had read in my darling's eyes at the +last. Now I understood; and the one explanation brought such a tribe +in its train, that even the perilous ecstasy of the present moment was +temporarily forgotten in the horrible past. + +“Now I know why they wouldn't have me in the gig!” I cried softly. + +“She carried four heavy men's weight in gold.” + +“When on earth did they get it aboard?” + +“In provision boxes at the last; but they had been filling the boxes for +weeks.” + +“Why, I saw them doing it!” I cried. “But what about the gig? Who picked +you up?” + +She was watching that open door once more, and she answered with notable +indifference, “Mr. Rattray.” + +“So that's the connection!” said I; and I think its very simplicity was +what surprised me most. + +“Yes; he was waiting for us at Ascension.” + +“Then it was all arranged?” + +“Every detail.” + +“And this young blackguard is as bad as any of them!” + +“Worse,” said she, with bitter brevity. Nor had I ever seen her look so +hard but once, and that was the night before in the old justice hall, +when she told Rattray her opinion of him to his face. She had now the +same angry flush, the same set mouth and scornful voice; and I took +it finally into my head that she was unjust to the poor devil, villain +though he was. With all his villainy I declined to believe him as bad +as the others. I told her so in as many words. And in a moment we were +arguing as though we were back on the _Lady Jermyn_ with nothing else to +do. + +“You may admire wholesale murderers and thieves,” said Eva. “I do not.” + +“Nor I. My point is simply that this one is not as bad as the rest. I +believe he was really glad for my sake when he discovered that I knew +nothing of the villainy. Come now, has he ever offered you any personal +violence?” + +“Me? Mr. Rattray? I should hope not, indeed!” + +“Has he never saved you from any?” + +“I--I don't know.” + +“Then I do. When you left them last night there was some talk of +bringing you back by force. You can guess who suggested that--and who +set his face against it and got his way. You would think the better of +Rattray had you heard what passed.” + +“Should I?” she asked half eagerly, as she looked quickly round at me; +and suddenly I saw her eyes fill. “Oh, why will you speak about him?” + she burst out. “Why must you defend him, unless it's to go against me, +as you always did and always will! I never knew anybody like you--never! +I want you to take me away from these wretches, and all you do is to +defend them!” + +“Not all,” said I, clasping her hand warmly in mine. “Not all--not all! +I will take you away from them, never fear; in another hour God grant +you may be out of their reach for ever!” + +“But where are we to go?” she whispered wildly. “What are you to do with +me? All my friends think me dead, and if they knew I was not it would +all come out.” + +“So it shall,” said I; “the sooner the better; if I'd had my way it +would all be out already.” + +I see her yet, my passionate darling, as she turned upon me, whiter than +the full white moon. + +“Mr. Cole,” said she, “you must give me your sacred promise that so far +as you are concerned, it shall never come out at all!” + +“This monstrous conspiracy? This cold blooded massacre?” + +And I crouched aghast. + +“Yes; it could do no good; and, at any rate, unless you promise I remain +where I am.” + +“In their hands?” + +“Decidedly--to warn them in time. Leave them I would, but betray +them--never!” + +What could I say? What choice had I in the face of an alternative so +headstrong and so unreasonable? To rescue Eva from these miscreants I +would have let every malefactor in the country go unscathed: yet the +condition was a hard one; and, as I hesitated, my love went on her knees +to me, there in the moonlight among the rhododendrons. + +“Promise--promise--or you will kill me!” she gasped. “They may deserve +it richly, but I would rather be torn in little pieces than--than have +them--hanged!” + +“It is too good for most of them.” + +“Promise!” + +“To hold my tongue about them all?” + +“Yes--promise!” + +“Promise!” + +“When a hundred lives were sacrificed--” + +“Promise!” + +“I can't,” I said. “It's wrong.” + +“Then good-by!” she cried, starting to her feet. + +“No--no--” and I caught her hand. + +“Well, then?” + +“I--promise.” + + + + +CHAPTER XV. FIRST BLOOD + + +So I bound myself to a guilty secrecy for Eva's sake, to save her from +these wretches, or if you will, to win her for myself. Nor did it +strike me as very strange, after a moment's reflection, that she should +intercede thus earnestly for a band headed by her own mother's widower, +prime scoundrel of them all though she knew him to be. The only +surprise was that she had not interceded in his name; that I should have +forgotten, and she should have allowed me to forget, the very existence +of so indisputable a claim upon her loyalty. This, however, made it a +little difficult to understand the hysterical gratitude with which my +unwilling promise was received. Poor darling! she was beside herself +with sheer relief. She wept as I had never seen her weep before. She +seized and even kissed my hands, as one who neither knew nor cared what +she did, surprising me so much by her emotion that this expression of it +passed unheeded. I was the best friend she had ever had. I was her one +good friend in all the world; she would trust herself to me; and if I +would but take her to the convent where she had been brought up, she +would pray for me there until her death, but that would not be very +long. + +All of which confused me utterly; it seemed an inexplicable breakdown +in one who had shown such nerve and courage hitherto, and so hearty a +loathing for that damnable Santos. So completely had her presence of +mind forsaken her that she looked no longer where she had been gazing +hitherto. And thus it was that neither of us saw José until we heard +him calling, “Senhora Evah! Senhora Evah!” with some rapid sentences in +Portuguese. + +“Now is our time,” I whispered, crouching lower and clasping a small +hand gone suddenly cold. “Think of nothing now but getting out of this. +I'll keep my word once we are out; and here's the toy that's going to +get us out.” And I produced my Deane and Adams with no small relish. + +A little trustful pressure was my answer and my reward; meanwhile the +black was singing out lustily in evident suspicion and alarm. + +“He says they are coming back,” whispered Eva; “but that's impossible.” + +“Why?” + +“Because if they were he couldn't see them, and if he heard them he +would be frightened of their hearing him. But here he comes!” + +A shuffling quick step on the path; a running grumble of unmistakable +threats; a shambling moonlit figure seen in glimpses through the leaves, +very near us for an instant, then hidden by the shrubbery as he passed +within a few yards of our hiding-place. A diminuendo of the +shuffling steps; then a cursing, frightened savage at one end of the +rhododendrons, and we two stealing out at the other, hand in hand, and +bent quite double, into the long neglected grass. + +“Can you run for it?” I whispered. + +“Yes, but not too fast, for fear we trip.' + +“Come on, then!” + +The lighted open doorway grew greater at every stride. + +“He hasn't seen us yet--” + +“No, I hear him threatening me still.” + +“Now he has, though!” + +A wild whoop proclaimed the fact, and upright we tore at top speed +through the last ten yards of grass, while the black rushed down one of +the side paths, gaining audibly on us over the better ground. But our +start had saved us, and we flew up the steps as his feet ceased to +clatter on the path; he had plunged into the grass to cut off the +corner. + +“Thank God!” cried Eva. “Now shut it quick.” + +The great door swung home with a mighty clatter, and Eva seized the key +in both hands. + +“I can't turn it!” + +To lose a second was to take a life, and unconsciously I was sticking +at that, perhaps from no higher instinct than distrust of my aim. Our +pursuer, however, was on the steps when I clapped my free hand on top of +those little white straining ones, and by a timely effort bent both them +and the key round together; the ward shot home as José hurled himself +against the door. Eva bolted it. But the thud was not repeated, and I +gathered myself together between the door and the nearest window, for by +now I saw there was but one thing for us. The nigger must be disabled, +if I could manage such a nicety; if not, the devil take his own. + +Well, I was not one tick too soon for him. My pistol was not cocked +before the crash came that I was counting on, and with it a shower of +small glass driving across the six-foot sill and tinkling on the flags. +Next came a black and bloody face, at which I could not fire. I had +to wait till I saw his legs, when I promptly shattered one of them at +disgracefully short range. The report was as deafening as one upon the +stage; the hall filled with white smoke, and remained hideous with the +bellowing of my victim. I searched him without a qualm, but threats +of annihilation instead, and found him unarmed but for that very knife +which Rattray had induced me to hand over to him in town. I had a grim +satisfaction in depriving him of this, and but small compunction in +turning my back upon his pain. + +“Come,” I said to poor Eva, “don't pity him, though I daresay he's the +most pitiable of the lot; show me the way through, and I'll follow with +this lamp.” + +One was burning on the old oak table. I carried it along a narrow +passage, through a great low kitchen where I bumped my head against the +black oak beams; and I held it on high at a door almost as massive as +the one which we had succeeded in shutting in the nigger's face. + +“I was afraid of it!” cried Eva, with a sudden sob. + +“What is it?” + +“They've taken away the key!” + +Yes, the keen air came through an empty keyhole; and my lamp, held +close, not only showed that the door was locked, but that the lock was +one with which an unskilled hand might tamper for hours without result. +I dealt it a hearty kick by way of a test. The heavy timber did not +budge; there was no play at all at either lock or hinges; nor did I see +how I could spend one of my four remaining bullets upon the former, with +any chance of a return. + +“Is this the only other door?” + +“Then it must be a window.” + +“All the back ones are barred.” + +“Securely?” + +“Yes.” + +“Then we've no choice in the matter.” + +And I led the way back to the hall, where the poor black devil lay +blubbering in his blood. In the kitchen I found the bottle of wine +(Rattray's best port, that they were trying to make her take for her +health) with which Eva had bribed him, and I gave it to him before +laying hands on a couple of chairs. + +“What are you going to do?”' + +“Go out the way we came.” + +“But the wall?” + +“Pile up these chairs, and as many more as we may need, if we can't open +the gate.” + +But Eva was not paying attention any longer, either to me or to José; +his white teeth were showing in a grin for all his pain; her eyes were +fixed in horror on the floor. + +“They've come back,” she gasped. “The underground passage! Hark--hark!” + +There was a muffled rush of feet beneath our own, then a dull but very +distinguishable clatter on some invisible stair. + +“Underground passage!” I exclaimed, and in my sheer disgust I forgot +what was due to my darling. “Why on earth didn't you tell me of it +before?” + +“There was so much to tell you! It leads to the sea. Oh, what shall we +do? You must hide--upstairs--anywhere!” cried Eva, wildly. “Leave them +to me--leave them to me.” + +“I like that,” said I; and I did; but I detested myself for the tears my +words had drawn, and I prepared to die for them. + +“They'll kill you, Mr. Cole!” + +“It would serve me right; but we'll see about it.” + +And I stood with my revolver very ready in my right hand, while with +the other I caught poor Eva to my side, even as a door flew open, +and Rattray himself burst upon us, a lantern in his hand, and the +perspiration shining on his handsome face in its light. + +I can see him now as he stood dumfounded on the threshold of the hall; +and yet, at the time, my eyes sped past him into the room beyond. + +It was the one I have described as being lined with books; there was +a long rent in this lining, where the books had opened with a door, +through which Captain Harris, Joaquin Santos, and Jane Braithwaite +followed Rattray in quick succession, the men all with lanterns, the +woman scarlet and dishevelled even for her. It was over the squire's +shoulders I saw their faces; he kept them from passing him in the +doorway by a free use of his elbows; and when I looked at him again, his +black eyes were blazing from a face white with passion, and they were +fixed upon me. + +“What the devil brings you here?” he thundered at last. + +“Don't ask idle questions,” was my reply to that. + +“So you were shamming to-day!” + +“I was taking a leaf out of your book.” + +“You'll gain nothing by being clever!” sneered the squire, taking +a threatening step forward. For at the last moment I had tucked my +revolver behind my back, not only for the pleasure, but for the obvious +advantage of getting them all in front of me and off their guard. I +had no idea that such eyes as Rattray's could be so fierce: they were +dancing from me to my companion, whom their glitter frightened into an +attempt to disengage herself from me; but my arm only tightened about +her drooping figure. + +“I shall gain no more than I expect,” said I, carelessly. “And I know +what to expect from brave gentlemen like you! It will be better than +your own fate, at all events; anything's better than being taken hence +to the place of execution, and hanged by the neck until you're dead, all +three of you in a row, and your bodies buried within the precincts of +the prison!” + +“The very thing for him,” murmured Santos. “The--very--theeng!” + +“But I'm so soft-hearted,” I went insanely on, “that I should be sorry +to see that happen to such fine fellows as you are. Come out of that, +you little fraud behind there!” It was my betrayer skulking in the +room. “Come out and line up with the rest! No, I'm not going to see you +fellows dance on nothing; I've another kind of ball apiece for you, and +one between 'em for the Braithwaites!” + +Well, I suppose I always had a nasty tongue in me, and rather enjoyed +making play with it on provocation; but, if so, I met with my deserts +that night. For the nigger of the _Lady Jermyn_ lay all but hid behind Eva +and me; if they saw him at all, they may have thought him drunk; but, as +for myself, I had fairly forgotten his existence until the very moment +came for showing my revolver, when it was twisted out of my grasp +instead, and a ball sang under my arm as the brute fell back exhausted +and the weapon clattered beside him. Before I could stoop for it there +was a dead weight on my left arm, and Squire Rattray was over the table +at a bound, with his arms jostling mine beneath Eva Denison's senseless +form. + +“Leave her to me,” he cried fiercely. “You fool,” he added in a lower +key, “do you think I'd let any harm come to her?” + +I looked him in the bright and honest eyes that had made me trust him +in the beginning. And I did not utterly distrust him yet. Rather was the +guile on my side as I drew back and watched Rattray lift the young girl +tenderly, and slowly carry her to the door by which she had entered and +left the hall just twenty-four hours before. I could not take my eyes +off them till they were gone. And when I looked for my revolver, it also +had disappeared. + +José had not got it--he lay insensible. Santos was whispering to Harris. +Neither of them seemed armed. I made sure that Rattray had picked it up +and carried it off with Eva. I looked wildly for some other weapon. Two +unarmed men and a woman were all I had to deal with, for Braithwaite +had long since vanished. Could I but knock the worthless life out of the +men, I should have but the squire and his servants to deal with; and in +that quarter I still had my hopes of a bloodless battle and a treaty of +war. + +A log fire was smouldering in the open grate. I darted to it, and had a +heavy, half-burned brand whirling round my head next instant. Harris was +the first within my reach. He came gamely at me with his fists. I sprang +upon him, and struck him to the ground with one blow, the sparks flying +far and wide as my smoking brand met the seaman's skull. Santos was upon +me next instant, and him, by sheer luck, I managed to serve the same; +but I doubt whether either man was stunned; and I was standing ready for +them to rise, when I felt myself seized round the neck from behind, and +a mass of fluffy hair tickling my cheek, while a shrill voice set up a +lusty scream for the squire. + +I have said that the woman Braithwaite was of a sinister strength; but I +had little dreamt how strong she really was. First it was her arms +that wound themselves about my neck, long, sinuous, and supple as the +tentacles of some vile monster; then, as I struggled, her thumbs were on +my windpipe like pads of steel. Tighter she pressed, and tighter yet. My +eyeballs started; my tongue lolled; I heard my brand drop, and through +a mist I saw it picked up instantly. It crashed upon my skull as I still +struggled vainly; again and again it came down mercilessly in the same +place; until I felt as though a sponge of warm water had been squeezed +over my head, and saw a hundred withered masks grinning sudden +exultation into mine; but still the lean arm whirled, and the splinters +flew, till I was blind with my blood and the seven senses were beaten +out of me. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. A DEADLOCK + + +It must have been midnight when I opened my eyes; a clock was striking +as though it never would stop. My mouth seemed fire; a pungent flavor +filled my nostrils; the wineglass felt cold against my teeth. “That's +more like it!” muttered a voice close to my ear. An arm was withdrawn +from under my shoulders. I was allowed to sink back upon some pillows. +And now I saw where I was. The room was large and poorly lighted. I lay +in my clothes on an old four-poster bed. And my enemies were standing +over me in a group. + +“I hope you are satisfied!” sneered Joaquin Santos, with a flourish of +his eternal cigarette. + +“I am. You don't do murder in my house, wherever else you may do it.” + +“And now better lid 'im to the nirrest polissstation; or weel you go +and tell the poliss yourself?” asked the Portuguese, in the same tone of +mordant irony. + +“Ay, ay,” growled Harris; “that's the next thing!” + +“No,” said Rattray; “the next thing's for you two to leave him to me.” + +“We'll see you damned!” cried the captain. + +“No, no, my friend,” said Santos, with a shrug; “let him have his way. +He is as fond of his skeen as you are of yours; he'll come round to our +way in the end. I know this Senhor Cole. It is necessary for 'im to die. +But it is not necessary this moment; let us live them together for a +leetle beet.” + +“That's all I ask,” said Rattray. + +“You won't ask it twice,” rejoined Santos, shrugging. “I know this +Senhor Cole. There is only one way of dilling with a man like that. +Besides, he 'as 'alf-keeled my good José; it is necessary for 'im to +die.” + +“I agree with the senhor,” said Harris, whose forehead was starred +with sticking-plaster. “It's him or us, an' we're all agen you, squire. +You'll have to give in, first or last.” + +And the pair were gone; their steps grew faint in the corridor; when we +could no longer hear them, Rattray closed the door and quietly locked +it. Then he turned to me, stern enough, and pointed to the door with a +hand that shook. + +“You see how it is?” + +“Perfectly.” + +“They want to kill you!” + +“Of course they do.” + +“It's your own fault; you've run yourself into this. I did my best to +keep you out of it. But in you come, and spill first blood.” + +“I don't regret it,” said I. + +“Oh, you're damned mule enough not to regret anything!” cried Rattray. +“I see the sort you are; yet but for me, I tell you plainly, you'd be a +dead man now.” + +“I can't think why you interfered.” + +“You've heard the reason. I won't have murder done here if I can prevent +it; so far I have; it rests with you whether I can go on preventing it +or not.” + +“With me, does it?” + +He sat down on the side of the bed. He threw an arm to the far side of +my body, and he leaned over me with savage eyes now staring into mine, +now resting with a momentary gleam of pride upon my battered head. I put +up my hand; it lit upon a very turban of bandages, and at that I tried +to take his hand in mine. He shook it off, and his eyes met mine more +fiercely than before. + +“See here, Cole,” said he; “I don't know how the devil you got wind of +anything to start with, and I don't care. What I do know is that you've +made bad enough a long chalk worse for all concerned, and you'll have to +get yourself out of the mess you've got yourself into, and there's only +one way. I suppose Miss Denison has really told you everything this +time? What's that? Oh, yes, she's all right again; no thanks to you. Now +let's hear what she did tell you. It'll save time.” + +I repeated the hurried disclosures made by Eva in the rhododendrons. He +nodded grimly in confirmation of their truth. + +“Yes, those are the rough facts. The game was started in Melbourne. My +part was to wait at Ascension till the _Lady Jermyn_ signalled herself, +follow her in a schooner we had bought and pick up the gig with the gold +aboard. Well, I did so; never mind the details now, and never mind the +bloody massacre the others had made of it before I came up. God knows I +was never a consenting party to that, though I know I'm responsible. +I'm in this thing as deep as any of them. I've shared the risks and I'm +going to share the plunder, and I'll swing with the others if it ever +comes to that. I deserve it hard enough. And so here we are, we three +and the nigger, all four fit to swing in a row, as you were fool enough +to tell us; and you step in and find out everything. What's to be done? +You know what the others want to do. I say it rests with you whether +they do it or not. There's only one other way of meeting the case.” + +“What's that?” + +“Be in it yourself, man! Come in with me and split my share!” + +I could have burst out laughing in his handsome, eager face; the good +faith of this absurd proposal was so incongruously apparent; and so +obviously genuine was the young villain's anxiety for my consent. Become +accessory after the fact in such a crime! Sell my silence for a price! I +concealed my feelings with equal difficulty and resolution. I had plans +of my own already, but I must gain time to think them over. Nor could I +afford to quarrel with Rattray meanwhile. + +“What was the haul?” I asked him, with the air of one not unprepared to +consider the matter. + +“Twelve thousand ounces!” + +“Forty-eight thousand pounds, about?” + +“Yes-yes.” + +“And your share?” + +“Fourteen thousand pounds. Santos takes twenty, and Harris and I +fourteen thousand each.” + +“And you offer me seven?” + +“I do! I do!” + +He was becoming more and more eager and excited. His eyes were brighter +than I had ever seen them, but slightly bloodshot, and a coppery flush +tinged his clear, sunburnt skin. I fancied he had been making somewhat +free with the brandy. But loss of blood had cooled my brain; and, +perhaps, natural perversity had also a share in the composure which grew +upon me as it deserted my companion. + +“Why make such a sacrifice?” said I, smiling. “Why not let them do as +they like?” + +“I've told you why! I'm not so bad as all that. I draw the line at +bloody murder! Not a life should have been lost if I'd had my way. +Besides, I've done all the dirty work by you, Cole; there's been no +help for it. We didn't know whether you knew or not; it made all the +difference to us; and somebody had to dog you and find out how much you +did know. I was the only one who could possibly do it. God knows how I +detested the job! I'm more ashamed of it than of worse things. I had to +worm myself into your friendship; and, by Jove, you made me think you +did know, but hadn't let it out, and might any day. So then I got you up +here, where you would be in our power if it was so; surely you can see +every move? But this much I'll swear--I had nothing to do with José +breaking into your room at the hotel; they went behind me there, curse +them! And when at last I found out for certain, down here, that you knew +nothing after all, I was never more sincerely thankful in my life. I +give you my word it took a load off my heart.” + +“I know that,” I said. “I also know who broke into my room, and I'm glad +I'm even with one of you.” + +“It's done you no good,” said Rattray. “Their first thought was to put +you out of the way, and it's more than ever their last. You see the sort +of men you've got to deal with; and they're three to one, counting the +nigger; but if you go in with me they'll only be three to two.” + +He was manifestly anxious to save me in this fashion. And I suppose that +most sensible men, in my dilemma, would at least have nursed or played +upon good-will so lucky and so enduring. But there was always a twist in +me that made me love (in my youth) to take the unexpected course; and it +amused me the more to lead my young friend on. + +“And where have you got this gold?” I asked him, in a low voice so +promising that he instantly lowered his, and his eyes twinkled naughtily +into mine. + +“In the old tunnel that runs from this place nearly to the sea,” said +he. “We Rattrays have always been a pretty warm lot, Cole, and in the +old days we were the most festive smugglers on the coast; this tunnel's +a relic of 'em, although it was only a tradition till I came into the +property. I swore I'd find it, and when I'd done so I made the new +connection which you shall see. I'm rather proud of it. And I won't say +I haven't used the old drain once or twice after the fashion of my rude +forefathers; but never was it such a godsend as it's been this time. By +Jove, it would be a sin if you didn't come in with us, Cole; but for the +lives these blackguards lost the thing's gone splendidly; it would be a +sin if you went and lost yours, whereas, if you come in, the two of us +would be able to shake off those devils: we should be too strong for +'em.” + +“Seven thousand pounds!” I murmured. “Forty-eight thousand between us!” + +“Yes, and nearly all of it down below, at this end of the tunnel, and +the rest where we dropped it when we heard you were trying to bolt. We'd +got it all at the other end, ready to pop aboard the schooner that's +lying there still, if you turned out to know anything and to have told +what you knew to the police. There was always the possibility of that, +you see; we simply daren't show our noses at the bank until we knew how +much you knew, and what you'd done or were thinking of doing. As it is, +we can take 'em the whole twelve thousand ounces, or rather I can, as +soon as I like, in broad daylight. I'm a lucky digger. It's all right. +Everybody knows I've been out there. They'll have to pay me over the +counter; and if you wait in the cab, by the Lord Harry, I'll pay you +your seven thousand first! You don't deserve it, Cole, but you shall +have it, and between us we'll see the others to blazes!” + +He jumped up all excitement, and was at the door next instant. + +“Stop!” I cried. “Where are you going?” + +“Downstairs to tell them.” + +“Tell them what?” + +“That you're going in with me, and it's all right.” + +“And do you really think I am?” + +He had unlocked the door; after a pause I heard him lock it again. But +I did not see his face until he returned to the bedside. And then it +frightened me. It was distorted and discolored with rage and chagrin. + +“You've been making a fool of me!” he cried fiercely. + +“No, I have been considering the matter, Rattray.” + +“And you won't accept my offer?” + +“Of course I won't. I didn't say I'd been considering that.” + +He stood over me with clenched fists and starting eyes. + +“Don't you see that I want to save your life?” he cried. “Don't you see +that this is the only way? Do you suppose a murder more or less makes +any difference to that lot downstairs? Are you really such a fool as to +die rather than hold your tongue?” + +“I won't hold it for money, at all events,” said I. “But that's what I +was coming to.” + +“Very well!” he interrupted. “You shall only pretend to touch it. All I +want is to convince the others that it's against your interest to split. +Self-interest is the one motive they understand. Your bare word would be +good enough for me.” + +“Suppose I won't give my bare word?” said I, in a gentle manner which I +did not mean to be as irritating as it doubtless was. Yet his proposals +and his assumptions were between them making me irritable in my turn. + +“For Heaven's sake don't be such an idiot, Cole!” he burst out in a +passion. “You know I'm against the others, and you know what they want, +yet you do your best to put me on their side! You know what they are, +and yet you hesitate! For the love of God be sensible; at least give me +your word that you'll hold your tongue for ever about all you know.” + +“All right,” I said. “I'll give you my word--my sacred promise, +Rattray--on one condition.” + +“What's that?” + +“That you let me take Miss Denison away from you, for good and all!” + +His face was transformed with fury: honest passion faded from it and +left it bloodless, deadly, sinister. + +“Away from me?” said Rattray, through his teeth. + +“From the lot of you.” + +“I remember! You told me that night. Ha, ha, ha! You were in love with +her--you--you!” + +“That has nothing to do with it,” said I, shaking the bed with my anger +and my agitation. + +“I should hope not! You, indeed, to look at her!” + +“Well,” I cried, “she may never love me; but at least she doesn't loathe +me as she loathes you--yes, and the sight of you, and your very name!” + +So I drew blood for blood; and for an instant I thought he was going to +make an end of it by incontinently killing me himself. His fists flew +out. Had I been a whole man on my legs, he took care to tell me what he +would have done, and to drive it home with a mouthful of the oaths which +were conspicuously absent from his ordinary talk. + +“You take advantage of your weakness, like any cur,” he wound up. + +“And you of your strength--like the young bully you are!” I retorted. + +“You do your best to make me one,” he answered bitterly. “I try to stand +by you at all costs. I want to make amends to you, I want to prevent +a crime. Yet there you lie and set your face against a compromise; and +there you lie and taunt me with the thing that's gall and wormwood to me +already. I know I gave you provocation. And I know I'm rightly served. +Why do you suppose I went into this accursed thing at all? Not for the +gold, my boy, but for the girl! So she won't look at me. And it serves +me right. But--I say--do you really think she loathes me, Cole?” + +“I don't see how she can think much better of you than of the crime +in which you've had a hand,” was my reply, made, however, with as much +kindness as I could summon. “The word I used was spoken in anger,” said +I; for his had disappeared; and he looked such a miserable, handsome dog +as he stood there hanging his guilty head--in the room, I fancied, where +he once had lain as a pretty, innocent child. + +“Cole,” said he, “I'd give twice my share of the damned stuff never to +have put my hand to the plough; but go back I can't; so there's an end +of it.” + +“I don't see it,” said I. “You say you didn't go in for the gold? Then +give up your share; the others'll jump at it; and Eva won't think the +worse of you, at any rate.” + +“But what's to become of her if I drop out? + +“You and I will take her to her friends, or wherever she wants to go.” + +“No, no!” he cried. “I never yet deserted my pals, and I'm not going to +begin.” + +“I don't believe you ever before had such pals to desert,” was my reply +to that. “Quite apart from my own share in the matter, it makes me +positively sick to see a fellow like you mixed up with such a crew in +such a game. Get out of it, man, get out of it while you can! Now's your +time. Get out of it, for God's sake!” + +I sat up in my eagerness. I saw him waver. And for one instant a great +hope fluttered in my heart. But his teeth met. His face darkened. He +shook his head. + +“That's the kind of rot that isn't worth talking, and you ought to know +it,” said he. “When I begin a thing I go through with it, though it +lands me in hell, as this one will. I can't help that. It's too late to +go back. I'm going on and you're going with me, Cole, like a sensible +chap!” + +I shook my head. + +“Only on the one condition.” + +“You--stick--to--that?” he said, so rapidly that the words ran into one, +so fiercely that his decision was as plain to me as my own. + +“I do,” said I, and could only sigh when he made yet one more effort to +persuade me, in a distress not less apparent than his resolution, and +not less becoming in him. + +“Consider, Cole, consider!” + +“I have already done so, Rattray.” + +“Murder is simply nothing to them!” + +“It is nothing to me either.” + +“Human life is nothing!” + +“No; it must end one day.” + +“You won't give your word unconditionally?” + +“No; you know my condition.” + +He ignored it with a blazing eye, his hand upon the door. + +“You prefer to die, then?” “Infinitely.” + +“Then die you may, and be damned to you!” + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. THIEVES FALL OUT + + +The door slammed. It was invisibly locked and the key taken out. I +listened for the last of an angry stride. It never even began. But after +a pause the door was unlocked again, and Rattray re-entered. + +Without looking at me, he snatched the candle from the table on which it +stood by the bedside, and carried it to a bureau at the opposite side +of the room. There he stood a minute with his back turned, the candle, +I fancy, on the floor. I saw him putting something in either jacket +pocket. Then I heard a dull little snap, as though he had shut some +small morocco case; whatever it was, he tossed it carelessly back into +the bureau; and next minute he was really gone, leaving the candle +burning on the floor. + +I lay and heard his steps out of earshot, and they were angry enough +now, nor had he given me a single glance. I listened until there was +no more to be heard, and then in an instant I was off the bed and on +my feet. I reeled a little, and my head gave me great pain, but greater +still was my excitement. I caught up the candle, opened the unlocked +bureau, and then the empty case which I found in the very front. + +My heart leapt; there was no mistaking the depressions in the case. It +was a brace of tiny pistols that Rattray had slipped into his jacket +pockets. + +Mere toys they must have been in comparison with my dear Deane and +Adams; that mattered nothing. I went no longer in dire terror of my +life; indeed, there was that in Rattray which had left me feeling fairly +safe, in spite of his last words to me, albeit I felt his fears on my +behalf to be genuine enough. His taking these little pistols (of +course, there were but three chambers left loaded in mine) confirmed my +confidence in him. + +He would stick at nothing to defend me from the violence of his +bloodthirsty accomplices. But it should not come to that. My legs were +growing firmer under me. I was not going to lie there meekly without +making at least an effort at self-deliverance. If it succeeded--the +idea came to me in a flash--I would send Rattray an ultimatum from the +nearest town; and either Eva should be set instantly and unconditionally +free, or the whole matter be put unreservedly in the hands of the local +police. + +There were two lattice windows, both in the same immensely thick wall; +to my joy, I discovered that they overlooked the open premises at the +back of the hall, with the oak-plantation beyond; nor was the distance +to the ground very great. It was the work of a moment to tear the sheets +from the bed, to tie the two ends together and a third round the mullion +by which the larger window was bisected. I had done this, and had let +down my sheets, when a movement below turned my heart to ice. The night +had clouded over. I could see nobody; so much the greater was my alarm. + +I withdrew from the window, leaving the sheets hanging, in the hope that +they also might be invisible in the darkness. I put out the candle, +and returned to the window in great perplexity. Next moment I stood +aghast--between the devil and the deep sea. I still heard a something +down below, but a worse sound came to drown it. An unseen hand was very +quietly trying the door which Rattray had locked behind him. + +“Diablo!” came to my horrified ears, in a soft, vindictive voice. + +“I told ye so,” muttered another; “the young swab's got the key.” + +There was a pause, in which it would seem that Joaquin Santos had his +ear at the empty keyhole. + +“I think he must be slipping,” at last I heard him sigh. “It was not +necessary to awaken him in this world. It is a peety.” + +“One kick over the lock would do it,” said Harris; “only the young +swab'll hear.” + +“Not perhaps while he is dancing attendance on the senhora. Was it not +good to send him to her? If he does hear, well, his own turn will come +the queecker, that is all. But it would be better to take them one at a +time; so keeck away, my friend, and I will give him no time to squil.” + +While my would-be murderers were holding this whispered colloquy, I had +stood half-petrified by the open window; unwilling to slide down the +sheets into the arms of an unseen enemy, though I had no idea which +of them it could be; more hopeful of slipping past my butchers in the +darkness, and so to Rattray and poor Eva; but not the less eagerly +looking for some hiding-place in the room. The best that offered was a +recess in the thick wall between the two windows, filled with hanging +clothes: a narrow closet without a door, which would shelter me well +enough if not too curiously inspected. Here I hid myself in the end, +after a moment of indecision which nearly cost me my life. The coats and +trousers still shook in front of me when the door flew open at the first +kick, and Santos stood a moment in the moonlight, looking for the bed. +With a stride he reached it, and I saw the gleam of a knife from where I +stood among the squire's clothes; it flashed over my bed, and was still. + +“He is not 'ere!” + +“He heard us, and he's a-hiding.” + +“Make light, my friend, and we shall very soon see.” + +Harris did so. + +“Here's a candle,” said Santos; “light it, and watch the door. Perro mal +dicto! What have we here?” + +I felt certain he had seen me, but the candle passed within a yard of my +feet, and was held on high at the open window. + +“We are too late!” said Santos. “He's gone!” + +“Are you sure + +“Look at this sheet.” + +“Then the other swab knew of it, and we'll settle with him.” + +“Yes, yes. But not yet, my good friend--not yet. We want his asseestance +in getting the gold back to the sea; he will be glad enough to give it, +now that his pet bird has flown; after that--by all mins. You shall cut +his troth, and I will put one of 'is dear friend's bullets in 'im for my +own satisfaction.” + +There was a quick step on the stairs-in the corridor. + +“I'd like to do it now,” whispered Harris; “no time like the present.” + +“Not yet, I tell you!” + +And Rattray was in the room, a silver-mounted pistol in each hand; the +sight of these was a surprise to his treacherous confederates, as even I +could see. + +“What the devil are you two doing here?” he thundered. + +“We thought he was too quite,” said Santos. “You percive the rizzon.” + +And he waved from empty bed to open window, then held the candle close +to the tied sheet, and shrugged expressively. + +“You thought he was too quiet!” echoed Rattray with fierce scorn. “You +thought I was too blind--that's what you mean. To tell me that Miss +Denison wished to see me, and Miss Denison that I wished to speak to +her! As if we shouldn't find you out in about a minute! But a minute was +better than nothing, eh? And you've made good use of your minute, have +you. You've murdered him, and you pretend he's got out? By God, if you +have, I'll murder you! I've been ready for this all night!” + +And he stood with his back to the window, his pistols raised, and his +head carried proudly--happily--like a man whose self-respect was coming +back to him after many days. Harris shrank before his fierce eyes +and pointed barrels. The Portuguese, however, had merely given a +characteristic shrug, and was now rolling the inevitable cigarette. + +“Your common sense is almost as remarkable as your sense of justice, my +friend,” said he. “You see us one, two, tree meenutes ago, and you see +us now. You see the empty bed, the empty room, and you imagine that in +one, two, tree meenutes we have killed a man and disposed of his body. +Truly, you are very wise and just, and very loyal also to your friends. +You treat a dangerous enemy as though he were your tween-brother. You +let him escape--let him, I repit--and then you threaten to shoot those +who, as it is, may pay for your carelessness with their lives. We have +been always very loyal to you, Senhor Rattray. We have leestened to your +advice, and often taken it against our better judgment. We are here, not +because we think it wise, but because you weeshed it. Yet at the first +temptation you turn upon us, you point your peestols at your friends.” + +“I don't believe in your loyalty,” rejoined Rattray. “I believe you +would shoot me sooner than I would you. The only difference would be +than I should be shot in the back!” + +“It is untrue,” said Santos, with immense emotion. “I call the saints to +witness that never by thought or word have I been disloyal to you”--and +the blasphemous wretch actually crossed himself with a trembling, skinny +hand. “I have leestened to you, though you are the younger man. I have +geeven way to you in everything from the moment we were so fullish as to +set foot on this accursed coast; that also was your doeeng; and it will +be your fault if ivil comes of it. Yet I have not complained. Here +in your own 'ouse you have been the master, I the guest. So far from +plotting against you, show me the man who has heard me brith one +treacherous word behind your back; you will find it deeficult, friend +Rattray; what do you say, captain?” + +“Me?” cried Harris, in a voice bursting with abuse. And what the captain +said may or may not be imagined. It cannot be set down. + +But the man who ought to have spoken--the man who had such a chance as +few men have off the stage--who could have confounded these villains +in a breath, and saved the wretched Rattray at once from them and +from himself--that unheroic hero remained ignobly silent in his homely +hiding-place. And, what is more, he would do the same again! + +The rogues had fallen out; now was the time for honest men. They all +thought I had escaped; therefore they would give me a better chance than +ever of still escaping; and I have already explained to what purpose +I meant to use my first hours of liberty. That purpose I hold to have +justified any ingratitude that I may seem now to have displayed towards +the man who had undoubtedly stood between death and me. Was not Eva +Denison of more value than many Rattrays? And it was precisely in +relation with this pure young girl that I most mistrusted the squire: +obviously then my first duty was to save Eva from Rattray, not Rattray +from these traitors. + +Not that I pretend for a moment to have been the thing I never was: you +are not so very grateful to the man who pulls you out of the mud when he +has first of all pushed you in; nor is it chivalry alone which spurs +one to the rescue of a lovely lady for whom, after all, one would rather +live than die. Thus I, in my corner, was thinking (I will say) of Eva +first; but next I was thinking of myself; and Rattray's blood be on his +own hot head! I hold, moreover, that I was perfectly right in all this; +but if any think me very wrong, a sufficient satisfaction is in store +for them, for I was very swiftly punished. + +The captain's language was no worse in character than in effect: the bed +was bloody from my wounded head, all tumbled from the haste with which +I had quitted it, and only too suggestive of still fouler play. Rattray +stopped the captain with a sudden flourish of one of his pistols, the +silver mountings making lightning in the room; then he called upon the +pair of them to show him what they had done with me; and to my horror, +Santos invited him to search the room. The invitation was accepted. Yet +there I stood. It would have been better to step forward even then. Yet +I cowered among his clothes until his own hand fell upon my collar, and +forth I was dragged to the plain amazement of all three. + +Santos was the first to find his voice. + +“Another time you will perhaps think twice before you spik, friend +squire.” + +Rattray simply asked me what I had been doing in there, in a white flame +of passion, and with such an oath that I embellished the truth for him +in my turn. + +“Trying to give you blackguards the slip,” said I. + +“Then it was you who let down the sheet?” + +“Of course it was.” + +“All right! I'm done with you,” said he; “that settles it. I make you an +offer. You won't accept it. I do my best; you do your worst; but I'll be +shot if you get another chance from me!” + +Brandy and the wine-glass stood where Rattray must have set them, on an +oak stool beside the bed; as he spoke he crossed the room, filled +the glass till the spirit dripped, and drained it at a gulp. He was +twitching and wincing still when he turned, walked up to Joaquin Santos, +and pointed to where I stood with a fist that shook. + +“You wanted to deal with him,” said Rattray; “you're at liberty to do +so. I'm only sorry I stood in your way.” + +But no answer, and for once no rings of smoke came from those shrivelled +lips: the man had rolled and lighted a cigarette since Rattray entered, +but it was burning unheeded between his skinny fingers. I had his +attention, all to myself. He knew the tale that I was going to tell. +He was waiting for it; he was ready for me. The attentive droop of his +head; the crafty glitter in his intelligent eyes; the depth and +breadth of the creased forehead; the knowledge of his resource, the +consciousness of my error, all distracted and confounded me so that my +speech halted and my voice ran thin. I told Rattray every syllable that +these traitors had been saying behind his back, but I told it all very +ill; what was worse, and made me worse, I was only too well aware of my +own failure to carry conviction with my words. + +“And why couldn't you come out and say so,” asked Rattray, as even I knew +that he must. “Why wait till now?” + +“Ah, why!” echoed Santos, with a smile and a shake of the head; a +suspicious tolerance, an ostentatious truce, upon his parchment face. +And already he was sufficiently relieved to suck his cigarette alight +again. + +“You know why,” I said, trusting to bluff honesty with the one of them +who was not rotten to the core: “because I still meant escaping.” + +“And then what?” asked Rattray fiercely. + +“You had given me my chance,” I said; “I hould have given you yours.” + +“You would, would you? Very kind of you, Mr. Cole!” + +“No, no,” said Santos; “not kind, but clever! Clever, spicious, and +queeck-weeted beyond belif! Senhor Rattray, we have all been in the +dark; we thought we had fool to die with, but what admirable knave the +young man would make! Such readiness, such resource, with his tongue +or with his peestol; how useful would it be to us! I am glad you have +decided to live him to me, friend Rattray, for I am quite come round to +your way of thinking. It is no longer necessary for him to die!” + +“You mean that?” cried Rattray keenly. + +“Of course I min it. You were quite right. He must join us. But he will +when I talk to him.” + +I could not speak. I was fascinated by this wretch: it was reptile and +rabbit with us. Treachery I knew he meant; my death, for one; my death +was certain; and yet I could not speak. + +“Then talk to him, for God's sake,” cried Rattray, “and I shall be only +too glad if you can talk some sense into him. I've tried, and failed.” + +“I shall not fail,” said Santos softly. “But it is better that he has a +leetle time to think over it calmly; better steel for 'im to slip upon +it, as you say. Let us live 'im for the night, what there is of it; time +enough in the morning.” + +I could hardly believe my ears; still I knew that it was treachery, all +treachery; and the morning I should never see. + +“But we can't leave him up here,” said Rattray; “it would mean one of us +watching him all night.” + +“Quite so,” said Santos. “I will tell you where we could live him, +however, if you will allow me to wheesper one leetle moment.” + +They drew aside; and, as I live, I thought that little moment was to +be Rattray's last on earth. I watched, but nothing happened; on the +contrary, both men seemed agreed, the Portuguese gesticulating, the +Englishman nodding, as they stood conversing at the window. Their faces +were strangely reassuring. I began to reason with myself, to rid my mind +of mere presentiment and superstition. If these two really were at one +about me (I argued) there might be no treachery after all. When I came +to think of it, Rattray had been closeted long enough with me to awake +the worst suspicions in the breasts of his companions; now that these +were allayed, there might be no more bloodshed after all (if, for +example, I pretended to give in), even though Santos had not cared whose +blood was shed a few minutes since. That was evidently the character of +the wretch: to compass his ends or to defend his person he would take +life with no more compunction than the ordinary criminal takes money; +but (and hence) murder for murder's sake was no amusement to him. + +My confidence was further restored by Captain Harris; ever a gross +ruffian, with no refinements to his rascality, he had been at the brandy +bottle after Rattray's example; and now was dozing on the latter's bed, +taking his watch below when he could get it, like the good seaman he +had been. I was quite sorry for him when the conversation at the window +ceased suddenly, and Rattray roused the captain up. + +“Watches aft!” said he. “We want that mattress; you can bring it along, +while I lead the way with the pillows and things. Come on, Cole!” + +“Where to?” I asked, standing firm. + +“Where there's no window for you to jump out of, old boy, and no clothes +of mine for you to hide behind. You needn't look so scared; it's as dry +as a bone, as cellars go. And it's past three o'clock. And you've just +got to come.” + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. A MAN OF MANY MURDERS + + +It was a good-sized wine-cellar, with very little wine in it; only one +full bin could I discover. The bins themselves lined but two of the +walls, and most of them were covered in with cobwebs, close-drawn like +mosquito-curtains. The ceiling was all too low: torpid spiders hung +in disreputable parlors, dead to the eye, but loathsomely alive at an +involuntary touch. Rats scuttled when we entered, and I had not been +long alone when they returned to bear me company. I am not a natural +historian, and had rather face a lion with the right rifle than a rat +with a stick. My jailers, however, had been kind enough to leave me a +lantern, which, set upon the ground (like my mattress), would afford a +warning, if not a protection, against the worst; unless I slept; and as +yet I had not lain down. The rascals had been considerate enough, more +especially Santos, who had a new manner for me with his revised opinion +of my character; it was a manner almost as courtly as that which had +embellished his relations with Eva Denison, and won him my early regard +at sea. Moreover, it was at the suggestion of Santos that they had +detained me in the hall, for much-needed meat and drink, on the way +down. Thereafter they had conducted me through the book-lined door of my +undoing, down stone stairs leading to three cellar doors, one of which +they had double-locked upon me. + +As soon as I durst I was busy with this door; but to no purpose; it was +a slab of solid oak, hung on hinges as massive as its lock. It galled +me to think that but two doors stood between me and the secret tunnel to +the sea: for one of the other two must lead to it. The first, however, +was all beyond me, and I very soon gave it up. There was also a +very small grating which let in a very little fresh air: the massive +foundations had been tunnelled in one place; a rude alcove was the +result, with this grating at the end and top of it, some seven feet +above the earth floor. Even had I been able to wrench away the bars, it +would have availed me nothing, since the aperture formed the segment of +a circle whose chord was but a very few inches long. I had nevertheless +a fancy for seeing the stars once more and feeling the breath of heaven +upon my bandaged temples, which impelled me to search for that which +should add a cubit to my stature. And at a glance I descried two +packing-cases, rather small and squat, but the pair of them together +the very thing for me. To my amazement, however, I could at first move +neither one nor the other of these small boxes. Was it that I was weak +as water, or that they were heavier than lead? At last I managed to get +one of them in my arms--only to drop it with a thud. A side started; +a thin sprinkling of yellow dust glittered on the earth. I fetched the +lantern: it was gold-dust from Bendigo or from Ballarat. + +To me there was horror unspeakable, yet withal a morbid fascination, +in the spectacle of the actual booty for which so many lives had been +sacrificed before my eyes. Minute followed minute in which I looked at +nothing, and could think of nothing, but the stolen bullion at my feet; +then I gathered what of the dust I could, pocketed it in pinches to hide +my meddlesomeness, and blew the rest away. The box had dropped very much +where I had found it; it had exhausted my strength none the less, and +I was glad at last to lie down on the mattress, and to wind my body in +Rattray's blankets. + +I shuddered at the thought of sleep: the rats became so lively the +moment I lay still. One ventured so near as to sit up close to the +lantern; the light showed its fat white belly, and the thing itself was +like a dog begging, as big to my disgusted eyes. And yet, in the midst +of these horrors (to me as bad as any that had preceded them), nature +overcame me, and for a space my torments ceased. + +“He is aslip,” a soft voice said. + +“Don't wake the poor devil,” said another. + +“But I weesh to spik with 'im. Senhor Cole! Senhor Cole!” + +I opened my eyes. Santos looked of uncanny stature in the low yellow +light, from my pillow close to the earth. Harris turned away at my +glance; he carried a spade, and began digging near the boxes without +more ado, by the light of a second lantern set on one of them: his back +was to me from this time on. Santos shrugged a shoulder towards the +captain as he opened a campstool, drew up his trousers, and seated +himself with much deliberation at the foot of my mattress. + +“When you 'ave treasure,” said he, “the better thing is to bury it, +Senhor Cole. Our young friend upstairs begs to deefer; but he is +slipping; it is peety he takes such quantity of brandy! It is leetle +wikness of you Engleesh; we in Portugal never touch it, save as a +liqueur; therefore we require less slip. Friend squire upstairs is at +this moment no better than a porker. Have I made mistake? I thought it +was the same word in both languages; but I am glad to see you smile, +Senhor Cole; that is good sign. I was going to say, he is so fast aslip +up there, that he would not hear us if we were to shoot each other +dead!” + +And he gave me his paternal smile, benevolent, humorous, reassuring; but +I was no longer reassured; nor did I greatly care any more what happened +to me. There is a point of last, as well as one of least resistance, and +I had reached both points at once. + +“Have you shot him dead?” I inquired, thinking that if he had, this +would precipitate my turn. But he was far from angry; the parchment +face crumpled into tolerant smiles; the venerable head shook a playful +reproval, as he threw away the cigarette that I am tired of mentioning, +and put the last touch to a fresh one with his tongue. + +“What question?” said he; “reely, Senhor Cole! But you are quite right: +I would have shot him, or cut his troth” (and he shrugged indifference +on the point), “if it had not been for you; and yet it would have been +your fault! I nid not explain; the poseetion must have explained itself +already; besides, it is past. With you two against us--but it is past. +You see, I have no longer the excellent José. You broke his leg, bad +man. I fear it will be necessary to destroy 'im.” Santos made a pause; +then inquired if he shocked me. + +“Not a bit,” said I, neither truly nor untruly; “you interest me.” And +that he did. + +“You see,” he continued, “I have not the respect of you Engleesh for +'uman life. We will not argue it. I have at least some respect for +prejudice. In my youth I had myself such prejudices; but one loses them +on the Zambesi. You cannot expect one to set any value upon the life of +a black nigger; and when you have keeled a great many Kaffirs, by the +lash, with the crocodiles, or what-not, then a white man or two makes +less deeference. I acknowledge there were too many on board that sheep; +but what was one to do? You have your Engleesh proverb about the dead +men and the stories; it was necessary to make clin swip. You see the +result.” + +He shrugged again towards the boxes; but this time, being reminded +of them (I supposed), he rose and went over to see how Harris was +progressing. The captain had never looked round; neither did he look at +Santos. “A leetle dipper,” I heard the latter say, “and, perhaps, a few +eenches--” but I lost the last epithet. It followed a glance over the +shoulder in my direction, and immediately preceded the return of Santos +to his camp-stool. + +“Yes, it is always better to bury treasure,” said he once more; but his +tone was altered; it was more contemplative; and many smoke-rings came +from the shrunk lips before another word; but through them all, his dark +eyes, dull with age, were fixed upon me. + +“You are a treasure!” he exclaimed at last, softly enough, but quickly +and emphatically for him, and with a sudden and most diabolical smile. + +“So you are going to bury me?” + +I had suspected it when first I saw the spade; then not; but since the +visit to the hole I had made up my mind to it. + +“Bury you? No, not alive,” said Santos, in his playfully reproving +tone. “It would be necessary to deeg so dip!” he added through his few +remaining teeth. + +“Well,” I said, “you'll swing for it. That's something.” + +Santos smiled again, benignantly enough this time: in contemplation +also: as an artist smiles upon his work. I was his! + +“You live town,” said he; “no one knows where you go. You come down +here; no one knows who you are. Your dear friend squire locks you up +for the night, but dreenks too much and goes to slip with the key in his +pocket; it is there when he wakes; but the preesoner, where is he? He is +gone, vanished, escaped in the night, and, like the base fabreec of your +own poet's veesion, he lives no trace--is it trace?--be'ind! A leetle +earth is so easily bitten down; a leetle more is so easily carried up +into the garden; and a beet of nice strong wire might so easily be +found in a cellar, and afterwards in the lock! No, Senhor Cole, I do not +expect to 'ang. My schims have seldom one seengle flaw. There was just +one in the _Lady Jermyn_; there was--Senhor Cole! If there is one this +time, and you will be so kind as to point it out, I will--I will run the +reesk of shooting you instead of--” + +A pinch of his baggy throat, between the fingers and thumbs of both +hands, foreshadowed a cleaner end; and yet I could look at him; nay, it +was more than I could do not to look upon that bloodless face, with the +two dry blots upon the parchment, that were never withdrawn from mine. + +“No you won't, messmate! If it's him or us for it, let a bullet do it, +and let it do it quick, you bloody Spaniard! You can't do the other +without me, and my part's done.” + +Harris was my only hope. I had seen this from the first, but my appeal +I had been keeping to the very end. And now he was leaving me before a +word would come! Santos had gone over to my grave, and there was Harris +at the door! + +“It is not dip enough,” said the Portuguese. + +“It's as deep as I mean to make it, with you sittin' there talkin' about +it.” + +And the door stood open. + +“Captain!” I screamed. “For Christ's sake, captain!” + +He stood there, trembling, yet even now not looking my way. + +“Did you ever see a man hanged?” asked Santos, with a vile eye for each +of us. “I once hanged fifteen in a row; abominable thifs. And I once +poisoned nearly a hundred at one banquet; an untrustworthy tribe; but +the hanging was the worse sight and the worse death. Heugh! There was +one man--he was no stouter than you are captain--” + +But the door slammed; we heard the captain on the stairs; there was a +rustle from the leaves outside, and then a silence that I shall not +attempt to describe. + +And, indeed, I am done with this description: as I live to tell the tale +(or spoil it, if I choose) I will make shorter work of this particular +business than I found it at the time. Perverse I may be in old age as +in my youth; but on that my agony--my humiliating agony--I decline +to dwell. I suffer it afresh as I write. There are the cobwebs on the +ceiling, a bloated spider crawling in one: a worse monster is gloating +over me: those dull eyes of his, and my own pistol-barrel, cover me in +the lamp-light. The crucifix pin is awry in his cravat; that is because +he has offered it me to kiss. As a refinement (I feel sure) my revolver +is not cocked; and the hammer goes up--up-- + +He missed me because a lantern was flashed into his eyes through the +grating. He wasted the next ball in firing wildly at the light. And +the last chamber's load became suddenly too precious for my person; for +there were many voices overhead; there were many feet upon the stairs. + +Harris came first--head-first--saw me still living as he reeled--hurled +himself upon the boxes and one of these into the hole--all far quicker +than my pen can write it. The manoeuvre, being the captain's, explained +itself: on his heels trod Rattray, with one who brought me to my feet +like the call of silver trumpets. + +“The house is surrounded,” says the squire, very quick and quiet; “is +this your doing, Cole?” + +“I wish it was,” said I; “but I can't complain; it's saved my life.” + And I looked at Santos, standing dignified and alert, my still smoking +pistol in his hand. + +“Two things to do,” says Rattray--“I don't care which.” He strode across +the cellar and pulled at the one full bin; something slid out, it was a +binful of empty bottles, and this time they were allowed to crash upon +the floor; the squire stood pointing to a manhole at the back of the +bin. “That's one alternative,” said he; “but it will mean leaving this +much stuff at least,” pointing to the boxes, “and probably all the rest +at the other end. The other thing's to stop and fight!” + +“I fight,” said Santos, stalking to the door. “Have you no more +ammunition for me, friend Cole? Then I must live you alive; adios, +senhor!” + +Harris cast a wistful look towards the manhole, not in cowardice, I +fancy, but in sudden longing for the sea, the longing of a poor devil +of a sailor-man doomed to die ashore. I am still sorry to remember that +Rattray judged him differently. “Come on, skipper,” said he; “it's all +or none aboard the lugger, and I think it will be none. Up you go; wait +a second in the room above, and I'll find you an old cutlass. I shan't +be longer.” He turned to me with a wry smile. “We're not half-armed,” he +said; “they've caught us fairly on the hop; it should be fun! Good-by, +Cole; I wish you'd had another round for that revolver. Good-by, Eva!” + +And he held out his hand to our love, who had been watching him all this +time with eyes of stone; but now she turned her back upon him without +a word. His face changed; the stormlight of passion and remorse played +upon it for an instant; he made a step towards her, wheeled abruptly, +and took me by the shoulder instead. + +“Take care of her, Cole,” said he. “Whatever happens--take care of her.” + +I caught him at the foot of the stairs. I do not defend what I did. But +I had more ammunition; a few wadded bullets, caps, and powder-charges, +loose in a jacket pocket; and I thrust them into one of his, upon a +sudden impulse, not (as I think) altogether unaccountable, albeit (as I +have said) so indefensible. + +My back was hardly turned an instant. I had left a statue of unforgiving +coldness. I started round to catch in my arms a half-fainting, +grief-stricken form, shaken with sobs that it broke my heart to hear. I +placed her on the camp-stool. I knelt down and comforted her as well as +I could, stroking her hands, my arm about her heaving shoulders, with +the gold-brown hair streaming over them. Such hair as it was! So much +longer than I had dreamt. So soft--so fine--my soul swam with the sight +and touch of it. Well for me that there broke upon us from above such +a sudden din as turned my hot blood cold! A wild shout of surprise; an +ensuing roar of defiance; shrieks and curses; yells of rage and pain; +and pistol-shot after pistol-shot as loud as cannon in the confined +space. + +I know now that the battle in the hall was a very brief affair; while +it lasted I had no sense of time; minutes or moments, they were (God +forgive me!) some of the very happiest in all my life. My joy was as +profound as it was also selfish and incongruous. The villains were being +routed; of that there could be no doubt or question. I hoped Rattray +might escape, but for the others no pity stirred in my heart, and even +my sneaking sympathy with the squire could take nothing from the joy +that was in my heart. Eva Denison was free. I was free. Our oppressors +would trouble us no more. We were both lonely; we were both young; we +had suffered together and for each other. And here she lay in my arms, +her head upon my shoulder, her soft bosom heaving on my own! My blood +ran hot and cold by turns. I forgot everything but our freedom and my +love. I forgot my sufferings, as I would have you all forget them. I +am not to be pitied. I have been in heaven on earth. I was there that +night, in my great bodily weakness, and in the midst of blood-shed, +death, and crime. + +“They have stopped!” cried Eva suddenly. “It is over! Oh, if he is +dead!” + +And she sat upright, with bright eyes starting from a deathly face. I do +not think she knew that she had been in my arms at all: any more than I +knew that the firing had ceased before she told me. Excited voices were +still raised overhead; but some sounded distant, yet more distinct, +coming through the grating from the garden; and none were voices that we +knew. One poor wretch, on the other hand, we heard plainly groaning to +his death; and we looked in each other's eyes with the same thought. + +“That's Harris,” said I, with, I fear, but little compassion in my tone +or in my heart just then. + +“Where are the others?” cried Eva piteously. + +“God knows,” said I; “they may be done for, too.” + +“If they are!” + +“It's better than the death they would have lived to die.” + +“But only one of them was a wilful murderer! Oh, Mr. Cole--Mr. Cole--go +and see what has happened; come back and tell me! I dare not come. I +will stay here and pray for strength to bear whatever news you may bring +me. Go quickly. I will--wait--and pray!” + +So I left the poor child on her knees in that vile cellar, white face +and straining hands uplifted to the foul ceiling, sweet lips quivering +with prayer, eyelids reverently lowered, and the swift tears flowing +from beneath them, all in the yellow light of the lantern that stood +burning by her side. How different a picture from that which awaited me +overhead! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. MY GREAT HOUR + + +The library doors were shut, and I closed the secret one behind me +before opening the other and peering out through a wrack of bluish +smoke; and there lay Captain Harris, sure enough, breathing his last in +the arms of one constable, while another was seated on the table with a +very wry face, twisting a tourniquet round his arm, from which the blood +was dripping like raindrops from the eaves. A third officer stood in the +porch, issuing directions to his men without. + +“He's over the wall, I tell you! I saw him run up our ladder. After him +every man of you--and spread!” + +I looked in vain for Rattray and the rest; yet it seemed as if only +one of them had escaped. I was still looking when the man in the porch +wheeled back into the hall, and instantly caught sight of me at my door. + +“Hillo! here's another of them,” cried he. “Out you come, young fellow! +Your mates are all dead men.” + +“They're not my mates.” + +“Never mind; come you out and let's have a look at you.” + +I did so, and was confronted by a short, thickset man, who recognized me +with a smile, but whom I failed to recognize. + +“I might have guessed it was Mr. Cole,” said he. “I knew you were here +somewhere, but I couldn't make head or tail of you through the smoke.” + +“I'm surprised that you can make head or tail of me at all,” said I. + +“Then you've quite forgotten the inquisitive parson you met out fishing? +You see I found out your name for myself!” + +“So it was a detective!” + +“It was and is,” said the little man, nodding. “Detective or Inspector +Royds, if you're any the wiser. + +“What has happened? Who has escaped?” “Your friend Rattray; but he won't +get far.” + +“What of the Portuguese and the nigger?” + +I forgot that I had crippled José, but remembered with my words, and +wondered the more where he was. + +“I'll show you,” said Royds. “It was the nigger let us in. We heard him +groaning round at the back--who smashed his leg? One of our men was at +that cellar grating; there was some of them down there; we wanted to +find our way down and corner them, but the fat got in the fire too soon. +Can you stand something strong? Then come this way.” + +He led me out into the garden, and to a tangled heap lying in the +moonlight, on the edge of the long grass. The slave had fallen on top +of his master; one leg lay swathed and twisted; one black hand had but +partially relaxed upon the haft of a knife (the knife) that stood up +hilt-deep in a blacker heart. And in the hand of Santos was still the +revolver (my Deane and Adams) which had sent its last ball through the +nigger's body. + +“They slipped out behind us, all but the one inside,” said Royds, +ruefully; “I'm hanged if I know yet how it happened--but we were on them +next second. Before that the nigger had made us hide him in the grass, +but the old devil ran straight into him, and the one fired as the other +struck. It's the worst bit of luck in the whole business, and I'm rather +disappointed on the whole. I've been nursing the job all this week; had +my last look round this very evening, with one of these officers, and +only rode back for more to make sure of taking our gentlemen alive. And +we've lost three out of four of 'em, and have still to lay hands on +the gold! I suppose you didn't know there was any aboard?” he asked +abruptly. + +“Not before to-night.” + +“Nor did we till the Devoren came in with letters last week, a hundred +and thirty days out. She should have been in a month before you, but she +got amongst the ice around the Horn. There was a letter of advice about +the gold, saying it would probably go in the _Lady Jermyn_; and another +about Rattray and his schooner, which had just sailed; the young +gentleman was known to the police out there.” + +“Do you know where the schooner is?” + +“Bless you, no, we've had no time to think about her; the man had been +seen about town, and we've done well to lay hands on him in the time.” + +“You will do better still when you do lay hands on him,” said I, +wresting my eyes from the yellow dead face of the foreign scoundrel. +The moon shone full upon his high forehead, his shrivelled lips, dank in +their death agony, and on the bauble with the sacred device that he wore +always in his tie. I recovered my property from the shrunken fingers, +and so turned away with a harder heart than I ever had before or since +for any creature of Almighty God. + +Harris had expired in our absence. + +“Never spoke, sir,” said the constable in whose arms we had left him. + +“More's the pity. Well, cut out at the back and help land the young +gent, or we'll have him giving us the slip too. He may double back, +but I'm watching out for that. Which way should you say he'd head, Mr. +Cole?” + +“Inland,” said I, lying on the spur of the moment, I knew not why. “Try +at the cottage where I've been staying.” + +“We have a man posted there already. That woman is one of the gang, +and we've got her safe. But I'll take your advice, and have that side +scoured whilst I hang about the place.” + +And he walked through the house, and out the back way, at the officer's +heels; meanwhile the man with the wounded arm was swaying where he sat +from loss of blood, and I had to help him into the open air before at +last I was free to return to poor Eva in her place of loathsome safety. + +I had been so long, however, that her patience was exhausted, and as I +returned to the library by one door, she entered by the other. + +“I could bear it no longer. Tell me--the worst!” + +“Three of them are dead.” + +“Which three?” + +She had crossed to the other door, and would not have me shut it. So +I stood between her and the hearth, on which lay the captain's corpse, +with the hearthrug turned up on either side to cover it. + +“Harris for one,” said I. “Outside lie José and--” + +“Quick! Quick!” + +“Senhor Santos.” + +Her face was as though the name meant nothing to her. + +“And Mr. Rattray?” she cried. “And Mr. Rattray--” + +“Has escaped for the present. He seems to have cut his way through the +police and got over the wall by a ladder they left behind them. They are +scouring the country--Miss Denison! Eva! My poor love!” + +She had broken down utterly in a second fit of violent weeping; and a +second time I took her in my arms, and stood trying in my clumsy way to +comfort her, as though she were a little child. A lamp was burning in +the library, and I recognized the arm-chair which Rattray had drawn +thence for me on the night of our dinner--the very night before! I led +Eva back into the room, and I closed both doors. I supported my poor +girl to the chair, and once more I knelt before her and took her hands +in mine. My great hour was come at last: surely a happy omen that it was +also the hour before the dawn. + +“Cry your fill, my darling,” I whispered, with the tears in my own +voice. “You shall never have anything more to cry for in this world! God +has been very good to us. He brought you to me, and me to you. He has +rescued us for each other. All our troubles are over; cry your fill; you +will never have another chance so long as I live, if only you will let +me live for you. Will you, Eva? Will you? Will you?” + +She drew her hands from mine, and sat upright in the chair, looking at +me with round eyes; but mine were dim; astonishment was all that I +could read in her look, and on I went headlong, with growing impetus and +passion. + +“I know I am not much, my darling; but you know I was not always what my +luck, good and bad, has left me now, and you will make a new man of +me so soon! Besides, God must mean it, or He would not have thrown us +together amid such horrors, and brought us through them together still. +And you have no one else to take care of you in the world! Won't you let +me try, Eva? Say that you will!” + +“Then--you--owe me?” she said slowly, in a low, awe-struck voice that +might have told me my fate at once; but I was shaking all over in the +intensity of my passion, and for the moment it was joy enough to be able +at last to tell her all. + +“Love you?” I echoed. “With every fibre of my being! With every atom of +my heart and soul and body! I love you well enough to live to a hundred +for you, or to die for you to-night!” + +“Well enough to--give me up?” she whispered. + +I felt as though a cold hand had checked my heart at its hottest, but +I mastered myself sufficiently to face her question and to answer it as +honestly as I might. + +“Yes!” I cried; “well enough even to do that, if it was for your +happiness; but I might be rather difficult to convince about that.” + +“You are very strong and true,” she murmured. “Yes, I can trust you as +I have never trusted anybody else! But--how long have you been so +foolish?” And she tried very hard to smile. + +“Since I first saw you; but I only knew it on the night of the fire. +Till that night I resisted it like an idiot. Do you remember how we used +to argue? I rebelled so against my love! I imagined that I had loved +once already and once for all. But on the night of the fire I knew that +my love for you was different from all that had gone before or would +ever come again. I gave in to it at last, and oh! the joy of giving in! +I had fought against the greatest blessing of my life, and I never knew +it till I had given up fighting. What did I care about the fire? I +was never happier--until now! You sang through my heart like the wind +through the rigging; my one fear was that I might go to the bottom +without telling you my love. When I asked to say a few last words to you +on the poop, it was to tell you my love before we parted, that you might +know I loved you whatever came. I didn't do so, because you seemed +so frightened, poor darling! I hadn't it in my heart to add to your +distress. So I left you without a word. But I fought the sea for days +together simply to tell you what I couldn't die without telling you. +When they picked me up, it was your name that brought back my senses +after days of delirium. When I heard that you were dead, I longed to +die myself. And when I found you lived after all, the horror of your +surroundings was nothing to be compared with the mere fact that you +lived; that you were unhappy and in danger was my only grief, but it was +nothing to the thought of your death; and that I had to wait twenty-four +hours without coming to you drove me nearer to madness than ever I was +on the hen-coop. That's how I love you, Eva,” I concluded; “that's how I +love and will love you, for ever and ever, no matter what happens.” + +Those sweet gray eyes of hers had been fixed very steadily upon me all +through this outburst; as I finished they filled with tears, and my poor +love sat wringing her slender fingers, and upbraiding herself as though +she were the most heartless coquette in the country. + +“How wicked I am!” she moaned. “How ungrateful I must be! You offer me +the unselfish love of a strong, brave man. I cannot take it. I have no +love to give you in return.” + +“But some day you may,” I urged, quite happily in my ignorance. “It +will come. Oh, surely it will come, after all that we have gone through +together!” + +She looked at me very steadily and kindly through her tears. + +“It has come, in a way,” said she; “but it is not your way, Mr. Cole. I +do love you for your bravery and your--love--but that will not quite do +for either of us.” + +“Why not?” I cried in an ecstasy. “My darling, it will do for me! It +is more than I dared to hope for; thank God, thank God, that you should +care for me at all!” + +She shook her head. + +“You do not understand,” she whispered. + +“I do. I do. You do not love me as you want to love.” + +“As I could love--” + +“And as you will! It will come. It will come. I'll bother you no more +about it now. God knows I can afford to leave well alone! I am only too +happy--too thankful--as it is!” + +And indeed I rose to my feet every whit as joyful as though she had +accepted me on the spot. At least she had not rejected me; nay, she +confessed to loving me in a way. What more could a lover want? Yet there +was a dejection in her drooping attitude which disconcerted me in the +hour of my reward. And her eyes followed me with a kind of stony remorse +which struck a chill to my bleeding heart. + +I went to the door; the hall was still empty, and I shut it again with a +shudder at what I saw before the hearth, at all that I had forgotten +in the little library. As I turned, another door opened--the door made +invisible by the multitude of books around and upon it--and young Squire +Rattray stood between my love and me. + +His clear, smooth skin was almost as pale as Eva's own, but pale brown, +the tint of rich ivory. His eyes were preternaturally bright. And they +never glanced my way, but flew straight to Eva, and rested on her very +humbly and sadly, as her two hands gripped the arms of the chair, and +she leant forward in horror and alarm. + +“How could you come back?” she cried. “I was told you had escaped!” + +“Yes, I got away on one of their horses.” + +“I pictured you safe on board!” + +“I very nearly was.” + +“Then why are you here?” + +“To get your forgiveness before I go.” + +He took a step forward; her eyes and mine were riveted upon him; and I +still wonder which of us admired him the more, as he stood there in his +pride and his humility, gallant and young, and yet shamefaced and sad. + +“You risk your life--for my forgiveness?” whispered Eva at last. “Risk +it? I'll give myself up if you'll take back some of the things you said +to me--last night--and before.” + +There was a short pause. + +“Well, you are not a coward, at all events!” + +“Nor a murderer, Eva!” + +“God forbid.” + +“Then forgive me for everything else that I have been--to you!” + +And he was on his knees where I had knelt scarce a minute before; nor +could I bear to watch them any longer. I believed that he loved her in +his own way as sincerely as I did in mine. I believed that she detested +him for the detestable crime in which he had been concerned. I believed +that the opinion of him which she had expressed to his face, in my +hearing, was her true opinion, and I longed to hear her mitigate it ever +so little before he went. He won my sympathy as a gallant who valued +a kind word from his mistress more than life itself. I hoped earnestly +that that kind word would be spoken. But I had no desire to wait to hear +it. I felt an intruder. I would leave them alone together for the last +time. So I walked to the door, but, seeing a key in it, I changed +my mind, and locked it on the inside. In the hall I might become the +unintentional instrument of the squire's capture, though, so far as my +ears served me, it was still empty as we had left it. I preferred to run +no risks, and would have a look at the subterranean passage instead. + +“I advise you to speak low,” I said, “and not to be long. The place is +alive with the police. If they hear you all will be up.” + +Whether he heard me I do not know. I left him on his knees still, and +Eva with her face hidden in her hands. + +The cellar was a strange scene to revisit within an hour of my +deliverance from that very torture-chamber. It had been something more +before I left it, but in it I could think only of the first occupant of +the camp-stool. The lantern still burned upon the floor. There was the +mattress, still depressed where I had lain face to face with insolent +death. The bullet was in the plaster; it could not have missed by the +breadth of many hairs. In the corner was the shallow grave, dug by +Harris for my elements. And Harris was dead. And Santos was dead. But +life and love were mine. + +I would have gone through it all again! + +And all at once I was on fire to be back in the library; so much so, +that half a minute at the manhole, lantern in hand, was enough for me; +and a mere funnel of moist brown earth--a terribly low arch propped with +beams--as much as I myself ever saw of the subterranean conduit between +Kirby House and the sea. But I understood that the curious may traverse +it for themselves to this day on payment of a very modest fee. + +As for me, I returned as I had come after (say) five minutes' absence; +my head full once more of Eva, and of impatient anxiety for the wild +young squire's final flight; and my heart still singing with the joy of +which my beloved's kindness seemed a sufficient warranty. Poor egotist! +Am I to tell you what I found when I came up those steep stairs to the +chamber where I had left him on his knees to her? Or can you guess? + +He was on his knees no more, but he held her in his arms, and as I +entered he was kissing the tears from her wet, flushed cheek. Her +eyelids drooped; she was pale as the dead without, so pale that her +eyebrows looked abnormally and dreadfully dark. She did not cling to +him. Neither did she resist his caresses, but lay passive in his arms as +though her proper paradise was there. And neither heard me enter; it was +as though they had forgotten all the world but one another. + +“So this is it,” said I very calmly. I can hear my voice as I write. + +They fell apart on the instant. Rattray glared at me, yet I saw that his +eyes were dim. Eva clasped her hands before her, and looked me steadily +in the face. But never a word. + +“You love him?” I said sternly. + +The silence of consent remained unbroken. + +“Villain as he is?” I burst out. + +And at last Eva spoke. + +“I loved him before he was one,” said she. “We were engaged.” + +She looked at him standing by, his head bowed, his arms folded; next +moment she was very close to me, and fresh tears were in her eyes. But I +stepped backward, for I had had enough. + +“Can you not forgive me?” + +“Oh, dear, yes.” + +“Can't you understand?” + +“Perfectly,” said I. + +“You know you said--” + +“I have said so many things!” + +“But this was that you--you loved me well enough to--give me up.” + +And the silly ego in me--the endless and incorrigible I--imagined her +pouting for a withdrawal of those brave words. + +“I not only said it,” I declared, “but I meant every word of it.” + +None the less had I to turn from her to hide my anguish. I leaned my +elbows on the narrow stone chimney-piece, which, with the grate below +and a small mirror above, formed an almost solitary oasis in the four +walls of books. In the mirror I saw my face; it was wizened, drawn, old +before its time, and merely ugly in its sore distress, merely repulsive +in its bloody bandages. And in the mirror also I saw Rattray, handsome, +romantic, audacious, all that I was not, nor ever would be, and I +“understood” more than ever, and loathed my rival in my heart. + +I wheeled round on Eva. I was not going to give her up--to him. I would +tell her so before him--tell him so to his face. But she had turned +away; she was listening to some one else. Her white forehead glistened. +There were voices in the hall. + +“Mr. Cole! Mr. Cole! Where are you, Mr. Cole?” + +I moved over to the locked door. My hand found the key. I turned round +with evil triumph in my heart, and God knows what upon my face. Rattray +did not move. With lifted hands the girl was merely begging him to go by +the door that was open, down the stair. He shook his head grimly. With +an oath I was upon them. + +“Go, both of you!” I whispered hoarsely. “Now--while you can--and I can +let you. Now! Now!” + +Still Rattray hung back. + +I saw him glancing wistfully at my great revolver lying on the table +under the lamp. I thrust it upon him, and pushed him towards the door. + +“You go first. She shall follow. You will not grudge me one last word? +Yes, I will take your hand. If you escape--be good to her!” + +He was gone. Without, there was a voice still calling me; but now it +sounded overhead. + +“Good-by, Eva,” I said. “You have not a moment to lose.” + +Yet those divine eyes lingered on my ugliness. + +“You are in a very great hurry,” said she, in the sharp little voice of +her bitter moments. + +“You love him; that is enough.” + +“And you, too!” she cried. “And you, too!” + +And her pure, warm arms were round my neck; another instant, and she +would have kissed me, she! I know it. I knew it then. But it was more +than I would bear. As a brother! I had heard that tale before. Back I +stepped again, all the man in me rebelling. + +“That's impossible,” said I rudely. + +“It isn't. It's true. I do love you--for this!” + +God knows how I looked! + +“And I mayn't say good-by to you,” she whispered. “And--and I love +you--for that!” + +“Then you had better choose between us,” said I. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. THE STATEMENT OF FRANCIS RATTRAY + + +In the year 1858 I received a bulky packet bearing the stamp of the +Argentine Republic, a realm in which, to the best of my belief, I had +not a solitary acquaintance. The superscription told me nothing. In +my relations with Rattray his handwriting had never come under my +observation. Judge then of my feelings when the first thing I read was +his signature at the foot of the last page. + +For five years I had been uncertain whether he was alive or dead. I had +heard nothing of him from the night we parted in Kirby Hall. All I knew +was that he had escaped from England and the English police; his letter +gave no details of the incident. It was an astonishing letter; my breath +was taken on the first close page; at the foot of it the tears were in +my eyes. And all that part I must pass over without a word. I have never +shown it to man or woman. It is sacred between man and man. + +But the letter possessed other points of interest--of almost universal +interest--to which no such scruples need apply; for it cleared up +certain features of the foregoing narrative which had long been +mysteries to all the world; and it gave me what I had tried in vain +to fathom all these years, some explanation, or rather history, of +the young Lancastrian's complicity with Joaquin Santos in the foul +enterprise of the _Lady Jermyn_. And these passages I shall reproduce word +for word; partly because of their intrinsic interest; partly for such +new light as they day throw on this or that phase of the foregoing +narrative; and, lastly, out of fairness to (I hope) the most gallant and +most generous youth who ever slipped upon the lower slopes of Avemus. + +Wrote Rattray: + +“You wondered how I could have thrown in my lot with such a man. You may +wonder still, for I never yet told living soul. I pretended I had joined +him of my own free will. That was not quite the case. The facts were as +follows: + +“In my teens (as I think you know) I was at sea. I took my second mate's +certificate at twenty, and from that to twenty-four my voyages were far +between and on my own account. I had given way to our hereditary passion +for smuggling. I kept a 'yacht' in Morecambe Bay, and more French brandy +than I knew what to do with in my cellars. It was exciting for a time, +but the excitement did not last. In 1851 the gold fever broke out in +Australia. I shipped to Melbourne as third mate on a barque, and +I deserted for the diggings in the usual course. But I was never a +successful digger. I had little luck and less patience, and I have no +doubt that many a good haul has been taken out of claims previously +abandoned by me; for of one or two I had the mortification of hearing +while still in the Colony. I suppose I had not the temperament for the +work. Dust would not do for me--I must have nuggets. So from Bendigo I +drifted to the Ovens, and from the Ovens to Ballarat. But I did no more +good on one field than on another, and eventually, early in 1853, I cast +up in Melbourne again with the intention of shipping home in the first +vessel. But there were no crews for the homeward-bounders, and while +waiting for a ship my little stock of gold dust gave out. I became +destitute first--then desperate. Unluckily for me, the beginning of '53 +was the hey-day of Captain Melville, the notorious bushranger. He was +a young fellow of my own age. I determined to imitate his exploits. I +could make nothing out there from an honest life; rather than starve +I would lead a dishonest one. I had been born with lawless tendencies; +from smuggling to bushranging was an easy transition, and about the +latter there seemed to be a gallantry and romantic swagger which put it +on the higher plane of the two. But I was not born to be a bushranger +either. I failed at the very first attempt. I was outwitted by my first +victim, a thin old gentleman riding a cob at night on the Geelong road. + +“'Why rob me?' said he. 'I have only ten pounds in my pocket, and the +punishment will be the same as though it were ten thousand.' + +“'I want your cob,' said I (for I was on foot); 'I'm a starving Jack, +and as I can't get a ship I'm going to take to the bush.' + +“He shrugged his shoulders. + +“'To starve there?' said he. 'My friend, it is a poor sport, this +bushranging. I have looked into the matter on my own account. You not +only die like a dog, but you live like one too. It is not worth while. +No crime is worth while under five figures, my friend. A starving Jack, +eh? Instead of robbing me of ten pounds, why not join me and take ten +thousand as your share of our first robbery? A sailor is the very man I +want!' + +“I told him that what I wanted was his cob, and that it was no use his +trying to hoodwink me by pretending he was one of my sort, because I +knew very well that he was not; at which he shrugged again, and slowly +dismounted, after offering me his money, of which I took half. He shook +his head, telling me I was very foolish, and I was coolly mounting (for +he had never offered me the least resistance), with my pistols in my +belt, when suddenly I heard one cocked behind me. + +“'Stop!' said he. 'It's my turn! Stop, or I shoot you dead!' The tables +were turned, and he had me at his mercy as completely as he had been at +mine. I made up my mind to being marched to the nearest police-station. +But nothing of the kind. I had misjudged my man as utterly as you +misjudged him a few months later aboard the _Lady Jermyn_. He took me +to his house on the outskirts of Melbourne, a weather-board bungalow, +scantily furnished, but comfortable enough. And there he seriously +repeated the proposal he had made me off-hand in the road. Only he put +it a little differently. Would I go to the hulks for attempting to rob +him of five pounds, or would I stay and help him commit a robbery, of +which my share alone would be ten or fifteen thousand? You know which +I chose. You know who this man was. I said I would join him. He made me +swear it. And then he told me what his enterprise was: there is no need +for me to tell you; nor indeed had it taken definite shape at this time. +Suffice it that Santos had wind that big consignments of Austrailian +gold were shortly to be shipped home to England; that he, like myself, +had done nothing on the diggings, where he had looked to make his +fortune, and out of which he meant to make it still. + +“It was an extraordinary life that we led in the bungalow, I the guest, +he the host, and Eva the unsuspecting hostess and innocent daughter +of the house. Santos had failed on the fields, but he had succeeded in +making valuable friends in Melbourne. Men of position and of influence +spent their evenings on our veranda, among others the Melbourne agent +for the _Lady Jermyn_, the likeliest vessel then lying in the harbor, and +the one to which the first consignment of gold-dust would be entrusted +if only a skipper could be found to replace the deserter who took +you out. Santos made up his mind to find one. It took him weeks, but +eventually he found Captain Harris on Bendigo, and Captain Harris was +his man. More than that he was the man for the agent; and the Lady +Jermyn was once more made ready for sea. + +“Now began the complications. Quite openly, Santos had bought the +schooner Spindrift, freighted her with wool, given me the command, and +vowed that he would go home in her rather than wait any longer for the +_Lady Jermyn_. At the last moment he appeared to change his mind, and I +sailed alone as many days as possible in advance of the ship, as had +been intended from the first; but it went sorely against the grain when +the time came. I would have given anything to have backed out of the +enterprise. Honest I might be no longer; I was honestly in love with Eva +Denison. Yet to have backed out would have been one way of losing her +for ever. Besides, it was not the first time I had run counter to the +law, I who came of a lawless stock; but it would be the first time I had +deserted a comrade or broken faith with one. I would do neither. In for +a penny, in for a pound. + +“But before my God I never meant it to turn out as it did; though I +admit and have always admitted that my moral responsibility is but +little if any the less on that account. Yet I was never a consenting +party to wholesale murder, whatever else I was. The night before I +sailed, Santos and the captain were aboard with me till the small hours. +They promised me that every soul should have every chance; that nothing +but unforeseen accident could prevent the boats from making Ascension +again in a matter of hours; that as long as the gig was supposed to be +lost with all hands, nothing else mattered. So they promised, and that +Harris meant to keep his promise I fully believe. That was not a wanton +ruffian; but the other would spill blood like water, as I told you at +the hall, and as no man now knows better than yourself. He was notorious +even in Portuguese Africa on account of his atrocious treatment of the +blacks. It was a favorite boast of his that he once poisoned a whole +village; and that he himself tampered with the _Lady Jermyn_'s boats you +can take my word, for I have heard him describe how he left it to the +last night, and struck the blows during the applause at the concert on +the quarter-deck. He said it might have come out about the gold in the +gig, during the fire. It was safer to run no risks. + +“The same thing came into play aboard the schooner. Never shall I forget +the horror of that voyage after Santos came aboard! I had a crew of +eight hands all told, and two he brought with him in the gig. Of course +they began talking about the gold; they would have their share or split +when they got ashore; and there was mutiny in the air, with the steward +and the quarter-master of the _Lady Jermyn_ for ring-leaders. Santos +nipped it in the bud with a vengeance! He and Harris shot every man +of them dead, and two who were shot through the heart they washed and +dressed and set adrift to rot in the gig with false papers! God knows +how we made Madeira; we painted the old name out and a new name in, on +the way; and we shipped a Portuguese crew, not a man of whom could speak +English. We shipped them aboard the Duque de Mondejo's yacht Braganza; +the schooner Spindrift had disappeared from the face of the waters for +ever. And with the men we took in plenty of sour claret and cigarettes; +and we paid them well; and the Portuguese sailor is not inquisitive +under such conditions. + +“And now, honestly, I wished I had put a bullet through my head before +joining in this murderous conspiracy; but retreat was impossible, even +if I had been the man to draw back after going so far; and I had a still +stronger reason for standing by the others to the bitter end. I could +not leave our lady to these ruffians. On the other hand, neither could I +take her from them, for (as you know) she justly regarded me as the most +flagrant ruffian of them all. It was in me and through me that she was +deceived, insulted, humbled, and contaminated; that she should ever have +forgiven me for a moment is more than I can credit or fathom to this +hour... So there we were. She would not look at me. And I would not +leave her until death removed me. Santos had been kind enough to her +hitherto; he had been kind enough (I understand) to her mother before +her. It was only in the execution of his plans that he showed his +Napoleonic disregard for human life; and it was precisely herein that +I began to fear for the girl I still dared to love. She took up an +attitude as dangerous to her safety as to our own. She demanded to be +set free when we came to land. Her demand was refused. God forgive me, +it had no bitterer opponent than myself! And all we did was to harden +her resolution; that mere child threatened us to our faces, never shall +I forget the scene! You know her spirit: if we would not set her free, +she would tell all when we landed. And you remember how Santos used to +shrug? That was all he did then. It was enough for me who knew him. For +days I never left them alone together. Night after night I watched her +cabin door. And she hated me the more for never leaving her alone! I had +to resign myself to that. + +“The night we anchored in Falmouth Bay, thinking then of taking our gold +straight to the Bank of England, as eccentric lucky diggers--that night +I thought would be the last for one or other of us. He locked her in +her cabin. He posted himself outside on the settee. I sat watching him +across the table. Each had a hand in his pocket, each had a pistol in +that hand, and there we sat, with our four eyes locked, while Harris +went ashore for papers. He came back in great excitement. What with +stopping at Madeira, and calms, and the very few knots we could knock +out of the schooner at the best of times, we had made a seven or eight +weeks' voyage of it from Ascension--where, by the way, I had arrived +only a couple of days before the _Lady Jermyn_, though I had nearly a +month's start of her. Well, Harris came back in the highest state of +excitement: and well he might: the papers were full of you, and of the +burning of the _Lady Jermyn_! + +“Now mark what happened. You know, of course, as well as I do; but I +wonder if you can even yet realize what it was to us! Our prisoner +hears that you are alive, and she turns upon Santos and tells him he is +welcome to silence her, but it will do us no good now, as _you_ know that +the ship was wilfully burned, and with what object. It is the single +blow she can strike in self-defence; but a shrewder one could scarcely +be imagined. She had talked to you, at the very last; and by that time +she did know the truth. What more natural than that she should confide +it to you? She had had time to tell you enough to hang the lot of us; +and you may imagine our consternation on hearing that she had told you +all she knew! From the first we were never quite sure whether to believe +it or not. That the papers breathed no suspicion of foul play was +neither here nor there. Scotland Yard might have seen to that. Then +we read of the morbid reserve which was said to characterize all your +utterances concerning the _Lady Jermyn_. What were we to do? What we no +longer dared to do was to take our gold-dust straight to the Bank. What +we did, you know. + +“We ran round to Morecambe Bay, and landed the gold as we Rattrays had +landed lace and brandy from time immemorial. We left Eva in charge of +Jane Braithwaite, God only knows how much against my will, but we were +in a corner, it was life or death with us, and to find out how much you +knew was a first plain necessity. And the means we took were the only +means in our power; nor shall I say more to you on that subject than I +said five years ago in my poor old house. That is still the one part of +the whole conspiracy of which I myself am most ashamed. + +“And now it only remains for me to tell you why I have written all this +to you, at such great length, so long after the event. My wife wished +it. The fact is that she wants you to think better of me than I deserve; +and I--yes--I confess that I should like you not to think quite as ill +of me as you must have done all these years. I was villain enough, but +do not think I am unpunished. + +“I am an outlaw from my country. I am morally a transported felon. Only +in this no-man's land am I a free man; let me but step across the border +and I am worth a little fortune to the man who takes me. And we have had +a hard time here, though not so hard as I deserved; and the hardest part +of all...” + +But you must guess the hardest part: for the letter ended as it began, +with sudden talk of his inner life, and tentative inquiry after mine. In +its entirety, as I say, I have never shown it to a soul; there was just +a little more that I read to my wife (who could not hear enough about +his); then I folded up the letter, and even she has never seen the +passages to which I allude. + +And yet I am not one of those who hold that the previous romances +of married people should be taboo between them in after life. On the +contrary, much mutual amusement, of an innocent character, may be +derived from a fair and free interchange upon the subject; and this is +why we, in our old age (or rather in mine), find a still unfailing topic +in the story of which Eva Denison was wayward heroine and Frank Rattray +the nearest approach to a hero. Sometimes these reminiscences lead to +an argument; for it has been the fate of my life to become attached to +argumentative persons. I suppose because I myself hate arguing. On +the day that I received Rattray's letter we had one of our warmest +discussions. I could repeat every word of it after forty years. + +“A good man does not necessarily make a good husband,” I innocently +remarked. + +“Why do you say that?” asked my wife, who never would let a +generalization pass unchallenged. + +“I was thinking of Rattray,” said I. “The most tolerant of judges could +scarcely have described him as a good man five years ago. Yet I can see +that he has made an admirable husband. On the whole, and if you can't be +both, it is better to be the good husband!” + +It was this point that we debated with so much ardor. My wife would take +the opposite side; that is her one grave fault. And I must introduce +personalities; that, of course, is among the least of mine. I compared +myself with Rattray, as a husband, and (with some sincerity) to my own +disparagement. I pointed out that he was an infinitely more fascinating +creature, which was no hard saying, for that epithet at least I have +never earned. And yet it was the word to sting my wife. + +“Fascinating, perhaps!” said she. “Yes, that is the very word; +but--fascination is not love!” + +And then I went to her, and stroked her hair (for she had hung her head +in deep distress), and kissed the tears from her eyes. And I swore that +her eyes were as lovely as Eva Denison's, that there seemed even more +gold in her glossy brown hair, that she was even younger to look at. And +at the last and craftiest compliment my own love looked at me through +her tears, as though some day or other she might forgive me. + +“Then why did you want to give me up to him?” said she. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dead Men Tell No Tales, by E. W. 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W. Hornung + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dead Men Tell No Tales, by E. W. Hornung + +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: Dead Men Tell No Tales + +Author: E. W. Hornung + +Release Date: October 1, 2008 [EBook #1703] +[Last Updated: June 10, 2022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteer, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By E. W. Hornung + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> LOVE ON THE + OCEAN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> THE + MYSTERIOUS CARGO <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> TO + THE WATER'S EDGE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> THE + SILENT SEA <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> MY + REWARD <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a> THE + SOLE SURVIVOR <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a> I + FIND A FRIEND <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a> A + SMALL PRECAUTION <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a> MY + CONVALESCENT HOME <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a> WINE + AND WEAKNESS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a> I + LIVE AGAIN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a> MY + LADY'S BIDDING <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. </a> THE + LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. + </a> IN THE GARDEN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0015"> + CHAPTER XV. </a> FIRST BLOOD <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. </a> A DEADLOCK <br /><br /> + <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII. </a> THIEVES FALL OUT + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII. </a> A MAN + OF MANY MURDERS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX. </a> MY + GREAT HOUR <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX. </a> THE + STATEMENT OF FRANCIS RATTRAY <br /><br /> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. LOVE ON THE OCEAN + </h2> + <p> + Nothing is so easy as falling in love on a long sea voyage, except falling + out of love. Especially was this the case in the days when the wooden + clippers did finely to land you in Sydney or in Melbourne under the four + full months. We all saw far too much of each other, unless, indeed, we + were to see still more. Our superficial attractions mutually exhausted, we + lost heart and patience in the disappointing strata which lie between the + surface and the bed-rock of most natures. My own experience was confined + to the round voyage of the <i><i>Lady Jermyn</i></i>, in the year 1853. It was no common + experience, as was only too well known at the time. And I may add that I + for my part had not the faintest intention of falling in love on board; + nay, after all these years, let me confess that I had good cause to hold + myself proof against such weakness. Yet we carried a young lady, coming + home, who, God knows, might have made short work of many a better man! + </p> + <p> + Eva Denison was her name, and she cannot have been more than nineteen + years of age. I remember her telling me that she had not yet come out, the + very first time I assisted her to promenade the poop. My own name was + still unknown to her, and yet I recollect being quite fascinated by her + frankness and self-possession. She was exquisitely young, and yet + ludicrously old for her years; had been admirably educated, chiefly + abroad, and, as we were soon to discover, possessed accomplishments which + would have made the plainest old maid a popular personage on board ship. + Miss Denison, however, was as beautiful as she was young, with the bloom + of ideal health upon her perfect skin. She had a wealth of lovely hair, + with strange elusive strands of gold among the brown, that drowned her + ears (I thought we were to have that mode again?) in sunny ripples; and a + soul greater than the mind, and a heart greater than either, lay sleeping + somewhere in the depths of her grave, gray eyes. + </p> + <p> + We were at sea together so many weeks. I cannot think what I was made of + then! + </p> + <p> + It was in the brave old days of Ballarat and Bendigo, when ship after ship + went out black with passengers and deep with stores, to bounce home with a + bale or two of wool, and hardly hands enough to reef topsails in a gale. + Nor was this the worst; for not the crew only, but, in many cases, captain + and officers as well, would join in the stampede to the diggings; and we + found Hobson's Bay the congested asylum of all manner of masterless and + deserted vessels. I have a lively recollection of our skipper's + indignation when the pilot informed him of this disgraceful fact. Within a + fortnight, however, I met the good man face to face upon the diggings. It + is but fair to add that the <i>Lady Jermyn</i> lost every officer and man in the + same way, and that the captain did obey tradition to the extent of being + the last to quit his ship. Nevertheless, of all who sailed by her in + January, I alone was ready to return at the beginning of the following + July. + </p> + <p> + I had been to Ballarat. I had given the thing a trial. For the most odious + weeks I had been a licensed digger on Black Hill Flats; and I had actually + failed to make running expenses. That, however, will surprise you the less + when I pause to declare that I have paid as much as four shillings and + sixpence for half a loaf of execrable bread; that my mate and I, between + us, seldom took more than a few pennyweights of gold-dust in any one day; + and never once struck pick into nugget, big or little, though we had the + mortification of inspecting the “mammoth masses” of which we found the + papers full on landing, and which had brought the gold-fever to its height + during our very voyage. With me, however, as with many a young fellow who + had turned his back on better things, the malady was short-lived. We + expected to make our fortunes out of hand, and we had reckoned without the + vermin and the villainy which rendered us more than ever impatient of + delay. In my fly-blown blankets I dreamt of London until I hankered after + my chambers and my club more than after much fine gold. Never shall I + forget my first hot bath on getting back to Melbourne; it cost five + shillings, but it was worth five pounds, and is altogether my pleasantest + reminiscence of Australia. + </p> + <p> + There was, however, one slice of luck in store for me. I found the dear + old <i>Lady Jermyn</i> on the very eve of sailing, with a new captain, a new + crew, a handful of passengers (chiefly steerage), and nominally no cargo + at all. I felt none the less at home when I stepped over her familiar + side. + </p> + <p> + In the cuddy we were only five, but a more uneven quintette I defy you to + convene. There was a young fellow named Ready, packed out for his health, + and hurrying home to die among friends. There was an outrageously lucky + digger, another invalid, for he would drink nothing but champagne with + every meal and at any minute of the day, and I have seen him pitch raw + gold at the sea-birds by the hour together. Miss Denison was our only + lady, and her step-father, with whom she was travelling, was the one man + of distinction on board. He was a Portuguese of sixty or thereabouts, + Senhor Joaquin Santos by name; at first it was incredible to me that he + had no title, so noble was his bearing; but very soon I realized that he + was one of those to whom adventitious honors can add no lustre. He treated + Miss Denison as no parent ever treated a child, with a gallantry and a + courtliness quite beautiful to watch, and not a little touching in the + light of the circumstances under which they were travelling together. The + girl had gone straight from school to her step-father's estate on the + Zambesi, where, a few months later, her mother had died of the malaria. + Unable to endure the place after his wife's death, Senhor Santos had taken + ship to Victoria, there to seek fresh fortune with results as indifferent + as my own. He was now taking Miss Denison back to England, to make her + home with other relatives, before he himself returned to Africa (as he + once told me) to lay his bones beside those of his wife. I hardly know + which of the pair I see more plainly as I write—the young girl with + her soft eyes and her sunny hair, or the old gentleman with the erect + though wasted figure, the noble forehead, the steady eye, the parchment + skin, the white imperial, and the eternal cigarette between his shrivelled + lips. + </p> + <p> + No need to say that I came more in contact with the young girl. She was + not less charming in my eyes because she provoked me greatly as I came to + know her intimately. She had many irritating faults. Like most young + persons of intellect and inexperience, she was hasty and intolerant in + nearly all her judgments, and rather given to being critical in a crude + way. She was very musical, playing the guitar and singing in a style that + made our shipboard concerts vastly superior to the average of their order; + but I have seen her shudder at the efforts of less gifted folks who were + also doing their best; and it was the same in other directions where her + superiority was less specific. The faults which are most exasperating in + another are, of course, one's own faults; and I confess that I was very + critical of Eva Denison's criticisms. Then she had a little weakness for + exaggeration, for unconscious egotism in conversation, and I itched to + tell her so. I felt so certain that the girl had a fine character + underneath, which would rise to noble heights in stress or storm: all the + more would I long now to take her in hand and mould her in little things, + and anon to take her in my arms just as she was. The latter feeling was + resolutely crushed. To be plain, I had endured what is euphemistically + called “disappointment” already; and, not being a complete coxcomb, I had + no intention of courting a second. + </p> + <p> + Yet, when I write of Eva Denison, I am like to let my pen outrun my tale. + I lay the pen down, and a hundred of her sayings ring in my ears, with my + own contradictious comments, that I was doomed so soon to repent; a + hundred visions of her start to my eyes; and there is the trade-wind + singing in the rigging, and loosening a tress of my darling's hair, till + it flies like a tiny golden streamer in the tropic sun. There, it is out! + I have called her what she was to be in my heart ever after. Yet at the + time I must argue with her—with her! When all my courage should have + gone to love-making, I was plucking it up to sail as near as I might to + plain remonstrance! I little dreamt how the ghost of every petty word was + presently to return and torture me. + </p> + <p> + So it is that I can see her and hear her now on a hundred separate + occasions beneath the awning beneath the stars on deck below at noon or + night but plainest of all in the evening of the day we signalled the + Island of Ascension, at the close of that last concert on the + quarter-deck. The watch are taking down the extra awning; they are + removing the bunting and the foot-lights. The lanterns are trailed forward + before they are put out; from the break of the poop we watch the vivid + shifting patch of deck that each lights up on its way. The stars are very + sharp in the vast violet dome above our masts; they shimmer on the sea; + and our trucks describe minute orbits among the stars, for the trades have + yet to fail us, and every inch of canvas has its fill of the gentle steady + wind. It is a heavenly night. The peace of God broods upon His waters. No + jarring note offends the ear. In the forecastle a voice is humming a song + of Eva Denison's that has caught the fancy of the men; the young girl who + sang it so sweetly not twenty minutes since who sang it again and again to + please the crew she alone is at war with our little world she alone would + head a mutiny if she could. + </p> + <p> + “I hate the captain!” she says again. + </p> + <p> + “My dear Miss Denison!” I begin; for she has always been severe upon our + bluff old man, and it is not the spirit of contrariety alone which makes + me invariably take his part. Coarse he may be, and not one whom the owners + would have chosen to command the <i>Lady Jermyn</i>; a good seaman none the less, + who brought us round the Horn in foul weather without losing stitch or + stick. I think of the ruddy ruffian in his dripping oilskins, on deck day + and night for our sakes, and once more I must needs take his part; but + Miss Denison stops me before I can get out another word. + </p> + <p> + “I am not dear, and I'm not yours,” she cries. “I'm only a school-girl—you + have all but told me so before to-day! If I were a man—if I were you—I + should tell Captain Harris what I thought of him!” + </p> + <p> + “Why? What has he done now?” + </p> + <p> + “Now? You know how rude he was to poor Mr. Ready this very afternoon!” + </p> + <p> + It was true. He had been very rude indeed. But Ready also had been at + fault. It may be that I was always inclined to take an opposite view, but + I felt bound to point this out, and at any cost. + </p> + <p> + “You mean when Ready asked him if we were out of our course? I must say I + thought it was a silly question to put. It was the same the other evening + about the cargo. If the skipper says we're in ballast why not believe him? + Why repeat steerage gossip, about mysterious cargoes, at the cuddy table? + Captains are always touchy about that sort of thing. I wasn't surprised at + his letting out.” + </p> + <p> + My poor love stares at me in the starlight. Her great eyes flash their + scorn. Then she gives a little smile—and then a little nod—more + scornful than all the rest. + </p> + <p> + “You never are surprised, are you, Mr. Cole?” says she. “You were not + surprised when the wretch used horrible language in front of me! You were + not surprised when it was a—dying man—whom he abused!” + </p> + <p> + I try to soothe her. I agree heartily with her disgust at the epithets + employed in her hearing, and towards an invalid, by the irate skipper. But + I ask her to make allowances for a rough, uneducated man, rather clumsily + touched upon his tender spot. I shall conciliate her presently; the divine + pout (so childish it was!) is fading from her lips; the starlight is on + the tulle and lace and roses of her pretty evening dress, with its + festooned skirts and obsolete flounces; and I am watching her, ay, and + worshipping her, though I do not know it yet. And as we stand there comes + another snatch from the forecastle:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “What will you do, love, when I am going. + With white sail flowing, + The seas beyond? + What will you do, love—” + </pre> + <p> + “They may make the most of that song,” says Miss Denison grimly; “it's the + last they'll have from me. Get up as many more concerts as you like. I + won't sing at another unless it's in the fo'c'sle. I'll sing to the men, + but not to Captain Harris. He didn't put in an appearance tonight. He + shall not have another chance of insulting me.” + </p> + <p> + Was it her vanity that was wounded after all? “You forget,” said I, “that + you would not answer when he addressed you at dinner.” + </p> + <p> + “I should think I wouldn't, after the way he spoke to Mr. Ready; and he + too agitated to come to table, poor fellow!” + </p> + <p> + “Still, the captain felt the open slight.” + </p> + <p> + “Then he shouldn't have used such language in front of me.” + </p> + <p> + “Your father felt it, too, Miss Denison.” + </p> + <p> + I hear nothing plainer than her low but quick reply: + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Cole, my father has been dead many; many years; he died before I can + remember. That man only married my poor mother. He sympathizes with + Captain Harris—against me; no father would do that. Look at them + together now! And you take his side, too; oh! I have no patience with any + of you—except poor Mr. Ready in his berth.” + </p> + <p> + “But you are not going.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed I am. I am tired of you all.” + </p> + <p> + And she was gone with angry tears for which I blamed myself as I fell to + pacing the weather side of the poop—and so often afterwards! So + often, and with such unavailing bitterness! + </p> + <p> + Senhor Santos and the captain were in conversation by the weather rail. I + fancied poor old Harris eyed me with suspicion, and I wished he had better + cause. The Portuguese, however, saluted me with his customary courtesy, + and I thought there was a grave twinkle in his steady eye. + </p> + <p> + “Are you in deesgrace also, friend Cole?” he inquired in his all but + perfect English. + </p> + <p> + “More or less,” said I ruefully. + </p> + <p> + He gave the shrug of his country—that delicate gesture which is done + almost entirely with the back—a subtlety beyond the power of British + shoulders. + </p> + <p> + “The senhora is both weelful and pivish,” said he, mixing the two vowels + which (with the aspirate) were his only trouble with our tongue. “It is + great grif to me to see her growing so unlike her sainted mother!” + </p> + <p> + He sighed, and I saw his delicate fingers forsake the cigarette they were + rolling to make the sacred sign upon his breast. He was always smoking one + cigarette and making another; as he lit the new one the glow fell upon a + strange pin that he wore, a pin with a tiny crucifix inlaid in mosaic. So + the religious cast of Senhor Santos was brought twice home to me in the + same moment, though, to be sure, I had often been struck by it before. And + it depressed me to think that so sweet a child as Eva Denison should have + spoken harshly of so good a man as her step-father, simply because he had + breadth enough to sympathize with a coarse old salt like Captain Harris. + </p> + <p> + I turned in, however, and I cannot say the matter kept me awake in the + separate state-room which was one luxury of our empty saloon. Alas? I was + a heavy sleeper then. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. THE MYSTERIOUS CARGO + </h2> + <p> + “Wake up, Cole! The ship's on fire!” + </p> + <p> + It was young Ready's hollow voice, as cool, however, as though he were + telling me I was late for breakfast. I started up and sought him wildly in + the darkness. + </p> + <p> + “You're joking,” was my first thought and utterance; for now he was + lighting my candle, and blowing out the match with a care that seemed in + itself a contradiction. + </p> + <p> + “I wish I were,” he answered. “Listen to that!” + </p> + <p> + He pointed to my cabin ceiling; it quivered and creaked; and all at once I + was as a deaf man healed. + </p> + <p> + One gets inured to noise at sea, but to this day it passes me how even I + could have slept an instant in the abnormal din which I now heard raging + above my head. Sea-boots stamped; bare feet pattered; men bawled; women + shrieked; shouts of terror drowned the roar of command. + </p> + <p> + “Have we long to last?” I asked, as I leaped for my clothes. + </p> + <p> + “Long enough for you to dress comfortably. Steady, old man! It's only just + been discovered; they may get it under. The panic's the worst part at + present, and we're out of that.” + </p> + <p> + But was Eva Denison? Breathlessly I put the question; his answer was + reassuring. Miss Denison was with her step-father on the poop. “And both + of 'em as cool as cucumbers,” added Ready. + </p> + <p> + They could not have been cooler than this young man, with death at the + bottom of his bright and sunken eyes. He was of the type which is all + muscle and no constitution; athletes one year, dead men the next; but + until this moment the athlete had been to me a mere and incredible + tradition. In the afternoon I had seen his lean knees totter under the + captain's fire. Now, at midnight—the exact time by my watch—it + was as if his shrunken limbs had expanded in his clothes; he seemed hardly + to know his own flushed face, as he caught sight of it in my mirror. + </p> + <p> + “By Jove!” said he, “this has put me in a fine old fever; but I don't know + when I felt in better fettle. If only they get it under! I've not looked + like this all the voyage.” + </p> + <p> + And he admired himself while I dressed in hot haste: a fine young fellow; + not at all the natural egotist, but cast for death by the doctors, and + keenly incredulous in his bag of skin. It revived one's confidence to hear + him talk. But he forgot himself in an instant, and gave me a lead through + the saloon with a boyish eagerness that made me actually suspicious as I + ran. We were nearing the Line. I recalled the excesses of my last + crossing, and I prepared for some vast hoax at the last moment. It was + only when we plunged upon the crowded quarter-deck, and my own eyes read + lust of life and dread of death in the starting eyes of others, that such + lust and such dread consumed me in my turn, so that my veins seemed filled + with fire and ice. + </p> + <p> + To be fair to those others, I think that the first wild panic was + subsiding even then; at least there was a lull, and even a reaction in the + right direction on the part of the males in the second class and steerage. + A huge Irishman at their head, they were passing buckets towards the + after-hold; the press of people hid the hatchway from us until we gained + the poop; but we heard the buckets spitting and a hose-pipe hissing into + the flames below; and we saw the column of white vapor rising steadily + from their midst. + </p> + <p> + At the break of the poop stood Captain Harris, his legs planted wide + apart, very vigorous, very decisive, very profane. And I must confess that + the shocking oaths which had brought us round the Horn inspired a kind of + confidence in me now. Besides, even from the poop I could see no flames. + But the night was as beautiful as it had been an hour or two back; the + stars as brilliant, the breeze even more balmy, the sea even more calm; + and we were hove-to already, against the worst. + </p> + <p> + In this hour of peril the poop was very properly invaded by all classes of + passengers, in all manner of incongruous apparel, in all stages of fear, + rage, grief and hysteria; as we made our way among this motley nightmare + throng, I took Ready by the arm. + </p> + <p> + “The skipper's a brute,” said I, “but he's the right brute in the right + place to-night, Ready!” + </p> + <p> + “I hope he may be,” was the reply. “But we were off our course this + afternoon; and we were off it again during the concert, as sure as we're + not on it now.” + </p> + <p> + His tone made me draw him to the rail. + </p> + <p> + “But how do you know? You didn't have another look, did you?” + </p> + <p> + “Lots of looks-at the stars. He couldn't keep me from consulting them; and + I'm just as certain of it as I'm certain that we've a cargo aboard which + we're none of us supposed to know anything about.” + </p> + <p> + The latter piece of gossip was, indeed, all over the ship; but this + allusion to it struck me as foolishly irrelevant and frivolous. As to the + other matter, I suggested that the officers would have had more to say + about it than Ready, if there had been anything in it. + </p> + <p> + “Officers be damned!” cried our consumptive, with a sound man's vigor. + “They're ordinary seamen dressed up; I don't believe they've a second + mate's certificate between them, and they're frightened out of their + souls.