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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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