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, anyhow, the skipper isn't that.” + </p> + <p> + “No; he's drunk; he can shout straight, but you should hear him try to + speak.” + </p> + <p> + I made my way aft without rejoinder. “Invalid's pessimism,” was my private + comment. And yet the sick man was whole for the time being; the virile + spirit was once more master of the recreant members; and it was with + illogical relief that I found those I sought standing almost unconcernedly + beside the binnacle. + </p> + <p> + My little friend was, indeed, pale enough, and her eyes great with dismay; + but she stood splendidly calm, in her travelling cloak and bonnet, and + with all my soul I hailed the hardihood with which I had rightly credited + my love. Yes! I loved her then. It had come home to me at last, and I no + longer denied it in my heart. In my innocence and my joy I rather blessed + the fire for showing me her true self and my own; and there I stood, + loving her openly with my eyes (not to lose another instant), and bursting + to tell her so with my lips. + </p> + <p> + But there also stood Senhor Santos, almost precisely as I had seen him + last, cigarette, tie-pin, and all. He wore an overcoat, however, and + leaned upon a massive ebony cane, while he carried his daughter's guitar + in its case, exactly as though they were waiting for a train. Moreover, I + thought that for the first time he was regarding me with no very favoring + glance. + </p> + <p> + “You don't think it serious?” I asked him abruptly, my heart still + bounding with the most incongruous joy. + </p> + <p> + He gave me his ambiguous shrug; and then, “A fire at sea is surely + sirrious,” said he. + </p> + <p> + “Where did it break out?” + </p> + <p> + “No one knows; it may have come of your concert.” + </p> + <p> + “But they are getting the better of it?” + </p> + <p> + “They are working wonders so far, senhor.” + </p> + <p> + “You see, Miss Denison,” I continued ecstatically, “our rough old diamond + of a skipper is the right man in the right place after all. A tight man in + a tight place, eh?” and I laughed like an idiot in their calm grave faces. + </p> + <p> + “Senhor Cole is right,” said Santos, “although his 'ilarity sims a leetle + out of place. But you must never spik against Captain 'Arrees again, + menma.” + </p> + <p> + “I never will,” the poor child said; yet I saw her wince whenever the + captain raised that hoarse voice of his in more and more blasphemous + exhortation; and I began to fear with Ready that the man was drunk. + </p> + <p> + My eyes were still upon my darling, devouring her, revelling in her, when + suddenly I saw her hand twitch within her step-father's arm. It was an + answering start to one on his part. The cigarette was snatched from his + lips. There was a commotion forward, and a cry came aft, from mouth to + mouth: + </p> + <p> + “The flames! The flames!” + </p> + <p> + I turned, and caught their reflection on the white column of smoke and + steam. I ran forward, and saw them curling and leaping in the hell-mouth + of the hold. + </p> + <p> + The quarter-deck now staged a lurid scene: that blazing trap-door in its + midst; and each man there a naked demon madly working to save his roasting + skin. Abaft the mainmast the deck-pump was being ceaselessly worked by + relays of the passengers; dry blankets were passed forward, soaking + blankets were passed aft, and flung flat into the furnace one after + another. These did more good than the pure water: the pillar of smoke + became blacker, denser: we were at a crisis; a sudden hush denoted it; + even our hoarse skipper stood dumb. + </p> + <p> + I had rushed down into the waist of the ship—blushing for my delay—and + already I was tossing blankets with the rest. Looking up in an enforced + pause, I saw Santos whispering in the skipper's ear, with the expression + of a sphinx but no lack of foreign gesticulation—behind them a + fringe of terror-stricken faces, parted at that instant by two more + figures, as wild and strange as any in that wild, strange scene. One was + our luckless lucky digger, the other a gigantic Zambesi nigger, who for + days had been told off to watch him; this was the servant (or rather the + slave) of Senhor Santos. + </p> + <p> + The digger planted himself before the captain. His face was reddened by a + fire as consuming as that within the bowels of our gallant ship. He had a + huge, unwieldy bundle under either arm. + </p> + <p> + “Plain question—plain answer,” we heard him stutter. “Is there any + —— chance of saving this —— ship?” + </p> + <p> + His adjectives were too foul for print; they were given with such a + special effort at distinctness, however, that I was smiling one instant, + and giving thanks the next that Eva Denison had not come forward with her + guardian. Meanwhile the skipper had exchanged a glance with Senhor Santos, + and I think we all felt that he was going to tell us the truth. + </p> + <p> + He told it in two words—“Very little.” + </p> + <p> + Then the first individual tragedy was enacted before every eye. With a + yell the drunken maniac rushed to the rail. The nigger was at his heels—he + was too late. Uttering another and more piercing shriek, the madman was + overboard at a bound; one of his bundles preceded him; the other dropped + like a cannon-ball on the deck. + </p> + <p> + The nigger caught it up and carried it forward to the captain. + </p> + <p> + Harris held up his hand. We were still before we had fairly found our + tongues. His words did run together a little, but he was not drunk. + </p> + <p> + “Men and women,” said he, “what I told that poor devil is Gospel truth; + but I didn't tell him we'd no chance of saving our lives, did I? Not me, + because we have! Keep your heads and listen to me. There's two good boats + on the davits amidships; the chief will take one, the second officer the + other; and there ain't no reason why every blessed one of you shouldn't + sleep in Ascension to-morrow night. As for me, let me see every soul off + of my ship and perhaps I may follow; but by the God that made you, look + alive! Mr. Arnott—Mr. McClellan—man them boats and lower away. + You can't get quit o' the ship too soon, an' I don't mind tellin' you why. + I'll tell you the worst, an' then you'll know. There's been a lot o' + gossip goin', gossip about my cargo. I give out as I'd none but ship's + stores and ballast, an' I give out a lie. I don't mind tellin' you now. I + give out a cussed lie, but I give it out for the good o' the ship! What + was the use o' frightenin' folks? But where's the sense in keepin' it back + now? We have a bit of a cargo,” shouted Harris; “and it's gunpowder—every + damned ton of it!” + </p> + <p> + The effect of this announcement may be imagined; my hand has not the + cunning to reproduce it on paper; and if it had, it would shrink from the + task. Mild men became brutes, brutal men, devils, women—God help + them!—shrieking beldams for the most part. Never shall I forget them + with their streaming hair, their screaming open mouths, and the cruel + ascending fire glinting on their starting eyeballs! + </p> + <p> + Pell-mell they tumbled down the poop-ladders; pell-mell they raced + amidships past that yawning open furnace; the pitch was boiling through + the seams of the crackling deck; they slipped and fell upon it, one over + another, and the wonder is that none plunged headlong into the flames. A + handful remained on the poop, cowering and undone with terror. Upon these + turned Captain Harris, as Ready and I, stemming the torrent of maddened + humanity, regained the poop ourselves. + </p> + <p> + “For'ard with ye!” yelled the skipper. “The powder's underneath you in the + lazarette!” + </p> + <p> + They were gone like hunted sheep. And now abaft the flaming hatchway there + were only we four surviving saloon passengers, the captain, his steward, + the Zambesi negro, and the quarter-master at the wheel. The steward and + the black I observed putting stores aboard the captain's gig as it + overhung the water from the stern davits. + </p> + <p> + “Now, gentlemen,” said Harris to the two of us, “I must trouble you to + step forward with the rest. Senhor Santos insists on taking his chance + along with the young lady in my gig. I've told him the risk, but he + insists, and the gig'll hold no more.” + </p> + <p> + “But she must have a crew, and I can row. For God's sake take me, + captain!” cried I; for Eva Denison sat weeping in her deck chair, and my + heart bled faint at the thought of leaving her, I who loved her so, and + might die without ever telling her my love! Harris, however, stood firm. + </p> + <p> + “There's that quartermaster and my steward, and José the nigger,” said he. + “That's quite enough, Mr. Cole, for I ain't above an oar myself; but, by + God, I'm skipper o' this here ship, and I'll skip her as long as I remain + aboard!” + </p> + <p> + I saw his hand go to his belt; I saw the pistols stuck there for + mutineers. I looked at Santos. He answered me with his neutral shrug, and, + by my soul, he struck a match and lit a cigarette in that hour of life and + death! Then last I looked at Ready; and he leant invertebrate over the + rail, gasping pitiably from his exertions in regaining the poop, a dying + man once more. I pointed out his piteous state. + </p> + <p> + “At least,” I whispered, “you won't refuse to take him?” + </p> + <p> + “Will there be anything to take?” said the captain brutally. + </p> + <p> + Santos advanced leisurely, and puffed his cigarette over the poor wasted + and exhausted frame. + </p> + <p> + “It is for you to decide, captain,” said he cynically; “but this one will + make no deeference. Yes, I would take him. It will not be far,” he added, + in a tone that was not the less detestable for being lowered. + </p> + <p> + “Take them both!” moaned little Eva, putting in her first and last sweet + word. + </p> + <p> + “Then we all drown, Evasinha,” said her stepfather. “It is impossible.” + </p> + <p> + “We're too many for her as it is,” said the captain. “So for'ard with ye, + Mr. Cole, before it's too late.” + </p> + <p> + But my darling's brave word for me had fired my blood, and I turned with + equal resolution on Harris and on the Portuguese. “I will go like a lamb,” + said I, “if you will first give me five minutes' conversation with Miss + Denison. Otherwise I do not go; and as for the gig, you may take me or + leave me, as you choose.” + </p> + <p> + “What have you to say to her?” asked Santos, coming up to me, and again + lowering his voice. + </p> + <p> + I lowered mine still more. “That I love her!” I answered in a soft + ecstasy. “That she may remember how I loved her, if I die!” + </p> + <p> + His shoulders shrugged a cynical acquiescence. + </p> + <p> + “By all mins, senhor; there is no harm in that.” + </p> + <p> + I was at her side before another word could pass his withered lips. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Denison, will you grant me five minutes', conversation? It may be + the last that we shall ever have together!” + </p> + <p> + Uncovering her face, she looked at me with a strange terror in her great + eyes; then with a questioning light that was yet more strange, for in it + there was a wistfulness I could not comprehend. She suffered me to take + her hand, however, and to lead her unresisting to the weather rail. + </p> + <p> + “What is it you have to say?” she asked me in her turn. “What is it that + you—think?” + </p> + <p> + Her voice fell as though she must have the truth. + </p> + <p> + “That we have all a very good chance,” said I heartily. + </p> + <p> + “Is that all?” cried Eva, and my heart sank at her eager manner. + </p> + <p> + She seemed at once disappointed and relieved. Could it be possible she + dreaded a declaration which she had foreseen all along? My evil first + experience rose up to warn me. No, I would not speak now; it was no time. + If she loved me, it might make her love me less; better to trust to God to + spare us both. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it is all,” I said doggedly. + </p> + <p> + She drew a little nearer, hesitating. It was as though her disappointment + had gained on her relief. + </p> + <p> + “Do you know what I thought you were going to say?” + </p> + <p> + “No, indeed.” + </p> + <p> + “Dare I tell you?” + </p> + <p> + “You can trust me.” + </p> + <p> + Her pale lips parted. Her great eyes shone. Another instant, and she had + told me that which I would have given all but life itself to know. But in + that tick of time a quick step came behind me, and the light went out of + the sweet face upturned to mine. + </p> + <p> + “I cannot! I must not! Here is—that man!” + </p> + <p> + Senhor Santos was all smiles and rings of pale-blue smoke. + </p> + <p> + “You will be cut off, friend Cole,” said he. “The fire is spreading.” + </p> + <p> + “Let it spread!” I cried, gazing my very soul into the young girl's eyes. + “We have not finished our conversation. + </p> + <p> + “We have!” said she, with sudden decision. “Go—go—for my sake—for + your own sake—go at once!” + </p> + <p> + She gave me her hand. I merely clasped it. And so I left her at the + rail—ah, heaven! how often we had argued on that very spot! So I left her, + with the greatest effort of all my life (but one); and yet in passing, + full as my heart was of love and self, I could not but lay a hand on poor + Ready's shoulders. + </p> + <p> + “God bless you, old boy!” I said to him. + </p> + <p> + He turned a white face that gave me half an instant's pause. + </p> + <p> + “It's all over with me this time,” he said. “But, I say, I was right about + the cargo?” + </p> + <p> + And I heard a chuckle as I reached the ladder; but Ready was no longer in + my mind; even Eva was driven out of it, as I stood aghast on the top-most + rung. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. TO THE WATER'S EDGE + </h2> + <p> + It was not the new panic amidships that froze my marrow; it was not that + the pinnace hung perpendicularly by the fore-tackle, and had shot out + those who had swarmed aboard her before she was lowered, as a cart shoots + a load of bricks. It was bad enough to see the whole boat-load struggling, + floundering, sinking in the sea; for selfish eyes (and which of us is all + unselfish at such a time?) there was a worse sight yet; for I saw all this + across an impassable gulf of fire. + </p> + <p> + The quarter-deck had caught: it was in flames to port and starboard of the + flaming hatch; only fore and aft of it was the deck sound to the lips of + that hideous mouth, with the hundred tongues shooting out and up. + </p> + <p> + Could I jump it there? I sprang down and looked. It was only a few feet + across; but to leap through that living fire was to leap into eternity. I + drew back instantly, less because my heart failed me, I may truly say, + than because my common sense did not. + </p> + <p> + Some were watching me, it seemed, across this hell. “The bulwarks!” they + screamed. “Walk along the bulwarks!” I held up my hand in token that I + heard and understood and meant to act. And as I did their bidding I + noticed what indeed had long been apparent to idler eyes: the wind was + not; we had lost our southeast trades; the doomed ship was rolling in a + dead calm. + </p> + <p> + Rolling, rolling, rolling so that it seemed minutes before I dared to move + an inch. Then I tried it on my hands and knees, but the scorched bulwarks + burned me to the bone. And then I leapt up, desperate with the pain; and, + with my tortured hands spread wide to balance me, I walked those few + yards, between rising sea and falling fire, and falling sea and rising + fire, as an acrobat walks a rope, and by God's grace without mishap. + </p> + <p> + There was no time to think twice about my feat, or, indeed, about anything + else that befell upon a night when each moment was more pregnant than the + last. And yet I did think that those who had encouraged me to attempt so + perilous a trick might have welcomed me alive among them; they were + looking at something else already; and this was what it was. + </p> + <p> + One of the cabin stewards had presented himself on the poop; he had a + bottle in one hand, a glass in the other; in the red glare we saw him + dancing in front of the captain like an unruly marionette. Harris appeared + to threaten him. What he said we could not hear for the deep-drawn blast + and the high staccato crackle of the blazing hold. But we saw the + staggering steward offering him a drink; saw the glass flung next instant + in the captain's face, the blood running, a pistol drawn, fired without + effect, and snatched away by the drunken mutineer. Next instant a smooth + black cane was raining blow after blow on the man's head. He dropped; the + blows fell thick and heavy as before. He lay wriggling; the Portuguese + struck and struck until he lay quite still; then we saw Joaquin Santos + kneel, and rub his stick carefully on the still thing's clothes, as a man + might wipe his boots. + </p> + <p> + Curses burst from our throats; yet the fellow deserved to die. Nor, as I + say, had we time to waste two thoughts upon any one incident. This last + had begun and ended in the same minute; in another we were at the + starboard gangway, tumbling helter-skelter aboard the lowered long-boat. + </p> + <p> + She lay safely on the water: how we thanked our gods for that! Lower and + lower sank her gunwale as we dropped aboard her, with no more care than + the Gadarene swine whose fate we courted. Discipline, order, method, + common care, we brought none of these things with us from our floating + furnace; but we fought to be first over the bulwarks, and in the bottom of + the long-boat we fought again. + </p> + <p> + And yet she held us all! All, that is, but a terror-stricken few, who lay + along the jibboom like flies upon a stick: all but two or three more whom + we left fatally hesitating in the forechains: all but the selfish savages + who had been the first to perish in the pinnace, and one distracted couple + who had thrown their children into the kindly ocean, and jumped in after + them out of their torment, locked for ever in each other's arms. + </p> + <p> + Yes! I saw more things on that starry night, by that blood-red glare, than + I have told you in their order, and more things than I shall tell you now. + Blind would I gladly be for my few remaining years, if that night's + horrors could be washed from these eyes for ever. I have said so much, + however, that in common candor I must say one thing more. I have spoken of + selfish savages. God help me and forgive me! For by this time I was one + myself. + </p> + <p> + In the long-boat we cannot have been less than thirty; the exact number no + man will ever know. But we shoved off without mischance; the chief mate + had the tiller; the third mate the boat-hook; and six or eight oars were + at work, in a fashion, as we plunged among the great smooth sickening + mounds and valleys of fathomless ink. + </p> + <p> + Scarcely were we clear when the foremast dropped down on the fastenings, + dashing the jib-boom into the water with its load of demented human + beings. The mainmast followed by the board before we had doubled our + distance from the wreck. Both trailed to port, where we could not see + them; and now the mizzen stood alone in sad and solitary grandeur, her + flapping idle sails lighted up by the spreading conflagration, so that + they were stamped very sharply upon the black add starry sky. But the + whole scene from the long-boat was one of startling brilliancy and horror. + The fire now filled the entire waist of the vessel, and the noise of it + was as the rumble and roar of a volcano. As for the light, I declare that + it put many a star clean out, and dimmed the radiance of all the rest, as + it flooded the sea for miles around, and a sea of molten glass reflected + it. My gorge rose at the long, low billows-sleek as black satin—lifting + and dipping in this ghastly glare. I preferred to keep my eyes upon the + little ship burning like a tar barrel as the picture grew. But presently I + thanked God aloud: there was the gig swimming like a beetle over the + bloodshot rollers in our wake. + </p> + <p> + In our unspeakable gladness at being quit of the ship, some minutes passed + before we discovered that the long-boat was slowly filling. The water was + at our ankles before a man of us cried out, so fast were our eyes to the + poor lost <i>Lady Jermyn</i>. Then all at once the ghastly fact dawned upon us; + and I think it was the mate himself who burst out crying like a child. I + never ascertained, however, for I had kicked off my shoes and was busy + baling with them. Others were hunting for the leak. But the mischief was + as subtle as it was mortal—as though a plank had started from end to + end. Within and without the waters rose equally—then lay an instant + level with our gunwales—then swamped us, oh! so slowly, that I + thought we were never going to sink. It was like getting inch by inch into + your tub; I can feel it now, creeping, crawling up my back. “It's coming! + O Christ!” muttered one as it came; to me it was a downright relief to be + carried under at last. + </p> + <p> + But then, thank God, I have always been a strong swimmer. The water was + warm and buoyant, and I came up like a cork, as I knew I should. I shook + the drops from my face, and there were the sweet stars once more; for many + an eye they had gone Out for ever; and there the burning wreck. + </p> + <p> + A man floundered near me, in a splutter of phosphorescence. I tried to + help him, and in an instant he had me wildly round the neck. In the end I + shook him off, poor devil, to his death. And he was the last I tried to + aid: have I not said already what I was become? + </p> + <p> + In a little an oar floated my way: I threw my arms across it and gripped + it with my chin as I swam. It relieved me greatly. Up and down I rode + among the oily black hillocks; I was down when there was a sudden flare as + though the sun had risen, and I saw still a few heads bobbing and a few + arms waving frantically around me. At the same instant a terrific + detonation split the ears; and when I rose on the next bald billow, where + the ship lay burning a few seconds before, there remained but a red-hot + spine that hissed and dwindled for another minute, and then left a + blackness through which every star shone with redoubled brilliance. + </p> + <p> + And now right and left splashed falling missiles; a new source of danger + or of temporary respite; to me, by a merciful Providence, it proved the + latter. + </p> + <p> + Some heavy thing fell with a mighty splash right in front of me. A few + more yards, and my brains had floated with the spume. As it was, the oar + was dashed from under my armpits; in another moment they had found a more + solid resting-place. + </p> + <p> + It was a hen-coop, and it floated bars upwards like a boat. In this calm + it might float for days. I climbed upon the bars-and the whole cage rolled + over on top of me. + </p> + <p> + Coming to the surface, I found to my joy that the hen-coop had righted + itself; so now I climbed up again, but this time very slowly and gingerly; + the balance was undisturbed, and I stretched myself cautiously along the + bars on my stomach. A good idea immediately occurred to me. I had jumped + as a matter of course into the flannels which one naturally wears in the + tropics. To their lightness I already owed my life, but the common + cricket-belt which was part of the costume was the thing to which I owe it + most of all. Loosening this belt a little, as I tucked my toes tenaciously + under the endmost bar, I undid and passed the two ends under one of the + middle bars, fastening the clasp upon the other side. If I capsized now, + well, we might go to the bottom together; otherwise the hen-coop and I + should not part company in a hurry; and I thought, I felt, that she would + float. + </p> + <p> + Worn out as I was, and comparatively secure for the moment, I will not say + that I slept; but my eyes closed, and every fibre rested, as I rose and + slid with the smooth, long swell. Whether I did indeed hear voices, + curses, cries, I cannot say positively to this day. I only know that I + raised my head and looked sharply all ways but the way I durst not look + for fear of an upset. And, again, I thought I saw first a tiny flame, and + then a tinier glow; and as my head drooped, and my eyes closed again, I + say I thought I smelt tobacco; but this, of course, was my imagination + supplying all the links from one. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. THE SILENT SEA + </h2> + <p> + Remember (if indeed there be any need to remind you) that it is a flagrant + landsman who is telling you this tale. Nothing know I of seamanship, save + what one could not avoid picking up on the round voyage of the Lady + Jermyn, never to be completed on this globe. I may be told that I have + burned that devoted vessel as nothing ever burned on land or sea. I answer + that I write of what I saw, and that is not altered by a miscalled spar or + a misunderstood manouvre. But now I am aboard a craft I handle for myself, + and must make shift to handle a second time with this frail pen. + </p> + <p> + The hen-coop was some six feet long, by eighteen or twenty inches in + breadth and depth. It was simply a long box with bars in lieu of a lid; + but it was very strongly built. + </p> + <p> + I recognized it as one of two which had stood lashed against either rail + of the <i>Lady Jermyn</i>'s poop; there the bars had risen at right angles to the + deck; now they lay horizontal, a gridiron six feet long-and my bed. And as + each particular bar left its own stripe across my wearied body, and yet + its own comfort in my quivering heart, another day broke over the face of + the waters, and over me. + </p> + <p> + Discipline, what there was of it originally, had been the very first thing + to perish aboard our ill-starred ship; the officers, I am afraid, were not + much better than poor Ready made them out (thanks to Bendigo and + Ballarat), and little had been done in true ship-shape style all night. + All hands had taken their spell at everything as the fancy seized them; + not a bell had been struck from first to last; and I can only conjecture + that the fire raged four or five hours, from the fact that it was midnight + by my watch when I left it on my cabin drawers, and that the final + extinction of the smouldering keel was so soon followed by the first deep + hint of dawn. The rest took place with the trite rapidity of the + equatorial latitudes. It had been my foolish way to pooh-pooh the old + saying that there is no twilight in the tropics. I saw more truth in it as + I lay lonely on this heaving waste. + </p> + <p> + The stars were out; the sea was silver; the sun was up. + </p> + <p> + And oh! the awful glory of that sunrise! It was terrific; it was + sickening; my senses swam. Sunlit billows smooth and sinister, without a + crest, without a sound; miles and miles of them as I rose; an oily grave + among them as I fell. Hill after hill of horror, valley after valley of + despair! The face of the waters in petty but eternal unrest; and now the + sun must shine to set it smiling, to show me its cruel ceaseless + mouthings, to reveal all but the ghastlier horrors underneath. + </p> + <p> + How deep was it? I fell to wondering! Not that it makes any difference + whether you drown in one fathom or in ten thousand, whether you fall from + a balloon or from the attic window. But the greater depth or distance is + the worse to contemplate; and I was as a man hanging by his hands so high + above the world, that his dangling feet cover countries, continents; a man + who must fall very soon, and wonders how long he will be falling, falling; + and how far his soul will bear his body company. + </p> + <p> + In time I became more accustomed to the sun upon this heaving void; less + frightened, as a child is frightened, by the mere picture. And I have + still the impression that, as hour followed hour since the falling of the + wind, the nauseous swell in part subsided. I seemed less often on an + eminence or in a pit; my glassy azure dales had gentler slopes, or a + distemper was melting from my eyes. + </p> + <p> + At least I know that I had now less work to keep my frail ship trim, + though this also may have come by use and practice. In the beginning one + or other of my legs had been for ever trailing in the sea, to keep the + hen-coop from rolling over the other way; in fact, as I understand they + steer the toboggan in Canada, so I my little bark. Now the necessity for + this was gradually decreasing; whatever the cause, it was the greatest + mercy the day had brought me yet. With less strain on the attention, + however, there was more upon the mind. No longer forced to exert some + muscle twice or thrice a minute, I had time to feel very faint, and yet + time to think. My soul flew homing to its proper prison. I was no longer + any unit at unequal strife with the elements; instincts common to my kind + were no longer my only stimulus. I was my poor self again; it was my own + little life, and no other, that I wanted to go on living; and yet I felt + vaguely there was some special thing I wished to live for, something that + had not been very long in my ken; something that had perhaps nerved and + strengthened me all these hours. What, then, could it be? I could not + think. + </p> + <p> + For moments or for minutes I wondered stupidly, dazed as I was. Then I + remembered—and the tears gushed to my eyes. How could I ever have + forgotten? I deserved it all, all, all! To think that many a time we must + have sat together on this very coop! I kissed its blistering edge at the + thought, and my tears ran afresh, as though they never would stop. + </p> + <p> + Ah! how I thought of her as that cruel day's most cruel sun climbed higher + and higher in the flawless flaming vault. A pocket-handkerchief of all + things had remained in my trousers pocket through fire and water; I + knotted it on the old childish plan, and kept it ever drenched upon the + head that had its own fever to endure as well. Eva Denison! Eva Denison! I + was talking to her in the past, I was talking to her in the future, and + oh! how different were the words, the tone! Yes, I hated myself for having + forgotten her; but I hated God for having given her back to my tortured + brain; it made life so many thousandfold more sweet, and death so many + thousandfold more bitter. + </p> + <p> + She was saved in the gig. Sweet Jesus, thanks for that! But I—I was + dying a lingering death in mid-ocean; she would never know how I loved + her, I, who could only lecture her when I had her at my side. + </p> + <p> + Dying? No—no—not yet! I must live—live—live—to + tell my darling how I had loved her all the time. So I forced myself from + my lethargy of despair and grief; and this thought, the sweetest thought + of all my life, may or may not have been my unrealized stimulus ere now; + it was in very deed my most conscious and perpetual spur henceforth until + the end. + </p> + <p> + From this onward, while my sense stood by me, I was practical, + resourceful, alert. It was now high-noon, and I had eaten nothing since + dinner the night before. How clearly I saw the long saloon table, only + laid, however, abaft the mast; the glittering glass, the cool white + napery, the poor old dried dessert in the green dishes! Earlier, this had + occupied my mind an hour; now I dismissed it in a moment; there was Eva, I + must live for her; there must be ways of living at least a day or two + without sustenance, and I must think of them. + </p> + <p> + So I undid that belt of mine which fastened me to my gridiron, and I + straddled my craft with a sudden keen eye for sharks, of which I never + once had thought until now. Then I tightened the belt about my hollow + body, and just sat there with the problem. The past hour I had been wholly + unobservant; the inner eye had had its turn; but that was over now, and I + sat as upright as possible, seeking greedily for a sail. Of course I saw + none. Had we indeed been off our course before the fire broke out? Had we + burned to cinders aside and apart from the regular track of ships? Then, + though my present valiant mood might ignore the adverse chances, they were + as one hundred to a single chance of deliverance. Our burning had brought + no ship to our succor; and how should I, a mere speck amid the waves, + bring one to mine? + </p> + <p> + Moreover, I was all but motionless; I was barely drifting at all. This I + saw from a few objects which were floating around me now at noon; they had + been with me when the high sun rose. One was, I think, the very oar which + had been my first support; another was a sailor's cap; but another, which + floated nearer, was new to me, as though it had come to the surface while + my eyes were turned inwards. And this was clearly the case; for the thing + was a drowned and bloated corpse. + </p> + <p> + It fascinated me, though not with extraordinary horror; it came too late + to do that. I thought I recognized the man's back. I fancied it was the + mate who had taken charge of the long-boat. Was I then the single survivor + of those thirty souls? I was still watching my poor lost comrade, when + that happened to him against which even I was not proof. Through the deep + translucent blue beneath me a slim shape glided; three smaller fish led + the way; they dallied an instant a fathom under my feet, which were + snatched up, with what haste you may imagine; then on they went to surer + prey. + </p> + <p> + He turned over; his dreadful face stared upwards; it was the chief + officer, sure enough. Then he clove the water with a rush, his dead hand + waved, the last of him to disappear; and I had a new horror to think over + for my sins. His poor fingers were all broken and beaten to a pulp. + </p> + <p> + The voices of the night came back to me—the curses and the cries. + Yes, I must have heard them. In memory now I recognized the voice of the + chief mate, but there again came in the assisted imagination. Yet I was + not so sure of this as before. I thought of Santos and his horrible heavy + cane. Good God! she was in the power of that! I must live for Eva indeed; + must save myself to save and protect my innocent and helpless girl. + </p> + <p> + Again I was a man; stronger than ever was the stimulus now, louder than + ever the call on every drop of true man's blood in my perishing frame. It + should not perish! It should not! + </p> + <p> + Yet my throat was parched; my lips were caked; my frame was hollow. Very + weak I was already; without sustenance I should surely die. But as yet I + was far enough from death, or I had done disdaining the means of life that + all this time lay ready to my hand. A number of dead fowls imparted + ballast to my little craft. + </p> + <p> + Yet I could not look at them in all these hours; or I could look, but that + was all. So I must sit up one hour more, and keep a sharper eye than ever + for the tiniest glimmer of a sail. To what end, I often asked myself? I + might see them; they would never see me. + </p> + <p> + Then my eyes would fail, and “you squeamish fool!” I said at intervals, + until my tongue failed to articulate; it had swollen so in my mouth. + Flying fish skimmed the water like thick spray; petrels were so few that I + could count them; another shark swam round me for an hour. In sudden panic + I dashed my knuckles on the wooden bars, to get at a duck to give the + monster for a sop. My knuckles bled. I held them to my mouth. My cleaving + tongue wanted more. The duck went to the shark; a few minutes more and I + had made my own vile meal as well. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. MY REWARD + </h2> + <p> + The sun declined; my shadow broadened on die waters; and now I felt that + if my cockle-shell could live a little longer, why, so could I. + </p> + <p> + I had got at the fowls without further hurt. Some of the bars took out, I + discovered how. And now very carefully I got my legs in, and knelt; but + the change of posture was not worth the risk one ran for it; there was too + much danger of capsizing, and failing to free oneself before she filled + and sank. + </p> + <p> + With much caution I began breaking the bars, one by one; it was hard + enough, weak as I was; my thighs were of more service than my hands. + </p> + <p> + But at last I could sit, the grating only covering me from the knees + downwards. And the relief of that outweighed all the danger, which, as I + discovered to my untold joy, was now much less than it had been before. I + was better ballast than the fowls. + </p> + <p> + These I had attached to the lashings which had been blown asunder by the + explosion; at one end of the coop the ring-bolt had been torn clean out, + but at the other it was the cordage that had parted. To the frayed ends I + tied my fowls by the legs, with the most foolish pride in my own cunning. + Do you not see? It would keep them fresh for my use, and it was a trick I + had read of in no book; it was all my own. + </p> + <p> + So evening fell and found me hopeful and even puffed up; but yet, no sail. + </p> + <p> + Now, however, I could lie back, and use had given me a strange sense of + safety; besides, I think I knew, I hope I felt, that the hen-coop was in + other Hands than mine. + </p> + <p> + All is reaction in the heart of man; light follows darkness nowhere more + surely than in that hidden self, and now at sunset it was my heart's + high-noon. Deep peace pervaded me as I lay outstretched in my narrow + rocking bed, as it might be in my coffin; a trust in my Maker's will to + save me if that were for the best, a trust in His final wisdom and + loving-kindness, even though this night should be my last on earth. For + myself I was resigned, and for others I must trust Him no less. Who was I + to constitute myself the protector of the helpless, when He was in His + Heaven? Such was my sunset mood; it lasted a few minutes, and then, + without radically changing, it became more objective. + </p> + <p> + The west was a broadening blaze of yellow and purple and red. I cannot + describe it to you. If you have seen the sun set in the tropics, you would + despise my description; and, if not, I for one could never make you see + it. Suffice it that a petrel wheeled somewhere between deepening carmine + and paling blue, and it took my thoughts off at an earthy tangent. I + thanked God there were no big sea-birds in these latitudes; no + molly-hawks, no albatrosses, no Cape-hens. I thought of an albatross that + I had caught going out. Its beak and talons were at the bottom with the + charred remains of the <i>Lady Jermyn</i>. But I could see them still, could feel + them shrewdly in my mind's flesh; and so to the old superstition, + strangely justified by my case; and so to the poem which I, with my + special experience, not unnaturally consider the greatest poem ever + penned. + </p> + <p> + But I did not know it then as I do now—and how the lines eluded me! + I seemed to see them in the book, yet I could not read the words! + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Water, water, everywhere, + Nor any drop to drink.” + </pre> + <p> + That, of course, came first (incorrectly); and it reminded me of my + thirst, which the blood of the fowls had so very partially appeased. I see + now that it is lucky I could recall but little more. Experience is less + terrible than realization, and that poem makes me realize what I went + through as memory cannot. It has verses which would have driven me mad. On + the other hand, the exhaustive mental search for them distracted my + thoughts until the stars were back in the sky; and now I had a new + occupation, saying to myself all the poetry I could remember, especially + that of the sea; for I was a bookish fellow even then. But I never was + anything of a scholar. It is odd therefore, that the one apposite passage + which recurred to me in its entirety was in hexameters and pentameters: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Me miserum, quanti montes volvuntur aquarum! + Jam jam tacturos sidera summa putes. + Quantae diducto subsidunt aequore valles! + Jam jam tacturas Tartara nigra putes. + Quocunque adspicio, nihil est nisi pontus et aether; + Fluctibus hic tumidis, nubibus ille minax.... +</pre> + <p> + More there was of it in my head; but this much was an accurate statement + of my case; and yet less so now (I was thankful to reflect) than in the + morning, when every wave was indeed a mountain, and its trough a Tartarus. + I had learnt the lines at school; nay, they had formed my very earliest + piece of Latin repetition. And how sharply I saw the room I said them in, + the man I said them to, ever since my friend! I figured him even now + hearing Ovid rep., the same passage in the same room. And I lay saying it + on a hen-coop in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean! + </p> + <p> + At last I fell into a deep sleep, a long unconscious holiday of the soul, + undefiled by any dream. + </p> + <p> + They say that our dreaming is done as we slowly wake; then was I out of + the way of it that night, for a sudden violent rocking awoke me in one + horrid instant. I made it worse by the way I started to a sitting posture. + I had shipped some water. I was shipping more. Yet all around the sea was + glassy; whence then the commotion? As my ship came trim again, and I saw + that my hour was not yet, the cause occurred to me; and my heart turned so + sick that it was minutes before I had the courage to test my theory. + </p> + <p> + It was the true one. + </p> + <p> + A shark had been at my trailing fowls; had taken the bunch of them + together, dragging the legs from my loose fastenings. Lucky they had been + no stronger! Else had I been dragged down to perdition too. + </p> + <p> + Lucky, did I say? The refinement of cruelty rather; for now I had neither + meat nor drink; my throat was a kiln; my tongue a flame; and another day + at hand. + </p> + <p> + The stars were out; the sea was silver; the sun was up! + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + . . . . . +</pre> + <p> + Hours passed. + </p> + <p> + I was waiting now for my delirium. + </p> + <p> + It came in bits. + </p> + <p> + I was a child. I was playing on the lawn at home. I was back on the + blazing sea. + </p> + <p> + I was a schoolboy saying my Ovid; then back once more. + </p> + <p> + The hen-coop was the <i>Lady Jermyn</i>. I was at Eva Denison's side. They were + marrying us on board. The ship's bell was ringing for us; a guitar in the + background burlesqued the Wedding March under skinny fingers; the air was + poisoned by a million cigarettes, they raised a pall of smoke above the + mastheads, they set fire to the ship; smoke and flame covered the sea from + rim to rim, smoke and flame filled the universe; the sea dried up, and I + was left lying in its bed, lying in my coffin, with red-hot teeth, because + the sun blazed right above them, and my withered lips were drawn back from + them for ever. + </p> + <p> + So once more I came back to my living death; too weak now to carry a + finger to the salt water and back to my mouth; too weak to think of Eva; + too weak to pray any longer for the end, to trouble or to care any more. + </p> + <p> + Only so tired. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + . . . . . +</pre> + <p> + Death has no more terrors for me. I have supped the last horror of the + worst death a man can die. You shall hear now for what I was delivered; + you shall read of my reward. + </p> + <p> + My floating coffin was many things in turn; a railway carriage, a pleasure + boat on the Thames, a hammock under the trees; last of all it was the + upper berth in a not very sweet-smelling cabin, with a clatter of knives + and forks near at hand, and a very strong odor of onions in the Irish + stew. + </p> + <p> + My hand crawled to my head; both felt a wondrous weight; and my head was + covered with bristles no longer than those on my chin, only less stubborn. + </p> + <p> + “Where am I?” I feebly asked. + </p> + <p> + The knives and forks clattered on, and presently I burst out crying + because they had not heard me, and I knew that I could never make them + hear. Well, they heard my sobs, and a huge fellow came with his mouth + full, and smelling like a pickle bottle. + </p> + <p> + “Where am I?” + </p> + <p> + “Aboard the brig Eliza, Liverpool, homeward bound; glad to see them eyes + open.” + </p> + <p> + “Have I been here long?” + </p> + <p> + “Matter o' ten days.” + </p> + <p> + “Where did you find me?” + </p> + <p> + “Floating in a hen-coop; thought you was a dead 'un.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you know what ship?” + </p> + <p> + “Do we know? No, that's what you've got to tell us!” + </p> + <p> + “I can't,” I sighed, too weak to wag my head upon the pillow. + </p> + <p> + The man went to my cabin door. + </p> + <p> + “Here's a go,” said he; “forgotten the name of his blessed ship, he has. + Where's that there paper, Mr. Bowles? There's just a chance it may be the + same.” + </p> + <p> + “I've got it, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, fetch it along, and come you in, Mr. Bowles; likely you may think + o' somethin'.” + </p> + <p> + A reddish, hook-nosed man, with a jaunty, wicked look, came and smiled + upon me in the friendliest fashion; the smell of onions became more than I + knew how to endure. + </p> + <p> + “Ever hear of the ship <i>Lady Jermyn</i>?” asked the first corner, winking at + the other. + </p> + <p> + I thought very hard, the name did sound familiar; but no, I could not + honestly say that I had beard it before. + </p> + <p> + The captain looked at his mate. + </p> + <p> + “It was a thousand to one,” said he; “still we may as well try him with + the other names. Ever heard of Cap'n Harris, mister?” + </p> + <p> + “Not that I know of.” + </p> + <p> + “Of Saunderson-stooard?” + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + “Or Crookes-quartermaster.” + </p> + <p> + “Never.” + </p> + <p> + “Nor yet of Ready—a passenger?” + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + “It's no use goin' on,” said the captain folding up the paper. + </p> + <p> + “None whatever, sir,” said the mate + </p> + <p> + “Ready! Ready!” I repeated. “I do seem to have heard that name before. + Won't you give me another chance?” + </p> + <p> + The paper was unfolded with a shrug. + </p> + <p> + “There was another passenger of the name of San-Santos. Dutchman, + seemin'ly. Ever heard o' him?” + </p> + <p> + My disappointment was keen. I could not say that I had. Yet I would not + swear that I had not. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, won't you? Well, there's only one more chance. Ever heard of Miss Eva + Denison—” + </p> + <p> + “By God, yes! Have you?” + </p> + <p> + I was sitting bolt upright in my bunk. The skipper's beard dropped upon + his chest. + </p> + <p> + “Bless my soul! The last name o' the lot, too!” + </p> + <p> + “Have you heard of her?” I reiterated. + </p> + <p> + “Wait a bit, my lad! Not so fast. Lie down again and tell me who she was.” + </p> + <p> + “Who she was?” I screamed. “I want to know where she is!” + </p> + <p> + “I can't hardly say,” said the captain awkwardly. “We found the gig o' the + <i>Lady Jermyn</i> the week arter we found you, bein' becalmed like; there wasn't + no lady aboard her, though.” + </p> + <p> + “Was there anybody?” + </p> + <p> + “Two dead 'uns—an' this here paper.” + </p> + <p> + “Let me see it!” + </p> + <p> + The skipper hesitated. + </p> + <p> + “Hadn't you better wait a bit?” + </p> + <p> + “No, no; for Christ's sake let me see the worst; do you think I can't read + it in your face?” + </p> + <p> + I could—I did. I made that plain to them, and at last I had the + paper smoothed out upon my knees. It was a short statement of the last + sufferings of those who had escaped in the gig, and there was nothing in + it that I did not now expect. They had buried Ready first—then my + darling—then her step-father. The rest expected to follow fast + enough. It was all written plainly, on a sheet of the log-book, in + different trembling hands. Captain Harris had gone next; and two had been + discovered dead. + </p> + <p> + How long I studied that bit of crumpled paper, with the salt spray still + sparkling on it faintly, God alone knows. All at once a peal of nightmare + laughter rattled through the cabin. My deliverers started back. The laugh + was mine. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. THE SOLE SURVIVOR + </h2> + <p> + A few weeks later I landed in England, I, who no longer desired to set + foot on any land again. + </p> + <p> + At nine-and-twenty I was gaunt and gray; my nerves were shattered, my + heart was broken; and my face showed it without let or hindrance from the + spirit that was broken too. Pride, will, courage, and endurance, all these + had expired in my long and lonely battle with the sea. They had kept me + alive-for this. And now they left me naked to mine enemies. + </p> + <p> + For every hand seemed raised against me, though in reality it was the hand + of fellowship that the world stretched out, and the other was the reading + of a jaundiced eye. I could not help it: there was a poison in my veins + that made me all ingratitude and perversity. The world welcomed me back, + and I returned the compliment by sulking like the recaptured runaway I was + at heart. The world showed a sudden interest in me; so I took no further + interest in the world, but, on the contrary, resented its attentions with + unreasonable warmth and obduracy; and my would-be friends I regarded as my + very worst enemies. The majority, I feel sure, meant but well and kindly + by the poor survivor. But the survivor could not forget that his name was + still in the newspapers, nor blink the fact that he was an unworthy hero + of the passing hour. And he suffered enough from brazenly meddlesome and + self-seeking folk, from impudent and inquisitive intruders, to justify + some suspicion of old acquaintances suddenly styling themselves old + friends, and of distant connections newly and unduly eager to claim + relationship. Many I misjudged, and have long known it. On the whole, + however, I wonder at that attitude of mine as little as I approve of it. + </p> + <p> + If I had distinguished myself in any other way, it would have been a + different thing. It was the fussy, sentimental, inconsiderate interest in + one thrown into purely accidental and necessarily painful prominence—the + vulgarization of an unspeakable tragedy—that my soul abhorred. I + confess that I regarded it from my own unique and selfish point of view. + What was a thrilling matter to the world was a torturing memory to me. The + quintessence of the torture was, moreover, my own secret. It was not the + loss of the <i>Lady Jermyn</i> that I could not bear to speak about; it was my + own loss; but the one involved the other. My loss apart, however, it was + plain enough to dwell upon experiences so terrible and yet so recent as + those which I had lived to tell. I did what I considered my duty to the + public, but I certainly did no more. My reticence was rebuked in the + papers that made the most of me, but would fain have made more. And yet I + do not think that I was anything but docile with those who had a manifest + right to question me; to the owners, and to other interested persons, with + whom I was confronted on one pretext or another, I told my tale as fully + and as freely as I have told it here, though each telling hurt more than + the last. That was necessary and unavoidable; it was the private + intrusions which I resented with all the spleen the sea had left me in + exchange for the qualities it had taken away. + </p> + <p> + Relatives I had as few as misanthropist could desire; but from + self-congratulation on the fact, on first landing, I soon came to keen + regret. They at least would have sheltered me from spies and busybodies; + they at least would have secured the peace and privacy of one who was no + hero in fact or spirit, whose noblest deed was a piece of self + preservation which he wished undone with all his heart. + </p> + <p> + Self-consciousness no doubt multiplied my flattering assailants. I have + said that my nerves were shattered. I may have imagined much and + exaggerated the rest. Yet what truth there was in my suspicions you shall + duly see. I felt sure that I was followed in the street, and my every + movement dogged by those to whom I would not condescend to turn and look. + Meanwhile, I had not the courage to go near my club, and the Temple was a + place where I was accosted in every court, effusively congratulated on the + marvellous preservation of my stale spoilt life, and invited right and + left to spin my yarn over a quiet pipe! Well, perhaps such invitations + were not so common as they have grown in my memory; nor must you confuse + my then feelings on all these matters with those which I entertain as I + write. I have grown older, and, I hope, something kindlier and wiser since + then. Yet to this day I cannot blame myself for abandoning my chambers and + avoiding my club. + </p> + <p> + For a temporary asylum I pitched upon a small, quiet, empty, private hotel + which I knew of in Charterhouse Square. Instantly the room next mine + became occupied. + </p> + <p> + All the first night I imagined I heard voices talking about me in that + room next door. It was becoming a disease with me. Either I was being + dogged, watched, followed, day and night, indoors and out, or I was the + victim of a very ominous hallucination. That night I never closed an eye + nor lowered my light. In the morning I took a four-wheel cab and drove + straight to Harley Street; and, upon my soul, as I stood on the + specialist's door-step, I could have sworn I saw the occupant of the room + next mine dash by me in a hansom! + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said the specialist; “so you cannot sleep; you hear voices; you + fancy you are being followed in the street. You don't think these fancies + spring entirely from the imagination? Not entirely—just so. And you + keep looking behind you, as though somebody were at your elbow; and you + prefer to sit with your back close to the wall. Just so—just so. + Distressing symptoms, to be sure, but—but hardly to be wondered at + in a man who has come through your nervous strain.” A keen professional + light glittered in his eyes. “And almost commonplace,” he added, smiling, + “compared with the hallucinations you must have suffered from on that + hen-coop! Ah, my dear sir, the psychological interest of your case is very + great!” + </p> + <p> + “It may be,” said I, brusquely. “But I come to you to get that hen-coop + out of my head, not to be reminded of it. Everybody asks me about the + damned thing, and you follow everybody else. I wish it and I were at the + bottom of the sea together!” + </p> + <p> + This speech had the effect of really interesting the doctor in my present + condition, which was indeed one of chronic irritation and extreme + excitability, alternating with fits of the very blackest despair. Instead + of offending my gentleman I had put him on his mettle, and for half an + hour he honored me with the most exhaustive inquisition ever elicited from + a medical man. His panacea was somewhat in the nature of an anti-climax, + but at least it had the merits of simplicity and of common sense. A change + of air—perfect quiet—say a cottage in the country—not + too near the sea. And he shook my hand kindly when I left. + </p> + <p> + “Keep up your heart, my dear sir,” said he. “Keep up your courage and your + heart.” + </p> + <p> + “My heart!” I cried. “It's at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.” + </p> + <p> + He was the first to whom I had said as much. He was a stranger. What did + it matter? And, oh, it was so true—so true. + </p> + <p> + Every day and all day I was thinking of my love; every hour and all hours + she was before me with her sunny hair and young, young face. Her wistful + eyes were gazing into mine continually. Their wistfulness I had never + realized at the time; but now I did; and I saw it for what it seemed + always to have been, the soft, sad, yearning look of one fated to die + young. So young—so young! And I might live to be an old man, + mourning her. + </p> + <p> + That I should never love again I knew full well. This time there was no + mistake. I have implied, I believe, that it was for another woman I fled + originally to the diggings. Well, that one was still unmarried, and when + the papers were full of me she wrote me a letter which I now believe to + have been merely kind. At the time I was all uncharitableness; but words + of mine would fail to tell you how cold this letter left me; it was as a + candle lighted in the full blaze of the sun. + </p> + <p> + With all my bitterness, however, you must not suppose that I had quite + lost the feelings which had inspired me at sunset on the lonely ocean, + while my mind still held good. I had been too near my Maker ever to lose + those feelings altogether. They were with me in the better moments of + these my worst days. I trusted His wisdom still. There was a reason for + everything; there were reasons for all this. I alone had been saved out of + all those souls who sailed from Melbourne in the <i>Lady Jermyn</i>. Why should I + have been the favored one; I with my broken heart and now lonely life? + Some great inscrutable reason there must be; at my worst I did not deny + that. But neither did I puzzle my sick brain with the reason. I just + waited for it to be revealed to me, if it were God's will ever to reveal + it. And that I conceive to be the one spirit in which a man may + contemplate, with equal sanity and reverence, the mysteries and the + miseries of his life. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. I FIND A FRIEND + </h2> + <p> + The night after I consulted the specialist I was quite determined to + sleep. I had laid in a bundle of the daily papers. No country cottage was + advertised to let but I knew of it by evening, and about all the likely + ones I had already written. The scheme occupied my thoughts. Trout-fishing + was a desideratum. I would take my rod and plenty of books, would live + simply and frugally, and it should make a new man of me by Christmas. It + was now October. I went to sleep thinking of autumn tints against an + autumn sunset. It must have been very early, certainly not later than ten + o'clock; the previous night I had not slept at all. + </p> + <p> + Now, this private hotel of mine was a very old fashioned house, dark and + dingy all day long, with heavy old chandeliers and black old oak, and dead + flowers in broken flower-pots surrounding a grimy grass-plot in the rear. + On this latter my bedroom window looked; and never am I likely to forget + the vile music of the cats throughout my first long wakeful night there. + The second night they actually woke me; doubtless they had been busy long + enough, but it was all of a sudden that I heard them, and lay listening + for more, wide awake in an instant. My window had been very softly opened, + and the draught fanned my forehead as I held my breath. + </p> + <p> + A faint light glimmered through a ground-glass pane over the door; and was + dimly reflected by the toilet mirror, in its usual place against the + window. This mirror I saw moved, and next moment I had bounded from bed. + </p> + <p> + The mirror fell with a horrid clatter: the toilet-table followed it with a + worse: the thief had gone as he had come ere my toes halted aching amid + the debris. + </p> + <p> + A useless little balcony—stone slab and iron railing—jutted + out from my window. I thought I saw a hand on the railing, another on the + slab, then both together on the lower level for one instant before they + disappeared. There was a dull yet springy thud on the grass below. Then no + more noise but the distant thunder of the traffic, and the one that woke + me, until the window next mine was thrown up. + </p> + <p> + “What the devil's up?” + </p> + <p> + The voice was rich, cheery, light-hearted, agreeable; all that my own was + not as I answered “Nothing!” for this was not the first time my next-door + neighbor had tried to scrape acquaintance with me. + </p> + <p> + “But surely, sir, I heard the very dickens of a row?” + </p> + <p> + “You may have done.” + </p> + <p> + “I was afraid some one had broken into your room!” + </p> + <p> + “As a matter of fact,” said I, put to shame by the undiminished good-humor + of my neighbor, “some one did; but he's gone now, so let him be.” + </p> + <p> + “Gone? Not he! He's getting over that wall. After him—after him!” + And the head disappeared from the window next mine. + </p> + <p> + I rushed into the corridor, and was just in time to intercept a singularly + handsome young fellow, at whom I had hardly taken the trouble to look + until now. He was in full evening dress, and his face was radiant with the + spirit of mischief and adventure. + </p> + <p> + “For God's sake, sir,” I whispered, “let this matter rest. I shall have to + come forward if you persist, and Heaven knows I have been before the + public quite enough!” + </p> + <p> + His dark eyes questioned me an instant, then fell as though he would not + disguise that he recollected and understood. I liked him for his good + taste. I liked him for his tacit sympathy, and better still for the + amusing disappointment in his gallant, young face. + </p> + <p> + “I am sorry to have robbed you of a pleasant chase,” said I. “At one time + I should have been the first to join you. But, to tell you the truth, I've + had enough excitement lately to last me for my life.” + </p> + <p> + “I can believe that,” he answered, with his fine eyes full upon me. How + strangely I had misjudged him! I saw no vulgar curiosity in his flattering + gaze, but rather that very sympathy of which I stood in need. I offered + him my hand. + </p> + <p> + “It is very good of you to give in,” I said. “No one else has heard a + thing, you see. I shall look for another opportunity of thanking you + to-morrow.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no!” cried he, “thanks be hanged, but—but, I say, if I promise + you not to bore you about things—won't you drink a glass of + brandy-and-water in my room before you turn in again?” + </p> + <p> + Brandy-and-water being the very thing I needed, and this young man + pleasing me more and more, I said that I would join him with all my heart, + and returned to my room for my dressing-gown and slippers. To find them, + however, I had to light my candles, when the first thing I saw was the + havoc my marauder had left behind him. The mirror was cracked across; the + dressing-table had lost a leg; and both lay flat, with my brushes and + shaving-table, and the foolish toilet crockery which no one uses (but I + should have to replace) strewn upon the carpet. But one thing I found that + had not been there before: under the window lay a formidable sheath-knife + without its sheath. I picked it up with something of a thrill, which did + not lessen when I felt its edge. The thing was diabolically sharp. I took + it with me to show my neighbor, whom I found giving his order to the + boots; it seemed that it was barely midnight, and that he had only just + come in when the clatter took place in my room. + </p> + <p> + “Hillo!” he cried, when the man was gone, and I produced my trophy. “Why, + what the mischief have you got there?” + </p> + <p> + “My caller's card,” said I. “He left it behind him. Feel the edge.” + </p> + <p> + I have seldom seen a more indignant face than the one which my new + acquaintance bent over the weapon, as he held it to the light, and ran his + finger along the blade. He could have not frowned more heavily if he had + recognized the knife. + </p> + <p> + “The villains!” he muttered. “The damned villains!” + </p> + <p> + “Villains?” I queried. “Did you see more than one of them, then?” + </p> + <p> + “Didn't you?” he asked quickly. “Yes, yes, to be sure! There was at least + one other beggar skulking down below.” He stood looking at me, the knife + in his hand, though mine was held out for it. “Don't you think, Mr. Cole, + that it's our duty to hand this over to the police? I—I've heard of + other cases about these Inns of Court. There's evidently a gang of them, + and this knife might convict the lot; there's no saying; anyway I think + the police should have it. If you like I'll take it to Scotland Yard + myself, and hand it over without mentioning your name.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, if you keep my name out of it,” said I, “and say nothing about it + here in the hotel, you may do what you like, and welcome! It's the proper + course, no doubt; only I've had publicity enough, and would sooner have + felt that blade in my body than set my name going again in the + newspapers.” + </p> + <p> + “I understand,” he said, with his well-bred sympathy, which never went a + shade too far; and he dropped the weapon into a drawer, as the boots + entered with the tray. In a minute he had brewed two steaming jorums of + spirits-and-water; as he handed me one, I feared he was going to drink my + health, or toast my luck; but no, he was the one man I had met who seemed, + as he said, to “understand.” Nevertheless, he had his toast. + </p> + <p> + “Here's confusion to the criminal classes in general,” he cried; “but + death and damnation to the owners of that knife!” + </p> + <p> + And we clinked tumblers across the little oval table in the middle of the + room. It was more of a sitting-room than mine; a bright fire was burning + in the grate, and my companion insisted on my sitting over it in the + arm-chair, while for himself he fetched the one from his bedside, and drew + up the table so that our glasses should be handy. He then produced a + handsome cigar-case admirably stocked, and we smoked and sipped in the + cosiest fashion, though without exchanging many words. + </p> + <p> + You may imagine my pleasure in the society of a youth, equally charming in + looks, manners and address, who had not one word to say to me about the + <i>Lady Jermyn</i> or my hen-coop. It was unique. Yet such, I suppose, was my + native contrariety, that I felt I could have spoken of the catastrophe to + this very boy with less reluctance than to any other creature whom I had + encountered since my deliverance. He seemed so full of silent sympathy: + his consideration for my feelings was so marked and yet so unobtrusive. I + have called him a boy. I am apt to write as the old man I have grown, + though I do believe I felt older then than now. In any case my young + friend was some years my junior. I afterwards found out that he was + six-and-twenty. + </p> + <p> + I have also called him handsome. He was the handsomest man that I have + ever met, had the frankest face, the finest eyes, the brightest smile. Yet + his bronzed forehead was low, and his mouth rather impudent and bold than + truly strong. And there was a touch of foppery about him, in the enormous + white tie and the much-cherished whiskers of the fifties, which was only + redeemed by that other touch of devilry that he had shown me in the + corridor. By the rich brown of his complexion, as well as by a certain + sort of swagger in his walk, I should have said that he was a naval + officer ashore, had he not told me who he was of his own accord. + </p> + <p> + “By the way,” he said, “I ought to give you my name. It's Rattray, of one + of the many Kirby Halls in this country. My one's down in Lancashire.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose there's no need to tell my name?” said I, less sadly, I + daresay, than I had ever yet alluded to the tragedy which I alone + survived. It was an unnecessary allusion, too, as a reference to the + foregoing conversation will show. + </p> + <p> + “Well, no!” said he, in his frank fashion; “I can't honestly say there + is.” + </p> + <p> + We took a few puffs, he watching the fire, and I his firelit face. + </p> + <p> + “It must seem strange to you to be sitting with the only man who lived to + tell the tale!” + </p> + <p> + The egotism of this speech was not wholly gratuitous. I thought it did + seem strange to him: that a needless constraint was put upon him by + excessive consideration for my feelings. I desired to set him at his ease + as he had set me at mine. On the contrary, he seemed quite startled by my + remark. + </p> + <p> + “It is strange,” he said, with a shudder, followed by the biggest sip of + brandy-and-water he had taken yet. “It must have been horrible—horrible!” + he added to himself, his dark eyes staring into the fire. + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said I, “it was even more horrible than you suppose or can ever + imagine.” + </p> + <p> + I was not thinking of myself, nor of my love, nor of any particular + incident of the fire that still went on burning in my brain. My tone was + doubtless confidential, but I was meditating no special confidence when my + companion drew one with his next words. These, however, came after a + pause, in which my eyes had fallen from his face, but in which I heard him + emptying his glass. + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” he whispered. “That there were other circumstances—things + which haven't got into the papers?” + </p> + <p> + “God knows there were,” I answered, my face in my hands; and, my grief + brought home to me, there I sat with it in the presence of that stranger, + without compunction and without shame. + </p> + <p> + He sprang up and paced the room. His tact made me realize my weakness, and + I was struggling to overcome it when he surprised me by suddenly stopping + and laying a rather tremulous hand upon my shoulder. + </p> + <p> + “You—It wouldn't do you any good to speak of those circumstances, I + suppose?” he faltered. + </p> + <p> + “No: not now: no good at all.” + </p> + <p> + “Forgive me,” he said, resuming his walk. “I had no business—I felt + so sorry—I cannot tell you how I sympathize! And yet—I wonder + if you will always feel so?” + </p> + <p> + “No saying how I shall feel when I am a man again,” said I. “You see what + I am at present.” And, pulling myself together, I rose to find my new + friend quite agitated in his turn. + </p> + <p> + “I wish we had some more brandy,” he sighed. “I'm afraid it's too late to + get any now.” + </p> + <p> + “And I'm glad of it,” said I. “A man in my state ought not to look at + spirits, or he may never look past them again. Thank goodness, there are + other medicines. Only this morning I consulted the best man on nerves in + London. I wish I'd gone to him long ago.” + </p> + <p> + “Harley Street, was it?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Saw you on his doorstep, by Jove!” cried Rattray at once. “I was driving + over to Hampstead, and I thought it was you. Well, what's the + prescription?” + </p> + <p> + In my satisfaction at finding that he had not been dogging me + intentionally (though I had forgotten the incident till he reminded me of + it), I answered his question with unusual fulness. + </p> + <p> + “I should go abroad,” said Rattray. “But then, I always am abroad; it's + only the other day I got back from South America, and I shall up anchor + again before this filthy English winter sets in.” + </p> + <p> + Was he a sailor after all, or only a well-to-do wanderer on the face of + the earth? He now mentioned that he was only in England for a few weeks, + to have a look at his estate, and so forth; after which he plunged into + more or less enthusiastic advocacy of this or that foreign resort, as + opposed to the English cottage upon which I told him I had set my heart. + </p> + <p> + He was now, however, less spontaneous, I thought, than earlier in the + night. His voice had lost its hearty ring, and he seemed preoccupied, as + if talking of one matter while he thought upon another. Yet he would not + let me go; and presently he confirmed my suspicion, no less than my first + impression of his delightful frankness and cordiality, by candidly telling + me what was on his mind. + </p> + <p> + “If you really want a cottage in the country,” said he, “and the most + absolute peace and quiet to be got in this world, I know of the very thing + on my land in Lancashire. It would drive me mad in a week; but if you + really care for that sort of thing—” + </p> + <p> + “An occupied cottage?” I interrupted. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; a couple rent it from me, very decent people of the name of + Braithwaite. The man is out all day, and won't bother you when he's in; + he's not like other people, poor chap. But the woman 's all there, and + would do her best for you in a humble, simple, wholesome sort of way.” + </p> + <p> + “You think they would take me in?” + </p> + <p> + “They have taken other men—artists as a rule.” + </p> + <p> + “Then it's a picturesque country?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it's that if it's nothing else; but not a town for miles, mind you, + and hardly a village worthy the name.” + </p> + <p> + “Any fishing?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes—trout—small but plenty of 'em—in a beck running + close behind the cottage.” + </p> + <p> + “Come,” cried I, “this sounds delightful! Shall you be up there?” + </p> + <p> + “Only for a day or two,” was the reply. “I shan't trouble you, Mr. Cole.” + </p> + <p> + “My dear sir, that wasn't my meaning at all. I'm only sorry I shall not + see something of you on your own heath. I can't thank you enough for your + kind suggestion. When do you suppose the Braithwaites could do with me?” + </p> + <p> + His charming smile rebuked my impatience. + </p> + <p> + “We must first see whether they can do with you at all,” said he. “I + sincerely hope they can; but this is their time of year for tourists, + though perhaps a little late. I'll tell you what I'll do. As a matter of + fact, I'm going down there to-morrow, and I've got to telegraph to my + place in any case to tell them when to meet me. I'll send the telegram + first thing, and I'll make them send one back to say whether there's room + in the cottage or not.” + </p> + <p> + I thanked him warmly, but asked if the cottage was close to Kirby Hall, + and whether this would not be giving a deal of trouble at the other end; + whereupon he mischievously misunderstood me a second time, saying the + cottage and the hall were not even in sight of each other, and I really + had no intrusion to fear, as he was a lonely bachelor like myself, and + would only be up there four or five days at the most. So I made my + appreciation of his society plainer than ever to him; for indeed I had + found a more refreshing pleasure in it already than I had hoped to derive + from mortal man again; and we parted, at three o'clock in the morning, + like old fast friends. + </p> + <p> + “Only don't expect too much, my dear Mr. Cole,” were his last words to me. + “My own place is as ancient and as tumble-down as most ruins that you pay + to see over. And I'm never there myself because—I tell you frankly—I + hate it like poison!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. A SMALL PRECAUTION + </h2> + <p> + My delight in the society of this young Squire Rattray (as I soon was to + hear him styled) had been such as to make me almost forget the sinister + incident which had brought us together. When I returned to my room, + however, there were the open window and the litter on the floor to remind + me of what had happened earlier in the night. Yet I was less disconcerted + than you might suppose. A common housebreaker can have few terrors for one + who has braved those of mid-ocean single-handed; my would-be visitor had + no longer any for me; for it had not yet occurred to me to connect him + with the voices and the footsteps to which, indeed, I had been unable to + swear before the doctor. On the other hand, these morbid imaginings (as I + was far from unwilling to consider them) had one and all deserted me in + the sane, clean company of the capital young fellow in the next room. + </p> + <p> + I have confessed my condition up to the time of this queer meeting. I have + tried to bring young Rattray before you with some hint of his freshness + and his boyish charm; and though the sense of failure is heavy upon me + there, I who knew the man knew also that I must fail to do him justice. + Enough may have been said, however, to impart some faint idea of what this + youth was to me in the bitter and embittering anti-climax of my life. + Conventional figures spring to my pen, but every one of them is true; he + was flowers in spring, he was sunshine after rain, he was rain following + long months of drought. I slept admirably after all; and I awoke to see + the overturned toilet-table, and to thrill as I remembered there was one + fellow-creature with whom I could fraternize without fear of a rude + reopening of my every wound. + </p> + <p> + I hurried my dressing in the hope of our breakfasting together. I knocked + at the next door, and, receiving no answer, even ventured to enter, with + the same idea. He was not there. He was not in the coffee-room. He was not + in the hotel. + </p> + <p> + I broke my fast in disappointed solitude, and I hung about disconsolate + all the morning, looking wistfully for my new-made friend. Towards mid-day + he drove up in a cab which he kept waiting at the curb. + </p> + <p> + “It's all right!” he cried out in his hearty way. “I sent my telegram + first thing, and I've had the answer at my club. The rooms are vacant, and + I'll see that Jane Braithwaite has all ready for you by to-morrow night.” + </p> + <p> + I thanked him from my heart. “You seem in a hurry!” I added, as I followed + him up the stairs. + </p> + <p> + “I am,” said he. “It's a near thing for the train. I've just time to stick + in my things.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I'll stick in mine,” said I impulsively, “and I'll come with you, + and doss down in any corner for the night.” + </p> + <p> + He stopped and turned on the stairs. + </p> + <p> + “You mustn't do that,” said he; “they won't have anything ready. I'm going + to make it my privilege to see that everything is as cosey as possible + when you arrive. I simply can't allow you to come to-day, Mr. Cole!” He + smiled, but I saw that he was in earnest, and of course I gave in. + </p> + <p> + “All right,” said I; “then I must content myself with seeing you off at + the station.” + </p> + <p> + To my surprise his smile faded, and a flush of undisguised annoyance made + him, if anything, better-looking than ever. It brought out a certain + strength of mouth and jaw which I had not observed there hitherto. It gave + him an ugliness of expression which only emphasized his perfection of + feature. + </p> + <p> + “You mustn't do that either,” said he, shortly. “I have an appointment at + the station. I shall be talking business all the time.” + </p> + <p> + He was gone to his room, and I went to mine feeling duly snubbed; yet I + deserved it; for I had exhibited a characteristic (though not chronic) + want of taste, of which I am sometimes guilty to this day. Not to show + ill-feeling on the head of it, I nevertheless followed him down again in + four or five minutes. And I was rewarded by his brightest smile as he + grasped my hand. + </p> + <p> + “Come to-morrow by the same train,” said he, naming station, line, and + hour; “unless I telegraph, all will be ready and you shall be met. You may + rely on reasonable charges. As to the fishing, go up-stream—to the + right when you strike the beck—and you'll find a good pool or two. I + may have to go to Lancaster the day after to-morrow, but I shall give you + a call when I get back.” + </p> + <p> + With that we parted, as good friends as ever. I observed that my regret at + losing him was shared by the boots, who stood beside me on the steps as + his hansom rattled off. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose Mr. Rattray stays here always when he comes to town?” said I. + </p> + <p> + “No, sir,” said the man, “we've never had him before, not in my time; but + I shouldn't mind if he came again.” And he looked twice at the coin in his + hand before pocketing it with evident satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + Lonely as I was, and wished to be, I think that I never felt my loneliness + as I did during the twenty-four hours which intervened between Rattray's + departure and my own. They dragged like wet days by the sea, and the + effect was as depressing. I have seldom been at such a loss for something + to do; and in my idleness I behaved like a child, wishing my new friend + back again, or myself on the railway with my new friend, until I blushed + for the beanstalk growth of my regard for him, an utter stranger, and a + younger man. I am less ashamed of it now: he had come into my dark life + like a lamp, and his going left a darkness deeper than before. + </p> + <p> + In my dejection I took a new view of the night's outrage. It was no common + burglar's work, for what had I worth stealing? It was the work of my + unseen enemies, who dogged me in the street; they alone knew why; the + doctor had called these hallucinations, and I had forced myself to agree + with the doctor; but I could not deceive myself in my present mood. I + remembered the steps, the steps—the stopping when I stopped—the + drawing away in the crowded streets—-the closing up in quieter + places. Why had I never looked round? Why? Because till to-day I had + thought it mere vulgar curiosity; because a few had bored me, I had + imagined the many at my heels; but now I knew—I knew! It was the few + again: a few who hated me even unto death. + </p> + <p> + The idea took such a hold upon me that I did not trouble my head with + reasons and motives. Certain persons had designs upon my life; that was + enough for me. On the whole, the thought was stimulating; it set a new + value on existence, and it roused a certain amount of spirit even in me. I + would give the fellows another chance before I left town. They should + follow me once more, and this time to some purpose. Last night they had + left a knife on me; to-night I would have a keepsake ready for them. + </p> + <p> + Hitherto I had gone unarmed since my landing, which, perhaps, was no more + than my duty as a civilized citizen. On Black Hill Flats, however, I had + formed another habit, of which I should never have broken myself so + easily, but for the fact that all the firearms I ever had were reddening + and rotting at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. I now went out and bought + me such a one as I had never possessed before. + </p> + <p> + The revolver was then in its infancy; but it did exist; and by dusk I was + owner of as fine a specimen as could be procured in the city of London. It + had but five chambers, but the barrel was ten inches long; one had to cap + it, and to put in the powder and the wadded bullet separately; but the + last-named would have killed an elephant. The oak case that I bought with + it cumbers my desk as I write, and, shut, you would think that it had + never contained anything more lethal than fruit-knives. I open it, and + there are the green-baize compartments, one with a box of percussion caps, + still apparently full, another that could not contain many more + wadded-bullets, and a third with a powder-horn which can never have been + much lighter. Within the lid is a label bearing the makers' names; the + gentlemen themselves are unknown to me, even if they are still alive; + nevertheless, after five-and-forty years, let me dip my pen to Messrs. + Deane, Adams and Deane! + </p> + <p> + That night I left this case in my room, locked, and the key in my + waistcoat pocket; in the right-hand side-pocket of my overcoat I carried + my Deane and Adams, loaded in every chamber; also my right hand, as + innocently as you could wish. And just that night I was not followed! I + walked across Regent's Park, and I dawdled on Primrose Hill, without the + least result. Down I turned into the Avenue Road, and presently was + strolling between green fields towards Finchley. The moon was up, but + nicely shaded by a thin coating of clouds which extended across the sky: + it was an ideal night for it. It was also my last night in town, and I did + want to give the beggars their last chance. But they did not even attempt + to avail themselves of it: never once did they follow me: my ears were in + too good training to make any mistake. And the reason only dawned on me as + I drove back disappointed: they had followed me already to the gunsmith's! + </p> + <p> + Convinced of this, I entertained but little hope of another midnight + visitor. Nevertheless, I put my light out early, and sat a long time + peeping through my blind; but only an inevitable Tom, with back hunched up + and tail erect, broke the moonlit profile of the back-garden wall; and + once more that disreputable music (which none the less had saved my life) + was the only near sound all night. + </p> + <p> + I felt very reluctant to pack Deane and Adams away in his case next + morning, and the case in my portmanteau, where I could not get at it in + case my unknown friends took it into their heads to accompany me out of + town. In the hope that they would, I kept him loaded, and in the same + overcoat pocket, until late in the afternoon, when, being very near my + northern destination, and having the compartment to myself, I locked the + toy away with considerable remorse for the price I had paid for it. All + down the line I had kept an eye for suspicious characters with an eye upon + me; but even my self-consciousness failed to discover one; and I reached + my haven of peace, and of fresh fell air, feeling, I suppose, much like + any other fool who has spent his money upon a white elephant. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. MY CONVALESCENT HOME + </h2> + <p> + The man Braithwaite met me at the station with a spring cart. The very + porters seemed to expect me, and my luggage was in the cart before I had + given up my ticket. Nor had we started when I first noticed that + Braithwaite did not speak when I spoke to him. On the way, however, a more + flagrant instance recalled young Rattray's remark, that the man was “not + like other people.” I had imagined it to refer to a mental, not a + physical, defect; whereas it was clear to me now that my prospective + landlord was stone-deaf, and I presently discovered him to be dumb as + well. Thereafter I studied him with some attention during our drive of + four or five miles. I called to mind the theory that an innate physical + deficiency is seldom without its moral counterpart, and I wondered how far + this would apply to the deaf-mute at my side, who was ill-grown, wizened, + and puny into the bargain. The brow-beaten face of him was certainly + forbidding, and he thrashed his horse up the hills in a dogged, + vindictive, thorough-going way which at length made me jump out and climb + one of them on foot. It was the only form of protest that occurred to me. + </p> + <p> + The evening was damp and thick. It melted into night as we drove. I could + form no impression of the country, but this seemed desolate enough. I + believe we met no living soul on the high road which we followed for the + first three miles or more. At length we turned into a narrow lane, with a + stiff stone wall on either hand, and this eventually led us past the + lights of what appeared to be a large farm; it was really a small hamlet; + and now we were nearing our destination. Gates had to be opened, and my + poor driver breathed hard from the continual getting down and up. In the + end a long and heavy cart-track brought us to the loneliest light that I + have ever seen. It shone on the side of a hill—in the heart of an + open wilderness—as solitary as a beacon-light at sea. It was the + light of the cottage which was to be my temporary home. + </p> + <p> + A very tall, gaunt woman stood in the doorway against the inner glow. She + advanced with a loose, long stride, and invited me to enter in a voice + harsh (I took it) from disuse. I was warming myself before the kitchen + fire when she came in carrying my heaviest box as though it had nothing in + it. I ran to take it from her, for the box was full of books, but she + shook her head, and was on the stairs with it before I could intercept + her. + </p> + <p> + I conceive that very few men are attracted by abnormal strength in a + woman; we cannot help it; and yet it was not her strength which first + repelled me in Mrs. Braithwaite. It was a combination of attributes. She + had a poll of very dirty and untidy red hair; her eyes were set close + together; she had the jowl of the traditional prize-fighter. But far more + disagreeable than any single feature was the woman's expression, or rather + the expression which I caught her assuming naturally, and banishing with + an effort for my benefit. To me she was strenuously civil in her uncouth + way. But I saw her give her husband one look, as he staggered in with my + comparatively light portmanteau, which she instantly snatched out of his + feeble arms. I saw this look again before the evening was out, and it was + such a one as Braithwaite himself had fixed upon his horse as he flogged + it up the hills. + </p> + <p> + I began to wonder how the young squire had found it in his conscience to + recommend such a pair. I wondered less when the woman finally ushered me + upstairs to my rooms. These were small and rugged, but eminently snug and + clean. In each a good fire blazed cheerfully; my portmanteau was already + unstrapped, the table in the sitting-room already laid; and I could not + help looking twice at the silver and the glass, so bright was their + condition, so good their quality. Mrs. Braithwaite watched me from the + door. + </p> + <p> + “I doubt you'll be thinking them's our own,” said she. “I wish they were; + t'squire sent 'em in this afternoon.” + </p> + <p> + “For my use?” + </p> + <p> + “Ay; I doubt he thought what we had ourselves wasn't good enough. An' it's + him 'at sent t' armchair, t'bed-linen, t'bath, an' that there + lookin'-glass an' all.” + </p> + <p> + She had followed me into the bedroom, where I looked with redoubled + interest at each object as she mentioned it, and it was in the glass—a + masqueline shaving-glass—that I caught my second glimpse of my + landlady's evil expression—levelled this time at myself. + </p> + <p> + I instantly turned round and told her that I thought it very kind of Mr. + Rattray, but that, for my part, I was not a luxurious man, and that I felt + rather sorry the matter had not been left entirely in her hands. She + retired seemingly mollified, and she took my sympathy with her, though I + was none the less pleased and cheered by my new friend's zeal for my + comfort; there were even flowers on my table, without a doubt from Kirby + Hall. + </p> + <p> + And in another matter the squire had not misled me: the woman was an + excellent plain cook. I expected ham and eggs. Sure enough, this was my + dish, but done to a turn. The eggs were new and all unbroken, the ham so + lean and yet so tender, that I would not have exchanged my humble, hearty + meal for the best dinner served that night in London. It made a new man of + me, after my long journey and my cold, damp drive. I was for chatting with + Mrs. Braithwaite when she came up to clear away. I thought she might be + glad to talk after the life she must lead with her afflicted husband, but + it seemed to have had the opposite effect on her. All I elicited was an + ambiguous statement as to the distance between the cottage and the hall; + it was “not so far.” And so she left me to my pipe and to my best night + yet, in the stillest spot I have ever slept in on dry land; one heard + nothing but the bubble of a beck; and it seemed very, very far away. + </p> + <p> + A fine, bright morning showed me my new surroundings in their true colors; + even in the sunshine these were not very gay. But gayety was the last + thing I wanted. Peace and quiet were my whole desire, and both were here, + set in scenery at once lovely to the eye and bracing to the soul. + </p> + <p> + From the cottage doorstep one looked upon a perfect panorama of healthy, + open English country. Purple hills hemmed in a broad, green, undulating + plateau, scored across and across by the stone walls of the north, and all + dappled with the shadows of rolling leaden clouds with silver fringes. + Miles away a church spire stuck like a spike out of the hollow, and the + smoke of a village dimmed the trees behind. No nearer habitation could I + see. I have mentioned a hamlet which we passed in the spring-cart. It lay + hidden behind some hillocks to the left. My landlady told me it was better + than half a mile away, and “nothing when you get there; no shop; no + post-office; not even a public-house.” + </p> + <p> + I inquired in which direction lay the hall. She pointed to the nearest + trees, a small forest of stunted oaks, which shut in the view to the + right, after quarter of a mile of a bare and rugged valley. Through this + valley twisted the beck which I had heard faintly in the night. It ran + through the oak plantation and so to the sea, some two or three miles + further on, said my landlady; but nobody would have thought it was so + near. + </p> + <p> + “T'squire was to be away to-day,” observed the woman, with the broad vowel + sound which I shall not attempt to reproduce in print. “He was going to + Lancaster, I believe.” + </p> + <p> + “So I understood,” said I. “I didn't think of troubling him, if that's + what you mean. I'm going to take his advice and fish the beck.” + </p> + <p> + And I proceeded to do so after a hearty early dinner: the keen, chill air + was doing me good already: the “perfect quiet” was finding its way into my + soul. I blessed my specialist, I blessed Squire Rattray, I blessed the + very villains who had brought us within each other's ken; and nowhere was + my thanksgiving more fervent than in the deep cleft threaded by the beck; + for here the shrewd yet gentle wind passed completely overhead, and the + silence was purged of oppression by the ceaseless symphony of clear water + running over clean stones. + </p> + <p> + But it was no day for fishing, and no place for the fly, though I went + through the form of throwing one for several hours. Here the stream merely + rinsed its bed, there it stood so still, in pools of liquid amber, that, + when the sun shone, the very pebbles showed their shadows in the deepest + places. Of course I caught nothing; but, towards the close of the + gold-brown afternoon, I made yet another new acquaintance, in the person + of a little old clergyman who attacked me pleasantly from the rear. + </p> + <p> + “Bad day for fishing, sir,” croaked the cheery voice which first informed + me of his presence. “Ah, I knew it must be a stranger,” he cried as I + turned and he hopped down to my side with the activity of a much younger + man. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said, “I only came down from London yesterday. I find the spot so + delightful that I haven't bothered much about the sport. Still, I've had + about enough of it now.” And I prepared to take my rod to pieces. + </p> + <p> + “Spot and sport!” laughed the old gentleman. “Didn't mean it for a pun, I + hope? Never could endure puns! So you came down yesterday, young + gentleman, did you? And where may you be staying?” + </p> + <p> + I described the position of my cottage without the slightest hesitation; + for this parson did not scare me; except in appearance he had so little in + common with his type as I knew it. He had, however, about the shrewdest + pair of eyes that I have ever seen, and my answer only served to intensify + their open scrutiny. + </p> + <p> + “How on earth did you come to hear of a God-forsaken place like this?” + said he, making use, I thought, of a somewhat stronger expression than + quite became his cloth. + </p> + <p> + “Squire Rattray told me of it,” said I. + </p> + <p> + “Ha! So you're a friend of his, are you?” And his eyes went through and + through me like knitting-needles through a ball of wool. + </p> + <p> + “I could hardly call myself that,” said I. “But Mr. Rattray has been very + kind to me.” + </p> + <p> + “Meet him in town?” + </p> + <p> + I said I had, but I said it with some coolness, for his tone had dropped + into the confidential, and I disliked it as much as this string of + questions from a stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Long ago, sir?” he pursued. + </p> + <p> + “No, sir; not long ago,” I retorted. + </p> + <p> + “May I ask your name?” said he. + </p> + <p> + “You may ask what you like,” I cried, with a final reversal of all my + first impressions of this impertinent old fellow; “but I'm hanged if I + tell it you! I am here for rest and quiet, sir. I don't ask you your name. + I can't for the life of me see what right you have to ask me mine, or to + question me at all, for that matter.” + </p> + <p> + He favored me with a brief glance of extraordinary suspicion. It faded + away in mere surprise, and, next instant, my elderly and reverend friend + was causing me some compunction by coloring like a boy. + </p> + <p> + “You may think my curiosity mere impertinence, sir,” said he; “you would + think otherwise if you knew as much as I do of Squire Rattray's friends, + and how little you resemble the generality of them. You might even feel + some sympathy for one of the neighboring clergy, to whom this godless + young man has been for years as a thorn in their side.” + </p> + <p> + He spoke so gravely, and what he said was so easy to believe, that I could + not but apologize for my hasty words. + </p> + <p> + “Don't name it, sir,” said the clergyman; “you had a perfect right to + resent my questions, and I enjoy meeting young men of spirit; but not when + it's an evil spirit, such as, I fear, possesses your friend! I do assure + you, sir, that the best thing I have heard of him for years is the very + little that you have told me. As a rule, to hear of him at all in this + part of the world, is to wish that we had not heard. I see him coming, + however, and shall detain you no longer, for I don't deny that there is no + love lost between us.” + </p> + <p> + I looked round, and there was Rattray on the top of the bank, a long way + to the left, coming towards me with a waving hat. An extraordinary + ejaculation brought me to the right-about next instant. + </p> + <p> + The old clergyman had slipped on a stone in mid-stream, and, as he dragged + a dripping leg up the opposite bank, he had sworn an oath worthy of the + “godless young man” who had put him to flight, and on whose demerits he + had descanted with so much eloquence and indignation. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. WINE AND WEAKNESS + </h2> + <p> + “Sporting old parson who knows how to swear?” laughed Rattray. “Never saw + him in my life before; wondered who the deuce he was.” + </p> + <p> + “Really?” said I. “He professed to know something of you.” + </p> + <p> + “Against me, you mean? My dear Cole, don't trouble to perjure yourself. I + don't mind, believe me. They're easily shocked, these country clergy, and + no doubt I'm a bugbear to 'em. Yet, I could have sworn I'd never seen this + one before. Let's have another look.” + </p> + <p> + We were walking away together. We turned on the top of the bank. And there + the old clergyman was planted on the moorside, and watching us intently + from under his hollowed hands. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'm hanged!” exclaimed Rattray, as the hands fell and their owner + beat a hasty retreat. My companion said no more; indeed, for some minutes + we pursued our way in silence. And I thought that it was with an effort + that he broke into sudden inquiries concerning my journey and my comfort + at the cottage. + </p> + <p> + This gave me an opportunity of thanking him for his little attentions. “It + was awfully good of you,” said I, taking his arm as though I had known him + all my life; nor do I think there was another living man with whom I would + have linked arms at that time. + </p> + <p> + “Good?” cried he. “Nonsense, my dear sir! I'm only afraid you find it + devilish rough. But, at all events, you're coming to dine with me + to-night.” + </p> + <p> + “Am I?” I asked, smiling. + </p> + <p> + “Rather!” said he. “My time here is short enough. I don't lose sight of + you again between this and midnight.” + </p> + <p> + “It's most awfully good of you,” said I again. + </p> + <p> + “Wait till you see! You'll find it rough enough at my place; all my + retainers are out for the day at a local show.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I certainly shall not give you the trouble.” + </p> + <p> + He interrupted me with his jovial laugh. + </p> + <p> + “My good fellow,” he cried, “that's the fun of it! How do you suppose I've + been spending the day? Told you I was going to Lancaster, did I? Well, + I've been cooking our dinner instead—laying the table—getting + up the wines—never had such a joke! Give you my word, I almost + forgot I was in the wilderness!” + </p> + <p> + “So you're quite alone, are you?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; as much so as that other beggar who was monarch of all he surveyed, + his right there was none to dispute, from the what-is-it down to the glade—” + </p> + <p> + “I'll come,” said I, as we reached the cottage. “Only first you must let + me make myself decent.” + </p> + <p> + “You're decent enough!” + </p> + <p> + “My boots are wet; my hands—” + </p> + <p> + “All serene! I'll give you five minutes.” + </p> + <p> + And I left him outside, flourishing a handsome watch, while, on my way + upstairs, I paused to tell Mrs. Braithwaite that I was dining at the hall. + She was busy cooking, and I felt prepared for her unpleasant expression; + but she showed no annoyance at my news. I formed the impression that it + was no news to her. And next minute I heard a whispering below; it was + unmistakable in that silent cottage, where not a word had reached me yet, + save in conversation to which I was myself a party. + </p> + <p> + I looked out of window. Rattray I could no longer see. And I confess that + I felt both puzzled and annoyed until we walked away together, when it was + his arm which was immediately thrust through mine. + </p> + <p> + “A good soul, Jane,” said he; “though she made an idiotic marriage, and + leads a life which might spoil the temper of an archangel. She was my + nurse when I was a youngster, Cole, and we never meet without a yarn.” + Which seemed natural enough; still I failed to perceive why they need yarn + in whispers. + </p> + <p> + Kirby Hall proved startlingly near at hand. We descended the bare valley + to the right, we crossed the beck upon a plank, were in the oak-plantation + about a minute, and there was the hall upon the farther side. + </p> + <p> + And a queer old place it seemed, half farm, half feudal castle: fowls + strutting at large about the back premises (which we were compelled to + skirt), and then a front door of ponderous oak, deep-set between walls + fully six feet thick, and studded all over with wooden pegs. The facade, + indeed, was wholly grim, with a castellated tower at one end, and a number + of narrow, sunken windows looking askance on the wreck and ruin of a once + prim, old-fashioned, high-walled garden. I thought that Rattray might have + shown more respect for the house of his ancestors. It put me in mind of a + neglected grave. And yet I could forgive a bright young fellow for never + coming near so desolate a domain. + </p> + <p> + We dined delightfully in a large and lofty hall, formerly used (said + Rattray) as a court-room. The old judgment seat stood back against the + wall, and our table was the one at which the justices had been wont to + sit. Then the chamber had been low-ceiled; now it ran to the roof, and we + ate our dinner beneath a square of fading autumn sky, with I wondered how + many ghosts looking down on us from the oaken gallery! I was interested, + impressed, awed not a little, and yet all in a way which afforded my mind + the most welcome distraction from itself and from the past. To Rattray, on + the other hand, it was rather sadly plain that the place was both a burden + and a bore; in fact he vowed it was the dampest and the dullest old ruin + under the sun, and that he would sell it to-morrow if he could find a + lunatic to buy. His want of sentiment struck me as his one deplorable + trait. Yet even this displayed his characteristic merit of frankness. Nor + was it at all unpleasant to hear his merry, boyish laughter ringing round + hall and gallery, ere it died away against a dozen closed doors. + </p> + <p> + And there were other elements of good cheer: a log fire blazing heartily + in the old dog-grate, casting a glow over the stone flags, a reassuring + flicker into the darkest corner: cold viands of the very best: and the + finest old Madeira that has ever passed my lips. + </p> + <p> + Now, all my life I have been a “moderate drinker” in the most literal + sense of that slightly elastic term. But at the sad time of which I am + trying to write, I was almost an abstainer, from the fear, the temptation—of + seeking oblivion in strong waters. To give way then was to go on giving + way. I realized the danger, and I took stern measures. Not stern enough, + however; for what I did not realize was my weak and nervous state, in + which a glass would have the same effect on me as three or four upon a + healthy man. + </p> + <p> + Heaven knows how much or how little I took that evening! I can swear it + was the smaller half of either bottle—and the second we never + finished—but the amount matters nothing. Even me it did not make + grossly tipsy. But it warmed my blood, it cheered my heart, it excited my + brain, and—it loosened my tongue. It set me talking with a freedom + of which I should have been incapable in my normal moments, on a subject + whereof I had never before spoken of my own free will. And yet the will to—speak—to + my present companion—was no novelty. I had felt it at our first + meeting in the private hotel. His tact, his sympathy, his handsome face, + his personal charm, his frank friendliness, had one and all tempted me to + bore this complete stranger with unsolicited confidences for which an + inquisitive relative might have angled in vain. And the temptation was the + stronger because I knew in my heart that I should not bore the young + squire at all; that he was anxious enough to hear my story from my own + lips, but too good a gentleman intentionally to betray such anxiety. + Vanity was also in the impulse. A vulgar newspaper prominence had been my + final (and very genuine) tribulation; but to please and to interest one so + pleasing and so interesting to me, was another and a subtler thing. And + then there was his sympathy—shall I add his admiration?—for my + reward. + </p> + <p> + I do not pretend that I argued thus deliberately in my heated and excited + brain. I merely hold that all these small reasons and motives were there, + fused and exaggerated by the liquor which was there as well. Nor can I say + positively that Rattray put no leading questions; only that I remember + none which had that sound; and that, once started, I am afraid I needed + only too little encouragement to run on and on. + </p> + <p> + Well, I was set going before we got up from the table. I continued in an + armchair that my host dragged from a little book-lined room adjoining the + hall. I finished on my legs, my back to the fire, my hands beating wildly + together. I had told my dear Rattray of my own accord more than living man + had extracted from me yet. He interrupted me very little; never once until + I came to the murderous attack by Santos on the drunken steward. + </p> + <p> + “The brute!” cried Rattray. “The cowardly, cruel, foreign devil! And you + never let out one word of that!” + </p> + <p> + “What was the good?” said I. “They are all gone now—all gone to + their account. Every man of us was a brute at the last. There was nothing + to be gained by telling the public that.” + </p> + <p> + He let me go on until I came to another point which I had hitherto kept to + myself: the condition of the dead mate's fingers: the cries that the sight + of them had recalled. + </p> + <p> + “That Portuguese villain again!” cried my companion, fairly leaping from + the chair which I had left and he had taken. “It was the work of the same + cane that killed the steward. Don't tell me an Englishman would have done + it; and yet you said nothing about that either!” + </p> + <p> + It was my first glimpse of this side of my young host's character. Nor did + I admire him the less, in his spirited indignation, because much of this + was clearly against myself. His eyes flashed. His face was white. I + suddenly found myself the cooler man of the two. + </p> + <p> + “My dear fellow, do consider!” said I. “What possible end could have been + served by my stating what I couldn't prove against a man who could never + be brought to book in this world? Santos was punished as he deserved; his + punishment was death, and there's an end on't.” + </p> + <p> + “You might be right,” said Rattray, “but it makes my blood boil to hear + such a story. Forgive me if I have spoken strongly;” and he paced his hall + for a little in an agitation which made me like him better and better. + “The cold-blooded villain!” he kept muttering; “the infernal, foreign, + blood-thirsty rascal! Perhaps you were right; it couldn't have done any + good, I know; but—I only wish he'd lived for us to hang him, Cole! + Why, a beast like that is capable of anything: I wonder if you've told me + the worst even now?” And he stood before me, with candid suspicion in his + fine, frank eyes. + </p> + <p> + “What makes you say that?” said I, rather nettled. + </p> + <p> + “I shan't tell you if it's going to rile you, old fellow,” was his reply. + And with it reappeared the charming youth whom I found it impossible to + resist. “Heaven knows you have had enough to worry you!” he added, in his + kindly, sympathetic voice. + </p> + <p> + “So much,” said I, “that you cannot add to it, my dear Rattray. Now, then! + Why do you think there was something worse?” + </p> + <p> + “You hinted as much in town: rightly or wrongly I gathered there was + something you would never speak about to living man.” + </p> + <p> + I turned from him with a groan. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! but that had nothing to do with Santos.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you sure?” he cried. + </p> + <p> + “No,” I murmured; “it had something to do with him, in a sense; but don't + ask me any more.” And I leaned my forehead on the high oak mantel-piece, + and groaned again. + </p> + <p> + His hand was upon my shoulder. + </p> + <p> + “Do tell me,” he urged. I was silent. He pressed me further. In my fancy, + both hand and voice shook with his sympathy. + </p> + <p> + “He had a step-daughter,” said I at last. + </p> + <p> + “Yes? Yes?” + </p> + <p> + “I loved her. That was all.” + </p> + <p> + His hand dropped from my shoulder. I remained standing, stooping, thinking + only of her whom I had lost for ever. The silence was intense. I could + hear the wind sighing in the oaks without, the logs burning softly away at + my feet And so we stood until the voice of Rattray recalled me from the + deck of the <i>Lady Jermyn</i> and my lost love's side. + </p> + <p> + “So that was all!” + </p> + <p> + I turned and met a face I could not read. + </p> + <p> + “Was it not enough?” cried I. “What more would you have?” + </p> + <p> + “I expected some more-foul play!” + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” I exclaimed bitterly. “So that was all that interested you! No, + there was no more foul play that I know of; and if there was, I don't + care. Nothing matters to me but one thing. Now that you know what that is, + I hope you're satisfied.” + </p> + <p> + It was no way to speak to one's host. Yet I felt that he had pressed me + unduly. I hated myself for my final confidence, and his want of sympathy + made me hate him too. In my weakness, however, I was the natural prey of + violent extremes. His hand flew out to me. He was about to speak. A moment + more and I had doubtless forgiven him. But another sound came instead and + made the pair of us start and stare. It was the soft shutting of some + upstairs door. + </p> + <p> + “I thought we had the house to ourselves?” cried I, my miserable nerves on + edge in an instant. + </p> + <p> + “So did I,” he answered, very pale. “My servants must have come back. By + the Lord Harry, they shall hear of this!” + </p> + <p> + He sprang to a door, I heard his feet clattering up some stone stairs, and + in a trice he was running along the gallery overhead; in another I heard + him railing behind some upper door that he had flung open and banged + behind him; then his voice dropped, and finally died away. I was left some + minutes in the oppressively silent hall, shaken, startled, ashamed of my + garrulity, aching to get away. When he returned it was by another of the + many closed doors, and he found me awaiting him, hat in hand. He was + wearing his happiest look until he saw my hat. + </p> + <p> + “Not going?” he cried. “My dear Cole, I can't apologize sufficiently for + my abrupt desertion of you, much less for the cause. It was my man, just + come in from the show, and gone up the back way. I accused him of + listening to our conversation. Of course he denies it; but it really + doesn't matter, as I'm sorry to say he's much too 'fresh' (as they call it + down here) to remember anything to-morrow morning. I let him have it, I + can tell you. Varlet! Caitiff! But if you bolt off on the head of it, I + shall go back and sack him into the bargain!” + </p> + <p> + I assured him I had my own reasons for wishing to retire early. He could + have no conception of my weakness, my low and nervous condition of body + and mind; much as I had enjoyed myself, he must really let me go. Another + glass of wine, then? Just one more? No, I had drunk too much already. I + was in no state to stand it. And I held out my hand with decision. + </p> + <p> + Instead of taking it he looked at me very hard. + </p> + <p> + “The place doesn't suit you,” said he. “I see it doesn't, and I'm devilish + sorry! Take my advice and try something milder; now do, to-morrow; for I + should never forgive myself if it made you worse instead of better; and + the air is too strong for lots of people.” + </p> + <p> + I was neither too ill nor too vexed to laugh outright in his face. + </p> + <p> + “It's not the air,” said I; “it's that splendid old Madeira of yours, that + was too strong for me, if you like! No, no, Rattray, you don't get rid of + me so cheaply-much as you seem to want to!” + </p> + <p> + “I was only thinking of you,” he rejoined, with a touch of pique that + convinced me of his sincerity. “Of course I want you to stop, though I + shan't be here many days; but I feel responsible for you, Cole, and that's + the fact. Think you can find your way?” he continued, accompanying me to + the gate, a postern in the high garden wall. “Hadn't you better have a + lantern?” + </p> + <p> + No; it was unnecessary. I could see splendidly, had the bump of locality + and as many more lies as would come to my tongue. I was indeed burning to + be gone. + </p> + <p> + A moment later I feared that I had shown this too plainly. For his final + handshake was hearty enough to send me away something ashamed of my + precipitancy, and with a further sense of having shown him small gratitude + for his kindly anxiety on my behalf. I would behave differently to-morrow. + Meanwhile I had new regrets. + </p> + <p> + At first it was comparatively easy to see, for the lights of the house + shone faintly among the nearer oaks. But the moon was hidden behind heavy + clouds, and I soon found myself at a loss in a terribly dark zone of + timber. Already I had left the path. I felt in my pocket for matches. I + had none. + </p> + <p> + My head was now clear enough, only deservedly heavy. I was still + quarrelling with myself for my indiscretions and my incivilities, one and + all the result of his wine and my weakness, and this new predicament + (another and yet more vulgar result) was the final mortification. I swore + aloud. I simply could not see a foot in front of my face. Once I proved it + by running my head hard against a branch. I was hopelessly and + ridiculously lost within a hundred yards of the hall! + </p> + <p> + Some minutes I floundered, ashamed to go back, unable to proceed for the + trees and the darkness. I heard the beck running over its stones. I could + still see an occasional glimmer from the windows I had left. But the light + was now on this side, now on that; the running water chuckled in one ear + after the other; there was nothing for it but to return in all humility + for the lantern which I had been so foolish as to refuse. + </p> + <p> + And as I resigned myself to this imperative though inglorious course, my + heart warmed once more to the jovial young squire. He would laugh, but not + unkindly, at my grotesque dilemma; at the thought of his laughter I began + to smile myself. If he gave me another chance I would smoke that cigar + with him before starting home afresh, and remove, from my own mind no + less than from his, all ill impressions. After all it was not his fault + that I had taken too much of his wine; but a far worse offence was to be + sulky in one's cups. I would show him that I was myself again in all + respects. I have admitted that I was temporarily, at all events, a + creature of extreme moods. It was in this one that I retraced my steps + towards the lights, and at length let myself into the garden by the + postern at which I had shaken Rattray's hand not ten minutes before. + </p> + <p> + Taking heart of grace, I stepped up jauntily to the porch. The weeds + muffled my steps. I myself had never thought of doing so, when all at once + I halted in a vague terror. Through the deep lattice windows I had seen + into the lighted hall. And Rattray was once more seated at his table, a + little company of men around him. + </p> + <p> + I crept nearer, and my heart stopped. Was I delirious, or raving mad with + wine? Or had the sea given up its dead? + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. I LIVE AGAIN + </h2> + <p> + Squire Rattray, as I say, was seated at the head of his table, where the + broken meats still lay as he and I had left them; his fingers, I remember, + were playing with a crust, and his eyes fixed upon a distant door, as he + leant back in his chair. Behind him hovered the nigger of the <i>Lady Jermyn</i>, + whom I had been the slower to recognize, had not her skipper sat facing me + on the squire's right. Yes, there was Captain Harris in the flesh, eating + heartily between great gulps of wine, instead of feeding the fishes as all + the world supposed. And nearer still, nearer me than any, with his back to + my window but his chair slued round a little, so that he also could see + that door, and I his profile, sat Joaquin Santos with his cigarette! + </p> + <p> + None spoke; all seemed waiting; and all were silent but the captain, whose + vulgar champing reached me through the crazy lattice, as I stood + spellbound and petrified without. + </p> + <p> + They say that a drowning man lives his life again before the last; but my + own fight with the sea provided me with no such moments of vivid and rapid + retrospect as those during which I stood breathless outside the lighted + windows of Kirby Hall. I landed again. I was dogged day and night. I set + it down to nerves and notoriety; but took refuge in a private hotel. One + followed me, engaged the next room, set a watch on all my movements; + another came in by the window to murder me in my bed; no party to that, + the first one nevertheless turned the outrage to account, wormed himself + into my friendship on the strength of it, and lured me hither, an easy + prey. And here was the gang of them, to meet me! No wonder Rattray had not + let me see him off at the station; no wonder I had not been followed that + night. Every link I saw in its right light instantly. Only the motive + remained obscure. Suspicious circumstances swarmed upon my slow + perception: how innocent I had been! Less innocent, however, than wilfully + and wholly reckless: what had it mattered with whom I made friends? What + had anything mattered to me? What did anything matter— + </p> + <p> + I thought my heart had snapped! + </p> + <p> + Why were they watching that door, Joaquin Santos and the young squire? + Whom did they await? I knew! Oh, I knew! My heart leaped, my blood danced, + my eyes lay in wait with theirs. Everything began to matter once more. It + was as though the machinery of my soul, long stopped, had suddenly been + set in motion; it was as though I was born again. + </p> + <p> + How long we seemed to wait I need not say. It cannot have been many + moments in reality, for Santos was blowing his rings of smoke in the + direction of the door, and the first that I noticed were but dissolving + when it opened—and the best was true! One instant I saw her very + clearly, in the light of a candle which she carried in its silver stick; + then a mist blinded me, and I fell on my knees in the rank bed into which + I had stepped, to give such thanks to the Almighty as this heart has never + felt before or since. And I remained kneeling; for now my face was on a + level with the sill; and when my eyes could see again, there stood my + darling before them in the room. + </p> + <p> + Like a queen she stood, in the very travelling cloak in which I had seen + her last; it was tattered now, but she held it close about her as though a + shrewd wind bit her to the core. Her sweet face was all peeked and pale in + the candle-light: she who had been a child was come to womanhood in a few + weeks. But a new spirit flashed in her dear eyes, a new strength hardened + her young lips. She stood as an angel brought to book by devils; and so + noble was her calm defiance, so serene her scorn, that, as I watched and + listened; all present fear for her passed out of my heart. + </p> + <p> + The first sound was the hasty rising of young Rattray; he was at Eva's + side next instant, essaying to lead her to his chair, with a flush which + deepened as she repulsed him coldly. + </p> + <p> + “You have sent for me, and I have come,” said she. “But I prefer not to + sit down in your presence; and what you have to say, you will be good + enough to say as quickly as possible, that I may go again before I am—stifled!” + </p> + <p> + It was her one hot word; aimed at them all, it seemed to me to fall like a + lash on Rattray's cheek, bringing the blood to it like lightning. But it + was Santos who snatched the cigarette from his mouth, and opened upon the + defenceless girl in a torrent of Portuguese, yellow with rage, and a very + windmill of lean arms and brown hands in the terrifying rapidity of his + gesticulations. They did not terrify Eva Denison. When Rattray took a step + towards the speaker, with flashing eyes, it was some word from Eva that + checked him; when Santos was done, it was to Rattray that she turned with + her answer. + </p> + <p> + “He calls me a liar for telling you that Mr. Cole knew all,” said she, + thrilling me with my own name. “Don't you say anything,” she added, as the + young man turned on Santos with a scowl; “you are one as wicked as the + other, but there was a time when I thought differently of you: his + character I have always known. Of the two evils, I prefer to speak to + you.” + </p> + <p> + Rattray bowed, humbly enough, I thought; but my darling's nostrils only + curled the more. + </p> + <p> + “He calls me a liar,” she continued; “so may you all. Since you have found + it out, I admit it freely and without shame; one must be false in the + hands of false fiends like all of you. Weakness is nothing to you; + helplessness is nothing; you must be met with your own weapons, and so I + lied in my sore extremity to gain the one miserable advantage within my + reach. He says you found me out by making friends with Mr. Cole. He says + that Mr. Cole has been dining with you in this very room, this very night. + You still tell the truth sometimes; has that man—that demon—told + it for once?” + </p> + <p> + “It is perfectly true,” said Rattray in a low voice. + </p> + <p> + “And poor Mr. Cole told you that he knew nothing of your villany?” + </p> + <p> + “I found out that he knew absolutely nothing—after first thinking + otherwise.” + </p> + <p> + “Suppose he had known? What would you have done?” + </p> + <p> + Rattray said nothing. Santos shrugged as he lit a fresh cigarette. The + captain went on with his supper. + </p> + <p> + “Ashamed to say!” cried Eva Denison. “So you have some shame left still! + Well, I will tell you. You would have murdered him, as you murdered all + the rest; you would have killed him in cold blood, as I wish and pray that + you would kill me!” + </p> + <p> + The young fellow faced her, white to the lips. “You have no right to say + that, Miss Denison!” he cried. “I may be bad, but, as I am ready to answer + for my sins, the crime of murder is not among them.” + </p> + <p> + Well, it is still some satisfaction to remember that my love never + punished me with such a look as was the young squire's reward for this + protestation. The curl of the pink nostrils, the parting of the proud + lips, the gleam of the sound white teeth, before a word was spoken, were + more than I, for one, could have borne. For I did not see the grief + underlying the scorn, but actually found it in my heart to pity this poor + devil of a Rattray: so humbly fell those fine eyes of his, so like a dog + did he stand, waiting to be whipped. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; you are very innocent!” she began at last, so softly that I could + scarcely hear. “You have not committed murder, so you say; let it stand to + your credit by all means. You have no blood upon your hands; you say so; + that is enough. No! you are comparatively innocent, I admit. All you have + done is to make murder easy for others; to get others to do the dirty + work, and then shelter them and share the gain; all you need have on your + conscience is every life that was lost with the <i>Lady Jermyn</i>, and every + soul that lost itself in losing them. You call that innocence? Then give + me honest guilt! Give me the man who set fire to the ship, and who sits + there eating his supper; he is more of a man than you. Give me the wretch + who has beaten men to death before my eyes; there's something great about + a monster like that, there's something to loathe. His assistant is only + little—mean—despicable!” Loud and hurried in its wrath, low + and deliberate in its contempt, all this was uttered with a furious and + abnormal eloquence, which would have struck me, loving her, to the ground. + On Rattray it had a different effect. His head lifted as she heaped abuse + upon it, until he met her flashing eye with that of a man very thankful to + take his deserts and something more; and to mine he was least despicable + when that last word left her lips. When he saw that it was her last, he + took her candle (she had put it down on the ancient settle against the + door), and presented it to her with another bow. And so without a word he + led her to the door, opened it, and bowed yet lower as she swept out, but + still without a tinge of mockery in the obeisance. + </p> + <p> + He was closing the door after her when Joaquin Santos reached it. + </p> + <p> + “Diablo!” cried he. “Why let her go? We have not done with her.” + </p> + <p> + “That doesn't matter; she is done with us,” was the stern reply. + </p> + <p> + “It does matter,” retorted Santos; “what is more, she is my step-daughter, + and back she shall come!” + </p> + <p> + “She is also my visitor, and I'm damned if you're going to make her!” + </p> + <p> + An instant Santos stood, his back to me, his fingers working, his neck + brown with blood; then his coat went into creases across the shoulders, + and he was shrugging still as he turned away. + </p> + <p> + “Your veesitor!” said he. “Your veesitor! Your veesitor!” + </p> + <p> + Harris laughed outright as he raised his glass; the hot young squire had + him by the collar, and the wine was spilling on the cloth, as I rose very + cautiously and crept back to the path. + </p> + <p> + “When rogues fall out!” I was thinking to myself. “I shall save her yet—I + shall save my darling!” + </p> + <p> + Already I was accustomed to the thought that she still lived, and to the + big heart she had set beating in my feeble frame; already the continued + existence of these villains, with the first dim inkling of their villainy, + was ceasing to be a novelty in a brain now quickened and prehensile beyond + belief. And yet—but a few minutes had I knelt at the window—but + a few more was it since Rattray and I had shaken hands! + </p> + <p> + Not his visitor; his prisoner, without a doubt; but alive! alive! and, + neither guest nor prisoner for many hours more. O my love! O my heart's + delight! Now I knew why I was spared; to save her; to snatch her from + these rascals; to cherish and protect her evermore! + </p> + <p> + All the past shone clear behind me; the dark was lightness and the crooked + straight. All the future lay clear ahead it presented no difficulties yet; + a mad, ecstatic confidence was mine for the wildest, happiest moments of + my life. + </p> + <p> + I stood upright in the darkness. I saw her light! + </p> + <p> + It was ascending the tower at the building's end; now in this window it + glimmered, now in the one above. At last it was steady, high up near the + stars, and I stole below. + </p> + <p> + “Eva! Eva!” + </p> + <p> + There was no answer. Low as it was, my voice was alarming; it cooled and + cautioned me. I sought little stones. I crept back to throw them. Ah God! + her form eclipsed that lighted slit in the gray stone tower. I heard her + weeping high above me at her window. + </p> + <p> + “Eva! Eva!” + </p> + <p> + There was a pause, and then a little cry of gladness. + </p> + <p> + “Is it Mr. Cole?” came in an eager whisper through her tears. + </p> + <p> + “Yes! yes! I was outside the window. I heard everything.” + </p> + <p> + “They will hear you!” she cried softly, in a steadier voice. + </p> + <p> + “No-listen!” They were quarrelling. Rattray's voice was loud and angry. + “They cannot hear,” I continued, in more cautious tones; “they think I'm + in bed and asleep half-a-mile away. Oh, thank God! I'll get you away from + them; trust me, my love, my darling!” + </p> + <p> + In my madness I knew not what I said; it was my wild heart speaking. Some + moments passed before she replied. + </p> + <p> + “Will you promise to do nothing I ask you not to do?” + </p> + <p> + “Of course.” + </p> + <p> + “My life might answer for it—” + </p> + <p> + “I promise—I promise.” + </p> + <p> + “Then wait—hide—watch my light. When you see it back in the + window, watch with all your eyes! I am going to write and then throw it + out. Not another syllable!” + </p> + <p> + She was gone; there was a long yellow slit in the masonry once more; her + light burnt faint and far within. + </p> + <p> + I retreated among some bushes and kept watch. + </p> + <p> + The moon was skimming beneath the surface of a sea of clouds: now the + black billows had silver crests: now an incandescent buoy bobbed among + them. O for enough light, and no more! + </p> + <p> + In the hall the high voices were more subdued. I heard the captain's tipsy + laugh. My eyes fastened themselves upon that faint and lofty light, and on + my heels I crouched among the bushes. + </p> + <p> + The flame moved, flickered, and shone small but brilliant on the very + sill. I ran forward on tip-toe. A white flake fluttered to my feet. I + secured it and waited for one word; none came; but the window was softly + shut. + </p> + <p> + I stood in doubt, the treacherous moonlight all over me now, and once more + the window opened. + </p> + <p> + “Go quickly!” + </p> + <p> + And again it was shut; next moment I was stealing close by the spot where + I had knelt. I saw within once more. + </p> + <p> + Harris nodded in his chair. The nigger had disappeared. Rattray was + lighting a candle, and the Portuguese holding out his hand for the match. + </p> + <p> + “Did you lock the gate, senhor?” asked Santos. + </p> + <p> + “No; but I will now.” + </p> + <p> + As I opened it I heard a door open within. I could hardly let the latch + down again for the sudden trembling of my fingers. The key turned behind + me ere I had twenty yards' start. + </p> + <p> + Thank God there was light enough now! I followed the beck. I found my way. + I stood in the open valley, between the oak-plantation and my desolate + cottage, and I kissed my tiny, twisted note again and again in a paroxysm + of passion and of insensate joy. Then I unfolded it and held it to my eyes + in the keen October moonshine. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII. MY LADY'S BIDDING + </h2> + <p> + Scribbled in sore haste, by a very tremulous little hand, with a pencil, + on the flyleaf of some book, my darling's message is still difficult to + read; it was doubly so in the moonlight, five-and-forty autumns ago. My + eyesight, however, was then perhaps the soundest thing about me, and in a + little I had deciphered enough to guess correctly (as it proved) at the + whole:— + </p> + <p> + “You say you heard everything just now, and there is no time for further + explanations. I am in the hands of villains, but not ill-treated, though + they are one as bad as the other. You will not find it easy to rescue me. + I don't see how it is to be done. You have promised not to do anything I + ask you not to do, and I implore you not to tell a soul until you have + seen me again and heard more. You might just as well kill me as come back + now with help. + </p> + <p> + “You see you know nothing, though I told them you knew all. And so you + shall as soon as I can see you for five minutes face to face. In the + meantime do nothing—know nothing when you see Mr. Rattray—unless + you wish to be my death. + </p> + <p> + “It would have been possible last night, and it may be again to-morrow + night. They all go out every night when they can, except José, who is left + in charge. They are out from nine or ten till two or three; if they are + out to-morrow night my candle will be close to the window as I shall put + it when I have finished this. You can see my window from over the wall. If + the light is in front you must climb the wall, for they will leave the + gate locked. I shall see you and will bribe José to let me out for a turn. + He has done it before for a bottle of wine. I can manage him. Can I trust + to you? If you break your promise—but you will not? One of them + would as soon kill me as smoke a cigarette, and the rest are under his + thumb. I dare not write more. But my life is in your hands. + </p> + <p> + “EVA DENISON.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! beware of the woman Braithwaite; she is about the worst of the gang.” + </p> + <p> + I could have burst out crying in my bitter discomfiture, mortification, + and alarm: to think that her life was in my hands, and that it depended, + not on that prompt action which was the one course I had contemplated, but + on twenty-four hours of resolute inactivity! I would not think it. I + refused the condition. It took away my one prop, my one stay, that + prospect of immediate measures which alone preserved in me such coolness + as I had retained until now. I was cool no longer; where I had relied on + practical direction I was baffled and hindered and driven mad; on my honor + believe I was little less for some moments, groaning, cursing, and beating + the air with impotent fists—in one of them my poor love's letter + crushed already to a ball. + </p> + <p> + Danger and difficulty I had been prepared to face; but the task that I was + set was a hundred-fold harder than any that had whirled through my teeming + brain. To sit still; to do nothing; to pretend I knew nothing; an hour of + it would destroy my reason—and I was invited to wait twenty-four! + </p> + <p> + No; my word was passed; keep it I must. She knew the men, she must know + best; and her life depended on my obedience: she made that so plain. Obey + I must and would; to make a start, I tottered over the plank that spanned + the beck, and soon I saw the cottage against the moonlit sky. I came up to + it. I drew back in sudden fear. It was alight upstairs and down, and the + gaunt strong figure of the woman Braithwaite stood out as I had seen it + first, in the doorway, with the light showing warmly through her rank red + hair. + </p> + <p> + “Is that you, Mr. Cole?” she cried in a tone that she reserved for me; yet + through the forced amiability there rang a note of genuine surprise. She + had been prepared for me never to return at all! + </p> + <p> + My knees gave under me as I forced myself to advance; but my wits took new + life from the crisis, and in a flash I saw how to turn my weakness into + account. I made a false step on my way to the door; when I reached it I + leant heavily against the jam, and I said with a slur that I felt unwell. + I had certainly been flushed with wine when I left Rattray; it would be no + bad thing for him to hear that I had arrived quite tipsy at the cottage; + should he discover I had been near an hour on the way, here was my + explanation cut and dried. + </p> + <p> + So I shammed a degree of intoxication with apparent success, and Jane + Braithwaite gave me her arm up the stairs. My God, how strong it was, and + how weak was mine! + </p> + <p> + Left to myself, I reeled about my bedroom, pretending to undress; then out + with my candles, and into bed in all my clothes, until the cottage should + be quiet. Yes, I must lie still and feign sleep, with every nerve and + fibre leaping within me, lest the she-devil below should suspect me of + suspicions! It was with her I had to cope for the next four-and-twenty + hours; and she filled me with a greater present terror than all those + villains at the hall; for had not their poor little helpless captive + described her as “about the worst of the gang?” + </p> + <p> + To think that my love lay helpless there in the hands of those wretches; + and to think that her lover lay helpless here in the supervision of this + vile virago! + </p> + <p> + It must have been one or two in the morning when I stole to my + sitting-room window, opened it, and sat down to think steadily, with the + counterpane about my shoulders. + </p> + <p> + The moon sailed high and almost full above the clouds; these were + dispersing as the night wore on, and such as remained were of a beautiful + soft tint between white and gray. The sky was too light for stars, and + beneath it the open country stretched so clear and far that it was as + though one looked out at noonday through slate-colored glass. Down the + dewy slope below my window a few calves fed with toothless mouthings; the + beck was very audible, the oak-trees less so; but for these peaceful + sounds the stillness and the solitude were equally intense. + </p> + <p> + I may have sat there like a mouse for half an hour. The reason was that I + had become mercifully engrossed in one of the subsidiary problems: whether + it would be better to drop from the window or to trust to the creaking + stairs. Would the creaking be much worse than the thud, and the difference + worth the risk of a sprained ankle? Well worth it, I at length decided; + the risk was nothing; my window was scarce a dozen feet from the ground. + How easily it could be done, how quickly, how safely in this deep, + stillness and bright moonlight! I would fall so lightly on my stocking + soles; a single soft, dull thud; then away under the moon without fear or + risk of a false step; away over the stone walls to the main road, and so + to the nearest police-station with my tale; and before sunrise the + villains would be taken in their beds, and my darling would be safe! + </p> + <p> + I sprang up softly. Why not do it now? Was I bound to keep my rash, blind + promise? Was it possible these murderers would murder her? I struck a + match on my trousers, I lit a candle, I read her letter carefully again, + and again it maddened and distracted me. I struck my hands together. I + paced the room wildly. Caution deserted me, and I made noise enough to + wake the very mute; lost to every consideration but that of the terrifying + day before me, the day of silence and of inactivity, that I must live + through with an unsuspecting face, a cool head, a civil tongue! The + prospect appalled me as nothing else could or did; nay, the sudden noise + upon the stairs, the knock at my door, and the sense that I had betrayed + myself already even now all was over—these came as a relief after + the haunting terror which they interrupted. + </p> + <p> + I flung the door open, and there stood Mrs. Braithwaite, as fully dressed + as myself. + </p> + <p> + “You'll not be very well sir?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I'm not.” + </p> + <p> + “What's t' matter wi' you?” + </p> + <p> + This second question was rude and fierce with suspicion: the real woman + rang out in it, yet its effect on me was astonishing: once again was I + inspired to turn my slip into a move. + </p> + <p> + “Matter?” I cried. “Can't you see what's the matter; couldn't you see when + I came in? Drink's the matter! I came in drunk, and now I'm mad. I can't + stand it; I'm not in a fit state. Do you know nothng of me? Have they told + you nothing? I'm the only man that was saved from the <i>Lady Jermyn</i>, the + ship that was burned to the water's edge with every soul but me. My nerves + are in little ends. I came down here for peace and quiet and sleep. Do you + know that I have hardly slept for two months? And now I shall never sleep + again! O my God I shall die for want of it! The wine has done it. I never + should have touched a drop. I can't stand it; I can't sleep after it; I + shall kill myself if I get no sleep. Do you hear, you woman? I shall kill + myself in your house if I don't get to sleep!” + </p> + <p> + I saw her shrink, virago as she was. I waved my arms, I shrieked in her + face. It was not all acting. Heaven knows how true it was about the sleep. + I was slowly dying of insomnia. I was a nervous wreck. She must have heard + it. Now she saw it for herself. + </p> + <p> + No; it was by no means all acting. Intending only to lie, I found myself + telling little but the strictest truth, and longing for sleep as + passionately as though I had nothing to keep me awake. And yet, while my + heart cried aloud in spite of me, and my nerves relieved themselves in + this unpremeditated ebullition, I was all the time watching its effect as + closely as though no word of it had been sincere. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Braithwaite seemed frightened; not at all pitiful; and as I calmed + down she recovered her courage and became insolent. I had spoilt her + night. She had not been told she was to take in a raving lunatic. She + would speak to Squire Rattray in the morning. + </p> + <p> + “Morning?” I yelled after her as she went. “Send your husband to the + nearest chemist as soon as it's dawn; send him for chloral, chloroform, + morphia, anything they've got and as much of it as they'll let him have. + I'll give you five pounds if you get me what'll send me to sleep all + to-morrow—and to-morrow night!” + </p> + <p> + Never, I feel sure, were truth and falsehood more craftily interwoven; yet + I had thought of none of it until the woman was at my door, while of much + I had not thought at all. It had rushed from my heart and from my lips. + And no sooner was I alone than I burst into hysterical tears, only to stop + and compliment myself because they sounded genuine—as though they + were not! Towards morning I took to my bed in a burning fever, and lay + there, now congratulating myself upon it, because when night came they + would all think me so secure; and now weeping because the night might find + me dying or dead. So I tossed, with her note clasped in my hand underneath + the sheets; and beneath my very body that stout weapon that I had bought + in town. I might not have to use it, but I was fatalist enough to fancy + that I should. In the meantime it helped me to lie still, my thoughts + fixed on the night, and the day made easy for me after all. + </p> + <p> + If only I could sleep! + </p> + <p> + About nine o'clock Jane Braithwaite paid me a surly visit; in half an hour + she was back with tea and toast and an altered mien. She not only lit my + fire, but treated me the while to her original tone of almost fervent + civility and respect and determination. Her vagaries soon ceased to puzzle + me: the psychology of Jane Braithwaite was not recondite. In the night it + had dawned upon her that Rattray had found me harmless and was done with + me, therefore there was no need for her to put herself out any further on + my account. In the morning, finding me really ill, she had gone to the + hall in alarm; her subsequent attentions were an act of obedience; and in + their midst came Rattray himself to my bedside. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII. THE LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE + </h2> + <p> + The boy looked so blithe and buoyant, so gallant and still so frank, that + even now I could not think as meanly of him as poor Eva did. A rogue he + must be, but surely not the petty rogue that she had made him out. Yet it + was dirty work that he had done by me; and there I had to lie and take his + kind, false, felon's hand in mine. + </p> + <p> + “My poor dear fellow,” he cried, “I'm most sorry to find you like this. + But I was afraid of it last night. It's all this infernally strong air!” + </p> + <p> + How I longed to tell him what it was, and to see his face! The thought of + Eva alone restrained me, and I retorted as before, in a tone I strove to + make as friendly, that it was his admirable wine and nothing else. + </p> + <p> + “But you took hardly any.” + </p> + <p> + “I shouldn't have touched a drop. I can't stand it. Instead of soothing me + it excites me to the verge of madness. I'm almost over the verge—for + want of sleep—my trouble ever since the trouble.” + </p> + <p> + Again I was speaking the literal truth, and again congratulating myself as + though it were a lie: the fellow looked so distressed at my state; indeed + I believe that his distress was as genuine as mine, and his sentiments as + involved. He took my hand again, and his brow wrinkled at its heat. He + asked for the other hand to feel my pulse. I had to drop my letter to + comply. + </p> + <p> + “I wish to goodness there was something I could do for you,” he said. + “Would you—would you care to see a doctor?” + </p> + <p> + I shook my head, and could have smiled at his visible relief. + </p> + <p> + “Then I'm going to prescribe for you,” he said with decision. “It's the + place that doesn't agree with you, and it was I who brought you to the + place; therefore it's for me to get you out of it as quick as possible. Up + you get, and I'll drive you to the station myself!” + </p> + <p> + I had another work to keep from smiling: he was so ingenuously + disingenuous. There was less to smile at in his really nervous anxiety to + get me away. I lay there reading him like a book: it was not my health + that concerned him, of course: was it my safety? I told him he little knew + how ill I was—an inglorious speech that came hard, though not by any + means untrue. “Move me with this fever on me?” said I; “it would be as + much as my miserable life is worth.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm afraid,” said he, “that it may be as much as your life's worth to + stay on here!” And there was such real fear, in his voice and eyes, that + it reconciled me there and then to the discomfort of a big revolver + between the mattress and the small of my back. “We must get you out of + it,” he continued, “the moment you feel fit to stir. Shall we say + to-morrow?” + </p> + <p> + “If you like,” I said, advisedly; “and if I can get some sleep to-day.” + </p> + <p> + “Then to-morrow it is! You see I know it's the climate,” he added, jumping + from tone to tone; “it couldn't have been those two or three glasses of + sound wine.” + </p> + <p> + “Shall I tell you what it is?” I said, looking him full in the face, with + eyes that I dare say were wild enough with fever and insomnia. “It's the + burning of the <i>Lady Jermyn</i>!” I cried. “It's the faces and the shrieks of + the women; it's the cursing and the fighting of the men; it's boat-loads + struggling in an oily sea; it's husbands and wives jumping overboard + together; it's men turned into devils, it's hell-fire afloat—” + </p> + <p> + “Stop! stop!” he whispered, hoarse as a crow. I was sitting up with my hot + eyes upon him. He was white as the quilt, and the bed shook with his + trembling. I had gone as far as was prudent, and I lay back with a glow of + secret satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I will stop,” said I, “and I wouldn't have begun if you hadn't found + it so difficult to understand my trouble. Now you know what it is. It's + the old trouble. I came up here to forget it; instead of that I drink too + much and tell you all about it; and the two things together have bowled me + over. But I'll go to-morrow; only give me something to put me asleep till + then.” + </p> + <p> + “I will!” he vowed. “I'll go myself to the nearest chemist, and he shall + give me the very strongest stuff he's got. Good-by, and don't you stir + till I come back—for your own sake. I'll go this minute, and I'll + ride like hell!” And if ever two men were glad to be rid of each other, + they were this young villain and myself. + </p> + <p> + But what was his villany? It was little enough that I had overheard at the + window, and still less that poor Eva had told me in her hurried lines. All + I saw clearly was that the <i>Lady Jermyn</i> and some hundred souls had perished + by the foulest of foul play; that, besides Eva and myself, only the + incendiaries had escaped; that somehow these wretches had made a second + escape from the gig, leaving dead men and word of their own death behind + them in the boat. And here the motive was as much a mystery to me as the + means; but, in my present state, both were also matters of supreme + indifference. My one desire was to rescue my love from her loathsome + captors; of little else did I pause to think. Yet Rattray's visit left its + own mark on my mind; and long after he was gone I lay puzzling over the + connection between a young Lancastrian, of good name, of ancient property, + of great personal charm, and a crime of unparalleled atrocity committed in + cold blood on the high seas. That his complicity was flagrant I had no + room to doubt, after Eva's own indictment of him, uttered to his face and + in my hearing. Was it then the usual fraud on the underwriters, and was + Rattray the inevitable accomplice on dry land? I could think of none but + the conventional motive for destroying a vessel. Yet I knew there must be + another and a subtler one, to account not only for the magnitude of the + crime, but for the pains which the actual perpetrators had taken to + conceal the fact of their survival, and for the union of so diverse a + trinity as Senhor Santos, Captain Harris, and the young squire. + </p> + <p> + It must have been about mid-day when Rattray reappeared, ruddy, spurred, + and splashed with mud; a comfort to sick eyes, I declare, in spite of all. + He brought me two little vials, put one on the chimney-piece, poured the + other into my tumbler, and added a little water. + </p> + <p> + “There, old fellow,” said he; “swallow that, and if you don't get some + sleep the chemist who made it up is the greatest liar unhung.” + </p> + <p> + “What is it?' I asked, the glass in my hand, and my eyes on those of my + companion. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” said he. “I just told them to make up the strongest + sleeping-draught that was safe, and I mentioned something about your case. + Toss it off, man; it's sure to be all right.” + </p> + <p> + Yes, I could trust him; he was not that sort of villain, for all that Eva + Denison had said. I liked his face as well as ever. I liked his eye, and + could have sworn to its honesty as I drained the glass. Even had it been + otherwise, I must have taken my chance or shown him all; as it was, when + he had pulled down my blind, and shaken my pillow, and he gave me his hand + once more, I took it with involuntary cordiality. I only grieved that so + fine a young fellow should have involved himself in so villainous a + business; yet for Eva's sake I was glad that he had; for my mind failed + (rather than refused) to believe him so black as she had painted him. + </p> + <p> + The long, long afternoon that followed I never shall forget. The opiate + racked my head; it did not do its work; and I longed to sleep till evening + with a longing I have never known before or since. Everything seemed to + depend upon it; I should be a man again, if only I could first be a log + for a few hours. But no; my troubles never left me for an instant; and + there I must lie, pretending that they had! For the other draught was for + the night; and if they but thought the first one had taken due effect, so + much the less would they trouble their heads about me when they believed + that I had swallowed the second. + </p> + <p> + Oh, but it was cruel! I lay and wept with weakness and want of sleep; ere + night fell I knew that it would find me useless, if indeed my reason + lingered on. To lie there helpless when Eva was expecting me, that would + be the finishing touch. I should rise a maniac if ever I rose at all. More + probably I would put one of my five big bullets into my own splitting + head; it was no small temptation, lying there in a double agony, with the + loaded weapon by my side. + </p> + <p> + Then sometimes I thought it was coming; and perhaps for an instant would + be tossing in my hen-coop; then back once more. And I swear that my + physical and mental torments, here in my bed, would have been incomparably + greater than anything I had endured on the sea, but for the saving grace + of one sweet thought. She lived! She lived! And the God who had taken care + o me, a castaway, would surely deliver her also from the hands of + murderers and thieves. But not through me—I lay weak and helpless—and + my tears ran again and yet again as I felt myself growing hourly weaker. + </p> + <p> + I remember what a bright fine day it was, with the grand open country all + smiles beneath a clear, almost frosty sky, once when I got up on tip-toe + and peeped out. A keen wind whistled about the cottage; I felt it on my + feet as I stood; but never have I known a more perfect and invigorating + autumn day. And there I must lie, with the manhood ebbing Out of me, the + manhood that I needed so for the night! I crept back into bed. I swore + that I would sleep. Yet there I lay, listening sometimes to that vile + woman's tread below; sometimes to mysterious whispers, between whom I + neither knew nor cared; anon to my watch ticking by my side, to the heart + beating in my body, hour after hour—hour after hour. I prayed as I + have seldom prayed. I wept as I have never wept. I railed and blasphemed—not + with my lips, because the woman must think I was asleep—but so much + the more viciously in my heart. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly it turned dark. There were no gradations—not even a + tropical twilight. One minute I aw the sun upon the blind; the next—thank + God! Oh, thank God! No light broke any longer through the blind; just a + faint and narrow glimmer stole between it and the casement; and the light + that had been bright golden was palest silver now. + </p> + <p> + It was the moon. I had been in dreamless sleep for hours. + </p> + <p> + The joy of that discovery! The transport of waking to it, and waking + refreshed! The swift and sudden miracle that it seemed! I shall never, + never forget it, still less the sickening thrill of fear which was cruelly + quick to follow upon my joy. The cottage was still as the tomb. What if I + had slept too long! + </p> + <p> + With trembling hand I found my watch. + </p> + <p> + Luckily I had wound it in the early morning. I now carried it to the + window, drew back the blind, and held it in the moonlight. It was not + quite ten o'clock. And yet the cottage was so still—so still. + </p> + <p> + I stole to the door, opened it by cautious degrees, and saw the reflection + of a light below. Still not a sound could I hear, save the rapid drawing + of my own breath, and the startled beating of my own heart. + </p> + <p> + I now felt certain that the Braithwaites were out, and dressed hastily, + making as little noise as possible, and still hearing absolutely none from + below. Then, feeling faint with hunger, though a new being after my sleep, + I remembered a packet of sandwiches which I had not opened on my journey + north. These I transferred from my travelling-bag (where they had lain + forgotten to my jacket pocket), before drawing down the blind, leaving the + room on tip-toe, and very gently fastening the door behind me. On the + stairs, too, I trod with the utmost caution, feeling the wall with my left + hand (my right was full), lest by any chance I might be mistaken in + supposing I had the cottage to myself. In spite of my caution there came a + creak at every step. And to my sudden horror I heard a chair move in the + kitchen below. + </p> + <p> + My heart and I stood still together. But my right hand tightened on stout + wood, my right forefinger trembled against thin steel. The sound was not + repeated. And at length I continued on my way down, my teeth set, an + excuse on my lips, but determination in every fibre of my frame. + </p> + <p> + A shadow lay across the kitchen floor; it was that of the deaf mute, as he + stood on a chair before the fire, supporting himself on the chimney piece + with one puny arm, while he reached overhead with the other. I stood by + for an instant, glorying in the thought that he could not hear me; the + next, I saw what it was he was reaching up for—a bell-mouthed + blunderbuss—and I knew the little devil for the impostor that he + was. + </p> + <p> + “You touch it,” said I, “and you'll drop dead on that hearth.” + </p> + <p> + He pretended not to hear me, but he heard the click of the splendid spring + which Messrs. Deane and Adams had put into that early revolver of theirs, + and he could not have come down much quicker with my bullet in his spine. + </p> + <p> + “Now, then,” I said, “what the devil do you mean by shamming deaf and + dumb?” + </p> + <p> + “I niver said I was owt o' t' sort,” he whimpered, cowering behind the + chair in a sullen ague. + </p> + <p> + “But you acted it, and I've a jolly good mind to shoot you dead!” + (Remember, I was so weak myself that I thought my arm would break from + presenting my five chambers and my ten-inch barrel; otherwise I should be + sorry to relate how I bullied that mouse of a man.) “I may let you off,” I + continued, “if you answer questions. Where's your wife?” + </p> + <p> + “Eh, she'll be back directly!” said Braithwaite, with some tact; but his + look was too cunning to give the warning weight. “I've a bullet to spare + for her,” said I, cheerfully; “now, then, where is she?” + </p> + <p> + “Gone wi' the oothers, for owt I knaw.” + </p> + <p> + “And where are the others gone?” + </p> + <p> + “Where they allus go, ower to t' say.” + </p> + <p> + “Over to the sea, eh? We're getting on! What takes them there?” + </p> + <p> + “That's more than I can tell you, sir,” said Braithwaite, with so much + emphasis and so little reluctance as to convince me that for once at least + he had spoken the truth. There was even a spice of malice in his tone. I + began to see possibilities in the little beast. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “you're a nice lot! I don't know what your game is, and + don't want to. I've had enough of you without that. I'm off to-night.” + </p> + <p> + “Before they get back?” asked Braithwaite, plainly in doubt about his + duty, and yet as plainly relieved to learn the extent of my intention. + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” said I; “why not? I'm not particularly anxious to see your + wife again, and you may ask Mr. Rattray from me why the devil he led me to + suppose you were deaf and dumb? Or, if you like, you needn't say anything + at all about it,” I added, seeing his thin jaw fall; “tell him I never + found you out, but just felt well enough to go, and went. When do you + expect them back?” + </p> + <p> + “It won't be yet a bit,” said he. + </p> + <p> + “Good! Now look here. What would you say to these?” And I showed him a + couple of sovereigns: I longed to offer him twenty, but feared to excite + his suspicions. “These are yours if you have a conveyance at the end of + the lane—the lane we came up the night before last—in an + hour's time.” + </p> + <p> + His dull eyes glistened; but a tremor took him from top to toe, and he + shook his head. + </p> + <p> + “I'm ill, man!” I cried. “If I stay here I'll die! Mr. Rattray knows that, + and he wanted me to go this morning; he'll be only too thankful to find me + gone.” + </p> + <p> + This argument appealed to him; indeed, I was proud of it. + </p> + <p> + “But I was to stop an' look after you,” he mumbled; “it'll get me into + trooble, it will that!” + </p> + <p> + I took out three more sovereigns; not a penny higher durst I go. + </p> + <p> + “Will five pounds repay you? No need to tell your wife it was five, you + know! I should keep four of them all to myself.” + </p> + <p> + The cupidity of the little wretch was at last overcoming his abject + cowardice. I could see him making up his miserable mind. And I still + flatter myself that I took only safe (and really cunning) steps to + precipitate the process. To offer him more money would have been madness; + instead, I poured it all back into my pocket. + </p> + <p> + “All right!” I cried; “you're a greedy, cowardly, old idiot, and I'll just + save my money.” And out I marched into the moonlight, very briskly, + towards the lane; he was so quick to follow me that I had no fears of the + blunderbuss, but quickened my step, and soon had him running at my heels. + </p> + <p> + “Stop, stop, sir! You're that hasty wi' a poor owd man.” So he whimpered + as he followed me like the little cur he was. + </p> + <p> + “I'm hanged if I stop,” I answered without looking back; and had him + almost in tears before I swung round on him so suddenly that he yelped + with fear. “What are you bothering me for?” I blustered. “Do you want me + to wring your neck?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I'll go, sir! I'll go, I'll go,” he moaned. + </p> + <p> + “I've a good mind not to let you. I wouldn't if I was fit to walk five + miles.” + </p> + <p> + “But I'll roon 'em, sir! I will that! I'll go as fast as iver I can!” + </p> + <p> + “And have a conveyance at the road-end of the lane as near an hour hence + as you possibly can?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, there, sir!” he cried, crassly inspired; “I could drive you in our + own trap in half the time.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no, you couldn't! I—I'm not fit to be out at all; it must be a + closed conveyance; but I'll come to the end of the lane to save time, so + let him wait there. You needn't wait yourself; here's a sovereign of your + money, and I'll leave the rest in the jug in my bedroom. There! It's worth + your while to trust me, I think. As for my luggage, I'll write to Mr. + Rattray about that. But I'll be shot if I spend another night on his + property.” + </p> + <p> + I was rid of him at last; and there I stood, listening to his headlong + steps, until they stumbled out of earshot down the lane; then back to the + cottage, at a run myself, and up to my room to be no worse than my word. + The sovereigns plopped into the water and rang together at the bottom of + the jug. In another minute I was hastening through the plantation, in my + hand the revolver that had served me well already, and was still loaded + and capped in all five chambers. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV. IN THE GARDEN + </h2> + <p> + It so happened that I met nobody at all; but I must confess that my luck + was better than my management. As I came upon the beck, a new sound + reached me with the swirl. It was the jingle of bit and bridle; the beat + of hoofs came after; and I had barely time to fling myself flat, when two + horsemen emerged from the plantation, riding straight towards me in the + moonlight. If they continued on that course they could not fail to see me + as they passed along the opposite bank. However, to my unspeakable relief, + they were scarce clear of the trees when they turned their horses' heads, + rode them through the water a good seventy yards from where I lay, and so + away at a canter across country towards the road. On my hands and knees I + had a good look at them as they bobbed up and down under the moon; and my + fears subsided in astonished curiosity. For I have already boasted of my + eyesight, and I could have sworn that neither Rattray nor any one of his + guests was of the horsemen; yet the back and shoulders of one of these + seemed somehow familiar to me. Not that I wasted many moments over the + coincidence, for I had other things to think about as I ran on to the + hall. + </p> + <p> + I found the rear of the building in darkness unrelieved from within; on + the other hand, the climbing moon beat so full upon the garden wall, it + was as though a lantern pinned me as I crept beneath it. In passing I + thought I might as well try the gate; but Eva was right; it was locked; + and that made me half inclined to distrust my eyes in the matter of the + two horsemen, for whence could they have come, if not from the hall? In + any case I was well rid of them. I now followed the wall some little + distance, and then, to see over it, walked backwards until I was all but + in the beck; and there, sure enough, shone my darling's candle, close as + close against the diamond panes of her narrow, lofty window! It brought + those ready tears back to my foolish, fevered eyes. But for sentiment + there was no time, and every other emotion was either futile or premature. + So I mastered my full heart, I steeled, my wretched nerves, and braced my + limp muscles for the task that lay before them. + </p> + <p> + I had a garden wall to scale, nearly twice my own height, and without + notch or cranny in the ancient, solid masonry. I stood against it on my + toes, and I touched it with my finger-tips as high up as possible. Some + four feet severed them from the coping that left only half a sky above my + upturned eyes. + </p> + <p> + I do not know whether I have made it plain that the house was not + surrounded by four walls, but merely filled a breach in one of the four, + which nipped it (as it were) at either end. The back entrance was + approachable enough, but barred or watched, I might be very sure. It is + ever the vulnerable points which are most securely guarded, and it was my + one comfort that the difficult way must also be the safe way, if only the + difficulty could be overcome. How to overcome it was the problem. I + followed the wall right round to the point at which it abutted on the + tower that immured my love; the height never varied; nor could my hands or + eyes discover a single foot-hole, ledge, or other means of mounting to the + top. + </p> + <p> + Yet my hot head was full of ideas; and I wasted some minutes in trying to + lift from its hinges a solid, six-barred, outlying gate, that my weak arms + could hardly stir. More time went in pulling branches from the oak-trees + about the beck, where the latter ran nearest to the moonlit wall. I had an + insane dream of throwing a long forked branch over the coping, and so + swarming up hand-over-hand. But even to me the impracticability of this + plan came home at last. And there I stood in a breathless lather, much + time and strength thrown away together; and the candle burning down for + nothing in that little lofty window; and the running water swirling + noisily over its stones at my back. + </p> + <p> + This was the only sound; the wind had died away; the moonlit valley lay as + still as the dread old house in its midst but for the splash and gurgle of + the beck. I fancied this grew louder as I paused and listened in my + helplessness. All at once—was it the tongue of Nature telling me the + way, or common gumption returning at the eleventh hour? I ran down to the + water's edge, and could have shouted for joy. Great stones lay in equal + profusion on bed and banks. I lifted one of the heaviest in both hands. I + staggered with it to the wall. I came back for another; for some twenty + minutes I was so employed; my ultimate reward a fine heap of boulders + against the wall. + </p> + <p> + Then I began to build; then mounted my pile, clawing the wall to keep my + balance. My fingers were still many inches from the coping. I jumped down + and gave another ten minutes to the back-breaking work of carrying more + boulders from the water to the wall. Then I widened my cairn below, so + that I could stand firmly before springing upon the pinnacle with which I + completed it. I knew well that this would collapse under me if I allowed + my weight to rest more than an instant upon it. And so at last it did; but + my fingers had clutched the coping in time; had grabbed it even as the + insecure pyramid crumbled and left me dangling. + </p> + <p> + Instantly exerting what muscle I had left, and the occasion gave me, I + succeeded in pulling myself up until my chin was on a level with my hands, + when I flung an arm over and caught the inner coping. The other arm + followed; then a leg; and at last I sat astride the wall, panting and + palpitating, and hardly able to credit my own achievement. One great + difficulty had been my huge revolver. I had been terribly frightened it + might go off, and had finally used my cravat to sling it at the back of my + neck. It had shifted a little, and I was working it round again, + preparatory to my drop, when I saw the light suddenly taken from the + window in the tower, and a kerchief waving for one instant in its place. + So she had been waiting and watching for me all these hours! I dropped + into the garden in a very ecstasy of grief and rapture, to think that I + had been so long in coming to my love, but that I had come at last. And I + picked myself up in a very frenzy of fear lest, after all, I should fail + to spirit her from this horrible place. + </p> + <p> + Doubly desolate it looked in the rays of that bright October moon. + Skulking in the shadow of the wall which had so long baffled me, I looked + across a sharp border of shade upon a chaos, the more striking for its + lingering trim design. The long, straight paths were barnacled with weeds; + the dense, fine hedges, once prim and angular, had fattened out of all + shape or form; and on the velvet sward of other days you might have waded + waist high in rotten hay. Towards the garden end this rank jungle merged + into a worse wilderness of rhododendrons, the tallest I have ever seen. On + all this the white moon smiled, and the grim house glowered, to the + eternal swirl and rattle of the beck beyond its walls. + </p> + <p> + Long enough I stood where I had dropped, listening with all my being for + some other sound; but at last that great studded door creaked and shivered + on its ancient hinges, and I heard voices arguing in the Portuguese + tongue. It was poor Eva wheedling that black rascal José. I saw her in the + lighted porch; the nigger I saw also, shrugging and gesticulating for all + the world like his hateful master; yet giving in, I felt certain, though I + could not understand a word that reached me. + </p> + <p> + And indeed my little mistress very soon sailed calmly out, followed by + final warnings and expostulations hurled from the step: for the black + stood watching her as she came steadily my way, now raising her head to + sniff the air, now stooping to pluck up a weed, the very picture of a + prisoner seeking the open air for its own sake solely. I had a keen eye + apiece for them as I cowered closer to the wall, revolver in hand. But ere + my love was very near me (for she would stand long moments gazing ever so + innocently at the moon), her jailer had held a bottle to the light, and + had beaten a retreat so sudden and so hasty that I expected him back every + moment, and so durst not stir. Eva saw me, however, and contrived to tell + me so without interrupting the air that she was humming as she walked. + </p> + <p> + “Follow me,” she sang, “only keep as you are, keep as you are, close to + the wall, close to the wall.” + </p> + <p> + And on she strolled to her own tune, and came abreast of me without + turning her head; so I crept in the shadow (my ugly weapon tucked out of + sight), and she sauntered in the shine, until we came to the end of the + garden, where the path turned at right angles, running behind the + rhododendrons; once in their shelter, she halted and beckoned me, and next + instant I had her hands in mine. + </p> + <p> + “At last!” was all that I could say for many a moment, as I stood there + gazing into her dear eyes, no hero in my heroic hour, but the bigger + love-sick fool than ever. “But quick—quick—quick!” I added, as + she brought me to my senses by withdrawing her hands. “We've no time to + lose.” And I looked wildly from wall to wall, only to find them as barren + and inaccessible on this side as on the other. + </p> + <p> + “We have more time than you think,” were Eva's first words. “We can do + nothing for half-an-hour.” + </p> + <p> + “Why not?” + </p> + <p> + “I'll tell you in a minute. How did you manage to get over?” + </p> + <p> + “Brought boulders from the beck, and piled 'em up till I could reach the + top.” + </p> + <p> + I thought her eyes glistened. + </p> + <p> + “What patience!” she cried softly. “We must find a simpler way of getting + out—and I think I have. They've all gone, you know, but José.” + </p> + <p> + “All three?” + </p> + <p> + “The captain has been gone all day.” + </p> + <p> + Then the other two must have been my horse-men, very probably in some + disguise; and my head swam with the thought of the risk that I had run at + the very moment when I thought myself safest. Well, I would have finished + them both! But I did not say so to Eva. I did not mention the incident, I + was so fearful of destroying her confidence in me. Apologizing, therefore, + for my interruption, without explaining it, I begged her to let me hear + her plan. + </p> + <p> + It was simple enough. There was no fear of the others returning before + midnight; the chances were that they would be very much later; and now it + was barely eleven, and Eva had promised not to stay out above + half-an-hour. When it was up José would come and call her. + </p> + <p> + “It is horrid to have to be so cunning!” cried little Eva, with an angry + shudder; “but it's no use thinking of that,” she was quick enough to add, + “when you have such dreadful men to deal with, such fiends! And I have had + all day to prepare, and have suffered till I am so desperate I would + rather die to-night than spend another in that house. No; let me finish! + José will come round here to look for me. But you and I will be hiding on + the other side of these rhododendrons. And when we hear him here we'll + make a dash for it across the long grass. Once let us get the door shut + and locked in his face, and he'll be in a trap. It will take him some time + to break in; time enough to give us a start; what's more, when he finds us + gone, he'll do what they all used to do in any doubt.” + </p> + <p> + “What's that?” + </p> + <p> + “Say nothing till it's found out; then lie for their lives; and it was + their lives, poor creatures on the Zambesi!” She was silent a moment, her + determined little face hard—set upon some unforgotten horror. “Once + we get away, I shall be surprised if it's found out till morning,” + concluded Eva, without a word as to what I was to do with her; neither, + indeed, had I myself given that question a moment's consideration. + </p> + <p> + “Then let's make a dash for it now!” was all I said or thought. + </p> + <p> + “No; they can't come yet, and José is strong and brutal, and I have heard + how ill you are. That you should have come to me notwithstanding—” + and she broke off with her little hands lying so gratefully on my + shoulders, that I know not how I refrained from catching her then and + there to my heart. Instead, I laughed and said that my illness was a pure + and deliberate sharp, and my presence there its direct result. And such + was the virtue in my beloved's voice, the magic of her eyes, the healing + of her touch, that I was scarce conscious of deceit, but felt a whole man + once more as we two stood together in the moonlight. + </p> + <p> + In a trance I stood there gazing into her brave young eyes. In a trance I + suffered her to lead me by the hand through the rank, dense rhododendrons. + And still entranced I crouched by her side near the further side, with + only unkempt grass-plot and a weedy path between us and that ponderous + door, wide open still, and replaced by a section of the lighted hail + within. On this we fixed our attention with mingled dread and impatience, + those contending elements of suspense; but the black was slow to reappear; + and my eyes stole home to my sweet girl's face, with its glory of moonlit + curls, and the eager, resolute, embittered look that put the world back + two whole months, and Eva Denison upon the <i>Lady Jermyn</i>'s poop, in the + ship's last hours. But it was not her look alone; she had on her cloak, as + the night before, but with me (God bless her!) she found no need to clasp + herself in its folds; and underneath she wore the very dress in which she + had sung at our last concert, and been rescued in the gig. It looked as + though she had worn it ever since. The roses were crushed and soiled, the + tulle all torn, and tarnished some strings of beads that had been gold: a + tatter of Chantilly lace hung by a thread: it is another of the relics + that I have unearthed in the writing of this narrative. + </p> + <p> + “I thought men never noticed dresses?” my love said suddenly, a pleased + light in her eyes (I thought) in spite of all. “Do you really remember + it?” + </p> + <p> + “I remember every one of them,” I said indignantly; and so I did. + </p> + <p> + “You will wonder why I wear it,” said Eva, quickly. “It was the first that + came that terrible night. They have given me many since. But I won't wear + one of them—not one!” + </p> + <p> + How her eyes flashed! I forgot all about José. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose you know why they hadn't room for you in the gig?” she went on. + </p> + <p> + “No, I don't know, and I don't care. They had room for you,” said I; + “that's all I care about.” And to think she could not see I loved her! + </p> + <p> + “But do you mean to say you don't know that these—murderers—set + fire to the ship?” + </p> + <p> + “No—yes! I heard you say so last night.” + </p> + <p> + “And you don't want to know what for?” + </p> + <p> + Out of politeness I protested that I did; but, as I live, all I wanted to + know just then was whether my love loved me—whether she ever could—whether + such happiness was possible under heaven! + </p> + <p> + “You remember all that mystery about the cargo?” she continued eagerly, + her pretty lips so divinely parted! + </p> + <p> + “It turned out to be gunpowder,” said I, still thinking only of her. + </p> + <p> + “No—gold!” + </p> + <p> + “But it was gunpowder,” I insisted; for it was my incorrigible passion for + accuracy which had led up to half our arguments on the voyage; but this + time Eva let me off. + </p> + <p> + “It was also gold: twelve thousand ounces from the diggings. That was the + real mystery. Do you mean to say you never guessed?” + </p> + <p> + “No, by Jove I didn't!” said I. She had diverted my interest at last. I + asked her if she had known on board. + </p> + <p> + “Not until the last moment. I found out during the fire. Do you remember + when we said good-by? I was nearly telling you then.” + </p> + <p> + Did I remember! The very letter of that last interview was cut deep in my + heart; not a sleepless night had I passed without rehearsing it word for + word and look for look; and sometimes, when sorrow had spent itself, and + the heart could bleed no more, vain grief had given place to vainer + speculation, and I had cudgelled my wakeful brains for the meaning of the + new and subtle horror which I had read in my darling's eyes at the last. + Now I understood; and the one explanation brought such a tribe in its + train, that even the perilous ecstasy of the present moment was + temporarily forgotten in the horrible past. + </p> + <p> + “Now I know why they wouldn't have me in the gig!” I cried softly. + </p> + <p> + “She carried four heavy men's weight in gold.” + </p> + <p> + “When on earth did they get it aboard?” + </p> + <p> + “In provision boxes at the last; but they had been filling the boxes for + weeks.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, I saw them doing it!” I cried. “But what about the gig? Who picked + you up?” + </p> + <p> + She was watching that open door once more, and she answered with notable + indifference, “Mr. Rattray.” + </p> + <p> + “So that's the connection!” said I; and I think its very simplicity was + what surprised me most. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; he was waiting for us at Ascension.” + </p> + <p> + “Then it was all arranged?” + </p> + <p> + “Every detail.” + </p> + <p> + “And this young blackguard is as bad as any of them!” + </p> + <p> + “Worse,” said she, with bitter brevity. Nor had I ever seen her look so + hard but once, and that was the night before in the old justice hall, when + she told Rattray her opinion of him to his face. She had now the same + angry flush, the same set mouth and scornful voice; and I took it finally + into my head that she was unjust to the poor devil, villain though he was. + With all his villainy I declined to believe him as bad as the others. I + told her so in as many words. And in a moment we were arguing as though we + were back on the <i>Lady Jermyn</i> with nothing else to do. + </p> + <p> + “You may admire wholesale murderers and thieves,” said Eva. “I do not.” + </p> + <p> + “Nor I. My point is simply that this one is not as bad as the rest. I + believe he was really glad for my sake when he discovered that I knew + nothing of the villainy. Come now, has he ever offered you any personal + violence?” + </p> + <p> + “Me? Mr. Rattray? I should hope not, indeed!” + </p> + <p> + “Has he never saved you from any?” + </p> + <p> + “I—I don't know.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I do. When you left them last night there was some talk of bringing + you back by force. You can guess who suggested that—and who set his + face against it and got his way. You would think the better of Rattray had + you heard what passed.” + </p> + <p> + “Should I?” she asked half eagerly, as she looked quickly round at me; and + suddenly I saw her eyes fill. “Oh, why will you speak about him?” she + burst out. “Why must you defend him, unless it's to go against me, as you + always did and always will! I never knew anybody like you—never! I + want you to take me away from these wretches, and all you do is to defend + them!” + </p> + <p> + “Not all,” said I, clasping her hand warmly in mine. “Not all—not + all! I will take you away from them, never fear; in another hour God grant + you may be out of their reach for ever!” + </p> + <p> + “But where are we to go?” she whispered wildly. “What are you to do with + me? All my friends think me dead, and if they knew I was not it would all + come out.” + </p> + <p> + “So it shall,” said I; “the sooner the better; if I'd had my way it would + all be out already.” + </p> + <p> + I see her yet, my passionate darling, as she turned upon me, whiter than + the full white moon. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Cole,” said she, “you must give me your sacred promise that so far as + you are concerned, it shall never come out at all!” + </p> + <p> + “This monstrous conspiracy? This cold blooded massacre?” + </p> + <p> + And I crouched aghast. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; it could do no good; and, at any rate, unless you promise I remain + where I am.” + </p> + <p> + “In their hands?” + </p> + <p> + “Decidedly—to warn them in time. Leave them I would, but betray them—never!” + </p> + <p> + What could I say? What choice had I in the face of an alternative so + headstrong and so unreasonable? To rescue Eva from these miscreants I + would have let every malefactor in the country go unscathed: yet the + condition was a hard one; and, as I hesitated, my love went on her knees + to me, there in the moonlight among the rhododendrons. + </p> + <p> + “Promise—promise—or you will kill me!” she gasped. “They may + deserve it richly, but I would rather be torn in little pieces than—than + have them—hanged!” + </p> + <p> + “It is too good for most of them.” + </p> + <p> + “Promise!” + </p> + <p> + “To hold my tongue about them all?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes—promise!” + </p> + <p> + “Promise!” + </p> + <p> + “When a hundred lives were sacrificed—” + </p> + <p> + “Promise!” + </p> + <p> + “I can't,” I said. “It's wrong.” + </p> + <p> + “Then good-by!” she cried, starting to her feet. + </p> + <p> + “No—no—” and I caught her hand. + </p> + <p> + “Well, then?” + </p> + <p> + “I—promise.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV. FIRST BLOOD + </h2> + <p> + So I bound myself to a guilty secrecy for Eva's sake, to save her from + these wretches, or if you will, to win her for myself. Nor did it strike + me as very strange, after a moment's reflection, that she should intercede + thus earnestly for a band headed by her own mother's widower, prime + scoundrel of them all though she knew him to be. The only surprise was + that she had not interceded in his name; that I should have forgotten, and + she should have allowed me to forget, the very existence of so + indisputable a claim upon her loyalty. This, however, made it a little + difficult to understand the hysterical gratitude with which my unwilling + promise was received. Poor darling! she was beside herself with sheer + relief. She wept as I had never seen her weep before. She seized and even + kissed my hands, as one who neither knew nor cared what she did, + surprising me so much by her emotion that this expression of it passed + unheeded. I was the best friend she had ever had. I was her one good + friend in all the world; she would trust herself to me; and if I would but + take her to the convent where she had been brought up, she would pray for + me there until her death, but that would not be very long. + </p> + <p> + All of which confused me utterly; it seemed an inexplicable breakdown in + one who had shown such nerve and courage hitherto, and so hearty a + loathing for that damnable Santos. So completely had her presence of mind + forsaken her that she looked no longer where she had been gazing hitherto. + And thus it was that neither of us saw José until we heard him calling, + “Senhora Evah! Senhora Evah!” with some rapid sentences in Portuguese. + </p> + <p> + “Now is our time,” I whispered, crouching lower and clasping a small hand + gone suddenly cold. “Think of nothing now but getting out of this. I'll + keep my word once we are out; and here's the toy that's going to get us + out.” And I produced my Deane and Adams with no small relish. + </p> + <p> + A little trustful pressure was my answer and my reward; meanwhile the + black was singing out lustily in evident suspicion and alarm. + </p> + <p> + “He says they are coming back,” whispered Eva; “but that's impossible.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” + </p> + <p> + “Because if they were he couldn't see them, and if he heard them he would + be frightened of their hearing him. But here he comes!” + </p> + <p> + A shuffling quick step on the path; a running grumble of unmistakable + threats; a shambling moonlit figure seen in glimpses through the leaves, + very near us for an instant, then hidden by the shrubbery as he passed + within a few yards of our hiding-place. A diminuendo of the shuffling + steps; then a cursing, frightened savage at one end of the rhododendrons, + and we two stealing out at the other, hand in hand, and bent quite double, + into the long neglected grass. + </p> + <p> + “Can you run for it?” I whispered. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but not too fast, for fear we trip.' + </p> + <p> + “Come on, then!” + </p> + <p> + The lighted open doorway grew greater at every stride. + </p> + <p> + “He hasn't seen us yet—” + </p> + <p> + “No, I hear him threatening me still.” + </p> + <p> + “Now he has, though!” + </p> + <p> + A wild whoop proclaimed the fact, and upright we tore at top speed through + the last ten yards of grass, while the black rushed down one of the side + paths, gaining audibly on us over the better ground. But our start had + saved us, and we flew up the steps as his feet ceased to clatter on the + path; he had plunged into the grass to cut off the corner. + </p> + <p> + “Thank God!” cried Eva. “Now shut it quick.” + </p> + <p> + The great door swung home with a mighty clatter, and Eva seized the key in + both hands. + </p> + <p> + “I can't turn it!” + </p> + <p> + To lose a second was to take a life, and unconsciously I was sticking at + that, perhaps from no higher instinct than distrust of my aim. Our + pursuer, however, was on the steps when I clapped my free hand on top of + those little white straining ones, and by a timely effort bent both them + and the key round together; the ward shot home as José hurled himself + against the door. Eva bolted it. But the thud was not repeated, and I + gathered myself together between the door and the nearest window, for by + now I saw there was but one thing for us. The nigger must be disabled, if + I could manage such a nicety; if not, the devil take his own. + </p> + <p> + Well, I was not one tick too soon for him. My pistol was not cocked before + the crash came that I was counting on, and with it a shower of small glass + driving across the six-foot sill and tinkling on the flags. Next came a + black and bloody face, at which I could not fire. I had to wait till I saw + his legs, when I promptly shattered one of them at disgracefully short + range. The report was as deafening as one upon the stage; the hall filled + with white smoke, and remained hideous with the bellowing of my victim. I + searched him without a qualm, but threats of annihilation instead, and + found him unarmed but for that very knife which Rattray had induced me to + hand over to him in town. I had a grim satisfaction in depriving him of + this, and but small compunction in turning my back upon his pain. + </p> + <p> + “Come,” I said to poor Eva, “don't pity him, though I daresay he's the + most pitiable of the lot; show me the way through, and I'll follow with + this lamp.” + </p> + <p> + One was burning on the old oak table. I carried it along a narrow passage, + through a great low kitchen where I bumped my head against the black oak + beams; and I held it on high at a door almost as massive as the one which + we had succeeded in shutting in the nigger's face. + </p> + <p> + “I was afraid of it!” cried Eva, with a sudden sob. + </p> + <p> + “What is it?” + </p> + <p> + “They've taken away the key!” + </p> + <p> + Yes, the keen air came through an empty keyhole; and my lamp, held close, + not only showed that the door was locked, but that the lock was one with + which an unskilled hand might tamper for hours without result. I dealt it + a hearty kick by way of a test. The heavy timber did not budge; there was + no play at all at either lock or hinges; nor did I see how I could spend + one of my four remaining bullets upon the former, with any chance of a + return. + </p> + <p> + “Is this the only other door?” + </p> + <p> + “Then it must be a window.” + </p> + <p> + “All the back ones are barred.” + </p> + <p> + “Securely?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Then we've no choice in the matter.” + </p> + <p> + And I led the way back to the hall, where the poor black devil lay + blubbering in his blood. In the kitchen I found the bottle of wine + (Rattray's best port, that they were trying to make her take for her + health) with which Eva had bribed him, and I gave it to him before laying + hands on a couple of chairs. + </p> + <p> + “What are you going to do?”' + </p> + <p> + “Go out the way we came.” + </p> + <p> + “But the wall?” + </p> + <p> + “Pile up these chairs, and as many more as we may need, if we can't open + the gate.” + </p> + <p> + But Eva was not paying attention any longer, either to me or to José; his + white teeth were showing in a grin for all his pain; her eyes were fixed + in horror on the floor. + </p> + <p> + “They've come back,” she gasped. “The underground passage! Hark—hark!” + </p> + <p> + There was a muffled rush of feet beneath our own, then a dull but very + distinguishable clatter on some invisible stair. + </p> + <p> + “Underground passage!” I exclaimed, and in my sheer disgust I forgot what + was due to my darling. “Why on earth didn't you tell me of it before?” + </p> + <p> + “There was so much to tell you! It leads to the sea. Oh, what shall we do? + You must hide—upstairs—anywhere!” cried Eva, wildly. “Leave + them to me—leave them to me.” + </p> + <p> + “I like that,” said I; and I did; but I detested myself for the tears my + words had drawn, and I prepared to die for them. + </p> + <p> + “They'll kill you, Mr. Cole!” + </p> + <p> + “It would serve me right; but we'll see about it.” + </p> + <p> + And I stood with my revolver very ready in my right hand, while with the + other I caught poor Eva to my side, even as a door flew open, and Rattray + himself burst upon us, a lantern in his hand, and the perspiration shining + on his handsome face in its light. + </p> + <p> + I can see him now as he stood dumfounded on the threshold of the hall; and + yet, at the time, my eyes sped past him into the room beyond. + </p> + <p> + It was the one I have described as being lined with books; there was a + long rent in this lining, where the books had opened with a door, through + which Captain Harris, Joaquin Santos, and Jane Braithwaite followed + Rattray in quick succession, the men all with lanterns, the woman scarlet + and dishevelled even for her. It was over the squire's shoulders I saw + their faces; he kept them from passing him in the doorway by a free use of + his elbows; and when I looked at him again, his black eyes were blazing + from a face white with passion, and they were fixed upon me. + </p> + <p> + “What the devil brings you here?” he thundered at last. + </p> + <p> + “Don't ask idle questions,” was my reply to that. + </p> + <p> + “So you were shamming to-day!” + </p> + <p> + “I was taking a leaf out of your book.” + </p> + <p> + “You'll gain nothing by being clever!” sneered the squire, taking a + threatening step forward. For at the last moment I had tucked my revolver + behind my back, not only for the pleasure, but for the obvious advantage + of getting them all in front of me and off their guard. I had no idea that + such eyes as Rattray's could be so fierce: they were dancing from me to my + companion, whom their glitter frightened into an attempt to disengage + herself from me; but my arm only tightened about her drooping figure. + </p> + <p> + “I shall gain no more than I expect,” said I, carelessly. “And I know what + to expect from brave gentlemen like you! It will be better than your own + fate, at all events; anything's better than being taken hence to the place + of execution, and hanged by the neck until you're dead, all three of you + in a row, and your bodies buried within the precincts of the prison!” + </p> + <p> + “The very thing for him,” murmured Santos. “The—very—theeng!” + </p> + <p> + “But I'm so soft-hearted,” I went insanely on, “that I should be sorry to + see that happen to such fine fellows as you are. Come out of that, you + little fraud behind there!” It was my betrayer skulking in the room. “Come + out and line up with the rest! No, I'm not going to see you fellows dance + on nothing; I've another kind of ball apiece for you, and one between 'em + for the Braithwaites!” + </p> + <p> + Well, I suppose I always had a nasty tongue in me, and rather enjoyed + making play with it on provocation; but, if so, I met with my deserts that + night. For the nigger of the <i>Lady Jermyn</i> lay all but hid behind Eva and + me; if they saw him at all, they may have thought him drunk; but, as for + myself, I had fairly forgotten his existence until the very moment came + for showing my revolver, when it was twisted out of my grasp instead, and + a ball sang under my arm as the brute fell back exhausted and the weapon + clattered beside him. Before I could stoop for it there was a dead weight + on my left arm, and Squire Rattray was over the table at a bound, with his + arms jostling mine beneath Eva Denison's senseless form. + </p> + <p> + “Leave her to me,” he cried fiercely. “You fool,” he added in a lower key, + “do you think I'd let any harm come to her?” + </p> + <p> + I looked him in the bright and honest eyes that had made me trust him in + the beginning. And I did not utterly distrust him yet. Rather was the + guile on my side as I drew back and watched Rattray lift the young girl + tenderly, and slowly carry her to the door by which she had entered and + left the hall just twenty-four hours before. I could not take my eyes off + them till they were gone. And when I looked for my revolver, it also had + disappeared. + </p> + <p> + José had not got it—he lay insensible. Santos was whispering to + Harris. Neither of them seemed armed. I made sure that Rattray had picked + it up and carried it off with Eva. I looked wildly for some other weapon. + Two unarmed men and a woman were all I had to deal with, for Braithwaite + had long since vanished. Could I but knock the worthless life out of the + men, I should have but the squire and his servants to deal with; and in + that quarter I still had my hopes of a bloodless battle and a treaty of + war. + </p> + <p> + A log fire was smouldering in the open grate. I darted to it, and had a + heavy, half-burned brand whirling round my head next instant. Harris was + the first within my reach. He came gamely at me with his fists. I sprang + upon him, and struck him to the ground with one blow, the sparks flying + far and wide as my smoking brand met the seaman's skull. Santos was upon + me next instant, and him, by sheer luck, I managed to serve the same; but + I doubt whether either man was stunned; and I was standing ready for them + to rise, when I felt myself seized round the neck from behind, and a mass + of fluffy hair tickling my cheek, while a shrill voice set up a lusty + scream for the squire. + </p> + <p> + I have said that the woman Braithwaite was of a sinister strength; but I + had little dreamt how strong she really was. First it was her arms that + wound themselves about my neck, long, sinuous, and supple as the tentacles + of some vile monster; then, as I struggled, her thumbs were on my windpipe + like pads of steel. Tighter she pressed, and tighter yet. My eyeballs + started; my tongue lolled; I heard my brand drop, and through a mist I saw + it picked up instantly. It crashed upon my skull as I still struggled + vainly; again and again it came down mercilessly in the same place; until + I felt as though a sponge of warm water had been squeezed over my head, + and saw a hundred withered masks grinning sudden exultation into mine; but + still the lean arm whirled, and the splinters flew, till I was blind with + my blood and the seven senses were beaten out of me. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI. A DEADLOCK + </h2> + <p> + It must have been midnight when I opened my eyes; a clock was striking as + though it never would stop. My mouth seemed fire; a pungent flavor filled + my nostrils; the wineglass felt cold against my teeth. “That's more like + it!” muttered a voice close to my ear. An arm was withdrawn from under my + shoulders. I was allowed to sink back upon some pillows. And now I saw + where I was. The room was large and poorly lighted. I lay in my clothes on + an old four-poster bed. And my enemies were standing over me in a group. + </p> + <p> + “I hope you are satisfied!” sneered Joaquin Santos, with a flourish of his + eternal cigarette. + </p> + <p> + “I am. You don't do murder in my house, wherever else you may do it.” + </p> + <p> + “And now better lid 'im to the nirrest polissstation; or weel you go and + tell the poliss yourself?” asked the Portuguese, in the same tone of + mordant irony. + </p> + <p> + “Ay, ay,” growled Harris; “that's the next thing!” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Rattray; “the next thing's for you two to leave him to me.” + </p> + <p> + “We'll see you damned!” cried the captain. + </p> + <p> + “No, no, my friend,” said Santos, with a shrug; “let him have his way. He + is as fond of his skeen as you are of yours; he'll come round to our way + in the end. I know this Senhor Cole. It is necessary for 'im to die. But + it is not necessary this moment; let us live them together for a leetle + beet.” + </p> + <p> + “That's all I ask,” said Rattray. + </p> + <p> + “You won't ask it twice,” rejoined Santos, shrugging. “I know this Senhor + Cole. There is only one way of dilling with a man like that. Besides, he + 'as 'alf-keeled my good José; it is necessary for 'im to die.” + </p> + <p> + “I agree with the senhor,” said Harris, whose forehead was starred with + sticking-plaster. “It's him or us, an' we're all agen you, squire. You'll + have to give in, first or last.” + </p> + <p> + And the pair were gone; their steps grew faint in the corridor; when we + could no longer hear them, Rattray closed the door and quietly locked it. + Then he turned to me, stern enough, and pointed to the door with a hand + that shook. + </p> + <p> + “You see how it is?” + </p> + <p> + “Perfectly.” + </p> + <p> + “They want to kill you!” + </p> + <p> + “Of course they do.” + </p> + <p> + “It's your own fault; you've run yourself into this. I did my best to keep + you out of it. But in you come, and spill first blood.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't regret it,” said I. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you're damned mule enough not to regret anything!” cried Rattray. “I + see the sort you are; yet but for me, I tell you plainly, you'd be a dead + man now.” + </p> + <p> + “I can't think why you interfered.” + </p> + <p> + “You've heard the reason. I won't have murder done here if I can prevent + it; so far I have; it rests with you whether I can go on preventing it or + not.” + </p> + <p> + “With me, does it?” + </p> + <p> + He sat down on the side of the bed. He threw an arm to the far side of my + body, and he leaned over me with savage eyes now staring into mine, now + resting with a momentary gleam of pride upon my battered head. I put up my + hand; it lit upon a very turban of bandages, and at that I tried to take + his hand in mine. He shook it off, and his eyes met mine more fiercely + than before. + </p> + <p> + “See here, Cole,” said he; “I don't know how the devil you got wind of + anything to start with, and I don't care. What I do know is that you've + made bad enough a long chalk worse for all concerned, and you'll have to + get yourself out of the mess you've got yourself into, and there's only + one way. I suppose Miss Denison has really told you everything this time? + What's that? Oh, yes, she's all right again; no thanks to you. Now let's + hear what she did tell you. It'll save time.” + </p> + <p> + I repeated the hurried disclosures made by Eva in the rhododendrons. He + nodded grimly in confirmation of their truth. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, those are the rough facts. The game was started in Melbourne. My + part was to wait at Ascension till the <i>Lady Jermyn</i> signalled herself, + follow her in a schooner we had bought and pick up the gig with the gold + aboard. Well, I did so; never mind the details now, and never mind the + bloody massacre the others had made of it before I came up. God knows I + was never a consenting party to that, though I know I'm responsible. I'm + in this thing as deep as any of them. I've shared the risks and I'm going + to share the plunder, and I'll swing with the others if it ever comes to + that. I deserve it hard enough. And so here we are, we three and the + nigger, all four fit to swing in a row, as you were fool enough to tell + us; and you step in and find out everything. What's to be done? You know + what the others want to do. I say it rests with you whether they do it or + not. There's only one other way of meeting the case.” + </p> + <p> + “What's that?” + </p> + <p> + “Be in it yourself, man! Come in with me and split my share!” + </p> + <p> + I could have burst out laughing in his handsome, eager face; the good + faith of this absurd proposal was so incongruously apparent; and so + obviously genuine was the young villain's anxiety for my consent. Become + accessory after the fact in such a crime! Sell my silence for a price! I + concealed my feelings with equal difficulty and resolution. I had plans of + my own already, but I must gain time to think them over. Nor could I + afford to quarrel with Rattray meanwhile. + </p> + <p> + “What was the haul?” I asked him, with the air of one not unprepared to + consider the matter. + </p> + <p> + “Twelve thousand ounces!” + </p> + <p> + “Forty-eight thousand pounds, about?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes-yes.” + </p> + <p> + “And your share?” + </p> + <p> + “Fourteen thousand pounds. Santos takes twenty, and Harris and I fourteen + thousand each.” + </p> + <p> + “And you offer me seven?” + </p> + <p> + “I do! I do!” + </p> + <p> + He was becoming more and more eager and excited. His eyes were brighter + than I had ever seen them, but slightly bloodshot, and a coppery flush + tinged his clear, sunburnt skin. I fancied he had been making somewhat + free with the brandy. But loss of blood had cooled my brain; and, perhaps, + natural perversity had also a share in the composure which grew upon me as + it deserted my companion. + </p> + <p> + “Why make such a sacrifice?” said I, smiling. “Why not let them do as they + like?” + </p> + <p> + “I've told you why! I'm not so bad as all that. I draw the line at bloody + murder! Not a life should have been lost if I'd had my way. Besides, I've + done all the dirty work by you, Cole; there's been no help for it. We + didn't know whether you knew or not; it made all the difference to us; and + somebody had to dog you and find out how much you did know. I was the only + one who could possibly do it. God knows how I detested the job! I'm more + ashamed of it than of worse things. I had to worm myself into your + friendship; and, by Jove, you made me think you did know, but hadn't let + it out, and might any day. So then I got you up here, where you would be + in our power if it was so; surely you can see every move? But this much + I'll swear—I had nothing to do with José breaking into your room at + the hotel; they went behind me there, curse them! And when at last I found + out for certain, down here, that you knew nothing after all, I was never + more sincerely thankful in my life. I give you my word it took a load off + my heart.” + </p> + <p> + “I know that,” I said. “I also know who broke into my room, and I'm glad + I'm even with one of you.” + </p> + <p> + “It's done you no good,” said Rattray. “Their first thought was to put you + out of the way, and it's more than ever their last. You see the sort of + men you've got to deal with; and they're three to one, counting the + nigger; but if you go in with me they'll only be three to two.” + </p> + <p> + He was manifestly anxious to save me in this fashion. And I suppose that + most sensible men, in my dilemma, would at least have nursed or played + upon good-will so lucky and so enduring. But there was always a twist in + me that made me love (in my youth) to take the unexpected course; and it + amused me the more to lead my young friend on. + </p> + <p> + “And where have you got this gold?” I asked him, in a low voice so + promising that he instantly lowered his, and his eyes twinkled naughtily + into mine. + </p> + <p> + “In the old tunnel that runs from this place nearly to the sea,” said he. + “We Rattrays have always been a pretty warm lot, Cole, and in the old days + we were the most festive smugglers on the coast; this tunnel's a relic of + 'em, although it was only a tradition till I came into the property. I + swore I'd find it, and when I'd done so I made the new connection which + you shall see. I'm rather proud of it. And I won't say I haven't used the + old drain once or twice after the fashion of my rude forefathers; but + never was it such a godsend as it's been this time. By Jove, it would be a + sin if you didn't come in with us, Cole; but for the lives these + blackguards lost the thing's gone splendidly; it would be a sin if you + went and lost yours, whereas, if you come in, the two of us would be able + to shake off those devils: we should be too strong for 'em.” + </p> + <p> + “Seven thousand pounds!” I murmured. “Forty-eight thousand between us!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, and nearly all of it down below, at this end of the tunnel, and the + rest where we dropped it when we heard you were trying to bolt. We'd got + it all at the other end, ready to pop aboard the schooner that's lying + there still, if you turned out to know anything and to have told what you + knew to the police. There was always the possibility of that, you see; we + simply daren't show our noses at the bank until we knew how much you knew, + and what you'd done or were thinking of doing. As it is, we can take 'em + the whole twelve thousand ounces, or rather I can, as soon as I like, in + broad daylight. I'm a lucky digger. It's all right. Everybody knows I've + been out there. They'll have to pay me over the counter; and if you wait + in the cab, by the Lord Harry, I'll pay you your seven thousand first! You + don't deserve it, Cole, but you shall have it, and between us we'll see + the others to blazes!” + </p> + <p> + He jumped up all excitement, and was at the door next instant. + </p> + <p> + “Stop!” I cried. “Where are you going?” + </p> + <p> + “Downstairs to tell them.” + </p> + <p> + “Tell them what?” + </p> + <p> + “That you're going in with me, and it's all right.” + </p> + <p> + “And do you really think I am?” + </p> + <p> + He had unlocked the door; after a pause I heard him lock it again. But I + did not see his face until he returned to the bedside. And then it + frightened me. It was distorted and discolored with rage and chagrin. + </p> + <p> + “You've been making a fool of me!” he cried fiercely. + </p> + <p> + “No, I have been considering the matter, Rattray.” + </p> + <p> + “And you won't accept my offer?” + </p> + <p> + “Of course I won't. I didn't say I'd been considering that.” + </p> + <p> + He stood over me with clenched fists and starting eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Don't you see that I want to save your life?” he cried. “Don't you see + that this is the only way? Do you suppose a murder more or less makes any + difference to that lot downstairs? Are you really such a fool as to die + rather than hold your tongue?” + </p> + <p> + “I won't hold it for money, at all events,” said I. “But that's what I was + coming to.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well!” he interrupted. “You shall only pretend to touch it. All I + want is to convince the others that it's against your interest to split. + Self-interest is the one motive they understand. Your bare word would be + good enough for me.” + </p> + <p> + “Suppose I won't give my bare word?” said I, in a gentle manner which I + did not mean to be as irritating as it doubtless was. Yet his proposals + and his assumptions were between them making me irritable in my turn. + </p> + <p> + “For Heaven's sake don't be such an idiot, Cole!” he burst out in a + passion. “You know I'm against the others, and you know what they want, + yet you do your best to put me on their side! You know what they are, and + yet you hesitate! For the love of God be sensible; at least give me your + word that you'll hold your tongue for ever about all you know.” + </p> + <p> + “All right,” I said. “I'll give you my word—my sacred promise, + Rattray—on one condition.” + </p> + <p> + “What's that?” + </p> + <p> + “That you let me take Miss Denison away from you, for good and all!” + </p> + <p> + His face was transformed with fury: honest passion faded from it and left + it bloodless, deadly, sinister. + </p> + <p> + “Away from me?” said Rattray, through his teeth. + </p> + <p> + “From the lot of you.” + </p> + <p> + “I remember! You told me that night. Ha, ha, ha! You were in love with her—you—you!” + </p> + <p> + “That has nothing to do with it,” said I, shaking the bed with my anger + and my agitation. + </p> + <p> + “I should hope not! You, indeed, to look at her!” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I cried, “she may never love me; but at least she doesn't loathe + me as she loathes you—yes, and the sight of you, and your very + name!” + </p> + <p> + So I drew blood for blood; and for an instant I thought he was going to + make an end of it by incontinently killing me himself. His fists flew out. + Had I been a whole man on my legs, he took care to tell me what he would + have done, and to drive it home with a mouthful of the oaths which were + conspicuously absent from his ordinary talk. + </p> + <p> + “You take advantage of your weakness, like any cur,” he wound up. + </p> + <p> + “And you of your strength—like the young bully you are!” I retorted. + </p> + <p> + “You do your best to make me one,” he answered bitterly. “I try to stand + by you at all costs. I want to make amends to you, I want to prevent a + crime. Yet there you lie and set your face against a compromise; and there + you lie and taunt me with the thing that's gall and wormwood to me + already. I know I gave you provocation. And I know I'm rightly served. Why + do you suppose I went into this accursed thing at all? Not for the gold, + my boy, but for the girl! So she won't look at me. And it serves me right. + But—I say—do you really think she loathes me, Cole?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't see how she can think much better of you than of the crime in + which you've had a hand,” was my reply, made, however, with as much + kindness as I could summon. “The word I used was spoken in anger,” said I; + for his had disappeared; and he looked such a miserable, handsome dog as + he stood there hanging his guilty head—in the room, I fancied, where + he once had lain as a pretty, innocent child. + </p> + <p> + “Cole,” said he, “I'd give twice my share of the damned stuff never to + have put my hand to the plough; but go back I can't; so there's an end of + it.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't see it,” said I. “You say you didn't go in for the gold? Then + give up your share; the others'll jump at it; and Eva won't think the + worse of you, at any rate.” + </p> + <p> + “But what's to become of her if I drop out? + </p> + <p> + “You and I will take her to her friends, or wherever she wants to go.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no!” he cried. “I never yet deserted my pals, and I'm not going to + begin.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe you ever before had such pals to desert,” was my reply to + that. “Quite apart from my own share in the matter, it makes me positively + sick to see a fellow like you mixed up with such a crew in such a game. + Get out of it, man, get out of it while you can! Now's your time. Get out + of it, for God's sake!” + </p> + <p> + I sat up in my eagerness. I saw him waver. And for one instant a great + hope fluttered in my heart. But his teeth met. His face darkened. He shook + his head. + </p> + <p> + “That's the kind of rot that isn't worth talking, and you ought to know + it,” said he. “When I begin a thing I go through with it, though it lands + me in hell, as this one will. I can't help that. It's too late to go back. + I'm going on and you're going with me, Cole, like a sensible chap!” + </p> + <p> + I shook my head. + </p> + <p> + “Only on the one condition.” + </p> + <p> + “You—stick—to—that?” he said, so rapidly that the words + ran into one, so fiercely that his decision was as plain to me as my own. + </p> + <p> + “I do,” said I, and could only sigh when he made yet one more effort to + persuade me, in a distress not less apparent than his resolution, and not + less becoming in him. + </p> + <p> + “Consider, Cole, consider!” + </p> + <p> + “I have already done so, Rattray.” + </p> + <p> + “Murder is simply nothing to them!” + </p> + <p> + “It is nothing to me either.” + </p> + <p> + “Human life is nothing!” + </p> + <p> + “No; it must end one day.” + </p> + <p> + “You won't give your word unconditionally?” + </p> + <p> + “No; you know my condition.” + </p> + <p> + He ignored it with a blazing eye, his hand upon the door. + </p> + <p> + “You prefer to die, then?” “Infinitely.” + </p> + <p> + “Then die you may, and be damned to you!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVII. THIEVES FALL OUT + </h2> + <p> + The door slammed. It was invisibly locked and the key taken out. I + listened for the last of an angry stride. It never even began. But after a + pause the door was unlocked again, and Rattray re-entered. + </p> + <p> + Without looking at me, he snatched the candle from the table on which it + stood by the bedside, and carried it to a bureau at the opposite side of + the room. There he stood a minute with his back turned, the candle, I + fancy, on the floor. I saw him putting something in either jacket pocket. + Then I heard a dull little snap, as though he had shut some small morocco + case; whatever it was, he tossed it carelessly back into the bureau; and + next minute he was really gone, leaving the candle burning on the floor. + </p> + <p> + I lay and heard his steps out of earshot, and they were angry enough now, + nor had he given me a single glance. I listened until there was no more to + be heard, and then in an instant I was off the bed and on my feet. I + reeled a little, and my head gave me great pain, but greater still was my + excitement. I caught up the candle, opened the unlocked bureau, and then + the empty case which I found in the very front. + </p> + <p> + My heart leapt; there was no mistaking the depressions in the case. It was + a brace of tiny pistols that Rattray had slipped into his jacket pockets. + </p> + <p> + Mere toys they must have been in comparison with my dear Deane and Adams; + that mattered nothing. I went no longer in dire terror of my life; indeed, + there was that in Rattray which had left me feeling fairly safe, in spite + of his last words to me, albeit I felt his fears on my behalf to be + genuine enough. His taking these little pistols (of course, there were but + three chambers left loaded in mine) confirmed my confidence in him. + </p> + <p> + He would stick at nothing to defend me from the violence of his + bloodthirsty accomplices. But it should not come to that. My legs were + growing firmer under me. I was not going to lie there meekly without + making at least an effort at self-deliverance. If it succeeded—the + idea came to me in a flash—I would send Rattray an ultimatum from + the nearest town; and either Eva should be set instantly and + unconditionally free, or the whole matter be put unreservedly in the hands + of the local police. + </p> + <p> + There were two lattice windows, both in the same immensely thick wall; to + my joy, I discovered that they overlooked the open premises at the back of + the hall, with the oak-plantation beyond; nor was the distance to the + ground very great. It was the work of a moment to tear the sheets from the + bed, to tie the two ends together and a third round the mullion by which + the larger window was bisected. I had done this, and had let down my + sheets, when a movement below turned my heart to ice. The night had + clouded over. I could see nobody; so much the greater was my alarm. + </p> + <p> + I withdrew from the window, leaving the sheets hanging, in the hope that + they also might be invisible in the darkness. I put out the candle, and + returned to the window in great perplexity. Next moment I stood aghast—between + the devil and the deep sea. I still heard a something down below, but a + worse sound came to drown it. An unseen hand was very quietly trying the + door which Rattray had locked behind him. + </p> + <p> + “Diablo!” came to my horrified ears, in a soft, vindictive voice. + </p> + <p> + “I told ye so,” muttered another; “the young swab's got the key.” + </p> + <p> + There was a pause, in which it would seem that Joaquin Santos had his ear + at the empty keyhole. + </p> + <p> + “I think he must be slipping,” at last I heard him sigh. “It was not + necessary to awaken him in this world. It is a peety.” + </p> + <p> + “One kick over the lock would do it,” said Harris; “only the young swab'll + hear.” + </p> + <p> + “Not perhaps while he is dancing attendance on the senhora. Was it not + good to send him to her? If he does hear, well, his own turn will come the + queecker, that is all. But it would be better to take them one at a time; + so keeck away, my friend, and I will give him no time to squil.” + </p> + <p> + While my would-be murderers were holding this whispered colloquy, I had + stood half-petrified by the open window; unwilling to slide down the + sheets into the arms of an unseen enemy, though I had no idea which of + them it could be; more hopeful of slipping past my butchers in the + darkness, and so to Rattray and poor Eva; but not the less eagerly looking + for some hiding-place in the room. The best that offered was a recess in + the thick wall between the two windows, filled with hanging clothes: a + narrow closet without a door, which would shelter me well enough if not + too curiously inspected. Here I hid myself in the end, after a moment of + indecision which nearly cost me my life. The coats and trousers still + shook in front of me when the door flew open at the first kick, and Santos + stood a moment in the moonlight, looking for the bed. With a stride he + reached it, and I saw the gleam of a knife from where I stood among the + squire's clothes; it flashed over my bed, and was still. + </p> + <p> + “He is not 'ere!” + </p> + <p> + “He heard us, and he's a-hiding.” + </p> + <p> + “Make light, my friend, and we shall very soon see.” + </p> + <p> + Harris did so. + </p> + <p> + “Here's a candle,” said Santos; “light it, and watch the door. Perro mal + dicto! What have we here?” + </p> + <p> + I felt certain he had seen me, but the candle passed within a yard of my + feet, and was held on high at the open window. + </p> + <p> + “We are too late!” said Santos. “He's gone!” + </p> + <p> + “Are you sure + </p> + <p> + “Look at this sheet.” + </p> + <p> + “Then the other swab knew of it, and we'll settle with him.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes. But not yet, my good friend—not yet. We want his + asseestance in getting the gold back to the sea; he will be glad enough to + give it, now that his pet bird has flown; after that—by all mins. + You shall cut his troth, and I will put one of 'is dear friend's bullets + in 'im for my own satisfaction.” + </p> + <p> + There was a quick step on the stairs-in the corridor. + </p> + <p> + “I'd like to do it now,” whispered Harris; “no time like the present.” + </p> + <p> + “Not yet, I tell you!” + </p> + <p> + And Rattray was in the room, a silver-mounted pistol in each hand; the + sight of these was a surprise to his treacherous confederates, as even I + could see. + </p> + <p> + “What the devil are you two doing here?” he thundered. + </p> + <p> + “We thought he was too quite,” said Santos. “You percive the rizzon.” + </p> + <p> + And he waved from empty bed to open window, then held the candle close to + the tied sheet, and shrugged expressively. + </p> + <p> + “You thought he was too quiet!” echoed Rattray with fierce scorn. “You + thought I was too blind—that's what you mean. To tell me that Miss + Denison wished to see me, and Miss Denison that I wished to speak to her! + As if we shouldn't find you out in about a minute! But a minute was better + than nothing, eh? And you've made good use of your minute, have you. + You've murdered him, and you pretend he's got out? By God, if you have, + I'll murder you! I've been ready for this all night!” + </p> + <p> + And he stood with his back to the window, his pistols raised, and his head + carried proudly—happily—like a man whose self-respect was + coming back to him after many days. Harris shrank before his fierce eyes + and pointed barrels. The Portuguese, however, had merely given a + characteristic shrug, and was now rolling the inevitable cigarette. + </p> + <p> + “Your common sense is almost as remarkable as your sense of justice, my + friend,” said he. “You see us one, two, tree meenutes ago, and you see us + now. You see the empty bed, the empty room, and you imagine that in one, + two, tree meenutes we have killed a man and disposed of his body. Truly, + you are very wise and just, and very loyal also to your friends. You treat + a dangerous enemy as though he were your tween-brother. You let him escape—let + him, I repit—and then you threaten to shoot those who, as it is, may + pay for your carelessness with their lives. We have been always very loyal + to you, Senhor Rattray. We have leestened to your advice, and often taken + it against our better judgment. We are here, not because we think it wise, + but because you weeshed it. Yet at the first temptation you turn upon us, + you point your peestols at your friends.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe in your loyalty,” rejoined Rattray. “I believe you would + shoot me sooner than I would you. The only difference would be than I + should be shot in the back!” + </p> + <p> + “It is untrue,” said Santos, with immense emotion. “I call the saints to + witness that never by thought or word have I been disloyal to you”—and + the blasphemous wretch actually crossed himself with a trembling, skinny + hand. “I have leestened to you, though you are the younger man. I have + geeven way to you in everything from the moment we were so fullish as to + set foot on this accursed coast; that also was your doeeng; and it will be + your fault if ivil comes of it. Yet I have not complained. Here in your + own 'ouse you have been the master, I the guest. So far from plotting + against you, show me the man who has heard me brith one treacherous word + behind your back; you will find it deeficult, friend Rattray; what do you + say, captain?” + </p> + <p> + “Me?” cried Harris, in a voice bursting with abuse. And what the captain + said may or may not be imagined. It cannot be set down. + </p> + <p> + But the man who ought to have spoken—the man who had such a chance + as few men have off the stage—who could have confounded these + villains in a breath, and saved the wretched Rattray at once from them and + from himself—that unheroic hero remained ignobly silent in his + homely hiding-place. And, what is more, he would do the same again! + </p> + <p> + The rogues had fallen out; now was the time for honest men. They all + thought I had escaped; therefore they would give me a better chance than + ever of still escaping; and I have already explained to what purpose I + meant to use my first hours of liberty. That purpose I hold to have + justified any ingratitude that I may seem now to have displayed towards + the man who had undoubtedly stood between death and me. Was not Eva + Denison of more value than many Rattrays? And it was precisely in relation + with this pure young girl that I most mistrusted the squire: obviously + then my first duty was to save Eva from Rattray, not Rattray from these + traitors. + </p> + <p> + Not that I pretend for a moment to have been the thing I never was: you + are not so very grateful to the man who pulls you out of the mud when he + has first of all pushed you in; nor is it chivalry alone which spurs one + to the rescue of a lovely lady for whom, after all, one would rather live + than die. Thus I, in my corner, was thinking (I will say) of Eva first; + but next I was thinking of myself; and Rattray's blood be on his own hot + head! I hold, moreover, that I was perfectly right in all this; but if any + think me very wrong, a sufficient satisfaction is in store for them, for I + was very swiftly punished. + </p> + <p> + The captain's language was no worse in character than in effect: the bed + was bloody from my wounded head, all tumbled from the haste with which I + had quitted it, and only too suggestive of still fouler play. Rattray + stopped the captain with a sudden flourish of one of his pistols, the + silver mountings making lightning in the room; then he called upon the + pair of them to show him what they had done with me; and to my horror, + Santos invited him to search the room. The invitation was accepted. Yet + there I stood. It would have been better to step forward even then. Yet I + cowered among his clothes until his own hand fell upon my collar, and + forth I was dragged to the plain amazement of all three. + </p> + <p> + Santos was the first to find his voice. + </p> + <p> + “Another time you will perhaps think twice before you spik, friend + squire.” + </p> + <p> + Rattray simply asked me what I had been doing in there, in a white flame + of passion, and with such an oath that I embellished the truth for him in + my turn. + </p> + <p> + “Trying to give you blackguards the slip,” said I. + </p> + <p> + “Then it was you who let down the sheet?” + </p> + <p> + “Of course it was.” + </p> + <p> + “All right! I'm done with you,” said he; “that settles it. I make you an + offer. You won't accept it. I do my best; you do your worst; but I'll be + shot if you get another chance from me!” + </p> + <p> + Brandy and the wine-glass stood where Rattray must have set them, on an + oak stool beside the bed; as he spoke he crossed the room, filled the + glass till the spirit dripped, and drained it at a gulp. He was twitching + and wincing still when he turned, walked up to Joaquin Santos, and pointed + to where I stood with a fist that shook. + </p> + <p> + “You wanted to deal with him,” said Rattray; “you're at liberty to do so. + I'm only sorry I stood in your way.” + </p> + <p> + But no answer, and for once no rings of smoke came from those shrivelled + lips: the man had rolled and lighted a cigarette since Rattray entered, + but it was burning unheeded between his skinny fingers. I had his + attention, all to myself. He knew the tale that I was going to tell. He + was waiting for it; he was ready for me. The attentive droop of his head; + the crafty glitter in his intelligent eyes; the depth and breadth of the + creased forehead; the knowledge of his resource, the consciousness of my + error, all distracted and confounded me so that my speech halted and my + voice ran thin. I told Rattray every syllable that these traitors had been + saying behind his back, but I told it all very ill; what was worse, and + made me worse, I was only too well aware of my own failure to carry + conviction with my words. + </p> + <p> + “And why couldn't you come out and say so,” asked Rattray, as even I knew + that he must. “Why wait till now?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, why!” echoed Santos, with a smile and a shake of the head; a + suspicious tolerance, an ostentatious truce, upon his parchment face. And + already he was sufficiently relieved to suck his cigarette alight again. + </p> + <p> + “You know why,” I said, trusting to bluff honesty with the one of them who + was not rotten to the core: “because I still meant escaping.” + </p> + <p> + “And then what?” asked Rattray fiercely. + </p> + <p> + “You had given me my chance,” I said; “I hould have given you yours.” + </p> + <p> + “You would, would you? Very kind of you, Mr. Cole!” + </p> + <p> + “No, no,” said Santos; “not kind, but clever! Clever, spicious, and + queeck-weeted beyond belif! Senhor Rattray, we have all been in the dark; + we thought we had fool to die with, but what admirable knave the young man + would make! Such readiness, such resource, with his tongue or with his + peestol; how useful would it be to us! I am glad you have decided to live + him to me, friend Rattray, for I am quite come round to your way of + thinking. It is no longer necessary for him to die!” + </p> + <p> + “You mean that?” cried Rattray keenly. + </p> + <p> + “Of course I min it. You were quite right. He must join us. But he will + when I talk to him.” + </p> + <p> + I could not speak. I was fascinated by this wretch: it was reptile and + rabbit with us. Treachery I knew he meant; my death, for one; my death was + certain; and yet I could not speak. + </p> + <p> + “Then talk to him, for God's sake,” cried Rattray, “and I shall be only + too glad if you can talk some sense into him. I've tried, and failed.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall not fail,” said Santos softly. “But it is better that he has a + leetle time to think over it calmly; better steel for 'im to slip upon it, + as you say. Let us live 'im for the night, what there is of it; time + enough in the morning.” + </p> + <p> + I could hardly believe my ears; still I knew that it was treachery, all + treachery; and the morning I should never see. + </p> + <p> + “But we can't leave him up here,” said Rattray; “it would mean one of us + watching him all night.” + </p> + <p> + “Quite so,” said Santos. “I will tell you where we could live him, + however, if you will allow me to wheesper one leetle moment.” + </p> + <p> + They drew aside; and, as I live, I thought that little moment was to be + Rattray's last on earth. I watched, but nothing happened; on the contrary, + both men seemed agreed, the Portuguese gesticulating, the Englishman + nodding, as they stood conversing at the window. Their faces were + strangely reassuring. I began to reason with myself, to rid my mind of + mere presentiment and superstition. If these two really were at one about + me (I argued) there might be no treachery after all. When I came to think + of it, Rattray had been closeted long enough with me to awake the worst + suspicions in the breasts of his companions; now that these were allayed, + there might be no more bloodshed after all (if, for example, I pretended + to give in), even though Santos had not cared whose blood was shed a few + minutes since. That was evidently the character of the wretch: to compass + his ends or to defend his person he would take life with no more + compunction than the ordinary criminal takes money; but (and hence) murder + for murder's sake was no amusement to him. + </p> + <p> + My confidence was further restored by Captain Harris; ever a gross + ruffian, with no refinements to his rascality, he had been at the brandy + bottle after Rattray's example; and now was dozing on the latter's bed, + taking his watch below when he could get it, like the good seaman he had + been. I was quite sorry for him when the conversation at the window ceased + suddenly, and Rattray roused the captain up. + </p> + <p> + “Watches aft!” said he. “We want that mattress; you can bring it along, + while I lead the way with the pillows and things. Come on, Cole!” + </p> + <p> + “Where to?” I asked, standing firm. + </p> + <p> + “Where there's no window for you to jump out of, old boy, and no clothes + of mine for you to hide behind. You needn't look so scared; it's as dry as + a bone, as cellars go. And it's past three o'clock. And you've just got to + come.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVIII. A MAN OF MANY MURDERS + </h2> + <p> + It was a good-sized wine-cellar, with very little wine in it; only one + full bin could I discover. The bins themselves lined but two of the walls, + and most of them were covered in with cobwebs, close-drawn like + mosquito-curtains. The ceiling was all too low: torpid spiders hung in + disreputable parlors, dead to the eye, but loathsomely alive at an + involuntary touch. Rats scuttled when we entered, and I had not been long + alone when they returned to bear me company. I am not a natural historian, + and had rather face a lion with the right rifle than a rat with a stick. + My jailers, however, had been kind enough to leave me a lantern, which, + set upon the ground (like my mattress), would afford a warning, if not a + protection, against the worst; unless I slept; and as yet I had not lain + down. The rascals had been considerate enough, more especially Santos, who + had a new manner for me with his revised opinion of my character; it was a + manner almost as courtly as that which had embellished his relations with + Eva Denison, and won him my early regard at sea. Moreover, it was at the + suggestion of Santos that they had detained me in the hall, for + much-needed meat and drink, on the way down. Thereafter they had conducted + me through the book-lined door of my undoing, down stone stairs leading to + three cellar doors, one of which they had double-locked upon me. + </p> + <p> + As soon as I durst I was busy with this door; but to no purpose; it was a + slab of solid oak, hung on hinges as massive as its lock. It galled me to + think that but two doors stood between me and the secret tunnel to the + sea: for one of the other two must lead to it. The first, however, was all + beyond me, and I very soon gave it up. There was also a very small grating + which let in a very little fresh air: the massive foundations had been + tunnelled in one place; a rude alcove was the result, with this grating at + the end and top of it, some seven feet above the earth floor. Even had I + been able to wrench away the bars, it would have availed me nothing, since + the aperture formed the segment of a circle whose chord was but a very few + inches long. I had nevertheless a fancy for seeing the stars once more and + feeling the breath of heaven upon my bandaged temples, which impelled me + to search for that which should add a cubit to my stature. And at a glance + I descried two packing-cases, rather small and squat, but the pair of them + together the very thing for me. To my amazement, however, I could at first + move neither one nor the other of these small boxes. Was it that I was + weak as water, or that they were heavier than lead? At last I managed to + get one of them in my arms—only to drop it with a thud. A side + started; a thin sprinkling of yellow dust glittered on the earth. I + fetched the lantern: it was gold-dust from Bendigo or from Ballarat. + </p> + <p> + To me there was horror unspeakable, yet withal a morbid fascination, in + the spectacle of the actual booty for which so many lives had been + sacrificed before my eyes. Minute followed minute in which I looked at + nothing, and could think of nothing, but the stolen bullion at my feet; + then I gathered what of the dust I could, pocketed it in pinches to hide + my meddlesomeness, and blew the rest away. The box had dropped very much + where I had found it; it had exhausted my strength none the less, and I + was glad at last to lie down on the mattress, and to wind my body in + Rattray's blankets. + </p> + <p> + I shuddered at the thought of sleep: the rats became so lively the moment + I lay still. One ventured so near as to sit up close to the lantern; the + light showed its fat white belly, and the thing itself was like a dog + begging, as big to my disgusted eyes. And yet, in the midst of these + horrors (to me as bad as any that had preceded them), nature overcame me, + and for a space my torments ceased. + </p> + <p> + “He is aslip,” a soft voice said. + </p> + <p> + “Don't wake the poor devil,” said another. + </p> + <p> + “But I weesh to spik with 'im. Senhor Cole! Senhor Cole!” + </p> + <p> + I opened my eyes. Santos looked of uncanny stature in the low yellow + light, from my pillow close to the earth. Harris turned away at my glance; + he carried a spade, and began digging near the boxes without more ado, by + the light of a second lantern set on one of them: his back was to me from + this time on. Santos shrugged a shoulder towards the captain as he opened + a campstool, drew up his trousers, and seated himself with much + deliberation at the foot of my mattress. + </p> + <p> + “When you 'ave treasure,” said he, “the better thing is to bury it, Senhor + Cole. Our young friend upstairs begs to deefer; but he is slipping; it is + peety he takes such quantity of brandy! It is leetle wikness of you + Engleesh; we in Portugal never touch it, save as a liqueur; therefore we + require less slip. Friend squire upstairs is at this moment no better than + a porker. Have I made mistake? I thought it was the same word in both + languages; but I am glad to see you smile, Senhor Cole; that is good sign. + I was going to say, he is so fast aslip up there, that he would not hear + us if we were to shoot each other dead!” + </p> + <p> + And he gave me his paternal smile, benevolent, humorous, reassuring; but I + was no longer reassured; nor did I greatly care any more what happened to + me. There is a point of last, as well as one of least resistance, and I + had reached both points at once. + </p> + <p> + “Have you shot him dead?” I inquired, thinking that if he had, this would + precipitate my turn. But he was far from angry; the parchment face + crumpled into tolerant smiles; the venerable head shook a playful + reproval, as he threw away the cigarette that I am tired of mentioning, + and put the last touch to a fresh one with his tongue. + </p> + <p> + “What question?” said he; “reely, Senhor Cole! But you are quite right: I + would have shot him, or cut his troth” (and he shrugged indifference on + the point), “if it had not been for you; and yet it would have been your + fault! I nid not explain; the poseetion must have explained itself + already; besides, it is past. With you two against us—but it is + past. You see, I have no longer the excellent José. You broke his leg, bad + man. I fear it will be necessary to destroy 'im.” Santos made a pause; + then inquired if he shocked me. + </p> + <p> + “Not a bit,” said I, neither truly nor untruly; “you interest me.” And + that he did. + </p> + <p> + “You see,” he continued, “I have not the respect of you Engleesh for 'uman + life. We will not argue it. I have at least some respect for prejudice. In + my youth I had myself such prejudices; but one loses them on the Zambesi. + You cannot expect one to set any value upon the life of a black nigger; + and when you have keeled a great many Kaffirs, by the lash, with the + crocodiles, or what-not, then a white man or two makes less deeference. I + acknowledge there were too many on board that sheep; but what was one to + do? You have your Engleesh proverb about the dead men and the stories; it + was necessary to make clin swip. You see the result.” + </p> + <p> + He shrugged again towards the boxes; but this time, being reminded of them + (I supposed), he rose and went over to see how Harris was progressing. The + captain had never looked round; neither did he look at Santos. “A leetle + dipper,” I heard the latter say, “and, perhaps, a few eenches—” but + I lost the last epithet. It followed a glance over the shoulder in my + direction, and immediately preceded the return of Santos to his + camp-stool. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it is always better to bury treasure,” said he once more; but his + tone was altered; it was more contemplative; and many smoke-rings came + from the shrunk lips before another word; but through them all, his dark + eyes, dull with age, were fixed upon me. + </p> + <p> + “You are a treasure!” he exclaimed at last, softly enough, but quickly and + emphatically for him, and with a sudden and most diabolical smile. + </p> + <p> + “So you are going to bury me?” + </p> + <p> + I had suspected it when first I saw the spade; then not; but since the + visit to the hole I had made up my mind to it. + </p> + <p> + “Bury you? No, not alive,” said Santos, in his playfully reproving tone. + “It would be necessary to deeg so dip!” he added through his few remaining + teeth. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “you'll swing for it. That's something.” + </p> + <p> + Santos smiled again, benignantly enough this time: in contemplation also: + as an artist smiles upon his work. I was his! + </p> + <p> + “You live town,” said he; “no one knows where you go. You come down here; + no one knows who you are. Your dear friend squire locks you up for the + night, but dreenks too much and goes to slip with the key in his pocket; + it is there when he wakes; but the preesoner, where is he? He is gone, + vanished, escaped in the night, and, like the base fabreec of your own + poet's veesion, he lives no trace—is it trace?—be'ind! A + leetle earth is so easily bitten down; a leetle more is so easily carried + up into the garden; and a beet of nice strong wire might so easily be + found in a cellar, and afterwards in the lock! No, Senhor Cole, I do not + expect to 'ang. My schims have seldom one seengle flaw. There was just one + in the <i>Lady Jermyn</i>; there was—Senhor Cole! If there is one this + time, and you will be so kind as to point it out, I will—I will run + the reesk of shooting you instead of—” + </p> + <p> + A pinch of his baggy throat, between the fingers and thumbs of both hands, + foreshadowed a cleaner end; and yet I could look at him; nay, it was more + than I could do not to look upon that bloodless face, with the two dry + blots upon the parchment, that were never withdrawn from mine. + </p> + <p> + “No you won't, messmate! If it's him or us for it, let a bullet do it, and + let it do it quick, you bloody Spaniard! You can't do the other without + me, and my part's done.” + </p> + <p> + Harris was my only hope. I had seen this from the first, but my appeal I + had been keeping to the very end. And now he was leaving me before a word + would come! Santos had gone over to my grave, and there was Harris at the + door! + </p> + <p> + “It is not dip enough,” said the Portuguese. + </p> + <p> + “It's as deep as I mean to make it, with you sittin' there talkin' about + it.” + </p> + <p> + And the door stood open. + </p> + <p> + “Captain!” I screamed. “For Christ's sake, captain!” + </p> + <p> + He stood there, trembling, yet even now not looking my way. + </p> + <p> + “Did you ever see a man hanged?” asked Santos, with a vile eye for each of + us. “I once hanged fifteen in a row; abominable thifs. And I once poisoned + nearly a hundred at one banquet; an untrustworthy tribe; but the hanging + was the worse sight and the worse death. Heugh! There was one man—he + was no stouter than you are captain—” + </p> + <p> + But the door slammed; we heard the captain on the stairs; there was a + rustle from the leaves outside, and then a silence that I shall not + attempt to describe. + </p> + <p> + And, indeed, I am done with this description: as I live to tell the tale + (or spoil it, if I choose) I will make shorter work of this particular + business than I found it at the time. Perverse I may be in old age as in + my youth; but on that my agony—my humiliating agony—I decline + to dwell. I suffer it afresh as I write. There are the cobwebs on the + ceiling, a bloated spider crawling in one: a worse monster is gloating + over me: those dull eyes of his, and my own pistol-barrel, cover me in the + lamp-light. The crucifix pin is awry in his cravat; that is because he has + offered it me to kiss. As a refinement (I feel sure) my revolver is not + cocked; and the hammer goes up—up— + </p> + <p> + He missed me because a lantern was flashed into his eyes through the + grating. He wasted the next ball in firing wildly at the light. And the + last chamber's load became suddenly too precious for my person; for there + were many voices overhead; there were many feet upon the stairs. + </p> + <p> + Harris came first—head-first—saw me still living as he reeled—hurled + himself upon the boxes and one of these into the hole—all far + quicker than my pen can write it. The manoeuvre, being the captain's, + explained itself: on his heels trod Rattray, with one who brought me to my + feet like the call of silver trumpets. + </p> + <p> + “The house is surrounded,” says the squire, very quick and quiet; “is this + your doing, Cole?” + </p> + <p> + “I wish it was,” said I; “but I can't complain; it's saved my life.” And I + looked at Santos, standing dignified and alert, my still smoking pistol in + his hand. + </p> + <p> + “Two things to do,” says Rattray—“I don't care which.” He strode + across the cellar and pulled at the one full bin; something slid out, it + was a binful of empty bottles, and this time they were allowed to crash + upon the floor; the squire stood pointing to a manhole at the back of the + bin. “That's one alternative,” said he; “but it will mean leaving this + much stuff at least,” pointing to the boxes, “and probably all the rest at + the other end. The other thing's to stop and fight!” + </p> + <p> + “I fight,” said Santos, stalking to the door. “Have you no more ammunition + for me, friend Cole? Then I must live you alive; adios, senhor!” + </p> + <p> + Harris cast a wistful look towards the manhole, not in cowardice, I fancy, + but in sudden longing for the sea, the longing of a poor devil of a + sailor-man doomed to die ashore. I am still sorry to remember that Rattray + judged him differently. “Come on, skipper,” said he; “it's all or none + aboard the lugger, and I think it will be none. Up you go; wait a second + in the room above, and I'll find you an old cutlass. I shan't be longer.” + He turned to me with a wry smile. “We're not half-armed,” he said; + “they've caught us fairly on the hop; it should be fun! Good-by, Cole; I + wish you'd had another round for that revolver. Good-by, Eva!” + </p> + <p> + And he held out his hand to our love, who had been watching him all this + time with eyes of stone; but now she turned her back upon him without a + word. His face changed; the stormlight of passion and remorse played upon + it for an instant; he made a step towards her, wheeled abruptly, and took + me by the shoulder instead. + </p> + <p> + “Take care of her, Cole,” said he. “Whatever happens—take care of + her.” + </p> + <p> + I caught him at the foot of the stairs. I do not defend what I did. But I + had more ammunition; a few wadded bullets, caps, and powder-charges, loose + in a jacket pocket; and I thrust them into one of his, upon a sudden + impulse, not (as I think) altogether unaccountable, albeit (as I have + said) so indefensible. + </p> + <p> + My back was hardly turned an instant. I had left a statue of unforgiving + coldness. I started round to catch in my arms a half-fainting, + grief-stricken form, shaken with sobs that it broke my heart to hear. I + placed her on the camp-stool. I knelt down and comforted her as well as I + could, stroking her hands, my arm about her heaving shoulders, with the + gold-brown hair streaming over them. Such hair as it was! So much longer + than I had dreamt. So soft—so fine—my soul swam with the sight + and touch of it. Well for me that there broke upon us from above such a + sudden din as turned my hot blood cold! A wild shout of surprise; an + ensuing roar of defiance; shrieks and curses; yells of rage and pain; and + pistol-shot after pistol-shot as loud as cannon in the confined space. + </p> + <p> + I know now that the battle in the hall was a very brief affair; while it + lasted I had no sense of time; minutes or moments, they were (God forgive + me!) some of the very happiest in all my life. My joy was as profound as + it was also selfish and incongruous. The villains were being routed; of + that there could be no doubt or question. I hoped Rattray might escape, + but for the others no pity stirred in my heart, and even my sneaking + sympathy with the squire could take nothing from the joy that was in my + heart. Eva Denison was free. I was free. Our oppressors would trouble us + no more. We were both lonely; we were both young; we had suffered together + and for each other. And here she lay in my arms, her head upon my + shoulder, her soft bosom heaving on my own! My blood ran hot and cold by + turns. I forgot everything but our freedom and my love. I forgot my + sufferings, as I would have you all forget them. I am not to be pitied. I + have been in heaven on earth. I was there that night, in my great bodily + weakness, and in the midst of blood-shed, death, and crime. + </p> + <p> + “They have stopped!” cried Eva suddenly. “It is over! Oh, if he is dead!” + </p> + <p> + And she sat upright, with bright eyes starting from a deathly face. I do + not think she knew that she had been in my arms at all: any more than I + knew that the firing had ceased before she told me. Excited voices were + still raised overhead; but some sounded distant, yet more distinct, coming + through the grating from the garden; and none were voices that we knew. + One poor wretch, on the other hand, we heard plainly groaning to his + death; and we looked in each other's eyes with the same thought. + </p> + <p> + “That's Harris,” said I, with, I fear, but little compassion in my tone or + in my heart just then. + </p> + <p> + “Where are the others?” cried Eva piteously. + </p> + <p> + “God knows,” said I; “they may be done for, too.” + </p> + <p> + “If they are!” + </p> + <p> + “It's better than the death they would have lived to die.” + </p> + <p> + “But only one of them was a wilful murderer! Oh, Mr. Cole—Mr. Cole—go + and see what has happened; come back and tell me! I dare not come. I will + stay here and pray for strength to bear whatever news you may bring me. Go + quickly. I will—wait—and pray!” + </p> + <p> + So I left the poor child on her knees in that vile cellar, white face and + straining hands uplifted to the foul ceiling, sweet lips quivering with + prayer, eyelids reverently lowered, and the swift tears flowing from + beneath them, all in the yellow light of the lantern that stood burning by + her side. How different a picture from that which awaited me overhead! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIX. MY GREAT HOUR + </h2> + <p> + The library doors were shut, and I closed the secret one behind me before + opening the other and peering out through a wrack of bluish smoke; and + there lay Captain Harris, sure enough, breathing his last in the arms of + one constable, while another was seated on the table with a very wry face, + twisting a tourniquet round his arm, from which the blood was dripping + like raindrops from the eaves. A third officer stood in the porch, issuing + directions to his men without. + </p> + <p> + “He's over the wall, I tell you! I saw him run up our ladder. After him + every man of you—and spread!” + </p> + <p> + I looked in vain for Rattray and the rest; yet it seemed as if only one of + them had escaped. I was still looking when the man in the porch wheeled + back into the hall, and instantly caught sight of me at my door. + </p> + <p> + “Hillo! here's another of them,” cried he. “Out you come, young fellow! + Your mates are all dead men.” + </p> + <p> + “They're not my mates.” + </p> + <p> + “Never mind; come you out and let's have a look at you.” + </p> + <p> + I did so, and was confronted by a short, thickset man, who recognized me + with a smile, but whom I failed to recognize. + </p> + <p> + “I might have guessed it was Mr. Cole,” said he. “I knew you were here + somewhere, but I couldn't make head or tail of you through the smoke.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm surprised that you can make head or tail of me at all,” said I. + </p> + <p> + “Then you've quite forgotten the inquisitive parson you met out fishing? + You see I found out your name for myself!” + </p> + <p> + “So it was a detective!” + </p> + <p> + “It was and is,” said the little man, nodding. “Detective or Inspector + Royds, if you're any the wiser. + </p> + <p> + “What has happened? Who has escaped?” “Your friend Rattray; but he won't + get far.” + </p> + <p> + “What of the Portuguese and the nigger?” + </p> + <p> + I forgot that I had crippled José, but remembered with my words, and + wondered the more where he was. + </p> + <p> + “I'll show you,” said Royds. “It was the nigger let us in. We heard him + groaning round at the back—who smashed his leg? One of our men was + at that cellar grating; there was some of them down there; we wanted to + find our way down and corner them, but the fat got in the fire too soon. + Can you stand something strong? Then come this way.” + </p> + <p> + He led me out into the garden, and to a tangled heap lying in the + moonlight, on the edge of the long grass. The slave had fallen on top of + his master; one leg lay swathed and twisted; one black hand had but + partially relaxed upon the haft of a knife (the knife) that stood up + hilt-deep in a blacker heart. And in the hand of Santos was still the + revolver (my Deane and Adams) which had sent its last ball through the + nigger's body. + </p> + <p> + “They slipped out behind us, all but the one inside,” said Royds, + ruefully; “I'm hanged if I know yet how it happened—but we were on + them next second. Before that the nigger had made us hide him in the + grass, but the old devil ran straight into him, and the one fired as the + other struck. It's the worst bit of luck in the whole business, and I'm + rather disappointed on the whole. I've been nursing the job all this week; + had my last look round this very evening, with one of these officers, and + only rode back for more to make sure of taking our gentlemen alive. And + we've lost three out of four of 'em, and have still to lay hands on the + gold! I suppose you didn't know there was any aboard?” he asked abruptly. + </p> + <p> + “Not before to-night.” + </p> + <p> + “Nor did we till the Devoren came in with letters last week, a hundred and + thirty days out. She should have been in a month before you, but she got + amongst the ice around the Horn. There was a letter of advice about the + gold, saying it would probably go in the <i>Lady Jermyn</i>; and another about + Rattray and his schooner, which had just sailed; the young gentleman was + known to the police out there.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you know where the schooner is?” + </p> + <p> + “Bless you, no, we've had no time to think about her; the man had been + seen about town, and we've done well to lay hands on him in the time.” + </p> + <p> + “You will do better still when you do lay hands on him,” said I, wresting + my eyes from the yellow dead face of the foreign scoundrel. The moon shone + full upon his high forehead, his shrivelled lips, dank in their death + agony, and on the bauble with the sacred device that he wore always in his + tie. I recovered my property from the shrunken fingers, and so turned away + with a harder heart than I ever had before or since for any creature of + Almighty God. + </p> + <p> + Harris had expired in our absence. + </p> + <p> + “Never spoke, sir,” said the constable in whose arms we had left him. + </p> + <p> + “More's the pity. Well, cut out at the back and help land the young gent, + or we'll have him giving us the slip too. He may double back, but I'm + watching out for that. Which way should you say he'd head, Mr. Cole?” + </p> + <p> + “Inland,” said I, lying on the spur of the moment, I knew not why. “Try at + the cottage where I've been staying.” + </p> + <p> + “We have a man posted there already. That woman is one of the gang, and + we've got her safe. But I'll take your advice, and have that side scoured + whilst I hang about the place.” + </p> + <p> + And he walked through the house, and out the back way, at the officer's + heels; meanwhile the man with the wounded arm was swaying where he sat + from loss of blood, and I had to help him into the open air before at last + I was free to return to poor Eva in her place of loathsome safety. + </p> + <p> + I had been so long, however, that her patience was exhausted, and as I + returned to the library by one door, she entered by the other. + </p> + <p> + “I could bear it no longer. Tell me—the worst!” + </p> + <p> + “Three of them are dead.” + </p> + <p> + “Which three?” + </p> + <p> + She had crossed to the other door, and would not have me shut it. So I + stood between her and the hearth, on which lay the captain's corpse, with + the hearthrug turned up on either side to cover it. + </p> + <p> + “Harris for one,” said I. “Outside lie José and—” + </p> + <p> + “Quick! Quick!” + </p> + <p> + “Senhor Santos.” + </p> + <p> + Her face was as though the name meant nothing to her. + </p> + <p> + “And Mr. Rattray?” she cried. “And Mr. Rattray—” + </p> + <p> + “Has escaped for the present. He seems to have cut his way through the + police and got over the wall by a ladder they left behind them. They are + scouring the country—Miss Denison! Eva! My poor love!” + </p> + <p> + She had broken down utterly in a second fit of violent weeping; and a + second time I took her in my arms, and stood trying in my clumsy way to + comfort her, as though she were a little child. A lamp was burning in the + library, and I recognized the arm-chair which Rattray had drawn thence for + me on the night of our dinner—the very night before! I led Eva back + into the room, and I closed both doors. I supported my poor girl to the + chair, and once more I knelt before her and took her hands in mine. My + great hour was come at last: surely a happy omen that it was also the hour + before the dawn. + </p> + <p> + “Cry your fill, my darling,” I whispered, with the tears in my own voice. + “You shall never have anything more to cry for in this world! God has been + very good to us. He brought you to me, and me to you. He has rescued us + for each other. All our troubles are over; cry your fill; you will never + have another chance so long as I live, if only you will let me live for + you. Will you, Eva? Will you? Will you?” + </p> + <p> + She drew her hands from mine, and sat upright in the chair, looking at me + with round eyes; but mine were dim; astonishment was all that I could read + in her look, and on I went headlong, with growing impetus and passion. + </p> + <p> + “I know I am not much, my darling; but you know I was not always what my + luck, good and bad, has left me now, and you will make a new man of me so + soon! Besides, God must mean it, or He would not have thrown us together + amid such horrors, and brought us through them together still. And you + have no one else to take care of you in the world! Won't you let me try, + Eva? Say that you will!” + </p> + <p> + “Then—you—owe me?” she said slowly, in a low, awe-struck voice + that might have told me my fate at once; but I was shaking all over in the + intensity of my passion, and for the moment it was joy enough to be able + at last to tell her all. + </p> + <p> + “Love you?” I echoed. “With every fibre of my being! With every atom of my + heart and soul and body! I love you well enough to live to a hundred for + you, or to die for you to-night!” + </p> + <p> + “Well enough to—give me up?” she whispered. + </p> + <p> + I felt as though a cold hand had checked my heart at its hottest, but I + mastered myself sufficiently to face her question and to answer it as + honestly as I might. + </p> + <p> + “Yes!” I cried; “well enough even to do that, if it was for your + happiness; but I might be rather difficult to convince about that.” + </p> + <p> + “You are very strong and true,” she murmured. “Yes, I can trust you as I + have never trusted anybody else! But—how long have you been so + foolish?” And she tried very hard to smile. + </p> + <p> + “Since I first saw you; but I only knew it on the night of the fire. Till + that night I resisted it like an idiot. Do you remember how we used to + argue? I rebelled so against my love! I imagined that I had loved once + already and once for all. But on the night of the fire I knew that my love + for you was different from all that had gone before or would ever come + again. I gave in to it at last, and oh! the joy of giving in! I had fought + against the greatest blessing of my life, and I never knew it till I had + given up fighting. What did I care about the fire? I was never happier—until + now! You sang through my heart like the wind through the rigging; my one + fear was that I might go to the bottom without telling you my love. When I + asked to say a few last words to you on the poop, it was to tell you my + love before we parted, that you might know I loved you whatever came. I + didn't do so, because you seemed so frightened, poor darling! I hadn't it + in my heart to add to your distress. So I left you without a word. But I + fought the sea for days together simply to tell you what I couldn't die + without telling you. When they picked me up, it was your name that brought + back my senses after days of delirium. When I heard that you were dead, I + longed to die myself. And when I found you lived after all, the horror of + your surroundings was nothing to be compared with the mere fact that you + lived; that you were unhappy and in danger was my only grief, but it was + nothing to the thought of your death; and that I had to wait twenty-four + hours without coming to you drove me nearer to madness than ever I was on + the hen-coop. That's how I love you, Eva,” I concluded; “that's how I love + and will love you, for ever and ever, no matter what happens.” + </p> + <p> + Those sweet gray eyes of hers had been fixed very steadily upon me all + through this outburst; as I finished they filled with tears, and my poor + love sat wringing her slender fingers, and upbraiding herself as though + she were the most heartless coquette in the country. + </p> + <p> + “How wicked I am!” she moaned. “How ungrateful I must be! You offer me the + unselfish love of a strong, brave man. I cannot take it. I have no love to + give you in return.” + </p> + <p> + “But some day you may,” I urged, quite happily in my ignorance. “It will + come. Oh, surely it will come, after all that we have gone through + together!” + </p> + <p> + She looked at me very steadily and kindly through her tears. + </p> + <p> + “It has come, in a way,” said she; “but it is not your way, Mr. Cole. I do + love you for your bravery and your—love—but that will not + quite do for either of us.” + </p> + <p> + “Why not?” I cried in an ecstasy. “My darling, it will do for me! It is + more than I dared to hope for; thank God, thank God, that you should care + for me at all!” + </p> + <p> + She shook her head. + </p> + <p> + “You do not understand,” she whispered. + </p> + <p> + “I do. I do. You do not love me as you want to love.” + </p> + <p> + “As I could love—” + </p> + <p> + “And as you will! It will come. It will come. I'll bother you no more + about it now. God knows I can afford to leave well alone! I am only too + happy—too thankful—as it is!” + </p> + <p> + And indeed I rose to my feet every whit as joyful as though she had + accepted me on the spot. At least she had not rejected me; nay, she + confessed to loving me in a way. What more could a lover want? Yet there + was a dejection in her drooping attitude which disconcerted me in the hour + of my reward. And her eyes followed me with a kind of stony remorse which + struck a chill to my bleeding heart. + </p> + <p> + I went to the door; the hall was still empty, and I shut it again with a + shudder at what I saw before the hearth, at all that I had forgotten in + the little library. As I turned, another door opened—the door made + invisible by the multitude of books around and upon it—and young + Squire Rattray stood between my love and me. + </p> + <p> + His clear, smooth skin was almost as pale as Eva's own, but pale brown, + the tint of rich ivory. His eyes were preternaturally bright. And they + never glanced my way, but flew straight to Eva, and rested on her very + humbly and sadly, as her two hands gripped the arms of the chair, and she + leant forward in horror and alarm. + </p> + <p> + “How could you come back?” she cried. “I was told you had escaped!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I got away on one of their horses.” + </p> + <p> + “I pictured you safe on board!” + </p> + <p> + “I very nearly was.” + </p> + <p> + “Then why are you here?” + </p> + <p> + “To get your forgiveness before I go.” + </p> + <p> + He took a step forward; her eyes and mine were riveted upon him; and I + still wonder which of us admired him the more, as he stood there in his + pride and his humility, gallant and young, and yet shamefaced and sad. + </p> + <p> + “You risk your life—for my forgiveness?” whispered Eva at last. + “Risk it? I'll give myself up if you'll take back some of the things you + said to me—last night—and before.” + </p> + <p> + There was a short pause. + </p> + <p> + “Well, you are not a coward, at all events!” + </p> + <p> + “Nor a murderer, Eva!” + </p> + <p> + “God forbid.” + </p> + <p> + “Then forgive me for everything else that I have been—to you!” + </p> + <p> + And he was on his knees where I had knelt scarce a minute before; nor + could I bear to watch them any longer. I believed that he loved her in his + own way as sincerely as I did in mine. I believed that she detested him + for the detestable crime in which he had been concerned. I believed that + the opinion of him which she had expressed to his face, in my hearing, was + her true opinion, and I longed to hear her mitigate it ever so little + before he went. He won my sympathy as a gallant who valued a kind word + from his mistress more than life itself. I hoped earnestly that that kind + word would be spoken. But I had no desire to wait to hear it. I felt an + intruder. I would leave them alone together for the last time. So I walked + to the door, but, seeing a key in it, I changed my mind, and locked it on + the inside. In the hall I might become the unintentional instrument of the + squire's capture, though, so far as my ears served me, it was still empty + as we had left it. I preferred to run no risks, and would have a look at + the subterranean passage instead. + </p> + <p> + “I advise you to speak low,” I said, “and not to be long. The place is + alive with the police. If they hear you all will be up.” + </p> + <p> + Whether he heard me I do not know. I left him on his knees still, and Eva + with her face hidden in her hands. + </p> + <p> + The cellar was a strange scene to revisit within an hour of my deliverance + from that very torture-chamber. It had been something more before I left + it, but in it I could think only of the first occupant of the camp-stool. + The lantern still burned upon the floor. There was the mattress, still + depressed where I had lain face to face with insolent death. The bullet + was in the plaster; it could not have missed by the breadth of many hairs. + In the corner was the shallow grave, dug by Harris for my elements. And + Harris was dead. And Santos was dead. But life and love were mine. + </p> + <p> + I would have gone through it all again! + </p> + <p> + And all at once I was on fire to be back in the library; so much so, that + half a minute at the manhole, lantern in hand, was enough for me; and a + mere funnel of moist brown earth—a terribly low arch propped with + beams—as much as I myself ever saw of the subterranean conduit + between Kirby House and the sea. But I understood that the curious may + traverse it for themselves to this day on payment of a very modest fee. + </p> + <p> + As for me, I returned as I had come after (say) five minutes' absence; my + head full once more of Eva, and of impatient anxiety for the wild young + squire's final flight; and my heart still singing with the joy of which my + beloved's kindness seemed a sufficient warranty. Poor egotist! Am I to + tell you what I found when I came up those steep stairs to the chamber + where I had left him on his knees to her? Or can you guess? + </p> + <p> + He was on his knees no more, but he held her in his arms, and as I entered + he was kissing the tears from her wet, flushed cheek. Her eyelids drooped; + she was pale as the dead without, so pale that her eyebrows looked + abnormally and dreadfully dark. She did not cling to him. Neither did she + resist his caresses, but lay passive in his arms as though her proper + paradise was there. And neither heard me enter; it was as though they had + forgotten all the world but one another. + </p> + <p> + “So this is it,” said I very calmly. I can hear my voice as I write. + </p> + <p> + They fell apart on the instant. Rattray glared at me, yet I saw that his + eyes were dim. Eva clasped her hands before her, and looked me steadily in + the face. But never a word. + </p> + <p> + “You love him?” I said sternly. + </p> + <p> + The silence of consent remained unbroken. + </p> + <p> + “Villain as he is?” I burst out. + </p> + <p> + And at last Eva spoke. + </p> + <p> + “I loved him before he was one,” said she. “We were engaged.” + </p> + <p> + She looked at him standing by, his head bowed, his arms folded; next + moment she was very close to me, and fresh tears were in her eyes. But I + stepped backward, for I had had enough. + </p> + <p> + “Can you not forgive me?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, dear, yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Can't you understand?” + </p> + <p> + “Perfectly,” said I. + </p> + <p> + “You know you said—” + </p> + <p> + “I have said so many things!” + </p> + <p> + “But this was that you—you loved me well enough to—give me + up.” + </p> + <p> + And the silly ego in me—the endless and incorrigible I—imagined + her pouting for a withdrawal of those brave words. + </p> + <p> + “I not only said it,” I declared, “but I meant every word of it.” + </p> + <p> + None the less had I to turn from her to hide my anguish. I leaned my + elbows on the narrow stone chimney-piece, which, with the grate below and + a small mirror above, formed an almost solitary oasis in the four walls of + books. In the mirror I saw my face; it was wizened, drawn, old before its + time, and merely ugly in its sore distress, merely repulsive in its bloody + bandages. And in the mirror also I saw Rattray, handsome, romantic, + audacious, all that I was not, nor ever would be, and I “understood” more + than ever, and loathed my rival in my heart. + </p> + <p> + I wheeled round on Eva. I was not going to give her up—to him. I + would tell her so before him—tell him so to his face. But she had + turned away; she was listening to some one else. Her white forehead + glistened. There were voices in the hall. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Cole! Mr. Cole! Where are you, Mr. Cole?” + </p> + <p> + I moved over to the locked door. My hand found the key. I turned round + with evil triumph in my heart, and God knows what upon my face. Rattray + did not move. With lifted hands the girl was merely begging him to go by + the door that was open, down the stair. He shook his head grimly. With an + oath I was upon them. + </p> + <p> + “Go, both of you!” I whispered hoarsely. “Now—while you can—and + I can let you. Now! Now!” + </p> + <p> + Still Rattray hung back. + </p> + <p> + I saw him glancing wistfully at my great revolver lying on the table under + the lamp. I thrust it upon him, and pushed him towards the door. + </p> + <p> + “You go first. She shall follow. You will not grudge me one last word? + Yes, I will take your hand. If you escape—be good to her!” + </p> + <p> + He was gone. Without, there was a voice still calling me; but now it + sounded overhead. + </p> + <p> + “Good-by, Eva,” I said. “You have not a moment to lose.” + </p> + <p> + Yet those divine eyes lingered on my ugliness. + </p> + <p> + “You are in a very great hurry,” said she, in the sharp little voice of + her bitter moments. + </p> + <p> + “You love him; that is enough.” + </p> + <p> + “And you, too!” she cried. “And you, too!” + </p> + <p> + And her pure, warm arms were round my neck; another instant, and she would + have kissed me, she! I know it. I knew it then. But it was more than I + would bear. As a brother! I had heard that tale before. Back I stepped + again, all the man in me rebelling. + </p> + <p> + “That's impossible,” said I rudely. + </p> + <p> + “It isn't. It's true. I do love you—for this!” + </p> + <p> + God knows how I looked! + </p> + <p> + “And I mayn't say good-by to you,” she whispered. “And—and I love + you—for that!” + </p> + <p> + “Then you had better choose between us,” said I. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XX. THE STATEMENT OF FRANCIS RATTRAY + </h2> + <p> + In the year 1858 I received a bulky packet bearing the stamp of the + Argentine Republic, a realm in which, to the best of my belief, I had not + a solitary acquaintance. The superscription told me nothing. In my + relations with Rattray his handwriting had never come under my + observation. Judge then of my feelings when the first thing I read was his + signature at the foot of the last page. + </p> + <p> + For five years I had been uncertain whether he was alive or dead. I had + heard nothing of him from the night we parted in Kirby Hall. All I knew + was that he had escaped from England and the English police; his letter + gave no details of the incident. It was an astonishing letter; my breath + was taken on the first close page; at the foot of it the tears were in my + eyes. And all that part I must pass over without a word. I have never + shown it to man or woman. It is sacred between man and man. + </p> + <p> + But the letter possessed other points of interest—of almost + universal interest—to which no such scruples need apply; for it + cleared up certain features of the foregoing narrative which had long been + mysteries to all the world; and it gave me what I had tried in vain to + fathom all these years, some explanation, or rather history, of the young + Lancastrian's complicity with Joaquin Santos in the foul enterprise of the + <i>Lady Jermyn</i>. And these passages I shall reproduce word for word; partly + because of their intrinsic interest; partly for such new light as they day + throw on this or that phase of the foregoing narrative; and, lastly, out + of fairness to (I hope) the most gallant and most generous youth who ever + slipped upon the lower slopes of Avemus. + </p> + <p> + Wrote Rattray: + </p> + <p> + “You wondered how I could have thrown in my lot with such a man. You may + wonder still, for I never yet told living soul. I pretended I had joined + him of my own free will. That was not quite the case. The facts were as + follows: + </p> + <p> + “In my teens (as I think you know) I was at sea. I took my second mate's + certificate at twenty, and from that to twenty-four my voyages were far + between and on my own account. I had given way to our hereditary passion + for smuggling. I kept a 'yacht' in Morecambe Bay, and more French brandy + than I knew what to do with in my cellars. It was exciting for a time, but + the excitement did not last. In 1851 the gold fever broke out in + Australia. I shipped to Melbourne as third mate on a barque, and I + deserted for the diggings in the usual course. But I was never a + successful digger. I had little luck and less patience, and I have no + doubt that many a good haul has been taken out of claims previously + abandoned by me; for of one or two I had the mortification of hearing + while still in the Colony. I suppose I had not the temperament for the + work. Dust would not do for me—I must have nuggets. So from Bendigo + I drifted to the Ovens, and from the Ovens to Ballarat. But I did no more + good on one field than on another, and eventually, early in 1853, I cast + up in Melbourne again with the intention of shipping home in the first + vessel. But there were no crews for the homeward-bounders, and while + waiting for a ship my little stock of gold dust gave out. I became + destitute first—then desperate. Unluckily for me, the beginning of + '53 was the hey-day of Captain Melville, the notorious bushranger. He was + a young fellow of my own age. I determined to imitate his exploits. I + could make nothing out there from an honest life; rather than starve I + would lead a dishonest one. I had been born with lawless tendencies; from + smuggling to bushranging was an easy transition, and about the latter + there seemed to be a gallantry and romantic swagger which put it on the + higher plane of the two. But I was not born to be a bushranger either. I + failed at the very first attempt. I was outwitted by my first victim, a + thin old gentleman riding a cob at night on the Geelong road. + </p> + <p> + “'Why rob me?' said he. 'I have only ten pounds in my pocket, and the + punishment will be the same as though it were ten thousand.' + </p> + <p> + “'I want your cob,' said I (for I was on foot); 'I'm a starving Jack, and + as I can't get a ship I'm going to take to the bush.' + </p> + <p> + “He shrugged his shoulders. + </p> + <p> + “'To starve there?' said he. 'My friend, it is a poor sport, this + bushranging. I have looked into the matter on my own account. You not only + die like a dog, but you live like one too. It is not worth while. No crime + is worth while under five figures, my friend. A starving Jack, eh? Instead + of robbing me of ten pounds, why not join me and take ten thousand as your + share of our first robbery? A sailor is the very man I want!' + </p> + <p> + “I told him that what I wanted was his cob, and that it was no use his + trying to hoodwink me by pretending he was one of my sort, because I knew + very well that he was not; at which he shrugged again, and slowly + dismounted, after offering me his money, of which I took half. He shook + his head, telling me I was very foolish, and I was coolly mounting (for he + had never offered me the least resistance), with my pistols in my belt, + when suddenly I heard one cocked behind me. + </p> + <p> + “'Stop!' said he. 'It's my turn! Stop, or I shoot you dead!' The tables + were turned, and he had me at his mercy as completely as he had been at + mine. I made up my mind to being marched to the nearest police-station. + But nothing of the kind. I had misjudged my man as utterly as you + misjudged him a few months later aboard the <i>Lady Jermyn</i>. He took me to his + house on the outskirts of Melbourne, a weather-board bungalow, scantily + furnished, but comfortable enough. And there he seriously repeated the + proposal he had made me off-hand in the road. Only he put it a little + differently. Would I go to the hulks for attempting to rob him of five + pounds, or would I stay and help him commit a robbery, of which my share + alone would be ten or fifteen thousand? You know which I chose. You know + who this man was. I said I would join him. He made me swear it. And then + he told me what his enterprise was: there is no need for me to tell you; + nor indeed had it taken definite shape at this time. Suffice it that + Santos had wind that big consignments of Austrailian gold were shortly to + be shipped home to England; that he, like myself, had done nothing on the + diggings, where he had looked to make his fortune, and out of which he + meant to make it still. + </p> + <p> + “It was an extraordinary life that we led in the bungalow, I the guest, he + the host, and Eva the unsuspecting hostess and innocent daughter of the + house. Santos had failed on the fields, but he had succeeded in making + valuable friends in Melbourne. Men of position and of influence spent + their evenings on our veranda, among others the Melbourne agent for the + <i>Lady Jermyn</i>, the likeliest vessel then lying in the harbor, and the one to + which the first consignment of gold-dust would be entrusted if only a + skipper could be found to replace the deserter who took you out. Santos + made up his mind to find one. It took him weeks, but eventually he found + Captain Harris on Bendigo, and Captain Harris was his man. More than that + he was the man for the agent; and the <i>Lady Jermyn</i> was once more made ready + for sea. + </p> + <p> + “Now began the complications. Quite openly, Santos had bought the schooner + Spindrift, freighted her with wool, given me the command, and vowed that + he would go home in her rather than wait any longer for the <i>Lady Jermyn</i>. + At the last moment he appeared to change his mind, and I sailed alone as + many days as possible in advance of the ship, as had been intended from + the first; but it went sorely against the grain when the time came. I + would have given anything to have backed out of the enterprise. Honest I + might be no longer; I was honestly in love with Eva Denison. Yet to have + backed out would have been one way of losing her for ever. Besides, it was + not the first time I had run counter to the law, I who came of a lawless + stock; but it would be the first time I had deserted a comrade or broken + faith with one. I would do neither. In for a penny, in for a pound. + </p> + <p> + “But before my God I never meant it to turn out as it did; though I admit + and have always admitted that my moral responsibility is but little if any + the less on that account. Yet I was never a consenting party to wholesale + murder, whatever else I was. The night before I sailed, Santos and the + captain were aboard with me till the small hours. They promised me that + every soul should have every chance; that nothing but unforeseen accident + could prevent the boats from making Ascension again in a matter of hours; + that as long as the gig was supposed to be lost with all hands, nothing + else mattered. So they promised, and that Harris meant to keep his promise + I fully believe. That was not a wanton ruffian; but the other would spill + blood like water, as I told you at the hall, and as no man now knows + better than yourself. He was notorious even in Portuguese Africa on + account of his atrocious treatment of the blacks. It was a favorite boast + of his that he once poisoned a whole village; and that he himself tampered + with the <i>Lady Jermyn</i>'s boats you can take my word, for I have heard him + describe how he left it to the last night, and struck the blows during the + applause at the concert on the quarter-deck. He said it might have come + out about the gold in the gig, during the fire. It was safer to run no + risks. + </p> + <p> + “The same thing came into play aboard the schooner. Never shall I forget + the horror of that voyage after Santos came aboard! I had a crew of eight + hands all told, and two he brought with him in the gig. Of course they + began talking about the gold; they would have their share or split when + they got ashore; and there was mutiny in the air, with the steward and the + quarter-master of the <i>Lady Jermyn</i> for ring-leaders. Santos nipped it in + the bud with a vengeance! He and Harris shot every man of them dead, and + two who were shot through the heart they washed and dressed and set adrift + to rot in the gig with false papers! God knows how we made Madeira; we + painted the old name out and a new name in, on the way; and we shipped a + Portuguese crew, not a man of whom could speak English. We shipped them + aboard the Duque de Mondejo's yacht Braganza; the schooner Spindrift had + disappeared from the face of the waters for ever. And with the men we took + in plenty of sour claret and cigarettes; and we paid them well; and the + Portuguese sailor is not inquisitive under such conditions. + </p> + <p> + “And now, honestly, I wished I had put a bullet through my head before + joining in this murderous conspiracy; but retreat was impossible, even if + I had been the man to draw back after going so far; and I had a still + stronger reason for standing by the others to the bitter end. I could not + leave our lady to these ruffians. On the other hand, neither could I take + her from them, for (as you know) she justly regarded me as the most + flagrant ruffian of them all. It was in me and through me that she was + deceived, insulted, humbled, and contaminated; that she should ever have + forgiven me for a moment is more than I can credit or fathom to this + hour... So there we were. She would not look at me. And I would not leave + her until death removed me. Santos had been kind enough to her hitherto; + he had been kind enough (I understand) to her mother before her. It was + only in the execution of his plans that he showed his Napoleonic disregard + for human life; and it was precisely herein that I began to fear for the + girl I still dared to love. She took up an attitude as dangerous to her + safety as to our own. She demanded to be set free when we came to land. + Her demand was refused. God forgive me, it had no bitterer opponent than + myself! And all we did was to harden her resolution; that mere child + threatened us to our faces, never shall I forget the scene! You know her + spirit: if we would not set her free, she would tell all when we landed. + And you remember how Santos used to shrug? That was all he did then. It + was enough for me who knew him. For days I never left them alone together. + Night after night I watched her cabin door. And she hated me the more for + never leaving her alone! I had to resign myself to that. + </p> + <p> + “The night we anchored in Falmouth Bay, thinking then of taking our gold + straight to the Bank of England, as eccentric lucky diggers—that + night I thought would be the last for one or other of us. He locked her in + her cabin. He posted himself outside on the settee. I sat watching him + across the table. Each had a hand in his pocket, each had a pistol in that + hand, and there we sat, with our four eyes locked, while Harris went + ashore for papers. He came back in great excitement. What with stopping at + Madeira, and calms, and the very few knots we could knock out of the + schooner at the best of times, we had made a seven or eight weeks' voyage + of it from Ascension—where, by the way, I had arrived only a couple + of days before the <i>Lady Jermyn</i>, though I had nearly a month's start of + her. Well, Harris came back in the highest state of excitement: and well + he might: the papers were full of you, and of the burning of the Lady + Jermyn! + </p> + <p> + “Now mark what happened. You know, of course, as well as I do; but I + wonder if you can even yet realize what it was to us! Our prisoner hears + that you are alive, and she turns upon Santos and tells him he is welcome + to silence her, but it will do us no good now, as <i>you</i> know that the ship + was wilfully burned, and with what object. It is the single blow she can + strike in self-defence; but a shrewder one could scarcely be imagined. She + had talked to you, at the very last; and by that time she did know the + truth. What more natural than that she should confide it to you? She had + had time to tell you enough to hang the lot of us; and you may imagine our + consternation on hearing that she had told you all she knew! From the + first we were never quite sure whether to believe it or not. That the + papers breathed no suspicion of foul play was neither here nor there. + Scotland Yard might have seen to that. Then we read of the morbid reserve + which was said to characterize all your utterances concerning the Lady + Jermyn. What were we to do? What we no longer dared to do was to take our + gold-dust straight to the Bank. What we did, you know. + </p> + <p> + “We ran round to Morecambe Bay, and landed the gold as we Rattrays had + landed lace and brandy from time immemorial. We left Eva in charge of Jane + Braithwaite, God only knows how much against my will, but we were in a + corner, it was life or death with us, and to find out how much you knew + was a first plain necessity. And the means we took were the only means in + our power; nor shall I say more to you on that subject than I said five + years ago in my poor old house. That is still the one part of the whole + conspiracy of which I myself am most ashamed. + </p> + <p> + “And now it only remains for me to tell you why I have written all this to + you, at such great length, so long after the event. My wife wished it. The + fact is that she wants you to think better of me than I deserve; and I—yes—I + confess that I should like you not to think quite as ill of me as you must + have done all these years. I was villain enough, but do not think I am + unpunished. + </p> + <p> + “I am an outlaw from my country. I am morally a transported felon. Only in + this no-man's land am I a free man; let me but step across the border and + I am worth a little fortune to the man who takes me. And we have had a + hard time here, though not so hard as I deserved; and the hardest part of + all...” + </p> + <p> + But you must guess the hardest part: for the letter ended as it began, + with sudden talk of his inner life, and tentative inquiry after mine. In + its entirety, as I say, I have never shown it to a soul; there was just a + little more that I read to my wife (who could not hear enough about his); + then I folded up the letter, and even she has never seen the passages to + which I allude. + </p> + <p> + And yet I am not one of those who hold that the previous romances of + married people should be taboo between them in after life. On the + contrary, much mutual amusement, of an innocent character, may be derived + from a fair and free interchange upon the subject; and this is why we, in + our old age (or rather in mine), find a still unfailing topic in the story + of which Eva Denison was wayward heroine and Frank Rattray the nearest + approach to a hero. Sometimes these reminiscences lead to an argument; for + it has been the fate of my life to become attached to argumentative + persons. I suppose because I myself hate arguing. On the day that I + received Rattray's letter we had one of our warmest discussions. I could + repeat every word of it after forty years. + </p> + <p> + “A good man does not necessarily make a good husband,” I innocently + remarked. + </p> + <p> + “Why do you say that?” asked my wife, who never would let a generalization + pass unchallenged. + </p> + <p> + “I was thinking of Rattray,” said I. “The most tolerant of judges could + scarcely have described him as a good man five years ago. Yet I can see + that he has made an admirable husband. On the whole, and if you can't be + both, it is better to be the good husband!” + </p> + <p> + It was this point that we debated with so much ardor. My wife would take + the opposite side; that is her one grave fault. And I must introduce + personalities; that, of course, is among the least of mine. I compared + myself with Rattray, as a husband, and (with some sincerity) to my own + disparagement. I pointed out that he was an infinitely more fascinating + creature, which was no hard saying, for that epithet at least I have never + earned. And yet it was the word to sting my wife. + </p> + <p> + “Fascinating, perhaps!” said she. “Yes, that is the very word; but—fascination + is not love!” + </p> + <p> + And then I went to her, and stroked her hair (for she had hung her head in + deep distress), and kissed the tears from her eyes. And I swore that her + eyes were as lovely as Eva Denison's, that there seemed even more gold in + her glossy brown hair, that she was even younger to look at. And at the + last and craftiest compliment my own love looked at me through her tears, + as though some day or other she might forgive me. + </p> + <p> + “Then why did you want to give me up to him?” said she. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dead Men Tell No Tales, by E. W. 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Hornung + +Posting Date: October 1, 2008 [EBook #1703] +Release Date: April, 1999 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteer. + + + + + +DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES + +By E. W. Hornung + + + + +CONTENTS + + Chapter I Love on the Ocean + + Chapter II The Mysterious Cargo + + Chapter III To the Water's Edge + + Chapter IV The Silent Sea + + Chapter V My Reward + + Chapter VI The Sole Survivor + + Chapter V I Find a Friend + + Chapter VI A Small Precaution + + Chapter VII My Convalescent Home + + Chapter VIII Wine and Weakness + + Chapter IX I Live Again + + Chapter X My Lady's Bidding + + Chapter XI The Longest Day of My Life + + Chapter XII In the Garden + + Chapter XIII First Blood + + Chapter XIV A Deadlock + + Chapter XV When Thieves Fall Out + + Chapter XVI A Man of Many Murders + + Chapter XVII My Great Hour + + Chapter XVIII The Statement of Francis Rattray + + + + +CHAPTER I. LOVE ON THE OCEAN + + +Nothing is so easy as falling in love on a long sea voyage, except +falling out of love. Especially was this the case in the days when the +wooden clippers did finely to land you in Sydney or in Melbourne under +the four full months. We all saw far too much of each other, unless, +indeed, we were to see still more. Our superficial attractions mutually +exhausted, we lost heart and patience in the disappointing strata +which lie between the surface and the bed-rock of most natures. My own +experience was confined to the round voyage of the Lady Jermyn, in the +year 1853. It was no common experience, as was only too well known +at the time. And I may add that I for my part had not the faintest +intention of falling in love on board; nay, after all these years, +let me confess that I had good cause to hold myself proof against such +weakness. Yet we carried a young lady, coming home, who, God knows, +might have made short work of many a better man! + +Eva Denison was her name, and she cannot have been more than nineteen +years of age. I remember her telling me that she had not yet come out, +the very first time I assisted her to promenade the poop. My own name +was still unknown to her, and yet I recollect being quite fascinated by +her frankness and self-possession. She was exquisitely young, and yet +ludicrously old for her years; had been admirably educated, chiefly +abroad, and, as we were soon to discover, possessed accomplishments +which would have made the plainest old maid a popular personage on board +ship. Miss Denison, however, was as beautiful as she was young, with the +bloom of ideal health upon her perfect skin. She had a wealth of lovely +hair, with strange elusive strands of gold among the brown, that drowned +her ears (I thought we were to have that mode again?) in sunny ripples; +and a soul greater than the mind, and a heart greater than either, lay +sleeping somewhere in the depths of her grave, gray eyes. + +We were at sea together so many weeks. I cannot think what I was made of +then! + +It was in the brave old days of Ballarat and Bendigo, when ship after +ship went out black with passengers and deep with stores, to bounce home +with a bale or two of wool, and hardly hands enough to reef topsails +in a gale. Nor was this the worst; for not the crew only, but, in many +cases, captain and officers as well, would join in the stampede to the +diggings; and we found Hobson's Bay the congested asylum of all manner +of masterless and deserted vessels. I have a lively recollection of our +skipper's indignation when the pilot informed him of this disgraceful +fact. Within a fortnight, however, I met the good man face to face upon +the diggings. It is but fair to add that the Lady Jermyn lost every +officer and man in the same way, and that the captain did obey tradition +to the extent of being the last to quit his ship. Nevertheless, of +all who sailed by her in January, I alone was ready to return at the +beginning of the following July. + +I had been to Ballarat. I had given the thing a trial. For the most +odious weeks I had been a licensed digger on Black Hill Flats; and I had +actually failed to make running expenses. That, however, will surprise +you the less when I pause to declare that I have paid as much as four +shillings and sixpence for half a loaf of execrable bread; that my mate +and I, between us, seldom took more than a few pennyweights of gold-dust +in any one day; and never once struck pick into nugget, big or little, +though we had the mortification of inspecting the "mammoth masses" of +which we found the papers full on landing, and which had brought the +gold-fever to its height during our very voyage. With me, however, as +with many a young fellow who had turned his back on better things, the +malady was short-lived. We expected to make our fortunes out of hand, +and we had reckoned without the vermin and the villainy which rendered +us more than ever impatient of delay. In my fly-blown blankets I dreamt +of London until I hankered after my chambers and my club more than after +much fine gold. Never shall I forget my first hot bath on getting back +to Melbourne; it cost five shillings, but it was worth five pounds, and +is altogether my pleasantest reminiscence of Australia. + +There was, however, one slice of luck in store for me. I found the dear +old Lady Jermyn on the very eve of sailing, with a new captain, a new +crew, a handful of passengers (chiefly steerage), and nominally no cargo +at all. I felt none the less at home when I stepped over her familiar +side. + +In the cuddy we were only five, but a more uneven quintette I defy you +to convene. There was a young fellow named Ready, packed out for +his health, and hurrying home to die among friends. There was an +outrageously lucky digger, another invalid, for he would drink nothing +but champagne with every meal and at any minute of the day, and I have +seen him pitch raw gold at the sea-birds by the hour together. Miss +Denison was our only lady, and her step-father, with whom she was +travelling, was the one man of distinction on board. He was a Portuguese +of sixty or thereabouts, Senhor Joaquin Santos by name; at first it was +incredible to me that he had no title, so noble was his bearing; but +very soon I realized that he was one of those to whom adventitious +honors can add no lustre. He treated Miss Denison as no parent ever +treated a child, with a gallantry and a courtliness quite beautiful to +watch, and not a little touching in the light of the circumstances under +which they were travelling together. The girl had gone straight from +school to her step-father's estate on the Zambesi, where, a few months +later, her mother had died of the malaria. Unable to endure the place +after his wife's death, Senhor Santos had taken ship to Victoria, there +to seek fresh fortune with results as indifferent as my own. He was +now taking Miss Denison back to England, to make her home with other +relatives, before he himself returned to Africa (as he once told me) to +lay his bones beside those of his wife. I hardly know which of the pair +I see more plainly as I write--the young girl with her soft eyes and her +sunny hair, or the old gentleman with the erect though wasted figure, +the noble forehead, the steady eye, the parchment skin, the white +imperial, and the eternal cigarette between his shrivelled lips. + +No need to say that I came more in contact with the young girl. She was +not less charming in my eyes because she provoked me greatly as I came +to know her intimately. She had many irritating faults. Like most young +persons of intellect and inexperience, she was hasty and intolerant in +nearly all her judgments, and rather given to being critical in a crude +way. She was very musical, playing the guitar and singing in a style +that made our shipboard concerts vastly superior to the average of their +order; but I have seen her shudder at the efforts of less gifted folks +who were also doing their best; and it was the same in other directions +where her superiority was less specific. The faults which are most +exasperating in another are, of course, one's own faults; and I confess +that I was very critical of Eva Denison's criticisms. Then she had +a little weakness for exaggeration, for unconscious egotism in +conversation, and I itched to tell her so. I felt so certain that the +girl had a fine character underneath, which would rise to noble heights +in stress or storm: all the more would I long now to take her in hand +and mould her in little things, and anon to take her in my arms just as +she was. The latter feeling was resolutely crushed. To be plain, I had +endured what is euphemistically called "disappointment" already; and, +not being a complete coxcomb, I had no intention of courting a second. + +Yet, when I write of Eva Denison, I am like to let my pen outrun my +tale. I lay the pen down, and a hundred of her sayings ring in my +ears, with my own contradictious comments, that I was doomed so soon +to repent; a hundred visions of her start to my eyes; and there is the +trade-wind singing in the rigging, and loosening a tress of my darling's +hair, till it flies like a tiny golden streamer in the tropic sun. +There, it is out! I have called her what she was to be in my heart ever +after. Yet at the time I must argue with her--with her! When all my +courage should have gone to love-making, I was plucking it up to sail as +near as I might to plain remonstrance! I little dreamt how the ghost of +every petty word was presently to return and torture me. + +So it is that I can see her and hear her now on a hundred separate +occasions beneath the awning beneath the stars on deck below at noon +or night but plainest of all in the evening of the day we signalled +the Island of Ascension, at the close of that last concert on the +quarter-deck. The watch are taking down the extra awning; they are +removing the bunting and the foot-lights. The lanterns are trailed +forward before they are put out; from the break of the poop we watch the +vivid shifting patch of deck that each lights up on its way. The stars +are very sharp in the vast violet dome above our masts; they shimmer on +the sea; and our trucks describe minute orbits among the stars, for the +trades have yet to fail us, and every inch of canvas has its fill of the +gentle steady wind. It is a heavenly night. The peace of God broods upon +His waters. No jarring note offends the ear. In the forecastle a voice +is humming a song of Eva Denison's that has caught the fancy of the men; +the young girl who sang it so sweetly not twenty minutes since who +sang it again and again to please the crew she alone is at war with our +little world she alone would head a mutiny if she could. + +"I hate the captain!" she says again. + +"My dear Miss Denison!" I begin; for she has always been severe upon our +bluff old man, and it is not the spirit of contrariety alone which makes +me invariably take his part. Coarse he may be, and not one whom the +owners would have chosen to command the Lady Jermyn; a good seaman none +the less, who brought us round the Horn in foul weather without losing +stitch or stick. I think of the ruddy ruffian in his dripping oilskins, +on deck day and night for our sakes, and once more I must needs take his +part; but Miss Denison stops me before I can get out another word. + +"I am not dear, and I'm not yours," she cries. "I'm only a +school-girl--you have all but told me so before to-day! If I were a +man--if I were you--I should tell Captain Harris what I thought of him!" + +"Why? What has he done now?" + +"Now? You know how rude he was to poor Mr. Ready this very afternoon!" + +It was true. He had been very rude indeed. But Ready also had been at +fault. It may be that I was always inclined to take an opposite view, +but I felt bound to point this out, and at any cost. + +"You mean when Ready asked him if we were out of our course? I must +say I thought it was a silly question to put. It was the same the other +evening about the cargo. If the skipper says we're in ballast why not +believe him? Why repeat steerage gossip, about mysterious cargoes, at +the cuddy table? Captains are always touchy about that sort of thing. I +wasn't surprised at his letting out." + +My poor love stares at me in the starlight. Her great eyes flash their +scorn. Then she gives a little smile--and then a little nod--more +scornful than all the rest. + +"You never are surprised, are you, Mr. Cole?" says she. "You were not +surprised when the wretch used horrible language in front of me! You +were not surprised when it was a--dying man--whom he abused!" + +I try to soothe her. I agree heartily with her disgust at the epithets +employed in her hearing, and towards an invalid, by the irate skipper. +But I ask her to make allowances for a rough, uneducated man, rather +clumsily touched upon his tender spot. I shall conciliate her presently; +the divine pout (so childish it was!) is fading from her lips; the +starlight is on the tulle and lace and roses of her pretty evening +dress, with its festooned skirts and obsolete flounces; and I am +watching her, ay, and worshipping her, though I do not know it yet. And +as we stand there comes another snatch from the forecastle:-- + + "What will you do, love, when I am going. + With white sail flowing, + The seas beyond? + What will you do, love--" + +"They may make the most of that song," says Miss Denison grimly; "it's +the last they'll have from me. Get up as many more concerts as you like. +I won't sing at another unless it's in the fo'c'sle. I'll sing to the +men, but not to Captain Harris. He didn't put in an appearance tonight. +He shall not have another chance of insulting me." + +Was it her vanity that was wounded after all? "You forget," said I, +"that you would not answer when he addressed you at dinner." + +"I should think I wouldn't, after the way he spoke to Mr. Ready; and he +too agitated to come to table, poor fellow!" + +"Still, the captain felt the open slight." + +"Then he shouldn't have used such language in front of me." + +"Your father felt it, too, Miss Denison." + +I hear nothing plainer than her low but quick reply: + +"Mr. Cole, my father has been dead many; many years; he died before I +can remember. That man only married my poor mother. He sympathizes +with Captain Harris--against me; no father would do that. Look at them +together now! And you take his side, too; oh! I have no patience with +any of you--except poor Mr. Ready in his berth." + +"But you are not going." + +"Indeed I am. I am tired of you all." + +And she was gone with angry tears for which I blamed myself as I fell to +pacing the weather side of the poop--and so often afterwards! So often, +and with such unavailing bitterness! + +Senhor Santos and the captain were in conversation by the weather rail. +I fancied poor old Harris eyed me with suspicion, and I wished he had +better cause. The Portuguese, however, saluted me with his customary +courtesy, and I thought there was a grave twinkle in his steady eye. + +"Are you in deesgrace also, friend Cole?" he inquired in his all but +perfect English. + +"More or less," said I ruefully. + +He gave the shrug of his country--that delicate gesture which is done +almost entirely with the back--a subtlety beyond the power of British +shoulders. + +"The senhora is both weelful and pivish," said he, mixing the two vowels +which (with the aspirate) were his only trouble with our tongue. "It is +great grif to me to see her growing so unlike her sainted mother!" + +He sighed, and I saw his delicate fingers forsake the cigarette they +were rolling to make the sacred sign upon his breast. He was always +smoking one cigarette and making another; as he lit the new one the glow +fell upon a strange pin that he wore, a pin with a tiny crucifix inlaid +in mosaic. So the religious cast of Senhor Santos was brought twice home +to me in the same moment, though, to be sure, I had often been struck +by it before. And it depressed me to think that so sweet a child as Eva +Denison should have spoken harshly of so good a man as her step-father, +simply because he had breadth enough to sympathize with a coarse old +salt like Captain Harris. + +I turned in, however, and I cannot say the matter kept me awake in the +separate state-room which was one luxury of our empty saloon. Alas? I +was a heavy sleeper then. + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE MYSTERIOUS CARGO + + +"Wake up, Cole! The ship's on fire!" + +It was young Ready's hollow voice, as cool, however, as though he were +telling me I was late for breakfast. I started up and sought him wildly +in the darkness. + +"You're joking," was my first thought and utterance; for now he was +lighting my candle, and blowing out the match with a care that seemed in +itself a contradiction. + +"I wish I were," he answered. "Listen to that!" + +He pointed to my cabin ceiling; it quivered and creaked; and all at once +I was as a deaf man healed. + +One gets inured to noise at sea, but to this day it passes me how even I +could have slept an instant in the abnormal din which I now heard raging +above my head. Sea-boots stamped; bare feet pattered; men bawled; women +shrieked; shouts of terror drowned the roar of command. + +"Have we long to last?" I asked, as I leaped for my clothes. + +"Long enough for you to dress comfortably. Steady, old man! It's only +just been discovered; they may get it under. The panic's the worst part +at present, and we're out of that." + +But was Eva Denison? Breathlessly I put the question; his answer was +reassuring. Miss Denison was with her step-father on the poop. "And both +of 'em as cool as cucumbers," added Ready. + +They could not have been cooler than this young man, with death at the +bottom of his bright and sunken eyes. He was of the type which is all +muscle and no constitution; athletes one year, dead men the next; but +until this moment the athlete had been to me a mere and incredible +tradition. In the afternoon I had seen his lean knees totter under the +captain's fire. Now, at midnight--the exact time by my watch--it was as +if his shrunken limbs had expanded in his clothes; he seemed hardly to +know his own flushed face, as he caught sight of it in my mirror. + +"By Jove!" said he, "this has put me in a fine old fever; but I don't +know when I felt in better fettle. If only they get it under! I've not +looked like this all the voyage." + +And he admired himself while I dressed in hot haste: a fine young +fellow; not at all the natural egotist, but cast for death by the +doctors, and keenly incredulous in his bag of skin. It revived one's +confidence to hear him talk. But he forgot himself in an instant, and +gave me a lead through the saloon with a boyish eagerness that made me +actually suspicious as I ran. We were nearing the Line. I recalled the +excesses of my last crossing, and I prepared for some vast hoax at the +last moment. It was only when we plunged upon the crowded quarter-deck, +and my own eyes read lust of life and dread of death in the starting +eyes of others, that such lust and such dread consumed me in my turn, so +that my veins seemed filled with fire and ice. + +To be fair to those others, I think that the first wild panic was +subsiding even then; at least there was a lull, and even a reaction in +the right direction on the part of the males in the second class and +steerage. A huge Irishman at their head, they were passing buckets +towards the after-hold; the press of people hid the hatchway from +us until we gained the poop; but we heard the buckets spitting and a +hose-pipe hissing into the flames below; and we saw the column of white +vapor rising steadily from their midst. + +At the break of the poop stood Captain Harris, his legs planted wide +apart, very vigorous, very decisive, very profane. And I must confess +that the shocking oaths which had brought us round the Horn inspired a +kind of confidence in me now. Besides, even from the poop I could see +no flames. But the night was as beautiful as it had been an hour or two +back; the stars as brilliant, the breeze even more balmy, the sea even +more calm; and we were hove-to already, against the worst. + +In this hour of peril the poop was very properly invaded by all classes +of passengers, in all manner of incongruous apparel, in all stages of +fear, rage, grief and hysteria; as we made our way among this motley +nightmare throng, I took Ready by the arm. + +"The skipper's a brute," said I, "but he's the right brute in the right +place to-night, Ready!" + +"I hope he may be," was the reply. "But we were off our course this +afternoon; and we were off it again during the concert, as sure as we're +not on it now." + +His tone made me draw him to the rail. + +"But how do you know? You didn't have another look, did you?" + +"Lots of looks-at the stars. He couldn't keep me from consulting them; +and I'm just as certain of it as I'm certain that we've a cargo aboard +which we're none of us supposed to know anything about." + +The latter piece of gossip was, indeed, all over the ship; but this +allusion to it struck me as foolishly irrelevant and frivolous. As to +the other matter, I suggested that the officers would have had more to +say about it than Ready, if there had been anything in it. + +"Officers be damned!" cried our consumptive, with a sound man's vigor. +"They're ordinary seamen dressed up; I don't believe they've a second +mate's certificate between them, and they're frightened out of their +souls." + +"Well, anyhow, the skipper isn't that." + +"No; he's drunk; he can shout straight, but you should hear him try to +speak." + +I made my way aft without rejoinder. "Invalid's pessimism," was my +private comment. And yet the sick man was whole for the time being; the +virile spirit was once more master of the recreant members; and it +was with illogical relief that I found those I sought standing almost +unconcernedly beside the binnacle. + +My little friend was, indeed, pale enough, and her eyes great with +dismay; but she stood splendidly calm, in her travelling cloak and +bonnet, and with all my soul I hailed the hardihood with which I had +rightly credited my love. Yes! I loved her then. It had come home to me +at last, and I no longer denied it in my heart. In my innocence and my +joy I rather blessed the fire for showing me her true self and my own; +and there I stood, loving her openly with my eyes (not to lose another +instant), and bursting to tell her so with my lips. + +But there also stood Senhor Santos, almost precisely as I had seen him +last, cigarette, tie-pin, and all. He wore an overcoat, however, and +leaned upon a massive ebony cane, while he carried his daughter's guitar +in its case, exactly as though they were waiting for a train. Moreover, +I thought that for the first time he was regarding me with no very +favoring glance. + +"You don't think it serious?" I asked him abruptly, my heart still +bounding with the most incongruous joy. + +He gave me his ambiguous shrug; and then, "A fire at sea is surely +sirrious," said he. + +"Where did it break out?" + +"No one knows; it may have come of your concert." + +"But they are getting the better of it?" + +"They are working wonders so far, senhor." + +"You see, Miss Denison," I continued ecstatically, "our rough old +diamond of a skipper is the right man in the right place after all. A +tight man in a tight place, eh?" and I laughed like an idiot in their +calm grave faces. + +"Senhor Cole is right," said Santos, "although his 'ilarity sims a +leetle out of place. But you must never spik against Captain 'Arrees +again, menma." + +"I never will," the poor child said; yet I saw her wince whenever the +captain raised that hoarse voice of his in more and more blasphemous +exhortation; and I began to fear with Ready that the man was drunk. + +My eyes were still upon my darling, devouring her, revelling in her, +when suddenly I saw her hand twitch within her step-father's arm. It was +an answering start to one on his part. The cigarette was snatched from +his lips. There was a commotion forward, and a cry came aft, from mouth +to mouth: + +"The flames! The flames!" + +I turned, and caught their reflection on the white column of smoke and +steam. I ran forward, and saw them curling and leaping in the hell-mouth +of the hold. + +The quarter-deck now staged a lurid scene: that blazing trap-door in +its midst; and each man there a naked demon madly working to save his +roasting skin. Abaft the mainmast the deck-pump was being ceaselessly +worked by relays of the passengers; dry blankets were passed forward, +soaking blankets were passed aft, and flung flat into the furnace one +after another. These did more good than the pure water: the pillar of +smoke became blacker, denser: we were at a crisis; a sudden hush denoted +it; even our hoarse skipper stood dumb. + +I had rushed down into the waist of the ship--blushing for my delay--and +already I was tossing blankets with the rest. Looking up in an enforced +pause, I saw Santos whispering in the skipper's ear, with the expression +of a sphinx but no lack of foreign gesticulation--behind them a fringe +of terror-stricken faces, parted at that instant by two more figures, +as wild and strange as any in that wild, strange scene. One was our +luckless lucky digger, the other a gigantic Zambesi nigger, who for +days had been told off to watch him; this was the servant (or rather the +slave) of Senhor Santos. + +The digger planted himself before the captain. His face was reddened by +a fire as consuming as that within the bowels of our gallant ship. He +had a huge, unwieldy bundle under either arm. + +"Plain question--plain answer," we heard him stutter. "Is there any ---- +chance of saving this ---- ship?" + +His adjectives were too foul for print; they were given with such a +special effort at distinctness, however, that I was smiling one instant, +and giving thanks the next that Eva Denison had not come forward with +her guardian. Meanwhile the skipper had exchanged a glance with Senhor +Santos, and I think we all felt that he was going to tell us the truth. + +He told it in two words--"Very little." + +Then the first individual tragedy was enacted before every eye. With +a yell the drunken maniac rushed to the rail. The nigger was at his +heels--he was too late. Uttering another and more piercing shriek, the +madman was overboard at a bound; one of his bundles preceded him; the +other dropped like a cannon-ball on the deck. + +The nigger caught it up and carried it forward to the captain. + +Harris held up his hand. We were still before we had fairly found our +tongues. His words did run together a little, but he was not drunk. + +"Men and women," said he, "what I told that poor devil is Gospel truth; +but I didn't tell him we'd no chance of saving our lives, did I? Not +me, because we have! Keep your heads and listen to me. There's two +good boats on the davits amidships; the chief will take one, the second +officer the other; and there ain't no reason why every blessed one of +you shouldn't sleep in Ascension to-morrow night. As for me, let me see +every soul off of my ship and perhaps I may follow; but by the God that +made you, look alive! Mr. Arnott--Mr. McClellan--man them boats and +lower away. You can't get quit o' the ship too soon, an' I don't mind +tellin' you why. I'll tell you the worst, an' then you'll know. There's +been a lot o' gossip goin', gossip about my cargo. I give out as I'd +none but ship's stores and ballast, an' I give out a lie. I don't mind +tellin' you now. I give out a cussed lie, but I give it out for the +good o' the ship! What was the use o' frightenin' folks? But where's the +sense in keepin' it back now? We have a bit of a cargo," shouted Harris; +"and it's gunpowder--every damned ton of it!" + +The effect of this announcement may be imagined; my hand has not the +cunning to reproduce it on paper; and if it had, it would shrink from +the task. Mild men became brutes, brutal men, devils, women--God help +them!--shrieking beldams for the most part. Never shall I forget them +with their streaming hair, their screaming open mouths, and the cruel +ascending fire glinting on their starting eyeballs! + +Pell-mell they tumbled down the poop-ladders; pell-mell they raced +amidships past that yawning open furnace; the pitch was boiling through +the seams of the crackling deck; they slipped and fell upon it, one over +another, and the wonder is that none plunged headlong into the flames. +A handful remained on the poop, cowering and undone with terror. Upon +these turned Captain Harris, as Ready and I, stemming the torrent of +maddened humanity, regained the poop ourselves. + +"For'ard with ye!" yelled the skipper. "The powder's underneath you in +the lazarette!" + +They were gone like hunted sheep. And now abaft the flaming hatchway +there were only we four surviving saloon passengers, the captain, his +steward, the Zambesi negro, and the quarter-master at the wheel. The +steward and the black I observed putting stores aboard the captain's gig +as it overhung the water from the stern davits. + +"Now, gentlemen," said Harris to the two of us, "I must trouble you to +step forward with the rest. Senhor Santos insists on taking his chance +along with the young lady in my gig. I've told him the risk, but he +insists, and the gig'll hold no more." + +"But she must have a crew, and I can row. For God's sake take me, +captain!" cried I; for Eva Denison sat weeping in her deck chair, and my +heart bled faint at the thought of leaving her, I who loved her so, and +might die without ever telling her my love! Harris, however, stood firm. + +"There's that quartermaster and my steward, and Jose the nigger," said +he. "That's quite enough, Mr. Cole, for I ain't above an oar myself; +but, by God, I'm skipper o' this here ship, and I'll skip her as long as +I remain aboard!" + +I saw his hand go to his belt; I saw the pistols stuck there for +mutineers. I looked at Santos. He answered me with his neutral shrug, +and, by my soul, he struck a match and lit a cigarette in that hour of +life and death! Then last I looked at Ready; and he leant invertebrate +over the rail, gasping pitiably from his exertions in regaining the +poop, a dying man once more. I pointed out his piteous state. + +"At least," I whispered, "you won't refuse to take him?" + +"Will there be anything to take?" said the captain brutally. + +Santos advanced leisurely, and puffed his cigarette over the poor wasted +and exhausted frame. + +"It is for you to decide, captain," said he cynically; "but this one +will make no deeference. Yes, I would take him. It will not be far," he +added, in a tone that was not the less detestable for being lowered. + +"Take them both!" moaned little Eva, putting in her first and last sweet +word. + +"Then we all drown, Evasinha," said her stepfather. "It is impossible." + +"We're too many for her as it is," said the captain. "So for'ard with +ye, Mr. Cole, before it's too late." + +But my darling's brave word for me had fired my blood, and I turned +with equal resolution on Harris and on the Portuguese. "I will go like +a lamb," said I, "if you will first give me five minutes' conversation +with Miss Denison. Otherwise I do not go; and as for the gig, you may +take me or leave me, as you choose." + +"What have you to say to her?" asked Santos, coming up to me, and again +lowering his voice. + +I lowered mine still more. "That I love her!" I answered in a soft +ecstasy. "That she may remember how I loved her, if I die!" + +His shoulders shrugged a cynical acquiescence. + +"By all mins, senhor; there is no harm in that." + +I was at her side before another word could pass his withered lips. + +"Miss Denison, will you grant me five minutes', conversation? It may be +the last that we shall ever have together!" + +Uncovering her face, she looked at me with a strange terror in her great +eyes; then with a questioning light that was yet more strange, for in it +there was a wistfulness I could not comprehend. She suffered me to take +her hand, however, and to lead her unresisting to the weather rail. + +"What is it you have to say?" she asked me in her turn. "What is it that +you--think?" + +Her voice fell as though she must have the truth. + +"That we have all a very good chance," said I heartily. + +"Is that all?" cried Eva, and my heart sank at her eager manner. + +She seemed at once disappointed and relieved. Could it be possible she +dreaded a declaration which she had foreseen all along? My evil first +experience rose up to warn me. No, I would not speak now; it was no +time. If she loved me, it might make her love me less; better to trust +to God to spare us both. + +"Yes, it is all," I said doggedly. + +She drew a little nearer, hesitating. It was as though her +disappointment had gained on her relief. + +"Do you know what I thought you were going to say?" + +"No, indeed." + +"Dare I tell you?" + +"You can trust me." + +Her pale lips parted. Her great eyes shone. Another instant, and she had +told me that which I would have given all but life itself to know. But +in that tick of time a quick step came behind me, and the light went out +of the sweet face upturned to mine. + +"I cannot! I must not! Here is--that man!" + +Senhor Santos was all smiles and rings of pale-blue smoke. + +"You will be cut off, friend Cole," said he. "The fire is spreading." + +"Let it spread!" I cried, gazing my very soul into the young girl's +eyes. "We have not finished our conversation. + +"We have!" said she, with sudden decision. "Go--go--for my sake--for +your own sake--go at once!" + +She gave me her hand. I merely clasped it. And so I left her at the +rail-ah, heaven! how often we had argued on that very spot! So I left +her, with the greatest effort of all my life (but one); and yet in +passing, full as my heart was of love and self, I could not but lay a +hand on poor Ready's shoulders. + +"God bless you, old boy!" I said to him. + +He turned a white face that gave me half an instant's pause. + +"It's all over with me this time," he said. "But, I say, I was right +about the cargo?" + +And I heard a chuckle as I reached the ladder; but Ready was no longer +in my mind; even Eva was driven out of it, as I stood aghast on the +top-most rung. + + + + +CHAPTER III. TO THE WATER'S EDGE + + +It was not the new panic amidships that froze my marrow; it was not that +the pinnace hung perpendicularly by the fore-tackle, and had shot out +those who had swarmed aboard her before she was lowered, as a cart +shoots a load of bricks. It was bad enough to see the whole boat-load +struggling, floundering, sinking in the sea; for selfish eyes (and which +of us is all unselfish at such a time?) there was a worse sight yet; for +I saw all this across an impassable gulf of fire. + +The quarter-deck had caught: it was in flames to port and starboard of +the flaming hatch; only fore and aft of it was the deck sound to the +lips of that hideous mouth, with the hundred tongues shooting out and +up. + +Could I jump it there? I sprang down and looked. It was only a few feet +across; but to leap through that living fire was to leap into eternity. +I drew back instantly, less because my heart failed me, I may truly say, +than because my common sense did not. + +Some were watching me, it seemed, across this hell. "The bulwarks!" they +screamed. "Walk along the bulwarks!" I held up my hand in token that +I heard and understood and meant to act. And as I did their bidding I +noticed what indeed had long been apparent to idler eyes: the wind was +not; we had lost our southeast trades; the doomed ship was rolling in a +dead calm. + +Rolling, rolling, rolling so that it seemed minutes before I dared to +move an inch. Then I tried it on my hands and knees, but the scorched +bulwarks burned me to the bone. And then I leapt up, desperate with the +pain; and, with my tortured hands spread wide to balance me, I walked +those few yards, between rising sea and falling fire, and falling sea +and rising fire, as an acrobat walks a rope, and by God's grace without +mishap. + +There was no time to think twice about my feat, or, indeed, about +anything else that befell upon a night when each moment was more +pregnant than the last. And yet I did think that those who had +encouraged me to attempt so perilous a trick might have welcomed me +alive among them; they were looking at something else already; and this +was what it was. + +One of the cabin stewards had presented himself on the poop; he had a +bottle in one hand, a glass in the other; in the red glare we saw +him dancing in front of the captain like an unruly marionette. Harris +appeared to threaten him. What he said we could not hear for the +deep-drawn blast and the high staccato crackle of the blazing hold. But +we saw the staggering steward offering him a drink; saw the glass flung +next instant in the captain's face, the blood running, a pistol drawn, +fired without effect, and snatched away by the drunken mutineer. Next +instant a smooth black cane was raining blow after blow on the man's +head. He dropped; the blows fell thick and heavy as before. He lay +wriggling; the Portuguese struck and struck until he lay quite still; +then we saw Joaquin Santos kneel, and rub his stick carefully on the +still thing's clothes, as a man might wipe his boots. + +Curses burst from our throats; yet the fellow deserved to die. Nor, as I +say, had we time to waste two thoughts upon any one incident. This +last had begun and ended in the same minute; in another we were at the +starboard gangway, tumbling helter-skelter aboard the lowered long-boat. + +She lay safely on the water: how we thanked our gods for that! Lower and +lower sank her gunwale as we dropped aboard her, with no more care than +the Gadarene swine whose fate we courted. Discipline, order, method, +common care, we brought none of these things with us from our floating +furnace; but we fought to be first over the bulwarks, and in the bottom +of the long-boat we fought again. + +And yet she held us all! All, that is, but a terror-stricken few, who +lay along the jibboom like flies upon a stick: all but two or three more +whom we left fatally hesitating in the forechains: all but the selfish +savages who had been the first to perish in the pinnace, and one +distracted couple who had thrown their children into the kindly ocean, +and jumped in after them out of their torment, locked for ever in each +other's arms. + +Yes! I saw more things on that starry night, by that blood-red glare, +than I have told you in their order, and more things than I shall tell +you now. Blind would I gladly be for my few remaining years, if that +night's horrors could be washed from these eyes for ever. I have said so +much, however, that in common candor I must say one thing more. I have +spoken of selfish savages. God help me and forgive me! For by this time +I was one myself. + +In the long-boat we cannot have been less than thirty; the exact number +no man will ever know. But we shoved off without mischance; the chief +mate had the tiller; the third mate the boat-hook; and six or eight +oars were at work, in a fashion, as we plunged among the great smooth +sickening mounds and valleys of fathomless ink. + +Scarcely were we clear when the foremast dropped down on the fastenings, +dashing the jib-boom into the water with its load of demented human +beings. The mainmast followed by the board before we had doubled our +distance from the wreck. Both trailed to port, where we could not see +them; and now the mizzen stood alone in sad and solitary grandeur, her +flapping idle sails lighted up by the spreading conflagration, so that +they were stamped very sharply upon the black add starry sky. But the +whole scene from the long-boat was one of startling brilliancy and +horror. The fire now filled the entire waist of the vessel, and the +noise of it was as the rumble and roar of a volcano. As for the light, +I declare that it put many a star clean out, and dimmed the radiance +of all the rest, as it flooded the sea for miles around, and a sea of +molten glass reflected it. My gorge rose at the long, low billows-sleek +as black satin--lifting and dipping in this ghastly glare. I preferred +to keep my eyes upon the little ship burning like a tar barrel as the +picture grew. But presently I thanked God aloud: there was the gig +swimming like a beetle over the bloodshot rollers in our wake. + +In our unspeakable gladness at being quit of the ship, some minutes +passed before we discovered that the long-boat was slowly filling. The +water was at our ankles before a man of us cried out, so fast were our +eyes to the poor lost Lady Jermyn. Then all at once the ghastly fact +dawned upon us; and I think it was the mate himself who burst out crying +like a child. I never ascertained, however, for I had kicked off my +shoes and was busy baling with them. Others were hunting for the leak. +But the mischief was as subtle as it was mortal--as though a plank +had started from end to end. Within and without the waters rose +equally--then lay an instant level with our gunwales--then swamped us, +oh! so slowly, that I thought we were never going to sink. It was +like getting inch by inch into your tub; I can feel it now, creeping, +crawling up my back. "It's coming! O Christ!" muttered one as it came; +to me it was a downright relief to be carried under at last. + +But then, thank God, I have always been a strong swimmer. The water was +warm and buoyant, and I came up like a cork, as I knew I should. I shook +the drops from my face, and there were the sweet stars once more; for +many an eye they had gone Out for ever; and there the burning wreck. + +A man floundered near me, in a splutter of phosphorescence. I tried to +help him, and in an instant he had me wildly round the neck. In the end +I shook him off, poor devil, to his death. And he was the last I tried +to aid: have I not said already what I was become? + +In a little an oar floated my way: I threw my arms across it and gripped +it with my chin as I swam. It relieved me greatly. Up and down I rode +among the oily black hillocks; I was down when there was a sudden flare +as though the sun had risen, and I saw still a few heads bobbing and a +few arms waving frantically around me. At the same instant a terrific +detonation split the ears; and when I rose on the next bald billow, +where the ship lay burning a few seconds before, there remained but a +red-hot spine that hissed and dwindled for another minute, and then left +a blackness through which every star shone with redoubled brilliance. + +And now right and left splashed falling missiles; a new source of danger +or of temporary respite; to me, by a merciful Providence, it proved the +latter. + +Some heavy thing fell with a mighty splash right in front of me. A few +more yards, and my brains had floated with the spume. As it was, the +oar was dashed from under my armpits; in another moment they had found a +more solid resting-place. + +It was a hen-coop, and it floated bars upwards like a boat. In this +calm it might float for days. I climbed upon the bars-and the whole cage +rolled over on top of me. + +Coming to the surface, I found to my joy that the hen-coop had righted +itself; so now I climbed up again, but this time very slowly and +gingerly; the balance was undisturbed, and I stretched myself cautiously +along the bars on my stomach. A good idea immediately occurred to me. I +had jumped as a matter of course into the flannels which one naturally +wears in the tropics. To their lightness I already owed my life, but the +common cricket-belt which was part of the costume was the thing to which +I owe it most of all. Loosening this belt a little, as I tucked my toes +tenaciously under the endmost bar, I undid and passed the two ends under +one of the middle bars, fastening the clasp upon the other side. If I +capsized now, well, we might go to the bottom together; otherwise the +hen-coop and I should not part company in a hurry; and I thought, I +felt, that she would float. + +Worn out as I was, and comparatively secure for the moment, I will not +say that I slept; but my eyes closed, and every fibre rested, as I rose +and slid with the smooth, long swell. Whether I did indeed hear voices, +curses, cries, I cannot say positively to this day. I only know that I +raised my head and looked sharply all ways but the way I durst not look +for fear of an upset. And, again, I thought I saw first a tiny flame, +and then a tinier glow; and as my head drooped, and my eyes closed +again, I say I thought I smelt tobacco; but this, of course, was my +imagination supplying all the links from one. + + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE SILENT SEA + + +Remember (if indeed there be any need to remind you) that it is a +flagrant landsman who is telling you this tale. Nothing know I of +seamanship, save what one could not avoid picking up on the round voyage +of the Lady Jermyn, never to be completed on this globe. I may be told +that I have burned that devoted vessel as nothing ever burned on land or +sea. I answer that I write of what I saw, and that is not altered by a +miscalled spar or a misunderstood manouvre. But now I am aboard a craft +I handle for myself, and must make shift to handle a second time with +this frail pen. + +The hen-coop was some six feet long, by eighteen or twenty inches in +breadth and depth. It was simply a long box with bars in lieu of a lid; +but it was very strongly built. + +I recognized it as one of two which had stood lashed against either rail +of the Lady Jermyn's poop; there the bars had risen at right angles to +the deck; now they lay horizontal, a gridiron six feet long-and my bed. +And as each particular bar left its own stripe across my wearied body, +and yet its own comfort in my quivering heart, another day broke over +the face of the waters, and over me. + +Discipline, what there was of it originally, had been the very first +thing to perish aboard our ill-starred ship; the officers, I am afraid, +were not much better than poor Ready made them out (thanks to Bendigo +and Ballarat), and little had been done in true ship-shape style all +night. All hands had taken their spell at everything as the fancy seized +them; not a bell had been struck from first to last; and I can only +conjecture that the fire raged four or five hours, from the fact that +it was midnight by my watch when I left it on my cabin drawers, and that +the final extinction of the smouldering keel was so soon followed by the +first deep hint of dawn. The rest took place with the trite rapidity of +the equatorial latitudes. It had been my foolish way to pooh-pooh the +old saying that there is no twilight in the tropics. I saw more truth in +it as I lay lonely on this heaving waste. + +The stars were out; the sea was silver; the sun was up. + +And oh! the awful glory of that sunrise! It was terrific; it was +sickening; my senses swam. Sunlit billows smooth and sinister, without a +crest, without a sound; miles and miles of them as I rose; an oily grave +among them as I fell. Hill after hill of horror, valley after valley of +despair! The face of the waters in petty but eternal unrest; and now +the sun must shine to set it smiling, to show me its cruel ceaseless +mouthings, to reveal all but the ghastlier horrors underneath. + +How deep was it? I fell to wondering! Not that it makes any difference +whether you drown in one fathom or in ten thousand, whether you fall +from a balloon or from the attic window. But the greater depth or +distance is the worse to contemplate; and I was as a man hanging by his +hands so high above the world, that his dangling feet cover countries, +continents; a man who must fall very soon, and wonders how long he will +be falling, falling; and how far his soul will bear his body company. + +In time I became more accustomed to the sun upon this heaving void; less +frightened, as a child is frightened, by the mere picture. And I have +still the impression that, as hour followed hour since the falling of +the wind, the nauseous swell in part subsided. I seemed less often on +an eminence or in a pit; my glassy azure dales had gentler slopes, or a +distemper was melting from my eyes. + +At least I know that I had now less work to keep my frail ship trim, +though this also may have come by use and practice. In the beginning one +or other of my legs had been for ever trailing in the sea, to keep the +hen-coop from rolling over the other way; in fact, as I understand they +steer the toboggan in Canada, so I my little bark. Now the necessity for +this was gradually decreasing; whatever the cause, it was the greatest +mercy the day had brought me yet. With less strain on the attention, +however, there was more upon the mind. No longer forced to exert some +muscle twice or thrice a minute, I had time to feel very faint, and yet +time to think. My soul flew homing to its proper prison. I was no longer +any unit at unequal strife with the elements; instincts common to my +kind were no longer my only stimulus. I was my poor self again; it was +my own little life, and no other, that I wanted to go on living; and +yet I felt vaguely there was some special thing I wished to live for, +something that had not been very long in my ken; something that had +perhaps nerved and strengthened me all these hours. What, then, could it +be? I could not think. + +For moments or for minutes I wondered stupidly, dazed as I was. Then +I remembered--and the tears gushed to my eyes. How could I ever have +forgotten? I deserved it all, all, all! To think that many a time we +must have sat together on this very coop! I kissed its blistering edge +at the thought, and my tears ran afresh, as though they never would +stop. + +Ah! how I thought of her as that cruel day's most cruel sun climbed +higher and higher in the flawless flaming vault. A pocket-handkerchief +of all things had remained in my trousers pocket through fire and water; +I knotted it on the old childish plan, and kept it ever drenched upon +the head that had its own fever to endure as well. Eva Denison! Eva +Denison! I was talking to her in the past, I was talking to her in the +future, and oh! how different were the words, the tone! Yes, I hated +myself for having forgotten her; but I hated God for having given her +back to my tortured brain; it made life so many thousandfold more sweet, +and death so many thousandfold more bitter. + +She was saved in the gig. Sweet Jesus, thanks for that! But I--I was +dying a lingering death in mid-ocean; she would never know how I loved +her, I, who could only lecture her when I had her at my side. + +Dying? No--no--not yet! I must live--live--live--to tell my darling how +I had loved her all the time. So I forced myself from my lethargy of +despair and grief; and this thought, the sweetest thought of all my +life, may or may not have been my unrealized stimulus ere now; it was in +very deed my most conscious and perpetual spur henceforth until the end. + +From this onward, while my sense stood by me, I was practical, +resourceful, alert. It was now high-noon, and I had eaten nothing since +dinner the night before. How clearly I saw the long saloon table, only +laid, however, abaft the mast; the glittering glass, the cool white +napery, the poor old dried dessert in the green dishes! Earlier, this +had occupied my mind an hour; now I dismissed it in a moment; there was +Eva, I must live for her; there must be ways of living at least a day or +two without sustenance, and I must think of them. + +So I undid that belt of mine which fastened me to my gridiron, and I +straddled my craft with a sudden keen eye for sharks, of which I never +once had thought until now. Then I tightened the belt about my hollow +body, and just sat there with the problem. The past hour I had been +wholly unobservant; the inner eye had had its turn; but that was over +now, and I sat as upright as possible, seeking greedily for a sail. Of +course I saw none. Had we indeed been off our course before the fire +broke out? Had we burned to cinders aside and apart from the regular +track of ships? Then, though my present valiant mood might ignore +the adverse chances, they were as one hundred to a single chance of +deliverance. Our burning had brought no ship to our succor; and how +should I, a mere speck amid the waves, bring one to mine? + +Moreover, I was all but motionless; I was barely drifting at all. This +I saw from a few objects which were floating around me now at noon; they +had been with me when the high sun rose. One was, I think, the very +oar which had been my first support; another was a sailor's cap; but +another, which floated nearer, was new to me, as though it had come to +the surface while my eyes were turned inwards. And this was clearly the +case; for the thing was a drowned and bloated corpse. + +It fascinated me, though not with extraordinary horror; it came too late +to do that. I thought I recognized the man's back. I fancied it was +the mate who had taken charge of the long-boat. Was I then the single +survivor of those thirty souls? I was still watching my poor lost +comrade, when that happened to him against which even I was not proof. +Through the deep translucent blue beneath me a slim shape glided; three +smaller fish led the way; they dallied an instant a fathom under my +feet, which were snatched up, with what haste you may imagine; then on +they went to surer prey. + +He turned over; his dreadful face stared upwards; it was the chief +officer, sure enough. Then he clove the water with a rush, his dead hand +waved, the last of him to disappear; and I had a new horror to think +over for my sins. His poor fingers were all broken and beaten to a pulp. + +The voices of the night came back to me--the curses and the cries. Yes, +I must have heard them. In memory now I recognized the voice of the +chief mate, but there again came in the assisted imagination. Yet I +was not so sure of this as before. I thought of Santos and his horrible +heavy cane. Good God! she was in the power of that! I must live for Eva +indeed; must save myself to save and protect my innocent and helpless +girl. + +Again I was a man; stronger than ever was the stimulus now, louder than +ever the call on every drop of true man's blood in my perishing frame. +It should not perish! It should not! + +Yet my throat was parched; my lips were caked; my frame was hollow. Very +weak I was already; without sustenance I should surely die. But as yet +I was far enough from death, or I had done disdaining the means of life +that all this time lay ready to my hand. A number of dead fowls imparted +ballast to my little craft. + +Yet I could not look at them in all these hours; or I could look, but +that was all. So I must sit up one hour more, and keep a sharper eye +than ever for the tiniest glimmer of a sail. To what end, I often asked +myself? I might see them; they would never see me. + +Then my eyes would fail, and "you squeamish fool!" I said at intervals, +until my tongue failed to articulate; it had swollen so in my mouth. +Flying fish skimmed the water like thick spray; petrels were so few that +I could count them; another shark swam round me for an hour. In sudden +panic I dashed my knuckles on the wooden bars, to get at a duck to give +the monster for a sop. My knuckles bled. I held them to my mouth. My +cleaving tongue wanted more. The duck went to the shark; a few minutes +more and I had made my own vile meal as well. + + + + +CHAPTER V. MY REWARD + + +The sun declined; my shadow broadened on die waters; and now I felt that +if my cockle-shell could live a little longer, why, so could I. + +I had got at the fowls without further hurt. Some of the bars took out, +I discovered how. And now very carefully I got my legs in, and knelt; +but the change of posture was not worth the risk one ran for it; there +was too much danger of capsizing, and failing to free oneself before she +filled and sank. + +With much caution I began breaking the bars, one by one; it was hard +enough, weak as I was; my thighs were of more service than my hands. + +But at last I could sit, the grating only covering me from the knees +downwards. And the relief of that outweighed all the danger, which, as I +discovered to my untold joy, was now much less than it had been before. +I was better ballast than the fowls. + +These I had attached to the lashings which had been blown asunder by the +explosion; at one end of the coop the ring-bolt had been torn clean out, +but at the other it was the cordage that had parted. To the frayed +ends I tied my fowls by the legs, with the most foolish pride in my own +cunning. Do you not see? It would keep them fresh for my use, and it was +a trick I had read of in no book; it was all my own. + +So evening fell and found me hopeful and even puffed up; but yet, no +sail. + +Now, however, I could lie back, and use had given me a strange sense of +safety; besides, I think I knew, I hope I felt, that the hen-coop was in +other Hands than mine. + +All is reaction in the heart of man; light follows darkness nowhere more +surely than in that hidden self, and now at sunset it was my heart's +high-noon. Deep peace pervaded me as I lay outstretched in my narrow +rocking bed, as it might be in my coffin; a trust in my Maker's will +to save me if that were for the best, a trust in His final wisdom and +loving-kindness, even though this night should be my last on earth. For +myself I was resigned, and for others I must trust Him no less. Who was +I to constitute myself the protector of the helpless, when He was in +His Heaven? Such was my sunset mood; it lasted a few minutes, and then, +without radically changing, it became more objective. + +The west was a broadening blaze of yellow and purple and red. I cannot +describe it to you. If you have seen the sun set in the tropics, you +would despise my description; and, if not, I for one could never make +you see it. Suffice it that a petrel wheeled somewhere between deepening +carmine and paling blue, and it took my thoughts off at an earthy +tangent. I thanked God there were no big sea-birds in these latitudes; +no molly-hawks, no albatrosses, no Cape-hens. I thought of an albatross +that I had caught going out. Its beak and talons were at the bottom +with the charred remains of the Lady Jermyn. But I could see them +still, could feel them shrewdly in my mind's flesh; and so to the old +superstition, strangely justified by my case; and so to the poem which +I, with my special experience, not unnaturally consider the greatest +poem ever penned. + +But I did not know it then as I do now--and how the lines eluded me! I +seemed to see them in the book, yet I could not read the words! + + "Water, water, everywhere, + Nor any drop to drink." + +That, of course, came first (incorrectly); and it reminded me of my +thirst, which the blood of the fowls had so very partially appeased. I +see now that it is lucky I could recall but little more. Experience is +less terrible than realization, and that poem makes me realize what I +went through as memory cannot. It has verses which would have driven me +mad. On the other hand, the exhaustive mental search for them distracted +my thoughts until the stars were back in the sky; and now I had a new +occupation, saying to myself all the poetry I could remember, especially +that of the sea; for I was a bookish fellow even then. But I never +was anything of a scholar. It is odd therefore, that the one apposite +passage which recurred to me in its entirety was in hexameters and +pentameters: + + Me miserum, quanti montes volvuntur aquarum! + Jam jam tacturos sidera summa putes. + Quantae diducto subsidunt aequore valles! + Jam jam tacturas Tartara nigra putes. + Quocunque adspicio, nihil est nisi pontus et aether; + Fluctibus hic tumidis, nubibus ille minax.... + +More there was of it in my head; but this much was an accurate statement +of my case; and yet less so now (I was thankful to reflect) than in +the morning, when every wave was indeed a mountain, and its trough a +Tartarus. I had learnt the lines at school; nay, they had formed my very +earliest piece of Latin repetition. And how sharply I saw the room I +said them in, the man I said them to, ever since my friend! I figured +him even now hearing Ovid rep., the same passage in the same room. And I +lay saying it on a hen-coop in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean! + +At last I fell into a deep sleep, a long unconscious holiday of the +soul, undefiled by any dream. + +They say that our dreaming is done as we slowly wake; then was I out of +the way of it that night, for a sudden violent rocking awoke me in +one horrid instant. I made it worse by the way I started to a sitting +posture. I had shipped some water. I was shipping more. Yet all around +the sea was glassy; whence then the commotion? As my ship came trim +again, and I saw that my hour was not yet, the cause occurred to me; and +my heart turned so sick that it was minutes before I had the courage to +test my theory. + +It was the true one. + +A shark had been at my trailing fowls; had taken the bunch of them +together, dragging the legs from my loose fastenings. Lucky they had +been no stronger! Else had I been dragged down to perdition too. + +Lucky, did I say? The refinement of cruelty rather; for now I had +neither meat nor drink; my throat was a kiln; my tongue a flame; and +another day at hand. + +The stars were out; the sea was silver; the sun was up! + + . . . . . + +Hours passed. + +I was waiting now for my delirium. + +It came in bits. + +I was a child. I was playing on the lawn at home. I was back on the +blazing sea. + +I was a schoolboy saying my Ovid; then back once more. + +The hen-coop was the Lady Jermyn. I was at Eva Denison's side. They were +marrying us on board. The ship's bell was ringing for us; a guitar in +the background burlesqued the Wedding March under skinny fingers; the +air was poisoned by a million cigarettes, they raised a pall of smoke +above the mastheads, they set fire to the ship; smoke and flame covered +the sea from rim to rim, smoke and flame filled the universe; the sea +dried up, and I was left lying in its bed, lying in my coffin, with +red-hot teeth, because the sun blazed right above them, and my withered +lips were drawn back from them for ever. + +So once more I came back to my living death; too weak now to carry a +finger to the salt water and back to my mouth; too weak to think of Eva; +too weak to pray any longer for the end, to trouble or to care any more. + +Only so tired. + + . . . . . + +Death has no more terrors for me. I have supped the last horror of the +worst death a man can die. You shall hear now for what I was delivered; +you shall read of my reward. + +My floating coffin was many things in turn; a railway carriage, a +pleasure boat on the Thames, a hammock under the trees; last of all it +was the upper berth in a not very sweet-smelling cabin, with a clatter +of knives and forks near at hand, and a very strong odor of onions in +the Irish stew. + +My hand crawled to my head; both felt a wondrous weight; and my head +was covered with bristles no longer than those on my chin, only less +stubborn. + +"Where am I?" I feebly asked. + +The knives and forks clattered on, and presently I burst out crying +because they had not heard me, and I knew that I could never make them +hear. Well, they heard my sobs, and a huge fellow came with his mouth +full, and smelling like a pickle bottle. + +"Where am I?" + +"Aboard the brig Eliza, Liverpool, homeward bound; glad to see them eyes +open." + +"Have I been here long?" + +"Matter o' ten days." + +"Where did you find me?" + +"Floating in a hen-coop; thought you was a dead 'un." + +"Do you know what ship?" + +"Do we know? No, that's what you've got to tell us!" + +"I can't," I sighed, too weak to wag my head upon the pillow. + +The man went to my cabin door. + +"Here's a go," said he; "forgotten the name of his blessed ship, he has. +Where's that there paper, Mr. Bowles? There's just a chance it may be +the same." + +"I've got it, sir." + +"Well, fetch it along, and come you in, Mr. Bowles; likely you may think +o' somethin'." + +A reddish, hook-nosed man, with a jaunty, wicked look, came and smiled +upon me in the friendliest fashion; the smell of onions became more than +I knew how to endure. + +"Ever hear of the ship Lady Jermyn?" asked the first corner, winking at +the other. + +I thought very hard, the name did sound familiar; but no, I could not +honestly say that I had beard it before. + +The captain looked at his mate. + +"It was a thousand to one," said he; "still we may as well try him with +the other names. Ever heard of Cap'n Harris, mister?" + +"Not that I know of." + +"Of Saunderson-stooard?" + +"No." + +"Or Crookes-quartermaster." + +"Never." + +"Nor yet of Ready--a passenger?" + +"No." + +"It's no use goin' on," said the captain folding up the paper. + +"None whatever, sir," said the mate + +"Ready! Ready!" I repeated. "I do seem to have heard that name before. +Won't you give me another chance?" + +The paper was unfolded with a shrug. + +"There was another passenger of the name of San-Santos. Dutchman, +seemin'ly. Ever heard o' him?" + +My disappointment was keen. I could not say that I had. Yet I would not +swear that I had not. + +"Oh, won't you? Well, there's only one more chance. Ever heard of Miss +Eva Denison--" + +"By God, yes! Have you?" + +I was sitting bolt upright in my bunk. The skipper's beard dropped upon +his chest. + +"Bless my soul! The last name o' the lot, too!" + +"Have you heard of her?" I reiterated. + +"Wait a bit, my lad! Not so fast. Lie down again and tell me who she +was." + +"Who she was?" I screamed. "I want to know where she is!" + +"I can't hardly say," said the captain awkwardly. "We found the gig o' +the Lady Jermyn the week arter we found you, bein' becalmed like; there +wasn't no lady aboard her, though." + +"Was there anybody?" + +"Two dead 'uns--an' this here paper." + +"Let me see it!" + +The skipper hesitated. + +"Hadn't you better wait a bit?" + +"No, no; for Christ's sake let me see the worst; do you think I can't +read it in your face?" + +I could--I did. I made that plain to them, and at last I had the +paper smoothed out upon my knees. It was a short statement of the last +sufferings of those who had escaped in the gig, and there was nothing +in it that I did not now expect. They had buried Ready first--then my +darling--then her step-father. The rest expected to follow fast enough. +It was all written plainly, on a sheet of the log-book, in different +trembling hands. Captain Harris had gone next; and two had been +discovered dead. + +How long I studied that bit of crumpled paper, with the salt spray +still sparkling on it faintly, God alone knows. All at once a peal of +nightmare laughter rattled through the cabin. My deliverers started +back. The laugh was mine. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. THE SOLE SURVIVOR + + +A few weeks later I landed in England, I, who no longer desired to set +foot on any land again. + +At nine-and-twenty I was gaunt and gray; my nerves were shattered, my +heart was broken; and my face showed it without let or hindrance from +the spirit that was broken too. Pride, will, courage, and endurance, all +these had expired in my long and lonely battle with the sea. They had +kept me alive-for this. And now they left me naked to mine enemies. + +For every hand seemed raised against me, though in reality it was the +hand of fellowship that the world stretched out, and the other was the +reading of a jaundiced eye. I could not help it: there was a poison in +my veins that made me all ingratitude and perversity. The world welcomed +me back, and I returned the compliment by sulking like the recaptured +runaway I was at heart. The world showed a sudden interest in me; so I +took no further interest in the world, but, on the contrary, resented +its attentions with unreasonable warmth and obduracy; and my would-be +friends I regarded as my very worst enemies. The majority, I feel sure, +meant but well and kindly by the poor survivor. But the survivor could +not forget that his name was still in the newspapers, nor blink the fact +that he was an unworthy hero of the passing hour. And he suffered +enough from brazenly meddlesome and self-seeking folk, from impudent and +inquisitive intruders, to justify some suspicion of old acquaintances +suddenly styling themselves old friends, and of distant connections +newly and unduly eager to claim relationship. Many I misjudged, and have +long known it. On the whole, however, I wonder at that attitude of mine +as little as I approve of it. + +If I had distinguished myself in any other way, it would have been a +different thing. It was the fussy, sentimental, inconsiderate +interest in one thrown into purely accidental and necessarily painful +prominence--the vulgarization of an unspeakable tragedy--that my soul +abhorred. I confess that I regarded it from my own unique and selfish +point of view. What was a thrilling matter to the world was a torturing +memory to me. The quintessence of the torture was, moreover, my own +secret. It was not the loss of the Lady Jermyn that I could not bear to +speak about; it was my own loss; but the one involved the other. My +loss apart, however, it was plain enough to dwell upon experiences so +terrible and yet so recent as those which I had lived to tell. I did +what I considered my duty to the public, but I certainly did no more. My +reticence was rebuked in the papers that made the most of me, but would +fain have made more. And yet I do not think that I was anything but +docile with those who had a manifest right to question me; to the +owners, and to other interested persons, with whom I was confronted on +one pretext or another, I told my tale as fully and as freely as I have +told it here, though each telling hurt more than the last. That was +necessary and unavoidable; it was the private intrusions which I +resented with all the spleen the sea had left me in exchange for the +qualities it had taken away. + +Relatives I had as few as misanthropist could desire; but from +self-congratulation on the fact, on first landing, I soon came to keen +regret. They at least would have sheltered me from spies and busybodies; +they at least would have secured the peace and privacy of one who was +no hero in fact or spirit, whose noblest deed was a piece of self +preservation which he wished undone with all his heart. + +Self-consciousness no doubt multiplied my flattering assailants. I +have said that my nerves were shattered. I may have imagined much and +exaggerated the rest. Yet what truth there was in my suspicions you +shall duly see. I felt sure that I was followed in the street, and my +every movement dogged by those to whom I would not condescend to turn +and look. Meanwhile, I had not the courage to go near my club, and +the Temple was a place where I was accosted in every court, effusively +congratulated on the marvellous preservation of my stale spoilt life, +and invited right and left to spin my yarn over a quiet pipe! Well, +perhaps such invitations were not so common as they have grown in my +memory; nor must you confuse my then feelings on all these matters with +those which I entertain as I write. I have grown older, and, I hope, +something kindlier and wiser since then. Yet to this day I cannot blame +myself for abandoning my chambers and avoiding my club. + +For a temporary asylum I pitched upon a small, quiet, empty, private +hotel which I knew of in Charterhouse Square. Instantly the room next +mine became occupied. + +All the first night I imagined I heard voices talking about me in that +room next door. It was becoming a disease with me. Either I was being +dogged, watched, followed, day and night, indoors and out, or I was the +victim of a very ominous hallucination. That night I never closed an eye +nor lowered my light. In the morning I took a four-wheel cab and +drove straight to Harley Street; and, upon my soul, as I stood on the +specialist's door-step, I could have sworn I saw the occupant of the +room next mine dash by me in a hansom! + +"Ah!" said the specialist; "so you cannot sleep; you hear voices; +you fancy you are being followed in the street. You don't think these +fancies spring entirely from the imagination? Not entirely--just so. And +you keep looking behind you, as though somebody were at your elbow; and +you prefer to sit with your back close to the wall. Just so--just so. +Distressing symptoms, to be sure, but--but hardly to be wondered at in a +man who has come through your nervous strain." A keen professional light +glittered in his eyes. "And almost commonplace," he added, smiling, +"compared with the hallucinations you must have suffered from on that +hen-coop! Ah, my dear sir, the psychological interest of your case is +very great!" + +"It may be," said I, brusquely. "But I come to you to get that hen-coop +out of my head, not to be reminded of it. Everybody asks me about the +damned thing, and you follow everybody else. I wish it and I were at the +bottom of the sea together!" + +This speech had the effect of really interesting the doctor in my +present condition, which was indeed one of chronic irritation and +extreme excitability, alternating with fits of the very blackest +despair. Instead of offending my gentleman I had put him on his mettle, +and for half an hour he honored me with the most exhaustive inquisition +ever elicited from a medical man. His panacea was somewhat in the nature +of an anti-climax, but at least it had the merits of simplicity and +of common sense. A change of air--perfect quiet--say a cottage in the +country--not too near the sea. And he shook my hand kindly when I left. + +"Keep up your heart, my dear sir," said he. "Keep up your courage and +your heart." + +"My heart!" I cried. "It's at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean." + +He was the first to whom I had said as much. He was a stranger. What did +it matter? And, oh, it was so true--so true. + +Every day and all day I was thinking of my love; every hour and all +hours she was before me with her sunny hair and young, young face. Her +wistful eyes were gazing into mine continually. Their wistfulness I +had never realized at the time; but now I did; and I saw it for what it +seemed always to have been, the soft, sad, yearning look of one fated +to die young. So young--so young! And I might live to be an old man, +mourning her. + +That I should never love again I knew full well. This time there was no +mistake. I have implied, I believe, that it was for another woman I fled +originally to the diggings. Well, that one was still unmarried, and when +the papers were full of me she wrote me a letter which I now believe to +have been merely kind. At the time I was all uncharitableness; but words +of mine would fail to tell you how cold this letter left me; it was as a +candle lighted in the full blaze of the sun. + +With all my bitterness, however, you must not suppose that I had quite +lost the feelings which had inspired me at sunset on the lonely ocean, +while my mind still held good. I had been too near my Maker ever to lose +those feelings altogether. They were with me in the better moments of +these my worst days. I trusted His wisdom still. There was a reason for +everything; there were reasons for all this. I alone had been saved out +of all those souls who sailed from Melbourne in the Lady Jermyn. Why +should I have been the favored one; I with my broken heart and now +lonely life? Some great inscrutable reason there must be; at my worst +I did not deny that. But neither did I puzzle my sick brain with the +reason. I just waited for it to be revealed to me, if it were God's will +ever to reveal it. And that I conceive to be the one spirit in which a +man may contemplate, with equal sanity and reverence, the mysteries and +the miseries of his life. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. I FIND A FRIEND + + + +The night after I consulted the specialist I was quite determined to +sleep. I had laid in a bundle of the daily papers. No country cottage +was advertised to let but I knew of it by evening, and about all the +likely ones I had already written. The scheme occupied my thoughts. +Trout-fishing was a desideratum. I would take my rod and plenty of +books, would live simply and frugally, and it should make a new man of +me by Christmas. It was now October. I went to sleep thinking of autumn +tints against an autumn sunset. It must have been very early, certainly +not later than ten o'clock; the previous night I had not slept at all. + +Now, this private hotel of mine was a very old fashioned house, dark and +dingy all day long, with heavy old chandeliers and black old oak, and +dead flowers in broken flower-pots surrounding a grimy grass-plot in the +rear. On this latter my bedroom window looked; and never am I likely to +forget the vile music of the cats throughout my first long wakeful night +there. The second night they actually woke me; doubtless they had been +busy long enough, but it was all of a sudden that I heard them, and lay +listening for more, wide awake in an instant. My window had been very +softly opened, and the draught fanned my forehead as I held my breath. + +A faint light glimmered through a ground-glass pane over the door; and +was dimly reflected by the toilet mirror, in its usual place against the +window. This mirror I saw moved, and next moment I had bounded from bed. + +The mirror fell with a horrid clatter: the toilet-table followed it with +a worse: the thief had gone as he had come ere my toes halted aching +amid the debris. + +A useless little balcony--stone slab and iron railing--jutted out from +my window. I thought I saw a hand on the railing, another on the slab, +then both together on the lower level for one instant before they +disappeared. There was a dull yet springy thud on the grass below. Then +no more noise but the distant thunder of the traffic, and the one that +woke me, until the window next mine was thrown up. + +"What the devil's up?" + +The voice was rich, cheery, light-hearted, agreeable; all that my own +was not as I answered "Nothing!" for this was not the first time my +next-door neighbor had tried to scrape acquaintance with me. + +"But surely, sir, I heard the very dickens of a row?" + +"You may have done." + +"I was afraid some one had broken into your room!" + +"As a matter of fact," said I, put to shame by the undiminished +good-humor of my neighbor, "some one did; but he's gone now, so let him +be." + +"Gone? Not he! He's getting over that wall. After him--after him!" And +the head disappeared from the window next mine. + +I rushed into the corridor, and was just in time to intercept a +singularly handsome young fellow, at whom I had hardly taken the trouble +to look until now. He was in full evening dress, and his face was +radiant with the spirit of mischief and adventure. + +"For God's sake, sir," I whispered, "let this matter rest. I shall have +to come forward if you persist, and Heaven knows I have been before the +public quite enough!" + +His dark eyes questioned me an instant, then fell as though he would not +disguise that he recollected and understood. I liked him for his good +taste. I liked him for his tacit sympathy, and better still for the +amusing disappointment in his gallant, young face. + +"I am sorry to have robbed you of a pleasant chase," said I. "At one +time I should have been the first to join you. But, to tell you the +truth, I've had enough excitement lately to last me for my life." + +"I can believe that," he answered, with his fine eyes full upon me. +How strangely I had misjudged him! I saw no vulgar curiosity in his +flattering gaze, but rather that very sympathy of which I stood in need. +I offered him my hand. + +"It is very good of you to give in," I said. "No one else has heard a +thing, you see. I shall look for another opportunity of thanking you +to-morrow." + +"No, no!" cried he, "thanks be hanged, but--but, I say, if I promise +you not to bore you about things--won't you drink a glass of +brandy-and-water in my room before you turn in again?" + +Brandy-and-water being the very thing I needed, and this young man +pleasing me more and more, I said that I would join him with all my +heart, and returned to my room for my dressing-gown and slippers. To +find them, however, I had to light my candles, when the first thing +I saw was the havoc my marauder had left behind him. The mirror was +cracked across; the dressing-table had lost a leg; and both lay flat, +with my brushes and shaving-table, and the foolish toilet crockery which +no one uses (but I should have to replace) strewn upon the carpet. But +one thing I found that had not been there before: under the window lay +a formidable sheath-knife without its sheath. I picked it up with +something of a thrill, which did not lessen when I felt its edge. The +thing was diabolically sharp. I took it with me to show my neighbor, +whom I found giving his order to the boots; it seemed that it was barely +midnight, and that he had only just come in when the clatter took place +in my room. + +"Hillo!" he cried, when the man was gone, and I produced my trophy. +"Why, what the mischief have you got there?" + +"My caller's card," said I. "He left it behind him. Feel the edge." + +I have seldom seen a more indignant face than the one which my new +acquaintance bent over the weapon, as he held it to the light, and ran +his finger along the blade. He could have not frowned more heavily if he +had recognized the knife. + +"The villains!" he muttered. "The damned villains!" + +"Villains?" I queried. "Did you see more than one of them, then?" + +"Didn't you?" he asked quickly. "Yes, yes, to be sure! There was at +least one other beggar skulking down below." He stood looking at me, the +knife in his hand, though mine was held out for it. "Don't you think, +Mr. Cole, that it's our duty to hand this over to the police? I--I've +heard of other cases about these Inns of Court. There's evidently a gang +of them, and this knife might convict the lot; there's no saying; anyway +I think the police should have it. If you like I'll take it to Scotland +Yard myself, and hand it over without mentioning your name." + +"Oh, if you keep my name out of it," said I, "and say nothing about +it here in the hotel, you may do what you like, and welcome! It's the +proper course, no doubt; only I've had publicity enough, and would +sooner have felt that blade in my body than set my name going again in +the newspapers." + +"I understand," he said, with his well-bred sympathy, which never went +a shade too far; and he dropped the weapon into a drawer, as the boots +entered with the tray. In a minute he had brewed two steaming jorums of +spirits-and-water; as he handed me one, I feared he was going to drink +my health, or toast my luck; but no, he was the one man I had met who +seemed, as he said, to "understand." Nevertheless, he had his toast. + +"Here's confusion to the criminal classes in general," he cried; "but +death and damnation to the owners of that knife!" + +And we clinked tumblers across the little oval table in the middle of +the room. It was more of a sitting-room than mine; a bright fire was +burning in the grate, and my companion insisted on my sitting over it +in the arm-chair, while for himself he fetched the one from his bedside, +and drew up the table so that our glasses should be handy. He then +produced a handsome cigar-case admirably stocked, and we smoked and +sipped in the cosiest fashion, though without exchanging many words. + +You may imagine my pleasure in the society of a youth, equally charming +in looks, manners and address, who had not one word to say to me about +the Lady Jermyn or my hen-coop. It was unique. Yet such, I suppose, +was my native contrariety, that I felt I could have spoken of the +catastrophe to this very boy with less reluctance than to any other +creature whom I had encountered since my deliverance. He seemed so full +of silent sympathy: his consideration for my feelings was so marked and +yet so unobtrusive. I have called him a boy. I am apt to write as the +old man I have grown, though I do believe I felt older then than now. +In any case my young friend was some years my junior. I afterwards found +out that he was six-and-twenty. + +I have also called him handsome. He was the handsomest man that I have +ever met, had the frankest face, the finest eyes, the brightest smile. +Yet his bronzed forehead was low, and his mouth rather impudent and bold +than truly strong. And there was a touch of foppery about him, in the +enormous white tie and the much-cherished whiskers of the fifties, which +was only redeemed by that other touch of devilry that he had shown me +in the corridor. By the rich brown of his complexion, as well as by a +certain sort of swagger in his walk, I should have said that he was a +naval officer ashore, had he not told me who he was of his own accord. + +"By the way," he said, "I ought to give you my name. It's Rattray, +of one of the many Kirby Halls in this country. My one's down in +Lancashire." + +"I suppose there's no need to tell my name?" said I, less sadly, I +daresay, than I had ever yet alluded to the tragedy which I alone +survived. It was an unnecessary allusion, too, as a reference to the +foregoing conversation will show. + +"Well, no!" said he, in his frank fashion; "I can't honestly say there +is." + +We took a few puffs, he watching the fire, and I his firelit face. + +"It must seem strange to you to be sitting with the only man who lived +to tell the tale!" + +The egotism of this speech was not wholly gratuitous. I thought it did +seem strange to him: that a needless constraint was put upon him by +excessive consideration for my feelings. I desired to set him at his +ease as he had set me at mine. On the contrary, he seemed quite startled +by my remark. + +"It is strange," he said, with a shudder, followed by the biggest sip +of brandy-and-water he had taken yet. "It must have been +horrible--horrible!" he added to himself, his dark eyes staring into the +fire. + +"Ah!" said I, "it was even more horrible than you suppose or can ever +imagine." + +I was not thinking of myself, nor of my love, nor of any particular +incident of the fire that still went on burning in my brain. My tone was +doubtless confidential, but I was meditating no special confidence when +my companion drew one with his next words. These, however, came after a +pause, in which my eyes had fallen from his face, but in which I heard +him emptying his glass. + +"What do you mean?" he whispered. "That there were other +circumstances--things which haven't got into the papers?" + +"God knows there were," I answered, my face in my hands; and, my +grief brought home to me, there I sat with it in the presence of that +stranger, without compunction and without shame. + +He sprang up and paced the room. His tact made me realize my weakness, +and I was struggling to overcome it when he surprised me by suddenly +stopping and laying a rather tremulous hand upon my shoulder. + +"You--It wouldn't do you any good to speak of those circumstances, I +suppose?" he faltered. + +"No: not now: no good at all." + +"Forgive me," he said, resuming his walk. "I had no business--I felt so +sorry--I cannot tell you how I sympathize! And yet--I wonder if you will +always feel so?" + +"No saying how I shall feel when I am a man again," said I. "You see +what I am at present." And, pulling myself together, I rose to find my +new friend quite agitated in his turn. + +"I wish we had some more brandy," he sighed. "I'm afraid it's too late +to get any now." + +"And I'm glad of it," said I. "A man in my state ought not to look at +spirits, or he may never look past them again. Thank goodness, there are +other medicines. Only this morning I consulted the best man on nerves in +London. I wish I'd gone to him long ago." + +"Harley Street, was it?" + +"Yes." + +"Saw you on his doorstep, by Jove!" cried Rattray at once. "I was +driving over to Hampstead, and I thought it was you. Well, what's the +prescription?" + +In my satisfaction at finding that he had not been dogging me +intentionally (though I had forgotten the incident till he reminded me +of it), I answered his question with unusual fulness. + +"I should go abroad," said Rattray. "But then, I always am abroad; it's +only the other day I got back from South America, and I shall up anchor +again before this filthy English winter sets in." + +Was he a sailor after all, or only a well-to-do wanderer on the face of +the earth? He now mentioned that he was only in England for a few weeks, +to have a look at his estate, and so forth; after which he plunged into +more or less enthusiastic advocacy of this or that foreign resort, as +opposed to the English cottage upon which I told him I had set my heart. + +He was now, however, less spontaneous, I thought, than earlier in the +night. His voice had lost its hearty ring, and he seemed preoccupied, as +if talking of one matter while he thought upon another. Yet he would +not let me go; and presently he confirmed my suspicion, no less than my +first impression of his delightful frankness and cordiality, by candidly +telling me what was on his mind. + +"If you really want a cottage in the country," said he, "and the most +absolute peace and quiet to be got in this world, I know of the very +thing on my land in Lancashire. It would drive me mad in a week; but if +you really care for that sort of thing--" + +"An occupied cottage?" I interrupted. + +"Yes; a couple rent it from me, very decent people of the name of +Braithwaite. The man is out all day, and won't bother you when he's in; +he's not like other people, poor chap. But the woman 's all there, and +would do her best for you in a humble, simple, wholesome sort of way." + +"You think they would take me in?" + +"They have taken other men--artists as a rule." + +"Then it's a picturesque country?" + +"Oh, it's that if it's nothing else; but not a town for miles, mind you, +and hardly a village worthy the name." + +"Any fishing?" + +"Yes--trout--small but plenty of 'em--in a beck running close behind the +cottage." + +"Come," cried I, "this sounds delightful! Shall you be up there?" + +"Only for a day or two," was the reply. "I shan't trouble you, Mr. +Cole." + +"My dear sir, that wasn't my meaning at all. I'm only sorry I shall not +see something of you on your own heath. I can't thank you enough for +your kind suggestion. When do you suppose the Braithwaites could do with +me?" + +His charming smile rebuked my impatience. + +"We must first see whether they can do with you at all," said he. "I +sincerely hope they can; but this is their time of year for tourists, +though perhaps a little late. I'll tell you what I'll do. As a matter +of fact, I'm going down there to-morrow, and I've got to telegraph to my +place in any case to tell them when to meet me. I'll send the telegram +first thing, and I'll make them send one back to say whether there's +room in the cottage or not." + +I thanked him warmly, but asked if the cottage was close to Kirby Hall, +and whether this would not be giving a deal of trouble at the other end; +whereupon he mischievously misunderstood me a second time, saying the +cottage and the hall were not even in sight of each other, and I really +had no intrusion to fear, as he was a lonely bachelor like myself, +and would only be up there four or five days at the most. So I made my +appreciation of his society plainer than ever to him; for indeed I +had found a more refreshing pleasure in it already than I had hoped to +derive from mortal man again; and we parted, at three o'clock in the +morning, like old fast friends. + +"Only don't expect too much, my dear Mr. Cole," were his last words to +me. "My own place is as ancient and as tumble-down as most ruins that +you pay to see over. And I'm never there myself because--I tell you +frankly--I hate it like poison!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. A SMALL PRECAUTION + + +My delight in the society of this young Squire Rattray (as I soon was to +hear him styled) had been such as to make me almost forget the sinister +incident which had brought us together. When I returned to my room, +however, there were the open window and the litter on the floor to +remind me of what had happened earlier in the night. Yet I was less +disconcerted than you might suppose. A common housebreaker can have +few terrors for one who has braved those of mid-ocean single-handed; my +would-be visitor had no longer any for me; for it had not yet occurred +to me to connect him with the voices and the footsteps to which, indeed, +I had been unable to swear before the doctor. On the other hand, these +morbid imaginings (as I was far from unwilling to consider them) had +one and all deserted me in the sane, clean company of the capital young +fellow in the next room. + +I have confessed my condition up to the time of this queer meeting. +I have tried to bring young Rattray before you with some hint of his +freshness and his boyish charm; and though the sense of failure is heavy +upon me there, I who knew the man knew also that I must fail to do him +justice. Enough may have been said, however, to impart some faint idea +of what this youth was to me in the bitter and embittering anti-climax +of my life. Conventional figures spring to my pen, but every one of them +is true; he was flowers in spring, he was sunshine after rain, he was +rain following long months of drought. I slept admirably after all; +and I awoke to see the overturned toilet-table, and to thrill as I +remembered there was one fellow-creature with whom I could fraternize +without fear of a rude reopening of my every wound. + +I hurried my dressing in the hope of our breakfasting together. I +knocked at the next door, and, receiving no answer, even ventured +to enter, with the same idea. He was not there. He was not in the +coffee-room. He was not in the hotel. + +I broke my fast in disappointed solitude, and I hung about disconsolate +all the morning, looking wistfully for my new-made friend. Towards +mid-day he drove up in a cab which he kept waiting at the curb. + +"It's all right!" he cried out in his hearty way. "I sent my telegram +first thing, and I've had the answer at my club. The rooms are vacant, +and I'll see that Jane Braithwaite has all ready for you by to-morrow +night." + +I thanked him from my heart. "You seem in a hurry!" I added, as I +followed him up the stairs. + +"I am," said he. "It's a near thing for the train. I've just time to +stick in my things." + +"Then I'll stick in mine," said I impulsively, "and I'll come with you, +and doss down in any corner for the night." + +He stopped and turned on the stairs. + +"You mustn't do that," said he; "they won't have anything ready. I'm +going to make it my privilege to see that everything is as cosey as +possible when you arrive. I simply can't allow you to come to-day, Mr. +Cole!" He smiled, but I saw that he was in earnest, and of course I gave +in. + +"All right," said I; "then I must content myself with seeing you off at +the station." + +To my surprise his smile faded, and a flush of undisguised annoyance +made him, if anything, better-looking than ever. It brought out a +certain strength of mouth and jaw which I had not observed there +hitherto. It gave him an ugliness of expression which only emphasized +his perfection of feature. + +"You mustn't do that either," said he, shortly. "I have an appointment +at the station. I shall be talking business all the time." + +He was gone to his room, and I went to mine feeling duly snubbed; yet I +deserved it; for I had exhibited a characteristic (though not chronic) +want of taste, of which I am sometimes guilty to this day. Not to show +ill-feeling on the head of it, I nevertheless followed him down again +in four or five minutes. And I was rewarded by his brightest smile as he +grasped my hand. + +"Come to-morrow by the same train," said he, naming station, line, and +hour; "unless I telegraph, all will be ready and you shall be met. You +may rely on reasonable charges. As to the fishing, go up-stream--to the +right when you strike the beck--and you'll find a good pool or two. I +may have to go to Lancaster the day after to-morrow, but I shall give +you a call when I get back." + +With that we parted, as good friends as ever. I observed that my regret +at losing him was shared by the boots, who stood beside me on the steps +as his hansom rattled off. + +"I suppose Mr. Rattray stays here always when he comes to town?" said I. + +"No, sir," said the man, "we've never had him before, not in my time; +but I shouldn't mind if he came again." And he looked twice at the coin +in his hand before pocketing it with evident satisfaction. + +Lonely as I was, and wished to be, I think that I never felt my +loneliness as I did during the twenty-four hours which intervened +between Rattray's departure and my own. They dragged like wet days by +the sea, and the effect was as depressing. I have seldom been at such +a loss for something to do; and in my idleness I behaved like a child, +wishing my new friend back again, or myself on the railway with my new +friend, until I blushed for the beanstalk growth of my regard for him, +an utter stranger, and a younger man. I am less ashamed of it now: he +had come into my dark life like a lamp, and his going left a darkness +deeper than before. + +In my dejection I took a new view of the night's outrage. It was no +common burglar's work, for what had I worth stealing? It was the work of +my unseen enemies, who dogged me in the street; they alone knew why; the +doctor had called these hallucinations, and I had forced myself to agree +with the doctor; but I could not deceive myself in my present mood. +I remembered the steps, the steps--the stopping when I stopped--the +drawing away in the crowded streets---the closing up in quieter places. +Why had I never looked round? Why? Because till to-day I had thought it +mere vulgar curiosity; because a few had bored me, I had imagined the +many at my heels; but now I knew--I knew! It was the few again: a few +who hated me even unto death. + +The idea took such a hold upon me that I did not trouble my head with +reasons and motives. Certain persons had designs upon my life; that was +enough for me. On the whole, the thought was stimulating; it set a new +value on existence, and it roused a certain amount of spirit even in me. +I would give the fellows another chance before I left town. They should +follow me once more, and this time to some purpose. Last night they had +left a knife on me; to-night I would have a keepsake ready for them. + +Hitherto I had gone unarmed since my landing, which, perhaps, was no +more than my duty as a civilized citizen. On Black Hill Flats, however, +I had formed another habit, of which I should never have broken myself +so easily, but for the fact that all the firearms I ever had were +reddening and rotting at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. I now went +out and bought me such a one as I had never possessed before. + +The revolver was then in its infancy; but it did exist; and by dusk +I was owner of as fine a specimen as could be procured in the city of +London. It had but five chambers, but the barrel was ten inches long; +one had to cap it, and to put in the powder and the wadded bullet +separately; but the last-named would have killed an elephant. The oak +case that I bought with it cumbers my desk as I write, and, shut, +you would think that it had never contained anything more lethal than +fruit-knives. I open it, and there are the green-baize compartments, one +with a box of percussion caps, still apparently full, another that could +not contain many more wadded-bullets, and a third with a powder-horn +which can never have been much lighter. Within the lid is a label +bearing the makers' names; the gentlemen themselves are unknown to me, +even if they are still alive; nevertheless, after five-and-forty years, +let me dip my pen to Messrs. Deane, Adams and Deane! + +That night I left this case in my room, locked, and the key in my +waistcoat pocket; in the right-hand side-pocket of my overcoat I carried +my Deane and Adams, loaded in every chamber; also my right hand, as +innocently as you could wish. And just that night I was not followed! I +walked across Regent's Park, and I dawdled on Primrose Hill, without +the least result. Down I turned into the Avenue Road, and presently was +strolling between green fields towards Finchley. The moon was up, but +nicely shaded by a thin coating of clouds which extended across the sky: +it was an ideal night for it. It was also my last night in town, and I +did want to give the beggars their last chance. But they did not even +attempt to avail themselves of it: never once did they follow me: my +ears were in too good training to make any mistake. And the reason only +dawned on me as I drove back disappointed: they had followed me already +to the gunsmith's! + +Convinced of this, I entertained but little hope of another midnight +visitor. Nevertheless, I put my light out early, and sat a long time +peeping through my blind; but only an inevitable Tom, with back hunched +up and tail erect, broke the moonlit profile of the back-garden wall; +and once more that disreputable music (which none the less had saved my +life) was the only near sound all night. + +I felt very reluctant to pack Deane and Adams away in his case next +morning, and the case in my portmanteau, where I could not get at it in +case my unknown friends took it into their heads to accompany me out of +town. In the hope that they would, I kept him loaded, and in the same +overcoat pocket, until late in the afternoon, when, being very near my +northern destination, and having the compartment to myself, I locked the +toy away with considerable remorse for the price I had paid for it. All +down the line I had kept an eye for suspicious characters with an eye +upon me; but even my self-consciousness failed to discover one; and I +reached my haven of peace, and of fresh fell air, feeling, I suppose, +much like any other fool who has spent his money upon a white elephant. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. MY CONVALESCENT HOME + + +The man Braithwaite met me at the station with a spring cart. The very +porters seemed to expect me, and my luggage was in the cart before I +had given up my ticket. Nor had we started when I first noticed that +Braithwaite did not speak when I spoke to him. On the way, however, a +more flagrant instance recalled young Rattray's remark, that the man was +"not like other people." I had imagined it to refer to a mental, not +a physical, defect; whereas it was clear to me now that my prospective +landlord was stone-deaf, and I presently discovered him to be dumb as +well. Thereafter I studied him with some attention during our drive of +four or five miles. I called to mind the theory that an innate physical +deficiency is seldom without its moral counterpart, and I wondered how +far this would apply to the deaf-mute at my side, who was ill-grown, +wizened, and puny into the bargain. The brow-beaten face of him was +certainly forbidding, and he thrashed his horse up the hills in a +dogged, vindictive, thorough-going way which at length made me jump +out and climb one of them on foot. It was the only form of protest that +occurred to me. + +The evening was damp and thick. It melted into night as we drove. +I could form no impression of the country, but this seemed desolate +enough. I believe we met no living soul on the high road which we +followed for the first three miles or more. At length we turned into a +narrow lane, with a stiff stone wall on either hand, and this eventually +led us past the lights of what appeared to be a large farm; it was +really a small hamlet; and now we were nearing our destination. Gates +had to be opened, and my poor driver breathed hard from the continual +getting down and up. In the end a long and heavy cart-track brought us +to the loneliest light that I have ever seen. It shone on the side of a +hill--in the heart of an open wilderness--as solitary as a beacon-light +at sea. It was the light of the cottage which was to be my temporary +home. + +A very tall, gaunt woman stood in the doorway against the inner glow. +She advanced with a loose, long stride, and invited me to enter in a +voice harsh (I took it) from disuse. I was warming myself before the +kitchen fire when she came in carrying my heaviest box as though it had +nothing in it. I ran to take it from her, for the box was full of books, +but she shook her head, and was on the stairs with it before I could +intercept her. + +I conceive that very few men are attracted by abnormal strength in a +woman; we cannot help it; and yet it was not her strength which first +repelled me in Mrs. Braithwaite. It was a combination of attributes. She +had a poll of very dirty and untidy red hair; her eyes were set close +together; she had the jowl of the traditional prize-fighter. But far +more disagreeable than any single feature was the woman's expression, +or rather the expression which I caught her assuming naturally, and +banishing with an effort for my benefit. To me she was strenuously +civil in her uncouth way. But I saw her give her husband one look, as +he staggered in with my comparatively light portmanteau, which she +instantly snatched out of his feeble arms. I saw this look again before +the evening was out, and it was such a one as Braithwaite himself had +fixed upon his horse as he flogged it up the hills. + +I began to wonder how the young squire had found it in his conscience to +recommend such a pair. I wondered less when the woman finally ushered +me upstairs to my rooms. These were small and rugged, but eminently snug +and clean. In each a good fire blazed cheerfully; my portmanteau was +already unstrapped, the table in the sitting-room already laid; and I +could not help looking twice at the silver and the glass, so bright was +their condition, so good their quality. Mrs. Braithwaite watched me from +the door. + +"I doubt you'll be thinking them's our own," said she. "I wish they +were; t'squire sent 'em in this afternoon." + +"For my use?" + +"Ay; I doubt he thought what we had ourselves wasn't good enough. An' +it's him 'at sent t' armchair, t'bed-linen, t'bath, an' that there +lookin'-glass an' all." + +She had followed me into the bedroom, where I looked with redoubled +interest at each object as she mentioned it, and it was in the glass--a +masqueline shaving-glass--that I caught my second glimpse of my +landlady's evil expression--levelled this time at myself. + +I instantly turned round and told her that I thought it very kind of Mr. +Rattray, but that, for my part, I was not a luxurious man, and that I +felt rather sorry the matter had not been left entirely in her hands. +She retired seemingly mollified, and she took my sympathy with her, +though I was none the less pleased and cheered by my new friend's zeal +for my comfort; there were even flowers on my table, without a doubt +from Kirby Hall. + +And in another matter the squire had not misled me: the woman was an +excellent plain cook. I expected ham and eggs. Sure enough, this was my +dish, but done to a turn. The eggs were new and all unbroken, the ham +so lean and yet so tender, that I would not have exchanged my humble, +hearty meal for the best dinner served that night in London. It made a +new man of me, after my long journey and my cold, damp drive. I was for +chatting with Mrs. Braithwaite when she came up to clear away. I +thought she might be glad to talk after the life she must lead with her +afflicted husband, but it seemed to have had the opposite effect on her. +All I elicited was an ambiguous statement as to the distance between the +cottage and the hall; it was "not so far." And so she left me to my pipe +and to my best night yet, in the stillest spot I have ever slept in +on dry land; one heard nothing but the bubble of a beck; and it seemed +very, very far away. + +A fine, bright morning showed me my new surroundings in their true +colors; even in the sunshine these were not very gay. But gayety was the +last thing I wanted. Peace and quiet were my whole desire, and both were +here, set in scenery at once lovely to the eye and bracing to the soul. + +From the cottage doorstep one looked upon a perfect panorama of +healthy, open English country. Purple hills hemmed in a broad, green, +undulating plateau, scored across and across by the stone walls of the +north, and all dappled with the shadows of rolling leaden clouds with +silver fringes. Miles away a church spire stuck like a spike out of the +hollow, and the smoke of a village dimmed the trees behind. No nearer +habitation could I see. I have mentioned a hamlet which we passed in the +spring-cart. It lay hidden behind some hillocks to the left. My landlady +told me it was better than half a mile away, and "nothing when you get +there; no shop; no post-office; not even a public--house." + +I inquired in which direction lay the hall. She pointed to the nearest +trees, a small forest of stunted oaks, which shut in the view to the +right, after quarter of a mile of a bare and rugged valley. Through this +valley twisted the beck which I had heard faintly in the night. It ran +through the oak plantation and so to the sea, some two or three miles +further on, said my landlady; but nobody would have thought it was so +near. + +"T'squire was to be away to-day," observed the woman, with the broad +vowel sound which I shall not attempt to reproduce in print. "He was +going to Lancaster, I believe." + +"So I understood," said I. "I didn't think of troubling him, if that's +what you mean. I'm going to take his advice and fish the beck." + +And I proceeded to do so after a hearty early dinner: the keen, chill +air was doing me good already: the "perfect quiet" was finding its +way into my soul. I blessed my specialist, I blessed Squire Rattray, I +blessed the very villains who had brought us within each other's ken; +and nowhere was my thanksgiving more fervent than in the deep cleft +threaded by the beck; for here the shrewd yet gentle wind passed +completely overhead, and the silence was purged of oppression by the +ceaseless symphony of clear water running over clean stones. + +But it was no day for fishing, and no place for the fly, though I went +through the form of throwing one for several hours. Here the stream +merely rinsed its bed, there it stood so still, in pools of liquid +amber, that, when the sun shone, the very pebbles showed their shadows +in the deepest places. Of course I caught nothing; but, towards the +close of the gold-brown afternoon, I made yet another new acquaintance, +in the person of a little old clergyman who attacked me pleasantly from +the rear. + +"Bad day for fishing, sir," croaked the cheery voice which first +informed me of his presence. "Ah, I knew it must be a stranger," he +cried as I turned and he hopped down to my side with the activity of a +much younger man. + +"Yes," I said, "I only came down from London yesterday. I find the spot +so delightful that I haven't bothered much about the sport. Still, I've +had about enough of it now." And I prepared to take my rod to pieces. + +"Spot and sport!" laughed the old gentleman. "Didn't mean it for a +pun, I hope? Never could endure puns! So you came down yesterday, young +gentleman, did you? And where may you be staying?" + +I described the position of my cottage without the slightest hesitation; +for this parson did not scare me; except in appearance he had so +little in common with his type as I knew it. He had, however, about the +shrewdest pair of eyes that I have ever seen, and my answer only served +to intensify their open scrutiny. + +"How on earth did you come to hear of a God-forsaken place like this?" +said he, making use, I thought, of a somewhat stronger expression than +quite became his cloth. + +"Squire Rattray told me of it," said I. + +"Ha! So you're a friend of his, are you?" And his eyes went through and +through me like knitting-needles through a ball of wool. + +"I could hardly call myself that," said I. "But Mr. Rattray has been +very kind to me." + +"Meet him in town?" + +I said I had, but I said it with some coolness, for his tone had dropped +into the confidential, and I disliked it as much as this string of +questions from a stranger. + +"Long ago, sir?" he pursued. + +"No, sir; not long ago," I retorted. + +"May I ask your name?" said he. + +"You may ask what you like," I cried, with a final reversal of all my +first impressions of this impertinent old fellow; "but I'm hanged if +I tell it you! I am here for rest and quiet, sir. I don't ask you your +name. I can't for the life of me see what right you have to ask me mine, +or to question me at all, for that matter." + +He favored me with a brief glance of extraordinary suspicion. It faded +away in mere surprise, and, next instant, my elderly and reverend friend +was causing me some compunction by coloring like a boy. + +"You may think my curiosity mere impertinence, sir," said he; "you would +think otherwise if you knew as much as I do of Squire Rattray's friends, +and how little you resemble the generality of them. You might even feel +some sympathy for one of the neighboring clergy, to whom this godless +young man has been for years as a thorn in their side." + +He spoke so gravely, and what he said was so easy to believe, that I +could not but apologize for my hasty words. + +"Don't name it, sir," said the clergyman; "you had a perfect right to +resent my questions, and I enjoy meeting young men of spirit; but not +when it's an evil spirit, such as, I fear, possesses your friend! I do +assure you, sir, that the best thing I have heard of him for years is +the very little that you have told me. As a rule, to hear of him at all +in this part of the world, is to wish that we had not heard. I see him +coming, however, and shall detain you no longer, for I don't deny that +there is no love lost between us." + +I looked round, and there was Rattray on the top of the bank, a long +way to the left, coming towards me with a waving hat. An extraordinary +ejaculation brought me to the right-about next instant. + +The old clergyman had slipped on a stone in mid-stream, and, as he +dragged a dripping leg up the opposite bank, he had sworn an oath worthy +of the "godless young man" who had put him to flight, and on whose +demerits he had descanted with so much eloquence and indignation. + + + + +CHAPTER X. WINE AND WEAKNESS + + +"Sporting old parson who knows how to swear?" laughed Rattray. "Never saw +him in my life before; wondered who the deuce he was." + +"Really?" said I. "He professed to know something of you." + +"Against me, you mean? My dear Cole, don't trouble to perjure yourself. +I don't mind, believe me. They're easily shocked, these country clergy, +and no doubt I'm a bugbear to 'em. Yet, I could have sworn I'd never +seen this one before. Let's have another look." + +We were walking away together. We turned on the top of the bank. And +there the old clergyman was planted on the moorside, and watching us +intently from under his hollowed hands. + +"Well, I'm hanged!" exclaimed Rattray, as the hands fell and their +owner beat a hasty retreat. My companion said no more; indeed, for some +minutes we pursued our way in silence. And I thought that it was with an +effort that he broke into sudden inquiries concerning my journey and my +comfort at the cottage. + +This gave me an opportunity of thanking him for his little attentions. +"It was awfully good of you," said I, taking his arm as though I had +known him all my life; nor do I think there was another living man with +whom I would have linked arms at that time. + +"Good?" cried he. "Nonsense, my dear sir! I'm only afraid you find +it devilish rough. But, at all events, you're coming to dine with me +to-night." + +"Am I?" I asked, smiling. + +"Rather!" said he. "My time here is short enough. I don't lose sight of +you again between this and midnight." + +"It's most awfully good of you," said I again. + +"Wait till you see! You'll find it rough enough at my place; all my +retainers are out for the day at a local show." + +"Then I certainly shall not give you the trouble." + +He interrupted me with his jovial laugh. + +"My good fellow," he cried, "that's the fun of it! How do you suppose +I've been spending the day? Told you I was going to Lancaster, did I? +Well, I've been cooking our dinner instead--laying the table--getting +up the wines--never had such a joke! Give you my word, I almost forgot I +was in the wilderness!" + +"So you're quite alone, are you?" + +"Yes; as much so as that other beggar who was monarch of all he +surveyed, his right there was none to dispute, from the what-is-it down +to the glade--" + +"I'll come," said I, as we reached the cottage. "Only first you must let +me make myself decent." + +"You're decent enough!" + +"My boots are wet; my hands--" + +"All serene! I'll give you five minutes." + +And I left him outside, flourishing a handsome watch, while, on my way +upstairs, I paused to tell Mrs. Braithwaite that I was dining at the +hall. She was busy cooking, and I felt prepared for her unpleasant +expression; but she showed no annoyance at my news. I formed the +impression that it was no news to her. And next minute I heard a +whispering below; it was unmistakable in that silent cottage, where not +a word had reached me yet, save in conversation to which I was myself a +party. + +I looked out of window. Rattray I could no longer see. And I confess +that I felt both puzzled and annoyed until we walked away together, when +it was his arm which was immediately thrust through mine. + +"A good soul, Jane," said he; "though she made an idiotic marriage, and +leads a life which might spoil the temper of an archangel. She was my +nurse when I was a youngster, Cole, and we never meet without a yarn." +Which seemed natural enough; still I failed to perceive why they need +yarn in whispers. + +Kirby Hall proved startlingly near at hand. We descended the bare +valley to the right, we crossed the beck upon a plank, were in the +oak-plantation about a minute, and there was the hall upon the farther +side. + +And a queer old place it seemed, half farm, half feudal castle: fowls +strutting at large about the back premises (which we were compelled to +skirt), and then a front door of ponderous oak, deep-set between walls +fully six feet thick, and studded all over with wooden pegs. The facade, +indeed, was wholly grim, with a castellated tower at one end, and a +number of narrow, sunken windows looking askance on the wreck and +ruin of a once prim, old-fashioned, high-walled garden. I thought that +Rattray might have shown more respect for the house of his ancestors. +It put me in mind of a neglected grave. And yet I could forgive a bright +young fellow for never coming near so desolate a domain. + +We dined delightfully in a large and lofty hall, formerly used (said +Rattray) as a court-room. The old judgment seat stood back against the +wall, and our table was the one at which the justices had been wont to +sit. Then the chamber had been low-ceiled; now it ran to the roof, and +we ate our dinner beneath a square of fading autumn sky, with I wondered +how many ghosts looking down on us from the oaken gallery! I was +interested, impressed, awed not a little, and yet all in a way which +afforded my mind the most welcome distraction from itself and from the +past. To Rattray, on the other hand, it was rather sadly plain that the +place was both a burden and a bore; in fact he vowed it was the dampest +and the dullest old ruin under the sun, and that he would sell it +to-morrow if he could find a lunatic to buy. His want of sentiment +struck me as his one deplorable trait. Yet even this displayed his +characteristic merit of frankness. Nor was it at all unpleasant to hear +his merry, boyish laughter ringing round hall and gallery, ere it died +away against a dozen closed doors. + +And there were other elements of good cheer: a log fire blazing heartily +in the old dog-grate, casting a glow over the stone flags, a reassuring +flicker into the darkest corner: cold viands of the very best: and the +finest old Madeira that has ever passed my lips. + +Now, all my life I have been a "moderate drinker" in the most literal +sense of that slightly elastic term. But at the sad time of which I +am trying to write, I was almost an abstainer, from the fear, the +temptation--of seeking oblivion in strong waters. To give way then was +to go on giving way. I realized the danger, and I took stern measures. +Not stern enough, however; for what I did not realize was my weak and +nervous state, in which a glass would have the same effect on me as +three or four upon a healthy man. + +Heaven knows how much or how little I took that evening! I can swear +it was the smaller half of either bottle--and the second we never +finished--but the amount matters nothing. Even me it did not make +grossly tipsy. But it warmed my blood, it cheered my heart, it excited +my brain, and--it loosened my tongue. It set me talking with a freedom +of which I should have been incapable in my normal moments, on a subject +whereof I had never before spoken of my own free will. And yet the will +to--speak--to my present companion--was no novelty. I had felt it at our +first meeting in the private hotel. His tact, his sympathy, his handsome +face, his personal charm, his frank friendliness, had one and all +tempted me to bore this complete stranger with unsolicited confidences +for which an inquisitive relative might have angled in vain. And the +temptation was the stronger because I knew in my heart that I should +not bore the young squire at all; that he was anxious enough to hear my +story from my own lips, but too good a gentleman intentionally to +betray such anxiety. Vanity was also in the impulse. A vulgar newspaper +prominence had been my final (and very genuine) tribulation; but to +please and to interest one so pleasing and so interesting to me, was +another and a subtler thing. And then there was his sympathy--shall I +add his admiration?--for my reward. + +I do not pretend that I argued thus deliberately in my heated and +excited brain. I merely hold that all these small reasons and motives +were there, fused and exaggerated by the liquor which was there as well. +Nor can I say positively that Rattray put no leading questions; only +that I remember none which had that sound; and that, once started, I am +afraid I needed only too little encouragement to run on and on. + +Well, I was set going before we got up from the table. I continued in +an armchair that my host dragged from a little book-lined room adjoining +the hall. I finished on my legs, my back to the fire, my hands beating +wildly together. I had told my dear Rattray of my own accord more than +living man had extracted from me yet. He interrupted me very little; +never once until I came to the murderous attack by Santos on the drunken +steward. + +"The brute!" cried Rattray. "The cowardly, cruel, foreign devil! And you +never let out one word of that!" + +"What was the good?" said I. "They are all gone now--all gone to their +account. Every man of us was a brute at the last. There was nothing to +be gained by telling the public that." + +He let me go on until I came to another point which I had hitherto kept +to myself: the condition of the dead mate's fingers: the cries that the +sight of them had recalled. + +"That Portuguese villain again!" cried my companion, fairly leaping from +the chair which I had left and he had taken. "It was the work of the +same cane that killed the steward. Don't tell me an Englishman would +have done it; and yet you said nothing about that either!" + +It was my first glimpse of this side of my young host's character. Nor +did I admire him the less, in his spirited indignation, because much of +this was clearly against myself. His eyes flashed. His face was white. I +suddenly found myself the cooler man of the two. + +"My dear fellow, do consider!" said I. "What possible end could have +been served by my stating what I couldn't prove against a man who +could never be brought to book in this world? Santos was punished as he +deserved; his punishment was death, and there's an end on't." + +"You might be right," said Rattray, "but it makes my blood boil to hear +such a story. Forgive me if I have spoken strongly;" and he paced his +hall for a little in an agitation which made me like him better and +better. "The cold-blooded villain!" he kept muttering; "the infernal, +foreign, blood-thirsty rascal! Perhaps you were right; it couldn't have +done any good, I know; but--I only wish he'd lived for us to hang him, +Cole! Why, a beast like that is capable of anything: I wonder if +you've told me the worst even now?" And he stood before me, with candid +suspicion in his fine, frank eyes. + +"What makes you say that?" said I, rather nettled. + +"I shan't tell you if it's going to rile you, old fellow," was his reply. +And with it reappeared the charming youth whom I found it impossible +to resist. "Heaven knows you have had enough to worry you!" he added, in +his kindly, sympathetic voice. + +"So much," said I, "that you cannot add to it, my dear Rattray. Now, +then! Why do you think there was something worse?" + +"You hinted as much in town: rightly or wrongly I gathered there was +something you would never speak about to living man." + +I turned from him with a groan. + +"Ah! but that had nothing to do with Santos." + +"Are you sure?" he cried. + +"No," I murmured; "it had something to do with him, in a sense; but +don't ask me any more." And I leaned my forehead on the high oak +mantel-piece, and groaned again. + +His hand was upon my shoulder. + +"Do tell me," he urged. I was silent. He pressed me further. In my +fancy, both hand and voice shook with his sympathy. + +"He had a step-daughter," said I at last. + +"Yes? Yes?" + +"I loved her. That was all." + +His hand dropped from my shoulder. I remained standing, stooping, +thinking only of her whom I had lost for ever. The silence was intense. +I could hear the wind sighing in the oaks without, the logs burning +softly away at my feet And so we stood until the voice of Rattray +recalled me from the deck of the Lady Jermyn and my lost love's side. + +"So that was all!" + +I turned and met a face I could not read. + +"Was it not enough?" cried I. "What more would you have?" + +"I expected some more-foul play!" + +"Ah!" I exclaimed bitterly. "So that was all that interested you! No, +there was no more foul play that I know of; and if there was, I don't +care. Nothing matters to me but one thing. Now that you know what that +is, I hope you're satisfied." + +It was no way to speak to one's host. Yet I felt that he had pressed me +unduly. I hated myself for my final confidence, and his want of sympathy +made me hate him too. In my weakness, however, I was the natural prey +of violent extremes. His hand flew out to me. He was about to speak. +A moment more and I had doubtless forgiven him. But another sound +came instead and made the pair of us start and stare. It was the soft +shutting of some upstairs door. + +"I thought we had the house to ourselves?" cried I, my miserable nerves +on edge in an instant. + +"So did I," he answered, very pale. "My servants must have come back. By +the Lord Harry, they shall hear of this!" + +He sprang to a door, I heard his feet clattering up some stone stairs, +and in a trice he was running along the gallery overhead; in another +I heard him railing behind some upper door that he had flung open and +banged behind him; then his voice dropped, and finally died away. I was +left some minutes in the oppressively silent hall, shaken, startled, +ashamed of my garrulity, aching to get away. When he returned it was by +another of the many closed doors, and he found me awaiting him, hat in +hand. He was wearing his happiest look until he saw my hat. + +"Not going?" he cried. "My dear Cole, I can't apologize sufficiently for +my abrupt desertion of you, much less for the cause. It was my man, +just come in from the show, and gone up the back way. I accused him of +listening to our conversation. Of course he denies it; but it really +doesn't matter, as I'm sorry to say he's much too 'fresh' (as they call +it down here) to remember anything to-morrow morning. I let him have it, +I can tell you. Varlet! Caitiff! But if you bolt off on the head of it, +I shall go back and sack him into the bargain!" + +I assured him I had my own reasons for wishing to retire early. He could +have no conception of my weakness, my low and nervous condition of +body and mind; much as I had enjoyed myself, he must really let me go. +Another glass of wine, then? Just one more? No, I had drunk too much +already. I was in no state to stand it. And I held out my hand with +decision. + +Instead of taking it he looked at me very hard. + +"The place doesn't suit you," said he. "I see it doesn't, and I'm +devilish sorry! Take my advice and try something milder; now do, +to-morrow; for I should never forgive myself if it made you worse +instead of better; and the air is too strong for lots of people." + +I was neither too ill nor too vexed to laugh outright in his face. + +"It's not the air," said I; "it's that splendid old Madeira of yours, +that was too strong for me, if you like! No, no, Rattray, you don't get +rid of me so cheaply-much as you seem to want to!" + +"I was only thinking of you," he rejoined, with a touch of pique that +convinced me of his sincerity. "Of course I want you to stop, though +I shan't be here many days; but I feel responsible for you, Cole, +and that's the fact. Think you can find your way?" he continued, +accompanying me to the gate, a postern in the high garden wall. "Hadn't +you better have a lantern?" + +No; it was unnecessary. I could see splendidly, had the bump of locality +and as many more lies as would come to my tongue. I was indeed burning +to be gone. + +A moment later I feared that I had shown this too plainly. For his final +handshake was hearty enough to send me away something ashamed of +my precipitancy, and with a further sense of having shown him +small gratitude for his kindly anxiety on my behalf. I would behave +differently to-morrow. Meanwhile I had new regrets. + +At first it was comparatively easy to see, for the lights of the house +shone faintly among the nearer oaks. But the moon was hidden behind +heavy clouds, and I soon found myself at a loss in a terribly dark zone +of timber. Already I had left the path. I felt in my pocket for matches. +I had none. + +My head was now clear enough, only deservedly heavy. I was still +quarrelling with myself for my indiscretions and my incivilities, one +and all the result of his wine and my weakness, and this new predicament +(another and yet more vulgar result) was the final mortification. I +swore aloud. I simply could not see a foot in front of my face. Once I +proved it by running my head hard against a branch. I was hopelessly and +ridiculously lost within a hundred yards of the hall! + +Some minutes I floundered, ashamed to go back, unable to proceed for +the trees and the darkness. I heard the beck running over its stones. I +could still see an occasional glimmer from the windows I had left. But +the light was now on this side, now on that; the running water chuckled +in one ear after the other; there was nothing for it but to return in +all humility for the lantern which I had been so foolish as to refuse. + +And as I resigned myself to this imperative though inglorious course, my +heart warmed once more to the jovial young squire. He would laugh, but +not unkindly, at my grotesque dilemma; at the thought of his laughter I +began to smile myself. If he gave me another chance I would smoke that +cigar with him before starting home afresh, and remove, from my own +mind no less than from his, all ill impressions. After all it was not +his fault that I had taken too much of his wine; but a far worse offence +was to be sulky in one's cups. I would show him that I was myself again +in all respects. I have admitted that I was temporarily, at all events, +a creature of extreme moods. It was in this one that I retraced my steps +towards the lights, and at length let myself into the garden by the +postern at which I had shaken Rattray's hand not ten minutes before. + +Taking heart of grace, I stepped up jauntily to the porch. The weeds +muffled my steps. I myself had never thought of doing so, when all at +once I halted in a vague terror. Through the deep lattice windows I +had seen into the lighted hall. And Rattray was once more seated at his +table, a little company of men around him. + +I crept nearer, and my heart stopped. Was I delirious, or raving mad +with wine? Or had the sea given up its dead? + + + + +CHAPTER XI. I LIVE AGAIN + + +Squire Rattray, as I say, was seated at the head of his table, where +the broken meats still lay as he and I had left them; his fingers, I +remember, were playing with a crust, and his eyes fixed upon a distant +door, as he leant back in his chair. Behind him hovered the nigger of +the Lady Jermyn, whom I had been the slower to recognize, had not her +skipper sat facing me on the squire's right. Yes, there was Captain +Harris in the flesh, eating heartily between great gulps of wine, +instead of feeding the fishes as all the world supposed. And nearer +still, nearer me than any, with his back to my window but his chair +slued round a little, so that he also could see that door, and I his +profile, sat Joaquin Santos with his cigarette! + +None spoke; all seemed waiting; and all were silent but the captain, +whose vulgar champing reached me through the crazy lattice, as I stood +spellbound and petrified without. + +They say that a drowning man lives his life again before the last; but +my own fight with the sea provided me with no such moments of vivid and +rapid retrospect as those during which I stood breathless outside the +lighted windows of Kirby Hall. I landed again. I was dogged day and +night. I set it down to nerves and notoriety; but took refuge in a +private hotel. One followed me, engaged the next room, set a watch on +all my movements; another came in by the window to murder me in my +bed; no party to that, the first one nevertheless turned the outrage to +account, wormed himself into my friendship on the strength of it, and +lured me hither, an easy prey. And here was the gang of them, to meet +me! No wonder Rattray had not let me see him off at the station; no +wonder I had not been followed that night. Every link I saw in its +right light instantly. Only the motive remained obscure. Suspicious +circumstances swarmed upon my slow perception: how innocent I had been! +Less innocent, however, than wilfully and wholly reckless: what had it +mattered with whom I made friends? What had anything mattered to me? +What did anything matter-- + +I thought my heart had snapped! + +Why were they watching that door, Joaquin Santos and the young squire? +Whom did they await? I knew! Oh, I knew! My heart leaped, my blood +danced, my eyes lay in wait with theirs. Everything began to matter +once more. It was as though the machinery of my soul, long stopped, had +suddenly been set in motion; it was as though I was born again. + +How long we seemed to wait I need not say. It cannot have been many +moments in reality, for Santos was blowing his rings of smoke in the +direction of the door, and the first that I noticed were but dissolving +when it opened--and the best was true! One instant I saw her very +clearly, in the light of a candle which she carried in its silver stick; +then a mist blinded me, and I fell on my knees in the rank bed into +which I had stepped, to give such thanks to the Almighty as this heart +has never felt before or since. And I remained kneeling; for now my face +was on a level with the sill; and when my eyes could see again, there +stood my darling before them in the room. + +Like a queen she stood, in the very travelling cloak in which I had seen +her last; it was tattered now, but she held it close about her as though +a shrewd wind bit her to the core. Her sweet face was all peeked and +pale in the candle-light: she who had been a child was come to womanhood +in a few weeks. But a new spirit flashed in her dear eyes, a new +strength hardened her young lips. She stood as an angel brought to book +by devils; and so noble was her calm defiance, so serene her scorn, +that, as I watched and listened; all present fear for her passed out of +my heart. + +The first sound was the hasty rising of young Rattray; he was at Eva's +side next instant, essaying to lead her to his chair, with a flush which +deepened as she repulsed him coldly. + +"You have sent for me, and I have come," said she. "But I prefer not to +sit down in your presence; and what you have to say, you will be good +enough to say as quickly as possible, that I may go again before I +am--stifled!" + +It was her one hot word; aimed at them all, it seemed to me to fall like +a lash on Rattray's cheek, bringing the blood to it like lightning. But +it was Santos who snatched the cigarette from his mouth, and opened upon +the defenceless girl in a torrent of Portuguese, yellow with rage, and a +very windmill of lean arms and brown hands in the terrifying rapidity of +his gesticulations. They did not terrify Eva Denison. When Rattray took +a step towards the speaker, with flashing eyes, it was some word from +Eva that checked him; when Santos was done, it was to Rattray that she +turned with her answer. + +"He calls me a liar for telling you that Mr. Cole knew all," said she, +thrilling me with my own name. "Don't you say anything," she added, as +the young man turned on Santos with a scowl; "you are one as wicked as +the other, but there was a time when I thought differently of you: his +character I have always known. Of the two evils, I prefer to speak to +you." + +Rattray bowed, humbly enough, I thought; but my darling's nostrils only +curled the more. + +"He calls me a liar," she continued; "so may you all. Since you have +found it out, I admit it freely and without shame; one must be false in +the hands of false fiends like all of you. Weakness is nothing to you; +helplessness is nothing; you must be met with your own weapons, and so I +lied in my sore extremity to gain the one miserable advantage within my +reach. He says you found me out by making friends with Mr. Cole. He +says that Mr. Cole has been dining with you in this very room, this +very night. You still tell the truth sometimes; has that man--that +demon--told it for once?" + +"It is perfectly true," said Rattray in a low voice. + +"And poor Mr. Cole told you that he knew nothing of your villany?" + +"I found out that he knew absolutely nothing--after first thinking +otherwise." + +"Suppose he had known? What would you have done?" + +Rattray said nothing. Santos shrugged as he lit a fresh cigarette. The +captain went on with his supper. + +"Ashamed to say!" cried Eva Denison. "So you have some shame left still! +Well, I will tell you. You would have murdered him, as you murdered all +the rest; you would have killed him in cold blood, as I wish and pray +that you would kill me!" + +The young fellow faced her, white to the lips. "You have no right to +say that, Miss Denison!" he cried. "I may be bad, but, as I am ready to +answer for my sins, the crime of murder is not among them." + +Well, it is still some satisfaction to remember that my love never +punished me with such a look as was the young squire's reward for this +protestation. The curl of the pink nostrils, the parting of the proud +lips, the gleam of the sound white teeth, before a word was spoken, +were more than I, for one, could have borne. For I did not see the grief +underlying the scorn, but actually found it in my heart to pity this +poor devil of a Rattray: so humbly fell those fine eyes of his, so like +a dog did he stand, waiting to be whipped. + +"Yes; you are very innocent!" she began at last, so softly that I could +scarcely hear. "You have not committed murder, so you say; let it stand +to your credit by all means. You have no blood upon your hands; you say +so; that is enough. No! you are comparatively innocent, I admit. All +you have done is to make murder easy for others; to get others to do the +dirty work, and then shelter them and share the gain; all you need have +on your conscience is every life that was lost with the Lady Jermyn, and +every soul that lost itself in losing them. You call that innocence? +Then give me honest guilt! Give me the man who set fire to the ship, and +who sits there eating his supper; he is more of a man than you. Give me +the wretch who has beaten men to death before my eyes; there's something +great about a monster like that, there's something to loathe. His +assistant is only little--mean--despicable!" Loud and hurried in its +wrath, low and deliberate in its contempt, all this was uttered with a +furious and abnormal eloquence, which would have struck me, loving her, +to the ground. On Rattray it had a different effect. His head lifted as +she heaped abuse upon it, until he met her flashing eye with that of a +man very thankful to take his deserts and something more; and to mine he +was least despicable when that last word left her lips. When he saw that +it was her last, he took her candle (she had put it down on the ancient +settle against the door), and presented it to her with another bow. And +so without a word he led her to the door, opened it, and bowed yet lower +as she swept out, but still without a tinge of mockery in the obeisance. + +He was closing the door after her when Joaquin Santos reached it. + +"Diablo!" cried he. "Why let her go? We have not done with her." + +"That doesn't matter; she is done with us," was the stern reply. + +"It does matter," retorted Santos; "what is more, she is my +step-daughter, and back she shall come!" + +"She is also my visitor, and I'm damned if you're going to make her!" + +An instant Santos stood, his back to me, his fingers working, his neck +brown with blood; then his coat went into creases across the shoulders, +and he was shrugging still as he turned away. + +"Your veesitor!" said he. "Your veesitor! Your veesitor!" + +Harris laughed outright as he raised his glass; the hot young squire +had him by the collar, and the wine was spilling on the cloth, as I rose +very cautiously and crept back to the path. + +"When rogues fall out!" I was thinking to myself. "I shall save her +yet--I shall save my darling!" + +Already I was accustomed to the thought that she still lived, and to the +big heart she had set beating in my feeble frame; already the continued +existence of these villains, with the first dim inkling of their +villainy, was ceasing to be a novelty in a brain now quickened and +prehensile beyond belief. And yet--but a few minutes had I knelt at the +window--but a few more was it since Rattray and I had shaken hands! + +Not his visitor; his prisoner, without a doubt; but alive! alive! and, +neither guest nor prisoner for many hours more. O my love! O my heart's +delight! Now I knew why I was spared; to save her; to snatch her from +these rascals; to cherish and protect her evermore! + +All the past shone clear behind me; the dark was lightness and the +crooked straight. All the future lay clear ahead it presented no +difficulties yet; a mad, ecstatic confidence was mine for the wildest, +happiest moments of my life. + +I stood upright in the darkness. I saw her light! + +It was ascending the tower at the building's end; now in this window it +glimmered, now in the one above. At last it was steady, high up near the +stars, and I stole below. + +"Eva! Eva!" + +There was no answer. Low as it was, my voice was alarming; it cooled +and cautioned me. I sought little stones. I crept back to throw them. +Ah God! her form eclipsed that lighted slit in the gray stone tower. I +heard her weeping high above me at her window. + +"Eva! Eva!" + +There was a pause, and then a little cry of gladness. + +"Is it Mr. Cole?" came in an eager whisper through her tears. + +"Yes! yes! I was outside the window. I heard everything." + +"They will hear you!" she cried softly, in a steadier voice. + +"No-listen!" They were quarrelling. Rattray's voice was loud and angry. +"They cannot hear," I continued, in more cautious tones; "they think +I'm in bed and asleep half-a-mile away. Oh, thank God! I'll get you away +from them; trust me, my love, my darling!" + +In my madness I knew not what I said; it was my wild heart speaking. +Some moments passed before she replied. + +"Will you promise to do nothing I ask you not to do?" + +"Of course." + +"My life might answer for it--" + +"I promise--I promise." + +"Then wait--hide--watch my light. When you see it back in the window, +watch with all your eyes! I am going to write and then throw it out. Not +another syllable!" + +She was gone; there was a long yellow slit in the masonry once more; her +light burnt faint and far within. + +I retreated among some bushes and kept watch. + +The moon was skimming beneath the surface of a sea of clouds: now the +black billows had silver crests: now an incandescent buoy bobbed among +them. O for enough light, and no more! + +In the hall the high voices were more subdued. I heard the captain's +tipsy laugh. My eyes fastened themselves upon that faint and lofty +light, and on my heels I crouched among the bushes. + +The flame moved, flickered, and shone small but brilliant on the very +sill. I ran forward on tip-toe. A white flake fluttered to my feet. I +secured it and waited for one word; none came; but the window was softly +shut. + +I stood in doubt, the treacherous moonlight all over me now, and once +more the window opened. + +"Go quickly!" + +And again it was shut; next moment I was stealing close by the spot +where I had knelt. I saw within once more. + +Harris nodded in his chair. The nigger had disappeared. Rattray was +lighting a candle, and the Portuguese holding out his hand for the +match. + +"Did you lock the gate, senhor?" asked Santos. + +"No; but I will now." + +As I opened it I heard a door open within. I could hardly let the latch +down again for the sudden trembling of my fingers. The key turned behind +me ere I had twenty yards' start. + +Thank God there was light enough now! I followed the beck. I found +my way. I stood in the open valley, between the oak-plantation and my +desolate cottage, and I kissed my tiny, twisted note again and again in +a paroxysm of passion and of insensate joy. Then I unfolded it and held +it to my eyes in the keen October moonshine. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. MY LADY'S BIDDING + + +Scribbled in sore haste, by a very tremulous little hand, with a pencil, +on the flyleaf of some book, my darling's message is still difficult to +read; it was doubly so in the moonlight, five-and-forty autumns ago. My +eyesight, however, was then perhaps the soundest thing about me, and in +a little I had deciphered enough to guess correctly (as it proved) at +the whole:-- + + +"You say you heard everything just now, and there is no time for further +explanations. I am in the hands of villains, but not ill-treated, though +they are one as bad as the other. You will not find it easy to rescue +me. I don't see how it is to be done. You have promised not to do +anything I ask you not to do, and I implore you not to tell a soul until +you have seen me again and heard more. You might just as well kill me as +come back now with help. + +"You see you know nothing, though I told them you knew all. And so you +shall as soon as I can see you for five minutes face to face. In the +meantime do nothing--know nothing when you see Mr. Rattray--unless you +wish to be my death. + +"It would have been possible last night, and it may be again to-morrow +night. They all go out every night when they can, except Jose, who is +left in charge. They are out from nine or ten till two or three; if they +are out to-morrow night my candle will be close to the window as I shall +put it when I have finished this. You can see my window from over the +wall. If the light is in front you must climb the wall, for they will +leave the gate locked. I shall see you and will bribe Jose to let me +out for a turn. He has done it before for a bottle of wine. I can manage +him. Can I trust to you? If you break your promise--but you will not? +One of them would as soon kill me as smoke a cigarette, and the rest are +under his thumb. I dare not write more. But my life is in your hands. + +"EVA DENISON." + + +"Oh! beware of the woman Braithwaite; she is about the worst of the +gang." + +I could have burst out crying in my bitter discomfiture, mortification, +and alarm: to think that her life was in my hands, and that it depended, +not on that prompt action which was the one course I had contemplated, +but on twenty-four hours of resolute inactivity! I would not think it. +I refused the condition. It took away my one prop, my one stay, that +prospect of immediate measures which alone preserved in me such coolness +as I had retained until now. I was cool no longer; where I had relied +on practical direction I was baffled and hindered and driven mad; on my +honor believe I was little less for some moments, groaning, cursing, +and beating the air with impotent fists--in one of them my poor love's +letter crushed already to a ball. + +Danger and difficulty I had been prepared to face; but the task that I +was set was a hundred-fold harder than any that had whirled through my +teeming brain. To sit still; to do nothing; to pretend I knew nothing; +an hour of it would destroy my reason--and I was invited to wait +twenty-four! + +No; my word was passed; keep it I must. She knew the men, she must know +best; and her life depended on my obedience: she made that so plain. +Obey I must and would; to make a start, I tottered over the plank that +spanned the beck, and soon I saw the cottage against the moonlit sky. +I came up to it. I drew back in sudden fear. It was alight upstairs and +down, and the gaunt strong figure of the woman Braithwaite stood out +as I had seen it first, in the doorway, with the light showing warmly +through her rank red hair. + +"Is that you, Mr. Cole?" she cried in a tone that she reserved for me; +yet through the forced amiability there rang a note of genuine surprise. +She had been prepared for me never to return at all! + +My knees gave under me as I forced myself to advance; but my wits took +new life from the crisis, and in a flash I saw how to turn my weakness +into account. I made a false step on my way to the door; when I reached +it I leant heavily against the jam, and I said with a slur that I felt +unwell. I had certainly been flushed with wine when I left Rattray; it +would be no bad thing for him to hear that I had arrived quite tipsy at +the cottage; should he discover I had been near an hour on the way, here +was my explanation cut and dried. + +So I shammed a degree of intoxication with apparent success, and Jane +Braithwaite gave me her arm up the stairs. My God, how strong it was, +and how weak was mine! + +Left to myself, I reeled about my bedroom, pretending to undress; then +out with my candles, and into bed in all my clothes, until the cottage +should be quiet. Yes, I must lie still and feign sleep, with every nerve +and fibre leaping within me, lest the she-devil below should suspect +me of suspicions! It was with her I had to cope for the next +four-and-twenty hours; and she filled me with a greater present terror +than all those villains at the hall; for had not their poor little +helpless captive described her as "about the worst of the gang?" + +To think that my love lay helpless there in the hands of those wretches; +and to think that her lover lay helpless here in the supervision of this +vile virago! + +It must have been one or two in the morning when I stole to my +sitting-room window, opened it, and sat down to think steadily, with the +counterpane about my shoulders. + +The moon sailed high and almost full above the clouds; these were +dispersing as the night wore on, and such as remained were of a +beautiful soft tint between white and gray. The sky was too light for +stars, and beneath it the open country stretched so clear and far that +it was as though one looked out at noonday through slate-colored glass. +Down the dewy slope below my window a few calves fed with toothless +mouthings; the beck was very audible, the oak-trees less so; but for +these peaceful sounds the stillness and the solitude were equally +intense. + +I may have sat there like a mouse for half an hour. The reason was that +I had become mercifully engrossed in one of the subsidiary problems: +whether it would be better to drop from the window or to trust to the +creaking stairs. Would the creaking be much worse than the thud, and +the difference worth the risk of a sprained ankle? Well worth it, I at +length decided; the risk was nothing; my window was scarce a dozen feet +from the ground. How easily it could be done, how quickly, how safely in +this deep, stillness and bright moonlight! I would fall so lightly on +my stocking soles; a single soft, dull thud; then away under the moon +without fear or risk of a false step; away over the stone walls to the +main road, and so to the nearest police-station with my tale; and before +sunrise the villains would be taken in their beds, and my darling would +be safe! + +I sprang up softly. Why not do it now? Was I bound to keep my rash, +blind promise? Was it possible these murderers would murder her? +I struck a match on my trousers, I lit a candle, I read her letter +carefully again, and again it maddened and distracted me. I struck my +hands together. I paced the room wildly. Caution deserted me, and I made +noise enough to wake the very mute; lost to every consideration but that +of the terrifying day before me, the day of silence and of inactivity, +that I must live through with an unsuspecting face, a cool head, a civil +tongue! The prospect appalled me as nothing else could or did; nay, the +sudden noise upon the stairs, the knock at my door, and the sense that +I had betrayed myself already even now all was over--these came as a +relief after the haunting terror which they interrupted. + +I flung the door open, and there stood Mrs. Braithwaite, as fully +dressed as myself. + +"You'll not be very well sir?" + +"No, I'm not." + +"What's t' matter wi' you?" + +This second question was rude and fierce with suspicion: the real woman +rang out in it, yet its effect on me was astonishing: once again was I +inspired to turn my slip into a move. + +"Matter?" I cried. "Can't you see what's the matter; couldn't you see +when I came in? Drink's the matter! I came in drunk, and now I'm mad. I +can't stand it; I'm not in a fit state. Do you know nothng of me? Have +they told you nothing? I'm the only man that was saved from the Lady +Jermyn, the ship that was burned to the water's edge with every soul but +me. My nerves are in little ends. I came down here for peace and quiet +and sleep. Do you know that I have hardly slept for two months? And now +I shall never sleep again! O my God I shall die for want of it! The wine +has done it. I never should have touched a drop. I can't stand it; I +can't sleep after it; I shall kill myself if I get no sleep. Do you +hear, you woman? I shall kill myself in your house if I don't get to +sleep!" + +I saw her shrink, virago as she was. I waved my arms, I shrieked in +her face. It was not all acting. Heaven knows how true it was about the +sleep. I was slowly dying of insomnia. I was a nervous wreck. She must +have heard it. Now she saw it for herself. + +No; it was by no means all acting. Intending only to lie, I found +myself telling little but the strictest truth, and longing for sleep as +passionately as though I had nothing to keep me awake. And yet, while my +heart cried aloud in spite of me, and my nerves relieved themselves in +this unpremeditated ebullition, I was all the time watching its effect +as closely as though no word of it had been sincere. + +Mrs. Braithwaite seemed frightened; not at all pitiful; and as I calmed +down she recovered her courage and became insolent. I had spoilt her +night. She had not been told she was to take in a raving lunatic. She +would speak to Squire Rattray in the morning. + +"Morning?" I yelled after her as she went. "Send your husband to the +nearest chemist as soon as it's dawn; send him for chloral, chloroform, +morphia, anything they've got and as much of it as they'll let him have. +I'll give you five pounds if you get me what'll send me to sleep all +to-morrow--and to-morrow night!" + +Never, I feel sure, were truth and falsehood more craftily interwoven; +yet I had thought of none of it until the woman was at my door, while of +much I had not thought at all. It had rushed from my heart and from my +lips. And no sooner was I alone than I burst into hysterical tears, only +to stop and compliment myself because they sounded genuine--as though +they were not! Towards morning I took to my bed in a burning fever, and +lay there, now congratulating myself upon it, because when night came +they would all think me so secure; and now weeping because the night +might find me dying or dead. So I tossed, with her note clasped in my +hand underneath the sheets; and beneath my very body that stout weapon +that I had bought in town. I might not have to use it, but I was +fatalist enough to fancy that I should. In the meantime it helped me to +lie still, my thoughts fixed on the night, and the day made easy for me +after all. + +If only I could sleep! + +About nine o'clock Jane Braithwaite paid me a surly visit; in half an +hour she was back with tea and toast and an altered mien. She not only +lit my fire, but treated me the while to her original tone of almost +fervent civility and respect and determination. Her vagaries soon ceased +to puzzle me: the psychology of Jane Braithwaite was not recondite. In +the night it had dawned upon her that Rattray had found me harmless and +was done with me, therefore there was no need for her to put herself out +any further on my account. In the morning, finding me really ill, she +had gone to the hall in alarm; her subsequent attentions were an act of +obedience; and in their midst came Rattray himself to my bedside. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. THE LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE + + +The boy looked so blithe and buoyant, so gallant and still so frank, +that even now I could not think as meanly of him as poor Eva did. A +rogue he must be, but surely not the petty rogue that she had made him +out. Yet it was dirty work that he had done by me; and there I had to +lie and take his kind, false, felon's hand in mine. + +"My poor dear fellow," he cried, "I'm most sorry to find you like this. +But I was afraid of it last night. It's all this infernally strong air!" + +How I longed to tell him what it was, and to see his face! The thought +of Eva alone restrained me, and I retorted as before, in a tone I strove +to make as friendly, that it was his admirable wine and nothing else. + +"But you took hardly any." + +"I shouldn't have touched a drop. I can't stand it. Instead of soothing +me it excites me to the verge of madness. I'm almost over the verge--for +want of sleep--my trouble ever since the trouble." + +Again I was speaking the literal truth, and again congratulating myself +as though it were a lie: the fellow looked so distressed at my state; +indeed I believe that his distress was as genuine as mine, and his +sentiments as involved. He took my hand again, and his brow wrinkled at +its heat. He asked for the other hand to feel my pulse. I had to drop my +letter to comply. + +"I wish to goodness there was something I could do for you," he said. +"Would you--would you care to see a doctor?" + +I shook my head, and could have smiled at his visible relief. + +"Then I'm going to prescribe for you," he said with decision. "It's the +place that doesn't agree with you, and it was I who brought you to the +place; therefore it's for me to get you out of it as quick as possible. +Up you get, and I'll drive you to the station myself!" + +I had another work to keep from smiling: he was so ingenuously +disingenuous. There was less to smile at in his really nervous anxiety +to get me away. I lay there reading him like a book: it was not my +health that concerned him, of course: was it my safety? I told him he +little knew how ill I was--an inglorious speech that came hard, though +not by any means untrue. "Move me with this fever on me?" said I; "it +would be as much as my miserable life is worth." + +"I'm afraid," said he, "that it may be as much as your life's worth to +stay on here!" And there was such real fear, in his voice and eyes, +that it reconciled me there and then to the discomfort of a big revolver +between the mattress and the small of my back. "We must get you out +of it," he continued, "the moment you feel fit to stir. Shall we say +to-morrow?" + +"If you like," I said, advisedly; "and if I can get some sleep to-day." + +"Then to-morrow it is! You see I know it's the climate," he added, +jumping from tone to tone; "it couldn't have been those two or three +glasses of sound wine." + +"Shall I tell you what it is?" I said, looking him full in the face, +with eyes that I dare say were wild enough with fever and insomnia. +"It's the burning of the Lady Jermyn!" I cried. "It's the faces and the +shrieks of the women; it's the cursing and the fighting of the men; it's +boat-loads struggling in an oily sea; it's husbands and wives jumping +overboard together; it's men turned into devils, it's hell-fire +afloat--" + +"Stop! stop!" he whispered, hoarse as a crow. I was sitting up with my +hot eyes upon him. He was white as the quilt, and the bed shook with his +trembling. I had gone as far as was prudent, and I lay back with a glow +of secret satisfaction. + +"Yes, I will stop," said I, "and I wouldn't have begun if you hadn't +found it so difficult to understand my trouble. Now you know what it +is. It's the old trouble. I came up here to forget it; instead of that +I drink too much and tell you all about it; and the two things together +have bowled me over. But I'll go to-morrow; only give me something to +put me asleep till then." + +"I will!" he vowed. "I'll go myself to the nearest chemist, and he shall +give me the very strongest stuff he's got. Good-by, and don't you stir +till I come back--for your own sake. I'll go this minute, and I'll ride +like hell!" And if ever two men were glad to be rid of each other, they +were this young villain and myself. + +But what was his villany? It was little enough that I had overheard +at the window, and still less that poor Eva had told me in her hurried +lines. All I saw clearly was that the Lady Jermyn and some hundred souls +had perished by the foulest of foul play; that, besides Eva and myself, +only the incendiaries had escaped; that somehow these wretches had made +a second escape from the gig, leaving dead men and word of their own +death behind them in the boat. And here the motive was as much a mystery +to me as the means; but, in my present state, both were also matters +of supreme indifference. My one desire was to rescue my love from her +loathsome captors; of little else did I pause to think. Yet Rattray's +visit left its own mark on my mind; and long after he was gone I lay +puzzling over the connection between a young Lancastrian, of good +name, of ancient property, of great personal charm, and a crime of +unparalleled atrocity committed in cold blood on the high seas. That +his complicity was flagrant I had no room to doubt, after Eva's own +indictment of him, uttered to his face and in my hearing. Was it then +the usual fraud on the underwriters, and was Rattray the inevitable +accomplice on dry land? I could think of none but the conventional +motive for destroying a vessel. Yet I knew there must be another and a +subtler one, to account not only for the magnitude of the crime, but for +the pains which the actual perpetrators had taken to conceal the fact +of their survival, and for the union of so diverse a trinity as Senhor +Santos, Captain Harris, and the young squire. + +It must have been about mid-day when Rattray reappeared, ruddy, spurred, +and splashed with mud; a comfort to sick eyes, I declare, in spite +of all. He brought me two little vials, put one on the chimney-piece, +poured the other into my tumbler, and added a little water. + +"There, old fellow," said he; "swallow that, and if you don't get some +sleep the chemist who made it up is the greatest liar unhung." + +"What is it?' I asked, the glass in my hand, and my eyes on those of my +companion. + +"I don't know," said he. "I just told them to make up the strongest +sleeping-draught that was safe, and I mentioned something about your +case. Toss it off, man; it's sure to be all right." + +Yes, I could trust him; he was not that sort of villain, for all that +Eva Denison had said. I liked his face as well as ever. I liked his eye, +and could have sworn to its honesty as I drained the glass. Even had it +been otherwise, I must have taken my chance or shown him all; as it was, +when he had pulled down my blind, and shaken my pillow, and he gave +me his hand once more, I took it with involuntary cordiality. I only +grieved that so fine a young fellow should have involved himself in so +villainous a business; yet for Eva's sake I was glad that he had; for +my mind failed (rather than refused) to believe him so black as she had +painted him. + +The long, long afternoon that followed I never shall forget. The opiate +racked my head; it did not do its work; and I longed to sleep till +evening with a longing I have never known before or since. Everything +seemed to depend upon it; I should be a man again, if only I could +first be a log for a few hours. But no; my troubles never left me for an +instant; and there I must lie, pretending that they had! For the other +draught was for the night; and if they but thought the first one had +taken due effect, so much the less would they trouble their heads about +me when they believed that I had swallowed the second. + +Oh, but it was cruel! I lay and wept with weakness and want of sleep; +ere night fell I knew that it would find me useless, if indeed my reason +lingered on. To lie there helpless when Eva was expecting me, that would +be the finishing touch. I should rise a maniac if ever I rose at +all. More probably I would put one of my five big bullets into my own +splitting head; it was no small temptation, lying there in a double +agony, with the loaded weapon by my side. + +Then sometimes I thought it was coming; and perhaps for an instant would +be tossing in my hen-coop; then back once more. And I swear that +my physical and mental torments, here in my bed, would have been +incomparably greater than anything I had endured on the sea, but for the +saving grace of one sweet thought. She lived! She lived! And the God who +had taken care o me, a castaway, would surely deliver her also from +the hands of murderers and thieves. But not through me--I lay weak and +helpless--and my tears ran again and yet again as I felt myself growing +hourly weaker. + +I remember what a bright fine day it was, with the grand open country +all smiles beneath a clear, almost frosty sky, once when I got up on +tip-toe and peeped out. A keen wind whistled about the cottage; I felt +it on my feet as I stood; but never have I known a more perfect and +invigorating autumn day. And there I must lie, with the manhood ebbing +Out of me, the manhood that I needed so for the night! I crept back into +bed. I swore that I would sleep. Yet there I lay, listening sometimes to +that vile woman's tread below; sometimes to mysterious whispers, between +whom I neither knew nor cared; anon to my watch ticking by my side, to +the heart beating in my body, hour after hour--hour after hour. I prayed +as I have seldom prayed. I wept as I have never wept. I railed and +blasphemed--not with my lips, because the woman must think I was +asleep--but so much the more viciously in my heart. + +Suddenly it turned dark. There were no gradations--not even a tropical +twilight. One minute I aw the sun upon the blind; the next--thank God! +Oh, thank God! No light broke any longer through the blind; just a faint +and narrow glimmer stole between it and the casement; and the light that +had been bright golden was palest silver now. + +It was the moon. I had been in dreamless sleep for hours. + +The joy of that discovery! The transport of waking to it, and waking +refreshed! The swift and sudden miracle that it seemed! I shall never, +never forget it, still less the sickening thrill of fear which was +cruelly quick to follow upon my joy. The cottage was still as the tomb. +What if I had slept too long! + +With trembling hand I found my watch. + +Luckily I had wound it in the early morning. I now carried it to the +window, drew back the blind, and held it in the moonlight. It was not +quite ten o'clock. And yet the cottage was so still--so still. + +I stole to the door, opened it by cautious degrees, and saw the +reflection of a light below. Still not a sound could I hear, save the +rapid drawing of my own breath, and the startled beating of my own +heart. + +I now felt certain that the Braithwaites were out, and dressed hastily, +making as little noise as possible, and still hearing absolutely none +from below. Then, feeling faint with hunger, though a new being after my +sleep, I remembered a packet of sandwiches which I had not opened on my +journey north. These I transferred from my travelling-bag (where they +had lain forgotten to my jacket pocket), before drawing down the blind, +leaving the room on tip-toe, and very gently fastening the door behind +me. On the stairs, too, I trod with the utmost caution, feeling the wall +with my left hand (my right was full), lest by any chance I might +be mistaken in supposing I had the cottage to myself. In spite of my +caution there came a creak at every step. And to my sudden horror I +heard a chair move in the kitchen below. + +My heart and I stood still together. But my right hand tightened on +stout wood, my right forefinger trembled against thin steel. The sound +was not repeated. And at length I continued on my way down, my teeth +set, an excuse on my lips, but determination in every fibre of my frame. + +A shadow lay across the kitchen floor; it was that of the deaf mute, as +he stood on a chair before the fire, supporting himself on the chimney +piece with one puny arm, while he reached overhead with the other. I +stood by for an instant, glorying in the thought that he could not hear +me; the next, I saw what it was he was reaching up for--a bell-mouthed +blunderbuss--and I knew the little devil for the impostor that he was. + +"You touch it," said I, "and you'll drop dead on that hearth." + +He pretended not to hear me, but he heard the click of the splendid +spring which Messrs. Deane and Adams had put into that early revolver of +theirs, and he could not have come down much quicker with my bullet in +his spine. + +"Now, then," I said, "what the devil do you mean by shamming deaf and +dumb?" + +"I niver said I was owt o' t' sort," he whimpered, cowering behind the +chair in a sullen ague. + +"But you acted it, and I've a jolly good mind to shoot you dead!" +(Remember, I was so weak myself that I thought my arm would break from +presenting my five chambers and my ten-inch barrel; otherwise I should +be sorry to relate how I bullied that mouse of a man.) "I may let you +off," I continued, "if you answer questions. Where's your wife?" + +"Eh, she'll be back directly!" said Braithwaite, with some tact; but his +look was too cunning to give the warning weight. "I've a bullet to spare +for her," said I, cheerfully; "now, then, where is she?" + +"Gone wi' the oothers, for owt I knaw." + +"And where are the others gone?" + +"Where they allus go, ower to t' say." + +"Over to the sea, eh? We're getting on! What takes them there?" + +"That's more than I can tell you, sir," said Braithwaite, with so much +emphasis and so little reluctance as to convince me that for once at +least he had spoken the truth. There was even a spice of malice in his +tone. I began to see possibilities in the little beast. + +"Well," I said, "you're a nice lot! I don't know what your game is, and +don't want to. I've had enough of you without that. I'm off to-night." + +"Before they get back?" asked Braithwaite, plainly in doubt about his +duty, and yet as plainly relieved to learn the extent of my intention. + +"Certainly," said I; "why not? I'm not particularly anxious to see your +wife again, and you may ask Mr. Rattray from me why the devil he led +me to suppose you were deaf and dumb? Or, if you like, you needn't say +anything at all about it," I added, seeing his thin jaw fall; "tell him +I never found you out, but just felt well enough to go, and went. When +do you expect them back?" + +"It won't be yet a bit," said he. + +"Good! Now look here. What would you say to these?" And I showed him a +couple of sovereigns: I longed to offer him twenty, but feared to excite +his suspicions. "These are yours if you have a conveyance at the end of +the lane--the lane we came up the night before last--in an hour's time." + +His dull eyes glistened; but a tremor took him from top to toe, and he +shook his head. + +"I'm ill, man!" I cried. "If I stay here I'll die! Mr. Rattray knows +that, and he wanted me to go this morning; he'll be only too thankful to +find me gone." + +This argument appealed to him; indeed, I was proud of it. + +"But I was to stop an' look after you," he mumbled; "it'll get me into +trooble, it will that!" + +I took out three more sovereigns; not a penny higher durst I go. + +"Will five pounds repay you? No need to tell your wife it was five, you +know! I should keep four of them all to myself." + +The cupidity of the little wretch was at last overcoming his abject +cowardice. I could see him making up his miserable mind. And I still +flatter myself that I took only safe (and really cunning) steps to +precipitate the process. To offer him more money would have been +madness; instead, I poured it all back into my pocket. + +"All right!" I cried; "you're a greedy, cowardly, old idiot, and I'll +just save my money." And out I marched into the moonlight, very briskly, +towards the lane; he was so quick to follow me that I had no fears of +the blunderbuss, but quickened my step, and soon had him running at my +heels. + +"Stop, stop, sir! You're that hasty wi' a poor owd man." So he whimpered +as he followed me like the little cur he was. + +"I'm hanged if I stop," I answered without looking back; and had him +almost in tears before I swung round on him so suddenly that he yelped +with fear. "What are you bothering me for?" I blustered. "Do you want me +to wring your neck?" + +"Oh, I'll go, sir! I'll go, I'll go," he moaned. + +"I've a good mind not to let you. I wouldn't if I was fit to walk five +miles." + +"But I'll roon 'em, sir! I will that! I'll go as fast as iver I can!" + +"And have a conveyance at the road-end of the lane as near an hour hence +as you possibly can?" + +"Why, there, sir!" he cried, crassly inspired; "I could drive you in our +own trap in half the time." + +"Oh, no, you couldn't! I--I'm not fit to be out at all; it must be a +closed conveyance; but I'll come to the end of the lane to save time, +so let him wait there. You needn't wait yourself; here's a sovereign +of your money, and I'll leave the rest in the jug in my bedroom. There! +It's worth your while to trust me, I think. As for my luggage, I'll +write to Mr. Rattray about that. But I'll be shot if I spend another +night on his property." + +I was rid of him at last; and there I stood, listening to his headlong +steps, until they stumbled out of earshot down the lane; then back to +the cottage, at a run myself, and up to my room to be no worse than my +word. The sovereigns plopped into the water and rang together at +the bottom of the jug. In another minute I was hastening through the +plantation, in my hand the revolver that had served me well already, and +was still loaded and capped in all five chambers. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. IN THE GARDEN + + +It so happened that I met nobody at all; but I must confess that my +luck was better than my management. As I came upon the beck, a new sound +reached me with the swirl. It was the jingle of bit and bridle; the beat +of hoofs came after; and I had barely time to fling myself flat, when +two horsemen emerged from the plantation, riding straight towards me in +the moonlight. If they continued on that course they could not fail +to see me as they passed along the opposite bank. However, to my +unspeakable relief, they were scarce clear of the trees when they turned +their horses' heads, rode them through the water a good seventy yards +from where I lay, and so away at a canter across country towards the +road. On my hands and knees I had a good look at them as they bobbed up +and down under the moon; and my fears subsided in astonished curiosity. +For I have already boasted of my eyesight, and I could have sworn that +neither Rattray nor any one of his guests was of the horsemen; yet the +back and shoulders of one of these seemed somehow familiar to me. Not +that I wasted many moments over the coincidence, for I had other things +to think about as I ran on to the hall. + +I found the rear of the building in darkness unrelieved from within; on +the other hand, the climbing moon beat so full upon the garden wall, it +was as though a lantern pinned me as I crept beneath it. In passing I +thought I might as well try the gate; but Eva was right; it was locked; +and that made me half inclined to distrust my eyes in the matter of the +two horsemen, for whence could they have come, if not from the hall? +In any case I was well rid of them. I now followed the wall some little +distance, and then, to see over it, walked backwards until I was all but +in the beck; and there, sure enough, shone my darling's candle, close as +close against the diamond panes of her narrow, lofty window! It brought +those ready tears back to my foolish, fevered eyes. But for sentiment +there was no time, and every other emotion was either futile or +premature. So I mastered my full heart, I steeled, my wretched nerves, +and braced my limp muscles for the task that lay before them. + +I had a garden wall to scale, nearly twice my own height, and without +notch or cranny in the ancient, solid masonry. I stood against it on my +toes, and I touched it with my finger-tips as high up as possible. Some +four feet severed them from the coping that left only half a sky above +my upturned eyes. + +I do not know whether I have made it plain that the house was not +surrounded by four walls, but merely filled a breach in one of the +four, which nipped it (as it were) at either end. The back entrance was +approachable enough, but barred or watched, I might be very sure. It is +ever the vulnerable points which are most securely guarded, and it was +my one comfort that the difficult way must also be the safe way, if only +the difficulty could be overcome. How to overcome it was the problem. +I followed the wall right round to the point at which it abutted on the +tower that immured my love; the height never varied; nor could my hands +or eyes discover a single foot-hole, ledge, or other means of mounting +to the top. + +Yet my hot head was full of ideas; and I wasted some minutes in trying +to lift from its hinges a solid, six-barred, outlying gate, that my +weak arms could hardly stir. More time went in pulling branches from the +oak-trees about the beck, where the latter ran nearest to the moonlit +wall. I had an insane dream of throwing a long forked branch over +the coping, and so swarming up hand-over-hand. But even to me the +impracticability of this plan came home at last. And there I stood in a +breathless lather, much time and strength thrown away together; and the +candle burning down for nothing in that little lofty window; and the +running water swirling noisily over its stones at my back. + +This was the only sound; the wind had died away; the moonlit valley +lay as still as the dread old house in its midst but for the splash and +gurgle of the beck. I fancied this grew louder as I paused and listened +in my helplessness. All at once--was it the tongue of Nature telling me +the way, or common gumption returning at the eleventh hour? I ran down +to the water's edge, and could have shouted for joy. Great stones lay in +equal profusion on bed and banks. I lifted one of the heaviest in both +hands. I staggered with it to the wall. I came back for another; for +some twenty minutes I was so employed; my ultimate reward a fine heap of +boulders against the wall. + +Then I began to build; then mounted my pile, clawing the wall to keep +my balance. My fingers were still many inches from the coping. I jumped +down and gave another ten minutes to the back-breaking work of carrying +more boulders from the water to the wall. Then I widened my cairn below, +so that I could stand firmly before springing upon the pinnacle with +which I completed it. I knew well that this would collapse under me if +I allowed my weight to rest more than an instant upon it. And so at last +it did; but my fingers had clutched the coping in time; had grabbed it +even as the insecure pyramid crumbled and left me dangling. + +Instantly exerting what muscle I had left, and the occasion gave me, +I succeeded in pulling myself up until my chin was on a level with my +hands, when I flung an arm over and caught the inner coping. The other +arm followed; then a leg; and at last I sat astride the wall, panting +and palpitating, and hardly able to credit my own achievement. One great +difficulty had been my huge revolver. I had been terribly frightened it +might go off, and had finally used my cravat to sling it at the back +of my neck. It had shifted a little, and I was working it round again, +preparatory to my drop, when I saw the light suddenly taken from the +window in the tower, and a kerchief waving for one instant in its place. +So she had been waiting and watching for me all these hours! I dropped +into the garden in a very ecstasy of grief and rapture, to think that I +had been so long in coming to my love, but that I had come at last. And +I picked myself up in a very frenzy of fear lest, after all, I should +fail to spirit her from this horrible place. + +Doubly desolate it looked in the rays of that bright October moon. +Skulking in the shadow of the wall which had so long baffled me, I +looked across a sharp border of shade upon a chaos, the more striking +for its lingering trim design. The long, straight paths were barnacled +with weeds; the dense, fine hedges, once prim and angular, had fattened +out of all shape or form; and on the velvet sward of other days you +might have waded waist high in rotten hay. Towards the garden end this +rank jungle merged into a worse wilderness of rhododendrons, the tallest +I have ever seen. On all this the white moon smiled, and the grim house +glowered, to the eternal swirl and rattle of the beck beyond its walls. + +Long enough I stood where I had dropped, listening with all my being +for some other sound; but at last that great studded door creaked +and shivered on its ancient hinges, and I heard voices arguing in the +Portuguese tongue. It was poor Eva wheedling that black rascal Jose. +I saw her in the lighted porch; the nigger I saw also, shrugging and +gesticulating for all the world like his hateful master; yet giving in, +I felt certain, though I could not understand a word that reached me. + +And indeed my little mistress very soon sailed calmly out, followed by +final warnings and expostulations hurled from the step: for the black +stood watching her as she came steadily my way, now raising her head to +sniff the air, now stooping to pluck up a weed, the very picture of a +prisoner seeking the open air for its own sake solely. I had a keen eye +apiece for them as I cowered closer to the wall, revolver in hand. But +ere my love was very near me (for she would stand long moments gazing +ever so innocently at the moon), her jailer had held a bottle to the +light, and had beaten a retreat so sudden and so hasty that I expected +him back every moment, and so durst not stir. Eva saw me, however, +and contrived to tell me so without interrupting the air that she was +humming as she walked. + +"Follow me," she sang, "only keep as you are, keep as you are, close to +the wall, close to the wall." + +And on she strolled to her own tune, and came abreast of me without +turning her head; so I crept in the shadow (my ugly weapon tucked out of +sight), and she sauntered in the shine, until we came to the end of +the garden, where the path turned at right angles, running behind the +rhododendrons; once in their shelter, she halted and beckoned me, and +next instant I had her hands in mine. + +"At last!" was all that I could say for many a moment, as I stood there +gazing into her dear eyes, no hero in my heroic hour, but the bigger +love-sick fool than ever. "But quick--quick--quick!" I added, as she +brought me to my senses by withdrawing her hands. "We've no time to +lose." And I looked wildly from wall to wall, only to find them as +barren and inaccessible on this side as on the other. + +"We have more time than you think," were Eva's first words. "We can do +nothing for half-an-hour." + +"Why not?" + +"I'll tell you in a minute. How did you manage to get over?" + +"Brought boulders from the beck, and piled 'em up till I could reach the +top." + +I thought her eyes glistened. + +"What patience!" she cried softly. "We must find a simpler way of +getting out--and I think I have. They've all gone, you know, but Jose." + +"All three?" + +"The captain has been gone all day." + +Then the other two must have been my horse-men, very probably in some +disguise; and my head swam with the thought of the risk that I had run +at the very moment when I thought myself safest. Well, I would have +finished them both! But I did not say so to Eva. I did not mention +the incident, I was so fearful of destroying her confidence in me. +Apologizing, therefore, for my interruption, without explaining it, I +begged her to let me hear her plan. + +It was simple enough. There was no fear of the others returning before +midnight; the chances were that they would be very much later; and +now it was barely eleven, and Eva had promised not to stay out above +half-an-hour. When it was up Jose would come and call her. + +"It is horrid to have to be so cunning!" cried little Eva, with an angry +shudder; "but it's no use thinking of that," she was quick enough to +add, "when you have such dreadful men to deal with, such fiends! And I +have had all day to prepare, and have suffered till I am so desperate I +would rather die to-night than spend another in that house. No; let me +finish! Jose will come round here to look for me. But you and I will +be hiding on the other side of these rhododendrons. And when we hear him +here we'll make a dash for it across the long grass. Once let us get the +door shut and locked in his face, and he'll be in a trap. It will take +him some time to break in; time enough to give us a start; what's more, +when he finds us gone, he'll do what they all used to do in any doubt." + +"What's that?" + +"Say nothing till it's found out; then lie for their lives; and it was +their lives, poor creatures on the Zambesi!" She was silent a moment, +her determined little face hard--set upon some unforgotten horror. +"Once we get away, I shall be surprised if it's found out till morning," +concluded Eva, without a word as to what I was to do with her; neither, +indeed, had I myself given that question a moment's consideration. + +"Then let's make a dash for it now!" was all I said or thought. + +"No; they can't come yet, and Jose is strong and brutal, and I +have heard how ill you are. That you should have come to me +notwithstanding--" and she broke off with her little hands lying +so gratefully on my shoulders, that I know not how I refrained from +catching her then and there to my heart. Instead, I laughed and said +that my illness was a pure and deliberate sharp, and my presence there +its direct result. And such was the virtue in my beloved's voice, the +magic of her eyes, the healing of her touch, that I was scarce conscious +of deceit, but felt a whole man once more as we two stood together in +the moonlight. + +In a trance I stood there gazing into her brave young eyes. In a +trance I suffered her to lead me by the hand through the rank, dense +rhododendrons. And still entranced I crouched by her side near the +further side, with only unkempt grass-plot and a weedy path between us +and that ponderous door, wide open still, and replaced by a section of +the lighted hail within. On this we fixed our attention with mingled +dread and impatience, those contending elements of suspense; but the +black was slow to reappear; and my eyes stole home to my sweet girl's +face, with its glory of moonlit curls, and the eager, resolute, +embittered look that put the world back two whole months, and Eva +Denison upon the Lady Jermyn's poop, in the ship's last hours. But it +was not her look alone; she had on her cloak, as the night before, +but with me (God bless her!) she found no need to clasp herself in its +folds; and underneath she wore the very dress in which she had sung at +our last concert, and been rescued in the gig. It looked as though she +had worn it ever since. The roses were crushed and soiled, the tulle all +torn, and tarnished some strings of beads that had been gold: a tatter +of Chantilly lace hung by a thread: it is another of the relics that I +have unearthed in the writing of this narrative. + +"I thought men never noticed dresses?" my love said suddenly, a pleased +light in her eyes (I thought) in spite of all. "Do you really remember +it?" + +"I remember every one of them," I said indignantly; and so I did. + +"You will wonder why I wear it," said Eva, quickly. "It was the first +that came that terrible night. They have given me many since. But I +won't wear one of them--not one!" + +How her eyes flashed! I forgot all about Jose. + +"I suppose you know why they hadn't room for you in the gig?" she went +on. + +"No, I don't know, and I don't care. They had room for you," said I; +"that's all I care about." And to think she could not see I loved her! + +"But do you mean to say you don't know that these--murderers--set fire +to the ship?" + +"No--yes! I heard you say so last night." + +"And you don't want to know what for?" + +Out of politeness I protested that I did; but, as I live, all I wanted +to know just then was whether my love loved me--whether she ever +could--whether such happiness was possible under heaven! + +"You remember all that mystery about the cargo?" she continued eagerly, +her pretty lips so divinely parted! + +"It turned out to be gunpowder," said I, still thinking only of her. + +"No--gold!" + +"But it was gunpowder," I insisted; for it was my incorrigible passion +for accuracy which had led up to half our arguments on the voyage; but +this time Eva let me off. + +"It was also gold: twelve thousand ounces from the diggings. That was +the real mystery. Do you mean to say you never guessed?" + +"No, by Jove I didn't!" said I. She had diverted my interest at last. I +asked her if she had known on board. + +"Not until the last moment. I found out during the fire. Do you remember +when we said good-by? I was nearly telling you then." + +Did I remember! The very letter of that last interview was cut deep in +my heart; not a sleepless night had I passed without rehearsing it word +for word and look for look; and sometimes, when sorrow had spent itself, +and the heart could bleed no more, vain grief had given place to vainer +speculation, and I had cudgelled my wakeful brains for the meaning of +the new and subtle horror which I had read in my darling's eyes at the +last. Now I understood; and the one explanation brought such a tribe +in its train, that even the perilous ecstasy of the present moment was +temporarily forgotten in the horrible past. + +"Now I know why they wouldn't have me in the gig!" I cried softly. + +"She carried four heavy men's weight in gold." + +"When on earth did they get it aboard?" + +"In provision boxes at the last; but they had been filling the boxes for +weeks." + +"Why, I saw them doing it!" I cried. "But what about the gig? Who picked +you up?" + +She was watching that open door once more, and she answered with notable +indifference, "Mr. Rattray." + +"So that's the connection!" said I; and I think its very simplicity was +what surprised me most. + +"Yes; he was waiting for us at Ascension." + +"Then it was all arranged?" + +"Every detail." + +"And this young blackguard is as bad as any of them!" + +"Worse," said she, with bitter brevity. Nor had I ever seen her look so +hard but once, and that was the night before in the old justice hall, +when she told Rattray her opinion of him to his face. She had now the +same angry flush, the same set mouth and scornful voice; and I took +it finally into my head that she was unjust to the poor devil, villain +though he was. With all his villainy I declined to believe him as bad +as the others. I told her so in as many words. And in a moment we were +arguing as though we were back on the Lady Jermyn with nothing else to +do. + +"You may admire wholesale murderers and thieves," said Eva. "I do not." + +"Nor I. My point is simply that this one is not as bad as the rest. I +believe he was really glad for my sake when he discovered that I knew +nothing of the villainy. Come now, has he ever offered you any personal +violence?" + +"Me? Mr. Rattray? I should hope not, indeed!" + +"Has he never saved you from any?" + +"I--I don't know." + +"Then I do. When you left them last night there was some talk of +bringing you back by force. You can guess who suggested that--and who +set his face against it and got his way. You would think the better of +Rattray had you heard what passed." + +"Should I?" she asked half eagerly, as she looked quickly round at me; +and suddenly I saw her eyes fill. "Oh, why will you speak about him?" +she burst out. "Why must you defend him, unless it's to go against me, +as you always did and always will! I never knew anybody like you--never! +I want you to take me away from these wretches, and all you do is to +defend them!" + +"Not all," said I, clasping her hand warmly in mine. "Not all--not all! +I will take you away from them, never fear; in another hour God grant +you may be out of their reach for ever!" + +"But where are we to go?" she whispered wildly. "What are you to do with +me? All my friends think me dead, and if they knew I was not it would +all come out." + +"So it shall," said I; "the sooner the better; if I'd had my way it +would all be out already." + +I see her yet, my passionate darling, as she turned upon me, whiter than +the full white moon. + +"Mr. Cole," said she, "you must give me your sacred promise that so far +as you are concerned, it shall never come out at all!" + +"This monstrous conspiracy? This cold blooded massacre?" + +And I crouched aghast. + +"Yes; it could do no good; and, at any rate, unless you promise I remain +where I am." + +"In their hands?" + +"Decidedly--to warn them in time. Leave them I would, but betray +them--never!" + +What could I say? What choice had I in the face of an alternative so +headstrong and so unreasonable? To rescue Eva from these miscreants I +would have let every malefactor in the country go unscathed: yet the +condition was a hard one; and, as I hesitated, my love went on her knees +to me, there in the moonlight among the rhododendrons. + +"Promise--promise--or you will kill me!" she gasped. "They may deserve +it richly, but I would rather be torn in little pieces than--than have +them--hanged!" + +"It is too good for most of them." + +"Promise!" + +"To hold my tongue about them all?" + +"Yes--promise!" + +"Promise!" + +"When a hundred lives were sacrificed--" + +"Promise!" + +"I can't," I said. "It's wrong." + +"Then good-by!" she cried, starting to her feet. + +"No--no--" and I caught her hand. + +"Well, then?" + +"I--promise." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. FIRST BLOOD + + +So I bound myself to a guilty secrecy for Eva's sake, to save her from +these wretches, or if you will, to win her for myself. Nor did it +strike me as very strange, after a moment's reflection, that she should +intercede thus earnestly for a band headed by her own mother's widower, +prime scoundrel of them all though she knew him to be. The only +surprise was that she had not interceded in his name; that I should have +forgotten, and she should have allowed me to forget, the very existence +of so indisputable a claim upon her loyalty. This, however, made it a +little difficult to understand the hysterical gratitude with which my +unwilling promise was received. Poor darling! she was beside herself +with sheer relief. She wept as I had never seen her weep before. She +seized and even kissed my hands, as one who neither knew nor cared what +she did, surprising me so much by her emotion that this expression of it +passed unheeded. I was the best friend she had ever had. I was her one +good friend in all the world; she would trust herself to me; and if I +would but take her to the convent where she had been brought up, she +would pray for me there until her death, but that would not be very +long. + +All of which confused me utterly; it seemed an inexplicable breakdown +in one who had shown such nerve and courage hitherto, and so hearty a +loathing for that damnable Santos. So completely had her presence of +mind forsaken her that she looked no longer where she had been gazing +hitherto. And thus it was that neither of us saw Jose until we heard +him calling, "Senhora Evah! Senhora Evah!" with some rapid sentences in +Portuguese. + +"Now is our time," I whispered, crouching lower and clasping a small +hand gone suddenly cold. "Think of nothing now but getting out of this. +I'll keep my word once we are out; and here's the toy that's going to +get us out." And I produced my Deane and Adams with no small relish. + +A little trustful pressure was my answer and my reward; meanwhile the +black was singing out lustily in evident suspicion and alarm. + +"He says they are coming back," whispered Eva; "but that's impossible." + +"Why?" + +"Because if they were he couldn't see them, and if he heard them he +would be frightened of their hearing him. But here he comes!" + +A shuffling quick step on the path; a running grumble of unmistakable +threats; a shambling moonlit figure seen in glimpses through the leaves, +very near us for an instant, then hidden by the shrubbery as he passed +within a few yards of our hiding-place. A diminuendo of the +shuffling steps; then a cursing, frightened savage at one end of the +rhododendrons, and we two stealing out at the other, hand in hand, and +bent quite double, into the long neglected grass. + +"Can you run for it?" I whispered. + +"Yes, but not too fast, for fear we trip.' + +"Come on, then!" + +The lighted open doorway grew greater at every stride. + +"He hasn't seen us yet--" + +"No, I hear him threatening me still." + +"Now he has, though!" + +A wild whoop proclaimed the fact, and upright we tore at top speed +through the last ten yards of grass, while the black rushed down one of +the side paths, gaining audibly on us over the better ground. But our +start had saved us, and we flew up the steps as his feet ceased to +clatter on the path; he had plunged into the grass to cut off the +corner. + +"Thank God!" cried Eva. "Now shut it quick." + +The great door swung home with a mighty clatter, and Eva seized the key +in both hands. + +"I can't turn it!" + +To lose a second was to take a life, and unconsciously I was sticking +at that, perhaps from no higher instinct than distrust of my aim. Our +pursuer, however, was on the steps when I clapped my free hand on top of +those little white straining ones, and by a timely effort bent both them +and the key round together; the ward shot home as Jose hurled himself +against the door. Eva bolted it. But the thud was not repeated, and I +gathered myself together between the door and the nearest window, for by +now I saw there was but one thing for us. The nigger must be disabled, +if I could manage such a nicety; if not, the devil take his own. + +Well, I was not one tick too soon for him. My pistol was not cocked +before the crash came that I was counting on, and with it a shower of +small glass driving across the six-foot sill and tinkling on the flags. +Next came a black and bloody face, at which I could not fire. I had +to wait till I saw his legs, when I promptly shattered one of them at +disgracefully short range. The report was as deafening as one upon the +stage; the hall filled with white smoke, and remained hideous with the +bellowing of my victim. I searched him without a qualm, but threats +of annihilation instead, and found him unarmed but for that very knife +which Rattray had induced me to hand over to him in town. I had a grim +satisfaction in depriving him of this, and but small compunction in +turning my back upon his pain. + +"Come," I said to poor Eva, "don't pity him, though I daresay he's the +most pitiable of the lot; show me the way through, and I'll follow with +this lamp." + +One was burning on the old oak table. I carried it along a narrow +passage, through a great low kitchen where I bumped my head against the +black oak beams; and I held it on high at a door almost as massive as +the one which we had succeeded in shutting in the nigger's face. + +"I was afraid of it!" cried Eva, with a sudden sob. + +"What is it?" + +"They've taken away the key!" + +Yes, the keen air came through an empty keyhole; and my lamp, held +close, not only showed that the door was locked, but that the lock was +one with which an unskilled hand might tamper for hours without result. +I dealt it a hearty kick by way of a test. The heavy timber did not +budge; there was no play at all at either lock or hinges; nor did I see +how I could spend one of my four remaining bullets upon the former, with +any chance of a return. + +"Is this the only other door?" + +"Then it must be a window." + +"All the back ones are barred." + +"Securely?" + +"Yes." + +"Then we've no choice in the matter." + +And I led the way back to the hall, where the poor black devil lay +blubbering in his blood. In the kitchen I found the bottle of wine +(Rattray's best port, that they were trying to make her take for her +health) with which Eva had bribed him, and I gave it to him before +laying hands on a couple of chairs. + +"What are you going to do?"' + +"Go out the way we came." + +"But the wall?" + +"Pile up these chairs, and as many more as we may need, if we can't open +the gate." + +But Eva was not paying attention any longer, either to me or to Jose; +his white teeth were showing in a grin for all his pain; her eyes were +fixed in horror on the floor. + +"They've come back," she gasped. "The underground passage! Hark--hark!" + +There was a muffled rush of feet beneath our own, then a dull but very +distinguishable clatter on some invisible stair. + +"Underground passage!" I exclaimed, and in my sheer disgust I forgot +what was due to my darling. "Why on earth didn't you tell me of it +before?" + +"There was so much to tell you! It leads to the sea. Oh, what shall we +do? You must hide--upstairs--anywhere!" cried Eva, wildly. "Leave them +to me--leave them to me." + +"I like that," said I; and I did; but I detested myself for the tears my +words had drawn, and I prepared to die for them. + +"They'll kill you, Mr. Cole!" + +"It would serve me right; but we'll see about it." + +And I stood with my revolver very ready in my right hand, while with +the other I caught poor Eva to my side, even as a door flew open, +and Rattray himself burst upon us, a lantern in his hand, and the +perspiration shining on his handsome face in its light. + +I can see him now as he stood dumfounded on the threshold of the hall; +and yet, at the time, my eyes sped past him into the room beyond. + +It was the one I have described as being lined with books; there was +a long rent in this lining, where the books had opened with a door, +through which Captain Harris, Joaquin Santos, and Jane Braithwaite +followed Rattray in quick succession, the men all with lanterns, the +woman scarlet and dishevelled even for her. It was over the squire's +shoulders I saw their faces; he kept them from passing him in the +doorway by a free use of his elbows; and when I looked at him again, his +black eyes were blazing from a face white with passion, and they were +fixed upon me. + +"What the devil brings you here?" he thundered at last. + +"Don't ask idle questions," was my reply to that. + +"So you were shamming to-day!" + +"I was taking a leaf out of your book." + +"You'll gain nothing by being clever!" sneered the squire, taking +a threatening step forward. For at the last moment I had tucked my +revolver behind my back, not only for the pleasure, but for the obvious +advantage of getting them all in front of me and off their guard. I +had no idea that such eyes as Rattray's could be so fierce: they were +dancing from me to my companion, whom their glitter frightened into an +attempt to disengage herself from me; but my arm only tightened about +her drooping figure. + +"I shall gain no more than I expect," said I, carelessly. "And I know +what to expect from brave gentlemen like you! It will be better than +your own fate, at all events; anything's better than being taken hence +to the place of execution, and hanged by the neck until you're dead, all +three of you in a row, and your bodies buried within the precincts of +the prison!" + +"The very thing for him," murmured Santos. "The--very--theeng!" + +"But I'm so soft-hearted," I went insanely on, "that I should be sorry +to see that happen to such fine fellows as you are. Come out of that, +you little fraud behind there!" It was my betrayer skulking in the +room. "Come out and line up with the rest! No, I'm not going to see you +fellows dance on nothing; I've another kind of ball apiece for you, and +one between 'em for the Braithwaites!" + +Well, I suppose I always had a nasty tongue in me, and rather enjoyed +making play with it on provocation; but, if so, I met with my deserts +that night. For the nigger of the Lady Jermyn lay all but hid behind Eva +and me; if they saw him at all, they may have thought him drunk; but, as +for myself, I had fairly forgotten his existence until the very moment +came for showing my revolver, when it was twisted out of my grasp +instead, and a ball sang under my arm as the brute fell back exhausted +and the weapon clattered beside him. Before I could stoop for it there +was a dead weight on my left arm, and Squire Rattray was over the table +at a bound, with his arms jostling mine beneath Eva Denison's senseless +form. + +"Leave her to me," he cried fiercely. "You fool," he added in a lower +key, "do you think I'd let any harm come to her?" + +I looked him in the bright and honest eyes that had made me trust him +in the beginning. And I did not utterly distrust him yet. Rather was the +guile on my side as I drew back and watched Rattray lift the young girl +tenderly, and slowly carry her to the door by which she had entered and +left the hall just twenty-four hours before. I could not take my eyes +off them till they were gone. And when I looked for my revolver, it also +had disappeared. + +Jose had not got it--he lay insensible. Santos was whispering to Harris. +Neither of them seemed armed. I made sure that Rattray had picked it up +and carried it off with Eva. I looked wildly for some other weapon. Two +unarmed men and a woman were all I had to deal with, for Braithwaite +had long since vanished. Could I but knock the worthless life out of the +men, I should have but the squire and his servants to deal with; and in +that quarter I still had my hopes of a bloodless battle and a treaty of +war. + +A log fire was smouldering in the open grate. I darted to it, and had a +heavy, half-burned brand whirling round my head next instant. Harris was +the first within my reach. He came gamely at me with his fists. I sprang +upon him, and struck him to the ground with one blow, the sparks flying +far and wide as my smoking brand met the seaman's skull. Santos was upon +me next instant, and him, by sheer luck, I managed to serve the same; +but I doubt whether either man was stunned; and I was standing ready for +them to rise, when I felt myself seized round the neck from behind, and +a mass of fluffy hair tickling my cheek, while a shrill voice set up a +lusty scream for the squire. + +I have said that the woman Braithwaite was of a sinister strength; but I +had little dreamt how strong she really was. First it was her arms +that wound themselves about my neck, long, sinuous, and supple as the +tentacles of some vile monster; then, as I struggled, her thumbs were on +my windpipe like pads of steel. Tighter she pressed, and tighter yet. My +eyeballs started; my tongue lolled; I heard my brand drop, and through +a mist I saw it picked up instantly. It crashed upon my skull as I still +struggled vainly; again and again it came down mercilessly in the same +place; until I felt as though a sponge of warm water had been squeezed +over my head, and saw a hundred withered masks grinning sudden +exultation into mine; but still the lean arm whirled, and the splinters +flew, till I was blind with my blood and the seven senses were beaten +out of me. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. A DEADLOCK + + +It must have been midnight when I opened my eyes; a clock was striking +as though it never would stop. My mouth seemed fire; a pungent flavor +filled my nostrils; the wineglass felt cold against my teeth. "That's +more like it!" muttered a voice close to my ear. An arm was withdrawn +from under my shoulders. I was allowed to sink back upon some pillows. +And now I saw where I was. The room was large and poorly lighted. I lay +in my clothes on an old four-poster bed. And my enemies were standing +over me in a group. + +"I hope you are satisfied!" sneered Joaquin Santos, with a flourish of +his eternal cigarette. + +"I am. You don't do murder in my house, wherever else you may do it." + +"And now better lid 'im to the nirrest polissstation; or weel you go +and tell the poliss yourself?" asked the Portuguese, in the same tone of +mordant irony. + +"Ay, ay," growled Harris; "that's the next thing!" + +"No," said Rattray; "the next thing's for you two to leave him to me." + +"We'll see you damned!" cried the captain. + +"No, no, my friend," said Santos, with a shrug; "let him have his way. +He is as fond of his skeen as you are of yours; he'll come round to our +way in the end. I know this Senhor Cole. It is necessary for 'im to die. +But it is not necessary this moment; let us live them together for a +leetle beet." + +"That's all I ask," said Rattray. + +"You won't ask it twice," rejoined Santos, shrugging. "I know this +Senhor Cole. There is only one way of dilling with a man like that. +Besides, he 'as 'alf-keeled my good Jose; it is necessary for 'im to +die." + +"I agree with the senhor," said Harris, whose forehead was starred +with sticking-plaster. "It's him or us, an' we're all agen you, squire. +You'll have to give in, first or last." + +And the pair were gone; their steps grew faint in the corridor; when we +could no longer hear them, Rattray closed the door and quietly locked +it. Then he turned to me, stern enough, and pointed to the door with a +hand that shook. + +"You see how it is?" + +"Perfectly." + +"They want to kill you!" + +"Of course they do." + +"It's your own fault; you've run yourself into this. I did my best to +keep you out of it. But in you come, and spill first blood." + +"I don't regret it," said I. + +"Oh, you're damned mule enough not to regret anything!" cried Rattray. +"I see the sort you are; yet but for me, I tell you plainly, you'd be a +dead man now." + +"I can't think why you interfered." + +"You've heard the reason. I won't have murder done here if I can prevent +it; so far I have; it rests with you whether I can go on preventing it +or not." + +"With me, does it?" + +He sat down on the side of the bed. He threw an arm to the far side of +my body, and he leaned over me with savage eyes now staring into mine, +now resting with a momentary gleam of pride upon my battered head. I put +up my hand; it lit upon a very turban of bandages, and at that I tried +to take his hand in mine. He shook it off, and his eyes met mine more +fiercely than before. + +"See here, Cole," said he; "I don t know how the devil you got wind of +anything to start with, and I don't care. What I do know is that you've +made bad enough a long chalk worse for all concerned, and you'll have to +get yourself out of the mess you've got yourself into, and there's only +one way. I suppose Miss Denison has really told you everything this +time? What's that? Oh, yes, she's all right again; no thanks to you. Now +let's hear what she did tell you. It'll save time." + +I repeated the hurried disclosures made by Eva in the rhododendrons. He +nodded grimly in confirmation of their truth. + +"Yes, those are the rough facts. The game was started in Melbourne. My +part was to wait at Ascension till the Lady Jermyn signalled herself, +follow her in a schooner we had bought and pick up the gig with the gold +aboard. Well, I did so; never mind the details now, and never mind the +bloody massacre the others had made of it before I came up. God knows I +was never a consenting party to that, though I know I'm responsible. +I'm in this thing as deep as any of them. I've shared the risks and I'm +going to share the plunder, and I'll swing with the others if it ever +comes to that. I deserve it hard enough. And so here we are, we three +and the nigger, all four fit to swing in a row, as you were fool enough +to tell us; and you step in and find out everything. What's to be done? +You know what the others want to do. I say it rests with you whether +they do it or not. There's only one other way of meeting the case." + +"What's that?" + +"Be in it yourself, man! Come in with me and split my share!" + +I could have burst out laughing in his handsome, eager face; the good +faith of this absurd proposal was so incongruously apparent; and so +obviously genuine was the young villain's anxiety for my consent. Become +accessory after the fact in such a crime! Sell my silence for a price! I +concealed my feelings with equal difficulty and resolution. I had plans +of my own already, but I must gain time to think them over. Nor could I +afford to quarrel with Rattray meanwhile. + +"What was the haul?" I asked him, with the air of one not unprepared to +consider the matter. + +"Twelve thousand ounces!" + +"Forty-eight thousand pounds, about?" + +"Yes-yes." + +"And your share?" + +"Fourteen thousand pounds. Santos takes twenty, and Harris and I +fourteen thousand each." + +"And you offer me seven?" + +"I do! I do!" + +He was becoming more and more eager and excited. His eyes were brighter +than I had ever seen them, but slightly bloodshot, and a coppery flush +tinged his clear, sunburnt skin. I fancied he had been making somewhat +free with the brandy. But loss of blood had cooled my brain; and, +perhaps, natural perversity had also a share in the composure which grew +upon me as it deserted my companion. + +"Why make such a sacrifice?" said I, smiling. "Why not let them do as +they like?" + +"I've told you why! I'm not so bad as all that. I draw the line at +bloody murder! Not a life should have been lost if I'd had my way. +Besides, I've done all the dirty work by you, Cole; there's been no +help for it. We didn't know whether you knew or not; it made all the +difference to us; and somebody had to dog you and find out how much you +did know. I was the only one who could possibly do it. God knows how I +detested the job! I'm more ashamed of it than of worse things. I had to +worm myself into your friendship; and, by Jove, you made me think you +did know, but hadn't let it out, and might any day. So then I got you up +here, where you would be in our power if it was so; surely you can see +every move? But this much I'll swear--I had nothing to do with Jose +breaking into your room at the hotel; they went behind me there, curse +them! And when at last I found out for certain, down here, that you knew +nothing after all, I was never more sincerely thankful in my life. I +give you my word it took a load off my heart." + +"I know that," I said. "I also know who broke into my room, and I'm glad +I'm even with one of you." + +"It's done you no good," said Rattray. "Their first thought was to put +you out of the way, and it's more than ever their last. You see the sort +of men you've got to deal with; and they're three to one, counting the +nigger; but if you go in with me they'll only be three to two." + +He was manifestly anxious to save me in this fashion. And I suppose that +most sensible men, in my dilemma, would at least have nursed or played +upon good-will so lucky and so enduring. But there was always a twist in +me that made me love (in my youth) to take the unexpected course; and it +amused me the more to lead my young friend on. + +"And where have you got this gold?" I asked him, in a low voice so +promising that he instantly lowered his, and his eyes twinkled naughtily +into mine. + +"In the old tunnel that runs from this place nearly to the sea," said +he. "We Rattrays have always been a pretty warm lot, Cole, and in the +old days we were the most festive smugglers on the coast; this tunnel's +a relic of 'em, although it was only a tradition till I came into the +property. I swore I'd find it, and when I'd done so I made the new +connection which you shall see. I'm rather proud of it. And I won't say +I haven't used the old drain once or twice after the fashion of my rude +forefathers; but never was it such a godsend as it's been this time. By +Jove, it would be a sin if you didn't come in with us, Cole; but for the +lives these blackguards lost the thing's gone splendidly; it would be a +sin if you went and lost yours, whereas, if you come in, the two of us +would be able to shake off those devils: we should be too strong for +'em." + +"Seven thousand pounds!" I murmured. "Forty-eight thousand between us!" + +"Yes, and nearly all of it down below, at this end of the tunnel, and +the rest where we dropped it when we heard you were trying to bolt. We'd +got it all at the other end, ready to pop aboard the schooner that's +lying there still, if you turned out to know anything and to have told +what you knew to the police. There was always the possibility of that, +you see; we simply daren't show our noses at the bank until we knew how +much you knew, and what you'd done or were thinking of doing. As it is, +we can take 'em the whole twelve thousand ounces, or rather I can, as +soon as I like, in broad daylight. I'm a lucky digger. It's all right. +Everybody knows I've been out there. They'll have to pay me over the +counter; and if you wait in the cab, by the Lord Harry, I'll pay you +your seven thousand first! You don't deserve it, Cole, but you shall +have it, and between us we'll see the others to blazes!" + +He jumped up all excitement, and was at the door next instant. + +"Stop!" I cried. "Where are you going?" + +"Downstairs to tell them." + +"Tell them what?" + +"That you're going in with me, and it's all right." + +"And do you really think I am?" + +He had unlocked the door; after a pause I heard him lock it again. But +I did not see his face until he returned to the bedside. And then it +frightened me. It was distorted and discolored with rage and chagrin. + +"You've been making a fool of me!" he cried fiercely. + +"No, I have been considering the matter, Rattray." + +"And you won't accept my offer?" + +"Of course I won't. I didn't say I'd been considering that." + +He stood over me with clenched fists and starting eyes. + +"Don't you see that I want to save your life?" he cried. "Don't you see +that this is the only way? Do you suppose a murder more or less makes +any difference to that lot downstairs? Are you really such a fool as to +die rather than hold your tongue?" + +"I won't hold it for money, at all events," said I. "But that's what I +was coming to." + +"Very well!" he interrupted. "You shall only pretend to touch it. All I +want is to convince the others that it's against your interest to split. +Self-interest is the one motive they understand. Your bare word would be +good enough for me." + +"Suppose I won't give my bare word?" said I, in a gentle manner which I +did not mean to be as irritating as it doubtless was. Yet his proposals +and his assumptions were between them making me irritable in my turn. + +"For Heaven's sake don't be such an idiot, Cole!" he burst out in a +passion. "You know I'm against the others, and you know what they want, +yet you do your best to put me on their side! You know what they are, +and yet you hesitate! For the love of God be sensible; at least give me +your word that you'll hold your tongue for ever about all you know." + +"All right," I said. "I'll give you my word--my sacred promise, +Rattray--on one condition." + +"What's that?" + +"That you let me take Miss Denison away from you, for good and all!" + +His face was transformed with fury: honest passion faded from it and +left it bloodless, deadly, sinister. + +"Away from me?" said Rattray, through his teeth. + +"From the lot of you." + +"I remember! You told me that night. Ha, ha, ha! You were in love with +her--you--you!" + +"That has nothing to do with it," said I, shaking the bed with my anger +and my agitation. + +"I should hope not! You, indeed, to look at her!" + +"Well," I cried, "she may never love me; but at least she doesn't loathe +me as she loathes you--yes, and the sight of you, and your very name!" + +So I drew blood for blood; and for an instant I thought he was going to +make an end of it by incontinently killing me himself. His fists flew +out. Had I been a whole man on my legs, he took care to tell me what he +would have done, and to drive it home with a mouthful of the oaths which +were conspicuously absent from his ordinary talk. + +"You take advantage of your weakness, like any cur," he wound up. + +"And you of your strength--like the young bully you are!" I retorted. + +"You do your best to make me one," he answered bitterly. "I try to stand +by you at all costs. I want to make amends to you, I want to prevent +a crime. Yet there you lie and set your face against a compromise; and +there you lie and taunt me with the thing that's gall and wormwood to me +already. I know I gave you provocation. And I know I'm rightly served. +Why do you suppose I went into this accursed thing at all? Not for the +gold, my boy, but for the girl! So she won't look at me. And it serves +me right. But--I say--do you really think she loathes me, Cole?" + +"I don't see how she can think much better of you than of the crime +in which you've had a hand," was my reply, made, however, with as much +kindness as I could summon. "The word I used was spoken in anger," said +I; for his had disappeared; and he looked such a miserable, handsome dog +as he stood there hanging his guilty head--in the room, I fancied, where +he once had lain as a pretty, innocent child. + +"Cole," said he, "I'd give twice my share of the damned stuff never to +have put my hand to the plough; but go back I can't; so there's an end +of it." + +"I don't see it," said I. "You say you didn't go in for the gold? Then +give up your share; the others'll jump at it; and Eva won't think the +worse of you, at any rate." + +"But what's to become of her if I drop out? + +"You and I will take her to her friends, or wherever she wants to go." + +"No, no!" he cried. "I never yet deserted my pals, and I'm not going to +begin." + +"I don't believe you ever before had such pals to desert," was my reply +to that. "Quite apart from my own share in the matter, it makes me +positively sick to see a fellow like you mixed up with such a crew in +such a game. Get out of it, man, get out of it while you can! Now's your +time. Get out of it, for God's sake!" + +I sat up in my eagerness. I saw him waver. And for one instant a great +hope fluttered in my heart. But his teeth met. His face darkened. He +shook his head. + +"That's the kind of rot that isn't worth talking, and you ought to know +it," said he. "When I begin a thing I go through with it, though it +lands me in hell, as this one will. I can't help that. It's too late to +go back. I'm going on and you're going with me, Cole, like a sensible +chap!" + +I shook my head. + +"Only on the one condition." + +"You--stick--to--that?" he said, so rapidly that the words ran into one, +so fiercely that his decision was as plain to me as my own. + +"I do," said I, and could only sigh when he made yet one more effort to +persuade me, in a distress not less apparent than his resolution, and +not less becoming in him. + +"Consider, Cole, consider!" + +"I have already done so, Rattray." + +"Murder is simply nothing to them!" + +"It is nothing to me either." + +"Human life is nothing!" + +"No; it must end one day." + +"You won't give your word unconditionally?" + +"No; you know my condition." + +He ignored it with a blazing eye, his hand upon the door. + +"You prefer to die, then?" "Infinitely." + +"Then die you may, and be damned to you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. THIEVES FALL OUT + + +The door slammed. It was invisibly locked and the key taken out. I +listened for the last of an angry stride. It never even began. But after +a pause the door was unlocked again, and Rattray re-entered. + +Without looking at me, he snatched the candle from the table on which it +stood by the bedside, and carried it to a bureau at the opposite side +of the room. There he stood a minute with his back turned, the candle, +I fancy, on the floor. I saw him putting something in either jacket +pocket. Then I heard a dull little snap, as though he had shut some +small morocco case; whatever it was, he tossed it carelessly back into +the bureau; and next minute he was really gone, leaving the candle +burning on the floor. + +I lay and heard his steps out of earshot, and they were angry enough +now, nor had he given me a single glance. I listened until there was +no more to be heard, and then in an instant I was off the bed and on +my feet. I reeled a little, and my head gave me great pain, but greater +still was my excitement. I caught up the candle, opened the unlocked +bureau, and then the empty case which I found in the very front. + +My heart leapt; there was no mistaking the depressions in the case. It +was a brace of tiny pistols that Rattray had slipped into his jacket +pockets. + +Mere toys they must have been in comparison with my dear Deane and +Adams; that mattered nothing. I went no longer in dire terror of my +life; indeed, there was that in Rattray which had left me feeling fairly +safe, in spite of his last words to me, albeit I felt his fears on my +behalf to be genuine enough. His taking these little pistols (of +course, there were but three chambers left loaded in mine) confirmed my +confidence in him. + +He would stick at nothing to defend me from the violence of his +bloodthirsty accomplices. But it should not come to that. My legs were +growing firmer under me. I was not going to lie there meekly without +making at least an effort at self-deliverance. If it succeeded--the +idea came to me in a flash--I would send Rattray an ultimatum from the +nearest town; and either Eva should be set instantly and unconditionally +free, or the whole matter be put unreservedly in the hands of the local +police. + +There were two lattice windows, both in the same immensely thick wall; +to my joy, I discovered that they overlooked the open premises at the +back of the hall, with the oak-plantation beyond; nor was the distance +to the ground very great. It was the work of a moment to tear the sheets +from the bed, to tie the two ends together and a third round the mullion +by which the larger window was bisected. I had done this, and had let +down my sheets, when a movement below turned my heart to ice. The night +had clouded over. I could see nobody; so much the greater was my alarm. + +I withdrew from the window, leaving the sheets hanging, in the hope that +they also might be invisible in the darkness. I put out the candle, +and returned to the window in great perplexity. Next moment I stood +aghast--between the devil and the deep sea. I still heard a something +down below, but a worse sound came to drown it. An unseen hand was very +quietly trying the door which Rattray had locked behind him. + +"Diablo!" came to my horrified ears, in a soft, vindictive voice. + +"I told ye so," muttered another; "the young swab's got the key." + +There was a pause, in which it would seem that Joaquin Santos had his +ear at the empty keyhole. + +"I think he must be slipping," at last I heard him sigh. "It was not +necessary to awaken him in this world. It is a peety." + +"One kick over the lock would do it," said Harris; "only the young +swab'll hear." + +"Not perhaps while he is dancing attendance on the senhora. Was it not +good to send him to her? If he does hear, well, his own turn will come +the queecker, that is all. But it would be better to take them one at a +time; so keeck away, my friend, and I will give him no time to squil." + +While my would-be murderers were holding this whispered colloquy, I had +stood half-petrified by the open window; unwilling to slide down the +sheets into the arms of an unseen enemy, though I had no idea which +of them it could be; more hopeful of slipping past my butchers in the +darkness, and so to Rattray and poor Eva; but not the less eagerly +looking for some hiding-place in the room. The best that offered was a +recess in the thick wall between the two windows, filled with hanging +clothes: a narrow closet without a door, which would shelter me well +enough if not too curiously inspected. Here I hid myself in the end, +after a moment of indecision which nearly cost me my life. The coats and +trousers still shook in front of me when the door flew open at the first +kick, and Santos stood a moment in the moonlight, looking for the bed. +With a stride he reached it, and I saw the gleam of a knife from where I +stood among the squire's clothes; it flashed over my bed, and was still. + +"He is not 'ere!" + +"He heard us, and he's a-hiding." + +"Make light, my friend, and we shall very soon see." + +Harris did so. + +"Here's a candle," said Santos; "light it, and watch the door. Perro mal +dicto! What have we here?" + +I felt certain he had seen me, but the candle passed within a yard of my +feet, and was held on high at the open window. + +"We are too late!" said Santos. "He's gone!" + +"Are you sure + +"Look at this sheet." + +"Then the other swab knew of it, and we'll settle with him." + +"Yes, yes. But not yet, my good friend--not yet. We want his asseestance +in getting the gold back to the sea; he will be glad enough to give it, +now that his pet bird has flown; after that--by all mins. You shall cut +his troth, and I will put one of 'is dear friend's bullets in 'im for my +own satisfaction." + +There was a quick step on the stairs-in the corridor. + +"I'd like to do it now," whispered Harris; "no time like the present." + +"Not yet, I tell you!" + +And Rattray was in the room, a silver-mounted pistol in each hand; the +sight of these was a surprise to his treacherous confederates, as even I +could see. + +"What the devil are you two doing here?" he thundered. + +"We thought he was too quite," said Santos. "You percive the rizzon." + +And he waved from empty bed to open window, then held the candle close +to the tied sheet, and shrugged expressively. + +"You thought he was too quiet!" echoed Rattray with fierce scorn. "You +thought I was too blind--that's what you mean. To tell me that Miss +Denison wished to see me, and Miss Denison that I wished to speak to +her! As if we shouldn't find you out in about a minute! But a minute was +better than nothing, eh? And you've made good use of your minute, have +you. You've murdered him, and you pretend he's got out? By God, if you +have, I'll murder you! I've been ready for this all night!" + +And he stood with his back to the window, his pistols raised, and his +head carried proudly--happily--like a man whose self-respect was coming +back to him after many days. Harris shrank before his fierce eyes +and pointed barrels. The Portuguese, however, had merely given a +characteristic shrug, and was now rolling the inevitable cigarette. + +"Your common sense is almost as remarkable as your sense of justice, my +friend," said he. "You see us one, two, tree meenutes ago, and you see +us now. You see the empty bed, the empty room, and you imagine that in +one, two, tree meenutes we have killed a man and disposed of his body. +Truly, you are very wise and just, and very loyal also to your friends. +You treat a dangerous enemy as though he were your tween-brother. You +let him escape--let him, I repit--and then you threaten to shoot those +who, as it is, may pay for your carelessness with their lives. We have +been always very loyal to you, Senhor Rattray. We have leestened to your +advice, and often taken it against our better judgment. We are here, not +because we think it wise, but because you weeshed it. Yet at the first +temptation you turn upon us, you point your peestols at your friends." + +"I don't believe in your loyalty," rejoined Rattray. "I believe you +would shoot me sooner than I would you. The only difference would be +than I should be shot in the back!" + +"It is untrue," said Santos, with immense emotion. "I call the saints to +witness that never by thought or word have I been disloyal to you"--and +the blasphemous wretch actually crossed himself with a trembling, skinny +hand. "I have leestened to you, though you are the younger man. I have +geeven way to you in everything from the moment we were so fullish as to +set foot on this accursed coast; that also was your doeeng; and it will +be your fault if ivil comes of it. Yet I have not complained. Here +in your own 'ouse you have been the master, I the guest. So far from +plotting against you, show me the man who has heard me brith one +treacherous word behind your back; you will find it deeficult, friend +Rattray; what do you say, captain?" + +"Me?" cried Harris, in a voice bursting with abuse. And what the captain +said may or may not be imagined. It cannot be set down. + +But the man who ought to have spoken--the man who had such a chance as +few men have off the stage--who could have confounded these villains +in a breath, and saved the wretched Rattray at once from them and +from himself--that unheroic hero remained ignobly silent in his homely +hiding-place. And, what is more, he would do the same again! + +The rogues had fallen out; now was the time for honest men. They all +thought I had escaped; therefore they would give me a better chance than +ever of still escaping; and I have already explained to what purpose +I meant to use my first hours of liberty. That purpose I hold to have +justified any ingratitude that I may seem now to have displayed towards +the man who had undoubtedly stood between death and me. Was not Eva +Denison of more value than many Rattrays? And it was precisely in +relation with this pure young girl that I most mistrusted the squire: +obviously then my first duty was to save Eva from Rattray, not Rattray +from these traitors. + +Not that I pretend for a moment to have been the thing I never was: you +are not so very grateful to the man who pulls you out of the mud when he +has first of all pushed you in; nor is it chivalry alone which spurs +one to the rescue of a lovely lady for whom, after all, one would rather +live than die. Thus I, in my corner, was thinking (I will say) of Eva +first; but next I was thinking of myself; and Rattray's blood be on his +own hot head! I hold, moreover, that I was perfectly right in all this; +but if any think me very wrong, a sufficient satisfaction is in store +for them, for I was very swiftly punished. + +The captain's language was no worse in character than in effect: the bed +was bloody from my wounded head, all tumbled from the haste with which +I had quitted it, and only too suggestive of still fouler play. Rattray +stopped the captain with a sudden flourish of one of his pistols, the +silver mountings making lightning in the room; then he called upon the +pair of them to show him what they had done with me; and to my horror, +Santos invited him to search the room. The invitation was accepted. Yet +there I stood. It would have been better to step forward even then. Yet +I cowered among his clothes until his own hand fell upon my collar, and +forth I was dragged to the plain amazement of all three. + +Santos was the first to find his voice. + +"Another time you will perhaps think twice before you spik, friend +squire." + +Rattray simply asked me what I had been doing in there, in a white flame +of passion, and with such an oath that I embellished the truth for him +in my turn. + +"Trying to give you blackguards the slip," said I. + +"Then it was you who let down the sheet?" + +"Of course it was." + +"All right! I'm done with you," said he; "that settles it. I make you an +offer. You won't accept it. I do my best; you do your worst; but I'll be +shot if you get another chance from me!" + +Brandy and the wine-glass stood where Rattray must have set them, on an +oak stool beside the bed; as he spoke he crossed the room, filled +the glass till the spirit dripped, and drained it at a gulp. He was +twitching and wincing still when he turned, walked up to Joaquin Santos, +and pointed to where I stood with a fist that shook. + +"You wanted to deal with him," said Rattray; "you're at liberty to do +so. I'm only sorry I stood in your way." + +But no answer, and for once no rings of smoke came from those shrivelled +lips: the man had rolled and lighted a cigarette since Rattray entered, +but it was burning unheeded between his skinny fingers. I had his +attention, all to myself. He knew the tale that I was going to tell. +He was waiting for it; he was ready for me. The attentive droop of his +head; the crafty glitter in his intelligent eyes; the depth and +breadth of the creased forehead; the knowledge of his resource, the +consciousness of my error, all distracted and confounded me so that my +speech halted and my voice ran thin. I told Rattray every syllable that +these traitors had been saying behind his back, but I told it all very +ill; what was worse, and made me worse, I was only too well aware of my +own failure to carry conviction with my words. + +"And why couldn't you come out and say so," asked Rattray, as even I knew +that he must. "Why wait till now?" + +"Ah, why!" echoed Santos, with a smile and a shake of the head; a +suspicious tolerance, an ostentatious truce, upon his parchment face. +And already he was sufficiently relieved to suck his cigarette alight +again. + +"You know why," I said, trusting to bluff honesty with the one of them +who was not rotten to the core: "because I still meant escaping." + +"And then what?" asked Rattray fiercely. + +"You had given me my chance," I said; "I hould have given you yours." + +"You would, would you? Very kind of you, Mr. Cole!" + +"No, no," said Santos; "not kind, but clever! Clever, spicious, and +queeck-weeted beyond belif! Senhor Rattray, we have all been in the +dark; we thought we had fool to die with, but what admirable knave the +young man would make! Such readiness, such resource, with his tongue +or with his peestol; how useful would it be to us! I am glad you have +decided to live him to me, friend Rattray, for I am quite come round to +your way of thinking. It is no longer necessary for him to die!" + +"You mean that?" cried Rattray keenly. + +"Of course I min it. You were quite right. He must join us. But he will +when I talk to him." + +I could not speak. I was fascinated by this wretch: it was reptile and +rabbit with us. Treachery I knew he meant; my death, for one; my death +was certain; and yet I could not speak. + +"Then talk to him, for God's sake," cried Rattray, "and I shall be only +too glad if you can talk some sense into him. I've tried, and failed." + +"I shall not fail," said Santos softly. "But it is better that he has a +leetle time to think over it calmly; better steel for 'im to slip upon +it, as you say. Let us live 'im for the night, what there is of it; time +enough in the morning." + +I could hardly believe my ears; still I knew that it was treachery, all +treachery; and the morning I should never see. + +"But we can't leave him up here," said Rattray; "it would mean one of us +watching him all night." + +"Quite so," said Santos. "I will tell you where we could live him, +however, if you will allow me to wheesper one leetle moment." + +They drew aside; and, as I live, I thought that little moment was to +be Rattray's last on earth. I watched, but nothing happened; on the +contrary, both men seemed agreed, the Portuguese gesticulating, the +Englishman nodding, as they stood conversing at the window. Their faces +were strangely reassuring. I began to reason with myself, to rid my mind +of mere presentiment and superstition. If these two really were at one +about me (I argued) there might be no treachery after all. When I came +to think of it, Rattray had been closeted long enough with me to awake +the worst suspicions in the breasts of his companions; now that these +were allayed, there might be no more bloodshed after all (if, for +example, I pretended to give in), even though Santos had not cared whose +blood was shed a few minutes since. That was evidently the character of +the wretch: to compass his ends or to defend his person he would take +life with no more compunction than the ordinary criminal takes money; +but (and hence) murder for murder's sake was no amusement to him. + +My confidence was further restored by Captain Harris; ever a gross +ruffian, with no refinements to his rascality, he had been at the brandy +bottle after Rattray's example; and now was dozing on the latter's bed, +taking his watch below when he could get it, like the good seaman he +had been. I was quite sorry for him when the conversation at the window +ceased suddenly, and Rattray roused the captain up. + +"Watches aft!" said he. "We want that mattress; you can bring it along, +while I lead the way with the pillows and things. Come on, Cole!" + +"Where to?" I asked, standing firm. + +"Where there's no window for you to jump out of, old boy, and no clothes +of mine for you to hide behind. You needn't look so scared; it's as dry +as a bone, as cellars go. And it's past three o'clock. And you've just +got to come." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. A MAN OF MANY MURDERS + + +It was a good-sized wine-cellar, with very little wine in it; only one +full bin could I discover. The bins themselves lined but two of the +walls, and most of them were covered in with cobwebs, close-drawn like +mosquito-curtains. The ceiling was all too low: torpid spiders hung +in disreputable parlors, dead to the eye, but loathsomely alive at an +involuntary touch. Rats scuttled when we entered, and I had not been +long alone when they returned to bear me company. I am not a natural +historian, and had rather face a lion with the right rifle than a rat +with a stick. My jailers, however, had been kind enough to leave me a +lantern, which, set upon the ground (like my mattress), would afford a +warning, if not a protection, against the worst; unless I slept; and as +yet I had not lain down. The rascals had been considerate enough, more +especially Santos, who had a new manner for me with his revised opinion +of my character; it was a manner almost as courtly as that which had +embellished his relations with Eva Denison, and won him my early regard +at sea. Moreover, it was at the suggestion of Santos that they had +detained me in the hall, for much-needed meat and drink, on the way +down. Thereafter they had conducted me through the book-lined door of my +undoing, down stone stairs leading to three cellar doors, one of which +they had double-locked upon me. + +As soon as I durst I was busy with this door; but to no purpose; it was +a slab of solid oak, hung on hinges as massive as its lock. It galled +me to think that but two doors stood between me and the secret tunnel to +the sea: for one of the other two must lead to it. The first, however, +was all beyond me, and I very soon gave it up. There was also a +very small grating which let in a very little fresh air: the massive +foundations had been tunnelled in one place; a rude alcove was the +result, with this grating at the end and top of it, some seven feet +above the earth floor. Even had I been able to wrench away the bars, it +would have availed me nothing, since the aperture formed the segment of +a circle whose chord was but a very few inches long. I had nevertheless +a fancy for seeing the stars once more and feeling the breath of heaven +upon my bandaged temples, which impelled me to search for that which +should add a cubit to my stature. And at a glance I descried two +packing-cases, rather small and squat, but the pair of them together +the very thing for me. To my amazement, however, I could at first move +neither one nor the other of these small boxes. Was it that I was weak +as water, or that they were heavier than lead? At last I managed to get +one of them in my arms--only to drop it with a thud. A side started; +a thin sprinkling of yellow dust glittered on the earth. I fetched the +lantern: it was gold-dust from Bendigo or from Ballarat. + +To me there was horror unspeakable, yet withal a morbid fascination, +in the spectacle of the actual booty for which so many lives had been +sacrificed before my eyes. Minute followed minute in which I looked at +nothing, and could think of nothing, but the stolen bullion at my feet; +then I gathered what of the dust I could, pocketed it in pinches to hide +my meddlesomeness, and blew the rest away. The box had dropped very much +where I had found it; it had exhausted my strength none the less, and +I was glad at last to lie down on the mattress, and to wind my body in +Rattray's blankets. + +I shuddered at the thought of sleep: the rats became so lively the +moment I lay still. One ventured so near as to sit up close to the +lantern; the light showed its fat white belly, and the thing itself was +like a dog begging, as big to my disgusted eyes. And yet, in the midst +of these horrors (to me as bad as any that had preceded them), nature +overcame me, and for a space my torments ceased. + +"He is aslip," a soft voice said. + +"Don't wake the poor devil," said another. + +"But I weesh to spik with 'im. Senhor Cole! Senhor Cole!" + +I opened my eyes. Santos looked of uncanny stature in the low yellow +light, from my pillow close to the earth. Harris turned away at my +glance; he carried a spade, and began digging near the boxes without +more ado, by the light of a second lantern set on one of them: his back +was to me from this time on. Santos shrugged a shoulder towards the +captain as he opened a campstool, drew up his trousers, and seated +himself with much deliberation at the foot of my mattress. + +"When you 'ave treasure," said he, "the better thing is to bury it, +Senhor Cole. Our young friend upstairs begs to deefer; but he is +slipping; it is peety he takes such quantity of brandy! It is leetle +wikness of you Engleesh; we in Portugal never touch it, save as a +liqueur; therefore we require less slip. Friend squire upstairs is at +this moment no better than a porker. Have I made mistake? I thought it +was the same word in both languages; but I am glad to see you smile, +Senhor Cole; that is good sign. I was going to say, he is so fast aslip +up there, that he would not hear us if we were to shoot each other +dead!" + +And he gave me his paternal smile, benevolent, humorous, reassuring; but +I was no longer reassured; nor did I greatly care any more what happened +to me. There is a point of last, as well as one of least resistance, and +I had reached both points at once. + +"Have you shot him dead?" I inquired, thinking that if he had, this +would precipitate my turn. But he was far from angry; the parchment +face crumpled into tolerant smiles; the venerable head shook a playful +reproval, as he threw away the cigarette that I am tired of mentioning, +and put the last touch to a fresh one with his tongue. + +"What question?" said he; "reely, Senhor Cole! But you are quite right: +I would have shot him, or cut his troth" (and he shrugged indifference +on the point), "if it had not been for you; and yet it would have been +your fault! I nid not explain; the poseetion must have explained itself +already; besides, it is past. With you two against us--but it is past. +You see, I have no longer the excellent Jose. You broke his leg, bad +man. I fear it will be necessary to destroy 'im." Santos made a pause; +then inquired if he shocked me. + +"Not a bit," said I, neither truly nor untruly; "you interest me." And +that he did. + +"You see," he continued, "I have not the respect of you Engleesh for +'uman life. We will not argue it. I have at least some respect for +prejudice. In my youth I had myself such prejudices; but one loses them +on the Zambesi. You cannot expect one to set any value upon the life of +a black nigger; and when you have keeled a great many Kaffirs, by the +lash, with the crocodiles, or what-not, then a white man or two makes +less deeference. I acknowledge there were too many on board that sheep; +but what was one to do? You have your Engleesh proverb about the dead +men and the stories; it was necessary to make clin swip. You see the +result." + +He shrugged again towards the boxes; but this time, being reminded +of them (I supposed), he rose and went over to see how Harris was +progressing. The captain had never looked round; neither did he look at +Santos. "A leetle dipper," I heard the latter say, "and, perhaps, a few +eenches--" but I lost the last epithet. It followed a glance over the +shoulder in my direction, and immediately preceded the return of Santos +to his camp-stool. + +"Yes, it is always better to bury treasure," said he once more; but his +tone was altered; it was more contemplative; and many smoke-rings came +from the shrunk lips before another word; but through them all, his dark +eyes, dull with age, were fixed upon me. + +"You are a treasure!" he exclaimed at last, softly enough, but quickly +and emphatically for him, and with a sudden and most diabolical smile. + +"So you are going to bury me?" + +I had suspected it when first I saw the spade; then not; but since the +visit to the hole I had made up my mind to it. + +"Bury you? No, not alive," said Santos, in his playfully reproving +tone. "It would be necessary to deeg so dip!" he added through his few +remaining teeth. + +"Well," I said, "you'll swing for it. That's something." + +Santos smiled again, benignantly enough this time: in contemplation +also: as an artist smiles upon his work. I was his! + +"You live town," said he; "no one knows where you go. You come down +here; no one knows who you are. Your dear friend squire locks you up +for the night, but dreenks too much and goes to slip with the key in his +pocket; it is there when he wakes; but the preesoner, where is he? He is +gone, vanished, escaped in the night, and, like the base fabreec of your +own poet's veesion, he lives no trace--is it trace?--be'ind! A leetle +earth is so easily bitten down; a leetle more is so easily carried up +into the garden; and a beet of nice strong wire might so easily be +found in a cellar, and afterwards in the lock! No, Senhor Cole, I do not +expect to 'ang. My schims have seldom one seengle flaw. There was just +one in the Lady Jermyn; there was--Senhor Cole! If there is one this +time, and you will be so kind as to point it out, I will--I will run the +reesk of shooting you instead of--" + +A pinch of his baggy throat, between the fingers and thumbs of both +hands, foreshadowed a cleaner end; and yet I could look at him; nay, it +was more than I could do not to look upon that bloodless face, with the +two dry blots upon the parchment, that were never withdrawn from mine. + +"No you won't, messmate! If it's him or us for it, let a bullet do it, +and let it do it quick, you bloody Spaniard! You can't do the other +without me, and my part's done." + +Harris was my only hope. I had seen this from the first, but my appeal +I had been keeping to the very end. And now he was leaving me before a +word would come! Santos had gone over to my grave, and there was Harris +at the door! + +"It is not dip enough," said the Portuguese. + +"It's as deep as I mean to make it, with you sittin' there talkin' about +it." + +And the door stood open. + +"Captain!" I screamed. "For Christ's sake, captain!" + +He stood there, trembling, yet even now not looking my way. + +"Did you ever see a man hanged?" asked Santos, with a vile eye for each +of us. "I once hanged fifteen in a row; abominable thifs. And I once +poisoned nearly a hundred at one banquet; an untrustworthy tribe; but +the hanging was the worse sight and the worse death. Heugh! There was +one man--he was no stouter than you are captain--" + +But the door slammed; we heard the captain on the stairs; there was a +rustle from the leaves outside, and then a silence that I shall not +attempt to describe. + +And, indeed, I am done with this description: as I live to tell the tale +(or spoil it, if I choose) I will make shorter work of this particular +business than I found it at the time. Perverse I may be in old age as +in my youth; but on that my agony--my humiliating agony--I decline +to dwell. I suffer it afresh as I write. There are the cobwebs on the +ceiling, a bloated spider crawling in one: a worse monster is gloating +over me: those dull eyes of his, and my own pistol-barrel, cover me in +the lamp-light. The crucifix pin is awry in his cravat; that is because +he has offered it me to kiss. As a refinement (I feel sure) my revolver +is not cocked; and the hammer goes up--up-- + +He missed me because a lantern was flashed into his eyes through the +grating. He wasted the next ball in firing wildly at the light. And +the last chamber's load became suddenly too precious for my person; for +there were many voices overhead; there were many feet upon the stairs. + +Harris came first--head-first--saw me still living as he reeled--hurled +himself upon the boxes and one of these into the hole--all far quicker +than my pen can write it. The manoeuvre, being the captain's, explained +itself: on his heels trod Rattray, with one who brought me to my feet +like the call of silver trumpets. + +"The house is surrounded," says the squire, very quick and quiet; "is +this your doing, Cole?" + +"I wish it was," said I; "but I can't complain; it's saved my life." +And I looked at Santos, standing dignified and alert, my still smoking +pistol in his hand. + +"Two things to do," says Rattray--"I don't care which." He strode across +the cellar and pulled at the one full bin; something slid out, it was a +binful of empty bottles, and this time they were allowed to crash upon +the floor; the squire stood pointing to a manhole at the back of the +bin. "That's one alternative," said he; "but it will mean leaving this +much stuff at least," pointing to the boxes, "and probably all the rest +at the other end. The other thing's to stop and fight!" + +"I fight," said Santos, stalking to the door. "Have you no more +ammunition for me, friend Cole? Then I must live you alive; adios, +senhor!" + +Harris cast a wistful look towards the manhole, not in cowardice, I +fancy, but in sudden longing for the sea, the longing of a poor devil +of a sailor-man doomed to die ashore. I am still sorry to remember that +Rattray judged him differently. "Come on, skipper," said he; "it's all +or none aboard the lugger, and I think it will be none. Up you go; wait +a second in the room above, and I'll find you an old cutlass. I shan't +be longer." He turned to me with a wry smile. "We're not half-armed," he +said; "they've caught us fairly on the hop; it should be fun! Good-by, +Cole; I wish you'd had another round for that revolver. Good-by, Eva!" + +And he held out his hand to our love, who had been watching him all this +time with eyes of stone; but now she turned her back upon him without +a word. His face changed; the stormlight of passion and remorse played +upon it for an instant; he made a step towards her, wheeled abruptly, +and took me by the shoulder instead. + +"Take care of her, Cole," said he. "Whatever happens--take care of her." + +I caught him at the foot of the stairs. I do not defend what I did. But +I had more ammunition; a few wadded bullets, caps, and powder-charges, +loose in a jacket pocket; and I thrust them into one of his, upon a +sudden impulse, not (as I think) altogether unaccountable, albeit (as I +have said) so indefensible. + +My back was hardly turned an instant. I had left a statue of unforgiving +coldness. I started round to catch in my arms a half-fainting, +grief-stricken form, shaken with sobs that it broke my heart to hear. I +placed her on the camp-stool. I knelt down and comforted her as well as +I could, stroking her hands, my arm about her heaving shoulders, with +the gold-brown hair streaming over them. Such hair as it was! So much +longer than I had dreamt. So soft--so fine--my soul swam with the sight +and touch of it. Well for me that there broke upon us from above such +a sudden din as turned my hot blood cold! A wild shout of surprise; an +ensuing roar of defiance; shrieks and curses; yells of rage and pain; +and pistol-shot after pistol-shot as loud as cannon in the confined +space. + +I know now that the battle in the hall was a very brief affair; while +it lasted I had no sense of time; minutes or moments, they were (God +forgive me!) some of the very happiest in all my life. My joy was as +profound as it was also selfish and incongruous. The villains were being +routed; of that there could be no doubt or question. I hoped Rattray +might escape, but for the others no pity stirred in my heart, and even +my sneaking sympathy with the squire could take nothing from the joy +that was in my heart. Eva Denison was free. I was free. Our oppressors +would trouble us no more. We were both lonely; we were both young; we +had suffered together and for each other. And here she lay in my arms, +her head upon my shoulder, her soft bosom heaving on my own! My blood +ran hot and cold by turns. I forgot everything but our freedom and my +love. I forgot my sufferings, as I would have you all forget them. I +am not to be pitied. I have been in heaven on earth. I was there that +night, in my great bodily weakness, and in the midst of blood-shed, +death, and crime. + +"They have stopped!" cried Eva suddenly. "It is over! Oh, if he is +dead!" + +And she sat upright, with bright eyes starting from a deathly face. I do +not think she knew that she had been in my arms at all: any more than I +knew that the firing had ceased before she told me. Excited voices were +still raised overhead; but some sounded distant, yet more distinct, +coming through the grating from the garden; and none were voices that we +knew. One poor wretch, on the other hand, we heard plainly groaning to +his death; and we looked in each other's eyes with the same thought. + +"That's Harris," said I, with, I fear, but little compassion in my tone +or in my heart just then. + +"Where are the others?" cried Eva piteously. + +"God knows," said I; "they may be done for, too." + +"If they are!" + +"It's better than the death they would have lived to die." + +"But only one of them was a wilful murderer! Oh, Mr. Cole--Mr. Cole--go +and see what has happened; come back and tell me! I dare not come. I +will stay here and pray for strength to bear whatever news you may bring +me. Go quickly. I will--wait--and pray!" + +So I left the poor child on her knees in that vile cellar, white face +and straining hands uplifted to the foul ceiling, sweet lips quivering +with prayer, eyelids reverently lowered, and the swift tears flowing +from beneath them, all in the yellow light of the lantern that stood +burning by her side. How different a picture from that which awaited me +overhead! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. MY GREAT HOUR + + +The library doors were shut, and I closed the secret one behind me +before opening the other and peering out through a wrack of bluish +smoke; and there lay Captain Harris, sure enough, breathing his last in +the arms of one constable, while another was seated on the table with a +very wry face, twisting a tourniquet round his arm, from which the blood +was dripping like raindrops from the eaves. A third officer stood in the +porch, issuing directions to his men without. + +"He's over the wall, I tell you! I saw him run up our ladder. After him +every man of you--and spread!" + +I looked in vain for Rattray and the rest; yet it seemed as if only +one of them had escaped. I was still looking when the man in the porch +wheeled back into the hall, and instantly caught sight of me at my door. + +"Hillo! here's another of them," cried he. "Out you come, young fellow! +Your mates are all dead men." + +"They're not my mates." + +"Never mind; come you out and let's have a look at you." + +I did so, and was confronted by a short, thickset man, who recognized me +with a smile, but whom I failed to recognize. + +"I might have guessed it was Mr. Cole," said he. "I knew you were here +somewhere, but I couldn't make head or tail of you through the smoke." + +"I'm surprised that you can make head or tail of me at all," said I. + +"Then you've quite forgotten the inquisitive parson you met out fishing? +You see I found out your name for myself!" + +"So it was a detective!" + +"It was and is," said the little man, nodding. "Detective or Inspector +Royds, if you're any the wiser. + +"What has happened? Who has escaped?" "Your friend Rattray; but he won't +get far." + +"What of the Portuguese and the nigger?" + +I forgot that I had crippled Jose, but remembered with my words, and +wondered the more where he was. + +"I'll show you," said Royds. "It was the nigger let us in. We heard him +groaning round at the back--who smashed his leg? One of our men was at +that cellar grating; there was some of them down there; we wanted to +find our way down and corner them, but the fat got in the fire too soon. +Can you stand something strong? Then come this way." + +He led me out into the garden, and to a tangled heap lying in the +moonlight, on the edge of the long grass. The slave had fallen on top +of his master; one leg lay swathed and twisted; one black hand had but +partially relaxed upon the haft of a knife (the knife) that stood up +hilt-deep in a blacker heart. And in the hand of Santos was still the +revolver (my Deane and Adams) which had sent its last ball through the +nigger's body. + +"They slipped out behind us, all but the one inside," said Royds, +ruefully; "I'm hanged if I know yet how it happened--but we were on them +next second. Before that the nigger had made us hide him in the grass, +but the old devil ran straight into him, and the one fired as the other +struck. It's the worst bit of luck in the whole business, and I'm rather +disappointed on the whole. I've been nursing the job all this week; had +my last look round this very evening, with one of these officers, and +only rode back for more to make sure of taking our gentlemen alive. And +we've lost three out of four of 'em, and have still to lay hands on +the gold! I suppose you didn't know there was any aboard?" he asked +abruptly. + +"Not before to-night." + +"Nor did we till the Devoren came in with letters last week, a hundred +and thirty days out. She should have been in a month before you, but she +got amongst the ice around the Horn. There was a letter of advice about +the gold, saying it would probably go in the Lady Jermyn; and another +about Rattray and his schooner, which had just sailed; the young +gentleman was known to the police out there." + +"Do you know where the schooner is?" + +"Bless you, no, we've had no time to think about her; the man had been +seen about town, and we've done well to lay hands on him in the time." + +"You will do better still when you do lay hands on him," said I, +wresting my eyes from the yellow dead face of the foreign scoundrel. +The moon shone full upon his high forehead, his shrivelled lips, dank in +their death agony, and on the bauble with the sacred device that he wore +always in his tie. I recovered my property from the shrunken fingers, +and so turned away with a harder heart than I ever had before or since +for any creature of Almighty God. + +Harris had expired in our absence. + +"Never spoke, sir," said the constable in whose arms we had left him. + +"More's the pity. Well, cut out at the back and help land the young +gent, or we'll have him giving us the slip too. He may double back, +but I'm watching out for that. Which way should you say he'd head, Mr. +Cole?" + +"Inland," said I, lying on the spur of the moment, I knew not why. "Try +at the cottage where I've been staying." + +"We have a man posted there already. That woman is one of the gang, +and we've got her safe. But I'll take your advice, and have that side +scoured whilst I hang about the place." + +And he walked through the house, and out the back way, at the officer's +heels; meanwhile the man with the wounded arm was swaying where he sat +from loss of blood, and I had to help him into the open air before at +last I was free to return to poor Eva in her place of loathsome safety. + +I had been so long, however, that her patience was exhausted, and as I +returned to the library by one door, she entered by the other. + +"I could bear it no longer. Tell me--the worst!" + +"Three of them are dead." + +"Which three?" + +She had crossed to the other door, and would not have me shut it. So +I stood between her and the hearth, on which lay the captain's corpse, +with the hearthrug turned up on either side to cover it. + +"Harris for one," said I. "Outside lie Jose and--" + +"Quick! Quick!" + +"Senhor Santos." + +Her face was as though the name meant nothing to her. + +"And Mr. Rattray?" she cried. "And Mr. Rattray--" + +"Has escaped for the present. He seems to have cut his way through the +police and got over the wall by a ladder they left behind them. They are +scouring the country--Miss Denison! Eva! My poor love!" + +She had broken down utterly in a second fit of violent weeping; and a +second time I took her in my arms, and stood trying in my clumsy way to +comfort her, as though she were a little child. A lamp was burning in +the library, and I recognized the arm-chair which Rattray had drawn +thence for me on the night of our dinner--the very night before! I led +Eva back into the room, and I closed both doors. I supported my poor +girl to the chair, and once more I knelt before her and took her hands +in mine. My great hour was come at last: surely a happy omen that it was +also the hour before the dawn. + +"Cry your fill, my darling," I whispered, with the tears in my own +voice. "You shall never have anything more to cry for in this world! God +has been very good to us. He brought you to me, and me to you. He has +rescued us for each other. All our troubles are over; cry your fill; you +will never have another chance so long as I live, if only you will let +me live for you. Will you, Eva? Will you? Will you?" + +She drew her hands from mine, and sat upright in the chair, looking at +me with round eyes; but mine were dim; astonishment was all that I +could read in her look, and on I went headlong, with growing impetus and +passion. + +"I know I am not much, my darling; but you know I was not always what my +luck, good and bad, has left me now, and you will make a new man of +me so soon! Besides, God must mean it, or He would not have thrown us +together amid such horrors, and brought us through them together still. +And you have no one else to take care of you in the world! Won't you let +me try, Eva? Say that you will!" + +"Then--you--owe me?" she said slowly, in a low, awe-struck voice that +might have told me my fate at once; but I was shaking all over in the +intensity of my passion, and for the moment it was joy enough to be able +at last to tell her all. + +"Love you?" I echoed. "With every fibre of my being! With every atom of +my heart and soul and body! I love you well enough to live to a hundred +for you, or to die for you to-night!" + +"Well enough to--give me up?" she whispered. + +I felt as though a cold hand had checked my heart at its hottest, but +I mastered myself sufficiently to face her question and to answer it as +honestly as I might. + +"Yes!" I cried; "well enough even to do that, if it was for your +happiness; but I might be rather difficult to convince about that." + +"You are very strong and true," she murmured. "Yes, I can trust you as +I have never trusted anybody else! But--how long have you been so +foolish?" And she tried very hard to smile. + +"Since I first saw you; but I only knew it on the night of the fire. +Till that night I resisted it like an idiot. Do you remember how we used +to argue? I rebelled so against my love! I imagined that I had loved +once already and once for all. But on the night of the fire I knew that +my love for you was different from all that had gone before or would +ever come again. I gave in to it at last, and oh! the joy of giving in! +I had fought against the greatest blessing of my life, and I never knew +it till I had given up fighting. What did I care about the fire? I +was never happier--until now! You sang through my heart like the wind +through the rigging; my one fear was that I might go to the bottom +without telling you my love. When I asked to say a few last words to you +on the poop, it was to tell you my love before we parted, that you might +know I loved you whatever came. I didn't do so, because you seemed +so frightened, poor darling! I hadn't it in my heart to add to your +distress. So I left you without a word. But I fought the sea for days +together simply to tell you what I couldn't die without telling you. +When they picked me up, it was your name that brought back my senses +after days of delirium. When I heard that you were dead, I longed to +die myself. And when I found you lived after all, the horror of your +surroundings was nothing to be compared with the mere fact that you +lived; that you were unhappy and in danger was my only grief, but it was +nothing to the thought of your death; and that I had to wait twenty-four +hours without coming to you drove me nearer to madness than ever I was +on the hen-coop. That's how I love you, Eva," I concluded; "that's how I +love and will love you, for ever and ever, no matter what happens." + +Those sweet gray eyes of hers had been fixed very steadily upon me all +through this outburst; as I finished they filled with tears, and my poor +love sat wringing her slender fingers, and upbraiding herself as though +she were the most heartless coquette in the country. + +"How wicked I am!" she moaned. "How ungrateful I must be! You offer me +the unselfish love of a strong, brave man. I cannot take it. I have no +love to give you in return." + +"But some day you may," I urged, quite happily in my ignorance. "It +will come. Oh, surely it will come, after all that we have gone through +together!" + +She looked at me very steadily and kindly through her tears. + +"It has come, in a way," said she; "but it is not your way, Mr. Cole. I +do love you for your bravery and your--love--but that will not quite do +for either of us." + +"Why not?" I cried in an ecstasy. "My darling, it will do for me! It +is more than I dared to hope for; thank God, thank God, that you should +care for me at all!" + +She shook her head. + +"You do not understand," she whispered. + +"I do. I do. You do not love me as you want to love." + +"As I could love--" + +"And as you will! It will come. It will come. I'll bother you no more +about it now. God knows I can afford to leave well alone! I am only too +happy--too thankful--as it is!" + +And indeed I rose to my feet every whit as joyful as though she had +accepted me on the spot. At least she had not rejected me; nay, she +confessed to loving me in a way. What more could a lover want? Yet there +was a dejection in her drooping attitude which disconcerted me in the +hour of my reward. And her eyes followed me with a kind of stony remorse +which struck a chill to my bleeding heart. + +I went to the door; the hall was still empty, and I shut it again with a +shudder at what I saw before the hearth, at all that I had forgotten +in the little library. As I turned, another door opened--the door made +invisible by the multitude of books around and upon it--and young Squire +Rattray stood between my love and me. + +His clear, smooth skin was almost as pale as Eva's own, but pale brown, +the tint of rich ivory. His eyes were preternaturally bright. And they +never glanced my way, but flew straight to Eva, and rested on her very +humbly and sadly, as her two hands gripped the arms of the chair, and +she leant forward in horror and alarm. + +"How could you come back?" she cried. "I was told you had escaped!" + +"Yes, I got away on one of their horses." + +"I pictured you safe on board!" + +"I very nearly was." + +"Then why are you here?" + +"To get your forgiveness before I go." + +He took a step forward; her eyes and mine were riveted upon him; and I +still wonder which of us admired him the more, as he stood there in his +pride and his humility, gallant and young, and yet shamefaced and sad. + +"You risk your life--for my forgiveness?" whispered Eva at last. "Risk +it? I'll give myself up if you'll take back some of the things you said +to me--last night--and before." + +There was a short pause. + +"Well, you are not a coward, at all events!" + +"Nor a murderer, Eva!" + +"God forbid." + +"Then forgive me for everything else that I have been--to you!" + +And he was on his knees where I had knelt scarce a minute before; nor +could I bear to watch them any longer. I believed that he loved her in +his own way as sincerely as I did in mine. I believed that she detested +him for the detestable crime in which he had been concerned. I believed +that the opinion of him which she had expressed to his face, in my +hearing, was her true opinion, and I longed to hear her mitigate it ever +so little before he went. He won my sympathy as a gallant who valued +a kind word from his mistress more than life itself. I hoped earnestly +that that kind word would be spoken. But I had no desire to wait to hear +it. I felt an intruder. I would leave them alone together for the last +time. So I walked to the door, but, seeing a key in it, I changed +my mind, and locked it on the inside. In the hall I might become the +unintentional instrument of the squire's capture, though, so far as my +ears served me, it was still empty as we had left it. I preferred to run +no risks, and would have a look at the subterranean passage instead. + +"I advise you to speak low," I said, "and not to be long. The place is +alive with the police. If they hear you all will be up." + +Whether he heard me I do not know. I left him on his knees still, and +Eva with her face hidden in her hands. + +The cellar was a strange scene to revisit within an hour of my +deliverance from that very torture-chamber. It had been something more +before I left it, but in it I could think only of the first occupant of +the camp-stool. The lantern still burned upon the floor. There was the +mattress, still depressed where I had lain face to face with insolent +death. The bullet was in the plaster; it could not have missed by the +breadth of many hairs. In the corner was the shallow grave, dug by +Harris for my elements. And Harris was dead. And Santos was dead. But +life and love were mine. + +I would have gone through it all again! + +And all at once I was on fire to be back in the library; so much so, +that half a minute at the manhole, lantern in hand, was enough for me; +and a mere funnel of moist brown earth--a terribly low arch propped with +beams--as much as I myself ever saw of the subterranean conduit between +Kirby House and the sea. But I understood that the curious may traverse +it for themselves to this day on payment of a very modest fee. + +As for me, I returned as I had come after (say) five minutes' absence; +my head full once more of Eva, and of impatient anxiety for the wild +young squire's final flight; and my heart still singing with the joy of +which my beloved's kindness seemed a sufficient warranty. Poor egotist! +Am I to tell you what I found when I came up those steep stairs to the +chamber where I had left him on his knees to her? Or can you guess? + +He was on his knees no more, but he held her in his arms, and as I +entered he was kissing the tears from her wet, flushed cheek. Her +eyelids drooped; she was pale as the dead without, so pale that her +eyebrows looked abnormally and dreadfully dark. She did not cling to +him. Neither did she resist his caresses, but lay passive in his arms as +though her proper paradise was there. And neither heard me enter; it was +as though they had forgotten all the world but one another. + +"So this is it," said I very calmly. I can hear my voice as I write. + +They fell apart on the instant. Rattray glared at me, yet I saw that his +eyes were dim. Eva clasped her hands before her, and looked me steadily +in the face. But never a word. + +"You love him?" I said sternly. + +The silence of consent remained unbroken. + +"Villain as he is?" I burst out. + +And at last Eva spoke. + +"I loved him before he was one," said she. "We were engaged." + +She looked at him standing by, his head bowed, his arms folded; next +moment she was very close to me, and fresh tears were in her eyes. But I +stepped backward, for I had had enough. + +"Can you not forgive me?" + +"Oh, dear, yes." + +"Can't you understand?" + +"Perfectly," said I. + +"You know you said--" + +"I have said so many things!" + +"But this was that you--you loved me well enough to--give me up." + +And the silly ego in me--the endless and incorrigible I--imagined her +pouting for a withdrawal of those brave words. + +"I not only said it," I declared, "but I meant every word of it." + +None the less had I to turn from her to hide my anguish. I leaned my +elbows on the narrow stone chimney-piece, which, with the grate below +and a small mirror above, formed an almost solitary oasis in the four +walls of books. In the mirror I saw my face; it was wizened, drawn, old +before its time, and merely ugly in its sore distress, merely repulsive +in its bloody bandages. And in the mirror also I saw Rattray, handsome, +romantic, audacious, all that I was not, nor ever would be, and I +"understood" more than ever, and loathed my rival in my heart. + +I wheeled round on Eva. I was not going to give her up--to him. I would +tell her so before him--tell him so to his face. But she had turned +away; she was listening to some one else. Her white forehead glistened. +There were voices in the hall. + +"Mr. Cole! Mr. Cole! Where are you, Mr. Cole?" + +I moved over to the locked door. My hand found the key. I turned round +with evil triumph in my heart, and God knows what upon my face. Rattray +did not move. With lifted hands the girl was merely begging him to go by +the door that was open, down the stair. He shook his head grimly. With +an oath I was upon them. + +"Go, both of you!" I whispered hoarsely. "Now--while you can--and I can +let you. Now! Now!" + +Still Rattray hung back. + +I saw him glancing wistfully at my great revolver lying on the table +under the lamp. I thrust it upon him, and pushed him towards the door. + +"You go first. She shall follow. You will not grudge me one last word? +Yes, I will take your hand. If you escape--be good to her!" + +He was gone. Without, there was a voice still calling me; but now it +sounded overhead. + +"Good-by, Eva," I said. "You have not a moment to lose." + +Yet those divine eyes lingered on my ugliness. + +"You are in a very great hurry," said she, in the sharp little voice of +her bitter moments. + +"You love him; that is enough." + +"And you, too!" she cried. "And you, too!" + +And her pure, warm arms were round my neck; another instant, and she +would have kissed me, she! I know it. I knew it then. But it was more +than I would bear. As a brother! I had heard that tale before. Back I +stepped again, all the man in me rebelling. + +"That's impossible," said I rudely. + +"It isn't. It's true. I do love you--for this!" + +God knows how I looked! + +"And I mayn't say good-by to you," she whispered. "And--and I love +you--for that!" + +"Then you had better choose between us," said I. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. THE STATEMENT OF FRANCIS RATTRAY + + +In the year 1858 I received a bulky packet bearing the stamp of the +Argentine Republic, a realm in which, to the best of my belief, I had +not a solitary acquaintance. The superscription told me nothing. In +my relations with Rattray his handwriting had never come under my +observation. Judge then of my feelings when the first thing I read was +his signature at the foot of the last page. + +For five years I had been uncertain whether he was alive or dead. I had +heard nothing of him from the night we parted in Kirby Hall. All I knew +was that he had escaped from England and the English police; his letter +gave no details of the incident. It was an astonishing letter; my breath +was taken on the first close page; at the foot of it the tears were in +my eyes. And all that part I must pass over without a word. I have never +shown it to man or woman. It is sacred between man and man. + +But the letter possessed other points of interest--of almost universal +interest--to which no such scruples need apply; for it cleared up +certain features of the foregoing narrative which had long been +mysteries to all the world; and it gave me what I had tried in vain +to fathom all these years, some explanation, or rather history, of +the young Lancastrian's complicity with Joaquin Santos in the foul +enterprise of the Lady Jermyn. And these passages I shall reproduce word +for word; partly because of their intrinsic interest; partly for such +new light as they day throw on this or that phase of the foregoing +narrative; and, lastly, out of fairness to (I hope) the most gallant and +most generous youth who ever slipped upon the lower slopes of Avemus. + +Wrote Rattray: + +"You wondered how I could have thrown in my lot with such a man. You may +wonder still, for I never yet told living soul. I pretended I had joined +him of my own free will. That was not quite the case. The facts were as +follows: + +"In my teens (as I think you know) I was at sea. I took my second mate's +certificate at twenty, and from that to twenty-four my voyages were far +between and on my own account. I had given way to our hereditary passion +for smuggling. I kept a 'yacht' in Morecambe Bay, and more French brandy +than I knew what to do with in my cellars. It was exciting for a time, +but the excitement did not last. In 1851 the gold fever broke out in +Australia. I shipped to Melbourne as third mate on a barque, and +I deserted for the diggings in the usual course. But I was never a +successful digger. I had little luck and less patience, and I have no +doubt that many a good haul has been taken out of claims previously +abandoned by me; for of one or two I had the mortification of hearing +while still in the Colony. I suppose I had not the temperament for the +work. Dust would not do for me--I must have nuggets. So from Bendigo I +drifted to the Ovens, and from the Ovens to Ballarat. But I did no more +good on one field than on another, and eventually, early in 1853, I cast +up in Melbourne again with the intention of shipping home in the first +vessel. But there were no crews for the homeward-bounders, and while +waiting for a ship my little stock of gold dust gave out. I became +destitute first--then desperate. Unluckily for me, the beginning of '53 +was the hey-day of Captain Melville, the notorious bushranger. He was +a young fellow of my own age. I determined to imitate his exploits. I +could make nothing out there from an honest life; rather than starve +I would lead a dishonest one. I had been born with lawless tendencies; +from smuggling to bushranging was an easy transition, and about the +latter there seemed to be a gallantry and romantic swagger which put it +on the higher plane of the two. But I was not born to be a bushranger +either. I failed at the very first attempt. I was outwitted by my first +victim, a thin old gentleman riding a cob at night on the Geelong road. + +"'Why rob me?' said he. 'I have only ten pounds in my pocket, and the +punishment will be the same as though it were ten thousand.' + +"'I want your cob,' said I (for I was on foot); 'I'm a starving Jack, +and as I can't get a ship I'm going to take to the bush.' + +"He shrugged his shoulders. + +"'To starve there?' said he. 'My friend, it is a poor sport, this +bushranging. I have looked into the matter on my own account. You not +only die like a dog, but you live like one too. It is not worth while. +No crime is worth while under five figures, my friend. A starving Jack, +eh? Instead of robbing me of ten pounds, why not join me and take ten +thousand as your share of our first robbery? A sailor is the very man I +want!' + +"I told him that what I wanted was his cob, and that it was no use his +trying to hoodwink me by pretending he was one of my sort, because I +knew very well that he was not; at which he shrugged again, and slowly +dismounted, after offering me his money, of which I took half. He shook +his head, telling me I was very foolish, and I was coolly mounting (for +he had never offered me the least resistance), with my pistols in my +belt, when suddenly I heard one cocked behind me. + +"'Stop!' said he. 'It's my turn! Stop, or I shoot you dead!' The tables +were turned, and he had me at his mercy as completely as he had been at +mine. I made up my mind to being marched to the nearest police-station. +But nothing of the kind. I had misjudged my man as utterly as you +misjudged him a few months later aboard the Lady Jermyn. He took me +to his house on the outskirts of Melbourne, a weather-board bungalow, +scantily furnished, but comfortable enough. And there he seriously +repeated the proposal he had made me off-hand in the road. Only he put +it a little differently. Would I go to the hulks for attempting to rob +him of five pounds, or would I stay and help him commit a robbery, of +which my share alone would be ten or fifteen thousand? You know which +I chose. You know who this man was. I said I would join him. He made me +swear it. And then he told me what his enterprise was: there is no need +for me to tell you; nor indeed had it taken definite shape at this time. +Suffice it that Santos had wind that big consignments of Austrailian +gold were shortly to be shipped home to England; that he, like myself, +had done nothing on the diggings, where he had looked to make his +fortune, and out of which he meant to make it still. + +"It was an extraordinary life that we led in the bungalow, I the guest, +he the host, and Eva the unsuspecting hostess and innocent daughter +of the house. Santos had failed on the fields, but he had succeeded in +making valuable friends in Melbourne. Men of position and of influence +spent their evenings on our veranda, among others the Melbourne agent +for the Lady Jermyn, the likeliest vessel then lying in the harbor, and +the one to which the first consignment of gold-dust would be entrusted +if only a skipper could be found to replace the deserter who took +you out. Santos made up his mind to find one. It took him weeks, but +eventually he found Captain Harris on Bendigo, and Captain Harris was +his man. More than that he was the man for the agent; and the Lady +Jermyn was once more made ready for sea. + +"Now began the complications. Quite openly, Santos had bought the +schooner Spindrift, freighted her with wool, given me the command, and +vowed that he would go home in her rather than wait any longer for the +Lady Jermyn. At the last moment he appeared to change his mind, and I +sailed alone as many days as possible in advance of the ship, as had +been intended from the first; but it went sorely against the grain when +the time came. I would have given anything to have backed out of the +enterprise. Honest I might be no longer; I was honestly in love with Eva +Denison. Yet to have backed out would have been one way of losing her +for ever. Besides, it was not the first time I had run counter to the +law, I who came of a lawless stock; but it would be the first time I had +deserted a comrade or broken faith with one. I would do neither. In for +a penny, in for a pound. + +"But before my God I never meant it to turn out as it did; though I +admit and have always admitted that my moral responsibility is but +little if any the less on that account. Yet I was never a consenting +party to wholesale murder, whatever else I was. The night before I +sailed, Santos and the captain were aboard with me till the small hours. +They promised me that every soul should have every chance; that nothing +but unforeseen accident could prevent the boats from making Ascension +again in a matter of hours; that as long as the gig was supposed to be +lost with all hands, nothing else mattered. So they promised, and that +Harris meant to keep his promise I fully believe. That was not a wanton +ruffian; but the other would spill blood like water, as I told you at +the hall, and as no man now knows better than yourself. He was notorious +even in Portuguese Africa on account of his atrocious treatment of the +blacks. It was a favorite boast of his that he once poisoned a whole +village; and that he himself tampered with the Lady Jermyn's boats you +can take my word, for I have heard him describe how he left it to the +last night, and struck the blows during the applause at the concert on +the quarter-deck. He said it might have come out about the gold in the +gig, during the fire. It was safer to run no risks. + +"The same thing came into play aboard the schooner. Never shall I forget +the horror of that voyage after Santos came aboard! I had a crew of +eight hands all told, and two he brought with him in the gig. Of course +they began talking about the gold; they would have their share or split +when they got ashore; and there was mutiny in the air, with the steward +and the quarter-master of the Lady Jermyn for ring-leaders. Santos +nipped it in the bud with a vengeance! He and Harris shot every man +of them dead, and two who were shot through the heart they washed and +dressed and set adrift to rot in the gig with false papers! God knows +how we made Madeira; we painted the old name out and a new name in, on +the way; and we shipped a Portuguese crew, not a man of whom could speak +English. We shipped them aboard the Duque de Mondejo's yacht Braganza; +the schooner Spindrift had disappeared from the face of the waters for +ever. And with the men we took in plenty of sour claret and cigarettes; +and we paid them well; and the Portuguese sailor is not inquisitive +under such conditions. + +"And now, honestly, I wished I had put a bullet through my head before +joining in this murderous conspiracy; but retreat was impossible, even +if I had been the man to draw back after going so far; and I had a still +stronger reason for standing by the others to the bitter end. I could +not leave our lady to these ruffians. On the other hand, neither could I +take her from them, for (as you know) she justly regarded me as the most +flagrant ruffian of them all. It was in me and through me that she was +deceived, insulted, humbled, and contaminated; that she should ever have +forgiven me for a moment is more than I can credit or fathom to this +hour... So there we were. She would not look at me. And I would not +leave her until death removed me. Santos had been kind enough to her +hitherto; he had been kind enough (I understand) to her mother before +her. It was only in the execution of his plans that he showed his +Napoleonic disregard for human life; and it was precisely herein that +I began to fear for the girl I still dared to love. She took up an +attitude as dangerous to her safety as to our own. She demanded to be +set free when we came to land. Her demand was refused. God forgive me, +it had no bitterer opponent than myself! And all we did was to harden +her resolution; that mere child threatened us to our faces, never shall +I forget the scene! You know her spirit: if we would not set her free, +she would tell all when we landed. And you remember how Santos used to +shrug? That was all he did then. It was enough for me who knew him. For +days I never left them alone together. Night after night I watched her +cabin door. And she hated me the more for never leaving her alone! I had +to resign myself to that. + +"The night we anchored in Falmouth Bay, thinking then of taking our gold +straight to the Bank of England, as eccentric lucky diggers--that night +I thought would be the last for one or other of us. He locked her in +her cabin. He posted himself outside on the settee. I sat watching him +across the table. Each had a hand in his pocket, each had a pistol in +that hand, and there we sat, with our four eyes locked, while Harris +went ashore for papers. He came back in great excitement. What with +stopping at Madeira, and calms, and the very few knots we could knock +out of the schooner at the best of times, we had made a seven or eight +weeks' voyage of it from Ascension--where, by the way, I had arrived +only a couple of days before the Lady Jermyn, though I had nearly a +month's start of her. Well, Harris came back in the highest state of +excitement: and well he might: the papers were full of you, and of the +burning of the Lady Jermyn! + +"Now mark what happened. You know, of course, as well as I do; but I +wonder if you can even yet realize what it was to us! Our prisoner +hears that you are alive, and she turns upon Santos and tells him he is +welcome to silence her, but it will do us ne good now, as you know that +the ship was wilfully burned, and with what object. It is the single +blow she can strike in self-defence; but a shrewder one could scarcely +be imagined. She had talked to you, at the very last; and by that time +she did know the truth. What more natural than that she should confide +it to you? She had had time to tell you enough to hang the lot of us; +and you may imagine our consternation on hearing that she had told you +all she knew! From the first we were never quite sure whether to believe +it or not. That the papers breathed no suspicion of foul play was +neither here nor there. Scotland Yard might have seen to that. Then +we read of the morbid reserve which was said to characterize all your +utterances concerning the Lady Jermyn. What were we to do? What we no +longer dared to do was to take our gold-dust straight to the Bank. What +we did, you know. + +"We ran round to Morecambe Bay, and landed the gold as we Rattrays had +landed lace and brandy from time immemorial. We left Eva in charge of +Jane Braithwaite, God only knows how much against my will, but we were +in a corner, it was life or death with us, and to find out how much you +knew was a first plain necessity. And the means we took were the only +means in our power; nor shall I say more to you on that subject than I +said five years ago in my poor old house. That is still the one part of +the whole conspiracy of which I myself am most ashamed. + +"And now it only remains for me to tell you why I have written all this +to you, at such great length, so long after the event. My wife wished +it. The fact is that she wants you to think better of me than I deserve; +and I--yes--I confess that I should like you not to think quite as ill +of me as you must have done all these years. I was villain enough, but +do not think I am unpunished. + +"I am an outlaw from my country. I am morally a transported felon. Only +in this no-man's land am I a free man; let me but step across the border +and I am worth a little fortune to the man who takes me. And we have had +a hard time here, though not so hard as I deserved; and the hardest part +of all..." + +But you must guess the hardest part: for the letter ended as it began, +with sudden talk of his inner life, and tentative inquiry after mine. In +its entirety, as I say, I have never shown it to a soul; there was just +a little more that I read to my wife (who could not hear enough about +his); then I folded up the letter, and even she has never seen the +passages to which I allude. + +And yet I am not one of those who hold that the previous romances +of married people should be taboo between them in after life. On the +contrary, much mutual amusement, of an innocent character, may be +derived from a fair and free interchange upon the subject; and this is +why we, in our old age (or rather in mine), find a still unfailing topic +in the story of which Eva Denison was wayward heroine and Frank Rattray +the nearest approach to a hero. Sometimes these reminiscences lead to +an argument; for it has been the fate of my life to become attached to +argumentative persons. I suppose because I myself hate arguing. On +the day that I received Rattray's letter we had one of our warmest +discussions. I could repeat every word of it after forty years. + +"A good man does not necessarily make a good husband," I innocently +remarked. + +"Why do you say that?" asked my wife, who never would let a +generalization pass unchallenged. + +"I was thinking of Rattray," said I. "The most tolerant of judges could +scarcely have described him as a good man five years ago. Yet I can see +that he has made an admirable husband. On the whole, and if you can't be +both, it is better to be the good husband!" + +It was this point that we debated with so much ardor. My wife would take +the opposite side; that is her one grave fault. And I must introduce +personalities; that, of course, is among the least of mine. I compared +myself with Rattray, as a husband, and (with some sincerity) to my own +disparagement. I pointed out that he was an infinitely more fascinating +creature, which was no hard saying, for that epithet at least I have +never earned. And yet it was the word to sting my wife. + +"Fascinating, perhaps!" said she. "Yes, that is the very word; +but--fascination is not love!" + +And then I went to her, and stroked her hair (for she had hung her head +in deep distress), and kissed the tears from her eyes. And I swore that +her eyes were as lovely as Eva Denison's, that there seemed even more +gold in her glossy brown hair, that she was even younger to look at. And +at the last and craftiest compliment my own love looked at me through +her tears, as though some day or other she might forgive me. + +"Then why did you want to give me up to him?" said she. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dead Men Tell No Tales, by E. W. 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Hornung + + + + +CONTENTS + +Chapter I Love on the Ocean + +Chapter II The Mysterious Cargo + +Chapter III To the Water's Edge + +Chapter IV The Silent Sea + +Chapter V My Reward + +Chapter VI The Sole Survivor + +Chapter V I Find a Friend + +Chapter VI A Small Precaution + +Chapter VII My Convalescent Home + +Chapter VIII Wine and Weakness + +Chapter IX I Live Again + +Chapter X My Lady's Bidding + +Chapter XI The Longest Day of My Life + +Chapter XII In the Garden + +Chapter XIII First Blood + +Chapter XIV A Deadlock + +Chapter XV When Thieves Fall Out + +Chapter XVI A Man of Many Murders + +Chapter XVII My Great Hour + +Chapter XVIII The Statement of Francis Rattray + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Love on the Ocean + + +Nothing is so easy as falling in love on a long sea voyage, except +falling out of love. Especially was this the case in the days +when the wooden clippers did finely to land you in Sydney or in +Melbourne under the four full months. We all saw far too much of +each other, unless, indeed, we were to see still more. Our +superficial attractions mutually exhausted, we lost heart and +patience in the disappointing strata which lie between the surface +and the bed-rock of most natures. My own experience was confined +to the round voyage of the Lady Jermyn, in the year 1853. It was +no common experience, as was only too well known at the time. And +I may add that I for my part had not the faintest intention of +falling in love on board; nay, after all these years, let me confess +that I had good cause to hold myself proof against such weakness. +Yet we carried a young lady, coming home, who, God knows, might have +made short work of many a better man! + +Eva Denison was her name, and she cannot have been more than +nineteen years of age. I remember her telling me that she had not +yet come out, the very first time I assisted her to promenade the +poop. My own name was still unknown to her, and yet I recollect +being quite fascinated by her frankness and self-possession. She +was exquisitely young, and yet ludicrously old for her years; had +been admirably educated, chiefly abroad, and, as we were soon to +discover, possessed accomplishments which would have made the +plainest old maid a popular personage on board ship. Miss Denison, +however, was as beautiful as she was young, with the bloom of ideal +health upon her perfect skin. She had a wealth of lovely hair, with +strange elusive strands of gold among the brown, that drowned her +ears (I thought we were to have that mode again?) in sunny ripples; +and a soul greater than the mind, and a heart greater than either, +lay sleeping somewhere in the depths of her grave, gray eyes. + +We were at sea together so many weeks. I cannot think what I was +made of then! + +It was in the brave old days of Ballarat and Bendigo, when ship +after ship went out black with passengers and deep with stores, to +bounce home with a bale or two of wool, and hardly hands enough to +reef topsails in a gale. Nor was this the worst; for not the crew +only, but, in many cases, captain and officers as well, would join +in the stampede to the diggings; and we found Hobson's Bay the +congested asylum of all manner of masterless and deserted vessels. +I have a lively recollection of our skipper's indignation when +the pilot informed him of this disgraceful fact. Within a fortnight, +however, I met the good man face to face upon the diggings. It is +but fair to add that the Lady Jermyn lost every officer and man in +the same way, and that the captain did obey tradition to the extent +of being the last to quit his ship. Nevertheless, of all who sailed +by her in January, I alone was ready to return at the beginning of +the following July. + +I had been to Ballarat. I had given the thing a trial. For the +most odious weeks I had been a licensed digger on Black Hill Flats; +and I had actually failed to make running expenses. That, however, +will surprise you the less when I pause to declare that I have paid +as much as four shillings and sixpence for half a loaf of execrable +bread; that my mate and I, between us, seldom took more than a few +pennyweights of gold-dust in any one day; and never once struck pick +into nugget, big or little, though we had the mortification of +inspecting the "mammoth masses" of which we found the papers full +on landing, and which had brought the gold-fever to its height during +our very voyage. With me, however, as with many a young fellow who +had turned his back on better things, the malady was short-lived. We +expected to make our fortunes out of hand, and we had reckoned +without the vermin and the villainy which rendered us more than ever +impatient of delay. In my fly-blown blankets I dreamt of London +until I hankered after my chambers and my club more than after much +fine gold. Never shall I forget my first hot bath on getting back to +Melbourne; it cost five shillings, but it was worth five pounds, and +is altogether my pleasantest reminiscence of Australia. + +There was, however, one slice of luck in store for me. I found the +dear old Lady Jermyn on the very eve of sailing, with a new captain, +a new crew, a handful of passengers (chiefly steerage), and nominally +no cargo at all. I felt none the less at home when I stepped over +her familiar side. + +In the cuddy we were only five, but a more uneven quintette I defy +you to convene. There was a young fellow named Ready, packed out +for his health, and hurrying home to die among friends. There was +an outrageously lucky digger, another invalid, for he would drink +nothing but champagne with every meal and at any minute of the day, +and I have seen him pitch raw gold at the sea-birds by the hour +together. Miss Denison was our only lady, and her step-father, with +whom she was travelling, was the one man of distinction on board. +He was a Portuguese of sixty or thereabouts, Senhor Joaquin Santos +by name; at first it was incredible to me that he had no title, so +noble was his bearing; but very soon I realized that he was one of +those to whom adventitious honors can add no lustre. He treated +Miss Denison as no parent ever treated a child, with a gallantry +and a courtliness quite beautiful to watch, and not a little +touching in the light of the circumstances under which they were +travelling together. The girl had gone straight from school to her +step-father's estate on the Zambesi, where, a few months later, her +mother had died of the malaria. Unable to endure the place after +his wife's death, Senhor Santos had taken ship to Victoria, there +to seek fresh fortune with results as indifferent as my own. He +was now taking Miss Denison back to England, to make her home with +other relatives, before he himself returned to Africa (as he once +told me) to lay his bones beside those of his wife. I hardly know +which of the pair I see more plainly as I write - the young girl +with her soft eyes and her sunny hair, or the old gentleman with +the erect though wasted figure, the noble forehead, the steady eye, +the parchment skin, the white imperial, and the eternal cigarette +between his shrivelled lips. + +No need to say that I came more in contact with the young girl. +She was not less charming in my eyes because she provoked me +greatly as I came to know her intimately. She had many irritating +faults. Like most young persons of intellect and inexperience, she +was hasty and intolerant in nearly all her judgments, and rather +given to being critical in a crude way. She was very musical, +playing the guitar and singing in a style that made our shipboard +concerts vastly superior to the average of their order; but I have +seen her shudder at the efforts of less gifted folks who were +also doing their best; and it was the same in other directions where +her superiority was less specific. The faults which are most +exasperating in another are, of course, one's own faults; and I +confess that I was very critical of Eva Denison's criticisms. Then +she had a little weakness for exaggeration, for unconscious egotism +in conversation, and I itched to tell her so. I felt so certain +that the girl had a fine character underneath, which would rise to +noble heights in stress or storm: all the more would I long now to +take her in hand and mould her in little things, and anon to take +her in my arms just as she was. The latter feeling was resolutely +crushed. To be plain, I had endured what is euphemistically called +"disappointment" already; and, not being a complete coxcomb, I had +no intention of courting a second. + +Yet, when I write of Eva Denison, I am like to let my pen outrun my +tale. I lay the pen down, and a hundred of her sayings ring in my +ears, with my own contradictious comments, that I was doomed so soon +to repent; a hundred visions of her start to my eyes; and there is +the trade-wind singing in the rigging, and loosening a tress of my +darling's hair, till it flies like a tiny golden streamer in the +tropic sun. There, it is out! I have called her what she was to +be in my heart ever after. Yet at the time I must argue with her +- with her! When all my courage should have gone to love-making, +I was plucking it up to sail as near as I might to plain +remonstrance! I little dreamt how the ghost of every petty word +was presently to return and torture me. + +So it is that I can see her and hear her now on a hundred separate +occasions beneath the awning beneath the stars on deck below at noon +or night but plainest of all in the evening of the day we signalled +the Island of Ascension, at the close of that last concert on the +quarter-deck. The watch are taking down the extra awning; they are +removing the bunting and the foot-lights. The lanterns are trailed +forward before they are put out; from the break of the poop we watch +the vivid shifting patch of deck that each lights up on its way. The +stars are very sharp in the vast violet dome above our masts; they +shimmer on the sea; and our trucks describe minute orbits among the +stars, for the trades have yet to fail us, and every inch of canvas +has its fill of the gentle steady wind. It is a heavenly night. +The peace of God broods upon His waters. No jarring note offends +the ear. In the forecastle a voice is humming a song of Eva Denison's +that has caught the fancy of the men; the young girl who sang it so +sweetly not twenty minutes since who sang it again and again to +please the crew she alone is at war with our little world she alone +would head a mutiny if she could. + +"I hate the captain!" she says again. + +"My dear Miss Denison!" I begin; for she has always been severe upon +our bluff old man, and it is not the spirit of contrariety alone +which makes me invariably take his part. Coarse he may be, and not +one whom the owners would have chosen to command the Lady Jermyn; a +good seaman none the less, who brought us round the Horn in foul +weather without losing stitch or stick. I think of the ruddy ruffian +in his dripping oilskins, on deck day and night for our sakes, and +once more I must needs take his part; but Miss Denison stops me +before I can get out another word. + +"I am not dear, and I'm not yours," she cries. "I'm only a +school-girl - you have all but told me so before to-day! If I were +a man - if I were you - I should tell Captain Harris what I thought +of him!" + +"Why? What has he done now?" + +"Now? You know how rude he was to poor Mr. Ready this very +afternoon!" + +It was true. He had been very rude indeed. But Ready also had +been at fault. It may be that I was always inclined to take an +opposite view, but I felt bound to point this out, and at any cost. + +"You mean when Ready asked him if we were out of our course? I +must say I thought it was a silly question to put. It was the same +the other evening about the cargo. If the skipper says we're in +ballast why not believe him? Why repeat steerage gossip, about +mysterious cargoes, at the cuddy table? Captains are always touchy +about that sort of thing. I wasn't surprised at his letting out." + +My poor love stares at me in the starlight. Her great eyes flash +their scorn. Then she gives a little smile - and then a little nod +- more scornful than all the rest. + +"You never are surprised, are you, Mr. Cole?" says she. "You were +not surprised when the wretch used horrible language in front of me! +You were not surprised when it was a - dying man - whom he abused!" + +I try to soothe her. I agree heartily with her disgust at the +epithets employed in her hearing, and towards an invalid, by the +irate skipper. But I ask her to make allowances for a rough, +uneducated man, rather clumsily touched upon his tender spot. I +shall conciliate her presently; the divine pout (so childish it was!) +is fading from her lips; the starlight is on the tulle and lace and +roses of her pretty evening dress, with its festooned skirts and +obsolete flounces; and I am watching her, ay, and worshipping her, +though I do not know it yet. And as we stand there comes another +snatch from the forecastle: - + + "What will you do, love, when I am going. + With white sail flowing, + The seas beyond? + What will you do, love - " + +"They may make the most of that song," says Miss Denison grimly; +"it's the last they'll have from me. Get up as many more concerts +as you like. I won't sing at another unless it's in the fo'c'sle. +I'll sing to the men, but not to Captain Harris. He didn't put in +an appearance tonight. He shall not have another chance of +insulting me." + +Was it her vanity that was wounded after all? "You forget," said I, +"that you would not answer when he addressed you at dinner." + +"I should think I wouldn't, after the way he spoke to Mr. Ready; and +he too agitated to come to table, poor fellow!" + +"Still, the captain felt the open slight." + +"Then he shouldn't have used such language in front of me." + +"Your father felt it, too, Miss Denison." + +I hear nothing plainer than her low but quick reply: + +"Mr. Cole, my father has been dead many; many years; he died +before I can remember. That man only married my poor mother. He +sympathizes with Captain Harris - against me; no father would do +that. Look at them together now! And you take his side, too; oh! +I have no patience with any of you - except poor Mr. Ready in his +berth." + +"But you are not going." + +"Indeed I am. I am tired of you all." + +And she was gone with angry tears for which I blamed myself as I +fell to pacing the weather side of the poop - and so often +afterwards! So often, and with such unavailing bittertness ! + +Senhor Santos and the captain were in conversation by the weather +rail. I fancied poor old Harris eyed me with suspicion, and I +wished he had better cause. The Portuguese, however, saluted me +with his customary courtesy, and I thought there was a grave twinkle +in his steady eye. + +"Are you in deesgrace also, friend Cole?" he inquired in his all +but perfect English. + +"More or less," said I ruefully. + +He gave the shrug of his country - that delicate gesture which is +done almost entirely with the back - a subtlety beyond the power +of British shoulders. + +"The senhora is both weelful and pivish," said he, mixing the two +vowels which (with the aspirate) were his only trouble with our +tongue. "It is great grif to me to see her growing so unlike her +sainted mother!" + +He sighed, and I saw his delicate fingers forsake the cigarette +they were rolling to make the sacred sign upon his breast. He was +always smoking one cigarette and making another; as he lit the new +one the glow fell upon a strange pin that he wore, a pin with a +tiny crucifix inlaid in mosaic. So the religious cast of Senhor +Santos was brought twice home to me in the same moment, though, to +be sure, I had often been struck by it before. And it depressed me +to think that so sweet a child as Eva Denison should have spoken +harshly of so good a man as her step-father, simply because he had +breadth enough to sympathize with a coarse old salt like Captain +Harris. + +I turned in, however, and I cannot say the matter kept me awake in +the separate state-room which was one luxury of our empty saloon. +Alas? I was a heavy sleeper then. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE MYSTERIOUS CARGO + + +"Wake up, Cole! The ship's on fire!" + + It was young Ready's hollow voice, as cool, however, as though he +were telling me I was late for breakfast. I started up and sought +him wildly in the darkness. + +"You're joking," was my first thought and utterance; for now he was +lighting my candle, and blowing out the match with a care that +seemed in itself a contradiction. + +"I wish I were," he answered. "Listen to that!" + +He pointed to my cabin ceiling; it quivered and creaked; and all at +once I was as a deaf man healed. + +One gets inured to noise at sea, but to this day it passes me how +even I could have slept an instant in the abnormal din which I now +heard raging above my head. Sea-boots stamped; bare feet pattered; +men bawled; women shrieked; shouts of terror drowned the roar of +command. + +"Have we long to last?" I asked, as I leaped for my clothes. + +"Long enough for you to dress comfortably. Steady, old man! It's +only just been discovered; they may get it under. The panic's the +worst part at present, and we're out of that." + +But was Eva Denison? Breathlessly I put the question; his answer +was reassuring. Miss Denison was with her step-father on the poop. +"And both of 'em as cool as cucumbers," added Ready. + +They could not have been cooler than this young man, with death at +the bottom of his bright and sunken eyes. He was of the type which +is all muscle and no constitution; athletes one year, dead men the +next; but until this moment the athlete had been to me a mere and +incredible tradition. In the afternoon I had seen his lean knees +totter under the captain's fire. Now, at midnight - the exact time +by my watch - it was as if his shrunken limbs had expanded in his +clothes; he seemed hardly to know his own flushed face, as he caught +sight of it in my mirror. + +"By Jove!" said he, "this has put me in a fine old fever; but I +don't know when I felt in better fettle. If only they get it under! +I've not looked like this all the voyage." + +And he admired himself while I dressed in hot haste: a fine young +fellow; not at all the natural egotist, but cast for death by the +doctors, and keenly incredulous in his bag of skin. It revived +one's confidence to hear him talk. But he forgot himself in an +instant, and gave me a lead through the saloon with a boyish +eagerness that made me actually suspicious as I ran. We were +nearing the Line. I recalled the excesses of my last crossing, +and I prepared for some vast hoax at the last moment. It was only +when we plunged upon the crowded quarter-deck, and my own eyes read +lust of life and dread of death in the starting eyes of others, that +such lust and such dread consumed me in my turn, so that my veins +seemed filled with fire and ice. + +To be fair to those others, I think that the first wild panic was +subsiding even then; at least there was a lull, and even a reaction +in the right direction on the part of the males in the second class +and steerage. A huge Irishman at their head, they were passing +buckets towards the after-hold; the press of people hid the hatchway +from us until we gained the poop; but we heard the buckets spitting +and a hose-pipe hissing into the flames below; and we saw the column +of white vapor rising steadily from their midst. + +At the break of the poop stood Captain Harris, his legs planted wide +apart, very vigorous, very decisive, very profane. And I must +confess that the shocking oaths which had brought us round the Horn +inspired a kind of confidence in me now. Besides, even from the +poop I could see no flames. But the night was as beautiful as it +had been an hour or two back; the stars as brilliant, the breeze +even more balmy, the sea even more calm; and we were hove-to already, +against the worst. + +In this hour of peril the poop was very properly invaded by all +classes of passengers, in all manner of incongruous apparel, in all +stages of fear, rage, grief and hysteria; as we made our way among +this motley nightmare throng, I took Ready by the arm. + +"The skipper's a brute," said I, "but he's the right brute in the +right place to-night, Ready !" + +"I hope he may be," was the reply. "But we were off our course +this afternoon; and we were off it again during the concert, as +sure as we're not on it now." + +His tone made me draw him to the rail. + +"But how do you know? You didn't have another look, did you?" + +"Lots of looks-at the stars. He couldn't keep me from consulting +them; and I'm just as certain of it as I'm certain that we've a +cargo aboard which we're none of us supposed to know anything about." + +The latter piece of gossip was, indeed, all over the ship; but this +allusion to it struck me as foolishly irrelevant and frivolous. As +to the other matter, I suggested that the officers would have had +more to say about it than Ready, if there had been anything in it. + +"Officers be damned!" cried our consumptive, with a sound man's +vigor. "They're ordinary seamen dressed up; I don't believe they've +a second mate's certificate between them, and they're frightened out +of their souls." + +"Well, anyhow, the skipper isn't that." + +"No; he's drunk; he can shout straight, but you should hear him try +to speak." + +I made my way aft without rejoinder. "Invalid's pessimism," was my +private comment. And yet the sick man was whole for the time being; +the virile spirit was once more master of the recreant members; and +it was with illogical relief that I found those I sought standing +almost unconcernedly beside the binnacle. + +My little friend was, indeed, pale enough, and her eyes great with +dismay; but she stood splendidly calm, in her travelling cloak and +bonnet, and with all my soul I hailed the hardihood with which I +had rightly credited my love. Yes! I loved her then. It had come +home to me at last, and I no longer denied it in my heart. In my +innocence and my joy I rather blessed the fire for showing me her +true self and my own; and there I stood, loving her openly with my +eyes (not to lose another instant), and bursting to tell her so +with my lips. + +But there also stood Senhor Santos, almost precisely as I had seen +him last, cigarette, tie-pin, and all. He wore an overcoat, however, +and leaned upon a massive ebony cane, while he carried his daughter's +guitar in its case, exactly as though they were waiting for a train. +Moreover, I thought that for the first time he was regarding me with +no very favoring glance. + +"You don't think it serious?" I asked him abruptly, my heart still +bounding with the most incongruous joy. + +He gave me his ambiguous shrug; and then, "A fire at sea is surely +sirrious," said he. + +"Where did it break out ?" + +"No one knows; it may have come of your concert." + +"But they are getting the better of it?" + +"They are working wonders so far, senhor." + +"You see, Miss Denison," I continued ecstatically, "our rough old +diamond of a skipper is the right man in the right place after all. +A tight man in a tight place, eh?" and I laughed like an idiot in +their calm grave faces. + +"Senhor Cole is right," said Santos, "although his 'ilarity sims a +leetle out of place. But you must never spik against Captain 'Arrees +again, menma." + +"I never will," the poor child said; yet I saw her wince whenever +the captain raised that hoarse voice of his in more and more +blasphemous exhortation; and I began to fear with Ready that the +man was drunk. + +My eyes were still upon my darling, devouring her, revelling in her, +when suddenly I saw her hand twitch within her step-father's arm. +It was an answering start to one on his part. The cigarette was +snatched from his lips. There was a commotion forward, and a cry +came aft, from mouth to mouth: + +"The flames! The flames !" + +I turned, and caught their reflection on the white column of smoke +and steam. I ran forward, and saw them curling and leaping in the +hell-mouth of the hold. + +The quarter-deck now staged a lurid scene: that blazing trap-door +in its midst; and each man there a naked demon madly working to +save his roasting skin. Abaft the mainmast the deck-pump was being +ceaselessly worked by relays of the passengers; dry blankets were +passed forward, soaking blankets were passed aft, and flung flat +into the furnace one after another. These did more good than the +pure water: the pillar of smoke became blacker, denser: we were at +a crisis; a sudden hush denoted it; even our hoarse skipper stood +dumb. + +I had rushed down into the waist of the ship - blushing for my +delay - and already I was tossing blankets with the rest. Looking +up in an enforced pause, I saw Santos whispering in the skipper's +ear, with the expression of a sphinx but no lack of foreign +gesticulation - behind them a fringe of terror-stricken faces, +parted at that instant by two more figures, as wild and strange as +any in that wild, strange scene. One was our luckless lucky digger, +the other a gigantic Zambesi nigger, who for days had been told off +to watch him; this was the servant (or rather the slave) of Senhor +Santos. + +The digger planted himself before the captain. His face was +reddened by a fire as consuming as that within the bowels of our +gallant ship. He had a huge, unwieldy bundle under either arm. + +"Plain question - plain answer," we heard him stutter. "Is there +any *** chance of saving this *** ship?" + +His adjectives were too foul for print; they were given with such +a special effort at distinctness, however, that I was smiling one +instant, and giving thanks the next that Eva Denison had not come +forward with her guardian. Meanwhile the skipper had exchanged a +glance with Senhor Santos, and I think we all felt that he was going +to tell us the truth. + +He told it in two words - "Very little." + +Then the first individual tragedy was enacted before every eye. +With a yell the drunken maniac rushed to the rail. The nigger was +at his heels - he was too late. Uttering another and more piercing +shriek, the madman was overboard at a bound; one of his bundles +preceded him; the other dropped like a cannon-ball on the deck. + +The nigger caught it up and carried it forward to the captain. + +Harris held up his hand. We were still before we had fairly found +our tongues. His words did run together a little, but he was not +drunk. + +"Men and women," said he, "what I told that poor devil is Gospel +truth; but I didn't tell him we'd no chance of saving our lives, +did I? Not me, because we have! Keep your heads and listen to me. +There's two good boats on the davits amidships; the chief will take +one, the second officer the other; and there ain't no reason why +every blessed one of you shouldn't sleep in Ascension to-morrow +night. As for me, let me see every soul off of my ship and perhaps +I may follow; but by the God that made you, look alive! Mr. Arnott +- Mr. McClellan - man them boats and lower away. You can't get quit +o' the ship too soon, an' I don't mind tellin' you why. I'll tell +you the worst, an' then you'll know. There's been a lot o' gossip +goin', gossip about my cargo. I give out as I'd none but ship's +stores and ballast, an' I give out a lie. I don't mind tellin' you +now. I give out a cussed lie, but I give it out for the good o' the +ship! What was the use o' frightenin' folks? But where's the sense +in keepin' it back now? We have a bit of a cargo," shouted Harris; +"and it's gunpowder - every damned ton of it!" + +The effect of this announcement may be imagined; my hand has not +the cunning to reproduce it on paper; and if it had, it would shrink +from the task. Mild men became brutes, brutal men, devils, women +- God help them! - shrieking beldams for the most part. Never shall +I forget them with their streaming hair, their screaming open mouths, +and the cruel ascending fire glinting on their starting eyeballs! + +Pell-mell they tumbled down the poop-ladders; pell-mell they raced +amidships past that yawning open furnace; the pitch was boiling +through the seams of the crackling deck; they slipped and fell upon +it, one over another, and the wonder is that none plunged headlong +into the flames. A handful remained on the poop, cowering and +undone with terror. Upon these turned Captain Harris, as Ready +and I, stemming the torrent of maddened humanity, regained the +poop ourselves. + +"For'ard with ye!" yelled the skipper. "The powder's underneath +you in the lazarette!" + +They were gone like hunted sheep. And now abaft the flaming +hatchway there were only we four surviving saloon passengers, the +captain, his steward, the Zambesi negro, and the quarter-master at +the wheel. The steward and the black I observed putting stores +aboard the captain's gig as it overhung the water from the stern +davits. + +"Now, gentlemen," said Harris to the two of us, "I must trouble +you to step forward with the rest. Senhor Santos insists on taking +his chance along with the young lady in my gig. I've told him the +risk, but he insists, and the gig'll hold no more." + +"But she must have a crew, and I can row. For God's sake take me, +captain!" cried I; for Eva Denison sat weeping in her deck chair, +and my heart bled faint at the thought of leaving her, I who loved +her so, and might die without ever telling her my love! Harris, +however, stood firm. + +"There's that quartermaster and my steward, and Jose the nigger," +said he. "That's quite enough, Mr. Cole, for I ain't above an oar +myself; but, by God, I'm skipper o' this here ship, and I'll skip +her as long as I remain aboard!" + +I saw his hand go to his belt; I saw the pistols stuck there for +mutineers. I looked at Santos. He answered me with his neutral +shrug, and, by my soul, he struck a match and lit a cigarette in +that hour of life and death! Then last I looked at Ready; and he +leant invertebrate over the rail, gasping pitiably from his +exertions in regaining the poop, a dying man once more. I pointed +out his piteous state. + +"At least," I whispered, "you won't refuse to take him?" + +"Will there be anything to take?" said the captain brutally. + +Santos advanced leisurely, and puffed his cigarette over the poor +wasted and exhausted frame. + +"It is for you to decide, captain," said he cynically; "but this +one will make no deeference. Yes, I would take him. It will not +be far," he added, in a tone that was not the less detestable for +being lowered. + +"Take them both!" moaned little Eva, putting in her first and last +sweet word. + +"Then we all drown, Evasinha," said her stepfather. "It is +impossible." + +"We're too many for her as it is," said the captain. "So for'ard +with ye, Mr. Cole, before it's too late." + +But my darling's brave word for me had fired my blood, and I turned +with equal resolution on Harris and on the Portuguese. "I will go +like a lamb," said I, "if you will first give me five minutes' +conversation with Miss Denison. Otherwise I do not go; and as for +the gig, you may take me or leave me, as you choose." + +"What have you to say to her?" asked Santos, coming up to me, and +again lowering his voice. + +I lowered mine still more. "That I love her!" I answered in a soft +ecstasy. "That she may remember how I loved her, if I die!" + +His shoulders shrugged a cynical acquiescence. + +"By all mins, senhor; there is no harm in that." + +I was at her side before another word could pass his withered lips. + +"Miss Denison, will you grant me five minutes', conversation? It +may be the last that we shall ever have together!" + +Uncovering her face, she looked at me with a strange terror in her +great eyes; then with a questioning light that was yet more strange, +for in it there was a wistfulness I could not comprehend. She +suffered me to take her hand, however, and to lead her unresisting +to the weather rail. + +"What is it you have to say?" she asked me in her turn. "What is +it that you - think?" + +Her voice fell as though she must have the truth. + +"That we have all a very good chance," said I heartily. + +"Is that all ?" cried Eva, and my heart sank at her eager manner. + +She seemed at once disappointed and relieved. Could it be possible +she dreaded a declaration which she had foreseen all along? My evil +first experience rose up to warn me. No, I would not speak now; it +was no time. If she loved me, it might make her love me less; +better to trust to God to spare us both. + +"Yes, it is all," I said doggedly. + +She drew a little nearer, hesitating. It was as though her +disappointment had gained on her relief. + +"Do you know what I thought you were going to say?" + +"No, indeed." + +"Dare I tell you?" + +"You can trust me." + +Her pale lips parted. Her great eyes shone. Another instant, and +she had told me that which I would have given all but life itself +to know. But in that tick of time a quick step came behind me, and +the light went out of the sweet face upturned to mine. + +"I cannot! I must not! Here is - that man!" + +Senhor Santos was all smiles and rings of pale-blue smoke. + +"You will be cut off, friend Cole," said he. "The fire is +spreading." + +"Let it spread!" I cried, gazing my very soul into the young girl's +eyes. "We have not finished our conversation. + +"We have!" said she, with sudden decision. "Go - go - for my sake +- for your own sake - go at once!" + +She gave me her hand. I merely clasped it. And so I left her at +the rail-ah, heaven! how often we had argued on that very spot! So +I left her, with the greatest effort of all my life (but one); and +yet in passing, full as my heart was of love and self, I could not +but lay a hand on poor Ready's shoulders. + +"God bless you, old boy!" I said to him. + +He turned a white face that gave me half an instant's pause. + +"It's all over with me this time," he said. "But, I say, I was +right about the cargo?" + +And I heard a chuckle as I reached the ladder; but Ready was no +longer in my mind; even Eva was driven out of it, as I stood +aghast on the top-most rung. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +TO THE WATER'S EDGE + + +It was not the new panic amidships that froze my marrow; it was +not that the pinnace hung perpendicularly by the fore-tackle, and +had shot out those who had swarmed aboard her before she was +lowered, as a cart shoots a load of bricks. It was bad enough to +see the whole boat-load struggling, floundering, sinking in the sea; +for selfish eyes (and which of us is all unselfish at such a time?) +there was a worse sight yet; for I saw all this across an impassable +gulf of fire. + +The quarter-deck had caught: it was in flames to port and starboard +of the flaming hatch; only fore and aft of it was the deck sound to +the lips of that hideous mouth, with the hundred tongues shooting +out and up. + +Could I jump it there? I sprang down and looked. It was only a +few feet across; but to leap through that living fire was to leap +into eternity. I drew back instantly, less because my heart failed +me, I may truly say, than because my common sense did not. + +Some were watching me, it seemed, across this hell. "The bulwarks!" +they screamed. "Walk along the bulwarks!" I held up my hand in +token that I heard and understood and meant to act. And as I did +their bidding I noticed what indeed had long been apparent to idler +eyes: the wind was not; we had lost our southeast trades; the doomed +ship was rolling in a dead calm. + +Rolling, rolling, rolling so that it seemed minutes before I dared +to move an inch. Then I tried it on my hands and knees, but the +scorched bulwarks burned me to the bone. And then I leapt up, +desperate with the pain; and, with my tortured hands spread wide +to balance me, I walked those few yards, between rising sea and +falling fire, and falling sea and rising fire, as an acrobat walks +a rope, and by God's grace without mishap. + +There was no time to think twice about my feat, or, indeed, about +anything else that befell upon a night when each moment was more +pregnant than the last. And yet I did think that those who had +encouraged me to attempt so perilous a trick might have welcomed +me alive among them; they were looking at something else already; +and this was what it was. + +One of the cabin stewards had presented himself on the poop; he had +a bottle in one hand, a glass in the other; in the red glare we saw +him dancing in front of the captain like an unruly marionette. +Harris appeared to threaten him. What he said we could not hear for +the deep-drawn blast and the high staccato crackle of the blazing +hold. But we saw the staggering steward offering him a drink; saw +the glass flung next instant in the captain's face, the blood +running, a pistol drawn, fired without effect, and snatched away by +the drunken mutineer. Next instant a smooth black cane was raining +blow after blow on the man's head. He dropped; the blows fell +thick and heavy as before. He lay wriggling; the Portuguese struck +and struck until he lay quite still; then we saw Joaquin Santos +kneel, and rub his stick carefully on the still thing's clothes, as +a man might wipe his boots. + +Curses burst from our throats; yet the fellow deserved to die. Nor, +as I say, had we time to waste two thoughts upon any one incident. +This last had begun and ended in the same minute; in another we were +at the starboard gangway, tumbling helter-skelter aboard the lowered +long-boat. + +She lay safely on the water: how we thanked our gods for that! +Lower and lower sank her gunwale as we dropped aboard her, with no +more care than the Gadarene swine whose fate we courted. Discipline, +order, method, common care, we brought none of these things with us +from our floating furnace; but we fought to be first over the +bulwarks, and in the bottom of the long-boat we fought again. + +And yet she held us all! All, that is, but a terror-stricken few, +who lay along the jibboom like flies upon a stick: all but two or +three more whom we left fatally hesitating in the forechains: +all but the selfish savages who had been the first to perish in the +pinnace, and one distracted couple who had thrown their children +into the kindly ocean, and jumped in after them out of their torment, +locked for ever in each other's arms. + +Yes! I saw more things on that starry night, by that blood-red +glare, than I have told you in their order, and more things than +I shall tell you now. Blind would I gladly be for my few remaining +years, if that night's horrors could be washed from these eyes for +ever. I have said so much, however, that in common candor I must +say one thing more. I have spoken of selfish savages. God help me +and forgive me! For by this time I was one myself. + +In the long-boat we cannot have been less than thirty; the exact +number no man will ever know. But we shoved off without mischance; +the chief mate had the tiller; the third mate the boat-hook; and +six or eight oars were at work, in a fashion, as we plunged among +the great smooth sickening mounds and valleys of fathomless ink. + +Scarcely were we clear when the foremast dropped down on the +fastenings, dashing the jib-boom into the water with its load of +demented human beings. The mainmast followed by the board before +we had doubled our distance from the wreck. Both trailed to port, +where we could not see them; and now the mizzen stood alone in sad +and solitary grandeur, her flapping idle sails lighted up by the +spreading conflagration, so that they were stamped very sharply +upon the black add starry sky. But the whole scene from the +long-boat was one of startling brilliancy and horror. The fire now +filled the entire waist of the vessel, and the noise of it was as +the rumble and roar of a volcano. As for the light, I declare that +it put many a star clean out, and dimmed the radiance of all the +rest, as it flooded the sea for miles around, and a sea of molten +glass reflected it. My gorge rose at the long, low billows-sleek +as black satin - lifting and dipping in this ghastly glare. I +preferred to keep my eyes upon the little ship burning like a tar +barrel as the picture grew. But presently I thanked God aloud: +there was the gig swimming like a beetle over the bloodshot rollers +in our wake. + +In our unspeakable gladness at being quit of the ship, some minutes +passed before we discovered that the long-boat was slowly filling. +The water was at our ankles before a man of us cried out, so fast +were our eyes to the poor lost Lady Jermyn. Then all at once the +ghastly fact dawned upon us; and I think it was the mate himself +who burst out crying like a child. I never ascertained, however, +for I had kicked off my shoes and was busy baling with them. Others +were hunting for the leak. But the mischief was as subtle as it +was mortal - as though a plank had started from end to end. Within +and without the waters rose equally - then lay an instant level with +our gunwales - then swamped us, oh! so slowly, that I thought we +were never going to sink. It was like getting inch by inch into +your tub; I can feel it now, creeping, crawling up my back. "It's +coming! 0 Christ!" muttered one as it came; to me it was a downright +relief to be carried under at last. + +But then, thank God, I have always been a strong swimmer. The water +was warm and buoyant, and I came up like a cork, as I knew I should. +I shook the drops from my face, and there were the sweet stars once +more; for many an eye they had gone Out for ever; and there the +burning wreck. + +A man floundered near me, in a splutter of phosphorescence. I tried +to help him, and in an instant he had me wildly round the neck. In +the end I shook him off, poor devil, to his death. And he was the +last I tried to aid: have I not said already what I was become? + +In a little an oar floated my way: I threw my arms across it and +gripped it with my chin as I swam. It relieved me greatly. Up and +down I rode among the oily black hillocks; I was down when there +was a sudden flare as though the sun had risen, and I saw still a +few heads bobbing and a few arms waving frantically around me. At +the same instant a terrific detonation split the ears; and when I +rose on the next bald billow, where the ship lay burning a few +seconds before, there remained but a red-hot spine that hissed and +dwindled for another minute, and then left a blackness through which +every star shone with redoubled brilliance. + +And now right and left splashed falling missiles; a new source of +danger or of temporary respite; to me, by a merciful Providence, it +proved the latter. + +Some heavy thing fell with a mighty splash right in front of me. +A few more yards, and my brains had floated with the spume. As it +was, the oar was dashed from under my armpits; in another moment +they had found a more solid resting-place. + +It was a hen-coop, and it floated bars upwards like a boat. In +this calm it might float for days. I climbed upon the bars-and the +whole cage rolled over on top of me. + +Coming to the surface, I found to my joy that the hen-coop had +righted itself; so now I climbed up again, but this time very +slowly and gingerly; the balance was undisturbed, and I stretched +myself cautiously along the bars on my stomach. A good idea +immediately occurred to me. I had jumped as a matter of course +into the flannels which one naturally wears in the tropics. To +their lightness I already owed my life, but the common cricket-belt +which was part of the costume was the thing to which I owe it most +of all. Loosening this belt a little, as I tucked my toes +tenaciously under the endmost bar, I undid and passed the two ends +under one of the middle bars, fastening the clasp upon the other +side. If I capsized now, well, we might go to the bottom together; +otherwise the hen-coop and I should not part company in a hurry; +and I thought, I felt, that she would float. + +Worn out as I was, and comparatively secure for the moment, I will +not say that I slept; but my eyes closed, and every fibre rested, +as I rose and slid with the smooth, long swell. Whether I did +indeed hear voices, curses, cries, I cannot say positively to this +day. I only know that I raised my head and looked sharply all ways +but the way I durst not look for fear of an upset. And, again, I +thought I saw first a tiny flame, and then a tinier glow; and as my +head drooped, and my eyes closed again, I say I thought I smelt +tobacco; but this, of course, was my imagination supplying all the +links from one. + + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE SILENT SEA + + +Remember (if indeed there be any need to remind you) that it is a +flagrant landsman who is telling you this tale. Nothing know I of +seamanship, save what one could not avoid picking up on the round +voyage of the Lady Jermyn, never to be completed on this globe. I +may be told that I have burned that devoted vessel as nothing ever +burned on land or sea. I answer that I write of what I saw, and +that is not altered by a miscalled spar or a misunderstood manouvre. +But now I am aboard a craft I handle for myself, and must make shift +to handle a second time with this frail pen. + +The hen-coop was some six feet long, by eighteen or twenty inches +in breadth and depth. It was simply a long box with bars in lieu +of a lid; but it was very strongly built. + +I recognized it as one of two which had stood lashed against either +rail of the Lady Jermyn's poop; there the bars had risen at right +angles to the deck; now they lay horizontal, a gridiron six feet +long-and my bed. And as each particular bar left its own stripe +across my wearied body, and yet its own comfort in my quivering +heart, another day broke over the face of the waters, and over me. + +Discipline, what there was of it originally, had been the very +first thing to perish aboard our ill-starred ship; the officers, I +am afraid, were not much better than poor Ready made them out +(thanks to Bendigo and Ballarat), and little had been done in true +ship-shape style all night. All hands had taken their spell at +everything as the fancy seized them; not a bell had been struck from +first to last; and I can only conjecture that the fire raged four or +five hours, from the fact that it was midnight by my watch when I +left it on my cabin drawers, and that the final extinction of the +smouldering keel was so soon followed by the first deep hint of dawn. +The rest took place with the trite rapidity of the equatorial +latitudes. It had been my foolish way to pooh-pooh the old saying +that there is no twilight in the tropics. I saw more truth in it +as I lay lonely on this heaving waste. + +The stars were out; the sea was silver; the sun was up. + +And oh! the awful glory of that sunrise! It was terrific; it was +sickening; my senses swam. Sunlit billows smooth and sinister, +without a crest, without a sound; miles and miles of them as I +rose; an oily grave among them as I fell. Hill after hill of horror, +valley after valley of despair! The face of the waters in petty but +eternal unrest; and now the sun must shine to set it smiling, to +show me its cruel ceaseless mouthings, to reveal all but the +ghastlier horrors underneath. + +How deep was it? I fell to wondering! Not that it makes any +difference whether you drown in one fathom or in ten thousand, +whether you fall from a balloon or from the attic window. But the +greater depth or distance is the worse to contemplate; and I was as +a man hanging by his hands so high above the world, that his dangling +feet cover countries, continents; a man who must fall very soon, and +wonders how long he will be falling, falling; and how far his soul +will bear his body company. + +In time I became more accustomed to the sun upon this heaving void; +less frightened, as a child is frightened, by the mere picture. And +I have still the impression that, as hour followed hour since the +falling of the wind, the nauseous swell in part subsided. I seemed +less often on an eminence or in a pit; my glassy azure dales had +gentler slopes, or a distemper was melting from my eyes. + +At least I know that I had now less work to keep my frail ship trim, +though this also may have come by use and practice. In the beginning +one or other of my legs had been for ever trailing in the sea, to +keep the hen-coop from rolling over the other way; in fact, as I +understand they steer the toboggan in Canada, so I my little bark. +Now the necessity for this was gradually decreasing; whatever the +cause, it was the greatest mercy the day had brought me yet. With +less strain on the attention, however, there was more upon the mind. +No longer forced to exert some muscle twice or thrice a minute, I +had time to feel very faint, and yet time to think. My soul flew +homing to its proper prison. I was no longer any unit at unequal +strife with the elements; instincts common to my kind were no longer +my only stimulus. I was my poor self again; it was my own little +life, and no other, that I wanted to go on living;, and yet I felt +vaguely there was some special thing I wished to live for, something +that had not been very long in my ken; something that had perhaps +nerved and strengthened me all these hours. What, then, could it +be? I could not think. + +For moments or for minutes I wondered stupidly, dazed as I was. +Then I remembered - and the tears gushed to my eyes. How could I +ever have forgotten? I deserved it all, all, all! To think that +many a time we must have sat together on this very coop! I kissed +its blistering edge at the thought, and my tears ran afresh, as +though they never would stop. + +Ah! how I thought of her as that cruel day's most cruel sun +climbed higher and higher in the flawless flaming vault. A +pocket-handkerchief of all things had remained in my trousers pocket +through fire and water; I knotted it on the old childish plan, and +kept it ever drenched upon the head that had its own fever to endure +as well. Eva Denison! Eva Denison! I was talking to her in the +past, I was talking to her in the future, and oh! how different +were the words, the tone! Yes, I hated myself for having forgotten +her; but I hated God for having given her back to my tortured brain; +it made life so many thousandfold more sweet, and death so many +thousandfold more bitter. + +She was saved in the gig. Sweet Jesus, thanks for that! But I - I +was dying a lingering death in mid-ocean; she would never know how +I loved her, I, who could only lecture her when I had her at my side. + +Dying? No - no - not yet! I must live - live - live - to tell my +darling how I had loved her all the time. So I forced myself from +my lethargy of despair and grief; and this thought, the sweetest +thought of all my life, may or may not have been my unrealized +stimulus ere now; it was in very deed my most conscious and perpetual +spur henceforth until the end. + +>From this onward, while my sense stood by me, I was practical, +resourceful, alert. It was now high-noon, and I had eaten nothing +since dinner the night before. How clearly I saw the long saloon +table, only laid, however, abaft the mast; the glittering glass, +the cool white napery, the poor old dried dessert in the green +dishes! Earlier, this had occupied my mind an hour; now I dismissed +it in a moment; there was Eva, I must live for her; there must be +ways of living at least a day or two without sustenance, and I must +think of them. + +So I undid that belt of mine which fastened me to my gridiron, and +I straddled my craft with a sudden keen eye for sharks, of which I +never once had thought until now. Then I tightened the belt about +my hollow body, and just sat there with the problem. The past hour +I had been wholly unobservant; the inner eye had had its turn; but +that was over now, and I sat as upright as possible, seeking +greedily for a sail. Of course I saw none. Had we indeed been off +our course before the fire broke out? Had we burned to cinders +aside and apart from the regular track of ships? Then, though my +present valiant mood might ignore the adverse chances, they were as +one hundred to a single chance of deliverance. Our burning had +brought no ship to our succor; and how should I, a mere speck amid +the waves, bring one to mine? + +Moreover, I was all but motionless; I was barely drifting at all. +This I saw from a few objects which were floating around me now at +noon; they had been with me when the high sun rose. One was, I +think, the very oar which had been my first support; another was a +sailor's cap; but another, which floated nearer, was new to me, +as though it had come to the surface while my eyes were turned +inwards. And this was clearly the case; for the thing was a drowned +and bloated corpse. + +It fascinated me, though not with extraordinary horror; it came too +late to do that. I thought I recognized the man's back. I fancied +it was the mate who had taken charge of the long-boat. Was I then +the single survivor of those thirty souls? I was still watching my +poor lost com rade, when that happened to him against which even I +was not proof. Through the deep translucent blue beneath me a slim +shape glided; three smaller fish led the way; they dallied an instant +a fathom under my feet, which were snatched up, with what haste you +may imagine; then on they went to surer prey. + +He turned over; his dreadful face stared upwards; it was the chief +officer, sure enough. Then he clove the water with a rush, his +dead hand waved, the last of him to disappear; and I had a new +horror to think over for my sins. His poor fingers were all broken +and beaten to a pulp. + +The voices of the night came back to me - the curses and the cries. +Yes, I must have heard them. In memory now I recognized the voice +of the chief mate, but there again came in the assisted imagination. +Yet I was not so sure of this as before. I thought of Santos and +his horrible heavy cane. Good God! she was in the power of that! +I must live for Eva indeed; must save myself to save and protect my +innocent and helpless girl. + +Again I was a man; stronger than ever was the stimulus now, louder +than ever the call on every drop of true man's blood in my perishing +frame. It should not perish! It should not! + +Yet my throat was parched; my lips were caked; my frame was hollow. +Very weak I was already; without sustenance I should surely die. +But as yet I was far enough from death, or I had done disdaining +the means of life that all this time lay ready to my hand. A number +of dead fowls imparted ballast to my little craft. + +Yet I could not look at them in all these hours; or I could look, but +that was all. So I must sit up one hour more, and keep a sharper eye +than ever for the tiniest glimmer of a sail. To what end, I often +asked myself? I might see them; they would never see me. + +Then my eyes would fail, and "you squeamish fool!" I said at +intervals, until my tongue failed to articulate; it had swollen +so in my mouth. Flying fish skimmed the water like thick spray; +petrels were so few that I could count them; another shark swam +round me for an hour. In sudden panic I dashed my knuckles on +the wooden bars, to get at a duck to give the monster for a sop. +My knuckles bled. I held them to my mouth. My cleaving tongue +wanted more. The duck went to the shark; a few minutes more and +I had made my own vile meal as well. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +MY REWARD + + +The sun declined; my shadow broadened on die waters; and now I felt +that if my cockle-shell could live a little longer, why, so could I. + +I had got at the fowls without further hurt. Some of the bars took +out, I discovered how. And now very carefully I got my legs in, and +knelt; but the change of posture was not worth the risk one ran for +it; there was too much danger of capsizing, and failing to free +oneself before she filled and sank. + +With much caution I began breaking the bars, one by one; it was hard +enough, weak as I was; my thighs were of more service than my hands. + +But at last I could sit, the grating only covering me from the knees +downwards. And the relief of that outweighed all the danger, which, +as I discovered to my untold joy, was now much less than it had been +before. I was better ballast than the fowls. + +These I had attached to the lashings which had been blown asunder by +the explosion; at one end of the coop the ring-bolt had been torn +clean out, but at the other it was the cordage that had parted. To +the frayed ends I tied my fowls by the legs, with the most foolish +pride in my own cunning. Do you not see? It would keep them fresh +for my use, and it was a trick I had read of in no book; it was all +my own. + +So evening fell and found me hopeful and even puffed up; but yet, +no sail. + +Now, however, I could lie back, and use had given me a strange sense +of safety; besides, I think I knew, I hope I felt, that the hen-coop +was in other Hands than mine. + +All is reaction in the heart of man; light follows darkness nowhere +more surely than in that hidden self, and now at sunset it was my +heart's high-noon. Deep peace pervaded me as I lay outstretched in +my narrow rocking bed, as it might be in my coffin; a trust in my +Maker's will to save me if that were for the best, a trust in His +final wisdom and loving-kindness, even though this night should be +my last on earth. For myself I was resigned, and for others I must +trust Him no less. Who was I to constitute myself the protector of +the helpless, when He was in His Heaven? Such was my sunset mood; +it lasted a few minutes, and then, without radically changing, it +became more objective. + +The west was a broadening blaze of yellow and purple and red. I +cannot describe it to you. If you have seen the sun set in the +tropics, you would despise my description; and, if not, I for one +could never make you see it. Suffice it that a petrel wheeled +somewhere between deepening carmine and paling blue, and it took +my thoughts off at an earthy tangent. I thanked God there were no +big sea-birds in these latitudes; no molly-hawks, no albatrosses, +no Cape-hens. I thought of an albatross that I had caught going +out. Its beak and talons were at the bottom with the charred +remains of the Lady Jermyn. But I could see them still, could feel +them shrewdly in my mind's flesh; and so to the old superstition, +strangely justified by my case; and so to the poem which I, with my +special experience, not unnaturally consider the greatest poem ever +penned. + +But I did not know it then as I do now - and how the lines eluded +me! I seemed to see them in the book, yet I could not read the +words! + + "Water, water, everywhere, + Nor any drop to drink." + +That, of course, came first (incorrectly); and it reminded me of +my thirst, which the blood of the fowls had so very partially +appeased. I see now that it is lucky I could recall but little +more. Experience is less terrible than realization, and that +poem makes me realize what I went through as memory cannot. It +has verses which would have driven me mad. On the other hand, the +exhaustive mental search for them distracted my thoughts until the +stars were back in the sky; and now I had a new occupation, saying +to myself all the poetry I could remember, especially that of the +sea; for I was a bookish fellow even then. But I never was anything +of a scholar. It is odd therefore, that the one apposite passage +which recurred to me in its entirety was in hexameters and +pentameters + + Me miserum, quanti montes volvuntur aquarum! + Jam jam tacturos sidera summa putes. + Quantae diducto subsidunt aequore valles! + Jam jam tacturas Tartara nigra putes. + Quocunque adspicio, nihil est nisi pontus et aether; + Fluctibus hic tumidis, nubibus ille minax.... + +More there was of it in my head; but this much was an accurate +statement of my case; and yet less so now (I was thankful to +reflect) than in the morning, when every wave was indeed a mountain, +and its trough a Tartarus. I had learnt the lines at school; nay, +they had formed my very earliest piece of Latin repetition. And how +sharply I saw the room I said them in, the man I said them to, ever +since my friend! I figured him even now hearing Ovid rep., the same +passage in the same room. And I lay saying it on a hen-coop in the +middle of the Atlantic Ocean! + +At last I fell into a deep sleep, a long unconscious holiday of the +soul, undefiled by any dream. + +They say that our dreaming is done as we slowly wake; then was I out +of the way of it that night, for a sudden violent rocking awoke me +in one horrid instant. I made it worse by the way I started to a +sitting posture. I had shipped some water. I was shipping more. +Yet all around the sea was glassy; whence then the commotion? As +my ship came trim again, and I saw that my hour was not yet, the +cause occurred to me; and my heart turned so sick that it was minutes +before I had the courage to test my theory. + +It was the true one. + +A shark had been at my trailing fowls; had taken the bunch of them +together, dragging the legs from my loose fastenings. Lucky they +had been no stronger! Else had I been dragged down to perdition too. + +Lucky, did I say? The refinement of cruelty rather; for now I had +neither meat nor drink; my throat was a kiln; my tongue a flame; +and another day at hand. + +The stars were out; the sea was silver; the sun was up! + + . . . . . + +Hours passed. + +I was waiting now for my delirium. + +It came in bits. + +I was a child. I was playing on the lawn at home. I was back on +the blazing sea. + +I was a schoolboy saying my Ovid; then back once more. + +The hen-coop was the Lady Jermyn. I was at Eva Denison's side. +They were marrying us on board. The ship's bell was ringing for us; +a guitar in the background burlesqued the Wedding March under skinny +fingers; the air was poisoned by a million cigarettes, they raised +a pall of smoke above the mastheads, they set fire to the ship; +smoke and flame covered the sea from rim to rim, smoke and flame +filled the universe; the sea dried up, and I was left lying in its +bed, lying in my coffin, with red-hot teeth, because the sun blazed +right above them, and my withered lips were drawn back from them +for ever. + +So once more I came back to my living death; too weak now to carry +a finger to the salt water and back to my mouth; too weak to think +of Eva; too weak to pray any longer for the end, to trouble or to +care any more. + +Only so tired. + + . . . . . + +Death has no more terrors for me. I have supped the last horror of +the worst death a man can die. You shall hear now for what I was +delivered; you shall read of my reward. + +My floating coffin was many things in turn; a railway carriage, a +pleasure boat on the Thames, a hammock under the trees; last of all +it was the upper berth in a not very sweet-smelling cabin, with a +clatter of knives and forks near at hand, and a very strong odor of +onions in the Irish stew. + +My hand crawled to my head; both felt a wondrous weight; and my +head was covered with bristles no longer than those on my chin, only +less stubborn. + +"Where am I?" I feebly asked. + +The knives and forks clattered on, and presently I burst out crying +because they had not heard me, and I knew that I could never make +them hear. Well, they heard my sobs, and a huge fellow came with +his mouth full, and smelling like a pickle bottle. + +"Where am I?" + +"Aboard the brig Eliza, Liverpool, homeward bound; glad to see them +eyes open." + +"Have I been here long?" + +"Matter o' ten days." + +Where did you find me + +Floating in a hen-coop; thought you was a dead 'un." + +"Do you know what ship?" + +"Do we know? No, that's what you've got to tell us!" + +"I can't," I sighed, too weak to wag my head upon the pillow. + +The man went to my cabin door. + +"Here's a go," said he; "forgotten the name of his blessed ship, he +has. Where's that there paper, Mr. Bowles? There's just a chance +it may be the same." + +"I've got it, sir." + +"Well, fetch it along, and come you in, Mr. Bowles; likely you may +think o' somethin'." + +A reddish, hook-nosed man, with a jaunty, wicked look, came and +smiled upon me in the friendliest fashion; the smell of onions +became more than I knew how to endure. + +"Ever hear of the ship Lady Jermyn?" asked the first corner, winking +at the other. + +I thought very hard, the name did sound familiar; but no, I could +not honestly say that I had beard it before. + +The captain looked at his mate. + +"It was a thousand to one," said he; "still we may as well try him +with the other names. Ever heard of Cap'n Harris, mister?" + +"Not that I know of." + +"Of Saunderson-stooard?" + +"No." + +"Or Crookes-quartermaster." + +"Never." + +"Nor yet of Ready - a passenger?" + +"No." + +"It's no use goin' on," said the captain folding up the paper. + +"None whatever, sir," said the mate + +"Ready! Ready!" I repeated. "I do seem to have heard that name +before. Won't you give me another chance ?" + +The paper was unfolded with a shrug. + +"There was another passenger of the name of San-Santos. Dutchman, +seemin'ly. Ever heard o' him?" + +My disappointment was keen. I could not say that I had. Yet I +would not swear that I had not. + +"Oh, won't you? Well, there's only one more chance. Ever heard of +Miss Eva Denison - " + +"By God, yes! Have you?" + +I was sitting bolt upright in my bunk. The skipper's beard dropped +upon his chest. + +"Bless my soul! The last name o' the lot, too!" + +"Have you heard of her ?" I reiterated. + +"Wait a bit, my lad! Not so fast. Lie down again and tell me who +she was." + +"Who she was?" I screamed. "I want to know where she is!" + +"I can't hardly say," said the captain awkwardly. "We found the +gig o' the Lady Jermyn the week arter we found you, bein' becalmed +like; there wasn't no lady aboard her, though." + +"Was there anybody?" + +"Two dead 'uns - an' this here paper." + +"Let me see it!" + +The skipper hesitated. + +"Hadn't you better wait a bit?" + +"No, no; for Christ's sake let me see the worst; do you think I +can't read it in your face?" + +I could - I did. I made that plain to them, and at last I had the +paper smoothed out upon my knees. It was a short statement of the +last sufferings of those who had escaped in the gig, and there was +nothing in it that I did not now expect. They had buried Ready +first - then my darling - then her step-father. The rest expected +to follow fast enough. It was all written plainly, on a sheet of +the log-book, in different trembling hands. Captain Harris had +gone next; and two had been discovered dead. + +How long I studied that bit of crumpled paper, with the salt spray +still sparkling on it faintly, God alone knows. All at once a +peal of nightmare laughter rattled through the cabin. My deliverers +started back. The laugh was mine. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SOLE SURVIVOR + + +A few weeks later I landed in England, I, who no longer desired to +set foot on any land again. + +At nine-and-twenty I was gaunt and gray; my nerves were shattered, +my heart was broken; and my face showed it without let or hindrance +from the spirit that was broken too. Pride, will, courage, and +endurance, all these had expired in my long and lonely battle with +the sea. They had kept me alive-for this. And now they left me +naked to mine enemies. + +For every hand seemed raised against me, though in reality it was +the hand of fellowship that the world stretched out, and the other +was the reading of a jaundiced eye. I could not help it: there was +a poison in my veins that made me all ingratitude and perversity. +The world welcomed me back, and I returned the compliment by sulking +like the recaptured runaway I was at heart. The world showed a +sudden interest in me; so I took no further interest in the world, +but, on the contrary, resented its attentions with unreasonable +warmth and obduracy; and my would-be friends I regarded as my very +worst enemies. The majority, I feel sure, meant but well and +kindly by the poor survivor. But the survivor could not forget that +his name was still in the newspapers, nor blink the fact that he was +an unworthy hero of the passing hour. And he suffered enough from +brazenly meddlesome and self-seeking folk, from impudent and +inquisitive intruders, to justify some suspicion of old acquaintances +suddenly styling themselves old friends, and of distant connections +newly and unduly eager to claim relationship. Many I misjudged, and +have long known it. On the whole, however, I wonder at that attitude +of mine as little as I approve of it. + +If I had distinguished myself in any other way, it would have been +a different thing. It was the fussy, sentimental, inconsiderate +interest in one thrown into purely accidental and necessarily +painful prominence - the vulgarization of an unspeakable tragedy +- that my soul abhorred. I confess that I regarded it from my own +unique and selfish point of view. What was a thrilling matter to +the world was a torturing memory to me. The quintessence of the +torture was, moreover, my own secret. It was not the loss of the +Lady Jermyn that I could not bear to speak about; it was my own +loss; but the one involved the other. My loss apart, however, it +was plain enough to dwell upon experiences so terrible and yet so +recent as those which I had lived to tell. I did what I considered +my duty to the public, but I certainly did no more. My reticence +was rebuked in the papers that made the most of me, but would fain +have made more. And yet I do not think that I was anything but +docile with those who had a manifest right to question me; to the +owners, and to other interested persons, with whom I was confronted +on one pretext or another, I told my tale as fully and as freely as +I have told it here, though each telling hurt more than the last. +That was necessary and unavoidable; it was the private intrusions +which I resented with all the spleen the sea had left me in exchange +for the qualities it had taken away. + +Relatives I had as few as misanthropist could desire; but from +self-congratulation on the fact, on first landing, I soon came to +keen regret. They at least would have sheltered me from spies and +busybodies; they at least would have secured the peace and privacy +of one who was no hero in fact or spirit, whose noblest deed was a +piece of self preservation which he wished undone with all his +heart. + +Self-consciousness no doubt multiplied my flattering assailants. +I have said that my nerves were shattered. I may have imagined +much and exaggerated the rest. Yet what truth there was in my +suspicions you shall duly see. I felt sure that I was followed +in the street, and my every movement dogged by those to whom I +would not condescend to turn and look. Meanwhile, I had not +the courage to go near my club, and the Temple was a place where +I was accosted in every court, effusively congratulated on the +marvellous preservation of my stale spoilt life, and invited right +and left to spin my yarn over a quiet pipe! Well, perhaps such +invitations were not so common as they have grown in my memory; +nor must you confuse my then feelings on all these matters with +those which I entertain as I write. I have grown older, and, I +hope, something kindlier and wiser since then. Yet to this day I +cannot blame myself for abandoning my chambers and avoiding my club. + +For a temporary asylum I pitched upon a small, quiet, empty, +private hotel which I knew of in Charterhouse Square. Instantly +the room next mine became occupied. + +All the first night I imagined I heard voices talking about me in +that room next door. It was becoming a disease with me. Either +I was being dogged, watched, followed, day and night, indoors and +out, or I was the victim of a very ominous hallucination. That +night I never closed an eye nor lowered my light. In the morning +I took a four-wheel cab and drove straight to Harley Street; and, +upon my soul, as I stood on the specialist's door-step, I could +have sworn I saw the occupant of the room next mine dash by me in +a hansom! + +"Ah!" said the specialist; "so you cannot sleep; you hear voices; +you fancy you are being followed in the street. You don't think +these fancies spring entirely from the imagination? Not entirely +- just so. And you keep looking behind you, as though somebody +were at your elbow; and you prefer to sit with your back close to +the wall. Just so - just so. Distressing symptoms, to be sure, +but - but hardly to be wondered at in a man who has come through +your nervous strain." A keen professional light glittered in his +eyes. "And almost commonplace," he added, smiling, "compared with +the hallucinations you must have suffered from on that hen-coop! +Ah, my dear sir, the psychological interest of your case is very +great!" + +"It may be," said I, brusquely. "But I come to you to get that +hen-coop out of my head, not to be reminded of it. Everybody asks +me about the damned thing, and you follow everybody else. I wish +it and I were at the bottom of the sea together!" + +This speech had the effect of really interesting the doctor in my +present condition, which was indeed one of chronic irritation and +extreme excitability, alternating with fits of the very blackest +despair. Instead of offending my gentleman I had put him on his +mettle, and for half an hour he honored me with the most exhaustive +inquisition ever elicited from a medical man. His panacea was +somewhat in the nature of an anti-climax, but at least it had the +merits of simplicity and of common sense. A change of air - perfect +quiet - say a cottage in the country - not too near the sea. And +he shook my hand kindly when I left. + +"Keep up your heart, my dear sir," said he. "Keep up your courage +and your heart." + +"My heart!" I cried. "It's at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean." + +He was the first to whom I had said as much. He was a stranger. +What did it matter? And, oh, it was so true - so true. + +Every day and all day I was thinking of my love; every hour and all +hours she was before me with her sunny hair and young, young face. +Her wistful eyes were gazing into mine continually. Their +wistfulness I had never realized at the time; but now I did; and I +saw it for what it seemed always to have been, the soft, sad, +yearning look of one fated to die young. So young - so young! And +I might live to be an old man, mourning her. + +That I should never love again I knew full well. This time there +was no mistake. I have implied, I believe, that it was for another +woman I fled originally to the diggings. Well, that one was still +unmarried, and when the papers were full of me she wrote me a letter +which I now believe to have been merely kind. At the time I was all +uncharitableness; but words of mine would fail to tell you how cold +this letter left me; it was as a candle lighted in the full blaze +of the sun. + +With all my bitterness, however, you must not suppose that I had +quite lost the feelings which had inspired me at sunset on the +lonely ocean, while my mind still held good. I had been too near +my Maker ever to lose those feelings altogether. They were with +me in the better moments of these my worst days. I trusted His +wisdom still. There was a reason for everything; there were reasons +for all this. I alone had been saved out of all those souls who +sailed from Melbourne in the Lady Jermyn. Why should I have been +the favored one; I with my broken heart and now lonely life? Some +great inscrutable reason there must be; at my worst I did not deny +that. But neither did I puzzle my sick brain with the reason. I +just waited for it to be revealed to me, if it were God's will +ever to reveal it. And that I conceive to be the one spirit in +which a man may contemplate, with equal sanity and reverence, the +mysteries and the miseries of his life. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +I FIND A FRIEND + + + +The night after I consulted the specialist I was quite determined +to sleep. I had laid in a bundle of the daily papers. No country +cottage was advertised to let but I knew of it by evening, and about +all the likely ones I had already written. The scheme occupied my +thoughts. Trout-fishing was a desideratum. I would take my +rod and plenty of books, would live simply and frugally, and it +should make a new man of me by Christmas. It was now October. I +went to sleep thinking of autumn tints against an autumn sunset. +It must have been very early, certainly not later than ten o'clock; +the previous night I had not slept at all. + +Now, this private hotel of mine was a very old fashioned house, dark +and dingy all day long, with heavy old chandeliers and black old oak, +and dead flowers in broken flower-pots surrounding a grimy grass-plot +in the rear. On this latter my bedroom window looked; and never am +I likely to forget the vile music of the cats throughout my first +long wakeful night there. The second night they actually woke me; +doubtless they had been busy long enough, but it was all of a sudden +that I heard them, and lay listening for more, wide awake in an +instant. My window had been very softly opened, and the draught +fanned my forehead as I held my breath. + +A faint light glimmered through a ground-glass pane over the door; +and was dimly reflected by the toilet mirror, in its usual place +against the window. This mirror I saw moved, and next moment I had +bounded from bed. + +The mirror fell with a horrid clatter: the toilet-table followed it +with a worse: the thief had gone as he had come ere my toes halted +aching amid the debris. + +A useless little balcony - stone slab and iron railing - jutted out +from my window. I thought I saw a hand on the railing, another +on the slab, then both together on the lower level for one instant +before they disappeared. There was a dull yet springy thud on the +grass below. Then no more noise but the distant thunder of the +traffic, and the one that woke me, until the window next mine was +thrown up. + +"What the devil's up?" + +The voice was rich, cheery, light-hearted, agreeable; all that my +own was not as I answered "Nothing!" for this was not the first time +my next-door neighbor had tried to scrape acquaintance with me. + +"But surely, sir, I heard the very dickens of a row?" + +"You may have done." + +"I was afraid some one had broken into your room!" + +"As a matter of fact," said I, put to shame by the undiminished +good-humor of my neighbor, "some one did; but he's gone now, so +let him be." + +"Gone? Not he! He's getting over that wall. After him - after +him!" And the head disappeared from the window next mine. + +I rushed into the corridor, and was just in time to intercept a +singularly handsome young fellow, at whom I had hardly taken the +trouble to look until now. He was in full evening dress, and his +face was radiant with the spirit of mischief and adventure. + +"For God's sake, sir," I whispered, "let this matter rest. I shall +have to come forward if you persist, and Heaven knows I have been +before the public quite enough!" + +His dark eyes questioned me an instant, then fell as though he would +not disguise that he recollected and understood . I liked him for +his good taste. I liked him for his tacit sympathy, and better +still for the amusing disappointment in his gallant, young face. + +"I am sorry to have robbed you of a pleasant chase," said I. "At +one time I should have been the first to join you. But, to tell you +the truth, I've had enough excitement lately to last me for my life." + +"I can believe that," he answered, with his fine eyes full upon me. +How strangely I had misjudged him! I saw no vulgar curiosity in his +flattering gaze, but rather that very sympathy of which I stood in +need. I offered him my hand. + +"It is very good of you to give in," I said. "No one else has heard +a thing, you see. I shall look for another opportunity of thanking +you to-morrow." + +"No, no!" cried he, "thanks be hanged, but - but, I say, if I +promise you not to bore you about things - won't you drink a glass +of brandy-and-water in my room before you turn in again?" + +Brandy-and-water being the very thing I needed, and this young man +pleasing me more andmore, I said that I would join him with all my +heart, and returned to my room for my dressing-gown and slippers. +To find them, however, I had to light my candles, when the first +thing I saw was the havoc my marauder had left behind him. The +mirror was cracked across; the dressing-table had lost a leg; and +both lay flat, with my brushes and shaving-table, and the foolish +toilet crockery which no one uses (but I should have to replace) +strewn upon the carpet. But one thing I found that had not been +there before: under the window lay a formidable sheath-knife without +its sheath. I picked it up with something of a thrill, which did +not lessen when I felt its edge. The thing was diabolically sharp. +I took it with me to show my neighbor, whom I found giving his order +to the boots; it seemed that it was barely midnight, and that he had +only just come in when the clatter took place in my room. + +"Hillo!" he cried, when the man was gone, and I produced my trophy. +"Why, what the mischief have you got there?" + +"My caller's card," said I. "He left it behind him. Feel the edge." + +I have seldom seen a more indignant face than the one which my new +acquaintance bent over the weapon, as he held it to the light, and +ran his finger along the blade. He could have not frowned more +heavily if he had recognized the knife. + +"The villains!" he muttered. "The damned villains!" + +"Villains?" I queried. "Did you see more than one of them, then?" + +"Didn't you?" he asked quickly. "Yes, yes, to be sure! There was +at least one other beggar skulking down below." He stood looking at +me, the knife in his hand, though mine was held out for it. "Don't +you think, Mr. Cole, that it's our duty to hand this over to the +police? I - I've heard of other cases about these Inns of Court. +There's evidently a gang of them, and this knife might convict the +lot; there's no saying; anyway I think the police should have it. +If you like I'll take it to Scotland Yard myself, and hand it over +without mentioning your name." + +"Oh, if you keep my name out of it," said I, "and say nothing about +it here in the hotel, you may do what you like, and welcome! It's +the proper course, no doubt; only I've had publicity enough, and +would sooner have felt that blade in my body than set my name going +again in the newspapers." + +"I understand," he said, with his well-bred sympathy, which never +went a shade too far; and he dropped the weapon into a drawer, as +the boots entered with the tray. In a minute he had brewed two +steaming jorums of spirits-and-water; as he handed me one, I feared +he was going to drink my health, or toast my luck; but no, he was +the one man I had met who seemed, as he said, to "understand." +Nevertheless, he had his toast. + +"Here's confusion to the criminal classes in general," he cried; +"but death and damnation to the owners of that knife!" + +And we clinked tumblers across the little oval table in the middle +of the room. It was more of a sitting-room than mine; a bright +fire was burning in the grate, and my companion insisted on my +sitting over it in the arm-chair, while for himself he fetched the +one from his bedside, and drew up the table so that our glasses +should be handy. He then produced a handsome cigar-case admirably +stocked, and we smoked and sipped in the cosiest fashion, though +without exchanging many words. + +You may imagine my pleasure in the society of a youth, equally +charming in looks, manners and address, who had not one word to say +to me about the Lady Jermyn or my hen-coop. It was unique. Yet +such, I suppose, was my native contrariety, that I felt I could have +spoken of the catastrophe to this very boy with less reluctance than +to any other creature whom I had encountered since my deliverance. +He seemed so full of silent sympathy: his consideration for my +feelings was so marked and yet so unobtrusive. I have called him a +boy. I am apt to write as the old man I have grown, though I do +believe I felt older then than now. In any case my young friend +was some years my junior. I afterwards found out that he was +six-and-twenty. + +I have also called him handsome. He was the handsomest man that I +have ever met, had the frankest face, the finest eyes, the brightest +smile. Yet his bronzed forehead was low, and his mouth rather +impudent and bold than truly strong. And there was a touch of +foppery about him, in the enormous white tie and the much-cherished +whiskers of the fifties, which was only redeemed by that other touch +of devilry that he had shown me in the corridor. By the rich brown +of his complexion, as well as by a certain sort of swagger in his +walk, I should have said that he was a naval officer ashore, had he +not told me who he was of his own accord. + +"By the way," he said, "I ought to give you my name. It's Rattray, +of one of the many Kirby Halls in this country. My one's down in +Lancashire." + +"I suppose there's no need to tell my name?" said I, less sadly, I +daresay, than I had ever yet alluded to the tragedy which I alone +survived. It was an unnecessary allusion, too, as a reference to +the foregoing conversation will show. + +"Well, no!" said he, in his frank fashion; "I can't honestly say +there is." + +We took a few puffs, he watching the fire, and I his firelit face. + +"It must seem strange to you to be sitting with the only man who +lived to tell the tale!" + +The egotism of this speech was not wholly gratuitous. I thought +it did seem strange to him: that a needless constraint was put upon +him by excessive consideration for my feelings. I desired to set +him at his ease as he had set me at mine. On the contrary, he +seemed quite startled by my remark. + +"It is strange," he said, with a shudder, followed by the biggest +sip of brandy-and-water he had taken yet. "It must have been +horrible - horrible!" he added to himself, his dark eyes staring +into the fire. + +"Ah!" said I, "it was even more horrible than you suppose or can +ever imagine." + +I was not thinking of myself, nor of my love, nor of any particular +incident of the fire that still went on burning in my brain. My +tone was doubtless confidential, but I was meditating no special +confidence when my companion drew one with his next words. These, +however, came after a pause, in which my eyes had fallen from his +face, but in which I heard him emptying his glass. + +"What do you mean?" he whispered. "That there were other +circumstances - things which haven't got into the papers?" + +"God knows there were," I answered, my face in my hands; and, my +grief brought home to me, there I sat with it in the presence of +that stranger, without compunction and without shame. + +He sprang up and paced the room. His tact made me realize my +weakness, and I was struggling to overcome it when he surprised me +by suddenly stopping and laying a rather tremulous hand upon my +shoulder. + +"You - It wouldn't do you any good to speak of those circumstances, +I suppose?" he faltered. + +"No: not now: no good at all." + +"Forgive me," he said, resuming his walk. "I had no business - I +felt so sorry - I cannot tell you how I sympathize! And yet - I +wonder if you will always feel so?" + +"No saying how I shall feel when I am a man again," said I. "You +see what I am at present." And, pulling myself together, I rose to +find my new friend quite agitated in his turn. + +"I wish we had some more brandy," he sighed. "I'm afraid it's too +late to get any now." + +"And I'm glad of it," said I. "A man in my state ought not to look +at spirits, or he may never look past them again. Thank goodness, +there are other medicines. Only this morning I consulted the best +man on nerves in London. I wish I'd gone to him long ago." + +"Harley Street, was it?" + +"Yes." + +"Saw you on his doorstep, by Jove!" cried Rattray at once. "I was +driving over to Hampstead, and I thought it was you. Well, what's +the prescription?" + +In my satisfaction at finding that he had not been dogging me +intentionally (though I had forgotten the incident till he reminded +me of it), I answered his question with unusual fulness. + +"I should go abroad," said Rattray. "But then, I always am abroad; +it's only the other day I got back from South America, and I shall +up anchor again before this filthy English winter sets in. + +Was he a sailor after all, or only a well-to-do wanderer on the face +of the earth? He now mentioned that he was only in England for a +few weeks, to have a look at his estate, and so forth; after which +he plunged into more or less enthusiastic advocacy of this or that +foreign resort, as opposed to the English cottage upon which I told +him I had set my heart. + +He was now, however, less spontaneous, I thought, than earlier in +the night. His voice had lost its hearty ring, and he seemed +preoccupied, as if talking of one matter while he thought upon +another. Yet he would not let me go; and presently he confirmed my +suspicion, no less than my first impression of his delightful +frankness and cordiality, by candidly telling me what was on his mind. + +"If you really want a cottage in the country," said he, "and the most +absolute peace and quiet to be got in this world, I know of the very +hing on my land in Lancashire. It would drive me mad in a week; but +if you really care for that sort of thing - " + +"An occupied cottage?" I interrupted. + +"Yes; a couple rent it from me, very decent people of the name of +Braithwaite. The man is out all day, and won't bother you when he's +in; he's not like other people, poor chap. But the woman s all there, +and would do her best for you in a humble, simple, wholesome sort +of way." + +"You think they would take me in?" + +"They have taken other men - artists as a rule." + +"Then it's a picturesque country?" + +"Oh, it's that if it's nothing else; but not a town for miles, mind +you, and hardly a village worthy the name." + +"Any fishing?" + +"Yes - trout - small but plenty of 'em - in a beck running close +behind the cottage." + +"Come," cried I, "this sounds delightful! Shall you be up there?" + +"Only for a day or two," was the reply. "I shan't trouble you, +Mr. Cole." + +"My dear sir, that wasn't my meaning at all. I'n only sorry I +shall not see something of you on your own heath. I can't thank +you enough for your kind suggestion. When do you suppose the +Braithwaites could do with me?" + +His charming smile rebuked my impatience. + +"We must first see whether they can do with you at all," said he. +"I sincerely hope they can; but this is their time of year for +tourists, though perhaps a little late. I'll tell you what I'll do. +As a matter of fact, I'm going down there to-morrow, and I've got +to telegraph to my place in any case to tell them when to meet me. +I'll send the telegram first thing, and I'll make them send one back +to say whether there's room in the cottage or not." + +I thanked him warmly, but asked if the cottage was close to Kirby +Hall, and whether this would not be giving a deal of trouble at the +other end; whereupon he mischievously misunderstood me a second +time, saying the cottage and the hall were not even in sight of each +other, and I really had no intrusion to fear, as he was a lonely +bachelor like myself, and would only be up there four or five days +at the most. So I made my appreciation of his society plainer than +ever to him; for indeed I had found a more refreshing pleasure in +it already than I had hoped to derive from mortal man again; and we +parted, at three o'clock in the morning, like old fast friends. + +"Only don't expect too much, my dear Mr. Cole," were his last words +to me. "My own place is as ancient and as tumble-down as most ruins +that you pay to see over. And I'm never there myself because - I +tell you frankly - I hate it like poison!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A SMALL PRECAUTION + + +My delight in the society of this young Squire Rattray (as I soon +was to hear him styled) had been such as to make me almost forget +the sinister incident which had brought us together. When I +returned to my room, however, there were the open window and the +litter on the floor to remind me of what had happened earlier in +the night. Yet I was less disconcerted than you might suppose. A +common housebreaker can have few terrors for one who has braved +those of mid-ocean single-handed; my would-be visitor had no longer +any for me; for it had not yet occurred to me to connect him with +the voices and the footsteps to which, indeed, I had been unable +to swear before the doctor. On the other hand, these morbid +imaginings (as I was far from unwilling to consider them) had one +and all deserted me in the sane, clean company of the capital young +fellow in the next room. + +I have confessed my condition up to the time of this queer meeting. +I have tried to bring young Rattray before you with some hint of his +freshness and his boyish charm; and though the sense of failure is +heavy upon me there, I who knew the man knew also that I must fail +to do him justice. Enough may have been said, however, to impart +some faint idea of what this youth was to me in the bitter and +embittering anti-climax of my life. Conventional figures spring to +my pen, but every one of them is true; he was flowers in spring, he +was sunshine after rain, he was rain following long months of +drought. I slept admirably after all; and I awoke to see the +overturned toilet-table, and to thrill as I remembered there was one +fellow-creature with whom I could fraternize without fear of a rude +reopening of my every wound. + +I hurried my dressing in the hope of our breakfasting together. I +knocked at the next door, and, receiving no answer, even ventured +to enter, with the same idea. He was not there. He was not in the +coffee-room. He was not in the hotel. + +I broke my fast in disappointed solitude, and I hung about +disconsolate all the morning, looking wistfully for my new-made +friend. Towards mid-day he drove up in a cab which he kept waiting +at the curb. + +"It's all right!" he cried out in his hearty way. "I sent my +telegram first thing, and I've had the answer at my club. The +rooms are vacant, and I'll see that Jane Braithwaite has all ready +for you by to-morrow night." + +I thanked him from my heart. "You seem in a hurry!" I added, as I +followed him up the stairs. + +"I am," said he. "It's a near thing for the train. I've just time +to stick in my things." + +"Then I'll stick in mine," said I impulsively, "and I'll come with +you, and doss down in any corner for the night." + +He stopped and turned on the stairs. + +"You mustn't do that," said he; "they won't have anything ready. +I'm going to make it my privilege to see that everything is as cosey +as possible when you arrive. I simply can't allow you to come to-day, +Mr. Cole!" He smiled, but I saw that he was in earnest, and of +course I gave in. + +"All right," said I; "then I must content myself with seeing you +off at the station." + +To my surprise his smile faded, and a flush of undisguised annoyance +made him, if anything, better-looking than ever. It brought out a +certain strength of mouth and jaw which I had not observed there +hitherto. It gave him an ugliness of expression which only +emphasized his perfection of feature. + +"You mustn't do that either," said he, shortly. "I have an +appointment at the station. I shall be talking business all the +time." + +He was gone to his room, and I went to mine feeling duly snubbed; +yet I deserved it; for I had exhibited a characteristic (though not +chronic) want of taste, of which I am sometimes guilty to this day. +Not to show ill-feeling on the head of it, I nevertheless followed +him down again in four or five minutes. And I was rewarded by his +brightest smile as he grasped my hand. + +"Come to-morrow by the same train," said he, naming station, line, +and hour; "unless I telegraph, all will be ready and you shall be +met. You may rely on reasonable charges. As to the fishing, go +up-stream - to the right when you strike the beck - and you'll find +a good pool or two. I may have to go to Lancaster the day after +to-morrow, but I shall give you a call when I get back." + +With that we parted, as good friends as ever. I observed that my +regret at losing him was shared by the boots, who stood beside me +on the steps as his hansom rattled off. + +"I suppose Mr. Rattray stays here always when he comes to town?" +said I. + +"No, sir," said the man, "we've never had him before, not in my time; +but I shouldn't mind if he came again." And he looked twice at the +coin in his hand before pocketing it with evident satisfaction. + +Lonely as I was, and wished to be, I think that I never felt my +loneliness as I did during the twenty-four hours which intervened +between Rattray's departure and my own. They dragged like wet days +by the sea, and the effect was as depressing. I have seldom been +at such a loss for something to do; and in my idleness I behaved +like a child, wishing my new friend back again, or myself on the +railway with my new friend, until I blushed for the beanstalk growth +of my regard for him, an utter stranger, and a younger man. I am +less ashamed of it now: he had come into my dark life like a lamp, +and his going left a darkness deeper than before. + +In my dejection I took a new view of the night's outrage. It was +no common burglar's work, for what had I worth stealing? It was +the work of my unseen enemies, who dogged me in the street; they +alone knew why; the doctor had called these hallucinations, and I +had forced myself to agree with the doctor; but I could not deceive +myself in my present mood. I remembered the steps, the steps - the +stopping when I stopped - the drawing away in the crowded streets + - the closing up in quieter places. Why had I never looked round? +Why? Because till to-day I had thought it mere vulgar curiosity; +because a few had bored me, I had imagined the many at my heels; but +now I knew - I knew! It was the few again: a few who hated me even +unto death. + +The idea took such a hold upon me that I did not trouble my head +with reasons and motives. Certain persons had designs upon my +life; that was enough for me. On the whole, the thought was +stimulating; it set a new value on existence, and it roused a certain +amount of spirit even in me. I would give the fellows another chance +before I left town. They should follow me once more, and this time +to some purpose. Last night they had left a knife on me; to-night +I would have a keepsake ready for them. + +Hitherto I had gone unarmed since my landing, which, perhaps, was +no more than my duty as a civilized citizen. On Black Hill Flats, +however, I had formed another habit, of which I should never have +broken myself so easily, but for the fact that all the firearms I +ever had were reddening and rotting at the bottom of the Atlantic +Ocean. I now went out and bought me such a one as I had never +possessed before. + +The revolver was then in its infancy; but it did exist; and by dusk +I was owner of as fine a specimen as could be procured in the city +of London. It had but five chambers, but the barrel was ten inches +long; one had to cap it, and to put in the powder and the wadded +bullet separately; but the last-named would have killed an elephant. +The oak case that I bought with it cumbers my desk as I write, and, +shut, you would think that it had never contained anything more +lethal than fruit-knives. I open it, and there are the green-baize +compartments, one with a box of percussion caps, still apparently +full, another that could not contain many more wadded-bullets, and +a third with a powder-horn which can never have been much lighter. +Within the lid is a label bearing the makers' names; the gentlemen +themselves are unknown to me, even if they are still alive; +nevertheless, after five-and-forty years, let me dip my pen to Messrs. +Deane, Adams and Deane! + +That night I left this case in my room, locked, and the key in my +waistcoat pocket; in the right-hand side-pocket of my overcoat I +carried my Deane and Adams, loaded in every chamber; also my right +hand, as innocently as you could wish. And just that night I was +not followed! I walked across Regent's Park, and I dawdled on +Primrose Hill, without the least result. Down I turned into the +Avenue Road, and presently was strolling between green fields +towards Finchley. The moon was up, but nicely shaded by a thin +coating of clouds which extended across the sky: it was an ideal +night for it. It was also my last night in town, and I did want +to give the beggars their last chance. But they did not even +attempt to avail themselves of it: never once did they follow me: +my ears were in too good training to make any mistake. And the +reason only dawned on me as I drove back disappointed: they had +followed me already to the gunsmith's! + +Convinced of this, I entertained but little hope of another midnight +visitor. Nevertheless, I put my light out early, and sat a long +time peeping through my blind; but only an inevitable Tom, with +back hunched up and tail erect, broke the moonlit profile of the +back-garden wall; and once more that disreputable music (which none +the less had saved my life) was the only near sound all night. + +I felt very reluctant to pack Deane and Adams away in his case next +morning, and the case in my portmanteau, where I could not get at +it in case my unknown friends took it into their heads to accompany +me out of town. In the hope that they would, I kept him loaded, +and in the same overcoat pocket, until late in the afternoon, when, +being very near my northern destination, and having the compartment +to myself, I locked the toy away with considerable remorse for the +price I had paid for it. All down the line I had kept an eye for +suspicious characters with an eye upon me; but even my +self-consciousness failed to discover one; and I reached my haven +of peace, and of fresh fell air, feeling, I suppose, much like any +other fool who has spent his money upon a white elephant. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MY CONVALESCENT HOME + + +The man Braithwaite met me at the station with a spring cart. The +very porters seemed to expect me, and my luggage was in the cart +before I had given up my ticket. Nor had we started when I first +noticed that Braithwaite did not speak when I spoke to him. On the +way, however, a more flagrant instance recalled young Rattray's +remark, that the man was "not like other people." I had imagined it +to refer to a mental, not a physical, defect; whereas it was clear +to me now that my prospective landlord was stone-deaf, and I +presently discovered him to be dumb as well. Thereafter I studied +him with some attention during our drive of four or five miles. I +called to mind the theory that an innate physical deficiency is +seldom without its moral counterpart, and I wondered how far this +would apply to the deaf-mute at my side, who was ill-grown, wizened, +and puny into the bargain. The brow-beaten face of him was certainly +forbidding, and he thrashed his horse up the hills in a dogged, +vindictive, thorough-going way which at length made me jump out and +climb one of them on foot. It was the only form of protest that +occurred to me. + +The evening was damp and thick. It melted into night as we drove. +I could form no impression of the country, but this seemed desolate +enough. I believe we met no living soul on the high road which we +followed for the first three miles or more. At length we turned +into a narrow lane, with a stiff stone wall on either hand, and this +eventually led us past the lights of what appeared to be a large +farm; it was really a small hamlet; and now we were nearing our +destination. Gates had to be opened, and my poor driver breathed +hard from the continual getting down and up. In the end a long and +heavy cart-track brought us to the loneliest light that I have ever +seen. It shone on the side of a hill - in the heart of an open +wilderness - as solitary as a beacon-light at sea. It was the light +of the cottage which was to be my temporary home. + +A very tall, gaunt woman stood in the doorway against the inner +glow. She advanced with a loose, long stride, and invited me to +enter in a voice harsh (I took it) from disuse. I was warming +myself before the kitchen fire when she came in carrying my heaviest +box as though it had nothing in it. I ran to take it from her, for +the box was full of books, but she shook her head, and was on the +stairs with it before I could intercept her. + +I conceive that very few men are attracted by abnormal strength in +a woman; we cannot help it; and yet it was not her strength which +first repelled me in Mrs. Braithwaite. It was a combination of +attributes. She had a poll of very dirty and untidy red hair; her +eyes were set close together; she had the jowl of the traditional +prize-fighter. But far more disagreeable than any single feature +was the woman's expression, or rather the expression which I caught +her assuming naturally, and banishing with an effort for my benefit. +To me she was strenuously civil in her uncouth way. But I saw her +give her husband one look, as he staggered in with my comparatively +light portmanteau, which she instantly snatched out of his feeble +arms. I saw this look again before the evening was out, and it was +such a one as Braithwaite himself had fixed upon his horse as he +flogged it up the hills. + +I began to wonder how the young squire had found it in his conscience +to recommend such a pair. I wondered less when the woman finally +ushered me upstairs to my rooms. These were small and rugged, but +eminently snug and clean. In each a good fire blazed cheerfully; my +portmanteau was already unstrapped, the table in the sitting-room +already laid; and I could not help looking twice at the silver and +the glass, so bright was their condition, so good their quality. +Mrs. Braithwaite watched me from the door. + +"I doubt you'll be thinking them's our own," said she. "I wish they +were; t'squire sent 'em in this afternoon." + +"For my use?" + +"Ay; I doubt he thought what we had ourselves wasn't good enough. +An' it's him 'at sent t' armchair, t'bed-linen, t'bath, an' that +there lookin'-glass an' all." + +She had followed me into the bedroom, where I looked with redoubled +interest at each object as she mentioned it, and it was in the glass + - a masqueline shaving-glass - that I caught my second glimpse of my +landlady's evil expression - levelled this time at myself. + +I instantly turned round and told her that I thought it very kind of +Mr. Rattray, but that, for my part, I was not a luxurious man, and +that I felt rather sorry the matter had not been left entirely in her +hands. She retired seemingly mollified, and she took my sympathy with +her, though I was none the less pleased and cheered by my new friend's +zeal for my comfort; there were even flowers on my table, without a +doubt from Kirby Hall. + +And in another matter the squire had not misled me: the woman was +an excellent plain cook. I expected ham and eggs. Sure enough, +this was my dish, but done to a turn. The eggs were new and all +unbroken, the ham so lean and yet so tender, that I would not have +exchanged my humble, hearty meal for the best dinner served that +night in London. It made a new man of me, after my long journey +and my cold, damp drive. I was for chatting with Mrs. Braithwaite +when she came up to clear away. I thought she might be glad to +talk after the life she must lead with her afflicted husband, but +it seemed to have had the opposite effect on her. All I elicited +was an ambiguous statement as to the distance between the cottage +and the hall; it was "not so far." And so she left me to my pipe +and to my best night yet, in the stillest spot I have ever slept +in on dry land; one heard nothing but the bubble of a beck; and it +seemed very, very far away. + +A fine, bright morning showed me my new surroundings in their true +colors; even in the sunshine these were not very gay. But gayety +was the last thing I wanted. Peace and quiet were my whole desire, +and both were here, set in scenery at once lovely to the eye and +bracing to the soul. + +>From the cottage doorstep one looked upon a perfect panorama of +healthy, open English country. Purple hills hemmed in a broad, +green, undulating plateau, scored across and across by the stone +walls of the north, and all dappled with the shadows of rolling +leaden clouds with silver fringes. Miles away a church spire stuck +like a spike out of the hollow, and the smoke of a village dimmed +the trees behind. No nearer habitation could I see. I have +mentioned a hamlet which we passed in the spring-cart. It lay +hidden behind some hillocks to the left. My landlady told me it +was better than half a mile away, and "nothing when you get there; +no shop; no post-office; not even a public - house." + +I inquired in which direction lay the hall. She pointed to the +nearest trees, a small forest of stunted oaks, which shut in the +view to the right, after quarter of a mile of a bare and rugged +valley. Through this valley twisted the beck which I had heard +faintly in the night. It ran through the oak plantation and so to +the sea, some two or three miles further on, said my landlady; but +nobody would have thought it was so near. + +"T'squire was to be away to-day," observed the woman, with the +broad vowel sound which I shall not attempt to reproduce in print. +"He was going to Lancaster, I believe." + +"So I understood," said I. "I didn't think of troubling him, if +that's what you mean. I'm going to take his advice and fish the +beck." + +And I proceeded to do so after a hearty early dinner: the keen, +chill air was doing me good already: the "perfect quiet" was finding +its way into my soul. I blessed my specialist, I blessed Squire +Rattray, I blessed the very villains who had brought us within each +other's ken; and nowhere was my thanksgiving more fervent than in +the deep cleft threaded by the beck; for here the shrewd yet gentle +wind passed completely overhead, and the silence was purged of +oppression by the ceaseless symphony of clear water running over +clean stones. + +But it was no day for fishing, and no place for the fly, though I +went through the form of throwing one for several hours. Here the +stream merely rinsed its bed, there it stood so still, in pools of +liquid amber, that, when the sun shone, the very pebbles showed +their shadows in the deepest places. Of course I caught nothing; +but, towards the close of the gold-brown afternoon, I made yet +another new acquaintance, in the person of a little old clergyman +who attacked me pleasantly from the rear. + +"Bad day for fishing, sir," croaked the cheery voice which first +informed me of his presence. "Ah, I knew it must be a stranger," +he cried as I turned and he hopped down to my side with the activity +of a much younger man. + +"Yes," I said, "I only came down from London yesterday. I find the +spot so delightful that I haven't bothered much about the sport. +Still, I've had about enough of it now." And I prepared to take my +rod to pieces. + +"Spot and sport!" laughed the old gentleman. "Didn't mean it for +a pun, I hope? Never could endure puns! So you came down yesterday, +young gentleman, did you? And where may you be staying?" + +I described the position of my cottage without the slightest +hesitation; for this parson did not scare me; except in appearance +he had so little in common with his type as I knew it. He had, +however, about the shrewdest pair of eyes that I have ever seen, +and my answer only served to intensify their open scrutiny. + +"How on earth did you come to hear of a God-forsaken place like this?" +said he, making use, I thought, of a somewhat stronger expression than +quite became his cloth. + +"Squire Rattray told me of it," said I. + +"Ha! So you're a friend of his, are you?" And his eyes went +through and through me like knitting-needles through a ball of wool. + +"I could hardly call myself that," said I. "But Mr. Rattray has +been very kind to me." + +"Meet him in town?" + +I said I had, but I said it with some coolness, for his tone had +dropped into the confidential, and I disliked it as much as this +string of questions from a stranger. + +"Long ago, sir?" he pursued. + +"No, sir; not long ago," I retorted. + +"May I ask your name?" said he. + +"You may ask what you like," I cried, with a final reversal of all +my first impressions of this impertinent old fellow; "but I'm hanged +if I tell it you! I am here for rest and quiet, sir. I don't ask +you your name. I can't for the life of me see what right you have +to ask me mine, or to question me at all, for that matter." + +He favored me with a brief glance of extraordinary suspicion. It +faded away in mere surprise, and, next instant, my elderly and +reverend friend was causing me some compunction by coloring like +a boy. + +"You may think my curiosity mere impertinence, sir," said he; "you +would think otherwise if you knew as much as I do of Squire Rattray's +friends, and how little you resemble the generality of them. You +might even feel some sympathy for one of the neighboring clergy, to +whom this godless young man has been for years as a thorn in their +side." + +He spoke so gravely, and what he said was so easy to believe, that +I could not but apologize for my hasty words. + +"Don't name it, sir," said the clergyman; "you had a perfect right +to resent my questions, and I enjoy meeting young men of spirit; +but not when it's an evil spirit, such as, I fear, possesses your +friend! I do assure you, sir, that the best thing I have heard of +him for years is the very little that you have told me. As a rule, +to hear of him at all in this part of the world, is to wish that +we had not heard. I see him coming, however, and shall detain you +no longer, for I don't deny that there is no love lost between us." + +I looked round, and there was Rattray on the top of the bank, a +long way to the left, coming towards me with a waving hat. An +extraordinary ejaculation brought me to the right-about next instant. + +The old clergyman had slipped on a stone in mid-stream, and, as he +dragged a dripping leg up the opposite bank, he had sworn an oath +worthy of the "godless young man" who had put him to flight, and +on whose demerits he had descanted with so much eloquence and +indignation. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +WINE AND WEAKNESS + + +Sporting old parson who knows how to swear?" laughed Rattray. +"Never saw him in my life before; wondered who the deuce he was." + +"Really?" said I. "He professed to know something of you." + +"Against me, you mean? My dear Cole, don't trouble to perjure +yourself. I don't mind, believe me. They're easily shocked, these +country clergy, and no doubt I'm a bugbear to 'em. Yet, I could +have sworn I'd never seen this one before. Let's have another look." + +We were walking away together. We turned on the top of the bank. +And there the old clergyman was planted on the moorside, and watching +us intently from under his hollowed hands. + +"Well, I'm hanged!" exclaimed Rattray, as the hands fell and their +owner beat a hasty retreat. My companion said no more; indeed, for +some minutes we pursued our way in silence. And I thought that it +was with an effort that he broke into sudden inquiries concerning +my journey and my comfort at the cottage. + +This gave me an opportunity of thanking him for his little +attentions. "It was awfully good of you," said I, taking his arm +as though I had known him all my life; nor do I think there was +another living man with whom I would have linked arms at that time. + +"Good?" cried he. "Nonsense, my dear sir! I'm only afraid you +find it devilish rough. But, at all events, you're coming to dine +with me to-night." + +"Am I?" I asked, smiling. + +"Rather!" said he. "My time here is short enough. I don't lose +sight of you again between this and midnight." + +"It's most awfully good of you," said I again. + +"Wait till you see! You'll find it rough enough at my place; all +my retainers are out for the day at a local show." + +"Then I certainly shall not give you the trouble " + +He interrupted me with his jovial laugh. + +"My good fellow," he cried, "that's the fun of it! How do you +suppose I've been spending the day? Told you I was going to +Lancaster, did I? Well, I've been cooking our dinner instead +- laying the table - getting up the wines - never had such a joke! +Give you my word, I almost forgot I was in the wilderness!" + +"So you're quite alone, are you?" + +"Yes; as much so as that other beggar who was monarch of all he +surveyed, his right there was none to dispute, from the what-is-it +down to the glade -" + +"I'll come," said I, as we reached the cottage. "Only first you +must let me make myself decent." + +"You're decent enough!" + +"My boots are wet; my hands -" + +"All serene! I'll give you five minutes." + +And I left him outside, flourishing a handsome watch, while, on my +way upstairs, I paused to tell Mrs. Braithwaite that I was dining +at the hall. She was busy cooking, and I felt prepared for her +unpleasant expression; but she showed no annoyance at my news. I +formed the impression that it was no news to her. And next minute I +heard a whispering below; it was unmistakable in that silent cottage, +where not a word had reached me yet, save in conversation to which I +was myself a party. + +I looked out of window. Rattray I could no longer see. And I +confess that I felt both puzzied and annoyed until we walked away +together, when it was his arm which was immediately thrust through +mine. + +"A good soul, Jane," said he; "though she made an idiotic marriage, +and leads a life which might spoil the temper of an archangel. She +was my nurse when I was a youngster, Cole, and we never meet without +a yarn." Which seemed natural enough; still I failed to perceive +why they need yarn in whispers. + +Kirby Hall proved startlingly near at hand. We descended the bare +valley to the right, we crossed the beck upon a plank, were in the +oak-plantation about a minute, and there was the hall upon the +farther side. + +And a queer old place it seemed, half farm, half feudal castle: fowls +strutting at large about the back premises (which we were compelled +to skirt), and then a front door of ponderous oak, deep-set between +walls fully six feet thick, and studded all over with wooden pegs. +The facade, indeed, was wholly grim, with a castellated tower at one +end, and a number of narrow, sunken windows looking askance on the +wreck and ruin of a once prim, old-fashioned, high-walled garden. +I thought that Rattray might have shown more respect for the house +of his ancestors. It put me in mind of a neglected grave. And yet +I could forgive a bright young fellow for never coming near so +desolate a domain. + +We dined delightfully in a large and lofty hall, formerly used (said +Rattray) as a court-room. The old judgment seat stood back against +the wall, and our table was the one at which the justices had been +wont to sit. Then the chamber had been low-ceiled; now it ran to +the roof, and we ate our dinner beneath a square of fading autumn +sky, with I wondered how many ghosts looking down on us from the +oaken gallery! I was interested, impressed, awed not a little, and +yet all in a way which afforded my mind the most welcome distraction +from itself and from the past. To Rattray, on the other hand, it +was rather sadly plain that the place was both a burden and a bore; +in fact he vowed it was the dampest and the dullest old ruin under +the sun, and that he would sell it to-morrow if he could find a +lunatic to buy. His want of sentiment struck me as his one +deplorable trait. Yet even this displayed his characteristic merit +of frankness. Nor was it at all unpleasant to hear his merry, +boyish laughter ringing round hall and gallery, ere it died away +against a dozen closed doors. + +And there were other elements of good cheer: a log fire blazing +heartily in the old dog-grate, casting a glow over the stone flags, +a reassuring flicker into the darkest corner: cold viands of the +very best: and the finest old Madeira that has ever passed my lips. + +"Now, all my life I have been a "moderate drinker" in the most +literal sense of that slightly elastic term. But at the sad time +of which I am trying to write, I was almost an abstainer, from the +fear, the temptation - of seeking oblivion in strong waters. To +give way then was to go on giving way. I realized the danger, and +I took stern measures. Not stern enough, however; for what I did +not realize was my weak and nervous state, in which a glass would +have the same effect on me as three or four upon a healthy man. + +Heaven knows how much or how little I took that evening! I can +swear it was the smaller half of either bottle - and the second we +never finished - but. the amount matters nothing. Even me it did +not make grossly tipsy. But it warmed my blood, it cheered my heart, +it excited my brain, and - it loosened my tongue. It set me talking +with a freedom of which I should have been incapable in my normal +moments, on a subject whereof I had never before spoken of my own +free will. And yet the will to - speak - to my present companion +- was no novelty. I had felt it at our first meeting in the private +hotel. His tact, his sympathy, his handsome face, his personal charm, +his frank friendliness, had one and all tempted me to bore this +complete stranger with unsolicited confidences for which an +inquisitive relative might have angled in vain. And the temptation +was the stronger because I knew in my heart that I should not bore +the young squire at all; that he was anxious enough to hear my story +from my own lips, but too good a gentleman intentionally to betray +such anxiety. Vanity was also in the impulse. A vulgar newspaper +prominence had been my final (and very genuine) tribulation; but to +please and to interest one so pleasing and so interesting to me, +was another and a subtler thing. And then there was his sympathy +- shall I add his admiration? - for my reward. + +I do not pretend that I argued thus deliberately in my heated and +excited brain. I merely hold that all these small reasons and +motives were there, fused and exaggerated by the liquor which +was there as well. Nor can I say positively that Rattray put no +leading questions; only that I remember none which had that sound; +and that, once started, I am afraid I needed only too little +encouragement to run on and on. + +Well, I was set going before we got up from the table. I continued +in an armchair that my host dragged from a little book-lined room +adjoining the hall. I finished on my legs, my back to the fire, my +hands beating wildly together. I had told my dear Rattray of my +own accord more than living man had extracted from me yet. He +interrupted me very little; never once until I came to the murderous +attack by Santos on the drunken steward. + +"The brute!" cried Rattray. "The cowardly, cruel, foreign devil! +And you never let out one word of that!" + +"What was the good?" said I. "They are all gone now - all gone to +their account. Every man of us was a brute at the last. There was +nothing to be gained by telling the public that." + +He let me go on until I came to another point which I had hitherto +kept to myself: the condition of the dead mate's fingers: the cries +that the sight of them had recalled. + +"That Portuguese villain again!" cried my companion, fairly leaping +from the chair which I had left and he had taken. "It was the work +of the same cane that killed the steward. Don't tell me an +Englishman would have done it; and yet you said nothing about that +either!" + +It was my first glimpse of this side of my young host's character. +Nor did I admire him the less, in his spirited indignation, because +much of this was clearly against myself. His eyes flashed. His +face was white. I suddenly found myself the cooler man of the two. + +"My dear fellow, do consider!" said I. "What possible end could +have been served by my stating what I couldn't prove against a man +who could never be brought to book in this world? Santos was +punished as he deserved; his punishment was death, and there's an +end on't." + +"You might be right," said Rattray, "but it makes my blood boil to +hear such a story. Forgive me if I have spoken strongly;" and he +paced his hall for a little in an agitation which made me like him +better and better. "The cold-blooded villain!" he kept muttering; +"the infernal, foreign, blood-thirsty rascal! Perhaps you were +right; it couldn't have done any good, I know; but - I only wish +he'd lived for us to hang him, Cole! Why, a beast like that is +capable of anything: I wonder if you've told me the worst even now?" +And he stood before me, with candid suspicion in his fine, frank +eyes. + +"What makes you say that?" said I, rather nettled. + +I shan't tell you if it's going to rile you, old fellow," was his +reply. And with it reappeared the charming youth whom I found it +impossibile to resist. "Heaven knows you have had enough to worry +you!" he added, in his kindly, sympathetic voice. + +"So much," said I, "that you cannot add to it, my dear Rattray. +Now, then! Why do you think there was something worse?" + +"You hinted as much in town: rightly or wrongly I gathered there +was something you would never speak about to living man." + +I turned from him with a groan. + +"Ah! but that had nothing to do with Santos." + +"Are you sure?" he cried. + +"No," I murmured; "it had something to do with him, in a sense; but +don't ask me any more." And I leaned my forehead on the high oak +mantel-piece, and groaned again. + +His hand was upon my shoulder. + +"Do tell me," he urged. I was silent. He pressed me further. In +my fancy, both hand and voice shook with his sympathy. + +"He had a step-daughter," said I at last. + +"Yes? Yes?" + +"I loved her. That was all." + +His hand dropped from my shoulder. I remained standing, stooping, +thinking only of her whom I had lost for ever. The silence was +intense. I could hear the wind sighing in the oaks without, the +logs burning softly away at my feet And so we stood until the voice +of Rattray recalled me from the deck of the Lady Jermyn and my lost +love's side. + +"So that was all!" + +I turned and met a face I could not read. + +"Was it not enough?" cried I. "What more would you have?" + +"I expected some more-foul play!" + +"Ah!" I exclaimed bitterly. "So that was all that interested you! +No, there was no more foul play that I know of; and if there was, I +don't care. Nothing matters to me but one thing. Now that you know +what that is, I hope you're satisfied." + +It was no way to speak to one's host. Yet I felt that he had pressed +me unduly. I hated myself for my final confidence, and his want of +sympathy made me hate him too. In my weakness, however, I was the +natural prey of violent extremes. His hand flew out to me. He was +about to speak. A moment more and I had doubtless forgiven him. But +another sound came instead and made the pair of us start and stare. +It was the soft shutting of some upstairs door. + +"I thought we had the house to ourselves?" cried I, my miserable +nerves on edge in an instant. + +"So did I," he answered, very pale. "My servants must have come +back. By the Lord Harry, they shall hear of this!" + +He sprang to a door, I heard his feet clattering up some stone +stairs, and in a trice he was running along the gallery overhead; +in another I heard him railing behind some upper door that he had +flung open and banged behind him; then his voice dropped, and +finally died away. I was left some minutes in the oppressively +silent hall, shaken, startled, ashamed of my garrulity, aching +to get away. When he returned it was by another of the many closed +doors, and he found me awaiting him, hat in hand. He was wearing +his happiest look until he saw my hat. + +"Not going?" he cried. "My dear Cole, I can't apologize sufficiently +for my abrupt desertion of you, much less for the cause. It was my +man, just come in from the show, and gone up the back way. I accused +him of listening to our conversation. Of course he denies it; but it +really doesn't matter, as I'm sorry to say he's much too 'fresh' (as +they call it down here) to remember anything to-morrow morning. I +let him have it, I can tell you. Varlet! Caitiff! But if you bolt +off on the head of it, I shall go back and sack him into the bargain!" + +I assured him I had my own reasons for wishing to retire early. He +could have no conception of my weakness, my low and nervous condition +of body and mind; much as I had enjoyed myself, he must really let +me go. Another glass of wine, then? Just one more? No, I had drunk +too much already. I was in no state to stand it. And I held out my +hand with decision. + +Instead of taking it he looked at me very hard. + +"The place doesn't suit you," said he. "I see it doesn't, and I'm +devilish sorry! Take my advice and try something milder; now do, +to-morrow; for I should never forgive myself if it made you worse +instead of better; and the air is too strong for lots of people." + +I was neither too ill nor too vexed to laugh outright in his face. + +"It's not the air," said I; "it's that splendid old Madeira of yours, +that was too strong for me, if you like! No, no, Rattray, you don't +get rid of me so cheaply-much as you seem to want to!" + +"I was only thinking of you," he rejoined, with a touch of pique +that convinced me of his sincerity. "Of course I want you to stop, +though I shan't be here many days; but I feel responsible for you, +Cole, and that's the fact. Think you can find your way?" he +continued, accompanying me to the gate, a postern in the high garden +wall. "Hadn't you better have a lantern?" + +No; it was unnecessary. I could see splendidly, had the bump of +locality and as many more lies as would come to my tongue. I was +indeed burning to be gone. + +A moment later I feared that I had shown this too plainly. For his +final handshake was hearty enough to send me away something ashamed +of my precipitancy, and with a further sense of having shown him +small gratitude for his kindly anxiety on my behalf. I would behave +differently to-morrow. Meanwhile I had new regrets. + +At first it was comparatively easy to see, for the lights of the +house shone faintly among the nearer oaks. But the moon was hidden +behind heavy clouds, and I soon found myself at a loss in a terribly +dark zone of timber. Already I had left the path. I felt in my +pocket for matches. I had none. + +My head was now clear enough, only deservedly heavy. I was still +quarrelling with myself for my indiscretions and my incivilities, +one and all the result of his wine and my weakness, and this new +predicament (another and yet more vulgar result) was the final +mortification. I swore aloud. I simply could not see a foot in +front of my face. Once I proved it by running my head hard against +a branch. I was hopelessly and ridiculously lost within a hundred +yards of the hall! + +Some minutes I floundered, ashamed to go back, unable to proceed +for the trees and the darkness. I heard the heck running over its +stones. I could still see an occasional glimmer from the windows +I had left. But the light was now on this side, now on that; the +running water chuckled in one ear after the other; there was nothing +for it but to return in all humility for the lantern which I had +been so foolish as to refuse. + +And as I resigned myself to this imperative though inglorious course, +my heart warmed once more to the jovial young squire. He would +laugh, but not unkindly, at my grotesque dilemma; at the thought of +his laughter I began to smile myself. If he gave me another chance +I would smoke that cigar with him before starting home afresh, and +remove, front my own mind no less than from his, all ill impressions. +After all it was not his fault that I had taken too much of his wine; +but a far worse offence was to be sulky in one s cups. I would show +him that I was myself again in all respects. I have admitted that +I was temporarily, at all events, a creature of extreme moods. It +was in this one that I retraced my steps towards the lights, and at +length let myself into the garden by the postern at which I had +shaken Rattray's hand not ten minutes before. + +Taking heart of grace, I stepped up jauntily to the porch. The +weeds muffled my steps. I myself had never thought of doing so, +when all at once I halted in a vague terror. Through the deep +lattice windows I had seen into the lighted hall. And Rattray was +once more seated at his table, a little company of men around him. + +I crept nearer, and my heart stopped. Was I delirious, or raving +mad with wine? Or had the sea given up its dead? + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +I LIVE AGAIN + + +Squire Rattray, as I say, was seated at the head of his table, +where the broken meats still lay as he and I had left them; his +fingers, I remember, were playing with a crust, and his eyes fixed +upon a distant door, as he leant back in his chair. Behind him +hovered the nigger of the Lady Jermyn, whom I had been the slower +to recognize, had not her skipper sat facing me on the squire's +right. Yes, there was Captain Harris in the flesh, eating heartily +between great gulps of wine, instead of feeding the fishes as all +the world supposed. And nearer still, nearer me than any, with his +back to my window but his chair slued round a little, so that he +also could see that door, and I his profile, sat Joaquin Santos +with his cigarette! + +None spoke; all seemed waiting; and all were silent but the captain, +whose vulgar champing reached me through the crazy lattice, as I +stood spellbound and petrified without. + +They say that a drowning man lives his life again before the last; +but my own fight with the sea provided me with no such moments of +vivid and rapid retrospect as those during which I stood breathless +outside the lighted windows of Kirby Hall. I landed again. I was +dogged day and night. I set it down to nerves and notoriety; but +took refuge in a private hotel. One followed me, engaged the next +room, set a watch on all my movements; another came in by the window +to murder me in my bed; no party to that, the first one nevertheless +turned the outrage to account, wormed himself into my friendship +on the strength of it, and lured me hither, an easy prey. And here +was the gang of them, to meet me! No wonder Rattray had not let me +see him off at the station; no wonder I had not been followed that +night. Every link I saw in its right light instantly. Only the +motive remained obscure. Suspicious circumstances swarmed upon my +slow perception: how innocent I had been! Less innocent, however, +than wilfully and wholly reckless: what had it mattered with whom +I made friends? What had anything mattered to me? What did +anything matter - + +I thought my heart had snapped! + +Why were they watching that door, Joaquin Santos and the young +squire? Whom did they await? I knew! Oh, I knew! My heart leaped, +my blood danced, my eyes lay in wait with theirs. Everything began +to matter once more. It was as though the machinery of my soul, +long stopped, had suddenly been set in motion; it was as though +I was born again. + +How long we seemed to wait I need not say. It cannot have been +many moments in reality, for Santos was blowing his rings of smoke +in the direction of the door, and the first that I noticed were but +dissolving when it opened - and the best was true! One instant I +saw her very clearly, in the light of a candle which she carried +in its silver stick; then a mist blinded me, and I fell on my knees +in the rank bed into which I had stepped, to give such thanks to +the Almighty as this heart has never felt before or since. And I +remained kneeling; for now my face was on a level with the sill; +and when my eyes could see again, there stood my darling before +them in the room. + +Like a queen she stood, in the very travelling cloak in which I had +seen her last; it was tattered now, but she held it close about her +as though a shrewd wind bit her to the core. Her sweet face was +all peeked and pale in the candle-light: she who had been a child +was come to womanhood in a few weeks. But a new spirit flashed in +her dear eyes, a new strength hardened her young lips. She stood +as an angel brought to book by devils; and so noble was her calm +defiance, so serene her scorn, that, as I watched and listened; all +present fear for her passed out of my heart. + +The first sound was the hasty rising of young Rattray; he was at +Eva's side next instant, essaying to lead her to his chair, with +a flush which deepened as she repulsed him coldly. + +"You have sent for me, and I have come," said she. "But I prefer +not to sit down in your presence; and what you have to say, you +will be good enough to say as quickly as possible, that I may +go again before I am - stifled!" + +It was her one hot word; aimed at them all, it seemed to me to +fall like a lash on Rattray's cheek, bringing the blood to it like +lightning. But it was Santos who snatched the cigarette from his +mouth, and opened upon the defenceless girl in a torrent of +Portuguese, yellow with rage, and a very windmill of lean arms and +brown hands in the terrifying rapidity of his gesticulations. They +did not terrify Eva Denison. When Rattray took a step towards the +speaker, with flashing eyes, it was some word from Eva that checked +him; when Santos was done, it was to Rattray that she turned with +her answer. + +"He calls me a liar for telling you that Mr. Cole knew all," said +she, thrilling me with my own name. "Don't you say anything," she +added, as the young man turned on Santos with a scowl; you are one +as wicked as the other, but there was a time when I thought +differently of you: his character I have always known. Of the two +evils, I prefer to speak to you." + +Rattray bowed, humbly enough, I thought; but my darling's nostrils +only curled the more. + +"He calls me a liar," she continued; "so may you all. Since you +have found it out, I admit it freely and without shame; one must +be false in the hands of false fiends like all of you. Weakness +is nothing to you; helplessness is nothing; you must be met with +your own weapons, and so I lied in my sore extremity to gain the +one miserable advantage within my reach. He says you found me out +by making friends with Mr. Cole. He says that Mr. Cole has been +dining with you in this very room, this very night. You still +tell the truth sometimes; has that man - that demon - told it +for once?" + +"It is perfectly true," said Rattray in a low voice. + +"And poor Mr. Cole told you that he knew nothing of your villany?" + +"I found out that he knew absolutely nothing - after first thinking +otherwise." + +"Suppose he had known? What would you have done?" + +Rattray said nothing. Santos shrugged as he lit a fresh cigarette. +The captain went on with his supper. + +"Ashamed to say!" cried Eva Denison. "So you have some shame left +still! Well, I will tell you. You would have murdered him, as you +murdered all the rest; you would have killed him in cold blood, as +I wish and pray that you would kill me!" + +The young fellow faced her, white to the lips. "You have no right +to say that, Miss Denison!" he cried. "I may be bad, but, as I am +ready to answer for my sins, the crime of murder is not among them. + +Well, it is still some satisfaction to remember that my love never +punished me with such a look as was the young squire's reward for +this protestation. The curl of the pink nostrils, the parting of +the proud lips, the gleam of the sound white teeth, before a word +was spoken, were more than I, for one, could have borne. For I +did not see the grief underlying the scorn, but actually found it +in my heart to pity this poor devil of a Rattray: so humbly fell +those fine eyes of his, so like a dog did he stand, waiting to be +whipped. + +"Yes; you are very innocent!" she began at last, so softly that I +could scarcely hear. "You have not committed murder, so you say; +let it stand to your credit by all means. You have no blood upon +your hands; you say so; that is enough. No! you are comparatively +innocent, I admit. All you have done is to make murder easy for +others; to get others to do the dirty work, and then shelter them +and share the gain; all you need have on your conscience is every +ife that was lost with the Lady Jermyn, and every soul that lost +itself in losing them. You call that innocence? Then give me +honest guilt! Give me the man who set fire to the ship, and who +sits there eating his supper; he is more of a man than you. Give +me the wretch who has beaten men to death before my eyes; there's +something great about a monster like that, there's something to +loathe. His assistant is only little - mean - despicable!" Loud +and hurried in its wrath, low and deliberate in its contempt, all +this was uttered with a furious and abnormal eloquence, which would +have struck me, loving her, to the ground. On Rattray it had a +different effect. His head lifted as she heaped abuse upon it, +until he met her flashing eye with that of a man very thankful to +take his deserts and something more; and to mine he was least +despicable when that last word left her lips. When he saw that it +was her last, he took her candle (she had put it down on the ancient +settle against the door), and presented it to her with another bow. +And so without a word he led her to the door, opened it, and bowed +yet lower as she swept out, but still without a tinge of mockery in +the obeisance. + +He was closing the door after her when Joaquin Santos reached it. + +"Diablo!" cried he. "Why let her go? We have not done with her." + +"That doesn't matter; she is done with us," was the stern reply. + +"It does matter," retorted Santos; "what is more, she is my +step-daughter, and back she shall come!" + +"She is also my visitor, and I'm damned if you're going to make her!" + +An instant Santos stood, his back to me, his fingers working, his +neck brown with blood; then his coat went into creases across the +shoulders, and he was shrugging still as he turned away. + +"Your veesitor!" said he. "Your veesitor! Your veesitor!" + +Harris laughed outright as he raised his glass; the hot young squire +had him by the collar, and the wine was spilling on the cloth, as +I rose very cautiously and crept back to the path. + +"When rogues fall out!" I was thinking to myself. "I shall save +her yet - I shall save my darling!" + +Already I was accustomed to the thought that she still lived, and +to the big heart she had set beating in my feeble frame; already +the continued existence of these villains, with the first dim +inkling of their villainy, was ceasing to be a novelty in a brain +now quickened and prehensile beyond belief. And yet - but a few +minutes had I knelt at the window - but a few more was it since +Rattray and I had shaken hands! + +Not his visitor; his prisoner, without a doubt; but alive! alive! +and, neither guest nor prisoner for many hours more. 0 my love! +0 my heart's delight! Now I knew why I was spared; to save her; to +snatch her from these rascals; to cherish and protect her evermore! + +All the past shone clear behind me; the dark was lightness and the +crooked straight. All the future lay clear ahead it presented no +difficulties yet; a mad, ecstatic confidence was mine for the +wildest, happiest moments of my life. + +I stood upright in the darkness. I saw her light! + +It was ascending the tower at the building's end; now in this window +it glimmered, now in the one above. At last it was steady, high up +near the stars, and I stole below. + +"Eva! Eva!" + +There was no answer. Low as it was, my voice was alarming; it +cooled and cautioned me. I sought little stones. I crept back to +throw them. Ah God! her form eclipsed that lighted slit in the +gray stone tower. I heard her weeping high above me at her window. + +"Eva! Eva!" + +There was a pause, and then a little cry of gladness. + +"Is it Mr. Cole?" came in an eager whisper through her tears. + +"Yes! yes! I was outside the window. I heard everything." + +"They will hear you!" she cried softly, in a steadier voice. + +"No-listen!" They were quarrelling. Rattray's voice was loud and +angry. "They cannot hear," I continued, in more cautious tones; +"they think I'm in bed and asleep half-a-mile away. Oh, thank God! +I'll get you away from them; trust me, my love, my darling!" + +In my madness I knew not what I said; it was my wild heart speaking. +Some moments passed before she replied. + +"Will you promise to do nothing I ask you not to do?" + +"Of course." + +"My life might answer for it -" + +"I promise - I promise." + +"Then wait - hide - watch my light. When you see it back in the +window, watch with all your eyes! I am going to write and then +throw it out. Not another syllable!" + +She was gone; there was a long yellow slit in the masonry once more; +her light burnt faint and far within. + +I retreated among some bushes and kept watch. + +The moon was skimming beneath the surface of a sea of clouds: now +the black billows had silver crests: now an incandescent buoy bobbed +among them. 0 for enough light, and no more! + +In the hall the high voices were more subdued. I heard the captain's +tipsy laugh. My eyes fastened themselves upon that faint and lofty +light, and on my heels I crouched among the bushes. + +The flame moved, flickered, and shone small but brilliant on the +very sill. I ran forward on tip-toe. A white flake fluttered to +my feet. I secured it and waited for one word; none came; but the +window was softly shut. + +I stood in doubt, the treacherous moonlight all over me now, and +once more the window opened. + +"Go quickly!" + +And again it was shut; next moment I was stealing close by the spot +where I had knelt. I saw within once more. + +Harris nodded in his chair. The nigger had disappeared. Rattray was +lighting a candle, and the Portuguese holding out his hand for the +match. + +"Did you lock the gate, senhor?" asked Santos. + +"No; but I will now." + +As I opened it I heard a door open within. I could hardly let the +latch down again for the sudden trembling of my fingers. The key +turned behind me ere I had twenty yards' start. + +Thank God there was light enough now! I followed the beck. I found +my way. I stood in the open valley, between the oak-plantation and +my desolate cottage, and I kissed my tiny, twisted note again and +again in a paroxysm of passion and of insensate joy. Then I +unfolded it and held it to my eyes in the keen October moonshine. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +MY LADY'S BIDDING + + +Scribbled in sore haste, by a very tremulous little hand, with a +pencil, on the flyleaf of some book, my darling's message is still +difficult to read; it was doubly so in the moonlight, five-and-forty +autumns ago. My eyesight, however, was then perhaps the soundest +thing about me, and in a little I had deciphered enough to guess +correctly (as it proved) at the whole: - + + +"You say you heard everything just now, and there is no time for +further explanations. I am in the hands of villains, but not +ill-treated, though they are one as bad as the other. You will not +find it easy to rescue me. I don't see how it is to be done. You +have promised not to do anything I ask you not to do, and I implore +you not to tell a soul until you have seen me again and heard more. +You might just as well kill me as come back now with help. + +"You see you know nothing, though I told them you knew all. And so +you shall as soon as I can see you for five minutes face to face. +In the meantime do nothing - know nothing when you see Mr. Rattray +- unless you wish to be my death. + +"It would have been possible last night, and it may be again +to-morrow night. They all go out every night when they can, +except Jose, who is left in charge. They are out from nine or +ten till two or three; if they are out to-morrow night my +candle will be close to the window as I shall put it when I have +finished this. You can see my window from over the wall. If +the light is in front you must climb the wall, for they will +leave the gate locked. I shall see you and will bribe Jose to +let me out for a turn. He has done it before for a bottle of +wine. I can manage him. Can I trust to you? If you break +your promise - but you will not? One of them would as soon +kill me as smoke a cigarette, and the rest are under his thumb. +I dare not write more. But my life is in your hands. + "EVA DENISON." + +"Oh! beware of the woman Braithwaite; she is about the worst +of the gang." + + +I could have burst out crying in my bitter discomfiture, +mortification, and alarm: to think that her life was in my hands, +and that it depended, not on that prompt action which was the one +course I had contemplated, but on twenty-four hours of resolute +inactivity! I would not think it. I refused the condition. It +took away my one prop, my one stay, that prospect of immediate +measures which alone preserved in me such coolness as I had retained +until now. I was cool no longer; where I had relied on practical +direction I was baffled and hindered and driven mad; on my honor +believe I was little less for some moments, groaning, cursing, and +beating the air with impotent fists - in one of them my poor love's +letter crushed already to a ball. + +Danger and difficulty I had been prepared to face; but the task +that I was set was a hundred-fold harder than any that had whirled +through my teeming brain. To sit still; to do nothing; to pretend +I knew nothing; an hour of it would destroy my reason - and I was +invited to wait twenty-four! + +No; my word was passed; keep it I must. She knew the men, she must +know best; and her life depended on my obedience: she made that so +plain. Obey I must and would; to make a start, I tottered over the +plank that spanned the beck, and soon I saw the cottage against the +moonlit sky. I came up to it. I drew back in sudden fear. It was +alight upstairs and down, and the gaunt strong figure of the woman +Braithwaite stood out as I had seen it first, in the doorway, with +the light showing warmly through her rank red hair. + +"Is that you, Mr. Cole?" she cried in a tone that she reserved for +me; yet through the forced amiability there rang a note of genuine +surprise. She had been prepared for me never to return at all! + +My knees gave under me as I forced myself to advance; but my wits +took new life from the crisis, and in a flash I saw how to turn my +weakness into account. I made a false step on my way to the door; +when I reached it I leant heavily against the jam, and I said with +a slur that I felt unwell. I had certainly been flushed with wine +when I left Rattray; it would be no bad thing for him to hear that +I had arrived quite tipsy at the cottage; should he discover I had +been near an hour on the way, here was my explanation cut and dried. + +So I shammed a degree of intoxication with apparent success, and +Jane Braithwaite gave me her arm up the stairs. My God, how strong +it was, and how weak was mine! + +Left to myself, I reeled about my bedroom, pretending to undress; +then out with my candles, and into bed in all my clothes, until the +cottage should be quiet. Yes, I must lie still and feign sleep, +with every nerve and fibre leaping within me, lest the she-devil +below should suspect me of suspicions! It was with her I had to +cope for the next four-and-twenty hours; and she filled me with a +greater present terror than all those villains at the hall; for had +not their poor little helpless captive described her as "about the +worst of the gang?" + +To think that my love lay helpless there in the hands of those +wretches; and to think that her lover lay helpless here in the +supervision of this vile virago! + +It must have been one or two in the morning when I stole to my +sitting-room window, opened it, and sat down to think steadily, +with the counterpane about my shoulders. + +The moon sailed high and almost full above the clouds; these were +dispersing as the night wore on, and such as remained were of a +beautiful soft tint between white and gray. The sky was too light +for stars, and beneath it the open country stretched so clear and +far that it was as though one looked out at noonday through +slate-colored glass. Down the dewy slope below my window a few +calves fed with toothless mouthings; the beck was very audible, the +oak-trees less so; but for these peaceful sounds the stillness and +the solitude were equally intense. + +I may have sat there like a mouse for half an hour. The reason was +that I had become mercifully engrossed in one of the subsidiary +problems: whether it would be better to drop from the window or to +trust to the creaking stairs. Would the creaking be much worse +than the thud, and the difference worth the risk of a sprained ankle? +Well worth it, I at length decided; the risk was nothing; my window +was scarce a dozen feet from the ground. How easily it could be +done, how quickly, how safely in this deep, stillness and bright +moonlight! I would fall so lightly on my stocking soles; a single +soft, dull thud; then away under the moon without fear or risk of +a false step; away over the stone walls to the main road, and so to +the nearest police-station with my tale; and before sunrise the +villains would be taken in their beds, and my darling would be safe! + +I sprang up softly. Why not do it now? Was I bound to keep my +rash, blind promise? Was it possible these murderers would murder +her? I struck a match on my trousers, I lit a candle, I read her +letter carefully again, and again it maddened and distracted me. +I struck my hands together. I paced the room wildly. Caution +deserted me, and I made noise enough to wake the very mute; lost +to every consideration but that of the terrifying day before me, +the day of silence and of inactivity, that I must live through with +an unsuspecting face, a cool head, a civil tongue! The prospect +appalled me as nothing else could or did; nay, the sudden noise upon +the stairs, the knock at my door, and the sense that I had betrayed +myself already even now all was over - these came as a relief after +the haunting terror which they interrupted. + +I flung the door opcn, and there stood Mrs. Braithwaite, as fully +dressed as myself. + +"You'll not be very well sir?" + +No, I'm not." + +"What's t' matter wi' you?" + +This second question was rude and fierce with suspicion: the real +woman rang out in it, yet its effect on me was astonishng: once +again was I inspired to turn my slip into a move. + +"Matter?" I cried. "Can't you see what's the matter; couldn't you +see when I came in? Drink's the matter! I came in drunk, and now +I'm mad. I can't stand it; I'm not in a fit state. Do you know +nothng of me? Have they told you nothing? I'm the only man that +was saved from the Lady Jermyn, the ship that was burned to the +water's edge with every soul but me. My nerves are in little ends. +I came down here for peace and quiet and sleep. Do you bow that +I have hardly slept for two months? And now I shall never sleep +again! O my God I shall die for want of it! The wine has done it. +I never should have touched a drop. I can't stand it; I can't +sleep after it; I shall kill myself if I get no sleep. Do you hear, +you woman? I shall kill myself in your house if I don't get to +sleep!" + +I saw her shrink, virago as she was. I waved my arms, I shrieked +in her face. It was not all acting. Heaven knows how true it was +about the sleep. I was slowly dying of insomnia. I was a nervous +wreck. She must have heard it. Now she saw it for herself. + +No; it was by no means all acting. Intending only to lie, I found +myself telling little but the strictest truth, and longing for sleep +as passionately as though I had nothing to keep me awake. And yet, +while my heart cried aloud in spite of me, and my nerves relieved +themselves in this unpremeditated ebullition, I was all the time +watching its effect as closely as though no word of it had been +sincere. + +Mrs. Braithwaite seemed frightened; not at all pitiful; and as I +calmed down she recovered her courage and became insolent. I had +spoilt her night. She had not been told she was to take in a +raving lunatic. She would speak to Squire Rattray in the morning. + +"Morning?" I yelled after her as she went. "Send your husband to +the nearest chemist as soon as it's dawn; send him for chloral, +chloroform, morphia, anything they've got and as much of it as +they'll let him have. I'll give you five pounds if you get me +what'll send me to sleep all to-morrow - and to-morrow night!" + +Never, I feel sure, were truth and falsehood more craftily +interwoven; yet I had thought of none of it until the woman was +at my door, while of much I had not thought at all. It had rushed +from my heart and from my lips. And no sooner was I alone than I +burst into hysterical tears, only to stop and compliment myself +because they sounded genuine - as though they were not! Towards +morning I took to my bed in a burning fever, and lay there, now +congratulating myself upon it, because when night came they would +all think me so secure; and now weeping because the night might +find me dying or dead. So I tossed, with her note clasped in my +hand underneath the sheets; and beneath my very body that stout +weapon that I had bought in town. I might not have to use it, +but I was fatalist enough to fancy that I should. In the meantime +it helped me to lie still, my thoughts fixed on the night, and the +day made easy for me after all. + +If only I could sleep! + +About nine o'clock Jane Braithwaite paid me a surly visit; in half +an hour she was back with tea and toast and an altered mien. She +not only lit my fire, but treated me the while to her original +tone of almost fervent civility and respect and determination. Her +vagaries soon ceased to puzzle me: the psychology of Jane Braithwaite +was not recondite. In the night it had dawned upon her that Rattray +had found me harmless and was done with me, therefore there was no +need for her to put herself out any further on my account. In the +morning, finding me really ill, she had gone to the hall in alarm; +her subsequent attentions were an act of obedience; and in their +midst came Rattray himself to my bedside. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE + + +The boy looked so blithe and buoyant, so gallant and still so frank, +that even now I could not think as meanly of him as poor Eva did. +A rogue he must be, but surely not the petty rogue that she had made +him out. Yet it was dirty work that he had done by me; and there +I had to lie and take his kind, false, felon's hand in mine. + +"My poor dear fellow," he cried, "I'm most sorry to find you like +this. But I was afraid of it last night. It's all this infernally +strong air!" + +How I longed to tell him what it was, and to see his face! The +thought of Eva alone restrained me, and I retorted as before, in a +tone I strove to make as friendly, that it was his admirable wine +and nothing else. + +"But you took hardly any." + +"I shouldn't have touched a drop. I can't stand it. Instead of +soothing me it excites me to the verge of madness. I'm almost over +the verge - for want of sleep - my trouble ever since the trouble." + +Again I was speaking the literal truth, and again congratulating +myself as though it were a lie: the fellow looked so distressed +at my state; indeed I believe that his distress was as genuine as +mine, and his sentiments as involved. He took my hand again, and +his brow wrinkled at its heat. He asked for the other hand to feel +my pulse. I had to drop my letter to comply. + +"I wish to goodness there was something I could do for you," he +said. "Would you - would you care to see a doctor?" + +I shook my head, and could have smiled at his visible relief. + +"Then I'm going to prescribe for you," he said with decision. "It's +the place that doesn't agree with you, and it was I who brought you +to the place; therefore it's for me to get you out of it as quick as +possible. Up you get, and I'll drive you to the station myself!" + +I had another work to keep from smiling: he was so ingenuously +disingenuous. There was less to smile at in his really nervous +anxiety to get me away. I lay there reading him like a book: it +was not my health that concerned him, of course: was it my safety? +I told him he little knew how ill I was - an inglorious speech that +came hard, though not by any means untrue. "Move me with this +fever on me?" said I; "it would be as much as my miserable life is +worth." + +"I'm afraid," said he, "that it may be as much as your life's worth +to stay on here!" And there was such real fear, in his voice and +eyes, that it reconciled me there and then to the discomfort of a +big revolyer between the mattress and the small of my back. "We +must get you out of it," he continued, "the moment you feel fit to +stir. Shall we say to-morrow?" + +"If you like," I said, advisedly; "and if I can get some sleep +to-day." + +"Then to-morrow it is! You see I know it's the climate," he added, +jumping from tone to tone; "it couldn't have been those two or three +glasses of sound wine." + +"Shall I tell you what it is?" I said, looking him full in the face, +with eyes that I dare say were wild enough with fever and insomnia. +"It's the burning of the Lady Jermyn!" I cried. "It's the faces and +the shrieks of the women; it's the cursing and the fighting of the +men; it's boat-loads struggling in an oily sea; it's husbands and +wives jumping overboard together; it's men turned into devils, it's +hell-fire afloat - " + +"Stop! stop! " he whispered, hoarse as a crow. I was sitting up +with my hot eyes upon him. He was white as the quilt, and the bed +shook with his trembling. I had gone as far as was prudent, and +I lay back with a glow of secret satisfaction. + +"Yes, I will stop," said I, "and I wouldn't have begun if you hadn't +found it so difficult to understand my trouble. Now you know what +it is. It's the old trouble. I came up here to forget it; instead +of that I drink too much and tell you all about it; and the two +things together have bowled me over. But I'll go to-morrow; only +give me something to put me asleep till then." + +"I will!" he vowed. "I'll go myself to the nearest chemist, and +he shall give me the very strongest stuff he's got. Good-by, and +don't you stir till I come back - for your own sake. I'll go this +minute, and I'll ride like hell!" And if ever two men were glad +to be rid of each other, they were this young villain and myself. + +But what was his villany? It was little enough that I had +overheard at the window, and still less that poor Eva had told me +in her hurried lines. All I saw clearly was that the Lady Jermyn +and some hundred souls had perished by the foulest of foul play; +that, besides Eva and myself, only the incendiaries had escaped; +that somehow these wretches had made a second escape from the gig, +leaving dead men and word of their own death behind them in the +boat. And here the motive was as much a mystery to me as the +means; but, in my present state, both were also matters of supreme +indifference. My one desire was to rescue my love from her +loathsome captors; of little else did I pause to think. Yet +Rattray's visit left its own mark on my mind; and long after he +was gone I lay puzzling over the connection between a young +Lancastrian, of good name, of ancient property, of great personal +charm, and a crime of unparalleled atrocity committed in cold blood +on the high seas. That his complicity was flagrant I had no +room to doubt, after Eva's own indictment of him, uttered to his +face and in my hearing. Was it then the usual fraud on the +underwriters, and was Rattray the inevitable accomplice on dry +land? I could think of none but the conventional motive for +destroying a vessel. Yet I knew there must be another and a +subtler one, to account not only for the magnitude of the crime, +but for the pains which the actual perpetrators had taken to +conceal the fact of their survival, and for the union of so +diverse a trinity as Senhor Santos, Captain Harris, and the young +squire. + +It must have been about mid-day when Rattray reappeared, ruddy, +spurred, and splashed with mud; a comfort to sick eyes, I declare, +in spite of all. He brought me two little vials, put one on the +chimney-piece, poured the other into my tumbler, and added a little +water. + +"There, old fellow," said he; "swallow that, and if you don't get +some sleep the chemist who made it up is the greatest liar unhung." + +"What is it?' I asked, the glass in my hand, and my eyes on those +of my companion. + +"I don't know," said he. "I just told them to make up the strongest +sleeping-draught that was safe, and I mentioned something about your +case. Toss it off, man; it's sure to be all right." + +Yes, I could trust him; he was not that sort of villain, for all +that Eva Denison had said. I liked his face as well as ever. I +liked his eye, and could have sworn to its honesty as I drained +the glass. Even had it been otherwise, I must have taken my chance +or shown him all; as it was, when he had pulled down my blind, and +shaken my pillow, and he gave me his hand once more, I took it with +involuntary cordiality. I only grieved that so fine a young fellow +should have involved himself in so villainous a business; yet for +Eva's sake I was glad that he had; for my mind failed (rather than +refused) to believe him so black as she had painted him. + +The long, long afternoon that followed I never shall forget. The +opiate racked my head; it did not do its work; and I longed to sleep +till evening with a longing I have never known before or since. +Everything seemed to depend upon it; I should be a man again, if +only I could first be a log for a few hours. But no; my troubles +never left me for an instant; and there I must lie, pretending that +they had! For the other draught was for the night; and if they but +thought the first one had taken due effect, so much the less +would they trouble their heads about me when they believed that I +had swallowed the second. + +Oh, but it was cruel! I lay and wept with weakness and want of +sleep; ere night fell I knew that it would find me useless, if +indeed my reason lingered on. To lie there helpless when Eva was +expecting me, that would be the finishing touch. I should rise a +maniac if ever I rose at all. More probably I would put one of +my five big bullets into my own splitting head; it was no small +temptation, lying there in a double agony, with the loaded weapon +by my side. + +Then sometimes I thought it was coming; and perhaps for an instant +would be tossing in my hen-coop; then back once more. And I swear +that my physical and mental torments, here in my bed, would have +been incomparably greater than anything I had endured on the sea, +but for the saving grace of one sweet thought. She lived! She +lived! And the God who had taken care o me, a castaway, would +surely deliver her also from the hands of murderers and thieves. +But not through me - I lay weak and helpless - and my tears ran +again and yet again as I felt myself growing hourly weaker. + +I remember what a bright fine day it was, with the grand open +country all smiles beneath a clear, almost frosty sky, once when +I got up on tip-toe and peeped out. A keen wind whistled about the +cottage; I felt it on my feet as I stood; but never have I known a +more perfect and invigorating autumn day. And there I must lie, +with the manhood ebbing Out of me, the manhood that I needed +so for the night! I crept back into bed. I swore that I would +sleep. Yet there I lay, listening sometimes to that vile woman's +tread below; sometimes to mysterious whispers, between whom +I neither knew nor cared; anon to my watch ticking by my side, to +the heart beating in my body, hour after hour - hour after hour. +I prayed as I have seldom prayed. I wept as I have never wept. +I railed and blasphemed - not with my lips, because the woman must +think I was asleep - but so much the more viciously in my heart. + +Suddenly it turned dark. There were no gradations - not even a +tropical twilight. One minute I aw the sun upon the blind; the +next - thank God! Oh, thank God! No light broke any longer through +the blind; just a faint and narrow glimmer stole between it and the +casement; and the light that had been bright golden was palest +silver now. + +It was the moon. I had been in dreamless sleep for hours. + +The joy of that discovery! The transport of waking to it, and +waking refreshed! The swift and sudden miracle that it seemed! I +shall never, never forget it, still less the sickening thrill of +fear which was cruelly quick to follow upon my joy. The cottage was +still as the tomb. What if I had slept too long! + +With trembling hand I found my watch. + +Luckily I had wound it in the early morning. I now carried it to +the window, drew back the blind, and held it in the moonlight. It +was not quite ten o'clock. And yet the cottage was so still - so +still. + +I stole to the door, opened it by cautious degrees, and saw the +reflection of a light below. Still not a sound could I hear, save +the rapid drawing of my own breath, and the startled beating of +my own heart. + +I now felt certain that the Braithwaites were out, and dressed +hastily, making as little noise as possible, and still hearing +absolutely none from below. Then, feeling faint with hunger, though +a new being after my sleep, I remembered a packet of sandwiches +which I had not opened on my journey north. These I transferred +from my travelling-bag (where they had lain forgotten to my jacket +pocket, before drawing down the blind, leaving the room on tip-toe, +and very gently fastening the door behind me. On the stairs, too, +I trod with the utmost caution, feeling the wall with my left +hand (my right was full), lest by any chance I might be mistaken +in supposing I had the cottage to myself. In spite of my caution +there came a creak at every step. And to my sudden horror I heard +a chair move in the kitchen below. + +My heart and I stood still together. But my right hand tightened +on stout wood, my right forefinger trembled against thin steel. The +sound was not repeated. And at length I continued on my way down, +my teeth set, an excuse on my lips, but determination in every fibre +of my frame. + +A shadow lay across the kitchen floor; it was that of the deaf mute, +as he stood on a chair before the fire, supporting himself on the +chimney piece with one puny arm, while he reached overhead with the +other. I stood by for an instant, glorying in the thought that he +could not hear me; the next, I saw what it was he was reaching up +for - a bell-mouthed blunderbuss - and I knew the little devil for +the impostor that he was. + +"You touch it," said I, "and you'll drop dead on that hearth." + +He pretended not to hear me, but he heard the click of the splendid +spring which Messrs. Deane and Adams had put into that early +revolver of theirs, and he could not have come down much quicker +with my bullet in his spine. + +"Now, then," I said, "what the devil do you mean by shamming deaf +and dumb?" + +"I niver said I was owt o' t' sort," he whimpered, cowering behind +the chair in a sullen ague. + +"But you acted it, and I've a jolly good mind to shoot you dead!" +(Remember, I was so weak myself that I thought my arm would break +from presenting my five chambers and my ten-inch barrel; otherwise +I should be sorry to relate how I bullied that mouse of a man.) +"I may let you off," I continued, "if you answer questions. Where's +your wife?" + +"Eh, she'll be back directly! " said Braithwaite, with some tact; +but his look was too cunning to give the warning weight. +"I've a bullet to spare for her," said I, cheerfully; "now, then, +where is she?" + +"Gone wi' the oothers, for owt I knaw." + +"And where are the others gone?" + +"Where they allus go, ower to t' say." + +"Over to the sea, eh? We're getting on! What takes them there?" + +"That's more than I can tell you, sir," said Braithwaite, with so +much emphasis and so little reluctance as to convince me that for +once at least he had spoken the truth. There was even a spice of +malice in his tone. I began to see possibilities in the little +beast. + +"Well," I said, "you're a nice lot! I don't know what your game +is, and don't want to. I've had enough of you without that. I'm +off to-night." + +"Before they get back?" asked Braithwaite, plainly in doubt about +his duty, and yet as plainly relieved to learn the extent of my +intention. + +"Certainly," said I; "why not? I'm not particularly anxious to +see your wife again, and you may ask Mr. Rattray from me why the +devil he led me to suppose you were deaf and dumb? Or, if you +like, you needn't say anything at all about it," I added, seeing +his thin jaw fall; "tell him I never found you out, but just felt +well enough to go, and went. When do you expect them back?" + +"It won't be yet a bit," said he. + +"Good! Now look here. What would you say to these?" And I showed +him a couple of sovereigns: I longed to offer him twenty, but feared +to excite his suspicions. "These are yours if you have a conveyance +at the end of the lane - the lane we came up the night before last + - in an hour's time." + +His dull eyes glistened; but a tremor took him from top to toe, and +he shook his head. + +"I'm ill, man!" I cried. "If I stay here I'll die! Mr. Rattray +knows that, and he wanted me to go this morning; he'll be only too +thankful to find me gone." + +This argument appealed to him; indeed, I was proud of it. + +"But I was to stop an' look after you," he mumbled; "it'll get me +into trooble, it will that!" + +I took out three more sovereigns; not a penny higher durst I go. + +"Will five pounds repay you? No need to tell your wife it was five, +you know! I should keep four of them all to myself." + +The cupidity of the little wretch was at last overcoming his abject +cowardice. I could see him making up his miserable mind. And I +still flatter myself that I took only safe (and really cunning) +steps to precipitate the process. To offer him more money would +have been madness; instead, I poured it all back into my pocket. + +"All right!" I cried; "you're a greedy, cowardly, old idiot, and +I'll just save my money." And out I marched into the moonlight, +very briskly, towards the lane; he was so quick to follow me that +I had no fears of the blunderbuss, but quickened my step, and soon +had him running at my heels. + +"Stop, stop, sir! You're that hasty wi' a poor owd man." So he +whimpered as he followed me like the little cur he was. + +"I'm hanged if I stop," I answered without looking back; and had +him almost in tears before I swung round on him so suddenly that he +yelped with fear. "What are you bothering me for?" I blustered. +"Do you want me to wring your neck?" + +"Oh, I'll go, sir! I'll go, I'll go," he moaned. + +"I've a good mind not to let you. I wouldn't if I was fit to walk +five miles." + +"But I'll roon 'em, sir! I will that! I'll go as fast as iver I +can!" + +"And have a conveyance at the road-end of the lane as near an hour +hence as you possibly can?" + +"Why, there, sir!" he cried, crassly inspired; "I could drive you +in our own trap in half the time." + +"Oh, no, you couldn't! I - I'm not fit to be out at all; it must +be a closed conveyance; but I'll come to the end of the lane to +save time, so let him wait there. You needn't wait yourself; here's +a sovereign of your money, and I'll leave the rest in the jug in my +bedroom. There! It's worth your while to trust me, I think. As +for my luggage, I'll write to Mr. Rattray about that. But I'll be +shot if I spend another night on his property." + +I was rid of him at last; and there I stood, listening to his +headlong steps, until they stumbled out of earshot down the lane; +then back to the cottage, at a run myself, and up to my room to be +no worse than my word. The sovereigns plopped into the water and +rang together at the bottom of the jug. In another minute I was +hastening through the plantation, in my hand the revolver that had +served me well already, and was still loaded and capped in all five +chambers. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN THE GARDEN + + +It so happened that I met nobody at all; but I must confess that my +luck was better than my management. As I came upon the beck, a new +sound reached me with the swirl. It was the jingle of bit and +bridle; the beat of hoofs came after; and I had barely time to fling +myself flat, when two horsemen emerged from the plantation, riding +straight towards me in the moonlight. If they continued on that +course they could not fail to see me as they passed along the +opposite bank. However, to my unspeakable relief, they were scarce +clear of the trees when they turned their horses' heads, rode them +through the water a good seventy yards from where I lay, and so away +at a canter across country towards the road. On my hands and knees +I had a good look at them as they bobbed up and down under the moon; +and my fears subsided in astonished curiosity. For I have already +boasted of my eyesight, and I could have sworn that neither Rattray +nor any one of his guests was of the horsemen; yet the back and +shoulders of one of these seemed somehow familiar to me. Not that +I wasted many moments over the coincidence, for I had other things +to think about as I ran on to the hall. + +I found the rear of the building in darkness unrelieved from within; +on the other hand, the climbing moon beat so full upon the garden +wall, it was as though a lantern pinned me as I crept beneath it. +In passing I thought I might as well try the gate; but Eva was right; +it was locked; and that made me half inclined to distrust my eyes +in the matter of the two horsemen, for whence could they have come, +if not from the hall? In any case I was well rid of them. I now +followed the wall some little distance, and then, to see over it, +walked backwards until I was all but in the beck; and there, sure +enough, shone my darling's candle, close as close against the +diamond panes of her narrow, lofty window! It brought those ready +tears back to my foolish, fevered eyes. But for sentiment there +was no time, and every other emotion was either futile or premature. +So I mastered my full heart, I steeled, my wretched nerves, and +braced my limp muscles for the task that lay before them. + +I had a garden wall to scale, nearly twice my own height, and +without notch or cranny in the ancient, solid masonry. I stood +against it on my toes, and I touched it with my finger-tips as high +up as possible. Some four feet severed them from the coping that +left only half a sky above my upturned eyes. + +I do not know whether I have made it plain that the house was not +surrounded by four walls, but merely filled a breach in one of the +four, which nipped it (as it were) at either end. The back entrance +was approachable enough, but barred or watched, I might be very +sure. It is ever the vulnerable points which are most securely +guarded, and it was my one comfort that the difficult way must also +be the safe way, if only the difficulty could be overcome. How to +overcome it was the problem. I followed the wall right round to +the point at which it abutted on the tower that immured my love; +the height never varied; nor could my hands or eyes discover a +single foot-hole, ledge, or other means of mounting to the top. + +Yet my hot head was full of ideas; and I wasted some minutes in +trying to lift from its hinges a solid, six-barred, outlying gate, +that my weak arms could hardly stir. More time went in pulling +branches from the oak-trees about the beck, where the latter ran +nearest to the moonlit wall. I had an insane dream of throwing a +long forked branch over the coping, and so swarming up +hand-over-hand. But even to me the impracticability of this plan +came home at last. And there I stood in a breathless lather, much +time and strength thrown away together; and the candle burning +down for nothing in that little lofty window; and the running water +swirling noisily over its stones at my back. + +This was the only sound; the wind had died away; the moonlit valley +lay as still as the dread old house in its midst but for the splash +and gurgle of the beck. I fancied this grew louder as I paused and +listened in my helplessness. All at once - was it the tongue of +Nature telling me the way, or common gumption returning at the +eleventh hour? I ran down to the water's edge, and could have +shouted for joy. Great stones lay in equal profusion on bed and +banks. I lifted one of the heaviest in both hands. I staggered +with it to the wall. I came back for another; for some twenty +minutes I was so employed; my ultimate reward a fine heap of +boulders against the wall. + +Then I began to build; then mounted my pile, clawing the wall to +keep my balance. My fingers were still many inches from the coping. +I jumped down and gave another ten minutes to the back-breaking work +of carrying more boulders from the water to the wall. Then I +widened my cairn below, so that I could stand firmly before +springing upon the pinnacle with which I completed it. I knew well +that this would collapse under me if I allowed my weight to rest +more than an instant upon it. And so at last it did; but my fingers +had clutched the coping in time; had grabbed it even as the insecure +pyramid crumbled and left me dangling. + +Instantly exerting what muscle I had left, and the occasion gave me, +I succeeded in pulling myself up until my chin was on a level with +my hands, when I flung an arm over and caught the inner coping. The +other arm followed; then a leg; and at last I sat astride the wall, +panting and palpitating, and hardly able to credit my own +achievement. One great difficulty had been my huge revolver. I had +been terribly frightened it might go off, and had finally used my +cravat to sling it at the back of my neck. It had shifted a little, +and I was working it round again, preparatory to my drop, when I +saw the light suddenly taken from the window in the tower, and a +kerchief waving for one instant in its place. So she had been +waiting and watching for me all these hours! I dropped into the +garden in a very ecstasy of grief and rapture, to think that I had +been so long in coming to my love, but that I had come at last. +And I picked myself up in a very frenzy of fear lest, after all, +I should fail to spirit her from this horrible place. + +Doubly desolate it looked in the rays of that bright October moon. +Skulking in the shadow of the wall which had so long baffled me, I +looked across a sharp border of shade upon a chaos, the more +striking for its lingering trim design. The long, straight paths +were barnacled with weeds; the dense, fine hedges, once prim and +angular, had fattened out of all shape or form; and on the velvet +sward of other days you might have waded waist high in rotten hay. +Towards the garden end this rank jungle merged into a worse +wilderness of rhododendrons, the tallest I have ever seen. On all +this the white moon smiled, and the grim house glowered, to the +eternal swirl and rattle of the beck beyond its walls. + +Long enough I stood where I had dropped, listening with all my being +for some other sound; but at last that great studded door creaked +and shivered on its ancient hinges, and I heard voices arguing in +the Portuguese tongue. It was poor Eva wheedling that black rascal +Jose. I saw her in the lighted porch; the nigger I saw also, +shrugging and gesticulating for all the world like his hateful +master; yet giving in, I felt certain, though I could not understand +a word that reached me. + +And indeed my little mistress very soon sailed calmly out, followed +by final warnings and expostulations hurled from the step: for the +black stood watching her as she came steadily my way, now raising +her head to sniff the air, now stooping to pluck up a weed, the very +picture of a prisoner seeking the open air for its own sake solely. +I had a keen eye apiece for them as I cowered closer to the wall, +revolver in hand. But ere my love was very near me (for she would +stand long moments gazing ever so innocently at the moon), her +jailer had held a bottle to the light, and had beaten a retreat so +sudden and so hasty that I expected him back every moment, and so +durst not stir. Eva saw me, however, and contrived to tell me so +without interrupting the air that she was humming as she walked. + +"Follow me," she sang, "only keep as you are, keep as you are, close +to the wall, close to the wall." + +And on she strolled to her own tune, and came abreast of me without +turning her head; so I crept in the shadow (my ugly weapon tucked out +of sight), and she sauntered in the shine, until we came to the end +of the garden, where the path turned at right angles, running behind +the rhododendrons; once in their shelter, she halted and beckoned me, +and next instant I had her hands in mine. + +"At last!" was all that I could say for many a moment, as I stood +there gazing into her dear eyes, no hero in my heroic hour, but the +bigger love-sick fool than ever. "But quick - quick - quick!" I +added, as she brought me to my senses by withdrawing her hands. +"We've no time to lose." And I looked wildly from wall to wall, +only to find them as barren and inaccessible on this side as on the +other. + +"We have more time than you think," were Eva's first words. "We can +do nothing for half-an-hour." + +"Why not?" + +"I'll tell you in a minute. How did you manage to get over?" + +"Brought boulders from the beck, and piled 'em up till I could reach +the top." + +I thought her eyes glistened. + +"What patience!" she cried softly. "We must find a simpler way of +getting out - and I think I have. They've all gone, you know, but +Jose." + +"All three?" + +"The captain has been gone all day." + +Then the other two must have been my horse-men, very probably in +some disguise; and my head swam with the thought of the risk that +I had run at the very moment when I thought myself safest. Well, +I would have finished them both! But I did not say so to Eva. I +did not mention the incident, I was so fearful of destroying her +confidence in me. Apologizing, therefore, for my interruption, +without explaining it, I begged her to let me hear her plan. + +It was simple enough. There was no fear of the others returning +before midnight; the chances were that they would be very much +later; and now it was barely eleven, and Eva had promised not +to stay out above half-an-hour. When it was up Jose would come +and call her. + +"It is horrid to have to be so cunning!" cried little Eva, with +an angry shudder; "but it's no use thinking of that," she was +quick enough to add, "when you have such dreadful men to deal with, +such fiends! And I have had all day to prepare, and have suffered +till I am so desperate I would rather die to-night than spend +another in that house. No; let me finish! Jose will come round +here to look for me. But you and I will be hiding n the other side +of these rhododendrons. And when we hear him here we'll make a +dash for it across the long grass. Once let us get the door shut +and locked in his face, and he'll be in a trap. It will take him +some time to break in; time enough to give us a start; what's more, +when he finds us gone, he'll do what they all used to do in any +doubt." + +"What's that?" + +"Say nothing till it's found out; then lie for their lives; and it +was their lives, poor creatures on the Zambesi!" She was silent a +moment, her determined little face hard - set upon some unforgotten +horror. "Once we get away, I shall be surprised if it's found out +till morning," concluded Eva, without a word as to what I was to do +with her; neither, indeed, had I myself given that question a +moment's consideration. + +"Then let's make a dash for it now!" was all I said or thought. + +"No; they can't come yet, and Jose is strong and brutal, and I have +heard how ill you are. "That you should have come to me +notwithstanding - " and she broke off with her little hands lying so +gratefully on my shoulders, that I know not how I refrained from +catching her then and there to my heart. Instead, I laughed and +said that my illness was a pure and deliberate sharp, and my +presence there its direct result. And such was the virtue in my +beloved's voice, the magic of her eyes, the healing of her touch, +that I was scarce conscious of deceit, but felt a whole man once +more as we two stood together in the moonlight. + +In a trance I stood there gazing into her brave young eyes. In a +trance I suffered her to lead me by the hand through the rank, dense +rhododendrons. And still entranced I crouched by her side near the +further side, with only unkempt grass-plot and a weedy path between +us and that ponderous door, wide open still, and replaced by a +section of the lighted hail within. On this we fixed our attention +with mingled dread and impatience, those contending elements of +suspense; but the black was slow to reappear; and my eyes stole +home to my sweet girl's face, with its glory of moonlit curls, and +the eager, resolute, embittered look that put the world back two +whole months, and Eva Denison upon the Lady Jermyn's poop, in the +ship's last hours. But it was not her look alone; she had on her +cloak, as the night before, but with me (God bless her!) she found +no need to clasp herself in its folds; and underneath she wore the +very dress in which she had sung at our last concert, and been +rescued in the gig. It looked as though she had worn it ever since. +The roses were crushed and soiled, the tulle all torn, and tarnished +some strings of beads that had been gold: a tatter of Chantilly lace +hung by a thread: it is another of the relics that I have unearthed +in the writing of this narrative. + +"I thought men never noticed dresses?" my love said suddenly, a +pleased light in her eyes (I thought) in spite of all. "Do you +really remember it?" + +"I remember every one of them," I said indignantly; and so I did. + +"You will wonder why I wear it," said Eva, quickly. "It was the +first that came that terrible night. They have given me many since. +But I won't wear one of them - not one!" + +How her eyes flashed! I forgot all about Jose. + +"I suppose you know why they hadn't room for you in the gig?" she +went on. + +"No, I don't know, and I don't care. They had room for you," said +I; "that's all I care about." And to think she could not see I +loved her! + +"But do you mean to say you don't know that these - murderers - set +fire to the ship?" + +"No - yes! I heard you say so last night." + +"And you don't want to know what for?" + +Out of politeness I protested that I did; but, as I live, all I +wanted to know just then was whether my love loved me - whether she +ever could - whether such happiness was possible under heaven! + +"You remember all that mystery about the cargo?" she continued +eagerly, her pretty lips so divinely parted! + +"It turned out to be gunpowder," said I, still thinking only of her. + +"No - gold!" + +"But it was gunpowder," I insisted; for it was my incorrigible +passion for accuracy which had led up to half our arguments on the +voyage; but this time Eva let me off. + +"It was also gold: twelve thousand ounces from the diggings. That +was the real mystery. Do you mean to say you never guessed?" + +"No, by Jove I didn't!" said I. She had diverted my interest at +last. I asked her if she had known on board. + +"Not until the last moment. I found out during the fire. Do you +remember when we said good-by? I was nearly telling you then." + +Did I remember! The very letter of that last interview was cut deep +in my heart; not a sleepless night had I passed without rehearsing +it word for word and look for look; and sometimes, when sorrow had +spent itself, and the heart could bleed no more, vain grief had +given place to vainer speculation, and I had cudgelled my wakeful +brains for the meaning of the new and subtle horror which I had +read in my darling's eyes at the last. Now I understood; and the +one explanation brought such a tribe in its train, that even the +perilous ecstasy of the present moment was temporarily forgotten in +the horrible past. + +"Now I know why they wouldn't have me in the gig! " I cried softly. + +"She carried four heavy men's weight in gold." + +"When on earth did they get it aboard?" + +"In provision boxes at the last; but they had been filling the boxes +for weeks." + +"Why, I saw them doing it!" I cried. "But what about the gig? Who +picked you up?" + +She was watching that open door once more, and she answered with +notable indifference, "Mr. Rattray." + +"So that's the connection!" said I; and I think its very simplicity +was what surprised me most. + +"Yes; he was waiting for us at Ascension." + +"Then it was all arranged?" + +"Every detail." + +"And this young blackguard is as bad as any of them!" + +"Worse," said she, with bitter brevity. Nor had I ever seen her +look so hard but once, and that was the night before in the old +justice hall, when she told Rattray her opinion of him to his face. +She had now the same angry flush, the same set mouth and scornful +voice; and I took it finally into my head that she was unjust to +the poor devil, villain though he was. With all his villainy I +declined to believe him as bad as the others. I told her so in as +many words. And in a moment we were arguing as though we were back +on the Lady Jermyn with nothing else to do. + +"You may admire wholesale murderers and thieves," said Eva. "I +do not." + +"Nor I. My point is simply that this one is not as bad as the rest. +I believe he was really glad for my sake when he discovered that I +knew nothing of the villainy. Come now, has he ever offered you +any personal violence?" + +"Me? Mr. Rattray? I should hope not, indeed!" + +"Has he never saved you from any?" + +"I - I don't know." + +"Then I do. When you left them last night there was some talk of +bringing you back by force. You can guess who suggested that - and +who set his face against it and got his way. You would think the +better of Rattray had you heard what passed." + +"Should I?" she asked half eagerly, as she looked quickly round at +me; and suddenly I saw her eyes fill. "Oh, why will you speak about +him?" she burst out. "Why must you defend him, unless it's to go +against me, as you always did and always will! I never knew anybody +like you - never! I want you to take me away from these wretches, +and all you do is to defend them!" + +"Not all," said I, clasping her hand warmly in mine. "Not all - not +all! I will take you away from them, never fear; in another hour +God grant you may be out of their reach for ever!" + +"But where are we to go?" she whispered wildly. "What are you to +do with me? All my friends think me dead, and if they knew I was +not it would all come out." + +"So it shall," said I; "the sooner the better; if I'd had my way +it would all be out already." + +I see her yet, my passionate darling, as she turned upon me, whiter +than the full white moon. + +"Mr. Cole," said she, "you must give me your sacred promise that +so far as you are concerned, it shall never come out at all! " + +"This monstrous conspiracy? This cold blooded massacre?" + +And I crouched aghast. + +"Yes; it could do no good; and, at any rate, unless you promise +I remain where I am." + +"In their hands?" + +"Decidedly - to warn them in time. Leave them I would, but betray +them - never!" + +What could I say? What choice had I in the face of an alternative +so headstrong and so unreasonable? To rescue Eva from these +miscreants I would have let every malefactor in the country go +unscathed: yet the condition was a hard one; and, as I hesitated, +my love went on her knees to me, there in the moonlight among the +rhododendrons. + +"Promise - promise - or you will kill me!" she gasped. "They may +deserve it richly, but I would rather be torn in little pieces +than - than have them - hanged! " + +"It is too good for most of them." + +"Promise!" + +"To hold my tongue about them all?" + +"Yes - promise!" + +"Promise!" + +"When a hundred lives were sacrificed - " + +"Promise! " + +"I can't," I said. "It's wrong." + +"Then good-by!" she cried, starting to her feet. + +"No - no -" and I caught her hand. + +"Well, then?" + +"I - promise." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +FIRST BLOOD + + +So I bound myself to a guilty secrecy for Eva's sake, to save her +from these wretches, or if you will, to win her for myself. Nor +did it strike me as very strange, after a moment's reflection, that +she should intercede thus earnestly for a band headed by her own +mother's widower, prime scoundrel of them all though she knew him +to be. The only surprise was that she had not interceded in his +name; that I should have forgotten, and she should have allowed me +to forget, the very existence of so indisputable a claim upon her +loyalty. This, however, made it a little difficult to understand +the hysterical gratitude with which my unwilling promise was +received. Poor darling! she was beside herself with sheer relief. +She wept as I had never seen her weep before. She seized and even +kissed my hands, as one who neither knew nor cared what she did, +surprising me so much by her emotion that this expression of it +passed unheeded. I was the best friend she had ever had. I was +her one good friend in all the world; she would trust herself to +me; and if I would but take her to the convent where she had +been brought up, she would pray for me there until her death, but +that would not be very long. + +All of which confused me utterly; it seemed an inexplicable +breakdown in one who had shown such nerve and courage hitherto, +and so hearty a loathing for that damnable Santos. So completely +had her presence of mind forsaken her that she looked no longer +where she had been gazing hitherto. And thus it was that neither +of us saw Jose until we heard him calling, "Senhora Evah! Senhora +Evah!" with some rapid sentences in Portuguese. + +"Now is our time," I whispered, crouching lower and clasping a +small hand gone suddenly cold. "Think of nothing now but getting +out of this. I'll keep my word once we are out; and here's the +toy that's going to get us out." And I produced my Deane and +Adams with no small relish. + +A little trustful pressure was my answer and my reward; meanwhile +the black was singing out lustily in evident suspicion and alarm. + +"He says they are coming back," whispered Eva; "but that's +impossible." + +"Why?" + +"Because if they were he couldn't see them, and if he heard them +he would be frightened of their hearing him. But here he comes!" + +A shuffling quick step on the path; a running grumble of +unmistakable threats; a shambling moonlit figure seen in glimpses +through the leaves, very near us for an instant, then hidden by +the shrubbery as he passed within a few yards of our hiding-place. +A diminuendo of the shuffling steps; then a cursing, frightened +savage at one end of the rhododendrons, and we two stealing out +at the other, hand in hand, and bent quite double, into the long +neglected grass. + +"Can you run for it?" I whispered. + +"Yes, but not too fast, for fear we trip.' + +"Come on, then! " + +The lighted open doorway grew greater at every stride. + +"He hasn't seen us yet - " + +"No, I hear him threatening me still." + +"Now he has, though! " + +A wild whoop proclaimed the fact, and upright we tore at top speed +through the last ten yards of grass, while the black rushed down +one of the side paths, gaining audibly on us over the better +ground. But our start had saved us, and we flew up the steps as +his feet ceased to clatter on the path; he had plunged into the +grass to cut off the corner. + +"Thank God!" cried Eva. "Now shut it quick." + +The great door swung home with a mighty clatter, and Eva seized +the key in both hands. + +"I can't turn it! " + +To lose a second was to take a life, and unconsciously I was +sticking at that, perhaps from no higher instinct than distrust +of my aim. Our pursuer, however, was on the steps when I clapped +my free hand on top of those little white straining ones, and by +a timely effort bent both them and the key round together; the +ward shot home as Jose hurled himself against the door. Eva bolted +it. But the thud was not repeated, and I gathered myself together +between the door and the nearest window, for by now I saw there was +but one thing for us. The nigger must be disabled, if I could +manage such a nicety; if not, the devil take his own. + +Well, I was not one tick too soon for him. My pistol was not +cocked before the crash came that I was counting on, and with it +a shower of small glass driving across the six-foot sill and +tinkling on the flags. Next came a black and bloody face, at +which I could not fire. I had to wait till I saw his legs, when I +promptly shattered one of them at disgracefully short range. The +report was as deafening as one upon the stage; the hall filled with +white smoke, and remained hideous with the bellowing of my victim. +I searched him without a qualm, but threats of annihilation instead, +and found him unarmed but for that very knife which Rattray had +induced me to hand over to him in town. I had a grim satisfaction +in depriving him of this, and but small compunction in turning my +back upon his pain. + +"Come," I said to poor Eva, "don't pity him, though I daresay he's +the most pitiable of the lot; show me the way through, and I'll +follow with this lamp." + +One was burning on the old oak table. I carried it along a narrow +passage, through a great low kitchen where I bumped my head against +the black oak beams; and I held it on high at a door almost as +massive as the one which we had succeeded in shutting in the nigger's +face. + +"I was afraid of it!" cried Eva, with a sudden sob. + +"What is it?" + +"They've taken away the key!" + +Yes, the keen air came through an empty keyhole; and my lamp, held +close, not only showed that the door was locked, but that the lock +was one with which an unskilled hand might tamper for hours without +result. I dealt it a hearty kick by way of a test. The heavy timber +did not budge; there was no play at all at either lock or hinges; +nor did I see how I could spend one of my four remaining bullets +upon the former, with any chance of a return. + +"Is this the only other door?" + +"Then it must be a window." + +All the back ones are barred." + +"Securely?" + +"Yes." + +"Then we've no choice in the matter." + +And I led the way back to the hall, where the poor black devil lay +blubbering in his blood. In the kitchen I found the bottle of wine +(Rattray's best port, that they were trying to make her take for +her health) with which Eva had bribed him, and I gave it to him +before laying hands on a couple of chairs. + +"What are you going to do?"' + +"Go out the way we came." + +"But the wall?" + +"Pile up these chairs, and as many more as we may need, if we can't +open the gate." + +But Eva was not paying attention any longer, either to me or to +Jose; his white teeth were showing in a grin for all his pain; her +eyes were fixed in horror on the floor." + +"They've come back," she gasped. "The underground passage! +Hark - hark!" + +There was a muffled rush of feet beneath our own, then a dull but +very distinguishable clatter on some invisible stair. + +"Underground passage!" I exclaimed, and in my sheer disgust I +forgot what was due to my darling. "Why on earth didn't you tell +me of it before?" + +"There was so much to tell you! It leads to the sea. Oh, what +shall we do? You must hide - upstairs - anywhere!" cried Eva, +wildly. "Leave them to me - leave them to me." + +"I like that," said I; and I did; but I detested myself for the +tears my words had drawn, and I prepared to die for them. + +"They'll kill you, Mr. Cole!" + +"It would serve me right; but we'll see about it." + +And I stood with my revolver very ready in my right hand, while +with the other I caught poor Eva to my side, even as a door flew +open, and Rattray himself burst upon us, a lantern in his hand, +and the perspiration shining on his handso me face in its light. + +I can see him now as he stood dumfounded on the threshold of the +hall; and yet, at the time, my eyes sped past him into the room +beyond. + +It was the one I have described as being lined with books; there +was a long rent in this lining, where the books had opened with +a door, through which Captain Harris, Joaquin Santos, and Jane +Braithwaite followed Rattray in quick succession, the men all +with lanterns, the woman scarlet and dishevelled even for her. It +was over the squire's shoulders I saw their faces;, he kept them +from passing him in the doorway by a free use of his elbows; and +when I looked at him again, his black eyes were blazing from a face +white with passion, and they were fixed upon me. + +"What the devil brings you here?" he thundered at last. + +"Don't ask idle questions," was my reply to that. + +"So you were shamming to-day!" + +"I was taking a leaf out of your book." + +"You'll gain nothing by being clever!" sneered the squire, taking a +threatening step forward. For at the last moment I had tucked my +revolver behind my back, not only for the pleasure, but for the +obvious advantage of getting them all in front of me and off their +guard. I had no idea that such eyes as Rattray's could be so fierce: +they were dancing from me to my companion, whom their glitter +frightened into an attempt to disengage herself from me; but my arm +only tightened about her drooping figure. + +"I shall gain no more than I expect," said I, carelessly. "And I +know what to expect from brave gentlemen like you! It will be +better than your own fate, at all events; anything's better than +being taken hence to the place of execution, and hanged by the +neck until you're dead, all three of you in a row, and your bodies +buried within the precincts of the prison!" + +"The very thing for him," murmured Santos. "The - very - theeng!" + +"But I'm so soft-hearted," I went insanely on, "that I should be +sorry to see that happen to such fine fellows as you are. Come out +of that, you little fraud behind there!" It was my betrayer +skulking in the room. "Come out and line up with the rest! No, +I'm not going to see you fellows dance on nothing; I've another +kind of ball apiece for you, and one between 'em for the +Braithwaites!" + +Well, I suppose I always had a nasty tongue in me, and rather +enjoyed making play with it on provocation; but, if so, I met +with my deserts that night. For the nigger of the Lady Jermyn +lay all but hid behind Eva and me; if they saw him at all, they +may have thought him drunk; but, as for myself, I had fairly +forgotten his existence until the very moment came for showing +my revolver, when it was twisted out of my grasp instead, and a +ball sang under my arm as the brute fell back exhausted and the +weapon clattered beside him. Before I could stoop for it there +was a dead weight on my left arm, and Squire Rattray was over the +table at a bound, with his arms jostling mine beneath Eva Denison's +senseless form. + +"Leave her to me," he cried fiercely. "You fool," he added in a +lower key, "do you think I'd let any harm come to her?" + +I looked him in the bright and honest eyes that had made me trust +him in the beginning. And I did not utterly distrust him yet. +Rather was the guile on my side as I drew back and watched +Rattray lift the young girl tenderly, and slowly carry her to the +door by which she had entered and left the hall just twenty-four +hours before. I could not take my eyes off them till they were +gone. And when I looked for my revolver, it also had disappeared. + +Jose had not got it - he lay insensible. Santos was whispering to +Harris. Neither of them seemed armed. I made sure that Rattray had +picked it up and carried it off with Eva. I looked wildly for some +other weapon. Two unarmed men and a woman were all I had to deal +with, for Braithwaite had long since vanished. Could I but knock +the worthless life out of the men, I should have but the squire and +his servants to deal with; and in that quarter I still had my hopes +of a bloodless battle and a treaty of war. + +A log fire was smouldering in the open grate. I darted to it, and +had a heavy, half-burned brand whirling round my head next instant. +Harris was the first within my reach. He came gamely at me with +his fists. I sprang upon him, and struck him to the ground with +one blow, the sparks flying far and wide as my smoking brand met +the seaman's skull. Santos was upon me next instant, and him, by +sheer luck, I managed to serve the same; but I doubt whether either +man was stunned; and I was standing ready for them to rise, when I +felt myself seized round the neck from behind, and a mass of fluffy +hair tickling my cheek, while a shrill voice set up a lusty scream +for the squire. + +I have said that the woman Braithwaite was of a sinister strength; +but I had little dreamt how strong she really was. First it was +her arms that wound themselves about my neck, long, sinuous, and +supple as the tentacles of some vile monster; then, as I struggled, +her thumbs were on my windpipe like pads of steel. Tighter she +pressed, and tighter yet. My eyeballs started; my tongue lolled; +I heard my brand drop, and through a mist I saw it picked up +instantly. It crashed upon my skull as I still struggled vainly; +again and again it came down mercilessly in the same place; until +I felt as though a sponge of warm water had been squeezed over my +head, and saw a hundred withered masks grinning sudden exultation +into mine; but still the lean arm whirled, and the splinters flew, +till I was blind with my blood and the seven senses were beaten out +of me. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A DEADLOCK + + +It must have been midnight when I opened my eyes; a clock was +striking as though it never would stop. My mouth seemed fire; a +pungent flavor filled my nostrils; the wineglass felt cold against +my teeth. "That's more like it!" muttered a voice close to my ear. +An arm was withdrawn from under my shoulders. I was allowed to +sink back upon some pillows. And now I saw where I was. The room +was large and poorly lighted. I lay in my clothes on an old +four-poster bed. And my enemies were standing over me in a group. + +"I hope you are satisfied!" sneered Joaquin Santos, with a flourish +of his eternal cigarette. + +"I am. You don't do murder in my house, wherever else you may do +it." + +"And now better lid 'im to the nirrest polissstation; or weel you +go and tell the poliss yourself?" asked the Portuguese, in the same +tone of mordant irony. + +"Ay, ay," growled Harris; "that's the next thing!" + +"No," said Rattray; "the next thing's for you two to leave him to +me." + +"We'll see you damned!" cried the captain. + +"No, no, my friend," said Santos, with a shrug; "let him have his +way. He is as fond of his skeen as you are of yours; he'll come +round to our way in the end. I know this Senhor Cole. It is +necessary for 'im to die. But it is not necessary this moment; let +us live them together for a leetle beet." + +"That's all I ask," said Rattray. + +"You won't ask it twice," rejoined Santos, shrugging. "I know this +Senhor Cole. There is only one way of dilling with a man like that. +Besides, he 'as 'alf-keeled my good Jose; it is necessary for 'im +to die." + +"I agree with the senhor," said Harris, whose forehead was starred +with sticking-plaster. "It's him or us, an' we're all agen you, +squire. You'll have to give in, first or last." + +And the pair were gone; their steps grew faint in the corridor; when +we could no longer hear them, Rattray closed the door and quietly +locked it. Then he turned to me, stern enough, and pointed to the +door with a hand that shook. + +"You see how it is?" + +"Perfectly." + +"They want to kill you!" + +"Of course they do." + +"It's your own fault; you've run yourself into this. I did my best +to keep you out of it. But in you come, and spill first blood." + +"I don't regret it," said I. + +"Oh, you're damned mule enough not to regret anything!" cried +Rattray. "I see the sort you are; yet but for me, I tell you +plainly, you'd be a dead man now." + +"I can't think why you interfered." + +"You've heard the reason. I won't have murder done here if I can +prevent it; so far I have; it rests with you whether I can go on +preventing it or not." + +"With me, does it?" + +He sat down on the side of the bed. He threw an arm to the far +side of my body, and he leaned over me with savage eyes now staring +into mine, now resting with a momentary gleam of pride upon my +battered head. I put up my hand; it lit upon a very turban of +bandages, and at that I tried to take his hand in mine. He shook +it off, and his eyes met mine more fiercely than before. + +"See here, Cole," said he; "I don t know how the devil you got wind +of anything to start with, and I don't care. What I do know is that +you've made bad enough a long chalk worse for all concerned, and +you'll have to get yourself out of the mess you've got yourself into, +and there's only one way. I suppose Miss Denison has really told +you everything this time? What's that? Oh, yes, she's all right +again; no thanks to you. Now let's hear what she did tell you. +It'll save time. + +I repeated the hurried disclosures made by Eva in the rhododendrons. +He nodded grimly in confirmation of their truth. + +"Yes, those are the rough facts. The game was started in Melbourne. +My part was to wait at Ascension till the Lady Jermyn signalled +herself, follow her in a schooner we had bought and pick up the gig +with the gold aboard. Well, I did so; never mind the details now, +and never mind the bloody massacre the others had made of it before +I came up. God knows I was never a consenting party to that, though +I know I'm responsible. I'm in this thing as deep as any of them. +I've shared the risks and I'm going to share the plunder, and I'll +swing with the others if it ever comes to that. I deserve it hard +enough. And so here we are, we three and the nigger, all four fit +to swing in a row, as you were fool enough to tell us; and you step +in and find out everything. What's to be done? You know what the +others want to do. I say it rests with you whether they do it or +not. There's only one other way of meeting the case." + +"What's that?" + +"Be in it yourself, man! Come in with me and split my share!" + +I could have burst out laughing in his handsome, eager face; the +good faith of this absurd proposal was so incongruously apparent; +and so obviously genuine was the young villain's anxiety for my +consent. Become accessory after the fact in such a crime! Sell +my silence for a price! I concealed my feelings with equal +difficulty and resolution. I had plans of my own already, but +I must gain time to think them over. Nor could I afford to quarrel +with Rattray meanwhile. + +"What was the haul?" I asked him, with the air of one not unprepared +to consider the matter. + +"Twelve thousand ounces!" + +"Forty-eight thousand pounds, about?" + +"Yes-yes." + +"And your share?" + +"Fourteen thousand pounds. Santos takes twenty, and Harris and I +fourteen thousand each." + +"And you offer me seven?" + +"I do! I do!" + +He was becoming more and more eager and excited. His eyes were +brighter than I had ever seen them, but slightly bloodshot, and a +coppery flush tinged his clear, sunburnt skin. I fancied he had +been making somewhat free with the brandy. But loss of blood had +cooled my brain; and, perhaps, natural perversity had also a share +in the composure which grew upon me as it deserted my companion. + +"Why make such a sacrifice?" said I, smiling. "Why not let them do +as they like?" + +"I've told you why! I'm not so bad as all that. I draw the line +at bloody murder! Not a life should have been lost if I'd had my +way. Besides, I've done all the dirty work by you, Cole; there's +been no help for it. We didn't know whether you knew or not; it +made all the difference to us; and somebody had to dog you and find +out how much you did know. I was the only one who could possibly +do it. God knows how I detested the job! I'm more ashamed of it +than of worse things. I had to worm myself into your friendship; +and, by Jove, you made me think you did know, but hadn't let it out, +and might any day. So then I got you up here, where you would be +in our power if it was so; surely you can see every move? But this +much I'll swear - I had nothing to do with Jose breaking into your +room at the hotel; they went behind me there, curse them! And when +at last I found out for certain, down here, that you knew nothing +after all, I was never more sincerely thankful in my life. I give +you my word it took a load off my heart." + +"I know that," I said. "I also know who broke into my room, and +I'm glad I'm even with one of you." + +"It's done you no good," said Rattray. "Their first thought was to +put you out of the way, and it's more than ever their last. You +see the sort of men you've got to deal with; and they're three to +one, counting the nigger; but if you go in with me they'll only be +three to two." + +He was manifestly anxious to save me in this fashion. And I suppose +that most sensible men, in my dilemma, would at least have nursed or +played upon good-will so lucky and so enduring. But there was always +a twist in me that made me love (in my youth) to take the unexpected +course; and it amused me the more to lead my young friend on. + +"And where have you got this gold?" I asked him, in a low voice so +promising that he instantly lowered his, and his eyes twinkled +naughtily into mine. + +"In the old tunnel that runs from this place nearly to the sea," +said he. "We Rattrays have always been a pretty warm lot, Cole, +and in the old days we were the most festive smugglers on the +coast; this tunnel's a relic of 'em, although it was only a +tradition till I came into the property. I swore I'd find it, and +when I'd done so I made the new connection which you shall see. I'm +rather proud of it. And I won't say I haven't used the old drain +once or twice after the fashion of my rude forefathers; but never +was it such a godsend as it's been this time. By Jove, it would +be a sin if you didn't come in with us, Cole; but for the lives +these blackguards lost the thing's gone splendidly; it would be a +sin if you went and lost yours, whereas, if you come in, the two +of us would be able to shake off those devils: we should be too +strong for 'em." + +"Seven thousand pounds!" I murmured. "Forty-eight thousand +between us!" + +"Yes, and nearly all of it down below, at this end of the tunnel, +and the rest where we dropped it when we heard you were trying to +bolt. We'd got it all at the other end, ready to pop aboard the +schooner that's lying there still, if you turned out to know +anything and to have told what you knew to the police. There was +always the possibility of that, you see; we simply daren't show +our noses at the bank until we knew how much you knew, and what +you'd done or were thinking of doing. As it is, we can take 'em +the whole twelve thousand ounces, or rather I can, as soon as I +like, in broad daylight. I'm a lucky digger. It's all right. +Everybody knows I've been out there. They'll have to pay me over +the counter; and if you wait in the cab, by the Lord Harry, I'll +pay you your seven thousand first! You don't deserve it, Cole, but +you shall have it, and between us we'll see the others to blazes!" + +He jumped up all excitement, and was at the door next instant. + +"Stop!" I cried. "Where are you going?" + +"Downstairs to tell them." + +"Tell them what?" + +"That you're going in with me, and it's all right." + +"And do you really think I am?" + +He had unlocked the door; after a pause I heard him lock it again. +But I did not see his face until he returned to the bedside. And +then it frightened me. It was distorted and discolored with rage +and chagrin. + +"You've been making a fool of me!" he cried fiercely. + +"No, I have been considering the matter, Rattray." + +"And you won't accept my offer?" + +"Of course I won't. I didn't say I'd been considering that." + +He stood over me with clenched fists and starting eyes. + +"Don't you see that I want to save your life?" he cried. "Don't +you see that this is the only way? Do you suppose a murder more +or less makes any difference to that lot downstairs? Are you +really such a fool as to die rather than hold your tongue?" + +"I won't hold it for money, at all events," said I. "But that's +what I was coming to." + +"Very well!" he interrupted. "You shall only pretend to touch it. +All I want is to convince the others that it's against your interest +to split. Self-interest is the one motive they understand. Your +bare word would be good enough for me." + +"Suppose I won't give my bare word?" said I, in a gentle manner +which I did not mean to be as irritating as it doubtless was. Yet +his proposals and his assumptions were between them making me +irritable in my turn. + +"For Heaven's sake don't be such an idiot, Cole!" he burst out in +a passion. "You know I'm against the others, and you know what they +want, yet you do your best to put me on their side! You know what +they are, and yet you hesitate! For the love of God be sensible; +at least give me your word that you'll hold your tongue for ever +about all you know." + +"All right," I said. "I'll give you my word - my sacred promise, +Rattray - on one condition." + +"What's that?" + +"That you let me take Miss Denison away from you, for good and all!" + +His face was transformed with fury: honest passion faded from it +and left it bloodless, deadly, sinister. + +"Away from me?" said Rattray, through his teeth. + +"From the lot of you." + +"I remember! You told me that night. Ha, ha, ha! You were in +love with her - you - you!" + +"That has nothing to do with it," said I, shaking the bed with my +anger and my agitation. + +"I should hope not! You, indeed, to look at her!" + +"Well," I cried, "she may never love me; but at least she doesn't +loathe me as she loathes you - yes, and the sight of you, and your +very name!" + +So I drew blood for blood; and for an instant I thought he was +going to make an end of it by incontinently killing me himself. +His fists flew out. Had I been a whole man on my legs, he took +care to tell me what he would have done, and to drive it home with +a mouthful of the oaths which were conspicuously absent from his +ordinary talk. + +"You take advantage of your weakness, like any cur," he wound up. + +"And you of your strength - like the young bully you are!" I +retorted. + +"You do your best to make me one," he answered bitterly. "I try +to stand by you at all costs. I want to make amends to you, I +want to prevent a crime. Yet there you lie and set your face against +a compromise; and there you lie and taunt me with the thing that's +gall and wormwood to me already. I know I gave you provocation. +And I know I'm rightly served. Why do you suppose I went into this +accursed thing at all? Not for the gold, my boy, but for the girl! +So she won't look at me. And it serves me right. But - I say - do +you really think she loathes me, Cole?" + +"I don't see how she can think much better of you than of the crime +in which you've had a hand," was my reply, made, however, with as +much kindness as I could summon. "The word I used was spoken in +anger," said I; for his had disappeared; and he looked such a +miserable, handsome dog as he stood there hanging his guilty head +- in the room, I fancied, where he once had lain as a pretty, +innocent child. + +"Cole," said he, "I'd give twice my share of the damned stuff never +to have put my hand to the plough; but go back I can't; so there's +an end of it." + +"I don't see it," said I. "You say you didn't go in for the gold? +Then give up your share; the others'll jump at it; and Eva won't +think the worse of you, at any rate." + +"But what's to become of her if I drop out? + +"You and I will take her to her friends, or wherever she wants to go." + +"No, no!" he cried. "I never yet deserted my pals, and I'm not going +to begin." + +"I don't believe you ever before had such pals to desert," was my +reply to that. "Quite apart from my own share in the matter, it +makes me positively sick to see a fellow like you mixed up with such +a crew in such a game. Get out of it, man, get out of it while you +can! Now's your time. Get out of it, for God's sake!" + +I sat up in my eagerness. I saw him waver. And for one instant a +great hope fluttered in my heart. But his teeth met. His face +darkened. He shook his head. + +"That's the kind of rot that isn't worth talking, and you ought to +know it," said he. "When I begin a thing I go through with it, +though it lands me in hell, as this one will. I can't help that. +It's too late to go back. I'm going on and you're going with me, +Cole, like a sensible chap!" + +I shook my head. + +"Only on the one condition." + +"You - stick - to - that?" he said, so rapidly that the words ran +into one, so fiercely that his decision was as plain to me as my own. + +"I do," said I, and could only sigh when he made yet one more effort +to persuade me, in a distress not less apparent than his resolution, +and not less becoming in him. + +"Consider, Cole, consider!" + +"I have already done so, Rattray." + +"Murder is simply nothing to them!" + +"It is nothing to me either." + +"Human life is nothing!" + +"No; it must end one day." + +"You won't give your word unconditionally?" + +"No; you know my condition." + +He ignored it with a blazing eye,his hand upon the door. + +"You prefer to die, then?" +"Infinitely." + +"Then die you may, and be damned to you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THIEVES FALL OUT + + +The door slammed. It was invisibly locked and the key taken out. +I listened for the last of an angry stride. It never even began. +But after a pause the door was unlocked again, and Rattray +re-entered. + +Without looking at me, he snatched the candle from the table on +which it stood by the bedside, and carried it to a bureau at the +opposite side of the room. There he stood a minute with his back +turned, the candle, I fancy, on the floor. I saw him putting +something in either jacket pocket. Then I heard a dull little +snap, as though he had shut some small morocco case; whatever it +was, he tossed it carelessly back into the bureau; and next minute +he was really gone, leaving the candle burning on the floor. + +I lay and heard his steps out of earshot, and they were angry enough +now, nor had he given me a single glance. I listened until there +was no more to be heard, and then in an instant I was off the bed +and on my feet. I reeled a little, and my head gave me great pain, +but greater still was my excitement. I caught up the candle, opened +the unlocked bureau, and then the empty case which I found in the +very front. + +My heart leapt; there was no mistaking the depressions in the case. +It was a brace of tiny pistols that Rattray had slipped into his +jacket pockets. + +Mere toys they must have been in comparison with my dear Deane and +Adams; that mattered nothing. I went no longer in dire terror of +my life; indeed, there was that in Rattray which had left me feeling +fairly safe, in spite of his last words to me, albeit I felt his +fears on my behalf to be genuine enough. His taking these little +pistols (of course, there were but three chambers left loaded in +mine) confirmed my confidence in him. + +He would stick at nothing to defend me from the violence of his +bloodthirsty accomplices. But it should not come to that. My legs +were growing firmer under me. I was not going to lie there meekly +without making at least an effort at self-deliverance. If it +succeeded - the idea came to me in a flash - I would send Rattray +an ultimatum from the nearest town; and either Eva should be set +instantly and unconditionally free, or the whole matter be put +unreservedly in the hands of the local police. + +There were two lattice windows, both in the same immensely thick +wall; to my joy, I discovered that they overlooked the open premises +at the back of the hall, with the oak-plantation beyond; nor was the +distance to the ground very great. It was the work of a moment to +tear the sheets from the bed, to tie the two ends together and a +third round the mullion by which the larger window was bisected. +I had done this, and had let down my sheets, when a movement below +turned my heart to ice. The night had clouded over. I could see +nobody; so much the greater was my alarm. + +I withdrew from the window, leaving the sheets hanging, in the hope +that they also might be invisible in the darkness. I put out the +candle, and returned to the window in great perplexity. Next moment +I stood aghast ---between the devil and the deep sea. I still +heard a something down below, but a worse sound came to drown it. +An unseen hand was very quietly trying the door which Rattray had +locked behind him. + +"Diablo!" came to my horrified ears) in a soft, vindictive voice. + +"I told ye so," muttered another; "the young swab's got the key." + +There was a pause, in which it would seem that Joaquin Santos had +his ear at the empty keyhole. + +"I think he must be slipping," at last I heard him sigh. "It was +not necessary to awaken him in this world. It is a peety." + +"One kick over the lock would do it," said Harris; "only the young +swab'll hear." + +"Not perhaps while he is dancing attendance on the senhora. Was +it not good to send him to her? If he does hear, well, his own +turn will come the queecker, that is all. But it would be +better to take them one at a time; so keeck away, my friend, and +I will give him no time to squil." + +While my would-be murderers were holding this whispered colloquy, +I had stood half-petrified by the open window; unwilling to slide +down the sheets into the arms of an unseen enemy, though I had no +idea which of them it could be; more hopeful of slipping past my +butchers in the darkness, and so to Rattray and poor Eva; but not +the less eagerly looking for some hiding-place in the room. The +best that offered was a recess in the thick wall between the two +windows, filled with hanging clothes: a narrow closet without a +door, which would shelter me well enough if not too curiously +inspected. Here I hid myself in the end, after a moment of +indecision which nearly cost me my life. The coats and trousers +still shook in front of me when the door flew open at the first +kick, and Santos stood a moment in the moonlight, looking for the +bed. With a stride he reached it, and I saw the gleam of a knife +from where I stood among the squire's clothes; it flashed over my +bed, and was still. + +"He is not 'ere!" + +"He heard us, and he's a-hiding." + +"Make light, my friend, and we shall very soon see." + +Harris did so. + +"Here's a candle," said Santos; "light it, and watch the door. +Perro mal dicto! What have we here?" + +I felt certain he had seen me, but the candle passed within a yard of +my feet, and was held on high at the open window. + +"We are too late!" said Santos. "He's gone!" + +"Are you sure + +"Look at this sheet." + +"Then the other swab knew of it, and we'll settle with him." + +"Yes, yes. But not yet, my good friend - not yet. We want his +asseestance in getting the gold back to the sea; he will be glad +enough to give it, now that his pet bird has flown; after that - by +all mins. You shall cut his troth, and I will put one of 'is dear +friend's bullets in 'im for my own satisfaction." + +There was a quick step on the stairs-in the corridor. + +"I'd like to do it now," whispered Harris; "no time like the present." + +"Not yet, I tell you!" + +And Rattray was in the room, a silver-mounted pistol in each hand; +the sight of these was a surprise to his treacherous confederates, +as even I could see. + +"What the devil are you two doing here?" he thundered. + +"We thought he was too quite, said Santos. "You percive the rizzon." + +And he waved from empty bed to open window, then held the candle +close to the tied sheet, and shrugged expressively. + +"You thought he was too quiet!" echoed Rattray with fierce scorn. +"You thought I was too blind - that's what you mean. To tell me +that Miss Denison wished to see me, and Miss Denison that I wished +to speak to her! As if we shouldn't find you out in about a minute! +But a minute was better than nothing, eh? And you've made good use +of your minute, have you. You've murdered him, and you pretend +he's got out? By God, if you have, I'll murder you! I've been +ready for this all night!" + +And he stood with his back to the window, his pistols raised, and +his head carried proudly - happily - like a man whose self-respect +was coming back to him after many days. Harris shrank before his +fierce eyes and pointed barrels. The Portuguese, however, had +merely given a characteristic shrug, and was now rolling the +inevitable cigarette. + +"Your common sense is almost as remarkable as your sense of +justice, my friend," said he. "You see us one, two, tree meenutes +ago, and you see us now. You see the empty bed, the empty room, +and you imagine that in one, two, tree meenutes we have killed a +man and disposed of his body. Truly, you are very wise and just, +and very loyal also to your friends. You treat a dangerous enemy +as though he were your tween-brother. You let him escape - let +him, I repit - and then you threaten to shoot those who, as it is, +may pay for your carelessness with their lives. We have been always +very loyal to you, Senhor Rattray. We have leestened to your advice, +and often taken it against our better judgment. We are here, not +because we think it wise, but because you weeshed it. Yet at the +first temptation you turn upon us, you point your peestols at your +friends." + +"I don't believe in your loyalty," rejoined Rattray. "I believe +you would shoot me sooner than I would you. The only difference +would be than I should be shot in the back!" + +"It is untrue," said Santos, with immense emotion. "I call the +saints to witness that never by thought or word have I been +disloyal to you" - and the blasphemous wretch actually crossed +himself with a trembling, skinny hand. "I have leestened to you, +though you are the younger man. I have geeven way to you in +everything from the moment we were so fullish as to set foot on this +accursed coast; that also was your doeeng; and it will be your fault +if ivil comes of it. Yet I have not complained. Here in your own +'ouse you have been the master, I the guest. So far from plotting +against you, show me the man who has heard me brith one treacherous +word behind your back; you will find it deeficult, friend Rattray; +what do you say, captain?" + +"Me?" cried Harris, in a voice bursting with abuse. And what the +captain said may or may not be imagined. It cannot be set down. + +But the man who ought to have spoken - the man who had such a chance +as few men have off the stage - who could have confounded these +villains in a breath, and saved the wretched Rattray at once from +them and from himself - that unheroic hero remained ignobly silent +in his homely hiding-place. And, what is more, he would do the +same again! + +The rogues had fallen out; now was the time for honest men. They +all thought I had escaped; therefore they would give me a better +chance than ever of still escaping; and I have already explained +to what purpose I meant to use my first hours of liberty. That +purpose I hold to have justified any ingratitude that I may seem +now to have displayed towards the man who had undoubtedly stood +between death and me. Was not Eva Denison of more value than many +Rattrays? And it was precisely in relation with this pure young +girl that I most mistrusted the squire: obviously then my first +duty was to save Eva from Rattray, not Rattray from these traitors. + +Not that I pretend for a moment to have been the thing I never was: +you are not so very grateful to the man who pulls you out of the +mud when he has first of all pushed you in; nor is it chivalry +alone which spurs one to the rescue of a lovely lady for whom, +after all, one would rather live than die. Thus I, in my corner, +was thinking (I will say) of Eva first; but next I was thinking of +myself; and Rattray's blood be on his own hot head! I hold, +moreover, that I was perfectly right in all this; but if any think +me very wrong, a sufficient satisfaction is in store for them, for I +was very swiftly punished. + +The captain's language was no worse in character than in effect: +the bed was bloody from my wounded head, all tumbled from the haste +with which I had quitted it, and only too suggestive of still fouler +play. Rattray stopped the captain with a sudden flourish of one of +his pistols, the silver mountings making lightning in the room; then +he called upon the pair of them to show him what they had done with +me; and to my horror, Santos invited him to search the room. The +invitation was accepted. Yet there I stood. It would have been +better to step forward even then. Yet I cowered among his clothes +until his own hand fell upon my collar, and forth I was dragged to +the plain amazement of all three. + +Santos was the first to find his voice. + +"Another time you will perhaps think twice before you spik, friend +squire." + +Rattray simply asked me what I had been doing in there, in a white +flame of passion, and with such an oath that I embellished the truth +for him in my turn. + +"Trying to give you blackguards the slip," said I. + +"Then it was you who let down the sheet?" + +"Of course it was." + +"All right! I'm done with you," said he; "that settles it. I make +you an offer. You won't accept it. I do my best; you do your worst; +but I'll be shot if you get another chance from me!" + +Brandy and the wine-glass stood where Rattray must have set them, +on an oak stool beside the bed; as he spoke he crossed the room, +filled the glass till the spirit dripped, and drained it at a gulp. +He was twitching and wincing still when he turned, walked up to +Joaquin Santos, and pointed to where I stood with a fist that shook. + +"You wanted to deal with him," said Rattray; "you're at liberty to +do so. I'm only sorry I stood in your way." + +But no answer, and for once no rings of smoke came from those +shrivelled lips: the man had rolled and lighted a cigarette since +Rattray entered, but it was burning unheeded between his skinny +fingers. I had his attention, all to myself. He knew the tale +that I was going to tell. He was waiting for it; he was ready for +me. The attentive droop of his head; the crafty glitter in his +intelligent eyes; the depth and breadth of the creased forehead; +the knowledge of his resource, the consciousness of my error, all +distracted and confounded me so that my speech halted and my +voice ran thin. I told Rattray every syllable that these traitors +had been saying behind his back, but I told it all very ill; what +was worse, and made me worse, I was only too well aware of my own +failure to carry conviction with my words. + +"And why couldn't you come out and say so asked Rattray, as even I +knew that he must. "Why wait till now?" + +"Ah, why!" echoed Santos, with a smile and a shake of the head; a +suspicious tolerance, an ostentatious truce, upon his parchment +face. And already he was sufficiently relieved to suck his +cigarette alight again. + +"You know why," I said, trusting to bluff honesty with the one of +them who was not rotten to the core: "because I still meant escaping." + +"And then what?" asked Rattray fiercely. + +"You had given me my chance," I said; "I hould have given you yours." + +"You would, would you? Very kind of you, Mr. Cole!" + +"No, no," said Santos; "not kind, but clever! Clever, spicious, +and queeck-weeted beyond belif! Senhor Rattray, we have all been +in the dark; we thought we had fool to dii with, but what admirable +knave the young man would make! Such readiness, such resource, with +his tongue or with his peestol; how useful would it be to us! I am +glad you have decided to live him to me, friend Rattray, for I am +quite come round to your way of thinking. It is no longer necessary +for him to die!" + +"You mean that?" cried Rattray keenly. + +"Of course I min it. You were quite right. He must join us. But +he will when I talk to him. + +I could not speak. I was fascinated by this wretch: it was reptile +and rabbit with us. Treachery I knew he meant; my death, for one; +my death was certain; and yet I could not speak. + +"Then talk to him, for God's sake," cried Rattray, "and I shall be +only too glad if you can talk some sense into him. I've tried, and +failed." + +"I shall not fail," said Santos softly. "But it is better that he +has a leetle time to think over it calmly; better steel for 'im to +slip upon it, as you say. Let us live 'im for the night, what there +is of it; time enough in the morning." + +I could hardly believe my ears; still I knew that it was treachery, +all treachery; and the morning I should never see. + +"But we can't leave him up here," said Rattray; "it would mean one +of us watching him all night." + +"Quite so," said Santos. "I will tell you where we could live him, +however, if you will allow me to wheesper one leetle moment." + +They drew aside; and, as I live, I thought that little moment was +to be Rattray's last on earth. I watched, but nothing happened; +on the contrary, both men seemed agreed, the Portuguese +gesticulating, the Englishman nodding, as they stood conversing at +the window. Their faces were strangely reassuring. I began to +reason with myself, to rid my mind of mere presentiment and +superstition. If these two really were at one about me (I argued) +there might be no treachery after all. When I came to think of it, +Rattray had been closeted long enough with me to awake the worst +suspicions in the breasts of his companions; now that these were +allayed, there might be no more bloodshed after all (if, for example, +I pretended to give in), even though Santos had not cared whose +blood was shed a few minutes since. That was evidently the character +of the wretch: to compass his ends or to defend his person he would +take life with no more compunction than the ordinary criminal takes +money; but (and hence) murder for murder's sake was no amusement to +him. + +My confidence was further restored by Captain Harris; ever a gross +ruffian, with no refinements to his rascality, he had been at the +brandy bottle after Rattray's example; and now was dozing on the +latter's bed, taking his watch below when he could get it, like the +good seaman he had been. I was quite sorry for him when the +conversation at the window ceased suddenly, and Rattray roused the +captain up. + +"Watches aft!" said he. "We want that mattress; you can bring it +along, while I lead the way with the pillows and things. Come on, +Cole!" + +"Where to?" I asked, standing firm. + +"Where there's no window for you to jump out of, old boy, and no +clothes of mine for you to hide behind. You needn't look so +scared; it's as dry as a bone, as cellars go. And it's past three +o'clock. And you've just got to come." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A MAN OF MANY MURDERS + + +It was a good-sized wine-cellar, with very little wine in it; only +one full bin could I discover. The bins themselves lined but two +of the walls, and most of them were covered in with cobwebs, +close-drawn like mosquito-curtains. The ceiling was all too low: +torpid spiders hung in disreputable parlors, dead to the eye, but +loathsomely alive at an involuntary touch. Rats scuttled when we +entered, and I had not been long alone when they returned to bear +me company. I am not a natural historian, and had rather face a +lion with the right rifle than a rat with a stick. My jailers, +however, had been kind enough to leave me a lantern, which, set +upon the ground (like my mattress), would afford a warning, if not +a protection, against the worst; unless I slept; and as yet I had +not lain down. The rascals had been considerate enough, more +especially Santos, who had a new manner for me with his revised +opinion of my character; it was a manner almost as courtly as that +which had embellished his relations with Eva Denison, and won him +my early regard at sea. Moreover, it was at the suggestion of +Santos that they had detained me in the hall, for much-needed meat +and drink, on the way down. Thereafter they had conducted me +through the book-lined door of my undoing, down stone stairs leading +to three cellar doors, one of which they had double-locked upon me. + +As soon as I durst I was busy with this door; but to no purpose; it +was a slab of solid oak, hung on hinges as massive as its lock. It +galled me to think that but two doors stood between me and the secret +tunnel to the sea: for one of the other two must lead to it. The +first, however, was all beyond me, and I very soon gave it up. There +was also a very small grating which let in a very little fresh air: +the massive foundations had been tunnelled in one place; a rude +alcove was the result, with this grating at the end and top of it, +some seven feet above the earth floor. Even had I been able to +wrench away the bars, it would have availed me nothing, since the +aperture formed the segment of a circle whose chord was but a very +few inches long. I had nevertheless a fancy for seeing the stars +once more and feeling the breath of heaven upon my bandaged temples, +which impelled me to search for that which should add a cubit to my +stature. And at a glance I descried two packing-cases, rather small +and squat, but the pair of them together the very thing for me. To +my amazement, however, I could at first move neither one nor the +other of these small boxes. Was it that I was weak as water, or +that they were heavier than lead? At last I managed to get one +of them in my arms - only to drop it with a thud. A side started; +a thin sprinkling of yellow dust glittered on the earth. I fetched +the lantern: it was gold-dust from Bendigo or from Ballarat. + +To me there was horror unspeakable, yet withal a morbid fascination, +in the spectacle of the actual booty for which so many lives had +been sacrificed before my eyes. Minute followed minute in which +I looked at nothing, and could think of nothing, but the stolen +bullion at my feet; then I gathered what of the dust I could, +pocketed it in pinches to hide my meddlesomeness, and blew the rest +away. The box had dropped very much where I had found it; it had +exhausted my strength none the less, and I was glad at last to lie +down on the mattress, and to wind my body in Rattray's blankets. + +I shuddered at the thought of sleep: the rats became so lively the +moment I lay still. One ventured so near as to sit up close to the +lantern; the light showed its fat white belly, and the thing itself +was like a dog begging, as big to my disgusted eyes. And yet, in +the midst of these horrors (to me as bad as any that had preceded +them), nature overcame me, and for a space my torments ceased. + +"He is aslip," a soft voice said. + +"Don't wake the poor devil," said another. + +"But I weesh to spik with 'im. Senhor Cole! Senhor Cole!" + +I opened my eyes. Santos looked of uncanny stature in the low +yellow light, from my pillow close to the earth. Harris turned +away at my glance; he carried a spade, and began digging near the +boxes without more ado, by the light of a second lantern set on one +of them: his back was to me from this time on. Santos shrugged a +shoulder towards the captain as he opened a campstool, drew up his +trousers, and seated himself with much deliberation at the foot of +my mattress. + +"When you 'ave treasure," said he, "the better thing is to bury it, +Senhor Cole. Our young friend upstairs begs to deefer; but he is +slipping; it is peety he takes such quantity of brandy! It is +leetle wikness of you Engleesh; we in Portugal never touch it, save +as a liqueur; therefore we require less slip. Friend squire +upstairs is at this moment no better than a porker. Have I made +mistake? I thought it was the same word in both languages; but I +am glad to see you smile, Senhor Cole; that is good sign. I was +going to say, he is so fast aslip up there, that he would not hear +us if we were to shoot each other dead!" + +And he gave me his paternal smile, benevolent, humorous, reassuring; +but I was no longer reassured; nor did I greatly care any more what +happened to me. There is a point of last, as well as one of least +resistance, and I had reached both points at once. + +"Have you shot him dead?" I inquired, thinking that if he had, this +would precipitate my turn. But he was far from angry; the parchment +face crumpled into tolerant smiles; the venerable head shook a +playful reproval, as he threw away the cigarette that I am tired of +mentioning, and put the last touch to a fresh one with his tongue. + +"What question I" said he; "reely, Senhor Cole! But you are quite +right: I would have shot him, or cut his troth" (and he shrugged +indifference on the point), "if it had not been for you; and yet it +would have been your fault! I nid not explain; the poseetion must +have explained itself already; besides, it is past. With you two +against us - but it is past. You see, I have no longer the excellent +Jose. You broke his leg, bad man. I fear it will be necessary to +destroy 'im." Santos made a pause; then inquired if he shocked me. + +"Not a bit," said I, neither truly nor untruly; "you interest me." +And that he did. + +"You see," he continued, "I have not the respect of you Engleesh +for 'uman life. We will not argue it. I have at least some respect +for prejudice. In my youth I had myself such prejudices; but one +loses them on the Zambesi. You cannot expect one to set any value +upon the life of a black nigger; and when you have keeled a great +many Kaffirs, by the lash, with the crocodiles, or what-not, then a +white man or two makes less deeference. I acknowledge there were too +many on board that sheep; but what was one to do? You have your +Engleesh proverb about the dead men and the stories; it was necessary +to make clin swip. You see the result." + +He shrugged again towards the boxes; but this time, being reminded +of them (I supposed), he rose and went over to see how Harris was +progressing. The captain had never looked round; neither did he +look at Santos. "A leetle dipper," I heard the latter say, "and, +perhaps, a few eenches - " but I lost the last epithet. It followed +a glance over the shoulder in my direction, and immediately preceded +the return of Santos to his camp-stool. + +"Yes, it is always better to bury treasure," said he once more; but +his tone was altered; it was more contemplative; and many smoke-rings +came from the shrunk lips before another word; but through them all, +his dark eyes, dull with age, were fixed upon me. + +"You are a treasure!" he exclaimed at last, softly enough, but +quickly and emphatically for him, and with a sudden and most +diabolical smile. + +"So you are going to bury me?" + +I had suspected it when first I saw the spade; then not; but since +the visit to the hole I had made up my mind to it. + +"Bury you? No, not alive," said Santos, in his playfully reproving +tone. "It would be necessary to deeg so dip!" he added through his +few remaining teeth. + +"WeIl," I said, "you'll swing for it. That's something." + +Santos smiled again, benignantly enough this time: in contemplation +also: as an artist smiles upon his work. I was his! + +"You live town," said he; "no one knows where you go. You come +down here; no one knows who you are. Your dear friend squire +locks you up for the night, but dreenks too much and goes to slip +with the key in his pocket; it is there when he wakes; but the +preesoner, where is he? He is gone, vanished, escaped in the night, +and, like the base fabreec of your own poet's veesion, he lives no +trace - is it trace? - be'ind! A leetle earth is so easily bitten +down; a leetle more is so easily carried up into the garden; and a +beet of nice strong wire might so easily be found in a cellar, and +afterwards in the lock! No, Senhor Cole, I do not expect to 'ang. +My schims have seldom one seengle flaw. There was just one in the +Lady Jermyn; there was - Senhor Cole! If there is one this time, +and you will be so kind as to point it out, I will - I will run the +reesk of shooting you instead of - " + +A pinch of his baggy throat, between the fingers and thumbs of both +hands, foreshadowed a cleaner end; and yet I could look at him; nay, +it was more than I could do not to look upon that bloodless face, +with the two dry blots upon the parchment, that were never withdrawn +from mine. + +"No you won't, messmate! If it's him or us for it, let a bullet do +it, and let it do it quick, you bloody Spaniard! You can't do the +other without me, and my part's done." + +Harris was my only hope. I had seen this from the first, but my +appeal I had been keeping to the very end. And now he was leaving +me before a word would come! Santos had gone over to my grave, and +there was Harris at the door! + +"It is not dip enough," said the Portuguese. + +"It's as deep as I mean to make it, with you sittin' there talkin' +about it." + +And the door stood open. + +"Captain!" I screamed. "For Christ's sake, captain!" + +He stood there, trembling, yet even now not looking my way. + +"Did you ever see a man hanged ?" asked Santos, with a vile eye for +each of us. "I once hanged fifteen in a row; abominable thifs. +And I once poisoned nearly a hundred at one banquet; an +untrustworthy tribe; but the hanging was the worse sight and the +worse death. Heugh! There was one man - he was no stouter than +you are captain -" + +But the door slammed; we heard the captain on the stairs; there was +a rustle from the leaves outside., and then a silence that I shall +not attempt to describe. + +And, indeed, I am done with this description: as I live to tell the +tale (or spoil it, if I choose) I will make shorter work of this +particular business than I found it at the time. Perverse I may be +in old age as in my youth; but on that my agony - my humiliating +agony - I decline to dwell. I suffer it afresh as I write. There +are the cobwebs on the ceiling, a bloated spider crawling in one: +a worse monster is gloating over me: those dull eyes of his, and +my own pistol-barrel, cover me in the lamp-light. The crucifix pin +is awry in his cravat; that is because he has offered it me to kiss. +As a refinement (I feel sure) my revolver is not cocked; and the +hammer goes up - up - + +He missed me because a lantern was flashed into his eyes through +the grating. He wasted the next ball in firing wildly at the light. +And the last chamber's load became suddenly too precious for my +person; for there were many voices overhead; there were many feet +upon the stairs. + +Harris came first - head-first - saw me still living as he reeled + - hurled himself upon the boxes and one of these into the hole + - all far quicker than my pen can write it. The manoeuvre, being +the captain's, explained itself: on his heels trod Rattray, with +one who brought me to my feet like the call of silver trumpets. + +"The house is surrounded," says the squire, very quick and quiet; +"is this your doing, Cole?" + +"I wish it was," said I; "but I can't complain; it's saved my life." +And I looked at Santos, standing dignified and alert, my still +smoking pistol in his hand. + +"Two things to do," says Rattray - "I don't care which." He strode +across the cellar and pulled at the one full bin; something slid +out, it was a binful of empty bottles, and this time they were +allowed to crash upon the floor; the squire stood pointing to a +manhole at the back of the bin. "That's one alternative," said he; +"but it will mean leaving this much stuff at least," pointing to +the boxes, "and probably all the rest at the other end. The other +thing's to stop and fight!" + +"I fight," said Santos, stalking to the door. "Have you no more +ammunition for me, friend Cole? Then I must live you alive; adios, +senhor!" + +Harris cast a wistful look towards the manhole, not in cowardice, +I fancy, but in sudden longing for the sea, the longing of a poor +devil of a sailor-man doomed to die ashore. I am still sorry to +remember that Rattray judged him differently. "Come on, skipper," +said he; "it's all or none aboard the lugger, and I think it will +be none. Up you go; wait a second in the room above, and I'll +find you an old cutlass. I shan't be longer." He turned to me +with a wry smile. "We're not half-armed," he said; "they've caught +us fairly on the hop; it should be fun! Good-by, Cole; I wish +you'd had another round for that revolver. Good-by, Eva!" + +And he held out his hand to our love, who had been watching him all +this time with eyes of stone; but now she turned her back upon him +without a word. His face changed; the stormlight of passion and +remorse played upon it for an instant; he made a step towards her, +wheeled abruptly, and took me by the shoulder instead. + +"Take care of her, Cole," said he. "Whatever happens - take care +of her." + +I caught him at the foot of the stairs. I do not defend what I +did. But I had more ammunition; a few wadded bullets, caps, and +powder-charges, loose in a jacket pocket; and I thrust them into +one of his, upon a sudden impulse, not (as I think) altogether +unaccountable, albeit (as I have said) so indefensible. + +My back was hardly turned an instant. I had left a statue of +unforgiving coldness. I started round to catch in my arms a +half-fainting, grief-stricken form, shaken with sobs that it broke +my heart to hear. I placed her on the camp-stool. I knelt down +and comforted her as well as I could, stroking her hands, my arm +about her heaving shoulders, with the gold-brown hair streaming +over them. Such hair as it was! So much longer than I had dreamt. +So soft - so fine - my soul swam with the sight and touch of it. +Well for me that there broke upon us from above such a sudden din +as turned my hot blood cold! A wild shout of surprise; an ensuing +roar of defiance; shrieks and curses; yells of rage and pain; and +pistol-shot after pistol-shot as loud as cannon in the confined +space. + +I know now that the battle in the hall was a very brief affair; +while it lasted I had no sense of time; minutes or moments, they +were (God forgive me!) some of the very happiest in all my life. +My joy was as profound as it was also selfish and incongruous. +The villains were being routed; of that there could be no doubt +or question. I hoped Rattray might escape, but for the others no +pity stirred in my heart, and even my sneaking sympathy with the +squire could take nothing from the joy that was in my heart. Eva +Denison was free. I was free. Our oppressors would trouble us no +more. We were both lonely; we were both young; we had suffered +together and for each other. And here she lay in my arms, her head +upon my shoulder, her soft bosom heaving on my own! My blood ran +hot and cold by turns. I forgot everything but our freedom and my +love. I forgot my sufferings, as I would have you all forget them. +I am not to be pitied. I have been in heaven on earth. I was +there that night, in my great bodily weakness, and in the midst of +blood-shed, death, and crime. + +"They have stopped!" cried Eva suddenly. "It is over! Oh, if he +is dead!" + +And she sat upright, with bright eyes starting from a deathly face. +I do not think she knew that she had been in my arms at all: any more +than I knew that the firing had ceased before she told me. Excited +voices were still raised overhead; but some sounded distant, yet +more distinct, coming through the grating from the garden; and none +were voices that we knew. One poor wretch, on the other hand, we +heard plainly groaning to his death; and we looked in each other's +eyes with the same thought. + +"That's Harris," said I, with, I fear, but little compassion in my +tone or in my heart just then. + +"Where are the others ?" cried Eva piteously. + +"God knows," said I; "they may be done for, too." + +"If they are!" + +"It's better than the death they would have lived to die." + +"But only one of them was a wilful murderer! Oh, Mr. Cole - Mr. +Cole - go and see what has happened; come back and tell me! I dare +not come. I will stay here and pray for strength to bear whatever +news you may bring me. Go quickly. I will - wait - and pray!" + +So I left the poor child on her knees in that vile cellar, white +face and straining hands uplifted to the foul ceiling, sweet lips +quivering with prayer, eyelids reverently lowered, and the swift +tears flowing from beneath them, all in the yellow light of the +lantern that stood burning by her side. How different a picture +from that which awaited me overhead! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +MY GREAT HOUR + + +The library doors were shut, and I closed the secret one behind me +before opening the other and peering out through a wrack of bluish +smoke; and there lay Captain Harris, sure enough, breathing his last +in the arms of one constable, while another was seated on the table +with a very wry face, twisting a tourniquet round his arm, from +which the blood was dripping like raindrops from the eaves. A third +officer stood in the porch, issuing directions to his men without. + +"He's over the wall, I tell you! I saw him run up our ladder. +After him every man of you - and spread!" + +I looked in vain for Rattray and the rest; yet it seemed as if only +one of them had escaped. I was still looking when the man in the +porch wheeled back into the hall, and instantly caught +sight of me at my door. + +"Hillo! here's another of them," cried he. "Out you come, young +fellow! Your mates are all dead men." + +"They're not my mates." + +"Never mind; come you out and let's have a look at you." + +I did so, and was confronted by a short, thickset man, who +recognized me with a smile, but whom I failed to recognize. + +"I might have guessed it was Mr. Cole," said he. "I knew you were +here somewhere, but I couldn't make head or tail of you through the +smoke." + +"I'm surprised that you can make head or tail of me at all," said I. + +"Then you've quite forgotten the inquisitive parson you met out +fishing? You see I found out your name for myself!" + +"So it was a detective!" + +"It was and is," said the little man, nodding. "Detective or +Inspector Royds, if you're any the wiser. + +"What has happened? Who has escaped?" "Your friend Rattray; but +he won't get far." + +"What of the Portuguese and the nigger?" + +I forgot that I had crippled Jose, but remembered with my words, +and wondered the more where he was. + +"I'll show you," said Royds. "It was the nigger let us in. We +heard him groaning round at the back - who smashed his leg? One of +our men was at that cellar grating; there was some of them down +there; we wanted to find our way down and corner them, but the fat +got in the fire too soon. Can you stand something strong? +Then come this way." + +He led me out into the garden, and to a tangled heap lying in the +moonlight, on the edge of the long grass. The slave had fallen on +top of his master; one leg lay swathed and twisted; one black hand +had but partially relaxed upon the haft of a knife (the knife) that +stood up hilt-deep in a blacker heart. And in the hand of Santos +was still the revolver (my Deane and Adams) which had sent its last +ball through the nigger's body. + +"They slipped out behind us, all but the one inside," said Royds, +ruefully; "I'm hanged if I know yet how it happened - but we were +on them next second. Before that the nigger had made us hide him +in the grass, but the old devil ran straight into him, and the one +fired as the other struck. It's the worst bit of luck in the whole +business, and I'm rather disappointed on the whole. I've been +nursing the job all this week; had my last look round this very +evening, with one of these officers, and only rode back for more +to make sure of taking our gentlemen alive. And we've lost three +out of four of 'em, and have still to lay hands on the gold! I +suppose you didn't know there was any aboard ?" he asked abruptly. + +"Not before to-night." + +"Nor did we till the Devoren came in with letters last week, a +hundred and thirty days out. She should have been in a month before +you, but she got amongst the ice around the Horn. There was a +letter of advice about the gold, saying it would probably go in the +Lady Jermyn; and another about Rattray and his schooner, which had +just sailed; the young gentleman was known to the police out there." + +"Do you know where the schooner is ?" + +"Bless you, no, we've had no time to think about her; the man had +been seen about town, and we've done well to lay hands on him in the +time." + +"You will do better still when you do lay hands on him," said I, +wresting my eyes from the yellow dead face of the foreign scoundrel. +The moon shone full upon his high forehead, his shrivelled lips, +dank in their death agony, and on the bauble with the sacred device +that he wore always in his tie. I recovered my property from the +shrunken fingers, and so turned away with a harder heart than I ever +had before or since for any creature of Almighty God. + +Harris had expired in our absence. + +"Never spoke, sir," said the constable in whose arms we had left +him. + +"More's the pity. Well, cut out at the back and help land the +young gent, or we'll have him giving us the slip too. He may +double back, but I'm watching out for that. Which way should you +say he'd head, Mr. Cole?" + +"Inland," said I, lying on the spur of the moment, I knew not why. +"Try at the cottage where I've been staying." + +"We have a man posted there already. That woman is one of the +gang, and we've got her safe. But I'll take your advice, and have +that side scoured whilst I hang about the place." + +And he walked through the house, and out the back way, at the +officer's heels; meanwhile the man with the wounded arm was swaying +where he sat from loss of blood, and I had to help him into the +open air before at last I was free to return to poor Eva in her +place of loathsome safety. + +I had been so long, however, that her patience was exhausted, and +as I returned to the library by one door, she entered by the other. + +"I could bear it no longer. Tell me - the worst!" + +"Three of them are dead." + +"Which three?" + +She had crossed to the other door, and would not have me shut it. +So I stood between her and the hearth, on which lay the captain's +corpse, with the hearthrug turned up on either side to cover it. + +"Harris for one," said I. "Outside lie Jose and - " + +"Quick! Quick!" + +"Senhor Santos." + +Her face was as though the name meant nothing to her. + +"And Mr. Rattray?" she cried. "And Mr. Rattray -" + +"Has escaped for the present. He seems to have cut his way through +the police and got over the wall by a ladder they left behind them. +They are scouring the country - Miss Denison! Eva! My poor love!" + +She had broken down utterly in a second fit of violent weeping; and +a second time I took her in my arms, and stood trying in my clumsy +way to comfort her, as though she were a little child. A lamp was +burning in the library, and I recognized the arm-chair which Rattray +had drawn thence for me on the night of our dinner - the very night +before! I led Eva back into the room, and I closed both doors. I +supported my poor girl to the chair, and once more I knelt before +her and took her hands in mine. My great hour was come at last: +surely a happy omen that it was also the hour before the dawn. + +"Cry your fill, my darling," I whispered, with the tears in my own +voice. "You shall never have anything more to cry for in this world! +God has been very good to us. He brought you to me, and me to you. +He has rescued us for each other. All our troubles are over; cry +your fill; you will never have another chance so long as I live, if +only you will let me live for you. Will you, Eva? Will you? Will +you?" + +She drew her hands from mine, and sat upright in the chair, looking +at me with round eyes; but mine were dim; astonishment was all that +I could read in her look, and on I went headlong, with growing +impetus and passion. + +"I know I am not much, my darling; but you know I was not always +what my luck, good and bad, has left me now, and you will make a +new man of me so soon! Besides, God must mean it, or He would not +have thrown us together amid such horrors, and brought us through +them together still. And you have no one else to take care of you +in the world! Won't you let me try, Eva? Say that you will!" + +"Then - you - ove me?" she said slowly, in a low, awe-struck voice +that might have told me my fate at once; but I was shaking all over +in the intensity of my passion, and for the moment it was joy enough +to be able at last to tell her all. + +"Love you?" I echoed. "With every fibre of my being! With every +atom of my heart and soul and body! I love you well enough to live +to a hundred for you, or to die for you to-night!" + +"Well enough to - give me up?" she whispered. + +I felt as though a cold hand had checked my heart at its hottest, +but I mastered myself sufficiently to face her question and to +answer it as honestly as I might. + +"Yes!" I cried; "well enough even to do that, if it was for your +happiness; but I might be rather difficult to convince about that." + +"You are very strong and true," she murmured. "Yes, I can trust +you as I have never trusted anybody else! But - how long have you +been so foolish?" And she tried very hard to smile. + +"Since I first saw you; but I only knew it on the night of the fire. +Till that night I resisted it like an idiot. Do you remember how we +used to argue? I rebelled so against my love! I imagined that I had +loved once already and once for all. But on the night of the fire I +knew that my love for you was different from all that had gone before +or would ever come again. I gave in to it at last, and oh! the joy +of giving in! I had fought against the greatest blessing of my life, +and I never knew it till I had given up fighting. What did I care +about the fire? I was never happier - until now! You sang through +my heart like the wind through the rigging; my one fear was that I +might go to the bottom without telling you my love. When I asked +to say a few last words to you on the poop, it was to tell you my +love before we parted, that you might know I loved you whatever came. +I didn't do so, because you seemed so frightened, poor darling! I +hadn't it in my heart to add to your distress. So I left you +without a word. But I fought the sea for days together simply to +tell you what I couldn't die without telling you. When they picked +me up, it was your name that brought back my senses after days of +delirium. When I heard that you were dead, I longed to die myself. +And when I found you lived after all, the horror of your surroundings +was nothing to be compared with the mere fact that you lived; that +you were unhappy and in danger was my only grief, but it was nothing +to the thought of your death; and that I had to wait twenty-four +hours without coming to you drove me nearer to madness than ever I +was on the hen-coop. That's how I love you, Eva," I concluded; +"that's how I love and will love you, for ever and ever, no matter +what happens." + +Those sweet gray eyes of hers had been fixed very steadily upon me +all through this outburst; as I finished they filled with tears, and +my poor love sat wringing her slender fingers, and upbraiding herself +as though she were the most heartless coquette in the country. + +"How wicked I am!" she moaned. "How ungrateful I must be! You +offer me the unselfish love of a strong, brave man. I cannot take +it. I have no love to give you in return." + +"But some day you may," I urged, quite happily in my ignorance. +"It will come. Oh, surely it will come, after all that we have gone +through together!" + +She looked at me very steadily and kindly through her tears. + +"It has come, in a way," said she; "but it is not your way, Mr. Cole. +I do love you for your bravery and your - love - but that will not +quite do for either of us." + +"Why not?" I cried in an ecstasy. "My darling, it will do for me! +It is more than I dared to hope for; thank God, thank God, that you +should care for me at all!" + +She shook her head. + +"You do not understand," she whispered. + +"I do. I do. You do not love me as you want to love." + +"As I could love -" + +"And as you will! It will come. It will come. I'll bother you no +more about it now. God knows I can afford to leave well alone! I +am only too happy - too thankful - as it is!" + +And indeed I rose to my feet every whit as joyful as though she had +accepted me on the spot. At least she had not rejected me; nay, she +confessed to loving me in a way. What more could a lover want? Yet +there was a dejection in her drooping attitude which disconcerted me +in the hour of my reward. And her eyes followed me with a kind of +stony remorse which struck a chill to my bleeding heart. + +I went to the door; the hall was still empty, and I shut it again +with a shudder at what I saw before the hearth, at all that I had +forgotten in the little library. As I turned, another door opened + - the door made invisible by the multitude of books around and upon +it - and young Squire Rattray stood between my love and me. + +His clear, smooth skin was almost as pale as Eva's own, but pale +brown, the tint of rich ivory. His eyes were preternaturally bright. +And they never glanced my way, but flew straight to Eva, and rested +on her very humbly and sadly, as her two hands gripped the arms of +the chair, and she leant forward in horror and alarm. + +"How could you come back?" she cried. "I was told you had escaped!" + +"Yes, I got away on one of their horses." + +"I pictured you safe on board!" + +"I very nearly was." + +"Then why are you here ?" + +"To get your forgiveness before I go." + +He took a step forward; her eyes and mine were riveted upon him; +and I still wonder which of us admired him the more, as he stood +there in his pride and his humility, gallant and young, and yet +shamefaced and sad. + +"You risk your life - for my forgiveness?" whispered Eva at last. +"Risk it? I'll give myself up if you'll take back some of the +things you said to me - last night - and before." + +There was a short pause. + +"Well, you are not a coward, at all events!" + +"Nor a murderer, Eva!" + +"God forbid." + +"Then forgive me for everything else that I have been - to you!" + +And he was on his knees where I had knelt scarce a minute before; +nor could I bear to watch them any longer. I believed that he +loved her in his own way as sincerely as I did in mine. I believed +that she detested him for the detestable crime in which he had been +concerned. I believed that the opinion of him which she had +expressed to his face, in my hearing, was her true opinion, and I +longed to hear her mitigate it ever so little before he went. He +won my sympathy as a gallant who valued a kind word from his +mistress more than life itself. I hoped earnestly that that kind +word would be spoken. But I had no desire to wait to hear it. I +felt an intruder. I would leave them alone together for the last +time. So I walked to the door, but, seeing a key in it, I changed +my mind, and locked it on the inside. In the hall I might become +the unintentional instrument of the squire's capture, though, so far +as my ears served me, it was still empty as we had left it. I +preferred to run no risks, and would have a look at the subterranean +passage instead. + +"I advise you to speak low," I said, "and not to be long. The place +is alive with the police. If they hear you all will be up." + +Whether he heard me I do not know. I left him on his knees still, +and Eva with her face hidden in her hands. + +The cellar was a strange scene to revisit within an hour of my +deliverance from that very torture-chamber. It had been something +more before I left it, but in it I could think only of the first +occupant of the camp-stool. The lantern still burned upon the floor. +There was the mattress, still depressed where I had lain face to +face with insolent death. The bullet was in the plaster; it could +not have missed by the breadth of many hairs. In the corner was the +shallow grave, dug by Harris for my elements. And Harris was dead. +And Santos was dead. But life and love were mine. + +I would have gone through it all again! + +And all at once I was on fire to be back in the library; so much so, +that half a minute at the manhole, lantern in hand, was enough for me; +and a mere funnel of moist brown earth - a terribly low arch propped +with beams - as much as I myself ever saw of the subterranean conduit +between Kirby House and the sea. But I understood that the curious +may traverse it for themselves to this day on payment of a very modest +fee. + +As for me, I returned as I had come after (say) five minutes' +absence; my head full once more of Eva, and of impatient anxiety +for the wild young squire's final flight; and my heart still singing +with the joy of which my beloved's kindness seemed a sufficient +warranty. Poor egotist! Am I to tell you what I found when I came +up those steep stairs to the chamber where I had left him on his +knees to her? Or can you guess? + +He was on his knees no more, but he held her in his arms, and as I +entered he was kissing the tears from her wet, flushed cheek. Her +eyelids drooped; she was pale as the dead without, so pale that her +eyebrows looked abnormally and dreadfully dark. She did not cling +to him. Neither did she resist his caresses, but lay passive in +his arms as though her proper paradise was there. And neither heard +me enter; it was as though they had forgotten all the world but one +another. + +"So this is it," said I very calmly. I can hear my voice as I write. + +They fell apart on the instant. Rattray glared at me, yet I saw +that his eyes were dim. Eva clasped her hands before her, and looked +me steadily in the face. But never a word. + +"You love him ?" I said sternly. + +The silence of consent remained unbroken. + +"Villain as he is?" I burst out. + +And at last Eva spoke. + +"I loved him before he was one," said she. "We were engaged." + +She looked at him standing by, his head bowed, his arms folded; next +moment she was very close to me, and fresh tears were in her eyes. +But I stepped backward, for I had had enough. + +"Can you not forgive me?" + +"Oh, dear, yes." + +"Can't you understand?" + +"Perfectly," said I. + +"You know you said - " + +"I have said so many things!" + +"But this was that you - you loved me well enough to - give me up." + +And the silly ego in me - the endless and incorrigible I - imagined +her pouting for a withdrawal of those brave words. + +"I not only said it," I declared, "but I meant every word of it." + +None the less had I to turn from her to hide my anguish. I leaned +my elbows on the narrow stone chimney-piece, which, with the grate +below and a small mirror above, formed an almost solitary oasis in +the four walls of books. In the mirror I saw my face; it was +wizened, drawn, old before its time, and merely ugly in its sore +distress, merely repulsive in its bloody bandages. And in the +mirror also I saw Rattray, handsome, romantic, audacious, all that +I was not, nor ever would be, and I "understood" more than ever, and +loathed my rival in my heart. + +I wheeled round on Eva. I was not going to give her up - to him. +I would tell her so before him - tell him so to his face. But she +had turned away; she was listening to some one else. Her white +forehead glistened. There were voices in the hall. + +"Mr. Cole! Mr. Cole! Where are you, Mr. Cole?" + +I moved over to the locked door. My hand found the key. I turned +round with evil triumph in my heart, and God knows what upon my +face. Rattray did not move. With lifted hands the girl was merely +begging him to go by the door that was open, down the stair. He +shook his head grimly. With an oath I was upon them. + +"Go, both of you!" I whispered hoarsely. "Now - while you can - and +I can let you. Now! Now!" + +Still Rattray hung back. + +I saw him glancing wistfully at my great revolver lying on the table +under the lamp. I thrust it upon him, and pushed him towards the +door. + +"You go first. She shall follow. You will not grudge me one last +word? Yes, I will take your hand. If you escape - be good to her!" + +He was gone. Without, there was a voice still calling me; but now +it sounded overhead. + +"Good-by, Eva, I said. "You have not a moment to lose." + +Yet those divine eyes lingered on my ugliness. + +"You are in a very great hurry," said she, in the sharp little voice +of her bitter moments. + +"You love him; that is enough." + +"And you, too!" she cried. "And you, too!" + +And her pure, warm arms were round my neck; another instant, and +she would have kissed me, she! I know it. I knew it then. But it +was more than I would bear. As a brother! I had heard that tale +before. Back I stepped again, all the man in me rebelling. + +"That's impossible," said I rudely. + +"It isn't. It's true. I do love you - for this!" + +God knows how I looked! + +"And I mayn't say good-by to you," she whispered. "And - and I +love you - for that!" + +"Then you had better choose between us," said I. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE STATEMENT OF FRANCIS RATTRAY + + +In the year 1858 I received a bulky packet bearing the stamp of the +Argentine Republic, a realm in which, to the best of my belief, I +had not a solitary acquaintance. The superscription told me nothing. +In my relations with Rattray his handwriting had never come under +my observation. Judge then of my feelings when the first thing I +read was his signature at the foot of the last page. + +For five years I had been uncertain whether he was alive or dead. +I had heard nothing of him from the night we parted in Kirby Hall. +All I knew was that he had escaped from England and the English +police; his letter gave no details of the incident. It was an +astonishing letter; my breath was taken on the first close page; at +the foot of it the tears were in my eyes. And all that part I must +pass over without a word. I have never shown it to man or woman. +It is sacred between man and man. + +But the letter possessed other points of interest - of almost +universal interest - to which no such scruples need apply; for it +cleared up certain features of the foregoing narrative which had +long been mysteries to all the world; and it gave me what I had +tried in vain to fathom all these years, some explanation, or rather +history, of the young Lancastrian's complicity with Joaquin Santos +in the foul enterprise of the Lady Jermyn. And these passages I +shall reproduce word for word; partly because of their intrinsic +interest; partly for such new light as they day throw on this or +that phase of the foregoing narrative; and, lastly, out of fairness +to (I hope) the most gallant and most generous youth who ever slipped +upon the lower slopes of Avemus. + +Wrote Rattray: + +"You wondered how I could have thrown in my lot with such a man. +You may wonder still, for I never yet told living soul. I pretended +I had joined him of my own free will. That was not quite the case. +The facts were as follows: + +"In my teens (as I think you know) I was at sea. I took my second +mate's certificate at twenty, and from that to twenty-four my +voyages were far between and on my own account. I had given way +to our hereditary passion for smuggling. I kept a 'yacht' in +Morecambe Bay, and more French brandy than I knew what to do with +in my cellars. It was exciting for a time, but the excitement did +not last. In 1851 the gold fever broke out in Australia. I shipped +to Melbourne as third mate on a barque, and I deserted for the +diggings in the usual course. But I was never a successful digger. +I had little luck and less patience, and I have no doubt that many +a good haul has been taken out of claims previously abandoned by me; +for of one or two I had the mortification of hearing while still in +the Colony. I suppose I had not the temperament for the work. Dust +would not do for me - I must have nuggets. So from Bendigo I drifted +to the Ovens, and from the Ovens to Ballarat. But I did no more +good on one field than on another, and eventually, early in 1853, I +cast up in Melbourne again with the intention of shipping home in +the first vessel. But there were no crews for the homeward-bounders, +and while waiting for a ship my little stock of gold dust gave out. +I became destitute first - then desperate. Unluckily for me, the +beginning of '53 was the hey-day of Captain MelviHe, the notorious +bushranger. He was a young fellow of my own age. I determined to +imitate his exploits. I could make nothing out there from an honest +life; rather than starve I would lead a dishonest one. I had been +born with lawless tendencies; from smuggling to bushranging was an +easy transition, and about the latter there seemed to be a gallantry +and romantic swagger which put it on the higher plane of the two. +But I was not born to be a bushranger either. I failed at the very +first attempt. I was outwitted by my first victim, a thin old +gentleman riding a cob at night on the Geelong road. + +"'Why rob me?' said he. 'I have only ten pounds in my pocket, and +the punishment will be the same as though it were ten thousand.' + +"'I want your cob,' said I (for I was on foot); 'I'm a starving +Jack, and as I can't get a ship I'm going to take to the bush.' + +"He shrugged his shoulders. + +"'To starve there?' said he. 'My friend, it is a poor sport, this +bushranging. I have looked into the matter on my own account. You +not only die like a dog, but you live like one too. It is not worth +while. No crime is worth while under five figures, my friend. A +starving Jack, eh? Instead of robbing me of ten pounds, why not +join me and take ten thousand as your share of our first robbery? +A sailor is the very man I want!' + +"I told him that what I wanted was his cob, and that it was no use +his trying to hoodwink me by pretending he was one of my sort, +because I knew very well that he was not; at which he shrugged +again, and slowly dismounted, after offering me his money, of which +I took half. He shook his head, telling me I was very foolish, and +I was coolly mounting (for he had never offered me the least +resistance), with my pistols in my belt, when suddenly I heard one +cocked behind me. + +"'Stop!' said he. 'It's my turn! Stop, or I shoot you dead!' +The tables were turned, and he had me at his mercy as completely as +he had been at mine. I made up my mind to being marched to the +nearest police-station. But nothing of the kind. I had misjudged +my man as utterly as you misjudged him a few months later aboard +the Lady Jermyn. He took me to his house on the outskirts of +Melbourne, a weather-board bungalow, scantily furnished, but +comfortable enough. And there he seriously repeated the proposal +he had made me off-hand in the road. Only he put it a little +differently. Would I go to the hulks for attempting to rob him of +five pounds, or would I stay and help him commit a robbery, of +which my share alone would be ten or fifteen thousand? You know +which I chose. You know who this man was. I said I would join him. +He made me swear it. And then he told me what his enterprise was: +there is no need for me to tell you; nor indeed had it taken +definite shape at this time. Suffice it that Santos had wind that +big consignments of Austrailian gold were shortly to be shipped +home to England; that he, like myself, had done nothing on the +diggings, where he had looked to make his fortune, and out of +which he meant to make it still. + +"It was an extraordinary life that we led in the bungalow, I the +guest, he the host, and Eva the unsuspecting hostess and innocent +daughter of the house. Santos had failed on the fields, but he +had succeeded in making valuable friends in Melbourne. Men of +position and of influence spent their evenings on our veranda, +among others the Melbourne agent for the Lady Jermyn, the likeliest +vessel then lying in the harbor, and the one to which the first +consignment of gold-dust would be entrusted if only a skipper could +be found to replace the deserter who took you out. Santos made up +his mind to find one., It took him weeks, but eventually he found +Captain Harris on Bendigo, and Captain Harris was his man. More +than that he was the man for the agent; and the Lady Jermyn was +once more made ready for sea. + +Now began the complications. Quite openly, Santos had bought the +schooner Spindrift, freighted her with wool, given me the command, +and vowed that he would go home in her rather than wait any longer +for the Lady Jermyn. At the last moment he appeared to change his +mind, and I sailed alone as many days as possible in advance of the +ship, as had been intended from the first; but it went sorely +against the grain when the time came. I would have given anything +to have backed out of the enterprise. Honest I might be no longer; +I was honestly in love with Eva Denison. Yet to have backed out +would have been one way of losing her for ever. Besides, it was +not the first time I had run counter to the law, I who came of a +lawless stock; but it would be the first time I had deserted a +comrade or broken faith with one. I would do neither. In for a +penny, in for a pound. + +"But before my God I never meant it to turn out as it did; though +I admit and have always admitted that my moral responsibility is +but little if any the less on that account. Yet I was never a +consenting party to wholesale murder, whatever else I was. The +night before I sailed, Santos and the captain were aboard with me +till the small hours. They promised me that every soul should +have every chance; that nothing but unforeseen accident could +prevent the boats from making Ascension again in a matter of hours; +that as long as the gig was supposed to be lost with all hands, +nothing else mattered. So they promised, and that Harris meant +to keep his promise I fully believe. That was not a wanton ruffian; +but the other would spill blood like water, as I told you at the +hall, and as no man now knows better than yourself. He was +notorious even in Portuguese Africa on account of his atrocious +treatment of the blacks. It was a favorite boast of his that he +once poisoned a whole village; and that he himself tampered with +the Lady Jermyn's boats you can take my word, for I have heard +him describe how he left it to the last night, and struck the +blows during the applause at the concert on the quarter-deck. He +said it might have come out about the gold in the gig, during the +fire. It was safer to run no risks. + +"The same thing came into play aboard the schooner. Never shall +I forget the horror of that voyage after Santos came aboard! I +had a crew of eight hands all told, and two he brought with him +in the gig. Of course they began talking about the gold; they +would have their share or split when they got ashore; and there +was mutiny in the air, with the steward and the quarter-master of +the Lady Jermyn for ring-leaders. Santos nipped it in the bud with +a vengeance! He and Harris shot every man of them dead, and two +who were shot through the heart they washed and dressed and set +adrift to rot in the gig with false papers! God knows how we made +Madeira; we painted the old name out and a new name in, on the way; +and we shipped a Portuguese crew, not a man of whom could speak +English. We shipped them aboard the Duque de Mondejo's yacht +Braganza; the schooner Spindrift had disappeared from the face of +the waters for ever. And with the men we took in plenty of sour +claret and cigarettes; and we paid them well; and the Portuguese +sailor is not inquisitive under such conditions. + +"And now, honestly, I wished I had put a bullet through my head +before joining in this murderous conspiracy; but retreat was +impossible, even if I had been the man to draw back after going so +far; and I had a still stronger reason for standing by the others +to the bitter end. I could not leave our lady to these ruffians. +On the other hand, neither could I take her from them, for (as you +know) she justly regarded me as the most flagrant ruffian of them +all. It was in me and through me that she was deceived, insulted, +humbled, and contaminated; that she should ever have forgiven me for +a moment is more than I can credit or fathom to this hour ... So +there we were. She would not look at me. And I would not leave +her until death removed me. Santos had been kind enough to her +hitherto; he had been kind enough (I understand) to her mother +before her. It was only in the execution of his plans that he +showed his Napoleonic disregard for human life; and it was precisely +herein that I began to fear for the girl I still dared to love. +She took up an attitude as dangerous to her safety as to our own. +She demanded to be set free when we came to land. Her demand was +refused. God forgive me, it had no bitterer opponent than myself! +And all we did was to harden her resolution; that mere child +threatened us to our faces, never shall I forget the scene! +You know her spirit: if we would not set her free, she would tell +all when we landed. And you remember how Santos used to shrug? +That was all he did then. It was enough for me who knew him. For +days I never left them alone together. Night after night I watched +her cabin door. And she hated me the more for never leaving her +alone! I had to resign myself to that. + +"The night we anchored in Falmouth Bay, thinking then of taking +our gold straight to the Bank of England, as eccentric lucky +diggers - that night I thought would be the last for one or other +of us. He locked her in her cabin. He posted himself outside on +the settee. I sat watching him across the table. Each had a hand +in his pocket, each had a pistol in that hand, and there we sat, +with our four eyes locked, while Harris went ashore for papers. +He came back in great excitement. What with stopping at Madeira, +and calms, and the very few knots we could knock out of the +schooner at the best of times, we had made a seven or eight weeks' +voyage of it from Ascension - where, by the way, I had arrived +only a couple of days before the Lady Jermyn, though I had nearly +a month's start of her. Well, Harris came back in the highest +state of excitement: and well he might: the papers were full of +you, and of the burning of the Lady Jermyn! + +"Now mark what happened. You know, of course, as well as I do; +but I wonder if you can even yet realize what it was to us! Our +prisoner hears that you are alive, and she turns upon Santos and +tells him he is welcome to silence her, but it will do us ne good +now, as you know that the ship was wilfully burned, and with what +object. It is the single blow she can strike in self-defence; +but a shrewder one could scarcely be imagined. She had talked to +you, at the very last; and by that time she did know the truth. +What more natural than that she should confide it to you? She had +had time to tell you enough to hang the lot of us; and you may +imagine our consternation on hearing that she had told you all she +knew! From the first we were never quite sure whether to believe +it or not. That the papers breathed no suspicion of foul play was +neither here nor there. Scotland Yard might have seen to that. +Then we read of the morbid reserve which was said to characterize +all your utterances concerning the Lady Jermyn. What were we to +do? What we no longer dared to do was to take our gold-dust +straight to the Bank. What we did, you know. + +"We ran round to Morecambe Bay, and landed the gold as we Rattrays +had landed lace and brandy from time immemorial. We left Eva in +charge of Jane Braithwaite, God only knows how much against my will, +but we were in a corner, it was life or death with us, and to find +out how much you knew was a first plain necessity. And the means +we took were the only means in our power; nor shall I say more to +you on that subject than I said five years ago in my poor old house. +That is still the one part of the whole conspiracy of which I +myself am most ashamed. + +"And now it only remains for me to tell you why I have written all +this to you, at such great length, so long after the event. My +wife wished it. The fact is that she wants you to think better +of me than I deserve; and I - yes - I confess that I should like +you not to think quite as ill of me as you must have done all +these years. I was villain enough, but do not think I am +unpunished. + +"I am an outlaw from my country. I am morally a transported felon. +Only in this no-man's land am I a free man; let me but step across +the border and I am worth a little fortune to the man who takes me. +And we have had a hard time here, though not so hard as I deserved; +and the hardest part of all ... " + +But you must guess the hardest part: for the letter ended as it +began, with sudden talk of his inner life, and tentative inquiry +after mine. In its entirety, as I say, I have never shown it to a +soul; there was just a little more that I read to my wife (who +could not hear enough about his); then I folded up the letter, and +even she has never seen the passages to which I allude. + +And yet 1 am not one of those who hold that the previous romances +of married people should be taboo between them in after life. On +the contrary, much mutual amusement, of an innocent character, may +be derived from a fair and free interchange upon the subject; and +this is why we, in our old age (or rather in mine), find a still +unfailing topic in the story of which Eva Denison was wayward +heroine and Frank Rattray the nearest approach to a hero. Sometimes +these reminiscences lead to an argument; for it has been the fate of +my life to become attached to argumentative persons. I suppose +because I myself hate arguing. On the day that I received Rattray's +letter we had one of our warmest discussions. I could repeat every +word of it after forty years. + +"A good man does not necessarily make a good husband," I innocently +remarked. + +"Why do you say that?" asked my wife, who never would let a +generalization pass unchallenged. + +"I was thinking of Rattray," said I. "The most tolerant of judges +could scarcely have described him as a good man five years ago. +Yet I can see that he has made an admirable husband. On the whole, +and if you can't be both, it is better to be the good husband!" + +It was this point that we debated with so much ardor. My wife +would take the opposite side; that is her one grave fault. And I +must introduce personalities; that, of course, is among the least +of mine. I compared myself with Rattray, as a husband, and (with +some sincerity) to my own disparagement. I pointed out that he was +an infinitely more fascinating creature, which was no hard saying, +for that epithet at least I have never earned. And yet it was the +word to sting my wife. + +"Fascinating, perhaps!" said she. "Yes, that is the very word; +but - fascination is not love!" + +And then I went to her, and stroked her hair (for she had hung her +head in deep distress), and kissed the tears from her eyes. And I +swore that her eyes were as lovely as Eva Denison's, that there +seemed even more gold in her glossy brown hair, that she was even +younger to look at. And at the last and craftiest compliment my +own love looked at me through her tears, as though some day or other +she might forgive me. + +"Then why did you want to give me up to him?" said she. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of Dead Men Tell No Tales, by EW Hornung + diff --git a/old/dmtnt10.zip b/old/dmtnt10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3919d52 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/dmtnt10.zip |